San Antonio officials reported 16 new deaths from COVID-19 over the past two weeks as the coronavirus maintained its grip on the region.

Officials also disclosed Sunday that the virus had been confirmed as the cause of 59 additional deaths between Dec. 4 and Jan. 6.

Since it began in March, the pandemic has claimed the lives of 1,967 people in Bexar County.

We keep looking for silver linings here, (but) we are still in a pretty deadly and serious time, Bexar County Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said during Sundays city-county coronavirus briefing.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in San Antonio has nearly doubled over the last month. On Sunday, the figure rose by six  to 1,381  after having dropped in each of the past five days. Some 138 of those patients had been admitted in the past 24 hours.

Of the total hospitalized, 407 were in intensive care, down from 414 Saturday, and 251 needed ventilators to breathe, one fewer than the day before.

On ExpressNews.com: FAQ: When and where Texans can get the COVID vaccine

For months, city and county officials have warned against complacency amid short-term improvements in daily case numbers and hospitalizations. Despite recent declines in both, the health care system remains dangerously close to becoming overloaded.

Coronavirus patients account for more than one-third of all hospital patients, and only about 13 percent of the citys hospitals beds are available.

The stress level on Bexar Countys health care system is designated as high  just short of severe  by the Texas Department of State Health Services Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council.

COVID-19 is still obviously present in our community, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said during the briefing. Clearly, this pandemic is continuing to take a very deadly toll on our loved ones.

On ExpressNews.com: The San Antonio Express-News Vaccine Tracker

The number of new cases had decreased in each of the last three days, and that trend continued Sunday as officials reported just 289 new infections. But health officials believe the relatively low number reflects delayed reporting by some labs that process coronavirus tests.

The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District added 218 backlogged cases from more than two weeks ago. Since the pandemic began, 160,026 San Antonians have tested positive.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases now stands at 1,608, down from 2,071 a week ago. Still, the average has nearly doubled since Thanksgiving, and San Antonio has reported about 60,000 cases in just the past five weeks.

Vaccines

The coronavirus vaccine is considered the best weapon against the virus, which has claimed more than 400,000 lives nationwide. But more than a month after it first became available, a slow rollout has stalled efforts to get shots into peoples arms.

Texas is currently offering the vaccine only to people in the state-designated priority groups 1A and 1B, which include front-line health care workers, residents and staff at long-term care facilities, pregnant women, anyone 65 or older and anyone 16 or older with underlying health conditions.

Supply shortages mean that it could be months before everyone has access to the vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, the only two currently approved for use, both require two doses administered several weeks apart.

More than 1 million people in Bexar County are eligible to be vaccinated, but as of Sunday, the county had been allocated only about 235,400 doses. About 72,900 county residents had received their first dose, and about 28,700 people had received two doses, state data show.

The state expects to receive 332,750 doses this week, to be used as first doses. It is ordering an additional 216,350 to be used as second doses.

Bexar County is slated to receive more than 26,000 doses this week, according to the state health department.

For detailed information about scheduling a vaccination, consult this Express-News FAQ.

Additional information about vaccines, testing and more is at Metro Healths coronavirus website, www.covid19.sanantonio.gov.

andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon
An undated photograph released on Sept. 4, 2009, by Rio Tinto shows high grade iron ore in Western Australia's Pilbara region, destined for China. (Christian Sprogoe/AFP/Getty Images)

Australia Sees Record High Trade Surplus Despite Chinas Trade Sanctions

The Chinese regimes trade war on Australia appears to be backfiring after strong demand for Australian exports have resulted in the nation recording its fourth-highest trade surplus.

Preliminary international trade figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday show Australia recorded a $9 billion goods trade surplus in December, up from $7.4 billion in November.

While imports from China fell by $641 million or 7 percent, exports to China increased by $2.3 billion or 21 percent in December, driven primarily by iron ore and wheat. This comes amid Chinas economic trade sanctions, which has seen trade disruptions to Australian beef, wine, barley, lobster, timber, and cotton.

Furthermore, China paid 9 percent more per tonne for iron ore in December compared to in November while total iron ore exports increased by 15 percent.

Australia-China Relations Institute Director James Laurenceson told The Australian that Beijing has been unable or unwilling to wean itself of low-cost, high-quality Australian iron ore.

The result is the second-highest total value of Australian goods exports ever, down just 2 percent on last years record high.

Even in sectors where China has greater choice in suppliers like barley, coal and copper, Australian producers have by and large been successful in finding alternative markets, even if they dont offer the price premium China previously did.

[W]hat these numbers show is that basic economic calculations still loom large, Laurenceson added.

Overall, the $4.9 billion increase in total exports recorded for December was primarily driven by metalliferous ore shipment. Coal exports rose to 27 percent, thermal coal up 25 percent and hard coking coal up 54 percent.

ABS head of international statistics, Katie Hutt, said Australias exports showed steely resolve.

While hard coking coal exports to China have diminished since mid-2020, increased exports to India, Japan and South Korea have offset some of the fall, Hutt said.

Since the ban of Australian coal, China is experiencing power shortages in large swathes of southern China, resulting in peoples homes and workplaces not getting enough heat.

Among Australias largest coal export destinations, coal exports rose with India up $272 million or 38 percent, Japan up $237 million or 27 percent, and South Korea up $148 million or 48 percent.

Conversely, total imports decreased $2.5 billion or 9 percent in December, which was evident with transport equipment, telecommunications and sound equipment.

Offsetting the decreases were specialised machinery, up $132 million or 13 percent, and road vehicles, up $66 million or 2 percent to $3.7 billion. Hutt said these figures highlight the pandemics impact on the imports of motor vehicles in early 2020.

Additional gains were seen in cereals with wheat shipments up to $604 million or 423 percent, and barley up $182 million or 254 percent. Exports of wheat to China made up approximately one-third of total wheat exports after nil exports since August 2020, while approximately 42 percent of barley exports headed for Saudi Arabia.

Strong growing conditions in Australias wheat belt and lower than average rainfall in the Black Sea growing region has driven demand for Australian wheat to record highs, Hutt added.

On Nov. 15, 2020, Australia and 14 other Indo-Pacific countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is set to diversify trading opportunities with other markets.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said: This agreement covers the fastest-growing region in the world and, as RCEP economies continue to develop and their middle classes grow, it will open up new doors for Australian farmers, businesses and investors.
London: Chinas President Xi Jinping has warned of possible confrontation if countries pursue a policy of economic decoupling from China.

Speaking to the World Economic Forum, ordinarily hosted in the Swiss ski resort of Davos but held virtually this year due to the pandemic, Xi said confrontation would lead the world to a dead-end.

Chinas president Xi Jinping, pictured last year. Credit:AP

To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation, he said.

We have been shown time and again that to beggar thy neighbour, to go it alone and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail.
Despite the dangerous spread of the new virus mutations and the deadly development of the pandemic throughout Europe, Greece is easing its lockdown measures. On 11 January, elementary schools and daycare centers reopened, followed last Monday by retail stores, hairdressers and beauty salons.

Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis, who had the relaxations accompanied by an increased police presence, justified the move, saying, If we continue with the strict bans, we will destroy ourselves financially and psychologically. By this he does not at all mean the losses to small business owners and workers who have received almost no financial support during the lockdown. Rather, Chrysochoidis is concerned about the profits of the ruling class, for which his government will accept a renewed increase in the COVID-19 death rate without batting an eye.

With the partial opening, the social plight of workers and employees in the private sector is being used as a battering ram. In a recent survey conducted by the Alco Institute for the Private Sector Trade Union Confederation (GSEE), 56 percent of respondents said they had lost income during the pandemic, and 22 percent even had wage cuts of more than 31 percent, which has major consequences given Greeces low wages. The majority of respondents, 60 percent, have not been able to work from home, exposing themselves to the risk of infection at work. More than half of those surveyed are pessimistic about the coming months, with nearly 40 percent unsure whether they will be able to keep their jobs.

Burial of a COVID-19 victim in Thessaloniki on December 5, 2020 (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

The government has the backing of the nominal opposition party, Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left), in its policy of opening up the economy. Party leader Alexis Tsipras, who himself saw to the interests of the economic and financial oligarchy for four years as prime minister, expressed his support for looser restrictions for retail. He troubled himself to deliver a few platitudes, such as calling for more financial aid and higher health spending, but from his mouth this is nothing but hot air. In December, Syriza was criticized when it demanded a coronavirus bonus for the policeincidentally just after the anniversary of the murder of the teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman in 2008.

In the media, the drumbeat for the rapid reopening of schools is already rising. This is a priority, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of the right-wing Nea Dimokratia (ND) declared Tuesday. The target date is the first of February.

Scientific advisers to the Health Ministry were given targeted press coverage to justify the relaxations. Charalampos Gogos, professor of pathology and infectious disease research at the University of Patras and member of the governments special committee, rehashed the old lie that school openings pose the least epidemiological risk because young people carry lower viral loads than other groups. He also advocated opening ski resorts and soon, restaurants.

The argument used to justify the relaxations is the initial fall in official infection rates in Greece, a result of the weeks-long lockdown and little testing. Last Monday, state television spoke of a stable epidemiological situation, concealing the fact that Mondays figures of 237 new infections were accompanied by exceptionally low testing numbers of only about 3,700 PCR tests and 4,500 rapid tests. A day later, on Tuesday, the testing rate tripled as did infections, which went up to 566. The number of patients on ventilators also remains consistently high at around 300. So far, at least 32 people in Greece have tested positive with the new UK COVID-19 mutation.

Overall, more than 5,600 people have already died from the virus in the country of about 11 million people. The deadliest months were November and December, with up to 120 victims a day. According to the Greek statistics office Elstat, mortality in these months has increased by 30 to 40 percent compared to the previous year. The 48th and 49th weeks of last year (November 23-Deccember 6) set a sad record with about 3,300 deaths each.

In view of the dramatic situation in neighboring European countries, the propaganda of a stable COVID-19 situation in Greece is not only deceptive, but extremely dangerous. The government is deliberately trying to downplay the pandemic, even though more than 200,000 people are infected in Europe every day and more than 6,000 people die from COVID-19.

The underfunded and understaffed public health system, which has almost collapsed in recent months and had to make triage decisions, continues to hang by a thread. The vaccination campaign which began in Greece at the same time as other EU countries in late December is making slow progress, as it has almost everywhere in the world. As of January 23, only 154,273 people had been vaccinated. The first group included people over 85, health workers and government and party leaders. On Friday, Greece started to vaccinate the second group that includes people in the age of 80 until 84.

Under these strained conditions, the government is placing the entire burden of the vaccination campaign on the existing public health system. Instead of investing the necessary sums to ensure enough staff and equipment in the largest mass vaccination campaign in history, it announced Wednesday that public health centers will be transformed into vaccination centers. In Greece, health centers perform an important function in relieving hospitals and providing better outpatient health care. If they take over vaccinations now, they will no longer be able to provide that vital service.

An angry statement from the Association of Hospital Doctors of Greece (OENGE) says: With which staff exactly are the vaccination centers to be staffed, for which a 12-hour shift is planned? With exhausted hospital staff? With endless hours of intensive overtime work to fill the huge gaps that are increasing with the thousands of people in the health workforce getting sick? With employees who havent had a vacation in months? With which doctors? Will a doctor treat COVID-19 patients one day and vaccinate healthy citizens the next? Physicians criticize the continuing lack of new hires and the missing infrastructure to safely implement vaccinations.

The shortage and exhaustion of doctors and nurses and the deliberate neglect of public health in a pandemic seems like madness, but it is calculation. Instead of fighting the coronavirus, the government agenda for the new year focuses on arming the police and military apparatus.

This is even evident in the vaccination campaign itself: The surplus vaccine doses, which are in danger of spoiling because of missed vaccination appointments, are to be administered not to vaccination personnel, workers, teachers or young people on the evening of a day of vaccinations, butto soldiers and police officers, as Mitsotakis announced on Tuesday.

In mid-December, Parliament passed the 2021 budget, which includes a drastic increase in military spending and a reduction in health spending. The defense budget will increase by a thirdfrom 3.4 billion euro last year to 5.5 billion this year. The total rearmament plan for the next few years is 11.5 billion euro. Among other things, Greece is purchasing 18 French Rafale fighter jets, four new frigates and four American Seahawk helicopters.

The health budget, on the other hand, has been cut from 4.83 billion euro (2020) to 4.26 billion (2021). Only 131 million euro are budgeted for the fight against the pandemic (786 million last year). With only 5 percent of its gross domestic product, Greece spends the least on health compared with other EU countries. Now another 572 million will be cut.

The unity of the ruling class is also visible in the governments war policy. While the budget was passed with the votes of the ruling party, an increased majority of 189 deputies voted in favor of the military budget, including Syriza. The government also announced the extension of the military service from 9 to 12 months starting this May and to increase the army to 133,000 soldiersan expansion of about 30 percent.

Domestically, the ruling class continues its authoritarian policies against the working class and is preparing for a storm of social opposition. Citizen Protection Minister Chrysochoidis, to whom the police report, and Education Minister Niki Kerameos have introduced a joint bill to establish a campus police force in universities. It would be empowered to make arrests, initiate proceedings and refer them to the prosecutors office. The police officers will not carry weapons but will carry batons and handcuffs. Their goal is to intimidate and persecute leftist students and student organizations. Chrysochoidis spoke of a minority in the universities spreading terror.

There is strong opposition to the new university policing law. On Thursday, students took to the streets in Athens and several other cities. Students are not criminals! was written on their banners. Teachers, parents and school students also participated. In Thessaloniki, riot police used batons and tear gas against the demonstrators.

The attacks on students are a serious warning, especially against the backdrop of Greek history. The fall of the military dictatorship, which ruled from 1967 to 1974 with US support, began with the uprising at the Athens Polytechnic University and was bloodily suppressed on November 17, 1973.

A Colorado-based dating app called MeetMindful has revealed it has been hacked and personal details of its users have been posted online.

The app, founded in Denver in 2014, warns its members that first names, emails and birthdays, as well as their 'body descriptions and dating preferences', had been leaked by a 'well-known hacker.

No financial information, personal photos, private messages, last names or full addresses were taken, the app's owners said in a statement.

The 1.2GB file of user's information, which also reportedly included marital status and location of users, were posted on a hacker's forum on January 20 by a user named ShinyHunters.

ZDNet reports that 2.28million users' details were leaked in the hack, although the figure has not been confirmed by MeetMindful.

Meanwhile, DatingScout finds that the app only had around 300,000 active users, mostly based in the US, while some previous users had complained that their base is 'tiny'.

Little-known dating app MeetMindful alerted users that their details had been hacked, but only basic information was leaked, including first name and emails

The app apologised to users and said no financial information was released. Whilst some media organisations claimed the app had more two million users, others claimed it had just 300,000

MeetMindful was founded in 2014 by Amy Baglan, who raised $2.7million investment before selling the company in April last year

In a statement MeetMindful said: 'We are deeply sorry that this has happened, and want to be as candid and transparent as possible about what occurred. A well-known hacker was able to exploit a now-closed vulnerability in our system, and was able to export an outdated version of a list of basic user information.'

They added that the incident only applied to users who had signed up to the site prior to March 2020.

MeetMindful was sold in April last year by founder Amy Baglan, after which many of its social media channels appeared to lie dormant, compared to other dating websites which reported increased use during the pandemic.

The hack reportedly exploited a vulnerability in one of the company's databases. It has since been fixed.

'We identified the vulnerability and immediately resolved it, as well as brought in additional development resources to ensure future safety', the company said.

MeetMindful claimed that the files were released on 'a well-known hacking forum', alongside Teespring, a company that was allegedly previously hacked after allowing users to create and sell 'Camp Auschwitz' and 'Rope. Tree. Journalist.' t-shirts.

MeetMindful added that 'no credit card or other payment information was viewed or released' and that 'no messages, profile answers, photos, favorites, user views, or any other personal information relating to matches, detailed match preferences, conversations, specific locations, etc. was accessed or released'.
Governor-General David Hurley tends to keep out of politics but he has broken with his usual reserve and called for change in the system for awarding honours on Australia Day.

The former chief of the Defence Force told the Herald he is concerned about the under-representation of women especially in the more prestigious categories of awards. We need to ensure we have a system thats sustainable, that attracts the nominations of women.

Analysis by the Herald has found that women accounted for only 31 per cent of honours since the system was established in 1975 to replace the old imperial honours.

Mr Hurley has also questioned the absence, since 2013, of any Indigenous Australians from the 19-person Council for the Order of Australia that culls the nominees and names a final list. He said it would be useful to appoint Indigenous people to the panel because they would add perspective.

The awards are supposed to recognise significant contribution to the life of Australia at the community, national and global levels.
Finally, the election season is over. The historic elections we saw in this cycle were intriguing. The runoff elections for the U.S. Senate in Georgia put a cap on the campaign season.

For many people this could be described as a COVID-19 election. I would argue that this was an election influenced by a pandemic but determined by the killing of unarmed black people with no adequate justice for the Black community. Losing a job and losing a life is not a fair exchange.

Remarkably, this is only the second time in modern history when the white vote went overwhelmingly to a presidential candidate that lost the election. The first time that happened was as a response to four years of President Barack Obama. This was done with a degree of frustration, mixed with pride to help a Black man who it was felt was not given a fair opportunity to be as successful as his abilities would warrant. The echoes of a white Republican leader boasting to make Obama a one-term president at the very start of his presidency underscored this perception for many. Blacks had to have Obamas back, which was encouraged by the Obama-Biden team that utilized this tactic during their reelection campaign.

The results were astounding on many levels. It was highlighted by a landslide loss of the white vote by 21 points and especially crushed by the vote of white males. Even more astounding was how the Black vote participation eclipsed the white vote participation percentage for the first time in Americas history. More that 1.7 million more Blacks voted in 2012 than 2008.

Blacks responded loudly and in an unprecedented manner and Obama was able to win a second term as President.

What followed was a rapid increase in the deaths of dozens of unarmed Black men by white police officers, which would parallel the resurgent deaths of unarmed Black people by white police officers that we see today. Even prior to the Senate race in Georgia, another unarmed black man was killed by a white police office, Andre Hall.

Note I said earlier that this was the first time to see this phenomenon in modern history. We saw it post-slavery during Reconstruction. It is quoted in Booker T. Washingtons autobiography, Up From Slavery, that back then Blacks would know who to vote for by listening to white people talk in the stores. Whomever the white man was for they would be against.

This did not work well for Black Americans, however. The killing of unarmed Black men by white people enforcing their form of law and order and justice resulted in more than 4,000 lynching and nearly no arrests. The acts of terrorism led to a reformation/migration of the Black population from the South.

So what did we witness this election cycle? Contrary to what the mainstream media was telling us prior to the election, white women supported Donald Trump and white men did so in a landslide. The white vote went overwhelmingly to Trump. Sounds familiar. But this time the reason for the occurrence was not so much due to Black pride, despite Kamala Harris being on the ticket. The reason was George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the many examples of similar incidents with no sign of meaningful, constructive change .

The wheels of justice can move slowly, if at all. For 87 percent of Black Americans, the trust in this vital institution is lacking. And when you can be shot seven times in the back and there is no indictment, that 87 percent can only increase.

The record Black vote in 2020 was a direct response. Blacks cannot control or influence the justice system despite the number of Black elected officials. Most Blacks recognize that tactics of the 1960s  protests and riots  can be ignored or met with punitive repercussions. Thus, the best immediate way to address this feeling of pain was to make others lose something they also valued  their political status.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have been given everything they have sought  House, Senate and White House. Let us pray that we can all work together as Americans to fix what is broken.

Gary A. Franks served three-terms as U.S. representative for Connecticuts 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years and New Englands first Black member of the House.
Robert Gohlman conceded it is very unusual and weird to engage in a sex act with a dog while a child is watching.

Yet, the Pennsylvania man also contended he shouldnt be serving a 1- to 3-year prison term for doing just that.

A state appeals court panel has disagreed.

In making that call, the Superior Court judges cited a Crawford County judges conclusion that Gohlman has something going on that needs to be addressed.

Robert Gohlman

Gohlman, 28, of Titusville, received his prison sentence in June 2019 after pleading guilty to a corruption of minors charge. Police said he had masturbated a dog in the presence of a child. He had no sentencing deal, Judge Jacqueline O. Shogan noted in the Superior Courts opinion.

On appeal, Gohlman claimed he was over-sentence for his crime. Gohlman contends that although the act of masturbating a dog in the presence of a minor is very unusual and weird, it does not warrant a state sentence, Shogan wrote in summing up his argument.

In reaching the opposite conclusion, Shogan cited the findings of county President Judge John F. Spataro, who imposed the sentence, that Gohlman was on probation for another offense when he was arrested for the incident with the dog. Spataro called the charge involving the canine disturbing. He said it showed there is a need for rehabilitation of (Gohlmans) thought processes.

Its hard to understand how any right- thinking person would do a thing like this under any circumstance let alone in the presence of a juvenile, Spataro wrote.

None of the judges accepted Gohlmans excuse that his crime has nothing to do with a minorjust a dog when I was drunk. Weve all done stupid stuff when we are drunk I just happened to do a stupid drunken bet.

Court records show Gohlman has other convictions on charges of corruption of minors, making false reports to police, harassment and simple assault.
Researchers at The University of Toledo have received a three-year funding award of $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Defense for a pre-clinical study of promising new chemotherapy aimed at triple negative breast cancer.

The treatment, which relies on a unique cell death pathway, could prove to be critical in overcoming the multidrug resistance that often characterizes and limits the therapy options for triple negative breast cancer.

"Triple negative breast cancer is perhaps the most aggressive, recurrent and difficult-to-treat breast cancer. Patients with residual, resistant tumors have a six times higher rate of distant recurrence and are 12 times more likely to die. Treatment options are limited and for many patients, the prognosis is extremely poor," said Dr. Amit K. Tiwari, an associate professor in the UToledo College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences who identified the therapy and is the principal investigator. "Drug discovery is a long road but we have come a significant distance already. We have found a molecule that is safe, effective and can overcome resistance to other therapeutics."

Most other chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells by apoptosis, a process that programs the cells to shrink and break down on multiple fault lines. The compound discovered by Tiwari instead causes cancer cells to swell and burst. When the cells rupture, they release markers that help activate the body's immune system to target and kill neighboring cancer cells more effectively.

"Our research has shown this drug is killing the cancer cells in multiple different ways," Tiwari said. "Even the most resistant cancer cells are responding."

Triple negative breast cancer accounts for roughly 15% to 20% of all breast cancer cases in the United States. Because the cancer cells present in this type of breast cancer don't share the receptors that many other forms of breast cancer have, it does not respond to hormonal therapies or therapies that target HER2 receptors.

While traditional chemotherapy may initially work, many patients soon develop resistance to those therapies, allowing the cancer to spread to distant organs unchecked. Tiwari's research has shown UToledo's drug appears to be able to treat triple negative breast cancer even in cases where the cancer cells have developed mutations in the apoptosis signaling pathway and thus resistance to conventional chemotherapy.

The UToledo team has already shown the drug works in animal models and human triple negative breast cancer cells in the lab. With the Department of Defense funding, researchers will seek to understand the chemical structures necessary to produce unique non-apoptotic cell death and optimize additional analogues of the lead molecule, continue to evaluate its action on patient-derived tumors and better understand the protein targets that induce cancer cell death.

Prior research suggests UToledo's compound acts on a protein in the mitochondria called Dynamin related protein 1, which is often highly expressed in triple negative breast cancer. Better understanding the mechanism as how targeting mitochondrial protein leads to unique cell death is one of the primary goals of the Department of Defense funding in order to advance the research to clinical trials in humans.

Uncovering new treatments for drug-resistant cancer is one of Tiwari's primary aims. He has devoted more than a decade to studying multidrug resistance in various types of cancers and finding innovative ways to overcome those challenges.

In 2018, Tiwari received nearly $450,000 in grant funding from Susan G. Komen Northwest Ohio to support drug development research. The data generated from that funding helped secure the larger Department of Defense funding.

"What we're doing in this drug resistance is extremely important. Very few people work in this area because of the complexity," Tiwari said. "Most of the molecules that are developed to target triple negative breast cancers are focused on early-stage cancers. I want my research to give patients hope that there may soon be treatments even at the later stage of the disease."

###

Tiwari's research is supported by the U.S. Department of Defense under the award number W81XWH-21-1-0053. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.
Rand Paul suggested he might boycott Trump's 'sham' impeachment because the former president is no longer in office.

In an op-ed for The Hill, titled 'boycott sham impeachment' the Republican senator wrote on Sunday: 'The first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019 was a witch hunt filled with fabricated charges, unsupported evidence and partisan rancor disguised as legal concern.'

Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of February 8. If Paul were to boycott the vote the Democrats would need the support of 16 GOP Senators to convict Trump.

Paul added: 'If we are to blame politicians for the most violent acts of their craziest supporters, then many of my colleagues would face some pretty harsh charges themselves.

'I've been shot at, assaulted and harassed by supporters of the left, including some who directly said the words of politicians moved them to this violence.

'I am more than willing to work with Democrats to find common ground on protecting civil liberties or ending some of our many foreign military interventions, but no unity or common ground will be found while Democrats continue to fight the last election.

'This so-called impeachment is a farce and should be dismissed before it is even allowed to begin.'

Rand Paul on Sunday suggested he might boycott Trump's 'sham' impeachment because the former president no longer in office. He had earlier appeared on ABC's This Week, pictured

Paul shared the piece Sunday, tweeting: 'I am more than willing to work with Democrats to find common ground on protecting civil liberties or ending some of our many foreign military interventions, but no unity or common ground will be found while Democrats continue to fight the last election.'

He had earlier appeared on ABC where he continued to refuse to admit the 2020 election was not stolen.

Trumps supporters invaded the Capitol and interrupted the electoral count as he falsely claimed there was massive fraud in the election and that it was stolen by Biden. Trumps claims were roundly rejected in the courts, including by judges appointed by Trump, and by state election officials.

Probed by George Stephanopoulos on the vote he said: 'There are two sides to every story.'

Host Stephanopoulos hit back: 'Sir, there are not two sides to this story. This has been looked in every single state.'

Paul replied: 'There are two sides to every story. George, you're forgetting who you are as a journalist if you think there's only one side. You're inserting yourself into the story to say I'm a liar.'

'There are not two sides to facts,' the ABC anchor said.

Paul said: 'I think there was great deal of evidence of fraud and changing of the election laws illegally. A thorough investigation is warranted.'

In an op-ed for The Hill , titled 'boycott sham impeachment' the Republican senator wrote: 'The first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019 was a witch hunt filled with fabricated charges, unsupported evidence and partisan rancor disguised as legal concern'

Trumps supporters invaded the Capitol and interrupted the electoral count as he falsely claimed there was massive fraud in the election and that it was stolen by Biden. Trumps claims were roundly rejected in the courts, including by judges appointed by Trump, and by state election officials

Rioters use a ladder to try and to enter Capitol building. They broke windows and breached the Capitol building in an attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 election

House Democrats will walk the impeachment charge of 'incitement of insurrection' to the Senate on Monday evening.

They are hoping that strong Republican denunciations of Trump after the January 6 riot will translate into a conviction and a separate vote to bar Trump from holding office again.

Several Republican senators who will serve as jurors in the trial are rallying to his legal defense, as they did during his first impeachment trial last year.

'I think the trial is stupid, I think its counterproductive,' said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.. He said that 'the first chance I get to vote to end this trial, Ill do it' because he believes it would be bad for the country and further inflame partisan divisions.

An early vote to dismiss the trial probably would not succeed, given that Democrats now control the Senate.

Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans to convict him.

Paul, right, had earlier appeared on ABC where he continued to refuse to admit the 2020 election was not stolen, saying: 'There are two sides to every story' 'There are not two sides to facts,' ABC anchor Stephanopoulos, left, hit back

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) (R) speaks at a rally for US President Donald J.Trump (L) at Goodyear Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 28 October 2020

When the House impeached Trump on January 13, exactly one week after the siege, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he did not believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he had left office.

On Sunday, Cotton said 'the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more theyre beginning to line up' behind that argument.

'I think a lot of Americans are going to think its strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,' Cotton said.

Democrats reject that argument, pointing to a 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and to opinions by many legal scholars.

They also say that a reckoning of the first invasion of the Capitol since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters egged on by a president who told them to 'fight like hell' against election results that were being counted at the time, is necessary so the country can move forward and ensure such a siege never happens again.

When the House impeached Trump on January 13, exactly one week after the siege, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pictured, said he did not believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he had left office. On Sunday, Cotton said 'the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more theyre beginning to line up' behind that argument

'I think the trial is stupid, I think its counterproductive,' said Sen. Marco Rubio, pictured

A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he believes there is a 'preponderance of opinion' that an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office.

'I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense,' Romney said. 'If not, what is?'

But Romney, the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump when the Senate acquitted the then-president in last years trial, appears to be an outlier.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he believes a trial is a 'moot point' after a president's term is over, 'and I think its one that they would have a very difficult time in trying to get done within the Senate.'

And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, had tweeted on Saturday: 'If it is a good idea to impeach and try former Presidents, what about former Democratic Presidents when Republicans get the majority in 2022? Think about it and lets do what is best for the country.'

On Friday, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally who has been helping him build a legal team, urged the Senate to reject the idea of a post-presidency trial - potentially with a vote to dismiss the charge - and suggested Republicans will scrutinize whether Trumps words on January 6 were legally 'incitement.'

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Democrats were sending a message that 'hatred and vitriol of Donald Trump is so strong' that they will hold a trial that stops Biden's policy priorities from moving.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., suggested Democrats are choosing 'vindictiveness' over national security as the new president tries to set up his administration.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said last week that Trump 'provoked' his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote or argued any legal strategies. The Kentucky senator has told his GOP colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said last week that Trump 'provoked' his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote or argued any legal strategies. The Kentucky senator, center, has told his GOP colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience

One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis nine impeachment managers said Trumps encouragement of his loyalists before the riot was 'an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime'

One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis nine impeachment managers said Trumps encouragement of his loyalists before the riot was 'an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime.'

'I think you will see that we will put together a case that is so compelling because the facts and the law reveal what this president did,' said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.

'I mean, think back. It was just two-and-a-half weeks ago that the president assembled a mob on the Ellipse of the White House. He incited them with his words. And then he lit the match.'

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes that evolving clarity on the details of what happened January 6 'will make it clearer to my colleagues and the American people that we need some accountability.'

Coons questioned how his colleagues who were in the Capitol that day could see the insurrection as anything other than a 'stunning violation' of the centuries-old tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

'It is a critical moment in American history and we have to look at it and look at it hard,' Coons said.

Rubio and Romney were on 'Fox News Sunday,' Cotton appeared on Fox News Channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures' and Romney also was on CNN's 'State of the Union,' as was Dean. Rounds was interviewed on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) speaks alongside a bipartisan group of Democrat and Republican members of Congress as they announce a proposal for a COVID-19 relief bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 14, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Bipartisan Group of Senators Challenges Bidens $1.9 Trillion Pandemic Stimulus Plan

A bipartisan group of 16 senators told the Biden administrations top CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus official Sunday that the administrations pandemic relief proposal does not focus enough on low-income families.

The senators set up a conference call, organized by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), with Jeff Zients, Bidens coronavirus coordinator, and Louisa Terrell, head of White House legislative affairs on Sunday afternoon. It was apparently the first dialogue between the centrist group and the Biden administration.

Manchin has been skeptical of the purpose of a third stimulus check and voiced opposition to a proposed $2,000 payment plan in early January.

How is the money that we invest now going to help us best to get jobs back and get people employed? And I cant tell you that sending another check out is gonna do that to a person thats already got a check, Manchin told CNN on Jan. 10.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), stressed that the relief should focus on lower-income workers, and questioned why Bidens proposal would provide relief to families with an income of over $300,000.

I was the first to raise that issue, but there seemed to be a lot of agreement  that those payments need to be more targeted, I would say that it was not clear to me how the administration came up with its $1.9 trillion figure for the package, Collins told Politico.

Biden administration proposed a $1.9 trillion package, including a one-time payment of $1,400 Americans, a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, an extension of unemployment benefits through September, $20 billion for vaccine distribution enhancement, an Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit extension, and $350 billion in extra funding for state and local governments.

Collins stated that the grand total concerns her and her bipartisan group, which played a pivotal role in passing the $900 billion package bill in December. Collins suggested that the administration work with Congress in a bipartisan way to move forward quickly.

Politico reported that Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) also questioned the lump-sum. This isnt monopoly money, he said, adding that the administration faces a fundamental question: if they want to work on the negotiation of a bipartisan proposal or do they want to try to move the larger package through reconciliation.

Bidens proposal will likely fail to pass the Senate due to the 60-vote threshold needed if they dont change the purpose significantly. Democrats could circumvent the 60-v0te threshold and pass the bill in the Senate with a simple majority by employing the budget reconciliation process and using Vice President Kamala Harris to break any tie. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that we are not going to take any tools off the table.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Federal law enforcement officials are examining a number of threats aimed at members of Congress as the second trial of former President Donald Trump nears, including ominous chatter about killing legislators or attacking them outside of the U.S. Capitol, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

The threats, and concerns that armed protesters could return to sack the Capitol anew, have prompted the U.S. Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement to insist thousands of National Guard troops remain in Washington as the Senate moves forward with plans for Trump's trial, the official said.

The shocking insurrection at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob prompted federal officials to rethink security in and around its landmarks, resulting in an unprecedented lockdown for Biden's inauguration. Though the event went off without any problems and armed protests around the country did not materialize, the threats to lawmakers ahead of Trump's trial exemplified the continued potential for danger.

Similar to those intercepted by investigators ahead of Bidens inauguration, the threats that law enforcement agents are tracking vary in specificity and credibility, said the official, who had been briefed on the matter. Mainly posted online and in chat groups, the messages have included plots to attack members of Congress during travel to and from the Capitol complex during the trial, according to the official.

The official was not authorized to not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Law enforcement officials are already starting to plan for the possibility of armed protesters returning to the nation's capital when Trumps Senate trial on a charge of inciting a violent insurrection begins the week of Feb. 8. It would be the first impeachment trial of a former U.S. president.

Thousands of Trumps supporters descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress met to certify Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential race. More than 800 are believed to have made their way into the Capitol during the violent siege, pushing past overwhelmed police officers. The Capitol police said they planned for a free speech protest, not a riot, and were caught off-guard despite intelligence the rally would descend into a riot. Five people died in the melee, including a Capitol police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.

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Though much of the security apparatus around Washington set up after the riot and ahead of Bidens inauguration  it included scores of military checkpoints and hundreds of additional law enforcement personnel  is no longer in place, about 7,000 members of the National Guard will remain to assist federal law enforcement, officials said.

The Guard Bureau said that the number of Guard members in D.C. is less than 20,000 as of Sunday. All but about 7,000 of those will go home in the coming days. The Guard Bureau said that the number of troops in D.C. would then continue to decline in the coming weeks to about 5,000. They are expected to stay in D.C. until mid-March.

At least five people facing federal charges have suggested they believed they were taking orders from Trump when they marched on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 to challenge the certification of Bidens election victory. But now those comments, captured in interviews with reporters and federal agents, are likely to take center stage as Democrats lay out their case.

More than 130 people have been charged by federal prosecutors for their roles in the riot. In recent weeks, others have been arrested after posting threats against members of Congress.

They include a Proud Boys supporter who authorities said threatened to deploy three cars full of armed patriots to Washington, threatened harm against Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and who is accused of stockpiling military-style combat knives and more than 1,000 rifle rounds in his New York home. A Texas man was arrested this week for taking part in the riot at the Capitol and for posting violent threats, including a call to assassinate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
What we saw this morning was a different kind of evil, Randal Taylor, the citys police chief, said. There are no right words to say at this time. I myself am heartbroken for the lives that have been taken too soon, for the young life thats forever been changed and for the young life that never got a chance to start, for the neighborhood left to pick up the pieces in the wake of unprecedented violence and for all of the family and friends that have been rocked by grief.

The police said that just before 4 a.m. they received a report of a person shot in the northeastern part of Indianapolis. When officers arrived, they found the person, a male juvenile, who had sustained gunshot wounds.

Officers later received information that led them to a nearby home in the 3500 block of Adams Street, where, the police said, they found the five people shot to death.

It was not immediately clear why the victims, at least four of whom shared the same surname, were targeted.

Chief Taylor said that the shooting seemed to be an isolated event, and that there did not appear to be a threat to the public.

The mayor vowed to bring to justice those responsible for the shooting, along with anyone who might have provided the guns used in the attack and anyone who abetted the killers. Mr. Hogsett said that he had already engaged the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Indiana and other law enforcement partners.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has awarded a contract for procurement and fabrication of 28 steel bridges to L&T-IHI Infrastructure Systems consortium worth Rs 1,390 crore for crossing over railway lines, rivers, highways, roads and other structures for the ambitious 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor, officials said on Monday.

An NHSRCL official in a statement said that the contract worth Rs 1,390 crore has been awarded to Larson & Toubro - IHI Infrastructure Systems (consortium), which is a consortium between Indian and Japanese companies.

The official said that it is estimated that about 70,000 MT of steel will be used for the fabrication of these steel bridges and Indian steel industries and their allied supply chains will get a big boost.

Indian steel manufactures will be providing quality steel for the fabrication of super structures for these steel bridges. NHSRCL has already sensitised the Indian steel industries to cater to such a huge demand for India's first high speed rail corridor.

In December last year, a total of eight bidders had participated in the bid and only four qualified after technical evaluation. Among the four bidders were Tata Projects Ltd, Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, NCC Ltd and L&T-IHI Infrastructure Systems Consortium.

The NHSRCL has already awarded civil contracts for the construction of 64 per cent of MAHSR alignment which includes five HSR stations at Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch, Anand/Nadiad, train depot at Surat and one mountain tunnel of 350 metres.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe had on September 14, 2017 laid the foundation stone for the ambitious Rs 1.08 lakh crore ($17 billion) project.

The initial deadline to complete the project is December 2023. The bullet trains are expected to run at 320 km 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.
A year ago, Bernie Sanders was powering toward a victory in the New Hampshire primary and confident he would take the nomination that Hillary Clinton had denied him in 2016.

Then establishment Democrats decided that if Sanders were the nominee his radical reputation would cost him the election to Donald Trump.

In late February, Joe Biden proved he could win minority votes by taking the crucial South Carolina primary. And, in the space of one week, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Beto ORourke, Michael Bloomberg, and Kamala Harris all endorsed Biden. The coronavirus then hit, froze the nomination race in place, and made Biden the nominee.

Youd think Bernie would be bitter that at age 79 hes had his last shot at being president, and indeed much fun was made at Bidens inauguration of a photo that went viral showing a grouchy-looking Sanders wearing mittens.

But his fellow senators tell me that Sanders is in as close to a good mood as he can get right now. Appearing on CNNs State of the Union, Sanders praised Bidens first week in office as a good start. As the incoming Senate Budget Committee chairman, he has charted a path that will allow a torrent of federal spending and significant tax hikes to become law even though Democrats face a 50-to-50 tie in the Senate.

In 2017, after President Trump took office, his allies in Congress used an expedited procedure known as budget-reconciliation that requires only a simple majority  instead of a filibuster-proof 60 votes  to change taxes, adjust mandatory spending, and make some changes in Obamacare.

You did it, were going to do it, Sanders taunted Republicans on CNN. But were going do it to protect ordinary people, not just the rich and the powerful.

CNNs Dana Bash pointed out that Sanders had bitterly attacked Republicans for using the reconciliation tactic to lower the number of votes needed on major legislation.

Yes, I did criticize them for that, Sanders acknowledged. But, using a classic variation of the argument that the ends justify the means, he said not using it now would mean that Americans would wait weeks and weeks and months and months to go forward, and the American people are hurting, and they want us to act.

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Reconciliation rules mean that any spending on mandatory programs, as well as new taxes, can pass with only 51 votes. So look for Biden and Sanders to stuff the COVID-19 emergency package with spending on things such as Medicare, Medicaid, and expanded eligibility for Obamacare. Watch for them to play budget tricks such as reclassifying as much discretionary spending as possible as mandatory spending  by, for example, creating mandatory federal trust funds that would then reimburse states for certain spending.

Just last spring, Bernie Sanders was a two-time loser for the Democratic presidential nomination. His refusal to knuckle under to the establishment of his party had made him a pariah with major donors. But Sanders, a radical socialist since his teens, never allowed himself to become discouraged. He negotiated an agreement with Biden that moved the former vice president to the left on key issues in exchange for his endorsement. After the election, he partnered with some Republican senators to dramatically increase the direct payments to Americans in the pandemic relief bill. The split that created in Republican ranks may have indirectly led to the two Democratic wins in the Georgia Senate race. Those wins in turn gave Democrats their Senate majority and made Sanders the chairman of the Budget Committee.

Now, while Joe Biden is the new president, its Bernie Sanders and his allies who will often be in the drivers seat making policy. Were going to push Joe  the president  as far as we can, Sanders told CNN.

Wherever that ends up being, it will move this country further to the left than most people thought possible a year ago. Bernie Sanders is proof that if youre persistent enough, you dont have to be elected president to be in a position to accomplish your goals.

More from National Review
The victim, a 20-year-old woman, was walking toward her car in the parking lot of Popeyes in the 600 block of Lake Street shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, when she was approached by three men, two of whom had guns out, prosecutors said. The men threatened to kill the woman unless she surrendered her cellphone, cash and car keys, which she did, and the men drove off in her car at high speed, prosecutors said.
Normal People star Paul Mescal has insisted 'there wasn't a huge amount of acting going on' during his sex scenes with co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones.

The actor, 24, shot to fame last year alongside Daisy, 22, in the BBC drama, about two young lovers - gaining particular attention for their intimate, realistic sex scenes.

'You know when you have "it",' he told The Telegraph of having chemistry with his scene partner. 'I knew when I was with Daisy that it felt natural, that there wasn't a huge amount of "acting" going on.

Chemistry: Normal People star Paul Mescal has insisted 'there wasn't a huge amount of acting going on' during his sex scenes with co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones

'It's a totally separate thing [to attraction] . At that point I'd known Daisy for all of four minutes, so really it's an innate feeling between two people.'

Gushing about his co-star, Paul added: 'When you have that chemistry it makes it so much fun! Daisy and I liked each other very much. So that's probably the root of it: having a similar sense of humour, thinking about the world in a relatively similar way and being able to communicate all that.'

The young star added that he is 'exhausted' by the hoopla that can come with notable sex scenes in film and TV.

'Sex scenes are always treated in this weird way, so it's either all under the covers or you have to have music over the top because people can't deal with heavy breathing  and that's nonsense.

Intimate: The actor, 24, shot to fame last year alongside Daisy, 22, in the BBC drama, about two young lovers - gaining particular attention for their intimate, realistic sex scenes

Breakout role: Paul's career has gone from strength to strength since debuting as Connell Waldron in Normal People in April last year

He added of the fact that both he and Daisy's bodies were on full show during the 12-part drama, that Normal People was about 'tenderness' and it was authentic for the show for the couple to both be nude.

Paul is currently in Australia, filming his next project, a movie titled Carmen, and was spotted wearing next to nothing on set last week.

He stripped down to his boxer shorts as he shot scenes for the movie adaptation of the opera of the same name, on Maroubra Beach near Sydney.

The actor  who is playing the male lead of Aidan, after replacing Fifty Shades star Jamie Dornan  held hands with his co-star Melissa Barrera during the flirtatious scene. She plays Carmen.

Gushing about his co-star, Paul added: 'When you have that chemistry it makes it so much fun! Daisy and I liked each other very much'

Carmen is filmmaker Benjamin Millepied's feature directorial debut, and is an adaptation of the beloved opera.

Frenchman Benjamin, who is married to Israeli-born actress Natalie Portman and arrived in Australia in November, previously shared his excitement at having cast Paul and Melissa in the roles.

'I feel so lucky to have actors as extraordinary as Melissa, Paul and Rossy (Rossy de Palma) with me on this film,' he said in an official statement.

'Melissa is so intelligent and intuitive, both as an actor and as a mover. I know she will bring depths to Carmen I could not even imagine.

'Paul has so much nuance and consideration in his work. I am thrilled to have them bring this romance to life.'

He said: 'Sex scenes are always treated in this weird way, so it's either all under the covers or you have to have music over the top because people can't deal with heavy breathing  and that's nonsense'

Next gig: Paul is currently in Australia, filming his next project, a movie titled Carmen, and was spotted wearing next to nothing on set last week with his co-star Melissa Barrera

While Carmen is set in Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don Jose, who is seduced by Carmen, this adaptation will follow a Mexican woman's search for freedom in Los Angeles, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Filming, which was originally slated to occur in Mexico and Los Angeles, will reportedly continue in Broken Hill, New South Wales.

Paul's career has gone from strength to strength since debuting as Connell Waldron in Normal People in April last year.

He has since featured in drama The Deceived and will star in The Lost Daughter, opposite Dakota Johnson and Olivia Colman.

Paul's work as a lovelorn student on Normal People also won him a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie at the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Normal People is available to stream on Stan in Australia
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson on Monday said the proposal to criminalize red-tagging must be given "serious consideration" following the recent controversies between the military and several universities in the country.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines apologized on Sunday to alumni of the University of the Philippines who were included in a list of alleged New People's Army recruits. The AFP admitted inconsistencies with regard to the published list, which has since been taken down after widespread backlash.

That becomes now a serious consideration kasi just imagine, kung hindi lumabas ito at nasa record pala ng military yung mga taong sinasabing NPA na hindi naman pala NPA  delikado 'yon di ba? Lacson told CNN Philippines The Source when asked if he would consider the proposal.

[Translation: That becomes now a serious consideration, because just imagine, if the list was publicized and it was on the militarys record that these individuals were part of the NPA, but they werent really NPA, its dangerous, right?]

It could have been disastrous on the part of these people and even the military for that matter kasi troops on the ground would rely on the decision being made in headquarters, based on intelligence information that theyve gathered, he added.

While Lacson welcomed the militarys public apology, he still questioned how the false information got posted.

Itong pangyayaring ito (this event), it doesnt even necessitate intelligence information gathering," Lacson argued. "A little intelligence and more prudence. I really cannot find an explanation why the military would insist or would post such an irresponsible information based on false information.

The AFP earlier assured an internal probe is underway to determine how the list got published. It added personnel involved will be held accountable.

RELATED: Lacson calls on Lorenzana to suspend termination of UP-DND accord amid red-tagging controversies

In light of the issue, Lacson admitted to having second thoughts on the Senate committees draft report on the concluded hearings on red-tagging, saying he might need to review it again and even ask the military to submit additional, validated documents to prove their previous claims.

We would have to go back and ask the military either by way of another committee hearing or just ask them to submit validated reports on the personalities, which they claimed during the committee hearings that we conducted, were killed and they were actually students of the universities mentioned by Gen. Parlade, Lacson said.

Aside from UP, other major universities in the metro  the Ateneo de Manila University, the De La Salle University, the University of Santo Tomas, and the Far Eastern University  also denounced an earlier statement by a military official that some institutions in the country have been hotbeds of communist recruitment.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine plans to open new diplomatic missions in Africa this year and strengthen personnel resource, including with a focus on the economy.

As Deputy Foreign Minister (CDTO) Dmytro Senik noted, Ukraines Foreign Ministry is planning a number of events and business missions to African countries to promote Ukraines exports as soon as post-pandemic conditions allow.

"We are currently discussing with domestic business a preliminary study of opportunities and analysis of countries to determine the strategy for Ukrainian products to enter the African continent markets. We already have stable systemic business relations with North Africa countries, and in this case, we place special emphasis on the so-called sub-Saharan Africa, where we plan to intensify Ukrainian exports," Senik said.

According to him, as the African continent is developing very dynamically, Ukraine can play an important role in ensuring food security of these countries, participate in infrastructure and industrial projects, as well as offer our educational programs to African partners.

Commenting on the potential competition with Russia for African markets, the deputy minister noted that it is possible in various areas from food to engineering and shipbuilding, from agriculture to technology.

"But, unlike Russia, which is trying to restore its Soviet-imperial influence in the region, our task is to rebuild mutually beneficial partnerships with African countries, to show ourselves to a reliable partner for these countries... We do not have ambassadors in all countries but we plan to strengthen our diplomatic presence in Africa this year. We hope to open new diplomatic missions and strengthen personnel resource, including with a focus on the economy," he said.

Senik also stressed that an important component of Ukraines expansion to the continent is the maximum automation of processes in embassies in Africa.

In this context, he said that the Foreign Ministry plans to digitize most services, especially consular ones.

"First, it will promote Ukraine as an advanced IT country. Second, it will minimize any possible corruption component," Senik said.

l
Paxton, IL (60957)

Today

Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Thunder possible. Low 42F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Thunder possible. Low 42F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
WASHINGTON  Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump, alleging defamation over his repeated complaints about the reliability of voting machines in the 2020 election.

The 107-page lawsuit alleges that Giuliani made more than 50 statements disparaging the companys equipment in speeches, on Twitter and on podcasts.

Although he was unwilling to make false election fraud claims about Dominion and its voting machines in a court of law because he knew those allegations are false, he and his allies manufactured and disseminated the Big Lie, which foreseeably went viral and deceived millions of people into believing that Dominion had stolen their votes and fixed the election, the lawsuit said.

Election lawsuits: Trump, allies filed 62 lawsuits; 61 failed

Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, lawyers for President Donald Trump, unsuccessfully challenged the results of the presidential election last year.

Giulianis statements are defamatory, the lawsuit said. They have exposed Dominion to the most extreme hatred and contempt.

Giuliani said in a statement that the lawsuit will allow him to investigate the company's history, finances and practices. He threatened a countersuit alleging violation of his constitutional right to free speech.

"The amount being asked for is, quite obviously, intended to frighten people of faint heart," Giuliani said. "It is another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously."

Courts rejected scores of complaints about the election. Then-Attorney General William Barr dismissed an assertion Dec. 1 that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results by saying the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security havent found anything to substantiate that.

The lawsuit was accompanied by scores of exhibits listing Giulianis accusations against the company it says are unfounded  such as fixing elections in Venezuela  in messages spread to millions of Trump followers on Twitter and in tens of thousands of retweets.

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The lawsuit alleged that Giuliani sought $20,000 per day for his efforts.

This month, the company sued another Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell, for $1.3 billion, alleging defamation.

Giuliani defended his efforts during a speech at the Trump rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before the Capitol riot.

Lets have trial by combat, Giuliani said. Im willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation, on the fact that were going to find criminality there.

The New York State Bar Association may boot Giuliani from its membership over his speech.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dominion Voting sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3B alleging defamation
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Its disappointing to learn that Winnipeg city council is hesitating when given an opportunity for greater accountability and transparency.

Editorial

Its disappointing to learn that Winnipeg city council is hesitating when given an opportunity for greater accountability and transparency.

Council has been testing an electronic voting system at its executive policy committee since September. Initial plans were to have the system begin being used at council meetings on Jan. 28. Instead, a motion will come before council that day that calls for full council approval before the system can be implemented.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman

Many Canadian municipalities, including Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, already use electronic voting systems at council meetings. Winnipeg ought to follow suit.

The way Winnipeg councillors vote now on bylaws, resolutions and motions is as old as democracy itself: "yea" to vote in favour; "nay" to vote against. The majority decides councils ruling.

The votes of Winnipegs individual councillors are not always tallied for each vote, however. Recorded votes occur only when a councillor requests one, forcing each councillors vote to be put on the record following a stand-up vote for or against a motion before council. Without a recorded vote, council minutes note that a motion was either carried or defeated, without any other details.

"The key thing for me is that the default (currently) is not for votes to be identifiable. It doesnt allow (media) or members of the public to know how members of council, including myself, have voted on specific matters," Mayor Brian Bowman said earlier this month.

With the electronic voting system the city is testing, every councillors vote is recorded and included in the minutes, regardless of whether it relates to building a new street or a potentially contentious issue such as a city budget or a rezoning bylaw.

Council Speaker Devi Sharma says the present system is more effective because displaying a screen of results could be more difficult for some people to interpret, especially those whose first language isnt English.

Mr. Bowman says the new system would provide greater accountability. Recording every vote would offer an opportunity to follow each councillors voting patterns, which would provide voters with more information about decisions their elected representatives make.

As the old saying goes, a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite for democracy.

Technological advances over the years have made governments in Canada more transparent and our politicians more accountable. Television cameras were introduced to the House of Commons in 1977, providing Canadians a view of the proceedings  which can range from reverent to rude  and changing the way the public views and understands federal politics and politicians.

City council business, and the votes required to drive it forward, are unique among legislative processes because unlike in Parliament or provincial legislatures, party politics are not a prominent guiding factor in the way elected officials vote. As a result, there is more to be revealed by voting patterns about individual councillors intentions than would be the case on Broadway or in Ottawa, where adherence to party discipline is near-absolute.

Winnipeg has been providing live video of council and committee meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic so those interested can safely view the proceedings while the visitors gallery is closed. Those who wish to offer submissions to council or committees are able to do so thanks to video-conferencing apps.

The logical next step for the city to make council proceedings more accessible to the public is for accurate recording of all votes via an electronic voting system. Councillors would very likely find citizens will give them a resounding "yea" for adopting a more transparent process for recording the decisions they make.
Jennifer Bryndal with Engel & Volkers St. Augustine represents record-breaking sale of 176 Spartina Ave for $1,600,000 Now, more than ever, it is important to list smart and make sure your home is marketed correctly. Engel & Volkers global reach and superior marketing capabilities kept 176 Spartina Ave top of mind...

Engel & Volkers Florida today announced the record breaking sale of 176 Spartina Ave. Jennifer Bryndal, License Partner of Engel & Volkers St. Augustine, held the listing, which was contracted for sale after a mere 14 days on the market. At $1,600,000, the sale marks the highest price per square foot transaction for a non-waterfront home in Pelican Reef.

St. Augustine's real estate market is the strongest it's been in years, said Bryndal. Our inventory has reached an all time low. Many of the buyers are from out-of-state, and are willing to pay a premium for move-in ready homes, rather than a home that requires updates or repairs.

The notable transaction represents the highest price per square-foot transaction for a non-waterfront home, as well as the highest price per square-foot in Pelican Reef in the last two years. The sale was also the highest price per square-foot single-family home on a single lot that was not waterfront property sold in St. Johns County in 2020. According to Zillow, this home is valued 326-percent higher than the typical home in the same zip code. Home values in Pelican Reef have gone up nearly 5-percent over the past twelve months and Zillow predicts that home values will continue to increase an additional 10-percent within the next year. The 14-day active market period is a testament to the standard of excellence displayed by the Engel & Volkers professional global network, especially when compared to the market average day on market of 92 days.

The buyers of 176 Spartina Ave searched the Florida coastline from Jacksonville to Daytona before making their purchase, said Bryndal. "Most nonresident buyers have the luxury of searching much larger areas before making a decision. As we continue to see this trend, sellers should expect that their homes are not just in competition with other listings in St. Augustine, but potentially the entire state.

The 3,984 square-foot home features four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and immediate access to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, an oasis for both nature lovers and boaters alike. This stunning home is designed to let the outdoors in with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and doors that overlook the famous Bridge of Lions and an expansive outdoor living area for easy entertaining. The owners suite offers serenity and escape in the form of a private deck with views of Floridas lush marshes.

Its wise to meet with a few qualified agents to better understand the market and how to properly position your home to net the highest return, said Bryndal. Before marketing a home, I usually advise my clients on paint colors, repairs and staging in order to appeal to the largest buyer pool. Now, more than ever, it is important to list smart and make sure your home is marketed correctly. Engel & Volkers global reach and superior marketing capabilities kept 176 Spartina Ave top of mind for these buyers as they continued to look at homes in other areas.

Pelican Reef is a prestigious community located on Anastasia Island between historic downtown St Augustine and St. Augustine Beach on the Intracoastal Waterway. Several of the homes in Pelican Reef are along the waterfront and have stunning views of downtown, while others have wonderful views of the marsh. The gated community offers residents a community pier and marina.

Bryndal came to Engel & Volkers in 2019 when she secured the franchise rights to the St. Augustine territory. With over 15-years of industry experience at the time, she was the top-producing agent at Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Florida Network Realty-St. Augustine, transacting over 20-million-dollars annually. She also enjoyed success as a top producer at Coldwell Banker Premier Properties. Prior, Bryndal got her start at Prudential American Group in Las Vegas where she trained directly with CEO, Mark Stark.

###

Press contact:

Linzee Werkmeister, Junior Vice President, Marketing & Franchise Support

Email: Linzee.Werkmeister(at)evrealestate.com

Tel: (239) 348-9000

About Engel & Volkers:

Engel & Volkers is a global luxury real estate brand. Founded in Hamburg, Germany in 1977, Engel & Volkers draws on its rich European history to deliver a fresh approach to luxury real estate in the Americas with a focus on creating a bespoke, white-glove concierge client experience at every stage of the home buying or selling process for todays savvy homeowner. Engel & Volkers currently operates approximately 225 shop locations with more than 4,000 real estate advisors in the Americas, contributing to the brands global network of over 13,000 real estate professionals in more than 34 countries, offering both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services, including real estate, yachting and aviation. Committed to exceptional service, Engel & Volkers supports its advisors with an array of premium quality business services; marketing programs and platforms; as well as access to its global network of real estate professionals, property listings and market data. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated. For more information, visit evrealestate.com.

About Engel & Volkers Florida:

Engel & Volkers Florida is the Master License Partner of the global luxury real estate brand Engel & Volkers in the state of Florida. Recognized for uniquely recruiting, training and equipping some of the top professionals in the real estate industry, Engel & Volkers Floridas exclusive franchise model positions its license partners at the top of the premium market to gain market share and support their bottom line. The company represents franchise locations in: 30A Beaches, Amelia Island, Belleair, Boca Raton, Bonita Springs-Estero, Cape Coral, Clermont, Delray Beach, Destin, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers Downtown, Gainesville, Islamorada, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Jupiter, Madeira Beach, Marco Island, Melbourne Beachside, Melbourne Central, Melbourne Downtown, Miami Coconut Grove, Olde Naples, Orlando Downtown, Orlando-Winter Park, Palm Beach, Palm Coast, South Tampa, St. Augustine, St. Pete, St. Pete Beach, Stuart, Wellington, and Windermere.

Engel & Volkers Florida is continuing to strategically strengthen and expand its presence in premium real estate markets across the state of Florida. If you would like to know more about the Engel & Volkers brand or how to join its global networkwhich is known for demonstrating competence, exclusivity and passion, feel free to call our corporate office, located at 633 Tamiami Trl N, Suite 201, Naples, FL 34102 USA. Tel: +1 239-348-9000.

For more information about Engel & Volkers Florida, please visit florida.evrealestate.com
Buffalo, N.Y.  The spread of Covid-19 has slowed enough in New York that Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to ease the extra restrictions some parts of the state have been living under for months.

Cuomo said today he expects to announce changes to the states Covid cluster zones soon. It would be the first update to the cluster zones in weeks.

Hospitalizations, new cases and the statewide percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus are all improving, Cuomo said during a press conference in Buffalo. The state did indeed see a spike during the holiday season, but the surge appears to be slowing.

Projections from experts show new cases in New York are expected to drop, Cuomo added.

I think were at a new place now, he said. And we can start to adjust that valve and start to open up more economic activity and reduce some of the restrictions.

Cuomo didnt give further details on what type of restrictions he might loosen or what cluster zones might be eliminated or changed. The state Health Department is reviewing data on the zones now and Cuomo said expects to have announcements in the coming days.

Any changes are likely to take place statewide, he said.

Cuomo did say today that elective surgeries can restart in Erie County. They had been on hold.

We believe that we are at the end of the holiday spike period, he said. We are at a period of time where we believe those adjustments are sound.

Hospitalizations due to the virus totaled 8,730 on Sunday. Thats up 117 from the previous day, but down from over 9,000 earlier this month.

The statewide positive test rate for the virus was down to 5.47% yesterday. The rate was over 8% at points earlier in January.

The state launched the cluster zone strategy in the fall. It includes three levels of restrictions  yellow, orange and red  meant to slow the virus in areas seeing spikes.

Since November, most of Syracuse and portions of some close suburbs have been locked in an orange zone. Other parts of Onondaga County have been living under yellow zone restrictions.

Other orange and yellow zones are located in the Buffalo and Rochester areas.

Previously, orange zones banned gyms, hair salons and barbers from opening at all. Schools in orange zones were initially required to switch to remote learning and restaurants were barred from offering indoor dining.

But the state has slowly been tweaking the rules. It first allowed schools to resume in-person learning with extra testing and then allowed gyms, barbers and salons to open.

Earlier this month, orange zone restaurants everywhere, except New York City, were allowed to restart indoor dining, at least temporarily. The state gave permission for the restart after a judge ruled in favor of restaurants that sued over the matter in Erie County.

State officials had said previously they were reviewing the ruling and an appeal seemed likely. But if Cuomo eliminates or alters the zones, the dispute could become moot.

Restaurants in yellow and orange zones are still limited to a maximum of four people per table, down from 10. The zones also include restrictions on gatherings and houses of worship.

Restaurants in the Onondaga County orange zone pushed hard for the indoor dining restart. They got support from Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and County Executive Ryan McMahon.

Cuomo himself acknowledged earlier this month that the cluster zones are problematic because people can simply drive a few miles outside them to avoid the extra restrictions.

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources

CNY hospitals feared chaos if flu and Covid-19 hit together. So far, thats not happening

How bad have Syracuse restaurant workers been hammered? New job numbers tell grim story

Winter high school sports in New York are a go. So whats next?

Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598

We are thrilled to have Eric on board and for him to add his diverse experience to our team in a meaningful way.

SQUAN, an industry leader specializing in telecommunications design/build services for network infrastructure, announced today the appointment of Eric Lord as its new Northeast Regional Director, Business Development. As part of SQUANs expansion strategy, Eric will provide support by adding to the companys existing client portfolio, developing new business opportunities, and strengthening business alliances. The appointment is in sync with the companys efforts to accelerate business growth.

In Erics new role at SQUAN, his primary responsibilities include supporting ongoing business development initiatives, managing incoming RFPs, collaborating across multiple departments, pursuing new and managing existing client relationships as well as assisting in marketing initiatives. Highly experienced in his field, Eric has garnered a wealth of industry knowledge from his past professional experiences that he will leverage in this new role aiding SQUANs growth and expansion prospective.

Eric brings over 15 years of sales leadership experience in domestic and international markets including wireless telecom, utilities, government, industrial and renewable energy. Prior to joining SQUAN, his roles included Business Development Manager at Flash Technology since 2013 where he played a central role in developing and growing clients and successfully introducing several new turnkey service programs to both the telecom and utility markets. In addition to that, he managed Sales Operations in the North America Region during his time at SuperPower Inc.

Erics drive for excellence with client relations, leadership skills, and excellent understanding of the industry has served as the stepping-stones for further growth in his career, said SQUAN CSO and EVP Keith Pennachio. We are thrilled to have Eric on board and for him to add his diverse experience to our team in a meaningful way.

In addition to his role with SQUAN, Eric will continue to serve on the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) Tradeshow Committee and remain active in state wireless associations throughout the region. Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rochester as well as a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A), Business Strategy from Sage Graduate School, New York.

About SQUAN

SQUAN combines its unique and in-depth knowledge of network engineering and fiber construction to solve complex and evolving telecommunications problems around macro networks, small-cell, DAS, 5G, IoT and smart cities for wireless, wireline and enterprise customers. SQUAN is focused on the evolution of communications networks of all types and how new technologies are changing the landscape of infrastructure. SQUAN provides design/build and advisory services for backhaul, small-cells, C-RAN, fiber, Right-of-Way, technical installs and maintenance. For more information visit: http://www.squan.com, or contact SQUANs Head of Strategy, Keith Pennachio at kpennachio(at)squan(dot)com.

Products, service names, and company logos mentioned herein may be the registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.


President Michael D Higgins and Holocaust survivors Suzi Diamond and Tomi Reichental at last years memorial event in the Mansion House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Taoiseach Micheal Martin warned that Ireland and the world must use education and anti-hate laws as strategic tools to fight extremism, racism and antisemitism.

The warning came as the Taoiseach delivered the keynote address at Irelands Holocaust Memorial Day.

Organisers stressed that the commemoration was now more important than ever given the rise in far right groups across the world, soaring levels of misinformation and hate speech as well as an alarming surge in antisemitism. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was staged virtually.

The ceremony annually remembers the six million Jewish people and millions of other victims who were murdered due to their ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliations or religious beliefs during World War II.

Holocaust survivors and Irish residents Tomi Reichental and Suzi Diamond offered personal recollections of the Holocaust.

Read More

Education is an important tool in deepening our understanding of the Holocaust and in fighting against racism and antisemitism, Mr Martin said.

We are (also) currently working on a number of measures across all areas of Government designed to address hatred and intolerance in Ireland.

The purpose of this work is to ensure that we can identify how Irelands law in this area can be improved, based on a clear understanding of the experiences of those impacted, while remaining in harmony with the very important right to free expression.

In June 2020, the Government also appointed an anti-racism committee with a mandate to develop a new National Action Plan against Racism.

He said a core element of this work will be to promote the inclusion of minority groups in Irish society.

There are other examples of how we are fighting antisemitism and racism  and this is a fight that will need to be sustained with energy and application into the future as new technologies and ever-evolving platforms provide new opportunities for old prejudice and hate.

He slated anti-semitism and racism as an ugly scourge.

Holocaust Education Trust Ireland (HETI) Chairman Prof Thomas ODowd said the event was more important than ever given alarming world events.

Today, we are experiencing a surge in misinformation, an increase in antisemitism and a prevalence of Holocaust denial and distortion, he said.

Tomi Reichental survived the notorious Bergen-Belsen camp and later settled in Ireland.

What we saw was hell on earth, he warned. Jonathan Philips (66) had his fathers entire family fall victim to the Holocaust. His father, Geoffrey (Gunther), fled to the UK as a child after Kristallnacht in 1938 and almost his entire family were murdered in a concentration camp.

My father was very hesitant to talk about his experience while we were growing up. After his death we found about a hundred odd pages of his account handwritten which I regret not knowing more about before.

New Yorker Kayla Hertz (28) knows survivors and has been living in Dublin since 2014.

Its up to people like myself who have this direct experience to keep their stories alive.
An Alabama businessman pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme that cost his partners and investors half-a-million dollars in losses, Peter D. Leary, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said in a news release.

Matthew Hinkle, 49, of Dadeville, Ala., pleaded guilty to one count wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land. Hinkle is facing a maximum 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Hinkles sentencing is scheduled for April 13. There is no parole in the federal system.

Hinkle was president and co-owner of Title Wave Title Pawn, a loan company with locations in Columbus, Phenix City, Ala., and Auburn, Ala. According to the stipulation of facts entered into court, between January 2014 and October 2017, Hinkle used company funds for his own personal use, including payments for auto loans, property taxes, community association fees, loan repayment for a personal airplane, retail store purchases, convenience stores purchases and restaurant purchases. Hinkle, who was a minority owner in the business, provided false and misleading information to his business partners, investors and the company accountant regarding the financial health of the business.

Hinkle frequently had to move company funds between accounts in order to service customer loans, investor interest payments and other business-related payments. While using the company funds to finance his personal lifestyle, Hinkle repeatedly requested additional investment contributions from his business partners and outside investors under the guise of expanding the business. The co-owners were alerted to the dire financial condition of the company in 2017. They confronted Hinkle, who admitted the company was running out of money, but couldnt explain why.

Hinkle left the business in September 2017 and couldnt be reached by the co-owners. The business ceased activity in November 2017. The final restitution amount will be determined at sentencing, but according to the terms of the plea agreement, restitution will not exceed $522,642.22.

Acts of fraud cause grave harm to their victims, many who struggle to recover from the financial losses, Leary said. Fraud is a major crime and is taken seriously in the Middle District of Georgia. We will investigate and prosecute those found using illegal business practices to deceive people. I want to thank the FBI for their work investigating this case and helping to bring justice for the victims.

Hinkle deceived his business partners and investors who placed their trust in him only to lose their company and investments, Chris Hacker, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, said. He will now spend time in prison for choosing his own greed over the companys trust.

The case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Crawford Seals is prosecuting the case for the government.

___

(c)2021 The Albany Herald, Ga.

Visit The Albany Herald, Ga. at www.albanyherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Twitter Inc said on Monday it launched a pilot program that has users flag tweets that they believe are misleading and write notes to provide context.

The project, called Birdwatch, is initially offered in the United States, the social media firm said in a blog post https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-birdwatch-a-community-based-approach-to-misinformation.html.

Twitter and other social media companies have been under pressure to combat misinformation on their platforms. Twitter last year started adding labels and warnings about misinformation on the site, including about the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. election.

Birdwatch is on a separate section of Twitter https://twitter.com/i/birdwatch, and only pilot participants, who apply to the program, will write posts identifying and rebutting misinformation. Their notes will initially not be visible on Twitter for users outside of the pilot group but will be visible on the Birdwatch site.

Twitter said it ultimately expects to have between 1,000 and 100,000 Birdwatchers who are being admitted on a rolling basis and who will not be paid.

Eventually we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience, when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors," said Twitter Vice President of Product Keith Coleman in the blog post.

Pilot participants can rate the helpfulness of notes from other contributors.

We know there are a number of challenges toward building a community-driven system like this  from making it resistant to manipulation attempts to ensuring it isnt dominated by a simple majority or biased based on its distribution of contributors," said Coleman in the blog post.

We believe this is a model worth trying," he said.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
CHICAGO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to market research report on "eDiscovery Market by Component (Software (Processing, Review and Analysis, Identification, Preservation and Collection, and Production and Presentation) and Services), Deployment Type, Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the eDiscovery Market size is expected to grow from USD 9.3 billion in 2020 to USD 12.9 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.6% during the forecast period.

The key factors that are expected to drive the growth of the market are the focus on proactive governance with data analytics and the emergence of new content sources.

Browse in-depth TOC on "eDiscovery Market"

253  Tables

54  Figures

241  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=11881863

Services segment to hold a larger market size during the forecast period

The volume of data that needs to be analyzed is growing day-by-day due to the increasing number of sources that generate data. Services form an integral part of the eDiscovery and include managed services, support and maintenance, and training, consulting, and integration services. The majority of companies across the globe want to exert more control over their eDiscovery data and operations. But Organizations fail to do so due to the lack of resources to execute the required in-house operations in-house. The eDiscovery managed services offer support for data collection through data management and document review. eDiscovery managed services offer a business partnership that allows organizations to have the cost predictability and control they need and the security and required eDiscovery workflows.

SMEs segment to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

SMEs have a low marketing budget and often lack the resources and capabilities for effective marketing orchestration. SMEs, with their limited budgets, try to scale up their businesses through cost-effective techniques to generate maximum RoI from their spending. One of the most widely impacted by COVID-19, Italy, came up with an emergency plan of USD 28 billion that could help them inch slowly toward normalcy. As businesses across sectors are finding it a challenge to stay up and running, it has been a particularly distressing time for SMEs, who gloomily stare at an uncertain future.

IT and telecommunications vertical to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

The IT and telecommunications vertical is experiencing increased data generation due to the advancements in technologies, such as 3G and 4G. The introduction of 5G technology in the near future is expected to generate a large volume of data. This vertical faces challenges in maintaining IP copyrights and data collection due to a broad customer base. It deals with cross-border data privacy and security challenges by regulators and anti-trust inquiries. Hence, companies in this vertical are exposed to more scrutiny as regulatory and consumer demands change.

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North America to account for the highest market share during the forecast period

Companies in this region have adopted eDiscovery solutions to regulate cybersecurity and data breaches, handle cross-border jurisdiction differences and privacy issues, manage investigation matters and litigation, and maintain standards to meet all discovery obligations. North America is further segmented into the US and Canada. The US is expected to be the major revenue contributor to the eDiscovery Market in North America. After the US, Canada is expected to present significant growth opportunities for eDiscovery solutions and service providers.

The major players in the eDiscovery Market are Microsoft (US), IBM (US), OpenText (Canada), Deloitte (US), Micro Focus (UK), ZyLAB (The Netherlands), Relativity (US), Nuix (Australia), Logikcull (US), KLDiscovery (US), Exterro (US), Thomson Reuters (Canada), Knovos (US), Casepoint (US), Nextpoint (US), DISCO (US), Veritas (US), One Discovery (US), Congruity360 (US), Onna (US), Everlaw (US), Texifter (US), Allegory (US), Evichat (Canada), and Reductech (UK). The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of key players in the eDiscovery Market with their company profiles, recent developments, COVID-19 developments, and key market strategies.

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Browse Adjacent Markets: Software and Services Market Research Reports & Consulting

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Data Discovery Market by Component, Functionality, Organization Size, Deployment Mode, Application, Vertical (BFSI, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Telecommunications and IT, Manufacturing), and Region - Global Forecast to 2025

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/data-discovery-market-132252132.html



Legal Analytics Market by Component (Solution, Services), Analytics Type (Descriptive, Predictive), Case Type (Commercial Case Management, IP Management), Deployment Model (On-Premises, On-Demand), End User, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/legal-analytics-market-85524032.html



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A pair of fires broke out in Newark almost simultaneously on Sunday afternoon, displacing 27 people, some of them children, and forcing many into the bitter cold as smoke and flames damaged or destroyed their homes and possessions, the citys fire chief said.

No one was injured in either of the fires, which were under investigation Sunday, Newark Fire Chief Rufus Jackson said while standing out front of a gutted white and yellow two-family house on the 100 block of Sunset Avenue, in the citys Vailsburg section.

Investigators had not determined a cause or origin of either fire, Jackson said.

Our firefighters did an exceptional job in battling both fires in freezing temperatures, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Director Ambrose said in a statement Sunday.

The departments community services division responded to the scene of both fires to provide immediate shelter in vehicles to displaced residents, Jackson said. He said they will work with the American Red Cross on relocation.

Sundays residents were far more fortunate than those in a Newark fire on Roseville Avenue on Thursday, which killed one person and left two hospitalized.

Even so, the chief said the fires would be devastating to the eight families affected.

Thats the tough thing with these fires. Its somebodys history, their personal belongings, Jacksons said. Its one of the worst days of their lives.

Its everything in your home. Its the stuff you cherish, you cant get back, Jackson added. But the important thing is that theyre healthy and theyre alive.

Firefighters at the scene of a fire on Springfield Ave., in Newark, N.J. January, 24, 2021.Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for

The first of the two fires was called in at 1:33 p.m., in a three-story building on the 500 block Springfield Avenue, in the citys Central Ward, Jackson said. The building includes commercial space on the ground floor and two residential floors above it. He said that blaze went to second-alarm status when it spread to another three-story commercial and residential building next door.

Occupants of the second- and third-floor apartments who were home at the time of the fire got out safely, and the blaze was declared under control at 2:32 p.m., Jackson said. The homes were inhabited by eight adults and two children.

The fire on Sunset Avenue was called in at 1:42 p.m., and brought under control at 2:48 p.m., the chief said. A total of 17 people were displaced from the gutted two-family house where the fire began on the 100 block, and from an adjacent two-family house, which was damaged when the flames leaped across a narrow alleyway separating the two wooden structures.

Firefighters at the scene of a fire on Springfield Ave., in Newark, N.J. January, 24, 2021.Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for

The facade of the first house remained intact, though the interior was a charred void visible through the broken windows, and Jackson said there had been a partial roof collapse at the back of the house. The adjacent house sustained far less damage.

Herbey Thrasybule Jr., 32, lives on Sunset Avenue next door to the gutted house. Thrasybules house, on the opposite side of the gutted house, appeared unscathed, though he and other occupants were being kept outside for the time being. Thrasybule said he had just gone out for some air when he learned there was a fire at his end of the block.

I got a call while I was on the corner that a house was on fire, Thrasybule said, waiting for the OK to go back inside his apartment. When he hurried back down the block, he said he saw, a lot of smoke; a blaze; a lot of black smoke.

About 50 firefighters responded to each blaze, the chief said.

Fires like this are manpower intensive, and the cold weather slows us up a little bit, Jackson said. Were thankful and grateful that we have enough resources that we can deploy to fires like this, especially when they extend to multiple buildings.

A fires on the 100 block of Sunset Avenue in Newark gutted this two-family house and damaged the one next to it, displacing 17 residents, on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 24, 2021.Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media For NJ.com

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The told the Bombay High Court on Monday that the health condition of Broadcast Audience Research Council's former CEO Partho Dasgupta, arrested in an alleged TRP rigging scam, is stable.

The police's counsel, Deepak Thakare, told a bench of Justice P D Naik that Dasgupta was being provided all required medical care in the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, where he is lodged as an undertrial.

The HC was hearing a bail plea filed by Dasgupta.

Dasgupta's counsel Shardul Singh urged the HC to grant him bail, saying though his medical reports stated he was stable, Dasgupta suffered from a medical condition that caused him to lose consciousness often.

Singh also said that all other accused persons in the case were out on bail.

At this, the bench asked who was the main accused person in the case.

"Arnab Goswami," Singh said, referring to Republic TV's editor-in-chief.

Singh also informed the court that a charge sheet had already been filed in the case.

On January 19, a sessions court in Mumbai rejected Dasgupta's bail plea.

Singh said the court's detailed order recording reasons for refusing bail to Dasgupta had not been made available to the parties yet.

Justice Naik, therefore, adjourned the hearing on the bail plea to February 2, and asked the advocates in the case to submit a copy of the charge sheet and the lower court order by then.

The high court recorded the police's statement that Dasgupta had been "provided with medications and he will be given the same medical treatment that he was receiving at the J J Hospital, as and when required".

The HC also said if there is any medical emergency, then Dasgupta should be sent to the J J Hospital, a government-run medical facility in Mumbai.

Last week, Dasgupta was rushed to the J J Hospital from the Taloja prison after his blood sugar levels went up and he fell unconscious.

He was admitted to the J J Hospital's ICU, and was discharged on January 22.

Following the discharge, his lawyers moved the HC for an urgent hearing, seeking that Dasgupta be shifted to a private hospital here and that he be granted interim bail for at least two weeks.

Dasgupta was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on December 24 last year.

The fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam came to light last year when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.

Hansa had been tasked with installing barometers, which record viewership data (which channel has been watched and for how long) at sample households.

The TRP is important as advertising revenue of channels depends on it.
CLINTON CO, Ind. (WLFI) - Students in the National Honor Society at Rossville High School have donated 140 blankets to those in need over the weekend. Months of work in "Project Spreading Warmth" culminated January 24 as the last of the blankets were donated.

Blankets were donated to United Way of Clinton County, Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, and Cover Lafayette.

Students Evan Price and Jayden Emenheiser led their school in the project. Work began once COVID-19 cancelled the school's blood drive. Price and Emenheiser weren't deterred and still wanted to give back.

"We saw the need with people needing blankets," Price said.

Work began in December when Price and Emenheiser began fund raising for the blankets.

They ended up raising $720.

The money was used to buy supplies for the blankets. Leftover money was donated.

"I watched a kid our age go and grab one, and it kind of tells you how much this isn't just about us anymore, it's about helping those who actually need it," Emenheiser said.

Both Price and Emenheiser are seniors, but they want their actions to be an example for when they're gone.

"Well I definitely don't want it to stop here, because as evan said this shouldn't be a one time thing, it's needed," Emenheiser said.

The students wanted to acknowledge their sponsors:


Al Mulla Group, a leading diversified privately held business group based in Kuwait and employing over 15,000 people, has recently renewed a partnership agreement with Injaz Kuwait, a non-profit NGO, with a mission to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.

Through this agreement, Al Mulla Group renews its commitment for the second year to provide a variety of logistical services and support to Injaz Kuwait, which will further aid the organizations goal of helping Kuwaits youth meet tomorrows challenges.

Renewing an initial memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2020 with Injaz Kuwait reflects Al Mulla Groups commitment to its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy towards Kuwaits society and its institutions. This partnership agreement stems from the groups strong belief in the importance of private sector support to various initiatives and endeavours of non-profit NGOs in Kuwait and helping them achieve their strategic objectives.

Danah Anwar Al Mulla, Chief Strategy Officer of Al Mulla Group and Member of the Board of Injaz Kuwait, said: We are pleased to be able to provide support services and contributions to the endeavours of Injaz Kuwait, which seeks to open doors of a promising future for Kuwaits young men and women. Al Mulla Group believes strongly in playing an active role in giving back to the communities where we conduct our business, and we take our corporate social responsibility very seriously. We hope that other companies in the private sector will also contribute to supporting similar projects in Kuwait, to raise young peoples competencies, and help Kuwaiti youth build a promising future for them to be proud of, and for Kuwait to be proud of them. "

Laila Hilal Al-Mutairi, CEO of Injaz Kuwait, also said: The contribution of Al-Mulla Group last year had a great impact in supporting our efforts within the various training and educational programs and events organised and managed by Injaz Kuwait, which aimed at preparing our youth to build a bright and prosperous future. We are delighted to renew this cooperation and receive the support of Al Mulla Group for the second year in a row.  TradeArabia News Service
Rick Levin

Blue Lake, Calif.

To the Editor:

Once again, my beloved Democratic Party is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Instead of focusing on the important issues, like Covid and the economy, it chose to allow Donald Trump the chance to again gain the spotlight. For him, all publicity, good or bad, is good. He should have been able to slink away into an ignominious night, and the country could have had the great pleasure of no longer hearing his name in every newscast and publication.

The Democrats should have chosen to censure him in a bipartisan vote. Then he would have left his term in shame and President Biden would have had a less divided Congress to work with him on his appointments and proposals. Instead Mr. Trump will probably be acquitted by the Senate, and will claim a great victory, which could relaunch his political career, or at least further endear him to his base. What were the Democrats thinking?

Stephen Eingorn

Lake Frederick, Va.

To the Editor:

Re A Call for the Return to Civility, and Truth as a Guiding Light, by David E. Sanger (news analysis, front page, Jan. 21):

President Bidens welcome call for civility, healing and unity does not negate holding Donald Trump and Republican lawbreakers accountable. In order to heal  from terror inflicted on Americans witnessing the insurrection and trauma of lawmakers directly threatened  inciters, colluders, abettors and domestic terrorists must be prosecuted for their actions.

Without assurance that laws matter and no one is above the law, we cannot collectively reach closure and regain faith in our democracy. Mr. Trump fomented disbelief in the validity of our election and incited his followers to violence. More gravely, he refused to act  for hours as he watched the attack on TV  to stop the violence and order in the National Guard.

Mr. Trump, and any accomplices in Congress and elsewhere, must be held accountable for these criminal, seditious acts. Senate conviction and legal prosecution would provide closure, and a path to healing and unity. Without accountability, we remain unmoored, volatile and raw.
Grenell: Trump Wants to Run for President Again

Former President Donald Trump has said more than once that he wants to run for the presidency again after losing the 2020 election, an ex-adviser said.

Donald Trump is the head of the Republican Party still, lets make no mistake about that. Hes still the most popular politician. And hes going to decide what he wants to do, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell said on Newsmax over the weekend.

Hes told me personally, multiple times, that he does want to run again. So well see if that holds and how that comes about; I think weve got a long ways to go, Grenell added.

Almost immediately after the election ended, speculation about Trump running in 2024 started. Polls show Trump remains popular among Republican voters, which is one reason he shouldnt try to start a new party, Grenell argued.

Clearly, Donald Trump is a Republican and should run again as a Republican, he said.

Trump faces the prospect of being the first president convicted on an impeachment article as the Senate plans to convene a trial in February. If the Senate convicts Trump, it can choose to disqualify him from ever holding office again. Some Democrats have said thats one of the reasons they wanted to impeach the Republican. Theyre also looking at using the Constitution to bar him from holding office.

Then-President Donald Trump speaks before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Jan. 20, 2021. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

In his first comments since leaving office, Trump told a reporter last week that he will make a comeback in some way, but did not elaborate. On the day his successor was sworn in, Trump told supporters, We will be back in some form.

Jason Miller, another former Trump adviser, said earlier this month that the president would be involved in the 2022 midterms.

President Trump is going to make sure we get the House back in 2022, Miller said on War Room.

Hes got a ton of money. Hes the biggest name. Hes going to get that done.

Some Republican officials have sought to distance themselves from Trump over the Capitol breach, blaming him for what happened.

The mob were provoked by the president and other powerful people, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor last week.

Others have nodded toward his stature and ability to bring in voters who havent traditionally chosen Republican candidates.

This president brought a lot of great success within, he brought people to the party that hadnt been involved in before, and he should continue to engage in that way, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said during a recent press conference. Appearing on Fox News, he added, I think President Trump continues to have that ability to lead this party and unite.
The latest serological survey in Delhi revealed that 1 in 2 people were likely infected with COVID-19 and have been cured. The high prevalence of coronavirus antibodies indicates that the capital may have reached the stage of herd immunity.

Dr Arun Gupta, President Delhi Medical College said the result of serosurvey in Delhi is very good. "This is why the outbreak of coronavirus is decreasing in Delhi. Also, the way the vaccination drive is going on, Delhi will soon get over COVID-19," he said.

Gupta explained that herd immunity can be achieved either through natural spread of the infection or vaccination.

He also said that if antibodies against an infection are found in 60 percent of the population, then, the rest of the population without antibodies can also be protected from the infection.

The preliminary trend of Delhi's fifth serosurvey has revealed 60 percent of people in one particular district in Delhi have been found to have Covid-19 antibodies, as per Delhi government sources. This means that they were unknowingly infected with coronavirus and got cured later.

The fifth and the largest serosurvey of Delhi was conducted in January 2021. In a serosurvey, blood samples are taken from a person to check if antibodies against the coronavirus have been formed or not.

Multiple rounds of serosurveys have been conducted by the Delhi government to assess the spread of coronavirus infection in the national capital.

Delhi has a population of more than 2 crore and the fifth serosurvey indicates that around 1 crore population have been cured after being infected with coronavirus.

Also read: Oxford University mulls trials of coronavirus 'wonder drug'

Also read: NCP's Sharad Pawar to address Mumbai farmers rally at Azad Maidan
The Income Tax Act 1961 is the charging statute of Income Tax in India. It provides for levy, administration, collection and recovery of Income Tax. The government of India had brought a draft statute called the "Direct Taxes Code" intended to replace the Income Tax Act,1961 and the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. However, the bill was later scrapped.

The government of India presents the Budget in February every year. The Budget, among things, is also used to introduce amendments to the Income Tax Act,1961 such as revision in tax slabs rates. The amendments are generally applicable to the following financial year beginning April 1, unless otherwise specified. Such amendments become part of the income tax act after the approval from the president of India.

"The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Act, 2016" is an amendment Act, No.48 of 2016, to Income-tax Act, 1961 and The Finance Act, 2016. It was passed during the 2016 Winter Session of Indian Parliament. The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed in Lok Sabha as a money bill on November 29, 2016, enabling people to declare their undisclosed incomes after the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2016, was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the 2016 Winter Session of Indian Parliament. The bill was introduced on November 28, 2016, by then finance minister Arun Jaitley. The bill was passed by Sumitra Mahajan, with a voice vote without debate in Lok Sabha. The government clarified that gold asset in form of jewellery of people of India was not for taxation, as per the introduced Bill. The Opposition parties expressed anger that the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha without any debate.

The partial budget which is presented for Non Full financial year (generally in the year of General Election in India) is called a vote on account. This is presented for the sake of continuation of those compulsory expenditures of the government which are necessary for the smooth functioning of the Country and a full-fledged budget is presented after a new government is formed.

Union Government then set up the Arbind Modi-led panel to overhaul and simplify income tax laws. On November 22, 2017, the government formed a task force to draft a new direct tax law to replace the existing Income Tax Act, which had been in force since 1961. Arbind Modi, Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), was to lead a six-member panel with Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian as a permanent special invitee on the panel.

Schedules to the Income Tax Act 1961 are various annexures that were added and amended to include topics and scenarios which were not previously covered. Various schedules have since been added to the Income Tax Act at different points of time, to make the IT Act more inclusive and comprehensive.
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Modernas vaccine is effective against new variants of the coronavirus that have emerged in Britain and South Africa, the company announced Monday. But it appears to be less protective against the variant discovered in South Africa, and so the company is developing a new form of the vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against that virus.
New Delhi:

After witnessing debacle in several polls, the AAP appears to have dropped its strategy of directly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is now focusing its charge on the BJP as a whole.

A change in the tack was effected after the partys policy of constantly targeting the prime minister appeared to have had an adverse impact on its poll performances in Punjab, Goa and Delhi.

While the party won 20 of Punjabs 117 Assembly seats in recent state polls, it drew a blank in the Goa polls. In the Delhi civic body polls, it came second to the BJP.

A case in point is how the beleaguered party reacted to the CBIs recent visit to the premises of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain for seeking clarifications in two different cases.

Vexed by the move, the AAP launched an attack on the agency. The CBI raids Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodias residence at the behest of the BJP-ruled Centre, the party said.

This was in sharp contrast to the tone the AAP resorted to in the past.

When the agency had raided the office of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in December 2015, the incensed AAP supremo had accused Modi of misusing the CBI and had called him a coward and a psychopath.

Amid the run-ins with the Centre, it appeared that Kejriwal was seeking to make the fight between him and Modi, who was unable to digest the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly defeat of the BJP.

Also Read: Arvind Kejriwal attends iftar with suspended AAP member Amanatullah, snubs Kumar Vishwas

Even when Dalits were flogged in Una in Gujarat or after Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula allegedly committed suicide in Hyderabad, Kejriwals attack revolved around Modi.

While flaying the Delhi Police for arresting its MLAs for political reasons, the AAP had termed the law enforcing agency as Modi jis police.

In a farmers convention organised by the party last week, Kejriwal launched an attack on the Centre over the agrarian crisis in the country, but refrained from naming Modi.

A change in partys strategy was first observed after the Punjab and Goa results were out.

A sample analysis of Kejriwal tweets, who has over 11 million followers, second only to Modi, post Punjab and Uttar Pradesh assembly poll results speaks volumes on this.

From March 4 to 10--the week leading up to the results on March 11--Kejriwal tweeted and retweeted 181 tweets.

Also Read: 'Traitor' posters featuring Kumar Vishwas: AAP lodges complaint with police, calls it a 'conspiracy'

Of these, 49 had reference to Modi, almost all bashing him, 22 were attacking the BJP and the RSS while 88 tweets were eulogising the work done by the Delhi government. The rest were general tweets.

From March 11-17, the week after the results, Kejriwal did not post even one tweet attacking Modi but his sporadic attack on the BJP continued.

The AAP completely changed its strategy for the MCD polls, focussing on BJPs misrule in the civic bodies rather than firing salvos at Modi.

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Dixon Technologies, a contract manufacturer of electronic goods, on Monday saidits wholly-owned subsidiary Padget Electronics has entered into an agreement with HMD India for manufacturing Nokia smartphones.

"Dixons wholly-owned subsidiary  Padget Electronics, has entered into an agreement with HMD India for manufacturing of Nokia smartphones. The smartphones will be manufactured at Padgets manufacturing facility situated at Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Dixon Vice Chairman and Managing Director Atul B. Lall said: "..we have partnered with HMD Global as manufacturers of Nokia smartphones in India, which is an iconic brand. They have established a strong and trusted foothold globally thanks to their advanced technology."

"We are sure that with their vision and stringent industry-leading processes, combined with our expertise in manufacturing, we will be able to bring a range of Nokia smartphones to customers.

In December last year, Dixon Technologies had announced that Padget Electronics Pvt Ltd has entered into an agreement with Motorola Mobility LLC for manufacturing smartphones.
John Boyega will star alongside Robert De Niro in Netflixs car racing drama The Formula.

Star Wars actor Boyega, 28, will play a Formula One prodigy who is forced to become a getaway driver to save his family, the streaming giant said.

John Boyega will star alongside Robert De Niro in Netflix movie The Formula (Ian West/PA)

The Formula will be directed by Gerard McMurray, known for his work on drama Burning Sands.

Boyega first found fame playing Moses in 2011 sci-fi comedy film Attack The Block before achieving international stardom as Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy movies.

He recently won critical acclaim starring in Sir Steve McQueens Small Axe anthology series for the BBC.

Hollywood great De Niro, 77, starred in 2019 gangster film The Irishman, also for Netflix.

Londoner Boyega was widely praised last year after delivering a powerful anti-racism speech in Hyde Park in the wake of George Floyds death.

The actor said he felt compelled to speak out regardless of any potential damage to his career.
An 85-year-old woman who was thought to have died from coronavirus in Spain shocked her family by turning up at her care home ten days later.

Rogelia Blanco had been removed from the San Bartolomeu de Xove care home in northern Spain on December 29 for treatment after testing positive for the virus.

But a mix-up in transit between Rogelia and the woman she shared a room with meant her family were wrongly told she had died on January 13.

Rogelia Blanco, 85, was wrongly declared dead from coronavirus on January 13 in Spain and her relatives were told she had been buried - only for her to turn up alive on January 23 (file)

Heartbroken relatives were additionally told that her funeral took place the following day, with Covid laws banning them from attending.

But they were left in a state of shock when, on January 23, she returned alive to the care home where husband Ramon Blanco also lives.

'I could not believe it. I was crying, after the death of my wife,' local newspaper La Voz de Galicia quoted him as saying

A spokesman for the San Rosendo Foundation, which runs the care home,said the mix-up occurred as the women were transferred to the Os Gozos residency in Pereiro de Aguiar, 223 km (139 miles) from Xove.

'An identification error during the process of transfer from Xove to Pereiro de Aguiar led to the death of one of them being certified on Jan. 13, although the identity was wrongly assigned,' it said.

Tragically, it meant another family who had been assured that their elderly relative was alive and returning to the home had in fact been dead for ten days before the error was uncovered.

A spokesman for the care home said a mix-up had occurred between Rogelia and the woman she shared a room with as both women were taken for specialist virus treatment (file image)

Speaking to the brother of that woman, the Galicia newspaper quotes him as saying: 'They told me she was cured, I traveled to see her and when I arrived I found out that she had been dead for ten days.'

The foundation expressed its regret for the 'unfortunate incident', the newspaper said, quoting the statement, which added: 'This is a one-off event, among the more than 100 transfers that have been made since last December to Os Gozos.'

A court had been informed to reverse the mistake over Blanco's death, the statement said. The foundation did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stands next to then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 13, 2015. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Should the Republican Party Exist Anymore?

Commentary

Never in my relatively long life have I seen the congressional leadership of one of our two major political parties so out of synch with their voters as the Republicans are today.

And it has come at just the worst possible moment, with the Democrats taking over the country from the media to technology to education to book publishing to canceling people to canceling free speech to reprogramming us all, virtually everywhere and in everything, in a manner reminiscent of the Communist Party of China in 1949.

Indeed, the very first legislation they are proposing in Congress institutionalizes and makes permanent, even extends, the fraudulent maneuvers in our electoral system everyone on the right has been complaining about, assuring the Democrats of perpetual victory, yet we have barely heard anything about it from the Republicans.

(You can and must read about it here. The list of proposals will make you crazy and you will want to do something about it.)

Everything is turning leftward at the speed of sound and the Republicans are standing there like court eunuchs waiting for someone to tell them what to do or, better yet, hoping to be ignored until the whole thing blows over and returns to the status quo ante.

But there will be no status quo ante. We are four-fifths of the way into a one-party state already.

Naturally, Republican voters are steaming, not the least at Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy both of whom have now stabbed Donald Trump in the front and back, making the witticism (attributed to Truman, but who knows)If you want a friend in Washington, get a dogseem almost quaint.

It is the stodgy Deep State McConnell, it is well known, whose reelection as the senior senator from Kentucky was precarious until Trump came down to his state and campaigned for him. Some gratitude!

Now he and McCarthy tiptoe up to impeachment, McCarthy saying Trump should be censured by the House.

For what?

The presenting complaint (shrink talk for what the analysand first thinks is wrong with him or her) is that Trump was tardy in criticizing the Capitol break-in, the so-called insurrection, and should have demanded it stop earlier.

Never mind that the insurrection was already taking place while he was still speaking and that in that very speech he called for the protest to be peaceful.

He still should have urged them to stop earlier.

Well, maybe, maybe not.

While this was happening I was driving back from Atlanta to Nashville, listening to reporting of the events on Fox News (for lack of a better) on satellite radio.

My first guess, indeed my assumption, was that this was an Antifa false flag operation because I had been to over a dozen Trump rallies across the country and had never seen any violence. In fact, they were notable for their lack of the same, given the massive attendance.

On the other hand, I had seen Antifa at work, not only on television but in person. Violence was their calling card.

Was that Trumps assumption? I dont know but its not impossible.

Now we are being told, Antifa was not there, except for one individual. That may be true, but I find it difficult to trust the sourcethe FBIafter all we have gone through in the last few yearsall the lies about Trump-Russia, the set-up of Michael Flynn.

Moreover, reports are appearing that contradict this view, showing a greater Antifa participation.

Then we had twenty-five thousand National Guard in Washington for the inauguration to prevent putative violence that everyone knew would never transpire. (There was actually very little violence during the insurrection itself compared to an average night in Portland.)

The Republican Party, with a few exceptions, has been spineless through all this and continues so as the situation worsens.

Should it be preserved or should there be a new party that actually is in synch with its rank-and-file, the Patriot Party, as some are calling it?

Trump is apparently interested. According to the yellow journalists over at the Daily Mail, thats just because the now ex-president thinks flirting with a Patriot Party gives him leverage over the Republican Senators for the coming impeachment trial. Theyre scared of his popularity with their voters come the next primary, as well they might be.

But I suspect its more complicated than that. I think Trump is seriously questioning what to do, which way to go, just as many of us are. The American two-party system has become dysfunctional.

The problem with starting a new partysuch as the Patriot Partyis building an infrastructure that could compete with the existing behemoths in this giant land.

Ambassador Ric Grenell, a man I respect greatly and who is quite close to Trump, believes a severe rectification of the Republican Party is the better route and that Trump will ultimately choose that.

As of today, according to an article here at The Epoch Times, twenty-nine Republican senators have now spoken out against the impeachment trial. Compare that with all fifty Democratic senators prepared to vote for the ex-president to be convicted as charged. With Republican opposition grow significantly?

We shall see. Whatever the case, the time has come to think this through clearly and thoroughly before its too late. We should have started earlier.

Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, co-founder of PJMedia, and now, editor-at-large for The Epoch Times. His most recent books are The GOAT (fiction) and I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasnt Already (nonfiction). Find him on Parler (he hopes again, soon) @rogerlsimon

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Russia expects that Moscow and Washington will manage to establish dialogue, and if the new US administration is ready for this, Russian President Vladimir Putin will certainly take a reciprocal step, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, TASS reports.

"The thing is that the Russian Federation has been consistently and traditionally calling for kind relations [with the US]," Peskov said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"We are saying in deed and not in name that we are ready to consider the Americans as our partners, they are not ready. But here love can't be forced," Peskov stressed.

"Certainly, we expect that we will be able to establish dialogue," he noted. This will be dialogue in which the sides will confirm that there is some disagreement. But at the same time dialogue is always an opportunity to find "those smallest areas where our relations coincide," Peskov said. "If the current US administration is ready for this approach, I have no doubt that our president will reciprocate," he stated.

The Kremlin spokesman drew attention to the first remarks of new White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who called for investigating cyber attacks against the US, of which Washington immediately accused Moscow, and "the alleged bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan."

According to Peskov, this approach was "quite predicted." "Thats because the new administration is old and well-known people," he explained. "As for the statements, the word partner is probably not applicable to us for Washington and certainly they still view us more as foes," Peskov noted.
New York, Jan 25 : US-based drugmaker Moderna on Monday said its Covid-19 vaccine retains neutralising activity against emerging variants first identified in the UK and South Africa.

Vaccination with the Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine produced neutralising titers against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, first identified in the UK and South Africa, respectively, the company said on the basis of a study.

However, the company also said it will test an additional booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) to study the ability to further increase neutralising titers against emerging strains beyond the existing primary vaccination series.

Second, the company is advancing an emerging variant booster candidate (mRNA-1273.351) against the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

The company is advancing mRNA-1273.351 into preclinical studies and a Phase 1 study in the US to evaluate the immunological benefit of boosting with strain-specific spike proteins.

Moderna expects that its mRNA-based booster vaccine (whether mRNA-1273 or mRNA-1273.351) will be able to further boost neutralising titers in combination with all of the leading vaccine candidates.

"As we seek to defeat the Covid-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants," Stephane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, said in a statement.

"Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants."
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The ScoopFree Smart Self-Cleaning Litter Box automatically rakes away cat litter to eliminate scooping, cleaning and refilling for weeks. Like previous ScoopFree Self-Cleaning Litter Box models, the ScoopFree Smart includes a health counter to track usage and note any irregularities that may signal possible health concerns like a urinary tract infection. Now connected to the app, cat parents can follow from anywhere and receive immediate alerts for their pet's litter box activity.

Within the My PetSafe app, pet parents can specify the number of cats they have, adjust cleaning cycles and activate the rake even when their cat isn't using the litter box. Cat owners can also customize their settings to receive advance reminders to change or order more litter trays.

"Our ScoopFree Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes automatically clean for weeks with no scooping or refilling, so pet parents can spend more time with their cat and less time worrying about the litter box," says Jennifer Marler, PetSafe Category Manager for Waste Management. "We wanted to also provide cat owners with the convenience of real-time data and the comfort of knowing their pet is happy and healthy. The innovative features of the ScoopFree Smart offer that peace of mind."

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EAST HAVEN  Sixteen people were displaced and a family pet killed on Sunday in a fire that took more than an hour to get under control, officials say.

East Haven Fire Chief Matthew Marcarelli said the department was called at 1:33 p.m. about a fire at Countryside Condos at 75 Redwood Drive. He said East Haven police noticed the fire while on patrol.

Were not even a minute up the road, Marcarelli said. They found heavy fire in the rear of the building on arrival, began their efforts to extinguish it. It was a very large volume of fire.

Marcarelli said the fire consumed the rear of the condominium building, extended into the woods and on to the adjacent structure  another condo building. He said firefighters fought the fire with a large volume of water, made an aggressive attack and extinguished the fire.

When searching the buildings, Marcarelli said, firefighters found one family pet that died from smoke inhalation inside a unit. He said the department estimates about 16 people were displaced by the fire.

We are getting the Red Cross to assist us in relocating them temporarily, he said.

Marcarelli said the cause of the fire is under investigation. There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters.

We also required the assistance of the neighboring towns, both for station coverage and assistance with extinguishing the fire, Marcarelli said, naming North Haven, Branford, North Branford and New Haven. I would say the fire was under control in about an hour and a half.

Marcarelli said four units in the main building impacted by the fire are a complete loss. He said the other four units in that building should be salvageable.

As a result of the fire, East Haven town council members Marianne Cesare, Lou Pacelli, and Josh Balter started a GoFundMe to help the displaced families.

Not only have they had to survive COVID, and hoping to start off 2021 on a better note, now they have the burden of losing all of their personal belongings and have a long road ahead of them to rebuild, Cesare said. We encourage you to join us in helping fellow East Haven neighbors.

Cesare said the three council member pledged to donate their monthly council stipend to the families affected by the fire. As of Sunday at 10:30 p.m., the GoFundMe had raised $475 of its $10,000 goal.
WASHINGTON - Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit Monday seeking more than $1.3 billion from Rudolph Giuliani, the lawyer for former president Donald Trump who played a key role in promoting the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged.

The 107-page complaint, filed in federal court in Washington D.C., cites dozens of statements Giuliani made about Dominion - on Twitter, in appearances on conservative media shows and on his own podcast - to promote the "false preconceived narrative" that the election was stolen from Trump.

That "Big Lie" not only damaged Dominion's reputation and business and led to death threats against its employees, but also laid the groundwork for hundreds of people to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the complaint says. Five people died as a result of the attack, and dozens of law enforcement officials were injured.

In a speech just before the Capitol was stormed, Giuliani spoke of "crooked Dominion machines" that were used to steal the election and suggested that Trump supporters conduct "trial by combat." Federal officials have charged more than 135 people in connection with the riot, and more are expected to be charged as the investigation continues.

"Having been deceived by Giuliani and his allies into thinking that they were not criminals - but patriots 'Defend[ing] the Republic' from Dominion and its co-conspirators - they then bragged about their involvement in the crime on social media," the complaint says.

In a text message, Giuliani said he believed the case would give him an opportunity to prove his allegations about Dominion.

"The amount being asked for is, quite obviously, intended to frighten people of faint heart," he wrote, calling it an effort to "wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously." He said he would investigate a countersuit against Dominion "for violating these Constitutional rights."

Thomas Clare, a lawyer representing Dominion, said during a news conference Monday that the company is eager for courts to hear and adjudicate its claims - and not only so it can win financial compensation. "It's also important that this be done in public - that we have a trial on these issues, and that these false allegations are disproven once and for all for the American public to see so they can have faith in their election systems."

Giuliani's allegations about Dominion, repeated in lawsuits filed by lawyer Sidney Powell, have been rejected by courts in multiple states. And a statement released shortly after the election by the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said there was no evidence that any voting machines switched votes or were otherwise compromised. The statement called the 2020 election "the most secure in American history."

Giuliani has said that Dominion "really is a Venezuelan company" and that it uses software originally created to help the now-deceased Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, fix elections. In fact, Dominion was founded in Toronto, in the basement of chief executive John Poulos, to "help blind people vote on paper ballots," the complaint says.

Giuliani also repeatedly claimed that Dominion's machines switched thousands of votes from Trump to Joe Biden, particularly in Antrim County, Mich. Michigan officials have said that the claim is false and have pointed to a hand count of ballots that affirmed Dominion machines had tabulated votes accurately.

Unlike Powell, Giuliani did not make these allegations in court, and in fact in one post-election case in Pennsylvania, he took pains to say that the Trump campaign "doesn't plead fraud" and "this is not a fraud case."

Clare said during a news conference Monday that Giuliani had instead made false statements in public and in the media, where "he knew they would do maximum damage to Dominion."

Dominion's lawsuit against Giuliani comes in the wake of a similar complaint it filed in the same court earlier this month against Powell, also seeking more than $1.3 billion. Powell's lawyer has said that the lawsuit is an attempt to censor free speech.

Poulos said he was taking legal action to win vindication for himself and his company through a full and public airing of facts related to the 2020 election. "Not only have these lies damaged the good name of Dominion Voting, they have also undermined trust in American democratic institutions, drowning out the remarkable work of election officials and workers who ensured a transparent and secure election," he said.

Giuliani and Powell persisted in making false statements even after they received retraction demands from Dominion's lawyers, according to the complaints.

The two lawyers may be only the first of many to face lawsuits from Dominion. The company has sent retraction and preservation letters, often precursors to litigation, to more than 150 individuals and businesses, including conservative media outlets that amplified false claims of election fraud.

Asked whether Dominion plans to sue Trump, Clare said that the company has not ruled anybody out.
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - KORE Mining Ltd. (TSXV: KORE) (OTCQX: KOREF) ("KORE" or the "Company") and Karus Gold Corp. ("Karus Gold") are pleased to announce that they have closed the plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") previously announced on December 16, 2020, pursuant to which KORE has spun-out its Canadian assets to Karus Gold effective as of 12:01 a.m. (Vancouver time) (the "Effective Time") on January 25, 2021 (the "Effective Date").

KORE CEO and Karus Gold Director, Scott Trebilcock commented, "Karus Gold is well positioned with a large 1,000 kilometer square land position in the re-emerging Cariboo Gold District of BC. With two advanced exploration projects, including FG Gold and Gold Creek, and supported by news flow from 19 drill holes at the lab, Karus Gold is strongly positioned to attract capital and generate value for shareholders. We are excited to see Karus Gold's assets exposed to the valuation forces of a pure play explorer."

Mr. Trebilcock continued, "Karus Gold will now raise seed capital in a rights offering. This is a rare opportunity for shareholders to access seed round financing usually reserved for industry insiders. Karus Gold then plans to list its shares on the TSX Venture Exchange later in the first half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals."

Pursuant to the Arrangement, the owners of common shares of KORE will receive: (i) one-half of a common share of Karus Gold; and (ii) one new common share of KORE, for every common share of KORE held at the close of business on January 22, 2021.

The KORE shares will continue trading under the existing CUSIP (50066W105) until markets close today and will then be delisted. Effective at the opening on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, the new KORE shares will begin trading under the new CUSIP number 50067K100. There is no change in the Company's trading symbol on the TSX Venture Exchange or on the OTCQX in the United States.

To be clear, there is no change to a shareholder's ownership of KORE as a result of the completion of the Arrangement. The majority of shareholders (those who hold their shares through their broker) will receive their Karus shares with no further action. Please contact the Company if you do not get your Karus shares by mid-February.

Early Warning

As a result of the Arrangement, Mr. Sprott through 2176423 Ontario Ltd. ("2176423"), will receive 13,659,222 common shares of Karus Gold and 1,750,000 Karus Gold common share purchase warrants representing approximately 25.7% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Karus Gold on a non-diluted basis and approximately 28.1% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Karus Gold on a partially diluted basis assuming exercise of such Karus Gold warrants. Prior to the Arrangement, Mr. Sprott did not beneficially own or control any securities of Karus Gold.

The securities above are held by Mr. Sprott for investment purposes. Mr. Sprott has a long-term view of the investment and may acquire additional securities of Karus Gold including on the open market or through private acquisitions, or sell securities of Karus Gold including on the open market or through private dispositions in the future depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other factors that Mr. Sprott considers relevant from time to time.

A copy of 2176423's early warning report will appear on Karus Gold's profile on SEDAR and may also be obtained by calling Mr. Sprott's office at (416) 945-3294 (200 Bay Street, Suite 2600, Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J1).

About KORE Mining

KORE is 100% owner of the Imperial and Long Valley gold projects assets in California. Both projects have positive economic assessments put KORE on the path to over 250,000 ounces of gold production. KORE is supported by strategic investor Eric Sprott who owns 26% of KORE's basic shares. KORE management and Board are aligned with shareholders, owning an additional 38% of the basic shares outstanding. KORE is actively developing its Imperial Gold project and is aggressively exploring across its portfolio of assets.

Further information on KORE can be found on the Company's website at www.koremining.com

About Karus Gold

Karus Gold controls 1,000 kilometers square of the Cariboo Gold District ("District") in British Columbia. The FG Gold and Gold Creek projects are set for growth and the District is wide open for additional discovery. Karus Gold is supported by strategic investor Eric Sprott who owns 26% of Karus's basic shares. Management and the Board are aligned with shareholders, owning an additional 27% of the basic shares outstanding. Karus Gold has drill results from 2020 pending and has plans to continue aggressive exploration in 2021.

Further information on Karus Gold can be found on the Company's website at www.karusgold.com

On behalf of KORE Mining Ltd

"Scott Trebilcock"

Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of Karus Gold Corp

"James Hynes"

Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer

Karus Gold Investor Support

David Jan

1-888-455-7620

[email protected]

KORE Investor Relations

Arlen Hansen, KIN Communications

1-888-684-6730

[email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and Karus and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "plan", "should", "anticipate", "expects", "intends", "indicates" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Company and Karus are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information.

Such factors include, among others: the future potential of both KORE and Karus Gold and expectations related to the trading price of KORE and the future listing of Karus Gold, and other expectations and assumptions concerning the outcome of the Arrangement.

In addition to the above summary, additional risks and uncertainties inherent to the Company and its operations are described in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's management discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2019, prepared as of April 27, 2020, available under the Company's issuer profile on www.sedar.com. Other risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the possibility of adverse reactions or changes in business relationships resulting from the completion of the Arrangement; the failure to realize the expected benefits of the Arrangement; and other risks inherent to both KORE and Karus' current business and/or factors beyond their control which could have a material adverse effect on KORE or Karus.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company and Karus disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

SOURCE Kore Mining

Related Links

http://www.koremining.com


Vaccinated People Must Still Obey CCP Virus Rules, UK Health Secretary Says

People who have been vaccinated against the CCP virus must continue to follow lockdown restrictions as they may still pass the virus on to others, Britains health secretary said on Monday.

I want to reiterate an important point made by the Chief Medical Officers and the clinical advice that they have been giving: even if youve had the jab, the rules still apply, Matt Hancock said at a press conference held in Downing Street, London.

He said there are two reasons why vaccinated people must continue to obey the rules.

First, because the protection takes time. Your bodys immune [system] is only fully trained up around three weeks after your jab. And, even if you have protection yourself, we still dont know whether you will be able to pass coronavirus on to someone else, he said.

We are monitoring this very carefully and will publish information on it as soon as we have it available. So this is not a moment to ease up.

This follows a similar call on Sunday from professor Jonathan Van-Tam, Englands deputy chief medical officer, who said that people who have received two doses of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine may still spread the virus to others.

Jonathan Van-Tam, Englands deputy chief medical officer, speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street, in central London, UK, on Dec. 2, 2020. (John Sibley/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Van-Tam said that we do not yet know the impact of the vaccine on transmission of the virus.

So even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give COVID-19 to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue, he added.

Van-Tam also warned that no vaccine has ever been 100 percent effective and no one will have 100 percent protection from the virus.

Earlier this month, a British nurse wrote in a Facebook post that he tested positive for the virus even though he received his first dose of the vaccine on Dec. 8, 2020. His second dose on Jan. 5 was cancelled, and just over four weeks after the first dose he tested positive for the virus.

At Mondays press briefing, Hancock said Britains National Health Service (NHS) is still under intense pressure across all parts of the country, with 37,899 people in UK hospitals with the CCP virus, including 4,076 on ventilators.

The #COVID19 Dashboard has been updated: https://t.co/XhspoyTG79 On Monday 25 January 2021, 22,195 new cases and 592 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported across the UK. A total of 6,573,570 people have now received the first dose of a #vaccine. pic.twitter.com/GLtr9wT1Nf  Public Health England (@PHE_uk) January 25, 2021

A further 592 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported on Monday, taking the UKs total CCP virus-related death toll to 98,531.

But Hancock said there are early signs that the actions were taking are working.

The rise in the number of cases is slowing, and falling in some parts of the country like London and Scotland. At the same time, the number of vaccinations is going up, he said.

A total of 6,573,570 people across the UK have now received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Public Health England said on Monday.

Hancock said he was so proud to report that, as of Sunday night, 78.7 percent of all over-80s had been vaccinated.

He said the vaccination drive means so much to people because the vaccine brings safety to that individual and marks the route out for us all from this pandemic.
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PHUKET XTRA - May 24 || Brought to you by @PVC Phuket Campaign to help shooting victim |:| Vaccine registration on hold to counter outsiders registering |:| Heavy weather warning |:| Dozens arrested at party |:| Thailand COVID update Hosted by: JP Mestanza || #Phuket 1- Phuket Must Win on hold to counter outsiders registering for Phuket vaccination

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The Serum Institute of India (SII) will supply Saudi Arabia with 3 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses priced at $5.25 each in about a week on behalf of the British drugmaker, its chief executive told Reuters on Monday.

SII has no immediate plans, however, to divert supplies to Europe, even though AstraZeneca has come under pressure from the EU to deliver more shots after announcing a big cut in shipments due to production problems at a Belgian factory.

SII, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, has partnered with AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to make up to a billion doses for poorer countries.

The Indian company supplies doses on behalf of AstraZeneca but is also free to strike its own supply deals.

"We continue to support AstraZeneca wherever they need the support. We are happy to do so," Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla told Reuters in an interview.

"But we have not been asked to supply any more products for Europe because then that would mean supplies to Africa and India would suffer, and we certainly don't want that," he said. "Once I satisfy that I can look at other, richer nations. Six months to a year, that could change."

He said the doses destined for Saudi Arabia would be shipped in a week or 10 days. SII is also supplying South Africa with 1.5 million doses at the same price of $5.25 each on behalf of AstraZeneca.

"We have our hands full, in fact, with the volumes even we need to supply," Poonawalla said. "We have been on time and we are able to supply to all these nations."

The pricing of the deal between South Africa and AstraZeneca has sparked some controversy as it is higher than the $3 a dose that South Africa and other countries on the continent are due to pay for the vaccine under an African Union arrangement.

AstraZeneca has said it will not profit from the vaccine during the pandemic.

Brazil last week received 2 million doses of the vaccine from SII and Poonawalla said it also paid about $5 per dose.

Poonawalla said that SII would raise production of the AstraZeneca vaccine by 30% by the end of March from its current daily output of about 2.4 million doses, once the third and final facility making the shot comes online.

SII also plans to start stockpiling a vaccine candidate from US company Novavax Inc in a few months, despite a fire last week that killed five people and damaged one of its new plants in the western Indian city of Pune.

Poonawalla said SII had no intention of partnering with companies such as Pfizer Inc whose COVID-19 vaccine needs to be stored at about minus 70 Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit) as India currently lacks such facilities.

Pfizer, which developed the shot with Germany's BioNTech , told Reuters it would pursue its request for India to approve the vaccine if the government committed to buying shots.

Pfizer was the first drugmaker to seek emergency use authorisation for its vaccine in India in early December but it has yet to be approved.

India's drug regulator says Pfizer officials failed to attend subsequent meetings it had called. The US drugmaker says its officials had not been given enough notice.

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Brands are an undeniable part of a womans life. Right from the tooth paste she uses in the morning to the bedsheet she sleeps in, she has a preference for everything, and rightly so! Trust us when we say, she has a lot of options to choose from. However, for the urban woman, some brands and their services raise above the plethora of options to choose from and Femina Power Brands 2021 is all about giving these brands the recognition they deserve.

Weve already told you about Indias fave brands that made it to Feminas Power Brands 2021 list. And now, we want you to join us in honouring them. On January 25, 2021, starting at 3.30pm, a virtual gala is being hosted. Not only will the Power Brands be felicitated, but there are several panel discussions and interesting speakers talk about everything from what goes in making a brand to its winning strategies.

If youre interested in learning more about how you can take your business and make it a power brands, its imperative that you register between 3.30pm and 4pm on January 25, 2021 for this event. The event will kick off starting from 4pm with a brief welcome address.

The first keynote will then be delivered by Sam Balsara, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World and Madison Communications. He will talk about How to Make a Power Brand from 4.05 to 4.20pm.

Then, its time for the panel discussion which all business owners who want to grow their brand should be a part of. It features speakers such as Amit Sethiya (Chief Marketing Officer, Syska Group), Anamika Sirohi (VP  Marketing, Amway), IBM  India and South Asia), Prachi Mohapatra (Chief Marketing Officer, FBB, Future Retail), Sarika Naik (Chief Marketing Officer & Chairperson, Diversity 

India, Capgemini) and Sukhpreet Singh (Chief Marketing Officer, Dish TV).

These corporate executives will discuss on topics ranging from what keeps brands relevant to how brands should reinvent themselves to stay relevant, whether celebrity endorsements help and the main marketing tools or strategies for brands. This discussion, which will take place from 4.20pm to 5pm is set to be moderated by KV Sridhar, the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Hyper Collective.

Next up, were bringing a Girl Boss to dish her success secrets. Starting from 5.05pm, the Femina Power Brands 2021 event will have fashion mogul and actor Masaba Gupta talk about what goes behind being a brand with Femina Editor-In-Chief Ruchika Mehta. This fireside chat is expected to go on for 20 minutes.

Following this, Feminas Managing Editor Primrose Monteiro-Dsouza is set to interview Frederic Widell, Oriflames Vice President and Head - South Asia and Managing Director-India. From 5.25pm to 5.45pm, the two will discuss Oriflames 25-year-long journey.





After this, actress Amyra Dastur of Kaalakandi and Judgmentall Hai Kya? fame will take centerstage to unveil Femina Power Brands 2021 Coffee Table Book Cover. Trust us when we say, you dont want to miss this. The felicitations are the next on schedule (starting from 5.50pm). Since were temporarily living in the virtual world, this will take place via brand custodians having their winning videos playing. The closing remark will then take place at 6.10pm and the event will shortly conclude then.

If youre a budding entrepreneur or someone who wants to gain more knowledge about the business, this event needs to be on your Google calendar. You can register by visiting our social media pages and website.

Find our more about the event here
Two years ago, Rachael Akhidenor had a breakthrough moment in a yoga class. Sat on her mat, she looked around the room and realised she was the only person of colour present.

From there, she says she began to notice it not just in yoga, but throughout the wellness realm: in meditation and mindfulness, in fitness, in spas, even personal development.

Rachael Akhidenor, 25, says her Self Care Originals T-shirts are "wearable activism". Credit:Justin McManus

"I couldnt unsee it. It was everywhere ... I noticed [the industry] was really singularly focused on one type of person  white, female, thin and privileged," says Akhidenor, whose parents' heritage is Greek and Nigerian. "It completely shifted my perception."

The 25-year-old, from Melbourne, says she created her self-funded brand, Self Care Originals, in 2018 while at university with the aim of encouraging people to look after themselves mentally, spiritually and physically but she then shifted her focus to promote the message that everybody has the right to pursue health and wellbeing.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department work the scene on Jan. 24, 2021 in Indianapolis where five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death. (Justin L. Mack/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

Indiana Teen Arrested for Allegedly Killing 6 in Mass-Casualty Shooting

Authorities in Indiana have arrested a teenager allegedly connected to a mass-casualty shooting incident over the weekend that left six dead, including a pregnant womans unborn child, while also wounding a juvenile male.

Yesterday, we promised swift justice for this heinous act. Today, we delivered on that promise, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor said in a press release.

The department announced the teens arrest on Monday, not providing additional details about the suspect, who authorities believe acted alone.

The suspects name and photo are not being released at this time since the suspect is a juvenile, officials wrote in the release. Detectives do not believe any additional persons were involved.

IMPD officers learned of the victims after responding to an emergency call at about 4 a.m. on Sunday about a juvenile male who had been shot in the citys northeast side. Police located the teenager with apparent gunshot wounds, IMPD Sgt. Shane Foley told reporters at a press briefing on Sunday.

Foley said that about 40 minutes later, the investigating officers found five people dead in a nearby home, also from apparent gunshot wounds.

The victims have been identified by homicide detectives as 42-year-old Kezzie Childs, 42-year-old Raymond Childs, 18-year-old Elijah Childs, 13-year-old Rita Childs, 19-year-old Kiara Hawkins, and Baby Boy Hawkins, officials wrote in the release. The unborn child and her mother, Hawkins, were taken to a local hospital before both succumbed to their injuries.

IMPD spokeswoman Aliya Wishner said the juvenile arrested in the killings is not the same juvenile male who was found wounded Sunday before the victims bodies were discovered. The seventh victim was hospitalized Sunday and is expected to survive.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department work the scene on Jan. 24, 2021 in Indianapolis where five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death. (Justin L. Mack/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

Chief Taylor said the shooting is the largest mass-casualty shooting in the city in more than a decade. He thanked everyone involved in the investigation for their hard work to bring justice for the victims and their families.

While removing the alleged perpetrator of yesterdays mass murder from our neighborhoods does not bring back the lives senselessly lost, hopefully, it will bring us one step closer to healing as a community, Taylor said.

I am grateful to all of the IMPD officers and criminal justice partners who have worked tirelessly for the last 30 plus hours to bring justice for these victims, their friends and families, and our entire community. I ask community members to join me in praying for the continued recovery of the young man whose life has been forever changed.

The mayor of Indianapolis also addressed the shooting during Sundays briefing, calling the shooting a mass murder and a crisis of morality, while pledging the person involved will be held fully accountable.

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) (R) speaks with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett at the Kountry Kitchen Restaurant on Nov. 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

This is a crisis of morality, a crisis of conscience, Mayor Joe Hogsett said. What happened this morning was not an act of simple gun violence.  What happened this morning was a mass murder, he continued.

Hogsett has since contacted the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Indiana and the Indianapolis Field Office of the FBI for assistance in the investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

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European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Andalucia's 'Plan 7,000' to provide more patient beds and alleviate the pressure of coronavirus on the region's hospitals will become a reality on Tuesday.

The regional government will accelerate the activation of the plan and give its approval in the face of the increase in infections, according to the Juntas spokesman, Elias Bendodo.

Bendodo expressed his deep concern at the "explosive" increase in infections with an "absolutely vertical curve" that has led Andalucia to register "the worst figures of the entire pandemic", surpassing 7,000 infections this Sunday with 25 deaths and reaching a record number of hospitalisations, with 3,613 admissions, of which 517 are in intensive care.

He warned that "the hospital pressure will increase", hence the imminent activation of the new hospital plan in the face of the "foreseeable increase in people being hospitalised in the coming weeks."

Bendodo renewed the regional government's demand to the central government to bring the curfew forward two hours to 8pm and said that "only by reducing and stopping mobility will it be possible to lower the aggressiveness of this third wave".

Lockdown demands

Meanwhile, the vice president of the Junta de Andalucia, Juan Marin, has again called on Madrid to allow regions to introduce stay-at-home lockdown measures in the face of the "devastating" third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He reiterated his request to the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, on social networks to "reconsider" his decision and allow lockdown as a measure to stop infections and hospital admissions.

Marin said he was concerned about the "strength" of this wave and warned that "this week we will run out of containment tools in many towns."

A pedestrian wears a mask as he walks past "Store Closing" signs in the window display of a Debenhams in Manchester, northern England, on Dec. 2, 2020. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Debenhams Brand Sold for 55 Million, All Stores to Close

UK department store Debenhams has sold its brands and websites to online fashion retailer boohoo group PLC, Debenhams administrators FRP Advisory confirmed on Monday.

boohoo has paid a cash consideration of 55 million ($75 million) to acquire the global rights to the Debenhams brand, all its in-house brands, and its websites.

The 243-year-old business, which went into liquidation in December 2020 due to the impact of the CCP virus pandemic, will see its remaining 118 stores closed permanently, and up to 12,000 jobs lost once the liquidation sale is finished.

The UKs four nations are currently under another round of stringent lockdowns, under which businesses deemed non-essential are not allowed to open.

Once Debenhams stores are able to reopen and the stock liquidation can continue in stores, the website will be operated by boohoo, Debenhams administrators said in a statement.

The closing down sale will continue in stores for several weeks until the stock liquidation is completed and the value of this stock will be retained for creditors. Regrettably, all the UK stores will then be permanently closed.

Debenhams Danish subsidiary, Magasin du Nord, is not affected by this transaction.

Geoff Rowley, joint administrator and partner of FRP Advisory, said the administrators are pleased with the deal.

We are pleased to have secured the future for this great brand, and to have created the opportunity for a new Debenhams-branded business to emerge in a different shape beyond the pandemic, Rowley said.

I expect that the agreement with boohoo may provide some job opportunities but we regret that this outcome does not safeguard the jobs of Debenhams employees beyond the winding down period, he said.

In April 2020, Debenhams UK went into administration for the second time in a year, seeking to protect itself from legal action by creditors during the crisis that could have pushed it into liquidation.

It shedded hundreds of jobs in May, and 2,500 more in August 2020, among the tens of thousands of jobs evaporated after a national lockdown in England was imposed from March to July in order to curb the spread of the CCP virus.

On Dec. 1, 2020, FRP announced that Debenhams were to be liquidated after failed attempts to find a buyer, partly due to market uncertainties caused by the pandemic.

The announcement came hours after billionaire Philip Greens Arcadia fashion group collapsed into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk.

Debenhams operation in Ireland had also gone into liquidation in April 2020.

A KPMG report published on Jan. 14 said that UK could lose nearly 400,000 jobs and up to 40 percent of their retail offerings as consumers shift to online shopping due to the impact of the pandemic.

Alexander Zhang, Xiaofei Chen, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday gave the grim warning that the UK's new variant of COVID-19 is more deadly than what's been seen in the past based on preliminary data that hasn't yet been released but that he is more concerned about the South African variant which he says makes vaccines less effective.

His warning comes just days after he went against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and said it wasn't more deadly. Johnson said at a press briefing in London on Friday that the new strain was between 30 and 40 percent more deadly but he offered no data to back-up the frightening statistic.

Afterwards, the global science community - including Dr. Fauci - rushed to urge caution against what he'd said and insist that while the variant was more infectious, it was not necessarily more deadly.

Many have accused politicians of scaremongering and point to the fact that cases and deaths are going down in both the UK and the US.

Fauci's remarks on Monday are a marked shift away from that.

There are more than 160 known cases of the UK variant in 21 states across the US including 40 in California, 46 in Florida and 16 in the state of New York. The South African variant has not yet been detected in the US, nor has another variant from Brazil.

All three are thought to be more infectious. While the British strain is also feared to be more deadly, the South African and Brazilian strains are feared to make vaccines less effective. The Brazilian strain is also feared to be causing re-infection but that has not yet been proven.

It comes amid an agonizingly slow roll-out of vaccines across the world. The UK and US - which were among the first to approve the vaccines - are behind Israel, the UAE and Bahrain in vaccinating their populations.

President Joe Biden is imposing a travel ban from South Africa to try to stunt the flow of that variant and British officials are considering a 14-week, mandatory hotel quarantine for anyone who enters the country.

Fauci on Monday also said the US might need to 'upgrade' its vaccines to work against the South African variant - but then insisted the vaccines are still effective against it and that it only makes them less effective by a 'very slight' amount.

Fauci did not reveal what data he had seen that proved the British variant was more deadly, but that he was 'pretty convinced' by the numbers.

Scroll down for video

There are also more than 160 cases of the UK variant in the US across more than 20 states. Dr. Fauci said on Monday it was causing more serious infection in people - which means it is more deadly - but he did not say how much more deadly

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week said the new variant was between 30 and 40 percent more deadly. Fauci at first urged caution and said there was no proof of that. Now, he says he's seen the data British scientists have analyzed and that in fact, it is more deadly

We don't want to get complacent.



Watch @SavannahGuthries full interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci on vaccine shortages, new coronavirus strains and what comes next. pic.twitter.com/15plEBZ5e1  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 25, 2021

'The data has not come out officially but taking a look at the preliminary data that the UK scientists have analyzed, I'm pretty convinced that there is a degree of increase in seriousness of the actual infection which we really have to keep an eye on,' he told Today.

However, he said he was more concerned on the South African variant which makes antibodies and vaccines less effective.

Fauci said the vaccines would still work against both strains but that there is 'a very slight, modest diminution' in the efficacy of them against the South African strain.

He did not say what that diminution was, but that it was 'very prudent' for President Joe Biden to impose a travel ban from South Africa.

'We are more concerned about the South African strain right now. When you do studies in the test tube, in vitro studies, it shows that the ability of monoclonal antibodies that have been used as therapies, that is really impaired in the presence of these particular variants.

'They don't work as well as treatment. There is a very slight , modest diminution in the efficacy of a vaccine against it but there's enough cushion with the vaccines that we have that we still consider them to be effective against both the UK strain and the South African strain.

This is the only data that has been made public that explains why officials think the new UK strain is more deadly. It was put by SAGE - the British government's COVID response team - and cites three studies. In the UK, the strain is being referred to as the Kent strain because that is the locality where it was first detected

Cases and deaths in both the US and the UK are finally starting to come down but there are fears over the new strains and frustration over how long it is taking to vaccine people

'We don't want to take that lightly because these things continue to evolve. I don't want people to think at this point that the vaccines are not effective against them - they are.

'However, we really need to make sure that we begin to prepare, if it's necessary, to upgrade the vaccines despite the fact the vaccines we have now do work.'

Fauci said that cases and deaths seemed to be plateauing, but that the country cannot become complacent.

There are also at least four additional 'homegrown' super variants of the virus across the US and a new variant that has come from Brazil.

The US is woefully slow at vaccinating the population. Across the nation, only around five percent have been vaccinated. It varies more by state because states have been tasked with dishing out their own vaccination programs. Alaska is excelling, whereas California is behind

The US has only vaccinated 5.2% of its population whereas Israel has vaccinated 32% of its population

The Brazilian variant was picked up on in the Amazonian city of Manaus earlier this month after a startling spike in new cases.

Manaus had already suffered a huge COVID disaster, with as much as 76 percent of the population testing positive with the virus last year.

The fact that another spike is happening when so many people there have already been infected raises the concern of reinfection.

On Sunday night, former FDA boss Scott Gottlieb, said he was 'fairly confident' the Brazilian variant was already in the US too.

'I think we have to assume it's here. And I feel fairly confident that it is here and we're just not detecting it yet.

'There might be certain cities where there's hotspots of this virus, where it might be 5 percent of all infections.

If we're just sequencing one or two people within each of those cities, it's unlikely that we'll pick that up. We need a much broader effort.

'So I think based on the data we have, we can't confidently conclude it's not here.

'And just given how widespread it is in Brazil right now and how widespread it is in South Africa, and given all the connections we have to those nations, we have to assume it's in the United States right now,' he told CBS' Face the Nation.

Did a homegrown coronavirus strain cause California's recent COVID surge? Researchers are investigating a new mutation that's spreading faster than any other variant in the state

Health officials in California are investigating whether a homegrown coronavirus strain could be partly to blame for the state's surge in infections.

According to the Los Angeles Times, scientists stumbled upon the new strain while looking for signs of the highly contagious variant that originated in the United Kingdom before making its way over to the US.

During that search, researchers found a new strain, dubbed B.1.426, which is thought to be responsible for the rapid rise in infections during the holiday season in California where more than 3.1 million cases have been reported and 36,790 people have died.

The new strain is also highly contagious and is propagating faster than any other variant in California.

'While the B.1.1.7 strain may play an important role in increased COVID rates in the UK and Europe, there are still no reports to account for the current spike of cases in Los Angeles and California as a whole that began in early November 2020,' researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center wrote in their findings.

'We report the existence of a novel strain CAL.20C that is currently increasing in numbers in Southern California,' they added.

Health officials in California are investigating whether a homegrown coronavirus strain, dubbed B.1.426, could be partly to blame for the state's surge in infections. The strain has five mutations including, CAL.20C (red bubble), which has been increasingly found in California

The B.1.426 strain was initially discovered in July, but it wasn't seen again until three months later.

According to the research, the CAL.20C strain was barely detectable in October, but by December it made up 24 per cent of 4,500 viral samples.

In a separate study, researchers found that 25 per cent of viral samples from Northern California between late November and December were of the same type, according to the LA Times.

'There was a homegrown variant under our noses,' Dr Charles Chiu, a laboratory medicine specialist at UC San Francisco, told the newspaper.

Chiu said if they hadn't been searching for the UK strain, they 'could have missed this at every level'.

According to the Cedars-Sinai team, the B.1.426 strain has five mutations, including the L452R mutation, which alters the virus' spike protein. The spike protein is what the virus uses to infiltrate human cells.

According to researchers, the CAL.20C strain was barely detectable in October, but by December it made up 24 per cent of 4,500 viral samples

The graphic depicts the rapid increase of infections between late November through December in California. The increase is being blamed on what researchers believe is a homegrown strain of the coronavirus

In California, more than 3.1 million cases have been reported and 36,790 people have died. More than 18,000 people died in the state in less than three months

The new strain is believed to be partly responsible for California nearly doubling its death toll in less than three months.

However, just how big of a role the new strain played in the surge is still unclear due to the presence of other factors including holiday gatherings and people disregarding CDC guidance.

In order to determine B.1.426s role in the surge, investigators are trying to figure out what it's capable of doing.

Researchers told the LA Times that they will focus on its transmissibility and its ability to circumvent masks, drugs and vaccines, which are being used as tools to stop the spread.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is stepping up its efforts to track coronavirus mutations to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines and treatments stay ahead of new variants of the disease until collective immunity is achieved, the CDC chief said on Sunday.

Dr Rochelle Walensky spoke about implications posed by the rapidly evolving virus during a Fox News Sunday interview as the

More than 25 million Americans have been infected with the virus and there have been more than 418,000 deaths just over a year after the first US case of COVID-19 was documented.

Walensky, who took over as CDC director last Wednesday, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in, also said the greatest immediate culprit for sluggish vaccine distribution is a supply crunch worsened by inventory confusion inherited from the Trump administration.

'The fact that we don't know today, five days into this administration, and weeks into planning, how much vaccine we have just gives you a sense of the challenges we've been left with,' she told Fox News Sunday.

Biden's transition team was largely excluded from the government's vaccine rollout deliberations for weeks after his election as then-President Donald Trump refused to concede defeat and allow the incoming administration access to information needed to prepare to govern.

Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, said in a separate interview on NBC's Meet the Press, that a plan for distributing the vaccine, particularly beyond nursing homes and hospitals, 'did not really exist when we came into the White House.'

Walensky said she was confident the government would soon resolve supply questions, and go on to dramatically expand vaccine production and distribution by late March.

Uncertainty over immediate supplies, however, will hinder efforts at the state and local levels to plan ahead for how many vaccination sites, personnel and appointments to set up in the meantime, exacerbating shortages in the short term, she said.

Vaccination has become ever more critical with the recent emergence of several coronavirus variants believed to be more transmissible, and in the case of one strain first detected in Britain, possibly more lethal.

'We are now scaling up both our surveillance of these and our study of these,' Walensky said, adding that the CDC was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and even the Pentagon.

The object, she said, is to monitor 'the impact of these variants on vaccines, as well as on our therapeutics,' as the virus continues to mutate while it spreads.

Until vaccines can provide 'herd' immunity in the population, mask-wearing and social distancing remain vital to 'decrease the amount of virus that is circulating, and therefore, decrease the amount of variants that are out there,' Walensky said.

Although British officials on Friday warned that the so-called UK variant of the coronavirus, already detected in at least 20 US states, was associated with a higher level of mortality, scientists have said existing vaccines still appeared to be effective against it.

They worry, however, that a more contagious South African variant may reduce the efficacy of current vaccines and shows resistance to three antibody therapeutics developed for treating COVID-19 patients.

Similarities between the South African variant and another identified in Brazil suggest the Brazilian variety may likewise resist antibody treatment.

'We're in a race against these variants,' said Vivek Murthy, nominated by Biden to become the next US surgeon general, on ABC's This Week program on Sunday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease specialist, said in late December he was optimistic the US could achieve enough collective immunity to COVID to regain 'some semblance of normality' by the fall of 2021.

But Murthy said getting to herd immunity before a new school year begins in September was 'an ambitious goal'.

Nevertheless, Murthy suggested the government may exceed Biden's objective of administering 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days of his presidency, telling ABC News, 'that's a floor; it's not a ceiling'.

Fauci, appearing separately on CBS News' Face the Nation, said the 100-million-shot goal encompasses people who may have received both injections of the two-dose vaccines and those who have only gotten the first jab.
Liebman Group, in partnership with Black Cliffs Partners, is proud to announce the acquisition of a majority interest in Pine Island Chemical Solutions (Pine Island or the Company). Headquartered in Louisiana, with locations throughout Louisiana and Texas, the Company provides chemicals to the oil & gas industry. Liebman Group and Black Cliffs Partners have partnered with the Companys existing senior management team to recapitalize the business and to provide additional capital to support add-on acquisitions and organic geographic expansion. The existing management team will maintain a significant minority ownership position in the Company going forward. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Michael Lunt, Managing Director at Black Cliffs Partners, commented, We are beyond thrilled to be partnering with Pine Islands talented and experienced management team. John Michael Chachere is a dynamic leader, with deep industry roots and a true love for the Company and its employees. Together, we will take the Company to new heights.

Scott Liebman, Liebman Groups Managing Partner added Black Cliffs Partners is an ideal family office partner for Liebman Group. In addition to having a likeminded investment approach, we have complementary skillsets that allow us to add increased value to our portfolio investments. We look forward to working together on this transaction and beyond.

About Pine Island Chemical Solutions

Pine Island Chemical Solutions is a privately owned and operated oilfield service company specializing in the production of treating chemicals, water treatment chemicals and completion chemicals. The Company has provided the energy industry with quality products and superior technical expertise for over 15 years, providing custom products to meet all customer needs. PICS has a variety of customers including E&P companies, service companies and water midstream operators. The Company has four established geo-markets including Gulf Coast, AK-LA-TX, the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin.

About Liebman Group

Liebman Group partners with business owners and management teams to help them grow their companies. We bring financial, operational, strategic and technological expertise as either long-term equity investors or external consultants. Liebman Group focuses on investments in middle market companies, with revenues of $10 million to $100 million. Headquartered in South Florida, Liebman group seeks United States-based investments across all industries.

About Black Cliffs Partners

Black Cliffs Partners is a family office headquartered in Salt Lake City, which partners with successful companies and entrepreneurs to promote successful and sustainable growth. Black Cliffs supports the goals of business owners by providing capital, operational expertise or by creating a liquidity event and transition. Black Cliffs team has experience as investors and entrepreneurs and looks to have a hands-on collaborative relationship with owners.

[January 25, 2021] Cincinnati Bell and CBTS Further High Tech Talent Investment in Southwest Ohio With Support From JobsOhio

Cincinnati Bell (News - Alert) and CBTS, a leading IT services and technology provider, is pleased to announce it will create 137 new jobs to support the company's ongoing investment in fiber networks that enable high-speed connectivity, and network centric technology and professional services to help business customers solve problems anywhere. CBTS's latest job creation will be made possible by a Job Creation Tax Credit (JCTC) from the State of Ohio. JobsOhio plans to provide assistance for the project, which will be made public after a final agreement is executed. CBTS, which serves clients in all industries across the United States and Canada, is based in Cincinnati and is a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell Inc. CBTS has partnerships with Fortune 500 clients, large healthcare organizations, multiple universities, and state and local governmental agencies in Ohio and across North America. Investment in attracting and developing talented IT professionals is critical in order for CBTS to continue supporting its existing enterprise customers, and to attract new customers through continuous technology innovation. "We appreciate our strong partnership with the State of Ohio, and we are excited to grow our employee base in Southwest Ohio," said Leigh Fox, President and CEO of Cincinnati Bell Inc. "The past year has highlighted the importance of connectivity and collaboration technologies. It has also demonstrated the importance of supporting customers and the communities we serve during challenging times. Today's announcement will enable Cincinnati Bell and CBTS to continue delivering mission-critical technology while giving back to our communities well into the future." Cincinnati Bell and CBTS employees in 2020 raised more than $80,000 to support schools across its footprint to help ensure that students and their families had acess to healthy meals, educational materials, and hygiene kits when schools closed. The company also launched a partnership with multiple organizations in Greater Cincinnati to bring low-cost internet to thousands of K-12 students who lacked connectivity in what has increasingly become a virtual learning world. Cincinnati Bell and CBTS employees are consistently among the most generous contributors to campaigns that support organizations including The United Way of Greater Cincinnati and ArtsWave.



"Throughout the pandemic, at least half of students in the U.S. have had to attend school remotely, which is just one example that shows how important it is for students, employees, and families to be connected virtually," said Kimm Lauterbach, REDI Cincinnati President and CEO. "CBTS's commitment to the Cincinnati region, both in terms of jobs and connectivity, helps the region stand apart. I'm grateful for our partnership with JobsOhio and the Ohio Development Services Agency for their support of this project and their commitment to helping people stay connected." "Our employees are the most important asset we have at CBTS, where we are committed to delivering an outstanding customer experience every day," said Jeff Lackey, President of CBTS. "This agreement with JobsOhio will help CBTS source the talent that is necessary to deliver an outstanding customer experience, drive additional growth at our company, and further strengthen our community engagement efforts."

About CBTS CBTS serves enterprise and midmarket clients in all industries across the United States and Canada. From Unified Communications (News - Alert) to Cloud Services and beyond, CBTS combines deep technical expertise with a full suite of flexible technology solutions that drive business outcomes, improve operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and reduce costs for its clients. For more information, please visit www.cbts.com. About Cincinnati Bell Inc. With headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) delivers integrated communications solutions to residential and business customers over its fiber-optic and copper networks including high-speed internet, video, voice and data. Cincinnati Bell provides service in areas of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Hawaii. In addition, enterprise customers across the United States and Canada rely on CBTS and OnX, wholly-owned subsidiaries, for efficient, scalable office communications systems and end-to-end IT solutions. For more information, please visit www.cincinnatibell.com. The information on the Company's website is not incorporated by reference in this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005637/en/

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HONG KONG, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Winchester Holding Group OTCPK WCHS (the Group) today announced to acquire profitable company named Trinity Automotive Industrial Limited (the Trinity) with USD$20Million in annual revenue.



On 15th January 2021, the Company signed the contract to complete the merger and reorganization. According to the agreement, 100% shares of the Trinity shall be exchange for common stock of the Group. The acquisition will be immediately accretive to the Group generated approximately 7 million in revenues with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in next fiscal year ending December 2021.

About Acquired the Trinity

The Trinity is incorporated in Hong Kong since 2006 May 23rd. The Trinity is focused in high profile motor vehicles trading business in Hong Kong and Macau. The Trinity recently signed the re-seller agreement with related company. In which the related company is holding the Import and Distributed Agreement from FCA Italy S.p.A..

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release contains forward- Looking statements that involved known/unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause or achievements to be materially different actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Also, forward- looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this release. Except as of required by law, we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly.

For more information please contact:

Mr. KH Chan

Email: kh.chan@hotmail.com

+852-69927100
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Sgt. Charles F. Dotson dedicated his life to getting people out of danger.

As a veteran Baton Rouge police detective assigned to the violent crimes unit, he had a front-row seat to the often grim outcomes brought on by domestic violence, but didnt shy away from the fight.

"He was a true advocate for domestic violence and protecting the helpless and those who could not help themselves, said Baton Rouge Det. Belford Johnson.

But Sunday morning, Dotson, 58, fell victim to the dangers of another scourge, succumbing to COVID-19 following a weekslong battle with the illness  among the latest casualties of the novel coronavirus outbreak thats killed more than 8,000 people in Louisiana.

Nearly 1 in 4 Ascension sheriff's deputies have gotten coronavirus, showing toll on law enforcement Nearly one-quarter of the deputies in the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office have contracted the coronavirus since the outbreak first appeared 

Colleagues recall his frequent jokes about being the best-dressed person in the office  Dotson would often wear a three-piece suit to work  and his wealth of assorted knowledge that would have made him a formidable contestant on Jeopardy!.

"He was always the smartest man in the room," Johnson said.

Others describe Dotson as being compassionate toward victims of violent crimes, and his work saw him gain the trust of people struggling to leave abusive relationships, likely saving the lives of countless people.

At times, that persuasion came through bringing in people to show them "the wall," which bears the names of the city's homicide victims, recalls Phillip DePrato, a retired criminal analyst for the department who worked closely with Dotson over the years.

"He'd tell them You don't want to be up here and we don't want you up here as a victim," DePrato said. "Quite often they were facing very difficult choices, so he would be someone they could talk to."

Dotson, who grew up in Maringouin, joined the U.S. Marines after graduating from Shady Grove High School. He served in the military 27 years, including in the first Gulf War. He later served as an Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office deputy before joining the Baton Rouge Police Department in 1999.

He spent his early years with the department in uniform patrol and later became a detective assigned to the violent crimes unit. He eventually rose to the rank of sergeant, a rank he also held in the Marines before retiring.

Youngsville police chief recovering while Tangipahoa fire chief dies of coronavirus BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  A Louisiana police chief is recovering from COVID-19 while a longtime fire chief has died of complications from the di

Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Between 2016 and 2018, Dotson served as the board present for the Butterfly Society, a local advocacy group that raises awareness for victims of domestic violence.

Twahna Harris, the organizations CEO, said Dotson was a pillar of the community and embodied the definition of what it means to be a leader with a servants heart.

As a champion for victims of domestic violence, he consistently spoke up for them, fought for them, and gave them hope to believe in themselves again, she said in a statement Monday.

Dotson had been battling the virus for the past few weeks after falling ill, colleagues said. His condition worsened, and his organs began to fail while he was hospitalized.

Though it isn't clear how he contracted the coronavirus, public-facing workers are at heightened risk because of their regular interaction with the public.

Louisiana this week passed a grim milestone when state officials confirmed more than 8,000 people have died from the novel coronavirus. State Department of Health figures also show a swell in hospitalizations following the holidays, though the rate of people needing care in hospitals has been trending downward in recent days.

State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, whose district covers parts of Baton Rouge, called Dotson a "stellar law enforcement officer and a true community leader" in a Sunday Facebook post, while also cautioning people about the virus.

+24 Coronavirus has taken so many loved ones from us. Here are some of their stories. It is easy to count the toll of the coronavirus in statistics: the number of deaths, the case counts, the hospitalizations. But a person is mo

"Lets continue to pray for his wife, family and the entire BRPD family and remember that this virus has no respect of person, party, age or gender," she said.

Police Chief Murphy Paul said Dotson was a mentor to many and "a leader in every sense of the word" in a statement Monday.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome asked the city-parish to remember his longtime service.

"His dedication to our community and his passion for service will be forever known by those around him," she said.

Funeral services were still being arranged Monday.
Democrats Explore Using 14th Amendment Insurrection Clause to Bar Trump From Future Office

Democrats are contemplating whether they can use the 14th Amendment to bar former President Donald Trump from ever taking office in the future, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said on Jan. 22.

Section three of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, states that anyone guilty of insurrection or rebellion against the United States shall not be eligible to hold elective office in the United States.

It allows for Congress to remove such disability with a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate.

Democrats in Congress have accused Trump of inciting the acts of violence that transpired on Jan. 6 as some rioters and protesters unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol buildingdespite Trump saying that the protesters should protest peacefully and patriotically. He repeatedly condemned the violence after the incident. Its unclear who instigated the breach of the Capitol building.

Kaine, a Democrat, told The Hill on Jan. 22 that Democrats are quite confident that they will be able to use the 14th Amendment insurrection clause to prevent Trump from ever holding office again.

Its an idea thats out there that I think people are contemplating in the accountability space, Kaine said. I just want us to choose a path that maximizes focus on the Biden-Harris agenda.

The remedies of the 14th Amendment certainly may be appropriate for someone who incites an insurrection as Donald Trump did, added Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), while Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said using the measure is certainly a possibility.

All of these are questions of first impression, in terms of constitutionality, Murphy added. I certainly think there is a 14th Amendment avenue separate and aside from impeachment.

The potential use of the 14th Amendment comes as House Democrats push forward with the Houses article of impeachment against Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is seen in Washington on Jan. 15, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), after holding discussions with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said it will be delivered to the Senate on Jan. 25.

Hours later, Pelosi confirmed that the article will indeed be transferred on Jan. 25.

Our Constitution and our country are well served by the extraordinary leadership of Lead Manager Jamie Raskin, and Representatives Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, Stacey Plaskett, Madeleine Dean, and Joe Neguse, she said in a statement, referencing her impeachment managers.

We are respectful of the Senates constitutional power over the trial and always attentive to the fairness of the process, noting that the former president will have had the same amount of time to prepare for trial as our managers.

It means that the Senate would start the trial at around 1 p.m. on Jan. 26 unless the Senate reaches an agreement to push back the trial. Chief Justice John Roberts presided over the last impeachment trial, but it isnt clear whether he will this time around.

The prospect of impeaching a former president is unprecedented and goes against the Constitution, some experts have said, including Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz.

But Schumer has maintained that it isnt unconstitutional to impeach a former president.

Kaine added that the 14th Amendment could be used before or even after a trial, if Trump isnt convicted. He noted that while extensive discussions are currently underway about using the clause, that decision will ultimately be up to leadership.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) meanwhile indicated that he has doubts about whether the measure could be used to prevent Trump from running from office again. He told reporters that he had a long talk with Kaine about the issue.

I havent been convinced yet, because the 14th Amendment is not explicit on how you determine whether someone participated in an insurrection, Durbin said. If they had been convicted of that in a court of law, then I can understand how you can use it as a predicate for prohibiting people from running for office.

But there is a real serious question, if that conviction has not taken place, whether the Congress can have a finding, or the Senate can have a finding that they are guilty of insurrection and whether thats sufficient. So its unresolved.

In an article published by The Washington Post earlier this month, Daniel Hemel, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, said that while its possible that Congress could potentially use the amendment to bar Trump from future office, the process will likely take several steps and years.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Reacting to the sloganeering incident on the birth anniversary celebration of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that what they (the audience) did was an insult to Bengal and added that she would have saluted the audience had they hailed Subhash Chandra Bose.

West Bengal Chief Minister on Saturday had refused to speak during the Netajis 125th birth anniversary celebration after a section of the audience raised Jai Shri Ram slogans at Victoria Memorial Hall in the presence of PM Modi.

Also read: 'Minor' Face-off Between India, PLA Troops in Sikkim's Naku La, Resolved by Local Commanders: Army

They were trying to tease me in Victoria Memorial in presence of the Prime Minister. I would have saluted you if you had hailed Subhas Chandra Bose. But if you try and put me at gun point, I know how to retaliate. What they (the audience) did on that day was an insult to Bengal, Mamata Banerjee said during a public meeting in Hoogly.

Recently many senior members of the Trinamool Congress joined BJP including prominent names like Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee. Mamata Banerjee speaking on defections told that that the party will give tickets only to those work for the people while other can leave the party and join BJP.

Trinamool will only give tickets who have worked for the people. Those who haven't, will not get any tickets. Anticipating that, many are leaving TMC and joining the BJP. Those who are in queue, I urge them to go quickly, she said.

Also read: With No Visible Successor to Mayawati, the Once-Mighty BSP Now Struggling to Stay Alive and Relevant

Referring to BJP as washing powder, she added, TMC will not take you back. These are people with greed, who have made money and want to make their black money white by using washing powder BJP.

Mamatas public meeting comes as the state will head for the state assembly polls in few months. Attacking the BJP, she said, I would rather slit my throat rather than bow my head before the BJP.

Muranga senator Irungu Kangata is convinced that the ongoing probe into his law firm by EACC is an intimidation tactic by Jubilee Party over his controversial open letter to Uhuru Kenyatta.

The anti-corruption commission is investigating Mr Kangata and 24 other law firms over possible fraud in billing the Nairobi County government exorbitant legal charges for the period between 2013 and 2020.

Kangata is said to have received Sh3.3 million from City Hall in 2018.

The Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kangata, however, says the probe is the next intimidation scheme after the ruling party failed to de-whip him.

Speaking to the Nation on Sunday, Kangata said things started falling apart for him on December 30 after his open letter warning Uhuru that BBI was unpopular in Mt Kenya region become public.

I started receiving phone calls from all powerful institutions in this government demanding that I recant the letter and also I be funded to go to the grassroots and speak well of BBI. I refused since I had, and still retain, a conviction I was being truthful and helping my president escape political shame shadowing him in Mt Kenya, he said.

According to Kangata Jubilee then orchestrated his removal as Senate Whip but Tangatanga wing of Senate refused to play ball hence denying the plot numbers. I had revealed how Jubilee Party honchos had threatened to remove me from the Senate Chief Whips position, scandalise me, and put me to jail if I refused to recant the letter by January 5. Now that I have refused to disown my letter, the intimidation has commenced, the senator said.

Adding: After they realised they dont have the numbers to engineer my removal as whip, they have now reverted to using hard power of sending investigators for politics. The effect of these tactics is to make politicians cower and stop speaking the truth. That doesnt advance the interests of Jubilee in my view.

Kangata maintained that the BBI will be a political miscarriage in Mt Kenya unless changes are made to make it more people-driven.

He also faulted EACC for being used for political witch hunt under the guise of fighting corruption.

To be seen to be a serious anti-graft body, let it now go for the many known corrupt governors and those who have been incriminated in ripping off Kenyans in the Covid-19 billions scandal. As things stand, you can be corrupt as long as you are supporting BBI, he said.

Kangata confirmed that he worked with Nairobi City County in 2018 and was paid for his services.

I got paid and everything ended well. These investigations are nothing but politics. I have been in public service as a councillor, MP, and Senator and these are the first investigations I am facing, Kangata toksthe Sunday Nation.

I have all the documents to show my singular payment from City Hall was legal and legitimate. Its not a coincidence that the investigation is being done three years after the payment, he said.
A Queensland woman who learnt to quilt over the phone and went on to use her skills to help sick children and those affected by domestic violence will be honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia.

Great-grandmother Jackie Wright said she began learning to sew and doing patchwork in the 1990s, thanks to a friend in New South Wales.

Jacqui Wright with some of the quilts she distributes to hospitals and the Salvation Army to brighten childrens lives.

She was a very avid quilter and she taught me ... over the phone, she said.

When I had a car accident, I couldnt bend over, so I was determined to learn patchwork [by hand] instead.
Sen. Sanders Defends Using Budget Reconciliation to Pass Bidens $1.9 Trillion CCP Virus Relief Plan

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the incoming Senate Budget Committee chairman, said Senate Democrats may utilize the budget reconciliation process to quickly pass a COVID-19 relief bill if Republicans refuse to back President Joe Bidens plans.

We are going to use reconciliation, that is 50 votes in the Senate plus the vice president, to pass legislation desperately needed by working families in this country right now, Sanders, a Democratic socialist, told CNNs Dana Bash on Jan. 24 on State of the Union.

The Biden administration has proposed a $1.9 trillion relief package that includes items such as more money for vaccines, an extra $1,400 in stimulus checks on top of the $600 checks already approved, and increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. But some Republicans have already voiced their reluctance, panning the new proposal as an expensive, unworkable liberal wish-list.

Others such as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) are worried about the debt.

Spending and borrowing trillions of dollars from the Chinese among others is not necessarily the best thing we can do to get our economy to be strong long-term, Romney told Fox News on Jan. 25, adding that the total figure is pretty shocking.

For any bill to pass the Senate, it would require the support of at least 10 Republicans to meet the 60-vote threshold under the legislative filibuster rule in a 5050 split upper chamber.

Democrats control the current Senate, since Vice President Kamala Harris is president of the Senate and, in that role, can cast tie-breaking votes. Democrats also control the House of Representatives for the second straight term, although with a narrower majority than before.

The budget reconciliation process, created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, isnt subject to filibuster and allows the Senate to pass bills relatively quickly with a simple majority. First used by Congress in 1980, the process allows for expedited consideration of certain tax, spending, and debt-limit legislation.

Now, as you know, reconciliation, which is a Senate rule, was used by the Republicans under Trump to pass massive tax breaks for the rich and corporations, said Sanders, who was a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. It was used as an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And what were saying is You used it for that. Thats fine. We are going to use reconciliation.  Were going to do it to protect ordinary people, not the rich and the powerful.

Bash pointed out that Sanders had previously been critical of Republicans use of the maneuver.

Yes, I did criticize them for that. And if they want to criticize me for helping to feed children who are hungry or senior citizens in this country who are isolated and alone and dont have enough food, they can criticize me, Sanders said.

The American people are hurting, and they want us to act, he said. We have got to restore the faith of the American people in government that we can respond to their pain.

I know that working families are living today in more economic desperation since the Great Depression, Sanders said. If Republicans are willing to work with us to address that crisis, welcome, lets do it. What we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks and months and months to go forward. We have got to act now.

The Senate at the end of last year passed a $900 billion stimulus package that included $600 checks, money for colleges, and funding for food stamps. The GOP Senate leadership refused to support former President Donald Trumps push for $2,000 in direct payments, which quickly won support from Democrats and some Republicans.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
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RENO, Nev.  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused a rural Nevada churchs request to enter a legal battle over the governments authority to limit the size of religious gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic  after the church won an appeals court ruling last month that found Nevadas restrictions unconstitutional.

Attorneys general from 19 other states had recently joined in support of the unusual request from Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley east of Reno.

They were urging the Supreme Court to rule on the merits of the Nevada case to help bring uniformity to various standards courts across the country have used to balance the interests of public safety and freedom of religion.

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The churchs lawyers said in a court filing last Thursday they wanted the high court to clarify for all that the First Amendment does not allow government officials to use COVID-19 as an excuse to treat churches and their worshippers worse than secular establishments and their patrons.

In a 5-4 decision in June, the Supreme Court refused Calvary Chapels request for an emergency injunction blocking enforcement of Nevadas attendance limit at houses of worship.

But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of the church last month, finding it was unconstitutional for Nevada to treat casinos and other businesses more favorably than churches.

The churchs latest plea for relief from the Supreme Court was in the form of a petition for a review of the case on its merits. Such petitions are rare and their approval is even rarer, even though they require approval by only four justices.

The justices denied the request without explanation on Monday.

The 9th Circuit ruling sent the case back to the district court to determine how to proceed but in the meantime prevented the state from enforcing any church attendance limit more stringent than the current 25% of capacity limit on most businesses.

Judge Richard Boulware put the case on hold pending the Supreme Courts ruling on the churchs petition. He instructed lawyers on both sides to provide an update on the status of any future filings planned within seven days of such a ruling.

Lawyers for the church said Monday they were disappointed in the high courts refusal to review the case. But they said the appellate court has made it clear government responses to COVID-19 cannot treat churches worse than similarly situated businesses, at least in the 9th Circuit, which also includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho and Montana.

We asked the Supreme Court to hear the case so there would be a national ruling confirming what the 9th Circuit held in December: government officials certainly have the authority to protect health and public safety, but the First Amendment  including the free exercise of religion  is never suspended, said David Cortman, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Although this victory for religious liberty remains a 9th Circuit matter, we are confident that Nevada will agree to a permanent injunction on the terms that the 9th Circuit unanimously announced, and we look forward to resolving this case soon, he said Monday in a statement emailed to AP.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford had argued the justices should let the federal court in Reno sort out the details before taking the extraordinary step of wading into the case. He wrote in court documents submitted last week the case is a poor vehicle for addressing questions beyond those the Ninth Circuit already resolved in Calvarys favor.

Ashley Forest, a spokeswoman for Fords office, said in an email on Monday that while the Supreme Court wont hear the churchs COVID case regarding attendance limits, Nevada heard the 9th Circuit clearly and appreciates the guidance on how best to protect this constitutional right.

Indoor religious gatherings in Nevada most recently had been subject to a hard cap of 50 churchgoers while attendance limits at many businesses including casinos were based on a percentage of the buildings fire-code capacities.

Nevada currently imposes the 25% occupancy limit on all gathering places  including casinos, restaurants, bars, amusement and theme parks, gyms and fitness facilities and movie theaters.

The churchs latest court filings argued that an attendance limit of 25% for houses of worship is prohibited under the First Amendment. It wants to be treated the same as essential businesses  like manufacturing facilities and professional offices, which currently have no capacity limits other than social distancing.



Standard Cell Design Engineer San Diego , California , United States Hardware Summary

Posted: Mar 19, 2020 Role Number: 200160630 Do you have a passion for crafting entirely new solutions? As part of our Digital Design Engineering group, you'll take imaginative and revolutionary ideas and determine how to turn them into reality! You and your team will apply engineering fundamentals and start from scratch if needed, bringing forward-thinking ideas to the real world. Your efforts will be groundbreaking, often literally. Join us, and you'll help design the tools that allow us to bring customers experiences they've never before envisioned. You will be part of an exciting silicon design group that is responsible for designing state-of-the-art ASICs. We have an extraordinary opportunity for Standard Cell Design Engineers! In this highly visible role, you will be at the heart of a processor design effort, working with the custom digital circuits team and library development, making a critical impact delivering products to market quickly. Key Qualifications We are looking for applicants with 5+ years of experience in Standard Cell Library development and Quality Assurance.

Knowledge of standard cell layout, DRM, DRC/LVS decks, PDV flows, Virtuoso.

Design experience in deep submicron technologies with understanding of layout rules.

Familiarity of flop and complex Standard Cells design.

Experience in scripting in Perl and/or TCL.

Knowledge of SKILL coding. Description Imagine yourself at the center of our SOC design effort, collaborating with all fields, playing a strategic role of getting functional products to millions of customers quickly. You will have the opportunity to integrate and come-up with new ideas, as well as work with a team of hardworking engineers. As a Standard Cell Design Engineer for the custom circuits team, you will perform the following: - Develop standard cells to improve design PPA. - Develop optimal power switch cells that cater to today's Low Power Design Requirements. - Engage with CPU, SOC and GPU teams on chip level integration requirements. - Responsible for Virtuoso library releases for custom design use. - Work with foundries on DRM complaint layout checkers and iPDK requirements. - Manage layout migration to new PDK, PDV of library cells, digital library releases. Education & Experience BSEE / MSEE is required. Additional Requirements Apple is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We also take affirmative action to offer employment and advancement opportunities to all applicants, including minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities. Apple will not discriminate or retaliate against applicants who inquire about, disclose, or discuss their compensation or that of other applicants.






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.
DENVER, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Avanta Residential and Iron Point Partners, LLC, a real estate private equity firm focused on value-add and opportunistic real estate investments, today announced they have entered into a joint venture agreement to develop single-family, build-for-rent (BFR) neighborhoods across the U.S. Walker & Dunlop structured the joint venture and will continue to provide advisory and property sales services throughout the duration of the partnership.

The agreement marks a significant milestone for Avanta Residential, which was launched last year as an affiliate of Hunt Companies, Inc. Hunt has a 30+ year history of developing, building, and operating single-family rentals, having delivered over 70,000 multifamily units representing development costs of over $8.5 billion.

The partnership has plans to develop thousands of homes in numerous communities over the coming years in desirable sunbelt markets, primarily in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Colorado. Avanta is currently working to increase its staff to execute on its plans for growth.

"The joint venture with Iron Point represents a strategic partnership between two long-standing and sophisticated real estate investment companies," said Jim Dobbie, President of Avanta Residential. "Our collective goal is to drive superior returns for our investors by creating premier residential rental neighborhoods within desirable submarkets across the U.S. While the partnership is new, we are already acting on tremendous opportunities generated through our close collaboration."

An increasingly popular concept within the multifamily industry, BFR properties are purpose-built housing intended to be operated as single-family rental investments, much like traditional multifamily properties. The single-family rental sector has been flourishing, despite a slowing in rental rates and velocity in typical multifamily rental developments. The BFR market makes up about five percent of new homes built, but is rapidly growing and will continue to do so as new entrants begin BFR operations. Single-family rentals are distinguished by amenity-rich neighborhoods that provide people with privacy, community, the convenience of parking, and personal outdoor space that many crave. Front porches, backyards, community greens, and beautiful streets make the neighborhoods desirable rental communities.

Heather McClure and Jeff Price led the Walker & Dunlop team in structuring the transaction. McClure commented, "Our team was honored to advise Avanta in this programmatic raise. Combining the focus of our structured finance group with the strength of our investment sales division allowed Walker & Dunlop to identify a limited equity partner whose experience and capital structure aligned well with Avanta's vision and strong execution capabilities." Walker & Dunlop is active with over fifty groups in the space, ranging from institutional clients, homebuilders, multifamily developers, and individual investors.

About Avanta

Avanta Residential is the single-family rental division of Hunt Companies, Inc. (Hunt). Drawing on Hunt's extensive real estate background and more than $8.5 billion in completed developments, Avanta is positioned to set the standard for the industry by creating neighborhoods comprised of single-family homes for lease. For more information, www.avantaresidential.com.

About Iron Point Partners

Iron Point Partners is a real estate private equity firm with initial capital commitments totaling approximately $6 billion across funds managed by Iron Point and its affiliates. Employing a theme-based investment approach, Iron Point and its predecessors and affiliates have invested in more than 85 transactions across commercial real estate property types including specialty real estate asset classes such as data centers, self-storage, healthcare related real estate, and affordable housing. The firm also invests in numerous distressed and other special situation opportunities. Prior to forming Iron Point in 2007, certain of the principals managed RMB Realty, Inc. and its successor Oak Hill Realty, LLC, real estate investment vehicles for the Robert M. Bass family office. For more information, www.ironpointpartners.com.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate finance companies in the United States. The company provides a comprehensive range of capital solutions for all commercial real estate asset classes, as well as investment sales brokerage services to owners of multifamily properties. Walker & Dunlop is included on the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and was ranked as one of FORTUNE Magazine's Fastest Growing Companies in 2014, 2017, and 2018. Walker & Dunlop's 950+ professionals in 41 offices across the nation have an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction.

SOURCE Avanta Residential

Related Links

https://www.avantaresidential.com




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I read this story in the U.K. Daily Mail (May 2020) and thought it was an exaggeration, too bizarre to be believed...purely tabloid material.

REVEALED: U.S. government gave $3.7million grant to Wuhan lab at center of coronavirus leak scrutiny that was performing experiments on bats from the caves where the disease is believed to have originated

A similar story also appeared that same month with the same confounding accusation.

Here's an interesting "discovery" I just made...if you search for this controversial story using Google, it takes about 2 minutes for the page to load. If you search using DuckDuckGo(.)com, the page loads in 3 seconds. What is that all about?

It almost seemed as if Google didn't believe the story, either.

Oh, well. It's probably nothing.

Sunday night, Fox News's Steve Hilton's The Next Revolution did a remarkable and shocking confirmation of both previous stories, linking Dr. Fauci and NIH funding (in 2014) to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci's support for the dangerous Wuhan "research" was provided against Barack Obama's orders to halt animal-to-human genetic testing in the USA.



Foxnews.com screen grab.

You can watch entire segment here. I encourage everyone to watch it and then ask the silly question: "Have our own tax dollars been funding the research and development for Frankenstein viruses by the PRC?"

Cautiously considering a fictional companion book, "We History of Covid-19-Through-48," that no publisher would consider believable.

Dale Lowdermilk is the founder of NOTSAFE(.)ORG.


The city of Pittsfield has received $330,000 in grant money through the states Community Safety Initiative. Also, the citys Police Department will get more than $50,000 in federal money through the Violence Against Women Act.
If youve lived in or visited Montana  or even read, say, Norman MacLeans A River Runs Through It  youre probably familiar with the beauty of its landscape and, in particular, its rivers. Were living through an unnerving time for Americas waterways, though; a recent study noted that one-third of the nations rivers have changed their color since 1984. For anyone concerned about the environment, thats an alarming statistic, to say the least.



One of the leading advocates for preserving Montanas rivers is that states senior U.S. Senator, Jon Tester. The Washington Posts Nick Ehli reports that Tester proposed legislation which would take action to protect 336 miles of his states rivers. These rivers are part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Smith River watershed, connecting them to one of the nations most iconic national parks.

This is the best that Mother Earth has to offer, Senator Tester said. But if we do nothing, they will disappear.



The Post reports that Testers bill would protect these rivers under the WSR Act. Created in 1968, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was designed to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. As Ehli notes, the law would block anything that might cause pollution in the rivers or adversely affect the landscape.



This is more than a theoretical matter: theres a copper mine planned for near the Smith River, making Testers proposed legislation a kind of preemptive strike designed to preserve the landscape. Its led a number of conservation groups to applaud the legislation  a sentiment echoed by many who value the outdoors remaining pristine.
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Security has been stepped up across and ahead of celebrations on Tuesday, officials said.

Adequate security personnel have been deployed in Haryana's Sonipat, Panipat and Jhajjar, the districts near the capital, in view of the farmers' tractor parade in Delhi on January 26, they said on Monday.

Services of bomb disposal squad and sniffer dog units were being taken to sensitise the vulnerable places across and Haryana, and the vehicles entering the two states were being checked thoroughly, the officials said.

Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh V P Singh Badnore will unfurl the tricolour at a state-level function in Mohali.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will hoist the flag at Patiala.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no large public gathering during the functions, the officials said.

On Monday, the government released a revised list regarding unfurling of the flag by some top dignitaries on

According to an official statement here, a change has been made in the venue where Chief Minister M L Khattar will unfurl the tricolour.

He will now unfurl the tricolour at an event in Panchkula instead of Panipat.

Though no reason was given in the statement regarding change in the venue, sources said it had to be changed following the movement of a large number of farmers from Punjab and to Delhi for the tractor parade.

Haryana Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya will unfurl the tricolour at the Raj Bhawan.

Sonipat's Superintendent of Police Jashandeep Randhawa said police have made foolproof security arrangements to ensure Republic Day celebrations pass off smoothly.

Randhawa told reporters in Sonipat that traffic diversion plans have been put in place as the tractor parade is likely to cause some disruptions.

"We are coordinating with neighbouring districts Karnal and Panipat so that heavy vehicle traffic can be diverted from there," he said.

The Haryana Police issued an advisory on Sunday, stating that in view of the security and traffic arrangements for Republic Day and the tractor parade, there would be disruptions in vehicular movement on the national highway from Karnal and Rohtak towards Delhi during January 25-27.

"Traffic on KMP-KGP expressway will also be impacted and interchanges at Kundli, Assaudha and Badli will not be accessible to traffic movement on these dates," the police advisory said.

"Therefore, all commuters are being advised not to use these routes on these dates to avoid any inconvenience," it 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 strong earthquake with magnitude of 4.4 was registered on Saturday afternoon with its epicentre in the Granada town of Santa Fe leading to one person being injured and reports of material damage to property.

The earthquake, according to data collected by Spain's National Geographic Institute (IGN), happened at 12.15pm.

The 112 Andalucia emergency control room received more than 75 calls from across the south of Spain.

The tremor, according to the IGN, was also felt in Malaga city, Nerja, Torrox, Algarrobo Costa, Torre del Mar, Velez-Malaga and Nueva Andalucia in Marbella.

One person was reported injured in Atarfe after the tremor caused part of a chimney to fall on his home. The earthquake left cracks in walls, displaced roof tiles and led to the collapse of a false ceiling at a school in the area.

The quake was also felt in Malaga city, Nerja, Torrox, Algarrobo Costa, Torre del Mar, Velez-Malaga and Nueva Andalucia in Marbella / IGN

The Local Police of Atarfe also said they ordered the preventive eviction of several homes in the event of possible gas leaks.

Several aftershocks followed and then another seismic movement with a magnitude 3.3 was registered at 6.08pm.

On Sunday morning another earthquake stuck the same area, this time with a magnitude of 3.2.
Scranton may rename a prominent city street after President Joe Biden  the citys preeminent native son.

City council is expected to introduce a resolution in early February forming an ad hoc committee to probe the feasibility of and prepare a plan to rename Wyoming Avenue or another prominent road in honor of Biden, who was born at St. Marys Hospital on Hickory Street in South Side and lived the first 10 or so years of his life at 2446 N. Washington Ave. in Green Ridge.

While Scranton ceremoniously dedicated a section of North Washington Avenue outside his childhood home as Joe Biden Way late last year, council President Bill Gaughan said the committee would explore officially renaming the entirety of whatever street officials ultimately chose in honor of the 46th president.

Gaughan suggested last week and several other council members endorsed renaming Wyoming Avenue in part because its not currently named after a former president, unlike North Washington Avenue, Adams Avenue, Jefferson Avenue and others. According to Frederick Lyman Hitchcocks History of Scranton and Its People, Volume 1, Lackawanna and Wyoming avenues were named in compliment to the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys.

While a portion of Wyoming Avenue from Spruce Street to Green Ridge Street is state-owned, state Department of Transportation Press Secretary Alexis Campbell wrote in an email that generally, local municipalities are granted the naming authority for roadways under the various Pennsylvania municipal codes.

Noting other Scranton roads bear the names of past presidents, Councilwoman Jessica Rothchild said last week honoring Biden in that way would be fitting given his status as a city native. Gaughan expressed a similar sentiment Friday.

The eyes of not only the country but the world have been on Scranton because of Joe Biden, and hes never forgotten where hes come from, he said. And I think people really take a lot of pride in the fact that we have a president that is from our city and we should celebrate that.

According to a draft version of the resolution, the ad hoc committee would be appointed by council and composed of city residents who would provide council monthly reports on the potential renaming effort. Whatever plan the committee ultimately produces would be submitted to council for approval.

In an email, city Planner Don King said he is not aware of any formalized process to change a street name but noted it would likely require the city planning commissions approval and an ordinance passed by city council. Forming the committee would not commit the city to renaming any street, avenue or other road, which Gaughan believes would require additional legislation.

Renaming a street after Biden is something the city should explore, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said last week.

Council next meets Tuesday but wont likely introduce the resolution forming the committee until Feb. 2, at the earliest. A vote to approve the resolution would follow at a subsequent meeting.
'I Am Working On A Love Story' : Amit Sadh

Jan 25, 2021 04:05 PM IST iVideos iVideos Share

Amit Sadh is working on a love story. The actor while in a conversation with News18's Shweta Rashmi revealed that his next project is a romantic film.



While talking about it Amit said, 'I am working on a love story. I haven't signed it yet. He's a very intelligent director, from South India and it will be a challenging role.'



Sadh also spoke about his latest release, 'Jeet Ki Zid', sharing screen space with Aly Goni and much more. The show is now streaming on Zee5 and has been getting rave reviews from the audience.
Australia has suspended its quarantine-free travel arrangement with New Zealand for 72 hours after a new case of the South African variant of the coronavirus was detected in the community in Auckland.

A woman is thought to have acquired the highly contagious strain of COVID-19 while in hotel quarantine but didnt test positive until she was released.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison discussed the temporary measure with New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern on Monday. Credit:Getty Images

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday Australia would shut down the green zone travel corridor with New Zealand effective immediately for at least three days out of an abundance of caution.

Any travellers who have arrived in Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 are being asked to isolate and get tested. Two green zone flights from New Zealand were due to travel to Australia late on Monday.
'Everyone who has recovered from Covid-19 must get themselves tested for diabetes and have a thorough examination of their lungs after six months, which appears to be the threshold for these two diseases to begin manifesting in the survivors',says doctors. (Representational Photo)

Hyderabad: The governments, Central as well as in the states, have been for long promoting a narrative that with the case fatality ratio being low, there is generally nothing to fear from Covid-19. Early detection is all that is required, except in some odd cases of patients with serious co-morbidities, to recover has been the cornerstone of this storyline.

The death rates have been pegged at 1.4 per cent all-India, and 0.54 per cent in Telangana state.

The narrative appears to have worked, with people no longer really afraid of the disease. One just needs to step out to see mask-less people, with many elected representatives including ministers acting no differently.

According to several doctors who have been treating Covid-19 patients for nearly a year now, it is just a matter of time before this make-believe safety bubble will burst. Other than some cursory comments on post-Covid-19 recovery care, little was done to create awareness on what patients need to look out for, after recovery.

We are seeing that nearly 80 per cent of those who have recovered from Covid-19 are developing diabetes, and fibrosis in the lungs in about six months, a senior doctor involved in treating and following-up with recovered patients told Deccan Chronicle.

"Everyone who has recovered from Covid-19 must get themselves tested for diabetes and have a thorough examination of their lungs after six months, which appears to be the threshold for these two diseases to begin manifesting in the survivors," the doctor said.

These are not the only diseases a Covid-19 survivor needs to watch out for.

"Since the disease is one of inflammation, the immediate term impact is being seen on the heart, doctors said. "Blood vessels are inflamed in Covid-19 patients, which means vascular walls become thick and their inner diameter gets restricted. This is the reason why the resting pulse rate in almost every Covid-19 patient goes up post immediate recovery, a doctor explained.

"What this means is that the heart begins to work harder than before exposure to Covid-19, resulting in increased pulse rate. It has been found that the heartbeat can swing wildly too," the doctor said, recommending that post survivors should ideally begin taking more interest in their cardiac health.

We have seen vascular constriction more often than not in children who suffered from Covid-19, a doctor told Deccan Chronicle, adding what this means to the quality of life of the children is something he was worried to even speculate about.

We are also seeing cases among Covid-19 infected women who are developing complications during pregnancies, as well as pregnant women losing their babies because of the vascular inflammation-related issues, the doctor said.

"If the governments do not start educating people at least on these aspects, if not the other commonly lingering effects such as fatigue, bouts of breathlessness and sore throat among other Covid-19 symptoms, then we are looking at a health care time bomb that could well explode in the next couple of years when the yet-to-be-clearly-understood near- and mid-term impacts of Covid-19 on general health begin making themselves felt," doctors said.

How many are at risk

1,05,01,194: Total cases all-India (including active cases as on Jan. 24).

84,40,955: Potential risk of developing serious health issues in six months, 80% of all-India total.

2,96,642: Total cases in TS (including active cases as on Jan. 24).

2,37,313: Potential risk of developing serious health issues in six months, 80% of TS total.

12,310: Children under 10 in TS vulnerable to develop vascular diseases.
Yves here. This piece provides a solid, high-level discussions of what to do about the long-festering banking mess in Europe (see Nick Corbishley last week on Italian banks, for instance). Not surprisingly, the authors deem the approaches best able to remedy the problems as least likely to get done.

By Arnoud Boot, Professor of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets, University of Amsterdam; Elena Carletti, Professor of Finance, Bocconi University; HansHelmut Kotz, Resident Fellow, Center for European Studies and Visiting Professor of Economics, Harvard University; Jan Pieter Krahnen, Professor of Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt; Loriana Pelizzon, Professor of Law and Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt and Senior Researcher, SAFE; Marti Subrahmanyam, Charles E. Merrill Professor of Finance, Economics and International Business, Stern School of Business, New York University. Originally published at VoxEU

Covid-19 has placed renewed pressure on the European banking sector as firms and households struggle to meet the costs imposed by the pandemic. This column provides a comparative assessment of the various policy responses to strengthen banks in light of the crisis. While the authors do not make a specific final recommendation, they review the different options suggested within current research and provide a criteria-based framework for policymakers to guide them in their decision making.

The Covid-19 pandemic will leave deep scars across the globe, particularly in the euro area. Given that the health of banking systems is inextricably tied to the performance of the underlying economies, the non-performing loans (NPLs) of banks are an important issue. What are the policy options to safeguard the integrity and functionality of the banking system? And what are the criteria defining the desired response? This column will address these questions in the context of the EU.

What makes the identification of a suitable policy response particularly difficult is the strong reliance on banks and the apparent overbanking in Europe (Pagano et al. 2014). At the national level, banking markets are highly concentrated, and many institutions are considered too-big-to-fail. The structurally low profitability of European banking makes this even more of a concern.

Policy responses should take these structural issues into consideration. In particular, the policy actions should neither reinforce the substantial reliance on banks, nor perpetuate a legacy banking architecture that is nation-centric and prone to a doom-loop between the fiscal state of national governments and the state of the banking system. The extent to which financial markets could play a more prominent role should also be considered.

In this column, we discuss and evaluate a variety of policy options that are considered in the current debate on how to deal with potential problems of the European banking sector, amplified by the Covid-19 crisis.2 The evaluation is based on a set of criteria that, in our view, capture the effectiveness and credibility of a proper policy response.

Evaluating Policy Options

We carefully distill the requirements that a desirable policy response should meet in light of two objectives of the policy intervention: (i) the stability of the banking system and (ii) the ability of the banking system to fulfill its important role in society. Subsequently, we apply the criteria to the policy options.

Assessment criteria

We define the following five criteria:

1. Effectiveness: Can the overall objectives be achieved? Does the option deal effectively with the problem at hand? Does the implemented model make a difference?

2. Feasibility: Is the option feasible in a broad sense? We consider various dimensions regarding feasibility:

a. Is the option feasible (e.g. not rejected outright by the legislative process or by the treasuries involved)?

b. Is a political mandate for the option possible?

c. Are policymakers and regulators able to execute the policy?

d. Is the option viable in a narrow sense (i.e. not too complex)?

3. Credibility of the policy: If put in place, can it be carried through over time?

a. Is the problem of regulatory capture addressed?

b. Is the option resilient to the too-many-to-fail-problem of policymaking?

c. Is the policy time consistent, in the sense that incentives to re-adjust are kept at bay so that ex post credibility can be ensured?

4. Alignment with incentives of private players: Does the (public) intervention leave ex ante the right incentives and initiative for banks and firms? This question includes the following aspects:

a. Does the option prevent zombification of firms and/or banks?

b. Can regulatory arbitrage be contained?

c. Does the option allow for private initiatives to deal with problems at hand (e.g. no weakening restructuring incentives)?

d. Is the flow of credit to firms, in particular SMEs, sustained?

5. Structural impact at the bank level: This criterion assesses the impact of the policy on the longer-term challenges of the banking industry. The following questions are considered:

a. Does the option respond to the overbanking issue?

b. Does the option limit the market power of established institutions?

c. Is this fostering positive renewal in the financial system?

d. Does it strengthen the role of capital markets in Europe?

Evaluation

We evaluate the various options along the criteria defined above, giving an assessment based on a three point-scale: yes (green), medium (yellow), and no (red). Table 1 summarises the results of the evaluation. For more details see Boot et al. (2021).

Option zero: Private recapitalisation

The basic option to improve the resilience of a single bank is to have it strengthen its capital base. This would allow the bank to deal with the problems at hand on its own (e.g. raise equity and manage non-performing loan). Such private sector initiatives seem preferable, if circumstances permit. A privately recapitalised bank would take full control over its own destiny and have the right incentives for making appropriate business decisions. As Table 1 indicates, this option is effective: it provides the right incentives to private players and would have the right structural impact at the bank level. Feasibility might be an issue, but it is a useful benchmark.

Option 1: Forbearance

The forbearance we focus on aims at giving banks some leeway in meeting regulatory requirements. Banking supervisors have stressed their willingness to accept temporary breaches of regulatory capital requirements if the shortfall is due to pandemic-related provisioning. The actions taken include deactivating surcharges for systemically important banks, lowering risk weights, excluding assets when calculating the leverage ratio, and temporarily suspending newly introduced accounting rules (IFRS 9). We evaluate option 1 under the assumption that it is the only measure taken by authorities and interpreted broadly (including, for example, relaxing accounting rules). As highlighted in Table 1, this option is feasible, but it would be largely ineffective because it does not contribute to the overall stability of the financial system in the medium term. Forbearance may beg for more forbearance, as often happens. Financial institutions will learn the lesson that tough regulatory rules will be bent whenever the risk outlook is gloomy enough. This option might provide perverse incentives to private players as a sole measure. In particular, it could entail substantial elements of the banking union to be suspended. It may lead to the zombification of banks and encourage continued lending to sclerotic firms. Moreover, this option would not have a favourable impact on the banking sector.

Option 2: Recapitalisation via public money

Recapitalization by governments refers to precautionary and mandatory recapitalisations, as suggested by Schularick et al. (2020). For European banks, the authors estimate a capital shortfall between 60 billion and 600 billion, depending on the pandemic scenario. The acceptance of such publicly financed equity infusion would be compulsory, conditional on not passing a stress test. Hence, this alternative could build on the previously discussed basic option if recapitalising via private money cannot be accomplished. As reported in Table 1, this option is effective and credible, but it would be difficult to implement because it encounters resistance as it involves public money. Moreover, this option could perpetuate overbanking. To contain this risk, it is key to attach strong conditions to the public infusion of capital.

Option 3: De-risking via asset sales

In case a bank is unwilling or unable to raise new equity, it may seek to improve its capitalisation ratio by selling assets, or more generally, by de-risking. This can lead to fire sales, producing systemic risk. As shown in Table 1, this option is feasible and would have a structural impact to the banking system, but it is not effective because the option might imply fire sales and threaten wider financial stability. Moreover, banks would have a strong incentive to substantially cut back on lending. This option is not credible because it may contribute to systemic risk in the economy, which, in turn, may make subsequent bailouts more, rather than less, likely. In terms of alignment with private incentives, this option would limit zombification and contain moral hazard.

Option 4: Asset separation through an individual bad bank model at the national level

Bad banks  also called asset management companies  have been used in the past to resolve calamities in banking. Sweden in the early 1990s is an interesting case in point. A bad bank typically needs substantial support by the government because losses will be realised. Creating a bad bank tends to invite challenges that relate to the nature of the assets transferred. What is a fair price of a particular loan? How can policymakers ensure that the private information owned by the bank is shared with the management of the bad bank? How can the bad bank optimally manage the assets and maximise recovery? In our assessment we assume that there are clear incentives to maximise the value of recovery. As reported in Table 1, this option would be effective and would provide the right incentives if the bad bank is managed and incentivised in the right way. The risk of moral hazard is limited, but there are still risks concerning national champions. However, in terms of feasibility this option is complex. The structural impact on the banking sector is constrained if national banking champions are preserved or created.

Option 5: Asset separation through an EU-wide bad bank model

A variation on option 4 is to set up an EU-wide bad bank  the irrevocable transfer of non-performing loans by banks to a supranational asset management company. Collecting these loans from across the single market, as reported in Table 1, is effective and might be managed more efficiently and objectively than national vehicles. However, complexity substantial undermines feasibility. Moreover, the supranational solution may trigger mutualisation concerns. That being said, it might also incentivize the creation of a market for distressed assets, and ultimately help the development of the Capital Markets Union (Beck 2017). In doing so, it could have a favourable structural impact on the banking system in Europe.

Option 6: Loss capping through debt restructuring/conversion

A different approach to tackling NPLs is a partial transfer of the default risk on each bank loan from a bank to (typically) a public authority. One avenue is via a targeted insurance scheme that offers coverage for realised losses exceeding a threshold level. Another avenue is a scheme where a public body refinances existing bank loans (where these new loans have limited recourse on the bank involved). It should be noted that this is effectively a capital infusion by the government since the bank receives more than the distressed value of the loan. As highlighted in Table 1, this option would be effective and, compared to the bad bank option, it leaves incentives more aligned, preserves the informational advantage of bank relationships, yet might have weaker collection incentives. The feasibility largely depends on the presence of an effective state-owned development bank, or a similarly established institution. Credibility relies not just on the effectiveness of the development bank, but also on the political strength to deal with the too-big-to-fail problem and moral hazard (see option four). The restructuring consequences of the scheme are partial, as individual loans are the focus; the risk of preserving national champions still exists.

Table 1 Overview: Criteria-based assessment of selected options

Conclusion

In this column, we have highlighted and assessed several policy options that aim at improving the resilience of European banks. The policy options range from forbearance, public recapitalisation, asset sales/de-risking to asset separation (bad bank at national or EU level), and loan conversion by state banks. We have evaluated each along a list of five criteria that should define the desired response: effectiveness, feasibility, credibility of policy, alignment with private incentives (mitigating moral hazard), and structural impact on the banking industry. Clearly, none of them are a panacea and there are positive and negative aspects to all of them.

Our assessment indicates that asset separation and loan conversion might be crucial for the viability of the European banking system, as these options dominate the other three (forbearance, public re-capitalisation, and de-risking). Among the preferred options, we point to the benefits that an EU-wide bad bank might bring (option 5). Such EU-wide system, collecting NPLs from across the Single Market, could potentially operate more efficiently and could be less prone to capture than national vehicles. On the downside, informational advantages embedded in the long-term bank-firm relationships might be lost. This loss of information would be avoided in a debt conversion scheme (option 6), and possibly also with a national bad bank (option 4).

When it comes to feasibility, the national bad bank and/or debt conversion options might have a benefit but have a disadvantage when it comes to the credibility of the policy. National authorities might still find themselves captured by domestic banks.

In this assessment, we have taken no stance on whether an infusion of public money is easier to accomplish at the national or at the European level. We also have not attached a value to the risk transfer to the European level with the pan-European bad bank. It could improve risk diversification but, for sure, raise mutualisation concerns. Although we do not make a specific recommendation, we provide a framework for policymakers to guide them in their decision making.

Author note: An extended version of this column is available as SAFE White Paper No. 79.

See original post for references


Range Gas Project Update - Drilling Rig Contracted

Brisbane, Jan 25, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Central Petroleum Limited ( ASX:CTP ) ( FRA:C9J ) ( OTCMKTS:CNPTF ) has contracted with Silver City Drilling (NSW) Pty Ltd to have Rig 34 drill three appraisal pilot wells at Central's Range Gas Project in Queensland's Surat Basin. The first well is expected to spud in early April 2021. The Range Gas Project is being progressed under a 50:50 joint venture ("Range JV") between wholly-owned subsidiaries of Central and Incitec Pivot Limited ( ASX:IPL ).These wells represent the next appraisal stage after the 2019 four-well exploration programme successfully identified a high-quality 2C contingent gas resource of 270 PJ (100% JV) in the proven Walloons CSG play. The three pilot wells are designed to produce water to surface and gas to a local flare in order to provide key subsurface and production data. If successful, this pilot well program will be the catalyst for the Range JV to finalise a "bankable" full-field development plan in support of a Final Investment Decision ("FID").All three pilot wells will be drilled through the three recognised Walloon coals sections (Upper Juandah, Lower Juandah and Taroom coals), with all three coals expected to contribute to production. The wells will be drilled closely spaced (at 200m spacing) to accelerate the provision of key subsurface and production data. Once online, the wells are expected to produce for around three to six months to provide the required data.In parallel with the pilot activities, the Range JV is progressing key State and Federal approvals in order to accelerate the planned FID and full field development.The Range Gas Project is situated within the greater, world-class Walloons fairway, close to existing producing CSG fields. Accordingly, the Range Gas Project has access to nearby infrastructure and transmission pipelines. Importantly, development of the Range Gas Project will provide a vital new source of competitively priced gas for the east coast gas market. Present estimates are that the Range Gas Project could produce in the vicinity of 45 TJ/d (gross JV).Commenting on the Range Gas Project, Central's Managing Director Leon Devaney said, "The Range Gas Project is on path to be one of Central's most significant growth projects and a real boost for the Company. If successful, Central's 50% share of the project will result in a step-change in our reserves base and production rates. After the challenges of 2020, I am pleased to hit the ground running in 2021 and begin a year in which we are seeking to drill a number of new wells across our portfolio, beginning with Range."To view tables and figures, please visit:About Central Petroleum Limited

Central Petroleum Limited ( ASX:CTP) is a well-established, and emerging ASX-listed Australian oil and gas producer. In our short history, Central has grown to become the largest onshore gas producer in the Northern Territory (NT), supplying industrial customers and senior gas distributors in NT and the wider Australian east coast market.

Central is positioned to become a significant domestic energy supplier, with exploration and development plans across 180,000 km2 of tenements in Queensland and the Northern Territory, including some of Australia's largest known onshore conventional gas prospects. Central has also completed an MoU with Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to progress the proposed Amadeus to Moomba Gas Pipeline to a Final Investment Decision.

We are also seeking to develop the Range gas project, a new gas field located among proven CSG fields in the Surat Basin, Queensland with 135 PJ (net to Central) of development-pending 2C contingent resource.
He has also resisted locking down the economy, noting the devastating effect it would have on many Mexicans who live day to day, despite that the country has registered nearly 150,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 1.7 million infections. Last week, the country registered its highest levels of infections and deaths to date.
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris is temporarily staying at the historic Blair House as her official residence is undergoing repairs, a spokesperson said. Across the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, Blair House is the official guest house of the US President.

The official residence of the vice president is located within the Naval Observatory Complex and is about four miles northwest of the White House. The vice president's chief spokesperson, Symone Sanders, told reporters here on Saturday that Harris moved in on Thursday. "They are living there while repairs are done at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory," Sanders said.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that crews are working on new liners for the chimneys and other tasks in the 33-room home, which was built in 1893. Blair House, built as a private house in 1824, is the guest house of the US President since 1942, where visiting foreign dignitaries normally stay.

In recent years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other Indian leaders have stayed in this historic building that has 120 antique-filled rooms.

"It's such a cozy and beautiful place. There is so much history here, and it tells the great story of our country. So many presidents have passed through that black and white marble threshold. Yes, it has a lot of square footage, but it feels like a home," Capricia Marshall, a former chief of protocol and current board member of the Blair House Restoration Fund, was quoted as saying by The Washington Times.

President Joe Biden and the First Lady spend the night before their inauguration here.

Live TV

US firm said it's now developing a booster jab to combat the South African strain

Moderna said vaccine up to six times less potent against South African variant

Kent strain had 'no significant impact' on jab, which UK has bought 17m doses of

moderna's coronavirus vaccine is effective at protecting against the Kent variant but doesn't work as well against the strain that emerged in South Africa, the company said today.

In a huge boost to Britain's vaccination programme, the US firm said laboratory tests found the Kent variant found in the UK had 'no significant impact' on the jab's performance.

Britain has ordered 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which was 95 per cent effective at blocking the original Covid strain. They are due to arrive in spring.

The researchers took blood samples from patients who had received the vaccine and exposed them to the various mutated strains of the virus.

They found the jab produced six times fewer antibodies - substances made in the blood to fight infections - against the South African variant.

However, despite the six-fold reduction, the vaccine produced a high enough level of antibodies to kill the mutant strain, Moderna claimed.

The findings all but confirm the South African variant reduces the potency of vaccines.

No vaccine is perfect and there's always a risk someone who is immunised can still catch Covid. The latest development may increase the chances of this happening.

Moderna said it is now developing a booster jab, to be taken after the original two-dose vaccine, to provide extra protection against the South African variant.

So far 77 cases of the South African variant have been spotted in the UK, although this number is likely to be far higher because Public Health England only analyses one in 10 random positive swabs.

PHE is doing its own research into the South African variant to see how well the current batch of vaccines will work against it.

Dr Susan Hopkins, clinical director at PHE, told tonight's Downing Street press conference: 'There are four laboratories in the UK that do detailed vaccination and convalescent sera studies and thats in Imperial, Oxford and two PHE laboratories  Porton Down and Colindale.

'The consensus view from those four laboratories, who have all done different experiments, is that current vaccine works against the variant that was first discovered in the UK. That is very, very reassuring.

Up to HALF of people who've already had Covid 'may still be vulnerable to South African variant' The South African coronavirus variant may slip past parts of the immune system in as many as half of people infected with different versions in the past, scientists fear. Researchers say that a mutation on a specific part of the virus's outer spike protein appears to make it able to 'escape' antibodies. Antibodies are substances made by the immune system that are key to destroying viruses or marking them for destruction by white blood cells. South African academics found that 48 per cent of blood samples from people who had been infected in the past did not show an immune response to the new variant. One researcher said it was 'clear that we have a problem'. Professor Penny Moore, the researcher behind the project, claimed people who were sicker with coronavirus the first time and had a stronger immune response appeared less likely to get reinfected. Antibodies are a major part of the immunity that is created by vaccines  although not the only part  so if the virus continues evolving to escape from them it could mean that vaccines have to be redesigned and given out again. But experts so far say they have no reason to believe vaccines won't work, which may be because they produce a stronger immune response than a very mild infection, and because they produce various different types of immune cells. Advertisement

'We also know from following clinical cohorts where we are looking at everyone whos had prior infection, and who gets it subsequently, that we cant see any change in the immune response and the reinfection rate in those that have had a previous infection...

'Were starting to do that work on the variant that was first found in South Africa  that hasnt reported yet but we will continue to watch this and we expect each of those sites to publish that data in its final format, independently.

'The consensus view, as we released in our technical statement, is that this is working against the current variant.

Reacting to the Moderna study findings, Professor Jonathan Ball, a molecular virologist at the University of Nottingham, said they suggest the South African variant evolved in an elderly or vulnerable person who was infectious for a long period of time, as a way to get around their natural immunity.

He added: 'This highlights the real potential for antibody escape variants to arise in the face of sub-optimal immunity.

'Whilst the vaccine immune sera showed reduced activity it was still able to kill the South African variant virus. We also think that the vaccine is able to generate killer T cells and we hope that these too will still be effective against the variant virus.

'But this data does show that virus evolution can impact on antibody killing, so it will be important to continue to monitor variant emergence and test whether or not genetic changes might impact on key behaviours like antibody sensitivity, transmission and disease severity.

'Importantly the variant that has spread widely throughout the UK was fully susceptible to the Moderna vaccine-induced antibodies. It will also be important to see how immunity raised by the AZ and Pfizer vaccines might be impacted by virus mutation.'

Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, said the results were 'not surprising' to him.

He added: 'The key mutation in the English variant (B.1.1.7) is N501Y is not thought to be an escape mutation and so it is unlikely that it would have any effect on vaccine efficacy.

'The South African variant (B.1.351) has the N501Y mutation as well but also the E484K mutation which is thought to be an escape mutation and so one would expect some reduced efficacy and this is what has been seen today. Given that the Brazilian variants both contain the E484K mutation it is likely that efficacy to these variants will also be reduced.

What variants are causing panic around the world? Kent variant Real name: B.1.1.7 When was it discovered? The variant was first found in the South East of England and can be traced back to September 2020. What mutations does it have? It has 23 mutations, some of which change the shape of the spike protein on its outside. The main mutation is known as N501Y. This appears to make it better able to stick to the cells inside the body and makes it more likely to cause infection and faster to spread. Why is it causing worry? UK studies have shown it is between 50 and 70 per cent more infectious than the regular strain, which has made it harder to control. Preliminary studies also show it is about 30 per cent more deadly than previous versions. How many people have caught it in the UK? It is the dominant strain in Britain and accounts for the majority of new cases. Brazil variant Real name: P.1 When was it discovered? In Tokyo, Japan, in four travellers arriving from Manaus, Brazil, on January 2. What mutations does it have? P.1 has 17 mutations, three of which are particularly concerning to scientists. Like the Kent variant, it also has the N501Y mutation which suggests it's more infectious and possibly more lethal. It also has a spike alteration named E484K, which scientists believe may be associated with an ability to evade parts of the immune system called antibodies. Researchers suspect this is the case because strains with this mutation have been shown to reinfect people who caught and beat older versions of Covid. Another key mutation in the variant, named K417T, has the potential to 'possibly escape some antibodies', according to British experts. This mutation is less well-studied and the ramifications of this are still being researched. Why is it causing worry? There have been a number of proven cases of people catching this variant after beating older versions of the virus. It strongly suggests the variant can evade natural immunity and possibly even vaccines. How many people have caught it in the UK? It's not. Public health officials and scientists randomly sample around 1 in 10 coronavirus cases in the UK and they have not yet reported any cases of the variant, but this doesn't rule it out completely. South African variant Real name: B.1.351 When was it discovered? Nelson Mandela Bay, in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, in mid-December. What mutations does it have? The South African variant carries 21 mutations, including E484K and N501Y. Why is it causing worry? Those two mutations suggest it is more infectious than the older version of Covid and raise the possibility of antibody resistance. However, Sir Patrick Vallance has said there is no reason the South African or Brazilian strains would become dominant in the UK, because they don't have any evolutionary edge over the Kent strain currently plaguing the country, which is just as transmissible. How many people have caught it in the UK? At least 77 Brits have been infected with this variant, though the number is likely to be far higher because PHE is only testing random positive samples. Advertisement

'However, this does not mean that existing vaccines will not still be highly effective.

'Long established human coronaviruses also seem to accumulate mutations over time that ultimately lead to these viruses escaping from the immune protection generated by their ancestors.

'But each single mutation is unlikely to be sufficient in itself. So we are likely to see gradual accumulation of variants that are more and more able to escape vaccine induced immunity and indeed naturally induced immunity.

'But this is to be expected and should not pose unsurmountable difficulties for control of the epidemic.'

Stephane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, said: 'As we seek to defeat the Covid-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves.

'We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine should be protective against these newly-detected variants.

'Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers [antibodies] against this and potentially future variants.'

News that the vaccine works against the Kent variant will be a huge boost to Britain's immunisation efforts.

It means all three of the UK's main jabs - including Oxford University/Astrazeneca's and Pfizer/BioNTech's - are shown to be just as effective on the mutant strain.

The Kent variant was first picked up in the South East in late September and quickly went on to become the dominant strain in the UK, sparking a winter wave of infections and hospital admissions that plunged England into its third national lockdown.

UK studies have shown the variant is between 50 and 70 per cent more infectious than the original strain.

A mutation on the variant's spike protein called N501Y  which protrudes from the coronavirus and hijacks human cells  is thought to make it better at infecting people.

But the good news is that it doesn't appear to have changed the virus so much that immune cells triggered by vaccines based on a version of the virus from last year don't recognise it.

The other major vaccine developers said they were keeping a close eye on the virus's mutation and laying the groundwork for new jabs in case they are needed in future.

For Pfizer and Moderna, which produce theirs using genetic code called mRNA, it could be as basic as changing the genetic code on a computer and regenerating all of the RNA samples.

For Oxford and Janssen, however, which attach part of the real coronavirus to a living cold virus from a chimp, the companies must go through the process of growing all of these natural components, which slows down development. It takes Oxford around three months to make a batch.

AstraZeneca's executive vice-president, Sir Mene Pangalos, pointed to this as a reason behind delays to Britain's vaccine supply in a meeting with MPs last week.

He said: 'You have to grow cells, and cells divide at a certain speed  you can't do any faster than the speed at which the cells divide.'

AstraZeneca, which produces a vaccine designed by the University of Oxford, said it is already starting work on designing new vaccines behind the scenes.

A spokesperson for the company said: 'The University of Oxford and labs across the world are carefully assessing the impact of new variants on vaccine effectiveness, and starting the processes needed for rapid development of adjusted Covid-19 vaccines if these should be necessary.'

Pfizer is also understood to be working on understanding the new variants and how it could adapt its vaccine to tackle them.
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Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Havas Group India is proud to roll out a unique internship opportunity for freshers to help add a spark to their careers. The program titled Havas SPARK is intended to provide bright and talented interns, educational and career development opportunities through practical experience in a professional work environment at Havas that can lead to exciting career prospects in the future.

This initiative allows Havas Group India to not only tap into young and talented individuals with new-age skills and fresh perspectives on business issues but also discover future business leaders who make a meaningful difference. This program is structured to offer the selected participants a 6-month internship involving both formal and on-the-job learning opportunities, working on exciting and challenging live projects, and a chance to gain full-time employment post completion of the duration.

In its first year, the program will induct 15 freshers in newer and upcoming fields of media, advertising, data & analytics, digital marketing, and ecommerce who will undergo an intense 6-month on-the-job experience which will include virtual and classroom sessions, assignments, job rotations, live projects, and final project submission. The 15 interns will be selected through a rigorous filtering process involving an online aptitude test, a role-specific assignment and personal interviews. After the successful completion of the program, the idea is to absorb maximum number of interns as confirmed employees in the various Havas agencies and disciplines. This entire batch will have individual mentors and will have a senior management team of leaders who will work with the group to ensure consistency, proper learning and development of skills.

Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India said At Havas Group India the philosophy is to make a meaningful difference to the brands, businesses, and the people we work with. With this innovative program roll out, I am thrilled as this gives us an opportunity to calibrate the right talent, groom them and help them get a strong and solid footing in the advertising, media, and digital world. And about time we as professionals, established agencies and networks take on the talent scarcity challenge and help groom young, bright talent who need guidance, direction, and overall mentorship to ignite the spark that can create magic in our industry.

I am very excited that were finally going live with this program. Weve been working on it for the past one year and were waiting for the right opportunity to roll it out. The program will provide a fantastic opportunity for young millennials to get exposed to the ups and downs of a profession. Learning by doing is so much more valuable than learning through textbooks. Vandana C Tilwani, CHRO, Havas Group India.
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The world record for the most stable transmission of a laser signal through the atmosphere has been broken.

Scientists from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and The University of Western Australia (UWA) broke the record using phase stabilisation technology alongside advanced self-guiding optical terminals.

"We can correct for atmospheric turbulence in 3D, that is, left-right, up-down and, critically, along the line of flight," Benjamin Dix-Matthews, a PhD student at ICRAR and UWA, said.

"It allows us to send highly-stable laser signals through the atmosphere while retaining the quality of the original signal," Matthews continued, adding that its "as if the moving atmosphere has been removed and doesn't exist.

This development means that laser signals could be sent from one point to another without atmospheric interference, meaning that more data can be transmitted between satellites and the Earth with greater efficiency than can currently be achieved.

Recommended Scientists discover ultra powerful laser is in fact portable

"Our technology could help us increase the data rate from satellites to ground by orders of magnitude," ICRAR-UWA senior researcher Dr Sascha Schediwy

"The next generation of big data-gathering satellites would be able to get critical information to the ground faster."

Another benefit of this technology is that it is the worlds most precise way of comparing the flow of time between two separate locations.

"If you have one of these optical terminals on the ground and another on a satellite in space, then you can start to explore fundamental physics," Dr Schediwy said.

"Everything from testing Einstein's theory of general relativity more precisely than ever before, to discovering if fundamental physical constants change over time.

The technology could also be used in earth science and geophysics research, allowing satellites to study how the water table changes over time or look for ore deposits underground.

The phase stabilisation technology was originally developed to synchronise incoming signals for the Square Kilometre Array telescope  a multi-billion dollar telescope set to be built in Western Australia and South Africa from 2021.

The researchers results will be published under the title Point-to-point stabilized optical frequency transfer with active optics in the journal Nature Communications.
The Jerry John Rawlings Foundation, on behalf of the Rawlings family through the Ministry of Information has stated that no media house or any recording or picture taking gadget will be allowed into the lobby of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) where the mortal remains of the late former President Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings has been laid-in-state.



A statement issued by the Foundation through the Ministry of Information said the official production unit of the Jerry John Rawlings Foundation will provide live HDMI or SDI feed output for all proceedings.



It added that Media houses that wish to have access to the live feed or photographs are requested to pick their feed from the Media Village that has been set up at the AICC for that purpose.



Ghana mourns



Ghanaians will from Monday, January 25 to Tuesday, January 26, pay their last respects to the late former President who died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on November 12, 2019, after a short illness.



Todays filing past is reserved for heads of the security agencies, leaders of political parties and the public.



Tomorrow, the filing past will start with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, former Heads of State, as well as heads of constitutional bodies.



On the same Tuesday, Members of Parliament, led by the Speaker, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin; former Speakers of Parliament, the Chief Justice, justices of the Supreme Court, former Chief Justices, former chairmen and members of the Council of State, former ministers of state, among others, will file past the body.



Members of the Diplomatic Corps and organised groups will also pay their respects on Tuesday.



DEVTRACO THE PELICAN

The remains of former President Rawlings will be entombed at the Military Cemetery at the Burma Camp in Accra after a state funeral on Wednesday, January 27.





Source: Graphiconline.com









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KABUL  Deputy and Acting Foreign Minister Mirwais Nab received Chinese Ambassador Wang Yu to discuss Afghan peace process and bilateral relations.

Mr Nab touched on the importance of ceasefire and reduction of violence in the second round of Afghan peace talks in Doha. Mr. Nab, while pointing to the Taliban's unfulfilled promises and lack of commitment to peace in Afghanistan, highlighted the Chinese role in regional consensus building and achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Chinese Ambassador assured Deputy Foreign Minister of Chinese support to preserving the Islamic Republic, protecting women's rights, and sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
Republicans had better get a message on health care soon, or they are destined to see Obamacare 2.0 signed into law in Biden's first 100 days. Early signs are that Republicans have not become tired of losing.

The Republican agenda for the first 100 days of President Joe Biden will be to curtail Biden's agenda. Not many Republicans see Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the guy who is going to stop the Democrats from steamrolling Republicans. People are more likely to look to the House Freedom Caucus leaders like Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to dig in and fight. Moderate Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) has never been looked upon as a fighter, yet she has been installed by McCarthy to run the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This is a time for Republicans to put conservatives out front in the fight against creeping socialism.

Republican House leadership put personal friendships ahead of good policy on health care in committee assignments. Rep. Burgess was expelled from his slot as ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health because he ran for chairman of the full committee against the leadership's choice, McMorris Rodgers. Good policy on health care should matter more than whom McCarthy wants to install as chairman.

This is an important committee with jurisdiction covering many of the issues contained in the Democrats' Green New Deal. McMorris Rodgers was quoted in Politico saying the "E&C is at the center of the race to win the majority." She is right, but does anybody believe that someone who vacated leadership is the right person to lead some epic battles over the next two years? Had leadership done a better job of mapping out an agenda for this new Congress, they might have taken power in the House, yet no discernible agenda was pushed. The Republican Party is currently a rudderless ship when it comes to policy.

There will be many battles with the Biden administration over policy, and one of the fiercest is likely to involve health care legislation. Democrats have pivoted from Medicare for All to adding a public option to Obamacare. Rep. Burgess is a medical doctor who has pushed conservative ideas to fix health care. His ideas will reduce government control of individual health care decisions of American citizens. Dr. Burgess would be a good choice to run point to defeat more government control of health care, yet leaders put personal friendships ahead of good policy by exacting retribution against Burgess.

The danger Republicans are facing is that "the public option" sounds nicer than "Medicare for All" because the latter has been successfully characterized as health care socialism. Both Medicare for All and the public option advance the goals of spending more government cash on health care, yet a public option being added to Obamacare is a more effective way to inch America toward 100% health care socialism. Both ideas eliminate all private health care coverage and replace it with a government-administered health care plan. The public option is the next phase in the left's agenda, a system that will end up bankrupting the taxpayer while leading to substandard health care.

The left's pivoting to the public option strategy may be a slower and less radical path to a government-run health care system than Medicare for All, yet the strategy may have a chance if weak Republican leadership allows it. Republican voters would rather have Jordan and Roy in the political foxhole with them than McCarthy and McMorris Rodgers.

Now is a time for bold leadership. Republicans in the House need to rely on conservative policy experts like Burgess and fighters like Jordan to lead the party the next two years.

Image: PD-USGov.



WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden imposed stringent new made-in-America rules for U.S. government spending Monday, adding a caveat likely troubling to Canada: exceptions to those rules will be allowed only under "very limited circumstances."

President Joe Biden waves as he departs after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington. Less than a week after the economic gut punch of cancelling Keystone XL, Canada is bracing for more bad news today from the White House. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Patrick Semansky

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden imposed stringent new made-in-America rules for U.S. government spending Monday, adding a caveat likely troubling to Canada: exceptions to those rules will be allowed only under "very limited circumstances."

Monday's Buy American executive order was the result of a cornerstone Biden campaign promise, one designed to corral swing-state support among the protectionist, blue-collar voters who elevated Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.

The aim of the policy is not a new one in U.S. politics: ensuring that American manufacturers, workers and suppliers are the primary beneficiaries of U.S. government largesse, including an estimated $600 billion a year in procurement contracts.

The Trump administration liked to talk about Buy American, Biden said, but ultimately did little to toughen or even enforce the rules.

"That is going to change on our watch," he said, signing an executive order to raise standards for U.S. content, increase oversight and provide for more stringent enforcement.

The measures include a "Made in America" office attached to the White House to police the use of waivers  the exceptions that allow Canadian contractors, manufacturers and suppliers access to a lucrative and often essential source of business.

That office will "review waivers to make sure they are only used in very limited circumstances  for example, when there's an overwhelming national security, humanitarian or emergency need here in America," Biden said.

"This hasn't happened before. It will happen now."

Waiver details will also be posted on a U.S. government website to provide more public transparency about who is getting around the rules and why.

The plan would also increase the amount of U.S.-produced materials or components a project or product would need to qualify as American-made, and make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to access procurement opportunities.

President Joe Biden signs an executive order on American manufacturing, in the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, in Washington. Vice-President Kamala Harris looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Evan Vucci

It also requires government agencies to provide twice-yearly progress reports on their efforts to follow the new rules.

"I don't buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past," Biden said. "American manufacturing was the arsenal of democracy in World War Two, and it must be part of the engine of American prosperity now."

Mark Agnew, the director of international policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Canada will find little of comfort in Monday's news.

"Buy American restrictions remain a perennial problem for Canadian businesses seeking to access government contracts with our largest trading partner," Agnew said in a statement.

"Although the rules have progressively tightened over the years, (Monday's) announcement represents another unhelpful step to make it more difficult for Canadian businesses to secure contracts in the U.S."

In the midst of a deadly pandemic and resultant economic free fall, Canada and the U.S. should be looking for ways to join forces and leverage their strengths to fortify existing cross-border supply chains, Agnew said.

"Although the full impact of (Monday's) announcement will take time to cascade to different parts of the U.S. government, its chilling effect on business will be acutely felt north of the border."

As if to certify the echo of Trump's "America First" mantra, Century Aluminum  a U.S.-based producer that led last year's charge in favour of tariffs on Canadian aluminum imports  cheered Biden's measures.

"Manufacturing is the backbone of our great nation," Century CEO Michael Bless said in a statement.

"We applaud President Biden for his leadership on this critically important issue that will empower domestic manufacturing while creating more good paying jobs for American workers."

A more stringent and orderly system of approving and enforcing waivers might eventually prove to be a "silver lining" for Canada, said Dan Ujczo, a Canada-U.S. trade lawyer based in Columbus, Ohio.

The enforcement of procurement rules can sometimes be haphazard, particularly when they are confusing and poorly understood, said Ujczo, senior counsel with the U.S. firm Thompson Hine LLP.

"Canada has a network of agreements with the U.S. to address Buy American programs, but the nuance often is lost on procurement officers that do not want to risk using non-U.S. products," he said.

"If Canadian companies can use this new Made in America office at OMB to emphasize Canadas 'exemptionalism,' it could prove worthwhile."

Dennis Darby, the CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said the job now is to remind Biden that the U.S. and Canada "build things together," and that the rules risk sideswiping Canada in the same way they did 10 years ago.

"Anyone who thought it was suddenly going to be easy, clear sailing now that Mr. Trump is gone, I think, was probably not thinking realistically," Darby said.

It may help that Biden was vice-president in 2010, when Canada secured a waiver under the Buy American provisions imposed by then-president Barack Obama the previous year, Darby added.

"America is never a pushover; America is always going to be 'America First,'" he said. "We just have to make sure that our interests are protected and that we aren't threatening American jobs in any significant way."

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the replacement trade deal for NAFTA negotiated under Donald Trump, does not include specific government procurement provisions between the U.S. and Canada.

The deal envisioned relying instead on the terms of the World Trade Organization's general procurement agreement, to which both Canada and the U.S. are signatories.

Biden said he "remains committed to working with partners and allies to modernize international trade rules  including those related to government procurement."

Even so, Canadian suppliers and contractors will need to remain on guard, Ujczo said.

"Make no mistake: Canadian companies, supported by federal and provincial governments, will need to remain vigilant and aggressive on this file. There is a risk that Canada gets lumped in with everybody else. "

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.
New strategies essential for nations energy-saving goals (photo: shutterstock)

Before the Family Electricity Saving Programme came into being, Viet Tri city in the northern province of in Phu Tho used a relatively large amount of electricity. Phu Tho has now mobilised 12,000 customers to participate in this programme, contributing to reducing electricity consumption and related emissions that cause environmental pollution.

Resident Pham Tien Dung explained that people in his area are now more used to turning off electric devices completely when leaving a room and choose to use energy-saving equipment more often, thus limiting electricity use during peak hours.

This habit not only helps us pay less for electricity but also got the praise of the local power company, Dung said.

Changes in the perception of locals such as in Viet Tri show how much electricity consumption can be impacted by raising awareness. As energy scarcity becomes an ever-increasing issue in Vietnam, the country is eager to further promote energy efficiency among locals and businesses.

Vietnam saved about 16 million tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) or 103.7 billion kWh of electricity in the 2006-2015 period, thanks to the implementation of the National Energy Efficiency Programme (VNEEP). The programme was reapproved in 2019 to last until 2030, targeting to reduce national energy consumption by 5-7 per cent by 2025, and 8-10 per cent by 2030.

The VNEEP already contributed to decreasing energy consumption between 2006 and 2010 by 3.4 per cent and by another 5.6 per cent in the 2011-2015 period.

However, despite reapproval, general interest in power saving has declined, with many localities not considering energy saving one of their priorities. Only 17 of the 63 cities and provinces have pledged to implement the programme.

Although national energy-saving efforts have achieved some results, data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) showed that energy consumption remains high in many industries, even up to 1.3-1.6 times higher than in other regional countries. In total, the energy consumption of the industrial sector now accounts for more than 47 per cent of total national consumption, according to data presented by the Vietnam Energy Forum two years ago.

In addition, wasteful and ineffective use of energy continues to exist in many industries and localities, with community awareness remaining limited. Many businesses and households have not yet prioritised energy-saving measures, while access to credit loans to implement respective projects for businesses is challenging. Moreover, state management bodies responsibility seems low, while the funding opportunities mentioned in the VNEEP do not seem encouraging enough for many to use energy economically and efficiently.

The implementation of the revised Power Development Plan VII (PDP7) showed that there are still many problems that need to be overcome. Many power projects, including coal-fired thermal power plants, are delayed, increasing the risk of power shortages, especially in the next five years. Meanwhile, the structure and demand for electricity use in economic sectors and regions have changed, thereby requiring reallocation and redistribution.

Remedying shortcomings

According to data published by the World Bank, Vietnams energy intensity level of primary energy for 2019 stood at about 5.94, lower than China (6.69) but much higher than other ASEAN countries like Malaysia (4.68), Indonesia (3.53), and the Philippines (312), as well as India (4.73) and other modern economies.

This shows that the Vietnamese economy is largely inefficient in terms of energy usage compared to other regional economies. The energy intensity level of primary energy depicts the ratio between energy supply and GDP measured at purchasing power parity.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh spoke at the National Assemblys Economic Committee last September about the current situation of electricity development by 2030, concluding that the power sector has still many shortcomings and limitations.

He referred to the fact that many power projects are behind schedule and power supply remains unbalanced between regions. Securing fuel for power generation is increasingly dependent on imports, while capital mobilisation for other power projects faces many difficulties. The cause of these shortcomings, Minister Anh said, lies mostly within the policies for the power sector that still need to be reformed, with investment resources also remaining limited.

Using electricity economically and efficiently is one of the solutions to the power problem given by the minister but can only represent an incentive in the next five years. Meanwhile, the demand for electricity for production and export activities, as well as the livelihoods of citizens, is still very high.

The MoITs Institute of Energy estimates that energy demand will increase by about 8 per cent per year by 2030. With GDP growth averaging 7 per cent annually, the energy demand by 2025 is likely to reach 352 billion kWh, while 506 billion kWh of electricity may be needed by 2035.

The institutes director, Tran Ky Phuc, said the results of reviewing the previous PDP7 for the implementation of the new PDP8 showed that, between 2016 and 2020, thermal power sources only reached 57.6 per cent while renewable energy sources exceeded 205 per cent. The completion rate of 500kV transformer stations reached 73 per cent; with the rate reaching 88 per cent for 500kV transmission lines, 77 per cent for 220kV station, and 84 per cent for 220kV lines.

Vietnams electricity system currently has a total capacity of about 54,000MW, including renewable energies such as wind and solar. While largely meeting the demand at the moment, the country will need around 130,000MW by 2030, representing a huge challenge for its energy industry as many power projects remain behind schedule and the arrangement of capital sources for implementations of new power sources and grids still faces many difficulties.

Flipping the switch

Phuong Hoang Kim, director of the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development Department under the MoIT, said if the country can save aorund 10 per cent in energy consumption, about 60 million TOE could be saved, equivalent to the consumption in 2014.

Vietnam needs to persevere in applying three fundamental solutions, Kim said. Firstly, the country must integrate the goal of saving electricity in its economic restructuring efforts. Secondly, this goal must also be included in the national strategic innovation plan. Thirdly, more awareness should be raised within Vietnamese culture and society.

According to Do Huu Hao, chairman of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology, the countrys industrial sector has the potential to save up to 20 per cent energy, while civil construction and transportation could reach over 30 per cent. The essence of energy saving is technological innovation and productivity improvement, so the application of new technologies to improve energy efficiency is essential, Hao said, further suggesting that the government should propose specific activities to support businesses to invest in energy-efficient solutions and advanced technology.

Such efforts can undoubtedly bring many benefits, reduce production costs, and bring investments in the energy sector while contributing to environmental protection.

Nguyen Quan, chairman of the Vietnam Automation Association, lamented that there is little scientific research on energy efficiency.

Currently, the nation is spending about 30 per cent of its electricity for residential and public lighting. Saving only half the electricity for this would be the equivalent of building a nuclear power plant with a capacity of about 4,000MW, Quan explained.
MNDOBANDOBA  Traditional healer, Elliot Fakuzde, 62, popularly known as Black Cat, had a premonition about his departure from the world of the living.

This is according to his family members.

One of his sons said his father had in jest informed them that he was about to exit the world of the living, but they took it lightly as he was someone who always joked a lot.

On the day of his passing  Sunday - Black Cat is said to have seen a dark cloud in the sky and he informed his children that they should wake him up when it (dark cloud) had passed.

After giving this instruction, the deceased was said to have gone to sleep in one of his consultation rooms, which in his lifetime he referred to as emakhosini. This consultation room is the one where Fakudze used to keep his supposedly speaking calabashes, which according to his sons they (calabashes) had already informed him that his time in this world was up.

Instructed

According to his children, at about 2pm, those whom he had instructed to wake him up after the dark cloud had passed, did so.

Thereafter, it was said he called upon two children (boys aged 13 and 18) to accompany him to Matata Shopping Complex, where he wanted to buy some groceries. They said he took his white Toyota Fortuner and he ordered the boys to sit at the back seat.

However, before they left, the children said he told them that he had remembered one of his sons Mukelo, who was a soldier and allegedly died in the hands of some soldiers who were under the Military Police Department while punishing him in 2012.

Thereafter, they said Fakudze,went to the house and took a jacket which belonged to Mukelo and wore it.

While en route to Matata Shopping Complex, it was said he had no challenges crossing over the Mndobandoba Bridge. This was despite the fact that the river was already flooding.

According to the 18-year-old boy, Sammy Samuels, while they were at Matata, Black Cat gave a lift to a girl, who was their neighbour.

Samuels said as they journeyed back home, they found vehicles parked along the gravel road on both ends of the Mndobandoba Bridge. This, he said, was because the water levels had increased.

Upon seeing the vehicles along the road, Samuels said the deceased in jest asked the motorists why they had parked along the road. In response, he claimed, some of the motorists said they were afraid of being swept away by the floods.

Thereafter, he told the other motorists that he would try to cross the bridge, but if he did not make it, his family knew where they would find him, claimed Samuels.

Without taking their response into consideration, the teenager said Black Cat proceeded with his journey and while halfway into the over-flooding bridge; their vehicle was swept by the water. The vehicle was travelling to the west direction (Hlatikhulu); but on impact from the water, the car changed direction and faced the south, which was the Lavumisa direction.

River

Thereafter, Samuels said the vehicle was washed into the river and started floating. He said when the car was forced by the floods into the river; he tried to open one of the doors.

However, the door did not swing open as the flooding water banged on it. Meanwhile, Samuels claimed that while battling to open the door wide open, the other doors locked upon the impact of falling into the river bank.

In the chaos that was ongoing, the teenager claimed that he assisted Black Cat to leave the drivers seat and sit with them at the back seat.

Thereafter, he said the floods forcefully ejected Black Cat out of the car through the door that had been partially opened. As this was happening, he said the 13-year-old boy tried to break one of the car windows. He said it was this window that they used to get out of the car. I remember seeing the girl trying to get out of the car using the open door, but I think she panicked too much and that is why maybe she ended up dying inside the vehicle, claimed the teenage boy.

Thereafter, he said they swam out of the river while the car was washed towards the railway line that is located about 500 metres from the bridge.

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba explained that Ukraine supports calls for the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, since he is an enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but noted that we should not be fascinated by him from the point of view of the interests of the Ukrainian state.

"Therefore, we have taken a tough, principled position, because, firstly, it is wrong to beat people who protested in defense of their civil rights. And secondly, there is a saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Kuleba said in the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Sunday evening.

According to him, Navalny is now the personification of protests. "In fact, the Russians did not take to the streets to defend Navalny, but to defend themselves. But he is Putin's enemy, so we support the freedom of Navalny and all the people who support this freedom."

"We need to understand Russia. We should not also be fascinated by Alexei Navalny from the point of view of Ukraine's interests. There should be no illusions here," the minister stressed.

He also believes that Navalny will have to apologize for Russian aggression against Ukraine if he leads Russia "in future as a result of democratic elections" or if he takes a political place in the system. "But, as I said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Therefore, if Navalny is the enemy of Putin, then we support Navalny. Everything is very simple," Kuleba summed up.

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Babagana Zulum (full name Babagana Umara Zulum) is a Nigerian academic and politician. He was born on August 26, 1969.

After elementary schooling in Mafa primary school (1975 to 1980) and secondary education at

Government Secondary School, Monguno (1980 to 1985), he went to Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, where he obtained a National Diploma in Irrigation Engineering in 1998.

Then from 1990 to 1994, he studied at the University of Maiduguri, where he obtained a degree in Agriculture Engineering after which he served as a youth corps member with Katsina State Polytechnic.

Babagana Zulum then proceeded to the University of Ibadan from 1997 to 1998, where he obtained a masters degree in Agriculture Engineering. In 2005, he enrolled for a PhD in Soil and Water Engineering at the University of Maiduguri which he completed in 2009.

Babagana Zulums first appointment was in 1989 with the Borno state civil service as an Assistant Technical Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1990, he moved into the Borno state Unified Local Government service as a senior Field Overseer and later as a principal water engineer.

In 2000, he took up an appointment with the University of Maiduguri as an assistant Lecturer where he rose to the rank of professor. Babagana Zulum was Deputy Dean and Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

In 2011, he was appointed Rector of Ramat Polytechnic. Meanwhile, he retained teaching position in the University of Maiduguri.

In 2015, Babagana Zulum was made commissioner of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement by the then Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima, a position he held till 2018.

He was elected governor of Borno State on March 9, 2019, succeeding Kashim Shettima who governed the state for eight years. In that election, Babagana Zulum polled 1,175, 440 votes to beat his closest opponent, Muhammad Imam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 66, 115 votes. INEC had registered 2,316,218 voters in the state, out of which 1,292,138 voters were accredited for the election.

He assumed office as governor on May 29, 2019, for a four-year tenure.

Babagana Zulum is married with children.
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All hypocrisy is ugly, but religious hypocrisy is especially ugly. Thats because we are putting on a show before the God who knows everything. We are claiming to be pious when He knows we are not. We are boasting to the world about our spiritual devotion when our secret lives are full of corruption. Thats why this sin is singled out for special rebuke in the Scriptures (see especially Matthew 23).

But there is another type of religious hypocrisy which is public and flagrant, yet does not hide its hypocrisy. We openly sin but act piously in the process. We defy Gods moral principles in broad daylight but do so with scrupulous religiosity. It is as if we wash our hands so as to be ritually clean before picking up a dagger to stab an innocent victim. We thereby make a public and open mockery of the God we claim to serve.

Before I focus on the subject of this article, let me give you some glaring examples of this type of blatant religious hypocrisy.

According to a 2009 interview in the Jerusalem Post with a former Iranian Islamic militia member, In the Islamic Republic it is illegal to execute a young woman, regardless of her crime, if she is a virgin . . . . Therefore a wedding ceremony is conducted the night before the execution: The young girl is forced to have sexual intercourse with a prison guard - essentially raped by her husband.

So, a virgin is, for all practical purposes, raped by another man in order to comply with the letter of the religious law. She is raped in the name of righteousness so she can be legally executed under Iranian Islamic law.

This story was confirmed in the memoirs of Hossein Ali-Montazeri, who for 10 years had been the designated successor to [Ayatollah] Khomeini. He claimed that Khomeini did not want the girls put to death but stated that his words were perverted to mean, Dont execute girls. First married [sic] them for one night and then execute them.

This, then, was the tacit acknowledgement of this horrific practice. Virgins were raped before execution in the name of radical Islamic law.

A less extreme example of religious hypocrisy is the secret practice in some ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel of having sex with kosher prostitutes. These women live in scrupulous observance of traditional Jewish law in order to be acceptable to the religious men who sleep with them. Are you ritually clean? Good. Now I can commit adultery with you. (This was discussed by Prof. Samuel Heilman in his 1992 book Defenders of the Faith: Inside Ultra-Orthodox Judaism.)

And this brings me to the most sickeningly hypocritical prayer I have ever seen in my life.

It took place during the storming of the Capitol, and it was led by the now famous, horn-wearing, man known as QAnon Shaman. A group of rioters had made their way into the floor of the Senate, now standing triumphantly behind the very dais where our elected officials, including Vice President Pence, have stood.

They were flagrant lawbreakers, they brought disgrace to our nation, and they endangered the lives of our political leaders.

Yet they stopped for a word of prayer. They lifted up their voices in Jesus name. They made intercession for America.

What utter, sheer, brazen hypocrisy. How dare they lift up a prayer to the God whom they are defying at that moment. How dare they lift their hands in worship after using those same hands to illegally breach the Capitol. (Needless to say, it was as nationalistic a prayer as you could pray.)

But it gets worse  and more comically absurd.

The men quickly realized that they were wearing hats, and that presented a problem. (They must have learned somewhere that men should pray with their heads uncovered, based on a common interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13).

So, they quickly stopped the prayer, removed their hats  surely, they must be careful in their religious observance  then continued their prayer, ending with a hearty Amen.

What makes this anything but funny, though, is that they brought reproach to the name of the God we love. In the eyes of the world (or, at least, in the eyes of many in the world), if you are a white Christian conservative who voted for Trump, those men represented you.

And, while I have made clear that it was not Jesus-loving evangelicals who ransacked the Capitol, I dont doubt that some of the rioters who could (mis)quote the Bible back to me to justify their madness.

Thats another reason why God so hates religious hypocrisy. It makes Him look bad in the eyes of the people who need Him most.

That means that, in the days to come, all of us who have gotten a bad rap because of the actions of a few need to let our light shine all the more. Let the world know there is a difference between those dangerous lawbreakers and us (and may the Lord purge each of us of any stain of our religious hypocrisy).

For my related video commentary, go here.
CALGARY, AB, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL); (NYSE: PBA) is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced offering of $600 million of 4.80% Fixed-to-Fixed Rate Subordinated Notes, Series 1 due January 25, 2081 (the "Offering"). The Company also announced its intention to redeem its issued and outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Minimum Rate Reset Class A Preferred Shares, Series 11 (TSX: PPL.PR.K) (the "Series 11 Shares") on March 1, 2021.

Closing of Hybrid Note Offering

Pembina expects to use the net proceeds of the Offering to fund the redemption of its outstanding Series 11 Shares and its Cumulative Redeemable Minimum Rate Reset Class A Preferred Shares, Series 13 (TSX: PPL.PR.M), to repay other outstanding indebtedness, as well as for general corporate purposes.

The subordinated notes were offered through a syndicate of underwriters, co-led by RBC Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank and TD Securities, under Pembina's short form base shelf prospectus dated December 30, 2020, as supplemented by a prospectus supplement dated January 12, 2021.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, the subordinated notes. The subordinated notes have not been approved or disapproved by any regulatory authority. The subordinated notes have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons.

Redemption of Series 11 Preferred Shares

Pembina intends to redeem all of its 6,800,000 issued and outstanding Series 11 Shares, in accordance with the terms of the Series 11 Shares, as set out in the Company's articles, on March 1, 2021 (the "Redemption Date") for a redemption price equal to $25.00 per Series 11 Share (the "Redemption Price"), less any tax required to be deducted or withheld by the Company. The total redemption price to Pembina will be $170 million and is expected to be paid with a portion of the net proceeds from the Offering.

As previously announced, the Company's Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $0.359375 per Series 11 Share payable on March 1, 2021, to holders of record on February 1, 2021. This will be the final quarterly dividend on the Series 11 Shares. Upon payment of the March 1, 2021 dividend, there will be no accrued and unpaid dividends on the Series 11 Shares as at the Redemption Date.

The Company has provided notice today of the Redemption Price and the Redemption Date to the sole registered holder of the Series 11 Shares in accordance with the terms of the Series 11 Shares, as set out in the Company's articles. Non-registered holders of Series 11 Shares should contact their broker or other intermediary for information regarding the redemption process for the Series 11 Shares in which they hold a beneficial interest. The Company's transfer agent for the Series 11 Shares is Computershare Investor Services Inc. Questions regarding the redemption process may be directed to Computershare at 1-800-564-6253, or by email to [email protected].

About Pembina

Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for more than 65 years. Pembina owns an integrated system of pipelines that transport various hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns gas gathering and processing facilities; owns an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business; and is growing an export terminals business. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the majority of the hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to identifying additional opportunities to connect hydrocarbon production to new demand locations through the development of infrastructure that would extend Pembina's service offering even further along the hydrocarbon value chain. These new developments will contribute to ensuring that hydrocarbons produced in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the other basins where Pembina operates can reach the highest value markets throughout the world.

Purpose of Pembina:

To be the leader in delivering integrated infrastructure solutions connecting global markets:

Customers choose us first for reliable and value-added services;

choose us first for reliable and value-added services; Investors receive sustainable industry-leading total returns;

receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; Employees say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and

say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and Communities welcome us and recognize the net positive impact of our social and environmental commitment.

Pembina is structured into three Divisions: Pipelines Division, Facilities Division and Marketing & New Ventures Division.

Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com.

Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements and information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of applicable securities legislation that are based on Pembina's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "intend", "will", "shall", and similar expressions suggesting future events or future performance.

In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the expected use of the net proceeds of the Offering and the redemption of the Series 11 Shares, including the Redemption Price (per Series 11 Share and on an aggregate basis) and the Redemption Date. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that Pembina has made in respect thereof as at the date of this news release, including: prevailing commodity prices, margins and exchange rates, that Pembina's businesses will continue to achieve sustainable financial results and that future results of operations will be consistent with past performance and management expectations in relation thereto, the availability and sources of capital, operating costs, ongoing utilization and future expansions, the ability to reach required commercial agreements, and the ability to obtain required regulatory approvals. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: non-performance of agreements in accordance with their terms; the impact of competitive entities and pricing; reliance on key industry partners, alliances and agreements; the strength and operations of the oil and natural gas production industry and related commodity prices; the continuation or completion of third-party projects; regulatory environment and inability to obtain required regulatory approvals; tax laws and treatment; fluctuations in operating results; the ability of Pembina to raise sufficient capital to complete future projects and satisfy future commitments; construction delays; labour and material shortages; risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreaks, including the COVID-19 pandemic; general economic, market and business conditions; and the behaviour of financial markets, including fluctuations in interest and exchange rates, the pricing of comparable securities and Pembina's credit ratings; and certain other risks detailed from time to time in Pembina's public disclosure documents including, among others, those detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Pembina's management's discussion and analysis and annual information form, each for the year ended December 31, 2019, and in Pembina's management's discussion and analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, all which can be found at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and available on Pembina's website at www.pembina.com.

Accordingly, readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted, forecasted or projected. Such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the above statements. Pembina does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information contained herein, except as required by applicable laws.

SOURCE Pembina Pipeline Corporation

Related Links

http://www.pembina.com


Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) - Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said his office will only issue a legal opinion on the abrogation of the 1989 University of the Philippines-Department of National Defense Accord if requested.

The SOJ, as attorney general, does not issue legal opinions or commence administrative adjudication proceedings unless requested by heads of government agencies or other states instrumentalities, he told reporters in a text message.

Considering that there is an apparent dispute between UP and the DND on the termination of their pact, Guevarra added that the DOJ will view any request for legal opinion as a request for administrative adjudication under the Revised Administrative Code.

[This] provides that all such disputes between government entities should be brought before the DOJ, OSG, or OGCC, as the case may be, he said.

The DND abrogated its decades-old pact with the state university, which keeps uniformed personnel out of UP campuses, citing the need to protect its students from being recruited by communist groups.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana earlier said his office is open to have a dialogue with UP management as long as it can explain the deaths of some of its students with the NPA rebels during military encounters.

CNN Philippines correspondent Anjo Alimario and multi-platform news writer Vince Ferreras contributed to this report
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/25/2021 -- Data Governance Software Market Comprehensive Study is an expert and top to bottom investigation on the momentum condition of the worldwide Data Governance Software industry with an attention on the Global market. The report gives key insights available status of the Data Governance Software producers and is an important wellspring of direction and course for organizations and people keen on the business. By and large, the report gives an inside and out understanding of 2020-2025 worldwide Data Governance Software Market covering extremely significant parameters.



Key Players in This Report Include,

Alation (United States), Ataccama (Canada), Collibra (Belgium), DATUM LLC (United States), Data Advantage Group (United States), Denodo Technologies (United States), Erwin, Inc. ((United States), Global Data Excellence (Switzerland), Global IDs (United States), IBM Corporation (United States), Infogix (United States), IRI (Australia), Magnitude Software (United States), Oracle Corporation (United States), Orchestra Networks (France), SAP SE (Germany), SAS Institute (United States)



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Data governance software is used to manage the overall integrity, usability, availability, and security of data used in an organization. Growing regulatory and compliance mandates for information security boosting the demand for data governance software market. With the growing new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of things (IoT) and increasing adoption of data governance solutions by enterprises for ensuring data security further driving the demand for data governance software.

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[January 25, 2021] E*TRADE Wins Top Spot for Options Trading, Trader App, and Web Trading Platform by StockBrokers.com

E*TRADE Financial Holdings, LLC today announced top accolades from StockBrokers.com's 2021 Online Broker Review. E*TRADE took the #1 spot for Best Trader App, Web Trading Platform, and Options Trading. E*TRADE also received the following Best in Class distinctions: Overall: Best in Class 11 years running

Options Trading: Best in Class 11 years running 1

Mobile Trading: Best in Class nine years running

Beginners: Best in Class four years running

Active Trading: Best in Class two years running

IRAs: Best in Class two years running

Futures Trading: Best in Class two years running

Offering of Investments

Banking "For casual and active options traders, Power E*TRADE offers the perfect blend of usability, excellent tools (screening via StrategySEEK, scanning via LiveAction), and seamless position management (custom grouping, real-time streaming greeks, risk analysis, and more)," said Blain Reinkensmeyer, Head of Research at StockBrokers.com. "And, for newer investors, there isn't a better platform than Power E*TRADE on which to learn how to trade options. For example, using the Snapshot Analysis tool, not only is Risk/Reward translated with smiley faces, but key events to watch out for are also listed alongside a P&L chart. It's a work of art." The 2021 Online Broker Review assessed 11 online brokers on 256 different variables across eight categories. E*TRADE earned 4.5 out of 5.0 overall stars. "Amid gangbuster retail activity we have continued to train our focus squarely on customer needs and their experience, so beginning investors and veteran active traders alike can engage the markets with confidence," said Chris Larkin, Managing Director, Trading and Investing Product at E*TRADE Financial. "Our best-in-class tools and customizable digital experience put customers in the driver's seat regardless of where they are in their investing careers. Digital innovation is deep-rooted in our DNA, and we are humbled to earn such recognition from the experts at StockBrokers.com." E*TRADE aims to enhance the financial independence of traders and investors through a powerful digital offering and professional guidance. To learn more about E*TRADE trading and investing platforms and tools, visit etrade.com.



For useful trading and investing insights from E*TRADE, follow the company on Twitter (News - Alert) , @ETRADE. 1. OptionsHouse secured Best in Class Distinction for Options Trading seven years in a row before being acquired by E*TRADE.

In StockBrokers.com's 2021 Online Broker Review of 11 firms across 256 different variables, E*TRADE was awarded the #1 Trader App, #1 Options Trading, and #1 Web Trading Platform Awards. In addition, E*TRADE received nine Best in Class distinctions: Mobile Trading, Options Trading, Beginners, IRAs, Futures Trading, Active Trading, Banking, Offering of Investments, and Overall. E*TRADE's star ratings for all category rankings out of 5: Overall (4.5 stars), Commissions & Fees (4.5 stars), Offering of Investments (5.0 stars), Platforms & Tools (4 stars), Research (4.5 stars), Mobile Trading (5.0 stars), Ease of Use (5.0 stars), and Education (4.0 stars). Read the 2021 Online Broker Review. About StockBrokers.com StockBrokers.com, an industry-leading source for online brokers, is wholly owned by Reink Media Group. A Michigan-based company founded in 2009, Reink Media Group owns and operates multiple finance-based websites. The organization strives to provide pertinent resources, tools, and education for successful self-directed investing. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.reinkmedia.com. E*TRADE Securities LLC participates in an affiliate marketing program with StockBrokers.com. About E*TRADE Financial Holdings, LLC and Important Notices E*TRADE Financial Holdings, LLC and its subsidiaries provide financial services including brokerage and banking products and services to retail customers. Securities products and services are offered by E*TRADE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC). Commodity futures and options on futures products and services are offered by E*TRADE Futures LLC (Member NFA). Managed Account Solutions are offered through E*TRADE Capital Management, LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Bank products and services are offered by E*TRADE Bank, and RIA custody solutions are offered by E*TRADE Savings Bank, both of which are national federal savings banks (Members FDIC). More information is available at www.etrade.com. The information provided herein is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. E*TRADE Financial, E*TRADE, and the E*TRADE logo are registered trademarks of E*TRADE Financial Holdings, LLC. ETFC-G ETFC  2021 E*TRADE Financial Holdings, LLC, a business of Morgan Stanley. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005391/en/

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Shahid Kapoor shared selfies with Raj & DK and Raashi Khanna, hinting at his maiden OTT project

Shahid Kapoor and Raashi Khanna are all set to star in Raj & DKs upcoming OTT project. Kapoor took to Instagram stories to share an image with the director duo of Raj & DK, hinting on kickstarting the project.

In another story, the actor welcomed Khanna as his co-star. He shared a selfie and wrote, Welcome on board and thanks for letting me be part of your selfie. I feel blessed.

On the work front, Raj & DKs The Family Man season 2 is all set for release on 12 February.The sequel of the action spy thriller marks the return of Manoj Bajpayee as Srikant Tiwari. This time Srikant, while struggling to balance his personal and professional life, will be pitted against a new nemesis, Raji, played by Samantha Akkineni.

Kapoor meanwhile will be seen next in the Hindi remake of Telugu film Jersey. Last year in October, he took Twitter to announce the schedule wrap and expressed his gratitude towards the Uttrakhand government for their efficient policies that enabled the team to shoot with proper safety measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. The film will release on 5 November.
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.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 00:03:17|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on Monday disclosed its accelerating relocation of Ethiopian refugees from border camps to avoid fallout from persistent Ethiopia-Sudan border clashes.

In a situation update published on Monday, the UNOCHA disclosed clashes along the Ethiopia-Sudan border have prompted the UN to accelerate efforts to relocate Ethiopian refugees in Sudan away from areas near the border with Ethiopia.

The border area between Sudan and Ethiopia often witnesses armed clashes by militias during the preparation for the agricultural season.

Since September 2020, the Sudan-Ethiopia border has been witnessing rising tensions and skirmishes between the two sides.

UNOCHA also disclosed the outflow of Ethiopian refugees to Sudan mainly originating from Ethiopia's northern Tigray regional state is continuing, but the daily arrivals numbers have reduced in recent days.

The UN is housing nearly 60,000 Ethiopian refugees who fled ongoing conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray regional state which broke out last November.

Months of fighting in Tigray between the ex-ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Defense Forces have reportedly left thousands of people dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Enditem

The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
on Sunday opened its embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), months after the two countries established full diplomatic ties.

Ambassador Eitan Na'eh, who will serve as charge d'affaires until a permanent ambassador is appointed, arrived in Abu Dhabi, the UAE's capital to open the embassy, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the new embassy "will advance the range of relations between the countries in all areas and expand ties with the Emirati government, economic bodies and the private sector, academia, media and more." The embassy is in a temporary structure until a permanent one is found.

The and agreed to normalise relations brokered by then US President Donald Trump. and the announced that they are making peace and normalizing ties on August 15 of last year, launching the Abraham Accords.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi wished Na'eh luck and said that the ministry is "leading the implementation of the peace and normalization agreements in the Gulf and advancing Israel's status. "Opening the mission will allow the expansion of bilateral ties between Israel and the for the maximum and speedy realization of the potential in those relations," Ashkenazi said.

"I thank Crown Prince [of Abu Dhabi] Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed and my friend Foreign Minister Abdallah bin Zayed for their leadership and hospitality towards our representatives," Ashkenazi added.

Earlier Sunday, the UAE cabinet approved the decision to open an embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv.

(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.)
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Worth Network announced partnerships with LA restaurant chains, such as Silverlake Ramen, that focus on boosting revenue for small and medium sized businesses. Over the past few months, Worth's technology has helped these restaurants take advantage of social media's "word of mouth" to grow sales by offering a simple way to generate 1000's of organic Instagram stories. Using Worth's targeted marketing campaigns and user identification technology, businesses can create viral social media campaigns in targeted locations.

"It all starts with your customers," says Patrick Kim, Founder and CEO of Worth Network. "We enable brands to convert their customers into marketers. Brands have thousands of people that talk about them online and we help brands take advantage of this word-of-mouth opportunity."

How Does it Work Exactly? When normal social media users, no matter how big or small, post about the food they're eating & tag the restaurant, Worth connects the two & gives users the opportunity to share for $. It's that simple.

Worth has signed up over 400 restaurant locations during COVID-19 with a core focus on helping small businesses grow during uncertain times. "Our partners have seen consistent revenue growth since we started in July and they've built better relationships with their customers," Kim concludes.

Worth's clients include restaurant brands, CPG brands and agency partners. "We love working with Worth because they help us capture the attention of our best customers while bringing in their friends and family," says Edward CEO of Silverlake Ramen.

About Worth Network Inc

Worth Network is digitizing word of mouth on social media. US businesses spend over $140B on digital advertising but almost 50% of ad dollars are wasted on ineffective ad campaigns. Worth solves this problem by gathering all online fans of a brand. We then incentivise them to create and promote content for targeted local marketing campaigns. Brands can start their campaign on Worth within minutes -- all they need is some pre-existing content and Worth takes care of the rest. Founded in 2018, Worth Network Inc is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. For more information visit www.worthnetwork.io or @worth.app on Instagram.

Worth Network Media Contact

Patrick Kim

[email protected]

949-445-2602

About Silverlake Ramen

Silverlake Ramen is a ramen restaurant brand that started in Los Angeles. They're a fast-growing restaurant with 14 locations in 4 states and counting. Wholesome & fresh, Silverlake Ramen serves modern foodies, without losing the authenticity of where the food originates from. Silverlake Ramen is headquartered in Los Angeles California, for more information visit www.silverlakeramen.com or @silverlakeramen on Instagram.

Silverlake Ramen Media Contact

Edward Chung

[email protected]

SOURCE Worth Network

Related Links

http://www.worthnetwork.io


According to Efficiency Canadas new report card, Manitoba is below the national average when it comes to energy efficiency.

Opinion

According to Efficiency Canadas new report card, Manitoba is below the national average when it comes to energy efficiency.

In November, Efficiency Canada released its second annual scorecard that evaluates the progress made in energy efficiency for each Canadian province and territory. This year, Manitoba ranked 6th with 29 points out of 100, slipping from 5th place last year and well behind the leader, British Columbia, with 58 points.

Efficiency Canada is the national voice for an energy efficient economy. The scorecard provides an objective and third-party framework to help provinces understand their energy efficiency performance in a national context. In addition, it illustrates creative programs and ideas that are working in other jurisdictions  and best practices that can be replicated across the country to improve performance.

In the 1990s Manitoba was one of the first jurisdictions to adopt efficiency measures and was a leader in North America in setting a progressive new direction for sustainable energy policies and practices. However, Manitoba has since fallen well behind other provinces and many American states and the scorecard suggests that Manitoba policymakers cannot rest on their past achievements.

Manitoba continues to be respected for a number of programs and policies. It is still one of the top provinces in terms of funding for energy efficiency programs, ranks highly on program spending per person and on low-income programs (even with a reduction in funding last year). Manitoba also generates high praise for having the only legislated energy savings mandate in Canada. Other potential good news is that in April 2020, the province transferred administration of energy efficiency programs from Manitoba Hydro to Efficiency Manitoba, a new crown corporation mandated to meet Manitobas efficiency targets.

Nonetheless, Manitoba has dropped from its leadership position. Central author of the scorecard James Gaede says that, "compared to the Efficiency Manitoba targets, leading American states and Canadian provinces are achieving savings about three times higher for electricity, and two times higher for natural gas." Manitoba is underperforming on the fundamental metric of electrical energy saving as a percentage of domestic sales.

The Manitoba Energy Savings Act legislates that the province save 1.5% of electrical energy each year  0.7% on programs and 0.8% on standards and codes - but we saved only 0.44% in 2019. Nova Scotia saved 1.2% and Ontario saved 1.0%. Across North America, Manitoba ranked 28th . On the codes and standards metric, Manitoba has the least progressive Building Code standards in Canada and is alone in the use of the outdated 2011 Building Code. A new National Energy Code for Buildings will soon be released, and Manitoba should adopt this as soon as possible. We could also do as British Columbia has done and adopt a "step code", a framework for defining a gradual transformation of building codes over a number of years with the goal of achieving net-zero targets.

Other provinces are doing much better in switching from natural gas to electricity as a heating source. Manitoba has been slow to embrace switching from gas to electricity due to distribution and system capacity issues, and perhaps because increased electricity use for heating could reduce the amount of electricity we can export. However there is no path to meeting our 2050 climate targets without a transition away from natural gas heating.

Manitoba currently ranks the second-lowest province in terms of investment in electric vehicle infrastructure and charging stations per kilometre. With our abundance of hydroelectric green power, Manitoba is well-positioned to make a green vehicle transition.

The scale of change required to green Manitobas economy is immense, but the successes achieved in other provinces as well as the criteria presented in the scorecard make explicit the incremental steps we need to take to get there. The benefits to the economy, and to the environment, are significant and can no longer be ignored.

Read the full report: https://www.scorecard.efficiencycanada.org/2020

Stephanie Zubriski is board chair and Laura Tyler is executive director of Sustainable Building Manitoba.
PALERMO, JAN 25 - A 19-year-old Sicilian man was arrested Monday on suspicion of murdering his 17-year-old girlfriend near Palermo at the weekend. The man, Pietro Morreale, on Sunday morning went to police and led them to the scene of the crime, a gully in the countryside near Caccamo, where they found Roberta Siragusa's partially burnt body. Police said they were considering arresting Morreale, who was not exercising his right to remain silent. They said he was the main suspect in Siragusa's death. Before refusing to speak, Morreale had protested his innocence. He has been charged with murder and concealing a cadaver. Siragus'as body has been taken to a morgue in Palermo where an autopsy will be carried out in the coming days, judicial sources said. (ANSA).
Yes, money talks, but so do people who can rally on the Capitol steps, testify in committees and ensure public policy is shaped just as much by people as it is by money and influence.
(Newser)  The pandemic has just slammed another business: Chocolate maker Godiva will close all 128 of its stores in North America by the end of March, reports CNN Business. All but 11 are in the US, though the company did not disclose how many jobs would be lost. As USA Today notes, Godiva is not going out of business. Customers in the US will be able to order the high-end chocolate online or find it in various grocery or retailer chains. And Godiva, which was founded in Belgium, is keeping its brick-and-mortar stores in Europe, the Middle East, and China.

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In 2019, Godiva rolled out a business plan to aggressively enter the "cafe" business, notes CNN, and it planned to eventually open more than 400 such locations in the US. In addition to chocolate, they sell coffee, sandwiches, and baked goods, notes Business Insider. The coronavirus, however, has brought an end to that strategy. In-person shopping "waned as a result of the pandemic and its acceleration of changes in consumers shopping behavior," says the company in a statement. Most of the current Godiva shops in the US are in malls, which were struggling to lure shoppers even before COVID. (Godiva joins a long list of companies hit hard by COVID.)
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event on economic crisis in the State Dining Room of the White House on Jan. 22, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Biden Says CCPs Oppression of Uyghurs Amounts to Genocide

President Joe Biden believes the Chinese regime has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims in the region of Xinjianga designation that was announced by the Trump administration a day before the presidential inauguration.

President Biden has called the oppression of the Uyghurs a genocide, and he stands against it in the strongest possible terms, National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne told the Washington Examiner.

The Trump administration made the move on the eve of Bidens inauguration, marking another tough measure to condemn the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) severe human rights abuses domestically.

The administration also determined that the CCP had committed crimes against humanity in the region, citing Beijings detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic or religious minorities, and authorities subjecting the population to forced labor, forced sterilization, and torture.

According to the United Nations, genocide is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

While the designation carries no automatic penalties, it marked a rare step for the federal government, which has historically been hesitant to make the move against a key trading partner. The designation may now see more companies and countries pressuring China for transparency on its treatment of minorities.

Read More US Bans All Cotton, Tomato Products From Xinjiang in Crackdown on Forced Labor

Bidens secretary of state nominee Anthony Blinken had, a few days before Hornes confirmation of the presidents stance, said he agrees with the genocide designation. He said on Jan. 19 that he believed former President Donald Trump correctly took a tougher approach to the Chinese regime, and endorsed the administrations assessment that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been committing genocide in Xinjiang.

That would be my judgment as well, Blinken said, when asked whether he agreed with outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeos assessment of the CCPs actions.

I think were very much in agreement, he said. The forcing of men, women, and children into concentration camps; trying to, in effect, reeducate them to be adherents to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, all of that speaks to an effort to commit genocide.

China denies U.S. accusations of human rights violations. However, Beijings repression in Xinjiang, perpetrated through its network of internment camps and mass surveillance system, has drawn international condemnation.

The CCPs mass sterilization program for Uyghur women, as well as other rights abuses against the Uyghur population, have been well-documented.

Cathy He and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 11:04:45|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Most major production goods monitored by the government posted rising prices in mid-January compared with the previous 10 days, official data showed.

Of the 50 goods monitored by the government, including seamless steel tubes, gasoline, coal, fertilizer and some chemicals, the price of 32 goods rose during the period, while 15 registered lower prices and three saw their prices unchanged, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Coal, petroleum, natural gas and agricultural products saw overall gains in prices during the period while prices of nonferrous metals dropped.

The reading, released every 10 days, is based on a survey of nearly 2,000 wholesalers and distributors in 31 provinces and regions. Enditem
Zurich has replaced Paris to emerge as the favourite city of the ultra rich, according to a new property ranking table.

The Swiss city overtook the French capital which was rated as the most popular city among the megarich last year and dropped down to 7th place in the latest index by London-based real estate consulting firm BARNES International.

New York, which was ranked 2nd place in the previous year, also fell out of favour and only came 11th in the new chart that reflected big changes in the global property market provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Each year, BARNES International, a London-based real estate consulting firm, produced a list of the top 50 cities for high-net-worth individuals in its annual handbook

Zurich has replaced Paris to emerge as the favourite city of the ultra rich, according to a new property ranking table (file photo)

Copenhagen (pictured in file), which came second in the 2020 rankings, soared up from 35th place in 2019, followed by Tokyo and Miami

Each year, BARNES produces a list of the top 50 cities for high-net-worth individuals after compiling and analysing different aspects of every metropolis based on the company's internal data, according to its handbook.

The rankings are consolidated by various key criteria including education opportunities, levels of taxation and the citys ecological commitments.

Other indicators included cultural experience, personal safety and proliferation of business.

The index is specific to a multi-million market that only a small minority of people in the world are able to take part in.

In the BARNES table last year, Paris was rated as the world's most popular city of the ultra rich, followed by New York at 2nd place.

The Japanese capital Tokyo has remained at 3rd place in the BARNES new rankings in 2020

Miami has been ranked at 4th place in the property table produced by BARNES International

But the City of Light lost its title to Zurich in this year's ranking table, dropping down to 7th place.

The Swiss city, which was at 30th place previously, emerged to become the winner of the new table.

Bordeaux in the southwest France made it on the top 50 list for the first time ever.

This was partly due to the coronavirus pandemic which had forced many Parisians to move elsewhere after they were ordered to work from home, a Barnes representative in Bordeaux told French newspaper Le Parisien.

In addition to the pandemic, a string of episodes of social turmoil, such as the 'yellow vest' movement, also affected Pariss image internationally in recent years, the French outlet said.

In BARNESs table last year, Paris was rated as the most popular city in the world of the ultra rich, followed by New York at 2nd place. Paris dropped to 7th in this year's index (file)

New York (pictured in stock photo), which was ranked as the second favourite city in 2019, fell down to 11th this year following a year-long battle against the virus

New York, which was ranked as the second favourite city in 2019, fell down to 11th this year following a year-long battle against the virus.

Other metropolises including Copenhagen, Tokyo and Miami also overtook Paris in the new table.

Copenhagen, which came second in the 2020 rankings, soared up from 35th place in 2019, followed by Tokyo and Miami.

Sweden's capital city Stockholm moved up from 22nd to 5th place. London, the only British city that made to the list, is ranked 6th.

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, which had never before entered the index, found itself at all the way up at 13th place in 2020.
KABUL  Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar had a telephone conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Kang Kyung-Wha. The two Ministers discussed various issues of bilateral interest and the Afghan peace process.

At the outset, Minister Atmar appreciated the Republic of Korea for its generous assistance in the last 20 years and its latest contributions at the Geneva Conference for Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Atmar touched on the second round of Afghanistan Peace Negotiations in Doha, the importance of reducing violence and the need for a comprehensive ceasefire, and preserving the democratic gains of the past two decades.

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-Wha reiterated Korea's support for the Afghan peace process in Afghanistan. She assured Minister Atmar of Korea's supports for Afghan peoples aspirations to protect human and women's rights, and achieve a lasting peace.

Both Ministers discussed strengthening bilateral relations, trade, capacity building programs, and increasing Korea's scholarships for Afghanistan. Both agreed to assign a technical team to assess the expansion of bilateral cooperation.

Korean Foreign Minister invited Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar to participate in an international peacekeeping ministerial conference which will be organized in Korea late this year. The Afghan Foreign Minister appreciated the initiative and accepted the invitation.
Rumor mill: According to tipster Steve Hemmerstoffer over on Voice, Sony is reviving the Xperia Compact series with an upcoming 5.5-inch model, filling the gap for small-sized Android smartphones that's been around for a couple of years now. There's little known in terms of specs, some of which are noticeable in renders and reveal a minor design update over 2018's Xperia XZ2 Compact.

Sony was among the last Android OEMs to discontinue small-sized smartphones in a market normalized these days by 6.0-inch+ devices. However, it now looks like the company is reviving the Xperia Compact series following the release of the iPhone 12 Mini.

Although Apple's decision to drop the in-box charger with its latest iPhones ignited a controversial trend for the industry, Android users will likely be more welcoming towards pocketable smartphones making a return, given that this category hasn't been attended to properly for quite some time.

One upcoming candidate would appear to be Sony's 5.5-inch Xperia Compact, which according to renders posted on Voice, is a bit larger overall than the iPhone 12 Mini - 140 x 68.9 x 8.9mm vs 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4mm - and bears the same signature boxy design we've been seeing since the original Xperia Z from 2013.

Unlike a few of its predecessors that packed flagship specs in a smaller footprint, this upcoming model will reportedly be a mid-tier device featuring an 8MP selfie shooter in the teardrop notch and a dual-camera system with a 13MP primary lens on the back. It'll also have Sony's usual ergonomic touches like a dedicated camera button, a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button, and a 3.5mm jack, which recently returned on the high-end Xperia 1 II.

Although a mid-spec pocketable Android won't be able to compete with the iPhone 12 Mini in terms of performance, it remains to be seen if Sony's pricing and Android experience for the Xperia Compact can help it succeed in the sub-6-inch market that's barely seen any new Android entries other than the Google Pixel 4a and a few budget Nokias. Here's hoping that more Android OEMs cater to this nearly deserted category.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 25 : A few months ahead of the Kerala Assembly elections this year, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar is set to play the role of a peacemaker next month between the warring factions of the party's state unit.

A party leader from Kerala said that he and other leaders had been asked to visit New Delhi on February 1 for conciliatory talks with the opposing faction as the two camps are headed for a virtual split over the allocation of Pala Assembly seat.

Former Union Minister Praful Patel will also participate in the meeting.

NCP leader and Pala MLA Mani C Kappan, who met Pawar in Mumbai along with party national Secretary Josemon, confirmed to IANS that he along with NCP state President TP Peethambaran, AK Saseendran and Josemon will meet Pawar and Patel on February 1.

Kappan claimed that that Kerala Transport Minister AK Saseendran did not have any clout within the party and that a recent meeting of his camp he held at his official residence was a "poor show" since only a handful of NCP workers and leaders were backing him.

The NCP leaders are engaged in a verbal duel as the ruling CPI-M is trying to take the Pala seat from the NCP and give it to the Kerala Congress-Mani, the latest entrant to the ruling Left Democratic Front.

The NCP says its nominee had defeated Kerala Congress-Mani candidate in Pala bypolls and thus there was no merit in "gifting" the seat to that party.

Kappan and Peethambaran, it was learnt, have already opened channels of communication with the rival United Democratic Front and got assurance that the opposition alliance will give the Pala seat to their faction.

If talks in Delhi between the two camps does not yield the desired results, the NCP would head for a vertical split.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
\"Wish to be born in a world without humans\": Netizens fire up over death of TN elephant

Woman's death in elephant attack: Kerala village panchayat orders closure of resorts under its jurisdiction

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Wayanad (Ker), Jan 25: A Kerala village panchayat on Monday ordered the closure of all tourist resorts under its jurisdiction, two days after a 26-year-old woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant at a resort here.

Authorities of the Meppadi gram panchayat in Wayanad directed all resorts in the panchayat to close down till further orders, official sources here said.

Shahana, a college lecturer hailing from Kannur district,was attacked around 8 pm at the remote Rain forest resort,located on the forest fringe frequented by wild elephants,on Saturday.

Shahana and two others came out of their tent on hearing a trumpeting sound. While the other two managed to run away to safety, she was killed, police said.

Earlier, district collector Dr Adeela Abdulla had ordered the closure of the Rain Forest resort after she visited the place on Sunday along with the Divisional Forest Officer and the Vythiri Tahsildar.

WATCH: Elephant dies after villager sets its ear on fire in Tamil Nadu

A scrutiny of documents revealed that the resort had no license.It also did not have any permission from the forest department to set up tents in the resort, which is close to the forest, or necessary safety measures.

The Meppadi gram panchayat president Omana Ramesh also confirmed that the resort had no proper license to function.

In the light of such a breach of rules by a resort, resulting in the tragic death of a tourist, the panchayat council, which met on Monday. decided to order the closure of all resorts functioning in the panchayat.

According to a forest official, district authorities have decided to verify the documents and safety conditions of all the resorts in the neighbouring forest areas in the coming days.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 17:58 [IST]
[January 25, 2021] Marketing 360 Wraps Up 2020 With Support to Over 45 Community Organizations

FORT COLLINS, Colo., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a global pandemic and sharp economic downturn, Marketing 360 is thrilled to announce that in 2020, they were still able to directly support over 45 local community organizations through pro bono work and monetary support. Philanthropy is a big part of the Marketing 360 culture, and 2020 didn't stop the team from providing support to area community organizations. Through pro bono work, monetary support, and team volunteer/giving projects, the Marketing 360 team was truly able to make a difference in their community. One partnership, in particular, was extremely special in 2020. For the last five holiday seasons, the Marketing 360 team has partnered with Be the Gift, a Colorado organization that provides practical assistance to single mom home owners in need of home repair, to provide gifts for these moms and their children. This year was especially special being that COVID-19 has made it next to impossible for some of these moms to provide their children with holiday gifts this year, let alone purchase the items that they, themselves, need. The Marketing 360 team was able to provide gifts for 30 moms and 40 children in 2020. Here are just a few of the notes from the moms: "Thank you so much to Be the Gift and all of the wonderful volunteers that made our Christmas so very special. During such a crazy year, we are so grateful for the generous presents and great food that you all provided for us. The boys love their legos, games, nd gift cards."



Thank you all so very much for all the wonderful Christmas gifts for my son and I. Every gift was perfect and picked out special for us. This Christmas was hard for me as a single mom having been furloughed and then getting sick right before Christmas. You all literally saved our Christmas!!" Madwire Family, I was overcome with emotion when picking up my gifts from the Be the Gift luncheon. Wrapped present after wrapped present being loaded into the back of my car, and all I could do was cry out of shock and gratefulness. My kids were very excited for the tablets, and computer, as well as toys and dog treats/toys. And I was thrilled to get new clothes for them as well as myself. I really appreciated the Dansco clogs also as I am on my feet sometimes 16 hours a day. Thank you so much for the gift cards as well. I really appreciate having all of the gifts wrapped and ready to go. You made our Christmas so much more than I could have imagined."

The Marketing 360 team is thrilled to be able to support the local community and looks forward to continuing to make a difference in 2021 and beyond. About Marketing 360

Marketing 360 is a technology company that provides business management and marketing software and services for SMBs and franchises. The Marketing 360 platform gives SMBs everything they need to manage and grow their business from a singular platform, including the ability to  build a professional website, accept and manage payments, manage leads and customers, book appointments, monitor reviews, manage social media, syndicate business listings, manage content marketing, run multi-channel digital advertising campaigns, and more. Marketing 360 was founded in 2009 with the mission of enriching communities by helping small businesses grow, and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, with offices in Austin, Texas. Learn more about Marketing 360 at https://www.marketing360.com/ . Contact:

Farra Lanzer

289852@email4pr.com

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High density of street trees in cities (like here in Leipzig City centre) may help to improve mental health as well as local climate, air quality and species richness. Credit: Philipp Kirschner

Depression, especially in urban areas, is on the rise, now more than ever. Mental health outcomes are influenced by, among other things, the type of environment where one lives. Former studies show that urban greenspace has a positive benefit on people experiencing mental ill health, but most of these studies used self-reported measures, which makes it difficult to compare the results and generalize conclusions on the effects of urban greenspace on mental health.

An interdisciplinary research team of UFZ, iDiv and Leipzig University tried to improve this issue by involving an objective indicator: prescriptions of antidepressants. To find out whether a specific type of 'everyday' green spacestreet trees dotting the neighborhood sidewalkscould positively influence mental health, they focused on the questions, how the number and type of street trees and their proximity close to home correlated to the number of antidepressants prescribed.

The researchers analyzed data from almost 10,000 Leipzig inhabitants, a mid-size city in Germany, who took part in the LIFE-Adult health study running at the University of Leipzig Medical Faculty. Combining that with data on the number and species type of street trees throughout the city of Leipzig, the researchers were able to identify the association between antidepressants prescriptions and the number of street trees at different distances from people's homes. Results were controlled for other factors known to be associated with depression, such as employment, gender, age, and body weight.

More trees immediately around the home (less than 100 meters) was associated with a reduced risk of being prescribed antidepressant medication. This association was especially strong for deprived groups. As these social groups are at the greatest risk for being prescribed antidepressants in Germany, street trees in cities can thereby serve as a nature-based solution for good mental health, the researchers write. At the same time, street trees may also help reduce the 'gap' in health inequality between economically different social groups. No association of tree types, however, and depression could be shown in this study.

"Our finding suggests that street treesa small scale, publicly accessible form of urban greenspacecan help close the gap in health inequalities between economically different social groups," says lead author of the study Dr. Melissa Marselle. "This is good news because street trees are relatively easy to achieve and their number can be increased without much planning effort." As an environmental psychologist, she conducted the research at UFZ and iDiv and is now based at the De Montford University of Leicester, UK. Marselle hopes that the research "should prompt local councils to plant street trees to urban areas as a way to improve mental health and reduce social inequalities. Street trees should be planted equally in residential areas to ensure those who are socially disadvantaged have equal access to receive its health benefits."

"Importantly, most planning guidance for urban greenspace is often based on purposeful visits for recreation," adds Dr. Diana Bowler (iDiv, FSU, UFZ), data analyst in the team. "Our study shows that everyday nature close to homethe biodiversity you see out of the window or when walking or driving to work, school or shoppingis important for mental health." This finding is especially now in times of the COVID-19 lock-downs, Bowler adds.

And it's not only human health which could benefit. "We propose that adding street trees in residential urban areas is a nature-based solution that may not only promote mental health, but can also contribute to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation," says senior author Prof Aletta Bonn, who leads the department of ecosystem services at UFZ, iDiv and Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena. "To create these synergy effects, you don't even need large-scale expensive parks: more trees along the streets will do the trick. And that's a relatively inexpensive measure."

"This scientific contribution can be a foundation for city planners to save and, possibly, improve the life quality for inhabitants, in particular, in densely populated areas and in central city areas," adds Prof Toralf Kirsten from Leipzig University. "Therefore, this aspect should be taken into account when city areas are recreated and planned, despite high and increasing land cover costs. A healthy life of all living being is unaffordable."

Explore further A regular dose of nature may improve mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

More information: Melissa R. Marselle et al, Urban street tree biodiversity and antidepressant prescriptions, Scientific Reports (2020). Journal information: Scientific Reports Melissa R. Marselle et al, Urban street tree biodiversity and antidepressant prescriptions,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79924-5

Provided by German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research

WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a further review by a lower court of a lawsuit brought by a Texas death row inmate who objects to a policy that bars a chaplain from accompanying him into the death chamber.

The justices ordered Ruben Gutierrezs case sent back to a federal trial-level court for additional proceedings. The justices in June had blocked Gutierrezs execution after Texas changed its policy and barred all spiritual advisers from the death chamber.

Gutierrezs attorneys argue his religious rights are being violated. The justices in June had asked a lower court to determine whether there would be serious security problems if Texas death row inmates were allowed to choose spiritual advisers to accompany them into the death chamber. The lower court said no.

On Monday, in a brief order, the high court sent the case back to the trial court. The justices said that given the lower courts findings that there would be no serious security problems if spiritual advisers were allowed, the lower court should now consider the merits of petitioners underlying claims."

Texas had previously allowed state-employed clergy to accompany inmates into the room where theyd be executed. But the state changed its policy in 2019, barring all clergy from the death chamber. That change came after the Supreme Court halted the execution of another inmate, Patrick Murphy, who requested a Buddhist adviser be allowed in the chamber. Texas prison staff included only Christian and Muslim clerics, meaning Murphys adviser would have had to observe from a different room. By changing the policy, Texas argued all inmates were being treated the same.

A condemned prisoners access to the comfort and guidance of a spiritual advisor at the time of his death is not a matter of convenience, it is a fundamental right," Gutierrezs attorney Shawn Nolan said in a statement after the Supreme Court acted Monday.

Gutierrez is on death row for fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman. Prosecutors said Gutierrez was attempting to steal more than $600,000 that Escolastica Harrison had hidden in her home in Brownsville, located in Texas southern tip, when he killed her in 1998.

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Jamal Malone, CEO, Ada S. McKinley Community Services Researcher: We believe race factors into the lack of historical information about McKinley

Newly released scholarly research about Chicago social reformer Ada S. McKinley indicates her contributions to Chicago and to the field of human services have been ignored and marginalized due to her race. The report has spurred the 102-year old nonprofit she founded, Ada S. McKinley Community Services, to call for the rewriting of history books to inform the public of one of the nations most profoundly successful, yet unheralded human services pioneers.

As we celebrate Black History Month, Ada S. McKinley Community Services CEO Jamal Malone says now is the time for historians, government leaders and the public to help correct what the researchers describe as white privileged history, and tell the story of the heroine of Chicagos South Side.

In 1919, McKinley founded the South Side Settlement House, which served the largest area in Chicago and was the only settlement house fully staffed by African Americans. In their research, which was recently honored by the Academy of Leisure Sciences, Assistant professor KangJae Lee of North Carolina State University and Professor Rodney B. Dieser of University of Northern Iowa called it troubling how historians have cherry-picked historical facts and as a result, marginalized the history of people of color.

McKinley, according to Lee and Dieser, succeeded amidst the eras white establishment and male domination. Facing sexism, racism and segregation, all while being denied the basic democratic right to vote, McKinley struggled financially. Yet passion fueled her work to serve Blacks during the flu pandemic of 1918-1919, the Great Migration from the South, the homecoming of World War I Black veterans lacking health care and services, and the 1919 Chicago race riots.

We believe race factors into the lack of historical information about McKinley, said Dieser. As someone who is white, I can say that white historians, whether consciously or unconsciously, wrote a white privileged history that ignored McKinleys contributions, when compared, for example, to social reformer Jane Addams, the founder of Hull House, Dieser added.

When you compare the work of Jane Addams on the West Side, to the work of Ada S. McKinley on the South Side, its almost identical, said Malone. Unfortunately, because of conscious or unconscious bias, her impact has been ignored, he said.

McKinleys work for racial equity was also unprecedented, according to Assistant Professor Jerry Lee.

Her advocacy for racial justice and equity was nothing short of remarkable. She developed the idea of service and volunteerism at a very young age and until the day she died, devoted her life to humanitarian works serving poor and disadvantaged people on the South Side, Lee added.

Malone is asking scholars and authors to correct history and feature McKinleys works in books and school curricula. His organization is also calling on Chicagoans to dig through family records, letters, photos and other mementos from the early- to mid-1900s to share with his organization how McKinleys work transformed lives. Malone is also mobilizing community support to request a major Chicago street be renamed in McKinleys honor.

Ada Sophia McKinley died in 1952, so its possible those who knew her in the early 20th century may still be with us. In the face of the current pandemic and a significant racial unrest, her work is as relevant and critical today as it was 102 years ago. Help us tell the story of her bravery, which should be reported and honored, Malone added.

Malone is asking the public to go to the contact page on AdaSMcKinley.org and share their information or describe the documents and mementos connecting them to McKinley and Ada S. McKinley Community Services.

To download the scholarly research, Ada S. McKinley: A Hidden History of African-American Settlement House in Chicago, please CLICK HERE.

About Ada S. McKinley Community Services

Ada S. McKinley Community Services is one of Chicagos largest, most respected and impactful Human Services organizations. The nonprofits mission is to empower, educate and employ people to change lives and strengthen communities. Serving more than 7,000 people annually, with more than 500 people employed at over 70 program sites in the Chicago metropolitan area, Wisconsin and Indiana, Ada S. McKinley Community Services wide-ranging programs fall under the umbrellas of child development and youth, employment and community support, and behavioral health and clinical.

For more information and updates on how the agency continues to meet the needs of people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit http://www.adasmckinley.org and follow us on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Time4Learning, a national homeschool curriculum, today released key findings of a national study measuring perceptions of homeschooling parents against those of the general population. The survey found that families who opted to homeschool amid the pandemic had a more favorable attitude towards online learning, with 79 percent sharing their intention to continue using online resources as supplemental education to in-person learning following a return to the classroom.

The nationwide survey by Hanover Research was conducted over two weeks, from November 16 to November 30, on behalf of Time4Learning among a cross section of families. Distributed via email, the survey compared 500 responses from the general population, defined as parents not registered on Time4Learning but familiar with online homeschooling, to responses from Time4Learning customers. Most respondents had homeschooled seriously in the past six months (64 percent), primarily due to COVID-related restrictions (43 percent) or uncertainty over school reopening (22 percent).

Key findings:

1. The pandemic attracted a new and different family demographic to homeschooling.

While traditional homeschooling customers tended to live in rural or suburban southern states and hold a bachelor's degree, general population homeschoolers were mostly urban northern families (66 percent) who have earned at least one post-secondary degree (64 percent).

In this new demographic, the responsibility of homeschooling was shared by full-time working parents or guardians (88 percent), compared to traditional homeschoolers who rely on a stay-at-home parent for homeschooling duties.

2. Attitudes and sentiments about homeschooling have increased significantly.

The general population indicated that their perception of remote learning has increased since the emergence of COVID (73 percent) and reported a positive perception of homeschooling (71 percent) and online learning (73 percent).

Since the pandemic, families that were new to the education model were more likely to consider homeschooling easy (59 percent), while nearly half of the families (40 percent) preferred online learning to in-person learning.

3. Families who have been exposed to homeschooling are more likely to continue using online learning resources post-pandemic.

The general population is more likely to continue using online resources upon their child's return to in-person classroom instruction (79 percent).

They prioritized self-paced learning options (84 percent), lesson planning capabilities (76 percent), adaptability (73 percent), excellent customer service/support (73 percent) and alignment with state academic standards (72 percent) as the most important factors when considering future online homeschooling.

"The pandemic prompted many families to homeschool their children seriously for the first time," said Time4Learning Founder and President John Edelson. "With an estimated 10 percent of our national student population now homeschooling, the secret is out: there are viable school choice options available to parents who want to take control of their children's education."

Read the full summary of findings here https://www.time4learning.com/download/pdf/time4learning-hanover-research.pdf.

About Time4Learning

Time4Learning is an award-winning, online curriculum for PreK-12th grade that teaches math, language arts, science, social studies and more. The interactive, student-paced curriculum features thousands of multimedia-based lessons, activities, and printable worksheets. In addition to the Time4Learning curriculum, there's Time4Writing and Time4MathFacts to help with those skill areas. Interested families may visit Time4Learning.com for more information on how to get started, and to view demos.

SOURCE Time4Learning

Related Links

https://www.time4learning.com


Ready for more? The 90 Day Fiance franchise is getting another spinoff titled 90 Day: The Single Life.

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90 Day Bares All host Shaun Robinson announced the new series during the Sunday, January 24, episode of the Discovery+ show, revealing Molly Hopkins as one of its stars.

The fresh docuseries will follow six cast members from the 90 Day Fiance franchise, who have both loved and lost romance on reality TV. As the newly single cast reenters the dating scene, they will also have to overcome their past relationship issues and try and move on from their romance fails.

Courtesy Molly Hopkins/Instagram

I think youre gonna see a lot of really crazy good times and maybe some not so good, Molly, 45, said in Sundays episode after a clip revealed her getting into role-playing now that she is single.

Molly previously starred on season 5 of 90 Day Fiance in 2017. She fell in love with Luis Mendes, who she met at a bar on vacation in the Dominican Republic. The pair tied the knot in July 2017, and he lived with her and her two children in Georgia for six months before she filed for divorce in January 2018. The divorce was finalized four months later, and Luis remarried the following September.

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I feel it clearly shows he was possibly using me and my finances to get here because our divorce was final in May, Molly exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2018. So, he either already knew her and had a plan all along and Im a fool, or we are both fools if she doesnt know him, because I met Jekyll in the Dominican [Republic] and got Hyde here, or vice versa. Either way, may it work out because Im glad hes gone.

Molly has a second chance at love on the upcoming Discovery+ series, which is one of many spinoffs that have come from the original TLC series, now in its eighth season.

In addition to The Single Life, Discovery+ launched both 90 Day Bares All and 90 Day Journey, on January 4, 2021. TLC, for its part, has created many of its own 90 Day offshoots, including 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?, which premiered in September 2016. Its fifth season concluded in October 2020.

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90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days and 90 Day Fiance: What Now? both debuted in the summer of 2017 on TLC. Other spinoffs include 90 Day Fiance: Pillow Talk, 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, The Family Chantel, 90 Day Fiance: Just Landed and 90 Day Fiance: Self-Quarantined.

90 Day: The Single Life and The Single Life Pillow Talk premiere on Discovery+ Sunday, February 21.

Farmers' Protest: In view of tractor parade on Republic Day, Haryana authorities issue advisory

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

New Delhi, Jan 26: In view of tractor parade by protesting farmer unions on January 26, authorities in some districts of Haryana have issued advisories against unnecessary travel towards Delhi over the next couple of days. On Sunday, thousands of tractors were seen plying on the highways in the state heading towards Delhi, resulting in traffic congestion at several points on the GT Road, a police officer in Karnal said.

The Haryana Police issued an advisory in the evening, stating that in view of the security and traffic arrangements for Republic Day and the proposed tractor parade, there would be disruptions in vehicular movement on the national highway from Karnal and Rohtak towards Delhi during January 25-27.

Farmers' unions issue dos and don'ts for tractor rally on Republic Day

In an advisory, the police said, "Traffic on KMP-KGP expressway will also be impacted and interchanges at Kundli, Assaudha and Badli will not be accessible to traffic movement on these dates."

"Therefore, all commuters are being advised not to use these routes on these dates to avoid any inconvenience," it added.

The district authorities in Sonipat also advised people on Sunday to avoid unnecessary travel towards Delhi over the next few days.

After 15 hours of talks, India says onus on China to pull back at friction points

Sonipat Deputy Commissioner Shyam Lal Poonia said commuters were advised to use routes suggested by the local police in case travel towards Delhi was unavoidable.

With thousands of tractors expected to cross through Sonipat, Poonia held a meeting with officials in the district to ensure law and order is maintained.

Sonipat's civil surgeon was directed to ensure adequate availability of "bike ambulances" over the next few days so that these could reach those in need faster.

He was also directed to set up temporary medical camps, an official said. Poonia asked the police department to strengthen security measures in the district.

One million COVID-19 vaccine shots administered in India in just 6 days: Health ministry

Officials said elaborate security and traffic arrangements have been made in Haryana to maintain law and order ahead of Republic Day and the proposed tractor parade.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Apart from Punjab, thousands of farmers from Haryana on Sunday set out in their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles to take part in the proposed tractor parade.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 8:43 [IST]
Protesting farmers in a major move have received permission to hold the tractor rally on Republic Day. The rally will be held from Delhi's three border points - Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur and adequate security will be provided to it. The government had opposed the rally to be held on the same day as country's Republic Day.

Protesting farmers in a major move have received permission to hold the tractor rally on Republic Day. The farmers union so far has rejected the governments proposal to defer the farm laws for 18 months and established that they will not settle for anything other than the repeal of the laws. Delhi Police, however, has issued a series of restrictions, saying permission was given only to show respect for the farmers demand. Delhi Police on Sunday evening declared that the tractor rally will begin after the days traditional big parade on Rajpath.

In view of security and traffic arrangements for Republic Day and the proposed tractor rally, commuters will face traffic disruptions on the National Highway between Karnal to Delhi and Rohtak to Delhi from January 25 to January 27, said Haryana police. Traffic on KMP-KGP Expressway will also be impacted and interchanges at Kundli, Assaudha and Badli will not be accessible to traffic movement on these dates. Therefore, all commuters are being advised not to use these routes on these dates, to avoid any inconvenience.

The rally will be held from Delhis three border points  Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur and adequate security will be provided to it. While the government had opposed to the rally to be held on the same day as countrys Republic Day, the Supreme Court had earlier upheld the farmers constitutional right to hold a peaceful protest. The farmers are protesting against the three farm laws. Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra from the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said We feel that the kind of permission granted to us for tractor rally is not right. We wanted to go to the old Ring Road but we were given conditional permission & assigned the portion that comes largely under Haryana

Farmers from western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh are expected to join the tractor rally in the national capital. Meanwhile, farmers from Maharashtra have gathered in Mumbais Azad Maidan to register their protests and support the Punjab farmers.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador discussed with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday the cause of the immigration surge and the need to respond to the root cause of why people migrate.

Lopez Obrador said on Saturday that Biden told him that the United States would send $4 billion to help developments in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. These nations are known to have a surge in migration through Mexico to the United States, according to a Fox News report.

Mexico has blocked recent attempts of Honduran migrant caravans to cross Mexico.

Mexico continues to pledge to block mass movements to the U.S. border of the migrant caravans. However, there has also been a shortage of potential flashpoints between the U.S. and Mexico.

Mexico demanded the return of then-Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos was arrested in October in Los Angeles.

Mexico threatened to restrict U.S. agents in Mexico if Cienfuegos isn't returned.

Charges against Cienfuegos were dropped and U.S. prosecutors agreed to have Cienfuegos returned to Mexico.

Despite the drop of charges, Mexico passed a law restricting foreign agents and removing their immunity and went on to publish that U.S. case file against Cienfuegos, according to a U.S. News report.

Related story: Biden Transition Official Tells Migrant Caravans Now's Not the Time To Move to U.S.





Biden's Immigration Bill

Biden sent an immigration bill to Congress with goals in contrast to the Trump administration's policies.

However, experts say that it will take a lot more than what is being proposed to address the issues that cause immigration from the Latin American region.

Biden's bill comes after a Honduran migrants' caravan is heading north to the United States and was blocked by Guatemalan security forces.

Biden administration officials cautioned migrants not to make the journey to the U.S. However, experts believe people from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador will keep on attempting to migrate to safer locations, including the U.S.

Biden has prompted a $4 billion four-year plan that targets to decrease violence, corruption, and poverty in the said Latin American countries.

The bill also seeks to establish centers throughout Centra America for people to seek refugee resettlement in either the U.S. or other countries.

Ariel Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, says that the $4 billion over the course of four years alone will not be enough to address the underlying issues.

Soto said that investment from the U.S. needs to go together with partnerships with the governments of Central American countries and Mexico.

This also includes a special focus on education and jobs for youth and not just attention on security and enforcement measures as what was done during Trump's and Obama's term.

Soto said that $4 billion is an upgrade and will bring significant changes.

"But it is only going to be effective if it's sustainable over decades...it can't be just four years, it can't be eight years, it has to be sustained," Soto was quoted on a Time report.

Soto added that it is not an effort that should only be done by the U.S. He said that Lopez Obrador should also support investing in Central American countries.

Related story: Trump Officials Warn of Illegal Border Crossings Surge If Biden Reverses Immigration Policies
Australia has suspended its travel bubble with New Zealand after authorities there revealed a woman tested positive to the highly-infectious South African Covid strain she is believed to have contracted in hotel quarantine.

As Australian notched up its eighth consecutive day without a Covid infection, authorities announced they are suspending arrivals from New Zealand for 72 hours and strengthening airport health screenings after the country's first infection in months.

Health minister Greg Hunt said the decision to suspend the green zone travel bubble was done so out of 'an abundance of caution'.

Those scheduled to arrive in the next 72 hours will be put in hotel quarantine, Mr Hunt said, with passengers told to reconsider their need to travel.

Australia has now gone eight days without a locally acquired case of coronavirus as the country continues to successfully manage the virus (pictured, Sydney's Bondi Beach)

Australia has suspended its green zone travel bubble with New Zealand for 72 hours (pictured, passengers at Wellington International Airport last year)

'They will, as a consequence, have to go into hotel quarantine, or such other arrangements as individual states may implement, for up to 14 days, but for a minimum of 72 hours and to have a test,' Mr Hunt said.

'Anyone who has arrived in Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 is asked to isolate and arrange to be tested and to remain in isolation until they have a negative test.'

Australia has not recorded a case of coronavirus in the community since January 17 when six cases were reported in Western Sydney, linked to the Berala BWS cluster.

Eleven cases were recorded in returned travellers in mandatory quarantine on Monday, with three of those in NSW, six in Victoria and two in Queensland.

More than 25,000 tests were processed nationwide.

Health authorities in New Zealand revealed on Sunday a 56-year-old woman had tested positive after completing her 14-day isolation after returning from overseas.

The woman, who had travelled to Spain and the Netherlands before arriving back in the country, was confirmed to have the dangerous South African mutant strain of the virus.

A group of bikini-clad women are seen enjoying the warm temperature on Sunday at St Kilda beach in Melbourne (pictured) as Australia recorded an entire week without a single new coronavirus case

She returned two negative tests while staying at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland and was released on January 13.

'The source of the infection is highly likely to be a fellow returnee during the person's stay at the Pullman Hotel,' Covid recovery minister Chris Hipkins said.

The New Zealand health department released a list of the 31 places she visited on her travels since being released, including supermarkets, cafes and retail stores.

'Recent green-zone arrivals from New Zealand are being alerted to venues of concern following a probable case of COVID-19 in the country,' NSW Health said.

'People who arrived in NSW from New Zealand between Thursday 14 January and Sunday 24 January, have been asked to check these venues of concern and, if they have been to any, to follow the associated health advice.

'They are also asked to monitor for even the mildest of symptoms and get tested and isolate if they feel unwell, then remain in isolation until a negative result is received - in line with routine advice for everyone in NSW.'

'Enhanced screening has been taking place at Sydney Airport from Sunday.'

St Kilda Beach in Melbourne was packed over the weekend as the state recorded no community transmission of Covid-19

ALERT FOR 31 VENUES THE INFECTED WOMAN VISITED FreshChoice Ruakaka Shop 24 Ruakaka Town Centre, 378 Marsden PT Road Ruakaka 14 January 3:03 pm - 4:33 pm Aesthetic Clothing Store 4 Port Road 15 January 8:48 am - 9:53 am Noel Leeming Whangarei 4 Port Road Whangarei 15 January 9:02 am - 10:12 am Bendon Whangarei Shop 12, Okara Shopping Centre4 Port Road Whangarei 15 January 9:03 am - 10:30 am The Warehouse Whangarei 42 Port Road Whangarei 15 January 9:28 am - 10:58 am Carpet Court Whangarei 26 Commerce Street Whangarei 15 January 10:00 am - 11:20 am Flaming Fires 26 Commerce Street Whangarei 15 January 10:24 am - 11:34 am Kamo Vehicle Testing Station 23 Clark Road, Kamo 15 January 10:40 am - 11:45 am Bed Bath and Beyond Whangarei 19 Lower Tarewa Road Whangarei 15 January 10:54 am - 12:04 pm Farmers Whangarei Cnr Bank and Robert Sts, CBD Whangarei 15 January 11:10 am - 12:15 pm Fat Camel Cafe 12 Quality Street 15 January 11:34 am - 1:34 pm Parua Bay Tavern 1034 Whangarei Head Road Parua Bay 15 January 3:20 pm - 5:20 pm Bream Bay Butchers Ruakaka 2/378 Marsden Point Road 16 January 11:02 am - 12:07 pm Ruakaka General Store 1/378 Marsden Point Road 16 January 11:08 am - 12:10 pm FreshChoice Ruakaka Shop 24 Ruakaka Town Centre, 378 Marsden PT Road Ruakaka 16 January 11:10 am - 12:15 pm Urban Remedy Cafe 159 One Tree Point Road 17 January 8:17 am - 9:47 am Joseph Taylor Homewares 126 Mangawhai Heads Road Mangawhai Heads 17 January 2:08 pm - 3:18 pm Eutopia Cafe 1955 State Highway 1 18 January 8:55 am - 10:55 am Maungaturoto 2nd hand shop 30 Hurndall Street East 18 January 10:06 am - 11:36 am Maungaturoto Four Square 163 Hurndall Street West 18 January 10:44 am - 11:49 am White Rock Gallery 5 Church Road 18 January 11:15 am - 12:24 pm The Kauri Museum 5 Church Road RD 1 18 January 11:21 am - 3:21 pm Gumdiggers Cafe Matakohe 11 Church Road, RD 1, Matakohe 18 January 12:39 pm - 2:39 pm The Dune Restaurant & Bar 40 Moir Street 18 January 4:47 pm - 7:17 pm Kaipara Coast Plant Centre & Sculpture Gardens 1481 Kaipara Coast Highway 19 January 11:04 am - 1:04 pm The Ville Turkish Cafe 25 Commercial Road Helensville 19 January 1:08 pm - 2:38 pm Countdown Helensville 43 Commercial Road Helensville 19 January 1:46 pm - 3:01 pm Super Liquor Helensville 26 Commercial Road Helensville 19 January 2:03 pm - 3:08 pm South Head General Store 3260A South Head Road, RD 1 19 January 2:44 pm - 3:49 pm Macnut Cafe 914 South Head Road Helensville 21 January 10:20 am - 11:50 am Orrs Unichem Pharmacy Ruakaka Marsden Point Rd, Town Centre 22 January 11:21 am - 12:26 pm Advertisement

Western Australia and Tasmania are yet to report their daily coronavirus numbers for Monday but are expected to record zero local cases.

Australia's run of new new cases comes as other nations continue to buckle under the strain of the virus and its ever changing and increasingly dangerous mutations.

NSW successfully managed to contain the recent Northern Beaches and Berala clusters.

Victoria has gone 19 days without a single community transmission case following fears the Northern Beaches cluster would ruin their long standing streak after it spread across the border.

After enduring a hard three-day lockdown in Greater Brisbane earlier this month, Queensland also recorded zero new cases of Covid-19.

The rest of the country have continued to record no community transmission as the virus is once again under control.

There are currently 123 active cases of coronavirus in Australia.

Beaches around the country were packed over the weekend with restrictions eased weeks ago, in stark comparison to the strict lockdowns experienced across Europe.

A health care worker tests people at a COVID-19 drive through testing clinic at Murarrie in Brisbane, Queensland (pictured) after the state brought its quarantine outbreak under control

The Pfizer vaccine has met strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy, and has been provisionally approved for Australians over 16

Many of Australia's close partners, including the UK and the US, are recording huge numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths.

The UK on Sunday recorded 30,004 new Covid-19 cases and 610 additional days.

The situation is even more dire in the US, where its Centre for Disease Control predicts there will be 465,000 to 508,000 total COVID-19 deaths by February 13.

So far, 417,910 deaths have been attributed to the deadly respiratory virus.

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration on Monday morning approved the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

The vaccine met strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy, and has been provisionally approved for Australians over 16.

Millions of Australians will begin being inculcated from next month.

Frontline hotel quarantine staff and health workers will be the first in line to receive the vaccine, followed by aged care employees, seniors, and other vulnerable people.

Two doses will be required  at least 21 days apart. The TGA said provisional approval of the vaccine is valid for two years.

'The TGA has granted provisional approval to Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd for its Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, making it the first Covid-19 vaccine to receive regulatory approval in Australia,' it said.
Dubail, Jan 25 : A new Hindu temple in Dubai, the foundation stone of which was laid last August amidst the pandemic, will open its doors to worshippers by Diwali next year, according to media reports.

The temple, being constructed adjacent to the Guru Nanak Singh Darbar in the city's Jebel Ali area, is an extension of the Sindhi Guru Darbar in Bur Dubai, according to the Community Development Authority, Dubai.

The Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple is one of the oldest Hindu temples in the country, open since the 1950s.

Speaking to Gulf News on Sunday, Raju Shroff, one of the trustees of the temple, said: "This temple bears testimony to the open-mindedness of the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Dubai.

"The journey from a quaint one-room temple in the 1950s to the 70,000 square feet, purpose- built temple and Community Centre could not have been possible without the generosity and open-mindedness of the Rulers of the UAE, and the overwhelming support of CDA, Dubai." According to a Khaleej Times report, the temple will be home to 11 Hindu deities.

Shroff was quoted as saying in the report that the temple will "cater to religious beliefs of Hindu communities belonging to all parts of India".

He added that the temple's architecture will have a distinct Arabian look.

The Gulf news report said that the actual structure will cover 25,000 sq ft. of land, while the built up area of the temple stands at a spacious 75,000 sq ft.

The structure includes two basements, a ground floor and first floor.

There's also a 4,000 square feet banquet hall that can accommodate a gathering of 775 people approximately, and a smaller 1,000 square ft. multipurpose room for events up to 100 people.
[January 25, 2021] National Nonprofits WGU and Per Scholas Announce Education Articulation Partnership

Building on its mission to change lives for the better by creating pathways to opportunity, nonprofit Western Governors University's (WGU) College of Information Technology today announced a transfer articulation partnership with nonprofit technology workforce development organization Per Scholas. Alumni of Per Scholas-which delivers tuition-free, market-relevant IT education in 14 major metro areas across the U.S.-will now be eligible to receive credit from their Per Scholas education toward a WGU IT bachelor's degree program. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005653/en/ WGU and Per Scholas have the shared belief that equitable access to education is the greatest catalyst for change. Particularly, information technology education provides for a more diverse and equitable workforce and economy as it moves individuals to thriving wage careers. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on communities of color and women, and there is an imperative need to address social inequities that leave individuals at the margins and deter them from learning. "Careers in technology provide some of the highest wages and growth potential in our economy," said Dr. Elke Leeds, Dean and Academic Vice President of WGU's College of IT. "It's not news that technology has a diversity problem, and we remain committed to expanding access to the learning and skills needed for employment, and the degree needed for advancing in a technology career. Social justice is advanced through equitable education and with rigorous technology education, Per Scholas is making its impact by increasing access to tech training, in particular for women and people of color, communities often underrepresented in technology fields. We are thrilled to partner with Per Scholas and provide their alumni with pathways to further their educations and careers." Through a network of philanthropic funding and grants, Per Scholas provides tuition-free, bootcamp-style technology education in IT support, cybersecurity, and software engineering to diverse learner populations. With a network of more than 500 employer partners, 80% of Per Scholas graduates found a job within one year of graduating. WGU's recognition of Per Scholas' training now provides graduates with their next opportunity in education and career advancement. WGU's online degree programs allow learners to work toward their degree on their own time, and its competency-based education model measures learning rather than seat time. This allows learners to progress as soon as they master skills and graduate with a bachelor's degree within two-and-a-half years on average.



"We're incredibly excited about this partnership with WGU, especially knowing the benefits and value it represents for the Per Scholas community," said Bridgette Gray, Per Scholas Chief Impact Officer. "For our alumni who are looking to move into middle management roles, many companies still require an undergraduate degree. This partnership gives our graduates significant credits toward a degree in Information Technology at an outstanding university that not only offers affordable tuition, but also coursework flexibility. This provides our graduates who enroll at WGU with greater value for the hard work and time that they invested into their Per Scholas coursework and the certificates they earned, putting our alumni that much closer to achieving the next goal in their career progression." In the months and years to come, WGU and Per Scholas will seek to advance their partnership to be stewards of equitable access to technology education and will roll out local and regional enrollment efforts. To learn more about the partnership visit wgu.edu/lp/information-technology/per-scholas.html. For employers and philanthropic partner interests, please contact Brad Angevine at Per Scholas.

About WGU Established in 1997 by 19 U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education, online, nonprofit WGU now serves more than 129,000 students nationwide and has more than 214,000 graduates in all 50 states. Driving innovation as the nation's leading competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House, state leaders, employers, and students as a model that works in postsecondary education. In just 24 years, the university has become a leading influence in changing the lives of individuals and families, and preparing the workforce needed in today's rapidly evolving economy. WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, has been named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, and has been featured on NPR (News - Alert) , NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in The New York Times. Learn more at wgu.edu. About Per Scholas Per Scholas is a national organization that has been advancing economic mobility for 25 years. Through rigorous training, professional development and robust employer connections, we prepare individuals traditionally underrepresented in technology for high-growth careers in the industry. We partner with leading employers to build more diverse talent pools, directly connecting our graduates to new career opportunities with leading employers, from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups. With campuses in 14 cities, Per Scholas has trained more than 12,000 individuals in tech skills, building bridges to careers in technology. To learn more, please visit perscholas.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005653/en/

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Zimbabwes information secretary has torched a Twitter storm following his claims insinuating that some doctors in Zimbabwe are using COVID-19 to kill certain hospitalized political players.

Responding to a tweet by a person that has since deleted his Twitter account, who claimed that there are some doctors said to be killing some political players, Mangwana noted that people are talking about such issues.

This is whats leading to the unfortunate conspiracy theory that there are certain political players being eliminated in hospitals by political activists hiding behind medical qualifications. In fact not just political players but medical assassins.

He was immediately rebuked by large numbers of people, including Dr. Noah Lameck, who said, Nick thats a serious allegation, hope you have evidence to this matter. Unlike your fellow comrades we dont kill people, we save lives regardless of any background. After all the risks we are taking this is all what you are thinking. Very disappointed.

Mangwana shot back saying, Not every doctor is a killer but killer doctors are not a strange phenomenon. I can give you a very long list in history which include serial killers and mass murderers. Dont take it personally, if this boot doesnt fit dont wear it.

Some Twitter followers urged the police to arrest Mangwana for peddling what they called falsehoods. Mangwana was unavailable for comment as he did not respond to text messages on WhatApp and calls made to his mobile phone.

Disturbed by Mangwanas tweet, the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) expressed dismay over the issue, noting that there were no professional assassins in the doctors ranks in Zimbabwe.

In a statement, the ZADHR said it was concerned about the escalating tensions in the health sector.

Of key concern are the branding of certain medical professionals as medical assassins by a senior government official, threats of arrests, and deregistration of medical practitioners who are alleged to have communicated unethical statements on social media.

ZADHR strongly advises against continuous persecution of health care professionals. Cases of alleged medical misconduct, if any, must always be handled by the appropriate medical regulatory bodies. Across the globe, self-regulation of medical practitioners has been adopted as the standard approach for ensuring adherence to the highest standards of ethical practice in the medical sector.

The ZADHR said the continuous persecution of medical practitioners is likely to destabilize the health sector at a time the government is struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government must be seen to be applauding the positive role being played by frontline health workers who are working tirelessly to provide essential services during this pandemic, risking their lives to save Zimbabweans in the process. The COVID-19 crisis requires close collaboration between government, health workers and all citizens.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday put an end to lawsuits alleging that former president Donald Trump violated a constitutional anti-corruption prohibition by profiting from his business empire while president.

The justices, without comment or noted dissent, declined to hear Trump's request to consider lower court orders that said lawsuits could go forward, agreeing with those on both sides of the issue that the cases became moot with Trump no longer in office.

The justices also vacated the lower court judgments in the cases, one of which was filed by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

It means that there is no definitive answer after years of legal wrangling over the Constitution's emoluments clauses, which prohibit presidents and others from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional approval.

The question has rarely been presented because presidents rarely maintain active business interests in office, as Trump did. Much of the litigation turned on the president's interest in the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House, which became a magnet for foreign dignitaries and others doing business with the government.

The litigation was consumed with questions about who had the right to bring such a suit, and legal questions without precedent.

"We are proud that because of our case, a court ruled on the meaning of 'emoluments' for the first time in American history, finding that the Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting almost anything of value from foreign or domestic governments," District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said in a joint statement.

They added: "History will note that at every step of this case, President Trump and political appointees at the Department of Justice went to extreme lengths to prevent us from uncovering the true extent of his corruption. He attempted to short-circuit the rules of legal procedure to have our case dismissed and avoid discovery into his finances, arguing that the law did not apply to him."

Their case was one of three testing for the first time the Constitution's ban on the country's leaders engaging in private business relationships with foreign governments.

The Supreme Court declined in October to take up a case brought by Democratic members of Congress led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. The lawmakers had appealed a Washington D.C. Circuit ruling that blocked individual members of Congress from trying to enforce the foreign emoluments clause.

In a third case in New York, brought by the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on behalf of Trump's hospitality industry competitors, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said a lower-court judge had improperly thrown out the case in late 2017.

The lawsuit alleged that Trump was illegally profiting from his hotels and restaurants in New York and D.C. The full appeals court declined to rehear the case this summer and Trump asked the high court to intervene.

"This important litigation made the American people aware for four years of the pervasive corruption that came from a president maintaining a global business and taking benefits and payments from foreign and domestic governments," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement Monday. "Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended these corrupt constitutional violations and stopped these groundbreaking lawsuits."
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[January 25, 2021] New IDC Reference Guide Assesses the State of Data Marketplaces

International Data Corporation (IDC) recently published a Reference Guide to data marketplaces. The new guide details market forces influencing the development and utilization of data marketplaces and highlights the capabilities and strategies of prominent data marketplace vendors. This research helps data buyers and sellers evaluate the applicability of data marketplaces to their plans and provides data marketplace providers with a deeper understanding of the competitive landscape. IDC (News - Alert) defines a data marketplace as a forum where multiple data sets or products are available for sale or license from more than one data seller. The marketplace is distinguished by the presence of a variety of offerings and sellers, and buyers have the option to select any of the listed offerings. The format of the marketplace can vary on multiple dimensions, including types of data available, industry or business focus, services provided to buyers and sellers, and restrictions on where the data can be used. Marketplaces tend to distinguish themselves, with some overlap, along several dimensions: general purpose; industry or use case specific; function specific; and data domain specialist. In looking at the data marketplace ecosystem, IDC's data-as-a-service research sees that: There is an ongoing quest for more and valuable data to power human decisions and artificial intelligence (AI). However, there are quite a few challenges to sourcing data efficiently. Marketplaces help potential buyers discover and compare a wide variety of datasets.

Many enterprises that have not traditionally been in the information service business are seeking to create a return on their investments in data capture by developing digital assets for sale. However, it is not simple to adequately market and sell this new type of offering to entities that have not traditionally been customers. In addition, there are technical considerations and ongoing support that might be best addressed by an outside party.

Comparison shopping is very difficult in the world of datasets. Many marketplaces are providing ways to help potential buyers get more information and make comparisons across dataset offerings. "External, third-party data, which empower enterprises to create digital offerings, gather actionable insight, and make better decisions, is an essential requirement in what IDC has identified as the Future of Intelligence. Searching for the ''best' available datasets for these use cases can be time-consuming and uncertain. Data marketplaces offer more efficient and effective access for both buyers and sellers of dta. We expect the volume of data transactions via marketplaces to greatly accelerate over the next two years," said Lynne Schneider, research director, Data as a Service at IDC.



The reference guide compares the characteristics of 14 data marketplace vendors to provide context for data sellers, data buyers, and other enterprises that support or provide data marketplaces. The feature comparison is based on a comprehensive and rigorous framework that incorporates a range of capabilities from common to cutting edge. The data marketplace vendors profiled in the reference guide are: Acxiom, Adobe (News - Alert) , AWS, BattleFin, Dawex, ESRI, Eagle Alpha, HERE, Oracle, Otonomo, S&P Global, Snowflake, Terbine, and UP42 at Airbus. The IDC report, Data Marketplace Reference Guide, Q1 2021 (Doc #US47276921), is a reference guide to the role, usage, and representative vendors in the data marketplace market. The presentation provides an overview of data marketplaces and essential guidance for companies seeking to enter the market as a data buyer or seller. The report also provides profiles and a functional comparison of 14 data marketplace vendors. In this dynamic market, IDC expects to update this reference guide regularly as features evolve and the provider landscape changes.

About IDC's Future of Intelligence Research Practice IDC's Future of Intelligence research practice helps organizations build strategies to become learning enterprises built on evidence-based cultures. In the Future of Intelligence, organizations will rethink how they define and invest in enterprise intelligence, focusing on approaches that scale. To learn more about all nine of IDC's Future of X research practices, please visit https://www.idc.com/FoX. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005467/en/

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YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Unknown men have thrown stones at the Armenian trucks near Georgias Kvemo Ponichala neighborhood on January 25 at midnight. They broke the front and side windows of some trucks and left the scene, the Armenian Embassy in Georgia said in a statement.

The Embassy informed that after the incident the Armenian trucks accompanied by the patrol police have reached the Armenian-Georgian border and crossed it.

The Georgian Interior Ministry has initiated a criminal case over the incident.

The Armenian Embassy in Georgia is in constant touch with the countrys relevant authorities and is taking active measures for those found guilty to be held accountable and to rule out the repetition of such incidents, the statement says.

According to some media reports, the Armenian trucks have been attacked by Azerbaijanis.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
If an individual or an organization wants to maintain its credibility, it must not lie. If, because of circumstances, one must lie, the lie must be at least credible. Telling an implausible lie not only destroys credibility, but opens the subject to ridicule.

Over 25,000 members of the National Guard were dispatched to Washington, D.C. to provide security for the Biden inauguration. They were the subject of two incidents, causing damage the Biden administration's credibility and opening it up to ridicule.

The treatment of the National Guard brings to mind Rudyard Kipling's poem Tommy, which begins like this:

I WENT into a public 'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

The publican 'e up an' sez, " We serve no red-coats here."

The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,

I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' " Tommy, go away " ;

But it's " Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play

The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,

O it's " Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play.

The first incident involves the large number of National Guardsmen turning their backs on the president's inaugural motorcade. This is based on a videotape taken from a vehicle in the motorcade.

Reuters did a "fact check" of the video and determined that the National Guard did not turn their back on the president. Reuters claimed, "Social media users have been sharing a video shot from a vehicle that shows some National Guard soldiers facing away from the road as Biden's motorcade drives past them. The users claim that the National Guard has 'turned their backs' on Biden, suggesting that this action is a display to show their rejection of the president. Their positioning, however, is standard protocol for this sort of duty."

This "fact check" could have worked a few decades ago. In the internet age, it fails completely. People have access to the video and can judge for themselves. Whom will they believe: their own lying eyes, or the experts at the Reuters fact-checking department? The behavior of the National Guard was somewhat disappointing. Someone must have been in charge of the overall operation. An average NCO could have done a better job of organizing their appearance. This is partially excusable because of the understandably low morale induced by this situation. The Guard should have been in formation and standing smartly at attention when the motorcade passed. Perhaps every tenth man would have his back turned, scanning the area for possible danger. An officer at the front of the formation should be saluting as the motorcade passed by.

Instead, more than "some" of the Guardsmen had their backs turned. It was a significant number and possibly a majority. They were not in formation, and some groups looked as though they were just milling about. Not one individual saluted. In support of their "fact check," Reuters quotes Nahaku McFadden, media operations chief for the National Guard Bureau of Public Affairs. McFadden claimed, "These National Guardsmen were on duty with a mission to protect the president against potential threats. Some are facing out to ensure the safety of all."

Again, the video is available.

The second incident involves the billeting of Guardsmen in a parking garage.

The Capitol Police told the N.Y. Times, "As Congress is in session and increased foot traffic and business is being conducted, Capitol Police asked the troops to move their rest area outside of the Capitol." Senator Tammy Duckworth tweeted that she was informed that the "Capitol Police have apologized to the Guardsmen (Guardsmen?) and they will be allowed back into the complex tonight." This suggests that the decision to move the National Guard was made by the Capitol Police. However, Senator Chris Murphy claimed, "I just got off the phone with the acting Capitol Police Chief who insists there was no general request for the Guard to vacate the building." One commentator tweeted, "For the last week my battalion has been sleeping on the floor in the Senate cafeteria. Today the Senate kicked us out & moved us to a cold parking garage."

Sen. Mike Lee acknowledged that the Capitol Police were in charge but wondered if they made the decision on their own. The public relations impact of this decision should have been obvious. It certainly should have been decided on a much higher level. Apparently one unit for 5,000 Guardsmen contained just one electrical outlet and one bathroom. The National Guard is a military organization whose members are prepared to lose their lives if necessary. They are certainly tough enough to sleep on concrete when it's necessary, but was this necessary? From San Francisco to New York, mayors are finding space to put homeless people in luxury hotels.

The treatment of the National Guard reveals several problems with the current administration. Many people in this administration hold the military in utter contempt. It also reveals a lack of foresight that will be repeatedly displayed resulting in embarrassment downplayed by the press. It further diminishes the credibility of the press and their "fact checking."

John Dietrich is a freelance writer and the author of The Morgenthau Plan: Soviet Influence on American Postwar Policy (Algora Publishing). He has a Master of Arts degree in international relations from St. Mary's University. He is retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. He is featured on the BBC's program "Things We Forgot to Remember:" Morgenthau Plan and Post-War Germany.

Image: Fox News video screen shot, via shareable YouTube.
It is an image which makes it abundantly clear that America is moving on from Trump.

The Queen of counter-cultural pop Lady Gaga stood at the inauguration belting out the Star-Spangled Banner in a blush pink skirt by so puffy that she could hardly walk in it, to celebrate her friend Joe Biden becoming President. If President-deselect Donald Trump was still on Twitter you can only imagine how incandescent his tweets would be  he would be spitting with envy at the line-up of popstars that Joe Biden commanded, especially given that everyone from Neil Young to Adele refused to be associated with him. Biden had J-Lo as his warm-up act. If her poised performance wasnt enough, he also had Amanda Gorman, who gave the world hope with her poem and then he only went and got the New Radicals back together.

But Gaga is the one who must have really riled Trump. She is an outsider who has always stuck up for people who are different and, in the past year, she has cemented her position as a popstar philanthropist who makes an impact  no wonder Biden wants her on side. She appeared nervous last night, growing in confidence as she went on. But it was a significant performance, as big as the enormous gold dove of peace brooch pinned to her chest (has she been taking style notes from Baroness Hale and her spider?) For all the quips about how it looks as if he is her grandfather and how her outfit was a bit Hunger Games, they are a powerful union of pop appeal and politics. Gaga gets things done. Her One World: Together at Home concert at the start of the pandemic helped raise $127 million for frontline care workers (and lifted spirits with an utterly mind-bending performance from Elton John mispronouncing the chorus of his song Im Still Standing  Google it).

On the surface, Lady Gaga is synonymous with a wild, disco attitude and an ability to surprise. This is a woman whose first hit, Just Dance, was about her losing her keys and phone in a nightclub, unable to see straight and wondering How did I turn my shirt inside out?. And remember when she wore a dress made out of raw beef to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards?

But actually her new position at Bidens side makes a lot of sense. Gaga, 34, has always been a popstar with a social conscience, able to package up serious messages in a way that gets your attention and has widespread appeal. That meat dress was a protest against US government restrictions placed on the rights of gay soldiers. That doesnt mean she cant also sing outre songs about, for example, wanting to take a ride on your disco stick.

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Lady Gaga making a statement in her beef dress at the 2010 MTV Awards / Getty Images

Lady Gaga is like Madonna in that she knows how to reinvent herself, says publicist Mark Borkowski. A Star is Born showed how she can do serious acting as much as fun New York style disco. She has a huge and incredibly loyal fanbase and when you see her live it is powerful. Her relationship with Joe Biden speaks to the fact that people want authenticity from popstars now. The Joe sweatshirt she wore to support him sold out and her inauguration outfit was a shrewd choice - by Schiaparelli, a brand with an American creative director.

This month she received a Free Speech Award from the Martin Luther King Jr Centre for non-violent social change and she denounced racism and white supremacy in her acceptance speech. Oh and theres her vegan skincare line (is she the new Gwyneth Paltrow?). She has achieved all this while keeping up her day job, releasing a new album, Chromatica in May last year and acting in two upcoming films, one directed by Ridley Scott (name TBC), the other an action thriller called Bullet Train. And you thought you had done well in managing to work from home with weak wi-fi and do a 5k. If you feel horribly inferior, read the New York Times piece by the journalist whose ex-boyfriend is now going out with Gaga.

Presidents and popstars have always had special relationships  look at Marilyn Monroe and John F Kennedy. But the union between showbiz and politics is not straightforward. Agents dont want their acts to be too political as it can alienate people, says Borkowski. Lots of people voted for Trump, so some agents would prefer acts to be anodyne. Taylor Swift exposes this in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana where she defies her management to speak out about Trump. They were afraid she would lose fans over it.

Lady Gaga and Joe Biden / ladygaga/Instagram

Gaga has known Biden for a long time. They are both Catholic, he worked with her to set up trauma centres for sexual assault survivors and as she sees it, she had a role in him running for President. She has said: I remember when I was hanging out with him one day and I was like, So youre going to run for president, right? And we had a little talk and he did it. But I was like, Listen, we need you, because we needed somebody that was going to bring us all together for this moment, this very important moment. Thanks Gaga.
It looks like Samsung is taking bigger strides when it comes to chipset performance and upgrades. The company has recently launched its Exynos 2100, which is already better on paper, as compared to the Snapdragon 888. However, its GPU, which is ARM Mali G78 is not enough to compete with Adreno 660 yet. So, Samsung is planning to change this with Exynos 2100 and Exynos 1080 successors.

It has been mentioned that AMD is helping the Galaxy S21 maker for mobile chipset GPUs. During the Exynos 2100 unveiling event, the president of the chaebol's System LSI Business did confirm that the next flagship product will come with an AMD GPU. It is what it is not for sure if he was talking about the next flagship chipset or the device that will be coming to the masses.

We will see Samsung release Samsung  AMD GPUs in the second or third quarter of 2021, which will be used in the next Exynos 2xxx and next Exynos 1xxx processors, Samsung may change the release time of the new processors.  Ice universe (@UniverseIce) January 24, 2021

Although he did not reveal the launch date, tipster Ice Universe has tweeted that we may see Samsung chipsets with AMD GPUs in the second or third quarter of 2021. Also, these might be used in the next Exynos 2xxx and next Exynos 1xxx processors.

This also means that we may see the successors of the flagship chipset coming later this year instead of next year. It also raises a question if the chipsets will be used in the rumoured Galaxy Z Fold 3 or the Galaxy Note 2021 or even the rumoured Galaxy Note 20 FE.

Meanwhile, some reports suggest that Samsung could soon bring its Exynos chipsets to laptops too. Since the company already supplies chips to manufacturers like Motorola, so the likelihood of ARM-based chips in computers (like the Apple M1 processor) isnt such a far-fetched idea.
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- City Council Vice President Kahlil Seren has officially thrown his hat into the ring to become the first elected mayor in the citys 100-year history.

Seren is believed to be the first to publicly announce his candidacy for the new post, created when residents voted decisively in favor of Issue 26 -- the Citizens for an Elected Mayor initiative -- in November 2019.

As we celebrate our centennial this year, Cleveland Heights needs and deserves a mayor that can deliver what the people asked for when they created this elected position -- a transparent and responsive city government that challenges the status quo, Seren stated in a Jan. 25 press release.

Now serving in his sixth year on council, Seren cited a unique combination of skills he would bring to the new office of mayor.

These would include not only his legislative experience, but his work as a policy adviser for Cuyahoga County Council, focusing on efficiency, accountability, planning and education, as well as community and economic development.

I believe I am the best candidate to lead an administration that reflects our communitys values and offers bold, creative approaches to issues we face, while efficiently performing the core functions we expect from a municipal government, Seren added.

Chairing councils Administrative Services Committee, Seren has helped lead the citys transition to a mayor-council form of government from the longstanding council-city manager structure.

He was also a vocal supporter of the initiative as a sitting council member leading up to the charter amendments passage.

Seren said his mayoral campaign will feature a combination of modern, virtual outreach and traditional campaigning.

The pandemic adds a layer of complexity, and we want to keep everyone safe, Seren noted in the press release. I look forward to sitting with people in their homes during Zoom Meet & Greets, and texting important updates from the campaign trail. I will be regularly available throughout this campaign for these face-to-face conversations.

In the meantime, Cleveland Heights residents can learn more and connect at www.SerenForMayor.com and through Facebook and Twitter. Residents can also sign up for Sunday office hours on Serens campaign website.

This will be a very grassroots, community-driven campaign, and I intend to continue that approach once I am elected mayor of Cleveland Heights, Seren added.

In a region like ours, no city can just go it alone. Effective mayors tap into resources and connections theyve cultivated beyond the citys borders, to bring new concepts and new funding back to benefit their residents.

On his day job with the county, Seren believes he has been that kind of resource for communities, working to solve difficult problems through collaboration with diverse stakeholders in the public and private sectors, as well as with non-profit service providers and charitable organizations, to make a real and lasting impact on the daily lives of people throughout the region.

As mayor, my experience in this interdependent system will directly increase the value the city can provide to our residents, Seren said.

The trail ahead

Seren also provided some background information on the election process from this point forward for the $115,000-a-year post.

Candidates for Cleveland Heights mayor may begin collecting petition signatures on March 18. Completed petitions must be filed with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections no later than June 16.

Based on the passage of Issue 6 in November 2020, the charter language now reads that, if there are more than two certified candidates for mayor, a non-partisan primary election will be held on Sept. 14 -- at least for this election cycle.

The two candidates receiving the most votes in the primary mayoral run-off election will then proceed to the general election scheduled for Nov. 2.

Read more from the Sun Press.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seoul, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. AP



Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong will not appeal last week's appeals court ruling that sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison in a retrial of a high-profile bribery case, his lawyer said Monday.



Last Monday, the Seoul High Court handed down the verdict to the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. for bribing former President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, to win government support for a smooth father-to-son transfer of managerial power at Samsung. Lee was sent back to prison after the sentencing.



His lawyer Lee In-jae said his client respected the court ruling and decided not to take further legal action.



Monday is the deadline for an appeal. The prosecutors said they were reviewing whether to appeal the decision. If they decide not to, by the end of the day, the court verdict will be finalized.



The 52-year-old Lee was charged in February 2017 with giving 29.8 billion won (US$27.4 million) worth of bribes and promising to give more.



In 2017, he was sentenced to five years in prison for providing a total of 8.9 billion won in support for Choi's daughter's equestrian training and a donation to a sports foundation run by Choi's family. But he was freed the following year after an appeals court sentenced him to a suspended prison term of 2 1/2 years, based on the revised amount of bribes at 3.6 billion won.



In August 2019, the top court ruled Lee offered 8.6 billion won in total in bribes and remanded the case to the appeals court for retrial.



Given the prison time he already has served, he will be freed in July 2022, unless he is granted a pardon or commutation. (Yonhap)
Update 2:40 PM ET: Due to protests opposing Facebook's purging of the accounts of the University of Michigan chapter of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, the company has backed down. The UM IYSSEs account has been restored, together with accounts of the administrators. Facebook has provided no explanation for its actions. Remain vigilant. This fight is not over. Further information and political analysis will be posted on the World Socialist Web Site. Please continue to circulate this statement.

Facebook is engaged in an escalating campaign of internet censorship targeting the socialist left. Entire Facebook pages are being taken down, and individual accounts permanently disabled, without any explanation given or recourse allowed.

The latest act of censorship is Facebooks deletion of the official page of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at the University of Michigan. The IYSSE is the student and youth movement of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). It has been an official campus student group at UM since 2007, and its Facebook account has been active since 2013.

Both the groups president and faculty advisor have had their accounts disabled, along with the accounts of six other administrators.

This Oct. 23, 2019, file photo shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Those included in the political purge by Facebook include leading members of the SEP in Michigan, where the headquarters of the party is located along with the national editorial office of the World Socialist Web Site. Both Genevieve Leigh, the national secretary of the IYSSE, and Niles Niemuth, the US managing editor of the World Socialist Web Site, have had their accounts deleted. Both are members of the national leadership of the SEP.

More information is beginning to come out of other groups targeted. Facebook has also removed pages and more than one dozen individual accounts associated with Struggle La Lucha and the Socialist Unity Party in the US. Late last week, pages associated with the Socialist Workers Party in the UK were deleted along with the personal accounts of those moderating them. While the main page was restored, many of the pages of local branches and member accounts are still disabled.

These actions by Facebook take place in a definite political context. There is an immense and ongoing political crisis within the US state, a raging pandemic that has killed nearly 430,000 people in the United States, an extreme economic crisis, and growing anger in the working class against the entire policy of the capitalist ruling elite. The ruling class is terrified of the growth of social opposition from below.

Less than three weeks ago, US President Donald Trump incited a fascistic insurrection in Washington DC aimed at overturning the results of the election and abolishing democratic rights. The central targets of Trumps increasingly frenzied and fascistic statements over the past year have been socialism and Marxism.

The Democrats, for their part, have come to office under the Biden administration calling for unity with the Republican Party. Biden has insisted on the need for a strong Republican Party and is opposed to any examination and exposure of the high-level involvement in and support for the fascistic insurrection.

On Sunday, the Washington Post published an article under the headline, Capitol attack will spur broad crackdown on domestic extremists. While it refers to right-wing violence as a disease that seems to have taken hold in the nations nervous system, it is clear from Facebooks actions that the principal target is not the right, which, in any case, can rely on support from the state and sections of the ruling class. Under the catchall category of domestic extremism, the attack will be focused on the left.

The aim is to decapitate socialist opposition to the extreme right. Indeed, the last posts by the IYSSE at UM prior to Facebooks actions included links to the WSWS online meeting, Where is America going? Trumps coup and the rise of fascism, and the WSWS statements, The pandemic and Trumps coup attempt, Democrats plead for bipartisanship as the Republicans call for blood, and What would have happened if Trumps fascist mob had seized hostages?

Facebook and other social media companies are not acting alone. They work closely with the state and in particular with the Democratic Party, which is extremely sensitive to and opposed to all manifestations of social opposition from below.

Beginning in 2017, the World Socialist Web Site has exposed and mobilized opposition to the censorship and blacklisting of left-wing and socialist views. This began with the moves by Google to change its search algorithms to promote authoritative content and demote alternative views. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Googles parent company, Alphabet, has admitted that the World Socialist Web Site was specifically targeted.

Googles actions were followed by a series of measures by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit and other social media platforms blocking access to and censoring socialist views.

Now, under conditions of unprecedented crisis, the ruling class is escalating its censorship campaign. It is significant that the IYSSE page and SEP leaders first targeted by Facebook are in Michigan, where the SEP and WSWS have a significant influence in the working class. Last March, as the pandemic was beginning its massive spread in the US, autoworkers in Michigan launched wildcat walkouts against being forced to continue working under unsafe conditions.

Articles and statements published by the WSWS calling for a walkout were read by tens of thousands of workers, primarily through Facebook.

The drive toward censorship can be reversed only through the broadest mobilization of opposition among workers, young people and progressive intellectuals and journalists!

The Socialist Equality Party calls for everyone reading this statement to take the following actions:

1. Send statements demanding an immediate reversal of Facebooks actions to info@support.facebook.com and zuckerberg@fb.com. Send copies of your letters to comments@wsws.org for publication on the World Socialist Web Site.

2. Share this statement as widely as possible with your friends and co-workers and on social media, including Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. Include the hashtag #StopCensoringSocialism.

3. Send to the WSWS any information that you have on the censorship of left-wing individuals and publications by Facebook or other social media companies so that we can publicize and oppose these attacks.
With less than 100 days for assembly polls in Kerala, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has recommended a CBI probe into cases against former chief minister Oommen Chandy and five others filed over allegations of sexual abuse linked to the state's infamous 'solar scam'.

However, it will be the decision of the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the investigating office to probe the eight-year-old allegations. Those hit by the 'solar' heat include Congress MPs KC Venugopal, Hibi Eden and Adoor Prakash, MLA AP Anil Kumar, and former Congress leader and present BJP vice president AP Abdullakkutty, apart from Chandy. Incidentally, Chandy was made the convenor of the UDF election committee on Friday.

The Congress called the move "politically motivated" and Chandy said he was ready to face any probe. "The LDF has been in power in Kerala for five years and they have not been able to prove any allegation against us. Now they are trying to ally with powers at the Centre. We are not against any probe. Despite a case registered under non-bailable section based on a complaint in 2018, why has the state government not taken any action till now? " Chandy asked.

The scandal centred on a fictitious company called Team Solar formed in 2013 by an alleged con woman, who is the complainant in the case of alleged sexual exploitation, and her second husband, Biju Radhakrishnan, who boasted of their contacts with the chief ministers office. They cheated people out of money by seeking investments with the promise of making them business partners or offering to install solar power units in the state while Oommen Chandy was Kerala chief minister.

Here is the timeline of the eight-year-old controversial case:

June 3, 2013: A 34-year-old woman is arrested for cheating and the High Court orders an investigation against Team Solar. One Biju Radhakrishnan, who claimed to be her second husband, is arrested the following week from Coimbatore for the alleged murder of his first wife Reshmi.

June 12, 2013: Opposition alleges the woman has links with the CM's office.

June 14, 2013: CM Chandy removes his PA Tenny Joppan, gunman Salim Raj from his staff.

June 28, 2013: Tenny Joppan arrested.

July 2013: Phone call report of the woman reveals her record of communication with four state ministers. Sridharan Nair, a quarry owner, claims that the woman arranged a meeting with the chief minister at his office, which the CM immediately denied.

July 30, 2013: The first charge sheet against the woman in the cheating case submitted.

July 2013: The Congress high command rejects Chandy's readiness to resign and asks him to continue on the post.

August 12, 2013: The opposition LDF launches statewide protests, demanding the chief minister's resignation and there is a secretariat blockade.

August 16, 2013: A judicial probe is ordered following the secretariat blockade by the Left parties.

September 10, 2013: Salim Raj, the sacked gunman of the chief minister, is arrested.

October 2013: Retired High Court judge G Sivarajan appointed as a one-man probe commission on October 23.

December 2013: With the woman's advocate Fenny Balakrishnan's claim of possessing "private videos" of UDF legislators, LDF intensifies protest campaigns.

January 2014: Biju Radhakrishnan is sentenced to life imprisonment in Reshmi murder case.

February 2014: The woman released from jail.

April 4, 2014: Former chief minister VS Achuthanandan files a petition in Kerala High Court demanding a CBI probe into the scam

July 2014: The woman denies before the commission the involvement of any ministers or MLAs in the scam.

April 2015: A letter said to be written by the woman from Pathanamthitta jail, naming many UDF leaders, goes public.

October 2015: The term of the solar commission extended until April 2016.

December 4, 2015: Kerala Police goes to Coimbatore for confiscating the CDs allegedly containing sexual acts of the leaders.

December 2015: Biju Radhakrishnan accuses Congressmen KC Venugopal (then MP of Alappuzha constituency), Aryadan Muhammed (then electricity minister), and Kerala Congress (B) MLA KB Ganesh Kumar of demanding money.

January 14, 2016: The woman contradicts her earlier statement and claims to have bribed the CM. She also accuses Aryadan Muhammed of receiving Rs 40 lakh.

January 25, 2016: Oommen Chandy confirms before the commission that he had met the woman thrice. Chandy maintains that the charges against him and his office were 'politically motivated'.

May 2016: LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan takes power in Kerala.

July 2016: A case of sexual harassment filed following a complaint submitted to chief minister's office.

August 2016: Bijo Alexander, the nodal officer assisting the Justice Sivarajan Commission, confirms that 14 cases were pending against the woman and Biju, apart from the scam-related ones. Chandy, along with 20 other witnesses, summoned by the commission again.

October 2016: A Bengaluru City Civil and Sessions Court orders Chandy and Kochi-based SCOSSA Educational Consultants Private Ltd to pay up over Rs 1.6 crore to Bengaluru-based real estate consultant MK Kuruvila, a victim of the solar scam.

December 16, 2016: Perumbavoor Judicial First Class Magistrate Court sentences the woman and Biju to three years' imprisonment in the first scam-related case. Dancer and actress Shalu Menon and her mother, who were also accused in the case, acquitted.

December 23, 2016: Chandy appears before the commission for cross-examination.

April 2017: Bengaluru court sets aside its earlier ex-parte decree which asked Chandy to pay Rs 1.6 crore with interest to Kuruvila.

September 26, 2017: The commission submits its report before chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

October 8, 2017: Bengaluru Additional City Civil and Sessions Court acquits Oommen Chandy in Kuruvila case.

October 10, 2017: A day before the Vengara by-election, the state government says it will take action, based on solar commission report.

November 9, 2017: Solar commission report, which states lapses on the part of CM's office, tabled in assembly.

May 15, 2018: Kerala High Court expunges all remarks and findings by the commission which probed the solar panel scam based on a letter reportedly written by the main accused alleging sexual harassment against former chief minister Oommen Chandy.

October 19, 2018: The Crime Branch takes cognisance of the complaint and opens a criminal inquiry against Chandy and others.

March 12, 2019: Crime Branch files an FIR against three Congress legislators, Hibi Eden, Adoor Prakash and AP Anil Kumar, charging them with rape and outraging the modesty of the complainant,

2019: The woman who is sentenced in at last six cases and is out on bail, contests against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and bags 569 votes. Though she attempts to contest in Wayanad against Rahul, her nomination papers are rejected because of her conviction.

November 5, 2020: Kerala government removes general consent given to CBI investigation following the adverse impact in a few cases.

January 23, 2021: LDF government recommends a CBI probe into the allegations of sexual harassment in solar case. Curiously name of Jose K Mani, former MP who switched to LDF on October 14, 2020, and was mentioned in allegation, is missing.

January 25, 2021: The woman says there is no politics in the case and will stand firm on the charges. She clarifies that she had complaints against 16 and FIR was against just eight. "If the name of former MP Jose K Mani is in the FIR, I will continue the case against him too," she says.

Bethlehems Winter Restaurant Week is important every year  its a slower time of year when not as many people are out and about, so the week of promotions is a great way to get business moving.

This year, as one might guess, its more important than ever.

Yes, its cold outside, and yes, thats deterred people from spending long days and nights out in downtown Bethlehem, but so has the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has crushed the restaurant industry. Thats why this years Winter Restaurant Week, which runs from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, is getting flexible to battle the perfect storm of the cold and COVID-19.

For 2021, more than a dozen restaurants will be offering fixed menus at fixed prices for all three meals of the day, and each menu will be available for curbside pickup this year. There are no passes or tickets or coupons needed.

Dining in is still an option as well, but given the limited capacity in restaurants, calling ahead for a reservation is recommended.

Plus, the #postyourplate contest is back. Throwing a photo of your meal, in-house or at home, up on social media with the #postyourplate hashtag will get you entered to win a gift card for each participating restaurant.

There are 14 restaurants in Bethlehems Downtown Historic District celebrating Restaurant Week this winter: Apollo Grill, Bethlehem Brew Works, Billys Downtown Diner, Edge Restaurant, the Historic Hotel Bethlehem, the Lafayette Room, McCarthys Red Stag Pub and Whisky Bar, Tapas on Main, Tavern at the Sun Inn, The Brick, The Flying Egg, The Melting Pot, Twisted Olive and Urbano Mexican Kitchen & Bar.

All restaurants menus can be found on the Downtown Historic Districts website, getdowntownbethlehem.com/winter-restaurant-week.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Connor Lagore may be reached at clagore@njadvancemedia.com.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong enters the Seoul High Court to attend a retrial of his bribery case held Jan. 18. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han



Two-and-half-year prison term finalized, eyes on Cheong Wa Dae for possible pardon



By Kim Bo-eun



Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong decided to accept a ruling by an appellate court last week in a bribery case that handed him a prison sentence, his legal representatives said Monday. Prosecutors also stated the same day they would not appeal the sentence.



This finalizes a two-and-a-half year jail sentence for Lee.



The Seoul High Court handed down the prison sentence to Lee, Jan. 18, for paying bribes to former President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil, in exchange for them allowing a smooth transfer of power from his father Lee Kun-hee. The Samsung Electronics vice chairman returned to prison the same day.



Samsung's leader was cited as saying he would "humbly accept the ruling." Lee is seen to have given up an appeal against the ruling as it appears unlikely the top court would overturn it.



The Seoul High Court held a final re-hearing of the case last week, after the Supreme Court ordered this in 2019, stating that Lee should be found guilty of some bribery charges excluded from a previous ruling.



The decision not to appeal is also seen to have been made to confirm the ruling, which raises the possibility of a pardon. If the trial stretched on, talks of a special pardon would not take place for some time, given this is only possible when a sentence is finalized.



CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun, the Samsung leader's cousin, appealed against an appellate court ruling in December 2015 that sentenced him to two-and-a-half years in prison for embezzlement, breach of fiduciary duty and tax evasion.



However, he dropped the appeal, after Cheong Wa Dae unveiled plans for special pardons. Lee was granted the pardon on the occasion of Liberation Day in 2016.



The late Lee Kun-hee also received a suspended sentence of three years in prison for multiple charges including embezzlement in 2008, but was granted a pardon by then President Lee Myung-bak.



Now all eyes are on Cheong Wa Dae. It is yet to be seen whether the presidential office will grant a pardon or a release on parole for the Samsung chief, but the issue of special pardons has been placed on the table for President Moon Jae-in, following calls for these to be granted to former Presidents Park and Lee.



Lee becomes eligible for a release on parole once he has served two thirds of his term. He spent a year in prison after he was convicted and imprisoned in 2017. He was released in 2018 after the Seoul High Court suspended the sentence.



With a one-and-a-half year prison term remaining, the view is that he may be subject to a release on parole after staying an additional six to eight months in jail.



Calls had grown from the business community for the court to grant leniency to Lee ahead of the hearing last week, considering the role Samsung plays in the local economy as the country's top conglomerate. Business leaders including the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan earlier submitted a petition containing such a request to the court.


When Shane White lost his job making flyscreen doors during the pandemic last year, a friend suggested he would make a good disability care worker.

The 56-year-old, who has worked in everything from landscaping to rubbish disposal and manufacturing, says its the best career decision he has made.

He enrolled in a JobReady program, which offers people with no prior disability experience seven days initial training and ongoing support in the workplace.

I think that people dont realise that entry to the industry is not that difficult and the rewards are just incredible, Mr White said.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Twitter Inc. (TWTR) Monday announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to settle the shareholder derivative lawsuits pending in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against the company and certain current and former directors and officers. The proposed settlement resolves all claims asserted against Twitter and the other named defendants in the derivative lawsuits without any liability or wrongdoing attributed to them personally or the Company. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the Twitter Board of Directors will adopt and implement certain corporate governance modifications. In addition, Twitter's insurers will pay the company $38 million to be used for general corporate purposes. The settlement will not require Twitter to make any payment, aside from covering certain administrative costs related to the settlement, such as those associated with publishing and mailing shareholder notice. 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.


Global Institutional Backing in Oversubscribed $20M Placemen

Brisbane, Jan 25, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Clean lithium developer Lake Resources NL ( ASX:LKE ) ( FRA:LK1 ) ( OTCMKTS:LLKKF ) announced today it has received commitments for A$20.6 million (before costs) to issue approximately 125 million new ordinary shares at an offer price of $0.165 per share to institutional investors. Every two new offer shares will have one attached option (approximately 62.5 million options) with an exercise price of A$0.30 with a two year expiry, subject to shareholder approval ("Placement").Settlement is anticipated to be Wednesday, 27 January 2021. The Placement was priced at 6% discount to the 5 day VWAP and a 12% premium to 10 day VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price)The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Placement as follows:- operate the lithium chloride direct extraction Pilot plant in California;- commission the Demonstration Plant on site at Kachi to produce larger samples for off-takers;- complete the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) at Kachi;- complete the Environmental and Social Impact Study (ESIA) at the Kachi Project;- exploration and evaluation studies across all projects and working capital.Roth Capital Partners, LLC (Roth) acted as sole placement agent.Lake Resources Chairman Stu Crow commented: "This is a transformational moment for Lake and its shareholders. We are excited to secure this support from North American, European and Australian institutional investors at this defining moment of the company's development. Roth Capital has introduced a number of new investors to Lake who follow the rapidly growing clean tech battery materials sector and will broaden our exposure to international financial markets. We welcome Roth Capital to our team. "Lake Resources Managing Director, Steve Promnitz, said: "Securing these funds delivers certainty to deliver the flagship Kachi project through the Definitive Feasibility Study amid the rapid growth of the clean energy sector.This transaction places the company in its strongest financial position ever. Lake will hold in excess of A$25 million following this placement and anticipates a further $6m to be added by July as existing options convert."Lake Resources NL is a clean lithium developer utilising direct extraction technology for the production of sustainable, high purity lithium from its flagship Kachi Project within the Lithium Triangle. This direct extraction method delivers a solution for two rising demands of electric vehicle batteries - high purity battery materials to avoid performance issues, and sustainable, responsibly sourced materials.This transaction follows Lake's announcement that it had secured approval for real-time electronic clearing and settlement in the United States for its OTCQB-listed shares, LLKKF (refer ASX announcement 20 January 2021).About Roth Capital PartnersRoth Capital Partners, LLC (Roth), is a relationship-driven investment bank focused on serving emerging growth companies and their investors. As a full-service investment bank, Roth provides capital raising, M&A advisory, analytical research, trading, market-making services and corporate access. Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, Roth is privately-held and employee owned, and maintains offices throughout the U.S. For more information on Roth, please visit www.roth.com.About Lake Resources NL

Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) (OTCMKTS:LLKKF) is a clean lithium developer utilising clean, direct extraction technology for the development of sustainable, high purity lithium from its flagship Kachi Project, as well as three other lithium brine projects in Argentina. The projects are in a prime location within the Lithium Triangle, where 40% of the world's lithium is produced at the lowest cost.



This method will enable Lake Resources to be an efficient, responsibly-sourced, environmentally friendly and cost competitive supplier of high-purity lithium, which is readily scalable, and in demand from Tier 1 electric vehicle makers and battery makers.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : D.P. Dash, Former Principal Director-General, DRI and Former Chairman, Enforcement Committee, World Customs Organisation (WCO) and Think Tank Member, FICCI CASCADE has emphasized the need for close cooperation between police and customs organizations to combat the menace of illicit trade and take actions more appropriately.

Addressing the concluding session of MASCRADE 2021 (Movement Against Smuggled and Counterfeit Trade) organized by FICCI's Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE) said that effective enforcement with industry and govt participation will act as a vaccine against the virus called counterfeiting and smuggling.

Various discussions during the session noted that as per estimates by UNODC, the profits that the transnational organized crime derived from the shadow industries have been estimated to be as high as $ 870 billion, which is equivalent to 1.5 per cent of the global GDP. It is seen that prominent terrorist organizations rely on illicit trade for financing up to 20 per cent of their anti-social operations.

Talking about the preparedness of Delhi Police to address such crimes, Suvashis Choudhary, IPS, Jt Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police emphasized, "The police, now, is stressing on crimes related to illicit trade". Choudhary further highlighted the impending problem of counterfeit vaccine that the police will have to deal as the country prepares for the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE said, "It is a fact that the Industry is reeling under the impact of the COVID pandemic with some sectors expected to make faster recovery. For many others it will be a slow and painful way back to the pre-COVID levels." Drawing similarities between illicit trade and the COVID pandemic, Rajput said, "COVID virus and illicit trade have a lot in common as both cause immense economic, social and individual distress. While we are at a point of countering the virus, it is illicit trade that has and continues to damage humankind in a massive manner".

It was noted that the fake FMCG market is growing at an annual rate of 44.4 per cent and this is higher than the growth rate of the overall FMCG market.
A toll-free phone line will go live Monday to help people who who dont have a computer make an appointment for a coronavirus vaccine.

The call centers number, 855-568-0545, says in a Sunday recording that live agents will be taking calls starting the week of Jan. 25.

North Jersey.com reported the call center was launching Monday at 8 a.m., staffed with 250 agents.

State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli announced the call center last week for residents unable to use the online registry.

The call center will have, an interactive voice response platform in both English and Spanish that provides key information to New Jersey residents on how to register (for a vaccine) as well as how to schedule vaccination appointments as people become eligible, the commissioner said.

The call center augments the online vaccine registry, which launched earlier this month. When an online user is eligible, they receive an email from the state with a link to choose a vaccination location and set an appointment.

The state Health Department cautioned that vaccine appointments are limited due to supply limitations.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
Genesis has postponed their UK and Ireland reunion tour due to the pandemic. To compensate fans who are eagerly waiting, they have shared a preview of what their stage setup looks like when the concerts take place.

"We're ready, but the world isn't... yet!" the band posted on Twitter. Genesis has postponed their April tour dates for autumn 2021, kicking off on 15th September.

The announcement came with a 50-second video showing Genesis performing 'Behind the Lines', the opening track for the 1980 album, Duke.

Originally, Genesis planned their tour to happen in November and December 2020, but pushed back the dates due to COVID-19.

Drummer Phil Collins said last year that he was hoping to be able to play the drums during the show despite the nerve damage he suffered. "I'm gonna be doing my best to play some bits on the tour," he said to BBC. "I've gotta start really seriously thinking, but I have already been working out what I'm gonna do and what songs to play on."

Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks will be joined by longtime touring guitarist, Daryl Stuermer and Collins' son Nic on drums for this tour.
DUBLIN, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Needle Free Diabetes Care Market Research Report by Device Type (Insulin Infuser, Insulin Patches, Insulin Pens, Insulin Pumps, and Jet Injectors), by End User (Consumer, Diagnostic Center, and Hospitals and Clinic) - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR GBP, JPY, and AUD. This helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available.



1. The Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is expected to grow from USD 8,902.75 Million in 2020 to USD 18,086.62 Million by the end of 2025.

2. The Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is expected to grow from EUR 7,806.10 Million in 2020 to EUR 15,858.69 Million by the end of 2025.

3. The Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is expected to grow from GBP 6,939.64 Million in 2020 to GBP 14,098.41 Million by the end of 2025.

4. The Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is expected to grow from JPY 950,149.56 Million in 2020 to JPY 1,930,300.75 Million by the end of 2025.

5. The Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is expected to grow from AUD 12,927.98 Million in 2020 to AUD 26,264.17 Million by the end of 2025.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:



This research report categorizes the Needle Free Diabetes Care to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:

Based on Device Type, the Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is examined across Insulin Infuser, Insulin Patches, Insulin Pens, Insulin Pumps, and Jet Injectors.

Based on End User, the Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is examined across Consumer, Diagnostic Center, and Hospitals and Clinic.

Based on Geography, the Needle Free Diabetes Care Market is examined 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 .

Company Usability Profiles:



The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market including Akra Dermojet, Antares Pharma, Inc., Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., Echo Therapeutics Inc., European Pharma Group BV, Injex Pharma AG, MannKind Corporation, Medical International Technology, Inc., Pharmajet, Inc., and The 3M Company.



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 ongoing research amplifies the 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.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:



The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Needle Free Diabetes Care 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.



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 Needle Free Diabetes Care Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market?

6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market?



Key Topics Covered:



1. Preface

1.1. Objectives of the Study

1.2. Market Segmentation & Coverage

1.3. Years Considered for the Study

1.4. Currency & Pricing

1.5. Language

1.6. Limitations

1.7. Stakeholders



2. Research Methodology

2.1. Research Process

2.1.1. Define: Research Objective

2.1.2. Determine: Research Design

2.1.3. Prepare: Research Instrument

2.1.4. Collect: Data Source

2.1.5. Analyze: Data Interpretation

2.1.6. Formulate: Data Verification

2.1.7. Publish: Research Report

2.1.8. Repeat: Report Update

2.2. Research Execution

2.2.1. Initiation: Research Process

2.2.2. Planning: Develop Research Plan

2.2.3. Execution: Conduct Research

2.2.4. Verification: Finding & Analysis

2.2.5. Publication: Research Report

2.3. Research Outcome



3. Executive Summary

3.1. Introduction

3.2. Market Outlook

3.3. Device Type Outlook

3.4. End User Outlook

3.5. Geography Outlook

3.6. Competitor Outlook



4. Market Overview

4.1. Introduction

4.2. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

4.3. Geographic Growth Opportunities



5. Market Insights

5.1. Market Dynamics

5.1.1. Drivers

5.1.2. Restraints

5.1.3. Opportunities

5.1.4. Challenges

5.2. Porters Five Forces Analysis

5.2.1. Threat of New Entrants

5.2.2. Threat of Substitutes

5.2.3. Bargaining Power of Customers

5.2.4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

5.2.5. Industry Rivalry



6. Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market, By Device Type

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Insulin Infuser

6.3. Insulin Patches

6.4. Insulin Pens

6.5. Insulin Pumps

6.6. Jet Injectors



7. Global Needle Free Diabetes Care Market, By End User

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Consumer

7.3. Diagnostic Center

7.4. Hospitals and Clinic



8. Americas Needle Free Diabetes Care Market

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Argentina

8.3. Brazil

8.4. Canada

8.5. Mexico

8.6. United States



9. Asia-Pacific Needle Free Diabetes Care Market

9.1. Introduction

9.2. Australia

9.3. China

9.4. India

9.5. Indonesia

9.6. Japan

9.7. Malaysia

9.8. Philippines

9.9. South Korea

9.10. Thailand



10. Europe, Middle East & Africa Needle Free Diabetes Care Market

10.1. Introduction

10.2. France

10.3. Germany

10.4. Italy

10.5. Netherlands

10.6. Qatar

10.7. Russia

10.8. Saudi Arabia

10.9. South Africa

10.10. Spain

10.11. United Arab Emirates

10.12. United Kingdom



11. Competitive Landscape

11.1. FPNV Positioning Matrix

11.1.1. Quadrants

11.1.2. Business Strategy

11.1.3. Product Satisfaction

11.2. Market Ranking Analysis

11.3. Market Share Analysis

11.4. Competitive Scenario

11.4.1. Merger & Acquisition

11.4.2. Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership

11.4.3. New Product Launch & Enhancement

11.4.4. Investment & Funding

11.4.5. Award, Recognition, & Expansion



12. Company Usability Profiles

12.1. Akra Dermojet

12.2. Antares Pharma, Inc.

12.3. Bioject Medical Technologies Inc.

12.4. Echo Therapeutics Inc.

12.5. European Pharma Group BV

12.6. Injex Pharma AG

12.7. MannKind Corporation

12.8. Medical International Technology, Inc.

12.9. Pharmajet, Inc.

12.10. The 3M Company



13. Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4pnewo

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

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The Education Secretary today faces a growing revolt from Tory MPs over plans to keep schools closed until after Easter - a move which will leave parents and pupils relying on remote learning for months to come.

Gavin Williamson is said to be on the brink of confirming the gloomy outlook, with many head teachers believing a delay until April or even May is most likely.

Writing in today's Daily Mail, Mr Williamson says he cannot give a date for a return yet - making the launch of the paper's recent 'Computers for Kids' campaign all the more important to ensure 'learning does not suffer'.

But a source told The Sunday Times: 'We are in this for the long haul. Although we have not arrived at an exact date when we think schools will go back, it will not be after half-term.'

Other sources said this timeline was 'speculative' and that Mr Williamson remained committed to getting children back as soon as the scientific evidence allows.

Union boss Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said today there should be a 'phased' return of children to school - accusing the Government of 'defeatism' over getting schools open again.

Meanwhile, the education secretary reportedly faces growing pressure from a dozen Conservative MPs who have warned the current crop of schoolchildren face becoming 'the forgotten generation'.

The MPs have backed a campaign by the parents' pressure group UsforThem to fully reopen schools.

The group includes the former Cabinet minister Esther McVey and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, according to the Telegraph

And Mr Williams faced yet more opposition from Conservative colleagues last night, in the form of Education Select Committee Chairman Robert Halfon.

The former Minister of State for Skills revealed he had asked for an Urgent Question in the House of Commons in which he would demand to know the route-map for getting children back to school.

The Education Secretary today faces a growing a backlash from fellow Tory MPs over plans to keep schools closed until Easter (pictured: A closed school in Newcastle-Under-Lyme)

Gavin Williamson (pictured) is said to be on the brink of confirming the gloomy outlook, with many head teachers believing a delay until April or even May is most likely

Mr Williams faced yet more opposition from Conservative colleagues last night, in the form of Education Select Committee Chairman Robert Halfon, who revealed on Twitter he had asked for an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on a route map for the reopening of schools

Pubs and restaurants could stay shut until JULY as councils are given power to extend lockdown rules Pubs and restaurants could stay closed until July after Government chiefs chose to extend the Covid lockdown powers given to councils. The specially-created powers, which give local authorities in England the ability to close venues and tape-off public areas due to coronavirus, were due to expire next week. But in a blow to millions of Britons hoping for a summer of reduced restrictions, Government chiefs have now extended the laws until mid-July, reports the Daily Telegraph. The move does not mean lockdown has been extended. But it does mean the powers are in place should the Government decide to push back its current lockdown timetable. Boris Johnson set a mid-February target for lifting restrictions when announcing the third-national lockdown earlier this month. But the Prime Minister appeared to pour cold water on hopes of a mid-February easing of lockdown earlier this week by saying it was 'too early to say' when restrictions could be lifted. Meanwhile, Downing Street refused to rule out the possibility of the current lockdown stretching beyond the spring and into summer. The remarks came after frustrated Tory backbenchers called on the Government to release its road-map out of lockdown - as the UK's vaccine roll-out total hit more than six-million. Advertisement

As recently as last Thursday, Mr Williamson said that he hoped schools would be able to reopen before Easter, although Downing Street pointedly declined to endorse his comments.

Kevin Courtney, co-general secretary of the National Education Union, said talk of reopening before Easter sounded 'optimistic' and warned: 'It could be as late as May.'

Speaking to broadcasters yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock also said he held out hope that schools in England could possibly reopen by Easter, but it would depend on the levels of infection in the community.

'We have got to look at the data. We have got to look at the impact of the vaccination programme,' he said.

Mr Halfon meanwhile said last night that Downing Street should prioritise reopening schools.

Restrictions should come 'in other parts of the economy and society' to get schools open 'sooner rather than later,' he said.

'We have to make a decision  is educating our children the most important single thing we should be doing as a nation?' he told The Times.

'My message to the Prime Minister is that every day we don't open the schools properly we are damaging the life chances of the younger generation, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.'

He took to Twitter last night to confirm he had requested an Urgent Question in the House of Commons.

Speaking on social media, he said: 'Given media speculation on schools no longer opening post Feb half-term, I've written to Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to ask for an a House of Commons Urgent Question to get clarity from the Department of Education & an education route map out of coronavirus to get children learning again at school.'

Last week Mr Williamson said the Government would give parents and teachers 'good notice' of reopening.

'We'd aim to give teachers, pupils and parents two weeks' notice so they're able to get ready and we'll always be looking for how we can get schools open for all at the earliest possible moment,' he said.

Schools in England were told to close again from January 5, after some primaries had been back for just one day after the holidays, with Boris Johnson admitting they may act as 'vectors of transmission' despite being safe for pupils.

Schools in England were told to close again from January 5, after some primaries had been back for just one day after the holidays, with Boris Johnson (pictured left) admitting they may act as 'vectors of transmission' despite being safe for pupils

Kevin Courtney (pictured), co-general secretary of the National Education Union, said talk of reopening before Easter sounded 'optimistic' and warned: 'It could be as late as May.'

To address the blow to children, the Government is planning to expand its tutoring initiative to help those most at risk of getting left behind.

Teachers have a 'good shout' of being high on vaccine priority list, says Matt Hancock Teachers have a 'good shout' of being high on the vaccine priority list, Matt Hancock said yesterday in a boost for the campaign to get them protected. Hundreds of top schools are offering to allow their premises to be used for the vaccination of all teachers over the February half-term. They say that trained staff will be on hand for the inoculation blitz, which could then allow all schools to reopen  an innovative idea revealed in The Mail On Sunday. Yesterday, the Health Secretary said that while those at highest risk of death needed to be protected first, there was a 'perfectly reasonable debate' about who should be next. Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday, he said: 'Supply [of vaccine] is the rate-limiting factor. The question is who should have each dose as it comes in... and we've taken the decision, quite rightly, to go through in order of clinical need, starting with those who are most likely to die from this disease. 'We're going through those who are clinically vulnerable... and after that there's a perfectly reasonable debate to be had about who should go in what order next... Teachers have got a good shout to be very high on the list and those discussions are going on.' Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation lists teachers alongside those in the military, justice and transport systems as being in the second phase for jabs. Advertisement

The Department for Education is hoping to provide 15 hours of tuition in the next academic year for 450,000 disadvantaged children, up from its current target of 250,000.

But, to add to parents' headaches, the eventual reopening of schools is not expected to be consistent across the country.

Deputy chief medical officer for England Dr Jenny Harries told MPs last week that a regional approach may be taken when deciding how schools reopen, with London potentially first to see pupils returning to classrooms.

Appearing before the education committee, Dr Harries responded to questions about schools by saying: 'I think it's likely that we will have some sort of regional separation of interventions.'

She added that there were 'glimmers of hope' in London, which was first affected by the new variant, and so could be first to recover.

It comes as Matt Hancock yesterday revealed teachers have a 'good shout' of being high on the vaccine priority list.

Hundreds of top schools are offering to allow their premises to be used for the vaccination of all teachers over the February half-term.

They say that trained staff will be on hand for the inoculation blitz, which could then allow all schools to reopen  an innovative idea revealed in The Mail On Sunday.

Yesterday, the Health Secretary said that while those at highest risk of death needed to be protected first, there was a 'perfectly reasonable debate' about who should be next.

Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday, he said: 'Supply [of vaccine] is the rate-limiting factor. The question is who should have each dose as it comes in... and we've taken the decision, quite rightly, to go through in order of clinical need, starting with those who are most likely to die from this disease.

'We're going through those who are clinically vulnerable... and after that there's a perfectly reasonable debate to be had about who should go in what order next... Teachers have got a good shout to be very high on the list and those discussions are going on.'

Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation lists teachers alongside those in the military, justice and transport systems as being in the second phase for jabs.

Daily Mail's Computer for Kids campaign raises 250,000 on its first weekend

Sam Greenhill chief reporter for the Daily Mail

The Daily Mail's campaign to help get laptops to lockdown pupils has raised a staggering 250,000 in its first weekend.

In a flying start beyond our wildest dreams, Daily Mail readers have again shown phenomenal generosity.

From 5 to 5,000, thousands of contributions have flooded in  many from grandparents  coupled with heartfelt messages of support.

One pensioner gave 250, signing off simply as a 'retiree' who was 'happy to help the young'. And today Bill Gates, who practically invented home computing, has been inspired to add his heavyweight.

One third of families are struggling with home schooling because they simply do not have enough computers for their children, an exclusive poll for the Daily Mail today reveals.

One third of families are struggling with home schooling (library image) because they simply do not have enough computers for their children, an exclusive poll for the Daily Mail today reveals

HOW TO DONATE TO COMPUTERS FOR KIDS CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO YOU, THE READER: How to send us donations The Daily Mail has launched a brand new campaign, Computers For Kids, to raise money for Mail Force  a charity which aims to provide much needed school equipment and resources for pupils across the UK learning from home. With schools closed, we are left with the dilemma of hundreds of thousands of pupils in the UK having no access to a computer in their home. As part of this campaign, companies are donating their old laptops which, for around 15, can be wiped, professionally refurbished and made safe and fit for home schooling. They can then be delivered to a child or young person who needs one. In addition, the campaign is looking to support children's needs in other ways such as funding brand new laptops and tablets, and assisting with data access and connectivity for online learning. Any surplus funds will be used to support of the work of UK schools via other means. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Visit mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate and follow the steps to complete your donation. Please don't send us your old device. TO COMPANIES: Could you give your old laptops? Upgrading office computers is something all companies do from time to time  and there has never been a better time to donate old laptops. If you are a company with 50 laptops or more that you could give, please visit www.computacenter.com/daily-mail to check they are suitable and register your donation. We will arrange for collection by our specialist partners Computacenter. Please note: we cannot accept donated laptops from individuals. COMPANIES SHOULD GO TO: computacenter.com/daily-mail TO SCHOOLS: Where to apply for the computers Schools must apply to the Department for Education, which is managing the demand and prioritising the schools most in need. The Mail Force initiative means more laptops will become available more quickly. SCHOOLS CAN APPLY HERE: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk Advertisement

Four in ten parents say the cost of computers and other items they need is too high, according to the survey.

More than a quarter cite the high cost of internet access as a problem.

And families worst hit by the Covid schools shutdown are the poorest and those in the North.

The Daily Mail poll illustrates the devastating effect of school closures on children  and their mums and dads.The survey by JL Partners shows that nearly one in five children (18 per cent) learning from home gets no 'live' schooling via a computer screen from their teacher per day whatsoever.

Significant numbers of parents say their children's hopes of getting a good education, a university place or a career have been severely damaged by nearly a year of Covid disrupted education.

Even their social skills have been damaged by being denied face to face contact with their friends.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who came to power on a pledge to 'level up' Britain, will be concerned that the impact on poorer children is greater in all these categories.

Nor is it only the young who are suffering: a staggering one in two parents says their own mental health has deteriorated.

Mothers have borne the brunt: 55 per cent say their mental health has got worse  nine per cent higher than fathers (46 per cent).

Parents' concern is shared by the wider public: 49 per cent of all adults say coronavirus has caused long-term damage to children's life chances; 20 per cent disagree.

According to the poll, 82 per cent of children in England, Scotland and Wales are learning from home.

A total of 32 per cent of parents say they do not have enough computers for their studies. Nearly one in five (19 per cent) has more than one child  but only one laptop.

Six per cent who do not have a computer are forced to use a mobile phone instead.

But  while there are clearly difficulties  two thirds of parents say they do have enough laptops to cope.

An overwhelming 72 per cent believe it is the Government's responsibility to provide computers to make home learning easier; only seven per cent disagree.

Four in ten parents say the cost of 'remote learning materials' such as computers, software and exercise books, is too high.

While parents are largely supportive of teachers, 41 per cent want more help from schools for children forced to learn in their front room or kitchen; 29 per cent say they have enough support.

Twenty-seven per cent believe internet access costs too much, with 23 per cent saying they grin and bear it and pay up to stop their children falling behind. Sixteen per cent of parents pay between 10 and 30 per week for internet access.

Most parents are doing their best to take the place of teachers: 44 per cent spend between one and three hours per day helping their children learn at home. An impressive additional 27 per cent devote more than three hours a day.

While 43 per cent of parents say they have taken over teaching duties because the school had 'fallen short' in its obligations; 30 per cent did not blame the school.

An overwhelming 72 per cent believe it is the Government's responsibility to provide computers to make home learning easier; only seven per cent disagree

Remarkably, the survey suggests parents now do more 'live lesson' teaching than teachers.

Children unable to go to school are getting an average of two hours and six minutes of 'live' remote lessons from their school teacher a day  two minutes less than the average time parents spend teaching their offspring.

Seventeen per cent of parents in the South are paying for private tuition to help children learn at home  more than three times more than in the less prosperous North where 5 per cent do this.

Nowhere is the class divide on the effect of the stress and strain on parents during the Covid crisis illustrated more vividly than the mental health impact. Among affluent families, 39 per cent say their mental health has suffered; 20 per cent say it has improved.

However, among the poorest families, these figures are 61 per cent and five per cent respectively. The public agree that today's young generation will feel the effects of the pandemic for decades.

Almost one in two (49 per cent) say it will inflict long-term damage to their children's life chances; 20 per cent say it will not have this effect. James Johnson of JL Partners said: 'This poll lays bare the stark inequality of the Covid pandemic, and months of remote learning.

'Middle-class parents say there has been no real impact on their children's life chances, but children of working-class parents and the unemployed are short of laptops, their parents have seen their physical and mental health worsen, and they are the least likely to have remote lessons provided for by their school.

'While some enjoy the comforts of being at home, this data shows that less affluent children are truly being left behind.'

A total of 4,052 adults took part in the poll from January 18 to 21. It includes 988 parents of children under 18. Of these, 734 have youngsters learning from home.

I welcome this boost from the Mail and its readers, writes Education Secretary GAVIN WILLIAMSON

By Gavin Williamson for the Daily Mail

The last thing any parent wanted was to see schools closing to most pupils  as they had to at the start of this month.

I'm a parent myself and I completely understand that this will have caused no end of disruption for those of you who are trying to juggle a family and working from home at the same time.

However well parents are managing to support their children while they learn from home, there really is no substitute for them being in school.

I can assure you as soon as Covid infection rates are back under control then we will get them back there as quickly as we can.

The last thing any parent wanted was to see schools closing to most pupils  as they had to at the start of this month, writes Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured)

In the meantime, thanks to our superb teachers, every child can now expect to have high-quality lessons remotely and I'm delighted that the Daily Mail and its generous readers will be helping our remote education programme.

Of course, for this to be successful pupils need the right devices to work from and we are well aware that this is not a given. Not every pupil has a laptop and not every family has internet access.

I want to assure you that we have been working incredibly hard to deliver the necessary tech across the country so that every child  especially those from disadvantaged homes  can keep their learning on track.

We have now delivered an extra 800,000 laptops and tablets on top of the ones schools already had  and nearly 240,000 have gone out in the past couple of weeks.

While I can't give you a date for when children will be back at their desks, I do want to assure everyone that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that their learning does not suffer. An empty classroom is seen at Westlands Primary School, Staffordshire

Laptops and devices have been in high demand across the world and it has been a massive procurement exercise to get hold of them. In spite of that, we are making sure that 1.3million devices are going to be distributed to children in England who need them.

Our Get Help With Technology programme, which has been distributing laptops, tablets and 4G routers with pre-loaded data since May last year, goes hand-in-hand with the Government's work with mobile network operators, enabling schools to request free data uplifts for disadvantaged families.

We have also set up a new online 'one stop shop' for all schools and colleges to help them keep up to date with the latest information and guidance on remote education as well as tips and advice from teachers and leaders.

Every pupil can now expect to have either recorded or live direct teaching as well as time to complete tasks they've been set as they learn from home.

Although teachers know what materials work best for their own lessons, there is also plenty of other material from external providers available for them to use.

Last Easter, for instance, a group of 40 teachers launched the Oak National Academy. This new venture was created in two weeks flat and has gone on to produce thousands of high-quality teacher-led videoed lessons.

These include topics as varied as blues musicianship and an examination of the effects of urban sprawl on local communities. The BBC is also providing a mass of educational content across its channels to support home learning.

And these are just a couple of examples of an immense industry response  from textbook publishers, from digital teaching tools and from training providers  to extend help to schools.

While I can't give you a date for when children will be back at their desks, I do want to assure everyone that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that their learning does not suffer.

Backed by the support of the Mail and its readers, I have no doubt remote education will continue to go from strength to strength and will help keep our pupils' learning on track.
UPDATE: N.J. prison leader should step down while reports of beatings at womens prison are investigated, lawmakers say

Dozens of staff have been suspended and a criminal investigation is underway at New Jerseys only womens prison after officers were accused of severely beating several women inmates earlier this month, according to state and union officials.

Prisoners have told family members and advocates that at least three women at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility were hurt by officers Jan. 11, including one inmate who now has a broken eye socket and a transgender woman beaten so badly she cannot walk and is now in a wheelchair. The family members and advocates have shared letters and other first-hand accounts with NJ Advance Media.

The corrections department is reviewing the alleged violence with the Hunterdon County Prosecutors office and the state attorney generals office, according to prison spokeswoman Liz Velez.

The Department is fully aware of the allegations of use of force, and will not tolerate such behavior, Velez wrote in an email. If wrongdoing is found, the Department shall address it in an expeditious and appropriate manner.

She added that the department may also run an internal investigation to take appropriate action to hold people accountable.

Velez declined to comment further, but she did not dispute details in a summary of accounts from prisoners provided by NJ Advance Media, including that one woman was allegedly handcuffed before she was beaten, and that a Special Operations Group, which is similar to a SWAT team, was involved.

About 30 officers, supervisors and other staff have since been put on administrative paid leave, according to William Sullivan, president of NJ PBA Local 105, the states largest corrections union.

The womens prison in Clinton was already under heightened scrutiny since the U.S. Department of Justice found that officers repeatedly sexually abused prisoners, and lawmakers have criticized the prison systems response.

I am horrified by the allegations out of Edna Mahan and my heart breaks for the victims of this attack, Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, D-Middlesex, said in a statement.

The incident showed the department was still failing to protect women, she added.

Lopez has previously called for all prison officers to wear body cameras and she helped pass legislation to strengthen the corrections ombudsman, an independent prison watchdog. She said the new allegations made her concerned the ombudsmans office was still not able to effectively police prisons.

The ombudsman, Dan DiBenedetti, said the incident went beyond the day-to-day complaints his office normally reviews.

This is a criminal investigation being conducted by law enforcements agencies, Dan DiBenedetti wrote in an email. This office provided all information received from inmates, families, and inmate advocate groups in order to aid in the investigation.

A spokesman for the Hunterdon County Prosecutor directed questions to the state attorney generals office. An attorney general spokesman said their Office of Public Integrity and Accountability was looking into the accusations.

One transgender woman was allegedly handcuffed in her cell, thrown to the floor and beaten by a group of officers, according to the womans mother, Trimeka Rollins. Three officers stomped on her head, Rollins said, based on messages she received from her daughter two days after the incident.

The attack left the womans knee so damaged she is now in a wheelchair, according to a message to Rollins reviewed by NJ Advance Media.

Im scared, Im scared to death for her, Rollins said. I dont sleep, I dont eat, Im on the phone, Im on the internet, Im trying to find her some help.

She asked that her daughters name not be used to protect against retaliation.

Her account is similar to descriptions from four other prisoners, including details in two letters obtained by NJ Advance Media.

Both said at least three women were hurt, including one whose eye socket was fractured.

Prisoner rights advocates have also received calls and letters during the last two weeks, and some have written lawmakers and state officials to raise the alarm.

Each of you are guilty for not stopping the unconscionable conditions of confinement in this state which have gone on for decades  with this being one of the most egregious, Bonnie Kerness, program director for the nonprofit American Friends Service Committees prison program, wrote in one message to Corrections Commissioner Marcus Hicks and a wide range of officials and lawmakers.

The state attorney generals office asked anyone with information about the incident to call 1-844-OPIA-TIPS.

Editors Note: An earlier version of this story said Trimeka Rollins daughter was attacked by officers and inmates simultaneously Jan. 11. After publication, Rollins contacted her daughter again and clarified she was attacked by inmates at an earlier time. The story has been updated to note Rollins daughter said she was only hurt by officers Jan. 11.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.

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Factory in Dubai to produce aluminum with solar energy It will allow production of 40,000 tons in the first year

(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, JANUARY 25 - The United Arab Emirates will be the first country in the world to produce aluminum with solar energy. The production, part of Dubai's strategy for sustainability, was announced by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and the Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA). Dewa will provide for EGA's smelter some 560,000 megawatt hours of solar power annually from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which is sufficient to produce 40,000 tons of aluminum the first year with the potential for significant expansion. The new aluminum will go under the product name CelestiAL.



Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the CEO of Dewa and vice president of EGA, told the Khaleej Times that ''this global achievement of both Dewa and EGA confirms our firm commitment to achieving the vision of his highness sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in building a green economy in UAE and reaching the goals of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 in diversifying energy sources and providing 75% of Dubai's energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2020. To achieve these goals, we have launched many initiatives and projects, most notably the Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum Solar Park, which is the largest single-site solar energy project in the world with a capacity of 5,000 megawatts by 2030. The solar park projects use photovoltaic panels and concentrated energy technologies''.



These new goals will allow to pursue a strategy that enabled Dubai already in 2019 to reduce carbon emissions by 22%, he said.



Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, chief executive officer of EGA, was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times that ''aluminum is lightweight, strong and infinitely recyclable metal and these properties mean that as a material it plays a vital role in the development of a sustainable future. CelestiAl, aluminum made in the UAE with solar power, will help make modern life possible for people around the world whilst protecting our planet for future generations". (ANSAmed).




After a four-year hiatus, pets return to the White House. When the Bidens moved in, they brought their German shepherds, Champ and Major.

Major, in fact, becomes the first presidential pet to have been adopted from a rescue shelter, the Delaware Humane Association.

Ownership of pets by presidents dates back to the very first. Not counting horses, which were not so much pets as transportation, George and Martha Washington owned a number of dogs as well as a parrot named Snipe.

Very few presidents had no animal friends. Donald Trump, James Polk and Andrew Johnson did not have any pets while residing in the White House, though Johnson is said to have regularly fed mice he came across in his bedroom. Warren Hardings dog Laddie Boy was the first pet to receive coverage by the press.

Some pets were unusual. Martin Van Buren was given two tiger cubs by the Sultan of Muscat and Oman until Congress pressured him to donate them to a zoo. The Lincolns pet turkey, Jack, was originally supposed to be the main course at a dinner until their son Tad intervened on his behalf.

One might expect Theodore Roosevelt to have had the most animal companions, with 31 joining him at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. at various times. They included the expected dogs, cats and horses as well as a pig, lizard, macaw and barn owl. But it was Calvin Coolidge who comes in at the top of the pet count with at least 32 animal inhabitants, including a flock of 13 Peking ducks that Mrs. Coolidge attempted to raise in a White House bathroom before giving up and presenting them to a zoo.
Wild lynx may soon be reintroduced to the UK's fields and woods in a bid to cut the soaring number of deer which are damaging young trees and crops and causing crashes.

The plans have been put forward by the Lynx Trust UK who say although sheep may be targeted by the feline predators, compensation would be available for farmers.

It is now estimated there are two million wild deer in the UK - the bigger number for a thousand years, helped by the extinction of their natural predators like wolves.

By feeding on the undergrowth and stripping the lower branches of trees bare, the deer damage potential nesting spots for birds.

Many increasingly rare species of butterflies are also deprived of cover, food and egg-nesting sites by the 'plague' of deer.

The Lynx UK Trust is lobbying for permission to reintroduce the big cat, which was hunted to extinction in the UK more than 1,300 years ago.

If successful, the lynx would become the country's largest current-day 'natural' predator, bigger than foxes and badgers.

Wild lynx could be reintroduced into UK's forests and wooded areas in bid to cut deer numbers

Wild Lynx are solitary and secretive creatures The lynx is a medium-sized cat that is most often found in remote forests of Europe, Asia and North America. Lynx are solitary and secretive creatures who live in dense forests full of hiding places and stalking opportunities. Often, the only way humans know that lynx are in a particular area is by the footprints they leave in the snow. They live off a wide range of species but are specialist deer hunters. The wild lynx was most likely hunted to extinction between 500 and 700AD in the UK. There are no recorded lynx attacks on humans and the Lynx Trust insists that the GPS collars would ensure they are monitored so they do not go to close to towns. Source: The Lynx Trust UK Advertisement

Online consultations are to be held next month, proposing the issuing of a Government licence to set a controlled number of lynx free in Kielder Forest in Northumberland, where there is a large population of wild deer.

Michael Gove rejected a similar application in 2018, but the Lynx UK Trust, which is behind the scheme, says the picture has changed now, not least because of the population boom in deer numbers.

Trust director Dr Paul O'Donoghue said: 'What was seen as wildly ambitious in 2018, is now seen as essential and urgent.

'The whole environmental agenda in the UK has changed - reintroducing lynx is now a mainstream concept and the protection and restoration of our broken ecosystem is very high up on both the public and political agenda.

'Our team has been working extensively on the application, and we have spent the last two years carefully addressing the feedback provided by Natural England after our first licence application.

'We are now very confident that this application will be approved. Major changes are that a Habitat Risk Assessment is now in place, and we have halved the number of lynx we want to bring in from six to three.'

In November, the head of Natural England, Tony Juniper, suggested that lynx were the most likely candidate to be reintroduced as a measure to tackle rising deer numbers.

Head of the National Sheep Association, Phil Stocker, said the organisation opposed the proposal last year because there were 1,000 sheep farmers within 30 miles of Kielder Forest, and they feared for their flock's welfare.

If the pilot scheme in Kielder is a success, it will be repeated in other areas across Britain.

The trust says that if deer numbers are kept down, it will improve farmers' crop yields and help wildlife and forestry.

They said there would be 'minimal' damage to farming, as lynx prefer to hunt deer rather than sheep or even domestic pets.

The trust said: 'Reintroducing lynx here does mean that some sheep will become prey, but the vast majority of European evidence suggests it will be a very small number simply because lynx and sheep tend to have very different habitats.

'And we will have a compensation scheme that really does what it's supposed to for the times when they come together.

'How much risk, it's impossible to say - the really important thing is what we plan to do about it.

'Even if it's just one sheep, British farmers have a pretty hard time of things already, and a sheep lost is money lost. There must be generous compensation, above the market value.

'Some fears have been raised that farmers will simply wake up to missing sheep with no evidence left to claim compensation on.

'But throughout the trial, every lynx will be radio collared...the type of collar that regularly transmits GPS position to a satellite.

Kielder Water & Forest Park, Newcastle, Northumberland, where lynx could be reintroduced

'If a flock or herd is visited by a lynx, the footprints will be very clear in that data.

'We want to make sure the compensation works for farmers because we want a successful reintroduction - the two go together.

'Lynx are drivers of large scale habitat restoration, and as specialist deer hunters they can begin to impact both numbers and behaviour of the deer population in the UK.'

Oren Taylor, a philanthropist funding the project said: 'They are widely considered to be perfect reintroduction candidates because they are no risk to humans, pose very little threat to livestock and are charismatic and beautiful animals, which are drivers of ecotourism in rural communities which can generate millions of pounds each year.'

Lynx have been the subject of numerous successful reintroduction programmes across Europe, including Germany, France and Switzerland.

The trust said there could be an economic benefit too, with tourists booking trips in the hope of spotting lynx in the wild.

John Hallowell, a Northumberland resident and Director of Wild Wolf Experiences, already runs successful lynx eco-tourism projects in Spain.

He said 'We are incredibly excited about working with the Lynx UK Trust to create a thriving eco-tourism business in Kielder.

'I have seen first hand the hugely positive impacts that lynx have brought to struggling rural communities in Spain and I have no doubt that we can emulate this success in Kielder.'

The trust has spent 18 months talking to residents and organisations in the Kielder area to drum up support.

They said 'Now, to follow up on that work, and as a final step before submitting the application, the trust is hosting two online consultation events to be streamed over Facebook.

Once completed, findings from the consultations will be included in the application that is submitted to Natural England.

If approved, the lynx will be brought over from Sweden, acclimatised in pre-release enclosures and then set free in the forest wearing state-of-the-art GPS collars.
Crescentwood is one step closer to becoming a Heritage Conservation District (HCD), a status given to areas with a high concentration of heritage value, historical significance, and character-defining attributes.

Crescentwood is one step closer to becoming a Heritage Conservation District (HCD), a status given to areas with a high concentration of heritage value, historical significance, and character-defining attributes.

Earlier this month, the citys property and planning committee directed the public service to prepare a plan to make the neighbourhood  one of the citys oldest and most desirable  an HCD, a move that will have implications on the areas future and comes on the heels of years of advocacy by residents.

"Weve been working toward this for ages," said Christine Skene, whos lived on Kingsway Avenue for 30 years in a home her husbands family has owned since 1909, and is a member of the Crescentwood HCD committee.

In 2018, council introduced a bylaw to formalize the nomination, evaluation and designation of the districts. If the plan for the district is approved, the bylaw states that alterations to "character-defining" elements of the district  not just the public-facing aspects of homes, but streetscapes and green space  would require a heritage permit.

In Crescentwood, those elements include an intact residential neighbourhood over 100 years old, planned public green space, urban forest with old-growth vegetation, and a historical ownership that included some of the citys founders and most prominent families.

SASHA SEFTER / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Two people hang a banner at 514 Wellington Cres. during a rally to protest its demolition.

The city defines these districts as "a way to recognize and celebrate Winnipegs past" as well as a means to "conserve special and distinct heritage attributes, guide growth and change, (and) enhance community identity, pride, and involvement."

Such designations also regulate demolition, and establish guidelines for infill buildings. They dont regulate land use or density, such as converting a property into a duplex, as that is done through a regular zoning process. Armstrongs Point, a gated community southwest of West Broadway, became the first HCD in Winnipeg in 2019.

In Crescentwood, and its abutting Enderton Park area, some residents like Skene say the designation is exactly whats needed to keep the neighbourhoods unique history intact, especially as the manorly homes dating back to the turn of the 20th century and the Great War era become rarer entities each year.

Skene said a heritage district status would serve as an added layer of protection for those character-defining homes, something she says a home at 514 Wellington Cres., known as the Gordon Residence, could have used before its demolition late last year. Homes like that should be preserved, she said.

However, there are those who disagree with the idea, the citys report said. In total, 31 of 123 property owners within the proposed boundaries filed letters in response to the proposal for heritage district status. Twenty-three were in favour, but eight opposed, citing concerns over an impact on renovation, modernization or sale of personal property, as well as the high cost of preserving buildings and a limit on densification.

The neighbourhood has long been one of the citys residential real estate markets busiest and most desirable. (As of Jan. 21, detached single-family homes for sale ranged in price from $579,000 to over $1.6 million.) Some detractors argue that the added designation will discourage development of newer homes, caving into nostalgia instead of moving forward.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The residence at 514 Wellington Cres. was torn down after a long battle involving its new owner and heritage advocates who wanted it saved.

Skene said most of that opposition comes from a lack of knowledge over what the designation means: its not an all-out prohibition, but an added layer of protection leading to possible prohibition, and it doesnt negate interior renovations or non-public facing additions.

Area Coun. John Orlikow says research found 76 per cent of the homes in the area were built prior to 1926, with numerous significant architects contributing their designs. Creating a plan would allow the community to grow "in a way that preserves this part of Winnipegs history for all Winnipeggers," he wrote in an email.

As it enters the planning stages, which includes community consultation, the Armstrongs Point plan  available on the citys website  provides insight into what the designation could mean, including: encouraging use and adaptive reuse of existing buildings and infrastructure, avoiding loss of individual heritage buildings and structures or streetscapes and landscapes, and ensuring new buildings and additions to existing buildings are consistent with the neighbourhoods heritage values.

"Where demolitions or removal of character-defining elements are contemplated, applicants must submit permit drawings and information that include details of new buildings or modifications to existing buildings," the plan notes. Major work plans like demolition or new housing construction should also be accompanied by evidence of community consultation with nearby owners as well as the community at large.

Meanwhile, other work  minor repairs, interior alterations  doesnt require a permit, per that neighbourhoods 54-page plan, which thoroughly explains the implications of the district status.

For Crescentwood, the implementation of similar guidelines would require its own heritage plan to be passed and approved by the city, something Skene hopes can be achieved within the next year.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
A detailed discussion has been held for about 16 hours during the ninth round of talks between the armies of India and China on the removal of troops from the deadlocked points in eastern Ladakh on January 25. He said that the core commander level talks began at around 10.30 a.m. on Sunday morning and ended at around 2.30 pm on Monday morning.

The meeting was held in Moldova on the line of actual control in eastern Ladakh and the outcome of the meeting has not been ascertained. According to the information about the talks, India stressed that China has the responsibility of taking forward the process of withdrawing troops from the deadlocked places in the region and reducing tensions. About 50,000 Indian soldiers are deployed in various eastern areas of eastern Ladakh. According to officials, China has also deployed the same number of its troops.

About two weeks before Sunday's talks, India had handed over a Chinese soldier to China. The Chinese soldier was apprehended in the south coast area of Pangong So in eastern Ladakh. India's move has created a positive atmosphere. It has been revealed that the Indian delegation was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, commander of the 14th Corps at Leh. In the military talks, India is demanding restoration of the pre-April situation in all parts of eastern Ladakh. The confrontation between the two armies began on May 5.

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The Rs 10,000-crore FAME-II scheme, which is to be implemented over a period of three years, came into effect from 1 April, 2019

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) has asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to either rejig the FAME II scheme or reintroduce FAME I, saying the programme meant to promote EVs in its second avatar has been able to achieve less than 10 per cent of its target.

The Rs 10,000-crore FAME-II scheme which is to be implemented over a period of three years came into effect from 1 April, 2019. It is the expanded version of FAME India I (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) which was launched on April, 2015, with a total outlay of Rs 895 crore.

In a letter to the finance minister, the industry body of electric vehicle (EV) makers also called for a notional ''green cess'' on polluting vehicles and use it to accelerate electric mobility, while also seeking reduction of GST on EVs sold without battery.

"For a nascent and disruptive industry like EV that is heavily dependent on government policies, there needs to be an effective approach that would drive the market of EVs in the country... The industry is still lagging behind the desired target," SMEV Director General Sohinder Gill wrote in a letter to Sitharaman.

He further said, "our analysis shows that efforts must be made to generate demand and we believe that this can be easily done by the government''s intervention relating to streamlining, ironing out policy details and adequate announcements in Budget 2021-22."

Suggesting measures to help the sector, Gill called for a rejig of the FAME II scheme or reintroduction of FAME I.

"It''s been almost 2 years of the FAME II scheme and only less than 10 per cent of its target has been achieved. We should make concerted efforts to remove the kinks that have inadvertently cropped up in Fame II," he wrote.

The policy should be completely redrafted, if needed so that substantial investments both from within and outside India can flow into the EV sector to push the exponential growth that everyone has been expecting for some years. Or else, reintroduce the FAME I scheme that had worked better for the industry, Gill said.

The FAME II scheme had planned to support 10 lakh electric two-wheelers, five lakh three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheelers and 7,000 buses.

SMEV had in the past argued that FAME II could not attract customers to shift from polluting petrol bikes to electric two-wheelers, mainly because the preconditions and qualification criteria of FAME-II made the bikes unaffordable to the mass market customer despite the subsidy.

In his letter, Gill also asked the finance minister to consider "the imposition of a notional green cess on the polluting vehicles and use it to accelerate electric mobility. It would generate massive funds and reduce the burden on the government exchequer."

This fund could be utilised in the frontloading of incentives to customers and bring electric two-wheelers prices down to the level of petrol two-wheelers, he added.

Seeking reduction of GST on EV sold without battery, Gill said, "Currently, GST on a lithium battery is taxed at 28 per cent when sold separately, while the vehicle sold with battery is taxed at 5 per cent.

"Recently, MoRTH approved the registration of EVs without the battery, therefore, vehicles without batteries should also fall in the EV GST category. Hence, we urge the government to reduce it to 5 per cent, similar to GST applicable on EVs."

SMEV also sought extension of the phased manufacturing programme (PMP) saying COVID-19 has derailed the growth path of the industry, which has weakened the creation of the local component market.

"Hence, we urge the government to extend the PMP guideline for just another year so that the industry can come on track, which will automatically strengthen the local component market," Gill wrote in the letter.

Last September, the government had extended the deadline for local manufacturing to be eligible for incentives under the FAME II scheme for parts like the electronic throttle for all categories of EVs till April 1, 2021, from earlier deadlines ranging from April 1, 2020, to October 1, 2020.

Asking for the inclusion of EVs in Swachh Bharat Mission, Gill wrote, "A dedicated budget could be allocated for the ''Clean Air'' campaign, which could be integrated under the Swachh Bharat mission. The ''Clean Air'' campaign can create massive awareness on Electric mobility and can influence the mindset of customers to adopt electric mobility to make India less polluting and its citizens healthier."

GEORGETOWN COUNTY  Georgetown Countys computer network fell victim to hackers over the weekend  according to county spokesperson Jackie Broach.

Theyre having to go through and literally lay hands on every single server we have. There are 50 (servers) so its probably not going to be a fast process, Broach said.

Who or what was responsible for that attack is not currently known, and Broach said they may not know the extent of the damage for a while.

According to Broach, the hackers took down most of the countys electronic systems  including all emails  but the 911 system and the Detention Center have not been affected, which was a big break.

She said that the countys website, gtcounty.org, remains operational, and anyone needing a county office to call  for staff members continue to work normal hours.

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Apparently this is extremely typical in local governments and small agencies, Broach said regarding the breach.

Broach said they are in contact with cybersecurity experts to determine what information was compromised and how to proceed regarding any ransom threats  for they are insured against any losses.

Any computer that was tied to the network, we cant access right now, so we kind of gone back to the 90s, she said. We are doing a lot of stuff on paper. iPads and iPhones werent affected, so we can do some work on there.

Obviously not having access to email is a big issue.
On Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first foreign leader to speak with US President Joe Biden. The readouts of the call released by both sides, together with a flurry of commentary in the bourgeois press prior to and after Bidens inauguration, underscore that Ottawa and Washington plan to expand their global military-strategic partnership so as to more aggressively challenge their great-power rivals, above all Russia and China.

The White House noted that the call focused on the strategic importance of the U.S.-Canada relationship and reinvigorating our bilateral cooperation. Trudeaus office stressed America and Canadas shared values and interests on the global stage, and announced a plan for the two leaders to meet again in a months time to expand the deep and enduring friendship between Canada and the United States.

These statements are not merely standard diplomatic niceties. On the contrary, the Canadian ruling elite wants to take advantage of the change in administration in Washington to repackage its collaboration with the United States in a more progressive wrapping.

Trudeau and Biden in Dec. 2016 (AP)

Behind this, North Americas twin imperialist powers are preparing a dramatic intensification of their economic and military collaboration, an expansion of trade war measures, and an acceleration of preparations for military conflict with their great power rivals.

The main form these policies will take is a concerted push, particularly on the part of the Canadian ruling elite, for a North America First agenda. The fact that numerous senior advisers and policy experts have utilized this formulation in interviews and comments in recent weeks confirms how, in its fundamentals, the collaboration between the Biden administration and Trudeau government will rest on the same reactionary nationalist and protectionist basis as Trumps America First program.

The North America First slogan is aimed above all at Russia and China, who are seen as direct competitors and strategic threats by Ottawa and Washington. Military strategists and defence experts have long been discussing the need to modernize the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), a bilateral Cold War-era mechanism uniting Canadian and US military forces. A key element in NORAD modernization is Canadas integration into Washingtons ballistic missile defence shield and the deployment of new nuclear-capable missiles, steps whose logic is to place both countries on a course toward waging a winnable nuclear war with Beijing or Moscow.

These plans were discussed by Trudeau and Biden. The Prime Minister and President agreed to expand cooperation on continental defence and in the Arctic, including the need to modernize NORAD, and discussed their Foreign Affairs and National Defence ministers and secretaries of State and Defense meeting at the earliest opportunity, stated the Trudeau governments release on the bilateral call.

This is a continuation of the strategy the Canadian ruling class pursued during Trumps presidency. After Trumps election victory in 2016, the Globe and Mail, Canadas newspaper of record, declared emphatically that Canada needed to be behind Trumps walls. Throughout Trumps presidency, Trudeau and his Liberal government avoided making any criticism of the fascistic-minded occupant of the White House, even when his preparations for a coup to establish an authoritarian regime became undeniably clear.

While the Canadian bourgeoisie connived with and accommodated to Trumps authoritarian actions, his America First nationalism and unpredictability created problems for Ottawa. Economically, his threat to tear up NAFTA and his imposition of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum cut across corporate Canadas intimate trading relationship with the US, which is the destination for around three-quarters of all Canadian exports. Ideologically, Trumps open embrace of right-wing extremists and fascists made it difficult for Trudeau and his Liberals, who place great store in their progressive credentials for propaganda purposes, to sell the Canada-US alliance to an overwhelmingly skeptical public.

With Bidens entry into the White House and the Democrats control of Congress, Canadas political establishment hopes that these challenges can be overcome. Like the Democratic Party establishment, they intend to use democratic rhetoric and identity politics to sugar-coat an aggressive pro-war foreign policy. As the Trudeau government noted in its readout of the call with Biden, both leaders have a shared commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion.

This imperialist agenda enjoys all-party support within Canadas parliament. This was illustrated in November when the trade union-backed New Democratic Party tabled a parliamentary motion, which won support from all parties, congratulating Biden on his electoral victory and looking forward to close cooperation with the new administration.

Tensions remain, however, including over the incoming presidents plans to include Buy American provisions in his administrations infrastructure building/economic stimulus initiative. As part of his effort to cultivate an image as a fighter against climate change, Biden on his first day in office canceled federal authorization for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, effectively killing the project, which was to transport Canadian bitumen oil from Albertas tar sands to the US Gulf Coast for export worldwide. Although Trudeau expressed his disappointment at this decision when he spoke to Biden, a minority section of Canadas ruling elite is demanding a far more forceful response. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, whose government invested well over a billion dollars in the failed project, has called for Ottawa to impose retaliatory tariffs if Biden doesnt reverse his decision to scuttle Keystone XL.

Notwithstanding the substantial economic gains the Keystone pipeline would have brought to Canadas oil sector, the majority of the ruling elite believes it has no choice but to quietly accept Bidens decision. As Trudeau himself put it prior to his call with Biden, We have so much alignmentnot just me and President Biden, but Canadians, i.e., Canadas ruling elite, and President Biden.

One of the areas where Canada desires to strengthen its alignment with the Biden administration is on Washingtons anti-China policy. The political establishment hopes that Biden will prove more effective in countering Chinas rise than Trump. Whereas the former presidents resort to brash threats and provocations created political problems for Ottawa and proved largely ineffective in combatting Beijings economic and geopolitical rise, Bidens intention to establish a coalition of democratic nations to diplomatically, economically, and militarily intensify pressure on Beijing is being touted as a more expeditious approach. The outgoing Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, summed this up most clearly with his appeal earlier this month for Canada to develop a grand strategy with its traditional Western allies to confront China and Russia, a task which he added had been difficult to accomplish under Trump.

Trudeau and Biden discussed China during their call, specifically the related cases of the two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, currently detained in China, and Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng, the chief financial officer of the Chinese tech giant, has been under house arrest in Vancouver for more than two years. She was detained by Canadian authorities on bogus charges of violating US sanctions on Iran, at Washingtons behest as part of its provocative efforts to bully Beijing into making economic and geostrategic concessions.

Behind the democratic phrase-mongering for public consumption, Canadian and US policy experts have made clear that confronting China will require a further acceleration of the drive to war, which has already seen the Trudeau government announce a more than 70 percent 10-year hike in military spending.

David MacNaughton, who served as Canadas ambassador to Washington during much of the Trump presidency, told the Globe last week that Ottawa should press its case for corporate Canadas guaranteed access to the US market under a North America First policy, by pledging to increase spending on NATO and NORAD, and by taking an even tougher stance towards China. The Americans, said MacNaughton, are going to expect us to play a larger role in defence and security than we have in the past. We should expect that, and they are going to press on China  and we cant say, Sorry we will talk to you about that later.

An opinion piece co-authored by Kevin Lynch, formerly the countrys top civil servant, entitled What Canada can do for Biden, urged Ottawa to collaborate with Biden to shorten US supply chains, i.e., reduce its economic dependence on China, and pursue North America First trade, climate change, and energy policies. Underlining that this protectionist economic agenda is inseparably bound up with geostrategic bullying and military force, the article continued, Canada could help change the American dialogue by making early defence spending commitments including specific increases in support of NORAD, Arctic sovereignty and peacekeeping.
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By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) - Five days after the end of Donald Trump's presidency, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday halted lawsuits accusing him of violating the U.S. Constitution's anti-corruption provisions by maintaining ownership of his business empire including a hotel near the White House while in office.

The action means that after four years of litigation the top U.S. judicial body will not rule on the meaning and scope of the Constitution's so-called emoluments provisions, a largely untested area of constitutional law. The provisions bar presidents from accepting gifts or payments from foreign and state governments without congressional approval.

The justices threw out lower court rulings that had allowed the lawsuits to proceed and ordered the two cases dismissed because they became moot with Trump leaving office. One of the cases was filed by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, while the other by plaintiffs including the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Trump had appealed the lower court rulings.

"Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended these corrupt constitutional violations and stopped these groundbreaking lawsuits," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said in a joint statement that their case was significant because a lower court "ruled on the meaning of 'emoluments' for the first time in American history."

Frosh and Racine said Trump and his Justice Department appointees who defended him "went to extreme lengths to prevent us from uncovering the true extent of his corruption."

The Justice Department, now under Democratic President Joe Biden's administration, declined to comment on the Supreme Court's action.

In one of the cases, plaintiffs including CREW, a hotel owner and a restaurant trade group said the Republican former president's failure to disentangle himself from his businesses had made him vulnerable to inducements by officials seeking to curry favor.

Story continues

The plaintiffs said that they lost patronage, wages and commissions from clients who chose Trump's businesses over theirs because of the ability to gain his favor. After a federal judge initially threw out the case, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in 2019.

A 2020 decision by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the similar lawsuit by the District of Columbia and Maryland to proceed. That suit focused on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, which became a favored lodging and event space for some foreign and state officials visiting Washington.

A third lawsuit filed by congressional Democrats against Trump ended last year after the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal of a lower court ruling that the lawmakers lacked the necessary legal standing to pursue the case.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

HOLYOKE  Leaders of a grassroots coalition formed to support the Holyoke Soldiers Home are pushing for more beds in a proposed $300 million facility to replace the current home on Cherry Street.

Core members of the Holyoke Soldiers Home Coalition will hold a press conference Tuesday to challenge the states plan to build a home that would feature only about 200 beds.

The Coalition believes the states initial study grossly underestimates the current and future demand for veteran long-term health care in western Massachusetts by proposing a 180 to 204-bed facility to renovate or replace the current Soldiers Home in Holyoke, members said in a statement.

The Coalition will provide data and analysis to support a 280-bed facility. The timing of this press conference is critical as the state is now firming up its final proposal to meet an April 15 application for federal matching funds, it continued.

At least 76 veterans died after testing positive for COVID-19 last spring at the Soldiers Home, while dozens more were sickened along with 83 staff. Emergency administrators dispatched by the state managed to quell the outbreak by largely locking down the facility since last year.

The outbreaks fallout included criminal charges against the homes former superintendent and medical director, who have denied any wrongdoing. It also led to calls for reforms as well as more funding, more staffing and better facilities. Gov. Charlie Baker rolled out a rapid plan to build a new facility.

The Payette design group has been retained by the state to draft plans for a new or refurbished building with primarily single rooms.

The firms rapid planning report, released on Veterans Day, said the current building is functionally obsolete with overcrowded rooms and shared toilets. Current ratios average up to nine residents per toilet, the report said.

In making a recommendation to decrease the number of beds from the current total of 235, the report said, Any more than 204 long-term beds would not be supported by the current site and would not allow for optimal utilization rates.

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Stating that climate adaptation is a key element of Indias developmental efforts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the country is looking to exceed its Paris Agreement targets.

"We have promised ourselves that we will not just arrest environmental degradation but reverse it. We will not just create new capacities but make them an agent for global good," said PM Modi addressing the Climate Adaption Summit 2021.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Modi said that India is targeting 450 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. "We are promoting LED lights and saving 38 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually."

Listing out the actions planned by the country to meet the goals of sustainable development, the PM said that India is planning to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

"We are providing clean cooking fuel to 80 million rural households. We are connecting 64 million households to piped water supply," said PM Modi.

He stated that India's efforts are not restricted to the country. "The International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure show the power of global climate partnership. I call upon the Global Commission on Adaptation to work with CDRI to enhance infrastructure resilience globally," said the PM.

Solar bank plan in India

The steering committee of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) is set to meet shortly to clear the decks for the World Solar Bank (WSB), which is expected to be headquartered in India.

The country may become its lead member by taking a 30% stake in it through a $600 million equity commitment.

This would be the first multilateral development bank (MDB) headquartered in India and comes even as Beijing has taken the lead in creating the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank (NDB).





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Parents of a newborn baby that stopped breathing and died at home have learned that a first responder was on the same street as them at the time, but wasn't called.

Megan Thrupp, 25, and partner Kris Low, 30, who were left waiting 35 minutes for help at their home in Anstruther, Fife, believe that earlier intervention could have saved the life of their 19-day-old baby Eva.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Megan attempted to perform CPR with the help of an ambulance call handler.

After the incident, the couple were told that community lifesavers are not sent to cases involving children in case they find the death too traumatic.

Megan Thrupp, 25, and partner Kris Low, 30, (pictured) were left waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance after their newborn Eva stopped breathing at their home in Anstruther, Fife. They later learned that a community first responder was n the same street as them but had not been called for help

Megan and Kris are now calling for a change in policy to prevent other parents experiencing the pain of losing a child in the manner they have.

First-time mother Megan said: 'Our little girl lost her life and we will do all we can to make sure this does not happen to another family.

'Paediatrics matter just as much as everyone else and it is unjust that she was not provided the same chance of survival as another would have been.'

The ambulance service has now said it is reviewing the role of a first responder, including whether they can attend paediatric cases.

Megan, who runs Coast Coffee with her mother Marianne Gatherum, was at home with her mother when Eva died on March 13 last year - with Kris away at work at a local fish shed.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Megan attempted to perform CPR on Eva (pictured) with the help of an ambulance call handler. After the incident, the couple were told that community lifesavers are not sent to cases involving children in case they find the death too traumatic

Megan and her mother called an ambulance after becoming concerned about Eva's breathing.

Megan said: 'I panicked and ran towards my baby, who at this point had stopped breathing.

'The emergency call handler calmly discussed the CPR procedure and told me to apply this to Eva.

'My mother desperately waited for a first responder to appear as she could see the strain I was under.

'They never appeared and after a long 35 minute wait an ambulance arrived and Eva was finally in the hands of the professionals.'

Who are community first responders? The Resuscitation Council (UK) states that a First Responder is a person, trained as a minimum in basic life support and the use of a defibrillator, who attends a potentially life-threatening emergency. These responders are local volunteer who agrees to undertake training in Basic Life Support. This enables them to provide life saving treatment to those people within the community who are critically ill, in the first few minutes prior to the arrival of an ambulance. Community First Responders can provide the early CPR & Defibrillation but in order to complete the 'Chain of Survival' sequence and increase the patients chance of survival, Early Advanced Care or an Ambulance Response must also be dispatched to the incident. Normally, community first responders aren't knowingly sent to: Assaults or Incidents of a violent nature

Incidents in a Public house

Road Traffic Collisions

Children under the age of 16-years-old

Traumatic Injuries Source: scottishambulance.com Advertisement

She added: 'The ambulance service think it's too traumatic for first responders to attend children if there is a negative outcome.

'I think it's more traumatic for us, to be honest.

'The woman who was on call in Anstruther that day said she would have come if she'd known.'

Megan and Kris are expecting their second baby - another girl - and hope for a breakthrough soon.

'I would love to see a change in policy,' said Megan. 'I would hate for anyone else to go through this.'

After hearing about Megan and Kris's story, North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie said: 'I can only imagine how hard this has been for them and I can only hope this never happens to anyone else again.

'I have met with and worked positively with the first responders in north east Fife, meeting with them last year to learn more about their work.

'We must see a review of the responsibilities that first responders have, especially in rural areas like here in north east Fife, in order to make sure that this tragedy is never repeated.'

The Scottish Ambulance Service has said it will contact Megan and Kris directly to hear their story and offer support.

A spokesperson said: 'This is a very tragic case and our deepest sympathies are with the family during this time.

'We are limited in what we can say publicly due to patient confidentiality but the Scottish Ambulance Service is committed to developing our Community First Responders (CFRs), as they form an integral part of our response.

'We are currently undertaking a review of the role of CFRs which includes considering the welfare and clinical safety of enabling CFRs to attend paediatric calls.'

Last year, a JustGiving page was set up to help raise money for the Maternity Unit, at Victoria Hospital, the Scottish Air Ambulance Charity and the Glasgow's Children's Hospital Charity in memory of Eva.

An initial target of 260 was set in May last year, but now a total of 12,180 has been raised.

As the House prepares to bring the impeachment charge against Donald Trump to the Senate for trial, a growing number of Republican senators say they are opposed to the proceeding, dimming the chances that former president will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of the U.S. Capitol.

House Democrats will carry the sole impeachment charge of incitement of insurrection across the Capitol late Monday evening, a rare and ceremonial walk to the Senate by the prosecutors who will argue their case. They are hoping that strong Republican denunciations of Trump after the Jan. 6 riot will translate into a conviction and a separate vote to bar Trump from holding office again.

But instead, GOP passions appear to have cooled since the insurrection. Now that Trump's presidency is over, Republican senators who will serve as jurors in the trial are rallying to his legal defense, as they did during his first impeachment trial last year.

I think the trial is stupid, I think its counterproductive, said Sen. Marco Rubio R-Fla.. He said that "the first chance I get to vote to end this trial, Ill do it because he believes it would be bad for the country and further inflame partisan divisions.

Trump is the first former president to face impeachment trial, and it will test his grip on the Republican Party as well as the legacy of his tenure, which came to a close as a mob of loyal supporters heeded his rally cry by storming the Capitol and trying to overturn Joe Biden's election. The proceedings will also force Democrats, who have a full sweep of party control of the White House and Congress, to balance their promise to hold the former president accountable while also rushing to deliver on Biden's priorities.

Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. Leaders in both parties agreed to the short delay to give Trump's team and House prosecutors time to prepare and the Senate the chance to confirm some of Bidens Cabinet nominees. Democrats say the extra days will allow for more evidence to come out about the rioting by Trump supporters, while Republicans hope to craft a unified defense for Trump.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes that evolving clarity on the details of what happened Jan. 6 will make it clearer to my colleagues and the American people that we need some accountability.

Coons questioned how his colleagues who were in the Capitol that day could see the insurrection as anything other than a stunning violation of tradition of peaceful transfers of power.

It is a critical moment in American history and we have to look at it and look at it hard, Coons said.

An early vote to dismiss the trial probably would not succeed, given that Democrats now control the Senate. Still, the mounting Republican opposition indicates that many GOP senators would eventually vote to acquit Trump. Democrats would need the support of 17 Republicans  a high bar  to convict him.

When the House impeached Trump on Jan. 13, exactly one week after the siege, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he didnt believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he had left office. On Sunday, Cotton said the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more theyre beginning to line up behind that argument.

I think a lot of Americans are going to think its strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago, Cotton said.

Democrats reject that argument, pointing to a 1876 impeachment of a secretary of war who had already resigned and to opinions by many legal scholars. Democrats also say that a reckoning of the first invasion of the Capitol since the War of 1812, perpetrated by rioters egged on by a president who told them to fight like hell against election results that were being counted at the time, is necessary so the country can move forward and ensure such a siege never happens again.

A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he believes there is a preponderance of opinion that an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office.

I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense, Romney said. If not, what is?

But Romney, the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump when the Senate acquitted the then-president in last years trial, appears to be an outlier.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, said he believes a trial is a moot point after a president's term is over, and I think its one that they would have a very difficult time in trying to get done within the Senate.

On Friday, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally who has been helping him build a legal team, urged the Senate to reject the idea of a post-presidency trial  potentially with a vote to dismiss the charge  and suggested Republicans will scrutinize whether Trumps words on Jan. 6 were legally incitement.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said last week that Trump provoked his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote or argued any legal strategies. The Kentucky senator has told his GOP colleagues that it will be a vote of conscience.

One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis nine impeachment managers said Trumps encouragement of his loyalists before the riot was "an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime."

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pennsylvania., said "I mean, think back. It was just two-and-a-half weeks ago that the president assembled a mob on the Ellipse of the White House. He incited them with his words. And then he lit the match.

Trumps supporters invaded the Capitol and interrupted the electoral count as he falsely claimed there was massive fraud in the election and that it was stolen by Biden. Trumps claims were roundly rejected in the courts, including by judges appointed by Trump, and by state election officials.

Rubio and Romney were on Fox News Sunday, Cotton appeared on Fox News Channel's Sunday Morning Futures and Romney also was on CNN's State of the Union, as was Dean. Rounds was interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press.

___

Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden is set to impose a travel ban this week on a number of countries, including South Africa, to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections in the U.S.

According to Reuters, the travel ban will apply to most non-U.S. citizens entering the country from South Africa, where a new COVID-19 variant was discovered, starting Sunday.

Travel bans for travelers from Brazil, Ireland, UK, and 26 European countries, allowing open borders over the past two weeks, were also reimposed.

A senior public health official confirmed Biden's plans for South Africa travelers in light of the COVID-19 variant. The Biden administration reinstated the travel ban after former president Donald Trump rescinded it despite COVID-19 variant threats.

Read also: Death of California Resident Hours After Getting COVID-19 Vaccine Under Investigation

Trump set the travel restrictions to be lifted on Tuesday, but Pres. Biden's move will prevent these bans from ending, said a report from The Hill.

Biden is also expected to put back broader COVID-19 related restrictions that were in effect for much of 2020, but was taken back by Trump in the final days of his term, reported NBC News.

CDC Puts Up Measures to Protect Americans from South African COVID-19 Variant

"We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) principal deputy director Dr. Ann Schuchat said Sunday.

She added that the CDC would also put "this suite of measures" to protect Americans and to reduce the risk of spreading the variant that could worsen the country's pandemic situation. The CDC and the White House did not provide The Hill with an immediate comment about the measures.

But according to Reuters, CDC head Rochelle Walensky will be signing a separate order on Monday requiring travelers aged two and older to wear masks when they board airplanes, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-share vehicles.

Masks can only be removed for brief periods, such as when eating or drinking. It is set to take effect in the coming days.

On Tuesday, another CDC rule for travelers of the same age range will also require a negative coronavirus test taken three calendar days before travel. Travelers can also present proof that they have recovered from COVID-19 before entering the US.

There will be no more exemptions for some travelers from countries with limited testing capacity, the agency said on January 12. But airlines have also asked the agency to relax the rules for such countries.

The CDC said it would consider case-by-case humanitarian exemptions for some travelers if needed, but added that about 120 countries have mandatory virus testing for international travel.

Biden's Battle Against the Emerging COVID-19 Variant

As Pres. Biden started his term last Wednesday, he was immediately presented with the country's struggles when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As The Hill stated, he faces an "uphill battle" against the virus that has already infected 25 million Americans and killed more than 400,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Related story: Oxygen Shortage in Second Virus Wave Overwhelms Health Care in Brazil's Manaus

The South African COVID-19 variant called 501Y.V2 is reported to be 50 percent more infectious and was found in at least 20 countries worldwide.

In light of worries over the variant, CDC officials said the travel ban list might expand, if necessary. European countries have been under travel restrictions since mid-March, and Brazil was already restricted since May.
India has extended its vaccination drive to foreign missions based in the country. The Ministry of External Affairs (MoEA) sent the offer to the mission, requesting them to respond to the offer by the 29th of January. India began its mega vaccination drive on the 16th of this month and so far over 16 lakh healthcare workers have been vaccinated against COVID.

December saw India taking over 50 foreign envoys based in Delhi to the southern city of Hyderabad to showcase the country's vaccine production center at 2 biotechnology companies -- Bharat Biotech and Biological E. During the one-day visit, the foreign envoys were briefed on Indias indigenous efforts to develop COVID-19 vaccines and the clinical trials.

A release by MoEA said, "Indias R&D facilities, manufacturing capacity, foreign collaborations, etc. in the fields of pharmaceuticals, including vaccine production, were highlighted....India is committed to partnering with all interested countries in vaccine-related efforts, in the service of humanity."

India has been briefing the foreign envoys all through 2020 on its action plans to deal with the covid pandemic. The most important of such meetings was in November when Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla met the envoys in Delhi and gave a detailed presentation on India's response to the crisis. Around 190 heads of diplomatic missions were present in the briefing that took place in Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan.

Meanwhile, India's vaccine diplomacy continues with Bangladesh getting the first contracted commercial supplies later today. Go ahead to commercial supplies was given on Friday with covid vaccine supplies reaching Brazil and Morrocco. Last week New Delhi sent COVID vaccine gift to 7 countries in the region--Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Seychelles, and Mauritius. Sri Lanka will get India's covid vaccine gift later this week.
Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,155 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total tally in the country to 596,733.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in reached 4,392 after 66 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 1,171 to 1,181, out of 1,861 hospitalized patients.

The total recoveries rose to 522,368, with 9,899 newly recovered cases, while the active cases decreased to 69,973.

According to the ministry, the number of people vaccinated against the COVID-19 in has surpassed 2.55 million, or 27.4 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

Earlier on Sunday, the Defense Forces (IDF) said that the number of active cases among Israeli soldiers reached 1,975.

This is the highest morbidity figure in the Israeli army since the pandemic outbreak in the country in late February 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.)
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Chinas intrusion into Ladakh is rooted in Beijings Middle Kingdom mentality and the five-finger strategy of Mao Zedong for the region, says Lobsang Sangay, President of the Central Tibetan Authority (CTA).

In an exclusive interview with India Narrative, Sangay said that India should not have been surprised either by the 2017 Doklam incident or the recent Ladakh intrusion as both events were rooted in the six decades old five finger strategy of Mao, the founder the People's Republic of China (PRC).

"I have said it on (Indian) national television many times that China has a five-finger policy. Tibet is the palm (so they decided) to occupy Tibet. Then (they thought) let us capture Ladakh... Let's (also) capture Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Arunachal, and in between there is Uttarakhand and Himachal also. So, this was in the 1950s. So, when Galwan happened or when Doklam happened there was surprise as to how this happened. But 60 years ago (China had) openly declared (its view)." He added: What is happening in Nepal? It is nothing new, it has been said before. The reality is that not only are they (the Chinese) interfering in Nepal and Burma, but also in Indian territory.

The Darjeeling-born and Harvard educated Sikyong, or President, of the CTA-the Tibetan government in exile-stressed that "expansionism" is part of the Chinese DNA and it is rooted in Beijing's deeply embedded Middle Kingdom mentality. "The term Zhongguo (the commonly known name of China) means Middle Kingdom. All in the periphery are barbarians. Tibetans are Barbarians, Indians are barbarians, everybody; they are the greatest civilization, the greatest race and all have to be civilized. So, expansionism is in their DNA. If you really think that they will not expand into your territory then you have not understood imperial China or the concept of Middle Kingdom. (Therefore) they are interfering in Nepal, in Myanmar and all the neghbouring countries and now incursion into Indian territory," he observed.

Sangay pointed out that Ladakh intrusion which led to the Galwan valley tragedy in which 20 Indian troops and the unknown number of the Chinese soldiers were killed was being plotted when Chinese leader Xi Jinping was meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an informal summit in Chennai in 2019.

"Galwan valley tragedy was planned while Prime Minister Modi ji was signing an agreement or meeting with Xi Jinping in Tamil Nadu. Because, if you look at the preparation of Galwan Valley (intrusion) with 10,000 to 30,000, it would have taken six months to 12 months to bring all supplies and troops to the border." The Tibetan leader acknowledged that seizing Tibet's resources was China's prime motive behind its capture of the territory in 1950.

"Tibet's name in Chinese is Xizang which means western treasure. There is uranium, gold, copper, lithium, which goes into cell-phone batteries. China draws 70 per cent of lithium from Tibet. (It is also) the second largest copper mining in Asia. 120 different kind of minerals are there (in Tibet). So (by) capturing western treasure, China is becoming rich." Tibet is well known as the water tower of Asia. The Mekong, the Yellow river, the Yangtze, the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Indus and the Karnali all originate on the Tibetan plateau and support hundreds of millions of people downstream. China has recently announced plans to build a massive dam on the Brahmaputra, raising concerns in India and Bangladesh.

Sangay said he was optimistic about support for the Tibetan cause during the Joe Biden presidency.

"Joe Biden was Vice President with President (Barack) Obama and President Obama had met with his holiness (the Dalai Lama) four times. And when Joe Biden was the candidate for the presidential elections, he said he would meet Dalai Lama and support him in the cause and impose sanctions on those Chinese officials who violated human rights in Tibet. So, we expect continuation of the same policy of the US government to support Tibet. Tibet has always been a bipartisan issue." The Tibetan politician added that the new secretary of state Anthony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jay Sullivan, and Kurt Campbell, the Indo-Pacific coordinator at the National Security Council, are mature China hands. "They have all said, co-exist but compete," Sangay observed.

Sangay pointed out that with most countries opting for a "one-China" policy, the Tibetans had accepted autonomy or the middle path as the goal of their struggle.

"Whether it is India or any other country in the world, say we will support independence, we will happily pursue that goal. But India and other countries have signed on to a one-China policy. No country in the world, whether it is Tibet or Xinjiang will support independence because they have agreed to a one-China policy." The Tibetan leader, in response to a question, made it plain that the Tibetan struggle will not deviate from non-violence.

"Look at the British empire, where the sun never would set. But Gandhi ji by treading the path of non-violence defeated the empire. So why not Tibet? Only the strongest can follow the path of non-violence. In recent years you can see in the Czech Republic, the collapse of the Berlin wall that non-violence has prevailed. If Tibet under his holiness the Dalai Lama succeeds it will send a message across the globe that the path of violence and terrorism is not the right way." Sangay pointed out that the digital age had demonstrated the rise of new opportunities for non-violent struggles to succeed. "In the connected world you have environmentalists leading a global environment movement; a child leading a global environment movement because we are in the connected world. The message of non-violence is getting more traction." The CTA president said that he had high expectations from the Modi administration, which had invited the Tibetan delegation for the Prime Minister's inaugural ceremony.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
How Many Vaccine Shots Go to Waste? Several States Arent Counting.

The CDC says health facilities should report unused and spoiled COVID-19 vaccines, but many are failing to do so. At a time when there arent enough shots to meet demand, significant numbers may be going in the trash.

As reports emerge across the country of health facilities throwing out unused and spoiled COVID-19 vaccines, some state governments are failing to track the wastage as required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaving officials coordinating immunization efforts blind to exactly how many of the precious, limited doses are going into the trash and why.

In Washington, a health facility allegedly threw out some COVID-19 vaccine doses at the end of workers shifts because staff believed state guidelines blocked them from giving unused shots to people below the top priority tier. In Maryland, workers appear to have tossed thawed doses when they ran out of time to administer them safely. How many doses, exactly, have been wasted in those states is unknown because neither state is tracking unused or wasted vaccines.

In Indiana, where hospitals have told the media about discarding some shots, the state Health Department said it requires wastage to be reported but wasnt able to tell ProPublica how many doses have been tossed statewide. Nonetheless, it asserted that wastage has been minimal.

Experts say that waste reporting is essential during a vaccination campaign to encourage careful handling and the use of every viable dose and, more importantly, to identify potential problems in the shipping and cold storage operations. With inconsistent reporting requirements and no enforcement of a federal mandate to report wastage, vaccine providers have little incentive to acknowledge wasting vaccines, said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University.

Jha said he thinks that the true number of wasted doses across the country is far higher than a handful. After he detailed one anecdote he heard about an ER physician forced to waste vaccine doses in a thread on Twitter, his phone quickly filled with more than a dozen messages from other medical workers, confirming what he suspected: At a time when the U.S. is desperately short on vaccines, a significant number of doses are ending up in the trash.

Clinics and hospitals have gotten slammed when the media has learned of them wasting even a few doses, he said. And the signal to everybody else is, if you have waste, don't report it. Because if you do, you're gonna get into a lot of trouble. That combination means, at least in my assessment, there's a lot of waste and a lot of underreporting of that waste."

The CDC requires all organizations that administer the vaccine to report the number of vaccine doses that were unused, spoiled, expired, or wasted as required by the relevant jurisdiction. The CDC also asked states to describe their wastage monitoring method during the distribution planning process.

Vaccine providers, such as pharmacies and hospitals, are supposed to provide data on wasted doses to their state health agencies, which then send the information to the CDC. Like many parts of the vaccine rollout, that has not gone according to plan. State by state, ProPublica found, reporting requirements vary and are not reliably communicated to vaccine providers. Even when the rules are clear, they are not regularly enforced, nor are numbers reported to the public.

Police detain a woman during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow (AP)

European Union foreign ministers have debated their response to the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The discussion follows a weekend police crackdown that saw thousands of people taken into custody during protests across Russia in support of President Vladimir Putins most well-known critic.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: This wave of detention is something that worries us a lot, as well as the detention of Mr Navalny.

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He spoke as he arrived to chair the ministerial meeting in Brussels after more than 3,500 people were reportedly taken into custody in Russia during the nationwide protests.

German foreign minister Heiko Maas said that under the Russian constitution, everyone in Russia has the right to express their opinion and to demonstrate.

He added: That must be possible. The principles of the rule of law must apply there, too  Russia has always committed itself to that.

Mr Maas and other ministers called for the immediate release of the protesters.

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Mr Navalny was arrested earlier this month when he returned to Moscow after spending months in Germany recovering from an attack in Russia which involved what experts have said was the nerve agent Novichok.

In October, the EU imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and a state research institute over Mr Navalnys poisoning, but there is little appetite to take new measures immediately.

Mr Borrell, the EUs top diplomat, is also planning a trip to Moscow, and it is unclear what impact events will have on that visit.

On Sunday, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed concern about what he called Russias authoritarian drift.

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He told France-Inter radio that all light must be shed on Mr Navalnys poisoning, saying: This was an assassination attempt.

The protests attracted thousands of people in major Russian cities, including an estimated 15,000 in Moscow.

As events unfolded, the US embassy spokeswoman in the city, Rebecca Ross, said on Twitter that the United States supports the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression. Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights.

The embassy also tweeted a US state department statement calling for Mr Navalnys release.

Mr Putins spokesman said the statements interfered in the countrys domestic affairs and were encouraging Russians to break the law.
'Those who want to exploit the poor will never want any Muslim to become a leader,' says the firebrand head of Bengal's Furfura Sharif dargah

Over the past two years, Peerzada Abbas Siddiqui, head of the Furfura Sharif dargah in Bengal, has often been in the news  sometimes making inflammatory speeches and on other occasions, being assaulted by the Trinamool Congress cadre. On Thursday, the 34-year-old religious leader announced the establishment of a new party called the Indian Secular Front that will contest all seats in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bengal.

In the following interview, he discusses what made him jump into politics, why Muslim leaders are maligned and more.

Edited excerpts follow:

Why did you form a new party?

We have seen since Independence that no party has cared for the backward sections of society, which include Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims and even many Hindus. They have never been given the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. So now, they must fight for these rights. Our intention is to fight for those who have no education, no house and no facilities. Their percentage (among the population) is very high. We want to bring them into the mainstream.

We can only succeed in doing so if we get power and for that, we need to fight elections.

In Bengal, have the Left Front and Mamata Banerjee done nothing for these sections?

They have not given them all the rights that they should have. Theyve given maybe 10 percent, 90 percent is still lacking.

It's not just that. Mamata, especially in the 10 years that she has been ruling, has done something very wrong. Without actually doing anything for Muslims, she's spoken all the time about "Musalman, Musalman". This has damaged the harmony that existed between Hindus and Muslims, because Hindus think Muslims are being given everything, while they are actually getting nothing.

Has she done nothing for Muslims?

She promised so much, but what did she do? All she did was give an allowance for imams! Did we ever ask for that? Muslims need education, jobs

But Mamata is the most vociferous opponent of the CAA-NRC. Arent you weakening her by opposing her?

Both the BJP and Mamata are making fools of people on this issue.

We are not opposed to the CAA. Those who have lived here for 30 to 40 years and have contributed to the State should, of course, be given citizenship. But why have so many conditions for that, why ask where you have come from etc?

As for Mamata, she says she won't allow NRC to be implemented. But she hasn't gone to the Supreme Court against it. So how can we believe her?

But it is not yet a law.

We don't have any personal enmity towards her. As a non-political organisation, we agitated more than anyone else against CAA-NRC. But instead of taking us along, she had us beaten up by the police. So many atrocities were committed against us. Even I was attacked last August when I was visiting one of my injured followers. They threatened to burn down my house. What kind of justice is this?

Is it right for religious leaders to get into politics?

What a question! A mahant is the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and nobody says anything! I am personally not contesting any seat. I am going to put up good candidates and tell people that these candidates have my blessings. Voters should see me in them and vote for them.

Anyway, where in the Constitution is it written that religious leaders should not be in politics? There are so many Babajis and Sants in politics.

In the freedom movement, so many Ulema gave their lives for freedom. At that point, you didn't tell them, "Go away, sit inside the masjid!"

If you as a religious leader campaign, it could drive Hindus to the BJP.

Why? Aren't Hindus our brothers? When I say this candidate will work for the welfare of Bengal, for the welfare of Bengals Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and poor Hindus, won't Hindus vote for him? I'm not fighting only for the 30 percent Muslim population. I have many Hindu followers.

I'm asking this because of the atmosphere being created by the BJP in this election, the way it is using religion.

Hindus who live in Bengal are not such fools. They are not so communal. Our Hindu brothers believe in Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose and Qazi Nazrul Islam.

And who brought the BJP into Bengal? It was Mamata. Wasn't she railways minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government? At that time, wasn't the BJP dangerous?

You say you are fighting for all. But you are teaming up with Asaduddin Owaisi, who fought and won only in predominantly Muslim constituencies in Bihar last year.

Owaisi told me, "You know Bengal better, we will follow you." So he will do what we tell him. Our fight will be for the poor, for humanity.

As for Bihar, what everyone says about Owaisi is wrong. Had he wanted to help the BJP, he would have put up his candidates in all Muslim-dominated constituencies in Bihar and divided the vote. But he didn't.

Tell me, has Owaisi ever said a word against any other religion?

His brother Akbaruddin has and he has not condemned it.

I am teaming up with the AIMIM chief, not his uncle's son or his brother.

This kind of maligning always happens with Muslim leaders. Nobody wants Muslims to assume leadership, because they know that a Muslim will treat everyone equally. That is what Islam teaches us. Those who want to exploit the poor will never want any Muslim to become a leader, because they know a Muslim leader will see to it that everyone gets education, everyone gets a house. That's what these blood suckers don't want.

So India's condition is so bad because theres been no Muslim leader?

Why else would the people of such a rich country be so poor? Whether it's the Left parties or Congress, did they do anything for 70 percent of the people?

Yet it's reported that you may join the Left-Congress alliance.

To ward off a big calamity, you need to go with the lesser evil.

Which is this big calamity: The BJP or Mamata?

For us, both are the same, two sides of the same coin.

So all the Muslims who vote for Mamata are fools?

No, even we supported her initially. We only gradually realised what she truly is. Look, you don't feel the sun's heat till its rays actually reach you. We did our own research and found out so much about her. In 2005, she gave her resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker saying illegal Bangladeshis are infiltrating into Bengal. In 2002, she supported Narendra Modi even after Gujarat.

You say you will fight for Hindus too. But videos of some of your speeches show something else.

Those are clips taken out of context by my enemies, who can't bear to see lakhs and crores of people following me, affectionately calling me Bhaijaan. This includes so many Hindus.

Your followers see you as a peerzada. Will they also follow you as a political leader?

Oh they are so happy, it's like they are celebrating Eid now. They say this step should have been taken 50 years ago.
Gary Ivory starts his new job this month as president of Youth Advocate Programs (YAP) Inc., a national nonprofit based in Harrisburg that gives communities alternatives to incarcerating and placing young people in residential treatment facilities.

The new role is a promotion that comes 30 years after the former prison chaplain and son of East Texas farmers joined YAP as a frontline youth Advocate, a press release said. Ivorys passion for social justice is rooted in Pittsburg, Texas, where as a child he lost three of his 14 siblings to prison.

I am honored, humbled and excited to step into the role of president of YAP at such a pivotal moment in the organizations growth and our nations history when social justice is undergoing much-needed transformation, Ivory said. As systems look to replace outdated institutional justice and social services with safer and more racially equitable community-based alternatives, we will continue to strengthen our model, back it with more data and enhance our training. It is imperative that we attract and increase the sustainability of donors, grow more strategic partnerships, and lift our voice to tell the success stories of those we serve. I look forward to leading these efforts.

YAP partners with youth justice, social services, and other systems in 29 states and the District of Columbia, employing and training neighborhood-based Advocates to provide community-based youth and family wraparound services as an alternative to youth prison and other out-of-home placements, the release said.

As more communities embrace reform, YAP is experiencing noteworthy expansion, in large part due to Ivorys work to present the organizations evidence-based model to systems leaders and funders. For him, YAPs mission to equip young people who would otherwise be institutionalized with tools to be assets to their communities is personal.

One of my brothers, Theodore  we called him Sonny, was 15 or 16 when he assaulted a guy in the cotton fields. My understanding is he was protecting my mother from abuse by a White overseer. The guy died six months later, Ivory said in the release. [Charged as an adult] Sonny got a life sentence in a prison in Huntsville. When I was in junior high, he was dying, and they released him. But they sent him back a couple of years later on a parole violation. After serving 20 years, he died during my senior year in college.

The experience with Sonny and the incarcerations of two of Ivorys other brothers was a dark cloud that hung over the family. What happened to Sonny and the associated racialized trauma we all experienced had a big impact on my life in many ways, he said. It made me want to help young people  to fight for justice. My faith has fueled my commitment to seek justice for those who are incarcerated and to prevent young people from being incarcerated in the first place.

YAPs trained neighborhood-based Advocates help young people identify and build on their strengths while supporting their parents/guardians with tools and basic needs resources to firm the familys foundation, the release said.

Ivory, who previously served as senior executive for the national nonprofit, manages business and fund development, strategy, marketing, communications, finance, legal and other key executive leadership functions. Ivory will also retain management of YAPs Tom Jeffers Endowment Fund for Continuing Education. In honor of the national nonprofits founder, the fund has relied primarily on employee giving to provide career training and college scholarships to thousands of YAP participants and their families during and after their program participation, the release said.

Jeff Fleischer, who joined YAP in 1985, and has led the organization for the last 18 years, will remain as chief executive officer and will shift his focus to policy and advocacy work, fundraising, and strategic partnerships across the nation, according to the release.

Gary has worked 30 years with YAP, changing hearts and minds across the nation, convincing stakeholders to disinvest in detention, prisons, and out-of-home residential placements and to invest in a robust community-based continuum of care, Fleischer said.

Before joining YAP, Ivory served as a chaplain in the role of youth minister at New Jersey (formerly Trenton) State Prison. He is a graduate of Austin College and has a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1996, Ivory was one of 10 national leaders awarded the prestigious Annie E. Casey Foundation Children and Family Fellowship, an intensive and highly selective executive leadership development opportunity, according to the release.

For more information on YAP, click on this link.
Phuket bus terminal killer a nice guy, but had formed new motorbike taxi group

PHUKET: The 60-year-old man who shot dead two colleagues at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 north of Phuket Town on Saturday night was known to be a nice guy, said witnesses working at the bus station today (Jan 25).

murderhomicidealcoholcrimetransporttourism

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Monday 25 January 2021, 06:39PM

Motorbike taxi drivers and other staff wait in front of the bus terminal today. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Wian Iadchuthong, 60, from Trang, at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 today re-enacts his movements when slaying the two men on Saturday night. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Wian Iadchuthong, 60, from Trang, at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 today re-enacts his movements when slaying the two men on Saturday night. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Wian Iadchuthong, 60, from Trang, at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 today re-enacts his movements when slaying the two men on Saturday night. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Wian Iadchuthong, 60, from Trang, at Phuket Bus Terminal 2 today re-enacts his movements when slaying the two men on Saturday night. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

However, it also became clear today that the killer had also just formed a new motorbike taxi group at the bus terminal.

The news today came from witnesses at the bus terminal where Phuket City Police officers had the gunman, Wian Iadchuthong, 60, from Trang, re-enact his movements when slaying the two men: Prakob Chuthong, 54, a resident of Pa Khlok; and Yod Sae Lee, 50, also from Trang.

While retracing his movements at the bus station today, Mr Wian was silent to the press, but police at the bus station  led by Capt Wipawan Wathanangoenthanong of the Phuket City Police and Phuket City Police Chief Col Teerawat Liamsuwan  confirmed that Mr Wian had confessed to the fatal shooting of the two men.

During the re-enactment, Jiraporn Longrak, who owns a small restaurant at the bus terminal, told the police that Mr Wian was a nice man and he liked to help people around him.

Ms Jiraporn operates a restaurant selling Trang specialties where Mr Wian sat and ate almost every day.

Mr Wian has been here [at the bus terminal] for about seven years, since the bus terminal opened. He worked at the old bus terminal in Phuket Town before he moved to work here. He used to say that he liked this kind of job, Ms Jiraporn said.

Mr Prakob and Mr Yod were also colleagues of Mr Wian and they came to work here together, she added.

Mr Wian used to be the president of the taxi cooperative at the bus terminal, but his term expired so he had his colleague, Mr Yod, to take over, Ms Jiraporn explained.

Mr Prakob worked at the bus station, receiving motorcycles being parked in a long-stay garage at the bus terminal.

Ms Jiraporn said that she had no idea what had prompted Mr Wian to shoot dead Mr Prakob and Mr Yod. He never told me about any problems with his colleagues, she said.

But there were times that Mr Wian complained that he was tired and that it was difficult to keep going, Mrs Jiraporn told the police.

Ms Jiraporn also said that she never saw any fights or arguments between any of the three.

Mr Wian would normally come to the restaurant every day and buy his colleagues some snacks as well, she said.

But something had changed recently in Mr Wians life, Ms Jiraporn noted.

Mr Wian lives in a house near the old bus terminal in Phuket Town, but for the last two days [before Saturday night], Mr Wian was sleeping here at the new bus station, and formed a new a taxi group of which he was the president, Ms Jiraporn explained.

Ms Jiraporn told the police that before the crime, Mr Wian and his colleagues were sitting in the 24-hour taxi service office and drinking together.

She later heard two gunshots and she ran out to see what had happened, and saw Mr Wian, who she thought looked drunk, sitting in front of the office waiting to surrender to the police.

Mr Wian today was taken back to Phuket City Police Station, where officers said they were moving ahead with charging him for the double homicide.
As Morgan County coroner, Marcy Patterson looks for the answers about a persons death and well as tries to soften the sting of tragedy for those left behind.

For me, it is more about the ability to be a stable force for families on the very worst day of their life, Patterson said. When someone passes away, there are steps that must legally be taken, but I like being able to also help families during that time.

She said her office works as part of a team to complete a thorough investigation and provide families an accurate answer.

Its not always the answer they want, but an accurate and truthful answer about the manner and cause of the death of their loved one, she said.

More Information If you have a suggestion about someone who should be profiled, send their name and any contact information available to communitynews@myjournalcourier.com. See More Collapse

Patterson was sworn in to a four-year term after being elected coroner in November. She had been appointed to the position in September 2019 following the resignation of long-time Coroner Jeff Lair, for whom she had worked as a deputy coroner since 2010.

I teasingly say that I dont have time to learn all of the things that Jeff Lair has forgotten. Im not trying to learn the things that Jeff was good at, because I have those resources all around me, Patterson said. We have some amazing police officers in this community to investigate deaths, and we have some tools we provide to help them do that, including our contractual forensic pathologist.

Being a coroner was not a career path Patterson envisioned when she graduated from Routt Catholic High School and joined the Illinois Air National Guard in 1984. The Gulf War veteran spent more than 10 years in the National Guard, met her husband John there, and when she retired from the service in 1995, Patterson worked as a paramedic with Sangamon County Emergency Medical Services in Springfield.

In Sangamon County, especially as a paramedic, you spend a lot of time interacting with or waiting on the coroner, Patterson said. So that was something I had developed quite a bit of interest in.

Patterson moved back to her home town of Jacksonville in 2006 and went to work as a paramedic at Passavant Area Hospital. Lair was one of her trainers on that job, and in 2010 Patterson joined the coroners staff. She was promoted to chief deputy coroner in 2015.

It is not a profession for the squeamish. You see a lot of things that people would not want to see, Patterson said. Im probably a little bit anxious now while a lot of people are doing some really fun things, like riding four-wheelers at high speed. Im standing off to the side, thinking, thats not going to end well.

The worst part of the job, Patterson said, is what one would expect  delivering devastating news.

The knocking on somebodys door in the middle of the night that didnt see it coming. Anything involving a kid, theres never a way to explain that in such a way thats going to make a family understand it, Patterson said. Suicide is the very worst, though. Accidents are accidents and were living in a world where there are always accidents. A suicide is impossible to deal with, because even years from now many of those families never get to understand what happened.

Thats why Patterson places such a priority on trying to help families understand the death and start the grieving process.

Its different for every family and what they are going through, Patterson said. If you go to someones house in the middle of the night with the notification that their 17-year-old died, thats different than interacting with someone whose family member has been sick and is 90 years old.

She said she tries to be neutral and kind.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the number of calls the Morgan County coroners office has had to handle from 356 deaths in 2018 and 373 in 2019, to a total of 454 in 2020. At the same time, the pandemic restrictions have limited the physical presence that Patterson likes to have when her office is helping grieving families.

Patterson has kept all of the staff who worked for her predecessor, including Richard Evans, Phil McCarty, Dave McCollum, Ed Leach and Greg Lowe. Patterson has also added John Lambie and Lacey Walker. She has placed a high priority on making essential training available to all staff.

We are looking to train the next coroner. I went through the death investigator course at St. Louis University and so have others, Patterson said, but I want to make training opportunities available to all of our team now.

Patterson is also the publisher of The Source, for which she began working part-time after returning to Jacksonville. She and her husband have been married for 33 years and they have two adult children and six grandchildren.

Patterson is proud of her service with the Morgan County coroners office and she hopes the human touch she brings to the job makes a difference.

For me, its a worthwhile trade because on that day, I did what they needed me to do so they could get through that next day, she said.
A veteran rocket from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX aerospace company launched 143 spacecraft into space on Sunday, a new record for the most spaceships deployed on a single mission, according to the company. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10 a.m. EST from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It flew south along the eastern coast of Florida on its way to space, the company said.

The reusable rocket ferried 133 commercial and government spacecraft and 10 Starlink satellites to space - part of the companys SmallSat Rideshare Program, which provides access to space for small satellite operators seeking a reliable, affordable ride to orbit, according to the company.

SpaceX delayed the launch one day because of unfavorable weather. On Jan. 22 Musk, also chief executive of Tesla Inc., wrote on Twitter: 'Launching many small satellites for a wide range of customers tomorrow. Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies!'

SpaceX has previously launched to orbit more than 800 satellites of the several thousand needed to offer broadband internet globally, a $10 billion investment it estimates could generate $30 billion annually to help fund Musk`s interplanetary rocket program, called Starship.

SpaceX broke a world space record by launching 143 satellites in quick succession, beating Indias record of deploying 104 satellites in February 2017. The 143 satellites launched on Sunday included commercial and government CubeSats, microsats, what are known as orbiter transfer vehicles and 10 Starlink satellites  the maximum number of spacecraft ever to be deployed in a single mission. This batch of Starlink satellites was the first in the constellation to be placed in the polar orbit.
Iran is soon expected to receive its first batch of foreign vaccines against the coronavirus from the World Health Organization-led Covid-19 vaccine procurement and distribution initiative, the COVAX Facility, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on Monday, citing an official.

According to Mostafa Ghaneie, the head of the country's Scientific Committee of Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarters, the COVAX vaccines will be delivered to Iran in the next few weeks.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

The news agency added, citing the official, that high-risk groups, including healthcare workers and the elderly, will be the first to receive the vaccine.

Earlier in January, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared a ban on imports of Covid-19 vaccines from the United Kingdom and the United States. Meanwhile, Iranian officials have confirmed that Tehran held negotiations on the potential procurement of vaccines with Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi.

Iran began the human trials of its first domestic coronavirus vaccine, Covo-Iran, in late December and said that no side effects were detected so far.

To date, Iran has confirmed over 1.3 million Covid-19 cases, including more than 57,000 related deaths and over 1.1 million recoveries.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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When Jack Carlson wears his moms old green Lehman Brothers sweatshirt around New York City, people try to buy it off his back.

People will just come up to me and offer me money for it in restaurants, said Mr. Carlson, 33, the founder of the clothing company Rowing Blazers, which sells a contemporary version of the so-called banker bag, a Wall Street accessory that dates to 1978. Branded merchandise of defunct investment banks that were key architects of the financial crisis in 2008: officially hot, if in an arch, allusive way.

Buying and selling products associated with the crash has become, paradoxically, a thriving niche market. So too has memorabilia associated with other disasters in recent financial history, like the dot-com bubble and the Enron scandal.

In a Bloomberg article in which financial experts described how they would personally invest or spend $1 million, Akshay Shah, the founder of the investment firm Kyma Capital, said, When businesses go bust, they leave behind reminders of corporate power and the effects of time. eBay sellers, he noted, have scooped up branded items and then offer them for sale at a pretty substantial multiple after a suitable passage of time  like the $500 Lehman sticky notes. (Sounding a note of caution, Mr. Shah said, The key to success here would be volume of products and being patient.)
New Delhi, 18th January 2021: 21K School  Indias First Online School hosted a collaborative Language Week for students to encourage them to indulge in mindful reading and creative writing. The vision behind organising the language week was to promote a functional proficiency amongst students of Grade 1 to Grade 5 in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The interactive week was kickstarted by a day of DEAR  where students 
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari approved a proposal o January 25 to levy a 'Green Tax' on old vehicles that are polluting the environment. Transport vehicles older than eight years could be taxed at the rate of 10 to 25 percent of road tax.

The tax is to be imposed at the time of renewal of fitness certificate, the ministry said. Personal vehicles will be charged after 15 years since purchase, while public transport vehicles, such as city buses, will be charged a lower green tax.

A higher green tax of 50 percent will be levied on vehicles registered in highly polluted cities. There is a difference in tax levy depending on fuel and type of vehicle.

Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG, etc. to be exempted. Vehicles used in farming, such as tractor, harvester, tiller, etc. to be exempted from the green tax.
Rahul Gandhi (Image: Congress/Twitter)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the "person through which" prior information on India's air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan in 2019 was made available to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.

The Congress MP, however, did not provide evidence to back up his claim. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) also did not immediately respond to the unfounded claim.

Addressing a roadshow here during his final day of election campaign in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, he said only five people including the PM and the Defence Minister would have prior information of the planned strikes.

"Some days back it came out that a journalist knew about the air strikes in Balakot. Three days before the (Indian) air force bombed Pakistan, an Indian journalist was told it was going to happen," he said.

This meant the lives of our IAF pilots were put at 'risk,' he said.

"Now, five people in this world knew about Balakot (air strikes). Prime Minister of India, the Defence minister of India, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of the Air Force and the Home minister."

"Nobody else in the world knew about Balakot before it happened. Now I want to understand why an enquiry has not started on who told this journalist about Balakot before it happened. The reason is that one of these five people told this man. One of these five people betrayed our Air Force," he charged.

He alleged that "one of these people put the lives of our pilots in danger."

"If the Prime Minister did not do it then why is he not ordering an enquiry. Think about it. The only reason that the Prime Minister has not ordered an enquiry is because he is the person through which that message has gone to this journalist," Gandhi claimed.

Else, the PM should investigate and tell which one of these five people did it, Gandhi demanded.

Purported chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) head Partho Dasgupta, which mentioned that the former was privy to the 2019 air strike, by the IAF on the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot had surfaced recently.

The IAF had carried out the strike deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019 in the wake of killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district then by Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Gandhi also hit out at Modi once again over the Sino-India face-off, saying "today the Chinese army is sitting inside Indian territory."

"The Prime Minister has said he has a 56 inch chest, big chest. Today the Chinese army is sitting inside Indian territory. Thousand km of Indian land has been taken by the Chinese," he said.

He alleged that Modi cannot say the word China as he "does not have the courage to say" so.

"You look at his speeches for the last 3-4 months, he does not say the word China. When the Chinese entered our territory he lied that nobody has come. After some days the Army and Defence minister said the Chinese army had come into Indian territory," Gandhi added.

"And the only reason the Chinese have the guts and the courage to come into this country is because Narendra Modi has destroyed the economy and weakened (the country) by dividing it," he charged.

Bruce Harrison

E. Bruce Harrison, who co-founded with his wife, Patricia, one of the most successful PR firms dedicated to environmental communications, died Jan. 16.

The Dean of Green PR, whom the late Harold Burson praised as among the most able of PA counselors specializing in the environment," was 88.

Harrison made his mark in 1962 as PR director of the Chemical Manufacturers of America when he spearheaded a counterattack on Rachel Carsons classic, Silent Spring, which outlined the harmful effects that pesticides, especially DDT, have on the environment.

For that effort, Harrison rose to VP and environmental information officerthe first time that title appeared in the business community.

He went on to Freeport Minerals Co. as VP & chief communications officer, where he launched a major copper mining project in Indonesia and expanded his duties to include investor and government relations.

In 1973, Harrison helped launch E. Bruce Harrison & Co. to counsel corporate clients about environmental issues and dealing with green activist groups.

He sold E. Bruce Harrison & Co. to Ruder Finn in 1997. At the time of sale, E. Bruce Harrison & Co.'s client list included General Motors, BP America, Monsanto, Ford Motor, American Petroleum Institute, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Union Carbide, Phillips Petroleum, Philip Morris, Unocal and Uniroyal Chemical.

Harrison wrote the ground-breaking Going Green book in 1992, an early title on sustainable business communications. He followed up with Corporate Greening 2.0 in 2008.

He also contributed to the O'Dwyer publications.

Donations in Harrisons memory can be made to the Saint Pio Foundation, 270 North Ave., Ste. 808, New Rochelle, NY 10801 (www.saintpiofoundation.org) or the First Amendment Forever Fund: Society of Professional Journalists, 3909 N. Meridian St., Ste. 200, Indianapolis, IN 46208 (www.spj.org/hq.asp ).

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The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
A Houston police officer on Monday shot an armed homicide suspect who fired at responding officers in Independence Heights, officials said.

The suspect, only identified by police as a man in his mid-40s, was hospitalized in critical condition as of Monday afternoon, according to HPD Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner. No officers were injured.

Finner said the man sparked two separate confrontations in the neighborhood before his encounter with police. In the first, he approached two people talking in a vehicle around 2:20 p.m. in the 8500 block of North Main. Unprovoked, he opened fire, fatally striking a 29-year-old man, Finner said.

The suspect then walked to a convenience store about one block away, where he pointed the weapon at customers but did not open fire, Finner said. He left on foot and fired a few more rounds before police spotted him in the 100 block of East 44th Street.

There, the man shot at police, striking a squad car, Finner said. A four-year veteran officer commanded him to drop the weapon and fired back multiple times.

"Who knows, if the suspect would have continued to move around, he could have killed somebody else," Finner said. " The officer stepped up and protected himself and protected all of the citizens in this neighborhood. So I'm very proud of him."

The officer has been placed on administrative leave, per department policy. Finner said investigators did not yet know the motive for the violence. When asked whether mental illness played a role, he said he did not want to speculate.

"I can tell you thats going to be part of the investigation  it's just tragic whatever the situation is," he said.

The shooting marked the second officer-involved shooting since 2019 on that stretch of 44th Street, according to authorities.

Police officers in January of that year shot and killed an armed man in the 100 block after he wounded three others, including his brother.

The prior shooting happened outside the home of 65-year-old Oscar Calderon, he said. He returned from work Monday afternoon to find police once again gathered on his block.

Calderon, speaking in Spanish, was reminded again of the fatal 2019 shooting. Though, he was not concerned this time around. Most of the violence typically stays on the northside of 44th Street, he said.

Godofredo Vasquez contributed to this report.
NEW MILFORD The Connecticut Superior Court handed down a decision in favor of New Milford Mayor Pete Bass and the town last week, bringing a possible end to the 2019 lawsuit from former police chief Shawn Boyne which accused Bass of leading the former chief to believe his contract would be renewed, only to have his application passed over.

Boynes lawyer, Andrew Houlding, said they were disappointed but have not yet decided whether they are going to appeal the decision. We do think Shawn was treated badly, but I think we may have to accept the judges determination and move on. I think thats maybe the most appropriate course, but we havent made a final decision, Houlding said.

Boynes lawsuit brought forward two claims related to the decision not to renew his employment contract one for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and another of promissory estoppel, which suggests that a promise can be enforceable by law if there is a clear and definite promise that a promisor makes and a promisee relies on. Yet, both of Boynes claims were unable to stand up in court, and the judge ruled in favor of the defendants. Boyne previously served as New Milford police chief for eight years.

Bass said he was pleased with the outcome and appreciated the judges steadfast decision to clear myself and the town of New Milford.

H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media

The original complaint filed in March of 2019 says that in the early summer of 2018, Boyne was made aware of allegations of criminal activity made against Lt. Larry Ash, which he reported for internal investigation. In July, Boyne learned of further allegations, leading him to place Ash on administrative leave. At this point, Boyne alleged that Bass, who he claimed was a longtime friend of Ash, expressed dismay and displeasure at the fact that Boyne had reported the allegations. And approximately 10 days after Boyne reported the information, Bass informed Boyne his contract would not be renewed for another term.

Boyne claims Bass told him this decision was made because he wanted a police chief who resided in New Milford, despite the fact the job opening was posted the following day without this stipulation listed. The town then passed over Boynes application and hired Spencer Cerruto, a Torrington resident.

The lawsuit claims that the defendants declined, in bad faith, to extend and renew the plaintiffs contract as chief, based on Basss desire to protect the lieutenant and that the residency requirement was concocted... as a pretext for his bad faith.

An FBI investigation into the allegations made against Ash, as well as the state attorneys offices own review, found no criminal wrongdoing on Ashs part, and the second-generation, then-longest-serving member of the force, was reinstated in January of 2019. In June of that same year, Ash was promoted to captain before retiring a week later.

However, a Connecticut State Police report published shortly after Ashs retirement and obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media Group found evidence to support three allegations of ethical wrongdoing by the former captain. The report says that Ash failed to follow through on a local forgery investigation in exchange for a gas grill, and that he tipped off the suspects in a drug investigation. Although he admitted to receiving the grill, Ash said he was just loaning it and that the grill held no value because a critical piece of machinery was missing.

Under Connecticut State law, one has to meet three criteria in order to prove that a covenant of good faith was broken: both parties have to participate in a contract in which one party expects to receive certain benefits, the other party has to have done something to hurt or halt those benefits, and the actions stopping those benefits must be executed in bad faith. The court found that Boyne had not entered into a new contract, and there was nothing in his previous contract that suggested it would be renewed, despite Boynes claims that Bass allegedly gave verbal signals that it would be. The existing four-year contract, the decision says, was simple, straightforward, and unambiguous, clearly setting out the terms and limits of Boynes employment.

Actionable bad faith cannot arise in a vacuum, the decision states. As tomorrow is promised to no man or woman, so, too, the 2014-18 contract did not promise the plaintiff employment at any time after it expired.

Claims of promissory estoppel did not hold up either. The court also found that, under the town charter, this type of appointment requires approval from the Town Council, and as such, Bass lacked the authority to enter into a contract with Boyne without the vote of the council. The plaintiff clearly knew that the mayors say-so, even assuming it was given, was not binding, absent a majority vote, the decision states.

If Boyne does appeal, which they must do within 20 days of this decision, the suit will move to the Connecticut Appellate Court.

Bass is not concerned about an appeal. We will continue to tackle it head-on from there, the mayor said of the possibility of future litigation.
Breaking two days of silence over a New York Times report that casts him as a central character in one of former President Donald J. Trumps last-gasp effort to cling to power, U.S. Rep. Scott Perrys office issued a statement Monday in which the fifth-term Congressman from York County denied any wrongdoing.

Perry was outed by The New York Times in reports over the weekend as working with a senior U.S. Department of Justice attorney on a plan to write a letter to Georgia state legislators advising them that there was an ongoing investigation into vote fraud in the Georgia presidential election, in hopes that it would spur them to invalidate the states results, which showed a narrow win for now-President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The proposed letter would have been sent in contradiction to other Justice findings that there had been no widespread fraud.

In the end, neither plot was carried out.

Perry, in his statement Monday, denied any wrongdoing in the affair, saying:

Throughout the past four years, I worked with Assistant Attorney General Clark on various legislative matters. When President Trump asked if I would make an introduction, I obliged.

My conversations with the President or the Assistant Attorney General, as they have been with all with whom Ive engaged following the election, were a reiteration of the many concerns about the integrity of our elections, and that those allegations should at least be investigated to ease the minds of the voters that they had, indeed, participated in a free and fair election.

The statement comes as several Democratic elected officials, party organization and allied groups have called for Perry to resign.

In addition, the Office of Inspector General at Justice has launched an investigation into the actions of all Justice Department employees in the matter, and the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said Saturday that it will be conducting its own inquiry.

Perry, a conservative Republican from northern York County, was just re-elected to his fifth term in Pennsylvanias 10th District, which covers all of Dauphin County, and parts of Cumberland and York counties.
2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #4

Posted on 24 January 2021 by John Hartz

Story of the Week... La Nina Update... Toon of the Week... Video of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Article Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week...

Story of the Week...

Davos Agenda: What you need to know about saving the planet

2020 showed us that action on climate change is more urgent than ever.

Building back better must include a focus on reaching net-zero, the energy transition and committing to circular economies and sustainable consumption.

The Davos Agenda will mobilize global leaders to build a healthier, more resilient planet.

A year ago at the Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos  heeding the advice of speakers including Greta Thunberg, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Prince Charles  government, business and civil society committed to take more concrete action on climate change and save the planet from a hot, smoky, polluted demise.

Throughout the week, delegates watched in horror as bushfires ravaged Australia  ultimately burning more than 11 million hectares of land and killing or displacing as many as 3 billion animals. By the end of the week, a Davos press conference about a new global threat  a highly infectious virus emerging in China  showed the world that we could no longer ignore the links between the health of the planet and the health of humans, economies and societies.

From 25-29 January 2021, The Davos Agenda will bring many of those leaders together again to discuss the innovative and bold solutions needed to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery  with a focus on the resiliency and sustainability of our ecosystems and infrastructure.

Click here to access the complete article as originally posted on the World Economic Forum website.

Davos Agenda: What you need to know about saving the planet by Samantha Sault, Agenda, World Economic Forum, Jan 24, 2021

La Nina Update...

La Nina Roars, Unleashing Fire, Drought and Floods Worldwide

In the American West, the drought that paved the way for 2020s hellscape of wildfires is poised to be even worse this year. Fanning the flames: La Nina.

The weather pattern has reached the peak of its power, wreaking havoc on a world already reeling from an unprecedented string of extreme weather brought on by climate change. Characterized by a cooling of the equatorial Pacific, La Nina triggers an atmospheric reaction that roils commodities markets across the globeparching cropland in some areas while bringing a flood of rain to others.

In the U.S. West, the biggest threat is drought. Even as long-awaited rain falls this week, water scarcity plagues 78% of 11 western states, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. January should be Californias wettest month, bringing an end to fire season with frequent rain along the coast and valleys and snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But with La Nina steering the winter away from the state, fire season now seems to be limitless. A record 4.2 million acres burned in the state in 2020, and the threat still hasnt abated. At least a dozen blazes erupted this month as dry gusts rattled the southern half of the state.

La Nina Roars, Unleashing Fire, Drought and Floods Worldwide by Brian K Sullivan and Mira Rojanasakul, Bloomberg News, Jan 23, 2021

Toon of the Week...

Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.

Video of the Week...

Katy Tur interviews Greta Thunberg and Michael Mann

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg says that the climate goals from the Biden administration are "very far from being in line with the Paris Agreement" but welcomes the new tone from the president.

Katy Tur interviews Greta Thunberg and Michael Mann, MSNBC, Jan 22, 2021

Coming Soon on SkS...

The SCIARA Project  Interactive Time Travel into the Climate Future (Daniel Tamberg)

(Daniel Tamberg) Study: Accounting for the Value of Nature Reinforces the Paris Targets (Dana)

(Dana) SkS New Research for Week #4 (Doug Bostrom)

(Doug Bostrom) Environmentalists' Climate Change Myths (Climate Adam)

(Climate Adam) Refining the remaining 1.5C carbon budget (Dr Kasia Tokarska & Dr Damon Matthews)

(Dr Kasia Tokarska & Dr Damon Matthews) 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #5 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #5 (John Hartz)

Climate Feedback Article Review...

[To be added.]

Click here to access the detailed analysis of this claim by a panel of experts.

SkS Week in Review...

Poster of the Week...
Abusive bosses may retain their positions by taking superficial steps to repair their social images following outbursts, without acting meaningfully to change their behaviors, according to research led by a University of Wyoming business management expert.

Shawn McClean, an assistant professor in UW's College of Business, joined colleagues from the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Texas A&M University in conducting the research, which appears in the journal Personnel Psychology. Their study also was featured in Harvard Business Review, a preeminent business magazine.

"Our study shows that supervisors are often driven by simply repairing their social image rather than making genuine amends and changing their behavior," McClean says. "As a result, employees may seemingly forgive abusive supervisors who try to 'fake nice' after abusive behavior, thus reinforcing the cycle of abuse."

The researchers surveyed 79 bosses who volunteered to participate in the study from fields including education, health care, retail and consulting. The study gathered information about how the bosses acted following incidents in which they told their subordinates they were incompetent, invaded their privacy or made negative comments about them to others.

Rather than take steps to genuinely repair damage caused by their abusive behavior, such as offering sincere apologies, many of the bosses were more concerned about repairing their social images, the researchers found. The bosses did small favors for employees with the express purpose of getting employees to view them more favorably, while also engaging in self-promoting behaviors, such as highlighting how hard they work or showcasing past successes.

"Consequently, even though abusive bosses may appear on the surface to be considerate to their victims following one of their abusive episodes, the bosses in our study reported behavior that was instead a superficial attempt at impression management," the researchers wrote in their Harvard Business Review article. "As a result, toxic bosses were not likely to change their ways, mainly because their focus was on covering up their bad behavior through manipulative ingratiation and self-promotion behaviors, not on actually changing their toxic behaviors."

The researchers suggest that breaking the cycle of self-centered, manipulative and uncivil behavior by bosses requires organizational leaders to implement zero-tolerance policies for toxic supervisory behavior -- and adhere to those policies, even when bosses appear to strive to make up for their bad behaviors. Sanctions, rather than forgiveness, are more likely to change behaviors.

"That said, a boss's behavior can never be fully regulated by organizational policy; in the end, whether a boss fails to exhibit common decency and civil behavior to his employees is ultimately up to them," the researchers wrote. "Sincere apologies and reconciliations on the part of the offending boss are the only sustainable way of regaining credibility and moving forward from a lapse in civil behavior."

###
There are many things about the COVID pandemic that I do not understand, but there are a whole lot of things I will never understand and that makes almost every day a little more fun. Ive always been an inch-by inch, anythings a cinch guy and like the shiny side of most of what I find but I cannot find one person who can tell me why Hamilton Countys coronavirus numbers plunged 36 percent last week.

I think a lot of it is due to prayer but Im going to tell you this: The smartest in white coats are gratified yet mystified. In the last seven days Hamilton County has had 1,409 new and confirmed cases. Sadly, we have had 11 additional deaths when a couple of weeks ago we had that many in one day.

In Dalton last week there was a 30 percent change in indicators for the good and in Cleveland (TN) there was a welcomed 23.2 percent lull. The numbers I have just used were fresh at 6 p.m. yesterday. The world-acclaimed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dashboard uses mid-week tallies for its seven-day comparisons; thus, you may detect a slight variance in its weekly account for the State of Tennessee:

* * *

TENNESSEES SEVEN DAY CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

(NOTE: This represents reports from the CDC COVID Dashboard from January 14-January 20, 2021)

* -- Cases 1,613 (438.55 per 100k) for a -37.55 % change.

* -- Deaths 10 (2.72 per 100k) for a -71.43 % change

* -- Percent Positivity in Testing 14.25, -4.17 % change

* -- Testing Volume 5,563 (1,512.49 per 100k) -39.52 % change.

* -- New Hospital Admissions (COVID) 126 (8.17 per 100 beds) -31.90 % change

* -- Percent Beds Used (COVID) 12.90 % / -3.01 % change.

* -- Percent ICU Beds Used (COVID) 23.16 % / -4.54 % change.

* -- Hamilton Co. population 75yrs and over: 25,796

* -- Hamilton Co. population 65-to-74 years: 34,462

* -- HAMILTON COUNTY (Tn) TOTALS: Cases: 35,697, Deaths 337

* -- TENNESSEE TOTALS: Cases: 708,717, Deaths 8,859

* -- UNITED STATES TOTALS: Confirmed Cases: 25,111,828, Deaths 419,043

* -- GLOBAL TOTALS: Confirmed Cases: 99,131,815, Deaths 2,127,884

According to a CDC report issued at 6 p.m. yesterday, about 5.6 percent of people in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot. About one percent of people have received both doses of the vaccine. About 47.2 percent of the shots distributed haven't been used yet.

Tennessee is at 5.2 percent and has used 53.9 percent of doses that have been delivered.

* * *

Of course, the worst possible thing we can do is relax our guard. We must fervently mask, distance and wash out hands. Dr. James Hildreth, the president of the Meharry Medical School in Nashville, told the Nashville Tennessean, We cant afford to let our guard down, even if the vaccines are coming and the numbers are turning in the right direction. At any time if we let our guard down, if we stop doing these things, because there is so much virus out there, a surge could be really difficult to deal with.

Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt infectious disease doctor, has noticed a gradual and somewhat sustained downturn that had he said left him pleasantly surprised and a little perplexed. In a conference call with public health and disease experts on Wednesday morning, no one could really explain the slowdown, he told the Tennessean.

These are good signs, and we all hope they continue, although we are not quite sure we have an explanation, Schaffner said. We were expecting something of a surge, and we did get something of a surge early in January, but it seems now to be reversing itself.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger is elated over the downturn. For Petes sake, lets not jinx it! Coppinger said the countys Health Department had a really good day on Sunday, administering first-round doses and praised Becky Barnes' nurses for working through the weekend.

We are going to be open every day this week and, once again, well work Saturday and Sunday in trying to accommodate people who work the same hours weve been open. Every day  and throughout the day  the reservations board will change, said the Mayor.

We discovered one guy had made nine reservations and they called and told him that was eight too many. He was that desperate for the vaccine and we told him one was all he needed, to pick one from the nine and give eight other people a chance. Please, tell people not to over book because that keeps somebody else from getting the vaccine.

The other problem we are having with our older citizens is not to worry  your vaccine is assured at the prescribed time. Dont come two hours early  you just block the line! We all appreciate diligence and being on time, the mayor laughed, but we want to be thoughtful of others  no need to get to either inoculation site over 15 minutes early. I promise, well have the vaccine waiting on you.

Coppinger was asked again about the claim Tennessee has a hidden treasure-trove of vaccine that is being held from the public. Tell me where it is, and well go get it right now! I promise you that is a rumor or a myth. Call it anything you want except the truth.

Apparently communication between the providers, the state, and the health departments have gotten better because Becky Barnes feels confident to offer daily inoculations every day into February. Thats a step of faith, but the overriding goal is to get as much of the vaccine into arms as we can, Coppinger explained. I really feel like we arent far from giving three thousand doses a day once we are assured of the vaccine.

For the record, I could care less how much vaccine arrives in Hamilton, but just give me the number of arms that contain it. We must do everything possible to extinguish the death, the doubt, and suffering this pandemic has caused in every family. The more we can get vaccinated, the harder we can fight, and while nobody can explain this downturn, I sure do welcome it.

royexum@aol.com
Whos bailing out whom?

While Senate Republicans describe federal aid to New Jersey and other states hard hit by the coronavirus as blue-state bailouts, two new studies show the states they love to attack send billions of dollars more to Washington than they receive in federal spending.

And the beneficiaries of their largesse were the states whose senators stand in the way of federal assistance, none bigger than Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnells home state of Kentucky, according to a report by the State University of New Yorks Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Residents of Kentucky got $2.89 in federal spending for every $1 they paid in federal taxes during federal fiscal year 2019. New Jersey received 91 cents per resident, tied with New York and behind only Connecticut (89 cents) and Massachusetts (90 cents) for states that get the least from the feds.

Putting it another way, Kentucky got $63 billion more from Washington than its residents paid in federal taxes in 2019, more than any other state but Virginia, whose figures are skewed because the entire Defense Department is based there. New Jersey, on the other hand, got $10 billion less than what its residents paid. Only New York did worse.

Florida, where Republican Rick Scott has been a fierce critic of additional state aid, got $1.24 back for every $1 its residents paid in federal taxes. It received $51 billion more, the third-highest amount.

A separate study by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli showed that Kentucky received $7,377 per person more from Washington during federal fiscal year 2019 than residents paid in federal taxes and Florida received $822 more.

Meanwhile, New Jersey had a deficit of $4,877, highest among the 50 states, followed by New York, which got $3,645 less per person.

Those figures provide more ammunition for congressional Democrats trying to pass President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill that includes $350 billion in state aid.

New Jersey and the Northeast are undeniably the nations economic engine, but we have also been disproportionately hit hard economically by the pandemic, said Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who introduced bipartisan legislation in the last Congress to provide federal aid to cash-strapped states.

If Senate Republicans want to continue to deride COVID relief for state and local governments as so-called blue state bailouts, they do so at their own peril, he said.

Republican opposition to state coronavirus aid, a top Democratic priority, scuttled pre-election efforts to enact another stimulus bill, and then ensured that the $900 billion measure that became law did not include such assistance.

With these new numbers, its clear that New Jersey is continuing to foot the bill for the moocher states, even as these ruby red bandits keep complaining about COVID-19 relief for hard-hit states like ours, said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist.said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, Menendez asked Bidens nominee for treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, about the need for state and local aid.

Federal aid for state and local governments was a key component of the $787 billion stimulus law enacted in 2009 in response to the Great Recession. It accounted for 42% of the package, or $330 billion, according to the California State Legislatures fiscal and policy analysis office.

Even then, Yellen said, the spending proved to be insufficient to meet the need.

State and local governments have to balance their budgets and they were forced to slash their workforces, Yellen said. It was a tremendous drag on the economy and the same would be true now.

Scott has rejected the disparity among the states, saying Florida gets more money because of its large number of elderly residents get Social Security and other retirement payments, not because of a systematic imbalance in allocating federal revenues.

To bail out these blue states makes no sense, Scott told the Fox Business Network recently.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., also has objected to the federal aid. Pennsylvania received $1.32 for every $1 paid in federal taxes.

Sending states more money than theyve lost in revenue or in additional spending is just not a good idea, Toomey said at the Finance Committee hearing.

Yellen also said during the hearing that she wanted to look at the effect of the Republican tax laws $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes. That law disproportionately affected New Jersey and the other high-tax states that send billions more to Washington than they received in services.

I think its critical to study and evaluate what the impact has been on state and local governments, on their ability to provide critical services, she said in response to a question from outgoing committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, whose state got back $1.17 for every $1 paid in taxes.

Grassley claimed at the hearing that repealing the deduction cap was a giveaway to the rich, even as studies showed that the GOP tax bill that he led gave most of its benefits to the wealthy and corporations and as he co-sponsored separate legislation to repeal the federal estate tax that falls solely on individuals inheriting more than $11 million.

Despite claims by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans, none of the beneficiaries of ending the estate tax would be family farms or small businesses, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive research group.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of those hurt by the deduction cap in New Jersey had income between $75,000 and $200,000, according to Internal Revenue Service statistics.

The House in 2019 voted to repeal the $10,000 cap and pay for it by raising taxes only on those making at least $518,400, but Senate Republicans did not take it up.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang, left, of Emergency Ambulance Service, and paramedic Trenton Amaro prepare to unload a COVID-19 patient from an ambulance in Placentia, Calif., Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

It's crowded in the back of the ambulance.

Two emergency medical technicians, the patient, the gurneyand an unseen and unwelcome passenger lurking in the air.

For EMTs Thomas Hoang and Joshua Hammond, the coronavirus is constantly close. COVID-19 has become their biggest fear during 24-hour shifts in California's Orange County, riding with them from 911 call to 911 call, from patient to patient.

They and other EMTs, paramedics and 911 dispatchers in Southern California have been thrust into the front lines of the national epicenter of the pandemic. They are scrambling to help those in need as hospitals burst with a surge of patients after the holidays, ambulances are stuck waiting outside hospitals for hours until beds become available, oxygen tanks are in alarmingly short supply and the vaccine rollout has been slow.

EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves.

Emergency medical workers Jacob Magoon, from left, Joshua Hammond and Thomas Hoang lift a patient onto a gurney in Placentia, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

They gown up, mask up and glove up, "but you can only be so safe," Hammond said. "We don't have the luxury of being 6 feet apart from the patient."

Statistics on COVID-19 cases and deaths among EMTs and paramedicsespecially ones employed by private companiesare hard to find. They are considered essential health care workers but rarely receive the pay and protections given to doctors and nurses.

Hammond and Hoang work for Emergency Ambulance Service Inc., a private ambulance company in Southern California. They, like so many others, have long fostered goals of becoming first responders to serve their communities.

Hoang is attending nursing school. Hammond is one test away from becoming a paramedic. Both were called to a life in the medical field after traumatic experiences: Hammond had to call 911 after his mother had an allergic reaction, and Hoang witnessed a young bicyclist get hit by a car.

A police officer shines a flashlight as emergency medical workers Trenton Amaro, far right, and Joshua Hammond, second from right, check the vitals of a handcuffed patient in Placentia, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Yet as COVID-19 infections surge and the risks increase, they wonder: Is it worth risking your lifeand the lives of your loved ones at homefor a small paycheck and a dream?

"It's really hard to justify it beyond 'I really want to help people,'" said Hammond, 25. "Is that worth the risk?"

For now, yes.

"I do want to do my part in helping people get better, in a sense," said Hoang, 29.

And so their day starts at 7 a.m.

Wearing masks, Hoang and Hammond clean their ambulance and equipment, wiping down every surface even if the previous crew scrubbed it already. They take no chances during their daylong shift covering the Orange County city of Placentia.

The 911 calls come in with limited information: a broken bone, chest pain, difficulty breathing, stomachache, fever. Every patient is a potential carrier of the coronavirus, whether they know it or not.

A patient is surrounded by emergency medical workers Joshua Hammond, from left, Trenton Amaro, Thomas Hoang and Kim Rose while being treated in her apartment in Placentia, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sometimes, people know they're infected and tell 911 dispatchers before the EMTs arrive. Other times, the symptoms themselvesfever, shortness of breathsignal a possible case. But Hammond remembers one woman, suffering from hip pain, who didn't tell him or his partner about her coronavirus diagnosis.

He only found out afterward, saying it reinforced the importance of treating every patient as if they have tested positive.

"That was definitely a call where we learned a lot," Hammond said.

Unlike doctors and nurses, first responders must go inside homes. They walk into hot zones where everyone in a household is sick, where the virus is in the air. They lift immobile patients onto gurneys, their masked faces just inches apart.

They race to hospitals already overwhelmed with sick people, sometimes only to wait hours outside before their patient can be admitted. And then they do it all again when the next 911 call comes in.

Emergency medical technician Joshua Hammond, right, of Emergency Ambulance Service, holds the hand of a patient to calm her down in Placentia, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

"We don't know the end result," Hoang said. "We only know the beginning to the hospital."

Then there are those who direct the EMTs where to go. In Los Angeles County, 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest from Hoang and Hammond, three young women stood before six screens apiece recently, talking into headsets with clear, clipped voices, marshaling other ambulance crews around a territory stretching from the mountains to the sea.

Ashley Cortez, Adreanna Moreno and Jaime Hopper work 12-hour shifts as dispatchers for Care Ambulance Service Inc. If the EMTs are the front lines, these women are the scouts.

They play chess with ambulances all day. When one gets stuck at a hospital for eight, 10 or 12 hours, the dispatchers must reposition the others to cover its area. When an EMT reports a positive COVID-19 test, the dispatchers must find a way to cover the ambulance's calls if the whole crew must quarantine. When one household has multiple coronavirus patients requiring two ambulances, the dispatchers have to plug the hole.

Emergency medical technicians Joshua Hammond, left, and Thomas Hoang, of Emergency Ambulance Service, transport a COVID-19 patient to an ambulance in Placentia, Calif., Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. For EMTs Thomas Hoang and Joshua Hammond, the coronavirus is constantly close. COVID-19 has become their biggest fear during 24-hour shifts in California's Orange County, riding with them from 911 call to 911 call, from patient to patient. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical workers Trenton Amaro, from left, Joshua Hammond, Thomas Hoang and Charles Navarro are crammed in an ambulance as they treat a patient in Placentia, Calif., Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technicians Joshua Hammond, right, and Thomas Hoang, of Emergency Ambulance Service, sit in their ambulance after transporting a patient to an emergency room in Placentia, Calif., Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. For EMTs Thomas Hoang and Joshua Hammond, the coronavirus is constantly close. COVID-19 has become their biggest fear during 24-hour shifts in California's Orange County, riding with them from 911 call to 911 call, from patient to patient. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang, 29, of Emergency Ambulance Service, loads a gurney into an ambulance after transporting a patient to an emergency room in Fullerton, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technician Joshua Hammond, 25, of Emergency Ambulance Service, watches TV while on standby for a dispatch call in Placentia, Calif., Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technician Joshua Hammond, of Emergency Ambulance Service, transports a COVID-19 patient to an emergency room in Placentia, Calif. Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. Unlike doctors and nurses, first responders must go inside homes. They walk into hot zones where everyone in a household is sick, where the virus is in the air. They lift immobile patients onto gurneys, their masked faces just inches apart. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technician Joshua Hammond, of Emergency Ambulance Service, prepares a gurney to transport a COVID-19 patient to an emergency room in Placentia, Calif. Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. Unlike doctors and nurses, first responders must go inside homes. They walk into hot zones where everyone in a household is sick, where the virus is in the air. They lift immobile patients onto gurneys, their masked faces just inches apart. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technician Joshua Hammond, 25, of Emergency Ambulance Service, drives an ambulance to his station in Placentia, Calif. Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technicians Thomas Hoang and Joshua Hammond, of Emergency Ambulance Service, transport a patient on a gurney in Placentia, Calif., Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. EMTs and paramedics have always dealt with life and deaththey make split-second decisions about patient care, which hospital to race to, the best and fastest way to save someoneand now they're just a breath away from becoming the patient themselves. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang, 29, of Emergency Ambulance Service, falls asleep in a recliner while on standby for a dispatch call in Placentia, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Their greatest fear is what's called a "level zero"when there are no ambulances left to send to an emergency. In Los Angeles County, one of the nation's hardest-hit counties during the pandemic, the fear becomes a regular reality.

For Moreno, 28, the anxiety begins the night before her shift.

"I lay there and know I'm going to come in, and I know I'm going to have no units to run these calls," she said.

On Christmas weekend, Cortez watched as call after call piled up on her screenwith no ambulances available. Typically, it takes 30 seconds to send one out. That weekend, it took up to 15 minutes. And this was even before ambulances started languishing outside hospitals for hours.

"I was just in disbelief," said Cortez, 26.

There's not much more the dispatchers can do. They watch those screens. They listen to radio chatter. They rearrange the crews to cover the most territory possible. And they wonder what fresh horror awaits in a virus-ravaged world where the dangers are too many and the ambulances are too few.

"What if something happens to my daughter," Cortez said, "and there was nobody to send for her?"

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Ramakrishnudu wants the Governor to invoke Article 243 K (3) of the Constitution and conduct elections towards ensuring self-rule in local bodies.  ANI

VIJAYAWADA: Leader of Opposition in AP Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Sunday asserted that it is the constitutional responsibility of AP Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan to restore rule of law and prevent breakdown of administrative machinery in the state.

The senior Telugu Desam leader said it is unprecedented that government officials and employees are openly refusing to take up election duties. He observed that in no other state in the country had employees publicly defied a decision taken by the State Election Commission (SEC) on holding of polls to local bodies.

Ramakrishnudu wanted the Governor to invoke Article 243 K (3) of the Constitution and conduct elections towards ensuring self-rule in local bodies. He charged that there is constitutional breakdown in Andhra Pradesh caused by the fascist regime of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. The YSRC government should govern by rule of law and not whims and fancies of one individual, he remarked.

Accusing the CM of having no respect for democracy, the Leader of Opposition in the council said Jagan Mohan Reddy is undermining the Constitution, judiciary, legislature and even media. He alleged that false cases are being filed against media people to terrify them. There is no Grama Swaraj in villages, which YSRC party workers are domineering, he stated.
The Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS) says operating an open registry for vessels will help the certificate of the nations seafarers to be acceptable worldwide.

Tony Onoharigho, the president of NIS, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Monday that presently, the country operates the closed registry system for vessels, adding that it was not good enough.

NAN reports that an open registry is a system whereby a country may allow ships to be registered there and fly the countrys flag without the real owner having any definite connection with the country.

A closed registry refers to registers that set requirements regarding ownership, management and manning of ships.

According to him, operating open registry will expose Nigerians into foreign markets and help the country earn dollars which will be paid to government through annual flag registration.

There is what we call open and closed registry; now the only way to sell the flag to a higher level is to operate an open registry but we are operating a closed one now.

The open registry will sell our certificate abroad because for people that will take our vessel as a flag, we can compel them to use our seafarers to ride their vessels with cabotage.

Even if they dont use everybody, the captain of the ship can be their own but the remaining ones will be Nigerians.

The moment we are flying Nigerian flag outside the country it will move our certificate to the territory market but right now what we have is to go to bonny and come back and this is not good enough.

Before the former Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director- General, Dakuku Petersides left, the issue was discussed and we were at the level of implementing it.

We had a conference of stakeholders and discussed the benefits of open registry but eventually it was not implemented, he said.

The NIS president said the reason why the country was not getting attention from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) convention was because the vessels that would have given the country impetus were not there.

We need vessels. We do not even have a flag vessel so the only thing that the government needs to do is to liberalise the flag convention, he said.

According to Onoharigho, the countrys seafarers certificate is not acceptable in most parts of the world and NIMASA is to regulate the industrys certification.

You cannot compare Nigerian certificate to Liberian certificate; I represent Liberian flag in Africa, Liberia has a lot of ships, they have higher flag and so their certificate is everywhere.

And again, Liberia does what is called endorsement from other countries too. But, Nigeria does not do endorsements. We believe in what we can achieve on our own.

The only people that can ensure our certificate has value is the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron and other academies in the country through world training for our seafarers which will get us out of this problem, he said.

(NAN)

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DENVER, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Paladina Health, which now operates as Everside Health, the nation's second-largest provider of direct primary care, announced a new location to serve State of Colorado employees and their families on the Western Slope. State employees and their dependents can now receive care at the Trailhead Clinics Montrose facility, where they will have nearly unlimited 24/7 access to a healthcare provider.

The State of Colorado offers its employees direct primary care as an added benefit, in addition to traditional health insurance. Data shows that employees with easy and affordable access to preventive care are more motivated, have fewer absences from work, and often recover from sicknesses more quickly. A healthy workforce is also more productive and more engaged with its work.

"We are thrilled for our state employees and their families to have access to the Trailhead Clinics Montrose facility on the Western Slope," said Kara Veitch, Executive Director of the Department of Personnel and Administration. "As a large employer whose workforce reaches every corner of our state, the State of Colorado aims to provide increased access to affordable, high-quality care for every employee regardless of their ZIP code. This is a step closer toward that goal."

"Trailhead Clinics is thrilled to add an additional location to provide healthcare services to the dedicated State of Colorado employees who live in Montrose and surrounding communities, where healthcare is more expensive and less accessible than in other parts of our State," said Dr. Robert Boyer, founder of Trailhead Clinics. "We could not be more pleased to have the honor of taking care of Colorado's finest in the Grand Junction area, and we are looking forward to doing the same in the Montrose area. We are proud to serve Colorado employees and their families and help them achieve their health and wellness goals."

The State of Colorado has partnered with Paladina Health (now operating as Everside Health) for the past five years to provide onsite and near-site primary care services to State workers. Under the partnership, in 2019 alone, the State saved more than $1.4 million on healthcare claims costs, which was equal to a savings of $47 per member per month. The partnership has resulted in measurable improvements to the overall health of the State's workforce, and patient satisfaction surveys show employees value direct primary care both for its convenience and for the increased face time they receive with a provider who is well versed on their medical history. Patients also have access to 24/7 virtual care.

"We are pleased to provide a service aligned with the State of Colorado's goals to improve the health of its employees, reduce the total cost of care, and expand access to quality healthcare in rural Colorado," said Chris Miller, CEO of Everside Health. "As a Denver-based company, it's especially meaningful to us to be able to work with our State to improve the health and lives of the people who live here."

Everside Health serves a wide range of clients throughout the U.S. across multiple sectors and operates clinics for a significant number of unions and Taft-Hartley plans. It also has partnerships with several health systems including Common Spirit Health (which was created by the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health), SSM Health and The Christ Hospital.

About Everside Health

Everside Health, formerly Paladina Health, Activate Healthcare and Healthstat, is the second largest direct primary care provider in the U.S., operating 350 health clinics in 32 states located at or near the facilities of its employer, union and other benefit sponsor clients. Everside's data-driven, patient-centric healthcare delivery model aligns incentives to benefit the patient, the physician and the benefit provider, all while reducing the total cost of care. Patients receive convenient, low- or no-cost access to physicians and 24/7 virtual care, reducing the need for costly ER use. Everside Health, as its former Paladina Health entity, was consistently recognized for clinical outcomes that exceed HEDIS commercial PPO benchmarks, and its clients typically reduce their overall healthcare costs by 20%. Everside Health is based in Denver. For more information, visit www.eversidehealth.com.

SOURCE Everside Health
Longford County Council has yet again been recognised for its outstanding workplace standards at the All-Ireland Annual Occupational Safety Awards.

For the second year in a row, Longford County Council has won the Local Authority / Council Award and was recognised as a Consistent High Achiever at the annual ceremony which is run by the National Irish Safety Organisation in conjunction with Northern Ireland Safety Group. The results were announced in an online ceremony which took place on Friday afternoon.

Delighted with the win, Chief Executive of Longford County Council Paddy Mahon said, Its great to be consistently recognised on a national stage for the strong culture of health, safety and welfare that is in place at Longford County Council.

Acting Health and Safety Officer Amanda Cullen agreed saying, These awards are a testament to the dedication of all of the local authority employees who consistently work so hard to comply with the high level of workplace health and safety standards required. Its a great win for the whole organisation.

Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council Paul Ross congratulated the Health and Safety team and all who contributed to this great achievement. Im delighted to say that we have proven to be a county of excellence here at Longford County Council as one of the few local authorities that has achieved this consistent standard.

The local authority recently successfully migrated from OHSAS 18001:2007 to ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System Standard, following a two-day surveillance audit with the National Standards Authority of Ireland.

This latest award is the latest in a series of national achievements for Longford County Council. The local authority was recognised by Chambers Ireland and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in November 2020 with a National Excellence in Local Government Award for the Use of Remote Working Technology when they took home the prestigious award for Outstanding Initiative through the Municipal Districts.

Longford County Council is a consistent achiever in the NISO /NISG competition since first entering in 2014, securing a safety award each year.



New York, Jan. 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lifestyle changes and styles, like working and using screens for long periods of time, have brought about migraines and headaches. Headaches can be such a nuisance while taking a toll on your health. At times, they can be so debilitating that they affect how you go about your day. They are also prevalent in individuals who have diabetes due to high or low blood sugars.

Consequently, people may resort to using painkillers to alleviate the pain. The painkillers purchased are frequently over-the-counter medications. Such medications have assured you to assist you in eradicating your migraine for good; unfortunately, a few of them have stood up to their assurance and been successful. In addition to that, some individuals opt to try out new preventative supplements purchased both on a doctor's prescription and over-the-counter. However, most reviews and studies show that the new preventative supplements failed to work, hence did not please the consumers.

Besides, acquiring a perfect solution to achieve tension relief has been such an endeavor and constant stress for many patients. Most individuals suffering from tension may often opt for a cooling and calming practice that can help free themselves from pain.

Luckily, Aculief is the best alternative to both prescription and over the counter drugs. It is a portable, wearable device meant to help reduce migraine, tension headaches. Migraines are characterized by burning sensations in the body, sensitivity to mild sound, smell, excessive throbbing aches, accompanied nausea and vomiting. Tension relief Aculief is well suited for you if you continuously experience a lack of energy, constant stress, and energy imbalance.

History Of Aculief

The brain behind the wearable gadget for tension relief is a man named Jon Doogan who had suffered from constant migraines and related issues such as tension and stress. While in college, he complained about his frequent pains, and one of his friends recommended exerting pressure on his LI4 acupressure point.

If you go read through the history of his discovery, you'll be astounded by how he went on to do at the stop between the thumb and index finger and discovered that it was an ideal method for tension relief. Jon Doogan shared how this tension relief solution could help other people who suffered from similar and related issues.

He provided the following steps in applying pressure at the He Gu point;

Use your right thumb and index finger, and place it on the spot on your left hand in the middle of the base of your left thumb and index finger. Afterward, press down the acupoint for five minutes. Move your thumb in a circular manner while exerting pressure simultaneously. Be sure to be firm; however, do not press so hard that it hurts. Afterward, repeat the whole process on your right hand.

This procedure needed to be repeated several times or as you please for your symptoms to go away.

However, people were thrown off by the difficulty of applying pressure consistently onto the spot between the thumb and index finger to eradicate the pain. It was a tiresome process, and individuals still needed to go about their work.

Consequently, Jon Doogan wanted to find a way that would treat people without much hassle. He then came up with Aculief, the short form of the word "Acupressure Relief," which became a patented solution used to treat millions of headache sufferers seeking a drug-free treatment for their pain relief. Further info and a discount can be found here on the official website!

Benefits Aculief

At a glance, some of the most notable perks of this component include:

Can be worn at any time.

It provides natural Headache, stress, and tension relief

The wearable acupressure device stimulates your Body's Energy.

The item is recommended by many leading Acupuncturists for effective self-treatment.

It helps you take charge of your pain without bothering to visit a doctor.

The gadget has a 60-day money-back guarantee.

No side effects are experienced by its users.

It is fit for everyday activities.

The item can help stimulate the LI4 acupressure point.

It is drug-free; you do not need to supplement it with medication.

The gadget is cost saving as you do not have to spend on expensive medication and hospital visits. It may also be used for years on end.

Unlike acupuncture, the tool is designed to help minimize migraines without having to use needles; therefore, it will please individuals with phobias.

--- Visit the official website here! ---

Acupuncture And Acupressure

Chinese traditional medicine methods, used for thousands of years, have incorporated the use of acupuncture, which involves using sharp-edged, thin needles that are inserted in the body at extremely specific points. The method allows patients to adjust and alter the body's energy flow into healthier patterns and is utilized to treat an extensive array of illnesses.

On the other hand, many people describe acupressure as acupuncture without using needles. The process involves the exertion of manual pressure to specific points on the body known as acupoints to diminish pain without medicine. By pressing the acupoints, this device will help you achieve tension relief and promote blood circulation.

There are various acupoints in our bodies where you can exert pressure as you please, like the hall of impression point lying between your eyebrows, heavenly gate point, shoulder wellpoint, great surge point, and the inner frontier gate point. Applying pressure on the acupoints is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that offers temporary relief for tension relief.

Does Aculief Work?

If you read through most reviews, the device works by exerting pressure to the LI4 acupressure point. The LI4 acupressure point is a strong point on your hand that has been using for thousands of years for natural relief of headaches, tension relief, and promoting the body's natural energy.

Tension relief aculief provides and encourages the flow of your body s natural energy with constant compression by utilizing the body's natural endorphins. Consequently, you can maintain the union valley pressure component or massage it though shifting the thumb in small circles. By placing the gadget well between the thumb and index finger, it can start to alleviate pain instantly rather than after hours on a masseuse table. Visit the official website to see more customer reviews!

How Exactly Aculief Works

Aculief works by exerting pressure to an acupressure point located on your hand between the thumb and forefinger, known as the LI4 pressure point. Acupressure is an ancient Chinese healing practice, utilized for years, that exerts pressure on specific body parts to release energy, known as chi.

The energy is meant to help your body release natural pain combatants known as endorphins. The body's natural hormones trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. The acupressure principle provides that, if compression is continuously exerted on the HeGu point, between the index finger and thumb, your back pains and all other body pains will exceptionally reduce.

Who Uses Aculief?

The gadget works for every type of demographic population. It can be used by people of all ages who are troubled by headaches, tension, health imbalance, or discomfort. If you read through several reviews, you'll notice that the tension relief product has been accredited as safe for all.

The gadget also works for those undergoing chemotherapy for their cancer treatments and those who suffer from illnesses that bring about intense and immense body pain. Therefore, the tool can supplement various related treatments.

Acupressure Relief is suitable for those who want to seek alternative treatment from prescribed medication.

--- Visit the official website here! ---

Is Aculief Medically Approved?

Doctors and medical institutions give credence to the science of acupressure. In 2011, Johns Hopkins University published their findings, which showed that exerting magnetic acupressure to the LI-4 meridian point palliated the pain in the bone marrow, eyes, jaw, toothaches, and even limbs.

Aside from being an award-winning doctor-approved component, this tension relief gadget works by principles of acupressure to alleviate pain. At the same time, Men's Health also supports the effectiveness of acupressure on the LI-4 pressure point.

Are there other Institutions That Have Recommended This Gadget?

Other institutions that have recommended this product are:

ELLE

The Wall Street Journal

The Hallmark Channel

The Huffington Post

Yahoo

The Doctors

The Grommet

How Fast Does Aculief Work To Achieve Natural Headache And Tension Relief?

The device works fast to relieve a headache in 30 seconds. In some cases, the portable gadget can take close thirty minutes to provide relief, as it varies from one person to another. However, please check with your doctor before putting on your gadget, especially if you are nursing a child or pregnant.

Even so, the product users frequently praise the manufacturer for designing a tension relief product like this because it has remarkably worked towards ultimately reducing their pains. If you read through numerous customer reviews, you'll notice how users have termed the gadget as impressive.

The reviews recommend using the gadget if you continuously suffer from chronic pain and headaches. Visit the official website to see more customer reviews!

Where Can I Purchase Aculief?

You can purchase the gadget by making your order on www.aculief.com. The first step to take is to search for the tension relief product, read through its technical features, and click on the add to cart button.

The site offers a single device at $24.99 for both shipping and handling. However, the more items you buy, the more you save as you can purchase two items at $34.99 and a six-pack at $90.00. The quantity-based deals offer free shipping.

Steps On How To Purchase The Gadget

If you are striving to get the best out of the gadget and achieve tension relief, you need to start by visiting the official website. Aside from purchasing through the official website, you can use other third-party platforms, but make sure to read through the customer reviews. This will help you determine whether the site has a return policy, that is suitable for one who has purchased the gadget and has not found it helpful.

When on the official site, you should search for the item. Once you find the item, place an order simply by clicking on the add to cart buttonafterward, checkout and pay for it. Based on the time of the year, customers can get awesome deals like half prices, discounted prices, and free shipping deals that help you purchase the tension relief product at a lower price. The official site often offers a single device at $24.99 for both shipping and handling.

Once you confirm the order, please wait for an email that confirms your order. Visit the official website here to find a discounted price!

Money-Back Guarantee

The manufacturers of the item are confident that it will meet its client's well-being and body needs. Nevertheless, when customers make an order and purchase the product from the official website, they get to resort to their credit cards and get a 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee. All you need to do is simply read through the guarantee and contact the Aculief customer care team for a full refund through an email.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Time Should I Put Aculief On?

There are many occurrences where you feel an intense headache is about to come soon. Therefore, you take some pain killers to help you ease and get rid of the pain. Similarly, the acupressure gadget can be used when you feel somebody pains are emerging. The tool will effectively help you prevent the pains.

Furthermore, you can wear this tension relief product in your hand while working, cooking food, sitting idle, reading a book, or doing anything.

All you have to do after putting it on is to wait for it to take effect.

What Hand Should I Use Aculief On?

Experts recommend that you should wear the gadget on your non-dominant hand. Therefore, if you are left-handed, put the device in your right hand. The tension relief product is relatively easy to operate; all you need is to set it, then you can forget about it. The device will work instantaneously.

How Long Should I Wear Aculief?

You can wear the gadget from 5 minutes to several hours, depending on your preference.

Does Aculief Have Any Side Effects?

If used by pregnant women, it has side effects, as the tension relief product can induce contractions.

Why Should I Buy Aculief?

If you are continually suffering from migraine attacks that deter you from doing your work, you should use the gadget. Moreover, most reviews state that the small gadget will instantaneously alleviate your pain.

Can I Use Aculief Even If I Do Not Have Tension Or Imbalance?

Yes, you can. They are not limited to health conditions.

Which Colors Can I Purchase?

The tension relief product is available in three colors, which are green, teal, and black.

Where Can I Buy Aculief In The UK?

The best place to purchase this gadget is on the official website here!

How Many Variants Does Aculief Come In?

The items have a universal design that fits all hand sizes, as it fits both big and small hands.

Is Aculief Durable?

The gadget is made of firm, durable materials that have longevity. You do not have to buy the object twice as it lasts for life. Besides, the tool is quite portable as you can easily carry it in your purse, pocket, or carry it in your hand. Aculief is also waterproof; therefore, you do not have to worry about using it while going swimming, to the beach, or camping.

What Is The LI4 Pressure Point Or The He Gu?

Based on the conventional Chinese remedy, the LI4 acupressure point or the He Gu is the large intestine 4. It refers to a point on your hand that can be targeted to palliate headaches, stress, neck pain, tension relief, and more.

The part is the thick part of the muscle between your thumb and index finger. Be careful not to massage this point if you are pregnant as massaging can induce labor.

Does Aculief Work For Migraines?

Aculief is an excellent alternative to your typical go-to methods and techniques in dealing with your migraines.

--- Visit the official website here! ---

Aculief Review  Final Thoughts

Migraines and their related illnesses are a significant health burden that may deter you from a drug-free life as they can circuit a headache. When a migraine circuits a headache, you can feel pain around the head instead of just on one side. Migraine patients often turn to expensive medicine for headache relief, thus alleviate the pain. Patients also resort to the help of other treatments like Botox or Acupressure for migraine relief. At times, the treatments may fail to help or work.

If you have migraine attacks every so often, you may opt to stop relying on medicine and choose Aculief. The product is specifically made to function by applying pressure headaches on the LI-4 pressure point, thus providing migraine relief.

The products utilize an ancient traditional method that has been used for thousands of years and can prevent you from taking medicine for headache and tension relief. Well, to achieve a comfortable and drug-free life, search for the Acupressure Relief, make an order; next, click on the add to cart button and enjoy life and your new gadget.

Nonetheless, make sure to read through the reviews before making your order. If you have any queries, please ask for help from the customer care team via email. Nevertheless, keep in mind that the small gadget is not intended to replace doctor prescribed medications.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition. Individual results may vary. Not a medical device. Please consult your physician before using this or any other product that is designed to help relieve a symptom or condition. Further info and a discount can be found here on the official website!

Contact Info

The GiddyUp Group LLC

16 N. Oak St.

Ventura, CA 93001

USA

Homepage: https://getaculief.io/

Contact: support@giddyup.io

About

Mike Vaughn is a blogger from a bigger enthusiastic team which loves to review products based on personal research. His contact E-Mail is mvaughn-revs@gmail.com. Feel free to contact him every time you like.

Disclosure by content creator

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute advice or an offer to buy.

Any purchase done from this story is done on your own risk. Consult an expert advisor / health professional before any such purchase. Any purchase done from this link is subject to final terms and conditions of the website that is selling the product. The content distribution company on this release does not take any responsibility directly or indirectly. Contact the vendor of the product directly.





This news has been published for the above source. Mike Vaughn [ID=16538]

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Attachment
Shortly after independence, Jawaharlal Nehru had a dream, a vision taken to near delirium by his daughter, Indira Gandhi.

They dreamt that, in free India, we would get our food from the Food Corporation of India, the food grown with fertilizer from the Fertilizer Corporation of India, stored in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India and seasoned with salt from Hindustan Salt. We, the citizens of this brave new India, would ride to work on bicycles made by the Cycle Corporation of India, or on scooters from Scooters India.

We would bank with the State Bank of India or the nationalised banks, write on paper from Hindustan Paper, read newspapers printed with newsprint from Hindustan Newsprint, light up our homes---made with cement from the Cement Corporation of India-- with electricity supplied by NTPC, using coal from Coal India. If we fell ill, we would use medicines from Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals and Hindustan Antibiotics. We would fly Air India from airports owned by the Airports Authority of India.

We would wear clothes made by the National Textile Corporation, shoes from Bharat Leather Corporation and stay at hotels run by state-owned companies such as the Ranchi Ashok Bihar Hotel Corporation Ltd and watch movies on film produced by Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Company Ltd, while All India Radio would bring us the news about the great deeds of all these public sector units. They even had a Rehabilitation Industries Corporation, although the nationalised banks anyway performed that function.

Unfortunately, that dream has turned into a nightmare, with the Public Enterprises survey of 2018-19 showing there were 70 loss-making central PSUs, with total losses of Rs31,635 crore that year alone.

Nehrus dream may well have been the result of smoking substances supplied by Joe Stalin and his comrades.

Why did the vision go sour? Take Scooters India, which the government has said it will shut down. Its website says they stopped making scooters in 1997 and ventured into three-wheelers instead. Why the shift? In the Future segment of the website, they say, Past is dead and gone, we are standing on the threshold of today, planning for the future. In the process, we added one wheel, shifting the gear from two wheeler to three wheeler and proposed to add another, entering in to the arena of four wheeler.

Progress, the company clearly believes, lies in adding more wheels. If only the government had not rudely yanked the ground from underneath their wheels, in ten years time they would probably be churning out ten- or even twenty-wheelers.

Of course, Scooters India employees seem to have done rather well despite the losses-- the latest annual report says the median remuneration went up 44.3 percent in 2019-20.

Whatever may be the reason for things going pear-shaped, it wasnt for lack of vision. Sample this from the Scooters India website: Growing into a global company is not only a goal but has become a necessity as the world has turned into a global village without boundaries. STCs annual report says its vision is to be a leading world class trading organization Unfortunately, the report goes on to say, in view of the financial crisis being faced by STC, the Company continued to refrain from undertaking trade involving STCs funds/banking limits.

Look at MTNLs vision: Become a global telecom company and to find a place in the Fortune 500 companies. Consider the National Textile Corporations mystifying mission: a legacy of consistency...crusading a global vision. Could it be hubris that knocked them down?

The government has helped, of course. PEC Ltd chairmans statement says, A lot of what we have achieved would not have been possible without the policy support and facilitating approach of the Government.

The company had a sales turnover of Rs 617 crore with a net loss of Rs 499 crore during FY 2018-19.

So did the employees. BSNLs annual report candidly says, "Employee cost of the Company is nearly 80 percent of income from services as compared to other telcos, where the same is 3 percent to 5 percent of revenue."

Brahmaputra Valley Fertiliser Corporation Ltds welfare activities include one sixty bedded hospital, seven schools, one open stadium, one indoor stadium, one daily market and two recreational clubs. Judging such companies on crass commercial principles would be blasphemy.

The public enterprises survey has a chart showing the number of employees in central PSUs with the number of houses constructed for them. The Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation, for instance, has 595 employees, but 2799 houses constructed. The employees probably shift houses periodically to admire a new view. NHDC Ltd has 540 employees, but 2025 houses. The survey says HMT Ltd has 101 employees, but 1112 houses. As the houses fell down, the employees shifted to other ones.

Some facts are stranger than fiction. We have all heard the stories of Hindustan Fertilizers Haldia plant, which didnt produce a single bag of fertilizer for years. The less said about the state PSUs, the better. A 2017 CAG report on Bihar state PSUs said that Only 18 PSUs finalised their accounts in the last three years, and 65 PSUs had arrears in accounts ranging from 1977-78 onwards.

Of course, there have also been some triumphs. Take Sambhar Salts, a PSU company that achieved a loss of Rs 10.83 crore on a turnover of Rs 19.03 crore in 2018-19, whose vision was to be a dominating player in salt industry and allied products.

The companys annual report informs us it won 3rd prize in the Rasoi-2019 food festival organised by the Industries department, Government of Rajasthan. Or consider the case of Orissa Mineral Development Company. The lease rights of all its six mines have expired, but its annual report believes in the power of positive thinking and says it has taken positive steps to enhance awareness and usage of Hindi among employees.

But, perhaps, what best sums up the problem is British India Corporation. A report last August said the Textile Ministry has taken a final decision to shut down this loss-making hundred year old textile manufacturer in Kanpur, sorry Cawnpore - 73 years after independence.

Wikipedia says the company has not made profits since 1989. Surely, the least the government could have done was change its name to, say Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Corporation? On second thoughts though, shutting that down could be difficult.

The longevity of British India Corporation is a scandal, a reflection of all that is wrong with the government policies towards zombie PSUs. It is time we got rid of these walking dead.
Sony is reportedly planning to revive its lineup of compact handsets. According to OnLeaks, Sony will soon launch an Xperia Compact with a smaller screen. The leakster added that the smartphone would compete with Apple iPhone 12 mini.

The upcoming compact handset will measure just 140 x 68.9 x 8.9mm. It will have a 5.5-inch display. According to the leakster, the phone will be quite blocky looking. The design appears to be inspired by Apple iPhone 12 mini but it will be slightly larger. The iPhone 12 mini has a 5.4-inch display and measures 131 x 64.2 x 7.4mm. The phone, however, will be much smaller than most of the modern Android phones.

The upcoming Sony handset will have thicker bezels, larger chin, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera housed in a water-drop shaped notch.

On the back, the phone would come with two rear cameras coupled with an LED flash. The vertical camera array will house a 13-megapixel primary sensor. The left edge of the phone has a volume rocker, camera button, and fingerprint sensor embedded on the power button. The phone will also come with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

ALSO READ: Apple iPhone 12 Mini is not as popular as we thought it would be; fails to get buyers

That said, Sony offered compact handsets for the longest time before large-screen phones became more popular and new industry standard. Since 2018, there had been rumours of the company of releasing a smaller handset, but evidently, it never happened.

Back in 2019, Sony Mobile Marketing VP Don Mesa confirmed that the company was no longer interested in offering smaller phones.

"We stuck with Compact for a very long time, because of the ease of use [...] Theres always room for different sizes, but people want a lot more surface area for their content now, Mesa is quoted as saying.

Since then, Apple has experimented with handsets iPhone SE and iPhone 12 mini. Sonys could be a solid Android alternative to the smaller iPhones.
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Research team at Seoul National University (Prof. Tae-Woo Lee) and University of Pennsylvania (Prof. Andrew M. Rappe) developed perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 23.4%. The research results were published in Nature Photonics, which is the world-renowned international academic journal, on January 4th (Title: Comprehensive defect suppression in perovskite nanocrystals for high-efficiency light-emitting diodes).

Metal halide perovskites have very narrow spectral emission, excellent color purity, low material cost, and wide and easy color-tunability. Based on these advantages, perovskites are considered as a promising high color purity light emitter which can replace the conventional organic and inorganic quantum dot (QD) light emitters in displays and solid-state lighting technologies. Especially, perovskite is the only one emitter which can meet the standard of REC.2020. Therefore, perovskite is expected to contribute to the future ultra-high-definition television (UHD-TV) technology.

Since professor Tae-Woo Lee reported the PeLEDs with EQE of 8.53% which was comparable to that of phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (LED) in Science in 2015, electroluminescence efficiencies of PeLEDs have been dramatically increased. After the Science paper, professor Tae-Woo Lee has lead the research fields of PeLEDs and recently achieved a EQE of 23.4% which was published in Nature Photonics. This EQE value is the highest efficiency in PeLEDs to date and even surpasses the highest EQE in InP-based green-emitting QD-LEDs (EQE = 13.6%). This improvement of EQE in PeLEDs is much faster than that in QD-LEDs which took 20 years to achieve EQE of 20% since it was first reported. These highlight the possibility of a commercialization of the perovskite emitters in industrial displays and solid-state lighting technologies.

Perovskites have severe problems to emit light at room temperature; small exciton binding energy induces direct dissociation of charge carriers and results in low luminescence efficiencies. To overcome this intrinsic problem, researchers have devoted to synthesizing colloidal perovskite nanocrystals which have a size of several nanometers (1 billionth of a meter). In such a small dimension, charge carriers can be spatially confined and can have high binding energy. However, due to the small size and concomitant high surface-to-volume ratio, perovskite nanocrystals have large surface defects. Furthermore, surface organic ligands are easily detached from the nanocrystal surfaces due to the dynamic binding nature, which induces many defects on the nanocrystal surfaces. Therefore, new strategy to effectively passivate the defects should be needed.

To solve these problems, Seoul National University research team led by Professor Tae-Woo Lee proposed a comprehensive strategy which introduces guanidinium organic cations into the conventional formamidinium-based perovskite nanocrystals. The introduced guanidinium cations controlled the defects both inside the nanocrystals and on the surfaces, and simultaneously confined the charge carriers more effectively inside the nanocrystals. As a result, perovskite nanocrystals achieve very high photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE>90%) in both films and solutions. In addition, research team removed residual defects on nanocrystal surfaces by using a halide-based defect passivation agent, 1,3,5-tris(bromomethyl)-2,4,6-triethylbenzene (TBTB). With these comprehensive strategies, the research team demonstrated PeLEDs with the world's highest EQE (23.4%) and current efficiency (108 cd A-1). This is the highest device efficiency in PeLEDs to date and even surpasses the highest efficiency in InP-based green emitting QD-LEDs (EQE = 13.6%).

A collaborative research team at University of Pennsylvania, led by Professor Andrew M Rappe, investigated a detailed defect suppression mechanism through the density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The collaborative research team investigated the mechanism that guanidinium can be incorporated into the nanocrystals in small concentrations (~10%), above which guanidinium migrates to the surface outermost layer of nanocrystals. Furthermore, the collaborative research team studied how this guanidinium doping passivates the defects both inside the nanocrystals and on the surfaces. In addition, collaborative research team investigated the principle that halide-based TBTB material passivates the residual defects on the surfaces.

Prof. Tae-Woo Lee said, "We have proposed a comprehensive strategies to passivate the defects and increase the radiative recombination in the perovskite nanocrystals for demonstrating extremely efficient PeLEDs". "We expect that our work contributes to the commercialization of PeLEDs, as well as suggests a way to increase the luminescence efficiency of the PeLEDs." said Tae-Woo.

###

This work was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government.
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MERCER ISLAND  Sunrise of Mercer Island, at 2959 76th Ave S.E., sold for a little under $6.9 million, according to King County records.

The seller was an LP associated with Healthpeak Properties, the Irvine, California-based REIT previously known as Health Care Property Investors. HCP acquired the property in 2003 for $5.5 million.





. . .
(Natural News) President Joe Biden signed a national mask mandate executive order. While constitutional law experts believe this is technically possible and legal, the newly-installed Democratic presidents definition of national will have to be a very narrow one, unless hes willing to fight for it in the Supreme Court.

Immediately after his inauguration, Biden signed 15 executive orders and two executive actions. One of his executive orders mandated the wearing of face masks for people who are on federal property and federal lands.

I thought theres no time to wait, Biden told reporters while sitting at the Resolute Desk. Get to work immediately.

The executive order, called the 100 Days Masking Challenge, directs federal agencies to comply with the guidelines put forward by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the wearing of face masks, as well as social distancing regulations.

This order will apply to everyone inside federal buildings and on federal land. It even includes soldiers in military bases, who are now required to wear face coverings wherever they go and are not allowed to stand closer than six feet with others in public areas and work centers. The mandate will also apply to people traveling between states.

No other president has signed so many executive orders on their first day in office. Former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump signed one order each, while Barack Obama didnt sign any on his first day.

Some of his other orders include ceasing Trumps initial order to withdraw the country from the World Health Organization, rejoining the Paris climate accord, reversing a travel ban and revoking the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Listen to this special Situation Update breaking news episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he makes the astonishing case for why supporters of Trump should remain optimistic and keep the faith.

Biden will be unable to expand his mask mandate any further

According to Constitutional law experts, Biden can easily sign a national mask mandate. However, this mandate will have a very narrow definition of the word national.

According to Dr. Mark Graber from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, the current mask mandate Biden passed is as broad as it will ever be.

The only places where theres any controversy are places the federal government doesnt own, said Graber, who believes that Biden will face serious legal challenges if he tries to enforce his mask mandate on state and local property, private businesses and homes. (Related: Biden wants to enact a national mask mandate, but has no legal authority to enforce such an order.)

There is some law that says in fact, you can broaden [the mask mandate] to cover everything, explained Graber. But a majority of the Supreme Court would likely reject that.

While Biden has directed his administration to work with state and local authorities to enact their own sweeping mask mandates, it looks likely that this is as far as the Constitution will allow the newly-inaugurated president to reach in terms of his federal mask order.

Biden breaks his own mask mandate immediately after signing it

While Biden was signing his mask mandate, he was wearing a face mask. However, his subsequent appearances featured him without a mask on.

Ryan Saavedra, a journalist for alternative news outlet Daily Wire, reported that Biden spent some time at the Lincoln Memorial after his inauguration, and during this whole time he was not wearing a face mask despite his insistence that others do so while they are on federal property.

Furthermore, Biden later addressed members of the press  all of whom were wearing masks  while he continued to not wear a mask.

Biden signed a mask mandate requiring everyone who is on federal land to have to wear masks. Here is Biden tonight at the Lincoln Memorial, which is on federal land, not wearing a mask: https://t.co/Q1T01mrq29  Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 21, 2021

Biden also took to social media to pat himself on the back for signing the mask mandate. On his official Twitter account, he said:

Wearing masks isnt a partisan issue  its a patriotic act that can save countless lives. Thats why I signed an executive order today issuing a mask mandate on federal property. Its time to mask up, America.

Meanwhile, several members of the Biden family followed in their patriarchs footsteps by also refusing to wear masks on federal property. According to Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Epstein, Bidens daughter Ashley joined several of his grandchildren as they took off their masks for a short photoshoot at the Lincoln Memorial.

Prominent conservative personalities pointed out Bidens hypocrisy on social media.

Does Joe Bidens new executive order mandating masks on federal property not apply to Joe Biden while hes on federal property? asked Charlie Kirk, founder of conservative organization Turn Point USA. Because here he is at the Lincoln Memorial with no mask just hours after signing it.

He wants to be just like the other double standard, Democrat lawmakers, replied first-term Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

Learn more about how Biden and the Democratic Party are attempting to use the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to justify enacting mask mandates by reading the latest articles at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

WUSA9.com

WSJ.com

News4JAX.com

WashingtonExaminer.com

Man Dies in Fullerton Stabbing

The Fullerton Police Department is investigating the fatal stabbing of a 36-year-old man.

Police said they received reports of an attack in the 4000 block of West Valencia Drive Jan. 23 about 11:30 p.m. They discovered the victim in the 200 block of South Turner Avenue, which is adjacent to West Valencia Drive.

First responders attempted to help the victim, but he was pronounced dead at a local trauma center.

Fullerton Police Department public information officer Cpl. Billy Phu said the victim had multiple stab wounds throughout his body.

As of Jan. 25, there was no new information available about the investigation. Police are also still unaware of the motive.

Fullerton police are asking anyone with information to call Det. C. Hines at 714-738-5334, or visit Orange County Crime Stoppers.

The humanitarian cargo within the Support Hospitals in Ukraine project was delivered from the United States to Ukraine this week and has already been delivered to three hospitals in Odesa.

"This is our seventh 40-foot container with humanitarian aid, delivered from the United States to Ukraine," founder and head of the Support Hospitals in Ukraine project Vitaliy Dubil posted on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

He said that the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year and the US government's moratorium on exports of medical equipment and supplies slowed the delivery of aid. The last details of this cargo to Odesa were agreed upon at the end of August 2020 and within a month the humanitarian cargo was sent from the warehouse of Project C.U.R.E. in Denver, Colorado.

"This batch was planned to support the efforts of doctors and volunteers in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," Dubil added.

According to him, with the active participation of local volunteers who are at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus in the city and region, medical equipment was delivered to the three largest medical institutions in Odesa city and the region.

The largest share of the cargo accounts for intensive care beds (ICU, 16) and resuscitation beds (70), which were specifically requested by physicians to expand the capacity of local medical facilities treating patients with COVID-19 and providing a wider range of medical services. All humanitarian aid was transferred to hospitals free of charge," Dubil noted.

He noted that the cargo was delivered with the participation and financial support of project partners from the United States, Canada and Ukraine.

Since 2014, medical humanitarian cargo worth over UAH 3.8 million has been transferred to 18 non-profit (state or municipal) medical institutions in Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr and other cities within the Support Hospitals in Ukraine project.

ol
Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2021 shows armed police forces battling fire in Shenzhen, SE China's Guangdong Province. The on-duty crews in Shenzhen responded to the fire call the first time. With their great efforts, the wildland fire was eventually placed under control. (Liaojian/Guangming Picture)

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[ Editor: WXL ]
The 2020 F1 season was short but sweet with some spectacular races. This was due not only to exciting battles on track, but also to a number of violent crashes. The FIA is now taking these accidents into account in the development of accident simulation software.

Especially during Romain Grosjean's accident on the first lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the world held its breath. Once it was clear that Grosjean had got out of the car relatively unscathed, people watched the replay in disbelief. How could this have happened?

FIA tries to predict major accidents

Even the FIA had not expected such a serious crash at that point of the track. As a result, the crash barrier was not well protected against an impact and could have been torn open. In their in-house magazine Auto, the FIA discusses how they are developing software to better predict these types of crashes in the future. From that analysis, a wider tyre pile or a TecPro barrier, for example, can then be placed at a certain spot on the track.

Read more Red Bull builds concept chassis for new Le Mans class in partnership with ORECA

In addition to Grosjean's crash, the FIA has also used the crashes of Daniil Kvyat at Silverstone, Lance Stroll at Mugello and Charles Leclerc at Monza in 2020. These are added to the World Accident Database, which stores information on incidents from all racing classes.
SUSIE MAIZELS: 1943  2021

The important role of casting director in film, television and commercials is not widely known or appreciated by audiences, but Susannah Jane Maizels, universally known as Susie, was held in the highest esteem by actors, producers and directors. The Australian film and television industry is the lesser for her passing.

Susie will be remembered for her many accomplishments but most of all for her infectious laugh, enthusiasm and for inspired casting recommendations. One such example was finding Nicole Kidman at the Phillip Street Drama School and casting her aged 14 in her breakout role in BMX Bandits.

Casting director Susie Maizels. Credit:

Susie Maizels began her film industry career in 1974 and, rising quickly, established her own casting agency, Maizels and Associates, in 1977. Her role as casting director was integral to the success of many productions that followed, including Shame, Bliss, Lantana, Oyster Farmer, The Harp in the South, Poor Mans Orange, The Heroes, The River Kings, Always Greener and 68 episodes of All Saints.
The Iran-flagged MT Horse (left) and Panama-flagged MT Freya tankers anchor in waters off Pontianak, the capital of Indonesias West Kalimantan province, Jan. 24, 2021.

The Indonesian coast guard said Monday it was investigating the Iranian and Chinese crews of two oil tankers after seizing them off West Kalimantan province for allegedly carrying out an illegal ship-to-ship petroleum transfer in territorial waters.

Indonesias Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) took the crews of the Iran-flagged MT Horse and Panama-flagged MT Freya into custody and confiscated their tankers after they had turned off automatic identification systems on Sunday, coast guard spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said.

Thirty Iranian nationals crewed the Horse, while 25 Chinese nationals crewed the Freya, he said.

The ships are suspected of committing four violations, including violating the right of passage in an Indonesian archipelagic sea lane and transferring oil there, Wisnu told BenarNews on Monday, adding that one of the tankers had spilled an undetermined amount of oil into local waters.

The Freya had traveled from Bayuquan district in Chinas Liaoning province on Jan. 6 and was near Indonesia and Singapore six days ago, according to the MarineTraffic.com website. The Panama-flagged tanker is owned and managed by a firm listed as the Shanghai Future Ship Management Co., according to information from the site.

Both the Freya and the Horse can carry 2 million barrels of oil, Reuters news agency reported.

Wisnu said authorities were working on Monday to bring the two tankers to a nearby port to continue the investigation.

The unmooring process requires a pilot or guide because the ships are big, he said.

Indonesia is the only nation that has designated archipelagic sea lanes.

All foreign vessels, including warships, have the right of passage through such lanes as long as they transit continuously and do not pose a security threat. Indonesia requires all ships passing through archipelagic waters to activate their automatic identification systems, or report any damage to those systems.

On Jan. 14, Bakamla intercepted a Chinese survey ship that had been sailing near its waters with its identification system turned off but let the ship sail on after the crew reported that the system was broken.

On Monday, Indonesian foreign office spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told BenarNews that there had been no communication with the governments linked to the two tankers intercepted off West Kalimantan over the weekend.

According to Reuters, Iranian officials have asked their Indonesian counterparts to provide details about the ship seizure.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the action was over a technical issue and it happens in [the] shipping field, Reuters reported. Our Ports Organization and the ship owner company are looking to find the cause of the issue and resolve it.

Earlier this year, Iran seized a South Korean oil tanker and its crew of 20, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Iranian officials said the tanker flouted environmental regulations  drawing a rebuke from their South Korean counterparts, according to the report. It noted the tanker showed no environmental violations when it was inspected in 2019.

Tehran, for its part, has been accused in recent years of violating U.S. sanctions on its oil exports, for example, by hiding the international movements of its tankers through turning off their automatic identification systems.

Seizure questioned

Siswanto Rusdi, director of the National Maritime Institute (Namarin), an Indonesian think-tank, claimed that Jakarta had no right to seize the two tankers.

An arrest, let alone confiscation, must be supported by an order from a court or institution appointed to carry it out. The issue is: Does Bakamla have it? Rusdi told BenarNews.

About three or four years ago, the Indonesian Navy also arrested a foreign ship but the owner challenged it in court and we lost. It will be a shame if this happens again, he said.

Rusdi said ship-to-ship oil transfers were common and legal.

He advised the government to impose special fines on foreign ships that violate shipping lanes rather than seizing them and risking tensions with other countries.

In Singapore, ship-to-ship transfers are a business. We dont have that facility in our sea lanes. The government should be able to collect fees and violators should be subjected to fines, he said.

Bakamla did not respond when BenarNews asked him about Rusdis comments.

Fishing crew arrested

Indonesian authorities, meanwhile, said they were questioning nine crewmembers of a Taiwan-flagged fishing boat at the Ranai Naval Base on the Natuna Islands after they were arrested on Friday.

We are still in the process of examining the skipper and his crew, navy spokesman Lt. Col. Fajar Tri Rohadi told BenarNews.

The Hai Chien Hsing 20 was seized while allegedly catching fish in the North Natuna Sea, Fajar said, adding that 12 tons of fish were found on the boat.

From the initial inspection, the ship was not equipped with permit documents and used fishing gear that did not comply with the regulations, Fajar said.

Two crew members including the captain Hu Shih Jung are Taiwanese, while the remaining seven are Indonesians, he said. They could face six years in prison if found guilty of illegal fishing.

Zachary Haver contributed to this report from Washington.
Kaithal (Haryana):

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday hailed the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a good initiative to reform the Indian economy, which would lead to shrinking of red-tapism, and facilitate consumers and traders by reducing costs.



Khattar, who was interacting with mediapersons after inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of several development projects in Kaithal, said that several goods had been made tax-free and taxes on some other goods had been reduced under GST.



A GST of 28 per cent would be levied on items such as TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and furniture, which are presently taxed at 33 per cent. Such reduction in costs would boost competitiveness among traders, which would further benefit consumers, he added.

Read | GST to lower overall tax burden over time: RBI governor Urjit Patel



Reiterating that the Haryana government was sensitive towards the interests of the farmers, he said that compensation to the tune of Rs 2,400 crore had so far been disbursed to the farmers.



This included compensation of Rs 268.74 crore announced but not disbursed by the previous government.



He said that 50 per cent of the announcements made by him during the last 32 months regarding development works to be undertaken throughout the state had been implemented while the remaining would soon be completed.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
(L&T) on Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,466.71 crore for the October-December quarter of FY21 (Q3FY21), clocking a growth of 4.8 per cent year on year (YoY) on the back of highest-ever order inflow in a quarter. This amount, however, included net profit worth Rs 209.3 crore from the company's discontinued operations. "Consolidated Profit After Tax (PAT) for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 at Rs 2,467 crore registered growth of 4.9 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, largely attributed to higher profit from IT a TS segment and sale of commercial property in Realty. PAT also includes gain on divestment of Rs 209 crore from discontinued operations for the quarter ended December 31, 2020," said in its financial statement.

India's largest infrastructure, which had clocked a net profit of Rs 2,352.1 crore in the year-ago period, reported a 55.3 per cent decline in PAT on a quarterly basis from Rs 5,520.27 crore reported in Q2FY21.

The numbers were better-than-Street expectations. Analyst at Sharekhan, for instance, had expected the PAT to come around Rs 2,118 crore, while those at HDFC Securities had pegged the profit at Rs 1,980 crore. It's standalone net profit came in at Rs 1,872.77 crore for Q3FY21, compared with a PAT of Rs 6,716.51 crore in Q2FY21 and Rs 1,246 crore in Q3FY20.

Revenue from operations, meanwhile, came in at Rs 35,596.42 crore for the quarter under review, down 1.7 per cent from previous year revenue of Rs 36,242.7 crore. This translated into a 14.6 per cent growth in revenue on quarterly basis from Rs 31,034.7 crore clocked in Q2FY21. The income missed analysts' expectation who had expected revenue of Rs 39,321.7 crore, up 8.5 per cent YoY. READ ANALYSTS' EXPECTATIONS HERE

"The Covid-19 restrictions continued to have an impact on project site execution and Hyderabad metro operations that led to a marginal decline in revenue of 2 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. International revenue during the quarter at Rs 12,967 crore constituted 36 per cent of the total revenue. The consolidated gross revenue for the nine months period is at Rs 87,891 crore," the management said in a statement. On the operational front, L&T's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) rose 3.9 per cent on year at Rs 4,279.8 crore from Rs 4,118 crore reported in Q3FY20. Ebitda margin stood at 12 per cent, a jump of 60 bps YoY.

Order Book

During the quarter the company was awarded the biggest EPC contract in the country and first of its kind - the prestigious High Speed Rail order. With this, the Group order inflow for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 registered a strong growth of 76 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous year and stood at Rs 73,233 crore.

International orders during the quarter constituted 14 per cent of the total order inflow. On a cumulative basis, the order inflow for the nine months period ended December 31, 2020 stood at Rs 124,846 crore. The consolidated order book of the Group stood at a record Rs 331,061 crore as at December 31, 2020, registering a robust growth of 9 per cent over the March'20 level.

The international orders constitute 20 per cent of the total order book.

secured orders worth Rs 45,574 crore, higher by 80 per cent YoY during the quarter ended December 31, 2020, in the Infrastructure segment. The segment recorded customer revenue of Rs 15,828 crore, registering a sequential growth of 22 per cent but down 7 per cent YoY primarily "on account of progress being impacted due to Covid-19 preventive measures". The overall revenue declined 7 per cent as against previous year's income and stood at Rs 15,973.22 crore in Q3FY21.

The Ebitda margin of the segment is at 6.2 per cent for the current quarter as compared to 6.1 per cent for the quarter ended December 31, 2019. In the Power segment, the company didn't receive any major order and ended the quarter with an order book worth Rs 13,710 crore. The total revenue from the segment came in at Rs 903.7 crore, up 29.4 per cent YoY. "Heavy Engineering Segment secured orders at Rs 998 crore during the quarter, posting nearly a 100 per cent growth on YoY basis," it said in its statement. The segment recorded customer revenue of Rs 733 crore, with total order book at Rs 3,645 crore at the end of Q3FY21. The total revenue was Rs 803.3 crore, flat YoY. It's Defence Engineering Segment received orders worth Rs 705 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2020 which were mainly domestic, registering substantial growth on a low base of the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The order book of the segment stood at Rs 8,795 crore as on December 31, 2020, with export orders constituting 13 per cent. Customer revenue from the segment was Rs 1,022 crore with Ebitda margin at 16.9 per cent. The reported total revenue came in at Rs 1,024 crore, up 2 per cent YoY. Customer revenue from IT and Financial Services segment stood at Rs 6,505 crore and Rs 3,401 crore, respectively, up/down 7 per cent/4 per cent YoY. Outlook The management said the post lockdown pent-up demand, improved prospects in affordable residential real estate, green shoots in Cement and Steel capex outlays, are signs of improved confidence on economic revival. However, significant private sector led capex could continue to remain in wait a watch mode, in the medium term. "On the global front, the business sentiments remain cautious as localised repeat outbreaks of the Covid-19 virus and the resultant lockdown continues to hamper sustained economic recovery. The near term outlook features continuing uncertainty

on the trade front between US and China and forecast of subdued oil prices affecting Middle East economies," it said in its forward-looking guidance.

The Company will focus with cautious optimism on large project wins, smart execution of its large order book, and preservation of liquidity and optimum use of capital and other resources, it added.

Shares of the engineering and construction firm hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,396 apiece on the BSE earlier in the day, but ended 0.12 per cent lower at Rs 1,361.45.
OSLO, Norway, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DigiPlex, the Nordic leader for sustainable, innovative, and secure data centers, has acquired a plot of 60,000 m2, with an option to purchase an additional 100,000 m2 in Treklyngen industrial park in Ringerike municipality outside of Oslo. The seller is Follum Eiendom AS. The site has been prepared for the establishment of a data center and an agreement with Ringerikskraft ensures the necessary power supply for the first development phase.

Ringerike municipality has ample access to renewable energy with more than 200 MW available. Combined with very good connectivity and proximity to Oslo and Oslo Airport, the area is very attractive for data center establishment.

"Treklyngen industrial park has a good strategic location, access to renewable energy through the agreement with Ringerikskraft and advanced solutions for circular economy," said Wiljar Nesse, CEO of DigiPlex. "Acquiring this prime plot will help DigiPlex attract new national and international customers, including in the High Performance Computing (HPC) segment. I would like to thank both Ringerike municipality, the seller Follum Eiendom and Ringerikskraft for the warm welcome they have extended us", Nesse continued.

The DigiPlex acquisition is in line with Ringerike municipality's business policy to facilitate increased value creation with a wide range of business setups.

"We welcome DigiPlex to Ringerike and are proud that they have chosen to establish a new data center here. We have for several years purposefully worked to facilitate the establishment of large data centers in the municipality, and we are very pleased to see the results. We have the required infrastructure, both technically and location wise, and have collaborated to facilitate regulation, energy access and digital connection opportunities, says Kirsten Orebraten, Mayor of Ringerike municipality.

The seller of the plot is Follum Eiendom AS, a subsidiary of Viken Skog SA. The Group has established a rapidly growing industrial park in the area where the Norske Skog Follum factory was previously situated. Treklyngen industrial park focuses on developments in renewable energy and forest raw materials such as biofuels, biocarbon and related sectors. In addition, parts of the area are already prepared for data center construction.

Chairman of the Follum Eiendom AS board, Olav Breivik is enthusiastic about DigiPlex' acquisition of the plot, commenting: "DigiPlex is a long-term and solid player that fits into our industrial park."

CEO Rolf Jarle Aaberg is also looking forward to the collaboration in the years ahead: "There are opportunities for good synergies between data centers and other activities that are planned for the area, not least the planned biomass plant that can re-use heat from the data center and generate electricity," he said.

Local power supply company, Ringerikskraft has already entered into an agreement with DigiPlex to ensure an adequate power supply to future data centers in the industrial park.

"We are happy and proud to have signed an agreement with a player such as DigiPlex. At Ringerikskraft, we want to contribute to growth and development in the region. In the same way as electricity, we all now depend on data centers to make the wheels turn in today's digital society, and the data center industry is the world's fastest growing, energy-intensive industry," said Ole Sunnset, CEO of Ringerikskraft.

DigiPlex has not yet set a date for construction to start but is in dialogue with several potential customers. DigiPlex has a total of seven data centers in the Nordic region, and opened new centers at Fetsund and Hobl last year. An additional center is under construction at Fetsund.

For more information, please contact:

Elisabeth Lennhede, Head of Communications DigiPlex, +46 70 33 22 705, [email protected]

Mats ieren, Head of Communication at Ringerike municipality, +47 922 92 393, [email protected]

Rolf Jarle Aaberg , CEO of Follum Eiendom AS, +47 977 08 138, [email protected]

, CEO of Follum Eiendom AS, +47 977 08 138, Pelle Gangeskar, Head of Marketing for Data Centers and Power-Intensive Industries at Ringerikskraft, +47 911 36 36, [email protected]

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In a nearly 8-minute video posted on her website Monday morning, former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced shes running for governor of Arkansas.

In the video, Sanders uses some of the same phrases her former boss, former President Donald Trump, relied on during his four years in office including law and order, radical left and cancel culture.

Huckabee made a pitch to residents of Arkansas that with the radical left now in control in Washington D.C., a governor is the last line of defense and must be on the frontlines.

Sanders departed the White House in 2019 to return to Arkansas after joining Trumps team in 2017.

Sanders is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.

Sanders joins a Republican primary that already includes two statewide elected leaders, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.

Current Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who was elected 2014, is unable to run next year due to term limits. No Democrats have announced a bid to run for the seat.

Related Content:
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (January 25, 2021) addressed the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 and said that India is targeting 450 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by the year 2030.

PM Narendra Modi noted that the 'Climate Adaptation' is more significant today than ever before and that it is a key element of India's developmental efforts.

His said in his address, "We have promised ourselves that: We will not just meet our Paris Agreement targets, but exceed them; We will not just arrest environmental degradation but reverse it; and, We will not just create new capacities but make them an agent for global good."

"Our actions show our commitment," expressed the Prime Minister and said, "We are targeting 450 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity by 2030."

He also stated that India is promoting LED lights and is saving 38 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

During the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021's address, PM Modi said that India is going to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

Speaking at the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021. https://t.co/7pLbF3YZjq  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2021

He also said, "We are providing clean cooking fuel to 80 million rural households. We are connecting 64 million households to piped water supply."

PM said that India's civilizational values teach us that importance of living in harmony with nature.

"Our ancient scripture Yajurveda teaches us that our relationship with planet earth is that of a mother and her child. If we take care of mother earth, she will continue to nurture us," said PM Modi.

"To adapt to Climate Change, our lifestyles must also adapt to this ideal. This sentiment should guide our way forward, he expressed.

Live TV
The government is still a long, long, long way off being able to lift Englands coronavirus lockdown restrictions Matt Hancock has warned.

The health secretary said case numbers are still incredibly high and the NHS remains under enormous pressure, as ministers grapple with how to counter the emergence of three worrying new variants.

There is early evidence that the lockdown is starting to bring cases down but we are a long, long, long way from being low enough because the case rate was incredibly high, he told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.

Read more: Live updates on the coronavirus pandemic

You can see the pressure on the NHS  you can see it every day.

Mr Hancock said that while he hoped schools in England could reopen by Easter, it would depend on the levels of infection in the community at that time.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 May 2021 Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he meets Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Downing Street in London REUTERS UK news in pictures 27 May 2021 White Pelicans in the sunshine in St James's Park, London PA UK news in pictures 26 May 2021 Boats are seen at Southsea Moorings in Portsmouth Reuters UK news in pictures 25 May 2021 York Glaziers Trust employees Kieran Muir (left) and Emily Price (right) remove a stained glass window panel at the start of a new five year, 5m project to conserve York Minsters South East Transept and its medieval St Cuthbert Window PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2021 Dark rain clouds above an oast house at Bewl Water reservoir near Lamberhurst in Kent during one of the rainiest Mays on record, with the UK seeing 131 per cent of the usual months rainfall already PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2021 The Premier League trophy with the Manchester City club colour ribbons on, at Etihad Stadium, prior to the last Premier League match of the season. City will finally pick up the trophy after they won the league on 11 May Getty UK news in pictures 22 May 2021 Gary Kenny lifts the Buildbase FA Vase Trophy after Warrington Rylands won the FA Vase Final against Binfield at Wembley Stadium Getty UK news in pictures 21 May 2021 A family buffeted by the wind whilst crossing the the Millennium Bridge in London, with wind and rain forecast to ravage the UK on the first Friday that people have been allowed to meet in large groups outside in England PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2021 Devon And Cornwall Police Demonstrate Their Skills For Policing The G7 Summit Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 May 2021 An employee stands before a costume for the Queen of Hearts by Bob Crowley on display at the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2021 Passengers prepare to board an easyJet flight to Faro, Portugal, at Gatwick Airport after the ban on international leisure travel for people in England was lifted following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2021 Emergency workers at the scene of a suspected gas explosion, in which a young child was killed and two people were seriously injured, on Mallowdale Ave Heysham which caused 2 houses to collapse and badly damaged another PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2021 Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause as violence escalates in the ongoing conflict with Israel, in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 14 May 2021 Member of staffs tighten screws and paint a Marlin skeleton, before it goes on display at the Natural History Museum in London, as the museum prepares to reopen to the public on 17 May, following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 13 May 2021 A worshipper at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Mordon, south London, ahead of Eid al-Fitr. The celebration marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting, called Ramadan. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters UK news in pictures 18 April 2021 Stephen Maguire (right) of Scotland interacts with Jamie Jones of Wales during day 2 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible, Sheffield PA UK news in pictures 17 April 2021 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburghs coffin, covered with His Royal Highnesss Personal Standard arrives by Landrover Defender at St Georges Chapel carried by a bearer party found by the Royal Marines during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Getty Images UK news in pictures 16 April 2021 Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, checks the teeth of "Dentosaurus" during a visit to the Thornliebank Dental Care centre in Glasgow, as she campaigns ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary Election AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 April 2021 Myanmar's former ambassador to the UK, Kyaw Zwar Minn, outside his residence in north west London. The ambassador has been barred from entering the Myanmar embassy in Mayfair after he was removed from office PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2021 People take part in coronavirus surge testing on Clapham Common, south London. Thousands of residents have queued up to take coronavirus tests at additional facilities set up after new cases of the South African variant were found in two south London boroughs. 44 confirmed cases of the variant have been found in Lambeth and Wandsworth, with a further 30 probable cases identified PA UK news in pictures 13 April 2021 The core of the Milky Way becomes visible in the early hours of Tuesday morning as it moves over Bamburgh Lighthouse at stag Rock in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 12 April 2021 Rebecca Richardson (left) and Genevieve Florence, members of the Aquabatix synchronised swimming team, during a practice session in the swimming pool at Clissold Leisure Centre in north London, which has reopened to the public. Many facilities have reopened in the latest easing of lockdown include pubs and restaurants who can serve outside, non-essential shops, indoor gyms and swimming pools, nail salons and hairdressers, outdoor amusements and zoos PA UK news in pictures 11 April 2021 A pub staff pins up a sign announcing the reopening of the Fox on the Hill pub on Denmark Hill in London EPA UK news in pictures 10 April 2021 The Death Gun Salute is fired by the Honourable Artillery Company to mark the passing of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the The Tower of London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 9 April 2021 A man arrives to lay a bunch of flowers outside Buckingham Palace in central London after the announcement of the death of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. - Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip, who recently spent more than a month in hospital and underwent a heart procedure, died on April 9, Buckingham Palace announced. He was 99. AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 8 April 2021 Cousin Pascal ridden by James King clears the chair on their way to winning the 4:05 Pool via REUTERS UK news in pictures 7 April 2021 Deliveroo riders from the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain outside Deliveroo headquarters in London, as they go on strike in a dispute for fair pay, safety protections and basic workers rights PA

We have got to look at the data, we have got to look at the impact of the vaccination programme, said Mr Hancock, who said his own formal period of self-isolation ended on Sunday morning, five days after being notified of a potential risk by the Test and Trace app.

Following Boris Johnsons announcement that the new, more infectious variant discovered in the UK may also be more deadly, Mr Hancock said scientists are not exactly certain yet how dangerous it is, but that one study indicated it is 10 to 50 per cent more deadly.

He rejected the idea that the prime ministers alarming surprise announcement from a Downing Street podium had left people wondering what to believe, saying he didnt think that was the case for the vast majority of the UK public, but that communicating risk is challenging.

Englands chief scientific officer Patrick Vallance has said that while the evidence remains uncertain, instead of 10 in every 1,000 people in their 60s with Covid passing away, 13 or 14 people might be expected to die.

But in a way, for all of us, that doesnt matter, Mr Hancock said on Sunday. What matters is weve got to get this virus under control and the only way you do that is by stopping the social contact and following the rules.

The government is currently under pressure to adjust the rules on travel in a bid to control the new variants first found in Brazil and South Africa  the latter of which is being tested at Porton Down amid early, unconfirmed concerns it could be more resistant to current vaccines.

Ministers are expected to meet this week to discuss a proposal to require people arriving in the UK to pay to quarantine in a designated hotel to ensure they are following the rules on self-isolating.

So far there are 77 known cases of the South African variant in the UK  all linked to travel  and nine of the Brazilian, the health secretary said.

But he told Sky News: The new variant I really worry about is the one that is out there that hasn't been spotted.

There's probably those elsewhere that simply haven't been picked up because the country doesn't have that genomic sequencing service.

Mr Hancock said he wanted to see the UK's genomic sequencing capability made available across the world so that emerging variants could be caught.

In the meantime we've got to have a precautionary principle... so we've introduced pre-departure testing and we've also introduced checks on everybody to check that that has happened, he said.

It is absolutely vital that we protect this country from a variant that is not as well dealt with by the vaccine. We cannot risk the progress we have made.

Additional reporting by PA
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 17:27:58|Editor: huaxia

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ATHENS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Former Greek Minister of Public Order Sifis Valyrakis was found dead by the Hellenic Coast Guard in the sea area of Eretria on Sunday night.

The Coast Guard operation to locate the ex-minister began on Sunday afternoon, according to the official AMNA news agency.

According to his wife, Valyrakis left Eretria at noon with an inflatable boat which was later found stranded near the islet of Aspronisi.

According to Coast Guard officials, the 77-year-old probably slipped from the boat for some reason and fell into the sea.

Valyrakis, a member of Greece's historic Panhellenic Socialist Movement and a resistance fighter against Greece's 1967-74 military dictatorship, was Greek minister of public order from March 1995 to January 1996. Enditem
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Top aides to President Joe Biden have begun talks with a group of moderate Senate Republicans and Democrats on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package as Biden faces increasing headwinds in his effort to win bipartisan backing for the initial legislative effort of his presidency.

Lawmakers on the right question the wisdom of racking up bigger deficits while those on the left are urging Biden not to spend too much time on bipartisanship when the pandemic is killing thousands of Americans each day and costing more jobs amid tightening restrictions in many communities.

At least a dozen senators met for an hour and 15 minutes in a virtual call with White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese and other senior White House officials Sunday. Many hope to approve a relief package before former President Donald Trump's trial, which is set to begin in two weeks, overtakes Washingtons attention.

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, called the opening talks a serious effort.

There was not a hint of cynicism or lack of commitment to at least trying to work something out, King said. If they were just trying to jam this through, I dont think it would have interrupted the Packers game.

King told reporters that there was absolute consensus among the group that the No. 1 priority was to speed up the distribution of vaccinations and expanding COVID-19 testing and tracing.

The White House did not seem to budge on breaking up the package or reducing the overall price tag, even as it pushes for bipartisan support. There was also no discussion of pushing it through on a procedural move that could be done without Republicans, King said.

One key Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said afterward, It seems premature to be considering a package of this size and scope.

Collins said instead she would pull the bipartisan group together and see if we could come up with a more targeted package. She said in a statement that a bill with additional funding for vaccine distribution "would be useful."

Senators from both parties raised questions about the economic aid provisions, particularly making direct $1,400 payments to Americans more tailored to recipients based on need.

Senators also wanted more data on how the White House reached the $1.9 trillion figure.

Many of the senators are from a bipartisan group that struck the contours of the last COVID-19 deal approved late last year. They were joined on the call by the two leaders of the Houses Problem Solvers Caucus, Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Tom Reed, R-N.Y., who were also part of earlier discussions.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., told The Associated Press that no red lines were drawn. But she added there was consensus among the call's participants that the more targeted the aid is the more effective it can be."

Overall, it was a conversation and it was not about drawing lines in the sand," Shaheen said. It was about how can we work together to help the people of this country.

White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients and White House legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell also joined the call.

Out of the gate, Biden has made clear that quickly passing another round of coronavirus relief is a top priority as he seeks to get the surging pandemic and the related economic crisis under control, while demonstrating he can break the gridlock that has ailed Congress for much of the last two presidencies.

Biden and his aides in their public comments have stressed that his plan is a starting point and that finding common ground on relief should be attainable considering the devastating impact the pandemic is exacting on Democratic and Republican states alike. With more than 412,000 dead and the economy again losing jobs, Biden has argued there is no time to lose.

Were going to continue to push because we cant wait, said White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Just because Washington has been gridlocked before doesnt mean it needs to continue to be gridlocked

Central to Bidens campaign pitch, beyond healing the wounds created by Trumps presidency, was that he was a proven bipartisan dealmaker, one who would draw upon his decades in the Senate and deep relationships with Republicans to bridge partisan divides.

Some Biden advisers watched with worry as the Senate, just days into the presidents term, was already in gridlock as to a power-sharing agreement, with Republican leader Mitch McConnell refusing to budge on a demand to keep the filibuster intact. If the Senate twists itself in knots over its very basics, some Democrats wondered, how could it reach a big deal?

Additionally, some of Bidens preferred methods to lobby and schmooze have been curtailed by the pandemic. Though his address book remains one of the best in Washington, it stands to be far more difficult for Biden  at least for the foreseeable future  to engage in the face-to-face politicking that he prefers.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, ahead of the meeting, raised concerns again about the wisdom of the government engaging in massive deficit spending.

If we get beyond COVID, I believe that the economy is going to come roaring back, Romney told Fox News Sunday. And spending and borrowing trillions of dollars from the Chinese, among others, is not necessarily the best thing we can do to get our economy to be strong long-term.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he didnt have high hopes for negotiations leading to Republican support and suggested Democrats may need to use budget reconciliation to pass it with a simple majority. The procedural tool would allow Democrats to push the package to approval without the 60-vote threshold typically needed to advance legislation past a filibuster. Republicans used the same tool to pass tax cuts during the Trump administration.

What we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks and months and months to go forward, Sanders said. We have got to act now. That is what the American people want. 

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
NEW DELHI: Kannada actress and former Bigg Boss contestant Jayashree Ramaiah was found dead at an old-age and rehabilitation centre in Bengaluru, reported ANI. The cause of her death is unknown. Her unnatural demise has sent shockwaves across the industry.

Several people from the southern film industry took to social media and expressed their grief at her early death.

According to reports, Jayashree was battling depression and was getting treatment for it. Earlier in July 2020, she had raised an alarm among her fans and well-wishers after she shared a post on Facebook that said she was feeling suicidal. "I quit. Goodbye to this *** world and depression", she had shared in a post on Facebook which drew everyone's attention. However, she immediately deleted the post and shared a new text, saying she was fine and safe.

On Monday, she stopped responding to messages and phone calls from family and friends, who then contacted the centre. Its officials checked on her and found her hanging, reported IANS.

Jayashree was a contestant in `Bigg Boss` Kannada season 3. Unlike many other participants, she did not get a lot of work after participating in the famous reality show. She was said to be unhappy over the absence of opportunities and had confided about it to her friends.

Ramaiah was a model-turned-actress who made her acting debut with Imran Sardhariya's 'Uppu Huli Khara'.
KY Woman Charged with 63 Counts of Animal Cruelty

By The Associated Press

BOWLING GREEN - A Kentucky woman is facing animal cruelty charges after 63 dogs were found living in unsanitary conditions.The Warren County Sheriff's Office says Donna Byard was charged with second-degree cruelty to animals after an animal control officer responded to a tip in Alvaton on Thursday.The Lexington Herald-Leader reports feces clogged a drain and covered the floor in a barn where the dogs and puppies lived.According to a police citation, Byard told officers the drain had been clogged for two weeks.The dogs have been removed from the property.The sheriffs office says the dogs are not available for adoption.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 15:49:30|Editor: huaxia

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KUNMING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A handful of seashells are on display in a museum in southwest China's border province of Yunnan, recording the country's past history of international communication.

Archaeologists believe that the seashells, imported from South and Southeast Asia over 2,000 years ago, were used as both currency and an important commodity in Yunnan.

Today, they embody the long-standing economic ties between China and the region.

Bordering Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, Yunnan has been a frontline of interconnection and exchanges between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, said Chen Lijun, vice president of the China (Kunming) Academy of South and Southeast Asian Studies.

In 2020, China and the ASEAN for the first time became each other's largest partners.

INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS

The Kunming Dounan Flower Market is the largest fresh cut flower trading market in Asia, from where flowers are loaded and arrive in Bangkok of Thailand in about 40 hours via the highway between the provincial capital of Kunming and Bangkok, Thailand.

It is estimated that some 8 million or 10 million flowers are sold from the market overseas, among which 20 percent to 30 percent are purchased by buyers from South and Southeast Asian countries.

According to the provincial transport department, Yunnan has been pushing forward infrastructure construction to boost interconnectivity with its neighboring countries.

The Yunnan sections of international expressways leading to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar have been opened to traffic. In late 2020, the Dali-Lincang high-speed railway was put into use.

"We used to say we were in outlying border regions, but now we are at the forefront," said Lu Shaoyun, deputy director of the Lincang development and reform commission.

Now more than 10 enterprises, including China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, have settled in Lincang. "After the transportation cost drops sharply, Lincang's foreign trade advantages will be brought into full play," said Lu.

The Kunming-Vientiane railway linking Yunnan with Laos, another key project, is expected to be opened this year, allowing trains to travel between the two cities in one day.

The improved infrastructure has paved the way for Yunnan to build a global logistics center, with flower being the main commodity, according to the provincial authorities.

CLOSE EXCHANGES

Siddhant Subedi was learning how to select and make tea in a Kunming-based training class.

Curious about many aspects of Chinese culture, the 22-year-old Nepali student chose to study business administration after learning Chinese for one year.

"Since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by China," said Subedi. "China has a big market, and I want to be a part of it."

In recent years, Yunnan has accelerated international exchanges and cooperation in education. Many overseas students like Subedi chose Yunnan to further their studies.

In 2019, universities and higher education institutions in Yunnan enrolled 16,600 overseas students from 115 countries.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Yunnan has sent medical experts to Laos and Myanmar to aid the countries in fighting the disease and donated medical supplies and equipment worth over 46 million yuan (about 7.05 million U.S. dollars) to more than 20 countries, said Zhu Wenzhong, with the provincial foreign affairs office.

The province has also sent 27 batches of medical teams to neighboring countries to perform free cataract surgeries on 5,287 patients.

Moreover, over 40,000 children in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and other countries were screened for congenital heart diseases with the province's help.

OPEN ECONOMY

It is winter, but the atmosphere is fiery in a fruit transaction market in Wanding, a city sitting at the China-Myanmar border.

Following epidemic-control procedures, workers were loading watermelons from Myanmar onto trucks bound for the Chinese inland and coastal cities.

"Every winter, the watermelon yield is low in China, and we import more than 30 tonnes of watermelons daily from Myanmar and sell them to the northern regions," said Hou Xianhua, a businessman from the central province of Henan.

Meanwhile, at a workshop 40 km away, motorcycle production lines are running as normal. Despite the impact of the epidemic, more than 300,000 motorcycles were exported to Myanmar in 2020.

"After years of market development, our products are becoming more popular in neighboring countries," said Fang Wei, a manager of the motorcycle plant.

Hao Yishan, deputy head of the provincial commerce department, said that Yunnan's trade partners have expanded to 206 countries and regions, with ASEAN long remaining the largest one.

Data shows that the foreign trade volume in Yunnan increased from 24.5 billion dollars in 2015 to 33.6 billion dollars in 2019. Its trade with South Asian and Southeast Asian countries soared to 17.4 billion dollars, an annual average growth of 5.4 percent.

The Yunnan pilot free trade zone (FTZ), established in August 2019, has become a new carrier for open economic development.

In 2020, the foreign trade of the Yunnan pilot FTZ reached 71.79 billion yuan, surging 91.4 percent year on year, driving the overall growth of Yunnan's foreign trade by 14.8 percentage points. Enditem

Students who are nostalgic are less likely to use marijuana or skip class

Teenagers with happy childhood memories are likely to drink less, take fewer drugs and enjoy learning, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction Research & Theory.

The findings, based on data from nearly 2,000 US high school students, show a link between how pupils feel about the past, present and future and their classroom behavior. This in turn influences their grades and risk of substance misuse, according to the study.

The authors say action is needed now because Covid-19 has left many teenagers struggling with online study, suffering mentally and turning to drink and drugs.

They are calling on teachers - and parents - to help students develop more positive mindsets and become motivated to learn so they are less likely to binge drink or use marijuana.

"School often seems a source of stress and anxiety to students," says John Mark Froiland from Purdue University in Indiana, US.

"This puts them at greater risk of not participating in lessons, getting lower grades and of substance misuse.

"Many teenagers also aren't engaging with online learning during Covid or have lower engagement levels.

"But they're more likely to be enthusiastic learners and not use drink and drugs if teachers take time to build more positive relationships with them. They can help students see that everything they're learning is truly valuable. Parents have a role to play too."

Teenagers with a balanced attitude towards their childhoods and other time periods have already been shown by studies to be more likely to abstain from drink and drugs and achieve academically. This is compared to those with a pessimistic outlook.

The aim of this study was to establish how substance misuse and behaviors towards learning are affected by students' feelings about the past, present and future.

The data was based on assessments and questionnaires completed by 1,961 students at a high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. More than half (53%) of the pupils included in the study were female.

The study authors looked at responses from pupils where they rated how nostalgic they were towards their childhood, current happiness levels in life and how much they look forward to future happiness.

They also analysed marijuana and alcohol habits over the past 30 days including binge drinking, and average academic grades. They analysed motivation levels, and behavior in lessons such as how much teenagers paid attention and listened.

Statistical techniques were used by the researchers to assess the associations between all these different factors and establish the key predictors for alcohol and marijuana misuse.

In general, the study found that positive attitudes towards the past, present and future put adolescents at lower risk for alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana.

The opposite was true for those displaying pessimistic or negative ways of thinking or feeling about their life in the past, now or ahead of them.

The reason for this was that a content and optimistic outlook increased the likelihood they would be motivated and behave in a focused way on the chance to learn.

Other findings include girls having stronger levels of behavioral engagement than boys, and students who drank being most likely to use cannabis.

The study did not examine the long term relationship between positive attitudes, levels of student engagement and their substance misuse. The authors say this is an area for future research.

###
Water Security Warriors Gear Up for Waves to Water CREATE Stage

Jan. 25, 2021

A tall glass of water? That can be a tall order in remote or island communities or in post-disaster situations. The Waves to Water Prize challenges competitors to solve the desalination riddle.

In the fourth stage of the prize, the CREATE Stage, competitors will submit their prototypes or proofs of concept for wave-powered desalination systems, vying for a shared prize pool of $500,000 and the chance to move on to the final stage of the Waves to Water Prize: DRINK.

Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), the five-stage, $3.3-million contest aims to accelerate innovation in small, modular, wave-powered desalination systems capable of producing clean water in disaster recovery scenarios, as well as water-scarce coastal and island locations.

Through this prize, WPTO hopes to coalesce the water technology community, marine renewable energy industry, and the many experts and stakeholders working to address water security challenges in remote or island communities and in disaster response.

Competitors will transform their ideas from concept to reality in the CREATE Stage. Let's learn a bit more about what awaits this cadre of competitors in the fourth stage of the competition.

Wave-powered wonders: Waves to Water Prize competitors will transform the power of the sea into potable water. Photo courtesy of iStock

CREATE Stage Criteria

The 180-day CREATE Stage will launch in 2021. Competitors will be tasked with building and documenting a proof of concept or functional prototype of their wave-powered desalination systems.

In addition to the prototype or proof-of-concept development, they will also be required to develop a plan for participation in the final stage of the prize, DRINK, where their concepts will be put to the test in the open ocean at the Coastal Studies Institute's test facilities at Jennette's Pier on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Up to 10 CREATE Stage winners will share a $500,000 prize pool, taking home up to $150,000 each.

Encouraging Wave-Powered Resilience

Wave-powered desalination is a promising growth market for marine energy technologies, especially for isolated coastal and island communities contending with high energy costs.

Through the Waves to Water Prize, WPTO hopes to accelerate innovation in both wave energy devices and desalination systems, as well as incentivize teams to adopt interdisciplinary approaches to integrate the two.

By leveraging the expertise and creativity of academia, industry, government, and beyond, the Waves to Water Prize competitors can help to sustainably solve the challenge of delivering clean water to those who need it.

Read more about the Waves to Water Prize and follow the teams' progress as they swim toward the CREATE Stage, and learn how you can get involved.

Dixon's wholly-owned subsidiary - Padget Electronics, has tied up with HMD India to manufacture Nokia smartphones.

The company further informed in its regulatory filing that the devices will be manufactured at Padget's manufacturing facility in Noida.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Atul B. Lall, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Dixon said, it gives us immense pleasure to announce that we have partnered with HMD Global as manufacturers of Nokia smartphones in India, which is an iconic brand."

"They have established a strong and trusted foothold globally thanks to their advanced technology. We are sure that with their vision and stringent industry-leading processes, combined with our expertise in manufacturing, we will be able to bring a range of Nokia smartphones to customers."

Dixon Technologies is the largest homegrown design-focused and solutions company engaged in manufacturing products in the consumer durables, lighting and mobile phones markets in India.

Meanwhile, headquartered in Finland, HMO Global Oy is the home of Nokia phones. HMO designs and markets a range of smartphones and feature phones targeted at a range of consumers and price points. With a commitment to innovation and quality, HMO is the proud exclusive licensee of the Nokia brand for phones and tablets.

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that the issues of de-occupation of Crimea and certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO) should be considered separately.

"Of course, nothing is impossible in diplomacy, but as of now, I believe that the issues of de-occupation of ORDLO and Crimea should be considered as two separate tracks," Kuleba said on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Sunday, January 24, Ukrinform reports.

In his opinion, these issues should not overlap in the negotiations, because if they are considered together, then everything will become too complicated - and it will become even more difficult to return both Donbas and Crimea.

In addition, Kuleba pointed out that there are certain differences in the situation in both territories, in particular of a legal nature.

Therefore, there is no need to mix everything up here, the minister summed up.

As reported, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that the active involvement of the United States of America in resolving the issue of ending Russian aggression against Ukraine will be useful and effective in any format.

ish
Supreme Industries rose 3.54% to Rs 1782.10 after the company's consolidated net profit surged 153% to Rs 312.28 crore on a 34.3% rise in net sales to Rs 1843.80 crore in Q3 December 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

The company's profit before tax stood at Rs 400.92 crore in Q3 December 2020, soaring 142.5% from Rs 165.3 crore in Q3 December 2019. Current tax expense climbed Rs 88.64 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 41.9 crore in Q3 December 2019.

Consolidated operating profit advanced 105% to Rs 455 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 222 crore in Q3 December 2019.

The overall turnover of value added products increase to Rs 758 crore during the current quarter as compared to Rs 568 crore in the corresponding period of previous year achieving growth of 33%.

The company has cash surplus funds of Rs 432 crore as on 31 December, 2020 as against net borrowings of Rs 217 crore as on 31 March 2020.

Commenting on the company's performance, M. P. Taparia, MD of Supreme Industries said, Business situation has become normal in all the segments where company is operating. The company achieved a volume and value growth of 10% and 30% respectively in the 3rd quarter. The company's value added business has grown to Rs. 758 crores as compared to Rs 568 crore in comparable quarter of the previous year. The increase in volume sale supported by increase in the business of value added products have improved operating margin to 21.53% compared to 16.11% of the previous year in the same quarter. The OPM has also improved significantly due to inventory gain on account of rapid price increase of PVC resin to the extent of around Rs. 80 crores in the quarter. The Crop situation in the Country is normal, which has boosted the rural income. The Rabi crop sowing has also been done in a larger area than the previous year. Company enjoyed good demand for its products from rural market and Tier III and Tier IV cities. In the current quarter, the demand also got a fillip from the Housing market. Several Policy initiatives have facilitated brisk sale of ready to occupy housing units. Demand for Company's housing products has revived in Metro cities.

He further added, The demand for Furniture and Material handling products were higher compared to previous year. With a better offtake of consumer durables, the Company enjoyed good demand for its' industrial components business. The company's Packaging segment working was affected due to increase in its raw material prices which could be passed over with a time lag, which may happen in the current quarter. Company has also introduced economy model of Tarpaulin also in Cross Laminated film segment having lower value addition. However, the overall demand for cross laminated film products for the year is expected at a higher level which may boost business to 21,000 MT in the year compared to 17,000 MT in the previous year.

Commenting on capex plan, he said, "The company's Capex plan is going smoothly. Along with carried forward investment commitment of Rs. 182 crores, the Company has made a plan to invest around Rs 400 crore in this year. The said investment is made mostly in its existing plants where additional construction activities are going on at Seven sites. The company is also now putting up new plants at three locations. Land for these plants have been already acquired at Orissa & Tamil Nadu. In Assam, the plant is being constructed on a lease agreement basis. The company aims to put all these new plants in production in the year 2021-22.

Supreme Industries is India's leading plastics product manufacturer, offering a wide and comprehensive range of plastic products in India.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says "extreme" police brutality and "mass" arbitrary detentions during weekend protests across Russia are further evidence of "how low human rights standards have plummeted" in the country.

"Ultimately this repression of basic human rights only galvanizes people and deepens their [protesters'] grievances," Damelya Aitkhozhina, the Russia researcher at the New York-based watchdog, said in a statement on January 25, two days after thousands of Russians were detained during protests against the arrest of Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny and deep-rooted government corruption.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities across the country on January 23 in Russia's biggest anti-government demonstrations in years.

The independent political watchdog OVD-Info reported that more than 3,700 people were detained during the largely peaceful protests, which the authorities had refused to sanction, often citing restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Russia's ombudswoman for children's issues, Anna Kuznetsova, said that about 300 minors were among those detained, including 70 in Moscow and 30 in St. Petersburg.

HRW cited "numerous" reports of excessive use of force by police, noting that video footage showed officers "beating people with batons, pushing people to the ground, and kicking them."

TASS quoted a source in the law enforcement as saying 38 adults and five teenagers sought medical aid in Moscow alone after the protests.

The independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers said it reported more than 50 incidents of police assaulting journalists and detaining them in at least 17 cities.

Russian authorities have also launched criminal cases against individuals accused of calling for mass riots, violence against police, and violating coronavirus-related public-health rules.

In previous years, the Russian authorities retaliated against participants in mass protests with "showcase witch-hunt trials, which resulted in long prison terms," according to HRW.

"Time and time again, Russian authorities have suppressed free speech and peaceful protest through police brutality, violence, and mass arrests and January 23 was no exception," Aitkhozhina said.

She said the Russian authorities "understand their obligations to respect fundamental human rights and choose not just to ignore them but to trample all over them."

Navalny was detained a week ago upon returning to Russia after he flew back to Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning by a military-grade nerve agent in August.

A court is expected to decide on February 2 whether to convert into prison time the suspended 3 1/2-year sentence that the opposition leader and anti-corruption crusader served in an embezzlement case that is widely considered trumped up and politically motivated.

Navalny, whose suspended sentence ended on December 30, says it is a trumped-up case designed to silence him.

EU foreign ministers are considering on January 25 their response to Navalny's arrest and the police crackdown on protesters.

Russia has rebuffed the global outrage over the police violence and the chorus of international calls calling for Navalnys release.

With reporting by TASS
Following is a transcript of the video.

Benji Jones: In the summer of 2019, a bull was found dead on a farm in North Carolina. Dead by exsanguination. Which means it was drained of blood. The culprit wasn't real-life vampires, but something just as frightening: an army of more than 1,000 Asian longhorned ticks.

But here's the thing. As scary as that sounds, Asian longhorns are just one of about 90 tick species found in the US. All of them suck blood, all of them can carry disease, and all of them are incredibly difficult to kill. The Asian longhorned tick is truly a villainous pest.

Not only is it an invasive species, but it can also clone itself over and over again. Since it was first reported in 2017, it's crawled its way to at least 12 other states. Including where we are here, New York.

Danielle Tufts: OK, so this is an adult. This looks like the Asian longhorned tick to me.

Jones: So this the infamous Asian longhorn tick?

Tufts: Yep.

Jones: That's Danielle Tufts, a disease ecologist at Columbia University. She's studying ticks in Staten Island to figure out what diseases they carry. But first, she has to collect them.

Tufts: So, this is what we call a drag cloth, and it's a meter by meter, so a meter squared. And basically what we would do is we just walk at a nice, even, slow pace and drag this right behind us. And we'll stop every about 20 meters or so, and we'll flip the cloth over, and we'll look for whatever ticks are on the backside.

Story continues

Jones: Contrary to what many people believe, ticks don't actively seek you out.

Tufts: Ah, so here's a tick right here.

Jones: Tick spotted! So many ticks in this forest.

Tufts: Oh, yeah. This is a very ticky forest.

Jones: And they're definitely not jumping on you from trees. In fact, ticks can't even jump. They're actually more like opportunists who take what they can get.

Tufts: Ticks are what we call sit-and-wait predators, where they climb up to the top of the blades of grass and they put their arms out. And at the top of their arms they have little sticky pads. And those pads will get attracted to this. And this is how they get stuck on your pants or on other animals in the wild as well.

Jones: And what do you call the, like, when they stick their hands up like this?

Tufts: We call that questing or host-seeking.

Jones: Yeah, ticks are literally on a quest for blood! And they've mastered the art of extracting it, all without getting caught. After a tick crawls onto you, it sneaks into a concealed crevice, like your armpit. And after that, it uses two horrifying hook-like structures to tear into your flesh and keep from falling off. Then, they insert what is basically a straw, covered in spikes, like a piece of barbed wire, which makes them even harder to remove. And this sounds like it would hurt, a lot.

But ticks have another trick up their sleeve, or rather their mouth. Saliva. It's a tick's ultimate weapon to avoid detection. It contains pain-numbing properties, so you don't notice them even as they stab and rip your flesh. Plus, it suppresses your immune system, so the wound is less likely to get red or itchy.

That's why ticks can stay in you undetected for days, even as they grow to several times their normal size. And if you do find a tick in time to get it off, it won't die easily. Tufts says that ticks can survive for as long as two years without a blood meal. And they're also masters of the elements. They can tolerate long periods of drought, and some species can survive underwater for two to three days. So, yeah, flushing them down the toilet or sink likely won't kill them.

Tufts: If you put them in the sink, sometimes they'll crawl back out of the sink.

Jones: Now, all of this wouldn't be such a big problem if it weren't for the diseases they carry. In the US alone, they transmit at least 16 diseases to humans. That's more than any other insect, including mosquitoes. Lyme disease alone, for example, infects an estimated 300,000 Americans each year. And it's only getting worse.

In 2004, there were about 23,000 cases of tick-borne disease reported to the CDC. But by 2017, that number had almost tripled to nearly 60,000. But what isn't clear is why. Why ticks and the diseases they carry are spreading. Though Tufts and other scientists say that climate change is at least partly to blame.

Tufts: We've been having pretty mild winters, which can promote survival, overwintering survival of hosts and of the vectors, which also will lead to new expansion.

Jones: Whatever the reason, there are tons of ticks. Pretty much everywhere. So, the next time you go for a hike, keep these tips in mind. Stay on the trails, where ticks are less likely to hang out. Wear bug spray; preferably something with DEET. Tuck your pants into your socks, so nothing can crawl onto your legs. Wear light clothes, so anything that does get on you is easy to spot. And, of course, always do a tick check once you're out of the woods.

All right, so we're gonna do a tick check, which you recommend doing after you get out of the woods.

Tufts: Absolutely.

Jones: So, crevices...

Tufts: What you want to look for is on your pants. I wear rubber boots, so that they don't crawl up there. But, like, for here, my pants, any of these little crevices along here, I would look for.

Jones: I mean, I feel like those little guys are definitely, like, the larvae form are definitely on me, right? Somewhere. Tufts: Maybe, maybe not. And then you want to check up around your belt region.

Jones: This is, like, not safe for work.

Tufts: It's also good when you are hiking with a friend to check each other. So, for instance, I would check your back.

Jones: I feel like we're like chimpanzees or something.

Tufts: Yeah, grooming behavior. So, you want to check all along the sleeves, on anywhere on the back.

Jones: So really, like, on top of clothing? Like, you don't need to, like, strip down?

Tufts: No, no, you can strip down later in the shower.

Jones: Great.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published in September 2019.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Two Army National Guard soldiers from Saratoga County have been cast for roles in the new National Museum of the Army at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Chaplain (Maj.) James Kim of Malta and Maj. Kevin Vilardo of Saratoga Springs are among six New York Army National Guard soldiers who were selected to model for figures in two of the museums exhibits. A total of 64 real soldiers were selected to be cast as figures to bring exhibits to life, according to Eric Durr, state Division of Military and Naval Affairs spokesman.

The museum officially opened Veterans Day.

Kim and Vilardo as well as the other New York Army National Guard soldiers are Maj. Robert Freed of Central Valley, 1st Lt. Sam Gerdt of Watertown, Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Morrison of Forest Hills and Sgt. 1st Class Nick Archibald of Tonawanda populate two exhibits from two different eras.

The museum is located on a publicly accessible area of Fort Belvoir and is the only museum that depicts the history of the U.S. Army since its establishment in 1775, Durr says.

The six New York Army National Guard soldiers were cast as models in 2018. While Studio EIS, a Brooklyn company that specializes in making museum exhibit figures would normally hire actors to serve as models, the museum wanted to use real American Soldiers for their project, according to Durr.

"Having real Soldiers gives the figures a level of authenticity to the scene," Paul Morando, chief of museum exhibits said. "They know where their hands should be on the weapons. They know how far apart their feet should be when they are standing. They know how to carry their equipment."

Vilardo, Gerdt, and Archibald are in an exhibit that depicts soldiers clambering down the side of a ship to land in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Kim, Morrison and Freed modeled figures in an Afghanistan combat mission. They portray soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment on patrol in 2014. Kim was the model for a soldier operating a remote control for a MARCbot, which is used to inspect objects which might be improvised explosive devices.

Vilardo was the model for a combat photographer. His figure is in the back of the boat taking pictures of the action. The figure modeled by Archibald is climbing down the cargo net slung over the side of a ship into the 36-foot long landing craft known as a "Higgins boat." Gerdt modeled a Soldier standing in the boat gazing toward the beach, thinking about what is to come.

The process of turning a Soldier into a life-sized figure started by posing the Soldier in the position called for in the tableau and taking lots of photos.

This allows the artists to observe how the person looks and record it. Next, a model of the individual's face is made. A special silicone based material is used for the cast. The model's nostrils are kept clear so the subject can breathe.

Soldiers were told what their character was supposed to be doing and thinking and asked to make the appropriate facial gestures.

Soldiers were recruited for their look and in some cases their ethnic background. The museum needed soldiers who were leaner than the 21st century norm to portray World War II GIs. Museum officials also wanted Asian-American and African-American Soldiers for the Afghanistan exhibit, which is why Kim and Morrison were approached.

Next the artists sculpted the sections molded from the Soldier into a complete figure, dressing and accessorizing, and painting precise details on the face and skin; crafting it to humanistic and historical perfection.

Being a part of the National Museum of the United States Army is an honor, Kim and Vilardo said.

Vilardo said her 9-year old daughter was excited when he showed her photographs of him being turned into an exhibit figure. "I told her it would be just like "Night at the Museum", he said referring to the Ben Stiller movie about museum exhibits coming to life, "and that we could go visit anytime."
Ministers have been urged to intervene after a mass outbreak at the DVLAs offices in Wales, by a union declaring the government agencys response a scandal.

More than 350 employees at the UK vehicle licensing agencys contact centre in Swansea tested positive in the four months to December, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to above 500.

Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething is among several senior politicians to say he is concerned about anecdotal reports emerging from the offices  with the BBC and The Observer reporting that some symptomatic employees had been encouraged to return to work, amid an alleged culture of fear.

Both outlets also reported complaints that archaic IT systems meant many employees could not work from home, and that close contacts were not always sent home to self-isolate, with workers allegedly advised to turn off their Test and Trace apps to prevent notifications of an infection risk.

For those who fell ill, absences of more than 10 days have triggered a warning, The Observer reported, citing a complaint received by Public Health Waless outbreak control team.

A DVLA spokesperson strenuously denied each of these allegations.

It is a scandal that DVLA are not doing more to reduce numbers in the workplace when Covid infections are on the rise, said Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) general secretary, Mark Serwotka.

Our members are telling us they are scared to enter the workplace for fear of catching Covid-19.

Ministers must intervene and ensure DVLA are doing their utmost to enable staff to work from home and temporarily cease non-critical services.

Asked about Mr Serwotkas warning and call for action at the top of government, a Department for Transport pointed to a DVLA statement and comments highlighting that there are no active cases inside the Swansea contact centre, with just four people currently self-isolating following a positive test across the 6,000-strong agency.

Staff in roles that enable them to work from home are doing so and have throughout, in line with current government advice, the DVLA statement said.

However, in view of the essential nature of the public services we provide, some operational staff are required to be in the office where their role means they cannot work from home.

A DVLA spokesperson said the agency had extensive safety measures in line with government advice and worked closely with Public Health Wales and local health and safety agencies.

It has opened an additional facility for on-site staff in Swansea, and workers are regularly reminded of the requirement to self-isolate if told to do so by the Test and Trace app, the spokesperson added.

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Many facilities have reopened in the latest easing of lockdown include pubs and restaurants who can serve outside, non-essential shops, indoor gyms and swimming pools, nail salons and hairdressers, outdoor amusements and zoos PA UK news in pictures 11 April 2021 A pub staff pins up a sign announcing the reopening of the Fox on the Hill pub on Denmark Hill in London EPA UK news in pictures 10 April 2021 The Death Gun Salute is fired by the Honourable Artillery Company to mark the passing of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the The Tower of London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 9 April 2021 A man arrives to lay a bunch of flowers outside Buckingham Palace in central London after the announcement of the death of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. - Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip, who recently spent more than a month in hospital and underwent a heart procedure, died on April 9, Buckingham Palace announced. He was 99. AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 8 April 2021 Cousin Pascal ridden by James King clears the chair on their way to winning the 4:05 Pool via REUTERS UK news in pictures 7 April 2021 Deliveroo riders from the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain outside Deliveroo headquarters in London, as they go on strike in a dispute for fair pay, safety protections and basic workers rights PA UK news in pictures 6 April 2021 Waves crash over the walls next to Seaham Lighthouse in Durham PA UK news in pictures 5 April 2021 Lusamba Katalay (third from left), the husband of Belly Mujinga joins activists at a vigil at Victoria station in London to mark the first anniversary of the death of railway worker Belly Mujinga who died with Covid-19 following reports she had been coughed on by a customer at London's Victoria station PA UK news in pictures 4 April 2021 People spend Easter Sunday at Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth Jake McPherson/SWNS UK news in pictures 3 April 2021 A woman looks into the camera as she attends a 'Kill the Bill' protest in London EPA UK news in pictures 2 April 2021 Members of the Bamburgh Croquet club play a game following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Northumberland, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 1 April 2021 A family walks in St Nicholas' Park in Warwick, the hot weather which baked much of the UK this week is set to give way to a chilly Easter weekend. PA UK news in pictures 31 March 2021 A woman adds a heart to the National Covid Memorial Wall in London EPA UK news in pictures 30 March 2021 Jamie Klingler from Reclaim These Streets speaks to the media in Clapham Common, south London, after a review by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Thomas Winsor concluded that Metropolitan Police officers did not act inappropriately or in a heavy-handed manner at the vigil PA UK news in pictures 29 March 2021 An aerial photo shows people playing tennis at the Mersey Bowman Lawn Tennis Club in Liverpool northwest England on March 29, 2021, as England's third Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease, allowing groups of up to six people to meet outside. - People in England rushed outside Monday to enjoy sports, picnics and other previously prohibited activities, as the nation entered the second phase of its coronavirus lockdown easing thanks in large part to a successful vaccination drive AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 28 March 2021 A walrus sleeps on the slipway of Tenby Lifeboat station at Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 27 March 2021 Demonstrators attend a protest against a new proposed policing bill in Manchester Reuters UK news in pictures 26 March 2021 Gallery technicians display Andy Warhol screenprints Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens screenprint in colours, 1985, left, and Queen Elizabeth II, from: Reigning Queens (Royal Edition) screenprint in colours with diamond dust, 1985, right, at Christies auction rooms in London AP UK news in pictures 25 March 2021 A member of staff, in the pool, cleans the bottom of the pool during pre-opening preparation and cleaning of Charlton Lido, south London, following its closure due to lockdown PA UK news in pictures 24 March 2021 Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater on the local election campaign trail in Edinburgh. PA UK news in pictures 23 March 2021 Care home staff at Westbourne House care home in Sheffield hold a minute's silence during the National Reflection day, The first anniversary of the first UK lockdown Tom Maddick / SWNS

If people are on-site and youre closer to other people than  at home, then obviously people are going to feel nervous, a spokesperson told The Independent, and the DVLA gets that, but thats why it we take all the steps we have to keep the site as safe as we possibly can.

He added: Were not disputing the figures [on cases], but this isnt a mass walk-out, we havent got loads of people lying ill at home. This is an accumulated total.

Asked whether the vast majority of the 352 employees who tested positive in the four months to December were now back at work, he said: Yes, absolutely.

Senedd mental health and wellbeing minister Eluned Morgan told BBC Radio Cymru that the Welsh government has been worried about the DVLA for a while, now, adding: We've been putting pressure on them.

It comes up time and again from the people who represent Swansea, and we're worried the pressure on people working there hasn't helped. The situation is one of the reasons why we've introduced new rules, new legislation, to tighten the restrictions on people at work.

And Mr Gething added: We're concerned about anecdotal reports we've heard from the trade union side, individuals, that all of the requirements weren't being followed.

Swansea MP Carolyn Harris said told BBC Radio Wales that she was in constant contact with the DVLA during the first lockdown due to concerns raised by workers, but has not been able to get hold of anyone from the agency since Christmas.

Last night I spent a long time trying to hold of the chief executive, Ms Harris said. Some of the stuff that I am now reading, and some of the stuff I've had in over the last 24 hours, really worries me.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
ISTANBUL - ''Explorative talks'' between Turkey and Greece resumed on Monday morning in Istanbul after nearly five years. Talks focus on disputes in the eastern Mediterranean and other bilateral issues. The meeting is a key moment to relaunch dialogue after months of strong tensions for Ankara's energy explorations in the Mediterranean to search for hydrocarbons which, according to Greece - backed by the EU - violate the exclusive economic zone. The closed-door meeting is expected to last all day, according to diplomatic sources.

The delegations are led by Turkish Foreign Minister Sedat Unal and retired Greek diplomat Pavlos Apostolidis. It is the 61st meeting in such a format, originally set up in 2002. The last such meeting took place on March 1, 2016, in Athens. The Greek government has stressed that it means to exclusively discuss the ''demarcation of exclusive economic zones and of continental platforms in the Aegean and in the eastern Mediterranean'', without dealing with themes of ''national sovereignty'', while Ankara is pushing for negotiations on ''all issues'', including airspace and the status of some islands of the Aegean. According to the media from both countries, expectations on possible immediate solutions are ''low'', although reports highlighted the importance of relaunching dialogue. Both Ankara and Athens have suggested that the International Court of Justice in The Hague could resolve disputes if no agreement is reached. Last week, the two countries resumed technical military talks at Nato's headquarters in Brussels, aimed at limiting the risk of accidents in contested waters.


Google Drive becomes a goldmine for pirated, explicit content

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Cyber criminals and pirates of the Internet now have a new goldmine in Google Drive where they are freely storing and sharing illegal software licenses, movies, games and porn content -- most of which have allegedly been indexed in Google Search as some Drive users made such links public in their individual accounts.

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronisation service that allows users to store files on their servers, synchronise files across devices, and share files.

According to independent cyber security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia, thousands of such explicit and illegal content is being circulated via Google Drive, in zipped compressed files.

"Apart from thousands of porn videos, at least 25,000-30,000 links are likely sharing illegal content like malware, software, movies, games and what not. One can search such links in Google Drive at ease. Just do a search and download at will," Rajaharia told IANS on Sunday and shared several such screenshots.

The irony is that movies/games/software that have been removed from Google Search on the basis of copyright violation are available in Google Drive for faster download.

"Unlike other file sharing websites, Google Drive allows faster downloads so such illegal and explicit content is thriving on its platform," the cyber security researcher claimed.

An email sent to Google asking if such content is being stored and shared freely on Drive did not elicit any response.

Under its terms of service, Google says that "We may review content to determine whether it is illegal or violates our Program Policies, and we may remove or refuse to display content that we reasonably believe violates our policies or the law. But that does not necessarily mean that we review content, so please don't assume that we do".

While Google doesn't go into the details of its detection methods, it uses file-hashes to detect infringing content.

Google Drive matches the hash of copyrighted video content with files that are stored by users to identify pirated content. The company does this on a voluntary basis, according to media reports.

According to Rajaharia, Google Drive is dangerous in a sense because one can search anything easily on its platform that other file-sharing websites.

"There are thousands of pirated movies, softwares, mobile apps uploaded on Google Drive and you can easily search in Google," he said.

Nearly 80 per cent of the Google Drive movies links are malware. "One wrong click may install malware into your PC or mobile," Rajaharia added.

According to data provided by him, total Drive links indexed in Google Search are over 10 lakh but not all these links are related to piracy/illegal files.

"There are over 20,000 movies links, more than 2,500 software download links, over 2,500 APK (Android Application Package) mobile apps and more than 1,500 cracked illegal software copies (not all may be pirated)," Rajaharia told IANS.

The Google Drive users must also be aware of their actions.

"They should not make pirated movies and other content public on Google Drive as this will lead to indexing on Search. They must keep their content private or share links with people they know and trust," the cyber security researcher emphasised.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
One of the architects of the negotiate-arbitrate model aimed at tackling Google and Facebook's monopoly in Australia has been tapped to lead Seven West Media's regulatory and government affairs team.

The Kerry Stokes-controlled media company has appointed former Nine Entertainment executive Clare Gill to lead government and regulatory affairs as the fight to introduce laws to level the playing field between local media companies and international tech giants heats up.

Former Nine executive Clare Gill will start her new role at Seven in February.

Ms Gill left Nine (owner of this masthead) after four years in late 2019. Nines chief executive Hugh Marks and Ms Gill were under scrutiny in 2019 for hosting a $10,000 a head fundraiser for the Liberal Party.

Seven, which owns The West Australian newspaper, is expected to have a more vocal position on the news media bargaining code, given Ms Gill's experience working on ways to regulate Google and Facebook in her time with Nine.
Highlights Redmi Note 10 teased for first time.

Redmi Note 10 series might launch in India next month.

Redmi Note 10 will succeed Redmi Note 9 in India.

Xiaomi might expand its Note line up next month with the launch of the Redmi Note 10 in India. The smartphone has been teased for the very first time by company's general manager Lu Weibing through a Weibo post. Weibing mentioned the Redmi Note 9 series in his post and asked Xiaomi fans about their expectations from its successor the Redmi Note 10 hinting that the launch can happen soon. Even though the post didn't mention a launch date, the smartphone is expected to arrive in India next month, as per a report by 91mobiles.

Last year, the company had launched the Redmi Note 9 and Redmi Note 9 Pro Max in the country. While in China, the Redmi Note 9 Pro was also unveiled in November with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G SoC and 120Hz variable refresh rate.

Meanwhile, the Redmi Note 10 has made a appearance on certification websites multiple times. It has been spotted on including BIS, FCC, IMDA, among others. It will be interesting to see how many models of the smartphone are eventually launched in the country. Also, this time Xiaomi can launch both 4G and 5G variants of the phone.

Redmi Note 10 expected specs

The exact specs and pricing of the Redmi Note 10 will be known after the launch. However, Pro variant is expected to feature an IPS LCD display with 120Hz refresh rate. The smartphone might be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 735G SoC paired with 6GB and 8GB RAM combined with 64GB or 128GB internal storage options. The 5G variant of the phone might come with Snapdragon 750G chipset.

The smartphone should run Android 11 OS with MIUI 12 custom skin on top. The Pro model in the line-up is likely to feature a 64MP primary camera that could be paired with an ultra-wide-angle, macro, and depth sensor. The phone may house a 5,050mAh battery as well.

Meanwhile, the Note 10 is likely to come with an IPS LCD screen, Android OS and multiple cameras. It will be interesting to see if Xiaomi equips it with a 120Hz display or settles for a 90Hz screen. The smartphone might come in available in Gray, White, and Green colours. It should also pack a big battery.
WEST SPRINGFIELD  Town councilors will meet Monday to discuss inflammatory and accusatory language in Mayor William Reichelts executive order declaring racism a public health crisis.

Theyll also consider an alternative wording drafted late last week by Council President Brian Griffin, intended to preserve the mayors goals while toning down the rhetoric that some councilors found objectionable.

The wording in it, to me, is inflammatory, Councilor Daniel OBrien said of the mayors proposal. I dont understand where youre basing the facts of this document,  how it ties in with West Springfield, and the West Springfield that I know. I find this to be accusatory.

Reichelt, who was at the Jan. 19 meeting, said he wrote the executive order earlier this month along with Town Attorney Kate OBrien-Scott, and is open to changes. Council President Brian Griffin called a study session to discuss the wording at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25. The discussion will be held as a Zoom teleconference. Reichelt and members of the Board of Health and School Committee have been invited to participate. No public comments will be taken.

Councilors were unanimous in agreeing with the goal of the executive order  fighting against racism. Some said they dont have a problem with the way it is written.

I dont think it attacks the town. I love this town, said Councilor Sean Powers. Just that there are individuals affected by this type of behavior that are sometimes people close to us.

The two-page executive order, which the mayor drafted but has not yet signed, says that systematic, institutional and interpersonal racism exists in the United States and is a persistent barrier to health equity for all residents of West Springfield. It orders all town departments to actively combat racism, and establishes a volunteer commission to lead a town-wide discussion on racism and promote efforts to eliminate racism, both in government and in society.

Councilor Edward Sullivan, who was Reichelts predecessor as mayor, said the wording of the document makes it sound as if the town government itself has been promoting racism.

Theres some accusations here about how West Springfield is creating some race-based health disparities, which I was completely unaware of, Sullivan said. He said hed like to hear if theres things our Health Department or first responders [are] not doing properly due to race, creed, color or gender.

Reichelt responded that the document is referring to national studies that have shown minority groups are disproportionately affected by health problems, including a higher rate of COVID-19 infection.

Its not an accusation at all against the community, Reichelt said. Its not specifically an issue in West Springfield. Its just that this is what I see as a first step  to begin this conversation and start this journey.

Without identifying a local problem, however, the executive order is just a feel-good vote and an exercise in wokeness and virtue-signaling, said Councilor Michael Eger.

I would want it to do some actual good, Eger said. Having a document to say, We acknowledge it  doesnt help people. Its a series of meetings with no intended outcome.

He also faulted the executive order for not explicitly advocating the positive position of love your fellow man, accept our differences, help one another.

Councilor Nathan Bech said he, too, has concerns about the wording of the order, but I support the mayors effort 100 percent. He said he hoped after Mondays discussion, the council could vote 9-0 in favor. The council is slated to vote on endorsing the order, or its replacement, at its Feb. 1 meeting.

Reichelt said hes more than happy to do whatever the council does. Griffin lauded the mayor for not enacting his original version of the executive order unilaterally.

One of the things I appreciate  is that you are actually coming to the council, and not just declaring it, Griffin said. I think collectively, if we all get together, none of us will disagree in the end.

Griffins proposal refers to racism as a threat to public health and safety but stops short of calling it an emergency or a crisis. In place of ordering town departments to partner with the mayor and Board of Health on anti-racism policies, it says councilors support such a partnership.

The new proposal also adds goals for the volunteer commission, emphasizing detailed objectives and measurable goals, including the tabulation of data to show where inequalities exist in health, housing and employment among different racial and ethnic groups.

Earlier this month, Reichelt said the executive order grew out of the protests against the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020, and the West Springfield schools Equity Series discussions over the past year.

The volunteer commission envisioned in his executive order will not hold any judicial or regulatory power, he said. It is intended as a place to talk about experiences, problems and solutions, both in committee meetings and in larger community forums.
(CNN) - Getting Americans masked up is a top priority for the Biden administration.

Biden, who calls wearing masks "a patriotic act," signed an executive order Wednesday -- his very first as President -- to ask Americans to wear masks of their choice for the first 100 days of the new administration. The executive order also requires mask use on all federal property, though in this case, not just any old mask will do.

On Wednesday, after the inauguration, White House press secretary Jen Psaki showed off her bright white N95 mask in the press briefing room. "I wore it out, of course, here today and will continue to do that," Psaki said after removing her medical-grade mask and before turning to questions.

N95 masks are considered the gold standard in personal protective equipment because they block 95% of large and small particles utilizing a unique electrostatic filter.

The filter works by trapping neutral particles like bacteria and viruses before they pass through the mask, protecting the wearer and those around them. It's similar to how socks might get stuck to a blanket in the dryer. The N95 mask, which costs roughly $5, also fits securely to the face, eliminating most of the leakage that may occur with a loose-fitting cloth or paper mask.

Studies have shown that masks significantly decrease the chances of transmitting or contracting the coronavirus. But not all masks provide equal protection. Depending on the fabric and number of layers, homemade and simple cloth masks have a range of effectiveness that can be as low as 26%, which leaves the wearer vulnerable.

Some experts like Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School physician Dr. Abraar Karan have been advocating for public use of N95 masks from the start of the pandemic. In an interview with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Karan outlined why N95s are critical at this stage of the pandemic.

"If for four weeks the country essentially wore these masks in those risky settings like that indoors, what kind of difference do you think it would make?" Gupta asked.

"This would stop the epidemic," Karan responded.

The quality of protection a face mask can provide is crucial. A respiratory illness like the coronavirus is transmitted through aerosols, tiny particles that waft and hang in the air. Some virus-carrying particles are small enough to travel through or around lower-quality masks, making the wearer vulnerable to inhalation of viral particles.

"We know now that aerosols spread best when there is poor ventilation, crowding and close contact that's prolonged," Karan told Gupta in an interview. "So we were arguing that actually in those settings, cloth masks alone are not going to block aerosols."

Karan is not the only expert who has been vocal in support of better quality masks for the general public. Former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that "encouraging Americans to wear higher-quality masks is a simple step that might make a difference."

The biggest problem is lack of supply. This week marked a full year of the coronavirus, and the Biden administration has committed to invoking the Defense Production Act more often to boost manufacture of N95 masks and other critical supplies. Experts hope manufacturing will hit a speed to be able to sufficiently supply the population.

"An N95 that's well-fitted clearly is the best that you can do," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Friday. "You could get production of that at a much higher rate now."

Karan believes N95 masks could be an essential asset in reopening the economy as the vaccine rollout remains sluggish and quarantine fatigue soars.

"If we have better personal protection for people, they can more safely go back to work. They can more safely re-engage, especially if testing and tracing is not where we need it to be," Karan said.

"This was going to be one way to get people back in and get the economy back up."

Some European countries are already taking that step to prevent coronavirus spread within their borders. Earlier this week, Germany and France mandated that all citizens wear high filtration masks like the N95 in all public places.

After months of treating coronavirus patients, Karan says it's time to invest in making sure masks people wear are even more effective. "Focus on getting better masks to as many people as possible, focus on the messaging around masks, be consistent with your messaging, make masks part of American culture to stop the epidemic."

The key here is to always wear a mask whenever you're in public. One study in Lancet Digital Health found that a 10% increase in mask-wearing could lead to a three-fold increase in the odds of maintaining control over virus transmission in a community. The ability to control the spread of the coronavirus is in our hands -- and on our faces.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "The face mask that could end the pandemic"
KYODO NEWS - Jan 25, 2021 - 19:52 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Japan will commence random mass PCR testing as early as March as part of efforts to ascertain the extent of the novel coronavirus' spread in city areas, government sources said Monday.

The central government is aiming to conduct up to several thousand polymerase chain reaction tests per day in Tokyo, Osaka and other metropolitan areas seeing a high number of cases, with the goal of using the information to develop effective virus prevention measures, the sources said.

In contrast with local government testing that only targets people who show symptoms or have had close contact with infected individuals, random people will be tested to determine how much the virus has spread in a particular city.

The costs of the tests, which will be carried out by contracted private companies, will be fully covered by the central government. The tests are expected to be conducted at airports, as well as places where crowds tend to gather such as city centers, companies and universities.

In addition to on-site collection of mucus and saliva samples, specimens collected using testing kits will also be accepted by mail. The results will be released to individuals but will also be used anonymously in statistical data.

The government also plans to collect information on Twitter and other social media to track changes in people's attitudes toward the pandemic, the sources said. The data, along with the results of the random PCR tests, will be analyzed using artificial intelligence, aiming to detect a potential surge in infections at an early stage.

Related coverage:

Study finds virus cases in Japan surged after Go To travel campaign

Japan to hold coronavirus vaccination simulation Jan. 27

At least 15,000 virus patients waiting for hospitals, accommodations
Mumbai, Jan 25 : Foreign fund outflows, along with profit booking, pulled the Indian benchmark equity indices lower for the third straight session on Monday.

Investors were seen cautious ahead of monthly F&O expiry as well as pre-budget speculations, while hefty allocation towards IPOs' subscription took away some funds from the market.

Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 530.95 points, or 1.09 per cent, to close at 48,347.59 from its previous close.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 14,238.90, lower by 133 points, or 0.93 per cent, from its previous close.

Globally, Asian shares closed on a mixed note in Monday's trade amid some hopes for recovering economies slammed by the pandemic, as market attention turned to upcoming company earnings.

Stocks in Europe were impacted by rumours of tighter border restrictions and extended lockdowns to keep the new Covid-19 variant at bay.

On the domestic front, Nifty was dragged by the fall in energy and IT stocks.

Among sectors, pharma was the main gainer while IT, realty and auto were the main losers.

In terms of market heavyweight, Reliance Industries fell 5.6 per cent, its biggest single-day fall seen in stock in nearly three months.

"Nifty has fallen for the third consecutive session. This has happened after about 4 months. Poor advance decline ratio hints at broader profit taking," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

"Pre-budget nervousness has resulted in some unloading. Locking up of large sums in the recent IPOs have also led to this sell-off. 14,123-14,148 is the next support band for the Nifty." Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. said: "Technically, Nifty has started to form lower top - lower bottom and is witnessing profit booking declines from three sessions." "Going ahead, markets may continue to remain highly volatile ahead of Monthly expiry and Union Budget 2021. The ongoing earning season further adds to the volatility. The Fed monetary policy is also due this week which would be the first one post newly inaugurated US President and thus would hold lot more significance." Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said: "Indian markets witnessed a highly volatile trade and closed in red due to weak global market and reports of Indo-China border tension. The downside was equally contributed by all the sectors except pharma which traded in green." "Policy decisions of the US Fed meeting which will commence tomorrow will drive the global market in the coming days. We have seen Indian markets being highly volatile these days and this trend is expected to continue this week as we inch closer to the Union Budget."
New Orleans, LA - An analysis by Nicholas Gilpin, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Associate Director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center of Excellence at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, and Michael Taffe, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, summarizes long-standing racial inequities in federal funding for biosciences research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their report describes prior failures to correct these racial inequities and offers strategies that may be effective in eliminating these disparities. Their paper, published online in the open-access science journal, eLife, is available for download here.

"There is structural racism at all levels of the biomedical research enterprise," notes Dr. Gilpin, who is also Vice-Chair of Research in Physiology at LSU Health New Orleans. "One of the most overt examples of this is in the fact that white scientists are 1.7 times more likely to receive federal research grants than Black scientists, even when controlling for a long list of potential mediating variables. This disparity was reported in 2011, and in 2019 it was confirmed that nothing has changed during the last decade."

The authors describe the impact that racial disparities in federal funding rates have on both biomedical scientists of color and the field at large. They also issue a call to action to leaders at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and universities, grant reviewers, tenured faculty, and search and tenure committee members.

"Put simply, this is unacceptable," adds Dr. Gilpin. "The NIH must acknowledge its own systemic and structural racism and must take action to eliminate it. This action must be demanded by all scientists, but especially by those that are NOT adversely affected by the policy, that is, by scientists that are white, tenured, and in leadership positions."

The authors maintain that federal research dollars are the primary form of "career currency" in academic research, and that racial disparities in federal funding have many negative trickle-down effects on the careers of Black scientists and the biomedical sciences at-large. The authors evaluate current approaches to address the problem and show why these strategies are unlikely to achieve success on their own. They recommend adding additional strategies that include increased data transparency, using paylines to reduce disparities and employing a top-down approach previously used to help early-stage investigators in the biomedical sciences.

"The United States is having a reckoning with the pervasive and oppressive structural racism that permeates nearly all of its institutions," Dr. Gilpin concludes. "Although this has been going on for centuries, this seems like a bellwether moment in our society because these ideas have entered the collective consciousness and mobilized sections of U.S. society that previously stayed on the sidelines."

Although progress has been made to increase the participation of historically underrepresented groups in biomedical training stages, the National Institutes of Health acknowledges that members of these groups are still less likely to be hired as independently funded faculty researchers. To address that need, in December, the NIH announced two new funding opportunities that will provide support to institutions to recruit diverse groups of early-stage research faculty and prepare them to thrive as NIH-funded researchers.

###
DUBLIN, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "The Future Of Online Groceries - Ultra Fast Convenience 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

As online penetration rates remain high and are increasing especially in the areas which suffer new national or regional lockdowns, as we enter the second and third Covid waves in the West, online grocery is being transformed.

The big multichannel grocers have or are working on their big basket solutions, be they home delivery or click & collect. But there is another basket size that is not yet served well, which is the convenience shop type - often distressed shopping late at night (OTC medicines for example) or ingredient substitution, etc. This is the new growth frontier in online grocery - ultra-fast convenience deliveries. This report analyses the grocery offerings, rather than restaurant takeaway deliveries, as the restaurant delivery app players with their logistics networks are all muscling in on this space now.

If one dares to look at a future beyond Covid-19, there should be a big future opportunity for small baskets, according to Tesco a 10bn opportunity in the UK, or in other words about 4/5 of the entire online grocery sector as it stands. And in any other markets, the opportunity will be as promising.

But as Amazon has demonstrated over the years with their relatively small average basket sizes in online grocery, this is really hard to make work financially. The commissioning and delivery cost will eat up all the available margin, especially as food transaction baskets are not that high value. But at least Amazon changes a Prime fee for rapid deliveries (PrimeNow and now AmazonFresh free on regular Prime membership in the US and the UK) and has a minimum basket (otherwise extra fees apply). As an aside, Amazon also manages to mix food and higher non-food margins much better in these baskets due to it being the everything store.

Then again, there seems to be a sector that manages two make these ultra-fast deliveries work up to a point. Restaurants can do it apparently, serving food baskets rapidly (to keep the meals hot) and are being convenient and have trained customers to be willing to pay fees (service/ delivery fee for rapid delivery). The point that most of the aggregator services (Deliveroo, Uber Eats, etc) are still loss-making is a different matter.

There is an opportunity to exploit for grocers they should be able to raise network synergy effects if they combine all food requirements and offers on one app and on one delivery vehicle (at the moment this is still a future opportunity, even though some Chinese companies are on their way to achieving this). Naturally besides attracting new shoppers and shopping missions adding a point-to-point delivery system where this makes sense will also alleviate the operative burden on grocers' online grocery operations.

One can ask the question of whether companies can make money with network effects on a point to point delivery run (restaurant to household), especially with such small time windows. A related question is how many orders can operators reasonably expect to batch within the tight time frame for hot meal deliveries. The UK's Deliveroo works with 3 drops an hour which are very good, but probably at the maximum end of efficiency for a point to point system.

So where is ultra-fast online grocery going in the future? The publisher believes that there will be a demand created by online grocers, logistics marketplaces, and takeaway apps due to their current offers. Arguably due to the Covid pandemic, many retailers panicked into delivery partnerships to reach shoppers unable to get to their stores. But the publisher believes that these services can not easily be withdrawn, as shoppers have transferred expectations about delivery times and capabilities from hot takeaway deals to their groceries.

Currently, online grocery retailers are not set up to meet this demand on their own, as their logistics network is optimized for the next day (or later) deliveries. That said, once shoppers have been trained to have higher expectations, the retailers able to meet them in conjunction with a service provider or through their own (future) proprietary set up will emerge as the winners.

This means that the pressure on being ultra-fast will only increase for retailers going forward. Online grocers working with next day delivery could soon become laggards, even though same-day capabilities are quite cutting edge still as we are writing this.

Tapping into new delivery and logistics models, such as the takeaway apps, seems to be an enticing option for grocers. Not for nothing have Amazon invested in Deliveroo after all. The company is building out its amazing logistics footprint, even more, becoming increasingly more the pipe through which everything flows.

Other outside developments such as the upgrading of the infrastructure (5G) will also mean that everything is becoming faster and faster, and faster online grocery fits in with this trend. But where there are winners there are also losers. Gig economy employment is unstable and the environmental impact could also become a huge topic if cities are swamped with delivery drivers at all times of the day and night.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. The Structure of the Market

Market Structure: Traditional Online Grocery Versus Ultra Fast Convenience

Market Structure: The Players

Market Structure: Hot Food Expectations Transferred to Grocery

Market Structure: Point to Point Versus Hub and Spoke

Market Structure: The Logistic Networks of the Takeaway Apps

3. Market Sizes

Market Sizes: Online Grocery, UK Market Sizes, Data

Market Sizes: Ultra Fast Online Grocery Market Sizes UK

Market Sizes: Food Delivery Market Sizes

Market Sizes: Takeaway Delivery Market Sizes - Data, EU$

App Usage Stats: Takeaway Delivery Apps, Us and UK

Takeaway Delivery Top 3: UK and US

4. The Players

Ocado Zoom: Stronger Than Expected

Waitrose Rapid: Maximum Basket Size of 25 Items

Sainsbury's Chop Chop: 50 Stores by 2020

Instacart: On-Demand Delivery Partnership with 7-Eleven

Instacart: on the Way to Super Fast Deliveries

Amazon Prime Now: Not Fast Enough Anymore

Amazon: The Deliveroo Investment

Amazon: The New Ultra Fast Fresh Service

Amazon: Fresh Becomes a Prime Benefit

5. The Takeaway App Models

The Model: Platform Versus Logistics Service Model

The Model: Amazon Versus eBay in Foodservice?

The Model: A Convergence of Models at a Cost

Just Eat Takeaway

Just Eat: The Decision to Offer Logistics

Just Eat: The Need to Offer Logistics Solutions

Just Eat: Groceries Offer in Trial Phase

Just Eat: Asda Partnership Temporarily on Hold

Just Eat: Just Eat Takeaway Combines with Grubhub in $7.3Bn Deal

Deal Just Eat: 44% Revenue Rise in the Midst of the Pandemic

Deliveroo

Deliveroo: The Fastest Growing Company, Unicorn Getting into Trouble

Deliveroo: Revenue, Losses, Data, the Amazon Tie Up

Deliveroo: Analysis, Dark Kitchens

Deliveroo: Adding Groceries - Morrisons

Deliveroo: Adding Groceries - Coop

Deliveroo: Adding Groceries - Aldi

Deliveroo: Adding Groceries - Holland & Barrett

& Barrett Deliveroo: Adding Groceries - Waitrose

Deliveroo: Adding Groceries - Losing M&S

Uber Eats

Uber: Uber Strikes Deal to Buy Postmates for $2.65Bn

Uber: Uber Going for the Grocery Business

for the Grocery Business Uber: Postmates as a White Label Solution for Grocers

Uber: Net Revenue ($Bn) Rides, Eats, Freight, Other

Uber: Cornershop, Being Faster Than Amazon

Uber Eats: The Evolution

Uber Eats: Moving into Grocery, Carrefour, Galp

Uber Eats: Costcutter Groceries in the UK

Uber Eats: Adding Groceries in Australia , Woolworths

, Woolworths Uber Eats: Adding Groceries in the US

Doordash

Doordash: Softbank-Backed Doordash Files for Ipo

Doordash: Extending the Grocery Offer

Doordash: Launches "Convenience Store", Backed by Mfc

Delivery Hero

Delivery Hero: Delivery Hero Hungry for Scale as It Shakes Up the Dax

Delivery Hero: Picks Up Instashop in $360M Deal to Expand in Groceries

Deal to Expand in Groceries Delivery Hero: Plans to Open 400 Cloud Stores

Glovo

Glovo: A Grocery Pioneer, Plans for 100 Dark Stores

Glovo: Carrefour Partnership

Glovo: Focus on Grocery Delivery and Superglovo

6. Strategy

Strategy: How to Bring Costs Down

Self Driving Cars: Not Happening?

Self Driving Cars: Shifting from Robo Taxis to Trucks

Self Driving Cars: Focus on Highways

Dark Kitchens: The Pros, Lower Costs, Flexibility, Bigger Catchments

Dark Kitchens: and Cons, Control, Brand Building, Bad Rep

Dark Kitchens: Prototypes, Shared Space Vs Single User

Dark Kitchens: Business Case to Become Grocery Mfc?

7. Outlook

Outlook: The Case for Ultra Fast Online Grocery

Companies Mentioned

7-Eleven

Aldi

Amazon

Carrefour

Coop

Deliveroo

Delivery Hero

Doordash

Ebay

Galp

Glovo

Grubhub

Holland & Barrett

& Barrett Instacart

Just Eat

M&S

MFC

Morrisons

Ocado Zoom

Postmates

Sainsbury's

Uber Eats

Waitrose

Woolworths

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/48nvlf

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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Afghanistan veteran and former Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y. -- the Pentagon's new "COVID-19 coordinator -- joined Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last Friday for their first meeting with the service chiefs and combatant commanders on efforts to control the pandemic.

Rose's appointment to the newly created post of "Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense -- Senior Advisor, COVID" or "COVID-19 coordinator" surfaced in a long list of those named by the Biden administration to join Austin's team, first reported by Defense One.

Shortly after arriving at the Pentagon on Friday, Austin met with his senior staff, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, the acting service secretaries, the service chiefs and the combatant commanders, according to a Defense Department release.

Read Next: Navy SEAL Sentenced to 10 Years in Choking Death of Green Beret

Rose was commissioned in the Army in 2010 and received a Purple Heart for injuries he suffered when an improvised explosive device hit the Stryker combat vehicle he was in while serving with the 1st Armored Division in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in 2013. He now serves as a captain in the Army National Guard.

In March 2020, while serving in Congress, Rose was called up for Guard duty to aid New York City's response to the pandemic. He worked to convert a Staten Island psychiatric center into an emergency hospital for COVID-19 patients.

Rose, representing a Staten Island district including a part of south Brooklyn, served one term in Congress before losing reelection in November. Before his surprise appointment to the Pentagon was announced, Rose was in the process of filing papers to run in the crowded Democratic primary field for the nomination to succeed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

There was no immediate guidance from the Defense Department on the role of the COVID-19 coordinator, but the 198-page "National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness" issued by the Biden administration last week stresses coordination between the DoD and other agencies in setting up community vaccination centers in all 50 states.

The strategy states that the DoD "will bring its logistical expertise and staff to bear, with the Federal Emergency Management [Agency] in managing setup and operations" of the community centers.

"These sites will mobilize thousands of clinical and non-clinical staff and contractors -- including federal medics, Department of Agriculture staff, Department of Veterans Affairs staff, and Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers and DOD personnel -- who will work hand-in-glove with the National Guard and state, territorial, Tribal, and local teams" in setting up the centers, the strategy adds.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Related: It's Official: Lloyd Austin Is the First Black Defense Secretary
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Four days back Bangladesh received two million doses of vaccines from India as a gift. It is also sitting smug over a successful deal it signed with the Serum Institute of India (SII) late last year for a supply of 30 million coronavirus vaccines.

Bangladesh is a shining example of how China lost out with an ally it had been courting in South Asia. Chinese vaccine firm Sinovac Biotec's arm twisting of Bangladesh fell flat after the government decided to cancel Sinovac's contract for conducting trials and providing vaccines.

China had been interacting with Bangladesh regarding the pandemic when the Covid-19 crisis was at its peak with most nations confused and helpless but for imposing lockdowns. As far back as June 2020, China had sent medical teams to Dhaka to support the South Asian nation understand and tackle the pandemic. Beijing also assured Bangladesh of speedy delivery of vaccines.

Separately, Bangladesh had an agreement with Sinovac under which it had to conduct mass trials of the Sinovac vaccine in return for free doses. However, the Bangladesh health ministry released information over developments in September and October 2020 that Sinovac asked it to co-fund the trials. Noticing a breach of contract, Bangladesh Health Minister Zahid Maleque cancelled Sinovac's contract and immediately reached out to India's SII for the vaccines.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also followed up on the vaccines. She raised the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their online summit in December and he promised to facilitate the delivery of the vaccines to Dhaka under the 'Neighbourhood First' policy.

Now, numerous countries in different geographies have started to reject the Chinese vaccines for myriad reasons. The Hindustan Times reports that as China falls out of favour, India is receiving requests for vaccine supply. It reports: "Several countries that have been offered or purchased Chinese Covid-19 vaccines, including Brazil and Cambodia, have turned to India for supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid questions about the efficacy of some of the Chinese jabs." In December last year, the Ministry of External Affairs had provided vaccination training to friendly countries. Though most were South Asian nations, the training was provided to countries as diverse as Mongolia, Oman, Morocco, Brazil and a handful of others. MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: "There is interest in many countries in accessing vaccines from India which is the global hub for vaccine production." China has taken note of the developments. The Communist Party of China mouthpiece, Global Times has run a number of articles on India's coronavirus vaccines and their distribution. In a recent article, it quipped: "Choosing Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka among the first batch of countries to receive Covid-19 vaccines shows India's mentality of competition with China. India believes that it has already won over the Maldives, but it still needs to win over Nepal." The newspaper is keeping a hawk's eye on all activity happening on the vaccine front in India and its neighbourhood.

With India pushing both vaccines - the AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield by SII as well as the home-grown Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, its credibility as a drug-maker of repute grows by the day. What is also vindicated is it's humanitarian effort in the face of vaccine hypocrisy and a deathly pandemic that raced across the world from Wuhan, China.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The variant of the new coronavirus identified in South Africa can resist, or "escape," antibodies that neutralize earlier versions of the virus, scientists have found. It "exhibits complete escape" from three classes of monoclonal antibodies manufactured for treating COVID-19 patients, and it shows "substantial or complete" resistance to neutralizing antibodies in blood donated by COVID-19 survivors, the scientists reported on Tuesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. Similarities between the South Africa variant and another variant identified in Brazil suggest the Brazilian variant will show similar resistance, they added.

Liam Smeeth of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, noted that these were laboratory tests, and it would be unwise to extrapolate the findings to humans at this point. "The data do raise the possibility that the protection gained from past infection with COVID-19 may be lower for re-infection with the South African variant," he said. "The data also suggest that the existing vaccines could be less effective against the South African variant." He called for large studies among populations where the variant is common.

Pfizer/BioNTech shot likely protects against UK variant

The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE is likely to protect against the more infectious variant of the virus discovered in Britain and now spreading around the world, according to laboratory tests. Researchers took blood samples from 16 people who had received the vaccine and exposed the blood to a synthetic virus, or pseudovirus, that was engineered to have 10 mutations found in the UK variant.

The antibodies that had developed in response to the vaccine effectively neutralized the pseudovirus, according to a report posted on Tuesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.

"This makes it very unlikely that the UK variant will escape from the protection provided by the vaccine," said Jonathan Stoye, a virus scientist at Britain's Francis Crick Institute who was not involved in the research. Similar experiments are needed with the more concerning variant first found in South Africa, he suggested. AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc and CureVac NV are also testing whether their respective vaccines will protect against the fast-spreading variants.

Immune system will remember how to make COVID-19 antibodies

People who have recovered from COVID-19 can likely mount a fast and effective response to the virus if they encounter it again because their immune system's "B cells" will remember how to make the antibodies needed to fight it, a new study shows.

Researchers tracked 87 COVID-19 survivors for six months and found that while levels of antibodies to the virus may decline over time, the number of memory B cells remains unchanged. The antibodies produced by these cells are more potent than the patients' original antibodies and may be more resistant to mutations in the spike protein the virus uses to break into cells, they said. For example, they found, the antibodies could recognize and neutralize at least one of the mutations in the South African variant of the virus that has caused concern among health experts.

Even if antibody levels fall, B cells will remember how to make them when necessary, according to study leader Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University, whose findings were reported on Monday in Nature. If this is true at six months, as in this study, it is safe to assume it is probably still true for longer periods, he added. People who have recovered from COVID-19 "may become infected but the immune system will be prepped to fight off the infection," Nussenzweig said.

Mortality higher when ICUs are packed with COVID-19 patients

The more full an intensive care unit (ICU) is with COVID-19 patients, the higher the mortality rate among those patients, new data suggest. When researchers tracked outcomes of 8,515 COVID-19 patients admitted to 88 U.S. Veterans Affairs hospitals in 2020, they found that survival rates improved between March and August.

Throughout the study period, however, the risk of death was nearly double when at least 75% of ICU beds were filled with COVID-19 patients, compared to when they accounted for no more than 25% of ICU beds.

COVID-19 mortality "increases during periods of peak demand," said Dr. Dawn Bravata of the Richard L Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis who co-led the study published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.

"The more the public can do to avoid infections, the better," she added. In addition, Bravata said, "facilities within a healthcare system or within a geographic region should collaborate to triage critically ill patients with COVID-19 to sites with greater ICU capacity to reduce strain on any one facility."

Short link:


Louth Labour TD Ged Nash has reiterated his call from last April for the government to introduce regulations on travel that would apply to non-residents of the State.

Deputy Nash said: Despite months of effort to co-ordinate a cross-border approach to managing Covid-19 there has still not been an agreed system to ensure that only essential travel is happening across the border.

"I am conscious of the strong community links on either side of our invisible border, and that there will continue to be a need for essential travel north and south. Closing the border is not an option, but clamping down on non-essential travel is.

Contrary to what Minister Ryan implied this morning on radio, our Covid-19 regulations as currently drafted do not apply to non-residents who travel across the border from Northern Ireland.

"If someone from Northern Ireland is stopped 5km from the border without a valid explanation as to why they are travelling, Gardai have no power to prosecute or fine them.

"The regulations as drafted don't ban travel, but ban you from leaving your place of residence in the State without a reasonable excuse.

Last April I wrote to the then Minister for Health asking that public health regulations would apply to all visitors to the State.

"I did not get a response at the time, but the same problem still exists.

"present there is no regulation in place to restrict cross-border travel for non-essential reasons leaving the Gardai powerless to act without the force of legislation.

The Labour Party has made clear our view that we need a national aggressive suppression strategy (NASS) for Covid-19 with the aim of eradicating transmission of the virus in the community.

As our Party Leader Alan Kelly said, in the absence of an agreed all-island strategy we will also need to put checkpoints 5km from the border to identify why people are travelling and ensure non-essential journeys are reduced. We know we cant check every single route, but the public message will be clear that you shouldnt be outside 5km of your home unless you have an essential reason.

Residents in the Republic have strict travel restrictions in place, but there arent similar rules applying to non-residents. Checkpoints near the border should be given the power to enforce our laws.

The Minister should act now to ensure that all of the restrictions and penalties that apply to the people of Louth and across the Republic apply to anyone from the north who might be thinking of a day-trip south.

This is in the interests of everyones health.
UPDATE: The Ministry of Health has confirmed that the new COVID-19 community case is the South African strain.

The COVID Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield provided the latest update on the new case in Northland this afternoon.

Hipkins says the source of infection is highly likely to be a fellow returnee who stayed at the Pullman Hotel during the person's stay.

The two people occupied rooms in close proximity to each other on the same floor.

I am advised by officials they are confident the infection was a direct one and there is no other missing link between those two people.

Hipkins says investigations into how the infection took place are continuing.

This includes looking at CCTV footage from the Pullman Hotel to identify when and where they may have come into contact with one and other.

He reiterates that the Northland case has adhered to infection control guidelines in her room and the exercise space.

The Ministry of Health is working on the assumption the South African variant is a more transmissible variant.

Dr Bloomfield says contact tracing has identified 15 people who are being treated as close contacts to the Northland case.

The reason this number has gone up is because there are 13 of them who are in two retail settings, and its not clear which of these people served the case.

He says all 15 close contacts have been contacted, tested and are self-isolating.

Earlier today Hipkins confirmed that two of the womens close contacts  her husband and hairdresser  have already returned negative tests.

The Ministry of Health has decided to delay the release of 46 people who were due to complete their isolation at the Pullman Hotel today.

These 46 people will be tested again before they are released.

Of the 253 returnees who have exited the Pullman Hotel within the new infection window, 172 have been contacted as of 8am this morning.

We are advising that those guests who exited isolation between January 9-21 to self-isolation immediately.

They should contact Healthline to arrange a test and remain in self-isolation until they get a negative result, says Hipkins.

About 114 Pullman Hotel staff have already been tested, and the remainder will be tested this afternoon.

Earlier: The Minister for COVID Response Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will provide the latest update on the new community case in Northland.

They will be live from 1pm.

Two of the closest contacts of a woman who tested positive for COVID-19 in Northland after leaving managed isolation have tested negative, RNZ reports.

Hipkins told Radio New Zealand that the results for the woman's husband and hairdresser have since come back negative.

"So that's some good news to start the day.

"Her husband would without doubt be her closest contact - that coming back negative is a good sign and so we'll know more as the day unfolds as to what the overall risk of this case is."

He says the woman had six close contacts.

They are all isolating while test results come through.

Other contacts who have been in the same place at the same time are regarded as "casual plus" contacts. They are being asked to isolate after taking tests.

Hipkins says it could be up to 48 hours before there's enough information to make any calls on changing alert levels.

He is hopeful genome sequencing will be completed today to determine the source of the case.

The woman travelled across Northland before her positive test result.

After leaving isolation, she went to Helensville, Mangawhai and Dargaville.

Dr Bloomfield says she 'almost definitely' visited Whangarei.

-Additional reporting RNZ
Had your fill of Dry January? Even Veganuary? Then might I suggest Burns Night as a celebratory opportunity to see off both.

Today is the day that Scots, the Scottish diaspora and an arguably more niche cohort who just love sheeps guts dishes celebrate the birth of Scotlands national poet, Robert Burns. My husband and I tick all three of the above boxes. After a dry ten days or so of January, we will savour a wee dram alongside our haggis, neeps and tatties.

Whisky can be dangerous stuff, but in Compton Mackenzies Hebridean wartime caper, Whisky Galore, it really is uisge beatha, Scottish Gaelic for the water of life.

The book is set in 1943, on the invented twin islands of Great and Little Todday, where whisky rationing has brought spirits terribly low. When the SS Cabinet Minister, bound for the U.S. with a cargo of export whisky, runs aground offshore, the island men rally to salvage its cargo. Spirits lift instantaneously, as evoked joyously in a singing scene in the classic Ealing Studios 1949 film version, available on iPlayer until February 14. Go on, fill your boots.

Patricia Nicol reveals a selection of books featuring whisky, including Compton Mackenzie's Whisky Galore (pictured left) and Graeme Macrae Burnet's Bloody Project (pictured right)

In tartan noir detective fiction, whisky is used as a libationary lubricant to induce confession. It can also be a solitary crutch: in the wee small hours, Ian Rankins Edinburgh detective Inspector Rebus can often be found sipping Highland Park, while brooding over a case.

Graeme Macrae Burnets 2016 Booker-shortlisted His Bloody Project is a historical drama set in the North-West Highlands. It purports to be papers relating to the 1869 murder trial of 17-year-old Roderick Macrae, including his written confession. Ale and whisky play their part in Roddys downfall.

Despite that, he is judgmental of others drinking. Describing the people of the neighbouring hamlet of Aird-Dhu, he writes: In common with all those engaged in the fishing trade, the men are devoted to the unrestrained consumption of whisky, while their womenfolk are notoriously wanton.

While alive to the perils of too much whisky, Ill have a wee snifter tonight. If you do, too, then Slainte!
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Islamabad, Jan 25 : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the new administration of the US under President Joe Biden to engage with a changed Pakistan and India, stating that a lot has changed in the past four years.

Qureshi said, "In these four years, the region has changed and Pakistan has changed and you (Biden) have to engage with this new Pakistan." "India has changed. Is it the same shining and secular India? No," he said.

"Voices from within India are confirming that it is not a secular state anymore. It is a new face of Hindutva, a new practical demonstration of the thinking of the RSS. Minorities in India are finding themselves to be insecure," he added.

Qureshi said that Pakistan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, hopes to engage with the new US administration with a "new approach and new guidelines".

Qureshi reminded that he has written a letter to the incoming US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and had updated him about Pakistan's progression and trajectory of its current policies for the future.

"We have made a very big shift, from a geo-strategic position to a geo-economic position," said the Foreign Minister.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan holds one of the key positions in the ongoing intra-Afghan dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government, which have entered into the second phase.

Pakistan's role also remains relevant in the overall Afghan peace and reconciliation process as key heads of the previous US administration and the heads of the Taliban negotiation teams have visited Islamabad to discuss the way forward towards Afghan peace.

Pakistan has maintained that peace in Afghanistan is directly linked to peace in Pakistan. However, it has repeatedly stated that the US's desire for India's increased presence and influence in Afghanistan, concerns Islamabad seriously.

Pakistan has also maintained that India has been engaging with terror elements in Afghanistan to support, fund and facilitate them in spreading unrest in its Balochistan province, where it urges that separatist groups like the banned outfit Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were engaged in targeting civilians and the Pakistani security forces in targeted terrorist attacks.

The US intervention in easing town tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute has been one of the demands Islamabad has been trying for during Trump's administration tenure also.

It seems that with the new US administration in office, Pakistan plans on reiterating its demand for the US intervention again.
Mumbai, Jan 25 : Maharashtra Governor has time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, but not the thousands of "kisan brothers" who have assembled in Mumbai in huge numbers from all over the state, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said here on Monday.

Attacking Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari without taking his name, Pawar said that the farmers are planning to go to the Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum after Monday's rally at the Azad Maidan.

"However, now I am told that he (Governor) has gone away to Goa. We have never had such a Governor in the state's history. He has time to meet Kangana, but not our kisan brothers who have come here from all over the state," Pawar said while addressing a huge farmers' rally at the Azad Maidan.

The NCP strongman said that it is the "moral duty" of the Governor to at least remain and receive the tillers of the state who are the 'annadaatas' (food-givers), but he did not even show the courtesy to remain in Raj Bhavan to accept their memorandum.

Pawar's remarks came after he was informed that the Governor is not in the state and has reportedly gone to Goa, putting a question mark on the plans of the Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha leaders to submit the memorandum.

Pawar termed the Governor's move as "an insult" to the farmers, agitated leaders of SSKM and other political parties which cancelled plans to depute a 20-member delegation to the Raj Bhavan to hand over the memorandum.

Instead, All India Kisan Sabha President Ashok Dhawale, Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant and others said they would "tear copies" of the memorandum to protest against the Governor's "anti-farmer bias" and send a copy of the representation to President Ram Nath Kovind.

Dhawale pointed out that the farmers' organisers had last week informed the Raj Bhavan about their plans to come and hand over a memorandum to the Governor to repeal the three Central farm laws.

"This is an insult to the farmers and is regretful. We will tear the memorandum in protest," Dhawale said.

"The Governor has fled from the scene. This is the state of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. They cannot betray the farmers and go away like this," said AIKS general secretary for Maharashtra, Ajit Nawale.

Koshyari, who also holds the additional charge of Goa, was in the coastal state on Sunday for the closing ceremony of the 51st International Film Festival of India and to address the Goa Legislature Budget Session opening. He is likely to return to Mumbai late on Monday night.

On the absence of any senior Shiv Sena leaders at the rally, Dhawale said that Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray and Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde had said that they would be present, but they were tied up with the inauguration of a bridge in Thane on Monday afternoon.

However, Shiv Sena President and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had himself extended his support to the programme on Monday and sent a party spokesperson who spoke on the occasion.

In the final phase on Tuesday, the farmers will assemble at the Azad Maidan, unfurl the tricolour, sing the natinal anthem and take a pledge to continue the struggle of peasants-farmers till they get justice, the SSKM leaders said.

Mumbai Police have made elaborate security arrangements at the Azad Maidan with police personnel assisted by nine platoons of the SRPF, drones and other agencies deployed.

The action on Tuesday will coincide with the proposed 'Farmers Republic Day Parade' in the national capital for which an estimated 100,000 tractors have reportedly reached the Delhi borders.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/25/2021 -- According to the new market research report "Asia Pacific Single-cell Analysis Market by Cell Type (Human, Animal, Microbial), Product (Reagent, Assays, Instruments), Technique (Flow Cytometry, NGS, PCR), Application (Cancer, Stemcell, IVF), End User (Academic, Research Labs) - Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is projected to reach USD 1,375 million by 2025 from USD 550 million in 2020, at a 20.1% CAGR.



Browse in-depth TOC on "Asia Pacific Single-cell Analysis Market"

110  Tables

43  Figures

212  Pages



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The rising incidence of infectious diseases, increasing pandemics frequency, increasing R&D in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for complex diseases, growth in stem cell research, and the rising prevalence of cancer are the major factors driving the growth of single-cell analysis market. However, the high cost of single-cell analysis products is a major factor hampering the growth of the Asia Pacific single-cell analysis market. Emerging economies such as Japan and China are providing lucrative opportunities for the players operating in the market.



The consumables segment accounted for the largest share of the market, by product segment, in 2019



Based on product, the APAC single-cell analysis market is segmented into consumables and instruments. The consumables segment accounted for the largest shareof the market in 2019. The frequent purchase of these products as compared to instruments, which are considered as a one-time investment, and their wide applications in research and genetic exploration, exosome analysis, and isolation of RNA and DNA are the major factors driving this segments growth.



Animal cells segment to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period



The APAC single-cell analysis market is segmented into human cells, animal cells, and microbial cells based on cell type. In 2019, the animal cells segment accounted for the highest growth rate. This can be attributed to the growth in the pharmaceutical industry and rising investments in animal cell research.



The academic & research laboratories segment accounted for the largest share of the Asia Pacific single-cell analysis market, by end-user segment, in 2019



Based on end-user, the APAC single-cell analysis market is segmented into academic & research laboratories, biotechnology & pharmaceutical companies, hospitals & diagnostic laboratories, and cell banks & IVF centers. In 2019, the academic & research laboratories segment accounted for the largest share of the market. The increasing funding for life science research, increasing number of medical colleges and universities, and the increasing number of collaborations among research institutes and life science research companies are the major factors driving the growth of this end-user segment.



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The Asia Pacific single-cell analysis market is segmented into Japan, China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Rest of Asia Pacific. In 2019, Japan accounted for the largest share of the Asia Pacific single-cell analysis market. This can be attributed to the rising geriatric population, increasing government initiatives to promote life science research, increasing investments in biotech R&D, and the growing focus on personalized medicine.



The major players operating in this APAC single-cell analysis market are Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Danaher Corporation (US), Merck Millipore (US), QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), General Electric Company (US), Promega Corporation (US), Illumina, Inc. (US), Bio-Rad Laboratories (US), Fluidigm Corporation (US), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (US), Tecan Group Ltd. (Switzerland), Sartorius AG (Germany), Luminex Corporation (US), Takara Bio (Japan), 10x Genomics (US), Fluxion Biosciences (US), Menarini Silicon Biosystems, Inc. (Italy), bioMerieux SA (France), Oxford Nanopore Technologies (UK), Cytek Biosciences (US), Corning Incorporated (US), Apogee Flow Systems Ltd. (UK), NanoCellect Biomedical (US), and On-chip Biotechnologies Co., Ltd. (Japan).
Banerjee refused to speak at an event on Saturday attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary after being greeted by chants of 'Jai Shri Ram'

Pursurah: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing it of insulting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by raising 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans at an event to mark the icon's 125th birth anniversary.

Branding the BJP as a group of "outsiders" and "Bharat Jalao Party", she said it has been continuously insulting the icons of Bengal, Netaji being the "latest addition to the list".

"Would you invite anyone to your house and then insult the person? Is this the culture of Bengal or our country? I would have had no problem if slogans hailing Netaji were raised. But they didn't do that. To taunt me, they shouted slogans which had no relation to the programme. I was insulted in front of the prime minister of the country. This is their (BJP) culture," the Trinamool Congress boss told a rally in Pursurah.

Banerjee had on Saturday refused to speak at an official event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary, after 'Jai Shri Ram' chants greeted her.

Dubbing turncoats in her party as "betrayers", she said those who have deserted the TMC in the run-up to the Assembly polls will never be welcomed back.

"The ones who left knew they would not be getting tickets in the coming elections. It is good they exited, or else we would have thrown them out... Those who want to leave the party should do that as early as possible," Banerjee added.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, on January 19, set aside conviction and commuted punishment of a man who was found guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO Act) for groping a 12-year-old girl four years ago.

The bench observed in its ruling that it could not be deemed as an offence under the POSCO Act because there was no skin-to-skin contact with sexual intent. The man had allegedly pressed a breast of the minor, news reports suggest.

Admittedly, it is not the case of the prosecution that the appellant removed her top and pressed her breast. As such, there is no direct physical contact, i.e. skin to skin with sexual intent without penetration, the court observed.

In view of the above discussion, this court holds that the appellant is acquitted under Section 8 of the POSCO Act and convicted under minor offence u/s 354 of IPC (Indian Penal Code) and sentenced him to undergo RI (rigorous imprisonment) for one year and to pay fine of Rs 500, in default of fine to suffer RI for one month. The sentence for the offence punishable under Section 342 of the IPC i.e. six months and fine of Rs 500, in default to suffer RI for one month, is maintained, the bench further noted.

The person was earlier sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for three years and was fined Rs 500 under the POSCO Act. In default of which, he was to spend one more month in jail. The person was convicted by the extra joint additional sessions judge in Nagpur on February 5, 2020 for the offence.

The complaint was lodged by the mother of the minor at the Gittikhadan police station in Nagpur on December 14, 2016. The complaint suggested that the 12-year-old daughter had gone out of the house to get a guava. But, on the way, the man stopped her and told her that he would give her a guava and took her to his house. In his house, the appellant pressed a breast of the minor and also attempted to remove her salwar. The man ran away after the minor shouted for help.

The mother said she was informed by a neighbour that the person had taken her daughter to his house. While the man denied having seen her daughter, the mother reportedly found the girl after searching his house.
SNC-Lavalin, a global engineering and construction group, has announced that it has secured the coveted Compliance Leader Verification for 2021-2022, extending an earlier 2019-2020 verification, from The Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.

This recognition demonstrates SNC-Lavalin's ongoing commitment to building a world-class integrity programme, said a statement from the company.

Of the six programmes and practices analysed, four ranked as best in class and two exceeded expectations while showing new opportunities for improvement, it stated.

The assessment is also the result of an extensive benchmarking initiative, as SNC-Lavalin was compared to 21 publicly traded sector peers and 132 companies representing Ethisphere's 2020 class of the World's Most Ethical Companies, the statement added.

Lauding SNC-Lavalin for the achievement, Jodie Fredericksen, the senior compliance counsel, for Ethisphere, said: "We are delighted to recognize SNC-Lavalin for its exemplary program. Through strong leadership, a solid program structure, and commitment to leading practices, the company has excelled at fostering a culture of integrity."

The Compliance Leader Verification process involves a rigorous review of an ethics and compliance program and corporate culture.

It includes completing the Ethics Quotient (EQ), a questionnaire covering the elements of an effective program; benchmarking program practices against the Worlds Most Ethical Companies; and extensive document review and interviews with executives and stakeholders.

On its key achievement, President and CEO, Ian L. Edwards, said: "I am proud that SNC-Lavalin is once again acknowledged by Ethisphere. We have come a long way since the day we started our ongoing integrity journey."

"This prestigious recognition is owed to our employees who give life to our program and embody our Integrity value," remarked Edwards.

"For us, acting with integrity means doing whats right by making the right choices and holding ourselves to the highest ethical standards. Our culture of integrity is strong, and we look forward to always implement best practices in that field," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Attendees at Ellevate event in 2019. Whether you are in career transition, and individual contributor, manager, business owner, or corporate executive  Ellevate Squads is the best thing you can do to move your career forward.

Ellevate Network, the leading network for women+, has opened applications for the Spring 2021 cohort of Ellevate Squads and Executive Squads, an innovative high-commitment experience, designed to support ambitious, professional women to develop leadership skills, troubleshoot setbacks, and take steps forward in their careers.

Ellevate Squads are small, diverse groups of professional women at similar points in their careers, who are looking for safe, confidential spaces to receive support, mentor others, and dive deep into each others challenges to find solutions for their careers.

In this cohort, Ellevate will also be accepting applications for Executive Squads which will be comprised of women who are committed to growing as business leaders and identify as C-level or a rising SVP who are looking to build deeper connections with other senior leaders.

Through this program, participants spend 30 minutes each week video conferencing with driven, intelligent women - its the best way to get the support and insight professional women need to accomplish their career goals. 80% of participants agreed that My Squad supported me with tackling work-related challenges. Upon completion of the Squads program, 85% of survey respondents agreed that they have a positive outlook on the next steps in their career.

Ellevate Network is also offering Corporate Squads, a 12-week initiative where employees within the same company will collaborate, mentor, and support each other in career and leadership development. To ensure businesses continue to drive employee engagement, motivation, and team morale, Corporate Squads will focus on continuing to develop cross-team collaboration.

Kristy Wallace, Ellevate Network CEO and Executive Squad participant said, The business landscape is rapidly changing and Ive seen first hand the value of working through my challenges and opportunities in real-time with peers who offer diverse perspectives and unique insights. Ive become a better leader because of my Squad and the thirty-minute meeting was the most productive part of my week. Whether you are in career transition, and individual contributor, manager, business owner, or corporate executive  Ellevate Squads is the best thing you can do to move your career forward.

Kara Venegoni, an Ellevate Squad Moderator from the Spring 2019 cohort said, My Squad became less of a networking group and more of a sounding board space for evaluating items of focus in my career. As a group we became a think tank, gathering ideas for how to grow our businesses, make a career change, or tackle an obstacle at work (or even at home).

After a successful launch in October 2017 and eight program cycles, the Ellevate Squads program has proven to provide tangible value to women in the Ellevate community.

Women in the program have said:

My Squad was a great way to connect with other women during this time of isolation and our diverse backgrounds and career paths made me realize it is ok to dream bigger and set higher goals for myself. - Natalie, Ellevate Executive member

As a result of our squad, I starting setting time aside to invest in myself. I began to see my career trajectory holistically - not the one step I was taking. My squad encouraged me to be a leader and supported me in my next steps - changing companies and beginning a new role. - Meghan, Ellevate Pro member

My squad validated some negative thoughts I was having about my current role, but succeeded in highlighting all the good that I was overlooking. In that way, I was able to see my position from a new perspective, and spend time better crafting my role in a more fulfilling way. - Leigh, Ellevate Pro member

Applications for Ellevate Squads are now open and will close on February 18, and new Squads will start meeting the first week of April. Applications can be submitted here.

About Ellevate Network

Founded in 1997 as 85 Broads, Ellevate Network is the largest community of women+ at work. A powerful coalition of ambitious and supportive women who believe there is strength in numbers, Ellevate is built on the premise of showing up for each other, helping everyone  no matter their background or aspirations  build a career they love, and mobilizing the collective power of women to change the culture of business. Ellevate also works with companies committed to diversity and inclusion and has a proven track record of changing business culture from the inside out.
Oneonta, N.Y. - It's been a long five months since SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras rushed to SUNY Oneonta in late August for what was, at the time, one of the nation's first COVID outbreaks on a college campus.

That outbreak of more than 700 COVID cases on SUNY Oneonta's campus, mostly among students, led to Malatras shutting the campus down in early September.

Now he says he is confident in-person classes can resume, "I think all of the ingredients are now here, now let's implement them and see how it goes."

Students are returning to campus this weekend as virtual classes begin on Monday for the spring semester, and in-person classes are scheduled to finally resume the following Monday after a four month break.

On Sunday, Chancellor Malatras took a tour of the school's new COVID testing site inside the school's Alumni Field House.

Back to school this semester is a two-pronged approach.

First, the COVID testing is in place. Every student, faculty member and staff member must get tested once a week.

Second, the firm disciplinary measures are now in place for students that violate the code of conduct as far as COVID guidelines go, including no parties.

Malatras says the hard work by school officials to get to this point has paid off and the school can reopen, "We put together a really tough comprehensive plan for keeping our campus is open. Mandatory testing on all of our college campuses, regular screening of all of our students, masks have to be worn at all times no matter if youre socially distant or not. Uniform compliance documents. Unfortunately some students early on violated the rules which led to the spread, we have sort of gotten rid of that problem by uniform compliance."

Back in early September when the outbreak of more than 700 confirmed cases on campus happened, Malatras said the outbreak was due to on-campus and off-campus parties, "Comes down to personal responsibility. You can put all the rules in place but if people are unwilling to follow the rules, the positivity rate goes right through the roof."

Even student representatives are hopeful that the threat of expulsion will be enough to keep even the youngest of students from doing the wrong thing that could lead to this campus getting shut down yet again.

The school's External Affairs personnel have been talking with students as they arrive back on campus.

Junior Gabrielle Cecere says she's heard of many students being talked to, "Specifically the ones off campus, in order to say 'hey just so you know something is going to happen if you go and do what you wanna do'. Just having those protocols in place is a big deal in order to prevent."

Finally, Chancellor Malatras says there is concern when it comes to the new strains of COVID that have been found recently in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, which are believed to be much more contagious that the original virus.

Malatras says the fact that the UK strain has been found in the U.S. including here in New York State is definitely a concern, but he says the saliva test being used by the SUNY system is the best in the world, according to the CDC, "The SUNY Upstate Medical Saliva Test picks up all strains, so the good thing is we'll be able to know if we have those strains on our campus because we can pick up those under our test. We are working with the State Health Department to see how thats going. Right now I think theyve been updating it, some something like 25 to 30 people in the State of New York who have tested positive for those strains, but that is something to monitor for sure."

Again, virtual classes begin on Monday at SUNY Oneonta, and in-person classes resume a week from now on Monday, February 1st.
Foothill Ranch, CA, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Professional Community Management (PCM), an Associa company, will host a virtual yoga class and mindfulness event for board members and community partners on January 28, 2021 at 3:30 p.m. PT.

The health and wellness event will be offered free of charge to community board members. The zoom-style class will be led by Dr. Tanya Doman (Yousry), a licensed Doctor of Physical Therapy and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance (YA). Dr. Doman is also a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and is a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (CCRP). A lifelong expert of various types of yoga, she provides group and private classes, as well as rehabilitative yoga.

Dr. Doman will lead yoga participants, guide them through meditation, discuss nutrition, and provide tips on destressing. Those who attend the event will receive a complimentary wellness box containing items geared toward mindfulness and relaxation provided by event sponsors.

Professional Community Management is proud to work with board members who have been dedicated to keeping their communities safe and resilient over the unprecedented last year, stated Erin Baker, chief client officer for PCM. We know these community leaders are facing increased stress and need relaxation during this challenging time. Our team designed this health and wellness event as part of our commitment to helping our communities stay healthy and providing the best lifestyle services available. We hope valued board members will join us in embracing this outlet for increasing mindfulness and experiencing stress relief.

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Latesha.McGee@associa.us by January 25, 2021.

With more than 200 branch offices across North America, Associa delivers unsurpassed management and lifestyle services to nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 10,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise and trailblazing innovation. For more than 40 years, Associa has provided solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.

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1. Yes. The public must have assurances that ethical standards are met by everyone.

2. Yes. As long as an independent board hears the grievances, its a worthwhile idea.

3. No. The concept is too broad. It should be limited to the citys elected officials.

4. No. There are plenty of stipulations in place already. An ordinance is a waste of time.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without seeing how it would be structured and applied.

Vote

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Percy Elkins has been involved in harness racing for over four decades, by his recollection. But, in all that time, he had never enjoyed success in the sport quite like he did in 2020.

Elkins, in addition to being a partner in Moneyman Hill  who finished third to Tall Dark Stranger in the North America Cup  owns older pacers East End and Major Hill, who combined to earn over $200,000 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. But it was his trotter  On The Ropes  who landed him on cloud nine. Not only did the now-six-year-old son of Chapter Seven bank $142,800 last season while competing week in and week out at Woodbine Mohawk Park, but he also gave Elkins his first ever O'Brien Award nomination  an accolade that has given the the 75-year-old Milton, Ont., resident cause for sheer elation.

"I've been in this business over 40 years, and it's the first time I've been up for anything," a thrilled Elkins told Trot Insider. "It's not winning; it's getting there. And I got there  or, at least my horse did!"

The very phone call in which Elkins learned that On The Ropes was named an O'Brien finalist was an absolute thrill for the longtime industry participant.

"I was very excited  and also shocked," he continued. "If you win things, like Moreau  he wins Trainer of the Year for the last (seven) years, and if he gets the call, it's just another thing that happens during his day's activities. Me, I've never had it, so when you get something like this, 'Wow!' I'm like, 'Is this a hoax or something?'"

Elkins, who is the president and CEO of KML Food and Confectionery, at one point had "25 or 30" horses at a given time, but has since scaled back his operation considerably.

"I have six right now," he explained. "I've got two young ones  a colt and a filly  and then four racehorses. I've been very fortunate over the last four or five years. This business isn't the greatest business in the world to make a profit, but over the last four or five years, I've done extremely well."

That stretch of time roughly corresponds to Elkins' partnership with trainer Carmen Auciello, in whose care Elkins has placed his quartet of racehorses.

"Carmen is a very good trainer," Elkins said. "The beautiful thing  I've been with Carmen for close to five years  is I've spent no more than $1,000 on vet bills. That's pretty good. It was a couple trips up to Barrie, and that's all in five years. To me, I think that's a very good record!

"They get vetted when they have to get vetted. I've been very lucky with horses that have stayed extremely sound. And I also think Carmen's an excellent horseman who can work around when horses get aches and pains in their legs  he's good at working around that and giving them time when they need time. You can't race a horse 52 weeks out of the year; they've got to get a little time every now and then."

Auciello, who won an O'Brien Award two years ago thanks to pacing mare Exhilarated, is just as happy for Elkins:

"I know Percy has been in the business for a lot of years, and Im so happy for him to finally receive an OBrien Award nomination for one of his horses. He has had a lot of nice horses over the years, but Im very happy to be training horses for him, and to be able to give the chance to win an award such as this."

Aside from 2-1/2 months off when racing was shut down across Canada from mid-March through the end of May, On The Ropes raced steadily all season long, accounting for six wins and 16 on-the-board finishes in 34 starts while taking on many of Canada's top trotters. One of those wins stands out to Elkins in particular  and in a stroke of serendipity, it was a race in which On The Ropes shared victory with fellow O'Brien finalist Perfetto.

"We were leading coming into the lane by a length or so," Elkins recounted of the Feb. 10 Preferred at Mohawk. "Of course, he was tiring a little bit and Perfetto was coming on a little bit, and I figured we just hung on, but by a whisker. But I saw the photo, and you couldn't separate them from the wire. It's kind of ironic that the two that were picked was my favourite race  and I was there that night, so it was more exciting."

After such a gruelling campaign, On The Ropes is enjoying some well-deserved downtime during the current Ontario shutdown along with stablemates Major Hill and East End.

"Right now, those three are on a rest," Elkins said. "No training, no nothing. We shut them down, took the shoes off and gave them a month off. When (Carmen) finds out when they're going to start, he'll probably put the shoes back on them and start them back up."

Elkins laments that, due to public health restrictions, his first O'Brien experience won't be the gala he envisioned:

"It would have been nice. I always thought, 'Wouldn't it be nice one year to go to the hotel  the wife and I at a black-tie affair ...' And all of a sudden, I got a call from Standardbred Canada. But this year, nobody's going anywhere!"

... but seemingly nothing  not even a pandemic  can dampen the sheer joy Percy Elkins has derived from the highlight of his harness racing journey.

"I'm definitely going to watch it," a jubilant Elkins concluded. "Win, lose or draw, I'm happy I got there. That's one thing now I can say that I can take off my bucket list. I made it."

The 2020 Virtual OBrien Awards Gala takes place on Sunday, January 31, 2021 and will be available for viewing on standardbredcanada.ca from 7:00  8:30 p.m. (EST).
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Improving upon the Dental Partnership Organization (DPO) model, Imagen Dental Partners is rapidly growing a collection of high-performing, technology-forward dental practices. Imagen enables independent dentists the ability to focus on delivering superior patient care, fostering growth through education and technology, and creating long-term wealth.

Imagen is a DPO that allows dentists full clinical autonomy, emphasizes technology and mastery of advanced clinical skills, and encourages dentists to practice at the highest standards possible. Imagen DPO is at the forefront of true partnership, born from the desire to support doctors in supporting their patients.

"Every independent dentist will need a strategy to survive and thrive in a very rapidly consolidating dental industry," says Michael Augins, Imagen President. "When a dentist partners with Imagen DPO, they can maintain their clinical control while maximizing the wealth creation potential they have as independent practice owners. Imagen is for technology-oriented dentists wanting to grow their practice meaningfully over the remainder of their career."

Many DSO's and DPO's focus on short-term profitability with the intent to sell the practice group in a quick flip. Imagen has a long-term ownership structure with no institutional capital and offers a higher level of alignment with their dentist partners financially and clinically. Imagen DPO maximizes value to their dentist partners, providing them with financial incentives in three ways: getting paid for the dentistry they produce, getting paid for the profitability of their practice, and getting paid a portion of the profitability of Imagen as a whole. Imagen DPO provides partners with access to the dental industry's most robust offering of education and mentoring opportunities by Spear Education and CDOCS, allowing them to learn from dentistry's leading educators to expand their skills and elevate their entire team.

Imagen partners with successful practices and utilizes a proprietary suite of growth playbooks to unlock the full growth potential. They provide a full complement of robust business support, enabling partners to focus on delivering excellent patient care.

"I joined Imagen to get rid of the administrative headaches while keeping autonomy and ownership in my practice. I now have a defined exit plan with more wealth opportunities than just owning and selling a solo practice. It's also more fulfilling to be part of a community of like-minded dentists," states Rich Rosenblatt, DMD, founding Imagen partner.

Technology is not an afterthought at Imagen  it is a requirement. All Imagen practice partners must utilize CAD/CAM and cone-beam or be willing to do so upon joining the partnership. "Technology unlocks practice growth and improves patient outcomes and their satisfaction with the treatment they receive," said Rezwan Manji, Chief Executive Officer at Imagen. "We know from our research that high tech practices outperform and, therefore, see this as an essential part of who we are as an entity.

With current operations in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, Imagen is already one of the fastest-growing DPO's in America. With rapid expansion planned for 2021, Imagen is well on track to achieve its goal of becoming Americas fastest-growing dental partnership organization.

For more information about Imagen Dental Partners, visit imagendentalpartners.com or email [email protected].

Media Contact:

Judy Adelman / Lanmark360

[email protected]

732-389-4500 ext. 190

SOURCE Imagen Dental Partners

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A group of scientists is calling on governments to consider the continued use of strict control measures as the only way to reduce the evolution and spread of new COVID-19 variants.

The experts in evolution, virology, infectious disease and genomics - at the University of East Anglia (UEA), Earlham Institute and University of Minnesota - warn that while governments are negotiating a "precarious balance" between saving the economy and preventing COVID-19 fatalities, stronger action now is the best way to mitigate against more serious outcomes from such virulent strains later.

While COVID-19 vaccine deployment is now underway, a threat to vaccine effectiveness comes from other emerging strains, both existing - such as the UK, South Africa and Brazil variants - and those yet to come.

In an editorial for the journal Virulence, Professors Cock van Oosterhout, Neil Hall, Hinh Ly, and its editor-in-chief Prof Kevin Tyler say "continuing public health efforts to encourage vaccination as well as continued use of proper personal protective equipment (PPE), such as proper masking and maintaining safe social interactions, is of utmost importance.

"Humanity is faced with a new reality. The faster we adapt, the better our long-term prospects. We must stop the evolution and spread of more virulent virus strains now. We, therefore, support public health policies with strict control measures in order to protect our public health system, our individual wellbeing, and our future."

The researchers look back at what has happened and how best to respond now, highlighting that the roll-out of economic stimulus packages and related activities in many countries appears to have fuelled the rate of person-to-person transmission.

As a result, they say at the start of winter the population number of the virus continued from a much higher base than would otherwise have been the case, adding: "By not absolutely minimizing the R number when we had the chance, we extended the pathogen transmission chains, providing more opportunity for it to mutate and evolve into more virulent variants."

Additionally, they highlight that an increased virulence - or higher R value - can also result from the virus evolving the ability to infect people for longer. The authors warn that continued virus evolution in animal hosts, such as cats and mink, followed by transmission into susceptible human hosts, poses a significant long-term risk to public health, suggesting that the vaccination of certain domesticated animals might be important to halt further virus evolution and "spillback" events.

"Vaccination against a viral pathogen with such high prevalence globally is without precedent and we, therefore, have found ourselves in unchartered waters. However, what we can be certain about is that, as long as the vaccine stays effective, a higher uptake of the vaccines will: reduce the number of COVID-19-related deaths, stem the spread of the transmissible strain of the virus, and reduce risk of the evolution of other, even more, virulent strains in the future.

"Furthermore, it is not unthinkable that vaccination of some domesticated animal species might also be necessary to curb the spread of the infection."

###

The editorial 'COVID-19 evolution during the pandemic - Implications of new SARS-CoV-2 variants on disease control and public health policies', Cock van Oosterhout, Neil Hall, Hinh Ly, and Kevin M Tyler, is published in Virulence on January 25, 2021.
Latest Netflix release The White Tiger, starring Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao, is being hailed for its depiction of class and caste divide in India. A sense of oppression and ambition pervade the movie and leaves one feeling bitter-sweet about the social cultural commentary shown in the film.

Besides the many things that power this tragi-comedy tale are the costumes of the actors inhabiting director Ramin Bahrani's master-servant world. News18 gets in touch with Smriti Chauhan, who has worked behind the camera on this movie, to unravel what went behind bringing to life The White Tiger through costumes and how they speak a language of their own.

Director's brief for the film

Ramin Bahrani's approach was to give The White Tiger an identity of its own. We played with a lot of colours, both in the village scenes and when the story moves to the richer part of the society in the city. We have covered different strata and at every level art and costume have worked in tandem.

The colour palette we had worked on for characters was very specific about not coming in each other's way. At the same time, we never restricted ourselves apart from the colours that we were not supposed to do like neon and saturated hues. For Pinky Madam (Priyanka Chopra) and Ashok (Rajkummar), since they have returned from New York, we have given them more muted and monochromatic shades. For others, we have used vibrant colours. We have not infused any era in it through costumes even though the film is set in 2000s.

On working with Priyanka Chopra Jonas

It was a delight working with her. She is a through professional, trusts her team and treats them with love and respect. Since Pinky Madam belongs to New York, she also had her own inputs in terms of costumes. We worked together on her designing. For an actor, it can be all about looking glamorous on-screen but if Priyanka has to look drab, she will do everything to make sure of that. She is a true director's actor.

On Adarsh Gourav

We handed over the garments to him way in advance. He lived in his character as Balram Halwai. Before we started with the film, Adarsh actually worked at a tea stall and he would be wearing those clothes. This made Balram a part of him.

On Ramin Bahrani

His approach to filmmaking is different. Once you are on set, he lets you be. But he does a lot of prep behind designing his characters. He is very detail oriented. He gets into the characterisation of every actor in a frame, even if they are there for one scene only. Every single soul has been dressed in the film after approval. He is very particular about what is going in his frame. At the same time, he consults his team and gives them the freedom of opinion.

Smriti is currently working on Sonakshi Sinha-starrer web series for Amazon Prime Video, tentatively titled Fallen. She is also reuniting with her Delhi Crime director Richie Mehta for a period film that starts production in March.
Governors Higher Education Initiative Enhances Collaboration Between UW, Community Colleges

Gov. Mark Gordon has unveiled a proposal for modernizing and refocusing Wyomings higher education system. The initiative, called the Wyoming Innovation Network (WIN), calls for closer collaboration between the University of Wyoming and the states community colleges -- and an emphasis on developing innovative solutions that will support and enhance Wyomings economy and workforce.

Given the challenges facing our state, Im committed to ensuring that our higher education institutions work together more effectively, Gordon says. Together, we are going to develop and deploy innovative solutions that will provide more and better opportunities to our workers, giving them the tools to compete in a rapidly evolving workplace and helping to strengthen Wyomings economy.

The WIN initiative will have the state's higher education institutions collaborate and develop strategic programming in key areas focused on Wyomings needs. It includes an emphasis on focusing workforce development on high-potential areas; supporting and training entrepreneurs and new business startups; a research and market analysis agenda aimed at technology transfer and commercialization; and developing outside revenue sources such as corporate partnerships to provide new opportunities for students.

UW President Ed Seidel will chair a committee directing the effort that includes higher education leadership from around the state.

Wyomings institutions of higher education are excited to take our relationships to a higher level with a focus on helping propel the states economy, Seidel says. Our discussions have identified some excellent opportunities for collaboration, and were committed to pursuing them for the benefit of our students and the people of Wyoming.

WIN is intended to support the states overall economic vision set forth by the Wyoming Business Council and support education attainment goals developed by the state. Gordon stresses that this collaborative approach will allow the state to better focus its resources to assist both existing industries and areas identified as having significant growth potential.

Our goal is a unified effort that will help catalyze economic development, strengthen our workforce, support Wyoming businesses and enhance our ability to attract businesses from outside the state, the governor says.

While they have different and distinct missions, complementary and synergistic efforts are already underway between the community colleges and university, says Casper College President Darren Divine, representing the presidents of all seven community colleges. This new effort will enhance Wyomings ability to meet the challenges created by our current economic environment.

Work has already begun on the WIN effort. Development is underway for a software engineering program that could ultimately be offered across all community colleges and UW. In addition, tourism and hospitality programs and entrepreneurship training programs for a variety of marketing sectors are under development.
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Syracuse, N.Y.  The lab at St. Josephs Health had run nearly 16,000 flu tests this season as of late last week.

All were negative.

At St. Josephs we have not had a single positive case of the flu, said Dr. Helen Jacoby, an infectious disease specialist at the hospital. Its really pretty dramatic.

As Covid-19 tore through New York last year, health officials feared that a conjunction of flu and Covid-19 this winter would put enormous strain on hospitals. It is a big concern, Dr. Indu Gupta, the Onondaga County health commissioner, told Syracuse.com in August.

That hasnt happened. The flu, which generally starts to peak in mid-winter, is almost non-existent this year in Onondaga County. The county has had only 46 confirmed cases since flu season started in late September. Thats just 4% of the 1,077 cases confirmed at this point a year ago, during a particularly bad flu season.

The trend is similar across New York. The state Department of Health has reported 2,326 confirmed flu cases this season; a year ago, it was nearly 50,000.

Doctors believe all the precautions weve taken to control the novel coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, have stymied the flu viruss ability to pass from person to person.

We think its because of social distancing and hand-washing and everything else were doing to prevent the spread of Covid, Jacoby said.

The flu virus and coronavirus spread the same way, through tiny droplets exhaled from the lungs of an infected person that are inhaled by another person. Droplets with live virus can also land on surfaces and be picked up on hands.

With fewer people gathering at work, schools and other crowded places, Gupta said, the flu virus is reaching fewer noses and hands, Gupta said.

Schools are closed. Workplaces are thinned out because people are working from home, she said. Flu is less at this point because so many public health measures have impacted it.

When those measures were instituted last March, flu cases fell off a cliff. There were zero cases the week of April 5 to 11, compared to 60 cases in the same period in 2019.

The spread of Covid-19 is continuing now, though, even as the flu is at bay. Experts say there could be several reasons for that. First, a person with Covid-19 is contagious longer than someone with the flu, so more people can be exposed to the coronavirus.

In addition, Covid-19 just emerged a year ago, so humans had no natural immunity, and no vaccine had been available until the past month. The flu has been around for thousands of years, allowing humans to develop resistance and annual vaccines.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 24,000 to 62,000 died of the flu last season. More than 400,000 Americans have died of Covid-19. It is one of the leading causes of death in Onondaga County and the country.

The CDC said nearly 193 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed this season, a record number. That could be another reason for the low number of cases of flu this year, Gupta said.

Experts say there is a potential downside to this years mild flu season: It could make next years worse.

Far fewer people will be infected or exposed to the flu virus, and therefore wont become immune to certain strains of the virus, said Eili Klein, a professor of emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a college news release. So the number of people who may have more severe infections next year is likely to be greater because immunity will be lower.

The number of flu cases varies wildly from year to year, and while cases tend to peak in January and February, when people are indoors more, flu season continues through late May. Theres still plenty of time for this flu season to unfold.

For now, though, public health officials are relieved that a big wave of flu cases isnt crashing into hospitals already heavily burdened by Covid-19 patients.

We needed a little breather, and it seems like we are getting it, Gupta said. Im keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that it will continue.

MORE ON CORONAVIRUS

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Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned brazen censorship by Pakistans authorities after the BBC recently stopped broadcasting a daily Urdu-language news bulletin on a privately owned Pakistani television channel because of what the British broadcaster called interference in its programs.

By deciding to terminate its contract with AAJ TV, the BBC has refused to bow to the dictates that the Pakistani authorities impose on the broadcast media, Daniel Bastard, the head of RSFs Asia-Pacific desk, said in statement on January 25.

Bastard called on the Pakistani government to "stop interfering in the news medias editorial decisions," saying such practices are fundamentally anti-democratic and recall the worst periods of military dictatorship in Pakistan.

Produced by the BBCs Urdu Service and broadcast on AAJ TV since 2015, the 30-minute daily news program had been suspended since October.

The BBC announced on January 15 it was terminating its contract with the TV channel, citing interference in our News Bulletins since October 2020."

BBC World Service Director James Angus said in a statement that any interference constitutes a serious breach of trust with our audiences.

RSF called the interference cited by the BBC a euphemism for AAJ TVs censorship of certain content because of constant pressure from Pakistans political and military establishment.

Voice of America, which also produces a daily Urdu-language news show for AAJ TV, on January 16 reported occasional disruptions with its shows airing, as well as occasional censorship of content within a show without prior warning.

Pakistan is ranked 145th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Media watchdogs in Pakistan and abroad say Pakistani media and journalists have faced increased threats and harassment since the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan took office in 2018 following elections tainted by allegations of manipulation by the military. Khan has rejected the accusations.
A Christian photographer has filed a lawsuit disputing a new state law in Virginia forcing him to cover same-sex weddings despite his Biblical beliefs on marriage.

Bob Updegrove is rallying against The Virginia Values Act which he said is making him felt slandered for working against his convictions, Christian Headlines reported.

Enacted on July 2020, the new law "compels churches, religious schools, and Christian ministries to hire employees who do not share their stated beliefs on marriage, sexuality, and gender identity" Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) says.

This regulation also forbids Updegrove from making a public statement about his Christian beliefs in marriage on his own studio website because this kind of communication is considered "discriminatory" based on sexual orientation in Virginia.

The photographer faces fines of up to $50,000, per additional violation of $100,000 and a court order that could oblige him to cover events against his convictions.

A Christian non-profit legal organization, ADF is representing the photographer in court on challenging this new state law.

"Every American, including artists, should be free to peacefully live, work, and create art that's consistent with their deeply held beliefs-without the fear of government punishment," ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs said.

"Because of the state's interpretation of its law, photographers like Bob face an impossible choice: violate the law and risk bankruptcy, promote views against their faith, or close down. The government cannot demand that artists create content that violates their deepest convictions," Scruggs continued.

Scruggs contended that Virginia has long been defending constitutional freedoms and that "this kind of government hostility toward people of faith has no place in a free society."

The Associated Press reported that Updegrove's lawyers also wrote, "Bob believes that God has called him to use his creative talents to promote messages that are at time counter-cultural in order to convey the truth about God" and that he would violate his religious beliefs by creating photographic art for a same-sex wedding.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the case Updegrove v. Herring says that the state law violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution which include the Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment. The complaint specifically challenges "Va. Code  2.2-3904(B), which forces Updegrove to participate in and to create photographs promoting same-sex wedding ceremonies-all because he does the same to celebrate weddings between a man and a woman."

"If the government can tell you what to do, what to say and what to create, then we do not live in a free America," Updegrove argued.

Sponsored by Senator Adam Ebbin, Senate Bill 868 forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in public and private employment, housing, access to credit and public accommodations.

"The legislation also extends important protections important protections to Virginians on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, and status as a veteran," Virginia Governor Northam's website explains.

The Virginia law which took effect on July 1 last year, was signed by Governor Ralph Northam in April 2020.
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Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

The Kent coronavirus variant may be deadlier than the original strain because it multiplies faster inside the lungs, SAGE scientists warned today.

Britain's Covid fight was dealt another blow on Friday when Boris Johnson revealed the new variant was about 30 per cent more lethal than the virus which first came out of China.

It had been known for weeks that the Kent variant was far more infectious than the original strain, thanks to a mutation on its spike protein which makes it easier for the virus to bind to human cells.

But Professor Peter Horby, a senior SAGE expert and an epidemiologist at Oxford University, said today the mutations which make it more transmissible could also be behind its increased lethality.

He said: 'If youre getting much stronger binding... the virus is able to spread between cells quicker and that may increase rate of disease and rate of inflammation.'

But Professor Horby added that there was 'no evidence' the Kent strain is resistant to vaccines or even current Covid treatments.

Eight separate analyses comparing death rates between the two dominant Covid strains currently circulating through England concluded the Kent one was more deadly.

Professor John Edmunds, a chief scientist behind one of the studies, said although the finding was 'concerning', the proportion of infected people who die from the disease could still be lower this winter than in spring because medics have more approved medicines in their arsenal and doctors have got better at treating the virus.

The Kent coronavirus variant may be deadlier than the original strain because it multiplies faster inside the lungs, SAGE scientists Peter Horby (left) and John Edmunds (right) warned today

A mutation on the Kent variant's spike protein  which protrudes from the coronavirus and hijacks human cells  is thought to make it better at infecting people. This so-called N501Y mutation could also be what is making the variant more deadly than older versions, according to Professor Horby

Eight separate analyses comparing death rates between the two dominant Covid strains currently circulating through England concluded the Kent one was more deadly - but their estimates varied wildly. Two other studies suggested the Kent variant no more lethal, or even less lethal, than previous strains

WHAT DO STUDIES SUBMITTED TO SAGE ON THE KENT STRAIN'S LETHALITY SHOW? RESEARCH GROUP IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (1) IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (2) LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE (1) LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE (2) UNIVERSITY OF EXETER COVID-19 CLINICAL INFORMATION NETWORK PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND (1) PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND (2) PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND (3) PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND (4) HOW MUCH MORE DEADLY? 36% 29% 35% 28% 91% 37% 7% 30% 0% 65% Advertisement

The Kent variant was first picked up in the South East in late September and quickly went on to become the dominant strain in the UK, sparking a winter wave of infections and hospital admissions that plunged England into its third national lockdown.

UK studies have shown the variant is between 50 and 70 per cent more infectious than the original strain. A mutation on the variant's spike protein  which protrudes from the coronavirus and hijacks human cells  is thought to make it better at infecting people.

This so-called N501Y mutation could also be what is making the variant more deadly than older versions, according to Professor Horby.

What do we know about the Kent variant? Name: B.1.1.7, formerly VUI-202012/01 Where did it come from? The variant was first found in Kent and can be traced back to September 2020. Scientists noticed that it was spreading in November and it was revealed to the public in December. What makes it new? The variant, which is a version of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19, has a series of mutations that change the shape of the spike protein on its outside. The main one is known as N501Y. This appears to make it better able to stick to the cells inside the body and makes it more likely to cause infection and faster to spread. How did that happen? Viruses, particularly ones spreading so fast and in such huge numbers, mutate all the time. To reproduce they basically force living cells to copy and paste the viral genetic code, and this can contain errors that lead to slightly different versions of the virus. Often these mutations make no difference but, if they make the virus stronger, they can stick around for further generations and become the norm. What can we do about it? Nothing much. People who catch the virus won't know which type they have, and it will still cause the same symptoms and illness. Officials can try to contain it by locking down the areas where it is most prevalent, but if it is stronger than other versions of the virus it will eventually spread everywhere and become dominant as long as people continue to travel. Will our vaccines still work? Yes, it's very likely they will. Scientists on SAGE are fairly sure the mutations the Kent variant carries do not significantly affect how well the immune system can handle it. People who have a vaccine modelled on an older version of the virus, or who have been infected with Covid-19 before, are likely to be immune to it. This is because the main mutations are only on one part of the spike protein, whereas the immune system is able to target various other parts of the virus. Advertisement

He told a press briefing today: 'The N501Y change increases its strength of binding to cells. If youre getting much stronger binding you may need a much lower dose to get infected.

'If it's able to spread between cells quicker that may increase the rate of disease and the rate of inflammation.

'But there is no evidence this virus [variant] would in any way behaves different to treatments currently being used. Those treatments are not related to the virus but instead related to the host response.

There are only a handful of drugs which have been scientifically proven to treat Covid and reduce death rates, including the cheap steroid dexamethasone and the anti-inflammatory medicines tocilizumab and sarilumab.

All of the approved treatments focus on reducing the body's sometimes-fatal overreaction to Covid.

In some people - particularly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions - their immune systems go haywire while trying to clear Covid-19 in the body.

The deadly complication sees immune molecules start to attack healthy tissue as well, including vital organs such as the heart and lungs.

The amount of virus someone contracts can also determine how ill they become. The Kent variant is thought to be better at locking onto human cells and spreading through the body, which means people who catch that particular variant often have bigger viral loads.

Professor Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said today that although the Kent variant is more deadly than regular Covid, the overall Covid death rate could be lower than in spring.

Numerous studies have shown the ICU mortality rate for Covid patients has dropped by about a third now compared to the peak in April.

The survival chances are thought to be higher now than at the beginning of the Covid pandemic because of the emergence of new treatments.

Doctors are also more reluctant to put Covid sufferers on ventilators than they were in spring, after it became clear the machines made some patients worse.

Number 10 was accused of scaremongering on Friday when Boris Johnson and his chief scientists announced the terrifying development that the Kent strain was more deadly without providing much supporting evidence.

Members of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), a subcommittee of SAGE, compiled 10 different studies looking into the lethality of the new strain.

Eight found the variant was more deadly than previous strains, which led to the group concluding there was a 'realistic possibility'.

But the findings from the studies varied wildly and had wide confidence intervals, which led to accusations that No10 was premature in announcing the development.

Chief Scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance even admitted during the press conference evidence the strain is more deadly is still 'weak'.

Responding to those criticisms, Professor Edmunds said today: 'I think it's pretty solid [the evidence] and if we had not said something about it, youd be criticising the Government for not saying something about it and sweeping it under the carpet.

Asked about what Kent strains increased deadliness means for lockdown, Professor Graham Medley, another SAGE member, said the new analysis was concerning but doesnt mean we need to do anything hugely different.

The situation is weve got about 100,000 infections a day and that is very serious. Additional mortality from new variant is concerning but it doesnt change the effect of 100,000 [cases] ,that's the main cause of the deaths.

'If we want to reduce number of deaths we have to reduce incidence. Reduction of cases is the critical thing.'
Indian Army soldiers pushed back troops from the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) near Naku La in the Sikkim sector on January 20.

In a statement, the Indian Army confirmed that there was a "minor face-off" at Nakula area of North Sikkim on January 20 and it was "resolved by local commanders as per established protocols."

Soldiers from both sides sustained injuries during the violence, news reports suggest.

The Indian side pushed back the Chinese troops when the latter's patrol party attempted to cross the border. About 20 soldiers were injured, according to a report by India Today. Some news reports also added that no arms were used during the clash.

It is to be noted that this latest clash happened in the Sikkim sector where the border line is not disputed.

The incident comes at a time when both sides have deployed thousands of troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since May 2020 when border tensions started simmering between the two neighbours  especially along three friction points in the eastern Ladakh region.

The LAC is the de-facto border between the two countries in the region. In June 2020, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley as the stand-off escalated into a violent face-off. While there were fatalities on the Chinese side too, the number was not revealed by Beijing.

Both sides are known to have stationed heavy artillery and deployed fighter aircraft in close proximity to the LAC as a precautionary measure even as they work towards disengagement.

In fact, India and China will hold the ninth round of corps commander-level military talks on January 25 in Moldo to address the standoff in eastern Ladakh.

A total of 1,587 delegates representing more than 5.1 million Party members across Vietnam attended the preparatory session of the 13th National Party Congress at the National Convention Center in Hanoi on Monday morning.

Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan were among the attendees.

Front row, from left: National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrive at the preparatory session in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

Delegates are set to adopt working regulations of the Congress during the session.

They will also elect the Presidium, secretarial delegation, and delegate eligibility verification board of the Congress.

The Congress agenda, election rules, and a report on the eligibility of delegates are expected to be approved during the preparatory session.

Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrive at the preparatory session in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Minh Linh / Tuoi Tre

The 13th National Party Congress will officially open on the morning of January 26 and last until February 2.

Prior to the preparatory session, the countrys leaders and high-ranking officials had paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum and laid a wreath at the Monument to Heroes and Fallen Soldiers in the capital.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the preparatory session of Vietnams 13th National Party Congress in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Vien Su / Tuoi Tre

Delegates attend the preparatory session of Vietnams 13th National Party Congress in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

Delegates attend the preparatory session of Vietnams 13th National Party Congress in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

Delegates vote to approve the agenda of the 13th National Party Congress in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Vien Su / Tuoi Tre

Vietnamese leaders pay tribute at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Quang Minh / Tuoi Tre

High-ranking officials pay tribute at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo: Quang Minh / Tuoi Tre

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A tropical cyclone that hit central Mozambique on the weekend has displaced thousands of people and caused severe flooding in an area battered by two deadly cyclones in 2019, response teams and aid agencies said.

Cyclone Eloise made landfall in the early hours of Saturday, bringing high-speed winds of up to 150 km/h followed by torrential rain over the port city of Beira, the capital of Mozambique's Sofala province, and the adjacent Buzi district.

Almost 7,000 people have been displaced and more than 5,000 houses destroyed or damaged in the area, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday, citing preliminary government figures.

National emergency response teams on Sunday confirmed six deaths and 12 serious injuries -- numbers expected to rise as the scale of the damage is fully assessed in the coming days.

"So many places are flooded already and it's getting worse," said UNICEF Mozambique spokesman Daniel Timme, speaking to AFP from Beira.

"Rivers are collecting water and bringing it back to the Buzi River basin" south of Beira, he said.

Timme said the cyclone had disproportionately affected the city's poorer neighbourhoods, where homes made of tarpaulin and corrugated iron were swept up by winds.

Hundreds have taken refuge in a school and were in urgent need of food, medicine and proper shelter, he added.

Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario visited the Sofala province on Monday, calling on people living in areas with a high risk of flooding to evacuate to safety.

- 176,000 'severely affected' -

Eloise hit an area devastated by two successive super-storms in March and April 2019.

The first, Cyclone Idai, left more than 1,000 dead and caused damage estimated at around $2 billion.

Timme said aid workers were scrambling to provide safe drinking water and avoid cholera, which broke out in temporary shelters across Beira around two weeks after Idai hit.

Story continues

UNICEF, the United Nations' children's agency, estimates that 176,000 people have been "severely affected" by Eloise, half of them children.

Beira Mayor Daviz Simango said one of the victims was a two-year-old girl "whose house collapsed" while her parents were out.

"We call on people to observe the principle of resilience and better reconstruction," Simango told reporters on Sunday.

Around 142,000 hectares (350,000 acres) of farmland have been swamped, according to preliminary UNICEF figures, as well as 26 health centres and 76 classrooms.

Eloise has weakened into an overland depression since its Mozambique landfall and moved south towards South Africa.

But not before leaving three people dead as it swept over landlocked Eswatini, police communications officer Phindile Vilakati told AFP.

Heavy rainfall has caused flooding in South Africa's northern Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, as well as in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

sch-str/mgu/dl
In December 2020, Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli dissolved the House of Representatives, the lower house the of Nepal Parliament accusing members of his own party including the former rebels of noncooperation, and called for new elections in April.

The prime minister's abrupt move plunged Nepal into political uncertainty after years of instability and short-lived governments.

The dissolution came hours before a standing committee meeting that was expected to order a probe into corruption charges leveled against Oli by party co-chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. Oli had also been accused of moving closer to China and drifting away from Nepals traditional partner, India, since taking power. It is understood that Oli took the step when he realised that a factional feud within the party had reached the point of no return and he faced possible expulsion both as party chief and as prime minister.

On Sunday, the Prachanda-Nepal faction of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) ousted Oli from the ruling party as a part of disciplinary action against him.

Here's what led to Oli's expulsion, and what to expect next.

Split in Nepal Communist Party

Soon after Oli announced his controversial decision, the NCP split into two factions. This effectively ended the unity that was forced among the party cadre that had led to the creation of the single, grand Nepal Communist Party three years ago.

The split in the NCP was also indicative of a systematic collapse. We will go for a decisive nationwide movement to have this Constitution dumped, Balakrishna Neupane, convener of an ongoing citizens movement, had said.

Hearing in Supreme Court

Ever since the dissolution of the house, a dozen petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the dissolution with two years left of the present Houses tenure. Following the parliaments dissolution, two factions of the NCP have split and have described themselves as the legitimate faction and staked claims over the partys election symbol being the 'sun'.

Legal experts said the hearing on Olis decision will be expected to go on until February as more than 300 lawyers had registered their names to participate in the proceedings.

Mass Protests

On December 29, 2020, an estimated 25,000 people had gathered to protest near Olis office and more marches were planned across the Himalayan nation, which lies between India and China.

Former Maoist commander and co-chair of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who led the 1996-2006 uprising, told demonstrators in Kathmandu, earlier in January, that Oli was attempting to derail the peace process.

The elected parliament must be reinstated, he told the huge crowd, many waving red hammer and sickle flags.

PM Oli Ousted From Party

As the political crisis after the dissolution of the parliament in Nepal deepened, the caretaker Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was removed from the ruling Nepal Communist Party by a Central Committee Meeting of the splinter group of the party on Sunday.

"His membership has been revoked," the spokesperson for the splinter group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, confirmed to news agency ANI.

The decision divided the party into two groups and sparked a dispute over the party symbol but the Election Commission has declined to recognise either faction as the official party.

A rival faction of the Communist Party had earlier threatened to expel Oli from the party.

"We ousted Oli from the post of chairman of ruling NCP. Now, we will take disciplinary actions against him as he is not fit to remain a member of the Communist Party and we have ordered him to provide clarifications. He has not replied to us till date," Madhav Kumar Nepal, a leader of the rival faction of NCP, had said.

Also read: Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli Expelled from Ruling Party by Prachanda Faction, May Revive CPN-UML

Madhav Kumar had also ruled out any possibilities of unification with PM Oli even after he acknowledges his mistakes and corrects his latest move.

"No one should be under the impression that the NCP would bow down to KP Oli. It will never happen as we do politics on the basis of value and beliefs," he remarked.

What Happens Next

Oli is likely to revive the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified MarxistLeninist) which had earlier merged with the Maoists to form the Nepal Communist Party in a deal brokered by China three years back.

There are reports that Oli will seek support from the Nepali Congress and remain at the helm of power.

The unification and its end

Oli was a critic of the politics of violence that caused more than 17,000 deaths. But Oli approached the Maoists in 2017 for a merger between their parties, pre-empting the possibility of an alliance between the Maoists and the Nepali Congress.

Oli was leading the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, and Prachanda represented the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist). Following the merger, the two leaders agreed that they would lead the government in turns, a promise that Oli failed to keep at the end of his two-and-a-half years.

Opposition stakes

The opposition Nepali Congress hopes that an early poll will earn them a bigger space in Parliament. But it fears that owing to the street protest and violence, along with the onset of rain in late April and early May, could be used as an excuse to further defer the election.

I doubt elections will be held on the prescribed dates, said Shekhar Koirala, member of the Nepali Congress central committee.

Nepal army says it will remain neutral

The Nepal Army has made it amply clear that it will remain neutral in the ongoing political developments. This indicates that if PM Oli tries to rule with the help of security forces to maintain law and order and contain protests, it is uncertain how far the Army will support it.

Oli had declared that the next election will be held on April 30 and May 10 next year with him leading a caretaker government, however, his fate is set to be decided by agitating crowds and the Supreme Court. Theres also a movement for the restoration of Nepal as a Hindu kingdom.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned global leaders against starting a 'new Cold War' in a veiled threat to US President Joe Biden's new administration.

Speaking at an all-virtual Davos forum on Monday, Xi urged global unity in the face of Covid with many countries still crippled from the virus which is believed to have originated in Wuhan.

Having largely curbed the spread within its own borders, Xi wants to position China as a key player in a new multilateral world order, capitalising on the weakened US where the virus is still raging.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned global leaders against starting a 'new Cold War' in a veiled threat to US President Joe Biden's new administration

Biden has previously discussed plans to revitalise global alliances to counter China's growing influence

Xi said: 'To build small cliques or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others... will only push the world into division.'

Biden has previously discussed plans to revitalise global alliances to counter China's growing influence.

In a swipe at moves targeting China launched by the previous US administration under President Donald Trump, Xi said confrontation 'will always end up harming every nation's interests and sacrificing people's welfare'.

The Chinese leader also reaffirmed Beijing's ambitious climate pledges to slash carbon emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

The commitments are significant as China emits a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases.

The Chinese leader also reaffirmed Beijing's ambitious climate pledges to slash carbon emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060

'Meeting these targets will require tremendous hard work from China. But we believe that when the interests of the entire humanity are at stake, China must step forward, take action and get the job done,' he said.

Xi also called for stronger global governance via multilateral organisations, the removal of barriers to international trade, investment and tech exchanges, as well as stronger representation on the world stage for developing countries.

He stressed the importance of strengthening macroeconomic policies to combat the pandemic-induced global economic downturn.

'We must build an open world economy, firmly safeguard the multilateral trade system, and refrain from making discriminatory and exclusive standards, rules and systems, as well as high walls that separate trade, investment, and technology,' he said.

China saw its GDP increase 2.3 percent last year, according to official data, the lowest growth rate since 1976, but it is nonetheless expected to be the only major economy to have expanded in the pandemic-ravaged year.

Its economy is also forecast to grow by 7.9 per cent in 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund, trimmed down from initial predictions by a harsh geopolitical climate, global economic downturn and risks from a messy technological decoupling from the US.

Under President Donald Trump, China and the US traded blows on a wide range of issues

It also overtook the US as the world's biggest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, according to a UN report released Sunday.

Bolstered by confidence in his country's management of the pandemic, Xi has made ambitious climate pledges and vowed to uphold multilateralism as US-China relations entered their worst phase in decades under the Trump administration.

But the Chinese government has been accused of mishandling the initial Covid-19 outbreak and covering up information, while a World Health Organisation expert team is currently conducting a long-delayed probe into the origins of the virus.

How Biden decides to handle the mounting tensions posed by China's rise will be one of the biggest strategic challenges he faces.

Under Trump, China and the US traded blows on a wide range of issues ranging from the virus to trade, media freedoms, human rights and technology competition.

Biden, busy handling several urgent domestic crises, did not participate at Davos and tasked US climate envoy John Kerry with representing Washington.

Xi last addressed Davos in 2017, presenting himself as the champion of free trade on the eve of Trump's inauguration.
Burns Night brings to mind forkfuls of peppery haggis and wee drams of whisky but the history of the festivities is often taken for granted.

The Burns Supper is a celebration of the life and legacy of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. While it was first organised by his close friends and family as a memorial dinner, the night has since morphed into an event for Scots at home and around the world.

It is celebrated with traditional Scottish fare, folk music and renditions of Burnss poetry  but this year many of the festivities will be virtual.

Who was Robert Burns?

Rabbie Burns penned more than 550 poems and songs before his death in 1796.

A massive source of inspiration to the founders of Liberalism and Socialism, the 18th-century writer is known for his astute social commentary and focus on all things political. Scotlands national poet is considered a revolutionary figure, both in his homeland and beyond.

Dubbed the greatest Scot of all time by STV in 2009, the writer from Ayrshire died of rheumatic fever at the age of just 37.

His funeral was held on the same day his son Maxwell was born. Burnss body was later transferred from a churchyard grave to a mausoleum in Dumfries, where his wife Jean Armour was also laid to rest after her death in 1834.

When is Burns Night?

Burns Night falls on 25 January every year.

The date was chosen to coincide with the poet's birthday, who was born on 25 January 1759.

The first Burns supper hosted by the Burns Club was held on 29 January 1802, on what was thought to be Burns' birthday.

However, the following year the discovery of parish records revealed that the late poet's birthday was actually four days prior.

How is it celebrated?

The main attraction of Burns Night is the Burns Supper. This traditionally involves participants donning tartan, listening to bagpipes, crooning Auld Lang Syne  also sung at New Years Eve  and reciting the great writers songs and poems.

Read more: How to make vegan haggis

The song Auld Lang Syne was derived from a poem penned by Burns in 1788, which he originally sent to the Scots Musical Museum.

Burns Night celebrations commonly incorporate the Saltire, the national flag of Scotland.

While the first Burns Supper was first held way back in 1801 and new rituals have since been appended, the crux of the celebration remains unchanged and revolves around paying tribute to Burns in whatever way feels most fitting.

Whats in the traditional dinner?

The jewel in the crown of any Burns Supper is always haggis, a savoury pudding containing minced sheeps heart, liver and lungs bound with onion, oatmeal, suet, stock and a selection of spices. It is traditionally bound in the animals stomach.

Burns describes haggis as the great chieftain o the puddin-race and a traditional Burns Night kicks off with a host reading his Address to a Haggis.

Read more: How to make classic haggis, neeps and tatties

Haggis is served with the classic side of mashed neeps and tatties (swedes and potatoes). The food is, of course, accompanied by the finest domestic whisky.

Vegetarians and pescetarians  or those who want to try something a little different  can choose haggis made without meat. Also popular is seafood dishes like Cullen Skink soup, made from smoked haddock.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) gave a priority to the investigation of cases relating to the Armenian prisoners of war who are currently in Azerbaijan, therefore, these cases must be investigated in a shorter period of time, Human rights advocate Siranush Sahakyan, who represents the interests of the Armenian POWs in the ECHR, told Armenpress.

She stated that the Azerbaijani government has officially accepted at the ECHR the facts of holding several persons captive.

The ECHR has summed up the data, and revealing some problems, has sent additional inquiries to the Azerbaijani government. We are waiting for Azerbaijans position on these matters, she said.

Sahakyan stated that the status of 62 Armenian servicemen who were captured by Azerbaijan in Khtsaberd needs clarification. According to our estimates, they are classical prisoners of war, of course, we do not rule out that Azerbaijan will go to speculations and will try to present them as terrorists, criminals to the international community, the attorney said, adding that in terms of legal processes the citizens of Armenia will be protected, however, she noted, Azerbaijan will try to prolong the process.

Azerbaijan will try to prolong the process with the use of domestic state means and show at the European Court that there are ongoing internal state procedures, it is necessary to wait for their end and then give an assessment, however, now we have a formed practice that any mechanism of Azerbaijan cannot be considered effective over Armenians because there is a state-level anti-Armenian policy, containing also hatred. In such case we can directly seek an international judicial protection, she said, adding that in any case the legal process will require 1-2 years.

Asked how many captives have been confirmed by Azerbaijan through the ECHR, she stated: As for the judicial process I can say that we have 8 captives who have not been returned yet, but as for the extra-judicial confirmations, it will be right if the state representatives talk about this.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
South Africas Oscar-nominated anti-apartheid jazz trombonist and composer Jonas Gwangwa has died at the age of 83. President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to the musician as he said, Jonas Gwangwa ascends to our great orchestra of musical ancestors whose creative genius and dedication to the freedom of all South Africans inspired millions in our country and mobilized the international community against the apartheid system.'' Gwangwa was raised in Johannesburgs Soweto township and he rose to prominence in 959 as a member of the Jazz Epistles.

Catching up at the 2nd #43inSA Golf Celebration. "Power of Music" pic.twitter.com/1G2tEvxfxA  Jonas Gwangwa (@JonasGwangwa) April 22, 2018

Took some precious time to reflect on friendship and lasting devotion with two people that shared many other incredible moments with us. Thank you Caiphus & Letta for the everlasting love and memories. "Cherish your companions" #WinnieMandelaFuneral pic.twitter.com/9wyV27baQI  Jonas Gwangwa (@JonasGwangwa) April 14, 2018

A tribute

The President further said, "A giant of our revolutionary cultural movement and our democratic creative industries has been called to rest; the trombone that boomed with boldness and bravery, and equally warmed our hearts with mellow melody has lost its life force". He added, "As we mourn the loss of many precious lives around us, we pray also that the soul of Jonas Gwangwa will rest in peace".

Read: Daily Lotto South Africa Lottery Results For Jan 24, 2021 - Winning Numbers

Back in the year 1960, when the aparthied regime imposed a state of emergency, it restricted jazz performances as they were viewed as promoting racial equality. Gwangwa left the country than submitting to apartheid censorship. There were other musicians also that followed the drill, including Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim and Miriam Makeba.

Read: South Africa Women Vs Pakistan Women 2nd ODI Live Stream, Pitch & Weather Report, Preview

Gwangwa had a series of achievements. He was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in the year 2010. This is South Africas highest honor for outstanding contribution in arts and culture. Also, he was nominated for an Oscar for music he composed for the 1987 movie Cry Freedom.

Read: South Africa Laments 'few Vaccine Options' For Poor Nations As Rich Nations Hoard Jabs

Also Read: Daily Lotto South Africa Lottery Results For JAN 20, 2020 - Winning Numbers

(Image Credits: Twitter/@JonasGwangwa)
Joe Biden's transportation secretary nominee, Pete Buttigieg, was all over the map at his confirmation hearings.

According to MarketWatch, emphasis mine:

Speaking at his confirmation hearing with his husband sitting nearby, Buttigieg pointed to a "generational opportunity" to create new jobs, fight economic inequality and stem climate change. Often sidestepping specifics, Buttigieg hinted at a broad climate-centric role for the department that will require significant investments, on top of Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan. "We need to build our economy back, better than ever, and the Department of Transportation can play a central role in this," the 39-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, told the Senate Commerce Committee. He indicated he would reverse a Trump administration rollback in federal automotive fuel economy standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, work to stiffen oversight of aviation safety as the troubled Boeing 737 Max makes its return to the skies and encourage use of electric vehicles, such as by adding a half-million charging stations nationwide. Buttigieg did not specify where money could come from for big investments in infrastructure, and wouldn't rule out a tax increase. He floated the possibility of a major change in how highways are funded, such as by converting from the current Highway Trust Fund, which is paid for through the gas tax, to a "vehicle miles traveled" alternative that would tax drivers based on their road mileage.

According to the account of the same hearings by Roll Call, which seemed to be on damage control duty for the Biden administration, Buttigieg's people walked the tax talk back, but not exactly. The record of the hearing seems to be the reality.

Two things stand out: Buttigieg wants a tax hike for gasoline to fund his so-called infrastructure projects. Who will pay those taxes? Those who drive. And if someone needs to drive a lot, such as an independent truck-driver or a low-wage service worker who can't afford to live in the blue city center, but instead makes due with a commute on the outskirts of town, the tax becomes regressive. The tax is the same for the rich or poor, and maybe the rich can afford it. But the poor live on a low margin  the tax will likely cut to the bone for the poor, forcing them to go without, say, in food supplies or other necessities. Tax hikes that are the same and unavoidably hit the poor the hardest.

The hearing also notes that Buttigieg likes the Big Brother solution, to tax people based on miles driven. Besides being amazingly intrusive, hooking worker cars up like guinea pigs to the meters, it's also another big regressive tax that will hit the poor hardest. See, those wicked, wicked poor, out in places like Sun Valley and Lancaster, commuting to a job to downtown Los Angeles because they can't afford the L.A. rents, really should be paying more for the privilege of driving several hours to work and living out in the sticks. And don't imagine that buses are practical with those huge distances. L.A. is spread out, quite unlike Manhattan. And this isn't just the poor, but the middle class, the people who are able to buy homes in West Covina, Cerritos, or Lake Elsinore, but not Midtown or Culver City. Hollywood movie stars and hedge fund managers who live in Santa Monica or the Hollywood Hills won't feel a thing, but too bad about the guys coming in to serve them from Ontario, San Dimas, and Pacoima.

And as a side note, these regressive tax hikes for so-called infrastructure projects will likely be the kind that never happen, because if experience is any indicator, the funds will get diverted to other leftist priorities, which don't include quality of life for the general public. That, in any case, is what happened in the tax-for-infrastructure deal over in the Biden administration's model state of California. The taxpayers got nothing in the way of promised infrastructure repairs for their tax hike. The money just went to hobby-horse greenie projects. I wrote about that here.

Note that Buttigieg says he intends to put out more (gas-fueled) electrical car charging stations for these regressive tax hikes on the poor. How many poor people does he know who drive electric cars? Call it energy privilege, see  too bad about the poor.

Meanwhile, another big regressive Biden tax on the poor is already occurring, with Biden's already signed cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as prohibitions on drilling and fracking on federal lands. Such a move likely made greenie billionaire Tom Steyer happy, but it was terrible news for the poor.

The Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray reservations near Four Corners area has fought poverty through energy development, and blasted the prohibition on federal lands. American Indians on reservations, after all, are among the very poorest Americans. Energy development had been their lifeline, helping to support their culture, language, and way of life. The pipeline's shutdown is also a nasty muscle-in on the Indian nations' sovereignty, the Ute leaders noted, noting that nobody consulted them. For all of us, it's Big Government against the little guy, in the same league as the Big Brother move on impoverished and middle-class commuters.

Indian nations in North Dakota and Michigan are also reportedly alarmed at the shutdowns, with some issuing condemnations. Sound like a place full of rich people? Don't think so.

In New Mexico, a state with a lot of poverty, there's this:

Officials in the state of New Mexico professed to be taken aback last week by President Joe Biden's day-one decision to impose a 60-day moratorium on all oil and gas-related leasing and permitting actions on federal lands. It is a decision that will have major ramifications on the state budgets of New Mexico and other Western states, especially if it is extended beyond its initial term and backed up by Biden's promised ban on hydraulic fracturing on federal lands.

As for the Keystone XL shutdown, the flyover states with few rich hedge fund managers, movie stars, or Beltway barons are hardest hit.

From Montana, it was a bipartisan rain of hellfire after Joe Biden with a stroke of the pen canceled the Keystone XL pipeline:

Montana Senator Steve Daines issued this statement: "It's only day one, and with the stroke of a pen, Biden has already taken steps to kill American energy projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline which is critical to energy producing states like Montana," Daines said. "This project will create thousands of jobs, generate tax revenue for local communities, promote North American energy security and independence, and it is the safest and most environmentally friendly way to transport oil. We must do all that we can to ensure construction moves forward." Congressman Matt Rosendale had this statement: "I sent a letter to the President-Elect before he was even inaugurated asking him to please reconsider this job killing action and his actions yesterday are going to have horrible consequences for Montana's economy and our nation's security," said Rosendale. "I mean, we're going to lose jobs. We're going to lose an incredible amount of tax revenue through some of the most rural counties that are located within the state." Governor Greg Gianforte asked Biden to 'cut through the malarkey and reconsider his decision'. "A symbolic gesture for your fledgling, hours-old administration, this decision has real and devastating consequences in Montana. With your executive order, gone are the thousands of good-paying American jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to support our local communities and schools, the opportunity to advance America's green energy infrastructure, and America's energy security," Governor Gianforte wrote.

From Nebraska, this:

"Keystone XL is a critical part of putting together an all-of-the-above strategy for North American energy independence," said Gov. [Pete] Ricketts. "Failure to construct the pipeline would mean more dependence on overseas energy sources as well as fewer jobs and less property tax relief for Nebraskans. This is a project that would greatly benefit not just Nebraska but also our whole country, and it is our hope that TC Energy presses forward."

And South Dakota, this:

"I'm very disappointed," [Gov. Kristi] Noem said on Thursday. "I think it's the wrong policy on energy, it's the wrong policy on the environment, and it's the wrong policy on safety. Over the years we've debated this pipeline and vetted it on all of those elements."

This is just Biden getting started out the gate on energy, and as Sen. Ted Cruz noted, he expected there would be a cascade of such energy shutdown maneuvers. Most Americans can tolerate some greenie energy development so long as normal energy can continue apace. The shutdown, though, leaves no safety net for the poor and the workers as the greenie infrastructure and rich-man's-plaything projects supposedly get off the ground. That leaves a lot of poor hit hard. The Biden energy policies are less than a week old, and the only message they send is that Biden means to make war on the poor.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay license.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
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Jon Romano didnt attend his state Parole Board hearing on Oct. 27, 2020, leading the board to deny his early release from prison.

The board could only review his actions as a teenage student in 2004 at Columbia High School when he fired a 12-gauge shotgun twice at other students and wounded a teacher, according to a review of the hearing record.

The panel has determined that your release would be incompatible with the welfare and safety of society and would so deprecate the serious nature of the crime as to undermine respect for the law. Parole is denied, said a transcript of the decision.

But two months later Romano left the Auburn State Correctional Facility on Dec. 15, 2020 through the states limited credit time allowance program. State corrections law grants up to six months credit to apply against a prisoners sentence if he completes certain educational or work programs, must not have been found guilty of any serious misbehavior while imprisoned and not received a recommendation of a loss of good time in the previous five years.

In 2019, the state released 359 prisoners after they successfully completed the limited credit time allowance program.

Romano was a month away from completing the program when his parole hearing was scheduled. His October hearing record was released after the Times Union filed a Freedom of Information request with the state Departments of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Romano, 33, left the prison after serving more than 15 years of his 17 to 20 years prison term for attempted murder and other charges connected to the Feb. 9, 2004 shooting at the suburban high school. Romano moved to Albany County after his release.

The parole panel noted that Romano has a low risk COMPAS (Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions) score indicating a lower chance of returning to prison, positive relationship with your family and the age he was when he committed the crime.

The panel did set requirements if Romano was conditionally released. These include: finding a job or going to school; submitting to substance abuse testing when directed by a parole officer; not drinking alcohol; not going to businesses where alcohol is served or sold as its main business without written permission of a parole officer; obtaining permission to get a drivers license or operate a motor vehicle; abide by any curfew set; take part in aggression-violence counseling as directed by the parole officer; not communicate with victims without a parole officers permission; obey all orders of protection, and comply with any geographic restrictions set by the parole officer.

Romano will be under parole supervision until December 2025 as part of his sentence from Rensselaer County Court.

Troy attorney E. Stewart Jones, who represented Romano, previously said his prison sentence was too harsh. Jones also added that Romano did not deserve to be imprisoned for the length of time he served. He was a young man with a significant psychological problem."

Romano wrote the Times Union in 2018 from the Coxsackie Correctional Facility to praise the Columbia High School assistant principal who stopped his attack at the school.

"John Sawchuk is a hero who I owe my life to. I know whenever another horrible shooting happens, he and all of my victims are hurt all over again from what I did to them. I want to take away their pain but knowing that I cannot, I want to prevent others from experiencing this pain," Romano wrote.

In a suicide note Romano left on his bed that morning, the then-16-year-old student said he was angry at the school because word got around that he had spent some time in a psychiatric care facility for emotional problems and for talking about suicide. "So Columbia, it's your fault," he wrote.

He then went to school carrying the shotgun in a case. He loaded the weapon in a bathroom stall. He left the bathroom, fired at the students, pointed the shotgun at others and into classroom before he was subdued.

Romano said he watched the documentary "Bowling for Columbine," a documentary about the notorious school shooting in Colorado, and fantasized about going to his high school and "shooting up the place." He pleaded guilty to nine counts of an 86-count indictment, including three counts of attempted murder and six counts of reckless endangerment.

Explained: Who is this gynaecologist from Ladakh who was awarded the Padma Bhushan

Chirag Paswan thanks PM Modi for Padma honour for his late father

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday after former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan award, and said Modi always gave respect to his father.

Ram Vilas Paswan has been given the honour posthumously and was one of the 10 Padma Bhushan awardees. Chirag Paswan tweeted that Modi took care of his father till his last breath and gave respect to him even after he was gone.

Gallantry awards for Galwan heros : Col Babu awarded second-highest millitary honour Mahavir Chakra, 5 others Vir Chakra

The LJP president has been a vocal supporter of Modi even though his party is no longer a part of the BJP-led NDA in Bihar due to his differences with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, another saffron party ally.
The attack occurred around 7:30 pm on Sunday evening, two masked individuals demanded the contents of the cash registers as well as cigarettes at a service station in Rollingergrund.

The two thieves then fled on foot in the direction of Eich.

Dressed in dark clothes, both were described as being of slim build and were about five feet tall.

According to the victims, the two attackers spoke in French, one of the men had a black mask, the other's was blue.

Police urge citizens and motorists in the area to be cautious, and to avoid picking up hitchhikers.

People with information should report any suspicious behaviour to the 113 emergency number.
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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.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Five villages in Bontoc, Mountain Province are now placed under enhanced community quarantine until end-January amid spiking COVID-19 cases, with its senior official hinting of a possible extended lockdown if they fail to complete contact tracing involving the UK variant of COVID-19.

Mayor Franklin Odsey said the decision to extend the heightened quarantine controls will depend on efforts to search for carriers of the new virus variant.

The areas under ECQ are Bontoc Ili, Caluttit, Poblacion, Samoki, and Tocucan.

In executive order no. 08 series of 2021, the mayor placed Bontoc Ili, Caluttit, and Poblacion in Bontoc under ECQ beginning Monday until January 31.

The Municipality of Bontoc on Sunday also issued another EO for the extended lockdown of Tocucan.

While Samoki is not included in the EOs, Odsey mentioned in his message posted on the official Facebook page of the town that the village would also be under ECQ.

"If our contact tracers will not finish their contact tracing, then we will extend the lockdown," he said during the Laging Handa briefing.

Odsey acknowledged that the town was struggling as it did not have enough contact tracers, but noted they were banking on additional staff deployed by other regions.

"I'm so happy na ngayong araw, nandito na ang contact tracers from CAR, Regions 1 and 2 na naga-assist sa amin to trace second, third generations," he said.

[Translation: I'm so happy that contact tracers from CAR, Regions 1 and 2 have arrived today to assist in tracing second, third generations.]

According to Odsey, Bontoc recorded 12 cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom.

He said two patients are still in the hospital; one will be discharged today; while nine are on home quarantine.

Odsey assured the Bontoc government is closely monitoring those nine UK COVID-19 patients who are on home quarantine.

In a separate interview with CNN Philippines, he said eight patients were discharged from the hospital while one severe case remains confined. Three others under home quarantine are asymptomatic.

The mayor said he hopes the province would be spared from a lockdown, adding that he believes the spread of the virus can be contained.

Odsey said community swab testing will be done on Tuesday in five villages under lockdown.

We are praying that after the mass RT-PCR [test], if the results are very good, we will not continue the lockdown. Kung ang result ay hindi maganda (If the results will not be good), we will have to continue the lockdown, Odsey told CNN Philippines News Night.

During the Palace briefing on Monday, Health Department spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have recommended that the lockdown in Bontoc be extended for two more weeks.

"There is further investigation in cases," Vergeire said.
Arson detectives are investigating the cause of a house fire after a mans body was found during a blaze in a Melbourne bayside suburb on Monday night.

Police and firefighters attended a home in Ardoyne Street in Black Rock, 20 kilometres south-east of Melbournes CBD, shortly after 9.30pm following reports of flames inside the property.

The property on Ardoyne Street, where the mans body was found. Credit:Chris Hopkins

A dead man was found inside the home by emergency services before the fire was fully extinguished. He is yet to be formally identified.

A Fire Rescue Victoria spokesman said it took eight firefighters less than half an hour to get the flames under control. The fire was contained to just one room, he said.
MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is the leader of Movement for Socialism party, said he was discharged from a hospital after receiving treatment from COVID-19 and thanked doctors for their dedication.

"I am very grateful to the medical board and staff of the Los Olivos hospital for their efforts, which made my recovery possible. I express respect and admiration to them for their efforts and dedication," Morales said on Twitter.

Morales was tested positive for the coronavirus on January 13. The politician previously denied reports that he contracted the infection and accused the right-wing forces of spreading misinformation. However, he admitted that he had a cough.

Morales was pressured by the military to flee Bolivia on the back of violent nationwide protests in the fall of 2019.

They were ignited by his controversial victory in an election that would launch his fourth consecutive presidential term.

Opposition lawmaker Jeanine Anez took over as interim president and arranged for a new presidential vote, which took place on October 18, 2020. The election was won by Luis Arce, a member of Morales' own Movement for Socialism party.

Morales reacted to Arce's victory by saying that the Bolivian people managed to regain political power via democracy, not a coup, and calling the victory a "great triumph of the people." Morales returned to Bolivia in November 2020 after being self-exiled for almost a year.
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by Marian Demir

After the Armenian genocide, the church passed into private hands and is now up for sale to make it a cultural centre or a hotel in Bursa. For Levon Zekiyan, head of the Armenian Catholic Church of Turkey, the Armenian community does not have the financial means to buy this church.

Istanbul (AsiaNews)  The church put up for sale on the Internet almost a week ago belonged to the Catholic Armenian Church, the head of the Armenian Catholic Church of Turkey, Archbishop Levon Zekiyan, said. With regret, he noted that the Armenian community does not have the financial means to buy this church.

More than a week ago, an ad appeared on the Internet offering for sale an ancient Armenian church in Bursa, a large city on the southern shores of the Sea of Marmara (north-western Turkey) on the slopes of the Uludag (Great Mountain), the ancient Mysian Olympus (Mount), a famous tourist site.

The ad noted that the church had become private property following the [citys] demographic shift in 1923, and was used afterwards as a tobacco warehouse, then as a weaving factory.

The reference to demographic shift is a vague allusion to the Armenian genocide, which resulted in the emptying of Armenian communities in the early 20th century.

The ad suggested that the church could be used as a cultural centre, a place for art, a museum or a hotel.

The church in question is dedicated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator (Surp Krikor Lusavoric), and is located in Bursas Setbasi district.

Turning the church into a cultural venue serving the public wont bother us, said Archbishop Levon Zekiyan, stressing again that the Armenian community does not have the money to buy the church.

We hope to have the authorisation to celebrate Mass at least once a year. I plan to discuss this in the coming days with local authorities.

The Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate of Turkey issued a statement saying that it is a very sad thing that some people perceive a church as a commercial asset or a source of income.

Garo Pylan, an ethnic Armenian who is a Member of Turkeys Grand National Assembly for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), slammed the sale.

An Armenian church for sale in Bursa? he asks. But is it ever possible to put a place of worship up for sale? How can the state and society allow all this? Shame on you!
Police have made tight security



arrangements at the venue of a farmers' rally here and protesters are not allowed to march from south to the Raj Bhavan, a senior police official said on Monday.

Thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra have come to participate in a rally at the Azad Maidan in south on Monday against the Centre's three new farm laws.

The All India Kisan Sabha's (AIKS) Maharashtra unit on Sunday said the protesters will later march to the Raj Bhavan and submit a memorandum to Governor B S Koshyari over their various demands.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Vishwas Nangre Patil said, "As per a Bombay High Court order, no morcha is allowed in south and we are convincing representatives of the farmers to follow the court order."



"They are urging us to allow a morcha till the Raj Bhavan, but we have shown them the high court order. If they come out of the Azad Maidan to go to the Raj Bhavan, we will try to stop them and allow only their delegation to go to the Raj Bhavan," the official said.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made as a large number people come to south Mumbai for work, he said.

"We don't want people to face traffic congestion due to the morcha. There will be a smooth flow of traffic in south Mumbai," the official said.

Two companies of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) companies and over 800 personnel of the have been deployed for the rally, he said.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, those participating in the morcha should wear masks, he said.

The city civic officials, with the help of an NGO, have provided masks and sanitisers at the venue, he said.

"We are making continuous announcements to maintain social distancing," the official said.

Heavy security arrangements, including deployment of women police personnel, have been made at the venue of the rally to tackle any untoward incident, another official said.

Police personnel in plain clothes are also present at the site, he said.

The rally is part of a call given by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a pro-farmer body, to intensify the struggle till January 26 over various demands of farmers.

The rally is being held to support and expand the two-month-long farmers' struggle in Delhi for a repeal of the three farm laws and for a central law to guarantee a remunerative Minimum Support Price (MSP) and procurement all over the country, the AIKS said on Sunday.

(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 dance department, headquartered in Gerlinger Annex, is awaiting final approval for its Bachelor of Fine Arts program. Once approved, the University of Oregon will have the first BFA dance program in the state of Oregon. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald)
The Kapil Sharma Show To Go Off Air In February; Comedian To Return After Welcoming Second Child

Recent rumors suggested that after their gorgeous daughter Anayra Sharma, comedian Kapil Sharma and wife Ginni Chatrath are ready to welcome their second child into the world. The much in love couple tied the nuptial knot in a big fat Punjabi wedding in 2018 and were blessed with their angel a year later. Well latest reports have revealed that Kapil will be taking a mini break to spend quality time with his family and will resume work only after the delivery of his second baby.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kapil Sharma (@kapilsharma)

A report shared by TOI suggests that The Kapil Sharma Show will go off air in the second week of February and its not a revamp plan. A source was quoted saying, Kapil Sharma's wife Ginni is expecting their second child and the break would be ideal for him to stay at home and focus on giving quality time to the family. This break will give him that much-needed time to spend with family. The show too can return with more entertaining content after a three-month break.

One of the biggest reasons behind the show going off air is that not many films are releasing amid the pandemic and the live audience is also a strict no no. Hence, makers feels now is an ideal time for a break. However, Kapil is expected to return along with Krushna Abhishek, Bharti Singh, Archana Puran Singh and Kiku Sharda when things are back to normal.
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Burma Myanmar Military Sues Rakhine Media over Theft Allegations

The DMG office in Sittwe, Rakhine State. / Khine Rola / The Irrawaddy

Sittwe, Rakhine State  Myanmars military has opened a case against an editor and a reporter at the Sittwe-based Development Media Group (DMG) media group in Rakhine State under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law.

Editor U Ne Win San and reporter Ma Hnin Nwe were charged over a news story about alleged theft by government troops of rice from a village in Kyauktaw Township after villagers had fled clashes.

[Ma Hnin Nwe] wrote the story based on the accounts of Marlar villagers that their rice was taken by some Tatmadaw [military] soldiers. We could not contact the Rakhine State government, the [military-appointed] state security and border affairs minister or the Tatmadaw, said editor U Ne Win San.

He said he did not know the legal details and had not informed been about the lawsuit.

Police Lieutenant Than Htike of Sittwe Township confirmed the military lawsuit against the journalists without providing details.

The Irrawaddy was unable to contact Rakhine State security and border affairs minister Colonel Min Than or Myanmars military.

The DMG story said: Villagers said Tatmadaw soldiers, who were temporarily deployed in the mountains near Marlar village in Kyauktaw Township, took 700 baskets of rice while the villagers were away after fleeing clashes.

U Ne Win San said he viewed the lawsuit as a threat to media agencies to prevent them from reporting on the Tatmadaw in the state.

This is intended to scare off the media in Rakhine State, he said.

DMG is a Rakhine-focused news agency providing real-time reports on politics, armed conflicts, human rights, controversial projects and the economy. After reporting on fighting with the Arakan Army and alleged rights abuses against civilians by government troops, the DMG website has been blocked since March by mobile operators.

In May 2019, special branch police at the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs filed a lawsuit against the DMG editor-in-chief, U Aung Min Oo, under the Unlawful Association Act. He is currently in hiding.

The Road and Bridge Department at the Construction Ministry filed a lawsuit against DMGs Maungdaw-based reporter Ko Aung Kyaw Min under the Telecommunications Law over his story about a damaged bridge in Maungdaw.

Any citizen can use Article 66(d) to sue for alleged online abuse, regardless of whether they were the subject of the remarks. It carries a threat of three years in prison and is deeply controversial for alleged defamation. The law has come to be interpreted as any use of the internet, so sharing a Facebook post that casts someone in a negative light can be grounds for prosecution.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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MOUNT PLEASANT  The buses pulled up in the predawn darkness Monday, filled with members of the S.C. National Guard returning from the most unusual presidential inauguration in living memory.

Their deployment to Washington, D.C., saw them thrust into mounting tensions and heightened security concerns in the nation's capital, which saw armed insurrectionists invade the Capitol building only two weeks prior.

In all, 671 South Carolina Guardsmen were deployed, some for as long as nine days, said Col. Edward Cloyd, commander of the 218th Movement Enhancement Brigade.

More than 15,000 guardsmen from around the country came to the capital and about 5,000 remain, authorities said.

For these guardsmen, who arrived at 7:30 a.m. at the armory on Mathis Ferry Road, it was time to return to their homes and to their families.

"It is good to be home  very proud of our service, very proud to be there during an important event in our country's history and very thankful for the families and the employers who saw us through," said Army Brig. Gen. Jeff Jones, deputy adjutant general for the South Carolina Military Department.

"It felt different with more soldiers there but you still felt a positive spirit there, and I can tell you that the people of Washington, D.C., and the Congress were very supportive," he added.

President Joe Biden's inauguration proceeded with only a handful of minor arrests and incidents on Wednesday, but the guard's deployment stirred controversy after photos emerged of soldiers forced to bunk in a cold parking garage.

U.S. Capitol Police faced allegations that the agency evicted the troops from Capitol grounds.

The guard and Capitol Police later issued a joint statement saying they were coordinating to set up "appropriate spaces" within congressional buildings for on-duty breaks and that off-duty soldiers had hotel rooms or "other comfortable accommodations."

Jones said South Carolina guardsmen were assigned hotels while off duty, but there was a time period where the troops needed to sleep in the immediate area of the Capitol because D.C.'s bridges were closed and commanders wanted to ensure soldiers did not miss their assignments due to travel.

The commander said the experience was positive and that the entire South Carolina congressional delegation visited to lend encouragement and hand out food.

"They're thankful for what they've done," Jones said. "They're ready to get home to their families. They're ready to get back to their jobs. And that's what we do, whether it be for a hurricane or an inauguration, we do our duty and we get back home to our families and we get back to our jobs, and that's why I really feel they're Americans at their best. When our country calls, we're going to be there."

While in D.C., the unit's duties included manning traffic-control points, parking coordination and managing the flow of crowds.

Last year was hectic for the S.C. National Guard. In addition to numerous flooding events, hurricanes and a global pandemic, guardsmen were deployed to Washington, D.C., this summer amid racial justice protests and civil unrest.

Two members of the guard were struck by lightning in June while providing security outside the White House during the protest deployment, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ended up pushing them out of the city several days after their arrival.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Houston does not plan to open another mega COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Minute Maid Park until the supply of doses from the federal and state governments ramps up.

The city set up the ballpark as a mass inoculation site on two Saturdays earlier this month, vaccinating close to 10,000 people. The operation presented logistical hurdles, though, with long lines winding around and inside the stadium, technical glitches and people with appointments left waiting after health workers ran out of supply.

Mayor Sylvester Turner, touring a new drive-thru site set up Monday at Delmar Stadium with United Memorial Medical Center, said it did not make sense to continue operating the site when the city only is receiving about 9,000 doses of the vaccine per week.

Until the supply exponentially increases, we decided to kind of stand down from that for the time being, Turner said.

The city hopes to vaccinate about 1,000 people a day at Delmar, which will run Mondays through Saturdays, and has smaller clinics set up at other locations. The mayor said the process at Delmar has been smoother than at Minute Maid, with shorter wait times.

Based on the limited supply, we just think thats a smoother way to go, Turner said. It was creating more inconvenience to set up that bigger site and have a lot of people go through, and then you have those standing wait times and what have you. This is just a better way to go.

Each site requires appointments that have been hard to come by for most residents. No appointments currently are available. The city has been opening new appointment slots, often on Fridays. Residents can sign up for notifications about new appointments at AlertHouston.

Seniors also may call the Harris County Area Agency on Aging at 832-393-4301 to get on a waiting list. When the city opens new appointments, it reserves a certain number of slots for those people.

dylan.mcguinness@chron.com

A team of international scientists has demonstrated that therapeutic inhibition of a transcriptional regulator BRD2, required for the endogenous expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), can potentially suppress severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

Background

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is imposing much socioeconomic, health, and environmental challenges to the global population. As of January 2021, there have been 99.17 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, including over 2.1 million deaths, reported to the World Health Organization. To prevent the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, the entire scientific community is scrambling to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with virus-host interaction.

It is now well established that the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and host ACE2 is a prerequisite for viral entry into host cells. Therefore, cellular components perturbing this interaction could serve as vital therapeutic targets to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In the current study, the scientists have conducted a CRISPR interference (CRISPRi)-based screening for cellular components that can modify the spike  ACE2 interaction. In particular, they have looked for components that can affect the endogenous expression of ACE2.

Study design

To perform the CRISPRi screening, the scientists have selected a lung epithelial cancer cell line that endogenously expresses ACE2. The highest response has been observed for genes that are significantly associated with ACE2 expression. In the next step, they have silenced these genes and analyzed their impact on ACE2 expression. Moreover, they have analyzed whether these genes can potentially affect SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Neutralizing activities of convalescent sera and monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants. a Infectivity of WT and variant pseudovirus conducted in 293T-ACE2 and A549-ACE2 cells. Cells were inoculated with equivalent doses of each pseudotyped virus. WT, wild-type Spike (GenBank: 213 QHD43416) pesudotyped virus; Variant 1, N501Y.V1 mutant Spike pesudotyped virus (containing H60/V70 deletion, Y144 deletion, N501Y, 215 A570D, D614G, P681H, T716I, S982A, D1118H); Variant 2, N501Y.V2 mutant Spike pesudotyped virus (containing K417N, E484K, N501Y, D614G). b-c Neutralization of WT and variant pseudoviruses by convalescent sera. Pseudovirus-based neutralizing assay were performed to detect neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers against SARS-CoV-2. The thresholds of detection were 1:40 of ID50. Twenty sera (indicated by circles) were drawn 5 to 33 days post-symptom onset (b); 20 sera (indicated by triangles) were drawn ~ 8 months post-symptom onset (c). d-e The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) for tested monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against pseudoviruses (d) and representative neutralization curves (e). Statistical significance was determined by One-way ANOVA.

Important observations

Using CRISPRi-based genetic screening, the scientists specifically checked for cellular components that regulate the binding of spike receptor-binding domain (spike-RBD) with ACE2. Based on the most substantial hits observed in the screening, they have finally selected five genes; of which, silencing of ACE2 and BRD2 genes reduces the spike-RBD binding, and silencing of CDC7, COMP, and TRRAP genes increase the spike-RBD binding.

Interestingly, they have observed that the genes associated with a lower level of a spike-RBD binding act at the transcriptional level to reduce the expression of ACE2. Similarly, the genes associated with higher spike-RBD binding has been found to increase the ACE2 transcript levels.

Regarding the association between target gene silencing and SARS-CoV-2 infection, they have observed that silencing of BRD2 leads to complete inhibition of viral replication inside host cells even after 72 hours of infection. Moreover, the intensity of the effect is equivalent to that observed in ACE2 silencing.

Given the strong impact of BRD2 on vital infection, they have investigated the therapeutic potential of BRD2 in treating COVID-19. Specifically, they have investigated the effects of several small molecule inhibitors of BRD2, which are currently under clinical trials, on ACE2 expression and spike-RBD binding. The findings have revealed that BRD2 inhibitors significantly reduce the expression of ACE2 mRNA in human lung epithelial cells and cardiomyocytes without causing any cytotoxicity. Notably, the treatment of SARS-CoV-2-infected cells with these inhibitors leads to a 100-fold reduction in viral replication.

To determine the mode of action of BRD2, they have conducted a series of experiments, which have revealed that BRD2 directly regulates the transcription of ACE2. Interestingly, they have observed that in addition to reducing ACE2 expression, the inhibition of BRD2 leads to downregulation of genes induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as type I interferon response genes.

Study significance

The study identifies BRD2 as a potent regulator of ACE2 expression and spike-RBD binding. Given the study findings, BRD2 can be a potential therapeutic target to treat COVID-19 patients. Based on previous study observations, the scientists suggest that the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 envelop protein and BRD2 might have evolved to regulate the expression of ACE2 during infection.

Besides inhibiting the viral entry through ACE2 downregulation, BRD2 inhibition can prevent the SARS-CoV-2-induced aberrant immune responses by downregulating type I interferon response genes.

*Important Notice

bioRxiv 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.
Cant get enough of that first-class experience? American Airlines is trying to deliver it straight into homes, at least the alcoholic beverage part.

With an excess of Chardonnays, Merlots and Rieslings in stock, American Airlines said it is launching a wine delivery service called Flagship Cellars that will send wine from its curated selection of varieties to the homes of customers. Its hoping to use the excess of wine it has stockpiled during the COVID-19 pandemic and connect with passengers that miss out on the tastes of flying.

American and other airlines have cut down on alcohol service during the COVID-19 pandemic, first stopping the sales of any alcoholic beverages on board, then opening it up to premium classes and customers on longer flights. Recently, the company temporarily halted sales on flights in and out of Washington, D.C., due to rowdy customers following the violence at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

But those are all temporary measures. In the meantime, the airline hopes to make a few dollars and reach out to flying and wine enthusiasts.

For wine lovers around the world, wine provides a deeper connection to the places they enjoy visiting, said a statement Alison Taylor, Americans chief customer officer. We created Flagship Cellars to provide more ways for customers to enjoy our Flagship wine even if they arent flying in one of our premium cabins.

The wines, which are usually available on flights or in the carriers airport lounges, will be available through online wine retailer Vinesse.

American is selling three bottles of its wines, which the carrier describes as handpicked by its award-winning master sommelier. The collections are available for as little as $14 for a bottle or $300 for a case of a dozen bottles of champagne. Its also pitching a subscription service starting at $100 a month.

The airline often curates its wines based on regions of the world, such as California wines while traveling to and from the West Coast. American also is selling a champagne collection.

American Airlines is only expecting about $40,000 to $50,000 in revenue in the first quarter from the venture, so its not necessarily about making money.

We worked with our wine management partners at Intervine to think about creative ways to offer the surplus to customers, said American Airlines spokeswoman Leah Rubertino. We felt that Flagship Cellars is not just a great way to generate revenue, but also introduce the Flagship experience to potential loyalty customers or stay connected to our customers, even if they are not traveling as frequently as they have in the past.

American plans to keep the wine program even after the pandemic is over, she said.

--

Kyle Arnold of The Dallas Morning News wrote this story.

2021 The Dallas Morning News.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Officers of the German Federal Police check passengers arriving with a plane from Prague at the Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Sunday, Jan 24, 2021. Anyone how is entering Germany from countries classify as high-risk countries by the federal government, must now be able to show a negative, up-to-date Corona test. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

The European Union's executive body proposed Monday that the bloc's 27 nations impose more travel restrictions to counter the worrying spread of new coronavirus variants but make sure to keep goods and workers moving across EU borders.

Amid concerns related to the production and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, the European Commission urged EU nations to reinforce testing and quarantine measures for travelers as virus mutations that are more transmissible threaten to overwhelm European hospitals with new cases.

More than 400,000 EU citizens have already died from the virus since the pandemic first hit Europe last year.

"The start of the EU vaccination campaign kicked off the beginning of the end of the pandemic," EU Justice commissioner Didier Reynders said. "At the same time, new, more transmissible variants of the virus have surfaced. There is currently a very high number of new infections across many member states. And there is an urgent need to reduce the risk of travel-related infections to lessen the burden on overstretched healthcare systems."

Among the new measures, which need to be approved by EU nations before taking effect, is the addition of a new "dark red" color to the EU's weekly map of infections.

Reynders said this new color highlights areas where the rate of new confirmed infections in the last 14 days is 500 or more per 100,000 inhabitants. He said between 10 and 20 EU countries would already see that color on all or part of their territory if it was in effect now.

in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

"We also think it is necessary for essential travelers arriving from dark red areas to get tested before traveling and to undergo quarantine, unless these measures would have a disproportionate impact on the exercise of their essential function," Reynders said.

Since the discovery of the new virus variants, several EU countries have already reinforced their lockdown measures. Belgium has introduced a ban on all nonessential travels for its residents until March, while France could soon start a third lockdown if a stringent 12-hour daily curfew already in place can't slow down the spread of new infections.

"We are suggesting stricter measures for dark red areas, because we must recognize the high level of cases," Reynders said.

Insisting that all non-essential travel is "strongly discouraged," the commission repeated the need to keep the single market functioning so workers and goods can continue to cross borders smoothly,

People cast long shadows as they cross the city centre Kropcke square in Hanover, Germany, in the evening Friday Jan. 22, 2021. Germany's Chancellor Merkel and the heads of state governments have decided to extend the national lockdown until February 14. (Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa via AP)

A police officer checks a driver's documents at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. With several regions reporting Friday new daily records of infections, some regional governments are toughening their response. The central Madrid region, home to 6.6 million, brought its curfew from midnight to 10 p.m. starting on Monday, and ordered shop, bar and restaurant closures at 9 p.m. the latest. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A police officer checks a driver's documents at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. With several regions reporting Friday new daily records of infections, some regional governments are toughening their response. The central Madrid region, home to 6.6 million, brought its curfew from midnight to 10 p.m. starting on Monday, and ordered shop, bar and restaurant closures at 9 p.m. the latest. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

"Border closures will not help, common measures will," Reynders said.

The commission also proposed that travelers from outside the EU should face mandatory coronavirus testing before they depart, tests once they arrive, mandatory quarantines for up to 14 days and hand over data for contact tracing.

It suggested EU citizens and residents take a coronavirus test upon arrival and could face further restrictions if they coming in from a country where a variant has been detected.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Monday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the latest to join a long list of world leaders to be infected with the disease.

Taking to Twitter, the President said: "I regret to inform you that I am infected with Covid-19. The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward. Dr. Olga Sanchez Cordero (Secretary of the Interior) will represent me in the morning to report how we do it every day.

"I will be aware of public affairs from the National Palace. For example, tomorrow I will take a call with President Vladimir Putin because, regardless of friendly relations, there is a possibility that they will send us the Sputnik V vaccine."

His announcement comes as Mexico, one of the hardest-hit Latin American country, is battling to contain the virus spread.

As of Monday morning, the country's overall caseload has increased to 1,752,347, while the death toll stood at 149,614, currently the fourth largest in the world.

Lopez Obrador's diagnosis came almost two weeks after it was announced that Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had tested positive for Covid-19.

Some of the other world leaders who have been infected since the onset of the pandemic early last year are French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Anez, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and former US President Donald Trump.
FAU Libraries Debuts Spirit of America Digital Collection

(Photo by Alex Dolce)

Florida Atlantic University Libraries has announced a digital version of the Marvin & Sybil Weiner Spirit of America Collection.

FAU Libraries faculty and staff worked to create a digital presentation of items from this world-class collection of more than 13,000 books, pamphlets, government publications, newspapers and serials, including rare works from as early as the 16th century.

The Marvin & Sybil Weiner Spirit of America Collection brings the history of the United States and its founding principles to life, said Carol Hixson, dean of FAU Libraries. The ongoing digitization of the collection now makes these rare and unique materials available to researchers and students around the world and reminds us of the hopes and aspirations of our founding fathers.

The team created a digital collection of Weiner pamphlets. There are currently 585 pamphlets with more being added every day. This new endeavor greatly expands access and awareness of the Weiner Collections research materials. History researchers, patrons, and students will be able to read the words of the American Revolution, the American Civil War, and even the debates on the U.S. Senate floor as it happened.

The Weiner family is delighted and grateful to the FAU Library staff for its ongoing commitment to digitizing our fathers pamphlet collection, said Dr. Howard Weiner, son of Marvin and Sybil Weiner. If the ideal hands on experience is not possible, accessing a digitized pamphlet is a genuine extension of intimacy and authenticity. Our father would be extremely proud.

Marvin and Sybil Weiner donated the Spirit of America Collection to Florida Atlantic University in 2006. The collection is housed in its own suite on the fifth floor of the S.E. Wimberly Library.

-FAU-
(HealthDay)Irene Greenhalgh, 83, considers herself a pretty computer-savvy senior, but even she got lost in a maze of websites and e-mails trying to get an appointment for her COVID-19 vaccine.

One health provider's e-mail provided links to sites that were giving vaccinations, but the dates listed were a week old. A board of health's website proved glitchy and unusable.

After weeks of searching, Greenhalgh finally got an appointment, but it's more than two months away and she'll have to travel about 13 miles from her home in Amityville, N.Y., to Jones Beach for her first shot.

"I had a hard time," Greenhalgh said. "My daughter did finally get me an appointment, but it's on April 7."

Exasperation is building among seniors across the United States, many of whom are encountering similar roadblocks trying to line up a potentially life-saving vaccination, experts say.

'No good stories'

In much of the country, seniors don't know where to call, when to call, how to get an appointment. "There's a great deal of frustration," said Tricia Neuman, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"I was just on a call with about a dozen people from different parts of the country, and people were talking about their parents' experiences. Everybody had a different story to tell, but nobody had a good story to tell," Neuman added. "Nobody had a simple experience to report."

There's been a catastrophic lack of communication regarding the process for vaccine sign-up, according to Sandra Wilkniss, director of complex care policy for Families U.S., a non-profit health care consumer advocacy group.

"It's really about not having actionable information," Wilkniss said. "They can register, but there's nowhere to really understand where the vaccine is available to them. It's a super-opaque situation at this moment."

And even when someone has registered, that doesn't guarantee that a shot is waiting for them.

The health department in Erie County, N.Y., recently canceled seven days of appointments, pulling the rug from under more than 8,000 people, according to The New York Times. The reason: The state had sent far fewer doses than the county ordered.

Disrupted plans

Supply unpredictability has undermined local efforts to get vaccines into the arms of seniors, said Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

"We're part of this very large machine that is cranking out vaccines. Imagine in the middle of it, a piece breaks in the machine and it stops cranking, and all of a sudden every plan you might have had in place has to be pulled back," she said. "This is what's happening to our local health departments."

Local health departments started receiving direct vaccine allocations just two weeks ago, as the federal program moved past the first round of vaccinations targeting health care professionals and long-term care facilities, Freeman said.

"When health departments finally started getting it, up until last Friday they were really ramping up their vaccine distributions," she said. "Then everything sort of came to a screeching halt when we began to hear publicly about the vaccine supply not being what everybody thought it was."

Supply issues

Americans had been led to believe that the Trump administration kept a large supply of vaccine in reserve, to make sure folks would be guaranteed the second shot of the two-dose vaccine regimen.

But five days before former President Donald Trump left office, senior administration officials admitted that there was no reserve stockpile. Nearly all the doses available had already been released.

"So right now we are at a point in time when we're trying for this new administration to quickly get a foothold in the door and understand what the truth is here," Freeman said. "In the meantime, across the country, health departments everywhere are being told you're not going to get your shipments as planned."

The result is a "logistical nightmare," she said.

"It's not a great place to be at the moment in local health departments when you don't know when your next vaccine shipment is coming, when you're trying to plan mass immunization clinics and other special pods to get people vaccinated," Freeman added.

Seniors are also contending with a major public health communication failure when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines.

Communications breakdown

Because the federal government failed to take on a central role in the COVID-19 response, there's no nationwide standard for communicating information about available doses and appointments.

"In some cases it's health care systems that seem to be the main communicator, in others it's the local departments of health," Neuman said. "It's no surprise people who are looking for vaccines don't know where to turn, don't know where to get information or how."

Neuman said a central clearinghouse or one 1-800 number people could call to get questions answered would be great.

"Instead, with a very decentralized approach, people are scrounging around trying to get the information from friends, newspapers, any source they can find, and that adds to the confusion and also some anxiety," she said.

Crashing call centers, internet challenges

Some locales are relying on the internet to either get the word out or help people register for vaccination, which adds another layer of complexity.

"Not everybody who is 65 or older has WiFi, not everybody with WiFi has the experience or ability to search the internet to find a good source of information about vaccines in their area, and in some places it's easier than others," Neuman said.

Even more traditional methods of communicating with the publicthe telephone, for oneare failing.

Freeman said that "call centers are crashing due to demand alone. You just simply don't know what's coming next and when it's coming. And yet there's this overwhelming demand."

Greenhalgh said she networked with friends who are getting appointments in New York City, but she considers herself too frail to make the trip into Manhattan.

She also reached out to her general practitioner, her cardiologist, Catholic Health Services, and different state and local health departments.

The appointment her daughter scored for her is through the New York State Department of Health.

Best strategy: Be patient

Freeman recommended that people pay attention to local news sources about the availability of vaccine, or keep in touch with their local health department.

"If you're hearing that vaccine supplies have changed and there isn't enough vaccine at this moment, please just be patient as much as you can. Know that it's still coming, and you're a priority group," Freeman said.

Even though it might be frustrating, Neuman recommends people keep reaching out through the internet, using Google searches to look for vaccine appointments in their area.

She's hoping that local officials will be able to improve communication about the vaccine, as they wait for the Biden administration to get up to speed.

"Even basic information about the availability of doses or the lack of availability is helpful, because that's information people need to have," Neuman said. "It's quite frustrating to try to sign up for a vaccine only to find out there weren't any vaccines available anyway."

Personally, Greenhalgh isn't fretting about the wait until April.

"I hope I get something sooner, but I'm content to wait," she said.

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 about The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about COVID-19 vaccines

Copyright  2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Charleston, WV (25301)

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Overcast with rain showers at times. Thunder possible. Low 53F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 01:51:24|Editor: huaxia

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RABAT, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's total COVID-19 infections rose to 466,626 on Monday as 337 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Health, the death toll mounted to 8,172 as 22 COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours.

The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 443,472 after 1,031 new ones were added, while 767 people are in intensive care units, the statement said.

The COVID-19 fatality rate in Morocco stands at 1.8 percent while the recovery rate is 95 percent.

The first batch of coronavirus vaccines developed by China's Sinopharm company will arrive in Morocco on Jan. 27. Enditem

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Innovation District, announced Monday, is another step in the rise of the innovation district, a trend in the academic and business world that boosts start-up and business development in cities worldwide by outlining a physical area for investment and collaboration.

Innovation districts are a combination of existing buildings and potential future investments in offices, venture labs, storefronts and other physical spaces. For Cleveland, that means pulling in talent from Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve University, as well as the three major hospitals. The districts formation comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, which challenged the core idea of innovation districts -- that proximity sparks collaboration. Office workers have been working from home, and most meetings and organizing happen virtually.

So, how can an innovation district announced in the midst of a pandemic survive?

Hundreds of these types of projects exist around the world, with some organized through the Global Institute for Innovation Districts. There were upsides and downsides for these districts during the pandemic, president and Brookings Institution senior fellow Julie Wagner said in an interview on Monday. On one hand, the pandemic created opportunities for pre-existing networks of hospitals, universities and businesses to collaborate on solutions or manufacturing.

I think its challenging to jumpstart a district right now if you havent had some level of history and face-to-face engagement. It would be challenging to start something like this in the midst of a pandemic, Wagner said. I dont see that at all being the story of Cleveland. Cleveland has decades of investment, decades of relationships, and networks. It makes complete sense to me as to why they would be unrolling this effort now.

Innovation districts, though, are based in physical space, and a large part of investment comes from real estate development. For example, when a similar project was announced in Cincinnati in March 2020, right before the pandemic took root, state economic development agency JobsOhio invested up to $100 million, which in part went to graduating STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) majors, but also $2 billion for research and real estate development.

In Cincinnati, the innovation district includes the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati States campus, as well as UC Health, contained in a slice between I-71 and I-75 near downtown. Both the Cincinnati and the Cleveland project are being built through collaboration of existing institutions.

Before JobsOhio announced the district, Cincinnati already housed the 1819 Innovation Hub. The hub offers access to technology and a makerspace, but also houses space for start-ups. The Uptown Innovation Corridor, also a pre-existing effort, is a smaller area within the district that focuses on bringing investments and companies to Uptown Cincinnati, developing an identity for that area and making it more walkable. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said in the announcement on Monday that the 1819 Innovation Hub is now full. UC is now building a 180,000 square-foot Digital Futures building in the Uptown Innovation Corridor.

Both projects aim to boost the number of STEM graduates and attract and retain talent to Ohio. The Cincinnati Innovation District was the first of this type of project in the state. In January 2020, the district started with a multi-university partnership between Wright State, Xavier, Cincinnati State, UC and the University of Dayton to increase startups.

The Cincinnati and Cleveland projects are slightly different in approach, with state officials Monday asserting a clear focus for the Cleveland district in health care and medical research, including the Cleveland Clinics new Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health, which will take up a significant amount of the $565 million in funding coming through JobsOhio, the Cleveland Clinic and the Ohio Development Services Agency.

The Cincinnati Innovation District is focused in a specific area -- though it does include partners outside of this area, like Wright State University -- but the Cleveland project has not released a geographic outline of where this district will sit. Though the district was formally announced in 2020, work on shaping the project began in 2017. Since then, there has been a 185% increase in issued patents, and a surge in start-up activity.

One of the goals of the district is to connect talent with corporate partners, a process that moved online since the pandemic started. David Adams, UCs Chief Innovation Officer, said that moving forward, the district will operate in physical spaces and digital spaces. The district serves as a convener for its partners, like P&G and Kroger, to develop talent. The digital space has allowed for connections with students outside of the Cincinnati area, and presented an opportunity to work on recruiting out-of-state talent to Cincinnati.

Everything we do is based on the needs of the organizations that were trying to work with, he said. So instead of being solutions to a specific problem, I think one of the things that we take a lot of pride in, were a needs-based approach, in terms of really listening to the customer and trying to understand what problems they are trying to solve.

Adams believes that there is still a need for the proximity and physical spaces offered by an innovation district, because it makes it so much easier to collaborate. UCs board of trustees recently acquired more space to house companies because of expressed interest.

I mean, if you look at the work happening in Atlanta with the example of Tech Square, youre looking at a system thats happened in decades. For the Pittsburgh innovation district, youre looking at something that probably started back in the 1980s. If we go to Silicon Valley, youre looking at something that started in the 1940s, connected to Stanford University, Adams said. Were seeing an ecosystem thats been developed over 70 years. So were working very aggressively to accelerate this effort and we think theres a lot of learnings that we have here that we very openly want to share with other cities and communities that are working to do this.

Husted said since the fiscal investment in the Cleveland project is larger than the Cincinnati project, theres potential to be even bigger.

Outside of Ohio, there are more than 100 innovation districts worldwide. Often a district was formed in an area that already housed research, medicine and education. For example, in Pittsburgh, that district was based on collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Wagner said the strength of the long-standing partnerships within innovation districts was showcased by the challenge of the pandemic.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina began forming its Innovation Quarter in 1998, with the Piedmont Triad Research Park. As the park grew it was renamed the Innovation Quarter in 2013.

When the pandemic began, frontline workers and researchers in the area began working on solutions for masks and mask-wearing. Eventually, research groups working on mask prototypes partnered with a local apparel sock manufacturer that was in the Innovation Quarter at the time to manufacture and distribute the masks.

Before you knew it, we had a push across the whole city to get everyone wearing a mask, and that unfolded over the course of just a few weeks, Marketing and Communications Director James Patterson said. And so that idea of collaboration and what it really means to collaborate, and why during a pandemic, thats absolutely necessary, has only been strengthened in the midst of the pandemic.

Once the pandemic progressed, researchers and students were able to return to the quarters buildings, but numbers are certainly smaller, Patterson said. The area also has lost in-person events in the green space within the quarter and some businesses, including restaurants, have struggled because of the pandemics closures. Rallying of the community around those businesses has helped, Patterson says, but its been challenging.

Considering how to best serve the community and how to help fix some of the inequities highlighted by the pandemic is part of whats next for innovation districts, Wagner said.

Innovation districts, just like downtown and other economic hubs, are going to have to be very specific about their unique value proposition, now and for the next two years, she said. Part of that is the ability to demonstrate to investors, including the government, why limited fiscal dollars and investments should be placed there.


SAO PAULO, Brazil  For almost 10 months now, around 35 million Brazilian children have been out of school. When schools were closed in March, at the beginning of the pandemic, I thought we only had to be a little patient. As soon as we got the virus under control, they would be the first to reopen, right?

Wrong. Brazil hasnt come close to controlling the pandemic: In the absence of national lockdowns and comprehensive mass testing, the daily death toll has remained constantly high. The most we got  beyond President Jair Bolsonaros brazen denials that anything was wrong  were a few restrictions applied here and there by local governments.

Then as early as June, regional governors  hoping to mitigate the bleakness of the situation  thought it a good idea to slowly reopen the institutions that were most important to us: shopping centers, restaurants, bars, gyms, beauty salons, movie theaters, concert halls, even betting shops. Pretty much everything, it seemed, except for schools. And so it has mostly stayed.

Huntington, WV (25701)

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Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Sen. Mitch McConnell was handily reelected in November, and has cemented his legacy as the architect of a recast judiciary that saw 230 new conservative federal judges and three Supreme Court justices join the bench in just four years. He has also just lost his job as majority leader, and witnessed one of the darkest hours for our nation, and certainly the darkest hour for the GOP, in his lifetime. But for a 78-year-old man, closing in on four decades in the U.S. Congress and perhaps in his final term in office, the most difficult and challenging days and weeks of his career are still before him.

All eyes are on McConnell, from corporate titans to Main Street voters, as they await whether he will work across the aisle on critical issues like pandemic relief, or thwart President Bidens agenda. But it is what McConnell will do within his own party that will determine not only his place in history but the future of the GOP and the integrity and independence of the Congress.

CNN reported Friday that dozens of influential Republicans, including some former Trump administration officials, are lobbying McConnell to support an impeachment conviction of the former president and a vote to bar him from future office as the best, and only, way for the party to move on. A vote by McConnell to convict Trump would likely provide necessary cover for other like-minded Republican senators to do the same.

McConnells break with Trump came on Jan. 6. Hours after Republicans lost the Senate -- when Trump doomed the runoff races for incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue but before the storming of the Capitol -- McConnell finally spoke out against the presidents election fraud big lie and his colleagues' complicity in it. If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral, he said on the Senate floor that morning.

Immediately after the attack on the Capitol, McConnells wife, Elaine Chao, resigned as transportation secretary. And McConnell World, the most loyal of teams that doesn't ever leak, then orchestrated a leak blessed from the top to let the media know the leader hates Trump, wouldnt speak to him ever again, was glad House Democrats were impeaching him, and would possibly vote to convict in a Senate trial.

McConnell, and Republicans urging him to distance the party from Trump, know the former president cost the party its Senate majority by depressing votes in the Georgia runoffs, and that his incitement of sedition, willingness to endanger Vice President Pence, refusal to stop the riots while they were ongoing, and praise of the rioters, amounted to a dangerous stain on the country by a leader betraying the Constitution.

By trying to move on from Trump, it doesnt appear McConnell hopes to return the party to its former principles -- free market capitalism, free trade, the rule of law, limited government, debt reduction -- all of which were tossed or trashed by Trump. This notion is a lost cause, and not one GOP leader even mentioned federalism or the sovereignty of states in the aftermath of a violent mob attempting to steal an election and overthrow the government. McConnell and others aligned with him are merely hoping to distance the party from the illiberalism of Trumpism in hopes of winning back some of the voters Republicans lost in the Trump years. To earn credibility with those voters they must disavow what Trump did.

Over at Fox News, Sean Hannity is telling his audience Republicans need a new leader in the Senate because McConnell is king of the establishment Republicans. He is indeed. And the establishment is interested in moving away from brain-washing lies, chief among them Trumps claim of election fraud. They instead would like to be a party that can collect the corporate dollars now being banned and denied them.

Republicans like McConnell are right, but they dwell in a lonely minority. Trump is, quite literally, working to break the party by threatening to begin a new MAGA or Patriot party -- a gift to Democrats. The GOP has splintered since the deadly insurrection. Blanket rejections of violence are as far as Republicans have gone as a group, and there are still only five or six in either chamber who have told voters they were lied to.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said the night of Jan. 6 that he was done with Trump, ran back to his perch as a top Trump adviser within days. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who said Trump bore some responsibility for the deadly attack on Congress, is now walking back his statements, saying Trump didnt provoke violence and everyone in the country is responsible for what happened.

An impeachment trial will begin in the Senate in two weeks. Now out of office, Trump would not be removed by a conviction, but could be banned from future office with an accompanying vote. Conviction, requiring 67 votes -- 17 Republicans joining Democrats -- is nearly impossible. Republicans from critical corners of the conference have made that clear. Its not just those eying a run for president in 2024, or ardent Trumpkins like Sen. Ron Johnson, who are trying to fend off a Trump-fueled primary challenge in 2022. Sen. John Cornyn, a close leadership ally of McConnells who was just reelected, is the kind of Republican hoping to move on from Trump and who would be needed for conviction. He says a trial is vindictive. Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of leadership, said a trial is stupid. Graham was the most blunt, saying on Fox News last week that anyone wanting to erase Trump is going to get erased.

In a statement released to the press Sunday, Trump aide Jason Miller made clear the threat to House members who voted for impeachment and to those Senate Republicans considering voting to convict. The president has made clear his goal is to win back the House and Senate for Republicans in 2022," Miller said. "Theres nothing that's actively being planned regarding an effort outside of that, but its completely up to Republican senators if this is something that becomes more serious."

GOP House members, and their leaders -- with the exception of Rep. Liz Cheney -- have absorbed the threat. There are primary challenges awaiting Cheney and the other nine Republicans who voted for impeachment, and Cheney also faces censure at home plus a move by more than 115 of her colleagues to remove her as chair of the House GOP Conference. Vocal Trumpkins like Rep. Matt Gaetz are denouncing Cheney as a danger to the party and insisting President Trump is still the leader of the Republican Party and the America First movement. Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has embraced QAnon conspiracy theories, has warned the only organizing principle for Republicans is Trump. The vast majority of Republican voters, volunteers, and donors are no longer loyal to the GOP, Republican Party, and candidates just because they have an R by their name. Their loyalty now lies with Donald J. Trump.

McConnell is an institutionalist who doesnt like government shutdowns, or threats to breach the debt ceiling. He repeatedly resisted pressure from Trump to eliminate the filibuster, which was, at that time, protecting the rights of the Democratic minority in the Senate. He vigorously defended democracy in his Jan. 6 speech. Last week he graciously congratulated Sen. Chuck Schumer as the chamber's new majority leader.

He is also a fierce partisan. For all of McConnells candor since the morning of Jan. 6, he remains complicit by his silence until that deadly day. He never spoke out because he wanted to keep the Georgia seats, and he wanted to remain majority leader. McConnell famously blocked Merrick Garlands Supreme Court nomination for 237 days, claiming the Senate couldnt confirm a justice in the same year as an election but confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the high court eight days before an election -- in both cases because doing so helped his party. Right now, what McConnell thinks is best for the party is not what base voters think is best.

For McConnell, conviction should be easy. He swore an oath to defend the Constitution -- not a corrupt and dangerous president -- against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The permission that acquittal would provide to future demagogues and authoritarians is an invitation to future sedition and insurrection. An acquittal not only makes Trump more powerful, it is likely the end of impeachment as a constitutional tool as well, which threatens the check that Congress has on the executive. Will McConnell try to convince others to follow him?

The easy choice, of course, is acquiescence -- he can just back down. But that will likely doom the GOP to long-term minority status, as millions of Trump voters stop voting without their idol on the ticket and other voters write off the party for good. A partisan acquittal would also continue to erode the separation of powers and the constitutional order.

McConnell must soon choose a path and walk it. He knows he cant go both ways.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 19:13:35|Editor: huaxia

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GABORONE, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Botswana has announced temporary closure of the president's office for COVID-19 disinfection and staff testing.

The development came on the backdrop of health authorities' enhanced vigilance against the COVID-19 introduction and spread at the residency of President Mokgweetsi Masisi, after some officials serving the presidency closely tested positive for the coronavirus.

The announcement made on Sunday said normal services will continue to be provided by staff working from home.

"The closure of the office of the President is out of abundance of caution following the detection of positive COVID-19 status among some staff members, and the subsequent enhancement of safeguards to prevent possibilities of the spread of infection," said Andrew Sesinyi, permanent secretary for Government Communications in the office of the president.

Botswana's COVID-19 cases have been on a steady rise, a development that has been attributed to high movements across the country during a festive season, with more COVID-19 infections being recorded in January. Enditem

'Misapprehensions' in initial stages of reforms, but govt dedicated to farmers' welfare: Ram Nath Kovind

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday paid tributes to farmers saying every Indian is grateful to them for ensuring food security in our vast and populous country, and gave the assurance that the government is devoted to farmers' welfare.

"Every Indian salutes our farmers, who have made our vast and populous country self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products. Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained the agricultural production," he said in his address on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day.

"A grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers. Just as our hardworking farmers ensure food security for the country, the brave soldiers of the armed forces ensure security of our national boundaries amid severest conditions," Kovind said.

The comments by the President come against the backdrop of the ongoing agitation by farmers against three new farm laws. The President said the path to reforms in the initial stages may cause misapprehensions, but the government is devoted to farmers' welfare.

Republic Day 2021: 25,00 farmers to hold tractor rally in Bengaluru

"Economic reforms have continued apace and have been supplemented by long-pending reforms in the areas of labour and agriculture through legislation. The path to reform at the initial stages may cause misapprehensions. However, it is beyond doubt that the government remains singularly devoted to farmers' welfare," he said.

Kovind said the country's farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and the entire nation is grateful to them. "From space to the farms, from educational institutions to hospitals, the community of scientists has enriched our life and work. Our scientists have been working day and night for decoding the Coronavirus and they have succeeded in developing the vaccine in record time. With this accomplishment, our scientists have added a glorious chapter of contribution to the well-being of humanity.

"Our scientists, along with doctors, administrators and people from other walks of life, have made major contribution in containing the virus and keeping the fatality rate lower in our country, compared to that in developed countries. Thus, all our farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and a grateful nation greets them on this auspicious occasion of the Republic Day," he said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) -- A priest was gunned down in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon on Sunday night, just a few meters away from a monastery, authorities said.

According to a report by the city police station on Monday, Fr. Rene Regalado was shot dead by unidentified suspects at around 7:30 p.m. in Sitio Pal-ing, Barangay Patpat, near the Malaybalay Carmelite monastery. He was 42 years old.

Before his death, the priest was reportedly last seen at the Diocesan Formation Center in Barangay 10 at around 7 p.m.

Police said another priest residing in the Carmelite monastery heard multiple gunshots that night but didnt verify the source. Regalados body was later found when a police officer passed by the area and saw the SUV Chevrolet owned by the priest parked inclined at the road" with the vicitim inside.

He was found with gunshot wounds to the head and a bruised left eye, indicating that he was mauled, according to authorities. A white shoelace was also tied on his left hand.

Recovered from the crime scene was a .45 Colt pistol with 10 bullets and an empty shell. The priests car will be further examined for possible evidence.

Police said they are currently trying to establish the motive behind the murder, but bared Regalado had reportedly received threats, based on accounts from people who knew him. They are also considering possible links to a rape case filed against the priest in Lala, Lanao del Norte in 2020, which they said is still pending.

In a statement, the Diocese of Malaybalay denounced the "heinous crime" and called for justice for the death of its member. It said Regalado's body is now at the San Isidro Labrador Cathedral for the wake before his interment at the Malaybalay Catholic Cemetery.

CNN Philippines' Bukidnon-based correspondent Melchor Velez contributed to this report.

The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
[January 25, 2021] The Jerusalem Quartet to Join With New West Symphony Members for Exclusive Holocaust Remembrance Musical Events

The internationally renowned Jerusalem Quartet will join with principal artists from the New West Symphony and other special guests to present exclusive Holocaust Remembrance programming, culminating in a livestreamed performance Jan. 31. The online concert is part of the symphony's weeklong experiences to commemorate and honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism. "The music of the early mid-20th century was profoundly influenced by some of classical music's greatest masters and was boldly looking toward international and folk influences even during the century's darkest points," said New West Symphony Artistic and Music Director Michael Christie. "Our Holocaust Remembrance presentations feature an array of enchanting music presented in a historical context of the early 20th century while paying tribute to the atrocities of the times." In joining with the international community during Holocaust Remembrance Week, the New West Symphony will host a special "Never Forget" program on Jan. 27. The program will feature interviews with Celina Biniaz, the youngest of "Schindler's List" of 1,200 survivors, and Violins of Hope Los Angeles Chair Susanne Reyto, presenting a "Violins of Hope" documentary. The following day will feature a pre-concert talk with UCLA Senior Lecturer David Ravetch. On Saturday, Jan. 30, NWS will host a "Meet the Artists" program featuring an exclusive interview with the members of the Jerusalem Quartet and acclaimedpianist Daniel Vnukowski.



The weekend will culminate with the Sunday, Jan. 31, concert featuring the Jerusalem Quartet, New West musicians and guests performing an array of music illuminating vast stylistic and cultural treasures. New West Symphony performers will include concertmaster and violinist Alyssa Park, principal violist Philip Triggs, principal clarinetist Joshua Ranz and Vnukowski. Music will include works by Erwin Schulhoff, Johannes Brahms, Wladyslaw Szpilman, Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Bela Kovacs. John Williams' "Three Pieces" from the multiple Academy Award-winning "Schindler's List" will be performed by Park. "Choosing a composition by Erwin Schulhoff is an effort to tell a story of a wonderful Jewish culture, which did not die in the Holocaust but rather spread around the globe and entered the world of Hollywood, cabaret and concert music," said Ori Kam, violist of the Jerusalem Quartet.

The Jan. 31 concert will be held at 3 p.m. PST. A concert "passport," including the concert plus all of the week's activities, is $25 per household and may be purchased at NewWestSymphony.org or by phone at 805-497-5880 or 866-776-8400. The Holocaust Remembrance concert is the third "mini festival" in the New West Symphony's reimagined season, created in response to COVID-19-related restrictions and the symphony's strong commitment to keep the beauty and healing power of music alive during these unprecedented times. Remaining concerts in the "Global Sounds, Local Cultures" series include "A Tour of China" Feb. 28, a "Persian Festival" April 11, "A Tour of Mexico" May 2, "A Tour of South Korea" June 13 and "America the Melting Pot" July 11. Now in its 26th season, the New West Symphony draws its players from the rich talent pool of accomplished Los Angeles-area musicians. Its mission is to inspire passion for symphonic music through live performances and education initiatives that engage and enrich its diverse audiences. For more information, visit NewWestSymphony.org; or connect on Facebook (News - Alert) and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005720/en/

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The issue of climate change skyrocketed in public awareness this week as the UN Climate Summit yesterday in New York City, and the historic People's Climate March Sunday joined by 400,000 people, attracted attention and news coverage around the world.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the opening of the Climate Summit 2014. Photo credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

The UN Climate Summit was convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who invited world leaders from government, finance, business and civil society "to galvanize and catalyze climate action." The event was not intended to strike binding agreements but to build momentum for the December 2015 UN climate conference in Paris.

The human, environmental and financial cost of climate change is fast becoming unbearable," Ban said at the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Summit. We need a clear shared vision."

Ban asked the hundreds of attending leaders to bring announcements of proposed actions to "reduce emissions, strengthen climate resilience and mobilize political will for a meaningful legal agreement in 2015."

To ride this storm we need all hands on deck. Today we must set the world on a new course."

"The summit delivered," said Ban at the end of the day.

Following the opening ceremony, where New York Mayor Bill De Blasio welcomed the visitors to his city and reiterated his city's intention to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 which he announced a few days earlier, leaders from global nations delivered their statements. His city was among 200 around the world, representing 400 million people, who signed the Compact of Mayors pledging to accelerate their efforts to combat pollution.

Bill de Blasio, Mayor of the City of New York, speaks at the opening of the UN Climate Summit 2014. Photo credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

Of course, all eyes and ears were on President Obama, since the U.S. is one of Earth's largest contributors to climate change-causing emissions and therefore in a position to do more to address the problem than most countries.

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There's one issue that will define the contours of this century more than any other," said President Obama. That is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate."

United States President Barack Obama, speaks at the UN Climate Summit 2014. Photo credit: UN Photo/Kim Haughton

In addition to previously announced carbon-cutting initiatives, Obama unveiled a new executive order mandating federal agencies to consider climate resilience in their international development work and investments, and an initiative among U.S. agencies to make data used in predicting weather patterns more available.

China, represented by Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, made a pledge for the first time to cut its carbon emissions, saying it would reach peak carbon emissions as soon as possible and reduce its levels by 45 percent by 2020 over 2005 levels. While China has previously dragged its feet on addressing the issue, excessive pollution levels in its cities have increased public demand for action.

Together, the U.S. and China are responsible for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Early Tuesday, before the UN Climate Summit, Greenpeace projected this message on the UN building in NYC in nine languages. Photo credit: Greenpeace

Countries such as France, South Korea and Norway stepped up with financial offers to the UN Green Climate Fund. In all about $2.3 billion was committed by governments yesterday and Ban Ki-moon said he expects more commitments to come. Leaders in the financial sector pledged their own investments.

A new coalition of governments, business, finance, multilateral development banks and civil society leaders announced their commitment to mobilize upwards of $200 billion for financing low-carbon and climate-resilient development," said Ban. He said that private banks announced they would issue $20 billion in Green Bonds and double the market to $50 billion by next year. And 30 companies announced their support of the Caring for Climate Business Leadership Criteria on Carbon Pricing agreement.

Deforestation, a major cause of climate change, was on the menu, as dozens of governments, businesses and civil groups stepped up with a the New York Declaration on Forests, a promise to cut deforestation in halve by 2020 and end it entirely within the following decade, beginning the process of restoration. Participants included the worlds largest palm oil companies, as well as user companies like Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme. And more than 50 governments, businesses and organizations pledged to join the new Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, while aims to feed more people while reducing agriculture's carbon footprint. Even coal and gas companies stepped up with promises to reduce methane emissions.

While leaders from countries like Monaco, Tanzania and Mauritus might have been unknown to the public, Leonardo DiCaprio, newly appointed UN Messenger of Peace, provided a celebrity hook for the event. He spoke to the opening session saying, "As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters, solving fictitious problems. I believe that mankind has looked at climate change in that same way as if it were a fiction. As if pretending climate change wasn't real would make it go away. But I think we know better than that now."

"This body perhaps more than any other gathering than human history now faces this difficult but achievable task," he said. "You can make history or you will be villified by it." He called for "decisive, large-scale action" that went beyond asking people to change their lightbulbs and buy electric cars.

Reaction from environmental organizations was generally positive, although most encouraged further action and pressed for follow-through.

The more than 400,000 people in New York and many, many more across the globe who marched on Sunday represent a broad, engaged and powerful climate movement demanding jobs, justice and a prosperous clean energy economy free of fossil fuels," said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. "We have the momentum and will use it to ensure that our leaders' words today are matched by effective action."

400,000 people marched in New York City on Sunday at the People's Climate March. Photo credit: Paul Anderson

But Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said that leader of major economies "must be bolder than they were today."

Following Sunday's impressive showing of more 400,000 people calling for action on climate change, we've seen some action from world leaders today, but not enough to match the energy of the people marching for their children's future," Naidoo said. "To preserve the health and safety of our planet and the human race, we must meet targets dictated by sciencenot agreed by politicians."

Rainforest Action Network director Lindsey Allen decried the exclusion of local community leaders at the summit while saying, "It is encouraging that big corporate players have taken the opportunity of the Climate Summit to publicly acknowledge their responsibility in forging a new path toward climate stability, even if many of these are re-statements of existing commitments. These corporations still must turn these statements into actionable policies and demonstrable shifts in practice throughout their global supply chains. It is time for globally binding commitments, the recognition of the traditional and customary rights of forest-dependent communities, and the actionable enforcement of these policies."

Yesterday New Yorkers rallied in the streets to highlight how drilling and fracking operations leak a tremendous amount of methane into the atmosphere, a climate-crippling form of carbon that is 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Photo credit: Stefanie Spear

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, New York City, sounded a hopeful note. "Something extraordinary happened at the United Nations Climate Summit on Tuesday," she said. "One world leader after another took to the podium and described what his or her nation is already doing to reduce climate change pollution. After years of delay, the pace of climate action is picking up. This week confirmed that our voices are being heard. The past three days alone have shown that climate action is growing at every level of society. Joining 400,000 people calling for climate action on Sunday, I felt renewed hope. If concerned citizens and local and national leaders continue to raise our voices, we can respond to the climate threat just in time."
Apparently, country musician and South Carolina native Darius Rucker is a regular customer at an IHOP in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. So it seems, when he goes there, he can dine undisturbed.

After dining there on Sunday, he quietly treated everyone there at that time to a free meal and also left a big tip for servers, said WMBF NBC News.

The three-time, Grammy-award winner visited the Mount Pleasant IHOP where he is considered a regular customer by the employees. After he was finished eating, he approached Stephen Vitale, the general manager, and said he wanted to pick up the tabs of everyone currently dining at the restaurant.

It was a full restaurant, Vitale said. There were a lot of people. I added it up and he paid. He also said the former lead of Hootie & the Blowfish left a very generous tip for the servers to share, but declined to provide the specific amount.

It caused a lot of excitement, Vitale said. He said most patrons hadnt recognized Rucker, who wore a mask when he wasnt eating.

We know him because he does come in quite often and we consider him a regular, he said, adding that a few people who did recognize Rucker thanked him.

It was a good morning at IHOP, Vitale said.

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The Iranian monthly Peivast is reporting that Iran has blocked the private encrypted messaging application Signal, ordering mobile operators to filter it from their networks.

The report comes after the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) said on Twitter earlier on January 25 that "Iran seems to have started blocking" the application.

The move follows the January 14 removal of Signal from local application stores after it was reportedly deemed "criminal content" by the Islamic republic's filtering committee.

The authorities have not publicly commented on the decision to ban Signal.

Many Iranians had reportedly migrated to Signal in recent days following an update by WhatsApp of its privacy policy reserving the right to share user data with its parent company Facebook.

In 2019, Iran blocked Telegram, used by half of the country's 81 million people, claiming it endangered national security.

Iran filters tens of thousands of websites, including news sites and social media. Iranians access banned sites by using anti-filtering tools.

The massively popular anime series Kimetsu no Yabiaa.k.a. Demon Slayeris at last on Netflix.

Season one of the show is currently available to watch on the streaming platform, introducing new audiences to the beloved adaption and allowing for loyal fans to enjoy the adventure all over again.

Originally an anime published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2016 to 2020, Demon Slayer (sorry, fellow otaku, but will be referring to the series in its English title for consistencys sake) follows the story of Tanjiro, who becomes a titular demon slayer after his family is attacked and killed by an unknown supernatural assailant.

One thing that very much complicates Tanjiros journey is the fact that one of his sistersNezukois turned into a demon as a result of the attack. From the fateful day of his familys attack onward, Tanjiro not only embarks on a journey to prevent further malicious demon attack, but also to see a way for his sister to regain her humanity.

Demon Slayer quickly became recognized as one of the greatest manga and anime to have ever been created. The manga series reportedly generated billions of dollars in Japanese sales, and was even quoted by Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, at one point.

Now, in knowing that theres a season one of Demon Slayer, more forward-thinking folks may be wondering: Is there going to be a season two?

The short answer is, yes. HITC states that while the exact release date of Demon Slayers second season is unconfirmed, a second season is in the works for a potential fall 2021 release.

If youre eager for more Demon Slayer before then, though, theres always a movie you can watch.

Check out season one of Demon Slayer for yourself on Netflix. Be forewarned of all the feels that are headed your way.
Over the weekend, Kinsale Gardai issued seven fines to a group of men for breaching Covid regulations.

Gardai witness the seven men arrive into Kinsale in two taxis. They then went into a shop and purchased a large amount of alcohol.

Gardai spoke to the group who informed them they had traveled to Kinsale to rent out a property and have drinks.

Each of the seven men were fined and they traveled back to Cork city.

Gardai said: "We continue to appeal to all citizens to comply with Public Health Guidelines and Regulations in order to continue to save lives".
Available space on container ships is the tightest it's been in years because of the pandemic-related cargo surge  something Jim Newsome learned first-hand earlier this month.

Newsome, president and CEO of the State Ports Authority, had been looking to charter a vessel to test the operating system at the Port of Charleston's soon-to-open Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston.

Almost nothing was available, and what was available was far too expensive.

"The charter rates are astronomical," Newsome said. "We couldn't even find one that was reasonable."

One carrier offered a vessel capable of carrying 1,500 containers  something that might have been common at ports decades ago  but the daily rental fee was $17,000.

"Two years ago, someone probably would have given us that ship just to get it out of anchorage somewhere," Newsome said, adding that capacity is so tight these days that it's tough to land even a ship that small and expensive.

"There's tremendous competition for charter ships, and that's usually a leading indicator of what's going to happen demand-wise," he said.

Asian manufacturers are shipping more goods than ever to U.S. ports as consumers who are stuck at home spend their money on goods such as furniture and appliances instead of on restaurant outings or vacations. That's led to higher rates for shippers vying for limited space aboard ships.

The surge hasn't affected efficiency on the Charleston waterfront. A record number of cargo boxes moved through the port's terminals in December, and truckers were still able to get in and out, on average, within 46 minutes. The SPA's goal is 45 minutes or less, including the time drivers spend in a queue to enter the terminal and within the chassis yard.

West Coast ports, on the other hand, are seeing significant delays. Earlier this month, roughly 30 ships were anchored off the California coast waiting to dock at the mammoth Port of Long Beach, where truckers are spending an average of 93 minutes to work their way through terminals.

Container ship capacity isn't expected to ease any time soon. The JOC.com website reports Chinese factories are begging freight forwarders to pick up finished products, but no containers are available to put the goods in. Newsome said some manufacturers are paying bonuses to employees who agree to work the Chinese New Year holiday  a time when factories in China typically take an extended break.

"For the first time in my 40-year career, they're looking for people to work during Chinese New Year in factories, there is that much factory demand," he said.

The cargo boom has the SPA reassessing its expectations for its fiscal year, which ends June 30. Heading into July 2020, the SPA was predicting that coronavirus-related factory shutdowns and stay-at-home orders would trigger a double-digit drop in cargo volume.

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Last week, the agency revised its projections, with a record 1.385 million containers now expected to move through the port's terminals by fiscal year's end.

Newsome said the container ship shortage might force him to use a barge to test the technology at the $1 billion Leatherman Terminal, which is scheduled to open by the end of March.

New spec space

Charlotte-based Trinity Capital Partners has purchased 78 acres at Palmetto Commerce Park in North Charleston with plans to develop up to 850,000 square feet of industrial space at the site.

The first building  a 340,000-square-foot speculative construction site  is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2022. An additional three to four buildings could follow, depending on market demand.

"The greater Charleston industrial real estate fundamentals are highly favorable, with very low vacancy rates and solid demand across the board," Massie Flippin, partner at Trinity Capital, said in a written statement. "Were very excited about establishing a foothold in Charlestons Palmetto Commerce submarket, which will provide our customers with exceptional access to the Port of Charleston and Charlestons growing population base."

Trinity Capital has made prior investments in the Charleston market, most recently with Faber Plaza in North Charleston. The office building was developed in partnership with Mount Pleasant-based Durlach Associates.

"Charleston has experienced remarkable growth since Trinity Capital first entered the market in 2010," Flippin said. "Were confident that the port, Charlestons solid manufacturing base and the regions deep labor pool will continue to drive growth and increase demand."

Chilling out

Commercial developer RealtyLink plans to build a cold-storage facility at the Camp Hall Commerce Park near Ridgeville, the Greenville-based company announced.

The 272,000-square-foot building will be expandable to double that size depending on market demand. It will be located on Autonomous Drive within the 1,300-acre park off Interstate 26 that's owned and marketed by Moncks Corner electric utility Santee Cooper.

RealtyLink said it also will build cold-storage sites in Houston, Mobile, Ala., and Wilmington, N.C. The aim is to capture a piece of the growing export and import market for frozen meat.
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About this blog

In the interests of doing something different to every other wine blogger, this blog delves into the world of wine data, instead of wine itself. The intention is to ferret out some of the interesting stuff, and to bring it out into the light, for everyone to see. In particular, I draw pictures of the data  as William Playfair said (in 1805): "whatever can be expressed in numbers may be represented by lines". So, I'd rather show you a graph than a paragraph. Hopefully, this will be both interesting and informative.
Leaders and representatives of various Oregon progressive groups, the Eugene/Springfield NAACP and public employee unions on Monday publicly called for the state Legislature to expel a Republican representative who let violent far-right extremists into the state Capitol during a Dec. 21, 2020 special session.

Rep. Mike Nearman, a Republican from outside Independence, opened a door to armed demonstrators who entered a Capitol vestibule and clashed with police. A handful of Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Tina Kotek of Portland, have already called on Nearman to resign. He is among the subjects under investigation by the Oregon State Police for the incident.

Rep Mike Nearman needs to resign or be removed from office immediately, said Eric C. Richardson, executive director of the Eugene/Springfield NAACP. Richardson said it is concerning when elected officials normalize white nationalism and extremism generally by showing support for it.

At least one of the pro-Trump, anti-coronavirus lockdown demonstrators at the Capitol on Dec. 21 has expressed support for white nationalism. Chandler Pappas of Portland was part of a group that flashed white nationalist hand signs months before he was arrested and accused of assaulting six police officers at the Capitol in December. Surveillance video showed that after Nearman opened a side door to demonstrators, state troopers and Salem police were able to push people back outside until one of the demonstrators deployed some type of spray against police.

Oregons Capitol is currently closed to the public, with the exception of journalists, in an effort to avoid spreading COVID-19. Lawmakers are conducting most of their work online during the beginning of the five-month session, with virtual public hearings and work sessions where people can testify.

Its unlikely the private groups calling for lawmakers to expel Nearman will have much success. Even if all House Democrats voted to expel him, they would still need three Republicans to join them. The Oregon Constitution allows lawmakers to expel a colleague only with a two-thirds vote, which means 40 votes in the 60-member House. Democrats hold 37 seats, after they lost a net of one House seat in the November election.

Republicans have not ruled out some type of repercussions for Nearman, and Republican Leader Christine Drazan said earlier this month that if law enforcement finds his actions were criminal, legislators are not above the law and will be held responsible. However, House Republicans have said they want the state police investigation and a workplace investigation by the Legislative Equity Office to run their course before they make any decisions.

-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Iran is demanding an explanation from Indonesia a day after the Southeast Asian country seized an Iranian tanker off its coast suspected of carrying illegal oil shipments.

On Sunday, Indonesias coast guard seized the Iran-flagged MT Horse and the Panama-flagged MT Freya, near the Indonesian part of Borneo. The Indonesian Maritime Security Agency said the vessels violated a number of maritime protocols, leading to their seizure.

The tankers, first detected at 5:30 a.m. local time, concealed their identity by not showing their national flags, disabling tracking systems and did not respond to a radio call, the agency said in a statement on Sunday.

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran was under the impression that a technical issue led to the vessels seizure. Irans Ports and Maritime Organization and the Iranian Embassy in Jakarta are seeking clarification from their Indonesian counterparts, he added.

We have received some contradictory information. We are waiting for its reason and will make it public if we achieve a result, Khatibzadeh said Monday during his weekly news conference in Tehran.

Wisnu Pramandita, a spokesperson for the Indonesian maritime agency, said the coast guard was escorting the two tankers to Batam Island, where the 61 crewmembers will be questioned.

Irans oil sector is under heavy US sanctions, which the Donald Trump administration imposed after withdrawing from the nuclear deal in 2018. To evade US sanctions, experts say Iran conceals oil shipments by turning off the identification systems on its tankers.

The row with Indonesia comes weeks after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a South Korean ship in the Persian Gulf, claiming it had violated environmental protocols. Ties between the two countries were already strained over $7 billion in Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks due to US sanctions.
One of just a few homes designed by the man behind some of the worlds most iconic midcentury modern designs is back on the market on Long Island.

Known as Villa Riele, the home on Watch Way in Lloyd Harbor, NY, is on the market for $12.7 million. It was offered for auction last summer, but a winning bidder never emerged.

The architect Edward Durell Stone designed the home, and it was finished in 1967.

Stones work includes the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, Radio City Music Hall, and the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.

His buildings won several prestigious awards and are distinctive for their ornamentation, which often include arches, a prominent feature of this home.

Noting the distinctive arches and the towering glass windows, the listing agent, John Pierre Morales, says, "Those features alone make it one of Long Island's unique and most prestigious properties. I haven't seen another piece of architecture like this, ever."

Exterior of home in Lloyd Harbor, NY Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Exterior Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Land Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Exterior Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Staircase Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Staircase and pool Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Pool Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Staircase and pool Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Living area and pool Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Inside the mansion, there are several massive mahogany staircases, many arches, and an indoor pool right in the middle of the home.

The pool isn't enormous, but does offer an interesting respite for guests. Think of it as an aquatic conversation pit.

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Watch: Frank Lloyd Wright Home Is a Rare Find in Indiana

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It's about 6 feet deep, heated, and has benches that circle the whole inside of the pool, so it was really just a place to cool off and sit down and have a few cocktails on the bench. Most of the times, people were in their regular clothes, which is interesting, Morales explains.

Thanks to a unique filtration system, Morales says the home doesn't suffer from the typical smell of a pool.

Living area and pool Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Living space Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The formal dining room is right off the pool area, and a living room is nearby.

Living space Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Living space Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house is located on 33 acres of land with majestic trees on Long Islands Gold Coast. The compound on the Sound is divided into four lots with a quarter-mile of waterfront.

Land Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Aerial view Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The purchase price offers an intriguing opportunity for a buyer who doesn't mind a couple of neighbors.

There are three other lots besides the home and the beach house that are subdivided and ready for someone to come in and build onready to go for a developer, Morales explains.

In addition to the main house, there's a one-bedroom beach house that basically sits on the sand. Having a structure that close to the water isnt allowed anymore, but this house is grandfathered into township regulations.

I look at just the beach house alone and figure it's worth a couple million dollars, just the way it is, Morales says. You're in complete solace and peace when you're in this place. There's no one near you. Youre in your own world.

Beach house Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Beach house Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Beach house Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Beach house Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The compound was once part of the original Colgate estate, and the current owner is the socialite Gabriele Lagerwall, aka Baroness W. Langer von Langendorff.

She's the second wife and widow of the late Baron Walter Langer von Langendorff of Austria, the man who created White Shoulders perfume.

Morales says the butler who has been with the baroness for 25 years recalls the diplomats and the royalty who sat in the pool and had cocktails.

Exterior Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The house has always been a weekend home for the owner to escape to when she wanted to entertain and get away from her hotel penthouse at the Pierre, on New Yorks Fifth Avenue.

There are unique furnishings, which could be negotiated into the purchase price. A new owner wouldnt need to worry about damage to the colorful decor.

I went to the basement, and there's backup yards and yards of the exact fabric. [If] she's having company and someone spills or stains something, she can re-upholster again, Morales says.

Bedroom Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Bedroom Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Bathroom Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Elevator Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Bedroom Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Bathroom Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The house is in two wings, with two bedrooms on the main floor. The main suites are upstairs, served by an elevator.

The setting is private, perfect for anyone who would like to get away and to turn this property into a revenue-generating opportunity, Morales says.

The perfect buyer is a developer, someone that can actually realize that this is the last of its kind on the East Coast. It's basically a nature preserve on the Gold Coast of Long Island, with a quarter-mile of sound-front.

If the walls of the house could talk, Morales says, they would have stories to tell.

You totally feel like you are in a bygone era, and you just know that diplomats, royalty, and whoever was somebody at one point was in that home.

Waterfront Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Exterior Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Aerial view Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

Exterior Dynamic Media Solutions/ Frank Urso

The post 'Last of Its Kind': $12.7M Midcentury Masterpiece on Long Island appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
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Kerala: Marine ambulance for Kozhikode coast

January 25,2021 | Source: The Hindu

A marine ambulance, the long awaited emergency service to reach out to fishermen in case of an accident, is going to be a reality in Kozhikode coast. The customised boat made at Cochin Shipyard will reach the Beypore Port on January 29. According to Fisheries Department officials, the boat will be flagged off from Kochi by Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma on January 28. The full-time service of two paramedical staff and four rescue guards will be available in the ambulance, they add.



Facilities



The custom-made rescue boat, completed at a cost of Rs.6 crore, has many advanced features to attend to 10 rescued persons at a time. It has a length of 22.5 metres with a maximum speed of 14 knots. There are facilities such as examination and nursing room, medical bed, mortuary freezer and medical lockers. Though the ambulance will be anchored at Beypore, its service will be available across the northern Kerala coast during emergency situations. With this, there are three marine ambulances now to assist see rescue operations along the Kerala coast. In the absence of such a service, fishermen had been heavily dependent on the service of the coast guard and other rescue forces. Many a time, it was local fishing boats which were used for emergency sea rescue operations on receiving alerts. The absence of basic life-support facilities in such boats had come as a challenge for fishers even after successful rescue operations.



A fisherman from Puthiyappa said the initial hours of care after the rescue was crucial for the survival of victims. Only trained health workers will be able to handle it properly and complete the successful rescue mission. The marine ambulance will definitely be a solution, he said. At the same time, some of the fishermen associations said the permitted operational area of 12 nautical miles was hardly sufficient for any successful rescue operation and such a short distance could be covered even by local rescue boats. According to them, operational permits should be given to cover a wider area as it only would help manage serious incidents. Arrangements are in place to accord a reception under the leadership of peoples representatives on the arrival of the rescue boat.

 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD.
The Oregon Health Authority said Sunday that a third Oregonian has tested positive for a new, highly contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Sundays case, in Washington County, comes just a day after the state announced a second Oregon case  in Yamhill County. The first two patients had no known travel history, suggesting the virus is likely circulating within the state. However, the health authority said this Washington County patient has traveled outside the country during the exposure period; it did not specify where.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that the new variant, known formally as B.1.1.7, has been found in roughly two-dozen states.

The new variant spread rapidly in the United Kingdom, which led health authorities to conclude it is more contagious. Authorities do believe that existing vaccines likely are effective against this mutation.

Oregon identified its first case of the more contagious strain earlier this month, linking it to an employee at the University of Portland.

After spiking last fall and through the holidays, the number of coronavirus cases in Oregon has been in sharp decline over the past 10 days. Its not clear that trend will hold if the new variant takes hold; authorities forecast that the new strain may represent a majority of cases within the next two months.

Health authorities hope they can blunt that spread by rapidly administering vaccines before the new variant is widespread.

Correction: This article initially reported that the latest patient identified with the mutant strain had not traveled. The health authority says this person does have a travel history.

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
In one of its first acts of the new legislative session, the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday overwhelmingly approved a proposal that further advances efforts to overhaul the state child sex crimes law.

The committee unanimously advanced a bill that would pave the way for a constitutional amendment that would allow victims of past childhood sexual abuse a two-year retroactive window to file civil suits against perpetrators.

If voters approve of the measure, child sexual abuse victims who have had no legal recourse because the statute of limitations have long passed would get an opportunity to take their cases to court. Advocates have demanded reforms in the wake of a 2018 grand jury report outlining scores of sexual assaults against children in Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.

Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne County and chairwoman of the committee, said it was incumbent on lawmakers to act on the legislation and not, once again, disappoint victims, who, with justification would suspect greater consideration is being given to other interests not the victims.

By giving a second round of approval to the constitutional amendment, we submit this crucial question to the court of voter decision, Baker said. The public will render a powerful judgment on the right and wrong. We can then with confidence sort out legislative and any procedural matter that would smooth the way to finding solutions and remedies of those claims. At a time when we hear calls for unity for problem solving, I believe this is the perfect place to begin.

Constitutional amendments must be approved in identical legislation by both the House and Senate in two consecutive sessions before they are put to voters as a referendum. The General Assembly approved the measure in the last legislative session, but lawmakers must do so again in the 2021-22 session before a constitutional amendment would go to voters for approval.

Sen. Maria Colette, D-Bucks, lauded committee leadership for putting the measure at the top of the agenda on the first meeting of the session.

Regardless of our politics, religion, age or gender, we all seem to share the notion that the institutions whose failure led to this trauma need to be held accountable and we need to open the statute of limitations so victims can seek long overdue justice, she said. This is the right thing to do. Although delayed too long, justice is finally on its way.

Senate Bill 8 advances one of two major legislative proposals that, after years of legislative stalemate, are poised to put Pennsylvania among states that have overhauled child sex crime laws.

The General Assembly two years ago passed a bill that prospectively eliminates the statute of limitations for victims of child sex crimes. The measure, authored and shepherded by Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, expands the window for childhood victims to file civil suits against their abusers to their 55th birthday. Previously, victims of child sex abuse had to pursue criminal cases by age 50 and civil suits by age 30.

A proposal to amend the constitution to address concerns over the constitutionality of opening a retroactive window was a companion piece to Rozzis bill.

The reform efforts address the recommendations made by the scathing 2018 grand jury report into clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church statewide. The 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury outlined in horrific details the criminality and concealment of child sex crimes on the part of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

Both the House and the Senate are considering separate bills, a move that addresses the legal parameters of a constitutional amendment.

The Senate bill was sponsored by Baker. The House bill was authored by Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Blair.

In order to be put on the ballot for the May 18 primary, the measures have to clear the General Assembly by Feb. 18.

Additionally, the measure would further reinforce the removal of the sovereign immunity defense, which gives public and government institutions a shield from being sued in these cases.

Rozzis bill, which eliminated the statute of limitations going forward, also eliminated sovereign immunity. The Senate bill essentially reaffirms the idea that the sovereign immunity defense will not apply in any lawsuits brought during the two-year retroactive window.

The full House is expected on Wednesday to consider House Bill 14, which is basically an identical bill to the Senate measure. It would grant child sexual abuse survivors who timed-out of the legal system a two-year window to pursue justice.

If approved, the House bill would then move to the Senate. At some point, chamber leaders would have to agree on which bill advances to the ballot.

According to Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Department of State, the commonwealth must advertise a proposed constitutional amendment in two newspapers in all 67 counties in each of the three months before the election. For the primary election on May 18, the ads must appear no later than Feb. 18, March 18 and April 18.
ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Radiodermatitis, also known as radiation dermatitis, refers to a cutaneous reaction that is caused during or after radiotherapy given to a cancer patient. A surge in the incidences of cancer worldwide is estimated to drive the growth of global radiodermatitis market over the forecast timeframe, from 2019 to 2027. In most of the cancer patients, this condition occurs at either during the process or at the initial step of radiotherapy. Various symptoms, such as skin rash, pigmentation, flaking, lesions, and dry papery skin are usually observed in such conditions. As many cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy suffers from the adverse effect of the treatment process, the global radiodermatitis market is anticipated to gather momentum over the projection timeline. There has been augmented adoption of radiodermatitis products in an effort to better cancer patients' quality of life. This is likely to drive the growth of the global radiodermatitis market over the analysis timeframe, from 2019 to 2027.

Request for Analysis of COVID-19 Impact on Radiodermatitis Market  https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/covid19.php

Innovation in product offerings is triggered by a surge in the incidences of cancer. It has also resulted in increasing mergers and acquisitions, collaborations between industry institutes and industry academia, partnerships and agreements between various companies, improved access to healthcare, and advent of new players. Such strategic moves are expected to work in favor of the global radiodermatitis market over the projection timeline, from 2019 to 2027.

Expanding at a growth rate of ~3.3% CAGR, the global radiodermatitis market is anticipated to achieve considerable market value by 2027. The market is expected to be primarily driven by augmented prevalence of cancer across the globe.

Key Findings of Radiodermatitis Market Study

High Prevalence of Certain Types of Cancer to Accelerate Demand in the Market

According to the estimates of World Health Organization (WHO), the international UN agency for international public health, there will be around 22 million new cancer cases by 2032. In addition to that, it is anticipated that certain types of cancer, such as head and neck cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer, will witness accelerated rate of occurrences. Change in lifestyle habits and lifestyle conditions, such as obesity, are anticipated to increase the risk of breast cancer and lung cancer. Patients suffering from these cancers go through chemotherapy procedures during their treatment, which leads to increased incidences of dermatitis caused by radiation. This factor is likely to bode well for the global radiodermatitis market over the projection timeline.

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High Cost of Cancer Treatment and Associated Products to Cause Financial Burden

In developing nations, the burden of cancer treatment is a cause of much concern. High cost of such treatment procedures often results in limited financial resources. As such, high cost of various products, such as silicone dressings and honey-impregnated dressings, is estimated to pose a challenge to honey-impregnated dressings in the near future. On the other hand, emergence of economically priced locally made dressings in many of the developing countries is anticipated to impede growth of expensive and branded dressings.

Surging Cases of Cancer Present Lucrative Growth Opportunities in Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific is one of the leading regions in the global radiodermatitis market owing to the continuous efforts made by the key players to diminish cost and consistent product innovations in the region. Increased per capita income and rising demand for dressings and topical agents in the region is anticipated to drive the demand for radiodermatitis products in the near future. With surging cases of cancer in the region, there exist high unmet medical needs in the Asia Pacific region. These factors are estimated to accelerate growth of the Asia Pacific region over the forecast timeframe, from 2019 to 2027.

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Radiodermatitis Market: Key Driving Factors

Augmented emphasis is given on R&D activities to figure out a standard treatment procedure to find a standard relevant treatment. This factor is foreseen to foster growth of the global radiodermatitis market.

High cost of cancer treatment and radiation therapies is estimated to pose a threat to the development of the global radiodermatitis market.

Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the global Healthcare Industry:

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As usually occurs, the winner of the Prix Goncourt, Frances top fiction prize, shot to #1 on the French fiction list after it was announced in late November. This years winner, The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier, features 11 narrators and multiple genres. On average the Goncourt winner sells 400,000 copies, according to France 24. The Anomaly will be published in the U.S. by Other Press. Les impatientes by Djaili Amadou Amal, a novel about forced marriages in Cameroon, won the Goncourt des lyceens prize, voted on by French students, and was in the #2 spot at the end of December.

Barack Obamas A Promised Land was the bestselling nonfiction title in France and landed in the fourth slot on the combined bestseller list in the Netherlands in early January. That list was topped by another book translated from English, Charlie Mackesys The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. The #2 title on the Dutch list was The Banality of Good by Rutger Bregman, which has been a bestselling title for more than 18 months. Bregman is published in the U.S. by Little, Brown.

In Spain, Eva Garcia Saenz de Urturs novel Acquitania, a historical thriller about 12th-century aristocrat Eleanor of Aquitaine, was the #1 title in fiction at the start of the year. The novel won the 2020 Planeta Prize, Spains most important literary award. The authors books are published in the U.S. by Vintage/Black Lizard.
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Bee Charging Solutions has selected Alfen as its supplier to provide the company with smart charge points for electric vehicles.

The companies have signed a framework agreement for an initial period of three years.

The partnership focuses primarily on real estate and companies, but may also include home charging and public charging. Bee is owned by three energy companies in Sweden: Oresundskraft, Jamtkraft and Tekniska verken in Linkoping.

In addition to offering charge points for EV charging at home and in public areas, Bee also provides companies and real estate owners with charging solutions for their employees, visitors, and residents. Alfen offers a range of smart charge points for use at home, work and in public areas.

If multiple Alfen smart charging stations are installed on one site, Alfen's Smart Charging Network and Active Load Balancing solutions can be added. This functionality enables Bee customers to connect up to 100 charge points in a single installation and balance the available power across all vehicles charging.

The main advantage of this solution, says Alfen, is charging speeds are maximised within the available local grid capacity, avoiding overloading the local electricity supply.

"The market is growing fast and requires increasingly smarter solutions," said Bee Charging Solutions, CEO, Fredrik Nordin. "We believe we have found a partner in Alfen who can provide us with the right smart, fast and secure charging solutions, not only today but also in the future."
It was very cold at that time. Commander Le Quang Dao in person brought bottles of warm ginger water to every unit of the frontier post. After that, he quietly walked along the railway to explore the terrain
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The federal communications minister has slammed the ABC for referring to Australia Day as 'Invasion Day'.

The national broadcaster published an online events guide on Sunday interchangeably using a politically contentious term to describe the January 26 public holiday commemorating the British First Fleet's 1788 arrival in Sydney Cove.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has spoken out against this ABC article.

'The ABC online article is incorrect about Australia Day,' he said on Monday.

'The ABC has clearly got this one wrong.

The federal communications minister has slammed the ABC for referring to Australia Day as 'Invasion Day'. The national broadcaster published an events guide on Sunday interchangeably using a contentious term to describe the January 26 public holiday commemorating the First Fleet's 1788 arrival in Sydney Cove. Pictured is a 2019 Invasion Day protest in Brisbane

'The name of our national day is well understood and supported, and for the ABC to suggest otherwise - that in some way Invasion Day is interchangeable with Australia Day - is clearly wrong.'

Hours later, the ABC issued a defensive statement arguing the policy was to refer to Australia Day.

'In light of some misreporting on this issue, to be abundantly clear: The ABC's policy is to use the term Australia Day, as it always has,' it said on Monday afternoon.

'As the editorial advice states, other terms can be used when they are appropriate in certain contexts. This does not mean they are used interchangeably.'

The ABC events guide on Sunday had described Australia Day as 'a contentious day for many'.

The initial article, which has now been slightly amended, was titled 'Australia Day/Invasion Day 2021 events for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin'.

The national public holiday was described as 'one of the most polarising dates on the Australian calendar' because it marked 'a day of sorrow for the colonisation of an ancient culture'.

'For some First Nations people, it is a day to mourn the past and galvanise the community to address ongoing systemic racial injustice,' the ABC public holiday guide said.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has spoken out against this ABC article. 'The ABC online article is incorrect about Australia Day,' he said on Monday.

'For others, it's a chance to spend time with family and friends at the beach or around barbecues.'

The ABC had earlier defended the decision to use the terms interchangeably as it would be 'inappropriate' to demand its staff to refer to one or the other.

Jacinta Price, the indigenous Deputy Mayor of Alice Springs in central Australia, has campaigned to keep the date as is, arguing symbolism would do nothing to tackle alcohol and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities

Mr Fletcher, who represents the safe Liberal electorate of Bradfield on Sydney's wealthy upper north shore, said the article was inaccurate.

'While the ABC has editorial independence, and I do not control what it says, I call on the ABC to correct this inaccurate article,' he said.

'The obligation on the ABC Board is clear under the Act: to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news is accurate and impartial.'

Not all indigenous Australians are opposed to Australia Day being celebrated on January 26 every year.

Jacinta Price, the Deputy Mayor of Alice Springs in central Australia, has campaigned to keep the date as is, arguing symbolism would do nothing to tackle domestic violence, alcohol and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities.

An ABC events guide, published on Sunday, described Australia Day as 'a contentious day for many'. Pictured is an Invasion Day rally last year

The councillor, who has Warlpiri heritage on her mother's side, was also a Country Liberal Party candidate at the 2019 federal election in the Labor-held seat of Lingiari in the Northern Territory.

Ken Wyatt, the Liberal federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, also supports keeping Australia Day on January 26.

He made history in 2010 as the first Aboriginal candidate to be elected to the House of Representatives.

Australia Day has been a national public holiday since 1994 after it was previously recogised in some states.

Indigenous activists have since 1938 protested against commemorating the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Harbour arguing the arrival of British people eventually led to the dispossession of land.

The movement against recognising January 26 gathered momentum in 1988 when indigenous activists held protests during the bicentenary commemoration that featured a tall ships re-enactment on Sydney Harbour.

The movement against recognising January 26 gathered momentum in 1988 when indigenous activists held protests during the bicentenary commemoration. Pictured are Invasion Day protesters in 2020

Nonetheless, Mr Fletcher said Australia Day needed to be respected as a nationally recognised public holiday.

'The name of Australia Day is reflected in legislation across Australia. More important, it is reflected in the usage of the overwhelming majority of Australians,' he said.

Last year, Mr Fletcher complained to ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose after the Four Corners program 'Inside the Canberra bubble' suggested cabinet ministers Alan Tudge and Christian Porter had formed relationships with staff.

The Institute of Public Affairs think tank's director of communications Evan Mulholland said the ABC was divisive, despite receiving more than $1.19billion a year from taxpayers.

'It is clear that the ABC is now the Un-Australian Broadcasting Corporation,' he said.

'The government can and ought to step in and prevent the ABC from pushing divisive identity politics and diminishing our national day.

'It can refuse to fund a public broadcaster that doesn't respect Australian values.'

Some indigenous rights activists have suggested Federation in 1901, when Australia became a nation, was a more appropriate day for a national public holiday but this coincides with New Year's Day.
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The Nigerian government on Monday said the 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech approved COVID-19 vaccines expected in the country by the end of January will no longer arrive until February.

The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, while speaking at its briefing said efforts to access and deploy the COVID-19 vaccines are progressing.

The effort to access and deploy vaccines is progressing and as already announced by COVAX, the initial 100,000 doses Nigeria is expecting will now arrive in the early weeks of February, Mr Mustapha said.

The Nigerian government had announced that at least 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines will arrive the country by the end of January through the COVAX co-financing public-private facility.

But several global health experts and bodies told PREMIUM TIMES late December, 2020 that it is almost impossible for Nigeria to start receiving vaccines in January.

Distribution campaigns across Africa are not likely to begin until April, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated. Even then, fewer doses will be sent to African countries than are being shipped to the United States and Europe.

It will be extremely terrible to see, said John Nkengasong, the Africa CDC director.

Nigerias Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, also hinted that the vaccines may not arrive the country as soon as expected.

We are working very hard to get vaccines for our people. It may not come soon enough, therefore we need to be alive to get the vaccines when they come, Mr Mamora said at a PTF briefing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in late November 2020 that the African continent is far from ready to roll out what will be its largest-ever immunisation drive.

Nigeria recently acquired three ultra-cold freezers needed to store the expected vaccines.

Each of this ultra-cold freezer has 700 litres capacity, that is a total of 2,100 capacity. The requirement for the 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines that will be available by the end of January/February is 500 litres, so we have enough capacity for the 100,000 doses, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, said while addressing PREMIUM TIMES and journalists at the facility recently.

Other vaccines

Nigeria is also expecting other vaccines before mid-2021. The Nigerian government said it is expecting free 42 million doses of vaccines in the second phase through the COVAX facility.

These vaccines will, however, cover only about 20 per cent of Nigerias over 200 million estimated population.

Last week Monday, Nigerias health minister, Osagie Ehanire, said efforts are ongoing to secure 10 million doses of the viral vector vaccines to cover an additional 50 per cent of the population.

Nigeria already has a storage facility for other approved COVID-19 vaccines, according to the NPHCDA boss.

Apart from the Pfizer vaccines, there are other vaccines in the portfolio of the COVAX and other vaccine candidates. Our plan is not to over-invest in ultra-cold chain equipment given that there are other vaccines that can be kept between + 2 and + 8 degree Celsius, he said.
Australians have plenty to celebrate on Australia Day. Unfortunately, every year we find ourselves debating whether one distinction in particular  our choice of date for our national day  is worth celebrating at all.

National days around the world typically mark the anniversaries of national achievements such as the birth of the American republic on July 4, 1776, the confederation of Canadas provinces on July 1, 1867, or New Zealands Waitangi Treaty with Maori on February 6, 1840.

Eddie Mabo, whose historic High Court win on June 3, 1992 removed the legal fiction of terra nullius. Could that date become a national day to unite all Australians?

We didnt have a national Australia Day until 1935  34 years after Federation, 147 years after Arthur Phillips 11 ships of sail rounded the heads. In fact, for two-thirds of European settlement, there were multiple national days, including marvellous posters from 1915 showing brave Diggers urging us to celebrate Australia Day on July 30. The Diggers, it seems, were not wedded back then to January 26.

Its odd that our national day should commemorate the establishment of a British prison on the other side of the world, a decision that not a single Australian was involved in. January 26 represents the British admiraltys desperate response to the American revolution, under which the idiot George III lost Britains former American colonies.
Bloom SK Fuel Cell plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of SK E&C



By Nam Hyun-woo



Mid-sized builders SK Engineering & Construction and Hanyang Corp. are highlighting their capability in the renewable energy and environmental businesses, as part of their bids for a successful initial public offering (IPO) on the domestic bourse.



Industry officials said this is a growing trend among domestic builders, which are attempting to embrace energy and environmental engineering as new growth drivers and lower their reliance on apartment construction.



SK E&C said it plans to launch an IPO in the near future, although the company has yet to fix a timeframe. The company initially attempted to make its bourse debut in 2018, but suspended the bid after a deadly dam collapse in Laos that same year.



The fresh bid comes amid the company's fast expansion into energy and environmental businesses.



Last year, SK E&C acquired environmental services company, EMC Holdings, for an estimated 1 trillion won. EMC Holdings is Korea's No. 1 wastewater treatment company, and its portfolio includes sewage treatment, excrement disposal, sludge drying/incineration and piping.



At that time, SK E&C CEO Ahn Jae-hyun described the environmental service as one of its growth drivers, meaning the company's business will not be confined to conventional plant engineering and apartment construction.



SK E&C is also making strides in the hydrogen fuel cell businesses. In January last year, SK E&C established a 49:51 joint venture with Bloom Energy of the U.S. to produce solid oxide fuel cells. The plant is expected to produce 50 megawatts of fuel cells this year, with plans to expand the capacity to 400 megawatts in 2027.



This is in line with SK Group's attempt to set up a hydrogen supply chain within its affiliates. Energy affiliate SK E&S will produce liquefied hydrogen, while SK E&C will generate power from hydrogen with its fuel cells. When their businesses stabilize, SK E&C is anticipated to be in charge of constructing SK Group's hydrogen infrastructure.



SK E&C is also seeking to rebrand itself, removing construction from its corporate name. Of new name candidates, SK Ecoplant is mentioned as most likely, as it represents the company's pivot to eco-friendly businesses, industry officials said.



Hanyang Corp. is also highlighting its energy business to boost its value ahead of its upcoming IPO. Currently, lead managers Mirae Asset Daewoo and KB Securities are conducting due diligence on Hanyang, planning to launch the IPO in the second half of the year.



Hanyang is ranked No. 32 in the land ministry's 2020 builder rankings, and is known for constructing Hanyang Apartment in Apgujeong, Seoul, which is one of the most expensive apartment complexes in Korea.



To break away from its reputation as a conventional builder, the company is now branding itself as a renewable energy firm and plans to use the funds raised from the IPO for further energy investments.



Currently, the company is building a massive LNG terminal in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. Occupying 650,000 square meters, the company is seeking to construct four 200,000 kiloliter LNG tanks by 2024.



In June, the company completed a large solar farm also in the province. It is equipped with 98 megawatt generation facility and 306 megawatt-hour energy storage system. In July, the company was selected as the preferred bidder for a 73 megawatt floating solar farm project in Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province.


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U.S. President Joe Bidens administration plans to renew travel restrictions on most non-citizens who have recently been in the European Union, Britain, Ireland, and Brazil, according to U.S. media reports.

Along with extending travel restrictions, the White House will impose restrictions on people who have been in South Africa, where a new variant of the coronavirus has caused concern among scientists, according to reports in CNN and NBC.

The White House has already said that the administration plans to renew the travel restrictions, which former President Donald Trump ordered to end on Tuesday.

With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary tweeted earlier this week.

On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions (on Jan. 26).

In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Psaki added. (dpa/NAN)
Colonel B. Santosh Babu, who has been awarded Mahavir Chakra posthumously by the government on Monday, had laid down his life in the fight with Chinese troops in Ladakh.

He hailed from Suryapet district of Telangana.

State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the nation bows before his supreme sacrifice.

"Acknowledging the valour of Col Santosh Babu, who lost his life in a fight with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley clash, the Government of India has awarded him posthumously with the 2nd highest wartime gallantry medal Mahavir Chakra. The nation bows before his supreme sacrifice," Sanjay, also a Member of Parliament, tweeted.

The colonel and 19 other soldiers of 16 Bihar Regiment were killed in the clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley of Ladakh on June 15 last year.

He is survived by his wife Santoshi, nine-year-old daughter Abhigna and four-year-old son Anirudh.

Santosh, Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar Regiment, had been serving on Indo-China border for last one-and-half year and his family was looking forward to his transfer to Hyderabad.

An alumni of Sainik School Korukonda and National Defence Academy, he got commissioned into the Bihar Regiment from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and went on to complete the prestigious Defence Service Staff Course from Wellington before taking over the command of his Battalion.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had, on June 20, visited Santosh Babu's house handed over the financial package announced by the state government.

He handed over Rs 4 crore cheque to the Colonel's wife Santoshi and Rs 1 crore cheque to his parents, who requested him to deposit the amount for their granddaughter.

He also handed over to Santoshi letter of her appointment to Group-1 job and documents of allotment of a house site measuring 711 square yards in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

In November, the Telangana government appointed Santoshi as trainee collector.
Utica, N.Y.  Utica police say they arrested a Herkimer County man after investigating numerous reports of thefts and damage to vehicles.

Scott Smith, 48, of Newport, is accused of stealing catalytic converters from vehicles in the city of Utica, police announced in a news release Sunday night.

Over the last several months we, along with several neighboring jurisdictions, have received numerous reports of thefts and damage to vehicles relative to the thefts of these converters, Utica police said in the release. After an extensive investigation, Smith was identified as a suspect.

Utica police charged Smith on Thursday with fourth-degree grand larceny and three counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief.

Police say Smith stole a vehicle from a home on Hobart Street in the city of Utica on Oct. 16 and illegally scrapped it for the metal. He was charged with felony grand larceny in that case.

Smith also is accused of stealing catalytic converters from two vehicles Jan. 18 on Hobart Street, and a catalytic converter from another vehicle last Thursday on Jefferson Avenue.

Catalytic converters help control exhaust emission in vehicles. Thieves target catalytic converters not necessarily for the part itself, but for the precious metals, like platinum, contained in them. Precious metals, such as platinum, palladium and rhodium can then potentially be sold for scrap. It was not immediately clear how much the catalytic converters stolen from vehicles in Utica were worth, but according to other police departments, platinum and other metals in catalytic converters can be worth more than $100 at scrapyards, but it costs victims or insurance companies much more to replace the stolen part.

Utica police say they expect to file additional charges against Smith; they also are planning to charge other suspects in the case.

Have a tip or a story idea? Contact Catie OToole: cotoole@syracuse.com | text/call 315-470-2134 | Twitter | Facebook
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It's imperative to encourage companies to invest more in R&D



South Korea's trade deficit with Japan amounted to $20.84 billion last year, up from the $19.16 billion recorded in 2019 when Seoul's trade shortfall with Tokyo fell below $20 billion for the first time since 2003. In 2020, South Korea posted its largest trade deficit with the Middle East owing to oil imports  its deficit with Japan was the second-largest.



The upward curve in Seoul's trade deficit with Tokyo was attributed to a sharp decline in exports of products such as petrochemicals and steel to Japan, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the drop in imports from the neighboring country was less severe. South Korea's exports to Japan totaled $25.07 billion last year, down 11.8 percent from a year ago. Its imports from Japan fell 3.5 percent to $45.92 billion.



The difference between the two percentages is due largely to Seoul's heavy dependence on Japanese materials, components and equipment in such key industries as semiconductors. Despite COVID-19, the country's semiconductor shipments increased 5.6 percent to $99.18 billion in 2020, a major improvement from the 25.9 percent drop recorded in 2019, which was caused by the U.S.-China trade dispute and decreases in the prices of semiconductors.



This shows that soaring demand for semiconductor equipment after COVID-19 that has accelerated contactless economic activities has not yet been met by domestic manufacturers. The structural problem in trade between Seoul and Tokyo  Japan gains a lot from South Korea's exports to other countries  remains the same despite the former's efforts to ease the imbalance.



But there is no need to be optimistic or pessimistic about the ups and downs in the trade balance. Certainly, it's impossible to improve the quality of materials, components and equipment overnight. The most important thing is to create an environment in which companies can invest in research and development more boldly under a long-term plan to overtake Japan. The key is how to overcome this contradiction  the more third-party exports increase, the bigger our trade deficit with Japan becomes.






Social media companies are cooperating with law enforcement agencies by handing over data leading to the arrest of the MAGA rioters who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6.

The 'digital dragnet' involves investigators monitoring social media for posts and videos recorded by the rioters themselves - similar to what investigators did during the George Floyd protests over the summer.

As more indictments are being handed down against the Capitol rioters, tech companies are reportedly showing their willingness to hand over incriminating data, according to Huffington Post.

Jesus Rivera, one of the Trump supporters who has been charged, is one suspect who was indicted after Facebook turned over information to the FBI that purports to show him inside the Capitol crypt.

Rivera had recorded a five-minute video of himself among the rioters, but then disabled and deleted his Facebook.

MAGA rioters clash with police outside the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6. Federal investigators have relied on data from tech companies including Facebook to identify and charge suspects

Protesters scuffle with police in Washington, DC, in May just days after the police-involved death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, in Minneapolis. Law enforcement officials trawled Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to monitor and arrest protesters, rioters, and looters

'That Facebook account has since been disabled or deleted however a Facebook index page, provided to the FBI in the return of a Federal Search Warrant, listed several identifiers that correspond with Rivera,' an FBI special agent assigned to Rivera's case wrote in the criminal complaint.

'These identifiers include Rivera's last name, first initials, three phone numbers attributed to Rivera in open source, the payment name 'Jesus Rivera' and a city of residence of Pensacola, Florida, which matches Rivera's city of residence.'

Another MAGA rioter who was charged, 40-year-old Christopher Spencer, livestreamed videos to Facebook from inside the Capitol where he can be heard looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Those videos were provided to the FBI by Facebook 'as part of a search warrant return.'

The criminal complaint against Spencer cites statements made by an informant, but it appears that law enforcement spoke to the informant after getting information from Facebook.

These two case filings suggest that Facebook, Google, and other tech and telecom firms may have in their possession information that could lead to the arrests of scores of other suspects.

The very act of stepping inside the US Capitol during the riot constitutes a crime, so data location taken by smartphone apps is all the incriminating evidence that law enforcement officials need to bring charges.

Christopher Raphael Spencer, 40 (left), was arrested in North Carolina in connection to his alleged role in the January 6 siege of the US Capitol. Spencer is pictured on the right in a screenshot from one of his livestreams from inside the Capitol. The livestream was allegedly provided to law enforcement officials by Facebook

So far, more than 135 people have been charged with a litany of crimes in connection with the MAGA riot, including unlawful entry and disorderly conduct.

Federal investigators have received more than 200,000 tips, many of them digital evidence that likely includes social media content that puts the suspects at the location.

In almost all instances, law enforcement officials have relied on the rioters' own social media posts to identify them and charge them with a crime.

If the rioters deleted their accounts, investigators could subpoena the social media companies, who would then be legally obligated to hand them over.

Defense attorneys have long complained that big tech firms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google comply with law enforcement subpoenas while denying their clients access to data that might be exculpatory, according to Wired.

Local police often get access to private social media records, including direct messages, that can then be used to investigate and prosecute suspects.

During massive, wide scale unrest like the protests and riots that unfolded after the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last spring, investigators have increasingly relied on social media to identify criminal suspects.

In July, Politico reported that federal and local law enforcement agents went undercover online by posing as activists sympathetic to social justice protesters.

Investigators mined data from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to identify extremists, looters, and vandals who were alleged to have stirred up unrest.

In one particular case, police in Page, Arizona, received a tip indicating that a man, Loren Reed, set up a private Facebook chat group in which he allegedly encouraged people to riot at the county courthouse.

A police officer went undercover and messaged Reed via Facebook.

'I wanna burn down the courthouse,' Reed wrote to the undercover officer.

Another Florida resident, Jesus Rivera, 37, also was arrested for his role in the MAGA riot based on video that was handed over to investigators by Facebook

Police then continued to monitor the group's chat over the course of the next few days.

In one message, Reed is alleged to have written: 'Arson, Assault, Conspiracy, here we come.'

Reed is also alleged to have urged other members in the group to gather fireworks, Molotov cocktails, and other flammables and loot a local pharmacy.

Investigators managed to obtain Reed's cell phone number through his Facebook page and then employed a 'lawful investigative technique' to find the location of Reed's device.

Just four days after undercover cops contacted Reed through Facebook, he was arrested and charged with a felony.

Court records indicated that the FBI used social media posts by Black Lives Matter protesters to arrest them for inciting riots, according to NBC News.

On at least four occasions, federal authorities charged protesters with incitement to riot solely on the basis of social media posts.

One person was charged after posting a widely available recipe for crude napalm online.

Another man was reportedly questioned by the FBI after joking online that he was the head of the local chapter of the far-left agitator group antifa.
The number of people detained during the Sunday protests against the coronavirus lockdown measures in Amsterdam has gone up to 190, Dutch police said.

Earlier, Amsterdam authorities said that some 100 people were detained during the protests, which turned violent as demonstrators threw firecrackers at police officers, while law enforcement responded with water cannons, tear gas and batons, according to local media reports.

Amsterdam police said on Twitter that 190 arrests were made after the demonstration.

"33 Arrests (of which 7 minors) mainly in connection with open violence. 142 arrests in connection with violation of the APV [General Municipal By-Law] and 15 arrests for violating article 184 [on disobeying police orders]," the police said.

According to city authorities, about 1,500 people participated in the Sunday protests against coronavirus restrictions. The protest was dispersed on Sunday afternoon because of COVID-19 concerns.

The Netherlands entered a full lockdown on December 15, which will remain in place until February 9, ordering all non-grocery and non-essential shops to close, shutting down all cafes, museums, theaters, pools, gyms, barbershops and other public venues.

(ANI/Sputnik)

Also Read: US: Five people, unborn child killed in mass shooting in Indianapolis

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong has decided not to appeal against a court ruling that convicted him of bribing South Koreas former president in exchange for business favours.

The move confirms a prison term of two and a half years for the countrys most influential corporate leader, according to lawyers and court officials.

However, Lees legal troubles are not over  he has been indicted separately on charges of stock price manipulation, breach of trust and auditing violations related to a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates.

The deal helped strengthen Lees control over Samsungs corporate empire.

The bribery allegation involving Lee was a key crime in the 2016 corruption scandal that ousted Park Geun-hye from the presidency and sent her to prison.

In a much-anticipated retrial of Lee last week, the Seoul High Court found him guilty of bribing Park and one of her close confidantes to win government support for the contentious merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.

The deal faced opposition from some shareholders who argued that it unfairly benefited the Lee family and only succeeded with the support of a state-controlled national pension fund, one of Samsungs biggest investors.

Lee had portrayed himself as a victim of presidential power abuse and his lawyers criticised the ruling.

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But after assessing his options, Lee decided to humbly accept the high courts decision, his head attorney Injae Lee said.

Prosecutors had sought a prison term of nine years for Lee. In a statement released to the domestic media, they said the court was too lenient with Lee, considering the severity of his crimes. However, they will not lodge an appeal as their biggest goal was to prove that the payments between Lee and Park were bribes.

Samsung did not release a statement over Lees legal issues.

The 52-year-old helms the Samsung group in his capacity as vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, one of the worlds largest makers of computer chips and smartphones.

Like other family-run conglomerates in South Korea, Samsung has been credited with helping propel the countrys economy to one of the worlds largest from the rubble of the 1950-53 Korean War.

But their opaque ownership structures and often-corrupt ties with bureaucrats and government officials have been viewed as a hotbed of corruption in South Korea.

While never admitting to legal wrongdoing, Lee has expressed remorse over causing public concern over the corruption scandal and worked to improve Samsungs public image.

He declared that heredity transfers at Samsung would end, promising the management rights he inherited from his father would not pass to his children.

He also said Samsung would stop suppressing employee attempts to organise unions, although labour activists have questioned his sincerity.

It is not immediately clear what his prison term would mean for Samsungs business.

Samsung showed no specific signs of trouble when Lee was in jail in 2017 and 2018 over corruption. Prison terms have never really stopped Korean corporate leaders from relaying their business decisions from behind bars.

The supreme court earlier this month confirmed a 20-year prison sentence for Park over the Samsung case and other bribes and extortion while she was in office from 2013 to 2016.
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Mumbai: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday said there was no need of a farmers' march in Mumbai in support of peasants protesting near Delhi against the Centre's three new farm laws, and claimed it is being done only for "publicity".

The central government is on the farmers' side and ready to give justice to the peasants, he asserted.

Ramdas Athawale

However, the NCP, an ally of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government, accused Athawale of insulting farmers by calling the protest in Mumbai as a "publicity stunt", and asked him to apologise to all the peasants.

Thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra have reached Mumbai to participate in a rally in the state capital on Monday against the Centre's three new farm laws and to support farmers bodies agitating near Delhi over the issue.

Athawale noted that the Supreme Court recently stayed the implementation of the three new farm laws, and the Centre has also proposed to suspend the legislations for two years.

Farmers' protest

"This march (in Mumbai) is not at all required because the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the Acts.

Athawale said there was a need to stop the agitation after the government took a "positive" view of the issues flagged by farmers.

"The farmers should listen...they should stop the agitation," he urged.
Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of wanting to use Brexit to weaken legal protections for workers, and will use an opposition debate in the Commons today to demand that all existing employment rights and protections must be maintained.

The prime minister has always rejected the idea that one of the Conservative motives for leaving the EU was to rid Britain of European law guaranteeing workers rights. And it is fair to say that the problem of excessive social protection has never been central to most Brexiteers arguments  except for the 48-hour working week, which was controversial when the Labour government legislated for it in 1998.

British workers rights were probably better than those in most member states when the UK joined the EEC in 1973, and remained so while we were a member, but clearly there is a possibility that they could be cut below the minimum levels required by the EU now that we have left. Hence the significance of a report by the Financial Times 10 days ago that the government was considering repealing aspects of EU employment law, including the 48-hour working week, the inclusion of overtime in calculating holiday pay and the duty of employers to record workers hours.
One of Britain's oldest identical twins has branded Boris Johnson a 'w****r' for his handling of the pandemic after she lost her 96-year-old sibling to coronavirus.

Lilian Cox and her sister Doris Hobday, from Tipton, West Midlands, both tested positive for Covid-19 after they fell ill a few days into the New Year.

The inseparable pair - who lived in neighbouring flats in a warden-controlled complex - were both admitted to hospital but Doris died on January 5.

Lilian did manage to speak to Doris by phone and beg her to 'fight for her life', but was left devastated weeks later when she learnt that her twin had died.

Lilian Cox and her sister Doris Hobday, from Tipton, West Midlands, both fell ill a few days into the New Year, when each tested positive for Covid-19. Doris (right) died on January 5

Lilian did manage to speak to Doris by phone and beg her to 'fight for her life', but was left devastated weeks later when he learnt that her twin had died. Pictured: Doris Hobday with her husband Ray

Tragically just two days later her vaccine appointment letter arrived in the post.

'These things happen for a reason but it's not fair. We came into the world together,' Lilian told the Sunday People.

'She was two hours older than me and we shared everything. She wasn't just my sister, she was my best friend.'

The blow has left the nonagenarian 'in shock' but also angry at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the pandemic.

Lilian said that if the nationwide lockdown had been enforced earlier, 'then there would not have been half as many deaths'.

The blow has left the nonagenarian 'in shock' but also angry at Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his handling of the pandemic

She added: 'The nurses and doctors were fantastic but Boris is a bloody w*****.'

Her treatment for coronavirus was the first time Doris, who had no children, had ever been admitted to hospital.

The family added that Lilian had endured the 'fight of her life' for two weeks but recovered enough to be discharged, when she was strong enough to be told of her sister's death.

The sisters were close throughout their lives and lived in Tipton for 94 years. Lilian had five children but raised them mainly as a single mum. She has 13 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

They became social media stars - followed by almost 25,000 people on Facebook - after a series of uproarious press and television interviews following their 95th birthday celebrations.

These included one appearance on Good Morning Britain early in the pandemic where Lilian told host Piers Morgan their longevity was down to 'plenty of sex'.

They became social media stars - followed by almost 25,000 people on Facebook - after a series of uproarious press and television interviews following their 95th birthday celebrations

In a statement, relatives of the sisters - dubbed the Tipton Twins after the Black Country town where they lived for nearly all of their lives - said they were 'totally heartbroken to lose Doris in this way'.

Urging anyone who is offered a coronavirus vaccine to take up the opportunity, it continued: 'We are aware they are both 96 years old and we have been so lucky to have them in our lives for such a long time but they were both still going strong before this virus got them and both were determined to live until 100.

'Doris was only a few weeks away from being safe! With her vaccine letter arriving two days after her death... if you are offered the vaccine please take it, do not refuse it... Doris didn't get this choice!'

Lilian's granddaughter Kerry Clarke, 35, said her grandmother was 'in shock' over her sibling's death.

'She can't believe it because she's okay and Doris didn't make it,' Mrs Clarke told the Mirror. 'It's heartbreaking, she keeps looking up at the sky.'

Mrs Clarke, from Hagley, Worcestershire, appealed for the public to have a blood finger oximeter in their home, saying the family didn't realise until Doris was admitted to hospital that her oxygen levels were deteriorating.

'If Doris had gone into hospital a week before she might have had a chance,' she added.

The sisters have lived next door to each other ever since and were stunned to have contracted the virus as they had shielded at home over the Christmas period.

Over the last 18 months, their Facebook page has charted the twins' adventures which have included a helicopter ride over their home town, filming a social media promotional video for their favourite supermarket and a chauffeur-driven trip around Leeds following a Channel 4 television appearance.

In October, during an easing of coronavirus restrictions, the pair were even pictured taking part in a yoga class - boasting that they could still touch their toes.
Lucknow: A 16-year-old from Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki has proven that age doesnt matter when it comes to bravery. Kunwar Divyansh, who fought a bull to save his sister and seven others, was on Monday awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Divyansh, who lives in Makhdumpur of Nawabganj tehsil of Barabanki, has been the recipient of about two dozen awards at the national and state levels for his bravery. Most recently, he was selected for the Prime Minister's National Children's Award 2021.

The incident took place almost three years ago when Divyansh was only 13. He was returning home with his five-year-old sister Samridhi and seven other school children in January, 2018, when she was attacked by a bull near a roadways bus base. Divyansh attacked the bull with his school bag and managed to drive the bull away, saving his sister's life.

Also read: Bal Puraskar 2021: Meet the 32 Little Wonders Who Won The Award This Year

As a result of the encounter, Divyansh suffered four fractures in the right hand. Three years later, Divyansh received a letter from the Prime Minister's Office, informing him of the award. While he met the PM Modi through video conferencing on Monday, President Ramnath Kovid, former Governor Ram Naik and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath have also honoured Divyansh for his bravery.

Divyansh's father, Dr DB Singh, is the associate dean of the Student Welfare Department at Lucknow's Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University. His mother Dr Vinita Singh is the deputy principal in Shri Ganga Memorial PG College in Paisar.

Divyansh said that instead of being afraid of difficult situations, one should fight it with force. He said, I was returning home after studying at Jaipuria School. After getting off the school bus, I was going with my sister and seven children. On the way, the bull moved towards the children, so I attacked the bull with my school bag. The angry bull hit me with force and fled the scene and I had fallen on the ground."
An Iranian parliamentarian has drawn criticism and may face legal action after an incident with a traffic cop that went viral on Iranian social media.

The video of a traffic police officer caught the attention of many Iranians as it went viral over the weekend. The incident reportedly took place on Jan. 22. In the video, the young police officer is speaking to another person who is taking the video after the incident as witnesses gathered around, confirming what he said. The police officer accused Iranian parliamentarian Ali Asgar Annabestani of getting out of his car and insulting and slapping the young man because he would not allow his car to pass through the lane designated for buses.

During the ensuing chaos, phone camera footage shows that Annabestani remains in the car as witnesses gathered, completely blocking off all traffic both in the bus lane and in the regular lanes. CCTV footage appears to confirm the confrontation where Annabestani hits the traffic cop.

A video of the incident shows witnesses and traffic police gathering around Annabestani's car. (YOUTUBE/MB)

The video drew the anger of many Iranians, and the anger of the witnesses on the scene could be repeatedly heard, with many proclaiming their support of the traffic police and hurling insults at the parliamentarian. Many saw this as another example of government abuse of an ordinary citizen. In Iran, traffic police are not the same type of police who handle crimes, protests or other offenses. Sometimes they are military conscripts finishing out their service. They do not carry guns, and they have very little enforcement discretion.

Many media and officials have come to the defense of the traffic policeman and are saying the judiciary will pursue the case. Iran's Police Chief Brig. Gen. Hossein Ashtari said, Certainly we support the officer. Everyone is equal before the law, and we expect officials to respect and abide by the law. Ashtari said the parliamentarian did not have permission to drive in the bus lane. Mohammad Hussein Hamidi, head of traffic police, said there is sufficient evidence of the physical confrontation between Annabestani and the traffic policeman, and he said they will wait to see what decision the judiciary makes regarding the matter.

The story made headlines in the top fold of numerous newspapers, including Reformist and conservative newspapers. Aftab and Etemaad newspapers called it A slap in the face of the law. Many of the headlines were accompanied by a picture of the young man.

In other news, Iran is still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and officials are warning of a fourth wave. Saeed Namaki, Irans health minister, said they will be importing a covid vaccine in the coming days. He did not say which country is supplying the vaccines or how they are going to pay for it. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country would not import vaccines from Western countries. Iran has been in talks with Russia, China and India to import the vaccine. Iranian officials have previously said they are in talks with Cuba to produce the medicine, likely domestically. It is believed the vaccine will be imported from India.
Flag carrier Royal Jordanian (RJ) will start implementing new measures required by the Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission for inbound flights starting January 20.

Until further notice, all passengers travelling to Jordan are required to pay the PCR test fees prior to flight departure through airlines sales channels, except for children less than five years of age.

In addition, passengers are to fill out a health declaration form and submit it to the check-in counter employee at the airport before boarding the plane.

These measures will apply to travellers of all nationalities flying to Jordan.

RJ passengers are urged to arrive at the airport three hours prior to their scheduled flights to avoid delays and allow more time for the implementation of the new procedures. - TradeArabia News Service


Colonel Mohatsim Hyder Chaudhary, chief of the Bangladesh contingent who is also taking part in the Republic Day parade said on January 25 that the marching style of both Indian and Bangladeshi contingent is similar and thus, they did not have to change the pattern a lot. Just hours before the largest and most important of the parades marking the Republic Day celebrations in India begin in New Delhi, Chaudhary told news agency ANI that it is a great responsibility assigned to Bangladeshi contingent of putting a great show. He also said that the forces are excited about Tuesdays parade.

"It is a great responsibility that has been assigned to us. The men with me are very excited to participate in this parade... If you ask about the feelings, participating in a foreign land, with a foreign army and with the same tempo is very much exciting," he said.

Chaudhary added, "It is a very good experience. Fortunately, the way we march and the marching of the Indian contingent are quite similar. From that point of view, we didn't have to change our pattern much."

Read - 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' Is Back In Cinemas This Republic Day; Check Details

Read - Farmers Assure 'no Unwanted Elements' In Republic Day Tractor Parade; Put Onus On Govt

Bangladeshi contingent part of R-day parade

For the first-time-ever, a 122-member strong contingent of the Bangladesh Armed Forces will be participating at the historic Republic Day celebrations at New Delhi. The news agency also cited its sources saying that the majority of the soldiers in the contingent come from the most distinguished units of the Bangladeshi Army comprising of 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 & 11 East Bengal Regiment and 1, 2 and 3 Field Artillery Regiment. These units reportedly also have the distinct honour of fighting and winning the Liberation War of 1971.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education stated that at least 100 meritorious students from schools and colleges will get a chance to see the Republic Day parade from the Prime Minister's box on January 26. After the parade, the students will also get an opportunity to interact with Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.

Happy to share that meritorious students across the country will be given a chance to witness the #RepublicDay2021 parade from the Prime Minister's Box.

They will also have a chance to meet & interact with the Minister of Education, Govt. of India Shri @DrRPNishank. pic.twitter.com/vjK0QDYIxU  Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia) January 23, 2021

Read - Elaborate Security In Place For Republic Day Celebrations In Raj

Read - Take Pledge For Free, Fair Elections In Bengal On Republic Day: WB Governor Dhankhar
Jaimie Alexander arrived in Sydney, Australia on Monday ahead of filming on Thor: Love And Thunder.

The 36-year-old looked to be in good spirits as she departed the airport wearing a face mask.

Flanked by a guard, she was whisked off and boarded transport to her 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine.

Hey you! Jaimie Alexander (pictured) arrived in Sydney, Australia on Monday ahead of filming on Thor: Love And Thunder

The stunning actress looked chic in a black blouse with a blazer over the top, and a pair of matching trousers.

She had her dark hair pulled back into a loose bun, and appeared to be wearing minimal makeup.

Jaimie added a number of accessories, including several rings and a chunky chain around her neck.

Covered up: The 36-year-old looked to be in good spirits as she departed the airport wearing a face mask

Mandatory: Flanked by a guard, she was whisked off and boarded transport to her 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine

Cool: The stunning actress looked chic in a black blouse with a blazer over the top, and a pair of matching trousers

She had a number of large, black suitcases in tow, and appeared to struggle pushing them along at times.

The American star is back in the role of Sif for the franchise's fourth installment, titled Thor: Love And Thunder.

As reported by Deadline, the Blindspot actress will not only return to the Thor movies, but also is likely to appear on the upcoming Disney+ series offshoot Loki.

Casual: She had her dark hair pulled back into a loose bun, and appeared to be wearing minimal makeup

Details: Jaimie added a number of accessories, including several rings and a chunky chain around her neck

Heavy load: She had a number of large, black suitcases in tow, and appeared to struggle pushing them along at times

Jaimie first portrayed Sif in 2011's Thor, before reprising the role in Thor: The Dark World two years later.

She was not included in 2017's third installment, Thor: Ragnarok, which is regarded as the best of the series so far.

Buzz for the new film, to be directed by Ragnarok's Taika Waititi, has already been high, as it will feature Oscar winner Natalie Portman - who has been in Australia a number of months - taking on the mantle of Thor.
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After Lalu Prasad Yadav was shifted to AIIMS-Delhi on Saturday, Dr Rakesh Yadav and his team visited the RJD leader and examined his health on late Sunday evening.

The doctor's priority is to cure the infection of the lungs and pneumonia, sources said. Jailed RJD supremo, who was undergoing treatment at a Ranchi hospital, was having trouble breathing for the last two-three days.

"On Friday, he was found to be having pneumonia. Considering his age, we have decided to shift him to AIIMS- Delhi on the advice of doctors for better treatment," RIMS Director Dr Kameshwar Prasad had said.

According to sources, long term lung infection may affect the heart as Lalu Yadav already had bypass surgery.

Lalu Prasad was admitted to AIIMS-Delhi on Saturday night after his health condition deteriorated while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ranchi. "He has been admitted in the coronary care unit (CCU) of the cardiothoracic centre of the AIIMS," an official in Delhi had said. Prasad (72), convicted in fodder scam cases, was undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in the Jharkhand capital for multiple ailments.

The sources added that Lalu's kidney is working 25 percent. He suffers from many other diseases. The team of doctors at AIIMS is constantly monitoring his health.

Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and daughter Misa Yadav accompanied him to Delhi from Ranchi. They had arrived at Ranchi on Friday night and met Prasad. Tejashwi told reporters that his father's condition was worrisome. He also met Chief Minister Hemant Soren at his residence during the day.

Political rival and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday wished speedy recovery to Lalu Prasad. "It is my fervent wish that he gets well as soon as possible", Kumar said.

Students pursuing accounting and finance degrees in the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Mike Cottrell College of Business (MCCB) will build their tax preparation skills and aid the surrounding communities as part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program sponsored by the IRS. The program served over 100 taxpayers in the 2019 filing season.

The free tax preparation services are open by appointment only from 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays from Feb. 2 through March 2 in room 011 of Newton Oakes on UNG's Dahlonega Campus. For the in-person appointments, participants must adhere to UNG's requirements to wear a mask inside all university buildings and practice social distancing.

Appointments can be scheduled by leaving a message for Lisa Nash, lecturer of accounting at UNG and a CPA, at 706-867-3082.

The IRS provides a list of "what to bring" to a VITA site so taxpayers can be prepared for their appointment. Nash will also discuss those items when scheduling the appointment.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nash, who is in her fifth year leading the program, said the filing season for 2020 taxes will be a challenge for taxpayers as they navigate the numerous tax law changes enacted to provide relief.

"The changes affect all areas of the individual return: income, deductions and tax credits. The Recovery Rebate Credit requires taxpayers to reconcile their economic impact stimulus payments on their 2020 tax return to ensure they received the maximum stimulus amount," Nash said. "The mission of the VITA program is to help tax filers navigate the changes and file accurate returns."

VITA offers free tax services to people who generally make $57,000 or less. Students prepare 1040 forms with schedules A, B, C-EZ, and D, along with basic tax credits. Federal and state returns are prepared for free while taxpayers are present. Nash reviews all returns with the taxpayers before she files them electronically with direct deposit available, if desired. The IRS will begin accepting e-filed returns on Feb. 12, so returns prepared between Feb. 2 and Feb. 12 will be filed on Feb. 12.

"The VITA program offers students a wonderful hands-on experience serving our community. Students gain many new skills while taking part in the VITA program, which include growing their technical tax skills through preparing tax returns, learning how to interact with clients, and learning how to receive feedback on reviewed work," said Dr. Ellen Best, department head of Accounting and Law and an associate professor at UNG. "Skills gained in VITA ultimately serve to better prepare our students to be successful in a professional work environment."

The students, under Nash's direction, are certified by testing through the IRS.

"It's a really good opportunity given the fact that a lot of internships are closing down because of COVID," said Rachel Bryant, a senior from Carrollton, Georgia. "I'm looking forward to accomplishing more for the community."

Kenneth LaMore, a senior from Hiawassee, Georgia, is eager to gain this experience.

"It's wonderful to have the opportunity to help people with their taxes," LaMore said. "It also gives me a chance to learn a little bit more about how to do taxes for an individual, how to talk to them. It helps you see what it would be like to do this on a day-to-day basis."

In addition to a bachelor's degree in accounting offered on UNG's Dahlonega and Gainesville campuses, UNG also offers a Master of Accountancy. Contact Best for more information at ellen.best@ung.edu.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo has been hailed and commended by the good people of the Upper West Region, for retaining Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih as the Minister-designate for that region.



Since April 2019 Dr Hafiz Bin Salih has served as the regional Minister and has caught the eye of the President to get him nominated for the second time in view of his good works.



His renomination is stemmed on the fact that, he had been engaged in lots of activities seeing to the development and upliftment of the image of the region.



For this reason, the President has confirmed his good works in the region and there by, granting him another privilege to continue to serve the good people of the region, to ensure continued development and stability.



In a statement signed and released to the media by; Fuseini Batong- Tumu, Sissala East Suglo Ibrahim- Bulenga, Wa East Patrick Dery- Nandom Mumuni Minata- Wa indicated that Dr Hafiz Bin Salih has worked relentlessly and has fulfilled the purpose for which he was nominated to lead the region.



These people from the Upper West region, louds and welcome the Presidents decision to retain Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih as the Regional Minister of the Upper West Region.



When contacted Dr Hafiz Bin Salih expressed his thanks to the President for the confidence reposed in him for the second time.

Source: peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Findings of a new study published by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and St James's Hospital outline the health impacts faced by older people while cocooning during the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings are published in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine here: https:/ / bit. ly/ 3qGKJoI .

Cocooning involves staying at home and reducing face-to-face interaction with other people and is an important part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with an overall aim to prevent transmission to vulnerable older people. However, concerns exist regarding the long-term adverse effects it may have on their physical and mental health.

The research examines trends in physical and mental health, access to healthcare services and attitudes to Covid-19 while cocooning amongst people aged 70 years or more who did not contract Covid-19. KEY FINDINGS

Almost 40% of participants reported that their mental health was worse or much worse since the start of cocooning.

Over 57% of participants reported loneliness at least some of the time while cocooning with 1 in 8 reporting that they were lonely 'very often'. Participants were almost twice as likely to report loneliness if they lived alone.

Over 40% of participants reported a decline in their physical health since cocooning and 1 in 5 reported not leaving their house at all since being advised to cocoon

Despite this, over 60% of participants reported that they agreed with the government advice regarding cocooning while one quarter of participants reported that they did not agree with the advice.

Over 40% of participants reported that they disliked the term 'cocooning' however, while almost 10% reported that they liked the term.

Almost 1 in 6 participants reported that while cocooning they did not seek medical attention for an illness, when they otherwise would have done so. Half of those who did not seek medical attention said this was because they were afraid of catching COVID-19.

Dr Robert Briggs, Medical Gerontology, Trinity College and Consultant Geriatrician, St James's Hospital, Dublin and senior author of the study said:

"These findings highlight the potential secondary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older people. While cocooning is important and reduces the likelihood of older people becoming unwell with COVID-19, there may be important adverse impacts on the health of those who cocoon that also need to be addressed. Given the possibility of further waves of COVID-19, with the likelihood of ongoing restrictions despite the rollout of vaccines, clear policies and advice for older people around strategies to maintain social engagement, manage loneliness and continue physical activity should be a priority.''

Dr Laura Bailey, Specialist Registrar in Geriatric Medicine, St James's Hospital, Dublin and first author of the study said:

"It is a particular worry that 1 in 6 older people who were acutely unwell did not seek medical attention, often for fear of contracting Covid-19. We must give a clear message to older people that when you are unwell that you should seek medical attention and that hospitals and general practices have appropriate infection control practices in place and continue to deal with non-Covid-19 related medical issues.''

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How the Nazis destroyed the family of Dr. Ruth

She can remember exactly the sweet taste of warm streusel topping on her mothers freshly baked cake and the carefree days of her childhood.

At that time, in the 1930s in Frankfurt/Main, the internationally known sex educator Dr. Ruth from New York city was still called Karola Ruth Siegel. Every Friday, the family went to the synagogue. Before that, there was always baking.

My parents had no oven and had to bring the dough to the baker on Fridays. It was my highlight of the week to nibble on the steaming cake, Ruth Westheimer (92) told BILD am Sonntag.

Ruth Westheimer, approximately three years old, with her parents Julius and Irma Siegel Foto: Courtesy of Dr. Ruth Westheimer

In November 1938, the Nazis destroyed the Jewish-orthodox familys good life. Ruth Westheimer was the only child of Julius and Irma Sigel from Frankfurt, and much loved by her parents. Together with grandmother Selma, the family lived in an apartment in Brahmsstrae 8.

Concerning November 9, 1938, called Reichskristallnacht by the Nazis, Ruth Westheimer says: Crystal is something beautiful. For me, it is the Night of Broken Glass. I was very scared at the time. I slept between my parents in their bed.

On November 16, 1938, a few days after the Night of Broken Glass, the Nazis arrested Ruth Westheimers father, who was 38 at the time. Julius Siegel was deported to the Dachau concentration camp.

His inmate number was 30491. Westheimer: The day before, he said that nothing would happen tomorrow, since it was a Christian holiday. Nevertheless, the Gestapo arrived on Bu- und Bettag (Day of Repentance and Prayer, public holiday in Germany) to take him with them.

Before Julius Siegel stepped onto the Gestapos truck, he looked at his family in the window one more time and smiled. It was the last time that Ruth Westheimer ever saw her father.

The Chief Finance President of Frankfurt issued a safeguarding decree for the bank account of Julius and Irma Siegel. The document shows both their signatures Foto: Sven Moschitz

In her documentary Ask Dr. Ruth, Ruth Westheimer, born in Wiesenfeld, investigated the history of her own family. Some questions remained unanswered, however. Prior to International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, BILD am Sonntag searched in several archives in Germany and Switzerland and discovered documents hitherto unknown to Ruth Westheimer. She has now, after many decades, received them.

When the 92-year-old received the copies in her apartment in the north of Manhattan  with a view to George Washington Bridge and the Hudson River  she picked up the phone and called BILD am Sonntag: Nobody has ever shown me these documents. Theres even a letter by my grandfather to the Gestapo. This is very exciting and moving for me. I will read everything very carefully. But these are sad things. First, I want to be happy about our new president.

Pauline and Moses Hanauer, the murdered grandparents of Ruth Westheimer

The files, letters, and vitae document the fate of her parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts as well as how Ruth Westheimer was rescued with a Kindertransport (childrens transport).

On February 18, 1939, her father returned from the concentration camp to Frankfurt. But at that point, the ten-and-a-half-year-old girl had already been sent to Switzerland with a Kindertransport a month earlier. Her parents had to let her go. They gave me life twice. First at my birth. And then when they sent me on the Kindertransport.

Westheimer was one of 300 orthodox Jewish children who were taken in by Switzerland and lived in a childrens home in Wartheim. Other children were sent to Holland or Belgium. If I had been on one of those lists, I probably wouldnt have survived.

The list of Jews deported to the ghetto Litzmannstadt/Lodz on October 19, 1941, from the Arolsen Archives. The list includes the names of Julius, Irma, and Selma Siegel Foto: Arolsen Archives

According to the Arolsen Archives, the Nazis deported her parents and her grandmother Selma to the ghetto Litzmannstadt/Lodz on October 19, 1941. Her beloved grandmother died there due to the inhuman conditions on January 11, 1942. Her father Julius Siegel died in the ghetto on March 25, 1942. Until now, Ruth Westheimer had always assumed that her father was murdered in Auschwitz. The exact date of death of her mother Irma is unknown. She counted as missing and was declared dead after the war. Westheimer: This word hurts me so much to this day. It makes closure difficult.

Ruth Westheimer had a particularly close relationship to her grandmother Selma. She died in the ghetto in Lodz Foto: Dokumentation

The grandparents on her mothers side, who were from Ruth Westheimers place of birth Wiesenfeld in Bavarian Lower Franconia, and her mothers youngest sister were also murdered by the Nazis.

Her grandfather Moses Hanauer was arrested by the Nazis following the Kristallnacht and released again after a few days. His prosecution is documented in a Gestapo file from the public records office in Wurzburg.

Ruth Westheimers grandfather Moses Hanauer wrote to the Gestapo in Wurzburg on December 14, 1938, asking for his son Benno to be released from the Dachau concentration camp. The grandparents were murdered. Benno survived, severely ill Foto: Staatsarchiv Wurzburg

In a handwritten letter of 14 December 1938, the six-time father Moses Hanauer made the following request: I kindly ask the Secret State Police to release my son Benno Hanauer, who has been in protective custody since 10/11, currently in the Dachau concentration camp. Pleadingly, he wrote: My three sons are currently in protective custody! I am 64 years of age, I am a sick, weak man and am therefore unable to cope with things on my own. After all, we want to emigrate as soon as possible once our farming issue is resolved.

According to a remark by the Gestapo, Ruth Wertheimers uncle Lothar was imprisoned in Buchenwald at the time and his brother Max in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Benno Hanauer, the uncle of Ruth Westheimer, on a photo in Gestapo documents Foto: Staatsarchiv Wurzburg

All three brothers managed to flee abroad, as did their sister Erna.

The fate of Ida Hanauer, born in 1917, is particularly tragic. She was little Karolas youngest aunt. Only ten years older than me. She still wrote to me in the childrens home: ,I am so hungry  At some point, no more letters arrived 

Ruth as a 5-year-old Foto: Holocaust Museum LA

Ida wanted to flee abroad like her siblings. The public records office in Wurzburg contains Ida Hanauers Gestapo file, including documents for a visa application in the US: references from employers, a handwritten vita, a vaccination certificate, her birth certificate, and the waiting list certificate for the visa applicants at the American consulate in Stuttgart, number 29312. In her vita, she wrote: As of recently, I have been at home, helping my four siblings with the emigration. I am capable of properly keeping house and of doing any necessary work.

No message from Benno, Max, Lothar for long time. Ida, Karola frequently good reports, Moses Hanauer wrote via the Red Cross in 1941 to his daughter Erna, who had fled to London. Only 25 words were allowed Foto: Staatsarchiv Wurzburg

The Gestapo documents also include a letter by Moses Hanauer sent via the Red Cross to his daughter Erna, who had fled to London, dated 3/11/1941. Little Karolas name is also mentioned here. The letter could only contain 25 words at most. Let me know if you are healthy. All of us fine. No message from Benno, Max, Lothar for long time. Ida, Karola frequently good reports.

On January 28, 1942, the Red Cross told Ida Hanauer that her brother Benno was in Canada and that he was taken to a hospital in Montreal due to depression. He is very well taken care of, and his condition is improving as far as is possible with this disease.

On February 11, 1942, Ida Hanauer replied to the Red Cross: The first sign of life from my brother following his two-year absence has made my relatives and me incredibly happy.

In July 1945, Karola Siegel (as Ruth used to be called) applied for a passport in Switzerland in order to emigrate to Palestine. She sometimes wrote Karola with a C Foto: Bundesarchiv in der SCHWEIZ

It is the final letter by little Karolas youngest aunt. One month later, on March 21, 1942, she was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to the Lublin/Trawniki camp. At an unknown point of time, she was murdered by the Nazis.

At approximately the same time, the Nazis forced the grandparents Moses (born in 1875) and Pauline Hanauer (born in 1874) to first sell their furniture and furnishings for a give-away price. Then they also had to sell the familys arable land and farm. The final weeks, they spent in an old peoples home in Wurzburg. On September 23, 1942, the grandparents were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Grandmother Pauline died on January 25, 1943 due to the terrible living conditions. Moses died a few days later on February 10.

The grandchild, who would later become so famous, survived the war. On September 8, 1945, Karola Ruth Siegel emigrated to Palestine on board the Mataroa. Years later, she moved to the US via Paris. The young woman only had a few letters, pictures, and a washcloth with her initials K.S. with her. She has been carrying it her entire life. Her mother had put the washcloth in her suitcase when she was sent to the life-saving Kindertransport to Switzerland. She carried it with her when she was a soldier. She has had it with her all the time. It is holy to her. Including today, sometimes she takes it out of a small plastic bag in her apartment in New York City.

What the Nazis did to her family is omnipresent for Ruth Westheimer. America has made everything possible for me. When I see the pictures of people today who are storming the Capitol wearing ,Camp Auschwitz sweaters, Im speechless. However: America will survive this. And with her Hessian-American accent, she adds: We must keep saying to the young people: Think of these words  never again! Never again! All of this must never happen again.

Dr. Ruth : She taught America to have more fun with sex

Size doesnt matter, after all. Ruth Westheimer, who is only 1.40m tall, is considered the most successful sex expert in the world. The story of her life is incredible.

Ruth Westheimer 1946 in Palestine Foto: privat

After emigrating to Palestine in 1945, she became a sniper in the Palestine war and was injured by bomb fragments. Later, she studied psychology in Paris. In 1956, she moved to New York City and completed a PhD at Columbia University.

Two US-heroes with famous accents: Ruth Westheimer with Arnold Schwarzenegger Foto: Jeffrey Markowitz/Sygma/Getty Images

As Dr. Ruth, she revolutionizes the love live of Americans with sex advice  first on the radio, later on TV. The Wall Street Journal respectfully called her a mixture between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse. Ruth Westheimer was married three times and has two children. Im not telling the number of my lovers 
The teenage son of a millionaire farmer has been sentenced to life for murdering his 15-year-old lover in a 'ferocious and merciless attack' to stop the schoolboy exposing their sexual affair to his girlfriend.

Matthew Mason, 20, will serve a minimum of 28 years in prison after he was convicted of the pre-meditated murder of 15-year-old Alex Rodda at Chester Crown Court earlier this month.

During the trial, the court heard Mason lured Alex Rodda to remote woodland near the village of Ashley in Cheshire with the promise of sex before beating him to death with a wrench.

Mason, who was 18 at the time, had been involved in an intimate sexual relationship with Alex.

But in chilling messages revealed during the trial, the 15-year-old allegedly threatened to expose their affair after finding out Mason had been dating a girl for two years, the court heard.

In the week before the murder, Mason made internet searches for phrases including 'what would happen if you kicked someone down the stairs', 'everyday poison' and 'The mysteries of Cheshire unsolved deaths of missing people'.

Alex's semi-naked body was found by refuse collectors on December 13, 2019. His head and body had suffered at least 15 blows.

Sentencing Mason to a life term, the Honorary Recorder of Chester Judge Steven Everett told him: 'This was a pre-meditated murder, carefully planned and, in my judgment, ruthlessly carried out showing no empathy for your victim and a callous disregard for his family and friends.'

Matthew Mason, 20, (left) admitted bludgeoning 15-year-old Alex Rodda (right) to death with a wrench in woods in Ashley, Cheshire, on December 12, 2019

The 20-year-old had used a heavy and long wrench (pictured) to repeatedly beat 15-year-old Alex to the head and body with an estimated 15 separate blows and causing fatal injuries

Mason dragged Alex's body to the track at the side of the road in an attempt to put him inside his car. After failing, he drove away. Mason had dried blood on his hands and inside his car was a bin bag with his blood-stained green fleece, the wrench and Alex's large padded jacket

Mason drove Alex to a wooded area in Cheshire and subjected him to a ferocious and attack

Matthew Mason (pictured left), 20, bludgeoned Alex Rodda (right), 15, to death with a wrench in Ashley, Cheshire. Mason admitted hitting Rodda with the wrench but denied murder

Alex Rodda's family share heart-breaking statements with court In a victim impact statement read in court today, Alex's father, Adam Rodda Snr, said: 'I am the father of Alex and I give this statement on behalf of his mother, his brothers, sisters, grandparents, wider family and friends. 'Alex was my and my ex-wife's child. He was 15 at the time of his death and he was in his final year at Holmes Chapel, where he has many friends. 'Alex would often end a call and he would always say 'I love you' at the end of every phone call to his mum and to me. 'He would say this irrespective if his friends were there or not. It never stopped him. 'He always contributed himself to things he wanted and customers at work loved Alex, his confidence and happiness and he made an impression on people who would do anything else but love him. 'I have lost count of the amount of times customers said how lovely he was. He would always give them a hug and a kiss. 'But I will never get over the loss of our beautiful little boy. 'I will never get the chance to see him experience things in life that we all take for granted; having a loving relationship, getting married, having children, learning to drive and owning a car - something he was particular looking forward to. 'I am personally devastated for my poor boy feeling scared and alone before his death. 'I will not rest until I know what happened to my little boy. 'If I know the suffering he went through I can also suffer the pain he suffered and I can share the pain, then I would feel he has not suffered alone. 'I will never know what happened. I feel like I failed to protect my beautiful boy and I will never get over that feeling.' Lisa Rodda, Alex's mother said: 'For those who have had a child can only know the joy you experience by having that child of your own. It's unconditional love. 'They become the biggest treasure in your life. 'When you lose your child in the most horrific and brutal circumstances, as parents you really do experience hell.' Advertisement

After the 20-year-old was found guilty of murder earlier this month, Alex's family said: 'We have never come across a more selfish, cold and calculating person.'

Mason admitted hitting Alex with the wrench but denied murder, arguing he acted in self-defence and that he had lost control after being provoked.

Mason told the court he did not believe his friends would accept him if he was gay or bisexual.

The trial heard Alex had contacted Mason's then girlfriend, Caitlyn Lancashire, in November 2019 and told her he had been sending 'flirty' messages and an explicit picture and video.

Mason denied the allegations to his girlfriend but began making payments to Alex's bank account at around the same time.

By the time of Alex's death, Mason had transferred more than 2,200 and was asking friends and family to borrow money, the court heard.

Mason, who lived with his family on a farm near Knutsford, admitted having sex with Alex but said he thought it was 'wrong'.

The agricultural engineering student, who was involved in the Young Farmer's group, said he was straight but began questioning his sexuality following messages from Alex.

After the end of the trial, messages sent between Alex and Mason - from their initial contact on Facebook and Snapchat to text arguments over money - were made public.

Mason told jurors that the conversations were at first brief and polite before becoming more intimate.

Alex told Mason he was 'fit' before they started swapping pictures on Snapchat, leading to Mason sending Alex a 'd*** pic' and also sending a video of himself masturbating, the Mirror reported Mason as claiming.

Just days later, Alex messaged Mason's then-girlfriend, Caitlyn Lancashire, exposing their illicit liaison.

Later that day, Mason added Alex as a payee to his bank account and transferred him 50 - just after Alex told Mason that he still had the 'd*** pic' Mason had drunkenly sent him.

According to the Mirror, Alex told Mason via message: 'Remember when you sent me ur d*** n u w***** oh yeah i got the picture you sent. Don't lie now there's no point Matt I've got the proof.'

When Mason denied this, he said: 'I will literally put your d*** on my story and @ you if you don't stop lying.'

On December 12, 2019, Mason picked up Alex from outside his house and drove him to a secluded woodland area outside Ashley, near Altrincham, prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC told jurors.

He beat the popular schoolboy to death with a large metal wrench in what the pathologist described as 'a violent, repetitive assault.'

Mason stayed with Alex's body for around an hour before leaving the area and going to a friend's outhouse to clean himself up.

He then went to two different pubs where he was seen on CCTV having a pint with friends and sending a Snapchat selfie to his group of friends of him smiling, which was shown to the court.

At around 2am, Mason drove back to the secluded spot and attempted to move Alex's body by dragging it from the woodland. After moving his body 20m, he gave up and drove home.

In a victim impact statement read in court today, Alex's father, Adam Rodda Snr, said: 'I will never get the chance to see him experience things in life that we all take for granted; having a loving relationship, getting married, having children, learning to drive and owning a car - something he was particular looking forward to.

'I am personally devastated for my poor boy feeling scared and alone before his death.

'I will never know what happened. I feel like I failed to protect my beautiful boy and I will never get over that feeling.'

Judge Steven Everett told Mr Rodda: 'It's not your fault. There is only one person at fault here and it's not you.

'You did nothing wrong.'

Lisa Rodda, Alex's mother said: 'Those who have had a child can only know the joy you experience by having that child of your own. It's unconditional love.

'They become the biggest treasure in your life.

'When you lose your child in the most horrific and brutal circumstances, as parents you really do experience hell.'

In the hours after his murder, Alex's mother was becoming increasingly concerned when he did not return home and she made numerous attempts to ring his phone but the calls would not connect.

She rang a number of his friends, who knew he had formed a relationship with Mason so messaged him over two hours.

Alex's mother was made aware of this and contacted Mason before reporting her son missing to police.

Most of their calls and messages went unanswered as Mason travelled back to the scene of his crime.

Alex's parents released a video of their 15-year-old son. In a statement, his family said: 'Our son Alex was a wonderful, gentle, loving, kind, caring, respectful boy who loved life and lived life to the full. His precious life was cut short all too soon at the hands of Matthew Mason'

Alex's mother Lisa Rodda, pictured arriving at Chester Crown Court in December

The order of service from the 15-year-old's funeral on Wednesday 29 January, 2020

Mason said he had taken the wrench with him because he felt 'intimidated' by Alex and intended to use it to 'scare' him.

Evidence showed Alex had been struck at least 15 times in what was described by the prosecution as a 'brutal' attack.

Mason was arrested the following day after Alex's body was discovered.

The 20-year-old had dried blood on his hands and fingers and inside the boot of his car was a bin bag with his blood-stained green fleece, the wrench and Alex's large padded jacket.

Sentencing, Judge Everett added: 'I sentence you for the murder of a 15-year-old boy, something I think you will never, ever understand.

'What is clear to me is that Alex was a much-loved son, grandson, brother and also a friend to many young persons.

'Although I accept he may have initiated contact with you, I am sure you not only responded to it, but actively encouraged a sexual relationship by sending him messages and [explicit images].

'In that regard, you clearly encouraged your young victim to involve himself in what was clearly his first real sexual experience. In other words, you groomed him.

'You were only thinking about yourself and you cared not a jot for anybody else.

'He didn't realise the consequences of what he was doing, you clearly understood this. In reality not only were you much older, not just in years, but more emotionally mature than him.

'This was carefully planned and ruthlessly carried out, showing no empathy and a callous disregard for Alex, his family and friends.

'You are a selfish individual and thought about nobody but yourself.'

Speaking to Alex's family, Judge Everett said: 'Nothing I can say will ever compensate you. It will give you limited closure. You have my sincerest condolences.'

Detective Inspector Nigel Reid, from Cheshire Police's Major Investigation Team, said: 'It has been a painstaking investigation involving a dedicated team of detectives.

'They have worked extremely hard to gather evidence to show the true extent of the relationship between Mason and Alex and the true picture of what happened that night.

Grief-stricken family slam 'selfish, cold and calculating' teen killer In a statement, Alex's family said: 'Our son Alex was a wonderful, gentle, loving, kind, caring, respectful boy who loved life and lived life to the full. His precious life was cut short all too soon at the hands of Matthew Mason. 'Mason admitted killing Alex from the outset of this trial but still felt the need to put us through the trauma of this trial in an attempt to minimise his sentence. 'He never once considered the pain it would put our family through, or indeed his own family. 'We have never come across a more selfish, cold and calculating person. 'Mason has attempted to blame Alex and discredit his name throughout this trial, and thankfully the jury were able to see through his web of deceit.' Advertisement

'I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Mr and Mrs Rodda for their patience and support throughout the investigation.

'The true extent of Mason and Alex's relationship could not have been done without the bravery and courage of Alex's friends.

'They provided key information to the investigation, despite their grief and heartache, in order to secure justice for their friend.

'Mason had murder on his mind as he drove Alex to his death under the pretence of sexual activity.

'He chose a secluded place to kill him in cold blood, a place he believed he would go unseen and his crime undetected.

'Alex was a popular young boy who was much loved by his family and friends. I hope the conviction of Mason helps Alex's family and his close friends to come to terms with such a terrible tragedy.

'My thoughts continue to be with them all.'

David Keane, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said: 'I would like to commend the investigation team who worked tirelessly to gather crucial evidence in order to secure justice for Alex, his family and friends.

'His death shocked the local community and all those who were close to him. My thoughts are with them during this difficult time.'
Syria has condemned western countries for interring in the affairs of Russia and accused them of exploiting the Navalny issue writes SANA.

Syria has strongly condemned the blatant US and Western interference in the internal affairs of Federal Russia, pointing out that this behavior show once again the state of hypocrisy, which has become a distinctive characteristic of the Western policies, particularly when they talk about democracy and human rights.

An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry told SANA in a statement on Sunday that the Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns the flagrant US and Western interference in the internal affairs of Federal Russia and the agitation campaign which aims at destabilizing it.

The source added that this Western behaviors show once again the state of hypocrisy, which has become a distinctive characteristic of Western policies, particularly when they talk about democracy and human rights as its policies either inside or outside their countries, while they have flagrantly contradicted the simplest principles of human rights and claimed the lives of a large number of innocent victims in several areas across the world.

The source concluded as saying that the Wests cheap exploitation of the issue of Navalny no longer deceives anyone because it lacks minimum credibility and it aims to distort the image of Federal Russia and to use their agents and dirty tools inside Russia to serve the Wests agendas of continuing its hegemony on the world and violate the sovereignty of its states.

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.
Iraq will pump less oil this month and next to make up for excess production last year, the deputy chief of SOMO, the oil marketing company of Baghdad.

For both January and February, Iraq plans average daily output of 3.6 million barrels, Ali Nizar told Bloomberg in an interview. This would compare with 3.85 million barrels daily for December.

Exports will also fall, to some 3 million bpd from 3.3 million bpd for December, as long as the Kurdistan Regional Government agrees to cut its oil output as well, Nizar said. The December export figure significantly exceeded Iraqs own forecast for the month, which saw exports at 2.8 million bpd.

Separately, Iraq reportedly plans to cut exports of crude to India, one of the worlds top three oil importers, to stay within its OPEC+ production quota. The news was unexpected, according to industry sources who spoke to Reuters last week, and involved supply cuts of between 10 and 20 percent to some Indian refiners.

Iraq is OPECs second-largest producer and exporter and the biggest supplier of oil to India. However, the country has consistently failed to meet its production quota as agreed under the OPEC+ deal to control oil supply amid the pandemic. As a result, OPECs number-one, Saudi Arabia, threatened the laggard and its fellow quota violator Nigeria that it would start pumping more oil unless they got in line. Since then, the two have been trying, committing to deeper cuts than initially agreed to make up for the overproduction.

With production capped, Iraq is struggling to maximize what it can export. Recently, the country struck a deal with a Chinese company to supply it with crude in exchange for an advance payment of $2 billion. Baghdad needs the money now to prop up its ailing economy that has yet to recover from the effects of the war with the Islamic State.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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Local Catch Network Logo This grant will help to ensure that these alternative business models remain sustainable long-term and seafood is recognized as an integral part of local and regional food systems

The Local Catch Network, based in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, has received a half-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) to support better integration of seafood into local and regional food systems and fund the creation of Scale Your Local Catch, the first nationwide training and technical assistance program to catalyze sustainable direct-to-consumer seafood operations.

The Local Catch Network has raised $624,331 for the project, which included a 25 percent match contribution from the University of Maine System, in addition to a $499,463 grant awarded by the USDA. With funding secured, the Local Catch Network is now in the beginning stages of building out the Scale Your Local Catch programs infrastructure and expects to start recruiting its first cohort in the summer of 2021. To start, the program will prioritize seafood operations that serve consumers in low income and low food access areas.

Joshua Stoll, Assistant Professor of Marine Policy at the University of Maine and co-founder of the Local Catch Network, explained the significance of the project:

We are thrilled that the Local Catch Network is receiving this incredibly important and timely grant. As we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, and repeatedly in recent history, fishers and seafood harvesters are vulnerable to social, environmental, and economic shocks. Direct and values-based seafood businesses have been a bright spot, stepping up during the pandemic when traditional supply chains have faltered. This grant will help to ensure that these alternative business models remain sustainable long-term and seafood is recognized as an integral part of local and regional food systems.

A broad range of skills, from marketing and social media management to pricing and permitting, are required to successfully sell seafood directly to consumers. Scale Your Local Catch will reduce the learning curve for fishing communities by leveraging the collective experience of the Local Catch Network and partnering organizations through workshops, networking and mentorship opportunities, and digital tools, such as a next-generation Seafood Finder designed to link consumers with producers in their local area. Scale Your Local Catch is being modeled after Ag of the Middle, a well-established training program for small and mid-sized agricultural businesses facilitated by the Oregon-based non-profit, Ecotrust.

Weve successfully built a training program for farmers in the Northwest to expand their ability to feed the region. Scale Your Local Catch will expand the model and reach communities across the country, especially low-income communities and areas with low food access, said Tyson Rasor of Ecotrust, one of the grant program partners.

As a seafood business owner, I am so pleased with this opportunity to expand the Local Catch Network and support business models like ours across the US, said Kerry Marhefka of Abundant Seafood and Executive Committee member of the Local Catch Network. We must work collectively to demystify seafood as a protein source for consumers, remove physical, financial and educational barriers to access, and foster greater understanding of community supported fisheries as a path to creating more resilient and thriving local economies.

About USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP)

The USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) funds projects that develop, coordinate and expand direct producer-to-consumer markets to help increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products by developing, coordinating, expanding, and providing outreach, training, and technical assistance to domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism activities, online sales or other direct producer-to-consumer (including direct producer-to-retail, direct producer-to-restaurant and direct producer-to-institutional marketing) market opportunities. A 25% match is required.

About Local Catch Network

The Local Catch Network, based at the University of Maine, is an inclusive, values-based network of 500+ seafood harvesters, researchers, and community organizations from across North America. LCN members support and promote safe, direct, transparent and profitable boat-to-fork systems of local and regional seafood distribution, such as Community Supported Fisheries (CSFs) and similar models. LCN is governed by a volunteer Executive Committee responsible for supporting the growth and development of the network, with backbone support from the North American Marine Alliance. FMI: https://localcatch.org/.

This disturbing video shows the moment care home staff dragged a quivering and distressed disabled pensioner across her room, leaving her in a urine-stained bed.

Michael Lanera fitted a spy camera in his 85-year-old dementia-stricken mother's room in Halifax, West Yorkshire, after he suspected she was being mistreated.

The shocking video, filmed on December 1, 2018, shows nurse Mamello Herring and care worker Maria Jackson dragging Angelina Lanera from the toilet back to her bed with her knickers around her ankles.

Mrs Lanera can be heard screaming and crying in distress, but the workers continue to manhandle her using a banned 'drag lift' technique which involves someone putting a hand or arm under the person's armpit.

The technique is banned because it can result in injuries to those involved. The care workers are seen to leave her in the urine-stained bed and clothes, Bradford Crown Court heard on Friday.

Prosecutor Wayne Jackson said on December 1, 2018, Mr Lanera visited his mother and found her lying in a urine-stained bed still in her clothes from the day before. When he checked the camera he discovered the horrific footage.

When the pair were questioned Herring said she knew 'drag lifting' was not permitted because it was unsafe and she had been taught that in training sessions, the court heard.

The defendant Jackson also accepted her actions had been wrong and it went against her training.

Herring, 55, of Leeds, pleaded guilty to a charge of ill treatment by a care worker, which can carry a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

She was given an 18-month community order and told to do 250 hours' unpaid work for the community.

Jackson, 41, of Hipperholme, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to common assault and also received an 18-month community order. She was ordered to do 180 hours' unpaid work.

Although Herring had been suspended from the nursing register, she had continued to work in the care sector, the court heard.

Michael Lanera fitted a spy camera in his 85-year-old dementia-stricken mother's room in Halifax, West Yorkshire, after he suspected she was being mistreated

Mrs Lanera can be heard screaming and crying in distress, but the workers continue to manhandle her using a banned 'drag lift' technique which involves someone putting a hand or arm under the person's armpit

Jackson had been doing kitchen work at other care homes during the Covid pandemic.

Herring expressed remorse for her offending and said she was ashamed of her conduct shown on the footage.

Jackson's barrister said she had been relatively inexperienced and junior at the time of the offending.

She was said to have handled a difficult situation badly and it was a great regret.

The Recorder of Bradford Judge Richard Mansell QC said 'drag lifting' was specifically excluded because it was potentially unsafe never mind the indignity it involved.

He told them: 'I totally reject any suggestion that either of you were not sufficiently trained or experienced to understand that.

'You had the training, however, and to drag a lady as vulnerable as her from the toilet, with her knickers around her ankles and then to manhandle her on to and up her bed, whilst she was moaning and crying in distress, is a gross failure by both of you to care for this lady.'

He accepted that dealing with such vulnerable residents was challenging, but added: 'You both deserve to have lost, or to lose, your jobs because this kind of lack of humane treatment has no place in any care home setting.'

Mr Lanera set up the camera after he suspected his mother Angela Lanera wasn't being properly looked after at the care home in Halifax

The judge said Mrs Lanera had been found by her son in urine-soaked clothing and the pair would have got away with what they had done if he had not installed the camera.

Judge Mansell said many right-thinking members of the public would consider a short sentence of imprisonment was deserved by both defendants.

But he concluded the offending had not been wilful or deliberate ill treatment.

He said it had been 'grossly negligent behaviour' brought about by a lazy, sloppy failure on the part of both defendants to take their time and follow proper caring procedures in her care plan.

He added that if it had taken up to half an hour to use a Zimmer frame, chair or hoist to carefully lift Mrs Landera back into bed and get her settled, that should have happened.

He said that was the kind of care Mrs Lanera had a right to expect, but the pair had treated their resident 'like an object'.

Mr Lanera attended the hearing and Judge Mansell said he was sorry that he had had to wait so long for the case to be concluded.

Judge Mansell added: 'I'm sure you feel that both defendants possibly deserve more severe sentences than they have received, but at least there is some closure.'

Speaking after the sentencing, Mr Lanera said he was 'angry' at the pair who should have been caring for his vulnerable mother, who has since died.

He said: 'I'm really angry with them for they did to my mum. Mamello has set up her own healthcare business. This is an insult to my late mother.

'She had also been warned before about her actions when she lifted a patient with a broken leg at another care home.

'I believe in second chances and we all make mistakes. But she hasn't learnt from her mistakes and now she's been able to set up a business in healthcare.

'She shouldn't be able to work in care again.

'Jackson is working in a kitchen, at least she is away from vulnerable people there.'
Hyderabad:

Not so long ago, the ruling TRS in Telangana and the BJP were engaged in war of words. But not anymore.

The reason: Telangana Chief Minister and TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao has backed NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

Rao was present when the former Bihar Governor filed his nomination papers last week in New Delhi.

In fact, the Telangana unit of BJP was wholesome in praising the chief minister for rising above regular politics and adopting a bipartisan approach.

The BJP welcomes the support KCR has extended to the presidential nominee of NDA despite not being an NDA alliance partner, Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao told PTI.

We certainly welcome KCRs leadership in terms of taking this kind of bipartisan (approach), working on either side of aisle and rising above party politics, he said.

Only last month, the two parties were at each others throat.

During his visit to Telangana last month, BJP president Amit Shah had sought to underline huge Central funding to the state. The figures were, however, fiercely contested by the chief minister, who even sought an apology from Shah.

With both trying to prove each other wrong, what followed was a bitter exchange of words between the BJP, which is aiming a shot at power in the state in 2019, and the TRS.

The Telangana BJP, however, does not want to read too much into the TRS swift move to back the BJPs pick for the presidential post, noting its a constitutional position not a political one.

Its the position where the head of the State actually safeguards the Constitution of India which I think is far above the political ideology of different parties, Krishna Saagar Rao said.

The BJP indicated there would not be any let up in its fight against the TRS government.

We fight with the ruling party, specially when they are not living up to the expectations of mandate given to them, and if they are indulging in corruption or mis-governance and not delivering on the promises they have made to the electorate, the BJP spokesperson said.

The battle that the BJP is waging against the TRS government is not a personal one but its a fight for the people of Telangana, he said.

According to sources in the BJP and TRS, the chief minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoy an excellent personal equation.

Rao had backed Modis demonetisation initiative, which had earned the chief minister goodwill from BJP leaders.

Also read: Presidential poll: Kovind to be in Lucknow on Sunday, set to embark on nation-wide tour

Also read: Monsoon Session of Parliament to kick start with Presidential Poll

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.

As CEO at Cork Cancer Care Centre, I am used to the building bustling with chat. I think that this lockdown has been the hardest of them all - on everybody.

Cork Cancer Care remained open throughout this time. Our holistic therapies had to stop because they are touch therapies, but we do counselling and psychotherapy by phone and online and a huge percentage of ours are face to face. It's very hard to talk about how you are feeling on a Zoom call.

The pandemic has been tough on everyone, there is nobody that has not been affected by it. Whether you are a man or a woman, a child or an adult - everybody has had a difficult time.

I think that cancer was forgotten last year. Suddenly people found it very hard to get their smear checks, they couldn't get their breast checks. There were delays in appointments, delays in diagnoses - it was a very scary time. For anyone going through chemotherapy, it has been an extremely scary time. They are really up there in the vulnerable groups and couldn't leave their homes.

We see a huge amount of women coming to us between the ages of 35 and 45. They are all young women or young Mums with small children. One of my first ladies was Irene Teap and she left a huge impact on me from the first moment I met her.

She was so strong, with two little boys and I remember when she left the very first day, I must have cried for about an hour. When we lost her in 2017 I was devastated. I began to learn how to speak to people without breaking down.

You can't cry when you are talking to someone, you are not helping them. You are crying for yourself, not for them.

The centre has always acted as a kind of a haven. It was a place where clients could come in and sit down to relax and talk to other people going through cancer. It was a second home for our clients and it was taken away. This refuge that we have created was suddenly not there anymore.

I find it so hard, the door buzzes and you say hello to the person coming in and they are in and out. Before they would have a cup of tea and a chat and fill us in on what was going on in their lives - you build up a friendship with people. I find the building very quiet, now.

One thing that has not stopped is knitting! The Blankets of Hope is an initiative that was started when our founder Ann Spillane saw something similar in America.

We started by asking the volunteers at the centre and their families who might have an interest in knitting to knit squares or blankets. The idea was to be able to send someone receiving treatment a blanket to let them know that we were thinking of them, and give them something that would comfort them. We began on January 4, 2014 and to date, we have donated over 25,000 blankets to oncology wards around the country and worldwide.

We have knitters who send blankets to us from all over the world. We have a lady in Glasgow and a lady in Wales who are both in their late eighties and are knitting blankets for cancer patients all the time. We have a lady who is 94 in the south of France who makes the most beautiful crochet blankets and gets her nephew to send them to us.

The blankets take weeks and sometimes months to make, and even though the people who receive them never know who made their blanket, they feel the love that is in those threads. Our clients say to me, 'Linda, it's my blankie - it's in my car, it comes to every treatment. It is my comfort.'

People find us through our Facebook page and will ask us to post their loved one a blanket, and of course, they go to all the oncology wards in Cork, up to St James' Hospital in Dublin, to the Ronald McDonald House in Dublin. They go to Galway and Kerry and all over the country. And we send about fifteen blankets a week to Europe.

Since the arrival of Covid-19, groups and individuals have been sending their blankets direct to the centre. We sterilise them, put the date on them and then we don't touch them for six weeks. We pack them and send them once we know that they are safe for those who will receive them.

Imagine all the people who have sat down to knit a blanket or crochet a piece for the sole purpose of comforting someone who is experiencing cancer. It is something that is so beautiful to me.

Blankets of Hope was a recipient of Tesco Irelands Community Fund. Since 2014, more than 20,000 community projects across Ireland have benefited from Community Fund donations  from national charities to grassroots, local community-based groups. Tesco Irelands Community Fund has reached 5 million in donations to local communities.

Find out more about Blankets of Hope at www.corkcancercarecentre.ie
Sproud makes plant-based milk from yellow split peas

Milk-alternative business Sproud based in Sweden has received GBP4.8m (US$6.5m) in funding from venture-capital investor VGC Partners in London.

Founded in 2018, Sproud produces a range of plant-based milks using split yellow peas as the main ingredient, along with non-GMO oils and syrups, and added "essential vitamins". The products are all free-from lactose, gluten and soy. "When compared to oat milk, the Sproud variants contain double the amount of protein (five times the amount in almond milk) and far less sugars", the company claimed in a statement.

Sproud will use the funds to expand distribution for its 100% vegan alternative milks in its key markets of the UK, the US and Canada. In the UK, the firm supplies Waitrose, Amazon and Ocado, and also independent shops, cafes and restaurants.

Nicklas Jungberg, a co-founder of Sproud and also its chairman, said: "We are really pleased to have the backing of VGC on our mission to create the best tasting, and most sustainable plant-based offering on the market. We have reached a stage where most people are now aware of the positive impacts that swapping dairy for vegan substitutes would have on our planet and health."

Headquartered in Malmo, Sweden, Sproud employs six people in the Nordics and exports to 15 markets. The new funding takes the company's financing to date to GBP8.7m. Past investors include Findeln Holding, a Malmo-based, family-owned investment company in which Sproud's co-founder Jungberg is a majority shareholder, and Swedish investment group Dream Beverage.

VGC, meanwhile, has also previously invested in egg-alternative business Just.

Parminder Basran, who founded VGC in 2011, added: "We believe Sproud has the potential to become a global leader in the huge and growing dairy-alternative market, owing not only to its superior taste and nutrition profile, but also due to its positive environmental and sustainability credentials.

"Through our experience of backing innovative food and drink brands, we have a deep understanding of the plant-based market, including from the perspective of evolving consumer demands and the cutting-edge product innovation that is catering to this."


First Minister Arlene Foster has paid tribute to a former mayor of Larne Borough Council after he passed away on Sunday.

Robert (Bobby) McKee MBE from Larne died peacefully at Antrim Area Hospital.

He is survived by his wife Betty, sons Simon and Jeremy, and the wider family circle.

Mr McKee, who was a DUP councillor on the old Larne Borough Council from 1989 until the amalgamation of Northern Ireland's local councils in 2015, was a former member of the UVF.

After losing both of his legs in a car bomb, Mr McKee spent the rest of his life trying to enhance his local community. He last held the office of mayor from 2011 until 2012.

DUP leader Mrs Foster said Mr McKee was solely focused on improving Larne after leaving the UVF.

"Bobby was a dedicated public representative to the people of Larne for over 20 years," she stated.

"Leaving behind involvement in the Troubles earlier in his life, which also resulted in serious injury, Bobby focused on making his local area a better place for everyone.

"Serving three times as the mayor of Larne, he was respected across the community. Bobby was a proud Larne man and a very proud unionist.

"He was never frightened to take a stand against those who would seek to drag Larne backwards. He always had the best interests of his constituents at heart."

Mrs Foster added that Mr McKee's loss will be "keenly felt" across the Larne community.

"My thoughts are with his wife Betty, the wider family and his friends at this most difficult time," she continued.

"I hope they can draw comfort from the many messages of support and all those paying tribute to Bobby at this time."

East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson described Mr McKee as a "true gentleman", who served the DUP faithfully for many years.

"He was involved in local politics during the most turbulent of times and carried the physical scars from the terrorist campaign which was waged against the people of Northern Ireland," said Mr Wilson.

"In the past 24 hours, I have been inundated with messages from people who remember his kindness, his dedication to public life and the colourful way in which he approached politics.

"Bobby's interest in the disabled and in social housing was well known. Building on his personal experience, he was a vociferous champion for disability rights within the DUP and wider society."

Mr McKee was a founder member of the Northern Ireland Amputees Association and a former member of Larne's Roddensvale School's board of governors.

In a statement, the school passed on its sympathies to Mr McKee's family.

"The governors and staff of Roddensvale School are saddened to hear of the passing of Mr Bobby McKee MBE," the school wrote. "He was involved in the campaign to provide hydrotherapy provision at the school and saw this completed in 2017.

"His generosity saw him donating the proceeds of the close of his disabled fitness suite to the school."

East Antrim DUP said it was with "profound sadness" that they learned of the death of their "friend".

Funeral arrangements for Mr McKee have not been released to the public but it will be a private service in line with the current health regulations.
Several farming communities within Amansie Central and Amansie South Districts in the Ashanti Region have heaped praises on Heritage Imperial Mining Company for providing them with social amenities meant to facelift their communities.



As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Heritage Imperial Mining Company has been embarking on a number of projects in communities within their catchment area to contribute to addressing pressing social and environmental problems facing these communities.



This mining company manned by Ghanaians only started full operations in 2018 after acquiring all the legal documentation in 2017 and according to the residents has been supportive to the socio-economic growth of their respective communities.



Some of the projects include water, teachers bungalow, Police Station , Community Centre , Market among others of which most of them are all ongoing except with few which are already completed and in use.



Residents in these beneficiary communities including Moosikrom, Kobro, Ankam, Odaho and others were of the view that Heritage Imperial Mining Company has proven their worth through their developmental support they have initiated in several communities.



One major challenge facing almost all communities visited was water.



Accessing water for domestic purposes seems to be a great burden on residents and they were hopeful the provision of water will be of great help as far as acute water shortage still remains a problem in the communities.



Some of the Chiefs and the people including Otumfuo Werempemhene, Nana Opia Mensah II spoke to Peacefmonline lauding the good work of Heritage Imperial Mining Company.



Nana Opia Mensah II mentioned that if all or majority of company will take their Corporate Social Responsibilities at heart, burdens on government and Traditional Authorities in the name of solving developmental challenges in the society will lessen.



At Kobro, a cocoa growing community, the company has built water for the community and is now assisting the town to put up a community Centre which is now ongoing.







The Community Centre, after completion, is expected to accommodate approximately 500 people during events.



The Sompahene of Kobro, Nana Yaw Anning II appreciated the efforts made by Heritage Imperial Mining Company in supporting the town pledging his unflinching support to the growth of the company.



An elder from the community, Opanin Martin Kumah hinted how the mining company has allocated a sum of GHC 150,000 for developmental projects in the town.

Source: Sampson Kwame Nyamekye (A/R), 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
Australias national honours and awards system is a lost opportunity to incorporate Indigenous traditions into our shared culture, while building their recognition internationally.

Each Australia Day and Queens Birthday, outstanding Australians are honoured in recognition of their contribution to improve our country. It remains contestable that theres value in an elitist awards system, but so long as it exists Australians should at least understand it.

Margaret Court will be recognised on Australia Day with a Companion of the Order of Australia. Credit:Getty Images

Despite the appropriate respect for the awards, many Australians are befuddled by what AOs, AMs, OAMs and ACs mean, or even their value, which is brought into question when they are awarded to controversial Australians.

And despite legitimate criticism at the time, this was one of the points made by former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2014 when he reintroduced Australian knights and dames. While his actions misunderstood Australias modern multicultural character, his fundamental critique of the honours system had merit.
DUBLIN, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Casino Management Systems Market by Component (Solutions and Services), Application (Accounting, Security and Surveillance, Player Tracking, Hotel and Hospitality, Analytics, and Digital Content Management), End User, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Casino Management Systems Market is Projected to Grow from USD 6.4 Billion in 2020 to USD 13.7 Billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.4% during the Forecast Period.

The evolving lifestyle and societal concerns and increasing use of cashless slot machines and server based gaming to drive the market growth.

By component, services segment to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period

The services include the support offered by casino management system vendors to assist their customers in using and maintaining casino management system efficiently. Vendors offer different services, such as consulting, deployment and integration, support and maintenance to the end users. The services segment has witnessed tremendous growth in recent years due to the increasing need for replacing legacy casino infrastructure in the casinos and resorts. Therefore, services segment registers the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

By application, the security and surveillance segment to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period

Today's demanding business environments require proficient handling of processes by implementing CMS solutions across casinos. Over time, video surveillance has been proved to be an effective tool to create a secure and healthy environment in the gambling industry.



Most of the casinos are deploying new generation of cameras and networking equipment, security and surveillance systems not only captures a player's actions, but it also helps to store it for future references. CCTV cameras are now being replaced by IP cameras, since IP cameras require less hardware. Security and surveillance software would have more deployments in future. Therefore, the security and surveillance segment holds the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

Asia Pacific to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period

Asia Pacific (APAC) has witnessed an advanced and dynamic adoption of new technologies and is expected to record the highest CAGR in the global Casino management system market during the forecast period. APAC constitutes major economies, such as China, Japan, Singapore, and Australia and New Zealand, which are expected to register high growth rates in the casino management system market. In recent years, the APAC region has undergone tremendous economic growth, political transformations, and social changes. India, Japan, and Singapore, and Australia are the new casino heavens for gamblers and are attracting new casinos in the region.



These new casinos are attracting installations of more deployment of IT solution and systems. Post-pandemic the APAC has become new revenue generating regional market and will lead in next couple of years in terms of revenues. China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of security components such as video surveillance cameras, biometric devices, and communication equipment.



Companies operating in APAC would benefit from the flexible economic conditions, industrialization-motivated policies of the governments, as well as from the growing digitalization, which is expected to have a significant impact on the business community.

Market Dynamics



Drivers

Demand for Better Management of Security and Surveillance Operations in Casinos

Significant Cost Savings Enabled by the Adoption of Casino Management Solutions

Growing Concerns Over Cyber Threats in the Hospitality and Gaming Industry

Restraints

Growing Popularity of Online Casinos/Gambling

Unfavorable Regulatory Landscape for Gambling

Opportunities

Use of Advanced Analytical Technologies for Improving the Solution Capabilities

Growth of the Hospitality Industry in Emerging Countries

Integration with Complementary Solutions to Enhance Solution Utility

Challenges

Steep Decline in Casino Revenues and Operations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lack of Skilled It Professionals

Technology Analysis

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Online Gaming and Gambling

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Blockchain

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity and Data Regulatory Implications

General Data Protection Regulation

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

Federal Information Security Management Act

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

International Organization for Standardization 27001

Use Cases

Bao Son International Hotel Versace's Club Deploys Igt Advantage to Handle a Rage of Essential Functions

Grand Sierra Resort Deployed Konami's Synkors as the Exclusive Casino Management Platform

Kate Systems and Access-Is Collaborated on the Casino Management Systems to Comply with Legal Mandates in Belgium

Table Trac Helped the Running Creek Casino to Upgrade Its Casino Management Systems

Igt Acquires Majority of the Class Iii Game Floor at the Emerald Queen I-5 Casino

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

5 Market Overview

6 Casino Management Systems Market, by Component

7 Casino Management Systems Market, by End-user

8 Casino Management Systems Market, by Application

9 Casino Management Systems Market, by Region

10 Adjacent Markets

11 Competitive Landscape

12 Company Profiles

Novomatic

Scientific Games

Konami Gaming

Panasonic

Oracle

Agilysys

Winsystems

Amatic Industries

Ensico Gaming

Honeywell

Apex Pro Gaming

Hcl

Dallmeier

Playtech

Lodging and Gaming Systems

Cyrun

International Game Technology

Wavestore

Tangam Systems

Advansys

Avigilon

Casinfo Systems

Startup Companies

Rngplay

Funfair

Gaming Analytics

Delta Casino Systems

Daobet

Casinoflex Systems

Omnigo

Ntechlab

Nelysis

Bateleur Systems

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/11z3t1

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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LONDON  Health experts, doctors and government officials in Britain are calling for a more concerted campaign to address vaccine hesitancy among minority groups, with some also urging that those groups be designated a priority for immunization against the coronavirus because they are more at risk.

The government said on Monday that it would give 23 million pounds, or about $31 million, to local councils and other groups in England to encourage vaccines among those most at risk from the virus, including minority groups, by trying to combat misinformation and to build trust in the authorities.

The pandemic has already thrown into sharp relief the persistent racial inequalities in Britain, which have played a role in the disproportionately high rates of infection and death among minority groups and, some say, deepened their mistrust of the government.

Recent polls showed that members of Black, Asian and other minority groups in the country are less open to getting the vaccine than white people are because they worry about the vaccines reliability. Britains drug regulator, seen as a bellwether agency, has said the vaccines are safe and effective.
Jammu, Jan 25 : In a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari reiterated the demand for the restoration of statehood of Jammu & Kashmir, the party said in a statement on Monday.

The statement said that the during the meeting on Sunday, Bukhari also presented a memorandum highlighting the pressing demands of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting that lasted almost for an hour was held in a very cordial atmosphere.

Reiterating his demand for the restoration of statehood of J&K, Bukhari urged the Prime Minister not to delay fulfillment of this commitment any further.

Expressing serious concern with regard to the rising unemployment rate in J&K, Apni Party chief urged for formulation of a comprehensive employment package for the youth of J&K who have been yearning for a dignified livelihood.

He emphasized on the need for exploration of viable options including roping in of multinational companies across the country and in the gulf countries so as to address the unemployment problem of J&K's qualified and skilled youth.

Bukhari also solicited the intervention of the Prime Minister for restoration of age relaxation for J&K's UPSC aspirants that was in vogue before January 2020. He said that scrapping the UPSC age relaxation clause to the Domicile of J&K has extremely disappointed the youth of J&K.

Similarly, Bukhari urged the Prime Minister to order lifting of ban on 4G mobile internet services across Jammu and Kashmir. He termed the ban on 4G in J&K unjustifiable and a discrimination with the people especially the student and business community.

Referring to the return of Kashmiri Pandits into the valley, Bukhari pleaded for an honourable return of Pandits and sought their rehabilitation with the majority community in the Valley. He said any ghettoization of this inseparable part of Kashmiri society will not be acceptable to the people.

Bukhari also pressed for the construction of individual and community bunkers for the border residents in J&K so as to prevent the loss of life and damages to the properties recurring due to cross LoC skirmishes.
Over the past few months, a climate of fear has been brewing at the heart of Government. Behind closed doors in Whitehall and Westminster, ministers are said to be gripped by a sense of panic.

But this has nothing to do with the pandemic, or with viral mutations arriving here from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro or the South African savannahs.

Instead, it revolves around Downing Streets decision to submit ministers for interview once more on Good Morning Britain  with a certain Piers Morgan.

It follows a ministerial boycott of the ITV flagship which began last summer  allegedly instigated by Boriss top aide, Dominic Cummings. It was something that Piers took personally and since normal service was resumed in November  after Cummings departed No 10  hes been devouring government officials the way a salivating schnauzer might feast upon a postmans bared ankle.

Over the past few months, a climate of fear has been brewing at the heart of Government. It revolves around Downing Streets decision to submit ministers for interview once more on Good Morning Britain  with a certain Piers Morgan

Yesterday, it was Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffeys turn.

As soon as Miss Coffey appeared over the video link, all weary-eyed and slouchy, you could see she was in a glum mood. How she longed to be somewhere else, somewhere less hostile. Like the chiropodist. Or war-torn Raqqa.

Piers co-host Susanna Reid glared at her guest with faux concern. She wanted to know when schools would reopen. Coffey frowned. Shed hoped to discuss her departments Kickstart scheme to get young people into to work.

Huffily she told Reid that she couldnt give her a date as discussions within Government were ongoing. Google translation: Get that pillock Gavin Williamson on here and ask him.

Piers was hovering impatiently, wriggling in his seat, shifting his weight from one side to the other.

A middle-weight boxer, bouncing up and down on his tippy toes, desperate for the ding ding of the refs bell, so he could get right in there and start throwing haymakers left, right and centre. Every now and again, he took a little slurp from his mug. Pumpkin-spiced latte, perhaps. Or more likely Castrol GTX.

He asked Coffey whether the Government had been properly prepared for coronavirus when it first reared its ugly head to the world this time last time year.

Coffey said theyd been well prepared for a more traditional type of flu. Ruddy virus. Always moving the goal posts. When is it going to play by the rules?

Piers moved on to the UKs high death toll, pointing to New Zealand where infection rates are almost zero. Of course, the mere mention of death rates should have set Ground Proximity Warning Alerts flashing inside Coffeys head. Danger! Too low! Pull Up! Pull Up!

As soon as Miss Coffey appeared over the video link, all weary-eyed and slouchy, you could see she was in a glum mood

Instead, she gulped down the Morgan bait and muttered something about the impact of the virus had on all those elderly and obese people around the country.

Pierss eyes swelled. Bingo!

Oh, so were all too old and too fat, he scoffed.

Coffey grappled the controls forlornly. I think thats very insulting what you just said, she spluttered.

You just said it! yelled back Piers. The mood had turned vinegary. Faced with no other option, La Coffey began scrambling for the ejector seat button.

Im, sorry Piers. Im going to another broadcast interview, she announced.

Faced with a guest about to storm out, some interviewers might beat a retreat. Shoot the cuffs and apply the charm. There, there, lets not be hasty.

Not Piersy. Instead, he began goading Coffey for avoiding him these past eight months.

Youve already had 20 minutes of my time, Coffey snapped.

Well, 13 minutes by my stopwatch. And with one outstret-ched arm toward the computer screen, zoik!

The minister vanished. Wow, OK! said Piers, his voice affecting the sort of wounded pride of someone whos just had their offer of assistance to a flailing enemy thrown back in their face.

Hours later, Coffey was in the Commons to answer Work and Pension questions. She looked forlorn. Shaken.

Watching her at the despatch box, she reminded me of a passenger disembarking gingerly down the gangway of a cruise liner following a particularly violent passage across the Bay of Biscay.
Infosys Ltd is quoting at Rs 1343.9, up 0.23% on the day as on 12:44 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 72.72% in last one year as compared to a 18.66% jump in NIFTY and a 60.54% jump in the Nifty IT.

Infosys Ltd is up for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 1343.9, up 0.23% on the day as on 12:44 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.06% on the day, quoting at 14380.7. The Sensex is at 48853.9, down 0.05%. Infosys Ltd has gained around 8.35% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty IT index of which Infosys Ltd is a constituent, has gained around 9.2% in last one month and is currently quoting at 26489.75, down 0.65% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 32.02 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 99.65 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark January futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 1343.05, up 0.3% on the day. Infosys Ltd is up 72.72% in last one year as compared to a 18.66% jump in NIFTY and a 60.54% jump in the Nifty IT index.

The PE of the stock is 32.34 based on TTM earnings ending December 20.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The ninth round of India-China corps commander level talks over the Ladakh stand-off, which began in Moldo at 11 am on Sunday, went on till about 2.30am the next day, officials in the know confirmed to CNN-News18.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be briefed about the meeting on Monday morning, the officials said.

"Additional Secretary Naveen Srivastava and a few others, including DGMO officials, arrived on Saturday morning. Further meetings are underway," an official had told News18 on Sunday.

Other than Srivastava, the Indian delegation included Lt Gen PGK Menon (GOC 14 Corps); Deepam Seth, IG North West Frontier, ITBP; Brig Rajiv Ghai (Army HQ, Delhi); Maj Gen Sanjay Mitra (GOC 39 Div); Maj Gen RS Raman, Brig HS Gill and others.

The meeting took place at the peak of winter when sub-zero temperatures have forced both sides to reduce deployment. "The core issues remain but the winter has forced literal cooling down. So, talks in that sense are happening on an improved backdrop," the officer said.

The talks were expected to take forward the phase-wise withdrawal agreed upon in the last round.

Up to 10,000 troops have been withdrawn from the rear areas by China since the onset of winters. Indian deployment has also mirrored the Chinese pattern.

Senior functionaries in the government told News18 that India is committed to deployment even in the challenging circumstances if that is what it takes to keep China at bay.

The last corps commander level talks happened in November where "both sides agreed to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries (India and China), ensure their frontline troops to exercise restraint and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation, as per India's statement.

India and China agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through military and diplomatic channels, and taking forward the discussions at this meeting, push for the settlement of other outstanding issues, so as to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. India and China also agreed to have another round of meeting soon, India had said after last round of talks.
The Trump administration issued a near-total ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military. Joe Biden once promised that he would reverse the ban as soon as he replaced Donald Trump as president. While the pledge was not part of the 17 executive orders he signed on his first day in the White House, the enduring scandal of sexual abuse in the military has raised concerns about conditions in the armed forces. Before Biden makes good on his promise, let's take a look at a special report on sexual assault scandals in the military. How many incidents happen every year? Who were the victims? How did they respond? And, was justice achieved in the end?






The snap of the snare drums is insistent. New Orleanians take joyous turns high-stepping and chicken strutting, dressed in the hand-sewn feathered finery of their social clubs and krewes. The celebration, shown on a new 30-second public service announcement airing in the city, is both resplendent and aching, an evocation of Carnival masking season that should have begun this month, culminating on Feb. 16 with Mardi Gras. All of it canceled, of course, by the coronavirus pandemic.
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PHOENIX  Arizona Democrats on Saturday picked Raquel Teran, a progressive state lawmaker, to be the partys next chairwoman as they look to maintain their top-of-the-ticket successes and extend them to down-ballot races.

Teran was a leader of the Latino-led movement that organized a decade ago following the passage of SB1070, a state law that targeted people living in the country illegally. She worked on successful efforts to recall the bills sponsor, former Sen. Russell Pearce, and defeat Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Democrats are emerging from decades in the shadows of Arizona politics. President Joe Biden won the states 11 electoral votes, and voters elected Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly in 2018 and 2020, respectively, marking the first time in seven decades that Democrats have held both U.S. Senate seats in Arizona.

But the party has been less successful in lesser-known races. Even as Kelly and Biden won last year, Republicans retained control of both legislative chambers and the state utility regulator. Republicans also won hotly contested races for supervisor, recorder and county attorney in Maricopa County.

Kelly, who won a special election last year to finish the last two years of the late Sen. John McCains term, faces a tough reelection fight next year. President Donald Trumps presence on the ballot led to sky-high turnout last year among his supporters and detractors alike; its unclear how Democrats will do without him on the ballot.

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Teran won by a wide margin during a virtual convention with the support of much of the partys most prominent figures, including Kelly and Sinema, members of congress, legislative leaders and mayors.

I am so happy that we won on top of the ticket. It feels good to win on the top of the ticket, but the consequences of losing the bottom of the ticket are life-altering, Teran said in a two-minute pitch to convention delegates, according to The Arizona Republic. Losing means that our communities suffer.

The party must find energizing candidates and leave no portion of the state behind, she said.

I met Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan when I was in rabbinical school, where she was one of my professors. These days I am honored to call her a colleague and friend. She recently visited my shul (via Zoom, of course) to share about her latest book, The Infinity Inside, a beautiful collection of essays and spiritual practices.

She's also a blogger, and has been sharing her words at On Sophia Street for ten years. In celebration of her tenth blogiversary, she recently interviewed me for her blog (and will be interviewing two other spiritual bloggers -- subscribe to her blog to read those interviews too!) We talked about poetry, liturgy, spiritual practice, grief work, Crossing the Sea, and more. Here's a taste of our conversation:

Laura: Youre a life-long writer and a long-time blogger. Can you tell us a little bit about why you write? Do you see it as a spiritual practice? Rachel: Writing is my most enduring spiritual practice. Ive been writing my way through the world for as long as I can remember. Sometimes writing is a gratitude practice, a way of articulating to myself the things in my life for which I can honestly say modah ani, I am thankful. Sometimes writing offers a lens onto a tangled knot of thinking and feeling. Sometimes I look back at what I wrote and that gives me perspective on whats constant and what changes. EM Forster is reported to have said, How do I know what I think until I see what I say? I love that. Writing, like prayer, is how I come to know myself...

Read the whole interview here: Rachel Barenblat: poetry, liturgy, spiritual practice.
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LAS CRUCES  When Las Cruces photographer Wayne Suggs saw a double-rainbow develop against the picturesque backdrop of the rugged Organ Mountains, his camera was already set up, but he was forced to think on the fly.

For three years, he had been trying to capture the hedgehog cacti behind his house in full bloom, in just the right light. But, on April 22  Earth Day  the skies opened up, it began raining in the desert, and something magical happened.

The photograph was taken about 200 yards behind Suggs house.

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Ive been trying to capture them, all in bloom, for about three years  and with quality light, he said. For three years, he was never able to get the right shot  the shot he wanted.

Id go out there in the evening, and it just wouldnt happen, Suggs said. Literally, for three years.

But on April 22, all of the right elements came into play. Suggs said he was set up for a horizontal shot but, as the rain began to fall, he was able to adjust and create a vertical shot that he was really excited about. Horizontally, he couldnt capture the rainbows that had begun to develop.

Because I did that, Ive got this huge, mega-pixel file, he said. And I can blow that picture up, just ginormous, and have sold it. And Ive worked really hard to get there. It wasnt as I pictured it was going to be, but was way better than I thought it would be.

He kept shooting until he was sure he had captured the image he wanted, he said. Uncharacteristically, he rushed inside afterward to see if hed gotten the photo hed hoped for.

I was so excited, Suggs said.

Suggs has been a photographer since he was 14 years old, he said, but he knew there was something special about the moment he had just captured.

That photo was among two by Suggs that were recently selected by the International Landscape Photographer of the Year contest judges as the 101 Best Photographs of 2020. The annual contest drew more than 3,800 entries this year from around the world. The contest is open to amateur and professional photographers alike.

Suggs, although he says hes not a big awards guy, said it feels great to bring attention to southern New Mexico.

They put out a book of the winning images every year, he said. And when you receive the book  with the images of our Organ Mountains, alongside the Dolomites of Italy, or Norway, or Patagonia, these world-renowned photography destinations  and its been in the book two years in a row  you realize how lucky we are to have this in our backyard.

In addition to the photo of the Organ Mountains, Suggs photo of The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in northern New Mexicos San Juan County was also recognized.

Again, Im not a big awards guy, said Suggs, who has won his fair share of awards. To me, photography is art, and its very subjective. Its wonderful, and I appreciate it. But I entered this year, and two of my images won. Its quite an honor.
In a letter to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President L. Rafael Reif, a draft of which was posted to Twitter, 100 MIT faculty members issued a resounding defense of their colleague, Professor Gang Chen, who was indicted last week on charges of wire fraud and tax violations and failing to disclose financial ties to China.

The Massachusetts US Attorneys Office issued a press release January 20 reporting that Chen, the director of the MIT Pappalardo Micro/Nano Engineering Laboratory and director of the Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC), was charged in a criminal complaint and arrested on January 14.

The press release states: Since 2012, Chen has allegedly held various appointments with the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] designed to promote the PRCs technological and scientific development by providing advice and expertisesometimes directly to PRC government officialsand often in exchange for financial compensation. This includes acting as an overseas expert for the PRC government at the request of the PRC Consulate Office in New York and serving as a member of at least two PRC Talent Programs. Since 2013, Chen allegedly received approximately $29 million of foreign funding, including $19 million from the PRCs Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech).

MIT Prof. Gang Chen (Imager credit: MIT)

The charges of wire fraud carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and the charge of making false statements carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Chen pleaded not guilty to all charges in US District Court in Boston and was released on bond. His attorney, Robert Fisher, said in a statement that Chen has dedicated his life to scientific advancement in mechanical engineering. He loves the United States and looks forward to vigorously defending these allegations.

Gang Chen is a 56-year-old naturalized US citizen who was born in China. He has a highly accomplished record as a scientific researcher and teacher. According to his curriculum vitae, Chen has published some 400 technical articles and 24 book chapters and attended over 450 invited talks around the world.

According to Clarivate Analytics, he is among the worlds most cited researchers in the physics and materials categories. Professor Chen has supervised more than 80 M.S. and Ph.D. student theses and has over 60 postdoctoral visiting scholars.

He is a recipient of the K.C. Wong Education Foundation fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Chen received a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, an R&D 100 award, a Heat Transfer Memorial Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an Erigen Medal from the Society of Engineering Science, and the MIT Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising. Cheng is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Chen achieved a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering in 1993 and has worked at MIT since 2004.

In a letter issued January 22, MIT President Reif said of the collaboration with SUSTech, While Professor Chen is its inaugural MIT faculty director, this is not an individual collaboration; it is a departmental one, supported by the Institute. He added, These funds are about advancing the work of a group of colleagues and the research and educational mission of MIT.

The faculty letter to the MIT president states that we are writing to encourage that you and MIT continue to stand forthrightly, proudly, and energetically behind Gang Chen. The authors present a detailed refutation of the allegations against Chen, whom they describe as a truly beloved teacher, scholar, scientist, mentor, colleague, and world leading academic.

The authors state, We are troubled that the complaint against Gang vilifies what would be considered normal academic and research activities, including promoting MITs global mission. The faculty members add that they are baffled by many elements of the official complaint and associated public statements against Chen.

The official complaint is filled with allegations and innuendo based on what are in fact some of the most routine and even innocuous elements of our professional lives. Standard practices such as writing recommendations for our students, so that they might receive fellowships or other prestigious and well-deserved career advancements, are portrayed as some sort of collusion with outside forces in an effort to help them steal American technology, the letter states.

Our routine participation in the evaluation of research proposals seems to be viewed in a similar manner. The fact that we do not report all these activities in our own research proposals is used as a basis for allegations of intentional wrongdoing, when in fact information about these practices is a well known and routine requirement of our job. In many respects, the complaint against Gang Chen is a complaint against all of us, and an affront to any citizen who values science and the scientific enterprise.

Of the claim that Chen received payments, the faculty members say that their understanding is that Gang did not receive $29 million, and MIT was the recipient of this money, which benefited the Institute, the research programs of many of its faculty, and its students. Singling him and his research group out as the sole recipient is simply wrong. The partnership with SUSTech was approved and overseen by MIT at the highest levels.

Chengs colleagues reject the claim that SUSTech operates as a proxy for the Chinese government, stating that MIT has created a formal Center with SUSTech University, it is MIT who appointed Gang as the Faculty Leader of this Center. The mission of this center is to encourage scientific and educational exchange.

They point out that MIT has similar relationships with universities and other entities from other countries, and that Most major universities in the world are public institutions and can be described reasonably as belonging to some arm of their countrys governments. If leaders in the US government believe cooperative research relationships with them are improper, the issue could be addressed legislatively or with executive authority.

In conclusion, the faculty members urge that MIT assume leadership in transforming this difficult time to a learning moment, in which the allegations against Gang Chen are discussed in the context of defending academic freedom in this country. In many respects the defense of Gang Chen is the defense of the scientific enterprise that we all hold dear. We are all Gang Chen.

Chen is the latest victim in an assault on scientists, intensified under the China Initiative, created in November 2018 by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. One year after the creation of this initiative, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a bipartisan report which concluded that foreign countries seek to exploit Americas openness to advance their own national interests, and that the most aggressive of them has been China.

As the WSWS has reported, the China initiative is a continuation of a decadeslong pressure campaign by the US ruling class in its drive for global domination. This campaign continues regardless whether the White House is occupied by a Republican or Democratic president.

Prior to assuming office, Biden made clear that he would continue Washingtons confrontation with and military preparations against China. In a November 16 article entitled, Biden likely to remain tough on Chinese tech like Huawei, but with more help from allies, the Washington Post included the following reference:

The United States does need to get tough with China. If China has its way, it will keep robbing the United States and American companies of their technology and intellectual property, Biden wrote in Foreign Affairs in the spring, echoing many of Trumps complaints. It will also keep using subsidies to give its state-owned enterprises an unfair advantageand a leg up on dominating the technologies and industries of the future.

A continuation of the anti-China policy has been spelled out in Senate hearings for Bidens national security cabinet. Most notably, Anthony Blinken, the nominee for secretary of state, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I also believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China. I disagree very much with the way that he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think thats actually helpful to our foreign policy.
No Phuket quarantine for Bangkok arrivals

PHUKET: People arriving in Phuket from in Bangkok no longer need to observe a mandatory 14-day quarantine following an order issued by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew yesterday (Jan 24).

COVID-19Coronavirushealthtourismeconomics

By The Phuket News

Monday 25 January 2021, 11:20AM

Bangkok and Samut Prakan are no longer on the list for mandatory 14-day quarantine after arriving in Phuket. Image: Phuketanticovid

However, they are asked to observe a 14-day quarantine at home and to continually monitor their health for signs of infection of COVID-19.

Previously, people arriving from four specific districts in Bangkok  Nong Khaem District, Bang Phlat District, Bang Khae District and Bang Khun Thian District  were required to observe a 14-day quarantine.

Also removed from the list of mandatory quarantine areas is Samut Prakan.

Following the order issued yesterday only people arriving from Samut Sakhon, Rayong, Chonburi, Trat, Chanthaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi must observe a 14-day quarantine after arriving in Phuket.

Visitors to the island may observe the 14-day quarantine at an Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) venue while Phuket residents may observe the 14-day quarantine at home.

The order yesterday moved Bangkok and Samut Prakan to the secondary list of red zone risk areas, which also includes Tak, Saraburi, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Nayok, Ranong, Chumphon, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Sa Kaeo, Ratchaburi, Petchburi, Samut Songkhram, Angthong, Chachoengsao and Prachin Buri.

People arriving from the 21 provinces/areas in the secondary list of red zone risk areas are asked to self-quarantine and must follow New Normal requirements.

However, the order clearly stated that whether or not any new arrival is to observe any quarantine after arriving in Phuket remained at the discretion of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for the area where the arrival is staying.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the Communicable Disease Committee yesterday (Jan 24) and published by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) yesterday afternoon.

Visitors from 11 orange zone provinces  Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Chainat, Phetchabun, Chaiyaphum, Buriram, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani or Phang Nga  are asked to self-monitor for 14 days.

Visitors from anywhere else in the country  34 provinces designated as yellow zone risk areas are only asked to register to their travel details through the gophuget.com web portal and install and register through the Mor Chana COVID-tracking app  which is required of every person travelling to Phuket, including people coming on day-trips.

The order noted that failure to comply with the order may be punished under Section 51 of Disease Control Act 2015, which incurs a fine of up to B20,000

Those found breaching the order will also be charged under Section 18 of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations B.E. 2548 (2005), which invokes a penalty of up to two years imprisonment or up to B40,000 or both, the order warned.

The relaxation of the quarantine requirement for arrivals from Bangkok came just one day after key Phuket tourism industry leaders called for a relaxation to the requirements to visit Phuket as a way to help the islands devastated tourism industry.

The plea also called for Phuket officials to take steps for international tourists to start returning to the island by October. The proposal called for all international arrivals from October to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

Phuket Governor Narong noted that by that time he expected to see 70% of the islands population vaccinated for virus as a way to boost potential tourists confidence in travelling to Phuket and as a way of making local people feel confident that the arrival of international tourists would not spark another outbreak on the island.

See also:

- Phuket EOC contact details released for visitors (Jan 14)

- Phuket quarantine guests allowed to roam hotel areas (Jan 13)

- No extra quarantine in Phuket for foreigners exiting quarantine in Bangkok (Jan 12)

- Phuket EOCs to enforce COVID measures for new arrivals (Jan 12)

- Phuket order: Red zone arrivals must quarantine on arrival (Jan 9)

- Red zone arrivals face quarantine in Phuket (Jan 7)
Looking at the structural problems of Canadian conservatism at the dawn of 2021 (Part Three) By Mark Wegierski

The impact of the so-called right-wing blogosphere is certainly far less in Canada than in the United States. The impact of various personal blogs (such as those of Kate McMillan, Kathy Shaidle, or Richard Klagsbrun) is difficult to accurately gauge. There are as well the party-based Blogging Tories. The website conservativeforum.org is only an archive site. Free Dominion could be called a self-posting forum where commentary is not formally structured. Unfortunately, Free Dominion has been recently subjected to vicious lawfare and its situation is highly tenuous. Enter Stage Right is an independent, formally structured, consistently-edited, frequently updated, conservative Canadian e-zine. There is also Judi McLeods Canada Free Press. In the wake of the failure of the Sun News Network, Ezra Levant has launched a major website, called The Rebel (or The Rebel Media) with dozens of bloggers regularly contributing to it. Another substantial media initiative is Candice Malcolms True North Canada, as well as The Post-Millennial website. Three websites of the culturalist opposition are actforcanada.ca, capforcanada.com and eurocanadian.ca. Representing Western Canada, there is the new Western Standard website. In July 2013, there arose with great fanfare, the daily webzine, Freedom Press Canada Journal, but it was forced to greatly reduce the frequency of its postings as of November 30, 2013, and, in subsequent months, appears to have been completely removed from the Internet. Since mid-2014, short article postings began to very sporadically appear on the website  but, as of this writing, the website is no longer extant. Freedom Press Canada has also published, over the last several years, a number of hard-hitting conservative books, but its publishing endeavours appear to have ended by now. It is also commonly considered that mass-circulation newspapers like The National Post, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, and The Toronto Sun are heavily right-wing. However, that is not really the case. There are also a considerable number of blogs of varying political complexion now associated with major newspapers and magazines, such as that, for example, of Colby Cosh  who had previously had a long-running personal blog. There had also arisen, in April 2011, a right-leaning cable-based news station  Sun News Network. However, it completely shut down on February 13, 2015. A boutique cable service called The News Forum has arisen around October 2020. Their tagline is where all voices matter. In the U.S., there are hundreds of private, frequently religiously-affiliated colleges, which may constitute the basis for a network of conservative dissent. There is clearly some conservative presence in much of the U.S. academy. In Canada, conservative professors are few and far between; perhaps the University of Calgary is the only public university with a significant conservative presence (in its department of political science). And, there are only a few private colleges, notably, Trinity Western University in British Columbia, and Redeemer University College in Ontario. Trinity Western University has recently faced strong opposition when it endeavoured to launch a law school. The law school was rejected as legitimate by the Ontario and Nova Scotia bar associations, meaning that its graduates would be unable to practice law in those provinces. There was also agitation continuing against its earlier recognition by the British Columbia bar association. On October 30, 2014, the result of a binding referendum of the B.C. bar association members was to instruct the bar associations benchers to withdraw the recognition of Trinity Westerns law school. There was indeed a highly orchestrated campaign against the recognition of the law school. This culminated in the 2018 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that the provincial bar associations were justified in forbidding Trinity Western University law school graduates from practicing law in their provinces. Given these developments, Trinity Western University cancelled its plans to establish a law school. Taking into account the disparity in resources as between small-c conservatives and left-liberals in Canada  which is clearly astronomical  the situation of conservatism in Canada may indeed be seen as rather difficult. One supposes that one of the few possible reassurances for so-called small-c conservatives is that they, after all, have human nature and commonsense on their side. However, what traditionalists call human nature is considered merely a fiction by most left-liberals  who believe that human beings are almost entirely determined by their immediate environment, and can indeed be shaped in any direction left-liberalism chooses. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher.

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By Yang Jie and Li Youtao

BEIJING, Jan.25 -- The troops of the PLA Navy's Nansha Garrison have begun to try on the new tropical combat uniforms for island-and-reef environment at the start of 2021.

"The new combat clothing, being light, breathable, quick-drying and comfortable, is more suitable for the environment around the Nansha Islands and reefs," said Li Zhenshuang, a service member of the garrison force guarding the Yongshu reef, after finishing his morning training on January 14, 2021.

This is another batch of new-type combat uniforms tried on by troops stationed on Nansha Islands following the provision of the tropical combat boots at the end of 2020. It is reported that the new suits mainly includes tropical camouflage combat uniforms and underwear for island-and-reef environment

China's Nansha Islands are located on the edge of the equator. The natural environment features high humidity, temperature and radiation all year round. It's learned that the tropical camouflage combat uniforms for troops stationed on the tropical islands and reefs have been tailored with optimal designs for armpits and pockets based on the new-type general combat uniforms. Besides, the camouflage uniforms adopt special blended fabrics, characterized by moisture absorption and quick-drying, bacteriostasis and antibiosis, as well as being comfortable and breathable, wear-resistant, tear-resistant, and ultraviolet-resistant, to meet the multiple needs in combat and training under the scorching sun on the islands.

The new underwear is close-fitting, lightweight, moisture absorption and quick-drying, as well as comfortable and breathable," said Zhan Jiansong, a service member of the PLA Nansha Garrison.

According to Zhou Jiang, a quartermaster assigned to a naval troop unit under the PLA Southern Theater Commandthe trying-on of combat uniforms for tropical island-and-reef environment will be continued in a bid to improve the protective performance and comfortability of the new-type combat uniforms .
US-based drugmaker Moderna on Monday said its Covid-19 vaccine retains neutralising activity against emerging variants first identified in the UK and South Africa.

Vaccination with the Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine produced neutralising titers against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, first identified in the UK and South Africa, respectively, the company said on the basis of a study.

However, the company also said it will test an additional booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) to study the ability to further increase neutralising titers against emerging strains beyond the existing primary vaccination series.

Second, the company is advancing an emerging variant booster candidate (mRNA-1273.351) against the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

The company is advancing mRNA-1273.351 into preclinical studies and a Phase 1 study in the US to evaluate the immunological benefit of boosting with strain-specific spike proteins.

Moderna expects that its mRNA-based booster vaccine (whether mRNA-1273 or mRNA-1273.351) will be able to further boost neutralising titers in combination with all of the leading vaccine candidates.

"As we seek to defeat the Covid-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants," Stephane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, said in a statement.

"Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants."

--IANS

gb/ash

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian and Chinese troops brawled on their contested Himalayan border leaving injuries on both sides, military sources and media reports said Monday.

The latest fight took place Wednesday last week at Naku La, in Sikkim state, after China tried to send a patrol on to Indian territory, Indian military sources said.

The clash left at least 20 Chinese troops and four Indian troops injured, according to the same sources whose figures could not be independently verified.

Chinese and Indian troops fought last week at Naku La, on the border between Sikkim state and the Tibet region, leaving casualties on both sides, according to Indian military sources

The Indian military said the fighting - which they described as a 'minor face-off' - was de-escalated by local officers.

A spokesman said: 'It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols.'

Sources described the situation in the area as 'tense' but 'stable' on Monday, according to India Today.

Chinese state media described reports on the clash as 'fake news', saying they had received no reports of fighting from commanders at the border.

Hand-to-hand fighting between 150 soldiers from the two sides at Naku La in May last year set off the latest frontier tensions between the world's two most populous nations.

About 10 troops from each side suffered injuries and a series of other incidents followed.

In June, troops from the two sides fought with fists and wooden clubs in the Galwan valley of Ladakh region, leaving at least 20 Indian troops and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers dead.

In June, the Indian army accused the Chinese of using clubs fashioned with barbed wire and nails to beat their troops. The Galwan Valley clash left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead

Prior to June's deadly skirmish, footage was leaked which purported to show an Indian forces battering a PLA soldier in May

China and India, who fought a border war in 1962, blame each other for the increased tensions and each has poured tens of thousands of extra troops into border zones.

The latest de-escalation talks between military commanders were held Sunday but there have been no signs that either side is ready to back down.

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last month that relations between the neighbours had been "significantly damaged" by the events of the past year.

India is also wary of China's moves to extend its diplomatic muscle into South Asia through massive investment schemes.

The government has sought to block Chinese companies from getting deals in India, banning more than 150 Chinese apps made by its tech giants.

Chinese products are being halted in customs logjams at Indian ports. China has in turn warned that India will suffer economically from the dispute.

President Bidens push for a sweeping coronavirus-relief bill is emerging as the first test of his pledge to return bipartisanship to Washington, a task made more difficult as partisan lines are hardening in the Senate over the impeachment fate of his predecessor.

In a Sunday call with Brian Deese, head of the White Houses National Economic Council, and two other administration officials, Republicans and some Democrats signaled concerns over the size and cost of Mr. Bidens $1.9 trillion bill. Some lawmakers discussed trying to pass a smaller, more targeted aid package focused on vaccine funding before the beginning of former President Donald Trumps impeachment trial the week of Feb. 8.

Mr. Biden earlier this month rolled out a plan that would provide an additional $1,400 in direct payments per person, topping off the $600 checks approved in December. The plan also includes money for rental assistance and food stamps, to extend federal unemployment assistance through September and increase the weekly federal subsidy to $400 from $300.

It seems premature to be considering a package of this size and scope. That concern, which I had prior to the briefing, remains a concern of mine," Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), a leader of the bipartisan group, along with Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), said after the call, which aides said lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. Other Republicans echoed that concern, noting that Congress had passed a roughly $900 billion relief bill in December, following other aid earlier in 2020.

Mr. Manchin mentioned reservations over the bills cost in his closing remarks, saying the proposal was too large and needed to be able to garner the support of fiscally-responsible lawmakers, according to aides.

Democratic supporters of Mr. Bidens plan say the packages size meets the twin public health and economic crises created by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 400,000 people in the U.S.

President Bidens plan is needed to get the virus under control and prevent lasting damage to our economy," Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) said in a statement after the meeting. The Senate must come together on a bipartisan basis and provide the resources the American people need to survive this pandemic and this lengthy financial hardship."

Lawmakers said they did coalesce around the need to quickly pass additional funding for vaccine distribution and related issues, such as compensating rural hospitals for the cost of administering the vaccine.

That was raised as part of a concern of the timing that we have because obviously we have an impeachment trial coming up," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) said of focusing a bill on vaccine funding. We dont have a lot of time to move things and in terms of what could be most helpful" vaccine funding received wide support on the call, Ms. Shaheen said.

Lawmakers also expressed a hope that a third round of direct payments to Americans be more targeted to make sure those most in need are receiving the checks. The administration officials said they would provide more data about how they arrived at their policy provisions, including on education funding.

The additional stimulus checks that the president is proposing are not well targeted," Ms. Collins said. That was echoed by several other senators and I hope the administration will take a second look at that."

Lawmakers said they expected the bipartisan group, which includes lawmakers from both chambers, would continue to meet to try to fashion a more targeted package.

The concerns aired in Sundays meeting reinforced earlier comments from GOP lawmakers about the proposals price tag and the inclusion of unrelated, longtime Democratic policy proposals such as an increase in the minimum wage.

On CNN on Sunday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) said he is open to discussion with the White House, but added, I think people recognize its important that we dont borrow hundreds of billions, actually trillions of dollars from the Chinese, for things that may not be absolutely necessary."

The White House has signaled it is prepared to negotiate. Ron Klain, Mr. Bidens chief of staff, said on NBC that he saw signs of bipartisanship in considering the new administrations agenda, citing the Senates quick confirmation of Mr. Bidens choices for defense secretary and director of national intelligence with broad GOP support.

Such quick action should also apply to combating the coronavirus, he said, Americans, both Democrats and Republicans are dying."

Negotiations over the package, however, are at risk of being derailed by the second impeachment trial of Mr. Trump.

On Monday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), the lead impeachment manager, is scheduled to walk over the article alleging incitement of insurrection along with his eight fellow managers, reading the article on the Senate floor. Senators will be sworn in as jurors on Tuesday for the trial.

The beginning of the likely time-consuming trial will complicate efforts to negotiate and pass a major relief package, pushing lawmakers to try to reach an agreement before it starts.

Its a big bill, its a big subject matter and the question is how much can we get done in two weeks, thats going to be the topic for the next few days," said Sen. Angus King (I., Maine), who participated in the call Sunday.

Beyond the impeachment trial, senators have yet to hammer out an agreement on operating the chamber, which is divided 50-50 between the two parties. Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tiebreaker vote, which gives Democrats the majority by the slightest of margins.

Negotiations stalled after Republicans insisted Democrats pledge not to eliminate the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to bring most bills to the floor. Since it is rare for one party to hold 60 or more seats, proponents of the supermajority procedural hurdle say it forces compromise by giving the minority party a voice and some power in negotiations.

But the filibuster also can lead to gridlock, and there is momentum among some Democratic lawmakers and activists to lower or eliminate the 60-vote threshold so that their narrow Senate majority can pass bills more quickly and advance Mr. Bidens agenda.

Mr. Durbin, the second highest ranking Democrat, said on NBC Sunday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells desire for absolute protection of the legislative filibuster is a nonstarter. On Friday, Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said theres not going to be an organizing resolution as long as the elimination of the legislative filibuster is hanging over the Congress."

Some Democrats, skeptical a bipartisan deal can be reached, already are calling on the president to pass his relief plan on a party-line vote.

Since most bills take 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles in the Senate, Mr. Biden would need to round up 10 Republican votes if all the 50 senators who caucus with Democrats voted as a block. Using a process known as reconciliation, however, certain legislation tied to the budget would require only 50 votes.

Reconciliation is the most partisan of all political tools: Presidents George W. Bush and Trump enacted tax cuts using reconciliation, and President Barack Obama relied in part on the technique to pass the Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) on Sunday defended using reconciliation. What we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks, and months and months, to go forward," Mr. Sanders said on CNN.

Mr. Klain wouldnt say whether the White House would drop certain provisions, like a push for a higher federal minimum wage, to win GOP support. What we want to do is work with the Congress, reach out to members in both parties, see what we can get done as quickly as possible," he said.

As for impeachment of the former president, Mr. Klain indicated that Mr. Biden wouldnt take a position. Hes not a senator, hes not going to vote on impeachment, so I think his focus is on being president, not on doing the job he used to have which is being a U.S. senator." Mr. Klain said.

Republicans appear divided on whether to convict Mr. Trump, which could lead to a follow-on vote to bar him from holding federal office again.

Mr. Romney, the lone Republican to vote to convict Mr. Trump in his first impeachment trial, said he has an open mind on the current proceedings.

Well, theres no question but that the article of impeachment that was sent over by the House suggests impeachable conduct," Mr. Romney said on Fox News. He said he would wait to hear the evidence before deciding how to vote.

On the same show, Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said he would vote to acquit. The first chance I get to vote to end this trial, Ill do it because I think its really bad for America," he said. He called the trial stupid and counterproductive because it would further divide Americans.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text

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Harnessing the beauty of natural silk  and its reputation for enhancing relaxation and sleep  London-based brand Two Bees has launched its first loungewear line.

The label was founded by sisters May and Mena Selim in November 2019, initially offering: pillow covers, sleep masks, scrunchies and face masks all made from 100 per cent handmade Mulberry silk.

London-based brand Two Bees has launched its first loungewear line. Pictured: Pyjama shirt, 195, twobeeslondon.com

Now the pair are expanding the collection into camisoles, pyjamas, slips and simple separates, all in that same gorgeous silk, in an array of colours including emerald green, lilac, blush, orange, cream and black.

Scrunchies are 15, and pillowcases 60, while prices for the loungewear start at 85 and go up to 320 for a pyjama set.
WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast Business today announced Marlette Funding has deployed Comcast Business Ethernet fiber connectivity at three sites to support business-critical data applications, as well as Comcast Business VoiceEdge to provide employees with an effective internet-based voice solution.

With two locations in Wilmington, including its headquarters, and another in Fremont, California, Marlette Funding 's online lending business blends deep banking experience and data science with a customer service mentality.

Marlette selected Comcast Business Ethernet Dedicated Internet (EDI) for a new connectivity solution for its two Wilmington locations, including load-balancing features for redundancy and diversity, and Comcast's fiber optic internet for the Fremont office. The fiber solution will provide dual connectivity to two different buildings, while providing diversity across the network. During this process, Marlette also learned about Comcast Business' voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solution. Previously, the company's connectivity solution did not offer the reliability and redundancy it needed to support its data analytics platforms. Marlette also was lacking the service it sought in a business partner from its previous VoIP provider. Comcast Business has been able to address these needs.

"Comcast Business not only met our dynamic, business-critical connectivity requirements, but they also solved our VoIP challenges, allowing us to gain more control over plans and usage and give our employees a voice solution that helps them stay productive," said Mike Urban, head of product at Marlette. "While our primary goal was to find a more proactive VoIP partner, we also gained a benefit we weren't expecting: Our VoiceEdge VoIP is more cost-effective than our previous solution."

Marlette's technology solution was designed for its current needs as well as for the future. In 2021, the company plans to launch its first credit card and move its headquarters to a new mixed-use development in Wilmington. Comcast Business has already stepped in to help Marlette prepare and plan for the move, including surveying site options to confirm service availability, providing consultation once Marlette selected the new site, and working directly with builders and contractors to ensure the connectivity setup can be duplicated in the new building.

"Comcast Business aims to be a true business partner, not just a technology provider, for each of our customers, and our partnership with Marlette means we're just as excited as they are to ensure their new headquarters positions them to meet their ambitious future goals," said Michael Louden, regional vice president for Comcast Business. "By ensuring their technology is installed and ready to go when they move in, we hope to give the Marlette team peace of mind and confidence, and help them focus on their business and customers without missing a beat."

For more information, please visit http://business.comcast.com .

About Comcast Business

Comcast Business offers Ethernet, Internet, Wi-Fi, Voice, TV and Managed Enterprise Solutions to help organizations of all sizes transform their business. Powered by an advanced network, and backed by 24/7 customer support, Comcast Business is one of the largest contributors to the growth of Comcast Cable. Comcast Business is the nation's largest cable provider to small and mid-size businesses and has emerged as a force in the Enterprise market; recognized over the last two years by leading industry associations as one of the fastest growing providers of Ethernet services.

For more information, call 866-429-3085. Follow on Twitter @Comcast Business and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social.

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Denver has recently signed up Kannada Superstar Sudeep as its new brand ambassador. Through this association, Denver aims to explore and leverage the massive untapped opportunities for fragrance brands in the Karnataka and nearby market. It also plans to launch a TVC featuring Sudeep to further strengthen its positioning as a premium player in the Deodorant & Men Grooming category across Karnataka.

Denver is a leading brand from the manufacturing hub Vanesa Care, and offers a wide array of perfumes and deodorants under male grooming category. By collaborating with Sudeep, not only it endeavours to become a brand that connects with the aura and style of todays millennial generation, but it also strives to cement its stance as a leader in this space, showcasing international standards of perfumery. Baadshah Kichcha Sudeepa is one of the most admired celebrities in Karnataka, and this synergy is expected to augment Denvers brand recall value to another level among its target audience.

Speaking on the appointment, Saurabh Gupta, Director (Marketing & Sales)  Denver, said, We have been fortunate enough to create deep inroads within Hindi-speaking and Telugu markets by associating with leading stars like Shahrukh Khan and Mahesh Babu as our brand ambassadors. This time also, we were on the lookout for an equally loved celebrity from Karnataka to further enhance our footprint within the region.

Gupta further added, We are delighted to announce that Kichcha Sudeepa, one of the most well-known superstars within the Sandalwood film industry, is now on board with Denver as its new brand ambassador. As an icon and an idol for the regions youth, he stands out as the perfect fit for the brand. We are confident that this association will enable us to reach out to and capture a much larger audience, thus significantly accelerating our growth in Karnataka.

Baadshah Kichcha Sudeepa said, Since its inception, Denver has strived to be a niche player in a competitive market. It has been making consistent efforts to be unique, especially when it comes to relating and connecting with its young target audience. I am happy to be the face of a leading brand like this, and excited to be a part of its growth trajectory. I look forward to a successful and long-standing synergy with Denver, and hope to catapult this brand to new heights going forward.

With this association, Denver plans to go bullish on their market share in Karnataka.

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STAMFORD  Stamford Police arrested a 28-year-old West Side man who they believe may have been involved in recent shootings.

Rashe Sadio, 28, of West Broad Street, was arrested after witnesses reported several gunshots on Jan. 15 near his residence, which faces Stamford Hospital.

Police responded and found four shell casings in the area, as well as blood on the doorknob and base of a door to the house. Sadios father, the owner of the home, arrived and allowed officers to search it. Inside, they found a safe and an empty semi-automatic magazine.

Officers applied for a warrant, and once it was issued later that day, they searched the rest of the home.

The owner of the home provided them a key to the safe, which contained 12 live rounds, according to the police report. A handgun grip frame and another live round were discovered in Sadios room, the report said.

Police later discovered two live rounds of ammunition and a small Tupperware container with a deconstructed handgun inside once they searched the garage.

Sadio was arrested Thursday and charged with possession of ammunition and possession of a firearm. A $250,000 bond was placed on his arrest. He is due in court Wednesday.

In the police report, Sadio is described as a prime suspect in shootings that took place on Richmond Hill Avenue and at 34 Liberty St.

Sadio is a convicted felon, having been charged previously with robbery, possession of narcotics and the sale of illegal drugs and intent to sell drugs, according to the arrest report.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com
By Jan Wolfe

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Kentucky teenager whose 2019 face-off with a Native American activist in Washington went viral has fired his lawyer, a man who played a key role in Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his election defeat, according to court notices filed on Monday.

The teen, Nicholas Sandmann, terminated lawyer L. Lin Wood from the team representing him in a series of lawsuits that accuse media companies of inaccurately portraying the stand-off at the Lincoln Memorial on the day of a large anti-abortion protest.

"I have ended my lawyer-client relationship with Mr. Wood and no longer wish to be represented by him," Sandmann said in an affidavit included in the court filings.

Sandmann continues to be represented by Kentucky-based lawyer Todd McMurtry.

Wood did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He said in a Telegram post on Monday that McMurtry "is an excellent lawyer" and that "the best is yet to come" in Sandmann's lawsuits.

"I did my best for him and am proud that I obtained settlements for him against mainstream media giants CNN and The Washington Post," Wood said.

In a statement shared on Telegram on Sunday, Wood said he expected Sandmann would "abandon" him because of earlier social media posts in which Wood suggested former Vice President Mike Pence engaged in "treason" and could "face execution by firing squad" for formally recognizing the election victory of President Joe Biden.

Wood said in the Telegram post that his comments about Pence were "rhetorical hyperbole."

Sandmann, 18, expressed alarm at Wood's comments earlier this month. On Twitter, the teen shared one of Wood's social media posts about Pence and wrote: "I'm sorry but what the hell."

The move is the latest indication that those who supported former President Donald Trump's baseless claim that his loss to Biden was the result of mass fraud could face longer term professional consequences.

Story continues

A Delaware state judge this month blocked Wood from representing former Trump adviser Carter Page in a defamation lawsuit, saying that his conduct in election-related lawsuits "exhibited a toxic stew of mendacity, prevarication and surprising incompetence."

Sandmann's face-off with Native American activist Nathan Phillips in January 2019 was captured on video and shared on social media, generating widespread media coverage.

Sandmann's family has lawsuits pending against the New York Times, CBS, ABC News Inc, Rolling Stone LLC, and others. Reuters is not a defendant in the litigation.

The lawsuits allege that because Sandmann wore a hat emblazoned with Trump's 'Make American Great Again' slogan, media outlets inaccurately suggested he was the face of an unruly mob.

In court filings, the media outlets have denied defaming Sandmann in their coverage.

Sandmann spoke at the Republican National Convention in August, endorsing Trump and accusing the media of advancing an "anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-Donald Trump narrative."

The teen's relationship with Wood appeared to sour as the attorney filed unsuccessful lawsuits seeking to overturn Biden's victory and baselessly accused Pence and Supreme Court Justice John Roberts of treason and corruption.

Separately on Monday, a U.S. voting machine company filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of defamation in what it called his "big lie" campaign about widespread fraud in the presidential election.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O'Brien)
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Confusion and tension reigned supreme at the Singhu border late evening regarding the route for tractor rally on January 26.

Members of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee announced from their stage at Singhu that participants should take their tractors on the Capital's Ring Road. This is in contrast to the route already given to the farmers' organisation by the Delhi Police.

Several people then took over the main stage which was surprisingly not guarded by the volunteers of the 'Sanyukt Kisan Morcha'. Amidst religious chants, they addressed the people to take the government head-on and follow the 2,000 tractors led by Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee.

One of the speakers, Lakha Sidhana, a gangster-turned-social worker, exhorted people to ensure that no violence takes place during the rally. "If it turns violent, the movement will crumble," he said.

This was in much contrast to the disciplined atmosphere at Tikri the whole day, where the protest is controlled by BKU (Ugrahan).
China president Xi Jinping. Photo: WEF livestream

Chinas president Xi Jinping used his near-half an hour speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual gathering  The Davos Agenda  to unveil his four point plan on how the globes leaders need to unify more and put aside historical, cultural, and socially systemic differences to strengthen the worlds economy.

Coronavirus shouldnt be an excuse for de-globalisation, he said to delegates at the virtual summit.

The past year was marked by the sudden onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic and the world economy has been mired in deep recession and humanity crises rarely seen in human history. The pandemic is far from over... but winter cannot prevent the start of spring. Humanity will prevail over the virus... and emerge even stronger.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to nearly 100 million COVID-19 cases and out of those, over 2 million have died.

Mainland China has had a total number of 89,115 confirmed COVID-19 cases and the death toll is at 4,635.

To put into perspective, the US, with a population of about 330 million, has had over 25 million cases of which half a million people have died of COVID-19. The UK, with a population of over 66 million people, has had over 3.6 million cases and over 90,000 deaths. Whereas countries that have been more successful in tackling the virus, such as New Zealand with a population of around 5 million, there have been just over 2,200 coronavirus cases of which only 25 people have died.

WATCH: What life is like in Wuhan 1 year after the lockdown

Data from Chinas National Health Commission on Monday confirmed that there has been a climb in new COVID-19 cases driven by a spike in infections among previously symptomless patients. The total number of confirmed cases in the mainland rose to 124 on 24 January from 80 the previous day.

Chinas economy in 2020 grew at its slowest annual growth rate since 1976.

However, when the world's second largest economy expanded 2.3% in 2020, compared to the previous year, this beat analyst expectations. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), forecasted that China's economy would grow 1.9% in 2020 and a spokesman for China's National Bureau of Statistics said "the performance was better than we had expected," when the data was released on 18 January.

Story continues

President Xi said history is moving forward and the world will not go back to the past, and outlined four main points in what, he believes, will be essential for the globe to get back on track following the pandemic.

READ MORE: DAVOS 2021: COVID-19 crisis won't end until developing nations get vaccine

Step-up macro-economic policy: Chinas president says that we are going through the worst recession since World War II and all economies of all regions are being hit hard at the same time... with global industry clogged and despite trillions of dollars of relief packages, the global recovery is looking shaky and the outlook remains uncertain. He believes that macro-economic support should be stepped up to bring us out of woods.

 Abandon ideological prejudice and go on a path of peaceful coexistence: He use a lot of his speech to delegates to reinforce his message that no two leaves in the world are identical, and that each country is unique history, culture, and social system and that none is superior to another, and all three fit a particular situation. He added that there is no human civilisation without diversity and will difference in itself is no cause for alarm. Arrogance, prejudice or enforcing culture and social systems, will further divide nations and derail global efforts. The right choice is peaceful coexistence and expanding common ground and promote exchanges.

Close the divide of developing and developed nations: He reinforced that tackling the pandemic and impact on the economy needs to make sure that developing nations are equally helped.

Come together to fight against global challenges: He repeatedly said that governments across the world need to join and converge, not divide, in order to truly tackle the virus and the impact on the world economy. No global problem can be solved by one nation alone, he said, and emphasised that all states should have equality in benefits in tackling issues.

WATCH: China works to contain new COVID-19 surge

After outlining his four points, he spent most of his speech repeating calls for multi-lateralism, decrying differing history, culture, and social systems holding back globalisation, and how structures and laws from the likes of the United Nations (UN) should guide the world back on track.

His speech can be seen as a warning shot for the new US president Joe Biden after years of tumultuous dealings with his predecessor Donald Trump.

During the Trump administration, China has been engaged in a trade war of tit-for-tat tariffs and large China-originating companies such as Huawei and social media giant TikTok have been under scrutiny and potential bans.

Problems facing the world are intricate and complex, and the way out of [the current situation] is multi-lateralism and building a community with shared future of mankind. We should stay committed openness and inclusivity, instead of closedness and exclusivity.

We need to be resonant and steadfast to safeguard multi-lateralism... and should not bully... by the waving big fist or as a pretext of unilateralism and the rules once made should be followed by all. We should stay committed against conflict and confrontation. Difference in history, culture and social system... should not [lead to and we should stop] meddling in a countrys internal affairs. Misguided antogonism and confrontation, leads to cold war, hot war, tech war, trade war, and undermines [global cohesion.]

Nurse Chris Rutledge suits up in personal protective equipment before entering the patient wards of a COVID-19 field hospital, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in Lenoir, N.C. Rutledge works for Samaritan's Purse, the international Christian relief organization which built the temporary facility to take pressure off local hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus cases. (AP Photo/Sarah Blake Morgan)

Chris Rutledge peels an N-95 mask off her tired face, revealing the silhouette it leaves behind. Her name and a tiny heart are drawn on the face covering in black marker so her patients know who she is.

"I look terrible when it comes off," she jokes as she takes a break during her ninth straight day of 12-hour shifts inside a temporary field hospital in Lenoir, North Carolina.

Rutledge, a 60-year-old retired nurse from Lisbon, Iowa, is one of dozens of health care workers who have been treating coronavirus patients inside 11 massive white medical tents set up in the parking lot of Caldwell Memorial Hospital.

The tents became necessary in late December when the virus began surging through this rural community in the Carolina foothills, overwhelming the hospital's capacity. The tents were set up earlier this month.

"We doubled the number of COVID patients in a matter of days," said Caldwell CEO Laura Easton, who added that the hospital thought it had seen its cases peak over the summer. "And we doubled our hospital census."

The tents and care givers have been provided by Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief charity led by evangelist the Rev. Franklin Graham that is based in Boone, North Carolina. The 30-bed field hospital comprises four medical wards and a pharmacy for patients who have been discharged from the hospital's intensive care unit and do not need ventilators. Four other hospitals besides Caldwell are sending patients here so they can use hospital beds for more serious cases.

"The tent is a scary place for a person that's never been in it," Rutledge said, referring to the patients as she washed her hands for the fifth time in just a few minutes. "Some of them are very tearful and some of them are actually sobbing."

Chris Rutledge, a nurse for Samaritan's Purse, eats lunch, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, during the only short break of her 12-hour shift inside the COVID-19 field hospital built by the Christian relief organization, in Lenoir, N.C. Caldwell Memorial Hospital asked for help from Samaritan's Purse as cases in the North Carolina foothills skyrocketed and bed space dwindled. (AP Photo/Sarah Blake Morgan)

But Rutledge calls her work a blessing. Three years ago, she left her full-time nursing job to join short-term medical missions with Samaritan's Purse. When the organization mobilizes its Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), Rutledge can be on a plane within hours.

This is not the first time Samaritan's Purse has provided aid during the pandemic. The organization, which has partnerships in more than 100 countries, opened its first COVID-19 field hospital on March 16, 2020, in Cremona, Italy, when the virus first began to surge in the U.S. and around the world. Two weeks later, Samaritan's Purse tents were pitched in New York City's Central Park, where Rutledge and others on its medical team treated hundreds of patients in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state of New York. The charity also recently erected a field hospital in Lancaster, California.

While the work is physically and emotionally grueling, Rutledge said she has no regrets.

"People asked me if I would do it again after the New York experience and I said I would do it in a heartbeat," she said.

Rutledge is grateful for a supportive husband who cheers her on from their home in Iowa. She said her religious faith sustains her during most of the long daysalong with moments of hope that seem to present themselves when she needs them most.

She smiles recalling the elderly couple who celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary while battling the coronavirus together, and how she walked the husband to his wife's ward to visit. Rutledge said she cried the first time she saw the couple reunited. She wept again when they were cleared to go home, virus-free.

"It was wonderful," she said.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Pierrepont, N.Y.  A couple carried out of a burning home Sunday in the Adirondacks have died at a Syracuse hospital.

A fire trapped Ricky A. Gollinger and Lena A. Gollinger inside a house around 10:30 p.m. yesterday in St. Lawrence County, said the New York State Police. After they were rescued from the blaze, the critically injured Gollingers were rushed to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

The two were pronounced dead at the hospital, troopers said. Ricky Gollinger was 64. Lena Gollinger was 62.

Investigators are working to determine what caused the fire. Troopers said there were no immediate signs of foul play.

The fire happened at a home on County Route 24 in Pierrepont, about 15 minutes south of Potsdam.

Firefighters, troopers and a St. Lawrence County sheriffs deputy rescued Ricky Gollinger and Lena Gollinger from the burning home, troopers said. Six others  four children and two adults  escaped uninjured.

Firefighters from the Pierrepont Volunteer Fire Department, the Russell Volunteer Fire Department, the Pyrites Volunteer Fire Department, Canton Fire & Rescue, the Colton Volunteer Fire Department and the Hannawa Falls Volunteer Fire Department worked together to put out the blaze, troopers said.

Staff writer Samantha House covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at shouse@syrause.com.
Baluchi activists say Iranian authorities have demolished the foundations of a Sunni mosque in the city of Iranshahr in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province in order to pressure the Sunni minority in the region.

According to the Europe-based Campaign Of Baluch Activists, the demolition took place on January 23, while all the necessary permits had been obtained by the municipality and the prosecutors office.

But Iranshahr Mayor Noorahmad Darkhosh told the official government news agency IRNA that the construction had not been approved by the authorities.

IRNA reported that the location has been licensed as an open-air enclosure for prayers, while adding that based on rules and regulations, it should not be roofed.

The report said Iranshahr, which has a predominantly ethnic-Baluch population, has 500 Sunni mosques and 80 Shiite mosques.

Baluchi activists say authorities have in recent weeks halted the construction of two other Sunni mosques in the region. They have blamed the representative of Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Intelligence Ministry for the pressure.

Ethnic and religious minorities in Iran have repeatedly complained of state pressure and discrimination.

In a January letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, prominent Iranian Sunni leader Maulana Abdolhamid criticized what he described as the establishments discriminatory treatment of the Sunnis.

Forty- two years after the victory of the Islamic revolution, Irans Sunnis still face many problems and concerns about their civil rights, the letter said, adding that Sunnis are considered second-class citizens.

Abdollah Aref, the director of the Campaign of Baluch Activists, told the BBC that in the past two months his group has documented the execution of 16 members of the Baluch minority.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran reported in December 2020 that three Baluch prisoners had been executed in Sistan-Baluchistan after being convicted of membership in militant Sunni groups that have carried out deadly attacks in Iran in the past.

Human rights attorney Mostafa Nili told the daily Etemad on December 18 that there are at least 10 prisoners on death row in the central prison of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, in connection with militant groups opposed to the Islamic republic.

Meanwhile, rights activists have reported that about 50 Kurdish activists have been detained in cities in several Iranian provinces in the past two weeks on unknown charges.

The spokesman of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Kaveh Kermanshahi, told RFE/RLs Radio Farda that the intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is believed to be behind the arrests.

"Most of the detainees are political, civil, cultural, environmental, and even art activists and a number of them are ordinary citizens," Kermanshahi, whose group has published some of the names of the detainees, said.

Kermanshahi added that the reason for the new wave of arrests is not clear.

He expressed concern that the detainees could be pressured to make forced confessions.

With reporting by the BBC and IRNA
Sustainability is the keyword across industries; it is the need of the hour. Sustainability is finding its way into the wedding industry too. While the two might not seem a possible match, there are ways to make weddings more sustainable and green! Ambika Gupta, a luxe event planner, a TEDX speaker, and an award-winning entrepreneur behind The A-Cube Project, encourages a green and yet bespoke design language.





The event planner who recently did Kajal Aggarwals wedding shares, The pandemic has forced families to have smaller events. That automatically cuts down waste, but many of my clients are also well informed about climate concerns and, in fact, want their weddings to set an example. For instance, for a Pondicherry wedding, the couple and Guptas team worked closely to address the issue of floral and food waste. This was a special request from the bride who is very sensitive to environmental concerns. The flowers were composted, and the extra food from each event was distributed locally. India Wasted and The Robin Hood Army came on board to help with this.





Gupta shares tips to make your wedding greener:

Order local floral produce, as this will cut down the carbon footprint and help distressed farmers in these times. Instead of using excessive floral accents, choose statement arrangements that will really be noticed.

as this will cut down the carbon footprint and help distressed farmers in these times. Instead of using excessive floral accents, choose statement arrangements that will really be noticed. Instead of store-bought gifts, engage NGOs that support artisans to create one-of-a-kind giveaways . For the Pondicherry wedding that Gupta designed, jute bags with Van Gogh-inspired embroidery were made by Purkal Stree Shakti (an Uttarakhand-based NGO), and gifted to guests.

. For the Pondicherry wedding that Gupta designed, jute bags with Van Gogh-inspired embroidery were made by Purkal Stree Shakti (an Uttarakhand-based NGO), and gifted to guests. If you must use disposables, choose cutlery and crockery made of biodegradable materials like bamboo.







Choose wedding cards made out of recycled paper or go for e-invites .

. Use materials like clay, straw, living plants, recyclable materials to create props . For Kajal Aggarwals wedding, Ambika themed an event around a Kitsch Mandi and used Kutch workmanship in furnishings, traditional dry palm weaves, a Chettinad console, and brass pots with banana leaves. She also used pettis, contraptions used by coconut farmers, as a backdrop in place of a wasteful prop.

. For Kajal Aggarwals wedding, Ambika themed an event around a Kitsch Mandi and used Kutch workmanship in furnishings, traditional dry palm weaves, a Chettinad console, and brass pots with banana leaves. She also used pettis, contraptions used by coconut farmers, as a backdrop in place of a wasteful prop. Consider mini-monies where the number of guests is minimum, and the couple get married at a local venue .

. Use classic furniture that can be hired or reused by the designer instead of plastic chairs.

by the designer instead of plastic chairs. Think of less energy-consuming lighting

Gupta concludes, Sustainable weddings are in, and small is the new big because a more thoughtful approach impacts the planet positively. I read recently that more than 10 million weddings take place in India every year, and leave behind mountains of trash, discarded plastic cutlery, used flowers and wasted food. I believe that together we can all do better than this.





Also read: How to pull off an eco-friendly wedding
This is the terrifying moment a group of fishermen fled for their lives when a giant Russian icebreaker almost mowed them down on the frozen sea.

The anglers were fishing through ice holes in the Gulf of Finland when the hulking Kaptain Plakhin icebreaker weighing 2,240 tonnes headed straight for them near St Petersburg.

They got away just in time.

The vessel was smashing the thick ice to ensure winter navigation close to St Petersburg

The anglers were fishing through ice holes in the Gulf of Finland when the hulking Kaptain Plakhin icebreaker weighing 2,240 tonnes headed straight for them near St Petersburg

This is the terrifying moment a group of fishermen fled for their lives when a giant Russian icebreaker almost mowed them down on the frozen sea. Luckily, they got away in time

The vessel was smashing the thick ice to ensure winter navigation close to tsarist capital St Petersburg.

But the location near the city's Marine Station is a favourite local fishing spot - and the ship's captain appeared to give scant attention to dozens of ice anglers.

The anglers were forced to reel in their lines and pack up their possessions then rush to the shore before the ice broke and they were tipped into the freezing water.

Some struggled to move away in time.

The anglers were fishing through ice holes in the Gulf of Finland when the hulking Kaptain Plakhin icebreaker weighing 2,240 tonnes headed straight for them near St Petersburg

The anglers were forced to reel in their lines and pack up their possessions then rush to the shore before the ice broke and they were tipped into the freezing water

One protester said of the captain : 'Is he completely mad?

'And if somebody was to stumble, to fall, was he ready to go to jail for that?'

Another complained about the close encounter: 'He's got to be punished, people could have been killed.'

The Finnish-built vessel operated by RosMorPort dates from 1977 and belongs to the Kapitan Chechkin class of icebreakers.

The Finnish-built vessel operated by RosMorPort dates from 1977 and belongs to the Kapitan Chechkin class of icebreakers. It can cut through ice more than three feet thick

It can cut through ice more than three feet thick.

Another video shows that moments before the icebreaker reached the fishing area, a hovercraft had been dispatched to warn the anglers to move.

It was also stressed that fishing on the ice here is illegal.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were witnesses to five intense blue jets of light shooting up from thunderstorm clouds into the stratosphere, with each flash lasting mere 10 milliseconds each.

Blue Lights and Elves

The astronauts aboard the space station describe seeing four of the blue flashes accompanied by a pulse of ultraviolet (UV) light that appears as a rapidly expanding ring.

Meanwhile, the fifth and final flash created a pulsating blue jet, which is a form of lightning that can reach up to 50 kilometers or 31 miles into the stratosphere and only lasts less than a second.

According to the Independent, these blue flashes of light have created the equally astonishing sounds known as elves, which stand for Emission of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources, and are formed by the interaction of radio waves, electrons, and the atmosphere.

Read More: Two Giant Radio Galaxies 62 Times Larger Than The Milky Way Discovered by MeerKat Telescope

Through the Help of ASIM

The phenomenon was spotted near the island of Naru, located in the Pacific Ocean, thanks to the European Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM).

The device has been installed outside of the European space laboratory Columbus with the purpose of monitoring electric events at a higher altitude, such as the blue lightning-like jets that have been recorded by the ISS crew.

Scientists believe that the observations surrounding the blue jets of lightning with the help of ASIM, fondly known as the space storm hunter, can help them in understanding how lightning is initiated in clouds and how they are influencing the concentration of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere.

The flashes of blue lights were spotted on February 26, 2019, but the full detail of the observation was only recently published in the scientific journal "Nature."

"This paper is an impressive highlight of the many new phenomena ASIM is observing above thunderstorms and shows that we still have so much to discover and learn about our Universe," said Astrid Orr, physical science coordinator for human and robotic spaceflight at the European Space Agency (ESA).

Orr also congratulated everyone involved in the paper, including the scientists, university teams, and the engineers that built the observatory as well as the people on the ground that are operating the ASIM, saying that it was a "true international collaboration" that has led to such discoveries.

Attaching Devices to the ISS

Such phenomenons are very difficult to observe from here on the surface of our planet, so the ASIM was made and had been able to help scientists find answers little by little.

As per the ESA, in 2018, a collection of photometers, X and gamma-ray detector, as well as optical cameras were added to the International Space Station to help scientists from here on the ground to look for electrical discharges that are created from stormy weather conditions and extend above the thunderstorms into Earth's upper atmosphere.

Since the ISS is at 400 kilometers or around 249 miles above Earth's surface, it's the perfect place to monitor what's happening in our atmosphere.

Artist interpretation of the stunning phenomenon has been added alongside the "Nature" article.

Related Article: Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Images of Remnants of a Supernova Witnessed on Earth 1700 Years Ago

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by: Nhx Tingson

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Twin attacks on the army in central Mali overnight killed six soldiers while some 30 suspected jihadists were also left dead in response, the military said Sunday.

The attacks occurred near the border with Burkina Faso at army positions that have been targeted in the past, with a deadly Islamist offensive having begun in northern Mali in 2012 before spreading elsewhere.

"The provisional toll is six dead and 18 wounded" among the soldiers, the army said in a statement, adding that the attacks prompted a response which left "around 30 dead on the terrorist side".

The raids occurred at Boulkessy and Mondoro in the violence-wracked centre of the Sahel country.

The "complex and simultaneous" attacks occurred at around 3:30 am (0330 GMT), the army said, with a local official in Mondoro estimating that the fighting continued for around an hour.

Some 40 motorcycles and a large amount of military gear were seized from the attackers, according to the army.

A number of wounded soldiers were evacuated by helicopter, a medical source said.

- UN concern -

In September 2019, the same army positions were targeted in one of the deadliest attacks to hit Mali since 2012, with some 50 soldiers killed.

That double attack was later claimed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims, the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel region affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

On Thursday, three other Malian soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in the Mondoro area.

Mali has received support in its fight against the jihadists from France's Barkhane force, which numbers 5,100 troops spread across the arid Sahel region.

In addition to Mali, the French force has been fighting jihadist groups alongside soldiers from Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The UN has also deployed to Mali its 13,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping force, which has suffered 146 hostile deaths since it was first established in 2013.

Violence linked to jihadist and separatist insurrections in Mali since 2012 have killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands displaced, with the country's centre having become one of the main flashpoints.

The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said recently that more than two million people in the wider Sahel had fled their homes due to violence.

The UN Security Council held a meeting earlier this month devoted to Mali's long-running crisis.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern about the deteriorating security environment, pointing to the situation in central Mali as particularly worrying.
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Photograph: Cheriss May/Reuters

For Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, the first few days of Joe Bidens presidency have not been about fighting the new Democratic majority in government. They have been about gaming out how much power he now has.

Related: Trump impeachment: Pelosi to formally send article of impeachment to Senate today  live

McConnell, the leader of Senate Republicans for over a decade, now finds himself in the position every caucus leader dreads: out of power in the chamber, in charge of an unruly bunch of politicians, and under pressure over how to handle the impeachment of Donald Trump.

And as McConnell became the Senate minority leader last week, he was confronted with two pressing concerns: retaining power through early negotiations with his Democratic counterpart Chuck Schumer, the new Senate majority leader, and figuring out how to proceed on the impeachment trial of Trump, which is set to begin in early February.

Its a unique predicament for a senator regarded by Republicans as a strategic mastermind of Senate procedure  and one reviled by Democrats for obstructionism.

Democrats often point to McConnells vow to make then president Barack Obama a one-term president as the perfect encapsulation of him. Republicans like to highlight that McConnell was able to usher in over 230 conservative judges on to the federal judiciary. And all the while, the ultra-savvy Kentucky Republican has staved off criticism from the insurrectionist elements of his party  like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

McConnell, now once again in the minority, will have to deal with anti-establishment colleagues such as Cruz and Missouri senator Josh Hawley. Those two senators led the challenge to certifying Joe Bidens victory that resulted in a mob invading Capitol Hill. McConnell has butted heads with Cruz and allies before, and emerged victorious while effectively isolating Cruz as punishment. As his caucus knows, losing a fight with McConnell has its consequences.

Story continues

But the situation now is different. McConnell has been in negotiations with Schumer over rules for the Senate over the next two years, and added protections for the filibuster, one of the most valuable and powerful stalling tools for the party in the minority in the Senate. The filibuster is a legislative maneuver that allows any senator to delay or even block legislation through ongoing debate, unless 60 senators agree to end debate. The 60-senator threshold, especially in a partisan and evenly split Senate, makes it especially difficult to advance legislation.

He and other Republicans are weighing how to proceed on impeaching Trump. McConnell and other Republican leaders were horrified both by the certification challenge, and it further undermined the already strained ties between McConnell and Trump. Privately, McConnell has indicated that he is at least more open to a Trump impeachment conviction, which could facilitate barring him from becoming president again.

The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, McConnell said earlier this week.

But its unclear whether there are the 17 votes needed among Republicans for the Senate to convict Trump, and how fraught with peril it might be for Republicans who do support impeachment. Some are already lobbying McConnell to move forward, even as the few House Republicans who supported impeachment in their chamber face primary challenges and growing blowback.

But for McConnell, the priority is the Senate as an institution. McConnell wants assurances from Democrats that the filibuster will be protected.

I think that its necessary, and it protects both parties, said Ashlee Rich Stephenson, the political director for the Chamber of Commerce. And were supportive of that.

McConnell has made this argument openly and in internal negotiations with Schumer.

The legislative filibuster is a crucial part of the Senate. Leaders like President Biden himself have long defended it, McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday.

McConnell is on the defensive now. He is not in total control of the Senate rules, and has to partially rely on the threat of the filibuster to fight for Republican priorities. Its a reality McConnell hasnt had to deal with for years.

But McConnell enters his new role as minority leader with a relatively strong relationship with Joe Bidenl. Aides to both lawmakers note their long history together from when Biden was also a senator. There are indications that they are in closer contact than is publicly known.

But even in the minority, Republicans stress that McConnell is retaining two signature traits. He is an institutionalist, they say, which is partially what spurred him to criticize Trump after rioters invaded the Capitol.

Everybody whos spent any time watching his career knows that at the end of the day hes an institutionalist. In the darkest days of the post-election period, the institutions did their jobs, said a former top McConnell aide.

The courts did their job, even the Trump-appointed judges, and he made doggone sure that the Senate is going to do its job. Of course, when the riots happened, he made sure that theyre going to come back and finish the job. And I think that hes viewing it through that lens here. If you cant say that leaving an armed insurrection against one body, one branch of government, it is an impeachable offense, shame on you.

Scott Reed, a former senior political strategist for the US Chamber of Commerce, said McConnell is focused on the next two election cycles rather than the next two days.

He plays the long game, Reed said. He does not play the short next few months game at all. Hes playing 22 and 24 today.

That means, Reed added, that McConnell will hold strongest on the thing he cares about the most, which is the filibuster rule. Because thats how you stop bad stuff from happening. That will drive his thinking.
Egyptian newspapers have published articles lauding Vietnams outstanding accomplishments in recent years, especially as the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

An article about the 13th National Party Congress published in Egypt's Events Magazine (Screenshot photo: VNA)

Online newspaper Events Magazine ran an article titled 2016-20 term: Vietnam's relations with the Middle East - Africa and Egypt rise to new heights, in which journalist Ahmed Hassan noted that the Congress is an important political event that takes place every five years, attracting the attention of public opinion inside the country and the world.

Over the past five years, under the leadership of the CPV, Vietnam overcame many challenges and made special economic achievements, thus raising the country's role and position in the international arena.

A street in Vietnam is docked with banners and posters celebrating the Congress (Photo: VNA)

On the international arena, Vietnam's partners are increasingly diverse, with the relationship between Vietnam and the Middle East - Africa in general and bilateral ties between Vietnam and Egypt in particular elevated.

According to the article, the year 2020 - a very special year, as Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said, should be considered the most successful year in Vietnam in the past five years in terms of spirit and will to rise in all difficulties and challenges, a year in which the people's confidence is higher.

While the majority of countries had negative growth or entered a recession due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese economy was still growing by 2.91 percent, and Vietnam is in the group of countries with the highest growth rate in the region and in the world, it said.

Regarding to foreign affairs, the article said, Vietnam has also made remarkable achievements by connecting and enhancing friendly relations, cooperation and confidence between countries inside and outside the region in the context of geopolitical instability. The author attributed the results to the CPVs strategic orientations.

In order to overcome difficulties, cooperation between Vietnam and the countries in the Middle East and Africa in recent times witnessed positive steps of development in numerous sectors, the article underscored, adding that political-diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the countries in the region have continued to be strengthened and expanded.

In the relationship between Vietnam and Egypt, despite the negative impact of COVID-19, trade exchange between Vietnam and Egypt in 2020 remained stable compared to previous years and is expected great growth prospects in the coming years, according to the article.

The success of the 13th National Party Congress is not only significant to Vietnam's development in the coming years, but also opens up new prospects for further promoting relations between Vietnam and countries in the Middle East - Africa, including Egypt.

Another article, published by Elwatan News, praised Vietnams Renewal achievements under the CPV leadership. It said after more than 35 years of implementing the Renewal process, Vietnam has grown itself into a developing nation with middle income, a dynamic market economy that is rapidly integrating into the world.

The article published by Elwatan News (Screenshot photo: VNA)

Along with the implementation of the Renewal policy, Vietnam has actively participated in and contributed to most important international organisations and forums. In 2019, Vietnam was honored for the second time to be elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term with an almost absolute number of votes in the United Nations General Assembly.

The article attributed those achievements to the clear-sighted leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam founded by President Ho Chi Minh.

It concluded the Partys upcoming 13th congress in Hanoi is of paramount importance as it will chart a new course of development for Vietnam in the next five years and beyond.

Al Messa newspaper also reported the upcoming Congress, highlighting that this offers Vietnam an opportunity to study and discuss measures to foster reform and economic restructuring.

The 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam will take place in Hanoi from January 25 to February 2./.VNA
People in Scotland have been urged to 'walk like a penguin' in order to avoid falling over on pavements covered in snow or ice.

As Britain continues to brace through the current cold snap, and with yet more freezing temperatures expected today, NHS trusts have issued the odd edict, which instructs people to keep their weight over their front leg as they walk.

One trust to share the advice, NHS Lothian, says that by 'walking like a penguin' people can prevent injuries and hospital trips from 'avoidable accidents in the ice and snow'.

But while some took to social media to praise the advice, others mocked the edict - which was similarly ridiculed when shared by NHS trusts in England during 2018's Beast from East snow storm.

One Twitter user, Dean Kelly, said: 'How did we survive hundreds of thousands of years with such sage advice from NHS numpties? Someone tell the Eskimos!'

However other praised it, including one user who said: 'Thank you!! Must remember next time so as to remain upright!'

As Britain continues to brace through the recent cold snap, and with yet more freezing temperatures expected today, NHS trusts in Scotland have issued the odd edict, which instructs people to keep their weight over their standing leg as they walk

Members of the public walk in a misty Balloch Country Park on in Balloch, Scotland, yesterday after snow and freezing temperatures struck

One trust to share the advice, NHS Lothian, says that by walking like a penguin people in Scotland can help keep patients out of hospital through 'avoidable accidents in the ice and snow'

It comes as police forces across the country were yesterday slammed for threatening snowball fighters with 200 fines as an Arctic ice blast brought six inches of the white stuff to the UK on Sunday.

Forces in Wiltshire, London and Surrey sent out warnings urging families not to break lockdown when frolicking in the snow, saying 'Covid regulations still apply' and social distancing must be maintained.

Anyone caught breaking lockdown rules - including exercising outdoors with more than one member of another household - could be hit with a 200 fine.

Outraged Britons took to Twitter to slam police for discouraging people from playing outdoors - with some saying forces' resources could be put to better use elsewhere.

Police warnings will be especially disheartening for Britons keen to venture out into a snow-covered wonderland for a second day running as a further three inches of snow is set to fall overnight.

The Met Office said the mercury could dip between minus 4C (24.8F) and minus 6C (21.2F) going into Monday - with parts of the Midlands told to brace for minus 10C (14F).

An amber weather warning for snow is in place covering an area from Nottingham to Stoke-on-Trent, meaning travel disruption and power cuts are likely.

In a bid to deter any potential lockdown rule breakers, Surrey Police tweeted: 'We are currently receiving lots of calls and reports relating to snowballs being thrown and people outside sledging.

'Enjoy the snow today but please don't involve other people, particularly more vulnerable residents. Please stay safe and remember that Covid regulations do still apply.'

Wiltshire Police inspector Louis McCoy wrote: 'I don't want to be dealing with sledgers and snowball fights. There's still a lockdown on. Think about it, don't be tempted.'

Kingston Police in west London urged revellers to enjoy the snow 'from the comfort of your own home' as 'there's a pandemic going on'.

Police in the London borough of Merton comically added: 'Sorry to be "that grumpy relative" but with the snow coming down the way it is, please drive carefully.

'And if youre going to have a snowball fight, please stick to your bubbles. Also do not eat yellow snow.'

Police in Swindon today dispersed 200 people sledging in a park due to fears that social distancing measures were not being maintained.

People play in the snow on Primrose Hill in London as the capital experiences a rare covering of snow on Sunday

Police forces across the country have been slammed for threatening snowball fighters with 200 fines as an Arctic ice blast brought six inches of the white stuff to the UK on Sunday. Pictured: Police in a snow-covered Greenwich park

Responding to Wiltshire Police's warning, Adam Finch wrote: 'Any chance you could use the time when youre not stopping snowball fights and sledging to find my stolen car?'

Sammy added: 'So is taking the kids out sledging not exercise? Do you think maybe it's about time the police stopped disgracing themselves by enforcing laws that don't actually exist?'

Another Twitter user wrote: 'God forbid that children locked down and not able to go to school should have some fun.'

Whether playing in the snow counts as exercise has been a point of contention during England's third national lockdown.

Earlier this month, the Broseley and Much Wenlock division of West Mercia Police threatened to fine people 200 for playing in the snow.

An amber weather warning for snow is in place covering an area from Nottingham to Stoke-on-Trent, meaning travel disruption and power cuts are likely

A tweet, which has since been deleted, read: 'There have been two reports of snowballs being thrown last night between 11 and 11.30pm.

'This is obviously not a justifiable reason to be out of your house, this behaviour is likely to result in a 200 Fixed Penalty Notice for breaking the lockdown rules.'

Police warnings did not dishearten revellers who took full advantage of the snowy weather on Sunday, flocking to frolic and build snowmen, with a snowball fight even breaking out outside Buckingham Palace.

By mid-morning on Sunday, the flakes were falling thick and fast in London and elsewhere, with the Met Office saying that up to six inches could fall by the end of the day.

And Monday will only get worse, with parts of the Midlands potentially recording 15cm (6in) of snowfall by the end of the day, with the snow expected to remain on the ground well into next week.

Meteorologist Simon Partridge said: 'The band of snow that came through overnight stalled over the Midlands and will then track its way back over south-east England.'

He added: 'Our main focus is that it is going to be a really cold night, particularly across central and southern parts of the UK - so the whole of Northern Ireland, all of Wales, most of the southern half of England from the Midlands and southwards.'

Mr Partridge added: 'Temperatures are expected to dip to between minus 4C (24.8F) and minus 6C (21.2F) quite widely tonight and where we get that snow lying in parts of the Midlands we could see one or two places where temperatures are as low as minus 10C (14F).'
Matt Hancock last night infuriated SNP leaders by using his Covid press conference to take a dig at Nicola Sturgeon's threat of a rogue referendum.

Speaking at Monday's Downing Street briefing, the Health Secretary revealed Scotland's ambulance service had been forced to call for emergency support over the weekend.

He said other UK nations had 'stepped forward' to help the Scottish Ambulance Service - which he said proved the Union was 'stronger together'.

The dig came as Ms Sturgeon vowed to hold an advisory referendum on independence if her Scottish National party wins a majority in May's Holyrood elections.

The SNP leader warned she would carry out the vote, with or without backing from Westminster.

Matt Hancock (pictured) has tonight infuriated SNP leaders by using his Covid press conference to take a dig at Nicola Sturgeon 's threat of a rogue referendum

The comment came as Ms Sturgeon (pictured) announced she was hold an advisory referendum on independence if her Scottish National party wins a majority in May's Holyrood elections

But less than 24 hours after Ms Sturgeon's referendum promise, Mr Hancock took his chance to push the power of the Union.

He also stressed the importance of collaboration between the nations in the fight against Covid-19 during the health briefing.

He told the press conference in Downing Street that the Scottish Ambulance Service put out an appeal for extra help over the weekend and other nations 'stepped forward'.

Mr Hancock said: 'Our health systems across the UK routinely work closely together offering support when it's needed, and from vaccines to ambulance services we are stronger together.

'And the UK is stronger together in the fight against this pandemic.'

However the Scottish Government's Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham accused Mr Hancock of using the briefing to make 'overtly political statements about the Union'.

She argued that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon would face 'fury' if she used her briefings to do the same.

In a tweet, she said: At Westminster Covid briefing just there, Matt Hancock chose to make overtly political statements about the union. Cannot imagine the fury if Nicola Sturgeon chose to do the same thing.'

Meanwhile, SNP chiefs accused Mr Hancock of using the briefing to make an 'overtly political statement'.

Mr Hancock told the press conference in No 10 on Monday that the Scottish Ambulance Service put out an appeal for extra help over the weekend and other nations 'stepped forward'.

An SNP spokesman said: 'Covid briefings should be for important public health information only and overtly political statements very much risk diluting the strength of these crucial health messages.

'Nicola Sturgeon strenuously avoids making political points at her daily coronavirus briefings - but the fact the Tories feel the need to try and use this crisis to try and make constitutional arguments shows how deeply rattled they are by the opinion polls, which say independence is clearly becoming the settled will of the people of Scotland.'

It comes as the Tory leader in Scotland called for Labour and other parties to join him in a boycott of any attempt by Ms Sturgeon to call a wildcat referendum on independence.

Douglas Ross said his party would not take part in any vote not sanctioned by Westminster as the Scottish National Party threatened to hold one whether it was given permission or not.

And he called for his political opponents to join him in refusing to lend legitimacy to the separatist project to break up the United Kingdom.

Under UK law the prime minister has to give permission for a referendum, but Boris Johnson has constantly refused to agree to SNP demands for a rerun of the 2014 vote.

Ahead of an expected visit to Scotland this week by the Prime Minister, Mr Ross told an online event for a think tank that if the 2014 vote had been the 'gold standard of referendums' then 'no-one who believes in democracy should enter into this wildcat referendum that would have no actual bearing in terms of the outcome, would not be enforceable'.

He added: 'It is moving all the focus away from what Scottish politicians should be concentrating on right now: protecting jobs, improving the economy, supporting communities right across the country, making sure our education system is fit for our young people.

'That is where the focus should be, not on wildcat referendums, which I would absolutely boycott because they would be an absolute waste of precious time and resources when our focus should be on defeating Covid-19, rolling out the vaccine and concentrating on our economic recovery.'

Mr Johnson is expected to head north this week, according to the Sun. He named himself 'minister for the Union' when he entered Downing Street 18 months ago, but visiting Scotland is a high-risk strategy, as opinion polls show he is hugely unpopular north of the border.

A survey by Panelbase for the Times at the weekend found that he has a -44 rating for his handling of the pandemic among voters in Scotland, compared to Ms Sturgeon's +36.

A poll in the Sunday Times shows indicates a vote for independence would have the backing of the Scottish people and that a referendum should be held in the next five years

A graphic shows how experts forecast a landslide victory for the SNP in May's Scottish elections

Mr Johnson yesterday slapped down Nicola Sturgeon's demands for a new vote, saying she should be totally focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon is vowing that a referendum will be held if there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood after May's elections - where her party is on track to get a landslide.

Jubilant SNP MPs said they wanted to 'focus on undermining the union', even though all sides made clear the 2014 vote would settle the issue 'for a generation'.

The separatists lost that contest by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, but polls have been consistently showing that a majority north of the border would now vote to break away.

Under the blueprint, Ms Sturgeon would demand that Mr Johnson agree to a 'Section 30' order that paves the way to a second independence referendum.

The PM has pledged to refuse such a request. But for the first time, the SNP has said it will then hold a referendum anyway, forcing Mr Johnson to make it legal or take the Scottish Government to court to stop it.

UK Government sources said it would be more likely to ignore a referendum, although that would lead to huge political fallout.
Honorio Medina Barboza (49) has been sentenced to seven months in jail

A sex pest who groped a sleeping teenage boy on the back seat of a Dublin bus has been sentenced to seven months in prison.

Honorio Medina Barboza (49) claimed he thought the 15-year-old victim was a lovestruck gay man who had signalled he was attracted to him.

Judge Bryan Smyth said he had shown little responsibility for his behaviour.

However, Barboza walked free from court shortly after sentencing, when he after serving notice of appeal and taking up bail.

The accused, a Spanish interpreter, of St Edmunds Park, Lucan, had pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Dublin District Court heard the boy was travelling on a bus into the city centre on a morning in July 2019 when the accused boarded. He sat beside the victim, who was asleep at the back.

While the bus was on the quays, Barboza placed his left hand on the victims genital area, outside his clothing, and stroked him a number of times, Det-Gda PJ Gallagher said.

The boy challenged the accused and told him to feck off, at which Barboza said: theres no need to scream, calm down.

He then got up and when the doors opened, he got off the bus.

Barboza was only identified when CCTV footage was broadcast on RTEs Crimecall in a Garda appeal months later.

He pleaded guilty last November and the case was back before the court for a probation report and victim impact statement.

Defence solicitor Lorraine Stephens said Barboza was prepared to offer 500 as a compensation gesture or charity donation.

In the probation report, Barboza stated he did not realise the age of the victim, Ms Stephens said. However, he wholly accepts it was his responsibility and he was 125pc in the wrong, she added.

Judge Smyth said it was of concern to the court that the probation report stated Barboza accepted little responsibility for his behaviour.

He had attributed his behaviour to a perceived lovestruck signal from the victim, who was underage, asleep and did not communicate with him.

The judge set recognisances in the event of an appeal and the accused later served notice of appeal and took up bail.
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Paleontologists Unearth Giant Dinosaur Fossils That Could Belong to Largest Land Creature Ever Known

Paleontologists have uncovered the fossilized remains of a 98-million-year-old dinosaur in Argentina, believing it could be one of the largest land creatures ever to have existed.

The remains, comprising 24 tail vertebrae and parts of the pelvic and pectoral girdle, were discovered within the Candeleros Formation, a dense sedimentary rock formation in Neuquen Province in Argentinas northwest Patagonia, reports CNN.

Paleontologists discovered the fossilized remains of a 98-million-year-old titanosaur in Neuquen Province in Argentinas northwest Patagonia (Courtesy of Alejandro Otero and Jose Luis Carballido)

Experts believe the remains belong to a titanosaur, a large quadrupedal dinosaur with a small head and a long neck and tail belonging to the forest-dwelling herbivorous sauropod (lizard-footed) family. Well-known genera include the diplodocus and brontosaurus.

It is a huge dinosaur, paleontologist Alejandro Otero, of Argentinas Museo de La Plata, explained, but we expect to find much more of the skeleton in future field trips, so well have the possibility to address with confidence how really big it was.

A representation of the newly discovered dinosaur, thought to have had a body mass comparable to an argentinosaurus, measuring up to 130 feet and weighing up to 110 tons (Nobumichi Tamura/STKRF/AP Photo/Stocktrek Images)

The dig was a collaboration between Museo de La Plata, Argentinas The Zapala Museum, Museo Egidio Feruglio, and the universities of Rio Negro and Zaragoza.

The research group claimed that their analysis of the remains does not currently allow for them to regard it as a new species. Yet, publishing their findings in the journal Cretaceous Research, experts claimed the creature was likely one of the largest sauropods ever found, bigger, even, than the Patagotitan.

Titanosaur skeleton cast on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Ill. (Zissoudisctrucker/CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Patagotitan, a sauropod species that walked the earth 100 million to 95 million years ago, measured up to 122 feet in length and weighed up to 77 tons. Otero and his team believe the specimen excavated from the Candeleros Formation implies that larger titanosaurs coexisted with medium- and small-sized titanosaurs.

These size differences could indeed explain the existence of such sauropod diversity in the Neuquen Basin during the Late Cretaceous in terms of niche partitioning, they wrote.

Matt Wedel of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County with an argentinosaurus dorsal vertebra cast (Matt J. Wedel/CC BY 3.0)

The largest creature in known existence is the blue whale, measuring up to 110 feet in length. The largest land creatures are thought to have been the dinosaurs, of which the titanosaur is understood to reign supreme, size-wise.

In the absence of leg bones, experts are unable to estimate the recent Patagonian specimens living weight, reports CNN. The team has nonetheless posited that its body mass was likely comparable to that of a Patagotitan or even argentinosaurus, a 130-foot-long creature weighing up to 110 tons (12 times heavier than an African elephant).

Skeletal restoration and scale diagram of an argentinosaurus (Slate Weasel)

While titanosaur fossils have been found on every continent except Antarctica, the largest multi-ton specimens have mostly been discovered in Patagonia.

Unearthing the remains of such an extremely large titanosaur, said Oteros team, has contributed to a better understanding of the diversification of the species, revealing the existence of a previously unknown lineage and shedding new light on body mass evolution.

We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us here: emg.inspired@epochtimes.com
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Champaign, IL (61820)

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To judge by the governments response, it knows it has trouble on its hands. The crackdown is breaking records. On July 27, 2019, in what was one of the largest roundups of protesters in decades, 1,373 people were detained. On Saturday, around 3,100 were hauled in. At times the process was almost mechanical: In one exchange caught on video, a protester, realizing that a police officer wants only to fulfill an arrest quota, offers himself in place of another  and is duly led away.

The calm manner of that arrest  far from common on Saturday, which saw many ugly displays of heavy-handed policing  harked back to the precursors of todays protest movements. During the Strategy 31 movement, named after the article of the Russian Constitution that guarantees freedom of assembly, from 2009 to late 2011, protesters gathered in Moscow on the last day of every 31-day month. Though never permitted by the authorities, the protests were orderly and pointedly legalistic.

The habit stuck. Before holding a demonstration, protesters over the past decade have tended to seek permission from the authorities. Some of the biggest rallies for fair elections in late 2011 and 2012 were sanctioned by Moscows city government; so was the Digital Resistance protest in April 2018 against the governments attempt to ban Telegram, a popular messaging app.

Not this time. If, permit or not, you are at risk of being beaten, detained and forced to face absurd charges, why bother with the paperwork? The lack of central organization on Saturday  instead of confining themselves to one central square or street, crowds moved across cities and towns  is a notable feature. It also makes counting heads difficult. For Moscow alone, estimates of the number of protesters vary from 4,000 to 10 times that.

Several factors have led to this point. The obvious one is Aleksei Navalny himself. A decade of anti-corruption activism long ago elevated him to a position of authority among those who oppose the president. By the time of his poisoning in August, which he claimed was undertaken at Mr. Putins behest, he effectively embodied the opposition. His brave return to Russia this month, knowing he would be arrested immediately, won him more acclaim. That thousands of people, all across the country, defied the governments order to stay home testifies to the strength of his appeal.
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Even with the pandemic forcing many businesses in foreign countries to halt operations, affecting Vietnamese workers and their income, remittances to Vietnam fell 5 percent over 2019, according to the World Bank.

Bank officials have remarked on a shift in motivation behind remittances over the years. Previously the Vietnamese diaspora sent remittances to Vietnam to support their families, but in recent years, they are sent as investment for doing business in Vietnam.

Besides traditional remitting countries like the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, the U.K., and France, remittances are also coming in from the East and Southeast Asian countries and territories like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.

Many Vietnamese guest workers and women are married to locals in these places.

There are around 580,000 Vietnamese citizens working overseas now, up from 500,000 in 2010, said Nguyen Gia Liem, vice head of the Department of Overseas Labor under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
01/25/2021

Photo (c) Toshe_O - Getty Images Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 25,144,973 (25,111,828)

Total U.S. deaths: 419,341 (419,043)

Total global cases: 99,346,343 (99,105,389)

Total global deaths: 2,132,491 (2,127,884)

In the dark about vaccine supply

The newly appointed head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the government has no idea how much coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is currently available. A number of states have complained of supply shortages in recent weeks.

I cant tell you how much vaccine we have, and if I cant tell it to you then I cant tell it to the governors and I cant tell it to the state health officials, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Fox News Sunday.

Walensky laid much of the blame for the distribution bottlenecks at the feet of the Trump administration. She said the gap in knowledge about vaccine supplies is indicative of the challenges weve been left with.

Hospitalizations decline

Theres finally some good news about the coronavirus. New cases that surged following holiday gatherings have started to decline, and so has the number of patients who require hospitalization.

"I think the next four weeks will be very telling, if that dip is temporary after the high of the holidays, or if we're heading in the right direction to improve our nation," said Dr. Shashank Ravi, assistant director at the Stanford, Conn., Emergency Department.

In Tennessee, a state described as the epicenter of a national outbreak a month ago, hospitalizations have declined by nearly a third.

CDC: Severe allergic reaction to vaccine is rare

While there have been isolated reports of people suffering severe anaphylaxis, or allergic reactions, to the coronavirus vaccines, a new government report calls those reactions rare.

In its report, the CDC followed vaccinations using the drug developed by Moderna and found that it caused few life-threatening reactions during the first three weeks of its availability.

CDC researchers were able to confirm 10 such reactions out of more than four million vaccinations. The report says people with an immediate allergic reaction to the first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine should not receive additional doses of either of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

More pandemic-related economic pain

As the labor market eroded in late 2020, coinciding with a big surge in virus cases, homeowners increasingly had a harder time keeping up with mortgage payments. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that the number of homeowners exiting forbearance programs has flatlined in recent weeks.

Mike Fratantoni, MBA's senior vice president and chief economist, says hes concerned that the recent rise in new unemployment claims could be a troubling sign for the future.

"Job market data continue to indicate weakness, and that means many homeowners who remain unemployed will need ongoing relief in the form of forbearance. While new forbearance requests remain relatively low, the availability of relief remains a necessary support for many homeowners."

Merck ends its vaccine effort

Citing disappointing clinical trial results, Merck said it will not continue its efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus. The company had been working on two potential vaccines.

The early tests showed both vaccines were able to generate an immune response in subjects, but not to the extent of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna products, both of which achieved 95 percent effectiveness.

Johnson & Johnson is in the final stages of its clinical trial on a one-dose vaccine. Over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), predicted that the company would apply for emergency use authorization in two weeks.

Around the nation
Lisbon:

Portugals Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who has his origin in Goa, on Saturday sprang a surprise for Narendra Modi when he hosted a special Gujarati vegetarian lunch for him that included dishes like Aakhu Saak and Mango Shrikhand.



Aakhu literally means whole and saak simply means curry. It is a dish in which vegetable stuffing is heavily spiced and is ideal for big get-togethers.



The other items on the menu included Saag Kofta, Rajma aur Makai, Tarkha Daal, Kesar Rice, Parantha, Rotli, Papad, and Gulab Jamun and other sweets.

ALSO READ: We are determined to deepen our cooperation against terrorism and violent extremism, says PM Modi



Modi is the first Indian prime minister in Portugal for a bilateral visit. He has said his one-day visit to the country will further strengthen relations between India and Portugal.



Earlier on Saturday, Modi and Costa took a stroll around the Palacio das Necessidades, a historic building in the Largo do Rilvas, a public square in Lisbon.



Costa, who is partially of Indian origin, had visited India in January, when he went to see his family members at his ancestral house in Goa.

ALSO READ: PM Narendra Modi holds talks with Portuguese counterpart Antonio Costa, discuss ways to intensify bilateral relations

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. (E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com).

Congratulations! Joe Biden has been taken oath as the 46th U.S. president, terminating one of the most intense political transitions in modern American history. Due to various internal threats, heavy deployment of troops has turned Capital Washington into a military Garrison. The security measured taken never witnessed in the past. Donald Trump - who has not formally acknowledged the presidency to Mr. Joe Biden - ridiculed the opening ceremony, in a departure from longstanding precedent, Vice-President Mr. Pence handed over the Presidency to Mr. Joe Bidden. Mr. Trump has become the first president not to appear his successor's inauguration since 1869. He left the White House early on Wednesday and flew to the nearby Andrews Air Force base.

President Joe Biden, 78, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942. At the young age of only 29, in 1972, he became one of the youngest persons ever elected to the U.S. Senate. He went on to serve as a six-term senator from Delaware. A well-versed, mature politician, having served under several US-administrations, having gained an in-depth understanding of state affairs, received warm welcome from all around the world and messages of good wishes. He is a ray of hope for many Americans and hopes for the rest of the world.

Trump-era was full of controversies, chaos, and unrest, during the last couple of months, he has created an enormous mess. Significantly, his personal relations with PM Modi have out of the way favored India. The agreements made with India under his administrations are illogical and irresponsible. He kept his eyes closed over Indian excessive violations of human rights, excessive use of military force against minorities, especially in Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland, Punjab, Bihar, etc. He over-looked Indian poor religious freedom records and granted special concessions and favors to Indian exporters and entrepreneurs. The job market was opened for Indian nationals. The hate, turmoil, and internal drive he has left behind him, are an inheritance to President Joe Biden.

Joe Biden was the lobbyist for US_India relations since the early days of the 1990s. He convinced several adiministartions on importance of India. But real success was witnessed when China surpassed the German Economy in 2006 and alarmed the Americans that China is rising quickly. It was the time When Indian lobbyists in the U.S. succeeded in convincing the Government to give more importance to India to counter China, contain China, resist China's rise. President Joe was promotor of India-US relations. In fact, he was real architect of this relationship or anti-China Alliance.

Principally, Joe Biden-Administration wanted to strengthen its relations with India. But he can not ignore the growing extremism and polarization in India. He may not compromise over Indian human rights violations. It will be challenging for him to keep his eyes closed over its treatment of minorities and poor religious freedom records. Simply he may not support PM Modi's policies. He understands the cost of supporting Indian extremism, violations of Human Rights, suppression of Kashmiris and minorities. He may not support PM Modi in the manner how ex-President Trump was dealing with him.

Joe Biden Administration has appointed many Indian origin-Americans in his government at decision making or policy making positions. Which may serve a strong pro-India lobby. Some of them are extremist and may harm China and regional peace.

But President Joe Biden may support the restoration of a democratic and secular India. He may strengthen collaboration with India, specifically to Anti-China Alliance. He may use polite language publicly but will take strict action to counter China, contain China, and create a hurdle in China's further development.

India is a cunning and opportunist nation. They can go to any extend to please the U.S. regarding anti-China sentiments to gain maximum benefits. India has been using Anti-China cards to attract President Trump's attention and may keep using similar tactics to attract President Joe Biden.

However, it is desired that hate and cold-war mentality may reach an end, and an environment of collaboration and cooperation may be generated to resolve all diffirences and challenges faced by humankind in any part of the world.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
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A senior SRC official, Karen Tamazian, said the government agency collected about 1.39 trillion drams ($2.7 billion) in taxes and customs duties, down from 1.5 trillion drams collected in 2019.

The agency comprising the Armenian tax and customs services thus fell well short of its 2020 revenue target of 1.6 trillion drams, which had been set by the state budget approved by the parliament in late 2019.

The government anticipated the shortfall in tax revenues already in April as Armenias economy plunged into recession following the onset of the pandemic. The economic crisis was compounded by the six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh that broke out in late September.

Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian said earlier this month that the economy contracted by an estimated 8.5 percent in 2020.

The government offset the shortfall with fresh loans obtained from the International Monetary Fund and other international lenders. The countrys public debt rose by $533 million, to about $7.9 billion, in January-September 2020. The debt is projected to reach $9.2 billion by the end of this year.

SRC data released last week shows that 72 percent of the governments 2020 tax revenues were generated by Armenias 1,000 leading businesses. One of them, the Grand Tobacco company, remained the number one taxpayer, paying 50.7 billion drams ($97.5 million) in various taxes.

The national gas distribution company owned by Russias Gazprom giant was the second most important contributor to the state budget, followed by the countrys largest mining company, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). The SRC collected 45.5 billion drams and 41.7 billion drams respectively from these companies.

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One-third of all African stories in news outlets on the continent are sourced from foreign news services, according to a new report from Africa No Filter. The How African Media Covers Africa, highlights the fact that stories about Africa continue to be told through the same persistent and negative stereotypes and frames of poverty, disease, conflict, poor leadership and corruption.

The research surveyed 38 African editors and analyzed content from 60 African news outlets in 15 countries (Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, DRC, Egypt, Tunisia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal) between September and October 2020. In addition, four facilitated focus groups were held with 25 editors of African media, editors of Pan African outlets and international correspondents. The results confirm challenges and experiences that are common knowledge within the industry: advertising revenue and newsrooms are shrinking, influencing the kind of news that Africans read and that news is largely negative and conflict filled.

Key findings from the report show that the sources for news gathering on African countries are problematic, the resulting content continues to feed old stereotypes, and often the quality of local journalism doesnt allow for nuanced and contextualized storytelling that is critical for telling stories about the 54 countries in Africa.

 63 per cent of outlets surveyed dont have correspondents in other countries in Africa

 1/3 of all coverage on Africa was from non-African sources, with AFP and BBC accounting for  of all stories found in African outlets about other African countries. African news agencies contributed minimally.

 81 per cent of the stories analyzed were classified as hard news e.g. conflicts and crises driven by events  they were also largely political in nature

 13 per cent of the news focused specifically on political violence, civil unrest, armed conflict

 South Africa, followed by Egypt were the countries with the most diverse coverage that was not necessarily linked to newsy events meaning that those two countries are probably the best known on the continent

Media is incredibly influential in setting the agenda and determining narratives about Africa, says Moky Makura, executive director at Africa No Filter. The research clearly shows that despite years of independence, Africans still dont hold the pen when it comes to writing our stories. More importantly, we continue to promote the narratives about Africa being broken, dependent and lacking agency through the stories we share in our media about each other. We need to take back the pen.

Africa No Filter is a not-for-profit set up last year to help shift harmful and stereotypical narratives about Africa through research, advocacy and grant-making to storytellers. It is funded by the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Luminate, Open Society Foundation, Comic Relief, the Hilton Foundation and the British Council.

Makura adds: Ironically, 50 per cent of editors surveyed thought their coverage of other African countries didnt contain stereotypes. It shows clearly that we have some work to do in educating ourselves about the role we play in perpetuating outdated stereotypes about ourselves. Narrative matters and it has implications beyond just storytelling, it impacts investment in Africa, on youth and opportunities people see in their countries, on migration, creativity and innovation, Makura says.

In response to this report, Africa No Filter is launching the continents first and only news agency that will focus on stories of creativity, innovation, arts & culture, and human interest to fill the gap in the market.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:54:04|Editor: huaxia

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HARARE, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwean government on Monday expressed its concern over the increase in fake news on both mainstream and social media at a time when the country is grappling with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Aaron Nhepera said it was unacceptable and unethical to publish such falsehoods.

His remarks came in the wake of false reports on social and mainstream media alleging the death and illness of some senior government and ruling ZANU-PF officials due to COVID-19.

"Government has noted with deep concern, recent developments where mainstream media, social media and individuals are spreading falsehoods on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the nation's leadership. Some of the falsehoods that have been peddled include suggestions that the Honorable Vice President General Retired Constantino Chiwenga was unwell and had been airlifted to China for medical treatment," Nhepera said.

He said Vice President Kembo Mohadi was also subjected to similar falsehoods, along with many other senior government and ruling ZANU-PF officials.

"Members of the public are urged to desist from such tendencies that infringe on other people's rights and cause unnecessary distress and anguish among the people affected," he said.

He said while the pandemic was indeed devastating the country, it was no justification for anyone to spread blatant falsehoods that have the effect of destabilizing the nation.

"Our focus as law-abiding citizens should be on strict observance of the World Health Organization regulations on COVID-19 and adherence to the national lockdown restrictions," Nhepera added.

The country last week lost two cabinet ministers to the virus, Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo and Transport Minister Joel Biggie Matiza.

This was hard on the heels of the death of another minister Ellen Gwaradzimba on Jan. 15 due to the virus. She was the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Manicaland Province.

Zimbabwe's COVID-19 cases have surpassed the 30,000 mark while deaths have also passed the 1,000 mark as the nation grapples with a second wave of the pandemic.

As of Sunday, the country has recorded 31,320 cases of COVID-19 and 1,005 deaths since the first case of the virus was reported last March. Enditem
The writers and columnists at National Review just had a great week. Joe Biden was inaugurated, President Trump is gone, and their writers can scratch off their calendars the upcoming rush week at the Lincoln Project frat house and get back to pretending they are conservatives. It's been four years since they last parroted the Paul Ryan/Mitch McConnell if-only-we-were-in-power shtick, and they made up much lost ground with a slew of articles critical of Biden's first days in office.

But prior to that, they collectively unloaded on the Trump presidency in a manner that dropped all pretense of detached objectivism (implausible as it was) and chortled with unrestrained glee.

Here is a recap of some of last week's articles:

1) Dan McLaughlin calls Bidens inauguration a day of liberation for conservative thinkers, planners, advocates, and policy-makers. Great. Now they can finally get back to successfully promoting and implementing conservative ideas just like they did back inback inremind me again?

2) Rich Lowry mocked Michael Anton and his famous "Flight 93 Election" article, and insinuated that nobody can simultaneously agree with the core tenets of Anton's argument and oppose the Capitol riot. He called Anton's article "hysterical" (it wasn't), claimed the 2018 GOP House loss was predictable (it wasn't), and minimized Trump's achievements as "tax cuts with tariffs on top" (which would be news to Amy Coney Barrett and Qassem Soleimani, among others).

3) Matthew Continetti demanded Trump be tried immediately in the Senate, true to Stalinist form in which the verdict is already assured and just needs rubber stamping by a kangaroo court composed of the defendants' bitterest enemies. He confidently declared, "All the facts are in evidence." Except that they weren't. A few days after Continetti's allegation that Trump was responsible for the Capitol riot (which he repulsively equates with Pearl Harbor and 9/11), evidence arose that the attack was planned in advance, and began before Trump supposedly incited it.

4) Then theres the talented yet insufferable Kevin D. Williamson, who sneered back in 2016 that poor white communities deserved to die. In his latest doubledown, which reads more like an essay contest winner for Jacobin, Williamson compares Trumps 74 million supporters toyou guessed itNazis, conspiracy kooks, disease spreaders, coup planners, inbred hicks, and Saddam devotees. Yawn. Tawdry attempts to shock detractors with shopworn cliches are unlikely to drive them to some sort of humbling, come-to-RINO moment that Williamson feels they should.

5) An article, penned by a mysterious man known only as The Editors, defended the McCains against a censure from the Arizona GOP by asking, What is the point of a political party bent on renouncing its own members?

Good question. Had The Editors any integrity, he might have asked John McCain himself that question when he referred to his fellow Republican senators as wacko birds. Or when he said he regretted choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. Or in the instance from the annals of Cindy McCain. when she banned Palin from his funeral. Or Meghan McCain when she used her eulogy to attack Trump and later tore into Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner for attending. Or when Cindy McCain spoke at the DNC at Bidens nomination (the reward for which, it should be noted, is reportedly an offer of the ambassadorship to the United Kingdom).

But hey, lets not renounce our own members.

6) Another article, again by that cryptic man known as The Editors, defends Liz Cheney for her stunning act of political courage in voting to impeach President Trump. By defending her vote as a vote of conscience, a word and a concept that some of her critics need to reacquaint themselves with, The Editors insinuates that Republicans who opposed impeachment are unconscionable. He launches ad hominem attacks on Republican representatives (forgetting his aforementioned exhortation not to renounce our own members).

The Editors ends his article with the declaration, Brava. Not bravo, but brava. See what he did there? Isnt that clever? Because nothing says principled conservatism like cheap identity politics. Bravx!

This obstinateness at the National Review began when it stepped on the wrong rail back in 2016 with its infamous Conservatives Against Trump article, in which various conservative writers gave their reasons for voting against Trump. In fairness, it was during primary season, and the authors werent advocating a vote for Hillary. They were advocating for one of the several remaining Republican contenders.

They also were assuming the worst about Trump who, at the time, was unknown, untested, and unpredictable. Their fears ran the gambit from Trump the Dictator, to Trump the Closet Liberal, to Trump the Manchurian Candidate, all of which were legitimate possibilities at the time.

But then Trump won. And he spent four years proving to be the most successful conservative president since Reagan. Many of the Never Trumpers, as they came to be called, had the decency to admit their fears were overblown, even if they remained exasperated by his character.

But many didn't. And during the entirety of Trump's tenure, National Review took a very cowardly posture. A significant portion of its writers sat on the fence and kept their fingers in the wind. The rare times they gave Trump credit for anything, they made certain to lace their articles with cheap shots at him, the same cheap shots they denounced as classless and uncivil when Trump lobbed them at the radical Left. And as far as giving any credit to the base that ignored their warnings and voted him in? Please. They could barely contain their bile. Bill Maher has shown more empathy towards Trump voters than some of the conservatives at National Review.

National Review apologists will claim that what National Review did was resist the sp-called Always Trump cult by staying objective and rational, by offering Trump begrudging but qualified praise when due while still retaining the moral authority to fairly criticize his leadership deficits, Twitter rants, and personality quirks. That might have passed muster had National Review not behaved the way it did during the week of Bidens inauguration.

National Review tried to harangue us last week from a smug, I-told-you-so posture. But nothing they warned us about in their 2016 admonition came to pass, and almost everything they shooed away in the interim as paranoia or worse has come to pass, is coming to pass, or will very shortly come to pass.

To be fair, National Review isnt the only opportunistic weathervane which instantaneously about-face at the slightest shift in breeze. There actually is a gaggle. Heres a short list of fellow travelers:

Bret Stephens, Jennifer Rubin, Jeffrey Goldberg, David Brooks, and Max Boot, all of whom beat the National Review to the punch by jumping the S.S. RINO long before anyone in their right mind ever thought that Joe Biden could ever be elected president of anything.

Mitt Romney and George Conway, opportunistic grifters who loved Trump when they thought they would receive high ranking posts, and turned on him the minute they didnt.

William Kristol, who went spelunking down the Cave of Incoherent Irrelevance, never to be heard from again.

David French, hyperventilating to anyone who will listen about how Auschwitz guards were Swedish masseuses compared to how American police treat black people.

Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver, who wrongly figured that doing his best Harvey Weinstein impersonation wouldnt be controversial if the victims were men.

Michael Medved. Who?

Alexander Vindman, a cog in the machine who felt his personal opinion on Ukraine policy overrode that of the elected president.

Jim Mattis, John Kelly, and John Bolton, all careerists whose neocon theories of permanent war are as ossified as the Marxism they once claimed to oppose. They all happily served in Trumps cabinet until he spurned their advice on both the wisdom and morality of unconstitutionally using other peoples money to send other peoples kids to fight other peoples wars while hindered by other peoples rules.

If they constitute the Swamp, then National Review is the dishrag brochure advertising to gullible tourists that the Swamp is a great place to visit. The Swamp Cruise? Even better.

The eminent Victor Davis Hanson, David Harsanyi, and Conrad Black are the only forces keeping National Review somewhat afloat, and God only knows what inexplicable sense of benevolence moves them to do so. But like the barrels harpooned to the shark in Jaws, even their combined efforts to buoy a Leviathan bent on sinking it will inevitably fall short.

In Dante's Inferno, Virgil leads him to a group of damned souls who nonetheless have been refused entrance into hell. In Canto III, he writes:

This miserable way is taken by the sorry souls of those who lived without disgrace and without praise. They now commingle with the coward angels, the company of those who were not rebels nor faithful to their God, but stood apart. The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened, have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive them  even the wicked cannot glory in them.

No, NR readers, Im not comparing Donald Trump to God. I'm using the allegory to illustrate how National Review and its cruise ship effrontery is perceived by we flyover conservatives for whom Trump's 2016 victory carried very real blessings and for whom his 2020 defeat carry very real consequences. It's not an exercise in theoretical gymnastics for us, nor some virtue-signaling performance to see who can, on paper, convey the most "principle." For us, it's a matter of feeding our families, of practicing our religion, of keeping our jobs, of defending ourselves, of raising our children, and of peacefully expressing our opinions without fear of being fired, cancelled, or beaten in the street by leftist thugs. You experience none of these fears, and you loathe us for supporting the only politician in living memory who not only lent an ear to our concerns but actually followed through on his promises.

So take a break from soliciting us for money with your increasingly periodic Beg-A-Thons, and give President Trump credit for the four years he was our president, which is three years and 51 weeks longer than Kevin Williamson lasted at The Atlantic.

Image: Pixabay // Pixabay license
In the first two weeks of 2021, Philadelphians and Americans have seen conflicting messages from law and policy with huge implications for access to drug treatment and life saving resources.

On Jan. 12, U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Safehouse  an overdose prevention site proposed to allow for safe drug practice and access to treatment services for those suffering from addiction, with the backing of city governmental agencies  violated federal law.

 READ MORE: Bill McSwains reign as U.S. attorney is ending. Can Biden undo the damage? | Opinion

Ignoring research and data, successful overdose prevention sites outside the U.S., and support from physicians to social workers, recovery specialists to parents and families, the decision came down to the Courts interpretation of a 30+ year old law. In her dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge Jane Richards Roth wrote: Safehouse is trying to save peoples lives. Days after this decision, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain, a Trump appointee who brought the civil suit against Safehouse, resigned knowing that he would be replaced by the incoming Biden Administrationand leaving Safehouses fate up in the air. This sets discouraging precedent for cities across the country, such as Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, who were following the Safehouse case closely with interest in opening their own overdose prevention sites.

While McSwains actions against Safehouse threaten public health, his colleagues in the Trump administration actually did something two days later to help it. On Jan. 14, the outgoing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of the Trump Administration reversed a 20 year regulation, known as the X Waiver, mandating that all physicians and health care providers take additional training and certifications to treat addiction with the medication buprenorphine, a life-saving addiction treatment. For years, doctors and treatment providers had advocated to X the X-waiver to decrease barriers and increase availability. It made no sense to those of us on the frontline of the devastation of addiction that nearly 100% of practicing physicians and prescribers could potentially cause the unintended consequence of opioid addiction by prescribing pain meds, but fewer than 7% could actually treat their own patients for the same.

Brett P. Giroir, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS, cited the rise in drug overdoses in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as compelling the Administration to act. This is a game changer for the Philadelphia region  a city with not just a high concentration of health systems and medical providers, but also with the nations highest overdose mortality rate of any large city.

Yet meanwhile, Pennsylvanias own state government might hold us back. On Jan. 8  days after the Capitol insurrection and when PA representatives further delayed the Electoral College count by not accepting the results of its own constituent votes, and representatives in Harrisburg went so far as to not seat a newly elected member  State Sen. Michele Brooks announced she will reintroduce her plan to impose even more strict barriers to access to drug treatment, which previously failed to pass.

If voted in, her proposal would mandate office-based prescribers of buprenorphine to pay additional fees to the state in order to be able to treat their patients. This would remove treatment in the state even further from standard of care and evidence-based approaches. Just as some of our state representatives reflected their lack of interest the wellbeing of others by refusing to wearing a mask when held in close quarters while armed rioters entered the Capitol, they seem to sacrifice what is good for Pennsylvanians despite presiding over the state with the nations fourth-highest overdose mortality rate.

 READ MORE: As overdoses soar, feds make it easier for doctors to prescribe addiction medication

These developments have left me confused - disappointed and trepidatiously hopeful at the same time. We have seen our own Pennsylvania representatives disregard the voice of the people they were elected to serve, both in Harrisburg and on the national stage. We have seen how the letter of the law seems to take different shape and form depending on who is on the other side. But we have also seen positive change.

Our work lies ahead of us. The 3rd Circuit judges who ruled against Safehouse call us to action: Courts are not arbiters of policy. We must apply the laws as written. If the laws are unwise, Safehouse and its supporters can lobby Congress to carve out an exception.

Amidst the chaotic activity of these first two weeks of 2021, the lessons are clear. Voters and civilians are the ones who choose elected officials. We are also the ones who must hold them accountable. This is true for our City Council members who dont honor their word, state representatives who dont honor the regulations of the land, and our federal officials who wield enormous power. That advocates and experts were able to X the X-waiver to make treatment more accessible to all is a testament to the power of raising these issues. We cant stop using our voices now. Its still a matter of life and death. But its also a new day.

Priya E. Mammen is an emergency physician, a fellow of the Lindy Institute of Urban Innovation at Drexel University, and an adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.
Runners: Get your summer program off on the right foot
China has been spreading doubts about the safety of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine and suggested that the virus originated in an American military laboratory.

Beijing's cynical propaganda campaign comes after the recent arrival of World Health Organisation investigators in Wuhan to probe the origins of coronavirus.

As the Pfizer jab is rolled out across the world, the Chinese Communist has filled the airwaves with stories about people dying suddenly after having the US drug company's vaccine.

On social media, the hashtag 'American's Ft. Detrick,' started by the Communist Youth League, was viewed 1.4 billion times in the last week after Beijing called for a WHO probe into the biological weapons lab in Maryland.

Beijing's claim follows an intelligence dump from Washington this month which said workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill with 'symptoms consistent with COVID-19' in the fall of 2019.

Marilyn Rosetti, Director of The Open Hearth shelter, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine from a Mobile Vaccination Clinic run by Hartford HealthCare in Hartford, Connecticut on January 22

Two soldiers stand guard February 25, 2002 at the main gate of Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, where the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infections Diseases is located. The facility has hosted much of the US biological defense program, also known as the National Biodefense Strategy

China's president Xi Jinping addresses the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in Beijing, capital of China on January 22

Chinese scientists and officials have been eager to find 'evidence' the virus started overseas and have blamed a total of nine countries for being the true source - despite experts rubbishing those theories

The Trump administration pressed the WHO to fully investigate the laboratory, saying that the Chinese had withheld vital information about the virus since the first outbreak.

While China's fringe theories may raise eyebrows abroad, they have a captive domestic audience.

'It's purpose is to shift the blame from mishandling by (the) Chinese government in the pandemic's early days to conspiracy by the U.S.,' said Fang Shimin, a now-U.S.-based writer known for exposing faked degrees and other fraud in Chinese science. 'The tactic is quite successful because of widespread anti-American sentiment in China.'

Yuan Zeng, an expert on Chinese media at the University of Leeds in Great Britain, said the government's stories spread so widely that even well-educated Chinese friends have asked her whether they might be true.

Inflaming doubts and spreading conspiracy theories might add to public health risks as governments try to dispel unease about vaccines, she said, saying: 'That is super, super dangerous.'

In the latest volley, state media called for an investigation into the deaths of 23 elderly people in Norway after they received the Pfizer vaccine. An anchor at CGTN, the English-language station of state broadcaster CCTV, and the Global Times newspaper accused Western media of ignoring the news.

Health experts say deaths unrelated to the vaccine are possible during mass vaccination campaigns, and a WHO panel has concluded that the vaccine did not play a 'contributory role' in the Norway deaths.

The state media coverage followed a report by researchers in Brazil who found the effectiveness of a Chinese vaccine lower than previously announced. Researchers initially said Sinovac's vaccine is 78% effective, but the scientists revised that to 50.4% after including mildly symptomatic cases.

After the Brazil news, researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a government-supported think tank, reported seeing an increase in Chinese media disinformation about vaccines.

Dozens of online articles on popular health and science blogs and elsewhere have explored questions about the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine at length, drawing on an op-ed published this month in the British Medical Journal that raised questions about its clinical trial data.

While China enjoys its Covid recovery and trumpets its success, a growing body of evidence suggests it covered up the early spread of the disease - allowing it to balloon into a pandemic while robbing other nations of the ability to properly respond

China's GDP grew by 2.3 per cent in 2020, making it the only major economy likely to record economic growth in the year of the pandemic

'It's very embarrassing' for the government, Fang said in an email. As a result, China is trying to raise doubts about the Pfizer vaccine to save face and promote its vaccines, he said.

Senior Chinese government officials have not been shy in voicing concerns about the mRNA vaccines developed by Western drug companies. They use a newer technology than the more traditional approach of the Chinese vaccines currently in use.

In December, the director of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, said he can't rule out negative side effects from the mRNA vaccines. Noting this is the first time they are being given to healthy people, he said, 'there are safety concerns.'

The arrival of the WHO mission has brought back persistent criticism that China allowed the virus to spread globally by reacting too slowly in the beginning, even reprimanding doctors who tried to warn the public. The visiting researchers will begin field work this week after being released from a 14-day quarantine.

The Communist Party sees the WHO investigation as a political risk because it focuses attention on China's response, said Jacob Wallis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The party wants to 'distract domestic and international audiences by pre-emptively distorting the narrative on where responsibility lies for the emergence of COVID-19,' Wallis said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying got the ball rolling last week by calling for the WHO investigation of the U.S. military lab. The site had been mentioned previously by CGTN and other state-controlled outlets.

'If America respects the truth, then please open up Ft. Detrick and make public more information about the 200 or more bio-labs outside of the U.S., and please allow the WHO expert group to go to the U.S. to investigate the origins,' Hua said.

Her comments, publicized by state media, became one of the most popular topics on Sina Weibo.

China isn't the only government to point fingers. Former President Donald Trump, trying to deflect blame for his government's handling of the pandemic, said last year he had seen evidence the virus came from a Wuhan laboratory. While that theory has not been definitively ruled out, many experts think it is unlikely.
Strides Pharma Science announced that its step-down wholly owned subsidiary, Strides Pharma Global, Singapore, has received approval for Ursodiol Capsules USP, 300 mg from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA).

The product is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the Reference Listed Drug (RLD), Actigall Capsules, 300 mg, of Allergan Sales, LLC.

According to IQVIA MAT November 2020 data, the US market for Ursodiol Capsules USP, 300 mg is approximately US$ 45 Mn. The product will be manufactured at the company's facility at Bengaluru and will be marketed by Strides Pharma Inc. in the US market.

The company has 127 cumulative ANDA filings with USFDA of which 96 ANDAs have been approved and 31 are pending approval

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The technology aerial platforms can carry is impressive, allowing us to use lidar, multispectral imagery, and long wave infrared (thermal) sensors to derive highly informed answers for our clients.

NV5 Geospatial , North Americas largest provider of geospatial data services and solutions, will share ground-breaking research on the use of low altitude drone and rotary wing lidar surveys for transportation applications during the 2021 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, a virtual event taking place in late January. The presentation  Detailed Comparison of Three Lidar Captures from Drone and Rotary Platforms, and at Different Altitudes on Oklahoma DOT Roadway  will be part of the session, "The Continued Evolution of UAS for Transportation Design," scheduled for 4 p.m. on January 28.

During the presentation, Mark Meade, P.E., PLS, CP, senior vice president at NV5 Geospatial and Kyle King, PLS, chief of Surveys for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (DOT), will discuss the performance and accuracy of lidar applications over a two-mile stretch of rural highway. The three applications evaluated were:



Traditional linear-mode RIEGL 480i sensor flown on a helicopter

NV5 Geospatial's comprehensive low-altitude sensor solution (CLASS), which combines two RIEGL VUX-LRs with nadir and oblique imagery, mounted to a helicopter

Single RIEGL VUX-1 flown on a small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS)

The project demonstrated that the different, cutting-edge lidar technologies and aerial platforms could deliver extreme horizontal and vertical accuracy for airborne systems flown at altitudes of 250 feet to 600 feet. These configurations also offered results that were similar to those achieved by mobile or terrestrial collection.

The results of the Oklahoma DOT research project showed that options exist to provide even greater flexibility for transportation projects, as well as for broader use by airports, railways, utilities and general engineering design.

"Helicopters and drones both play an important role in many types of large- and small-scale projects," Meade noted. These platforms appeal to many specialized applications where extreme accuracy and resolution are needed, including utilities, infrastructure, asset management, forestry, environmental, and emergency response as well as transportation. The technology aerial platforms can carry is impressive, allowing us to use lidar, multispectral imagery, and long wave infrared (thermal) sensors to derive highly informed answers for our clients.

For more information or to attend, visit the 2021 TRB Annual Meeting website.

About NV5 Geospatial

NV5 Geospatial, powered by Quantum Spatial, is North America's largest provider of geospatial services, providing end-to-end solutions and insights to organizations that need geospatial intelligence to mitigate risk, plan for growth, better manage resources and advance scientific understanding. We combine the widest array of advanced remote sensing technologies with proprietary processes, analytics tools, algorithms, and analysis tailored to meet our clients' needs. For more information visit the NV5 Geospatial website, join us on LinkedIn or follow us on Twitter @nv5geospatial.

About NV5

NV5 Global, Inc. is a leading provider of compliance, technology, and engineering consulting solutions for public and private sector clients supporting infrastructure, utility, and building assets and systems. The Company primarily focuses on six business verticals: testing, inspection & consulting, infrastructure support services, utility services, buildings & program management, environmental health sciences, and geospatial technology services. NV5 operates out of more than 100 offices nationwide and abroad. For additional information, please visit the Companys website at http://www.NV5.com. Also visit the Company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Vimeo.
NCR Corp. landed the Houston ATM company Cardtronics for about $1.7 billion, outbidding two New York investment firms, the companies said Monday.

The transaction, expected to close in mid-2021, will convert Cardtronics to a privately held company. Edward H. West, Cardtronics CEO, said the sale was in best interest of the shareholders.

This compelling transaction  will deliver superior value to our shareholders, West said in a statement. This is a testament to the strength and value of Cardtronics, our talented team and customer base, and the complementary nature of our two businesses.

NCR, headquartered in Atlanta, provides technology for the financial, retail and hotel industries. Cardtronics operates one of largest non-bank ATM networks in the world.

Cardtronics in December agreed to be sold to the New York investment firms Apollo Global Management and Hudson Executive Capital for $35 a share, some price analysts said this undervalued the company. NCR made an unsolicited bid for $39 a year on Dec. 31.

Anything could happen at this late stage, said Sam Ditzion, CEO of Tremont Capital Group, a Boston research and consulting firm, but this likely seems to be a done deal.

NCR paid Cardtronics $32.6 million breakup fee to end the deal with Apollo and Hudson. NCR executives said Cardtronics fits well with its business and expertise in payment platforms.

The company expects the merger to yield between $100 million and $120 million by cutting operational costs. NCR plans to pay for the transaction with cash on hand and financing from Bank of America.

A bidding war: NCR offers to buy Cardtronics for more than $1.7 billion
The Biden Administration has appointed four Indian-Americans to senior positions in the crucial Department of Energy.

The administration appointed Tarak Shah as the Chief of Staff, making him first Indian-American to serve in that position.

Tanya Das has been named as the Chief of Staff to the Office of Science, Narayan Subramanian will occupy the position of Legal Adviser in the Office of General Counsel, and Shuchi Talati has been appointed as Chief of Staff in the Office of Fossil Energy.

These talented and diverse public servants will deliver on President Biden's goal to tackle the climate crisis and build an equitable future, said Shah as the Department of Energy announced 19 senior-level appointments.

Guided by their expertise, breadth of experience and following the science, these Department of Energy appointees will contribute to creating a economy that produces millions of good-paying American jobs and safeguards the planet for future generations, Shah said.

In addition to the Biden-Harris appointees, David G Huizenga will serve as the Acting Secretary of Energy. He was most recently Associate Principal Deputy Administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration and has been a career employee at the department since 1987.

Tarak Shah is an energy policy expert who has spent the last decade working on combating climate change. At the Biden-Harris transition, Shah was the personnel lead for the climate and science team.

From 2014-2017, he served as Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary for Science and Energy at the department. Shah has also worked on political campaigns, including President Obama's senate and presidential campaigns.

He had received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and his MBA from Cornell University.

Tanya Das was most recently a professional staff member on the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, where she worked on a range of issues in and manufacturing policy.

She earned her PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her BS in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Narayan Subramanian was a visiting research fellow at the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment at Berkeley Law, leading a project tracking regulatory rollbacks, and served as a fellow at the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy at Johns Hopkins University and Data for Progress.

Subramanian holds a JD from Columbia Law School, an MPA from the School of Public and Affairs at Princeton University, and a BS in earth and environmental engineering from Columbia University.

Shuchi Talati was most recently a Senior Policy Adviser at Carbon180, where she focused on policies to build sustainable and equitable technological carbon removal. She also served as a policy volunteer on the Biden-Harris campaign.

Dr Talati earned a BS from Northwestern University, an MA from Columbia University and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University.

The Department of Energy said the new leaders will direct policy at the DOE, coordinate across the Administration and enact President Joe Biden's vision for bold action on the climate crisis and on safeguarding the Americans most affected by it.

These experienced professionals reflect President Biden's pledge to equip his Administration with a team that represents America's diversity, it said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

US President Joe Biden is expected to re-impose a travel ban that Donald Trump lifted just days before his term ended.



The restrictions expected to be reinstated later on Monday would apply to non-US citizens travelling from South Africa and Brazil, which are facing new variants of coronavirus.



Travellers from the UK, Ireland and 26 other European countries are also expected to be banned.



The Trump administration's decision to lift the travel ban which had been in place since last March was criticized by President Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki, who had tweeted that the incoming government didn't intend to abide by the change.

Source: BBC









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As part of his pandemic response, Joe Biden signed an executive order imposing restrictions on travel including an assessment whether it is feasible to use COVID-19 vaccination records as a passport of sorts.

The order calls for an evaluation of the possible inclusion of COVID-19 vaccinations as an international travel requirement which entails to develop and requires the use of vaccine passports, LifeSite News reported.

The regulation directs the government "to assess the feasibility of linking COVID-19 vaccination to International Certificates of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) and producing electronic versions of ICVPs."

Biden's new directive also mandates travelers to the United States to get tested before departure and wearing masks in airports and other modes of public transportation such as trains, ferries, intercity bus services and aircraft.

The order also requires international travelers to show proof of recent negative COVID-19 test before entry and compliance of the recommendations of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) including "periods of self-quarantine or self-isolation after entry into the United States."

Finally, the regulation also enforces the administration to work with the World Health Organization (WHO), foreign governments and other "international 'stakeholders' to impose consistent international restrictions in several aspects, including "quarantine, testing, COVID-19 vaccination, follow-up testing and symptom-monitoring, environmental decontamination standards ... and contact tracing."

The U.K. government is already funding trials for vaccine passports but an "uproar" reportedly happened when Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott announced that people will be required to present proof of COVID vaccinations for work, travel, going to theatre or "any other places where people will be in closer physical contact," including restaurants, churches and shopping centers.

Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) opposed the rule and called it a "wrongheaded" solution and said that it has "a coercive effect on the decision-making process" to take the vaccine, that "(m)eaningful consent is required for voluntariness to be genuine, and coerced consent doesn't meet that threshold."

CCLA Director of Privacy Brenda McPhail also stated that the policy would cause "abuse, discrimination, and oppression."

"(W)e risk creating a dangerous social sorting, a categorization of human beings as safe vs unsafe, deserving vs undeserving, based on their personal decision about their health. We know what happens when we create social systems dividing people into categories - abuse, discrimination, and oppression," McPhail said.

There have been relevant concerns regarding the vaccines, "which have been rushed through the process of development, testing, approval, and now distribution, with a new "messenger RNA" technology, no industry-standard animal trials, or any sufficient studies on long-term effects," the report noted.

Vaccine concerns comprise "allergic" and "potentially fatal reactions," risks that these could increase vulnerability to the virus, "present unacceptable dangers of long term effects" and cause infertility in women.

According to the document released in the fall of 2020 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, COVID-19 vaccine's side effects may include encephalitis, auto-immune disease, strokes, Kawasaki disease, birth defect and even death.

The news also stated that there are already 55 deaths in the United States which are connected to COVID-19 vaccines, as reports revealed. In addition, CDC has also acknowledged that 3,150 people who took the vaccines are experiencing "health impact events".

Further, Chinese health experts have also called for the suspension of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines following a dozen of reported vaccine-related deaths in Norway.

Before the vaccines were released, National Catholic Bioethics Center President Dr. Joseph Meaney has reportedly said that coercing people to take coronavirus vaccinations as a requirement for the right to travel is "ethically unacceptable."

According to WHO's statement taken on Friday by The Post Millennial, it does not recommend proof of vaccination as a requirement for international travel.

"At the present time, do not introduce requirements of proof of vaccination or immunity for international travel as a condition of entry as there are still critical unknowns regarding the efficacy of vaccination in reducing transmission and limited availability of vaccines. Proof of vaccination should not exempt international travelers from complying with other travel risk reduction measures," the organization stated.


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New Delhi:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said that the government decided on loan waiver of Rs 34,000 crores. Fadnavis said that they are waiving loans upto Rs 1.5 lakhs completely.

"Those farmers who have paid back their loans regularly, we will give 25% loan return benefit to them. Aware that the burden will fall on us, will cut our expenses. All ministers and MLAs will give 1 month salary to support loan waiver," said Deevendra Fadnavis.

As per estimates, 89 lakh farmers in the state are going to be benefitted by the decision. Decision of loan waiver is all set to reflect upon the 7/12 land extract of almost 90% farmers.

This loan waiver scheme is named as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krishi Samman Yojana. The cut-off date for the loan waiver scheme is June 30, 2016.

Named after Maratha warrior king Shivaji Maharaj, the programme will benefit 89 lakh farmers and make 40 lakh agriculturists debt-free, Fadnavis said.

Farmers in many parts of Maharashtra were on a warpath early this month, which disrupted supply of vegetables and other essentials to cities, including Mumbai.

They were demanding a loan waiver, which was backed by all political parties. The stir was called off after the government gave them a firm assurance on brining in a comprehensive scheme to help the debt-pressed cultivators.

Also read: Congress demands farm loan waiver in Uttarakhand Assembly on lines of Uttar Pradesh

Also read: Maharashtra govt announces loan waiver, to form committee to decide criteria; farmers call off protests



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It was previously thought that collisions between galaxies would necessarily add to the activity of the massive black holes at their centers. However, researchers have performed the most accurate simulations of a range of collision scenarios and have found that some collisions can reduce the activity of their central black holes. The reason is that certain head-on collisions may in fact clear the galactic nuclei of the matter which would otherwise fuel the black holes contained within.

When you think about gargantuan phenomena such as the collision of galaxies, it might be tempting to imagine it as some sort of cosmic cataclysm, with stars crashing and exploding, and destruction on an epic scale. But actually it is closer to a pair of clouds combining, usually a larger one absorbing a smaller one. It's unlikely any stars within them would collide themselves. But that said, when galaxies collide, the consequences can be enormous.

Galaxies collide in different ways. Sometimes a small galaxy will collide with the outer part of a larger one and either pass through or merge, in either case exchanging a lot of stars along the way. But galaxies can also collide head-on, where the smaller of the two will be torn apart by overpowering tidal forces of the larger one. It's in this scenario that something very interesting can happen within the galactic nucleus.

"At the heart of most galaxies lies a massive black hole, or MBH," said Research Associate Yohei Miki from the University of Tokyo. "For as long as astronomers have explored galactic collisions, it has been assumed that a collision would always provide fuel for an MBH in the form of matter within the nucleus. And that this fuel would feed the MBH, significantly increasing its activity, which we would see as ultraviolet and X-ray light amongst other things. However, we now have good reason to believe that this sequence of events is not inevitable and that in fact the exact opposite might sometimes be true."

It seems logical that a galactic collision would only increase the activity of an MBH, but Miki and his team were curious to test this notion. They constructed highly detailed models of galactic collision scenarios and ran them on supercomputers. The team was pleased to see that in some circumstances, an incoming small galaxy might actually strip away the matter surrounding the MBH of the larger one. This would reduce instead of increase its activity.

"We computed the dynamic evolution of the gaseous matter which surrounds the MBH in a torus, or donut, shape," said Miki. "If the incoming galaxy accelerated this torus above a certain threshold determined by properties of the MBH, then the matter would be ejected and the MBH would be starved. These events can last in the region of a million years, though we are still unsure about how long the suppression of MBH activity may last."

This research could help us understand the evolution of our own Milky Way. Astronomers are confident our galaxy has collided with many smaller ones before.

###

Journal article

Yohei Miki, Masao Mori and Toshihiro Kawaguchi. Destruction of the central black hole gas reservoir through head-on galaxy collisions. Nature Astronomy.

DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01286-9 - https:/ / www. nature. com/ articles/ s41550-020-01286-9

Funding details

This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (16002003), by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) ((S) 20224002; (A) 21244013; (C) JP17K05389), JSPS KAKENHI grant nos. JP20K14517 and JP20K04022, and by NAOJ Research Coordination Committee (20DS-0502).

Useful links

Information Technology Center, The University of Tokyo

https:/ / www. itc. u-tokyo. ac. jp/ en/

Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba

https:/ / www. ccs. tsukuba. ac. jp/ eng/

Onomichi City University

https:/ / www. onomichi-u. ac. jp/ english_page/ en_index. html

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

https:/ / www. nao. ac. jp/ en/

Research contact

Research Associate Yohei Miki

Information Technology Center, Supercomputing Research Division

The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba 277-8589, JAPAN

Email: ymiki@cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Tel: +81(0)80-9640-7171

Media contact

Mr. Rohan Mehra

Division for Strategic Public Relations

The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8654, JAPAN

Email: press-releases.adm@gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp

About the University of Tokyo
Competition regulator Rod Sims has warned big bank acquisitions of fintech challengers could stifle competition and deny consumers future benefits from innovation, vowing to closely scrutinise any deals if they arise.

While Mr Sims stressed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would not necessarily try to block all such deals, he also indicated the regulator would look more favourably on takeovers of disruptive fintechs by second-tier banks.

ACC chairman Rod Sims: The most likely form of challenge is going to come from innovative fintechs coming up with new ways of doing things. Credit:AFR

However, the chair of a Senate inquiry into fintech, Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg, said it was important the regulator did not deter vital investment in innovation by the big four banks.

With the major banks all looking to invest in fintech as the industry deals with sweeping technological change, the ACCC chairman said it was important for consumers that the big four did not swallow up potential digital challengers.
[January 25, 2021] Zhenan Bao joins Azul 3D advisory board

SKOKIE, IL, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World-renowned electronics expert and entrepreneur Zhenan Bao has joined the advisory board of Azul 3D. Bao is a pioneer in the field of stretchable electronics. Her work includes the development of flexible, stretchable devices that can interface with skin and have potential applications for human prostheses and robotics. Bao is chairperson of the chemical and engineering department and professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University. She also is a co-founder and on the Board of Directors of Silicon Valley tech startups C3 Nano and PyrAmes.

I am delighted to serve on the scientific advisory board of Azul 3D, Bao said. High-throughput 3D printing is a gamechanger. I look forward to help advance its possibilities.

The addition of Bao kicks off another strong year for Azul 3D. In 2020, the fast-growing, leading-edge 3D printing company added two new members to its Board of Directors, including legendary investor Louis A. Simpson and 3D-printing veteran John Hartner, CEO of ExOne. After securing $10 million in an oversubscribed seed financing round, Azul 3D also inked an exclusive development collaboration with DuPont Electronics & Imaging to bring next-generation 3D printing technologies to he forefront of the electronic materials industry.





Last year brought many successes, all of which validated the capabilities of our record-breaking high-area rapid printing (HARP) technology, said Chad Mirkin, Azul 3D cofounder and chair. I am encouraged that we have so much support from veterans from the 3D-printing industry and electronics experts, who recognize HARPs unique potential to transform manufacturing. We look forward to another strong year of growth in 2021.

ABOUT AZUL 3D



Azul 3D is a leading-edge 3D printing company that is transforming the additive manufacturing industry. Initially invented and developed at Northwestern University, HARP allows one to print 3D structures from a wide pallet of materials. The initial printers based upon HARP are capable of manufacturing parts at production speeds, regardless of size, with a throughput dramatically outpacing its competitors and becoming competitive with injection molding. Azul 3D is enabling manufacturers to transition from prototype to mass-manufacturing on a single, streamlined production platform. In combination with its proprietary industrial-grade materials, it offers the opportunity for just-in-time mass production of diverse, highly customized products. Media Contact

Company Name: Azul 3D

Contact Person: Amanda Morris

Email: amorris@azul3d.com

Website: https://www.azul3d.com

Attachment Azul 3D



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A potential rise in mergers and acquisitions is sparking concerns that local firms will lose competitiveness by selling themselves to foreign investors.

The Vietnamese merger and acquisition (M&A) market has suffered a plunge since the beginning of 2020 as investors took a more cautious tack while restrictions and quarantine measures hindered the evaluation and decision-making of M&A deals.

Such transactions in Vietnam were estimated at $3.5 billion during 2020, accounting for 48.6 per cent compared to the previous year, but it is believed the market will recover this year when its size may return to previous levels of around $5 billion.

Beside other traditionally big investors to Vietnam including those from Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, Thai corporates have showcased great confidence in Vietnam in the midst of the global health crisis.

In one case, Stark Group acquired Thinh Phat Cables JSC and Dong Viet Non-Ferrous Metal and Plastic JSC, while Thai conglomerate SCG bought Bien Hoa Packaging JSC. There have also been a few notable power projects in Vietnam involving Thai investors in the past year such as Banpu Pcl., Super Energy Corporation, and Gunkul Engineering Plc.

These transactions, along with many other M&A deals that have been carried out recently, come with worries that many Vietnamese companies may fall by the wayside in the hands of foreign companies.

However, Ong Tiong Hooi, transaction services partner of PwC Vietnam, told VIR that almost all investments made via Thailand have come through corporates that are looking to expand their value chain either horizontally or vertically into sectors such as beverages, retail, construction, packaging-related materials, and industrial products.

Generally, all foreign investors regardless of corporate or financial investors look for the same thing: supporting their investee to grow, adding value and synergies to their portfolio of investments, and strengthening and generating financial returns, he said. For most Thai buyers, our general observation is that they do understand the general business practices in an emerging country like Vietnam, as most of their countries underwent the same business trajectory before.

Supercharged competitiveness

Meanwhile, Eric Johnson, senior associate in Vietnam at international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, stated that foreign investment into local Vietnamese businesses should be viewed as a positive trend that increases competition and benefits the domestic business community as a whole.

For example, for founders looking to sell a family-owned business, selling to a foreign investor is an attractive option, and there is still plenty of demand from foreign investors for well-run local businesses.

For growing Vietnamese companies, funding from a well-known foreign financial investor can provide capital, know-how, and a reputational boost that can supercharge their expansion plans. Of course, too much investment done in the wrong way could freeze out local businesses and actually reduce competition, Johnson said.

But the government has plenty of means at its disposal to review foreign investment transactions to guard against this risk, including the new Law on Competition that became effective in 2020, he added.

Tran Quoc Phuong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, stated that M&A have become an effective capital mobilisation channel, helping to diversify investment sources for the Vietnamese economy, accelerate economic restructuring and renewal of the growth model, and bring variety to the types of business ownership.

Therefore, the ministry is completing the draft of a new strategy on attracting foreign direct investment with the aim of prioritising high-tech projects and those backed by advanced and clean technologies, with modern governance, and likely to yield high added values, create spill-over effects, ensure technology transfer, and commit to assisting Vietnamese enterprises in joining global production chains, Phuong said.

Performance boosts

Thanks to its vision, Vietnamese companies have elevated their businesses into higher levels after becoming members of SCG. Typically, Song Gianh Cement JSC has recorded improved business performance after the 100 per cent buyout to SCG. The company also adopted state-of-the-art technology to make innovative products for the market. The new cement products in line with international standards have helped Song Gianh Cement enhance its competitiveness in the market.

Meanwhile, Binh Minh Plastic was honoured as one of Vietnams 50 Best-Performing Companies in 2019 by Nhip Cau Dau Tu magazine, in tandem with Thien Viet Securities. Making that the ninth consecutive year in the top 50, Binh Minh Plastic has a consistent performance thanks to excellent corporate governance and strong commitment to quality improvement. The achievement can be attributable to SCGs efforts to build a sustainable business in line with social and environmental welfare.

Over the past few years, such Vietnamese companies as Binh Minh Plastic are working with deep-pocketed international partners to strengthen their operations. Indeed, Vietnamese companies realise that they can compete globally if they shake hands with foreign investors and combine each others resources, creating a larger entity with bigger distribution networks, economies of scale, and more talent at senior levels.

As a result, more and more Vietnamese companies are eager to find the right strategic investors who is keen on their businesses and would accompany them on their development journey, rather than just paying regard to their assets.

M&A is typically carried out in order penetrate markets and leverage the advantages of their partners in a global context; however, deals need proper understanding from both law-makers and businesspeople to grab the best benefits.

And with the international and regional situation remaining complicated and unpredictable in 2021, businesses and investors are changing their way of thinking and taking more drastic action to overcome the difficulties. As a result, more efforts have been made to improve mobilisation and efficient use of resources. As such, according to industry insiders, a reasonable M&A strategy could be a key tool for businesses to conquer the hardship and thrive in a new normal. VIR

Thanh Van

M&A scaled down in 2020 but some deals stand out The year 2020 marked a rough year for the global finance and equity markets as the COVID-19 pandemic scaled down the global economy and discouraged investors to execute their M&A deals as planned.

A previously-unreleased live recording of The Bands Time To Kill, captured during a 1971 concert at Londons Royal Albert Hall, has been unveiled. The track comes ahead of a bonus-filled, 50th-anniversary edition of Stage Fright, which is due out in a variety of formats on February 12.

Time To Kill (Live at Royal Albert Hall) was captured in June 1971, months after The Band released their third studio album. The thrilling concert  which took place during The Bands European tour  is included in its entirety in the forthcoming reissue.
The GHMC has denied building permission in 300 sq. yds but allowed high-rises to come up in 10-20 acres in Sy. No 78 of which the government claims ownership. The government has lost its claim six times in the Supreme Court. (Photo:PTI)

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has suo moto initiated contempt proceedings against revenue authorities for not deleting Sy No. 78 of Hafeezpet from the prohibitory register to facilitate the registration of properties.

In a related development, the court levied a fine of Rs 10,000 on the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for denying permission to two individuals to build their house in 300 square yards (sq. yds) and 461 sq. yds of land respectively in Sy No. 78.

The GHMC took the plea that the land belonged to the government while denying permission to the individuals, after allowing high-rise residential complexes by Mahindra Ashvita, Prajay and Aditya in 10-20 acres in the same survey number.

While the High Court had set aside the notification issued under Section 22A of the Registration Act, 1908 in 2014 itself, it again directed the authorities to delete the land parcels in Sy No. 78 of Hafeezpet from the prohibitory list in October 2019.

During a recent hearing of a case, a division bench comprising Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice T. Amarnath Goud took serious note of the government ignoring both the orders and directed the registry to issue a show-cause notice to the tahsildar-cum-joint sub-registrar, Serilingampally, and posted the matter for further hearing, on Thursday last week.

The state government took the suo moto contempt order to the notice of the Supreme Court on Friday by submitting it as additional material in an ongoing case in the apex court. Ironically, it did not pray for any relief but just made an attempt to draw the apex courts attention to the contempt proceedings.

The bias of the government towards the rich and discrimination against commoners also came to the fore in the High Court case. The division bench, in a recent order, recorded that the Special Government Pleader also did not deny that the respondents (municipal authorities) had granted construction permission for high rise buildings to M/s Prajay Engineers Syndicate Limited for an extent of 20 acres, to M/s Mahindra Ashvita for an extent of 10 acres, to M/s Aditya Constructions Company Limited for an extent of 10 acres and to M/s G.K. Constructions also in (Sy No 78 of) Hafeezpet village.

The High Court reiterated that the government's stand on Hafeezpet lands covered in CS 14 of 1958 was clearly vexatious and impermissible. If on six occasions the claim of the state government on the land in Hafeezpet village has been rejected right up to the Supreme Court, it was not open to the government to still plead that it has a right on the subject land and deny building permissions, the High Court pointed out.
The Perth aged care facility at the centre of a major crime squad investigation into abuse allegations has been sanctioned by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

After conducting a surprise visit to the Regis Nedlands nursing home on January 20, the Commission decided there was an immediate and severe risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of the elderly people living there, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said.

Dik Lee, 94, died in hospital on Thursday morning. Picture: Nine News Perth Credit:Nine News Perth

Resident Dik Lee, 94, died one day after the visit after being in a coma for five days at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

Mr Lee, who had dementia, was admitted to hospital within days of university students on work experience at Regis Nedlands allegedly witnessing the great-grandfather being dragged along the floor while sitting in his own faeces and a staffer wrenching him up by standing on his toes.
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TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The IMPROVATE Innovation Conference held online and in Tel Aviv last week dealt with the day after the global crisis, with Israeli technology and innovation companies presenting solutions in the fields of tourism, MedTech and distance learning to European government officials and investors.

IMPROVATE Innovation Conference From left to right: Orit Farkash Hacohen Israeli Minister of Tourism, Ronit Hasin Hochman IMPROVATE CEO, Irina Nevzlin IMPROVATE Founder & Chair, Ilanit Malkior Tourism manager at The Jerusalem Development Authority, Sharon Kidon, host

The conference was opened by IMPROVATE founder and chair, Irina Nevzlin, who said she was a big believer in win-win solutions: "When tech companies work effectively with governments, the citizens get the best possible results. IMPROVATE is a platform that brings together different parties to focus on solutions, and makes this win-win approach happen."

Speaking about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on Eastern Europe, former Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said the aftermath of the crisis presented huge opportunities for Israeli companies in Eastern Europe and the Balkan states as they update their health care systems. "Some of the products we have seen today are truly unique Come to our region, we will open doors. A lot of money will be invested in coming years to improve healthcare systems. There is European money available, government money available. We need to bring you here to the market and you can do good business here."

At a panel dealing with the tourism industry in the post-coronavirus era, Israel's Minister of Tourism Orit Farkash-Hacohen said the challenges posed to the industry were technological in nature as innovation was needed to create a uniform global technological standard to enable open skies once lockdowns are lifted.

Greek Minister of Tourism Harry Theoharis said, "Solutions have to be around safety ... we need to integrate touchless payments schemes ensuring you can have access without physical contact. Those are the kind of systems that are going to be needed."

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon said that while Jerusalem is a city with a long and rich history, it has also always been a place of new ideas. "Jerusalem, even during the dark days of the coronavirus, has continued to develop our innovation economy. New start-ups join large companies and together they are at the heart of our capital city, of the Startup Nation."

At a panel on medical innovation and technologies, Zoya Paunova, CEO of AstraZeneca Bulgaria said there was a major lesson to be learned from Israel's innovation ecosystem: "Do not innovate for yourself, innovate for the world and then the world will come and invest in you."

Several Israeli companies presented advanced medical technologies for new and life-saving treatments in a diverse range of fields.

Amir London, CEO of the international biopharmaceuticals company Kamada showed how treatment with Kamada's COVID-19 antibodies (IgG) may help hospitalized patients; Adi Jacobson, VP Marketing at Zebra Medical Vision presented Zebra's AI technology for early detection of chronic disease in large populations; Ayala Bliah, CEO of Sivan, described how Moovcare as a medical application improves cancer patient's longevity and helps oncologists better manage medical visits and priorities; Ilan Cohen, Chairman of the Board, and Ron Nagar, CEO of TempraMed Israel, discussed the transition to home care and its implications on cold supply chain and user compliance; Guy Halpern, VP, Products & Clinical Research at Inovytec Medical Solutions described how the company manufactures practical and easy-to-operate technology for cardiac and airway emergencies; Dvir Dahary, Co-founder & Chief Scientist of Geneyx spoke about analyzing clinical genetics data better for better Predictive, Preventive, and Precision, Personalized medicine; Shani Toledano, CEO, and Gabi Polliack, CMO, of HT BioImaging presented their solution as the first heat diffusion imaging tool for cancer classification and diagnosis at the point of care and operating room.

Max Simonovsky, founder and CEO of Soapy presented the experience technology behind CLEAN, the revolutionary, data-backed hand hygiene machine - Soapy was recognized as one of Top 5 disinfection and hand hygiene technologies in 2020 and received global awards.

At a panel on education technologies and the effects of distance learning during the coronavirus lockdowns, Bulgaria's Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Ms. Karina Angelieva, said the crisis was accelerating the adoption of technologies and digitalization in education.

Educator and education researcher Alexander Schneider of Daata Etech Lab presented an educational system for group thinking and learning developed and produced by the company.

IMPROVATE CEO Ronit Hassin Hochman: "Israeli innovation is renowned the world over. After every one of our conferences, we receive inquiries from countries that want to be exposed to Israeli technologies. The coronavirus crisis has accelerated the desire of governments to adopt innovative technologies and IMPROVATE is in contact with governments to promote Israeli companies."

About IMPROVATE:

IMPROVATE was launched in September 2020 with a vision to make innovation and technology accessible to all. Operating out of London and Tel Aviv, IMPROVATE's mission is to connect change-makers in technology with leaders and decision makers, through international conferences, business delegations and deals between governments and companies, in order to help realize global progress through innovation.

For further information visit our website: improvate.net

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE IMPROVATE

Related Links

https://improvate.net/


A healthcare worker receives a dose of Covishield, a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, at a government-run hospital at Baruipur on the outskirts of Kolkata. (Image: Reuters)

A total of 16,13,667 beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated for COVID-19 through 28,613 sessions held till the evening of January 24, the ninth day of the immunisation drive, according to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry.

On January 24, 31,466 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 7.30 pm in five states -- Haryana (907), Karnataka (2,472), Punjab (1,007), Rajasthan (24,586), and Tamil Nadu (2,494) -- through 693 vaccination sessions, the ministry said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the vaccination drive with healthcare workers at the frontline of India's COVID-19 battle getting their first jabs on January 16.

Indias drug regulator has approved two vaccines - Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) -- for emergency use in the country.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.

India has said it will administer homegrown coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN in seven more states from January 25.

Here are all developments related to the COVID-19 vaccine in India:

> A total of 9,105 health workers have so far taken the COVID-19 vaccine shots in Maharashtra's Thane district since the launch of the immunisation drive, an official said.

> Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on January 24 that the state has emerged as a leading state in the vaccination drive with 1.5 lakh total vaccinated beneficiaries and 3452.81 vaccinations per million populace". With all necessary arrangements made in time, the state government has managed the vaccination process efficiently so far, Patnaik said.

> At least99,242 health workers have been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Maharashtra since the drive was launched, said Pradeep Vyas, principal secretary, state health department, adding the state will conduct the exercise on five days per week beginning January 25 to cover more beneficiaries quickly.

> Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has compared the COVID-19 vaccines given by India to Brazil to 'Sanjeevani Booti', a mythological life-saving herb figuring in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Yogi made the comparison a day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro invoked Lord Hanuman while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing two million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to fight the deadly coronavirus infection in his country, one of the worst-hit nations by the pandemic.

States Total Beneficiaries A & N Islands 1,998 Andhra Pradesh 1,47,030 Bihar 76,125 Chhattisgarh 28,732 Karnataka 1,91,443 Kerala 53,529 Madhya Pradesh 38,278 Tamil Nadu 61,720 Telangana 1,10,031 West Bengal 84,505 Chandigarh 1,502 Odisha 1,52,371 Punjab 31,326 Haryana 72,204

Here is the state-wise vaccination:

(With inputs from PTI)

Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here
Habiba Chishti, nine, died while on a Spanish half term break with her family after suffering an allergic reaction to nuts in an ice cream

A nine-year-old British schoolgirl who died on a Spanish family holiday was killed by an allergic reaction after just 'one lick' of an ice cream, an inquest heard.

Habiba Chishti suffered the fatal reaction just hours after arriving on the Costa del Sol for a break with her father, mother and siblings in February 2019.

The 'kind' girl was rushed to hospital after she went into a suspected anaphylactic shock after having eating the ice cream.

An inquest at Bradford Coroner's Court today heard how the tragic schoolgirl suddenly collapsed on February 16 while on holiday with her family.

Her distraught father, Dr Wajid Azam Chishti, told the court how he had bought her an ice cream with some chocolate sauce that afternoon.

He had asked the vendor three times if the sauce contained nuts and on three occasions was assured it didn't.

Habiba suffered from a severe allergy to eggs and nuts, as well as asthma, but was 'fine' to enjoy dairy products such as ice cream.

Later that evening she collapsed at the hotel and was rushed to Malaga Hospital in an ambulance, but doctors were unable to save her life.

She died from an anaphylactic shock on February 18, two days after suffering a severe allergic reaction to the sauce's ingredients, a post-mortem revealed.

'Club La Costa World' resort entrance in Mijas, where the family had reportedly been staying

The report revealed she had lethal doses of peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashew nuts, and pistachios in her system which 'starved her brain' of oxygen.

Her heartbroken father, a doctor with the NHS, said he was 'devastated' there was nothing he could do to save her despite 'all of his training'.

He told the court how there were no usual symptoms of anaphylactic shock before she suddenly collapsed.

Dr Chishti, from Halifax, West Yorks., told the court: 'Habiba took one lick and she was absolutely fine at the time - but that's all it took.

'When we got back [from the ice cream vendor] she was okay. But when we got to the restaurant she started to feel unwell.

'We left and went back to the hotel as we thought it was her asthma so we could get her inhaler.

'There weren't classical signs of anaphylaxis.

'I went to the reception to see if we could get some help but I didn't know it was a serious issue.

The swimming pool and apartment complex where the Chishti family were staying

'By the time I got back to see her my wife said she'd collapsed.

'We have emergency training every year. It's so scary that we have all this training but it's no use when there are no symptoms.

'It's mind boggling. With all the knowledge from everything you learned, it feels like it's doubly worse. It's still so hard.

Father: 'I'm starting to realise I have to move on for the sake of my other children but it's very hard' Dr Chishti said they used to go on family holidays abroad every six months but now can't even get himself to go on a weekend away in the UK. He said: 'It was incredibly hard. 'We've been to different countries with the family, we never experienced anything like we did in Spain. 'We used to go on holiday every six months to get the kids out but since the sad loss of Habiba we're very reluctant. Even in the UK. 'Even going to Centre Parcs, we just don't go. I'm starting to realise I have to move on for the sake of my other children but it's very hard.' Dr Chishti broke down in tears as he recalled how his little girl kept urging him to join good causes and do charitable work. He said: 'Habiba always wanted me to help local charities, I told her I was already doing a lot but because she kept asking I told her I'd do more. 'She loved going to school. She was so good. 'I'm helping a charity in Gambia now because Habiba wanted me to.' Advertisement

'In that sense I feel even more devastated that we didn't see what was going on.'

He told the court how staff at Club La Costa World in Mijas, where they were staying, didn't help him as he performed CPR on his daughter to try to save her life.

He said he 'couldn't understand' why he wasn't allowed to stay by his daughter's side when the ambulance finally arrived and had to get to the hospital by taxi.

He told the court: 'We called the ambulance, I did CPR myself.

'The ambulance seemed to take forever, but it was 11 minutes. But it felt like it was a long time.

'I continued doing mouth to mouth but none of the actual medical staff in the resort came forward.

'We were already anxious and we just wanted to know what was going on.

'It was very bizarre, we weren't even allowed to go into the ambulance.

'I don't understand why her parents weren't allowed to be with their child.

'We had to take a taxi and we didn't even know where we were. It wasn't until hours later that a doctor came to speak to us.'

The inquest heard how the little girl was 'starved of oxygen' after the allergic reaction caused her swelling in her brain.

Professor Marta Cohen, a consultant paediatric pathologist at Sheffield Children's Hospital, told the court how 'one lick is enough' for the allergy to be lethal.

Professor Cohen said: 'I took tissue which showed evidence of swelling in the brain. Before she died she went through an episode of starvation of oxygen to the brain.

'The oxygen couldn't get through her lungs and bloodstream to her brain.

'She was starved of oxygen.

'The ice cream which potentially contained one or more allergen, are all in keeping with the developments of anaphylactic shock.

'On the balance of probability her cause of death was from anaphylactic shock.

'One lick is enough - if someone is really allergic, it can even just be from it being in the environment.

'This is why peanuts are not allowed on planes.'

Pictured: Miramar Shopping centre in Fuengirola - believed to be where Habiba's father bought the ice cream before the nine-year-old collapsed and died

Assistant coroner Katy Dickinson recorded a narrative conclusion, and said: 'Habiba sadly passed away on February 18, 2019 in Malaga Hospital in Spain.

'I'm very sorry we find ourselves here today.

'On balance she died as a result, and despite medical intervention, from anaphylactic shock.

'I'm so sorry that this has happened, and that you have had to be part of this process.

'She sounds like a lovely girl with a big heart. A kind little girl. I'm sorry you lost her, my heart goes out to you, her siblings, her family.

'With her allergies, it must have been so difficult for you to keep her safe and well for nine years because she could at any point accidentally fall ill.

'The severity of these allergies need to be highlighted.

'But I want to thank you for whatever your duties are at the NHS. We are very grateful.'
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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.
Admin gears up as Hisar farmers get set to protest today

Punjab MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu hoists black flag at his residence in support of protesting farmers

'Kisan Parade' on Republic Day: Everything you need to know

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

New Delhi, Jan 25: On the occasion of Republic Day Delhi is set to witness a massive tractor rally led by farmers on Tuesday.

The farmers' union has reached an agreement with the Delhi Police to carry out the tractor march peacefully on Republic Day.

The tractor parades will be taken out only after 12 pm, after the Republic Day parade on Delhi's Rajpath concludes, according to the protesting farmer unions.

Here is all about you need to know about the Kisan Parade:

The rally will be held from Delhi's three border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

The rally will start at 11 am after an 'ardas' (prayer).

Hundreds of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will arrive in the tractor parade.

Over two lakh tractors will be part of the January 26 'kisan parade' in the national capital.

Around 2,500 volunteers will be deployed to facilitate the movement of the vehicles.

However, the number of volunteers can be increased, depending on the crowd.

A control room has been set up to look into the arrangements.

As per officials, the rally at Ghazipur border will be about 50 kilometers long, 100 kilometers long at Singhu border and 125 kilometers long at the Tikri border. In total, the tractor rally will be 250 kilometers long.

Each tractor will carry a tricolour and there will be folk music and patriotic songs.

The tractor rally at Ghazipur will go up till Akshardham Temple and return back.

The speed limit has been fixed at 10 kilometers per hour. No outsider will participate in the parade.

The number of CCTV cameras is also being increased from 8 to about 20. They will be deployed at different posts.

A war room has been set up at each protest site to ensure effective coordination during the parade. There will be 40 members, including doctors, security personnel and social media managers, in each of these rooms.

Around 40 ambulances will be stationed along the route to attend to any medical emergency.

A team of ex-servicemen participating in the protest will also keep an eye on the security situation.
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America Talks: Join us and #ListenFirst in a virtual conversation with another American

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan hosted in his house Ambassador of Russia to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin, ARMENPRESS reports Arman Musinyan, the spokesperson of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, wrote on his Facebook page.

''During the conversation that lasted nearly 1.5 hours, a number of issues of bilateral interest of the Armenian-Russian relations were discussed, including the urgent necessity of returning the POWs kept in Azerbaijan, which will greatly improve the public moods both in Armenia and Artsakh and will contribute to the future efforts for the normalisation of relations in the region'', Musinyan wrote.
The headquarters of a full-service photography printing lab will be relocating to York County.

According to a press release from Governor Tom Wolf, the Nations Photo Lab headquarters will be coming to Springettsbury Township in York County. The move from their former headquarters in Cockeysville, Maryland will bring 125 new jobs to the region. Nations Photo Lab is an affiliate of Gallery Blocks LLC, doing business as Artsy Couture.

Artsy Couture has purchased a 73,850 square foot building in Springettsbury Township, committing $5.6 million into renovations and job training. This investment is supplemented by grants from the Department of Community and Economic Development, including a $50,000 Pennsylvania First grant, a $52,800 workforce training grant and $125,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits upon the creation of the new jobs.

Our new, larger manufacturing space in York County will allow us to bring our teams together to increase efficiency, encourage collaboration and support the future growth of our business, said Artsy Couture President Harvis Kramer in the press release. This site will offer great flexibility in our future growth across the U.S.

For more information about the DCED, visit the states official website.
Millions of WhatsApp users have taken the drastic step of abandoning the app, following a poorly explained update to the terms and conditions.

Rival apps have gained many of these disgruntled users, with new figures shared by the UK parliament's home affairs committee on 'online harms' showing that Signal gained 7.5 million users in the first three weeks of the year, while Telegram gained a whopping 25 million.

The mass exodus comes after WhatsApp alerted users to a change in its terms and conditions, according to Niamh Sweeney, the company's director of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Speaking to the home affairs committee, she explained that the update was intended to enable a new set of business features, and 'make clarifications and provide greater transparency' around WhatsApp's existing policies.

'There are no changes to our data sharing with Facebook anywhere in the world,' she insisted.

The update affects users in all countries outside of Europe and the UK, where there are strict data protection laws.

Users in these regions will be required to give their consent for Facebook to access their data, including their phone numbers and information about how they interact with others, in order to continue using the app.

The requirement will apply regardless of whether or not the WhatsApp user has a Facebook account.

While the change was originally planned to come into play from February 8, WhatsApp has now pushed this back to May 15, in the hopes of holding on to its users.

WhatsApp users have been left reeling by the latest change, which means they could lose access to their account unless they agree to share data with Facebook

WHAT DOES THE CHANGE MEAN FOR YOU? From May 15, WhatsApp will start sharing user data with its parent company, Facebook. While WhatsApp will start sharing data with Facebook, it's important to note that WhatsApp is encrypted by default, meaning Facebook will not be able to see the contents of your messages. However, it will be able to see the numbers in your contact list, as well as how often you interact with them. If you use WhatsApp you should have received a notification, explaining the changes. The notification outlines the new data sharing feature, and urges you to 'Agree' with the conditions. Advertisement

The news has led many people to jump ship to rival apps, according to data from Sensor Tower.

When comparing the number of downloads from December 21 - January 3 to January 4 - January 17, WhatsApp installations fell by 16 per cent, while Signal saw a huge 9493 per cent increase, and Telegram installations increased by 151 per cent.

WhatsApp first alerted users to the new privacy policy changes in a notification earlier this month.

The privacy policy explains: 'As part of the Facebook Companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, the other Facebook Companies.

'We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customise, support, and market our Services and their offerings, including the Facebook Company Products.'

Essentially, this means Facebook will be able to access account information including your phone number, information on how you interact with other users, and logs of how often and how long you use WhatsApp.

Other data that could be shared with Facebook includes your IP address, browser details, language and time zone.

WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, and has shared data with its parent company since 2016.

Whatsapp offered a one-time opt-out for data sharing in 2016, but now users are being forced to agree to the privacy policy to continue using the app.

Following the backlash over the update, WhatsApp has made the decision to push back the date of the privacy policy change.

In a blog, WhatsApp explained: 'We're now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8.

One user said that he had deleted WhatsApp after coming to see Facebook as a 'criminal enterprise'

Many frustrated WhatsApp users have taken to Twitter to announce their departure from the app

The change to WhatsApp's privacy policy has put many users off using the popular messaging app

'We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp. We'll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.'

Many angry WhatsApp users took to Twitter to announce their departure from the app, in light of the new privacy policy.

One said: 'I've just deleted Whats App and Instagram from my phone because their new terms and conditions freak me out.'

Another wrote: 'I deleted my WhatsApp last week. I definitely lost some contacts, and that sucks, but I've come to see FB as a criminal enterprise; I can't afford to give them access to my data.'

And one added: 'Deleted my WhatsApp today. I've been using Signal for a while and think it's brilliant. hope y'all will join me over there!'

According to App Annie, WhatsApp's ranking in both the UK and US fell following the news.

WhatsApp fell from the eighth most downloaded app in the UK at the start of January, to the 23rd by January 12.

By contrast, Signal's downloads have skyrocketed. The app wasn't even in the top 1,000 apps in the UK on January 6, but jumped up to become the most downloaded app in the country by January 9.

Speaking to The Guardian, Amir Ghodrati, App Annies director of market insights, said: 'These types of shifts in messaging and social networking apps are not unusual.

'Due to the nature of social apps and how the primary functionality involves communicating with others, their growth can often move quite quickly, based on current events.

'Weve seen growing demand over the last few years for encrypted messaging and apps focused on privacy.'

If you use WhatsApp you should have received a notification last week, explaining the changes. The notification for users outside the UK and Europe is shown left, while those in the UK and Europe will have received the notification on the right

Jake Moore, Cybersecurity Specialist at ESET said it was no surprise that many users were deleting WhatsApp following the privacy policy update.

'Being told that the app is unavailable unless you agree may not always be the best way as people then feel forced to giving away their data,' he said.

'We may even see people move away from these apps to more privacy-focused apps which more delicately protect our data.

'It is incredibly important that users do all they can to protect their private information, and they must realise how damaging it can be if it gets into the wrong hands.'

WhatsApp has confirmed that users in the UK and Europe will not have their data shared with Facebook.

Instead, they'll be asked to agree with a different privacy policy to allow businesses to store and manage their WhatsApp chats on Facebook.

The change to the privacy policy has sparked many frustrated WhatsApp users to jump ship to rival apps, including Telegram (pictured) and Signal

Speaking to MailOnline, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: 'There are no changes to WhatsApp's data sharing practices in the European region (including UK) arising from the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

'For the avoidance of any doubt, it is still the case that WhatsApp does not share European region WhatsApp user data with Facebook for the purpose of Facebook using this data to improve its products or advertisements.'

The privacy policy changes will mainly affect the way businesses can communicate with customers on WhatsApp.

When speaking to businesses via WhatsApp, your messages may now be stored and managed on Facebook, if the business is run through this channel.

However, if that is the case, users should be notified and will be given the option to stop talking to the business if they'd prefer their information was not shared.

In a series of tweets, Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, explained: 'It's important for us to be clear this update describes business communication and does not change WhatsApp's data sharing practices with Facebook.

'It does not impact how people communicate privately with friends or family wherever they are in the world.'

WhatsApp applies end-to-end encryption on all messages  except those between users and large businesses  by default, meaning Facebook will not be able to see the contents of messages between you and your friends or family.

In this respect it is more privacy-focused than Telegram, which only turns on end-to-end encryption for 'secret chats', an option that users must actively select for each individual contact.

However, Facebook will be able to see message 'metadata', including the numbers in your WhatsApp contact list and how often you interact with them.

The notification sent to WhatsApp users earlier this month outlined the new privacy policy, and urged them to 'Agree' with the conditions.

It said: 'By tapping AGREE, you accept the new terms and privacy policy, which take effect on February 8, 2021. After this date, you'll need to accept these updates to continue using WhatsApp.'
[January 25, 2021]

Passageways Celebrates Rapid Growth In 2020 And Sets Sights On Accelerated Expansion For Board Management Platform (OnBoard) In 2021

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Passageways, creator of OnBoard, the award-winning board management software platform that securely connects organizations and their boards of directors, announced record milestones in customer and revenue growth and accelerating expansion into new global markets. Under its ambitious 2021 growth plan, Passageways plans to build on its 2020 momentum by strengthening the OnBoard platform with new capabilities that drive powerful and collaborative engagement for boards, board directors, and other organizational leaders.

"2020 was an incredible journey. We were honored to support our customers working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we proudly welcome our new customers as they seek to improve their board collaboration and execute their governance responsibilities," said Passageways Co-Founder and CEO Paroon Chadha. "As we turn to 2021, we are optimistic about the future and our plans to continue developing OnBoard as the premier cloud-first and mobile-first platform for board and leadership team intelligence, collaboration, and engagement."

2020 Milestones

Added 1,000 new customers over the last 18 months from over 25 countries.

Increased average user time in OnBoard by over 40% in 2020, demonstrating the value of progressive new capabilities and features added to the platform.

Achieved an average score of 9 out of 10 on a satisfaction survey of 2,000+ customers.

Headquartered in Indianapolis , Passageways expanded or opened offices in London , Montreal , and Sydney to support its growing customer base in the United Kingdom , Canada , Australia , and New Zealand .



Innovation

In 2020, Passageways successfully launched new capabilities to ensure best-in-class security, scalability, and simplicity while supporting complex leadership and governance-based needs.

D&O Questionnaires  This advanced workflow tool simplifies and streamlines what is typically an arduous process for enterprise-level public companies: the annual implementation and collection of questionnaires and disclosure data required by law.

 This advanced workflow tool simplifies and streamlines what is typically an arduous process for enterprise-level public companies: the annual implementation and collection of questionnaires and disclosure data required by law. ISO 27001:2013 and SOC 2 Type 2 Certification  To demonstrate Passageways' commitment to data security and transparency, the company announced two important certifications. ISO 27001:2013 is an internationally recognized information security standard and certifies that OnBoard complies with a globally standardized approach to managing and securing digital information. SOC 2 Type 2 certifies that outside firms have audited our procedures, controls, and security practices focusing on availability, security, privacy, and confidentiality.

 To demonstrate Passageways' commitment to data security and transparency, the company announced two important certifications. ISO 27001:2013 is an internationally recognized information security standard and certifies that OnBoard complies with a globally standardized approach to managing and securing digital information. SOC 2 Type 2 certifies that outside firms have audited our procedures, controls, and security practices focusing on availability, security, privacy, and confidentiality. Minutes Builder  This tool enables teams to take minutes in real-time within OnBoard, share them quickly, capture in-meeting approvals, track attendance, and record motions as they happen.

 This tool enables teams to take minutes in real-time within OnBoard, share them quickly, capture in-meeting approvals, track attendance, and record motions as they happen. Engagement Analytics  In another industry first from Passageways, Engagement Analytics introduces sophisticated, anonymized, and aggregated analytics to iterate and improve meeting preparation, deliver strategic insights, and boost board engagement.

 In another industry first from Passageways, Engagement Analytics introduces sophisticated, anonymized, and aggregated analytics to iterate and improve meeting preparation, deliver strategic insights, and boost board engagement. Native Zoom integration  The industry's first direct, native integration with the popular Zoom web conferencing app streamlines the transition to virtual board meetings.

Tasks  A task management tool that helps boards and leadership teams be more action-orientated and effective by clarifying ownership of action items throughout the entire meeting cycle.

Customer Expansion

With its unwavering focus on inspiring organizations and boards to do their best work and realize their missions, Passageways continues to attract industry-leading customers to the OnBoard platform. Over the last 18 months, the company welcomed more than 1,000 new global customers to OnBoard, including:

Awards and Recognition

Passageways received multiple honors in 2020, including eight Stevie Awards at The American Business Awards, seven prestigious G2 awards for board management software, and six awards for product related reviews.

Alongside other industry heavyweights such as Cisco, Microsoft, Slack, and Zoom, Passageways also received a 2020 Tech Cares award in recognition of its work to help frontline teams during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.



Team Growth and Employee Experience

Passageways also continued its long-time support of its Pledge 1% campaign by donating "time, product, and profit."

Passageways employees donated their time and talents to charitable causes and communities around the globe. These efforts were documented as part of Giving Tuesday in December.

as part of Giving Tuesday in December. To help frontline teams during the COVID-19 pandemic, Passageways offered unrestricted access to OnBoard for up to five months to nonprofits, select government bodies, and institutions of higher education. Over 1,000 organizations worldwide participated in this effort.

Customer Success

OnBoard combines robust engineering with clear insights into how real boards and leadership teams work. The result is board management software with unrivaled ease of use and versatility that exceeds customer expectations and helps them achieve their organizational goals.

Indeed, customers are not shy about sharing how OnBoard has impacted their organizations:

"OnBoard makes everybody better at their position because it forces you to become more organized," says Dr. Steven Waltz, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Valley Professionals Community Health Centers. "At the meeting, you've got the information you need to make a better decision and help you do a better job."

More customer references and reviews are available at G2 and Capterra .

2021 Strategy

Passageways is already hard at work, building on the achievements of 2020 and riding a wave of momentum heading into 2021. The company's robust growth plan, which focuses and capitalizes on this momentum, includes:

Expanding best-in-class support for high-volume, highly complex enterprise customers via data analytics and intelligence, including high tech, healthcare, higher education, and financial services sectors. Rapid expansion, customer acquisition, customer growth, and support activities in international markets, including Canada , the UK, and Australia / New Zealand . Expanding OnBoard to support Leadership teams and their ability to collaborate with the board of directors on business strategy execution.

"The momentum we have coming into 2021 is exciting", says Passageways Vice President of Product, Doug Wilson. "There are so many opportunities to use modern technologies in a way that will positively impact the organizations we work with every day. We're focused on enabling our customers' boards and leadership teams to govern more effectively and to have better, more strategic, and collaborative meetings."

About Passageways

Passageways was founded in 2003. OnBoard is a virtual board management solution that securely connects organizations and their directors to all their meeting materials, meeting agendas, minutes, approvals, eSignatures, calendars, policies, and procedures. OnBoard is trusted by more than 12,000 boards of directors and committees around the world, including public companies, private organizations, nonprofit organizations, and government bodies. Learn more at www.Passageways.com .

Media Inquiries:

Bryan Spevak

Vice President

anthonyBarnum PR

bryan.spevak@anthonybarnum.com

512.387.3703

Rob Kunzler

Chief Marketing Officer

Passageways

rkunzler@passageways.com

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SOURCE Passageways


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A Mayor of London candidate today accused Boris Johnson of 'undermining democracy' after he and his campaign team were fined for breaching Covid restrictions after taking to the capital's streets with their battle bus.

Brian Rose said he and four members of his team were slapped with 200 penalty notices by City of London police who told them that 'campaigning was not a necessary reason to be out of your homes'.

Rose, an American-born independent candidate and former Wall Street banker, is currently second favourite to win the Mayoral elections with bookmakers Paddy Power, behind current Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

Brian Rose said he and four members of his team were slapped with 200 penalty notices by City of London police who told them that 'campaigning was not a necessary reason to be out of your homes'

Who is Brian Rose? Brian Rose is a former Wall Street banker and the host and owner of London Real, a podcast and YouTube channel with nearly two million subscribers. The 49-year-old is currently 6/1 to win the elections, second only to Sadiq Khan on 1/12. The Conservative candidate, Shaun Bailey, is in third place on 18/1. Mr Rose's policies include adopting 'science-based' policies and removing all on-street parking in central London and replacing it with green spaces. He has also criticised the government's response to Covid as 'completely disproportionate'. Advertisement

Mr Rose had been recording a video with his team in Southwark when a police descended on him and his team outside their 'digital battle bus', which began a 15 day tour of London's boroughs on Friday.

After being fined and told to go home, the 49-year-old said: 'This wasn't a couple of officers making a spur-of-the-moment call - we had been under surveillance and the officer in charge was quite clear that we were being arrested for campaigning.

'I have no issue whatsoever with the arresting officers, who are in an impossible position. They are putting their lives on the line daily - indeed, only last week, a young Met officer lost his life to Covid.

'Responsibility for ensuring that secure, safe and fair elections can take place in May rests with the Government. Boris Johnson's rampant indecision has already damaged London's economy and is in danger of derailing the May elections in yet more last-minute chaos.'

Mr Rose said he wants the elections to only use postal voting to keep the public safe.

On his campaign website, the candidate has criticised the government for its 'disproportionate' response to the virus.

There is growing confusion over what campaigning is allowed and what is not. Earlier on Sunday, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said his party was acting within the law when pushing leaflets through letterboxes.

Mr Rose had been recording a video with his team in Southwark when a police descended on him and his team outside their 'digital battle bus'

After being fined and told to go home, the 49-year-old said: 'This wasn't a couple of officers making a spur-of-the-moment call - we had been under surveillance and the officer in charge was quite clear that we were being arrested for campaignin'

Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said the Government would be issuing guidance in due course about 'appropriate conduct' in the run-up to the campaign.

She also said the Government was very clear that face-to-face political activity at the moment was inconsistent with current regulations requiring people only to leave home where strictly necessary.

Mr Rose added: 'If leafleting is safe, then my Covid-secure bus is safe. It may well be the safest bus in Britain, particularly when compared with the public transport which many key workers are forced to use.

'The confusion and prevarication now festering around this issue is an affront to democracy.'

Paul Frost, Chief of Staff for the campaign, said: 'We will be the challenging the penalties given to both Mr Rose and members of the Brian For Mayor team, based on the same guidance that other parties have been using to ensure that their campaigns can go ahead.'

City of London Police said: 'Coronavirus restrictions have no exemption for canvassing. Anyone canvassing can expect the police to enforce the legislation, which could include issuing fines.'
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Campbell- impacted by Covid

As we move into 2021, just-food continues to provide daily updates on how the Covid-19 pandemic is still affecting the world's packaged food sector  and how the industry's executives see the market and consumer behaviour taking shape in the months ahead.

Don't subscribe to just-food? Click here for a trial

This article is now closed. These rolling updates built on our previous bulletins, published throughout 2020.

Wednesday 10 March

Campbell expecting sales slowdown as world emerges from lockdown

US food giant Campbell Soup Co. has said it expects its full-year sales to fall as Covid vaccines lead to society opening up again.

It is forecasting fiscal 2021 sales will fall between 3.5% and 2.5% as consumers gradually return to their pre-pandemic lives and, by leaving their homes more regularly, reduce their reliance on ready-to-eat soups and snacks.

Reporting its Q2 results today (10 March), Campbell revealed that net sales rose 5.4% to US$2.28bn in the three months to 31 January, compared to the same period last year, but the company missed estimates of $2.30bn, partly because of declines in its foodservice segment due to the Covid lockdown.

Adjusted EBIT was up 8%, year-on-year, to $393m.

Mark Clouse, Campbell's president and CEO, said: "We delivered another quarter of strong results, with top-line growth in both segments - partly tempered by foodservice and supply constraints caused by Covid-19 - as well as continued growth in EBIT and EPS."

Thursday 4 March

Olymel's Alberta pork plant starts phased reopening

Canadian pork and poultry processor Olymel said its Red Deer plant in Alberta province will resume slaughtering operations today (4 March) as it plans a phased reopening following a temporary 14-day closure due to a Covid outbreak.

Cutting room operations will recommence on Friday, Olymel said in a statement, following inspections on Monday and Wednesday this week by Alberta Health Services (AHS), the Occupational Health and Safety authority (OHS), and the Environmental Public Health department.

"AHS made several recommendations aimed at adjusting and reinforcing certain measures that were already in place and gave the green light to gradually resume operations," the company said.

It added: "The employees that are needed to ensure that the gradual restarting of operations goes smoothly will be recalled in accordance with applicable collective agreement provisions. Since March 3, employee groups have been recalled to take part in training sessions covering all implemented health measures, adjustments and additions made to some of them, and the action plan developed for reopening. The training sessions also focus on the important role information plays in compliance with all the health measures that are in place at the plant."

Olymel, which is majority-owned by the Sollio Cooperative Group, will continue to work closely with AHS and the OHS throughout the entire gradual reopening process."

The processor said "most of the employees" who had Covid-19 have since recovered, while three "have unfortunately passed away".

"Although 1,370 employees at the Red Deer plant have been tested since January 1, 2021, AHS experts will be on site when operations resume and will offer rapid testing to anyone who has not tested positive and wishes to be tested," Olymel said.

--

Wednesday 3 March

Two Hilton workers die from Covid after outbreak at UK seafood plant

Two employees of UK-based Hilton Food Group have died after contracting Covid-19.

The workers were employed within the company's Hilton Seafood division and were based at a processing facility in Grimsby in north-east England.

--

B&G to invest in online operations following Covid sales surge

US-based B&G Foods has said it plans to invest in its e-commerce operation this year to build on sales momentum achieved during the Covid lockdown period.

Talking to analysts after the release of its full-year 2020 results, The Green Giant and Clabber Girl brands owner said online sales had grown substantially in 2020,

CEO David Wenner said: "The great majority of our brands grew in fiscal 2020 substantially because of the dramatic effects of Covid on consumer buying and dining patterns. E-commerce was a growing driver of those trends and we invested during the year to follow consumers as they bought more through various online means and we saw sales through those means of buying grow and return.

"Although, there's no precise way to measure this, using IRI and other data sources, we believe that our online sales grew by roughly 150%, albeit from a relatively modest base. We expect that trend to continue in 2021 and are investing further in building out our online presence and on marketing with various retailers on their site so that we can be at the forefront of this new way of selling."

B&G's 2020 net sales were up 18.5% to US$1.97bn, while its adjusted EBITDA was up by 19.4% to $361.2m.

UK government urges regular food industry Covid testing

The UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has called on the country's food manufacturers to introduce regular Covid testing for asymptomatic employees.

In a letter to food businesses signed by environment secretary George Eustice, it said: "We now have a roadmap to open up our communities and restart our lives, but we need to remain vigilant and continue to protect our sectors and the workforce as we go forward.

"That means taking all necessary precautions to reduce the risk of transmitting the infection in the workplace."

Defra has called on employers to adopt the government's workplace testing programme.

"Providing the tests is quick and easy, and results are received rapidly. Employers should be aiming to test staff members twice each week," Eustice said in the letter.

The programme of free tests is open to all employers of more than 50 staff and will run until 30 June but firms must register by 31 March.

Tuesday 2 March

Lindt & Sprungli forecasts sweeter sales in 2021

Covid-19 soured Lindt & Sprungli's sales in 2020 but the Swiss chocolate maker is expecting its top line to recover this year.

The Lindor owner saw its sales fall more than 6% on an organic basis last year, with its retail business hit by lockdown-related closures and gift sales hampered by families being less able to get together.

However, Lindt today (2 March) forecast a 6-8% rise in its organic sales in 2021. The upmarket chocolatier added it's "convinced that it will master the current economic downturn and emerge even stronger from this global crisis".

In 2020, Lindt's sales fell 10.9% on a reported basis to CHF4.02bn (US$4.38bn), which equated to a 6.1% decline on an organic basis.

The company's EBIT tumbled to CHF420.3m, contributing to a 37.5% slide in net income to CHF320.1m.

Lindt's EBIT margin was 10.5% and the business today forecast that would return to 13-14% this year.

During 2020, Lindt's online sales doubled to account for around 5% of its business.

--

FrieslandCampina profits hit by Covid-19

Dutch dairy major FrieslandCampina said that the coronavirus pandemic has led to it recording a "significantly lower profit" in it full-year 2020 results.

Announcing its results this morning, the dairy revealed its profit has declined by 71.6% year-on-year to EUR79m (US$95m).

Revenue also declined, by 1.4% to EUR11.1bn.

CEO Hein Schumacher said: "The direct and indirect impacts of the corona pandemic that really became evident within the company starting in March, overshadowed the excellent results in the first quarter.

"FrieslandCampina's operating profit was hard hit by this."

He added: "While there is light at the end of the tunnel now that vaccination programmes are getting underway throughout the world, for the next couple of months we are still totally immersed in the corona crisis. In the first half of 2021, the results will therefore still be under pressure."

Monday 1 March

Coming to the crunch during Covid-19  UK snack bars deep dive, part one

On our analysis pages today, Andy Coyne takes a close look at the UK snack bar category and at how it has adapted to the unique trading conditions created by Covid lockdown restrictions.

Many people have assumed the UK snack-bar category would have come under significant pressure over the last year as the on-the-go market has been hammered by the slump in mobility wrought by Covid-19, with a huge chunk of the population working from home, emptying city centres with their express supermarkets and meal-deal outlets.

However, the stats suggest UK snack bar manufactures have adapted to change more successfully than was widely thought.

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Maple Leaf to relaunch plant-based brands after Q4 sales disappointment

Canada's Maple Leaf Foods is planning to relaunch its Field Roast and Lightlife brands after seeing sales from its meat-free division slow  while the company also pointed to the pandemic as a factor in the "category deceleration" it saw.

Friday 26 February

A2 Milk Co. has reacted to pressure on its sales in China, a key market for the New Zealand-based dairy and infant-formula business, and lowered its forecasts for annual sales.

The changes to the forecasts came alongside half-year financial results that included a slide in sales and profits.

In the first six months of the company's current financial year, revenue fell 16% to NZD677.4m (US$491m), with its EBITDA down 32.2% at NZD178.5m. A2 Milk Co.'s net profit after tax stood at NZD120m, versus NZD184.9m a year ago.

A factor in the first-half results was, A2 Milk Co., said "challenges resulting from Covid-19 disruption experienced in the daigou/reseller channel with a flow on impact to the cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) channel".

Wednesday 24 February

Trident Seafoods resumes operations at Alaska facility

US-based Trident Seafoods has resumed operations at its Akutan, Alaska, processing plant following a Covid outbreak-enforced temporary closure.

The outbreak among its employees at the plant, which processes seafood such as crab and pollock, spurred a pause on operations on 21 January but now the facility is back up and running.

Trident said surveillance testing, symptoms screenings, PPE and distancing protocols will remain in place.

It added that additional measures are in place to support a swift response if Covid-19 risk is detected again in the future. These include a redesign of shift and break schedules to limit instances of close contact and capacity limits to allow distancing in all areas outside work stations.

Stefanie Moreland, the company's VP of government relations, said: "The management team on site has been working to make sure these operational changes do not come as a surprise, and to ensure our employees know their safety is our priority."

Monday 22 February

UK food manufacturers respond to roadmap for easing lockdown

After UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson this afternoon (22 February) set out the Government's "roadmap" for removing lockdown measures, the trade body representing food manufacturers in the country has given its response.

A phased timetable includes a plan to allow hospitality venues to serve punters outside from 12 April at the earliest, the Government said.

From 17 May at the earliest, indoor hospitality is slated to re-open. Hotels, as well as indoor entertainment venues such as cinemas, are also lined up to open again from this date.

Next week, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak will announce the country's Budget, which will include details on how the Government plans to support businesses and employees affected by the lockdown measures and the phased lifting of the restrictions.

The measures announced today apply to England but the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are setting out similar plans.

Ian Wright, the chief executive of The Food and Drink Federation, the association representing food and soft-drink manufacturers in the UK, said: "It is disappointing but wholly expected that the Prime Minister's roadmap shows no signs of taking account of any input from business.

"For a great many of the food and drink manufacturers supplying the hospitality and food service sectors, a return to 'business as usual' seems an awful long way off. As such, it is only correct that the Chancellor outlines significant extensions to the furlough and credit insurance schemes as part of his Budget announcement next week. The food and drink industry is the UK's largest manufacturing sector. It will therefore be key to the country's economic recovery, with a footprint in every region.

"Now is the time for government to provide additional support to ensure those businesses most at risk can play their part in putting the country back on its feet."

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Australian rice grower SunRice warns of possible sales pressure

SunRice Group, an Australia-based rice grower, has warned disruption to shipping traffic linked to Covid-19 could impact its sales in the second half of the fiscal year, exacerbating what it says are already "difficult market conditions" driven by the pandemic.

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Olymel shifts production to US after Canada plant closure

The Canada-based pork processor, which has had to temporarily close a factory after a Covid-19 outbreak among staff, has issued an update on the changes it has made to production.

Olymel said its hog production division, which supplies the Red Deer plant in Alberta now closed, will "move a substantial amount of company-owned production" to the United States to create enough plant capacity.

The company, majority-owned by Sollio Cooperative Group, made the comments in a statement framed as a "message to Alberta pork producers".

It said: "The temporary shutdown of Olymel's hog slaughtering, cutting and deboning plant in Red Deer is affecting the many Albertans hog producers, including Olymel's company owned farms that ship market hogs to Red Deer on a weekly basis. The company understands the strain this has put on their operations as we estimate the backlog to be approximately 80-90,000 animals. The company has implemented several strategies to mitigate the impact as much as possible including a clear path to reducing the backlog as quickly as possible."

The meatpacker added: "With the added capacity Olymel anticipates that the backlog of market ready hogs will be cleared up within 4-5 weeks after the plant is able to resume activities."

Last week, Olymel said its hog slaughtering, cutting and deboning plant in Red Deer had seen "a resurgence of positive cases of Covid-19 among plant employees".

Olymel said that, despite close collaboration with Alberta Health Services to deal with the problem, it believed the conditions meant it could not continue normal operations in a safe and efficient manner.

The company, which has suspended all pending deliveries at the plant until further notice, has not said how many workers have been affected by the outbreak.

19 February

Fazer assesses staff count again at Finnish candy plant

Finland's Fazer Group is planning another round of potential lay-offs linked to Covid-19 at its confectionery plant in the city of Vantaa, located in the south of the country.

18 February

US meal-kit firm Blue Apron sees sales soar during lockdown

Blue Apron, the US meal-kit firm saw its year-on-year sales increase by 22% in Q4, 2020, to US$115m, partly as a result of stay-at-home consumers ordering its products during the Covid-19 lockdown.

But the company has cautioned that growth levels may dip as lockdown restrictions ease.

The fourth quarter marked the third consecutive quarter of double-digit year-on-year year increase in net revenue for the business.

The company said that there have been changes in consumer behaviour due to the pandemic as customers ordered more frequently and added more meals per order.

"Since late March 2020, Blue Apron has experienced increased demand for its meal kits reflecting, in part, changes to consumer behaviour in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to meet the increased demand, the company continued to focus on increasing capacity at its fulfilment centres, including hiring new employees, increasing wages for frontline workers, and temporarily reducing menu options, which limits the need to change production lines and allows for more time to pack meal kits," it said.

But it added a note of caution.

"Management continues to monitor the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company's business, including changes to consumer behaviour relating to cooking at home. While the company believes that a portion of the increased demand it has experienced over the last few months can be sustained through the first half of 2021 and potentially beyond, this will likely occur at varying levels as the impact of the pandemic changes over time," it said.

16 February

Canada's Olymel temporarily closes Alberta meat plant

Canadian meatpacker Olymel has announced the temporary closure of its plant in Red Deer, Alberta, following a Covid outbreak

The hog slaughtering, cutting and deboning plant has seen "a resurgence of positive cases of Covid-19 among plant employees", Olymel said in a statement.

Olymel said that, despite close collaboration with Alberta Health Services to deal with the problem, it believes that the conditions are such that it cannot continue normal operations in a safe and efficient manner.

After notifying the union, Olymel management drew up a temporary closing plan for an indefinite period. Over the next few days, plant management will mobilizs the staff necessary to cease operations and complete the facility closure as soon as possible.

Olymel said it will strongly encourage all staff to get tested before returning to work. In the meantime, it will continue ongoing investigations to determine what may have caused such a large outbreak of Covid-19 cases since 20 January.

Olymel, which has suspended all pending deliveries at the plant until further notice, has not said how many workers have been affected by the outbreak.

15 February

JBS reveals 700 workers vaccinated at US plant

Brazilian meat giant JBS has announced that 700 workers at its Beardstown, Illinois, pork production facility in the US have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

In partnership with the Cass County Health Department, employees were vaccinated on site at the plant in what is understood to be the largest vaccination effort to date at a US red-meat facility.

Bob Krebs, president, JBS USA Pork, said: "We remain committed to providing a safe working environment for our team members and doing all we can to ensure our workforce across the country is given the opportunity to be vaccinated as soon as possible. They have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to provide food for all Americans, and their access to the vaccine should absolutely be prioritised."

Vaccination at the Beardstown facility is voluntary and all employees who choose to be vaccinated receive a US$100 incentive bonus. Vaccines were administered on site by trained third-party nurses and the second dose of the vaccine will be provided to Beardstown workers in March.

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2 Sisters poultry plant in Devon comes down with cases again

2 Sisters Food Group's Willand plant in Devon, south-west England, has once again seen a number of cases of Covid-19 following a bout of infections at the same site last summer.

The poultry-processing facility in the town of Cullompton, which employs around 1,000 workers, saw a cluster of cases emerge a few days ago.

Local media reported workers as saying a testing centre had been set up in the car park of the plant.

A spokesperson for the 2 Sisters' Cullompton site said in a statement provided to just-food: "Colleague safety remains the number one priority at our Willand site.

"We are currently working closely with external agencies and are offering our colleagues the opportunity of voluntary Covid-19 testing. This testing opportunity further strengthens our Covid prevention measures, which have been in place for almost a year and are regularly independently assessed."

12 February

US baker Flowers Foods sees sales going stale in 2021

Another major US-based food company is, perhaps unsurprisingly, cautioning its sales in 2021 may fall after pandemic-fuelled growth in 2020.

Flowers Foods, one of the country's largest bakery businesses, has forecast a 2-4% decline in its sales in 2021 after a 6.4% rise last year, which was also helped by an extra selling week.

As well as lapping a year when Covid-19 boosted at-home consumption, Ryals McMullian, Flowers' president and CEO, said other factors could also dampen sales.

"Our guidance for fiscal 2021 incorporates our expectation of some mix reversion during the year as the impact of the pandemic dissipates, as well as the potential for a higher promotional environment, back-half commodity headwinds, and investment to implement our digital initiative. Partly offsetting those factors are expected benefits from our brand investments and continued savings from portfolio optimisation and operational efficiencies. We are investing in our business at a time when visibility may be more limited than normal, but it is clear that we are on the right path."

Flowers, home to brands including Dave's Killer Bread and Tastykake, generated sales of $4.39bn in 2020. The company's net income fell 7.4% to $152.3m amid expenses linked to a pension-plan settlement. Income from operations stood at $321.5m, up from $225.4m in 2020.

Expo West goes digital, while Expo East will go ahead in person in September

Expo West, the annual organic food industry event normally held in March in Anaheim, California, will now be held virtually in May after the organisers decided against holding a physical gathering due to Covid-19.

The event had been pushed back to May, but will now be held digitally instead from 24-27 May, Informa Market's New Hope Network, which organises the trade fair, said.

Meanwhile, New Hope is promoting its "enhanced" Natural Products Expo East trade show as an opportunity for people to get together in person, designed to serve both Expo East and Expo West customers. It will be held from 22-25 September in Philadelphia.

11 February

Kellogg expects dip in underlying sales in 2021

With lockdowns seeing most meals switch to being made and eaten indoors, breakfast-cereal giant Kellogg saw its sales rise in 2020  but the US group is forecasting a decline this year.

The Corn Flakes and Coco Pops owner today (11 February) forecast its net sales would fall 1% on an organic basis in 2021, pointing to a comparison with "unusually-strong, Covid-related growth" last year. In 2020, Kellogg's net sales rose 6% in on an organic basis to US$13.8bn.

Kellogg, home to brands including Pringles snacks and Eggo frozen waffles, said a 1% decline would still mean "a two-year compound annual growth of about 2.5%".

The company also said it expects its adjusted operating profit to fall in 2021, forecasting a drop of around 2%, Again, Kellogg pointed to Covid-19 but also said the 2020 fiscal year had 53 weeks.

In 2020, Kellogg's adjusted operating profit rose 2.6% to $1.81bn. The company made a net income of $1.25bn in the year to 2 January 2021, up from $960m 12 months earlier.

10 February

Londoners leading surge in home delivery of snacks during lockdown - research

New research has revealed a surge in the home delivery of snacks in London during the Covid lockdown period.

Analysis firm The NPD Group's research showed that demand for home delivery of snacks and coffee in London was up by 95% in 2020 compared to the previous year.

This is significantly ahead of the 11% increase in orders placed by families across the country as a whole.

Dominic Allport, insights director (foodservice) at The NPD Group said: "The main reason is the greater use of delivery subscriptions such as Deliveroo Plus in the capital, where customers pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited free deliveries.

"As these subscriptions become increasingly common across the country, we expect to see a growth in people ordering snacks and drinks to be delivered to their homes more regularly."

The average amount spent per person on snack delivery increased by 20% nationally in 2020 vs. 2019 to reach GBP5.66. The number of items bought during each snacking occasion in London has increased significantly and is now +18% higher than the national average.

Allport added: "Once lockdown is over, this trend is likely to remain embedded in the population."

Danish Crown closes German slaughterhouse after 13 Covid infections

Meat processor Danish Crown has closed a beef slaughterhouse in Germany for a week after 13 of the approximately 300 workers tested positive for Covid-19.

The facility in the town of Husum, situated in the county of North Frisia near the border with Denmark, has been shut as a precautionary measure to prevent the further spread of the virus, a spokesperson for Danish Crown confirmed.

Danish Crown plans to reopen the site on 14 February subject to prevailing conditions at the time.

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8 February

Covid cases identified at Cargill meat plant in Canada

US agri-food giant Cargill has seen a small number of its employees at a meat plant in Canada test positive for Covid-19.

Some six employees at the company's High River facility in Alberta have tested positive for the virus, Cargill told just-food. They are in isolation and receiving medical care and support.

The High River facility, which employs more than 2,000 people, is continuing to function as normal.

It is the second Covid outbreak at the plant. It was shut down for two weeks in April 2020 because of an outbreak that affected more than 350 of its workers and saw two employees die.

In relation to the newly-announced Covid cases amongst its High River workforce, a Cargill spokesperson said: "We continue to learn how to help slow the spread of the virus and are working with Alberta Health Services (AHS) to add safety measures as they become available to safeguard our valued co-workers."

5 February

2 Sisters recruiting 500 workers as pandemic pushes up poultry demand

2 Sisters Food Group plans to hire hundreds of workers to meet growing demand for poultry products in the UK with consumers confined to the home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

With factories situated around the UK, 2 Sisters said it had hired approximately 800 workers over the past 12 months to across the entire business to cater to the increased demand.

But Covid has also taken a toll, with a number of sites seeing staff test positive for the virus.

3 February

Premium Brands-owned Belmont Meats shuts Toronto plant amid Covid outbreak

Belmont Meats, a protein business owned by Canada's Premium Brands Holdings, has seen an outbreak of Covid-19 at its factory in Toronto.

The Toronto Public Health agency said 78 cases of the virus have been confirmed at Belmont's North York site, a district in Toronto, and two of those workers have been identified as having the B.1.1.7 strain of the virus, a variant that first appeared in the UK.

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Baxters to close visitor centre and retail outlet in Scotland

Baxters Food Group, the UK-based soups-to-condiments maker, plans to close its visitor centre, restaurant and retail outlet in Edinburgh, Scotland, as the pandemic curtails foot traffic across the hospitality sector.

The Highland Village centre is located in the same village as Baxter's headquarters in Fochabers, Moray, in north-east Scotland. The site employs around 30 people, according to a media report, all of whom face the prospect of losing their jobs.

2 February

Nestle seeking to help with Covid vaccine rollout

Food giant Nestle is seeking ways to help with the Covid-19 vaccine programme in countries in which it operates.

News agency Reuters reported the Switzerland-based company's chief executive Mark Schneider as saying that while it has already donated to the Red Cross and other organisations to help cover the financial cost of vaccination programmes, it wants to go further.

Schneider told the Forum Horizon event in Lausanne: "We will also try to find ways to either sponsor the payment for the vaccine or sponsor the way it gets applied in communities where we are present.

"The price of a vaccine for an advanced economy is negligible...but to a developing country which has been struggling already with all the impacts of Covid, on top of that to pay for the vaccine and for the services to get it applied is going to be very significant," he said.

Reuters reported that the specific details of how Nestle will help still need to be worked out, according to Schneider, who described the project as a "work in progress".

1 February

US Congress probing meatpackers over Covid deaths

A US Congress panel is investigating three of the country's largest meatpacking businesses in relation to worker deaths at their facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Muller reports fatality at another UK plant

Another UK plant owned by Germany headquartered dairy giant Muller has been affected by Covid-19.

An employee at the facility run by Muller Milk & Ingredients in Droitwich, a town in the English Midlands county of Worcestershire, has died from the virus, although the staff member had been off work since 30 December due to a "personal matter", a company spokesperson confirmed in a statement.

A further 26 workers are currently self isolating out of a total employee count in Droitwich of 607.

"It is important to stress that fresh milk processing is highly automated, ensuring no risk to products," the statement read.

26 January

Greencore's food-to-go revenues slide in Q1 amid lockdowns

Greencore, a major supplier of food-to-go products to UK retailers, has reported an across-the-board drop in revenues for the group and its business units due to Covid-19-related restrictions.

In a trading update this morning (26 January) for the first quarter to 25 December, the Ireland-based private-label manufacturer said reported group revenues fell 15% to GBP312.7m (US$425.9m) and were down 15.1% on a pro-forma basis, "impacted by the reduction in mobility arising from tiered restrictions and lockdowns in the UK".

The food-to-go category saw reported and pro-forma revenues decline 21.7% to GBP188.5m, while other convenience foods fell 2.1% to GBP124.1m.

"[The] latest lockdown significantly impacting demand in food-to-go categories, though not as marked as the initial lockdown in March 2020. Currently, pro-forma group revenue is approximately 20% below prior year levels, with performance in food-to-go categories down approximately 35% on [the] prior year, while other convenience categories remain stable," Greencore said.

"The recovery in demand that was evident at the end of FY-20 was impeded by the tiered regional restrictions on mobility introduced across the UK in October, and then by a subsequent national lockdown until early December, followed by the implementation of tiered regional lockdowns."

Greencore also provided an early assessment of the impact of a free trade deal reached between the UK and the EU on Christmas Eve.

"The operational impact has been modest to date as the group had completed extensive Brexit planning and was well prepared for any near-term volatility in the supply chain.

"The ongoing uncertainty regarding the duration and impact of Covid-19 on the group's trading environment, and in particular on demand in its food-to go-categories, continues to make it difficult to predict FY-21 performance. In this context, the group's financial guidance remains suspended."

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Chocolate maker Godiva to close North America retail outlets

Chocolate maker Godiva, owned by Turkey's Yildiz Holding, plans to close or sell its 128 retail stores in the US and Canada after consumers switched to online purchases during the pandemic.

"Demand for the in-person shopping experience offered through Godiva's brick-and-mortar locations has waned as a result of the pandemic and its acceleration of changes in consumers' shopping behaviour. In response to these market dynamics, Godiva will exit its 128 brick-and-mortar locations in North America, partially through sales and partially through closures, by the end of the first quarter," it said in a statement.

However, Godiva's products will still be available online in those North American markets, along with grocery and drug stores and other retail outlets. Europe, the Middle East and China are not affected by t

25 January

Food companies among UK Covid testing scheme

Meat company Moy Park and sugar refiner Tate & Lyle Sugars are among what the UK says are "dozens" of employers in the country to have signed up to a scheme testing workers without symptoms who cannot work from home.

Lateral flow tests are being used to see if staff have Covid-19 without realising they are carrying the virus. The UK government said around one in three infected people have no symptoms and may be unknowingly spreading the virus.

More than 730,000 tests have been distributed across the UK public and private sectors so far. Frozen-food group Apetito and cheese-products maker Primula are also among the companies to have joined the scheme.

Gerald Mason, senior vice president of Tate & Lyle Sugars, said: "Mass testing has really helped us get one step ahead of the virus by identifying colleagues who were infectious but showed no symptoms. This has been especially welcome over the last few weeks at our east London factories as the levels of virus in the local area have been extremely high."

22 January

Trident Seafoods closes Akutan plant for three weeks

Trident Seafoods, which claims to be the largest vertically-integrated seafood harvesting and processing company in North America, has had to temporarily close a plant in Alaska amid a number of Covid-19 infections.

The first of four cases at the processing facility in Akutan became apparent last weekend with an employee testing positive, and the other infections were discovered when the worker's three room mates were tested. All four had tested negative for the virus two weeks earlier.

In a statement issued yesterday (21 January), privately-owned Trident, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, said it will pause operations for three weeks while it undertakes "comprehensive" testing and to "support a preventative quarantine" for the 700 workers.

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JBS, Pilgrim's Pride offer US workers $100 vaccine incentive

Meat packers JBS and Pilgrim's Pride are offering to give US employees a US$100 bonus if they voluntarily take a Covid-19 vaccine.

"The new initiative is designed to encourage maximum participation in the Biden administration's accelerated pandemic response efforts and ensure that every JBS USA and Pilgrim's team member who wants to get vaccinated can do so as soon as vaccines are made available," the two companies said in a joint statement.

JBS, headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the majority-owner of US poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride. Both companies have, in the recent past, reported Covid-19 cases at their plants in the US and the UK.

"With nearly 66,000 US team members, we are hopeful this initiative will lead to high vaccination participation rates that will benefit our workforce and the rural communities and cities in which they live and work across America," said Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS' US division.

"Throughout the pandemic, JBS USA and Pilgrim's have adopted industry-leading measures to protect our essential frontline workers who continue to provide food for the nation. Our goal in offering this extra pay to our team members is to remove any barriers to vaccination and incentivise our team members to protect themselves, their families and their co-workers."

China confirms first cases of Covid among meat workers - report

China has reportedly detected its first cases of Covid-19 among meat workers, with ten confirmed cases at a poultry factory owned by Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Foods.

The facility in question is located in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province in China's north-east region.

Reuters reported from an official Chinese news briefing that a further 28 employees at the plant, along with three family members, were asymptomatic amid a wider community outbreak in the region. The news agency added that samples taken from inside the slaughterhouse, its cold storage area and the outside of product packaging earlier this week came up positive for the virus.

Officials at Charoen Pokphand's Bangkok headquarters "made no immediate comment", Reuters said.

21 January

Muller hit by Covid-19 infections at UK plant, worker dies

Unternehmensgruppe Theo Muller, the Germany-headquartered dairy giant, has confirmed a slew of Covid-19 infections at one of its UK plants, along with the death of an employee.

20 January

Trident Seafoods reports cases at Alaska plant

Trident Seafoods, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, has reported four cases of Covid-19 at a processing plant in Akutan, Alaska, despite "rigorous preventative measures".

CEO Joe Bundrant, the son of Trident's founder Chuck Bundrant, said in a statement: "Health and safety are our absolute priority. We have said from the beginning of this pandemic that if we have an issue, we're going to shed a light on it. We want to be sure people are aware and know that we are taking this very seriously."

The first case became apparent last weekend with an employee testing positive, and the other infections were discovered when the worker's three room mates were tested. All four had tested negative for the virus two weeks earlier.

One of the workers is currently in hospital, while the three others are self-isolating.

Stefanie Moreland, Trident's vice president of government relations and sustainability, said the company is working to try and establish the source of the infections among the 700 staff at Akutan.

"We have notified the state of Alaska, the city of Akutan and our medical partners and are coordinating with all to conduct further tests, implement protocols and contain exposure," Moreland said.

19 January

Lindt & Sprungli annual sales drop on pandemic-related challenges

Lindt & Sprungli, the premium chocolate maker based in Switzerland, has reported a 6.2% decline in annual organic sales to CHF4.02bn (US$4.53bn).

The drop  minus 10.9% on a reported basis - was put down to "major global challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic", namely the closure of its store network and reduced shopping visits, and also strength in the Swiss franc.

Still, the decline in organic sales was within the company's expectations for a 5% to 7% decrease (Stifel -5.2%), while the company said it notched up market share gains in "practically all countries" in which Lindt & Sprungli operates.

"The global restrictions and regulations to contain the pandemic unfortunately had an impact on important areas of Lindt & Sprungli's business. The restrictions on the foodservice area in North America and the traditional speciality stores in Italy had a major impact on sales. The travel retail business also recorded a sharp drop in sales due to the restricted air traffic," it said in a statement.

Sales in Europe fell 2.9% on an organic basis and were down 6.8% in North America. It was worse in the rest of the world segment, where sales dropped 16.1%, although China and Japan posted growth.

Lindt & Sprungli said the medium- and long-term organic growth targets remain unchanged at 5-7% per year, while the operating profit margin of 10% realised in 2020 is expected to "return to a level of around 15% in 2022".

18 January

UK trade bodies lobby government to support foodservice suppliers

A group of trade associations are pressing the UK government to provide financial support for food manufacturers supplying the out-of-home sector, warning they risk going out of business without some form of aid.

The 18-strong group is led by the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) which have written a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak and other government ministers pointing out how pubs, restaurants and cafes have received extended financial support but the businesses that supply them have not.

They are calling for an extension to the 12-month exemption period for local business rates for companies operating in the hospitality and foodservice sector and the introduction of capital and tax break allowances aimed at retaining staff.

The group is also pressing the Government to formalise the deferment of PAYE and NI payments until the end of 2021 for the sector. And to increase the level of funding for the Additional Restrictions Grant and to make the funding accessible, along with providing grants for those companies that have had to dispose of stock because of lockdown restrictions.

BFFF CEO Richard Harrow said: "England's national lockdown, plus restrictions in the UK's other nations, have been devastating for our many businesses supplying the hospitality and foodservice markets and they are facing a bleak winter. Their continued existence will be critical as the economy starts to recover."

14 January

Bakkavor annual revenues decline on pandemic impact  trading update

Private-label fresh food supplier Bakkavor has said revenues fell in the fiscal year through December amid a new round of Covid-19-related lockdowns in the final quarter.

In a trading update today, the London-based business said group revenues were down 4.9% on both a reported and like-for-like basis in the 12 months ended 26 December ahead of the final results on 16 March. The decline was more protracted in the UK, where like-for-like sales fell 5.3%.

On the international front, revenues dropped 21.6% in China, which was the Bakkavor division "most severely impacted by the pandemic", offsetting a 12.7% increase in revenues in the US.

Bakkavor currently anticipates adjusted EBITDA will be in line with the previous annual print of GBP138m (US$188.3m).

CEO Agust Gudmundsson said: "Notwithstanding the ongoing impact of Covid-19, we have a sound business model and solid platform that leaves us well-placed to navigate the current environment and achieve long-term sustainable growth."

11 January

Maple Leaf Foods to acquire facility for plant-based unit Greenleaf

Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods is set to purchase a production facility in the US for its plant-based unit Greenleaf Foods amid challenges to its expansion strategy in the country caused by Covid-19.

8 January

Cases rise at 2 Sisters' Coupar Angus facility in Scotland

2 Sisters Food Group, a UK-based poultry processor, has seen the number of Covid-19 cases rise at its Coupar Angus facility in Scotland.

Earlier this week, the company reported five infections amongst workers at the poultry plant in South Lanarkshire and now, according to NHS Tayside, the number has since climbed to 30.

The same site had to be closed temporarily last August after a number of employees tested positive.

A spokesperson for 2 Sisters said the company had nothing to add to the statement from NHS Tayside when contacted by just-food.

Dr Emma Fletcher, a director of public health for Tayside NHS, said a "comprehensive risk assessment" has been conducted at the facility a noted the safety measures 2 Sisters has put in place to protect workers.

"For several reasons the public should be reassured that it is possible for the factory to remain open at this time as we are in a very different position to when there were Covid-19 cases at the factory last August. The rate of community infection is much higher compared to August's outbreak," she said.

"The factory is continuing to work closely with NHS Tayside's Public Health team and Food Standards Scotland to help manage the situation."

7 January

BMPA urges UK government to prioritise meat workers for vaccines

The British Meat Processors Association is urging the UK government to prioritise "frontline workers in meat factories" for the coronavirus vaccines.

"The risk of more rapid spread of the virus amongst key workers, coupled with expected disruption of food supplies at our ports as the full effects of Brexit begin to unfold, pose a severe challenge to the industry and to the smooth running of the nation's food supply chain," the BMPA said in a statement today.

As well as the meat industry, BMPA members also include some of the major UK supermarkets, food retailers and ingredient suppliers. It said there is an increased risk that meat plants could close as the new strain of coronavirus pushes up absenteeism rates, which could possibly lead to food shortages.

"Given the specialised nature of the meat-processing industry, if absences go above a certain level, it becomes impossible for a plant to continue operations. If this starts happening, plants would be forced to close entirely and a sizeable chunk of food supply would disappear from supermarket shelves," it said.

Nick Allen, the CEO of BMPA, continued: "As the new coronavirus variant takes hold across the whole of the UK, we are hearing widespread reports of rapidly rising absences in the food-supply chain. In some cases, notably in the supermarket sector, companies are seeing a tripling of staff having to take time off work through illness or enforced self-isolation.

"We are therefore calling on Government to include meat-factory workers in the initial roll-out of vaccinations. This would provide much-needed protection and comfort to this at-risk group and the communities in which they live, as well as ensuring that the critical food-supply chain continues to run smoothly."

6 January

Thai Union says all plants operating amid dozens of Covid cases

The seafood giant has issued a statement to say it is "proactively testing" employees in a province south west of Bangkok and confirmed some 69 of its staff at its sites in the region have tested positive for the virus.

Thai Union Group said it had tested 23,630 out of 27,552 employees in the province of Samut Sakhon, with the rest of the workers to be tested by next week.

"We have comprehensive protocols in place in case of positive test results; these protocols include ensuring taking care of the affected employees while isolating them according to government guidelines, identifying and testing close contacts and deep cleaning of visited work areas," Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri said. "It is very important to note that, due to the extremely small number of impacted employees, all Thai Union's factories currently remain open and operational at capacity."

Samut Sakhon province is one of the regions the Thai government has designated as a "red zone", or area with high infection rates. It is also Thailand's chief hub for seafood production.

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Foster Farms faces lawsuit from workers union over Covid-19 safety

The US poultry processor, has become the subject of a lawsuit filed by the United Farm Workers union, which claims the company "refused" to follow safety guidelines after a number of workers died from Covid-19 at two of its plants in California.

5 January

UK announces grants for retail, foodservice businesses

The UK government has said it will make available "one-off, top-up grants" to the country's retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in the wake of the country's the fresh lockdown measures.

Firms can apply for grants worth up to GBP9,000 (US$12,200), with the Government suggesting the cash will benefit more than 600,000 companies.

"This will help businesses to get through the months ahead  and crucially it will help sustain jobs, so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen," Rishi Sunak, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, said. "Throughout the pandemic we've taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and today we're announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the spring."

The UK's furlough scheme had already been extended until the end of April.

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2 Sisters plant operating "as normal" amid Covid cases

The UK food manufacturer has reported a fresh clutch of positive cases of Covid-19 at a plant in Scotland that was hit by the virus during the summer.

2 Sisters said its Coupar Angus facility was "working as normal", with five of its staff having tested positive.

Last August, the site, located in south Lanarkshire, halted production for two weeks to after a number of employees caught the virus.

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Cargill re-opens Covid-hit Canada plant

The US agri-food giant has resumed production at a meat plant in Canada closed before Christmas due to dozens of cases of Covid-19 among staff.

Cargill called a halt to output at the facility in Ontario in the week before the festive period. The company said at the time around 60 of its workers at the site in Guelph in Ontario had been diagnosed with Covid-19 amid a "community spread" of the virus.

Approximately 1,000 staff are employed at the factory, which is located in the city of Guelph. According to the Cargill website, the plant processes 1,500 head of cattle per day and is one of its two beef facilities in Canada. Combined, the plants make up 55% of the beef processing market in Canada, Cargill says.

"The health and safety of our employees continue to be our top priority," Cargill said in a statement on the re-opening of the factory. "In addition to safety measures we implemented at our facilities months ago, we have taken time during the idle to conduct a full, deep-clean of the facility as an additional step to respond to the community-wide impacts of the virus."

Like food manufacturers across the industry, and particularly in the meat sector, Cargill saw its production affected in the early months of the pandemic after positive cases were diagnosed among staff.

4 January

Nestle to expand US site to meet Covid demand

Nestle is to up the production capacity of a plant in the US to meet changes in demand sparked by the virus.

23 December

FDF calls for compensation for exporters following border "chaos"

UK industry association The Food and Drink Federation has called on the country's government to compensate businesses affected by the closure of the border between Britain and France.

21 December

"We see consumer behaviours evolving in ways we think will stick beyond the pandemic"  General Mills' CEO Jeff Harmening on H1 results

General Mills reaped rewards from Covid-19 shopping behaviours in its fiscal first half as organic growth notched up a print of 8% compared to last year's flat performance. And the benefits look set to continue judging by the emergence of a new strain of the virus in the UK and Italy, while the US still grapples to contain the disease. Simon Harvey looks at the key talking points behind the results.

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FDF warns of disrupted food supplies as France closes border with UK

The Food and Drink Federation is warning that supplies of food into the country face disruption as a result of France closing its border with Britain.

18 December

Cargill halts output at Canada meat site amid Covid-19 cases

Cargill has called a halt to production at a meat-processing facility in Canada after dozens of staff tested positive for Covid-19.

The US agri-food giant said around 60 of its workers at the site in Guelph in Ontario had been diagnosed with Covid-19 amid a "community spread" of the virus. Approximately 1,000 staff are employed at the factory.

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Tyson Foods in spotlight over Covid protective measures

Following cases of Covid-19 at a number of Tyson Foods' meat plants since the virus erupted, the comptroller for New York City is calling on the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the company's methods to protect workers.

Comptroller Scott Stringer has criticised Arkansas-headquartered Tyson of "flagrantly misrepresenting its poor pandemic response" to investors.

He has called out Tyson's Form 10-K, a financial results document presented to the SEC annually, for containing scant information on the company's workplace safety measures.

Tyson has been plagued by Covid-19 infections at a large number of plants, some of which have been forced to temporarily shutdown or pause production as the appropriate cleaning and sanitisation processes are carried out. The affected sites have included factories in: Portland, Maine; Waterloo, Iowa; Goodlettsville and Shelbyville, Tennessee; Pasco, Washington; Dakota City, Nebraska; and Longansport, Indiana.

Six workers died from coronavirus at the Waterloo site, which witnessed more than a 1,000 infections.

"There is human cost to Tyson's failures  preventable deaths, hospitalisations and sick workers," Stringer said in a letter to Tyson. "These failures have material impacts on its business operations that carry serious risks for shareholders."

Tyson has yet to respond to just-food's request for comment.

17 December

Tyson Foods sacks seven managers linked to Covid-19 betting pool

Tyson Foods has sacked seven plant management employees at the US meat giant's site in Waterloo, Iowa, following an independent probe into a betting pool linked to Covid-19 infections.

16 December

Greencore's Nottingham factory hit by Covid

Greencore, a food-to-go manufacturer headquartered in Ireland, has a "number" of Covid-19 cases at a UK plant in the county of Nottinghamshire.

In a statement, the ready-meals to sandwiches maker said coronavirus infections in the Bassetlaw district in north Nottingham have been rising and Greencore now has an unspecified number of cases at its Manton Wood facility. All are currently self-isolating.

"We have arranged for testing to be carried out at the site, and have wide-ranging social-distancing measures, stringent hygiene procedures and regular temperature checking in place," the statement read. "We are liaising closely with the Director of Public Health for Nottinghamshire County Council and Public Health England. Our thoughts are with all those affected, who are currently recovering at home, and we will continue to monitor their welfare as the situation develops."



Jonathan Gribbin, a director of public health for Nottinghamshire County Council, added in the same statement provided by Greencore: "We have been carefully studying the cluster of cases across Bassetlaw district. We are working with Greencore and Public Health England to provide testing and to understand more about how people are acquiring the infection. Greencore has an extensive range of controls in place, has responded quickly and decisively to the situation and is working closely with us."

Other Greencore sites have seen cases of Covid during the year.

15 December

EU food-manufacturing workers "should be priority for vaccines"

FoodDrinkEurope, the trade body for representing food manufacturers operating in the EU, has called on the bloc's member states to take up a recommendation from The European Commission to include workers in the agri-food sector as "a priority group" for vaccines against Covid-19.

A joint statement issued with European trade union federation EFFAT said the Commission had provided guidelines to member states when developing their vaccination strategies and had included agriculture and food sector workers as one of six priority groups.

"The approval and availability of vaccines against Covid-19 is a huge step forward in the fight against the global pandemic. Vaccinating the entire EU population will take significant time, and due to the limited number of doses available not everybody can be immunised immediately," the statement read.

"Food security can only be ensured when the health and safety of the workers in the food and drink industry is protected and production can run smoothly. This holds true in the workplaces, as well as when considering a vaccination strategy."

Quoting an unnamed German government source, Reuters said The European Medicines Agency is set to issue a positive verdict on the first Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine next Wednesday (23 December).

9 December

Six new Covid cases confirmed at Bakkavor's Tilmanstone plant since Friday

Bakkavor, a UK private-label supplier, has said its salads plant in south-east England where two workers have unfortunately died after contracting Covid-19 has seen a further six new cases since last Friday (4 December), although numbers are declining.

A two-day mass-testing exercise was started at the Tilmanstone site in Kent on Monday (7 December) with 375 staff out of a workforce of "over 900" tested so far. In an update provided by Bakkavor yesterday afternoon, the company said 48 employees are now off work having tested positive, with another 44 self-isolating as a precautionary measure.

The testing programme was due to end at midnight yesterday. The Tilmanstone plant is currently operating at "reduced capacity", the company said, although a spokesperson for the business told just-food it is "a temporary adjustment, [with] no impact on service levels".

Bakkavor said in a statement: "As a business, we have fully followed PHE guidelines for the duration of the pandemic. We are currently working closely with Public Health England (PHE) South East and Kent County Council to monitor the situation and we will take whatever appropriate action is necessary to limit the spread of Covid-19 and to ensure that our staff on site are safe. We will follow PHE advice and, if and when further steps need to be taken, we will communicate any new developments."

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4 December

Bakkavor to test all staff at Covid-hit plant

The UK private-label manufacturer is to test all staff working at a factory in south-east England for Covid-19 in the wake of two employees at the site dying after being diagnosed with the virus.

After talks with local government and health officials this week, Bakkavor will start conducting the tests at the facility, located in Tilmanstone in Kent, on Monday.

On the two members of staff who died, the company said: "We have sadly had two colleagues pass away following positive tests for Covid-19. These were valued members of our team and we are doing everything to support their families during this tragic time. At this early point in our investigation there is no evidence that either case was contracted in the workplace."

More than 900 employees work at the factory, which manufactures salad products. Bakkavor said 59 staff that have tested positive for Covid-19 are off work and a further 54 are self-isolating as a precautionary measure.

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Survey reveals Covid, Brexit outlook for UK hospitality

A UK business survey reveals Covid-19 has "wrecked confidence" among company chiefs in the hospitality industry, with the majority (82%) downbeat on prospects for the coming year.

The poll by Manchester-based research consultancy CGA and Fourth, a provider of cloud-based cost control solutions to hospitality, shows the figure was up from 40% in a similar survey conducted in February.

"Extended restrictions on trading and socialising over the autumn have led more than a quarter (27%) of multi-site business leaders to predict their groups will be unviable within the first six months of 2021 if current levels of support continue. Single-site businesses are at even greater risk of failure," the survey reveals.

Looking at the impact on the hospitality sector when the Brexit transition period ends this month, the majority of company chiefs anticipate a hit to profits (65%) and increased costs on imports (80%).

In terms of investment, the survey of 121 business leaders across management roles, reveals "widespread closures" are expected next year, with 38% having no plans to open new sites. "Substantial market churn, especially in London, where closures of offices, retail and tourist venues has hit footfall, can be expected," the researchers said.

CGA's research and insight director Charlie Mitchell said: "As we near the end of hospitality's toughest year in memory, the bleak picture of the sector will come as little surprise. Suffocating restrictions across Britain will devastate trading in what should be businesses' busiest time of the year.

"Leaders' optimism is at least rising from the rock bottom level of our last survey, and news of a vaccine is a reason for cautious hope of recovery in 2021. However, this week's Tier 2 restrictions in England and strict new limits in Wales could be fatal for smaller business in particular, making the case for more relaxed trading conditions and better government support even more urgent."

3 December

Second Covid death reported at Bakkavor salad plant

A second employee at a UK salad plant owned by private-label major Bakkavor has died after contracting Covid-19.

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PepsiCo 'temporarily closed US plant due to Covid outbreak'

US food and beverages giant PepsiCo is reported to have temporarily closed a Frito-Lay snacks plant in its home market due to an outbreak of coronavirus.

On Tuesday (1 December), media outlets in the US quoted Clark County officials as confirming 17 cases among employees at the plant in Vancouver, Washington State.

Public health officials said the first worker tested positive on 29 October. PepsiCo confirmed in a statement emailed to local media that multiple employees had tested positive for the virus although it did not list a specific number.

It described the decision to close the Vancouver plant as "a precautionary measure and in partnership with the Clark County Health Department". It said that the plant was being sanitised during the closure.

Reports suggested the plant was closed from 25 November but was due to re-open on Tuesday evening.

just-food has asked PepsiCo for an update on the situation at the plant.

1 December

Union calls for mass testing at Bakkavor UK site after Covid outbreak

The GMB trade union has called on private-label major Bakkavor to introduce mass Covid-19 testing at a salad facility in southern England after an outbreak of the virus among workers there.

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BRF plant hit by Covid outbreak cleared to resume exports to China

A plant in southern Brazil operated by meat major BRF has been given the all-clear to resume exports to China following an earlier Covid-19 outbreak.

BRF said on Monday (30 November) its Lajeado pork unit has been authorised to resume exports to China, according to a statement sent to news agency Reuters.

The plant, which saw an outbreak of the virus among workers in May, employs about 3,000 people. The unit should resume exports over the coming days, the statement said.

"After an inspection by the Chinese authorities, it was possible to prove the commitment that all of us at BRF have always had regarding the health and safety of our employees and our products," Reuters quoted BRF as saying.

The news agency reported that least three other Brazilian meat factories remain blocked by China over coronavirus concerns, All are located in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul.

BRF's Lajeado unit had been suspended by China since July.
On Jan. 20, the Israeli press reported that the Unibin Israel company, headed by Israeli-British businessman Saed Sarsur, had signed a conditioned agreement to buy some 21% of the Shimshon gas and petrol field extraction rights. The deal is expected to be sealed within 90 days, upon approval of the other extraction rights holders and Israeli authorities. The company reportedly may invest $35 million in drilling there.

The undersea Shimshon gas field, off Israels southern coast, was discovered in 2012. After a few years of searching, exploration rights holders concluded that its potential was much lower than originally believed and the companies moved to other ventures. But a new study was conducted two years ago and a March 2020 report found that a specific drilling spot in that zone could produce as much as 900 million barrels of petrol. The news prompted Unibin to act.

Another recent development in Israels undersea energy fields concerns the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields, located in off Israels northern shores, adjacent the large Leviathan field. In 2017, the Greek oil company Energean teamed up with private equity fund manager Kerogen Capital to obtain the exploration licenses for Karish and Tanin. On Dec. 30 last year, Energean announced it had reached an agreement with Kerogen, paying between $380 and $405 million to become the sole holder of the exploration licenses for Karish and Tanin. It hopes to start extracting natural gas in 2023.

Unibin, Energean and Kerogen are not the only companies operating off Israels Mediterranean coast. Over the past two decades, several local and international companies have been involved in searching for natural gas and petrol. For several years Noble Energy has been the largest player in Israels natural gas extraction, operating the Leviathan and Tamar fields in the north. Last October, American Chevron completed its acquisition of Noble Energy, a move hailed by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz as tremendous news for Israels economy.

Israelis are also familiar with the local Delek Drilling company, led by Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva. The company cooperated with Noble Energy on Leviathan and Tamar and with Nobel on the older natural gas fields Noa and Mari B, both in the south. British Petroleum has also been active on pursuing gas exploration in Israeli and Palestinian waters.

Israels Petrol Act defines three stages for extracting petrol or gas, and the Energy Ministry supervises the process. In the first, exploration permits permit companies to research the geological characteristics of undersea or on above-ground areas and get an idea of the extraction potential. Then another round of deeper exploration requires another permit. Only companies that can show they're capable of taking on the endeavors are eligible to compete for exploration licenses. The permit procedures were put in place some four years ago. Since then, the Energy Ministry had granted 18 such permits, each for a period of three years. After exploring, companies can apply for the extraction rights. Extraction permits are granted for a period of 30 years with potential extensions for 20 more.

The latest financial developments attest to the international energy market's growing interest in Israeli gas and petrol fields. The past year had been a very difficult one for the energy sector worldwide, severely hit by the pandemic and ensuing economic crisis.

This interest was clear in the Jan. 19 decision by Chevron and its partner in the Leviathan and Tamar fields Delek Drilling to invest around $235 million in pipelines to export Israeli fuel to Egypt. They agreed to lay a new undersea pipeline and to expand some of the existing ones. The Israel Natural Gas Lines company will reportedly undertake both projects.

Chevron and Delek Drilling's move follows years of hard work by Steinitz, who together with his Egyptian counterpart Tarek el-Molla was behind the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, based in Cairo. On Sept. 22, seven ministers attended a videoconference organized by Cairo, marking the informal forum's evolution into a recognized organization. It was on there that Steinitz announced Israel will start exporting natural gas to Egypt and Jordan, a project that should generate some $30 billion over 10 years. Steinitz further noted that more deals could be in the offing.
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today made a number of key announcements during the Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS2021) hosted by the Netherlands - the first international summit for global leaders aimed at triggering the systemic change required to accelerate adaptation action globally for a climate resilient world. During the Summit GCA's work was endorsed by a number of world leaders including Ali Bongo Odimba, President of Gabon; Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada; Carlos Alvarado Quesado, President of Costa Rica, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya.

The Summit took place as the pandemic continues to erode recent progress in building climate resilience, leaving countries and communities more vulnerable to future shocks. A report by GCA "State and Trends in Adaptation 2020" showed that global funding would need to increase ten-fold, to US$300 billion a year, to meet the UN Environment Programme's estimates of what is needed to respond to escalating climate risks. An accompanying technical report "Adaptation Finance in the Context of Covid-19" estimated that funding for climate adaptation fell by up to 10% in 2020, reversing the decade long trend of increasing adaptation finance to developing countries.

Ministerial Dialogue

At the start of CAS2021, GCA hosted its first annual Ministerial Dialogue, with over 50 ministers and leaders from international organizations, to scale-up global leadership cooperation to accelerate climate adaptation. Going forward it will also serve as an annual high-level forum on climate change adaptation, acting as a lever for global leadership to drive a decade of transformation for a climate resilient world by 2030.

Hosting the meeting, Ban Ki-moon, Co-Chair of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"In this GCA ministerial dialogue, we hope to achieve three things: a step change in ambition, so that adaptation receives the funding and attention it deserves. We need a step change in financing to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars for this decade of transformation. And we need to strengthen partnerships and knowledge exchanges to make the best solutions and approaches available to all."

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Board Member of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"The IMF is ramping up support for the policies, investment plans and skills countries need to strengthen their response to climate change. Reducing emissions and building resilience is win-win-win - good for growth and jobs, for health and for our planet."

John Kerry, US Climate Presidential Envoy, who gave the keynote speech, noted that:

"All countries are now learning how to cope with climate change. But nobody has all the answers. The faster we gather information from each other, share data, the faster we can join together in the effort to do what we all know is necessary. The more quickly we're going to be able to put good solutions to work, the faster we're going to be able to make savings in hard pressed budgets around the world."

Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"Covid-19 ushered in an era of multiple, intersecting systemic shocks, which demand equally powerful and coordinated solutions. Adaptation should be at the heart our recovery. Combining steadily rising carbon prices with a green infrastructure push can boost global GDP over the next 15 years by about 0.7 percent and generate work for millions of people. It will make us better prepared for future shocks."

African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)

The urgency of the compounded COVID-19 and climate crises require accelerated momentum in Africa's climate adaptation efforts. The African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) announced they are joining forces to use their complementary expertise, resources, and networks to launch a bold new Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). This flagship program will focus on agriculture, infrastructure, youth, and innovative finance. The African Development Bank has committed to mobilize $25 billion as climate finance between 2020 and 2025, of which at least 50% ($12.5 billion) will support climate adaptation and resilience building. The Bank and GCA will use this to leverage an additional $12.5 billion with other key partners to support African governments, private sector, and civil society to scale up effective adaptation solutions.

An example of GCA and the Bank's transformative approach to accelerating adaptation is a project already underway in Ghana to develop its first national-level assessment of the resilience of its infrastructure systems to climate change. By exploring and showcasing the potential co-benefits of Nature-based Solutions as part of country-level package of investment in grey and green infrastructure, Ghana will function as a demonstration country of how to reduce costs and enhance ecosystems.

Commenting on the program launch, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank said:

"We must work together to accelerate adaptation action in Africa , a continent on the frontline of climate change emergency. Today's announcement with GCA marks the start of a bold global effort to ensure that developing countries have the climate financing they need to implement and scale up climate adaptation solutions."

Feike Sijbesma, Co-Chair of the Global Center on Adaptation said:

"We are all witnessing how climate change is visibly affecting people, societies and business. We must take a strategic and integrated approach to adaptation and develop the bold innovations and solutions to this global challenge. This all in combination to our continued effort to mitigate climate changes by reducing our emissions."

Youth Leadership

Following the call to action from one million young people from more than 115 countries to "Adapt for our Future", Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA announced the African Adaptation Acceleration Program would strengthen ecosystems that support youth-led climate adaptation entrepreneurship and youth participation in adaptation policies; scale up climate adaptation innovations by strengthening business development services to 10,000 youth-owned enterprises and 10,000 youth with business ideas on jobs and adaptation; Develop tailored skills and provide starting tool packs for 1 million youth to prepare them for climate resilient jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in adaptation and unlock USD 3 billion in credit for adaptation action by innovative youth-owned enterprises through innovative financial instruments.

State and Trends Knowledge Exchange

GCA launched the State and Trends in Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (STAKE) to make data, information, and learnings on climate-change adaptation both accessible and actionable, with the aim of engaging policy-makers, professionals, experts, and other stakeholders. The new platform connects areas of science, policy, and practice through dedicated elements-such as the Adaptation Gateway, which covers data, solutions and insights, Communities of Practice, the State and Trends report series, and the Adaptation Action Agenda-brokering solutions to accelerate adaptation action from a local to a global scale. The Adaptation Gateway provides data visualization, systematized solutions, analyses, and insights on the state and trends of climate-change resilience and adaptation.

1000 Cities Adapt Now Initiative

During the Summit, the Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb presented the 10-year Global Program 1000 Cities Adapt Now. 1000 Cities Adapt Now' (1000CAN) is a global program that aims for a green and just post-COVID-19 recovery - a recovery that helps create new jobs, improve equity and prepare communities to adapt to climate and health threats. The coalition network partners, including GCA which will host the program, sought the commitment of other mayors to strengthen the role of cities in improving our environment, climate and society in the lead-up to COP26, and beyond. This resulted in the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities being presented to world leaders including Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Mayor Aboutaleb speaking at the launch said:

"Every day, cities are dealing with the effects of climate change and the need to adapt to be resilient. It is our task as mayors of cities worldwide to address these issues and generate solutions. With the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities, we underline our ambitions and needs to speed up and scale up adaptation measures in 1000 cities in the coming decade."

Living with water: Climate Adaptation in the World's Deltas

GCA launched a report on climate adaptation in the world's deltas which presents a series of lighthouse adaptation case studies and sets how to scale up and accelerate adaptation in these climate hotspots. The report flagged that climate adaptation in delta areas is a complex issue and that understanding deltas requires better, open-access climate data collection. The report also noted that making deltas more climate resilient requires decades and legal and political frameworks that are conducive to long-term, integrated planning, and predictable budgets, but at the same time urgent adaptation action needs to start immediately.

Free online global education initiative

GCA announced it is collaborating with the University of of Groningen in the Netherlands to offer free online courses on Climate Adaptation Governance through FutureLearn. The first course is on Climate Adaptation Governance - Making Climate Adaptation Happen. In addition, the University of Groningen will start offering a specialisation in Climate Adaptation Governance from September 2021 onwards.

07887 804594, alex.gee@gca.org

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A man who miraculously survived almost three weeks lost in the bush has relived his harrowing ordeal and the decision that almost cost him his life.

Robert Weber, 58, was last seen leaving the Kilkivan Hotel Motel in Queensland in a white 2000 model Ford Falcon on January 6 with his dog Sid.

After his car became bogged in mud, Mr Weber stayed with his car for three days before a split decision to abandon his vehicle to go on a desperate search for water.

He survived on wild mushrooms for 18 days before he was finally found near a dam on a remote property near Kilkivan, west of Gympie on Sunday.

Mr Weber opened up about his ordeal hours after being released from hospital, where he admitted ditching his car almost proved to be a fatal mistake after becoming lost.

'I made a split decision of error and paid 18 days for it,' Mr Weber told Seven News with laugh.

Robert Weber, 58, spent 18 days on near a dam on a rural property before he was eventually found on Sunday morning. Pictured is a relieved but exhausted Mr Weber after he was found

There was only one priority on his mind when he made the near fatal decision to abandon his car and dog Sid, who refused to budge.

'Water, Full stop. Need water,' Mr Weber said.

'The first day I left it was drizzling and the dog was sleeping in the driver side. Sid was just looking, "nah I'm not coming". So I thought, "all right, you stay, I'll come back with some water".

'I had a two litre juice bottle and I never ever made it back. I could never find my way back.'

Mr Weber's abandoned car discovered by investigators on January 15, 10 days before he was found less than 3km away.

A relieved Mr Weber never lost hope that he would be eventually found.

Robert Weber (pictured) became lost while searching for water west of Gympie and leaving his car behind

'I never had my doubts. Full stop. But there were disappointing times when the search happened and I got missed out by the boundary of it,' he said.

'I was looking at the pilot in the eyes and I'm going 'come on, mate, what are you doing? You're going backwards.'

'I was waiting for the search. After three days, it turned to seven days when I heard the first helicopter.'

He spent 18 days seeking shelter under a tree near a dam surviving on wild mushrooms on the rural property of local MP Tony Perrett.

Robert Weber admitted to paying the price of abandoning his car in search for water

Mr Weber was last seen leaving a hotel in Kilkvian, Queensland, eastern Australia

The local MP finally found Mr Weber on Sunday morning, three days after the widespread search by emergency services was called of.

Mr Weber was 'almost excessively happy' to see help had arrived.

'Tony, the MP, just rolled up, checking the dam, and here I was standing there going "hello, how are you? Sorry I trespassed",' Mr Weber recalled.

'He said, "Hello, we've been looking for you."

'I replied "I'm glad to hear."

'It's hard to describe when your life turns from almost misery at times to unfound.'

Mr Weber was conveyed to hospital suffering exposure to the elements but was otherwise safe and well.

Emergency services spent almost three weeks searching for Robert Weber before calling off the search operation (pictured) last Thursday, three days before he was found

Mr Perrett described the tale of survival as incredible.

'We'd searched this one paddock previously, but there were a few spots we hadn't looked we didn't see him,' Mr Perrett told NCA NewsWire.

'As we were driving out of the paddock through a small set of stock yards, about 100m away is a dam  We came up over the crest of this small ridge beside the yards and looked down towards the dam and there he was.

'Under a tree, adjacent to the dam, frantically waving.'

Sadly Mr Weber's constant companion Sid remains missing.
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Queensland has issued an urgent public health alert instructing anyone who has come into the state from New Zealand since January 14 to get tested and quarantine until they get their result.

A woman in Auckland is believed to have acquired the South African variant of coronavirus while in hotel quarantine, but didnt test positive until she had been released into the community.

Anyone who came to Queensland from New Zealand in the past 11 days should get tested and isolate until their result. Credit:Wolter Peeters

New Zealand health officials believe she probably contracted the virus within hotel quarantine.

It was the countrys first local case in more than two months and Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has suspended the green zone travel status between New Zealand for 72 hours.
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Bobbie Kilberg served as the Northern Virginia Technology Councils President and CEO from 1998 - 2020. Creating greater access and providing resources for women to secure in-demand jobs in the tech industry is critically important to build a diverse and talented workforce and industry," said Jennifer Taylor. president and CEO of NVTC

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the membership and trade association representing the technology community in Northern Virginia, today announced the new NVTC Foundation Kilberg Scholarship Fund. This fund has raised an initial $110,000 to provide financial support for women in the Northern Virginia region who are pursuing higher education in STEM-related fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and who demonstrate leadership promise and potential in the technology field. Bobbie Kilberg served as the Northern Virginia Technology Councils President and CEO from 1998 - 2020.

According to a 2018 Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, women currently remain highly underrepresented in software engineering and computer science-related jobs (14% and 25% of total workforce, respectively). Further, women software engineer hires have only increased 2% over the last 20 years. The establishment of this scholarship fund will help close these gaps for women pursuing STEM careers. It also serves as a continuation of Bobbie Kilbergs life-long spirit of community service in the Northern Virginia technology community.

Since Bobbie Kilberg announced her retirement in the fall of 2019, NVTC set out to find the best way to honor her legacy and long-standing commitment to this region, said Jennifer Taylor, president and CEO of NVTC. Creating greater access and providing resources for women  no matter their background  to secure in-demand jobs in the tech industry, is not only a personal passion of mine, but also critically important to build a diverse and talented workforce and industry. Im thrilled that NVTC can foster opportunities for more women who want to pursue tech careers.

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia (CFNOVA), a public charity that helps grow philanthropy, will manage the scholarship fund on behalf of the NVTC Foundation.

Im so grateful for this opportunity to give back to the community where I served over the last two decades. I am constantly inspired by the regions women technology leaders and am proud to help empower future generations of leaders in the industry, said Bobbie Kilberg, president emeritus and strategic advisor to NVTC.

This scholarship fund not only reflects both NVTCs and Bobbie Kilbergs continued dedication to support and invest in the next generation of women technology leaders, but the Community Foundations commitment to building a community that works for everyone by investing in students throughout our region, said Eileen Ellsworth, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia (CFNOVA). Were thrilled to support the NVTC Foundation to invest in the regions best and brightest young women.

The call for applications is now open for those interested in applying for the Kilberg Scholarship. In its inaugural year, five scholarship recipients will each be awarded up to $5,000. The application period will close April 9, 2021 and winners will be notified in June 2021, with a formal announcement of winners in July at CFNOVA's Cocktails & Conversations event.

For those interested in donating to the fund, a donation page has been created. All donations are tax deductible. CFNOVA will be responsible for collecting donations and managing applications for the scholarship.

For more information on the scholarship fund, details on how to apply and more, please visit https://www.cfnova.org/scholarship/nvtc-foundation-kilberg-scholarship-fund.

# # #

About the Northern Virginia Technology Council

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the trade association representing the Northern Virginia technology community. As one of the nation's largest technology councils, NVTC serves companies from all sectors of the industry, from small businesses and startups to Fortune 100 technology companies, as well as service providers, academic institutions, foreign embassies, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. More than 500 member companies make up the NVTC membership and look to the organization as a resource for networking and educational opportunities, peer-to-peer communities, policy advocacy, industry promotion, fostering of strategic relationships, and branding of the region as a major global technology center. Learn more at http://www.nvtc.org.

About The NVTC Foundation

The NVTC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit, was established to provide support for under-served members of the Greater Washington community. Currently the foundation supports transitioning military service members, Veterans and military spouses through the NVTC Veterans Employment Initiative (VEI). Additionally, the NVTC Foundation Kilberg Scholarship Fund provides financial support for women in the region who are pursuing higher education and demonstrate leadership promise and potential in the technology field. For more information visit http://www.nvtc.org/NVTC/About/NVTC_Foundation

About Community Foundation for Northern Virginia (CFNOVA)

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia grows philanthropy to respond to critical need, seed innovation and lead and convene the community. Comprised of donor advised funds, permanent funds, giving circles, and other charitable endowments, the Community Foundation connects donors to community and promotes a more equitable and inclusive prosperity that marries our economic strength with the full breadth of our diverse community. In 2020 the Community Foundation awarded more than $13 million in grants and scholarships. For more information please visit us at http://www.cfnova.org.
Another Texan has been arrested and charged for participating in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, weeks after his son reported him to the FBI.

Guy W. Reffitt of Wylie, Texas was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.

CAPITOL ATTACK: Nearly 1 in 5 of Capitol rioters charged so far served in the military

But Reffitt's 18-year-old son Jackson had reported him earlier after Reffitt told his son he was going to do "something big."

I didnt know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side, Jackson Reffitt told the New York Times' Bryan Pietsch.

Jackson Reffitt told investigators that his father came home on Jan. 8 and told his family that "we stormed the Capitol." In an interview with CNN, Jackson Reffitt said he did not know his father was going to Washington D.C. until the day Reffitt left.

Reffitt's son also told investigators that Reffitt had threatened Jackson Reffitt and his sister in the days after the riot, saying, If you turn me in, youre a traitor and you know what happens to traitors... traitors get shot.

FBI investigators identified Reffitt in several videos taken at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He could be seen on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building wearing a blue jacket and a helmet with a GoPro-style camera attached, according to a filing in the District Court for the District of Columbia.

Pietsch reports that federal investigators contacted Jackson Reffitt on Jan. 6 to follow up on the previous tip.

I put my emotions behind me to do what I thought was right, Jackson Reffitt said, Pietsch reports.

Reffitt's wife told federal investigators that Reffitt is a member of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group. Jackson Reffitt also appeared on CNN and discussed how his father had become more active on the internet and involved in the militia group, leading to his participation in the Jan. 6 riot. Reffitt was arrested on Jan. 16.

"I wish I could tell you exactly what [influenced him], but it's been definitely over the past four years that it's grown and just snowballed into what my dad's become now," Jackson Reffitt told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "He's still my father, but he's changed a lot."
Peggy Grosberg Ross, January 23, 2021

Peggy Ross made a wish on every first evening star she ever saw.

She loved with all her heart and lived for the betterment of those around her. As the matriarch of the family, she modeled charity, devotion, and passion, with every breath she took.

Peggy was born and raised in St Louis in a loving family that has a deep tradition of giving back to the community. She graduated from Washington University with a degree in Psychology, something she was very proud of. She married Donald K. Ross, Ph. D. in 1950 and they spent their lives dedicated to furthering education, helping the needy, traveling to all parts of the world together and happily cruising the Mississippi River on their houseboat.

Much of her life was focused on philanthropy. After surviving a near death experience in a fire, Peggy created the Edna Malen Scholarship Fund for the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College. Peggy gave credit to Ms. Malen, her lead burn nurse, for saving her with her care. In the 55 years of the scholarship there have been scores of the most gifted nurses graduating with the assistance of this fund.

Her generosity extended to the Jewish Hospital (BJC) where she became a lifelong member of the Auxiliary that raised millions of dollars for clinical development programs. Many of the campaigns were led by her. Her fundraising skills also benefitted the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis where she spent nearly 25 years as an active supporter, board member and advisor and was instrumental in leading programs to provide interest free loans to college-bound students. These were based solely on qualifications and need; not race, religion or gender.

She was very proud of the Jewish Federations Grosberg award, given to young leaders in the St. Louis Jewish Community. This award was created in honor of her parents David and Roselin Grosberg.

In 2004 she was honored for her lifetime of commitment by being named one of St. Louis Women of Achievement. She became active in that outstanding organization that recognizes women in the community whove distinguished themselves by unselfishly giving with no thought of reward.

Peggy leaves behind her adoring daughter, Pamela Toder, son-in-law Craig Toder (she called him her son), Grandchildren Paige Noel and her husband Stuart, and Spencer Toder and his wife Courtney, and her 3 great grandchildren, Sawyer, Piper and Avery. She leaves a family who cherish her memory as they celebrate her incredible life and all the wisdom and love that she passed down.

Peggy was the sister of Gene Grosberg and Ada Friedman. Peggy passed away January 23rd, 2021 at the age of 90 from the Covid virus.

We wonder what she may have wished for on all those starsone thing is certain, her wishes were selfless, impassioned, and virtuous.

A private family service will be held. Visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information.

Donations may be made to the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis.

BERGER MEMORIAL SERVICE
The State Financial Monitoring Service sent 1,036 materials to law enforcement agencies in 2020, the total amount of financial transactions on them amounted to UAH 76.2 billion.

"In these materials, the amount of financial transactions that may be associated with money laundering or the commission of another crime defined by the Criminal Code of Ukraine is UAH 76.2 billion," the agency said on the website on Monday.

The largest number of materials was sent to the fiscal authorities - 292, as well as to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) - 252, the National Police - 233, and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) - 168.

As for corruption allegations, the State Financial Monitoring Service sent 204 materials to law enforcement agencies last year.
Being Broken for God

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.

Read Exodus 2:16-25.

The Christian life is never a steady, even walk. There are hills and ruts, mountaintop experiences and dark valleys. I think its safe to say we all prefer the mountaintops to the valleysthats just human naturebut it is often in the valleys that we grow the most.

Moses had been on the mountaintop. As a member of Egypts royal household, he was highly educated. He had fame, wealth, and, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, military success. But when he tried to be a hero to his own people, he found himself on the run from Pharaoh. Suddenly, he was stripped of everything familiar and comfortable. He found himself in a dark valley.

The mighty Moses, a prince of Egypt, was suddenly a lowly shepherd, dependent on the kindness of a priest of Midian. Instead of commanding armies, his job was to corral sheep. Instead of a chariot, he had a shepherds staff. I have become a foreigner in a foreign land, he admitted (Exodus 2:22). But that was where God wanted Moses.

God does not often use arrogant and unbroken people as His instruments; He uses people who depend on Him. So to use Moses, God first broke him down in order to build him up into a great champion for righteousness. God specializes in using our brokenness. So, take heart if you are in a dark valley, for when you learn the lesson of your brokenness, you will experience greater heights than you ever thought possible.

Prayer: God, I know my dark valleys have a purpose. Help me to see how You are growing me and transforming me through these experiences as I cling to You. May I be a useful servant of Your Kingdom. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, I have become a foreigner in a foreign land (Exodus 2:22).

Learn more in Dr. Michael Youssefs sermon series Moses: Portrait of a Hero: LISTEN NOW

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Chelsie McLeod has finally healed from her heartbreaking split with The Bachelor's Matt Agnew.

The 29-year-old enjoyed a day at Elwood beach in Melbourne over the weekend with her new model boyfriend, Ricki DeHaan.

The couple took a stroll on the busy stretch of sand as they cooled off during the heatwave with some refreshing ice creams.

So hot they needed to cool off! The Bachelor's Chelsie McLeod and her new model boyfriend Ricki DeHaan looked smitten at Elwood beach in Melbourne on Sunday

Chelsie dressed in a summery cream knitted dress teamed with sandals and a floppy hat.

Meanwhile, Ricki flaunted his ripped torso in a pair of striped boardshorts.

The pair chatted away as she sucked on a Calippo and he tucked into a chocolate coated soft serve.

Chelsie's romance with Ricki had been rumoured for weeks before they confirmed it, with Bachelor fans finding countless photos of the pair together on social media.

Summer style: Chelsie dressed in summery cream knitted dress teamed with some sandals and a floppy hat

Cooling off: Chelsie enjoyed a refreshing Calippo during the heatwave

The pair were reportedly 'looking very cosy' in the background of one of Yvie Jones' Instagram Stories posts recently.

They were also spotted holding hands in the background of one of Samuel Levi's Instagram posts too.

The couple went Instagram official over Christmas, by posting a picture to Instagram showing them kissing under mistletoe.

In good shape! Ricki flaunted his ripped torso in a pair of striped boardshorts

One for me, one for you: He opted for a chocolate coated soft serve cone

Chelsie has moved on after a year on from being dumped by The Bachelor star Matt Agnew, 32.

Their devastating split came just nine weeks after Matt picked Chelsie at The Bachelor finale.

The pair's romance fell apart after Matt went overseas without her for several weeks following The Bachelor finale in September that year.

Matt has kept a low profile in the media following their split in November 2019.

He told the Herald Sun that his silence was a calculated move on his part to help 'put himself back together' after his TV stint.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced Jan. 21 that he plans to remove Army Radio from the auspices of the Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In his statement, Gantz indicated that he plans to transfer the radio station to some other, independent body or even to shut it down entirely.

IDF Army Radio is a station devoted to regular newscasts and news shows, interspersed with current events, culture and music. It employs entire teams of journalists, editors and commentators, most of them soldiers on their mandatory service. Only a handful of its staff are civilian journalists.

The station was established by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion in 1950. One of its stated purposes at the time was to serve as an efficient means of communication between the regular army and the reserve forces. It was also intended to be an educational tool for young people and the population in general, and a means of helping to absorb new immigrants and instill in them a knowledge of the Hebrew language and the countrys geography. Over the years, Army Radio expanded its activity. In the 1970s, it began broadcasting current event shows.

There is an inherent conflict of interests between a staff consisting mainly of soldiers in regular service and thereby required to maintain neutrality in all political issues and the responsibility to cover the news, including elections and other political activity. The conflict made headlines on more than one occasion. In the past, several chiefs of staff and defense ministers attempted to shut the station down or transfer it to an independent organization  but to no avail. They could not contend with Army Radios popularity or with the fact that so many of its alumni were active in other Israeli media outlets and other key positions in the public sphere.

This phenomenon has intensified over the last few years. In 2017, then-Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman ordered that the ministry take another look at the possibility of removing the station from the IDFs responsibility, this time acting upon the recommendation of then-Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot. In fact, Eizenkot had tried to do this before, two years earlier, when putting together his Gideon multiyear plan for the IDF. At the time, he argued that he could not justify spending tens of millions of shekels from the defense budget each year to keep the station operational, when the military was reducing the number of air force squadrons and eliminating entire tank brigades. He also noted that he felt uncomfortable about the stations extensive coverage of political issues.

Liberman had said at the time that he was disturbed by the idea that a body identified with the IDF was involving itself in politics. In the end, Liberman passed the decision on to the office of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Like so many other controversial issues, he procrastinated on the issue, only to drop it entirely once Liberman resigned as defense minister.

Now Gantz has decided to look into the issue yet again, this time at the behest of the current chief of staff, Aviv Kochavi, and after preliminary discussions in the IDF and the Ministry of Defense. The conclusion of these discussions was to sever ties between the defense establishment, the IDF and the activities of what is, effectively, an independent radio station in all but name. The goal was to separate services provided to the troops and the activities of a media outlet that deals with political issues.

Gantz said, The decision  was an ethical matter, not a budgetary one. A free press in Israel is important above all else, and I will continue to defend it and ensure its independence, but having a military radio station in the IDF is not reasonable at this time. I have determined that people in uniform should not deal with politics in any position.

As early as this June, Kochavi asked Gantz to turn the station over to a civilian body or to shut it down entirely. Looming in the background were growing reservations among the IDF leadership that Army Radio was undergoing increasing politicization.

Army Radios senior management responded, saying, Army Radio, which marks its 70th anniversary this year, is a longstanding asset to Israeli culture and society. Army Radio was a home to soldiers, a home to Israeli creativity, culture and art, and a home to countless outstanding journalists. Army Radio is a home to Israeli democracy. It is a rare species of flower, which must be protected.

Politically, Army Radio, like most of the media, has come under attack over the years for its tendency to lean left, as evidenced by its opinionated broadcasters like Razi Barkai, Rino Tzror and others. When journalist Yaron Dekel was appointed in 2012 manager of the very station where he first started his career, he decided to shake things up with a more diverse staff. Under his tenure, the station saw greater representation of other sectors of Israeli society, including the religious and ultra-Orthodox, but also of commentators with more right-wing views.

Among these new commentators appointed during Dekels tenure was Yakov Bardugo, who is close to the Likud party. Over the last two years and three election campaigns, he launched frequent attacks on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus rivals, including Gantz himself, even after Gantz was appointed minister of defense. In other words, he was attacking his boss.

Bardugo rejected criticism of this, saying that other voices needed to be heard. At one point, Netanyahu himself came to Bardugos defense, tweeting, There is one broadcaster on Army Radio who refuses to toe the line set by the left and the medias closed circle. He interferes with the daily propaganda broadcasts of Rino Tzror, Razi Barkai and others on behalf of the left-wing party headed by [Yesh Atid leader Yair] Lapid and Gantz. As a result, they are asserting enormous pressure to have him removed from the station. That wont happen. There are limits to what the thought police can do and to how much the left can silence people. We are not North Korea. If the right isnt given a voice as well, Army Radio has no right to exist.

Barkai now says that Gantzs decision to move ahead with shutting down Army Radio is an act of retaliation. In an interview with Army Radios competitor KAN Reshet Bet, Barkai said, Part of it is because Benny Gantz feels like Army Radio beat him up. Not just him either, but the Blue and White party in general. There is this feeling that it is time for retaliation. I worry that Gantz feels that the station should have defended him and provided him with cover. He did not get the protection he needed.

As for Kochavi, Barkai explained, What happens when the chief of staff leaves the Cabinet meeting? He has Hezbollah on his mind. He has Syria on his mind. All of a sudden, one of the ministers walks over to him and says, Kochavi, whats the story with Barkais comments about me? Kochavi has no idea what he is talking about, and he doesnt really care either. After every Cabinet meeting some politician or other comes over and starts harassing him. He just wants to get that monkey off his back.

Despite all of the above, the Defense Minister cant really take this drastic step. Elections are right around the corner, and he is part of a transition government. Army Radio operates on the basis of longstanding legislation passed decades ago. To make such a change, Gantz will first have to pass a law in the Knesset overturning that legislation, and there is no chance of that happening. On the other hand, Kochavi will remain in office for at least another year, so if Gantz fails this time around, the chief of staff will likely try to convince the next Defense Minister to do it instead.
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Oxford University scientists are mulling a large-scale trial of a "cheap" drug that has shown signs of dramatically bringing down COVID-19 deaths in the developing world.

The principal trial is aimed at finding treatments that could be used soon after virus symptoms appear in a patient, in order to catch the disease early on thereby preventing serious illness.

The batch of medicines being identified for treating patients include ivermectin, a drug used to treat livestock and people infested with parasitic worms, according to a report by The Times.

Also Read: UK set to roll out AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine

While the medicine has been hailed by some as a "wonder drug" that has potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, others said have cast aspersions saying that it has not been properly evaluated.

"There's a gap in the data," Chris Butler, professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and a co-chief of the trial, told the publication, adding that "there's not been a really rigorous trial."

The drug works by obstructing the entry of a protein into a cell's nuclei, thereby curbing the replication capacity of the virus.

The preliminary analysis from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown encouraging signs, the report stated, adding that the medicine has been granted approval in the UK as a topical agent for inflammation and skin infections.
ROME, JAN 25 - Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri has said that the government has had to revise its COVID-19 vaccination plan due to a reduction in supplies from Pfizer, adding that it is currently focusing on making sure people who have had their first dose get their second in time. Sileri said almost 1.38 million vaccine doses had been administered in Italy, 74.4% of the total delivered so far, and 100,863 people have had their second doses. "The available doses will be primarily used to make sure people who have had the first get the second one in time," he said. The deputy minister has said that the move by Pfizer and the announcement by AstraZeneca that it will not provide as much of its vaccine as it had pledged when it is approved by the EU will mean over-80s will be vaccinated four weeks later than previously planned. He said the delay will be of six to eight weeks for the rest of the population. Premier Giuseppe Conte confirmed at the weekend that his government intends to take legal action over the pharmaceutical companies' failure to meet their vaccine pledges. (ANSA).
Japan's Supreme Court has upheld a high court ruling that significantly reduced compensation for the parents of a junior high school student who killed himself after being bullied by classmates.

Presiding Justice Koike Hiroshi rejected an appeal filed by the parents, who were dissatisfied with the high court decision.

Their son committed suicide 10 years ago in the city of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. His parents filed a lawsuit seeking compensation from some of his classmates and their parents.

The Otsu District Court concluded that the boy killed himself due to bullying, and ordered two classmates to pay roughly 360,000 dollars.

But the Osaka High Court cut the damages to about 38,000 dollars, saying that his parents' failure to provide mental support for their son should be taken into account.

The boy's father held a news conference on Monday after the top court's ruling.

He said courts at each level determined that bullying is a dangerous act that can drive victims to suicide, but that it wasn't seen that way when his son died.

The father said the overall case has shifted the trend in judicial decisions towards supporting the victims. He expressed hope that the case will help address bullying.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 02:12:46|Editor: huaxia

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AMMAN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Monday condemned Israel's intervention in the jurisdictions of the Jordan-run Department of the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs, and hindering the restoration work of the Qubbat Al-Sakhrah (Dome of the Rock) Mosque.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Deifallah Fayez rejected Israeli actions against the department, stressing that the department is the "sole authority responsible for the supervision and maintenance of Al-Haram Al-Sharif," according to a ministry statement.

The Jordanian official called on Israel to "abide by its commitments under the international law, halt the irresponsible behaviour and respect the historical and legal status quo and the authority of the department."

He said that the ministry earlier in the day sent an official note of protest through diplomatic channels to Israel in which it demanded that Israel refrain from such violations and provocations, and respect the mandate of the Jordan-run department. Enditem
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
This years census will ask everyone to declare their sex, rather than the gender they think they are.

In contrast, the last survey in 2011 allowed respondents to say which gender they felt they were.

Although the 2021 census has a new voluntary question asking adults what they consider their gender identity to be, the changes are a setback for transgender rights campaigners.

However, they will allow the Office for National Statistics to put a figure on Britains transgender population for the first time.

Although the 2021 census has a new voluntary question asking adults what they consider their gender identity to be, the changes are a setback for transgender rights campaigners

As a result of the new census decision, in a compulsory question respondents will be expected to write either the sex on their birth certificate, or that on the gender recognition certificate of those who have taken formal measures to legally alter their designation.

The fresh decision has been made public by the head of the government statistics body Sir Ian Diamond, who said on Radio 4: 'The question on sex is very simply your legal sex.'

In 2011, census guidance had directed transgender respondents to say they were male or female dependent on 'whichever you believe is correct, irrespective of the details recorded on your birth certificate'.

Answers will help statisticians calculate what proportion of the population is transgender - a hotly debated issue, with a traditionalists arguing the figure is tiny, transgender lobbyists that it is larger and growing.

Three years ago the Government Equalities Office guesstimated widely that there were between 200,000 and 500,000 transgender Britons, possibly approaching one per cent of the adult population.

Yet fewer than 5,000 gender recognition certification certificates had been issued since their introduction in 2004 - meaning fewer than one in 10,000 people had gone through the relevant legal process.

Draft plans for the 2021 sex question had suggested respondents would be able to give answers different from that on their birth certificate, even if they had not gone through any legal gender change.

Some academics had been concerned that not recording legal sex would make the figures less useful.

University College London sociology professor Alice Sullivan said: 'Sex is an important predictor of outcomes across all areas of life, including education, wages, crime, and physical and mental health.

'If we do not monitor sex differences, we cannot tackle sex discrimination.

'Gender identity is not the same thing as sex.

'Understanding people's identities is important, especially at a time when increasing numbers of girls are identifying as trans or non-binary.

'But we cannot simply assume that the lives of these girls are not also affected by the fact that they are female.'

Some academics had been concerned that not recording legal sex would make the figures less useful

Interestingly, the voluntary 'gender' question will not be on the census at all in more traditional and religious northern Ireland.

The Office for National Statistic says: 'In Northern Ireland, Census 2021 will only include a question on sex, it will not include a question on gender identity.'

The census has been a vital tool for policy making since it was introduced in 1801. It has been conducted at ten year intervals ever since and provides detailed statistical information about the population.

It is carried out on a single day across the country - this year on March 21 - with heads of households responsible for completing the forms honestly.

The Office for National Status has said that not only should the mass survey not be postponed by the virus, it is vital for it to go ahead to help understand the impact of the pandemic on different sectors of the population.

We will be encouraged to complete forms digitally, on computer or phones, but it will still be possible to use the traditional paper version.

'Field officers' will still go out knocking on doors to chase up those who have not filled in their forms, but wearing PPE, maintaining social distancing and not entering homes.

Gay and trans rights pressure group Stonewall's chief executive Nancy Kelley said of this year's questions: 'It's great that the 2021 census will include voluntary questions on sexual orientation and trans status for the first time.

'Collecting accurate population data on sexual orientation and trans status is vital to ensuring that organisations can develop services targeted to the needs of the LGBT population.'
Some major oil producing companies and other players in the industry have raised concerns over some provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), 2020.

This was at the first day of the public hearing, a necessary stage of the consideration and passage of the bill.

The legislation, which was transmitted to the National Assembly last year after it had suffered setbacks for about 20 years, proposes the scrapping of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

It also proposed the creation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited  after all the assets and liabilities of the NNPC have been identified by the ministers of petroleum resources and finance.

The PIB also seeks to establish the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.

At the hearing organised by the Joint Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas, was the Oil Producing Trade Section (OPTS) who expressed dissatisfaction with some provisions of the bill.

The chairman of OPTS, Mike Sangster, made his presentations on behalf of Total, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell companies.

Major concerns

Top of thier concerns was deepwater developments, which he said have contributed significantly in maintaining Nigerias oil production levels by offsetting the decline in the Joint Venture production.

Mr Sangster complained that the PIB shows that the Deepwater provisions do not provide a favourable environment for future investments and for the launching of new projects.

To ensure investors are encouraged to finance Deepwater projects, the PIB should grant Deepwater oil projects a full royalty relief during the first five years of production or a graduated royalty scheme as detailed in their submission, he said.

He also proposed that PIB should remove Hydrocarbon Tax considering that companies will still be subject to CIT.

The group said the bill does not address the key challenges facing gas development in Nigeria, such as inadequate midstream infrastructure, regulated gas pricing, huge and long outstanding debts, etc., thereby potentially jeopardising the realisation of governments aspirations for the domestic gas sector.

It, therefore, suggested that PIB provide a clear path for transitioning to free market-based pricing, not add additional compliance conditions on domestic gas delivery obligations as a precondition for export gas supply and allow pre-existing contracts and agreements to run their course.

The PIB, Mr Sangster continued, does not clearly preserve the terms of existing investments.

OPTS recognises the governments right to change laws. However, to maintain Nigerias reputation amongst investors, it is important for the PIB to explicitly preserve base businesses and rights for existing Joint Venture licenses and leases and Production Sharing Contracts, which form the basis for future growth.

Operators should be allowed to retain the entirety of their lease areas and new terms should apply only to new contracts, licenses and leases, he added.

For a section of the bill which proposes that companies operating consolidated upstream and midstream assets separate and incorporate their midstream assets as distinct legal entities, he said an imposed segregation along upstream and midstream for existing assets could jeopardise the integrity of past investments for assets that were technically and commercially designed to operate on an integrated basis.

The OPTS said the PIB should include a savings provision to allow post-conversion continuity of activities undertaken by a single legal entity, instead of being segregated as independent companies.

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Where assets are required to be segregated, a provision for the specific exemption of associated taxes should be considered such as; Capital Transfer Tax, Capital Gains Tax.

PIB should consider harmonising the taxes into a single tax system and allow for consolidated filing and tax reporting and also seek to harmonise tax practices and ensure capital allowances and allowable deductions are consistent with existing tax legislations, Companies Income Tax Act (CITA).

Other concerns

The Women in Energy Network were also present to state their concerns. The group, among others, noted the absence of gender participation in the bill.

They cited Sections 3, 14, 15, 18, 22, 26, 37, 41 and 71, among others as they asked the lawmakers to change words like he, his and him to they, their, and them.

Funmi Ogbue, who made the presentation, said women have a role to play not just in technical aspects but in ensuring good governance.

This is even as she proposed that 35 per cent of the board be made up of women and the members should consist of women from the host communities (with the right qualifications).

She said the provision that oil companies should contribute 2.5 per cent of their operating cost to the host community development trust fund is exorbitant in view of other taxes they are presently paying.

WIEN believes that 2.5 per cent is too expensive. WIEN posits that a total of not more that 1 per cent consistent with other statutory provisions like the Nigerian Local Content Act 2010 replace the current figure captured in the PIB.

And the PIB include alternative sources of energies such as renewables.

Meanwhile, in his opening remarks, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, explained that the National Assemblys determination to pass the Bill is driven by the need to overhaul a system that has refused to operate optimally in line with global standards, resulting into loss of continental competitiveness, transparency, accountability, good governance and economy loss for the petroleum industry and the country.

The hearing is expected to continue on Tuesday.
Eight popular Northern Ireland restaurants have retained their status in the new Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2021.

The three One Michelin Star restaurants, all in Belfast, are Eipic (Howard Street), Ox (Oxford Street) and The Muddlers Club (Cathedral Quarter).

Meanwhile five establishments have also retained their Bib Gourmand status from last year - Balloo House in Killinchy, Newtownards; Noble (Holywood); Wine & Brine (Moira) and Belfasts Deanes at Queens and Home in Wellington Place.

Despite most restaurants being closed, or at least heavily restricted, for the majority of the last 12 months, the Michelin Guide for Great Britain and Ireland continued with its annual awards to top restaurants and chefs in an online ceremony on Monday night, hosted by Davina McCall.

The annual event sees the best restaurants in the UK and Ireland recognised for their innovation and excellence.

It had been pushed back from its usual October date to account for the lengthy closures most businesses have faced.

Due to the ongoing pandemic and lockdown, the accolades were handed out in a live-streamed format rather than at its usual lavish event in London.

The first award of the evening - for service - was dished out to Holywood restaurant Noble.

Its the latest prestigious honour from the Michelin Guide for the restaurant, which opened in 2016 and has gone on to become one of the must visit locations on the Northern Ireland food scene.

Noble is the creation of chef Pearson Morris and manager Saul McConnell who previously worked under the direction of Belfast top chef Michael Deane.

Morris said tonight that the award was recognition for a real, personable service.

Weve always thought that there are a lot of places out there that do amazing food - to be honest probably better food than us. But for most of our customers, when we see them, we know their name, what theyre going to drink and order before they even order it, he added.

He also paid to tribute to a former Deanes colleague who taught him to always make it feel like its somebody walking into your front living room - youll take their coat off, offer them a drink and make sure they have everything.

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Meanwhile, Northern Ireland born chef Clare Smyth, now based in London, was handed her third Michelin star for her venue, Core.

Smyth becomes the second London restaurant to win a third star, having received two Michelin stars just 14 months after opening.

After leaving home - her familys farm in Bushmills, Co Antrim - aged just 16, she went to culinary college in Portsmouth.

She was soon working in some of the best kitchens in the world for everyone from Alain Ducasse and Heston Blumenthal to the Roux brothers.

But it was her relationship with Gordon Ramsay that transformed her career.

Smyth was head chef at his Chelsea restaurant while still in her 20s, becoming the first woman to hold and retain three Michelin stars.

In May 2018, she catered at the star-studded wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

We work hard every day to be the best that we can and try to be better every day than the last, she said tonight.
Yemen: talks for release of 300 prisoners in Amman

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 25 - Talks have resumed over the last few hours in Amman, Jordan, between the warring sides in Yemen for the release of a few hundred prisoners, including one of the brothers of the pro-Saudi Yemeni president Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi, pan Arab media reported on Monday. The reports said representatives of the Yemen's Houthi insurgents, considered close to Iran, and members of the Saudi-backed Yemeni loyalist government met Sunday to discuss the release of 300 prisoners.



Last October, the sides had concluded a prisoners' exchange of about 1,000 people in what was described as the largest exchange reported over the previous five years between the warring sides. So far, an estimated 15,000 war prisoners, detained by both sides, are waiting to return to their families under a framework agreement reached during talks in Sweden in December 2018.



International humanitarian organizations have repeatedly denounced the warring parties in Yemen, including forces of the United Arab Emirates present in the area of the southern port of Aden, for violations and for torturing prisoners of war.



(ANSAmed).




For the first time in history, renewable energy sources outdid fossil fuels in providing electricity. According to the annual report of Ember and Agora Energiewende, Europeans got more of their electricity from alternative and more sustainable energy sources.

Ember and Agora Energiewende's report found that in 2020, renewable sources delivered 38% of electricity compared to the 37% produced by fossil fuels.

The shift in power production happened due to other sources, like wind and solar power, rise in quantity in the European Union (EU).

Both power sources nearly doubled since 2015, and as of last year accounted for one-fifth of electricity generation in EU countries, Energiewende found. It's also the reason why coal power declined 20% last year, making up only 13% of electricity generated in Europe.

"Rapid growth in wind and solar has forced coal into decline, but this is just the beginning," said Dave Jones, senior electricity analyst for Ember and lead author on the report, in a statement. "Europe is relying on wind and solar to ensure not only coal is phased out by 2030, but also to phase out gas generation, replace closing nuclear power plants, and to meet rising electricity demand from electric cars, heat pumps, and electrolyzers."

Due to last year's global lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a significantly lesser demand for electricity around the world. In Europe alone, the electric demand decreased by 4%.

Despite the international health issue, the growth of renewable energy sources was not affected. This means that many alternative sources are still being developed if not fully utilized throughout the lockdown period. Since 2015, Europe's electricity emissions recorded a historic decline, becoming 29% cleaner, the report noted.

The milestone follows commitments from EU leaders last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. In the United States, renewable energy overtook coal consumption in recent years. Last May, renewable energy sources were consumed more than coal for the first time since 1885.

Related Article: Biden First Day: POTUS Commits to 'Global Climate Initiative' as US Rejoins Paris Climate Accords

"Post-pandemic economic recovery must not slow down climate action," said Patrick Graichen, director of Agora Energiewende, in a statement. "We, therefore, need strong climate policy -- such as in the Green Deal -- to ensure steady progress."

Ember and Agora Energiewende

Research and development companies like Ember and Agora Energiwende are two of the many independent climate and energy advocacy companies that work side-by-side with the EU to ensure more sustainable energy sources.

Ember is an independent climate and energy think tank focused on the acceleration of the global electric transition.

They gather, curate, and analyze data on the coal to clean energy transition, primarily focusing on the power sector. All the data they collected are used to support politically viable policies that pushed the coal phase-out acceleration, empowered green energy advocacies and campaigns, and shaped the global narrative on coal.

On the other hand, Agora Energiewende is also a think tank that supports the Energiewende initiative in Germany.

Energiewende or Energy Transition is Germany's ongoing transition to a low carbon, environmentally sound, reliable, and affordable energy supply.

Both companies have the same goal in mind, to promote the transition of alternative renewable energy sources in the entirety of Europe.

ALSO READ: "Actions Not Promises" Says NGOs After EU Allegedly "Failed to Protect the Seas"

For more news update about renewable energy and similar topics, don't forget to follow Nature World News!

A group of scientists is calling on governments to consider the continued use of strict control measures as the only way to reduce the evolution and spread of new COVID-19 variants.

The experts in evolution, virology, infectious disease and genomics - at the University of East Anglia (UEA), Earlham Institute and University of Minnesota - warn that while governments are negotiating a "precarious balance" between saving the economy and preventing COVID-19 fatalities, stronger action now is the best way to mitigate against more serious outcomes from such virulent strains later.

While COVID-19 vaccine deployment is now underway, a threat to vaccine effectiveness comes from other emerging strains, both existing - such as the UK, South Africa and Brazil variants - and those yet to come.

In an editorial for the journal Virulence, Professors Cock van Oosterhout, Neil Hall, Hinh Ly, and its editor-in-chief Prof Kevin Tyler say:

Continuing public health efforts to encourage vaccination as well as continued use of proper personal protective equipment (PPE), such as proper masking and maintaining safe social interactions, is of utmost importance. Humanity is faced with a new reality. The faster we adapt, the better our long-term prospects. We must stop the evolution and spread of more virulent virus strains now. We, therefore, support public health policies with strict control measures in order to protect our public health system, our individual wellbeing, and our future."

The researchers look back at what has happened and how best to respond now, highlighting that the roll-out of economic stimulus packages and related activities in many countries appears to have fueled the rate of person-to-person transmission.

As a result, they say at the start of winter the population number of the virus continued from a much higher base than would otherwise have been the case, adding: "By not absolutely minimizing the R number when we had the chance, we extended the pathogen transmission chains, providing more opportunity for it to mutate and evolve into more virulent variants."

Additionally, they highlight that an increased virulence - or higher R value - can also result from the virus evolving the ability to infect people for longer. The authors warn that continued virus evolution in animal hosts, such as cats and mink, followed by transmission into susceptible human hosts, poses a significant long-term risk to public health, suggesting that the vaccination of certain domesticated animals might be important to halt further virus evolution and "spillback" events.

"Vaccination against a viral pathogen with such high prevalence globally is without precedent and we, therefore, have found ourselves in unchartered waters. However, what we can be certain about is that, as long as the vaccine stays effective, a higher uptake of the vaccines will: reduce the number of COVID-19-related deaths, stem the spread of the transmissible strain of the virus, and reduce risk of the evolution of other, even more, virulent strains in the future.

"Furthermore, it is not unthinkable that vaccination of some domesticated animal species might also be necessary to curb the spread of the infection."
TROY, Mich., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- While accelerating innovation and providing premier support to its franchisees amid the pandemic, Goldfish Swim School Franchising, LLC remained steadfast and focused on growth. The leading swim school franchise closed out 2020 with 19 signed agreements, 14 new school openings, with five more projected to open in Q1. Coming off the heels of three recent multi-unit development announcements in New York, Texas and Arizona, the brand is on track for explosive growth in 2021 as it continues aggressive expansion across the country with both single and multi-unit owners.

Goldfish Swim School's 2020 success was a collective effort of its dedicated franchisees, loyal team members and exceptional leadership. From passionate co-founders, industry veterans and innovative young minds, Goldfish Swim School's award-winning leadership team is unmatched. At the helm of it all is Co-Founder & CEO Chris McCuiston who, amid the pandemic, led the brand to the opening of its milestone 100th school, one million square feet in open real estate, the piloting of new innovations, successful lobbying efforts for safe reopenings, the signing of 19 franchise agreements, and the brand's debut in four new states.

"During the pandemic, our core values and culture unified our franchise system and inspired accountability, creativity and resiliency that led to remarkable results," said McCuiston. "At no other time in recent history have leadership and innovation been more necessary. Guided by our core values, we accelerated several innovative projects that will have an incredible impact on the brand in 2021 as we expand our footprint and actualize our company purpose."

Goldfish Swim School prioritized franchisee support and member experience to successfully navigate the pandemic. Leadership immediately jumped into action and developed an interactive COVID-19 Support Site to provide franchisees essential information such as financial resources, downloadable marketing templates, operational guidance and more. The brand built out a robust reopening plan for its 100-plus schools through its Safer. Stronger. Together.  initiative and continues to lobby on behalf of the franchise system for essential business status alongside the Aquatics Coalition so that learn-to-swim facilities can safely remain open to teach a lifesaving skill.

Even when schools were closed, Goldfish Swim School was quick to adapt, creating 'Goldfish At Home' to provide free, virtual dry-land swim exercises to families nationwide, along with a variety of online and interactive water safety focused initiatives and activities. As the brand began to welcome communities back for in-person lessons, families were met with a new and improved member portal as well as the launch of an app. Available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, the Goldfish Swim School app allows members to easily manage their account with the tap of a screen.

The success achieved by the brand has not gone unnoticed as the franchise industry has honored Goldfish with several recent award wins  ranking No. 11 on Franchise Times' Fast & Serious List, No. 29 and the top swim school franchise in Entrepreneur Magazine's 2021 Franchise 500, named a Top Franchise for 2021 by Franchise Business Review, while also making an appearance on The Inc. 5000 list for the sixth year in a row. Consistently outranking its competition, Goldfish Swim School continues to prove itself as a top-rated and most established swim school franchise in the space. Its ability to go above and beyond to nurture a culture that provides a GOLDEN Experience! to its members is unmatched by its competition and is what drives prospective franchisees to continuously choose Goldfish.

The company is seeking qualified and engaged individuals who are involved with their community, have a passion for water safety, and are hungry to dive into the world of franchising. Today, with 110-plus locations open and 130-plus in development across 30 states, the brand is on track for strategic franchise expansion across North America.

Goldfish Swim School provides swim lessons and water safety instruction to infants and children ages four months to 12 years, teaching children how to be safer in and around the water. Each school offers swim lessons and programs using a proprietary philosophy, The Science of SwimPlay, to build life skills both in and out of the water using play-based learning in a fun and safe environment. Each school's number one focus and main priority is always the same  educating children on water safety while teaching them how to swim and respect the water.

For more information on Goldfish Swim School and its franchise opportunity, please visit https://www.goldfishswimschool.com/franchise-opportunities/ or call 248-801-1850.

About Goldfish Swim School

Founded by husband and wife team Chris and Jenny McCuiston, Goldfish Swim School provides swim lessons and water safety instruction to infants and children ages four months to 12 years. Classes are offered by specially trained instructors in a safe, child-friendly and fun environment using their research-based philosophy called The Science of SwimPlay. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Goldfish Swim School was established in Birmingham, Michigan in 2006, and opened its first franchise location in 2009. Recently, the brand was recognized by Entrepreneur in its Franchise 500 ranking, Franchise Times' Fast & Serious List, and Inc. Magazine's Top 5000. Goldfish Swim School is currently in the process of expanding franchise opportunities throughout North America, with more than 110 schools open, and an additional 130+ in development in more than 30 states and Canada.

Media Contact: Kelly McNamara, Fishman Public Relations, (847) 945-1300, [email protected]

SOURCE Goldfish Swim School
For many of us, growing up and going to Hebrew School gave us the foundation for one of two things. If you really studied, you could understand spoken Hebrew, or at least how it was written and spoken in the Bible. If you just did enough to get through your Torah portion, you had the ability to read Hebrew, at least what was written in the Bible.

Now, you have the chance to learn more. Now, you have the chance to learn modern Hebrew.

Modern Hebrew is the everyday spoken Hebrew, which is quite different from the Hebrew used in the bible, said Roni Lavi, the new J shlichah, who arrived in St. Louis last fall. Lavi will be teaching a new modern Hebrew class combined with Israeli culture and education. Sessions will start via Zoom and, once it is safe, will eventually meet in person.

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The J anticipates different levels and abilities depending on community interest.

For students in the beginner class, no existing knowledge is required, said Lavi. In the advanced class you should already know the alphabet and have basic conversation skills.

Lavi is from Kfar Vradim in Northern Israel not far from the Lebanon border and believes that is important to infuse Israeli education and culture into our local American Jewish communities.

Israel will always be a home for all Jewish people, and I believe that many Jews feel a deep emotional connection to the state of Israel, said Lavie. In order to feel connected to our religion and to fulfill the idea of Zionism, the connection between Israel and Jewish people around the world should be strong.

And if we are speaking about the Hebrew language, learning it through live events that happen in Israel and through the Israeli culture will empower the experience and allow the students to have a meaningful conversation with other Hebrew speakers.

If you always wanted to learn Hebrew but you never actually started to, this is your chance. These Hebrew lessons, that combine learning about Israeli day-to-day life, current events and different cultural views are taught in small groups by a native Hebrew speaker Israeli

If you are interested and would like more information regarding timing and prices of the coming Modern Hebrew course, contact Roni at [email protected] or 314-313-0441.

Lavi also writes a blog on www.jccstl.com
If you want to feel old, just think about the fact that A Walk to Remember turns 19 today. The classic film with Mandy Moore and Shane West is almost two decades old. Moore may be a big star on This Is Us now, but A Walk to Remember was her first starring film role and arguably the role that made her a star. While the film was mostly a romance and didnt include many stunts, there was one scene that made the cast a bit nervous to film.

Mandy Moore and Shane West in A Walk to Remember | Warner Brothers/Getty Images

A Walk to Remembers storyline

A Walk to Remember provides an endearing twist on the classic high school romance story. At the beginning of the film, Landon Carter and the rest of his friends play a prank on the new student, Clay Gephardt, and convince him that jumping into a lake is an initiation ritual for their friend group. However, when he jumps, hes injured badly, which causes the school principal to get involved. Instead of involving the police, the principal allows Landon to do service projects around school to make up for his transgression. These tasks include tutoring kids, janitorial tasks, and participating in the school play.

While practicing for the school play, Landon falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, a Christian girl who mostly keeps to herself. Unfortunately, he later discovers that Jaime has cancer. He spends the rest of the movie trying to help Jamie complete everything on her bucket list before she dies.

RELATED: This Is Us: Mandy Moores $2.6 Million Home Is Nothing Like Rebecca Pearsons

The most dangerous scene

There arent many stunts in A Walk to Remember but the first scene of the movie was pretty dangerous to film. The scene where they dare Clay to jump into the water was shot on a man-made lake in Wilmington, North Carolina that was created for Dawsons Creek.

Apparently the man-made lake had been used for Dawsons Creek in the past and they left it out there, West told Today. And it was covered in seaweed, covered in plants. It was frightening. Apparently, there were eels in that. And they had to bring in scuba divers to swim around to push the eels away and push the weird creatures away as we swam in there. So for me, it was freezing, it was day one. I didnt know any of these people yet, and we were half-naked in a man-made lake with giant eels. That was one of the more challenging things for me.

Though there were actually eels in the water, West said it was one of the most memorable scenes not because of the potential danger but simply because it was mentally challenging.

Moore and West had an insane amount of on-screen chemistry and they both developed feelings for one another.

RELATED: Mandy Moore Is Desperate To Have This One Drink After Pregnancy

I think we both [fell in love], West told Access Live. I was in a little punk rock band at the time and doing acting for a while and she was doing the pop star thing for a while and this was kind of her first lead in a film. So we were definitely opposites attract. So I think at first Im not sure if we loved each other  or liked each other  right off the bat, but it quickly changed. The writing helped, the direction helped and the fact that she is one of the sweetest people ever.

However, the pair never dated and Moore is now married to Taylor Goldsmith.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) The pricing of COVID-19 vaccines to be procured by the Philippine government remains a hanging issue even after the inquiries conducted by the Senate, a member of the chamber said on Monday.

Most of the concerns have been addressed during the three hearings, especially on the third hearing or after we had this informal hearing with [vaccine czar] Sec. [Carlito] Galvez, Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson said in an interview with CNN Philippines The Source.

Maraming na-resolve na issues (there were a lot of issues resolved) but then one hanging issue is on the prices or the pricing of particularly Sinovac, he stressed.

Chinas Sinovac vaccine has been on the spotlight during the past Senate Committee of the Whole hearings, as officials have refused to disclose its exact cost due to a nondisclosure agreement, sparking concerns from netizens.

During the latest inquiry on Friday, Galvez still did not reveal the negotiated price for the Sinovac doses, but assured that the country is at an advantage.

READ: Galvez explains why PH may get higher rates for Sinovac vaccine

Malacanang earlier said that each dose of the product is priced near 650 and won't exceed 700  a range Lacson confirmed Galvez relayed to him and his colleagues during their closed-door meeting last week.

Despite the issue, the senator hopes the public had been enlightened on some of the other important aspects of the countrys vaccination plans.

Medyo namulat din and I think assuming that there was an attempt at overpricing  siguro may na-achieve din yung Senado para ma-preempt if ever there was an attempt at overpricing, he noted.

[Translation: They were also enlightened and I think assuming there that there was an attempt at overpricing, perhaps the Senate achieved something to preempt, if ever there was an attempt at overpricing.]
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are clearly looking ahead to when private events can be held once more at Highgrove - by advertising for a housekeeping assistant to help out with functions.

The Prince, 72, and Camilla, 73, have posted an advert on the official royal vacancies website asking for applicants for a housekeeping assistant role - with the job involving organising parties, cleaning rooms and looking after esteemed guests.

The role is based at the couple's main home in the rolling Gloucestershire hills and requires prospective candidates to be 'organised' and with a sense of 'pride in what you do'.

Applicants can apply until February 12th although there is no salary specified for the role.

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Prince Charles, 72, and the Duchess of Cornwall, 73, have advertised a vacancy for a housekeeping assistant at their Gloucestershire home - although no salary is specified for the role (Pictured: Prince Charles and Camilla in Ireland in 2019)

The couple posted an advert on the official royal vacancies website asking for applicants for a housekeeping assistant role - with 'flexibility' and 'being organised' key to the job

It reads: 'We wish to appoint an experienced person to assist with the housekeeping activities within the house.

'You will be expected to support all housekeeping operations at Highgrove, including presentation and cleaning of the rooms, looking after guests and caring for the contents of the house.

The couple also specify they're looking for someone who is prepared to play an 'important role in assisting at private events, providing support both behind-the-scenes and front-of-house.'

The successful applicant will have 'an organised approach, take pride in what you do and work well in a team. You will be able to manage a varied workload, show initiative and be content to work flexibly when required.'

It was revealed last week that Prince Charless spin doctor is quitting his job.

Former BBC man Julian Payne has been in charge of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwalls public image for five years, during which time their popularity has steadily grown.

Highgrove: The historic royal seat in the rolling Gloucestershire hills is the main home of Charles and Camilla

In particular, the Duchess has benefited from championing unfashionable causes such as domestic abuse survivors and adult literacy. Last week she launched her own book club on Instagram.

Mr Payne is also credited with encouraging Charles, 72, to use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

The Prince was also the first Royal to use Zoom, was voted GQ Man of the Year and even launched his own clothing range which was featured in Vogue.

Mr Payne, 48, is leaving to take up a new job as Chair of Corporate Affairs EMEA for Edelman.

His move comes as Amanda McManus returns to her role as Camillas private secretary following a year-long sabbatical.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  The New Mexico Department of Health announced 635 new COVID-19 cases and 30 more deaths on Sunday.

The seven-day average for new cases, which was 796 on Sunday, has continued to decline since hitting 1,398 on Jan. 11, according to a Journal analysis.

Bernalillo County added 146 cases, Dona Ana County had 69, Santa Fe County had 67 and San Juan County had 54.

The states death count due to complications from the disease is now 3,145. Those whose deaths were reported on Sunday include:

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................................................................

 Eight people, ranging from their 60s to their 80s, from Bernalillo County.

 A woman in her 80s from Cibola County.

 A woman in her 80s from Colfax County.

 Two men, one in his 60s and one in his 90s, from Dona Ana County.

 A man in his 80s from Grant County who was hospitalized and had underlying health conditions.

 A woman in her 60s from Luna County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

 Four people, ranging from their 30s to their 70s, from McKinley County.

 A woman in her 80s from Rio Arriba County.

 Four people, ranging from their 30s to their 90s, from Sandoval County.

 Two people, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 70s, from San Juan County.

 A woman in her 40s from Santa Fe County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

 Two people, a woman in her 40s and a man in his 90s, from Taos County.

 A man in his 60s from Union County.

 A woman in her 80s from Valencia County who had underlying conditions.

The Health Department said the number of hospitalizations was not available on Sunday due to a disruption in reporting.

New Mexico now has a total of 169,205 cases, with 94,141 recoveries, according to the Health Department.

In the area of Zolote (Luhansk region) in Donbas, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been wounded as a result of shelling attacks by Russian mercenaries, according to a Ukrainian delegation to participate in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG).

"Today, at about 12:00 on January 25, one serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was wounded as a result of the enemy's shelling attacks of our positions in Zolote region. He was provided with medical assistance, his condition is stable," it said on Facebook.

It is noted that the Ukrainian side of the JCCC, using the coordination mechanism, introduced a ceasefire regime and sent a note to the OSCE SMM.
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Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
The Biden administration is determined to reenter the nuclear deal with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) in some form. See, for example, the Jerusalem Post/Reuters story US already in Iran deal talks, officials met in New York  report. Its a critical component of the great undoing in which Biden and his cast of retreads are engaged to set us back to where we were when Barack Obama left office and as it wrenches us ever further to the dystopian left.

The JCPOA was so monumentally bad for the United States that I drew one inference from it: President Obama supported Irans development of nuclear weapons. He supported it to such an extent that he facilitated the regimes funding of the nuclear project. Obama carried on a one-sided love affair with the mullahs while they continued their campaigns against the United States and Israel. He could not be deterred.

Contrary to my inference, Hudson Institute fellow Michael Doran set the JCPOA in the context of Obamas secret Iran strategy (published at Mosaic in February 2015). Doran made a strong argument, but I stand by my inference. You be the judge.

Everything that we have learned since the JCPOA was promulgated belies its advertised purport. Michael Oren and Yossi Klein Halevi make this out in their current Atlantic essay The case against the Iran deal. Oren and Halevi draw in compelling fashion on developments since 2015. (Orens memoir Ally provides an invaluable account of the story up to that point.)

My point here, and I do have one, is to urge readers to take up the Oren/Halevi essay. It is a potent warning against coming attractions.

UPDATE: I assess that Doran and I are thinking along parallel lines.
Pushed to the front of the line, more than 1,000 Bay Area school workers received the coronavirus vaccine in recent days, but it could be weeks or months before additional teachers and staff get the shots, with the state now rethinking who should get them first.

The uncertainty of when teachers and school staff will get their turn is just one aspect of a confusing and chaotic vaccine rollout in California, plagued by a shortage of doses and the logistical challenge of saving shots for only those who are eligible.

Counties and medical providers have made their own decisions on how to prioritize immunizations within state guidelines, with many choosing in recent weeks to fast-track educators so schools can reopen. But federal and state authorities now say vaccines should be given to everyone older than 65, and the state is considering scrapping all the existing tiers in favor of an age-based priority system.

In some cases, it appears theres been little rhyme or reason to whos getting vaccinated. A 33-year-old teacher doing distance learning in Napa County may already be vaccinated, while teachers twice that age and doing in-person instruction in other counties still cant get an appointment.

Marin was among the first counties in the state to vaccinate education workers, including custodians, school food workers, bus drivers and a few special education teachers and aides  with 1,248 people getting the inoculation Jan. 17 at the countys civic center. Other in-person classroom teachers thought theyd be next, but last week county health officials reversed course, saying instead they would focus on the oldest residents before anyone else.

We will not be making new appointments for those in the education sector, Dr. Matt Willis, the countys health director, said Friday. We have simplified to a singular focus on our elders 75 years and above across the county, for the next 25,000 doses.

There just isnt enough vaccine to go around, Willis said.

But that hasnt been the only problem. Coordinating the vaccinations has been tough, too.

At the civic center clinic for educators, there were 200 vaccine doses left over after those with appointments were vaccinated. Because those doses would otherwise go to waste, the county sent out an email calling for teachers and other school staff to hurry to the site for a vaccine. Many did, including some workers younger than 50, central office staff who are not in classrooms and others well down on the states priority list.

The state does allow those administering vaccinations to divert doses to others if doses would otherwise expire and go to waste.

Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle

Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, was among those initially in favor of pushing teachers to the top of the vaccine list  with the goal of reopening schools as soon as possible and getting society back to some semblance of normal.

But identifying occupations or other sectors of society to go first ultimately just gummed up the system, she said.

I think that these tiers made sense in the theoretical world, she said. It was a wonderful concept, but it ended up leading to barriers that meant vaccine not going into arms.

Marin County took the step of prioritizing older people last week, much to the frustration of many educators who are already teaching in person and were promised they were a top priority for the county. That changed Thursday, when the county paused vaccinating education workers.

Here I was, thinking there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel like Ive had the rug ripped out from under me, said Danielle Dabbah, 45, a Mill Valley Middle School language arts teacher and single mother of two teenagers.

Yet in nearby Napa County, an estimated 200 teachers lined up at a clinic at Napa Valley College on Friday to get their vaccines, adding to the 150 teachers already receiving their first dose.

Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle

Napa County officials said it was critical to prioritize educators.

Were going to target teachers because we need to get our schools open and create safe environments, said Alfredo Pedroza, a county supervisor. We are hoping that by allowing teachers to get vaccinated, it allows school districts to have higher confidence in allowing more for in-person learning.

Katie Koop, a Calistoga Elementary School first-grade teacher, was among those who got their first dose Friday in Sonoma County. The 33-year-old is still teaching remotely, although she meets with a small group of four students once a week. She was on Cloud 9 after getting the vaccine.

I absolutely feel like its a weight off my shoulders, she said. Its a huge relief.

The vast majority of schools across the state remain in distance learning given a concern over the spread of the virus within classrooms. Yet studies find transmission within schools is rare.

Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle

A study published Thursday by the American Academy of Pediatrics found no child-to-adult transmission over a nine-week period in 11 North Carolina school districts serving 100,000 students. There were 32 cases of in-school transmission, but if the case rate was as common in classrooms as the community, there would have been 800 to 900 cases acquired at schools, according to the study.

In California, labor unions representing school workers in some districts have not committed to returning to in-person learning, even with a vaccine.

Sonoma County officials announced Friday that, in early February, they expect to start vaccinating teachers, child care providers, emergency service workers, and food and agricultural workers, among others, as well as older adults.

In San Francisco, county health officials said they do not have enough vaccine to get to teachers or school staff anytime soon. They are focused on health care workers and those 65 and older  the highest risk populations in the city.

People 65 or older in San Francisco represent only 15% of coronavirus cases, but 85% of the citys COVID-19 deaths, Department of Public Health officials said. According to the Centers for Disease Control, those 65 and older who contract the virus are 90 times more likely to die than someone younger than 30.

Between health care workers and those 65 and older, thats 210,000 people in San Francisco, officials said, but the city has received only a quarter of the two-dose regimen needed for that population.

Because vaccine is scarce, the reality is that it may take weeks for some eligible residents to get a vaccine, officials said in a statement.

More for you Local Coronavirus live updates: Bay Area sees plunge in...

Back in Marin County, education officials expressed disappointment that additional vaccinations for school workers would be on hold for the immediate future.

Currently, 83% of the countys public schools are open for in-person learning, either hybrid or full-time. There have been seven cases of in-school transmission, none involving students, and no hospitalizations, said county Superintendent Mary Jane Burke.

Still, getting all staff vaccinated is a focus, and Burkes office has the next groups of workers, including in-person teachers, on standby.

We are totally ready, believe me, she said. We will be ready to go whenever.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Mallory Moench contributed to this story.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
WASHINGTON  Construction on the border wall is set to end this week, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar announced Monday.

The Laredo Democrat and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee said Customs and Border Protection is halting all of the agencys contracts for wall construction on Wednesday.

Cuellar said he expects the same is true for U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracts as well after President Joe Biden last week signed an executive order ending the national emergency Donald Trump declared at the border.

QUICK ACTION FROM BIDEN: Presidents border plans raise hopes and fears in South Texas

This is a promising step in our work to halt construction of the ineffective and wasteful border wall and undo the damage that borderlands have experienced these past four years, Cuellar said in a statement. However, our work continues. I remain steadfast in my commitment to working with the new administration until every border wall contract is terminated and all construction crews leave our border communities.

Among Bidens first moves in office was ending Trumps emergency declaration, saying in his executive order that building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.

Biden said he was making it his administrations policy that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall. He also announced a review of existing contracts.

The Trump administration completed 415 miles of border wall by December, with just 30 miles in new areas, Hearst Newspapers previously reported. Most of the construction replaced older fencing and vehicle barriers, largely from the El Paso area west to California.

TREMENDOUSLY SUCCESSFUL: Trump touts wall in final days

Nonetheless Trump touted the project in a trip to South Texas during his final days in office.

Its been tremendously successful, far beyond what anyone thought, Trump said. Were stopping in large numbers the drugs coming into the country for many, many years and decades. Were stopping a lot of illegal immigration.

We cant let the next administration even think about taking it down, he said. I dont think that will happen. I think when you see what it does and how its so important for our country, nobodys going to be touching it.

ben.wermund@chron.com
Quantum physics allows to make statements about the behaviour of a wide variety of many-particle systems at the atomic level, from salt crystals to neutron stars. In quantum systems, many parameters do not have concrete values, but are distributed over various values with certain probabilities. Often this distribution takes the form of a simple Gaussian bell curve that is encountered also in classical systems for example the distribution of balls in the Galton box experiment. However, not all quantum systems follow this simple behavior and some might deviate from the Gaussian distribution due to interactions.

Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert, who heads a joint research group on theoretical physics at the Freie Universitat Berlin and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, argues that once interactions are reduced such deviations decay over time and become Gaussian distributed. Now he has been able to substantiate this presumption experimentally.

To do this, the Berlin team worked together with a group of experimental physicists led by Prof. Dr. Jorg Schmiedmayer at the Vienna University of Technology. Schmiedmayer and members of his group, in particular Dr. Thomas Schweigler, prepared a so-called Bose-Einstein condensate: this is a quantum system consisting of several thousand rubidium atoms, which were confined in a quasi-one-dimensional configuration with the help of magnetic fields and cooled near absolute zero (50 nanokelvin).

"The Vienna group created a synthetic quantum system in which the distribution of the phonons can be observed particularly sharply" explains Dr. Marek Gluza, coauthor of the study and postdoc with Jens Eisert. The measurement data initially represent the complex dynamics of the phonons. But the complexity is lost over time and the distribution takes on the shape of a Gaussian bell curve.

"In fact, we can see here how a Gaussian distribution emerges over time. Nature finds a simple solution, all by itself, through its physical laws" comments Jens Eisert.

What is unique about the performed experiment is that as time goes on the system swings back to the more complex distribution, demonstrating that the signatures of a complicated state can be retrieved again. "We know precisely why it swings back and what it depends on", Gluza explains. "This shows us something about the isolation of the system because the information about the signatures has never left the system ".

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The Long Drink During these uncertain times, independent restaurants are one of the first ones to feel the economic impact, and this is why we at the Long Drink have decided to use our Finnish cultural phenomenon to help restaurants in need.

The Long Drink, a top selling category of alcohol in Finland, a legend that is now available in America, is pleased to announce that due to overwhelming popularity from the introduction of the campaign last year, Kalsarikannit Pantsdrunk will return for a 2nd year.

Pantsdrunk, or Kalsarikannit as it is known in Finland, is a long-time Finnish tradition which is essentially the art of relaxing at home in your underwear, enjoying a long drink, with no intention of going out. The Pantsdrunk movement was adopted by thousands of Long Drink superfans last year, all taking part in the light-hearted nature of the Finnish tradition, which is most certainly guaranteed to lift spirits.

Furthermore, The Long Drink has named the iconic James Beard Foundations Open for Good as the charity component for the campaign. All funds raised starting today, through February 28, 2021, by The Long Drink will be donated to the James Beard Foundation, up to $250,000.00.

To participate, fans (+21) should follow three simple steps:

1) Take a pantsdrunk photo drinking The Long Drink, for fun inspirational photos be sure to check out TheLongDrink.com/pantsdrunk/

2) Be sure to tag @LongDrink on Instagram or Facebook, using hashtag #pantsdrunk

3) Post on Instagram or Facebook

Should the above parameters be met, The Long Drink will donate $50.00 for every grid or static social media post, meaning, a post that will live on the participants feed, and $20.00 for every story post, a post that is disappearing eventually. The Long Drink team will monitor all social media engagement over the duration of the campaign to keep track of the tally.

During these uncertain times, independent restaurants are one of the first ones to feel the economic impact, and this is why we at the Long Drink have decided to use our Finnish cultural phenomenon to help restaurants in need. We couldnt be more excited to kick things off and look forward to the groundswell of support across the country, says Mikael Taipale, co-founder, The Long Drink.

Its great to bring Pantsdrunk back for another year, all of us at The Long Drink are constantly thinking about how we can raise money for those in need throughout the industry. Our alignment with The James Beard Foundation ensures that independent restaurants will benefit from our marketing efforts and if we can have a little fun doing it along the way thats just a bonus, adds Miles Teller, actor and co-owner, of The Long Drink.

Its been an incredibly challenging year for the independent food and beverage industry which employs over 11 million people nationwide. said Kris Moon, Chief Operating Officer of the James Beard Foundation After the pandemic hit, the Foundation quickly directed all of our resource to helping the industry to survive this crisis. We are only able to continue that work thanks to the generous contributions of partners such as The Long Drink. We are incredibly grateful for their support as we work to keep help the industry remain Open for Good.

About The Long Drink

Long drink is a top selling category of alcohol in Finland  a legend that is now available in America. The roots of long drinks go back to the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, when the country of only 4 million people was still recovering from World War II. Concerned how to serve drinks quickly enough to all the visitors, the government commissioned the creation of a revolutionary new liquor drink that was both delicious and fast to serve  and so the first long drinks were born. Now this legend has finally been brought to America by the next generation of Finns who want the world to experience the refreshing and unique Finnish Long Drink. The Long Drink garnered a Gold Medal (94 Rating) at the prestigious 2019 New York International Spirits Competition (NYISC). The Long Drink is currently available in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Georgia, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, California, Florida and Arizona.

For additional information please visit https://thelongdrink.com/

Drink responsibly.

About the James Beard Foundation:

The James Beard Foundation promotes Good Food For Good. For more than 30 years, the James Beard Foundation has highlighted the centrality of food culture in our daily lives. Through the variety of industry programs that educate and empower leaders in our community, the Foundation has asserted the power of food to drive behavior, culture, and policy change. The organization is committed to giving chefs a voice and the tools they need to make the world more sustainable, equitable, and delicious for everyone. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the James Beard Foundation launched the Open for Good campaign to ensure that independent restaurants not only survive, but that the industry is able to rebuild stronger than before. For more information, subscribe to the digital newsletter Beard Bites and follow @beardfoundation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. The James Beard Foundation is a national not-for-profit 501(3) organization based in New York City.

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Media Contacts:

Tom Sullivan: Tom.Sullivan@TheLongDrink.com

David Mandler: David.Mandler@DGM-PR.com
(Newser)  Vladimir Putin is making a point to deny a new accusation from his chief critic, which in itself is seen as surprising. Both the Washington Post and Reuters note that it's rare for Putin to issue a public rebuttal, but this latest slam from Alexei Navalny might be receiving too much attention to ignore. In an investigative video that has now racked up more than 88 million views, Navalny accuses Putin of owning a billion-dollar Black Sea palace that was bought by shady associates with even shadier money. Not so, said Putin on Monday. "Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did," he said, per the BBC. The Russian leader said he didn't watch the full video because he's too busy, but saw compilations put together by staff. He called it "boring." One key line from the Post:

"The comments neither deny the existence of the property itself nor contradict Navalnys investigation, which alleged that the residence formally belongs to four proxies with ties to Putins inner circle."

story continues below

Putin also addressed the protests that broke out across Russia over the weekend regarding the recent detention of Navalny. "Everyone has the right to express their point of view within the framework provided by the law," he said. "Anything outside the law is not just counterproductive, but dangerous." He said the 1917 Russian Revolution and the 1991 collapse of the USSR also were times "when the situation went far beyond the framework of the law and led to such destabilization of society and the state." More than 3,000 people were arrested over the weekend, drawing condemnation from the US State Department over what it called "harsh tactics." More protests are scheduled for this weekend. (Navalny released the video upon returning to Russia after recuperating abroad from a poisoning he blames on Putin.)
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The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
It is time for the winter break and that means that drivers and teams can enjoy a well-deserved holiday. In the F1 Social Stint of GPblog.com you will find out what drivers and teams are doing in preparation for the Formula 1 season of 2021.

Aston Martin teasers

In preparation for the new Formula One season, it is natural for drivers to visit the factory, especially if you have switched teams. One of the most high-profile switches announced last year was of course that of Sebastian Vettel. He has left Ferrari behind to take his place alongside Lance Stroll at Aston Martin F1 Team. That team is now sharing teasers via Twitter that Vettel has arrived at the factory. More soon, no doubt.

We don't think you're ready for this. #IAMF1 pic.twitter.com/rmLYjMctBy  Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) January 26, 2021

Verstappen trains hard for a 'Full Send' in 2021

Max Verstappen is still training hard to be completely ready for the 2021 Formula 1 season. The Dutchman enjoyed a nice holiday, but is now back to work. On Twitter, the Dutchman posts a video of running in Monaco.

Leclerc very lucky to test in 'The Beast'

Charles Leclerc is very happy to be driving the 2018 Ferrari. The Monegasque made his debut at Ferrari in 2019, so he never drove the car with which Sebastian Vettel was seriously competing for the world title for a long time. It is Leclerc's first day back on the track after testing positive for the corona virus this winter.

Raikkonen and Giovinazzi have a race to load cars

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi see competition in almost everything. Even when it comes to loading their cars for a holiday or a big move. Although Raikkonen doesn't seem to be too keen this time around.

Big move coming up? Call Kimi and Antonio @alfa_romeo pic.twitter.com/G86meIMYes  Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN (@alfaromeoracing) January 25, 2021

Giuliano Alesi follows in his father's footsteps

Giuliano Alesi today followed in the footsteps of his father Jean Alesi. Alesi sr. sat in a Ferrari F1 car for the first time in 1990. More than thirty years later it is the turn of son Giuliano. Alesi drove today during the Ferrari test at Maranello. Nice detail is that he drove with number 28 on his car, the number his father drove with during his Ferrari years. Jean Alesi drove for the Italian team from 1991 to 1995.

First images from Ferrari's test day at Fiorano

Ferrari will be at the Fiorano circuit this week, working with old cars to make some metres in 2021. Carlos Sainz gets the chance to step into the red car for the first time, but on Monday it is the turn of young talents first. Today Giuliano Alesi, Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman will step into the Ferrari ui 2018.

Ricciardo gets a warm welcome from McLaren fans

Daniel Ricciardo will be McLaren's new driver in 2021, after two years with Renault. The fans of the team from Woking are looking forward to the arrival of the Australian and let them know in a new video from McLaren. If this does not make you feel special as a driver, then what does?

No welcome to this team is complete without a word from our fans. Take it away, team...#FansLikeNoOther @DanielRicciardo pic.twitter.com/4AhNMyWUkL  McLaren (@McLarenF1) January 21, 2021

Hamilton speaks of historic day for America

Lewis Hamilton has made it clear on Twitter that he is delighted with the inauguration of Joe Biden as America's new president. According to Hamilton, it is a historic day, which will hopefully lead to a brighter future and more room for diversity. Hamilton wishes Biden and Kamala Harris the best of luck in their new roles.

A historic day in America. Today brings so much hope for the future, an example of diversity in leadership that I hope to see mirrored across industries and governments. Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris, best of luck. pic.twitter.com/FX6t4PfpCu  Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) January 20, 2021

Mclaren reveals colours and new name of 2021 car

McLaren is just busy with the marketing team to hype up the new 2021 car as much as possible. In a new message on Twitter, we clearly see the colours orange and blue returning, but we also see the new name of the car. In big letters it says MCL35M. This suggests that the 2020 MCL35 will only be updated in name with the Mercedes engine, which is why the 'M' has been added to the car's name.

Alonso in the snow, Gasly in the gym

Now that there are no races, the drivers have a bit more free time than usual. Nevertheless, the new Formula 1 season is slowly approaching and that means that the training sessions are becoming more important again. Both Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly are working on that, but both in their own way. Alonso is braving the snow-covered mountains in Spain, while Pierre Gasly chooses the old familiar gym. Clearly in a slightly warmer capacity, in Dubai.

Dit bericht bekijken op Instagram Een bericht gedeeld door Fernando Alonso (@fernandoalo_oficial)

Dit bericht bekijken op Instagram Een bericht gedeeld door PIERRE GASLY (@pierregasly)

McLaren hopes Australian fans will be patient a little longer

The Australian fans will have to wait a little longer to see their hero, Daniel Ricciardo, in action in his own country. At McLaren, they have also thought about that and so a letter went out to the fans in Australia. Be patient and ask yourself one important question: How is the weather in November?

Bottas to rally in Lapland with unique helmet design

In the time that Valtteri Bottas is not in a Formula 1 car, he enjoys driving rallies. Because the Finn does this purely for fun and has no sponsor obligations, he can go to such rallies with unique helmets. For the Arctic Lapland Rally he will therefore be wearing a special helmet designed by his partner Tiffany Cromwell.

Grosjean is not yet allowed to go out into the cold, so he's going to cook

Romain Grosjean is getting better and better, but is not yet allowed to do everything. On Instagram, he tells us that his wife and children are out for a walk, but Romain's hands still can't cope with the cold. So he goes to work in the kitchen baking a chocolate cake.

Dit bericht bekijken op Instagram Een bericht gedeeld door Romain Grosjean (@grosjeanromain)
The day after Trump-supporting insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer shocked members of Queens Community Board 2 by appearing at their Zoom meeting. When we set this call up, we did not know what the events of yesterday would be, Schumer apologetically said to explain why he would only be online for 20 minutes instead of the usual 45 minutes he spends at community board meetings. Never mind that the nation was in the midst of national crisis, the president was just days away from his second impeachment and Schumer  then the U.S. Senate minority leader, whose Democratic Party had just won control of the chamber  was poised to become one of the three most powerful lawmakers in the country.

The surprise community board appearance embodies Schumers brand of politics and governance. Despite his national prominence and power, Schumer still visits all 62 counties in New York every year. He continues to regularly hold his trademark Sunday press conferences around the state on niche problems and obscure local issues.

As a man singularly dedicated to all things New York, from how U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations affect Greek yogurt production upstate to spotty mail service in Westchester, Schumers ascension to Senate majority leader  the first from the Empire State  means hell have the power to deliver for his home state better than he ever has. Despite decades in politics and increasingly important job titles, Schumer, age 70, has in many ways tried to remain true to his political roots as a 20-something Assembly member known for physically filling in potholes. Already, Schumer is delivering for New York, announcing before inauguration day that he had secured from the incoming Biden administration an additional $2 billion in federal disaster aid for the state to help cover coronavirus expenses.

Schumer is a man singularly dedicated to all things New York, from how USDA regulations affect Greek yogurt production upstate to spotty mail service in Westchester.

I cant overstate how phenomenal this is for our state, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul told City & State, about Schumers new role as U.S. Senate majority leader. I mean, Chuck Schumer is beloved in New York City  or hes well known. People from Buffalo think hes from Buffalo  he spends so much time in every corner of the state.

Schumer is well versed in upstate issues, but he is decidedly not from Buffalo. The first Jewish Senate majority leader grew up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, where he graduated from James Madison, the same public high school attended by Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Except for college and law school at Harvard, Schumer never left Brooklyn. He lives in Park Slope, and his congressional district was inherited by Anthony Weiner when Schumer upset former Republican Sen. Al DAmato in 1998. New York magazine has called Schumers way of speaking Brooklynese.

I cant overstate how phenomenal this is for our state.  Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul

While some progressive activists have questioned his leadership of the opposition during the Trump era, mainstream Democrats say Schumer is an effective pragmatist who rose to his new position by working with colleagues and obtaining tangible results. Chuck has always been a very, very skillful political person, said Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from Manhattans West Side who has known Schumer since college and worked with him when both were young Assembly members. He's always also been able to get people's confidence, and he's deserved it, because he's always earned it and shown it.

Decades of grassroots politicking and Washington dealmaking has finally led to where Schumer is today. This is definitely man, or person, meets moment, Democratic consultant Bruce Gyory said. Hes really a master legislator. Hes very good at crafting meaningful compromises that advance the ball. Gyory specifically mentioned the comprehensive immigration reform that Schumer helped usher through Congress in 2013 as just one key example of Schumers legislative prowess in action.

Now, as one of the three most powerful lawmakers in the country, those skills will serve not only the nation, but his home state as well. Schumer became minority leader in 2017 after Senate Democrats elevated him from Democratic Policy Committee chair. During that time, his ability to increase federal investment in programs important to New York, such as mass transit, health care or clean energy, was severely constricted by having a Republican majority in the Senate and, for all of that time, either a Republican-led House or a Republican president. Now, having a Democratic House of Representatives  with many high-ranking New Yorkers in other leadership positions, including Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries  and a Democrat in the White House, may allow him to deliver on progressive priorities and New Yorks needs. This has been the zenith of New York's institutional influence in the Congress, Gyory said of the current session. Schumer regularly announces the gains hes made for New York in the Senate  many of the first press releases of 2021 detailed the funds he won in the end of year spending bill passed in December. And as majority leader, with all the new responsibilities and national attention that will bring during turbulent times, Schumer doesnt expect to pay any less attention to his home state and its needs. Ever since I was an assemblyman, I fought for New York every single day, Schumer told City & State, speaking through a mask that bore the names of cities across the state. And Im going to use the clout I have, of course, to help the country, but also help New York.

I know what I am looking for is for a line of communication to be open.  State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins

New York has many different needs including combatting COVID-19 and closing a state-estimated $15 billion budget gap. Schumers first priority  balanced with confirming President Joe Bidens cabinet picks and holding an impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump  is passing a new stimulus bill that includes state and local aid for New York and its municipalities. That includes relief for struggling restaurants and funding for churches  especially in marginalized communities  that have been doing social work during the pandemic. President Joe Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion package, which Schumer said could deliver more than $50 billion to the state. I would expect New Yorks going to do very well in that proposal, Schumer said, adding that hes working to ensure that the struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority gets what it needs from Bidens proposed $20 billion for mass transit. The agency has received $4 billion so far in coronavirus relief bills, but still faces an additional $8 billion shortfall and catastrophic cuts to service without more aid.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins expressed optimism about what Schumers ascension will mean for New York. I know what I am looking for is for a line of communication to be open, Stewart-Cousins said when asked about her hopes for a Schumer-led U.S. Senate. And she expects that to be the case with the senator, who she said is intimately aware of the problems facing New York. We dont have to try and get on the same page in terms of the actual policy, Stewart-Cousins said. How we get there  those are conversations, but theyre conversations that are had with the same objective.

Chris_Buck_Senator_Schumer_117708_117702_V5.jpg Alt Text: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Title Text: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Caption: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Description: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Image Credit: Chris Buck

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his budget address Jan. 19, once again called on the federal government to provide $15 billion in direct aid to the state to close the full projected budget gap, lest New York be forced to cut spending and raise new taxes. The state Division of Budget released details based on receiving $6 billion from the federal government  the worst-case scenario estimate  but Cuomo asserted the full $15 billion is a fair ask from federal lawmakers that would allow him to pursue a variety of programs and agenda items he detailed as his alternate budget proposal. Cuomo also threatened to sue if Congress doesnt provide all $15 billion.

The executive budget proposal that presumes only $6 billion in aid split over two years is balanced in part by a temporary 2% tax hike on the states highest earners, estimated to bring in $1.5 billion, which Cuomos budget director Robert Mujica said would be nixed with full federal funding. However, Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie have both expressed interest in a new millionaires tax independent of new financial aid, reiterating that stance after Cuomos budget address. While we desperately need help from the incoming Biden Administration and our federal partners, Heastie said in a statement, we must also ask the wealthy to do more." Members of the state Legislature have myriad proposals on new taxes on the wealthy, including a new tax on billionaires capital gains and a tax on second homes.

Its very beneficial for all New Yorkers to have a majority leader from our home state  because of (his) extraordinary ability to bring home the bacon.  Luke Perry, professor of government at Utica College

Cuomo has previously expressed disappointment with Schumer, notably attacking the senator near the outset of the ongoing coronavirus crisis over the first coronavirus relief package, which gave New York far less per case of COVID-19 than less-impacted states and forced Cuomo to delay proposed cuts to Medicaid in order to get billions in federal aid. I say to Sen. Schumer, it would be nice if he passed a piece of legislation that actually helped the state of New York, Cuomo, who has always had a cool relationship with the states senior senator, said in early April. Christina Greer, a professor of political science at Fordham University, said she hopes that Schumers new position will lead to a better working relationship with the governor and the new Senate majority leader. There are many times that Gov. Cuomo abdicates his responsibility, because he says, Oh, well, it's the federal government, Greer said. So I'm really hoping that, with Chuck Schumer in charge, Andrew Cuomo can get the resources he needs, so he can actually move this conversation forward.

Cuomo has faulted the federal government for many deaths in the states nursing homes and has criticized the slow and disorganized national rollout of testing, procurement of protective equipment and vaccination. And he has in recent months lamented the lack of support that New York has received, both during the coronavirus pandemic and historically, from the federal government. We've established that the state's short term $15 billion economic deficit must be addressed by Washington and the inarguable truth that Washington has assaulted New York for the past four years and that we must demand justice and fairness from Washington finally, Cuomo said during his State of the State address.

Cuomo is not Schumers only intra-party critic in his home state. Although the senator enjoys net-positive public approval ratings, particularly among Democrats, some in his partys left wing cite his prodigious fundraising to argue he is too close to Wall Street and complain that he has been too moderate in the past. Extreme caution is being used because we understand who these folks have been, that they haven't prioritized the progressive policies that most Americans are calling for, Jawanza Williams, director of organizing at VOCAL-NY, a progressive advocacy organization, said of establishment politicians such as Schumer. Williams recently took part in a protest near Schumers Brooklyn apartment demanding he help pass the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

I'm really hoping that Schumer rises to the occasion, and doesn't abdicate some of his powers just because he thinks he can work with Republican sycophants.  Christina Greer, professor of political science at Fordham University

Political observers have speculated that Schumer may face a left-wing challenge in the 2022 Democratic primary, possibly from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Folks are prepared to primary if he does not prioritize passing progressive policy, protecting our democracy and meeting people's immediate, concrete, material needs, Williams said.

But for now, New Yorks senior senator is focused on using his newfound power to deliver on a host of urgent social needs that were ignored by the federal government under Trump. Schumers to-do list is much longer than that first stimulus package, in particular with an eye toward infrastructure. During his campaign, Biden made a $2 trillion climate change mitigation and infrastructure investment package a key component of his economic plan. Schumer expressed optimism that the long-delayed Gateway tunnel project to build new commuter rail tunnels under the Hudson River will finally get the go-ahead from the Biden administration. Thats been a dream of mine, Ive worked very hard to bring that together, Schumer said. All they have to do is sign a piece of paper and it starts going forward.

Schumer added that transit across the state, not just downstate, is in dire need of funds. He said that expanding broadband in poor rural and urban areas of the state is another top priority for him, as well as bringing new, green infrastructure in addition to repairing roads, bridges and sewers. Schumer told the Syracuse Post-Standard that he plans to propose a $1 trillion infrastructure package that would include many of these priorities, including money to transform the crumbling Interstate 81 in Syracuse, a long-percolating issue in Central New York. He said that incoming U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressed support for replacing the elevated highway with a community grid.

Another high priority is the repeal of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax, known as SALT, deductions that passed as part of President Donald Trumps 2017 tax overhaul. The change harmed Democratic states with higher tax loads, such New York, and state leaders have been advocating for repeal ever since. SALT is very important, Schumer said. And we hope that our Republican colleagues will work with us, but we have to get that done.

Historically, congressional leaders have delivered for their home states. Its very beneficial for all New Yorkers to have a majority leader or (House) speaker from our home state, regardless of ones partisan allegiance, because of the tremendous legislative power and influence this affords, and extraordinary ability to bring home the bacon, said Luke Perry, a professor of government at Utica College. In 2019, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, then majority leader, announced he got $1 billion in federal funding and new tax breaks for Kentucky with large sums for construction projects and tax breaks for spirit distillers  which also helped him before his 2020 reelection. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi used to be called the King of Pork Barrel Spending because of the lucrative federal contracts he delivered to his home state during his time in power. Lyndon Johnson, when he was the leader of the Senate before he went to the White House, helped pass the 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act and helped ensure that Texas was home to much of the space program.

Others in New York have ideas of what that might translate into, aside from the priorities that Schumer has himself laid out. Hochul said she expects that Schumers ascension will be good news for cleaning up the Great Lakes. Perry said he expects to see increased investment and development of Rome Laboratory  a research and development lab for the U.S. Air Force  and Griffiss Business and Technology Park, which are economic hubs in the upstate city of Rome. Gyory said research and education institutions tend to do very well in states that are home to congressional leaders. Stewart-Cousins said she hopes to see new federal attention paid to providing affordable housing, which is a big issue throughout downstate. I don't even know what the federal government is willing to do in terms of investing in housing, Stewart-Cousins said.

But Schumer is taking leadership in a Senate with a 50-50 split, where Vice President Kamala Harris will serve as the tie-breaking vote. This gives Schumer very little wiggle room for when it comes to passing spending bills and legislation. Its unclear whether Schumer will employ workarounds that would avoid Republican filibusters and allow massive budget-related legislation without a single GOP vote  something Sen. Bernie Sanders is advocating for as the new chair of the Finance Committee. And flat-out eliminating the filibuster  something Schumer has not taken a position on  is unlikely to happen. I'm really hoping that Schumer rises to the occasion, and doesn't abdicate some of his powers just because he thinks he can work with Republican sycophants, Greer said. But even then, just one errant Democrat could stand in the way of policy that would benefit New York, and Schumer will likely need to work to ensure his coalition remains solid. Because the Senate has a bias toward sparsely populated, rural states, and therefore toward Republicans, the Democratic majority includes red-state moderates. Many eyes are on Sen. Joe Manchin in particular, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, and the leverage he could now have in deciding key legislation. Look, were all going to have to work together as a team, Schumer said. And so far weve had good unity.

Although Greer expressed some skepticism that Schumer will be able to give the same degree of attention to New York with his new responsibilities, Hochul had no such concerns. I tell you, I will still expect to see him, if theres a flooded street because of an ice jam in West Seneca New York, even with his title, hell still be standing there with his boots on, Hochul said. He never missed a beat, even as minority leader And I think thats something we should not take for granted.

With reporting by Zach Williams.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Rain. Low 42F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Rain. Low 42F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.
Q: When I was a new resident of Texas City in 2019, I had a sore throat and sought the services of a physician at a local clinic. I never saw the doctor again until yesterday. When I checked in, I was told I had a balance due of $20 from 2019, and I needed to pay it. When I asked why I never received a bill, I was told they dont send bills for such small amounts. When the office staff couldnt produce any paperwork to substantiate the bill, I said my books were closed for the year 2019, and I would not pay it. No, $20 would not make or break me, but it was the principle of the matter. Was I right or wrong?

A: I think it was wrong to refuse to pay the bill.

I have done the same thing in my law practice many times over the years. Rather than send a bill for a small fraction of an hour, I add a note to the file as a reminder to add the time to the next invoice, if the client ever comes back for additional work.

On HoustonChronicle.com: More columns from Ronald Lipman

Q: My mother passed away last summer. She owned only one asset, a credit union account with about $40,000 in it. Her will specifies the distribution of the account. I have been on her account for a number of years. Do I have to probate her will? If not, I will just write the appropriate checks from the account to my siblings and then close the account.

A: If you and your mother held the account as joint tenants with right of survivorship, then the money in the account now belongs to you. You would simply need to notify the bank that she has died, and the account will be retitled to your name alone. You would then be free to make gifts to your siblings in the amounts of your choosing. (You could also simply keep the money, but that might make them a bit annoyed.)

If the two of you held the account as tenants in common, and you tell the bank your mother has died, they will freeze the account. (The bank may have already frozen the account.)

If the account is not frozen, the odds are no one will stop you if you do as you say and empty it out by writing checks to yourself and your siblings. None of your siblings would complain. After all, each of them will receive more money if you dont hire an attorney and go through probate.

Legally though, you no longer have the authority to write checks on your mothers account, and if you were to seek advice of an attorney, you might be advised not to write the checks.

If you find out that the account is already frozen, or if you want to do things by the book, then you should hire an attorney and probate your mothers will.

The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Readers with legal problems, including those whose questions are addressed here, should consult attorneys for advice on their particular circumstances. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase@lipmanpc.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 26)  The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Monday the local transmission of the more infectious United Kingdom (UK) COVID-19 variant in Bontoc, Mountain Province.

The Department of Health confirms local transmission in Bontoc of the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 as identified through genomic sequencing. To date, all identified cases with the UK variant can be epidemiologically linked to cases coming directly from outside the country (importation) or from specific cases or exposures that can still be identified (local transmission), the DOH said in a statement.

The Health Department also emphasized there is still no strong evidence of community transmission of the UK COVID-19 variant in Bontoc in accordance with World Health Organization standards such as having large number of cases, case clusters in multiple areas, and inability to link cases to known sources of infection.

The DOH also revised its statement on Monday on the index case or possible infection source of the UK COVID-19 variant in Bontoc, saying the male patient tested positive for COVID-19 but negative for the new variant. His wife tested negative for COVID-19.

The man arrived in the country from UK on Dec. 13 and reached Bontoc the next day. He attended a Christmas celebration and a ritual on the 26th, then started having abdominal pains  a COVID-19 symptom  on Dec. 29.

Around 46 contacts of the man, who mingled with relatives and neighbors and attended the traditional ritual, tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 46 infected persons, 12 of them tested positive with the UK variant.

The DOH further disclosed that among the 12 patients who tested positive of UK COVID-19 variant, seven of them are men and three are children aged 5, 6, and 10.

The Health Department added 11 out of the 12 UK COVID-19 variant positive cases came from Barangay Samoki, where the Christmas celebration and traditional ritual activities happened.

The DOH said the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit and Bontoc local authorities are conducting a backward tracing on how the 12 residents contracted the UK COVID-19 variant.

There is ongoing contact tracing of contacts up to the 3 generation for these B.1.1.7 variant cases. Samples from contacts not tested or negative on first test are being collected for PCR testing and sequencing, for eligible samples, the DOH said.

The country has recorded at least 17 cases of the variant. The first case announced on Jan. 13 was a Filipino who traveled to Dubai. As of Monday, the country now has a total of 514,996 confirmed COVID-19 cases along with 10,292 deaths and 475,422 recoveries.
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Cayuga County is past its post-holiday surge as active COVID-19 cases have steadily declined in January.

The active case total  the residents who are in mandatory isolation after testing positive for COVID-19  is down to 366, the lowest level since early December. A little over two weeks ago, there were 1,095 active cases.

With the decrease in active cases, there is a declining number of residents in mandatory quarantine. According to the Cayuga County Health Department, 1,840 people are in mandatory quarantine, which is required for contacts of positive cases.

Two weeks ago, more than 8,000 people were in mandatory quarantine.

Cayuga County admitted 32 new cases on Saturday, including three in local correctional facilities. There are outbreaks at both state prisons in the county, Auburn and Cayuga correctional facilities.

The new admissions add to the county's confirmed case total, which is 4,670. The active and confirmed case counts exclude 34 cases awaiting admission. These are residents who have tested positive for the virus but haven't been placed into isolation.
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And so, he gladly welcomed us to mingle with others of his ilk, who  except for those dressed in Nazi garb  initially seemed like average folks gathered for a few sunny days on a large farm. They didnt mind telling their stories, although they were shy about showing their faces for photographs. But almost always, reality clicked in and they were no longer friendly neighbors when they began talking about their hate and racism, conspiracies and all of their enemies.
Kim Jong-cheol, former leader of the liberal minor Justice Party speaks at his New Year's conference held last Wednesday at the National Assembly. Kim stepped down from the position as party leader on Monday admitting to sexually harassing Justice Party Rep. Jang Hye-young. Yonhap



By Jung Da-min



Kim Jong-cheol stepped down from his post as leader of the minor progressive Justice Party, Monday, after admitting to sexually harassing Rep. Jang Hye-young, deputy floor leader of the party.



Justice Party deputy leader Bae Bok-joo gave an official statement after a closed meeting that the leadership decided to dismiss Kim from his position, even though he had already expressed his intention to resign after admitting that he had sexually harassed Jang following a dinner meeting to discuss political activities, Jan. 15.



Jang on Jan. 18 reported Kim's sexual harassment to Bae, who leads the party's department of gender and human rights affairs. Bae investigated the case for a week, holding multiple meetings with the victim and the accused. Bae said Kim admitted to all the allegations.



"It is a sexual harassment case committed by the leader of a political party which has taken the lead to realize gender equality. It has delivered a fatal wound to the members of the party and the people who support and care for the Justice Party. We sincerely apologize," Bae said. "We will take time to deeply reflect on the situation."





Bae Bok-joo, deputy leader of the minor progressive Justice Party, sheds tears at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday, while announcing the party's statement regarding its leader Kim Jong-cheol's resignation over his sexual harassment of Rep. Jang Hye-young. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

Robert Nichols is the state senator for Senate District 3. First elected in 2006, Nichols represents 19 counties, including much of East Texas and part of Montgomery County. He can be reached at 699-4988 or toll-free at (800) 959-8633. His email address is robert.nichols@senate.texas.gov.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an over 92 percent drop in Sabarimala's annual revenue this year. The hill shrine collected only Rs 21.17 crore including during the two-month annual pilgrimage this year versus Rs 269.37 crore in 2019-20, the New Indian Express reported.

The temple was closed for several months in 2020 during the coronavirus-led lockdown.

During the Makaravilakku festival every year, several pilgrims visit the Lord Ayappa temple.

The report said the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) needs at least Rs 40 crore a month, including staff salaries, to operate all 1,248 temples.

While 83 of these temples are self-reliant, income has declined to Rs 15-20 crore per month, as per the report. The board is evaluating a number of options to raise money.

"This is an unprecedented situation. Though the government has already given us Rs 70 crore, we plan to ask for more. The widening revenue-to-expenditure gap has forced us to resort to austerity measures," N Vasu, TDB President told The New Indian Express.

"The Board is planning to approach the rich devotees and governments of these states for support. There are also plans to retrench around 200 temporary employees as a cost-cutting measure," Vasu said.

The board is also considering mortgaging offerings by devotees with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to secure a loan.

"The process of assessing the gold and bronze stock is underway," the TDB chief said.

A plan to cut expenses and increase non-pooja revenue would also be launched soon, he said.

A scheme to request support from devotees will be rolled out in February, Vasu told the paper.
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For many, weeks in lockdown spent staring at the same ceiling cracks and dated decor is enough to spark a desire to carry out home improvements.

Few, however, will go as far as Emma Meese who this month revealed she bought an abandoned 'crack den' in Cardiff last inhabited by squatters and transformed it into a stunning home, now on the market at 875,000.

So is taking on a wreck a pleasure  or a world of pain? Samantha Brick spoke to women who did just that.

BOUGHT FOR: 415,000

RENOVATION COSTS: 250,000

NOW WORTH: 1 million

Digital marketer Lucy Nash, 40, is married to Dan, 37, managing director of a glass company. They live in Birmingham with their daughter Mabel, two

She says: For seven years, we lived opposite the house  an end-of-row three-storey terrace. I knew it well enough to know that it was in a bad state

Digital marketer Lucy Nash, 40, is married to Dan, 37, managing director of a glass company. They live in Birmingham with their daughter Mabel, two.

She says: For seven years, we lived opposite the house  an end-of-row three-storey terrace. I knew it well enough to know that it was in a bad state.

The roof clearly needed work, slates were falling off and windows had cracks in them. Dan and I then lived in a two-up, two-down that we had renovated.

When the 'for sale' sign went up, I managed to get us a peek inside. We were shocked  it hadn't been touched for at least 40 years. Apparently, the late owner had given up on living in the main house and resided in an outbuilding.

Despite the walls that wobbled when you touched them and the all-pervading smell of damp, walking around it we could see the potential. We're massive Grand Design fans and had a vision of what we wanted to do with it.

The general consensus among our family and friends was that we were mad  but we got the keys in August 2017 and began work.

We budgeted for professional help. As well as sorting the damp, the roof had to come off and the rear was extended.

We spent our first night in our home in June 2018. The front is a typical Victorian terrace and we've kept all of the original features. It has a formal front reception room, playroom, large kitchen extension with utility and downstairs loo.

The first floor has two bedrooms, a nursery, laundry room and family bathroom. The top floor is a master bedroom with large en suite.

These days, our home is used for interior shoots, so it pays for itself.

Follow Lucy on Instagram @victoria_road_restoration

BOUGHT FOR: 250,000

RENOVATION COSTS: 60,000

NOW WORTH: 390,000

Social media business owner Jenny Bruce, 40, is married to Kevin, 40, an accountant. She said everyone was horrified when they bought the property

The kitchen was a no-go area with emergency tape to stop you from entering, so you didn't fall through what was left of floorboards

My favourite room is the kitchen-diner, which has a wood burner. Downstairs is all open plan but rooms can be closed off

Social media business owner Jenny Bruce, 40, is married to Kevin, 40, an accountant. They have three daughters, Charlotte, seven, Flora, five and Anna, two, and live in Midlothian.

She says: Everyone was horrified when I described the house we had bought. The kitchen was a no-go area with emergency tape to stop you from entering, so you didn't fall through what was left of floorboards.

Kevin and I had spent time working in London and New York before returning home to Midlothian, where we were renting. For what we wanted, a generous-sized family home, we were priced out of the market.

When I first saw our house online, I sent it to Kevin as a joke, saying: 'Look at this wreck!' But, one day, I decided to drive past to see what state it was in.

Its condition was even worse than I thought, but it was an Arts and Crafts architect-built house from the 1920s with three good-size bedrooms.

Our offer of 250,000 was accepted and we got the keys in July 2016. We gave ourselves three months to make it habitable so that we could move in. Our to-do list was endless, including removing the downstairs floorboards, putting in central heating and replacing the bathroom. We employed local electricians, plumbers and a joiner.

My favourite room is the kitchen-diner, which has a wood burner. Downstairs is all open plan but rooms can be closed off.

Am I tempted to do it again? No. It was good fun but this is our forever home.

BOUGHT FOR: 290,000

RENOVATION COSTS: 500,000

NOW WORTH: 875,000

Psychologist Sophie Smith is married to Joe who runs a tech company. They live in the South West of England

Psychologist Sophie Smith is married to Joe who runs a tech company. They live in the South West of England.

She says: We bought our home at auction without ever going inside.

We had been living in a rented flat, and were looking for a renovation project, when we spotted the barn online. Even though it was fairly disgusting, it was the most downloaded property on the auction site. We thought it had potential.

The first time we saw inside was the day we got the keys. It was more rundown than we expected and it smelled of mould.

We had been living in a rented flat, and were looking for a renovation project, when we spotted the barn online. Even though it was fairly disgusting, it was the most downloaded property on the auction site

We have tried to keep the character of the building. It has a modern feel but we have kept the rustic charm of exposed beams and a wood-burning stove

A former council building that had been derelict for ten years, it was a dumping ground for everything from loos to building materials. Outside was a paradise for graffiti artists.

Inside, it was dark, dingy and with lots of spider webs. I was very jumpy.

Our bid was successful in February 2017 but it was a listed building, so there were lots of hoops to jump through before we could even begin any work.

The roof was the worst job. Even though engineers said it looked in good condition, when we got in there we discovered the structural beams were rotten and needed to be replaced.

It was too late to back out but that nasty surprise cost us an additional 100,000 that we had not budgeted.

We hoped to be finished by Christmas 2019, but the whole process took longer than we had anticipated.

Last March, we were three weeks away from moving in and then lockdown happened, which delayed the builders from finishing off the last jobs. Instead, we cracked on sowing grass seeds for our lawn and landscaping outside.

Inside, it was dark, dingy and with lots of spider webs. I was very jumpy

We have tried to keep the character of the building. It has a modern feel but we have kept the rustic charm of exposed beams and a wood-burning stove.

My favourite room is the kitchen. There's a splashback window behind the sink that looks on to a green with an oak tree. Most days I get to see rabbits, foxes and even a green woodpecker.

We have got three double bedrooms, each with an ensuite.

There is an office, which also has an ensuite and an area we use for a gym with mirrors, mats and a treadmill.

The living room, dining area and kitchen are open plan.

We finally moved in in June last year. We didn't do it to make money. For us, the priority was a comfortable family home  and we have no regrets.

It's joyous to say it's finished and there is nothing left to do. We aren't tempted to sell  just yet.

Follow Sophie Smith on Instagram @barn.renovation
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday filed a supplementary chargesheet against two terrorists, Sidhikhul Aslam and Muhammad Polakkanni, in connection with its probe into the ISIS Omar Al-Hindi module case for planning attacks in south India, officials said.

An official said that the chargesheet has been filed in the special NIA court in Ernakulam in Kerala.

An NIA spokesperson here said that Aslam had conspired with convicted members of the ISIS-Daish terror module and attempted to recruit more persons into its fold, for furthering its objectives in India. Aslam was arrested on October 28 last year following his return from Saudi Arabia.

The official said that Polakkanni had actively conspired with the convicted persons to propagate violent extremism by actively disseminating materials supporting Jihadi ideology and to effect terrorist attacks in south India.

"He had also travelled to Georgia in early 2018 with the intention of crossing over to Turkey and eventually to Syria to join the Islamic State," the official said.

The official added that Polakkanni was arrested by Georgian authorities while attempting to illegally cross over to Turkey using a fake passport. "He was arrested in this case on September 19 last year following his return from Georgia," the official said.

The duo has been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA had registered a case on October 1, 2016, based on credible information regarding the conspiracy and the consequent formation of the ISIS/Daish-inspired terrorist module Ansarul Khilafa-KL by certain youth from south India, with the intention of furthering the objectives of ISIS.

The official said that five accused persons were arrested by the NIA on October 2, 2016 from Kanakamala in Kerala's Kannur district while they were preparing to carry out terrorist attacks in Kerala and Tamil Nadu by targeting prominent persons, including judges, police officers and politicians, and places of tourist importance where foreigners, especially Jews, congregated.

The NIA had earlier filed a chargesheet against six arrested members of the ISIS Daish-inspired terrorist module -- Manseed Muhmood, Swalih Mohammed, Rashid Ali, Ramshad N.K., Safvan P. and Moinudheen P.K.

They were convicted by a special court on November 27, 2019 and were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment ranging from three to 14 years along with fine.
Then, Jan. 12, scientists said it had an efficacy rate of just over 50%, once people who experienced mild symptoms were included. That level is a hair above the threshold set by the World Health Organization to consider a vaccine effective. In a news conference last week, Sinovacs chief executive officer, Yin Weidong, reiterated that the vaccine is 100% effective in preventing severe cases. He said the lower efficacy rate was because the trial was focused on health care workers, who had a higher propensity of contracting COVID-19 than the general population.

January 25 : Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu is celebrating their sixth marriage anniversary today. The couple got married on January 25, 2015. Taking to his Instagram handle, Kunal shared a couple picture and wished his wifey Soha.

Kunal shared a lovely picture, wherein the couple is seen hugging each other as he wrote, Happy Anniversary my love @sakpataudi.

Kareena Kapoor Khan took to her Instagram story and showered some love on her sister-in-law Soha and Kunal as the couple are celebrating their wedding anniversary today. Kareena shared an adorable picture of Soha and Kunal and wrote, Happy Anniversary guys, she wrote as she tagged them in the picture.

Image Source: Instagram/kareenakapoorkhan Kareena Kapoor shared on her Instagram story

Soha and Kunal first met on the sets of their film Dhoondte Reh Jaoge in 2009 but they hardly spoke to each other. It was during the making of their second film together, 99, that they started talking to each other. The couple was in a live-in relationship since May 2013. After a steady relationship and a romantic proposal in Paris, Soha and Kunal got engaged in July 2014 and got married in a private ceremony in Mumbai on January 25, 2015 in the presence of Soha's family. Their daughter Inaaya Naumi Kemmu was born on September 29, 2017.
TWO sisters raised more than 7,300 for charity by having their heads shaved.

Marion Virgo is currently having treatment for terminal cancer and Sarah Virgo-Harris wanted to support her.

They had their hair cut off at Mrs Virgo-Harriss home in Goring high street, where her sister is staying temporarily as part of a family support bubble.

Ms Virgo, 52, of Wayside Green, Woodcote, was shaved by her brother-in-law Tony Virgo-Harris, a Goring parish councillor, and Mrs Virgo-Harris was shaved by the couples 15-year-old son Theo while their 12-year-old daughter Nica watched.

The 10-minute event was broadcast live on the Facebook page of the neighbouring Virgo Beauty salon, which Mrs Virgo-Harris has run since 2014.

Hundreds of supporters watched online and many left comments praising the womens new look or sharing their own experiences of fighting cancer.

Nikita Patel, whose parents Jayesh and Varsha run Westholme Stores in Wallingford Road, Goring, said: You are both amazing! Love the concentration, Tony and Theo.

Stephanie Kingsland, who runs Pierreponts bakery in High Street with her husband Phil, said: Well done, guys. Wishing you all the luck in the world. xxx

Villager Sarah Loveland said: Tony has missed his vocation in life  when is the Tony Barber Shop opening?

Ms Virgo, a health and safety consultant, has previously fought breast cancer and was given the all-clear.

However, in the autumn she started experiencing lower back pain and was told by doctors that the disease had spread to her spine and could no longer be cured. She is receiving palliative chemotherapy at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Knowing her hair would fall out as a result of the treatment, the sisters decided to both have their heads shaved. They had hoped to have this done at the Albert Fields hair salon in Goring but had to think again because of the Governments coronavirus restrictions.

They have received more than 6,000 in donations for Cancer Research UK and raised another 1,300 with a raffle of vouchers for treatments at the salon, which can be redeemed when it is safe to

re-open.

Mrs Virgo-Harris, 48, said: We wanted to draw something positive from Marions experience because shes such a strong person and its all about making the best of what happens.

However, Im not a runner so any kind of sporting challenge was out of the question. In the end we thought a shave was fitting because lots of people do that for Cancer Research UK.

It can be very emotional to lose your hair and its much easier to shave it off than see it coming out in stages on the pillow or in your hands.

We did a little video explaining our plans and got a huge response, which was really pleasing. My clients have smashed it out of the park and were incredibly thankful to them. Id hoped for 1,000 and prayed for 3,000 so to get more than double our highest expectations is unbelievable.

Its not just about the donations, though, but the emotional support. It has been touching and uplifting to have so many people showing us love.

The shave itself was fun and I didnt feel nervous. I was pretty excited and glad to do whatever I could to help Marion. We had a good laugh together and thats what its really about.

It was also a pretty novel experience for Theo because  well, how often does a teenager get to shave their mums head?

She said her hair was growing back surprisingly quickly but she is considering keeping it short in future.

She said: Ive always had a cropped style and never kept my hair that long anyway, but its nice not to have to wash it so often.

Ive had to pop to the salon a few times and I wore a hat every time because it has been so cold.

The business has been awarded a 4,000 government grant to furlough its staff until the end of April.

To make a donation, visit

fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/

page/marions-giving-page-65
The Telegraph

The Duke of Sussex has spoken about the shame that people sometimes feel when their loved ones reveal they are suffering with mental health problems. Prince Harry was co-hosting The Me You Can't See: A Path Forward, a virtual town hall that featured discussion of mental health issues with experts from around the world. It comes after he discussed his own anxiety, therapy and coping techniques for the series, which debuted last week. As parents and as siblings theres an element of shame that we feel because were like How could we not have seen it? How did we not know? How did you not feel comfortable enough to come to me and share that with me?" the Duke said. But we all know that, when people are suffering or struggling, that were all incredibly good at covering it up. Earlier in the series, Prince Harry spoke extensively about his struggles with mental health and his disconnect with his familys attitudes to the subject. In the town hall, he also said that social norms make it harder for people to talk about their issues. We live in a society where were willing to accept that suffering is so much a part of life, he said. But weve created a society where were almost forbidding, or making it hard for people to talk about and share that suffering. The Duke also spoke about his adverse childhood experiences in an emotional discussion with Zak Williams, the son of Hollywood star Robin, who died from suicide in 2014.
[January 25, 2021] MARC SCHESSEL TRANSITIONING TO SCWORX CONSULTANT ROLE

Mr. Schessel Stepping Back From Role As CEO To Support Company In New Capacity NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SCWorx, Corp. announced today that Marc Schessel is stepping back from his role as Chief Executive Officer to focus his efforts on supporting the companys data strategies in a new capacity as a consultant. As founder and CEO of SCWorx, Mr. Schessel has worked tirelessly for the advancement and growth of the company, customer base, and product offering, including during the unprecedented circumstances of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Schessel is an industry expert on healthcare supply chain and he will continue to assist SCWorx on a daily basis in his new role as consultant, using his unique expertise to further grow the companys business. SCWorx President and Chief Operating Officer, Tim Hannibal, will continue to lead the company during the transition. I would like to thank our employees and subcontractors for their dedication to the success of SCWorx and in the support of our hospital customers during these trying times, Mr. Schessel stated. I have complete confidence in Tims vision and direction for the future of the company and I will still have a very active role in development and advancement of the companys data management software and business strategy. My new role as consultant will allow me to focus on the advancement and further development of the companys core product offering, while providing me more time to use my skills to further integrate the software solution into new verticals. I am focused on growing the business and excited for whats to come. bout SCWorx Corp.



SCWorx has created an advanced attributed virtualized item data warehouse utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer a suite of software-as-a-service based solutions for healthcare providers. The value proposition for customers revolves around full integration of all solution modules with the companys data platform. The solution modules include Virtual Item Master, data cleanse and normalization, contract management and request for pricing (RFP) module, automated rebate management module, data interoperability (EMR, MMIS, finance) module, Automated Item Add Portal, Virtual General Ledger, and the data analytics module. SCWorx creates a single source for information for the healthcare providers data governance and analytics requirements. Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties for purposes of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding strategy, future operations, future contract renewals and terminations, future financial position, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. You can identify many (but not all) such forward-looking statements by looking for words such as assumes, approximates, believes, expects, anticipates, estimates, projects, seeks, intends, plans, could, would, may or other similar expressions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on managements current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results and performance could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including, without limitation, early termination of agreements, securing future contracts and orders, future product sourcing, supply disruptions, containing costs, the ability to project future cash utilization and reserves needed for contingent future liabilities and business operations, the availability of sufficient resources of the company to meet its business objectives and operational requirements and other important factors that are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by SCWorx, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Matters described in forward-looking statements may also be affected by other known and unknown risks, trends, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the companys ability to control or predict. SCWorx undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact: Investor Relations

ir@scworx.com Source: SCWorx Corp. Released January 25, 2021



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INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  As Indianas Republican-dominated Legislature returned to session, nearly a dozen bills drafted by GOP legislators have sparked debate in the Statehouse over where to draw the line between public health and personal freedom.

In the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 9,000 in Indiana, lawmakers face contention over emergency health orders, school and business closures, vaccine requirements and other protocols spurred by COVID-19. In question is whether such precautions are necessary to stem the spread of the virus or infringements on rights.

"Theres a majority of the House and Senate in Indiana that like personal freedom and personal choice," said Republican Sen. Dennis Kruse, who has authored or co-authored three bills. I dont think that government should be in charge of health care, or intervening in health care in our lives, for the most part.

One measure up for consideration, introduced by Kruse, would prohibit Indiana employers from requiring workers to get immunizations against COVID-19 or any other disease. Workers could decline vaccinations for medical, religious or reasons of personal conscience. They would also be allowed to sue an employer that required immunizations as a condition of employment.

Many of those who support the bill said it's necessary to protect personal freedom, with Kruse noting its intention is to stop the trend of employers or government telling me what to do with my body."

Leah Wilson, executive director of Stand for Health Freedom, a not-for-profit dedicated to protecting parental rights, said any vaccination mandate would be immoral and unethical.

People should be able to decide for themselves whether to get vaccinated, said Ashley Grogg, a nurse and founder of Hoosiers for Medical Liberty. The group  which advocates for legislation against employer-mandated vaccines  was one of several who worked with Kruse to draft the legislation.

The Constitution says that the individual comes first, and I think everybody should be allowed to make an informed decision, Grogg said. You need to be able to understand what youre signing up for, what the risks are, and what the true benefits are, and be able to say no' if you choose.

But several health and business organizations, including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, have spoken against the bill. They said it could make workplaces unsafe, including hospitals and nursing homes, where people work closely together, and peoples immunization systems are at risk.

We know that we have a duty to provide a safe workplace for our employees, said Mike Ripley, the chambers vice president for health care and employment law. Most employers are not going to mandate vaccinations, Ripley continued, but there are settings where it makes sense.

The Indiana Immunization Coalition is also very concerned about the bill's implications on all vaccines, not just those specific to COVID-19, said Patrick Glew, the coalition's operations coordinator.

This would set a precedent for all vaccines, all around the state, setting us up for outbreaks, which are extremely costly, Glew said. If you do not have to get a vaccine for these as a hospital worker, as a doctor, as a nurse, as somebody else who works in healthcare, youre not only making decisions for yourself, youre making a decision for everybody else that you treat. Youre putting them at risk, which is horrible."

Republican Sen. Jean Leising  who called herself "a big personal freedom person"  said that while she thought the COVID-19 vaccine should be voluntary, she's doing everything in (her) power to encourage others to get inoculated.

I think it should be a choice, she said. But I see myself as having a responsibility to educate people and promote this vaccine.

Of greater concern to the southeastern Indiana senator, however, is how lawmakers will respond to the hardships of the pandemic on businesses. In her mostly rural, southeastern Indiana district, small businesses have been hit very hard by COVID-19, with many required by state or local mandates to close for weeks or months, and some forced to close permanently.

Many of her constituents felt those restrictions were overboard, Leising said, and business owners have been left with too little recourse.

Those frustrations are what Leising said prompted 35 GOP senators, herself included, to sponsor the senate bill, which would establish a process for business owners to appeal local health orders or enforcement actions. Other measures would further provide civil immunity to businesses whose workers or consumers get sick or die from the virus.

It should be a personal choice how much people expose themselves, whether at restaurants, stores, the dry cleaners, Leising said. And with more immunity and a clearer process to push back on local (health) orders, I think businesses might not feel so afraid to stay open.

Up for debate, too, is whether to roll back the governors authority to issue emergency restrictions.

Several proposals aim to amend Indiana law that allows the governor to declare a public emergency  like the health emergency issued by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in March to stem coronavirus spread  for 30 days. Currently, theres no limit on how many times an order can be renewed. Holcomb's order, which he has used to issue the statewide mask mandate and order the closure of businesses deemed nonessential during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, has been renewed nearly a dozen times.

One bill, authored by House majority leader Rep. Matt Lehman, would limit state of emergency orders to 30 days. To renew the order, the governor would have to call a special session and get approval from lawmakers.

As a legislator I think we should have been more engaged in the process, figuring out how to respond to this pandemic, and certainly more involved in how some of the money Indiana got from the federal government was spent," Leising said. "We want to make sure thats the case moving forward.

___

Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

The funeral of His Excellency Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings will commence today (Sunday, January 24, 2021) with a Catholic Requiem Mass at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra.

The Mass offered for the repose of the soul of a deceased person will be between 2 pm and 4 pm today. It is the first event on a four-day funeral schedule.



The mass will be followed by a vigil at the Air Force Officers Mess near the El-Wak Stadium at 6 pm.



The former President will be laid-in-state at the Accra International Conference Centre for two days from Monday, January 25, 2021, to Tuesday, January 26, 2021.



His family will receive the body (Private) at 5 am on Monday before groups including Heads of Security Agencies, politicians, traditional/religious leaders as well as the general public will file past between 8 am to 6 pm.



On Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo, the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, former heads of state and heads of constitutional bodies, the Speaker of Parliament and former Speakers will also pay their respects to the late first President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana between 9 am to 3.30 pm.



At 3.30 pm on the same day, traditional and customary rites will be performed for the former President.



On the final day of the funeral on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, his state funeral will be held at the Black Star Square. The burial service will commence at 9.10 am.



His Excellency Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings died on Thursday, November 12, 2020.



He left behind a wife, former First Lady Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and four children; Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Amina Rawlings, Yaa Asantewaa Rawlings and Kimathi Rawlings.







Source: Graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Sosyalist Esitlik (Socialist Equality Group, SEG) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Turkey held an online meeting January 17 titled Amid the global breakdown of democracy, the way forward for the Bogazici University protests, to discuss ongoing student protests in the country. It was chaired by Ulas Atesci, a leader of the SEG and writer for the World Socialist Web Site, and several IYSSE supporters addressed the event.

Most importantly, it was an international meetingfeaturing Joseph Kishore, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (US), and Peter Schwarz, secretary of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)that took place shortly after the attempted fascist coup on January 6 in Washington. The recording of the livestream is available here.

Kishore spoke from Detroit, underlining the global character of the attack on democratic rights, the catastrophic response of the governments to the coronavirus pandemic, falling living standards and rising inequality. He raised the necessity for the international unity of workers and youth all over the world in a common struggle.

A student protest at the Bogazici University, Istanbul, January 4, 2021. (WSWS media)

In his contribution, Kishore reviewed the situation in the United States over the past two weeks and the details of Trumps coup attempt. He exposed the reactionary role of Democrats, who are doing everything they can to cover up the extent of the conspiracy.

Kishore explained that the greatest fear of the Democrats is the emergence of a movement of the working class against Trumps coup attempt that will develop into a conflict with the entire ruling class and the capitalist system.

He went on to expose the campaign of Bernie Sanders, who by his orientation to the Democratic Party represents a type of left politics that is universal and explained that the outcome of his campaign has in fact been a further shift to the right.

Exposing the reactionary character of identity politics, which claims that the fundamental social division is not class, but race and gender, Kishore said: Racial politics is a particular form of national politics  It is aimed at dividing workers, pitting one race against another, one nationality against another. It is reactionary and must be opposed relentlessly.

In his conclusion, Kishore underlined the significance of understanding that there is deep opposition within the working class of the United States to the entire reactionary framework of American politics. There are two Americas, he said. It is not white America and black America, however. It is the America of Wall Street, the Pentagon, the CIA, the oligarchy, on the one hand, and the America of the working class on the other.

Emphasizing that the United States will not descend into fascism without enormous social explosions and opposition, he concluded his remarks with a strong call: A new political movement must be built, rooted in the lessons of history and aimed at the conquest of political power by the working class throughout the world and the abolition of the capitalist system.

The other international speaker, Peter Schwarz, explained the international context of the student protests. Noting that a coup attempt is taking place in the United States, the so-called leading nation of the Western world, demonstrates that we are dealing with an international development.

He explained: Authoritarian or openly fascist rulers were already in power in a number of major countriesBolsonaro in Brazil, Duterte in the Philippines, Orban in Hungary, Kaczynski in Poland. This move towards authoritarian forms of rule has already expanded to Western European countries such as Spain, France, Italy and, of course, Germany.

Explaining the rise of far-right and fascist forces in these countries, he asked: What is the reason for this worldwide shift to the right by the ruling class and the collapse of democracy? He explained, The only possible answer is that the crisis of capitalism has developed to such an extent that is no longer compatible with democracy.

Schwarz also stressed that the pandemic has accelerated this development: While two million people died of the coronavirus worldwide, the enrichment of the financial oligarchy continued unchecked.

He explained that these facts make clear that the defense of democratic rights, as well as the social rights of the working class, is only possible within the framework of a socialist program that aims to overthrow capitalism and build a socialist society.

Schwarz made clear that the ICFIs practice over the past year clearly demonstrated the strength of its historical foundations and the power of the Marxist method. From the earliest stages of the pandemic, it warned of the global danger, exposed the conspiracies of the ruling elites, and advanced a program and perspective for the working class to stop the deadly virus. There is not a single publication in the world whose coverage of the pandemic compares to that of the World Socialist Web Site .

He concluded his remarks by urging the audience to read the World Socialist Web Site, study the history of ICFI and participate in the building of its Turkish section.

The main feature of the meeting was its international character, in both its participants and perspective, underlining the close collaboration between the ICFI and the SEG in Turkey.

This international and socialist perspective informed the contributions from Turkey. In his opening remarks, Ulas Atesci explained the international character of mass protests against antidemocratic measures, police violence and social inequality, especially after the ruling elites homicidal response to the pandemic.

Developing under conditions where the global crisis of capitalism has deepened with the pandemic, this movement has shown the social force that students and young people should turn tothe international working class. Because the working class is the only social force that can defend democratic rights and defeat the ruling class drive to dictatorship on the basis of an international and socialist perspective, Atesci said.

He also pointed out that the conditions driving the ruling class to dictatorship and authoritarianism in the US, the center of world capitalism, were not unique to the US, but global.

Under conditions of intensification of the class struggle with the aggravating impact of the pandemic and uncontrollable levels of social inequality and anger, the ruling classes of all countries turn to authoritarian regimes to defend their interests against the overwhelming majority of society, that is, the working class and youth.

It was necessary to place the crisis of the authoritarian political structure under the leadership of President Erdogan and the developing social protest in this framework.

It is moreover crucial to build an independent political movement of the working class and youth, hostile to the bourgeois opposition led by the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) as well as the Kurdish nationalist Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), who aim to install a new government more openly aligned with the NATO imperialist powers in the interests of Turkish and Kurdish bourgeoisie.

Atesci concluded his remarks by stating that the way forward for the Bogazici University protests and the student movement in general is to orient politically towards the working class and participate in the struggle for the development of a revolutionary socialist alternative independent of all establishment parties. This means joining the building of the Socialist Equality Party in Turkey as a section of the International Committee of the Fourth International.

After this introduction, IYSSE supporters from several universities, including Bogazici, Bursa Uludag and Mersin, spoke out. One of them explained the development of protests at Bogazici University and the perspective advanced by the IYSSE, while others focused on the IYSSE and what it is fighting for.

They referred to campaigns waged by the IYSSE at Humboldt University in Germany, for freedom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to oppose the imperialist war drive and back-to-school campaign.

During their remarks, the students explained the international socialist basis of the IYSSE, reflecting its orientation to the international working class on the basis of the strategy of world socialist revolution advanced by the ICFI. The meeting was unique in every aspect and represented another significant step in the building of a section of the ICFI in Turkey.
Here's a look at what was happening in the drinks industry on this day in ...

Here's what was making the drinks news on this day in recent years

Comments from regulators in Europe left some in the food and beverage industry worried about what's ahead for the region's nascent CBD food market. Simon Creasey explored further.

Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits warned it would record a sizeable loss from its operations in 2018.

2018 - Bacardi snaps up Tequila powerhouse Patron

In early-2018, Bacardi upped its holding in Patron, acquiring the high-end Tequila business outright. The transaction resulted in Bacardi taking full control of Patron Spirits International, in a deal that increased the company's enterprise value to US$5.1bn

Anheuser-Busch InBev offered voluntary redundancy to management in South Africa as the group sought to restructure operations in the country following its takeover of SABMiller.

Kirin's Australian unit, Lion, discontinued its draught beer system Tap King in another blow for attempts to induce consumer demand for at-home kegs.

2015 - Crown Royal whiskey to hit UK as Diageo inks distribution deals

Diageo looked to grow five of its smaller brands in the UK after signing distribution agreements with Marblehead and Catalyst Brands.

In Ian Buxton's first comment piece of 2014, the spirits category commentator considered what the first big M&A transaction of the year could mean in the Scotch whisky industry.

2013 - BrewDog plans to target US

BrewDog announced plans to significantly up the distribution of its beers in the US, while looking to open bars in Brazil and Belgium.

2012 - Kingway Brewery eyes sale on weak profits

Kingway Brewery said was considering selling all or part of its business in 2012, offering multinational brewers an opportunity to increase their scale in China's growing beer market.

Moet Hennessy owner LVMH had a EUR300m (US$407m) bid for Remy Cointreau's Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck Champagne business rejected as a group of Champagne houses pursued the division.

For further details on how to subscribe to just-drinks, click here
SCHENECTADY  After a self-review, the panel overseeing police misconduct in Schenectady has proposed a series of internal reforms.

The Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) unanimously wants to scrap its current recruitment process in which community organizations nominate members to sit on the nine-member body, a measure that has led to extended vacancies.

The board also unanimously agreed that their independent investigatory powers should be expanded, a reform vice chair Carl Williams previously acknowledged was met with mixed reception within the group.

At present, materials are provided by city police, and the panel must rely on City Councils subpoena power for any additional information. The board wants the ability to request and schedule time to view personnel complaint investigatory source material like body-worn camera footage and recorded phone conversations.

And they also want more training for new members; to tighten up announcements for monthly and special meetings and, while not unanimous, want to revise the complaint form submission deadline from the current 45-day limit to six months.

Yet the citizen-led panel is split on other areas governing operations, which mostly reviews discourtesy claims.

The group investigates complaints using a double-blind system, which means they are not privy to the identity of the officer or person making the complaint. It is split 4-3 on whether they should be granted access to that information, as well as other investigatory source material.

Theyre also divided on whether city police should make personnel files available upon written request from the CPRB and its leadership.

The proposals come as law enforcement agencies nationwide are reviewing policy following last summers protests nationwide against police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of the death of several Black people at the hands of police. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in June ordered police departments statewide to reform their policies with community input by April 1 at the risk of losing state funding.

The panel guiding the local process, formally dubbed the Schenectady Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative, completed a series of panel discussions last November.

Our board decided to work together independently of the Collaborative to propose a set of improvements that might serve as a basis for government discussion and action, said CPRB Chairman Dick Shave.

Fine-tuning oversight efforts

Yet reform of the previously low-profile panel is caught in additional crosswinds reshaping policing in the Electric City.

Joining the state-mandated process is a push by a city council member who says oversight of the panel rests entirely under the City Council, and that reforms can be made unilaterally outside of the process, which will ultimately result in a package of reforms presented to lawmakers for ratification this spring.

I think we should be working simultaneously, Councilwoman Marion Porterfield said. Were getting closer and closer to our deadline and we really need to be prepared.

Porterfield first started prodding lawmakers to familiarize themselves with the panels bylaws in July, and to be well-versed in its operations ahead of any changes ahead of the April 1 deadline.

City Council has power to act outside of the process, Porterfield said, citing the community advisory board unilaterally created by the city Police Department to vet recruits.

Porterfield criticized her colleagues for what she perceived as a lackadaisical response, citing the lack of feedback she received to an email she fired off ahead of Mondays meeting outlining different models of independent oversight of police review boards.

Ive asked and asked and have received zero feedback on this particular topic, and I find that very disappointing, Porterfield said, citing a request for discussion last summer that was met with silence.

Council members previously said they were wary of conducting what could be perceived as a parallel effort to the state process, which is guided by a steering committee of several dozen community stakeholders, including clergy, neighborhood leaders and residents, that meet biweekly.

Council President John Mootooveren said he aimed to combine some changes floated by Porterfield with those presented by the CPRB into a single vote.

Nearly 200 community members from 88 organizations participated in the moderated panel discussions.

Areas of consensus include the need for a more diverse police force, more foot patrols, boosted training for officers, deeper community engagement, a shift away from police responding to mental health calls and a more transparent and independent CPRB.

The Albany-based John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety is now crunching data and public feedback from those sessions, and will present specific policy proposals to Mayor Gary McCarthy and Police Chief Eric Clifford for review.

Council members Carmel Patrick and Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas said they preferred to wait for that report before weighing any changes to the CPRB.

I dont think we have sufficient information to go forward with legislation as of yet, Zalewski-Wildzunas said. I think we need to hear all of the information thats being gathered so that we can make an informed decision and not jump the gun, basically.

McCarthy expects Finn to release their findings in late February or early March.

People shouldnt look to do intra-maneuvering on this, McCarthy said. Theres a lot of good ideas. Theres a lot of energy in the committee, and within the community were moving forward on this.

Finn is also readying an online survey asking residents to chime in on the city police department that will be folded into the broader package.

"Once that data is collected and combined with a summary of the conversations, it will be transposed into a report that will then be considered for potential changes or reforms, said Police Chief Eric Clifford.

Outgoing city Councilman Ed Kosiur, who will retire Saturday, said the CPRB may want to consider hiring an executive director, providing funding is made available, and acknowledged the Council has slipped in asking them to provide regular reports.

Sometimes its our fault for not placing this on the agenda, but I think its very critical that this council continues to be informed of what is really happening and the cases that are brought before this review board, Kosiur said.

Mootooveren said the panel will now be required to provide quarterly reports.
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - PlantX Life Inc. (CSE: VEGA) (Frankfurt: WNT1) (OTCQB: PLTXF) ("PlantX" or the "Company") is pleased to announce today that its common shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement through The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") in the United States. The Company's common shares are quoted in the United States on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol "PLTXF."

DTC is a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, a United States company that manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly-traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through DTC are considered "DTC eligible." This electronic method of clearing securities speeds up the receipt of stock and cash and thus accelerates the settlement process for investors and brokers, enabling the stock to be traded over a much wider selection of brokerage firms.

In addition to trading in the United States on the OTCQB Venture Market, the Company's common shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the symbol "VEGA" and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "WNT1."

"We are thrilled with obtaining DTC eligibility, as it represents an important step forward in increasing liquidity, broadening our shareholder base and building a strong presence for our company within the US capital markets sphere", said Julia Frank, PlantX CEO.

About PlantX Life Inc.

As the digital face of the plant-based community, PlantX's platform is the one-stop-shop for everything plant-based. With its fast-growing category verticals, the Company offers customers across North America more than 10,000 plant-based products. In addition to offering meal and indoor plant deliveries, the Company currently has plans underway to expand its product lines to include cosmetics, clothing and its own water brand  but the business is not limited to an e-commerce platform. The Company uses its digital platform to build a community of likeminded consumers and, most importantly, provide education. Its successful enterprise is being built and fortified on partnerships with top nutritionists, chefs and brands. The Company eliminates the barriers to entry for anyone interested in living a plant-based lifestyle and thriving in a longer, healthier and happier life.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For additional information, please contact:

Alexandra Hoffman

Chief Marketing Officer

(323)536-7973

[email protected]

The Company website is http://investor.PlantX.com/.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking information"). All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "likely," "should," "would," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "potential," "proposed," "estimate," "believe" or the negative of these terms; or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof; or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen; or by discussions of strategy. The forward-looking information contained herein includes, without limitation, statements regarding benefits of DTC eligibility, including liquidity and accessibility.

By its nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate; that assumptions may not be correct; and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this press release including, without limitation: the Company's ability to comply with applicable governmental regulations including all applicable food safety laws and regulations; impacts to the business and operations of the Company due to the COVID-19 epidemic; a limited operating history; the ability of the Company to access capital to meet future financing needs; the Company's reliance on management and key personnel; competition; changes in consumer trends; foreign currency fluctuations; and general economic, market or business conditions. Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company's continuous disclosure documents, which have been filed on SEDAR and can be accessed at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this press release and is based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations and opinions of management on the date such forward-looking information is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

Corporate Communications:

InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com

310.299.1717 Office

[email protected]

SOURCE PlantX Life Inc.

Related Links

https://plantx.com/


Attack on CRPF jawans in Jammu and Kashmir: One martyred, four injured in terror attack

Republic Day 2021: CRPF bags highest 73 bravery medals including Kirti Chakras

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: The country's largest paramilitary force CRPF has been bestowed with the highest number of 73 gallantry medals for undertaking counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir and in various Maoist violence affected states. It also earned four Kirti Chakras announced by the Ministry of Defence, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) said in a statement.

Inspector Pintu Kumar Singh, head constable Shyam Narain Singh Yadava and constable Vinod Kumar of the 92nd battalion have been posthumously decorated with the Kirti Chakra, the second highest peacetime gallantry medal.

The three laid down their lives in a fierce gunfight with terrorists that raged for almost 34 hours in Jammu-Kashmir''s Kupwara in February 2019. Two foreign terrorists were killed in this gun battle that claimed the lives of five security forces personnel, including two from JK police''s special operations group (SOG).

Deputy Commandant Rahul Mathur, who was grievously wounded during a counter-terrorist operation in Batmaloo, Srinagar in September last year has also been awarded with the Kirti Chakra, the force said.

The officer, chief of its house intervention team in the Kashmir Valley, was under treatment at the 92 base hospital for about 10 days after he was shot twice in the chest and abdomen during this action. He is "back in action" now and has resumed duty, a senior officer said.

A medals' tally released by the Union home ministry showed that the force has been decorated with the highest Presidents'' Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG), posthumously for Assistant Sub Inspector Mohan Lal who was killed during the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, while rest of the medals are in the second-highest category of Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG).

Padma Awards 2021: Check full list of winners here

Jammu and Kashmir Police received 52 police gallantry medals followed by 20 by the Border Security Force, 17 by the Delhi Police and 13 by Maharashtra Police and others.

Out of the 69 police bravery decorations earned by the CRPF, 61 medals have been given to troops who displayed courage and dedication to duty in the Jammu-Kashmir theatre, while the rest came from operations undertaken in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states.

"It is a moment of great pride for the entire force that the grateful nation has bestowed their love on us and has honoured the gallantry and valour of our bravehearts with a total of 73 gallantry medals on this Republic Day.

"We salute the bravery and selfless devotion to duty of ASI Mohan Lal who has been awarded with PPMG posthumously," CRPF Director General A P Maheshwari said.

The chief of the about 3.25 lakh personnel strong force said such decorations give an "immense boost to the morale of the force personnel" and paid his tributes to the three troops who were awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously and Deputy Commandant Mathur for undertaking a successful operation.

Among the PMG recipients are two officers in the deputy inspector general (DIG) rank, Komal Singh and P C Jha.

Singh has received his second bravery medal this time for "displaying conspicuous gallantry in the face of adversity" during an action against Maoists in Chhattisgarh''s Bijapur district in June, 2015.

Jha has been awarded for an operation of September, 2018 in Jammu where the CRPF killed three foreign terrorists in a joint operation with other security forces.

The citation said Jha and his troops displayed "indomitable fighting spirit and devotion to duty in the face of clear and imminent death".

The CRPF, raised in 1939, is designated as the lead internal security force of the country and forms the core team of counter-terrorist forces deployed in JK, including the Army and the UT police.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 22:10 [IST]
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 -- Scientists at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have for the first time quantified how warming coastal waters are impacting individual glaciers in Greenland's fjords. Their work is the subject of a study published recently in Science Advances.

Working under the auspices of the Oceans Melting Greenland mission for the past five years, the researchers used ships and aircraft to survey 226 glaciers in all sectors of one of Earth's largest islands. They found that 74 glaciers situated in deep, steep-walled valleys accounted for nearly half of Greenland's total ice loss between 1992 and 2017.

Such fjord-bound glaciers were discovered to be the most subject to undercutting, a process by which warm, salty water at the bottom of the canyons melts the ice from below, causing the masses to break apart more quickly than usual. In contrast, the team found that 51 glaciers positioned in shallower gullies experienced less undercutting and contributed only about 15 percent of the total ice loss.

"I was surprised by how lopsided it was. The biggest and deepest glaciers are undercut much faster than the smaller glaciers in shallow fjords," said lead author Michael Wood, a post-doctorate researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who began this research as a doctoral student at UCI. "In other words, the biggest glaciers are the most sensitive to the warming waters and those are the ones really driving Greenland's ice loss."

The study highlighted the dynamic whereby deeper fjords allow the intrusion of warmer ocean water than shallow ones, hastening the process of undercutting with some of Greenland's largest glaciers.

Greenland is home to one of Earth's only two ice sheets, the largest being Antarctica's. The ice in Greenland is more than two miles (three kilometers) thick in places. At the edges of the land mass, the vast glaciers extending from the ice sheet travel slowly down valleys like icy conveyor belts, which inch into the fjords and then melt or break off as icebergs. The ice is replenished by snowfall that is compressed over time into the ice pack.

If the ice sheet were in balance, the amount of snow accumulating on the top would roughly equal the ice lost from melt, evaporation and calving - chunks breaking free from anchored masses and floating off into the ocean.

But the ice sheet has been out of balance since the 1990s. Melt has accelerated and calving has increased, causing glaciers that extend into the sea to retreat back toward land. Together, these are resulting the ice sheet shrinkage.

According to the research team, the build-up of warm salty water at the bottom of fjords has been accelerated by increasing temperatures in the summer months, which heat the surfaces of glaciers, creating pools of meltwater. This liquid leaks through cracks in the ice to form subsurface freshwater rivers which flows into the sea where it interacts with salty water beneath fjords.

Glacier meltwater is free of salt, so it is lighter than seawater and rises to the surface as a plume, dragging up warm water and putting it in contact with the bottoms of glaciers. Fjord depth is a fairly immutable factor, but other factors such as seawater temperature and the amount of meltwater from glaciers surfaces are greatly impacted by climate warming. All three factors combine to cause accelerated deterioration of Greenland's ice sheet, the researchers said.

As the water temperature around Greenland's coastline is predicted to continue to increase in the future, these findings suggest that some climate models may underestimate glacial ice loss by at least a factor of two if they do not account for undercutting by a warm ocean.

The study also lends insight into why many of Greenland's glaciers never recovered after an abrupt ocean warming between 1998 and 2007, which caused an increase in ocean temperature by nearly 2 degrees Celsius. Although ocean warming paused between 2008 and 2017, the glaciers had already experienced such extreme undercutting in the previous decade that they continued to retreat at an accelerated rate.

"We have known for well over a decade that the warmer ocean plays a major role in the evolution of Greenland glaciers," said OMG deputy principal investigator Eric Rignot, also of JPL and UCI. "But for the first time, we have been able to quantify the undercutting effect and demonstrate its dominant impact on the glacier retreat over the past 20 years."

###

In addition to funding from NASA, this research received support from the National Science Foundation, the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the French National Research Agency.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www. uci. edu .

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.

In 2019, the worlds rarest turtle suffered a staggering loss. The last known female of the species, Swinhoes softshell turtle, died after an artificial insemination procedure at the Chinese zoo where she and her mate lived. This left the confirmed tally for the species at just two individuals: the male in China, plus one individual of unknown sex in a lake in Vietnam.

There may still be hope for the species. Conservationists and veterinarians recently announced that the Vietnamese turtle is a female. At the same time, exhaustive hunts for other surviving Swinhoes softshell turtles in Vietnam have verified at least two other promising leads.

This is very big news in Vietnam, said Hoang Bich Thuy, the country director for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Even people who dont work in conservation, my friends and family, saw it on national TV and were like, Oh! Theres new hope!

Swinhoes softshell turtles, which can weigh more than 370 pounds, be more than 6-feet long and live for over 100 years, hold a special cultural significance in Vietnam, where they are known as Hoan Kiem  returned sword  turtles. In the 15th century, a well-known folk tale goes, Vietnams king, Le Loi, used a magical sword to defeat the Ming dynasty army. When the battle was over, the king gave the sword to a turtle god in Hoan Kiem lake in central Hanoi.
Time to end IUU fishing in Sri Lankan waters By Steve Creech View(s): View(s):

This was inevitable: the unnecessary loss of, not one, but four lives due to illegal fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers in Sri Lankan waters.

What is really shocking about the deaths this week is that, despite numerous promises and twelve years after the end of the civil conflict, the Government of India has failed to deliver alternative fishing opportunities to Tamil Nadu trawler owners and Sri Lankas small scale fishermen are still protesting about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by Indian vessels in Sri Lankan waters.

Media reports said three Tamil Nadu fish workers and one Sri Lankan refugee working on board died this week when a Tamil Nadu trawler fishing within sight of Delft Island resisted arrest by a Sri Lanka Navy patrol craft. The patrol craft was damaged by the Tamil Nadu trawler. The trawler then sank.

This was not the first time that a Tamil Nadu trawler had attempted to ram a Sri Lanka Navy patrol craft. In 2014, then Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera experienced firsthand the premeditated aggression of Tamil Nadu trawler skippers, when a Tamil Nadu trawler tried to ram and sink the patrol vessel he was aboard in the seas of Kankesanthurai. Hopefully, this will be the last time.

The Government of India through its External Affairs Ministry may well express its shock at the loss of lives, issue a demarche to the Sri Lankan Acting High Commissioner in New Delhi and lodge a strong protest at Sri Lankas Foreign Ministry but whence cometh the shock and why the protest?

According to small-scale fishermens leaders in the North, hundreds of trawlers from Rameshwaram, Thondi, Kodikarai and Nagapatinam cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between Sri Lanka and India in the Bay of Bengal, the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evening.

The number of Tamil Nadu trawlers engaged in IUU fishing in Sri Lankan waters had decreased significantly since the end of the conflict in 2009, when more than 1,500 vessels a day were sighted by the Sri Lanka Navy. The number of IUU fishing trips made by Tamil Nadu trawlers has decreased from 40,000 per year to around 4,000. But just one Tamil Nadu trawler was enough to destroy the nets and livelihoods of small-scale Sri Lanka fishermen.

Sri Lanka had not given and cannot give permission to fishing vessels and fishermen of India to fish in the historic waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone of Sri Lanka, because there were enough and more Sri Lankan fishermen who depended on these fish resources for their own livelihood and income. Without permission (i.e. a licence), the Tamil Nadu trawlers that cross the IMBL every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evening were fishing illegally in Sri Lankan waters.

Northern Sri Lankan fishermen had made repeated requests to the Indian Government to take meaningful measure to end IUU fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers in Sri Lankan waters. Fishermens leaders went as far as to travel to New Delhi in 2016 to meet with the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to humbly request that the Central Government take appropriate measures to stop the State Government of Tamil Nadu destroying Sri Lankas marine resources and the livelihoods of Sri Lankan fishermen.

The Indian Government has repeatedly upheld the bilateral agreements signed between Sri Lanka and India in 1974 (Palk Bay) and 1976 (Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mannar), which demarcate the IMBL between Sri Lanka and India in accordance with the provisions set out in the United Nations Convention Law of the Seas.

An Exchange of Letters between Indian Foreign Secretary Kewal Singh, and Sri Lankan Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretary W. T. Jayasinghe dated 23 March 1976, contains the following statement The fishing vessels and fishermen of India shall not engage in fishing in the historic waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone of Sri Lanka nor shall the fishing vessels and fishermen of Sri Lanka engage in fishing in the historic waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone of India, without the express permission of Sri Lanka or India, as the case may be.

In 2018 the Sri Lankan Government amended the Fisheries (Regulation of Foreign Fishing Boats) Act of 1976 to address the humanitarian concerns raised by the Indian Government, arising from the indefinite detention without charge of hundreds of Tamil Nadu fishworkers arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy between 2010 and 2017.

Judicious execution of the amended Act by magistrates in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mannar had greatly reduced, if not eliminated, the humanitarian concerns raised by the Indian Government.

If Tamil Nadu fishworkers plead guilty, they were convicted and given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for five years. Convicted fish-workers were then discharged and immediately repatriated by air to Tamil Nadu. Hundreds of Tamil Nadu fishworkers no longer languish pitifully and forgotten in Sri Lankan jails.

(Steve Creech is a freelance fisheries consultant and the director of Pelagikos Private Limited.)


Chinese army is said to have suffered yet another setback in its attempt to alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control at the hands of Indian army soldiers last week. Sources confirm that some Chinese soldiers tried to move into the Indian territory. They were challenged by Indian soldiers and a clash ensued. Despite the hostile weather conditions, the Indian soldiers pushed the Chinese back, India Today reported. In the brawl, 20 odd Chinese suffered injuries, while 4 Indian soldiers also sustained injuries. The exact area where the clash took place is not confirmed. The situation at the point of clash, however, is now said to be stable but tense.

Meanwhile, both the armies also held another round of Corps Commander-level talks on Sunday, with an aim to move forward on disengagement of troops from all friction points in eastern Ladakh, news agency PTI reported. The ninth round of high-level military talks began at around 10 am at Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

The eighth and last round of military talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points. The Indian delegation at talks is being led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps.

India has all along been maintaining that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the mountainous region. The seventh round of Corps Commander-level talks had taken place on October 12 during which China was pressing for withdrawal of Indian troops from a number of strategic heights around the Southern bank of Pangong lake.

However, India insisted that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points. Nearly 50,000 Indian Army troops are currently deployed in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous locations in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero conditions as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded concrete outcome to resolve the standoff.

China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials. Last month, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs. However, no concrete outcome emerged from the talks.

With PTI inputs

Also read: China increases troop deployment along LAC; India to take preemptive action




Industry veteran joins Global Aquaculture Alliance as new COO

Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) has welcomed seafood industry veteran Brian Perkins as the organisation's new chief operating officer, GAA announced on January 18.

Perkins comes to GAA with more than 40 years of seafood-related experience in the certification segment as well as in events and media.

For the past six years, he has acted as regional director of Americas for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the world's leading wild fisheries certification programme.

At MSC, Perkins built a strong team that energised the programme in the Americas region, increasing consumer awareness, the number of MSC-labeled products and the number of participants engaged with the MSC programme. He also established strong working relationships with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and industry.

According to GAA, Perkins comes at a critical time for the organisation as it expands from aquaculture to wild fisheries with the addition of the Seafood Processing Plant Standard Issue 5.0 and the Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard, which is owned by GAA's sister organisation, Global Seafood Assurances.

Over the course of 2021, operations and outputs of GAA and Global Seafood Assurances will merged under an initiative called the Global Seafood Alliance.

In addition to developing and implementing strategies to integrate and transition to the Global Seafood Alliance, Perkins will be responsible for managing Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification programme, including the oversight of the BAP market development team, programme integrity team and certification team.

"The seafood community thrives on trusted personal relationships cultivated and tested over time. It benefits not only when individuals do well by their company, but equally when those individuals contribute to the greater good through their involvement in pre-competitive activities. Brian Perkins' career is an example of the attributes we look for in all our associates, and I am personally delighted that he will be joining us as our COO," said GAA CEO Wally Stevens.

"We're fortunate in that we've had a fruitful working relationship with Brian since his days at Diversified Communications, where he oversaw the company's seafood expositions and publications. He comes with a wealth of knowledge in events and media that will be applied to GAA's activities."

"I am very excited to be joining GAA and to help transition the organisation to the Global Seafood Alliance. This is a unique opportunity to work across both wild and farmed seafood, helping to ensure it is responsibly produced and handled throughout the supply chain. Seafood is critical to the world's food portfolio," said Perkins.

"The concept of filling in the gaps of assurances to include, for example, social responsibility in wild seafood harvesting and processing is the right idea at the right time. I look forward to leveraging my experience and knowledge to help contribute to the development of the sustainable seafood industry."

The COO will be based out of GAA's Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US headquarters, reporting to GAA CEO Wally Stevens.

The new role was added to the organisation with the intent that the COO would transition to CEO in due time.

- GAA
Economists and lawmakers say Americans may start to see a third round of COVID-19 stimulus checks hit their bank accounts by late March or sooner, with the Biden-Harris administration and many in Congress pressing for $1,400 checks to be approved before former President Donald Trumps impeachment trial begins in a few weeks.

President Joe Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion relief package that included $1,400 stimulus checks, funds for vaccine distribution, $350 billion in state and local aid, $170 billion for schools, $35 billion to help local governments boost small businesses, and increased supplemental unemployment insurance from $300 to $400.

Bidens bill will likely go before House members for a vote the first week in February, before Trumps unprecedented second impeachment trial begins. But several lawmakers say the costly plan is unlikely to garner bipartisan support in the Senate, forcing some Democrats and Republicans to suggest alternate plans including a smaller bill focused on stimulus checks and funds for vaccines.

According to Height Securities analyst Hunter Hammond, theres an 85% chance that a scaled-down package including direct checks, small business support and some state and local aid will pass within the first three months of the year, CBS News reported.

Alec Phillips, Goldman Sachs chief U.S. political economist, told CBS he expected a package to pass Congress between mid-February and mid-March. If a deal isnt signed by Biden until late March, checks may not arrive in Americans bank accounts until early April.

When Congress approved a $900 billion stimulus package signed by Trump in December, the deals $600 checks started to arrive within a week in the accounts of Americans who already have their banking information on file with the Internal Revenue Service.

The direct payments of $1,200 approved in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act last March started reaching Americans who received their 2019 tax refund through direct deposit within about two weeks. Stimulus checks were then sent by mail and debit card.

The Biden team is pushing for an expanded definition of eligible dependents, hoping to make payments available to college-age students and disabled adults claimed as dependents. Previous stimulus checks were only issued for dependents 17 and younger.

According to Forbes, the Biden plan may call for a cap of $1,400 checks for dependents, as opposed to the $500 and $600 issued for dependents in the first two rounds of coronavirus aid.

Payments will likely be reduced for Americans earning more than $75,000 or married couples earning $150,000.

Democrats will need at least 10 Republicans to pass a comprehensive package unless they force the presidents plan or a similar one through budget reconciliation  a move tying the COVID-19 bill to the budget process, which could fast-track it without Republican support.

A reconciliation bill only requires a simple majority in the Senate, and with the chamber now at 50-50 between both parties, Vice President Kamala Harris could cast the deciding vote in the case of a tie.

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party, including Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, is calling for recurring $2,000 checks during the pandemic. Markey proposed a package with $2,000 recurring payments along with Sen. Bernie Sanders and then-Sen. Kamala Harris back in May.

Right. We want it because the people need it. These are survival checks. https://t.co/x4n6fiyqdV  Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) January 23, 2021

We hope that our Republican colleagues understand the kind of pain and desperation thats out there and work with us, Sanders told ABC News after Bidens inauguration last week. I have no problem with reaching out to Republicans, I prefer it that way, but if we hear very early on that Republicans do not want to act in a way that meets the needs of working people in this country, or the middle class, sorry, were going to do it alone.

Related Content:
Republic Day violence: Man who assaulted cop with spear among two arrested

Republic Day: Will take out tractor parade on Delhi's outer Ring road, says Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Monday said they will take out their tractor parade on Tuesday morning on Outer Ring Road.

Farmers plan tractor parade on 26th January: what did Delhi police say?|Oneindia News

KMSC general secretary Sarwan Pandher said they have asked the Delhi Police for permission for their rally twice but "nothing has happened so far".

"We will take out our rally on Tuesday at 8 am from the Singhu border," he said. Farmers under the KMSC banner have also been protesting the Centre's three farm laws at Delhi's Singhu border.

On Sunday, the Delhi Police said that the farmers' proposed tractor rally will start after the time period of the Republic Day Celebration has ended.

Barricades and other security arrangements will be removed and the farmers will enter the national capital. Later, they will return to their destinations after covering a "respectable" distance, police had said.
HARRISBURG  The state Department of Corrections has doubled down on its policy not to always inform families of inmates who are sickened or killed by the coronavirus, saying its the responsibility of inmates to ensure their emergency contacts are complete and accurate.

Last month, a Spotlight PA report found that while the department has the power to decide when to release medical information, some family members of those who are incarcerated said they were kept in the dark as their loved ones fell ill and, in some cases, died.

Nonprofit organizations and attorneys point to a waiver issued by the federal government in March that gave hospitals the discretion to release such information to family and friends during a public health emergency. But the department said that waiver doesnt apply to prisons.

In a post to its website this month, the department said it will only release information to a single person listed as an emergency contact, regardless of whether that person is a family member or next of kin, which is the typical process for authorities to notify a family of a death.

So, when you see reports or accounts that an inmates family wasnt notified of an illness or death, this could be the rational explanation, the department wrote, adding that prisoners can fill out additional paperwork to authorize the release of their information to a second person.

For many inmates, however, their emergency contact information is as old as when they received it, which was the day they were imprisoned. And families and prison rights groups said the department is not doing enough to inform prisoners about the importance of updating their information.

If the DOC seeks to follow the procedures that they just posted on their website relating to who is notified in case of a medical emergency, then they should proactively make that information known broadly to every incarcerated person in their care, so that people can plan ahead accordingly, said Su Ming Yeh, executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.

Family perplexed

Briana Hafiz, whose father-in-law, Abdul Rashid Hafiz, is incarcerated at State Correctional Institution-Dallas, Luzerne County, said she and her family have been trying to get information on the status of Abdul since the beginning of the year, when they last heard from him.

They only learned he may have had a stroke through other inmates. When she approached the department, prison officials told her she was not listed as an emergency contact and they would not release any information to her.

We got no specifics on what his cognition level was, or if he was even walking, Briana Hafiz said. The only reason why we knew of the stroke was because a friend of the family also has a father whos an inmate at the prison.

Abdul Hafizs partner, who did not want to be named, said she was listed as his emergency contact when he was first incarcerated over 30 years ago. But the department said she was not the contact now, and it would not tell the family who is listed, if anyone.

When asked about the situation, a DOC spokeswoman, Maria Bivens, said, It would appear in this case, the one person who is the emergency contact for the inmate has not passed on any information to others  we cant control that.

Bivens said inmates have the ability to update their medical forms whenever they want, and the department wont release medical information otherwise, claiming it would violate a federal medical privacy statute, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The only person the DOC can release information to about an inmate is the person the inmate identified, the department posted on its website. This can cause problems when, for example, the inmates girlfriend is the emergency contact. Only she would be notified. The inmates mother, brother, or uncle would not. It depends on who the inmate provided to DOC officials.

In March, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a memo that allowed medical staff to release basic information  location, status of the patient, and treatment  as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The same guidance was issued during Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina.

While some attorneys and nonprofit groups believe that guidance gives the department leeway to be more flexible, others say its a stretch to lump prisons in with hospitals, even if they have medical facilities.

Not enough done

Families of inmates and prisoner advocates said not enough is being done to inform inmates of the need to update forms in case they get the coronavirus. Since March, at least 8,000 inmates among the overall population of 40,000 have contracted COVID-19, with 85 deaths as of Friday.

Those groups also wonder why the department cannot help inmates update medical information, similar to the way it managed federal stimulus checks. In October, the department was praised for passing off paperwork to nearly 40,000 prisoners to register for their money.

If the DOC has shown that they can go cell-to-cell and get important (stimulus) documentation completed, they should be lauded for it, said Claire Shubik-Richards, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, the states unofficial ombudsman for prisoners and their families. That level of competency means they could go cell-to-cell and get people to think about who they want notified, and also afford the opportunity list more than one name.
MADRID, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology services company Lleida.net (BME: LLN) (EPA: ALLLN) (OTCQX: LLEIF) reported 2020 sales of 16.42 million or 20 per cent more than in 2019.

This notable advance in the company's turnover resulted from the boom in its Software as a Service (SaaS) line, which registered an increase of 2.11 million, or 59 per cent, to 5.69 million.

"2020 represented a before and after for the Digital Signature industry and also for Lleida.net. Despite the catastrophic situation caused by COVID-19, the company's performance was the best in its history," explained Sisco Sapena, CEO and founder of the company.

"For 2021, our strategy is to continue to focus on our three pillars: internationalisation, innovation and intellectual property," he added.

This growth was also due to the expansion of its international sales, with significant growth in Colombia or South Africa.

Furthermore, this year, the signing of global agreements, such as those with Emirates Post, and national contracts, such as those with Santander Merchant Services and Indra, were particularly significant.

In the last quarter of the year alone, sales of the SaaS line grew by 107 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year, to 1.97 million euros.

2020 was a year characterised by the changing and accelerating digital behavioural habits of businesses and users. The company posted EBITDA of EUR 2.57 million, up 17 per cent from EUR 2.19 million in the previous year.

Its annual gross margin was 8.015 million euros, almost one million euros more than last year.

Net financial debt continued to decrease.

During the period, the company's workforce grew by 15 per cent to 100. The latest additions have been aimed at boosting international sales, creating a specific European sales department and reinforcing the teams that operate and service, and sell, in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

In 2020, the company was one of the companies whose stock market value grew the most, with a value increase of up to 940%.

During the year, in the stock markets, the firm moved 180 million euros in cash, or 32 million shares, 89 times more than in 2019.

Lleida.net is Europe's leading company in the field of certified electronic notification and contracting.

It holds almost 200 patents within the Digital Signature industry, granted by more than 50 countries on five continents. Its intellectual property portfolio is one of the largest in the sector worldwide.

Today, more than 75 countries recognise the legal validity of its electronic methods as a means of certifying legal notices in procurement processes.

The company is listed on the OTCQX index in New York, Euronext Growth in Paris and BME Growth in Madrid.

The company, which has a market capitalisation of more than 100 million euros, has increased in value by more than nine per cent since the start of 2021.

Contact :

The Paloma Project

Media, rpl@thepalomaproject.com

+356 7946 7486

https://Lleida.net

SOURCE Lleida.net
Another Texan has been arrested and charged for participating in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, weeks after his son reported him to the FBI.

Guy W. Reffitt of Wylie, Texas was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.

CAPITOL ATTACK: Nearly 1 in 5 of Capitol rioters charged so far served in the military

But Reffitt's 18-year-old son Jackson had reported him earlier after Reffitt told his son he was going to do "something big."

I didnt know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side, Jackson Reffitt told the New York Times' Bryan Pietsch.

Jackson Reffitt told investigators that his father came home on Jan. 8 and told his family that "we stormed the Capitol." In an interview with CNN, Jackson Reffitt said he did not know his father was going to Washington D.C. until the day Reffitt left.

Reffitt's son also told investigators that Reffitt had threatened Jackson Reffitt and his sister in the days after the riot, saying, If you turn me in, youre a traitor and you know what happens to traitors... traitors get shot.

FBI investigators identified Reffitt in several videos taken at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He could be seen on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building wearing a blue jacket and a helmet with a GoPro-style camera attached, according to a filing in the District Court for the District of Columbia.

Pietsch reports that federal investigators contacted Jackson Reffitt on Jan. 6 to follow up on the previous tip.

I put my emotions behind me to do what I thought was right, Jackson Reffitt said, Pietsch reports.

Reffitt's wife told federal investigators that Reffitt is a member of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group. Jackson Reffitt also appeared on CNN and discussed how his father had become more active on the internet and involved in the militia group, leading to his participation in the Jan. 6 riot. Reffitt was arrested on Jan. 16.

"I wish I could tell you exactly what [influenced him], but it's been definitely over the past four years that it's grown and just snowballed into what my dad's become now," Jackson Reffitt told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "He's still my father, but he's changed a lot."

His talk will focus on practical steps that payers and providers can take to adapt to the major shifts happening within health care and to transform the American health care system to provide consistently higher-quality and lower-cost care.



Luciana Borio, M.D., who previously worked on President Donald Trump's National Security Council, will open the second day of the conference with a keynote that addresses the impact of COVID-19 in today's health care system.



An adviser on Biden's COVID-19 task force, she will share her experience and knowledge regarding COVID-19, vaccine distribution timeline, and the impact the pandemic has had on health care.



Pediatrician Wendy Sue Swanson, M.D., author of Mama Doc Medicine and a pioneer in the use of the digital space to provide humanistic doctor-patient information, will present a keynote on digital innovations that provide hospital solutions and enhanced patient experience.



She will draw on her experiences as chief of digital innovation for Seattle's Children's Hospital to speak to how the new tech landscape offers innovative opportunities for efficient, yet humanistic, exchange of information in the hospital environment.



Author and health care futurist Ian Morrison will offer a keynote on the future of the health care marketplace.



Morrison will present insights and implications of health care policy based on the new Biden administration, the continued impact of COVID-19, and mega-trends, including artificial intelligence, data analytics, and the intersection of social determinants of health and digitalization.



RISE National, a live streaming virtual event, will take place March 29-30, with pre-conference workshops and a welcome reception on Friday, March 26. Click here to learn more about the conference and to take advantage of the lowest rates available before they expire on Friday, January 29.

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.





SOURCE RISE
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VTech, a world leader in electronic learning products for children, has been named the official "Adopt-the-Pig" sponsor of The Toy Foundation's Toy Bank for 2021. A long-time supporter of The Toy Foundation, VTech's sponsorship includes a $10,000 donation to The Toy Bank, which delivers joy and comfort, through play, to vulnerable children and families.

"VTech's support means everything to us and to the countless children we impact each year," said Elizabeth Max, senior manager of The Toy Foundation. "The funding we receive from VTech will enable us to reach more children in more communities across the nation. They have been a longtime supporter of The Toy Foundation, having donated countless toys over the years, and always show up to lend a hand at our volunteer events. Thank you, VTech, for your sponsorship and ongoing commitment to our cause!"

"We are honored to be the Adopt-the-Pig sponsor for 2021," said Andy Keimach, president of VTech Electronics North America. "We have always supported the important work The Toy Foundation does to provide toys to children in need and hope our expanded partnership can bring even more smiles throughout the year."

VTech has generously donated toys over the years to support The Toy Bank, and has participated in other Foundation programs, including TTF's integral Play Your Part events held in cities nationwide, which bring brand-new toys and a fun-filled "day of play" to vulnerable children.

As TTF's year-round signature giving program, The Toy Bank collects millions of toys from generous toy companies and distributes them to a network of carefully vetted children's charities. Since its inception in 2003, The Toy Bank has provided more than $225 million in toys to more than 26 million children in need across the United States. Currently, TTF's giving supports kids who are severely impacted by COVID-19, coping with serious illness, enduring temporary home placements in the foster care system, living with domestic violence, and/or dealing with natural disasters.

About The Toy Foundation www.toyfoundation.org

The Toy Foundation (TTF) is a 501 (c)3 children's charity whose mission is to provide joy and comfort, through play, to vulnerable children and families. TFF's donations of toys and cash grants represent the charitable works of TTF and the toy industry. Our current giving supports children severely impacted by COVID-19, coping with serious illness, enduring temporary home placements in the foster care system, living with domestic violence, and/or dealing with natural disasters. TTF's Toy Bank has provided $225 million in toys to more than 26 million children in need across the United States thanks to our generous industry donors.

About VTech

VTech is a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children. As a pioneer in the learning toy category, VTech develops high-quality, innovative educational products that enrich children's development and make learning fun. With a rich 40-year history, VTech has not only established itself as a learning authority but also consistently remains at the forefront of innovation with multiple award-winning products, including prestigious Toy of the Year (TOTY) Award winners. The company also has a broad range of award-winning infant, toddler and preschool products available in 28 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. In order to further strengthen VTech's position as a learning authority, new products are developed with critical insights from a dedicated team of in-house learning experts.

VTech Electronics North America, L.L.C. is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. VTech Electronics Limited is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally.

For more information about VTech's electronic learning products, visit www.VTechKids.com,www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.

SOURCE The Toy Foundation
EUGENE, Ore. -- University of Oregon students are on edge after multiple reports of a woman screaming inside of a car near campus.

Police said they were called to the corner of East 13th Ave and Patterson Street just before 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Eugene police said they got a report of a woman who was screaming in a car. The caller said a man approached her and made a shushing gesture and then the screaming stopped.

The Eugene Police Department said their officers were unable to locate both the man and the woman when they arrived. They said they have no reports of a kidnapping in their system.

However, several UO students claim they saw a woman get pushed into a truck without a license plate.

KEZI 9 News spoke to Adam Susman who is a senior at the university. He said students are frightened and tense walking around.

Susman also said many are starting to buy pepper spray and tasers to protect themselves and are afraid to go out alone.

"College-aged girls right now seem to be an easy target that men are trying to take advantage of," Susman said. "It's really scary."

The University of Oregon Police Department sent out a bulletin to students this past week saying they've received two reports of a suspicious man approaching students in their cars and asking for a ride.

On Jan. 21 UOPD received two reports of a suspicious individual approaching UO students, persistently asking for a ride.

The individual in those reports is described as a white male in his late 30s and 40s with a skinny build and receding hairline. He was last seen wearing a dark jacket and jeans.

The first incident involved two female UO students who were parked in a car in a parking lot south of Global Scholars Hall. It occurred on January 18 around 10:30 p.m.

The second incident, on January 20 around 7:30 a.m., involved a male UO student who was parking on Villard Street.

Police have not said those two incidents last week are related to what happened Sunday afternoon. However, students told KEZI the combination of both suspicious incidents are what makes this so unsettling.

UOPD tweeted Sunday night saying theyre aware of the Eugene Police Department taking a report about a woman screaming in a car that caused concern on social media.

There is no indication at this time that a crime was committed or that a UO student was involved, UOPD said.

UOPD said they are in touch with the Eugene Police Department and will actively monitor developments.


A man was killed and another wounded Sunday in a south Houston shooting, according to police.

Houston police said one man was found dead in a car around 8 p.m. in the 5200 block of Reed. A second person was found shot in the car and taken to a hospital. He is expected to survive, police said.
Slamming the Centre's refusal to rollback the Farm Laws, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday, asked why PM Modi had not enquired about the farmers who were protesting at Delhi borders for over 60 days. Addressing the assembled farmers at Mumbai's Azad maidan, he asked if the farmers belonged to Pakistan. Thousands of farmers across Maharashtra have assembled at Mumbai to participate in a rally at the state capital the Centre's three new farm laws.

Maha: Thousands of farmers reach Mumbai for Jan 25 rally

Pawar: 'Are these farmers from Pakistan?'

Braving cold weather, farmers from Punjab, Haryana & Uttar Pradesh are agitating for the last 60 days. Has the PM enquired about them? Do these farmers belong to Pakistan?: NCP chief Sharad Pawar addressing farmers' rally in Mumbai in support of farmers protesting in Delhi pic.twitter.com/cgRp7QruXJ  ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2021

Lashing out Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, he added, "You are going to Raj Bhavan to meet the Governor. Maharashtra has never seen such a Governor before. He has the time to meet Kangana (Ranaut) but not the farmers. It is the moral responsibility of the Governor to come here and meet you."

Farmer leaders make arrangements, issue instructions to ensure peaceful tractor rally

15,000 farmers throng Mumbai

The All India Kisan Sabha's (AIKS) Maharashtra unit in a statement said around 15,000 farmers had set out for the state capital from Nashik on Saturday in several tempos and other vehicles. NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena has backed this movement as NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray and Congress state chief Balasaheb Thorat will be addressing the gathering. On the way, hundreds of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-affiliated factory workers from Igatpuri and Shahapur tehsils welcomed the farmers by showering flowers. The farmers then proceeded towards the Azad Maidan, where the joint sit-in protest by the Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha (SSKM) began on Sunday and will continue till the Republic Day.

The main demands of the protesters include repeal of the three "anti-farmer" laws, and a central law guaranteeing remunerative MSP and procurement. The government has deployed nine platoons of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) apart from 100 officers and 500 constables of the Mumbai police. The protesters have also decided to hoist the national flag at the Azad Maidan on the occasion of the Republic day on January 26, and take a pledge to make the struggle of peasants and workers successful and plan to rally to Raj Bhavans (governor houses) in states.

Congress MP Ravneet Bittu prevented by farmers from joining protest at Singhu border

Centre-Farmers' talk stall

After 11 rounds of Centre-farmer talks, the two parties to reach a middle ground on Friday after a five-hour meeting with the associations refusing to agree to the Centre's proposal for suspending the implementation of the aforesaid legislation for one and a half years. . Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar categorically said that the Union government is ready for another meeting only if the farmers want to discuss this proposal. Meanwhile, the protesting farmers have come to an agreement with the Delhi police to hold their Republic Day tractor rallies beginning from Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders - proceed towards Haryana or Uttar Pradesh before returning back to the starting points. Protests have continued for 62 days till date.

All Punjab AAP MLAs to move to Delhi on January 25 on tractors to support farmers' parade
Alison Alvarez is a master of the business plan competition.

Her expertise grew out of necessity. When she and her co-founder, Tomer Borenstein, founded BlastPoint in 2016, they knew they had a winning business idea: Leverage artificial intelligence to help public utilities, banks, and automotive companies analyze their massive customer lists. In their estimation, most data tools weren't built for salespeople or others who might really benefit from them. Plus, the pair of computer scientists knew their stuff--both had graduate degrees from Carnegie Mellon; Alvarez had also earned her MBA at the University's Tepper School of Business.

But neither had financial resources. "Often you hear about the 'friends and family round,'" comments Alvarez, referring to founders bootstrapping their companies by way of benevolent relatives. She wondered, "If you don't have those, what do you do?"

Alvarez and Borenstein decided to bootstrap the Pittsburgh-based BlastPoint through competitions and grants. Alvarez viewed it as something akin to scholarship applications, which she had grown expert at as a student. She funded both her undergraduate and graduate educations with scholarships.

The strategy worked. In the past four years, the company has won four such competitions, ranging in size from 2017's UpPrize, which came with a $160,000 reward, all the way to a small $2,000 payoff in the GSV Labs AI Pitch competition in 2020.

"We got really good at that as a way to get capital for basic things," says Alvarez. "Like, we need a printer, let's go to a quick pitch competition," referencing how she entered and won TiE Pittsburgh. She notes an additional benefit of her business-competition funding strategy: "Investors show up." At that point, she says, "it becomes less about the money, more about expanding our network," which is key, especially when Covid-19 has made socializing normally so hard.

Here, Alvarez shares a few the tricks she uses to prevail.

Ask to see the judging guidelines.

Competitions often try to make life easy for their judges, who tend to be high profile, busy, and donating their time, by providing them with scoring rubrics. These are handy guides that explain how to weight companies' merits in various categories as they evaluate one application after the next.

It never hurts to ask to see these judges' guidelines ahead of time, suggests Alvarez. "Usually if you ask, they'll just give it to you."

"You should know what rules you're being held to," she says. "And if you do that you'll know how to tailor your presentation to address the whole rubric."

What's more, she says, "they'll also remember your name as someone who had the initiative to reach out."

Small, real stories beat big, vague ideas.

Before entering UpPrize, the social innovation challenge funded by BNY Mellon, Alvarez and Borenstein used an example of a nearby watershed whose director wanted to understand how to balance the needs both rich and poor constituents equitably. Armed with real, quantitative calculations of the benefits--and a portrait of the watershed's executive director--Alvarez had a real-world example to look to. She then explained how her company had the potential to help both nonprofits and companies save money and increase equity, across the nation at scale.

"If you can get just one person to say you actually saved them $100 or a $1,000, it has a lot more impact than if you just said, 'We have the potential to save people millions of dollars,'" she says.

Find a memorable hook.

Even if you have real results and check all the boxes of a winning pitch, there's still a chance your application can get lost in the shuffle.

"Know that you are part of a really big group of people. You might be lucky if judges remember one thing about you," she says. "But know that you have control over what that one thing is."

Put something powerful and memorable in the beginning, middle, and end of your presentation--you never know whether judges might get distracted at some point as you're talking, so hedge your bets. BlastPoint's founders summarized their mission by highlighting the importance of data: "Data enables you to see where you're going and where you've been; without it, you're operating without vision."

Boil your business down to one sentence.

On stage, Alvarez makes all the complex data analysis BlastPoint performs sound clear and easy to remember: "It's big data for human brains," she says. The idea is to make your company easy to talk about during judge's deliberations.
Human rights activists lauded Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisis move to declare a state of emergency over gender violence as a "step in the right direction," but several also urged him to expand the executive order to include all LGBTQ persons.

Pierluisi's executive order, issued Sunday, directs more resources to combating the wave of killings and other violence directed at women and girls in the U.S. territory, including the appointment of a special government representative to oversee the order's execution, a mobile app to request emergency help and the start of a campaign to inform and educate against gender violence.

All violence is repudiated, and we have to tirelessly combat it, Pierluisi said in a news release. Gender violence is a social evil based on ignorance and attitudes that cannot have a space or be tolerated in the Puerto Rico we aspire.

While the governor's executive order includes violence against trans women, two human rights groups on the island urged that the executive order include violence against all LGBT people.

"We must recognize theres a wave of misogynist violence in Puerto Rico and use all the resources necessary to curb it. However, we cant stop there," according to a statement from Puerto Rico Para Tod@s and Human Rights Campaign. "Theres another crisis, very much related, in an unprecedented epidemic of homophobic and transphobic violence."

Pedro Julio Serrano, a well-known LGBTQ human rights activist in the island, called the governor's state of emergency order historic" in a tweet. But he told NBC News on Monday that while it was "a step in the right direction, its important to include everyone."

"There is homophobic and transphobic violence as well that is taking lives away from us," said Serrano. "There needs to be an educational component to all of this.

Earlier this month, a transgender man was found shot to death. He was the seventh known transgender person to be killed in Puerto Rico since last February, according to the Transgender Law Center.

Story continues

Femicides, defined as the intentional killing of women or girls, has gone up recently. According to the Observatory for Gender Equity, there were at least 60 femicides last year in Puerto Rico, which has a population size of just over 3 million.

Last week, a man admitted to recently killing his wife, a 29-year-old nurse, who became the first femicide victim of 2021 on the island. The couple had been together for 16 years and have three daughters.

Advocates said Pierluisis executive order is an important step in combating the violence that has historically plagued the island but has become worse during the pandemic.

Amarilis Pagan, executive director of the social services organization Project Matria, told El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Ricos largest newspaper, that for us its opening a path in the right direction to recognize gender violence, which is different from other kinds of violence and has specific causes.

Puerto Rico is not alone in the region in facing the problem. Latin America and the Caribbean have high rates of violence against women. About 27 percent of women in the region have suffered violence from an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  While vaccines have yet to be fully available for rollout in the country, Malacanang said families of uniformed personnel can be part of the priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination.

In his briefing on Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque backed President Rodrigo Duterte's previous pronouncement that police and military personnel will be among the first to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for free, along with their families.

READ: Duterte wants free vaccination for police, soldiers, and their families

In an attempt to dispel the public's worries, Roque said there would still be enough supply even if the families of the uniformed personnel were to be included. He said that additional 2 million vaccines can even be provided for up to three family members of police and soldiers. However, it is not clear whether this is already part of the government's move to secure 148 million doses to Filipinos by yearend.

"Huwag kayong mag-alala kasi sa ating initial list, 24 million ang ating babakunahan. If at all, siguro madadagdagan pa po ito ng mga 2 million if there are three members of the family of men in uniform," he said. "Sobra sobra naman na yung inaasahan nating darating na bakuna by the second or third quarter of the year."

[Translation: Don't worry because in our initial list, 24 million will be vaccinated. If at all, perhaps there would be an additional 2 million if there are three members of the family of men in uniform. We are already expecting an excess in the vaccines that will arrive by the second or third quarter of the year.]

It is not clear why Roque is saying there will be extra vaccines by the second or third quarter, when the initial list includes 24 million people or less than a quarter of the country's population of around 110 million.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier this month said based on current negotiations, the government expects to be able to purchase at least 148 million doses from around seven vaccine manufacturers. If this goes as planned, around 50 to 70 million Filipinos could be given shots by the end of 2021, he added. The government targets to immunize at least 60 to 65 percent of the population in a bid to achieve the so-called herd immunity.

"Hindi naman po nagbabago (ang current protocols), ang ineexpand lang niya iyong mga pamilya ng mga kasundaluhan," Roque reasoned. "And that's out of recognition of the President na talagang importante ang papel na ginagampanan ng acting men in uniform because theirs is the maintenance of peace and order of the society."

[Translation: The current protocols will not change, he just wants to expand it to the families of the soldiers. And that's out of recognition of the President that our acting men in uniform play an important role because theirs is the maintenance of peace and order of the society.]

Roque added that while Duterte's remark may be "advisory" in nature, decisions of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases are "in fact implemented, because of the President's actions and pronouncements." He noted, however, that it is still up to the IATF to operationalize what the President said.

Last Friday, Duterte stressed during a visit to Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Bautista Headquarters in Jolo, Sulu that he will prioritize the uniformed personnel, as the government cannot function "with a sick soldier or policeman in [their] midst."

Uniformed personnel are fifth in the list of priority groups in the government's vaccination program, next to health care workers, indigent senior citizens, remaining senior citizens, and the indigent population. Workers from several industries are also supposed to be prioritized in the first wave of the vaccine rollout.

The Duterte administration previously drew flak after officials admitted that members of the President's security skipped the line of priority groups and got administered with unauthorized vaccines at a time when the country's regulatory body has not yet approved any COVID-19 vaccine.

READ: AFP: PSG members got vaccinated first to 'protect' Duterte from COVID-19
A terminally ill mother of four who has sued over the alleged incorrect reporting of three of her smear tests broke down as she told the High Court she wont get to see her children grow up.

But she said she still believes there should be a national screening CervicalCheck programme to look after her daughters.

They failed me, she said, but she wanted other women to have faith in a screening system.

She said she trusted the doctors to look after her, but she fell at every turn.

Nobody looked after me. I dont get to see my children grow up, she told Ms Justice Bronagh OHanlon.

Giving her evidence by video link, the 46-year old woman who has terminal cervical cancer and who cannot be named by the order of the court said her life is now about making memories.

Everything is about making memories I dont know how much time I have left, she told the judge.

But she said the Covid lockdown has given her more time at home with her children.

Even if we are sitting on the sofa looking at a movie, we are making memories, she added.

Read More

Referring to an external review of her cervical smear slides which concluded there had been missed opportunities in her case to diagnose and treat pre-cancer, the woman said she was sad, angry and dumbfounded.

She said when she was told the conclusion, she was in such shock, I stopped hearing things after that.

Her case refers to three smears taken in 2011, 2012 and 2014. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2015 which recurred last year.

The woman, her husband and their four children have all brought actions against US laboratory Clinical Pathology Laboratories Inc (CPL) Austin, Texas; Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford, Dublin; and the HSE.

It is claimed the three smears were incorrectly reported and cytological cell changes were allegedly allowed to develop and spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cancer six years ago.

There was, it was further claimed, a failure to diagnose precancerous or cancerous cells on a timely basis.

It is also claimed the womans constitutional rights were breached in the alleged inexcusable delay in conveying the results of the screening audit to her.

The laboratories deny all the claims.

The HSE has accepted the outcome of the slides review should have been made known to the woman as soon as CervicalCheck was notified.

The reassurance given by the specialist in 2018 regarding no alteration to her clinical outcome, it has said was given in good faith, but it has admitted the further review concluded the reassurance was not accurate.

In evidence, the woman told how she was told in February 2020 her cancer had returned and spread to other parts of her body.

It was everywhere; that was it.

She said she was in her second bout of chemotherapy last year when she got a letter to say her smear test from a few months previously was clear.

I was on my second round of chemotherapy. The cancer had spread everywhere, it does not give much confidence, she said.

Referring to the 2016 internal review by CervicalCheck - which upgraded her smear slides from the initial reporting of no abnormality detected, and which she was only told about two years later  she said she could not understand why she was called back to her specialists office.

She said she had put the specialist on a pedestal and he was God to her because he had treated her 2015 cancer.

The specialist told her the results of the review but reassured her it made no difference to her clinical outcome.

I trusted him. I did not question what he told me, she told the judge,

When she found out the specialists reassurance was incorrect after the external review, she said she got angry and upset.

I think of my children and everything we are going through, she said.

The case continues.

Republic Day Parade 2021: Start Time in Delhi, Venue, Route, Tableaux, Entry Details, How To Watch Live Stream

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 25: India will celebrate its 72nd Republic Day on 26 January, 2021. This day marks the first revolution against the British regime. It is a day which marks the adoption of the Constitution in 1950 that India truly became democratic republic.

In India republic day is no less than a festival. This day is celebrated with much fervor honoring the Indian military forces and our rich cultural heritage.

Republic day is not just a celebration but it also reflects India'sdeiplomatic relations. However, this year the Republic Day will not have a foreign dignitary as the chief guest.

The last time that the Republic Day did not have a chief guest was in 1966. The years 1952 and 1953 too did not have a chief guest during the Republic Day parade.

However, amid the coronavirus pandemic this year's republic day will look little different.

Republic Day parade 2021 showcase

The historic Republic Day parade will begin from Rashtrapati Bhavan and end at India Gate. The route followed will be from Vijay Chowk via Rajpath, Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate Princess Palace, Tilak Marg to finally India GateThe Republic Day parade will begin from Rashtrapati Bhavan and end at India Gate.

Farmers' Protest: 15,000 tractors to enter Delhi on Republic Day, security tightened

Flag hoist time

The Covid-restruction induced republic day this year will be of shorter duration. The marching contingent will be smaller and the cultural performances will be fewer.

The flag hoisting event is set to take place at 8 am on Tuesday. The parade begins at 9 am and ends around 11.30 am. The timings may differ this time, due to changes in the parade lineup.

How to watch Republic Day parade 2021:

You can watch the highlights of this year's Republic Day parade at the Rajpath on a mobile application which has been launched by the Defence Ministry. The app 'Republic Day Parade 2021' or 'RDP 2021' will not only live telecast the Order of March, Tableaux and other performances but also give live updates on route map and parking.

Meanwhile, you can also the R-Day parade live on DD News and its official youtube channel. Most of the private news channels will also be airing the Republic Day parade live.

How many allowed to attend this year?

The spectator size too has been reduced to 25,000 compared to 150,000 last year. The number of media peronnels has been reduced from 300 to 200. Children under the age of 15 will not be allowed to attend the event.

No parade of gallantry awardees:

On account of social distancing, the parade of gallantry awardees and children who have earned bravery awards will also not be there at the 72nd Republic Day event.

The much awaited motorcycle stunts performed by army or paramilitary personnel, which draw loud cheers from the crowd every year, will not be happening this year.

Republic Day tableaux

A total of 32 tableaux, 17 of various states and UTs, nine of ministries and six from defence arm -- will roll down Rajpath, howcasing country's culture. The contingents will stop at National Stadium this year instead of following the regular route all the way to the Red Fort.

COVID-19 safety norms will be strictly in place throughout the event.

Tableau from Gujarat, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Ladakh and Delhi will be part of the parade.

Republic Day Entry Details

You are allowed to watch the parade at Rajpath strictly on the production of an invitation card or a ticket.

Delhi police in a tweet, poted "This year, Entry to RDC-2021 will be strictly through Invitation Card/Ticket only! All those, who don't have a valid Invitation Card/Ticket are advised to watch live program at home. Children below 15 years of age are not allowed to RDC-2021 at Rajpath."

There will be no free entry to the programme this year. Invitees are advised not to carry bags, briefcases, pins, eatables, cameras, binoculars, handicams, electronic gadgets such as iPads, iPods, palm-top computers, laptops, computers, tablet computers, power-banks, digital diaries.



Republic Day History

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

26 January was chosen as the Republic day because it was on this day in 1930 when Declaration of Indian Independence (Purna Swaraj) was proclaimed by the Indian National Congress as opposed to the Dominion status offered by British Regime.
Karnataka lockdown: Minister bats for extension for few more days; BS Yediyurappa to take final call

Controlling COVID-19 is my only focus: Yediyurappa on speculation about attempts to unseat him

Karnataka CM effects cabinet reshuffle twice on a single day to mollify those upset

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Bengaluru, Jan 25: Aimed at mollifying his Cabinet colleagues, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday effected a rejig, twice on a single day, by reallocating portfolios to some upset ministers.

Earlier in the day, Yediyurappa had carried out a minor reshuffle, the third in less than a week, by reallocating portfolios to three ministers- J C Madhuswamy, Anand Singh and K Sudhakar.

With Minister Madhuswamy, who was in the afternoon assigned Tourism, Ecology and Environment departments, expressing his displeasure and amid reports that he may resign, the Chief Minister exchanged his portfolio with Minor Irrigation Minister C P Yogeeshwara by late evening, effecting another round of rejig.

The second round of reallocation today was carried out to pacify Madhuswamy, who was said to have been contemplating resigning as minister, after Republic Day celebrations on Tuesday, official sources said.

Madhuswamy, who has been sulking ever since the reallocation of portfolios took place for the first time on January 21, today openly expressed that he was "upset" as his departments have been changed repeatedly in the last one week and he would arrive at some decision after flag hoisting tomorrow, as his self-esteem was deeply hurt.

Sources close to the minister said with the Chief Minister on Monday night reassigning him with the Minor Irrigation department that he was demanding, Madhuswamy is unlikely to take any drastic step.

Earlier he was given Medical Education, Kannada and Culture departments, when the portfolios were first reallocated on January 21, while being divested of Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Minor Irrigation portfolios.

Karnataka Cabinet expansion: Seven new ministers take oath

On the very next day, January 22, when minor changes were made and portfolios were reallocated once again, he was given Haj and Wakf Department along with Medical Education, while he was relieved of Kannada and Culture.

Among other portfolios reallocated today is Minister Anand Singh has been given the charge of Infrastructure Development Department and Haj and Wakf.

He was on January 21 assigned Tourism, Environment and Ecology departments, while being divested of the Forest Department.

Though there were reports that Singh too was planning to resign after the Tourism department was divested from him, he denied it and said he will abide by the Chief Minister''s decision.

He further said he has even offered Yediyurappa to give his ministerial berth to some other aspirant and that he was ready to serve as a normal legislator, as the Chief Minister has fulfilled his other demands (Vijayanagara district formation).

Today''s reallocation was a happy note for Health Minister K Sudhakar as has been reassigned with the Medical Education Department as an additional charge, which was divested from him last week.

Sudhakar had been sulking ever since he was divested of the Medical Education portfolio, and had even warned that separating the two departments could impair the states Covid- 19 vaccination effort.

Yediyurappa earlier too on January 22 had effected changes to the portfolios reallocated on the previous day, under pressure from Ministers MTB Nagaraj, K Gopalaiah and K C Narayana Gowda, who had openly expressed displeasure over departments assigned to them and did not attend the cabinet meeting.

The rounds of portfolio reallocation has come after Yediyurappa expanded his 17-month old cabinet on January 13, by inducting seven ministers, after a long wait, which had resulted in resentment among several ministerial aspirants.

Against the sanctioned strength of 34, the Yediyurappa cabinet now has 33 members.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 22:33 [IST]
Highlights YouTube Music and Google News were already present as Progressive Webs Apps.

YouTube can now be installed as a Progressive Web App (PWA) to enjoy a dedicated experience.

As per reports, progressive web apps can locally cache video downloads for offline viewing like their app counterpart.

YouTube can now be installed as a Progressive Web App (PWA) and some users are beginning to spot a plus-in-a-circle icon appearing directly in the Omnibox or the web address bar. Users are getting the prompt to "Install app." This is different from the browser's manual overflow menu 'Install' button, which was available for users for quite some time.After users select this option, they see a large red play logo in the app launcher to open YouTube in a window that does not have the address bar and other UI elements, helping users get a more dedicated experience. Progressive Web App support for YouTube.com was added over the past few days, 9to5 Google reported.



It enables shelf pinning that lets users get direct access to the video that is playing at that moment. YouTube Music and Google News were already present as Progressive Webs Apps, While YouTube Music PWA came back in October 2019, YouTube TV PWA came earlier this month.

As per reports, Google recently began enforcing a policy that would require developers to provide some form of offline functionality to make this PWA install prompt appear at the top of the Chrome browser. According to Chrome Unboxed, progressive web apps can locally cache video downloads for offline viewing like their app counterpart. Web apps require zero downloads and are becoming more indistinguishable from regular apps by the day.



In related news, YouTube is reportedly testing a new way so that users can shop directly through videos from the platform. This feature lets creators add certain products to their videos. According to a Bloomberg report in 2020, the goal is to convert YouTube's bounty of videos into a vast catalog of items that viewers can peruse, click on and buy directly.



YouTube is also rolling out hashtag landing pages that will help users discover more niche content with the hashtags they click on from a particular video or when they search for them through URL. Previously, the video platform used to show related content when users typed in a term with a hashtag. Now, according to YouTube's support page, the hashtag landing page will only show content or videos with that particular hashtag. The move will help YouTube users explore more videos and content using specific hashtags, as a user on Instagram or Twitter does.


Roseburg, OR (97470)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 46F. N winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 46F. N winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 19:05:38|Editor: huaxia

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SoHONG KONG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported 73 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday, taking its total tally to 10,158.

The new cases included 69 local infections, of which 38 had an unknown origin, according to a CHP press briefing. The four imported cases were from Belarus, Pakistan, India and the Philippines.

According to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, 828 COVID-19 patients are currently being treated in public hospitals and the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo, and 35 patients are in critical condition.

So far, 166 COVID-19 patients have died in public hospitals. Enditem
Mumbai, Jan 25 : Choreographer-filmmaker Remo DSouza, who was admitted to hospital recently after suffering cardiac problems, on Monday revealed that he is dancing his way to recovery.

DSouza took to Instagram to share a video that shows him dancing as part of his ongoing treatment.

"Dance is the joy of movement and the heart of life. Thank you my amazing team of doctors... you guys are great @lizelleremodsouza @kokilabenhospital #cardiacrehab Dancing my way to full recovery," he wrote with the video.

In December, DSouza was rushed to hospital after suffering cardiac problems. He underwent angioplasty.

DSouza had a while back reflected upon the lessons he has learned from the experience, and thanked the doctors who attended to him. He also shared a picture from the hospital with the medical staff, besides one with his family.

Remo rose to fame as a choreographer, before making his transition into filmmaking with F.A.L.T.U in 2011. He went on to helm ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013), ABCD 2 (2015) and Race 3 (2018). His last directorial Street Dancer 3D starring Varun Dhawan, Nora Fatehi and Shraddha Kapoor, opened in 2020.
- Only 7.1% of patients had a majority of their attacks associated with increased levels of perceived stress and 76% of the total number of migraine attacks were associated with either flat or decreasing levels of perceived stress.

- The study is the largest stress-migraine study to date, following 351 patients over three months and analyzed 2115 migraine episodes.

- Done in collaboration with the University of Calgary, the study is unique in that it examines individual patterns rather than aggregate ones.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Curelator today announced new data that challenges the age-old belief that stress is a significant factor in triggering migraine attacks[1]. The results are published in the January issue of the leading Headache, The Journal of Head and Face Pain medicine journal, and they underscore the need for personalized phenotypic analysis and treatment plans in migraine.

The study concludes that only 7.1% of patients had a majority of their attacks associated with increased levels of perceived stress. Most individuals, 61.5%, had more than 50% of their attacks preceded by flat stress levels. Only 3.4% of people had half of their attacks following decreasing levels of stress. The remaining portion of individuals, 28%, had a variable mixture of increasing, flat and/or decreasing levels of stress preceding their attacks.

In addition, in all individuals, only 24% of migraine attacks were preceded by increased levels of perceived stress. In contrast, patients had either flat or even decreasing levels of perceived stress preceding 76% of migraine attacks.

"These findings strongly suggest that, for the vast majority of patients, the role of perceived stress in triggering migraine attacks is less important than previously hypothesized," commented Serena Orr, M.D., senior author of the study, headache specialist, pediatric neurologist, and researcher at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada. "This contradicts the previous belief that increases in stress consistently trigger migraine attacks, because we found that this relationship is rather uncommon."

The international study, conducted by Curelator and in collaboration with the University of Calgary, is the largest to date to examine the relationship between perceived stress and migraine: both in number of participants (n= 351 patients) as well as study duration (three months). During the course of the study, participants had a total of 2,115 migraine attacks, each of which were analyzed with respect to individual person's daily stress levels before, during and after the attack.

In comparison to traditional clinical studies, this one specifically examined individual patterns, not just aggregate patterns, in relation to how perceived stress changes in relation to the onset of pain of migraine attacks. Results showed a surprisingly high amount of variability between individuals and even within the same person.

"Clearly, average population results can only be applied to a minority of individuals; providing compelling rationale for generating individual phenotypic profiles before administration of individual treatment plans," explained Marina Vives-Mestres, Ph.D., lead author, Analytics Lead at Curelator and Visiting Professor of Statistics at the Universitat de Girona (Spain).

"The N of 1 methodology used in this study applies the approach of personalized medicine to help individuals understand their headache patterns," said Richard Lipton, MD, Edwin S. Lowe Professor and Vice Chair of Neurology and Director Montefiore Headache Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "There is tremendous variation from person to person in their trigger factors. The typical approach of assessing population averages generates results that are difficult for individuals to apply. If red wine triggers your headaches but not mine, there is no need for me to avoid it."

Individualized digital data capture and analytics were enabled by Curelator's N1-Headache, a digital platform that combines a simple smartphone data entry process with personalized N=1 analytics. After 90 days of data entry, the application generates Individual Trigger Map, Protector Map and No Association Map for each user incorporated within a Personal Analytical Report. The information featured in the Personal Report enables patients and their clinicians to generate individual, high resolution phenotypic profiles to manage risk factors, assess therapeutic response to drugs and monitor potential medication overuse.

Reference

[1] Marina Vives-Mestres, PhD; Amparo Casanova, MD, PhD; Dawn C. Buse, PhD; Stephen Donoghue, PhD; Timothy T. Houle, PhD; Richard B. Lipton, MD; Alec Mian, PhD; Kenneth J. Shulman, DO; Serena L. Orr, MD, MSc. Pattern of Perceived Stress Throughout the Migraine Cycle: A longitudinal Cohort Study Using Daily Prospective Diary Data. Headache 2020; 0:1-16.

About Curelator

Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2013, Curelator is a data-driven digital health company focused on developing clinical grade, personalised disease management tools for patients and clinicians. Since its inception, Curelator has published dozens of papers and abstracts in major headache and migraine journals and conferences, and it has enrolled thousands of patients on clinical studies through its N1-Headache platform.

About N1-Headache

N1-Headache is a unique patient engagement platform that delivers personalized, disease management tools for people with a history of migraine or medication overuse, allowing them to understand their migraine attack patterns in an individualized manner. This personalized information enables patients and their healthcare providers to manage individual migraine risk factors, assess therapeutic response to drugs and identify opportunities to prevent medication overuse.

Contacts for additional information:

Curelator

Noel Ortiz, VP Communications & Strategy

nortiz@curelator.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424830/Curelator_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Curelator, Inc.
For the next few weeks, the City of Winnipeg is seeking public feedback on the Winnipeg Parking Strategy, a five-year vision to manage vehicle parking across the city. It may not sound glamorous, but parking is quietly one of the most powerful forces shaping our cities, having a fundamental influence on cost of living, neighbourhood form and character, and building design.

Opinion

For the next few weeks, the City of Winnipeg is seeking public feedback on the Winnipeg Parking Strategy, a five-year vision to manage vehicle parking across the city. It may not sound glamorous, but parking is quietly one of the most powerful forces shaping our cities, having a fundamental influence on cost of living, neighbourhood form and character, and building design.

Six months ago, Edmonton became the first major Canadian city to eliminate parking minimums for new development. The new strategy presents an opportunity for Winnipeg to follow this lead.

Parking minimums are municipal-government regulations that dictate the number of parking stalls a new development must include on its property. The ratio is derived from a decades-old formula based on building size and whether its a new house, apartment block, commercial building or other use. In Winnipeg, outside of downtown, 1.5 parking stalls are required for every residential unit, reduced to 1.2 in some inner-city areas.

An important shortcoming of these blanket ratios is that they do not account for variables influencing the amount of parking actually required, such as vehicle ownership in the neighbourhood, adjacent amenities, transit access, suite sizes, demographics and evolving mobility trends. Mandated parking levels have resulted in significantly more parking being built than is required.

Studies have found in the United States, there are as many as eight parking stalls for every vehicle, which is likely similar in car-dominant Canadian cities such as Winnipeg. Before Edmonton implemented its new policy, a thorough study was undertaken that found only seven per cent of parking lots city-wide are full at peak times and, overall, parking lots are typically no more than 40 per cent occupied.

It was concluded that Edmonton has 50 per cent more parking than is needed. A 2018 study in metro Vancouver found that the rate of unused parking stalls in the regions apartment buildings was between 35 and 40 per cent.

The impact of this over-built parking is significant. The simple construction costs for parking can range from about $7,000 for a single surface stall to $40,000 for an above-ground parkade stall, and $60,000 or more for an underground stall. Knowing that range in cost, it is easy to understand why developers prefer suburban projects, surrounded by oceans of asphalt, over infill development with expensive enclosed parking.

When parking minimums are required, it is effectively an incentive for urban sprawl.

This high cost of parking is passed down to consumers, baked into rents and real-estate prices, the groceries we buy and the services we use. It can have a significant impact on housing affordability in a city. As an example, the little brick apartment buildings familiar to many inner-city Winnipeg neighbourhoods were often built with little or no parking. They provide valuable affordable housing opportunities in these neighbourhoods and are typically well leased.

If one of those buildings burns down, it is impossible to replace because of mandatory parking requirements. For most of these buildings, filling the entire property with parking alone would not meet the requirements, and if parking is located underground, affordability is lost.

Overbuilt parking pushes buildings farther apart, which has the cumulative effect of reducing urban density, increasing infrastructure needs and diminishing the walkability of a neighbourhood. The impacts of parking on the pedestrian quality of a street can be seen side-by-side on Winnipegs Corydon Avenue, where older buildings built to the property line with active storefronts along the sidewalk have created an attractive street to walk down. New developments have been set back from the sidewalk behind parking lots, increasing walking distances, reducing visual interest, and making the street feel less safe and less attractive to shoppers and residents.

Eliminating parking minimums does not mean eliminating parking; it instead allows developers to build what they need. Developers have a strong incentive to find the balance between building as little parking as possible and building so little that their investment becomes impossible to lease. When the market, rather than government, decides how much parking should be built, developers can be more targeted, flexible and able to incorporate less impactful solutions, which generally results in more appropriate parking amounts being built.

Parking minimums were established in the 1960s out of a fear from neighbourhood residents that new development would cause an increase in street parking. This is still a primary source of opposition to new development today. Cities that are eliminating minimums are dealing with this by taking a proactive approach to managing on-street parking.

Requiring the purchase of neighbourhood parking permits, as an example, allows the city to control who is parking on the streets, ensuring that new development is not freeloading, as well as signalling to homeowners that on-street car storage does not come free with the purchase of their property.

Cities that can balance strong parking management policies with elimination of parking minimums for new development will see more appropriate amounts of parking built in the future, resulting in higher levels of investment and development, greater housing affordability, higher density and more sustainable infill growth, as well as more vibrant and beautiful streets and neighbourhoods.

Brent Bellamy is senior design architect for Number Ten Architectural Group.
TORRINGTON  A community group that celebrates the diversity of Torrington is celebrating Black History Month with a series of Friday night programs intended to spark discussion and a spirit of unity.

The multicultural event is being organized by Effie Mwando, co-founder of Our Culture is Beautiful with her husband, Angaza Mwando. Each Friday at 6 p.m., Feb. 5, 12, 19 and 26, the group will discuss diversity, multicultural awareness, Black history moments and success stories, Effie Mwando said.

The programs will be on Zoom and Facebook Live. Well post the Zoom link before the event, and change it each week to protect the group, she said. Itll also be on Facebook Live, so people can watch it that way too; and if they dont have Facebook, they can join from Zoom.

The gathering will feature two speakers each week.

We have a variety of individuals signed up so far, Mwando said. On Feb. 5 we have (City Council member) Sharon Waagner and (City Clerk) Carol Anderson.

The Black History Month celebrations are intended to get people to talk about diversity, voice their opinions and share their concerns.

Well start with a discussion will also be about what makes Torrrington attractive, she said. The Black History moment will be about a historic event. Angaza will share his own experience about being involved in the civil rights movement. Weve invited young people, teachers, faith leaders ... a variety of individuals.

Another participant is Mike Murray, co-owner of the Hummingbird Cafe on Main Street, who will speak on hip-hop. I was amazed to learn that he likes hip-hop, Mwando said.

She loves the fact that there are so many different cultures in Torrington.

Its really amazing, she said. As Angaza aways said, we are solid gold in this country, and when we blend, we make a nice, beautiful salad.

Our Culture is Beautiful is holding a similar event in Winsted, with a slightly different format. That event will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 19. Theres a group called Waking Up Winsted, and theyre connected to a group called Winsted Push Out, that were getting involved in this, Mwando said. Winsteds dynamic is a little different than Torrington, so were not taking the same approach.

I was speaking to one of the social workers at Winsted City Hall about it, and we talked about topics that would be attractive for people to discuss, like whats attractive about Winsted; the college, the law museum, things like that. Then well move to the demographics of Winsted and what makes it unique.

A member of Winsteds faith community has been invited to speak, as well.

This program came up because (people have told me that) the community of youth dont feel connected to the rest of the town, Mwando said. There are African-American and blended families who have been through some challenges. So we want to start off with this event, and then do another one in February.

Its so people can begin to come together, versus division, she said.

Our Culture is Beautiful is a grassroots group promoting cultural diversity events and training. This discussion for Winchester/Winsted is open to all.

For the Winsted event, residents are being asked to register by emailing kvaill@townofwinchester.org, Ocisbeautiful@gmail.com or Carrieanne8108@gmail.com.

The Zoom meeting ID and passcode will be posted to the Towns Event Calendar at townofwinchester.org as they become available.

For the Torrington events, the Zoom meeting ID and passcode will be posted to the groups Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Our-Culture-is-Beautiful-2399879000241046 .

For information, call 860-379-2714, ext. 323, or email ocisbeautiful@gmail.com.
Burma Myanmars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Keep State Counselor Position, NLD Says

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi / State Counselors Office / Facebook

YANGONThe vice chair of Myanmars ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) on Sunday confirmed that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will remain the countrys de facto leader in the State Counselor position for the incoming governments five-year term.

Following the NLDs second straight general election victory in November, speculation arose as to whether Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is constitutionally barred from the presidency, would continue to hold the State Counselor position.

The position was created in April 2016 to allow NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to take the helm of the cabinet, as she cannot assume the presidency under the terms of the military-drafted 2008 Constitution. The position essentially made her the de facto leader of the country. The term of office of the State Counselor is equal to the term of the President, with both of their current terms ending in March.

Did anything bad happen to the country due to the creation of the position of State Counselor? The answer is clear. We did what was needed, NLD vice chair and Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Zaw Myint Maung told reporters when asked about the State Counselor position after the partys Central Executive Committee meeting in Naypyitaw on Sunday.

And as it is needed, we will extend [Daw Aung San Suu Kyis tenure as State Counselor for another term], he continued.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi concurrently serves as Presidents Office minister and foreign affairs minister. Whether she will also continue to serve in those two positions remains unknown, however.

While the party remained tight lipped on the candidates for the presidency and other cabinet positions in the Union and state and regional governments, vice chair U Zaw Myint Maung said some chief ministers who had poor performance records over the past five years would be replaced.

The vice chair said that currently, the party is focusing on convening the new national Parliament successfully on Feb. 1, and the state and regional legislatures on Feb. 9, as its first priorities after the election.

According to the 2008 Constitution, Parliament shall convene a new term within 90 days of the commencement of the general election.

With the date growing near for the new Parliament to convene and the new government to take office, the military and its proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) are pressing ahead with attempts to discredit the NLDs victory by claiming the election was marred by mass fraud, calling for a probe into the election result.

In response to those attempts, U Zaw Myint Maung said on Sunday that We have nothing to say to them [the military and USDP]. It is our duty, as the winning party, to convene the newly elected Parliament in time as per the laws.

The new elected representatives have arrived in Naypyitaw and been tested for COVID-19.

While continuing to maintain that the election was fraudulent, the military on Sunday announced that all of its appointees to the new Parliament had tested negative for COVID-19. Its proxy partys representatives are also arriving in Naypyitaw.

Their attempts to discredit the NLDs victory continue, with the military inviting both local and foreign media to attend another post-election press conference on Tuesday.

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One of the five victims of the fire in Kharkiv illegal nursing home Golden Time has died in the hospice (palliative department of hospital No. 17), where he was placed after the fire.

"He was over 80. He died yesterday," the press service of Kharkiv City Council reported.

As reported, at 15:03 in Kharkiv, a fire broke out on the second floor in a two-story residential building, previously converted into a nursing home. At the time of the fire, there were 33 people in the house, 15 of them died. The area of the fire was 100 square meters.

On this fact, criminal proceedings have been launched under Part 2 of Article 270 (violation of fire safety requirements established by law, resulting in the death of people) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of Kharkiv Regional State Administration Yuriy Shparaha said that no social protection institutions were registered at the address where the fire occurred.

On the same day, the owner of the household was detained, who rented a two-story building for a boarding house, as well as the tenant of the house and his wife, the director of a private enterprise, which actually ran the institution. The administrator who coordinated the work of the boarding house, but was not officially employed there, was also detained.

On January 22, all four detainees were notified of suspicion.

On January 23, Kiyivsky District Court of Kharkiv chose a preventive measure for all suspects in the form of detention without determining a bail.

The SBI launched an investigation into the negligence by the State Emergency Service employees during checks in a private nursing home in Kharkiv.
HOUSTON, Miss. (WTVA) - Investigators continue to seek information into the murder of a man that happened last fall in Chickasaw County.

The murder happened on Oct. 26, 2020, on Martin Luther King Drive in Houston at approximately 8:27 p.m.



Help needed finding a 2012 Nissan Maxima SV Sedan four-door. | Source: Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi Help needed finding a 2012 Nissan Maxima SV Sedan four-door. | Source: Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi

According to investigators, the victim had traveled to the location to possibly buy a vehicle.

Three men attacked the victim, beat and shot him. The victim later died from his injuries.

Chickasaw County Coroner Michael Fowler identified the victim as Robert Cox, 40, of Cascilla.

Related - Coroner identifies victim of Houston homicide

Investigators continue to search for the attackers and ask for anyone with information about the attack to come forward.

The image shows the car investigators believe may have been involved in the crime. It's a 2012 Nissan Maxima SV sedan four-door.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at 1-800-773-8477.

The family of the victim is offering $3,000 for information leading to an arrest. Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000, bringing the total amount to $4,000.

Tips can be submitted anonymously by calling the tip line at 1-800-773-8477 or download the P3 app or view Crime Stoppers Facebook page.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) missed repeated chances to spot the silent spread of the novel coronavirus, a new investigation finds.

Critics have widely asserted that the CDC fumbled key decisions during the coronavirus scourge because then-President Donald Trump and his administration meddled in the agency's operations and muzzled internal experts.

But new evidence suggests the CDC's response to the pandemic also was marred by actions - or inaction - by career scientists and frontline staff.

Reuters reports that previously undisclosed internal emails, other documents and interviews with key players, showed that officials failed to test Americans arriving from Wuhan or other places abroad who were not exhibiting symptoms.

It took more than two months before the CDC would finally change protocols to recommend that all people, regardless of symptoms, be tested.

What's more, the agency seemed unprepared, at times, the crisis on the ground, lacking adequate personal protective gear and ignoring established protocols by allowing ill and healthy patients to sit next to each other on planes and at bases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) missed repeated chanced to spot the silent spread of the novel coronavirus, a new Reuters investigation finds. Pictured: People walk past a CDC trailer near a Covid-19 testing station at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, DC, October 2020

Officials failed to test Americans arriving from Wuhan or other places abroad who were not exhibiting symptoms and ignore protocols. Pictured: U.S. passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are transported by shuttle bus in Yokohama to Haneda airport to fly back to the United States via chartered evacuation aircraft February 17

CDC DENIED REQUEST TO TEST ALL AMERICANS EVACUATED FROM WUHAN

On February 7, a total of 57 Americans were evacuated from Wuhan - then the epicenter of the outbreak - and the surrounding province.

They were flown to Camp Ashland, a National Guard base near Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, a major outpost in the nation's defenses against bioterrorism and infectious diseases.

At the time, U.S. health officials knew very little then about the mysterious new virus, and the quarantined group offered an early opportunity to size up the threat.

The federal government sought help from a team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, including Dr James Lawler, an experienced infectious disease specialist who worked in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations on pandemic response

Lawler told Reuters he immediately asked the CDC for permission to test the quarantined group.

On February 7, a total of 57 Americans were evacuated from Wuhan - then the epicenter of the outbreak - and the surrounding province and infectious disease specialist Dr James Lawler asked to test the group. Pictured: American evacuees from China board a bus after arriving by flight to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, February 7, 2020

CDC denied the request because officials worried detained people couldn't give proper consent and would be coerced into testing. Pictured: American evacuees from China board a bus after arriving by flight to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, February 7

He deemed it crucial to know whether people without symptoms were infected and could spread the deadly pathogen and suspected some of the evacuees might be shedding the virus despite have no symptoms.

Lawler had already won support for such testing from the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) officials in charge of the returnees at Ashland, the Nebraska health department and his university's medical faculty, emails show. HHS oversees the CDC.

But CDC officials worried that detained people couldn't give proper consent because they might feel coerced into testing.

'CDC does not approve this study,' an official at the quarantine site wrote to Lawler in a February 8 email obtained by Reuters through the Freedom of Information Act.

'Please discontinue all contact with the travelers for research purposes.'

Lawler pressed Eric Kasowski, the CDC's representative at Camp Ashland, but the testing proposal was rejected again, this time by-then CDC director Robert Redfield.

Instead of having everyone tested during the two-week quarantine, only one returnee who became ill and was hospitalized got tested. The results were negative for coronavirus, Lawler said.

The other 56 left quarantine without knowing whether they carried the virus, and Lawler said he knows of no CDC follow up with that group.

In a February 10 email to Kasowski, Lawler warned that the federal government, by not testing symptom-less individuals, 'may be missing the submerged iceberg in the U.S.'

Redfield then rejected the testing proposal a second time, but declined to say why. Pictured: Redfield speaks at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee reviewing coronavirus response efforts on Sept. 16, 2020,

Public health experts and ethicists say there was interference by the Trump administration but that the CDC made many mistakes on its own. Pictured: Then-President Donald Trump next tp Redfield at the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, April 2020

'Yes, they were interfered with politically,' Lawrence Gostin, director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, referring to alleged meddling by the Trump administration, said

'But that's not the only reason CDC didn't perform optimally during COVID-19. There are a lot of things that went wrong.'

Four top public health experts or ethicists told Reuters that the question of whether to test or engage in research on detained people has always been a sensitive topic.

But all said the CDC should have proceeded given the fast-moving public health emergency.

Moreover, the CDC finalized rules in 2017 providing that medical testing was expressly allowed in quarantine, as long as participants were given the opportunity to give 'informed consent' or opt out.

Informed consent means giving people adequate information to understand the risks and benefits of a test or procedure.

Gostin said the CDC's argument against testing was 'unreasonable' under the circumstances.

'You are asking for consent and not imposing any harm,' he said. 'There is a good reason to do it.'

More than two months passed before the CDC expanded its testing guidelines to include all asymptomatic people, saying soon afterward that this silent spread 'may meaningfully contribute to the propagation of the COVID-19 pandemic.'

By November, the agency estimated that more than half of cases were spread by people not currently experiencing symptoms.

U.S. OFFICIALS HAD TO BORROW PROTECTIVE GEAR FROM JAPAN BECAUSE THEIRS DIDN'T ARRIVE IN TIME

Within days, Lawler got a new federal assignment: to help evacuate 318 Americans stranded on the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan.

He was joined there by D. Michael Callahan, a veteran infectious disease specialist from Massachusetts General Hospital, who had just been appointed a special advisor to HHS on COVID-19.

Callahan, who says his two years of physician scientist training at the CDC in the mid-1990s inspired him to forgo academia for a field career battling disease outbreaks, had just treated coronavirus patients in China weeks earlier.

Major problems emerged soon after Lawler and Callahan arrived in Yokohama on February 14.

The U.S. team, including HHS and other U.S. personnel, had to borrow walkie talkies from Japanese authorities because they didn't have mobile phones that worked internationally, according to an 'after-action' report submitted by Lawler and Callahan in March to HHS and obtained by Reuters.

Japan had to lend the U.S. team basic protective gear because the Americans' supplies didn't arrive in time, the report said.

Some team members were not trained for handling a 'highly contagious disease.'

When U.S. officials arrived to help evacuate Americans stranded on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, they didn't have adequate protective gear and had to borrow from the Japanese. Pictured: A member of the media wearing a face mask walks past the Diamond Princess cruise ship, February 10

Doctors had to turn away CDC staffers seeking to board the Diamond Princess because they had no current experience in emergency medicine and infection control. Pictured: Buses carrying U.S. passengers who were aboard the quarantined cruise ship the Diamond Princess, seen in background, leaves Yokohama port on February 17.

According to Callahan, he had to turn back two CDC staffers seeking to board the Diamond Princess in Japan because they had no current experience in emergency medicine and infection control.

Callahan said the problem was not isolated to the CDC's coronavirus response.

In his regular interactions in the field with CDC staff in recent years, he said, he has seen 'a progressive degradation of clinical expertise and incident management,' particularly during Ebola outbreaks in Africa.

The CDC needs 'people that can actually do public health when bad stuff happens,' Callahan said.

AGENCY EXPERTS SAY THERE IS NOT ENOUGH PROOF TO TEST ASYMPTOMATIC PEOPLE FOR COVID-19

On February 17, Lawler flew with 151 cruise passengers to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.

An isolation bubble was created using a plastic curtain in the rear of the plane for five passengers who had tested positive for COVID-19 in Japan.

During the flight, Lawler moved two passengers who had become feverish to the isolation area, planning to take them to Nebraska Medical Center. But those precautions went awry when CDC personnel greeted the plane in Texas.

'The CDC officer in charge boarded the aircraft without consulting the flight crew regarding safety or contamination issues,' according to the after-action report.

The officer's personal protective equipment 'was grossly insufficient due to the high level of contamination that likely existed on the aircraft. This likely put CDC personnel and other responders on the ground at risk.'

What's more, the CDC official moved the two people who had developed symptoms mid-flight back with the group of healthy passengers, and the CDC's handling of the flight violated disaster medicine protocols, according to the report. The CDC official is not named in the report.

When cruise passengers arrived in the U.S., CDC officials moved symptomatic people with healthy passengers. Pictured: A U.S. health official in front of a portable bio-containment unit speaks to U.S. passengers left the Diamond Princess cruise ship, on a chartered evacuation aircraft to fly back to the United States

Similar problems occurred when Callahan arrived with another group of 167 Diamond Princess passengers at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California and a CDC officer boarded the plane, the report said.

Meantime, officials at Nebraska's public health laboratory, who had been working with Lawler, asked the CDC for permission to test passengers from the Diamond Princess while they were under quarantine, even if they didn't have symptoms, emails show.

A CDC influenza expert, Dr Tim Uyeki, wrote back on February 17 to the director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory that the agency only wanted to test symptomatic individuals and those who had previously tested positive in Japan, citing a lack of detail on the accuracy of the Japanese tests.

Uyeki declined to comment and referred questions to the CDC press office.

CDC made no immediate changes in its public guidance on asymptomatic infection after passengers with no symptoms in California tested positive. Pictured: A second plane carrying Americans evacuated from the Diamond Princess ship arrives at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas after flying back from Tokyo

Lawler and Callahan said they flew in late February to CDC headquarters in Atlanta to meet with Redfield and other senior officials, to raise concerns about the flawed evacuation and potential for asymptomatic spread based on their observations from the Diamond Princess.

Lawler said CDC officials replied that there wasn't enough proof yet that people without symptoms spread the disease.

Redfield did not return requests for comment.

Meanwhile, at both quarantine sites in Texas and California, CDC staff began to test some cruise passengers without symptoms who previously had tested positive in Japan, according to Dr Bela Matyas, the local health officer in Californi's Solano County, as well as emails between the Nebraska hospital personnel and the CDC.

The CDC officials had doubts about the accuracy of testing done by Japanese authorities, but the results confirmed that at least some of the passengers were indeed positive - 16 at the California base alone, Matyas said. Texas numbers were not available.

During the second week of quarantine in late February, the CDC and local health officials began offering tests to all of the cruise passengers.

In California, where most sought testing, 10 more people were found to have COVID-19, Matyas said.

Despite this evidence of infections without symptoms, the CDC made no immediate changes in its public guidance on asymptomatic infection.

REDFIELD ADMITS ASYMPTOMATIC SPREAD IS `FAIRLY COMMONAFTER AN OUTBREAK AT WASHINGTON STATE NURSING HOME

By March, signs of asymptomatic spread were mounting in the U.S. and abroad.

A tipping point for the CDC came when staffers were deployed to the outskirts of Seattle to handle an outbreak at the Issaquah Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a relatively confined setting in King County, Washington state.

CDC officials tested 76 of the 82 residents, regardless of whether they exhibited symptoms, on March 13, according to the CDC.

They foundC, 13 of whom asymptomatic at the time. Ten of those went on to develop symptoms.

'That was really...our first hint that asymptomatic transmission was fairly common, especially in those settings,' said Dr. James Lewis, an official with the county health department's COVID-19 response, in an interview.

Two weeks later, on March 27, the CDC published the case study as evidence of asymptomatic infection.

Redfield finally admitted that asymptomatic spread was a fear after 23 patients at the Issaquah Nursing and Rehabiliation Center in Washington state tested positive, most without symptoms. Photo courtesy of KIRO 7

That same week, for the first time, the agency recommended testing health workers and first responders, even without symptoms.

In a radio interview that aired on March 31, Redfield said: 'We have learned that in fact' symptomless individuals 'do contribute to transmission.'

Based on that evidence, the CDC recommended that even asymptomatic people wear cloth face coverings in public areas.

Almost a month later, on April 27, the agency expanded its testing guidelines to include 'persons without symptoms.'

That was 11 weeks after Lawler's first request to test the Wuhan group in Nebraska.

CDC STRUGGLED WITH EARLY AND AGGRESSIVE TESTING

It's difficult to know whether more aggressive early testing among asymptomatic people would have significantly altered the trajectory of the pandemic in the U.S., which has infected more than 25 million people and killed more than 400,000.

The CDC was not the only agency that struggled with this issue.

Notably, an official with the World Health Organization called asymptomatic spread 'very rare' in June, only to say a day later 'we don't actually have that answer yet.'

In recent months, the WHO has said infected people without symptoms can be contagious, but 'it is still not clear how frequently this occurs.'

Still, some countries such as South Korea and Singapore used widespread testing early on to identify infected people with or without symptoms and, unlike the United States, broadly required or distributed masks.

CDC scientists infamously botched the creation of a test for the coronavirus and took weeks trying to fix it, making widespread testing - well beyond those with symptoms - impossible during the pandemic's first months.

In response to detailed inquiries from Reuters, a CDC spokesman said the agency declined to comment.

Dr Sonja Rasmussen, who worked at the CDC for 20 years and at one point was responsible for pandemic influenza preparedness, said the agency's staff are 'among the most dedicated professionals in the world and they were doing the best they could under the toughest circumstances.'

'This has been an incredibly challenging pandemic and it would have been hard for anyone to guess what would have happened,' she said.

But she and other public health specialists also told Reuters that Americans deserve a thorough examination of the agency's shortcomings in the crisis.

'We have to figure out what needs to be fixed before this happens again,' said Rasmussen, now a professor at the University of Florida.
MASON CITY, Iowa - A 20-year-old Mason City man was arrested Sunday for shooting at an occupied vehicle.

Parker Holland-Dunn, 20, is facing a felony criminal mischief charge along with an assault charge after a shooting in the 17000 block of 310th St.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office said Holland-Dunn  discharged a firearm into two of the vehicles tires and front fender rendering them useless. He also smashed the windshield and side mirror of the same window.
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Ukraine cuts electricity exports in monetary terms by almost 26% in 2020

Hungary has bought some 46.3% of Ukrainian electricity sold abroad.

Reporting by UNIAN

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On the occasion of the 176th anniversary of the first arrival of Indian immigrant labourers to these shores, I intend to comment briefly, through a couple of letters to the press, on the current status of Indo-Trinidadians after their presence here for over a century and a half. They may be regarded as ethnic-focused, divisive and contentious, or may be deemed irrelevant and inconsequential in these times.
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Sanaa, Jan 25 : The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels have resumed a new round of negotiations in Jordan on exchanging prisoners of war, Martin Griffiths, the UN Special Envoy for the war-torn country, said in a statement.

According to the statement, the fifth meeting of the Supervisory Committee on the Implementation of the Prisoners and Detainees Exchange Agreement started on Sunday in Amman under the auspices of the world body, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The committee resumes discussions between the parties to the conflict in Yemen to discuss the release of more detainees following the release of 1,065 detainees last October," Griffiths was quoted as saying in the statement.

"I urge the parties to prioritise in their discussions the immediate and unconditional release of all sick, wounded, elderly and children detainees as well as all arbitrarily detained civilians, including women," the UN envoy added.

He also urged the parties "to discuss and agree on names beyond the Amman meeting lists to fulfil their Stockholm commitment of releasing all conflict-related detainees as soon as possible".

Griffiths expressed his gratitude to Jordan for hosting the meeting.

The meeting, which came a day after the arrival of both delegations in Amman, is co-chaired by the Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In October 2020, the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels released a total of 1,065 prisoners from both sides, the largest UN-sponsored exchange deal between them since the outbreak of a civil war in Yemen.

A local government official in Yemen told Xinhua that "this round will be specified to discuss implementing the second part of Amman's deal signed between the two warring rivals on February 16, 2020".

The second part of the Amman's deal considers releasing nearly 300 prisoners from both sides including high-ranking government officials who are still seized by the Houthis in the country's capital Sanaa, he said.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of Hadi out of Sanaa.

Due to the war, Yemen is facing the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

Currently, more than 24 million people, some 80 per cent of the population, in need of humanitarian assistance, including over 12 million children, according to the UN.

The World Food Programme has said that 20 million people in Yemen are suffering from hunger and malnutrition.

While two-thirds of all Yemenis are hungry, nearly half do not know when they will eat next, it added.
Portugals president has been returned to office for a second term in an election held amid a devastating Covid-19 surge that has made the country the worst in the world for cases and deaths.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa captured around 61.5% of the vote. He had been widely expected to win.

In a stunning development, newly arrived right-wing populist Andre Ventura was in a close race for second place with Socialist candidate Ana Gomes, with both polling around 12%.

Such a showing for Mr Ventura would have been unthinkable until recently and will send a shudder through Portuguese politics.

Expand Close Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Manuel de Almeida/ via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Manuel de Almeida/ via AP)

Four other candidates ran for president.

One of the re-elected presidents first tasks will be to decide next month whether to approve a new law allowing euthanasia.

Parliament has passed the Bill but the head of state could try to block it or send it to the Constitutional Court for vetting.

The turnout was less than 40%  significantly lower than in recent elections and apparently confirming concerns that some people would stay away for fear of becoming infected with Covid-19.

Political leaders say that when the pandemic began to worsen there was no longer enough time to change the Portuguese constitution to allow a postponement.

Portugal has the worlds highest rates of new daily infections and deaths per 100,000 population, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, and its public health system is under huge strain.

Mr Rebelo de Sousa, 72, has long been viewed as the clear front-runner in the contest. He is an affable law professor and former television personality who as president has consistently had an approval rating of 60% or more.

To win, a candidate must capture more than 50% of the vote.

Expand Close Right-wing populist presidential candidate Andre Ventura casts his ballot at a polling station in Lisbon (Armando Franca/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Right-wing populist presidential candidate Andre Ventura casts his ballot at a polling station in Lisbon (Armando Franca/AP)

Mr Rebelo de Sousa, a former leader of the centre-right Social Democratic Party, has worked closely with the centre-left minority Socialist government, supporting its pandemic efforts.

He also has endeared himself to the Portuguese with his easy-going style. Photographs taken by passers-by of him in public places, such as one last year of him standing in line at a supermarket wearing trainers and shorts, routinely go viral.

With the country in lockdown, the election campaign featured none of the usual flag-waving rallies but restrictions on movement were lifted for polling day.

Authorities increased the number of polling stations and allowed for early voting to reduce crowding on election day. In other precautions, voters were asked to bring their own pens and disinfectant to polling stations. Everyone voting wore a mask and kept a safe distance from each other.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa urged people to turn out for the ballot, saying that unprecedented planning had gone into ensuring that the vote could take place safely.

Portugal has 10.8 million registered voters, around 1.5 million of them living abroad.

Every Portuguese president since 1976, when universal suffrage was introduced following the departure of a dictatorship, has been returned for a second term. No woman or member of an ethnic minority has ever held the post.
A West Australian Senator has been slammed for labelling Australia Day a 'celebration of white supremacy'.

Sue Lines, who is also the deputy president of the senate, is in favour of changing the date from January 26, saying it is part of a 'modern racist' political agenda against Indigenous Australians.

The national public holiday has come to divide the nation in recent years, as it grapples with how to deal with its colonial history.

'Australia Day celebrates white supremacy and the legacy of colonisation that is directly linked to the various ways we continue to fail First Nations people,' she wrote on her Facebook page.

'It's wrapped up in modern racist policies like the cashless debit card, with deaths in custody and our failure to close the gap.

There have long been debates about the celebration of a day since it celebrates the landing of the First Fleet in Australia (pictured, a rally in Melbourne in 2020)

Sue Lines (pictured) has been slammed for labelling Australia Day a celebration of white supremacy

Poll Do you think Australia Day should be renamed? YES NO Do you think Australia Day should be renamed? YES 137 votes

NO 1143 votes Now share your opinion





'January 26th should be a day of mourning and reflection.'

Her post drew the ire of the state's opposition leader Zak Kirkup, who described her sentiment as 'shameful and wholly unacceptable', The Australian reported.

'That statement by one of the most senior Labor politicians here in Western Australia is divisive,' he said.

'We've seen the continued polarisation of politics globally, and the language used here by Labor to divide Australians among themselves fails to deal with the actual issues that confront Aboriginal people in Western Australia.'

Mr Kirkup said he worked closely with local Indigenous communities, and was adamant community leaders had never raised the issue of the date of Australia Day with him.

'Whether I'm up in Kununurra or in Geraldton or in Aboriginal communities in the Goldfields, not a single person there talks to me about changing the date,' he said.

Sue Lines, who is also the deputy president of the senate, is in favour of changing the date from January 26 to another day (pictured, protesters on Australia Day in 2020 in Melbourne)

Victoria Police are seen grappling with a man at the Flinders Street Railway Station during a demonstration on Australia Day in 2020

'They want to make sure they have a government that addresses the challenges of the future. To end the cycle of violence and abuse and the failure to address the issues of poverty.'

Mr Kirkup, whose grandfather was Aboriginal, does not support changing the date of Australia Day.

Ms Lines' Labor colleague, Aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt, also criticised the senator on Monday.

Her description of the 1788 anniversary as a 'destructive era of colonisation, genocide and dispossession' would 'offend decent Australians', he said.

'That sort of rhetoric doesn't help the debate because a lot of really good decent Australians who celebrate Australia Day will be quite offended by that comment,' Mr Wyatt said.

The ABC promoted the article on Twitter later on Sunday, sticking by the 'Australia Day/Invasion Day' decision

A fellow WA politician said he worked closely with local Indigenous communities, and was adamant community leaders had never raised the issue of the date of Australia Day with him (pictured, an Invasion Day rally in Brisbane in 2020)

There have been calls for Ms Lines (pictured) to resign from her post within parliament after drawing the comparison with white supremacy

Mr Wyatt, who is Indigenous, does support changing the date but doesn't think the topic should be 'high on the agenda' for supporting Indigenous people in Western Australia.

There have been calls for Ms Lines to resign from her post within parliament after drawing the comparison.

A small survey conducted by Roy Morgan of 1,236 Aussies found 59 per cent of participants wanted the name to remain Australia Day.

But 41 per cent would support a name change to Invasion Day.

The results of the survey indicate Australians under 25 are more likely to want January 26 to be known as 'Invasion Day', with 70 per cent supporting the change.

Meanwhile, people older than 35 are increasingly likely to support the name as it is.

The ABC has begun referring to January 26 as 'Invasion Day' instead of 'Australia Day' in an attempt to be more inclusive (pictured, celebrations in 2019 in Melbourne)

There have long been debates about the celebration of a day linked to the genocide of Indigenous Australians and the 'colonisation of an ancient culture' (protesters at an Invasion Day rally in 2020)

It comes just a day after the ABC sparked a nationwide debate after using the term 'Invasion Day' interchangeably with Australia Day in an article.

Australia Day is a day of celebration for many, as the nation enjoys a public holiday to come together and enjoy everything a lifestyle Down Under brings.

But for First Nations people, it marks 'a day of sorrow for the colonisation of an ancient culture,' according to the ABC article.

'For some First Nations people, it is a day to mourn the past and galvanise the community to address ongoing systemic racial injustice. For others, it's a chance to spend time with family and friends at the beach or around barbecues.'

The ABC defended the decision to use the terms interchangeably as it would be 'inappropriate' to demand its' staff to refer to one or the other.

But it has since backtracked on the decision by quietly removing the phrase from the article on Monday.

Australia Day is a day of celebration for many (pictured, revellers in 2020 at a Brisbane pub)
A man has died after being pulled unconscious from the water at one of Sydney's most popular beaches.

Emergency services were called to North Narrabeen on Sydney's Northern Beaches at around 3.15pm on Monday afternoon after reports a snorkeller ended up in difficulty in the water.

Lifesavers dragged the unconscious man from the water and commenced CPR in front of horrified beachgoers, including young families.

Four paramedic crews continued CPR when they arrived but the man died at the scene, despite desperate attempts to revive him.

He is the sixth person to have drowned in New South Wales waters in the last week, taking the state's death toll this summer to 19.

A snorkeller was drowned on Sydney's northern beaches on Monday (pictured, shocked lifeguards and onlookers with emergency services at the scene of North Narrabeen)

It's believed the man had been snorkelling near the entrance of Narrabeen Lagoon and had been unconscious for some time before he was pulled from the water, the Manly Daily reported.

Many swimmers were at the beach at the time of the tragedy as temperatures soared into the high 30s along Sydney's coast.

The man hasn't been formally identified but is believed to be aged in his 30s.

The tragedy unfolded in front of shocked beach goers, including young families. A handful swimmers remained on the beach following the drowning

Police remain at the beach where they have established a crime scene.

Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

Anyone with more information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Less than three hours earlier, a teenager was pulled unconscious from the Hawkesbury River at the at the Sackville Ski Gardens north-west of Sydney after he dived into the water from a pier.

The boy, 16, was airlifted to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition, where he's now fighting for life.

The tragedy unfolded at North Narrabeen near the entrance of Narrabeen Lagoon. Pictured is an aerial view of the harrowing scenes on Monday afternoon

The latest tragedy comes after two men drowned in separate incidents south-west of Melbourne on the weekend.

Around 55 people have drowned in Victoria waters so far this summer, compared to just 43 at this time last year.

Three fisherman also died after they swept from a rocky platform by a large wave into rough surf at Port Kembla south of Sydney last Friday night.
Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup has unveiled a plan to sink the rail line at the train station in West Perth to create a new inner-city precinct.

The Liberal party promised to put aside $5 million to create a masterplan for the idea if elected but has no estimate for the total cost of the project, which Labor claims would cost between $600 million and $1 billion.

Tjorn Sibma, Libby Mettam, Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup, Liberal candidate for Perth Kylee Veskovich and Bill Marmion at City West Station. Credit:Peter de Kruijff

Labor also blasted the Liberal and National Party election commitments made up to Monday, which it estimated would have a $8.1 billion impact on WAs budget even with the $1.2 billion promised by the federal government for the Roe 8 and 9 extension.

Mr Kirkup said the plan to sink about 500 metres of rail between the Mitchell Freeway and Thomas Street by 2029 could be a cost-neutral exercise with the involvement of developers.
Hundreds of Ghanaians on Monday started filing past the mortal remains of former President Jerry John Rawlings to pay last respect to him at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).



It was a sorrowful spectacle with the aged, the middle-aged and young pouring in at the Centre, some sobbing, with others visibly holding back their tears for the late former President.



A delegation of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the National Chairman and Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, the Acting Chairman of the NDC's Council of Elders, were among mourners at the AICC, to pay their last respect to former President Rawlings, the Founder of the NDC.



The mortal remains of the former President is laying-in-state for two-days at the foyer of the AICC as part of a four-day state funeral.

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, in an interview with the press urged Ghanaians to preserve the late former President's legacy.



Former President Rawlings passed on Thursday November 12, 2020 at age 73.

Source: GNA









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Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989. She can be reached at jmaschino@berkshireeagle.com.
Israeli and United Arab Emirates flags line a road in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on Aug. 16, 2020. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel Opens Embassy in UAE, Expanding New Relations

JERUSALEMIsrael on Sunday said it has opened its embassy in the United Arab Emirates, following through on last years U.S.-brokered agreement to establish full diplomatic ties with the Gulf country.

Israels Foreign Ministry said the embassy would be in a temporary office while a permanent location is prepared. Eitan Naeh, a veteran Israeli diplomat, will serve as the head of mission.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said the opening of the new embassy would allow the broadening of what already are warm ties between Israel and the UAE.

The UAE cabinet on Sunday approved the establishment of an embassy in Tel Aviv in Israel, state-run WAM news agency reported.

Since formally establishing ties in September, the two countries have already established direct flights and exchanged numerous trade delegations, while thousands of Israeli tourists have visited the UAE.

The UAE was the first of four Arab countries to establish or renew ties with Israel under a series of agreements brokered by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Foreign Ministry said Israel would soon open an interest section in Morocco and a consulate in Dubai. It also said an embassy in Bahrain has been operating for several weeks.
With the Covid-19 pandemic gripping the world, your employees are likely to be spending significantly more time online.

But the overwhelming amount of news coverage surrounding the virus has created a new risk.

With large numbers of employees working from home, cyber criminals are taking advantage of the disruption, capitalising on the uncertainty to scam suspecting employees into handing over sensitive data and money.

Bogus callers, fake online stores and online and telephone frauds are just some of the scams that the general public should be wary of.

But what scams should each employee in your organisation be aware of?

We have pulled together information and resources to keep you up to speed on the types of scams out there during this uncertain period, examples of online scams (what has been in the news and what a scam looks like).

More importantly, we will provide you with tips on how to protect yourself and your employees.

Types of scams

1. Invoice Scams

A business may be contacted out of the blue by someone claiming to be from a regular supplier.

They state that their bank account details have changed and will ask you to change the payment details. Fraudsters are taking advantage of the current uncertainty, which is why this type of fraud is popular now.

Tip: Always call an existing supplier on a confirmed telephone number to make sure any demand of this nature is genuine.

2. CEO impersonation scams

A sophisticated scam that plays on the authority of company directors and senior managers.

An employee receives a phone call or email from someone claiming to be a senior member of staff  they ask for an urgent payment to a new account and instil a sense of panic.

Scammers may even hack a staff email account or use spoofing software to appear genuine.

Tip: Be wary and alert for any unexpected urgent requests for payment and always check the request in person if its possible.

3. Tech support scams

With more people working remotely and IT systems under pressure, criminals may impersonate well-known companies and offer to repair devices. Criminals are trying to gain computer access or get hold of passwords and login details. Once they have access, criminals can search the hard drive for valuable information.

Tip: Always be apprehensive of cold callers. Genuine companies would never call out of the blue and ask for financial information up front.

4. Coronavirus advice/ Government grant/tax refund scams

Criminals are pursuing new approaches to profiting from a global pandemic.

The number of phishing and smishing attempts have been on the rise as expected recently, as cybercriminals target an already uncertain and vulnerable society.

A business is contacted by phone, email or post by imposters claiming to be from a government or medical organisation.

For example, the scammer will suggest the business might qualify for a special Covid-19 government grant or a tax refund. Variations on the scheme involve contacts through text messages, social media posts and messages.

They will in some cases request the receiver to click on a link or download an attachment. You may also be asked to provide bank account or login details.

Tip: Organisations should be vigilant about unexpected urgent communications offering financial assistance. Check that the information is genuine and from a trustful source by using official government websites.

5. Fake Invoices/Suppliers

Cyber security criminals are mindful of the massive demand for health products during the Covid-19 crisis. Many companies will search for new suppliers to meet the current demand.

Fake websites and social media accounts are being created by cyber criminals, promoting face masks, ventilators, hand sanitisers, home cleaning products and more.

Cyber criminals will capitalise on this and offer bulk buying of the product, at a very hefty cost. These scammers will take the money, your personal details and fail to deliver the products.

Tip: Only work with a reputable supplier and purchase based on previous experience with the supplier.

Investigate any new suppliers by carrying out as much research as possible. This can be online reviews for example. Call their numbers provided if necessary and use business registration sites for proof of legitimacy.

Examples of online scams

A recent RTE story reported that a European business seeking to buy alcohol gels and protection masks transferred 6.6m to a company in Singapore after being conned by a fraudulent email. The goods never arrived.

BBC reported in April 2020, about a multi-million-euro coronavirus mask scam.

The alleged scam began after a German company tried to buy 10m masks, valued at about 15m (13m), from online suppliers.

The German buyer placed an online order on a fake Dutch website. Fraudsters put the buyer in touch with an Irish "intermediary", police say.

The German firm then made a down payment of 1.5m into an Irish companys bank account, based in County Roscommon, for masks that were not delivered.

A story published by the Irish Examiner recently reported that recently a businessman was attending a medical appointment.

While he was there, his wife received an email from him requesting her to transfer 30,000 to a bank account in Germany.

His wife carried out the transfer believing this email from her husband was genuine. Later that evening she made her husband aware the transfer had been successful.

They then realised they had been scammed and defrauded of 30,000.

How to protect yourself and your employees against scams

Do

l Wherever you access your online information, keep your software updated, including your browser, antivirus and operating system.

l Beware of unsolicited requests, especially if they are requesting sensitive information such as your online banking account password or credit or debit card PIN number.

l If its a telephone request, take the callers number and advise them that you will call them back. Look up the organisations phone number and contact them directly.

l When in doubt, double-check the website or give the company a call.

l Look at emails closely: compare the address with previous real messages and check for bad spelling and grammar.

l If you think you might have responded to a fraudulent email, text or call and provided your bank details, contact your bank immediately.

Don't

l Do not use the number they give you.

l Dont share your credit or debit card PIN number or your online banking password. Your bank will never ask for such details.

l Fraudsters can find your basic information online (e.g. social media). Dont assume a caller is genuine just because they have such details.

l Dont transfer money to another account on their request.

l Dont reply to suspicious emails or texts.

l Dont click on their links or download their attachments.

l Dont be rushed. Take your time and make the appropriate checks before responding.
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 11,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Arizona Metals Corp. (TSX-V: AMC; OTCQX: AZMCF), a gold and copper exploration company with headquarters in Toronto, Canada, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Arizona Metals Corp. upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market.

Arizona Metals Corp. begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "AZMCF." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

The OTCQX Market is designed for established, investor-focused U.S. and international companies. To qualify for OTCQX, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance, and demonstrate compliance with applicable securities laws. Graduating to the OTCQX Market from the OTCQB Market marks an important milestone for companies, enabling them to demonstrate their qualifications and build visibility among U.S. investors.

Marc Pais, CEO of Arizona Metals Corp., commented, "We are pleased to trade on the OTCQX Market, which will provide increased accessibility and liquidity for U.S. investors. The timing coincides well with our Phase 2 drill program at the Kay Mine, which began two weeks ago. We expect to release a steady flow of drill results over the coming months. We are expecting to close an over-subscribed private placement of CDN$10 million later this week, which will put us in a very strong financial position to complete an aggressive drill program. We will issue another press release on closing of the financing."

About Arizona Metals Corp.

Arizona Metals Corp. is a gold and copper exploration company, with headquarters in Toronto, Canada. The company is currently drilling at its 100% owned Kay Mine VMS Project, located in Yavapai County, Arizona, with the goal of defining additional high-grade copper-gold-zinc-silver mineralization. The company also owns 100% of the Sugarloaf Peak Gold Project, located in La Paz County, Arizona, which hosts an open-pit gold-oxide deposit. More information can be found here: www.arizonametalscorp.com

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 11,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

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President Joe Bidens decision to impose a 60-day moratorium on oil and gas permitting on federal lands has government officials in New Mexico scared and confused that it may be a sign of bad things to come.

Biden signed the moratorium in a major executive order push on his first day as president in a bid to reverse as many policies of the previous administration as possible in line with his campaigns climate change agenda. There are now fears the temporary moratorium will become permanent.

This will be a problem for oil-producing states such as New Mexico because a lot of their state income comes from royalties and taxes collected from oil and gas drillers. In New Mexico specifically, a lot of oil and gas drilling is done on federal land, writes David Blackmon for Forbes, and the state is now set to lose millions in royalties should the drilling ban become permanent.

Some New Mexico officials have said they did not anticipate the move from the White House although, as Blackmon notes, this is hard to believe given all the talk about banning drilling on federal land even though Joe Biden personally denied he planned an all-out ban, saying he would only consider banning new drilling.

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. This makes the state, which houses part of the Permian shale play, a lot more vulnerable to unfavorable presidential decisions than other oil-producing states. Last year, this led many drillers to secure drilling permits for months and even years ahead in anticipation of Bidens win in the November elections.

This will insulate them from the 60-day moratorium, but if it becomes a permanent fixture, most drillers in New Mexico will run out of permits, and the future of the industry in that state would become questionable.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

Alice Ruth Foster, 86, passed away Wednesday, January 13, 2021, in Chattanooga.

She was born March 2, 1934, to Amy Madden in Chattanooga,Tennessee. She attended Howard High School and graduated in 1952. She was a member of Greater New Home Baptist Church. Alice was employed by Interstate Commerce in Washington, D.C. for a period of time. She later returned to Chattanooga to care for her ailing mother.

She was predeceased by her husband Earl B. Foster; her mother, Amy Madden; grandfather, John Rowe.

She leaves to cherish memories her sister, Mary Frances Branson, Colorado Springs, Colorado; niece, Michelle Swenson, Chandler, Arizona; numerous cousins and friends.

Our most sincere thanks and appreciation are expressed to the Greater New Home Baptist Church and congregation, Pastor Elder Spotts, and others for all of their love and support during these times of difficulty.

Public viewing will be held 2-6 p.m. on Thursday, January 28, 2021, at the funeral home.

A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, January 29, 2021, at Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Arrangements are by John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Avenue, 423-622-9995.
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With the new year came a new strain of the coronavirus, which was first found in Britain and named B.1.1.7. It entered the United States on Dec. 29, 2020, and was found in Georgia on Jan. 5.
Protesters disrupt pro-life mass at Catholic church in Ohio: 'Jesus hates you'

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As Catholics in Columbus, Ohio celebrated a pro-life mass on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday, a small group of pro-abortion rights protesters stormed the ceremony.

St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio, the state's capital and largest city, celebrated a Respect Life mass on Friday, marking the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

Video footage obtained by The Columbus Dispatch showed police and security officers working to remove a group of about eight protesters who disrupted the mass to demonstrate in support of abortion rights.

While worshipers gathered to commemorate the millions of unborn lives lost to abortion over the years, protesters marched around the sanctuary and chanted "two, four, six, eight, this church teaches hate.

They held signs with messages such as "Abortion on demand, end Hyde now" as well as "Fund abortion, not clinic harassment.

According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, whose bishop attended the mass, approximately 200 people were in attendance for the 10:30 a.m. service.

After being removed from the building, the protesters shouted obscenities at the law enforcement officials. One demonstrator remarked that "If hell was real, you would burn in it. Meanwhile, another shouted, "Jesus hates you!"

The Columbus Dispatch reported that Columbus Police did not offer any details about possible arrests on Saturday.

Following the protest, Bishop Robert Brennan of the Diocese of Columbus, who celebrated the Respect Life mass, issued a statement thanking the Columbus Police and diocesan staff for "the quick response without injury to anyone present."

He also praised those who attended the mass for their "respectful and prayerful response" that "reflects the joy, hope, and mercy that marks our pro-life witness."

"I also apologize to the families present whose children were exposed to this, the bishop said. On this day, in remembrance of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, I ask all to continue to pray for the unborn who died, for all those who have experienced the pain of abortion, and for those who cannot understand our divine and steadfast calling to champion this cause.

After the mass concluded, about 150 people traveled to the nearby Ohio Statehouse for the annual Roe Remembrance Rally. Cleveland's Bishop Edward Malesic addressed the crowd and weighed in on the "display of violence" that took place earlier in the day.

"There is hatred on this side of the fence," Malesic said. "We won't win this argument [against those supporting abortion rights] by yelling. We will win this argument by the strength of it."

The Catholic Church is one of the most outspoken institutional critics of legalized abortion in the country.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes "every procured abortion" as an act of "moral evil."

Top leaders in the Church have criticized President Joe Biden, the second Catholic in U.S. history to hold the highest office in the land, after he issued a statement committing to ensure that all Americans have access to "reproductive healthcare" and expressed support for the codification of Roe v. Wade into federal law.

"We strongly urge the president to reject abortion and promote life-affirming aid to women and communities in need," said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, the head of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities. "It is deeply disturbing and tragic that any president would praise and commit to codifying a Supreme Court ruling that denies unborn children their most basic human and civil right, the right to life under the euphemistic disguise of a health service."

Biden's support for abortion rights led one Catholic priest in South Carolina to deny him communion as he campaigned in the state ahead of the 2020 presidential election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another Catholic who supports abortion rights, has also come under fire from Catholic leaders for suggesting that pro-life voters, including Catholics, were "willing to sell the whole democracy down the river for that one issue" by supporting the pro-life former President Donald Trump.

Additionally, Pelosi complained that the fact that so many religious Americans prioritize the issue of abortion "gives me grief as a Catholic." Salvatore Cordileone, who serves as archbishop of San Francisco, the city Pelosi represents in Congress, slammed the speaker for speaking "in direct contradiction to a fundamental human right that Catholic teaching has consistently championed for 2,000 years" and stressed that she did not speak for the Catholic Church.
[January 25, 2021] MagicCube is First Startup Appointed to PCI Security Standards Council 2021-2022 Board of Advisors

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MagicCube , the leader in the new category of Software Defined Trust (SDT), announced today that it has been appointed to the Board of Advisors at the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), whose role helps to ensure the security of card payment systems and determines international standards. MagicCube's CTO and co-founder, Nancy Zayed, who previously held several technical leadership roles at Apple, Palm and Cisco Systems, will sit on the board. The Board of Advisors represents PCI SSC Participating Organizations worldwide to ensure global industry involvement in the development of PCI Security Standards and programs. "The Board of Advisors provides industry expertise and perspectives that influence and shape the development of PCI Security Standards and programs," said Lance J. Johnson, PCI SSC Executive Director. "We look forward to working with MagicCube in our efforts to help organizations secure payment data globally." MagicCube's appointment is the first of a startup to the Board, which includes the likes of Amazon, JPMorganChase, Citi, and PayPal, and the first of a Software-Defined Trust (SDT) platform designed for payments, which signals a progression for the digitization of payments hardware, including contactless and Tap and PIN, and the growing movement towards software-based security solutions to deploy secure payments. "We rely on input from the Board of Advisors to develop data security standards and programs that help businesses globally detect, mitigate and prevent cyberattacks and breaches," said Troy Leach, PCI SSC SVP Engagement Officer. "We're pleased to have MagicCube on the PCI SSC Board of Advisors to provide critical insights and help us build on the great efforts that are already being done to increase payment security globally." MagicCube is one of 31 board members to join the PCI Security Standards Council in its efforts to secure payment data globally. As strategic partners, board members bring industry, geographical and technical insight to PCI SSC plans and projects. Nancy's expertise in the payments security field, from her time at Apple, Palm and Cisco Systems, as well as an entrepreneur, will serve as a differentiating perspective to traditional payments solutions providers. Nancy's work to bring to market the first software TEE-based platform will help the Council in their development of new security standards. "We're extremely proud to have been elected to join the PCI Security Standards Council's Board of Advisors to continue our work on advising in the development of the PCI Security Standards," said Nancy Zayed, CTO of MagicCube. "We are hoping to share andcontribute our experience in providing innovative provable software security technologies designed to come to par with hardware-based security yet competes with it in terms of practicality and ease of adoption, therefore enriching solutions' availability and extending optionality and speeds of adoption. Our objective of working within the Council to create and advance the standards for adopting new security technologies delivers on the Council's mission of maintaining the same high level of security of large volume of transactions across the many forms and configurations of payment platforms."



The appointment follows a very busy year for MagicCube. In early December, the company announced that it has received a security compliance allowance from Visa , which came on the heels of Visa's investment in the company in August. This year also brought the launch of i-Accept, the world's first software-based replacement for traditional payment terminals , which has been endorsed by American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa. The PCI SSC leads a global, cross-industry effort to increase payment security by providing flexible, industry-driven and effective data security standards and programs. The Council relies on the involvement of companies across the payments processing chain in its work to enhance payment data security and embrace new technologies  from merchants, service providers and payment device manufacturers to software developers, financial institutions and processors.

About MagicCube

MagicCube is leading the Software Defined Trust (SDT) category with its software TEE-based platform. The technology enables large-scale deployment and management of IoT and mobile-secure solutions to consumers. MagicCube was awarded the first recognition of a software-based Trusted Execution Environment (sTEE) issued by EMVCo, the global consortium which facilitates worldwide interoperability and acceptance of secure payment transactions, for its SDT platform. MagicCube has been named to Network World's '10 Hot IoT Startups to Watch' list, listed as a Cool Vendor in Security and Risk Management by Gartner, and partners with the PCI Security Standards Council. Investors in MagicCube include Bold Capital, Epic Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Visa, NTT Data, Azure Capital, CVentures and Luqman Weise Capital. For more information, visit www.magiccube.co or follow us on Twitter @ Magic3inc . ** EMV is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo, LLC. About the PCI Security Standards Council

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) leads a global, cross-industry effort to increase payment security by providing industry-driven, flexible and effective data security standards and programs that help businesses detect, mitigate and prevent cyberattacks and breaches. Connect with the PCI SSC on LinkedIn . Join the conversation on Twitter @ PCISSC . Subscribe to the PCI Perspectives Blog . ** All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. Contact:

Rozeta Andres

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OLYMPIA (AP)  Lawmakers in Washington state have introduced legislation that could increase the state gas tax, making it the highest in the country at 67.4 cents a gallon.

The proposal calls for an 18-cent increase a gallon in the state's gas tax, KING-TV reported Thursday. The bill would increase the price by 10 cents a gallon this year and another 8 cents a gallon in 2022.





. . .
Police in Boston identified the 22-year-old man who was fatally shot on Jan. 6 in Dorchester.

The victim, Lance Norwood, of Hyde Park, died from his injuries on Jan. 21, according to Boston police.

On Jan. 6, just before 1 a.m., police were called to a report of a shooting in the area of 750 Morton St. in Dorchester.

On arrival, officers located one adult male victim suffering from gunshot wounds, police said.

Authorities said Norwood was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. He then died from his injuries several days later.

The killing remains under investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at 617-343-4470.

Hryvnia gets stronger against U.S. dollar on Jan 25

The rate against the euro is fixed at UAH 34.25.

Reporting by UNIAN

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Bengaluru, Jan 25 : Farmers would not be allowed to enter the city on tractors from outside on Tuesday for their protest rally against the three central farm laws, a top police official said on Monday.

"In view of the heightened security on the 72nd Republic Day on Tuesday, farmers will not be allowed to enter the city on tractors for their protest rally, as it would not only choke roads, but also cause traffic jam," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant told reporters here.

About 25,000 farmers from across Karnataka on Sunday planned to lead their protest rally to Bengaluru on about 10,000 tractors, trucks and other vehicles in support of their counterparts in the north who have been allowed to enter New Delhi on tractors for staging a kisan parade on Tuesday.

"The farmers are allowed to travel to the city in trains, buses or their vehicles but not on tractors for their protest rally at Freedom Park in the city centre as security will be tight to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident," asserted Pant.

Additional police have been deployed on all roads leading to the city from across the state to stop tractors on the outskirts to prevent gridlock.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sanga president K. Chandrashekar urged farmers from all districts to come to Bengaluru on tractors and trucks for the protest rally in solidarity with farmers staging tractors rally in the national capital.

"We will enter the city only after the main Republic Day function ends for a peaceful protest rally. We will not cause inconvenience to the people. We will leave the city after the rally," Chandrashekar told reporters here, urging the police to lift the ban on farmers coming on tractors.

The state home department has also directed police in districts around Bengaluru to prevent tractors from leaving their towns and villages to enter the city.

Farmers from Mandya, Mysuru, Kodagu, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Hassan, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and many districts will participate in the protest rally against the three farm laws.

"The rally will also be in protest against the APMC Act and Land Reforms Act, the BJP government in Karnataka has amended recently, as they are also against farmers and growers," reiterated Chandrashekar.
Posted Sunday, January 24, 2021 3:21 pm

When Carolina Mejia swore her oath of office on Dec. 30, it marked a few significant firsts.

She is the first woman of color  the first Latina specifically  to serve on the Thurston County Board of Commissioners. This is also her first time in elected office.

Throughout her campaign, Mejia said she was nervous about the outcome yet determined to do her best. When she finally won the general election for the District 1 seat, she said she felt excited yet humbled.

"Even after that, I still couldn't believe it," Mejia said. "When people would be like 'Commissioner-elect (Mejia),' I would be like 'Am I really? Is it a dream?'"

In many ways, Mejia's story could be held up as an example of the American dream. She started in the United States as an immigrant and propelled herself to elected office where she now hopes to represent her community in a way no previous commissioner could before.

From Honduras to Washington

Mejia emigrated from Honduras with her parents and two siblings when she was 11 years old. They followed her grandmother, who already had moved to the U.S., and fled an increasingly unstable political situation in Honduras.

"My dad was waiting for a visa, there was a transition of power in Honduras and the economy got really bad," Mejia said. "My mom started to get concerned about the political climate but also cartels. The war on drugs started to get really bad in Honduras."

They settled in rural Shelbyville, Tennessee, the one place where her father managed to get his work visa.

"My parents were always able to provide a bilingual education for me, but we moved to Shelbyville, Tennessee, a very small town and it was definitely a culture shock for me, for my mom, for all of our family," Mejia said.

She said her family, and her father especially, pushed her into volunteer and advocacy work throughout her education. However, she said she really found her footing as an activist during her time at Christian Brothers University, a Catholic college in Memphis, Tennessee.

She recalls skipping a sorority party in favor taking a bus to Washington, D.C., to take part in the March for America, a pro-immigration reform protest, in 2010.

"For me, it was the first time I was part of a march like that," Mejia said. "The bedding was quite uncomfortable, but the experience was wonderful. ... You're surrounded by people who have the same goal and are fighting for something that you believe in. ... It fills you up."

She said her mother only caught wind of her actions when someone posted pictures of her on Facebook.

Mejia moved to Washington state after graduating from college in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a minor in pre-law.

She said she followed her family which had sold their bakery during the Great Recession and moved to Washington in 2009.

She was admitted to law school at the University of Washington and attended for 1-1/2 years before deciding to withdraw. As a single mother at the time, she said she felt she had to focus on providing for her daughter. She also was discouraged to see many of her peers graduate and struggle to find jobs as attorneys.

"I had to make a tough decision whether, you know, I was going to be able to provide for me and my family," Mejia said. "So, I decided to make the hard decision to withdraw with the intention that if I had the possibility, I would go back and finish."

Mejia found work at as a law clerk and later an office manager at Bean Porter Hawkins LLC, a Seattle law firm focused on immigration and personal injury cases.

However, the commute from Olympia to Seattle grew too tiresome, she said, prompting her to look for local work.

Thurston County Superior Court

Mejia started work as a judicial assistant with Thurston County Superior Court in 2015. She said the job prepared her for her role as county commissioner because it allowed her to familiarize herself with county government.

"When I first started, if you would have asked me what a county commissioner does, I would have been very confused," Mejia said. "I got to learn the inner workings of the county. ... I got to know how the decisions taken by the county commissioners affect each department individually."

Those who worked with Mejia at the court described her as a kind, intelligent and detail-oriented woman who often volunteered in the community.

Tonya Moore, court operations manager, said she managed Mejia in her time as a judicial assistant. She said Mejia would often take the initiative to improve workflows and connect with the community.

Moore said Mejia volunteered to help her organize and manage the first Color of Justice event in 2019, which encouraged marginalized youth to seek careers in the judiciary.

"Even before I asked for volunteers, she was the first one to step up and say, 'I will help you with that,'" Moore said.

Mejia also would often translate for Spanish-speakers who entered the building and explain the court system to those who were unfamiliar with it.

"She really wanted the court system to work for everybody," Moore said. "And for people to feel comfortable coming to the court system and not feel they're threatened."

As a judicial assistant, Mejia supported two judges at a time, fielding inquiries, preparing paperwork and managing their calendars.

One of the judges she worked with was Judge James Dixon, who described Mejia as a passionate, hardworking citizen with an inspirational personal history.

"There were several instances where she would share with me during just general conversations about how proud she was to be a citizen of this country and a resident of Thurston County," Dixon said.

"It was pretty clear to me that she wanted to have a career path, whatever that might be, that would allow her to serve the community."

Challenges on the campaign

Mejia said she wrestled with the decision to run for county commissioner for about two years, but ultimately took the leap because she wanted to bring better representation to the board.

"I felt we needed more representation of the community that actually lived in Thurston County," Mejia said. "There are parents of young children, renters struggling to buy a home here. It's just situations that I felt I could relate to much more because I was in that situation."

She said she gathered a group of passionate, working women who had never run a campaign before. Gabriela Hyre, her campaign manager, said Mejia invited her to join her campaign after meeting in the Washington Latino Caucus.

"We were a group of moms, Latinas, all of us came from left field," Hyre said. "There were times when we were on fumes, we were tired, but it's like, Si se puede, we are going to keep pushing so hopefully the next person will be willing to put themselves out there, la proxima Latina."

During the campaign, Mejia said she felt she had to work harder to meet several challenges. For one, she was an unknown candidate with no political background.

"I felt like we had to do way more outreach," Mejia said. "We had to work three times harder just to make sure people knew who I was."

She also had to run a campaign amid the pandemic, which derailed typical outreach activities.

To adapt, her campaign focused on online events and content including Coffee with Carolina, a podcast where Carolina would talk with community members and organizations.

"We saw that the engagement was really high, we just didn't know where the engagement was coming from," Mejia said. "We didn't know if it was making a difference or an impact. It wasn't until we started our text banking that we realized a lot of people recognized me from that."

To add to the campaign difficulties, Mejia also was the target of baseless allegations questioning her citizenship.

Amid the allegations, Commissioner Gary Edwards, who represents District 2, asked the county's human resources department for at least part of Mejia's social security number. The department declined Edwards request. He later said he did so to put the issue to rest, the Olympian previously reported.

With that issue behind her, Mejia said being the target of those allegations was unpleasant, but she is thankful for how the community rallied to support her.

"It wasn't surprising, but it was definitely nice to have that community backing through it all," Mejia said.

She said she met with Edwards in December to clear the air so they could start the new term on the right foot.

"My goal starting off was to make sure that I have a good relationship with both commissioners and that we're able to do what's best for Thurston County," Mejia said.

The weight of victory

For her first year, Mejia said her focus will be on what county government can do to support economic recovery, COVID-19 vaccine distribution, and eviction protections.

Hyre said she is proud to see a Latina sit on the Board of County Commissioners and expects Mejia to bring a unique perspective to county government.

"It's not just me, my children are seeing this, my girls," Hyre said. "The children of other members of her campaign, others in our community.... It's encouraging to know that there's somebody who's going to be looking at their work through a different lens, a lens that maybe others are not thinking about."

The significance of her victory is not lost on Mejia. Though she is proud to have checked off several firsts, she doesn't think it should have taken this long to see this kind of representation.

"It's kind of like a bittersweet feeling," Mejia said. "For me it, just shows we have way more work to do. ... I'm going to do the best I can."

___

(c)2021 The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)

Visit The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.) at www.theolympian.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
[January 25, 2021] Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. and Alight Solutions Announce Merger

Alight Solutions ("Alight"), a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, and Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: WPF, WPF WS) ("Foley Trasimene"), a special purpose acquisition company, today announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company (the "Company") will operate as Alight, Inc. and plans to list under the symbol ALIT. The transaction reflects an implied pro-forma enterprise value for Alight of approximately $7.3 billion. With more than 25 years of operating experience, Alight's human capital business process as a service ("BPaaS") solutions unite SaaS (News - Alert) capabilities, AI, automation and data analytics to deliver superior outcomes for employees and employers across a comprehensive portfolio of services. Alight integrates health, wealth and wellbeing into one holistic and personalized solution, providing a streamlined experience for employees, while enabling employers of all sizes to achieve a high-performance culture. William P. Foley, II, Founder and Chairman of Foley Trasimene, stated, "Our team has worked meticulously evaluating hundreds of potential partners through the second half of 2020, and we are excited to announce this transaction with Alight. Stephan and the leadership team have already positioned Alight as the market leader in employee benefit and business solutions and we believe there is significant opportunity to further transform the business and create value for shareholders. Through our partnership, we will leverage our proven playbook and Alight's unique position between employees and employers to increase revenue growth and margin expansion. Alight is poised to be the preeminent employee engagement partner, and we look forward to assisting Stephan and the team in achieving this goal." "Today's announcement is a significant milestone in our ongoing transformation at Alight. Partnering with proven SPAC sponsor Bill Foley positions Alight to become the preeminent employee engagement partner for employers of all sizes," said Stephan Scholl, CEO of Alight. "Now more than ever, employees and employers are facing incredible challenges that are impacting their ability to thrive. We are committed to helping our clients and their people make the best decisions for themselves and their families through a personalized, integrated view of their health, wealth and wellbeing. We know that when employees have peace of mind in their personal lives, they are inspired to do their best at work, resulting in higher productivity and an increased return on the investment companies make in their people." Peter Wallace and David Kestnbaum, Senior Managing Directors at Blackstone, said, "Under Blackstone's ownership, Alight's leadership team has transformed the company into a leading provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions for employees and employers. We look forward to remaining significant shareholders alongside Foley Trasimene for the next stage of Alight's growth." Alight Investment Highlights: Market leading employee benefits solutions delivered to over 30 million people and family members, including more than 70% of the Fortune 100 and 50% of the Fortune 500, and across diverse industry verticals. Scalable, highly secure and cloud-based technology infrastructure and robust core transaction engines that help employers manage approximately 70% of their spend and assist employees in making the most critical decisions around health, wealth and wellbeing. Access to a full view of data that places Alight at the center of employee engagement; sophisticated platform enables hyper-personalized solutions. Experienced management team with a proven record and diverse experience in software, management consulting, insurance, human capital, domain expertise and business services led by Stephan Scholl, who will continue leading the Company. Best-in-class management team further strengthened with the support of Bill Foley as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Attractive financial profile with a highly recurring and diversified revenue with 3-5 year contracts, an average client tenure among top 25 clients of approximately 15 years, 97% revenue retention and approximately 75% of 2021 revenue already under contract. Comprehensive and proven M&A and integration strategy, with significant vertical and horizontal acquisition opportunities focused on innovation, scale and market adjacencies that drive engagement and meaningful value for clients. Significant value creation opportunities through revenue growth, margin improvement and multiple expansion. The Board will be comprised of eight directors, including three directors appointed by Foley Trasimene, three directors appointed by Blackstone, Alight CEO Stephan Scholl and one additional independent director. A majority of the directors will be independent, consistent with the applicable listing rules. Transaction Overview Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Foley Trasimene will combine with Alight and, in connection with the business combination, Alight will become a publicly traded entity under the name "Alight, Inc." and symbol ALIT. The transaction reflects an implied pro-forma enterprise value for Alight of approximately $7.3 billion at closing. Proceeds from the transaction will be used in part to pay down debt and will result in substantial deleveraging for Alight on a pro forma basis. Net leverage will be approximately 3.1x1 at close, and will support significant cash flow generation and flexibility to pursue opportunistic M&A going forward. The cash component of the consideration will be funded by Foley Trasimene's cash in trust, $300 million in proceeds from the forward purchase agreements with Cannae Holdings, Inc. and THL FTAC LLC, an affiliate of Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., as well as a $1.55 billion private placement from various institutional and private investors. The $1.55 billion private placement includes an additional $250 million investment from Cannae Holdings, Inc., and a $150 million investment from Fidelity National Title Insurance Co., Chicago Title Insurance Co. and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. Other institutional investors include Hedosophia, Suvretta Capital and Third Point LLC. The balance of the consideration will consist of equity in the Company. Existing Alight equity holders, including Blackstone, ADIA, GIC, New Mountain Capital and management, will remain the largest investors in the Company. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by Foley Trasimene stockholders, the effectiveness of a registration statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) ") in connection with the transaction, and other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. Advisors J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as lead financial advisor and capital markets advisor to Alight. Credit Suisse is acting as financial and capital markets advisor to Alight. Barclays and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are also acting as financial and capital markets advisors to Alight. BofA Securities is acting as financial advisor to Foley Trasimene. Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as lead placement agents on the private offering. BofA Securities also acted as placement agent. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel to Alight. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is acting as legal counsel to Foley Trasimene. Conference Call, Webcast and Presentation Information Management of Alight and Foley Trasimene will host an investor call on January 25 2021 at 8:00 A.M. ET to discuss the proposed transaction. The conference call will be accompanied by a detailed investor presentation.



A live webcast of the call will be available here, and can also be accessed on https://alight.com/newsroom and Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp.'s website at https://investor.foleytrasimene.com. For those who wish to participate by telephone, please dial 1-877-407-0792 (U.S.) or 1-201-689-8263 (International) and reference the Conference ID 13715512. A replay of the call will also be available via webcast here and at https://alight.com/newsroom. In addition, Foley Trasimene will file an investor presentation with the SEC as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K prior to the call, which will be available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

All materials can also be found at https://alight.com/newsroom and at https://investor.foleytrasimene.com/. About Alight Solutions With an unwavering belief that a company's success starts with its people, Alight Solutions is a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions. Leveraging proprietary AI and data analytics, Alight optimizes business process as a service (BPaaS) to deliver superior outcomes for employees and employers across a comprehensive portfolio of services. Alight allows employees to enrich their health, wealth and work while enabling global organizations to achieve a high-performance culture. Alight's 15,000 dedicated colleagues serve more than 30 million employees and family members. Learn how Alight helps organizations of all sizes, including over 70% of the Fortune 100 at alight.com. About Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. For more information please visit https://www.foleytrasimene.com/. About Blackstone Blackstone is one of the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $584 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter (News - Alert) @Blackstone. Additional Information about the Business Combination and Where to Find It In connection with the proposed business combination, a registration statement on Form S-4 (the "Form S-4") is expected to be filed by Acrobat Holdings, Inc. (to be renamed Alight, Inc. at closing), a Delaware corporation ("Alight Pubco"), with the SEC. The Form S-4 will include preliminary and definitive proxy statements to be distributed to holders of Foley Trasimene's common stock in connection with Foley Trasimene's solicitation for proxies for the vote by Foley Trasimene's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination and other matters as described in the Form S-4, as well as a prospectus of Alight Pubco relating to the offer of the securities to be issued in connection with the completion of the business combination. Foley Trasimene and Alight Pubco urge investors, stockholders and other interested persons to read, when available, the Form S-4, including the proxy statement/prospectus incorporated by reference therein, as well as other documents filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials will contain important information about Alight Pubco, Foley Trasimene, and the proposed business combination. Such persons can also read Foley Trasimene's final prospectus dated May 28, 2020 (SEC File No. 333-238135), for a description of the security holdings of Foley Trasimene's officers and directors and their respective interests as security holders in the consummation of the proposed business combination. After the Form S-4 has been filed and declared effective, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to Foley Trasimene's stockholders as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of such documents, without charge, once available, at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp., 1701 Village Center Circle, Las Vegas, NV 89134, or (702) 323-7330. These documents, once available, can also be obtained, without charge, at the SEC's web site (http://www.sec.gov). Participants in the Solicitation Foley Trasimene and the Company and their respective directors, executive officers and other members of their management and employees, under SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of Foley Trasimene's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination. Investors and security holders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of Foley Trasimene's directors and executive officers in Foley Trasimene's final prospectus dated May 28, 2020 (SEC File No. 333-238135), which was filed with the SEC on May 28, 2020. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of Foley Trasimene's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus for the proposed business combination when available. Information concerning the interests of Foley Trasimene's and Alight's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Foley Trasimene's and Alight's equity holders generally, will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed business combination when it becomes available. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on by any investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Foley Trasimene's and Alight's actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, Foley Trasimene's and the Company's expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the proposed business combination, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions to the proposed business combination, and the timing of the completion of the proposed business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially, and potentially adversely, from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside Foley Trasimene's and the Company's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive business combination agreement (the "Agreement"); (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Foley Trasimene and/or the Company following the announcement of the Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; (3) the inability to complete the proposed business combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of Foley Trasimene, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other conditions to closing in the Agreement; (4) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; (5) the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the proposed business combination; (6) the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the Company's common shares on the New York Stock Exchange following the proposed business combination; (7) the risk that the proposed business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed business combination; (8) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the Company to grow and manage growth profitably, and retain its key employees; (9) costs related to the proposed business combination; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations; and (11) the possibility that Foley Trasimene or the Company may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Additional information concerning certain of these and other risk factors is contained in Foley Trasimene's most recent filings with the SEC and will be contained in the Form S-4, including the proxy statement/prospectus expected to be filed in connection with the proposed business combination. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning Foley Trasimene or the Company, the transactions described herein or other matters and attributable to Foley Trasimene, the Company or any person acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Each of Foley Trasimene and the Company expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in their expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any statement is based, except as required by law. No Offer or Solicitation This press release is not a proxy statement or solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the proposed business combination and shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities of Foley Trasimene or the Company, nor shall there be any sale of any such securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or exemptions therefrom. 1 Based on net debt of $1.9 billion and 2020E Lender Adj. EBITDA of $610 million. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005389/en/

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What just happened? Tesla has never been slow to call in the lawyers if it feels the need. The latest person to incur its wrath is software engineer Alex Khatilov, who is being sued by the automaker for allegedly stealing a slew of sensitive files and code and storing it in his personal Dropbox accountthree days after starting the job.

In the lawsuit, Khatilov is accused of downloading 26,000 files relating to Teslas Warp Drive backend software, used to automate many of the companys essential business processes, with the deliberate intent to injure Teslas business.

CNBC reports that Khatilov was hired on December 28, 2020, as part of Teslas Quality Assurance team. His job was to create software that could automate tasks or business processes related to Environment, Health and Safety. But he allegedly started uploading the sensitive files and Python scripts, which only around 40 employees could access, to his Dropbox account.

Speaking to the New York Post, Khatilovm said he was told to download the data from the system while working remotely because he would be using it. He claims to have been trying to make a backup copy of a folder containing the files but unintentionally moved them to his Dropbox. I didnt know that there was 26,000 files there, Khatilovm told The Post.

The lawsuit states that Khatilovm downloaded more files on January 6, the same day Tesla confronted him. The firm said the scripts he downloaded had nothing to do with his responsibilities. It called his claims of ignorance outright lies.

Even worse, it became apparent that Defendant had brazenly attempted to destroy the evidence by hurriedly deleting the Dropbox client and other files during the beginning of the interview when investigators were attempting to remotely access his computer, Tesla said in the suit.

Khatilovm says Tesla asked him to delete the files from his Dropbox. He also uninstalled the storage software from his computer, which nobody told him he wasnt supposed to have. The former employee didnt even know about the lawsuit until the Post informed him.

Tesla said the data could expose which systems Tesla believes are important and valuable to automate and how to automate them  providing a roadmap to copy Teslas innovation.

Khatilov denies all the allegations. Ive been working for, like, 20 years in this industry, and I know what sensitive documents are about, and I never, ever tried to access any of those, or steal it, he said.

In 2018, Tesla filed a lawsuit against former Gigafactory process technician Martin Tripp, who admitted to passing confidential data to a reporter. The case was settled in December. It also sued Guangzhi Cao in 2019 for storing Autopilot source code on his iCloud.
SEP members spoke with Coles warehouse workers this weekend in the outer-Melbourne suburbs of Somerton and Truganina about the ongoing lock out of 350 workers at the companys Smeaton Grange facility in south-western Sydney.

The United Workers Union (UWU), which covers Coles warehouses nationally, has isolated Smeaton Grange workers and is currently attempting to impose a job destruction sellout deal it negotiated with the company.

Coles workers voiced their support for the Smeaton Grange workers with several denouncing the UWU over its refusal to mobilise its members. Others spoke about the backbreaking conditions at their own work places. Many of them learnt of the dispute for the first time from the SEP. Their names have been changed in the following interviews.

SEP campaigners speak with Coles warehouse workers in Melbourne

The outer-Melbourne warehouses collectively employ over one thousand workers. The Somerton warehouse is slated for automation in five years time, thus workers will face the same threat to their jobs as at Smeaton Grange.

Workers at Coles Laverton Chilled Distribution Centres in Truganina stopped work in March 2020 over the lack of safe working procedures during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. They previously walked out in Enterprise Bargaining Agreement dispute in July 2016.

Up to 600 Somerton workers struck for two weeks in 2012 to demand wage parity with Coles warehouse workers nationally. The National Union of Workers (NUW) predecessor of the United Workers Union (UWU) betrayed the strike without achieving wage parity.

Kevin, who has worked at the Coles warehouse for over ten years, said that he had not heard about the Smeaton Grange dispute.

We havent had a union meeting for six months. Many people wouldnt re-join the union after the last agreement. They werent happy with the outcome, he said.

The pick rate is the main thing. In some areas there is a pick rate of 2,200 boxes per day. In other areas, like the main floor, the pick rate is 1,100 per day, with heavier boxes.

If you are a casual and your pick rate isnt high enough, you wont get called again. If you are permanent and your pick rate isnt high enough, you wont get overtime. If you do get a high pick rate, you have to keep getting that. There are a lot of people injured here and it is in relation to the pick rate. Some of the injured people got sacked.

Albert said, I havent heard anything about [Smeaton Grange]; they dont want to tell us. This is not a good thing. The company should at least pay them a decent amount. Without struggle nothing can happennothing can be solved and so people should get together.

The union should be standing up for those people. If theyve been paying dues, then they should stand up for them or give all their money back. They get paid to do something; this money is not for free. The unions are the ones that should be doing something about it all. We hope the workers of Smeaton Grange win their rights. We feel for them and it may happen to us some day.

Due to the back breaking nature of the work Coles warehouses, employees are mainly young. Some are employed by body hire companies and placed at Coles. Others work directly for the supermarket giant as casuals, some for any number of years.

Ralph, who was on his first day of orientation as a casual worker said, Coles is doing the wrong thing. They should look after their workers and not throw them out. Its very wrong.

Michelle said the Smeaton Grange lockout was not fair because these people have been working for years and years, and that is their repayment from the company.

Commenting on the UWUs role, she said, This is wrong. How do we know the same situation wont happen to us here in Melbourne? Will we get the same treatment? Your perspective makes sense.

If unions are not fulfilling their responsibilities to workers, if they are on the companies side, then we need to get rid of them. We should be given political freedom to fight. The courts should not have the right to fine us if we strike. We need a political party and, like you said, a plan. I dont know what your plan is, but Im interested.

Referring to the current pick rates she said, Some workers have told me that the EBA says that there is no pick rate but managers come round to check. Ive been told that I have to maintain a pick rate of roughly 180 per hour. Im casual but am new here. Quite a few people have been working here for five to six years, and are still casual. They deserve the benefits from permanent employment.

Andy has worked as a casual for Coles since 2018. He said he knew nothing about the Smeaton Grange dispute until he read a World Socialist Web Site article. The issue for me, he said, is permanent employment. I know people who have been there since 2017 and are still casuals. I want permanency.

Ian denounced the UWU. Honestly, those people are really corrupt. They approached me only one time to join the union and to pay $12.50 per week, but then do nothing. I didnt know about the [Smeaton Grange] picket because the union didnt tell us. Weve had only one meeting since I started in July last year.

Working conditions are not that badI have a pick rate of 190 per hour for an eight-hour shiftbut what I do complain about is the lack of a future. What is going to happen to our jobs? Im a casual and I have a family and children to look after.

The government says it has assisted companies [with JobKeeper] to give permanent positions but this isnt happening. Im paying the union for nothing. Who defends my rights?
China overtook the U.S. as the worlds top destination for new foreign direct investment last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic amplifies an eastward shift in the center of gravity of the global economy.

New investments by overseas businesses into the U.S., which for decades held the No. 1 spot, fell 49% in 2020, according to U.N. figures released Sunday, as the country struggled to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and economic output slumped.

China, long ranked No. 2, saw direct investments by foreign companies climb 4%, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said. Beijing used strict lockdowns to largely contain Covid-19 after the disease first emerged in a central Chinese city, and Chinas gross domestic product grew even as most other major economies contracted last year.

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The 2020 investment numbers underline Chinas move toward the center of a global economy long dominated by the U.S.a shift accelerated during the pandemic as China has cemented its position as the worlds factory floor and expanded its share of global trade.

While China attracted more new inflows last year, the total stock of foreign investment in the U.S. remains much larger, reflecting the decades it has spent as the most attractive location for foreign businesses looking to expand outside their home markets.

Foreign investment in the U.S. peaked in 2016 at $472 billion, when foreign investment in China was $134 billion. Since then, investment in China has continued to rise, while in the U.S. it has fallen each year since 2017.

The Trump administration encouraged American companies to leave China and re-establish operations in the U.S. It also put Chinese investors on notice that acquisitions in the U.S. would face new scrutiny on national security groundscooling Chinese interest in American deal making.

The sharper drop in foreign investment in the U.S. last year reflects the broader economic downturn due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, said Daniel Rosen, founding partner of Rhodium Group, an independent research firm in New York, who has long analyzed the U.S.-China economic relationship.

I dont think one can say anything confidently about the impact of the FDI downturn in the U.S., compared to all the other hits on the U.S. economy," he said.

It is natural that foreign investment would decline sharply in the U.S. under the circumstances because it has an open, market economy, while China doesnt, Mr. Rosen said. Looking ahead, he said, There is no reason to be concerned about the outlook for the FDI in the United States providing that the U.S. is sticking with its basic open-market competitive system."

Foreign direct investment captures things like foreign companies building new factories or expanding existing operations in a country or their acquisitions of local companies.

In China, the flow of investments by multinational companies continued despite the upheavals of the pandemic, with companies from U.S. industrial giant Honeywell International Inc. and German sportswear maker Adidas AG expanding their operations there.

Unctad doesnt expect to see a significant revival of foreign direct investment this year, globally or in countries that saw falls in 2020.

Investors are likely to remain cautious in committing capital," said James Zhan, Unctads director of investment and enterprise. He doesnt expect a real rebound to come until 2022. Even then, he said, the road to full FDI recovery will be bumpy."

While the sharp drop in foreign investment in the U.S. was due to the pandemic, it also is making companies rethink future investments, said Joseph Joyce, professor of international relations and economics at Wellesley College.

Companies are reassessing their policies about global supply chains, about foreign markets, about their own use of technology," Mr. Joyce said. The pandemic is making all these companies rethink the most basic assumption about where they are located."

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Unctad numbers show a stark divide between East and West in the global economy. In 2020, East Asia attracted a third of all foreign investment globally, its largest share since records began in the 1980s. India saw a 13% increase, driven largely by rising demand for digital services.

In the West, the European Union suffered a 71% drop. The U.K. and Italy, which have suffered high mortality rates and deep economic contractions, attracted no new investment. Germany, which has fared better on both counts, saw a 61% drop.

When the pandemic first struck at the beginning of last year, Unctad expected China to experience a large drop in foreign investment and the U.S. to be largely unscathed. But Chinas economy reopened in April just as the U.S. and Europe started a series of continuing lockdowns and disruptions.

Beijings ability to quickly control the coronavirus within its borders helped its economy rebound relatively quickly and reinforced Chinas appealeven before President Bidens inauguration, which some investors hope could usher in a new period of less tempestuous U.S.-China ties.

After FDI into China plunged in the first few months of 2020, Chinese officials scrambled to reassure foreign investors and accommodate any concerns they might have. We must implement targeted policies to arrest the slide in foreign trade and foreign investment," Chinas premier, Li Keqiang, told the countrys cabinet in March.

Some foreign companies put their China expansion plans on hold and in some cases began withdrawing their investments. But as Chinas recovery gained steam and the rest of the world began to look increasingly rocky, foreign companies moved to pour more money into China, viewing the country as a production base and as a critical growth market for its products.

Walmart Inc. said at an investment conference hosted by the city government in Wuhan, the city that was the first center of the pandemic, that it would invest 3 billion yuan, equivalent to $460 million, in Wuhan over the next five years. Starbucks Corp. is investing $150 million to build a roasting plant and innovation park in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan.

Tesla Inc., meanwhile, is expanding capacity at its plant in Shanghai and adding a research facility, while Walt Disney Co. is continuing construction of a new theme area for its Shanghai Disneyland parkdespite a second straight year of lower attendance at the park.

Medical and pharmaceutical investments have been especially active as the coronavirus hit the global economy. Chinese state broadcaster Chinese Central Television reported in April that several global pharmaceutical companies are pushing ahead with their expansion in China, including AstraZeneca PLC, which is in the midst of setting up regional headquarters in at least five Chinese cities.

The resilience of foreign investment in China is contrary to earlier expectations that foreign businesses would seek to reduce their heavy reliance on the country as a key part of their supply chains, having seen some disruption as the results of new tariffs on trade between the country and the U.S.

Seoul Semiconductor Co., a South Korean chip maker with extensive operations in China, illustrates the difficulty of exiting China, despite numerous incentives to do so. The company in 2017 began looking at moving some production of its light-emitting components to Vietnam.

We were very dependent on China," said Hong Myeong-ki, the companys co-chief executive officer. But though the company manufactures roughly half of its products in Vietnam, Mr. Hong now has no plans to move out of China.

The same trend can be seen among Japanese companies operating in China, just 9.2% of which said they were moving or considering moving production out of China in a September survey by the Japan External Trade Organization, the lowest such level in five years.

They need to reduce overreliance on supply chains in one single market," said Ding Ke, a Tokyo-based researcher with Jetro. But the bigger risk they identified is losing the China market."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text

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[January 25, 2021] Tech for Good Awards to recognise innovation that inspires

The Stack's inaugural Tech for Good awards celebrate technology delivering positive change LONDON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new awards programme launched today will recognise and champion the organisations and individuals harnessing technology to achieve social, environmental, humanitarian and other positive contributions to public and planetary good. The Stack 's inaugural Tech for Good awards, sponsored by enterprise software company Red Hat, are open to any business or individual, anywhere in the world: the only qualification for entry is that the nominated project must have used technology to deliver a tangible good. Recognition will be awarded across three categories -- startups, medium-sized businesses and large / multinational enterprises -- after judging by an experienced, independent panel. Whether it's a business using geospatial data to fight deforestation, an entrepreneur using Bitcoin to channel funds to human rights organisations, or a laboratory pioneering the use of machine learning to reduce drug development times, any project has a chance of making the finals. In keeping with the awards' theme, 25% of all application fees will be donated to the Earth Innovation Institute, a non-profit organisation that works to advance climate-friendly rural development around the world. The Stack's Tech for Good awards will be judged by an independent panel of experts: Charlie Paton, CEO of multiple award-winning sustainability business Seawater Greenhouse, Christina Hammond-Aziz, managing director of consultancy Rainmaker Solutions, and Dr Louise Beaumont, investor and working group chair, TechUK. "When people talk about technology changing the world, they usually mean delivering improvements to the way we do business," said Ed Targett, co-founder of The Stac's Tech for Good Awards. "Important as that is, these same technologies often have much more far-reaching applications that can alleviate many of the problems our planet faces."



"If 2020 taught us anything, it's that humanity can achieve remarkable things when we come together to solve challenges that affect us all. That's why we want to champion the people and organisations who are helping to make the world a better place through technology. From climate change to human rights, pollution to education, we want to hear from those who are making a real difference where it's needed most; whether you are an NGO, entrepreneur, developer, or working on a project led by a technology multinational." Earth Innovation Institute chairman Daniel Nepstad said: "We are thrilled to have the support of The Stack's Tech for Good Awards, which will spotlight groundbreaking projects that leverage technology to solve the single most important challenge confronting our planet."

"As an organization that works directly with communities, governments, and the private sector to build the kind of partnerships needed to protect the world's tropical forests and stabilize the climate, we know the critical role that technology can play in achieving this goal. We're excited to see the many innovative ideas we expect to come forward and are grateful to be a part of this exciting campaign." The closing deadline for applications is April 30, 2021. To enter The Stack's Tech for Good awards, visit https://thestack.technology/the-stack-tech-for-good-awards/ About The Stack The Stack is a new business technology publication, founded in 2020. We are firmly focussed on digital transformation (across industry verticals) and how technology can help organisations gain a competitive, sustainable edge in a rapidly changing world. We are keenly interested in telling the stories of  and sharing the experiences of  those in senior IT roles and regularly feature interviews with CIOs, CDOs, CISOs and beyond. Readers can also expect regular news, guest insight, and in-depth feature articles intended to supporting a community of IT practitioners by sharing expertise, case studies, news and more. Our team is also unapologetically interested in the latest tools and techniques from the technology vendor world and  critically  how they can help transform enterprises for the better. About The Earth Innovation Institute Earth Innovation Institute works to advance climate-friendly rural development through innovative approaches to sustainable farming, forestry and fisheries in tropical regions around the world. As world demand for food, fiber, feed and fuel outpaces supply, increases in production are urgently needed. Increased production must be achieved while maintaining and rebuilding forests and fisheries, and slowing the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Tropical nations hold the greatest potential to produce more food for the planet. By increasing the productivity of already-cleared land and building on recent successes in slowing deforestation, we can feed more people while ending deforestation and mitigating climate change. At Earth Innovation Institute, we foster this transition to low-emission rural development  a shift to economic growth that keeps forests and fisheries intact and rewards farmers, ranchers, and fishermen for using sustainable practices. Contact: Nishal Ratanji

nishal@thestack.technology

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Islamabad, Jan 25 : Pakistan and India engaged in a heated debate, filled with accusations against each other, over deteriorating minority rights in each others countries at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

The accusations erupted when a resolution, co-sponsored by Pakistan, was presented in the UNGA, condemning damage and destruction to religious sites.

Pakistan's contention on the resolution was with reference to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India.

India's assertion against Pakistan on burning down of a Hindu shrine in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa's Karak district, Islamabad termed it "unwarranted assertions", stating that "India should set its own house in order rather than feigning concerns for minority rights elsewhere".

"This is not the first time India has tried to feign concern for minority rights elsewhere while being the most egregious and persistent violator of minority rights itself," said Zulqarnain Cheema, the Pakistani delegate at the UNGA.

On the other hand, India's representative raised serious questions over Islamabad being the co-sponsor of the resolution.

"It was ironic that Pakistan was one of the co-sponsors of the resolution. The attack on the Karak shrine was carried out with the explicit support of law enforcement agencies," said the Indian representative.

"The resolution cannot be smokescreen or countries like Pakistan to hide behind," he added.

The Pakistani delegate responded by stating that "the clear difference between India and Pakistan with respect to minority rights can be gauged from the fact that the accused in Karak incident were immediately arrested, orders were issued for repairing of temple, the highest level of judiciary took immediate notice, and senior political leadership condemned the incident".

"Whereas in India, blatant acts of discrimination against Muslims and other minorities takes place with state complicity," he said.

The Pakistani representative highlighted the "the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the 2002 Gujarat massacre, the 2020 Delhi progrom, blaming the Muslims for spreading the coronavirus, raising the bogey of love jihad, cow vigilantism and terming West Bengal Muslims termites, extra judicial killings of innocent Kashmiris and blatant attempts to turn Muslims into a minority in occupied Kashmir", adding that "the RSS-BJP regime's record is replete with instances of gross and systematic violations of the rights of minorities, in particular Muslims".

"As a perennial of state-sponsored discrimination against its minorities, India is in no position to pontificate on the issue of minority rights elsewhere," he added.

Islamabad's Permanent Representative to the UN, Munir Akram expressed satisfaction over the adoption of resolution at the UNGA, stating "Pakistan will continue to play a leading role in denouncing violent attacks on religious sites".

"I am happy that the UN General Assembly today adopted by consensus a resolution - sponsored by & other OIC countries - on the protection of religious sites. Pakistan will continue to play a leading role in denouncing violent attacks on religious sites," Akram tweeted.

The resolution was proposed by Saudi Arabia and co-sponsored by countries including Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Venezuela.
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An Ardmore woman died Friday after a two-vehicle crash.

Gertrude E. Sloan, 79, was fatally injured when the 2015 Honda Accord she was in was struck by a 2012 Nissan Maxima, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

She died while on the way to the hospital, state troopers said.

Joe Daniel Mitchel, 79, also of Ardmore, was the driver of the Accord and was taken to a hospital for treatment for his injuries, troopers said.

The crash occurred about 6:15 p.m. Friday on Wall Triana Highway at Pulaski Pike, about five miles northwest of Toney.

The accident remains under investigation.
HOPES that national dialogue may soon finally take place, to help resolve Zimbabwes decades-long political and economic crises, were raised further after opposition leader Douglas Mwonzora said yesterday that he would soon reach out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and others in this regard.

Speaking to the Daily News, the new MDC boss  an underrated but consummate politician  reiterated that the dialogue that he had in mind would involve all key stakeholders, including political parties, the church, labour, business and civil society.

This comes after Jameson Timba, an unflappable close ally of Nelson Chamisa, also restated last week that the MDC Alliance leader remained ready to engage with Mnangagwa  adding significantly, that EDs long claimed legitimacy question would not be a pre-condition for dialogue.

It also comes as a large cross section of Zimbabweans has said that the time is now opportune for Mnangagwa, Mwonzora and Chamisa to sit down together with others, to help resolve Zimbabwes long-standing myriad crises.

The resolution or the strategy of the MDC to engage in dialogue is as old as the formation of the MDC itself. It was taken in earnest after 2008, when we had a resolution as a party to engage in dialogue, which brought about the government of national unity (GNU).

After the 2013 elections, we again made a resolution of the standing committee, in a town called Magaliesburg in South Africa  during one of our strategic retreats with our late great leader Morgan Tsvangirai  that we were going to make dialogue the mainstay of our political strategy.

This was aimed at making the life of Zimbabweans better. In 2020, our national council also talked about the need to have dialogue in this country, Mwonzora told the Daily News.

And, of course, at our first national standing committee (held last week)  we restated that we must have dialogue in this country, and that this dialogue must be centred on those aspects that improve the lives of the Zimbabwean people.

The standing committee then also said we must make sure that dialogue is initiated in this country. Of course, we have not received anything from the government but that does not stop us from initiating dialogue.

In our view, this dialogue must be broad-based, inclusive, genuine and unconditional, and we are going to be initiating that dialogue with the government, Mwonzora further told the Daily News yesterday.

We are also going to be dialoguing with other political parties within the opposition, those who see things the way we see them.

We will also reach out to civil society as well as the churches. We will also reach out to labour and business.

The reason for dialogue is because we want to engage in a new type of politics. Gone are the days of the politics of hate, the politics of acrimony, the politics of rancour. We want to bring about politics of rational disputation, Mwonzora added.

First of all, and to make this dialogue a reality, we must appreciate that we must have a good conceptual understanding of what meaningful dialogue is  which has three aspects. This means that it must be inclusive, unconditional and genuine.

It must also be done with a view of acting in the best interest of all Zimbabweans. The average Zimbabwean right now does not think of politics everyday.

They think of the welfare of their families, the education of their children, the health of their loved ones, food and other daily amenities in life.

We must also make sure that we understand that Zimbabwe is in a crisis and that this crisis is multi-faceted, Mwonzora told the Daily News.

We have the crisis of the economy. We have the crisis of poverty. We have the crisis of contested legitimacy  and we must deal with all this.

So, there must also be free political activity in this country. We also need to deal with the issue of traditional leaders and how they may serve their people without fear or favour, and with respect to political freedoms that people have.

We need to deal with the safety and security of all people. The Zimbabwean person must be secure, and it is the duty of the State to ensure that Zimbabweans are secure, Mwonzora also said.

It is my hope that dialogue will be all-inclusive and that should Chamisa want to be part of it he is welcome. On our part as the MDC, we are going to talk to the MDC Alliance, or whatever they chose to call themselves.

They are Zimbabweans and if they think they have anything to contribute they are welcome. But we will not impose anything on other political leaders.

But again, we need to stress to them that the problems of this country will be solved when people sit down and talk. Of course we will also be talking to other political parties, the MDC president added.

We know that we are the official opposition by virtue of our representation in Parliament, but we also know that those parties smaller than us are important as well as they represent certain interests within the society and we cannot belittle them, and we want them to come to the dialogue table.

But our dialogue must be expansive and it must include people other than politicians. It must include all interest groups in our society.

There are no GNU talks for now. I also dont know what this dialogue will culminate into, but we want to say that as the MDC we will do whatever is in the best interest of the people of Zimbabwe, Mwonzora further told the Daily News.

So, the most important thing is to start the dialogue and then after people have agreed on the dialogue, they can then look at the mechanisms of making sure that those issues are carried into practice.

If a GNU is in the best interest of Zimbabwe, so be it. If the speeding of elections or having elections in 2023 is the solution, so be it. We want to act in the best interest of the Zimbabwean people.

As MDC, we will be moving around  of course within the limits of the regulations of Covid-19 protocols  asking our people what they would want, Mwonzora also said.

All this comes after Timba reiterated last week that Chamisa was still happy to engage with Mnangagwa.

Speaking to the Daily News, the even-tempered MDC Alliance secretary for presidential affairs also said that Chamisa had been among the first leaders to call for necessary national dialogue  adding, however, that he had been ignored by Mnangagwa and Zanu PF.

Our position on the issue of legitimacy and dialogue has not changed. The legitimacy question is not a pre-condition for dialogue, but an agenda item for that dialogue.

Chamisa was the first to call for dialogue, but was spurned by Zanu PF which said there was nothing to talk about, he said, amid national hopes that the political climate in the country had never been more conducive for all-inclusive talks. Daily News

When baby tyrannosaurs were taking their first steps they were the 'size of a border collie dog' according to a new study of ancient 70 million year old fossils.

Palaeontologists from the University of Edinburgh examined the fossilised remains of a tiny jaw bone and claw found in Canada - dating back millions of years.

The remains belonged to a baby tyrannosaur  cousin of the fabled T-Rex  and are the first-known fossils of tyrannosaur embryos, according to the researchers.

Through 3D scans they found the creature would have been about 3ft long when it first hatched - about the same size as a border collie dog - despite it growing to a mammoth 40ft long when it reached full adult size.

An artist's illustration of a baby tyrannosaurus which were the size of Border Collie dog when taking first steps, a team of palaeontologists has discovered

This is part of the fossilised remains of a baby tyrannosaur. Researchers say they underwent considerable skeletal changes throughout their life

Through 3D scans they found the creature would have been about 3ft long when it first hatched - about the same size as a border collie dog - despite it growing to a mammoth 40ft long when it reached full adult size

Study lead author Dr Greg Funston, said the bones were the first window into the early lives of tyrannosaurs - teaching us much about their size and appearance.

The team has estimated that tyrannosaur eggs  remains of which have never been found  were around 17 inches long.

The jaw bone was about 1.2 inches long and included evidence of a pronounced chin - suggesting some physical tyrannosaur traits were present before they hatched.

'We now know that they would have been the largest hatchlings to ever emerge from eggs and they would have looked remarkably like their parents, said Funston.

He added that the size of the eggs and the similarity to their parents were 'both good signs for finding more material in the future'.

Tyrannosaurs lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia 68 to 66 million years ago.

'Tyrannosaurids were the apex predators of Late Cretaceous Laurasia, and their status as dominant carnivores has garnered considerable interest since their discovery, both in the popular and scientific realms,' the team wrote.

The remains were found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta, Canada and the Two Medicine Formation stretching from northwestern Montana to southern Alberta

The remains were found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta, Canada and the Two Medicine Formation stretching from northwestern Montana to southern Alberta

'As a result, they are well studied and much is known of their anatomy, diversity, growth, and evolution.'

However, only adult and juvenile fossils have so far been found by experts, leaving a black spot in understanding when it comes to their early development.

These new embryo fossils shed light on the early development of the colossal animals, allowing for a much deeper understanding of what they were like when they first hatched.

The team created a series of 3D scans of the delicate bone fragments from the jaw and claw fossils - allowing them to get a picture of the size of the baby dinosaur.

Researchers compared the size of the dinosaurs that the fossils belonged to with a human and an adult Albertosaurus

This discovery could aid efforts to recognise tyrannosaurs eggs in the future and gain greater insights into the nesting habits of tyrannosaurs, researchers added.

WHAT WAS T. REX? Tyrannosaurs rex was a species of bird-like, meat-eating dinosaur. It lived between 6866 million years ago in what is now the western side of North America. They could reach up to 40 feet (12 metres) long and 12 feet (4 metres) tall. More than 50 fossilised specimens of T. rex have been collected to date. The monstrous animal had one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom. An artist's impression of T. rex Advertisement

'These immature specimens are essential because it is now recognised that the tyrannosaur skeleton undergoes dramatic changes as the creature ages,' according to the team.

However, as the small pieces of bone fragments were found fairly isolated, not surrounded by other similar fragments, there is a limit to what the team can determine.

'The fragmentary and isolated nature of the specimens makes it difficult to determine their development stages with certainty,' the team wrote.

However, there were enough indications, as well as comparisons to other embryo fossils from other dinosaurs, to determine they were from pre-hatched infants.

'Some of the characteristics distinguishing tyrannosaurids from other theropods later in life are already present during the earliest stages of development,' the authors wrote.

'The rarity of tyrannosaurid embryonic material and the absence of eggshell at nesting sites is perplexing and requires further investigation.

'But current evidence suggests that tyrannosaurid perinates should be present in nesting assemblages of other dinosaurs.'

The remains were found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Alberta, Canada and the Two Medicine Formation stretching from northwestern Montana to southern Alberta.

These areas have resulted in the discovery of a range of dinosaur and dinosaur-like species.

The study is published in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
The official website for the House of Representatives has been undergoing "maintenance" for weeks. As of 1/24, the contact web pages for congressional representatives are still not available, with the message displayed: "The requested page could not be found." But the Senate web pages are operating as normal.

The maintenance excuse doesn't pass the smell test. Other organizations perform website maintenance in a matter of hours rather than weeks, and they usually do it overnight to minimize disruptions. It may be that the members of the House of Representatives are afraid that there will be a torrent of angry messages if the contact web pages go back online, and they are probably right. But that is not an acceptable reason to cut off the best way for constituents to express their opinions on issues to their representatives.

The point of the contact pages is to screen messages. If the contact pages were up, a form would appear asking for name, address, etc. and with a box for a short message. It is the equivalent of sending an email, except there can be no attachments. The two ways that emails spread malware are through attachments and links, and the congressional staffers are not going to click on hyperlinks. For example, go to Senate.gov and choose one of the senators for your state to see how the contact web pages should work.

Since the House contact web pages were down, I assumed that the email accounts were down, too. So I went to my representative's official Facebook account and posted a message politely informing him that his email was down. An automatic message popped up saying he would not respond to messages, but soon a staffer replied that the email account was functioning normally. With that assurance, I sent an email message directly to the congressman's official email account, and in a matter of minutes, my email displayed a notice that it was undeliverable.

Then I composed a letter and faxed it to my representative's office, and soon I received an email from a staffer. I explained that I was writing an editorial and included some questions, and in a couple of hours, the representative's official spokesperson replied to the questions in an email.

The point is that the House of Representatives is making it more difficult for constituents to contact their elected representatives. You can still call their offices for constituent services at their official phone numbers, which can be found online. And you can send a letter through the Post Office, but the screening process means they wouldn't even receive the letter for two weeks. And most representatives have official Twitter and Facebook accounts as well, so you can tweet and message them. With these other channels of communication open, it makes no sense not to activate their contact web pages.

This move seems to be an attempt to isolate representatives from criticism. Whenever they decide to reactivate the contact web pages, there will probably be a tsunami of angry messages because people on both ends of the political spectrum are upset with Congress. But making it more difficult for constituents to express their opinions will only make the situation worse in the long run.

Making it harder to speak out is never acceptable. The remedy for speech with which you disagree is more speech, not less. So regardless of your political orientation, you should make an extra effort today to tell them your opinion on the issues of the day. Call the representatives' offices; send faxes; mail letters; tweet at them; message them on Facebook. Let your representative know that communication is the key to unity, cooperation, and moving forward.

Image: PD-USGov.
HALIFAX - Delivery was never on the menu at restaurateur Craig Flinns neighbourhood eateries.

Brian MacDonald, pictured here on the Dartmouth side of the Halifax Harbour, launched HaliHub Food Delivery to reduce the fees restaurants pay to online ordering and delivery companies and to keep the money local. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-HaliHub Food Delivery MANDATORY CREDIT

HALIFAX - Delivery was never on the menu at restaurateur Craig Flinns neighbourhood eateries.

Even when spring lockdowns shuttered restaurants and forced diners to stay home, the chef and proprietor of Two Doors Down offered only curbside pickup, rejecting the sky-high fees charged by food-service delivery companies.

I flat-out refused, says Flinn, who has two locations in Halifax and Dartmouth. When you don't have dine-in and then all your business would be reduced by 25 or 30 per cent, its completely unsustainable.

With indoor dining banned or significantly reduced in many parts of the country, delivery is one of the few remaining revenue streams for restaurants. But restaurateurs say exorbitant fees of up to 30 per cent charged by online food ordering and delivery apps can make it unprofitable to stay open.

A new venture, however, means customers craving smoked pork chops with fried mac and cheese from Two Doors Down can order through a local startup that offers an alternative to bigger players like Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes and DoorDash.

HaliHub Food Delivery charges a flat-rate commission of nine per cent, which is among the lowest in the food delivery industry.

Co-founder Brian MacDonald says he launched the Halifax company to help keep restaurants alive after realizing some were actually losing money using the larger online order and delivery platforms.

Those fees put a lot of restaurants in a position where theyre not profitable, says MacDonald, a former food service executive.

They're actually losing on every meal they send out. By offering a lower rate, were hoping to give restaurants a chance to survive these uncertain times.

Despite growing frustration with high delivery fees in the restaurant industry, many continue to see it as a "necessary evil, says Luc Erjavec, vice-president Atlantic Canada with Restaurants Canada.

Customers want it and theyve got slick marketing, but restaurants arent making any money with these third-party delivery apps," he says. "Its really a love-hate relationship.

But fear of missing out and the lack of other options forces restaurants to use the delivery services, Erjavec says.

Two provinces have already taken aim at the commissions charged by companies like SkipTheDishes and Uber Eats.

The Ontario government ushered in a new provincial law last month capping transaction rates at 20 per cent  with a commission of no more than 15 per cent on food delivery services and an additional five per cent service processing fee. The cap, which came into effect in late December, applies in areas where indoor dining is prohibited.

The British Columbia government also brought in a temporary 15 per cent cap on food-service delivery fees, also with an added five per cent fee for processing an order.

Back in Halifax, MacDonald says his startup offers more than a cheaper rate.

Our concept is built on three things, he says. We wanted to charge lower rates, keep the money local and give control back to restaurants.

With the bigger food delivery apps, if a customer complains about a meal, they are often automatically refunded  leaving the restaurant to cover the entire cost without having a chance to address the problem, MacDonald says.

But with HaliHub, the restaurant deals directly with the customer to resolve the issue, he says.

The restaurant has the control to make whatever decision that they want, MacDonald says. They dont just automatically lose the whole thing, they have a chance to make it right.

While the HaliHub business model hinges on personal service  MacDonald says any one of the 30 or so restaurant owners that now use the app can pick up the phone and call him directly  he says theres also a possibility of growing within Atlantic Canada.

Once all the technology is fully in place and our apps are up and running, theres the possibility of expanding into different markets, he says. We could have a Moncton-Hub or St. Johns-Hub or Charlottetown-Hub.

Back at Two Doors Down, restaurateur Flinn says HaliHub is off to a strong start.

I remember the first Friday that we offered it, especially at our Halifax location, we got a significant number of orders, he says. It was enough that even HaliHub was surprised.

Demand for food delivery remains strong and is expected to continue post-pandemic, says Gordon Stewart, executive director of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia.

"Even before the pandemic, people wanted more convenience and delivery was growing," he says. "The lockdowns just accelerated that trend, especially for sit-down restaurants."

While restaurants want to accommodate the demand for more delivery options, "they just don't want to pay a 30 per cent delivery cost," Stewart says. "It just wipes out their profit."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.
As the mother of two children at inner-city London secondaries, I know how difficult life is for some pupils. Over the years, children of all shapes and sizes and from all types of backgrounds have sat at my kitchen table.

Some have every advantage in life, others have very little. Some have parents who smother them, others have ones who are completely absent.

More than one is growing up without a father. One of the mothers once rang me up and threatened me with violence. It has been an education in more ways than one.

I have always been committed to equality in education and believed that money, status or class should not be a driver of a young person's chances in life.

Pupils test for Covid-19 at a school in Coulsdon, Surrey

Yet I have no illusions about the scale of the obstacles some children face. Well-off families can mitigate with money, but for poorer children, school is the one chance they have to change the narrative. It doesn't always succeed, of course. There are always those who sadly slip through the net. But something is better than nothing.

And yet now, nothing is what they have. By closing schools, we have taken away that social safety net, and many are now in freefall. Last November, Ofsted raised the alarm about what is happening to young people outside classrooms, stating growing evidence that vulnerable children are being targeted by drug gangs.

As Amanda Spielman, head of Ofsted, so wisely says: 'Getting children engaged and into the classroom is so important  for their safety and to help them make the right life choices.'

Many of the teenagers due to sit GCSEs last year and this year are being lost to the education system, unable to see a future for themselves and seduced by what, thanks to a prevailing youth culture that glorifies guns, drugs and violence, seems like a more lucrative path. It's a tragedy in the making.

Perhaps none of this would be so bad if the alternative provision during lockdown was adequate  if every child had a laptop on which to study, and lessons to log on to throughout the day.

Yes, children of key workers have been allowed into schools  but they haven't been having anything approaching normal lessons.

Money, status or class should not be a driver of a young person's chances in life, writes SARAH VINE

The best most schools have managed to muster is a kind of glorified creche, where children of all ages and all abilities are supervised in a socially distanced environment while they attempt 'independent learning'.

Others  inevitably, the already best-performing schools  have been more successful in providing remote learning.

Both my children's schools, for example, have done their utmost and succeeded impressively in giving pupils some semblance of a 'normal' school day, with live lessons and supervised tests using Zoom and the like. For kids like mine, who have access to decent wifi and their own laptops (albeit, like their phones, hand-me-downs) this has helped maintain some semblance of normality.

But there are plenty who simply don't have access to the hardware.

For them the days lack structure and, without the encouragement and help of teachers, ambition and focus ebb away.

I know one child who has barely left his house since last March. Both my children have friends who have fallen off the grid, and they have several who can't access remote learning at all.

Others manage it sporadically but not in any meaningful way. Once again, these are never the kids who already have a head start in life. It's always the ones with the biggest hurdles to overcome.

Digital poverty in the age of Covid doesn't just mean not being able to Snapchat your mates or post selfies on Instagram.

The best most schools have managed to muster is a kind of glorified creche, argues SARAH VINE

It is creating an educational divide not seen since Victorian times. One that, unless we take action now, threatens to blight an entire generation.

This is not to point fingers at teachers or ministers or anyone else wrestling with the monstrous problems this pandemic has visited on a shellshocked world.

It is simply to highlight one of the most damaging legacies of a health crisis that we are still struggling to contain.

There are almost ten million children aged three-16 in the UK. If you add in those in further education, those aged between 17 and 24, it's almost 15 million.

Every single one of these individuals has been affected in one way or another by school and college closures. Some catastrophically so. We already know that a quarter of pupils  around 2.5 million children in the UK  had no schooling at all during lockdown last year.

Now, the repercussions of that are beginning to filter through. Children lost up to 14 weeks of school time during spring and summer.

There is strong evidence that, on average, pupils are three months behind on their schooling, with maths being the subject worst affected.

But the Department for Education estimates that in some areas, especially in the North East, that could be as high as 22 months.

That's not just a gap  it's an abyss. A black hole that threatens to swallow up whole lives, whole futures, not to mention the prospects of the country as a whole.

In the long term, it risks leaving students without the necessary foundations either to continue their studies or progress into the workforce. It means a workforce that simply won't have the skills required not just to earn a living but to help rebuild our shattered economy.

In the short term, it means poor mental health, social problems and loneliness.

To my mind, the only way out of this is to reopen schools within weeks. Vaccinate teachers as a priority, and get children back into safe learning environments as soon as humanly possible.

B ut I know that won't happen. I've made the argument time and time again, but always the immediate threat of Covid and the grim death toll trumps everything.

Until that changes, making sure that every child has access to a computer and decent wifi so they can do their best to keep up in lockdown is the most important thing we, as parents and as a country, can do.

That is why this Daily Mail campaign is so vitally important. That is why the astonishing amount of money  around 250,000  already so generously donated by you, the readers, in the two days since the campaign launched, is so crucial.

By giving money to the Computers For Kids campaign, you are not only improving the short-term prospects of students, helping restore their hopes and dreams.

You are also helping to safeguard the long-term future of the country, the economy and Britain as a whole.

Thank you.

Advertisement

The clapboard walls have been painted white and the door is a bright, lacquered red. Sitting on the edge of town, surrounded by virgin snow, Murdock, Minnesota's Old Lutheran Church is candy-box perfect.

But it is not at all as it seems in this small Midwestern town, because the church in its midst is a hub not of seasonal goodwill, but of fear, distrust and alleged white supremacy.

On December 9, Murdock City Council granted the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) a permit to turn the formerly run-down church it quietly purchased in June, into its 'hof,' or gathering place.

To the AFA's 800 or so members, united in 'kindreds' across 22 States, the AFA is a religion 'honoring' the culture and ethnicity of their Northern European ancestors.

To a host of experts in religion and extremism they are a white supremacy hate group  classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (|SPLC) as this country's largest example of Neo-Volkisch hate, a right-wing fringe that revived the Anti-Semitic German 'volkisch' movement post 1945.

On December 9, Murdock City Council granted the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) a permit to turn a run-down church it purchased in June into its 'gathering place'

To the AFA's 800 members, it is a religion 'honoring' the culture and ethnicity of their Northern European ancestors. Two members stand with the AFA's symbol which appears based on the white supremacist Triskele

DailyMail.com was told that some of the town's Hispanic families who constitute 20 percent of the population have already left in fear, but none would agree to speak

Karen Falk holds a sign that reads 'Life if too short for hate,' during a city council meeting for public discussion on the proposal to grant a permit to the Asatru Folk Assembly

The Council voted 3-1 in favor of the pseudo-Nordic group that few had even heard of, much less dreamed they would encounter. In doing so they earned the town an unenviable place in history.

Because, DailyMail.com can reveal, Murdock is the third US 'hof' to be established by the group that only permits white members, is widely classified as a white supremacist hate group and whose members marched in the deadly, 'Unite the Right,' rally in Charlottesville in 2016.

The group launched a concerted growth campaign that same year with kindreds springing up across the country. The Minnesota group was established in 2018.

Now, according to one town resident, who spoke to DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity, 'Murdock is no longer just a small town, we are the midwestern hub and meeting place of an international hate group.'

DailyMail.com visited Murdock in the wake of the council's decision and found the town, which is predominantly white and has a population of 273, riven with discord and divided in opinion over the AFA's true nature and intentions.

One resident described Murdock as 'a poor little town caught in the middle of something it doesn't understand and can't stop.'

Another laid the blame for any ill-feeling squarely at the feet of the anti-hate group, Murdock Alliance Against Hate, that has sprung up in response to the AFA's arrival.

They said, 'We can't gatekeep who comes into our community. Usually when we disagree on something we get together and talk about it, but this is really hurting our hearts and this anti-hate group are the ones creating the problem.'

Pictures from inside Murdock's Baldershof, obtained by DailyMail.com, show an altar draped in the Minnesota kindred's flag on which a plethora of symbols once adopted by the Nazis and now favored by white supremacist groups are clearly visible

The state of Minnesota is superimposed on a Sonderrad - or Sunwheel - an ancient Indo-European symbol appropriated by Nazi Germany. A red Othana Rune, a symbol also adopted by the Nazis and used by modern day white supremacists, is printed towards its base

A second flag covers the wall behind and features the AFA's symbol which appears based on a Triskele, yet another emblem adopted by white supremacists

DailyMail.com visited the Minnesota town and found the predominantly white area riven with discord over the AFA's true nature and intentions

DailyMail.com has learned that they have conducted two events at the new 'hof.' The first was in knife skills and the second was a 'blotting' ceremony in which members cut themselves and let their blood drip into the land

Many members of AFA wear pendants of the Othana Rune or Hammer of Thor  another symbol favored by white supremacists

For many the specter of white supremacys insidious spread was made suddenly and horrifically real on January 6, when Trump supporters stormed Washington DCs Capitol. Some carried rifles; some stalked the Senate floor with fistfuls of flex-cuffs; one brought 11 Molotov cocktails.

As the dust has settled on the failed coup the role of known white supremacists has become increasingly clear with the FBI identifying them as the greatest domestic security threat faced by the country - fomented by four years of Trumps presidency.

For City Attorney, Don Wilcox, who advised council members to grant the AFA a conditional use permit, the decision was a matter of zoning not race, and any other action would have resulted in a lengthy and potentially costly legal battle.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com he explained, 'The building was a church before then closed and converted to residential use and because of that they needed a permit in order to use it as a church once again.

'Some people have said we could have stopped that because it's a residential zone but that's not the case. Federal law says you can't use zoning law to zone out a religion and the First Amendment protects the right to practice religion.

White separatism is white supremacy there is no 'if' or 'but' about it. Separate is not equal. Murdock's Alliance Against Hate

'So, then it comes down to whether or not this organization is a religion. I couldn't find evidence that was enough to support the presumption that they aren't.'

AFA 'Lawspeaker,' Allen Turnage spoke at the permit application hearing and defended the group's white only stance against allegations of supremacy with the words, 'A hundred thousand years from now I want there to be blonde hair and blue eyes. I don't have to be a German Shepherd supremacist to want there to be German Shepherds.'

One who was present told DailyMail.com, 'There were about 50 people in the meeting and you could hear a pin drop after he said that.'

But for City Attorney Wilcox separatism does not equal supremacy. He said, 'They don't deny they are white separatists, they only allow white people in their church.

'But they deny they're white supremacists and there's a distinction there.'

Not so, according to the SPLC, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and a host of experts and organizations including Heathens Against Hate all of whom have condemned and called out the AFA as white supremacists who hide behind the facade of a pseudo religion.

Similarly, a member of Murdock's Alliance Against Hate pointed out, 'White separatism is white supremacy there is no 'if' or 'but' about it. Separate is not equal.'

The AFA was founded in 1994 by Stephen McNallen, one of America's earliest advocates of Germanic Paganism, and its roots lie in the Viking Brotherhood which he also found in 1974.

With the purchase of the Murdock property, the AFA now has three 'Hofs'  the first, 'Odinshof,' was established in Brownsville, California in 2015 and the second, 'Thorshof,' in Linden, North Carolina in April 2020.

According to the SPLC, 'adherents couch their bigotry in baseless claims of bloodlines grounding the superiority of one's white identity[and] seek to defend against unfounded threats of the extermination of white people and their children.'

Pictured is the Asatru Folk Assembly's permit application to use the run-down church for their 'religious' gatherings

For City Attorney, Don Wilcox, who advised council members to grant the AFA a conditional use permit, the decision was a matter of zoning not race, and any other action would have resulted in a lengthy and potentially costly legal battle. Pictured is the granted permit

The AFA's website makes no secret of the fact that they equate, 'Northern European,' with white, nor that their notion of a ''healthy'' family is one based on a relationship between a 'masculine man and feminine woman.'

'The Family Principle,' is fourth in the group's, 'Statement of Ethics,' and says, 'Healthy families are the cornerstone of Folk Society and its strength and prosperity is derived from them. We in Asatru support strong white family relationships. We want our children to grow up to be mothers and fathers to white children of their own. We believe that those activities and behaviors supportive of the white family should be encouraged while those activities and behaviors destructive of the white family are to be discouraged.'

Hamdi Kosar, 23, is a Somali community activist who views the arrival of the AFA as something to be scared of

Pictures from inside Murdock's Baldershof, obtained by DailyMail.com, show an altar draped in the Minnesota kindred's flag on which a plethora of symbols once adopted by the Nazis and now favored by white supremacist groups are clearly visible.

The state of Minnesota is superimposed on a Sonderrad - or Sunwheel - an ancient Indo-European symbol appropriated by Nazi Germany. A red Othana Rune, a symbol also adopted by the Nazis and used by modern day white supremacists, is printed towards its base.

A second flag covers the wall behind and features the AFA's symbol which appears based on a Triskele, yet another emblem adopted by white supremacists. Many members wear pendants of the Othana Rune or Hammer of Thor  another symbol favored by white supremacists.

None of the 20 or so kindred members who unite under the banner of the 'Northern Blood,' are from Murdock and critics believe that the small town was chosen because it is insulated and ill-equipped to recognize or fight the alleged white supremacists.

DailyMail.com has learned that they have conducted two events at the new 'hof.' The first was in knife skills and the second was a 'blotting' ceremony in which members cut themselves and let their blood drip into the land.

But though their Facebook posts are full of bold exclamations such as, 'Hail the Asatru Folk Assembly! Hail the Doers!' and they claim to have nothing to hide, they conduct themselves for all the world like a secret society.

None would speak to their beliefs when approached by DailyMail.com at the Murdock 'Baldershof' and Folk Builder Jason Gallagher, standing outside, said only, 'We are just here to be together.'

Official requests for comment went unanswered.

AFA 'Lawspeaker,' Allen Turnage spoke at the permit application hearing and defended the group's white only stance against allegations of supremacy

None would speak to their beliefs when approached by DailyMail.com at the Murdock 'Baldershof' and Folk Builder Jason Gallagher (pictured), said only, 'We are just here to be together'

According to Heathens United Against Racism (HUAR) it is impossible to see how such views and their expression are anything but racist, but some community members say 'You show me one racist thing that they've done, and I'll hate them along with everyone else'

Town residents are similarly reluctant to voice their opinions and none would put their name to them for fear of retribution from either side.

According to one resident, 'You can't say anything in a small town without putting a target on your back.'

Twenty minutes down the road in neighboring Willmar people were less reticent. Twenty-three-year-old Somali-born, Hamdi Kosar, whose family sought refuge in the States when she was just seven years old, views the AFA's new foothold with dismay.

Speaking to DailyMail.com the young community activist said that it was, 'something to be scared of.'

She said, 'We are not that far away from each other and it is something that impacts on us all. They are trying to divide us along race lines when we are trying to build bridges and understanding.'

Similarly store-owner Abdul Yusef, 26, who helped pen a 2018 resolution to unite all communities in Willmar said, 'This is a very diverse community and white supremacists (coming) affects us all. How can we feel safe?'

DailyMail.com spoke to several residents who claimed to disagree with the idea of excluding people because of their color but were not persuaded that such a policy was racist

'I have more problems with people doing meth and stealing from my back yard than I have with them,' one Murdock resident said

Back in Murdock, DailyMail.com spoke to several residents who claimed to disagree with the idea of excluding people because of their color but were not persuaded that such a policy was racist.

One homeowner said, 'You show me one racist thing that they've done, and I'll hate them along with everyone else. But as far as I can see they're trying to preserve every skin color because if everyone bred with everyone, we'd end up just grey eventually.

'I have more problems with people doing meth and stealing from my back yard than I have with them.

'But if I say that publicly people will start calling me racist just like they have done with the City Council members.'

The resident added, 'I don't necessarily support not allowing someone [in] because of their skin color but I don't see how it's racist.'

According to Heathens United Against Racism (HUAR) it is impossible to see how such views and their expression are anything but racist.

They said, 'There are no words to express how strongly we are revolted by [the Asatru Folk Assembly's] clear, unquestionable embrace of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and pure bigotry.'

DailyMail.com was told that some of the town's Hispanic families who constitute 20 percent of the population have already left in fear, but none would agree to speak.

For locals opposed to the group the insidious creep of white supremacy looms and according to one, 'It just puts a pit of dread in my stomach. This is so clearly a group that is incredibly dangerous for anyone who doesn't fit their narrative i.e. anyone who isn't white, or what they perceive as white, which is blonde haired and blue eyed.

'They are evil to the core.And now they're here.'
DENVER, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- aWhere, Inc, a leading provider of agricultural weather data and analytics, today announced a new agreement with the government of Kenya. Under the terms of the agreement, the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) will gain use of aWhere's 6,787 virtual weather stations in Kenya for the next two years to provide advanced weather data and analytics that support climate-smart agricultural decisions as Kenya adapts to climate change.

KALRO launched a pioneering weather services platform in 2020, the Kenya Agriculture Observatory Platform (KAOP, https://www.kaop.co.ke/ ) to provide real-time access to local weather forecasts, observed rainfall and temperatures to inform farm operations. The platform also offers the ratio of precipitation to potential evapotranspiration (P/PET) that indicates if a crop is under water stress. These are critically important inputs for farmers dependent on rainfed agriculture.

"KALRO is continuously pushing the frontiers of agriculture science and innovation to empower Kenyan farmers. We are pleased to build on the past success of the Kenya Agriculture Observatory Platform to ensure farmers across the country have access to the latest weather forecast and know the amount of rainfall their farms have received to maximize their production and profitability against the backdrop of increased weather variability Kenyan farmers have experienced this past decade," said Boniface O. Akuku, Director ICT, Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).

"aWhere is excited to expand its partnership with Kenya. Weather drives agriculture and we are excited by how KALRO is applying modern weather science to support farmers. As the atmosphere warms, weather variability in Kenya has increased dramatically, as it has for most countries. Having accurate weather data and analytical tools to generate actionable insights for the food sector positions Kenya as a leader in climate adaptation," said John Corbett, CEO, aWhere.

About aWhere :

Weather Intelligence for a changing climate offering solutions to help organizations adapt to climate change. aWhere is a Certified Benefit Corporation that leverages global observed weather data to help farmers increase their productivity, incomes and ability to manage risks due to weather variability. aWhere's 1.7 million weather stations globally ensure all communities have access to local weather data to inform decisions that help #AdaptOurWorld to #ClimateChange.

Contact:

Lauren Allognon

aWhere

[email protected]

SOURCE aWhere
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:40:53|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China urges the United States to prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues and refrain from sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing in response to a statement issued by the U.S. State Department saying that China should stop pressuring Taiwan and engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.

Zhao said China's position on the Taiwan question is consistent and clear. There is but one China in the world, and the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory.

China is determined in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposing "Taiwan independence" and interference by external forces, the spokesperson said.

The root cause of the current tension and disturbance in cross-Strait relations lies in the Democratic Progressive Party authority refusing to recognize the 1992 Consensus which embodies the one-China principle, strengthening contacts with external forces and making provocations in pursuit of "Taiwan independence," he said.

"On the political basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing 'Taiwan independence,' we stand ready to conduct dialogue and consultation with all political parties, groups and personages in the Taiwan region, so that we can resolve differences and build up consensus on political issues across the Strait and on issues related to promoting the peaceful reunification of China," Zhao said.

"We urge the U.S. side to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' forces so as to avoid damaging China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Zhao added. Enditem
If you are curious as to what Koreans are searching most for or which current dramas catch the curiosity of Korean then, continue reading this article to find out!

Daum, a South Korean web portal holds a record of the most searched dramas in Korea with an hourly ranking. When a drama is being searched online, it doesn't automatically mean that these dramas are the most watched ones. However, it is the most talked-about or the hot topic drama at the moment.

We have compiled the list of the 10 most searched dramas in Korea based on the data released by Daum as of January 25 (10:37 AM KST).

1. Mr. Queen

The drama starts in the current time where a professional chef named Jang Bong-hwan (Choi Jin-hyuk) works at the Blue House. One day he shockingly finds himself trapped in the body of Queen Cheorin (Shin Hye-sun) in the Joseon era.

2. The Uncanny Counter

The drama is set in the fictional city of Jungjin where there is a group of four demon-hunters called the Counters who were given the task to take down evil spirits that escape from the afterlife and create havoc in the world to gain immortality. The group consists of three counters namely Ga Mo Tak (Yoo Jun Sang), Do Ha Na (Kim Se Jeong), and Choo Mae Ok (Yeom Hye Ran) who disguises as staff in Eonni's Noodles which serves as their hideout.

3. Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce)

Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) will feature the story of three woderful female leads who are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. The trio will face challenges and unpredictable misfortunes in their lives. Not only that, but they will also deal with the trouble of married couples as they discover the essence of finding true love.

4. Homemade Love Story

The drama series will tell the story of the people who live in the Samgwang Villa. It will feature a story about family and is centered around the character of Lee Soon Jung (Jeon In Hwa), the villa's owner who welcomes everyone with open arms.

5. A Man in a Veil

This drama follows the interesting story of a man trying to find his way in discovering love facing the challenges of life and encountering an occasional miracle.

6. Phoenix 2020

Phoenix 2020 is a love story that will center on two characters, Lee Ji Eun (Hong Soo Ah), a wealthy girl who had been in love with Jang Sae Hoon but they both separated because the time was not right for their love story. However, 10 years later they cross paths once again with their lifestyle situation reversed. The rich girl became poor and the poor man transformed into a wealthy businessman.

7. The In-Laws

The drama features the story of different events that happens when an ordinary daughter-in-law enters her in-laws' household for the first time.

8. A Good Supper

This drama tells the story of a girl named Yong Shin (Jung Woo Yeon) who was born with a skill for cooking traditional royal cuisine. She will meet people which includes Kyung Soo (Jae Hee) harbors a deep affection for her.

9. True Beauty

This webtoon drama remake centers its story on a girl named Im Ju Kyung (Moon Ga-young) who is very insecure about her physical appearance. In order to feel confident, she uses her makeup skills and instantly turns into a Goddess once she applies her makeup. She crosses paths with two handsome boys namely Lee Su-ho (Cha Eun-woo) and Han Seo-jun (Hwang In-yeop). The trio will eventually form a love triangle.

10. Delayed Justice

Delayed Justice will feature the story of two men who stand up for justice and helps victims that are wrongly accused of crimes they didn't commit.

What are your opinions about this drama? Is your favorite on the ranking list? Let us know in the comments section below!

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written By Liza Parker

Since Anthony Quinn Warner set off the massive Christmas-morning explosion in Nashville, details have emerged about his life and motivations. The same is true of many of those who attacked the US Capitol in early January.

But should Warner, or those rioters, receive more coverage than the courageous police officers who sought to resist them? Do they deserve any attention at all?

One of Warners neighbors recounted that less than a week before the explosion, he had boasted that the world would not forget him. He must have been aware that, in America, crime is a public matter and delivering details about it to the public is a fundamental journalistic obligation.

But research shows that raising a perpetrators profile rewards him with a kind of fame, and can also generate copycat incidents. And across the world, the practice of telling all is far from universal.

Last spring, after twenty-two people were shot and killed in Nova Scotia, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau asked the press not to confer upon the gunman the gift of infamy. For the most part, Canadian media chose not to use the shooters name, and when they did, they put it low in the story, used it only once, and explained the thinking behind their choices.

In April 2009, in the Netherlands, Karst Tates stole a car and headed toward a parade in the small town of Apeldoorn, where the Dutch royal family was riding in an open-air bus through crowds of well-wishers gathered to celebrate the queens birthday, a national holiday.

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While national and local television cameras rolled and news photographers documented the lighthearted event, Tates rammed the car through police barriers into a crowd of spectators. He killed seven people and seriously injured ten more before plowing into a monument. Tates died the next day of head injuries sustained in that crash, but not before he confessed to police that he had intended to assassinate Queen Beatrix.

Despite the very public spectacle, few people in the Netherlands learned Tatess name, especially if they relied solely on the coverage provided by the Dutch Press Agencythe ANP, or Algemeen Nederlands Persbureauwhich referred to him only as Karst T.

Most mainstream reputable Dutch media dont routinely name or identify people charged, or in some cases convicted, of serious crimes, an ANP editor told me when I was touring their newsroom with students not long after the assassination attempt.

Why would the Netherlandsa country so seemingly like the United States in many waysbehave so differently in this respect? And what can that difference tell us about why we cover crime as we do?

These questions launched a ten-year exploration in which Romayne Smith Fullerton, a journalism professor at the University of Western Ontario, and I analyzed crime-coverage practices in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

We conducted nearly two hundred interviews and used journalists decisions about how they covered crime as a lens to examine underlying cultural attitudes regarding concepts like public, private, the publics right to know, and justice.

Few journalists in any of the countries we studied realized that their counterparts in other nations cover crime differently. Most assumed that their practice was the practice.

The Dutch practice of shielding identity is not required by law, and some websites dont follow it. But, though its not universal, Dutch journalists carefully consider whether naming is in the public interest, and their default is to withhold.

When we asked journalists why they choose to shield, they said they believe it is the ethical thing to do. They offered three values that they weigh. First, they consider the accused persons family, especially children, who are innocent and could be harmed through naming. Second, journalists note that media coverage can affect the accuseds genuine presumption of innocence. Third, and especially alien to American ears, journalists note that even after conviction, once criminals have paid their debt to society, they should be able to rejoin their communities free of stigma.

Their policies are built on the notions that anyone can make a mistake and that even convicted criminals deserve a chance for redemption and reintegration into the community. As the head of the Dutch Union of Journalists put it to us, In Holland, everyone has the right to start again.

The main difference between northern Europe and the United States, we concluded, is that in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany, citizens and journalists alike largely trust their governments, the police, and the criminal justice process. There is a greater emphasis on avoiding trials-by-media.

Americans, now and historically, have a fundamental skepticism about government and a mistrust of those in authority. Thus, our journalists are watchdogs, keeping a wary eye on government and its institutions. And our deep-seated individualism dictates that people ought to take responsibility for themselves and that citizens need access to enough information to be free and self-governing.

We put a greater value on transparency. We believe that the best and safest process is one that avoids secret inquisitions or incarcerations. And so journalists name names, chase after details, and follow cases through the courts, because we believe sunlight is the best disinfectant.

While an accused person may ultimately be found not guilty and a stain on their reputation may remain, they and their family members are seen as unavoidable collateral damage. But a greater good is served: the judicial system has imparted its judgment, without fear or favor, and we expect that truth will win out. Justice, we believe, must be seen to be done.

American journalists told us that when they do their job to the highest standard, the answers to questions about people like Warner reveal tears in the social fabric and give citizens the raw materials they can use for policymaking. But both journalists and citizens know these same details can beand often aresought for less noble reasons, like ratings, profit, and prurience.

The point of our research is not to argue that one approach to covering crime is better or more ethical than another, but rather that a countrys choices are deeply rooted in its values and beliefs that have evolved to mirror ideas about community, individuals, and justice.

But no journalistic practice should be written in stone. And as we enter a new year, it might be worth looking again at our assumptions.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Maggie Jones Patterson is a professor of journalism at Duquesne University. With Romayne Smith Fullerton, an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, she has written a book, Murder in Our Midst: Comparing the Ethics of Crime Coverage in a Globalized Age, about crime-coverage practices around the world.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - Inflection Resources Ltd. (CSE: AUCU) (FSE: 5VJ) (OTCQB: AUCUF) (the "Company" or "Inflection") is pleased to announce that it has qualified for trading on the OTCQB Venture Market in the United States operated by the OTC Markets Group Inc. and the Company's common shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB under the symbol "AUCUF". The Company's common shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol "AUCU", and on the Frankfurt Exchange (the "FSE") under the symbol "5VJ".

Alistair Waddell, Inflection Resources President and CEO, commented, "The listing of our shares on the OTCQB is an important milestone for the Company and provides a means of enhancing our visibility to prospective US investors. This listing will promote greater exposure and liquidity as we head into what we expect to be another exciting year."

About the OTCQB

The OTCQB offers early stage and developing U.S. and international companies the benefits of being publicly traded in the U.S. The OTCQB helps companies build shareholder value with a goal of enhancing liquidity and achieving fair valuation.

U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com. The Company's listing on the CSE, FSE and the trading of its shares on the OTCQB contribute to a larger global presence and offers investors preeminent access to trading.

About Inflection

Inflection is a technically driven gold and copper-gold focused mineral exploration company with projects in Eastern Australia where it is is systematically drill testing a large portfolio of projects in New South Wales and in Queensland.

The Company is exploring for large gold and copper-gold deposits in the northern interpreted extension of the Macquarie Arc, part of the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. The Macquarie Arc is Australia's premier porphyry gold-copper province being host to Newcrest Mining's Cadia deposits, the CMOC Northparkes deposits and Evolution Mining's Cowal deposits plus numerous exploration prospects including Boda, the recent discovery made by Alkane Resources.

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.inflectionresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Alistair Waddell"

President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

Brennan Zerb

Investor Relations Manager

+1 (778) 867-5016

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, those relating to the benefits of the Company's OTCQB listing, statements regarding future capital expenditures, anticipated content, commencement, and cost of exploration programs in respect of the Company's projects and mineral properties, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, statements as to the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, including the Company's exploration plans, the proposed expenditures for exploration work thereon, the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to fund its business activities and plans, delays in obtaining governmental and regulatory approvals (including of the Canadian Securities Exchange), permits or financing, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, the Company's limited operating history, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims, environmental issues and liabilities, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's prospectus dated June 12, 2020 and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72682
Apple has reissued another statement and Support Document that details for people to keep magnetic devices like pacemakers and defibrillators away from its devices, especially the iPhone and MagSafe Charger to avoid damage. While it is common knowledge not to keep a smartphone and magnets together (even cards), some people forget and place it within dangerous proximity with the other.

The most valuable company in the world, Apple, is making it abundantly clear again, emphasizing a fair warning regarding the relationship of its iPhone, and other gadgets and the metal-attracting component, the magnets. Technology damage with magnet is a known fact in the world today, as it can mess with the drives and circuits of any devices exposed, especially with strong ones.

The common knowledge is not to keep them together, or at least not let magnets touch the back of a smartphone or any device that has magnet enabled within its components. However, Apple enhancing that warning and makes it clear that there should be more distance from its iPhone and MagSafe charger from any magnetic devices, especially pacemakers.

Read Also: 'Destiny 2' Harbinger Activity Guide: How to Start the Mission and Find Hawkmoon Location!

Apple Warns iPhone, MagSafe with Magnets like Pacemaker, Defibrillator

According to Apple's recently updated Support Document, the company has emphasized keeping magnets away from the recently released four variants of its flagship smartphone device, the iPhone 12. The company has posed greater emphasis on these phones as they feature wireless charging via MagSafe, which also uses magnets to transfer power at a high rate.

While damage is not the main concern of Apple, the company still advises to keep them away from each other to avoid any malfunctioning of said devices, especially pacemakers and defibrillators that are planted in human bodies. The potential risk of these devices' malfunction would potentially be hazardous for the person, threatening life because of the interaction.

Apple said that magnets affect electromagnetic fields, along with radiowaves and their array, with the pacemaker and other in-body attachments that use radio may be changed by the iPhone 12's magnets. The company has regarded the new smartphone's magnets to be stronger than previous MagSafe-enabled wireless charging iPhones and would be the one to potentially affect devices.

Heart Doctors Raised the Complaint via Report

According to Heart Rhythm Journal's recently published document, new smartphones including the iPhone 12, have increased risk against the devices that are used for health purposes, including the heart's technology. The doctors were only warning for the increased risks as magnets included on smartphones are stronger compared to older devices.

Apple has issued a safe distance of at least six inches from the device and the iPhone 12 at all times, especially as it is wirelessly charging with MagSafe, which makes use of the magnets, active with energy. Moreover, the company also wants to add that the safest distance is at least a foot's length, which is 12 inches, or the length of one ruler while charging wirelessly.

Related Article: CRISPR Technology Now Tracks When Cancer Would Spread in the Body!

This article is owned by Tech Times





Written by Isaiah Alonzo

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Turkey to receive 6.5 mln more doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China; Israel bans int'l flights to prevent arrival of new coronavirus variant

CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkey announced on Sunday that 6.5 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in Turkey from China. Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet approved a ban on international flights in a bid to prevent the arrival of new COVID-19 variants.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a tweet that the arrival of new Chinese vaccines on Monday are part of the second planned shipment of 10 million doses of the vaccines developed by the Chinese company Sinovac.

After receiving the first batch of 3 million doses of vaccines from China at the end of December, Turkey launched the mass vaccination program on Jan. 14. More than 1.24 million people have been vaccinated so far.

Turkey reported 5,277 new COVID-19 cases and 140 deaths, pushing its tally of infections to 2,429,605 and its death toll to 25,073. The total recoveries from the disease rose by 5,860 to 2,307,721.

Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved a ban on passenger flights to and from the country, in a bid to prevent the spread of new COVID-19 variants.

Under the ban, Israel's international Ben Gurion Airport will be closed for all outgoing and incoming international flights, except for some emergency cases.

Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said that his ministry was worried about the arrival of new variants. "One of the new variants is already in Israel and is clearly partly responsible for the high infection numbers," he said.

Israel is under its third nationwide lockdown, which started on Dec. 19, 2020 and is expected to be lifted on Jan. 31.

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 3,155 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the tally in the country to 596,733. The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel climbed by 66 to 4,392, while the total recoveries surged by 9,899 to 522,368.

Iran announced on Sunday 5,945 new COVID-19 cases and 89 more deaths from the virus, taking the tally of infections in Iran to 1,372,977 and its death toll to 57,383.

Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman of Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said that 1,164,794 COVID-19 patients have recovered in Iran, while 4,090 others were currently in critical condition.

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Sunday 893 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide number to 613,763.

The ministry also reported five new deaths, raising the death toll in Iraq to 12,993, and 1,704 more recovered cases, bringing the total recoveries to 581,542.

Morocco reported 520 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 466,289.

The total recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco rose by 748 to 442,441, while its death toll increased by 22 to 8,150.

Saudi Arabia recorded 186 new coronavirus infections and two more fatalities from the virus, taking its total confirmed COVID-19 cases to 366,371 and its death toll to 6,352. The total recoveries in the kingdom soared by 211 to 357,939.

Lebanon reported 3,010 new COVID-19 cases and 50 more deaths, bringing its total infections to 279,597 and its death toll to 2,320. The total recoveries from the disease climbed by 1,381 to 165,729.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday confirmed 3,579 new COVID-19 infections and nine more deaths, raising its tally of confirmed cases to 277,955 and its death toll to 792. The total recoveries in the UAE increased by 4,166 to 251,484.

Kuwait reported 384 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally of infections to 161,285, while the death toll remained at 952. The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced the recovery of 507 more patients, taking the total recoveries to 154,253.

In Oman, the health ministry confirmed 558 new COVID-19 infections and four more fatalities, raising the total confirmed cases in the country to 133,044 and its death toll to 1,521. Meanwhile, 1,532 people recovered in Oman during the past 72 hours, taking the total recoveries to 126,262.

Omani Health Minister Ahmed Al Saidi said that the rate of positive COVID-19 cases has dropped in Oman since mid-October but it is likely to resurge, "considering the continuation of the pandemic globally."

Qatar's Health Ministry announced 247 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 149,019. The overall recoveries in Qatar increased by 118 to 144,858, while the death toll remained at 248.

Christian leaders urge Biden to lift sanctions on Syria

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Prominent Christians and human rights activists have urged the Biden administration to end U.S. sanctions on Syria which they say have contributed to the starvation and poverty of its citizens.

In letters sent to both President Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, signatories urge the world leaders to "help Syrians to alleviate a humanitarian crisis, which causes profound suffering to the civilian population and threatens a new wave of instability in the Middle East."

John Eibner, international president of Christian Solidarity International, forwarded the letter to Biden in an appeal to end "U.S. economic sanctions that kill, displace, impoverish and psychologically damage Syrias civilians.

Eibner stressed that the over 90 signatories who are calling for an end to sanctions, all have sterling records of religious, diplomatic, legislative, military, academic, human rights and/or humanitarian service.

"At the center stand Syrian Christian leaders who remain with their respective flocks as their country approaches the brink of not just hunger, but of starvation, according [to] the U.N. World Food Program," he added.

In the letter sent to Johnson, signatories urge the prime minister to take action by: 1) Endorsing the U.N. Special Rapporteurs recommendation; 2) Terminating the U.K.'s economic-sector sanctions against the Syrian people; 3) Protecting U.K. citizens and institutions from the coercion of the United States extraterritorial and extrajudicial secondary sanctions.

The sanctions referenced in the letter to Johnson were imposed by the U.S. government on June 17, 2020, as part of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, The Washington Times reported. The Act was "named after a Syrian military photographer who smuggled out 55,000 digital images of the destruction the civil war has caused."

The sanctions further devalued Syria's currency and targeted companies that conduct business with Syria or President Bashar Assad and his wife, Asma, whom former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had described as one of Syrias most notorious war profiteers, The Epoch Times reported. The travel restrictions and financial sanctions also blacklisted Assads siblings, select senior generals, and Iranian militia.

The escalation of sanctions was intended to further weaken the Assad regime in an attempt to force it back into U.N. negotiations and to end the country's ongoing war.

On Sept. 30, 2020, in an attempt to oust Assad, the U.S. Treasury and State Departments blacklisted top Syrian officials and "alleged financiers, including the central-bank governor and an intelligence chief," The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

The U.S. government's actions "were designed to hold individuals accountable for helping a government accused by Western officials and human-rights groups of committing war crimes throughout its long-running civil war, including the use of chemical weapons," WSJ added.

The sanctions also marked "the third anniversary of an attack that killed 32 civilians, including more than a dozen children, in the northwestern town of Armanaz near the Turkish border."

The letter to Biden insists that unless sanctions are lifted, Millions of hard-pressed Syrians will go to bed hungry and cold tonight.

According to estimates from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights 585,000 people have been killed in the war that began in March 2011. In 2010, Syria had a population of 21.4 million people. Due to refugees fleeing and deaths, the country now has a population of 17.7 million people, according to World Population Review.

In May 2011, the U.S. ordered sanctions against the Syrian government in response to Assads human rights violations. Syria has remained under export sanctions and is not allowed to receive most forms of U.S. assistance. However, the U.S. remains the largest humanitarian donor to Syria, giving $12.2 billion in humanitarian aid to "vulnerable individuals" and those who are "displaced in the region since the start of the crisis," according to the State Department.

After 10 years of civil war between the Assad regime and various rebel groups, Christian Solidarity International and others have warned that sanctions have further impoverished Syria.

"Although the fighting has now ceased in much of the country, over the past year, the U.S. and its allies have ratcheted up the sanctions on Syria, sending its currency into a tailspin and pushing millions of Syrians into poverty," CSI said in a statement.

"Sanctions on Syria make it extremely difficult to import the medications and medical equipment necessary to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and other illnesses and conditions, such as cancer, kidney failures, and schizophrenia," the group added.

The U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures, professor Alena Douhan, also recommended lifting the U.S. sanctions.

"I am concerned that sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act may exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in the course of COVID-19 pandemic, and put the Syrian people at even greater risk of human rights violations," Douhan said in a statement back in December.

"When it announced the first sanctions under the Caesar Act in June 2020, the United States said it did not intend for them to harm the Syrian population," she added. "Yet enforcement of the Act may worsen the existing humanitarian crisis, depriving the Syrian people of the chance to rebuild their basic infrastructure."

U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn countered Douhan's claims, asserting that Assad is to blame for Syrias suffering, not U.S. sanctions.

"The Special Rapporteurs attempt to blame Syrias economic crisis on U.S. sanctions is misguided and false. The blame for Syrias economic situation and humanitarian crisis falls on Assads brutal war against the Syrian people, not on U.S. sanctions," said Rayburn in a statement last month, adding that a U.N. investigation found that Assad, not sanctions are responsible.

"The U.N. has shown the world the substantial evidence that the Assad regime and its foreign enablers have dropped bombs impacting hospitals, schools, markets, and homes. Furthermore, the regime continues to obstruct the U.N. from delivering humanitarian aid ..."

Rayburn added: "The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act and other targeted sanctions on the Assad regime and its supporters seek accountability for the regimes atrocities and to cut off the resources Assad uses to fuel the conflict. They do not target humanitarian-related trade, assistance, or activities."

It's been reported that the starvation of Syrians has resulted from the actions of many parties, including the Assad regime, rebel groups, and the Islamic State terrorist group. Crops have been burned, bakeries and markets have been attacked and blockades have been enforced as a war tactics.

Ten years ago, Syria was a breadbasket for the region. Today it is on the verge of not just hunger, but of starvation, according to the World Food Program, the letter sent to Biden adds. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic is raging through the country, unhindered by a healthcare system largely destroyed over ten years of war.

All of the actors struggling for power and influence, and the various weapons they use, have contributed to the suffering of the Syrian people over the past ten years, Eibner said.

But today there is growing awareness that these sanctions are a disproportionate use of economic force and a form of collective punishment of innocent civilians, which harms the weakest, most vulnerable members of society more than those in power, he added.

The letters concludes by asserting that U.S. national interests can be achieved without imposing economic sanctions.
Ruth Simmons academic career is nothing short of remarkable, with a trajectory that includes top posts at some of the countrys most elite universities and a groundbreaking stint as president of Brown University, where she was the first African American to lead an Ivy League institution.

She credits an historically Black college  Dillard University in New Orleans  with laying the foundation that I needed as a young person to go on and do the things that I've done in my career.

Thats one reason Simmons was lured out of retirement to assume the presidency of Prairie View A&M, one of the nations 100 historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. The schools continually punch above their weight and they deserve some respect for that, Simmons told the editorial board.

Indeed, they do. HBCUs have done a lions share in uplifting the Black community, producing generations of professionals, pioneers and community leaders, and boosting the overall economy, even as they remained undervalued and underfunded.

Consider: the combined funding for every four-year HBCU in America in 2014 was only $1.2 billion, less than the amount received by one single institution, Johns Hopkins University, which claimed $1.6 billion in federal, state and local grants and contracts  a glaring disparity identified by Howard University professor Ivory Toldson.

HBCUs have one-eighth of the average size of endowments of historically white colleges and universities. In Texas, a study by Every Texan, formerly the Center for Public Policy Priorities, found that the states two four-year HBCUs  Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern University  receive $2,500 less per student in state funding than Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin, its two flagship institutions.

The struggle for equitable funding has only been amplified by the pandemic. Addressing it, at long last, must be a priority for the Biden administration and the Texas Legislature this session.

Despite struggles with finances and declining enrollment, HBCUs have given generations of Black Americans access to higher education and opportunities they may have been denied elsewhere.

Representing just 3 percent of four-year colleges, HBCUs have helped build the countrys Black middle class, producing 80 percent of Black judges, 50 percent of black lawyers and doctors, 27 percent of Black college graduates with a degree in STEM and 50 percent of Black teachers. Vice President Kamala Harris and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the first Black senator from Georgia, are also HBCU graduates.

HBCUs are also mobility drivers: while more than 70 percent of HBCU students rely on federal Pell Grants, students are more likely to graduate than those attending mostly white colleges, according to a 2018 study, and graduates on average pass their family income level six years later.

The role of HBCUs in supporting and nurturing Black students has become even more important during the presidency of Trump, whose racist rhetoric deepened divisions and stirred unrest, and amid the social justice movement sparked by the killings of Black people by police.

Enrollment at HBCUs increased after Trump was elected, according to a study by researchers affiliated with Rutgers University. Students surveyed said experiences with racism drew them to the schools, along with concerns about safety at predominantly white institutions.

In Texas, the state public HBCUs  Prairie View and Texas Southern University  accounted for about one-fourth of Black students enrolled at four-year public institutions last fall.

Unlike mainstream institutions, which operate on an elimination process that requires certain prerequisites before allowing students to enter highly competitive fields of study, HBCUs better serve the needs of Black students who may come from disadvantaged schools.

Simmons describes the philosophy: Dont judge students on the advantage of whether or not they had an AP course, but judge them on the basis of whether or not they might, with some coursework, rise to the level of where you want to see them.

President Trump bragged about saving HBCUs by signing bipartisan legislation that made permanent $255 million in annual STEM funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving colleges, but in actuality, the work was done by Congress and for a program started under George W. Bush, and annual funding changed little from the Obama administration.

President Joe Biden has pledged $70 billion in new funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions under an agenda crafted in part by Harris. That is impressive  as was MacKenzie Scotts donation of more than half a billion dollars to HBCUs, including Prairie View, which will get $50 million.

Both bring much-needed attention to the schools, which need to attract more donors and funding to build endowments.

Achieving parity will require more than just a promise or even an incremental funding boost. HBCUs have been underfunded for decades  and it will take an intentional infusion of new, devoted funding to overcome the favoritism long enjoyed by predominantly white institutions.

And since navigating onerous bureaucracy often shuts out understaffed schools from funding, agencies should cut the red tape for applying.

History tells us what countless studies have shown: HBCUs contribute to the economy and the progress of our country. Equitable investment in them will pay off for everyone.

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California scientists have discovered a homegrown coronavirus strain that appears to be propagating faster than any other variant on the loose in the Golden State.

Two independent research groups said they stumbled upon the new strain while looking for signs that a highly transmissible variant from the United Kingdom had established itself here. Instead, they found a new branch of the virus family tree  one whose sudden rise and distinctive mutations have made it a prime suspect in Californias vicious holiday surge.

As they pored over genetic sequencing data in late December and early January, the two teams saw evidence of the new strains prolific spread leap off their spreadsheets. Although focused on different regions of the state, they uncovered trends that were both remarkably similar and deeply worrying.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found that although the strain had been barely detectable in early October, it accounted for 24% of roughly 4,500 viral samples gathered throughout California in the last weeks of 2020.

In a separate analysis of 332 virus samples culled mostly from Northern California during late November and December, 25% were of the same type.

There was a homegrown variant under our noses, said Dr. Charles Chiu, a laboratory medicine specialist at University of California, San Francisco who examined the samples from the northern part of the state with collaborators from the California Department of Public Health. Were they not on the hunt for the U.K. strain and other viral variants, he said, we could have missed this at every level.

The new strain, which scientists have dubbed B.1.426, bears five mutations in its genetic code. One of them, known as L452R, alters the virus spike protein, the tool it uses to infiltrate human cells and turn them into virus-making factories.

Over multiple generations, even a small improvement in this ability will help a virus propagate more easily through a population, driving up infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

Spotty surveillance efforts that use genetic sequencing to track changes in the virus had detected a single instance of B.1.426 in California way back in July. As far as scientists can tell, it lay low for the next three months.

Then it got busy.

The team at Cedars-Sinai collected 192 viral samples from patients at the medical center between Nov. 22 and Dec. 28. At 11 p.m. on New Years Eve, they uploaded those samples to their genetic sequencer, which began to spit out the data over the first weekend of the new year. The strains sudden prominence elicited wonder and sorrow.

We said, Wow! Theres something different, something we didnt expect to find, said Dr. Eric Vail, a pathologist who usually sequences genes in search of cancer drivers. All of a sudden, your brain starts going a mile a minute.

All thoughts quickly turned to the states calamitous COVID-19 surge  a run-up in illness and death that stressed hospitals to their limit, killed more than 18,000 Californians and doubled the states total death toll in the space of less than three months.

Had they found the culprit?

The preliminary evidence seemed damning. It was certainly found at the scene of the crime. Flummoxed health officials working to contain the outbreak had hypothesized that they were up against a new coronavirus strain with enhanced transmission capabilities.

But there were several other suspects to consider as well, including chilly weather, restaurant dining, holiday gatherings and a growing disregard for public health measures.

To clarify B.1.426s role in the surge, investigators will need to determine just how much devastation it is capable of producing. That inquiry will focus on its transmissibility as well as its ability to circumvent the tools  including masks, drugs and vaccines  that can be used to bring the pandemic under control.

For now, both sets of researchers doubt they have found a lone actor. But they may have caught an accomplice.

Chiu said his skepticism stems in part from the fact that the surge in cases across the state seems to have begun before the new strain saw its steepest growth. It may have contributed to this surge, or simply gone along for the ride, he said.

In addition, the strains sudden prominence among viral samples in Northern California could be due in part to its role in an unusually large outbreak at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center that infected at least 77 staffers and 15 patients, and resulted in one employee death. Officials are investigating whether an infected but asymptomatic employee was able to spread the virus widely with the help of a battery-powered fan that was part of an inflatable Christmas tree costume.

It seemed to spread quite fast, said Dr. Sara Cody, the health officer for Santa Clara County, where the hospital is located. We are trying to understand whether the features of that outbreak are because of this variant  does this variant of the virus behave in some different way  or does it have to do with other factors that were present at the hospital?

In Southern California, where the timelines of the surge and B.1.426s emergence seem better aligned, researchers are more inclined to blame the virus.

It probably helped to accelerate the number of cases around the holiday season, Vail said. But human behavior is the predominant factor in the spread of a virus, and the fact that it happened when the weather became colder and in the midst of the holidays when people gather is not an accident.

Scientists in Chius lab have already begun cultivating armies of the new strain, derived from four patients recently infected with it. Creating large batches under controlled conditions is a first step in testing whether the any of its mutations enhance its ability to latch onto, invade and hijack human cells.

Those early efforts have raised cause for concern.

It grows pretty robustly, Chiu said.

Adding to his concern are the findings of other researchers at Howard University who engineered and tested a version of the coronavirus with the L452R mutation, which rose to prominence in a strain that surfaced in Denmark in March. The Howard team found that the mutation helps the virus attach more firmly to human cells, potentially enhancing its transmission.

In Chius lab, as well as at Cedars-Sinai, scientists will put the new strain through its paces to look for signs that B.1.426s mutations have enhanced its performance.

Other experiments will explore whether the antibodies generated by the immune systems of people who have been infected by or vaccinated against the coronavirus will recognize this new strain.

Some damning evidence has already come to light. State health officials reported this week that a patient in Monterey County who had tested positive for an infection in April and recovered has now been infected with B.1.426.

That suggests that the new strain may be able to hide its presence from antibodies created after exposure to other versions of the virus  a phenomenon known as immune escape. If thats the case, it might undermine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and antibody-based treatments.

The takeaway is that this is a variant thats becoming more prevalent and we need to lean in and understand more about it, Cody said.
Yet Trump was the first US president to politicise Americas postwar alliances. He complained bitterly that Americas allies were exploiting the US. NATO was obsolete, he said. He initially refused to recommit America to meeting its commitments under the NATO treaty. Trump campaigned for election promising to end the forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for re-election on the slogan that we are bringing all the troops home. And in his exit speech from the presidency last week, he said: I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars. Could this president really have been expected to order US forces into a new war in defence of far-flung Australia? It seems so unlikely that I sought a second opinion. I asked McMasters successor. John Bolton served as US national security adviser for a year and a half. Would Trump have committed armed forces in defence of Australia against Chinese aggression? Bolton answered in two parts. Part one was unequivocal: Leaving Trump out for a minute, he began. The feeling would have been unanimous among the national security staff and the political people in the administration  not the slightest hesitation.

Part two was conditional: As for Trump, when he was campaigning for re-election the politics for him favoured a hard line on China because of the China virus and everything else. Whether that would have lasted into a second term, who knows? Because hes capable of doing a complete 180-degree turn on anything at any time. If it had happened in September-October, I dont think there would have been any question. Bolton, incidentally, agrees with McMaster that a Biden administration would come to Australias defence in such a scenario. So Trump would have helped defend Australia if it had happened to suited his political convenience and, on Boltons analysis, it wouldve been a day-to-day proposition. But now that Trump has left office, the problem is solved, right? No. If America can elect one Donald Trump, it can elect another. The head of the national security college at ANU, Rory Medcalf, finds the scenario of Chinese armed attack on Australia hard to imagine but plausible: I think its plausible to say that China has broken so many taboos with us in the last year or two that we have to look at the worst-case situations. This is precisely the moment that the alliance comes into its own.

Loading He takes some comfort in the fact that the non-Trump elements of the US system are broadly supportive of Americas allies, he also sees that this is no reason for complacency  its all the more reason for us to look to our own defences in tandem with the alliance. Chinas strategists know the risk of US engagement. Which is why Beijing generally employs coercion at a level just below the conventional definition of a hot war. And why it prefers stealthy modes of coercion, grey zone war or political war using covert political interference and cyber intrusion. And why it routinely uses economic coercion. The best defence against this sort of aggression doesnt lie with other nations  it lies within. For example, American democracy came to the brink of failure not through external attack but through bitter internal division. Hate fuelled by racism on the right and identity politics on the left has ripped the US apart  all cheered on by Russia and enabled by social media. Australia is in a much better position and can learn from Americas mistakes. For a democracy to succeed, it must remember that what unites is more important than what divides. One small example: Australia Day. It was supposed to be a unifying national day but increasingly it divides. Creative leadership can overcome. Keep it as is to commemorate the advent of British Australia, and strike a new date to celebrate the original Australians.
Google Maps will display COVID-19 vaccination sites soon and bolster awareness of the virus as well as how to avoid being infected.

COVID-19 vaccination near me: Google will soon provide reliable answers

The feature that would help millions of people determine where the nearest COVID-19 vaccination site might come is starting in four states: Mississippi, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas. On Monday, Google announced that searches for "COVID-19 Vaccines Near Me" increased five times since the start of the year, and the company is implementing this feature to ensure it would provide reliable local answers.

According to CNN, the results shown in designated information panels include details about the required appointment, if the COVID-19 vaccine is available only to specific groups and if drive-thru is also available.

The online search giant said it works with "authoritative sources" to garner details, such as retail pharmacies and local governments. Nearly 60% of Americans say they don't know where or when to get the COVID-19 vaccine, as per the Kaiser Family Foundation survey. However, vaccine site details will roll out later to other states and nations.

As President Joe Biden urges patience that rollout will soon be improved, vaccine availability in the U.S. also has been problematic. The newly-elected President aims to deliver 100 million doses of the vaccine in the first 100 days in office.

Google Maps' latest change was also related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as per Android Police. The Maps app started displaying seven-day averages of new coronavirus cases per 100,00 people in September.

On Monday, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is donating $100 million in ad grants to the World Health Organization, CDC Foundation, and other nonprofits in running "crucial public service health announcements" regarding the coronavirus. "We recognize that getting vaccines to people is a complex problem to solve, and we're committed to doing our part," Pichai said.





Google opens U.S. offices into Covid-19 vaccine clinics

Some of Google's offices, car parks, and open spaces were being offered to COVID-19 vaccination centers, the online search giant announced. The company contributed to combating the virus in different ways throughout the pandemic, such as working with Apple in creating a blueprint for contact-tracing apps worldwide, Daily Mail reported.

Google CEO also revealed that Google is adding COVID-19 vaccination location details to Search and Maps to help people get reliable information on when and where they can get a job. Previously, the tech giant said all staff would work from home until at least July due to the pandemic that leaves their vast office spaces idle.

American supplies Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines and vaccinated 6% of its population of around 20.5 million doses. Meanwhile, 1.6 million doses were administered on Friday, which exceeded Biden's promise of one million doses per day.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Dr Anthony Fauci (Image Source: Reuters)

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that President Joe Biden's goal of administering 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days actually means about 67 million Americans should be protected from COVID-19 during that time.

Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, said the president's goal refers to 100 million shots, not people. Current vaccines require two shots.

Fauci maintained that goal could be difficult to meet even though the U.S. recently has been able to administer shots to about a million people a day. He explained that it will be harder to reach people once shots are given outside hospital and nursing home settings.

Fauci also told CBS' Face the Nation that he supports a national commission to understand some of the problems in coordinating a COVID-19 response on the state and local level because states shouldn't just be told, You're on your own. Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, called the 100 million shots in 100 days a very bold and ambitious goal. He told NBC's Meet the Press that it won't stop the administration from aiming higher if doable.
[January 25, 2021] Neuropathix, Inc. CEO Recaps 2020 Advances and Potential Ahead

DOYLESTOWN, Pa., Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neuropathix, Inc. (Neuropathix or the Company) (OTCQB: NPTX), a socially responsible pain management life sciences company, announced today that it has issued a letter to its shareholders providing commentary on the Companys recent initiatives and corporate updates.

The Companys Chief Executive Officer, Dean Petkanas, commented: As we exited 2019, going into 2020, we had attained significant preclinical milestones in further validating our novel and lead therapeutic compound KLS-13019 for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and our patented active ingredient, Limonenyldihydroxybenzyl Ethoxycarbonyl Azetidine (LEA) for use in our trademarked topical skin care product Atopidine. Today we believe, more than ever before, that our Company has positioned our lead therapeutic compound KLS-13019 as a very viable candidate for a future human clinical trial program for the treatment of CIPN. To date there has been and continues to be no FDA-approved drug to treat CIPN and there remains a continued use model for oxycontin and oxycodone to try and treat neuropathic pain. And what remains, regardless of any upside from the use of opioids is the constant threat of a drug abuse model that has only been exacerbated by the negative multiplier effect of SARS-CoV-2, better known as COVID-19. Moreover, our studies indicate that there is a rationale for KLS-13019 as a dual acting monotherapeutic for use in the CIPN model. We are seeing activity in sodium / calcium regulation for mitochondria dysfunction and receptor activity at the inflammasome. A target involved here in the CIPN model is NLRP3, which is currently the subject of recent big pharmaceutical interest and activity, as well as investment interest from some of Wall Streets top investment banks. We believe we have uncovered a significant pathway within the peripheral nervous system (PNS) that makes us and KLS-13019 unique to others and their drug candidates who are also focused on NLRP3. While 2020 was a very challenging year, we nevertheless made our way toward strengthening our foundation and purpose. We are excited for the 2021 campaign and our drive to move KLS-13019 into FDA human clinical trials. Highlights of the letter include: Neuropathix uncovering the full potential and mechanism of action to the cache of KLS-13019s competencies as a potent neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, non-opioid pain management compound and treatment for CIPN.





Expanded global protection of Neuropathix IP portfolio suite of new chemical entities (NCEs), including KLS-13019. This includes the Companys global patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application WIPO/PCT Patent WO2015/106108A2 receiving patent approval in seven prominent pharmaceutical jurisdictions that including the U.S., European Union (16 countries), Australia, Canada, Japan, Russia, and China, with patents currently pending in Brazil and India. The PCT patent includes several other molecules in addition to KLS-13019 and has ben filed for the potential to treat diseases associated with free radical mediated stress and oxidative stress including Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE), Parkinsons disease, Alzheimers, Huntingtons disease, traumatic head injury, stroke, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), Post Cardiac Arrest Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, and Epileptic Encephalopathy.









receiving patent approval in seven prominent pharmaceutical jurisdictions that including the U.S., European Union (16 countries), Australia, Canada, Japan, Russia, and China, with patents currently pending in Brazil and India. The PCT patent includes several other molecules in addition to KLS-13019 and has ben filed for the potential to treat diseases associated with free radical mediated stress and oxidative stress including Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE), Parkinsons disease, Alzheimers, Huntingtons disease, traumatic head injury, stroke, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), Post Cardiac Arrest Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, and Epileptic Encephalopathy. Addition of key pharmaceutical, clinical and executive leadership members to the Companys Advisory Boards, including Dr. Tage Honore, PhD, DSc, as the Chairman of Neuropathix scientific advisory board as well as Dr. Daniel Richman, MD, a world renowned pain management clinician. The Company also welcomed Terrence O. Tormey to the Companys corporate advisory board.





Neuropathix has completed the formulation of its topical skin care consumer product Atopidine  , containing the patented novel molecule and key active ingredient Limonenyldihydroxybenzyl Ethoxycarbonyl Azetidine (LEA). Preclinical studies indicate that LEA is a potent antipruritic and anti-inflammatory compound. We believe that Atopidine  can become a premium and marketable product with great potential to address and provide itch and pain relief in a number of personal skin care issues, including eczema and excessive radiation.







, containing the patented novel molecule and key active ingredient Limonenyldihydroxybenzyl Ethoxycarbonyl Azetidine (LEA). Preclinical studies indicate that LEA is a potent antipruritic and anti-inflammatory compound. We believe that Atopidine can become a premium and marketable product with great potential to address and provide itch and pain relief in a number of personal skin care issues, including eczema and excessive radiation. Participation in the National Institute of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term SM (HEAL) Initiative as well as two NIH grant applications with KLS-13019. One of which is for a Phase 2 grant that follows the Companys successfully completed NIH  National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Phase 1 study grant. The other is a separate NIH HEAL Initiative grant opportunity to consider additional backup compounds to KLS-13019, including selective non-opioid and non-abuse potential new drug candidates, for further preclinical and potential clinical review.





(HEAL) Initiative as well as two NIH grant applications with KLS-13019. One of which is for a Phase 2 grant that follows the Companys successfully completed NIH  National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Phase 1 study grant. The other is a separate NIH HEAL Initiative grant opportunity to consider additional backup compounds to KLS-13019, including selective non-opioid and non-abuse potential new drug candidates, for further preclinical and potential clinical review. Acquisition of pre-clinically validated, potent neuroprotective and anticonvulsant small-molecule drug technology IP Estate, including compounds like AND-302 and AND-383. Exemplification of this technology can be found in the issued US Patent 8,609,849 entitled Novel Hydroxylated Sulfamides Exhibiting Neuroprotective Action and Their Method of Use.





The Companys new global patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application WIPO/PCT Patent WO 2020/ 264324  Use of Certain Phosphatidylcholines Containing Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) as Neuroprotective Agents (the PUFA Patent). With newly discovered science through our extensive research into humulus lupulus (also known as hops) which resulted in a new PCT patent filing for a novel class of neuroprotective compounds including NPTX-204.





 Use of Certain Phosphatidylcholines Containing Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) as Neuroprotective Agents (the PUFA Patent). With newly discovered science through our extensive research into humulus lupulus (also known as hops) which resulted in a new PCT patent filing for a novel class of neuroprotective compounds including NPTX-204. Commentary on Neuropathix 2021 plans, including further research on its patented molecules with the potential to file an Investigational New Drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

To read the Letter to Shareholders in full, please visit: https://neuropathix.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Neuropathix-Inc.-Shareholder-Letter-210124.pdf . About Neuropathix, Inc. Neuropathix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of a pipeline of next generation socially responsible pain management and neuroprotective therapeutics to treat patients with significant unmet medical needs. Over the past ten years, Neuropathix has discovered, developed and patented a global intellectual property estate, led by its lead clinical target, KLS-13019, as novel new therapeutic agents designed to prevent and reverse neuropathic pain, reduce oxidative stress, and act as anti-inflammatory neuroprotectants. The Companys family of patented monotherapeutic molecules focuses on treating oxidative stress-related diseases, chronic pain management and neurodegenerative disorders. Neuropathix conducts its research and development efforts at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County in Doylestown, PA. For more information about Neuropathix, visit www.neuropathix.com and the Companys Twitter page at @neuropathix . 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 press release contains statements about expected future events, the Companys business plan, plan of operations, the viability of the Companys drug candidates, the Companys position, and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements, by definition, involve risks and uncertainties. The Company does not sell or distribute any products that are in violation of the United States Controlled Substances Act. CONTACTS: Public Relations:

Kathryn Brown

Account Supervisor

CMW Media

P. 858-264-6600

E: kathryn@cmwmedia.com

www.cmwmedia.com Investor Relations:

Louie Toma

Managing Director

CORE IR

P: 516-222-2560

E: louie@coreir.com

www.coreir.com



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Ghaziabad: A Ghaziabad man has been asked to pay up Rs 10 crore by a group of hackers who have threatened to circulate his obscene pictures and his family's personal details online if the demand is not met, police said on Saturday.

The man from Vasundhara Colony approached police after the accused hacked into his email account, they said. They have threatened a man named Rajiv Kumar, in case he will not pay 10 crore rupees his obnoxious videos would be viraled on social media.

A case has been registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code including criminal intimidation, insulting modesty of woman and intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and section 66D of the IT Act, Deputy Superintendent of Police Anshu Jain told PTI. The complainant has stated that the hackers are keeping a watch on the activities of the family and continuously harassing them.

The cyber crime cell of the police are probing the case and efforts are on to nab the hackers, the DSP said.

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A family have revealed the horrific campaign of harassment they suffered at the hands of a neighbour, including creating fake adverts offering sexual favours that prompted strangers to turn up at their house.

A Queensland-based Telstra employee shared the family's contact details online after a row over palm trees on their property got out of hand.

Before long, the couple were inundated with graphic sexual messages, as well as death threats aimed at their children and explicit texts.

He distributed their personal details online, prompting strangers to turn up at their home in the hope of receiving sexual favours and massages.

The family, who want to remain anonymous, told A Current Affair they were left incredibly distressed after the campaign of abuse, which lasted more than six years.

'Our neighbours are absolutely wonderful, everyone gets on and this person has popped himself in there like a cancer and just eroded my enjoyment and my ability to feel safe in my own home,' the mother-of-two said.

In 2014, the woman first started experiencing odd incidents when she tried to send and receive text messages.

What she assumed was a glitch became more sinister when an Apple worker called a number linked to the incidents, and a Telstra employee answered.

She later received a call from then Telstra CEO David Thoday, who explained that the glitch would be investigated.

While the strange phone incidents stopped, the woman later recognised the number involved when the neighbour launched a case with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal to try to force his neighbours to cut down their palm trees.

He claimed the trees interrupted his views of Brisbane city, and was desperate for them to be removed.

It was a lot more serious than I first thought

The couple said several of the trees had been 'poisoned' and 'mutilated' prior to receiving word of the complaint.

The neighbour had to send a letter formally letting them know about the case, and the victim immediately recognised the phone number in the letterhead.

'As soon as I saw it, I said to my husband ''that's the phone number'' and that's when I realised this was a lot more serious than I first thought,' the victim said.

The woman called to discuss the matter with Telstra, but officials said there was no way to prove phone hacking had occurred.

But it wasn't until the man's QCAT trial fell through that the offending took an even more sinister turn.

A Queensland-based Telstra employee (pictured) sent graphic messages, death threats and explicit texts before posting his neighbour's contact details online

The man posted an advertisement on Gumtree offering sexual services at his neighbour's home, on the same day that she had tried to book a cleaner from the same website.

The victim explained that she was later contacted by a man named 'Kevin', who explained that he was calling about the online advertisement.

When she asked what experience he held for the job, he 'proceeded to provide [her] with a litany of his sexual prowess'.

The woman suggested he'd called the wrong number, but he repeated it back to her and said he'd found the advert on Gumtree.

'I said "what did it say?" and he told me it was entitled "sensual massage with a twist", so I hung up on Kevin quite quickly,' she said.

The panicked mother checked the website and began searching until she came across the explicit ad - which offered massage 'and much more'.

The advert also included the couple's full names, address, unlisted home phone number and mobile numbers.

She called her husband to explain the advert and the phone call.

The family are too traumatised to reveal their names publicly after all they have endured - including men turning up at their home

'I was really scared because I didn't know what would happen I was very, very upset I had two children at home and he said 'don't panic',' she recalled.

But moments later, 'the first knock came at the door' and a man was waiting.

The woman had to explain that the advertisement was in fact a sick prank, and asked him to leave.

As soon as he returned home, her husband began working to have the ad taken down.

But for every one he successfully removed, another would pop up in its place, again listing all their personal details.

Soon after, the couple both began receiving erotic and naked picture messages on their phones.

'It was rattling psychologically because we didn't know when they were coming,' the father-of-two explained.

'We were trying to stop the ones that had been put up and as we thought we'd stopped them, another one would get put up on another website.'

By this point, the couple were at their wits end and tried to report the matter to police.

They claim police appeared disinterested in their claims, and that they were told to 'place a sign on their gate' to explain that the ad was false.

What sort of person would go after a child? His kids are the same age as mine.

It wasn't until the couple received a death threat via email - also targeting their young children - that police were able to arrest the neighbour.

The email stated 'all of your end is not far away' and then included the initials of the couple's children's names.

'What sort of person would go after a child?' the woman asked A Current Affair. 'I will never understand that, his children are the same age as my children, I will never understand what he was thinking.'

The 48-year-old was charged with stalking, threatening violence and computer hacking.

Three years later, he finally faced the Queensland District Court last week, where he pleaded guilty to two charges of stalking with violence.

The hacking charge was dropped.

He finally faced the Queensland District Court last week, where he pleaded guilty to two charges of stalking with violence. The hacking charge was dropped

Judge Julie Dick noted the man's offending was particularly 'disturbing' and 'determined' as he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to A Current Affair.

The sentence will be suspended after just four months actual time in custody.

While the couple and their children will now try to move past the six-year ordeal, they say Telstra has not been held accountable for 'not putting a stop to this'.

A spokesman from the telecommunications company argued that the couple's concerns were taken seriously and investigated.

'In our investigations we found no evidence [he] had misused his access as an employee to Telstra's network or customer systems,' a spokesperson said.

'We did identify that [he] had behaved in the workplace in a way that breached our company policies and this led to his dismissal from his role at Telstra.'
NEW HAVEN  Two more cases of COVID-19 have been reported in people connected to New Haven schools since the district moved last week to a limited in-person reopening, officials said Monday.

The cases, which are the second and third since last weeks partial reopening, were detected in unidentified people who were at Benjamin Jepson and Conte West Hills schools.

Superintendent of Schools Iline Tracey informed the Jepson community Monday morning that someone who last had been in the school on Friday had tested positive for the virus  which she learned about Sunday.

Tracey said Monday morning that all positive cases connected to the schools were traced to transmission outside schools.

In the emailed letter, which was obtained by the Register, Tracey said the city Health Department conducted contact tracing on the individual who had been at Jepson. That included people who had contact with a positive individual for 15 cumulative minutes over a 24-hour period up to two days before the positive individual had exhibited symptoms or tested positive.

Tracey did not specify whether anyone at the school would be asked to quarantine.

Our deepest sympathies to the individual who tested positive, and we wish for a speedy recovery, she wrote.

In a separate email to members of the Board of Education sent at 8:24 a.m. Monday and obtained by the Register, Tracey said a positive case was detected in a person connected to Conte West Hills School. Tracy did not say in the email when that person last was at the school.

As usual, all protocols have been adhered to regarding contact tracing and notifying anyone who may have been in close contact for the duration of time prescribed by CDC. As a result, 8 individuals are asked to quarantine. The school remains in session for in-person, she wrote in the email.

In a separate case, families and staff at Bishop Woods School learned Friday that a teacher had tested positive for COVID-19, and eight students were being asked to quarantine as a result, Mayor Justin Elicker confirmed.

Tracey said Monday that the teacher who tested positive at Bishop Woods  who had received their test result on Friday  was only in the building last Tuesday when the district began its partial reopening.

Elicker said at the time that it should be expected that some people who test positive for the virus might have been in school to work or learn before receiving a positive test result.

Were not going to be able to have a scenario where there are no cases in school, because there are COVID cases in the community and naturally people will get COVID, he said Friday. And potentially with 3,000 students and hundreds of teachers, its likely someone will get COVID.

However, he said he continues to support the districts decision to do a limited reopening. He said the schools should take precautions to ensure that the virus is not spread at schools, even if individuals positive for the virus enter the schools.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
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Britain today recorded the fewest coronavirus cases in a day since December 15 with 22,195 more people testing positive  a 41 per cent drop on last Monday  and new deaths remained level at 592, down one per cent in a week.

The latest numbers came as Boris Johnson is facing growing pressure from Tory MPs to lay out his lockdown exit strategy after he triggered confusion this morning by hinting 'some' curbs could be eased in mid-February.

But he defied a growing Conservative mutiny by refusing to guarantee that schools will re-open by Easter. The PM said ministers will be 'looking at the potential of relaxing some measures' with the four most vulnerable groups on track to have been given vaccines by February 15.

But in comments that muddied the water even further, he stressed that infections are still 'very high' and only pledged that children will be back in the classroom 'as soon as possible' - despite demands for a firm timetable and accusations he is putting the economy above education.

The mixed signals left Downing Street scrambling to clarify that February 15 is merely the 'earliest point' that the rules will be reviewed, and the expectation is that they will remain the same. Gavin Williamson has committed to giving parents and teachers at least two weeks' notice, suggesting that there is no prospect of schools in England coming back until at least March.

The remarks were particularly bewildering as ministers are preparing to toughen the border crackdown within days, with all UK arrivals facing the prospect of enforced quarantine in airport hotels at their own expense.

It came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock today announced that 78.7 per cent of people over the age of 80 in the UK have had a Covid vaccine as he confirmed 6.6million people have been vaccinated.

That means nearly one in 10 people across the country has had at least one dose that could protect them against deadly Covid-19, and the Government is nearly halfway through its drive to hit 15million by mid-February.

Britain is ahead of any other country in Europe in its vaccine drive and has one of the highest per-person rates in the world.

On a visit to a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London this morning, Mr Johnson was asked whether he would give a schedule for getting schools back up and running. Children's commissioner Anne Longfield called for efforts to be stepped up to avert the 'enormous impact' of keeping classrooms close. But unions said it is not likely to be possible to reopen schools before May - and some scientists have warned the R rate could be driven above one again.

'We're looking at the data as it comes in, we're looking at the rates of infection, as you know the JCVI predicts (the four most vulnerable groups will be) vaccinated by February 15, but before then we'll be looking at the potential of relaxing some measures,' Mr Johnson said.

'But don't forget this country has made huge progress in reducing infection, I don't think people want to see another big surge in infection.' He said the Government was taking a 'responsible and cautious' approach, and added on schools: 'Daily we're looking at the data and trying to work out when we're going to be able to lift restrictions.

'Schools obviously will be a priority but I don't think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high so as to lead to another great spread of infection.'

Tory MPs and education experts have been escalating their demands for the Government to find a way to get more children back in classrooms. Ministers have admitted there is a strong case for teachers to be given priority in the next phase of the vaccine rollout.

However, others point to the lack of evidence that schools staff are at greater risk than any other frontline workers.

It comes as latest Public Health England figures show 142 out of 149 local authorities in England saw infection rates fall in the most recent recording week, in another sign the winter wave is being curbed by the draconian lockdown.

On another turbulent day of coronavirus developments:

The PM has confirmed that he is looking at compulsory 'quarantine hotels' to protect the UK against mutant Covid strains amid huge uncertainty for travellers;

Mr Johnson lashed out at Nicola Sturgeon over her threat to hold a wildcat independence referendum, saying everybody should be 'focusing on beating the pandemic';

Cabinet minister Therese Coffey dramatically terminated an interview with Piers Morgan on ITV's Good Morning Britain after a brutal row over the UK's coronavirus death rates;

Labour leader Keir Starmer has gone into self-isolation until next Monday after coming into contact with a positive case.

Latest Public Health England figures show 142 out of 149 local authorities in England saw infection rates fall in the most recent recording week, in another sign the winter wave is being curbed by the draconian lockdown. The biggest decreases were recorded in the Isle of Wight, where the rate fell almost 50 per cent from 1,170 per 100,000 to 593

Boris Johnson sowed confusion today as he hinted that 'some' lockdown curbs could be eased in mid-February - but defied a growing Tory mutiny by refusing to guarantee that schools will be open by Easter

On a visit to a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London this morning, Mr Johnson was asked whether he would give a firm schedule for getting schools back up and running

The Education Secretary today faces a growing a backlash from fellow Tory MPs over plans to keep schools closed until Easter (pictured: A closed school in Newcastle-Under-Lyme)

Gavin Williamson (pictured today) is said to be on the brink of confirming the gloomy outlook, with many head teachers believing a delay until April or even May is most likely

Education committee chair Robert Halfon (right) has joined calls for a 'route map' to classrooms reopening fully, while Tom Tugendhat (left) also demanded action

Mr Williams faced yet more opposition from Conservative colleagues last night, in the form of Education Select Committee Chairman Robert Halfon, who revealed on Twitter he had asked for an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on a route map for the reopening of schools

PM confirms he IS looking at 'quarantine hotels' to stop mutant Covid Boris Johnson today confirmed the Government is 'definitely looking at' introducing quarantine hotels for UK arrivals to protect against importing coronavirus variants from abroad. The Prime Minister revealed the Government is 'actively now working on' the proposals as he said the UK needs 'a solution that gives us the maximum possible protection against reinfection'. He warned there is a 'theoretical risk of a new variant that is a vaccine-busting variant coming in' and that action will be taken at the border to protect the nation's vaccination drive. It is thought that if ministers push ahead with plans to force all arrivals to the UK to quarantine for 10 days in Government-approved accommodation then all airport hotels could be full within 24 hours. Ministers are due to decide tomorrow whether to toughen up border rules but they are facing criticism for failing to act sooner. The introduction of Australia-style compulsory hotel quarantine is viewed as the most likely outcome of the meeting. But the Cabinet is said to be split on whether the policy should apply to all arrivals or just to those from hotspot countries with high case numbers or where variants have been identified. Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Home Secretary Priti Patel are reportedly both pushing for mandatory hotel quarantine for all arrivals, according to The Telegraph. Meanwhile, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is also now supporting the plans as the Government tries to protect its vaccination drive, according to The Times. But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is said to only want the hotel quarantine requirement to apply to travellers from high-risk countries. Sources said Mr Johnson is 'increasingly sympathetic' to a blanket ban following a meeting with Ms Patel on Friday. Advertisement

No10 was forced to pour cold water on the prospects of an early easing of lockdown today after his comments.

The PM's spokesman said: 'The prime minister was just making clear that... we continue to look at the latest evidence in terms of the transmission of the virus, the number of people hospitalised, and the number of people who sadly go on to die.

'And he was making the point that ahead of February 15, which as you know is the review point, we will look at that evidence closely, and that will inform what we may or may not be able to ease from the 15th onwards.'

Schools is emerged as the next big battleground between ministers and lockdown sceptics, but many supporters of the drastic restrictions also want to see them reopened fully.

Senior Conservatives are up in arms about the long-term damage to the prospects of children - demanding an immediate route map for how classrooms can get back up and running.

However, Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has rejected a request to summon Education Secretary Gavin Williamson for a grilling this afternoon, despite expectations that he will announce in the coming days that schools cannot return after the February half-term, and possibly not for many months.

Matt Hancock warned yesterday that coronavirus cases were a 'long, long way' from the level where lockdown can be eased.

Extending the school shutdown for most pupils would mean millions needing to rely on remote learning and parents having to juggle home schooling with work, with experts warning it will hit mental health and widen the learning gap for the poorest.

Education committee chair Robert Halfon has joined calls for a 'route map' to classrooms reopening fully, which are backed by the former chief whip Mark Harper, chair of the Tory lockdown-sceptic CRG group.

Meanwhile, senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat swiped at the government for keeping borders open while schools are shut.

'Close the borders, vaccinate the teachers, open the schools!' he said.

Despite widespread fears that Easter is now the target date for schools, Mr Williamson wrote in the Mail today that he cannot give any exact timings.

Other sources said the April timeline was 'speculative' and that Mr Williamson remained committed to getting children back as soon as the scientific evidence allows.

Mr Halfon said he was 'hugely worried' about the 'impact on mental health, on educational attainment, on safeguarding' as schools are shut.

He told Times Radio: I'm not a lockdown sceptic  I voted for all of the Government measures  but I am a permanent school-down sceptic.'

He added: 'We're creating a 'have and have not' society with some children doing remote learning and disadvantaged children doing much less.'

He went on: 'I think that everything the Government is doing is directed towards the economy and health which is perhaps understandable, but I think education is perhaps the most important thing we can do as a society because it is about our coming generation.'

Mr Harper repeated his demand for the Government to start loosening lockdown from early March, when the first phase of the vaccine rollour should have taken effect.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'At that point you need to start bringing the economy back to life, and the first thing that needs to be reopened are our schools so our children can get back, mix with their friends, and enable their education and their social development to take place.

'What we are asking for now is the Government to set out that plan and bring some clarity.'

He said teachers do not need to be vaccinated in order to get schools back, but added: 'I certainly welcome vaccinating teachers once we have vaccinated the first nine priority groups.'

Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield has said families need 'hope and clarity' about what will come next for children's education.

She said schools should open 'as soon as possible' and called on ministers to set out at Downing Street press conferences what progress is being made towards reopening.

Pubs and restaurants could stay shut until JULY as councils are given power to extend lockdown rules Pubs and restaurants could stay closed until July after Government chiefs chose to extend the Covid lockdown powers given to councils. The specially-created powers, which give local authorities in England the ability to close venues and tape-off public areas due to coronavirus, were due to expire next week. But in a blow to millions of Britons hoping for a summer of reduced restrictions, Government chiefs have now extended the laws until mid-July, reports the Daily Telegraph. The move does not mean lockdown has been extended. But it does mean the powers are in place should the Government decide to push back its current lockdown timetable. Boris Johnson set a mid-February target for lifting restrictions when announcing the third-national lockdown earlier this month. But the Prime Minister appeared to pour cold water on hopes of a mid-February easing of lockdown earlier this week by saying it was 'too early to say' when restrictions could be lifted. Meanwhile, Downing Street refused to rule out the possibility of the current lockdown stretching beyond the spring and into summer. The remarks came after frustrated Tory backbenchers called on the Government to release its road-map out of lockdown - as the UK's vaccine roll-out total hit more than six-million. Advertisement

Ms Longfield warned that the closure of schools has had an 'enormous impact' on children  affecting their mental health and widening the gap in learning.

'Children are more withdrawn, they are really suffering in terms of isolation, their confidence levels are falling, and for some there are serious issues.'

She added: 'This is something for which families around the country will need hope and clarity about what comes next, and that of course is what the speculation we're hearing really feeds into  that confusion  but also worry about where they as a family go from here.'

Union boss Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said today there should be a 'phased' return of children to school - accusing the Government of 'defeatism' over getting schools open again.

Conservative MPs ratcheted up the pressure today with a stark warning that the current crop of schoolchildren face becoming 'the forgotten generation'.

The MPs have backed a campaign by the parents' pressure group UsforThem to fully reopen schools.

The group includes the former Cabinet minister Esther McVey and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, according to the Telegraph

As recently as last Thursday, Mr Williamson said that he hoped schools would be able to reopen before Easter, although Downing Street pointedly declined to endorse his comments.

Kevin Courtney, co-general secretary of the National Education Union, said talk of reopening before Easter sounded 'optimistic' and warned: 'It could be as late as May.'

Speaking to broadcasters yesterday, Mr Hancock said he held out hope that schools in England could possibly reopen by Easter, but sounded a negative tone by warning infections levels were still extremely high.

'We have got to look at the data. We have got to look at the impact of the vaccination programme,' he said.

Last week Mr Williamson said the Government would give parents and teachers 'good notice' of reopening.

'We'd aim to give teachers, pupils and parents two weeks' notice so they're able to get ready and we'll always be looking for how we can get schools open for all at the earliest possible moment,' he said.

Schools in England were told to close again from January 5, after some primaries had been back for just one day after the holidays, with Boris Johnson admitting they may act as 'vectors of transmission' despite being safe for pupils.

Teachers have a 'good shout' of being high on vaccine priority list, says Matt Hancock Teachers have a 'good shout' of being high on the vaccine priority list, Matt Hancock said yesterday in a boost for the campaign to get them protected. Hundreds of top schools are offering to allow their premises to be used for the vaccination of all teachers over the February half-term. They say that trained staff will be on hand for the inoculation blitz, which could then allow all schools to reopen  an innovative idea revealed in The Mail On Sunday. Yesterday, the Health Secretary said that while those at highest risk of death needed to be protected first, there was a 'perfectly reasonable debate' about who should be next. Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday, he said: 'Supply [of vaccine] is the rate-limiting factor. The question is who should have each dose as it comes in... and we've taken the decision, quite rightly, to go through in order of clinical need, starting with those who are most likely to die from this disease. 'We're going through those who are clinically vulnerable... and after that there's a perfectly reasonable debate to be had about who should go in what order next... Teachers have got a good shout to be very high on the list and those discussions are going on.' Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation lists teachers alongside those in the military, justice and transport systems as being in the second phase for jabs. Advertisement

To address the blow to children, the Government is planning to expand its tutoring initiative to help those most at risk of getting left behind.

The Department for Education is hoping to provide 15 hours of tuition in the next academic year for 450,000 disadvantaged children, up from its current target of 250,000.

But, to add to parents' headaches, the eventual reopening of schools is not expected to be consistent across the country.

Deputy chief medical officer for England Dr Jenny Harries told MPs last week that a regional approach may be taken when deciding how schools reopen, with London potentially first to see pupils returning to classrooms.

Appearing before the education committee, Dr Harries responded to questions about schools by saying: 'I think it's likely that we will have some sort of regional separation of interventions.'

She added that there were 'glimmers of hope' in London, which was first affected by the new variant, and so could be first to recover.

It comes as Matt Hancock yesterday revealed teachers have a 'good shout' of being high on the vaccine priority list.

Hundreds of top schools are offering to allow their premises to be used for the vaccination of all teachers over the February half-term.

They say that trained staff will be on hand for the inoculation blitz, which could then allow all schools to reopen  an innovative idea revealed in The Mail On Sunday.

Yesterday, the Health Secretary said that while those at highest risk of death needed to be protected first, there was a 'perfectly reasonable debate' about who should be next.

Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday, he said: 'Supply [of vaccine] is the rate-limiting factor. The question is who should have each dose as it comes in... and we've taken the decision, quite rightly, to go through in order of clinical need, starting with those who are most likely to die from this disease.

'We're going through those who are clinically vulnerable... and after that there's a perfectly reasonable debate to be had about who should go in what order next... Teachers have got a good shout to be very high on the list and those discussions are going on.'

Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation lists teachers alongside those in the military, justice and transport systems as being in the second phase for jabs.

It comes as latest PHE figures revealed 142 out of 149 local authorities in England saw a fall in infections in the week ending January 17, the most recent recording period.

The biggest decreases were recorded in the Isle of Wight, where the rate fell almost 50 per cent from 1,170 per 100,000 to 593.

The London boroughs of Bexley and Barking and Dagenham saw a similarly steep fall.

Infection rates tumbled from 1,043 per 100,000 to 579, the equivalent of 45 per cent, in the south-east borough of Bexley.

While the rate dropped 41 per cent from 1423 to 840 in Barking in East London.

Rounding out the top five was Brighton and Hove, where case rates fell from 713 per 100,000 to 428 , a 40 per cent drop.

Every London borough saw a decrease in case rates, after bearing the brunt of the winter wave before the national lockdown.

Other big drops were recorded in Tower Hamlets and Lewisham (both -39 per cent), Bromley, Camden, Newham, Kensington and Redbridge (all -38 per cent), and Enfield and Kingston (both -37 per cent).

Only five areas  Plymouth, Solihull, Shropshire, Leicester and Barnsley  saw cases increase in the week up to January 17.

Newcastle upon Tyne and Dudley saw their case rates stagnate, remaining at 275 per 100,000 and 659, respectively.

HOW DID INFECTION RATES PER 100,000 CHANGE IN THE LATEST PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND SURVEILLANCE REPORT? Local authority Week ending January 11 Week ending January 17 Percentage change Isle of Wight 1170.2 593.21 -49% Bexley 1043.55 579.17 -45% Barking and Dagenham 1423.63 840.28 -41% Brighton and Hove 713.68 428 -40% Tower Hamlets 1055.6 640.81 -39% Lewisham 985.15 600.64 -39% Bracknell Forest 622.61 380.26 -39% Southwark 961.95 590.91 -39% Bromley 791.97 488.36 -38% Camden 618.82 382.92 -38% Newham 1332.92 827.45 -38% Kensington and Chelsea 657.15 408.64 -38% Redbridge 1147.36 716.53 -38% Enfield 1077.01 676.47 -37% Kingston upon Hull, City of 324.51 205.18 -37% Thurrock 1152.34 731.33 -37% Medway 816.35 523.05 -36% Greenwich 1027.29 662.98 -35% Haringey 965.95 626.47 -35% Essex 863.02 562.45 -35% North East Lincolnshire 162.95 106.54 -35% York 604.89 395.5 -35% Hartlepool 677.96 446.28 -34% Richmond upon Thames 470.66 318.15 -32% Wandsworth 731.93 495.33 -32% Havering 941.62 637.25 -32% Swindon 452.31 307.39 -32% Waltham Forest 1019.56 698.96 -31% Islington 716.39 491.2 -31% Barnet 884.38 607.78 -31% Halton 1165.29 801.33 -31% Wokingham 486.8 334.85 -31% Westminster 577.08 398.75 -31% South Tyneside 405.36 280.18 -31% Croydon 1035.4 716.56 -31% Windsor and Maidenhead 540.87 374.45 -31% Kingston upon Thames 607.86 421.39 -31% Lambeth 942.23 653.92 -31% Sefton 1046.27 727.18 -30% Kent 659.92 462.71 -30% Hackney and City of London 859.23 604.45 -30% Hertfordshire 706.5 500.71 -29% North Tyneside 279.44 199.6 -29% Gloucestershire 319.43 228.39 -29% Harrow 899.03 647.79 -28% Hillingdon 946.98 685.31 -28% Southend-on-Sea 833.31 603.41 -28% Oxfordshire 486.79 355.23 -27% Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 335.43 245.19 -27% Sheffield 292.04 214.41 -27% Buckinghamshire 586.06 432.93 -26% Surrey 626.21 465.04 -26% Cambridgeshire 433.95 322.55 -26% East Sussex 710.66 531.92 -25% Warrington 711.86 533.3 -25% Milton Keynes 756.34 567.44 -25% Liverpool 1009.15 757.57 -25% Cumbria 634.58 477.39 -25% Hammersmith and Fulham 702.16 530.94 -24% Merton 819.18 620.19 -24% Hampshire 520.42 394.2 -24% North Yorkshire 389.93 298.84 -23% Sutton 822.88 631.94 -23% Ealing 1079.85 832.05 -23% County Durham 399.55 308.06 -23% East Riding of Yorkshire 218.95 168.83 -23% West Sussex 612.98 473.16 -23% Knowsley 1367.47 1057.26 -23% Trafford 457.97 354.32 -23% Brent 1082.87 837.85 -23% Bedford 842.51 653.23 -22% Northamptonshire 623.67 483.62 -22% Devon 219.47 170.37 -22% Oldham 365.65 284.26 -22% Southampton 603.52 470.46 -22% Doncaster 339.86 266.12 -22% Luton 888.05 696.07 -22% Wirral 903.36 708.31 -22% Central Bedfordshire 522.78 411.23 -21% Calderdale 264.36 208.08 -21% Gateshead 372.67 293.98 -21% Cheshire East 384.74 305.09 -21% Cheshire West and Chester 502.81 399.63 -21% Salford 458.21 364.33 -20% Suffolk 468.9 373.55 -20% South Gloucestershire 441.61 352.17 -20% Kirklees 305.6 244.66 -20% Herefordshire, County of 372.4 300.31 -19% Wakefield 275.04 225.09 -18% Hounslow 1052.58 864.38 -18% Bristol, City of 493.77 406.58 -18% Bury 453.43 374.89 -17% Bath and North East Somerset 399.93 331.12 -17% Wigan 453.66 377.29 -17% Wiltshire 370.58 308.39 -17% Rochdale 408.7 343.51 -16% Portsmouth 649.12 545.82 -16% North Somerset 418.04 352.94 -16% Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 876.99 740.9 -16% Nottingham 481.53 407.33 -15% Darlington 410.1 347.37 -15% Warwickshire 397.8 340.87 -14% Norfolk 486.47 418.06 -14% Stoke-on-Trent 430.62 370.16 -14% Leeds 323.15 278.89 -14% Nottinghamshire 417.76 362.46 -13% Torbay 260.52 226.77 -13% Stockport 411.01 358.53 -13% Lancashire 544.19 477.13 -12% North Lincolnshire 160.77 141.04 -12% Reading 757.2 665.72 -12% Lincolnshire 266.28 234.75 -12% Birmingham 772.54 682.42 -12% Derbyshire 399.28 353.43 -11% Slough 1089.35 969.65 -11% Manchester 476.61 425.06 -11% Blackburn with Darwen 716.12 640.63 -11% West Berkshire 313.03 280.21 -10% Staffordshire 461.82 415.09 -10% Wolverhampton 953.84 860.81 -10% Worcestershire 557.41 505.72 -9% Stockton-on-Tees 428.68 389.67 -9% Middlesbrough 520.64 479.5 -8% Peterborough 549.79 507.27 -8% Bradford 286.97 266.78 -7% Derby 664.2 617.95 -7% Dorset 321 299.6 -7% Coventry 540.75 504.95 -7% Telford and Wrekin 534.32 500.96 -6% Tameside 366.02 344.38 -6% Sunderland 435.35 410.87 -6% Northumberland 268.27 253.7 -5% Somerset 311.62 295.61 -5% Rutland 240.44 230.42 -4% Sandwell 949.31 910.95 -4% Walsall 754.87 731.4 -3% Bolton 379.76 369.67 -3% Blackpool 307.65 300.47 -2% Rotherham 285.97 279.94 -2% Redcar and Cleveland 415.6 409.77 -1% Leicestershire 348.22 343.55 -1% St. Helens 801.28 792.98 -1% Newcastle upon Tyne 276.73 275.41 0% Dudley 661.08 659.21 0% Barnsley 237.38 239 1% Leicester 542.88 547.96 1% Shropshire 426.45 436.35 2% Solihull 500.06 524.09 5% Plymouth 298.36 318.2 7%

Daily Mail's Computer for Kids campaign raises 250,000 on its first weekend

Sam Greenhill chief reporter for the Daily Mail

The Daily Mail's campaign to help get laptops to lockdown pupils has raised a staggering 250,000 in its first weekend.

In a flying start beyond our wildest dreams, Daily Mail readers have again shown phenomenal generosity.

From 5 to 5,000, thousands of contributions have flooded in  many from grandparents  coupled with heartfelt messages of support.

One pensioner gave 250, signing off simply as a 'retiree' who was 'happy to help the young'. And today Bill Gates, who practically invented home computing, has been inspired to add his heavyweight.

One third of families are struggling with home schooling because they simply do not have enough computers for their children, an exclusive poll for the Daily Mail today reveals.

One third of families are struggling with home schooling (library image) because they simply do not have enough computers for their children, an exclusive poll for the Daily Mail today reveals

HOW TO DONATE TO COMPUTERS FOR KIDS CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO YOU, THE READER: How to send us donations The Daily Mail has launched a brand new campaign, Computers For Kids, to raise money for Mail Force  a charity which aims to provide much needed school equipment and resources for pupils across the UK learning from home. With schools closed, we are left with the dilemma of hundreds of thousands of pupils in the UK having no access to a computer in their home. As part of this campaign, companies are donating their old laptops which, for around 15, can be wiped, professionally refurbished and made safe and fit for home schooling. They can then be delivered to a child or young person who needs one. In addition, the campaign is looking to support children's needs in other ways such as funding brand new laptops and tablets, and assisting with data access and connectivity for online learning. Any surplus funds will be used to support of the work of UK schools via other means. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Visit mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate and follow the steps to complete your donation. Please don't send us your old device. TO COMPANIES: Could you give your old laptops? Upgrading office computers is something all companies do from time to time  and there has never been a better time to donate old laptops. If you are a company with 50 laptops or more that you could give, please visit www.computacenter.com/daily-mail to check they are suitable and register your donation. We will arrange for collection by our specialist partners Computacenter. Please note: we cannot accept donated laptops from individuals. COMPANIES SHOULD GO TO: computacenter.com/daily-mail TO SCHOOLS: Where to apply for the computers Schools must apply to the Department for Education, which is managing the demand and prioritising the schools most in need. The Mail Force initiative means more laptops will become available more quickly. SCHOOLS CAN APPLY HERE: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk Advertisement

Four in ten parents say the cost of computers and other items they need is too high, according to the survey.

More than a quarter cite the high cost of internet access as a problem.

And families worst hit by the Covid schools shutdown are the poorest and those in the North.

The Daily Mail poll illustrates the devastating effect of school closures on children  and their mums and dads.The survey by JL Partners shows that nearly one in five children (18 per cent) learning from home gets no 'live' schooling via a computer screen from their teacher per day whatsoever.

Significant numbers of parents say their children's hopes of getting a good education, a university place or a career have been severely damaged by nearly a year of Covid disrupted education.

Even their social skills have been damaged by being denied face to face contact with their friends.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who came to power on a pledge to 'level up' Britain, will be concerned that the impact on poorer children is greater in all these categories.

Nor is it only the young who are suffering: a staggering one in two parents says their own mental health has deteriorated.

Mothers have borne the brunt: 55 per cent say their mental health has got worse  nine per cent higher than fathers (46 per cent).

Parents' concern is shared by the wider public: 49 per cent of all adults say coronavirus has caused long-term damage to children's life chances; 20 per cent disagree.

According to the poll, 82 per cent of children in England, Scotland and Wales are learning from home.

A total of 32 per cent of parents say they do not have enough computers for their studies. Nearly one in five (19 per cent) has more than one child  but only one laptop.

Six per cent who do not have a computer are forced to use a mobile phone instead.

But  while there are clearly difficulties  two thirds of parents say they do have enough laptops to cope.

An overwhelming 72 per cent believe it is the Government's responsibility to provide computers to make home learning easier; only seven per cent disagree.

Four in ten parents say the cost of 'remote learning materials' such as computers, software and exercise books, is too high.

While parents are largely supportive of teachers, 41 per cent want more help from schools for children forced to learn in their front room or kitchen; 29 per cent say they have enough support.

Twenty-seven per cent believe internet access costs too much, with 23 per cent saying they grin and bear it and pay up to stop their children falling behind. Sixteen per cent of parents pay between 10 and 30 per week for internet access.

Most parents are doing their best to take the place of teachers: 44 per cent spend between one and three hours per day helping their children learn at home. An impressive additional 27 per cent devote more than three hours a day.

While 43 per cent of parents say they have taken over teaching duties because the school had 'fallen short' in its obligations; 30 per cent did not blame the school.

An overwhelming 72 per cent believe it is the Government's responsibility to provide computers to make home learning easier; only seven per cent disagree

Remarkably, the survey suggests parents now do more 'live lesson' teaching than teachers.

Children unable to go to school are getting an average of two hours and six minutes of 'live' remote lessons from their school teacher a day  two minutes less than the average time parents spend teaching their offspring.

Seventeen per cent of parents in the South are paying for private tuition to help children learn at home  more than three times more than in the less prosperous North where 5 per cent do this.

Nowhere is the class divide on the effect of the stress and strain on parents during the Covid crisis illustrated more vividly than the mental health impact. Among affluent families, 39 per cent say their mental health has suffered; 20 per cent say it has improved.

However, among the poorest families, these figures are 61 per cent and five per cent respectively. The public agree that today's young generation will feel the effects of the pandemic for decades.

Almost one in two (49 per cent) say it will inflict long-term damage to their children's life chances; 20 per cent say it will not have this effect. James Johnson of JL Partners said: 'This poll lays bare the stark inequality of the Covid pandemic, and months of remote learning.

'Middle-class parents say there has been no real impact on their children's life chances, but children of working-class parents and the unemployed are short of laptops, their parents have seen their physical and mental health worsen, and they are the least likely to have remote lessons provided for by their school.

'While some enjoy the comforts of being at home, this data shows that less affluent children are truly being left behind.'

A total of 4,052 adults took part in the poll from January 18 to 21. It includes 988 parents of children under 18. Of these, 734 have youngsters learning from home.

I welcome this boost from the Mail and its readers, writes Education Secretary GAVIN WILLIAMSON

By Gavin Williamson for the Daily Mail

The last thing any parent wanted was to see schools closing to most pupils  as they had to at the start of this month.

I'm a parent myself and I completely understand that this will have caused no end of disruption for those of you who are trying to juggle a family and working from home at the same time.

However well parents are managing to support their children while they learn from home, there really is no substitute for them being in school.

I can assure you as soon as Covid infection rates are back under control then we will get them back there as quickly as we can.

The last thing any parent wanted was to see schools closing to most pupils  as they had to at the start of this month, writes Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured)

In the meantime, thanks to our superb teachers, every child can now expect to have high-quality lessons remotely and I'm delighted that the Daily Mail and its generous readers will be helping our remote education programme.

Of course, for this to be successful pupils need the right devices to work from and we are well aware that this is not a given. Not every pupil has a laptop and not every family has internet access.

I want to assure you that we have been working incredibly hard to deliver the necessary tech across the country so that every child  especially those from disadvantaged homes  can keep their learning on track.

We have now delivered an extra 800,000 laptops and tablets on top of the ones schools already had  and nearly 240,000 have gone out in the past couple of weeks.

While I can't give you a date for when children will be back at their desks, I do want to assure everyone that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that their learning does not suffer. An empty classroom is seen at Westlands Primary School, Staffordshire

Laptops and devices have been in high demand across the world and it has been a massive procurement exercise to get hold of them. In spite of that, we are making sure that 1.3million devices are going to be distributed to children in England who need them.

Our Get Help With Technology programme, which has been distributing laptops, tablets and 4G routers with pre-loaded data since May last year, goes hand-in-hand with the Government's work with mobile network operators, enabling schools to request free data uplifts for disadvantaged families.

We have also set up a new online 'one stop shop' for all schools and colleges to help them keep up to date with the latest information and guidance on remote education as well as tips and advice from teachers and leaders.

Every pupil can now expect to have either recorded or live direct teaching as well as time to complete tasks they've been set as they learn from home.

Although teachers know what materials work best for their own lessons, there is also plenty of other material from external providers available for them to use.

Last Easter, for instance, a group of 40 teachers launched the Oak National Academy. This new venture was created in two weeks flat and has gone on to produce thousands of high-quality teacher-led videoed lessons.

These include topics as varied as blues musicianship and an examination of the effects of urban sprawl on local communities. The BBC is also providing a mass of educational content across its channels to support home learning.

And these are just a couple of examples of an immense industry response  from textbook publishers, from digital teaching tools and from training providers  to extend help to schools.

While I can't give you a date for when children will be back at their desks, I do want to assure everyone that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that their learning does not suffer.

Backed by the support of the Mail and its readers, I have no doubt remote education will continue to go from strength to strength and will help keep our pupils' learning on track.
Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Monday that the new strain of the COVID-19 virus coming from the UK seems to be spreading faster, but things remain the same in terms of restrictions, if a protective sanitary mask is worn, physical distancing is observed and disinfectants are used.

He was asked at the Parliament House if the new possible outbreak of the new strain of coronavirus should worry Romanians and if other restrictive measures might be taken.

"For now, I think there is an investigation underway into this new strain. Yes, we should be [worried]. Once again: if we keep in place the instructions we have had so far - wearing a mask in public spaces, using disinfectant, social distancing - you have seen that they have worked and worked very well for Romania. We must not abandon them, we understand that this new strain coming from the UK seems to be spreading faster, true, but if you wear a mask, if you keep your social distance and if you use disinfectant, things stay the same. So, when we give up these aids in the face of the pandemic, then it spreads faster," Citu explained.

The prime minister added that he does not believe Romania needs a new lockdown due to the new strain of the virus, given that Romanians have followed the restrictions in place.
A Bentley school lunch and pre-packaged food supplier has been fined $30,000 after a bungled order sent a young girl into anaphylactic shock.

Chefs Delight is a ready-to-eat food supplier and sushi wholesaler servicing schools including Applecross, City Beach, Mt Claremont and Bicton primary schools, Carey Baptist Colleges secondary school and Quintilian School in Mt Claremont. Families register and order directly online for deliveries to the schools.

Chefs Delight commits to the highest food safety standard. Credit:Jennifer Soo/File

The City of Canning received a complaint in June 2019 that a primary schoolgirl had ordered a gluten-free ham and cheese toasted sandwich and, after eating part of it, had an anaphylactic reaction requiring her to be taken to hospital.

The bread was later tested and found to contain gluten.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 18:42:00|Editor: huaxia

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ATHENS -- Former Greek Minister of Public Order Sifis Valyrakis was found dead by the Hellenic Coast Guard in the sea area of Eretria on Sunday night.

The Coast Guard operation to locate the ex-minister began on Sunday afternoon, according to the official AMNA news agency. (Greece-Minister-Death)

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MOGADISHU -- At least 24 al-Shabab militants were killed on Sunday by government forces in central Somalia, a security official confirmed on Monday.

"We foiled the militants' attempt to overrun the town, killing 24 of them, and we also recovered weapons and ammunition from the militants," said Ahmed Mo'alim Fiqi, security minister for Gal Mudug state. (Somalia-Shabab-Clashes)

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Six passengers were wounded as a roadside bomb hit a long-distance bus in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Monday, a provincial government spokesman said.

"The explosion occurred in Mirakhor Bazaar locality along a provincial highway in Maiwand district in the morning. The male passengers who (were) wounded by the shrapnel of the improvised explosive device (IED) were transported to a regional hospital in provincial capital Kandahar city," spokesman Baheer Ahmadi told Xinhua. (Afghanistan-Roadside Bombing)

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CANBERRA -- The Australian government has suspended the quarantine-free travel arrangement for New Zealand's passengers for a minimum of 72 hours in order to reduce the risk of new variant of the COVID-19 virus entering the community.

Greg Hunt, Australia's Minister for Health, announced the decision on Monday afternoon. (Australia-COVID-19) Enditem
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on January 25, 2021

2021/01/25

CCTV: Gregory Gilligan, Chairman of AmCham China, said in a recent interview that the history since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States over 42 years ago has sufficiently proved that we can and should work together and co-exist with each other peacefully. The whole world stands to benefit from this. Survey on almost 1,000 AmCham members showed that 70 percent of respondents have no plans to relocate their businesses from China, and "as AmCham China, we can use commerce as a ballast stone for the larger picture of China and the United States." What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: Recently, the US business community has repeatedly signaled their optimistic attitude towards China's economic prospects, saying that they are willing to stay in China and rejecting the "decoupling" between the two economies. Mr. Gilligan's words once again show that the essence of China-US economic and trade relations is mutually beneficial, and that China and the United States have a wide range of common interests and huge room for cooperation. Cooperation used to be the main tone of China-US relations, and it should continue to be so in the future.

China will, as always, build a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment. We welcome the US business community to invest and start business in China, and support enterprises of the two countries in strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation. We also hope that the new administration of the United States can bear in mind the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the common well-being of the international community, follow the path of openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, focus on cooperation, manage differences, and work with China to bring China-US relations back on the right track, create a favorable atmosphere for the healthy development of China-US economic and trade cooperation, and improve the well-being of both peoples.

Macao Monthly: According to reports, the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier entered the South China Sea via the Bashi Channel. U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and early warning aircraft also flew near the Taiwan region. What's your response?

Zhao Lijian: It does no good to regional peace and stability for the United States to frequently send military vessels and aircraft to the South China Sea to show off muscles.

HKSTV: First question, the Wall Street Journal reported last Friday that Ambassador Cui Tiankai wrote in his letter to the U.S. side that Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the CPC Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, will visit the United States, but the Chinese embassy later denied this. Is there any possibility for China and the United States to resume high-level exchanges in the near future? Second question, Ambassador Cui Tiankai has had this post for eight years, while the post of American Ambassador to China has been vacant since last year. Does China have new considerations with regard to the rotation of the Chinese Ambassador to the United States?

Zhao Lijian: Regarding China-U.S. relations, as President Xi said to President Biden in his congratulatory message, the sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations serves not only the fundamental interests of the Chinese and American people, but also the common aspiration of the international community. We hope both sides can follow the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, focus on cooperation, manage differences, work for progress in the sound and stable China-U.S. relations, and join hands with all countries and the international community in promoting world peace and development, a noble cause for humanity. With regard to the bilateral exchanges you asked about, I have nothing for you at the moment.

I don't have any information on whether China will appoint a new ambassador to the United States, either. China's policy on China-U.S. relations has been consistent and clear.

Bloomberg: Wall Street Journal says China plans to propose that both the United States and China cooperate on vaccine-certificate protocols, to verify proof of immunization, under the guidelines set by the World Health Organization. China hopes this can help facilitate travel between the two countries for people who present such proof, and Beijing is also hoping the two sides can talk about jointly distributing vaccines in developing countries. What's your comment?

Zhao Lijian: I'd refer you to the competent authorities as I have no information on what you asked about. With the pandemic still wreaking havoc around the world, China stands ready to work with the United States and the international community for joint responses, including cooperation on vaccine R&D and supplying vaccines to developing countries as you mentioned, so that the day of final victory against the virus can arrive as early as possible .

NHK: Firstly, the U.S. State Department issued a statement on January 23, urging China to stop pressuring Taiwan and to engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan. What is your comment? Secondly, Taiwan media reported that there were more than ten sorties of PLA military aircraft operating in the airspace near Taiwan on January 23 and 24. Taiwan experts said the PLA's move was ostensibly a military exercise, but above all intended as a warning to the United States. What is China's intention?

Zhao Lijian: On your first question, China's position on the Taiwan question is consistent and clear. There is but one China in the world, and the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. China is determined in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposing "Taiwan independence" and interference by external forces.

The root cause of the current tension and disturbance in cross-Strait relations lies in the Democratic Progressive Party authorities refusing to recognize the 1992 Consensus which embodies the one-China principle, strengthening contacts with external forces and making provocations in pursuit of "Taiwan independence". On the political basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence", we stand ready to conduct dialogue and consultation with all political parties, groups and personages in the Taiwan region, so that we can resolve differences and build up consensus on political issues across the Strait and on issues related to promoting the peaceful reunification of China.

We urge the U.S. side to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" forces so as to avoid damaging China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

On your second question, I'll leave it to the Ministry of National Defense.

The Paper: Last Saturday, protests in support of the Russian opposition leader Alexie Navalny broke out in various places in Russia. The US embassy in Moscow published a protest timetable and routes in Russian cities and distributed a "demonstration alert" to US citizens in Russia recommending they heighten safety awareness. The Russia Foreign Ministry strongly protested against this, saying what the US embassy did was beyond normal consular protection and was interfering in Russian affairs. "The U.S. colleagues will have to explain themselves." What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: We have noted relevant reports. China consistently opposes external interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.

China News Service: In 2020, a total of 530,000 invention patents had been authorized in China, registering a year-on-year growth of 17.1 percent, the National Intellectual Property Administration said on January 22. What's the significance of that figure? Can you tell us more about it?

Zhao Lijian: The competent authority already released a detailed readout of the press conference of the National Intellectual Property Administration for the first quarter, and you may check on that.

Despite the impact of COVID-19, China saw a surge in authorized invention patents. This epitomizes the rapid improvement of the quality and benefits of China's intellectual property, attests to the outcomes of China's efforts to protect intellectual property and indicates that China is shifting from a major IPR importer to a major creator.

The Chinese government has been prioritizing the central role of scientific innovation in national development, implementing the innovation-driven development strategy and IPR strategy, and strengthening innovation and IPR protection. As China has entered a new development stage, it is putting in practice the new development philosophy and formulating a new development paradigm, which would not be possible without the strong support of IPRs. Just as President Xi Jinping pointed out, no country can become an independent innovation center or enjoy fruits of innovation alone; innovation should benefit the world rather than being encaved. China stands ready to work with other countries to strengthen scientific innovation and cooperation, actively participate in global IPR governance, and contribute more to the balanced, inclusive and sustainable development of global IPRs.

Global Times: Sources from the Indian government said that India will send 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to South Asian neighbors in the next few weeks, in a move to "rival" China's "vaccine diplomacy", as commented by the media. What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: Virus is an enemy to all mankind. The most pressing task for the international community at the moment is to make united efforts to fight against the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccines should be made a global public good. There are multiple COVID-19 vaccine candidates out there on the market, and countries should be able to make their choices on the vaccines independently. This issue can afford no place for malign competition, let alone the so-called "rivalry". We hope and welcome that more doses of safe and effective vaccines will be manufactured at a faster pace by more countries and then provided to more countries to benefit more people.

China is taking solid steps to act on the pledge of "making COVID-19 vaccines a public good". China has been cooperating on this front with other countries, especially developing countries, in various means, and has provided support and assistance in accordance with their needs to the best of our ability. We will continue to promote equitable distribution and application of the vaccines worldwide, so that the benefits can be enjoyed by more people.

Prasar Bharati: India is providing vaccines to many countries, with some free of charge and some commercial exports. Will China consider importing vaccines from India to bridge any sort of gap in the demand and supply?

Zhao Lijian: I'm not aware of what you said. I'll leave that to the competent authorities.

Phoenix TV: Jessica Bartlett, the Chairperson of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said AmCham has not seen large US capital withdrawals after the national security law took effect. She said companies will make decisions on leaving or staying depending on their development strategy, and many investors still have confidence in the Hong Kong market. What's your response to this?

Zhao Lijian: A previous survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong shows that most of its members surveyed will still choose Hong Kong as their regional headquarters in the next three years, and nearly sixty percent of the companies surveyed have or are planning to have business operations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Many companies believe the huge consumer market in the Greater Bay Area will provide great opportunities for growing profits. The survey by AmCham and the chairperson's remarks prove once again that the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR is a stabilizing force for Hong Kong's long-term stability, security and prosperity, offering a safer, more stable and sustainable investment environment and a brighter cooperation prospect for international investors including those from the United States, which is a self-evident proof that the previous doubts and baseless assumptions on the national security law are profoundly untrue.

Facts have proven and will continue to prove that the national security law contributes significantly to Hong Kong's sound business environment and position as a financial, trading and shipping center. The global business community is welcome to operate and achieve greater success in Hong Kong.

PTI: Yesterday the 9th round of China-India commander-level talks was held at the border to ease the situation at eastern Ladakh. Do you have any information about the outcome of the talks?

Zhao Lijian: I can confirm to you that a new round of talks was indeed held between China and India. Following our agreement, both sides will release the information as early as possible.
CENTREVILLE, Va., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The joint venture team consisting of COWI, Parsons (NYSE:PSN) and SYSTRA, with Implement Consulting Group as subconsultant, has been awarded DSB's large framework contract on multidisciplinary consultancy services for the automation of the S-train system in the Greater Copenhagen Area, Denmark. The contract has a term of eight years with the possibility of two six-year extensions.

The purpose of the contract is to transform the Danish S-train system from a traditional urban railway to a fully automated transport system  the Copenhagen Future Rail Network, making this one of the most extensive public transit optimisation projects undertaken in Denmark in recent years.

The transformation will contribute to growth and mobility in the Greater Copenhagen Area, while fostering a green urban environment and accommodating more passengers.



Multidisciplinary expertise to ensure successful transformation

In the preliminary phase, DSB substantiated the basis for S-train automation. Under the new contract, the Joint Venture team will assist DSB in realising the transformation, by developing a well-planned and executed migration to the automated S-train system and an operating organisation that efficiently and safely operates the new trains.

The joint venture team brings competencies and hands-on experience in fully automated transport systems, including technical requirements and migration of technical systems, as well as planning and implementation of complex change processes.

Jesper Andersen, Programme Manager of DSB:

"Establishing a fully automated S-train system is an extensive and crucial project that will benefit passengers in the future, while representing a key element in updating public transit in the Greater Copenhagen Area. When awarding the consultancy contract, we rated experience with similar projects high. The COWI-Parsons-Systra joint venture holds vast experience in large-scale railway projects  conventional as well as automated  and is a great match for us in the transformation to an automated S-train system."

Henrik Winther, Executive Vice President of Business Line Denmark, COWI:

"To COWI, this a historic project, and we are immensely proud to be able to assist DSB in creating this state-of-the-art transport system in the Greater Copenhagen Area. It will contribute to setting the standard for many other cities across the world that face similar rail transformation projects and need to meet the demands for bigger capacity and future-proof, green solutions."

Pierre Advani, Vice-President of Rail Transit Solution Europe, Parsons:

"Mass transit is an important component of any city's mobility program. This project will improve community connectivity in the city of Copenhagen, while providing great economic and operational improvement values to the City and DSB, the Danske Statsbaner/Danish State Railways. Parsons has been proud to support the signaling program within Banedenmark for the past 11 years, and we are delighted to be part of the JV team that will support DSB in the STOG UTO project."

Jean-Charles Vollery, Chief International and Development Officer, SYSTRA:

"SYSTRA is extremely delighted to support DSB on the Copenhagen Future Rail Network Programme, together with its long-time partners COWI and Parsons. The transition of such a large network into a driverless operation is indeed quite unique in the world. For SYSTRA, it is also the continuation of more than 15 years of projects in Denmark to enhance its mobility solutions."

Niels Ahrengot, Managing Partner of Implement Consulting Group

"We are incredibly proud to have been chosen to assist in making this phenomenal vision happen: create a greener transport system fit for the future."

To learn more about the joint venture team, visit their websites: COWI; SYSTRA; Implement Consulting Group

To learn more about Parsons' critical infrastructure expertise, visit Parsons.com/markets/critical-infrastructure/.

Parsons (NYSE: PSN) is a leading disruptive technology provider in the global defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets, with capabilities across cybersecurity, missile defense, space, connected infrastructure, and smart cities. Please visit parsons.com, and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook to learn how we're making an impact.

Media Contact:

Bernadette Miller

+1 980.253.9781

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:

Dave Spille

+ 1 571.655.8264

[email protected]

SOURCE Parsons Corporation

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Republic Day 2021: Which Delhi Metro station will remain closed on Jan 26

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

New Delhi, Jan 25: Service on four Delhi Metro stations on the Yellow line will be briefly curtailed on January 26, the transit system stated in an advisory issued on Sunday, ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi.

The stations which will remain closed are Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Patel Chowk and Lok Kalyan Marg. Boarding or de-boarding at Central Secretariat from 5 am till 12 pm, Udyog Bhawan, Lok Kalyan Marg (Race Course) from 8.45 am to 12 pm, Patel Chowk and ITO will not be allowed.

The entry, exit gates of Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan shall remain closed until 12 pm, while Lok Kalyan Marg and Patel Chowk shall remain closed between 8:45 am to 12:00 pm.

However, interchangeable facility will be available at the Central Secretariat.

Parking facilities will remain closed from 6:00 am on January 25 till 2 pm on January on all metro stations, according to the advisory shared on the official Twitter handle of Delhi Metro.

"Entry/exit to the following stations will remain closed for a short period on 26th January 2021. Interchange shall be available at Central Secretariat. Parking facilities will remain closed from 6 am on 25th January till 2 pm on 26th January at all stations," DMRC had tweeted.

All Metro parking lots will also remain closed from 6 am on January 25 till 2 pm on January 26. The Central Secretariat Metro station will only be used for the interchange of passengers between Line 2 (Yellow Line) and Line 6 (Violet Line) during that period, the DMRC said.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

The Republic Day parade will start at 9.50 am from Vijay Chowk and move towards National Stadium and the tableaux will start from Vijay Chowk and proceed towards the Red Fort ground. The wreath-laying function at National War Memorial will take place at 9 am.
It's the answer to many a man's prayer - readily buyable, over-the-counter Viagra.

Numerous lads have been given a LIFT at the news that Viagra can now be bought in Ireland without a prescription.

Hundreds have RISEN to the occasion by flocking to pharmacies around the country to snap up the magic little blue pills.

While some have EXPLODED with joy that they can finally get their hands on the wonder drug without having to see a doctor, others have been left DEFLATED at being charged over double the normal price.

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Consumers in Ireland this week have been able to buy erectile dysfunction tablets without prescriptions for the first time - it has been accessible in a similar fashion in the UK for several years and men with impotence problems have used it as a lifeline.

Pharmacists will assess if customers are safe to take Viagra Connect in a similar way to how strong painkillers are sold.

At least two independent pharmacies we tried in Dublin on Friday did not yet have the drug in stock and were awaiting deliveries.

"I know that Lloyds have started to sell it, as have Boots," said a female pharmacist in Murray's on Talbot Street.

A male assistant in Active Life Pharmacy, also on Talbot Street, told us: "You have to have a prescription to buy Viagra in Ireland."

He was immediately corrected by an older pharmacist in the store.

"The Government have deregulated sale and we are now allowed to sell it," he told us. "It's the actual real Pfizer brand, not a generic one."

Consultation

We then ventured to a Boots outlet, where a female assistant advised us to go upstairs to their branch in the Jervis Centre as they had not got it in stock.

She was overheard by a male pharmacist who announced: "Actually we have it here - we just got it in today."

He told our man that he would see him in a minute or two in a nearby 'consultation room', where the two adjourned to a table and two chairs.

Anyone buying the drug in a chemist will have to undergo such a procedure, as the pharmacist has to make sure the patient knows what's involved.

A Boots leaflet advises: "Viagra Connect contains 50mg Sildenafil which relaxes blood vessels to help increase blood flow to the penis. By doing so, this can help a man get and maintain a hard enough erection for sex once he has been sexually aroused. It will not give you an instant erection and can take between 30 minutes to an hour to work."

"It arrived in just this week and we started selling it today," confirmed the young pharmacist.

He had a form, which contained numerous medical questions.

"We have a few questions to make sure you are healthy and fit to take it," he noted. Do you have any cardiovascular problems, any health problems of any note? Do you ever feel breathless or have any chest pains?

"Have you had a heart attack or stroke before, no heart problems or heart rhythm. Do you take any medicine? Over the counter even? No medical condition, allergies or anything like that?"

He added: "Basically, what is involved is that anyone who takes Viagra, its available over the counter but they are advised to have a check-up with their doctor within six months, because ideally one shouldn't really need to take Viagra because it can be a sign of a cardiovascular problem.

"Like a circulation problem. Lots of men do need it, but I suppose it shouldn't ideally be needed, so it can be a sign of blood pressure problems, or circulation problems. So it's OK to take it now, but it's recommended to have a check-up with your GP within six months."

Dangerous

Asked why it's freely available here now, he replied: "I suppose it has been available in the UK for years and it's not a very dangerous medicine to take. The one thing is the fact that you do need it could be a sign there is a cardiovascular or circulation problem."

He then enquired whether our man had ever taken it before.

"What you do is, they either come in a four pack or an eight pack, and they are a little bit more expensive to get over the counter," he added. "A four pack would cost 25. If you had a prescription it would be about a tenner, but it would cost you 50 or 60 to get a prescription from a doctor, so it does save a bit of money."

Bizarrely, he asked: "Do you take grapefruit juice?" (on further reading it can cause blood levels to rise, which can trigger headaches and flushing).

He said patients are given an advisory leaflet with the medicine.

"You take the tablet one hour before you have intercourse and it can take 30 minutes to work, so you need to plan ahead a little bit. You can take it with or without food. It may take longer if you've eaten a big meal," ," he advised.

The polite pharmacist then proceeded to dosage.

"One per day is the maximum," he noted. "If one tablet doesn't work, you may need to take another one. But that could be a sign of cardiovascular problems."

He said most men don't have side effects, but some do get headaches, flushing in the face, stomach discomfort, nasal congestions, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision.

"If you notice anything particularly bad, chest pain, or breaking out in a rash, stop taking them and let us know or go to your doctor," he stressed.

Lifestyle

He said lifestyle could help.

"Losing weight, stopping smoking, exercise, controlling alcohol, can all be beneficial," he pointed out.

Asked if women can take it, he replied: "No it's just for men, it doesn't do anything for women."

The dosage level available over the counter is 50mg. The 100mg version has still to be prescribed by a doctor.

"50mg would usually be the starter one any-ways," he observed. "See how it goes. If you want the 100mg you'd have to go to your doctor."

He then handed over a small card, which he tore off the form.

"Keep it in your wallet and if you do need us again it saves going through the whole consultation again," he concluded.

With that, our reporter paid for his packet and left the pharmacy, clutching the prized packet of diamond-shaped tablets which boasted on its front "Helps you get and keep an erection".

While taking a selfie picture on the street outside, with one of the first packets in Ireland bought in such a way, two curious young men passing momentarily looked over their shoulders.

"Condoms?," chuckled one of them. When told it was Viagra you can buy over the counter they both laughed loudly. "Best of luck later," one of them chortled.

The freer availability here is set to thwart a thriving black market in the supply of the pills, with social media and apps full of hawkers selling the tablets, while others have been importing them illegally by post.

Pfizer originally discovered Sildenafil 1989 while looking for a treatment for heart-related chest pain.

Sildenafil acts by preventing the action of a chemical in the body, which helps to relax blood vessels and improve the flow of blood to the penis following sexual stimulation.

The drug was approved for medical use in the United States and Europe in 1998 and is now a common drug. One of the major producers of it is Ireland, with a large Pfizer plant in Co. Cork meeting demand.

In 2017, the drug became available as a generic medication after final patents by Pfizer expired.

Damage

Rare but serious side effects include a prolonged erection that can lead to damage to the penis, vision problems, and hearing loss.

The Irish Pharmacy Union has welcomed the freer availability of the drug.

"Erectile dysfunction drugs are among the medicines most often bought online, and purchasing them in this way from unregulated sources can pose a major health risk to consumers," said a spokesperson.

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"They sometimes contain none of the active ingredient, or sometimes too much or too little of some ingredients, which are also of questionable quality.

"There are also other risk factors that people may not fully consider when purchasing medication online, including the importance of risk assessments.

"Your local community pharmacist is a medicines expert, who will ensure that any medicine you get from them is suitable for you and won't react with any other medications you are taking," the spokesperson added.




A man who imported over 19,000 of cannabis with the intention of using it himself as pain relief has received a fully suspended sentence.

Llyod Pennant (60) was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2000 and is unable to take injections to treat his condition when his blood pressure drops below a certain level.

Pennant with an address at Bridge Street, Dundalk, Co Louth, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importing drugs at Terminal 2, Alexandra Road, Dublin Port, on June 4, 2019.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply at the same address on the same date. He has 16 previous convictions, including convictions for deception, using a false instrument and possession of stolen property.

Garda Paul Osbourne told Michael Hourigan BL, prosecuting, that on the date in question, Pennant was stopped by customs officials having disembarked from a ferry and searched. The accused told the officials that he was carrying cannabis.

The cannabis was discovered in his hand luggage in two separate bags. The total value of the cannabis was 19,800.

Gda Osbourne agreed with Oisin Clarke BL, defending, that his client told customs officials that he collected the drugs himself in the UK and his intention was to use them himself. He agreed Pennant said he had MS and had gotten the cannabis for that reason.

Mr Clarke said his client was a UK national who was born in London, but has resided in Ireland for some time. He said his client has spent five months in custody on this matter.

Counsel said his client was diagnosed with MS in 2000, but his doctors believe he has had it for longer. Pennant also has kidney difficulties and his kidneys are currently operating at 17% efficiency.

Mr Clarke said his client had been receiving injections to treat his MS, but he cannot take them when his blood pressure drops below a certain level. He said his client had been using the cannabis to alleviate the pain and would have used up the cannabis he got from the UK in five or six months.

Judge Martin Nolan said it was reasonably believable that Pennant was going to use the drugs for self-medication. He said his stay in prison would be very difficult if he imposed a sentence.

Judge Nolan said this was an exceptional case principally because of the accused suffering from MS. He said he thinks Pennant needs proper medical treatment in a non-stressful situation.

He sentenced Pennant to four years imprisonment, but suspended the entirety of the sentence on strict conditions.


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By Eileen Carr

The 21st century has seen many innovations, and thanks to COVID-19, many challenges. For musicians and their audiences, both difficulties and technological advances have combined to create virtual performances.

For patrons of the University of Daytons ArtsLIVE performance series, three concerts will be shared virtually during the 2021 spring semester. The first is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14. The YouTube premiere of Bewitched, an early music program featuring Les Delices, with soprano Hannah DePriest, will be the first ArtsLIVE program to be offered virtually in the programs 60-year history. (Pictured above.)

Thanks to an endowment established by the family of Elana and Vincent Bolling, these Virtual Vanguard concerts will be available free online to the public. A link to these programs can be found on the ArtsLIVE website at go.udayton.edu/artslive. No registration is required.

Scheduled for 3 p.m. Sundays, the Virtual Vanguard concerts run about one hour and will be followed by a live question-and-answer session with the musicians. Following the Sunday premieres, each program will remain available on YouTube for just 48 hours.

The romance featured in the Valentines Day Bewitched performance is fiery and intense. The program includes works by several 17th century French composers who took their inspiration from the dramatic, classical tales of Circe and Medea, who pursued love and revenge through supernatural means.

While the first Virtual Vanguard performance transports audiences back in time, the second concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 7, by the Tesla Quartet promises a taste of international travel  Viaggio in Italia uses augmented reality (AR) technology. Italy is the destination, and the quartets performances will make it appear as if the musicians are in a variety of notable venues.

Tesla Quartets use of AR is made possible by new technology supported by Hoverlay. While the performance can be viewed on a computer in the traditional way, to enjoy the more immersive experience patrons will need to download the Hoverlay app on a phone or tablet and connect using the link provided on the ArtsLIVE website. Those viewing via the Hoverlay app will be able to virtually move and look around the site as Tesla performs.

The final concert, at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 11, Bach to Brazil, features classically trained harpist Bridget Kibbey. Kibbey draws a line from Bach and his rigorous Old World variations on a theme to folk musicians and later composers from such New World countries as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico. She is joined by two esteemed musicians for this project: percussionist Samuel Torres from Bogota, Colombia, and clarinetist Louis Arques, a native of France.

For more information about the programs, visit go.udayton.edu/artslive or contact ArtsLIVE Coordinator Eileen Carr at ecarr1@udayton.edu.
ANDERSON, Ind. (AP)  An inmate at a central Indiana prison has agreed to plead guilty in the fatal stabbing of another inmate, four months after he rejected the same plea agreement.

Tommy Holland's defense attorney told a Madison County judge Monday his client was ready to accept a plea agreement in the August 2019 stabbing death of 28-year-old Clifford S. Baggett at the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

He wants to resolve the case as soon as possible, said defense attorney Bryan Williams.

In exchange for his guilty plea to a murder charge, the state of Indiana will seek a sentence of life without parole for Holland, 45, The Herald Bulletin reported.

The development in the Indianapolis man's criminal case came after Madison Circuit Judge Andrew Hopper on Monday found Holland competent to stand trial.

Hopper said a sentencing hearing would be set within the next two weeks after Holland signs the plea agreement.

In September, Holland  whos already serving two life sentences for murder  appeared in court, rejected the plea agreement prosecutors had offered, and then requested the death penalty.

Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said the inmate stated that he would continue to drop bodies until you give me the death penalty.
We continue to conduct diligent neighborhood and business patrols in not only the north end of town, but in all areas of Highland. As we all know, crime is mobile and often it happens when the opportunity is there. Criminals are mobile by using vehicles, whether their own, or stolen vehicles, Banasiak said in an email.
Oil pumpjacks at the Huntington Beach Oil Fields in Huntington Beach, Calif., on April 20, 2020. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Top Oil Companies Sharply Slow Search for New Fossil Fuels

The top five Western oil and gas companies sharply slowed the search for new fossil fuel resources last year, data from Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy show.

The five companies are Royal Dutch Shell, BP (British Petroleum), Frances Total, ExxonMobil, and Chevron.

Acquisitions of new onshore and offshore exploration licenses for the top five Western energy giants dropped to the lowest in at least five years because of the epidemic, Rystad Energy analyst Palzor Shenga said.

Acquiring additional leases comes with a cost, and it demands some work commitments to be fulfilled. Hence, companies would not want to pile up on additional acreages in their non-core areas of operations, Shenga said.

Global oil demand encountered an unprecedented collapse of 8.8 million barrels per day in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

IEA also anticipated capital investment in the energy sector to fall by 18 percent in 2020, with the largest drop in spending on new oil and natural gas supply.

Of the five companies, BP saw by far the largest drop in new acreage acquisition in 2020. CEO Bernard Looney outlined a strategy to reduce oil output by 40 percent or 1 million barrels per day by 2030; the company has rapidly scaled back its exploration team in recent months.

Energy transition, regulation, and the electrification of cars also are considerations of some big energy companies.

Last September, BP agreed to pay Equinor $1.1 billion to purchase 50 percent interest in the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects from Norways Equinor.

This is an important early step in the delivery of our new strategy and our pivot to truly becoming an integrated energy company, Looney said in a statement at the time.

In recent years, governments and companies worldwide have announced goals to reduce their environmental footprint and move away from fossil fuels. Both the UK and European Union are, for example, targeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, CNBC reported.

Last month, Japan announced that it would stop the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by the mid-2030s, but the sale of hybrid gas-electric cars will still be permitted after 2015.

California announced last September to end the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger cars in the state by 2035, becoming the first U.S. state to commit to doing so.

The European Union aims to have at least 30 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2030.

Darren Woods, ExxonMobils CEO, expressed more optimism in an email delivered to all company employees in October.

The transition of the energy system will take a long time because of its size, complexity, and amount of infrastructure required to keep it running efficiently, he suggested.

The IEA projected that oil and gas would remain at 53 percent of the global energy mix in 2040, decreasing from the current 60 percent or so, Woods said.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Alert: Click here for information regarding this week's free vaccination clinics for West Virginians.

Alert: Click here For information about the free vaccine clinics at West Virginias state parks and forests.

Please always check with your local venue for last minute changes.

Any West Virginians age 65 and older who are still waiting on an appointment are urged to call the West Virginia Vaccine Info Line: 1-833-734-0965 to be scheduled for an appointment to be vaccinated. The info line is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Health officials have traced the close contacts of the 12 patients in Bontoc, Mt. Province found to be carrying the more transmissible COVID-19 variant first found in the United Kingdom.

Health Department spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday said they have located 144 close contacts of the cases. Of this number, 34 people tested positive for COVID-19 -- six of whom were negative for the UK variant called B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2, while 28 samples have yet to be submitted to the Philippine Genome Center for genome sequencing.

Vergeire added they have also monitored three clusters of the coronavirus infection in Bontoc.

"Sa contact tracing na ito, mayroon tayong nakita na additional na 34 na positive pa... Itong tatlong cluster ng infection na nakikita na natin ang paghahawa-hawa na nangyari. Nakita natin ang pinagmulan pero hindi pa siya definite," she said in a media briefing.

[Translation: In our contact tracing, we found an additional 34 COVID-19 positive cases. We saw three clusters of infection and we're already seeing the spread. We have found its source but it's not yet definite.]

The DOH said the index case arrived in the country from UK on Dec. 13. The person reached Bontoc the next day with a negative swab test. The person attended a Christmas celebration and a ritual on the 26th, then started having abdominal pain  a COVID-19 symptom  on Dec. 29.

The mountainous province of Bontoc accounts for the majority of cases of the UK variant in the country. Of the 12 residents found with the B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant, three are minors. Vergeire said 11 people found with the UK variant in the province were all contacts of the case who arrived from UK. Five villages in Bontoc were placed under enhanced community quarantine until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the DOH said four household members of the UK variant case in La Trinidad, Benguet also contracted the virus. It was not immediately clear if their samples underwent genome sequencing. Authorities have traced 97 contacts.

The country has recorded at least 17 cases of the variant. The first case announced on Jan. 13 was a Filipino who traveled to Dubai.
Head of Operations at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu has sent a strong word of advice to the ministerial appointees in President's Nana Akufo-Addo's second term, ahead of their vetting before Parliament's Appointment Committee.



President Akufo-Addo has named forty-six (46) Ministers who will form his government during his second tenure of office.



The list contains some notable faces from his previous administration and new people being appointed to other Ministries while others also lose their ministerial positions.



Contributing to Peace FM's morning programme "Kokrokoo", Charles Owusu has admonished the incoming Ministers not to be puffed up like "turkey" but rather be led by humility.



He advised them to remember their past and ensure whatever they do dignifies the nation.



According to him, ''it's an honor that you will be chosen out of many. If your name is mentioned among these 46 people, it's a great honour so don't underrate this opportunity''.



"If even the President can interact with people, what about you, a Minister who has puffed up like turkey? . . . Be humble for everything has an end."



He asked the appointees to take a cue from the President and be guided in their duties to the citizenry.



"They should be led by humility and remembrance. They should remember and know that this is not the home stool but it's the people who voted for President Nana Akufo-Addo who has delegated some of his power to you . . . because the longest that President Akufo-Addo can rule is 8 years and he's already covered 4 years. How much more a Minister? If Nana Addo won't be on his seat permanently, it means you, the Minister, won't occupy your position for a lifetime too but your work will be your testimony. Let's put the interest of the country first; don't be selfish," he counseled.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Double killer Seamus Morgan looked a shadow of his former self as he stands, cuffed to a prison officer, outside a Dublin hospital last week.

During a brief respite from medical treatment in the hospital, the 53-year-old appeared pale and drawn as he slumped to the ground to smoke a cigarette.

Kildare native Morgan, the brother of notorious pimp Martin 'The Beast' Morgan is currently serving a life sentence in Mountjoy Prison for the savage killing of dissident republican Larry Keane.

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Morgan was convicted of murdering 56-year-old Keane in Athy, Co Kildare on July 19, 2013 after a jury of three men and nine women found him guilty in January of 2016 by unanimous verdict.

The court heard Mr Keane was "very badly battered about the head with an object which caused severe fracturing of his skull in at least four places".

He died in Naas General Hospital as a result of his injuries.

Witnesses said they saw him and Morgan together on the night and right up to the time of the murder.

The court heard there was "ill will" between the two.

Prosecution counsel Mr Tom O'Connell said: "He [Morgan] admitted to gardai he had been in the laneway with Mr Keane and there was long-standing animosity between the two men.

"He was subsequently rearrested on April 17, 2014, as some new evidence had come to light."

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis told the court the cause of death was "severe blunt force trauma to the head".

He added: "The deceased had been struck 10 significant blows to his head on both sides and there were lacerations of full and partial thickness.

"An examination of the brain showed there had been severe bruising to the tissue of the brain."

Victim Keane was known to the authorities for his role in a suspected plot to bomb the Aintree Grand National.

In 1998, he pleaded guilty to having 980lb of an explosive mixture and devices, with the intent to endanger life or enable another to do so, at Dun Laoghaire Port on April 2 of the same year.

He was sentenced to 15 years in jail but the term was reduced to 10 years on appeal.

The court heard the explosives were twice the size of the bomb used by the Real IRA in Omagh in 1998.

Gardai believed the likely target of the Real IRA plot in which Keane was nabbed was the Aintree Grand National.

At Morgan's sentencing hearing, prosecution counsel O'Connell read a victim impact statement to the court on behalf of Laurence Keane's family.

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It read: "Little did we know on the morning of July 18, 2013, as day turned into night how our lives would change forever. This is a day in our lives we will never forget".

The court heard Keane was "a father, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle and a friend to many people".

The statement described him as "always in good humour, talkative and outgoing" but "vulnerable, frail and disabled - helpless without the aid of his walking stick".

It added: "Larry lost his life in the most traumatic way, not far from the home he shared with his son Laurence. We will never know what his last words or thoughts were."

The court heard there was now a void in his family "that can never be filled" and the family are living a nightmare they "will never be able to wake up from".

Morgan had previously been jailed for eight years in July 2005 after a jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of 29-year-old James Hand, who was stabbed to death outside a Dublin pub.





He had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Hand at The Meeting Point pub on Dorset Street Upper.

During his first murder trial, evidence was given about Morgan's psychiatric problems and the court heard how he was on four different medications at the time he stabbed James Hand to death in 2002.

Attacked

He claimed he lashed out with a weapon in self-defence after being attacked by Hand.

Nothing was heard in court during the second trial about the reason behind Keane's murder, except that there had been "long standing ill will" between the two men.

Morgan's brother Martin 'The Beast' Morgan had stood by him during his trial for the killing of James Hand but sources said he turned his back on him after he killed dissident Republican Keane.

Expand Close Seamuss brother, notorious pimp Martin The Beast Morgan / Facebook

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The Sunday World previously reported on how Martin was the only member of the family who showed up during the 2005 trial, which lasted eight-days.

However, the millionaire pimp Martin cut ties with his killer brother and didn't even put up bail cash before his trial for Keane's killing.

"It is possible Martin didn't want to draw any attention from dissident republicans by standing up for his brother and kept his head down," a source told the Sunday World at the time.




Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 7:00PM

by Claudio Alves

Europe is the most represented continent in the history of the Best International Feature Oscar. However, while some of its countries are regularly honored, others have been submitting for decades without luck. France, for instance, is the reigning champion of the category, having been nominated forty times. In contrast, Portugal - my country  holds the record for the most submissions without a single nod. For this chapter in our trip through world cinema, we arrive at these two nations' 2020 submissions as well as Spain's Netflix contender



TWO OF US (France)

The closet is a poisonous thing, corroding the mind and spirit. One's true self becomes a secret while what the outside sees is a strenuous performance. Madeleine has been living in that hell for decades, hiding the love of her life from her adult children, pretending to be friendly neighbors with her paramour instead of committed lovers. Her partner, Nina, is tired of the deception and, one day, finally explodes. What follows is a series of tragic misfortunes that put the couple's unity to the test, their lives separated by disease, familial hostilities, and the mercilessness of time. Formalistically, Filippo Meneghetti isn't reinventing the wheel, though the picture's subdued naturalism works fine for the narrative at hand. Attention should be paid to the details of production design, for they bring some sophistication to the visual storytelling. Thankfully, as Two of Us is a film focused on performance, the actors deliver exquisite characterizations with special praise reserved for the two leads. Martine Chevalier makes Madeleine's silence heartbreakingly expressive, while Barbara Sukowa's Nina is a volcanic eruption of powerless rage, fiery indignation, heroic rebellion. The two thespians even manage to work their way around the plot's contrivances, injecting humanity into every harrowing scene they share in Two of Us. B

VITALINA VARELA (Portugal)

Since 1997's Ossos, Pedro Costa's cinema has been plunged into darkness, deep shadows taking over his every film. Over the years, the work has started to look more like hallucinatory phantasmagoria instead of a document of urban decay, its Expressionistic style and Neorealist ethos battling it out in severe tableaux. Vitalina Varela is an apotheosis of these conflicting sides in Costa's cinema, taking his investigations about poetic austerity to new echelons of abstraction. This time, his camera is directed at a woman playing a fictional version of herself, a Cape Verdean widow coming to Lisbon to mourn her husband's death, he who had abandoned her in the African islands and tried to make it in Portugal's capital. As Vitalina delves into painful recollection and discoveries of marital betrayals, a priest, played by Costa's stalwart muse Venture, gives her a weak semblance of guidance. In the end, however, hers is an odyssey of introspection. It's a look inside into the mysteries of her scarred soul. Self-confrontation is taken to literal extremes as the conclusion nears and the membrane between dream and waking life becomes more porous than ever, the reality of the filmed faces coming into question. Beneath all these layers of defiant style, lyrical obfuscation, and a demandingly glacial pace, Vitalina Varela is oddly touching, its images as beautiful as they are haunting. From the deep darkness, the actors emerge as beacons, humanity shining through the void, looking for the light, for the warmth of the sun, for deliverance. B+

THE ENDLESS TRENCH (Spain)

During Franco's dictatorship, political dissidents were ruthlessly hunted by the authorities. Many disappeared, others died, victims of a tyrannical regime whose evils still reverberate through modern-day Spain. Directed by Jon Garano, Aitor Arregi & Jose Mari Goenaga, The Endless Trench tells the story of one of those men who, upon the start of the Civil War, hides from Franco's army under the floor of his and his bride's humble home. As time goes by, he keeps hiding, living within the walls of his old father's house, keeping his family from enjoying a normal existence. Survivalist impetus sours into obsession, panic rots the mind into near madness and not even the brightest flame of love can hope to endure the smothering hand of fear. The domestic spaces, brilliantly designed by Pepe Dominguez del Olmo, gradually transform, over the decades, from a temple of salvation to a cramped prison. As the despair of the outside contaminates the inside, the character's souls bend to the pressure. History manifests as fractured set design, twisted relationships, shattered hopes. The structure, divided into neat chapters, is necessarily repetitive but one does start to get worn down by the cyclical nature of the dramatic beats. The actors try and do some impressive work, but they can't overcome the premise's inherent limitations or the exhausting running time. Part of the film's point is that feeling, so its makers deserve compliments for their craft, even if the result lacks modulation of tone. B-

As much as I'd love to predict Vitalina Varela as a likely nominee, Pedro Costa's aesthetic and narrative proposition feel way too outside the Academy's usual wheelhouse to make it to the shortlist without the help of the executive committee. Two of Us and, especially, The Endless Trench won't have such troubles. It wouldn't be surprising to see them get in. Portugal'll probably hold on to its record.
School Board Accepts Taylor's Resignation

By Bill Hughes

PADUCAH - The McCracken County School Board held a special called meeting Monday to accept the resignation of chairman Chris Taylor.Steve Shelby told West Kentucky Star the board unanimously accepted Taylor's resignation, which he tendered during Thursday's regular meeting. He had narrowly won another term in November, beating Alice Shemwell by just fourteen votes.At the beginning of Thursday's meeting, Taylor announced his resignation, effective at the end of the meeting. That means he was able to participate in the selection of the new board chair, Melanie Burkeen. She was elected by a 4-0 vote, with Shelby abstaining. Kelly Walker was unanimously chosen as vice chair.Shelby said the board will accept applications over the next 30 days from anyone wanting to fill the vacant seat. The board is required to appoint someone to the position by majority vote within 60 days.
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Unwilling to let up after the first round of its tussle with Hindustan Unilever which it claims to have won, Sebamed is now gearing up for a second go at Indias largest FMCG player.

The German skincare brand has refused to budge from its strategy of comparing its cleansing bar with that of Hindustan Unilevers Dove and other bathing bars. In fact, it has already started airing a new ad campaign along much the same lines.

In conversation with Moneycontrol, Sandeep K Rathod, General Counsel and Vice-President  Legal, Sebamed India/USV Private Limited, said that the Bombay High Court (HC) is backing comparative advertising which has scientific evidence.

Such comparative ads will also make other people open to information-sharing to customers. Plus, the court (HC) has said that there is no harm in mentioning names of competitors. But it has been suggested that use of negative language should be avoided. So, instead of saying Dove is not perfect, we can say Sebamed is perfect.

Sebamed had launched an advertising campaign on January 8 in which it compared the pH value of its own product with that of HULs soaps like Dove, Pears, Lux and even with detergent bar Rin. HUL took the legal route and obtained a restraining order from the Bombay High Court on Sebameds ad campaign.

However, in its latest judgement, the Bombay HC passed provided Sebamed some relief, permitting it to continue its advertising campaign, albeit with a few changes.

Rathod said the court has said that Sebamed cannot compare detergent bars with bathing soaps. In its new ad campaign, Sebamed is now comparing its cleansing bar with Dove.

So, with few minor changes in its advertising campaign, Sebamed will continue with comparative advertising.

We wanted to educate customers about pH value (pH value refers to the acidic level in a product. Lower pH means the soap is less acidic). And comparative advertising was an easier way to put it in the minds of the consumer about pH value. We wanted to create a new vocabulary in the personal care market which is driven by emotional or make-believe concepts, said Sebamed Country Head Shashi Ranjan.

He added that it was not soaps alone, but an entire personal care portfolio including anti-hair loss shampoo and anti-ageing cream, among others that has pH 5.5 benefits.

Moneycontrol had reached out to HUL but received no response to email queries till the time of writing this article.

But a question remains: If this was only about giving right information to the consumer, why did Sebamed only compare products of HUL, the countrys largest soaps maker?

Ranjan says its not about a particular brand or company. We wanted to say that pH is an important factor for your skin and every customer has a right to know. It was more about educating the customer.

But Vibhav Sanzgiri, global vice-president, research and development, skin cleansing, for Unilever, and site leader, R&D India as well executive director, HUL in a recent interview to Business Standard, said that only focusing on pH value is an unhealthy precedent that is being set by companies.

Ranjan points out that while pH is not the only criteria, it is an important determinant when consumers make their purchase decision, especially in the current times when health and hygiene has become so important.

But is Sebamed only looking at the pH value? What about pricing?

Sebameds cleansing bar (100 gm) is priced at Rs 99, which is steep when compared to HULs premium soaps such as Dove and Pears which are available for around Rs 48 and Rs 41 respectively.

This means that even HULs premium soaps are more cost-effective than Sebameds cleansing bar.

So, whats Sebameds strategy for pricing?

Ranjan said that while they are creating a niche for the brand, they will look at different variants and different price points depending on the market they are entering.

Sebamed, which is currently present in 47 cities, is planning to ramp up expansion to 3x in the next two years and will take the market count to 100 by this year, said Ranjan.

In the Rs 22,000-crore soap market, which is increasingly getting competitive, Sebamed is aggressively looking to capture market share and has already captured consumers attention.

Ranjan said that the number of enquiries around Sebamaeds cleansing bar as well regarding pH value have increased after the advertising campaign on print and television.

While he did not share any data regarding increased traction for Sebameds soap, he said that on e-commerce platforms, where sales can be tracked much faster, they saw a multiplier effect.
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Community vaccinations will begin as planned next month despite disruptions to the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Health Minister said.

Stephen Donnelly said on Monday that Ireland will receive a delivery within the expected range of doses for February, although at the lower end of that range.

Non-healthcare workers over the age of 70 will begin in the middle of February as planned, he said.

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However, vaccine delivery in March is anticipated to be more severely impacted and considerably lower that what was initially stated by the company.

It came as the European Commission demanded an explanation from AstraZeneca over the disruption to its vaccine delivery.

Mr Donnelly said: Today we have confirmed that the community vaccination programme will begin in February, subject to regulatory approval of AstraZeneca.

Despite anticipated disruption to deliveries, which was announced on Friday January 22, Ireland will receive a delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine within the expected range for February, although at the lower end of that range.

Delivery in March is likely to be more impacted and considerably lower than what was originally stated by the company.

We continue to prioritise those most vulnerable to Covid-19 in our society against the backdrop of limited supply of vaccines.

Well done to our vaccinating teams who completed 143,000 vaccinations to Sunday (Jan 24). This is a great result and tribute to all involved @paulreiddublin @CcoHse @HSELive @roinnslainte @muirtheimhne Will be issuing brief statement later on AstraZeneca and our plan for February  Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) January 25, 2021

As of Sunday, the HSE has administered 143,000 vaccine doses.

Two doses delivered three or four weeks apart are required for the vaccines currently in use in Ireland, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, which have secured European Medicines Agency approval.

Under the Vaccine Allocation Strategy, people aged 70 and older will be vaccinated in the following order: 85 and older, 80-84, 75-79 and then 70-74. These will be administered through GPs in their surgeries.

The HSE is preparing a public information campaign that will provide all necessary details in advance to the public, to ensure that everyone knows when, where and how to access their vaccine, Mr Donnelly said.

He added: In the meantime, completing vaccinations for those most vulnerable to Covid-19 infection remains the priority.

Every possible nursing home resident has already received one dose and some have received second doses.

Healthcare workers are also a priority. Second doses will be administered over the coming weeks to 77,000 healthcare workers.

We will continue to roll out first and second doses to our remaining frontline healthcare workers during February.

On Monday, the European Commission issued a strongly worded statement demanding answers from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca over the delays to its delivery schedule.

The EU wants to know exactly which doses have been produced where by @AstraZeneca so far, and if, or to whom, they have been delivered.



The answers of the company during the Steering Board discussion have not been satisfactory so far. A second meeting is scheduled for tonight.  Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) January 25, 2021

Health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said: The EU wants to know exactly which doses have been produced whereby AstraZeneca so far, and if, or to whom, they have been delivered.

It suggests a suspicion on the EU side that vaccines produced by AstraZeneca that were destined for Europe have been sent elsewhere.

AstraZeneca have blamed the delays on problems with the European supply chain.

Ms Kyriakides said: We want clarity on transactions and full transparency concerning the export of vaccines from the EU.

She said said answers provided by AstraZeneca during a virtual meeting of member state health officials and the European Commission on Monday were not satisfactory.
Zespri's bid to buy counterfeit Chinese golden kiwifruit and stem illegal growing in the country has been slapped down by the Government-appointed regulator.

The kiwifruit giant signed the beginnings of a commercial arrangement with a Chinese state-owned firm late in 2020, in the hope of commercialising some of an estimated 4000ha of unlicensed SunGold kiwifruit being grown in China on vines that were stolen from the company.

The three-year trial has been touted both as a win-win for both Zespri and Chinese growers, and necessary to encourage the Chinese Government to enforce Zespris rights over the SunGold product.

But Kiwifruit New Zealand, which regulates Zespri, has declined to approve the proposal in a draft decision, deeming it a risk to the interests of New Zealands kiwifruit growers.

Zespri, which had already signed a memorandum of intent with Sichuan State-owned Assets Operation and Investment Management, could have taken the proposal and KNZs assessment to the industrys 2792 growers to vote on whether it should go-ahead.

A summary of the judgement, published by KNZ, says the trial to buy and brand 1.95 million trays of unlicensed SunGold kiwifruit from Chinese growers was more than a low risk  and therefore did not meet a regulatory threshold  in three ways.

KNZ chief executive Geoff Morgan declined to say what the risks were, as Zespri was expected to return with an adjusted proposal.

Geoff says, among independent advice received, KNZ considered six risks to growers, including grower returns, brand reputation, market access through the NZ-China relationship, and orchard practice and intellectual property.

New Zealand is definitely the world leader in Kiwifruit orchard practices ... So to transfer intellectual property around that to a country that has a huge scale and an ability to produce a very large volume of fruit, far in excess of anything New Zealand produces, is definitely a concern.

Neither Zespri nor KNZ have made the full proposal public. A statement about the trial published on an industry website in November said the project, if successful, could grow to 50,000 tons of fruit, and would see Zespri provide its technology and growing practices to Chinese growers.

Carol Ward, Zespri's chief grower, industry and sustainability officer, says the company needed to bring about some level of control to the unauthorised planting of SunGold, and would adjust the proposed commercial arrangement to again seek sign-off from KNZ and growers.

She says there were a broad array of risks, including the need to protect the quality of the kiwifruit carrying Zespris brand, to protect intellectual property in China, and to maintain positive relationships, including with the Chinese government.

We needed to have a look at some of these risks ... We've had the feedback and withdrawn it, and now we want to work constructively and positively with the regulator with our growers to say, how do we frame this and scope this.

Carol says the trial might be limited to one-year, instead of three-years, to gain the support of growers.

She says Zespri had received support from the Chinese government, and entwined with that support was a conversation about Chinese authorities enforcing the company's plant variety rights.

We have concerns that if we don't move in this direction, that the spread of unauthorised Gold3 [SunGold] will continue unabated and without our ability to have any influence.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Wellington provided a written statement to Stuff in December saying China had strengthened its intellectual property enforcement and punishments as of January 2020.

The embassy spokesman did not specifically comment on the enforcement of Zespri's plant variety rights in the statement.

We appreciate Zespri's optimistic view of China's economic and market growth in the future and its commitment to developing the Chinese market.

We hope that the business communities of China and NZ can work together, adopt a pragmatic attitude of friendly cooperation to properly handle some issues, and ultimately achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

-Stuff/Thomas Manch
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In the latest blow to the unstable political scene in Nepal, Prime Minister KP Oli has been expelled from the ruling Nepal Communist Party with Election Commission refusing to recognise either faction of the party, one led by Oli and other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar.

The crisis was kickstarted by Oli decision back in December 2020 to dissolve the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Nepali Parliament and touted the move as the only way to resolve the budding disputed and non-cooperation in the party that according to him led to a state of inaction.

However, the abrupt move by the 68-year-old pushed the country into general elections, more than a year ahead of schedule. Now, the Prachanda-Nepal faction of the ruling communist party ousted Oli as a part of disciplinary action against the Nepal PM.

What led to Olis expulsion from the party?

Evident division in NCP

Following Olis unprecedented move of dissolving the lower house of the parliament, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) found itself split into two factions. This not only hampered the unity in the ruling party that was initially forced among the party cadre, at least three years ago. It was also one of the first and foremost indications of a systematic collapse for the NCP.

Read - Nepal Communist Party's Rival Faction Declares 3rd Phase Of Agitation Against Dissolution

Read - Nepal Election Commission Refuses To Recognise Either Faction Of Ruling NCP

Supreme Court hearing

The Oli-directed dissolution came when at least two years of the present House of Representatives were still left. However, it was followed by Nepal Supreme Court flooded with dozens of petitions challenging the Nepal PMs decision. Meanwhile, the two factions of the NCP had also started describing themselves as the legitimate faction and staked claims over the partys election symbol which is the sun. As per reports, the hearing on Olis decision is further expected to continue until February with hundreds of lawyers being registered for participation.

Nationwide protests

While on December 29, 2020, nearly 25,000 people had gathered to demonstrate near KP Olis office, most recently on January 22 protested in the countrys capital against the dissolution of the parliament and ordered fresh elections as feud escalated.

The former Maoist commander and co-chair of the NCP, Pushpa Kamal Dahal who led the 1996-2006 uprising even told the demonstrators in Kathmandu earlier this month that Oli was trying to derail the peace process and that the elected parliament must be reinstated.

Read - Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli Expelled From Ruling Communist Party Over Dissolution Of Parliament

Read - Tens Of Thousands Protest Against Nepal's Prime Minister

Oli expelled from the party

Nepal Communist Party expelled PM Oli from the party in a decision taken by a Central Committee Meeting as disciplinary action. "His membership has been revoked", the spokesperson for the splinter group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, told news agency ANI. Reportedly, the party leaders are now also planning further action against KP Oli post his ouster threatening 'serious disciplinary actions' against him.

Todays Central Committee Meeting which conveyed at Paris Danda decided to remove KP Sharma Oli from the party. He no longer holds even a simple membership of the Nepal Communist Party, Shrestha told the news agency.

Now what can happen?

As per reports, the Nepal Pm is likely to revive the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified MarxistLeninist) that had earlier merged with the Maoists in a bid to form the Nepal Communist Party after a deal was brokered by China. Further, media reports also state that Oli will be seeking backing from Nepali Congress and still remain at the held of the power.

Read - Climbers Share Spine Chilling Experience Of Successful K2 Summit In Winter

Read - Serum Institute's Covishield Consignments To Reach Kathmandu, Dhaka Today

Image credits: The Associated Press


A new crime novel that draws on some of the most horrific child abuse cases in recent memory is tipped to be one of the year's biggest literary releases.

Girl A tells the story of six siblings held hostage and terrorised by their parents  and the daughter who is the first to escape and alert the authorities.

It is the debut novel from Abigail Dean, a 32-year-old Google lawyer living in London who took three months off work to begin writing.

The finished manuscript sparked a nine-way bidding war in the UK, eventually fetching a 'major six-figure sum', according to the Guardian.

Debut sensation: Girl A is the debut novel from Abigail Dean (pictured) a 32-year-old Google lawyer living in London who took three months off work to begin writing. It is tipped to be a hit

The North American rights went for seven figures and it has already been optioned for a TV series.

The book tells the story of each of the six abused children, but it starts with the death of their mother in prison, seen through the eyes of Alexandra Gracie (Lex)  the daughter who escaped and is known to the Press as Girl A.

It paints a picture of the torture the children suffered at the hands of their over-bearing, religious, fanatic father and explores the effects of trauma and the horrors of the media spotlight.

Dean was inspired by a number of real-life cases, including California couple David and Louise Turpin who kept their 13 children in a 'House of Horrors'.

The Turpins were sentenced on to life in prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to neglect and abuse of 12 of their 13 children.

The couple had beaten and chained their children, forcing them to live in squalid conditions with little time in the outside world. The abuse and neglect was so severe it stunted their children's growth, led to muscle wasting and left two of their daughters unable to bear children.

True crime: Girl A tells the story of six siblings held hostage and terrorised by their parents  and the daughter who is the first to escape and alert the authorities. It was inspired by a number of real-life cases, including California's 'House of Horrors' family (pictured)

Dean also read about Jasmine Block, a Minnesota teenager who was kept captive for a month and repeatedly assaulted after being abducted from her family home in 2017.

She finally escaped and swam across a lake to freedom, where she was found injured but alive.

'From those cases and a few others I saw the power of teenage girls to escape and be incredibly strong,' Dean told the Guardian. 'That was something I wanted to think about in terms of Lex, her resilience and intelligence in the face of a devastating experience.'

Among the other cases she researched was that of Fred and Rose West.

However Dean wanted to focus on the aftermath of the abuse, rather than the fear of whether the children would get out of the house.

Survivor: Author Abigail Dean was also inspired by abduction survivors like Jasmine Block, pictured, who escaped and swam to safety after a month in captivity

She continued: 'You have the reassurance at the start that Lex is OK, then its a case of the years that follow  what then?

'Once the headlines have been recycled, what happens to the people who have been at the heart of these things? How do you live in the aftermath of that?'

January is traditionally a month when publishers release their anticipated best-sellers. Girl On A Train was among the hit titles released at the start of the year. Its author Paula Hawkins is full of praise for Girl A, saying she 'loved it'.

Industry title The Bookseller said it expects Girl A to be 'one of the biggest' fiction debuts of 2021.

Best-selling author Jeffery Deaver added: 'Nothing short of astonishing... Rarely does a novel offer up such unique plotting, such heart-stopping psychological drama, and such a rich portrayal of its inhabitants. A modern-day classic.'

Dean is now working on a second novel and juggles writing with her day job at Google.

Girl A by Abigail Dean, published by Harper Collins, 14.99, out now
A LUXURY watchmaker in Henley has launched a laptop donation scheme in partnership with childrens charity Barnardos.

Bremont wants to help vulnerable children across the UK who are learning remotely during the third national lockdown.

It will be donating a laptop to a child with every watch sale made in the UK until March 31.

The machines will be distributed by Barnardos.

Bremont, which is based at Sawmills in Marlow Road but is due to move into its new base off Reading Road soon, is also offering the option to simply donate money towards the cause.

Co-founder Giles English said: Having heard so many terrible stories of vulnerable children not having any computer equipment while trying to home-school has been truly heartbreaking.

In the first lockdown Bremont created a bracelet to raise funds for Food for Heroes, a phenomenal charity set up to provide food for NHS staff.

Once more we feel compelled to help and we passionately believe that schooling should be a basic right given to every child.

Children need the right tools to be able to learn, without which they are missing out.

If we can help any child get through this period when schools are closed then it is a great privilege to do so. Of course, working with Barnardos offers every assurance that these laptops will be going to the right homes.

Barnardos chief executive Javed Khan said: The covid-19 pandemic and lockdown measures have hit vulnerable children especially hard.

The lack of devices and affordable internet access means many children already at a disadvantage are falling further behind at school and missing out on vital support and opportunities.

Were grateful to Bremont for their generous donation scheme, which will provide vulnerable children with much-needed laptops so they can take part in lessons, access services, and work towards a positive future.

To donate to the appeal, visit www.bremont.com/

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson called on the Defense Department to suspend for now the abrogation of its 1989 accord with the University of the Philippines in light of the fresh issues on the red-tagging of several institutions and their communities.

Speaking to CNN Philippines on Monday, Lacson said it may be prudent for Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to hold the termination and carry out a dialogue with university officials in the meantime.

I think it is prudent now for Secretary Lorenzana to at least suspend the termination of the UP-DND accord and hold a dialogue, Lacson told The Source.

Mas maganda siguro i-suspend na muna yung termination ng [Maybe it would be better if they suspend the termination of the] UP-DND accord, and go back to the drawing board, hold a dialogue, and thresh out all the differences between the UP, PUP, and the DND establishments, he added.

Over the weekend, the Armed Forces of the Philippines apologized to the UP alumni who were included in a list of alleged New People's Army recruits  an information that has received widespread backlash from netizens and the concerned parties who denounced the militarys red-tagging.

The AFP admitted inconsistencies with regards to the list, adding that an internal investigation is ongoing. Personnel responsible for publishing the list will also be held accountable, it added.

While Lacson welcomed the militarys move to openly admit the mistake, he still questioned how the false information got posted.

Itong pangyayaring ito (this event), it doesnt even necessitate intelligence information gathering, Lacson argued. I cant really find an explanation why the military would insist or would post such an irresponsible information based on false information.

The DND earlier cited the supposed "clandestine recruitment" of students in communist organizations in its decision to unilaterally abrogate the accord with UP. The premier state university also earlier urged Lorenzana to reconsider and revoke the move, and asked for a meeting to discuss the agencys concerns.

RELATED: Lorenzana willing to discuss abrogation of accord with UP president, says Roque

Aside from UP, other major universities in the metro  the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, and the Far Eastern University  also slammed an earlier statement by a military official that some institutions in the country have been hotbeds of communist recruitment.
The number of monarch butterflies wintering on the California coast has plummeted to a record low, according to entomologists.

Fewer than 2,000 monarchs were recorded in November and December, compared to 200,000 barely three years ago.

In the 1980s, the monarch butterflies migrating south to groves from Marin County to San Diego was estimated at 4.5 million.

By 1997, when volunteer counts began, that number dwindled to about 1.2 million.

The overwintering population plummeted from 200,000 in 2017 to less than 30,000 in 2018, representing a single year decline of 86 percent.

Climate change, habitat destruction and pesticides have all helped pushed the iconic orange-and-black butterfly to the brink of extinction, experts say.

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Fewer than 2,000 monarch butterflies were recorded in coastal California in November and December, compared to 200,000 barely three years ago

Starting in early November, western monarchs fly thousands of mile from the Pacific Northwest to central and southern Californiareturning to the same site, and often even the same tree, to ride out the winter.

No individual butterfly completes the entire cycle, though: Females lay eggs on the return trip north and it can take up to five generations to complete the trek back to Canada.

Since 1997, groups of butterflies, known as flutters, have been tallied every fall by the nonprofit Xerces Society as part of the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count.

Between November 14 and December 6, 2020, volunteers surveying tree groves on the California and Northern Baja coast counted just 1,194 insects at 246 sites.

The Xerces Society, which began volunteer counts of monarch populations in 1997, has charted the insect's devastating decline

Scientists at Washington State University predicted once the western monarch population dipped below 30,000, their numbers would drop even more precipitously. That threshold was crossed in 2019. The following year the monarch experienced a 93 percent drop

That represents the lowest number in the count's 23-year history, and a massive 93 percent decline from the 29,000 reported in 2019.

Traditional monarch meccas like Pismo Beach and Natural Bridges reported only a few hundred butterflies, the society said.

Pacific Grove, nicknamed 'Butterfly Town, USA' because of the thousands of monarchs that usually gather in the Monterey pine and eucalyptus trees there, had no monarchs at all.

THE AMAZING MIGRATION OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY The 3,000-mile mass migration of monarch butterflies in North America is one of the insect world's fantastic feats. Millions embarking on the arduous journey from as far north as Canada down into Mexico and the California coast each autumn. Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico and the California coast every year in what's been described as one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world The number of migrating monarchs has plummeted in recentyears. Researchers said while an estimated one billion monarchbutterflies migrated to Mexico in 1996, that number stood atabout 35 million this past winter. Threats to them includehabitat loss due to human activities, pesticides that killmilkweed and climate change, experts say. Monarch butterflies living east of the Rocky Mountains spend their winters in Mexico to escape the cold weather while those west of the Rockies spend winters on the California coast before returning home in the spring. Scientists say their orange color tells potential predatorsthey taste awful and are toxic to eat thanks to chemicals fromthe milkweed plants that nourish them in their larval state. Advertisement

'Their absence this year was heartbreaking for volunteers and visitors flocking to these locales hoping to catch a glimpse of the awe-inspiring clusters of monarch butterflies,' said Sarina Jepsen, the Xerces Society's director of endangered species.

As recently as 2017, monarch populations in the region were still in the hundreds of thousands.

But a population viability model developed by researchers at Washington State University predicted the western monarch would quickly head toward extinction once its population dipped to 30,000 butterflies.

That threshold was crossed in 2018 and 2019, the society said, and now 'It seems that, unfortunately, this prediction was right.'

'We may be witnessing the collapse of the western migration of monarch butterflies,' the group added. 'A migration of millions of monarchs reduced to two thousand in a few decades.'

In all, the numbers recorded in the 2020 count represent a 99 percent decline since the 1980s.

Monarchs have been in decline elsewhere: The eastern migratory population which travels from southern Canada to central Mexicohas dropped 80 percent since monitoring began.

Two workers at a monarch butterfly sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico, were murdered just days apart in 2020. Authorities haven't announced a motive but illegal logging is common in the area, despite a ban to protect the butterflies, The Guardian reports.

In December 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to add the monarch butterfly to the Endangered Species Act, claiming it was 'warranted but precluded by higher priority actions.'

A month earlier, a California court ruled the state didn't have the authority to put insects on its own endangered species list.

Entomologists point to a number of human factors threatening the majestic insect, including increased pesticides, massive wildfires, the clearing out of groves for housing developments, and the loss of milkweed, the monarch caterpillar's sole host plant.

Climate change has also disrupted the monarch's migration patterns, researchers say, which are synched to season changes and the blossoming of wildflowers.
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Hawaii GOP official Edwin Boyette resigned Sunday, the day after the organization's official Twitter account posted a series of tweets supporting QAnon conspiracy followers.

Screengrabs showed the tweets were posted on Saturday night.

'We should make it abundantly clear - the people who subscribed to the Q fiction, were largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America. Patriotism and love of Country should never be ridiculed,' read one tweet from the @gophawaii account.

Other tweets called QAnon followers 'patriots' and blamed the media for creating a 'hyperbolic' narrative, according to Hawaii News Now.

Hawaii GOP vice Chair of communications Edwin Boyette resigned Sunday night, the day after the organization's official Twitter account posted tweets supporting QAnon followers

The tweet thread was then deleted Sunday morning without any explanations.

The 'Q fiction' mentioned in the tweet refers to the various conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, a viral pro-Trump group that is based around cryptic, online postings made by an anonymous 'Q,' who is purportedly a government insider. Right-wing extremists are said to be among QAnon supporters.

On Sunday night, Hawaii GOP vice Chair of communications Edwin Boyette announced his resignation through a Facebook post.

In the post, Boyette thanked Hawaii GOP Chairman Shirlene Ostrov for 'the opportunity to serve the Republican Party of Hawaii, and the People of Hawaii.'

Boyette wrote in his resignation letter that he was giving up his post 'for the good of the Party'

'Discussion of some topics is ill suited to the forums of social media, and regardless of intent - only serves to increase conflict and discord,' Boyette wrote.

'The discussion of the Q-Conspiracy was an error of judgement, and should not reflect upon the leadership or the members of the Republican Party of Hawaii. The responsibility for that discussion and that error is mine and and mine alone.'

He ended the note by saying that his resignation was 'for the good of the Party.'

In a separate Facebook post, Boyette discussed the controversial Hawaii GOP tweets, writing: 'Americans are getting trapped in bad patterns. People are ready to believe the worst about their neighbors.'

He said that what he had done was 'made post examining the roots of the Q - theory, it references a document from one of the initial group who were responsible for creating Q.'

After which 'Left wingers on twitter went into fits because I refused to condemn or ridicule people who subscribed to Q theories. As far as I can see there is no shortage of material mocking and ridiculing those who followed Q over the past two year,' he wrote.

One of the Hawaii GOP tweets said that QAnon followers were 'largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America,' QAnon supporters are pictured on October 3, 2020, in NYC

A QAnon supporter is pictured at a rally on October 4, 2020, in NYC. QAnon is a viral pro-Trump group that believes a variety of conspiracy theories

'As a country we are currently stuck in a escalating feedback loop where Americans are being pitted against each other. Social media amplifies this - people would rather fight any fight or argue any argument rather than deescalate and let reason prevail,' he added.

Boyette went on to warn against 'anyone who seeks to enflame your passion' and stated that 'Rage and overwrought anger rarely achieves anything good.'

Hawaii Democrats issued a statement condemning the Hawaii GOP's tweets on Saturday, prior to their being deleted.

'There is nothing patriotic in defending QAnon adherents. There is nothing honorable in defending Proud Boy antics,' the Hawaii Democrats wrote in a statement that was shared via their own Twitter account.

The Hawaii GOP has not yet publicly addressed the tweets or Boyette's resignation.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says that QAnon is a 'sprawling spiderweb of right-wing internet conspiracy theories with antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ elements that falsely claim the world is run by a secret cabal of pedophiles who worship Satan and are plotting against President Trump.'

QAnon had grown in popularity during the Trump administration but, with Biden's swearing-in as President, is now said to be in crisis, after their long-held belief that Trump would seize a second term failed to materialize and their right-wing message board leader told believers to 'go back to their lives'.

Those using online chat groups appeared to be shocked to discover that their long-held belief in the conspiracy that top Democrats would be arrested for a sex trafficking ring on Inauguration Day was coming to pass and that Trump wasn't going to bring down the Deep State in the so-called 'storm' they had been expecting.

Some members of the far-right Proud Boys even started turning on Trump in chat groups and message boards, declaring him a 'total failure' and 'extraordinarily weak'.

Meanwhile, QAnon followers questioned 'where's the damn storm?' and others saying 'it simply doesn't make sense that we all got played' on various message boards.

Ron Watkins, who was the administrator of QAnon's preferred message board 8kun before resigning after the November 2020 election, also pulled the plug and urged followers to return to their lives.

'We gave it our all. Now we need to keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able,' he wrote.

'We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics or details regarding officials who are sworn in.

'As we enter the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years.'
JERSEY CITY  Two people are facing multiple charges after resisting arrest following a motor vehicle crash on the east side of the city, city spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said.

Jamie Pensa, 38, and Corey Cooke, 42, were charged with aggravated simple assault, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, Wallace-Scalcione said.

Pensa, the driver, was also charged with attempting to cause bodily harm and was issued a summons for driving while intoxicated because of DWI refusal, Wallace-Scalcione added.

On Thursday, just before 10:30 p.m., the Jersey City Police Department responded to the intersection of Bramhall and Ocean avenues on a call of a motor vehicle accident with injuries.

Numerous cars were struck at the scene. The number of victims and severity of injuries were not immediately available.

Police said Pensa and Cooke  who were in a 2012 Nissan Pathfinder  attempted to leave the scene of the accident. The man and woman assaulted the police officers while attempting to resist arrest, Wallace-Scalcione said.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday addressed Indian diaspora at the Radha Krishna temple in Portugals Lisbon. PM Modi said that India is fast moving ahead, and is touching new heights in many fields.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Overseas Citizen of India card to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

PM presented Portuguese PM Antonio Costa with latter's old PIO card framed with a picture of Costa receiving Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award.

Indians have carried their cultural heritage with them and have always been proud of them, Modi said addressing the diaspora Indians in Lisbon.

The prime minister cited the diversity of language and taste in India to point out that Indians can adapt to the culture of the country they live. You have effortlessly gelled with the culture of the country you have been, he said.

Modi hailed Indians in Portugal as the real ambassadors of India in that country.

On Portugals historic relations with India, Modi said the country is tied with India in many ways, including through sports. Who has not heard of Christiano Ronaldo. His name fills every sportsperson in India with energy.

He said Portugal has historical ties with India, but a special one with Gujarat and narrated the story of Kutch sailor Kanji Malam, who helped the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discover the sea route from Europe to India in 1497.

Kanji Malam had navigated the commander to Calicut from Malindi on east African coast.

The Radha Krishna Temple is the symbol of social conscience in Portugal. People here do not discriminate, and that is the identity of Indians, the diversity of India, he said to the gathering after visiting the temple along with Prime Minister Antonia Costa, who is the first prime minister of Indian origin in Europe.

He also highlighted the role Portugal is playing in furthering the message of Yoga, an ancient Indian spiritual discipline. Modi thanked Costa for promoting wellness movement through yoga as a holistic health care practice.

Modi is the first Indian prime minister to visit Portugal for a bilateral trip, though Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited the country but it was for a European Union conference in 2000.

With PTI inputs

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Malibu, CA, Jan 26, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Join Ellis Martin for discussion with Keith Anderson, President and CEO of Silver Sands Resources Corp. ( CNSX:SAND ) ( OTCMKTS:SSRSF ). The company is pleased to report results from the initial six diamond drill holes ("DDH"), representing 903 m (32%) of the 2,831 m Phase I exploration program completed in Q4 2020 at the Virginia Silver project ("Virginia"), located in Santa Cruz province, Argentina.The DDH completed at Martina and Ely Central clearly show the potential for significant new mineralization outside the current resource area. An additional twelve DDH for 1,928m have assay results pending and will be reported as results are received. Several of these results show high-grade silver potentials.To view the interview, please visit:About Silver Sands Resources Corporation

Silver Sands Resources Corporation (CNSX:SAND)(OTCMKTS:SSRSF) is a well-financed, Canadian-based company engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets in mining-friendly jurisdictions. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit. Its key asset is the Virginia Silver Project, located in the mining friendly Santa Cruz state of Argentina.


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What are the five most pressing factors in the fight against Covid-19 in Northern Ireland at the moment?

Borders

The emergence of new variants of coronavirus has led to disagreements on what approach should be taken towards travel on the island of Ireland. It's not the first time the Dublin government and the Executive have been out of step with each other.

First Minister Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill earlier this month revealed the "frustration" of ministers at what they describe as the failure of the Dublin government to provide locator forms about people flying into the Republic and then travelling to Northern Ireland.

As the Dublin government is expected on Tuesday to bring in mandatory quarantine for arrivals into Ireland without a negative Covid test, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said it is "belatedly" time for its "influence" to be used to ensure arrivals into Northern Ireland follow the same protocols as the south of the country.

If there is a reservoir of the virus on this island, it places all of us in danger. The real issue we are facing now is travel onto the island. To keep people safe on this island, you have to adopt an all-island approach, she said, speaking to RTE.

But DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson has said it is "not tenable" to close air and ferry routes between mainland UK and Northern Ireland.

But Mr Donaldson said the border did not pose an issue. "We are linked into the UK commonly - for instance I have to travel to the UK regularly to attend the parliament. Youd have to shut down the entire public sector and infrastructure between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to completely prevent travel.

"People still need to make these essential journeys and we are not in a position to ban essential travel within the United Kingdom, just like the Irish government would not want to ban essential travel within Ireland," he said. "We have already said people should not journey across the Irish Sea if it is non essential."

Mr Donaldson said that if the Irish Government feels there should be checks along the border, then it should carry them out.

He said it is unfortunate it has not given access to traveller locator forms despite requests for them made by the Health Minister Robin Swann nine months ago.

Schools

A decision is set to be made this week on whether schools will reopen after the February half-term or remain closed until March 5 in line with the extension of restrictions.

Last week, First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said Education Minister Peter Weir and Health Minister Robin Swann would meet to discuss the issue, with a paper expected to be brought before the Executive this week.

Ms O'Neill acknowledged schools needed "certainty" and said she hoped clarity could be provided in the early part of this week.

"We know that families, teachers and support staff will rightly be concerned about what the evolving situation with restrictions means for the return to learning.

When asked whether it could be assumed school closures would fall in line with wider restrictions, Mrs Foster said: "I think it is important we do hear from the Education Minister. Special schools continue to operate and indeed for people who are key workers, they can also avail of school as well for their children.

"We need to review all of that, we also very much need to review what is coming down the line in relation to exam qualifications and hopefully there will be clarity in relation to how people are going to award qualifications over the next couple of weeks as well."

Meanwhile, Education Minister Peter Weir has also called for teachers to be given priority in the rollout of the Covid vaccine.

He said he had proposed the idea to fellow Stormont ministers because it would "enable continuity of learning".

Teachers in schools for children with special educational needs should be "very high up in the queue", he added.

Vaccine roll-out

More than 173,549 vaccines have so far been administered in Northern Ireland, of which 151,039 were first doses and 22,510 were second doses.

The actual number of vaccinations administered is thought to be even higher as it does not contain the GP vaccination figures, which will be updated on Monday.

It's thought up to 999,000 will be vaccinated here by the end of the spring if all goes well with the rollout of the vaccine, which has been a success story for Northern Ireland to date, despite the slowdown of delivery over the past week.

The Department of Health said it's due to a focus on healthcare workers coming to an end. Health trusts are now planning to invite clinically extremely vulnerable patients to receive their vaccine.

A letter from the Southern Health Trust sent to vaccinators working at South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon and seen by the BBC indicated that the need for some vaccinators would be "limited" in the next four to six weeks.

It said that there was not the same need for some vaccinators "because we have staff who require shifts delivering vaccines to make up their core working hours".

In a statement, the Department of Health said: "We are advised that as some services are currently stood down - eg school nurses - this has allowed staff from these services to be redeployed to the vaccination team.

"This has allowed other staff to be released from vaccinator shifts back to their substantive posts, given the pressures on hospital services.

"That is what the letter was referring to - not about any diminution of the vaccination centre's work."

The five party coalition

Michelle O'Neill and Arlene Foster were in agreement last week after they announced they restrictions here would be extended until March 5.

But the leaders and their parties have disagreed over their response towards the pandemic in the past, with Ms O'Neill attacking the DUP over their approach towards coronavirus in December.

"The DUP have worked against the entire public health team, they have worked against the entire executive," she said, speaking to RTE.

"There's a collective will with all the other parties in the executive to do more at different times during throughout pandemic. I think it's important that we distinguish the approach to the pandemic."

In response, Arlene Foster said Sinn Fein had decided they were above the law - after Ms O'Neill and other prominent party colleagues faced criticism for their attendance at the funeral of republican Bobby Storey in June at the height of restrictions, after which a police investigation was launched.

And in November, the DUP blocked the extension of coronavirus restrictions for two more weeks after an Executive vote.

Advice from Robin Swann's officials recommended keeping the measures in place for longer, but the DUP triggered a cross-community vote to effectively veto the proposals.

The Executive later settled on a compromise to extend the lockdown for a further week followed by a phased reopening of the hospitality sector.

Despite what appears to the public to be a harmonious approach in recent weeks, in a five party coalition, there remains the possibility that one party can veto decisions at the Executive - therefore slowing any decision made on restrictions in Northern Ireland.

The variant

The new variant of coronavirus, known as the Kent variant, is thought to be more deadly of older strains according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has estimated that the strain makes up at least 68% of all local cases but could also be as high as 83% due to travellers bringing the strain from south east England to Northern Ireland after travelling for Christmas.

According to the ONS, Northern Ireland had the third highest percentage of positive tests of the Kent variant between January 11 and 17 in the UK, surpassed only by London and the south east of England. The variant was first detected in Northern Ireland in December 2020 but testing capacity is thought to be limited.

And up to 3,000 people could have arrived here from Brazil and South Africa in recent weeks without the authorities knowing, leading one public health expert to claim that Covid-19 is "on tour" in Northern Ireland.

Keeping a lid on the prominence of the new variant is proving difficult due to a lack of information on travellers arriving in Dublin and crossing the border.

And the Department of Health in Northern Ireland has hit back at claims from Taoiseach Micheal Martin that testing for the new variant was not taking place here at all.

In a statement released on Sunday, it said the Regional Virus Laboratory (RVL) had reported over 200 genome sequences and that it is likely to increase its throughput to over 300 sequences next week and over 400 the following week.

"At present the UK, including NI as part of the COG-UK Consortium, is carrying out 40% of all global whole genome sequencing and is submitting its data... to share with other countries," the statement read.

The statement said that whole genome sequencing has been in place from an early stage of the pandemic and to suggest NI is inactive in this field "would be wholly incorrect - and is unfair to the dedicated, expert local staff working intensively in this area".

It's sure to cause worry for the Executive as they continue in their attempts to remove pressure from the health service amid worries they are behind in detecting the new strain.
One important first would be legislation given a high priority in Congress and signed soon by President Joe Biden. The Educating for Democracy Act enjoys bipartisan support and was filed in the last Congress by a pair of prominent House members, Democrat Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Republican Tom Cole of Oklahoma, along with a pair of prominent senators, Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican John Cornyn of Texas. The bill calls for a federal investment of approximately 35% of the current federal investment in STEM education.

Effective, innovative, student-centered instruction in American history and civics is essential to the future of our democracy. It can help bridge divides, increase equity, and promote media literacy in a vastly changed information landscape. And more and more, it is also essential to our national security.

The legislation does not mandate a national curriculum or a particular instructional approach. Those decisions are quite properly left to states and local school districts. They would receive funding to strengthen and improve their approach to civic and history education. Nonprofit organizations would compete to develop improved curricula, instructional models and other programs. Colleges and universities would get help to prepare future elementary and secondary school teachers.
ATHENS, Greece - Greece signed a 2.3 billion-euro ($2.8 billion) deal with France on Monday to purchase 18 Rafale fighter jets, as tensions remain high with neighbour Turkey.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly, right, and his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos speak during their meeting in Athens, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Greece is due to sign a 2.3 billion euro ($2.8 billion) deal with France Monday to purchase 18 Rafale fighter jets to address tension with neighbor Turkey. (Louisa Gouliamaki/Pool via AP)

ATHENS, Greece - Greece signed a 2.3 billion-euro ($2.8 billion) deal with France on Monday to purchase 18 Rafale fighter jets, as tensions remain high with neighbour Turkey.

Florence Parly, the French defence minister, signed the agreement in Athens to deliver 12 used and six new aircraft built by Dassault Aviation over two years, starting in July.

France has sided with Greece in a dispute over boundaries in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean that has brought NATO members Greece and Turkey to the brink of war several times in recent decades.

Tension spiked again last summer when a Turkish exploration mission in disputed waters triggered a dangerous military buildup.

Greece and Turkey have agreed to restart talks aimed at resolving the dispute peacefully. Senior diplomats from the two countries met in Istanbul on Monday to resume the process that had been interrupted for nearly five years.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly, left, and his Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos, right, arrive for a meeting in Athens, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Greece is due to sign a 2.3 billion euro ($2.8 billion) deal with France Monday to purchase 18 Rafale fighter jets to address tension with neighbor Turkey. (Louisa Gouliamaki/Pool via AP)

But Athens says it will continue a multibillion-euro program to upgrade its military following years of cuts because of the country's financial crisis.

France and the United States are in competition to provide the Greek navy with new frigates, while Greece's government recently approved plans to co-operate with Israeli defence electronics firm Elbit Systems to create a new military flight academy in southern Greece.

The upgrade in the capabilities of the Hellenic Air Force by means of both the acquisition of new fighter aircraft and the new state-of-the-art training centre is critical for Greece to present a credible deterrence, Michael Tanchum, a senior fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy, told The Associated Press.

It also provides Athens an enhanced ability to exercise more strategic autonomy when EU and NATO frameworks are deemed inadequate, making Greece more of a player in its own right.

Starting in May, mandatory national service in the Greek Armed Forces will be increased from nine to 12 months to boost the number of people serving in uniform. Parly, who also met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced that France would join two Greek military exercises later this year, participating with Rafale jets from the French air force.

Follow Derek Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos
As the pandemic has ravaged the restaurant industry, some chefs have shifted their thinking about what once seemed like a fallback option: the pop-up.

Pop-ups are often thought of as test runs for eventual brick-and-mortar restaurants  chefs try out ideas to see how diners react, build a following and ideally attract investors in the process. But more chefs are eschewing that trajectory. Pop-ups, and other less traditional business models, are now the final destination instead of a mere pit stop, they said.

For some chefs, the pandemic forced them to confront the precariousness of the restaurant industry. While a pop-ups lack of fixed location might feel unstable, it can always pack up and move elsewhere without having to lay off staff or swallow huge costs. Others see pop-ups as simply less intense than the brick-and-mortar world, with a lifestyle that allows them to spend more time with loved ones. Theyre also more free to envision other possibilities.

Theres so much stress involved, especially in the U.S., with labor costs and health benefits and food costs and rent  all these costs add up, said Nicole Marin, who plans to expand the reach of her San Francisco pop-up, Hermanita, instead of finding a full-time space. I became so worried about those numbers that I couldnt enjoy the full experience of serving food.

Juan Manuel Tellez

Before the pandemic, Matt Lucas of Oakland Neopolitan pizza pop-up Evolution Bake assumed that his future would include a permanent restaurant space. Since starting in 2019, he went as far as drafting a business plan and scoping out spaces. But the last year showed he didnt need to go the traditional route.

Evolution Bake landed a weekly slot at an Oakland brewery  currently on hiatus while outdoor dining is banned  but other breweries and wineries have often asked Lucas to bring pizza to their tasting rooms. He has received frequent requests for private parties but hasnt had the time while he maintained his day job. He eventually plans to pursue opportunities like that.

Ultimately, this demand for mobile pizza feels greater than the need for another pizza restaurant. He also pointed out other common problems, like steep rent hikes, that can roil a brick-and-mortar.

I would hate to have to take on employees just to need them to be furloughed or laid off because of unpredictable circumstances, he said.

Marin, too, once dreamed of opening her own restaurant focused on shredded lamb barbacoa, pozole, tamales and other dishes from her native Baja California. The pandemic shifted her thinking, though, as she reflected on her years of working in kitchens in San Francisco and Mexico.

Like Lucas, she wants to be more mobile by popping up in several locations  eventually with sit-down service and a robust catering arm  with enough flexibility to bring Hermanita to cities in other states for short engagements.

Anywhere I have the opportunity, I want to be able to travel and share my food with everyone, she said.

Frank Grizzlys

For Kim Truong, however, past years of running a food truck that grew into a brick-and-mortar restaurant were enough for her to know she didnt want that intense lifestyle again. She and her husband, Jorge Islas, started the Californian-inspired Mexican pop-up Frank Grizzlys in 2017, with the goal of spending more time together while ensuring their work doesnt consume their lives.

I love that I feel like I can take this pop-up anywhere, and as long as I have a table and some outlets, I can make some really good food and I can sell it and take care of my family, she said.

Staying small has felt right for them  and not dealing with the overhead costs of a food truck or restaurant has allowed them to thrive during the pandemic. Frank Grizzlys has maintained a takeout location at Anchor Public Taps in San Francisco, drawing regulars for roasted duck tacos doused with hoisin and extra crunchy quesabirria tacos. To grow from here, she envisions catering events whenever those return.

Thats not to say Truong would never consider a brick-and-mortar if an incredible opportunity came along. There are some inconveniences to the pop-up hustle, like not having a stable place to do all your prep, Lucas said. And brick-and-mortar restaurants often make much of their profits off of alcohol sales, which typically cant happen with a pop-up or food truck model.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

But some chefs are creating new models to survive in this difficult moment  and feel inspired to continue shedding norms in the future. In December, a recently laid-off San Francisco restaurant worker launched the eponymous Casa by Imana, a delivery-only fine-dining pop-up of sorts. On her business cards, its simply called a really fing cool dinner party.

Alana Anderson

Instead of continuing to work for other people, Imana, who goes by only her first name, decided it was time to pursue her dreams. She envisioned a restaurant without a traditional storefront, something unusually intimate and wildly fun where shed handle all the cooking, service and wine pairings.

At the same time, shed figure out a way to deliver meals to homeless neighbors and donate to nonprofits that matter to her. Itd be a better version of the industry that, as a Black queer woman, felt alienating to her.

The latest stay-home order forced a last-minute shift to a delivery format, but its been working. She sells a dozen Mexican-inspired seven-course tasting menus each weekend, delivering heaps of containers with food and jars of wine and cocktails for $150. There are reheating instructions, but if the customers approve, shell come inside to set up the spread, explain the dishes and pairings, and even sprinkle a little sea salt onto ceviche with a black gloved hand. The highlight of her menu is a tamale wrapped in collard greens stuffed with mushrooms and smothered with mole negro, the result of her quest for a tamale she could eat with her hands.

She has big dreams, like starting a restaurant group and giving job opportunities to people in the Black, brown, trans and queer communities. She doesnt think traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants necessarily have to be part of the equation.

New-style places Casa by Imana: Delivery only in San Francisco and the East Bay. Saturdays and Sundays. instagram.com/casabyimana Evolution Bake: Takeout only in Oakland. Sundays. evolutionbake.square.site Frank Grizzly's: Takeout and delivery. Hours vary, Fridays and Saturdays. 2200 Jerrold Ave., Unit C, San Francisco. frankgrizzly.com Hermanita: Takeout. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturdays at Uma Casa, 1550 Church St., San Francisco. Noon-3 p.m. Sundays at Nana's Pop-up Market, 500 Columbus Ave., San Francisco. instagram.com/hermanitapop See More Collapse

I thought the restaurant and bar industry was indestructible, and weve clearly seen its not, she said. Long-term, I want to change the industry forever. I want to leave the world and this industry a kinder and more accepting place than I found it.

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
[January 25, 2021] InterTrade solution of mdf commerce to provide essential digital supply chain services to Indigo, Canada's largest book and lifestyle retailer

MONTREAL, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- mdf commerce inc. (TSX:MDF), a leader in SaaS commerce technology solutions, today announces that Indigo Books & Music Inc. (Indigo, TSX:IDG), Canada's largest book and lifestyle retailer, has signed a service agreement with InterTrade, the supply chain solution of mdf commerce for EDI fulfilment services. With this new partnership, Indigo underscores InterTrades reliable advanced supply chain technology and superior customer service.

Through this agreement, mdf commerce provides cloud-based electronic fulfillment (EDI) services and vendor enablement support to Indigo. This helps to support Indigos growth objectives and improve operating efficiencies with vendors. This partnership also includes extensive additional support to further help Indigo implement industry best practices and optimize vendor supply chain processes. We want to offer world-class EDI solutions to our trading partners, said Jonathan Rosemberg, Senior Vice President, Merchant Operations & Program Enablement at Indigo. InterTrade provides our vendor community with a user friendly, web-based EDI solution, eliminating the burden of traditional EDI systems, all while offering expertise, customer knowledge and service excellence. This new partnership will expedite the vendor and product onboarding processes, which in turn will support the best-in-class customer experience we are known for." When a well-respected client like Indigo chooses to work with us, its really the best reward for our teams efforts, said Andeanne Simon, President, Supply Chain at mdf commerce. We are honored to serve Indigo and its partners and look forward to helping them achieve new business goals in the coming years.



About mdf commerce inc. mdf commerce inc. (TSX:MDF), formerly known as Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc., enables the flow of commerce by providing a broad set of SaaS solutions that optimize and accelerate commercial interactions between buyers and sellers. Our platforms and services empower businesses around the world, allowing them to generate billions of dollars in transactions on an annual basis. Our strategic sourcing, unified commerce and emarketplace platforms are supported by a strong and dedicated team of more than 600 employees based in Canada, the United States, Denmark, Ukraine and China. For more information, please visit us at mdfcommerce.com, follow us on LinkedIn or call at 1-877-677-9088.

About Indigo Indigo Books & Music Inc. is a publicly traded Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (IDG). Indigo is the worlds first Cultural Department Store  a physical and digital meeting place inspired by and filled with books, music, art, ideas, and beautifully designed lifestyle products. Indigo believes in real books, in living life fully and generously, in being kind to each other and that stories  big and little  connect us. For more information on Indigo, visit indigo.ca For further information: mdf commerce

Andreanne Simon

President, Supply Chain

Phone: +1 (450) 786-8933

Email: asimon@mdfcommerce.com mdf commerce

Andre Leblanc

Vice President, Marketing and Public Affairs

Phone: +1 (514) 961-0882

Email: aleblanc@mdfcommerce.com



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Patna, Jan 25 : Following the murder of a block agriculture officer (BAO) in Patna, a youth was killed in the state capital's Bairiya locality under the Gopalpur police station, leaving the area in shock.

The body of the deceased person, who has been identified as Ravi Kant (26), was recovered on Monday from the office of Ram Nath, the village head of Bairiya, with his throat slit.

Sudha Devi, the deceased person's mother, alleged that Ram Nath and one of his associates, Shani Kumar, are allegedly responsible for the murder of her son.

"Shani, as per the plan, took my son's mobile phone on Saturday and asked Ravi Kant to reach Ram Nath's office in Bairiya to take his phone on Sunday evening. My son went there, but did not return till night," Devi claims.

"We then started searching for Ravi Kant and also contacted Ram Nath but he did not give any proper response. We sent Ravi Kant's cousin brother to the office of Ram Nath on Monday morning, but the office was closed. He suspected foul play and asked the local police to search his office. When the police opened the office, Ravi Kant's body was found in a pool of blood ," Sudha Devi said.

The local police claimed that Ravi Kant had a love affair with the daughter of Ram Nath, which could be the reason behind his murder.

"Two persons are under suspicion, but both of them are absconding. We have arrested one of Ram Nath's aides and efforts are on to nab the others," said Sandeep Singh, Additional SP of Patna (East).
OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To honor Barron Hilton's legacy as a supporter of aviation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has awarded a half-million-dollar grant to the Endowment Fund of the Ninety-Nines, a nonprofit organization of women pilots dedicated to aerospace training and education. The grant will enable the Ninety-Nines to increase outreach activities, develop more high-quality pilot proficiency education programs, and share the group's passion for aviation and the Ninety-Nines with others.

In addition to his success as a businessman and entrepreneur, Barron Hilton was a great friend to aviation. During his World War II Navy service, Hilton took private flying lessons and earned his single-engine license. At age 19, he earned his twin-engine rating at USC Aeronautical School. As a longtime aviation enthusiast, Hilton was a major supporter of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles Program, which encourages aircraft owners to give rides to youngsters to introduce them to the joy of flying.

The Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery is funded by the Hilton Foundation with the hope that future generations of young people let their own dreams soar to new heights.

"It is fitting that we share the goal of the Barron Hilton Pioneers program," said Mary Wunder, Chair of the Ninety-Nines Endowment Fund. "We are deeply grateful that the Hilton Foundation honors Barron Hilton's love of aviation with this generous grant to the Ninety-Nines Endowment Fund."

About the Ninety-Nines: The Ninety-Nines is a nonprofit organization of women pilots that promotes aerospace education and training, provides aviation scholarships, and preserves the history of women in aviation through the Museum of Women Pilots and the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum. Established in 1929 by 99 women pilots with Amelia Earhart as the first President, today the Ninety-Nines boasts more than 6,000 licensed women pilot members. The Ninety-Nines mentors young and new pilots and provides education programs to the aviation community at large. The Ninety-Nines Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund has awarded over $11.5 million in financial aid and more than 1,100 aviation scholarships, helping hundreds of women achieve their aviation dreams. The Ninety-Nines Professional Pilot Leadership Initiative (PPLI) is a structured mentoring program to promote the advancement of female professional pilots, and provide them with the tools to develop their careers and leadership abilities.

About the Hilton Foundation: The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by international business pioneer Conrad N. Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels and left his fortune to help individuals throughout the world living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage. The Foundation invests in 11 program areas, including providing access to safe water, supporting transition-age foster youth, ending chronic homelessness, hospitality workforce development, disaster relief and recovery, helping young children affected by HIV and AIDS, and supporting the work of Catholic sisters. In addition, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to a nonprofit organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. From its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.8 billion in grants, distributing $110 million in the US and around the world in 2019. Foundation assets increased from approximately $2.9 billion to $6.6 billion following the 2019 passing of Barron Hilton who, like his father, pledged virtually his entire estate to the Foundation. For more information about the Hilton Foundation, please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org.

Contact:

Mary Wunder, Chair, Ninety-Nines Endowment Fund

[email protected], 484-571-8145

Corbi Bullock: President, Ninety-Nines, Inc.

[email protected], 919-417-8510

SOURCE The Ninety-Nines, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.ninety-nines.org




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Appointment

25 January 2021

Commonwealth Hotels is excited to announce the promotion of Mike Hoelscher to the position of Field Director of Sales and Marketing. The 30-year hospitality veteran is tasked with driving hotel revenues through innovative sales, revenue management and marketing strategies. He will lead his property sales teams in Commonwealth properties located throughout Ohio and Indiana.

Mike joined the Commonwealth team in August 2020, first as a Task Force Sales Manager. While helping sales efforts at hotels in Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati markets, he quickly proved himself a perfect candidate for the new position in the expanding company.

The University of Cincinnati graduate has served in various positions both on and off-property with Marriott International during his career. First serving as a Front Office Supervisor, Mike worked his way up to a Senior Manager of Marriott's Top Line Service + Support team - here he worked with over 200 franchise companies on 500+ hotels to help drive Top Line revenue.

Mike is partnered with newly-promoted Area Director of Operations Todd Smith. The pair creates a formidable fourth region of leaders for an expanding portfolio in a time of transition for the hospitality industry.
When President Donald Trump announced that Sarah Sanders would be departing her job as White House press secretary in June 2019, he urged her to run for governor of Arkansas. "She would be fantastic," Trump tweeted at the time.

Now, less than a week after Trump himself left the White House under the cloud of a second impeachment, Sanders announced in a nearly eight-minute video Monday that she's following his suggestion. Sanders, who endeared herself to Trump's base while combatively - and sometimes misleadingly - sparring with the press, is seen by many as an early favorite in the race to lead a heavily GOP state where Trump's role in the Capitol riot may not hurt her appeal.

"I took on the media, the radical left and their 'cancel culture,' and I won. As governor, I will be your voice, and never let them silence you," Sanders said in the announcement.

Sanders, a 38-year-old Arkansas native and daughter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, R, managed her father's unsuccessful presidential run in 2016 before joining Trump's campaign as senior communications adviser. She also served as a spokeswoman during Trump's first presidential campaign.

At the White House, she first worked as the top deputy to Sean Spicer, Trump's first press secretary, until he resigned in July 2017, when she assumed his role. She was the first working mother and only the third woman to serve as White House press secretary, as reported by the Associated Press.

During her early days, some praised her calm demeanor in then-daily briefings with the press - a stark contrast to Spicer. But Sanders soon clashed with reporters, passionately defending Trump while confronting the press - even when the information she provided was, at times, false.

One such instance earned a note in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the election. In May 2017, Sanders claimed that the White House had heard from "countless members of the FBI" supporting Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey. She doubled down on the claim the next day, insisting that supportive emails and texts had flown in.

In Mueller's report, though, she said under oath that the claim was a "slip of the tongue."

Despite Sanders's adversarial relationship with most reporters, some members of the White House press corps stood by her when comedian Michelle Wolf roasted her at the 2018 White House Correspondents' Association dinner, including with some jokes that appeared to bash Sanders's physical appearance.

Sanders, who sat at a head table, stared blankly at Wolf, while other Republicans said they walked out of the room in support. Some journalists, like New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, praised Sanders's response, calling it "impressive."

But as Sanders continued her passionate defenses of Trump, she became so controversial that two months later, she was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant where she was having dinner. Stephanie Wilkinson, the co-owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Va., asked her to leave, noting that some gay employees at the restaurant were uncomfortable with serving her given her role backing Trump's policies, including barring transgender people from the military.

Near the end of her tenure, after the release of the Mueller report, her once-daily press briefings had turned into periods of absolute silence. Sanders, who had also become well-known for not answering emails or calls to her office seeking comment, sometimes held sessions with reporters on a White House driveway and often appeared on Fox News. Sheonce went 94 days without a formal press briefing.

Then, after 23 months on the job, she left in June 2019 and returned to Arkansas. Months after leaving her role, Sanders hinted that she planned to mount a political campaign.

"There are two types of people who run for office," Sanders told the Times in November 2019. "People that are called and people that just want to be a senator or governor. I feel like I've been called."

Her announcement on Monday thrusts her into a race to replace Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R, who is term-limited and cannot seek reelection in 2022. Sanders will run against Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in the Republican primary. No Democrats have formally announced their candidacy.

Although Trump's popularity has fallen to all-time low numbers following the Jan. 6 riots, the former president has remained popular in Arkansas.

- - -

The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
Stung by an exodus of members since it filed suit to block new cannabis industry rules permitting home delivery, the business group that represents most of the states bricks-and-mortar marijuana shops announced Monday morning that it is dropping the legal challenge.
January 25, 2021

Hospital will have access to Philips' latest technologies and informatics solutions to enhance the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and management of patients

Multi-year strategic partnership will accelerate clinical research focused on image-guided minimally-invasive therapy, neurology, intensive care units and digital pathology

Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Royal Philips , one of France's leading hospitals in image-guided interventions, robotics and clinical research, today announced the signing of a 5-year technology and innovation partnership to support diagnostic, interventional imaging and patient monitoring and management, undertake clinical research, and leverage Philips' and Rennes University Hospital's ecosystems of open innovation to foster French start-up companies.

Philips will deliver new medical technologies and provide management and maintenance services for the hospital's diagnostic and interventional imaging modalities (MRI, CT, and image-guided therapy) as well as patient monitoring. Informatics solutions will offer central, high-resolution data capture and storage (data warehouses) to drive quality and efficiency improvements, and comprehensive visualization and analysis tools to enhance diagnostic confidence for complex medical cases. Philips Healthcare Transformation Services experts will help to optimize the hospital's clinical pathways and patient experience, especially for intensive care units (ICUs) and neuro-radiology departments.

"Philips and Rennes University Hospital are entering into a ground-breaking partnership aimed at significantly improving the stroke pathway and co-developing AI algorithms to improve care for the most acute patients, particularly those in the ICU," said David Corcos, General Manager Philips France. "Leveraging the hospital's clinical expertise and our respective innovation ecosystems, we believe we can jointly innovate to help the hospital's healthcare professionals improve care and outcomes for their patients, while contributing to a more sustainable healthcare system. We are thrilled by this unique opportunity."

Research and innovation

Key elements of the partnership are collaborative research and innovation activities focused on areas that combine Philips' technological expertise with Rennes University Hospital's clinical expertise. Co-development projects will focus on several key areas of joint strategic interest - optimized stroke management, robotics for neurological interventions, big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) for monitoring patients in ICUs, and AI algorithms to support digital pathology. In addition, the hospital will have access to Philips' in-house expertise and open-innovation ecosystem to foster the creation of French tech start-ups that can translate research into clinical solutions.

"The University Hospital of Rennes is particularly glad to join its forces with Philips in the framework of an original and ambitious partnership, unique in France, offering tremendous opportunities for innovation and co-development of new solutions to shape the future of medicine and patient care," said Veronique Anatole-Touzet, CEO at Rennes University Hospital. "This collaboration is the result of several years of fruitful collaboration. Thanks to its rich and integrated character, this partnership will be an amazing catalyst for innovation and research for the University Hospital of Rennes."

Rennes University Hospital, with more than 1,800 beds shared among 4 different sites, is one of the top 10 hospitals in France and a reference center in cardiac and vascular surgery, transplantation, next to other specialisms such as neurosurgery, neuroradiology and robotics. In terms of research and innovation, it has around 200 professionals involved in more than 1,700 research projects shared among 14 research units. Philips and Rennes University Hospital already have multiple collaborations in the field of medical imaging, plus an innovation partnership in digital pathology - the first of its kind in France. Today's strategic partnership also includes two associate partners of the University Hospital - the University of Rennes 1 and the Saint-Laurent polyclinic.

For further information, please contact:

Joost Maltha

Philips Global Press Office

Tel.: +31 6 10 55 81 16

E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com

Elise Decenciere

Philips France media relations manager

Tel: +33 6 49 20 18 50

E-mail: elise.decenciere@philips.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips.

Attachment
Visakhapatnam:A cigarette lighter shaped as pistol created a flutter in Araku Valley on Sunday morning. The lighter was noticed by a shopkeeper during a clash and called in the police.

Police said four visitors from Visakhapatnam arrived in the valley in a car and went around for purchase of liquor, eateries and cigarettes. One of them who went to a pan shop to buy cigarettes engaged in a fight with the shopkeeper. The locals tried to pacify both but later beat up the youth.

When the locals twisted both his arms to control him, the shopkeeper saw him taking out what looked like a pistol and called the police. The locals ran away from the spot fearing the man in a drunken state might resort to firing.

Sub-inspector of the Araku Valley police station rushed to the spot and took all the four to the station. The man with the pistol told the police that it was just a lighter he had purchased online recently for Rs 900. On inspection, police noticed that the lighter was not working properly.

Police filed a drunken-drive case against the man. He would be produced in the local court on Monday. They were set free. Police said the car they came in would be released only after a court hearing.

Alert 360 home security opens its first new security retail experience center at 61st & Sheridan in Tulsa, OK. We are excited to offer this innovative, go-to-market option in the Tulsa community and to continue offering technologically advanced services locally, said Richard Ginsburg, president and CEO, Alert 360

Alert 360, one of the nations largest providers of home and business security systems and smart automation, has opened a new "go-to-market home security concept"  the Alert 360 Retail Experience Center  at 61st & Sheridan in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Alert 360 Retail Experience Center offers area families and business owners a user-friendly, hands-on experience with some of the best home security, business security, and smart home solutions available, including the new Alert 360 Smart Video Doorbell 2.0. The company has designed the center to ensure a safe consumer experience and following CDC guidelines.

For convenience, the Alert 360 center is located on one of the highest traffic corners in Tulsa, at the site of a former gas station. The new Alert 360 center was designed to be an inviting space for current and potential customers to view, interact with, and design an infinite number of options in home and business security, automation, and IoT (Internet of Things).

Voted a Best Home Security Provider and awarded a Best Places to Work in Oklahoma for five consecutive years, Alert 360 has always provided award-winning security services to thousands of Tulsa home and business owners for nearly a half century.

More and more tech-savvy Tulsans are using our integrated home or business security systems along with automation and their smart devices to protect and stay connected to home, family, property or their business, said Don Fuson, general manager, Alert 360 Tulsa. These families and business owners are on the go. It made sense for us to provide a location for them to stop and try out Alert 360s latest, local home security system options. Our security showroom makes it easier to visit with us about mobile app control of security systems and check out popular security devices whether you are upgrading a current security system, adding security devices, or wanting to design a new security system. Specifically, security cameras and two-way voice video doorbells have been extremely popular in combatting porch pirates and preventing package theft. Anyone who is curious about how these devices work can stop and learn more.

At Alert 360, we support more than 75 different IoT and security products, and there is no better way to show our capabilities than in person, Fuson added. We encourage our fellow Tulsans to stop and experience the latest security and connected devices  from smart security cameras and video doorbell cameras to smart locks, automated lights and even landscaping sprinkler systems.

The new security center is a robust version of Alert 360s security Mobile Experience Centers, which were launched in 2018 and demonstrate the benefits of home and business security and automation products. Ranked as a top home security company in the country, Alert 360 partners with global technology providers to continually develop and offer home security systems and business security services that create a better experience for consumers.

The Alert 360 Retail Experience Center showcases not only the best, local security system products and services we have developed in conjunction with our tech partners from around the country but also leading global technologies, said Richard Ginsburg, president and CEO, Alert 360. While we have focused significant marketing on the digital front at Alert 360, there is nothing like a consumer being able to touch, feel, and try the latest security products in person and participate in a demonstration with a professional Alert 360 security and automation expert. We are excited to offer this innovative, go-to-market option in the Tulsa community and to continue offering technologically advanced services locally, Ginsburg said. Additionally, as a Tulsa-based home and business security company, we proudly support this vibrant, growing community. This center allows us to increase our outreach and participation in local events. Tulsa is an ideal place to launch our first combined retail and branch location, which can be a model for similar centers across our national footprint.

Alert 360s new Retail Experience Center in Tulsa offers an open-air event space. In this space, the company will host Tulsa community events and open houses, sharing security tips, crime prevention solutions, and support of local Tulsa charitable efforts. W Design of Tulsa served as architects for the project.

Across the United States, Alert 360 offers wireless security systems; home automation devices; mobile app access; professional-grade IP security cameras; smoke alarms; carbon monoxide detectors; medical alert pendant; glass break and motion sensors; water leak detection devices; keyless entry; smart thermostats; remote garage door control; smart lighting; live video footage; recorded clips; indoor and outdoor cameras; doorbell cameras and more. Alert 360s certified security technicians also provide professional integration of home automation devices, including sprinkler systems, sound systems, Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Alert 360s former branch was located at 3158 S. 108th St. E. Ave. From the new location at 61st and Sheridan, the Alert 360 Home Security  Tulsa branch team continues to provide some of the best-rated local security services to cities in the surrounding area, including: Adair, Afton, Avery, Bacone, Bartlesville, Baugh, Bearden, Beggs, Bixby, Bond, Bristow, Broken Arrow, Bushyhead, Catoosa, Centralia, Choska, Chouteau, Claremore, Coalton, Collinsville, Coodys Bluff, Drumright, Eufaula, Fairland, Glenpool, Hartshorne, Haskell, Herd, Hominy, Hugo, Inola, Jay, Jenks, Jennings, Kellyville, Kendrick, Kiefer, Locust, Grove, Lotsee, Mannford, McAlester, Miami, Mounds, Muskogee, Nuyaka, Oologah, Owasso, Peoria, Poteau, Pryor, Salina, Sapulpa, Skiatook, Sperry, Tahlequah, Wagoner, Wyandotte.

In addition to its Tulsa location, in Oklahoma, the company operates an award-winning monitoring and customer service center in Tulsa and has branches in Clinton, Miami, and Oklahoma City. Alert 360 also has a network of branches from coast to coast, providing local security services for its nearly quarter of a million home or business security customers.

Alert 360 continues to offer critical lifesaving security services amid COVID-19 concerns, with Limited-Touch service and installation. Operating in 26 states, Alert 360 is always looking for great members to join their team! We are hiring, please check our career opportunities!

About Alert 360:

Founded in 1973, Alert 360 is one of the nations oldest-licensed alarm monitoring providers. Today, the company is the fourth largest provider of monitored home security and home automation solutions in the United States. The company has been named an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Privately Held Company in America, a Best Home Security Systems Provider, and a Best Places to Work.
Teresa Ostapower, Former SVP Technology Transformation at AT&T joins mce Advisory Board

mce systems Ltd. ("mce" or the "Company") announces that Ms. Teresa L. Ostapower, a former senior executive in AT&T (News - Alert) has joined mce as an Advisory Board member.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005655/en/

Ms. Teresa Ostapower, former senior executive in AT&T and Advisory Board member in mce Systems Ltd. (Photo: mce)

Ms. Ostapower has won numerous awards for her lifework including the award for "Top 100 Most Innovative Chief Digital Officers Globally", "CIO 100" awards, and "Women Worth Watching in STEM" award.

Prior to her role in mce, Ms. Ostapower held a series of senior executive roles in AT& including SVP Technology Transformation, Chief Digital Officer, Consumer CIO, and VP of Billing & Customer Care Systems. Prior to AT&T, she served as the AVP of IT Strategy & Planning, and Business CIO in Cingular Wireless as well as numerous technology and international consulting roles at BellSouth (News - Alert) .







Ms. Ostapower commented: "mce is an innovative company that provides world class technological solutions enabling global operators to transform their customer service and experiences; and to optimize monetization across the device lifecycle. I am excited about using my experience to contribute to mce's success and am looking forward to the significant impact mce will make in enabling best in class experiences."

Yuval Blumental, mce Co-Founder & CEO stated that: "Teresa is one of the most renowned experts in the world for mobile digital transformation and customer experience management. We welcome her to our advisory board, and we are honoured to have her advise us in our journey to global leadership."

About mce:

mce Systems is a software solution and integration provider, specializing in digital services solutions for mobile operators. mce enables device lifecycle management, device value optimization, cost reduction and the generation of new business for operators worldwide delivering Omni-channel capability across web, call-center, retail, on-device and reverse/forward logistic channels. Read more at www.mce.systems.

Follow us on LinkedIn (News - Alert) at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mce-systems

Follow mce on Twitter (News - Alert) @mce_systems

Visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mceSystems

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005655/en/
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BEIRUT - A few weeks before the tenth anniversary of the start of armed violence in Syria, UNICEF said "there are over 2,4 million children who are not going to school, 40% of whom are girls". "This number has probably increased in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has exacerbated the interruption of education in Syria".

In a newly released statement, the organization said that "children in Syria continue to bear the brunt of the crisis" in a context in which the "education system is overburdened, underfinanced, fragmented and unable to provide safe, fair and sustainable services for millions of children".

"One in three schools cannot be used because they have been destroyed, damaged or used for military purposes. Children who are able to attend school often learn in overcrowded classrooms and in buildings with inadequate sanitary facilities, electricity, heating or ventilation".

The UN, UNICEF recalled, has so far been able to confirm that 700 military attacks have been carried out over the last years against school facilities and personnel. In 2020, the UN documented 52 attacks against Syrian schools.


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The number of Americans who tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday fell once again compared to the prior 24 hours as the latest data also indicates the fewest hospitalized COVID-19 patients since before Christmas Day.

According to The COVID Tracking Project, there were 142,949 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday - well below the 173,729 diagnoses that were reported on Saturday.

States also reported a drop in hospitalization as 110,628 people were being treated in hospitals for COVID-19 on Sunday - some 3,000 fewer than the day before.

Sunday saw the fewest Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 since before Christmas Day, according to The COVID Tracking Project

According to The COVID Tracking Project, there were 142,949 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday - well below the 173,729 diagnoses that were reported on Saturday

The data shows that no state has over 600 people per million hospitalized with COVID-19 - the first time this has happened since November 3rd

The data from The COVID Tracking Project also showed that 1,940 Americans died on Sunday from COVID-19 - a sharp decline from the 3,577 Americans who died the day before.

As of late Sunday night, more than 25.12 million Americans are confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic last March.

Of those, 419,208 Americans have died.

The case count surpassed the 25 million mark just over a year after the first US case was documented.

The decrease in hospitalizations comes at a welcome time as hundreds of the nation's intensive care units are running out of space and supplies and competing to hire temporary traveling nurses at soaring rates.

Many of the facilities are clustered in the South and West.

Patricia Reinhardt gets her COVID-19 vaccination while her dog Clark waits patiently by her side at a UCHealth mass vaccination event in the parking lots of Coors Field in Denver on Sunday

An Associated Press analysis of federal hospital data shows that since November, the share of US hospitals nearing the breaking point has doubled.

More than 40 per cent of Americans now live in areas running out of ICU space, with only 15 per cent of beds still available.

Intensive care units are the final defense for the sickest of the sick, patients who are nearly suffocating or facing organ failure.

Nurses who work in the most stressed ICUs, changing IV bags and monitoring patients on breathing machines, are exhausted.

'You can't push great people forever. Right? I mean, it just isn't possible,' said Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom, who is among many hospital leaders hoping that the numbers of critically ill COVID-19 patients have begun to plateau.

Worryingly, there's an average of 20,000 new cases a day in Texas, which has the third-highest death count in the country and more than 13,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms.

According to data from The COVID Tracking Project, hospitalizations are still high in the West and the South, with over 80,000 current COVID-19 hospital patients in those regions.

Encouragingly, hospitalizations appear to have either plateaued or are trending downward across all regions.

It's unclear whether the easing will continue with more contagious versions of the virus arising and snags in the rollout of vaccines.

In New Mexico, one surging hospital system brought in 300 temporary nurses from outside the state, at a cost of millions of dollars, to deal with overflowing ICU patients, who were treated in converted procedure rooms and surgery suites.

New CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky spoke about the COVID-19 vaccine supply crunch on Fox News Sunday saying: 'We don't have as many doses as we would like now for states like New York, for other states claiming to have run out of the vaccine'

'It's been horrid,' said Dr. Jason Mitchell, chief medical officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque.

He's comforted that the hospital never activated its plan for rationing lifesaving care, which would have required a triage team to rank patients with numerical scores based on who was least likely to survive.

'It's a relief that we never had to actually do it,' Mitchell said. 'It sounds scary because it is scary.'

In Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ran into shortages of take-home oxygen tanks, which meant some patients who could otherwise go home were kept longer, taking up needed beds.

But the biggest problem is competing with other hospitals for traveling nurses.

'Initially, when the COVID surges were hitting one part of the country at a time, traveling nurses were able to go to areas more severely affected. Now with almost the entire country surging at the same time,' hospitals are paying twice and three times what they would normally pay for temporary, traveling nurses, said Dr. Jeff Smith, the hospitals chief operating officer.

Houston Methodist Hospital recently paid $8,000 retention bonuses to keep staff nurses from signing up with agencies that would send them to other hot spots.

Pay for traveling nurses can reach $6,000 per week, an enticement that can benefit a nurse but can seem like poaching to the hospital executives who watch nurses leave.

'There's a lot of these agencies that are out there charging absolutely ridiculous sums of money to get ICU nurses in,' Boom said.

'They go to California, which is in the midst of a surge, but they poach some ICU nurses there, send them to Texas, where they charge inordinate amounts to fill in gaps in Texas, many of which are created because nurses in Texas went to Florida or back to California.'

Space is another problem. Augusta University Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, is treating adult ICU patients, under age 30, in the childrens hospital.

Cars are directed out of one parking lot to another where they will wait for 15 minutes before leaving after getting COVID-19 vaccinations at a UCHealth drive-up mass COVID-19 vaccination event in the parking lots of Coors Field in Denver on Sunday

Sandra Haselden, 73, sits with her husband Ed as she waits to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at a drive-up in Denver on Sunday

A patient is injected with the coronavirus vaccine at a pop-up clinic at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle on Sunday

A medical worker waves a flag to notify the next patient at a pop up COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle on Sunday

The image above is an overview of the COVID-19 vaccine clinic set up at Amazon headquarters in Seattle on Sunday

Patients wait to make sure they have no reaction after receiving their injection at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Amazon headquarters in Seattle

Recovery rooms now have ICU patients, and, if things get worse, other areas - operating rooms and endoscopy centers - will be the next areas converted for critical care.

To prevent rural hospitals from sending more patients to Augusta, the hospital is using telemedicine to help manage those patients for as long as possible in their local hospitals.

'It is a model I believe will not only survive the pandemic but will flourish post pandemic,' said Dr. Phillip Coule, the Augusta hospitals chief medical officer.

Hospitals are pleading with their communities to wear masks and limit gatherings.

'There just hasnt been a lot of respect for the illness, which is disappointing,' said Dr. William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional Medical Center in Cullman, Alabama.

He sees that changing now with more people personally knowing someone who has died.

'It has taken a lot of people,' he said of the virus, adding that the death toll - 144 people in six months in a county of 84,000 - 'has opened their eyes to the randomness of this.'

The Alabama hospital's ICU has been overflowing for six weeks, with 16 virus patients on ventilators in a hospital that a year ago had only 10 of the breathing machines.

'You can see the stress in peoples faces and in their body language. It's just a lot for people to carry around,' Smith said.

'Just the fatigue of our staff can affect quality of care. I've been encouraged weve been able to keep the quality of care high,' Smith said.

'You feel like you are in a very precarious situation where errors could occur, but thankfully we've managed to stay on top of things.'

Hospitals say they are upholding high standards for patient care, but experts say surges compromise many normal medical practices.

Overwhelmed hospitals might be forced to mobilize makeshift ICUs and staff them with personnel without any experience in critical care.

They might run out of sedatives, antibiotics, IVs or other supplies they rely on to keep patients calm and comfortable while on ventilators.

'It's really daunting and mentally taxing. You're doing what you believe to be best practice,' said Kiersten Henry, a nurse at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, Maryland, and a board director for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

In Oklahoma City, OU Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. Cameron Mantor said while the vaccines hold promise, hope still seems dim as ICU cases keep mounting.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at OU Medicine has declined from more than 100 daily in recent weeks to 98 on Wednesday, Mantor said.

'What is stressing everybody out,' Mantor said, 'is looking at week after week after week, the spigot is not being turned off, not knowing there is a break, not seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.'

Meanwhile, public health officials in Washington, DC, said they were in a race to vaccinate as many Americans as possible while a new strain of the coronavirus appears to be spreading nationwide.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping up efforts to track coronavirus mutations and keep vaccines and treatments effective against new variants until collective immunity is reached, the agencys chief said on Sunday.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky spoke about the rapidly evolving virus during a Fox News Sunday interview.

Walensky, who took over as CDC director the day President Joe Biden was sworn in, also said the greatest immediate culprit for sluggish vaccine distribution was a supply crunch worsened by inventory confusion inherited from the Trump administration.

'The fact that we don't know today, five days into this administration, and weeks into planning, how much vaccine we have just gives you a sense of the challenges weve been left with,' she told Fox News Sunday.

Bidens transition team was largely excluded from the vaccine rollout deliberations for weeks after his election, as then-President Donald Trump refused to concede defeat and permit access to information his successor needed to prepare to govern.

In a separate interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, said a plan for distributing the vaccine, particularly beyond nursing homes and hospitals, 'did not really exist when we came into the White House.'

Walensky said she was confident the government would soon resolve supply questions, and go on to dramatically expand vaccine production and distribution by late March.

Uncertainty over immediate supplies, however, will hinder efforts at the state and local levels to plan ahead for how many vaccination sites, personnel and appointments to set up in the meantime, exacerbating short-term shortages, she added.

Vaccination has become ever more urgent with the recent emergence of several coronavirus variants believed to be more transmissible, and in the case of one strain first detected in Britain, possibly more lethal.

'We are now scaling up both our surveillance of these and our study of these,' Walensky said, adding that the CDC was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and even the Pentagon.

The object, she said, was to monitor 'the impact of these variants on vaccines, as well as on our therapeutics,' as the virus continues to mutate while it spreads.

Until vaccines can provide 'herd' immunity in the population, mask-wearing and social distancing remain vital to 'decrease the amount of virus that is circulating, and therefore, decrease the amount of variants,' Walensky added.

Although British officials on Friday warned that the so-called UK variant of the coronavirus, already detected in at least 20 US states, was associated with a higher level of mortality, scientists have said existing vaccines still appeared to be effective against it.

They worry, however, that a more contagious South African variant may reduce the efficacy of current vaccines and shows resistance to three antibody treatments developed for patients.

Similarities between the South African variant and another identified in Brazil suggest the Brazilian variety may likewise resist antibody treatment.

'We're in a race against these variants,' said Vivek Murthy, nominated by Biden to become the next US surgeon general, on ABC's This Week program on Sunday.

White House chief of staff, Ron Klain (pictured), said President Joe Biden's plan for 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days is 'ambitious', but it's not the final goal

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease specialist, said in late December he was optimistic the United States could achieve enough collective immunity to regain 'some semblance of normality' by the fall of 2021.

But Murthy said getting to herd immunity before a new school year begins in September was 'an ambitious goal.'

Nevertheless, Murthy suggested the government may exceed Biden's objective of 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days of his presidency, telling ABC News, 'That's a floor; it's not a ceiling.'

Fauci, appearing separately on CBS News' Face the Nation, said the 100-million goal includes those who may have received both injections of the two-dose vaccines and those who only got the first.

About 21.8 million Americans, or about 6.5 per cent of the population, have received at least one dose of vaccine to date, of the 41.4 million doses shipped, CDC data showed on Sunday.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

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NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
It was January 25, 2016, exactly five years ago, when Giulio Regeni sent his last text message from Egypt at 7.41pm. Nothing more would be known of him until February 3, when the tortured body was found on a road between Cairo and Alexandria.

Five years after that message, the truth about the assassination of the Friulian researcher is still far away, despite the work of the judiciary and the commitment of the Italian government.

THE CASE IN EUROPE - Today the case will be discussed in the EU Foreign Council, and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio will speak about it via videoconference. European ministers could decide to take other steps.

MATTARELLA - "The action of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rome, among many difficulties, led to the conclusion of investigations that have identified a picture of serious responsibility, which, soon, will be subjected to the examination of a trial, for the consequent penalties to the guilty" , the words of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. "We expect a full and adequate response from the Egyptian authorities, urged to this end, relentlessly, by our diplomacy".

"A young Italian, committed to completing his studies, saw his life plans cruelly torn with such ferocity as to inflict a very deep wound in the minds of all Italians", then continued the Head of State. "On this day of remembrance, I would first of all want to renew feelings of closeness and solidarity with Giulio Regeni's parents, who in the most excruciating pain have been able over the years to pour out all their energy to obtain the truth, to ask that responsibilities be rebuilt and thus affirm that principle of justice which constitutes the fundamental principle of every human coexistence and the inalienable right of every person ".

"I renew my hope - the conclusion - of a common and convergent commitment to reach the truth and bring to justice those who have committed a crime that has rightly solicited attention and solidarity from the European Union. This is a responsible commitment. , unanimously expected by family members, by the institutions of the Republic, by the entire European public opinion ".

THE MEMORY - Today the community of Fiumicello, the town where the researcher grew up, is preparing to remember Giulio, with a series of initiatives broadcast via web.

On the investigative front, days ago the Rome Prosecutor's Office filed the request for indictment for the Egyptian general Tariq Sabir and for three other members of the secret services of the Cairo regime, Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim, Uhsam Helmi, Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif . The objective of the Capitoline magistrates is to bring to trial the four 007s who took Giulio in January 2016, transferred him to a villa in Cairo where he was brutally tortured and then killed for days. A process that Egypt, however, deems unmotivated and based on "illogical conclusions".

(Unioneonline / vl)
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Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan warned: 'There is a huge volume of disease in the country.' Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins

Levels of coronavirus in the community are falling with 1,373 new cases confirmed yesterday.



It was the first time this year that new cases fell below 2,000 for two consecutive days, after 1,910 were reported on Saturday.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said that while we were starting to make progress in reducing the level of the virus in the community, there was still a huge volume of disease in the country.

Some 58pc of yesterdays new cases were among those under the age of 45. The median age among those infected is 39.

Read More

There were 23 further deaths reported with a median age of 84. The age range of those who died from Covid is between 61 and 99.

A total of 2,970 people have now died from the virus while there are now 187,554 confirmed cases in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) announced last night.

Women accounted for 730 of yesterdays new cases with 643 among men.

Dublin recorded 379 cases, followed by Cork with 145, Wexford with 86, Galway with 85 and Limerick with 71. Another 612 cases were spread across the country.

There are now 218 patients with Covid-19 in ICUs among 1,931 with the infection in hospital across the State. Over the weekend, 44 more patients with Covid were admitted to hospital.

The 14-day incidence rate now stands at 840.7 per 100,000 of the population.

While the figures represent a decline in the numbers of new infections compared with recent numbers, Dr Holohan urged the public to hold firm.

He said now was a critical time to remain vigilant to stop further spread.

While we are starting to make progress in reducing the level of the virus in the community, this is a critical time for all of us to hold firm to the public health advice. We must not let down our guard against this highly infectious disease and the risk it poses to ourselves and those most medically vulnerable to infection, he said.

There is a huge volume of disease in the country and the recent surge in cases continues to place an unprecedented strain on ICUs, hospitals and other frontline healthcare services. The answer lies in driving down social contacts and congregation in all settings, including in workplaces, he said, adding anyone who can work from home must do so.

Meanwhile, as various groups call to have quicker access to vaccinations, Dr Siobhan OSullivan, chief bioethics officer for the Department of Health, said advancing age was the greatest risk factor for becoming seriously ill or dying from virus and the roll-out of the vaccination programme must take that into account.

Those who have an increased risk of dying or developing severe disease have been prioritised to receive a Covid vaccine. Increasing age is the clearest risk factor associated with dying or becoming very ill if you contract the virus.

This risk is amplified for older persons living in long term residential care as they have a higher risk of exposure to infection. In Ireland in the first wave of Covid-19, 56pc of deaths occurred in this setting.

This is likely compounded by the presence of underlying conditions which increase with advancing age, she said.

Frontline healthcare workers have been prioritised in the first phase of the vaccine roll-out as they are also at high risk of exposure to the virus.

In the first wave, over 30pc of cases of Covid-19 were in this group.

If our healthcare workers contract the virus this will not only affect their own health but will also impact on their ability to provide essential care. Prioritising healthcare workers recognises the significant burdens they carry daily in protecting wider society and our healthcare system, she said.

Read More




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In many ways, the roller-coaster-like trajectory of Vicki Hollubs shale CEO career is emblematic of the boom-and-bust, spectacularly dramatic history of the West Texas Permian basin as a whole. When Hollub took over Occidental in 2016, the unbridled enthusiasm for the shale revolution that catapulted the United States to the top of the global oil production food chain was already fading. In 2019, she had made her relatively small company one of the biggest and most buzzed-about oil firms in the country. Now, shes a cautionary tale. While the Permian Basin was still producing absolutely jaw-dropping amounts of oil and gas when Hollub stepped into her CEO role at Occidental (in April 2019, the shale play generated a whopping 4.1 million barrels a day, surpassing even Saudi Arabias monster Ghawar field to become the largest producing area in the world), investors were already becoming wary of the financial aspects of the fracking boom. Fracking is expensive and depends on high oil prices to be profitable--something thats far from guaranteed in a sector as volatile as oil and gas.

What ensued was a major U.S. shale sector slump, accompanied by a flurry of mergers and acquisitions all around West Texas and New Mexico. For Occidental, this meant that they needed to either grow or get eaten by bigger fish. Hollub started eyeing acquisition options, setting her sights on a major purchase: Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum, beating out the much bigger and much deeper pockets of Chevron to do so. On paper, merging with Anadarko made sense: with the addition of its assets in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, Occidental could become the largest operator in the Permian and the third-largest U.S. oil company, recalls Texas Monthly.

Related: Egypt Looks To Resume LNG Exports As Prices Rise



Hollub was hailed for her assertive acquisition as a maverick. Occidental was celebrating the deal of the century and the companys overnight transformation from second-tier to the same echelon as Exxon. But the celebratory headlines were short lived and premature. Whether the result of hubris on the part of Hollub and Occidental or simply bad luck and worse timing, the ill-fated $38 billion takeover was a disaster almost as soon as the deal was inked. The novel coronavirus had already begun to spread, Saudi Arabia and Russia were feuding, oil supply was becoming dangerously bloated, and oil demand was under major stress. For a business model that relies on oil prices around $50 or $60 a barrel, it was a recipe for disaster.

In the space of a year, she went from superhero to supervillain for her missteps and miscalculations. She destroyed tens of billions of dollars of shareholder value, Matrixs David Katz told Texas Monthly. She destroyed more value in oil and gas than any CEO out there. But while Occidentals story is particularly grim, Hollub is nothing if not a microcosm of a much larger death rattle emanating from the Permian Basin.

It turns out that, back in 2016, investors were right to get spooked by the high overhead and low margin of error for the Permian Basin.

While few if any could have anticipated a global disaster the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, its been clear for a long time now that the shale revolution is in decline. Whether due to supply or demand, peak oil has been a very real spectre on the horizon. Its here a little sooner than expected, but it was always expected. While shale CEOs are counting on the world relying on their product for another 30 years or so, a spectacular decline is inevitable. In the meantime, they might consider investing in the wind farms springing up all around them.



By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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A CAR hit the roof of a taxi after it became airborne following a collision with a ditch, Kilmallock Court heard.

Lukaz Kantor, aged 24, of Corrin Drive, Ballyhea pleaded guilty to no insurance, no driving licence and dangerous driving. Inspector Pat Brennan said gardai were called to a road traffic accident at Ballymacshaneboy, Effin on February 13, 2020.

It was around 5pm. There were two vehicles involved - a Toyota Avensis and a Ford Mondeo which was a taxi. Upon exiting the patrol car Mr Kantor made himself known to gardai. He was the driver of the Avensis. He immediately accepted liability and said he was a disqualified driver, said Inspector Brennan.

The inspector said Mr Kantor told gardai he was travelling too fast through an S bend.

He said his tyres were not in good condition and he lost control going around the bend. The driver of the Mondeo was going in the other direction. Mr Kantor said he hit the ditch on the wrong side of the road.

Mr Kantors car became airborne and hit the roof of the Mondeo. The driver of the Mondeo had moved to the centre of the road to try and avoid a collision, said Insp Brennan, who added that both cars were written off but no injuries were sustained.

Insp Brennan said Mr Kantor has a total of 14 previous convictions including three for no insurance.

Kevin Power, solicitor for Mr Kantor, said it is fair to say his clients record is poor.

He wouldnt be known to gardai. He travelled to Ireland in 2008 with his father. He always worked. He is currently working in Kilmallock earning 400 a week. His father is recovering from lung cancer. They live together in Ballyhea, said Mr Power.

The solicitor said in his clients favour is the fact he approached gardai and made full admissions.

He had recently started a new job and had no lift. It is a miracle everyone got out of it. It is a lesson learned. The reason he was late for court today is because he couldnt get a lift down here, said Mr Power.

Judge Marian OLeary said: This man has absolutely no respect for any court order.

The judge imposed a five month prison sentence, disqualified him from driving for six years and fined him 750 for no insurance. Mr Kantor was fined 400 for dangerous driving and 300 for no driving licence.

The start of the prison sentence was delayed due to work reasons.
Led by the British Empires representative in Sikkim, James Claude White, hundreds of troops struggled up the Naku-chu River in the summer of 1902, determined to push the borders of Imperial China back to where they ought to be.

Near the top of the pass, White later wrote. I found the usual Tibetan wall, rather better built than is customary, running across the valley with a block-house on the east, and some smaller blockhouse on a ridge coming down from the east.

The commander of Tibets forces at the fortress of Khamba Dzong insisted the border lay at the wall, put up in the nineteenth century to mark its grazing grounds. White had come armed with a copy of the Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1890, which placed the border two kilometres north, on the Naku La pass.

High officials who had come from Lhasa, wearing yellow silk robes, pressed forward on foot, and, catching hold of Mr. White's bridle, importuned him to dismount and repair to their tents the famous colonial administrator and adventurer Francis Younghusband recalled. At the same time their servants pressed round the horses of the British officers, and, seizing their reins, endeavoured to lead them away.

The first military face off at Naku-La pass had begunone that holds out important lessons on Chinas strategy as the crisis on the Line of Actual Control winds on.

Tactical Concerns

Last week, as military negotiators for New Delhi and Beijing prepared to hold a ninth round of talks aimed at ending the crisis of the LAC, Indian Army and Peoples Liberation Army soldiers clashed at the 5,700 metre Naku Latheir second physical confrontation since May. Even though the face-off was, according to the Indian Army minor, and the injuries sustained on both sides insignificant, the PLAs message was unmistakable.

Every location on the LAC where the PLA mounts pressure compels the Indian Army to respond in kind, says New Delhi-based strategic affairs expert Manoj Joshi. The resources used along the LAC are resources that arent then available for military modernisation and capacity building.

For decades now, the China-India border in Sikkimdemarcated by White over a century agohas been largely quiet. Ever since the summer, as the crisis in Ladakh began, the PLA began to insist centre of that frontierstretching from Naku La to Muguthanglay at the Tibetan wall. The claim wasnt new; what did change, in May, was that Indian troops pushed back, hard.

New Delhi has pointed out, just as White did, that the 1890 Treaty was based on the so-called watershed principle, in essence drawing the border along ridgelines.

Local tactical concerns, some military experts believe, might have something to do with why Naku La became a flashpoint. The pass offers the Indian Army a line of sight to observe PLA military movements in southern Tibetallowing it to respond rapidly to potential threats to its own positions in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

The argument might have meritbut Naku La isnt the only place PLA patrols are asserting their claims more aggressively. From the Fishtails and Asaphila areas in Arunachal Pradesh, through the Barahoti pass in Uttarakhand, to Demchok on the southern stretches of the LAC in Ladakh, the PLA has continued to probe territory claimed by China.

In addition, as News18 reported in November, China has begun an expansive development programme aimed at developing remote border settlements and expanding their populations. The programme, involving 628 villages, isnt new; 358 had been completed by 2019. The underlying purpose is to end any possible disputation of Chinas territorial claims with physical occupation of contested territories.

Fortifying Positions

Even as the PLA has been negotiating, with the troops locked in confrontation across the northern stretches of the Line of Action Controlsometimes just metres from each others positions it has stoically rejected Indias core demand, the restoration of the pre-March status-quo. In essence, China has pushed as close as it could get to the territory it occupied in the 1962 war.

A new fortified position has come up at the so-called Y-Junction the Depsang plains, where the PLA has cut off Indian patrol routes across hundreds of square kilometres of territory. The build-up of military infrastructure in Depsang has been mirrored across contested locations along the LAC.

The PLA, government sources said, did discuss the prospect of pulling back its troops from Finger 4, one of a series of radiating ridges north of Pangong Lake it occupied last springbut only if India also pulls back its own long-established positions in the feature, leaving it demilitarised. The offer went nowhere, since, with its superior logical access, the PLA would be able to then occupy the Fingers at will.

The gargantuan scale of Chinese infrastructure development along its 4,056-kilometre border with Indiaall but a small part in disputehangs over efforts to negotiate an end to the crisis on the LAC.

In 2019, China is reported to have invested some $9.9 billion in fixed asset infrastructure construction in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)like roads, railways and fibre-optic lines. Also, $1.3 billion is being spent on building 26 new towns to draw in investorsand settlers to fill the jobs these investments will create.

In addition, scholar Claude Arpi has noted, a network of rail extensions out of Lhasa will link the Tibet Autonomous Regions capital to Yatong, cutting across territory claimed by Bhutanand giving the Peoples Liberation Army the ability to rapidly deploy forces in the Chumbi valley, among the few areas on the LAC where India has enjoyed a geographical advantage.

Logistics experts have estimated the networks of rail and roads already in place could allow the PLAs 76th and 77th combined-arms Group Armies to move up to seven division-sized formations into the TAR inside a week, and over 32 inside a month.

The PLA already has all-weather road access to the 31-odd major passes across the LAC, linked to highways cutting across the TARand the new railway links will allow it to push and sustain ever larger numbers of troops into offensive positions almost anywhere.

Increasing Assertiveness

Embarrassed by its eviction from Naku La by Whites troops, ChinaTibets Imperial overlordannounced it would despatch its Resident in Lhasa to negotiate with Britain. The Resident never did meet me on the frontier, Younghusband recalled. Even his successor, when he at last arrived at Lhasa did not care to meet me even at Gyantse, for the Tibetans, so he informed me, would not provide him transport. Britain continued to hold Naku Laa position India inherited.

Tibets own leaders never acknowledged the Convention of 1890, claiming its assent was coerced. In border negotiations before 1962, China held to that stand, asserting India ought not profit from an Imperial land-grab. In 2017, though, China invoked the 1890 convention to assert its claims in Doklam.

For decades after the war of 1962, the ambiguities around the many stretches of the China-India frontier which remain unresolved and undefined, could be managed: convention, common-sense, and in some cases, coercion, ensured peace.

Ever since 2008, though, an increasingly powerful and confident China has brought force to bear on the LACas it has across its peripheriesin an effort to assert its regional hegemony, and punish neighbours which ally too closely with its principal strategic competitor, the United States.

The confrontation in Naku La is a consequence of that strategyand a sign that the crisis in Ladakh is just the beginning of dangerous, new phase in the China-India crisis.

You may flick a dog once or twice without his biting, but if you tread on his tail, even if he has no teeth, he will turn and try and bite you the local Tibetan administrator growled at Younghusband that summer day in 1902.

I suppose it is always difficult for one party to see the other partys point of view, Younghusband reflected, but, of course, his contention regarding us precisely applied to what we thought of the Tibetans.

In New Delhi and in Beijing, policy-makers would be wise to consider the full implications of that exchange.
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The premises of the office of Botswana's president will close for two days starting Monday to allow for disinfection and testing of staff for Covid-19.



President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the first lady were tested for Covid-19 last week and their results came out negative.



Government spokesperson Andrew Sesinyi said the tests were conducted after several positive cases in the president's office.



This week's closure will not affect service delivery as staff will work from home, the government said in a statement.



Botswana neighbours South Africa where a new variant that appears to be more contagious has been reported.



The government had in the past imposed a hard lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus and later announced a curfew.



Citizens have been urged to follow the guidelines of handwashing and wearing face masks.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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They just dont get it By Dr. Robert Owens

Listening to the predictable prattle of the perpetually re-elected pretend conservative Republicrats talk about how theyll follow the disastrous first two years of socialist rule with election victories retaking the Congress is like watching people whistle in the wind. They may think theyre sharing a tune, but no one is hearing the music. These professional politicians act as if what happened in November 2020 was another in the long line of American elections. One side wins and then four or eight years later its the other sides turn. That is not the case. Weve had one-party rule in Washington before with one party controlling all branches of government. And at times weve seen that power used as an opportunity to effectively push radical agendas. There were the Republicans from 1860 to 1877 who gave us Radical Reconstruction. The Democrats had their turn during most of the 1930s and we got the New Deal. From 2009 to 2011 the Democrats had an undivided government, and they gave us ObamaCare and its mandate. The Republicans had it from 2017 to 2019 and we got the biggest tax cuts in American History. But this time I believe its fundamentally different. The election of November 2020, in my estimation, can best be compared to the elections in Germany in 1932 when the National Socialists gained a super majority in their Congress. Once they gained power, they began immediately to consolidate it. Shortly thereafter the infamous Reichstag fire was used as an excuse to impose draconian measures which ultimately stamped out all resistance to their one-party rule. I believe the riot at the Capital will become Americas Reichstag fire with Donald Trump portrayed as the Snowball on Bidens Animal Farm : a perpetual symbol of reactionary resistance to the New Regime. The Plandemic has already morphed into the crisis that never ends. Instead of stiff-arm salutes, wearing a mask is the symbol of obedience. If masks worked so well, why does California which has the strictest quarantine and mask regulations in the country also supposedly have the highest infection rate? Are required proofs of vaccination far behind? The Uniparty will legalize tens of millions of illegal aliens and give them voting rights. They will open the borders while offering free everything ensuring an avalanche of newly imported voters. They will add several states so they have a permanent lock on the Senate. They have threatened to pack the Supreme Court with enough Democrat Socialists to effectively make it a rubber stamp of the Partys agenda. Just the threat of doing this by the Democrat icon FDR caused the Supreme Court to cease and desist all opposition to the New Deal. Look for universal mail-in voting to be established nation-wide. They pushed it as a response to the Scamdemic and we all know theres always another crisis right around the corner. This isnt just another in a long series of Whose turn is it in the barrel? Believing a term Joe Biden used in one of the debates and several times since, America is headed into a Dark Winter. Though Mr. Biden is well known for his verbalistic gymnastics this may not be just some strange wording picked out of the air or an attempt to make a hip cultural allusion aimed at Game of Thrones junkies. In June of 2001, the federal government conducted Operation Dark Winter. This was a massive simulation exercise that focused on a governmental response to a covert biological attack using a super-strain of smallpox. The strategies used by the government in this exercise included massive lockdowns of the entire population and economy. To combat rioting, it used military intervention. Making this connection will probably be labeled a conspiracy theory, however anyone is free to read an eye opening article in the elitist magazine Foreign Policy entitled Americas Pandemic War Games Dont End Well. This article explicitly states, The exercise presaged the events of COVID-19 that would take place within months of the simulations end. It very clearly showed that a global pandemic would take a global response. It was uncannily accurate. As we watch our freedoms erode and our economy crumble we may well be headed into Bidens dark winter, but we cannot say we havent been warned. As the pampered, privileged, and protected denizens of the swamp on the winning side work feverishly to institutionalize their one-party forever administration and the pampered, privileged, and protected denizens of the swamp on the losing side try to calm everyone down by acting like its business as usual all I can say to the winners is, We get it. And all I can say to the never-trumpers and their fellow-travelers trying to make sure we all walk quietly into the camps is, You dont get it. Dr. Robert Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  2021 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Parler, Facebook, Twitter, or MeWe @ Drrobertowens, or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens Home
Dear Annie: Ive noticed a strange habit that some people seem to have. Recently, several friends have talked to me on the phone while using the bathroom. I can hear everything that is going on, including the toilet flushing. It makes me very uncomfortable. Is it proper etiquette to be using the bathroom while talking on the phone?-- Heard Too Much

Dear Heard: Is that a rhetorical question? No, it is not polite to bring someone into the bathroom with you telephonically. The next time someone does this, dont be afraid to say: Ill try you back later. You sound busy.

Dear Annie: I was born with a cleft palate and nose, and I have a psychological complex from it that makes me self-conscious around others. But I would really like to meet someone and have a romantic relationship. Can you give me advice on how to go forward and just be myself? -- M.P.

Dear M.P.: I hope this goes without saying, but having a cleft palate or nose doesnt make you unattractive. Anyone who says otherwise doesnt deserve the pleasure of your company.

Now, you cite your self-consciousness as a barrier to meeting people. I encourage you to consider trying therapy to nurture healthier self-esteem, first and foremost. The moment we fully love ourselves is the moment were ready to accept love from someone else. You might also benefit from talking with other people who understand your experience. The Cleft Lip and Palate Association facilitates such support communities. Though theyre based in the United Kingdom, you can join their online support communities at https://www.clapa.com/support/online-support.

Annie Lane writes the Dear Annie advice column.

Dear Annie: You recently published a letter from Monarch Watcher, who said that Hass avocados led to habitat destruction of monarch butterflies. Do not swear off avocados as of yet. Monarchs have indeed experienced a sharp decline in habitat, but avocado production is not to blame. Here are some facts for you.

1. Eastern Monarchs winter in Mexico, western monarchs mainly in California.

2. Mexico established the Monarch Butterfly Biospace Preserve to help preserve the habitat.

3. In 2016, the U.S. stated it will accept avocados from all of Mexico, provided they can meet the measures put into place to prevent the spread of disease and insects set up by the farms in the Michoacan areas.

4. One contributing cause to the decline of monarch populations has been the weather in Texas: All the butterflies need to pass through Texas, which has had some severe droughts in recent years.

5. U.S. agriculture has been killing off weeds including milkweed. Milkweed flora is a big food source for monarch butterflies. A 2020 report estimates a loss of 165 million acres of habitat.

This year, monarchs should come under the endangered species act. They were petitioned in 2014, and the final decision is expected this year.

Please note that I do enjoy eating avocados but I am not associated in raising or production; I am just after truth in reporting. -- Luke B.

Dear Luke: I am deeply sorry for publishing misinformation on monarchs. I referred to an older FDA document and didnt realize theyd changed their guidelines in 2016. Your fact-checking is appreciated.

Ask Me Anything: A Year of Advice From Dear Annie is out now! Annie Lanes debut book -- featuring favorite columns on love, friendship, family and etiquette -- is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM

Read more advice:

Ask Amy: Separated soulmates are eager to connect

Dear Annie: Looking to hop off the hamster wheel

Dear Abby: Children cut off stepmother with dads power of attorney
Related Spain defence chief resigns for getting vaccine before allowed

Spain's Health Minister Salvador Illa will step down on Tuesday to stand in Catalonia's regional election, the government said, as a resurgence of coronavirus infections swept the country.

Spain is among Europe's hardest-hit nations and Illa has won huge visibility for coordinating the fight against the virus, with regular TV appearances to update the nation on the situation.

But the post has also made him a lightning rod for criticism of the government's handling of the pandemic, which has claimed over 55,000 lives in Spain from nearly 2.5 million cases so far.

Illa was unexpectedly picked in December by the Socialist party as the top candidate for the polls but the date of his departure from the government was not given until now.

He will take part in his last cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where the name of his replacement will be announced, the government said.

Since he was named the party's candidate, the Socialists have risen to first place in opinion polls, ahead of the two separatist parties which currently govern the wealthy northeastern region.

The election in Illa's home region is slated for February 14 but the Catalonia regional government wants to postpone it to May 30 due to the pandemic.

A court is expected to rule in the coming days if the date can be changed.

Opposition parties, especially those on the right, have stepped up their criticism of Illa's handling of the pandemic.

But in a highly decentralised nation like Spain, where regional governments are responsible for health care, it is "very difficult to assign blame" only to Illa, said Salvador Macip, a researcher with the Open University of Catalonia.

'Responsibility To Stay'

It was a "huge mistake" to relax virus restrictions over the Christmas holidays, added Macip, who also criticised Illa for leaving his post at a time of rising infections.

"If you are really doing a good job you have the responsibility to stay until you finish it," he told AFP.

Nationwide infection rates have soared since late December, with 42,885 new cases and 400 deaths added to the tally on Friday alone.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday praised Illa's "leadership based on humility, a strong work ethic and determination".

The Socialists are hoping Illa will improve their showing in the elections after only securing 17 of the regional parliament's 135 seats duing the last election three years ago.

Illa has one of the highest approval rating of any minister in the government, said Pablo Simon, a political science professor at Madrid's Carlos III University

When the pandemic first hit in March, Spain imposed a strict nationwide to slow the spread of the virus but after it was fully lifted at the end of June, the central government transferred responsiblity for management of the pandemic to regions to "shake off a bit of the potential wear of the bad figures" about infections, Simon told AFP.

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HARTFORD  Police are looking into a shooting incident from late Saturday night, according to a news release.

After someone reported thered been shots fired on Webster Street, police headed to the area before 11 p.m. Saturday, according to a release.
NASA is funding a major project on the future of autonomous air cargo transportation, and The University of Texas at Austin will be playing a lead role.

NASA is funding a major project on the future of autonomous air cargo transportation, and The University of Texas at Austin will be playing a lead role. The COVID-19 vaccine rollout -- the largest global logistics effort since World War II -- has underscored the importance of increasing efficiencies in the global supply chain infrastructure. Autonomous aerial vehicles have the potential to revolutionize cargo transportation.

Researchers at UT Austin's Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics in the Cockrell School of Engineering will lead a team that will develop methods that could be used to validate the cost and scalability of conceptual autonomous cargo operations. They will be providing theory and concepts for all types of vehicles -- from large unmanned cargo aircraft crossing the U.S. to the single drone that can drop a package in residential neighborhoods.

The researchers will rely heavily on machine learning and computational engineering to find solutions to the long list of challenges they face, from the management of autonomous aircraft traffic flow to regulations to public concerns about safety, privacy, emissions, and noise pollution.

"Public concerns such as noise pollution, privacy or perceived risks of autonomous operations are usually addressed in a post-hoc analysis," said lead investigator Ufuk Topcu, professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics and director of the Autonomous Systems Group in the Oden Institute. "This approach is not only costly but tends to have limited impact. We are using mathematical models to represent public concerns that characterize their relative importance with other factors in the overall process."

The team includes experts from Purdue University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Lincoln Labs, Morgan State University and an industry partner, Cavan Solutions, in a NASA University Leadership Initiative (ULI). This program gives the university community the chance to receive NASA funding to take the lead in building their own teams and setting their own research agenda.

The team will use a method that transforms societal concerns -- from environmental, to safety and risk -- into terrain or surfaces.

"You can create a hill for each noise-sensitive area like a school or church," said John-Paul Clarke, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering and co-principal investigator on the study. "We can then modify the flight trajectory of an aerial vehicle to ensure it remains above the resulting terrain or thereby ensure the noise level at all locations stays below the noise threshold used to create the surface."

This approach of characterizing public input directly into the design and operation of advanced air mobility technology is rare. Topcu is an advocate for developing a coordinated strategy that accounts for the many technical, economical and societal aspects of autonomy.

"The design of all new autonomous systems requires input from all stakeholders in society, not just scientists and engineers," he said. "Public acceptance must be central to the design and operation decisions in advanced air mobility."

The pandemic has done more than just increase demand for home deliveries.

"It has changed the way supply chains are being strained," Clarke said. "Suddenly we must account for the risk associated with the driver of a truck on her way to a town or city where the virus is rampant. Autonomous aerial vehicles can provide us with greater flexibility to avoid putting workers at risk."

The award, worth $8 million, is the second University Leadership Initiative grant that UT Austin has secured this academic year. At the end of 2020, Cockrell School researchers announced their successful bid to lead a hypersonics-focused research project through the same NASA program.

"Two of the most pressing technological issues facing the nation are autonomy and hypersonics, and UT Austin is leading the way in both," said Karen Willcox, director of the Oden Institute and co-principal investigator in both NASA ULI projects. Willcox is also a key driver of another central element of the autonomous cargo operations at scale project: education and outreach. "We need to be thinking about the diverse future workforce required to design, operate and maintain new autonomous transportation technologies."

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New Delhi, Jan 25 : For the first time ever, a 122-member strong contingent of the Bangladesh Armed Forces will participate in the historic Republic Day celebrations. The contingent will march on Rajpath alongside their Indian counterparts.

Both countries are celebrating the completion of 50 years of the establishment of their diplomatic ties, this year.

Official sources told IANS that the contingent will be led by contingent commander Lt. Col. Abu Mohammed Shahnoor Shawon and his deputies Lieutenant Farhan Ishraq and Flight Lieutenant Sibat Rahman. The contingent comprises soldiers of the Bangladesh Army, sailors of the Bangladesh Navy and air warriors of the Bangladesh Air Force.

The majority of the soldiers in this contingent hail from the most distinguished units of the Bangladesh Army comprising 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11 East Bengal Regiment and 1, 2 and 3 Field Artillery Regiment.

These units have the distinct honour of fighting and winning the 1971 Liberation War. This Bangladesh contingent carries with them the legacy of legendary Muktijoddhas of Bangladesh, their fore-fathers who fought against oppression, mass atrocities by tyrannical forces and for the freedom of Bangladesh, sources said.

The contingent also has members of the Bangladesh Navy and Air force who had contributed to the liberation of Bangladesh. Sources said Operation Jackpot and Kilo flight of the Bangladesh Navy and Air-force respectively was a demonstration of their resolve, courage and determination to fight against oppression.

"The valiant Mukti Bahini and the Indian forces fought side by side against the enemy and secured victory. The blood of Mukti Bahini and Indian soldiers mingled with the soil and water of Bangladesh. This is a bond like no other; it is unparalleled in the annals of history. Our history is resplendent with stories of courage and eternal scarifice of the Muktijoddhas and the Indian soldiers for a noble and just cause," a source said.

Bangladesh Armed Forces is considered a disciplined and professional force. Growing numbers of women are joining the forces to serve the country, and like India Armed Forces, the Bangladesh Armed Forces have also contributed to the UN peacekeeping operations across the world.

This year India and Bangladesh celebrate 50 years of the establishment of their ties, and Bangladesh celebrates 50 years of its Independence. Both sides have agreed to hold commemorative events in several other countries and also jointly organise events throughout the year. The fraternal ties that exist between the two countries make the relations transcend even a strategic partnership, sources said.
HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar made it clear that there was no chance of his party having any alliance with the TRS. He alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had hoodwinked everyone about the alliance only to protect his MLAs from joining the BJP.

He was speaking after releasing the private teachers' association dairy here on Sunday. He said that BJP will come to power in the state in 2023 without any alliance.

Rao was only diverting people's attention from his administrative failures, Sanjay said. Rao had performed shani pooja to enable his son K.T. Rama Rao to become Chief Minister, he alleged.

He alleged that revenue employees who were not in his favour were being portrayed as corrupt. He said that the VRO system has been abolished and they have not been given postings so far while private employees and teachers remain ignored since the outbreak of Covid-19.

Elsewhere, Union minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy released the Telangana Tahsildar Association calendar and dairy here on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion, he recalled that government employees played a key role in the statehood movement but unfortunately the state government had ignored their contributions.

The minister urged the state government to resolve their issues, which had remained unattended. This is especially so now that new districts and mandals have been created.

Reddy wondered why the government did not provide sufficient staff in the revenue department, considering that the registration process has a new revenue system. He said people are facing problems in the new revenue act under which MRO powers have been transferred to collectors.

Welsh police threatened to fine customers who went to a farm shop to buy their milk, telling them they should get it from a supermarket instead.

Officers turned people away from a milk vending machine set up in Berthengam, near Holywell in Flintshire, Wales, after a dairy farm noticed supermarkets struggled to meet the demand for dairy during lockdown.

The unmanned roadside machine was set up at the beginning of the year and is open 24 hours a day, providing fresh dairy milk is sold in bottles, along with flavoured milk shakes and hot chocolate.

On Monday, customers complained to owners Einion and Elliw Jones that they had been told to leave by the police, Metro reports.

Customers were turned away by Welsh police at a roadside milk vending machine. Dairy farmers Elliw and Einion Jones with their children Elin (7), Gwenni (5), Magi (3) and 18 month old Penri

Customers complained to the owners of the unmanned roadside machine in Berthengam, near Holywell in Flintshire, Wales, (pictured) after they were asked to leave

After they were informed they looked over CCTV footage from the machine and Mrs Jones said there were at least five households there.

Customers had been dispersed from the shed, which is outdoors and the owners claim is well-ventilated, within six minutes of the officers turning up.

Mrs Jones contacted the police and was told that their customers should be getting what they need from a supermarket or their nearest shop.

She said: 'I feel the police should be working with us as a new business and not driving all our customers to supermarkets.

'Are they standing outside butchers shops telling people they should buy their steaks from Tesco?'

One customer said she was threatened with a 60 fine if she would not leave. She had travelled from Trelawyndd, roughly a five to ten minute drive, to get full-fat milk for her son.

Her village does not have its own shop and her disabled son is lactose intolerant.

Despite explaining her circumstances to the police, she says she was still told to leave and did so to avoid the fine.

After owners Einion (pictured) and Elliw Jones were informed they looked over CCTV footage from the machine to see customers being turned away within six minutes of the police getting there

Mrs Jones (pictured) contacted the police and was told that their customers should be getting what they need from a supermarket or their nearest shop.

North Wales Police has been approached for comment.

Einion and Elliw Jones' machine is believed to be one of the first of its kind in North Wales, and the Joneses have been astounded by its success.

They have a 280-strong herd of Jersey-cross milking cows on their farm at Mynydd Mostyn, which is on the Mostyn Hall estate and most of the milk goes to South Caernarfon Creamery.

'We first considered having a machine about two years ago but did nothing about, and then in June last year we looked into it in more detail,' said Elliw.

'During the pandemic more people have been trying to buy local produce, and so we thought it would be a good time.

'It's been amazing. The coffee and hot chocolate machine has been here a while and people have got to hear about it through Facebook,' she said. 'On the day we started selling milk people were queuing from 10am until 9 o'clock at night.'

'People really seem to appreciate it because it is so fresh, unlike some of the milk on sale in supermarkets,' added Einion.

Full milk and semi-skinned is available and is supplied in glass bottles which are returnable. Payment is by card, so the facility does not have to be manned.

Residents of neighbouring villages including Berthengam, Trelogan, Sarn and Whitford walk along the country lanes or across fields to reach Mynydd Mostyn, while there is also a steady flow of traffic.

The machine, which is available 24 hours a day, is believed to be one of the first of its kind in North Wales,

Wendy Williams on Gracie (left) and Laura Hafwen Jones on Ted having a hot chocolate at Mynydd Mostyn Dairy farm in the first week of January

Sara Bevan and her daughter Charley, 15, from Flint, were among those spotted queuing at the machine in the first week of January and they considered it worth the wait.

'I was brought up in Trelogan and I felt we should support a local business,' said Sara.

'It's the best milkshake I've ever had,' added Charley.

And friends Wendy Williams and Laura Hafwen Jones stopped by on their horses to enjoy cups of piping hot chocolate before continuing their ride.

Wendy said: 'It's gorgeous, and nice to have somewhere like this to pop into.'

Elsewhere, Will Lambourne runs Townsend Farm in Marsh Gibbon, near Bicester in Oxfordshire, with his father Adrian and brother Joel.

Mr Lambourne and his wife Abi came up with the idea to sell directly to consumers.

They now have hundreds of customers a week, with people travelling from neighbouring towns and villages to get their milk and flavoured shakes.

Will Lambourne and his wife Abi run Townsend Farm in Marsh Gibbon, near Bicester in Oxfordshire. They are now selling hundreds of bottles of fresh milk a day from their vending machines

The Lambournes sell pasturised milk from their vending machine which is in operation seven days a week, from 7am until 7pm

The Lambournes sell pasteurized milk from vending machines which are in operation seven days a week, from 7am until 7pm. Customers are able to take along their own bottles or purchase glass bottles from the farm.

And anyone looking to sweeten up their purchase can turn it into milkshake with 12 flavours available; from gingerbread, salted caramel and butterscotch, to candyfloss.

Mr Lambourne told MailOnline that he and his wife Abi had the idea to sell milk during the first lockdown, and in the first week of January they were serving more than 100 customers a day at The Milk Churn at Townsend Farm.

He said: 'It seemed so obvious while there was a shortage at supermarkets.

'There was an opportunity to help the community and serve directly to the consumer. There was also a desire for people to shop local, especially in such a rural area.

'As farmers we have to accept that we need to do more for the environment so we use glass bottles, with milk going straight from the farm to the customers' fridge.

Customers are able to take along their own bottles or purchase glass bottles from Townsend Farm

Will and Abi Lambourne also offer 12 milkshake syrups including chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, gingerbread, butterscotch, coffee, mint chocolate, Hob Nob and candyfloss

'It has gone really well so far and we've also started doing milkshakes which has really taken off.'

The village, which is just outside Bicester, is some six miles from the nearest shop so business is booming for the Lambourne family.

They sell fresh eggs alongside the milk and are looking to expand, with potential plans for a farmshop in the pipeline.

Mr Lambourne added: 'These are staple foods that everyone needs, and it also helps people avoid going into busy towns or supermarkets, where Covid is prevalent.

'We get a lot of comments about the quality of our milk, which is gently treated. And people are loving our milkshakes - with some customers coming back for several bottles at a time.

'People are asking us to make bread and run a farm shop so we're looking at whether it's financially viable.'
To the Editor,

Did you vote for Trump in 2020? If you did, can you stand up, put your red MAGA hat on and say that you are proud of that vote? Do you still believe the big lie that the election was stolen, just like those who believed him and stormed our beloved Capitol on Jan. 6? Did you know he lost upwards of 60 court cases? Some of those cases adjudicated by Trump appointed judges. Did you know that he attempted to browbeat the Republican Secretary of State of Georgia to find him more votes? Yet Trump repeats and repeats the lie, that he won by a landslide and that the election was stolen.

This dangerous ploy is straight out of the despots playbook: Tell a lie often enough and loud enough people will believe it. And this is what happened; this mob of Trumpers allowed themselves to be brainwashed by that very tactic. This mob was bent on destroying our democracy. Shame on those Republican senators and congressmen, especially Hawley & Cruz, who persisted in supporting Trump, turning their backs to the violence and mayhem. This mob just got finished trampling their workplace and some were intent on kidnapping lynching elected officials.

Was Trump culpable in inciting a riot? Lets just say that he and his family and Rudy threw the match that set the mob aflame, then he proceeded to lie again, telling this mob that he would be with them. In true Trump fashion, he, instead, turned tail and skulked, with his family, Rudy and other toadies to a White House bunker to gleefully watch the fireworks.

After the events became seriously out of hand, his staffers prompted him to make an announcement, unfortunately they should have written it for him. So his announcement goes something like this: the rioters were very special and please  go home in peace, then had the audacity to repeat the false claim about the election being stolen from him.

When will you Trumpers understand, he does not care about you?

My wife and I had the good fortune to visit Washington, DC a few years back, travelling with the Collinsville Chorale group that I belong to. Our group was privileged to sing at a Mass at St. Matthews Cathedral. You history buffs will recall that was the site of the JFK funeral Mass. Among other sites, we had the opportunity to visit the Capitol.

While we were in Statuary Hall, about 30 of us, looked at one another and said why not? We asked a Capitol policeman if it was OK for us to sing the National Anthem, he said no but go ahead anyhow. We sang the anthem in that beautiful place and you can imagine how acoustically enhanced the sound was. Most of us were in tears when we finished, tears of joy and pride.

My wife and I were in tears again after we witnessed what the mob did on Jan. 6.

Mike Cleary

Godfrey

(Natural News) The corporate medias use of questionable fact checkers to shape and censor information isnt new, though the practice has reached new heights during the pandemic. CHDs recent encounter with the New York Times is a perfect example.

(Article republished from ChildrensHealthDefense.org)

For many reasons, 2020 is likely to go down in history as a major turning point.

But one of the years most disturbing trends was the consolidation of an increasingly ruthless censorship regime intent on tightly controlling discussion about the coronavirus and related topics.

Outright bans on information can be rather clumsy. So the mainstream media  and the medias corporate and military-intelligence handlers  also had relied on soft censorship last year, using fact checkers to play whack-a-mole with persons and organizations who raised questions about officialdoms COVID-19 story and the pandemic response.

Fact checking had been gaining momentum as a circular feedback loop of verification to shape and censor information well before 2020. But those shepherding the coronavirus narrative have taken the practice to new heights.

As early as last April, journalist Matt Taibbi described how the mainstream media were dismissing anyone who questioned COVID-19 as expertise deniers. Taibbi chronicled the preference among media fact checkers for authoritative opinions to the exclusion of independent or less well-known sources.

This is a risky bias, Taibbi wrote, because Authorities by their nature are untrustworthy. Sometimes they have an interest in denying truths, and sometimes they actually try to define truth as being whatever they say it is.

Childrens Health Defenses (CHD) recent encounters with the New York Times fact-checking maneuvers provide a perfect case in point.

Conflating facts with misinformation

On Dec. 16, 2020, the New York Times published a barely restrained hit piece, written by Davey Alba and Sheera Frenkel, in which the reporters branded several individuals as misinformation peddlers.

Among other statements, the two journalists took CHD Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to task for alleging an unproven link between ingredients in Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine and anaphylactic reactions experienced by two British recipients of the vaccine.

After the Pfizer vaccines launch in the U.S., there were immediately more reports of allergic reactions.

In their vaguely worded slur, the Times reporters made no mention of the fact that UK experts, according to Reuters, had rapidly pinpointed polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the likely cause of the allergic reaction experienced by the UK healthcare workers who received the vaccine.

PEG, a stabilizer used in a process called pegylation, is present in both the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines.

Nor did the reporters disclose that Alba had contacted CHD staff one day previously. In her Dec.15 email, Alba said she was open to receiving more context about statements made by Kennedy and CHD about PEG. However, in their article, Alba and Frenkel made no mention of PEG.

Kennedy and CHD began raising questions about PEG well before the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines emergency use authorization in the U.S. and the UKs parallel go-ahead for the Pfizer jab. These questions were aired in an early August article on CHDs website, and in extensively referenced letters to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (on August 26 and September 25), and in additional articles and social media posts.

Willful ignorance

In her email to CHD, Alba asserted that PEGs dangers had been debunked in at least one fact-check article. The fact-checking organization she referenced is the London-based charity Full Fact.

Though Full Fact bills itself as independent, its top funders include Facebook, Google and Luminate (founded by the eBay-financed Omidyar Group), a typical donor profile for what The Corbett Report has called the murky world of information gatekeeping.

Full Fact brags about its work pioneering automated fact checking and charitable activities that include going into schools to tell students how to spot misinformation.

The Full Fact post referenced by Alba tackled the following statement about PEG, pulled from unspecified websites:

The mRNA vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer contain polyethylene glycol (PEG). 70% of people develop antibodies against this substance  this means that many people can develop allergic, potentially fatal reactions to the vaccination.

The scientific source for that statement is an easily findable and frequently cited peer-reviewed study published in 2016 in Analytical Chemistry, which found anti-PEG antibodies in approximately 72% of contemporary human samples.

Anti-PEG antibodies are a well-studied phenomenon, as evidenced by the fact that a PubMed search for anti PEG antibodies brings up over 32,000 results. Nevertheless, Full Fact concluded, We could find no evidence for the 70% figure the websites claim.

When CHD President Lyn Redwood highlighted the 2016 study in a detailed response to Alba  after Alba had invited CHD to provide a response to the fact check  Alba chose to ignore it.

In her email to Alba, Redwood also included the following:

Information about the conclusions of the 2016 study, which stated that anti-PEG antibodies, so alarmingly ubiquitous, have been associated with reduced efficacy of and/or adverse reactions to therapeutics modified with or containing PEG.

A copy of CHDs Sept. 25 letter to the FDA.

Links to two follow-up articles published by CHD in early December (here and here) following UK scientists acknowledgment of the plausible connection between the vaccines inclusion of PEG and post-vaccination anaphylaxis.

In addition, Redwood furnished Alba with a link to a Dec. 14 CHD press release containing CHDs strong recommendation (first articulated in the August and September letters to HHS, Dr. Fauci, and the FDA) to screen patients for anti-PEG antibodies prior to administering PEG-containing vaccines.

When Alba asked Redwood to distill CHDs response into a one- or two-sentence format, Redwood emphasized this critical point  that the FDA should require pre-screening of all mRNA vaccine recipients for anti-PEG antibodies and for drug allergies, as well as requiring monitoring of allergic and autoimmune reactions. However, in the Times article, the two reporters made no mention of CHDs crucial recommendation to screen for anti-PEG antibodies specifically, instead stating only that Kennedy had called for pre-screening and then claiming that regulators have already said they would do so.

In actuality, the FDA and those administering vaccines have pointedly ignored CHDs urgent recommendation, despite an admission from the director of FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) that PEG could be a culprit in the allergic reactions observed to date.

An HHS/FDA/CBER document issued in January 2019 even explicitly recognized the need to adequately understand the risk of anti-drug antibodies  in products with modifications such as pegylation.

Making up for the FDAs lack of regulatory zeal, some researchers are now recommending a series of screening questions that include asking patients whether they have a history of severe allergic reactions to injectable medications, other allergens, prior vaccines or PEG  and If people answer a certain number of questions in the affirmative, they should be skin-tested for PEG. If they test positive for that, they shouldnt get one of the new vaccines.

The chorus of cautions grows

As of early January, according to the Epoch Times, 1,156 individuals had reported adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The events reported include 308 emergency room visits, 17 life-threatening incidents and two individuals permanently disabled.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 5,052 healthcare workers self-reported serious health impact events using a smartphone app called v-safe within the first five days of the Pfizer vaccines rollout  these were adverse events requiring care from a fellow health professional and rendering the person unable to work or perform normal daily activities.

Five days after the Times carefully crafted dismissal of Kennedys and CHDs concerns as unproven, Science magazine published an article discussing scientists widening suspicions that the PEG compound in Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine might be triggering rare allergic reactions. By then, the official number of Pfizer vaccine recipients who had experienced severe allergy-like reactions had risen to at least eight.

According to Science, which cited much of the same evidence included in CHDs articles and letters  including the very same 2016 study that estimated that up to 72% of people have anti-PEG antibodies  PEGs were long thought to be biologically inert, but a growing body of evidence suggests they are not.

In December, the CDC updated its interim clinical considerations for use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized in the United States. The reformulated guidance advises clinicians to consider a history of immediate allergic reaction of any severity to any mRNA COVID-19 vaccine component  including PEG  as a contraindication to vaccination with both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

The updated CDC guidance also highlights as a contraindication a history of immediate allergic reaction of any severity to polysorbate (due to potential cross-reactive hypersensitivity with the vaccine ingredient PEG).

Will the New York Times now attack Science magazine and the CDC for being misinformation peddlers?

Read more at: ChildrensHealthDefense.org
Lebanon businesses have set up ways to donate to two families whose mothers died in a Lebanon City rowhouse fire this weekend.

Quentin Tavern Restaurant, which employed both women, put a statement on Facebook thanking the community for its well-wishes. It also set up the collection of gift cards for the two womens families.

The restaurant identified the women as Summer Boltz and Katisha Williams. Between the two of them, they had five children under 12 years old, according to respective GoFundMe pages.

Thank you all for your heartfelt condolences for our QT family and their families! Starting today and through the next... Posted by Quentin Tavern Restaurant on Sunday, January 24, 2021

In a statement to PennLive, general manager Lauren Borges said, This is a tragic time for all those who knew and loved them. The Quentin Tavern will always be grateful for the time Summer & Katie spent with us.

Borges described the women as beautiful, funny, outgoing, vibrant and inspiriting in so many ways.

She said that the women left everlasting impressions on our guests and employees.

The restaurant will do anything in its power to help their families during the grieving process, Borges said.

Lebanon Farmers Market also made a post accepting donations on behalf of Boltz, who is the daughter-in-law to one of the markets vendors.

Im sure youve heard about the fire in Lebanon. Three kids lost their mom. Summer was the daughter-in-law of Ken... Posted by Lebanon Farmers Market on Sunday, January 24, 2021

Outside of these donation efforts, GoFundMe pages for both women have been started with the main goal of helping with funeral costs and the care of the children.

According to the page set up for Williams, her children are 4 and 6 years old, with one being autistic. She had been raising the children as a single parent for the last five years.

The page for Boltz lists her kids as being 11, 7 and 3 years old.

Not only did her kids lose their mother but they lost, literally, everything they owned, the page states, saying that the home was destroyed.

While the kids are currently with their grandparents, the family now has to plan for their futures, the page states.

Fire officials told WPMT that the fire began in a kitchen trashcan in the middle rowhouse in the 300 block of North 11th Street around 6:10 a.m. Saturday. The fire spread to two other houses and fire crews were on the scene for several hours.

Members of the LFD on the scene of a fatal house fire, 316 N. 11th St. Two female occupants deceased. Investigation into cause ongoing. pic.twitter.com/DbNY0mDyV2  Lebanon City Fire Department (@LebanonPaFire) January 23, 2021

No additional details were released by fire officials.

Read more on PennLive:
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  The number of COVID-19 cases in the country's capital remains relatively flat despite the expected holiday surge, according to independent research group OCTA.

In its report released Monday, the OCTA group said the trend in Metro Manila has "leveled off" this month.

It said the reproduction rate in the National Capital Region was at 1.08 as of Jan. 23, while the number of new coronavirus cases only dipped 4 percent.

The OCTA group said the trend was similar in all local government units in Metro Manila, with no significant increase in cases.

The positivity rate in NCR was at 4 percent, still below the 5 percent limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

"The trends confirm that NCR was able to avert a holiday surge," the group said.

While this can be considered as a "momentary victory" for the capital, the OCTA group still urged Filipinos not to be complacent, especially now that the country has been witnessing an increasing number of cases of the new COVID-19 variant.

Meanwhile, the research team observed that both Mountain Province and Kalinga posted an increase in daily new COVID-19 cases as of Jan. 24, with high daily attack and positivity rates.

OCTAs latest report also noted that while Benguet did not have a spike in cases, the area's daily attack and positivity rates remained high.

The coronavirus situation in the northern regions stresses the "need to further scale up testing capacity," the OCTA group said.

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Patrick J. Solano died peacefully at home, surrounded by his wife and family, on Jan. 23, 2021. Born in Pittston on June 22, 1925, he was the son of the late Carlo and Mary Aita Solano.

In 1942, Pat graduated from Pittston Twp. High School and was drafted by the United States Army Air Corps, along with his brother Nick. He served as a flight engineer on 23 combat missions with the Eighth U.S. Air Force Heavy Bombardment Group, aboard the B-17 Flying Fortress. For his service he was awarded the Group Presidential Citation, the Air Force Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the European Combat Theatre Medal with two Bronze Stars.

Following WWII, Pat embarked on a lifetime of public service at both the local and state levels. He served in the administration of nine governors and was frequently recognized for being a trusted adviser, a voice of reason and a unifying force in the Pennsylvania Capitol.

As an avid outdoorsman, Pat was particularly proud of his service to the environment. He served as the deputy secretary of the Department of Environmental Resources and the acting secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. In 2013, the environmental learning center at Frances Slocum State Park was named in his honor.

Pat was a proud member of the Wyoming Rod & Gun Club and the founder of the Oak Ridge Sportsmans Club. He always reminded everyone at the cabin that the most important thing about a hunting trip was the camaraderie.

A lifelong resident of Pittston Twp., Pat grew up in Cork Lane, where he met his future wife, Marie Nocito. Married in 1954, Pat and Marie enjoyed a marriage rich in love and family traditions. The Solano house became the gathering place for weekly Sunday family dinners; Pat was always up for a card game, a party or a little something.

In addition to his parents, Pat was preceded in death by brothers, Nick and Frank Solano; and sisters, Mary Gubitoso and Carmel Insalaco.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Marie (Nocito) Solano; daughters, Mary Pat Augello and husband, Michael; Catherine Solano; Anita Bubul and husband, Thomas; Rita Zarra and husband, James; Liz Blaskiewicz and husband, Thomas; and Anne Branley and husband, Michael; 11 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; and many cherished friends.

The Solano family would like to thank Hospice of the Sacred Heart for the exceptional care given, especially by Sara and Krissy. They also extend their gratitude to Dr. Charles Manganiello, Dr. Michalene Torbik and Dr. Bruce Saidman.

Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of the Sacred Heart, 600 Baltimore Drive, Wilkes-Barre; St. Joseph Marello Parish, 237 William St., Pittston; Medical Oncology Associates Prescription Assistance Fund, 382 Pierce St., Kingston; or LCCC Veteran-Military Scholarship, 4525 Education Park Drive, Schnecksville.

Private funeral services will be held at the convenience of the family with a Mass of Christian Burial in St. Joseph Marello Parish, Pittston, and interment in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Carverton, with military honors.

Arrangements are entrusted to Adonizio Funeral Home LLC, 251 William St., Pittston. To leave an online condolence, visit Pats obituary at www.adoniziofuneralhome.com.
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[January 25, 2021] Tauriga Sciences Inc. Completes the Package Design for Its Cherry Lime Rickey Flavor, Caffeine Infused Tauri-Gum Version



The Tauri-Gum Product Line Now Consists of 7 SKUs: Pomegranate (CBD), Blood Orange (CBD), Peach-Lemon (CBG), Pear Bellini (Vitamin C & Zinc), Mint (CBD), Black Currant (CBG), Cherry Lime Rickey (Caffeine) NEW YORK, NY, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, with a proprietary line of CBD & CBG infused Supplement chewing gums (Flavors: Pomegranate, Blood Orange, Peach-Lemon, Pear Bellini, Mint, Black Currant) as well as an ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative, today announced that it has completed the package design for its Cherry Lime Rickey flavor, Caffeine infused version of Tauri-Gum. This product is the 7th SKU of the Companys flagship product line and brand, Tauri-Gum. The Company expects that inventory, for this Caffeine infused version of Tauri-Gum, will arrive during this current Quarter (4th Fiscal Quarter of 2021). Each piece of chewing gum is infused with 50mg of Caffeine (roughly equivalent to a 5oz. cup of coffee). In other news, the Company has completed the construction of its Product Showroom  located within its new Corporate Headquarters (Wappingers Falls, New York). The Company continues to experience strong levels of interest in its proprietary products and product lines, from a broad array of prospective Retail, Distribution, Dispensaries, Individual, E-Commerce, Product Development, and Institutional (i.e. Potential Federal Government Contract) customer(s)/partner(s). ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, engaged in several major business activities and initiatives. The company manufactures and distributes several proprietary retail products and product lines, mainly focused on the Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabigerol (CBG) Edibles market segment. The main product line, branded as Tauri-Gum, consists of a proprietary supplement chewing gum that is Kosher certified, Halal certified, and Vegan Formulated (CBD Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Mint, Blood Orange, Poegranate), (CBG Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Peach-Lemon, Black Currant) & (Vitamin C + Zinc Immune Booster Flavor: Pear Bellini). The Companys commercialization strategy consists of a broad array of retail customers, distributors, and a fast-growing E-Commerce business segment (E-Commerce website: www.taurigum.com). Please visit our corporate website, for additional information, as well as inquiries, at http://www.tauriga.com



Complementary to the Companys retail business, is its ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative. This relates to the development of a proposed Pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum, for nausea regulation (specifically designed for the following indication: Patients Subjected to Ongoing Chemotherapy Treatment). On March 18, 2020, the Company announced that it had filed a provisional U.S. patent application covering its pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum. The Patent, filed with the U.S.P.T.O. is Titled MEDICATED CBD COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. On December 18, 2020 the Company disclosed that it had entered into a Master Services Agreement with CSTI to lead the Company's clinical development efforts. On October 6, 2020, the Company announced that it has been approved to operate as a U.S. Government Vendor (CAGE CODE # 8QXV4)

The Company is headquartered in Wappingers Falls, New York. In addition, the Company operates a full time E-Commerce fulfillment center located in LaGrangeville, New York. DISCLAIMER -- Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. 4 Nancy Court, Suite 4 Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 Chief Executive Officer Mr. Seth M. Shaw Email: sshaw@tauriga.com cell # (917) 796 9926 Company Instagram: @taurigum Personal Instagram: @sethsms47 Twitter: @SethMShaw Corp. Website: www.tauriga.com E-Commerce Website: www.taurigum.com Attachment 1_25_2021 PR Image



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Australia will face significant pressure to join US military action in the Taiwan Strait if Chinas military escalates threats to its island neighbour, say strategic experts, after days of harassment from Chinese bombers and fighter jets.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds on Monday called for restraint and peace after China sent more than two dozen warplanes over the strait at the weekend.

The show of force came days after US President Joe Bidens inauguration and the publication of the Trump administrations Indo-Pacific strategy, which recommitted the US to defending Taiwan.

A Taiwanese Air Force F-16 in the foreground flies on the flank of a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force H-6 bomber in 2020. Credit:AP

The Australian government continues to watch very carefully what is happening in the Taiwan Strait, Reynolds said. We would say to all parties to settle their disputes peacefully and to do it in accordance with international law. And to take into consideration the wishes of people on both sides of the strait.
Sophia the female robot has made headlines around the world. (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images)

An intelligent robot that made headlines when it said, I will destroy all humans, is to be mass-produced  and could help cure loneliness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The humanoid, called Sophia, has gone viral with various alarming performances since being unveiled in 2016, but will go into mass-production this year.

Its makers said it would be used to help the sick and elderly.

Watch: Sophia's creators plan an army of robots in 2021

Read more: Humanoid robot to make music video debut

Hanson Robotics, based in Hong Kong, said four models, including Sophia, would start being produced in the first half of 2021.

Founder and chief executive David Handon said: The world of COVID-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe.

Sophia and Hanson robots are unique by being so human-like. That can be so useful during these times where people are terribly lonely and socially isolated.

Sophia delivers a speech in Mexico in 2019 (ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP)

Hanson said he believed robots could help in healthcare settings, and also in retail and travel.

Sophie said in a meeting with the Reuters news agency: Social robots like me can take care of the sick or elderly.

I can help communicate, give therapy and provide social stimulation, even in difficult situations.

Hanson said he aimed to sell thousands of robots in 2021.

Robots have already found new roles during the pandemic: SoftBank Robotics Pepper robot was deployed to detect people who werent wearing masks.

Read more: Humanoid robot will aid in disaster zones

And in China, robotics company CloudMinds helped set up a robot-run field hospital during the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Sophia has silicon skin and facial expressions  and can actually remember her interactions with people, Hanson has said.

Shes no stranger to alarming statements, most notably with her answer to an interviewers question, Do you want to destroy the human race?

OK, the smiling Sophia intoned. I will destroy all humans.

When asked this month whether people should fear robots, Sophia had an answer ready.

Story continues

Someone said, We have nothing to fear but fear itself, the robot mused. What did he know?

Watch: Meet the hospital-cleaning singing robot
CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Arab League (AL) welcomed on Sunday the understandings reached by the two parties of the conflict in Libya on unifying national institutions and sovereign positions.

Two delegations from the High Council of State of Libya and the Libyan House of Representatives concluded on Saturday two-day talks in the Moroccan city Bouznika, agreeing to form small working groups to take procedural steps concerning the occupants of the positions of sovereignty.

Both sides also agreed that the work groups will design nomination applications, invite candidates, ensure that nominations conform to the established criteria and conditions, and receive nomination forms and resumes of candidates from January 26 to February 2.

The sovereign positions are the heads and deputy heads of the Central Bank of Libya, Administrative Control Authority, Audit Bureau, Anti-Corruption Commission, and High Electoral Commission.

The AL welcomes the understandings reached by the two rivals in the Libyan conflict, the AL General Secretariat said in a statement, adding that the Arab group supports all national efforts aimed at reaching an integrated political settlement of the Libyan crisis.

The agreement in Bouznika came a few days after the Constitutional Committee comprising Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives and the Tripoli-based High Council of State agreed to hold a constitutional referendum before the general elections scheduled to be held on Dec. 24.

During the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum held on Nov. 7-15, 2020 in Tunisia's capital Tunis, 75 Libyans representing the social and political spectrum of the Libyan society discussed a political roadmap to achieve lasting peace in war-torn Libya and agreed to hold general elections in the country on Dec. 24, 2021.

Libya has been locked in a civil war since the ouster and killing of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The situation escalated in 2014, splitting power between two rival governments: the UN-backed Government of National Accord based in the capital Tripoli and another in the northeastern city of Tobruk allied with the eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Share of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) fell over 4% in early trade after the conglomerate reported Q3 revenue, which fell below estimates. RIL share plunged 4.7% to Rs 1,953.40 against previous close of Rs 2,049.65 on BSE.

Stock of RIL opened marginally higher at Rs 2,052. RIL's market cap fell to Rs 12.49 lakh crore. RIL stock has lost 5.93% in the last 2 days.

RIL share trades higher than 50 day and 200 day moving averages but lower than 5 day, 20 day and 100 day moving averages. The stock has risen 29.54% in one year but fallen 0.68% since the beginning of this year.

Consolidated revenue of Mukesh Ambani-led oil-to-telecom conglomerate declined 22 per cent to Rs 128,450 crore in Q3 compared to Rs 1,60,447 crore in the year ago period.

However, the firm reported a 12.5 per cent year-on-year growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 13,101 crore in Q3 due to strong rebound across all businesses. The company reported a net profit of Rs 11,640 crore in corresponding period of last year.

"The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic globally and in India is causing significant disturbance and slowdown of economic activity. The Group's operations and revenue during the period were impacted due to COVID-19," the conglomerate said.

Here's a look at what brokerages said post Q3 earnings of the firm.

Credit Suisse has a neutral call on Reliance Industries with a target price of Rs 1,930. Q3 was a weak one across Retail, O2C & Jio. However, there was good ramp-up in JioMart and Fashion segment. The brokerage cut FY22E/FY23 estimates for earnings per share by 4%/3% due to slow recovery in refining margins, slow pace of net subscriber additions and tepid recovery in retail.

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs has given a buy call on RIL stock with a target price of Rs 2,390. It said the third quarter earnings were in line with expectations. O2C carve out is underway as consumer business continues to grow. The brokerage sees earnings recovery along with catalysts around telecom tariff hikes and new product launches.

Share Market News Live: Sensex drops 150 points, Nifty at 14,260; HUL, M&M, Maruti, NTPC, ITC top losers

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  As consumers deal with rising food prices, the Agriculture Department has recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte price ceilings for pork and chicken sold in the National Capital Region.

Under their proposed executive order, Agriculture Secretary William Dar called for the imposition of these ceilings of 270 per kilogram for kasim and pigue, 300 per kilogram for liempo, and 160 per kilogram for dressed chicken in Metro Manila for 60 days.

Dar said this is to prevent even more price hikes on the country's meat supply, along with the illegal manipulation of prices for basic goods by "opportunistic" businesses. The proposal also aims to help Filipinos still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We know that the very problem of the most of the poorer sector of society ay ang kakulangan ng pera po nila para may sapat na pambili ng mga basic commodities," Dar said during a virtual briefing on Monday.

[Translation: We know that the very problem of the most of the poorer sector of society is the lack of money which allows for enough budget for purchasing basic commodities.]

The official likewise revealed they will work more with the Philippine Competition Commission in investigating sellers and traders possibly involved in the manipulation of meat prices. The competition watchdog is part of the economic intelligence group, which conducts monitoring and surveillance of food costs.

Other agencies are the Justice Department, National Bureau of Investigation, Interior Department, Philippine National Police, Trade Department, and the Agriculture Department itself.

Pork prices have been going up recently with supply still taking a hit as some pork-producing provinces reel from African swine fever outbreaks.

RELATED: 10M to help stabilize pork supply, prices

Of the DA's recommendation, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a separate briefing that they "leave it to the President."
(Newser)  Chinese rescuers have found the bodies of nine workers killed in explosions at a gold mine, raising the death toll to 10, officials said Monday. Eleven others were rescued a day earlier after being trapped underground for two weeks at the mine in Shandong province. One person is still missing. Chen Yumin, director of the rescue group, told reporters that the nine workers recovered Monday died more than 1,320 feet below ground. He said there had been two explosions about an hour and a half apart, with the second explosion causing more damage, reports the AP. Search efforts will continue for the remaining miner until he is found, said Chen Fei, the mayor of Yantai city, where the mine is located. "Until this worker is found, we will not give up," he said at a news conference.

story continues below

Chen and other officials involved in the rescue effort held a moment of silence for the victims, bowing their heads. "Our hearts are deeply grieved. We express our profound condolences, and we express deep sympathies to the families of the victim," he said. The cause of the accident at the mine, which was under construction, is under investigation. The explosions on Jan. 10 released 70 tons of debris that blocked a shaft, disabling elevators and trapping workers underground. Rescuers drilled parallel shafts to send down food and nutrients and eventually bring up the survivors on Sunday. Authorities have detained mine managers for delaying reporting the accident. Such protracted and expensive rescue efforts are relatively new in Chinas mining industry, which used to average 5,000 deaths per year.

(Read more trapped miners stories.)
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden on Monday reinstated COVID-19 travel restrictions on most non-U.S. travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders. He also added South Africa to the list.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said South Africa was added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation.

This isnt the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel, Psaki said.

The prohibition Biden is reinstating suspends entry to nearly all foreign nationals who have been in any of the countries on the restricted list at any point during the 14 days before their scheduled travel to the U.S.

Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called Bidens decision to reinstate the travel restrictionsand add South Africa to the list prudent in a round of television interviews Monday.

We have concern about the mutation thats in South Africa, Fauci told CBS This Morning. Were looking at it very actively. It is clearly a different and more ominous than the one in the U.K., and I think its very prudent to restrict travel of noncitizens.

Biden reversed an order from President Donald Trump in his final days in office that called for the relaxation of the travel restrictions as of Tuesday. Trumps move was made in conjunction with a new requirement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that all international travelers to the U.S. obtain a negative test for COVID-19 within three days of boarding their flight.

 READ MORE: The pandemic took a big bite out of Phillys tax base. What happens if suburbanites keep working from home?

Last week, Biden expanded on the CDC requirement and directed that federal agencies require international travelers to quarantine upon arrival in the U.S. and obtain another negative test to slow the spread of the virus. Those requirements also go into effect Tuesday.

The State Department said in a statement that U.S. citizens should reconsider non-essential travel abroad, noting that access to testing in some nations remains difficult. The agency also cautioned Americans to consider ahead of international travel how theyd pay for health care and additional lodging costs if they became infected or hospitalized while travelling.

The 26 European countries impacted by reinstatement of the ban are part of the border-free Schengen zone. They include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Bidens team had announced that he would reimpose the travel restrictions, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list highlights the new administrations concern about mutations in the virus.

The South Africa variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variant  originating in the United Kingdom  has been detected in several states.

Fauci said there is a very slight, modest diminution of the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against those variants but theres enough cushion with the vaccines that we have that we still consider them to be effective against both the UK strain and the South Africa strain.

But he warned that more mutations are possible and said scientists are preparing to adapt the vaccines if necessary.

We really need to make sure that we begin, and we already have, to prepare if its necessary to upgrade the vaccines, Fauci said. Were already taking steps in that direction despite the fact that the vaccines we have now do work.
Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage, LLC (ACCS) and the State of Alaska executed a 55-year lease agreement at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), marking a major milestone in the development of a more than 700,000-square-foot, climate-controlled warehouse facility. With 32.5 million cubic feet of capacity, the facility will provide ANC with a critical piece of infrastructure at the worlds sixth-busiest cargo airport.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210124005094/en/

Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage, LLC signed a 55-year ground lease with the State of Alaska for a 700,000-square-foot cold storage facility strategically located at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, the sixth-busiest cargo airport in the world. (Photo: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport)

This project will improve shipping to and through Anchorage, create jobs, and show the world that Alaska is open for business, said Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Were excited about the potential this integral piece of the global cold chain has to make Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Alaska a more attractive place for global companies to do business.

ACCS is a joint venture of industrialist Chad Brownstein and McKinley Capital Management, LLC (McKinley Capital), which is led by Rob Gillam. Brownstein is the founder of Rocky Mountain Resources which has aggregated an industrial complex throughout the Mountain West. Gillam is the chief executive officer and chief investment officer at McKinley Capital.

Located on the Great Circle Route, ANC is within 9.5 hours of 90% of key markets in Asia, Europe and North America. Illustrating this importance, during COVID-19 air travel disruptions, ANC was the busiest airport in the world on select days in 2020. Historically, a limited supply of warehouse and transfer facilities at ANC designates ANCs air cargo support as gas-and-go. Brownstein and Gillam say the development of ACCS  located runway-adjacent and within a Foreign Trade Zone  will position ANC to be transformed into a key cold chain transfer hub for global air cargo carriers.

We believe Alaska offers world-class development and investment opportunities, said Gillam. ACCS is a clear instance. There are many industries that require cold storage. One example is Alaska seafood, one of Alaskas biggest exports, and its shipped globally. For decades, almost no value-added or fresh production occurred in-state. ACCS will lead the way in changing that trend. Now, Alaska can capitalize on its valuable position as a hub between North America and Asia. We see this project as something with potential to increase air cargo traffic and spur local economic development. Were confident ACCS will ultimately bring more dollars and jobs into Anchorage and across the state.

The addition of this facility with cold storage capabilities brings new opportunity for the global distribution tenants and customers already benefitting from the unique features of the Anchorage trade and tariff exemptions, said Brownstein. The facility will serve as the cold storage gateway between the Americas, Asia, and Europe, and further integrate Alaska into the global cold chain.

Cargo carriers and their industry partners are recognizing the advantages of operating at ANC. ACCSs new facility will strengthen our already powerful cargo network, said Airport Director Jim Szczesniak. ANC offers daily, nonstop freighter service to more than 30 destinations and near daily service to an additional 20. This facility will allow perishables to be consolidated from North America and Latin America and then distributed to freighters bringing perishables closer to the consumer. Cutting the time from field or sea to the consumer will provide a better product.

In September 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), a $21 million BUILD grant to administer in support of the ACCS project.

Its incredible to be a part of this project that has the potential to improve Alaskas position on the global supply chain, said AEA Executive Director Curtis W. Thayer. Our partnership with the ACCS team enables AEA to deploy its expertise to assure that the best of cutting-edge technology will make the building a showpiece in energy-efficiency.

The facility will be constructed in phases. The first phase will be roughly 190,000 square feet with plans to begin construction in the second half of 2021. When fully completed, the facility will offer cold and warm storage, quick cargo, and general warehousing options, logistics services, and auxiliary space for tenant offices.

About Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage, LLC

Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage, LLC (ACCS) is a joint venture of industrialist Chad Brownstein and McKinley Capital Management, LLC (McKinley Capital), which is led by Rob Gillam. Brownstein is the founder of Rocky Mountain Resources which has aggregated an industrial complex throughout the Mountain West. Gillam is the chief executive officer and chief investment officer at McKinley Capital. ACCS signed a 55-year ground lease with the State of Alaska to develop a secure, more than 700,000-square-foot and 32.5 million-cubic-foot, climate-controlled warehouse facility at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210124005094/en/




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11th round of India-China military commander level talks likely to be held on Friday

India stood up Chinas disruptive use of technology and my way or no way attitude: CDS

Minor face-off at Naku La, was resolved by local commanders clarifies Indian Army

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Indian Army has clarified that there were several queries regarding a face off between the Indian Army and the PLA troops in the Sikkim border.

It has been clarified that there was a minor face-off at the Naku La area of Northern Sikkim on January 20th. The same was resolve3d y the local commanders as per established protocols, the Army clarified.

We have received several queries regarding a face-off between Indian Army and PLA troops in Sikkim sector. It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on 20 January and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols," the Indian Army said in a statement.

Meanwhile the 9th round of the India China Corps Commander level talks ended at 2.30 am on Monday.

The meeting lasted for over 15 hours and began at 11 am on Sunday at Moldo opposite Chushul in the Eastern Ladakh sector.

The talks were held after a gap of over two and half months. Officials familiar with the developments told OneIndia that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and escalation at the friction points.

India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points and no selective approach was acceptable to it.

Close to 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh as both sides have been holding on to their ground and showing readiness for a long-haul, amid continuing diplomatic and military talks to find an amicable solution.

Reflecting India's firm approach in handling the situation, Army chief Gen MM Naravane nearly two weeks back said that Indian troops will hold their ground as long as it takes to achieve the "national goals and objectives" even as he hoped for an amicable resolution of the row through talks.

Sunday's talks took place nearly two weeks after India handed back to China a soldier of the People's Liberation Army after apprehending him at the southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. It is learnt that India's gesture has generated a positive atmosphere.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps.
On the other hand, 2021 Ford F-150 owners might want to wait a little bit more before installing Android 11 on their smartphones, as the update appears to be causing quite a mess in their cars.Some say Android Auto is no longer detected after installing Android 11, while others claim the wireless mode has been completely broken down in their 2021 F-150. Ironically, Android 11 brings major wireless mode improvements for Android Auto, as it unlocks this feature for all devices; previously, wireless connections were only available on Google Pixel and Samsung phones.At this point, it looks like Samsung phones are mostly hit by the problem. The South Korean company started offering the Android 11 update in December 2020 for its flagship lineup of devices, including Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note20, S10, and Note10. All are now reportedly struggling with Android Auto in a 2021 F-150, with no workaround known to exist.I have the same issue. 2021 Ford F-150 and Samsung Galaxy S20. It worked fine at first until, like others have reported, my phone updated to Android 11. After that, it's a no go. The only way to get it to work is to delete data EVERY time I get in the truck and have to re-setup AA. This is a pain and also hit or miss, one user explains on Googles forums where several F-150 owners are complaining of the same problem after installing Android 11 on their devices.The good news is Google has already acknowledged the issue, and according to a member of the Android Auto , an investigation is currently underway. In other words, the search giant is looking into it, but at this point, theres no ETA as to when a fix could land.

(Newser)  Former President Trump is out of the White House, but that hasn't stopped the Arizona Republican Party from doubling down on its support for himand censuring those it considers disloyal. At the end of a seven-hour meeting Saturday, party members voted by a wide margin to censure Gov, Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake, and Cindy McCain, widow of Sen. John McCain, the New York Times reports. All three attended the inauguration of President Biden, the first Democrat to carry the state since Bill Clinton in 1996. They were censured for "failures" including Ducey's introduction of COVID restrictions, McCain's "support of leftist causes such as gay marriage," and Flake's supposed abandonment of "true Republican values." Flake and McCain both endorsed Biden for president.

story continues below

After the November election, Arizona now has two Democratic senators for the first time in nearly 70 years, and some Republicans say Saturday's symbolic censures will only drive more people away from the GOP. "Parties that want to be successful bring people together and expand the number of people who are attracted to the party," Glenn Hamer, former executive director of the Arizona GOP, tells CNN. "What's going on with the leadership at the AZ GOP is the exact opposite. It's self-destructive." The party censured John McCain in 2014. "It is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so welland who, like my late husband John, have been censured by the AZGOP," Cindy McCain tweeted. "I'll wear this as a badge of honor. On Saturday, the party also re-elected chairperson Kelli Ward, a staunch Trump ally who strongly supported the former president's election fraud claims. (Read more Arizona stories.)
A Nagpur Bench of the Bombay HC modified an order sentencing a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl

Mumbai: Groping a minor's breast without "skin to skin contact" cannot be termed as sexual assault as defined under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Bombay High Court has said.

Justice Pushpa Ganediwala of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, in a judgement passed on 19 January, the detailed copy of which was made available now, held that there must be "skin to skin contact with sexual intent" for an act to be considered sexual assault.

She said in her verdict that mere groping will not fall under the definition of sexual assault.

Justice Ganediwala modified the order of a Sessions court, which had sentenced a 39-year-old man to three years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

As per the prosecution and the minor victim's testimony in court, in December 2016, the accused, one Satish, had taken the girl to his house in Nagpur on the pretext of giving her something to eat.

Once there, he gripped her breast and attempted to remove her clothes, Justice Ganediwala recorded in her verdict.

However, since he groped her without removing her clothes, the offence cannot be termed as sexual assault and, instead, constitutes the offence of outraging a woman's modesty under IPC section 354, the high court held.

While section 354 entails a minimum sentence of imprisonment for one year, sexual assault under the POCSO Act entails a minimum imprisonment of three years.

The Sessions court had sentenced him to three years of imprisonment for the offences under the POCSO Act and under IPC section 354. The sentences were to run concurrently. The high court, however, acquitted him under the POCSO Act while upholding his conviction under IPC section 354.

"Considering the stringent nature of punishment provided for the offence (under POCSO), in the opinion of this court, stricter proof and serious allegations are required," HC said.

"The act of pressing of breast of the child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside the top and pressed her breast, would not fall in the definition of sexual assault," it said.

Justice Ganediwala further said in her verdict that "the act of pressing breast can be a criminal force to a woman/ girl with the intention to outrage her modesty".

The POCSO Act defines sexual assault as when someone "with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault".

The court, in its verdict, held that this "physical contact" mentioned in the definition of sexual assault must be "skin to skin" or direct physical contact.

"Admittedly, it is not the case of the prosecution that the appellant removed her top and pressed her breast. As such, there is no direct physical contact i.e. skin to skin with sexual intent without penetration," the HC said.
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Lori Vallow's brother called her new husband, alleged doomsday cult leader Chad Daybell, for a 'blessing' on the day he died, a police report has revealed.

The brother, Alex Cox, died aged 51 on December 12, 2019, in Gilbert, Arizona. An autopsy determined he died of natural causes with blood clots in his lungs and the overdose drug Narcan in his system.

Earlier this month authorities released a 59-page report with new details about Cox's death. The report, which was heavily redacted, said that Cox had been feeling short of breath for days, and that he got a 'blessing over the phone' from a 'friend' just hours before he died.

The East Idaho News identified that friend as Chad - who had married Cox's sister Lori a few weeks earlier.

The report also revealed that Cox was under investigation for two deaths at the time of his own - Chad's wife Tammy Daybell and Lori's previous husband Charles Vallow.

Months after he died, Cox was implicated in two more deaths as the bodies of his niece and nephew, Lori's children Tylee Ryan and Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, were found buried on Chad's property in Salem, Idaho, last June.

Tylee, 16, and JJ, seven, disappeared in September 2019 but were never reported missing by their mother, their uncle or Chad. Investigators believe Cox helped bury the bodies hours after the children vanished, according to affidavits for Lori and Chad's arrests. The couple are currently behind bars awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to hide the kids' remains.

Alex Cox, died aged 51 on December 12, 2019, in Gilbert, Arizona. An autopsy determined he died of natural causes with blood clots in his lungs and the overdose drug Narcan in his system. A new report claims he called his sister Lori Vallow's husband, Chad Daybell, for a 'blessing' hours before he died

Investigators believe Cox was involved in the murders of his sister Lori's children, Joshua 'JJ' Vallow and Tylee Ryan (pictured with him before they vanished in September 2019)

Chad Daybell (left) and Lori Vallow (right) are currently behind bars awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to hide the remains of her children, who were found buried on Chad's property in June 2020

The report on Cox's death was released as a new video of him performing a stand-up comedy in 2010 resurfaced online.

In the skit, Cox talks about how he found religion while serving jail time the year before.

'Okay, I was fortunate enough to do a little jail time last year,' he said.

'I'll confess to you guys  you ever had something that you knew was the right thing to do, but later on, it turns out it's a felony?

'I'm not that mean, I'm a felon. While I was in jail, I also had a religious experience. I found Jesus.'

It's believed the felony Cox was referring to was his conviction for aggravated assault in Travis County, Texas, in 2007.

Court documents from the incident alleged that Cox tasered and threatened to kill Lori's third husband, Joseph Ryan, amid a custody dispute over their daughter Tylee. He ended up pleading guilty and served three months in prison.

The report on Cox's death was released as a new video of him performing a stand-up comedy in 2010 resurfaced online. In the skit, Cox talks about how he found religion while serving jail time the year before. 'While I was in jail, I also had a religious experience. I found Jesus,' he said

Twelve years later Cox became embroiled in another custody dispute between Lori and her fourth husband, Charles, in July 2019.

Charles had gone to Lori's home in Chandler, Arizona, to pick up there adoptive son JJ - who has autism - when the couple got in an argument.

Alex intervened and ultimately shot Charles in the chest. Police initially determined that he acted in self defense - but the case was later reopened amid a multi-state search for JJ and Tylee.

After Charles' death, Lori moved her children to Idaho, and Cox went with them, renting an apartment in the same complex. The kids disappeared a few weeks later.

Family members have speculated that Lori and her brother moved to Idaho to be close to Chad, who allegedly led a 'doomsday cult' called Preparing a People. Members of the group have said both Lori and Cox were involved.

Cox left Idaho for Arizona weeks before his death and married a woman named Zulema Pastenes on November 29, 2019.

The report on Cox's death indicated that Pastenes, too, was a member of Preparing a People, according to an interview her daughter gave police.

The daughter said that Pastenes originally planned to move to Idaho, but Cox ended up moving in with her in Arizona instead.

It was at that same home that Cox was found collapsed on the bathroom floor by Pastenes' 25-year-old son on December 12, according to the report.

In a recording of a 911 call, the son was heard telling dispatchers that he found his mother's husband gasping for air with vomit coming out of his mouth.

Cox was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead soon after.

Investigators tried to speak with Pastenes at the hospital, she refused, after a family member apparently told her not to talk without an attorney present.

Police later obtained a search warrant for Pastenes' home and seized several undisclosed items.

It wasn't until last spring that authorities finally released the autopsy report for Cox, revealing that he died of natural causes.

However, the latest report indicates that the investigation into his death remains ongoing.

Police are also continuing investigations into the deaths of Lori's fourth husband Charles and Chad's first wife Tammy.

Tammy passed away in her sleep on October 19, 2019, according to an obituary. Chad reportedly declined an autopsy and her death was ruled to be from natural causes.

Investigators reopened the case after learning that JJ and Tylee were missing, as their mother had married Chad just two weeks after Tammy died. They believe the two cases could be linked.

Tammy's body was exhumed on December 11, 2019 - one day before Cox died. The results of her autopsy have not yet been released.

Meanwhile Lori and Chad are preparing to face a joint trial in June 2021.

Lori is facing two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, as well as three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing officers, solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.

Chad is also charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, along with two other felony counts for destruction or concealment of evidence.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty and have maintained their innocence.

Neither Chad nor Lori have been accused of harming Tylee or JJ. Authorities have yet to say how the children died, or whether homicide charges will be filed in the future.

Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua 'JJ' Vallow (pictured) were found buried on the property of Lori's husband Chad in June, nine months after they disappeared. An investigation into the children's deaths remains ongoing as Lori and Chad face charges for conspiring to hide their bodies

In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell's residence in the 200 block of 1900 East in Salem, Idaho on June 9
Several tens of thousands of people protested on Saturday in over 100 Russian cities to demand the release of Alexei Navalny, a right-wing opponent of the Putin government. He was detained the previous Sunday after his return from Germany on the grounds that he had violated the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence for money-laundering. Prior to his arrival in Moscow, the Kremlin publicly announced that he would be arrested upon landing in Russia.

Before his return, Navalny spent five months in Germany after falling ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. He was flown to the Charite hospital in Berlin, thanks to the direct involvement of German chancellor Angela Merkel. Based on the findings of a German army laboratory, it was claimed that Navalny had been poisoned by Novichok, a highly deadly nerve agent. Despite the absence of any evidence, Western governments and press have insisted Putin is the culprit.

The largest protest occurred in Moscow. According to the Russian business daily Kommersant, over 15,000 people participated. A much larger figure cited by Reuters40,000has not been confirmed by other outlets, and even the German news magazine Spiegel, which has been heavily pro-Navalny, called it into question. Claims made by Navalnys staff that hundreds of thousands participated across the country have not been reported by other sources.

Protests in support of Alex Navalny (Image Credit: Twitter/kirkartstudio1)

Kommersant noted that despite efforts of Navalny supporters to promote the demonstrations on the popular social media platform TikTok, relatively few youth participated in Moscow. In 2017, Navalnys opposition was able to exploit broader social and political discontent and turn out larger numbers of youth at his protests.

This past Saturday, demonstrators demands were confined to anti-corruption slogans, Putin go away and for Navalny to be released. Nothing addressed the staggering social crisis in the country or the COVID pandemic, which has infected more than 3.5 million people and killed, based on official estimates, over 65,000.

The police cracked down heavily on the protests. According to Russian NGOs, over 3,300 people were arrested, more than 1,400 of them in Moscow. One of Navalnys closest allies, Leonid Volkov, indicated in an interview with Der Spiegel that in many regions those detained were almost exclusively members of Navalnys local staff.

Volkov gloated that sections of the security apparatus, especially within the police, seem to be going over to the side of the opposition. Reports in the Russian press suggest that the Stalinist KPRF, which long has been a crucial prop of the Putin regime, is now divided over Navalny, with some of its leading members backing him.

The alleged poisoning of Navalny by the Kremlin is a dubious case riddled with lies and outright contradictions. To this day, contrary to what the New York Times and other outlets tell their readers, it has not been proven that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, much less that Putin or the Russian secret service had anything to do with his illness.

Just after his return to Russia and arrest, Navalnys YouTube channel published a two-hour video about corruption by the Putin regime. It supposedly exposed the construction of a massive palace for Putin with taxpayer money on the shores of the Black Sea. His team also released a list of officials close to Putin that it demands be sanctioned by the European Union. The list includes several of Russias richest oligarchs, such as Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov.

Navalnys video has been watched over 80 million times as of this writing. It insists that corruption and theft have marked Putins path from his time as a KGB (Soviet secret service) officer in East Germany in the 1980s to the head of the Kremlin. It mostly deals with facts and figures that have long been known.

The anti-corruption mantrawhich is the axis around which Navalnys supposed opposition to Putin orbitsis a hallmark of right-wing, pro-capitalist tendencies. It is easily manipulated and exploited by the imperialist powers, who seek to cloak their own predatory interests behind claims that they care about the democratic rights of whatever people happen to be in the country in which they wish to meddle. The Western press has deliberately kept its readers in the dark about the political orientation and history of, as the New York Times declares, this international hero.

For all his anti-corruption demagogy, Navalny ultimately speaks for the same class interests as Putin. It is not a coincidence that in all of his exposures Navalny never once mentions the term capitalism. Whatever the criminality of Putins path, it was not unique: the plunder of social wealth amidst the mass impoverishment of the working class was the hallmark of the Stalinist destruction of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the restoration of capitalism. Navalny and the forces for which he speaks were as much a part of this process as Putin and oligarchs like Abramovich.

Navalnys father was a Red Army officer and his mother an economist and Communist Party member. They opened a factory in the 1990s, while Navalny himself went into banking and became an entrepreneur. Expressing the social-Darwinist and even fascistic moods that became dominant within this parasitic layer, Navalny would later state, I wanted a market economy in the most wicked formthe strongest survive, the rest are simply superfluous.

Navalnys hatred of the working class has found its clearest expression in his political proximity to far-right forces. He has appeared at numerous far-right marches in the past, where he has spoken, much as he does now, about corruption and the crooks and thieves at the top. In a politically filthy agitational video by the nationalist NAROD group, he compared the deportation of immigrants with the work of a dentist who removes a cavity while preserving the healthy roots of a tooth.

He advocates a right-wing program of free markets, economic austerity, cutting taxes and red tape for corporations, the privatization of semi-state-owned enterprises and the deepening of Russias bonds with global finance capital.

Navalny speaks for a section of Russias ruling and upper-middle classes that not only seeks to gain greater access to much of the wealth and resources that are now controlled by Putin and his allies, but also advocate for a foreign policy that is much more closely aligned with the aims of Western imperialism. Navalny has publicly opposed Russias support for separatists in East Ukraine and has criticized Putin for his ties to the president of China.

The promotion of Navalny is in line with the regime-change operations employed by the US and other imperialist powers elsewhere. The coup in Ukraine in 2014, orchestrated by Washington and Berlin, also relied on far-right forces and the mobilization of sections of the oligarchy. The incoming Biden administration in Washington is stacked with figures who played a central role in this event.

The pro-Navalny frenzy of recent months has to be understood within the context of the crisis triggered by the pandemic. The imperialist powers, above all the US and Germany, have sought to use the anti-Russia campaign to divert growing class tensions outward and advance their war preparations. At the same time, keenly aware of frictions within the Russian ruling class, they seek to build up Navalny in order to destabilize the Putin government and prepare to install a regime that is more closely aligned with their geopolitical interests.
Neither residents nor any Whiting firefighters were injured during the blaze, which started around 9:11 p.m. Sunday and was extinguished around 1 a.m. Monday, Cunningham said, but the building suffered extensive damage, including the barbershop, which was spared from fire but sustained smoke and water damage. Fire also re-flared in the building around 4 a.m., he said, but it was put out quickly.
The world is on the verge of reaching 100 million COVID-19 infections, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center statistics. More than 2 million people have died from the virus.

The coronavirus continues to create an unyielding and staggering path of illness and death across the United States. Johns Hopkins reported early Sunday that the U.S. has nearly 25 million COVID infections, with more than 417,000 deaths. Both tolls are the worlds highest.

India follows the U.S. caseload with 10.6 million infections and more than 153,000 deaths. Brazil has nearly 9 million cases and more than 216,000 deaths.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said COVID vaccines could bring the global pandemic under control, with vaccinations under way in more than 50 countries. However, all but two of those countries are high- or middle-income countries.

"We must work together as one global family to ensure the urgent and equitable rollout of vaccines, he said.

For the first time since Nov. 18, New Zealand health officials Sunday began to investigate a probable case of community-spread coronavirus.

Community spread occurs when a person contracts the coronavirus without any known contact with a sick person or travel to an affected area.

With a tough lockdown, New Zealand had nearly eliminated the coronavirus, with new cases found among travelers returning home and quarantining. As of Sunday, there were 79 such cases. The new variants from Britain and South Africa, however, have been found among those cases, raising concerns of community spread returning.

New Zealand does not expect to have most of its population vaccinated against the coronavirus until the second half of this year.

On Saturday, the local government in Hong Kong said it locked down one of the territorys most heavily populated areas to complete mandatory COVID-19 testing of its entire population.

Hong Kongs Special Administrative Region government said the lockdown was imposed in parts of the Jordan District to test nearly 10,000 residents within 48 hours, paving the way for residents to go to their jobs Monday.

Authorities said 3,000 government workers had been deployed to the district, where officials said 162 cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed in the first 20 days of the new year.

Authorities also locked down Temple Street, one of Hong Kongs busiest night markets.

The shutdown comes as Hong Kong grapples with its fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in two months.
The pandemic has temporarily washed out any electricity cost savings for Pottsville Area School District from its 3,200 rooftop solar panels, but the inauguration of a Democrat administration in Washington, D.C., portends a sunny future.

Thats the assessment from Doug Neidich, CEO of Harrisburg-based GreenWorks Development LLC, which developed and built the project along with Solar Renewable Energy, Mechanicsburg.

Neidich said reduced energy demand nationwide has lowered the value of solar renewable energy credits, or SRECS, green certificates the district creates with each megawatt-hour of solar energy produced. Their value fluctuates with supply and demand, and has fallen from about $45 when the project was proposed to about $25.

That has erased $40,000 to $80,000 in annual electricity costs savings estimated for the first five years. In fact, it puts the district about $15,000 to $20,000 in the red annually at current rates.

Reverse auction

However, in response, Neidichs firm conducted a reverse auction through which it marketed Pottsville Areas ability to generate about half of its own electricity through solar to about 40 suppliers and attracted a low bidder, AEP Energy Inc. Its 5 cents a kilowatt hour rate will help the district save about $19,210 per year, he said, effectively erasing the deficit.

A three-year agreement with AEP was approved by the school board at its Jan. 13 meeting, at which Neidich and Solar Renewable Energy President and CEO Doug Barry gave a project update.

Suppliers are enticed to offer lower rates by the fact that the district can generate its own power, especially during summer months when electricity generators are taxed and costs are high, Neidich said. Another reverse auction will take place as the contract expiration nears, he said.

The current SRECS price would have a significant impact on the overall gain projected for Pottsville Area during the 40-year life of the panels, lowering it from $7.3 million to $2.8 million. But Neidich said SRECS will have a brighter future when the pandemic ends and with the likelihood that new President Joseph R. Bidens administrations opposition to fossil fuels will push prices higher for electricity generated from those sources.

With the district having its own power generation plant, it will be insulated from energy price escalation, he said.

Meanwhile, Neidichs firm is part of a lobbying effort that seeks to raise Pennsylvanias required solar use mandate from one-half percent to 5 1/2%, which he said is more in line with other Mid-Atlantic states. That would also hike the value of SRECS, he said.

Similar to stocks, SREC prices are never guaranteed, but Neidich believes they wont drop any further, and noted their value cannot go below $10. He said Greenworks counsels the district on when to sell its SRECs.

Revenue foreseen

Neidich said the district will generate revenue from the sale of SRECs along with saving on its electricity costs.

The district is leasing the panels from Solar Renewable for five years at a cost of $2,639,000, with the first monthly payment of $15,583.33 made in December. Neidich said he didnt want to provide revenue numbers for the first month because they wouldnt be an accurate reflection of the potential because its winter.

After the lease is up, the district will seek a 30-year bond to buy the system, but its cash flow will increase because the loan payment will be lower than the lease payment. The district will generate significant cash, Neidich said.

Pottsville Area will spend an estimated $4.3 million on the panels over their 40-year lifespan, but stand to net at least the $2.8 million on top of that based on current SREC prices, Neidich said.

The panels were installed in August, but delays in getting a switch gear and final approval from PPL delayed generation until November for the panels on the roofs of D.H.H Lengel Middle School and the Academic Center and Nov. 5. for those at John S. Clarke Elementary Center.

Neidich said Solar Renewable Energy, which employs 13 people, including Barry, comprises Pottsville SD Solar Partners LLC, the project investors. Its common for his firm to use internal funds and not seek institutional investors for smaller projects such as this, and no local individuals are involved, he said.

Despite the difficult start, Neidich said he is confident in Pottsville Areas project. Weather conditions are predictable over time, so the sun will do its work; otherwise, the variables are the value of SRECS and the cost of conventional electricity.

Weve never missed a project, Neidich said of meeting projections.

Skepticism lingers

Former board member Scott Thomas remains skeptical. He said the Jan. 13 presentation didnt provide updated financial projections, other than the $15,000 to $20,000 deficit.

That could compare to a part-time aide in the classroom each year, he said.

Thomas, who runs the Taxpayers of the Pottsville Area School District Facebook page and Taxpayers for a Better Pottsville Area School District website, said while the presentation showed the developers were able to reduce the districts current electricity costs, previous projections showed an annual increase in electricity costs used to predict long-term savings.

The overall scope of this project is questionable, but its clear that this board has went into this decision without the proper research as it was rushed through by the current board president, he said, referring to President Noble C. Bud Quandel. As a former board member that pushed transparency, I wish this current board would be transparent with the taxpayers in all aspects of the district.

Quandel said previously the district rushed to get the project approved in 2019 before a 30% federal tax credit dropped to 26% in 2020. The difference for the Pottsville project was estimated at $250,000.
This years session of the South Carolina General Assembly will have the opportunity to pass the S.C. Compassionate Care Act (S.150 and H.3661).

First and foremost, our citizens need to educate themselves on what the legislation entails so they can decide for themselves whether to agree or disagree.

These bills have bipartisan support from around the state. If it were to pass, the act would allow therapeutic uses of cannabis.

Medical cannabis reduces pain, nausea and seizures. It also allows patients who are unable to gain weight, due to nausea, to regain their appetite so they can nourish their bodies.

There have been more than 60 medical organizations from around the world that have endorsed medical cannabis, including the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Nurses Association.

The act delineates the debilitating medical conditions that would warrant a prescription.

It also details how the cannabis is to be dispensed. There would be an advisory board of medical professionals for oversight.

The legislation is not about what you or I personally think about cannabis.

Ultimately, the citizens of South Carolina are a free people who own their bodies.

They should have the final decision on what kind of medical treatments they should be able to access.

It should always be about the patient having the ability to choose.

This should be the year that S.C. citizens can be free to use medical cannabis.

JAMES PITTS MARSH

Shadow Arbor Circle

Charleston

Outrageous spending

People in Charleston are homeless, starving, sick and losing their jobs and businesses are closing, yet the city has set aside $3 million to save two brick smokestacks.

This is absurd spending. What world are we living in?

Any why did the University of South Carolina raise tuition but spend $100,000 on a chicken statue?

J.J. WOOD

Lynne Avenue

Charleston

Woffords responsibility

The Dec. 26 commentary by John Burbage was spot-on regarding the Wofford English Department making unsubstantiated accusations of systemic racism among the entire Wofford community and falsely painting activist alumni with the same brush of racial intolerance.

Wofford President Dr. Nayef Samhats silence, by default, condoned those statements, and his implementation of biased anti-racism programs for students and faculty have justifiably upset loyal Wofford alumni.

Does the topic Anti-Racism 101: An Anti-Racist Tool Kit offer a balanced discussion on positive ways to solve relationships?

Does the narrative A political activist tool that offers skills that challenge white supremacy and mobilize communities of action sound conciliatory?

Does the English Departments Concern about a cycle of racial violence on our students and colleagues at Wofford sound like an open-minded liberal arts commitment to searching for truth ?

This generation of students at Wofford is the most race-tolerant group of students in the history of the school.

Why do they need to be re-educated on social injustices? Dr. Samhats emphasis on identity politics parallels the national hysteria on race and can create more polarization than unity on campus.

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When did the Wofford administration and faculty get the moral authority to apply their own litmus test to determine the degree of racism among the students?

What happened to academic responsibility?

The administration is wasting thousands of dollars adding equity personnel and propaganda programs when those dollars could be better spent funding financial aid scholarships for needy students.

CARROLL PLAYER

Wofford Class of 1960

Rosewood Drive

Florence

Housing crisis building

I am no economist, but do try to choose and spend wisely. I witnessed the burst in the 1990s housing bubble and I believe that a similar correction will be inevitable in the near future.

The crucial lack of affordable housing in the Charleston area becomes more obvious on a daily basis although housing developments, hotels, shopping center and apartments continue to be built at warp speed.

As systemic racial, economic and social injustices rise along with the floodwaters and unrest, housing costs continue to soar.

My question is why developers, planners, builders, property owners and real estate agents are not more circumspect in their decisions.

Is everyone just out for a quick profit? Have we come to our communitys Marie Antoinette let them eat cake moment in history?

FREIDA MCDUFFIE

Harbor Oaks Drive

Charleston

Conservative rebuttal

While the actions of a few at the Capitol are reprehensible and indefensible, just what impeachable offenses did President Donald Trump commit? Pursuit of an Electoral College challenge is not grounds for impeachment. Without calling for violence, how can you impeach a president for a speech that is constitutionally protected?

Democrats are punishing Trump supporters while this summer they stood with violent Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters. In passive approval, Democratic leaders watched as cities burned, Trump supporters were attacked, monuments toppled, businesses looted and lives smashed while the police were scorned and rejected.

Despite the hypocrisy and with active support of the Democratic party, Big Tech, big business and big government, social media are using their platforms to cancel conservatives. Twitter, for example, allows the Chinese to brag about genocide, President Xi Jinping touts the superiority of Chinese communism and Irans spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei writes about destroying Israel. Yet, they have banned Trump and thousands of conservatives.

With a passionate belief in equal rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. imagined a fair and civil America. Forgetting Dr. King, Democrats are attacking the foundations of our republic. Despite electing a black president, they preach that America is a racist nation. They foster identity politics, political correctness, woke and cancel culture. In Orwellian fashion, they control the use of words and thought to match their beliefs. Those not conforming become a threat to society subject to cancellation and persecution. Under these conditions, the touting of unity is both sanctimonious and insulting.

BILL BISSETTE

Short Street

Charleston

Recognize disunity

The phrase, This is not who we are has been making the rounds since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Unfortunately, our nations history suggests otherwise. I would argue that this is exactly who we are, and until that is recognized, I dont expect much in the way of healing and unity.

JOHN COX

Dragoon Drive

Mount Pleasant
President Trump pardoned Steve Bannon and a slew of other criminals but refused to pardon Giuliani despite his repeated requests. Giuliani now finds himself sued by Dominion Voting Systems over False Election Claims. Its just the beginning of civil, criminal problems that will leave the former New York Mayor broke, disbarred, and facing a prison sentence.

The sky is opening up and starting to rein a tsunami of legal problems in the direction of Rudy Giuliani. He had hoped President Trump would provide him a pardon against his federal crimes. That pardon would have had to name and identify the federal crimes he committed. That would have given New York State everything it would need to prosecute him for many of his crimes in state criminal court and would almost certainly leave him disbarred from law practice.

This morning the news media reports that Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit today against his honor, the former NYC Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Giuliani acted as the personal lawyer at $20,000 a day for President Donald J. Trump and played a key role in the former presidents two-month-long effort to subvert, overturn the 2020 election by any means necessary.

Wall Street Rebel has reviewed the 107-page lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Washington, and can confirm that it accuses Mr. Giuliani of carrying out a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion. Giulianis actions made up of demonstrably false allegations, in part to enrich himself through legal fees and his podcast.

The Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit seeks damages of more than $1.3 billion and is based on more than 50 statements Mr. Giuliani made at legislative hearings, on Twitter , on his available national podcast, and in interviews gave willingly to the conservative news media. In all mediums of communication, Giuliani spun a fictitious narrative of Dominion Voting Systems plot to flip votes to President Biden intentionally.

This is the second big shoe to drop in response to Mr. Giulianis no hold barred attempt to overturn the 2020 election results that saw President Trump lose the Presidency by more than 7 million votes. The first shoe to fall came earlier this month when the chairman of the New York State Senates judiciary committee formally requested that the state court system strip Mr. Giuliani of his law license.

After willingly doing hundreds of interviews, Mr. Giulianis availability for interviews or even to answer a question has evaporated.

Dominion Voting Systems has already filed a similar lawsuit this month against Sidney Powell , another lawyer dedicated to overturning the general election to keep Mr. Trump in office. The suit against Sidney Powell, who faces also losing her license to practice law, outlines a point-by-point rebuke of one of the more outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding last years election.

President Trump and his legal representatives and political allies repeatedly contended that the voting machine company whose machines were also used by a majority of the countrys states during Mr. Trumps victory in the 2016 election, has been tested by government agencies and was used in states Mr. Trump carried in 2020  was somehow involved in a rigged the election, partly as a result of ties to a long-deceased Venezuelan dictator.

Among the outrageous claims made by Trump, Giuliani, Powell, and many others on team Trump included that Dominion was founded in Venezuela to fix elections for Hugo Chavez, the Dominion lawsuit says that is a lie.

It was founded in 2002 in John Pouloss basement in Toronto to help blind people vote on paper ballots.

Dominions Lawsuit against Giuliani lays out a timeline of Mr. Giulianis comments about Dominion on Twitter, his podcast, and Fox News; the company notes that Mr. Giuliani avoided mentioning Dominion in court, where he could have faced legal ramifications for falsehoods. According to the Dominion v, Giuliani lawsuit alleges

Notably, not a single one of the three complaints signed and filed by Giuliani and other attorneys for the Trump Campaign in the Pennsylvania action contained any allegations about Dominion.

The Dominion lawsuit also links Mr. Giulianis false statements about it to the riot at the Capitol on January 6, noting that he mentioned the company in his speech at a rally for Mr. Trump before the attack, as well as numerous times on social media as the Capitol was breached. The suit states

Having been deceived by Giuliani and his allies into thinking that they were not criminals  but patriots Defend[ing] the Republic from Dominion and its co-conspirators  they then bragged about their involvement in the crime on social media.

Thomas A. Clare, a lawyer representing Dominion, has made it clear that the riot had not factored into the decision to sue Mr. Giuliani, but that it did show just how seriously Mr. Trumps followers had taken the falsehoods told about the election

From a defamation law perspective, it just demonstrates the depth to which these statements sink into people, Mr. Clare said in an interview. That people dont just read them and tune them out. It goes to the core of their belief system, which puts them in a position to take action in the real world.

Dominions chief executive officer John Poulos said this morning his company took legal action against Mr. Giuliani to correct the record about Dominion and restore trust in the American electoral systems. Mr. Poulos said of Mr. Giulianis false claims

Not only have these lies damaged the good name of my company, but they also undermined trust in American democratic institutions, drowning out the remarkable work of elections officials and workers, who ensured a transparent and secure election. The thousands of hand recounts and audits that proved machines counted accurately continue to be overshadowed by disinformation.

Dominion is a major manufacturer of voting machine equipment in the United States, second only to Election Systems & Software. Different models of Dominion machines were used in more than two dozen states  red, blue, and battleground  during the 2020 election.

Dominion had previously warned Mr. Giuliani, sending a letter in late December that told him to preserve all records of his claims, stop making false statements, and warned that legal action was imminent. But Mr. Giuliani continued with his false claims of fraud, even arguing on Twitter days after receiving the letter that phony Dominion voting machines needed to be investigated.

As recently as last week, Mr. Giuliani was on his New York City-based radio show saying

So long as you have Dominion, there is a clear and present danger.

Giuliani went on to push the claim that the 2020 election results could be rigged. He added that he had boxes of evidence to support his claims.

Dominion has indicated and is expected to file more lawsuits. The suit against Mr. Giuliani says he acted with other prominent conservatives and news networks, including Mike Lindell , Lou Dobbs, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, and One America News Network.

Its widely believed that Dominion will sue the former President, Mr. Trump, in the days ahead. The companys threats have prompted some conciliatory responses and attempts to cover their liability by conservative news outlets in hopes of avoiding a legal battle.

This month, the American Thinker , a conservative website, posted an apologetic note saying that its reports about Dominion are completely false and have no basis in fact and that it was wrong for us to publish these false statements.

This reflects both the seriousness of the Dominions claims and the quality of the lawsuits it has and can bring. Mr. Giuliani was one of the leading public faces of the effort to reverse the election results by attacking Dominion.

In its Lawsuit Dominion argues that Mr. Giuliani profited significantly from his false claims, noting that he reportedly demanded $20,000 per day for his legal services to Mr. Trump and cashed in by hosting a podcast where he exploited election falsehoods to market gold coins, supplements, cigars and protection from cyber thieves.

The Dominion lawsuit against Giuliani notes just how quickly and widely the lies and false narratives had spread leading up to the Capitols riot. Saying:

Over a three-hour period on December 21, 2020, the terms dominion and fraud were tweeted out together by more than 2,200 users with over 8.75 million total followers.

According to Dominions lawsuits allegations, the reach of the disinformation about the company brought countless threats of violence against employees. Dominions lawsuit cites the fact that one employee received text messages stating:

We are already watching you. Come clean, and you will live.

This was followed by a voice mail message to customer support that said:

Were bringing back the firing squad.

According to the lawsuit, Dominion says that as a result of these death threats, it has spent $565,000 on personal security. The company claimed to have incurred $1.17 million in total expenses relating to the disinformation campaign after the election.

Giulianis statements, the suit states, were calculated to  and did in fact  provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm.
"Don't try to drive the homeless into places we find suitable. Help them survive in places they find suitable." Daniel Quinn

The Influencers of Impact and Change Luncheon Celebration hosted by Ted Reigner from Legacy Plus is set to happen on February 2, 2021. Due to the precautionary measures taken in wake of the pandemic, the celebration will be via Zoom. The event has proven to be very successful since its beginning in Edmonton in 2018. Leaders from more than 20 different organizations attended the event, as it is hosted three times per year. Every event has a sponsor to support the event, and this year The Influencers of Impact and Change Luncheon Celebration is being sponsored by Maryanne McMullen.

The event is designed to show appreciation for each leader, and its main purpose is to allow community leaders to hang out with fellow leaders, be appreciated, and celebrated, as well as have the opportunity to connect with others. Legacy Plus is an organization that is invested in philanthropy and creates opportunities for passionate people to connect, collaborate, contribute, and celebrate. This is something that adds to the legacy of passion impact projects, events, and experiences. It claims to be a partnership where people work together to support each other in a shared community.

The key is always generosity, to give what one has freely to others so that everyone has a chance to do their best work by being in service of others. All of their passion projects have different types of partners. Their Front Line Partners are the groups working directly with their vulnerable citizens, they know what the need is, and they know what is needed to meet that particular need.

The Resource Partners are individuals and companies that have a passion to meet this need and provide finances, connections, mentorship, and or any other resources that might be needed. On the other hand, a Legacy Builder Team is a group of like-minded people who share the passion to meet this need and do the work to complete the project. Lastly, the Recipients are the people that receive the benefit of the project such as those experiencing homelessness and abusive situations. The management at Legacy Plus believes in celebrating the hard work of all the people who work hard to serve those with vulnerabilities by putting in their time, efforts, and resources.

The Influencers of Impact and Change Luncheon Celebration is a product of the belief in celebration, as every year they bring together executive directors and leaders of groups working with the vulnerable people to connect with each other, share, and celebrate their victories and effort. In addition to this, Legacy Plus also hosts one workshop a year. Attendees in Edmonton include leaders from Boyle Street Community Services and Ventures, Bissell Centre, WIN House shelters, WINGS of Providence shelters, Assault Centre, Adaptabilities, Little Warriors, Womens Council for Shelters, Pride, etc.

About the Sponsor:

Maryanne McMullen is the CEO of The Next Music Generation and has spearheaded a breakthrough in the music industry with a dynamic nature and the ability to seek new possibilities. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto faculty of arts and science and has worked as a project manager for 13 years. Maryanne can be considered a game-changer of the modern music industry as her company is a broad platform that serves the purpose of scouting for raw music talents.

The goal behind The Next Music Generation was to help uplift budding musical talent hidden in the grassroots by assisting them in the best way, especially financially, and developing their craft professionally. Her company has its own TV platform and radio campaign.

Maryanne herself has always been involved in several projects and has spoken dynamically in panels such as the Ontario Association of Childrens Aid Society. She has participated in multiple awards, showcased festivals such as Juno, Canadian Country Music Awards, and Toronto Italian film festival. She showcases her enthusiasm, compassion, forward-thinking mindset, and work ethic in all her endeavors which have always produced astounding results. Being the CEO of her own company, she has always been very passionate about supporting the community and engineering change in humanitarian issues such as homelessness, abuse, and mental illness. With her effort and involvement, she always looks forward to inspiring change for women across the globe.
Police are looking for a group of suspects after a shocking attack in the Chinatown district of New York City.

The NYPD released a video on Saturday afternoon showing an attack in which a dozen suspects beat, stripped and robbed a 26-year-old man around 11:30am on Friday after he got off a bus from Atlanta.

The beginning of the video shows surveillance shots of several of the suspects calmly walking down the sidewalk.

Then, the video shows the suspects running towards a man seemingly fleeing in the bike lane near a crosswalk.

Scroll down for video

A shocking attack in Chinatown, New York shows a man running for his life in the bike lane

Eventually, the suspects catch up to the man and begin beating him up on the street

As the four primary suspects begin the attack, others witness and some join in the beating

The suspects eventually catch up to the victim, whose face is blurred, and can be seen kicking and beating him.

Other people run towards the fray, though it's unclear if they are trying to diffuse the situation or join in the beating.

The beating took place near the intersection of Canal and Allen streets in Chinatown

A different surveillance camera also appears to show the victim stripped of his clothes by the end of the video.

CBSNewYork reports the attack took place near Canal and Allen streets, and that the victim was cut by an unknown object during the attack.

The victim's phone, pants, underwear, and shoes were robbed from him during the attack, with the suspects fleeing the scene in different vehicles.

The beating continued for some time before the suspects escaped in several vehicles

In addition to beating the victim, the suspects also robbed him of his phone and clothing

There were around 12 suspects involved in the attack in total.

The victim was ultimately taken to a local hospital with injuries to his head, hands, and torso. He was listed in stable condition.

Businesses in Chinatown have suffered over the past year due to anti-Asian racism brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Pictured: Two of the suspects in the beating caught on surveillance video

Pictured: One of the suspects in the beating caught on surveillance video

Pictured: One of the suspects in the beating caught on surveillance video

That being said, there is not a known motive for this particular attack yet.

'They attacked him as soon as he got off the bus from Atlanta,' a police source told the New York Post. The man is originally from Brooklyn.

New York City faced a significant crime wave in 2020, most notably a surge in shootings and murders.

So far, there have been 515 robberies and 843 felony assaults in the city in 2021, through January 17. That's down 29.8 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively, from a year ago.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the NYPD for comment.
Hong Kong: Restrictions in Jordan lifted

The Government announced that the exercise on the restriction-testing declaration for the restricted area in Jordan finished earlier than expected and that the declaration has been revoked.

The affected roads have also gradually reopened, it said.

The Government exercised the power under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Compulsory Testing for Certain Persons) Regulation on January 23 to make a restriction-testing declaration, requiring people within the specified restricted area in Jordan to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing.

They had to stay in their premises until all people subject to compulsory testing in the area were tested and the test results were mostly ascertained.

Fifty-one temporary specimen collection stations were set up in the restricted area on the same day to have peoples combined nasal and throat swab samples collected.

About 7,000 people got tested during the effective period of the declaration and 13 confirmed cases were found as of midnight today. Patients and their close contacts have been transferred to quarantine centres or hospitalised.

Meanwhile, the Government visited 3,650 households, of which around 473 did not answer the door. Such households include those in buildings in the restricted area which have not been evacuated and those with confirmed cases or undergoing quarantine, while some units are possibly vacant.

The Government said it will take measures to follow-up and trace households in the district which have not responded.

Following the home visits and virus testing on January 23, government staff were assigned the next day to request people in premises within the restricted area who had not undergone testing to do so as soon as possible. About 110 such people were arranged to get tested immediately.

More than 3,000 staff from 16 departments, including 1,600 officers from disciplined services, were mobilised to implement the declaration and compulsory testing notice, the Government added.

To ensure the arrangement of three meals for those subject to compulsory testing, the Government provided 6,500 food packs and other kinds of food. Masks, cleaning tools and hand sanitisers were also provided for them.

Since there are a number of ethnic minorities in the restricted area, the Home Affairs Department arranged over 50 working staff who can speak Nepali, Urdu and Hindi to assist ethnic minorities in undergoing testing in the specimen collection stations and help explain the declarations arrangement.

It also produced leaflets in three ethnic minority languages for people in the restricted area and recorded the leaflet content as videos using the three languages.

Eight support service centres for ethnic minorities also uploaded relevant information to their websites and Facebook pages to deliver the message to their service users via WhatsApp.

Additionally, the department set up a dedicated hotline for ethnic minorities restricted by the declaration to make enquiries and seek assistance. Around 240 enquiries were handled.

The Government hopes this temporary inconvenience will completely cut the local transmission chains in the district and ease residents' worries and fear so that they will regain confidence in resuming social and business activities in the area.

It also expressed gratitude to people subject to compulsory testing for their support and understanding, and their co-operation.

The Government also thanked all participating government staff and testing agencies for their hard work which enabled the smooth implementation of the declaration within a short period.

Those who had been in the restricted area for more than two hours in the past 14 days, even if they were not present in the area at the time when the declaration took effect, must comply with the compulsory testing notices and get tested as soon as possible, it stressed.

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Armed conflicts are becoming increasingly complex and protracted and a growing threat to humanitarian access and the delivery of essential health services, affecting at least 630 million women and children--over 8% of the world's population--in 2017.

According to a new four-paper Series exposing the far-reaching effects of modern warfare on women's and children's health, published today in The Lancet.

The authors highlight the failure of the global community to prioritise women's and children's health in areas of conflict, and call for an international commitment from humanitarian actors and donors to confront political and security challenges, together with consensus on a framework for identifying high-priority interventions to reach the most vulnerable women and children with the best care possible.

The Series led by academic co-investigators and partners affiliated with the BRANCH (Bridging Research & Action in Conflict Settings for the Health of Women & Children) Consortium synthesises existing evidence with new modelling and insights from a range of local research partners, humanitarian agencies, and civil society organisations.

"The new estimates provide compelling evidence of the enormous indirect toll of modern warfare caused by easily preventable infectious diseases, malnutrition, sexual violence, and poor mental health, as well as the destruction of basic services such as water and medical facilities." says Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta from the Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in Canada and the Institute for Global Heath & Development, The Aga Khan University, who led the Series.

He continues, "Today, more than half of the world's women and children are living in countries experiencing active conflict. The international community cannot continue to ignore their plight. It's time for a radical rethink of the global response that confronts challenges to insecurity, access, politics, coordination, and the logistics of delivering high-priority interventions to women and children in politically unstable and insecure settings."

The Series papers explore the changing nature of war and conflict, its short- and long-term health effects on women and children, strategies for identifying best responses, and interventions supported by in-country assessments and studies.

Growing threats of armed conflict to women's and children's health

New estimates suggest that the number of women and children affected by armed conflict around the world has risen steadily since 2000, as a result of population growth, more conflicts, increasing use of explosive and chemical weapons in urban areas, and growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced people.

In 2017, one in 10 (10%) women and almost one in six (16%) children worldwide were either forcibly displaced by conflict or living dangerously close (ie, within 50 km) to conflict zones. Around a third of those affected live in Pakistan, Nigeria, and India.

Evidence suggests that the risk of dying from non-violent causes increases substantially with proximity to more intense and chronic conflicts, with women of childbearing age in Africa living near the highest-intensity fighting three times more likely to die than women in peaceful areas, and the risk of death among infants higher by more than 25%.

Between 67 and 75 million infants, and more than 10 million children under 5 years of age, born within 50 km of armed conflict are estimated to have died from the indirect consequences of fighting across Africa, Asia, and the Americas between 1995 and 2015.

It is clear that the indirect effects of armed conflict on women and children are far greater than the effects of actual fighting. But the reality could be much worse. Insecurity and insufficient resources mean data are often scarce and of poor quality. Far greater investment in strengthening data collection and collaboration between humanitarian agencies and local authorities is needed to generate better, more readily available, and actionable information to improve the response in humanitarian crises." Dr Hala Ghattas, Series Co-Author Director of Center for Research on Population and Health, American University of Beirut

Changing nature of armed conflict demands new humanitarian strategies

In 2019, there were 54 ongoing state-based armed conflicts in 35 countries, averaging 20 years or more [3]. Once mostly confined to warring nations, armed conflict increasingly involves clashes between nations and insurgent groups in control of large geographical areas, and is characterised by a lack of respect for International Humanitarian Law, the systematic use of explosive and chemical weapons in cities, pervasive sexual violence against women and girls, and hybrid warfare (eg, cyberattacks and the manipulation of social media).

How war is being fought and who is fighting bring new challenges to humanitarian access, the delivery of health services, and the protection of humanitarian workers and health facilities from attack. Climate change and new health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic have further complicated the response. At the same time, new medical capabilities such as modern trauma care offer opportunities for improved health provision.

According to Series co-author, Dr Michele Barry, Senior Associate Dean for Global Health and Director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University School of Medicine: "Given the changing nature of armed conflict, this Series underscores the importance of a humanitarian response that includes the empowerment of local communities and leaders as they are best able to deliver life-saving services, services that rely on a community's capabilities, perceptions, and trust."

Lessons learnt from ten conflict-affected countries

The Series also assessed the provision of proven health interventions for women and children in 10 conflict-affected countries in different stages (eg, acute, protracted, post-conflict) of conflict and geographical, political, and economic conditions--Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

While priority is commonly given to a range of interventions including antenatal care, emergency obstetric care, childhood vaccination, and infant and young child feeding, evidence suggests that the delivery of many life-saving services, including most sexual, reproductive, newborn, and adolescent health services, is limited.

The authors recognise that humanitarian agencies and national authorities face a wide variety of barriers to delivery, from limited funding and shortages of skilled health-care workers (eg, midwives and nurses in Pakistan and Syria) to insecurity (eg, attacks and kidnapping of health workers in Colombia and Somalia), and mistrust due to the politicisation of aid.

But these challenges have also spurred extraordinary creativity in the humanitarian response. Innovative approaches include: task sharing and hiring other types of community health workers (eg, traditional healers and birth attendants); using new modes of delivery such as remote management (ie, subcontracting to local organisations) and technology like WhatsApp; and establishing contingency funds for emergencies.

In Afghanistan, for example, mobile clinics are used to deliver health services to remote areas, and in South Sudan, donors made emergency funds available to stock up on medical supplies to ensure rapid respond to future disease outbreaks (eg, cholera). In Pakistan, senior health workers living in the middle of the Keich district rotate week-long visits to remote areas every month to address the workforce shortage.

Professor Isabel Garces-Palacio from the Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia says, "Although these solutions need more rigorous evaluation, they have the potential to provide a timely response to current implementation challenges and remind health authorities of their responsibility to deliver basic health services to the whole population."

However, there are also wider issues in the humanitarian system that need to be addressed. "Predefined packages of priority health services for women and children are not commonly agreed upon. Instead, international donors remain the key drivers of influencing what, where, and how interventions are delivered", explains Dr Jai Das from The Aga Khan University in Pakistan. "Although technical and operational guidance on promoting women's and children's health in humanitarian crises exist, they are not specific to conflict settings and have been developed as a broad response to a range of emergencies including natural disasters and epidemics."

A way forward

As a first step towards filling the guidance gap, the authors call for humanitarian health actors including global and local agencies and NGOs, and academia working in conflict settings to establish a decision-making framework to guide the selection of priority interventions and improve accountability.

"While the needs of conflict-affected communities are great, their voices are also often unheard or overlooked, so it is imperative they have a seat at the table--and that humanitarian actors listen to them--when decisions concerning them are made", says Series co-author Assistant Professor Neha Singh, Co-Director of the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. "It is imperative that the world make more concerted efforts to reduce the risk of conflict, but until that happens, improving the delivery of health and nutrition services for women, children, and adolescents affected by conflict remains an ethical and moral responsibility."

Writing in a linked Comment, Helen Clark, Chair of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and former Prime Minister of New Zealand (who was not involved in the Series papers) writes: "The rights and needs of women, children, and adolescents must to be placed at the centre of all humanitarian, development, and peace-building efforts, in line with the concept of centrality of protection.

Doing this isn't the responsibility of any one sector or stakeholder group, and all actors need collectively to agree on and demand greater alignment, investment, and political attention for women, children, and adolescents who are trapped in conflict zones. Only then can the unequal burden of preventable morbidity and mortality in the world's most challenging regions be addressed in a way that ensures that no one is left behind."

Actress Cressida Bonas has shared her first selfie with husband Harry Wentworth-Stanley since the couple married last summer in a lowkey lockdown wedding.

The 31-year-old, who dated the Duke of Sussex, 36, for three years until 2014, tied the knot with Harry the estate agent son of the Marchioness of Milford Haven, at the exclusive Cowdray Park, in Midhurst, West Sussex, on 27 July.

Only a handful of photos of the private nuptials emerged at the time, including one of the bride and groom riding off into the sunset on horseback.

Sharing a rare selfie with her new husband on Instagram yesterday, the actress could be seen snuggling up with her beau as they enjoyed a walk through the snowy countryside.

Actress Cressida Bonas, 31, has shared her first selfie with husband Harry Wentworth-Stanley since the couple married last summer in a lowkey lockdown wedding

In the photograph Cressida can be seen wearing a cosy navy beanie and fingerless gloves while swigging from a white water bottle.

Meanwhile her husband Harry, wearing a khaki coloured hat, leaned into her for the affectionate snap.

It comes weeks after Cressida revealed previously unknown details about the couple's big day last summer.

In an article written by Prince Harry's ex last month, she explained how just four days before the wedding, she was searching Oxford Street for the perfect wedding dress with no such luck - but luckily remembered she had a white lace gown from Whistles that she had worn for James Arthur's single, Naked.

Cressida organised her lockdown 30-person, socially-distanced church service wedding in under two weeks. Pictured, she tied the knot with Harry Wentworth-Stanley at the exclusive Cowdray Park, in Midhurst, West Sussex, on 27th July

'I remembered an old Whistles dress I once wore for a James Arthur music video,' she recalled, speaking to The Spectator. 'I went home and found the dusty frock at the back of my cupboard. After some ironing, it looked good as new.'

The online product description of the guinevere wedding dress, which initially retailed at 599 but is now at the reduced price of 389, reads:

'This elegant dress is a beautiful choice for modern brides. The cotton embroidered tulle design features a playful tiered skirt, a high frill neck and a cut-out detail on the lower back.

'Modern and feminine, this limited edition design will ensure you make a show-stopping entrance on your big day.'

Weeks ago, Cressida revealed she recycled a 599 Whistles dress that she once wore for a James Arthur video for her wedding dress. Pictured, in the artist's video, Naked

Despite the Covid-19 restrictions meaning no hymns or speaking too loudly, she told how having just a 'small portion' of her and Harry's family allowed made it 'just simply special.'

'Not what wed envisaged, but a more intimate and special day than we could ever have imagined. Imperfect yet perfect - a day we will never forget,' she explained.

However, disaster struck just two days before the big day, when Cressida woke up to find a 'red, bulbous' stye on her eyelid - something which the doctor said would need to be operated on at a later date.

So the night before the wedding, Cressida ended up sleeping with cucumber on her eye in a bid to calm down the redness.

The bride's brother, Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, shared an Instagram photo of the happy couple 'riding off into their beautiful future' on horseback (pictured)

And the drama didn't stop there, as she got lost on her way to church the next morning, with what was supposed to be a 20-minute journey, taking over an hour.

She also noted how her father, who insisted on wearing a tail suit and was the only man not in a summer suit, was 'strangely quiet' en route to the venue.

Cressida explained: 'I asked him if he was all right. He said: "Its just like taking Sheba [his dog] to the vet."' He didnt want to do it, but knew he had to. He is very fond of my husband, Harry, by the way. But he didnt want to let his daughter go.'

After stepping out of the car and straight into a puddle, Cressida explained how she was met by a 'nervous' vicar, and tried to avoid looking at her dad's 'watery eyes' as he walked her up the aisle.

The 31-year-old dated the Duke of Sussex, 36, for three years until 2014. Pictured, attending We Day UK, a charity event to bring young people together at Wembley Arena on March 7, 2014 in London

Cressida wore the Whistles 'Guinevere' dress which initially retailed at 599 but is now at the reduced price of 389. Pictured left and right, the dress on the website

She added that instead of hymns, Harry and her siblings played the piano, while their mothers read from 'Desiderata,' which was her late aunt's favourite poem.

Prince Harry and Cressida split in 2014, reportedly because Cressida was tired of the scrutiny that came with dating a member of the royal family.

However the couple remain on good terms and socialise in similar circles, with Princess Eugenie, who introduced the couple, among Cressida's closest friends.

Cressida even attended her ex-boyfriend's wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018.

In May Cressida hinted that their original wedding had to be postponed due to the current crisis, posting a snap as she and Harry posed in front of an 'Auto-wed' machine in fancy dress

The bride's brother, Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, shared an Instagram photo of the happy couple 'riding off into their beautiful future' on horseback.

Cressida can be seen with her blonde hair pulled back into a casual updo, while her simple white dress fell above her knees.

It is not known who attended the wedding but the couple both come from large families that would quickly make up the 30 people maximum.

Cressida is the only child of 1960s 'It' Girl Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon and her third husband, Old Harrovian entrepreneur Jeffrey Bonas.

The actress, who appeared in ITV drama White House Farm, has three half-brothers from her father Jeffrey Bonas' first marriage, George, Charles and Henry Bonas.

Meanwhile her mother has four children to her first two husbands: Pandora Cooper-Key, daughter of Esmond Cooper-Key, and sculptor Georgiana Anstruther, Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, and Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, the children of property developer John Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe. Isabella is married to Sir Richard Branson's son Sam.

Harry is the second child of Nick-Wentworth-Stanley and his first wife Clare, now Marchioness of Milford Haven.
On the heels of opening their 11th store in Greenville, South Carolina, Southeastern Salvage Home Emporium purchased a 50,000 square foot horse barn in Louisville, Ky. which will become their 12th store.

Represented by D. Frazier DeVaney, Jr. of NAI Charter Real Estate in Chattanooga, Southeastern Salvage acquired the 24-acre location immediately adjacent to Beckley Creek Park and The Parklands of Floyds Fork in East Louisville.

We were able to identify this unique building in a great location, said Mr. DeVaney. The building is a former horse facility that is familiar to Louisville and fits Southeastern Salvage well. Southeastern Salvage Home Emporium will do great at this new location.

Bubba Morgan, chairman of Southeastern Salvage Home Emporium said, Were excited to be coming to the Louisville area. After a proposed 25,000 square foot addition, well be ready to open our doors sometime in 2021.

Southeastern Salvage sells products from at least 20 countries including India, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, and of course the USA. Many of these products are unique handmade items you cant find anywhere else. Southeastern Salvage Home Emporium is the type of store Where You Can Buy Almost AnythingAlmost.

Southeastern Salvage originated in Chattanooga and their main distribution center is also located in Chattanooga. Other Southeastern Salvage and Home Emporium stores are located in Nashville an Knoxville; Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville, Al.; Columbia and Greenville, S.C.; Springdale, Oh.; Chesapeake, Va.; and Shreveport, La.






is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, within the Palestine Research and Documentation Project, and a PhD candidate in Social Sciences at Birzeit University. He holds an MA in Arab and Islamic History (2015), and an MA in Israel Studies (2018) from the same university. Currently working on researching Palestinian military action during the 1947-1948 war, he has published several books and peer-reviewed papers: Jaffa ... Blood on Stone, The Jaffa Garrison and Its Military Impact, a Study and Documents (two volumes, 2019); Sidi Omar: Memories of Sheikh Muhammad Abu Tir in the Resistance and Thirty-Three Years of Detention (2017); Towards Confrontation: Dr Adnan Masoudi's Recollections of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank and the Founding of Hamas (2013).

PublishingPageContent

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies has published Bilal Muhammad Shalashs Inside the Ancient Wall: Qassem al-RimawisTexts from the Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas, a critical examination of two unpublished manuscripts by one of the most prominent leaders of the Holy War Army (Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas), Qassem Muhammad al-Rimawi (1918-1982). These are al-Rimawis 1949 report to the head of the Arab Higher Committee Hajj Mohammed Amin al-Husayni on the army of al-Jihad al-Muqaddas, and the manuscript he drafted in the early 1950s on its leader, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni. Shalashs work presents the transformation in al-Rimawis discourse stemming from his activity shifting from work in the ranks of the Jaysh al-Jihad to political action, as well as in the wake of the everchanging events, alliances and socio-political and social struggles that swept the region for over a quarter of a century.

A Concise Biography of al-Rimawi

The books preface provides a dual narrative of Qassem al-Rimawis biography, based on texts authored by al-Rimawi: as combatant and as Palestinian/Jordanian politician. It thus revisits the tense interplay of evidencing with suppressing in the struggle over historical narratives of the saga of the Holy War Army, and other narratives that take up conflicting aspects of al-Rimawi's political and combatant trajectories.

The first chapter, al-Rimawis March in Brief is an account of the aftermath of the death of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, the leadership succession to al-Husayni and the Jaysh al-Jihads leaderships situation in Jerusalem during the battles of Bab al-Wad, its position following the entrance of the Arab armies and their notable inability to provide succor to the Arab Higher Committee, or establish a form of military rule, overt or covert, that could serve to liberate the country. al-Rimawi then recounts each of the Jaysh al-Jihads position taken towards the Iraqi army, the attempt to thwart Transjordan's political efforts in the war, and the occupation of the Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas central command in Birzeit.

Excerpts from the Biography of the Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas

The second chapter, Texts from the Biography of the Jaysh al-Jihad al-Muqaddas, presents al-Rimawis manuscripts record of details of Abd al-Qadir al-Husaynis activity during the first and second stages of the Great Palestinian Revolt of 1936-1939 (Thawrat Filastin al-Kubra), as well as excerpts from other texts summarising al-Rimawi's perceptions of both preceding and contemporaneous military and political realities undergirding the launch and establishment of the new organization, the Jaysh al-Jihad / or Holy War Army, upon his arrival in Egypt in February 1946.

Shalashs narrative here discusses the internal state of the country at the time  a Palestine devoid of weaponry  and the roots of the holy jihad with Egypt as the launch pad, preparations for the war, and then the November - December 1947 war against Palestines partition. It then proceeds to take up the Arab Military Committee and Fawzi al-Qawaqji along with Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni in the field of jihad (late December 1947 - April 8, 1948), the adoption of Birzeit as a headquarters for the General Command, al-Husayni as martyr, the Bab al-Wad battles of (7-15 May 1948) ), and finally Commander Hassan Salameh and the regrouping of ranks following his death.

Looted Fragments and Photos

The third chapter, Fragments, and Plundered Photos is a narrative of the Zionist occupation of the rest of Palestine during the 1947-1949 war, the deportation of Mahmoud Labib (Commander of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Volunteers in Palestine), and photos of the plundered northern Palestinian town of Biddya through the portfolio of Khalil Rassas and his photos of al-Jihad al-Muqaddas. Here, al-Rimawi presents the story of the most prominent set of photos, evidently pertaining to a single group taken by Palestinian photographer by Khalil Rassas (also written: Chalil Rissas) for al-Musawwar magazine, some of which had been previously published in 1948. In addition to the importance of al-Rimawis chronicling of the history of this collection of photographs, his account gives the lie to the account given by a Zionist plaintiff who claimed to have taken these photos himself, during his pretended activity with the Arab forces.

This false testimony, when compared against the complete set of photos today available in multiple archives and multiple copies, suggests strongly that the Zionist narrative of activities limited to straightforward looting may need to be re-examined  along with their intelligence activities against the Arab forces in general, and the activity of Arabist or Arab infiltrators within Arab ranks, in particular.


During the Revolution of Dignity, at dawn on January 25, 2014, the parties to the conflict stopped firing on each other.

On that day, one of the protesters took the state flag and went to negotiate with the security forces. After negotiations, the protesters were ordered to stop the attack at the first barricade. The explosions on Hrushevsky Street subsided for a while.

On January 25, the building of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry was occupied in Kyiv center. The day before, protesters occupied the building of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.

Regional state administrations in eight regional centers of Ukraine also remained seized. Administrations in four cities  Poltava, Chernihiv, Uzhgorod and Lutsk  were besieged.

On the same day, Viktor Yanukovych agreed to introduce amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine and declared his readiness to create a working group for the transition to a parliamentary-presidential republic. In addition, opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko rejected Yanukovych's proposal to assume positions in the Cabinet.

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BRIDGEPORT, Ill. (WTHI) - A Wabash valley police chief is facing charges.

Scott Murray was arrested Saturday night and booked into jail early Sunday morning.

Murray is the Bridgeport, Illinois police chief.

According to Illinois state police, troopers responded to a domestic disturbance call.

Murray was arrested for domestic battery and reckless discharge of a firearm.

He was taken to the Lawrence county jail but has since bonded out.

The case has been turned over to the Lawrence county state's attorney's office.
This was such an intuitive and easy-to-navigate learning resource site! A great tool for my kids to use on their own across all curriculum subjects.

2cool4school.org is excited to announce the launch of their new online learning tool for kids in grades 1 to 8. Kids can use this new eLearning platform to navigate curated lists of hundreds of hand-picked videos teaching Math, English, Science, Health and Social Studies. Aligned to the Common Core State Standards , we leverage your child's love of screens to teach them their curriculum.

Kids love watching videos and parents love free time!

Give your child the edge, make learning fun (and painless for parents).



Access for 1 full year

Hundreds of videos per grade

Easy to navigate and keep track of your child's progress

Study anywhere with a tablet, phone or PC

No-risk 7-day money-back guarantee

The official launch date was January 1, 2021.

This online resource lets kids learn at their own pace in a medium that they love.

2cool4school.org is celebrating its launch with an early-bird price of USD$99 for a 1-year subscription until the end of January.

This was such an intuitive and easy-to-navigate learning resource site! A great tool for my kids to use on their own across all curriculum subjects. I definitely recommend. - Melanie, parent of a 3rd-grader

The founders of 2cool4school.org created this learning tool out of necessity. Like most parents, they were thrust into trying to support their kids with their schooling at home while working full-time jobs. As a result, they built something that their family would use, not just for homeschooling or virtual schooling, but for getting ahead for the next year or as a learning supplement for in-person schooling.

Jade Stafford, Co-founder, http://www.2cool4school.org, 416.984.5233
Mumbai, Jan 25 : The Maharashtra Raj Bhavan said that the Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha (SSKM) leaders were informed that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari would be unavailable to meet the farmers' delegation on Monday.

An official spokesperson said that SSKM leader Dhananjya Shinde was told this by telephone on January 22 while convenor Prakash Reddy was sent a letter on January 24 to this effect.

Koshyari is holding additional charge of Goa Governor and he was in the neighbouring state to address the first session of Goa Assembly's Budget Session which got underway on Monday.

The Raj Bhavan statement came hours after Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar, All India Kisan Sabha President Dr Ashok Dawale and other political and farmers leaders slammed the Governor for allegedly not meeting the farmers to receive a memorandum from them.

Without naming Koshyari, Pawar had said in a massive rally at Azad Maidan that while the Governor has time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, he had no time for the 'kisan brothers' who have come to Mumbai from all over the state, sparking off a political row.

On their part, the SSKM and other parties' leaders decided to cancel the march to Raj Bhavan and they tore copies of the memorandum to protest what they termed "an insult" to the farmers, while deciding to send the representation to President Ram Nath Kovind.

The Governor had gone to Goa for a couple of days to participate in the closing ceremony of the just-concluded International Film Festival of India there on Sunday, followed by the Legislature Session's address this morning, and is expected to return to Mumbai on Monday night.
Fargo assumes the role of Lead Director from Duane McDougall, who held the position from 2014 to January 2021. McDougall previously served as the CEO of forest products company, Willamette Industries. McDougall serves on the board of Boise Cascade, where he was Board Chair from 2013-2015, and as Lead Director for privately-owned insurance and financial company, The Standard. He remains an Independent Director and member of all Greenbrier Board committees. Fargo continues as Compensation Committee Chair and as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

In 2020, Fargo worked with McDougall and the Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Kelly Williams, to adopt a policy that upon the retirement of Chairman and CEO William A. Furman in 2022, only independent directors will be eligible to serve as Board Chair.

"I am pleased to add the role of Lead Director and continue my contributions to Greenbrier," said Fargo. "Our Board is deeply committed to member refreshment and good governance practices. Together with our other Board colleagues, we will continue to pursue Director and management succession planning, Director education, Board recruitment and socially responsible policies concerning respect for people and the environment. Active engagement with Shareholders throughout the year continues as a top priority for our Board and management team. We are deeply grateful to our Shareholders for their confidence in Greenbrier."

Fargo joined Greenbrier's Board of Directors in 2015 as a retired military commander with subsequent private sector experience in defense, maritime and other transportation industries. As Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (2002-2005), he led the world's largest unified command while directing the joint operations of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force in the Pacific Theater, a geographic area encompassing over six million square miles. In this role, Fargo acted as U.S. military representative for collective defense arrangements in the Pacific, ultimately responsible to the President and the Secretary of Defense through the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Fargo's naval career included six tours in Washington, D.C. and extensive duties in the Pacific, Indian Ocean and Middle East, including serving as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Commander of the Naval Forces of the Central Command based in Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf.

Fargo also serves on the board of directors for Hawaiian Electric Industries, Matson and USAA, the private, member-owned insurer and financial services company. In 2020, Fargo completed nine years as Board Chair of Huntington Ingalls Industries, America's largest military shipbuilder and manufacturer of nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. He also earlier served on the boards of Northrop Grumman Corporation, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. and Hawaiian Airlines.

"We are fortunate to have an experienced and accomplished Board of Directors, with four members being appointed within the last five years. Nine out of Greenbrier's 10 directors qualify as independent. Each of our directors brings valuable perspectives as we execute our strategy, drive market competitiveness and enhance value for all Greenbrier stakeholders," said Furman. "In addition to Admiral Fargo's experience on our Board, during the past five years, he is also well-versed in governance practices that will influence important business dynamics in the years ahead. Tom, Duane and Kelly have led Greenbrier's Board on several best governance practices. In 2020, along with Independent Director Wanda Felton, this group refreshed our diversity and inclusion policies, including launching our IDEAL commitment, displaying our dedication to respect for people. These directors and their Board colleagues have championed Greenbrier's talent pipeline and environmental, social and governance programs. We look forward to Admiral Fargo's expanded contributions as Lead Director. Speaking for our Board, we also thank Duane McDougall for his outstanding contributions to Greenbrier during his time as Lead Director."

About Greenbrier

Greenbrier, headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading international supplier of equipment and services to global freight transportation markets. Greenbrier designs, builds and markets freight railcars and marine barges in North America. Greenbrier Europe is an end-to-end freight railcar manufacturing, engineering and repair business with operations in Poland, Romania and Turkey that serves customers across Europe and in the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Greenbrier builds freight railcars and rail castings in Brazil through two separate strategic partnerships. We are a leading provider of freight railcar wheel services, parts, repair, refurbishment and retrofitting services in North America through our wheels, repair & parts business unit. Greenbrier offers railcar management, regulatory compliance services and leasing services to railroads and related transportation industries in North America. Through unconsolidated joint ventures, we produce industrial and rail castings, and other components. Greenbrier owns a lease fleet of 8,400 railcars and performs management services for 407,000 railcars. Learn more about Greenbrier at www.gbrx.com.

"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including any statements that are not purely statements of historical fact. These forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements about succession management as well as other information regarding future performance and strategies. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements.

Information on these risks and other potential factors that could cause our results to differ from our forward-looking statements is included in the Company's filings with the SEC, including in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company's most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and subsequent Form 10-Q filing. Except as otherwise required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE The Greenbrier Companies, Inc.
The Netaji portrait unveiled by President Kovind

A portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose unveiled by President Ram Nath Kovind on January 23 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to commemorate his 125th birth anniversary left netizens confused.



President Kovind unveils the portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at Rashtrapati Bhavan to commemorate his 125th birth anniversary celebrations. pic.twitter.com/Y3BnylwA8X

 President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) January 23, 2021

Many argued if the portrait was of Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who had played the character of Netaji in the film Gumnaami directed by Srijit Mukherjee. However, some media reports have clarified that it is indeed a portrait of Netaji based on an original picture and not that of the actor.

Social platforms such as Twitter though had a field day discussing the portrait. While some, such as Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra exclaimed: God Save India (because this government certainly cant), others couldn't stop guffawing at the alleged error.

Here's how Twitter reacted:



This is unbelievably hilarious. The Portrait that President of India Unveiled, it is is of Actor Prosenjit who played role of Netaji (Look at Eyes). Thats like unveiling Portrait of Ajay Devgan as Bhagat Singh https://t.co/voRxerFmoU  Joy (@Joydas) January 25, 2021



Shocked to hear that the President unveiled the portrait of actor Prasenjit Chatterjee, who played #Netaji instead of the real deal. I wish this were a headline from the Onion. I had to look twice to make sure it had actually happened. How utterly embarrassing https://t.co/7IGb9LeUVZ

 barkha dutt (@BDUTT) January 25, 2021



Frankly, I don't think that #Netaji portrait looks like Prasenjeet. I have seen the film. Or maybe am wrong. In fact , earlier we used to get posters of leaders sold on streets. Somehow I found the current portrait looking like those posters.

 Jaideep Bhattacharjee (@jaideepb) January 25, 2021
On the eve of the 72nd Republic Day, President Ram Nath Kovind has said that the phase-wise unlocking process after the Covid-19 induced lockdown has proven to be beneficial for India's economy, which has been recovering quickly.

In his address to the nation, he spoke about the economic reforms by the central government in view of the pandemic. The president said that the government's self-reliant schemes are turning into people's movement, leading to employment generation.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

He said the slowdown has turned into a transitory period as the country has been able to turn a crisis into opportunity. The President said that adversity often plays the role of a great teacher and "makes us stronger and more confident".

Speaking about the three farm laws passed by the BJP-led government in September last year, Kovind said: "Economic reforms continue apace and supplemented by long-pending reforms in areas of labour and agriculture through legislation. Path to reform at initial stages may cause misapprehensions. However, it's beyond doubt that the government remains singularly devoted to farmers welfare."

The President said equally salient but touching more lives directly is the comprehensive reform in education which was long overdue.

"The 'National Education Policy 2020', with its stress on tradition as well as technology, will lay the foundation of a New India which aspires to emerge as a knowledge hub on the international stage. This reform promises to incubate innate talent of students and ignite their minds to take up the challenges of life," he said.

The President said that every Indian salutes farmers, who have made "our vast and populous country self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products".

"Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the Covid-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained the agricultural production. A grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers," he said.

In a veiled dig at China over the border standoff in Ladakh, Kovind said that India faced "an expansionist move" on its borders which was foiled by the country's valiant soldiers and said 20 of them laid their lives in the violent clash in Galwan Valley.

said India is committed to peace but its forces are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine security and national interest will be protected at all costs.

"The past year was a time of adversity, and it came from many fronts. We faced an expansionist move on our borders, but our valiant soldiers foiled it. To achieve this objective, 20 of them had to lay down their lives," he said.

"The nation shall remain grateful to those brave soldiers. Though we reiterate our commitment to peace, our defence forces - Army, Air Force and Navy - are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine our security. Our national interest will be protected at all costs. We have also ensured a widespread understanding in the international community of India's firm and principled stand," he added.





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The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed the death of four persons in a car crash on the Ogbomoso-Ilorin road in Kwara State on Sunday.

The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Jonathan Owoade, said the accident occurred as a result of over speeding and careless driving, adding that 18 persons were involved in the crash.

The accident, which was as a result of speed limit violation and dangerous driving, involved a commercial Toyota bus carrying 18 passengers.

Eyewitnesses told us that the driver was driving too close to a smoking trailer. So he must have hit the trailer from behind and somersaulted, after which it went up in flames. Out of 18 passengers, seven persons sustained varying degrees of injuries, four died, while others came out unhurt, he said.

He said the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the General Hospital, Ilorin, while six of those who sustained injuries were also taken to the same hospital and one other person to Hebron Apata Hospital, Eiyenkorin.

There were no items recovered at the accident scene because the vehicle got burnt beyond recognition. The traffic control department of the Nigerian Police Force has taken over, he said.

Mr Owoade cautioned motorists against over speeding and reckless driving in their own interest and that of their passengers.
Donald Trump reportedly wants to set up his his own MAGA Party to challenge disloyal Republicans who helped impeach him in the House  or else are considering voting to convict him in the Senate.

On Monday, a single article of impeachment is set to be transferred from the House of Representatives to the Senate, where members of the upper chamber will next month consider Mr Trumps fate. If Mr Trump, who is the only president to have been impeached twice, is convicted in the Senate, he could also be barred from ever running for federal office again.

Over the weekend it was reported Mr Trump, now ensconced at his estate in Florida, has been talking to advisers about establishing a third party, that could be called the Patriot Party, or perhaps the Make America Great Again Party, borrowing from his campaign slogan.

At the same time, figures such as Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, unelected but with huge influence among many conservatives, in effect warned Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell he would face a primary challenger if he voted to convict Mr Trump.

While three presidents have been impeached by the House  Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump  none have been convicted by the Senate. The Senate is due to start hearing the case on the week beginning February 8.

The Washington Post said Mr Trump, operating out of Mar-a-Lago, had told staff to investigate setting up a third party, perhaps named the Patriot Party, to challenge the 10 Republican members of the House who voted to impeach him earlier this month.

The paper said in recent weeks, the former president had entertained the idea of creating a third party and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office.

 Melania Trump shares farewell address video

It added: Multiple people in Trumps orbit  say Trump has told people that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial.

Even before he left office, the prospect of Mr Trump setting up a third party was something that was often talked about. While third parties, such as the Greens and Libertarians, have typically made little headway at the national level, there have been exceptions.

In 1992, businessman Ross Perot, of the Reform Party, secured 19 per cent of the vote in a three-way race with George HW Bush, and Mr Clinton.

While there are large portions of the Republican establishment who dislike Mr Trump but supported him during his presidency because they judged he could help them, Mr Trumps approval rating rarely dipped below 40 per cent, suggesting there remains a very Trump-loyal portion of Republicans who might switch to third party, with him at the helm.

The prospect for establishing such a party appears to be more likely given the way a number of Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, have sought to distance themselves from MrTrump since the events of January 6, when hundreds of Trumps supporters stormed the US Capitol, seeking to stop the confirmation of the electoral win of Joe Biden. Large numbers of Republicans believe Mr Trumps false claims the election was rigged.

The Post also said over the weekend, Mr Trump was heard on a recorded message offering his complete and total endorsement for another term for Arizona state party chairwoman Kelli Ward, a controversial figure who clashed with the states Republican governor.

On January 6, Ms Ward posted a poll on her Twitter account asking Can we salvage/save the Republican Party or do we need another option?. Around 8 per cent voted to salvage the GOP, while 78 said a #MAGA Party [was] needed. On Sunday, the hashtag #MAGAParty was trending in the US.

The threat of being punished by Mr Trumps supporters for voting to impeach him seems very real.

Just 10 Republicans voted to do so  Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Dan Newhouse of Washington state, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state, Peter Meijer of Michigan. John Katko of New York, and David Valadao of California.

Over the weekend, The Independent sought a comment from all 10; only Mr Kinzingers office replied, saying he did not wish to say anything further at this stage

Indeed, since the vote, Mr Kinzinger, who represents Illinois 6th congressional district, which includes a number of rural counties west of Chicago, has been the only person to speak about his decision, while the others have maintained a low profile.

I think this is one of those votes that that transcends any kind of political implication if the moment. This is one of those that you're going to look back on when you're 80 and this will be the one you talk about, he told CNN.

I don't know what the future is, you know, I don't know what that means for me politically but I know I'm at real peace right now.

Ms Cheney is now facing a challenge to her position as the third-ranking GOP member of the House, and The New York Times ran a recent article headlined: 10 Republicans Voted to Impeach Trump. The Backlash Has Been Swift.

The issues raised by the prospect of Mr Trump establishing his own party, could dominate many of the energies of the Republican Party, which has now lost the White House, the House and the Senate, after Democrats bagged the two run-off races in Georgia, to give them the narrowest control of the Senate.

With eyes already turning to 2024, Republicans need to decide whether to opt for Mr Trump again, or his son, Donald Trump Jr. Otherwise they may decide for a more traditional conservative candidate, perhaps in the likes of Nikki Haley, or potentially Mike Pence.

If Mr Trump is barred from running from office, it would open the way for other challengers, and allow donors to think with clarity about who they want to back.

Yet if Mr Trump does set up his own party, even if he is not its candidate, it would likely split the conservative vote, and all but ensure a second term for a Democratic administration. Back in 1992, Mr Bush always blamed Independent Ross Perot for his defeat to Bill Clinton.

Setting up a political party is complicated and takes a great deal of work. Is Trump up to the task? I wonder, said Larry Sabato, Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia.

He added: Democrats should volunteer to help [set up any third party]. The Patriot Party would split the GOP and nearly guarantee Democratic victories.

The prospect of such a showdown is already creating anxiety. Politico quoted Florida Republican Rick Scott, a long-time ally of Mr Trump, as saying he would be backing Republican incumbents in his role as chair of the Senate GOPs campaign arm, should they face a primary challenge, from a third-party.

Im supporting the incumbents, he said. He said that he has not spoken to Ivanka Trump or anyone about Marco Rubio possibly getting a primary challenge from her.

Nobody has talked to me about it at all. Nobody. Ive tried to call around, he added. Nobodys said anything about Florida.
Police have issued an appeal for more information after livestock rustlers stole dozens of Mule cross Texel ewes from a farm in Powys.

Thirty-one sheep were stolen from enclosed farm fields near to the Llanfrynach village area, Brecon.

The theft happened anytime between 31 December to 10 January 2021, according to Dyfed-Powys Police.

"Stolen 31 white faced Mule x Texel breeding ewes which should be pregnant, taken from enclosed farm fields, near to the Llanfrynach village area, Brecon.

"Seen anything? Any information, telephone 101," the force said on social media.

According to figures released today (25 January), farm animals worth an estimated 2.3m were stolen from UK farms in 2020, making it one of the most costliest crimes for farmers.

How do I prevent livestock rustling?

To deter livestock thieves, NFU Mutual advises farmers to:

 Ensure stock is clearly marked and records are up to date

 When possible graze livestock in fields away from roads

 Check stock regularly - and vary times of feeding/check ups

 Consider a high-tech marking system such as TecTracer which puts thousands of coded microdot markers into a sheeps fleece

 Join a Farm or Rural Watch scheme to share information about rural crime in your area

 Ask neighbours to report any suspicious sightings to the police, or to give information 100% anonymously to the Rural Crime Hotline 0800 783 0137

 Dial 999 immediately if an incident is taking place - do not approach criminals
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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.
Amazon has removed five groups that appear to be associated with the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, two militias the FBI is investigating for their alleged involvement in the January 6th US Capitol attack. Since 2013, the company has allowed charities to collect donations through the initiative. By buying an eligible product through the company, you can donate up to 0.5 percent of your purchase. According to Amazon, there are more than one million charities involved in Smile.

.@amazonsmile, why are you helping the Oath Keepers, a militia group, raise money?? pic.twitter.com/MTmrfMqHnI  Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) January 19, 2021

The fact a militia group may have hijacked the program was first spotted by Sleeping Giants, which shared a screenshot from the website of the Indiana Oath Keepers showing a step-by-step guide on how to support the group through Smile. CNET later identified two other organizations associated with the Oath Keepers, as well as one with ties to the Three Percenters militia, using the program in the same way. A spokesperson for Amazon told the publication it removed all four groups on Friday. It also removed one associated with the Texas chapter of the Three Percent movement.

Its not clear how the groups got into the program. On its website, Amazon says Smile is open to 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. All five groups Amazon removed from the program are registered nonprofits. There appear to be more militia groups Amazon has yet to remove.

Charitable organizations must meet the requirements outlined in our participation agreement to be eligible for AmazonSmile. Organizations that engage in, support, encourage, or promote intolerance, hate, terrorism, violence, money laundering, or other illegal activities are not eligible, a spokesperson for the company said. If at any point an organization violates this agreement, its eligibility will be revoked. Since 2013, Amazon has relied on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Southern Poverty Law Center to provide the data for these determinations.

The removal follows a flurry of enforcement action from Amazon against right-wing extremists. In the aftermath of the pro-Trump riots on Capitol Hill, Amazon started removing QAnon-related merchandise from its storefront, saying at the time that products that promote, incite, or glorify hate or violence toward any person or group on its platform. It also stopped providing hosting services to Parler, the social media app those who took part in the riot used to plan it. With Parler, the company said the app had failed to properly moderate posts calling for violence.

Update (01/26 1:35PM ET): Added comment from Amazon.
A consensus is emerging about the most effective way to stop the censorship of conservatives by left-wing social media companies like Facebook and Twitter. The solution, as Pauls correspondent was among the first to argue, is to work through the states. There are plenty of states controlled by conservativesor at least people who believe in free speechto make this happen. In my opinion, if a critical mass of states, say 10 or 15, enact such legislation, authorizing substantial statutory damages for each violation along with attorneys fees, the social media platforms will have no choice but to stop suppressing conservative voices.

Bills have been introduced in several states, including Mississippi, North Dakota and (I think) Arizona, intended to stop online discrimination on political grounds. I have probably missed some, and more will be offered soon. Here in Minnesota, I believe a bill will be introduced in the state Senate sometime next week. When that happens, I will publish it here.

My organization has been participating for some time in a group called the Free Speech Alliance, which was founded by the Media Research Center. Representatives of 52 organizations, including a couple from foreign countries, attended an FSA zoom last week. The subject of the call was how to fight back against Big Tech suppression of conservative views. My view that our most effective approach is to work through state legislation is, I think, becoming pretty universal. Watch for much more along these lines in the weeks to come.


Widespread, Shallow Copper Oxide Minerals in Supergene

Perth, Jan 25, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cyprium Metals Limited ( ASX:CYM ) is pleased to provide an update of the Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling programme that was commenced on January 6, 2021 at the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project. This programme continues Cyprium's strategy to drill out the resource at the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold project as detailed in Figure 1*.HIGHLIGHTS- 3,500 metre Phase 1 RC drilling programme is ongoing- RC drilling undertaken to define the extensive supergene mineralisation- Shallow supergene mineralisation remains open to the north, south and west- Drilling program expanded to test potential north-west extension of Cu-Au supergeneExecutive Director Barry Cahill commented "We are pleased to provide an update of the 3,500 metre RC drill programme at the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project.Drilling to date has seen visible copper supergene mineralisation in the RC chips such as malachite, azurite and chrysocolla. The presence of these visible minerals is very exciting as we submit samples to the assay laboratory for analysis.Supergene mineralisation is generally, easily leachable with acid, which complements the nearby Hollandaire mineral resource, which is a massive sulphide orebody, that has already demonstrated its acid generating capacity.We will eagerly await the results of this programme to define the extent of the supergene mineralisation at the Nanadie Well. These results will be used to generate a JORC 2012 compliant resource at the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold project.Cyprium is continuing to work on expanding our mineral resource base for inclusion in the Murchison Copper-Gold scoping study."Near-surface supergene mineralisation has been defined at the Nanadie Well Copper-Gold Project, which is open along strike to the north and south, as well as to the west. The supergene mineralisation does not outcrop and is covered by 1m to 25m of transported and unconsolidated sediments in the project area.Preliminary investigations of the Nanadie Well deposit data indicates potential for supergene mineralisation over the full 750 metres of strike currently defined. The supergene has mineralised intersections for copper, gold and silver, with the previously drilled RC rock chips containing oxide copper minerals such as malachite, which rapidly leachable when treated with sulphuric acid - refer to release "copper metal plated" dated 9 March 2020.The Company's initial 3,500 metre Nanadie Well Phase 1 RC drilling programme has been designed to test the supergene mineralisation of the deposit. The planned drill hole locations are detailed in Figure 2* and have intersected strong oxide mineralisation as illustrated in Images 1 to 7*. Full details of mineralised intersections will be announced when assays have been received from the analytical laboratory. Several drillholes have also intersected sulphide mineralisation, including NWRC21018 from 26m in Image 3*.The supergene mineralisation is also trending north-west, as tested by NWRC21031. Strong visual copper oxide mineralisation was intersected between 9m to 11m and 20m to 21m as detailed in images 4 and 6*.Strong visual copper oxide mineralisation was intersected between 23m to 28m as detailed in image 7* with sulphide mineralisation from 36m.The data from the January 2021 RC drilling programme and subsequent programmes will be used to prepare a JORC Code 2012 compliant mineral resource for the Nanadie Well deposit, expected to be released during the second half of 2021.The mineral resource delineated by these programmes will be included in the ongoing Murchison Copper-Gold Project scoping study. The results from these programmes will be also be used in the planning of follow up drilling programmes which will target mineralisation extensions as it remains open at shallow depths, to the north, south and to the west.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Cyprium Metals Ltd

Cyprium Metals Limited (ASX:CYM) is poised to grow to a mid-tier mining business and manage a portfolio of Australian copper projects to deliver vital natural resources, strong shareholder returns and sustainable value for our stakeholders. We pursue this aim, in genuine partnerships with employees, customers, shareholders, local communities and other stakeholders, which is based on integrity, co-operation, transparency and mutual value creation.
Born and raised in New York City, Valentina Duhanaj is a newcomer to Kosovo's elections.

But she's no stranger to the country, its culture, or its politics.

Both of Duhanaj's parents and three of her siblings were born there, and she visits her extended family in their landlocked Balkan homeland. She's also spent much of the past decade focused on Kosovar and Balkan politics in college and graduate school as she studies for a master's degree in global affairs.

Duhanaj, a 30-year-old with just U.S. citizenship, expects to vote in the Kosovar elections for the first time on February 14 thanks to the inclusiveness enshrined in that mostly ethnic Albanian country's election law and its constitution.

"I started seeing chatter on Albanian Twitter with many friends and Kosovar politicians mentioning that children of Kosovar citizens could vote if they could prove at least one of their parents was born in Kosovo, so I decided I wanted to," Duhanaj told RFE/RL.

Kosovo's law on citizenship -- part of the path to voting -- extends citizenship to former Yugoslav citizens and residents in January 1998 and their "direct descendants," regardless of where they live.

But an unusual strategy of screening would-be voters by telephone threatened to upset Duhanaj's and the efforts of tens of thousands of other Kosovars in the diaspora to collect on that democratic promise.

No Shortage Of Problems

There are other arguably more conspicuous challenges piling up ahead of these snap elections in Europe's newest independent state.

They include conducting mostly in-person voting in a pandemic that has already frayed governments throughout Europe and the region.

Add to that the long shadow of alleged wartime atrocities that has been cast on former influential leaders, at least one candidate, and the national conscience.

And, more unexpectedly, the problems include ensuring a fair and competitive vote after the Central Election Commission last week signaled the likely disqualification of three party lists over prior criminal convictions against several dozen candidates -- including the front-running Self-Determination (Vetevendosje) party's choice for prime minister, Albin Kurti.

Whatever the outcome of opposition appeals that are still pending, critics are sure to attack the resulting vote as rigged and will possibly boycott.

But to some of the hundreds of thousands of people who fled the former province during and since a battle for independence from the Yugoslav constituent republic of Serbia in the late 1990s and their descendants, it won't matter who's on the ballot if they can't even register to vote.

After acting President Vjosa Osmani scheduled next month's snap national elections to replace a government declared illegitimate by the courts, the Central Election Commission on January 11 gave Kosovars outside the country just 10 days to register to vote.

A day later, the commission added a key verification step to the process: Voter registrars must telephone such applicants abroad to confirm their identities and other details before registering them.

Keep Those Phones Handy

Duhanaj was "skeptical of the commission's motives," she said, in part because she heard lots of criticism of that decision among Kosovars on social media. Plus, she said, it simply seemed "anti-democratic that a diaspora member's application can be tossed out if they simply miss a call."

"It's not that this process takes so much time, so much as missing this call seems to be a disqualifying factor for the application process," Duhanaj said.

Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairwoman Valdete Daka suggested that officials would call just three times. "The CEC will verify the application process for registration by contacting all applicants by telephone," the commission said in its decision. "If the applicant is not notified by phone, then his application is rejected."

Osmani quickly urged the commission to reconsider the phone-call requirement as risking a "flagrant violation" of the right to vote.

Liza Gashi, a former deputy foreign minister of Kosovo who also founded an umbrella NGO for the Kosovar diaspora, called it an attempt "to suppress the vote from abroad."

Her former NGO, Germin, filed a complaint with the Election Panel for Complaints and Appeals (ECAP) alleging that the commission's decision contravenes four articles of the Kosovar Constitution, the national election law, and the Election Commission's own guidelines.

After the ECAP rejected its petition, Germin on January 15 appealed to Kosovo's Supreme Court to strike down the requirement.

Lots Of Work To Be Done

Kosovo's population is about 1.9 million.

And in a small, partly recognized country with around one-third of its population abroad, even tens of thousands of potential expat voters can easily swing an election.

Support among the diaspora was thought to have helped swing the 2019 election for Kurti's Albanian nationalist Self-Determination party, upsetting more than a decade of political dominance by former guerrillas of Kosovo's war of independence in the late 1990s.

Kurti's hold on government lasted just two months before his junior coalition partner, the Democratic League, jumped ship to trigger nine months of caretaker administrations and political uncertainty.

Now, polls suggest Self-Determination is the front-runner heading into the February vote and the diaspora could once again prove decisive.

Any eventual government will immediately face the ongoing challenges of an unprecedented public-health crisis caused by COVID-19, a looming presidential vote in parliament, and economic malaise that predated the pandemic but has been exacerbated by it.

It must also confront brain drain and other demographic challenges stemming from decades of emigration, and potentially divisive fallout from expected war crimes trials in The Hague of prominent Kosovar leaders, including ex-President Hashim Thaci.

Washington and Brussels will meanwhile expect Pristina to provide new momentum to internationally mediated talks on normalizing relations with powerful neighbor Serbia, which still refuses to recognize the 2008 declaration of sovereignty by its former province.

And as Osmani -- who could be poised to compete for the presidency -- has already signaled, Pristina will be eager to seed relations with one of Kosovo's staunchest allies, the United States, as President Joe Biden's new administration gets out of the blocks.

Silencing The Diaspora?

Its authorities estimate that around 800,000 Kosovars live abroad, many of them unregistered.

The NGO Germin has complained for years that officials need to do more to "overcome obstacles and to widen the possibilities for out-of-country voting."

Some critics would argue that the conditions for Kosovars to vote abroad were already tight enough.

Prizren-born Kosovar Hilmi Gashi has lived in Switzerland for 32 years and has always tried to vote.

Twice, however, he was prevented from voting.

After his complaints to ECAP went unanswered, he traveled to his homeland to ensure he could cast a ballot in the 2019 elections.

Since then, in December, the Constitutional Court overturned a decision by the country's Supreme Court that would have ensured that ballots sent by mail from abroad would be counted even if they arrived after the deadline.

In this vote's case, that's February 12. Strict adherence to such a preelection-day deadline could especially be a problem for voters in neighboring Serbia, whose postal service doesn't formally cooperate with Kosovo's due to Belgrade's ongoing refusal to recognize Kosovar sovereignty.

Gashi says he's critical of the process this time, too. "It's incomprehensible that they make deadlines so short and expect people to apply on time," he told RFE/RL's Balkan Service. "[Or] people apply on time but the documentation gets to them too late."

He echoed expat groups' particular scorn for the three-phone-calls-and-you're-out verification requirement.

In Switzerland, he said, many employers prohibit people from using their personal mobile phones at work. "My sister, who works at a company, hands over the phone in the morning at 6 a.m. in the changing room," Gashi said. "She has no access to the phone all day."

An organizer of Kosovars in Germany, teacher Muhamet Idrizi, said he was similarly unable to use his phone if the commission called during work hours. "It's not clear here whether I can then contact the CEC and tell them, 'You called me, but I couldn't [pick up the phone], but can you verify my right [to vote]?"

Busy Signals

Back in New York, Duhanaj got her phone call around midday five days after applying, although she'd been prepared for the worst because of the time difference. "I was also worried they would call in the middle of the night, so I kept my phone on loud, as I am six hours behind [Kosovo's time] on [my] Eastern Standard Time [zone in New York City]," she said.

In the end, she added that the process "was only a slight inconvenience" and was perhaps aided by the fact that she was working from home due to the pandemic. Once a registrar employee reached her, it took only about a minute and a few perfunctory questions to satisfy the verification process.

When she last was in contact with RFE/RL, the day after the voter-abroad deadline and less than four weeks ahead of the elections, she said her other family members were still waiting for their e-mails and phone calls so they could take part in the elections.

And she was still "slightly skeptical" of the process.

"It worries me that thousands of phone calls will need to be made," she e-mailed RFE/RL, adding: "I am [also] waiting to see what the actual ballot process is like. I have not yet received a ballot and could not find it online, not sure when it will be available."

Written and reported by Andy Heil in Prague with additional reporting by RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondent Bekim Bislimi and fellow Donika Gashi
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking a new chapter with the new US administration in order to overcome Ankaras deeply strained ties with Washington. He signaled this in the letter of congratulations he sent to newly elected President Joe Biden on Nov. 10.

"I believe that the strong cooperation and alliance between our countries will continue to contribute to world peace in the future as it has been until today," Erdogan said in his letter.

Erdogan, however, wants to improve these ties on his terms; he is not willing to compromise on issues that have damaged the strong cooperation he referred to.

Washington has also provided no indication that it is willing to compromise on these issues. The stalemate appears set to remain for the foreseeable future.

The most notable issue  although there are others that have clouded ties  remains Ankaras purchase of Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems.

Turkeys worsening record on democracy and human rights are also unlikely to garner much sympathy from Biden for Erdogan. Biden is on record saying he intends to prioritize these issues in international relations.

The two former close allies are also at odds over Turkeys flexing of its military muscles in Libya, Syria and the eastern Mediterranean.

Due to congressional pressure on former President Donald Trump, Washington had sanctioned Turkey under its Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CATSAA) for its purchase of the Russian systems.

With Trump out of the picture, Erdogan has no one left in Washington to shield Turkey against the worst effects of these sanctions.

Washington also expelled Turkey from the F-35 program over its S-400 purchase. Ankara was hoping to meet its need for state-of-the-art fighter jets covering the next decade and beyond with the F-35s.

It is unlikely that calls by Ankara to rejoin the F-35 program will be heeded by the Biden administration, unless Turkey is prepared to shelve the S-400s and not use them.

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in December that was out of the question. We have to concentrate on finding a solution to this problem in which we keep this system, he noted.

Akar has also been calling on Washington to readmit Turkey into the F-35 program, decrying its expulsion from this program as unjust.

However, Bidens choice for secretary of state has already clarified the new administration's position regarding the S-400 issue. The idea that a strategic  so-called strategic  partner of ours would actually be in line with one of our biggest strategic competitors in Russia is not acceptable, Antony Blinken said during his Senate confirmation hearings. Turkey is an ally that in many ways  is not acting as an ally should, and this is a very, very significant challenge for us and were very clear-eyed about it."

Foreign policy expert Sedat Ergin said these remarks point to a hard line by Washington with regard to the S-400 file. The Biden administrations dialogue with Turkey is off to a troubled start, Ergin wrote in Hurriyet.

Blinken also stressed that they would assess the impact of the existing CATSAA sanctions slapped on Turkey, and then determine whether [there is] more that needs to be done.

Blinkens remarks also point to Turkeys gradually diminishing value as a strategic partner for the United States given Erdogans Islamist/nationalist-based and fervently anti-Western approach to foreign policy.

Ergin continued that the other side of the medallion is that Turkey will continue to question the value of America's strategic partnership, given continuing US support for the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.

Ankara views the YPG as a Kurdish terrorist group that poses a threat to Turkey. It wants the United States to dump the YPG, but gives no indication of a new democratic opening to solve Turkeys perennial Kurdish problem.

A Kurdish opening at home could also ease the path to a more sympathetic understanding by the United States of Turkish sensitivities regarding the YPG. Such an opening, however, appears impossible given Erdogan's political reliance at home on his alliance with the fiercely anti-Kurdish Nationalist Movement Party.

Meanwhile, Bidens choice of Lloyd Austin for defense secretary and Brett McGurk as coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa also went down badly in Ankara. Austin and McGurk  who continues to be vilified by the pro-government media  are seen as the architects of the close ties the US military built with the YPG.

The dialogue of the deaf between Ankara and Washington over the YPG issue is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Analysts underline that Erdogans position is weak with regard to Turkeys differences with the United States. They say he has little leverage he can use to force Washington to comply with his demands regarding issues like the S-400s or the YPG.

Threatening to expel the United States from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, also rings hollow, they add, because such a move would ultimately be counterproductive for Ankara.

Erdogans dilemma is that Turkeys economy has been going downhill in line with its deteriorating ties with the United States and Europe.

It is not a newfound love for the West that is forcing him to try and reach out to the United States and the EU now. Erdogan has no other option but to look to the West again for much-needed foreign capital and investments.

In order to woo Europe, Erdogan has announced that his government is working on a radical legislative reform package. He also wants to restart the stalled Turkey-EU membership talks as a means to support Turkeys failing economy.

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity involving an exchange of letters between Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron, and visits by the Italian and German foreign ministers to Ankara and the Turkish foreign minister to Brussels.

Independent analysts, however, remain deeply skeptical.

Retired Ambassador Erdogan Iscan said the precondition for putting Turkeys ties with Europe back on track is compliance with democratic standards based on the rule of law. Just as it is not possible to keep the S-400s and return to the F-35 program at the same time, a desire to open a new page with the EU while refusing to implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and to comply with democratic standards  will not bear results, Iscan wrote in the T24 news portal.

Like Iscan many analysts argue that progress with the EU will be unattainable if Erdogans promised reform package does not target significant improvements in democracy and human rights.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to corroborate this assessment following her meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Brussels last week.

Brief exchange with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on next steps in EU-Turkey relations. Dialogue is essential, but we also expect credible gestures on the ground, Von der Leyen tweeted Jan 21.

Lacking such gestures any dialogue with the EU is bound to be conducted within a limited framework aimed at cooperating over pragmatic issues such as illegal immigration and terrorism.

Turkish-Greek tensions in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean will also be a key component of this dialogue.

Veteran political commentator Taha Akyol also believes that ties with the United States and Europe ultimately depend on significant reforms by Ankara. The rule of law and democracy are not important in ties with any country in Asia and Africa. However, they are crucial in relations with the West, Akyol wrote in his column for daily Karar.

Expecting Erdogan to make a major move aimed at upgrading the standard of democracy and human rights in Turkey, however, appears counterintuitive. His continuing use of the courts  which look to him for their rulings  against his critics and opponents shows the extent to which he is prepared to go in this regard.

Bold reforms by Erdogan would also be a hard sell to his Islamist-nationalist support base.

His supporters believe that any Western pressure on Ankara over its democracy and human rights is an attempt at bringing about regime change In Turkey.

Erdogan cannot afford to alienate his supporters at a time when new opposition parties are making political headway at home.

How Erdogan hopes to improve ties with the United States and the EU and get Turkey out of its economic morass without making any significant concessions remains unclear.

The Biden administrations task in dealing with Turkey, on the other hand, will not be any easier.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP)  Two giraffes are coming to a Mississippi zoo.

The Hattiesburg Zoo will welcome the animals in late spring or early summer for a new exhibit.

Hattiesburg Convention Commission Executive Director Rick Taylor told WDAM-TV on Saturday that the exhibit is designed to be a giraffe breeding facility.

He says the exhibit will start with a female giraffe and her offspring, and later add a male giraffe.

The zoo also has set its eyes on receiving accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Taylor says they expect a visit from an accreditation team this summer and hope to be accredited in the fall.
Police and State Emergency Service personnel are searching Mount Coot-tha in Brisbanes west on Monday for a man who disappeared 10 days ago.

Malik Hussain, 43, was last seen at his home in Logan Reserve, south of Brisbane, on the afternoon of Saturday, January 16. He was reported missing on January 22.

Malik Hussain, 43, is missing and believed to be in Mount Coot-tha bushland. Credit:Queensland Police Service

His vehicle, a white 2013 Toyota Corolla, has been found in The Summit car park off Sir Samuel Griffith Drive in Mount Coot-tha. Police believe it has been there since at least 10am on Sunday.

Police and family are concerned for Mr Hussains wellbeing as this behaviour is out of character.
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NEW YORK (AP)  A Colorado geophysicist accused of dragging a police officer down steps to be beaten by an American flag outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was ordered held without bail Friday after a prosecutor said the man afterward tried to flee to Switzerland and commit suicide.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause, based in White Plains, said during an electronic hearing that he found the alleged actions by Jeffrey Sabol, a 51-year-old born in Utica, N.Y., beyond the pale and it is troubling to a degree that is really ... shocking.

Krause said the allegations were very disturbing, deeply troubling and that Sabol needed to remain behind bars as a danger to the community and a risk to flee. Sabol was arrested Friday morning at the Westchester Medical Center.

What we see is Mr. Sabol, part of a group of people dragging a law enforcement officer down the steps of a building at the Capitol, where that officer has been repeatedly assaulted by a number of people, apparently including Mr. Sabol, Krause said.

The judge said he also saw video footage that showed Sabol going back up the stairs after the first officer was dragged down to possibly look for someone else to bring down those stairs into the teeth of that mob that was at the Capitol that day.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Gianforti said Sabol identified himself to law enforcement authorities as the black-gloved man in the video wearing a brown or tan jacket, a black or gray helmet and a green backpack.

We see the defendant dragging a police officer down a set of stairs just outside the Capitol, Gianforti said. This allows another man, whos standing nearby, to beat that police officer with an American flag ironically, as the officer is being dragged down the stairs.

The prosecutor said other images show the defendant holding a police baton across a police officers neck, and we have reason to believe he may have assaulted another police officer to procure that baton.

Gianforti said Sabol had offered investigators self-serving statements saying he was trying to protect the officer but had also admitted to being in a fit of rage that day and that the details of the day were quote, cloudy.

Gianforti noted the video evidence and said: I would just submit that a picture is worth a thousand words.

After the attack, the prosecutor said, Sabol booked a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where he would not be able to be extradited to the U.S.

Sabols lawyer, Jason Ser, argued for his clients release on $200,000 bail, saying the man had steady employment for decades  Ser said Sabols job, in which he supervises other employees and contractors, involves removing unexploded ordnance from testing grounds for the military  and the support of family that includes a longtime girlfriend, an ex-wife, three children and parents.

He said video of the actions by his client were not as clear cut as they had been described by a prosecutor and noted that Sabol was currently charged only with civil disobedience charges that carry a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison.

He said his client was coherent, stable and cooperative with federal law enforcement authorities after he underwent treatment at a psychiatric facility for a week and spent several days at the Westchester Medical Center.

Both the judge and the prosecutor referenced Sabols suicide attempts in the wake of the attack, though Ser told pretrial services his client was no longer suicidal.

Im sorry for what Mr. Sabol has been through since he left the Capitol but I think, your honor, that his suicide attempts can be taken as consciousness of guilt and in some respect really the ultimate flight attempt, Gianforti said. This is a man who just cant face the fact that he is facing a felony charge because of his actions on Jan. 6.
VINCENNES, Ind. (AP)  Officials in a southwestern Indiana county that became the first in the state to ban the sale of invasive plants are hoping to expand their outreach efforts this year to landscaping and home improvement businesses.

Knox County officials approved a county's invasive species ordinance in August 2018 that became Indiana's first regulations on terrestrial invasive plants, such as English Ivy and burning bush.

That measure prevents the sale, trade and import of more than 60 invasive plant species in the county, and put Knox County at the forefront of Indiana's native plant species conservation efforts.

Since the ordinance took effect in January 2020, it has prevented nearly 900 invasive plants from being sold and planted in the county, the Vincennes Sun-Commercial reported.

But now members of the county's Invasive Species Board hope to expand those efforts by offering educational outreach to local landscaping businesses to promote the merits of native plant species.

Although it's now mid-winter, board members said now is the time reach out and educate because in less than two months, many local landscape and home improvement businesses will begin receiving shipments of plants for spring.

Will Drews, the natural resource specialist with Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District, is working to create training material, likely in an online format, about invasive plant species for store employees.

We will need to keep it short and manageable to entice people to complete the training, he said.
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A LIMERICK-based biopharmaceutical company is to supply its antibody treatment for Covid-19 to Germany.

Regeneron has developed the solution at its American headquarters in Tarrytown, New York  in a move which paved the way for 400 new jobs at its European headquarters in Raheen as it cleared the decks for development Stateside.

The antibody made global headlines last year after it was credited with helping former American president Donald Trump recover from Covid-19.

Germanys health minister Jens Spahn confirmed the countrys government has bought 200,000 doses for 400m, with patients receiving them free of charge.

Germany becomes the first country in the European Union to adopt this antibody as the fight against Covid-19 continues.

The treatment has been given the green-light by regulators in the USA  but has yet to be cleared to use in Europe.

Mr Trump, who was briefly hospitalised with the coronavirus last October while he was US president, was treated with Regeneron's therapy before it had gained formal authorisation.

He later said the medicine did "a fantastic job".

Regeneron's version is a combination or "cocktail" of two lab-made antibodies: infection-fighting proteins that were developed to bind to the surface protein of the coronavirus to stop it from invading human cells. The American firm has a plant in Limerick.

The German government has said it expects to be able to offer all those in the country a jab by the end of August.

Although Germany, the EU's most populous nation and its biggest economy, coped relatively well with the first coronavirus wave last spring, it has been hit hard by a resurgence in cases in recent months.

Germany has recorded over two million cases since the start of the pandemic, and more than 50,000 deaths.
If this man struggles with cognitive decline, then Ive got to believe God was truly on his side because Bidens inaugural speech, like the one he delivered the previous day as he left his home state of Delaware, was far more powerful than Garth Brooks twangy rendition of Amazing Grace and even J-Los This Land is Your Land.
Sitcom legends Gina Riley and Jane Turner last played their iconic Kath & Kim roles for a telemovie in 2012.

But despite almost a decade passing, the 'noice, different and unusual' stars still remain incredibly close.

According to Woman's Day, friends of the actresses claim the women are 'closer than ever' as they reach their 60s.

How Kath and Kim became Prue and Trude: Sitcom legends Jane Turner (left) and Gina Riley (right) are 'closer than ever' and 'still catch up' as they both turn 60

Jane celebrated her 60th birthday in December, while Gina, who played Jane's daughter in the sitcom, will turn 60 in May.

'The latest joke is that Gina and Jane have morphed into their most celebrated characters, Prue and Trude, as they've both swapped their hair colour and blowouts for no-nonsense silver hair,' the source added.

Snobby and wealthy home-wares store shop assistants Trude and Prue are played by Gina and Jane respectively.

Their characters both sported grey bobs and spoke with highly exaggerated upper-class Australian accents.

'The latest joke is that Gina and Jane have morphed into their most celebrated characters, Prue and Trude': While the pair may have shun the spotlight since the hit sitcom ended in 2007, friends close to the pair say they are 'closer than ever'

While the pair may have shun the spotlight since the hit sitcom ended in 2007, they are said to be closer than ever.

When Gina's actress daughter Maggie McKenna, 24, uploaded a photo of her famous mother with lighter locks last year, one fan wrote: 'Gina is now rocking the grey/silver hair better than Trude.'

Now that Gina and Jane are in the process of settling into Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, the friend claimed they'll be catching up more frequently.

That's different - noice! Gina's actress daughter Maggie McKenna, 24, uploaded this photo of her famous mother with lighter locks last year

'They still love catching up and talking about the skits they would do if they could still get away with them.'

They have since gained a legion of new fans when Netflix added the series' entire back catalogue.

All four seasons of Kath & Kim, two special-edition mini seasons, plus the franchise's two films, Kath & Kimderella and Da Kath & Kim Code, are now available to stream.

Joseph Palma holds up his work uniform with pride and despair. He hasn't put it on since he was laid off in March. He worked as a customer service agent for Eulen America, a contractor for American Airlines, assisting customs at Miami International Airport.

He's one of 123,300 airline workers out of a job since February. Among air, rail, and ground transport, more than a quarter million jobs have been lost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the recovery has been slow.

"There was a struggle because I used all my savings to pay my bills and pay the rent, pay my food and everything," Palma said of when he was first laid off.

Eulen declined to comment, other than confirming Palma's previous employment.

The Biden administration is now faced with an industry that is at a standstill. On Thursday, Secretary of Transportation nominee Pete Buttigieg said the department would play a key role in building back the economy.

"The Department of Transportation can play a central role in this, by implementing President Biden's infrastructure vision creating millions of good-paying jobs," Buttigieg told legislators in his committee hearing.

In the latest stimulus bill passed by Congress during the Trump administration, $15 billion in payroll protection was allocated for US-based airlines with the caveat that 32,000 airline employees are brought back to work by the end of March. But as a contractor for American Airlines, Palma was not re-hired.

Since then, he lost his apartment because he can't afford the $1,125 monthly rent. He survives off food stamps and receives $275 a week in unemployment, which is just enough to cover the rent for a room in a house. He says he's counting every penny and shops in the expired food isle at the grocery store.

"That's the only way I can eat. It's cheaper, is almost half the price, sometimes more than that," said Palma, who immigrated from Nicaragua 30 years ago. "I keep it for the longest I can keep it so I can wait for my next check for the food stamps."

Palma has no car, which makes getting food and looking for work harder.

"I can't even go it to the food banks because I have no car. Every time I'd go looking for a job, I'll have to walk so many miles," said Palma. "Sometimes I can't even use public transportation. I need the money. I need every penny I can save."

And the bills keep coming. Palma has asthma and a heart condition which left him with a $12,000 hospital bill. His current medication runs him about $300 a month, and he has student loans  putting him almost $20,000 in debt.

"It's too much money and it's hard for me. It's going to take me years to get rid of the bill -- years," he said.

Just this week, Palma received a letter from his former employer, Eulen America, inviting him back for an interview in a new position. However, the letter states the position is "part time and hours are not guaranteed."

Taxi drivers hurting, too

For 21 years, Gerson Fernandes has driven a New York City yellow cab. He owns a taxi medallion, or a small plate with an identification number affixed to the hood of his cab, which allows him to operate as in independent business and driver. He bought his in 2003 for $245,000, and is still paying it off monthly. But since the pandemic began he cannot afford the $3,000-a-month payment.

Even before Covid-19 swept the world, traditional taxi drivers were struggling in New York City. At one point the price of taxi medallions topped over $1 million, but that collapsed as drivers for ridehailing services like Uber and Lyft flooded the market. In 2018, nine taxi drivers, faced with the debt they had taken on just to afford a medallion, committed suicide.

And then the pandemic hit.

At the height of the pandemic, ridership dropped by 90% for yellow cabs and 85% for ride-share apps, according to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which analyzed New York Taxi and Limousine Commission ridership data.

"We've lost a lot of customers," said Fernandes, originally from Bombay, India. "I feel sad that such a robust industry has been spoiled or really like gone to the ground and it's not right."

The yellow cab is synonymous with New York City. Fernandes used to work 12-hour shifts picking up dozens of customers. Today, he says he is lucky to get four or five. He spends his 8-hour shifts waiting for customers at LaGuardia airport.

"Those days you could afford to buy a home and pay the mortgages or pay are all the money, but now it's too bad -- it's difficult to pay," said Fernandes.

He says he received unemployment benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program for several months when New York City shut down, but stopped collecting once he returned to work.

Fernandes says he's seen a slight uptick in customers since the height of the pandemic, but not enough to make him whole. He is hoping New York City's Mayor Bill De Blasio will institute a rent forgiveness on his taxi medallion lease. He already owes more than $10,000  money he does not have.

"I try my best, but like, how much can you try?" said Fernandes. "What can you do? [I have] very limited resources."

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Gerson Fernandes' first name.
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A 17-year-old boy arrested following a deadly sideshow shooting in San Franciscos Excelsior District last year will be prosecuted in Sacramento County in a move that critics called an attempt by police to bypass the San Francisco district attorneys reform policies for juveniles.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin pledged to never charge a minor as an adult, but thats not the case in Sacramento or most other counties. The decision to bring the charges to Sacramento could have a significant effect on the minors sentence if hes convicted as an adult  a difference between a handful of years in lockup versus decades in an adult prison. Because hes a minor, his name has not been released.

Sacramento prosecutors are petitioning a judge to have the 17-year-olds case tried in adult court, according to officials with the countys District Attorneys Office. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder, two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, assault likely to produce great bodily injury and discharging a firearm in public, police said.

Boudin said police asked prosecutors in his office whether they would prosecute the case as an adult, or whether, in the alternative, they would agree to send it to Sacramento County so prosecutors there could try him as an adult.

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said there was never an intention on the part of investigators to see the boy tried as an adult. Thats a prosecutors decision. Thats not a decision of the Police Department, Scott said.

When someone is accused of a crime, its up to police to investigate and make the case for prosecutors. Prosecutors then determine whether the suspect is charged with a crime in their venue. While each case is supposed to be tried locally, there are exceptions to the rule, creating some leeway with where police present their case.

I made it clear, first of all, that I want to prosecute it in San Francisco  its where the witnesses and victims are, and its where the crime occurred, Boudin said. Second of all, I promised voters that I would never prosecute a minor as an adult, and I intend to keep that promise.

Boudin said his office didnt hear back from police after that conversation.

The next thing I knew, the case had been taken to Sacramento, he said.

In a Jan. 15 press release announcing the arrest, police alleged there was a nexus between the San Francisco killing and other crimes the boy is accused of in Sacramento County.

Scott said investigators in San Francisco and Sacramento were sharing information about their respective cases involving the boy. At one point, Scott said, investigators shared an affidavit for a warrant for the boys arrest that had already been presented to Boudin. Days later, Scott said San Francisco investigators were surprised to learn that Sacramento prosecutors had decided to pursue the case in their jurisdiction.

All I know is they exercised their authority to charge the case, Scott said, referring to Sacramento prosecutors. There was no conversation on the part of our investigators asking about trying this juvenile as an adult, he said, adding that San Francisco police expected the case to be tried in San Francisco.

Deputy District Attorney Rochelle Beardsley, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County District Attorneys Office, said it wasnt uncommon for counties to prosecute cases that occur in other jurisdictions.

The Sacramento County District Attorneys Office seeks to transfer minors to adult court only when the facts and circumstances of the case, along with the prior efforts at rehabilitation, demonstrate that the minor is not fit to be dealt with under the juvenile justice system, she said.

Over the past two years, Sacramento County prosecutors filed nearly 2,500 cases in juvenile court and sought to transfer a minor to adult court in about 1% of them, Beardsley said.

The San Francisco killing stemmed from a triple shooting that erupted at a sideshow at Persia and Ocean avenues just after midnight on Sept. 7. Cesar Corza, a 21-year-old man from Sacramento, was pronounced dead at the scene, and two other victims were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

The boy, who is from Sacramento, was already in custody there facing two counts of attempted murder and an enhancement that alleges he committed those crimes as part of a gang when he was arrested in the San Francisco case. Prosecutors have petitioned to prosecute the boy as an adult in the Sacramento cases as well.

Beardsley said the law favors trying juvenile cases in the county where the minor resides.

Its not uncommon for prosecutions to take place outside the county where an alleged crime occurred. A robbery ring, for example, can often hit multiple counties in a few days, so it makes sense to bundle them into one case, tried in a single jurisdiction.

But in a case like the sideshow killing, where the crime occurred entirely in San Francisco, its highly unusual for any jurisdiction other than San Francisco to prosecute it, Boudin said.

San Francisco voters have been very consistent about things like treating kids as kids and not seeking the death penalty, and its essential that San Francisco voters be able to elect enforcement leaders that reflect their values, Boudin said.

A wave of reform laws has overhauled Californias juvenile justice system in recent years, as public sentiment has increasingly swayed in favor of rehabilitation and second chances over punishment. Supporters point to multiple studies that show how brains arent fully developed until a persons mid-20s, and say teens arent mature enough to be held as responsible as an adult  no matter what the crime.

In 2016, the passage of Proposition 57 took away prosecutors power to charge a youth as an adult, with judges now required to sign off on the decision. Prosecutors in most counties will still petition judges to try serious juvenile cases in adult court.

The sideshow case is being seen as the San Francisco Police Departments latest swipe at a district attorney viewed by officers as too light on crime and too tough on cops. Critics have said Boudins efforts to reduce mass incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal justice system have gone too far and put public safety at risk.

San Francisco Police Commissioner John Hamasaki said it was concerning that police took the juvenile case to Sacramento County prosecutors because it creates the optics that theyre shopping around for a more like-minded district attorney.

When the police are saying we dont agree with the policies and go to another city, that really undermines the role of the prosecutor, he said.

It can also signal to the public that their citys key law-enforcement departments are at odds with one another. The issue has come up in the past, Hamasaki said, with regard to police taking drug cases to federal prosecutors, who are more likely than local prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties.

Hamasaki said hes raised the issue with Police Chief Bill Scott and that fellow Commissioner Cindy Elias has requested a hearing on the matter.

It just looks like theyre fighting with each other and not serving the city, he said.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
British Gas engineers have embarked on their eighth strike in a long-running dispute over proposed changes to pay and work conditions.





The GMB union said today that British Gas' plans to 'fire and rehire' workers would mean worse term and conditions for staff and hourly pay rates '15 per cent below agreed pay rates'.

It also claimed that the backlog of customers waiting for service is nearing 150,000 as a result of the industrial action, a figure the company disputes.

A British Gas worker outside the headquarters of Centrica in Windsor on Friday last week

'The backlog of households awaiting services for British Gas is growing at treble the 6,000 per day the company admits,' GMB national officer Justin Bowden said.

'At the end of strike day eight, the backlog will have grown to more than 150,000 household waiting for services.'

It comes as engineers and other workers went on strike for five days at the beginning of January, with more industrial action scheduled for the next weeks too.

The union had previously said the workers would strike on January 20, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31 and February 1.

British Gas insists the changes would make it more competitive and keep jobs secure in the long term.

British Gas also said they had to 'reschedule some work' but would catch up 'within 24 hours'

A spokeswoman for British Gas owner Centrica said the company is operating in an 'incredibly competitive market' and British Gas had lost 'too many jobs and too many customers' in recent years.

'Our business needs to change to survive and protect 20,000 jobs,' she said.

'We know change is difficult but we have offered a fair deal that has been negotiated over 300 hours with unions - we're not cutting base pay and pensions are protected.

'Eighty-three percent of our employees have already agreed to the new terms and we believe the vast majority of our workforce understand that the company needs to change.'

British Gas also said they had to 'reschedule some work' but would catch up 'within 24 hours'.

'The majority of our workforce are not on strike and are working incredibly hard to ensure our customers are taken care of.'
WASHINGTON  Its taken only days for Democrats gauging how far President Joe Bidens bold immigration proposal can go in Congress to acknowledge that if anything emerges, it will likely be significantly more modest.

As they brace to tackle a politically flammable issue that's resisted major congressional action since the 1980s, Democrats are using words like aspirational to describe Biden's plan and herculean to express the effort they'll need to prevail.

A cautious note came from the White House on Friday when press secretary Jen Psaki said the new administration views Biden's plan as a first step it hopes will be the basis" of discussions in Congress. Democrats' measured tones underscore the fragile road they face on a paramount issue for their minority voters, progressives and activists.

Immigration proponents advocating an all-out fight say Democrats' new hold on the White House and Congress provides a major edge, but they concede they may have to accept less than total victory. Paving a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, the centerpiece of Biden's plan, is the stake at the summit of the mountain, Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration group Americas Voice, said in an interview. He said proponents may have to accept stepping stones" along the way.

The citizenship process in Biden's plan would take as little as three years for some people, eight years for others. It would make it easier for certain workers to stay in the U.S. temporarily or permanently, provide development aid to Central American nations in hopes of reducing immigration and move toward bolstering border screening technology.

No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois said in an interview this week that the likeliest package to emerge would start with creating a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers. They are over 1 million immigrants whove lived in the U.S. most of their lives after being brought here illegally as children.

Over 600,000 of them have temporary permission to live in the U.S. under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Former President Barack Obama created that program administratively, and Durbin and others want to protect it by enacting it into law.

Durbin, who called Biden's plan aspirational, said he'll push for as many other elements as possible, including more visas for agricultural workers and others.

We understand the political reality of a 50-50 Senate, that any changes in immigration will require cooperation between the parties, said Durbin, who is on track to become Senate Judiciary Committee chairman. He said Senate legislation likely will not reach the same levels as Bidens proposal.

The Senate is split evenly between the two parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris tipping the chamber to Democrats with her tie-breaking vote. Even so, passing major legislation requires 60 votes to overcome filibusters, or endless procedural delays. That means 10 Republicans must join all 50 Democrats to enact an immigration measure, a tall order.

Passing immigration reform through the Senate, particularly, is a herculean task, said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who will also play a lead role in the battle. He said Democrats will get it done but the effort will require negotiation.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who's worked with Democrats on past immigration efforts, said comprehensive immigration is going to be a tough sale this year.

I think the space in a 50-50 Senate will be some kind of DACA deal, he said.

Illustrating the bargaining ahead, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate whos sought earlier immigration compromises, praised parts of Biden's plan but said she wants changes including more visas for the foreign workers her state's tourism industry uses heavily.

Democrats' hurdles are formidable.

They have razor-thin majorities in a House and Senate where Republican support for easing immigration restrictions is usually scant. Acrid partisan relationships were intensified by former President Donald Trump's clamorous tenure. Biden will have to spend plenty of political capital and time on earlier, higher priority bills battling the pandemic and bolstering the economy, leaving his future clout uncertain.

Democrats also must resolve tactical differences.

Sharry said immigration groups prefer Democrats push for the strongest possible bill without concessions to Republicans' demands like boosting border security spending. He said hopes for a bipartisan breakthrough are a fools errand because the GOP has largely opposed immigration overhauls for so long.

But prevailing without GOP votes would mean virtual unanimity among congressional Democrats, a huge challenge. It would also mean Democrats would have to eliminate the Senate filibuster, which they may not have the votes to do, or concoct other procedural routes around the 60-vote hurdle.

I'm going to start negotiating" with Republicans, said Durbin. He said a bipartisan bill would be better if we can do it" because it would improve chances for passage.

Democrats already face attacks from Republicans, eyeing next year's elections, on an issue that helped power Trump's 2016 victory by fortifying his support from many white voters.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Bidens proposal would prioritize help for illegal immigrants and not our fellow citizens. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who heads the Senate Republican campaign committee, said the measure would hurt hard-working Americans and the millions of immigrants working their way through the legal immigration process."

Democrats say such allegations are false but say it's difficult to compose crisp, sound-bite responses on the complex issue. It requires having an adult conversation with voters, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said in an interview.

Yeah, this is about people, but its about the economy too, said Spanberger, a moderate from a district where farms and technology firms hire many immigrants. In central Virginia, we rely on immigration. And you may not like that, but we do.
The U.S. firm, Moderna, on Monday announced that a new study has found its COVID-19 vaccine to be effective against the new highly-contagious coronavirus variants spreading in South Africa and the U.K., which have already been found in Nigeria.

Moderna Inc said, however, warned although the vaccine generated disease-fighting antibodies that worked against the South African variant, its efficacy could likely diminish with time.

The company said it will design a new vaccine that could be added to the current two-dose regimen.

Developed at a breakneck speed in less than a year, the success of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines raised hopes that the world would soon get a grip on COVID-19 even as the pandemic surges. But the detection of the two new and apparently more transmissible coronavirus variants triggered immediate concern.

Public health experts have expressed concern the new mutant strains could pose a threat to inoculation efforts.

While the UK where the first variant emerged was the first to start administering its populations with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, South Africa is among African nations still struggling to land its first batch of the vaccines.

South African scientists believe the new variant vastly spreading in the country may render the current slate of vaccines less effective.

Meanwhile, the new variant detected in the UK in September and dubbed lineage B.1.1.7 has also been found in Nigeria. It was identified by scientists at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) in Osun state in August and September when the first two samples were collected.

The study

In the Moderna study, antibody-containing blood serum taken from people and monkeys who received the vaccine showed it was just as effective at blocking the British variant as the original strain of virus in the study.

It remained above the threshold for efficacy for the South African variant, despite the diminution in effectiveness.

The work has been submitted to a preprint server, but has not been peer-reviewed and was not available for review before publication.

As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants, said Stephane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna in the statement on the companys website.

Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers against this and potentially future variants.

To get an accurate result on the South African variant, Moderna said it will launch two new studies, according to the Washington post. The company will test adding a third shot of its current vaccine to boost its two-dose regimen, it said.

The biotechnology company also plans early human tests of the all-new vaccine specific to the South African variant, using it as a booster to prime the immune system to the new strain.

Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna told the Washington Post in an interview that the virus is changing its stripes, and we will change to make sure we can beat the virus where its going.

The unknown is would we feel its necessary to do that, would public health officials want this at that point or would they still be comfortable? What were trying to do is create an option.

The study comes after similar news from Pfizer-BioNTech, which released data last week that also was not yet peer-reviewed.

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The Pfizer and BioNTech appears to protect against viruses carrying at least one of the key mutations found in two coronavirus variants that are causing rapid spread across the UK, according to a study, the Guardian UK reported.

However, further research is needed to confirm that the level of protection afforded by the vaccine is as high as against older variants  and to ensure it protects against viruses carrying another significant mutation found in the South African variant.
A portrait of Harriet Tubman (1820 1913). Corbis via Getty Images

The Biden administration is moving to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill as soon as possible.

Former President Donald Trump criticized an Obama-era plan to put the civil rights icon on the $20 bill.

The White House said it's important US money reflects "the history and diversity of our country."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said the Treasury Department is moving to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, prioritizing an Obama era plan that former President Donald Trump was critical of.

"The Treasury Department is taking steps to put Harriet Tubman on the new $20 notes. It's important that our notes, our money ... reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman's image on our new $20 note would certainly reflect that," Psaki said during a White House press briefing on Monday.

The Obama administration in 2016 announced plans to replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Tubman. But the Trump administration stalled the move.

Trump's treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, in May 2019 also told members of Congress that the redesign would not come until after the Trump era, citing concerns over "counterfeiting issues."

"Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028. The $10 bill and the $50 bill will come out with new features beforehand," Mnuchin told the House Financial Services Committee.

Mnuchin last June said it was a "myth" that he was delaying the change, The New York Times reported. But the initial timeline set the redesigned bill to be released by 2020 to coincide with the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

"I just want to clarify that we have not changed any of this and this is something in the distant future," Mnuchin said at the time.

Trump, still a presidential candidate in 2016, criticized the plan to replace Jackson on the $20 bill as "pure political correctness," stating that it would be more "appropriate" to put Tubman on another "denomination."

Story continues

"Been on the bill for many, many years and really represented - somebody that was really very important to this country," Trump said in reference to Jackson, a slaveowner who as president signed the Indian Removal Act, which led thousands of Native Americans to die as they were forcibly removed from their lands in an act that is widely regarded as ethnic cleansing.

Tubman, who was born in Maryland, led dozens of enslaved Black people to freedom on the Underground Railroad. At the height of the Civil War in 1863, Tubman also became the first woman to lead an armed military raid and liberated more than 700 enslaved Black people in the process.

Read the original article on Business Insider

New Delhi:

Aadhaar is not a valid identification document for Indians travelling to Nepal and Bhutan, the Union home ministry has said.

Indians can travel to Nepal and Bhutan--both countries for which they don't need visas--if they possess a valid national passport or election ID card issued by the Election Commission.

Moreover, to ease travel, persons over 65 and below 15 years can show documents with photographs to confirm their age and identity. These include PAN card, driving licence, Central Government Health Service (CGHS) card and ration card but not Aadhaar.

"Aadhaar (UID) card is not an acceptable travel document for travel to Nepal/Bhutan," a communique issued by the ministry said.

The advisory assumes significance as Aadhaar is mandatory for a host of things, including government subsidies on LPG and other social welfare schemes.

The Aadhaar card, which has a 12-digit unique identification number and personal details like name and address, acts as a proof of identification and residence.

Indians entering Bhutan by road are required to obtain an 'Entry Permit' on the basis of a valid travel document from the immigration office of Royal Government of Bhutan at Phuentsholing, located on the Indo-Bhutan border opposite Jaigaon, West Bengal.

The border with Nepal is an open one with people who enter the country needing to show any valid identity card.

Nepal shares borders with five Indian states--Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Around six lakh Indians are living or domiciled in Nepal.

Bhutan, which shares borders with Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal, has about 60,000 Indian nationals, employed mostly in the hydroelectric power and construction industry. In addition, between 8,000 and 10,000 daily workers enter and exit Bhutan everyday in border towns.

In another development, Indians flying abroad will not be required to fill departure cards from next month.

However, those going out of the country via rail, seaport and land immigration checkposts will have to fill the embarkation card.

"It has been decided to discontinue the practice of filling up of the departure card by Indians at all international airports with effect from July 1, 2017," an order issued by the home ministry said.

The move is aimed at ensuring hassle-free movement of Indians going abroad.

At present, those going abroad need to fill in details such as name, date of birth, passport number, address in India, flight number and date of boarding in the departure card.

The decision will help reducing the time required to complete immigration-related formalities by passengers and also enable airports and authorities concerned to cater to a larger number of people.

The need for Indians to fill such cards on their arrival in India has already been done away with.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
(Newser)  A quick-thinking Disney World worker may have helped save a life nearly 1,000 miles away. According to Northern York County Regional Police, the Orlando employee got an alarming phone call close to midnight on Jan. 9, with the Pennsylvania woman on the other end at first making a normal request to purchase Disney tickets, FOX43 reports. That's when things took a disturbing turn, the worker told authorities, as the caller suddenly started yelling "Get off me!" and "Get away from me!" When the worker started asking the woman questions, they noticed she would only answer "yes" or "no" questionswhich is when the employee started pressing for further information on what was going on. When the worker asked the woman if someone was hurting her and whether she needed the cops called, the woman answered in the affirmative to both questions.

story continues below

That's when the Disney employee called 911, and police soon descended on the Dover home, where they found 38-year-old Wayne Shiflett and the victim inside. The woman told police she and Shiflett had argued about a new job he claimed he had as a fire extinguisher salesmanshe said she'd told him it wasn't a "realistic job," at which point he lunged at her and started choking and slapping her. The woman told cops she thought she would die during the attack, per WESH. Police say the victim had red marks on her throat, as well as scratches on her face. Shiflett was arrested and charged with strangulation, terroristic threats, and aggravated assault, among other charges. He also had an outstanding warrant for theft. Shiflett was still in York County Jail as of Sunday, with no indication on whether he has legal representation, per Yahoo. (Read more Disney World stories.)
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A series of quotes by University of Pennsylvania founder Benjamin Franklin is carved into a walkway on the Ivy League schools campus. A prominent statue of Franklin sits prominently in front of College Hall, and students can sit beside another statue of him on a bench.

But Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a nationally known bioethicist who joined Penns faculty in 2011, couldnt find a campus course devoted solely to the life of Penns founder, one that focuses on both his extraordinary and versatile achievements and moral challenges.

So last week, he started teaching one.

Hes our founder. We have to have a course, Emanuel said in an interview Thursday, hours before he taught the first class, which drew nearly 30 students on Zoom.

The course, Benjamin Franklin & His World, is part of a civic engagement program at Penn. Students will read, attend lectures, write papers, go on virtual field trips, and even keep a moral diary as Franklin did.

We can learn so much from studying historical figures, even if they were not perfect, said Jaden Cloobeck, 21, a junior from Laguna Beach, Calif. We can learn from their triumphs and shortcomings.

Cloobeck said he sometimes walks the campus Benjamin Franklin Way, where the founders quotes are carved, and recites them. His favorite? Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Emanuels course will touch on Franklin as inventor, scientist, politician, and printer. But it will also explore his time as a slave owner and later an abolitionist. It will look at his borrowing of words and passages from others and whether that would constitute plagiarism today. And it will explore the mans moral evolution.

While some campuses, including Princeton, have stripped the name of controversial historical figures from buildings or removed statues, the class will explore how Penn should think about Franklin and how hes the same or different from other figures.

Hopefully, well all come to a more subtle understanding of some of these controversies and I hope a more nuanced view, Emanuel said. Were not going to necessarily all agree, but I do want us to think hard about all these judgments we make.

Emanuel, a professor and vice provost for global initiatives, is perhaps best known for his work in medicine. He most recently served as a member of President Joe Bidens coronavirus advisory board during the transition, and had previously been a health-policy adviser to the Obama administration. He has lectured on bioethics and end-of-life care, and last semester taught a course on the future of the American health-care system.

But hes also a political theorist and scientist and has a doctorate in political philosophy from Harvard, as well as a medical degree. It was his own curiosity that spurred him to start the Ben Franklin course. After he arrived at Penn in 2011, he said, he frequently heard people quoting the founding father. He read an autobiography about him and liked it so much, he read another book. Then he wanted to take a course to go even deeper and asked an assistant to find one at Penn, he said.

When nothing turned up, he asked the assistant to check other Ivy League schools and found only one that had been held at Harvard years earlier.

 READ MORE: Biden's COVID-19 task force incluldes physicians from Penn and Princeton

Students enrolled in the class said they were eager to learn more about Ben Franklin since they arrived at Penn, having lived in a city so steeped in his history. One student showed off a Ben Franklin bobblehead that her mother had given her.

Franklins story is one of nuance, mystery, and intrigue, and such a figure of force in the ethos of Philadelphias history and legacy, said Benjamin Banker, a senior from Rye, N.Y. I want to use my last semester at Penn to finally learn more about him and the history of this city and nation.

Other students also hoped to learn lessons applicable to their lives.

I cant wait to analyze and discuss the moral character of great leaders like Franklin and learn how to lead my own life with a good moral conscience and regard for the dignity of others, said senior Gabrielle Hemlick, of Lancaster.

 READ MORE: Medical visionary at Penn

Emanuel ended Thursdays class by noting that Franklin had made eight trips to Europe, at a time when boats were smaller, the ride rockier, and the trips much longer.

Derek Nhieu, 19, a sophomore from The Villages, Fla., said he had never thought of Franklin as a young man, and was surprised to hear Emanuel mention that he had been a ladies man.

Franklins swimming prowess was another eye-opener. He could swim several miles.

I dont even know how to swim, Nhieu said. That was just insane to me.
Ruth Simmons academic career is nothing short of remarkable, with a trajectory that includes top posts at some of the countrys most elite universities and a groundbreaking stint as president of Brown University, where she was the first African American to lead an Ivy League institution.

She credits an historically Black college  Dillard University in New Orleans  with laying the foundation that I needed as a young person to go on and do the things that I've done in my career.

Thats one reason Simmons was lured out of retirement to assume the presidency of Prairie View A&M, one of the nations 100 historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. The schools continually punch above their weight and they deserve some respect for that, Simmons told the editorial board.

Indeed, they do. HBCUs have done a lions share in uplifting the Black community, producing generations of professionals, pioneers and community leaders, and boosting the overall economy, even as they remained undervalued and underfunded.

Consider: the combined funding for every four-year HBCU in America in 2014 was only $1.2 billion, less than the amount received by one single institution, Johns Hopkins University, which claimed $1.6 billion in federal, state and local grants and contracts  a glaring disparity identified by Howard University professor Ivory Toldson.

HBCUs have one-eighth of the average size of endowments of historically white colleges and universities. In Texas, a study by Every Texan, formerly the Center for Public Policy Priorities, found that the states two four-year HBCUs  Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern University  receive $2,500 less per student in state funding than Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin, its two flagship institutions.

The struggle for equitable funding has only been amplified by the pandemic. Addressing it, at long last, must be a priority for the Biden administration and the Texas Legislature this session.

Despite struggles with finances and declining enrollment, HBCUs have given generations of Black Americans access to higher education and opportunities they may have been denied elsewhere.

Representing just 3 percent of four-year colleges, HBCUs have helped build the countrys Black middle class, producing 80 percent of Black judges, 50 percent of black lawyers and doctors, 27 percent of Black college graduates with a degree in STEM and 50 percent of Black teachers. Vice President Kamala Harris and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the first Black senator from Georgia, are also HBCU graduates.

HBCUs are also mobility drivers: while more than 70 percent of HBCU students rely on federal Pell Grants, students are more likely to graduate than those attending mostly white colleges, according to a 2018 study, and graduates on average pass their family income level six years later.

The role of HBCUs in supporting and nurturing Black students has become even more important during the presidency of Trump, whose racist rhetoric deepened divisions and stirred unrest, and amid the social justice movement sparked by the killings of Black people by police.

Enrollment at HBCUs increased after Trump was elected, according to a study by researchers affiliated with Rutgers University. Students surveyed said experiences with racism drew them to the schools, along with concerns about safety at predominantly white institutions.

In Texas, the state public HBCUs  Prairie View and Texas Southern University  accounted for about one-fourth of Black students enrolled at four-year public institutions last fall.

Unlike mainstream institutions, which operate on an elimination process that requires certain prerequisites before allowing students to enter highly competitive fields of study, HBCUs better serve the needs of Black students who may come from disadvantaged schools.

Simmons describes the philosophy: Dont judge students on the advantage of whether or not they had an AP course, but judge them on the basis of whether or not they might, with some coursework, rise to the level of where you want to see them.

President Trump bragged about saving HBCUs by signing bipartisan legislation that made permanent $255 million in annual STEM funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving colleges, but in actuality, the work was done by Congress and for a program started under George W. Bush, and annual funding changed little from the Obama administration.

President Joe Biden has pledged $70 billion in new funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions under an agenda crafted in part by Harris. That is impressive  as was MacKenzie Scotts donation of more than half a billion dollars to HBCUs, including Prairie View, which will get $50 million.

Both bring much-needed attention to the schools, which need to attract more donors and funding to build endowments.

Achieving parity will require more than just a promise or even an incremental funding boost. HBCUs have been underfunded for decades  and it will take an intentional infusion of new, devoted funding to overcome the favoritism long enjoyed by predominantly white institutions.

And since navigating onerous bureaucracy often shuts out understaffed schools from funding, agencies should cut the red tape for applying.

History tells us what countless studies have shown: HBCUs contribute to the economy and the progress of our country. Equitable investment in them will pay off for everyone.
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A four-storey building has dramatically collapsed just minutes after workers found a massive crack in the wall.

Ten tradesmen were inside the commercial property on Alexander St in Crows Nest, on Sydney's lower north shore, working on an expansion.

About 3.25pm on Monday, they noticed large cracks in the wall and notified authorities before evacuating the building.

Within minutes of running for their lives, the building crumbled leaving a massive pile of rubble and rooms hanging spilling over the edge of walls.

Ten tradesmen were inside the building on Alexander St in Crows Nest, on Sydney's lower north shore, working on an expansion when it collapsed (pictured)

The building's manager Penny Flanagan quickly ran through all four levels telling everyone to get out.

'Windows started giving way so it was pretty clear it was a big problem,' she told Nine News.

'People are the most important thing to us.'

A worker who wished to remain anonymous said Ms Flanagan was a hero after warning everyone.

'We heard the crack and the building manager got into gear so quickly and took responsibility,' the woman told The Daily Telegraph.

'There was no time for laptops, or to take anything out - people were the priority - and if it wasn't for that that it could have ended very badly.

'She's the hero of the day.'

Part of the four storey building suddenly collapsed after workers noticed a huge crack in the wall (pictured)

Luckily no one was injured during the incident as an investigation is underway into what caused the building to collapse (pictured)

Horrific footage shared by Seven News shows neighbours watching the scene before the building collapsed.

Four fire crews attended the scene and established that the whole building would need to be demolished.

'That's four levels high of building material ... we've got one crushed car that's visible ... other parts of that wall have major cracks in them and are also under threat of falling own,' Rob Jansen from NSW Fire and Rescue said.

'The roof is still intact.'

An investigation into what caused the building to collapse is underway.
Excess Military Truck Provided For Lakeview Volunteer Fire Dept. Fleet Excess military vehicles fill the role of firefighting apparatus for many Texas emergency service providers. Lakeview Volunteer Fire Department received one of these trucks and converted the excess Stewart Stevenson into a firefighting machine. The conversion included the addition of a slip-on unit.



Lakeview VFD received an excess military truck through the Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program and a slip-on unit grant through Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program, both administered by Texas A&M Forest Service, said Texas A&M Forest Service Regional Fire Coordinator Matthew Schlaefer. Having extra water will be a big asset to the department when responding to wildland fires.



One of the stipulations for receiving the truck is to paint it a nonmilitary color.



Our department members painted the truck, and a third party installed the slip-on unit with a 500-gallon water tank and a 20-gallon foam tank, said Lakeview VFD Fire Chief Bob Wilkins. This truck will not be used in mutual response. It will be reserved to respond locally when our other trucks are out on other calls.



The converted truck will carry a full complement of wildland tools but will also be a dual-purpose apparatus.



We will not only use the truck for grass fires but also as a rescue vehicle when there is snow or high standing water, said Wilkins.



The department completed special training on the operation of the military truck and the new slip-on unit.



Texas A&M Forest Service is committed to protecting lives and property through various fire department assistance programs.



The Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program was launched in Texas in 2005 as a program to help increase the capacity of Texas volunteer fire departments.



In 2018, FEMA indicated that Texas is one of the top-rated states where 84% of the fire service is provided by volunteer fire departments.



The Texas A&M Forest Service excess military equipment program is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, which also oversees the national program.



The Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program funded by Texas State Legislature currently provides 100% funding up to $20,000 for the acquisition of slip-on units that are to be installed onto excess military vehicles helping in their conversion into firefighting apparatus.



For more information on programs offered by Texas A&M Forest Service, visit texasfd.com.


A swift move by President Joe Biden to revoke a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline is casting attention on a pipeline that cuts a large swath through west-central Illinois.

Although Biden has never spoken publicly about the Dakota Access pipeline, Vice President Kamala Harris has. She and other Democratic lawmakers signed onto a legal brief urging a federal judge to revoke a key permit for that pipeline while a lengthy environmental study is under way, according to The Associated Press.

The pipelines take different paths on their way to Patoka in southern Illinois. Keystone XL enters the state farther south than Dakota Access, which has pumped about 560,000 barrels of oil through Morgan, Scott, Brown and Pike counties every day on average since becoming operational in 2017.

The dispute lies largely in South Dakota, through which both travel.

The Keystone XL plan first surfaced in 2008 and eventually was rejected by the Obama administration before being revived under President Donald Trump.

Chase Iron Eyes, lead counsel for the Lakota Peoples Law Project, said seeing Keystone blocked again is encouraging, but the group feels theres another project in need of Bidens intervention.

To uphold federal law, which requires a proper environmental impact statement in the Dakota Access Pipeline, Iron Eyes said.

That separate project, which runs along the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, also has drawn heavy opposition from indigenous communities.

Activity on Dakota Access paused last year after a judge ordered a more extensive environmental review. But various tribes have sent Biden a letter demanding quick and decisive action on Dakota Access.

Oil industry groups said shutting down these projects results in thousands of lost jobs.

Iron Eyes countered protecting tribal areas from environmentally questionable projects ties in with a movement to reclaim lands.

To us, this is all related to indigenous sovereignty, Iron Eyes said.

In various parts of the country, there are efforts to work out agreements with tribal governments over land that was taken from them decades ago, despite federal treaties.

In South Dakota, a land-exchange project advanced within the Rapid City Council last fall.

As for Keystone XL, some Republican senators are joining the oil industry in urging Biden to reconsider his move.

Illinois congressmen Rodney Davis and Mike Bost said the action threatens jobs in the region.

Pipelines are a safe and efficient way to transport energy, and they create good-paying jobs for communities we represent at refineries like those in Wood River. President Bidens executive order to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and other environmental policies hes pursuing will threaten energy and union jobs in Illinois and across the country, they said in a joint statement.
RICHARD CHERWITZ, Ph.D., is the Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial professor emeritus in the Moody College of Communication and founding director of the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin.


Above photo: Fr. Patrick Howell

Over the years, Rich Tonelli and his late wife, Karen L. Brunstrom Jordan Tonelli, discussed their shared desire to honor their parents and grandparentsguiding beacons in their livesin a meaningful way.

My grandparents and my parents worked hard throughout their lives doing what was necessary to put food on the table, Tonelli says. They instilled in me the values of honesty and integrity. If they gave their word it was their bond, no question about it. Karen learned the same values from her family.

Richs grandparents were primarily dairy farmers while Karens worked in the construction and fishing industries. They believed in resilience, hard work and recreating themselves when catastrophe strucknever thinking they couldnt realize their dreams for a better life. They passed this spirit of perseverance and solid values on to their children and grandchildren.

When my parents wanted to start a dairy farm in Renton, Wash., the bank wouldnt give them a loan, Tonelli recalls. So, they turned to their friends for the needed $5,000. One of their friends agreed to loan them the money but said $5,000 wasnt enough. Theyd need to buy cows and equipment. So, he wrote them a check for $6,000. There was no written agreement. It was all verbal because he knew my parents were good for their word. A few years later they paid him back in full.



Rich and Karens families also believed that with a good education one can rise above their circumstances or their environment. Therefore, the couple decided to honor their parents and grandparents with a tribute gifta named scholarship that will provide future generations with a greater chance to realize their own potential.

Like the Tonellis, you may be blessed by a family member, friend, teacher or mentor who impacted your life in a special, profound way. Perhaps it was their gift for helping you see the bright side of challenging situations, the life lessons they taught you, the way they were always ready to lend a helping hand to you and others or their gregarious nature and quick wit that always gave you a lift. Honoring that person(s) with a tribute gift to Seattle University establishes for them a legacy of support for higher education. Your gift could take the form of a named scholarship, faculty chair, a specific program or support for another area of the university. Its a wonderful way to show gratitude to the person(s) who made a difference in your life by making a difference in the lives of others.

The Tonelli-Busato Brunstrom-Laito Endowed Scholarship is the second tribute gift the Tonellis have established within Seattle Universitys College of Education.Their first was an endowed scholarship in memory of Karens daughter, Michelle Jordan.

Timmie Hollomon chose to honor the longtime, cherished friendship she and husband Jim shared with the late Patrick Howell, S.J, with a tribute gift supporting Father Howells passion for bringing the Catholic Intellectual Tradition to life. Her gift will underwrite Seattle Universitys annual Catholic Heritage Lecture Series, re-named the Patrick Howell, S.J. Catholic Heritage Series, for years to come. Launched in 2010 by the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture (ICTC), which Fr. Howell founded at Seattle U, the series is purposed with engaging the greater Seattle and Seattle U communities in exploring aspects of the Catholic Intellectual Traditions and the intersection of Catholicism and culture. Fr. Howell often participated in the series as a presenter.



Fr. Pat could not have been a better friend, says Hollomon. He had such wisdom, but it was always understated. He had an unpredictable sense of humor and the ability to make things fun, yet he was very spiritual. And he was just so common sense! My husband really like that about him.



He is probably the main reason Jim decided to convert to Catholicism, she continues. Fr. Pat was an inspiration to him. He helped Jim understand the Catholic church and guided him through the Catholic faith. When Jim died five years ago, Fr. Pat was a great help to me. He understood and was someone I could talk to about life without Jim. Ive missed Fr. Pat since he passed away last November. He was a great influence in our lives.



In his final years, Fr. Howell served as the director of ICTC, thus underwriting and naming the Catholic Heritage Lecture Series in his honor felt to Hollomon a fitting tribute. She funded her gift through a transfer of stock.



Tribute gifts can be made in honor of family members and friends both living and deceased. They can be established as an outright gift or as an endowed fund in any school, college or program across campus, supporting an honorees area of interest.



To learn more about tribute gifts, contact Sarah Finney, Senior Director of Gift Planning, at sfinney@seattleu.edu.
A pilot died and another suffered critical injuries after an advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv of the Indian Army made a crash-landing in Jammu and Kashmir's Lakhanpur area of Kathua district on Monday.

Both the pilots were rushed to nearby Military Base Hospital where one of the passed away.

The chopper, which was coming from Pathankot, was forced to make a crash-landing in an Army area in the Lakhanpur belt, Kathua SSP Shalinder Mishra said.

A defence spokesperson has confirmed the incident.

Further details are awaited.
Francis Chan moving to Hong Kong to share the Gospel, plant churches among 'ultra poor'

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Bestselling author and Bible teacher Francis Chan has revealed God is calling him to move to Hong Kong to "bring relief, share the gospel, and plant churches among" the "ultra poor.

Days after announcing he and his family are moving to Asia in February 2020 to become international missionaries, the Crazy Love author identified the exact destination: Hong Kong.

Nine years ago, while we were in Hong Kong, Lisa and I both felt God was calling us to move there, Chan wrote in an online update, adding that they enjoyed their "dependence on God in unfamiliar, uncomfortable places."

But at the time, the pastor said he felt God tell him there were two things he had to do in the United States before he could go anywhere else. He wanted me to display a different picture of Church and a different picture of marriage/family, he explained.

In obedience to Gods requirements, Chan said he penned two books: Letters to the Church and You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity and noted, I have tried to live those messages out, giving those around me an example of what I wrote about.

In 2010, Chan stepped down from Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, after the focus turned to him and not the Holy Spirit, before taking his family overseas to India, Thailand and China.

For the past nine years, The Chan family has been in San Francisco, where they started We Are Church, a house church network which has grown to 25 pastors, two of whom are now part of his family and plan to move with him.

Two months ago, Chan was in Myanmar traveling "from hut to hut with a translator, sharing the Gospel with people who had never heard about Jesus. The more he did it, the more he realized he wanted to do this for "the remainder of my life."

When I considered the need and opportunity, I knew I wanted to be based in Asia, he said. I also have an opportunity there to work with the ultra poor (living off less than 50 cents a day)to bring relief, share the gospel, and plant churches among them. When I compare that opportunity to things I currently do in the States, the Kingdom profit seems much greater overseas at this point of my life.

Chan said he plans to still minister in the United States but will be "based in Asia for this next season of life."

Our current plan is to move to Hong Kong in February, he revealed. A lot can change between now and then, but we are heading this direction unless the Lord redirects us. I have no idea how long I will stay in Hong Kong. I had no idea I was going to live in San Francisco for nine years. We will just try to discern the Spirits leading daily.

The popular pastor first shared the revelation Wednesday during a chapel sermon at Azusa Pacific University. He admitted that when he feels nostalgic about leaving the United States, the words written by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:4 convict him.

The passage reads, We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We dont try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.

Chan warned that far too many Christians are concerned with appeasing nonbelievers and their feelings. He also pointed out that Scripture warns against lukewarm Christianity.

[Jesus] says, Im knocking on the door. You want to get real with me? You ready to surrender to me? You ready to start submitting to this Word even if no one else does? Chan said. If your thoughts contradict this book, then you need to come under His thinking.

Im going to come under this because Im going to stand before Him one day and Im going to be judged by Him, and I dont want to be judged as a coward. Thats the greatest joy youre going to find in life, is when you understand you have a holy, holy judge for a Father who is rich in mercy and full of love for you and is knocking on the door.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Read the latest news about whats going on in Washington, check out coronavirus updates and see more stories trending online today.

Top stories

16 senators from both parties meet with White House on COVID-19 relief plan (CBS News)

Biden to sign executive order aimed at strengthening Buy American policies (Fox Business)

Bidens faith on display in renewed presidential ritual (NBC)

Lawmakers threatened ahead of impeachment trial (AP)

Protesters gather in Tacoma as an officer who drove into a crowd is placed on administrative leave (CNN)

Five people, including pregnant woman, killed in act of mass murder in Indianapolis (NBC News)

Girl, 13, 3 others arrested in stabbing death of teen at Louisiana Walmart (cleveland.com)

Turbulent week of weather ahead with 3 different storms tracking across US (ABC News)

Coronavirus news

Healthy, young Americans will likely get Covid-19 vaccine in mid- to late summer, expert says (CNN)

US passes 25M coronavirus cases milestone (The Hill)

Miami Heat to use coronavirus-sniffing dogs to screen fans at games (ESPN)

Chicago teachers defy district order in vote to continue remote learning (CBS)

Merck Shuts Down Covid Vaccine Program After Lackluster Data (Bloomberg)

New Zealand confirms first COVID-19 case in months, sparking Australia travel halt (Reuters)

Other trending headlines

Members are quitting Mar-a-Lago since Trump moved in (Yahoo)

Taiwan reports large incursion by Chinese warplanes for second day (BBC)

Buccaneers become first team that will host Super Bowl at home stadium (NFL.com)

Miley Cyrus to Perform for Healthcare Workers at Super Bowl Pre-Show TikTok Tailgate (ET)

Sarah Sanders running for Arkansas governor, AP source says (AP)

Broadcasting legend Larry King dies at 87 (CNET)

Gregory Sierra, Julio on Sanford and Son and Chano on Barney Miller, dies at 83 (USA Today)

Americas Most Wanted returns in March with a new host (ScreenRant)
Recklaus told Pioneer Press after the meeting that the display is expected to be at Village Hall, then move to a fire station. He said there is no timeline yet as to when the display will be up and running.
EU leaders could discuss any further steps at a planned summit on March 25-26.

The European Union will hold off from imposing fresh sanctions on Russian individuals if the Kremlin releases pro-democracy campaigner Alexei Navalny, EU foreign ministers said on Monday, sending the bloc's top diplomat to Moscow next week.

Reuters reports that despite calls from Baltic countries, Italy and Romania for sanctions on Russian officials in response to Navalny's detention as he returned to Russia from Germany on Jan. 17, Germany pushed to give the Kremlin more time.

Read alsoProtests in Russia: Baltic states call on new EU sanctions over detentions

"We have agreed today to wait for the court's decision, to wait to see ... whether Alexei Navalny is set free after 30 days," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters following a meeting with his EU counterparts. "This is not over."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would go to Moscow next week to press the Kremlin to free demonstrators and Navalny. EU leaders could discuss any further steps at a planned summit on March 25-26, he said.

Earlier, Lithuania's foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the EU needed to send a "very clear and decisive message" to Moscow, pushing for the bloc to agree sanctions under its new human rights sanctions framework, which allows for quicker adoption of asset freezes and travel bans.

Protests in Russia

On January 23, rallies were held in Russia in support of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who was arrested a few days earlier, upon return to Russia from Germany.

Russian law enforcement agencies violently handled detentions during the mass protests.

During the rallies, 3,296 protesters were detained. This is a record high number of detainees in Russia's modern history.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemned the violence against participants in the rallies in support of Navalny in Russia.

Reporting by UNIAN
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Assam is among the five states in the country slated to have elections in 2021

Addressing a public meeting to commemorate the completion of one year of the Bodo Accord, Shah asked the people to elect a BJP government in Assam for speedy development of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). (Photo:PTI)

Guwahati: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can keep Assam free of corruption, terrorism and pollution.

Addressing a public meeting to commemorate the completion of one year of the Bodo Accord, Shah asked the people to elect a BJP government in Assam for speedy development of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). Form an NDA government in Assam with absolute majority in the upcoming election and ensure the development of Bodoland, he said.

Assam is among the five states in the country slated to have elections in 2021. The other states and Union Territories are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.

Shah, who addressed another public rally at Nalbari, said, "I have seen many rallies in my life, but I am so happy to see today's rally... Development will be placed in Bodoland through this BTR Accord. More than 5,000 people lost their lives, I assure you that the BTR will become a more developed region in Assam in coming days.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the process to end insurgency in the Northeast by signing the Bodo Peace Accord. Efforts were made for settlement for the Bru-Reang issue and 700 members of 8 armed groups laid down arms, he said.

I am here to assure people of BTR that the Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will implement all BTR Accord clauses. Today, the insurgency era has ended and the peace era has started, he said.

Expressing satisfaction over the peaceful elections in Bodoland area, Shah said, "Please identify those instigating disputes in the name of Assamese and non-Assamese, Bodo and non-Bodo. They are not doing it for our development but are playing politics. It is high time that people of Assam teach a lesson to such people... This rally is a reply to those who disturbed the peace in Assam by spreading venom in the name of Bodo and non-Bodo. Today, Bodos and non-Bodos both are present here."

Shah also came down heavily on the Congress, saying, Congress had signed many accords, but they didn't implement any. But PM Modi has implemented it within time, what he had committed... Peace has come in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution... Now, BJP will protect the language, culture of Assam. Bloodshed was happening during the Congress regime. He also assured BTR chief Pramod Boro that his government would stand like a rock with him.

The BTR Accord was signed between the Central government, the Assam government and the Bodo stakeholders  NDFB and its factions  to ensure the territorial and cultural integrity of the region on January 27, 2020. Recently, the BJP, United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) and Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) also formed the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

Earlier on Saturday, Shah while addressing the 69th plenary meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC), urged all the states in the region to solve their boundary disputes by August 15, 2022, when the country will be celebrating 75 years of its Independence.

The Union home minister said that when India and Bangladesh can resolve their border issues, why cant the northeastern states do so despite being part of the same country.
Members of Illinois congressional delegation are split on a proposed measure that would give law enforcement authorities more tools to monitor groups they consider extremist.

U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Deerfield, said after filing the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act that the riots in the Capitol on Jan. 6 were from domestic terror groups and extremists, and fighting white supremacy isnt a Republican or Democratic issue.

His bill would give federal law enforcement like the FBI more power to monitor, investigate, and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, said he has concerns about the bill and the rhetoric from Democrats.

I have some real constitutional concerns, some privacy concerns on that, violations of the Bill of Rights, so I think that bill has a long way to go, but that doesnt mean that the Democrats arent going to push for that, LaHood told WMAY. I think there are real concerns about the way that the double standard, and the hypocrisy of how the protests last summer by Antifa and Black Lives Matter, and the violence and the anarchy and criminal activity that went on, that thats not treated the same as what happened at the Capitol.

Everyone who broke the law in Washington, D.C., should be held accountable, just as anyone taking part in violent demonstrations should, LaHood said.

Pressed on how to keep such powers from being abused for politics, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said the measure makes no distinction.

Let me make it very clear, right wing, left wing, any wing extremists should be treated the same when it comes to violence and the destruction of government property and other property, Durbin said.

Civil libertarian groups have denounced similar bills in the past, saying they could lead to discriminatory surveillance, investigation and prosecution.

Law enforcement agencies use of these authorities undermines and has violated equal protection, due process, and First Amendment rights, the ACLU said in 2019 about a similar proposal. Law enforcement agencies already have all the authorities they need to address white supremacist violence effectively.

Even some prominent Democrats are opposed to such laws in reaction to the Capitol violence.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, responded to a tweet calling for a domestic terrorism statute.

As the vice chair of the oversight subcommittee [that] ran investigations into domestic terror laws, I respectfully disagree, she wrote. Our problems werent that there werent enough laws, resources, or intelligence. We had them and they were not used.
An Alabama boy who pulled his sister to safety during an armed carjacking was praised as a hero Monday by police, the ATF and the FBI.

Its exciting,' said 9-year-old Ethan Walker. Im glad I was able to get her out.

The ordeal happened Jan. 7 when, about 1:30 p.m., Kristin Walker was putting gas into her vehicle in the area of U.S. 411 and Interstate 20. Her two small children  Ethan and 6-year-old daughter Audrey  were in the back seat. At that point, a man got out of a Chevrolet SUV which had been parked at a pump near the victim and jumped into the drivers seat of the womans vehicle.

Walker could only think of her two babies inside the vehicle. I actually jumped in on top of him and pulled the keys out of the ignition,' Walker told AL.com in an earlier interview. I couldnt let him leave with them in the car and the only way I could think to stop him was to pull out the keys.

When she did that, the suspect brandished a weapon and pointed it at Walker, who is pregnant with her third child. She explained to him that her kids were in the car and that is when he told her, Get them out.

At that moment, Ethan, in what police said can only be described as an incredible act of bravery and composure got out of the vehicle and ran around to the rear passengers side to get Audrey to safety.

Walker said it all happened so fast. She said she didnt have time to think or feel but instead acted on instinct. Im just so thankful, she said of her sons response to the situation.

They ran into the store and called 911. Ethan was so calm, cool and collected through the whole thing,' Walker said. He was just so smart. He even gave them a description. He knew more than I did.

Officers fanned out in search of the suspects, who were identified as 18-year-old Kendarian Toran and 23-year-old Eric White, both of Jackson, Miss. Flock camera technology and other tag readers led lawmen to the location of the suspects as they fled back into Mississippi. After a brief pursuit, they wrecked Walkers vehicle, and both taken into custody the Rankin County Sheriffs Office. The gun was also recovered.

Ethan, Audrey and Kristin met with lawmen Monday at the Moody Civic Center, where Ethan was presented with multiple awards, including the Moody Police Departments Citizens Award for Valor. The boys selflessness and presence of mind ensured his sisters well-being and resulted in a quick identification and arrest of those involved, said Moody police Chief Thomas Hunt.

Youre a hero to all of us and if the day ever comes that you want to be in law enforcement, you have a job here at Moody Police Department, Hunt said.

ATF Special Agent in Charge Mickey French and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ash Lightner also presented Ethan with a Medal of Valor. Community is always special. Community is strong here, family is strong here, and we can see that bond with the community with the family and how this took place,' Lightner said.

He lauded Ethan and his mother for their quick thinking that day. Were just blessed that they were able to get out safe,' he said. Were so thankful for the actions Ethan took. Young man, that was a very good job you did. Im very proud of you.

What a great job under pressure like that when youre simply trying to put gas in your car and all of the sudden things change, said Frank Langdon, acting supervisor with the FBIs Gadsden office. Ethans mother heroically was able to stop the car from driving off and buy time under the threat of a gun for her family to take action and for Ethan to take his heroic actions to get his little sister Audrey out of there,' Langdon said. Its amazing. My hat is off to him. My whole office cant say enough how much we appreciate your actions because it really could have been a whole lot worse.

Kristin was visibly emotional at the presentation and said the family has had its emotional ups and downs since the incident. Im speechless,' she said of the presentation. I think it makes it a little easier to deal with and were glad that a positive spin has been put on what happened and were able to look at it in a positive way. We dont see ourselves as victims. We see ourselves as heroes and thats definitely helping us to get through it.
Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed revealed the price of the coronavirus vaccine as well as the two designated groups who will receive the vaccination for free during an interview with ON E TV on Sunday.

Anyone can apply for the vaccine by using the ministry of healths official website which will be available soon, explained Zayed, adding that the ministry will announce before the end of the first quarter when seniors above 65 years of age and patients with chronic diseases can regester to recieve the vaccine.

Those who cannot access the website can head to the nearest hospital affiliated with the ministry to register their names and be added to the list.

Three vaccines have been approved to be used in Egypt: The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, and the Russian-made Sputnik vaccine.

Zayed pointed out that all three vaccines are still being registered, and any batches that arrive will have to undergo four standardised tests under the direct supervision of the Egyptian Drug Authority in order to ensure the safety of the vaccine.

According to the minister, the Sinopharm vaccine, which has already been authorised, will be sold for a symbolic fee of not more than EGP 100 for one single dose, and EGP 200 for the two doses. She also said the price could go down after assessing other individual factors.

She ensured that all medical staff and health workers will be given priority to receive the vaccine, she also added that those who are recipients of government subsidies from the Takaful and Karama government subsidy program will also be supported.

Egypt received its first batch of the vaccine, comprising 50,000 doses, from the China National Pharmaceutical Group Sinopharm last December. It is now due to receive a second batch with the same quantity as before.

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[January 25, 2021] Sage report finds businesses response to COVID-19 a catalyst for driving increased HR value

ATLANTA, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sage (FTSE: SGE), the market leader in cloud business management solutions, today released the first in a new series of reports sharing how recent events have impacted the role, expectations, and perceptions of HR and People leaders. The HR in the moment: Changing expectations and perceptions of HR report, which spoke to more than 1500 global HR leaders, business executives and employees, found that 87% of c-suite executives say the pandemic has accelerated changes in HR, with the function having greater influence. Further to that, 72% of HR leaders say the crisis has increased their value and wider understanding of their role across the business, while 59% feel they are now playing a more influential role in the company.

Recent events have placed huge pressure on companies and business leaders to pivot and adapt to rapidly changing priorities as a result of the ongoing disruption caused by the pandemicand HR and People leaders have been at the forefront of this transformation. In this research report, Sage uncovered how HR leaders have faredand compared these opinions with those of the c-suite and employees. Sage also examined how the role of technology, changing skillsets, and priorities have shifted for HR leaders. The result is a contemporary, 360-degree view of HR in todays rapidly changing world of work. Research findings: How has HR fared?

HR and People leaders have become more visible and influential in organizations as a result of the pandemicbut this has come at the expense of bigger workloads. 65% of HR leaders said their teams have had a leading role to play in organizations response to the pandemic, driving change, enabling remote working, and supporting well-being. However, 60% also experienced an increase in both admin and strategic tasks, as a consequence of the new HR agenda. 73% of HR leaders say the crisis has helped them demonstrate their value and increased understanding of HRs role, as HR and People teams around the globe stepped up, leaned in, and seized the opportunity to be more flexible, responsive, and build more resilient and agile organizations as a result. The view from the c-suite

The hard work and greater influence of HR teams have clearly been recognized by the csuite. 58% of c-suite executives believe they have developed more appreciation for HR during the pandemic. This is vital, considering 84% of HR leaders feel that others in the organization were previously unclear on the value HR teams brought.



Furthermore, 87% of the c-suite say the pandemic has accelerated changes in HR, although 88% of the c-suite do recognize that this is a longer-term change that started up to five years ago. There are disconnects however, with the c-suite underestimating HR leaders workload, and still seeing HR as too admin-focused. Despite HR leaders stating overwhelmingly that the pandemic has increased workloads, over three quarters (76%) of the c-suite dont think HRs workload is unmanageable. The view from employees

Just like the c-suite, 60% of employees have noticed a change in HRs role, such as being more involved in driving change and people-related decisions. 57% of employees also recognize the pandemic as a catalyst for these changes.

Even more importantly, more than a third of employeeseven more so than the c-suitehave recognized the ability of HR teams to adapt and become more responsive as a result of the pandemic, as HR and People teams responded to constant change. Whether its enacting workplace safety procedures, introducing new flexible and remote working policies, placing employee well-being at the top of the workplace agenda, or recognizing the crucial importance of managing employee experiences for a remote workforce during a time of heightened stress, HR has responded and flexed like never before. As a result of all of this, 54% of employees also say they now have improved knowledge and understanding of HRs role and value. HRs accelerated digital transformation  and the skills gap

The pandemic placed a heightened focus on technology and digital transformation  but there is a lack of confidence amongst HR leaders about skills, the research also revealed. 59% of c-suite leaders said HR is even more focused on digital transformation, and 67% of HR leaders said they wanted to invest more in HR tech in the future. However, a third of HR leaders said a lack of tech (31%) and investment (36%) is holding them back from bringing their organization into the new world of work. Worryingly, only half (53%) of HR leaders believe they have the right skills and tools for what lies ahead, demonstrating the paramount importance in investing in HR digital skills today and in the future. Looking to the future

HR has taken on more responsibilities and helped guide the business through ongoing disruption and accelerated digital transformation, said Paul Burrin, Vice President of Product, Sage People. However, this has often created additional workloads which automation can help manage, increasing HR productivity, while enabling organizations to become more agile and resilient. To view Sages full report, HR in the moment: Changing expectations and perceptions of HR, please go here. Media contact:

Peter Olson

peter.olson@sage.com

408-878-0951 About Sage

Sage is the global market leader for technology that provides small and medium businesses with the visibility, flexibility and efficiency to manage finances, operations and people. With our partners, Sage is trusted by millions of customers worldwide to deliver the best cloud technology and support. Our years of experience mean that our colleagues and partners understand how to serve our customers and communities through the good, and more challenging times. We are here to help, with practical advice, solutions, expertise and insight. For more information, visit www.sage.com/en-us/ or www.sageintacct.com. Methodology

To understand the impact of 2020 and recent events, Sage spoke with more than 1,500 people from across the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. These respondents were drawn from three categories: senior HR roles, including chief people officers and HR directors; c-suite executive positions, such as CEOs and CFOs; and employees, outside both the c-suite and HR.



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NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KIND Snacks Founder Daniel Lubetzky has invested in Quevos, a brand of fun and flavorful snacks whose first ingredient is egg whites. As announced on ABC's Shark Tank, Lubetzky will partner with budding entrepreneurs, Quevos Founders Nick Hamburger and Zack Schreier, to help more people discover their introductory line of high protein, high fiber, low carb snacks in bold flavors including Honey Mustard, Cheddar, Sour Cream & Onion, Sweet Barbecue, Quevos Rancheros, Dill Pickle, and Mesquite BBQ.

Lubetzky's investment is a vote of confidence for both Quevos' snacks and co-founders Hamburger and Schreier, who impressed Lubetzky with their entrepreneurial spirit and life-long friendship turned partnership. Leveraging his experience growing KIND from a small startup into a multi-billion-dollar global health and wellness brand, Lubetzky will help Hamburger and Schreier pursue their shared vision to bring the nutritional value of egg whites to new forms of satisfying snacks.

Says KIND Snacks Founder Daniel Lubetzky, "I am excited to help Nick and Zack fulfill Quevos' potential. They have created a very cool and differentiated product with huge mainstream appeal. And I love that they've been best friends and partner entrepreneurs since childhood."

A Type 1 diabetic, Schreier conceived of the idea for Quevos after tasting the crispy leftovers of an egg white omelet and discovering they could crunch just like the chips he was unable to enjoy. Together, Hamburger and Schreier experimented for two years before arriving at the product of their dreams. Now the pair looks forward to partnering with Lubetzky to introduce Quevos to more people seeking healthful snacking options that satisfy both their cravings and nutritional needs.

Say Nick and Zack, "Daniel is a partner and mentor who has been in our shoes building a health and wellness brand from the ground up through every stage of growth. We went into the Tank dreaming of making a deal with him, and can't believe we did! We're so excited to learn from him and to collaborate on helping more people enjoy Quevos!"

Quevos can be found online at Quevos.com and Amazon.com and in store at Wegmans, Vitamin Shoppe, Whole Foods Illinois stores, and other retail locations across the country. Shoppers can choose from both Keto-friendly and classic flavors sold at $14.99 USD for a pack of five bags. Classic Quevos flavors provide 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber and Keto flavors deliver 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and only 4 grams of net carbs.

About Quevos

Childhood friends Nick Hamburger and Zack Schreier came up with the idea for Quevos after Zack, a Type 1 diabetic, discovered the fun of snacking on the crispy pieces of an omelet left over on the pan. Now, the pair are bringing the nutritional power of egg whites to snacks featuring bold flavors that make healthy snacking satisfying. With their introductory line high protein, high fiber, and low carb, as well as gluten and grain free chips in six bold flavors, Quevos has created the world's first-ever chips made from egg whites. Quevos come in four Keto Flavors which have only a few net carbs, and two Classic Flavors. Learn more at www.Quevos.com.

About Daniel Lubetzky

KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky is a social entrepreneur working to build bridges across lines of difference. With the introduction of KIND's fruit and nut bars in 2004, Daniel created an entirely new snacking category. He has since grown KIND into a multi-billion-dollar global health and wellness brand known for its promise to lead with nutritionally dense ingredients and for its mission to make the world a little kinder. The son of a Holocaust survivor, Daniel's civic initiatives OneVoice, Empatico, and the Frontline Impact Project seek to increase appreciation for our shared humanity. Daniel is the author of The New York Times bestseller Do the KIND Thing and a recurring shark on Shark Tank. Learn more at daniellubetzky.com and follow Daniel at @daniellubetzky.

About Equilibra

Equilibra Partners Management (Equilibra) is the family office of Daniel Lubetzky, Founder and Executive Chairman of KIND. Building on Daniel's experience launching KIND from one out-of-the-box idea into a multi-billion-dollar global health and wellness brand, Equilibra partners with entrepreneurs to help them grow successful businesses that generate enduring value. Equilibra values innovation with integrity and deploys its best-in-class team to help entrepreneurs build brands with the power to change people's lives for the better. Learn more at www.equilibra.us.

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Imprisoned Tiger King star Joe Exotic is said to be hopeful that Joe Biden will pardon him.

Days after the inauguration of President Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, its been reported that the eccentric tiger trader is already in the process of contacting the pair about his sentence.

It was revealed last week that Exotics team were so confident he would receive a presidential pardon that they had parked a limousine near his prison to escort him home.

However, Exotics name was absent from Donald Trumps list of pardons.

Exotic is currently serving a 22-year sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, after being convicted in 2019 of trying to hire a hitman to kill his zookeeper rival Carole Baskin, as well as numerous animal abuse charges.

In unverified emails obtained by TMZ, Exotic reportedly describes himself as a fan of Harris, who he thinks will help clean up the corruption in the Department of Justice and other agencies.

Responding to Trumps failure to pardon him, Exotic adds: I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump.

I only mattered to Don Jr when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 15:09:17|Editor: huaxia

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Vietnamese state leaders greet the attendees of the preparatory session for the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan. 25, 2021. Delegates to the 13th CPV National Congress attended a preparatory session here on Monday, during which they are scheduled to adopt the agenda of the congress. (VNA via Xinhua)

HANOI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Delegates to the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) attended a preparatory session here on Monday, during which they are scheduled to adopt the agenda of the congress.

The delegates will also elect the presidium, the secretarial delegation and the delegate eligibility verification board of the congress, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The congress's working regulations and election rules as well as a report on the eligibility of delegates are expected to be approved by the preparatory session.

Ahead of the preparatory session, delegates to the congress laid wreaths and paid tribute at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

A record high of 1,587 delegates representing more than 5.1 million CPV members will attend the national congress. Enditem
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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (XETR: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company")

Dear Shareholders,

As we close out the first month of the new year we would like to share a number of updates with you while setting the stage for clear and steady communication as we anticipate a very productive year ahead. We would like to thank all of our shareholders for their support and patience and applaud the entire TransCanna team for their hard work in the face of a tumultuous year in which the unforeseen circumstances related to COVID-19 have challenged us, our industry, and our society.

TransCanna's wholly owned subsidiary Lyfted Farms, is ALL about the relationship with the end consumer. As Cannabis moves towards becoming federally legal in the USA, we believe interest from Pharmaceutical Companies, Aging Tobacco Dynasties, and the Behemoth Alcohol industry, will look to this new sector with deep interest and vigor. Certainly, as a country the USA will garner broad attention but we may see heavy focus on the largest cannabis market in the world, CALIFORNIA. At our core is a sustainable, deep and meaningful relationship with the end consumers. Expanding our competitive advantage beyond this relationship will be our significant Cannabis Campus in Modesto, California, "the Daly Facility". Our focus remains steadfast on consistent quality, growth, and maintaining our strong relationship with the end consumer.

Looking Forward

As excited as we are about the positive shift in sentiment, this year our most exciting news will undoubtedly be the opening of our Daly Facility this Spring. This achievement will mark the Company's most significant milestone to date, the impact of which cannot be overstated as we anticipate incremental growth on our cultivation capacity and a fundamental change to our growth trajectory. With financial and business plan proof-of-concept completed at the Jerusalem Court location, we are ready to scale the Daly Facility to industrial-level output. Products from our smaller Jerusalem Facility, in the meantime, continue to sell out.

Recent Achievements

Of all the things the TransCanna team has to be proud of this last year, a major highlight would be the success of Lyfted Farms in continuing to connect with end consumers. Notably, Lyfted Farms' Garlic Noodles cannabis flower was confirmed by a State-certified third-party laboratory to contain 31.3% THC, with total cannabinoids at 41.43%-a record achievement for our cultivation team.

Demand for Lyfted Farms' products is continuing to climb, especially in Southern-California, where the first official order sold out in just a few days. To support this demand and to further diversify our product range, we are continually releasing new genetics. We have also refined our processing and packaging techniques to ensure customers receive the best possible product experience. The ongoing mission to provide the finest cannabis product is recognized in the marketplace and we can expect to see news of additional signed off-take agreements once dates for completion of Phase 1 of the Daly Facility are solidified and harvest schedules are clear.

Daly Facility Plans

Construction is currently ongoing, with Phase 1 of 4 expected to be completed by March 2021. Phase 1 will include increased cultivation capacity, along with the processing, manufacturing, and distribution of our own product and those of 3rd parties. Our processing license is also on track for approval in March of 2021.

Phase 2 of the Daly Facility is set to begin in the fall of 2021. The focus of Phase 2 construction will be on further increasing our cultivation capacity.

Overcoming 2020's Challenges

In addition to the unforeseen challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, the destructive wildfires that ravaged the state of California also tested us this past year.

The company's distribution business was inevitably affected, as many third-party farms within the Emerald Triangle unfortunately lost crops in the fires or due to contamination from smoke and ash. As a result, our Q4 and year-end numbers for 2020 were lower than the CAD $12-14 million projected in November, yet we expect this impact to be temporary and largely mitigated by the expansion opportunities presented by the opening of our Daly facility, changing political climate and growth in the market.

Currently our company is also placing increased focus on our most profitable activities as one measure to adapt in the face of the challenges highlighted above. One example of this pivot is focusing activities on our Daly Facility while putting the Lemoore expansion on hold for the foreseeable future.

In Conclusion

Despite the historic challenges the pandemic has created in 2020, in which there was no guidebook to follow, the hard work and dedication of our team continued to propel us forward. We are truly grateful for their efforts and look forward to the incoming cannabis-friendly administration in the United States to provide us with new and exciting ways to keep growing. Consumer enthusiasm for Lyfted products continues to surge, and the opening of the new Daly Facility will greatly increase our production capacity to take our business to new levels of success.

For updated information with respect to our company, please see our filings on SEDAR atwww.sedar.com and on the CSE at www.thecse.com.

Sincerely,

Bob Blink

Chief Executive Officer

604-349-3011

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION:

Certain information in this release may contain forward-looking statements, such as statements regarding future expansions and cost savings and plans regarding production increases and financings. This information is based on current expectations and assumptions, including assumptions concerning the completion of the expansion of the Daly Facility, government approval of pro-cannabis policies, greater access to financial services and increased cultivation capacity, that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. Risks that could cause results to differ from those stated in the forward-looking statements in this release include unexpected increases in operating costs, a continued strain on farmers due to fires and the Coronavirus pandemic and competition from other retailers. All forward-looking statements, including any financial outlook or future-oriented financial information, contained in this release are made as of the date of this release and are included for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Company. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72712
Press Release

January 25, 2021 Transcript - Manifestation of Senator Pia S. Cayetano in honor of National Bible Day To the two gentlemen, I would just like to commend them for their privilege speeches. And with their permission, I'd just like to make a few comments and they are free to react. I am very happy that we now are celebrating National Bible Day. I myself am a Bible reader. I read my first Bible back-to-back when I was 10 years old. And I have to admit that it wasn't easy. But life became easy because over the years, they now have a One Year Bible. It is even annotated to make it easier, depending on your personal interests. There's a Bible for women, for entrepreneurs. Not to say that there are changes, but there are annotations that are meant to inspire people in whatever walks of life they are in. I'd like to also add that my father, who was a colleague of a number of you, including the Senate President, was a daily Bible reader also. His honor, Senator Villanueva, mentioned that it would be nice if we would have more Bibles in schools, barangay centers. I'd like to point out that I came across a program - I am sure the two gentlemen are very familiar - the Gideon Bible, right? It's really a project by a group of very strong Bible supporters, they really distribute it. I am pretty sure all of us here at one point or another have seen that in a hotel. It's there. So for those who want to help Senator Villanueva's dream come true, those are one of the groups. I am sure there are more. I'm just saying I know that is... I just wanted to put on record that there are groups that do that. I'd like to say that I was interested in the data that his honor, Sen. Villanueva, pointed out about the number of people who actually read the Bible. But that's why I wanted to add that nowadays, there are many versions and there are lots of guides that can help people with their self-studies. And of course, we have the experts there, those who have really studied the Word of God professionally, who can help us. I believe it would make all of us better people, better servants of our country, better servants of God, if we knew our Bible better. Thank you, Mr. President.
Prior to the Senate confirming Lloyd Austin to be secretary of defense on Friday, his nomination generated a vigorous debate on civil-military relations. I noticed that many of those debating seemed to lack one thing: the experience of actually working as a civilian with Austin.

I have that experience. I worked with Austin from 2012 to 2015, when I was ambassador to Tajikistan and he was the commander of Central Command, which is responsible for Central Asia, including Tajikistan. From that experience, I know that Austin is a consummate professional who respected my authority then  and who will respect civilian authority now.

First, let me set the scene. In 2012 to 2015, the war in Afghanistan was still red hot. Tajikistan was a vital crossroads and supply point for our troops, which could greatly affect the dynamics within Afghanistan. We had to be concerned with radicalization among the Tajik populace, but also with looming great power rivalry from nearby China and Russia.

Despite this, Tajikistan didnt receive much attention from military planners focused mainly on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the dynamics of the war. This was understandable: With our soldiers still in harm's way, military leaders often were focused on the conflict itself, and not the drivers behind it. That meant that diplomats like me often felt shut out and sidelined when it came to operations in Afghanistan.

Austin was different. During his visits to Tajikistan, he took care to engage not only military but civilian counterparts as well. Despite his military background, Austin was a natural diplomat. He didnt speak Russian or Tajik, but he was able to blend the cultural nuances of the post-Soviet space together with the hard-headed political realities of the day. By the end of his trip, hed made a friend of the defense minister and earned us valuable relationships for our war effort.

I later saw Austin shine outside of his immediate area of responsibility when we both participated in a conference hosted by European Command in 2015 looking at ways of countering Russian aggression. This was just after Russia invaded Ukraine to seize Crimea. I saw Austin offer thoughtful, insightful comments on how we could push back in the region, despite Russia and this part of the world not being his specialty. Once again, Austin demonstrated a shrewdness and political sense that transcended his immediate responsibilities  and which will do him good in standing up to China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

But my most memorable incident had to do with his sense of military-civil relations here at home. While in Tajikistan, I had to reprimand a military service member in my embassy for personnel issues. This was a touchy issue: Some commanders would balk at letting a mere civilian discipline someone in their chain of command. I was worried that my authority would be undermined or watered down by someone in the Defense Department. Instead, Austin had my back and supported my authority within my embassy. He took great care to reinforce the importance of civilian administration, even though he could easily have gotten away with interference if he had wanted.

The coming years will be full of challenges. From my old perch in Central Asia, Russia and China bear down as significant threats, along with North Korea and Iran. Terrorist groups have not gone away. And non-state issues like pandemics and climate change threaten us all with calamity. Tackling these threats will take seamless integration of all our resources, including our diplomatic, political, economic and military strength.

Its a tall order for anyone. But having worked with Lloyd Austin, I know that he is the man for the job.

Susan Elliott of Hoosick Falls is president and CEO of the National Committee in American Foreign Policy and a retired U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan.
India faster than US, UK in administering 1 million vaccine shots: Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry yesterday lauded India's efforts in conducting a successful vaccination drive and said India took only six days to administer one million Covid-19 vaccine doses, which is a higher count than countries like the US and the UK.

India is also sending COVID-19 vaccines to other nations as part of the Vaccine Maitri initiative. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@MEAIndia

The UK took 18 days whereas USA took 10 days to reach the one million mark.

The beneficiaries getting the COVID jabs inched close to the 1.6 million mark with a total of 27,920 sessions been conducted so far, according to media reports.

In a span of 24 hours, 191,609 people were vaccinated across 3,512 sessions. With 15,948 recovered cases in a span of 24 hours, a net decline of 1,254 cases has been recorded in the total active caseload during the same period.

Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal account for 75 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

India is also sending COVID-19 vaccines to other nations as part of the Vaccine Maitri initiative.

So far, 92 countries have approached India for COVID-19 vaccines, including Brazil, which accounts for the third-highest coronavirus caseload across the globe and the second-largest death toll.

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Certain anchor proteins inhibit a key metabolic driver that plays an important role in cancer and developmental brain disorders. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University of Innsbruck, together with a Europe-wide research network, discovered this molecular mechanism, which could open up new opportunities for personalized therapies for cancer and neuronal diseases. They published their results in the journal Cell.

The signaling protein MTOR (Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin) is a sensor for nutrients such as amino acids and sugars. When sufficient nutrients are available, MTOR boosts metabolism and ensures that sufficient energy and cellular building blocks are available. Since MTOR is a central switch for metabolism, errors in its activation lead to serious diseases. Cancers and developmental disorders of the nervous system leading to behavioral disorders and epilepsy can be the result if MTOR is malfunctioning.

Therefore, the cell controls MTOR activity very precisely with the help of so-called suppressors. These are molecules that inhibit a protein and help to regulate its activity. The-TSC complex is such a suppressor for MTOR. It is named after the disease that causes its absencetuberous sclerosis (TSC). The TSC complex is located together with MTOR at small structures in the cell, the so-called lysosomes, where it keeps MTOR in check. If the TSC complexfor example due to changes in one of its componentsno longer remains at the lysosome, this can lead to excessive MTOR activity with severe health consequences.

Protein with an anchor function

The teams led by Christiane Opitz at DKFZ and Kathrin Thedieck at the University of Innsbruck therefore investigated how the TSC complex binds to lysosomes. They discovered that the G3BP proteins (Ras GTPase-activating protein-binding protein) are located together with the TSC complex on lysosomes. "There, the G3BP proteins form an anchor that ensures that the TSC complex can bind to the lysosomes," explains Mirja Tamara Prentzell of DKFZ, first author of the publication. This anchor function plays a crucial role in breast cancer cells. If the amount of G3BP proteins is reduced in cell cultures, this not only leads to increased MTOR activity, but also increases cell migration.

Drugs that inhibit MTOR prevent this spread, the researchers were able to show in cell cultures. In breast cancer patients, low levels of G3BP correlate with a poorer prognosis. "Markers like the G3BP proteins could be helpful to personalize therapies based on inhibition of MTOR," explains Kathrin Thedieck, professor of biochemistry at the University of Innsbruck. The good thing is that drugs that inhibit MTOR are already approved as cancer drugs and could be tested specifically in further studies.

G3BP proteins also inhibit MTOR in the brain. In zebrafish, an important animal model, the researchers observed disturbances in brain development when G3BP is absent. This leads to neuronal hyperactivity similar to epilepsy in humans. These neuronal discharges could be suppressed by drugs that inhibit MTOR. "We therefore hope that patients with rare hereditary neurological diseases in which dysfunctions of the G3BP proteins play a role could benefit from drugs against MTOR," says Christiane Opitz of DKFZ. In the future, the scientists plan to investigate this together with their Europe-wide research network.

Explore further Novel combination therapy may help overcome mTOR drug resistance in AML

More information: Mirja Tamara Prentzell et al, G3BPs tether the TSC complex to lysosomes and suppress mTORC1 signaling, Cell (2021). Journal information: Cell Mirja Tamara Prentzell et al, G3BPs tether the TSC complex to lysosomes and suppress mTORC1 signaling,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.12.024

BELOIT, Wis., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Louis Pinkham, Chief Executive Officer of Regal Beloit Corporation (NYSE: RBC), announced that the Board of Directors, at its regular quarterly meeting held on January 25, 2021, declared a dividend of $0.30 per share. The dividend is payable on April 16, 2021, to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2021. The company has paid a dividend every quarter since January 1961.

Regal Beloit Corporation is a global leader in the engineering and manufacturing of electric motors and controls, power generation solutions, and power transmission products serving customers throughout the world. We create a better tomorrow by developing and responsibly producing energy-efficient products and systems.

Our company is comprised of four operating segments: Commercial Systems, Industrial Systems, Climate Solutions, and Power Transmission Solutions. Regal is headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin and has manufacturing, sales and service facilities worldwide. For more information, visit RegalBeloit.com.

SOURCE Regal Beloit Corporation

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Many Covid survivors develop diabetes; face heart, lung issues

'Everyone who has recovered from Covid-19 must get themselves tested for diabetes and have a thorough examination of their lungs after six months, which appears to be the threshold for these two diseases to begin manifesting in the survivors',says doctors. (Representational Photo)

Hyderabad: The governments, Central as well as in the states, have been for long promoting a narrative that with the case fatality ratio being low, there is generally nothing to fear from Covid-19. Early detection is all that is required, except in some odd cases of patients with serious co-morbidities, to recover has been the cornerstone of this storyline.

The death rates have been pegged at 1.4 per cent all-India.

The narrative appears to have worked, with people no longer really afraid of the disease. One just needs to step out to see mask-less people, with many elected representatives including ministers acting no differently.

According to several doctors who have been treating Covid-19 patients for nearly a year now, it is just a matter of time before this make-believe safety bubble will burst. Other than some cursory comments on post-Covid-19 recovery care, little was done to create awareness on what patients need to look out for, after recovery.

We are seeing that nearly 80 per cent of those who have recovered from Covid-19 are developing diabetes, and fibrosis in the lungs in about six months, a senior doctor involved in treating and following-up with recovered patients told Deccan Chronicle.

"Everyone who has recovered from Covid-19 must get themselves tested for diabetes and have a thorough examination of their lungs after six months, which appears to be the threshold for these two diseases to begin manifesting in the survivors," the doctor said.

These are not the only diseases a Covid-19 survivor needs to watch out for.

"Since the disease is one of inflammation, the immediate term impact is being seen on the heart, doctors said. "Blood vessels are inflamed in Covid-19 patients, which means vascular walls become thick and their inner diameter gets restricted. This is the reason why the resting pulse rate in almost every Covid-19 patient goes up post immediate recovery, a doctor explained.

"What this means is that the heart begins to work harder than before exposure to Covid-19, resulting in increased pulse rate. It has been found that the heartbeat can swing wildly too," the doctor said, recommending that post survivors should ideally begin taking more interest in their cardiac health.

We have seen vascular constriction more often than not in children who suffered from Covid-19, a doctor told Deccan Chronicle, adding what this means to the quality of life of the children is something he was worried to even speculate about.

We are also seeing cases among Covid-19 infected women who are developing complications during pregnancies, as well as pregnant women losing their babies because of the vascular inflammation-related issues, the doctor said.

"If the governments do not start educating people at least on these aspects, if not the other commonly lingering effects such as fatigue, bouts of breathlessness and sore throat among other Covid-19 symptoms, then we are looking at a health care time bomb that could well explode in the next couple of years when the yet-to-be-clearly-understood near- and mid-term impacts of Covid-19 on general health begin making themselves felt," doctors said.

How many are at risk

1,05,01,194: Total cases all-India (including active cases as on Jan. 24).

84,40,955: Potential risk of developing serious health issues in six months, 80% of all-India total.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 19:03:11|Editor: huaxia

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MOGADISHU, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The World Food Program (WFP) has started building a fishing jetty in Somalia to help boost the fishing industry in the country, a senior United Nations envoy in Somalia said.

James Swan, the United Nations secretary-general's special representative for Somalia, said the project, in the Hobyo district, "will provide easier access and docking points for fishing boats, with the objective of supporting the local fishing industry and facilitating export once it is finished in the summer of this year."

The WFP is also training the local community in new fishing skills and fishing preservation methods, in partnership with local non-governmental organizations, he said in a statement issued on Sunday after talks with Galmudug President Ahmed Abdi Kariye in Dhusamareb.

"The Hobyo jetty project is part of the World Food Program's 'food systems' approach which involves supporting networks that are needed to produce and transform food, and ensure that it reaches consumers," Swan said.

The UN envoy said investments in food systems improve the long-term resilience and self-reliance of communities around Somalia.

The latest project is in addition to the WFP's core humanitarian program that provides food, cash or vouchers to some 300,000 people in need around Galmudug every month, Swan said.

He said humanitarian aid to Somalia is expected to be scaled up this year.

Swan said the UN Development Program (UNDP) has been providing technical support to help Galmudug's Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation develop its core functions.

The UNDP has also supported the training of more than 100 government officials on issues related to federalism and intergovernmental relations, he said.

"The UNDP's support has also included facilitating the participation of more than 1,000 government officials, civil society representatives, elders, women and youth leaders in reconciliation-related conferences, consultations and workshops," Swan said.

He said his discussions with the Galmudug president also covered the wider political situation in Somalia, particularly the preparations for elections and the importance of resolving outstanding contentious issues so that a credible electoral process can take place across the country. Enditem
She was left heartbroken that she could not travel to Australia for the premiere of her film Penguin Bloom due to COVID-19 restrictions.

And on Sunday, Naomi Watts was spotted taking a stroll in chilly New York City with her rescue dog Izzy.

The 52-year-old looked effortlessly chic as she made her way around the trendy suburb of Tribeca.

It's cold outside! Naomi Watts stepped out in chilly New York with her rescue dog Izzy after being left heartbroken about not being able to attend the Penguin Bloom premiere in sunny Australia

The blonde beauty kept warm with a cream scarf, long jacket, blue frayed jeans and sneakers.

The actress paired her outfit with a nude leather cross body bag, grey face mask and similar-coloured sweater underneath her coat.

Naomi's hair was out and she appeared to be makeup free.

She briskly walked down a street, casually texting on her phone as her pooch led her around a corner.

Casual chic: The 52-year-old looked effortlessly chic as she made her way around the trendy suburb of Tribeca

Bundled up: The blonde beauty kept warm with a cream scarf, long jacket, blue frayed jeans and sneakers

What else did she wear? The actress paired her outfit with a nude leather cross body bag, grey face mask and similar-coloured sweater underneath her coat

Finer details: Naomi's hair was out and she appeared to be makeup free for the chilly outing

Izzy was on a bright pink lead and appeared to be overjoyed about being out of the house.

They strolled down another street, before Naomi adjusted her face mask while walking against the wind.

Naomi was left heartbroken when she could not travel to Australia for the premiere of Penguin Bloom due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

Quick pace: She briskly walked down a street, casually texting on her phone as her pooch led her around a corner

Outing: Izzy was on a bright pink lead and appeared to be overjoyed about being out of the house

COVID-19 safe: They strolled down another street, before Naomi adjusted her face mask while walking against the wind

Upset: Naomi was left heartbroken when she could not travel to Australia for the premiere of Penguin Bloom due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions

'It doesn't feel great to not be there and share the experience with all of those people and the Blooms of course as well,' she told The Daily Telegraph's Confidential on January 19

'It doesn't feel great to not be there and share the experience with all of those people and the Blooms of course as well,' she told The Daily Telegraph's Confidential on January 19.

The Australian star resides in Big Apple with her two sons - Sasha, 12, and Kai, 11 - where she amicably raises them alongside her former partner, Liev Schreiber.

Penguin Bloom is based on the true story of a paralysed woman's life-saving relationship with a magpie.
As of this Sunday, January 24, Mexicans who wish to enter Germany must present a test with a negative result for COVID-19 . The European nation included Mexico in a list of twenty new countries considered 'high risk', due to their high rates of coronavirus contagion.

The German Embassy in Mexico confirmed the news through social networks. They detailed that the measure will apply to all Mexican travelers over 6 years of age, who will have to prove that they are not carriers of the virus by means of a PCR or antigen test , carried out in the 48 hours prior to their arrival in Germany .

Travelers from Mexico to: As of 01/24, it is mandatory to present a negative COVID-19 test prior to travel.

Reisende von Mexiko nach mussen ab 24.1. einen negativen COVID-19 Test vor der Einreise nachweisen.

More info / Mehr Informationen: https://t.co/EU5LbJfYOq pic.twitter.com/aIqi59d4yz - German Embassy in Mexico (@AlemaniaMexi) January 22, 2021

The German Interior Ministry explained that the regulations will be systematically implemented in airports and ports. As for the land routes, the controls will be carried out randomly.

In addition to Mexico, the provision will also apply to all travelers from countries such as the United States, Spain and Portugal . Other European nations that will have to comply with the measure are the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Albania and Andorra.

The list is completed by Panama, Colombia and Bolivia , in Latin America; as well as Iran, Israel, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates , in Southwest Asia.

See also: Japan ensures that it is determined to celebrate the Olympic Games

Different types of risk

Germany establishes three categories for travelers visiting the country: risk regions, high-risk regions and regions with variants of the virus . Different control and quarantine rules apply to each one, according to Europa Press .

Risk areas are those whose incidence exceeds 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days. This currently applies to almost all of Europe, except some areas of Greece, Finland, Norway, Austria and Denmark. Travelers from these regions must undergo a coronavirus test within 48 hours of arrival and spend ten days in quarantine.

High-risk areas are those with significantly higher infection rates than Germany. As a general rule, these are countries with an incidence value higher than 200, since the incidence in Germany is 111. However, other countries below this mark can also be declared 'high incidence areas' under certain conditions .



The virus variant zones are those where highly infectious strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been detected, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa and Brazil.

With information from Europa Press .

Related:

Lopez Obrador Confirmed That He Tested Positive for Covid-19 With This Message

Lopez Obrador confirmo que dio positivo a COVID-19 con este mensaje

To travel to Germany, Mexicans must present a negative test for COVID-19



Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 19:34:01|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Monday confirms full support for Yemen's Saudi-backed new government, the Arab League said in a statement.

"Formation of a government of political competency is a vital move to unifying legitimacy confronting the Houthis," Aboul-Gheit said during a video meeting with Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak on the latest developments in the country.

The chief of the pan-Arab organization also voiced support for the political efforts led by UN Envoy Martin Griffiths to reach a joint declaration which will be a start of building confidence and preparing for a political solution.

He condemned the Houthi attempts to intimidate the government by terrorist acts such as the bombings at Aden International Airport upon the arrival of members of the new government in the southern city.

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

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million and pushed more than 20 million to the brink of starvation. Enditem
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The global iron ore pellets market size is expected to reach USD 63.52 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The product demand is predicted to be largely driven by rising steel production in Asia Pacific.

Iron ore pellets are an important source for steel manufacturing. Rapid industrialization and urbanization in emerging economies of Asia Pacific since the past few years have stimulated the production of steel. This has caused a surge in demand for iron ore pellets in the region.

The product is mainly used in captive form by large integrated steel producers. However, there is ample potential for seaborne trade of the product as cross country trade is expected to rise over the coming years owing to rising demand from Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa.

China dominates the market owing to huge steel production capacity in the country. However, emerging economies such as India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, and Indonesia are expected to witness significant growth as these countries are posing a significant challenge to the Chinese steel producers owing to their comparatively lower labor costs and supportive government policies.

Browse Details of Report @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ltcc-htcc-market

Major players in the industry include multinational companies such as Vale, Rio Tinto, and BHP Billiton. Rio Tinto surpassed Vale as the leading global supplier of iron ore as well as its pellets in the first quarter of the year 2020 as Vale witnessed a sharp decline in iron ore output due to a deadly dam burst owned by Vale in 2019.

Iron Ore Pellets Market Report Highlights

 Asia Pacific acquired the largest volume share of 52.3% in 2019. This can be attributed to a large steel production base in China

 By product, direct reduced pellet is anticipated to exhibit the fastest CAGR of 3.8% from 2020 to 2027 in terms of revenue owing to rising penetration of direct reduction production method

 Based on trade, the captive segment dominated the market with a volume share of 70.8% in 2019 owing to a large number of integrated steel plants across the globe

 Middle East and Africa is expected to expand at a significant CAGR of 3.1% from 2020 to 2027 in terms of revenue owing to several economic diversification programs implemented by Middle Eastern and North African countries

 The global market is highly competitive with Vale and Rio Tinto leading in terms of production capacity and market share.

Iron Ore Pellets Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global iron ore pellets market report on the basis of product, trade, and region:

Iron Ore Pellets Product Outlook (Volume, Kilotons; Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027)

 Blast Furnace (BF) Iron Ore Pellet

 Direct Reduced (DR) Iron Ore Pellet

Iron Ore Pellets Trade Outlook (Volume, Kilotons; Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027)

 Captive

 Seaborne
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Reports of the death come as details emerge on the sentence length of another detained poet.

The oldest of more than a dozen staff members arrested after their Uyghur-run publishing house in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) released problematic books has died while serving an 11-year jail term, according to official sources.

At least 14 staff members of Kashgar Publishing House in the XUARs Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) city have been arrested since 2017, including Haji Mirzahid Kerimi, an 82-year-old former editor for the company and celebrated poet. The renowned writer had routinely risked his freedom by penning the most comprehensive histories of figures who helped to establish a Uyghur kingdom in Central Asia between the 8th and 11th centuries.

Kerimi was sentenced to 11 years in prison, despite a serious health condition, because he wrote five books that were later blacklisted by the government and had delivered a problematic speech during an award ceremony for his poetry, sources told RFAs Uyghur Service in late 2018.

Reports that Kerimi had died on Jan. 9, 2021 recently began circulating on Uyghur-language social media and RFA was able to confirm that he passed away in prison while serving his latest term.

An officer at the Id Kah Police Station in Kashgar refused to discuss whether Kerimi had died or whether he had overseen security at his funeral, referring further questions to the local Public Security Bureau (PSB).

But two police officers from Kashgar, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity fearing reprisal, said that the author and poet had expired recently.

We heard word that he diedwe dont know the details, though, one officer said.

They brought his body from the hospital, he added, noting that it had first been brought to the hospital from the prison where Kerimi was being held.

A second officer said that a co-worker had told him Kerimi was taken to the hospital from the prison after an incident in which the former editor jumped and fell.

They never said anything about [exactly] what had happened, he said.

They took him [to the hospital] for treatment and I heard that he passed away while they were treating him.

Uyghur students study at a bilingual middle school in Hotan, Xinjiang, in a file photo. AFP

Outspoken critic

The arrest of Kerimi and his colleagues are part of a sweeping campaign in the XUAR since the beginning of 2017 to censor literature based on political content, with sensitive books being categorized as dangerous or problematic, and anyone deemed responsible for publishing them targeted for detention.

Kerimi was an outspoken critic, and even as the political situation in Kashgar deteriorated rapidly in recent years, he did not shy away from risk or from sharing his opinions publicly. On June 17, 2017, he told RFA that Han police in the city had recently raided his home, confiscating a total of five historical novels he had written.

The authorities were apparently uncomfortable about phrases and passages in the books that had to do with religion. Kerimi reported to RFA that he told the police in 2017 about having once served 13 years of a 20-year jail sentence and asked them to avoid detaining him on suspicion alone, as the authorities had decades earlier. He claimed to have spent more than 30 years in prison or under house arrest, beginning when he was around 20 years old.

He said that in addition to the five historical novels, the authorities also confiscated handwritten materials, including drafts of some of his unpublished works.

A year later, in 2018, a political law cadre in Kashgar confirmed to RFA that 30 percent of current and retired employees of the Kashgar Uyghur Publishing House were in detention. The cadre mentioned Kerimi as one of the earliest individuals from the publisher to be detained and sentenced, and he told a reporter from RFA that the author had received a sentence of 11 years.

At the time, the employee told RFA that it was not only the authors books that caused him to run afoul of the authorities. He was reportedly detained in part because of a speech he delivered at a ceremony held in his honor, where he was gifted a ceremonial robe in recognition of his literary work.

In his 2017 interview with RFA, Kerimi said he suspected that some of his readers who had been to his home to visit him might have also been part of the reason he was taken away by authorities for questioning at the time.

Uyghurs throughout the diaspora have been sharing their grief over Kerimis death on social media in recent weeks. One anonymous author even wrote a dirge in his memory, lamenting the tragedy of a great life cut short.

Decades-long sentence

Reports of Kerimis death came days after RFA was able to confirm the detention of Qasim Sidiq, a well-known Uyghur poet and literature teacher who went missing in the XUAR nearly four years ago, based on information provided by an employee at his local education bureau.

Sidiq, a resident of Ghulja (Yining)the seat of Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture and the XUARs third largest citywas detained by authorities in March 2017, after which he disappeared.

The prolific author and amateur physicist, who previously worked for the Ghulja Bureau of Education and taught at the citys Dadamtu Intermediate School, disappeared around the same time that authorities launched a campaign of mass extralegal incarceration in the XUAR that has since seen up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities held in a vast network of internment camps in the region.

According to the source, who declined to be named, song lyrics and poems composed by Sidiq as many as 15 years ago had been used as evidence for charges against him of inciting ethnic hatred, adding that they fear the teacher may have been sent to one of the regions camps.

It was not immediately clear whether Sidiq has been in detention since his arrest in March 2017. RFA was unable to locate any sign he went through a judicial process that would land him in prison instead of an extralegal internment camp.

However, following the report, a man claiming to be a close personal friend of the poet and teacher reached out to RFA to share more information about the case.

According to the individual, who lives outside China and requested anonymity, authorities determined that there were problems with poems Sidiq had written, and he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

While an officer who answered the phone at Ghuljas Dadamtu Police Station told RFA that Sidiq was sentenced in 2018, he was unable to confirm how long the poet was sentenced or where he is being held.

Sidiqs detention fits a larger pattern of authorities in the XUAR targeting Uyghur intellectuals and other prominent members of the ethnic group as part of what observers have called a form of cultural genocide.

Since the start of the internment drive in 2017, RFA has reported on dozens of leading figures in Uyghur society who have gone missing and whose names have disappeared from the scholarly events, websites, and literature where their work had previously been a fixture.

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by the Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
The Dearborn-based automaker is mad about the Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Maverick unibody pickup truck getting exposed before the convened time, which is colloquially known as a leak. According to Automotive News , Ford singled out Tier 1 suppliers in a leaked memo without giving any names.The Blue Oval has also made threats in the guise of business repercussions and even recovery actions, which is kind of curious when you think about it. An original equipment manufacturer shouldnt be held accountable for an employees leak, and if theres any stipulation between the automaker and Tier 1 supplier in this regard, the employee should be held accountable.On that note, what can we learn from this memo? As far as the Maverick is concerned, the document acquired by Automotive News confirms that Ford is trying to eat into Hondas share of the market, breathing new life into a segment that has been the Ridgelines alone for one too many years.Based on the unibody vehicle architecture of the Bronco Sport and Escape compact crossovers, the brand-new Maverick will slot under the Ranger as a cross truck of sorts thanks to a small bed and jacked-up ride height. The massive grille and similarly impressive headlights give the newcomer a little more road presence than Hondas Ridgeline, which is hopefully enough to convince prospective customers to give the Maverick a second look.Ford, however, is taking a gamble with the Maverick because Honda sold 32,168 examples of the Ridgeline last year in the United States. The worst-case scenario for the cross-bred truck would be to eat into the body-on-frame Ranger, which sold 17.88 percent fewer units in 2020 compared to 2019.
Jana Hocking has broken her silence on her saucy encounter with former NRL star Sam Burgess on Friday night.

Speaking to News Corp on Monday, the dating columnist, 36, confirmed that she did indeed 'hook up' with Sam during a wild night on the town.

'I'm actively dating and making the most of a summer out of lockdown,' she told the publication.

Breaking her silence: Sydney dating columnist Jana Hocking, 36, (pictured) has confirmed she did indeed 'hook up' with former NRL player Sam Burgess on Friday night, telling News Corp on Monday: 'I'm actively dating and making the most of a summer out of lockdown'

Jana has also shared an empowering feminist message to her fans in the wake of her PDA with the rugby star.

Posting to Instagram Stories on Sunday night, Jana uploaded a film still from Love Is My Profession (1958), starring Brigitte Bardot.

The black-and-white image shows Brigitte talking to a man as they dance together, while subtitles beneath her read: 'I'm a girl. I should do as I like.'

Jana has refused to elaborate on her evening with the 32-year-old retired footy star, but her post's feminist message speaks volumes.

Jana and Sam were reportedly spotted kissing at a bar in Sydney on Friday night, just hours after Sam's appearance at Moss Vale court.

According to Confidential, the perennially single radio personality spent the evening flirting up a storm with the South Sydney Rabbitohs great, after they crossed paths at a venue in Potts Point, Sydney.

Feminist message: Posting to Instagram Stories on Sunday night, Jana uploaded a film still from Love Is My Profession (1958), with subtitles that read: 'I'm a girl. I should do as I like'

Nothing to share? Sam (pictured) has yet to publicly comment on his encounter with Jana

Despite spending the day in court facing off with his former father-in-law Mitchell Hooke over text messages that exposed his nasty split from ex-wife Phoebe, Sam reportedly looked carefree and merry as he chatted intently with the glamazon.

According to onlookers, things quickly escalated when their flirty conversation turned into a brazen make-out session.

'They started out just chatting but by the time they left they were all over each other. And then they just got up and left together,' a source alleged.

Locking lips: Jana (left) and Sam (right) were spotted kissing at a bar in Sydney on Friday night, just hours after Sam's appearance at Moss Vale court

Blowing off some steam? Despite spending the day in court facing off with his former father-in-law Mitchell Hooke over text messages that exposed his nasty split from ex-wife Phoebe, Sam reportedly looked carefree and merry as he flirted with the blonde (pictured)

Joining the sportsman at the bar was his lawyer Bryan Wrench, who was photographed glued to his phone while Sam busily spoke to Jana.

Jana, who works as a producer at Triple M as well as a dating columnist, previously dated NRL bad boy Todd Carney back in 2011.

Last year, the blonde penned an article for Whimn about the many benefits of dating a divorcee, advising women to 'pounce like a tiger on the closest divorced man' because they are more likely to know what they want second time round.

Media personality: The blonde bombshell works as a producer at Triple M as well as a dating columnist

The journalist urged singletons to remain upbeat and committed to the dating circuit, because sooner or later they will meet someone who has 'made all the mistakes in their first marriage and are aiming to do better in the next'.

She also believes divorcees are better communicators and more traditional in their views than those who have never been married, meaning they are less likely to ask you out - or dump you - by text.

Meanwhile, Sam is newly divorced, having legally ended his marriage to ex-wife Phoebe just before Christmas.

Ex-files: Jana previously dated NRL bad boy Todd Carney (pictured) back in 2011

'Pounce like a tiger on the closest divorced man': Last year, the blonde penned an article for Whimn about the many benefits of dating a divorcee

Sam and Phoebe Burgess separated in September 2019, and reached a financial settlement months before legally divorcing.

Hours before meeting Jana at the bar, Sam was battling it out with Phoebe's father Mitchell Hooke at Moss Vale court.

The footy star was accused of intimidating Mr Hooke during a confrontation at the Hooke family home in the Southern Highlands, following his split from Phoebe.

Phoebe and Sam are parents to two children: Billy, two, and Poppy, three.

Court battle: Hours before meeting Jana at the bar, Sam was battling it out with Phoebe's (right) father Mitchell Hooke (left) at Moss Vale court
Caldwell Crash Leaves Teen Injured, Facing Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

CALDWELL COUNTY - A teen is facing charges following a rollover crash Friday night in Caldwell County.The wreck happened at approximately 6:45 pm on Railroad Bed Road. Nineteen-year-old Michael Roche of Dawson Springs told Caldwell County sheriff's deputies that he met an oncoming vehicle and attempted to turn his off road lights off.In attempting to do so, deputies said Roche's vehicle left the right side of the road. Roche over corrected, and his vehicle left the road, traveled down and embankment and overturned.Roche was taken to Caldwell Medical Center for treatment of his injuries. He was cited to court on charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance, instructional permit violations, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jessika Power and Cyrell Paule are set for a showdown at the upcoming Married At First Sight Grand Reunion special.

Things got so bad between the warring brides during filming last month that Cyrell hurled a glass of wine into Jess' face and a water pitcher was almost thrown.

Jess, 28, also reportedly provoked Cyrell, 32, by describing her relationship with boyfriend Eden Dally as a 'showmance' - and even accused her of 'baby-trapping' the former Love Island star.

The claws are out: Jessika Power (left) and Cyrell Paule (right) are set for a showdown at the upcoming Married At First Sight Grand Reunion special

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting there is any truth to Jessika's claims.

Producers were allegedly forced to step in and pull the feuding women aside after the false 'baby-trapping' slur.

One source tells Daily Mail Australia that executive producer Tara McWilliams yelled 'Cyrell, that's enough!' before escorting her outside to cool down.

Earlier this month, Cyrell confirmed she had in fact thrown a glass of wine at Jessika as their war of words reached fever pitch.

Showdown: Jess reportedly provoked Cyrell by describing her relationship with boyfriend Eden Dally as a 'showmance' - and even accused her of 'baby-trapping' the Love Island star

Tears: One source tells Daily Mail Australia that executive producer Tara McWilliams yelled 'Cyrell, that's enough!' before escorting her outside to cool down as the argument escalated. Pictured: Jessika in tears after filming the Married At First Sight reunion last month

'There's been a lot of questions about whether I threw wine at Jess at the reunion. Yes, I did! And at the time it felt f**king good,' she said.

'For those saying I am aggressive, if I wanted to punch someone, I can! And there's a reason why wine was thrown instead of punches!'

Paparazzi pictures taken on the night the reunion was filmed showed Jessika in tears after her tense dinner party clash with Cyrell.

Happy family: Cyrell and Eden (pictured with their son, Boston) are in a committed relationship and Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting there is any truth to Jessika's claims

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia after their row, Jessika said: 'I was made to feel unsafe and I made it clear I didn't want that and that's exactly what happened.'

Meanwhile, a source said last month: 'Cyrell was on fire and attacking everybody, one after the other, until eventually things reached boiling point with Jess.'

The mother of one, known as 'Cyclone Cyrell' because of her fiery temper, had warned her co-stars before the reunion that she wouldn't hesitate to 'knock their a** back to last week' if they disrespected her.

Word of warning: The mother of one, known as 'Cyclone Cyrell' because of her fiery temper, had warned her co-stars before the reunion that she wouldn't hesitate to 'knock their a** back to last week' if they disrespected her

'If you want to come at me and disrespect me, I'll slap some sense back into you,' she wrote on Instagram.

'B**ch, I pushed a baby out of my hoo haa... don't think I'll hesitate in knocking your a** back to last week.'

Married At First Sight Grand Reunion will air over two nights on Sunday, January 31, at 7pm and Sunday, February 7, at 7pm on Nine and 9Now
The younger brother said his career choice also had inspired his decision to come forward. The man, who spoke openly about his past drug addiction and crimes, said he is proud of how far he has come. Still, he said, it has nagged at him that he as a recovery specialist was asking others to do what he has been too ashamed to face.

YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh periodically hold anti-terror exercises, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a news release.

During the most recent drills, the simulated scenario involved the manning of firing positions and shutting down highways for stopping traffic, the ministry said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Stockbridge-Munsee Representative Talks With Williamstown's DIRE Committee

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Heather Bruegel looks forward to the day she can bring the story of her people to the people who occupy her homeland.

Bruegl, the director of cultural affairs for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, met with the town's Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee on Thursday to talk about how to take advantage of the new Stockbridge-Munsee extension office on Spring Street.

"In a perfect, non-pandemic world, we'd be able to gather in Williamstown," Bruegl said from her office in Wisconsin. "Every year, we host a powwow here in Wisconsin, obviously we didn't have it last year. I wouldn't envision a powwow [in Williamstown], but maybe a one-day conference or something that talks about Stockbridge-Munsee history that shows you there are workshops with history and playing of the drums and things that are traditional to us and how our people would have lived.

"My hope was this year to host a history conference, but that can't happen because there's still a pandemic."

The committee asked Bruegl to talk about how Williamstown can engage with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band, particularly in light of the new office.

Bruegl said her two colleagues now stationed in Williamstown are focused on preserving Mohican heritage in the region and establishing a partnership with Williams College, but they also are interested in sharing the story of the people who called this region home before they were forcibly moved farther and farther west in the 18th and 19th centuries.

"There's something to be said for us being the ones brought in to share that narrative," Bruegl said. "You get a more accurate depiction of what it was like for the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican people. That's powerful. When I'm talking about Stockbridge-Munsee history, I'm talking about my literal ancestors.

"We definitely have resources available, and any of us, at any given moment, are available to put together presentations and talk about that history because, again, it's more powerful when we're the ones telling the story."

DIRE Committee Chair Mohammed Memfis suggested that Indigenous Peoples Day could provide an opportunity for a regular annual celebration of Mohican people with events throughout the long holiday weekend.

Bruegl agreed.

"As someone who has been a part of many Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations, you don't have to do something super extravagant to celebrate," she said. "As long as you are incorporating indigenous history, culture, language, you've got it.

"The whole idea is to celebrate the indigenous people that day instead of the people who committed genocide."

Thursday's virtual meeting allowed Bruegl to make one contact that could pay dividends for the community.

Randal Fippinger, the visiting artist producer and outreach manager at Williams College's 62 Center for Theatre and Dance and a frequent attendee at DIRE Committee meetings, used the opportunity to introduce himself.

"As soon as you are ready, I'm ready to figure out how to get [the Stockbridge-Munsee Band] on a stage or get it outside," Fippinger said. "Over the summer or in the spring, let's get together and chat."

Another college employee, DIRE Committee member Drea Finley, offered to join Bruegl in a relationship that moves beyond "allyship" to "co-conspiratorship."

Bruegl appreciated Finley's framing of that partnership and talked about how historically marginalized groups can lift up one another.

"I love that in the summer of 2020, there was a lot of social unrest because there were horrific events that happened," she said. "The indigenous community came out and made sure that we were standing in solidarity, but we were pushing forward the voices that mattered. And that was the voices of our Black brothers and sisters, in the same way that they came out for us when it came to Standing Rock and Keystone pipeline. They stood in solidarity with us and they pushed our voices forward.

"I think that's what needs to happen. There needs to be that good foundational allyship to then move to that co-conspiratorship. I love that word. I'm going to use that all the time."

The DIRE Committee met Thursday last week because its usual meeting night fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Memfis used the session, DIRE's first since Jan. 4, to reflect on the events of Jan. 6 and how they applied to the panel.

"We witnessed people storming the U.S. Capitol, wearing Nazi symbols, Auschwitz T-shirts, carrying Confederate flags," Memfis said. "I wanted to speak in affirmation of why this committee exists in relation to those events because people will always have you think that issues of racial equity and racial justice, issues of equity and inclusion are no longer relevant and that conversations around them are meaningless  that they are a waste of time.

"But I think seeing those specific symbols in our Capitol building really flips that on its head. And I think, if anything, we should take away from it  is that whatever the goal was in the minds of many of those people, they failed. In that moment, no matter how horrified people may have been, now many of us are in a position where we are looking forward, positively, to what will come for the future of this country, be it a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, two years from now."
[January 25, 2021]

Tetra Pak calls for collaborative innovation to tackle sustainability challenges in the food packaging industry

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan. 25, 2021 /CNW/ -- Tetra Pak has introduced a new collaborative innovation model with leading paperboard producers, a move aimed at tackling the food packaging industry's sustainability challenges. The traditional operating model of a linear supply chain has changed, and a new partnership ecosystem model is emerging, where the entire industry works in close collaboration. This brings together not only producers and suppliers, but also research institutions, universities and start-ups in an attempt to find solutions.

According to the latest research the global food supply chain system is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions; a third of all food is lost or wasted somewhere in the supply chain; fossil fuel-based materials need to be phased out; and significant improvements are needed to the way packaging is dealt with after use.

Laurence Mott, Executive VP for Development and Engineering at Tetra Pak, says: "We are joining forces with our strategic partners and paperboard producers to find solutions. It's possible to make a completely sustainable package, but you have to make it safe. And if you can't make it at scale, you can't minimise food waste, and you can't serve a growing global population. In order to bring those three things together, it takes very strong collaboration."

Mott says that the scale of the environmental challenges the world faces requires that actors within the value chain join forces to develop truly sustainable packaging solutions.

Leading paperboard producers are united in their approach to tackle carbon emissions and have an ambition to create a net-zero carbon future.

Hannu Kasurinen, Executive Vice President Packaging at Stora Enso, a leading global provider of renewable solutions, says: "We trust, we share, we learn together. Our best innovators collaborate, and we move forward and we innovate. Sometimes we fail, but then we learn from those failures. We have grown much closer to each other, because we have the same strategic objectives  which are good for the people and the planet."

Francisco Razzolini, Industrial Technology, Innovation, Sustainability and Projects Director at Klabin, Brazil's largest paper producer, says: "We are seeing new demands from society and fom consumers to make products and processes that are more sustainable. Meeting these demands requires a lot of collaboration between our companies. By sharing experiences, thoughts, ideas and developments, we can speed up the innovation process."







Malin Ljung Eiborn, Head of Sustainability and Public Affairs at BillerudKorsnas, a world leading provider of fibre-based packaging material, says: "The vision is 100% fibre-based and fully recyclable packaging, where plastic and aluminium are not needed anymore. We still have, of course, some steps to go before we are there from a technical perspective. But we work as one project team on this because the only way that we can solve them is to do this together."

The challenges the industry faces include removing the thin layers of plastic and aluminium replacing them with plant or wood fibre-based materials, developing a renewable alternative to the plastic straw, and improving the recyclability of packages. When responsibly sourced, plant-based renewable materials can support towards protecting biodiversity and the natural ecosystem. This means the industry can minimise the need for fossil-based materials.

And it is these and other challenges on which Tetra Pak and its partners are teaming up within the new collaborative innovation model. Tetra Pak's aim is to create the world's most sustainable package  one that secures food safety and availability while reducing the impact on the planet.

Doodle illustrations

Tetra Pak Innovation journey

Innovating for sustainability

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SOURCE Tetra Pak
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The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
A Las Vegas man has been arrested for fraudulently obtaining nearly $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds intended for small, ailing businesses and splurging on a life of luxury including downtown condominiums, trips to lavish casinos, a $260,000 Bentley convertible and a Tesla.

Jorge Abramovs was arrested on January 15 and was charged with one count of bank fraud, federal prosecutors from the US Attorneys office in Nevada said in an unsealed criminal complaint.

He allegedly applied for Paycheck Protection Program funds between April and June 2020 to at least seven banks but lied about the number of his employees and payroll, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

In total he received at least 11 loans from the government meant to help struggling businesses and he flaunted his new wealth on social media, sharing photos on Facebook of his stays at Caesars Palace, gambling at casinos, vacations in Spain and Peru amid the pandemic and his new luxury cars.

An investigation began in August and a detention hearing was held early Friday morning where Abramovs was remanded in custody.

Las Vegas man Jorge Abramovs has been charged with one count of bank fraud for fraudently obtaining nearly $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds intended for small, ailing businesses and spending it on luxury purchases for himself

In his applications Abramovs indicated the loan money would be used toward rent and payroll, but instead he bought himself luxury cars and new downtown apartments. On June 3 he purchased a 2020 Bentley Continental GT Convertible for $260,982 with taxes and fees. He shared this Facebook post days prior flaunting the car saying: 'My new baby as of Tuesday'

Two weeks later on June 18 he purchased a 2020 Tesla Model 3 for $54,904 after a trade-in. He shared this snap of his Tesla charging on Facebook in July

Abramovs completed the loan applications using several company names such as National Investment Group Corporation, National Legal Advisors in Care of and National Investment Group.

According to the company's vague website, the company offers ambiguous staffing and law firm services. Websites and social media accounts linked to the businesses have been deleted.

Abramovs received at least six loans in the name of NIGC and at least five in the name of NLA.

Abramovs 'misrepresented the number of employees and the amount of revenue and payroll his companies had' to the banks and filed for multiple funds and each application included a variation of a S. Fort Apache Road address, according to the complaint.

In one applications Abramovs claimed NIGC had 18 employees and an average monthly payroll of $64,797.

In another he claimed NIGC had 49 employees and an average monthly payroll of $55,235.

'Financial Overall he allegedly obtained $1,986,737.46 in fraudulent PPP loan funds,' as per the complaint.

Abramovs claimed to be president, secretary, treasurer and director of National Investment Group. According to its website, the company offers staffing and law firm services

On his social media Abramovs shared snaps of himself gambling in Las Vegas

He shared this snap at Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas on June 13 saying: 'Another win!!'

According to the criminal complaint Abramovs used money from the federal loans to purchase two condominiums located in Veer Towers on the Las Vegas strip. An exterior view above

He purchased the first condo in late May for $225,638.59 and authorities said 80 percent of that money came from the fraud scheme. He purchased another condo in the building in June for $412,000 and 99 percent of that purchase was using loan money, according to the complaint. A file image aboe showing the view inside one of the luxury apartments inside the building above

A view of a lavish apartment inside Veer Towers above boasting high ceilings, stunning panoramic views and a state-of-the-art kitchen

Living in the lap of luxury: A view of a bedroom in a unit in the Veer Towers, overlooking the Las Vegas strip, above

On each loan application he certified that he would not receive another PPP Loan.

In his applications he indicated the loan money would be used towards rent and payroll, but instead he bought himself luxury cars and new downtown apartments.

'Financial analysis shows that Abramovs spent the money on purchases of luxury items for himself, including the purchase of a 2020 Bentley, a 2020 Tesla, and two condominiums located in Veer Towers in Las Vegas, Nevada,' according to the criminal complaint.

On June 3 he purchased a 2020 Bentley Continental GT Convertible for $260,982 with taxes and fees.

Two weeks later on June 18 he purchased a 2020 Tesla Model 3 for $54,904 after a trade-in.

He shared these snaps of his June stay at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in June

He shared this snap in late June at Veer Towers, where he purchased two condos, saying 'About to get drinks at Caesar's!!!'

He purchased his first luxury condo at the Veer Towers, located on Las Vegas' iconic Strip, in late May.

'Financial analysis found that of the $225,638.59 spent to purchase this condominium approximately 80 percent constituted criminal proceeds from Abramovs' PPP loan fraud scheme,' as per the complaint.

In June he purchased another condo in the same building, this time for $412,000.

In that purchase 99 percent of that purchase 'constituted criminal proceeds from Abramovs' alleged PPP fraud scheme.'

However, Abramovs was busted in August when federal authorities inquired with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation to see if there were any payments of unemployment insurance.

Employers who pay more than $225 of payroll in any quarter for employees are required under state law to pay unemployment insurance.

However, they DETR found no records of unemployment insurance payments made by NIGC, the company Abramovs claimed to be president, secretary, treasurer and director of.

On LinkedIn hes listed as the Vice President of the company.

Investigators began surveillance of his business in the fall, describing the address as a 'storefront' with fewer than a handful of people inside, according to the complaint.

The bust comes as federal law enforcement is doubling down on fraud related to the CARES Act that was signed into law in March.
He alleged that Modi wanted the farmers to negotiate with 'huge corporates' rather than the ryots going to mandis or negotiating with small traders

Karur: Keeping up the attack on the NDA government at the Centre over the new farm laws, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said they were "criminal" and vowed to oppose them in the interest of the farmers.

The laws were aimed at benefitting "5-6 people closest" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said at a farmers' convention at Vangal in this district, as part of his three-day election campaign in poll-bound Tamil Nadu which began on Saturday.

He alleged that Modi wanted the farmers to negotiate with "huge corporates" rather than the ryots going to mandis or negotiating with small traders.

"The result is going to be that millions of people who are employed by this agriculture system  farmers, labourers, loaders, small traders  all these people are going to be unemployed," he claimed.

"...they are trying to help 5-6 people closest to the Prime Minister and they are hurting the interest of millions and millions of farmers," he said about the Centre.

Referring to the protesting farmers from Punjab and Haryana, Gandhi said: "the Prime Minister is calling them terrorists."

"So we are stopping these laws and protecting your interests. These are criminal laws against the farmers of India...they are trying to replicate a failed model," Gandhi added.

When a participant at the interaction explained the farm laws, Gandhi quipped he would make a "better agriculture minister," taking an apparent dig at incumbent Narendra Singh Tomar.

He alleged that farmers have no access to information "because the information is purposely hidden from them."

He charged the Central government with attacking the foundation of the country  labourers, workers, farmers and fishermen.

"And it is our duty to protect the interest of workers, farmers, fishermen and weavers," Gandhi, who rode a bullock cart to arrive here, said.

While there was no shortage of money in the country, it was not being given to the poor, he added.

He also flayed the Centre's earlier demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), wanting to know how many from the crowd benefitted from them.

Earlier, at a roadshow in the district, Gandhi questioned Centre's "one language, one culture, one history" concept.

"So when Prime Minister Modi says one language, one culture, one history, who is he insulting. What does he mean by one language, one culture, one history."

"Is Tamil not a language, do Tamil people don't have a history, culture. Who does he think he is to come and tell Tamil people one language, one culture, one history. Who has given him that right," Gandhi said.

Saying he was reading the Tamil classic Tirukkural, Gandhi said it mentioned about the Tamil spirit a 1000 years ago.

"This positive attitude, self-respect  I realised is not something new..it is wedded in your history, language, food, everywhere and then I noticed that the Prime Minister of this country does not respect this spirit."

"I do not think that the PM of this country has even opened this book because if he had opened this book, he would understand that the only way to work with the Tamil people is to respect them, to love their language, to love their culture. There is no other way to work with the Tamil spirit and Tamil culture than respecting it," he said.

Charging Modi with "remote controlling" the Tamil Nadu government, Gandhi asked why central agencies were not probing corruption in the state.

"In every opposition (ruled)state, Prime Minister Modi uses the CBI and ED to attack the opposition. Why is the investigation into corruption in Tamil Nadu stopped."

"Why are the ED and CBI not investigating the Chief Minister and government of Tamil Nadu. What has the Chief Minister( K Palaniswami) of Tamil Nadu given Narendra Modi in exchange for this favour. That is the central question," he said.

Gandhi said that in the coming election the people of Tamil Nadu "are going to take the battery out of the remote control and throw it away," implying a new government will be in place.

"I am here to help you get a government that listens to the Tamil spirit, listens to poor people," Gandhi, whose Congress is an ally of the MK Stalin-led DMK in the state, said.

Assembly elections are likely in Tamil Nadu by April-May.

Gandhi further charged Modi with working for a select few industrialists."Narendra Modi works for five or six big industrialists. Everything he does is to help these five people improve their financial position. Demonetisation, GST, the way he behaved during corona  everything is designed to help those five people," he alleged.

"The idea is to break the backbone of small and medium businesses, break the backbone of Indian farmers and to make Indian labourers slaves  all to make these five or six people happy," he claimed.

Lashing out at the RSS, he said its ideology was "anti-Tamil" which is "aimed at weakening the spirit of Tamil people."

"We will never allow it," he asserted.

Earlier, the Congress MP was accorded rousing reception and he shook hands with many people who had turned up to have a glimpse of him and also posed for pictures with some.

Page Content

On Jan. 11, a decree was published in Mexico's Official Gazette of the Federation that amended Mexico's Federal Labor Law on the subject of remote work by adding a chapter that took effect Jan. 12.

The decree regulates the practice of remote work, which it refers to as telework, and defines it as the performance of paid activities at locations different than the establishment(s) of the employer, not requiring the physical presence of the worker at such establishment(s). Under this form of work, the contact between the worker and the employer takes place through information and communication technologiesi.e., through services, infrastructure, networks, software, information applications and equipment. The form of telework is to be part of collective bargaining agreements and, if there no such agreement, the internal labor regulation.

For purposes of the decree, telework entails work that occupies more than 40 percent of the worker's time at the worker's domicile (or place elected as the domicile), but will not cover work that is occasional or sporadic.

Telework must be formalized through a written contract that, among other items, must include a description of (i) the nature and characteristics of the work, (ii) the equipment and consumables of the work, (iii) the mechanism for contact and supervision between the parties and (iv) the duration and distribution of the work schedules.

Employers will have certain special obligations related to telework, the following being some of the principal ones: (i) to supply, install and maintain the necessary equipment for telework, such as computers, ergonomic chairs and printers; (ii) to assume the costs related to telework, including paying for telecommunication and electricity services; (iii) to respect the workers' right to disconnect on completion of the workday; and, (iv) to register workers engaged in telework to the obligatory social security regime, among others. One of the principal obligations of employees engaged in telework is that they comply with and use the employer's operating mechanisms and systems for the supervision of the workers' activities.

The change to telework must be voluntary, except in cases of force majeure. Both parties are to have the right to revert to in-person work.

The employer must at all times promote equilibrium between the labor relationship of workers engaged in telework and those engaged in in-person work, balancing the worker's personal life with the availability to perform telework during the workday. In addition, employers must guarantee the right of privacy of workers and must respect applicable law on the protection of personal data.

Special conditions for health and safety respecting telework are to be established by the secretary of labor and social security (secretaria del trabajo y prevision social) in a Mexican Official Norm (Norma Oficial Mexicana) to be published within 18 months of the decree's effective date.

The tax implications for both the employer and the worker will have to be analyzed, including the deductibility of the costs for electricity and telecommunication services that the decree obligates the employer to incur, given that these services would be invoiced in the name of a third party other than the employer, and the possibility that these costs might be considered income to the worker.

Alejandro Gonzalez, Joel Gonzalez Lopez and William "Hunt" Buckley are attorneys with Haynes and Boone in Mexico City.  2021 Haynes and Boone. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.
Beginning last summer, school districts across Texas took comfort in knowing they would not lose state funding despite having fewer students in classrooms as a result of the pandemic.

The hold harmless guarantee from the Texas Education Agency was a lifeline for districts during a school year marked by unprecedented enrollment losses.

But the commitment expired around the start of the new year. Now, superintendents fear they could lose millions of dollars in state funding if the TEA decides not to reinstate the hold harmless policy.

On ExpressNews.com: Studies show that online learning has hammered student performance

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has made clear that rules adopted last year to shore up school funding during the pandemic were temporary and that it is now up to the Legislature to decide how to move forward.

Superintendents say they arent sure what to expect, given the states own budget gap and the persistence of the pandemic.

Were all a little nervous, said Sean Maika, superintendent of North East Independent School District, whose enrollment this year is about 5 percent less than projected. It would be nice  it would be a huge relief  to myself and to my staff if we knew (the guarantee) was going to extend onward so we could build some cohesive plans for kids.

Attendance takes a hit

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school districts see remote learning stretching way into next year

School leaders are looking ahead to next fall, trying to plan the coming school year. But theyre in the dark as to how the state will determine their funding and whether the TEA will continue to include remote learners in districts average daily attendance, a figure that dictates state aid.

Across Texas, average daily attendance has taken a hit this school year. Some students have not been able to keep up with remote learning. Others lacked the necessary technology at home. And some have had to take jobs to help support their families, superintendents say.

Texas public schools have seen their enrollment drop 3 percent on average. Most of the loss has been in prekindergarten and kindergarten, TEA data shows.

Enrollment losses could cost Bexar County school districts about $85 million in state funding during the spring semester alone if hold harmless is not renewed, according to a letter to Morath and Gov. Greg Abbott from the Bexar County Education Coalition, which includes 17 superintendents.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school leaders concern: COVID-induced decline in enrollment will take funding down with it

Losing millions of dollars in funding while our students, families and schools have greater needs would be catastrophic, said the letter, sent in December. We believe that our fiscally responsible schools, with stable funding, will be critical to the recovery.

Rene Barajas, deputy superintendent for business and finance at Northside ISD  the largest school district in Bexar County, with more than 100,000 students  said the district is making plans on the assumption that hold harmless will not be renewed.

Northside ISD has lost 4,663 students since last school year  a decline of about 4 percent  but administrators expect that the district will be able to absorb any funding losses, Barajas said.

Personally, Im not expecting any more funding in the next biennium, he said. Were just going to have to, as an organization, adjust very, very quickly. I think were still nimble enough to make those course corrections to not impact instruction or our students or teachers.

Grounds for optimism

Some other school leaders express tempered optimism that state funding will continue to be based on previous years enrollment figures. They cite a smaller-than-expected state budget gap, the passage of the federal governments second stimulus package and support from some key decision-makers at the state level.

On ExpressNews.com: Federal aid, rebounding economy soften COVIDs impact on Texas state budget

Over the summer, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar projected a state budget deficit of about $4.6 billion. He lowered that estimate significantly, to $950 million, at the start of the legislative session this month.

In December, Congress approved a $900 billion stimulus that included more than $5 billion for Texas public schools.

And Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, has been vocal in his support for school funding.

The hole that the Legislature has to dig out of for this current biennium is much smaller than we thought it would be and much more manageable, Clark Ealy, superintendent of Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, told the districts board of trustees during their meeting last Tuesday. Were cautiously optimistic this will be a good session and provide some really good leadership for public schools.

Maika said he thinks the Legislature will find a way to maintain school funding, but with so much uncertainty, districts have had to take precautionary steps such as leaving some vacant positions open, cutting programming or preparing to lay off staff if state funding cuts do materialize.

We knew the pandemic would have some impacts ... so we adopted a conservative budget, which allowed us to be as prepared as you could be based on what we knew at that moment, Maika said.

North East ISD, which has about 3,300 fewer students this year than administrators projected, is at risk of losing about $11 million in state funding this year after spending about $8.8 million on pandemic-related expenses, Maika said.

Partnerships to the rescue

School partnerships under Senate Bill 1882, which allots additional state dollars to schools that contract with outside partners such as nonprofits and colleges, will become even more valuable now that so much uncertainty surrounds the hold harmless guarantee, said Eduardo Hernandez, superintendent of Edgewood ISD.

The district, the poorest in Bexar County, has lost about 600 students since last school year, a decline of about 6 percent.

Edgewood ISD has the second-most SB 1882 partnerships in the county, trailing only San Antonio ISD, and it has more planned for the coming school year. Income from existing partnerships will help offset costs on campuses that do not have outside partners, softening the blow of any state funding cuts, Hernandez said.

Thats why the 1882 partnerships have been so important, he said. With any partners that we would bring on, weve had those conversations, that we would leverage the power of both parties to help our schools.

Superintendents say funding for the next two years must be maintained at pre-pandemic levels to avoid draining fund balances and cutting staff positions. For most districts, the likelihood of such measures is low, at least for the current school year.

But if schools do not get the money they need soon, the state will be setting them up for harmful cuts in 2022, Maika said.

This doesnt just end now, Maika said. This continues on through next year.

As lawmakers develop a plan for school funding, superintendents hope they will consider districts need to make up the ground lost by students whose education was disrupted by the pandemic.

Im concerned about how much learning loss has happened with students, and if theyre going to cut funding to us, how are we going to respond to those types of things? Maika said. To have less money doesnt help you respond to a greater need.

andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon
CONWAY  On the eve of the second Horry County Schools Board of Education meeting of 2021, a board member is facing backlash for comments she made during its last meeting on Jan. 11.

Teachers have taken exception to Helen Smith, the District 6 representative, after she seemed to minimize the challenges that have come with being an HCS Virtual teacher  a role thrust upon mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While a pair of district officials presented plans for what HCS Virtual could look like for the 2021-22 school year, Smith asked about the student-teacher ratio, while also making the following statement:

I always thought in my mind that virtual teachers would have a larger pupil-teacher ratio, Smith said. They don't have 25 little kindergarten kids running around.

Teachers don't have students in the classroom; they have to work individually one on one, except on a computer. It's not like they have to get their attention all day long.

Smiths take was not well-received by the teaching community, including Lee Ann Khaled, a virtual teacher.

Listening to the board meeting on Monday. It was evident that some board members are very ignorant about the virtual academy and the demands on virtual teachers, Khaled said.

As Khaled pointed to virtual-specific obstacles, such as behavior management and scheduling, Rebecca Salley, a fellow virtual teacher, said that Smiths words carry unnecessary weight during an already difficult semester.

The assumption that educators are all looking for an easy way out is interpreted by many as ill-informed at best and disrespectful at worst. Whether or not she meant exactly what she said, the comment was not received well among many educators in Horry County, Salley said.

There is a districtwide shortage of substitute teachers, confirmed by BOE Chairman Ken Richardson at the meeting. One teacher had a suggestion for all board members: roll up their sleeves and jump into both sets of classrooms.

Helen, your comment was insulting and shows just how little you know about being an educator," said Cori Canada, a virtual teacher. "You owe your teachers an apology.

Canada continued, After that apology I encourage you to go substitute for a week in a kindergarten classroom in brick and mortar, and then substitute for a week for a kindergarten teacher in a virtual setting. Perhaps then that would give you some perspective.

Defining the differences, on paper

At the Jan. 11 board meeting, Edi Cox, the HCS executive director of online learning, indicated the district had used the first semester to learn on the fly, making many adjustments based on feedback from teachers, students and parents.

The learning curve that has come with the system purchased from Florida Virtual Schools have been steep, with Salley pointing to relationship building and student interaction at the core of what varies from those in brick-and-mortar settings to those in virtual school.

Part of being a successful teacher is working with students and helping them know you care, Salley said. We have to put time and effort into every relationship, whether it is on a screen or in the classroom. It definitely takes time to build those bridges.

What many teachers pointed to is that the bridge itself is entirely different from HCS Virtual to brick-and-mortar instruction  as the curricula are different.

The adoption of HCS Virtual came alongside the editing and deleting of multiple assignments and units across all subjects, according to multiple teachers. This has led to a different pacing for students, which will inherently put them at different points in the curriculum at the end of the school year.

The learning management system is also entirely different for HCS Virtual students, straying from HCS normal system of Google Classroom and PowerSchool, and shifting to Buzz and Genius, the latter far more advanced and intricate, according to virtual teachers.

While these are nuts-and-bolts differences, virtual teachers admit to issues with students lack of motivation and off-task behavior as serious hurdles in keeping the flow of education on task.

The inability to tap on a shoulder or stop a student in the hallway are lost, replaced by the hopes that a student will join a virtual classroom that they are not required to attend.

Defining the differences, in reality

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In a virtual world, the clock has seemingly not stopped for teachers, with Khaled and others on call at all times, with Pre-K to high school teachers hosting night classes and personal tutoring sessions at all hours of the day.

Virtual teachers are required to have one evening office hour per week, but commonly take on many more, with Khaled even fielding multiple requests for aid on Thanksgiving.

For some teachers, community pressure, including statements like those from Smith, create a culture where there is no off-switch.

Virtual teachers have seen an increasing inability to have constructive communication with parents, while also experiencing high levels of plagiarism  something that has to be managed remotely. Virtual students are also finding it difficult to manage their time well, with teachers indicating that many were only one-third the way through a semesters worth of work in early January.

Khaled believes that the lack of guarantees of virtual interaction compounds these issues.

In a physical classroom, if we see that a student does not understand a concept, we can stop them and immediately help, Khaled said.

Khaled said that this onus falls to parents and guardians, and participation has been uneven, causing students to be on different paths within the same virtual classroom.

In physical school, those falling behind would have access to an intervention teacher  but HCS Virtual teachers are solely responsible for these course corrections, a time-consuming task in the online world.

This can make a virtual teachers job all-encompassing.

The idea that our job simply consists of sitting in front of a screen a couple hours a day and teaching students synchronously with no management or engagement issues is extremely misguided and insulting, said Khaled, referring to Smiths comments. As a virtual teacher, I work longer hours than I did as a traditional teacher.

Defining the differences, moving forward

With 3,202 students choosing to move from HCS Virtual back into brick-and-mortar education at the turn of the semester  slated for Feb. 1  there will be a shift of resources back onto campuses throughout Horry County.

That includes some virtual teachers being told, not asked, that they will go back to a brick-and-mortar setting, a decision that brings about nerves for many  for a multitude of reasons.

That led to a nerve-wracking weekend for many due to concerns over the safety of being in the classroom because of the rise of COVID-19 within HCS and throughout the county, particularly with Richardson stating publicly that the intent of the district is to return to full-time, in-person instruction in February.

According to the HCS COVID-19 dashboard, there are 163 current cases, with 105 students and 58 staffers testing positive. There are 176 staff members currently in quarantine, while the district does not provide data on students in quarantine.

Despite the known quantity of teachers returning to the physical classroom, those who will have new teachers have yet to be notified, a sticking point with many teachers, particularly those at the elementary school level, where students have a single teacher.

It has added undue pressure to those already having to lesson plan for a new class in less than two weeks.

According to an HCS spokesperson, students will receive their class and teacher assignments this week.

Despite the switch of the semester, there remain 10,415 HCS Virtual students that will close out the academic year online in the coming months, something that teachers hope will bring about more awareness and respect for what they do.

The gaslighting and toxic positivity for all teachers coming from the public and those in charge is maddening. Our overtime should not be a badge of honor, Canada said. Its a systematic problem that leads to burnout and that is why teachers are leaving. We, virtual and brick and mortar are working harder than we ever have only to be berated by those that have no idea what we do behind the scenes and have not one idea what our job entails."

She concluded, "We are tired of feeling like our professional opinions do not matter and everyone knows how to do our jobs better than us.
National

Sharad Pawar attacks Modi government over farmers protest

Sharad Pawar

NEW DELHI, JAN 25 (AGENCIES) | Publish Date: 1/25/2021 12:12:27 PM IST

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indifference towards the cause of the farmers who have been protesting in the national capital for the last two months.

It has been 60 days since the farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan are protesting near Delhi. Did the countrys PM enquire about (the farmers)? It was mentioned that the farmers are from Punjab. Does Punjab mean Pakistan? Sharad Pawar said at a rally in Mumbai organised in support of farmers protesting in Delhi. You may pass any law undermining the Constitution, not keeping in with the reputation of Parliament and destroying the Parliamentary system on the back of your majority. But remember one thing, once the common man and farmers of the country rise, whether you withdraw the laws or not, they will not keep quiet until they destroy you and the law, Pawar said during the rally. Pawar alleged that the farm laws were passed without detailed discussion in Parliament despite the opposition parties demanding deliberations on the bills concerned.

The bills could have been discussed by a select committee, but it did not happen, he said.

Sharad Pawar also hit out at the Maharashtra governor. You are going to Raj Bhavan to meet the governor. Maharashtra has never seen such a governor before. He has the time to meet Kangana (Ranaut) but not the farmers. It was the moral responsibility of the governor to come here and meet you, Pawar said.

The NCP chief said it was the moral duty of the governor to at least remain and receive the people of the state who are the annadaata (food-givers), but he did even show the courtesy to remain in Raj Bhavan to accept their memorandum.

However, the Raj Bhavan later clarified that the representatives of the Samyukta Shetkari Morcha, which organised the rally, were informed in advance that the Governor would not be able to meet the delegation on Monday as he would be in Goa to address its Goa.

It was already cleared (to Morcha representatives) that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has additional charge of Goa Governors post and he would address the session of the Goa Assembly on January 25 and hence, will not be able to meet the farmers delegation, the Raj Bhavan said in a statement.

The agitation is part of the all-India 3-day action launched since Sunday in all states to express solidarity with the farmers in Delhi demanding a complete repeal of the 3 farm laws, terming them as anti-farmer, said AIKS general secretary Dr Ajit Nawale.

The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress joined the Samyukt Shetkari Kamgar Morcha (SSKM) Mumbai rally.
At the home of Northern Ireland's largest fishing fleet, the implications of the Brexit deal and coronavirus weigh heavily on the minds of hundreds of Kilkeel fishermen.

While boats have continued to fish during the pandemic, plummeting prices for fresh fish as restaurants stay closed and uncertainty over new quota arrangements have some questioning their future.

On Thursday afternoon, the main source of activity on the quiet harbour front was at a family run Fish and Chip van as locals queued up for lunch.

Owner Wayne McCulla (47) has been able to keep his takeaway business going, but he is just as concerned by supply issues as anyone.

"The fishing industry down here is a big thing and if it was hit in the head, it would trickle right down around Kilkeel," he said.

"It could well be a concern for our supplies too, we get our fresh fish from the harbour and local suppliers.

"We're lucky that takeaways have been able to continue but we really want to see more certainty for smaller businesses."

Meeting the Belfast Telegraph at the harbour was Harry Wick, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Fish Producers' Organisation (NIFPO).

He said fishermen were "hugely apprehensive" about the current uncertainty of fishing quotas, with different UK regions now "fighting for the scraps".

"Northern Irish fishermen own about 8.4% of the total fishing quota in the UK, a fairly small proportion overall," he said.

"What we're afraid of is that the other administrations, disappointed from the additional opportunity from Brexit, are coming to look for our share (expected to be around an extra 19.1m worth of fish). It's making us very nervous at the moment."

He said the pandemic and the uncertainty of Brexit had caused "a hugely challenging" year for the fleet in Kilkeel and across Northern Ireland.

"Many vessels have had to tie up because of the Covid crisis, 2020 is a year we're glad to see the back of.

"A lot of our members have been in real danger of going bust during this crisis. Fortunately we were able to secure government aid schemes which allowed most of them to make it through the year."

Hopeful for a more prosperous 2021, he said the eventual reopening of the hospitality sector would breathe life back into the industry.

"We still have a world class product to sell, so there's always going to be a demand."

He said charities supporting the mental health and wellbeing of fishermen over the last year has been a vital service. "We're very grateful for that, but there's no doubt that was provided because there was a need. The effect this has had on fishermen and their families has been pretty severe," he said.

Even without the recent setbacks, Mr Wick said attracting new blood to the industry remained one of the biggest challenges as the current generation retires.

"If you go into schools now very few kids have the ambition of wanting to be a fisherman, and I think that's just because society's expectations are changing," he said.

"Less school leavers are looking for a manual job. It's a hard life as well, so retirement age is usually lower which exacerbates the challenge."

He said headaches over post-Brexit trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including reports of empty supermarket shelves, also open up new obstacles for the local industry.

"There are challenges faced by companies, particularly those that buy fish from Scotland and England and bring them to Northern Ireland for processing," he said. "They are facing challenges with the Irish sea border. That's because a lot of businesses elsewhere in the UK weren't as Brexit ready as those here."

Further along the harbour, one fisherman of more than 40 years carrying equipment off his smaller boat said he felt under far greater pressure than the larger crews.

Unwilling to be identified for fear of criticism, he said fishing for prawn and crabs in the local bay area had been temporarily suspended.

"If that stays closed it's not going to be good for the wee boats, that's where we all fish," he said.

"It would mean we're finished. I've been fishing nearly all my life, and it's been in my family for generations.

"It's been very poor for us recently in terms of prices. I'm not going to get out now for another three months."

Bringing his gear inland till things change, he said there was a feeling that trade unions fought harder for larger boats that made more money.

"The big boats can travel further away, but the wee boats can't do that. So we're dependent on fishing those waters," he said. "We've been fishing them for the past 100 years and now all this has happened.

"I'm 63 years old, I would have started when I was around 16 or 17, a brave few years ago.

"There's no younger people coming in now. It's very hard to see a future and it's not going to be good for the next few years in terms of prices I believe.

"I'm at that age now and I'm nearly jiggered as it is, so I can't see me going on too long.

"I had a couple of younger fellas with me who had to leave as we just weren't making enough money even though we would be out there trapping for a week or two at a time."

Waiting nearby for his fish supper was handyman Fergal McGinn, aged in his 60s, who said experience had taught him the current pressures of Brexit and Covid will pass.

"I live about five miles out of town. I don't do my own cooking, so when my wife died I come in here to get food," he said.

"I try not to worry too much about Brexit and coronavirus, I just try to do my own thing and if it affects me it affects me.

"If you have to pay a bit more for something then that's just how it has to be. It's not just now that you get things like this, over the years you always get challenges."

He added: "I'm self-employed as a general handyman and it has affected my work a bit, but I've put off inside jobs and just worked on as many outside projects as I can."

Speaking later on the phone, prawn fisherman Graham Cully (36) from Portavogie has taken to selling his produce directly from his boat, with a new business called Green Pastures Seafood.

"It's very concerning at the minute, prices are down especially with whole prawns that are down by 50%," he said.

"It's just been like a perfect storm for us with Covid and Brexit.

"A lot of people are fed up with how things worked out last year but our side business is going well, local people are mad about getting fresh fish off the boat. If we can get more people to eat local stuff that would be perfect for us."
Egyptian Islamic preacher Abla El-Kahlawy died at the age of 72 on Sunday night after contracting the coronavirus. El-Kahlawy was admitted to hospital in a deteriorating condition.

Health minister Hala Zayed told the media she had delegated Hossam Hosny, head of the health ministrys Scientific Committee to Combat Coronavirus, to check up on El-Kahlawy's health on Sunday morning.

Zayed added El-Kahlawy was in poor health and her condition was deteriorating. Sources close to the Islamic preacher's family said El-Kahlawy was isolated at a quarantine hospital for more than a week and was placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit.

First Lady Entissar Amer mourned the death of El-Kahlawy, daughter of late famous Egyptian actor Mohamed El-Kahlawy. Egypt has bid farewell to an honourable and great model of the Egyptian woman who is faithful to her religion and nation, Amer wrote on Facebook on Monday.

She added that El-Kahlawy passed away after a journey of giving and an honourable humanitarian journey on the path of goodness and dawah.

Dawah is generally defined as inviting people to embrace Islam.

Soft-spoken El-Kahlawy was a professor at the Faculty of Islamic and Arabic Studies for girls at Al-Azhar University. She presented many religious TV programmes and was followed especially by women.

She established a charitable association for orphan care in Cairos Mokattam district. The association, Al-Baqiat Al-Salehat, also cared for cancer patients and old people with Alzheimer's.

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Bala Mohammed (known in full as Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed) was born on October 5, 1958, at Duguri Town in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

He attended Duguri Primary School, Bauchi, from 1965 to 1971 where he secured his First School Leaving Certificate. After that, he was at Government Secondary School, Bauchi, from 1972 to 1976 where he passed his WASCE. He then proceeded to the North-East College of Art and Science between 1977 and 1979 for his Advanced Level Certificate. Thereafter, he enrolled at thein 1979 and graduated in 1982 with BA Degree in English Language.

Bala Mohammed attended the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) in 1988 for a general management course. In 1997, he attended a capacity building training in Lagos and was given a certificate of the Institute of Purchase & Supplies.He began his career as a journalist and rose to the position of News Editor of the Mirage Newspaper, Jos, between 1982 and 1983. He also had a stint as a News Reporter with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN). From there he moved over to the Democrat Newspaper where he worked as the newspapers State Editor in charge of Benue from 1983 to 1984.

In 1984, he left journalism for the civil service when he got employed as an Administrative Officer under the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, Abuja. In 1994, he was promoted and redeployed as Principal Administrative Officer in the Cabinet Secretariat of the Presidency.

He was Chief Supplies Officer, Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals from 1995 to 1997. He rose to the position of Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Power and Steel in 1997. He held the position until 1999 when he was promoted Deputy Director/SA to the Hon Minister, Federal Ministry of Transport. He successfully discharged his functions in that capacity from 1999 to 2003.

Bala Mohammed was promoted Director of Administration, Nigerian Railway Corporations in 2003. Later in September that year, he became Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation. In January of the following year, he became Director of Administration and Supplies, Nigerian Meteorological Agency.

Bala Mohammed was elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on April 21, 2007, to represent Bauchi South Senatorial District. He occupied that position until his appointment as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in April 2010.

He was declared Governor of Bauchi State on March 26, 2019. In that fiercely fought election, Bala Mohammed, as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 515,113 votes to defeat the then-incumbent governor, Muhammed Abubakar, who polled 500, 625 votes.
A top CBS television executive allegedly disparaged Ukee Washington, CBS3s Eyewitness News co-anchor, as just a jive guy, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday in an article about a hostile work environment at CBS3 and other local network-owned stations around the country.

Washington, a fixture at CBSs Philadelphia station since the 1980s, did not comment for the Times and did not respond Sunday to a request for comment from The Inquirer.

The Times article alleged that CBS Television Stations president Peter Dunn and a top lieutenant cultivated a hostile work environment that included bullying female managers and blocking efforts to hire and retain Black journalists.

CBS, which in 2018 ousted chief executive Leslie Moonves amid sexual misconduct allegations, told the Times that it looked into allegations about Dunn.

CBS is committed to ensuring an inclusive and respectful work environment for all its employees, CBS told the Times in a statement. In response to a CBS investigation in early 2019, senior management at the time addressed the situation with Mr. Dunn, and the company has not received any complaints about his conduct during the period since then.

A person reached in the newsroom of CBS3 Sunday said no one was available to comment.

Brandin Stewart, CBS3s general manager, in a message to employees expressed understanding that the Times coverage was difficult for many of them to read and that he was committed to fighting for equal and fair diversity in our workplace.

Ernest Owens, president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, called Dunns comment about Washington disheartening and said a collaboration was needed to address systemic racism in the CBS3 newsroom.

A newsroom that racially degrades one of its hardest working Black journalists is a newsroom that mocks the integrity and trust of the communities it aims to cover, Owens said in a statement on the nonprofit groups website. The statement continues that CBS3 and other news stations should aim to not pander to Black audiences with inconsistent gestures, but actively work to make their actions speak louder than racist rhetoric.

The Times said it based its report on court filings, CBS internal communications, and interviews with two dozen current and former CBS television station employees.

Two major identified sources for the Times story were Brien Kennedy, CBS3s general manager from April 2015 through July 2019, and Margaret Cronan, who was CBS3s news director from September 2015 through July 2017.

Both Kennedy and Cronan told the Times in interviews about Dunns comments on Washingtons jive talking. Dunn managed CBS3 from 2002 through 2004.

I was shocked that a corporate head would use words like that to describe an African American, Cronan told the Times.

Cronan, who did not respond to a voice message left at her Philadelphia residence, posted the Times story on LinkedIn. Part of her comment about the article said: I have always believed that when we see racism, discrimination and other offensive behavior in the workplace, we MUST speak up. I only wish I had done so sooner.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 18:38:27|Editor: huaxia

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Community volunteer Du Sicheng (L) picks up meat ordered by quarantined residents from a supermarket in Dongchang District of Tonghua, northeast China's Jilin Province, Jan. 24, 2021. Du Sicheng is a 23-year-old volunteer teacher working in Tibet Autonomous Region. After school break started, he returned to his hometown Tonghua and had gone through home quarantine amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic there. When his quarantine ended on Jan. 23, Du joined more than a thousand community volunteers in Dongchang District, offering to purchase and deliver daily necessities for residents still in quarantine. (Xinhua/Xu Chang)
A man has paid tribute to his late mother while highlighting the Mother and Baby Homes scandal at Free Derry Corner.

Last week the Derry News published a story about Mark McCollum's lifelong search for his mother, Kathleen McGuire, who grew up in Cable Street in Derry's Bogside.

He was born in Marianvale Mother and Baby Home in Newry and was fostered by a Donegal couple.

While he lived a happy and fulfilled life with his adoptive parents, Mark also devoted himself to tracking down his birth mother.

However, roadblocks were placed in his way; he was only ever provided with her first name as the Catholic Church and authorities refused to divulge any additional details.

To further frustrate his efforts he was told that his mother was originally from Belfast.

It wasn't until last year that he learned she was in fact a Derry woman and that her surname was McGuire.

By that time it was too late, she had already passed away in the years prior.

Ahead of the publishing of Stormont commissioned research into whether or not there should an inquiry held into the homes which operated in NI, Mark decided to highlight the issue on one of Derry's most historical landmarks, which sits a few hundred yards away from the street where Kathleen grew up.

He believes the government and Church should make a full, unreserved apology which doesnt attempt to shift blame, that victims should receive reparations and there should be memorials to those who died.

Full story from last week: https://www.derrynow.com/news/derry-news/603748/kathleen-mcguire-a-mans-lifelong-search-for-his-derry-mother.html
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday hinted that he might be removed from office midway like Karpoori Thakur as he has been working for the welfare and progress of all sections of the society like the veteran socialist leader.

Karpoori Thakur Ji, as the CM, worked for the welfare of all sections of the society but he was removed from the post within two years. We too are working in the interest of all sections of society. Sometimes, some people get annoyed because of working in the interest of all sections of society, Nitish Kumar reportedly said while addressing an event as JD(U) office to commemorate Karpoori Thakur on his birth anniversary, a report in Times of India said.

Karpoori Thakur who first became the CM of Bihar in 1970 and had to quit after six months in June 1971. He became the CM again in 1977 but again he had to quit after two years in office. Nitish Kumars reference was to Thakur second term which lasted for two years.

Nitish said that he has been observing the birth anniversary since he first became CM and has been implementing the thoughts of Thakur. The event was organized by the Extremely Backward Classes of Nitishs party in Patna on Sunday.

Since the first day of my coming into power in November 2005 several schemes were implemented to ensure progress of the people belonging to the SC, ST, minorities, extremely backward classes and women. Some special initiatives were taken to bring the people living on the margins, in the mainstream of the society. Women were provided 50 percent reservation in the panchayati raj institutions to provide them adequate representation at the grassroot level, Bihar CM said while recalling the development work his government did after coming to power in 2005.

Nitish Kumar party won the election in alliance with the BJP with a narrow margin against the RJD and allies in November last year. Since then Nitish Kumar has been under attack from the opposition RJD over law-and-order and other issues.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looks to be investing big on Tesla and Disney.

Business Insider reports that the California politician bought 25 call options  the option to buy stock within a certain timeframe  for Tesla on Dec. 22, giving her the option to buy 2,500 shares at $500 each.

According to financial disclosures, she is also looking into Walt Disney Company and Apple's stocks, purchasing 100 call options for each company at $100 each on the same day  moves that cost up to $1 million and up to $500,000, respectively.

There is the possibility that her husband, businessman and investor Paul Pelosi, purchased the options. While these bets may not belong to Pelosi, lawmakers are required to report any investments belonging to them, their spouses or any dependent children, Barron's reports.

The call options are set to expire in early 2022.

The move, Business Insider acknowledged, may pose some challenges to her lawmaking decisions  as she is now vested in Tesla's success and has the capacity to influence "green" legislation.

She also disclosed a purchase of 20,000 shares of AllianceBernstein, an investment firm, costing up to $1 million.

Last May, Paul Pelosi sold thousands of Apple stocks for up to $7 million, Barron's reported.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

As part of her work with Veterans Affairs, Dr. Christine Kasper studied how the fine desert dust of the Middle East contributed to respiratory infections in American soldiers.

The dean of the University of New Mexico College of Nursing said that taught her the importance of treating patients while armed with a knowledge of their pollution exposure.

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I think we could get some standards of care where the patients come in and you record not just blood pressure, but ask: Where do you live? Are you aware of if its near a mine? Are you near a petroleum field,  she said.

Kasper and UNM colleague Dr. Katherine Zychowski lent their expertise to a recent report from the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.

The report enlisted health care workers from New Mexico, Colorado and Montana.

Communities located next to oil and gas fields, refineries, and other polluting industries are examples of communities that bear a disproportionate burden of health impacts from environmental contamination, the report says.

Pollution exposure can make these communities less resilient in the face of new threats such as COVID-19.

Zychowski, a UNM environmental health scientist, was already aware of regional health disparities from her work studying exposure to abandoned uranium mines.

Previous UNM studies have linked uranium exposure to higher likelihoods of immune deficiencies, hypertension and cardiovascular issues. All of these conditions can make it harder for a person to fight off infections.

That (research) was prior to COVID-19, but those things dont just disappear overnight, Zychowski said.

The UNM researchers caution that it is still too soon to conclude that environmental pollution increases the risk of COVID-19 disease severity or death.

But preliminary studies suggest there may be a link.

Particulate matter are fine pollution particles that can get deep into the lungs.

Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that American counties with higher levels of particulate matter exposure had higher COVID-19 mortality rates.

When COVID-19 first appeared in New Mexico, health care workers noticed that people with the most severe illness were often smokers or people with asthma.

Logically, if all those respiratory things are being exacerbated, then perhaps something (like COVID) that hits the lungs hard would be made more severe with particulate exposures, Kasper said.

Measuring pollutants from wildfire smoke, oil refineries and mines could help determine the risks of respiratory disease in New Mexicos rural communities.

Zychowski is also part of a $1.7 million National Institutes of Health study to research COVID-19 in western New Mexico coal miners, who constantly inhale fine dust while working.

Most people dont necessarily associate rural USA with air pollution, she said. But we do have unique sources of air pollution in the Southwest.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
MFA reminds BBC that Simferopol, Sevastopol have never been Russian cities

Simferopol and Sevastopol have never been Russian cities, and Crimea is not annexed, but occupied, said Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, in response to a publication by the BBC Russian Service.

"BBC Russian, don't promote Russian false narratives. Sevastopol and Simferopol have never been Russian cities. Crimea is not annexed but occupied. International law matters. #CrimeaIsUkraine #Navalny," Nikolenko wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

In a publication on Twitter about the cities in which protests were held in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the BBC Russian Service indicated Sevastopol and Simferopol as "cities in Russia."
UK, Africa COVID-19 variants may be more deadly, officials warn

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Even as 195 cases of a variant of the coronavirus, which first emerged in Britain and is more lethal and contagious, have been found in 22 U.S. states, a separate variant from South Africa, though not identified in the United States yet, is causing more concerns among health officials, according to reports.

As of early Sunday, at least 72 cases of the U.K. variant had been detected in California; 50 in Florida; 22 in New York; six each in Colorado and Georgia; five in Minnesota; four each in Connecticut, Indiana and Maryland; three each in Michigan and Texas; two each in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Tennessee; and one each in Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming, a CDC map shows.

The actual number is likely to be higher, as the Washington Department of Health also announced Saturday that the U.K. variant, known as B.1.1.7, had been confirmed by DNA sequencing in two cases in Snohomish County, according to The Epoch Times, which added that the Oregon Health Authority has also confirmed two cases.

Some preliminary studies in the U.K. show the new variant may be between 30% to 40% deadlier than previous variants, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

We have been informed today that, in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variantthe variant that was first identified in London and the southeastmay be associated with a higher degree of mortality, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a televised news conference Friday.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said Saturday they are closely watching the U.K. variant. Federal authorities have warned it may become the dominant variant in the United States by as early as March, according to WSJ.

At the moment we are not alarmed about that, Collins said, according to Reuters. We are somewhat more concerned about a South African variant.

A study by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. showed that their vaccine successfully neutralized the U.K. variant. On Monday, Moderna said its vaccine appears to work against the South African strain but may be less effective. It is currently working on a booster shot against the African variant.

"As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants, Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement.

The South African variant has been found in 22 other countries, including Canada, China and Germany.

Data that is more conclusive on how vaccines perform against the new strains is awaited as human trials of COVID-19 vaccines are underway in South Africa and the U.K.

The United States has been hit the hardest by COVID-19, with nearly 25 million cases and 417,441 deaths by early Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Bancel, whose company's vaccine is one of two approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, said recently he believes the virus could be around forever.

We are going to live with this virus, we think, forever, he said during a panel discussion at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The government on Monday conferred the Padma Bhushan award posthumously on former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel .

One of the tallest Dalit leaders from Bihar and the founder of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Paswan passed away on October 8 last year, just ahead of the crucial Bihar assembly polls. He had undergone heart surgery days before his death.

He was the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs in the Narendra Modi-led Union government.

The government also conferred three-time Assam Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Tarun Gogoi with Padma Bhushan posthumously.

Gogoi passed away on November 23 last year after recovering from Covid-19.

Gogoi rose from grassroots politics to steer the restive northeastern state towards order and development after decades of bloody insurgency. He became a Lok Sabha MP for the first time in 1971. He remained the Lok Sabha member till 2001. He is also the state's longest-serving chief minister between 2001 and 2016.

The government also conferred the Padma Bhushan award to former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel posthumously. Patel became the first BJP Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995. He passed away on October 29 last year after recovering from Covid at the age of 93.

Patel was a worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and was popularly called Keshubapa in the state.

Besides these three tall leaders, the government also conferred the Padma Bhushan on former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and former bureaucrat Nripendra Mishra, who served as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi between 2014 and 2019.

The government also conferred the Padma Bhushan on former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Tarlochan Singh.

The government also conferred the Padma Shri award on former Union Minister and former BJP MP from Assam's Guwahati Bijoya Chakravarty.

The list of the Padma Shri winners included Colonel Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir, who defected from the Pakistani Army to join the Bangladeshi Liberation War in 1971.
Would-be brides and grooms have expressed their outrage over an ultra-sheer wedding gown because the model's nipples can be seen through the tulle bodice.

But the proud Australian designer is defending the stunning top and says people should 'get over' their fear of women's nipples.

Bowie Rae is a designer wedding dress brand located in Thirroul near Wollongong, their lead designer Mannie Waugh, is standing by her decision to market the sheer 'Melody' bodice without lining.

She told Daily Mail Australia she believes women's bodies are beautiful - and she won't let people getting offended by nipples stand in the way of her artistic expression.

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Would-be brides and grooms have expressed their outrage over an ultra-sheer wedding gown because the model's nipples can be seen through the tulle bodice

'We're not scared of a little nipple and we hope that soon enough the world won't be either,' Mrs Waugh said.

The bodice, which is paired with a long white skirt in the promotional videos and photographs, is sheer enough to see the model's nipples - a detail which has left would-be brides and grooms uncomfortable.

The most pressing concern appeared to be over what relatives may think.

'It is all fun and games until your great grandparents can see your nipples,' one man said.

'My grandparents would have a heart attack,' said another woman.

Another woman slammed the gown as 'tacky' over the amount of flesh it exposed.

Speaking with Daily Mail Australia the 36-year-old dress designer revealed she started off her own bridal label after walking down the aisle in a dress she 'hated', and realised she had dressed for other people on her big day.

She laughed at comments about the sheerness of the gown, especially ones pointing out what others would think of a bride with her nipples showing.

But the designer, Mannie Waugh, has stepped up to defend the two-piece gown, and her choice to have the model's nipples on display

She explained women are still expected to 'morph into brides' for their wedding day. To turn into a princess, a picture of virginal modesty.

'Women should feel free to dress how they want on their wedding day, not how they think they are expected to look,' she said.

She added that she doesn't expect brides to buy the sheer top without lining, but wants them to be able to choose the style based on what they want.

Poll DO YOU THINK THE BRIDAL GOWN IS INDECENT? YES NO I WOULD ADD LINING DO YOU THINK THE BRIDAL GOWN IS INDECENT? YES 144 votes

NO 133 votes

I WOULD ADD LINING 54 votes Now share your opinion





'We don't want to tell a bride what she must look like, we want her to tell us what she wants.'

'We can add lace, a lining, layers of tulle or nipple covers to provide more coverage, but I am not going to cover my model because it offends you to see nipples,' she said.

'Some women won't care about nipple coverage  others love the look but want to make sure there is absolutely no chance of a nipple slip.'

The outraged comments came after the promotional video for the top was shared by bridal gown directory 'The Dress Tribe'.

People said they were embarrassed by the amount of nipple shown off in the video - and even said their loved ones would 'have a heart attack' if they wore it on their big day.

'Man that's pretty, but why are her nipples showing?' one woman asked.

'A bra is definitely needed,' said another adding two embarrassed emojis to the conversation.

Mrs Waugh said the bodice can be modified, a fact clearly expressed in the offending video's caption, and said people 'don't bother to read' before criticising

'Can't wait for good old Uncle Randy to be staring at my nipples while at my wedding,' said another.

'Love the dress but showing her breasts is just tacky,' scoffed another.

Mrs Waugh wants people to stop being afraid of seeing women's nipples - and hates that they are seen as being overtly sexual.

'People need to learn to relax when they see a nipple,' she said.

'The female body is beautiful - and we should also be free to show artistic expression,' she said.

She doesn't want women to cringe, like she does, when they look back at the wedding dress they chose for their big day.

'It should capture who you are in that moment - you want photos to show off who you were when you were married,' she said.

She said she is proud to be among designers in Australia who are dismantling the capitalist, traditional notion of what a bride should be.

Mrs Waugh, pictured, is the owner and lead designer of the bridal-wear brand - and won't apologise for showing nipples in her imagery

Mrs Waugh was previously made aware of the huge ant-nipple movement when she posted a 'beautifully-shot, artistic image' of one of her veils online.

The model was topless and one of her nipples was showing.

'Within five minuted the photo was taken off Facebook,' she said.

Mrs Waugh was told to distance herself from the controversy of the sheer-topped wedding outfit - but she refused.

She said she is proud of the image and believes the conversation is important and should not be avoided.

Many people commented on the video expressing their love for the outfit without slamming the exposed nipples.
[January 25, 2021] Five Investment Industry Predictions for 2021 from Broadridge's Fund Communication Solutions Team

LONDON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fund Communication Solutions leadership team of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global Fintech leader, reveals its investment industry predictions for 2021. "We'll see a drive to consolidate service providers," says Arun Sarwal , head of Broadridge Fund Communication Solutions. "How many different service providers does your company depend on? The answer is increasingly likely to be a lot. From regulatory reporting, to back office funds administration, to some IT functions, the list goes on for asset management firms. It becomes even more complicated when your business operates across several jurisdictions. But outsourcing to so many different providers becomes costly and complicated. The management of proliferating relationships and related SLAs is creating a significant overhead in itself. So, amid growing cost pressures on asset managers, expect to see a major drive from them to reduce service providers in the next 12 months. The result? Niche outsourced service providers will be challenged, as companies seek to work with service providers that can provide multiple solutions harnessing the efficiencies that this affords." "Watch for continued asset management consolidation," says Gerard Gilsenan , head of sales, Broadridge Fund Communication Solutions. "We expect to see further asset management consolidation in 2021, as cost pressures on investment houses continue to rise, against a backdrop which sees plenty of liquidity looking for a home. It's tough out there, with investors putting pressure on fees and operating expenses continuing to rise, in no small part due to ever increasing regulatory requirements. Asset managers have already turned to mergers and acquisition in recent years in a bid to achieve greater scale. Notable were Invesco's acquisition of Oppenheimer Funds in 2019 and Franklin Templeton's agreement to acquire Legg Mason this year, creating a $1.5 trillion AUM firm. We see further potential consolidation and tie-ups. Be on the lookout for big deal making in 2021." "Don't expect a divergence of regulatory reporting," says Paul Poletti-Gadd , chief solutions officer, Broadridge Fund Communication Solutions. "How much will UK regulations diverge from the EU after Brexit? That's the million-dollar question, but regarding regulatory reporting in particular, we think the answer is not much. Divergence in reporting requirements simply doesn't make any sense. Scale and efficiency rule supreme and there is no great value in creating separate reporting regimes beyond what already exists. So, while there is likely to be a lot of noise around regulatory divergence, we predict few changes to the European fund regulations for which we support our asset manager clients. This is an area we will be keeping a close eye on." "Expect more change in platform ownership," says Sarwal. "Custodians and banks are increasingly taking an interest in fund platforms. We've already seen, for example Clearstream acquire a majority stake in UBS's fund distribution platform Fondcenter AG, a deal which completed in September. And after the completion of a strategic partnership in 2020, French bank BNP Paribas now holds a 22.5% stake in wealth management platform Allfunds. Platforms are looking increasingly attractive to banks, providing ready-made technology, and greater scale and breadth of their fund offering to clients. More deals are likely  watch this space." "ESG reporting will and must be standardised," says Poletti-Gadd. "The rise of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing shows no signs of slowing down and is sure to have another huge year in 2021. For example, PwC forecasts as much as 57% of mutual fund assets in Europe will be held in funds that consider ESG criteria by 2025. ESG is one of the most complicated concepts in the investment world and as BlackRock has recently pointed out, ESG funds are governed by an "alphabet soup" of standards, with various reporting frameworks and competing initiatives. So, there can be little doubt that globally recognised standards are needed. As well as helping investment houses, this would provide a better outcome for end investors. Such is the enormity of the ESG market and pressure for change that we hope to see significant progress towards better standards next year, and the adoption of standardised reporting is certainly something we will be monitoring closely."



About Broadridge

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR), a $4.5 billion global Fintech leader, is a leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions to banks, broker-dealers, asset and wealth managers and corporate issuers. Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 50 percent of public companies and mutual funds globally, and processes on average more than U.S. $10 trillion in fixed income and equity securities trades per day. Broadridge is part of the S&P 500 Index and employs over 12,000 associates in 17 countries. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.

Media contact:

Hannah Polson

Cognito

+44 (0)7974 244217

BroadridgeEMEA@cognitomedia.com

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India is all set to celebrate its 72nd Republic Day to honour the enactment of the Constitution of India which came into effect on January 26, 1950. Traditionally, the highlight of Republic Day is the iconic parade that showcases Indias military prowess and cultural heritage. But this year, the commemoration will be slightly different on account of the pandemic and events in the past year.

Here is how Republic Day 2021 will be different:

What changes have been made for the parade due to Covid?

For the first time since 1966, there will be no chief guest in the Republic Day parade. Originally, British PM Boris Jonhson was invited to come to India for the parade. However, he had to cancel his visit due to the outbreak of a new Covid strain in the UK. Before this, India didnt have a chief guest for the parade in 1952, 1953 and 1966.

The spectators will be limited to 25,000 compared to 150,000 last year (4,500 tickets are for the general public). Similarly, the number of media persons at the ceremonial event will be cut from 300 to 200. The size of marching contingents has been reduced from 144 to 96. Children under the age of 15 will not be allowed to attend.

The parade will be shorter this year, instead of ending at the Red Fort, it will culminate at National Stadium. However, people will still be able to view the tableaux performance at Red Fort.

Unfortunately for audiences, there will be no motorcycle stunts this time. Due to COVID-19 safety norms, gravity-defying stunts by motorcycle-borne men, a major attraction for the crowd at Republic Day celebrations on the Rajpath, will be missing this year.

Lastly, the parade of gallantry awardees and children who have earned bravery awards will also not be there at the 72nd Republic Day event, owing to social distancing, officials said.

What will be new at the Republic day parade 2021?

Rafale fighter jets, instated into the Indian Air Force (IAF) last year, will take part in the parade for the first time and end the flypast with the 'Vertical Charlie' formation. The parade will also be featuring one of Indias first women fighter pilots - Bhawna Kanth and a contingent of the Bangladesh Armed Forces.

For the first time, the Central Reserve Police Force, will have its own tableau in the parade with the theme - combat skills of CRPF in conflict zones as stated by Inspector General, Training, CRPF RK Yadav, the reserve force in a Livemint report. The main attraction of the CRPF tableau will be the fascinating panoramic four-eyed night vision goggles (NVGs), a warfare gadget which is known as the 'king of night vision'.

The Union Territory of Ladakh will make its tableau debut in the parade with the Indian Astronomical Observatory, one of the worlds highest sites for optical, infrared, and gamma-ray telescopes.

The upgraded Schilika weapon system will make a premier at the Republic Day parade in Rajnath, led by Preeti Chowdary, the only woman contingent commander from the Army, according to ANI. It can track and shoot enemy targets up to 2 kilometers on the ground and about 2.5 kilometers in the air," Captain Preeti Chowdhary told the news agency.

The Ministry of Information and Biotechnology will depict the 'Vocal for Local' initiative of the government. "There will be nine tableaus from ministries, including Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Ministry of Ayush, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; and six from the defence arm, including of IAF, Navy, Indian Naval Coast Guard, two from the DRDO and one from BRO (Border Roads Organisation)," the official said.

The tableau of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) will showcase the efforts made by scientists to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine indigenously. The tableau would depict various stages of pre-trial and trial phases of vaccine, a scientist from the DBT said during a media preview held at a camp at Delhi Cantonment.
In August, the European Commission announced that it had secured 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab, with an option for a further 100 million - Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Why would the European Union threaten to block coronavirus vaccine exports?

EU countries have long been waiting for the AstraZeneca vaccine  and now, at the last, it has been snatched from their grasp.

In August, the European Commission announced that it had secured 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab, with an option for a further 100 million. With enough doses for 200 million people, the supply could have vaccinated roughly half of all EU citizens.

It brought the European Commission's highly ambitious target of vaccinating 70 percent of all EU citizens by the summer, and even a revival of the tourism trade, into the realms of possibility.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to grant market authorisation at the end of the week, meaning doses could be shipped out to the member states. But on Friday, AstraZeneca wrote to the EU executive saying it had supply chain problems and would not be able to fulfil its contractual obligations.

The news was a bitter blow to the commission, which has led negotiations in the EU joint vaccine procurement process, but especially for the bloc's member states. National governments are now faced with the unenviable task of explaining to their voters why the promised vaccines are not coming.

Many EU countries bet on the AstraZeneca jab, foregoing its more expensive and difficult to store rivals.That made it an attractive proposition for poorer member states, and easier to get to more remote areas than those requiring complicated storage technology. They were waiting for the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite growing pressure from their voters.

Dissatisfaction with coronavirus restrictions is growing in Europe, with the Dutch rioting against a coronavirus curfew at the weekend.

Everyone in Europe is also aware that the vaccination rollout is lagging behind Britain's. That is painful, after Brexit  but there was consolation in the thought that the race would soon be being run on more equal terms.

Story continues

With some reports suggesting the AstraZeneca supplies could be 50 million lower than expected, that hope has been firmly dashed.

The fact that AstraZeneca had reported no such supply chain difficulties in supplying Britain also raised hackles. The 27 EU member states were furious  and looking for someone to blame.

The European Commission, which has loudly championed its role as the EU's vaccine negotiator, was determined it would not be the scapegoat. So Brussels served up a sacrificial lamb to the member states in the form of AstraZeneca bosses.

After the CEO was told off by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the company endured a meeting with the EU health commissioner and the officials from the EU 27.

The discussions were robust but, as the health commissioner said afterwards, "unsatisfactory", and the pharmaceutical giant was summoned for another meeting with the national experts on Monday night. It was a triple humiliation for the company, which was publicly chastened and told to find all the necessary "flexibilities" to fulfil its contract.

The AstraZeneca CEO was told off by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission - Francois Walschaerts/AFP

The EU said it had invested in the future supplies of the vaccine and wanted a return on that investment.

The commission has used the coronavirus crisis to assertively stake out an EU-wide co-ordination role in the response to the pandemic. In truth, Brussels does not have the centralised powers necessary in health or the control of borders to contain the pandemic. It can recommend member states take a certain course of action, but the decision remains national.

That has not stopped some national governments from "Brussels-bashing" to avoid blame for their own failures in the slow vaccination rollout. Nor has it stopped the constant flood of commission social media messages, lionising its role at the heart of a European response to the crisis.

The chat in Brussels is that there are two explanations for AstraZeneca's failure to deliver. Either there are genuine production difficulties, which is feasible given that this is a complex vaccine, or something more sinister.

Although much of the UK stock is now made in Britain, the UK did rely on AstraZeneca's EU plants for supplies last year. There are those in Brussels who think that AstraZeneca vaccines, paid for in advance and originally meant to build up the EU vaccine stock, have ended up in non-EU Britain.

Diplomatic sources admit they have no idea if this is true but, until AstraZeneca comes forward with a satisfactory explanation, the story continues to have legs in the Belgian capital.

The commission is calculating a system to keep tabs on EU-produced vaccines, and the possibility of blocking exports may just be enough to draw their attention away from the executive's errors. It is a show of strength aimed at reassuring member states and citizens that this will never happen again, and an attempt to reassert some very publicly lost control.
Fines were issued by Gardai for breaching of Covid-19 travel restrictions to a group of seven men who had rented a property and then travelled to the area to 'have drinks'.

Gardai witnessed the seven men arrive into Kinsale in Cork in two taxis. The men then entered a shop and purchased what the gardai described as a 'large amount of alcohol'.

When quizzed by gardai, the group informed them they had travelled from Cork city to Kinsale to rent a property and have drinks.

Each of the seven men were fined and travelled back to Cork city.

The Gardai are advising people to only travel for essential reasons and to remain at home to minimise the amount of people moving around during this Level 5 Lockdown.
Mr Morrison has backed the existing date and said on Monday he was not surprised by a national survey published in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald showing only 28 per cent of 1222 people were in favour of changing the date. But Mr Albanese said the date was a painful day for First Nations people given the frontier wars after 1788, and he aired a proposal to hold a referendum to recognise First Australians in the constitution and to mark Australia Day on the date of that vote. Mr Albanese also acknowledged a call by Indigenous leader Noel Pearson to hold two days of commemoration, with January 25 marking the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Im very open to these ideas but I think they should be generous and I think they should be warm-hearted in the same spirit as the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Mr Albanese said, referring to the call for constitutional recognition.

The Greens said January 26 should be recognised as a day of mourning for the countrys first people. Labor Senator Sue Lines said last week that Australia Day celebrates white supremacy and the legacy of colonisation. Mr Turnbull said he accepted the concerns with January 26 and believed the national day should be moved to the day when the country votes at a referendum in favour of a republic. The problem is if you say January 26 is not appropriate, and there are powerful arguments which I respect against the actual day, the next question is what is the alternative? he said. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says Australia Day should change to a future date when the nation votes to become a republic. Credit:James Brickwood

The next good date would be the date we become a republic. Hopefully, that wont be too long delayed. That would be a good alternative. Asked if this would take too long, given the low public support for cutting ties with the monarchy, Mr Turnbull said: Id rather see this as being an additional incentive to become a republic. The former prime minister, who led the Australian Republican Movement when voters rejected a republic at a referendum in 1999, acknowledged the reform lacked majority support at the moment but said it could be achieved after the rein of Queen Elizabeth. When the Queen either dies or abdicates that will be a massive watershed, he said.

Loading You will see the monarchy seen in a very different perspective. The glamour of the younger Royals, as celebrities, is real, but its also controversial, as weve seen with Harry and Megan. I mean, the Americans love the Royals, but theyre not proposing to import the British royal family as their head of state. Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt backed January 26 and called for a better understanding of Australian history on the day, including the experience of First Australians. We can engage in productive dialogue, with considered understanding for each others points of view, he said on Monday.

Part of this includes greater recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples history, traditions and culture are an important part of all Australia Day events  from citizenship ceremonies to festivities, which is already occurring across the country. Labor Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, another prominent Indigenous Australian, said a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to the Australian Parliament was imperative to achieving change and was a bigger debate than the national day. So on January 26, or Australia Day, or Survival Day or Invasion Day, or just another day, whatever you call it, remember we are a democracy, and we have our individual views, she said. But to survive takes a collective mindset and determination to work together in overcoming our differences. Senator Malarndirri McCarthy says getting a constitutionally-enshrined Voice to Parliament for Indigenous people is more important than a debate about the national day. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
KYODO NEWS - Jan 25, 2021 - 15:54 | All, Japan

Sales of print books and magazines in Japan fell 1.0 percent from the previous year in 2020, the smallest decline since 2006 thanks to comic book sales of the hit manga series "Demon Slayer," a publications research body said Monday.

Sales of print publications amounted to an estimated 1.22 trillion yen ($11.76 billion) last year, down for the 16th straight year, but the final volume of the blockbuster series released last December cushioned the fall, according to the Research Institute for Publications in Tokyo.

In 2019, sales of print publications declined 4.3 percent from a year earlier.

According to publisher Shueisha Inc., 3.95 million copies were published of the first edition of "Demon Slayer" volume 23, with the cumulative number for all volumes including digital sales topping 120 million copies as of last December.

Meanwhile, sales of e-books have continued to grow, accounting for 24.3 percent of the total publication market in 2020 with its share surpassing 20 percent for the first time since the institute began collecting data.

Sales of e-books and print books and magazines totaled 1.62 trillion yen last year, up 4.8 percent from the previous year.

Demand for reading material increased last year due to people spending more time at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, the institute said.

Related coverage:

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"Demon Slayer" draws fans as public screening kicks off in Thailand
BANGKOK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Thailand Board of Investment's (BOI) New York office announced the government's plans to implement a new 5-year economic strategy that embraces the Bio, Circular and Green (BCG) economy and a comprehensive set of tax incentives supporting growth of Thailand's Electric Vehicle (EV) industry.

Underpinning the Thai Government's commitment to sustainability, the BOI's strategic plan to support the BCG economy, includes four key industries; agriculture and food; healthcare and medical services; energy and biochemicals; and the creative economy and tourism.

For the EV industry, the BOI implemented a new set of incentives covering major aspects of the electric vehicle supply chain, with a focus on battery operated electric vehicles. Four additional categories of EV components have been added to the program, namely high voltage harnesses, reduction gears, battery cooling systems and regenerative braking systems.

The incentive package includes tax cuts for the local production of critical parts.

Thailand's EV incentives programs have had great success, attracting more than 26 investment projects, seven of which have already begun commercial operations. Nissan, Honda, and Toyota have begun producing hybrid electric vehicles, Mercedes Benz and BMW are producing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and FOMM and Takano are producing battery electric vehicles.

"BCG and Sustainability are at the forefront of Thailand's economic policy," said Vorawan Norasucha, Director of the Thailand Board of Investment New York Office, "Our tax incentives will continue to support the growth of clean industries and the uptake of green technology in Electric Vehicles and other sectors."

"Thailand is a big contributor to the global EV industry, and the success of our last incentives program underscored the demand for Thai-based operations from global OEMs and parts manufacturers."

ABOUT THAILAND BOARD OF INVESTMENT NEW YORK OFFICE

The Thailand Board of Investment New York (BOI New York) is one of 16 BOI overseas offices. The BOI New York team works with U.S. and Canadian companies, to facilitate foreign direct investment and to provide support services to companies investing in Thailand. BOI's services are free of charge and customized to help foreign businesses succeed in Thailand.

For more information, please visit www.boi.go.th and www.thinkasiainvestthailand.com

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A backlash abroad over Chinas vaccines

Chinas coronavirus vaccines were supposed to showcase the countrys scientific prowess and generosity. Instead, in some places, they have set off a backlash.

Delays, inconsistent data, spotty disclosures and the countrys attacks on Western rivals have marred an effort by Beijing to portray itself as a leader in global health. Recent studies showing that the one of the vaccines has an efficacy rate of just over 50 percent  much lower than earlier claimed  have caused some concern.

Governments in Malaysia and Singapore are now having to reassure their citizens the vaccines are safe, and Philippine lawmakers are criticizing the governments decision to purchase the vaccine made by Sinovac, a Chinese company. Sinopharm, a state-owned vaccine maker, and Sinovac have said they can produce up to two billion doses this year.

Details: Officials in Brazil and Turkey have complained that Chinese companies have been slow to ship the doses. At least 24 countries signed deals with Chinese vaccine companies after they were pushed out of the market for Moderna and Pfizer jabs by richer countries.
BT will be in the dock today as a long-awaited trial over its 530million accounting scandal begins in Italy.

Prosecutors in Milan claim the telecom group's Italian unit and a network of staff sought to inflate revenues and conceal losses of 250million in a sophisticated fraud.

On trial alongside the company are 20 defendants, including two former executives.

Prosecutors in Milan claim BT's Italian unit and a network of staff sought to inflate revenues and conceal losses of 250m in a sophisticated fraud

All the accused deny charges of false accounting alleged to have been carried out in 2015 and 2016.

But the case presents another headache for BT chief executive Philip Jansen, who arrived years after the alleged incidents took place but now faces having to deal with any fallout from the trial.

A BT spokesman said the alleged fraud was 'historic' and confined to a small number of people in Italy.

He said: 'Whilst we remain confident in our defence, given the ongoing proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.' BT was warned of trouble at its Italian division by a whistleblower in 2016, when former chief executive Gavin Patterson was still in charge.

It disclosed problems to investors in October that year, writing off 145million from BT Italia's value due to 'inappropriate management behaviour'.

But following a forensic review by outside accountants at KPMG, BT was forced to announce an even bigger 530million writedown in January 2017.

It sent shares tumbling and wiped 8billion off the company's value on its worst-ever day on the stock market.

The KPMG review, which has never been published in full, found evidence of a 'serious breakdown of accounting processes and controls' at BT Italia and a 'loss of balance sheet integrity'.

It also raised questions about how thoroughly bosses in London had scrutinised the figures before the fraud was uncovered.

BT has always argued it was an 'injured party' in the scandal. But in 2019 a report by Italian police alleged that London-based executives repeatedly put pressure on managers at the foreign subsidiary to hit targets and encouraged 'aggressive, anomalous and knowingly wrong accounting practices'.

They alleged that a network of BT Italia staff inflated revenues, faked contract renewals and invoices and invented bogus supplier transactions in order to disguise the unit's true financial performance.

Of 23 originally accused, a former manager of BT Italy has already been jailed for a year in a fast-track trial, while the ex-chief executive, Gianluca Cimini, died last year.

Among the defendants are Richard Cameron, former chief financial officer of BT Global Services.

A lawyer for Cameron, who was based in London but left BT in 2017, has insisted he 'is in no doubt that he acted properly' and is confident he would be cleared.
A global agreement should be reached by EU medicines regulators to recognise Covid 19 vaccines in an effort to speed up approval and distribution, according to a Member of the European Parliament who represents Laois.

Cllr Billy Kelleher believes is proposing the European Medicines Agency enters into a mutual recognition deal with counterparts elsewhere to ensure a new one-shot vaccine is not delayed.

This is crucial in terms of the expected approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States - a one shot, moderate temperature, vaccine - in roughly two weeks.

I would be highly sceptical of this vaccine being approved for use in the EU by the EMA until early March at best based on how previous applications were dealt with.

I firmly believe that, due to the severity of this pandemic, the EMA in the EU, the HPRA in the UK, the FDA in the USA, and their counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, should agree to mutually recognise their authorisations, said the Renew Europe member of the ENVI committee.

If one agency is able to approve a vaccine while adhering to standards, I do not see why other agencies should have to start from scratch. We should be able to fast track approval based on the work carried out by other regulators that adhere to globally recognised standards," he said.

The Fianna Fail TD for Ireland South said time is not on the side of people who need protection.

Were already running into trouble with the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine, and it hasnt been approved yet. We cannot afford to wait any longer, than is necessary, to have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved and in use.

Additionally, we need to get to the bottom of contractual problems with companies the EU has entered into approval purchase agreements with; we must have full transparency. Citizens and MEPs are demanding it. All contracts should be made available immediately, concluded Kelleher.

Both Pfizer and Astra Zeneca have hit supply problems that have had the worst impact on Ireland and other EU countries.

The EU has other vaccines ordered but just one is being considered at present - the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine which was set to play a key part in Ireland's mass vaccination programme.

Ian Njiraini doubles up as a motivational speaker and a pilot. He spoke to the Nairobian about his trade.

Why is it hard for people to motivate themselves?

When life beats you and you are faced with difficult situations, the emotions brought about are heavy, they dispirit and depress you. The best way to overcome it is by speaking to someone who is wiser, mature, or just listen to preaching or motivational speeches. You realise new ways to overcome problems and view them from different angles. You get inspired. You may know what to do, but to get the strength to walk out, they need someone to push, to tell them they can do it.

Motivational speaking is recent in Kenya, why is it gaining popularity?

There have been rising cases of depression, suicide, hopelessness because of pressure and expectations from society. Motivational speakers have found a way to connect with the people who feel lost because of too many options and too many things happening at the same time. They found new ways of addressing contemporary issues. People need that talk, a new approach to do things and thats why motivation from speakers is important.

Who inspires, motivational speakers?

Other speakers, reading books, listening to preachers. I get motivated by listening to other peoples failures and success storieshow they made it is very important. Other speakers help you discover ways of tackling things.

What experience did you have that made you a motivational speaker?

Motivational speaking is a gift. Its the power to address people and they listen or respond. I knew of my gift when I was very young, but I realised the fire in me after so many failures. I wanted to be a pilot, I was told my dream was not valid. I was told my dream was for a certain class and I didnt have money to train to be a pilot. When I achieved it, I knew there are so many misconceptions in society by which youths are being misguided. This misunderstanding needs to be corrected.

Some motivational speakers are too young to have experience of their topics. Your thoughts?

Motivation is a gift and you can start when you are young. But it is important to address issues you went through or saw being a scourge in society. However, there are more difficult topics to discuss if you have no experience like relationships, marriage, and retirement. If you are not married you cannot talk about marriage. You dont have the experience. A divorcee cannot advise someone about marriage because they gave up on their own. Your wisdom only comes from the things you see or go through. It is not about being young, but experienced.

Why is it that most motivational speakers only talk about success and greatness?

I think we get it wrong here. We were meant to succeed and not to fail. Thats the point and purpose of life. Motivational speakers only guide on how to get there. We promote greatness and success, but also the difficult and painful process. We encourage resilience, perseverance, patience, determination and focus.

How thin is the line between motivational speaking and prosperity gospel?

Prosperity gospel says that you will prosper if you follow God. Motivation is encouraging and inspiring one to follow their dream. People take advantage of certain teachings of the prosperity gospel: tithes and offerings to be precise. Preachers need to explain the process. Both motivational speaking and prosperity gospel can use false speeches. Even Adam was told to work. You have to work to succeed.

Women are quickly swayed by motivational speakers than men. Why?

I dont believe so. Some speakers use the gullibility of some people to their advantage. Some speak to single women about how to get good husbands, a lot of them will come because this is a sensitive topic. Women, being more submissive by nature will listen. Women tend to open up more than men, but I get feedback from both.

Which classes of people are impossible to motivate?

People who have failed over and over again dont believe in success. They are cynical and negative. It is very difficult to explain to them that there are different reasons for failing. They believe in failure.

From your experience, what would you say is the right path to success?

People expect cliche answers but I am not giving that. The first thing is to know why you were born, not many people realise this. There is a misconception on the manual of life as struggling to death. Do not have small targets and vision. Secondly, nurture great thoughts for you will never go higher than your thoughts.

Kenyans are very religious, but also very corrupt. How can you motivate them differently?

Religion is man-made. A lot of people go to church to worship the pastor or follow prophets. The religious put trust in preachers, forgetting it is God who heals through them. If youre religious but take shortcuts, you get cut short from your great purpose and potential. These shortcuts encourage corrupt deals. People love money instead of business, and just why theyre corrupt.

Young Kenyans yearn overnight success, which is not possible. But motivational speakers make it appear like it is

There is nothing like overnight success. Young Kenyans, unfortunately, equate success to just money, there is more to it. Young people go for convenience instead of focusing on the real source of wealth. Then there is the question of ambition over ability. Youths just laze around with their ambition. True success comes from hard work and dedication. Success brings money, but money is not success. If you succeed prematurely, it will destroy or kill you. Preparation is very important, how to handle bigger fortunes during your struggle. Young people should understand that if you take things slowly, life becomes easy, if you dont life becomes hard.

The secret of success is known. But motivational speakers have been exploiting it for years what dont people know about success?

Successful people face more problems than unsuccessful people. The problems of successful people keep evolving. People who are unsuccessful have the same problem: they keep failing. The difference is the ability of successful people to deal with problems, which become opportunities for growth and not obstacles.

Their ability to solve problems becomes better. The higher people go, the more the duties, the money, and titles which come with a lot of issues. The difference between successful people and losers is attitude. Failure sees a problem as an obstacle.

What is it that motivational speakers gain by motivating people?

The greatest gain is changed life. Personally, I do not earn from motivational speaking, because I am gifted and I am accountable for this gift. Changing peoples lives is my main goal, getting positive feedback from society is fulfilling.

Motivational speakers Google up solutions thats not very inspiring

Motivational speakers need to research and some issues you need to hear other peoples experiences, read books, listen to other motivational speakers. Despite researching on Google, we do not read up solutions from it to people, what we tell people is our understanding, our experience, and wisdom.

Motivation is from deep within, if you cant feel a motivational speech, then it means that a speech is being read to you.

Any unforgettable person you cant forget motivating?

I get a lot of feedback, people tell me I have changed their livesI do not have a particular person, I cant just choose one.
Page Content

On Saturday January 23rd, The Miss Lalie Youth Care and Rehabilitation Center held a New Year Family Dinner. The ceremony started off with a warm welcome to all guests by Lucienne Papa, head of the pedagogical department and hostess of the event, whereafter the national anthem was beautifully sung by Mr. Davidson. Pastor Vernon Illidge was invited to the stage to provide a thanksgiving speech, followed by the Honorable Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson who officially opened the ceremony with words of guidance and encouragement. The Minister commended the MLC staff for all their hard work and commitment to the organization thus far and is gratified knowing that the staff members have been able to create a healthy and safe space for the young residents to be able to work towards becoming the best versions of themselves.





One of the greater challenges experienced by the young residents during their stay is not being able to attend family events or merely enjoy the company of their family and friends. The main purpose of the New Year Family Dinner was thus to give the juveniles a moment to connect with their family and interact in a more normalized manner. The aim of the event was also to celebrate the positive behavioral growth and progress the young residents have made during their rehabilitation and reintegration trajectory over the previous months. During the juvenile award speech, each individual resident was highlighted and presented with a gift. A special award was given to one of the young residents for his outstanding performance and progress made in the rehabilitation program.





One of the main projects that was highlighted during the event was the transformation of the living-room and recreational area in the facility by mainly the young residents. They assisted in painting the walls in shades of light blue using tape painting techniques. The goal of this project was to lighten up the room and further transform it into a space that is more reflective of the needs and interests of its residents. The young residents were very eager to further assist with organizing the event and their contribution consisted of cleaning the courtyard where the event was held, cooking the 3-course dinner, assembling the tents and setting up the tables.





The event was hailed as a great success and both the young residents, and the family members were ecstatic about bringing the Christmas and New Year tradition to the grounds of the MLC facility. Tears of joy and smiles reaching from ear to ear were seen on the young residents and the family members faces during the entire event. The staff members were thanked for all their dedication, love, respect, guidance, and other therapeutic services they have provided for the juveniles during their stay. While rules and regulations form the foundation from which the institution is structured, the manner in which the staff of the prison executes these principles in practice greatly shapes the environment of the institution. Consequently, a positive prison environment results from a combination of a solid structure and an empowered and motivated prison staff.





The Miss Lalie Youth Care and Rehabilitation Center has come a long way since its official inception in 2014. It has been MLCs goal to correct, educate, guide, and offer perspective to the young offenders. The MLC staff has quite some new projects and activities in store, and they look forward to advancing the organization as they move through 2021. The MLC staff would like to thank Ace Mega Store, Sherwin Williams, The United Brothers, Caribbean Liquors, Office World and Cost U Less for their generous contribution and commitment into making this event successful.




Chennai:

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday launched a series of initiatives taken up under Southern Railway.



Prabhu launched, among others, the seven km Ennore-Tiruvottiyur fourth line, a 10 KW solar plant at Moore Market complex here and a food plaza at Tiruchirappalli, through video conferencing.

Various passenger amenities and LED lighting facilities at different railway stations under division were also inaugurated by the Minister.

Speaking at the event, he proposed a coastal railway route connecting and Kanniyakumari and sought the state government's cooperation in its implementation.



Earlier, he addressed a seminar on GST, organised by the Southern Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of

Also Read: Railways rolls-out new Humsafar Trains with better security features



He said efforts were on to ensure that operationalisation of the regime is smooth and assured it would benefit people.



"is a landmark legislation in which everything will change for the better," he said about the new tax regime, due for roll out from July 1, 2017.



The will benefit every Indian citizen in the long run, he added.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
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ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
PHOENIX (AP)  A Las Vegas-based tour bus heading to the Grand Canyon rolled over in northwestern Arizona on Friday, killing one person and critically injuring two others, authorities said.

The cause of the wreck around noon Friday was not yet known, said Anita Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriffs Office. It wasnt clear if any other vehicle was involved. A photo from the sheriffs office showed the bus on its side on a curving road, with no snow or rain in the remote area.

There were 48 people on the bus, including the driver, authorities said. After the crash, 45 people were sent to Kingman Regional Medical Center, including two flown by medical helicopter, spokeswoman Teri Williams said. All the others were treated for minor injuries, she said.

Mortensen said two people were critically injured.

The bus was heading to Grand Canyon West, about 2 1/2 hours from Las Vegas and outside the boundaries of the national park. The tourist destination sits on the Hualapai reservation and is best known for the Skywalk, a glass bridge that juts out 70 feet (21 meters) from the canyon walls and gives visitors a view of the Colorado River 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) below.

Before the pandemic, about 1 million people a year visited Grand Canyon West, mostly through tours booked out of Las Vegas. The Hualapai reservation includes 108 miles (174 kilometers) of the Grand Canyons western rim. In addition to the Skywalk, it has helicopter tours, horseback rides and a one-day whitewater rafting trip on the Colorado River.

The area near the crash is a popular endpoint for Colorado River rafting trips through the Grand Canyon.

Its also near where four Chinese nationals died in 2016 when their van collided with a Dallas Cowboys staff bus headed to a preseason promotional stop in Las Vegas.

In 2009, a tour bus carrying Chinese nationals overturned on U.S. 93 near the Hoover Dam, killing several people and injuring others. The group was returning from a trip to Grand Canyon.

John MacDonald, a spokesman for the Hualapai tribe, did not immediately have any further information about Fridays wreck. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said he didnt immediately have more details about the crash or about NTSB involvement.

A spokeswoman for Grand Canyon West did not immediately return messages seeking more information.

Fonseca reported from Flagstaff. Associated Press reporters Ken Ritter and Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas, Terry Tang in Phoenix and AP/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative corps member Sam Metz in Carson City, Nevada contributed.

About the photo: This photo provided by the Mohave County Sheriffs Office shows a Las Vegas-based tour that rolled over in northwestern Arizona on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. One person died, and two were critically injured. The cause of the rollover is under investigation. (Mohave County Sheriffs Office via AP)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Hey Blake,

A recent story about the lighting of the Hancock Whitney Center (formerly One Shell Square) mentioned it was the tallest building in the city of New Orleans. What is the tallest building in Jefferson Parish?

Dear reader,

None of the skyscrapers in Jefferson Parish comes close to the Hancock Whitney Center, which opened as One Shell Square in 1972. The 51-story, 697-foot tall building is the tallest building in the state. The skyscraper at Poydras Street and St. Charles Avenue was originally the local headquarters for Shell Oil Company, hence the name. In 2018, it became Hancock Whitney Center when the bank became its largest tenant.

The tallest building in Jefferson Parish is Metairies 34-story Three Lakeway Center office building at North Causeway Boulevard and Lake Pontchartrain. Built at a cost of $100 million, it opened in 1988. Two other Lakeway buildings  the 14-story One Lakeway Center and 19-story Two Lakeway Center  were opened in 1980 and 1983.

The 21-story Galleria, visible along Interstate 10 near Causeway Blvd., is the parishs second-tallest building. Built for $500 million, it opened in 1986.

Also rising high above the Metairie skyline is the 20-story Heritage Plaza office building. It opened in 1983 near the 17th Street Canal and Jefferson-Orleans Parish line, built on the site of the former Pelican Lanes bowling alley.

The tallest building on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish is the 13-story Holiday Inn New Orleans West Bank Tower in Gretna. It opened in 1973 as the Sheraton Gretna Motor Inn.

Blakeview: Wishing Aaron Neville a happy 80th birthday This week we wish a happy 80th birthday to one of the most popular and recognizable voices ever to call New Orleans home: Aaron Neville.

Ryan Giggs says Bruno Fernandes needs to win a trophy to join the likes of Eric Cantona on the list of Manchester United legends.

The Portuguese star struck a glorious free-kick winner in United's 3-2 FA Cup fourth round victory over rivals Liverpool to once again remind everyone of his influence on the side.

The midfielder, 26, has scored 28 goals since arriving at Old Trafford last January with United transforming from a struggling side into Premier League leaders.

Bruno Fernandes needs to win a trophy with Manchester United to be considered a great

Ryan Giggs says the Poruguese star needs silverware to reach levels of Eric Cantona (centre)

His talismanic role in the side has been compared club legend Cantona, who led United to six major honours after arriving at the club in 1992.

After Fernandes took a step closer to winning his coveted first trophy with the club, fellow legend Giggs claimed United's current main man needs to add that silverware in order for him to be considered on the levels of the iconic Frenchman.

'Eric, when we won the FA Cup in 95-96, he was the difference. In the big games he would every often be the difference', Giggs told Stadium Astro.

'Fernandes undoubtedly has had a massive impact on United. There have been comparisons with Eric and the impact he has had  not just his quality but the fact everyone around him seems to be playing better.

The talismanic midfielder scored another winner from free-kick in 3-2 FA Cup win vs Liverpool

His influence has been compared great Cantona, who scored FA Cup final winner in 1995-96

'You can just see he is a winner. When things aren't going right he is telling other players, he's having a go at the referee, he is constantly moaning and he wants to win.

'He has been a revelation since he came to United. Like all top players, he has to do it in the big games and then win trophies.'

Since Fernandes joined United from Sporting Lisbon in the winter window of 2020, no team has earned more points in the league than their 72 points.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side's form in the league and cup have began to make fans dream they could once again challenge for silverware, as they continue to wait for their first title since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013.

United's flying form in the league and cup has led fans to believe they can win silverware again

Giggs believes trophies are needed before Fernandes can be talked about with Cantona

Fans became accustomed to talismans such as Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney leading the great United teams of the past, and Fernandes' ability to consistently contribute has been a throwback to those times.

'Of course there are similarities (with Cantona)  penalty takers, scoring and assisting goals, same position', Giggs added, 'The results have changed since he came into the club and generally lifted the club. But, Eric won three or four leagues and the FA Cup  that's the benchmark.

'It's not easy because there is a lot of quality and not a lot of trophies to win. Once he has done that, then you can talk about him and the likes of Cantona.'
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The chairman of Supreme Council of Health Lt-Gen Dr Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa has issued a decision on amending the regulation of the health professions practice examination system in the National Authority for Regulating Health Professions and Services.

According to the decision, in addition to the conditions and standards necessary for licensing, passing the examination required by the Authority is added to 38 health professions for obtaining a license.

The list of professions stipulated in the decision, which was added to the list, includes blood drawing technician, nuclear medicine technician, cardiovascular technician (electrocardiogram), audiologist, audiologist, physiotherapist, prosthetic and orthotic technician, respiratory technician, respiratory specialist, occupational therapy technician, occupational therapist, optometrist, nutrition technician, counselling psychology, clinical psychology specialist, sterilization technician assistant, sterilization technician, advanced paramedic, dialysis technician and paramedic nurse.

The regulation of the health professions practice examination system according to Decision No. (29) of 2020 before the amendment includes 17 professions, namely pharmacy technician, anaesthesia technician, physiotherapist, clinical nutritionist, nutritionist, dental assistant, oral and dental health technician, industrial technician dental, medical laboratory technician, medical laboratory technologist, specialist medical laboratory technologist, radiologist, midwife, optometrist, junior paramedic and intermediate paramedic.

The Authority may entrust one of the academic or university bodies or a specialised company to conduct the necessary examination to issue licenses to practise health professions.

It is in accordance with the provisions of the resolution and the instructions and regulations laid down by the Authority, in accordance with memoranda of understanding, agreements or contracts concluded with those authorities.
Because while they come in so handy and make it a lot more convenient to find a specific destination, such apps can also increase the level of distraction behind the wheel if you look at the screen for too long while driving.And its easy to see where this is going, as the likelihood of an accident is obviously more significant if you dont use voice guidance and hands-free input to interact with such apps.One 25-year-old driver says he was just looking at a navigation app to find a place to eat when his lorry crashed into a railway bridge in Glasgow Road, Camelon. Fortunately, despite the violent crash, the man escaped without any injuries, but the collision caused damage to both the bridge and the trailer.Without a doubt, its not uncommon for navigation apps to send drivers on roads that dont match their vehicles. For example, Google Maps is missing a dedicated truck mode for navigation, despite users out there repeatedly calling for such an update in the last few years.So while at first, this is a crash that once again shows the limits of navigation apps, it actually isnt, as the driver initially forgot to share one "tiny" detail. He was four times over the drug driving limit, according to local media , and a blood sample revealed he had 200 micrograms of benzoylecgonine, one of the most abundant metabolites of cocaine.The man was banned from driving for a little over 21 months and also ordered to do 90 hours of unpaid works in the next 12 months.At the end of the day, this story once again shows that navigation apps do come with their own shortcomings, but when used correctly, the distraction is reduced substantially. And of course, just keep in mind a lie has no legs, but a violent crash picked up by the media has big wings.
A child views a light show at the Bund in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

Global foreign direct investment plunged by 42 percent in 2020 while China bucked the trend becoming the world's top recipient of investment flows.

"A return to positive gross domestic product growth and the government's targeted investment facilitation program helped stabilize investment after the early lockdown," said James Zhan, UNCTAD's director of investment and enterprise.

GENEVA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Global foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged by 42 percent in 2020, a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed on Sunday, while China bucked the trend becoming the world's top recipient of investment flows.

In its latest Investment Trends Monitor, the Geneva-based UN trade and development body said that FDI fell sharply to an estimated 859 billion U.S. dollars last year, from 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019, and warned of further weakness this year, putting a sustainable recovery from COVID-19 pandemic at risk.

"FDI finished 2020 more than 30 percent below the trough after the global financial crisis in 2009 and back at a level last seen in the 1990s," the report wrote.

The data showed that the decline was concentrated in developed countries, where FDI flows fell by 69 percent to an estimated 229 billion U.S. dollars, the lowest level in 25 years.

Flows to Europe dried up completely, tumbling by two-thirds to minus 4 billion U.S. dollars, it noted. In Britain, FDI fell to zero, and declines were recorded in other major European recipients. A sharp decrease of 49 percent to 134 billion U.S. dollars was also recorded in the United States.

Employees work at the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

CHINA A BRIGHT SPOT

The decline in developing economies was relatively measured at 12 percent to an estimated 616 billion U.S. dollars, the report showed, while China topped the ranking of the largest FDI recipients.

FDI flows to China rose by 4 percent to 163 billion U.S. dollars, making the country the world's largest recipient in 2020, followed by the United States.

China's high-tech industries saw an increase of 11 percent in 2020, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) rose by 54 percent, mostly in information and communications technology (ICT) and pharmaceutical industries, the report said.

"A return to positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth and the government's targeted investment facilitation program helped stabilize investment after the early (coronavirus) lockdown," James Zhan, UNCTAD's director of investment and enterprise, said in a virtual press conference.

"The global dependence on the supply chains of multinational enterprises in China during the pandemic also sustained the FDI growth in China," he added.

The country saw its GDP increase 2.3 percent year on year last year and is expected to be the only major economy to post growth in the pandemic-ravaged year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Tourists shop at a duty-free shopping mall in Sanya City, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK

Looking ahead, UNCTAD warned that the global FDI trend is expected to remain weak this year.

"Risks related to the latest wave of the pandemic, the pace of the roll-out of vaccination programs and economic support packages, fragile macroeconomic situations in major emerging markets, and uncertainty about the global policy environment for investment will all continue to affect FDI in 2021," it wrote.

While sharply lower greenfield project announcements suggest that a turnaround in industrial sectors is not yet in sight, UNCTAD however stressed that strong deal activity in technology and pharmaceutical industries could push M&A-driven FDI flows higher.

"Overall, the global FDI is likely to follow a U-shape recovery, unlike the global trade and GDP which have been predicted to be a V-shape recovery starting already 2021. International investment projects tend to have a long gestation period and react to crises with a delay, both on the downward slope and in the recovery," Zhan estimated.

Earlier this month, UNCTAD announced that Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi will step down from his post on Feb. 15.

The selection process for his successor will start after a vacancy is posted at the beginning of February.

A worker is seen at a factory of the Shaanxi Automobile Holding Group in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Nov. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
By Gabriel Ponte and Jamie McGeever

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil is trying to buy as many COVID-19 vaccines as possible, and accusations it has focused its efforts on only one manufacturer are unjust, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Monday.

Speaking in an online briefing, Guedes said the government's biggest challenge this year is rolling out a nationwide vaccination program and that he has full confidence this will be accomplished.

"The big challenge is mass vaccination. I trust and have faith in on everybody who is collaborating on mass vaccinations. We have the logistics, we have the capacity," Guedes said.

"Brazil really is trying to buy all the vaccines. The criticism that we would have focused on just one does not stack up," Guedes said, adding that are a lot of people "climbing on corpses" to score political points.

Brazil has the second highest death count in the world from the virus, and President Jair Bolsonaro has come under heavy criticism from politicians, the press and the public for his stance on the pandemic and handling of the crisis.

Official figures show fatalities from the pandemic total 217,037 people, and the number of coronavirus cases is now nearly 8.9 million.

The vaccination process only got underway a week ago after health regulator Anvisa approved emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd and Britain's AstraZeneca. But the process has been plagued by delays.

Until now, Brazil's widely criticized vaccine rollout has depended on the shot developed by Sinovac in partnership with Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute.

Bolsonaro had previously decried the Chinese shot as being useless, but his government is becoming increasingly reliant on it to tame the world's second most deadly coronavirus outbreak after the United States.

Guedes said that for economic growth to take off Brazil must accelerate the mass vaccination process. He insisted that it has always been the case that public health and the economy are interlinked.

Story continues

Brazil is currently experiencing a devastating second wave of the virus, with the death toll in some northern cities like Manaus surging due to the shortage of oxygen tanks.

Economists say the economy could contract in the first quarter, with the second wave being a major factor. Guedes is on record as saying the economy could grow more than 4% this year.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever and Gabriel Ponte; Editing by Chris Reese and Angus MacSwan)
Political consultations between the ministries of foreign affairs of Ukraine and Germany began in Berlin on January 25.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar, who heads the Ukrainian delegation to the talks, told Ukrinform about the topics on the agenda.

"It is a political dialogue, trade and economic cooperation, preparation of events at the highest level; European and Euro-Atlantic integration, issue of security in Europe, cooperation within international organizations, counteraction to COVID-19, interaction on vaccine production; opportunities to expand Germanys technical assistance to Ukraine, as well as the issues related to the resolution of consular cases that are on the agenda," the diplomat said.

According to him, among the events planned this year with the participation of representatives of both sides are the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy, to which the top leadership of Germany is invited, the 4th Ukraine-Germany Economic Forum and more.

These are the first Ukraine-Germany political consultations at the level of the ministries of foreign affairs over the past six years.

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Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc, as Chairman of the East Asia Business Council (EABC) in 2020, recently handed over the EABC Chair to Hak-hee Jo,

Executive Managing Director of the Korea International Trade Association.

Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc, who is also Chairman of the East Asia Business Council (EABC) in 2020 (Photo: VNA)

Priorities of the Council this year will focus on boosting post-pandemic recovery in tandem with comprehensive commerce development, promoting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement as a tool for economic recovery, and ensuring supply chains and facilitating cross-border business connectivity amid COVID-19.

The EABC Council will convene three meetings and those of working groups to prepare for dialogues between EABC and the ASEAN Senior Economic Official Meeting Plus Three (SEOM+3), and the ASEAN Plus Three Economic Ministers' (AEM+3).

Notably, the Council is to compile a report on recommendations of business communities in the region and submit to ASEAN 3 leaders at the EABC-ASEAN+3 dialogue, which is scheduled for November in Brunei.

Loc said that despite COVID-19, the EABC reaped fruitful results in 2020, citing as an example its RCEP working groups contribution to a report of the Council on business communities support for the signing of the trade pact.

As a result, the RCEP was signed at the 37th ASEAN Summit and related ones. The agreement is the largest free trade agreement in ASEAN, covering 2.2 billion people and 26.2 trillion USD in GDP, equivalent to two thirds of the world.

In addition, during talks between the EABC and leaders of ASEAN+3 and AEM+3, the leaders welcomed and showed support for EABC activities which aim to bolster regional economic growth in the context of COVID-19.

They also spoke highly of the Councils contribution to promoting the RCEP agreement./.VNA

Vietnam should have law on supporting industry: VCCI chairman Vietnam needs to have a law on the supporting industry to aid its development, according to the chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
November 1937  Born November 1938  Vaccinated with Smallpox vaccine September 1940  Mother reports developmental regression beginning approximately two years previously, the autumn of 1938. February 1941  Referred to Hopkins for evaluation, and in 1943, becomes the third child to be described as autistic by Leo Kanner in his disorder defining paper, the first paper published on autism, 52 years before Wakefield.

In September, 1940, the mother, in commenting on Richard's failure to talk, remarked in her notes: I can't be sure just when he stopped the imitation of words sounds. It seems that he has gone backward mentally gradually for the last two years.

Following smallpox vaccination at 12 months, he had an attack of diarrhea and fever, from which he recovered in somewhat less than a week.

Case 3. Richard M. was referred to the Johns Hopkins Hospital on February 5, 1941, at 3 years, 3 months of age, with the complaint of deafness because he did not talk and did not respond to questions.

1943 - Roosevelt Administration In his disorder defining paper " Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact ," published in Nervous Child in 1943, Leo Kanner of Johns Hopkins University included the first report of vaccine induced autistic regression. In Kanner's case series describing the first 11 children documented to have the disorder, case number 3, Richard M. is reported by his mother to have begun his developmental regression following a smallpox vaccination. From the paper:

The story of how vaccines came to be questioned as a cause of autism dates back to the first paper describing autism in 1943.

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia says in their History of Vaccines , The story of how vaccines came to be questioned as a cause of autism dates back to the 1990s. In 1995, a group of British researchers published a cohort study in the Lancet showing that individuals who had been vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) were more likely to have bowel disease than individuals who had not received MMR. One of these researchers was gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, MD, who went on to further study a possible link between the vaccine and bowel disease by speculating that persistent infection with vaccine virus caused disruption of the intestinal tissue that in turn led to bowel disease and neuropsychiatric disease (specifically, autism).

Those of us who have become old fighting this fight have been front row to the changing and contradictory claims of of CDC and her sister health authorities as they try not to accurately answer the question of whether or not their vaccine program created the autism epidemic. Here I present a lengthy but incomplete history of how we got here, and why ICAN should be lauded for turning back the clock to the days where CDC even made a pretense of being truthful on this issue. Let's start with the cover story for The Hungry Lie . The story that mainstream medical professionals are told is true, and can't understand why the public doesn't believe them. Let's call it The Desperate Lie :

Bowing to legal pressure from the three year campaign waged by the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), CDC quietly removed the false claim from their website on August 27 th , 2020. They did it so quietly in fact, that neither anyone at ICAN, nor the dozens of vaccine watchdog organizations, nor the tens of thousands of Americans that have been decrying the false claim even noticed, until someone at ICAN checked the site again on January 20 th , and found that The Hungry Lie was gone. A search of the Internet Archive shows the last day the fraud was posted was August 26 th , and it was gone on August 27 th . ICAN deserves high praise for accomplishing the feat, the latest in a line of ongoing court victories. Their dogged legal team is led by Aaron Siri, the man who managed to get Dr. Stanley Plotkin, considered by the medical establishment to be the greatest living vaccinologist to admit that there is no research on the Pertussis vaccine and autism. Nor on any vaccine that is not the MMR. This is of importance to me as my son regressed into autism after Pertussis, Hep B, and five other vaccines, none of which contained mercury, and he never received the MMR. So all the research that it thrown at me to prove to me that my son does not have vaccine induced autism, doesn't even apply to his case. Because there is no vaccine-autism research outside of MMR and Thimerosal that exists, other than the Hep B studies that find massive links, and health authorities don't like to talk about those. ICAN's three year, Herculean accomplishment was met with joy, by the vaccine injury community, but also a bit of confusion. But the page still says, "there is no link between vaccines and autism? Thus I thought it was important to put their win into historical context.

This week it was announced that The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed from their web site what JB Handley deemed  The Hungry Lie . "Vaccines do not cause autism.

by Ginger Taylor [Update: The day after this post was published and widely circulatd, January 26th, CDC replaced the Hungry Lie back onto their web site after five months. Their position has nothing to do with science.]

Note: In 2010, JB Handley coined a phrase called feeding the hungry lie: The hungry lie on autism is both maddeningly simple and simply maddening and goes something like this: Its been asked and answered, vaccines dont cause autism. As Ive written about repeatedly, this is a huge lie, a critical lie, and a very hungry lie, because it constantly needs to be fed. Below, Ginger Taylor takes you through history, dating back to 1943. I think Dan Olmsted would have been very proud of her work.

In the 40s and 50s, the Freudians were in command of the narrative on childhood mental health, thus maternal rejection of the child was asserted as the source of the rare disorder, until Bernard Rimland, Ph. D. ended the supremacy of the unfounded and misogynistic theory, and began the era of medical investigation into the origins of autism in the 1960s.

1976 - Ford Administration

3-4 weeks following an otherwise uncomplicated first vaccination against smallpox a boy, then aged 15 months and last seen at the age of 5 1/2 years, gradually developed a complete Kanner syndrome. The question whether vaccination and early infantile autism might be connected is being discussed. A causal relationship is considered extremely unlikely. But vaccination is recognized as having a starter function for the onset of autism.

1988  Bush 41 Administration



From the first time I heard the name Wakefield in the media in the early 2000s, I had always known that the story that Wakefield kicked off the suspicion that vaccines may cause autism in 1998 was bogus, because the first time I heard the theory was in an undergraduate psychology class during the 88-89 school year at George Mason University. During a very short discussion on the rare childhood developmental disorder called Autism that Dustin Hoffman had portrayed in the movie Rainman, our professor noted that it may be cause by vaccines. I made a mental note, and decided to look into it when I had kids someday.



1991



By the opening of the 1990s the vaccine-autism causation discussion was so widespread that the Institute of Medicine was including it in their reports on vaccine safety funded by the National Institutes of Health, published by the National Academy of Sciences and edited by none other than Harvard's Harvey Fineberg:

Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines: A Report of the Committee to Review the Adverse Consequences of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines.

Editors

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee to Review the Adverse Consequences of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines; Howson CP, Howe CJ, Fineberg HV, editors.



Source

Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1991.

The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health.



Excerpt

Parents have come to depend on vaccines to protect their children from a variety of diseases. Some evidence suggests, however, that vaccination against pertussis (whooping cough) and rubella (German measles) is, in a small number of cases, associated with increased risk of serious illness. This book examines the controversy over the evidence and offers a comprehensively documented assessment of the risk of illness following immunization with vaccines against pertussis and rubella. Based on extensive review of the evidence from epidemiologic studies, case histories, studies in animals, and other sources of information, the book examines: The relation of pertussis vaccines to a number of serious adverse events, including encephalopathy and other central nervous system disorders, sudden infant death syndrome, autism, Guillain-Barre syndrome, learning disabilities, and Reye syndrome. The relation of rubella vaccines to arthritis, various neuropathies, and thrombocytopenic purpura. The volume, which includes a description of the committee's methods for evaluating evidence and directions for future research, will be important reading for public health officials, pediatricians, researchers, and concerned parents.

Copyright  1991 by the National Academy of Sciences. EditorsInstitute of Medicine (US) Committee to Review the Adverse Consequences of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines; Howson CP, Howe CJ, Fineberg HV, editors.SourceWashington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1991.The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health.ExcerptParents have come to depend on vaccines to protect their children from a variety of diseases. Some evidence suggests, however, that vaccination against pertussis (whooping cough) and rubella (German measles) is, in a small number of cases, associated with increased risk of serious illness. This book examines the controversy over the evidence and offers a comprehensively documented assessment of the risk of illness following immunization with vaccines against pertussis and rubella. Based on extensive review of the evidence from epidemiologic studies, case histories, studies in animals, and other sources of information, the book examines:The relation of rubella vaccines to arthritis, various neuropathies, and thrombocytopenic purpura. The volume, which includes a description of the committee's methods for evaluating evidence and directions for future research, will be important reading for public health officials, pediatricians, researchers, and concerned parents.Copyright  1991 by the National Academy of Sciences.

This inquiry, to my knowledge, resulted in the first position statement by US health authorities on vaccine-autism causation. They published:

Evidence from Studies in Humans

The committee identified no case reports or other studies of autism following pertussis immunization. The sources examined include the CDC's MSAEFI system, which received no reports of autism (ICD 9 code 299.0) occurring within 28 days of DPT immunization from 1978 to 1990, a period in which approximately 80.1 million doses of DPT vaccine were administered through public mechanisms in the United States (J. Mullen, Centers for Disease Control, personal communication, 1990). The lack of reports of cases within 28 days of DPT immunization is not surprising, however, given that a diagnosis of autism is difficult, if not impossible, before age 3 years.

Summary

No data were identified that address the question of a relation between vaccination with DPT or its pertussis component and autism. There are no experimental data bearing on a possible biologic mechanism.

Conclusion

There is no evidence to indicate a causal relation between DPT vaccine or the pertussis component of DPT vaccine and autism.

Of course they would not have any reports of Pertussis vaccine induced autistic regression, because the CDC's MSAEFI system, as they noted, only followed children for 28 days, and no child is diagnosed with autism within 28 days of onset. It is unheard of for a child to to even get an evaluation scheduled, must less completed in 28 days. So the system would not pick up any cases of vaccine induced autism.

This began the age of government obfuscation in vaccine-autism causation. The NIH funded project reported no evidence before they began any earnest search for evidence.



1998  Clinton Administration



Andrew Wakefield, according to the current false narrative and revisionist history pushed by health authorities, mainstream medicine, and their media partners, magically erases a half century of history and discovers the vaccine-autism causation theory for the first time.



Wakefield simply did what Kanner did in 1943. Took patient histories, and including parental reports in a paper.



A great irony of course in the excoriation of Wakefield for the is that he and his colleagues never made the claim that vaccines were associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the 1998 retracted paper, reporting that, We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described. Virological studies are underway that may help to resolve this issue.



The greatest irony is that in his case series describing his observation of bowel disease in children with ASD, is that gut dysbiosis and inflammation are the two chief physical commodities in autism according to the medical establishment.

Andrew Wakefield was right.





1999

The 1990s saw a dramatic rise in autism, from a rare disorder with only 11 cases diagnosed in the US in 1943, to occurring between 1 and 3 per 10,000 in the 70s and 80s, to approximately 1 in 250 cases by the end of the 20th century. In the UK the focus was on the MMR vaccine and potential causation. In the US the prime suspect was mercury exposure.

The the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) issued a joint statement through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on mercury and vaccines. They stated that in the U.S. vaccine program at the time, some children could be exposed to a cumulative level of mercury over the first six months of life that exceeds one of the federal guidelines.

The truth was that the amount of mercury in the childhood vaccination schedule grossly exceeded the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) maximum daily adult exposure for methylmercury, the form of mercury most closely related to thimerosal for which the government had established a guideline. The EPA sets the daily limit at 0.1 micrograms per kilogram of weight. Based on that guideline, a baby weighing approximately five kilograms (eleven pounds) at two months of age should not receive more than 0.5 micrograms of mercury on the day of a doctors visit. At the time the AAP and USPHS joint statement was issued, infants at their two-month visit routinely received 62.5 micrograms of THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND MEDIA 207 mercury, or 125 times the EPAs limit. Studies have suggested that, for thimerosal (ethylmercury), the accepted reference dose should be lowered to between 0.025 and 0.06 micrograms per kilogram per day, meaning that the exposure at the two-month visit could be as high as 500rather than 125times the safe level.3

In November 2002, Dr. Neal Halsey, director at the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the New York Times:

My first reaction was simply disbelief . . . if the labels had had the mercury content in micrograms, this would have been uncovered years ago. But the fact is, no one did the calculation.

At the time, USPHS claimed in their joint statement that,

there [are] no data or evidence of any harm caused by the level of exposure that some children may have encountered in following the existing immunization schedule.

However, the government made this safety claim before it had begun to look for evidence of harm. In November 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiated a study to evaluate whether children receiving the highest amounts of thimerosal had suffered any ill effects. Thomas Verstraeten, the studys lead epidemiologist , did not begin the study until four months after the governments no evidence of harm claim. The CDC did not publish the results until 2003. The first phase of the Verstraeten study found an association between higher doses of thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders. In the second phase of his study, Verstraeten described his findings as neutral. Verstraeten was an employee of vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline by the time his study was finally published.

HHS further asserted in July 1999:

Given that the risks of not vaccinating children far outweigh the unknown and much smaller risk, if any, of exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines over the first six months of life, clinicians and parents are encouraged to immunize all infants even if the choice of individual vaccine products is limited for any reason.

With this single statement, the government took the position that the risk posed to children from exposure to thimerosal was both unknown and a smaller risk than exposure to childhood diseases. This suggested that public health officials could perform a risk-benefit analysis with no risk information for half of the equation.

HHS further asserted:

[i]nfants and children who have received thimerosal-containing vaccines do not need to be tested for mercury exposure.

On what basis could HHS make this statement? It had not done (and still has not done) the underlying research to show that these children were not at risk and should not be screened for mercury toxicity. Without hard evidence, the government nonetheless seemed eager to reassure parents that no evidence of harm meant no harmeven as it failed to look for evidence.

The mainstream media did not investigate HHSs claims or recommendations, nor did it investigate those of vaccine safety advocates.

2005  Bush 43 Administration

None of the problems with the joint statement, the investigation, or the CDCs handling of the thimerosal question came to light until 2005, when investigative journalist and author David Kirby released the book, Evidence of Harm. The searing and detailed account exposed the questionable behavior and judgments of the CDC and HHS.11 Likely sensing the potential for public outrage, the CDC quickly took action and posted a notice on its website explaining that it would review the book and respond. By the end of 2005, however, the CDC had taken the notice down without responding. To this day, no US government agency has offered any response to the book.

2008  Obama Administration

The Health Resources and Services Administrations (HRSA) Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has a table of known vaccine-induced injuries for which the government offers compensation. Created in 1991, the table has since listed encephalopathy as an outcome for the combination MMR (or any of the various individual measles, mumps, or rubella vaccines) and for the DTaP (or any pertussis-containing vaccines). The symptoms of this encephalopathy (a medical term meaning brain disorder, brain damage, or a change in brain functioning) in a child who is eighteen months or older include a significantly decreased level of consciousness which HRSA describes as follows:

(1) Decreased or absent response to environment (responds, if at all, only to loud voice or painful stimuli);

(2) Decreased or absent eye contact (does not fix gaze upon family members or other individuals); or

(3) Inconsistent or absent responses to external stimuli (does not recognize familiar people or things).16

Many parents have reported these symptoms in their previously typically functioning children after neurological regression following measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and pertussis-containing (DPT or DTaP) vaccines. These parents, however, reported that those symptoms were not used to diagnose their children with a vaccine-induced encephalopathy but rather to diagnose them with autism. In addition, one of the signs of encephalopathy is seizure activity. Estimates suggest that one-quarter to one-third of those with an autism diagnosis also suffer from seizures.17

Were vaccine-induced encephalopathy and autism merely the same phenomenon, described from the vantage point of two different disciplines, medicine and mental health? Were many cases of autism merely misdiagnosed vaccine-induced encephalopathy, due to the lack of physician training regarding the recognition of vaccine injury? These questions never surfaced when the media ran stories regarding parental concerns about vaccine-induced autismthat is, until 2008, when the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) became national news.

In early 2008, Jon and Terry Poling announced to the press that HHS had conceded their daughters case of vaccine-induced autism. Ten-year-old Hannah Poling had regressed into autism after receiving nine vaccines in five shots during one office visit. The Polings argued that their daughter had a preexisting, asymptomatic, and undiagnosed mitochondrial dysfunction and sustained a neurological regression into autism from receiving vaccines at eighteen months of age. Jon Poling is a well respected neurologist who was at Johns Hopkins at the time, and his wife Terry is a registered nurse and an attorney. The Polings medical testing following their daughters regression was so thorough and their case so strong that HRSA conceded the case and elected to pay compensation without a hearing before the VICP. The government acknowledged, albeit in very evasive language, that vaccines were the culprit that led to Hannah Polings autism.

While the media had yet to rigorously scrutinize the vaccine-autism story, national and local consumer-safety and autism-awareness groups were organizing to share information and advocate for change. When CNN broadcast the Polings press conference live, the event poured gasoline on the already fiery vaccine safety debate. Federal public health officials were forced to comment on how vaccines cannot cause autism, even though they seemed to have done just that in little Hannah Poling. The governments position on the Polings case and on vaccine induced autism were completely at odds with one another, and the governments clumsy and conflicting answers raised even more questions about vaccine safety:

 Did vaccines cause Hannahs autism?

 Is mitochondrial dysfunction rare?

 Did the government deliberately mislead the public about Hannahs injury?

 Did the media pursue this news story appropriately?

Our government would not say that Hannah had autism, which she indeed does have.18 The concession document19 said that Hannah has a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.20 By definition, a person diagnosed with a disorder will have features of that disorder. Government attorneys had full access to Hannah Polings extensive medical files, which disclose that she has DSM-diagnosed, full-syndrome autism. Yet, they referred to her neurological disorder using terms that sounded ambiguous, as if she has something like autism, but not autism. Hannahs parents repeatedly clarified to the media that their daughter has full-syndrome autism. A scientific journal article21 further confirmed her diagnosis.

Where was the mainstream media? It failed in two respects. First, it continued to repeat the governments euphemistic words, autism-like symptoms, thereby attempting to dodge the burning questionis the dramatic increase in the number of childhood vaccines causing the dramatic increase in autism incidence? Second, the media gave extensive airtime to vaccine-program defenders who seemed to turn the case on its head, blaming the victim for her own injury. In a twist of logic, they inferred that it wasnt really the vaccines fault that Hannah was permanently injured; on the contrary, Hannah was merely a poor receptacle for lifesaving vaccines.

An article in the New Scientist declared, Significantly, the governments decision says nothing about whether vaccines cause autism. Instead, government lawyers concluded only that vaccines aggravated a preexisting cellular disorder in the child, causing brain damage that included features of autism.22 This vague government pronouncement prompted the tongue-in-cheek response from a commenter, Do cigarettes only aggravate preexisting genetic factors, causing lung damage including features of cancer?23

In late 2010, reporter Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News summed up HHSs position, In acknowledging Hannahs injuries, the government said vaccines aggravated an unknown mitochondrial disorder Hannah had which didnt cause her autism, but resulted in it.24

A few days after the announcement, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding appeared on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain the governments position on the Poling case and vaccine-autism causation.

Gupta began the interview by noting that a child with regressive autism had been compensated and that the government had conceded that vaccines had caused her autism-like symptoms. He zeroed in on a key question. Gupta asked whether Hannah had autism or autism-like symptoms.

Gerberding never answered.

She instead claimed that she had not read the Poling case file. Gupta failed to challenge this extraordinary and implausible statement. Gerberding was at the helm of the government agency responsible for the U.S. vaccine program and reported directly to Congress. A government agency conceded that vaccines caused Hannah Polings autism-like symptoms and Gerberding had not read her case file before appearing on national television?

In another extraordinary statement, Gerberding proceeded to explain a way in which vaccines can cause autism:

My understanding is that the child has what we think is a rare mitochondrial disorder and when children have this disease, anything that stresses them creates a situation where their cells just cant make enough energy to keep their brains functioning normally. Now we all know that vaccines can occasionally cause fevers in kids, so if the child is immunized, got a fever or other complications from the vaccine then, if you are predisposed with a mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage, some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism.24

Gerberding had just said that vaccines can cause autism in children with mitochondrial disorders.

Gupta passed right by this statement as well. Seeming not to have heard her, he instead asked, As it stands, are we ready to say that vaccines do not cause autism? Off the hook of the vaccine-autism causation question, Gerberding quickly responded,

What we can say absolutely, for sure, is that we dont really understand the causes of autism. Weve got a long way to go before we get to the bottom of this, but there have been at least 15 very good scientific studies, and the Institute of Medicine which has searched this out and they have concluded that there really is no association between vaccines and autism.25

Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, had just explained an association between vaccines and autism on national news. She then said there is no association between vaccines and autism.

Two weeks earlier, the CDC had held a conference call with concerned physicians and insurance companies to discuss the Poling case.26 During the call, experts presented information that Hannahs preexisting mitochondrial dysfunction may not be so rare. An unpublished study of thirty children with regressive autism revealed that they all shared Hannahs same biomarkers.27 On the call, it was estimated that up to one in fifty children, or two percent of the general population, may have a genetic mutation that places them at risk for mitochondrial dysfunction.28 This information had been in the press for three days when Gerberding gave the CNN interview and made the claim that Hannahs condition was rare, but Gupta didnt challenge her claim.

In The Washington Post, Gerberding offered additional, unsubstantiated words of reassurance to a concerned public:

While we recognize, and have recognized, mitochondrial disorders are associated with . . . autism-like syndrome, there is nothing about this situation that should be generalized to the risks of vaccines for normal children.29

Gerberding failed to explain the seemingly simple phrase normal children. Hannah seemed normal before her shots, as did tens of thousands of children who regressed into autism after their shots. In fact, Hannah was above average socially and so highly verbal that, at the age of sixteen months, she had been chosen to be a typical peer to model appropriate social skills to developmentally disabled children in an early intervention program. Millions of concerned parents wonder about vaccine safety and which of their normal children might be at risk of developing autism after vaccination. How could they know?

Gerberdings Washington Post statement raised several troubling questions:

 By definition, regressive autism means that the children were, by all appearances, neurologically normal before their diagnosis. In the absence of criteria to identify susceptibility, arent all children normal before they regress into autism after vaccination?

 How many other children with regressive autism following vaccination have asymptomatic, undiagnosed mitochondrial dysfunction like Hannah Poling? Was Hannah diagnosed only because her father is a neurologist?

 In the Hannah Poling scenario, a seemingly healthy child suffered a vaccine regression that gave her autism. Autism affects one percent of all U.S. children. Why arent we screening children before vaccination to make sure they are not susceptible, just like Hannah was?

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the assistant surgeon general and director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC at the time, answered the last question in an interview in The Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Some have suggested that infants and children be screened for mitochondrial disorders before getting recommended vaccinations. Unfortunately, mitochondrial diseases are very difficult to diagnose and it is usually not possible to identify children with such disorders until there are signs of developmental decline. A definitive diagnosis often requires multiple blood tests and may also require a muscle or brain biopsy (removal of a portion for testing, usually under anesthesia). Therefore, providing routine screening tests on children who have no symptoms would bring other medical risks and raise many ethical questions.30

Schuchat failed to mention that a simple blood test to screen for soft biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction is available and reasonably predictive.31 She further failed to mention the medical risks and ethical questions raised by blindly vaccinating nearly all children when we know that some will have mitochondrial dysfunction that puts them at risk for neurological injury.



2009  Obama Administration

The following year, Gerberding resigned from the CDC and joined Merck & Co., Inc., the pharmaceutical giant, as head of its vaccine division. Merck manufactures several childhood vaccines including the MMR. Notably, the MMR is the vaccine HRSA has admitted causes an encephalopathy that progresses into autism, and was among the vaccines that resulted in Hannah Polings regression into autism. While the autism advocacy community vigorously discussed and debated the Poling concession, Gerberdings public statements on vaccine encephalopathy and autism, and her new employment, mainstream media once again remained mute.

During reporter David Kirbys investigation of the Poling case, he requested clarification of the governments position on whether or not vaccines could cause autism in light of the VICP decision. HRSAs Office of Communications responded shortly after Gerberding left office with the Bush Administration,

From: Bowman, David (HRSA) [mailto:DBowman@hrsa.gov]

Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5 :22 PM To: dkirby@nyc.rr.com

Subject: HRSA Statement

David,

In response to your most recent inquiry, HRSA has the following statement:

The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.

Some children who have been compensated for vaccine injuries may have shown signs of autism before the decision to compensate, or may ultimately end up with autism or autistic symptoms, but we do not track cases on this basis.

Regards,

David Bowman

Office of Communications

Health Resources and Services Administration

301-443-337637

Bowman asserts that vaccines dont cause autism, but that they do cause brain damage that can result in autism. However, HRSA doesnt track that. Kirby and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., published this email, but the mainstream media again failed to report it to the public.

2010

Despite the admissions from both Gerberding and Bowman, CDC took no measures to review or change it's approach to the rising rates of both autism and vaccine rejectionism. The CDC's website in it's discussion of thimerosal,

There is no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site.40

In carefully crafted, qualified language, the CDC no longer claimed no evidence of harm as it did in 1999 but rather that there is no convincing evidence of harm, implicitly recognizing that there was evidence of harm but the CDC has decided not to be convinced by it.

On he subject of Vaccines and Autism website offered this response to the question, Do vaccines cause autism spectrum disorders?

A: [There are] many studies that have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not [sic] associated with ASDs.41

This statement did not accurately depict the state of vaccine safety science . While some studies do not find evidence of an association between vaccines, heavy metal components such as thimerosal, and autism, many do. The peer-reviewed meta-analysis released by DeSoto and Hitlan, found that 74 percent of the relevant studies support an association between autism and heavy metals such as thimerosal.

In March 2010, while discussing the H1N1 flu, Readers Digest asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, What can be done about public mistrust of vaccines? Sebelius replied,

There are groups out there that insist that vaccines are responsible for a variety of problems despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. We have reached out to media outlets to try to get them to not give the views of these people equal weight in their reporting to what science has shown and continues to show about the safety of vaccines.44

Neither the Obama Administration nor Readers Digest clarified this remarkable disclosure, thus it remains unclear which press outlets HHS contacted, what HHS asked the press not to report, or who complied with the request.



2012

In early 2012, in preparation for the second edition of Vaccine Epidemic, the CDC was contacted directly to ascertain its current stance on vaccine-autism causation. Thomas W. Skinner public affairs officer from the Office of the Associate Director for Communication responded:

Subject: Re: MI-Normal-Book author-Autism/Vaccine

Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:32:40 +0000

From: Skinner, Thomas W. (CDC/OD/OADC)

To: ginger@adventuresinautism.com

Autism presents difficult challenges for thousands of families across the United States. Scientists do not know what causes autism. However, very thorough studies conducted by some of the worlds brightest scientists simply do not point to an association between vaccines and autism. Hopefully additional research will someday provide answers as to what is the cause or causes of autism.

Because this statement was inconsistent with the current research, I sent Mr. Skinner a follow-up email, in which I brought to his attention a list of sixty studies (listed in appendix starting on page 389) that point to an association between vaccines and autism. I requested three pieces of information: (1) the list of studies that do not point to an association between vaccines and autism;  (2) the reasons for the CDCs failure to mention any of the studies that point to an association between vaccines and autism; and (3) the person or panel responsible for approving his statement.

I received no reply.

2015

While statements on the relationship between vaccines and autism had became more vague, qualified, and inconclusive over the years, suddenly the CDC became very emphatic on their position on vaccine-autism causation. Despite no new information that would justify such an expansive claim coming to light, in September The CDC declared on their web site that,

Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.

The Hungry Lie became official US policy.



The statement was the subject of much criticism, as of the 14 vaccines on the childhood schedule, only 1 of them, the MMR had had any inquiry undertaking on them that failed to find a link. And several studies did find links between MMR and autism.



2017  Trump Administration

A review of the positions held by the various HHS departments, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, held four incompatible positions on the relationship between vaccines and autism, via the four different departments that he managed and that contribute information to the public on vaccine safety.

In answering the question, Are vaccines linked to autism? The departments' answers could be categorized thusly:

The Health Resources Services Administrations position is: Yes.

David Bowman, a spokesman for HHSs Health Resources and Services Administration commenting on a case of vaccine encephalopathy and autism responded:

[Vaccine Induced] Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.







The Food and Drug Administrations position can summed up as: Maybe. Sometimes.

On the FDA approved Tripedia vaccine package insert:

Adverse events reported during post-approval use of Tripedia vaccine include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, SIDS, anaphylactic reaction, cellulitis, autism, convulsion/grand mal convulsion, encephalopathy, hypotonia, neuropathy, somnolence and apnea. Events were included in this list because of the seriousness or frequency of reporting. Because these events are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequencies or to establish a causal relationship to components of Tripedia vaccine.







The National Institutes of Healths position can be characterized as: Probably not.

While NIH has not responded to requests for an official position statement on the matter, Dr. Francis Collins wrote on June 13th 2017, in his NIH Directors Blog, in a post entitled Autism Spectrum Disorder: Progress Toward Earlier Diagnosis:

Research shows that the roots of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally start earlymost likely in the womb. Thats one more reason, on top of a large number of epidemiological studies, why current claims about the role of vaccines in causing autism cant be righti.







The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphatically asserts: Absolutely not.

On their page on the relationship between vaccines and autism:

Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.

Vaccine ingredients do not cause autism.

There is no link between vaccines and autism.







THE CHAIRS OF HRSA, CDC, FDA , and NIH

Agencies that report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services therefore held multiple and mutually exclusive opinions on the most significant vaccine safety question in the public forum. This should have been enough to trigger a systematic review of the information each agency is using, what biases are causing this wide range of positions, and whether or not fraud is in play.

Further, both NIH and CDC, are multiple vaccine patent holders, which is not disclosed to patients or their guardians at the point of sale. HHS, while posing as an impartial agency to research, regulate, and recommend vaccines via NIH, FDA and CDC respectively, and as vaccine court via HRSA to determine vaccine injury causation in individual consumer claims, is robbing the consumer of informed consent by failing to disclose that it is a profit partner in the very shots that members of the public are allowing to be administered to themselves or their minor children.



But even beyond that, these vaccine safety statements (save Bowmans) ignore the more than a hundred research papers that demonstrate multiple links between vaccines and autism, and the mechanisms by which vaccines and their ingredients can cause autism, as well as at least 83 documented vaccine induced encephalopathy with autism claims paid by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

One Cabinet Member, four positions.

2020

On August 27th, following three years of legal pressure from the Informed Consent Action Network, without comment, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed The Hungry Lie from it's website where it has lived since 2015, deceiving hundreds of millions of Americans and parents world wide.



CDC did not inform ICAN of their action and ICAN was not aware of the retraction until it was noticed the day after the installment of the Biden Administration.

The Informed Consent Action Network issued the following press release detailing their three year effort to take the CDC to task for the false claim:



January 21, 2021



ICAN, through its attorneys led by Aaron Siri, has been relentless in

its legal demands and actions to compel the CDC to remove its blanket claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism from its website. We are excited to report that the CDC has finally capitulated to those demands!



It has removed this claim from its website!

CDCs Autism-Vaccine Page

The more than three-year journey for how ICAN, and its legal team, achieved this result is a story of determined persistence. Here are the highlights.

ICANs Opening Salvo (Oct. 12, 2017  Dec. 31, 2018)

The journey began with a letter sent to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) on October 12, 2017. That letter explained why the CDC cannot scientifically claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism on its website. ICAN then ended with the following demand: Please confirm that HHS shall forthwith remove the claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism from the CDC website, or alternatively, please identify the specific studies on which HHS bases its blanket claim that no vaccines cause autism?/

To put HHS and the CDC (an agency within HHS) on their heels, mere days after sending this letter, ICAN also sent a FOIA request FOIA request on November 1, 2017, demanding:

All reports, scientific studies, and any other documents the CDC relied upon to support the assertion Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism located on its website at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html.

The CDC quickly called ICANs counsel, Aaron Siri, regarding this request. After some negotiations, the CDC formally responded responded on November 7, 2017, stating that A search of our records failed to reveal any documents beyond the records hyperlinked in the specific web site to support the claim that vaccines do not cause autism. The CDC had thus revealed a truth, one that HHS could not run from in its

response to ICANs letter.

On January 18, 2018, HHS responded to ICANs October 12th letter. In that letter, HHS provided a list of studies it said supported the conclusion on its website that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism. All of the studies cited

related either to a single vaccine, MMR, or to a single vaccine ingredient, thimerosal. *None *of these studies support the claim that vaccines given during the first six months of life do not cause autism.

Given that HHS failed to support its claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism, ICAN responded by letter dated December 31, 2018 wherein ICAN asserted that HHS cannot scientifically claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism and must therefore remove this claim from the CDC website until it can produce the studies to

support the claim.

ICANs Pincer Maneuver (Jan. 1, 2019 to June 18, 2019)

In order to keep the pressure on to force the CDC to be honest with the public, during the first six months of 2019, ICAN submitted numerous requests for communications among key personnel within the CDC relating

to autism. Some of these requests sought emails going back decades. The key players within the CDC with regard to vaccines and autism now knew we were watching, and that we would have their unvarnished, internal

emails related to autism.

ICAN Drops the Gauntlet (June 19, 2019 to Dec. 30, 2019)

Now that ICAN had gathered the proof in the form of evidence and admissions it needed to hold the CDCs feet to the fire, on June 19, 2019, ICAN demanded that the CDC produce copies of the studies it relies upon to claim that all the vaccines given during the first six months of life Do Not Cause Autism. These vaccines include DTaP, HepB, Hib, PCV13, and IPV. ICAN also demanded that the CDC produce studies to support that the cumulative exposure to these vaccines during the first six months of life Do Not Cause Autism.

ICAN, of course, already had the CDCs admissions on these points from its prior FOIA request in November 2017, the HHS letter exchange, and the CDCs internal emails. The CDC had nowhere to hide and no way to

dissemble. As expected, it responded to ICANs request with the same list of studies involving MMR or thimerosal. Not a single study supported that DTaP, HepB, Hib, PCV13, and IPV do not cause autism.

ICAN Battles the CDC in Court (Dec. 31, 2019 to March 5, 2020)

ICAN then put the pressure directly on the CDC. Instead of walking away after the CDC effectively admitted it did not have the studies ICAN sought, ICAN sued the CDC in federal court.

The suit focused on the CDCs claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism on the basis that the CDC had not specifically listed the precise studies that it asserts support that claim. This lawsuit also quoted from the deposition of Dr. Stanley Plotkin, the godfather of vaccinology, who admitted under oath that he was okay with telling the parent that DTaP/Tdap does not cause autism even though the science isnt there yet to support that claim.

After a lot of wrangling between ICANs counsel Aaron Siri, and the Department of Justice, which was representing the CDC, the CDC finally capitulated and signed a stipulation that entered as an order of the court on March 2, 2020 in which the CDC identified 20 studies as the universe of support it relies upon to claim that DTaP, HepB, Hib, PCV13, and IPV do not cause autism. Here is a summary of the vaccines these studies cover:

* 1 relating to MMR (not a vaccine ICAN asked about);

* 13 relating to thimerosal (not an ingredient in any vaccine ICAN

asked about);

* 4 relating to both MMR and thimerosal;

* 1 relating to antigen (not a vaccine) exposure; and

* 1 relating to MMR, thimerosal, and

Incredibly, the one study relating to DTaP on the CDCs list was a recent review by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), paid for by the CDC, which conducted a comprehensive review looking specifically for studies relating to whether DTaP does or does not cause autism. The IOM concluded that *it could not identify a single study to support that DTaP does not cause autism*. Instead, the only relevant study the IOM could identify found an association between DTaP and autism.

In other words, the only study the CDC listed that actually looked at any of the vaccines given to babies during the first six months of life concluded that there are no studies to support that DTaP does not cause autism. Yet, the CDC chose that study as one of the few that supports its claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism!

This reality is truly incredible because, when it comes to autism, vaccines are the one suspected culprit that the CDC claims to have exhaustively investigated but, yet, the CDC could not provide a single study to support its conclusion that the vaccines given during the first six months of life do not cause autism.

The CDC regularly complains that those raising concerns about vaccine safety are unscientific and misinformed. It is therefore truly stunning that when we asked the CDC for studies to support its claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism, the March 2, 2020 stipulation and order made it abundantly clear that it was the CDCs own claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism that was unscientific.

ICANs Coup de Grace (Mar. 6, 2020 to Aug. 26, 2020)

And now for the coup de grace. ICANs demands at the end of 2019 and over which it took the CDC to court in early 2020 were for the studies he CDC relied upon to claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism. ICAN now had a court ordered stipulation that specifically listed the twenty studies the CDC relied upon to support this claim none of which supported that the vaccines given during the first six months of life do not cause autism.

To assure that the CDC understood ICAN was never, ever, ever, letting this issue go, on March 6, 2020 (days after concluding the federal lawsuit) ICAN submitted the following FOIA demand to the CDC: All studies supporting the claim that DTaP does not cause autism and days later requested Studies created or retained by CDC to support the claim that DTaP does not cause autism. The difference between this and

ICANs prior requests is subtle but powerful. Instead of asking for the studies the CDC relied upon to support that DTaP does not cause autism (as it did previously), ICAN was now seeking the studies that in fact support that DTaP does not cause autism.

In response to this request, the CDC could not list its MMR or thimerosal studies  its hands were tied. It understood there was nowhere left to hide its unsupported claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism. And it knew that ICAN would again take it to court, and this time the outcome could be even harsher.

The CDC Capitulates

On the heels of the foregoing, and dozens of related demands regarding autism that ICAN continued to press, in the dead of the night, and without any fanfare or announcement, on August 27, 2020, the CDC website removed the claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism from its website! The CDC had finally capitulated to the truth!

Compare for yourself the CDCs autism-vaccine webpage on August 26, 2020 versus August 27, 2020.

You may be wondering why we waited until now to announce this amazing news. Well, ICAN and its legal team have been so busy fighting on dozens of vaccine related fronts (mandatory MMR vaccines, flu shot requirements, improper COVID vaccine trials, etc.) that we only realized the CDCs vaccine-autism claim had been removed when we recently turned back to that front! Like a Mayan temple hidden in plain sight for hundreds of years, ICAN only recently discovered the CDCs silent capitulation.

The Future

The most recent data from CDC shows that 1 in 36 children born this year in the United States will develop autism. This is a true epidemic. If the CDC had spent the same resources studying vaccines and autism as it did waging a media campaign against parents that claim vaccines caused their childs autism, the world would be a better place for everyone.

To their credit, parents with autistic children have never backed down. In the face of incessant brow beatings by public health authorities, studies have found between 40% and 70% of parents with an autistic child continue to blame vaccines for their childs autism, typically pointing to vaccines given during the first six months of life. These parents know what they experienced, what their parental instincts tell them, and

no amount of shaming can change that truth.

With the removal of the claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism, it is ICANs sincere hope that our public health authorities have turned or will soon be turning the corner on this issue. That they will fund independent scientists to conduct the desperately needed studies of autism and the cumulative impact of the vaccines given during the first six months of life.

The cries of parents who know that vaccines caused their childs autism should no longer be ignored. The science must be done. And ICAN will continue to fight to make sure that that it is done.

Epilogue

The CDCs website does continue to claim that Vaccine ingredients do not cause autism and so ICANs fight continues! Our next step will be to force the CDC to admit whether or not they are also making this claim for aluminum adjuvants used in vaccines. And if so, to produce the studies to support this claim. (See ICANs white paper on aluminum adjuvants and autism here.)

Of course, whether one or more ingredients, like water used in vaccines, does not cause autism is not really the issue. The question is whether the vaccine, the product itself as formulated, causes autism. And we now know that the CDC finally understands that it can no longer claim that Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism.



This is the greatest defeat that The Hungry Lie has suffered yet, and the global community owes ICAN a debt of gratitude for their work greater than they will ever receive.

Remaining on the CDC's web site are other numerous false claims, that are yet to be addressed. The next one that must go is the lie that, There is no link between vaccines and autism.

This is not just untrue merely at this point in time, or a any time in the 21st century, it has never been true.

The scientific record linking vaccine and autism began with the scientific record on autism itself, and extends through a growing body of research today. It began when Kanner took notes interviewing Richard M's mother, and she reported his vaccine reaction and subsequent regression into the disorder that would come to be called Autism by Kanner when he published the first paper on the disorder.



Vaccine induced autism was reported before the word autism even existed.

In 2007 I grew tired of hearing that there is no link between vaccines and autism, and began keeping a list of research that linked vaccines and autism online. The list has now grown to more than 150 papers supporting the link, and is unfortunately woefully behind, as the project has no funding, and little time has been devoted it to it's development. Kanners report of Richard M's post-vaccine regression in 1943 is the last study on the list.

Ginger Taylor, MS

Mainstream research has found that vaccines and their ingredients can cause the underlying medical conditions that committed physicians and researchers are commonly finding in children who have been given an autism diagnosis. These conditions include gastrointestinal damage, immune system impairment, chronic infections, mitochondrial disorders, autoimmune conditions, neurological regression, glial cell activation, interleukin-6 secretion dysregulation, brain inflammation, damage to the bloodbrain barrier, seizures, synaptic dysfunction, dendritic cell dysfunction, mercury poisoning, aluminum toxicity, gene activation and alteration, glutathione depletion, impaired methylation, oxidative stress, impaired thioredoxin regulation, mineral deficiencies, impairment of the opioid system, endocrine dysfunction, cellular apoptosis, and other disorders.

The list, in whole or in part, has been called to the attention to countless numbers of state and federal health officials, but to my knowledge, no agency has ever undertaken a review of the research, in whole or in part, and applied the research to the assertion that there is no link between vaccines and autism. This despite the fact that the first paper on the list was conducted by CDC itself, run by the head of the CDC's Vaccine Safety Branch, Frank DeStefano, and found a 600% increase in autism in children who received the highest levels of mercury in their vaccines.

It can be plainly stated that the US National Immunization Program (now called the National Vaccine Plan) run by the US Department of Health and Human services, is the most nakedly corrupt sector of the US Government.

Every living American and most of the global population is impacted by their open and unaddressed fraud.



No vaccine safety statement offered by any local, state, or federal authority remains untouched by this fraud, and no statement offered on vaccine safety by any of them should be believed and taken at face value.



Caveat emptor.





Addendum:



2021  Biden Administration



The day after this piece was published and widely circulated on The Age Of Autism, CDC replaced the Hungry Lie back onto their web site after five months. Again, without comment.

Their position on vaccine induced autism has nothing to do with science.

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In his snow-bound workshop, Swiss master Francois Junod's moving mechanical artworks whir into action: birds whistle, historical luminaries write poetry -- traditional craftsmanship newly recognised as being among the world's cultural heritage.

In the Jura mountains running along the French-Swiss border, the precision skills behind some of the planet's finest watches and automatons have been handed down through the generations.

The region's historical pre-eminence in a field combining science, art and technology has also been given a boost by the United Nations.

In December, the craftsmanship of mechanical watchmaking and art mechanics in the Juras were jointly added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

They now sit on a par with Argentine tango, Belgian beer culture, Chinese calligraphy, French cuisine, Indian yoga, Japanese Kabuki theatre, Mexico's Day of the Dead and Spanish Flamenco.

Junod is working on an automaton of Leonardo da Vinci. His eyelids blink, and his sparkling eyes move, following his pen strokes as his arm moves from left to right.

A picture taken on January 19, 2021 shows a moving mechanical artwork representing a clown writing, in the workshop of Swiss master Francois Junod in Sainte-Croix. Photo: AFP

"It's close to magic," Junod told AFP as he brought Da Vinci's head to life.

"There is renewed interest in these objects because we are living in an electronic age, and to see these mechanical artworks again -- the mystery comes back, the magic returns.

"It revives this profession which had disappeared somewhat."

Quiet hum of cogs

Pristine snow engulfs Junod's studio in the village of Sainte-Croix in western Switzerland, more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) up in the Juras, and less than five kilometres (three miles) from the French border.

The area is a hotbed of creation in watchmaking and its close relative, art mechanics.

It has been so since the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which saw Protestants flee France en masse, many heading for safety in the frontier mountains, taking their skills and industriousness with them.

"The tranquillity of the mountains goes very well with the profession," said 61-year-old Junod, who is the fourth generation of his family working in mechanics in Sainte-Croix.

His 20-year-old nephew is among the five people working in the studio: a Steampunk's dream filled with cogs, pistons, mechanical butterflies, a cantering horse, 19th-century music boxes and colourful giant birds.

There is even a skeleton in a feathered hat, used to model movement; hands and legs hanging down from the ceiling; shelves full of miniature heads; tools galore and a giant eye with a rotating music-playing iris.

A picture taken on January 19, 2021 shows birds part of a moving mechanical artwork, in the workshop of Swiss master Francois Junod in Sainte-Croix. Photo: AFP

Patience and time

Junod and his team work on five or six pieces at once. The art form requires patience and curiosity.

The automaton of Russian writer Alexander Pushkin -- which could write 1,458 poems in ink -- took five years; the Tapis Volant flying carpet took two.

"You have to like difficulty. You need patience. And you have to be passionate," said Junod.

The job satisfaction comes from seeing the finished product come to life, having overcome all the technical and aesthetic hurdles.

"Even within the same studio, everyone will have their own style in making an automaton," said Junod.

"It's that which gives it it's soul. It really has a soul. No two are ever the same.

"That's the charm of this craft."

picture taken on January 19, 2021 shows a moving mechanical artwork representing a robot that was used during a theatre performance, at the entrance of the workshop of Swiss master Francois Junod in Sainte-Croix. Photo: AFP

Fairies and the future

A timeless charm which can still find a captive audience among the smartphone generation, as happened with La Fee Ondine: a bejewelled fairy sat on a lilypad, her wings fluttering as she wakes to watch a water lily open and a butterfly emerging.

"Wherever we showed it, whether in Beijing, London, Paris or Geneva, every time, young people swarmed around it with their iPhones filming it. Because it moves. It's poetic," said Junod.

The local watchmaking and art mechanics industries were thought to be dying out when digital technology began to creep in from the 1970s onwards.

But traditional Swiss watches saw off the challenge, and art mechanics also survived by embracing the possibilities opened up by computer simulations and three-dimensional printing.

"Now we mix modern tools with ancient traditional methods," said Junod, meaning the art form's limits are an ever-moving target.

"We can design objects that were impossible to manufacture in the traditional way and thanks to 3D printing, you can make incredible parts," he said, even in gold and silver.

"The imagination can go even further.

"Almost everything is possible."

A conservationist who has spent decades fighting to protect koalas in the NSW Northern Rivers has been made a member of the Order of Australia.

Lorraine Vass, who was president of community group Friends of the Koala for 15 years, was acknowledged in this years Australia Day honours for significant service to wildlife conservation.

Koala conservationist Lorraine Vass has been honoured this Australia Day.

After a career as a librarian, Mrs Vass and her husband became active in koala conservation after retiring to Wyrallah near Lismore, an area with a large koala population.

She has since served in a range of conservation advisory and advocacy roles with local councils, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and other organisations.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on 20 December after Oli, in a surprise move, dissolved the Parliament

Kathmandu: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was expelled from the general membership of the Nepal Communist Party by the splinter faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Sunday for alleged anti-party activities, further intensifying the infighting within the ruling party.

The decision was taken at the Standing Committee meeting of the faction of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) led by former prime ministers Prachanda and Madhav Kumar Nepal after Oli failed to give an explanation to his recent anti-party moves as sought by party leadership, said Ganesh Shah, a senior standing committee member of the party.

Earlier in December, the splinter group had removed 68-year-old Oli, one of the two chairmen of the ruling party, as the co-chair. Madhav Nepal was named as the party's second chairman. Prachanda is the first chairman of the party.

The Prachanda-led faction on 15 January sought clarification from Oli alleging that he was carrying out activities that go against the party's policies.

The faction decided to remove Oli even from the ordinary membership of the party after he chose not to furnish any clarification, party sources said.

Oli had been accused of violating party statute by the splinter group.

There is a provision of disciplinary action in party's Constitution in case of public activities against the party's principles, programs, policies and legal system, factionalism and conspiracy within the party, violation of party decision, lack of loyalty and trust in the party, breach of confidentiality, according to party sources.

The latest political development came two days after the NCP's splinter faction led a massive anti-government rally, saying the "unconstitutional" dissolution of the Parliament by Prime Minister Oli has posed serious threats to the country's hard-earned federal democratic republic system.

Prachanda last week said that by dissolving the House, Oli has given a blow to the Constitution as well as the democratic republic system which has been established in the country through seven decades of struggle by the people.

Madhav Nepal, who last month replaced Oli as the chairman of the party by Prachanda-led faction, said that the Constitution has not given rights to the prime minister to dissolve Parliament.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on 20 December after Oli, known for his pro-China leanings, in a surprise move dissolved Parliament, amidst a tussle for power with Prachanda.

His move to dissolve the 275-member House sparked protests from a large section of the NCP led by Prachanda, also a co-chair of the ruling party.

Oli, who is the chairperson of a faction of the NCP, has said he was forced to dissolve the House after knowing that the Prachanda-led faction was planning to file a no-confidence motion against him and introduce an impeachment motion against President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Meanwhile, a petition has been filed at the Supreme Court on Sunday to verify the authenticity of a notice published in Nepal Gazette regarding the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR).

Leaders belonging to the Dahal-Nepal faction of the NCP Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Shashi Shrestha, Rajkumari Jhankri, among others filed the application at the constitutional bench presently hearing the case at the apex court, The Himalayan Times reported.

The Office of the Attorney General on Friday submitted the copy of Nepal Gazette that has printed the notification about HoR dissolution. The notification was posted on the website of the Department of Printing on Thursday.

The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had asked the Office of the Attorney General to produce the Nepal Gazette to see whether or not the presidential order on dissolution of HoR was published in it, on 21 January.

Advocates Tikaram Bhattarai and Om Prakash Aryal who argued on behalf of the petitioners challenging the dismantling of the House had pleaded before the constitutional bench, saying that the dissolution order issued by the President's Office was illegal as it was not published in the Nepal Gazette.

Bhattarai said Prime Minister Oli's decision to dissolve the House on December 20 was unconstitutional and that President Bhandari had erred by endorsing it swiftly.

Oli-led CPN-UML and Prachanda-led NCP (Maoist Centre) merged in May 2018 to form a unified Nepal Communist Party following the victory of their alliance in the 2017 general elections.

After a vertical split in the ruling party following the dissolution of the House, both the factions, one led by Oli and another led by Prachanda, have submitted separate applications at the Election Commission claiming that their faction is the genuine party and asked to provide them with the election symbol of the party. However, the Election Commission is yet to decide the matter.

In December, China sent a four-member high-level delegation to Nepal to prevent a split within the NCP. The team - led by a Vice-minister of the Chinese Communist Party, Guo Yezhou - held separate meetings with several top NCP leaders before returning home without much success in its mission.

India has described Oli's sudden decision to dissolve Parliament and call for fresh elections as an "internal matter" that is for the country to decide as per its democratic processes.
Indias commercial capital Mumbai tops the list for the COVID-19 hotspot. The city contributes 18.10 percent cases in India and 54.73% in the state of Maharashtra.

The wealth gap between Indias richest and its poorest widened during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially due to the nationwide lockdown in April-June 2020, which rendered millions of migrants and daily wage workers without means of livelihood, as per a report by global charitable organisation Oxfam.

Indias 100 billionaires have seen their fortunes increase by Rs 12.98 lakh crore since March 2020, enough to give every one of the 138 million poorest Indian people a cheque for Rs 94,045 each, said Oxfam in the India supplement of its report on global income inequality.

The report shows how the rigged economic system is enabling a super-rich elite to amass wealth in the middle of the worst recession and the biggest economic crisis in the history of independent India, while billions of people are struggling to make ends meet. It reveals how the pandemic is deepening long-standing economic, caste, ethnic, and gender divides, Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said in a statement.

While the Coronavirus was being touted as a great equaliser in the beginning, it laid bare the stark inequalities inherent in the society soon after the lockdown was imposed, Behar added.

In 2020, Indias rich were able to escape the pandemics worst impact; and while the white-collar workers isolated themselves and worked from home, a majority of the not-so-fortunate Indians lost their livelihood, the report said.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

The wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 35 percent during the lockdown and by 90 percent since 2009 to $422.9 billion ranking India, sixth in the world after US, China, Germany, Russia and France. In fact, the increase in wealth of the top 11 billionaires of India during the pandemic could sustain the NREGA scheme or the health ministry for 10 years, the report said.

While the findings of Oxfam and other similar agencies are not considered by policymakers, they come at a time when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will surely keep the urban and rural poor in mind while presenting the Union Budget 2021-22, exactly a week from today.

The report said, out of a total 122 million Indians who lost their jobs in 2020, 75 percent or 92 million jobs, were lost in the informal sector. The mass reverse migration on foot by millions during the lockdown turned a health crisis into a humanitarian one.

The report also highlighted other gaps during the pandemic, like online education at a time when the poorest do not have access to phones of internet connectivity. It also spoke about health inequality

Only 6 percent of the poorest 20 percent has access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93.4 percent of the top 20 percent. 59.6 percent of Indias population lives in a room or less. This meant that facilities to wash hands and maintaining distance, essential to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, was impossible for a majority of the population, it said.

17 million women lost their job in April 2020. Unemployment for women rose by 15 percent from a pre-lockdown level of 18 percent. This increase in unemployment of women can result in a loss to Indias GDP of about 8 per cent or $218 billion, it said.

According to government statistics, in the United States in 2019, more than 5,000 workers died on the job and almost 900,000 were injured. The best way to protect workers is to have vital information ready and available at their fingertips. Unfortunately, many companies still rely on outdated technology to store and manage their data, which poses real harm to employees in the event of an accident.

Since January 2020, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has opened ongoing investigations into seven separate incidences of explosions and fires involving companies who manufacture various products; in many cases, these accidents caused fatalities among plant workers.(1) The most recent case occurred in December 2020, when an explosion at a chemical facility in West Virginia killed one worker and injured two others.(2) This most recent disaster seems to be tied to missing information about certain chemicals that were present on-sitehad this information been readily available to employees, the outcome could have been different. The best way to protect workers is to have vital information ready and available at their fingertips, says Brian Sallade, CEO and President of engineering and information management firm Kinsmen Group. Unfortunately, many companies still rely on outdated technology to store and manage their data, which poses real harm to employees in the event of an accident.

The fatal plant explosion in West Virginia highlights how federal laws, such as the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, do not guarantee that workers will be knowledgeable about the chemicals used in the manufacturing process. While the exact causes of the fatal explosion are still under investigation, some news organizations report that emergency personnel did not have important information available about chemicals that were present in the fire after the explosion.(3) Had this information been available through the use of cloud-based computing technology, in combination with AI and Machine Learning the accident may not have occurred at all, and the fatality could have been avoided.

Current manufacturing certification processes do not require companies to digitize their data in one easily accessible location, leaving them to rely on antiquated dispersed systems to process, store, and retrieve essential information. Data may be stored among various computer systems or even paper files, making it hard to retrieve pertinent information quickly when it is needed. But collecting data into one, centralized data management system, and contextualizing data with the help of AI and Machine Learning, helps all employees of a company quickly and easily find the information they need.

Companies spend an average of $7,500 for each lost-time workplace injury, but the financial consequences of workplace accidents do not stop there. (4) Companies may have to replace damaged equipment, reconstruct facilities, pay workers compensation claims, or settle lawsuits. The National Safety Council estimates that work injury costs in 2018 topped $170 billion, with each fatality costing over $1 million in medical expenses, employer costs, and wage losses. (5) More important than the financial impact, the hardship this brings to families and morale on workers cannot be expressed in a number and should be avoided at all cost.

Digitizing company and process manufacturing data is essential to preventing accidents, two strategies can help employers do just that. First, companies may complete an Engineering Information Maturity Check to check the maturity of how the organization manages its data, systems, tools and organizational aspects. This helps companies identify areas for improvement and develop roadmaps to do so. Then, armed with a roadmap for improvement the Best Documented Asset (BDA) strategy helps owner-operators fill in the gaps between existing data management systems with a combination of state-of-the-art technologies and applications, processes, and tools to help integrate data company-wide. This approach ensures that the most recent data is available to the employee. With documents, data, and asset information integrated end to end, it ensures the latest and greatest is on file. The BDA approach helps companies document each and every asset to the highest standards possible, giving workers the tools they need to make important decisions that prevent disasters from occurring.

Easily accessible information which can be found quickly is crucial for preventing manufacturing accidents. Kinsmen Groups solutions can dramatically help manufacturers in almost all industries ensure the quality of their data, make it easily attainable, and help prevent future disasters, Sallade says.

About Kinsmen Group

Kinsmen Group is an award-winning team of engineering information management specialists with a passion for applying innovation to prominent oil, gas, pharmaceutical, and utility companies. Their organization strives to deliver superior business results through excellence and pragmatism each time they partner with any business, revolutionizing each with wiser decision-making, risk reduction, safety improvement, and higher returns on their investments. Kinsmen Group is ranked as the "Best of the Best Professional Service Organizations" by Service Performance Insight Research and among the "Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America" by Inc. Magazine. To learn more, visit http://www.kinsmengroup.com.

Sources:

1. Investigations. CSB, 2020, csb.gov/investigations/.

2. U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board news release; CSB Deploys to Belle, WV; 09 DEC 2020; csb.gov/csb-deploys-to-belle-wv-/ | Accessed 20 JAN 2021

3. Tony, Mike. Fatal Belle Plant Explosion Shows Federal Law Doesn't Prevent Lack of Knowledge about New Chemicals at Facilities. Mail, 17 Dec. 2020, wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/fatal-belle-plant-explosion-shows-federal-law-doesnt-prevent-lack-of-knowledge-about-new-chemicals/article_8bea3055-4ade-5f2d-9432-9177eaa0910a.html.

4. Geng, Tony. The Hidden Costs of Lost-Time Injuries in the Workplace. Superior Glove, 12 Oct. 2016, superiorglove.com/blog/the-high-cost-of-lost-time-injuries.

5. Work Injury Costs. Injury Facts, 20 Feb. 2020, injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/costs/work-injury-costs
Demand for beef remains constant, but constant at a price it would appear They are not going to drive it any faster my source told me, as weekly kill numbers continue to float around the 32,000 mark.

Yet prices did appear to edge up last week, at least on the cull cow and bull side.

R grade cows are now reported to operating between 3.40-3.50/kg with O grades 3.20-3.30 and your better P on 3.00-3.10/kg.

Price reporting for bulls across the midlands sees those with full loads of Us on 3.80-3.90/kg Im told with R grades ranging from 3.75-3.80 while your good continental O is somewhere from 3.60-3.65/kg.

That said prices for bulls further south seem to be from 5-10c/kg less.

On the bullock and heifer side, it did appear over the weekend that factories had managed to blunt any further upward price pressure, meaning that the general run of base quotes for bullocks continues on 3.75-3.80/kg with heifers on a base of 3.80-3.85/kg.

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All that said it appears that those with good numbers of suitable bullocks and heifers were squeezing more out of the top of the market with combined loads reported as making from 3.85-3.90/kg especially if they include Angus.

Looking at the trade in Britain, Bord Bia reports that prices for the week ending the 16th of January saw prices for R3 bullocks and heifers move up to 4.28/kg, excluding VAT.

While in Northern Ireland the same week saw R3 grade bullocks and heifers making 4.28/kg and 4.30/kg respectively also excluding VAT. Bord Bia also reports that among those cattle slaughtered in the north during the week ending the 16th of this month were 164 which were purchased in the Republic.

In total, 768 animals went north that week, with balance a combination of calves and stores which went for further feeding.

Trade on the continent for the week ending the 16th of the month saw R3 grade bullocks in France averaging 3.63/kg with R3 heifers on 4.08/kg while in Italy R3 steers were on 4.27/kg with R3 heifers making 4.30/kg. Both sets of figures for France and Italy also do not include VAT.

Factory bosses will no doubt point out that with the northern price now in line with that of the UK caution is required.

The reality is that for those who have sold cattle out of their sheds over the last six weeks, on the back of rising factory prices the costs were the costs, however, for those still fattening meal prices have risen, and thats an additional cost that will have to have to be recovered.

The question then becomes what price will factories have to pay to those who will have beef ready to sell come in March or April?
Psilocybin, the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms, has shown promise as a treatment for a range of mood disorders. Credit: Jonathon Carmichael, Author provided

While the public focus remains on COVID vaccines, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) continues to evaluate a range of proposals around the provision of medical treatments in Australia.

The regulatory body is currently considering whether psychiatrists should be allowed to prescribe MDMA and psilocybin to treat mental illness. The TGA will announce its interim decision on February 3, and will make a final ruling on April 22.

Psychedelic drugs for the treatment of mental illness represent a promising area. And any new treatment which could help people sufferingparticularly in the wake of the pandemicmay seem like a good thing.

But until Australia engages in further research into the therapeutic potential of these drugs, we believe it's too soon to make them available as medicines.

The application

Increasing research evidence suggests MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, could be an effective adjunct to psychotherapy for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Meanwhile, clinical trials of psilocybin, the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms, show it could assist psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety and depression, addiction, and a range of other mood disorders.

On this basis, in July 2020, an organization called Mind Medicine Australia made an application to the TGA requesting MDMA and psilocybin be classified as Schedule 8 controlled medicines.

MDMA and psilocybin are currently classified as Schedule 9 prohibited drugs. Other examples of Schedule 9 drugs include heroin and methamphetamine.

As Schedule 8 controlled medicines, MDMA and psilocybin would sit alongside drugs like dexamphetamine, morphine and some forms of medical cannabis. Some of these and other Schedule 8 drugs such as ketamine and cocaine are used recreationally.

If the TGA reclassifies MDMA and psilocybin, Australia would be the first country in the world to recognize these drugs as legitimate medicines.

Is Australia ready?

Early research suggesting psychedelics had therapeutic potential lapsed after 1971, when the drugs were made illegal around the world. But it resumed early in the 2000s, manifesting into an international renaissance in psychedelic science.

Australia was a little later to get involved than some countries, but in the past 18 months we've succeeded in initiating clinical research locally.

Edith Cowan University, Monash University, the University of Melbourne, and St Vincent's hospitals in Melbourne and Sydney all have research on psychedelic-assisted therapies either in the pipeline or already underway. The trial at St Vincent's hospital in Melbourne is the first to have started recruiting participants.

These trials aim both to contribute to the research happening globally, and to demonstrate that Australia has the regulatory processes, people and infrastructure to provide these treatments safely and effectively.

But we're not there yet

There are three key reasons why Australia is not yet ready for MDMA and psilocybin to be rescheduled as medicines by the TGA.

1. No accredited training

Australia has very few health-care professionals trained to provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. These drugs produce powerful changes in consciousness that could lead to psychological harm, rather than healing, when given to unsuitable patients, or by health-care workers without the necessary training.

2. Prohibitive costs

Medical cannabis is only legally available in pharmaceutical formulationsthe actual plant is not available as a medicine. This makes medical cannabis expensive. Only 3.9% of Australians using cannabis for medical reasons access it legally. We expect pharmaceutical-grade MDMA and psilocybin will also be expensive to access.

3. Going underground

Like medical cannabis, we're concerned that lack of access and prohibitive costs will mean more people will access existing unregulated MDMA and psilocybin treatment services. This puts people at risk, since there's no quality control of either the drugs or the therapists.

Should these issues arise, our efforts over recent years to finally establish psychedelic medicine in Australia could be undone.

What will the TGA decide?

Given these concerns, we believe it's highly unlikely the TGA will decide to reschedule MDMA and psilocybin as medicines at this stage.

And while emerging evidence is continuing to suggest these drugs can be effective adjuncts to psychotherapy, we believe the application was made without sufficient regard to the universally accepted process of new drug approval.

We need to see Phase 3 clinical trials completed before any informed decisions can be made (the trials in Australia have not yet reached Phase 3). This approval process is important so we know the drugs are effective and safe, including understanding any side effects.

By way of comparison, we know Pfizer wouldn't apply for TGA approval for a new antidepressant before completing Phase 3 research. Even the COVID-19 vaccines Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna are fast-tracking internationally have been required to complete stringent, widely scrutinized Phase 3 trials.

Where to from here?

Current and future Australian research in this space will offer a crucial pathway for therapists to learn how to provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. This is an important step before Australia is ready for MDMA and psilocybin to be approved as medicines.

Moving forward, we anticipate Australian health-care professional registration boards will come to acknowledge psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy as a speciality area of training, and will need to develop accredited training programs to meet the demand for appropriately qualified therapists.

Notably, none of the current research into psychedelic-assisted treatments for mental illness in Australia is receiving government funding. Government support will be important to extend this research beyond the early-phase trials, and ultimately will be crucial for the widespread rollout of this treatment.

Finally, to ensure equitable access, psychedelic-assisted therapies will need to be embedded within the public health-care system and supported by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Our submission to the TGA, along with others, will be made public on February 3, when the TGA announces its interim decision on the rescheduling of psilocybin and MDMA.

Explore further Psychedelic drugs could help treat PTSD

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Bareilly : , Jan 25 (IANS) In a shocking incident, a 45-year-old man was tied to a tree with barbed wires and set on fire in Sheeshgarh area of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, over an old enmity.

The charred body of Dharampal was found late on Saturday night and an FIR against two persons was filed on late Sunday evening.

Station House Officer (SHO) of Sheeshgarh, Rajkumar Bhardwaj, said: "Our forensic team has collected samples and we have also started investigation. The circumstantial evidence suggests the man was forcefully tied to the tree and set on fire." The post-mortem examination was conducted on Sunday which confirmed the cause of death as shock due to ante-mortem burn injuries. This means that Dharampal was alive when he was set on fire.

The brother of the deceased, Bishanlal, said that Dharampal was abducted and murdered.

"He had gone to sleep on Friday night after dinner and went missing a few hours later. His charred body was recovered about 800 metres from the house. He was not wearing slippers," said Bishanlal.

His brother-in-law, Mangal Dev, said: "The body was tightly tied to the tree. He was brutally killed." His daughter has blamed the neighbours for the murder.

SSP Bareilly, Rohit Singh Sajwan said: "Dharampal's death is still a mystery and the family members are yet to lodge a complaint. We have asked the family to give us a written complaint. The note left by Dharampal is also unclear. Two suspects, who are neighbours and named in the note, are under detention and they are being questioned as well." Dharampal's daughter told police that he was scared for the last few days and often used to say that he might be killed.
Representative image

India has started a vaccination drive against novel coronavirus infection with healthcare workers at the frontline of the countrys COVID-19 battle getting their first jabs.

The beginning of the inoculation drive has posed a challenge before multinational companies operating in India and big domestic firms that how to deal with employees who refuse to take coronavirus vaccine when they return to the office, reported Business Standard.

According to the report, a top European business group with representatives from leading companies is planning to request the government to issue guidelines on COVID-19 vaccination. For this, it is looking to approach the government through national industry associations as well European Union bodies, it said.

We have had a discussion on this issue and plan to seek guidance from the government, said the report citing a senior executive of a European major. However, any talk on this issue would happen only after the first round of vaccination is over, the official added.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

Employment is a private contact between employee and employer. The terms can be changed by the latter and need to be accepted. One has to see whether incorporating the clause is lawful and or not. In this case, the intention is clear -- protecting the employees, Sanjeev Kumar, a partner in Luthra & Luthra Partners, told the publication.

As per HR firms, the move will depend on the nature of the job, the report stated. For instance, in firms where work can be done remotely, there will be no problem or change required. However, for jobs that require working in close proximity, companies could mandate taking the COVID-19 vaccine for new recruitment as well as current employees, Rituparna Chakraborty, co- founder and executive president of TeamLease was quoted as saying.

The Centre has made it clear that the choice of taking the COVID-19 vaccine is voluntary.

Indias drug regulator has approved two vaccines - Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) -- for emergency use in the country.

Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here

CASERTA, JAN 25 - Italian police on Monday arrested two men and a woman on suspicion of abducting and raping a 22-year-old mentally handicapped woman near Caserta and filming what they did to her. Police said the three beat their alleged victim with a stick and gang-raped her while filming the violence. The alleged victim's father called in the police after his daughter went missing from the family home. Police in Santa Maria Capua Vetere said the case was a cross between stalking,revenge porn and sexual abuse. The alleged rape took place at Maddaloni. (ANSA).
Former Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Li Jinzao has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office over serious violations of Party discipline and laws, the top anti-graft body announced Monday.

Li was also removed from his position as a delegate to the 19th CPC National Congress.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission said in a statement that they had conducted an investigation into Li's case.

Li was accused of being dishonest and disloyal to the Party and resisting the authorities' investigation.

The investigation found that Li, in violation of the CPC's code of conduct, had been frequently attending banquets that risked compromising the impartiality of his work and accepting money and gifts, according to the statement.

He had provided help for others during official selection and appointment procedures, accepting money and gifts in return.

He also took advantage of his positions to seek benefits for his relatives' businesses, or help others in business operation and project contracting and accept huge amounts of money and gifts in exchange.

Also, the investigation found that Li had led a corrupt life and colluded with his family in profit-seeking activities.

Li has severely violated the Party discipline and is suspected of taking bribes, the statement said, adding that he showed no restraint even after the 18th CPC National Congress.

The statement said his illicit gains shall be confiscated, and the case will be transferred to the procuratorate for further investigation and prosecution.

News Around the Republic of Mexico



Mexico Airport Operators Resume Expansion Projects



Grupo Aeroportuario del PacAfico's expansion plans include a new terminal at Puerto Vallarta International Airport that will increase the facility's capacity for arriving planes and passengers by almost 50%.



At least two of the country's three largest private operators - Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA), Grupo Aeroportuario del PacAfico (GAP) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (Asur) - announced they intend to continue or start works defined in their master plans.



The three companies could position themselves as the most resilient in the sector last year, according to



Mexico has seen a faster recovery in flights than other countries in Latin America, according to reports. This trend could be attributed to the government's decision to refrain from imposing too many air traffic restrictions and to keep the borders open.



Experts expect air passenger traffic returning to 2019 levels by 2023, although under some worst-case scenarios the recovery could take until 2025.



Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte



OMA announced that it is readying a 12bn-peso (US$611mn) investment plan for the next five years.



Half of that investment will go to the construction of a wing at Monterrey airport that serves the capital of Nuevo LeAn state, CEO Ricardo DueAas EspriA told daily El Economista.



The rest will be for the completion of airport modernization works at TorreAn in Coahuila state and Ciudad JuArez, and Chihuahua's airport, he said.



Monterrey airport is OMA's busiest terminal. The group operates 13 airports in the country.



The CEO also said that the group is considering adding to its investment plans technologies such as facial recognition, electronic tickets and sanitation systems.



From January-September 2020, OMA's revenues declined 40%, according to El Economista.



Grupo Aeroportuario del PacAfico



After announcing a El Financiero.



Revuelta updated the original investment amount to 28bn pesos.



Revuelta said that the government, through the communications and transportations ministry (SCT), and the group agreed to not downgrade the investment plan in exchange for prolonging the construction period, meaning works under the master plan will take longer than the originally planned five years.



The works, mainly focusing on a



Guadalajara's airport is set to receive 12bn pesos of the total investment, and construction for the second runway kicked off in October.



Other Operators



Asur, which operates nine airports in the southeast, has not disclosed plans, but financial reports suggest the operator suffered the biggest hit from the pandemic.



The region in which the group operates is expected to see a tourism boom in the next few years due to the



However, some experts think the president's decision to award the contract for a new airport in Tulum, Quintana Roo state, could harm demand at the three terminals Asur controls in the YucatAn Peninsula.



Tourism board Fonatur is also persuading the operator to transfer the MArida airport in YucatAn state closer to the Maya train station that will be built in the city. But plans have not been confirmed.



President AndrAs Manuel LApez Obrador (AMLO) has said that the Maya train would require the modernization and even expansion of all surrounding airports.



Read the full article on BNamericas. Some private airport operators are resuming their pre-pandemic investment plans as Mexican passenger traffic is returning to growth. Passenger numbers had collapsed by more than 90% during the peak of lockdowns last year.At least two of the country's three largest private operators - Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA), Grupo Aeroportuario del PacAfico (GAP) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (Asur) - announced they intend to continue or start works defined in their master plans.The three companies could position themselves as the most resilient in the sector last year, according to news site CEO. Mexico has seen a faster recovery in flights than other countries in Latin America, according to reports. This trend could be attributed to the government's decision to refrain from imposing too many air traffic restrictions and to keep the borders open.Experts expect air passenger traffic returning to 2019 levels by 2023, although under some worst-case scenarios the recovery could take until 2025.OMA announced that it is readying a 12bn-peso (US$611mn) investment plan for the next five years.Half of that investment will go to the construction of a wing at Monterrey airport that serves the capital of Nuevo LeAn state, CEO Ricardo DueAas EspriA told daily El Economista.The rest will be for the completion of airport modernization works at TorreAn in Coahuila state and Ciudad JuArez, and Chihuahua's airport, he said.Monterrey airport is OMA's busiest terminal. The group operates 13 airports in the country.The CEO also said that the group is considering adding to its investment plans technologies such as facial recognition, electronic tickets and sanitation systems.From January-September 2020, OMA's revenues declined 40%, according to El Economista.After announcing a delay to its five-year 24bn-peso investment plan in April, GAP said in December that it will resume plans for upgrading the 12 airports it operates in the country, CEO RaAl Revuelta told dailyRevuelta updated the original investment amount to 28bn pesos.Revuelta said that the government, through the communications and transportations ministry (SCT), and the group agreed to not downgrade the investment plan in exchange for prolonging the construction period, meaning works under the master plan will take longer than the originally planned five years.The works, mainly focusing on a new terminal and runway for Guadalajara airport and another terminal for Puerto Vallarta airport in Jalisco state, will take one year and eight months longer.Guadalajara's airport is set to receive 12bn pesos of the total investment, and construction for the second runway kicked off in October.Asur, which operates nine airports in the southeast, has not disclosed plans, but financial reports suggest the operator suffered the biggest hit from the pandemic.The region in which the group operates is expected to see a tourism boom in the next few years due to the Maya train, set to begin operations in 2023.However, some experts think the president's decision to award the contract for a new airport in Tulum, Quintana Roo state, could harm demand at the three terminals Asur controls in the YucatAn Peninsula.Tourism board Fonatur is also persuading the operator to transfer the MArida airport in YucatAn state closer to the Maya train station that will be built in the city. But plans have not been confirmed.President AndrAs Manuel LApez Obrador (AMLO) has said that the Maya train would require the modernization and even expansion of all surrounding airports.



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LANSING, Mich., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Air suspension specialist, Air Lift Company , announced today that they have acquired air tank manufacturer Flo Airride Mfg .

Flo Airride, founded in 2016 by Mike Alexander and Tim Dunaway, has a reputation for excellence within the lowered truck market, specializing in quality air tanks specifically for users of air suspension products to lower their vehicles.

Under the terms of the acquisition, all business operations will move from Flo Airride's Oklahoma facility to Air Lift's Lansing, Michigan-based headquarters. In addition to acquiring Flo Airride, Air Lift Company will gain the rights to Slam'd Magazine , a publication created to build a community of engaged automotive enthusiasts around the world.

Air Lift Company will also welcome former Flo Airride-owner Mike Alexander to the Air Lift Performance team as the Air Lift Performance Brand Manager. Alexander has worked for almost two decades within the automotive aftermarket, beginning his custom automotive career in the print publishing world and later as the Director of Marketing at AccuAir, before founding Slam'd Magazine in 2014 and Flo Airride in 2016.

"I'm very excited to take the Flo brand to the next level and to now be official members of the Air Lift Performance family," Alexander says. "It was important for us to partner with a company that we know, trust, and believe in, and Air Lift Performance fits that profile perfectly. With this partnership, our customers can look forward to their orders being processed quickly, to a full team of engineers that will bring exciting products to the brand and best of all we will be backed by the best customer service team in the air suspension industry!"

Air Lift Company President, Kevin Mehigh, believes that the acquisition will help to grow Air Lift Performance's reputation for high-quality and customizable air suspension systems. "Having Flo Airride as a part of Air Lift Performance will allow us to develop stronger relationships within the market and also to assist us in establishing Air Lift Performance as the air suspension leader for all categories of lowered vehicles, from supercars to street trucks. We can't wait to see what the future holds for both brands."

Air Lift Performance is currently transitioning the production of Flo Airride tanks to their Lansing, Michigan facility. The team anticipates that sales of Flo product will begin in February of 2021, backed by their world-class shipping speeds. To stay up to date on sales and shipping announcements, visit the Air Lift Performance website .

About Air Lift Company

Air Lift Company, based in Lansing, Michigan, has a legacy of more than 70 years of excellence within the air suspension industry. The company is committed to engineering, manufacturing and selling the highest quality suspension products with the versatility to handle any situation. Air Lift products are available at dealers across the country as well as internationally. For more information or additional product photos, find Air Lift Company, Air Lift Performance and Flo Airride on the web at https://airliftcompany.com/ , http://www.airliftperformance.com , and at http://www.floairride.com .

SOURCE Air Lift Company

Related Links

www.airliftcompany.com


You are here: China

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has announced a new set of revised regulations on the operation of public accounts on social media, cracking down on fake information and misuses of the service.

Public accounts, or official accounts on certain social media, refer to those subscription accounts created and run by users of various internet platforms to distribute information to the public.

The newly unveiled regulations require these platforms to establish a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for public accounts to prevent data fraud such as false account subscriptions and interaction counts.

Account operators shall not generate false data or fabricate information to distort facts and mislead the public, according to the revised regulations.

The new regulations will prohibit paid release or deletion of information and ban operators from unauthorized news production, plagiarism, or incitement of violence online.

The revised regulations will come into effect on Feb. 22.



TLDR: The Pro Google SEO and SERP Certification Bundle can turn you into an SEO expert with tips and tactics for putting your brand at the top of those valuable Google search results. If you have any responsibility for a brand or play any role in marketing, then you know about search engine optimization (SEO). And you probably know that deft use of SEO practices can draw a straight line from you and your product to heightened web exposure and higher sales. Google drives over 2.5 trillion web searches a year and controls over 86 percent of the search engine



This story continues at The Next Web
UPPER MANHATTAN, NY  More than 570 eateries across the five boroughs are participating in the New York City Restaurant Week that kicked off Monday  but Upper Manhattan has been left out.

Not a single restaurant in Washington Heights or Inwood - neighborhoods with more than 200,000 residents and dozens, if not hundreds, of eateries  made it to the list.

It's left many scratching their heads.

Over 400 restaurants from Manhattan dominate the list of participating eateries, which gives New Yorkers the chance to taste the city's restaurants at discounted prices. This year, the coronavirus has forced it to be reimagined as a to-go event.

For comparison, 37 restaurants from Harlem and East Harlem are participating, and 41 restaurants on the Upper West Side are taking part.

The more than 570 participating restaurants is a record number, and the eateries will offer select $20.21 meal options for takeout and delivery from Jan. 25 through Sunday.

Restaurants aren't selected by any sort of governing body. Instead, restaurant owners have to sign their own eateries up to take part in the week.

Also, the event is by no means a new one. It has been going on since 1992, and there was a lengthy sign-up window for the 2021 week before it kicked off. Additionally, there are no signs that an outreach effort to other neighborhoods took place that excluded Inwood and Washington Heights.

NYC + Company, which is the organization that runs restaurant week, also waived participation fees for the program this winter to "further support restaurants and encourage participation."

While no eateries in Washington Heights and Inwood decided to participate in this winters program, we are pleased to have other Upper Manhattan restaurants participating, including more than 20 in Harlem," said Chris Heywood, NYC & Company's Executive Vice President of Global Communication. "As always, we would gladly welcome increased participation from other Upper Manhattan eateries in the future.



Story continues

Still, the complete omission from the event leaves some Upper Manhattan restaurant owners feeling as if the community continues to get left behind in the sprawling network of New York City.

"Members of the uptown restaurant community, particularly Latino restaurant owners, did not participate in restaurant week largely because they were unaware of the events and how to participate," said Jeff Garcia, president of the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar & Lounge Association.

"We in no way think it was intentional, but it just goes to show how our community continues to be left behind. To be honest, owners everywhere are overwhelmed with everyday operations and survival, and so well give folks the benefit of the doubt that it was just an oversight. However, we hope to be included in the future."



Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents Inwood and Washington Heights, questioned the amount of outreach getting done in "predominantly underserved communities to be part of these initiatives."

"The pandemic caused thousands of businesses across the city to go under. Our restaurants in Northern Manhattan and across the five boroughs are in crisis, they need all the help they can get," Rodriguez told Patch.

"Restaurant Week is an opportunity for businesses to see a small increase in sales. However, we are seeing the same issue happen over and over again. There isn't enough outreach done for the local businesses in predominantly underserved communities to be part of these initiatives."

Information on the over 570 restaurants participating in the week can be found here.

This article originally appeared on the Washington Heights-Inwood Patch
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Newly passed U.S. law protects vital human artifacts such as Neil Armstrong's bootprint, Apollo landers, and other human artifacts left on the moon.





Preserving Our Lunar History

It's hard for most to care about a few bootprints left on the lunar soil 238,900 miles away. However, how we treat the historic lunar landing sites speak about who humans are and what we strive to be.

On December 31, 2020, the One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act was passed. The act requires companies to work and coordinate with NASA on lunar missions to agree to unenforceable guidelines intended to protect American lunar landing sites. Despite the minuscule scale of those covered by the act, this is the first law enacted by any nation recognizing human heritage in space.

ALSO READ: Researchers Try to Turn the Red Planet to Green Using Minerals





The Moon is Quickly Getting Crowded

With the current advancements and plans set for lunar missions, it's no surprise that there will be a continuous human presence on the moon in the next decades or year.

The NASA Artemis Projects, which includes sending the first woman to the Moon in 2024, is one of the most ambitious missions set. On the other hand, Russia has revived its Luna program, aiming to put cosmonauts on the moon by the 2030s.

The race that used to only be participated by superpowers now includes a multitude of nations and private companies that want to pursue lunar and space exploration.

India has set plans to send a lunar rover within the year. While China implemented the first successful lunar return mission since the 1970s, it announced multiple moon landings in the coming years. Japan and South Korea are also establishing lunar probes and landers.

Private companies like Astrobotic, Intuitive Machins, and Masten Space Systems are coordinating with NASA missions. On the other hand, SpaceX and Blue Moon, while supporting NASA, are preparing for the dawn of private lunar missions and tourism in the following years.

In 1967 the Outer Space Treaty, ratified by 110 spacefaring nations, offers guiding principles that support space as a province of humankind. The treaty explicitly states that all countries and their nationals have the freedom to freely explore and access all areas of the moon.

Hence, everyone has the freedom to roam and explore the moon whenever they want over existing human artifacts such as Neil Armstrong's footprints. That is why the recently passed law is an important safeguard to protecting the first interactions between Earthlings and the moon.

The act also encourages nations to develop best practices that protect human heritage in space by evolving the concepts. As small a step as the act may be, it is a strong statement of recognizing and protecting historic sites.

The One Small Step law gives humans hope for the future of space exploration.

RELATED STORY: NASA Releases Reason Behind Early Engine Shutdown of First SLS Moon Rocket Test





Check out more news and information on NASA Missions on Science Times.
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People are tested for COVID-19 in Beijing, on Jan. 23, 2021. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID-19 Outbreaks Worsen in Beijing, Shanghai

Officials in Chinas capital of Beijing and its financial hub of Shanghai announced new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infections this weekend and locked down dozens more neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the northern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Hebei also reported more COVID-19 cases on Jan. 24, as did southern Chinas Guangdong Province and eastern Chinas Jiangsu Province.

Seventy-two Chinese regions were designated as high- or medium-risk for virus spread by local governments on Jan. 24, which means residents in those areas arent allowed to leave their homes and no public transportation can operate.

Some locals also reported lockdowns in neighborhoods that werent noted by local governments, leading them to suspect that authorities were covering up outbreaks.

In many cases, authorities didnt give people enough time to prepare, leading many people to not have enough food to eat, sick people not having access to medicine, and babies without sufficient formula to drink, according to social media posts.

Tongliao city in Jilin Province, for example, was locked down just three hours after authorities announced the decision on Jan. 18. On Jan. 22, local officials sealed the doors of about 360,000 residents of the citys Dongchang district.

People from Dongchang district commented under the posts of state-run media Peoples Daily and Xinhua on Chinese social media platform Weibo, pleading for food and necessary medicines.

People line up to be tested for the COVID-19 in Beijing, on Jan. 23, 2021. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing

On Jan. 24, Beijings city government announced that a resident from the Yunlifang community in Daxing district was diagnosed with COVID-19. This was the first announced diagnosis in Yunlifang. Authorities swiftly designated the Ronghui community in Daxing district as a high-risk region, while two villages in Shunyi district were designated as medium-risk.

Local authorities had already locked down five communities in Daxing on Jan. 19, adding 11 more communities and villages.

They sealed our doors at 6 a.m. this morning and told us that all villagers cannot leave our homes, a resident of Haizijiao village in Daxing surnamed Wu (pseudonym) told the Chinese-language Epoch Times in a phone interview on Jan. 23.

Wu added that all residents in Daxing are being ordered to take a COVID-19 test daily. She and her fellow villagers were tested three times in recent days.

Theres no announced infection from our village, but we were locked down at home. The key issue for us is that we cant go out to work but need to buy the food that has become so expensive, Wu said. She said that sometimes there is no food available to buy.

Residents from the Ronghui residential compound, where the regime announced dozens of infections, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that all residents have been relocated to centralized quarantine centers.

They [officials] didnt allow us to bring our pets, but would quarantine us for 21 days, one resident said. I had to leave a lot of cat food, dog food, and water for my cat and dog. I hope they wont die.

Meanwhile, since Jan. 22, all residents in the Dongcheng and Xicheng districtswith a total population of more than 2 millionhave been required to take nucleic acid testing. Many had to brave long lines amid the cold weather.

People line up to be tested for the COVID-19 in Beijing, on Jan. 23, 2021. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Shanghai

Also on Jan. 24, the Shanghai city government designated the Guixi residential compound in Huangpu district a medium-risk region. As of press time, officials had announced four medium-risk sectors in the Huangpu and Baoshan districts.

However, Shanghai residents told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that more regions in the city than that have been locked down.

They locked down the areas by Dahuakou and Lingshi roads in Baoshan district, close to the border to Putuo district, and Zhabei Park in Jingan district, Ms. He said on Jan. 23.

The medium-risk regions that authorities announced are located about 6 to 15 miles away from the areas Ms. He described. Officials havent announced any infections in the regions mentioned by Ms. He.

Its definitely that [authorities] diagnosed some residents with COVID-19 in our areas, but they didnt announce it, He said.

Police and workers stand next to buses at a neighborhood where residents are forced to go to centralized quarantine centers in Huangpu district in Shanghai, on January 21, 2021. (STF/AFP via Getty Images)

Ms. Wang, from the Jingan district, said that she heard about a woman who suddenly lost consciousness while lining up to buy medicine at a local pharmacy on Jan. 21.

The outbreak is in the busiest areas of Shanghai. We are scared. The only thing we can do is to avoid going out, Wang said.

Many of the interviewees from Shanghai said they dont believe the official announcements have been fully transparent.
9th Circuit upholds California's ban on indoor worship despite causing 'irreparable harm'

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The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a San Diego area churchs request to overturn Californias COVID-19 restrictions on indoor worship gatherings although it acknowledged that the congregation is suffering irreparable harm due to the temporary ban.

On Friday, the court affirmed a federal judges denial of South Bay United Pentecostal Churchs request to block Gov. Gavin Newsoms restrictions on in-person, indoor worship services as part of an effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Although South Bay has demonstrated irreparable harm, it has not demonstrated that the likelihood of success, the balance of equities or the public interest weigh in its favor, U.S. Circuit Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote in the courts opinion.

Although there is no record evidence that attendance at South Bays services in particular has contributed to the spread of the virus, the record does evidence outbreaks tied to religious gatherings in San Diego County and in the Southern California region.

Wardlaw, a Bill Clinton appointee, added that it is difficult to see how allowing more people to congregate indoors will do anything other than lead to more cases, more deaths, and more strains on Californias already overburdened healthcare system.

We are mindful that even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten. But we do not think this is what California has done, Wardlaw stated. Although South Bay may not be able to hold indoor worship services, California has left open other avenues for worship that pose substantially less risk for further spread of COVID-19.

The opinion stated that California permits unlimited attendance at outdoor worship services and deems clergy and faith-based streaming services essential.

The panel, however, left the door open for legal challenges to the states attendance caps in counties that are categorized under less restrictive tiers for virus mitigation.

According to The Sacramento Bee, the vast majority of counties in the state are listed as purple-tiered counties where indoor worship services are not permitted. Meanwhile, only four counties are in less-restrictive tiers.

In red-tier counties, worship is permitted indoors at a 25% capacity or 100 people. In orange-tier counties, indoor services can be held at 50% capacity or a maximum of 200 people, whichever is fewer.

We cannot, however, conclude that the 100- and 200-person attendance caps on indoor worship under Tiers 2 and 3 of the Blueprint survive strict scrutiny, the ruling explains.

COVID-19 has killed nearly 37,000 Californians and infected more than 3 million, according to the states tracking website. The state also reports that over 19,000 patients have been hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday.

The Chula Vista-based church has argued in court that houses of worship are essential.

In December, the church attempted unsuccessfully for a second time to convince U.S. District Court Judge Cynthia Bashant to lift Newsoms worship restrictions.

Eight weeks after Bashant had denied the churchs challenge, the 9th Circuit ordered Bashant to rehear the case in light of the Supreme Courts decisions in Harvest Rock Church, Inc. v. Newsom and Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo.

In the Cuomo case, the high court in November temporarily blocked worship restrictions in New York. In December, the 2nd Circuit ruled in favor of religious groups and blocked worship restrictions put in place to mitigate the virus.

In the Harvest Rock Church case, the Supreme Court ordered a lower court to rehear a challenge to Newsoms worship restrictions in light of its ruling on similar measures implemented in New York.

In a decision released in December, Bashant once again declined to lift worship restrictions, citing the need to balance religious liberty and public health in the midst of a rapidly evolving  and escalating  pandemic.

While she acknowledged that not being able [to] congregate indoors imposes a burden on Plaintiffs religion, she contends that the burden is a temporary one, with widespread vaccination close in sight.

The state of California has faced numerous lawsuits stemming from the governors gathering restrictions as well as restrictions on other activities.

South Bays legal efforts date back to the spring when the church took its case all the way to the Supreme Court in an attempt to convince the justices to invalidate Newsoms guidelines that required churches to limit attendance at in-person worship services to 25% of a buildings capacity with a maximum of 100 attendees.

Gina Frangello, a Chicago novelist whose infidelity to her (now ex-) husband is the backbone of the upcoming memoir Blow Your House Down, said circumstances helped: Her parents are dead, she has no contact with her former husband (a character in the book), her children kind of dont care and her current husband (a character in the book) is a writer himself. She offered her kids (to the point of annoyance) a chance to weigh in. Her husband, also given the option, told her to tell the story she intended to tell. He understands if youre trying to please everyone, its not an honest book. At the same time, I was willing to look just as harshly at myself as at everyone. The one person who should be cringing the most because of a memoir is the memoirist. But just before the divorce was finalized, her ex-husband introduced a curveball to the settlement: Frangello could never write about him, their marriage or children. She refused.
London: World leaders will be urged to look beyond the coronavirus crisis and refocus on climate change during the first major economic summit held since the pandemic began and Donald Trump left the White House.

The annual World Economic Forum will be held virtually this week instead of its traditional home at the Swiss ski resort of Davos. It usually features a host of political figures, business leaders, celebrities and other global heavyweights.

Political and economic leaders usually gather in person at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, but the conference will be held online this year. Credit:AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has not attended the forum since 2017, will deliver a keynote address that is expected to include hints about Beijings approach to the new geopolitical landscape ushered in by the election of US President Joe Biden.

However Australia will not be represented at the summit, with no political leaders or business figures listed to speak individually or on dozens of special panels.
The company that owns the ill-fated Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans filed suit this week against a host of construction contractors, subcontractors and insurance companies over the 2019 building collapse that killed three workers and injured dozens more.

The suit was filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court late Monday, the first anniversary of the collapse of the upper floors of the 18-story building.

The ownership group, 1031 Canal Development, is led by Mohan Kailas. But company officials have said principals of two of the projects main contractors -- Denzel Clark, owner of general contractor Citadel Builders, and Todd Trosclair, owner of electrical contractor All-Star Electric -- also owned a share.

The development company blames the building's failure on Citadel, All-Star, Heaslip Engineering, architect Harry Baker Smith and 15 other subcontractors. Because of the company's contract with Citadel to build the hotel at Canal and North Rampart streets, it also sued the insurance providers of each contractor and subcontractor.

The lawsuit takes particular aim at Heaslip, whom investigators for the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration have cited for several key violations. The development company's suit asserts that Heaslip failed to design the proper support beams and columns or to calculate the proper loads that each floor could support. It branches out from there to the lead contractor, Citadel, and the various trades subcontractors.

+4 New Orleans sues owners of collapsed Hard Rock Hotel for $12M over cleanup, other costs Nearly a year after the top floors of the Hard Rock Hotel collapsed, killing three workers, injuring 18 others and straining city resources, N

Just as Heaslip did not run appropriate load calculations and analyses, neither did the general contractor or any subcontractor or supplier, 1031 Canal alleges.

The owners also blame steel subcontractor Hub Steel for the way it fabricated and installed beams and metal decking on the upper floors. Metal decking was used like pans for pouring concrete on the top 10 floors of the building. An investigation by WWL television and The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate in November showed how the gage of metal decking was changed and the spans required to support the decking with steel beams did not match what was in the structural plans.

The decking system designed, manufactured and installed by Hub Steel was improperly erected and installed and/or was inadequately designed for the building, 1031 Canal alleges.

The suit says the decking system caused too much weight to be placed on the 16th floor, which contributed to the collapse. It also asserts that "load calculations and analyses would have established that the building had structural problems," but that no alarms were raised because the subcontractors either did not do the analyses or ignored the red flags raised by the tests.

Attorneys for Heaslip and Hub Steel could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But in other pending lawsuits where they were accused to have contributed to the collapse, both companies have denied wrongdoing. Heaslip has denied reviewing, approving or implementing deficient engineering plans, and Hub Steel has denied its materials were improperly fabricated or installed.

Dozens of emails obtained by WWL show Kailas got involved in construction decisions, but none that appeared to involve the building's structural integrity.

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In February 2019, for instance, a Citadel project manager writes about "huge increases in costs" with drywall, and a Kailas Co. employees responds: "I need to get with Mr. Mohan first to see what he wants to keep and to remove." In June, another Kailas employee tells the construction team: "Until further notice do not continue construction on the condo model unit; focus on the mock up rooms."

Other emails show project managers were under pressure to finish work in the weeks before the collapse. The minutes of a contractors meeting on Sept. 17, 2019, state that the concrete on the 18th floor rooftop must be poured by the end of September. Every effort must be made to make this happen, the document says.

As it turned out, the final concrete pour wasnt done until Oct. 5, a week before the collapse.

In another email Sept. 24, a Citadel manager writes to a Heaslip engineer, "We don't have time for the engineering calculations for pre-fabricated metal framing, which were scheduled to be installed on the rooftop for what was supposed to be a bar and pool deck.

The suit is the latest in a series of legal accusations about blame for the collapse.

+8 'They're not forgotten': A year later, Hard Rock Hotel collapse victims remembered with banners An enormous banner featuring a photo of the late Anthony Magrette rippled gently in the breeze Monday near the Hard Rock Hotel site, where the

The development company has for a year been fighting with City Hall over the cleanup of the Hard Rock site. Tensions repeatedly flared over the past year over the recovery of the two bodies that remained in the wreckage. Anthony Magrette's body was removed from the building the day after the collapse, but the remains of Quinnyon Wimberly and Jose Ponce Arreola were trapped for 10 months.

A week after the final body was recovered, the city sued 1031 Canal, its partners and subcontractors to recover costs associated with the collapse, from cleanup to security.

"We will continue to hold the buildings ownership accountable and stand with our families to seek justice. This lawsuit is a step towards doing just that, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said when that suit was filed. Our city was harmed. Our people were killed. No amount of delay or denial or excuses can change that fact  and we will not allow those responsible to evade responsibility for the damages they have caused to our city.

The 1031 Canal company hoped to finish demolishing the building this week. But an active 2020 hurricane season forced several pauses in the work, and the target completion date has been pushed back to January.

CORRECTION: Denzel Clark's first name was misspelled in earlier versions of this story.
Israel on Sunday decided to ban incoming and outgoing passenger flights from Monday at 22:00GMT until the end of January in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 and new coronavirus strains, Israel's Haaretz news website reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will be closing its international airport to nearly all flights as the government races to bring a raging coronavirus outbreak under control.

The entry of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus, coupled with poor enforcement of safety rules in ultra-Orthodox communities, has contributed to one of the worlds highest rates of infections. It also has threatened to undercut Israels highly successful campaign to vaccinate its population against the virus.

Late Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet approved what Netanyahu said would be a tight closure on incoming and outgoing air traffic. The government said it would make exceptions for a small number of humanitarian cases, such as funerals and medical patients, and cargo flights.

"We are closing the skies hermetically, except for really rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of virus mutations, and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign," Netanyahu said.

The order is to begin early Tuesday and remain in effect until Jan. 31. Netanyahus office said the order still required parliamentary legislation to be finalized.

Throughout the pandemic, Israel has restricted entry at its main international airport. But it has made exceptions for certain categories of people, including religious students and Israelis returning from abroad, while allowing Israeli tourists to fly to a handful of "green countries." This limited air travel appears to allowed highly contagious coronavirus variants from the U.K. and other places to enter the country.

Israels Health Ministry has recorded over 595,000 cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic and over 4,361 deaths. New cases of the disease continue to climb, even as the country has launched one of the worlds most successful vaccination campaigns and is in the midst of its third nationwide lockdown.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a virtual meeting with university students - Mikhail Klimentyev /Pool Sputnik Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the organisers of mass anti-Kremlin protests at the weekend to terrorists as he dismissed an investigation by the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny into his personal wealth.

The president, who never says Mr Navalnys name in public, took the surprising step of directly addressing allegations he owns a billion-dollar residence on the Black Sea, dubbed by the opposition leader as Putins Palace.

The comments came after demonstrations on Saturday that saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets over Mr Navalnys arrest on his return to Russia after months recovering from a poisoning, and wider anger over corruption.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is due to visit Moscow early next month to press the Kremlin on the opposition leaders arrest, he said after a meeting of European foreign ministers to decide on a response to the last weeks events.

"The council considered it completely unacceptable and condemned mass detentions and police brutality over the weekend. We call on Russia for the release of Mr Navalny," said Mr Borrell.

Mr Borrell has insisted on sticking to his planned trip, which would be the first to Moscow by an EU foreign policy chief since 2017, despite opposition from several countries.

During a call with university students on Monday, Mr Putin, referring to a claim by authorities that the opposition had lured minors into taking part in the rallies, said that young people should not be used for political ends.

Thats what terrorists do. They put women and children in front of themselves, he said during a video call with Russian university students. Surveys of the protesters found the vast majority of those taking part were adults.

Police officers detain a man during a protest against the jailing of Mr Navalny on January 23 - Pavel Golovkin /AP

Mr Putins comments on the protest, as well as his denial of the palace investigation, marks a shift in the Kremlins approach to Mr Navalny, which has long sought to downplay his significance.

Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did, Mr Putin said when asked by one of the students about the investigation.

Story continues

Mr Navalnys video report on the property in southern Russia - which he says is the countrys largest private home, boasting a casino, private theatre and smoking room with a stripper pole - has been viewed more than 85 million times online.

The video was released shortly after Mr Navalnys arrest. Currently in pre-trial detention, he faces more than a decade behind bars on charges widely seen as politically motivated, after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in an attack he has blamed on the Russian state.

Allies of the opposition leader announced fresh protests on Sunday calling for his release.

EU foreign ministers meanwhile met in Brussels to discuss the blocs response to the arrest of Mr Navalny and police brutality during last weekends protests, which saw more than 3,000 people detained.

European diplomats had earlier said Brussels was expected to hold off on sanctions until Mr Navalny goes to court next month to see if the Kremlin puts him behind bars for an extended term.


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Aer Lingus owner IAG and Ryanair led a fresh slump in airline stocks, with share prices falling further on increased Covid infection rates and fears that new variants of the virus will further restrict travel throughout the EU.

IAG  which also owns British Airways and Spains Iberia, Vueling and Air Europa  sank by as much as 8%; while Ryanair bottomed out at nearly 6%. There were also heavy share price falls for Lufthansa and EasyJet, which tumbled by around 8%.

Ryanair shares are down more than 7% over the past 12 months, with IAG down by over 66%.

Europes main carriers saw hefty losses on Friday after EU countries agreed to keep borders open but to heavily restrict non-essential travel.

However, some leaders are calling for borders to be closed to all but essential internal EU movement  something German Chancellor Angela Merkel called a last resort last week.

Here, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan warned of a tougher and stricter and more wary stance over travel to be taken by Ireland, with the Government set to tighten up on inbound and outbound flights.

David Nabarro  the World Health Organisations special envoy on Covid  said Irelands recent Covid reduction rate could be at risk if a lot of infected people were to enter the country.

Further consolidation

PwC said last week the airline industry would likely see further consolidation this year as pressures persist.

In a report on the state of the aviation sector, it said airlines would need ongoing access to emergency liquidity  including government support  and many carriers will need to rethink their finances, fleet sizes and overall business models in order to simply survive.

Read More Covid-19 sub committee to meet to discuss extension of level 5 restrictions

It said for most airlines a return to business as usual is not going to be a viable option, due to rising debt levels and pre-pandemic passenger numbers unlikely to return for some time.

There will be more airline casualties, it warned, while for those that do survive their ability to thrive will be more challenging.

Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr last week said the German airline giant was effectively losing 1m every two hours due to the Covid impact on operations.

Vaccines and improved testing

In a research note on the industry, Davy said vaccines and improved testing still hold out some hope for business in the summer. Over the medium-to-longer term, European recovery will be led by low-cost operators, with Ryanair and EasyJet leading the way.

The likes of Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have the most work to do in order to restructure their businesses, it said.

However, Davy said IAG's recovery also could be more prolonged given its heavy reliance on long-haul routes.

Airline representative group the International Air Transport Association  IATA  has predicted the industry will have ended up losing $118.5bn (98bn) in 2020 and will lose a further $38.7bn this year.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Supreme Court on Monday was taken by surprise after it came across the pendency of a succession suit filed in 1958 in connection with the division of property of the erstwhile Hyderabad princely state's Prime Minister, Nawab Mir Yousuf Ali Khan Salar Jung III, who died on March 2, 1949.

Salar Jung was the Prime Minister in 1938 and died leaving behind his widow and daughter as Class 1 legal heirs to properties of nearly Rs 10,000 crore. The heirs have fought a legal fight for three generations, but justice still eludes them.

Salar Jung's daughter Zainab Begum filed several cases trying to prove herself his successor but died without justice in 1972. Zainab's daughter Munnirunissa Begum continued the legal battle -- till no avail -- till her death in January 2009.

Her husband Syed Zahid Ali, her son and two daughters filed a plea in the Supreme Court, through advocate Piyush Dwivedi, to pursue the matter of succession to the Salar Jung estate.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justice A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian acknowledged the gravity of the matter which has been pending for over 60 years.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Ali, submitted that his client was married to the direct descendant of Salar Jung, and properties were divided without making his family a party.

"Six courts have ordered in my client's favour (given certificate of entitlement). (He) also wrote two letters to the Union Home Ministry," he argued.

The bench said it is not inclined to entertain this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. "However, we are of the view that it would be appropriate for the petitioners to invoke the powers of the High Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India for the relief claimed by them," it noted.

Singhvi stressed that the suit is pending since 1958 and justice should be delivered in the matter.

At this, the court said: "We are certain that the High Court can pass appropriate directions for disposing of that suit and other connected proceedings in a time bound manner. The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed as withdrawn with the above observations." The plea said that the petitioner made a representation to the respondents (Centre and Telangana government) along with succession certificate with a request to release the assets belonging to Nawab Salar Jung Bahadur III. However, the representation was of no avail, and hence, the petitioner moved the top court under Article 32, it said.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : A day after recommending a CBI probe in the solar scam case, ahead of Assembly polls scheduled later this year, the Kerala government in the Supreme Court on Monday vehemently objected to the CBI probe ordered by the Centre in the Life Mission scam, where the state government is in the dock.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had recommended a CBI probe into cases against former chief minister Oommen Chandy and five others over allegations of sexual abuse linked to the state's infamous 'solar scam'. The opposition Congress had termed this move "politically motivated".

After a hearing in the matter , a bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, Hemant Gupta and R. Subhash Reddy said: "Issue notice limited to the order of the High Court in Crl.M.C. No.4375/2020 as well as on the prayer for interim relief, returnable in four weeks." The Kerala government in the special leave petition (SLP) in the top court challenged the January 12, judgment of the Kerala High Court, where it dismissed a petition filed by the CEO, Life Mission under Section 482 of the CrPC seeking quashing of FIR No. RC 5(A)/2020/ACB/CBI/Cochin in September 2020, registered by the CBI.

The allegations in the FIR are that Unitac and Sane ventures directly accepted foreign contributions from United Arabs Emirates Red Crescent, which was utilised to pay commissions to various middlemen including state representatives and government officials. The state government has argued that neither Unitac nor Sane Ventures fall within the ambit of Section 3 which lays down the categories of persons prohibited from receiving any foreign contributions.

"The said FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint dated 20.09.2020 lodged by Respondent No. 3 (MLA, Indian National Congress) alleging offences under Section 35 r/w Section 3 of the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act, 2010 ("FCRA"), read with Section 120-B of the IPC", said the state government petition in the top court.

Life Mission is a complete housing project of Kerala government, for the purpose of providing secure and decent housing facilities for all the landless and homeless residents of the state, envisaged to be implemented with public participation. The project contemplates construction of housing units by way of utilisation of government funds, funds through sponsorships and funds of local self government institutions.

Opposition parties have made allegations that huge sums as commission for implementing the project have been accepted by several political leaders and officers. According to reports vigilance bureau had pointed at inclusion of several government officers in the scam. In October, the state government had recommended the case for a vigilance probe.

"The FIR was registered, interalia, against unknown officials of LIFE Mission. This investigation by the CBI tread the same ground as the ongoing investigations by the Director of Vigilance and the ACB arising out of FIR No. 02/2020-VACB-SIU-1", said the state government.

"The High Court had not addressed the contention of the petitioner to the effect the provisions of the FCRA are not attracted against the State and its officials, and proceeded to permit the CBI to carry on its investigation with regard to allegations of receiving kickbacks and expensive gifts, which are not offences under the FCRA, 2010 and which only attract the offences under the PC Act, in relation to which there is already an investigation by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau of the State", said the Kerala government plea.

As an interim relief, the state government has urged the top court to grant ad-interim ex parte stay of all further proceedings against the petitioners in pursuance of the FIR, and also stay the High Court order.

(Sumit Saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 16:41:29|Editor: huaxia

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SUVA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The battle against COVID-19 in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji is not over, said Minister for Health Ifereimi Waqainabete on Monday.

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), he urged Fijian health professionals to do their groundwork, re-profile communities and identify the most vulnerable to register them for the COVID-19 vaccination process.

The minister had said earlier that this is the year of vaccinations for Fijians, but not all Fijians will get vaccinated at once because the process will be similar to the measles immunization program.

The priority group in phase one will include frontline workers and people aged 60 years and above.

According to the minister, they have completed the training of the staff that will be carrying out the groundwork and they will start the registration process to ensure the right people get vaccinated.

Fiji, an island nation with a population of around 900,000, reported a week ago two new imported COVID-19 cases, with no active cases currently.

The island nation has had 55 COVID-19 cases in total since its first case was reported on March 19 last year, with 53 recoveries and two deaths. The last 37 COVID-19 cases have been imported cases. Enditem
Across New Jersey and the rest of the U.S., people are furiously attempting to make appointments and standing in line for hours, all for two pricks of a needle that will grant them near-perfect immunity from the coronavirus  at least for a while.

But how long will that immunity last?

The simple answer is we cant be sure, and not just because the vaccine hasnt been studied long-term. As new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus pop up around the world, there is a chance that it could evolve to render the current vaccine no longer effective, which would mean youd need to get another dose of the vaccine, formulated for a new strain, much like a flu shot.

And while one would hope that a second round of vaccinations to address a new strain would go smoother than the rollout were currently seeing  with problems from inadequate supply to online registration confusion  the mass vaccination of an entire population is always going to be a massive undertaking.

But doctors who spoke with NJ Advance Media said they were encouraged to see that in lab tests so far, no variants of the coronavirus seem to be outsmarting the two vaccines currently available. And one said that the immunity could last two years or possibly longer, assuming the virus doesnt mutate in a way that changes its effectiveness.

The chance of a problematic mutation is yet another reason to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible, said Dr. Sandra Adams, a professor of biology at Montclair State University and an expert on molecular virology.

The more it passes, the more likely it is to mutate. So if you can reduce the possibility of it spreading throughout the population, then you could possibly lessen the effect of the variants, she said. It really is going to take a wide range of the population being vaccinated. And that would reduce the likelihood that the variants could also increase in frequency.

Dr. Shobha Swaminathan, an associate professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the principal investigator for the Moderna Phase 3 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the school, said is cautiously optimistic about our chances against the virus with the current vaccines.

By studying the rate of decline of antibody levels in those who have been vaccinated  including some who were in the first phase of the trial eight months ago  scientists estimated that the Moderna vaccine will confer immunity for at least two years, she said. She hasnt worked on trials of the Pfizer vaccine but given theyre very similar vaccines, she expects the immunity duration would be similar.

It could work even longer, Swaminathan said, because antibodies are only one part of the immune response. People also have something called t cells that can help fight the virus, but theyre harder to measure accurately.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were found to be so much more effective than anyone imagined. I dont think I imagined it would be 95% effective. The flu shot at best is probably 60% on a good year, she said. So even if a viral trend evolves that causes the effectiveness of the vaccine to go down by 10 or 15 percentage points, thats still 80%, which is still in the excellent range.

And while its possible that the virus mutates in a way that seriously impacts the effectiveness, medical experts feel fairly confident that scientists and pharmaceutical companies could whip up a new version of the vaccine to address the problem, now that theyve learned how to do it. It could be as simple as sequencing the genetics of the new strain and adjusting the RNA in the vaccine to match it, Adams said.

It is possible that we may have to get a vaccine against the coronaviruses annually just like we do the flu, simply because each year youve got a different strain of flu circulating, she said.

Workers prepare doses of COVID-19 vaccine at the Somerset County drive thru vaccination site at Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg, N.J. January, 21, 2021Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Vaccines versus variants

The spread of the so-called U.K. variant of the coronavirus is a scary prospect, given it is believed to be 70% more contagious and expected to be the dominant strain in the U.S. by March. The state announced Friday that the variant was confirmed in two cases in New Jersey.

Scientists were concerned that because the new variants include mutations on the virus spike protein  the part the vaccines teach your body to target  that it could make the vaccines less effective. But Dr. Tanaya Bhowmick, an infectious disease doctor and associate professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said studies done with cellular material in labs havent born that out.

The vaccine is designed to go after the spike protein in multiple ways, so unless it has substantial mutations  or evolves into a completely new spike protein  the vaccines should work, Swaminathan said.

A few changes in the spike protein we dont think will significantly alter the effectiveness of the vaccine because its attacking so many different targets, said Swaminathan, also the medical director of infectious diseases at University Hospital in Newark. Its likely that even if one or two or three of those targets are affected, the others will still be able to retain the efficacy of the vaccine.

The coronavirus, like all viruses, has been mutating from the start and we probably didnt hear about it because they didnt change the virus behavior in any significant way  unlike these new, more contagious strains, she said. The coronavirus actually seemed to mutate slower than other viruses, because it was better at correcting any mutation and thus staying closer to its first form, Swaminathan said.

Viruses evolve in ways that help them survive, so its not unusual for them to mutate to become less deadly, so the hosts can spread it more, she said. The virus would also thrive more if it evolved to become more contagious and resistant to the vaccines and treatments, which are real possibilities.

Bhowmick said scientists have tested the known treatments  including monoclonal antibodies  on the new strains in labs and found evidence they may not be as effective against the variant. We dont know if thats going to translate into the same effect in an actual human body, she said.

In this Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, file photo, health care workers prepare to give COVID-19 vaccinations at a former Sears store turned in to a vaccination site, in Rockaway, N.J. AP

So while the doctors cant say exactly how often well have to get the vaccine  or whether our next injection might contain a slightly different sequence of RNA to fight a new strain  what theyve seen so far is encouraging.

The new strains are being studied in labs around the world, while vaccine trial participants antibody levels continue to be monitored and reviewed. And more people are getting vaccinated every day.

Its not going to be quote-unquote normal, I think, for a while, because you cant let your guard down, Bhowmick said. But I think overall, hopefully this can control the virus to the point where we dont see various mutants emerging and taking over and people getting reinfected and having to go through this again. Its definitely a step in the right direction.

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

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

Former Nine finance expert Ross Greenwood has joined SKY News as Business Editor.

With more than 40 years experience, he will anchor Business Weekend, and contribute analysis across SKY News programs.

Joining him will be The Australians Economics Editor Adam Creighton, who will shortly take up a new post as Washington Correspondent.

Paul Whittaker, Chief Executive Officer, SKY News Australia said: We warmly welcome Ross to SKY News Australia. With decades of experience reporting on business and finance news, Ross will provide our viewers with comprehensive coverage. As the nation starts the recovery process from the global pandemic, expert analysis and finance insights have never been more important.

Ross Greenwood added: In a world where change happens so rapidly, it is exciting to join a dynamic news organisation dedicated to breaking news and holding business and political leaders to account. I cant wait to go.

SKY News has also announced its 2021 line-up, below.

Business Weekend 11am Sunday 31 January.

Previously Ross was the Nine Networks business and finance editor, regularly featuring on Nine News, Today and 60 Minutes. Ross was also co-host of former flagship current affairs program Sunday. He also hosted radio program Money News on 2GB Sydney, 3AW Melbourne, 4BC Brisbane, 2CC Canberra and regional stations.

Before joining Nine, Ross was editor-in-chief and co-creator of the British weekly magazine Shares and its accompanying website moneyam.com.

While in London, he was a regular commentator on BBC television, CNN, Sky News UK and Bloomberg and a regular co-host of BBC Radio Five Lives main business program, Wake Up To Money.

Ross has also written extensively for print publications having held the role of editor of BRW, Personal Investor and The Ages Money section, and was also the founding editor of Australias Shares magazine.

Ross has reported in Australia and around the world with his assignments taking him across Europe, Asia, the US and the Middle East.

First Edition with Peter Stefanovic, weekdays at 5:30am

AM Agenda with Laura Jayes, weekdays at 9:00am, returns 1 February

NewsDay with Tom Connell, Monday & Friday from 11:00am  2:00pm, Tuesday  Thursday from 11:00am  12:00pm, returns 1 February

NewsDay with Ashleigh Gillon, Tuesday  Thursday from 11:00pm  2:00pm, returns 1 February

Afternoon Agenda with Kieran Gilbert, and featuring Andrew Clennell, Monday  Thursday at 2:00pm, returns 1 February

The Kenny Report with Chris Kenny, Monday  Friday at 5:00pm, returns January 25

Credlin with Peta Credlin, weeknights at 6:00pm, returns tonight

The Bolt Report with Andrew Bolt, Monday  Thursday at 7:00pm, returns 1 February

Alan Jones with Alan Jones, Monday  Thursday at 8:00pm, returns 1 February

Paul Murray Live with Paul Murray, Sunday  Thursday at 9:00pm

The Front Page with Peter Gleeson, Monday- Thursday at 11:00pm, returns tonight

The Friday Showdown with Rita Panahi and Nicholas Reece, Fridays at 4:00pm, premieres 29 January

Bernardi with Cory Bernardi, Fridays at 7:00pm, premieres 29 January

Kenny on Media with Chris Kenny, Fridays at 8:00pm, returns 29 January

The McGregor Angle with Catherine McGregor, Fridays at 8:30pm, premieres 29 January

Hardgrave with Gary Hardgrave, Fridays at 9:00pm, returns 29 January

Weekend Edition with Jaynie Seal and Tim Gilbert, Saturdays & Sundays from 6am

Sunday Agenda with Kieran Gilbert and Andrew Clennell, Sundays at 8am

Outsiders with Rowan Dean, Rita Panahi and James Morrow, Sundays at 9am

Business Weekend with Ross Greenwood, Sundays at 11am, returns 31 January

Sharri with Sharri Markson, Sundays at 6pm

Chris Smith Tonight with Chris Smith, Sundays at 7pm, returns 31 January

In My View Sundays at 8pm

Related
Sardar Udham Singh: Amol Parashar Joins The Vicky Kaushal Starrer, To Play Bhagat Singh

It has been quite some time since Sardar Udham Singh had been announced. Helmed by Shoojit Sircar, it will have Vicky Kaushal play the titular role. A portion of the shot had already been wrapped up, even before the pandemic had hit, and now, we have learnt that there will be a new member joining the cast. It is none other than Amol Parashar.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amol Parashar (@amolparashar)

In fact, it is being reported that the Tripling actor would play the role of Bhagat Singh in the film. A source told ETimes, The team met Amol and was convinced that he would fit the part perfectly. Shoojit wants to show Bhagat Singh in a more realistic manner  as a sharp and intelligent young man who had a lightness to him at the same time. The actor had many conversations with the director and also read a lot of literature on Bhagat, including those written by the brave martyr himself as a young revolutionary.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by @shoojitsircar

The news has been confirmed by Amol himself and it would be interesting to see him in this avatar! The film revolves around the revolutionary man, the freedom fighter Udham Singh, who had assassinated Michael O'Dwyer in London to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre where thousands of innocents had been ruthlessly killed. Not much is known about the rest of the cast too. The film is slated to release in the later half of the year.
JERUSALEM  An Israeli woman accused of sexually abusing students at an Australian school where she was the principal has been extradited from Israel, according to reports in the Israeli news media, concluding a seven-year deportation process that had tested relations between the two countries.

Malka Leifer, 54, is accused of 74 counts of rape and sexual abuse that investigators say took place between 2004 and 2008, when she was the principal of a Jewish girls school in Melbourne.

Australian officials formally sought her extradition in 2014, but the process was repeatedly delayed after Ms. Leifers legal team at the time argued that she was mentally unfit to stand trial.

Photographs published Monday on an Israeli news website, Ynet, showed Ms. Leifer being escorted aboard a plane in Tel Aviv on Sunday night.
Police are investigating a double shooting in Salem that was reported over the weekend, according to authorities.

Two people were shot Sunday night on Perkins Street, a dispatcher for the Salem Police Department told MassLive.

The victims are a man and woman believed to be in their 20s or 30s, Deputy Chief Scott Austin of the Salem Fire Department said. They were shot around 8:30 p.m.

Three ambulances responded to the scene, and the man and woman were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with serious injuries, according to Austin.

No further information was immediately available Monday morning.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Fred Luter backs Pastor Ed Litton for SBC president, setting up clash with Al Mohler

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The Southern Baptist Conventions first and only black president, Fred Luter, has nominated Alabama Pastor Ed Litton to become the denominations next president, setting up a brewing ideological clash on race with prominent candidate and seminary head Albert Mohler.

I have known Ed Litton for over 20 years. Our relationship started when we preached for each other as part of the SBC Racial Reconciliation Sunday during the month of February, Luter told the Baptist Press.

From there, our relationship developed to more than just colleagues to bring races together. We both shared the hope of drawing people closer to a relationship with Jesus Christ and then growing disciples for Christ. In both of our churches, our focus has been the same all of these years."

Luter said he is honored to nominate Litton to be the next SBC president.

"With Eds commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, he is what our convention needs to help us refocus and recommit to the biblical principles of what this convention has been known for  evangelism and discipleship, Luter stated.

Luters nomination of Litton comes amid a raging debate in the convention over the denominations treatment of racial issues and efforts to better understand them through concepts such as critical race theory and intersectionality.

Critical race theory, as explained by Purdue University, is a theoretical and interpretive mode that examines the appearance of race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression.

Through this framework, scholars seek to understand how victims of systemic racism are affected by cultural perceptions of race and how they can represent themselves to counter prejudice. Scholarship on the theory traces racism in America through the legacy of slavery, the civil rights movement and recent events.

Intersectionality, meanwhile, is the study of how different personal characteristics overlap and inform ones experience.

Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky who announced his candidacy last year, was one of six members of the Council of Seminary Presidents who voted to reject CRT as incompatible with their faith while condemning racism in any form at their recent annual session celebrating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the revised Baptist Faith & Message.

Mohler argued that advocacy based on views like CRT and intersectionality has no rightful place within an SBC seminary.

I think Southern Baptists face some incredible challenges and some very real issues, and I think we need to have the kinds of conversations that will clarify issues and bring Southern Baptists together," Mohler told The Texan upon announcing his candidacy last October.

"And weve got to address some questions of urgency, as the SBC moves into the 21st century. I would hope to serve Southern Baptists by helping the right conversations to take place in the right way."

Litton was a co-signer of the Justice, Repentance, And the SBC statement published last month, which asserted about the anti-CRT policy that some recent events have left many brothers and sisters of color feeling betrayed and wondering if the SBC is committed to racial reconciliation.

We stand firmly in opposition to any movement in the SBC that seeks to distract from racial reconciliation through the gospel and that denies the reality of systemic injustice. To deny systemic injustice would be to ignore the effects that sin has on both individuals, societies, and institutions, the statement reads in part.

We believe God is calling us to repentance as individuals and as a convention of churches, but our hearts have grown cold to His call, continuing to fight for money, institutions, and influence. We must remember that God does not need the Cooperative Program to accomplish His mission. Nor does God need the Southern Baptist Convention to accomplish His mission. He will move forward in His mission whether or not the Convention survives our skirmishes over issues."

Litton and Mohler will also face a challenge from Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia. Stone told the Baptist Message that: We need a focus on evangelism  not on another strategy or slogan.

The recent debate over race in the denomination sparked by the statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents has led to a recent exodus of several high-profile black pastors from the denomination and is likely to take center stage at the SBCs 2021 annual meeting.

Many people were hoping for other options when they get to Nashville," Todd Benkert, pastor of Oak Creek Community Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, noted in SBC Voices last week.

"I, for one, am excited at this development and am pleased that messengers will have the opportunity to make a prayerful choice of men who have already served our Convention in other roles. To have three candidates announced this early is unique (historically, such announcements have been made in late Spring), and highlights the fact that there remains a diversity of viewpoints in SBC life."

Prominent black Southern Baptist Pastor Dwight McKissic, who recently quit the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and threatened to leave the SBC too if denomination leaders rescind Resolution 9 on critical race theory that messengers passed in 2019, said he is looking forward to voting for Litton in June.

Excited & thrilled beyond measure to support Fred Luter, as he supports Pastor Ed Litton as President of the SBC in 21," McKissic wrote on Twitter. "Jesus said, By your fruit. you shall know them. Ed Litton is well loved & respected by the AA community because of his fruit. I look forward to voting 4 him."

The Capstone Report, a blog that offers commentary on religion and politics, argued in a recent post that Litton will continue [J.D.] Greears Woke Administration.

Dont be deceived. Ed Litton is a Woke Social Justice Warrior who will turn the SBCs Leftward Drift into a sprint, the publication argued.
Ten years ago today, mass protests began in Egypt that led 18 days later to the fall of long-standing dictator Hosni Mubarak, electrifying workers and youth worldwide.

The Egyptian revolution was a powerful revolutionary uprising in which the working class played the central role. On January 25, 2011, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the country, including Suez, Port Said and Alexandria. On the so-called Friday of rage three days later, these growing masses of people defeated the regimes notorious security forces in street fighting that came to resemble civil war.

Millions demonstrated across Egypt over subsequent days. Tahrir Square, occupied by hundreds of thousands of people who came to downtown Cairo, emerged as an international symbol of the uprising, but it was the intervention of the working class that ultimately delivered the decisive blow to Mubarak. On February 78, a wave of strikes and factory occupations erupted across the country, continuing to grow after Mubarak stepped down on February 11.

Anti-government protesters perform the Muslim Friday prayers at the continuing demonstration in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

At the high point of the revolution, there were an estimated 40 to 60 strikes per day. As many strikes occurred in just the month of February 2011 as in the entire previous year. Hundreds of thousands of workers in Egypts key industrial centres were on strike, including Suez canal workers, steelworkers in Suez and Port Said, and the 27,000 textile workers at Ghazl al-Mahalla, Egypts largest industrial facility in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla al-Kubra.

The World Socialist Web Site assessed the developments in Egypt and Tunisia, where mass protests brought down the long-standing dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali days earlier, as the beginning of a new revolutionary epoch. In a perspective entitled The Egyptian revolution, David North, the chairman of the WSWS international editorial board, wrote:

The Egyptian revolution is dealing a devastating blow to the pro-capitalist triumphalism that followed the Soviet bureaucracys liquidation of the USSR in 1991. The class struggle, socialism and Marxism were declared irrelevant in the modern world. Historyas in The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels)had ended. Henceforth, the only revolutions conceivable to the media were those that were color-coded in advance, politically scripted by the US State Department, and then implemented by the affluent pro-capitalist sections of society. This complacent and reactionary scenario has been exploded in Tunisia and Egypt. History has returned with a vengeance. What is presently unfolding in Cairo and throughout Egypt is revolution, the real thing. The most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of the masses in historic events, wrote Leon Trotsky, the foremost specialist on the subject. This definition of revolution applies completely to what is now happening in Egypt.

Ten years later, however, it is not the working class that is in power in Egypt, but a blood-soaked military dictatorship backed by the imperialist powers that lives in terror of a renewed mass uprising and suppresses every sign of social opposition. On January 22, the Egyptian Parliament, at the request of Mubaraks former general and current dictator Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, extended the state of emergency another three years. Since his coup against elected President Mohammed Mursi in 2013, more than 60,000 political prisoners have disappeared into the regimes torture chambers. Thousands have been condemned to death and executed.

Amid a renewed upsurge of class struggle around the worldfueled by the horrific consequences of the pandemic, and the bourgeoisies increasingly open resort to dictatorship and fascistic forms of rule, it is necessary to draw political lessons from these experiences. How could counter-revolution in Egypt be victorious, and what political tasks does this pose for the class battles to come? The key to answering these critical questions is a concrete study of the events and the role of political tendencies and programs. The chief problem of the Egyptian revolution was the lack of a revolutionary leadership.

One day prior to Mubaraks overthrow, David North warned in another perspective:

The greatest danger confronting Egyptian workers is that, after providing the essential social force to wrest power from the hands of an aging dictator, nothing of political substance will change except the names and faces of some of the leading personnel. In other words, the capitalist state will remain intact. Political power and control over economic life will remain in the hands of the Egyptian capitalists, backed by the military, and their imperialist overlords in Europe and North America. Promises of democracy and social reform will be repudiated at the first opportunity, and a new regime of savage repression will be instituted. These dangers are not exaggerated. The entire history of revolutionary struggle in the Twentieth Century proves that the struggle for democracy and for the liberation of countries oppressed by imperialism can be achieved, as Leon Trotsky insisted in his theory of permanent revolution, only by the conquest of power by the working class on the basis of an internationalist and socialist program.

Over the course of the Egyptian Revolution, this assessment was confirmed. All factions and parties of the bourgeoisie and their Stalinist and pseudo-leftist appendages showed their essentially counterrevolutionary character. They collaborated with the imperialists and defended Egyptian capitalism and its institutions. This is as true of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now banned again as it was under Mubarak, as it is of Nasserist or liberal parties. As the ruling party before the coup, the Brotherhood conspired with the military, banned strikes and protests, and supported imperialist interventions in Libya and Syria,

One can mention a few prominent examples. Mohamed El Baradei, the former leader of the National Association for Change, became the first vice president in Sisis military junta. Independent trade union leader Kamal Abu Eita became Labor Minister. Hamdeen Sabahi, the leader of the Nasserist Egyptian Popular Current, publicly defended the juntas massacres. When the army murdered at least 900 coup opponents, including women and children, while breaking up protests by Mursi supporters in Rabaa El-Adaweya Square in Cairo, Sabahi declared on television: We will stay hand in hand, the people, the army and the police.

A particularly corrupt tendency that paved the way for the counterrevolution, however, was the so-called Revolutionary Socialists (RS), a pseudo-left group in Egypt with close ties to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Britain and the Left Party in Germany, among others. At every stage of the revolution, they insisted that workers could not play an independent role but had to subordinate themselves to one faction or another of the bourgeoisie to struggle for their democratic and social rights.

After Mubaraks fall, the RS fueled illusions in the military, which had taken power under the leadership of Mubaraks former defense minister, Muhammed Tantawi. Writing in Britains Guardian, RS activist Hossam el-Hamalawy said, young officers and soldiers are our allies, declaring that the army will eventually engineer the transition to a civilian government.

As the army cracked down on protests and strikes and calls for a second revolution emerged, the RS revived their earlier support for the Muslim Brotherhood. In party statements, they called the Islamists the right wing of the revolution, advocating a vote for Mursi in the 2012 presidential election. They then celebrated Mursis victory as a victory for the revolution and a great achievement in pushing back the counterrevolution.

When new strikes and protests erupted against Mursis anti-worker and pro-imperialist policies, the RS reoriented themselves once again toward the military. They supported the Tamarod Alliance, backed and funded by El Baradei, Egyptian multibillionaire Naguib Sawiris and former officials of the Mubarak regime, among others, and which called for the military to overthrow Mursi. In a statement, published on May 19, 2013, the RS hailed Tamarod as a way to complete the revolution and declared their intention to fully participate in this campaign.

The RS response to the July 3 military coup fully confirmed its counterrevolutionary nature. They celebrated the coup as a second revolution, calling on protesters to protect their revolution. While the military restored the Mubarak regimes repressive apparatus, the RS once again spread the fairy tale that the military government could be pressured to obtain democratic and social reforms. In their July 11 statement, they called for pressure on the new government to take measures immediately for achieving social justice for the benefit of the millions of poor Egyptians.

Since then, the RS have been primarily concerned with covering their tracks. In his own article on the anniversary of the revolution published in the SWP paper Socialist Worker, Hamalawy writes of the counterrevolutionary conspiracy: The military in secret reached out to the secular opposition (leftists, Arab nationalists, liberals), and secured its backing for a coup in July 2013. What followed were the biggest massacres in Egypts modern history, amid the cheering of the Egyptian leftists.

Hamalawy studiously conceals the fact that among these Egyptian leftists who cheered on Sisis massacres were his own organization.

The crucial lesson of the Egyptian Revolution is the necessity to build a revolutionary leadership in the working class before mass struggles break out. Only in this way can the political independence of the working class be established from the bourgeoisie and its petty-bourgeois stooges, and the masses be armed with a socialist program and the perspective of permanent revolution to overthrow capitalism.

The ICFI and its sections are guided by the conception that also guided the Bolshevik Party and its leaders Lenin and Trotsky before the October Revolution in Russia. In the resolution adopted at the Second National Congress of the SEP (US) in 2012, one year after the Egyptian revolution, we wrote:

It is not enough to predict the inevitability of revolutionary struggles and then await their unfolding. Such passivity has nothing in common with Marxism, which insists upon the unity of theoretically guided cognition and revolutionary practice. Moreover, as the aftermath of Mubaraks downfall demonstrates all too clearly, the victory of the socialist revolution requires the presence of a revolutionary party. The Socialist Equality Party must do everything it can to develop, prior to the outbreak of mass struggles, a significant political presence within the working classabove all, among its most advanced elements.

Amid a renewed upsurge of the class struggle worldwide, this work must now be pursued with renewed energy. This is the task of the ICFI and its sections and sympathizing groups.
Watch: European stocks slump amid extended lockdown

Here are some of the top business, market, and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe, and around the world.

A woman poses with a smartphone showing the Boohoo app in front of the Boohoo logo on display in this illustration taken September 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Online retailer Boohoo (BOO.L) has swooped to buy Debenhams brand and website for 55m ($75.4m), in a cash deal that would rescue part of the high street chain.

The deal will not include its physical presence, and therefore an excess of 118 stores and the jobs within them hang in the balance. It is estimated that 12,000 jobs are at risk at the 242-year-old department store.

Boohoo said the deal was an opportunity to transform Debenhams through the development of an exciting online marketplace, capitalising on the sector's structural shift to online.

It added that it was an opportunity to enter the beauty market at scale and leverage Debenhams' customer database and develop the platform for international markets in the future.

The news sent Boohoos more than 4% higher in London.

Boohoo shares rose more than 4% after the opening bell on Monday. Chart: Yahoo Finance

It also came as online rival Asos (ASC.L) confirmed it is in exclusive discussions with the administrators of Sir Philip Greens Arcadia empire to acquire its Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Topman brands, as well as fitness brand HIIT.

Airlines nosedive amid extended lockdown fear

Travel and leisure stocks were under pressure on Monday as the prospect of tighter border restrictions and a prolonged lockdown weighed on sentiment.

British Airways owner IAG (IAG.L) led fallers in the airline sector on the FTSE 100 (^FTSE), down about 7%, while aerospace engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.L) slumped 5%.

On the FTSE 250, easyJet (EZJ.L), TUI (TUI.L) and Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) all similarly nosedived.

Matt Hancock, the UKs heath secretary, cautioned that tougher travel restrictions are in the pipeline.

It is understood the government is divided over what new measures should be implemented but nonetheless traders are cutting their exposure to the travel sector, David Madden of CMC Markets said.

Story continues

As the UK mulls tighter border controls, France is also expected to enter a new lockdown in the coming days, and new US president Joe Biden will continue to restricted travel from much of Europe.

READ MORE: Boeing 737 Max flight safety concerns in focus again as former manager raises doubts

Virtual Davos kicks off

The annual Davos summit has kicked off again this year  albeit virtually.

The event, which is more than 50 years old, is attended by global political and business leaders, celebrities and prominent social activists.

This year it is taking place amid the worst economic crisis in living memory due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister of Singapore, said at the conference that the eradication of COVID-19 in individual nations through vaccination campaigns would not be enough to end the crisis.

No one is safe from the virus until global herd immunity from COVID-19 is achieved, he said on a digital panel for The Davos Agenda conference on Monday.

READ MORE: Biggest coronavirus vaccination rollout threat isn't about supply  it's conspiracy theories

Chinese president Xi Jinping, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron, Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will be among the speakers at the virtual conference that runs from 25 January to 29 January.

Also in attendance will be European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde and International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

Other Davos highlights from Monday include:

-With additional reporting by Lucy Harley-McKeown

WATCH: What is World Economic Forum's plan for societal 'great reset?'
[January 25, 2021] Opportunities and Risks in the Indonesia Cards and Payments Market to 2024 - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Indonesia Cards and Payments - Opportunities and Risks to 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Indonesian cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, cards, and cheques during the review-period (2016-20e). 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 (2020e-24f). 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 Indonesian cards and payments industry, including - Current and forecast values for each market in the Indonesian cards and payments industry, including debit, credit, and charge cards.

Detailed insights into payment instruments including cash, cards, and cheques. 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 Indonesian cards and payments industry.

Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit, credit, and charge ards.



Scope of the report: To encourage the use of electronic payments among Indonesian consumers, the central bank introduced an interoperable domestic network called National Payment Gateway (News - Alert) , known locally as Gerbang Pembayaran Nasional (GPN) in December 2017. Following the launch, banks started to issue debit cards bearing the GPN logo. All debit card transactions in Indonesia must now be processed domestically. Foreign scheme providers are required to establish partnerships with domestic switching companies approved by the central bank in order to settle their transactions, or else need to become a domestic switching company with 80% local ownership. Following the regulation, Mastercard partnered with domestic switching company Artajasa in August 2019 to process domestic debit card transactions. Similarly, Visa and domestic switching company ALTO received approval from the central bank in September 2020 to form a partnership for domestic transaction processing for debit cards.

To enhance the security of the country's payment system and boost payment card usage, the central bank mandated that all ATM and debit cards must be migrated to the EMV standard with a six-digit PIN by December 31, 2021. Effective from July 2017, new debit cards must be EMV-compliant, and the transition of existing magnetic stripe cards is taking place in phases scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021. Effective from July 1, 2020, all transactions made via credit cards must be authenticated with a six-digit PIN.

Alternative payments are gaining prominence in the country, with a number of international and domestic payment methods being offered. In June 2019, LinkAja - a government-owned e-money platform - launched by integrating the e-payment services provided by government-owned banks into a single e-wallet. Bank Mandiri's e-cash; Bank BRI's T-bank and My QR; Bank Negara Indonesia's (BNI's) Yap (News - Alert) ! and UnikQu; and telecom operator Telkomsel's TCASH were all integrated into this platform. The wallet allows users to make in-store, in-app, online, and utility bill payments. Meanwhile, Samsung (News - Alert) Pay launched in Indonesia in March 2019. Key Topics Covered:

Payment Instruments

Card based Payments

Merchant Acquiring

Ecommerce Payments

Buy Now Pay Later

Mobile Proximity Payments

P2P Payments

Bill Payments

Alternative Payments

Job Analysis

Payment Innovations

Payment Infrastructure & Regulation

Appendix Companies Mentioned Bank BRI

BNI

Bank Mandiri

BCA

CIMB

Maybank

Bank Danamon Indonesia

Bank Mega

UOB

Citibank

Visa

Mastercard

American Express (News - Alert)

GPN

JCB For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nxwfbk 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005299/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]

File image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a face mask as he attends a a rally at Sivsagar in Assam, India on January 23, 2021. (Image: AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said more than once that he wants India to become the pharmacy of the world. One of his motives has been that the vaccine should be available at affordable prices because we're seeing how western companies sell medicines at very, very high prices. Whereas India is able to produce them at minimal costs and this is a boon for the developing world.

So in this case PM Modi has taken the initiative to supply the vaccines free of cost to some countries. I think this is a very astute, diplomatic move. Firstly, it fits in with the larger policy of reaching out to the neighborhood. In other words, part of his new local policy.

Secondly, these are all developing countries and this sends out the message that India has a strong sentiment for the developing world. So this also helps us to take a leadership of the developing world, especially at this time, which psychologically is extremely important with the menace that has become so deep and widespread that there is really great fear in society about survival.

The competition in a sense is with China. Now, China is responsible for this virus and they have also entered the market with its own medicine and vaccine. They are supplying them to some countries, including Pakistan. So the Chinese are supplying medicines against a pandemic that they themselves are responsible for. So in that sense, it helps us to balance what China is doing quite effectively.

Apart from the immediate neighbourhood, we are also supplying medicines to nations part of BRICS. We have supplied these vaccines to Brazil and the Brazilian ambassador here has very generously commented on this. So this is also in a sense goes beyond the immediate neighborhood. Brazil, of course is a semi-developed country.

It is encouraging to see India engaging with all countries in terms of offering collaboration and the development of vaccines.

Now, with regard to what else India can do, one will recall that India had sent doctors and medical personnel and nurses to the Gulf countries as part of efforts to show solidarity with these countries, even while we were engaged in controlling the virus. We developed ventilators, we developed these PPE kits on our own. We reduced our dependence on imports essentially. And I must say that this was handled in a very organised, effective way. Despite all the imagery we have of being unorganised, undisciplined, whatever else, when it comes to crisis, we are able to handle it and manage it much superiorly than Western nations.

Of course one can see that it was not without losses, but in terms of the challenge we have, I think we've done much better than the developed countries. There was no background expertise in handling these matters and relying on past experience, no precedence. So it was also a kind of an effort to develop new ways of tackling something.

As told to Rounak Gunjan
Microsoft has unveiled plans to integrate Teams with a range of SAP business applications, enabling workers to share information more easily without leaving the collaboration platform.

The two companies announced that the German enterprise software vendors S/4HANA enterprise resource planning (ERP) application, used by many of the worlds largest organizations, will connect into Microsofts collaboration platform. This will allow SAP users to share information such as supplier details with colleagues within Teams without switching screens, for instance.

There are also plans for integrations with SAPs SuccessFactors HR application, which will offer new ways for staff to share knowledge and learn skills, and SAP Sales Cloud, which allows calls to customers directly from the customer relationship management (CRM) platform, for instance.

The announcement was part of a broader deal that will see SAP S/4HANA hosted on Microsofts Azure cloud infrastructure.

The integrations between Teams  which has 115 million daily active users  and SAPs products are planned for delivery in mid-2021, according to a statement Friday.

By integrating Microsoft Teams across our solution portfolio, we will bring collaboration to the next level, jointly determining the future of work and enabling the frictionless enterprise, said SAP CEO Christian Klein.

Teams already integrates with a handful of popular businesses applications, including human resources and sales tools such as HR software provider Workday, while Salesforce and Microsoft announced an integration with the CRM software vendors Sales and Service Cloud products in October. There are also integrations between Teams and Microsofts Dynamics 365 platform.

The ability to better connect workers with key apps should help embed Team into the workflow of even more users, said Larry Cannell, a research director at Gartner.

What I would like to see from this partnership is [for] business data and application functions to be accessible from within Teams channels, said Cannell. Such integrations would allow workgroups to do more than send messages and co-author documents  important capabilities in themselves  and would make channels more purposeful and relevant, he said.

This represents the next level of maturity for Teams, said Cannell. Channels can provide a collaborative interface for transactional applications, many of which were never designed to be collaborative. This enables workgroups to interact with the applications together; they can discuss, respond and learn from each other within a group context (the channel).

Think [developer chat tools], but for the suit-and-tie crowd using SAP.

In other Teams news, Microsoft last week announced an update to the integrations with its enterprise social network application Yammer. Users of both applications can now receive notifications from Yammer directly into the Team Activity feed within Teams. This means faster access to updates on important announcements made in Yammer communities, for instance, or when a user is @mentioned in the social network app.
Whit Clay and Jill Zuckman co-authored this article.

As we turn the page on 2020 and open a fresh chapter in 2021 with President Biden, a new Administration and a new Congress, its important that companies take a close look at what has workedand not workedwhen it comes to the crises and issues of the past year. And its equally important that they prepare for the year ahead, which will bring new challengesbut also new opportunitiesto engage in a much different political, social and regulatory climate.

When the Stagwell Group provided the capital for SKDK to acquire Sloane & Company in February 2020, the fundamental premise was that two strategic communications firms working together, one with expertise in public affairs and the other in financial communications, would offer compelling growth opportunities. It would enable clients to tap into experienced executives recognized for providing advice, counsel and execution to address some of the most complicated and compelling communications crises and opportunities, whether in public policy or the public markets.

Few of us could have imagined that just weeks after beginning to work together, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic challenges would prove that the premise for our combination was not just speculative but, in fact, very real. And, just as companies had begun to manage their communications around those issues, they faced a new and equally difficult challenge: the demand to address systemic racism, diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. This all occurred at a time of deep social unrest when our divided country was in the midst of a pivotal election.

This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Jan. '21 Crisis Communications & PR Buyer's Guide Magazine

(view PDF version)

While these macro issues captured much of the medias attention, there were many other day-to-day crises facing companies and organizations. If mismanaged, these events posed a significant threat to the reputations and valuations of businesses. They could undermine their executives and employees, as well as derail planned or potential strategic transactions.

What are the lessons we can derive from 2020?

Theres both an expectation and insistence from employees, customers, partners and government officials that companies engage in a meaningful way on social issues such as race and economic fairness. A July 9, 2020 poll by Harris Insights and Analytics, one of our sister agencies in the Stagwell Group, underscored this when it shared that Americans want to see companies commit to paying all employees a living wage (84 percent) and provide accessible grievance mechanisms for employees to report harassment or discrimination without fear of retaliation (83 percent). Its imperative companies dealing with these crises be able to provide action, not just words. And they need to have reservoirs of trust and goodwill from organizations that are built over time and not simply in times of crisis.

At no time was this more evident than in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the many other Black lives that were taken and the national social unrest that followed. Many in corporate America saw the need to step up and speak out against years of systemic racism directed at their employees and customers. Diversity, equity and inclusion communications became more of a priority and we expect this to continue.

In the coming year, we can expect corporate social responsibility to meld with environmental, social and governance initiatives. We see an increasing focus on these issues among investors and expect the Biden Administration will use the bully pulpit and regulatory influence to insist that corporations act on climate, serve their employees and customers responsibly and work to improve their governance practices. Pressure will also come from investors, as demonstrated by recent shareholder pressure on ExxonMobil to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and increase investments in clean energy. Grappling with these issues is necessarynot just as protection during a crisisbut because its the right thing to do and it can also provide a compelling opportunity to create value for stakeholders.

Misinformation that moves rapidly on social mediaand is observed and reported by traditional mediais rapidly becoming the most pressing threat to a company, its leaders and employees. Society is increasingly vulnerable to inaccurate information and conspiracy theories that are not rooted in fact. We need not look any farther than the recent news around allergic reactions to the COVID vaccine to see evidence of the potential damage. When news leaked that individuals in England had gone into anaphylactic shock after receiving the vaccine, the market shuttered and pharmaceutical stocks dropped in early market trading. This required immediate action and response to clarify the facts, provide context and reassure an already skeptical and concerned public.

We must prepare companies to deal with misinformation on social media and to rapidly respond with the right messaging. Given the growing power that social media companies hold in overseeing and regulating content on their platforms, it will be increasingly important that companies and organizations have the ability to connect with Facebook, Twitter, Google and others to address their concerns about content through the right leadership channels.

In the face of these issues and others, Sloane & Company and SKDK recommend that all companies and organizations reexamine their crisis communications plans to ensure that they have the following components: effective monitoring tools that are able to identify issues in traditional and social media that are potential risks; scenario updates with message development informed by research and testing; effective processes and protocols to enable quick action and escalation within an organization; communication across all key audiencesincluding investors; and, finally, the right team of external advisorslegal, financial, cybersecurity, governmental and communications experts who have experience, relationships and understanding to assist through a crisis or transformational event such as a merger.

We also recommend running tabletop crisis exercises to put the crisis communications plan and team to the test including the participation of external advisors so that the group is not working together for the first time amid a real, ongoing crisis. Theres much to learn from these efforts and all too often companies and organizations are ill-prepared due to lack of practice.

In looking ahead to 2021, the words of Benjamin Franklin ring true when in 1736 he advised Philadelphians facing the threat of fires that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Strategic communications professionals should heed this advice and make sure they are ready for the year to come.

***

Whit Clay is co-CEO of Sloane & Company in New York and Jill Zuckman is a Partner at SKDK in Washington, D.C.
Ishkhan Saghatelian, who coordinates the work of their Homeland Salvation Front alliance, acknowledged that they failed to attract large crowds during anti-government demonstrations staged in November and December.

It is evident that the demand for Nikol Pashinians resignation is a popular demand, Saghatelian said. But so far we have not managed to convert that popular demand into a popular struggle.

We certainly need a new tactic and are now actively discussing making our activities more effective, he added, answering questions from Facebook users at the RFE/RL studio in Yerevan.

Saghatelian dismissed suggestions that many disgruntled Armenians did not take part in the recent protests because they feel that the opposition movement is led by former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian.

The movement is not led by individuals and the former presidents in particular, he said, adding that Sarkisians Republican Party is only one of the more than a dozen opposition groups making up the alliance.

Among those groups are Gagik Tsarukians Prosperous Armenia Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). Saghatelian heads Dashnaktsutyuns governing body in Armenia.

The alliance blames Pashinian for Armenias defeat in the recent war with Azerbaijan and wants him to resign and hand over power to an interim government.

The prime minister has rejected the opposition demands, dismissing the anti-government rallies as an elite revolt not backed by most Armenians. He has offered instead to hold fresh parliamentary elections.

Saghatelian reiterated the Homeland Salvation Fronts rejection of the offer. He claimed that snap polls held by Pashinian would be the most disgraceful in Armenias history.

It is clear to [Pashinian] that when a new government takes over in Armenia he will stand trial on treason charges. So  he would do everything to rig those elections, said Saghatelian.
South Africa: Plans in place for Tropical Cyclone Eloise impact

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says plans are in place for the imminent impact of Tropical Cyclone Eloise.

Tropical Cyclone Eloise has been in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region for a while and has mainly been over the island States, with the possibility of hitting Mozambique, with initial indications being that it would impact primarily Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana, with very little impact on South Africa, if any, the department said.

The department said the reality unfolding is that there will be impact in the provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

The department warned that the resultant floods could also affect KwaZulu-Natal.

The cyclone has been upgraded to a Category 2 storm. It was expected to reach the coastal town of Beira in Mozambique on Saturday morning. The DWS rain gauges have not as yet indicated any rainfall in the north-east of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, but rather cloud coverage over the same areas.

The DWS has done planning for possible risks in this regard from hydrological, operations and construction perspectives, considering the kind of infrastructure the DWS is responsible for. Where gaps were identified, immediate actions were put in place to address these, the department said.

According to the department, a number of high risk areas have been identified. These include Tzaneen, Blyderivierpoort, Klaserie, Nandoni and Albasini Dams.

The department said the relevant departmental officials have been actioned to apply the necessary measures to monitor and manage these areas very closely.

There are also teams on standby to respond to any situation that might arise. Part of the teams responsibilities will include ongoing engagement with stakeholders that might be affected within the identified areas.

These interactions will include cautions/alerts when the possibility or reality of dam sluices/gates being opened to release water and reduce pressure on the infrastructure. The releases could lead to possible flooding downstream of the dam/s, the department explained.

The department has advised that it is always important that those that operate downstream of dams respond quickly and positively to all warnings of possible flooding.

This will reduce loss of lives, livestock for farmers, property and equipment, which could be moved in time.

While Eloise will impact mainly Limpopo and Mpumalanga, the department has also reminded people within the Vaal and Orange River Systems that it is still important for everyone to be vigilant.

The Gariep (the biggest dam in the country) and the Vanderkloof (the second biggest) are already full and spilling, with Bloemhof also at capacity. The high inflows into the countrys biggest dams has meant that the possibility of flooding in [those areas] remains.

The prediction of rainfall is unreliable. Therefore, the release of water from these dams is not top of mind at the moment. It is critically important for all those who would be affected by such floods to already begin moving away from the floodlines, the department said.

The main objectives for the DWS are to ensure the safety of infrastructure (dams), minimise damage, and ensure at least 100% full dams at the end of the flood.

Tropical Cyclone Eloise... will be a difficult test for the DWS flood preparedness but the department remains steadfast in the belief and trust of the DWS Flood Preparedness Plan, the department said.

The department annually puts together a flood preparedness plan in anticipation of high levels of rainfall, especially during the summer rainfall period.

The plan is meant to enhance monitoring of rainfall, inflows into rivers and dams, as well as to raise alarm bells timeously, in case of impending danger through floods.

More rain expected in Mpumalanga, Limpopo



After widespread flooding reports from Mpumalanga and Limpopo, the South African Weather Service has warned that more rain is expected in those provinces.

The Weather Service said disruptive rain is expected over the escarpment and lowveld areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and the eastern highveld from Sunday until Monday.

"A warning has been issued for the eastern parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga for [Sunday] into [Monday] due to persistent heavy rain, and more heavy rain is expected [on Monday night] into [Tuesday]. This will cause serious strain on emergency services.

Take extreme caution in these areas, the Weather Service warned.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Trans Mountain expansion project has just become the most important oil pipeline project in Canada after U.S. President Joe Biden stopped the U.S.-Canada cross-border link Keystone XL.

The expansion of Trans Mountain, which is set to nearly triple to 890,000 bpd the pipeline capacity from Alberta to the Vancouver coast, is currently expected to come online in December 2022.

With Keystone XL dead, Trans Mountaina project now owned by the federal government of Canadais Albertas best chance to get its landlocked oil to major markets, including the fast-growing markets in Asia Pacific.

While Alberta is still reeling from President Bidens decision to revoke Keystone XLs Presidential permit, analysts and stakeholders see the Trans Mountain oil project as the crucial project that could boost the fortunes of Canadas oil industry in the medium term.

The renewed attention on Trans Mountain, which Canadas government bought from Kinder Morgan in 2018, would likely make the completion of the Alberta-British Columbia link more urgent for the federal government, analysts say.

Other experts warn that the Keystone XL demise would embolden protests and opposition to Trans Mountain.

So the Trans Mountain project is now the focus of both the pro-pipeline and anti-pipeline camps in Canada.

The Trans Mountain expansion project is really the only practical option left for increasing pipeline takeaway capacity and there should be a clear statement from the federal government that theyre committed to its completion, Dennis McConaghy, a former executive vice-president of Keystone developer TC Energy, told Bloomberg in an interview last week. Related: Oil Majors Poised To Make Biggest Geothermal Investments In 30 Years

The Canadian government doesnt plan to hold onto its ownership of Trans Mountain and is set to divest it once there are few risks to its completion. Indigenous groups are interested in buying stakes in the project and are holding consultations with the federal government.

This pipeline is even more valuable now, Joe Dion, chief executive of Western Indigenous Pipeline Group, one of the First Nations groups that could buy into Trans Mountain, told Reuters.

The killing of Keystone XL could make the business case of the proponents of Trans Mountain stronger.

Trans Mountain has secured committed 20-year contracts of up to 80 percent of the pipeline capacity. Contract utilization and spot utilization are expected at full capacity in the initial years of the pipelines operations, Canadas Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said in a report last month.

The report was still considering that Keystone could go ahead, although it acknowledged the possibility of President Biden scrapping the project.

Without Keystone XL, Trans Mountain could receive more commitments for crude oil shipment, analysts say.

The Governments decision to acquire, expand, operate, and eventually divest of the Trans Mountain Pipeline System continues to be profitable, Giroux said in the December report.

In the reference case, the net present value (NPV) of the Trans Mountain system is now US$473 million (C$600 million), the PBO analysis shows. But if the pipeline utilization were to increase by 5.0 percentage points, then the NPV rises to US$709 million (C$900 million).

However, the profitability of the assets is highly contingent on the climate policy stance of the federal government and on the future utilization rate of the pipeline, the Parliamentary Budget Officer said.

Right now, the pipeline is profitable with the current climate policy of the federal government, the officer says.

The end of Keystone may not be all bad news for Canada, energy expert Werner Antweiler told Canadian media after reports emerged that President Biden would kill the cross-border pipeline on his first day in office.

It may be positive news as theres some competition between these two routes, and if it increases the value of the trans mountain line thats probably actually not bad news for the federal government, Antweiler said.

Some analysts question the rationale for Keystone XL, after oil demand collapsed, prices crashed, and Canadian pipelines ended up with more capacity for crude oil than producers were actually shipping.

If Keystone XL had gone ahead as TC had hoped, there might have been excess pipeline capacity for exports out of Alberta by 2023, Ed Crooks,

Vice-Chair Americas at Wood Mackenzie, wrote last week.

Yet, even after Keystones demise, no one expects Trans Mountain to be smooth sailing. As much as it could become a priority for the federal government to get it completed, the project could end up being the focus of more anti-pipeline campaigns, protests, and lawsuits.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Self-care event to support Womens Center

The Womens Centers annual Hearts of Hope Breakfast will become a virtual Day of Self-Care this year on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Hearts of Hope is the Womens Centers premier event to unite the community in its vision to end violence and raise funds to support critical programs and services needed more than ever during the coronavirus pandemic.

Guest speakers will be team members from the Womens Center staff. Rayna Havelock, manager of counseling and advocacy, and Child Counselor Carly Jacques, will discuss their life-saving work. This years Service Above Self honorees are Joes Salon + Spa in New Milford and Klickers Hair Studio in Newtown for their support.

To purchase tickets, sponsorships and digital ads, visit www.heartsofhope.givesmart.com or contact Linda Cummins, special events manager, at 203-731-5200 x232 or linda.c@wcogd.org.

Danbury

Danbury Library presents Fly Me to the Moon... And Beyond!

A NASA ambassador will discuss the Apollo 11 mission that brought humans to the moon during an upcoming virtual discussion through the Danbury Libray.

The program, Fly Me to the Moon...and Beyond!, will feature Bill Cloutier, a NASA Solar System ambassador, amateur astronomer, and founding member of the John J. McCarthy Observatory in New Milford. He will discuss the exploration and colonization of the moon and beyond.

He has a life-long interest in astronomy, astrophotography, space exploration history, with a special interest in lunar imaging, and sharing those interests with the public.

The event will take place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 9. The event is free, but registration is required. Register at the virtual calendar page on DanburyLibrary.org or by calling the Danbury Library at 203-797-4505. To register by email or for questions about this program or ZOOM, email: bamero@danburylibrary.org

Danbury

WCSU nursing students, faculty join vaccination efforts

Nursing students and faculty from Western Connecticut State University have joined the vaccination campaign this winter to address the spread of COVID-19 by offering their support to the launch of vaccine administration programs organized by the Nuvance Health system and the Danbury Department of Public Health and Human Services.

The WCSU Department of Nursing responded to appeals from Nuvance and Danbury public health administrators for volunteer support as the organizations ramped up their programs to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to health care workers and other first responders, as well as to provide public education and follow-up services.

Nursing Department Chair Dr. Jeanette Lupinacci said WCSU students have volunteered since December at four Nuvance locations including Danbury, Norwalk, New Milford and Sharon hospitals. Department faculty and students in the universitys RN-BN and M.S. in nursing programs also responded to a call from Danbury public health authorities for support in the citys vaccination effort.

New Milford

The Westchester County Association Names Kristen N. Gizzi to their Board of Directors

The Westchester County Association, the regions leading development and business advocacy organization, has elected attorney Kristen N. Gizzi to its Board of Directors.

She is general counsel for ECCO III Enterprises Inc, director of real estate for ECCO Development, LLC Yonkers, NY, and executive director of Litchfield Crossings in New Milford. ECCO III Enterprises, Inc. is a Westchester based heavy highway, environmental, and infrastructure construction company.

In addition, Gizzi serves on the boards of the Corporation for New Milford Economic Development and the New Milford Chamber of Commerce. A Katonah, N.Y. resident, Gizzi is president of the Board of Directors of Hopes Door, a Westchester based non-profit assisting domestic violence victims and is co-facilitator at The Phoenix and The Rose.

Region

Virtual fitness program to be held

A fitness program through the YMCA is designed to improve health and well being will launch virtually next month.

The EnhancedFitness program is an evidence-based program that focuses on enhanced balance, flexibility and strength, leading to a healthier, more confident individual.

Participants will exercise at home with certified instructors, who will help improve their flexibility, strength and balance over a 16-week period. Their progress will be monitored through a fitness test within the first week and then again at the end of program.

Classes will be held over Zoom beginning Monday, Feb. 1. A link will be shared after registration. The program will be held at 11 a.m. Mondays and 9:15 a.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. There is a $50 fee for YMCA members and non-members. Enrollment is limited. Register by visiting https://www.regionalymca.org/enhancedfitness/.

Region

Grant supports blood pressure program

A grant from the Brookfield Education Foundation and The Buck Foundation will allow some residents to attend a blood pressure program for free.

The Regional YMCA of Western Connecticut is hosting the four-month program, where participants will self monitor their blood pressure.

The grant will allow seven qualified Brookfield residents and 15 Danbury residents to participate for free.

This program includes monthly nutrition education seminars, 10-minute consultations with a Healthy Heart Ambassador during virtual office hours and weekly check-ins from an ambassador by phone, email or text. Participants are asked to attend two personalized consultations per month (office hours) and four monthly nutrition education seminars.

Checking and recording ones blood pressure at least twice a month over a period of four months has been shown to lower blood pressure in some individuals with hypertension, according to the YMCA.

Enrollment is open for the next virtual information sessions. The first Zoom meeting is at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 4. The Meeting ID is 859 7488 2614 and the password is HEART.

Another session will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10. The Meeting ID: 836 8338 5361 and the password is HEART.

For more details or to sign up, contact Lisa O'Connor at 203-775-4444 x 135 or loconnor@regionalymca.org.

Ridgefield

Schools, Boys & Girls Club partner

In September, as Ridgefield schools prepared to reopen in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and as families prepared to deal with the continuous transitions between in-person, hybrid, and full-distance learning, the Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield immediately began adapting their programs to accommodate the changing needs of club families and the Ridgefield community.

In partnership with the schools, the Boys & Girls Club staff developed a new program, the BGCR Club Hub, which aligned with the schools reopening plan. The Club Hub program provides a safe, positive environment for students to complete their virtual learning during the school day, under the eyes of the clubs youth development professionals and support staff.

In the new year, the Boys & Girls Club continues to be flexible as the RPS learning model fluctuates weekly, and remains ready to implement the Club Hub program, as needed.

The Boys & Girls Club is a vital resource during COVID, Margaret Stamatis, school board chair, said in a statement. Its services are essential for some working parents, and the ability for students to access distance learning while at the Club ensures continuity of learning.

Southbury

Arts programs to kick off

Arts Escape is accepting online registration for its February 2021 programs. All programs will be held via Zoom and will have participant limits in each program.

Photography classes with photographer John Munno are: Get to Know Your Digital Camera II an Adobe Lightroom for four-weeks. Field photography classes, weather permitting, will be scheduled, as well.

Writing Classes will be held with instructors, Nancy McMillian and Bobbi Knezek. Classes are The Practice of Writing, Write@Noon, Writers Lab and Create/Update Your Resume.

A book club with Barbara McKay will discuss This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 17. Books are being held at the Southbury Library under Arts Escape.

John Tuohy, a musician and historian, will host a music lecture, Over the Rainbow; the life and music of Judy Garland at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22.

Barbara Johnston will lead an art history lecture, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not": Love and Desire in the Works of Jan Vermeer, at 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15.

Art Escapes Open Mic First Thursday will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4.

For more information and registration, please go to the website: https://www.artsescape.org/programs/ or call us at: 203-586-1474.

Arts Escape Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire adults to explore, learn participate and grow through the arts.

Weston

Program to detail CTs role in WWI

As a lead-in to the Weston Historical Societys 1920s exhibit opening later this year, the society is organizing a virtual lecture series that will explore events that influenced and shaped the Roaring 20s.

The first virtual lecture, Connecticuts Role in World War I, will be presented by Christine Pittsley, of the CT State Library at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday via Zoom.

The event is free, but registration is required. Register at www.westonhistoricalsociety.org. The Zoom link will be emailed 24 hours before the event. Help the Weston Historical Society, a non-profit organization, continue its community programming with a suggested donation of $5. Donate at: www.westonhistoricalsociety.org.

Washington

Walk to be held on first full moon of the year

For the first full moon of the year, the Institute for American Indian Studies will host a walk under the stars.

Educators will lead the moon walk at 7 p.m. Friday along the wooded trails on the institutes grounds.

The institute said a highlight of this easy walk will be to learn about the phenomena that people in the Eastern Woodlands have been experiencing for thousands of years.

Space on this walk is limited and pre-registration is required. Please call 860-868-0518 or email events@iaismuseum.org to reserve a spot. The price for participation is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, and $6 for children. The cost for members of the Institute is $5. Participants should dress for the weather, wear sturdy shoes and bring along a flashlight.
FP Trending

Citizen scientists from NASA-funded Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 have now managed to create the 'most complete' three-dimensional map of 525 brown dwarfs in our cosmic Milky Way neighbourhood. The brown dwarfs are objects that are balls of gas not heavy enough to be stars, since they cannot power themselves through nuclear fusion the way stars do, according to a statement from NASA. While they are named brown dwarfs, they appear magenta or orange-red if a person could see them close up.

Brown dwarfs can have temperatures of up to thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, but the Y dwarfs may be below freezing temperatures and have clouds made of water, the space agency said. The map encompasses a radius of 65-light years, or about 400 trillion miles. NASA added that citizen scientists have been searching for brown dwarf candidates as part of Backyard Worlds, using data from NASAs Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) satellite along with all-sky observations collected between 2010 and 2011 under its previous moniker, WISE, since 2017.

By making a complete map of the objects, scientists can find out whether different kinds of brown dwarfs and are evenly distributed in the solar system's neighbourhood. NASA said that telescopes can detect brown dwarfs because they emit heat in the form of infrared light, left over from their formation. The new citizen scientist project is the most complete map to date of L, T and Y dwarfs in the vicinity of the solar system.

The study which was presented at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society had listed worldwide volunteers and high school students in the Pasadena, California. J Davy Kirkpatrick, lead author of the study and scientist at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology, said that without the citizen scientists, they could not have created such a comprehensive map in such a short time. Having the power of thousands of inquiring eyes on the data enables them to find brown dwarf candidates much faster, he added.

A statement from the National Science Foundations NOIRLab revealed that a total of 525 brown dwarfs were mapped in the new 3D visualization, including 38 new brown dwarfs that were discovered by the citizen scientist group.
Darjeeling:

Hardening their stance on separate statehood, Supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) marched in processions in the Darjeeling hills as the indefinite entered the eleventh day on Sunday.

GJM supremo Bimal Gurung last night in a video message asked everyone to hit the streets and cautioned that some leaders from other parties might try to betray the Gorkhaland agitation.

I urge everyone to hit the streets in protest. All leaders should hit the streets with workers and the common people. We are ready for talks only on the issue of Gorkhaland, not on any alternative formula, Gurung said in a video message.

Some leaders of different parties may betray our cause. Remember that one day, everyone has to die. Either my body will go home or I will return with Gorkhland, he said.

Except medicine shops, all other shops and markets, schools and colleges remained closed. Vehicles were also off the roads.

Also Read | Darjeeling: Protesters march through streets; indefinite shutdown enters tenth day

Internet services remained suspended for the eighth day. Security forces have been patrolling the streets.

Elected members of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), belonging to the GJM which is leading the stir, have already resigned from the autonomous body.

The party has decided to burn copies of the GTA Accord, reached in 2011 between the Union home ministry, the West Bengal government and the GJM, on June 26 and 27.

Also Read | Darjeeling violence: Police register case against GJM supremo Bimal Gurung, wife

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[January 25, 2021] Periscope Holdings Named to the GovTech 100 for Sixth Straight Year

Periscope Holdings announced today that it has been named a GovTech 100 company by Government Technology magazine for the sixth year in a row, in part due to the exceptional support it provided to state and local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the last 20 years, Periscope Holdings has collaborated with elected and appointed officials across all levels of government to help transform procurement from a process-driven support function to a more strategic entity. During 2020, the company helped states such as Arkansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Oregon accelerate reform of procurement systems, processes and policies to the benefit of taxpayers, small and disadvantaged businesses, and local economies. It also dedicated a significant amount of resources to quickly stand up the Emergency Marketplace - a version of the Periscope Marketplace - to provide public sector buyers with direct access to verified suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE), medical equipment and more.



"When the pandemic started, our first priority was to ensure our agency customers had the technology tools they needed to mount a quick and effective response within their jurisdictions," said Brian Utley, president and CEO of Periscope Holdings. "Creating the Emergency Marketplace was just one way we were able to help them execute their missions." The Periscope Holdings team, in conjunction with NIGP Consultants, also provided virtual "front line" assistance to public procurement practitioners to maintain operational continuity. The team worked with buyers in Emergency Operations Centers as well as those working remotely to re-engineer processes and implement technology solutions that fully supported evolving missions and remote workforce structures.

For example, many local governments did not have electronic bidding capabilities at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Periscope Holdings team worked with them to quickly onboard Periscope Source (News - Alert) , which allowed suppliers and buyers to electronically post solicitations, submit proposals and communicate in a digital government environment. In addition, many state and local governments continued expanding their utilization of the Periscope ePro procure-to-pay tool. A number of recent enhancements and functionality expansions have made it easier for both small and large procurement teams to efficiently and intelligently manage their spend and maintain compliance with government policies and regulations - both of which are critical in the current climate. As an Agiloft partner, the company is also working with customers such as Central Health in Austin, Texas, to implement Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions that enable remote workers to centrally access contracts, execute contract actions and automatically process approvals and renewals without delay. "The significant growth we experienced in 2020 is a testament to the value we bring to the public sector," Utley continued. "We don't just provide procurement technology to government agencies. We offer solutions to their greatest challenges, policy and process expertise and unconditional support. Procurement is the backbone of government operations, and we want to ensure our customers have the tools they need to fully serve their customers, even in challenging circumstances." The GovTech 100 is an annual list compiled and published by Government Technology as a compendium of 100 companies focused on, making a difference in, and selling to state and local government agencies across the United States. Periscope Holdings has been named to the list each year since the list was established in 2016. About Periscope Holdings Founded in 2001, Periscope Holdings is transforming public sector procurement with technology and solutions exclusively for public sector buyers and suppliers. Driven by a purpose to eradicate waste and maximize the value of every dollar spent, Periscope Holdings is trusted by 500,000 suppliers and powers more US government eProcurement systems than other eProcurement provider. Visit www.periscopeholdings.com to learn more. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005724/en/

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A new laser system that can zap cancer cells that are smaller than the width of a human hair without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue is being developed.

Experts at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University have been given 1.2 million by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for the project.

The new system will be based around ultrafast, 'picosecond' lasers that deliver energy in a series of pulses that are each just one trillionth of a second long.

Laser surgery expert Jonathan Shephard and colleagues have already demonstrated that the treatment concept can be successfully used on colorectal cancers.

They will now be now be working with clinicians at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust to apply the technique to brain cancers.

A new laser system that can zap cancer cells that are smaller than the width of a human hair without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue (as pictured) is being developed

'Previously we focused on colorectal cancers. We proved in the lab that our laser system can remove cancer cells in a way that restricts damage to the surrounding, healthy cells  within the width of a human hair,' said Professor Shephard.

'Because the laser pulses are so short, there is no time for heat to burn the surrounding tissue, which is what happens with current surgical tools.'

'We're building on our understanding of lasers in colorectal cancer surgery towards clinical application and working on adapting it for brain, head and neck cancers  where it could have huge benefits for patients.'

'The most important principle of any cancer surgery is to ensure that all cancer cells are removed; failure to do so will result in the cancer coming back,' he continued.

'This is an ultimate test of precision, even microscopic loss of healthy tissue and damage to nearby vital structures can have severe functional consequences and a huge impact on quality of life.'

The researchers will also be working to develop a flexible, optical fibre-based system that can target and remove cancer cells which a precision that is two orders of magnitude smaller than current technology.

'Previously we focused on colorectal cancers. We proved in the lab that our laser system can remove cancer cells in a way that restricts damage to the surrounding, healthy cells  within the width of a human hair [as depicted],' said Professor Shephard

'Surgical lasers open up exciting new approaches for cancer surgery,' said David Jayne, who is a consultant surgeon at the Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust.

'The precision of a laser combined with imaging to accurately discriminate cancer from normal tissue will greatly enhance the ability of surgeons to completely remove cancers with minimal side-effects for patients.'

Professor Shephard and his team will be working on developing the new laser treatment system over the next three years.
Joseph Maldonado-Passagewho is better known as Joe Exoticis seeking a presidential pardon from Joe Biden.

Exotic had initially implored Donald Trump to be released from prison after his incarceration was made extremely public thanks to the Netflix documentary series, Tiger King. His appeal was denied, although it appears that Exotic is now willing to try his luck with the new administration.

Tiger King follows the story of Exotic and other zoo owners in America that primarily handle more, well, exotic animals such as tigers. While that sounds like it could be interesting enough on its own, the personal battles that go on between the individual zoo owners is juicier than any zebra flank a lion might bite into.

Take the now-notorious relationship between Exotic and Carole Baskin. Baskinwho runs Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fla.has reportedly been harassed by Exotic over a number of years. This harassment cumulated into one gigantic felony after Exotic attempted to pay a hitman to assassinate her.

Unfortunately for Exotic, one of the hitmen he attempted to hire was an undercover FBI agent. Exotic was arrested and charged with two counts of murder-for-hire; eight counts of violating the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records; and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act.

Fox News reports that Exotics legal team had fully believed Exotics name would be included on the list of pardons granted by Trump prior to his last day in office. One legal team member had even waited in a limousine outside of the prison in which Exotic is being held in the event the pardon was announced.

Now that his bid with Trump has fallen through, Exotic has turned to the Biden administration for an early release. He recently expressed to TMZ via email his belief in Vice President Kamala Harris ability to help clean up the corruption in the DOJ.

Further information regarding Exotics pardon with Joe Biden remains unknown he is currently serving a 22-year sentence for the charges listed above.

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The coronavirus pandemic, which abruptly canceled the 2020 session of the General Assembly, will continue to cast a shadow over the legislatures new Zoom era. And this year, dozens of bills have been filed to shape Connecticuts reaction to the crisis.

The new measures range from economic aid to public health initiatives to the future of mail-in voting and the extension of the governors emergency powers, which expire on Feb. 9. Its all happening as lawmakers and citizens try to manage public discourse from homes and offices far from the State Capitol complex in Hartford.

Theres a litany of recommendations, said state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chairman of the legislative Public Health Committee, stressing long-term care facilities, infection control and telemedicine as areas where the panel hopes to build consensus in the coming weeks. As the committee of cognizance, were very COVID-focused.

Public option health insurance

For Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, better insurance coverage for small businesses and non-profit agencies is going to be a major goal during the budget-making session, which ends at midnight on June 9. We need to figure out a way to bring down the cost of health care in Connecticut, Ritter said in a Friday interview.

While President Joe Biden has set public-health goals centered on mass vaccinations, Ritter isnt sure the new administration in Washington will have much leeway, with only a nominal Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. Still, Ritter hopes for additional federal support for Access Health CT, the states exchange under the Affordable Care Act, which recently enrolled about 105,000 residents for coverage in 2021.

If we can come up with some options for small business, it could be a success for us, Ritter said.

He recently participated in a news conference led by Comptroller Kevin Lembo in support of a so-called public option for residents to join the states employee health plans. But Gov. Ned Lamont is skeptical of the potential cost to the state, putting into doubt legislation for 2021  two years after a similar bill died under pressure to kill it by the insurance industry.

Relief for workers

State Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven and Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, the co-chairwomen of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, support a variety of measures, including the reimbursement of expenses for first responders and frontline workers.

We are still having to endure this pandemic, Porter said last week during a committee meeting. We are definitely going to make sure that the workers of the state get the relief that they deserve and that we get our small businesses back up and running, we get work back in the state and that we get our revenues flowing.

We know that working families in Connecticut are struggling with the effects of the pandemic and the terrible impact that has had on the economy, on jobs and - in every way - in workers lives, Kushner said. We want to get it right. We know that there are many things that got held up because of COVID last year.

The 2020 legislature was suspended on March 12, but lawmakers returned twice in special sessions, passing 13 bills including no-excuse mail-in voting for the 2020 elections and a broad police accountability reform law.

As we know, COVID brings a super dimension to it for us, said Rep. Harry Arora, R-Greenwich, a labor committee member. We need to discuss and work on what is viable and fundable, and also delivers the benefits as its supposed to.

Election reforms

Picking up on the enormous public response to mail-in balloting, the Government Administration and Elections Committee, led by Rep. Dan Fox, D-Stamford and Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, is planning public hearings on a resolution for amendments to the state Constitution on both early voting and no-excuse absentee voting. The measures could go before voters in 2024 or perhaps as soon as 2022 if both the House and Senate pass them with 75 percent super-majorities.

The early-voting bill passed the 2019 General Assembly and needs only a simple majority this year to get the question on the 2022 statewide ballot. But the no-excuse absentee voting measure must receive a super-majority to get on the 2022 ballot and lawmakers may combine the two measures, which would make a 2022 ballot question less likely.

Democrats have a 97-54 majority in the House and a 24-12 margin in the Senate.

I think this session is a new reality for all of us, Fox said in response to criticism from conservative GOP lawmakers including Rep. Craig Fishbein of Middletown and ranking committee members Sen. Rob Sampson and Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, both of Wolcott.

This particular language is extremely vague, Sampson said, calling for a rewritten version. It basically says that early voting has no limitations. It means that early voting could begin the day after the completion of the previous election.

The committee approved the calls for hearings, which were introduced by the secretary of the state, the attorney general and the Office of State Ethics; Fishbein, Sampson and Mastrofrancesco voted against holding hearings.

Executive powers at issue

Legislative hearings by the General Assemblys 26 committees will be open to the public to speak via Zoom, over the phone or through written testimony. Most hearings will be available to view on CT-N or YouTube.

On Friday, the Office of Legislative Management, which runs the 14-acre complex, announced someone who worked on the campus on Jan. 15 had contracted the virus, bringing another dose of pandemic reality to the business of the legislature, even as committees were continuing business remotely. In previous weeks, staff members in the offices of Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz have contracted the virus, resulting in quarantines for both the states top executives.

Lamonts Chief of Staff Paul Mounds said last week that informal conversations have been taking place with leaders of the House and Senate over possible extensions of his emergency powers for at least several more months. We havent had any official conversations with the legislature, Mounds said, during a news conference last week.

In September, legislative leaders extended Lamonts powers until February.

What you dont want is for all your executive orders just stop on Feb. 9, Lamont said. Thats not very good. Whether we extend the orders for two months or four months, you know, Paul and the leadership can figure that out. And in the meantime, you know, the legislature is back in session.

Lamont then advised legislators to tell him if there are orders they dont like.

Or if you want to, cast a vote in the legislature to open the bars or whatever your priority might be, because you have a chance to exercise that privilege if you want to.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:08:40|Editor: huaxia

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Volkan Bozkir, president of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), addresses a high-level meeting to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 21, 2020. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

After all, the danger of a single or a few powers hijacking multilateralism for self-interests is as much destructive as, if not more than, the blunt practice of unilateralism.

by Xinhua writer Shi Xiaomeng

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Four years ago, when world leaders and business titans gathered for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the world was facing a consequential choice between sticking to the path of multilateralism and giving way to unilateralism championed by Washington's "America First" doctrine.

Four years later, the international community, profoundly challenged by a seething pandemic, an agonizing economic recession, as well as a fleet of other daunting global problems, is facing a new critical test of resisting all forms of pseudo multilateralism and upholding the genuine one.

Photo taken on Jan. 16, 2017 shows the logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

While the globalist feast of the WEF in 2017 gave an unequivocal support for multilateralism, this year's forum, a virtual event that opens on Monday, provides a timely venue for the global community to gather greater global consensus to make the right decision once again.

Modern multilateralism can date back to the age when the Peace of Westphalia was negotiated and settled. It was born to lessen the leverage of the powerful over the weak and to reduce conflicts. In the following centuries, multilateralism has experienced constant evolution to meet the needs of different times.

Performers dance during an evening gala for the 2017 BRICS Summit and the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Sept. 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

For instance, the United Nations was founded as one of the pillars of the post-war world order to underpin global peace in the wake of the Second World War. The BRICS bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was formed when a sustainable global economic growth needs stronger and more coordinated input from the world's major emerging economies.

However, a genuine form of multilateralism demands far more than a number of countries bundling together for a self-serving purpose. History does not lack painful lessons of some major powers abusing multilateralism as a tool for hegemonic ambitions. The Iraq War in 2003 was such a classic example.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the outside view of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

At this utterly challenging crux in human history, it is imperative for the global community to debunk and deny all kinds of manipulations of multilateralism and to stick to the right path.

To begin with, closed-group politics usually takes the camouflage of multilateralism. By gathering together, some wealthy world powers have formed exclusive clubs, seeking to dictate the world's agenda on key global questions so as to put their interests ahead of common interests of the wider world.

A second pattern of phony multilateralism is found in a handful of countries' attempt to monopolize the rights to stipulate rules for the world, and impose their will on the entire international community.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the United Nations (UN) flag flying outside the UN headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The age when the globe could be dominated by one or several major powers has long gone and will never return. For a fairer world order, global affairs should be managed collectively and the world's rules need to be written jointly by all countries, big or small, wealthy or poor.

Also, the dangerous move of ideologizing multilateralism to forge value-based alliances targeting specific countries should be alerted to. Those divisive actions will only crumble trust among nations and fortify ideological entrenchment that will lead to greater confrontation.

For centuries, from ending two world wars to terminating the 2008 global financial crisis, multilateralism, even in its nascent stage, has proved to be an effective way to supplant a lack of global governance in an anarchic state of the world, safeguard world peace and promote global prosperity.

The world today is undergoing changes unseen in a century, and the human race needs more than ever multilateralism to vanquish the deadly pathogen, slow down the rising of sea levels, boost collective security and bolster common development. None of those tasks can be achieved single-handedly.

Photo taken in New York on Sept. 24, 2020 shows UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaking via video at a summit-level Security Council debate on "global governance after COVID-19". (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Of course, no one should expect the multilateral mechanisms required in today's world will stay exactly the same as the ones when the United Nations was founded. However, such purposes and principles as stated in the UN Charter and other fundamental norms governing international relations, including mutual respect for sovereignty and equality of all countries, should be carried forward.

Washington's reckless pursuit of unilateralism over the past four years has shown that multilateralism, despite being the wave of the human future, is not something that the world community can take for granted.

The new U.S. administration has extended a welcoming gesture by agreeing to return to the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization. Nevertheless, for genuine multilateralism to succeed in the future, the world community should always stay vigilant against all fake types.

After all, the danger of a single or a few powers hijacking multilateralism for self-interests is as much destructive as, if not more than, the blunt practice of unilateralism. 
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Four years ago in Davos, President Xi Jinping quoted this famous line of Charles Dickens to describe a world fraught with contradictions. He observed, On the one hand, with growing material wealth and advances in science and technology, human civilization has developed as never before. On the other hand, frequent regional conflicts, global challenges like terrorism and refugees, as well as poverty, unemployment and widening income gap have all added to the uncertainties of the world.

Four years later, the world faces but more uncertainties brought by COVID-19. The virus has plunged many major economies into recession and battered the livelihoods of hundreds of millions around the world. While countries rightly executed strict protocols to battle the virus, these measures, to varying degrees, have disrupted the global industrial and supply chains. International exchanges, due to social-distancing, have been badly hit. At some points, international travel almost came to a halt. Flows of capital, technology, information and goods have been significantly affected. As a result, globalization and multilateralism have come under mounting skepticism.

The good news is, most in the world still believe in multilateralism. At last years 15th G20 Leaders Summit, countries voiced their support for multilateralism. Leaders from Germany, Russia, South Africa and Argentina called upon the world to jointly uphold multilateralism and come together in the spirit of solidarity and partnership to tackle global challenges, be it COVID-19 or economic recession.

China is as committed as ever to upholding multilateralism. Four years ago at the World Economic Forum, President Xi underscored the need to adhere to multilateralism to uphold the authority and efficacy of the multilateral institutions. At last years Extraordinary G20 Leaders Summit on COVID-19, he again called on the international community to strengthen confidence, act with unity, comprehensively step up international cooperation and foster greater synergy so that humanity as one could win the battle against the major infectious disease. In this era of globalization, mankind rise and fall together. Countries have never been as interconnected and interdependent as they are today.

Over the past year, COVID-19 has been a vivid reminder that it takes global efforts to fight a pandemic. Those who embrace globalization and multilateralism tend to have a better chance at effective containment and brighter development prospects. Imagine what it would be like if all countries looked inward and pursued a go-it-alone approach on vaccines and the economy. Imagine the consequences if all countries cut themselves off from the global division of labor and decoupled from the international economy. The pandemic would wreak more havoc, and economic reopening would be a much slower and painful process. If history teaches us anything, it is that only by working as one are we humans able to contain and ultimately defeat the threat of virus, be it SARS, H7N9 or Ebola.

In times of COVID-19, we have seen multilateralism at work: The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility was established to, among others, help developing countries secure access to vaccines; many governments worked diligently to facilitate clinical trials for vaccines and open green channels for the flow of medical supplies; countries around the world, including China, reached out to others by donating supplies, sending medical teams and sharing containment experience. All these examples demonstrate that humanity is indeed one family with a shared future.

As the world economy bottoms out from the COVID-19 recession, the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, covering roughly 30 percent of the worlds population and economic output, marks another victory of multilateralism and free trade and adds new impetus to the global recovery.

As aptly put by President Xi in Davos, Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from. Globalization is the prevailing, unstoppable trend of the times. In this globalized world, one full of complexities and challenges, multilateralism is the only right way forward.
ALEPPO  Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has seemingly come a long way in seizing control over Idlib and aspires to expand that control at the Turkish-backed opposition's expense in northwestern Syria. Since early 2019 and after battling Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions, HTS has directed its attention to the development of the civil administrations work and provided its affiliated Syrian Salvation Government with additional powers to set up institutions and bodies to manage civil action.

In the security sector, HTS portrays itself as the de facto ruler in its areas of influence and promotes its alleged success through the pursuit of Islamic State (IS) cells. The HTS general security apparatus announced Jan. 13 a security operation targeting an IS cell in the Idlib countryside.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Mahmood Talha, a journalist for the local Thiqah news agency, said that HTS publicizes itself as a popular de facto authority. In its supporters' view, it is an anticipated and inevitable outcome based on its alleged success in creating a governmental and security system. Such allegations on the civil administration in Idlib are deceptive, and many institutions are only pro forma and have no significant efficiency, such as health and education bodies. This is while the Salvation Government gives attention to institutions through which it collects money and imposes taxes, such as the state property administration, the checkpoints, crossings, bakeries, fuel and transport administrations, as well as the camps affairs and humanitarian affairs directorates, and the municipalities directorate that has recently imposed fees on building permits.

While HTS is recognized as a terrorist group by the United States and the UN Security Council, the US has focused its fire more recently on Haras al-Din, a more radical offshoot. Although HTS has worked to present itself as a more Syrian nationalist force and claims to have severed organizational links with Al-Qaeda, Damascus and Moscow continue to lump it as an offshoot of the latter. UN reports have cited human rights abuses and war crimes by the group.

In parallel to HTS and the Salvation Government  which the group is affiliated with  celebrating their alleged success in the civil administration in Idlib, another success in managing the security dossier is being promoted in a no less deceptive way. The Salvation Governments media directorate, as well as the official and alternative media of HTS, intensifies propaganda in this vein. HTS commander-in-chief Abu Mohammad al-Julanis frequent appearances lately are in line with the publicity policy the group adopts.

Talha said, This policy and the discourse that seeks expansionist ambitions in the whole opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria are legitimate from the HTS supporters. This is because, for them, HTS is the most entitled to assume government and security tasks in the opposition-held areas. This is where HTS is trying to benefit from the lack of security in the opposition-held areas in the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas in the Aleppo countryside, to promote their supposed success in managing the security file in Idlib and the civil administration in general. Their supporters are comparing between the two neighboring opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria and see that it is necessary for HTS to expand and take the whole opposition-held area under its control and end the lack of security in these areas.

Zahabi, edressi1, al-shamali_alhr, i3lamisory and many others are the pseudonyms of HTS communicators and commanders who have Telegram accounts where they promote their security and civil administration successes. Their organized campaign reflects the HTS ambition to expand at the expense of the opposition. That consists of an alternative tactic of direct confrontation. Zahabi indicated on Telegram that despite the mistakes made by the one managing the liberated [areas] in Idlib, it is the best suited [group] to manage the entire liberated [parts] and impose full control not only over Idlib but over every part that does not fall under Russian and Iranian control.

Abdul Wahab al-Assi, a researcher in Gaziantep who works at the Jusoor for Studies Center, told Al-Monitor that HTS is looking forward to expanding in the FSA-held areas in northern Aleppo in a way that is not only limited to the security side, which it is seemingly able to somehow ensure effectively. The counter-propaganda and focus on the lack of security in the faction-held areas greatly serve these ambitions.

Assi said that the thing that impedes HTSs safe access to the faction-held areas in the Aleppo countryside is the lack of any intellectual favorable environment. The local residents and societal groups reject its existence and adopted the national armys narrative that HTS is to be blamed for undermining the Syrian opposition forces influence and for standing behind the violations committed against the armed factions, activists and others, and for the major failure of the Salvation Government despite the abundant resources and lack of competitiveness.

Assi added, HTS does not miss any opportunity to achieve an ideological and psychological breakthrough in the faction-held areas. It is exploiting the large security gap there and blaming security and military agencies for that, considering them to be a part of the problem. Also, it is marketing the security model in Idlib. Yet, even though HTS is able to undermine the peoples confidence in the advantage of continuing to uphold the opposition factions narrative on their relations, this breakthrough will not serve effective access, given that control and power sources are being shared.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, the FSA Mutasem Brigades political bureau director Mustafa Sejari noted, HTS is ambitious to expand at the expense of the FSA factions and worked in advance to tarnish the reputation of the factions by accusing them of treason and militarily attacked them so as to take control over Idlib. Today, it is tarnishing the reputation of the national army paving the way for their offensives. Julani was not and will never become a leader, except for the bandits who are affiliated with him.

Orabi Abdulhay Orabi, a researcher of Islamic groups, told Al-Monitor, HTS aspires to be a local faction that would be internationally accepted. Being internationally accepted means that this faction can be relied upon in various matters, including the security file and other tasks. In case it succeeds in expanding toward the Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield areas, it will win bigger popularity and probably a stronger political ground, enabling it to negotiate with Turkey and other countries. It really aspires to expand at the expense of the FSA in the Aleppo countryside. That can be seen in its alternative media.

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New Delhi: An Indian Army's helicopter on Monday (January 25, 2021) made a crash-landing in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, in which, one pilot has died and another sustained injuries.

The Indian army chopper has crash-landed near a brigade headquarters in Lakhanpur area of Kathua district, the Indian Army has confirmed.

"Today at around 7 pm, Army Dhruv Chopper crashed during routine Patrolling incident in the Army Area of 401 R T Brigade at Basohli Morh Sector Lakhanpur, of Kathua district bordering Punjab," said SSP Kathua Shailender Kumar.

Reports quoting eyewitness suggest that the advanced light helicopter crashed after getting caught in wires.



(More details awaited)

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President Biden on Monday ended former President Trump's ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, signing the executive order during an Oval Office meeting with new Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III.

Transgender service members will no longer be discharged and can be identified by their preferred gender once their transition is complete and recorded in the Defense personnel system.

America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception," the order says. "Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, its the right thing to do and is in our national interest.

The order is among the flurry Biden has issued in his first days as president to dismantle Trump policies that critics have considered discriminatory. Biden has also overturned a Trump ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, halted construction of the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and launched an initiative to advance racial equity.

The Trump transgender policy, put in place in 2017 with the backing of then-Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, was itself a reversal of President Obama's decision a year earlier to allow transgender troops to serve openly.

The restrictions went into effect in 2019 after two years of court challenges. They required service members and those wishing to join the military to adhere to the standards associated with their biological sex and prohibited current service members from transitioning to a different gender if they wanted to remain in the military.

Transgender recruits have been largely blocked from joining the armed forces since the Trump move. Biden, who had promised to lift the ban during his presidential campaign, told reporters at the White House that his order "is reinstating the position ... other secretaries have supported, which allows all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.

Story continues

New recruits may join in their self-identified gender as long as they meet the appropriate standards for accession into the military services, the Pentagon said, and any service member disciplined or discharged under the Trump policy will have their cases reexamined. The new policy will provide that all medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law is available to all service members, the department said.

The change has the support of Austin, a retired four-star Army general who was confirmed to the Pentagons top civilian post Friday. He called for overturning the ban during his Senate confirmation hearing last week. On Monday he issued a statement of endorsement: I fully support the presidents direction that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the United States military and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination.

Advocates applauded the action.

President Bidens restoration of open service recognizes transgender service members as an integral part of our military and closes a dark chapter of history, said Emma Shinn, a Marine captain and president of Service Members, Partners, Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All, a transgender rights group.

Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, a research group that favored lifting the ban, said: "The Biden administration has made good on its pledge to put military readiness above political expediency by restoring inclusive policy for transgender troops."

The Pentagon keeps no data on the number of transgender personnel. Outside groups estimate there are 1,300 to 15,000 transgender troops in the military, which has an active-duty force of about 1.3 million. A 2016 study requested by the department found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs, the White House said.

But conservative groups disagreed and criticized the action. Retired Lt. Gen. Tom Spoehr, a national security expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the Biden move will contribute to a reduced level of military readiness in our armed forces, which are already hard-pressed to defend American interests around the globe.

In 2016, the Obama administration announced that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly, ending a long-standing policy that allowed the military to discharge them, and set July 1, 2017, as the start date when transgender individuals would be allowed to enlist.

Trump delayed the enlistment date in 2017. In a series of tweets in July of that year that surprised the Pentagon, he declared that transgender individuals would not be allowed to serve in any capacity in the military.

Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail, Trump wrote.

After a lengthy legal battle and additional reviews, the Defense Department in April 2019 approved a policy that fell short of an all-out ban but barred transgender troops and recruits from transitioning to another sex and required most individuals to be identified by their birth gender.

Mattis directed development of the new policy, claiming it would ensure that all service members were held to the same standards for deployment. As of last July, at least three transgender troops were being processed for involuntary separation and, as of February, two had been considered for waivers, according to a Pentagon report to Congress.

The report also said 19 people were medically disqualified from enlisting or commissioning as an officer based on the Trump administrations transgender policy: 11 in the Army, seven in the Navy and one in the Air Force. Of those 19, none was considered for a waiver, and none ended up enlisting or commissioning, according to the report, which was first obtained by the Hill newspaper.

At least 197 service members have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria since the Trump administration's policy took effect. Of those, 12 were referred to the Pentagons Disability Evaluation System, which determines whether a service member will remain on duty or face discharge, according to the report. Eleven were in the Army; one was in the Navy.

The Supreme Court in January 2019 denied the Trump administrations request that it hear legal challenges to the transgender military ban, allowing cases to proceed in the lower courts. But the high court allowed the Trump policy to go into effect while challenges were pending.

Biden's order directs the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to take steps to implement the order for the military and the Coast Guard, and to reexamine the records of service members who were discharged or denied reenlistment due to gender identity issues under the previous policy. The departments must report to the president on their progress within 60 days.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Covid-19 death toll now stands at 440, with the deaths of 15 more people yesterday.

The Ministry of Health reported the deaths in its daily update yesterday evening.

One of the new deaths occurred in Tobago. The Tobago Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development disclosed that the patient was a 38-year-old male with co-morbidities.

New Delhi, May 28: The GST Council on Friday left taxes on COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies unchanged after the BJP- and Opposition-ruled states sparred over whether tax cut benefits will reach the common man.

Congress and other Opposition ruled states have been demanding a reduction in taxes but the central government felt the move may not result in tangible gains for people.

"It is one thing to rush to say - do this, it will benefit the common man. But when the technical, fitment and law committees go into the details, you realise that that could have collateral impact on many others," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

"I am not talking about the revenue generation aspect, but how many other items will get included in it as a result of which how you are going to implement it," she added.

Briefing reporters after the 43rd meeting of the GST Council, the finance minister said a ministerial panel will be constituted to decide on the rates on the vaccines and medical supplies.

The panel will submit its report by June 8.

"When actually these benefits, because they are going to manufacturers or intermediaries, (will) be passed over to the end user, the patients, on that there were different views.

"And therefore I suggested that a GoM (Group of Ministers) go into details and take a call. As a Council, we are responsible to see how it reaches the common man... the GoM will come back to us and we will take a final call," Sitharaman said.

Currently, 5 per cent GST is levied on domestically manufactured vaccines, while it is 12 per cent for COVID drugs and oxygen concentrators.

"The interest of the Centre and all states/UTs is to ensure that Indians get vaccinated in time and that states get due share of revenue in time, a balanced view is maintained, as witnessed in today''s meeting," Sitharaman said.

She added that import of Amphotericin-B -- a medicine used for treatment of black fungus -- would be exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The Council also decided that import of COVID-related goods such as medical oxygen and vaccines will be exempted from GST till August 31, even if they are imported on payment basis or free of cost for donating to the government or a state-approved agency.

The Council also decided that the Centre will borrow Rs 1.58 lakh crore and pass it on to the states as back-to-back loans to make up for the shortfall in their revenues from the implementation of the GST.

"On compensation cess, the same formula as last year will be adopted this year too. Rough estimate is that Centre would have to borrow Rs 1.58 lakh crore and pass it on as back-to-back loans to the states," Sitharaman said.

A special session of the Council will be held soon to consider extending the five-year GST shortfall compensation period to states beyond 2022.

The Council provided relief to small GST taxpayers through an amnesty scheme for late return filers.

To provide relief to taxpayers, late fee for non-furnishing of GSTR-3B for July 2017 to April 2021 has been capped at Rs 500 per return for those taxpayers who did not have any tax liability.

For those with tax liability, a maximum Rs 1,000 per return late fees would be charged, provided such returns are filed by August 31.

Besides, filing of annual returns for 2020-21 fiscal for taxpayers with aggregate turnover of up to Rs 2 crore has been made optional.

Meanwhile, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal tweeted that GST COVID-19 relief was put on hold due to "lack of compassion" by the Centre.

"GST compensation needs a primary maths teacher; Central Government reduces proposed compensation by nearly 33 per cent amidst faking revenues," Badal added.
SACRAMENTO  Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislative leaders have agreed to extend Californias partial eviction moratorium by five more months as they prepare to hand out billions of dollars in federal rent relief to struggling tenants and property owners.

The deal, which still must pass the Legislature, was put into print on Monday morning, so lawmakers could vote on the bill as soon as Thursday. It would allow tenants who are facing financial hardship because of the coronavirus pandemic to stay in their homes until at least the end of June, when property owners could again pursue evictions for nonpayment of rent.

Lawmakers face an imminent deadline to act, with existing protections expiring at the end of the month. Estimates on the percentage of California tenants who are behind on their rent range from 2%, by the Legislative Analysts Office, to 21%, by the U.S. Census Bureau  meaning nearly 2 million adults in the state could be at risk of losing their homes, exacerbating a homelessness crisis that is already the worst in the nation.

California received about $2.6 billion in emergency rent relief through the coronavirus aid package passed by the federal government last month to help ease the pressure. Only households with incomes 80% or less of the median income in their area are eligible for the assistance, however, and its unclear whether the money is sufficient to cover their debts.

In a joint statement, Newsom, state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood (Los Angeles County), said their plan would quickly make the federal aid available to the most at-risk households.

COVID-19 continues to devastate communities across our state and too many Californians remain one paycheck away from losing their apartments or homes, they said. These families need protection and relief now.

The proposed eviction moratorium bill sets out terms for distributing about $1.5 billion provided to the state. Property owners could recoup 80% of the rent that a low-income tenant missed from April 2020 to March 2021 if they forgive the rest of the amount owed and do not pursue eviction.

Property owners could not evict a tenant without first notifying them about the rental assistance program. If a tenant applied for assistance and the property owner did not agree to forgive the remaining 20% of their rent and forgo eviction, the tenant would receive a quarter of what they owed for that period  enough to keep them eligible for eviction protections under terms of the partial moratorium that the Legislature passed last fall.

The state would also make money available to cover 25% of a low-income tenants rent for up to three more months. Tenants whose income is 50% or less of the median income in their area would receive priority for all of the funding.

The other $1.1 billion of the federal aid goes directly to cities and counties with at least 200,000 people, which could create a complicated situation in which large communities such as San Francisco create their own rent stabilization programs. But they would be eligible for additional money from the state pot if they follow the rules set out by the legislative deal.

Tenant rights advocates, who complained that they were left out of the negotiations, said the approach created far too much uncertainty, leaving renters at the mercy of property owners who may choose to forgo the assistance and take their cases to court instead.

It just contributes to this climate of terror that renters are already facing, said Sam Tepperman-Gelfant, managing attorney for Public Advocates.

Assembly Member David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat who had pushed to freeze evictions through the end of 2021, said the deal was necessary but far from perfect and would likely require additional legislation to address gaps in protections for renters.

The power imbalance between tenants and landlords is troubling as the amount of rental assistance a tenant receives is determined solely by the cooperation of their landlord, he said in a statement.

Representatives for property owners  who have raised concerns that some higher-income tenants who can afford their rent are taking advantage of the eviction moratorium to not pay  plan to seek additional state funding for households that are not covered by the federal aid.

What do we do with those situations where the tenant doesnt qualify but the landlord needs the money? said Debra Carlton, a lobbyist for the California Apartment Association. We didnt get everything we wanted, but I dont think we had a choice.

The extension of the partial eviction moratorium would apply more broadly, even to households that make more than 80% of the median income in their area. It would simply add five more months to AB3088, the law adopted last fall that granted a reprieve to tenants who could not afford their rent because they lost their job or faced additional expenses due to the pandemic.

Under that law, tenants who warned their property owner and then paid a quarter of their total rent between September and January could not be evicted for nonpayment, and the rest of what they owed would be converted to civil debt. Without an extension of the law, property owners would be able to file to evict tenants who could not pay at least 25% of the rent for those five months by Jan. 31.

The new bill would move that deadline to June 30. Other requirements under last years law would remain, including a provision allowing property owners to ask higher-income tenants  those who make more than 130% of the median income in their area, if it is above $100,000  for proof they have lost income. It would also extend a preemption on local eviction rules, preventing local government from adopting new protections beyond what they had in place on Aug. 19, 2020.

The measure would cap the amount of attorney fees that property owners could recover from tenants while suing for their missed rent and allow the court to reduce the damages if a property owner refused to participate in the state rental assistance program for an eligible tenant.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
Mayor Jim Kenney began his second term last year by promising citywide street sweeping, hiring Philadelphias first Black woman police commissioner with hopes of reforming the department, and proposing a budget that relied on a booming economy to continue the spending increases of his first term.

That all feels like a long time ago.

This year he continues to face the raging pandemic that upended 2020, the resulting economic crisis, and calls to defund the police. Kenney said his goal for 2021 is just to get the city back on track. He said he also wants to focus on reducing gun violence, increasing school funding, improving policing, and reducing racial inequities.

Everything that was important [before the pandemic]  we want to kind of reorder and reemphasize that, he said in an interview last week. We still want to get that done.

But even as coronavirus vaccinations roll out and theres hope of ending the pandemic on the horizon, Kenney faces significant headwinds that could shape his second term  and his legacy. After winning twice as a progressive, hes lost support from some allies over the heavy-handed police response to protests and the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. Hes also faced criticism from groups unhappy with the citys more stringent coronavirus restrictions.

City Council is increasingly pushing its own priorities, and some members are positioning themselves for the 2023 mayoral race  making them less likely to follow the agenda of a lame-duck mayor.

And the impact of the pandemic is likely to last the rest of his time in office.

COVID represents a structural change within the city, said Richardson Dilworth, director of Drexel Universitys Center for Public Policy. Its inconceivable to me that it hasnt created more permanent joblessness, more permanent poverty, and all of the pathologies that are going to be associated with that.

 READ MORE: No phone hotlines, multiple websites, long lines: Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is confusing in Pa. and N.J.

A year ago, Kenney was talking to allies about running for governor in 2022. And despite a rocky 2020, hes still considering a bid for higher office next year, including a possible campaign for Pennsylvanias open U.S. Senate seat. With Republican Sen. Pat Toomey retiring and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf term-limited, both offices are up for grabs.

Running for either would require Kenney to quit as mayor, because of Philadelphias resign to run rule. That would send shock waves rippling throughout City Hall, most immediately by elevating Council President Darrell L. Clarke to the mayors office.

The plan right now is to do my job. Things happen, Kenney said. When I ran for mayor I didnt lay awake at night looking at the ceiling, wondering, pining to run for mayor. It came together in a very short period of time.

Its possible Kenney is merely floating his name for statewide office to maintain his relevance. Second-term Philadelphia mayors can quickly become political punching bags, as Kenney knows well: He was one of the most vocal Council critics of his predecessor, Michael A. Nutter.

I dont gauge political standing all the time Kenney said. Ive taken on issues and taken positions that have not always been popular with my perceived original base of people.

A hands-off pandemic response

As the coronavirus began spreading through the city in March, Kenney initially encouraged residents to go out and have dinner  and tip your waitstaff, even as Wolf was asking them to stay home and closing businesses in surrounding counties.

Since then, hes urged Philadelphians to closely follow public health guidelines and has taken a hands-off approach, making Health Commissioner Thomas Farley the public face of the citys response. The citys restrictions have been more stringent than the states, which Farley attributes to Philadelphias density and high case counts. The restaurant industry, in particular, has criticized the city for limiting its operation.

 READ MORE: Kenneys hands-off style landed him big wins in a calm first term. Does it still work during crisis?

Kenney himself drew criticism over Labor Day weekend for eating inside a Maryland restaurant while indoor dining was still banned in Philadelphia. He apologized for that incident, and has repeatedly said he understands business owners frustrations.

Melissa Bova, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, said the Kenney administration has started holding weekly meetings with representatives for the restaurant industry.

The meetings right now are more or less being told whats going to happen, Bova said. She said shes hopeful that relationship will become more collaborative as they focus on relief and recovery.

Police protest response upsets progressives

When Kenney first ran for mayor in 2015, he won significant support from the emerging progressive movement, thanks to his record of championing the rights of LGBTQ people and immigrants.

Throughout Kenneys first term, he stayed in near-lockstep with progressive aims, supporting worker protection bills, fighting to maintain Philadelphias status as a sanctuary city, and passing a sweetened beverage tax to fund pre-K.

But all that good will was jeopardized in the span of a few days in June, when a militarized police force terrorized a West Philadelphia neighborhood and tear-gassed peaceful protesters on I-676.

Nicolas ORourke, organizing director for the progressive Pennsylvania Working Families Party, said the citys handling of the protests against police brutality upset a number of people.

ORourke said Kenney could still win people over with significant progress on police reform initiatives and gun violence.

What Im really more focused on is how the mayor is going to be addressing gun violence in our community, ORourke said. Theres a number of things that people want to see happen.

 READ MORE: After a summer of record protests, Philadelphias Black Lives Matter organizers transition into a new season of activism

Kenney has apologized for the use of tear gas, and his administration is pursuing police reforms, including long-sought changes to the disciplinary process for cops accused of misconduct.

I dont think its hurt me with the progressives, Kenney said. I think the things they really care about, Ive been for and tried to accomplish.

But there will likely be disagreements ahead, especially as Councils progressive wing pushes to reduce police funding. Kenney has said he agrees officers shouldnt be called to respond to incidents a social worker or behavioral health specialist may be better suited to handle. But he has rejected calls to reduce the size of the force.

I think that the phrase defund the police was unfortunate because it set up expectations that not everybody wants, Kenney said.

For some activists, defund the police means exactly what it sounds like.

Im expecting more from him and the rest of city leadership  to stop investing in this broken institution that continually punishes and acts violently toward Black and brown Philadelphians, said ABrianna Morgan, an organizer with the progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia.

Kenney has said that racial inequality will be at the center of his administration going forward, with a focus on improving policing and reducing racial inequities in city services.

But former City Councilmember George Burrell said Kenney and other leaders, including Council, need to be more ambitious to eliminate systemic racism.

Everybody keeps talking about it, but nobody puts in place a specific plan for how to address it, he said.

An unenviable position on city budget

Police funding wont be the only budget issue that could cause friction this year.

The city is currently running on razor-thin margins and Kenney said last week that everything is on the table. Kenney is hopeful a new federal relief package will include funding for local governments that could spare him from having to cut services or lay off employees like last year.

Mustafa Rashed, a City Hall lobbyist, said Kenney faces a political minefield heading into budget negotiations and will likely have to take unpopular positions to balance the books.

This is the real one. Last year was smoke and mirrors, Rashed said. Its an undesirable and unenviable position to be in.

 READ MORE: Phillys reserve funds could be dangerously low by July. City officials hope for more federal aid.

Former Mayor Michael Nutters relationship with Council got rocky during budget negotiations amid the Great Recession. His proposed cuts to the Free Library of Philadelphia proved particularly unpopular, and he later said the move was one of his greatest regrets. By the end of Nutters tenure, Council was openly defying the mayor.

Rashed predicted Kenney will go out of his way to avoid a similar fate.

He knows how quickly, how bad things can be, Rashed said. Hes seen it firsthand.

Clarke said Council wont always agree with the mayor, but all city leaders want to get through the pandemic, revive the economy, and reduce gun violence.

Kenney, Clarke said, is doing the best he can given the circumstances.
A man accused of stealing collection money from a church in Derry has been banned from entering the city.

Joseph McCloskey is charged with stealing donations from St Eugene's Cathedral on December 11 last.

The 23-year-old is also charged with attempting to steal donations from the local church on the same date.

McCloskey also faced a number of other charges when he appeared before Dungannon court on Saturday.

These included attempting to steal donations on January 18 this year, and stealing three donations on January 21.

He was also charged that on January 21 he was in possession of a wooden rod with blue tack at the end, a screwdriver with a magnet at the end and four pairs of tweezers for use in connection with burglary or theft.

While no other churches were mentioned during Saturday's court hearing, it is understood that the other thefts and attempted thefts also relate to places of worship in Derry.

The court was told that McCloskey had been on bail on separate charges last month when police officers called to his bail address on December 24 to check on him.

He was not in the house at the time which was a breach of his bail curfew of 10pm to 8am.

The bail breach was accepted at Saturday's court hearing.

When questioned by the judge on why there had been a delay in the bail breach coming before the courts, a police officer said that McCloskey had a history of avoiding police.

She said that although he had been bailed to live at the address in Maghera, it was understood that he had been living with his girlfriend in Derry city.

The police officer said they would 'strongly object' to McCloskey being released on bail again.

She said that he had 26 convictions over the last five years, 14 of which were for dishonesty offences, including robbery, burglary and fraud.

We feel that he won't abide by bail conditions, the officer added.

Defence solicitor, Liam McStay, said McCloskey was due to appear before Derry Magistrates Court on January 29 in connection with separate charges.

Mr McStay said that if his client was remanded in bail he would have to be taken into 'Covid secure' custody which would mean he would have to self-isolate and would be unable to appear before the court on January 29.

Mr McStay said he accepted that McCloskey had a 'very poor record' and that the charges in relation to the thefts from the churches were of a 'mean' nature.

The solicitor said his client would be prepared to be tagged while on bail.

The police officer said they would agree to bail if McCloskey was tagged and had to keep to a curfew.

She also asked that he be banned from entering places of worship unless he was accompanied to a specific church that he would attend.

The police officer also asked that McCloskey be banned from entering Derry city.

The judge agreed to the bail application on the basis that the court hearing on January 29 would be disrupted if he was isolating.

As part of his bail conditions, the judge said that McCloskey must reside at an address at Ranaghan Road in Maghera and must also wear an electronic tag.

He was also prohibited from entering places of worship, apart from St Mary's Catholic church in Maghera, which was put forward as the church that McCloskey would attend.

He must also stick to a curfew from 10pm to 8am.
With more wintry weather forecast for early this week, the gritting of roads will become a topic of conversation among many.

At this month's Tullamore Municipal District meeting councillors discussed the recent cold snap with some believing not enough areas are being covered by the road gritters.

Councillor Declan Harvey maintained that the new wider footpaths in Tullamore meant the edges were being missed and left very slippery.

''A few places in town were very bad. Ballydaly Hill, the crossroads of Park Avenue, Davitt Street, Callary Street and Dillon Street. There is a bad bend from Park Avenue into Thornsberry Estate and it was treacherous and needs to be done,'' he said.

Councillor Frank Moran said gritting was ''of huge concern in Clara.'' He said Clara is missing out because a council worker from the town had retired and hasn't been replaced.

''You are sending out people on an ad hoc basis to do different places, he said to County Executive Engineer John Connelly. ''We have to look at the possibility of getting someone back into Clara to assist with the different issues that arise,'' stressed Cllr Moran.

Councillor Ken Smollen thanked Mr Connelly for gritting the Railway Bridge in Clara.

''I was just wondering about housing estates and slippy paths and the elderly people. Would it be possible to provide grit for housing estates? A lot of residents would be prepared to do the work themselves if the grit was provided,'' said Cllr Smollen.

Councillor Sean OBrien agreed, saying gritting was a huge issue. If we could involve local communities, if they could have a supply of grit that they could use themselves, he added.

Responding, John Connelly commented that there were two weeks of sustained low temperatures. He said gritting took place on the main routes in the early evenings and early mornings. However, he pointed out that most days there wasn't a proper thaw so people may not have noticed the gritting.

In response to Cllr Frank Morans concerns in Clara, he said manning is down and it's not down to retirees. We have people out on long term sick leave. There is a recruitment programme ready to go for outdoor staff, in the meantime I have no option but to use people where I can.

In answer to Cllr Smollens question about people gritting their own areas. Mr Connelly said he would have to defer to the roads department.

There may be issues about people gritting roads. There is a policy issue, we can supply salt to schools but where it's a public road Im not sure about insurance I will raise it with the CEO, he said.

In relation to the salting of local areas, Mr Connelly pointed out that these were outside the main salting routes which is a county-wide programme and has ''to be fed back through the Department.''

''We had some extraordinary conditions, but generally speaking to increase the routes is a bigger question and needs a lot of consideration.

He added that the Railway Bridge in Clara, might be one area that could be added to the list.
Demand for oxygen has surged five-fold in some NHS hospitals, a senior medic claimed today as trusts continue to grapple with the winter wave of coronavirus admissions.

Professor Rupert Pearse, an ICU doctor in London and member of the Intensive Care Society, said that on some occasions the pressure has made oxygen  vital for seriously ill Covid-19 patients  'hard to deliver'.

It comes as leaked data showed there were 800 fewer cancer surgeries in the first two weeks of the year than are normally carried out, according to the Health Service Journal.

The bulk of the delayed operations were in London, Essex, Bedfordshire, and Surrey, which have bore the brunt of the second wave and have been battling the highly infectious Kent variant.

There is growing concern that pauses in cancer treatment throughout the pandemic have left many patients with a shortened life expectancy. Charities predict up to 35,000 extra deaths this year may be caused by cancer as a result.

Latest Government statistics show there are still about 37,000 Covid-19 patients in Britain's hospitals, a figure which has remained unchanged since peaking at 39,000 on January 18.

There are almost 50 per cent more patients being treated for the disease now than at the peak in April, when inpatients peaked at 21,684. Back then, the NHS was almost entirely was shut down so medics could prioritise the virus.

Hospitals are under even more pressure now as they try to juggle the devastating winter wave of Covid with other treatments and services.

Demand for oxygen has surged five-fold in some NHS hospitals, a senior medic claimed today as trusts continue to grapple with the winter wave of coronavirus admissions. Pictured: A patient is brought into the Royal London hospital this morning

A paramedic helps an elderly patient into the emergency department of the Royal London Hospital

Medics wheel a stretcher loaded with equipment from an ambulance outside the emergency department of the Royal London Hospital

Professor Pearse told Sky News today: 'We're seeing a massive number of patients not just in intensive care, but also in general medical wards, who need oxygen.

'We're seeing five-fold increases in oxygen demand and in a lot of hospitals, and, unsurprisingly, that's hard to deliver on occasions.'

Professor Pearse likened hospital oxygen delivery systems to a hot water system, adding: 'If the pressure in your hot water system gets very low, it's not that the water stops flowing completely.

'It's just that you're not getting the pressure in the shower that you might like and that can cause technical problems around the place.

'You might need to think about how can you avoid wasting water, or you might turn off some taps that you don't need, or turn down when you don't need much water.'

This combination of measures are being highlighted by 'oxygen marshals' who are educating other members of staff about how to be more 'effective' with the oxygen supply, Professor Pearse said.

Number of critical care beds occupied is 70% higher than last winter and a quarter of hospitals had NO space amid Covid crisis NHS intensive care units are almost 70 per cent busier than they have been at any time over the past five years, MailOnline analysis of official figures shows. Official statistics reveal 5,176 critical care beds were occupied on January 17, the most recent day statistics are available for. For comparison, there were 3,066 critically-ill patients at the same time last winter, and the average over the last four years stood at 3,200. Analysis of the most up-to-date NHS data also revealed a quarter of NHS hospital trusts  or 35 out of 132  had no spare capacity in their intensive care units on January 17. Just 14 facilities were completely full on the same day last winter. The super-infectious Kent strain of Covid sparked a devastating winter wave of ICU admissions which have stretched NHS intensive care capacity to its limit, with hospitals having to open emergency beds and scrap thousands of operations to free up space for incoming virus patients. But in a glimmer of hope, Department of Health figures show daily Covid hospital admissions in England may have peaked. Rates dropped four per cent in the seven days to January 15, the latest date for which data is available  but are still higher than they were in the darkest days of the pandemic last spring. Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS England regional medical director for London, said the situation in hospitals, particularly in the capital, was 'really precarious'. 'In London, more than half of all patients in hospital are being treated for coronavirus and sadly over 1,000 patients died in hospital in London just last week, every single one a tragedy,' he said. 'Nationally, there are 34,000 people in hospital and pressure remains intense on our staff. We do have hope now with an increasing amount of people vaccinated but we must remain vigilant. Stay home, follow the guidance and help us to save lives.' Advertisement

He added: 'The problem really is that it is yet another problem we need to solve. It's yet another thing that we need to keep an eye on and watch. It's just another contributor to the cognitive load.

'So for me, this isn't so much about can patients get enough oxygen, it's much more a signal, a marker that the NHS is still under immense pressure.

'Even though we've seen a peak in infections, we're still seeing very, very large numbers of patients in hospitals, 40,000 patients in hospital with Covid-19. Ten per cent of those in intensive care.

'And that demand is going to carry on for some months. And we know it's going to be a very, very hard year in 2021, we'll still be looking after a lot of Covid patients in June.'

Meanwhile, there were 800 fewer cancer surgeries in the first two weeks of 2021 than normally take place during that period, according to provisional data.

The 'weekly activity returns' data, seen by the HSJ, showed that from November 1 to December 20, London performed a weekly average of 410 cancer surgeries.

But in the fortnight between January 3 and January 17, the capital averaged just 270 cancer ops per week - 140 less, or 34 per cent.

Activity in Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes was down 34 per cent, the equivalent of about 155 operations.

In Sussex and Surrey it was 28 per cent lower than expected, more than 100 operations, and in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk the figure was down 23 per cent, equating to about 120 operations.

Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons in England, told the HSJ: 'Surgeons in London told us just before Christmas that they were forced to cancel swathes of P2 [urgent] surgery, including cancer.

'Not enough private sector capacity had been secured, and NHS hospitals were overwhelmed by steep increases in covid patients. We made urgent representations to NHS England, as this group of patients need surgery within 28 days, so cancellations and delays are hugely problematic.

'Although deals have now been struck, and operations booked in again, we cannot continue with a stop-start approach to surgery. We've run the system too 'hot', pushing both physical resources and staff to their limits. Looking ahead, we need to build a more resilient and sustainable system.'

An NHS England spokeswoman said: 'The most recent, complete data shows that cancer surgery in November was at 94 per cent of the level it was in 2019 and figures for after this point do not reflect the full picture of surgery that took place.

'The NHS is facing unprecedented pressure which has meant some procedures have had to be delayed but, thanks to the hard work of NHS staff and hospitals working together, surgery levels in most areas remain above or close to pre-pandemic levels.'

Experts estimate there are 50,000 patients with undiagnosed cancer due to Covid-19 chaos in the NHS  a backlog which could take up to 18 months to tackle in England alone.

Damning figures from the first wave suggest that up to 35,000 extra deaths this year may be caused by cancer as a result of the pandemic.

At least three million people are waiting for screening while around 350,000 did not get the urgent referrals they needed in 2020.

It comes after health investigators launched a probe into the provision of piped oxygen gas supplies to hospitals.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) launched the national investigation after a hospital trust declared a major incident when demands on its oxygen supply led to patients being diverted to different hospitals and a need to transfer patients between clinical environments.

The trust had sufficient supplies of liquid oxygen available but its piped oxygen system was unable to deliver the volume of oxygen gas required to meet all patient needs, the HSIB said.

The HSIB said there has been increased demand for oxygen during the pandemic. It warned that insufficient oxygen supply to seriously-ill patients can have very severe consequences, including death.

Meanwhile BOC, the main oxygen supplier to the NHS, said in a statement on its website that it has helped with 30 'system upgrades' to increase the capabilities of oxygen delivery systems in hospitals across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

NHS Providers, which represents acute, ambulance, community and mental health services, called for NHS trusts to be awarded capital funding to address important maintenance work.
Siddharth Wadia, head of Brown Forman for India, Middle East and North Africa.

In the late 1990s, Jack Daniels only clients in India were the United States embassy and consulates. It was not available at any five-star hotel in the country and selling even 100 cases was a tough ask. The tide started turning for Brown Forman India, which owns Jack Daniels, Finlandia, and Woodford Reserve, among other brands, in the early 2000s. That was when Jack and cola became a thing among the young and the brand acquired the halo of coolness. The people at Brown Forman India also smartly allied the brand with rock music and motorcycles and stayed away from getting all snooty.

Today, the iconic Tennessee whiskey, which is sold in over 170 countries, is the largest-selling American whiskey in India. Imported whiskey may account for just 2 percent of the overall consumption by volume in India, but the interesting thing is that Jack Daniels is also among the largest-selling imported whiskeys in the country, ahead of several Scottish stalwarts. Last year, the Kentucky-based Brown Forman Corporation picked India as one of the markets for increased investment as part of its global strategy 2025.

In an interview to Moneycontrol, Siddharth Wadia, director and general manager for India, Middle East and North Africa for Brown Forman, talks about how the company has been handling the coronavirus crisis, the rise of off-premise sales and a potential gin launch. Edited excerpts:

How has Brown Forman been handling the COVID-19 crisis, both internationally and in India? The company recently reported subdued profits for the last quarter.

At a global level, it is indeed heartening to see Brown-Formans underlying top-line growth in the first half of fiscal 2021. For the second quarter, the companys reported net sales were essentially flat (+4 percent on an underlying basis) compared to the same prior-year period. We are seeing improvement in our business results month-on-month (In India) and are hopeful that things will only improve from here on, given the decline in the number of COVID-19 infections and the recently initiated vaccination drive.

Where do you see growth coming from this year, given that, while we will hopefully not encounter more lockdowns, hospitality and travel retail will be under pressure?

As Indias vaccination drives picks up pace and as more countries vaccinate their citizens, hospitality and travel retail should improve. However, the recovery in these two channels is anticipated to be gradual and country specific. Off-premise has emerged as the key channel during this period, as people are still not comfortable visiting on-premise stores. Another channel which is still very small but holds promise for the future for our category is e-commerce and online aggregators. Some states have been progressive and allowed e-commerce and online aggregators to deliver alcohol to consumers to promote social-distancing measures within the physical stores.

Where does India fit into Brown Forman's 2025 strategy, and what will the increased investment translate into?

India has been identified as one of the key emerging markets for Jack Daniel's. The brand enjoys a preeminent status and we have been able to achieve considerable growth over the past few years, making it the highest-selling American whiskey in the country.

Woodford Reserve, our super-premium bourbon whiskey, has its own following in India. It is still a small part of our overall portfolio but it is growing at double digit. Overall, the American whiskey segment in India is growing faster than other premium whiskey segments. Increasingly, consumers are upgrading to international spirits and are now looking for enhancing their repertoire for newer expressions of whiskey.

There is a fair bit of action in the premium gin segment. Do we see Fords Gin on its way here?

It is true that the gin market in India is getting a lot of interest. We are evaluating our portfolio options very closely and will bring Fords Gin to India at the opportune moment.
This is a day when 'white' Australia celebrate the arrival of Europeans to this continent. Our first nation people call it "Invasion Day". To most people it is just a public holiday where they can be together with family and friends. This year I personally have moved my position on this day. I would like to see it moved to another date, one we could all feel happy with. Deliberately making many of our fellow country persons feel bad by reminding them of all that separates us can't be good. Choosing another day where we can all celebrate our nation would be better and make the words of our national anthem,

"for we are one and free"

a reality.




Given society's disregard for the precious human life by upholding abortion, worsened by some of the government's laws that encourage it, parents should teach their children about the sanctity of life.

Religious educator and nursing instructor, Rick Becker, suggested four ways to nurture the minds of children into becoming pro-life individuals, Christian Headlines reported.

Talk about abortion.

First, talking about abortion. Becker said that it would only feel uncomfortable at first but this topic should be tackled a lot with children. Controversial issues like abortion should be discussed around the dinner table. Hearing the debate and terms will benefit younger kids and they tend to develop interest and the inclination to probe further.

Discussions should be managed to ensure that themes are age-appropriate. Children should be encouraged to ask for clarifications if they do not understand the issue.

Parents should also be thoroughly informed on the subject being discussed. He said that there are plenty of resources from which parents can learn from like the National Right to Life organization or other local or state pro-life groups. This, he said, is a good way to be connected with supportive groups of people who could share some knowledge in their own pro-life family formations given their experiences with their children.

Care for those in need.

Secondly, caring for those in need. Becker said that caring for the poor is an essential factor to teach children about the sanctity of life, especially with those in adolescence. This would help educate them that pro-life people do not only care about babies before their birth but also even afterward.

He said that a "family culture oriented to care for the poor" is necessary and there are two ways to create this culture. The first way is to show the kids that parents are giving away money to people and organizations in need. The second way is to directly serve those in need such as volunteering at food pantries and soup kitchens, particularly homes for distressed pregnant mothers and pregnancy care centers.

Be a public witness.

Thirdly, being a public witness. Like his second suggestion of caring for the poor, this step would solidify words into action. The horrific reality of abortion may lead parents to do things that are uncomfortable such as taking part in a peaceful protest at the community's abortion centers or participating in pro-life marches. But this will teach the children "that defending the sanctity of preborn human life is serious business."

Have another baby.

Finally, having another baby. Becker said that welcoming a human life into the family "recoils the idea of abortion and embraces the intrinsic, infinite value of all human life." Having another sibling is the "greatest gift" parents can give to their children.

Adoption is another way to expand the family that would express love for life. He also suggested "other less permanent forms of hospitality" such as taking care of aging parents or other relatives who would otherwise be sent to nursing homes. This step requires much risk but he said that if parents really want to establish "a thorough pro-life perspective" in children, they should demonstrate it by showing "sacrificial love in another family member."

The educator pointed out that the four ways he suggested to demonstrate the sanctity of life "do not depend on a Biblical worldview or Christian commitment" but are compatible with Biblical values. He also added that these steps "are defensible independent of any particular philosophy or faith orientation."

He said that teaching these steps are crucial given the possibility that some children may or temporarily stray from the Christian faith as they grow older. Children may also reject the faith that they were raised in or be "swayed by the world's arguments in favor of solving problems by assaulting life - abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, assisted suicide, the whole deadly morass of what passes as social (and, tragically, legal) norms these days."

Becker said that parents have the power to teach the pro-life value while the children are still at home. He urged the parents to be proactive in forming their children's pro-life sensibilities. Children should be grounded in reason and rational argument, shown videos of preborn human life, taught with logic and embryology, and brought "to the bedside of those who are living large at the end of life."

He further stated that kids should be equipped "with the old-fashioned common sense that once made abortion unthinkable and mercy-killing a contradiction in terms." He said that sanctity of life should be taught to children "early and often."

"Is it possible? Yes, I know it's possible. In fact, it's highly likely. The growing numbers of pro-life young people who reject God and religion provide powerful testimony of its feasibility. They're the ones who want to support progressive politicians but can't bring themselves to support those who promote greater abortion access. And they're also the ones who'll be unlikely to choose abortion themselves when faced with a problem or inconvenient pregnancy," the educator argued.

Becker studied theology at Seattle Pacific University and Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also currently completing Doctorate of Nursing Practice at Indiana Wesleyan University and serves at Bethel University's nursing faculty in Mishawaka, Indiana.
Then-President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding Air Force One for his last time as President in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on Jan. 20, 2021. (Pete Marovich - Pool/Getty Images)

Supreme Court Tosses Emoluments Lawsuits Filed Against Trump While He Was President

The Supreme Court has thrown out two longshot anti-corruption lawsuits against former President Donald Trump on the grounds that they were moot because he has left office and become a private citizen.

The high court unburdened itself on Jan. 25 of Trump v. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), court file number 20-330, and Trump v. District of Columbia, court file number 20-331.

No justices dissented from the rulings, which are victories for Trump. The novel lawsuits came about because Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, refused under intense pressure from his opponents to give up his business empire while in the White House. While he did step aside from managing his businesses while president, that didnt satisfy his critics.

The lawsuits claimed that while in office, Trump violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents any Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them from accepting any present, Emolument, Office, or Title  from any King, Prince, or foreign State. The hardly ever litigated clause forbids government officials from receiving gifts from foreign states and monarchies without the consent of Congress, in the hope of shielding the small-R republican character of the United States from corrupting foreign influences.

Trump, acting in his official capacity as president, made arguments in a brief.

The Constitutions Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses are structural provisions that prophylactically protect the Nation as a whole against the corruption of official action. Yet in seeking to invoke the power of the federal courts to determine whether the President is violating the Emoluments Clauses because of his financial interests in various hotels and restaurants, respondents rely on attenuated and speculative economic harms that their businesses allegedly suffer in competing for the patronage of foreign and domestic governmental customers, the brief states.

Two federal appeals courts allowed the lawsuits to move forward, but in September, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the cases. On Jan. 25, the Supreme Court sent both cases back to those appeals courts with instructions to dismiss [each] case as moot.

In Trump v. CREW, which had been before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, lawyer Deepak Gupta argued his clients, high-end businesses in competition with Trumps businesses, experienced a distinct disadvantage in competing for foreign and domestic government clientele: While they can offer the finest hospitality, they cannot offer the ability to curry favor with the President.

Joining CREW as respondents in the current case were Restaurant Opportunities Center, a labor industry pressure group, hospitality industry worker Jill Phaneuf, and wealthy hotelier Eric Goode.

In Trump v. District of Columbia, the District and Maryland argued the mere fact that foreign officials stayed at Trumps hotel in the nations capital and paid money to do so implied corruption was somehow afoot. That case was before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

The losing litigants put a positive spin on their legal defeats.

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, both Democrats, said in a joint statement: We are proud that because of our case, a court ruled on the meaning of emoluments for the first time in American history, finding that the Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting almost anything of value from foreign or domestic governments.

History will note that at every step of this case, President Trump and political appointees at the Department of Justice went to extreme lengths to prevent us from uncovering the true extent of his corruption. He attempted to short-circuit the rules of legal procedure to have our case dismissed and avoid discovery into his finances, arguing that the law did not apply to him.

Our case proves once again that in our country no onenot even the President of the United Statesis above the law.

CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement that his nonprofit sued Donald Trump on his first day in the Oval Office for systematic violations of the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution.

This important litigation made the American people aware for four years of the pervasive corruption that came from a president maintaining a global business and taking benefits and payments from foreign and domestic governments. Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended these corrupt constitutional violations stopped these groundbreaking lawsuits, Bookbinder said.

The Trump Organization didnt respond to requests for comment by press time.
The Iraqi army Sunday pinned the blame of Jan. 21 twin deadly attacks in the capital on two Iraqi nationals  ruling out involvement of foreign terrorists.

Yahya Rasul, the spokesperson of the General Command of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Anadoly news agency reports, told state-run television that the information gathered by the police about the attack shows that the perpetrators were Iraqi nationals.

The army official also indicated that the countrys mountainous regions near Syrias northeast are still hosting terrorists who enter the country for the Syrian side.

32 people were killed Friday Jan. 21 near al-Tayaran Square after two suicide bombers detonated their belts.

110 other people were wounded in the attack claimed by the Islamic state group (ISIS).

Written by: Peter Mulvany on January 25, 2021.

Last revised by: Last revised by: meconfident , our reviewer, on January 26, 2021.
UPDATE: E! News is learning more details about why Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are clicking romantically.

The pair have been casually dating since around December, and the relationship is building on what had previously created their strong friendship.

"It's been very low-key," an insider explains. "They are a really good match, and Kourtney's entire family already loves Travis. They have been neighbors and great friends for years, and it just recently turned romantic."

The source points out that the drummer had been interested for quite some time in kicking things up a notch. As it turns out, his attentiveness as a dad made him quite appealing to the mom of three.

"Travis has always had an eye for Kourtney," the insider shares. "The chemistry and flirtation has always been there. They have a lot in common, and Kourtney has always been attracted to how Travis is as a parent. He's an amazing, hands-on dad, and Kourtney loves that about him. They love relaxing at home with their kids, and everyone gets along. It's going well, and they aren't putting pressure on it being super serious at this point."

______

New couple alert?!

After Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker were recently spotted hanging out in Palm Springs, Calif. together, the duo immediately sparked romance rumors. And while this isn't the first time they've added fuel to the fire, a source exclusively tells E! News that they are definitely more than friends.

"It's fairly new," the source shares, adding Kourtney and Travis have been dating for "about a month or two."

On Saturday, Jan. 23 the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star shared behind-the-scenes Instagram images of her relaxing day at her mom, Kris Jenner's Palm Springs home. Shortly after, the Blink-182 drummer posted similar snapshots that showed the same background and scenery.

Kourtney Kardashian's Best Moments of the Decade

Naturally, eagle-eyed fans connected the dots and figured they were spending time with each other. The insider confirms to E! News, "They were in Palm Springs together."

Story continues

At this time, however, both Kourtney and Travis have yet to publicly address their romance and recent hangout.

In recent days, fans of the Poosh founder also noticed how flirty the musician was being on her Instagram. Just three days ago, Kourtney posted a mirror selfie, in which she showed off her sister, Kim Kardashian's SKIMS lingerie set.

"sweet dreams," she simply wrote with a black heart emoji. Soon after, the 45-year-old musician commented with a single rose emoji.

What's more? The 41-year-old reality TV star posted a similar message earlier this week, writing, "sweet, sweet fate," to which Travis replied with a tulip emoji.

Kourtney Kardashian, Travis Barker

Raising more eyebrows, the rock star took notice of Kourtney's movie night on Jan. 5, in which she was watching the 1993 film True Romance. "You're So Cool," he responded to her post at the time.

As previously mentioned, the duo has fueled romance rumors before. Not only have they been longtime friends, but they also happen to be neighbors! In February 2019, fans began to wonder if they were dating after they were spotted grabbing dinner at Nobu in Malibu, Calif.

At the time, however, a source told E! News the rumors were anything but true.

"They've been friends for years," the insider explained. "They've lived in the same neighborhood for a long time and they see each other at church and with their kids. They've hung out together many times and often get together with the kids to see movies or to get ice cream."

In September 2018, they were photographed leaving the Crossroads Kitchen restaurant in Los Angeles, Calif. But it appeared nothing was going on between them back then either.

At the time, E! News reported that Travis and ex-wife Shanna Moakler's kids were friends with Kourtney and Scott Disick's children, and had even appeared on Keeping Up With the Kardashians a few times.

(This story was originally published on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 at 3:54 p.m. PST.)
Lilit Makunts, who leads the ruling My Step blocs group in the Armenian parliament, did not deny media reports about her impending appointment when she spoke to RFE/RLs Armenian Service on Sunday.

There is such an issue on the agenda but it is still under discussion, she said.

Makunts, 37, taught English at Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan and did not engage in political activities before being appointed as Armenias culture minister in the wake of the Velvet Revolution of April-May 2018 that brought Pashinian to power. She held that post until being elected to the parliament on My Steps ticket in December 2018.

The current Armenian ambassador in Washington, Varuzhan Nersesyan, is a career diplomat who was handpicked for the post by Pashinian. Nersesyan handed his credentials to then President Donald Trump in January 2019.

It is not clear why Pashinian may have decided to replace Nersesyan. The prime ministers office did not comment on Monday on the reports about Makuntss appointment.

Pashinians apparent choice of the new ambassador was strongly criticized by senior lawmakers from the two opposition parties represented in the parliament.

I think he is simply trying to get his people out of the country. I mean his key loyalists who would definitely be prosecuted [after regime change in Armenia,] claimed Naira Zohrabian of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

Zohrabian dismissed Makunts as a woman who only speaks good English. Lets hold a contest for the best English speaker and appoint the winner as ambassador to the U.S., she suggested tartly.

She is not a diplomat. I dont know what she will be doing there [in Washington,] said Gevorg Gorgisian of the Bright Armenia Party.

This is a continuation of the bad old traditions, Gorgisian complained, referring to politically motivated ambassadorial appointments made by Armenias former leaders.

Pashinians reported decision appears to have also prompted criticism from one of the two main Armenian-American lobby groups.

With the stakes so high and the need for serious, seasoned professionals so very clear, we cannot afford on-the-job-training, political sinecures, or anything other than our very best in high level diplomatic postings, Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, wrote on Facebook.

In her interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service, Makunts downplayed her lack of diplomatic experience and argued that political appointments of ambassadors is common practice around the world.

Experience is certainly very important, but in some cases it does not play a central role, she said.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
NEW DELHI - Indian and Chinese troops clashed last week in an incident that caused minor injuries on both sides, Indian officials said Monday, underscoring the persistent border tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

India and China share an unofficial frontier that stretches 2,200 miles. Last June, the two countries engaged in their deadliest conflict in more than five decades, a high-altitude brawl in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed along with an unknown number of Chinese casualties.

Since then, tens of thousands of Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a stalemate near the site of the clash in Ladakh. Soldiers are enduring brutal winter temperatures high in the mountains as talks have failed to deescalate the situation.

The latest incident took place hundreds of miles from that standoff at a different section of the frontier in the eastern Himalayas.

Indian and Chinese soldiers engaged in a "minor faceoff" on Jan. 20 in the Naku La area of the state of Sikkim, the Indian Army said in a statement. The situation was "resolved by local commanders as per established protocols."

Minor injuries were suffered on both sides, said an Indian official with knowledge of the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

A second Indian official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity characterized the clash as "hand-to-hand combat."

Indian media reports suggested that more than 20 Chinese and Indian soldiers were injured in the scuffle. The Indian Army statement did not mention injuries and asked the media to refrain from "exaggerating or overplaying" their reporting.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said he didn't have any information to offer on the incident and urged India to exercise restraint, Reuters reported.

India should "refrain from actions that might escalate or complicate the situation along the border," Zhao told reporters at a briefing.

Hu Xijin, editor of the Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times, dismissed the reports of multiple injuries. "This is fake news," he wrote on Twitter. "Based on what I learned, there is no record of this clash in the patrol log of the Chinese side."

The current frictions began in May, when China intruded into areas claimed by India at several points along the frontier, experts say. They believe that China may now control as much as 400 square miles of territory that India considers its own.

Last week's confrontation came as high-ranking military officials from the two countries were preparing to meet for their ninth round of talks on the standoff at the border, which is known as the Line of Actual Control. An Indian army spokesman said Monday that the talks were "positive" and both sides had agreed to push for an "early disengagement" of their troops.

Whether such pronouncements translate into action on the ground remains to be seen. There have been no further deadly clashes at the frontier since June, but the situation remains tense. In September, shots were fired in Ladakh for the first time in decades. By mutual agreement, Indian and Chinese soldiers have been restricted from using firearms along the border.

India and China last fought a war in 1962. Since then, they've mostly handled their border disagreements through dialogue. The current impasse, however, is proving difficult to resolve. Shyam Saran, a former senior Indian diplomat, said the fact that talks were still taking place was "a reason to hope" that an understanding will be reached through negotiation.

Saurav Jha, a defense analyst in Delhi, was less sanguine. "Tensions are quite high," said Jha. "When you have large forces in close proximity and there is no resolution after rounds and rounds of talks, then the probability of something happening cannot be considered insignificant."

- - -

The Washington Post's Taniya Dutta in Delhi and Eva Dou in Seoul contributed to this report.


(Newser)  Donald Trump the citizen won't have to worry about two lawsuits filed against Donald Trump the president. The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two cases brought against him under the Constitution's obscure emoluments clauses, reports the Hill. Justices didn't rule on the merits of the lawsuits, but they said it's pointless to continue now that Trump is out of office. The lawsuits accused Trump of improperly profiting from his family's business empire while he served as president, explains CNBC. Though Trump turned over the day-to-operation of the business to his sons, the lawsuits argued that wasn't good enough. One was brought by the attorney generals of DC and Maryland, and the other by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. A third one brought by Democrats in Congress was dismissed last year.

story continues below

Until the Trump presidency, it's a safe bet that few people were even aware the two clauses existed, but no president before Trump had such an extensive business empire. A post at Bloomberg notes that the clauses cover foreign and domestic issues. One "bars a president from accepting benefits from foreign governments without congressional consent, while the other bars receipt of any benefit other than a salary from the US government or a state." An example: When foreign dignitaries stayed at hotels owned by Trump, the president's critics argued that it was illegal for Trump to receive money from that. If the Supreme Court had allowed the cases to move forward, Trump likely would have had to turn over business records. Both sides supported the dismissal of the lawsuits. The move, however, means that the overriding questions will remain unresolved. (Read more US Supreme Court stories.)
Chinese officials were even more tight-lipped. At a regularly scheduled news conference on Monday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, emphasized that the two sides were holding military talks. Hu Xijin, the editor of Global Times, a nationalist tabloid controlled by the Communist Party, called the reports fake news and said that small frictions occur often.

Though details were scant, reports of a clash show that tensions are still simmering between the two Asian giants, which fought a war in 1962 and have been eyeing each other warily across their unresolved frontier ever since. Tensions burst into the open in June, when troops from both countries engaged in a deadly brawl along the border of the Ladakh region in northern India.

No shots were fired in that battle, stemming from a tacit understanding that neither side along the tense Himalayan border should use firearms. Still, the deaths of more than 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops exposed the increasing aggressiveness of both countries, which are governed by nationalist leaders with little political incentive to back down.

As many as 100,000 troops from the Indian and Chinese armies are now facing off across inhospitable mountain passes in subzero temperatures in the Ladakh region alone, military experts estimate.

Since the summer, both sides have tried to ease tensions. But in India, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contending with reports that China is far from done encroaching on disputed borderlands.
Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Ben Affleck is reportedly ready to remain single for the foreseeable future.

The Berkeley-born, Cambridge-raised 48-year-old's castmate-turned-quarantine boo Ana de Armas was said to have ended their romance last week over the phone.

'Ben accepts he would be better off being single for a while,' a source told The Mirror on Saturday.

On his own: Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Ben Affleck is reportedly ready to remain single for the foreseeable future (pictured last Tuesday)

Break-up makeover hair: The Berkeley-born, Cambridge-raised 48-year-old's castmate-turned-quarantine boo Ana de Armas (pictured last Monday) was said to have ended their romance last week over the phone

'Unless there's some miracle and Ana comes back asking for another chance. He is really focused on prioritizing himself and his kids rather than relationships, and his friends have been joking about him taking an oath of celibacy. Whether or not he can stay single for long remains to be seen.'

Affleck's friends have urged him to 'work on himself' and 'stop rushing into very intense relationships, which implode as soon as the honeymoon's over.'

The Last Thing He Wanted actor and the Cuban 32-year-old - who met in New Orleans in November 2019 - were last physically pictured together in Santa Monica on November 28.

Things are going to be awkward when Ben and Ana have to reunite to promote their roles as a dysfunctional couple in Adrian Lyne's erotic thriller Deep Water hitting US/UK theaters August 13.

A source told The Mirror on Saturday: 'Ben accepts he would be better off being single for a while. Unless there's some miracle and Ana comes back asking for another chance. He is really focused on prioritizing himself and his kids rather than relationships' (pictured Saturday)

'Whether or not he can stay single for long remains to be seen': The Last Thing He Wanted actor's friends have urged him to 'work on himself' and 'stop rushing into very intense relationships, which implode as soon as the honeymoon's over' (posted April 30)

'His friends have been joking about him taking an oath of celibacy': Affleck and the Cuban 32-year-old (R) - who met in New Orleans in November 2019 - were last physically pictured together in Santa Monica on November 28 (pictured August 16)

Hitting US/UK theaters August 13! Things are going to be awkward when Ben and Ana have to reunite to promote their roles as a dysfunctional couple in Adrian Lyne's erotic thriller Deep Water (pictured on set in 2019)

The three-time Golden Globe winner will next celebrate the ninth birthday of his only son Samuel on February 27.

Affleck is also dad to two daughters - Seraphina, 12; and Violet, 15 - from his decade-long marriage to former Daredevil leading lady Jennifer Garner, which ended in 2018.

Ben and his best friend Matt Damon teamed up to offer one lucky fan and their friend a free trip to Hollywood to have lunch with them in an Omaze raffle, which runs through Thursday.

Father-son festivities: The three-time Golden Globe winner will next celebrate the ninth birthday of his only son Samuel on February 27 (pictured in 2019)

Amicable exes: Affleck is also dad to two daughters - Seraphina, 12; and Violet, 15 - from his decade-long marriage to former Daredevil leading lady Jennifer Garner, which ended in 2018 (pictured in 2019)

The winner will be announced February 17, and all donations will benefit 'Eastern Congo Initiative and Water.org to provide resources and support to those in need.'

The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot funnyman and friend Whitney Williams co-founded their non-profit organization in 2010, and Damon co-founded Water.org with Gary White back in 1995.

Earlier this year, the Good Will Hunting duo co-wrote, co-produced, and acted together in Ridley Scott's 14th century revenge drama The Last Duel, hitting US/UK theaters October 15.

Contest runs through Thursday! Ben and his best friend Matt Damon (R) teamed up to offer one lucky fan and their friend a free trip to Hollywood to have lunch with them in an Omaze raffle

'At this point in my career, I'm a little old. I'm 48, so I don't know how much longer I'm going to be the "not-25-year-old" guy,' Ben told Variety's Actors on Actors on Friday.

'But there are more interesting roles. People with whom you can identify are more interesting to me because I no longer have the ability to do something when I'm bored halfway through it and hate it. I just can't do it.

'It's not worth it to be away from my kids. If I'm going to travel, there had better be something really satisfying that I think they'll see at some point, hopefully. Although my kids are like, "Dad, we don't want to watch your movies."'
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Report Description

A recent market intelligence report that is published by Data Insights Partner on the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market makes an offering of in-depth analysis of segments and sub-segments in the regional and international Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market. The research also emphasizes on the impact of restraints, drivers, and macro indicators on the regional and global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market over the short as well as long period of time. A detailed presentation of forecast, trends, and dollar values of global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market is offered. In accordance with the report, the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market is projected to expand by healthy CAGR over the period of forecast.

Market Insight, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunity & Trends of the Market:

Definition

Temperature of the commodities is an important aspect of the pharmaceutical industry. Certain medical equipment, injections and medicine are sensitive and reactive to temperature fluctuations. The preservation of the product quality and the minimization of risk are the main objectives behind the deployment of temperature controlled packaging solutions in the pharmaceutical industry.

Market Drivers

Temperature controlled packaging solutions plays a pivotal role in the preserving product quality on all accounts of the supply chain for the stabilization of the internal temperature. Temperature controlled packaging solutions are employed in the inactive ingredients of the pharmaceutical industry for balanced temperature, clinical trials, biological products and samples, vaccines and medical products having a time limit. These factors are fueling the demand for this product.

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Strict norms of the governments for the implementation of safety packaging solutions to improvise the distribution of the commodities of pharmaceutical industry. For instance, the shipment of pharmaceutical products in accurate condition and temperature which is in line with documents for proper storage of prescription drugs by the Food and Drug Administration has propelled the growth of the temperature controlled packaging solutions for pharmaceutical industry.

Involvement in research and development activities to improve production and distribution of in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry coupled with rapid development of innovative products is bolstering the growth of this market. The demand for cold packaging solutions is on a rise on account of the development of advanced therapies including r-proteins and stem cells and novel drugs which is driving this market.

The Covid-19 epidemic has accelerated different aspects of the healthcare and medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry which in turn is positively affecting this market.

Market Restraints

Huge capital investment and premium operational cost complementary to the temperature controlled packaging solutions for pharmaceuticals is negatively affecting this market.

Rigid directives and legislatives of the government with regard to the utilization of certain products of the pharmaceutical industry is impeding the growth of this market.

Very few companies employ such advanced packaging products. The lack of awareness over the benefits of using such packaging solutions among the players of the pharmaceutical industry is hindering this market.

The adherence to numerous precautionary measures during the packaging process of pharmaceutical products which include opting for dry and sterilized containers are threatening the growth of this market.

Opportunities

The advocacy of high-performing convection systems during storage and shipment of pharmaceutical products is a good scope for this market. The utilization of vacuum panel insulation improves the shelf life of the products is a positive step ahead. Technological advancement and its application in this sector are expected to accelerate growth in this market.

The rising number of people suffering from chronic and rare diseases is charging the development of high valued medications. These drugs have a shorter life span and proper temperature-based storage procedures has to be strictly followed. This is widening the application of ultra-low temperature range packaging solutions.

Trends

Although the North American region dominates this market but it is expected to lose its domination in the forecast period. The reason behind such setback can be traced back to the outcome of Covid-19 epidemic that has disrupted the supply chain of this market in this region and the dearth of raw material and human resources accompanying it. The Asia Pacific region is projected to witness significant growth in this region in the forecast period. The adoption of advanced temperature controlled packaging insulation solutions including VIPs and PCMs because of its lightweight and product diversity is projected to gain traction in the forecast period.

Segment Covered:

This market intelligence report on the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market encompasses market segments based on product, type, payload capacity, application and country.

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By Product the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market has been divided into:

q Insulated Snipers

o PUR Containers

o Fiberboard

o EPS Foam Containers

o Panels and Envelopes

q Insulated Protective Shippers

q Insulated Containers

o Upright Style

o Chest Style

q Others

By Type the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market has been divided into:

q Passive Systems

q Active Systems

By Payload Capacity the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market has been divided into:

q More Than 150L

q 40  150L

q 20  40L

q 10  20L

q Up To 10L

By Application the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market has been divided into:

q Ambient

q Chilled

q Frozen

By country/region, the global Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market has been divided into:

q North America (the U.S., Canada),

q Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and other countries),

q Europe (Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, Russia, and other countries),

q Asia Pacific (India, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand and other countries),

q Middle East and Africa (GCC, South Africa, Israel and Other countries).

Profiling of Market Players:

This business intelligence report offers profiling of reputed companies that are operating in the market. Companies such as:

q Cryoport Inc

q Sonoco Products Company

q Cold Chain Technologies

q Inmark Packaging

q American Aerogel Corporation

q Envirotainer Ltd

q Sofrigan S.A. Ltd

q Pelican Biothermal

q va-Q-tec AG

q Snyder Industries, Inc

others have been profiled into detail so as to offer a glimpse of the market leaders. Moreover, parameters such as Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market related investment & spending and developments by major players of the market are tracked in this global report.

Report Highlights:

In-depth analysis of the micro and macro indicators, market trends, and forecasts of demand is offered by this business intelligence report. Furthermore, the report offers a vivid picture of the factors that are steering and restraining the growth of this market across all geographical segments. In addition to that, IGR-Growth Matrix analysis is also provided in the report so as to share insight of the investment areas that new or existing market players can take into consideration. Various analytical tools such as DRO analysis, Porter's five forces analysis has been used in this report to present a clear picture of the market. The study focuses on the present market trends and provides market forecast from the year 2020-2028. Emerging trends that would shape the market demand in the years to come have been highlighted in this report. A competitive analysis in each of the geographical segments gives an insight into market share of the global players.

Few Recent Developments

Cryoport Inc

In August 2020, CRYOPDP was acquired by Cryoport Inc. Such acquisition was aimed at the merging of capabilities and infrastructure of both the companies.

Sonoco Products Company

In January 2020, the acquisition of Plastique Holdings Ltd and Thermoform Engineered Quality LLC (altogether TEQ) was completed by Sonoco Products Company.

Cold Chain Technologies

In July 2019, the announcement with regard to the acquisition of Cold Chain Technologies was made by Aurora. The terms and conditions of the acquisition is not disclosed.

Salient Features:

 This study offers comprehensive yet detailed analysis of the Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market, size of the market (US$ Mn), and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR (%)) for the period of forecast: 2020-2028, taking into account 2019 as the base year

 It explains upcoming revenue opportunities across various market segments and attractive matrix of investment proposition for the said market

 This market intelligence report also offers pivotal insights about various market opportunities, restraints, drivers, competitive market strategies of leading market players, emerging market trends, and regional outlook

 Profiling of key market players in the world Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market is done by taking into account various parameters such as company strategies, distribution strategies, product portfolio, financial performance, key developments, geographical presence, and company overview

 The data of this report would allow management authorities and marketers of companies alike to take informed decision when it comes to launch of Type of models, government initiatives, marketing tactics and expansion, and technical up gradation

 The world market for Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals caters to the needs of various stakeholders pertaining to this industry, namely suppliers, manufacturers, investors, and distributors for Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market. The research also caters to the rising needs of consulting and research firms, financial analysts, and new market entrants

 Research methodologies that have been adopted for the purpose of this study have been clearly elaborated so as to facilitate better understanding of the reports

 Reports have been made based on the guidelines as mandated by General Data Protection Regulation

 Ample number of examples and case studies have been taken into consideration before coming to a conclusion

Reasons to buy:

v Identify opportunities and plan strategies by having a strong understanding of the investment opportunities in the Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market

v Identification of key factors driving investment opportunities in the Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions for Pharmaceuticals Market

v Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data

v Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential

v Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events

v Identify key partners and business development avenues

v Respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects

v Identify key strengths and weaknesses of important market participants

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Hundreds of students were expected to start filling two new university accommodation blocks in Sydney this week, but instead the buildings will remain empty for the year.

Scape Australia co-founder and chief executive Stephen Gaitanos said a new building to house 200 students that has just been completed in Darlington, inner Sydney, was originally scheduled to start welcoming residents this week. Those plans were made well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Stephen Gaitanos outside the student accommodation building that has just been built but will be mothballed because of continued international border closures this year. Credit:Edwina Pickles

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has said the large-scale return of international students to Australian campuses may depend on the availability of an effective vaccine. He said digital vaccine certificates could potentially provide a pathway for bringing large numbers of international students into Australian universities without a need for quarantine.

Its terribly frustrating to effectively have to mothball it, Mr Gaitanos said of the accommodation.
Day 6 Coffee Company is one of Houston's newest Black-owned businesses. Founded by brothers Ricardo "RJ" and Ian Wilson, the duo has big plans for the coffee shop.

The shop's name stems from a biblical reference, according to the Wilsons.

BLACK-OWNED IN HOUSTON: Find your perfect outfit at these Black-owned Houston boutiques

"On the sixth day, God gave us coffee and so much more," Ricardo said. "Although plants, trees, and animals were created on the third day, God actually gave us those creations when he created us on the sixth day. And the sixth day is said to be when God finished his creations."

Aside from giving the shop's name a divine salute, the two brothers also seem to have a guardian angel watching over them. The siblings lost a brother, Aaron Wilson, who had a passion for cooking, which inspired them to move into the restaurant industry. The coffee shop stands as an ode to their fallen brother and his love for food.

"This is kinda for him. We know he's always with us," co-founder Ian Wilson said. " That's kind of what got me into baking. It was a way to kind of connect with him."

Courtesy of Day 6 Coffee Co.

Though little more than a month old (the Wilsons opened Day 6 on Nov. 27, 2020), the shop has already garnered a steady stream of loyal customers with its popular Texas Lattes and brisket and boudin breakfast offerings.

Located on 910 Prairie Street Houston, Texas 77002, Day 6 has a rustic feel and work by local artists displayed throughout the shop.

"We have a historical building, which is really cool so you get that like industrial early Houston early 20th-century vibe. But we also feature a lot of local artists on our walls as well."

Courtesy of Day 6 Coffee Co.

Along with providing customers excellent customer service and an ambiance that can be felt upon entering, Day 6 Coffee Company also exhibits a strong sense of unity. The duo allows other small business owners to come in and showcase their products as a way to gain new customers.

"We want to be known for providing that type of energy," Ricardo said. "A business and networking kind of environment. When we provide value to others, others provide value to us."
Lebanon's caretaker foreign minister held talks Monday with the Swiss ambassador to Beirut days after Switzerland started a probe into possible money laundering and embezzlement at the country's central bank.Minister Charbel Wehbe and ambassador Monika Schmutz Kirgoz did not comment on the investigation at a news briefing after their meeting, saying it is a matter for judicial authorities.

Switzerland's attorney general said last week it has asked Lebanon for cooperation into a probe it started into possible money laundering and embezzlement at the central bank.It was not clear what prompted the investigation in Switzerland.

The Swiss attorney general's office declined to offer further details.Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's central bank, has denied he had made any transfers of the bank's funds.Salameh issued a statement Monday shortly after the meeting between Wehbe and Schmutz Kirgoz saying that reports about large transfers "are very exaggerated and have nothing to do with reality."

Speaking to reporters after the talks, Schmutz Kirgoz said the matter is linked to Switzerland's Ministry of Justice and attorney general "and there is nothing that I can say further."

Wehbe said he did not look at the content of the case Schmutz Kirgoz had passed to Lebanon's Justice Ministry.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)

The trial of veteran loyalist Winston Churchill Rea for his alleged involvement in murder and other terror crimes committed by the outlawed Red Hand Commando, has been adjourned for at least a fortnight because of the Covid pandemic.

Trial judge Mr Justice McAlinden also heard that the 69-year-old alleged former chief of the RHC, is recovering after being recently hospitalised following a fall at his Springwell Road home in Groomport, Co Down.

Mr Justice McAlinden whilst acknowledging the concerns and frustrations of the families and friends of the victims in the case at an adjournment, said it was clearly inevitable the trial would have to be adjourned at this stage.

However, Mr Justice McAlinden called on both the prosecution and defence, given the number of significant matters which had coalesced forcing the adjournment, to provide him with "an appropriately detailed road map" for a way forward, to ensure the continuation of a "fair trial process".

Defence counsel Ian Turkington told the non-jury Displock style hearing that Mr Rea, whose prosecution is mainly founded on his alleged taped confessions to the US Boston College, is still a vulnerable person with regard to Covid, made worse by his fall.

Mr Turkington said the matter could be reviewed in two weeks time, when hopefully the trial could continue to its proper conclusion, which, he added, was also the wish of the defendant, who like many vulnerable people is "in the que" for his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, under growing pressure to jump-start a faltering covid-19 vaccine rollout, jetted to Los Angeles on Jan. 15 to unveil a massive new vaccination site at Dodger Stadium that is expected eventually to inoculate 12,000 people a day.

The city-run venue had been the biggest covid testing site in the U.S., administering over 1 million tests in its nearly eight months of operation  and over 10,000 a day during the recent surge. Its redeployment to the cause of vaccination, Newsom declared, provides "an extraordinary world-class site for a world-class logistics operation."

That effort came with a trade-off: When the city of Los Angeles ended covid tests at Dodger Stadium and closed another testing site to help staff the new vaccination center, it removed, at least temporarily, about one-third of all government-run testing in Los Angeles County  the nation's largest county, with a population of 10 million, and one of the biggest covid hot spots.

Sites operated by the city, county or state account for just over one-third of all covid tests in L.A. County, said Dr. Clemens Hong, who heads the county's testing operations.

Diminished testing capacity could lead to longer waits for appointments, which means infected people could potentially expose others for a longer time before learning they have the virus.

But L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said that has not happened so far. In what he called an instance of "perfect timing," infection rates in L.A. County have declined since Dodger Stadium switched to vaccinations, and demand for tests has dropped by half to two-thirds, the mayor said Thursday. "We are meeting the need  actually exceeding the need."

Still, he acknowledged that converting the stadium had been a risk - one the city took because "the vaccines will prevent and heal and finally resolve this."

Many health experts agree that prioritizing vaccination over testing is the right move.

"The best way out of our current crisis is masks, few contacts per day and vaccines, so it makes sense to create lots more access points for vaccinations even if it means a bit less testing," said Dr. Bob Kocher, a senior fellow at the University of Southern California's Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and a former member of the state's COVID-19 Testing Task Force.

But with covid caseloads still high despite their recent decline from peak levels, and mutant strains of the virus threatening to fuel new outbreaks, some senior public health officials say testing remains an equally vital part of the effort to contain  and ultimately suppress  the pandemic.

And it could become even more important in the coming months, as the inoculation campaign gains steam, since the tests could prove a valuable tool for assessing how well the vaccines are working.

"It's hard to say right now, given how many people are sick with covid, that vaccine is more important," said Hong. "It's hard to balance those two against each other, because we really just need a lot of both."

Balancing vaccinations with testing and other covid-related tasks is a significant challenge for public health officials across California and the nation, because those functions draw on many of the same resources  especially the staff needed for administration and record-keeping.

At vaccination sites, keeping good records is essential for planning from day to day how many doses to pull out of the freezer. "It's got to be done right, or else you screw up when the second dose is," said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California-San Francisco.

Sara Bosse, public health director of Madera County, noted that counties across the state have asked Newsom for $400 million in the current budget year to help defray the costs of setting up vaccination sites, including facility costs, security, data entry staffers and clinicians to give the shots and watch for adverse side effects. They are also seeking $280 million for covid testing and $440 million for contact tracing and non-group housing to protect covid-vulnerable residents.

"I think that many counties are prioritizing vaccination, and based on the resources they have, they may pull from various parts of the covid response such as contact tracing or testing," Bosse said. The funding, she said, would help county health officials avoid "those difficult decisions where we have to pull from one part of the covid response to prop up the next."

There could also be federal help on the way: President Joe Biden has announced plans to establish 100 federally supported vaccination centers and allocate $50 billion to expand testing.

In Madera County, a poor rural area of 160,000 people that stretches from the Central Valley into the Sierra Nevada, the state has largely taken over covid testing, allowing the county to focus its resources on vaccinations, Bosse said.

The big challenge on that front, she said, is having enough trained health personnel to run the vaccination sites. The county recently heard from 85 trained clinicians willing to volunteer for the vaccine effort, "which is going to be a game changer for us," Bosse said.

In Los Angeles, the city has the means to add testing capacity elsewhere and beef up mobile testing, Garcetti said. It had been considering a testing site at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley, "which it looks like we won't need to open," the mayor said.

The city, county and state are also discussing the possibility of a partnership to expand testing at Exposition Park in South L.A.

In San Diego County, health officials expect to face a challenge due to the competition for staffing between vaccination and testing, and they are hiring to meet the need, said Sarah Sweeney, a spokesperson for the county's Health and Human Services Agency. The county hasn't yet converted testing venues to vaccination sites but expects to do so after vaccine supplies increase, she said.

San Bernardino County health officials are committed to maintaining testing at current volumes even as they ramp up vaccinations, said Corwin Porter, the director of public health. But he conceded that doing both at the same time "is a struggle" because "we don't have enough vaccine and we don't have enough staff."

The county is holding hiring events every week and working with multiple partners to find additional resources, "because we are trying not to pull anything out of testing or contact tracing," Porter said.

Beyond the resource question, another big challenge confronts health officials: "There is an issue of divided attention," said L.A. County's Hong. "Now we have two big things to deal with  three if you include contact tracing. I think we will have to be thoughtful about our strategy."

Once a broad swath of the population has been vaccinated, which could take many months, testing volume will likely drop off sharply, said UCSF's Rutherford.

"I don't see hundreds of thousands of tests a day anymore once we get well up on vaccinations," he said. "You'll be testing thousands of people to find tens of cases."

In the meantime, L.A. County will likely add questions to its testing appointment website asking people about their vaccination status, Hong said. "That way we can track what's happening in people who are vaccinated."

Ongoing covid outbreaks may require increased testing, particularly in poorer communities of color, which have been hit hardest by the pandemic  and where hesitancy to be vaccinated is likely to be more widespread, said Hong. "So the bottom line is that testing is not going away."

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.
Research by an international team of medical experts has found cancer patients could be up to four times more likely to die following cancer surgery in low to lower-middle income countries than in high-income countries. It also revealed lower-income countries are less likely to have post-operative care infrastructure and oncology services.

The global observational study, published in The Lancet, explored global variation in post-operative complications and deaths following surgery for three common cancers. It was conducted by researchers from the GlobalSurg Collaborative and NIHR Global Health Unit on Global Surgery - led by the University of Edinburgh, with analysis and support from the University of Southampton.

Between April 2018 and January 2019, researchers enrolled 15,958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries undergoing surgery for breast, colorectal or gastric cancer. This included a mix of patients from high-income countries, upper middle-income countries and low/lower middle-income countries. 53 percent (8,406) of patients underwent surgery for breast cancer, 39 percent (6,215) for colorectal cancer, and 8 percent (1,337) for gastric cancer. The authors analyzed how common death or major complications were within 30 days of surgery.

Deaths among gastric cancer patients were more than three times higher in low/lower middle-income countries (33 deaths among 326 patients, 3.72 odds of death) than high-income countries (27 deaths among 702 patients).

Patients with colorectal cancer in low/lower middle-income countries were also more than four times more likely to die (63 deaths among 905 patients, 4.59 odds of death), compared with those in high-income countries (94 deaths among 4,142 patients). Those in upper middle-income countries were two times as likely to die (47 deaths among 1,102 patients, 2.06 odds of death) as patients in high-income countries.

No difference in 30-day mortality was seen following breast cancer surgery.

Similar rates of complications following surgery were observed in patients across all income groups, however those in low/lower middle-income countries were six times more likely to die within 30 days of a major complication (96 deaths among 133 patients, 6.15 odds of death), compared with patients in high-income countries (121 deaths among 693 patients). Patients in upper middle-countries were almost four times as likely to die (58 deaths among 151 patients, 3.89 odds of death) as those in high-income countries.

Patients in upper middle-income and low/lower middle-income countries tended to present with more advanced disease compared with those in high-income countries, however researchers found that cancer stage alone explained little of the variation in mortality or post-operative complications.

Assessing hospital facilities and practices across the different income groups revealed that hospitals in upper middle-income and low/lower middle-income countries were less likely to have post-operative care infrastructure (such as designated post-operative recovery areas and consistently available critical care facilities) and cancer care pathways (such as oncology services).

Further analysis revealed that the absence of post-operative care infrastructure was associated with more deaths in low/lower middle-income countries (7 to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications) and upper middle-income countries (5 to 8 more deaths per 100 major complications).

Academic lead at the University of Southampton and member of GlobalSurg, Mr Malcolm West, commented: "It was a great privilege for me to contribute to this landmark study. Failure to rescue from death after post-operative complications is of global importance. As a colorectal surgeon, it is disconcerting to see that patients in LMIC present with more advanced cancers compared to high-income countries. Interestingly, advanced cancer rates alone did not fully explain the high death and complication rates we have seen.

"An urgent focus on improving global healthcare systems, especially in LMIC, to detect and intervene when complications occur would help save lives following cancer surgery."

Our study is the first to provide in-depth data globally on complications and deaths in patients within 30 days of cancer surgery. The association between having post-operative care and lower mortality rates following major complications indicates that improving care systems to detect and intervene when complications occur could help reduce deaths following cancer surgery." Ewen Harrison, Professor, University of Edinburgh

The authors acknowledge some limitations to their study. Researchers only looked at early outcomes following surgery, but, in future, they will study longer-term outcomes and other cancers. Outcomes can be poorly captured and understood in settings with limited resources, which will have affected the team's findings on the effectiveness of surgery. Further detailed analysis is needed to provide more robust evidence regarding associations between patient outcomes and hospital facilities.
A woman who threw a newborn baby to the floor before burning his mother with a radiator has been found not guilty due to insanity.

Carolina Fuentes-Essola, 34, kicked down the door of the woman's home in Clapham, south west London, and threw her 26-day-old infant on the floor repeatedly during the attack on January 25 last year.

The mother managed to place her baby on the bed of her studio flat before Fuentes-Essola threw her face down on the floor, knelt on her back and strangled her.

Fuentes-Essola had been released from a five day period in a psychiatric ward eight days before the attack, Inner London Crown Court heard.

She was found not guilty by reason of insanity on two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and remanded in custody ahead of a further hearing on February 13.

Carolina Fuentes-Essola, 34, kicked down the door of the woman's home in Clapham, south west London, and threw her baby on the floor repeatedly on January 25 last year, Inner London Crown Court (pictured) heard

Giving evidence the mother told jurors the attacker took a radiator and disconnected it so she could put it on top of her while it was still hot.

She said: 'She grabbed the baby by his throat with one hand and was holding me with the other hand and was using a lot of force.

'I don't know how I managed but I bit her somewhere, and she let go of the baby so I pushed him away far away underneath the cot, so that she wouldn't hurt him.

'I felt like my heart was getting out my chest and then the baby was still, not moving.

'I must have bitten her hand. Carolina stood up and grabbed me by my hair, for the second time I grabbed my phone for the police but she took it from me.

'She made me stand up, she was very strong. She threw me again and I fell on the other side of the cot.

'She was trying to kill us both, I wanted to get hold of my baby and get out the window, I couldn't, I didn't have the strength.

'I was screaming for help but nobody was helping me. She threw me on the floor and started moving the cot as if trying to reach the baby, I moved the cot to cover him with it.

'She was looking everywhere, there was a radiator that had been connected to the cot, a hot radiator. She took the radiator, disconnected it, took it and put it on top of me, I was on the ground facing down.

'She pushed down on me, I was wearing a T-shirt and so felt the heat on me.

'All I wanted to do was protect my baby. She was on me again pushing down on the radiator with a lot of force. She took the radiator cord put it around my neck.

'She held really hard as if she was trying to strangle me, I put my hand in so that she couldn't strangle me completely, but I didn't have a lot of strength, I was feeling very weak.

Fuentes-Essola was found not guilty by reason of insanity on two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and remanded in custody. (Stock image)

'I saw some movement in his leg and I thought ''I need to survive to protect me son because nobody else is going to help''. I stayed there very, very still for a minute thinking ''now she's going to kill me'' but she stood up.

'She hit me with the mirror and the glass broke and she kept hitting me with the mirror frame and it was really hard.

'She pulled me up from the floor again and threw me again - I was praying to god for help and she just left.'

The mother left her child under the cot of her flat and ran barefoot into the street shouting for help.

A young man on a bicycle returned to the small flat with the mother where they collected the baby and called police.

The baby boy suffered several bruises to his head, legs and ankles and the mother had bruising to her head and neck as well as burn marks to her back and arms from the hot radiator.

Fuentes-Essola, of Streatham, was found not guilty by reason of insanity on two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The judge, Mr Recorder Gelaga King remanded Fuentes-Essola in custody until February 13 when he is expected to make an order under the Mental Health Act.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 15:54:31|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong decided not to appeal the ruling that sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for corruption charges, including bribery, local media reported on Monday, citing Lee's lawyer.

The lawyer was quoted as saying that Lee decided to accept the judgment and not to appeal the ruling.

Lee, an heir apparent of South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate Samsung Group, was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for corruption, linked to his management succession, a week earlier.

With a suspended prison sentence, he was released from jail in February 2018 after serving about one year behind bars, but the Supreme Court returned the case to a high court calling for harsh punishment.

The special prosecutor team was also quoted as saying that it decided not to appeal the ruling as the team achieved its goal of finding the truth behind the corruption scandal.

The special prosecutor team had demanded a nine-year prison sentence against Lee.

Lee was charged with offering tens of millions of U.S. dollars in bribes to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye in return for the assistance to his management succession.

The top court upheld a 20-year prison sentence on Park earlier this month for the corruption that led her to become the country's first sitting South Korean president to be impeached. Enditem
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For nearly three decades, the United States has observed January 16 as Religious Freedom Day. Americas First Freedom has historically enjoyed near-universal and bipartisan support. Nevertheless, contemporary challenges to religious freedom do exist.

Religious Freedom Day was adopted in honor of the countrys first religious freedom law, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom of 1786. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the statute formally disestablished the state church and allowed Virginians to worship freely. It was a precursor to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

When Jefferson drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, his proposal was radical. In an era when the government regulated and monitored the churchs liturgy and doctrine, it was bold to assert that religion was inherently a matter between an individual and God. But Jeffersons bold assertion was the correct one, and for over 230 years, Americans have enjoyed the blessings of living in a country where the state recognizes it has no business interfering with mans quest for religious truth and that God, not the government, is Lord of the conscience.

However, this past year, religious freedom has experienced an unprecedented challenge in the form of government mandates and restrictions placed on houses of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The types of restrictions ranged widely, from the reasonable to the unconstitutional. Examples of the latter included New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio threatening to permanently shut down churches and synagogues that did not comply with the citys restrictions and Nevada prohibiting churches from admitting more than 50 worshippers despite casinos being allowed to admit 50 percent of their maximum occupancy. A few restrictions have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, including California Governor Gavin Newsoms executive order barring churches from holding indoors services (struck down in December) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomos prohibition of church gatherings exceeding 10 or 25 people (struck down in November).

It is important to recognize that most local and state officials were doing their best to protect their citizens health and safety. This same protective impulse led most churches to voluntarily cease in-person worship services in the spring, during the initial wave of the pandemic. By the end of March, 99 percent of churches were not meeting. Instead of flouting the governments orders and continuing to meet in large groups, churches adapted to serve their communities and congregations in creative ways.

However, when businesses, casinos, tattoo parlors, and even abortion clinics began re-opening in the summer, many houses of worship  especially those in Democrat-controlled cities and states  were not allowed to re-open or to re-open at the same capacity as non-religious businesses, even if they abided by CDC guidelines. In many localities, these strict re-opening policies seemed to single out churches for unfair treatment. As a result, many churches sued over what they believed were unconstitutional and overreaching mandates from the authorities.

The events of 2020 posed challenges to nearly every sphere of life; however, the challenges to religious liberty were unique. At no other time in American history have churches throughout the country been told to shut down for nearly a year. Moreover, churches were clearly held to a more restrictive standard. What accounts for this unfair treatment? Why were churches subject to so much scrutiny and treated with suspicion throughout the pandemic?

The erosion of our cultures high view of religious freedom is a major contributing factor. Only a generation ago, religious freedom enjoyed nearly unanimous, bipartisan support. Today, religious freedom is increasingly seen as a political issue. Many Americans no longer respect or understand the importance of religious freedom and are therefore more willing to restrict religious expression.

A second contributing factor is religions fading influence on personal and public life. The percentage of Americans holding to the tenets of the Christian faith has shrunk, while the percentage of religiously unaffiliated Americans has grown. Thus, it is easier to dismiss services and other forms of worship as nonessential.

It is important to remind our fellow Americans that religious freedom is a fundamental value that undergirds the other freedoms we enjoy. Contrary to a popular misconception, it is not a license to do whatever we want or to arbitrarily discriminate. Instead, religious freedom says people have the right to believe what they want in terms of theology and doctrine and can order their lives in a way that brings their life into conformity with these beliefs.

In 2020, President Trump marked Religious Freedom Day by noting, Our Founders entrusted the American people with a responsibility to protect religious liberty so that our Nation may stand as a bright beacon for the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, too many elected officials failed to honor and protect religious freedom in 2020. It is imperative that America recommits to upholding our First Freedom and ensures that all Americans  religious and nonreligious  are free to order their lives according to their deepest convictions.
The Conversation

Executives from Google and Facebook have told a Senate committee they are prepared to take drastic action if Australias news media bargaining code, which would force the internet giants to pay news publishers for linking to their sites, comes into force. Google would have no real choice but to cut Australian users off entirely from its flagship search engine, the companys Australian managing director Mel Silva told the committee. Facebook representatives in turn said they would remove links to news articles from the newsfeed of Australian users if the code came into effect as it currently stands.

In response, the Australian government shows no sign of backing down, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg both saying they wont respond to threats.

So whats going on here? Are Google and Facebook really prepared to pull services from their Australian users rather than hand over some money to publishers under the bargaining code?

Is news valuable to Facebook and Google?

Facebook claims news is of little real value to its business. It doesnt make money from news directly, and claims that for an average Australian user less than 5 percent of their newsfeed is made up of links to Australian news.

But this is hard to square with other information. In 2020, the University of Canberras Digital News Report found some 52 percent of Australians get news via social media, and the number is growing. Facebook also boasts of its investments in news via deals with publishers and new products such as Facebook News.

Google likewise says it makes little money from news, while at the same time investing heavily in news products like News Showcase.

So while links to news may not be direct advertising money-spinners for Facebook or Google, both see the presence of news as an important aspect of audience engagement with their products.

On their own terms

While both companies are prepared to give some money to news publishers, they want to make deals on their own terms. But Google and Facebook are two of the largest and most profitable companies in history  and each holds far more bargaining power than any news publisher. The news media bargaining code sets out to undo this imbalance.

Whats more, Google and Facebook dont appear to want to accept the unique social role of news, and public interest journalism in particular. Nor do they recognise they might be involved somehow in the decline of the news business over the past decade or two, instead pointing the finger at impersonal shifts in advertising technology.

The media bargaining code being introduced is far too systematic for them to want to accept it. They would rather pick and choose commercial agreements with genuine commercial consideration, and not be bound by a one-size-fits-all set of arbitration rules.

A history of US monopolies

Google and Facebook dominate web search and social media, respectively, in ways that echo the great US monopolies of the past: rail in the 19th century, then oil and later telecommunications in the 20th. All these industries became fundamental forms of capitalist infrastructure for economic and social development. And all these monopolies required legislation to break them up in the public interest.

Its unsurprising that the giant ad-tech media platforms dont want to follow the rules, but they must acknowledge that their great wealth and power come with a moral responsibility to society. Making them face up to that responsibility will require government intervention.

Online pioneers Vint Cerf (now VP and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google) and Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) have also made submissions to the Senate committee advocating on behalf of the corporations. They made high-minded claims that the code will break the free and open internet.

But todays internet is hardly free and open: for most users the internet is huge corporate platforms like Google and Facebook. And those corporations dont want Australian senators interfering with their business model.

Independent senator Rex Patrick hit the nail on the head when he asked why Google wouldnt admit the fundamental issue was about revenue, rather than technical detail or questions of principle.

How seriously should we take threats to leave the Australian market?

Google and Facebook are prepared to go along with the Senate committees processes, so long as they can modify the arrangement. They dont want to be seen as uncooperative.

The threat to leave (or as Facebooks Simon Milner put it, the explanation of why they would be forced to do so) is their worst-case scenario. It seems likely they would risk losing significant numbers of users if they did so, or at least having them much less engaged  and hence producing less advertising revenue.

Google has already run small-scale experiments to test removing Australian news from search. This may be a demonstration that the threat to withdraw from Australia is serious, or at least, serious brinkmanship.

People know news is important, that it shapes their interactions with the world  and provides meaning and helps them navigate their lives. So who would Australians blame if Google and Facebook really do follow through? The government or the friendly tech giants they see every day? Thats harder to know.

For transparency, please note The Conversation has also made a submission to the Senate inquiry regarding the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
One native Laredoan is making strides at her college at Port Arthur, Texas, where she formed part of the first-ever Spanish presentation for incoming freshmen students at her school.

Being presented with the opportunity to be a guest speaker for families and incoming freshmen was a great honor, Griselda Espinoza said. It gave me the opportunity to showcase and share my awards, achievements, club involvements and most importantly tips and tricks on how to survive their first semester as bilingual students at our local college. I felt extremely excited to speak to all the Spanish speaking families and incoming freshmen who are pursuing a college degree.

This was the first time ever that Lamar State College Port Arthur allowed for there to be a Spanish presentation done for other potential new students.

Espinoza notes that it felt surreal and as a huge achievement for the school because it allowed for parents that only speak Spanish to participate in their childs education and get any of their questions answered without being intimidated because they do not speak English. She points out that it was great to be a part of the colleges milestone.

I felt a tremendous amount of pride and joy because Spanish is my first language, Espinoza said. Spanish was the language that was spoken in my home, school and community. So, having the opportunity to communicate with families and students like mine made me feel almost like I was speaking and welcoming my own family into my college campus.

Espinoza points out that many of the students who participated were very active during the presentation as they asked questions about college life while their parents heard back in their own language as well what could be expected for these children in school as well.

The students were very interactive and asked many questions about how college is like, Espinoza said. Being able to answer all of their questions in Spanish made it easier for them to comprehend on what to expect in their first semester of college.

Something else that made the first-ever Spanish presentation unique was the fact that it was also done virtually as well.

Espinoza was grateful to conduct the presentation in a safe setting, but noted that it did not allow for that intimate interaction with the students and parents.

She feels proud to have represented Webb County, El Cenizo and Laredo hundreds of miles away.

I am a first-generation college graduate, and to be able to show children growing up in these parts of the city that they can also beat the odds and get a college education brings me so much pride, Espinoza said. I want to set an example for future generations of impoverished children from areas like my own that no matter where youre from you can always achieve all your goals and dreams.

Even though Espinoza has always prided herself on her Hispanic heritage and the fact that she speaks both English and Spanish as well, she hopes that other Hispanics continue to speak both languages and continue to learn Spanish.

I believe being a bilingual Hispanic is a very powerful attribute to have at any level of education, Espinoza said. Not only does knowing both English and Spanish open so many more opportunities for you, but it also reminds us of the culture and ancestry that live within us all.

Espinoza is currently working on her bachelors degree in industrial technology, industrial and systems engineering and will be graduating in 2022. After obtaining her bachelors, Espinozas goal is to then apply to law school to obtain a law degree.

My dream job would be to open up my own law firm and practice law that contributes to a more progressive and tolerant country, Espinoza said.

Espinoza is also the current president of the Association for Process Technology at Lamar State College Port Arthur and vice president of communications for Phi Theta Kappa at the college, where she also serves as the student government representative.

Espinoza is also recipient of the Sydalise Fredemen Award from Lamar State College Port Arthur, which is awarded to the graduate with an Associates in Applied Science with the highest GPA. Espinoza said it is a huge achievement for a small town Mexican American first-generation woman who once only dreamed of getting this far.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

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Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

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Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

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Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

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Police said they monitored the procession and gave advice to some attendees on the regulations (PA)

The DUP has called for police action after images emerged appearing to show a sizeable crowd at the funeral of a veteran republican in Londonderry.

Eamonn Peggy McCourt, from Creggan in Derry, died at the weekend having contracted Covid-19.

His funeral was held on Monday in the city.

Images later emerged of a seemingly large crowd following a hearse flanked by two lines of mourners in white shirts.

Police monitored a funeral procession in Derry/Londonderry today in a sensitive manner to ensure compliance with the current health protection regulations PSNI spokesman

Tight restrictions on the number of people who can attend funerals are currently in force as part of Covid-19 regulations.

Police said they monitored the procession and gave advice to some attendees on the regulations.

Officers said any evidence of breaches will be gathered for potential consideration by prosecutors.

A political crisis erupted in Northern Ireland last June after senior Sinn Fein members attended the funeral of IRA veteran Bobby Storey  an event that saw hundreds take to the streets at a time when strict limits on numbers also applied.

Mr McCourt was a Sinn Fein activist and former IRA member who was badly injured when the SAS opened fire on a car in Derry in 1981. Two other IRA men were killed in the shooting.

DUP Assembly member for Foyle Gary Middleton said: These scenes from another republican funeral will be greeted with dismay by the vast majority of the public who have abided by the letter of the law throughout Covid-19.

It is hard to put into words the sheer recklessness of those involved. This is compounded by the fact that Mr McCourt passed away after contracting Covid-19 and at the funeral it was stated his death had brought the reality of coronavirus to the community.

The reality of Covid-19 is that restrictions on funerals are difficult and even painful for grieving families, but they have been put in place for an important reason. Many families have faced such grief without the wider support of family and friends present as would be the case normally.

Expand Close DUP MLA for Foyle Gary Middleton (PA) PA / Facebook

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Countless people have made the difficult decision to find an alternative way to pay their respects because they know the risks associated with such public gatherings and to ensure they complied with the law.

Within republicanism it seems that certain individuals are viewed as being more important than public health regulations.

He added: Such sights are most painful for relatives who have recognised the need for such painful restrictions to be put in place and have abided by them.

DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke said: The PSNI need to explain their actions, or repeated inaction in such situations.

The Chief Constable (Simon Byrne) needs to detail whether officers had knowledge of arrangements for this funeral and explain the inaction of police.

Incidents such as this do nothing to remove the appearance of two-tier policing which the PSNI is always so keen to dismiss. Without clear answers it will only serve to further erode public confidence.

Public health regulations apply equally to everyone and they should be enforced equally. No-one is above the law and when the law is breached so publicly there must be an expectation that prosecution will follow.

Monday 25th January at 7pm



Special online tribute to Derry Republican Peggy McCourt RIP



Peggy was well known throughout Ireland.



Peggy was shot 5 times in 1981 by SAS & 2 other Vols Pop & George were shot dead



Ar dheis DA go raibh a anam dAlis.



Please RT & Tune in pic.twitter.com/n0TVfQLcmj  Martina Anderson MLA (@M_AndersonSF) January 24, 2021

A Sinn Fein spokesman said the party was not involved in organising the funeral.

Eamonn McCourts funeral was arranged by his family, he said.

Sinn Fein will be holding its own tribute to his memory online.

A PSNI spokesman said: Police monitored a funeral procession in Derry/Londonderry today in a sensitive manner to ensure compliance with the current health protection regulations.

Officers engaged with some of those in attendance and gave appropriate advice in respect of the regulations. Any evidence of breaches will be gathered for consideration of submission to the Public Prosecution Service.

Irish Water has committed to an upgrade of the waste water treatment plant in Ballymahon, with an assessment of upgrade options to get underway this year and construction is expected to commence in 2023.

Announcing confirmation of the news, Longford / Westmeath Fianna Fail TD Joe Flaherty suggested that the current plant is not sufficient to sustain any future significant development in the south Longford town.

Deputy Flaherty outlined, Ballymahon is now one of the fastest growing towns in the country thanks to the arrival of Center Parcs and an upgraded waste treatment plant is essential if the town is to continue its development.

He added, "The EPA carried out an assessment at the site in 2018 and noted that the current plant is designed to service a population of just 2,215 but on the day of the inspection, operational records recorded an actual population equivalent up to 3,295."

The Longford TD said that the local authority and elected members have long championed the need for an upgraded plant.

Deputy Flaherty said that Irish Water have confirmed to him: That an upgrade on the plant is to start this year with an assessment of upgrade options. Once a preferred solution is determined a planning application and any other statutory consents will be progressed. Subject to statutory approvals, construction is expected to commence in 2023.

Senator Micheal Carrigy also welcomed the news that the Ballymahon Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrade is on the current Irish Water Investment Plan.

He commented "The design phase of the project is to start in 2021 which will include an assessment of upgrade options and construction is expected to commence in 2023.
NEW DELHI : National carrier Air India Ltd plans to raise up to 225 crore through a short-term loan from domestic lenders by 31 January to refinance an earlier loan, the airline said in a tender document on Monday. The loan will carry a sovereign guarantee and lenders will have to submit their bids by 27 January.

Proceeds of the loan, whose tenure is a year, will be utilized for refinancing earlier loans, and the airline will offer 18 of its aircraft as security, according to the document, a copy of which was reviewed by Mint.

The development comes amid the Centres plans to privatize the airline. The government is selling its 100% stake in Air India, which has incurred losses since 2007. Tata Group and an employee group headed by a board member are among the entities that have put in preliminary bids for the airline.

However, the stake sale process got delayed because of the covid-19 pandemic and is now likely to be concluded only in the next fiscal.

A senior official at the airline said it is raising capital from the market in the absence of any fund infusion from the government. The government has stopped infusing funds into the airline but will stand as a guarantor for the loans. The latest round of funds raised from the banks will be used to refinance an earlier loan of the same amount," the official said requesting anonymity.

Indian airlines, including Air India, are set to post net losses of around 21,000 crore during the fiscal year 2021 following travel restrictions and diminishing travel appetite because of the covid-19 pandemic. They will require 37,000 crore in additional funding from FY2021 to FY2023 to recover from losses and debt, credit rating agency ICRA Limited said in a recent report.

The overall airline industry debt is expected to rise to about 50,000 crore, excluding lease liabilities by FY 2022, ICRA said in the report.

Air Indias net debt is more than 60,000 crore at present. The airline has been facing working capital shortage and owes money to various vendors including OMCs, which is being financed by raising loans from various banks. The airline has delayed paying salaries to its employees against the backdrop of its mounting debt obligations.

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Democrats now have the majority in the U.S. Senate and are determined to move another round of coronavirus relief legislation, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said.

Casey, who becomes chairman of Senate Special Committee on Aging, said he wants to seek bipartisan agreement. But the Democrat from Scranton said Republicans are not going to dictate to us how to run the Senate from a Republican vantage point.

Democrats regained the Senate majority Wednesday with a 50-50 split because Vice President Kamala Harris has the tiebreaking vote.

First and foremost, I think its our obligation now that we have a majority to move the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion proposal, to move that forward, Casey said during a 15-minute interview Friday. Thats the most important work we can do, other than getting Cabinet nominations processed.

President Joe Bidens coronavirus relief plan includes direct payments of $1,400 to most Americans, $350 billion in state and local government aid,$170 billion for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education, $50 billion toward COVID-19 testing and $20 billion toward a national vaccine program.

Casey said there are initial indications of bipartisanship on moving Cabinet nominations forward but there is little indication that there is going to be bipartisanship on coronavirus relief.

Thats the lynchpin to get back to normal, Casey said, claiming the funding package will put the virus behind us and create and preserve jobs.

Bidens goal for 100 million vaccinations in 100 days is exactly what we need to do, and Congress needs to appropriate whatever it costs to achieve that goal, Casey said.

The faster we do that, the faster we get more kids in school, more businesses open, more jobs created, more people healthy, and allow our economy to boom, and get back to normal, he said. The longer we listen to Republican lawmakers who dont want to appropriate more money, the longer were going to be in this dark abyss that weve been in for a year now.

Colossal waste seen

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Lehigh County, said last week that Bidens proposal to spend another $2 trillion in borrowed or printed money  when the ink on Decembers $1 trillion aid bill is barely dry and much of the money is not yet spent  would be a colossal waste and economically harmful.

Republicans last week continued to run committees as the minority party because Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been haggling over a power-sharing deal in the 50-50 Senate.

We have the votes, and were going to run the Senate, Casey said. And the sooner they understand that the better. When they were in the majority, they on many days didnt consult with us on anything.

Schumer opposes McConnells demand to protect the filibuster rule, which requires a super majority of 60 votes to advance most legislation.

Toomey responded in an email Saturday, noting Republican senators preserved the legislative filibuster when they had the majority.

Now, the Democrats have marginal control of the elected government and they insist on preserving the option to destroy the filibuster, Toomey said. Republican senators are willing to support an organizing resolution that puts Democrats in control of the Senate. However, we expect the Democrats to respect the Senates tradition of honoring the filibuster as the mechanism for bipartisan consensus, just as Republicans did.

Wilkes University political science professor Benjamin Toll said the Democratic hold on power is tenuous at best in the Senate.

They cannot sustain any defections on votes and still win, and the party has a much broader ideological spectrum than the Republican Party does at the moment, Toll said. Mitch McConnell has been excellent at keeping Republicans in line over the years, and I expect they will continue to obstruct just about anything they can in order to campaign on a lack of accomplishments headed into 2022.

Casey will be powerful in the majority because hes from a battleground state, has been a senator for 14 years and is in the middle of the Democratic Party ideologically, Toll said.

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The new "Domestic Terrorism" Bill could target pro-life Christians and almost "half of the country" said former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard in an interview with Fox News Primetime Host Brian Kilmeade last Friday.

The National Review reported that Gabbard was alarmed at Illinois Representative Brad Schneider's proposed bill, H.R.350, that's meant to prevent the likes of the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6 from happening again could be used "to undermine civil liberties."

"What characteristics are we looking for as we are building this profile of a potential extremist? What are we talking about?" Gabbard raised "Religious extremists, are we talking about Christians, evangelical Christians? What is a religious extremist? Is it somebody who is pro-life? Where do you take this?"

"You start looking at obviously, have to be a white person, obviously likely male, libertarians, anyone who loves freedom, liberty, maybe has an American flag outside their house, or people who, you know, attended a Trump rally," she stressed.

Gabbard revealed that the bill is "a very dangerous undermining of our civil liberties, our freedoms in our Constitution, and a targeting of almost half of the country."

"It's so dangerous as you guys have been talking about, this is an issue that all Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians should be extremely concerned about, especially because we don't have to guess about where this goes or how this ends," she added.

"When you have people like former CIA Director John Brennan openly talking about how he's spoken with or heard from appointees and nominees in the Biden administration who are already starting to look across our country for these types of movements similar to the insurgencies they've seen overseas," Gabbard cited, "that in his words, he says make up this unholy alliance of religious extremists, racists, bigots, he lists a few others and at the end, even libertarians."

On Sunday, Gabbard tweeted her alarm on the said bill as she included the video of her interview with Fox News.

"@joebiden Your leadership is needed now to denounce those like John Brennan & Rep Schiff who are advocating for targeting half the country as potential domestic terrorists. Truly unite the American people around our Constitution & the rights that are endowed to us by our Creator," she said.
Nineteen bodies were found near the town of Camargo on the U.S.-Mexico border, a place that has seen violent organized crime in recent years.

According to Sky News, the Mexico border town where the burned bodies were found also had history of gang-related disputes recently.

Mexico's authorities added that the burned bodies were also shot before being found along a dirt road. They were found about 160 miles from the border after residents reported that a vehicle caught on fire near the area, New York Daily News added in its report

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office confirmed that there were some rifles and two vehicles at the scene. One of the vehicles held 15 bodies while the other held four.

"In one of the vans there were two bodies in the front seats, another body on the side of the driver's door, one more on the side of the passenger door and 15 bodies in the back of the vehicle," a statement from the prosecutor's office read.

Read also: Mexico's President Lopez Obrador Tests Positive for COVID-19

Camargo is a town across the Rio Grande from Texas. The area is commonly fought over by cartels and criminal gangs who want to gain control of the space between the town proper and the border, said a report from The Associated Press.

Burned Bodies Also Shot, But Shells Not Found at Scene

AP News also said in its report that even though the bodies appeared to have been shot, not shells were found nearby.

Initial investigations also showed that the victims' deaths were from firearm projectiles. This led the authorities to believe that the victims were killed elsewhere and only their remains were dumped and set aflame near Camargo.

Mexican authorities have already opened an investigation following the discovery of the burned bodies, the Tamaulipas public prosecutor's office said in a report from DW.

The people killed were allegedly from Central America, presumably Guatemalans, and they were taken from a safe house related to an organized crime group.

Residents Say Camargo Murders Happened on Friday

Spanish news agency EFE also cited witnesses that said a group of gunmen from Cartel del Noreste (CDN) entered the area on Friday. They were in search of the commander of the rival Gulf Cartel (CDG) which controls the Tamaulipas area.

They have been fighting over control of certain Mexican areas since March 2010, resulting in more than 15,000 missing persons cases and thousands of deaths.

An official who spoke to AP News on the condition of anonymity said locals were too afraid to report the killings when they happened on Friday.

Camargo has been seeing high numbers of drug and migrant smuggling incidents over the past few years. The cartels fight over routes to the U.S. and other large stretches of land near the border with an aim to make money out of the items of those passing through.

Related story: Biden Talks to Mexico President About Reversing Immigration Policies

Around the same time last year, 21 bodies were also found in vehicles near the nearby town of Ciudad Mier. The Mexican army killed 11 alleged gunmen days later.
Jaipur: Four men were killed when their motorcycle collided with a truck in Banswara district of Rajasthan, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Sunday night near Katumbi Adibhit area in Ambapura.

Accident

The four Mukesh (26), his brother Sohan (20), Dilip (22) and Dinesh (26), were on their way to Banswara city when a truck hit the motorcycle.

The bodies were handed over to their family members after post mortem, police said.
Trump Administration Rewrote US Approach to China Threat

News Analysis

For four years, former President Donald Trumps administration broke with previous U.S. governments to confront the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head-on, pushing back against its malign actions aimed at remodeling the world to its own brand of techno-totalitarianism.

The administration recognized the vastness of the Chinese regimes infiltration campaign that has left virtually no aspect of American society untouched, China experts say. Trump administration officials have described Beijings threats as an all-out assault against Americas economic prosperity, national security, and freedoms, as well as that of democracies around the globe.

In doing so, the United States repudiated the decades-held conventional wisdom that informed a policy of engagement toward Beijingthat economic liberalization would lead to a more democratic China. That thinking is now widely accepted as wrong.

The former presidents biggest achievement was that he completely changed the terms of debate in the United States about how to deal with communist China, J. Michael Waller, a senior analyst for strategy at the Washington-based think tank Center for Security Policy, told The Epoch Times.

Trump tore a hole through the CCP propaganda line that is for peace, and mutual development and mutual cooperation around the world, he said. The CCP had been able to get away with this lie for many years, whether it was under a Republican or Democrat president.

Senior administration officials, notably former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for the first time recognized the nature of the CCP (distinct from the Chinese people) as a Marxist-Leninist regime, and how this ideology shapes its goal for global hegemony and the way in which it seeks to get there.

China is engaged in a whole-of state effort to become the worlds only superpower by any means necessary, FBI Director Christopher Wray said last July.

The transformation of U.S.-China relations under Trump was such that it can never go back to the way it was, Waller said. He added the Biden administration is now hemmed in from pursuing a more accommodationist approach towards Beijing. Indeed, President Joe Bidens secretary of state, Antony Blinken, at his recent Senate confirmation hearing, admitted that Trump was right to take a tough-on-China approach, although he disagreed in how it should be done.

While the U.S.-China trade war dominated headlines for much of Trumps presidency, a range of other actions was set in motion tackling economic and national security threats from Beijing. But in early 2020, when it became evident that the Chinese regime covered up the severity of the CCP virus outbreakallowing it to spread across the worldthe administration turbo-charged efforts to confront Beijing. The result was a whole-of-government clampdown.

By the end of the year, the administration would launch at least 210 actions across 10 agencies, according to Axios.

Tackling Unfair Trade Practices

Fulfilling a campaign promise to take China to task for its unfair trade practices, Trump in the spring of 2018 announced tariffs on a long list of Chinese imports, igniting the U.S.-China trade war. The tariffs were levied following a Section 301 probe that found that the regime was engaging in state-sanctioned intellectual property theft. Trump would go on to levy tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods, before a phase-one trade was signed in January 2020.

The trade deal included commitments from Beijing to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods and services in 2020 and 2021, protect intellectual property, stop forced technology transfers, and provide transparency on foreign exchange practices. But a January 2021 report found that China has bought just 58 percent of the goods it had promised to.

Trumps tariffs, still intact on $360 billion worth of Chinese imports, resulted in many manufacturers moving their production away from China to Southeast Asia. This trend accelerated amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the crisis exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains, particularly in critical industries.

Walling Off Huawei, Chinese Tech

Over the course of 2020, the Trump administration managed to convince dozens of countries to boot out Chinese telecom giant Huawei from their 5G infrastructure, under the Clean Network initiative. This under-the-radar success story seemed unthinkable in early 2020. But as the pandemic hit, the Chinese regimes coverup and subsequent disinformation campaign led Western governments to reassess their relationship with it.

Launched last spring, the program quickly took off with about 60 partnered countries, representing more than two-thirds of the world economy, and 200 telecom companies joining the alliance by January.

The Clean Networks momentum turned the tide on Huawei and the CCPs 5G master plan, then-undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy, and environment Keith Krach, the official who spearheaded the initiative, told The Epoch Times last December.

Countries and companies are terrified of the CCPs doctrine of intimidation, retaliation, and retribution. And that, basically, is a bully. When you confront a bully, they back down. And they really back down if you have your friends by your side, he said.

Trump officials were vociferous in their warnings that Huawei and other Chinese technology companies, in both software and hardware, could be used by Beijing for spying. They cited Chinese laws that compel companies to cooperate with intelligence agencies when asked, as well as that all entities in the country are beholden to the CCP.

The former presidents executive orders last year banning Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat were aimed at blocking Beijings access to large volumes of American data that could be used for intelligence operations and to enhance the regimes artificial intelligence tools, officials said. Those bans are now entangled in court battles, and it remains to be seen if the Joe Biden administration will continue defending the orders.

The execution of Trumps latest order in January banning eight Chinese apps, including payment apps Alipay and WeChat Pay, is now left to the Biden administration, and it remains to be seen how they will act.

Combating Espionage

The Justice Departments (DOJ) historic crackdown on Chinese espionage and infiltration under its China Initiative was another campaign that went largely unnoticed. Launched in late 2018, the initiative led to a dramatic upsurge in prosecutions targeting Beijings state-sanctioned theft of trade secrets. FBI Director Wray said last year that the agency is opening one China-related case every 10 hours, and has almost 2,500 active investigations across all bureaus.

The campaign zeroed in on Chinese hackers, spies, and employees at American companies who allegedly stole IP for Chinas benefit. It also extended to U.S.-based academics and researchers, who have been targeted by Beijing for years through recruitment programs, known as talent plans, designed to facilitate the transfer of technology and know-how to China. A spate of researchers have been charged for hiding their links to these programs, the most high-profile being Harvard Universitys former chemistry chair Charles Leiber.

Prosecutors alleged that Lieber was awarded $1.5 million to set up a lab in China, while working on sensitive research in the United States, for which he received more than $15 million in federal grants since 2008.

Last year, the campaign disrupted a vast network of undercover Chinese military officers posing as students in the United States. Six Chinese researchers were charged with visa fraud. The FBI investigation, coupled with the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston over its espionage and malign influence activities, led to over 1,000 military-linked Chinese researchers leaving the country, according to John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security.

Bolstering National Security

Guided by the 2017 National Security Strategy and the 2018 Indo-Pacific Strategy, the administration sought to enhance its alliances in the Asia-Pacific to counter the regimes growing influence abroad. In 2018, the U.S. military renamed U.S. Pacific Command to Indo-Pacific Command, signifying a strategic pivot. Last year, the United States strengthened its defense cooperation with India, a key counterweight to China. The Chinese regimes hostilities on the border with India further antagonized their relationship.

The administration also revitalized the informal framework known as the Quad between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, becoming a military and diplomatic force in the region.

The United States relationship with Taiwan also warmed significantly during the Trump administration. Last year, it sent two high-level officials to visit the democratic island, the first of whom was then-Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. He was the highest-level U.S. Cabinet official to visit since the United States switched formal relations to China from Taiwan in 1979. Arms sales to the self-ruled island, which Beijing threatens to seize by force if necessary, also increased.

Weve stood by our friends in Taiwan, Pompeo said in a Jan. 7 tweet. Over the past 3 years, the Trump Administration authorized more than $15 billion in arms sales to Taiwan. The Obama Administration? $14 billion dollars in sales over 8 years.

Meanwhile, the launch of the U.S. Space Force in 2019 as a new branch of the military was a vital first step in pushing back against China and Russias ambitions to weaponize space.

The administration also took aim at the Chinese regimes civil-military fusion strategy, which directs private industry innovations to be leveraged in support of Chinas military modernization. Chinese graduate students affiliated with institutions that support the strategy were banned from obtaining visas. Dozens of Chinese companies were placed on a trade blacklist over their role in supporting Chinese military activities.

In a groundbreaking move, Trump banned U.S. investments in a list of 45 Chinese companies deemed by the Pentagon as having ties to the Chinese military. The order sought to block the flow of American capital, including through public pension and retirement funds, into firms that aid the regimes militaryjeopardizing U.S. national security. It was a problem overlooked for years, according to security experts.

Most Americans have no idea that their own moneyheld in pension funds, 401(k)s, and brokerage accountsis financing CCPs military, the surveillance state, and human rights abuses through an undisclosed opaque web of subsidiaries, index funds, and financial products, Krach said in January.

The ban, which took effect in January and sets a November deadline for divestments, has so far led to index providers removing several Chinese companies from its emerging markets index and the New York Stock Exchange delisting three Chinese telecom firms.

Taking Action on Human Rights

In a marked shift from previous governments, the Trump administration backed up its tough rhetoric condemning Beijings rights abuses with action. In 2020, it sanctioned 20 CCP and Hong Kong officials, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and a member of the CCPs powerful Politburo, primarily over the regimes crushing of Hong Kongs freedoms and persecution of Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang.

I really applaud many of the things that the administration has done to move away from this naive idea that you can just engage with such a repressive regime behind closed doors only with words, UK rights activist Benedict Rogers recently told The Epoch Times.

Actually, what you need to get the message across is punitive measures, the kind of sanctions that the U.S. has introduced.

In December, Pompeo also sanctioned a Chinese police chief over his involvement in gross human rights violations against practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice violently suppressed by the CCP for more than 21 years. This marked the first time the United States has punished a Chinese official for participating in the persecution.

In one of his final acts as secretary of state, Pompeo declared the CCPs repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities as genocide, a move that will likely make firms think twice before doing business with Xinjiang, a leading global supplier of cotton.
[January 25, 2021] Butterfly Network, Inc. and Longview Acquisition Corp. Announce Dr. Todd Fruchterman to Become President and CEO of the Combined Company

GUILFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Butterfly Network, Inc. ("Butterfly"), an innovative digital health company that is working to enable universal access to superior medical imaging, has named Dr. Todd M. Fruchterman, M.D., Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1st, in advance of the closing of its announced business combination with Longview Acquisition Corp. ("Longview", NYSE: LGVW, LGVW.U, LGVW WS). Dr. Fruchterman joins Butterfly after nearly ten years at 3M Company ("3M"), where he most recently served as President and General Manager of 3M's Medical Solutions Division, managing a $4.8 billion global business with above-market growth. Previously, Dr. Fruchterman spent five years as EVP at Kinetic Concepts, Inc. ("KCI"), before which he served in key roles at Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough, and Response Genetics. At 3M and KCI, Dr. Fruchterman also served as both Chief Technology Officer and Chief Medical Officer. Most recently, he was Group President, Reliability Solutions at Flex. "We are very excited Todd has joined Butterfly as President and CEO to lead the Company at this critical stage. Todd brings together his unique qualifications and experience as an M.D., Ph.D. and proven business executive in public medical device companies, where he has successfully scaled disruptive technologies throughout his entire career," said Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, Founder and Chairman of Butterfly. "Our most valuable assets are the people of Butterfly who innovate and serve on a daily basis, and I am pleased to support Todd as he builds upon a culture of purpose, joy and empowerment for our team and impact for patients and caregivers." "The heart of Butterfly's culture is clinical excellence, combined with technological breakthroughs, with a customer-centric approach to drive commercial success," said Larry Robbins, Chairman of Longview. "Todd's experience fits hand in glove with the breadth and depth of our opportunity to drive better medicine, empower medical professionals, improve patient outcomes and generate significant growth and value over the long-term." "It is a privilege for me to join Butterfly at this pivotal time in its pioneering effort to deliver affordable imaging solutions to the world," said Dr. Fruchterman. "Together with the deep and skilled leadership team, and with the support of Jonathan and Larry, I look forward to empowering a full spectrum of medical professionals, worldwide, with Butterfly's technology to help millions of patients achieve better, more cost-effective outcomes, and maintain wellness." In anticipation of the closing of the business combination, Butterfly and Longview have also nominated Directors for election to the Board of Directors of the combined company. Joining Dr. Rothberg (Chair), Dr. Fruchterman (President and CEO) and Mr. Robbins are Dawn Carfora, Vice President, Business Planning and Operations, Global Business Group at Facebook; John Hammergren, former Chairman and CEO of McKesson Corporation; Gianluca Pettiti, Senior Vice President and President of Specialty Diagnostics at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. and S. Louise Phanstiel, Chair of the Board of Directors at Myriad Genetics. "I am grateful to these independent directors for supporting our movement to use Ultrasound-on-Chip technology to make safe diagnostic imaging more accessible, more affordable and more effective," said Dr. Rothberg. "We expect that their deep skills and directly relevant experiences will bring to the company wisdom and insight across operational, strategic, cultural and fiduciary spheres." "As we strive to build a world-class global organization, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to access the perspectives and guidance of four highly accomplished executives whose current or prior employers  Anthem (Wellpoint), Facebook, McKesson, and Thermo Fisher Scientific  are all significant and admired growth companies," said Mr. Robbins. "We welcome them each as new Board members of the combined company and new investors in Butterfly." Longview has scheduled its Special Meeting of Stockholders for 8:00 a.m., New York Time, on Friday, February 12, 2021, for Longview's stockholders to approve the business combination and the election of the 7 nominated Directors to the Board of Directors of the combined company. Subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction or waiver of the other closing conditions to the business combination, the business combination is expected to close on the same day. Trading in the combined company's Class A Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is expected to begin on Tuesday, February 16th, under the ticker "BFLY". Butterfly and Longview express their appreciation and best wishes to Laurent Faracci, Butterfly's former CEO who stepped down over the weekend. "Laurent recognized the value of this transformative combination and was critical in moving the company toward this goal and providing a seamless transition for the next phases of growth," said Dr. Rothberg. "We wish him well in his future endeavors." About Butterfly Network Butterfly Network announced in November 2020 that it entered into a business combination agreement with Longview Acquisition Corp. and, upon closing, the combined company's Class A common stock is expected to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BFLY." All equity of existing Butterfly Network investors, including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will convert into shares of the combined company. There will be no selling stockholders in the transaction. The business combinaton is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2021.



Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in 2011, Butterfly has created the world's first handheld, single-probe whole-body ultrasound system, Butterfly iQ. Butterfly Network's mission is to enable universal access to superior medical imaging, making high-quality ultrasound affordable, easy-to-use, globally accessible, and intelligently connected, including for the 4.7 billion people around the world lacking access to ultrasound. Through its proprietary Ultrasound-On-Chip technology, Butterfly Network is paving the way for earlier detection and remote management of health conditions around the world. The Butterfly iQ can be purchased online today by healthcare practitioners in the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Important Information about the Business Combination and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed business combination between Longview Acquisition Corp. ("Longview") and Butterfly Network, Inc. ("Butterfly") (the "Business Combination"), Longview has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a registration statement on Form S-4 (the "Registration Statement"), which includes a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and, as amended, will include a definitive proxy statement/prospectus, and certain other related documents, which will be both the proxy statement to be distributed to holders of shares of Longview's common stock in connection with Longview's solicitation of proxies for the vote by Longview's stockholders with respect to the Business Combination and other matters as may be described in the Registration Statement, as well as the prospectus relating to the offer and sale of the securities of Longview to be issued in the Business Combination. Longview's stockholders and other interested persons are advised to read the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus included in the Registration Statement and the amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus when available, as well as other documents filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed Business Combination, as these materials will contain important information about the parties to the Business Combination Agreement, Longview and the proposed Business Combination. After the Registration Statement is declared effective, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials for the proposed Business Combination will be mailed to stockholders of Longview as of January 15, 2021, the record date established for voting on the proposed Business Combination and other matters as may be described in the Registration Statement. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus, and other documents filed with the SEC that will be incorporated by reference therein, without charge, once available, at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: Longview Acquisition Corp., 767 Fifth Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10153, Attention: Mark Horowitz, Chief Financial Officer or to info@longviewacquisition.com. Participants in the Solicitation Longview and its directors and executive officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies from Longview's stockholders with respect to the Business Combination. A list of the names of those directors and executive officers and a description of their interests in Longview is contained in the Registration Statement for the Business Combination, and will be available free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to Longview Acquisition Corp., 767 Fifth Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10153, Attention: Mark Horowitz, Chief Financial Officer or to info@longviewacquisition.com. Additional information regarding the interests of such participants is contained in the Registration Statement. Butterfly and its directors and executive officers may also be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Longview in connection with the Business Combination. A list of the names of such directors and executive officers and information regarding their interests in the Business Combination is contained in the Registration Statement. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Butterfly's actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, Butterfly's expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the Business Combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the Business Combination and the timing of the completion of the Special Meeting of Stockholders and the Business Combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside Longview's and Butterfly's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the ability of Longview and Butterfly prior to the Business Combination, and New Butterfly following the Business Combination, to meet the closing conditions in the Business Combination Agreement, including due to failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of Longview and Butterfly or certain regulatory approvals, or failure to satisfy other conditions to closing in the Business Combination Agreement; (2) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances, including the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Longview and Butterfly following the announcement of the Business Combination Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein, that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination Agreement or could otherwise cause the transactions contemplated therein to fail to close; (3) the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the combined company's Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, as applicable, following the Business Combination; (4) the risk that the Business Combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the Business Combination; (5) the inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition and the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees; (6) costs related to the Business Combination; (7) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (8) the inability of the combined company to raise financing in the future; (9) the success, cost and timing of Butterfly's and the combined company's product development activities; (10) the inability of Butterfly or the combined company to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for their products, and any related restrictions and limitations of any approved product; (11) the inability of Butterfly or the combined company to identify, in-license or acquire additional technology; (12) the inability of Butterfly or the combined company to maintain Butterfly's existing license, manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements; (13) the inability of Butterfly or the combined company to compete with other companies currently marketing or engaged in the development of products and services that Butterfly is currently marketing or developing; (14) the size and growth potential of the markets for Butterfly's and the combined company's products and services, and each of their ability to serve those markets, either alone or in partnership with others; (15) the pricing of Butterfly's and the combined company's products and services and reimbursement for medical procedures conducted using Butterfly's and the combined company's products and services; (16) Butterfly's and the combined company's estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; (17) Butterfly's and the combined company's financial performance; (18) the impact of COVID-19 on Butterfly's business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the Business Combination; and (19) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the Business Combination, including those under "Risk Factors" in the Registration Statement, and in Longview's other filings with the SEC. Longview and Butterfly caution that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Longview and Butterfly caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Longview and Butterfly do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. No Offer or Solicitation This press release shall not constitute a solicitation of a proxy, consent or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the Business Combination. This press release shall also 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 states or jurisdictions in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Media Contact: Sean Leous

Sean.leous@westwicke.com

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The production and import of phones using 2G and 3G technology will stop from the beginning of July, according to a new circular from the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Production of phones using 2G and 3G technology would stop in Viet Nam from the beginning of July.  File Photo

Circular No 43 about national technical regulations on terrestrial mobile communication equipment, which takes effect from July 1, states all mobile phones manufactured or imported into Viet Nam must use Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) or 4G technology.

This means all mobile devices with simply 2G, 3G or combined technology would not be produced and imported into Viet Nam.

Phones which were produced and imported before July 1 would still be allowed to be sold.

The circular was considered a step towards turning off 2G in the first quarter of 2022 as well as the programme of universalisation of smartphones.

Previously, Hoang Minh Cuong, Director of the Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said that the production of phones with 2G technology had decreased significantly. The number of phones fell by 6-7 million units from the end of 2019 to the end of the third quarter of 2020.

Cuong said that the other 12 million phones were expected to be wiped out in the first quarter of 2022.

Viet Nam aims for all residents to use smartphones by 2025 with the strategy of providing made-in-Viet Nam smartphones costing less than US$50. Many phone producers and network providers have signed up to the plan.

Vu Hoang Lien, President of Viet Nam Internet Association, said that the universalisation of smartphones was a bold effort to promote national digital transformation, digital economy and e-Government.

A market research study by Adsota showed that about 44.9 per cent of the Vietnamese population used smartphones by 2020.

Viet Nam was piloting 5G services and targeted to universalise 5G in the 2023-25 period.  VNS

Network operators offer customers a subsidy for smartphones Around 22 million subscribers out of total 130 million mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam use 2G, according to the Authority of Telecommunications (AOT).
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said we are starting to make progress as numbers fall

Levels of coronavirus in the community are falling, with 1,373 new cases confirmed yesterday.

It was the first time this year that new cases fell below 2,000 for two consecutive days, after 1,910 cases were reported on Saturday.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said that "while are starting to make progress in reducing the level of the virus in the community", there is still a "huge volume of disease in the country".

58pc of yesterday's new cases were among those under the age of 45. The median age among those infected was 39.

There were 23 further deaths reported, with a median age of 84. The age range of those who died was between 61 and 99.

A total of 2,970 people have now died from the virus while there have been 187,554 confirmed cases, the National Public Health Emergency Team announced last night.

Women accounted for 730 of yesterday's new cases and 643 cases were among men.

Dublin recorded 379 cases, followed by Cork with 145, Wexford with 86, Galway with 85 and Limerick with 71. Another 612 cases were spread across the country.

There are now 218 patients with Covid-19 in ICUs and 1,931 people with the infection in hospitals across the State.

Over the weekend, 44 more patients with Covid-19 were admitted to hospital.

The 14-day incidence rate now stands at 840.7 per 100,000 of the population.

While the figures represent a decline in the numbers of new infections compared with recent numbers, Dr Holohan urged the public to hold firm.

He said now is a "critical time" to remain vigilant to stop further spread of the virus.

"While we are starting to make progress in reducing the level of the virus in the community, this is a critical time for all of us to hold firm to the public health advice.

"We must not let down our guard against this highly infectious disease and the risk it poses to ourselves and those most medically vulnerable to infection," he said.

"There is a huge volume of disease in the country and the recent surge in cases continues to place an unprecedented strain on ICUs, hospitals and other frontline healthcare services.

"The answer lies in driving down social contacts and congregation in all settings, including in workplaces," he said, adding anyone who can work from home must do so.

Meanwhile, as various groups call to have quicker access to vaccinations, Dr Siobhan O'Sullivan, chief bioethics officer for the Department of Health, said advancing age is the greatest risk factor for becoming seriously ill or dying from the virus and the roll-out of the vaccination programme must take that into account.

"Those who have an increased risk of dying or developing severe disease have been prioritised to receive a Covid vaccine.

Amplified

"Increasing age is the clearest risk factor associated with dying or becoming very ill if you contract the virus.

"This risk is amplified for older persons living in long term residential care as they have a higher risk of exposure to infection.

"In Ireland in the first wave of Covid-19, 56pc of deaths occurred in this setting.

"This is likely compounded by the presence of underlying conditions which increase with advancing age," she said.

Frontline healthcare workers have been prioritised in the first phase of the vaccine roll-out as they are also at high risk of exposure to the virus.

In the first wave, more than 30pc of cases of Covid-19 were in this group.
We have last seen Song Jong Ki on the small screen last 2019 in the hit series Arthdal Chronicles and surely his fans can't wait to see him back on screen.

Many applauded his portrayal and praised him for his impressive acting skills as Eun Som who is an Igutu. With his superb acting, he will surely not disappoint viewers of his upcoming series "Vicenzo."

Song Joong Ki will star as Vicenzo Cassano in the drama.He is an Italian Lawyer at the same a trusted adviser of the Mafia. He was adopted when he was eight and lived in Italy afterward. He then became a consigliere to the Mafia. When war between Mafias broke out, he flew back to South Korea. He then meets a vicious and tactless lawyer Hong Cha Young played by Jeon Yeo Bin. Cha Young is great at what she does and will always find to win any case. The two joined forces and use sinister methods to eliminate those who are beyond the law. Eventually, Vicenzo develops feelings for Cha Young.

Joining them will be 2PM's Taecyeon to play Jang Joon-Woo, Yoo Jae-Myung as Hong Yoo-Chan, Kim Yeo-Jin as Choi Myung-Hee, and many more. Fans are expecting this drama to be great as it will be helmed by Kim Hee-Won. Some of her projects are The Crowned Clown, Money Flower, and Golden Pouch. Additionally, it is written by Park Jae Bum, the screenwriter of The Fiery Priest.

The actor is oozing a somewhat dark charisma for his role. He plays a brutal strategist contrary to his sweet-looking visuals. Being a negotiator he needs to look furious as if he is cold-hearted and is not afraid to have a head-on negotiation.

His handsome face looks more appealing as his face looks clean and refreshing yet his expression is just unreadable, as if like a mannequin that has no emotion at all.

Since he grew up in Italy, the largest producer of wine in the whole world, we can see him holding a glass with a deep thought contemplating what will be his next move.

Just by looking at his profile, he emanates a strong aura, looking cold and fierce. If you saw Vicenzo's official poster, it has a caption "Evil is punished with evil."Vicenzo will be a dark hero who will tear down evil in wicked ways. Upon his arrival in Korea, he will encounter a cartel and will be digging more to find out their illegal activities. This will turn out to be a unique character for Song Jong Ki everyone has been waiting for.

It will be Song Jong Ki's come back drama series and his fans can hardly wait to see him on the small screen. In an interview, he said that he finds the plot of the series to be refreshing as the method used to punish evil is also evil and is definitely not the same as his usual projects. He also hinted that although Vicenzo seems to be cold-hearted, people can change.

Being the good actor that we know him of, Song Jong Ki will surely live-up to people's expectations and certainly would not put his fans down.

Catch "Vicenzo's" premiere on February 20. The drama series will air every Saturday and Sunday at 9 p.m. KST replacing "Mr. Queen."

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written By Liza Parker


FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses are beginning to acknowledge the truth: "niche" is passe. Companies that once extolled the virtues of the specialist are now consolidating their workforces and asking workers to do everything well. The desirable employee today masters writing, psychology, logic, math, graphic design, economics, computer programming, and more.

In short, the liberal arts education is back in style.

Students, get a well-rounded education while satisfying employers who seek versatile employees-AcademicInfluence.com ranks the 50 best liberal arts colleges & universities for you.

AcademicInfluence.com announces its ranking of the leading American higher education institutions that excel in the liberal arts:

50 Best Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities in the U.S.

Rankings are built using AcademicInfluence.com's innovative, proprietary InfluenceRanking Engine, which scours the web to map the impact of a school's thought leadership. Now, students looking to attend schools that make a genuine difference in the world have a superior resource. See the AcademicInfluence.com About page for further details on the unique capabilities and advantages of this ranking technology.

"Job demands are changing. More is expected of today's college graduates. This makes the liberal arts appealing and practical," says Dr. Jed Macosko, academic director of AcademicInfluence.com and professor of physics at Wake Forest University. "Students who can demonstrate a breadth of skills and the flexibility to take on anything asked of them are finding greater success postgraduation. Today's business leader need not hold a degree in business administration. Increasingly, leaders are found among the philosophy majors with the critical reasoning skills needed to make difficult decisions under pressure, or the psychology majors who understand how both clients and competition think."

Visit the link above to see the final ranking order, additional rankings, and top schools by state. Schools featured in the ranking include:

Amherst College

Bard College

Barnard College

Bowdoin College

Brooklyn College

Bryn Mawr College

Carleton College

Claremont McKenna College

Colby College

Colgate University

College of the Holy Cross

Colorado College

Connecticut College

Cooper Union

Denison University

DePauw University

Drew University

Earlham College

Emerson College

Goucher College

Grinnell College

Hamilton College

Hampshire College

Haverford College

Kalamazoo College

Kenyon College

Middlebury College

Morehouse College

Mount Holyoke College

New York Institute of Technology

Oberlin College

Occidental College

Pitzer College

Pomona College

Reed College

Sarah Lawrence College

Scripps College

Smith College

Spelman College

Swarthmore College

Trinity College (Connecticut)

Union College (New York)

United States Military Academy

United States Naval Academy

Vassar College

Washington & Lee University

Wellesley College

Wesleyan University

Wheaton College (Illinois)

Williams College

"If you're a student looking for a well-rounded education, these schools should be at the top of your list," says Macosko. "When used in conjunction with our Custom College Rankings and College Strategist personalization tools, this ranking will help any student interested in liberal arts find and select an exemplary school."

Founded in October 2016, with funding assistance from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Influence Networks created the InfluenceRanking Engine for use by AcademicInfluence.com. With its College Strategist, Desirability Score, and Custom College Rankings, AcademicInfluence.com helps students to discover the most influential higher education institutions. And the InfluenceRanking Engine that powers all AcademicInfluence.com rankings of people and institutions will keep expanding its capabilities to explore an even wider array of topics and top performers.

AcademicInfluence.com is the preeminent technology-driven rankings site dedicated to students, researchers, and inquirers from high school through college and beyond, offering resources that connect learners to leaders. AcademicInfluence.com is a part of the EducationAccess group, a family of sites dedicated to lifelong learning and personal growth, including Influence Networks, InfluencePublishers.com (nonfiction publishing and publishers of Bright Notes), IntelligentEducation.com (instructional video library and easy instructional video creation with 3D elements), AlexandriaLibrary.com (free, online library and reader), and soon, Success Portraits (personalized strengths inventory for college and career).

Contact:

Jed Macosko, Ph.D.

Academic Director

AcademicInfluence.com

[email protected] [email protected]

(682) 302-4945

SOURCE AcademicInfluence.com

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Dapo Abiodun (known fully as Prince Adedapo Oluseun Abiodun, MFR), was born on Sunday, May 29, 1960, into the family of Dr Emmanuel and Mrs Victoria Abiodun of Iperu-Remo, in Ikenne Local Government of Ogun State. Both parents were teachers.

Dapo Abiodun attended Christs School Ado Ekiti in 1972, St. Josephs College, Ondo, in 1977, and later Ondo High School, in 1978. His education followed the movement pattern of his parents who served in different parts of the then Western Region.

), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he studied Civil Engineering but later transferred to the Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, where he graduated with a BBA in Accounting in 1986. Dapo Abiodun proceeded to the prestigious University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University ), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he studied Civil Engineering but later transferred to the Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, where he graduated with a BBA in Accounting in 1986.

Dapo Abiodun began his career with Glock Inc. USA as Cost Accountant and worked between 1989-1991. Thereafter, his passion for the motherland made him return to Nigeria and he immediately embarked on an entrepreneurship voyage. He founded a number of successful businesses. Until his assumption of office as Governor of Ogun State on May 29, 2019, he was Chairman and/or Chief Executive of several reputable companies which include Crestar Hydrocarbons Limited, OMS-Heyden Exploration and Production Limited, Heyden Petroleum Limited, Alarmnet and Innovative Ventures Limited, and First Power Limited.

As a result of his vast wealth of experience in boardroom activities, corporate governance and finance, Dapo Abiodun became a regular face at Board Meetings of several blue-chip companies.

His experience transcends the private sector. He also served as a member of various Presidential Committees like the Presidential Think Tank set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001. He was appointed Chairman, Oil and Gas Committee of Ogun State in 2009 and served as Chairman of Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association (DAPPMA) from 2012 till 2019.

Dapo Abiodun, in 2018, was appointed Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) by President Muhammadu Buhari and led a number of reform initiatives that standardized and improved the business registration process in the country, leading to a higher ease-of-doing-business ranking for the country. In 2014, he was honoured by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with the prestigious National Award of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR). In 2018, he was awarded a Doctor of Science in Business Development and Administration (Honoris Causa) Degree by the Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State and another Doctor of Finance (Honoris Causa) Degree by the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, in recognition of his significant positive impacts and immense contributions to the development of the nation and humanity. Dapo Abiodun in politics



On his return from the U.S.A and in line with his commitment to the development of the State, and love for his people, he contested and won the Ogun East Senatorial seat way back in 1998 on the platform of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party, emerging as the youngest senator-elect in the country. The victory was, however, truncated by political developments in the country that aborted the Third Republic and the assumption of office of the elected political officeholders. He later joined the Peoples Democratic Party in 1999 as a founding member on which platform he contested in the primaries for the governorship ticket in Ogun State in 2002. He emerged as the runner-up to the winner of the ticket, who eventually became the winner at the general elections. Undaunted, Dapo Abiodun threw himself into the Ogun East Senatorial race as the flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2015 losing narrowly to the winner. Whilst his previous political journey might have been a mixed bag, his love for his people, commitment to serve them, and passion for the development of Ogun State never waned. Therefore, in 2018, he made a comeback and contested for and won the governorship ticket of the APC in Ogun State in what was arguably the most celebrated governorship contest in the 2019 general elections. His message of Building our Future Together resonated and was well-received across the State and energized the people resulting in a resounding victory at the 2019 polls, thus emerging as the 5th elected Governor of Ogun State.

Dapo Abiodun scored 241,670 votes against his closest rival, Adekunle Akinlade, of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), who scored 222,153 votes.

Gboyega Isiaka of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) polled 110,422 votes while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buruji Kashamu, got 70,290 votes. Dapo Abiodun won in 11 local government, which include; Ijebu Ode, Odogbolu, Odeda, Ijebu North East, Sagamu, Abeokuta South, Ijebu East, Remo North, Ogun Water Side, Ikenne and Obafemi Owode. Mr Akinlade of the APM, won in six local government areas which are; Ewekoro, Abeokuta North, Egbado South, Ipokia, Ifo and Ado-Odo/Ota, while the Governorship Candidate of African Democratic Congress, ADC, Gboyega Isiaka won in two local government comprising: Imeko Afon and Egbado North. Mr Kashamu, then a serving senator, won a local government, Ijebu North.

Dapo Abiodun was sworn in on May 29, 2019, coincidentally his 59th birthday.

The politician is happily married to his childhood sweetheart, Bamidele, and the union is blessed with wonderful children.

SOURCE: Ogun State Government. Additional Information by Premium Times
Nigerian homeless man was found dead near St Peters a few days ago.

Pope Francis prayed for a homeless man from Nigeria who died just metres away from St Peters Square, inviting everyone to pray for him, after yesterday's Angelus at the Vatican.

The 46-year-old Nigerian homeless man died alone, amid freezing conditions, and was found dead by charity workers from Rome's Community of S. Egidio, reports Vatican News.

On 20 January, just a few meters from St Peters Square, a Nigerian homeless man named Edwin was found dead from the cold, said the pope. His plight is similar to that of many other homeless people who have died recently in Rome under the same dramatic circumstances.

The pontiff gave the Angelus address via livestream in the library of the Apostolic Palace due to the covid-19 crisis.

Edwin was "ignored by all, abandoned, even by us - said the pope - Let us pray for him.

The S. Egidio charity group said that Edwin was at least the 10th homeless person to die of the cold in Rome since November.

Last week the Vatican began offering free covid-19 vaccines to homeless people who are aged over 60 and are living nearby in accommodation facilities run by the Church.

The Vatican launched its covid vaccination programme on 13 January, with Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, aged 84 and 93 respectively, among the first to receive the vaccine.
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SAGINAW, MI  Waiting for a snowstorm to descend on her Wisconsin home on the cusp of her 85th birthday, Joy H. Zissler reflected on her legacy as the first uniformed police woman with the Saginaw Police Department.

I loved my profession, she said on the phone from her home in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on the eve of her birthday of Sunday, Jan. 24. Saginaw was my hometown and I loved it. I would do it again if I was young.

Before retiring from police work three decades ago, Zisslers trailblazing included being the departments first woman patrol officer, going undercover as a prostitute, and successfully suing the city for equal pay. She also did all this while being a single mother of two daughters.

Though she ended up making history, becoming a cop wasnt always Zisslers first career ambition.

We already had several men in the family who were involved in law enforcement, she said. Actually, when I graduated from Central Michigan University in 1958 with a bachelor of science and a certificate to teach elementary school, I thought thats what I would do.

Born and raised in Saginaw, Zissler was without work for about a year after graduating from CMU. Her interest in joining the police force was piqued when her mother showed her a newspaper advertisement that the Saginaw Police Department was looking to hire a female officer for its juvenile division. At the time, male officers only needed a high school education to join the department, while female applicants needed a bachelors degree, Zissler said.

Zissler got the job and was sworn in on Halloween night 1960 when she was 24. The next year, Zissler married a man and went on to have two daughters born in 1962 and 1963. Zissler also divorced her husband in 1964 and never remarried.

Due to there being no protections for maternity leave at the time, Zisslers first term with the department came to an end.

Zissler did not take the development lying down and when the department hired an unqualified replacement in the juvenile division, she filed a lawsuit, she said. She ended up winning the suit and was rehired by the department in 1967.

Before they rehired me, they dropped the salary so I wasnt making as much as the men, she said. The department also prevented her from applying for promotions and claimed her position fell under the Saginaw County Health Department.

That meant that I had no rights to any benefits so if I had been injured on the job or been killed, my girls wouldnt have had anything coming, any pension money or anything coming from the department, she said.

This prompted Zissler to file another lawsuit, seeking pay equal to that of her male counterparts.

It got pretty convoluted all the way through there, she said with a chuckle. It took seven years and six different attorneys.

As the suit worked its way through the court system, Zissler said she was struck by how many male officers backed her.

One thing that really pleased me is I had more male officers volunteer to testify, she said. The city was claiming I didnt do the same things. They had some rationale that I just assisted the men. I had more men on the department volunteer to testify that I was equal to them. The fact they considered I was doing as good a job as they were was a highlight of my whole career.

Eventually, Zissler emerged victorious. After several more years in the juvenile division, though, Zissler was feeling burned out and was looking for a change.

In September 1976, Zissler began working as the departments first woman patrol officer. She remained in that role until she retired in 1989.

I guess I never thought it was unusual, said Melissa Longtine of growing up as the daughter of policewoman. It was pretty awesome, especially as she was the only one and the first one.

As an adult, Longtine said she recognizes the impact her mom had on the city.

I think she was a trailblazer, especially not getting paid the same as the men, she said. Back then, a lot of people didnt sue to get paid the same. Its just the way it was. My mom, she didnt put up with much. She fought for what she thought was right. Im just so glad shes still with us.

Zissler has no shortage of memories and stories from her 13 years working the streets. Among them are the times she went undercover as a prostitute.

At that point, there was a whole lot prostitution and the department wanted to arrest the men who were soliciting, she said. I got my hair done, got professional makeup put on, had to hike my skirt up. It was kind of hairy. With the first case when they put me on the street, and of course I was wired, I was surrounded by like seven prostitutes, some coming up behind me and some in front of me. They had figured I was police officer. I just kept walking and some guy stopped and solicited me and the guys arrested him.

After that happened, the girls all backed off and they were watching out of doorways, she continued. When we picked some guy up, they would all cheer. It was kind of surreal.

While there were dark cases that affected her, such as homicides of youths, she also has no shortage of comical stories from her days as a patrol officer.

For instance, she recalled the time Saginaw County Central Dispatch sent to her a house of a woman who claimed her ex-boyfriend had stolen her keys.

The dispatchers had thought she said keys, and when I got there, she said teeth, Zissler said. She had a partial plate of false teeth in her hand and said she had already gotten them back. I was so curious, I said, How did he get them? and she said, He took them out of my mouth. I said, Well, why didnt you stop him? And she said, Well, I didnt want to hurt him; he was already on crutches.

The teeth-thief returned the false teeth to the woman before Zissler had arrived, she said.

I drove away and I was laughing so hard I had to wait a couple of minutes to call Central Dispatch and say, The lady has her possession back, she recalled. It was just hysterical.

Despite the support from most of her male peers, Zissler said there were some who fostered sexist ideas.

There were a few, she said. It didnt really bother me that much, maybe because I had two brothers and my dad had Boy Scouts the whole time I was growing up. The ones who didnt like me, I just kind of felt sorry for their wives, wondering if they were as sexist with them as they were with me. But the majority of guys couldnt have been better about it.

She said civilians often asked her if she wanted the department to hire more women, a question she looked at pragmatically.

I always told them I want them to hire somebody I know I can depend on out here, she said. I dont care about their color, their sex, their religion, or anything. I needed people I knew were going to take care of each other on the job.

By the time Zissler retired, there were four or five more women with the department, she said. At her retirement party, in addition to plaques given by the department itself, several of her women colleagues pitched in their own money to present her with a special gift honoring her historic significance.

They had gotten me a beautiful plaque that said, Thank you for blazing the way so we could get into law enforcement because this was what we wanted to do, Zissler said. I think that meant more to me than just about anything.

Currently, the department has eight female officers of its 54 sworn officers, among them Sgt. Kelly Schmidt, who has been with the department for 23 and a half years.

I think shes incredible, Schmidt said of Zisslers impact. I cant even imagine what she must have gone through or how she was probably treated. For her to have the courage to do it anyway and clear a way for future female officers is just incredible. I think shes very brave.

Kaily Nowosatko, a Saginaw Police Department recruit currently in the Delta Police Academy, echoed Schmidts comments on how Zissler broke down doors for those who followed.

When you think of a pioneer like Officer Zissler, you think of someone who paved the way and overcame so many obstacles so the rest of us may not have to, Nowosatko said. As a female in law enforcement, it is often pointed out the difference in physical strength between men and women. Those of us women who may not be superior in physical strength make up for it through our communication and grit. Officer Zissler demonstrated these characteristics and more.

For female officers and all females in the Saginaw community, she continued, she symbolizes taking a stance and trusting in your capabilities.

Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Matthew Gerow, who has been with the agency for 25 years, also lauded Zissler as a pioneer.

I remember hearing about her a lot during my career, especially from a lot of the officers who are retired now, Gerow said. She set the bar. She was the first one and thats pretty significant for the history of Saginaw. She was a victory for equal rights, and not just for women, but for everyone. Police work wasnt looked upon as a woman could do the same job as a man.

It just goes to show how far womens rights and equal rights have come, he continued. Im glad there has been a lot of progression toward equality for women.

Zissler moved to Wisconsin to be nearer her two daughters 13 years ago. Her eldest daughter, Melissa Longtine, still lives in Wisconsin with her family, while younger daughter Rebecca Zissler is back in Michigan, the home state Zissler still loves.

I tell people Im actually 74; I only look 84 because Ive been a Detroit Lions fan my whole life and that can age you, she said.

Asked what advice she would give to girls or young women considering becoming police officers, Zissler encouraged them to research the departments and jurisdictions theyd be serving.

My advice would be to look carefully at where theyre going and look at the command of where theyre applying, she said.

In stressing the importance of this, Zissler mentioned the death of George Floyd, killed May 25 by a Minneapolis police officer while fellow officers stood by, an event that sparked Black Lives Matter rallies and protests against police brutality across the nation.

Things that happen like with George Floyd just turn my stomach, Zissler said. Its just so horrifying they could treat other humans like that and kill them. Be careful and choose where you want to go. If I was young or had a granddaughter that asked me, I would tell her to do that.

For her 85th birthday, Zissler said she and her elder daughter would spend it together.

Were sitting here expecting a snowstorm, she said. Our big celebration is Melissa is going to bring over Chinese if the snow isnt too high. Ive gotten several birthday cards but even with my magnifier, I cant read them. Shes really good at reading them to me. Thats gonna be a treat in itself, that and the Chinese egg drop soup.

Read more:

Life is always adventurous for former Jackson County firefighter turning 101 after surviving COVID-19

Retired cop who wore badge No. 100 turns 100

Michigan woman celebrating 105th birthday with help of community
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ABERDEEN, Scotland, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Elasmogen Ltd, the pioneering biopharmaceutical company leading the development of VNAR and soloMER biologics, today announces a significant breakthrough in the identification of next-generation protein-based drugs potentially capable of stopping COVID-19 infections. This new approach has been achieved through a close partnership with the University of Minnesota, USA and represents an excellent example of the new spirit of research collaboration that has accelerated the global fight-back against COVID-19. Initial funding for this work was received from the Chief Scientist Group, Scottish Government and was co-ordinated through the University of Aberdeen.

The newly identified anti-COVID-19 Spike protein VNARs block infection of the virus (in live viral assays) at doses as low as 200 pM, equivalent to the best reported antibodies and much better than many. However, what is particularly exciting about Elasmogen's drug panel is that they are only a 10th the size of large and complex (to manufacture) human antibodies and therefore could be delivered to patients through alternative routes of administration including directly into the nose and throat, rather than via injections.

A key advantage of Elasmogen's VNAR platform is the ability to bind to their target at sites that are inaccessible to human antibodies translating, in many cases, to increased potency and specificity against the disease. By crystallising the lead VNAR as it bound to the receptor binding domain of the COVID-19 spike protein, the team were able to prove that the VNARs bound the virus/receptor interface in a region distinct from published antibodies, effectively blocking infection. Computer modelling discovered that this interaction would not be weakened if the VNAR was asked to block infections from the Kent or South African strains, although this has not yet been shown experimentally.

Dr Caroline Barelle (CEO and CSO, Elasmogen Ltd) explained: "These robust little proteins have their origins in the immune systems of sharks and over 400 million years of evolution have been tailor-made to recognise pockets and grooves in proteins as part of the animals defence against infections. At Elasmogen we have been able to capture, using the latest protein and genetic engineering techniques, the immune system of 10,000 shark equivalents in a test-tube. We then screened these for VNAR binders that block viral infection, and are delighted with the outcomes."

Professor Aaron LeBeau (University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Pharmacology): "Determining the structure of protein complexes by x-ray crystallography can often be a taxing process requiring months to years to get a structure. It was particularly satisfying that we were able to get a high resolution crystal structure in such a short amount of time, primarily due to the high solubility of the VNAR. Our structure was highly informative documenting that the VNAR bound to the receptor binding domain through a novel mode that neutralized virus infection. It was clear that the VNAR was reaching into places that large human antibodies and even small single domain camelid antibodies just could not access."

Prof Andy Porter (Chief Technology Officer, Elasmogen Ltd): "We have used our drug-discovery platform in the past for the successful selection of potent anti-cancer drugs. However, we are so grateful to the Scottish Government for funding Elasmogen Ltd to see if the power of our platform could be redirected to potentially tackle COVID-19 infections. As the world begins to see a route out of the pandemic it is worth remembering that a small but significant sub-set of patients will not respond to vaccines effectively because of their underlying health conditions. It is therefore vital that we continue with drug discovery approaches in parallel with the global vaccination role out."

About Elasmogen:

Spun-out from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in 2016, Elasmogen is developing soloMERs; fully humanized (or de-immunised) VNAR, as next generation, single chain therapeutics for auto-inflammatory diseases, oncology and intracellular delivery. soloMERs are proprietary humanized clinical candidates derived from VNARs (variable new-antigen receptors) which exist naturally in the immune-system of sharks as high affinity, antibody-like, binding domains. With a different ancestral origin from antibodies this example of 400 million year old convergent evolution places VNARs outside of the complex patent landscape that describes and protects antibody drug discovery and has produced the smallest (9% of the size of an antibody) and most robust naturally occurring binding domains in the animal kingdom. Elasmogen is unique in its capacity to isolate and develop soloMERs, with a multi-layered IP position covering the platform, humanisation, formats, products and process including over 25 patents granted in the US, Europe and other territories.

The company is using its expertise in early and later-stage pre-clinical development to rapidly advance a series of new, locally delivered protein products against auto-inflammatory diseases. In addition, Elasmogen is collaborating with a number of high quality biopharma partners and academics to maximise the full therapeutic opportunities that its technology provides. These collaborations are focussed on the targeted delivery of chemotoxins via soloMERs directly into cells creating novel drugs for difficult to treat solid tumour cancers.

www.elasmogen.com

SOURCE Elasmogen

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More than half of Irish firms expect to grow once uncertainty over Covid-19 and Brexit diminishes. Photo: Eyegelb

One in three firms here say they expect business activity to decline in the next three months, according to the latest Economic Pulse from Bank of Ireland.

The Business Pulse came in at 61.9 this month, down 9.3 on December as Level 5 restrictions were again imposed across the country.

Nonetheless, three in five firms plan on expanding in the next one to three years with the Covid-19 vaccine and clarity on the nature of the post-Brexit trading relationship reducing uncertainty.

The Bank of Ireland Economic Pulse combines the results of data tracking consumer and business sentiment into a single index. Sentiment can indicate how willing a person or firm is to spend and invest.

At 60.3 in January, the Consumer Pulse was down 5.9 on last months reading. The recent surge in the virus has set households on edge and with further restrictions being put in place they were gloomier about the economy and their own finances this month.

Bank of Ireland chief economist Dr Loretta OSullivan said: The scale of the drop in sentiment this month was similar to last October but much less than last spring.

"The latest containment measures are not quite as stringent as those of the initial lockdown and there has been some adaption and innovation by households and firms since then.
We are thrilled to be joining Royal Oaks vibrant and diverse community, and look forward to contributing to its continued growth and reputation as a premier place to live, work, play and learn," said Jacqui Spicer, Baker College COO.

Baker College, Michigans largest, private not-for-profit college and the top private transfer school in the state, has announced its new, state-of-the-art metro Detroit campus is coming to downtown Royal Oak. The announcement was made by Baker College President, Dr. Bart Daig.

The planned 86,000-square-foot, seven-story Baker College Royal Oak campus will be located at 420 S. Lafayette Ave., at the intersection of S. Lafayette and 5th Avenue. The new location  which will be designed to accommodate approximately 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students  will incorporate flexible and connected classrooms, laboratories and interactive, collaborative study and gathering spaces for students, faculty and employees. The site also will include on-site parking.

The $51 million project recently broke-ground, with students scheduled to arrive on-campus for the start of the 2022 academic year.

We have spent a great deal of time and effort on our journey to find the perfect new home for Baker College in Oakland County, and are confident that downtown Royal Oak offers everything we need, want and more, said Jacqui Spicer, Baker College COO. We are thrilled to be joining Royal Oaks vibrant and diverse community, and look forward to contributing to its continued growth and reputation as a premier place to live, work, play and learn.

The new facilitys modern design will feature sustainable materials equivalent to LEED-Silver, a brick and glass exterior facade, providing plenty of natural light, and relaxing, spacious outdoor terrace spaces. The project team partners include architecture firm Edge Design Associates of Ann Arbor, Mich. and Colasanti Construction Services Inc. of Macomb, Mich. Renderings of the new facility are available here.

"We applaud Baker College's investment in our downtown and look forward to welcoming its staff and students for many years to come," said Royal Oak City Mayor Mike Fournier.

With more than a century of experience in providing higher education in Michigan, Baker College will offer students at the new downtown Royal Oak campus an opportunity to pursue degrees from nine of its most popular programs, including: business, information technology, nursing, education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, criminal justice, psychology and liberal arts.

In addition to the future Royal Oak location, Baker College currently has on-ground campus locations in Auburn Hills, Cadillac, Jackson, Muskegon and Owosso, as well as its Culinary Institute of Michigan locations in Port Huron and Muskegon, and the Auto Diesel Institute in Owosso. Additionally, Baker Colleges online campus offers more than 40 academic program options for students globally.

More information on Baker Colleges Royal Oak campus is available at baker.edu/royal-oak.

About Baker College

Founded in 1911, Baker College is Michigans largest, private not-for-profit college and the top private transfer school in the state. Baker College has multiple on-ground campus locations and two affiliate sites across the state, as well as an online global campus offering more than 40 academic program options for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Learn more at http://www.baker.edu.

Yet Trump was the first US president to politicise Americas postwar alliances. He complained bitterly that Americas allies were exploiting the US. NATO was obsolete, he said. He initially refused to recommit America to meeting its commitments under the NATO treaty. Trump campaigned for election promising to end the forever wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and for re-election on the slogan that we are bringing all the troops home. And in his exit speech from the presidency last week, he said: I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars. Could this president really have been expected to order US forces into a new war in defence of far-flung Australia? It seems so unlikely that I sought a second opinion. I asked McMasters successor. John Bolton served as US national security adviser for a year and a half. Would Trump have committed armed forces in defence of Australia against Chinese aggression? Bolton answered in two parts. Part one was unequivocal: Leaving Trump out for a minute, he began. The feeling would have been unanimous among the national security staff and the political people in the administration  not the slightest hesitation.

Part two was conditional: As for Trump, when he was campaigning for re-election the politics for him favoured a hard line on China because of the China virus and everything else. Whether that would have lasted into a second term, who knows? Because hes capable of doing a complete 180-degree turn on anything at any time. If it had happened in September-October, I dont think there would have been any question. Bolton, incidentally, agrees with McMaster that a Biden administration would come to Australias defence in such a scenario. So Trump would have helped defend Australia if it had happened to suited his political convenience and, on Boltons analysis, it wouldve been a day-to-day proposition. But now that Trump has left office, the problem is solved, right? No. If America can elect one Donald Trump, it can elect another. The head of the national security college at ANU, Rory Medcalf, finds the scenario of Chinese armed attack on Australia hard to imagine but plausible: I think its plausible to say that China has broken so many taboos with us in the last year or two that we have to look at the worst-case situations. This is precisely the moment that the alliance comes into its own.

Loading He takes some comfort in the fact that the non-Trump elements of the US system are broadly supportive of Americas allies, he also sees that this is no reason for complacency  its all the more reason for us to look to our own defences in tandem with the alliance. Chinas strategists know the risk of US engagement. Which is why Beijing generally employs coercion at a level just below the conventional definition of a hot war. And why it prefers stealthy modes of coercion, grey zone war or political war using covert political interference and cyber intrusion. And why it routinely uses economic coercion. The best defence against this sort of aggression doesnt lie with other nations  it lies within. For example, American democracy came to the brink of failure not through external attack but through bitter internal division. Hate fuelled by racism on the right and identity politics on the left has ripped the US apart  all cheered on by Russia and enabled by social media. Australia is in a much better position and can learn from Americas mistakes. For a democracy to succeed, it must remember that what unites is more important than what divides. One small example: Australia Day. It was supposed to be a unifying national day but increasingly it divides. Creative leadership can overcome. Keep it as is to commemorate the advent of British Australia, and strike a new date to celebrate the original Australians.

In its latest report, Oxfam has flagged a worrying post-pandemic trend, highlighting the further widening gap between the rich and the poor in the global world, especially India. The wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 35 per cent during the lockdown and by 90 per cent since 2009 to $422.9 billion ranking India sixth in the world after US, China, Germany, Russia and France, stated the report titled The Inequality Virus.

The Oxfams report said that the wealth of Indias top 100 billionaires shot up by Rs 12.97 trillion, which is enough money to support the vaccination drive of the 138 million poorest Indians. Only a cheque of Rs 94,045 each is required to fulfill the drive. Meanwhile, in a grim contrast, as many as 170,000 Indians suffered a lay off every hour in April last year, following the Centres decision to impose the worlds strictest lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

ALSO READ | Covid Condemns Billions to Poverty for a Decade: Oxfam

Moreover, for the worlds richest, it took less than 10 months to recover the financial losses caused by the pandemic, the report pointed out. However, it will take over a decade for the worlds poorest to catch up, it said.

In fact, the increase in wealth of the top 11 billionaires of India during the pandemic could sustain the NREGS scheme for 10 years or the health ministry for 10 years, Oxfam said, adding that the brutal pandemic can increase economic inequality in almost every country at once.

Meanwhile, Irelands nine billionaires saw their collective fortunes rise by 3.28 billion last year despite the deepest global recession in decades, Oxfams calculations indicated.

Oxfam, a confederation of 20 non-profit groups that focuses on the alleviation of global poverty, was founded in 1942. It is led by Oxfam International.

Oxfam also highlighted the fact that the impact of the virus is also being felt unevenly, with ethnic minorities in certain countries dying at higher rates and women being overrepresented in the sectors of the economy that are hardest hit by the pandemic.

The report is timed to coincide with the start of the World Economic Forum's virtual Davos event: an entire week of global programming will be dedicated to helping leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year.

Oxfam argued in its report that fairer economies are the key to a rapid economic recovery from Covid-19.

It calculated that a temporary tax on excess profits made by the 32 global corporations that have gained the most during the pandemic could have raised $104 billion in 2020, an amount it said was enough to have provided unemployment benefits for all workers and financial support for all children and elderly people in low- and middle-income countries.

"Extreme inequality is not inevitable, but a policy choice," said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International.

"The fight against inequality must be at the heart of economic rescue and recovery efforts" with investments in public services financed by a tax system where the richest individuals and corporations pay their fair share.

The report further gave an insight to the sector-wise loss of workforce in India. The countrys massive informal workforce was the worst hit as it made up 75 per cent of the 122 million jobs lost. Informal workers had relatively fewer opportunities to work from home and suffered more job loss compared to the formal sector. The 40-50 million seasonal migrant workers, typically engaged working in construction sites, factories etc. were particularly distressed, the report said.

Besides, the pandemic forced the education system to shift online, which further worsened inequalities among students. While private providers such as BYJUs (currently valued at $10.8 billion) and Unacademy (valued at $1.45 billion) experienced exponential growth yet, just 3 per cent of the poorest 20 per cent of Indian households had access to a computer and just 9 per cent had access to the internet.

The spread of disease was swift among poor communities, often living in crammed areas with poor sanitation and using shared common facilities such as toilets and water points, the Oxfam reported.

Only 6 per cent of the poorest 20 per cent households had access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93 per cent of the top 20 per cent households in India, it added.

Meanwhile, in terms of caste, just 37.2 per cent of SC households and 25.9 per cent of ST households had access to non-shared sanitation facilities, compared to 65.7 per cent for the general population.

The unemployment rate among women rose from already high 15 per cent before Covid to 18 per cent. This increase in unemployment of women can result in a loss to Indias GDP of about 8 per cent or $218 billion, states the report.

It is predicted that the closure of family planning services will result in 2.95 million unintended pregnancies 1.80 million abortions (including 1.04 million unsafe abortions) and 2,165 maternal deaths, the report stated.

While the Coronavirus was being touted as a great equaliser in the beginning, it laid bare the stark inequalities inherent in the society soon after the lockdown was imposed, said Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar.

The deep divide between the rich and poor is proving as deadly as the virus, said Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International.


Earn your Associate of Applied Business in Business IT (BIT) degree online from the University of Cincinnati. This program can be completed fully online, with curriculum customized to fit your schedule, interests and how quickly you want to complete your degree. Application deadline July 1, 2021. Learn More 

Final rules governing unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, were released Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration, a move expected to open the door for delivery of consumer packages by air.

The rules establish minimum standards for safety so drones can fly over populated areas and at night, under certain conditions.

According to an FAA statement, the rules come at a time when drones represent the fastest-growing segment in the entire transportation sector. Currently there are more than 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA-certificated remote pilots, the agency stated.

"These final rules carefully address safety, security and privacy concerns while advancing opportunities for innovation and utilization of drone technology," U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao said in the statement.

A cornerstone of the new rules is a requirement that drones flying over populated areas include remote identification.

"Remote ID is essential to identify the location, altitude, velocity, flight path, and performance characteristics of unmanned drones in public or any airspace," explained L. Nicole France, a principal analyst and vice president at Constellation Research.

"That airspace awareness ensures safe operation for other aircraft and people on the ground," she told TechNewsWorld. "It ensures that the FAA, including air traffic control, national security agencies, and local law enforcement can also distinguish compliant aircraft and operations from those that may be dangerous or illegal."

Stepping Stone to Full Integration

The FAA explained that equipping drones with Remote ID technology builds on previous steps taken by the agency and the drone industry to integrate operations safely into the national airspace system.

Current regulations prohibit covered drone operations over people and at night unless the operator obtains a waiver from the FAA, the agency continued. The new FAA regulations jointly provide increased flexibility to conduct certain small drone flights without obtaining a waiver.

"The new rules make way for the further integration of drones into our airspace by addressing safety and security concerns," FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a statement. "They get us closer to the day when we will more routinely see drone operations such as the delivery of packages."

"Safety is always advantageous," added Barry Alexander, founder, CEO and COO of Aquiline Drones, a full-service drone company in Hartford, Conn.

"And Remote ID is a safety-enhancing feature and implementation," he told TechNewsWorld. "These safety-enhancing features far outweigh the cost of implementation."

UPS, which has been experimenting with delivery drones, praised the FAA's move. "UPS Flight Forward appreciates the FAA's latest rulemaking for unmanned aerial systems, which will advance the integration of drones into the National Airspace System," UPS spokesman John Mayer said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld.

"The framework is a critical step in allowing more complex UAS operations, with a focus on safety and security," he added.

UPS Flight Forward Drone Delivery

Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with the Enderle Group , an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore. explained that Remote ID only allows drone traffic to be monitored.

"We're not ready to manage traffic yet," he told TechNewsWorld. "When there are more drones in the sky, management is going to be critical."

No Skin Lacerations

The Remote ID rule applies to all operators of drones that require FAA registration. There are three ways to comply with the rule:

Operate a standard Remote ID drone that broadcasts identification and location information of the drone and control station;

Operate a drone with a Remote ID broadcast module, which may be a separate device attached to the drone, that broadcasts identification, location, and take-off information; or

Operate a drone without Remote ID but at specific FAA-recognized identification areas.

"The rule also dictates that the location of both the drone and the operator are broadcast," France noted. "That makes sense given that, unlike in a manned aircraft, the pilot won't be in the same physical location as the aircraft itself."

When operating drones at night, the rules require pilots to complete special training and that the drones must be equipped with anti-collision lights that can be seen for three statute miles and have a flash rate sufficient to avoid a collision.

For drones operating over people, the aircraft must not contain any exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin.

Apt Timing

France acknowledged that the new rules alone don't fully address all of the issues required to make commercial drone deliveries commonplace. But, she added, they do address a critical foundation to make that happen: identifying the locations of unmanned drones and their operators.

"Without the ability to actively identify and track the location of drones within public airspace, it's impossible to assure the safety of other aircraft or people on the ground," she said. "These regulations lay out the specific requirements for unmanned drones, as well as their remote operators, to be identified throughout the entirety of their flights."

Alexander noted that there are lots of commercial opportunities associated with the widespread use of drones as a primary transportation medium which are both cost-effective and "green."

"And given new societal realities created by the COVID pandemic -- such as social distancing -- the timing of this ruling is particularly apt," he said.

"Some commercial drone delivery services actually have huge societal benefit, such as saving lives," he added. "Tissue and organ delivery services utilizing drones are a prime example."

Noise and Lifestyle Problems

Public safety and monitoring and managing drone traffic aren't the only problems facing drone delivery. Noise and quality of life issues are likely to emerge.

"We've yet to see much public outcry, but to my mind that's simply because we really haven't seen all that much commercial drone traffic yet," observed France.

"You have only to look at the controversy and public complaints from communities near airports large and small to anticipate where this might go," she said.

"To compound the issue," she continued, "drones won't be limited to the low-level airspace around airports alone. I know I get annoyed when I hear a lone amateur drone whirring around near my house. What's it going to look and sound like when there are multitudes of commercial drones flying around?"

Alexander added that there are still technical challenges for the aircraft, too. "Endurance is huge problem," he said. "Getting a drone to stay airborne for extended periods of time is currently a challenge and is associated with limited battery life or short supplies of fuel."

He added that navigation in airspace shared with manned aircraft can also be a problem.

Fortunately, we still have a few more years to iron out some of these problems. "Right now, we're in a trial phase," observed Enderle. "We don't even know what the threats to the drones are, which makes insuring them problematic. 2021 will be a year for a lot of trials. We probably won't get to a critical mass anywhere until 2025.

"We'll probably see deliveries more often in rural areas than in urban centers," he predicted. "Drones make a lot more sense in rural areas. There's a lot more places to land and the cost of truck deliveries in rural areas is relatively expensive."

"We also have self-driving delivery vehicles coming," he added. "They work better than drones in densely populated urban areas."

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.


BERLIN  No one knows why Felix Hildesheimer, a Jewish dealer in music supplies, purchased a precious violin built by the Cremonese master Giuseppe Guarneri at a shop in Stuttgart, Germany, in January 1938. His own store had lost its non-Jewish customers because of Nazi boycotts, and his two daughters fled the country shortly afterward. His grandsons say its possible that Hildesheimer was hoping he could sell the violin in Australia, where he and his wife, Helene, planned to build a new life with their younger daughter.

But the couples efforts to get an Australian visa failed and Hildesheimer killed himself in August 1939. More than 80 years later, his 300-year-old violin  valued at around $185,000  is at the center of a dispute that is threatening to undermine Germanys commitment to return objects looted by the Nazis.

The governments Advisory Commission on the return of Nazi-looted cultural property determined in 2016 that the violin was almost certainly either sold by Hildesheimer under duress, or seized by the Nazis after his death. In its first case concerning a musical instrument, the panel recommended that the current holder, the Franz Hofmann and Sophie Hagemann Foundation, a music education organization, should pay the dealers grandsons compensation of 100,000 euros, around $121,000; in return, the foundation could keep the instrument, which it planned to lend to talented violin students.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, which emerged from a Dalit-Bahujan movement, seems to be declining. Its decline may be seen on both the level of electoral performance as well as the grassroots effectiveness of its political presence. In spite of various conjectures by political analysts, no one is in a position to predict clearly the future of the Dalit-Bahujan movement in Uttar Pradesh. Even after the decline of the BSP, till poverty, marginalisation, exclusion, discrimination continue in one form or another, the Dalit-Bahujan movement will continue. But the question is, who will lead this movement in India, especially in Uttar Pradesh as successor of Mayawati.

The Bahujan Samaj Party led by Kanshi Ram and Mayawati brought drastic changes in Indian democracy and carved a space for Dalit-Bahujan representation in it. The BSP prepared conditions for making 'DM and CM' from the Dalit community and provided them confidence. It tried to generate social, cultural and political resources which provided the community dignity and self-respect to some extent. But, slowly, the BSP is growing politically weaker and unable to effectively respond to changing aspirations of marginalised communities in the region. The party, in a very real sense, is facing a leadership crisis. No second level of competent leadership is being groomed in the BSP. All the leaders who were built up by Kanshi Ram, contemporaries of Mayawati, either left or were ousted from the party. Another kind of second-rung leadership, which emerged during the reign of Mayawati, also left the party due to various reasons. So the BSP's future is gradually growing bleaker. Its only hope is that a strong vote base of Jatavs and a few other disadvantaged communities is largely still with the BSP in various parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati recently celebrated her 65th birthday as Jankalyankari Diwas. At this time, the question I am going to address, which has been asked by various political analysts, is that who will be the successor of Mayawati within the BSP? It is true that Mayawati has neither declared her successor nor provided power and authority to anyone within the party. She has kept supreme command in her hand. Sometimes there is an impression that Satish Chandra Mishra is next in line to 'Behenji' in terms of taking decisions in the party. It is difficult to measure the influence of Mishra in the BSP but there is very little chance of him to becoming the heir of Mayawatis base votes who are mostly Jatavs in UP. Mayawatis Dalit base may not accept him as a natural leader.

There is some speculation that Aakash, cousin of Mayawati, who became active in the parliamentary elections in 2019, may emerge as her successor. This may be possible but Mayawati has not given any signal within the party about this. Even if she gives some indication, the transfer of power from Behenji to Aakash will not be easy. It may produce a lot of dissension among leaders and cadres of BSP.

Dalit youth leader Chandrashekhar Azad is already claiming to be the future leader of the Dalit-Bahujan movement in Uttar Pradesh. He is pushing hard to make a dent in the Dalit base of the BSP. He has demonstrated his political ambition by forming the Azad Samaj Party (ASP). He is trying to use each and every opportunity to prove before the Dalit community that he is their own leader who is raising their issues strongly. He is building up his political image through political action at the grassroots of marginalised communities.

One the one hand Mayawati seems absent on various issues related with the Dalit cause, while on the other Chandrashekhar is showing his constant presence on each and every issue related with the sufferings of the community. These overtures are making Chandrashekhar more and more popular among Dalits. However, Mayawati maintains influence over almost all sections of the Dalit population- across generations and gender. So, Chandrashekhar needs to expand his territory of influence from Dalit youths to older people and also among women. For Chandrashekhar, the road to unseat Mayawati as the chief Dalit-Bahujan leader is a long one. If no alternative to Mayawati emerges within Dalit- Bahujan politics, the vote base of the BSP may be fragmented and usurped by various mainstream political parties such as Congress, BJP and Samajwadi Party. If that happens, the Dalit community may lose the democratic strength which it derives through consolidation and consensus.
40 Times Designers Forgot Things Need To Be Cleaned When Creating Them, As Shared On This Facebook Group Bored Panda

What happens to the brain on sudden impact? Egg yolks could hold the answer Ars Technica

US technological leadership is fragile Asia Times

Tech is having a reckoning. Tech investors? Not so much. MIT Technology Review

Dry January is moist for some at the rocky start of 2021 AP

English and Scottish get drunk most often, 25-nation survey finds Guardian

#COVID-19

Spains top military chief steps down after jumping queue for covid vaccine https://t.co/rOeA6jXwBD  euronews (@euronews) January 24, 2021

Last week I heard BBC spin Chinas success in Wuhan as dystopia, concluding ominously, Truth, just like the virus, is being brought under control. The virus exposed our ruling classes as deranged failurestheyll never forgive China for making them look bad. pic.twitter.com/t8arvFBm6B  Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) January 24, 2021

Trump Transition

Biden Transition

Our Famously Free Press

All The Spin Thats Fit To Print Daily Poster. David Sirota.

Egypt

From Egypt to the US: Lessons for activists from the Arab Spring Al Jazeera. Ten years on.

Russia

India

China?

Taiwan reports large incursion by Chinese warplanes for second day BBC (David L)

Class Warfare

Joe Biden and the great rebalancing of the US economy FT Rana Foroohar

Antidote du Jour (PR):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Solar, hydro, wind, hydrogen, nuclear segments set to transform energy mix China's solar power segment is expected to achieve faster growth, playing an even bigger role in the country's energy industry this year. That will come against a background of China's goals to allow carbon emissions to peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, experts said. Solar power is expected to surpass wind power as the third-largest power source in the country. China is aiming to come up with another 70 gigawatts to 90 gigawatts of solar installed capacity on average each year during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). If the plan pans out, China will take the lead in photovoltaic development globally. The country boasts an internationally competitive and complete industrial chain, said Wang Bohua, secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association. Newly added solar power installations during the 2016-20 period were five times that of the previous five years, as China makes steady progress in the adoption of clean energy, said the association. China exhibited strong resilience against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing about 40 GW of new solar power into operation last year, up almost 33 percent year-on-year, and taking its total installed solar capacity to 240 GW, Wang said. Industry insiders said subsidies from the government, cost cuts and advancements in technology have been driving the rapid development of the country's photovoltaic industry. According to Wang, future development of renewables, including wind and solar power, will not need State subsidies, thanks to sharply falling costs brought about by technological advances. "There is generally no need for the government to subsidize wind, solar and other new energies. They will primarily be driven by the market," he said. "The biggest issue is how to best utilize these new energies." Shi Jingli, a researcher with the China Renewable Energy Center, which is affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, expects China will enter the era of grid price parity in the 14th Five-Year Plan period. He suggested regulators should work out policies to help continue enhancing the technology upgrading and reducing costs for the solar power industry, as technology advances and lower costs are the major drivers of the industry development. In addition to solar power, the country will increase the shares of other clean energy sources, including wind, hydrogen and nuclear, in its energy mix, as the country is committed to playing its part in the global fight against climate change. China is the world's largest renewable energy market and the largest clean energy equipment manufacturer. The country's coal consumption accounted for nearly 58 percent of its total energy consumption in 2019 (data for 2020 is yet to be confirmed). That was almost 11 percentage points lower than that in 2012. Consumption of natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power and wind power in 2019 accounted for 23.4 percent of the country's total energy consumption, 8.9 percentage points higher than that in 2012, according to a white paper titled Energy in China's New Era, published by the State Council Information Office in December. Consumption of non-fossil fuels accounted for 15.3 percent of total energy consumption last year, 5.6 percentage points higher than that in 2012 and surpassing the 15 percent goal set for 2020, it said. Analysts said China's solar industry, despite suffering delays in the early days of the pandemic, has shown resilience and is now operating in full swing. According to Liu Yujing, an analyst with BloombergNEF, China is likely to become more determined to develop renewable energy as part of its efforts to reduce energy imports from a longer term perspective. China has vowed to boost its share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 percent and increase the installed capacity of wind and solar power to more than 1,200 GW by 2030. It also aims to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 percent from the 2005 level. Zhou Dadi, vice-president of the China Energy Research Society, said China's energy structure will experience fundamental changes as the share of fossil energy in the primary energy mix is set to decline sharply while the share of renewables will likely grow rapidly, so as to achieve the carbon neutrality goal. His view found an echo in Liu Yiyang, deputy secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association. Liu said the output of the country's newly installed solar projects will reach over 65 GW per year from this year to 2025. According to BloombergNEF, a provider of primary research on clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials and commodities, China is the biggest emerging market for clean energy investment, which "appears to weather the coronavirus storm better than other sectors of the global economy so far". Developing countries including China have made "massive strides "in the last decade in attracting clean energy capital and building unprecedented volumes of wind and solar capacity, it said. The research firm called for a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by making the best possible use of public finances to attract private investment from both national and international investors. Many companies are also laying out plans further exploring the new energy potential in China. State Power Investment Corp, the world's largest investor in solar power generating plants, said it will further step up investment in clean energy. It plans to raise its installed power capacity to more than 220 GW by 2025, with more than 60 percent being clean energy, including hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic, as well as energy storage. According to Qian Zhimin, chairman of State Power Investment Corp, profits from clean energy have been far more than those from the traditional fossil fuels in recent years. Despite the pandemic, the company still saw a stable rise in its net profit, which Qian attributed to the development of clean energy. Shell, a leading international oil retailer in China, also sees huge potential in the country's new energy sector. According to Huibert Vigeveno, the company's downstream director, Shell is optimistic about the potential in China's hydrogen sector and will further involve itself in China's hydrogen projects. Shell unveiled its first commercial hydrogen project in China in November. This joint venture with Zhangjiakou City Transport intends to advance the development of hydrogen and clean energy in the region and supply refueling stations in Zhangjiakou, a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, one of the co-hosts of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, he said. Although the heavy haul transportation industry still prefers liquefied natural gas as the midterm solution to meet its heavy demand, hydrogen will likely emerge as the answer in the long run, Vigeveno said. He also said the company foresees more than 50 hydrogen refueling stations worldwide, including those in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, benefiting from the experiences in China.
There were no casualties in the past day.

The Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces has reported five violations of the latest ceasefire agreement committed by Russia-controlled armed groups in the Donbas warzone on Sunday, January 24.

"In the past day, January 24, five ceasefire violations were recorded in the area of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO)," the press center of the Ukrainian JFO Command said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on January 25, 2021.

Read alsoRussia deliberately trying to block Donbas talks  KravchukIn particular, the Russian Federation's armed formations fired grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and automatic rifles toward the Ukrainian positions near the villages of Pisky and Pivdenne, as well as a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher and rifles near the village of Vodiane.

The violations were reported to OSCE representatives through the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) on the ceasefire and stabilization in Donbas.

There were no casualties in the past day, the report says.

Since midnight, enemy forces have not attacked Ukrainian positions.

Ukrainian military say the situation is under full control of government troops.

Donbas ceasefire: Background

Participants in the Trilateral Contact Group (Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE) on the peace settlement in Donbas on July 22 agreed on a full and comprehensive ceasefire along the contact line from 00:01 on Monday, July 27, 2020.

On the very first day of the newly-agreed truce, Russia's hybrid military forces mounted three attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has reported more such violations over the latest period.

Reporting by UNIAN
They had waited impatiently nine hours and a half for the ship carrying 800 womenmany of them proxy bridesto berth and then because of a mix-up over the storage of luggage, another two hours passed before the first girls disembarked.

Thousands of Greek men demonstrated for several hours at Station Pier, Port Melbourne, on Saturday after the arrival of the "bride ship" Castel Felice.

First published in The Age on January 27, 1958

Police were called to the pier to control the crowd, which Customs officials described as "the biggest in memory.

As the ship berthed the men became uncontrollable.

Women on board opened lower portholes and many men struggled through them into the ship before police and Customs officials could get through the crowd to close the portholes.

Others climbed ropes hanging over the side. Some scaled a giant crane on the wharf next to the ship.

Crates Smashed

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Randeep Hooda might soon feature in a new Extraction film. The Bollywood actor starred as Saju Rav in the Chris Hemsworth starrer Netflix film. Reportedly, Extraction makers are planning to explore Saju Ravs character and expand the Extraction universe. Ravs origin story will explore his early days and him working as a Para officer. Find out more details about this story below.

Hoodas Extraction character to receive an original story

Randeep Hooda marked his Hollywood debut with 2020 film, Extraction. The Russo brothers directed Netflix film, starred Chris Hemsworth in the lead role. Extraction was one of the most successful films on the OTT platform. Apart from Chris Hemsworth and Randeep Hooda, the Netflix film also starred Pankaj Tripathi and Rudraksh Jaiswal. After the success of the film, Joe and Anthony Russo are reportedly planning to expand the Extraction universe.

Also read | Randeep Hooda Leaves Fans Gushing Over An Astonishing Photo From His 'Ranthambore Diaries'

This means that more Extraction movies are on their way. According to Pinkvillas report, the Extraction makers are planning to explore Randeep Hoodas character from the film. As mentioned earlier, Randeep Hooda played the role of a former Special Forces operator (Para) Saju Rav in the film. According to the report, the makers are planning to expand the films universe by exploring multiple characters and their origin stories. Randeep Hoodas storyline from the film is being considered for the same. If sources are to be believed, this new film could focus on Ravs character and his early life.

Also read | Shalin Bhanot To Join Randeep Hooda In Jio Studios' Web Series 'Inspector Avinash'

Furthermore, this new Extraction storyline is still in its early stage and any information is yet to receive an official confirmation. The 2020 released Netflix film revolved around rescuing the kidnapped son of an Indian drug lord from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Actor Pankaj Tripathi played the role of Ravs close associate in the film. Hence chances are Tripathi could also reprise his role in this new film.

Randeep Hoodas Inspector Avinash

Randeep Hooda is no doubt a busy bee. He will be soon marking his debut in the OTT space. The Bollywood actor will be playing the role of a cop in this new thriller series titled Inspector Avinash. According to another Pinkvilla report, the cop thriller series is based on the life of officer Avinash Mishra. Randeep Hooda took to Instagram and shared a picture of his look from the show. Take a look.

Also read | Randeep Hooda Shells Out Major Fitness Goals As He Flexes Biceps During 'lunchtime'

Also read | Randeep Hooda Flaunts His Moustache For A Role In An Upcoming Project; Check Out

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
Artist Angel Hernandez knew the circus elephant sculptures that once stood outside the Hertzberg Circus Museum downtown had been around a long time, but he had no idea how much the fanciful pachyderms meant to generations of San Antonians.

He learned when the Witte Museum hired him to paint the restored cast-stone critters. He worked on them outdoors, and museum visitors often came over to chat.

There were people that were telling me they remember seeing them with their parents, and they had photos when they took their kids and wanted photos with their grandchildren, said Hernandez, who is a muralist. And thats when it started to sink in  this is a tremendous project to be a part of.

The brightly painted elephants, reunited after two decades, now stand in front of the Wittes B. Naylor Morton Research and Collections Center, near the Acrocanthosaurus sculpture.

We want people to be excited before they even walk in the door, said Amy Fulkerson, chief curator for the museum. Its a great way to remind people about the Hertzberg Circus Collection, that it is at the Witte, that we do make it available for researchers, and that our goal is to have it available through visible storage.

These elephants are a gateway once again to the remarkable circus collection.

On ExpressNews.com: SA street artists celebrate South Side with new mural

The elephants were part of a herd of five created by San Antonio artist Julian Sandoval in the 1920s or 1930s, Fulkerson said. One was owned by attorney Harry Hertzberg, the man behind the circus collection that bears his name. It stood in Hertzbergs yard until his death in 1940.

Then the elephant and the rest of the collection  costumes, posters, Tom Thumbs carriage, programs and other artifacts  went to the San Antonio Public Library, which displayed it in the librarys main building on Market Street. (The building is now home to the Briscoe Western Art Museum.)

The elephant was stationed outside when the collection opened to the public in 1943, according to a San Antonio history column by Paula Allen published in the Express-News in 2014.

When the library moved to new digs in 1968, the building was transformed into the Hertzberg Circus Museum. The elephant remained outside, all by its lonesome, until 1989, when it was joined by another of Sandovals elephants. The newcomer had been owned by Joaquin R. Abrego, who gave it to his wife as a gift; their children donated it to the museum after the couple died, Fulkerson said.

The two flanked the stairs going up into the building, she said. Thats what most people remember.

The circus museum closed in 2001, and the collection went to the Witte. One of the elephants was restored with the help of funds from donor Judy Bolner and her family, owners of Bolners Fiesta Spices. The family also gave the elephant a name: Cinnamon Kandy.

Cinnamon actually comes as an honor to their mother, Fulkerson said. Her favorite spice was cinnamon.

Starting in 2006, Cinnamon Kandy was stationed outside the main entrance of the Witte. But its buddy needed a lot more attention before it could go on display.

The second elephant was in very poor condition when we moved it, Fulkerson said. The base crumbled, and there was a lot of damage to the elephant itself.

Part of its trunk had snapped off, and the tusks had broken off, as well.

The Bolners underwrote the restoration of that elephant, too, and named him Doodle Dandy.

To restore the little fellow, the Witte crew first stripped layers of old paint from his body. Then they sealed all the cracks that had developed over the years. And they created a new base for him to stand on.

They decided not to replace the tusks or extend his trunk.

On ExpressNews.com: SA artist Diana Kerseys Oxbow building mural designed to turn heads

We did not replace what was missing, but we smoothed it out to make it at least have a stable appearance and one that we could paint over safely and would be safe for childrens hands to hold onto, Fulkerson said. We wanted to be very conscious that while its a work of art, its a work of art that families love to interact with for pictures. We didnt want to lose that. Its part of what makes them so special.

The Witte turned both elephants over to Hernandez to paint. He based their look on ensembles worn by circus elephants during parades, painting brightly colored blankets onto their backs and giving them matching headpieces.

He checked everything as he was going through to make sure we were going to be consistent and true to the original spirit of the elephants and what people so dearly remember, Fulkerson said.

Hernandez painted Cinnamon Kandy in red and Doodle Dandy in blue. The overall look is festive and fun, but he said hes particularly pleased with the way the gold paint worked out. Its metallic, and catches the light in a dramatic way.

Ive seen in in the twilight  I left sometimes after sundown while I was painting it and it has a nice refractive quality, he said. Its just really nice to look at any time of day.

The museum carefully documented Hernandezs work, including his color choices, to make it easier to touch up the paint as the elephants age.

Cinnamon Kandy and Doodle Dandy once again standing side by side, ready for family photos, restores a rite of passage for San Antonio youngsters, Fulkerson said: Theres an entire generation of San Antonio children who have grown up and only known there was one elephant.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN

Note: This story has been updated to correct the name of a dinosaur.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said that 'divisiveness has failed America in every single way' as he revealed that he and his family faced death threats from 'crazies' who believe that the coronavirus was a hoax.

'We've had a complete distortion and throwing aside of scientific facts and evidence,' Fauci told CBS This Morning on Sunday.

'And a certain part of the country believed the hoax aspect, the fake news aspect.

'The other half was longing for clarity, longing for facts, longing for truth.

'So, for better or worse, for one reason or other, I became a symbol that was unrealistic, like Saint Anthony.

'You know, it's kinda, OK, great, but that's not reality.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS This Morning on Sunday that he and his family have faced death threats from 'crazies'

Fauci is seen above jogging with his wife, Christine Grady, while two armed federal agents provide security. 'I've had people who have threatened my life because I'm speaking public health measures,' Fauci said

Fauci was shown a picture by CBS News' Ted Koppel that read 'Say no to the prick,' a message circulated by anti-vaxxers

'On the other hand, I've had people who have threatened my life because I'm speaking public health measures,' Fauci said.

Fauci, the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a prominent member of the White House's Coronavirus Task Force, said that it 'infuriates me' that 'the crazies' managed to track down the phone numbers of his three daughters, who have been harassed.

Fauci, a frequent jogger, had to have security agents accompany him on his runs for fear someone might try to harm him.

'It came to that,' Fauci said of needing a security detail on his jogs.

'I've triggered such animosity that I have to have federal agents, armed federal agents, with me, like, all the time.'

Fauci said he is particularly bothered by the angst caused to his family.

'I have to tell you, I'm not afraid of myself, for myself,' Fauci said.

'But the thing that really is disturbing to me is the harassment, continual harassment, of my three daughters.

'The crazies, you know, know who they are, know where they live, know what their telephone number is, know where they work.

'It infuriates me.'

Fauci is seen bottom right with his wife, Christine Grady, and their daughters Jennifer, Megan, and Alison, in the 1990s. Fauci said that it 'infuriates' him to learn that people have been harassing his daughters at their places of work

Fauci said he thought he might die when he was covered in white powder from a letter sent in the wake of death threats against him and his family.

The infectious diseases expert, 80, detailed how he opened the note received in the mail to be covered in what turned out to be 'a benign nothing'.

He told The New York Times in an interview published Sunday: 'But it was frightening...I looked at it somewhat fatalistically.

'It had to be one of three things: A hoax. Or anthrax, which meant I'd have to go on Cipro for a month. Or if it was ricin, I was dead, so bye-bye.'

Fauci was asked about claims made by conspiracy theorists, including Dr. Judy Mikovits, that he 'manufactured' the coronavirus.

Mikovits is a former research scientist and virologist who was featured in last spring's viral online video Plandemic, and made claims that have been widely discredited.

Fauci says that he 'took no pleasure' in contradicting President Donald Trump, whom he called 'charismatic' while noting that they 'got along very well.'

'I took no pleasure in having to correct clear misrepresentations in the sphere of medicine and science,' Fauci said.

Fauci was asked about the famous images of him putting his hand to his face while Trump was addressing reporters during a White House briefing.

During those briefings, Trump was criticized for making bizarre statements about injecting bleach to treat coronavirus and using the drug hydroxycholoroquine, even though scientific studies show there is no evidence it is effective.

Fauci says that the US handling of the coronavirus pandemic is due to a failure on the part of the Trump administration to provide clear guidance to the public.

Fauci has said he thought he might die when he was covered in white powder from a letter sent in the wake of death threats against him and his family. Fauci, right, Dr. Deborah Birx, left, listen as President Donald Trump speaks on March 20 last year

He cited Trump's refusal to mandate mask wearing while noting that many considered mitigation measures to be a political statement.

'You can't have mixed messaging,' Fauci said.

'You cannot have the politicization of public health messages. I mean, the idea that wearing a mask or not became a political statement?

'That makes it beyond difficult to implement a good public health measure.'

Fauci said that his relationship with the Trump administration began to sour after he publicly contradicted the president.

'That annoyed, I think, his staff, his loyal staff, in some respects even more than it annoyed him,' Fauci said.

'So, that's when things started to go in the wrong direction.'

Fauci added: 'So, the relationship became a bit frayed. And then, when I would see him in the Oval Office, he would act like everything was fine.'

Days before the election, Trump held a campaign rally in which his supporters urged him to 'fire Fauci.'

'Don't tell anybody but let me wait til a little bit after the election,' Trump said in response.

Fauci was asked if 'more consistent leadership' could have saved lives during the pandemic.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci during a press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday

Dr Fauci, right, called it 'liberating' Thursday to be backed by a science-friendly administration since the inauguration of Joe Biden, center. The two men are pictured with VP Kamala Harris

'Yeah, I believe so,' Fauci replied.

'I mean, I think if we had had the public health messages  from the top right through down to the people in the trenches  be consistent, that things might have been different.

'In fact, I'm pretty sure they would have been different.'

Fauci, who is now chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, thinks the future is rosier.

'What we're gonna be seeing over the next months is much more of a coordinated, synergistic partnership between the federal government and the states,' Fauci said.

'So, I believe we're gonna see a turnaround in attitude when the federal government and the states start working together much more, as opposed to 'You're on your own'.'

Fauci praised Biden for his approach to the coroanvirus pandemic, saying it was the new commander-in-chief's 'top priority.'

He said that 'one of the things that was kind of refreshing in one of the first briefings that we had with President Biden and Vice President Harris, is that he said, 'We might have setbacks. But you know when that happens what we're gonna do? Is we're not gonna point fingers. We're not gonna blame people. We're not gonna hide anything. We're gonna be totally transparent and honest and we're gonna try and fix it'.'

Fauci was asked about the widespread skepticism in this country about scientific views.

'No, there's no vaccination [for it],' he said.

'But I think maybe we have to keep showing by example that being united is much, much better than being divisive.

'Because divisiveness has really failed. I mean, it has failed us in every single way.'
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:42:37|Editor: huaxia

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KAMPALA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Uganda court in the capital Kampala on Monday asked the military and police to vacate the premises of opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi who has been under house confinement since the country's Jan. 14 presidential elections.

Kyagulanyi's lawyers told reporters here that the court ruled that restricting their client's movement is illegal and infringes on his personal liberty.

The police and military have since voting day surrounded and blocked Kyagulanyi and his wife from leaving their residence in Magere village in the central district of Wakiso.

Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, is a popular musician turned politician. He was the closest rival to incumbent president Yoweri Museveni who won the Jan. 14 presidential elections by 58.64 percent of the votes. Kyagulanyi got 34.83 percent. Enditem
Kuwait's Emir His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has signed a decree appointing His Highness Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as Prime Minister, Kuna news agency has reported.

The Emir has assigned HH Sheikh Sabah Khaled to submit his cabinet line-up to approve their appointment, said the decree.

His Highness Sheikh Sabah Khaled affirmed appreciation to HH the Emir for placing his confidence in him.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said in a statement that the relationship between the government and

the National Assembly was drawn up by Article 50 of the Constitution and stressed on

enhancing the forms of constructive cooperation to achieve desired reform in the national

economy and prosperity for Kuwait and its people.

He pointed out that the next government will work to coordinate with members of the National

Assembly on all issues, with continuation of combating corruption through a number of

legislations.

Moreover, the economic and social affairs, infrastructure development and public services are of interest to the next government, he said.

Sunday chicken offering from this local favorite now offering a COVID workaround.



Check-it . . .

Fried chicken fans, rejoice: An old favorite is returning to Mission, Kansas, with a fresh new look. Stroud's Express will open its doors in the very near future in a location just a stone's throw from its former spot on Shawnee Mission Parkway, which closed its doors in 2019.

ATLANTA, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia School of Orthodontics (GSO) is proud to announce the launch of the School's first complimentary care program for adults. GSO's Gift of a Smile Heroes initiative was created to recognize heroes of all types in the Atlanta metro communities by giving them free braces or Invisalign treatment. Heroes are nominated by individuals in their communities through the School's website: https://www.bracestoday.com/hero. To celebrate the launch of the program, GSO will award four adult heroes with complimentary orthodontic care and continue the program by selecting one hero recipient each quarter.

Georgia School of Orthodontics is the largest orthodontic residency program in the US and has two patient clinics to serve metro Atlantans. Known for its programs to deliver free care to children in need, this is the School's first program for adults. Nomination deadline is March 15, 2021. Go to www.bracestoday.com/hero Georgia School of Orthodontics seeks nominations from the public to launch its new Gift of a Smile Heroes program and give deserving Metro Atlantans free braces and treatment. Deadline to nominate is March 15, 2021. Go to www.bracestoday.com/hero

"Our Gift of a Smile and Purple Heart Smiles programs award free braces to children," said Dr. Randy Kluender, Chairman & President of the GSO Board of Trustees. "Given the impact the pandemic continues to have on our communities, this is a great way for GSO to honor adults who are helping others during this challenging time and give them a transformational gift in return," he added.

"A community hero can come in many different shapes and sizes. It can be a local businessowner or a working mother, an essential worker or a poll volunteer, a teacher or a frontline worker," said Dr. Sergio Real, Clinical Director at the School. "We are looking forward to receiving stories of the heroes in our local communities that need the gift of a new smile."

The School's Gift of a Smile Heroes program is just one part of GSO's mission to provide increased access to high quality orthodontic care at a lower cost than private practice orthodontics. GSO continues to provide free orthodontic care to children through its Gift of a Smile and Purple Heart Smiles programs, To date, both programs combined have provided over $150,000 in complimentary orthodontic care to Atlanta's deserving children.

To nominate your hero, upload their smile photo and share a compelling story of why you think they deserve to have a beautiful, healthy smile by March 15, 2021. Winners will be announced on March 26, 2021. For more information on the School's new Gift of a Smile Heroes program, and to determine your hero's eligibility, please visit BracesToday.com/Hero.

About Georgia School of Orthodontics

Georgia School of Orthodontics (GSO), based in Atlanta, GA, offers an advanced specialty education program in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. The 36-month residency program is structured to provide collaborative and evidence-based learning for residents while providing quality orthodontic care to patients in the School's two patient clinics in metro Atlanta. GSO's mission is to educate outstanding dentists to be proficient in the clinical specialty of orthodontics, while providing Georgians with the highest level of patient care available. GSO faculty and staff are dedicated to diversity in both education and practice. For more information about GSO, visit GSOrthodontics.org. To schedule a complimentary consultation, visit bracestoday.com or call 770.351.7737.

Media Contact:

Lesley Gamwell

Rountree Group

404.309.6915

[email protected]

SOURCE Georgia School of Orthodontics

Related Links

http://GSOrthodontics.org


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Gloucester County said people who received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine administered at the mega-site in Sewell are currently not able to book an appointment for a second dose.

And the clock is ticking.

The site at Rowan College of South Jersey has been administering the Pfizer vaccine since Jan. 8. The vaccine requires a second dose after 21 days. For those who received their shot on the day the site opened, the 21-day mark is Friday.

Over the weekend, Gloucester County posted an update on its website and sent emails to those who had received the vaccine, explaining that the county is using the states registration system, called the New Jersey Vaccination Scheduling System or NJVSS, for all appointments.

Gloucester County is unable to currently schedule second dose appointments for individuals visiting the site for their first dose because the NJVSS does not have those capabilities, the message said.

And at the governors daily briefing, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the states website should be able to accept second dose appointments on Friday. She also called a suggestion that the state set up a separate phone line to schedule second doses a good recommendation.

She also said the Health Department sent an email to vaccine administrators to remind them that they should be scheduling second doses before a patient leaves after receiving the first dose.

Persichilli also said the Gloucester site was closed on Monday because it had run out of vaccines. She said she was unsure of how many appointments had to be canceled, but that the visits would be rescheduled. The mega-site is supposed to be operational again on Tuesday, she said.

Some people who received their doses early on said no one at the site was able to give them information about the second dose other than directing them to sign into the states registration system to make an appointment. Others said they received emails with a link to the site, but when they tried to book a time slot, either none were available or they said there was no way to indicate they were looking for the second dose.

Mary Milner, 80, said she got her first dose at the Gloucester site on Jan. 22. She said the site was well-run but no one had information about second doses.

It puts us in the position, come Feb. 12, if we have not gotten a new appointment, it puts us in the same highly vulnerable position we were before the first dose, and its essentially wasting the first dose, said Milner, who lives in Monmouth County and drove 90 minutes to get her vaccine.

The county said some people have received second dose emails from the state while others are still waiting.

Gloucester County is hopeful the state will update their capabilities and give us the option to schedule second dose appointments on-site in the near future, it said. Additionally, Gloucester County is working to create our own scheduling system so we can easily accommodate our guests for the second dosage.

State officials have repeatedly said vaccination sites are responsible for bringing people back for second doses and it encourages sites to make those appointments when the first dose is given. But officials havent said how people at the Gloucester site, which is run by the state, will be able to book this appointment.

Despite the uncertainty on making appointments, the county said it will be able to provide second doses.

The State releases vaccine appointments as vaccines are available, the countys statement said. We understand the frustration on wait times, but we urge everyone to be patient.

The timing is essential, said Stephanie Navarro Silvera, an epidemiologist and public health professor with Montclair State University.

She said the clinical studies done by Pfizer and Moderna show that the vaccines offer the highest rate of protection at 21 and 28 days after the first dose, respectively.

Unfortunately there isnt much science to support expanding the interval between doses, she said. Without more studies, including larger and more diverse sample sizes, it is difficult to say what impact expanding the interval between doses may have on vaccine efficacy.

Gloucester County didnt immediately respond to questions about when the states site, or its own site, might be able to handle second dose appointments.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.

On January 22, BAC A BANK inaugurated its branch in Nam Dinh provinces Nam Dinh city, at 394-398 of Tran Hung Dao Street in Quang Trung ward.

The event saw the participation of the banks clients and representatives, as well as the provinces leadership, some ministries, and central agencies, crowning the bank's nonstop development over the past 26 years.

The new branch of BAC A BANK in Nam Dinh is expected to help fuel the provinces socioeconomic development

Tran The Hung, vice director of the State Bank of Vietnams Nam Dinh branch sent a letter of congratulation and directed BAC A BANKs leadership to operate the branch effectively and in line with the law.

Tran Le Doai, Deputy Chairman of the Nam Dinh People's Committee, also welcomed the bank, stating that the province hopes that BAC A BANK will make great contributions to the provinces socioeconomic development.

Nguyen Viet Hanh, vice general director of BAC A BANK, said, We hope that our branch in Nam Dinh will make more contributions to the socioeconomic development of Nam Dinh in particular and to the northern key economic region in general. We request that the leadership and staff of the branch will expand business and have a better understanding of locals requirements and business households in order to meet their credit demand. Each staff must act as a brand ambassador of BAC A BANK, promoting the banks image and prestige via its products for all.

Meanwhile, Bui Xuan Hung, director of the branch, also said, The branch has become a member of BAC A BANKs system of 145 transaction spots in 32 cities and provinces. This is the happiness, pride, and responsibility of the branch. I promise to drive the branch forward, and the branch will help develop the provinces socioeconomic development, fully meeting all credit demands from individuals, organisations, and businesses in the province.

Also on the day of inauguration, the BAC A BANK Nam Dinh branch also welcomed a big number of clients. Its appearance in Nam Dinh promises to become a new factor helping attract more investment into the province.

$5M financing round led by Kizoo Technology Capital

Fresh capital to be employed for productization, to prepare a clinical trial in organ transplantation and to expand cellvie's pipeline into rejuvenation therapies

Promising initial clinical data generated at Boston Children's Hospital to be published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

Zurich/Switzerland and Houston/USA, January 25, 2021: cellvie Inc., the leader in Therapeutic Mitochondria Transfer (TMT) and a Harvard University spin-off, closes a $5M round to advance its product pipeline, including a first application in rejuvenation.

Mitochondria are intimately tied to the origin of complex life, the energy of the young and the decline of the old. They are the powerhouses of the cell, generating most of the cellular energy and operate as critical intra-cellular communication nodes. Mitochondria dysfunction has been tied to a host of diseases, ranging from neurodegenerative ailments such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, over heart attacks and strokes, to age-related degeneration.

"But treating mitochondria has proven to be an arduous challenge" said Dr. James McCully, a founder of cellvie and Associate Professor of Surgery at Boston's Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he pioneered the therapeutic use of mitochondria. "That is why we turned to introducing healthy, viable mitochondria into cells where these organelles are impaired. To great effect. We can sustainably reinvigorate cells' failing energy metabolism."

The potential of Therapeutic Mitochondria Transfer was recently demonstrated in a clinical investigation at Boston Children's Hospital. Pediatric patients on heart-lung-support after suffering a cardiogenic shock, received the treatment to revitalize their heart muscle. 80% of these children experienced myocardial recovery, which compares to an expected 29%, as reported in a publication forthcoming in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

"The implications of our findings are groundbreaking. We may have the chance to bring about a new treatment modality," said Dr. Alexander Schueller, founder and CEO of cellvie. "The investment will enable us to pursue the platform broadly, including a first application in aging, where the need for mitochondria-recovery is particularly dear."

To date, cellvie focused primarily on ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), one of the world's leading causes of death. IRI manifests itself whenever the blood flow to a part of the body is interrupted and subsequently reintroduced. Well-known medical conditions include heart attacks, strokes, and organ transplantation. cellvie is pursuing an indication in organ transplantation, first, for which the FDA awarded orphan drug designation in 2020. The capital injection will be employed for productization, to expand cellvie's product pipeline and to prepare an IND submission for a clinical study in kidney transplantation.

"We were immediately attracted to the potential of cellvie's approach to emerge as a novel category of medicines" said Frank Schueler, Managing Director at Kizoo Technology Capital. "With mitochondria dysfunction a common denominator to disease and aging alike, cellvie's ability to affect the cell energy metabolism may pave the road to address hitherto intractable human ailments". Frank Schueler will join the company's Board of Directors.

###

About cellvie Inc.

Founded in the US and headquartered close to Zurich, Switzerland, cellvie is developing medicines from cells, leveraging the therapeutic potential of mitochondria. The company was founded by Drs. McCully, Schueller, del Nido and Emani in 2018. Dr. McCully pioneered the approach of mitochondria augmentation and replacement at Harvard Medical School and the team has now set out to bring it about as a new treatment modality in ischemia-reperfusion injury, aging, and beyond. Further information can be found at cellvita-science.com

About KIZOO

KIZOO provides mentoring, seed and early-stage financing with a focus on rejuvenation biotech. Having been entrepreneurs, VCs and mentors in both high growth tech and biotech companies ourselves for many years with multiple exits and massive value created for the founders, Kizoo now brings this experience to the emerging field of rejuvenation biotech. We see it as a young industry that will eventually outgrow today's largest technology markets.

As part of the Forever Healthy Group, Kizoo directly supports the creation of startups turning research on the root causes of aging into therapies and services for human application. Investments include FoxBio, Turn.bio, AgeX, Elevian, Oisin Biotechnologies, LIfT BioSiences, MAIA Biotechnology, and ohers.

Forever Healthy's other initiatives include the evaluation of new rejuvenation therapies, evidenced-based curation of the world's cutting-edge medical knowledge, funding research projects on the root causes of aging and hosting the annual Undoing Aging Conference.

Further information can be found at http://www. kizoo. com and http://www. forever-healthy. org

Contact:

Dr. Alexander Schueller

CEO cellvie

ph: +41-44 591 89 21

email: admin@cellvie.bio
New Delhi: Delhi Police on Sunday claimed that over 300 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan to disrupt the tractor rally proposed by protesting farmers on Republic Day.

Detailing the plan for the tractor parade, Deependra Pathak, Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) said the rally on Tuesday will be conducted amid tight security after the Republic Day celebrations conclude.

"Over 300 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan during January 13 to 18 to disrupt the tractor rally by farmers only by misleading people. There are inputs about the same from different agencies too. It will be a challenging task for us but the rally will be conducted amid tight security after the Republic Day parade is over," Pathak said at a press conference.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Since November last year, farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the Centre's three new agriculture laws at several Delhi border points, including Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, demanding that the legislations be repealed.

Pathak said, As the farmers wanted to do a tractor rally on January 26, we have come to a conclusion that the rally will be conducted after the timing of the Republic Day Celebration ends. We have given them around 170 kilometres of distance in three routes".

Barricades and other security arrangements will be removed and the farmers will enter the national capital. Later, they will return to their destinations after covering a "respectable" distance, police said.

For the Delhi Police, it will be a challenging task. We have spoken to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Police officers about how it will be conducted in a convenient way. The rally will be started after the time period of the Republic Day Celebration has ended," he said.

We will have the tractor rally on January 26 and there will be no disturbance of the Republic Day celebration and security arrangements," Pathak said.

The professional assessment of these routes has been done, he said.

The expected number of tractors should be distributed in a way that the rally will be concluded in a peaceful and discipline way, police said, adding that adequate security will be provided to the rally.

The rally will start from Singhu border and pass through Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Kanjhawala, Bawana, Auchandi Borer, KundliManesarPalwal expressway and will return to Singhu border. It will cover a stretch of around 62 kilometres," Pathak said.

He said the farmers with their tractors will start from Tikri border and pass via Nangloi, Najafgarh, Jharoda, KundliManesarPalwal expressway and will head back to Tikri border.

The rally from Ghazipur border will pass through Apsara Border, Hapur Road KundliManesarPalwal expressway and concluded at Ghazipur. Those farmers group will cover 46 kilometres of distance," Pathak said.

The routes will cover over 100 kilometres of distance in the national capital, police said.

The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha assured that they will go back to their respective places from where the rally started, police said.

As of now, there are approximately 12,000 to 13,000 tractors at various Delhi border points -- around 7,000 to 8,000 at Tikri, around 5,000 at Singhu and around 1,000 at Ghazipur border -- police said, adding that their number is expected to go further up.

While police tried to convince farmer leaders to hold their tractor parade outside the national capital, they were adamant on holding the proposed rally on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road.

Earlier, there have been three rounds of meetings between the unions and police officers from Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, but it was during the fourth round of talks over the tractor parade on Friday where both sides reached an agreement.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Most white evangelicals favored Trump until the end: poll

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Despite leaving with his lowest favorability ratings since the summer of 2016, former President Donald Trump remained popular among white evangelicals well into his final days in office, a new survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute shows.

The survey, conducted Jan. 15-18, a week after hundreds of Trump supporters and others stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, said 62% of white evangelical Protestants expressed favorable views of the former president. The poll of 1,019 adults randomly selected from across all 50 states reflected a 3% increase in support for Trump over a similar survey conducted in November.

Among Catholics, Trumps support slipped from 51% in November to 39% in January. His support among white mainline Protestants, however, grew from 34% in November to 41% in January. Among Christians of color and people who are religiously unaffiliated, Trumps favorability rating registered a paltry 19%.

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time earlier this month, making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. A year earlier, Trump was impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress related to a July 25, 2019, phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he urged the newly elected president to look into then-former Vice President Joe Biden's and his son Hunter Biden's dealings in Ukraine.

In 2016, Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine unless its top prosecutor, General Viktor Shokin, was fired. At the time, Shokin was investigating the Burisma energy company which had been paying Hunter Biden $50,000 a month as a member of its board since 2014.

Democrats claimed Trump was trying to aid himself politically by asking for foreign interference against a potential Democratic opponent ahead of the 2020 election. The Trump administration denied those accusations and declassified a transcript of the call with Zelensky.

In the House's second impeachment, which passed by a vote of 232-197 and was backed by all House Democrats and 10 Republicans, the impeachment article accused the former president of committing an incitement of insurrection because the riot at the Capitol broke out as he was speaking at the Ellipse near the White House and escalated after.

In his speech to supporters, Trump said Republicans need to fight much harder. He also urged them to protest the certification of the election results, which he said were tainted by fraud.

Were going to cheer on brave senators and congressmen and women, and were probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because youll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.

I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard, Trump added, referring to a separate rally where other speakers were scheduled to speak that afternoon. That event never took place, however, because the riot had already ensued.

Although the president said he would go with his supporters to the Capitol, he didn't, though he encouraged them to fight like hell for the country.

If you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, he said. Let the weak ones get out, he went on. This is a time for strength.

Trump's critics argue that the speech incited the violence at the Capitol that resulted in the deaths of five Americans.

Police shot and killed an unarmed woman as she attempted to climb through a smashed door pane into the House chamber during the riot while three others died from health emergencies. U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, 42, who is believed to have died due to the pepper spray or bear spray used against the rioters in conjunction with a preexisting medical condition. Another Capitol police officer who responded to the riot died by suicide on Jan 9. It's unknown whether the riot and aftermath contributed to his decision to take his own life.

The results of the PRRI poll reflect the general sentiments shared by many evangelicals and faith leaders after the riot at the Capitol.

"I don't think it was the president's finest moment," Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, told USA Today. But he didnt see it as a deterrent to evangelical Christian support for Trump.

He is without doubt the most pro-life and pro-religious president in history, Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the 14,000-member First Baptist Dallas also told the publication of Trump a week before he left office. The president has every right to hold the view that the election was fraudulent and to invite those who share that belief to peacefully protest. He neither called for nor condoned the despicable actions of those who invaded our Capitol and assaulted the police.

In the PRRI poll Biden was viewed favorably by about nine in 10 Democrats, 89%. These numbers have not shifted substantially since rising to that level in September 2020, PRRI noted. More than half, 54%, view Biden very favorably.

Among Independents, 51%, viewed the new president favorably, which is a decrease over November when 58% view Biden favorably. Only 16% of Republicans indicated a favorable opinion of Biden.
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Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
Vietnamese Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong (C) and other leaders attend the preparatory session of the 13th Party Congress in Hanoi, January 25, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam begins a preparatory session in Hanoi on Monday for the 13th Party Congress.

The congress will be attended by 1,587 delegates representing 5.1 million Party members from around the country, the largest number at any congress so far.

The preparatory session will go through the meeting agenda and election regulations.

The congress opens on Tuesday and will last nine days, during which it will select the new leadership of the Party, state, government, and National Assembly for the next five years, besides finalizing socio-economic development policies for 2021-25 and orientations for until 2030 with a vision toward 2045.

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Insurance brokerage firm, IMA Inc., has hired veteran underwriting professional Conrad Maier as vice president in the companys Houston-based energy practice.

Maier is the first dedicated producer in Houston, marking the next stage of IMAs aggressive expansion plan in the nations energy capital. Bringing more than 20 years of experience in the energy risk sector to the role, he is among five highly respected insurance brokers that IMA has recruited since opening the Houston office in October 2020.

A Canadian native turned proud Texan, Maier has spent the entirety of his long career in the oil and gas sector. In the last decade, he held Houston-based senior leadership roles managing risk and underwriting for upstream energy companies. Prior to his time in Houston, Maier worked internationally, serving as vice president and senior offshore energy underwriter for Swiss Re Group based in Singapore, and as an offshore energy adjuster for Steege Kingston in Singapore and Matthew Daniels in London and throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His experience growing global books of business has established him as a leader within the global upstream energy insurance sector.

IMA is growing its energy practice nationwide through talent recruitment and acquisition. Houston is joined by prominent energy groups in Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Wichita and Pittsburgh, following the companys acquisition of Kittanning, Pennsylvania-based ESS NexTier Insurance Group in 2020.

The Houston practice, with about a dozen staff and counting, joins IMAs nearly 900 associates working across North America with offices in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Source: IMA Inc.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, believes the goal of 100 million vaccines in 100 days is not only within reach, but should be considered a worst-case scenario.

Its going to be a challenge, Fauci said in an interview on Face the Nation on Sunday. I think it was a reasonable goal that was set, we always want to do better than the goal you set, but it is really a floor and not a ceiling.

Since winning the presidential election in November, Biden had promoted a goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans within his first 100 days of office.

Modeling done by Bidens transition team revealed 100 million shots translates to about 33 million people fully immunized and 67 million fully or partially immunized, according to the Washington Post. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine require two doses.

When you add them all up and you look at shots, its 100 million shots in the arms of people within the first 100 days, Fauci told Face the Nation.

There have been instances where 1 million doses were administered per day in the country, but Fauci told CBS that most of the shots occurred predominantly in nursing homes or hospitals.

If you look forward with the challenges that we will be having, getting it out into the community that is not easily accessible, getting it to people that are not uniform in the sense of being health care providers or people in nursing home, I still think that challenge is really  its going to be a floor, not a ceiling, Fauci said on Face the Nation. Its not going to be easy to do that.

According to the CDC, 21.8 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine as of Monday morning. More than 18 million people have received two doses.

In Massachusetts, Gillette Stadium opened last week as the states first mass vaccination site. Fenway Park is expected to act as another site that could provide thousands of vaccinations per day.

In Worcester, officials plan to reveal a super vaccination site some time this week.

Still, the rollout has endured some hurdles.

That state still doesnt have a vaccination site in southeastern Massachusetts, however, Walgreens and CVS have several sites opens.

Last week, the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center was forced to dispose of nearly 2,000 doses of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine after the plug to the freezer was accidentally loosened by a cleaning contractor.

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A New Jersey woman on Monday was sentenced to 12 to 24 years in a Pennsylvania state prison for a drunken, wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 last year that left three dead.

A judge sitting in Bucks County  C. Theodore Frisch Jr.  handed Priscilla Cortez, 34, of Camden the sentence after hearing victim impact statements from family members.

Cortez was driving south in the northbound lanes around 1:40 a.m. on April 1 when she slammed into another vehicle in Bensalem, killing the three occupants.

Cortez, who was traveling 69 mph in a 55 mph zone, had a blood-alcohol content that was 0.156 percent, the Bucks County District Attorney said. She also had marijuana in her system.

In October, Cortez pleaded guilty to three counts of homicide by vehicle while drunken driving, homicide by vehicle and several related traffic offenses.

Killed in the crash were the driver Ryan Connell, 28, Leanne Popson, 35, and Lucas Gelatko, 36. Authorities said the three were friends from lower Bucks County.

I am devastated, Popsons father, Jack Poposon said Monday. I miss my daughter and only child more and more every day.

Gelatkos mother, Susan Zupan, said her son was a funny, playful person who is dead because a woman decided to drive when she had been drinking.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JGoldmanNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with students who are celebrating their "professional" holiday on Monday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, TASS reports.

"Yes, the president is planning such an interaction," he said in response to a question whether Putin will meet with university students on St. Tatyanas Day.

In the past, Putin visited various Russian universities to interact with students in an informal setting on this day. On January 25, 2005, not only did he meet with the students of the Moscow State University but also tasted their traditional holiday drink. In 2010, Putin visited the Chuvash State University on this day, in 2012 - the Tomsk Polytechnic University, in 2015, he came to St. Petersburg where he met with the students of the Mining University and in 2016 he visited the North-Caucasus Federal University in Stavropol. In 2020, the head of state before the holiday met with the students of the Sirius educational center in Sochi.

The Day of Russian Students is marked on January 25. The holiday originated in 1755 when the Empress Elizabeth signed a decree founding the Moscow University, the largest one in Russia. An early Christian martyr Tatyana of Rome is honored on this day who is considered a patron saint of students and of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 2005, it became an official holiday according to the presidential decree.

A Texas father who was pepper sprayed and arrested 'in retaliation' for filming his son's traffic stop has received a $200,000 payout.

Marco Puente filed a federal lawsuit in December against two officers with the Keller Police Department claiming the cops used 'excessive force' against him when he filmed them arresting his 22-year-old son Dillon for a 'wide right turn' on August 15.

When he refused to stop filming, one of the officers arrested Marco and pepper sprayed him twice.

Body camera footage of the arrests quickly went viral in the fall, with the lawsuit and public claiming Dillon was 'racially profiled' for being Hispanic in 'a failed attempt to find narcotics.'

On Monday, Puente's attorneys Scott Palmer and James Roberts said in a written statement obtained by DailyMail.com that the family is 'pleased to have this unfortunate and needless situation behind them.'

This settlement will 'justly compensate both Dillon and Marco for the damages Officers Blake Shimanek and Ankit Tomer caused them.'

Palmer and Roberts also described the incident as a 'disturbing display of police misconduct.'

'While the Puentes recognize and appreciate that Chief Fortune acted quickly in addressing the serious issues in this case, it is disappointing that these officers are still employed at the Keller Police Department,' the statement reads.

A Texas father who was pepper sprayed (pictured, Marco Puente, is pepper sprayed in the face during his arrest) and arrested 'in retaliation' for filming his son's traffic stop has received a $200,000 payout

Marco Puente, left, and his son Dillon were both arrested on August 15 in Keller, Texas

Keller, about 18 miles northwest of Fort Worth, announced that the settlement had been reached through mediation on Sunday night.

'Though the final documents have yet to be signed by the parties and/or filed with the court, the Texas Municipal League anticipates that settlement will be finalized within the next few weeks,' the release reads.

Keller officials said that the city carries 'a broad insurance policy that includes liability.'

'Keller will be responsible for a $5,000 deductible in this settlement, with the remainder paid by TML's Intergovernmental Risk Pool,' the release reads.

Video shows Dillon Puente complying with police requests and questions during the traffic stop

Cops then ordered Dillon out of the car and to put his hands behind his back, later claiming he was 'acting squirrely'

While cops were arresting Dillon for the traffic stop, his father started recording from across the street

The lawsuit accused Shimanek of being 'cruel and inhumane' for refusing to provide him a towel to wipe his face after being pepper sprayed.

'After assaulting and handcuffing Mr. Puente, Officers Shimanek and Tomer refused to wipe away the OC spray from Mr. Puente's face and eyes, despite the obvious pain Mr. Puente was experiencing,' the lawsuit reads.

Cops later dropped their charges against Puente and released him from jail, with Chief Brad Fortune noting that the actions of the two officers were inappropriate.

Dillon Puente was also arrested and taken to jail, but paid a ticket for the wide right turn and was released.

Cops also dismissed the ticket and refunding the money except a $20 fee they didnt refund, attorney James Roberts said.

Shimanek allegedly later lied to Lt. Craig Berry at the scene, claiming Dillon was 'acting squirrely' before the arrest  despite video footage showing him complying with police and answering officers' questions.

'I'm quite certain there's narcotics in the car, so I think I'm going to arrest him for the wide right turn,' Shimanek said.

No narcotics were found in the vehicle, cops said.

At the time of the arrest, Shimanek held the rank of sergeant but has since been demoted, according to an internal affairs memo from the Keller Police Department.

Footage shows cops putting Puente into a headlock and kneeling on his shoulder while pepper spraying him twice

'These types of decisions are not acceptable at a supervisory level. Officers have to be able to have confidence in their judgment and direction given to them by their supervisors,' the memo reads.

The case quickly garnered attention after Puente posted footage of his arrest online. Police later released bodycam footage from the officers which backed up his claims.

Marco began filming after his son was pulled over. The dad, who had been following his son's car in his own truck, drove up beside his son who was being interrogated by the officers and started to film.

'Why are you acting so suspicious?' Shimanek says in the video while putting Dillon in handcuffs after asking him to get out of the car.

After noticing they were being filmed, the cops focus their attention on Marco.

'You're about to be arrested if you don't park and get out,' Shimanek to the father.

Marco then reverses his truck before parking and getting out to silently stand and record the interaction on his cell phone from a distant sidewalk on a residential street.

Shimanek then directs Tomer to arrest Puente 'for blocking the roadway,' despite standing on the sidewalk across the street from the cops.

Officer Shimanek then approached and 'used excessive force' against Puente by 'attempting to knock his phone to the ground' and placing him in a headlock, while ordering Tomer kneels on his shoulder to pepper spray him in the face twice.

Another resident then comes up to start filming the incident with the Puentes, while cops direct him to 'video from the corner.'

'My eyes are on fire! Dude, give me a towel. This is crazy,' Puente said.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  For Mimi Stewart, education has been a driving force  one that provided an escape hatch from a turbulent childhood and, years later, propelled her into the political arena.

The newly elected New Mexico Senate president pro tem, Stewart still fondly recalls teaching students with learning disabilities how to read.

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But the Albuquerque Democrat has had to do some learning of her own over her 26-year legislative career to arrive at the helm of the Senate.

I think theres nothing wrong with being feisty, intentional and intense, Stewart, 73, said in an interview the day after being elected to the chambers top position last week. But Ive learned to listen more to other people.

When she first arrived in Santa Fe in 1995, Stewart said, she at times had little patience for opposing viewpoints.

She remembers getting advice from former House finance committee Chairman Max Coll, who told Stewart her quick-to-surface anger made it easy for political opponents to get under her skin.

Stewarts temper still flares at times, such as when she described a tax package passed in the final minutes of the 2013 legislative session as a royal screw-job.

However, she said, her move from the House to the Senate  she was appointed in 2014 to a Senate seat previously held by Tim Keller  and her subsequent ascension to leadership roles have forced her to think about how the entire chamber functions.

I have become much more pragmatic  I just want things to get done, Stewart said.

Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, has worked with Stewart in recent years on several education-related bills, despite the pairs divergent views on other policy issues.

She called Stewart a tough politician but said the two retired educators have been able to find common ground.

I think the thing I can say about Sen. Stewart is shes always open to listening to my ideas, Kernan told the Journal.

For her part, Stewart said she still considers herself a progressive, but said she no longer thinks of herself as having far-left views.

I think the older I get, the more conservative I get on certain things, Stewart said.

School was her passion

Stewart was 3 years old when her father, a traveling salesman, died in a traffic crash just days before Christmas. He had been heading back to his Florida home with silver dollars in his pockets for his kids at the time of the wreck, which occurred after he fell asleep at the wheel.

Her mother subsequently moved Stewart and her siblings to Douglas, Arizona, where she had family connections, and married a man who Stewart said physically and sexually abused her and her siblings.

I threw myself into school, because life with my stepfather was very abusive, said Stewart, who describes herself as a survivor and not a victim of abuse. I just loved school because  it was important to me to be around adults that actually gave me positive reinforcement rather than the beatings and abuse that I had at home.

Ultimately, Stewart spent her senior year of high school living with a friends family in a Denver suburb after her mother and stepfather moved again. Her mother killed herself shortly thereafter, and she said she never saw her stepfather again.

Its a family story that Stewart said she did not feel comfortable discussing publicly until several years ago.

I do think its important to understand where people are coming from, she said.

After becoming a teenage orphan, Stewart spent a year attending college in Nebraska before following a high school boyfriend to Massachusetts.

She graduated from Boston University, went to graduate school and ultimately stayed in the Northeast for more than a decade before moving to New Mexico in 1978.

Once back in the West, Stewart got a job with Albuquerque Public Schools as a teacher  she worked mostly in elementary special education during her 20-plus year career  and started a family of her own.

House race victory

Stewart made her first run for a state Senate seat in 1992, after becoming involved in the American Federation of Teachers, a prominent teachers union.

She was narrowly defeated in that years primary race by incumbent Democrat Shannon Robinson  whom she would go on to beat in two future elections  but was undeterred and ran again for a House seat two years later.

When she was on the campaign trail in 1994, many district residents did not know the name of their current state representative, Stewart recalls.

I kind of vowed then and there that people were going to know who I was, said Stewart, who defeated Patricia Baca in that years primary election and went on to win the general election.

At the Roundhouse, Stewart quickly made a name for herself as a member of the House Education Committee.

Former state Rep. Rick Miera, a fellow Albuquerque Democrat who served as the committees chairman, called Stewart an early pioneer on educational literacy issues in the Legislature.

I think she spurred many of us to open up that book a little further, Miera said in an interview. We needed to listen to what she was talking about.

In fact, Stewart said her passion for teaching reading is the biggest reason she got into politics.

But there are different ideas within the education community about how to best teach children to read, and Stewart has occasionally ended up at odds with traditional allies.

For instance, Stewart said, a teachers union unsuccessfully lobbied Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to veto a 2019 bill she had sponsored that called for screening and support plans for young children with dyslexia.

During this years 60-day session, Stewart plans to push bills holding state funding levels steady for school districts that saw a pandemic-related enrollment decline and increasing taxpayer-funded contributions into an educators pension fund.

Meanwhile, Stewart has also weathered controversy in the Legislature, including a 1999 arrest for drunken driving in Santa Fe.

She pleaded guilty to the charge, saying she had made a mistake, and was ordered to attend DWI school and perform community service.

Going beyond education

While education issues have been Stewarts focus during her legislative tenure, she has also ventured into other policy areas in recent years.

Specifically, Stewart has sponsored several high-profile environmental bills, such as a 2020 solar energy tax credit measure that was signed into law by Lujan Grisham.

She also played a key role in brokering a deal on 2019 legislation to create a new state Ethics Commission, after two competing bills had stalled in a Senate committee.

Its that pragmatism that Stewart acknowledges shell need in her new position as Senate president pro tem, who plays a key role in determining committee assignments and chairmanships.

Unlike the two previous presidents pro tem  Democrats Tim Jennings of Roswell and Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces  Stewart was not elected by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans.

Instead, she was elected on a party-line vote after being nominated for the post by fellow Democrats during a closed-door caucus meeting.

Despite the partisan vote breakdown, Stewart said she will strive to put political differences aside when possible.

I have to help Democrats and Republicans work together, she said in the recent interview.

The start to this years session has been marked by security concerns and the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted the controversial decision to close the Roundhouse to members of the public and lobbyists for the sessions entirety.

While Stewart acknowledged the unique session will pose challenges, she said her political education is paying dividends.

Im more relaxed, and Im having more fun, Stewart said.

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STERLING, Colo.  Kelly Brasier gripped the handles of the empty wheelchair in the Colorado prison parking lot as two corrections employees unloaded a frail man in a blue prison uniform with wispy white hair, then wheeled him toward her.

Brasier quickly hugged her uncle in the wheelchair, Anthony Martinez, before bundling him into the truck away from the blasting winter wind that shook the light poles.

It was the first time theyd ever met. But Brasier has thought about Martinez every day for the past six years as she advocated for his release and faced denials, bureaucracy and silence.

Its a big pass-the-buck system, she said. Nobody wanted to take responsibility.

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At 84 years old, Martinezs health was deteriorating quickly. He was nearly deaf, losing his vision, using a wheelchair, suffering renal failure and beginning to show signs of dementia. Colorados prison system has processes meant to allow people like Martinez be released into family care, but they had failed Martinez and Brasier.

It wasnt until Gov. Jared Polis granted a clemency request that had been sitting in the governors office since his predecessors term that Martinez was able to go home after more than 30 years in prison. When he granted the request, Polis said it highlighted the need to reform the parole process for sick and older inmates like Martinez as well as habitual offender sentencing.

At the age of 84 and having served over 31 years in prison, inmates like Mr. Martinez (who is elderly and disabled) should be allowed an avenue for a more responsive consideration for release to parole through special needs parole if they are deemed to represent a very low risk, versus seeking relief through clemency, Conor Cahill, the governors spokesman, said in a statement.

That reform could come this year in the legislature, in part because of Martinezs case.

Colorados special needs parole allows people who do not pose a threat to society and who need medical treatment for serious, chronic health conditions or mental illnesses to be released from prison before their parole date. The Department of Corrections can refer an inmate to the special needs parole process or an inmate can apply to start the process. The Department of Corrections decides which applications to send to the parole board, which has final say on who is released.

Although Brasier thought Martinez fit those parameters perfectly, her attempts to have her uncle released on special needs parole were denied twice. No reason was given for the denials, she said.

Martinez was sentenced in 1989 to life with the possibility of parole on a second-degree burglary charge and a slew of sentence-enhancers based on his prior criminal history, which increased the penalty. His criminal record shows a series of arrests in the late 1970s and early 1980s for theft, forgery, drug possession, burglaries and minor assaults.

But at 84 years old, he was hardly a threat to public safety, Brasier said. He needed better attention and health care, which was being paid for by tax dollars while he was in prison.

I had promised my dad before he died that if my uncle ever got out I would care for him, she said. All I wanted was this man home before his funeral.

Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, is working on a bill with Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that would address some of the problems with the special needs parole system, which she calls fundamentally broken.

One of the problems, Donner said, is that the Department of Corrections is largely responsible for identifying which people in prisons might be eligible for the program and compiling the information necessary to send a request to the parole board. The process often becomes bogged down and slow, she said.

Another problem is that there are not many deadlines the Department of Corrections must meet throughout the process, said Denise Maes of the ACLU of Colorado, which advocated for Martinezs release.

Data compiled by the state legislatures research staff for a 2018 bill about special needs parole shows that few people who applied for the parole had their requests granted. In 2017 and 2016, the Department of Corrections received 72 applications for special needs parole. The department referred nine of those applications to the parole board, which granted six. Two people died while their applications were pending, according to the data.

COVID-19 has only highlighted the depth of the problem with the system, Donner said.

Were in a pandemic and weve had very little use of the special needs parole statute  and not because there arent people eligible, she said.

Polis briefly expanded the parameters for special needs parole in March in an effort to reduce the prison population and minimize the risks of outbreaks causing lasting harm and deaths. Before the governors executive order expired May 22, the Department of Corrections was to recommend low-risk people who were at high risk of death due to COVID-19 for special needs parole.

During the two months the executive order was in place, 150 people were released  far fewer than advocates believe should have been eligible. Its unclear how many inmates have been approved for special needs parole for all of 2020 as the Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for that figure by deadline for this story.

About 7% of Colorados prison population  a total of 1,237 people  is over the age of 60 and therefore at higher risk from COVID-19, according to Department of Corrections data. Thirty percent of the approximately 16,000 people in the prisons have medical needs.

More than 8,000 people in Colorados prisons have tested positive for COVID-19 and 25 people have died of the virus.

Brasier is thankful Polis granted the release of her uncle, but worries about others still locked up who have medical conditions. Polis commuted the sentences of four people in December, including Martinez, and Brasier urged him to use his power to release more people.

On his first day out of prison in three decades, Martinez participated in a video chat with family members hed never talked to before, ate enchiladas and dreamed of a bubble bath. He understood that he was out of prison, but seemed overwhelmed. He alternated between beaming with joy and bursting into tears when describing what Brasier did for him.

This lady here, I have never seen her in my life, I have nothing but respect for her, he said, sitting in a Sterling hotel lobby, waiting to go home.
The following essay was written by Tina Beveridge. Tina is a veteran music educator of 17 years and is currently a 2nd year PhD student in music education at the University of Miami. It was first posted on her own blog Insert brilliant title here

Reader, Im not going to lie. I felt an enormous weight lift when President Biden was sworn in last week.

But, as my next-door neighbor while discussing the events of January, Now the work REALLY starts. As a music educator I felt that statement in my bones.

Education at the moment is a mess, not least of all because of the inconsistent hodgepodge systems being used for the pandemic. But public education is also suffering from four years of deliberate sabotage and twenty years of reform policies, which all stem from either a misdirected goal of erasing inequality through education or to completely privatize education.

Its ironic that the reformers all claim to want the same thing  better educational opportunities and outcomes without spending more money!  but have wildly different definitions about what that means, or which children they mean to help. And, of course, the pandemic has exacerbated all of these conflicts, with one result being a record number of teachers leaving the profession. Because who wants to be blamed when the policies fail and not even be able to fully support yourself from the salary? Or to receive derision when you finally say, but Im not willing to die for it?

While a poisonous houseplant would have been an improvement over Betsy DeVos, I have not set my mental expectations bar at that level. Incoming Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona certainly has his work cut out for him. Im optimistic that those of us in education can use this moment of upheaval for eventual good. It is encouraging to me that Sec. Cardona has actually taught in a classroom, and isnt a businessperson who thinks they know better than the people who actually work with kids.

Heres a bit of what I hope to see:

I dont know how much of my optimism will be borne out. But the time for educators to push for these things is now. Our kids cant wait for us to decide if we want to be reactive or proactive. Thankfully, we finally have an administration that might be able to make some positive changes.
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Jenna Coleman shared some behind the scenes moments from her fashion fittings ahead of her role on BBC One and Netflix series The Serpent.

The actress, 34, has won acclaim for her role as French-Canadian Marie-Andree Leclerc, murderer Charles Sobhraj's partner in crime.

But it was Leclerc's incredible 70s wardrobe which really got people talking, from her oversized sunglasses to her colour blocked ensembles and wide leg trousers.

Jenna Coleman shared behind the scenes snaps from her incredible 70s-inspired fashion fittings from The Serpent on Instagram on Saturday

There it is: The actress, 34, has won acclaim for her role as French-Canadian Marie-Andree Leclerc, murderer Charles Sobhraj's partner in crime, who went by the name Monique

Spotted: Jenna pictured in the same blue shirt from her fitting in a scene from the show

The Serpent is an eight-part series based on the real-life story of Charles, a murderer, thief and seductive master of disguise, who was a hidden darkness in the mid-70's on Asia's hippie trail.

Jenna spoke about the fashion on the series with Vogue magazine recently.

She said: ' We had lots of reference images and spoke about wanting a dark [Brigitte] Bardot vibe. In my mind, Marie-Andree was obsessed with magazines, particularly Paris.

'The idea was that she wanted to shed her French-Canadian identity and transform into somebody else. Theres a floatiness to her look and I brought the idea of her wearing kimonos around the house.

Bright thing: Jenna also shared this snap of herself wearing an orange shirt and flared jeans in fittings

Transformed: In the series, a darker shirt was worn and a blue patterned headscarf was thrown into the mix

The sunglasses are incredible too, and then theres what she wears in Paris.

'We looked at images of Mick and looked at images of Mick and Bianca Jagger, and thats where we got the idea for [Sobhraj and Leclercs] suits. I was also part-wigged because when we first meet Marie-Andree she has quite big curly hair.'

French Canadian Leclerc began her relationship with Sobhraj aged 30 after he poisoned her male friend to 'get him out of the way', however Leclerc was 'thrilled' to meet charismatic Sobhraj.

Leclerc soon learned how immoral and corrupt her new partner was, however she still stuck by him and even turned up the music as he and an accomplice bludgeoned two victims to near-death.

Check it out: Jenna also tried on a plaid shirt with turned up jeans in fittings

It made it! The shirt was worn with longer sleeves and teamed with flares and statement glasses in the show

Notorious con-artist Sobhrag attracted tourists and tricked them into handing over their money for his scams, and if they refused to help he poisoned them.

One of his first known victims was American tourist, Teresa Knowlton, who was murdered aged 21 after being drowned wearing a bikini by Sobhraj and his henchman Ajay Chowdhury.

However rather than running from the situation, Leclerc pretended to be the murdered victim so she was able to cash the thousands of pounds in travellers cheques they had stolen from her.

Sobhraj was first caught in 1976 when he tried to drug an entire group of French students in New Dehli and one of them caught on to his plan and handed him over to the authorities.

He spent a total of 21 years in jail in India where he was jailed for culpable homicide for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli man. He was released in 1997.

Eye-catching: Jenna's green suit looked incredible on her over a floral shirt

During his time in prison, authorities in Thailand attempted to extradite Sobhraj and he threw a huge party for inmates and guards alike. He drugged them all with sleeping pills and managed to walk out of the prison.

He was later caught and jailed for another 10 years for the event until 1997.

The law caught up with him again in Nepal in 2004 when he was jailed for the killing of US tourist Connie Joe Bronzich in 1975.

In 2014, he was handed a second life sentence for the killing of Canadian backpacker Laurent Carriere, whose passport he had used to escape Nepal after killing the pair.

Sobhraj has now been linked to 20 murders during his killing spree.

While in jail in Kathmandu, Sobhraj married Biswas, who is 44 years his junior and the daughter of his lawyer.

Leclerc professed her innocence right up until her death aged 38, following an ovarian cancer diagnosis while imprisoned in India.

She was allowed to return to Canada upon the condition she would come back to India when her health improved.

Vietnams Ministry of Public Security has broken up a prostitution brokerage ring that offered sex tours worth US$5,000-7,000 each.

Officers confirmed on Saturday that the high-end prostitution ring operated in Hanoi and neighboring provinces.

The racket was run by 25-year-old Phan Thanh Luong, who hails from the north-central province of Quang Binh.

At around 9:30 pm on Thursday, officers under the Ministry of Public Security, in coordination with the Hanoi police department, caught red-handed two sex workers and their clients at an apartment in Ba Dinh District.

At the police station, the clients claimed they had previously contacted Luong and agreed to pay VND20 million ($866) for each of the prostitutes.

Police later searched Luongs house on Nguyen Tuan Street in Thanh Xuan District and discovered three plastic bags containing ketamine, deemed an illegal drug in Vietnam, and other synthetic drugs.

In his statement, Luong said he had communicated with his clients via social media to reach deals regarding types of services and their prices.

Luong or the customers would then decide on the locations where prostitutes would be sent to offer their services.

Each service cost about VND20-40 million ($866-1,733) depending on the 'reputation' of the sex workers.

The ring also offered sex tours to multiple destinations throughout Vietnam at $5,000-7,000 each.

Some of the escorts of this illegal ring are famous faces on social media with hundreds of thousands of followers, according to local authorities.

Further investigation is ongoing.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Elizabethtown College launched the Make A Deposit, Make A Difference campaign for the second consecutive year in a row. The College will match 100-percent of all deposits made by newly accepted students during the month of February to join the Class of 2025. The College has an overall goal of raising $15,000. The unique campaign aims to provide the monetary donation to local non-profits impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, aligning with the College's motto, Educate to Service.

"We are led by our College motto of using our knowledge and talents to serve others," Elizabethtown College President Cecilia M. McCormick, J.D. said. "Our tight-knit communities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and now more than ever, our campus community feels an even larger pull to contribute to others and improve the wellbeing of our society."

As a result of the campaign, Etown will provide $15,000 to non-profits within the region and toward the College's initiative to combat food insecurity among college students. The College will announce the non-profits once the anticipated goal is met.

"During this unprecedented time in our nation's history, we are all looking for inspiration," Elizabethtown College Vice President for Enrollment Management John F. Champoli said. "Our campaign was evolved in response to the pandemic and our Etown campus community's desire to give back to others."

The College's motto Educate for Service was adopted in 1915. Educate for Service expresses the College campus community's belief that the pursuit of knowledge is most noble when used to benefit others.

Elizabethtown College will host its first of three virtual Accepted Student Days of 2021 on Saturday, Feb. 13. The event is open to all high school seniors accepted to make the next step and become a student at Elizabethtown College. The event features the following:

Meet-and-greet with current students to learn about their Etown experience

Welcome remarks from President Cecilia M. McCormick , J.D.

Attend live, interactive sessions with our expert faculty

Take a 360-degree virtual tour of our beautiful campus

Interested students and families can register for the event at etown.edu. Learn more about living your best life at Elizabethtown College.

Elizabethtown College, located in historic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private institution offering more than 50 health, science, engineering, political science, business, communications, fine arts, and education degrees. Discover more: etown.edu.

Contact:

Keri Straub

Executive Director, Marketing and Communications

Elizabethtown College

(717) 725-6907

[email protected]

SOURCE Elizabethtown College

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President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday paid tributes to farmers saying every Indian is grateful to them for ensuring food security in our vast and populous country, and gave the assurance that the government is devoted to farmers' welfare. "Every Indian salutes our farmers, who have made our vast and populous country self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products. Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained the agricultural production," he said in his address on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day.

"A grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers. Just as our hardworking farmers ensure food security for the country, the brave soldiers of the armed forces ensure security of our national boundaries amid severest conditions," Kovind said. The comments by the President come against the backdrop of the ongoing agitation by farmers against three new farm laws. The President said the path to reforms in the initial stages may cause misapprehensions, but the government is devoted to farmers' welfare.

"Economic reforms have continued apace and have been supplemented by long-pending reforms in the areas of labour and agriculture through legislation. The path to reform at the initial stages may cause misapprehensions. However, it is beyond doubt that the government remains singularly devoted to farmers' welfare," he said. Kovind said the country's farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and the entire nation is grateful to them. "From space to the farms, from educational institutions to hospitals, the community of scientists has enriched our life and work. Our scientists have been working day and night for decoding the Coronavirus and they have succeeded in developing the vaccine in record time. With this accomplishment, our scientists have added a glorious chapter of contribution to the well-being of humanity.

"Our scientists, along with doctors, administrators and people from other walks of life, have made major contribution in containing the virus and keeping the fatality rate lower in our country, compared to that in developed countries. Thus, all our farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and a grateful nation greets them on this auspicious occasion of the Republic Day," he said.
HOWELL, N.J., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardknox, an omnichannel payment gateway, known for its flexible and robust integrations, this year has directed much of its efforts toward supporting a wider array of e-commerce payment methods. Retailers who integrate with Cardknox will now have the ability to offer Google Pay as a payment method to their online shoppers at checkout.

Google Pay, available to Android users, is a digital wallet and online payment system that allows users to save their credit, debit, gift cards, and loyalty cards to the app in order to streamline and speed up the checkout process. Upon adding their payment information, customers are able to pay online from their mobile devices simply by using biometric scanning methods or by signing into the app. This saves consumers from having to enter their payment information each time they make a purchase. The service also keeps card data safe with security features like built-in authentication, transaction encryption, and fraud protection.

The addition of this payment option will allow online merchants who integrate with Cardknox to give their customers more payment options while increasing online conversions. By shortening the checkout process and reducing payment friction, mobile wallets have been proven to lower the rate of shopping cart abandonment.

As contactless payments, online commerce, and mobile commerce continue to grow in popularity, Cardknox has put an enhanced focus into helping merchants and software developers expand their payment method offerings. Over the past year alone, Cardknox has added Apple Pay, SNAP EBT online, and now Google Pay to the growing list of e-commerce and mobile payment options they support.

"We've always prided ourselves on offering flexible payment solutions, and that means supporting our merchants and software developer partners with the functionalities they need as shopping experiences evolve," said Cardknox Vice President of Sales, Mark Paley. "By adding this solution to our lineup, we look forward to being able to support merchants as their customers increasingly move online, and to allow our software developer partners to provide their clients with even more e-commerce and mobile commerce solutions."

To learn more about Cardknox's Google Pay online integration, visit www.cardknox.com/google-pay.

About Cardknox

Cardknox is an omnichannel payment gateway that can be seamlessly integrated with POS systems, ERP software, e-commerce, and mobile platforms. Offering flexible payment solutions and innovative technology to qualify transactions for the lowest interchange rates, Cardknox serves thousands of partners and customers across every major industry throughout the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. For more information, visit www.cardknox.com.

Media Contact:

Chaya Poltorak

Director of Marketing and Product

(844) 227-3566

[email protected]

SOURCE Cardknox

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Andra Day is already earning buzz for her upcoming feature debut in The United States vs Billie Holiday.

And the two-time Grammy nominee went to great lengths to make her first leading performance a great one.

She lost nearly 40 pounds to get into character as Billie Holiday for the Lee Daniels-directed Hulu biopic, detailing her process to Leslie Odom Jr during Variety's Actors on Actors.

Physically daunting: Andra Day 'abused' her body and lost nearly 40 pounds to get into character as Billie Holiday for the Lee Daniels-directed Hulu biopic The United States vs Billie Holiday

The 36-year-old said: 'I basically abused my body for a long time. I'm joking and not really joking. I got the role at the very top of 2018. Reading everything I could get my hands on. Listening to every interview.

'Apparently, I exhausted the internet of Billie Holiday photos. Apparently, the internet will tell you that you've reached the end.'

She added: 'I put my family through it; I put myself through it. I went from 163 pounds to 124 pounds. I would talk like her and I don't drink or smoke, but I started smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol.

'Not that I recommend people do this; I just was desperate because this is my first role. I just asked God to give me all of the pain and trauma. I asked him to give me her pain and give me her trauma.'

Abusing her body: The 36-year-old said: 'I basically abused my body for a long time. I'm joking and not really joking. I got the role at the very top of 2018. Reading everything I could get my hands on. Listening to every interview' (pictured in November, 2020)

Cigarettes and alcohol: She added: 'I put my family through it; I put myself through it. I went from 163 pounds to 124 pounds. I would talk like her and I don't drink or smoke, but I started smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol' (pictured in February, 2019)

Famous voice: Day also detailed why it was important for her to change her voice in order to sing as the iconic jazz songstress: 'There's victory and there is pain in her voice. So to me it was just like we've got to get it, we have to get it, you know what I mean?' (pictured in January, 2021)

Day also detailed why it was important for her to change her voice in order to sing as the iconic jazz songstress.

She said: 'That was an early decision that we made right away to do the singing. Every time I would sing a song I'd go, OK, Lee's going to hear this and he's going to fire me. But I wouldn't have done it if they'd been, "Do it in your voice."

'That for me would have probably been a no. There's victory and there is pain in her voice. So to me it was just like we've got to get it, we have to get it, you know what I mean? It'll have to be my interpretation of it, but it has to be there.'

The Cheers to the Fall artist offers a haunting performance as she embodies Holiday in the first trailer for for The United States vs Billie Holiday, which premiered earlier this month.

Haunting performance: The Cheers to the Fall artist offers a haunting performance as she embodies Holiday in the first trailer for for The United States vs Billie Holiday, which premiered earlier this month

Civil Rights icon: She stars as the titular music and Civil Rights icon in the untold story of her 1939 song Strange Fruit, which protested the lynchings of Black Americans, making her a target of the FBI

Star-studded cast: Day stars alongside Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund and Natasha Lyonne in the film, which premieres February 26 on the streaming platform

She stars as the titular musician and Civil Rights icon in the untold story of her 1939 song Strange Fruit, which protested the lynchings of Black Americans, making her a target of the FBI.

Day stars alongside Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund and Natasha Lyonne in the film, which premieres February 26 on the streaming platform.

Although the long overdue story is a tragic one to behold, Day's performance is sure to captivate audiences and honor Billie Holiday like few can.

Day recently joined director Lee Daniels for her V Magazine cover interview, in which she revealed why she took the role: 'The truth of it all actually mattered to me. Because, as Lee knows, and we've laughed about this a bunch of timesat first I was terrified. I was hesitant, and I was like, "I dont know if this is a good idea."

She also credited Diana Ross' performance as Billie in the 1972 biopic: 'Also, I loved Lady Sings the Blues. I love Diana's performance. So it was actually part of the reason I did not want to do this. She killed the role. It's beautiful what she did.

Cover girl: Day recently joined director Lee Daniels for her V Magazine cover interview, in which she revealed why she took the role: 'The truth of it all actually mattered to me'

Iconic role: She also credited Diana Ross' performance as Billie in the 1972 biopic: 'Also, I loved Lady Sings the Blues. I love Diana's performance. So it was actually part of the reason I did not want to do this. She killed the role. It's beautiful what she did'

Perfect tribute: Although the long overdue story is a tragic one to behold, Day's performance is sure to captivate audiences and honor Billie Holiday like few can

'But Lee, I remember we sat down and had dinner at Soho House, and the first thing I really liked was actually your energy. We bonded over good stuff and bonded over the bad. It was your character and your need for authenticity that I really enjoyed.'

Meanwhile, Daniels admitted that he initially didn't want her for the role: 'My managers, people who work with me, they were like, "[Andra] is who you have to hire." And I was like, "F*** y'all." I was like, "Poor girl, she doesn't stand a chance."

'But then we met and when I first looked at her, I saw her spirit. I got chills. She wasn't a desperate actress that just wanted to do it. I could tell she was questioning whether she was good enough. To me, that is when you know that you are really dealing with a perfectionist. She wanted to do the role justice. That's all you're looking for as a director.'

Catch Andra Day in The United States vs Billie Holiday, which premieres February 26 on Hulu.




Haiti - FLASH : Emergency landing of a JetBlue plane in Port-au-Prince





On Sunday a JetBlue airline plane carrying passengers to Fort Lauderdale (Florida) had to make an emergency landing in Haiti



Jet Blue flight 1710 took off at 6:54:31 p.m. from Toussaint Louverture International Airport on Sunday for Fort Lauderdale.



At 7:00 p.m. the pilots, having noticed a problem with one of the engines, decided to turn around and began the descent of the plane for an emergency landing.



The aircraft was then at an altitude of 1.219 m, 43 km northwest of the airport at GPS coordinates [18.7925 -72.6347].



The plane landed without damage at Toussaint Louverture International Airport at 7:17:51pm where all emergency services, firefighters and ambulance had been mobilized.



All the passengers are safe and sound.



SL/ HaitiLibre


















Mrs Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo has retained the First Lady title once again on the backdrop of the New Patriotic Partys victory in the December 7 elections, and the beautiful investiture of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, her husband, as the Fifth President of the Fourth Republic.



The 69-year old First Lady relentlessly stood by her husband, through thick and thin, till he ascended the highest seat of governance in 2017, for the first term, and in 2021 for the second term. Her contributions to the general wellbeing of humanity, particularly women and children, cannot go unnoticed.



Over the past four years Mrs Akufo-Addo has been married to a man whose heart beats for his nation.



In a message titled: Dear Ghana, which she posted on her Facebook wall just before the 2020 General election, described the last four years as humbling.



I wake up every morning, adjusting to this charge of First Lady; partnering a man not only for love but in deep service of our country - the first gentleman, she said.



Born Rebecca Griffiths-Randolph to Mr Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph, the first African Commissioner of Income Tax, a Judge and later a Speaker of Parliament, and Mrs Frances Philippina Griffiths-Randolph, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, in her first-term as the First Lady, dedicated herself to improving the lot of children, young people, and women, as well as to the education and the healthcare sectors of the Ghanaian society.



By way of supporting national efforts to reduce malaria and malnutrition in children and pregnant women, she co-founded the charity; Infanta Malaria Prevention Foundation in 2005, even before she became the first lady.



She established The Rebecca Foundation in 2017, when her husband became the President, to ensure the economic empowerment of women and the well-being of children in education and health.



Also in 2017, she personally raised funds from individuals and organisations to build an ultra-modern Mother/Baby and Paediatric Intensive Unit at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, while the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra was blessed with a Paediatric Intensive Care, Neonatal Intensive Care and High Dependency units.



Aside the provision of these critical healthcare delivery edifices, Mrs Akufo-Addo also led a strong drive to acquire hospital equipment and supplies, which she distributed to health centres across the 16 regions of Ghana in addition to sourcing for funds to support surgeries of some vulnerable people.



Under her Community Health Outreach Initiative, new CHPS compounds were established and equipped at Seduase in the Greater Accra Region and Nyashegu in the Northern Region.



There were also donations of phototherapy machines to the Princess Marie Louis Childrens Hospital in Accra and the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, while the Osu Maternity Home and Usher Fort clinics were renovated and equipped with medical supplies.



Through the efforts of the First Lady, six ambulances were distributed to the Komfo Anokye Mother and Baby Unit, Korle-Bu Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, West Gonja District Hospital, Sakumono Community Hospital, the Osu Maternity Home and the Valley View Hospital, geared towards making healthcare accessible to all.



To date, her Foundation continues to be a major partner to the Ministry of Health in the provision of services to the citizenry, especially women and children.



Mrs Akufo-Addos passion for girls education led her to create the Because I want to Be initiative to encourage girls to stay in school or learn some entrepreneurial skills through training and provision of start-up kits for soap making to about 100 females, including out-of-school girls, in the Central and Greater Accra regions.



Some girls were also trained in catering and as artisans as well as introduced to mentorship programmes, which still show on television, to reach girls across the country with life meaning lessons and experiences.



She also established the Learning to read, Reading to learn initiative, to improve literacy among children through a TV reading programme, while providing libraries in school clusters across the country in communities like Sefwi Debiso in the Western North Region, Moree in the Central Region, Wenchi in the Bono Region and Daffiama Busei Issah in the Upper West Region.



Bortianor and Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region, Kumawu in Ashanti, and Krachi in Oti also benefitted from the library project.



Books, computers, and shoes among other things were distributed to various schools in the country while children from the SOS Village benefited from educational exchange programmes to China.



The SOS Ghana, Kyebi School for the Deaf, Mother Care Orphanage, Akropong School for the Blind, Mampong School for the Deaf, Dzorwulu Special School and Adjei Kojo School for the Deaf, all benefitted from the benevolence of Mrs Akufo-Addo.



She also created a womens economic empowerment initiative called Terema, which provided skills training and business assistance to women in Ghana, empowering fishmongers, traders and women artisans from Western, Central, Western North and Greater Accra regions with various start-up tools.



Under the Terema initiative, the First Lady led a successful business trip with 35 women entrepreneurs to China to explore business opportunities there, while many street hawkers were empowered with small tools and grants to boost their businesses.



The Ghana National Hairdressers and Beauticians Association was not left out as Mrs Akufo-Addo donated 1000 bags of cement to help in putting up infrastructure to aid their activities.



The First Lady also organised three high level International Womens Day events to advocate for gender equality and inclusiveness of women and girls in national development.



Suffice it to say that in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Mrs Akufo-Addo distributed food, hygiene and safety items to thousands of women, including the aged and single mothers across the country to lessen their plight due to the temporary lockdown.



And as the Nutrition Champion of the African Leaders for Nutrition, Mrs Akufo-Addo has been strongly advocating for improved nutrition outcomes for Ghanaians, especially children.



She is also the premier ambassador for HIV/AIDS; a patron of the Schools for the Blind and Deaf, Cancer Voices and SOS Childrens Villages Ghana.



These enormous contributions by the First Lady, to ensure the wellbeing of the people, have indeed not gone unnoticed as she has received commendations from many organisations and individuals, including the Ministry of Health.



She is recognised for her firm belief that every first Lady is uniquely placed to make a difference in the lives of citizens, hence her determination to support the efforts of the Government in addressing the development needs of the country.



As a citizen, Im confident about the future of this country; that it is led by a President who has shown the clearest vision about Ghana, about the economy, education, agriculture, industrialisation and about young people, Mrs Akufo-Addo said.



And so more than ever, I feel married to politics; the kind that changes the life of a young Thomas Amoaning of Adeiso SHS who although walked six kilometres every day to school, never wavered in his ambition to become an Economist.



Today, I feel connected to parts of our country and our stories through the Rebecca Foundation.



Ghana may be a land of possibilities but what I have seen from these last four years is that our children can only attain their fullest potential if we have a leader who is obsessed with these possibilities and who would not catch any sleep until young boys can have a country to believe in and young girls can dare to dream; to be presidents, business leaders, scientists or first-ladies if they choose to.



It is, therefore, not out of order to say Aayeeko to Mrs Akufo-Addo for all these achievements, among the many others that have not been mentioned, under the first term of her first ladyship.



I pray and hope that God will grant you the strength and resources, even as you enter your 70th year in March, this year, to do more for the Ghanaian girl, women and all the marginalised in society.

Source: GNA









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President Joe Biden reversed Donald Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military Monday when he signed an executive order stating 'all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve.'

'This is reinstating a position that previous commanders as well as the secretaries have supported and what I'm doing is letting all qualified Americans to serve the country in uniform,' he said in the Oval Office Monday before signing the order.

'Transgender personnel, if qualified in every other way, can serve their government in the United States military,' he noted.

Biden signed the order as met with new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the Oval Office at the White House ahead of Austin's ceremonial swearing-in. Austin is the first African American to serve as the top Pentagon chief.

Also taking part in the occasion was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, in a sign that the military is united behind the new president.

But not all Republicans are on board. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the GOP leadership, questioned Biden's commitment to unity with the order.

'Another "unifying" move by the new Administration?,' he tweeted.

The administration touted Biden's signing, noting the president 'fulfilled another crucial pledge.'

'President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that Americas strength is found in its diversity,' the White House said Monday in a fact sheet about Biden's decision.

The executive order specifically notes 'transgender servicemembers will no longer be subject to the possibility of discharge or separation on the basis of gender identity.'

President Joe Biden signed an executive order to reverse a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military - Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were on hand for signing

Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas questioned Biden's commitment to unity with the signing

President Joe Biden said with the order 'what I'm doing is letting all qualified Americans to serve the country in uniform'

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had said the ban would be lifted in the early days of the administration. LGBTQ activists called the policy cruel.

It was announced by President Trump via Twitter in July 2017. The ban specifically blocks individuals who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria from being recruited, with limited exceptions.

It also specifies that individuals without the condition can serve, but only if they do so according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

It did not affect anyone who was serving and recognized as transgender, but affected new recruits and also said that currently serving troops who started to transition would be discharged.

It is unknown how many new recruits were rejected, or how many were not recruited. In 2019 the Washington Blade reported that all branches of the military said they had discharged zero service members and the Coast Guard said it had rejected two recruits.

In 2016, a Department of Defense study found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs.

The study also concluded that open transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries.

President Biden signed the order before Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, with his wife Charlene, took the ceremonial oath of office from Vice President Kamala Harris

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin elbow bumps Vice President Harris after the swearing-in

President Biden met with his new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday, above Austin arrives for his first day on the job at the Pentagon on January 22

In March last year, a 10-year Navy officer sued as a Jane Doe saying she faced involuntary discharge for being diagnosed with gender dysphoria. She was given a waiver to continue her service and her treatment in May.

Austin said at his Senate confirmation hearing last week that he supported repealing the ban.

'I support the president's plan or plan to overturn the ban,' he said on Tuesday. 'I truly believe ... that if you're fit and you're qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve. And, you can expect that I will support that throughout.'

The move to overturn the transgender ban is also the latest example of Biden using executive authority in his first days as president to dismantle Trump's legacy, on key issues which Trump had made the center of his appeal.

His early actions include orders to overturn a Trump administration ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, stop construction of the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and launch an initiative to advance racial equity.

Republicans critical of Biden are likely to add reversing the Pentagon's transgender ban to the list of orders Biden has signed which will please the left, including another measure on transgender equality which will prevent school 'bathroom bans' and prevent transgender athletes from being told to compete in their birth sex.

Biden is also scheduled to hold a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony on Monday at the White House for Austin, who became the nation's first Black defense secretary.

It was unclear how quickly the Pentagon can put a new policy in effect, and whether it will take some time to work out details.

Until a few years ago service members could be discharged from the military for being transgender, but that changed during the Obama administration.

In 2016, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly.

And the military set July 1, 2017, as the date when transgender individuals would be allowed to enlist.

After Trump took office, however, his administration delayed the enlistment date and called for additional study to determine if allowing transgender individuals to serve would affect military readiness or effectiveness.

A few weeks later, Trump caught military leaders by surprise, tweeting that the government wouldn't accept or allow transgender individuals to serve 'in any capacity' in the military. 'Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,' he wrote.

It took nearly two years, but after a lengthy and complicated legal battle and additional reviews, the Defense Department in April 2019 approved the new policy that fell short of an all-out ban but barred transgender troops and military recruits from transitioning to another sex and required most individuals to serve in their birth gender.

Trump's ban specifically blocked individuals who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria from serving in the military with limited exceptions

Lloyd Austin told senators at his confirmation hearing he supports lifting the ban

Under that policy, currently serving transgender troops and anyone who had signed an enlistment contract before the effective date could continue with plans for hormone treatments and gender transition if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

But after that date, no one with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or has transitioned to another gender was allowed to enlist.

Troops that were already serving and were diagnosed with gender dysphoria were required to serve in their birth gender and were barred from taking hormones or getting transition surgery.

Under the Trump policy, a service member can be discharged based on a diagnosis of gender dysphoria if he or she is 'unable or unwilling to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with his or her biological sex, or seeks transition to another gender.'

And it said troops must be formally counseled and given a chance to change their decision before the discharge is finalized.

As of 2019, an estimated 14,700 troops on active duty and in the Reserves identify as transgender, but not all seek treatment. Since July 2016, more than 1,500 service members were diagnosed with gender dysphoria; as of Feb. 1, 2019, there were 1,071 currently serving.

According to the Pentagon, the department spent about $8 million on transgender care between 2016 and 2019. The military's annual health care budget tops $50 billion.

All four service chiefs told Congress in 2018 that they had seen no discipline, morale or unit readiness problems with transgender troops serving openly in the military. But they also acknowledged that some commanders were spending a lot of time with transgender individuals who were working through medical requirements and other transition issues.

Posted Monday, January 25, 2021 9:14 am

As they launched into their full-fledged pandemic legislative session earlier this month, lawmakers in Washington state had no shortage of education issues to sort through.

More than 60 bills related to K-12 schools are in the works already, including proposals to maximize the role of school counselors, change truancy policies and reopen school buildings. Heading into the session, lawmakers and state executives said their priorities would be focusing on supporting student mental health, granting financial flexibility to school districts and expanding access to the internet.

Advocates hope the systemic problems highlighted by the pandemic will inspire lawmakers to pass more measures aimed at transforming schools rather than returning to business as usual. A number of significant bills not directly related to the pandemic response, including one that would require school districts to incorporate lessons on anti-racism into their professional training programs, are also being considered.

"There's a moral obligation to address some of the challenges that have been present for many years," said Jake Vela, director of policy and research for the League of Education Voters in Washington state.

If past years are any indication, the priorities may change significantly once a clearer financial outlook emerges. The main task before legislators is to pass the state's operating budget for the next two years. The state is expected to receive a revenue forecast in March that may "shift the tone of the session," Vela said.

"I predict that we can't predict anything," said Marissa Rathbone, director of government relations for the Washington State School Directors' Association, an advocacy group composed of school board members. "I predict that we're gonna need a lot of grace and patience."

A huge chunk of money for education, about $825 million, is also expected to arrive from the second federal coronavirus stimulus package. Some lawmakers and the state Education Department would like to require school districts to submit a plan for how they plan to address learning impacted by the pandemic in exchange for those funds. The federal money can be used for a broad range of purposes, including supporting summer learning, addressing learning loss, purchasing personal protective equipment and repairing school ventilation systems.

With those moving parts in mind, here are some topics and proposals popping up early in the session:

School counselors

Lawmakers are reviving legislation that died last session to tighten the definition of school counselors' duties. The bill is designed to maximize the amount of time these staff spend directly serving children, and limit time spent overseeing recess or completing other duties that fall outside national standards for school counselors.

Last year's version of the bill received broad support in the state Senate but never made it onto the House's hearing schedule, said Virginia Barry, policy and government affairs manager for the nonprofit Stand For Children Washington, which supports the policy. "There's pretty broad consensus," for streamlining the role of school counselors, she added. The bill received unanimous approval from the Senate's education committee last week, and now awaits a vote from the Rules committee.

Graduation

Last year, as it became clear many high school seniors would fail to graduate without intervention, the Legislature granted the state Board of Education the power to hand out emergency waivers of graduation requirements. Those powers expired last July. A new bill would allow the board to extend waivers if students are impacted by a national, local or state emergency. Another bill, also requested by the board, would reduce the number of credits required for graduation from 24 to 20.

Expanding access to technology

State and local school districts have purchased millions of dollars worth of internet access plans from major service providers and offered them to families for remote learning. But significant gaps in digital literacy and access to the internet still exist, especially among marginalized and low-income communities, said Sharonne Navas, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Equity in Education Coalition.

"We are nowhere near as developed in our infrastructure as we need to be," said Navas.

Gov. Jay Inslee's budget proposal to the Legislature includes $79 million for increasing access to residential broadband. It also asks for $6 million in funds to implement Connect WA, a plan put together by a coalition of community and government leaders including Navas, leaders from the state Education Department, lobbyists for tribes and the King County Housing Authority. The program would, in part, pay for what are called "Digital Navigators"  "experienced, trauma-informed social service providers, who, while reaching out to families around food, housing, health, and mental health services, are also cross-trained to offer digital access and digital literacy support." Another element of the proposal involves creating a statewide dashboard to show where internet needs are the greatest.

The coalition is working to ensure digital equity is a part of the budgets proposed by the House and the Senate.

Reopening schools

In an effort to address the scattered approach to school reopening across the state, Sens. John Braun, R-Chehalis, and Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, introduced a bill that would require school districts to expand in-person instruction to all students if their counties meet certain disease thresholds. Under a revised version of the bill, districts must provide in-person instruction to all students in counties where COVID-19 test positivity rates are below 5% or where cases are below 200 cases per 100,000. Districts in counties where cases are below 350 per 100,000 would be required to provide in-person instruction for grades K-8. It would also prevent Gov. Jay Inslee from imposing a shutdown order on districts where test positivity rates are low.

"We gotta find a way to get back into school, with basic precautions," said Braun. "This provides instructions to schools  I'm open to using different measurements."

But state and some national health experts have begun to move away from using health metrics as a firm measure for when to reopen, stressing that safety measures are more important than a set of numbers.

Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary of health for COVID-19, testified against an earlier version of the bill at a Jan. 18 hearing.

"If metrics are put into statutes, it will be hard to put in new metrics based on data and science," she said.

Lisa Wellman, D-Bainbridge Island, who chairs the education committee in the Senate, said she "wasn't supportive of the idea." She said it ignores the reality that "there are all kinds of collective bargaining agreements between school districts and unions around reopening."

One parent delivered emotional testimony in support, sharing the story of his son's suicide and the isolation from his peers he experienced during the pandemic. Nasue Nishida, who testified on behalf of the state Education Department, said the agency supports the "intent" of the bill but did not explicitly support or oppose it.

Seattle Times staff reporter Hannah Furfaro contributed reporting to this story.

___

(c)2021 The Seattle Times

Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Queensland has issued an urgent public health alert instructing anyone who has come into the state from New Zealand since January 14 to get tested and quarantine until they get their result.

A woman in Auckland is believed to have acquired the South African variant of coronavirus while in hotel quarantine, but didnt test positive until she had been released into the community.

Anyone who came to Queensland from New Zealand in the past 11 days should get tested and isolate until their result. Credit:Wolter Peeters

New Zealand health officials believe she probably contracted the virus within hotel quarantine.

It was the countrys first local case in more than two months and Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has suspended the green zone travel status between New Zealand for 72 hours.
[January 25, 2021] IQST - iQSTEL Announces Analyst Update With Target PPS Increase To $0.61 And Potential To $1.00 Later This Year

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iQSTEL, Inc. (USOTC: IQST) today announced that Goldman Small Cap Research has published an updated analyst report with a new target share price recommendation of $0.61, up from $0.54. Goldman further indicates the potential for IQST's share price to reach $1.00 later this year. Goldman Highlights: Based on its current valuation relative to its peer group and its entry into new, complementary high growth markets, IQST offers huge upside potential with limited downside risk. Based on recent and future initiatives we are raising our 2020 revenue forecast to $44.8M, up from $42M and our 6-month target price to $0.61, up from $0.54, previously. IQST is a burgeoning leader in VoIP and SMS services in fast-growing emerging markets. Building its business largely through M&A, new Blockchain. IoT, and Fintech offerings should serve as major profit centers and revenue growth drivers. See the full report: IQST - Raising Estimates and Target with More Increases in the Offing About iQSTEL Inc (Updated): iQSTEL Inc (OTC: IQST) (www.iQSTEL.com) is a US-based publicly-listed company offering leading-edge Telecommunication, Technology and Fintech Services for Global Markets, with presence in 13 countries. The company provides services to the Telecommunications, Financial Services, Liquid Fuel Distribution and Electric Vehicle Industries. iQSTEL has 3 Business Divisions: Telecom, Technology and Fintech, with worldwide B2B and B2C customer relations operating through its subsidiaries: Etelix, SwissLink, QGlobal SMS, SMSDirectos, IoT Labs, itsBchain and Global Money One. The Company has an extensive portfolio of products and services for its clients: SMS, VoIP, 4G & 5G international infrastructure connectivity, Cloud-PBX, OmniChannel Marketing, IoT Smart Gas Platform, IoT Smart Electric Vehicle Platform, Mobile Number Portability Application MNPA (Blockchain), Settlement & Payments Marketplace (Blockchain), Visa Debit Card, Money Remittance, and Pay Mobile Phone Services among others. About Etelix.com USA LLC (iQSTELs Telecom Division): Etelix.com USA LLC (www.etelix.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. Etelix.com USA, LLC is a Miami, Florida-based international telecom carrier founded in 2008 that provides telecom and technology solutions worldwide, with commercial presence in North America, Latin America, and Europe. Enabled by its 214-license granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Etelix provides International Long-Distance voice services for Telecommunications Operators (ILD Wholesale), and Submarine Fiber Optic Network capacity for internet (4G and 5G). Etelix was founded in 2008 and has been profitable since inception. About SwissLink Carrier AG (iQSTELs Telecom Division): SwissLink Carrier AG (www.swisslink-carrier.com) is a 51% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. SwissLink Carrier AG is a Switzerland based international Telecommunications Carrier founded in 2015 providing international VoIP connectivity worldwide, with commercial presence in Europe, CIS and Latin America. SwissLink Carrier AG is a Swiss licensed Operator, having a domestic Interconnect with Swisscom, allowing their international Carrier Customers direct terminations via SwissLink into all Switzerland Fix & Mobile Networks. Since the takeover from Swissphone in November 2018 and the rename into SwissLink, they operate on a profitable level. About QGlobal SMS LLC (iQSTELs Telecom Division): QGlobal SMS LLC (www.qglobalsms.com) is a 5% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. QGlobal SMS is a USA based company and a commercial brand founded in 2020 specialized in international and domestic SMS termination, with emphasis on the Applications to Person (A2P) and Person to Person (P2P) for Wholesale Carrier Market and Corporate Market in US. QGlobal SMS has commercial presence in US, Mexico, Latin America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) and Africa, through our SMS service providers based in Austin, TX and Miami, FL Our Austin-based SMS service provider is specialized in the SMS traffic exchange between US and Mexico, and our Miami-based SMS service provider is focused in the development of Latin America and the rest of the world. QGlobal SMS has robust international interconnection with Tier1 SMS Aggregators, guarantying its customers high quality and low termination rates, over more than 100 countries worldwide.



About Alcyon Cloud SMS S.A.S, Commercial Brand SMSDirectos.com (iQSTELs Telecom Division): Alcyon Cloud SMS S.A.S. (Commercial Brand SMSDirectos.com), is a whole subsidiary of QGlobal SMS, a Colombian-based Application and Content Provider. Alcyon Cloud SMS (SMSDirectos.com) is registered with the Secretary of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Colombia, offering services to government, enterprises, small and medium business, as well as end-users. Using SMSDirectos' existing network, they plan to expand services from SMS to offer omnichannel products and services such as: SMS, Emails, RCS (Rich Communications Services), Social Media Channels (Whats App, Messenger, etc), WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), VoIP (IP-PBX, SIP Trunking) ChatBots (Artificial Intelligence Based), SMS to Email, and Email to SMS.

About IoT Labs MX SAPI (iQSTELs Technology Division): IoT Labs MX SAPI (www.iotlabs.mx), a subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc, is an Internet of Things (IoT) Mexican technology development company, creator of the "IoT Smart Gas" Platform and Application. The IoT Smart Gas platform www.iotsmartgas.com consists of an IoT field device installed on the LP gas tank (adaptable to virtually any gas or liquid storage tank) and, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) technology via Sigfox or GSM network connectivity, allows remote managed and improved logistic processes of refilling, usage tracking and tank monitoring in real-time by the Smart Gas mobile app. The new GSM tracking feature allows for mobile use including ground, air, and sea tank monitoring. About itsBchain LLC (iQSTELs Technology Division): itsBchain LLC (www.itsBchain.com) is a 75% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. itsBchain is a blockchain technology developer and solution provider, with a strong focus on the telecom sector. The company is the final stage of development of a series of blockchain solutions aimed at using the blockchain ledger and smart contract solutions to enable more efficiency, quickness in execution and fraud-prevention in the telco industry. Specifically, the company is developing a solution that will enable users and carriers to transfer mobile phone numbers with just a few clicks, allowing users and carriers the ability to transfer retail users from one mobile carrier to another instantly. Additionally, the company is finalizing a carrier-grade marketplace solution to procure payments between carriers for cross-traffic of VoIP, SMS and data realtime as traffic is crossed between carriers. This marketplace will allow for instant payment settlement as well as the prevention of fraud between carriers. About Global Money One Inc (iQSTELs Fintech Division): Global Money One Inc. (www.GlobalMoneyOne.com) is a 75% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. Global Money One Inc is a Miami, Florida-based Fin-Tech company that uses a blend of industry expertise, state-of-the-art technology and compliance requirements to create disruptive solutions that deliver control, security and real-time payments and innovative Financial capabilities with reduced cost for consumers, specially to the unbanked, underbanked and underserved segments of today's society. Our portfolio of services will include a Prepaid VISA MoneyOne Card (www.visamoneyone.com) expected to enable customers to make purchases in stores and online, withdraw cash at ATMs or receive cash back when using it to make a purchase, recharge prepaid mobile phone service and send money domestically or internationally (+ 40 countries). The VISA MoneyOne Card is expected to also facilitate the deposit of funds into bank accounts, Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) by mobile phone, bill payments, rewards, and digital gift cards. The VISA MoneyOne is the new and freedom financial world wallet expected launch in early Q2 2021. Safe Harbor Statement: Statements in this news release may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and iQSTEL Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release. iQSTEL Inc. IR US Phone: +1-646-740-0907, IR Email: investors@iqstel.com Source: iQSTEL Inc. and its subsidiaries: www.iqstel.com ; www.etelix.com ; www.qglobalsms.com ; www.swisslink-carrier.com ; www.smsdirectos.com ; www.iotlabs.mx ; www.iotsmartgas.com ; www.iotsmartev.com : www.itsBchain.com ; www.globalmoneyone.com ; www.visamoneyone.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iqst--iqstel-announces-analyst-update-with-target-pps-increase-to-0-61-and-potential-to-1-00-later-this-year-301214104.html SOURCE iQSTEL, Inc.

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[January 25, 2021] Muddy Waters Intends to Vote for Newly Proposed Alternative Slate of Directors at GT Gold

Muddy Waters Capital LLC ("Muddy Waters") has investment authority over 13,265,400 shares representing 10.19% of the outstanding shares of GT Gold Corp (ticker: GTT.V). Further, we believe that we are the single largest open-market purchaser of GTT shares since 2019. Because of our observations of the dysfunction of the GTT board and our first-hand experience with them, we intend to vote in favor of the slate of directors proposed by K2 & Associates Investment Management Inc. We have increased our ownership of GTT because we have a significant level of conviction in the value of the company's assets. Importantly, we support the current management team. Management seems committed to presenting data with integrity. However, we have lost trust in Mr. Ashwath Mehra, the Executive Chairman of the Board and Mr. James Rutherford, a director who we believe is independent in name only. We saw up close how Mr. Mehra and Mr. Rutherford put their personal interests before those of the company in the November 2020 private placement. In September 2020 we were invited by the CEO to provide the company with a financing term sheet. Accordingly, on October 2, 2020, we submitted a term sheet at a share price that was a premium to the closing price on that day. Our understanding is that Mr. Mehra did not initially send this term sheet to the board. On October 8, 2020, we submitted a second term sheet to the entire board at the same price. Later in Otober, we offered to purchase shares "on terms that are otherwise identical" (our exact words) to the November offering, except at a price of 1.35 Canadian dollars per share. Muddy Waters offered 8% more than what the company ultimately received in the November offering, which was 1.25 Canadian dollars per share. When GTT finalized the offering, we learned why our offer had been turned down: Messrs. Mehra and Rutherford had bought approximately 27.6% of the dilutive offering. In particular, Mr. Rutherford approximately trebled his holdings at the dilutive price.



We made numerous attempts between October 2nd and October 27th to engage with Mr. Mehra about our more favorable offers. When those attempts were thwarted in favor of the self-dealing transaction, we then purchased additional shares in the open market. In contrast to Muddy Waters, neither Mr. Mehra and Mr. Rutherford have purchased a significant number of shares on the open market. While such self-serving practices might have been embedded in the culture of Marc Rich & Co. Investments (where Mr. Mehra spent much of his career), we are determined to see substantially higher standards of governance prevail at GTT. Muddy Waters previously filed an alternative monthly report reflecting investment authority over 13,181,650 common shares of the company, representing a securityholding percentage of approximately 10.13% of GT shares.

This news release is issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues. A copy of the early warning report will be filed with the Issuer's documents on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. For further information or to request a copy of the early warning report, please contact Muddy Waters Capital LLC, attention: Anthony Jew, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at (415) 799-1399. 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005475/en/

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New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will have an electorally disastrous year in 2021 in at leas three states, the Trinamool Congress said on Monday.

Addressing a press conference here, Trinamool leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy said that the BJP has "very little chance" in three of the four states going to the polls later this year.

O'Brien said the BJP will receive a severe jolt in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala, while it will witness a close contest in Assam.

"The big election is in 2024. Before that in 2021, thanks to the blessings of the people of Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala, the BJP will lose three elections," O'Brien said.

Commenting on Assam, which is also slated to go to the polls later this year, O'Brien said that as per their understanding, the BJP will face a tough contest.

"I can tell you that BJP's chances are low in three poll-bound states -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bengal," he said.

Commenting on the 2024 general elections, O'Brien said that "the idea of India, as envisioned by the makers of our Constitution, would be at stake in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections".

"The results of the Lok Sabha elections will determine whether India would continue to remain a secular and socialist country," he said.

To a question on the prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 general elections, the Trinamool MPs said that they would not like to reveal their strategy at this stage.

"First ask the BJP who they are going to project as their candidate for the post of Chief Minister in the West Bengal Assembly elections," O'Brien said.

On asked whether the results of the Assembly polls in Bengal have already been decided, O'Brien said, "I don't think we said that. We said we know whom the people of Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala will bless." The Trinamool leaders also said that they are not arrogant, and "we are not so cocky to assume that the elections are over".

"We said we believe that the people of Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala will bless non-BJP governments in these three states," they said.

When asked what makes them so confident, both the leaders said that it is the same confidence that a good student gets after studying hard through all the semesters before appearing for the exam, as opposed to the student who wants to come two to three months before and try to top the class with a little hustle and bustle.

"There is no arrogance or cockiness. This is about humanity, about believing that we have done a good job under Mamata Banerjee for the last five years, so we will be abundantly blessed," they said.

To a question on 1,000 companies of paramilitary forces to be deployed for the Assembly elections in Bengal, Roy said, "It is up to the Election Commission to decide and then arrange the deployment in consultation with the Union Home Ministry. All we want is that the BJP or the central ministers should not be going around saying so much security personnel are being deployed in West Bengal for the elections, or they will teach a lesson to Trinamool, and so on."
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Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
A federal judge has blocked the release of a man who was arrested after he was pictured carrying zip ties around the Congressional chamber during the riots at the US Capitol.

Eric Gavelek Munchel, 30, was arrested alongside his mother Lisa Eisenhart, 57, on 10 January and charged with conspiracy after he was seen wearing a tactical vest and carrying zip ties in the Capitol, alongside a mob of pro-Trump rioters on 6 January.

At a hearing last week in Tennessee, magistrate judge Jeffrey Frensley ordered that Mr Munchel could be released from custody on Monday.

Judge Frensley felt that Mr Munchel was not a flight risk and posed no harm to the public, despite claims by prosecutors that his offences were serious enough for him to be retained in custody pending trial.

Recommended New threats of a second attack on the US Capitol loom over impeachment

The judge noted that Mr Munchel appeared to have respect for law enforcement officials, and did not cause any destruction while inside the Capitol.

Prosecutors disputed those claims, writing that Mr Munchel could make no serious claim that he went to the Capitol for a peaceful protest.

It is difficult to fathom a more serious danger to the community  to the District of Columbia, to the country, or to the fabric of American Democracy  than the one posed by armed insurrectionists, including the defendant, who joined in the occupation of the United States Capitol, the prosecutors added.

US District Judge Beryl A Howell listened to the prosecutors arguments on Sunday and blocked Mr Munchels release from custody.

Recommended Trump rioter in full body armour broke into Capitol with his mother

She also ordered that he be brought to Washington, DC, for further proceedings while she considers the case, according to CBS News.

It is currently unclear when Mr Munchel will appear before a judge to face his next detention hearing.

In a court filing submitted last Wednesday by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency claimed that Mr Munchel stashed weapons outside the Capitol on the day of the riots and had an arsenal of them at home.

In a video that Mr Munchel filmed on the day that has been obtained by the DOJ, the 30-year-old was told by Ms Eisenhart: We're going straight to federal prison if we go in there with weapons.

Recommended Zip tie rioter stashed weapons outside the Capitol

Mr Munchel responded that he needed to take his weapons off before I go in there, before they allegedly stashed them close to the Capitol building in a tactical bag.

The DOJ filing alleges that shortly after, Mr Munchel said that he was ready to commit treason and announced that he was f*****g ready to f**k s**t up, before he entered the Capitol.

During a search of his residence on 9 January, the authorities also discovered 15 firearms in a gun safe, including shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, a sniper rifle, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Mr Munchel and his mother have since been charged with illegally entering the Capitol and federal conspiracy.
As part of the Government of Indias PM-WANI initiative, i2e1, a Delhi-based startup, has announced the launch of Public Data Offices (PDO) across India. They are public Wi-Fi-enabled internet booths that can provide broadband connections to their subscribers.

The Government of India launched this initiative with the goal of providing cheap and reliable internet access to millions in India, enabling them to learn new skills and receive an education. Each PDO will be designed to function similarly to PCO (Public Communication Office) booths.

At each PDO, subscribers can avail broadband internet at speeds up to 50Mbps with no data limit, and no registration required. The startup has set up Indias first-of-its-kind PDO in Kusumpur Pahadi, a low income neighborhood in South Delhi. The cost of a subscription is at a low rate of Rs. 5 per day.

Any retailer can become also become a PDO, at a rate of Rs. 250 per month. i2e1 will be expanding the technology to more ISPs in the future, with a goal of having more than 1 million Wi-Fi hotspots in India

Commenting on the launch, Satyam Darmora, Founder, i2e1 said:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is asking permission from the federal government to forego state standardized testing this spring, as well as accountability requirements for the 2020-21 school year.

NYSED announced in a press release Monday that it has submitted two draft federal waiver requests related to state assessment and accountability requirements, which are now available for public comment. The waivers address the unique circumstances caused by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has resulted in many students receiving some or all of their instruction remotely.

The waiver requests must be approved by the federal government to forgo state standardized testing this spring.

Throughout the pandemic the Boards priority has been the physical and mental health, safety, and well-being of the children and adults in our schools, said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young, Jr. In light of the ongoing pandemic, we have determined that the Spring 2021 state assessments cannot be safely, equitably and fairly administered to students in schools across the state and, therefore, are seeking these waivers.

The department suspended state standardized tests last school year due to the pandemic.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

The first request seeks to waive state testing requirements in the elementary, middle and high school levels. It would also allow NYSED to administer the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test to those who are able to attend school in person at least some days of the week.

The second waiver request seeks to eliminate the requirement to assign a Level 1 to 4 to each accountability subgroup for each indicator for which a school or district is accountable.

Given the varying circumstance in each school district, the only fair and appropriate decision at this time is to seek waivers to forego testing and accountability requirements for the 2020-21 school year, said Interim Commissioner Betty Rosa. As part of this process we are seeking input from local stakeholders to ensure that our requests capture the experiences of our partners across the state and we look forward to reviewing their comments.

The department is accepting comments through Feb. 5.

Stakeholders are encouraged to fill out a brief companion survey. Comments on the draft waivers may be emailed to ESSAComments@nysed.gov with ESSA Comments from (sender/organization name) in the subject line.

NYSED will then present a summary of the public comments to the Board of Regents in February. If approved by the federal government, the department will propose to the Board of Regents to waive testing and accountability measures.

The announcement comes shortly after the state canceled the January high school Regents exams.

To receive a high school diploma, most students are required to take at least five Regents exams, which measure student achievement in high school-level choices. Those required exams include English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and an additional Regents exam. There are three times each year when students can take Regents exams -- January, June and August.

New York canceled the June and August Regents examinations for the 2019-2020 school year due to the pandemic.

No decisions have yet been made regarding the June and August 2021 administrations of Regents exams or any of the other state assessments, the state said.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:36:12|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A rare earth processing plant is proposed to be built in Hull, a port city in England, to supply the booming offshore wind industry, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Monday.

The Britain-listed exploration company Pensana Rare Earths has submitted a planning application for the 125-million-U.S.-dollar facility, which would be Europe's first rare earth processing plant and would create 100 direct jobs, said the newspaper.

The company would produce rare earth oxides, which are used to manufacture magnets that drive the motors of offshore wind turbines and electric vehicles, according to the newspaper.

The plant will process neodymium and praseodymium from a proposed mine in Angola, it added.

Paul Atherley, chairman of Pensana, was quoted as saying that the company chose Hull because of its port and world-class infrastructure. Hull is also close to the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm, one of the world's largest.

The British government plans to increase the locally made content of turbines as part of its 10-point plan announced in November last year for the "green industrial revolution".

Unveiling the plan, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Nov. 18, 2020 that Britain will mobilize more than 12 billion pounds (about 16.4 billion dollars) of government investment, alongside three times that amount from the private sector by 2030, to build up "the green economy" backing up to 250,000 jobs. Enditem
The ABC has altered the wording of an online article that detailed Australia Day and Invasion Day events after Communications Minister Paul Fletcher lashed the public broadcaster for suggesting the two names were interchangeable.

The article, titled Australia Day/Invasion Day 2021 events guide for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin, was published on the ABC website on Sunday morning.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has criticised the ABC for an online article that provided details of Invasion Day rallies alongside Australia Day events. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The article immediately drew public criticism, including from NSW Police Minister David Elliott, and on Monday morning Mr Fletcher issued a statement urging the ABC to correct the story.

The article contained details about Australia Day celebratory events being held across the country as well as Invasion Day rallies, which are also held on January 26 to commemorate the experience of colonisation from the perspective of Indigenous Australians.
I want my child, I want my child alive. Whatever they did with my child, they need to bring him back. The tearful appeal to Turkish authorities came from Nazife Gunes, the mother of 23-year-old Gokhan Gunes, a construction worker with socialist leanings who has been missing from his Istanbul home for the past five days.

His family says Gunes was bundled into a car and whisked away to an unknown destination on Jan. 20, most likely by undercover police, after he got off a bus outside his workplace in Istanbuls Basaksehir neighborhood.

Turkish authorities have turned a deaf ear to the Gunes familys entreaties to find their son, even after they presented what they say is visual evidence of his abduction captured by security cameras outside the construction site run by Turev Insaat.

Gunes story chimes with a pattern of forced disappearances of dissidents that has emerged in the wake of the 2016 coup attempt. The bulk of the targets are alleged disciples of Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based imam who Ankara accuses of masterminding the putsch.

Gunes paternal aunt, Zubeyde, told Al-Monitor her nephew had been repeatedly approached by police to become an informant on like-minded leftists from the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), a small Marxist group that is allied with the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP).

The HDP is the third-largest party in the 600-member Turkish parliament. Both the ESP and the HDP face unremitting legal pressure from the state with thousands of members and sympathizers currently in jail over specious terror charges.

Gunes family and friends, along with members of opposition parties, have been gathering daily outside the Cagalayan courthouse in Istanbul demanding knowledge of his whereabouts. Zubeyde said she was briefly detained along with 11 others on Jan. 23 during the protest.

Instead of trying to find my nephew, the authorities are seeking to criminalize our legitimate demands for accountability, for knowledge of his whereabouts, she said.

According to the Human Rights Association of Turkey, at least 10 individuals were abducted and threatened by security officials and pressed to become informants and later freed in the first 10 months of 2020. Zubeyde said Gunes had squarely refused to become a snitch. He is a very honorable young socialist who believes in equality and justice. He would never bow to such pressure.

Gunes was jailed for eight months in 2018 over a tweet condemning Turkeys invasion of the Kurdish majority enclave of Afrin in northwestern Syria that same year. He was freed pending trial, and his first hearing was scheduled for March. He was also engaged to be married in April this year.

Canan Kaftancioglu, provincial head of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party, has asked Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul to intervene.

HDP lawmaker Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu has submitted a parliamentary motion demanding the government establish the identities of the men who are seen hauling Gunes away in the video footage. The polices reaction so far has been to investigate those who provided the footage to the Gunes family. The government has not commented on the case.

The degree of sheer lawlessness in policing is shocking, said Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch. The authorities have the power to arrest people and take them into custody. The place of custody has to be known and there are rules to follow. Sinclair-Webb added, The trouble is that not enough people are talking about it in Turkey and only very few in the parliament  none of them in the ruling coalition.

This is certainly true when alleged members of the Gulen movement are at the receiving end.

At least 26 Gulen-linked individuals are thought to have been forcibly disappeared since the coup, allegedly by the national intelligence agency, MIT. Many of the men have since resurfaced emaciated and broken, with authorities claiming they had found them here and there. The men have been jailed for their alleged role in the failed coup. During their courtroom trials, several mustered the courage to speak of the brutal physical and mental torture to which they say were subjected at the black sites where they were secretly held. Their tormentors main purpose was to get them to reveal the names of people associated with Gulen.

Several others remain missing. They include Yusuf Bilge Tunc, a former bureaucrat who disappeared on Aug. 6, 2019. Huseyin Galip Kucukozyigit, a legal adviser who worked for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while he was still the prime minister, has been missing since Dec. 29, 2020. Is this another case of an extrajudicial abduction? Gergerlioglu asked. The government has not commented on his case either.

Ali Yildiz, a Brussels-based human rights lawyer who closely monitors such cases, said, Enforced disappearance is a crime against humanity and is a common practice in Turkey, an aspiring member of the European Union. Yildiz bemoaned what he called the EUs wimpy response to spiraling abuses in Turkey. The EU should stop airing concern and use its new human rights sanction regime to hold Turkey accountable for its behavior, including enforced disappearances, Yildiz told Al-Monitor.
Police issue a summons to a protester after over 10 people gathered for an anti-lockdown rally against pandemic restrictions in Toronto on Dec. 19, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Chris Young)

Its Time to Consider Opposing Views on Lockdown Measures

Commentary



The pandemic has done much to illuminate how groupthink harms the ability to develop a measured response to societys challenges. The debate around the pandemic response has been remarkably free of nuance, not to mention unadaptable and unreceptive to new information.

Despite the vaccine rollout, lockdowns continue to be the immediate answer to any statistics that might be remotely perceived as a harbinger of catastrophe. Of course, some polls show that swathes of the public support certain lockdown measures; a Maru/Blue poll from early January showed that the majority of Ontarians are in favour of measures such as closing non-essential businesses (80 percent), closing schools (70 percent), and heavy fines for anyone who willfully violates lockdown rules (68 percent).

But this shouldnt be interpreted as dispositive when it comes to the debate around lockdowns since there are also large swathes of the public, along with experts, who have acknowledged that the side effects of lockdowns demonstrate the urgent need to account for trade-offs in the governments response to the virus.

The complexity surrounding the opening of schools is a case in point, especially in Ontario where the government rather incoherently announced in-person learning would resume on Jan. 25 at some schools while others will stay closedall while a stay-at-home order is still in place across the province. This reflects the lack of a clear a strategy.

Ambiguity and flip-flopping have hindered some of the lockdown measures in different provinces. Actions and pronouncements from those in government suggest that they dont actually have confidence in the approach themselves and have simply succumbed to do-somethingism. Politicians leaving the country during the Christmas holidays demonstrated a lack of seriousness in their governments response.

Making it more painful is how the lockdown response has become the orthodoxy in such a way that if anyone dares question any aspect of it, they are often condemned. Earlier this month, Dr. Chris Mackie, the medical officer of health for London and Middlesex County on Ontario, got criticized for citing data collected by the health unit showing that the majority of COVID-19 transmission to students occurred at home rather than in the classroom. This unsurprisingly elicited accusations of spreading dangerous misinformation from several quarters.

Mackie, who is no COVID truther, had merely put forth arguments reinforced by others, including a new Sick Kids report on school operations. It points out pertinent facts such as the damaging impact of school closures on students mental health and development, stating that school closures should be a last resort.

Dr. Richard Schabas, who was Ontarios chief medical officer of health from 1987 to 1997 and who served as chief of staff at York Central Hospital during the 2003 SARS crisis, said in a Jan. 18 open letter to Premier Doug Ford: Lockdown was never part of our planned pandemic response nor is it supported by strong science.

[T]here are significant costs to lockdownslost education, unemployment, social isolation, deteriorating mental health, and compromised access to health care, Schabas wrote. We will be paying for lockdownin lives and dollars for decades to come.

But discussions of the downside of lockdowns are hardly ever at the centre of the debate and are overshadowed by the myopic focus on case counts and other statistics that are usually expounded upon without much context. Those who broach the issue are instantly derided and dismissed as someone engaging in misinformation, as Ford did in his statement on removing Conservative MPP Roman Baber from caucus for writing an open letter opposing Ontarios lockdown. Baber called for an end to lockdown measures, describing the negative effects as being deadlier than COVID.

Babers letter in part was flawed, however, as are some aspects of the anti-lockdown position. Baber offered only a vague exit strategy, describing no prudent restrictive measures upon reopening that would make an exit from lockdown plausible. A subset of the anti-lockdown faction is also stubbornly against masks, but mask-wearing would help make an exit from lockdowns sustainable. This absolutist approach undermines a prudent opposition to lockdowns that could be productive and successful in ending them once and for all.

But many of those who have criticized lockdowns did so rationally and with common sense. Witlessly, some lockdown enthusiasts have tended to lump in those who express opposition to their viewno matter the evidence or how much it is done in good faithwith cranks and conspiracy theorists. Framing the debate in this fashion is no way to have a conversation about something as multi-faceted as a pandemic. Unfortunately, this tendency has remained a prominent feature of Canadas pandemic experience since the beginning.

We need to open up a realistic dialogue, not have knee-jerk, emotional reactions guiding policy, Dr. Mackie said pointedly in response to his detractors.

We do, indeed.

Shane Miller is a political writer based in London, Ontario.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
[January 24, 2021] Kbeauty brand AXIS-Y shares their insight on becoming a viral sensation on TikTok

SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AXIS-Y, a Korea based skincare brand, has announced the reason for its success story at TikTok. The most intriguing part about their TikTok is that they only have 6.9k followers on their TikTok page , however, their exposure and reach on TikTok is almost 9 times more than their follower count with more than 61 million views on their #axisy branded hashtag. Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok is the most unfiltered and genuine and home to the content of TikTok challenges, skits, or the hottest AI filters. Through this rising platform, you can see how normal, everyday users join in on the latest trends like "Nobody's gonna know" and the "WAP dance challenge". And people can see why TikTok is so attractive to users with TikTokers like Charli D'Amelio, Addison Rae, and Zac King who became internet famous with their viral videos showcasing their dancing and MagicTricks, pushing them to follower counts of 104.2 million, 72.9 million, and 54.2 million, respectively. This instant shot to fame heightens the stake for users to upload their own content, especially content that is currently trending on TikTok. With its active user base, more and more people are joining TikTok every day. In October 2020, TikTok had 850 million users and this number is expected to grow to 1.2 billion this year. But for any brand that is trying to compete or grow on TikTok, it is not easy as users on TikTok look for content from other users, much like themselves, to get up to date with the latest trending content. But brands are seeing the value of TikTok as a part of their long term social media marketin as the platform opens up with TikTok. For Business where marketers can run ads, host branded TikTok challenges, and so on. And with the introduction of live stream shopping, it is now more than ever for brands to join TikTok.



There was one brand that stood out when scrolling through the "For You" page on TikTok - AXIS-Y - a Korea based "climate inspired skincare brand". AXIS-Y shares their insight on how they were able to achieve these numbers organically on a platform that brands would consider a challenge to grow on. Below is an internal interview from the CEO of AXIS-Y, Maggie Yue:

Why did AXIS-Y decide to open a TikTok account? "Honestly, we wanted to explore this new platform that we didn't know much about. Since then we have seen a lot of changes and improvements in our engagement and reach. On our Instagram, our followers were mostly around ages 25-34, but after we opened our TikTok, our community around ages 18-24 outgrew other age groups. In addition, we learned that it is much easier to make a video for TikTok because it is fast and short, much more so than Instagram." How was AXIS-Y able to reach more than 61 million views on the #axisy hashtag in a short period of time? "It's difficult to track our success on TikTok since our products were being reviewed or shown on the platform without us reaching out to these users. The content is real, unfiltered reviews from people without us having to do any of the legwork that comes with working with influencers such as finding and contacting them. These users enjoy our brand and our products so it's natural that they want to share it with others. From one video to another, we noticed how the interest in our brand is growing and this ensures us that we are on the right path." The AXIS-Y Mugwort Pore Clarifying Wash Off Pack is viral on TikTok. What do you think makes it so special? "It is indeed unique and different compared to other wash off packs out there but the main difference is the development process. Our wash off pack was not just developed for care for pore concerns or alleviating acne, it was formulated specially to help people cope with the current pandemic as a form of self care. And luckily, skincare is just one activity that people have turned to during lockdown which is one of the reasons why we think that our wash off pack became a bestseller." "We knew that our wash off pack will be one of the key products of our skincare line, but its virality was one thing that we were not expecting and we sold out our stock in just two weeks after its launch. All the TikTok videos of our wash off pack are different; they reflect the personality and style of each user, but collectively, they enjoy the self care experience our wash off pack provides in a rather stressful period that we are all going through together." We noticed that most of your followers are from Indonesia and other SEA countries both on your Instagram account and on TikTok. Is there any specific reason for it? "All of our products are developed for targeting skin concerns in hot and humid weather, and in particular, our skincare has gained popularity in SEA countries as our customers are seeing the benefits of using our products in tropical climates. In November 2020, our Indonesian Instagram account @axisy.indonesia reached 100k followers with an average monthly growth rate of 30k which we were ecstatic about because it showed that our efforts to respond to the needs of our community paid off." What is next for AXIS-Y? "We want to continue to be a brand that listens to the community to not only make effective products, but also one that brings value to the community. We're looking forward to expanding our skincare line that is inclusive to all skin types and needs by incorporating our deep understanding of skincare technology while maintaining our identity as a climate inspired brand." SOURCE AXIS-Y

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A demonstrator adds fuel to a burning barricade in an intersection in downtown Tacoma, Wash., on Jan. 24, 2021. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

Antifa Descends on Tacoma, Washington, to Smash Windows and Set Fires

Antifa activists on Jan. 24 traveled to Tacoma, Washington, to violently demonstrate after a police officer struck at least one person with his vehicle while trying to drive through a crowd the previous evening.

Video footage and photos showed activists with the far-left, anarcho-communist network setting fires in the street and smashing windows at businesses in Tacoma, a town of about 212,000 approximately 30 miles southwest of Seattle.

The crowd of more than 100 individuals marched around the downtown area. Police officers eventually responded after demonstrators began breaking windows.

At least one Antifa flag was spotted in the crowd, and members donned the distinctive all-black clothing the network is known for. A number carried black umbrellas, which Antifa members use to spar with police officers.

No cops, no prisons, total abolition! the crowd chanted. The chant is common for Antifa, which opposes many aspects of the criminal justice system. There were also chants of Black Lives Matter and Free them all as the crowd passed by the Pierce County Jail.

Broken windows are seen at South Sound 911 during a violent demonstration in Tacoma, Wash., on Jan. 24, 2021. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

An Antifa slogan is scrawled on the County-City Building in Tacoma, Wash., on Jan. 24, 2021. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

Videos showed the crowd starting fires in the street and chasing away a preacher who was speaking into a megaphone.

The Tacoma Police Department said officers, while monitoring the demonstration, responded to a tip of three people being inside a secure building on Commerce Street. Officers responded and arrested two people armed with a handgun and knives. The third person got away.

A person lies on the ground after a police officer drove a vehicle into a crowd in this still image taken from social media video in Tacoma, Wash., on Jan. 23, 2021. (Cory Le via Reuters)

Just before midnight, the demonstration broke up and roadways were clear, according to the police. There are no known injuries in relation to the demonstration. Thank you for your patience, the department stated.

Demonstrations started on Jan. 23 after police officers responded to a street racing scene that was blocking an intersection around 6:19 p.m. One officers vehicle was surrounded.

The officer, fearing for his safety, tried to back up, but was unable to do so because of the crowd. The officer had his lights and sirens activated. While trying to extricate himself from an unsafe position, the officer drove forward striking one individual and may have impacted others. The officer stopped at a point of safety and called for medical aid. One person was transported to an area hospital. That persons condition is, at this time, unknown, the department stated in an incident report.

Tacoma Police and other law enforcement officers stand in an intersection near the site of a car crash in Tacoma, Wash., on Jan. 23, 2021. (Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

The investigation was turned over to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team. The officer, a 58-year-old male, was placed on paid administrative leave.

Mayor Victoria Woodards said in a Jan. 24 statement: For those who woke up this morning feeling outrage, frustration, grief, heartbreak, or confusion, I understand and honor your feelings. I, too, am deeply saddened by what we saw last night.

The deadly-use-of-force incident is being treated seriously, the mayor said. She called on the city manager and police chief to make sure everyone is held accountable.

I continue to be proud of Tacomas long-standing reputation as a place of strong, non-violent advocacy and activism. I continue to support your right to use your voice to advocate and demonstrate peacefully during this time of heightened tension, she added.

The Communitys Police Advisory Board is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting on Jan. 25 to discuss the use of force incident.

Demonstrators on Jan. 24 said they saw video of the officer driving into a crowd.

They feel like they can do whatever they want and just run over people, one man, Anthony, told the Tacoma News-Tribune. Its just not right.

There needs to be complete police reform, a second protester, identified only as V, added. Its a whole lot that needs to change.
When did you first realize things were going wrong between you and Mr. Trump?

It coincided very much with the rapid escalation of cases in the northeastern part of the country, particularly the New York metropolitan area. I would try to express the gravity of the situation, and the response of the president was always leaning toward, Well, its not that bad, right? And I would say, Yes, it is that bad. It was almost a reflex response, trying to coax you to minimize it. Not saying, I want you to minimize it, but, Oh, really, was it that bad?

There was a point in February when things changed: Alex Azar was running the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and then suddenly Mike Pence was, and Mr. Trump was at the podium taking the questions and arguing with reporters. What happened?

To be totally honest with you, I dont know. We were having, you know, the standard kind of scientifically based, public-health-based meetings. Then I started getting anxious that this was not going in the right direction  the anecdotally driven situations, the minimization, the president surrounding himself with people saying things that didnt make any scientific sense. We would say things like: This is an outbreak. Infectious diseases run their own course unless one does something to intervene. And then he would get up and start talking about, Its going to go away, its magical, its going to disappear.

Thats when it became clear to me: Im not going to proactively go out and volunteer my contradiction of what the president said. But he would say something that clearly was not correct, and then a reporter would say, Well, lets hear from Dr. Fauci. I would have to get up and say, No, Im sorry, I do not think that is the case. It isnt like I took any pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States. I have a great deal of respect for the office. But I made a decision that I just had to.

When did the death threats start?

Wow. Many, many months ago. In the spring  hold on, just bear with me. [He consults someone who answers March 28.] So there  you got it from the head of my Secret Service detail. Thats when I got protection, so maybe two weeks prior to that.

Did you ever think about quitting?

Never. Never. Nope.

You can read the full interview with Dr. Fauci here.
Support for Australia becoming a republic has slipped, according to a poll that reveals only a third of Australians are in favour.

The online Ipsos poll, conducted for the The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Nine News, surveyed 1222 people nationally and found 40 per cent were opposed to a republic, under which Australias own head of state would replace the British monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle in November. A new poll has found support for the idea of Australia becoming a republic has slipped. Credit:Getty Images

One quarter said they didnt know, which is the highest level of undecided responses on the issue recorded by successive Ipsos and Nielsen polls.

The polls show support for a republic has steadily ebbed since a peak in December 1999  when 57 per cent of Australians were in favour  immediately after the failed 1999 republic referendum.

This file photo shows the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) as it is moored pier side at Naval Base Guam, May 15, 2020.

The United States has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the South China Sea, just days after President Joe Biden took office, drawing a rebuke from China against Washington for the display of force.

But over the weekend, China was engaged in its own show of military might, as it flew an unusually high number of warplanes in airspace south of Taiwan. China also passed a law last week authorizing its coastguard to use force against foreign ships, which caused jitters in Southeast Asia.

Together, the developments point to heightened tensions in South China Sea less than a week after the Jan. 20 inauguration of Biden, who inherited an already sore relationship between Washington and Beijing.

The U.S. Navy announced on Saturday that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group entered the South China Sea to conduct routine operations including maritime strike exercises and coordinated tactical training between surface and air units.

With two-thirds of the worlds trade travelling through this very important region, it is vital that we maintain our presence and continue to promote the rules-based order which has allowed us all to prosper, said the strike groups commander, Rear Admiral Doug Verissimo, in a news release.

The strike group includes the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a guided-missile cruiser, two guided-missile destroyers, and other assets.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that it does no good to regional peace and stability for the United States to frequently send military vessels and aircraft to the South China Sea to show off muscles.

In Washington, the boot was on the other foot. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed concern Saturday about Chinas efforts to intimidate its neighbors, specifically Taiwan, and vowed that the U.S. would stand with friends and allies to advance our shared prosperity, security, and values in the Indo-Pacific region.

'CCG ships are much larger'

The Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, spoke out over China on Friday authorizing the China Coast Guard (CGG) to use force against foreign vessels infringing on Chinas expansive claims in the South China Sea.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque reminded China of its obligations under international law, and expressed hope that both China and other South China Sea claimants would refrain from actions that would worsen the situation.

While a country has sovereign power to pass laws in its territory, these laws still must follow its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to which China is a signatory, Roque told reporters.

And under this international law, use of force is generally prohibited except for two well-defined exceptions by way of self-defense, he said, noting that this could only occur when armed troops enter China.

Even before this new law, the CCG already had a reputation for confronting and sometimes clashing with fishing boats and other ships of neighboring countries in contested waters in the South China Sea.

China has maritime and territorial disputes with Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan in the South China Sea. While Indonesia does not regard itself as party to the disputes, Beijings claims overlap with Indonesias exclusive economic zone.

Roque urged completion and then adherence to a Code of Conduct  referring to an agreement that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have been negotiating to manage tensions in the South China Sea. Chinas lack of enthusiasm for a multilateral solution to the disputes has persistently hindered these talks.

'Major impact on Malaysia-China relations'

Experts viewed Chinas new coast guard law, which comes into effect on Feb. 1, as a worrying escalation of the South China Sea disputes.

The new law raises the risk of armed confrontation at sea between Chinese coast vessels and Southeast Asian maritime law enforcement agencies as the CCG is China's principal tool for asserting its territorial and jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea, said Ian Storey, Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

CCG ships are much larger and more heavily armed than regional coast guard vessels, Storey added.

Dr Ramli Dollah, a security expert from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), said this issue will have a major impact on Malaysia-China relations in the South China Sea. He added that there has been frequent close contact between the CCG and Malaysian enforcement agencies.

But Collin Koh, a maritime security and geopolitics expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the new law doesnt signify a new policy by China, but is supposed to give legitimate cover to existing behaviors, such as intimidating the Philippines at Thitu Island and Vietnam at Vanguard Bank.

Philippine opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Manilas Department of National Defense (DND) should be prepared for more aggression from China.

The DND already needs to have a strategy for when worse comes to worst. Does the new law mean they will shoot our fishermen vessels? China should ease tensions in the West Philippine Sea not escalate them, Hontiveros said in a statement as she called on the government to ensure that the Philippines follows an independent foreign policy.

There should be no special relationship with any countries right now  especially with China, she said. Our country shouldnt be beholden to any foreign power, whether in the West or the East.

Although the Philippines is a longtime U.S. ally, President Rodrigo Duterte has sought closer ties with Beijing since assuming office in 2016, and has steered clear of confronting China over its conduct at sea. Thats despite a successful legal challenged Manila mounted against Chinas sweeping South China Sea claims before Duterte took office, and continuing reports of Chinese aggression against Filipino fishermen.

The Philippine government must decisively denounce this law and protect the Filipinos against Chinese aggressors, fishermens group Pamalakaya leader Fernando Hicap said of the new law. He described it as a serious threat to Filipino fishermen.

The Chinese Embassy did not reply to requests for comment.

Last week, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian stressed the benefits to Manila of economic cooperation between China and the Philippines, given the sharp growth in Philippine exports to China and in Chinese investment in the Philippines.

Marielle Lucenio and Nonoy Espina in Manila, Jojo Rinoza in Dagupan City, Philippines, and Hadi Azmi and Nisha David in Kuala Lumpur, contributed to this report.
Recent surges of COVID-19 in India, S America left people gasping for breath before our eyes: UN chief

Fake: No new clash took place in Galwan Valley in early May

India-China LAC talks 'positive', consensus on early disengagement, says Army

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: Military commanders of India and China held extensive deliberations on modalities for disengagement of troops from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh at the ninth round of the military talks that lasted nearly 16 hours, official sources said on Monday.

The Corps Commander-level talks at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh began at around 10:30 AM on Sunday and ended at 2:30 AM on Monday, they said. "Detailed discussions were held on modalities for the disengagement process," said a source aware of the negotiations.

''Two sides agreed that this round of meeting was positive, practical and constructive, which further enhanced mutual trust and understanding. The two sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops.

The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility.

India & China also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation, and hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation.

On January 24, 9th round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting was held on Chinese side of Moldo-Chushul border meeting point. Two sides had a candid & in-depth exchange of views on disengagement along LAC in Western Sector of China-India border areas: PRO, Indian Army.

Ladakh standoff: China withdraws 10,000 troops from training areas beyond LAC

The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility.

The sources said India insisted that it was up to China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at friction points in the region where the two militaries have been engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball face-off for nearly nine months.

India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all friction points and no selective approach was acceptable to it.

Hours after the talks concluded, it came to light that Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a clash in the high-altitude Naku La region in North Sikkim on January 20, an incident described by the Indian Army on Monday as a "minor face-off".

In a statement, the Indian Army said the face-off was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols.

Close to 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh as both sides have been holding on to their ground and showing readiness for a long-haul, amid continuing diplomatic and military talks to find an amicable solution.

Reflecting India''s firm approach in handling the situation, Army chief Gen MM Naravane nearly two weeks back said that Indian troops will hold their ground as long as it takes to achieve the "national goals and objectives" even as he hoped for an amicable resolution of the standoff through talks.

Sunday''s talks took place nearly two weeks after India handed back to China a soldier of the People''s Liberation Army after apprehending him at the southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. It is learnt that India''s gesture has generated a positive atmosphere.

The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps while the Chinese side was headed by Maj Gen Liu Lin, the commander of the South Xinjiang military district of the People''s Liberation Army (PLA).

In the military talks, India has all along been demanding restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to April. The face-off had begun on May 5.

The eighth and last round of the talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.

The seventh round of Corps Commander-level talks had taken place on October 12 where China had pressed for the withdrawal of Indian troops from a number of strategic heights around the southern bank of Pangong lake.

However, India insisted that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points.

Last month, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs. However, no concrete outcome emerged from the meeting.

Following the sixth round of military talks, the two sides had announced a slew of decisions including not to send more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters.

This round was held with a specific agenda of exploring ways to implement a five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a meeting in Moscow on September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) conclave.

The pact included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 19:51 [IST]

A new report shows reading scores for Louisianas youngest students have plunged for three consecutive years, raising red flags over arguably the states top challenge for improving achievement in the classroom.

The issue is getting new attention after state leaders learned last week that reading levels for students in kindergarten, first, second and third grades have all steadily dropped.

More than half of students in all four grades are performing below grade level, a potential harbinger of major learning problems.

"Clearly what we are doing is not getting the results that our kids deserve," state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley told the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

"I am alarmed by this," Brumley added.

Reading problems have been an issue for years, and they are one of the reasons why the state ranks near the bottom nationally in education achievement.

Superintendents back push to improve early reading skills Ensuring children are reading on grade level by the end of the third grade is one of three priorities announced Tuesday by the Louisiana Assoc

Previous BESE boards have grappled with the same challenge. In 2007, board members complained that they had little to show in reading gains despite the state spending $100 million since the mid 1990s.

But the latest results are especially bleak.

A total of 59.6% of kindergarten students were reading below grade level in 2020, up from 49.8% in 2018, according to the state Department of Education.

The report shows 57.7% of first graders are below grade level in reading, compared to 39.4% in 2018.

Among second-graders, 51.6% fell below the standard, compared to 41.3% two years earlier. For third graders, 50.5% were subpar compared to 40.9% in 2018.

For all grades, 55% were reading below grade level in 2020 compared to 42.8% in 2018.

"I don't want this report to go away and not recognize that we have a challenge in front of us," Brumley said. "We need a reading revival in this state."

Reading woes in students' early years are setting off alarms, 'This is unconscionable' After years of neglect, state education leaders are launching plans to improve reading skills for students in kindergarten, first and second g

Experts say that, if a child is not reading on grade level by the third grade, he or she is at risk of having school problems for years.

"I think K-3 is the gatekeeper for everything else that is going to happen," said former BESE President Linda Johnson, who served on the board for 13 years.

Johnson was part of that discussion 14 years ago when she and others sounded alarms like the one Brumley raised last week.

Johnson said the state suffers from a lack of adequate pre-school programs, which means too many students enter kindergarten not ready to learn.

She said the state has also implemented too many programs for reading improvements with too many stops and starts.

Johnson also said the state needs a better partnership with parents to ensure children are getting the stimulation they need at an early age.

Leslie Jacobs, another former BESE member who was part of that 2007 discussion, said what most teachers learned in their college of education is not working when it comes to teaching children how to read.

Louisiana has shown math gains on national scores after changes in curriculum and instruction.

"Other states, like Florida, have shown that you can have significant improvement in reading and we need to have the same focus on improving the curriculum and instruction in reading that we have in math," Jacobs said.

State law requires that students in kindergarten, first, second and third grades undergo literacy screening within 30 days of the start of the school year.

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Children in kindergarten are tested on whether they recognize word sounds. First-graders are studied for basic phonics, second graders for oral reading fluency and third graders for reading comprehension.

+2 Louisiana could see first overhaul in school scrutiny in more than 20 years State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley on Monday outlined potential sweeping changes in public school operations to tackle shortcoming

Libbie Sonnier, a member of Louisiana's Early Literacy Commission, echoed Johnson's concerns about kindergarten.

Sonnier said in some parishes more than 90% of children who enter kindergarten are ill-prepared to learn. About half are unprepared statewide.

"It speaks to the need for continued investment in early literacy and how we really need to focus on instruction in those kindergarten, first, second and third grades and really spend the time and effort to make sure children are getting the instruction they need that science supports," she said.

The commission has twice said Louisiana needs to spend $15 million per year for early literacy.

In sudden turnaround, Legislature approves aid to tackle Louisiana's dismal reading rates State lawmakers have approved spending $2 million to tackle Louisiana's alarming reading problem for its youngest students, in part because a 

The Legislature last year approved $2 million, which is being used to fund pilot projects in 12 urban and rural school districts.

Bill to help improve reading skills in Louisiana schools dies in Legislature; backers baffled A bid to improve Louisiana's dismal reading skills for its youngest students died near the legislative finish line, leaving backers baffled on

Some of the blame for the latest downturn in reading scores is the classroom upheaval triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ten months after the pandemic forced the first wave of classroom closings, 40% of students are relying on virtual learning or a combination of virtual and in-person instruction.

Last year, 59.1% of kindergarten students tested in-person scored below grade level in reading versus 65.4% of those quizzed virtually.

Among first-graders, 57.2% of those tested in-person were subpar compared to 63.8% of virtual learners. Second- and third-graders showed slightly higher scores virtually compared to in-person.

However, about half of students in both grades were performing below expectations.

How to Wash a Heart explores the relationship between an immigrant guest and a citizen host.

British-Indian poet Bhanu Kapil has won the prestigious TS Eliot Poetry Prize for the year 2020, for her "radical and arresting" collection, How to Wash a Heart, announced the official website of the prize.

"Our shortlist celebrated the ways in which poetry is responding to profound change, and the stylistic freedom that todays poets have claimed. From this impressive field, we unanimously chose Bhanu Kapils How to Wash a Heart as our winner. It is a radical and arresting collection that recalibrates what its possible for poetry to achieve," said Lavinia Greenlaw, chair of the judging panel.

How to Wash a Heart explores the relationship between an immigrant guest and a citizen host. The writer, who was born in England currently lives between the UK and US, where she spent 21 years at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, has six books of poetry/prose to her credit, including The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, Schizophrene and Ban en Banlieue. Earlier in 2020, she won the coveted American award, the Windham-Campbell Prize, in the poetry category in recognition of her literary achievements.

The impact of receiving the Windham-Campbell Prize during a global pandemic is life-changing and life-supporting for myself and my family. I hope that I can use whatever relief or good that comes from having won such an honour to be of service, on-going, to those in more vulnerable situations than my own, she said at the time.

How to Wash a Heart is her first full-length collection to be published in the UK and is drawn from a performance in London in 2019. It has been praised for using poetry as a mode of interrogation. In a time of increasing hostility against migrants, Kapil demonstrates how survival tunes the guest to its host with devastating intimacy, notes publisher Liverpool University Press, in reference to the work shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.

The TS Eliot Prize, described as the most valuable prize in British poetry and the only major poetry prize judged purely by established poets, comes with a winners cheque for GBP 25,000. The shortlisted poets are presented with cheques for GBP 1,500 each.

The 2020 judging panel, which included British Indian poet Mona Arshi, said they were on the lookout for the best new poetry collection written in English and published in the year 2020. "My fellow judges, Mona Arshi, Andrew McMillan and I have been reading books written in a different world, the one before COVID-19 ," Greenlaw had said when the shortlist was announced last year.

The urgency and vitality of the ten books on this shortlist commanded our attention nonetheless. We were unsettled, captivated and compelled. Poetry is the most resilient, potent, capacious and universal art we have, she had added. The panel sifted through 153 entries to finalise their shortlist of 10, which included Natalie Diaz for Postcolonial Love Poem; Sasha Dugdale for Deformations; Ella Frears for Shine, Darling; Will Harris for Rendang, Wayne Holloway-Smith for Love Minus Love; Daisy Lafarge for Life Without Air; Glyn Maxwell for How the hell are you; Shane McCrae for Sometimes I Never Suffered, and JO Morgan for The Martians Regress.

The prize was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Societys 40th birthday and honour its founding poet, TS Eliot. It is awarded annually to the author of the best new collection of poetry, published in the UK and Ireland.

 With inputs from the Press Trust of India
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San Francisco, Jan 25 : A person from the US state of California died hours after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, authorities said, adding that an investigation is underway.

Placer County Public Health and the Placer County Sheriff-Coroner Division were recently notified of the death of he individual who had tested positive for the virus last month, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday citing the officials as saying "The individual was administered a Covid-19 vaccine several hours before the death on January 21, 2021," the Placer County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

"The vaccine was not administered by Placer County Public Health." The authorities did not provide further information about the fatal case, including the person's age and gender, and the brand of vaccine the individual had received.

Noting that multiple local, state and federal agencies are actively investigating the case, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said: "Any reports surrounding the cause of death are premature, pending the outcome of the investigation." This report comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed last week that more than 1,200 adverse events were reported across the US after inoculation by the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine as of January 10, with 10 cases determined to be anaphylaxis.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Moderna Covid-19 vaccine on December 18, 2020, administered as 2 doses, 1 month apart to prevent Covid-19, the Xinhua news agency reported.

As of January 10, a reported 40,41,396 first doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine had been administered in the US, and reports of 1,266 adverse events after receipt of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine were submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, according to the CDC.

Among these, 108 case reports were identified for further review as possible cases of severe allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis.

Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction that occurs rarely after vaccination, with onset typically within minutes to hours.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Even in a one-party state like California, stupidity, arrogance, and incompetence can undo the political career of a governor who seemed to have all the ingredients for a run at the White House. Not too long ago, Gavin Newsom was considered as a serious presidential contender in 2024 and beyond for Democrats: movie star handsome, able to tap the largest pool of deep-pocketed Democrat donors, and pals with the Big Tech and Hollywood titans that dominate the nation's flow of information.



Gavin "Pretty Boy" Newsom.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC By-SA 3.0 license.

But after a series of blunders revealing the aforementioned stupidity, arrogance, and incompetence, Newsom is fighting for his political life in the face of a recall petition that already has garnered 80% of the signatures necessary for a recall election to be conducted by the state. Bradford Betz of Fox News reports:

A recall campaign to oust California Gov. Gavin Newsom is nearing its required threshold to qualify for a statewide ballot. Over the weekend, recall organizers said they have collected 1.2 million of the needed 1.5 million signatures needed by March 17 to qualify for a ballot. (snip) Rescue California, one of two main groups organizing the campaign, says their goal is to collect 2 million signatures to account for the fact that many of the signatures will inevitably prove invalid. San Diego's KUSI reported Saturday that California's Secretary of State has confirmed 84% of the signatures collected so far are valid.

The immediate spark of the surge in signatures was the release of photographs of Newsom attending a lavish birthday party at the French Laundry in the Napa Valley, one of the most famous and expensive restaurants in America, with no mask and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with his pals, including the honoree for the occasion, a lobbyist. This in defiance of the lockdown orders he had imposed on lesser Californians. As I wrote at the time:

The very same man who told us that when dining out we should put a mask on in between bites, that we should have no more than ten people (from no more than three households) at our outdoor Thanksgiving celebrations, was spotted and photographed violating all of his strictures on the rest of us.

His smirking apology, falsely claiming that the party was outdoors, despite photographs showing a chandelier above the table, made matters worse. Even the New York Times was appalled, publishing an op-ed titled "Gavin Newsom, what were you thinking?"

Symbolically rich though that arrogance may have been, substantively, Newsom has been an even bigger disaster. He was the first to order a statewide lockdown last March, and that and subsequent orders have been devastating to small businesses, while based on no scientific evidence. For instance, he suddenly and arbitrarily banned outdoor dining at restaurants after many had invested heavily in creating heated outdoor spaces, and stocking up on perishable foodstuffs, only to see those precious resources wasted as the guv changed his mind.

In a display of unbelievable arrogance last Friday, the state bureaucracy he commands refused to release data on the state's COVID policies. The AP reports:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has from the start said his coronavirus policy decisions would be driven by data shared with the public to provide maximum transparency. But with the state starting to emerge from its worst surge, his administration won't disclose key information that will help determine when his latest stay-at-home order is lifted. State health officials said they rely on a very complex set of measurements that would confuse and potentially mislead the public if they were made public. Translation: You're too stupid to understand our complex calculations, so shut up and obey.

At around the same time as the state refused to release its data (as had been promised) came the news that California has the worst record of distributing vaccines in the entire nation:

Good news: California has gotten better at administering its available COVID-19 vaccines, going from a 27.5% usage rate last week to a 37.3% usage rate this week. Bad news: Other states have also picked up the pace, and California now ranks 50th out of 50 states in percentage of shots used ... Of the nation's six largest states, California remains the only one with a usage rate below 40%, as was the case last week.

Newsom seems to realize that he is in deep trouble. Just out this morning via Fox News:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to make an announcement on Monday lifting his state's COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, which would allow for restaurants to reopen for outdoor dining, according to multiple reports. The order will be lifted in all regions of the state, according to a letter sent from the California Restaurant Association (CRA) to its members. The letter, dated on Sunday, said senior officials in the Newsom administration confirmed the upcoming decision with the association.

The many restaurants, especially smaller, family-owned places, that have closed their doors forever will not be able to take advantage of Newsom's latest flip-flop.

While I disagree with Newsom on many public policy issues, I lost all respect for the man almost a decade and a half ago when he was mayor of San Francisco and married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, and it became public that he had been conducting an affair with the wife of his best friend (and former top aide, then, at the time, his campaign manager).

Such a man is not fit for any public office in my book, or any position of trust at all. Too bad that voters did not draw the same lesson at the time. But Gavin Newsom has always been a bit of a made man when it comes to California politics, and the state's media have never really gone after him the way they would after any conservative. Perhaps a successful recall would finally put an end to his career. After all, ever since former Democrat governor Gray Davis was recalled, little has been heard of him.
New Delhis goodwill gesture to ship Covid-19 vaccines, which are being manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India (SII), to all but three SAARC countries has triggered a smear campaign against India in neighbouring China.

In a bid to damage the Vaccine Maitri diplomacy, Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times targeted India on its capacity to manufacture vaccines in bulk after the unfortunate incident of fire breaking out at the SII in Pune.

Citing a recent BBC report, where the patients rights group  All India Drug Action Network  said it was "baffled to understand the scientific logic to approve an incompletely studied vaccine, the Global Times claimed that the SII-manufactured Covishields approval was rushed into and failed to complete a bridging study for the vaccine.

Further, in a subtle dig at India, the Chinese newspaper claimed that on the other hand Indians in China are meanwhile embracing Chinese vaccines against the SARS-COV-2 virus.

ALSO READ | China Grudgingly Concedes India's Covid-19 Vaccines Are Good

So far, India has already shipped vaccines to neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal already. Myanmar and Seychelles are the next in line.

Political experts in India believe that the countrys decision to share vaccines is a goodwill gesture in the time of crisis and it is an initiative that will have a saluting impact on Indias relationship with its neighbours. Besides, all the top leaders of our neighbouring countries have thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the vaccines received.

ALSO READ | China to Provide 5 Lakh Doses of Covid-19 Vaccine to Pakistan as a 'Gesture Of Goodwill'

The Global Times, further, quoted the BBC report to claim that there were intense concerns arising from the absence of the efficacy data of the SII-produced COVISHIELD vaccine.

While India has been sending millions of doses of free vaccines to its neighbours, Bangladesh too turned to India to get free vaccines after China asked it to share costs of clinical trials of Sinovac  the efficacy for which has also been contested.

China has tried to use this vaccine to refurbish its image. But the essential difference is Chinas reliability all over the world is very low.

Meanwhile, India had indicated that it would cooperate with all countries, even before the vaccine came in. There were some 150 countries to which some medicines like hydroxychloroquine, remdisivir, and other medicines, PPEs and other things were sent by India.

In its report, the Global Times further quoted anonymous netizens and analysts in an article to say that the SII fire may affect peoples confidence in high-quality vaccine production. "Indias vaccine production capacity was unlikely to keep up with the Indian governments ambitions," it said.

Interestingly, in early January this year, an article in the Global Times stated, "Experts suggested that India's vaccines are no less competitive than Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in both research and production capacity, considering that India has the world's largest vaccine manufacturer and lower costs in labour and facilities."

Come January 27, India will donate 500,000 doses of the vaccine to Sri Lanka. The Centre has also assured Kabul that Afghanistan will figure high on Indias priority list for Covid-19 vaccine once the local regulator grants approval for its use.

Meanwhile, apart from its key diplomatic ally  Pakistan  China has been unable to offer much vaccine support to countries in the region, which it predominantly looks to hegemonise both economically and politically.

While Nepals drug regulator is yet to approve the use of Chinese vaccines, Maldives too has shown zero indication of any delivery of Covid-19 vaccines by China so far. Even Cambodia, Beijings close ally, snubbed China and recently requested India for vaccines despite having received a million doses of Chinese vaccines.

Last week, Reuters reported that China has been in a vaccine deadlock with Bangladesh since the latter refused to contribute towards development cost of the vaccine.

India is also supplying vaccines on contractual or commercial basis to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
New Delhi: Pfizer Inc will pursue its request for India to approve its COVID-19 vaccine if the government commits to buying shots, the U.S. drugmaker told Reuters on Monday, even as global supplies tighten.

Pfizer was the first company to seek emergency-use authorisation (EUA) for a COVID-19 vaccine in India, but the government this month approved two much cheaper shots - one from Oxford University/AstraZeneca and another developed at home by Bharat Biotech with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) says Pfizer officials failed to turn up to meetings after the company's application was made in early December. The regulator has also declined to accept the company's request for approval without a small local trial on the vaccine's safety and immunogenicity for Indians, Reuters has reported.

Pfizer says its application is supported by data from a global study that shows an overall efficacy rate of 95% with no vaccine-related, serious safety concerns. It also says that, based on the same data, the vaccine developed with German partner BioNTech has been approved in Britain, the United States, the European Union and Canada.

"The data collected has been endorsed by various regulatory agencies (including the most evolved) and they have given EUA [based on] ... that data," the firm said in an emailed response to questions, including on India's demand for a local trial.

"Given our exclusive priority to government supply, we look forward to a confirmation from the government on necessary supplies, [on the] basis which we will take the regulatory process forward, as we have done across the world," it added.

Last week, government officials in some EU countries said Pfizer had slashed in half deliveries to them, causing frustration and hampering vaccination drives.

Indian officials have had discussions with both Pfizer and its U.S. rival Moderna Inc about making their shots in India, given its large pharmaceutical capacity.

However, India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, says it is mainly relying on shots already approved or tested at home to run its massive immunisation campaign that began on Jan. 16.

Pfizer said its current focus was on distributing the vaccine around the world using manufacturing capacity in the United States and Europe.

"Once the pandemic supply phase is over and we enter a phase of regular supplies, Pfizer will evaluate all additional opportunities available," it said.

Asked why it did not attend meetings called by the CDSCO, Pfizer said its officials had not been given enough notice.

"The company representatives have been unable to participate in previous meetings due to extremely short notices of a few hours or less and time-zone limitations," the company said.

"We remain committed to engaging with the Government of India to make this vaccine available for use by the government in the country."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Ashley Banjo (Matt Crossick/PA Images via Getty Images)

Ashley Banjo has said his Black Lives Matter dance routine from Britains Got Talent has even caused divisions in his own family.

The Diversity star fronted an emotional Black Lives Matter-inspired performance for the show that told the story of the killing of George Floyd and featured a dancer dressed as a police officer kneeling on his neck.

Sparking more than 25,000 viewer complaints to Ofcom, it made Britains Got Talent the most complained-about show of 2020, but Banjo has always stood by his routine and said he is proud of it.

Watch: Ashley Banjo responds to haters of Diversity's BLM performance

Now he has told The Star that there were even some difficulties very close to home.

He said: Even among my own family and friends the performance sparked conversation. There has been some negativity with my family. There was division.

People didnt directly disagree with the performance but there was a conversation about if it was really necessary. I saw it happen in my own household.

And there are people who normally talk to me but suddenly we havent spoken at all. Silence says a lot.

Ashley Banjo says even some of his family disagreed with his Britain's Got Talent routine. (Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)

Banjo also shared that he was still getting online abuse for his dance, saying that he often got sent negative messages before appearing as a judge on Dancing On Ice live shows.

Adding that he got hundreds of messages a week, he said he didnt believe those trolling him would be brave enough to say the same thing to his face.

Ashley Banjo is a judge on Dancing On Ice. (ITV)

Banjo said the reaction fires me up and that he thought it was important to use the platform of his fame to prompt important conversations.

Talking about how he planned to make the most of his appearances on TV, he said he was going to use his fame to raise awareness of important issues, whether everyone agreed with it or not.

Watch: How chaos at the US Capitol exposed a double standard
JACKSON, MI  A Jackson County man convicted of killing his girlfriends toddler will not get a new trial.

Scott Jurewicz, now 32, was convicted by a jury in November 2017 of first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse in the death of his girlfriends son in 2015. He was sentenced to life in prison by Jackson County Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson.

Jurewicz appealed his conviction to the Michigan Court of Appeals, arguing he deserved a new trial because of ineffective attorneys. The appeals court ruled in August 2019 that his attorneys were not ineffective, but the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in September 2020 that the appeals court used an incorrect legal standard and told the court to issue a new opinion.

Man convicted of murdering toddler will have case reviewed, Michigan Supreme Court rules

The appeals court again affirmed its opinion that Jurewiczs counsel was not ineffective, judges Colleen OBrien, Karen Fort Hood and Thomas Cameron said in a Jan. 21 opinion.

I think theres a clear violation of Mr. Jurewiczs Sixth Amendment right, defense attorney Imran Syed said. Ultimately the remedy for what we argued here  which is the Constitutional claim of ineffective assistance of counsel  is to bring a new trial.

Syed did not represent Jurewicz during his Jackson County jury trial. Syed, who also works as an assistant clinical professor at Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, said hes now representing Jurewicz pro bono.

Jurewicz, told police that on March 14, 2015, he shook his then-girlfriends 18-month-old son Brenden Hartranft before putting him to bed in the couples Michigan Center home. The boy was removed from life support three days later.

Brenden suffocated, but there was a prior injury that led to the suffocation, doctors testified at trial.

We prosecuted the guy, Chief Appellate Attorney Jerrold Schrotenboer said. We believe that he committed the murder. We got a conviction. Now the Court of Appeals has a second time, affirmed the conviction.

Attorneys failed to call favorable expert witnesses for Jurewicz, which they are mandated to do, Syed said. Two reports from Dr. Leslie Hamilton and Dr. Michael Pollanen said that Brendens cause of death could not be determined. Those doctors were not called to testify, and their reports were presented through testimony of different doctors who testified for the prosecution, according to court documents.

Jurewicz and Syed did not prove that the Hamiltons and Pollanens testimony would have provided a substantial defense not otherwise available, the courts opinion states.

We cannot conceive of how live testimony by Drs. Hamilton and Pollanen would have led to a different result in this case, particularly given the fact that those opinions  as well as defendants admission  were made known to the jury, which chose to convict defendant anyway, the opinion reads.

The next step for Jurewicz is to appeal this ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court, Syed said. He said a new trial for Jurewicz is the goal, adding an evidentiary hearing to learn what experts would testify to at this time is also a desirable outcome.

The Court of Appeals and certainly the prosecution seem very driven by, Theres a lot of evidence here and its overwhelming evidence, Syed said. That cant color the analysis of what are the legal rights of the defendant. It doesnt matter how overwhelming the evidence may be in the estimation of the Court of Appeals. Mr. Jurewicz had a Sixth Amendment right to present a complete defense and to receive effective assistance from his attorney, and that didnt happen here because the attorney didnt present an expert.

Jurewicz has the constitutional right to appeal, even if his odds are a million to one, Schrotenboer said.

I think (the appeals court made) the correct decision, Schrotenboer said. Its, to a very large extent, what Ive been saying all along. Im certainly not appealing it.

Jurewicz maintained his innocence through the trial, though police said he admitted to giving Brenden a good shake and putting him down hard in a playpen.

During the nine-day trial, the jury listened to 22 witnesses and saw more than 120 pieces of evidence.

Jurewicz is also a suspect in the May 21, 2015 death of 21-month-old Jesse Pepper Jr. He was the son of Andrea Conaway, with whom Jurewicz started a relationship before he was charged in Brendens death. He hasnt been charged.

Jurewicz is serving his sentence at Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility, in Ionia, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.

For a listing of stories on the case, click here.

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Consumers Energy providing $3M in energy bill relief for Michigan residents

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You helped mend a part of my childhood. Spring Arbor womans business restores treasured toys
Commercial passenger flight services at Sikkim's lone airport at Pakyong near Gangtok resumed on Saturday after a gap of about 19 months.

A SpiceJet aircraft with 57 passengers from Delhi landed at the Pakyong airport, as Sikkim Health Minister M.K. Sharma welcomed the travellers. The flight returned with 21 passengers.

Terming it a historic day, Sharma said that airline services would be a lifeline for the Sikkimese people and boost tourism and trade in the mountainous state.

Additional Chief Secretary of Sikkim (tourism and civil aviation), K. Jayakumar, said that resumption of flight operations was possible after several technical interventions.

In a social media post, Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang said that resumption of airline services at the Pakyong airport would bring in a new era of travel in Sikkim and would help mitigate the issues being faced by the state in the transport sector.

The Pakyong airport is important for its strategic location in the bordering state.

Daily flight services to Delhi are scheduled from January 28, while the airport would also connect with Kolkata in the near future.

The tabletop airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2018, and commercial flight operations started in October 2018. It remained non-operational since June 2019 due to technical reasons and uncertain weather conditions.

The airport, constructed by the Airport Authority of India at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore, is located at a height of 4,646 feet and is one of the five highest airports in the country.

There are 14 existing airports in the northeast region -- Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur and Lilalabari (Assam), Tezu and Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Agartala (Tripura), Imphal (Manipur), Shillong (Meghalaya), Dimapur (Nagaland), Lengpui (Mizoram) and Pakyong (Sikkim).

Also Watch:

The AAI has started work to redevelop the Rupsi airport in Kokrajhar district in western Assam bordering West Bengal. It would be the seventh airport in Assam.

The AAI is also developing the Hollongi airport in Arunachal Pradesh, boosting air connectivity in the mountainous areas.
Commenting on the opening, Dr. Gaetan Michel, Chief Executive Officer of Belgium Volition SRL said, "The opening of the new facility will not only bring the manufacture of key components in-house thereby securing our supply chain, but it will also significantly reduce the cost of production of all these components and in turn reduce the cost of both assay development and finished products. The purchase and full fit out at a cost of just over $1 million was mostly funded by non-dilutive funding received from Namur Invest and the Walloon Region, demonstrating our continuing commitment to careful cash management. I am extremely proud that we are now a company manufacturing products as well as undertaking cutting-edge research and development."

"In addition to the manufacturing capability, we have also installed a Service Laboratory in the new facility," continued Dr. Michel. "Within this lab we will undertake sample processing for external parties such as the pre-eclampsia samples processed as a service for Nimes University Hospital, as described in a recently published paper, providing another strand to our diverse revenue stream from our proprietary Nu.Q platform."

As previously announced, Volition has also opened a small laboratory at California State University in San Marcos, California within the University's Innovation Hub. The employees will be led by experienced epigenetic scientist Dr. Terry Kelly, Chief Scientific Officer of Volition America Inc. and will focus on innovative projects to expand Volition's intellectual property portfolio.

For further details please contact [email protected].

About Volition

Volition is a multi-national epigenetics company developing simple, easy to use, cost effective blood tests to help diagnose a range of cancers and other diseases. Early diagnosis has the potential to not only prolong the life of patients, but also to improve their quality of life. The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present. Volition is primarily focused on human diagnostics but also has a subsidiary focused on animal diagnostics.

Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with a small laboratory in California and additional offices in Texas, London and Singapore, as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic products to market.

For more information about Volition, visit Volition's website volition.com or connect with us via:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/volitionrx

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/volitionrx

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VolitionRx/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VolitionRx

The contents found at Volition's website address, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. The addresses for Volition's website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are included in this document as inactive textual references only.

Media / Investor Contacts

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the intended uses of the Silver One facility and its impact on Volition's business. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, results of studies testing the efficacy of its tests. For instance, if Volition fails to develop and commercialize diagnostic or prognostic products, it may be unable to execute its plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include Volition's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in Volition's development pipeline or any other diagnostic or prognostic products Volition might develop; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition will face fierce competition and Volition's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics market and its rapid technological change; downturns in domestic and foreign economies; and other risks identified in Volition's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that Volition files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Volition's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, Volition does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics and Nu.Q and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners. Additionally, unless otherwise specified, all references to "$" refer to the legal currency of the United States of America.

SOURCE VolitionRx Limited

Related Links

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Communication Business Avenue (CBA), a proven provider of various solutions for contact and call centers, including AI and RPA, is pleased to announce its partnership with CrisisGo, the leading incident management and emergency communication technology provider.

The CrisisGo offerings will be released and available by CBA-Japan effective January 25, 2021, including a full suite of threat management services available in Japanese languages and available on Android, IOS, Windows, and macOS. The service offerings will introduce digital safety solutions to help public and commercial organizations make work environments safer in a world still affected by COVID-19.

Many organizations struggle to manage the health status and pre-certification of stakeholders. A safety technology solution like CrisisGo Safety iPass, allows schools, businesses, and organizations to confidently navigate this challenge while monitoring potential risk using intelligent survey tools and intuitive reports to manage entry and immediately escalate positive cases of COVID-19 to health authorities.

Organizations can use CrisisGo Safety iPass to pre-certify staff, visitors, students, or other relevant parties using a digital check-in system that is reliable and easy to use, without having to download an app. Safety iPass generates digital badges updated daily to identify individuals status based on responses to the customized and scheduled certification health status survey.

With Safety iPass, organizations can more efficiently and effectively admit people into offices, businesses, buildings, and sites by using the pre-certified digital badge to confirm that the individual is approved to enter. With social distancing guidelines in place, and the upcoming threat of inclement weather as we transition into the fall season, the importance of a fast and efficient entry method is more important than ever. Like a fast pass for airports and services, Safety iPass speeds up the ability to confirm stakeholders safety status and get them into a safe learning environment. Safety iPass supports several validation methods, including bus validation, digital badge via the CrisisGo app, existing badges with QR or barcodes, and email, to work in compliance with any COVID-19 back-to-work model.

With roots in Information Technology, CBA-Japan is a services organization specializing in the creation & selling of real problem/solutions messages for the correct target audience. CBA also enables clients to penetrate new markets, create solutions matching the demand of cloud-transformation, and build a step-by-step approach towards software-defined safety plan digitalization. CBA-Japan's extensive experience with increased automation, simplification, IoT, and Blockchain will bring a unique perspective to CrisisGos safety platforms mission.

No matter the size or makeup of your organization, CrisisGos Safety iPass gives you the ability to return as safely as possible and effectively maintain safety in a COVID-19 environment. Visit our website at cba-japan.com to learn more.

About CBA

CBA serves as the officially approved service provider of CafeX Communications, Bright Pattern, and ITyX, the worlds leading AI solution provider based in Germany. Along with professional in-house multilingual engineers, we have augmented support in the United Kingdom with former CafeX engineers and developers. Our engineering support teams are located in the U.S., India, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan, covering every time zone, providing 24/7 support for our worldwide customers. We are always ready to help our customers improve their business and services.

About CrisisGo

CrisisGo is the leading safety platform and emergency solution serving at the intersection of communities and organization stakeholders personal and professional lives. We are trusted by more than 16,000 schools and organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, to keep them connected and maximize critical safety resources. CrisisGo is privileged to be a part of the FirstNet mobile app ecosystem to secure and have demonstrated reliability as an AWS Advanced Technology Partner. Learn more at crisisgo.com and follow our blog, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Contact

Candice Powers, Vice President of Marketing

CrisisGo, Inc.

314.455.7220

marketing@crisisgo.com
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Brandon Fraser was diagnosed with an extremely rare gene mutation that causes seizures and paralyzing migraines. (Images via GoFundMe).

The parents of an Alberta toddler are seeking help after receiving a one in 7.8 billion diagnosis that has left their son with seizures and paralyzing migraines.

Kurt Fraser and Dana Christensens son Brandon, was diagnosed with epilepsy caused by a gene mutation that is so rare, he is believed to be the only medically documented case in the world.

ALSO SEE: Pregnant blogger's cause of sudden death revealed: What to know about pulmonary embolisms

According to a GoFundMe set up to alleviate the medical costs and stress on Fraser and Christensen, Brandon was referred to specialists shortly after he was born due to multiple medical concerns. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 delayed the opportunity for a proper diagnosis and treatment. Despite the pandemic, the family was able to meet with specialists and seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Dana Christensen and Kurt Fraser with their son, Brandon. (Image via GoFundMe).

Things changed in August when Brandon was rushed to hospital where he experienced hours of seizing as doctors tended to him. Doctors diagnosed the then 9-month-old with epilepsy and Fraser and Christensen had to quickly learn how to navigate life with the disorder, and purchased monitoring equipment for their home.

On Dec. 20, just four days after celebrating his first birthday, Brandon was admitted to the ICU with seizures. After several weeks of tests and multiple setbacks doctors received the results of genetic testing that had been expedited to Finland for analysis.

(They) explained that his genetic mutation is the only one that they have ever documented, Fraser said in an interview with CTV.

Brandon Fraser was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic mutation that causes seizures and paralyzing migraines. (Image via GoFundMe)

Dr. Billie Au, a clinical geneticist at the Alberta Children's Hospital, said that although there are other people in the world that have mutations of the same gene, Brandons form of mutation is entirely unique.

The fact that his mutation has not been seen means it's hard for us to predict what he's going to be like in the future because we can't really compare to people with the same mutation Au told CTV.

Story continues

ALSO SEE: Jeff Bridges reveals his tumor is 'drastically' shrinking after lymphoma diagnosis

Fraser and Christensen are now trying their best to adjust to the diagnosis which prevents the added challenge of an unknown path for treatment.

Brandon Fraser was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic mutation that causes seizures and paralyzing migraines. (Image via GoFundMe)

It explains a lot of the health problems that he's having right now. It's good to have an answer  we just didn't expect it to be that answer, I guess, Fraser said.

In addition to seizures, Brandon suffers from severe migraines on one half of his brain that causes partial paralysis that lasts for weeks and sometimes months. The family said that the migraines can cause the now 13-month-old to start seizing and can cause multiple set-backs, such as requiring powerful medication that requires doctors Brandon to be ventilated.

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Au said Brandon will likely require lifelong support - as will Fraser and Christensen, who have felt the strain of navigating the diagnosis during a global pandemic.

The social supports aren't really accessible and you can't have your friends and family to rally around you in person, Au explained. I think for families, in this situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's been particularly difficult because visitors are limited and you can't have people coming to your house to help out."

Brandon Fraser's family is rallying around is parents to alleviate medical costs and stresses related to his extremely rare diagnosis.

Family and friends have helped organize a GoFundMe page to help alleviate the medical costs and stresses that have accompanied Brandons diagnosis.

According to the fundraising page, Fraser was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2018 and Christensen has a mobility condition.

Needless to say, it has been a difficult couple of years for this little family, the page reads. Regardless of Kurt and Daras health concerns, Brandons care and comfort are their main priority.

Donations can be made to Brandons page here.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 02:49:03|Editor: huaxia

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A balloon seller wearing a mask walks on the corniche of the port in Tripoli, Lebanon, on Jan. 24, 2021. Lebanon registered on Sunday 3,010 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of cases to 279,597, the Health Ministry reported. (Photo by Khaled/Xinhua)

BEIRUT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon registered on Sunday 3,010 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of cases to 279,597, the Health Ministry reported.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus went up by 50 to 2,320.

Lebanon has witnessed a remarkable increase in the daily number of infections and deaths over the past two weeks after the Lebanese authorities reduced lockdown measures during the festive season of Christmas and New Year.

Lebanon has been fighting against COVID-19 since Feb. 21, 2020.

China has offered help to Lebanon's anti-coronavirus fight, including the donation of medical equipment to Beirut's airport, and Lebanon's Health Ministry.

On April 16, 2020, China also donated 3,000 testing kits and 200 manual thermometers to Lebanon.
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Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
Mariko Onodera and Jan Meyer perform an experiment with potassium-sensitive microelectrodes in the Institute of Neurobiology at HHU. Credit: HHU / Institute of Neurobiology

During epileptic seizures, a large number of nerve cells in the brain fire excessively and in synchrony. This hyperactivity may lead to uncontrolled shaking of the body and involve periods of loss of consciousness. While about two thirds of patients respond to anti-epileptic medication, the remainder is refractory to medical treatment and shows drug-resistance. These patients are in urgent need for new therapeutic strategies.

Together with colleagues in Japan, Prof. Dr. Christine Rose and her doctoral student Jan Meyer from the Institute of Neurobiology at HHU have performed a study to address the cellular mechanisms that promote the development of epilepsy. While up to now, most studies and anti-epileptic drugs targeted nerve cells (neurons), this research team focused on a class of glial cells known as astrocytes.

Glial cells account for approximately half of all cells in the brain. There are different types of glial cells, which perform different functions. Astrocytes control the local environment and are responsible for the ion balance in the brain, but also play an important role in signal transmission between neurons.

In their recent paper, the researchers show that epileptic discharges lead to a rise in the pH of astrocytes, that is in their intracellular 'alkalisation'. The change in pH disrupts the communication within the intercellular astrocyte networks. This reduced communication between astrocytes appears to exacerbate epileptic activity of neurons.

Prof. Dr. Christine Rose, Head of the Institute of Neurobiology. Credit: HHU / Christoph Kawan

This finding points towards a potential new target for suppressing epileptogenesis at a very early stage, namely by using drugs to suppress changes in astrocytic pH accompanying neuronal activity.

The researchers were able to confirm this option by showing that animals which were given such drugs suffered less severely from epileptic hyperexcitability than untreated animals.

Prof. Rose said: "This observation is very intriguing. But it still needs to be established whether or not it can be transferred to humans. And it will take a very long time before any potential drug can be developed and be really used in the clinics."

Explore further New mechanism of pain control revealed

More information: Mariko Onodera et al. Exacerbation of epilepsy by astrocyte alkalization and gap junction uncoupling. Journal of Neuroscience 21 January 2021, JN-RM-2365-20; DOI: Journal information: Journal of Neuroscience Mariko Onodera et al. Exacerbation of epilepsy by astrocyte alkalization and gap junction uncoupling.21 January 2021, JN-RM-2365-20; DOI: doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2365-20.2020

Provided by Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf
In the early hey-days of the Range Rover, following its introduction in the 1970s, it was the vehicle of choice for the British rangers. The...
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Polaris Bank says all is now set for the emergence of the first set of winners in its ongoing Save & Win promo.

In a statement issued by the Bank, it noted that the first set of winners will be determined through a raffle draw that will hold on February 9, 2021 where one millionnaire will emerge with 60 others going home with N100,000 prize money each and several others winning instant consolation prizes.

The statement also encouraged Nigerians to still save a minimum incremental sum of N10,000 in three consecutive deposits of the remaining promo period, to qualify and be one of the 26 lucky winners to emerge millionaires in the promo.

The nationwide Polaris Bank savings promotional campaign is expected to give away N26,000,000.00 (twenty-six million naira) in total to its loyal existing and prospective customers who emerge winners. Eight millionaires will emerge altogether alongside 180 lucky customers who will be rewarded with other cash consoldation cash gifts of N100,000 per person.

Polaris Bank says the promo is aimed at making millionaires of everyday Nigerians by encouraging current and prospective customers of the Bank which commenced in November 2020 to April 2021, to qualify for the draws.

The same process will be repeated in March while the month of April will be the Grand-finale leading to the emergence of sixty winners of N100,000 each across the six geo-political zones and six Millionaires of N1,000,000.00 (one million naira) each, across the six geo-political zones, bringing the entire draw to a total of 188 winners.

The Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank, Innocent C. Ike, while kicking off the campaign in the last quarter of 2020, noted that the essence of the exercise, is to give back to customers and encourage savings amongst Nigerians.

The campaign, he further explained, is a reward for the traders, artisans, public servants and indeed professionals who in spite of the challenging times, are able to put aside some money. He reiterated that in tough times such as we are now, there is a compelling need to save, not only to win a prize, but also to plan for the rainy day.

Explaining the mechanics of the campaign, the Bank in the statement noted that both current and new savings account customers of the Bank, are eligible to participate in the promo.

It further disclosed that the magic of winning lies in the ability of the customers to continuously top up their savings with the minimum sum of N10,000 each month, for three consecutive months, which ensures that such customers have greater chances of winning above others.

Winners will emerge through a transparent electronically generated process that will be supervised by regulatory institutions.

Savings Account accessibility is simple and swift in Polaris Bank. Prospective customers can dial *833*0# on their phones to follow the prompt or simply create or reactivate their own savings account from their devices by visiting https://accounts.polarisbanklimited.com/opening/or any of the Banks branches across the country.

Polaris Bank is a future-determining bank committed to delivering industry-defining products and services across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
In the first study of its kind, researchers find that light pollution, based on a direct measure of skyglow, could increase the likelihood of preterm birth by as much as 1.48 percentage points, or 12.9%.

Scientists conducted the first study to examine the fetal health impact of light pollution based on a direct measure of skyglow, an important aspect of light pollution. Using an empirical regularity discovered in physics, called Walker's Law, a team from Lehigh University, Lafayette College and the University of Colorado Denver in the U.S., found evidence of reduced birth weight, shortened gestational length and preterm births.

Specifically, the likelihood of a preterm birth could increase by approximately 1.48 percentage points (or 12.9%), according to the researchers, as a result of increased nighttime brightness. Nighttime brightness is characterized by being able to see only one-fourth to one-third of the stars that are visible in the natural unpolluted night sky. The findings have been published in an article in Southern Economic Journal called, "Light pollution, sleep deprivation, and infant health at birth."

One possible biological mechanism underlying the findings, based on the existing literature, is light-pollution-induced circadian rhythm disruption, according to Muzhe Yang, a co-author of the study and a professor of economics in Lehigh's College of Business. Yang says circadian rhythm disruption can cause sleep disorders that subsequently lead to adverse birth outcomes.

"While greater use of artificial light at night (ALAN) is often associated with greater economic prosperity, our study highlights an often neglected health benefit of 'darkness,'" says Yang. "We must realize that the biological clock (i.e., the circadian rhythm) of a human body, like all lives on the earth, needs the 'darkness' as part of the light-dark cycle, in order to effectively regulate physiological functions, such as sleep."

While essential to a modern society, ALAN can disrupt a human body's circadian rhythm and therefore become a "pollutant." The societal benefits of ALAN, for example through increased economic activity, may be offset by ALAN's negative externalities such as adverse health effects, say the authors.

The contribution of ALAN to the alteration of natural nocturnal lighting levels is often referred to as light pollution. Light pollution is considered a worldwide ongoing problem.

###
Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin has recalled how he partied with disgraced RBS boss Fred Goodwin a year before the bank was bailed out by the Government.

Speaking in BBC Scotland documentary The Years That Changed Modern Scotland, Rankin, 60, tells how he was invited to a bash at the RBS headquarters at Gogarburn, in Edinburgh, to celebrate the ABN Amro takeover.

Though the deal would bring RBS to its knees, at the time it was seen as a triumph for Scotland and a source of national pride, Rankin explains.

'I was at a party there the night of the ABN Amro takeover that was going to make them one of the biggest banks in the world,' he says.

Speaking in BBC Scotland documentary The Years That Changed Modern Scotland, Ian Rankin (left), tells how he was invited to a bash at the RBS headquarters at Gogarburn, in Edinburgh, to celebrate the completion of the ABN Amro takeover. Right, Fred Goodwin in 2009

'It was almost a city in itself, a shiny edifice with its own coffee shops, supermarkets and hairdressers so the staff never needed to leave the premises.

'Sir Fred Goodwin and his senior staff walked into this party. It was almost like the start of Reservoir Dogs. They were almost walking in slow motion with a soundtrack playing, suits and ties, all walking in.

'We all clapped, we all applauded, because we thought it was great for Scotland and great for Edinburgh.'

The one-hour documentary, the latest installment in a four-part series fronted by Kirsty Wark, explores the events of 2008 that saw Scotland go from a leading financial powerhouse and home of the biggest bank in the world, RBS, to an economy in crisis as the global financial crash wreaked havoc.

In 2007 RBS, led by the then Sir Fred Goodwin, was on its way to becoming the world's biggest bank, with assets of 1.9 trillion.

But following the deal to buy up parts of ABN Amro, in a 73.3 billion euro ($100.5 billion) deal with Fortis and Banco Santander SA, the shaky foundations on which the the RBS financial monster was built started to emerge.

The party was held at the RBS headquarters at Gogarburn, in Edinburgh, pictured. In the documentary, Rankin describes the site (pictured) as 'more like a city'

At the time the deal was the biggest banking takeover in history, but it quickly turned into a disaster.

Not only was it concluded at an inflated price after a hostile bidding process, but just as the world economy teetered on the edge of the great recession.

Then Lehman Brothers went out of business. That earthquake triggered a financial tsunami which went on to flatten RBS, which had to be rescued by taxpayers 12 months later at the cost of 45.2 billion.

Rankin adds: 'We were a world financial powerhouse and suddenly that all appeared to be built on sand.'

Five years on a Treasury Committee report - titled 'The FSA's report into the failure of RBS' - concluded that the Financial Services Authority should and could have intervened in the doomed takeover.

Goodwin, the banks former chief executive, was stripped of his knighthood in 2012,.

Much of ABN Amro's operations had to be split out to reform it following the collapse and in 2012 RBS 'sold' back to the Dutch lender parts of its businesses originally acquired in 2007.

Selling the Dutch business continued RBS's rapid downsizing of its global banking and markets arm to restructure the bank and focus it more on UK retail and commercial banking.

The Years That Changed Modern Scotland airs on BBC Scotland and iPlayer tomorrow at 10pm
The team of doctors at Thumbay University Hospital, Ajman have performed a mid-foot reconstruction using 3-D technology and saving a nine-year old Nigerian boy from foot amputation.



The young boy who had severely injured his right foot including bones and soft tissues because of the accidental gunshot in Nigeria had lost all hopes of getting it back as numerous consultations with Doctors in his native country and in UAE had only indicated one solution: foot amputation.



After a thorough analysis and a CT angiography of the foot, Dr Faisal Ameer, Head of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Thumbay University Hospital, concluded that salvation of the limb was possible, with a series of complex surgeries and treatments.



The first challenge was to provide adequate coverage and blood supply to save the foot. In a surgery lasting more than 14 hours, the doctors of the organization performed a micro-vascular free flap as the first procedure.



Then, the patient was reassessed with a 3D CT scan and an image of the missing bones destroyed by the bullet wound was reconstructed.



After days of work with design teams in Dubai, Germany and Belgium, the group consisting of doctors, Dr HillolKanti Pal (Neurosurgeon), Dr Mufique Gajdhar (Pediatric Surgeon) and Dr Arun Kumar (Radiologist),a meshed bone using titanium was 3D printed, which was then, in a historic and unprecedented moment, implanted into the childs foot in the following surgery.



The meshed structure was chosen to emulate the normal human bone structure, whereas titanium was used due to its strength, inertness and light weight.



This is the first of its kind surgery to be ever reported in the field of medical science, which makes it unique, historic and extraordinary. It is a matter of great pride and accomplishment for Thumbay University Hospital as we bring glory to the nation, further cementing countrys positioning of making records in almost all areas of life,  said Akbar Moideen Thumbay, Vice president of Healthcare Division, Thumbay Group.



Dr Ameer said: More than a third of all unintentional shootings of children take place in the homes of their friends, neighbours, or relatives. Fortunately, though, these injuries are not seen in UAE because of strict rules by the UAE government and the safe environment that the rulers of the nation ensure for its citizens as well as residents. However, in many countries people can own guns legally and there; children can get easily hurt causing a significant spike in mortality and morbidity rates.



The boy is now undergoing intensive physiotherapy for complete rehabilitation and range of motion and is expected, soon, to make a full recovery.  TradeArabia News Service



The Korea Times will start publishing a "Letter to President Biden" series from today. The series is aimed at conveying policy recommendations in an open letter from politicians, scholars and experts to the new U.S. president following his Jan. 20 inauguration.  ED.



By Park Jin





Dear Mr. President,



Allow me to express my heartfelt congratulations on your election and inauguration as the 46th president of the United States of America together with Vice President Kamala Harris.



The presidential election was a glorious victory won by the American people, demonstrating that the American spirit, representing freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, remains vibrant and resilient. Your message, "America is back," signifies the renewed sense of national unity, respect for alliances, and the restoration of U.S. global leadership based on the power of example.



I would like to take this opportunity to recall the honor of meeting you in July 2008 in your office when you served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I was greatly impressed by your warm welcome and strong support for the ROK-U.S. alliance. This was right before you accepted the vice presidency, a critical juncture in your outstanding political service.



As for myself, I have served as the chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification. I have recently returned to political service, as a four-time elected Assembly member representing the second constituency in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.



Our countries are facing critical, common challenges at this moment in time. Korea's most pressing issues are also overcoming the coronavirus pandemic and inducing economic recovery. Given our shared challenges, it is vital that we prioritize joining forces to resolve these issues.



Korea and America are blood allies bonded through the shared bloodshed and sacrifices of our peoples during the Korean War. Moreover, we are partners in our successful free trade agreement. A friend in need is a friend indeed.



Mr. President, we are actively coping with the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading on a global scale. The U.S. is now proactively implementing vaccinations of its people, while Korea is eagerly awaiting a supply of authorized and reliable vaccines.



Given the urgency of the production and supply of vaccines to battle the coronavirus, it is imperative that our two countries construct a partnership in promoting the development of and facilitating access to vaccines pursuant to Chapter Five of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA).



Korea's biopharmaceuticals have sufficient capability in the manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine. I believe that a "vaccine swap" between the two countries is also possible and desirable.



Korea and America must reinforce our alliance and partnership in economic cooperation and security assurances, based on the tenets of predictability, reciprocity and common values.



Expanding bilateral trade and investment between our countries will contribute to the creation of jobs, and restoration of the middle class for both our countries. Currently, Korea is the sixth-largest trade partner of the U.S. Korean companies' direct investment in the U.S. continues to grow.



Further bilateral commitments and exchanges in services in the areas of finance, health, education and law must be encouraged. Moreover, greater cooperation in artificial intelligence, 5G technology, renewable/clean energy and climate change is essential.



In relation to security assurances, the maintenance of the strong ROK-U.S. combined defense posture, as a deterrent against North Korea's provocations, is a key precondition for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.



The North's conventional armaments and the development of tactical nuclear missiles pose direct threats to South Korea while the intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles constitute a clear and present danger to the U.S.



It is of critical importance that we foster close coordination between our countries through sanctions and persuasion to achieve disarmament and denuclearization of North Korea. The defense cost-sharing negotiations for U.S. troops stationed in Korea must reach a mutually acceptable agreement at the earliest opportunity.



The ROK-U.S. alliance should also actively contribute to the peace and prosperity of the global community. As you rightly emphasized, Korea serves as the "linchpin of the Indo-Pacific region." Bilateral cooperation has evolved into a comprehensive global partnership. This partnership shall continue to advocate for democracy, free trade, rules-based order and human rights. It will also empower the alliance to effectively respond to the impacts of the rise of China.



Mr. President, you have proposed that, upon your inauguration, the U.S. would take the initiative to convene a global "Summit for Democracy." This summit would embody the protection of liberal democracies and human rights from the threats of authoritarian dictatorships. The vision for U.S. solidarity should be discussed with like-minded democracies in Asia, including Korea, Japan, Australia and India. The "Democracy 10" summit to be organized by the U.K. in June will set the right direction.



The ROK-U.S. alliance must achieve a peaceful unification of the two Koreas. It has been 76 years since the division of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea's totalitarian regime continues to systemically repress freedom and human rights while it strives to remain in power. You may recall your visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), north of Seoul, in a helicopter with your granddaughter in December 2013.



There are 26 million North Koreans on the other side of the DMZ who live in a world devoid of human freedom and information about the outside world. We should provide hope for the future and faith in freedom for them.



You and Dr. Jill Biden laid a memorial wreath at the Korean War Memorial Park in Philadelphia days after the presidential election. We are deeply grateful to you for honoring the sacrifices of all veterans of the Korean War. Mr. President, you have won the sympathy and hearts of the Korean people when you pledged to never betray the values for which they so bravely fought.



Korea should achieve unification based on the values of a liberal democracy, by fulfilling the North Koreans' right to information, extending necessary humanitarian assistance to them and alleviating their dire human rights situation. We must ensure that this is the goal of the ROK-U.S. alliance  to inspire the suffering North Koreans to create change within their own society.



On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War last year, the U.S. Congress passed two milestone resolutions: one, underscoring the crucial role of the alliance for peace and stability in Asia and the world, and two, recognizing the roles of the vibrant 2.6 million-strong Korean community in the U.S. Four candidates of Korean descent were proudly elected to the 2021 U.S. House of Representatives. The alliance continues to grow and foster democracy, diversity and prosperity.



Once again, Mr. President, I convey to you my sincere and heartfelt congratulations on your worthy triumph and historic inauguration.



May God bless you and Vice President Kamala Harris and may God bless the American people.



Most respectfully,

Park Jin





Park Jin (parkjin916@naver.com) is a lawmaker of the opposition People Power Party. He chairs the party's special committee on diplomacy and security and previously served as president of the Korea-America Association.


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The Order of Australia is a reflection of where this country is  and that should make us embarrassed and ashamed. Its not just that there arent enough women and no clear indication of whether we recognise First Nations people, points clearly made by Jacqueline Maley and Nigel Gladstone in the Good Weekend. Its not just that one of Australias top homophobes and former tennis player Margaret Court has been given our highest honour. Its not just that mens rights advocate Bettina Arndt was awarded one last year  and got to keep it. Its not even that there are a host of awardees youd prefer to avoid in a dark alley. Let me remind you of what Shane Stone, the chair of the Council for the Order of Australia, said last September: Short of a criminal conviction, we are not going to be arbiters of what people can or cant say.

The Companion in the Order of Australia (AC), Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) and Member in the Order of Australia (AM)

The problem is the council is the final arbiter of a process that is secret and secretive. We dont know who gets nominated. We dont know who misses out or why. For some inexplicable reason, its meant to be confidential. And those different factors mean Australians dont understand the process or the practice.

We can do better, both as individuals and as institutions. Victoria has a gold standard process that other states and territories would do well to copy.

In 2017, the Andrews government implemented the Recognition Matters program to improve the representation of women on the lists and attached real financial support to the program.
(Alliance News) - Bosses at Cineworld Group PLC have persuaded enough shareholders to vote in favour of a huge new bonus scheme that could see its chief executive net GBP65 million as part of a bonus scheme worth up to GBP208 million.

Investors holding just over 70% of shares voted for the new long-term incentive plan, despite Cineworld receiving taxpayer support through furlough and tapping up shareholders for cash to avoid collapse during the pandemic.

Alicja Kornasiewicz, chair of the cinema chain, said: "We acknowledge that there were a significant number of votes cast against the plan and the board will continue to engage with shareholders on remuneration matters in the coming months in light of the feedback received during our consultation."

The company, which is the world's second-largest cinema operator, had expected a backlash although in the end just over 69% and just over 70% voted in favour of the remuneration and long-term incentive plans, respectively.

Prior to the vote, proxy advisers for shareholders Glass Lewis and ISS had described the plans for the bonus as "excessive".

They also questioned whether the Chief Executive Mooky Greidinger, required further incentives considering his family already have a 20% stake in the business.

To get a GBP33 million payout Cineworld's share price must hit 190p within three years a back to levels it was at prior to the pandemic. To unlock GBP65 million it must hit 380p.

Cineworld shares were 2.7% lower at 64.30 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.

More than 5,000 staff have been furloughed while its 127 UK cinemas, including its Picturehouse brand, are shut.

Bosses have also faced up to big name blockbusters being delayed or being moved straight to streaming services a risking the chances of a swift recovery.

Last week producers revealed that the latest James Bond film is being postponed a second time a from April to October.

In November bosses secured a GBP336 million debt lifeline to help guide the troubled cinema chain through the coronavirus pandemic.

The group, which has also been forced to close its US sites, said at the time it had also secured access to another GBP233 million in liquidity to boost its finances.

At the time it also extended an GBP83 million revolving credit facility, which was due to expire next month, to May 2024, and pulled forward an expected tax refund of more than GBP150 million to early 2021.

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who now heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during a news conference in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 8, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

CDC Director Says Feds Dont Know How Much CCP Virus Vaccine Is Available

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Jan. 24 that the federal government doesnt know how much CCP virus vaccine is available in the United States, posing a challenge to inoculation efforts.

One of the biggest problems right now is, I cant tell you how much vaccine we have, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Fox News Sunday.

And if I cant tell it to you, then I cant tell it to the governors and I cant tell it to the state health officials.

Responding to questions about vaccine supplies in context of the Biden administrations plans to inoculate 100 million Americans in 100 days, Walensky said the lack of clarity around how much vaccine there is nationally makes this objective more difficult to accomplish.

If they dont know how much vaccine theyre getting not just this week but next week and the week after, they cant plan, she said. They cant figure out how many sites to roll out, they cant figure out how many vaccinators that they need, and they cant figure out how many appointments to make for the public.

So if they overshoot it, then we have vaccine on the shelf. If they undershoot it, we have these queues and queues of people, people whose appointments are canceled. And either way we have challenges.

Given the challenges to vaccine distribution and administration as well as the prospect of new mutations of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, Walensky stressed the role of other public health measures to help curb the spread of the virus.

Not only do we need to vaccinate, but we need for people to wear masks, we need all of these other mitigation strategies so that we can decrease the amount of virus that is circulating and, therefore, decrease the amount of variants that are out there, she said.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a Jan. 21 press briefing that, while new mutations of the CCP virus are far more transmissible than the original variants, vaccines can reduce their spread and impact their ability to mutate.

Ramping up vaccinations will not only help stop the virus from spreading, but they will also reduce the diseases ability to mutate into new variants, Fauci said.

Viruses dont mutate unless they replicate, he said. If you can suppress that by a very good vaccine campaign, then you could actually avoid this deleterious effect that you might get from the mutations.

In her interview on Fox News Sunday, Walensky said the United States has to go faster than the Biden administrations current goal of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days.

Fauci, in an interview on CBSs Face the Nation on Jan. 24, called the 100 million vaccinations in 100 days goal a baseline that he hopes will be exceeded.

It is really a floor and not a ceiling, Fauci said. It is going to be a challenge. I think it was a reasonable goal that was set. We always want to do better than the goal that youve set.

Fauci added that the 100 million injections will cover about 67 million people, with some of them having received two doses, while others a single dose.

Around 41.4 million doses of Pfizers and Modernas two-dose vaccines have been distributed in the United States, according to data from the CDC, with just over 22.7 million total doses administered as of Jan. 25, with 3.3 million people having received two doses.
Over the next 87 days, the Oversight Board will rule on where Former President Donald Trump can return to Facebook and reconnect to millions of his followers.

The Oversight Board includes a star-studded jury

The Oversight Board members include two people reportedly on presidential lists for the U.S. Supreme Court, a British Pulitzer winner, a Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a former prime minister of Denmark, and Colombia's leading human rights lawyer. The 20 members came from 18 countries and speak 27 languages, as per New York Times.

Aside from American politics, the decision if Former President Trump would return to Facebook has significant consequences for how social media is regulated. The Board will examine Facebooks' own rules and international human rights law guiding Trump's question. They will also border guidance that Facebook will endow the panel with new legitimacy.

Evelyn Douek, a lecturer at Harvard Law School who studies content moderation and the one who pushed Facebook to send Trump's case to the Oversight Board, said, "Either it's nothing, or it's the New World Order."

Facebook urged independent Oversight Board for Trump's account's final decision

Facebook defended its decision to suspend Trump as "necessary and right." The social media company wants its independent oversight board to decide if the former President must regain access to Facebook and Instagram accounts.

On Thursday, Facebook said it hopes and expects the oversight board to confirm its decision to ban Trump's account following the violent mob in the U.S. Capitol Building, CBS News reported.

In a blog post, Facebook vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg wrote, "Given its significance, we think it is important for the board to review it and reach an independent judgment on whether it should be upheld."

Facebook claims its Oversight Board is independent, and no one in the company can overturn its final decision. Trump's accounts will remain suspended while the case is under review, as per Clegg.

Last May, the Oversight Board was created and heard its first cases in the fall. All the members are based worldwide, comprising professors, journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark's former prime minister, was also included.

Read also: Facebook Hires Civil Rights Vice-President; a Former Obama Administration Worker

Jamal Greene, one of four co-chairs of Facebook's 20-member oversight board, told CBS News that members would work on the issue as quickly as possible. Greene is a Columbia University law professor. He noted that there is a 90-day limit for the Board to hear a case. However, he does not expect to have taken it that long. The oversight board was created last May and held its first cases in the fall.

Emma Llanso, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in the first ten cases, Trump's case is coming up that the Board has ever looked at. Llanso explained that Trump's case is significant to understand what kinds of things the Board would consider in the coming to its opinion and what they expect to see from them in future cases.

The Board will look at the content that Trump posted, considering Facebook's reason for suspension, and learn if the decision was consistent with Facebook's community standards, international rights law, and company values, Greene said.

Starting next week, the public has the chance to comment on the case, and Trump could submit a statement to the Oversight Board. A final opinion will be produced by a five-member panel from the Board, who is assigned to hear Trump's case, including dissenting views. Once an outcome is announced, Facebook will have seven days to implement it. The Oversight Board's decision does not have to be unanimous, as per Greene.

Read also: Trump Offers Washington DC Hotel To National Guards Kicked Out of the US Capitol

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Silver Glen Senior Living boasts 180 apartments for independent living, assisted living, and memory care residents. The beautifully-constructed community includes ample outdoor space, well-appointed amenities, and two onsite restaurants. "It's wonderful to come to a new community and feel so welcome," shares Agnes Gaber, the first independent living resident to move into Silver Glen Senior Living. "The large windows in my apartment bring January sunshine and happiness into my new home!"

With COVID-19 restrictions and precautions still in place, the community is hosting a virtual and drive-by Grand Opening event March 20. Businesses surrounding Silver Glen Senior Living will be onsite handing out goodies and sharing more about the community.

"We are thrilled to bring a new, innovative senior living option to South Elgin. This community is incredible, and as the new kids on the block, we can't wait to establish those deep-rooted connections to our neighbors and the seniors that are looking for a beautiful place to call home. Our doors are open, and we are eagerly welcoming new residents each day," shares Linda Houlihan, executive director of Silver Glen Senior Living.

To visit the community or RSVP for the Grand Opening celebration, please call Ginger Sabolcik, sales director, at 224-276-2055.

About Spectrum Retirement Communities

Silver Glen Senior Living is owned and operated by Spectrum Retirement Communities, LLC.

Spectrum Retirement Communities, LLC, headquartered in Denver, Colo., is a leading developer, owner and operator of Retirement/Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care communities across the U.S. offering apartment living in highly desirable communities with state-of-the-art amenities, top-notch activities and programs, and best-in-class hospitality to support the lifestyle that seniors desire. For more information, visit www.SpectrumRetirement.com.

SOURCE Spectrum Retirement Communities, LLC

Related Links

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The Massachusetts man accused of yelling racial slurs at a Black man during what authorities called a road rage incident in Belmont is now facing a murder charge after authorities say he fatally struck the victim with his truck during the incident.

Authorities from the Middlesex District Attorneys office said 54-year-old Dean Kapsalis of Hudson was charged with murder in the killing of 34-year-old Henry Tapia.

Kapsalis was originally charged last week with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a civil rights violation causing injury and leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury in connection with the Jan. 19 killing of Tapia, according to district attorneys office.

The Hudson man will now face additional charges of murder and leaving the scene causing death, the district attorneys office said in a statement.

Kapsalis was arraigned on the new charges virtually Monday in Cambridge District Court, according to the statement. Judge Ina Howard-Hogan ordered Kapsalis to be held without bail and have no contact with the victims family or any witnesses in the case, according to the statement.

Belmont police received a call shortly after 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 19 about a man who had been hit by a car on Upland Road, authorities said.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Tapia conscious but critically wounded. The Boston man had suffered life-threatening injuries and was given emergency medical aid before being taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he died from his wounds, according to officials.

An investigation into the incident revealed the two men were arguing in the roadway when Kapsalis, Ryans office claimed, started to yell racial slurs at Tapia.

While Tapia was walking back to his car, Kapsalis is accused of reentering his Dodge Dakota, driving the pickup truck into Tapia and dragging the man for a short distance before driving off, according to the prosecutors office.

The district attorneys office said Kapsalis turned himself in after police started searching for his truck.

The next court date in Kapsaliss case is scheduled for March 1, according to authorities.

Related Content:
(Text of the Press release from Kisan Sansad)

The Kisan Sansad, which was held on 23rd and 24th of January, 2021 at the Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial at Singhu, Delhi, had a wide variety of participants from different stakeholders in the agri-policy space. Numerous political representatives from across the spectrum, including very senior people such as H. D. Deve Gowda (former Prime Minister of India), Sonia Gandhi (President, Indian National Congress) and Bhupesh Baghel (current Chief Minister, Chattisgarh) sent their messages. The Kisan Sansad was addressed by senior political leaders of national parties and included Brinda Karat (Politburo Member, CPI-M), Annie Raja (Member, National Executive and National Council, CPI), Jitender Chaudhury (former Minister and MP from Tripura, Joint Secretary, AIKS and national convener of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch) and two time Rajya Sabha MP Nadim Ul Haq of TMC, former MP Meenakshi Natrajan of Congress from Mandsaur (where police violence had led to deaths of farmers in 2017), Udit Raj (Ex MP representing Congress Party), Pappu Yadav (Ex M.P, Bihar), Sukhpal Singh Khaira (Former Leader of the Opposition of Punjab Assembly and current MLA, Punjab), Kanwar Sandhu (MLA, Punjab), K J George (Sitting MLA and former Home Minister, Government of Karnataka).

Farmer leaders such as Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Yogendra Yadav also addressed the gathering. Several experts, including academicians and researchers like Reetika Khera (IIT Delhi), Sukhpal Singh (IIM Ahmedabad) and M. S. Sriram (IIM Bangalore) among others, thought leaders such as Jean Dreze and Devinder Sharma as well as former civil servants like M. G. Devasahayam (former Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana and Member of the High-Powered Committee on Agricultural Policies and Programmes, 1990), Satya Narayan Sahu (former Officer on Special Duty to President Late K R Narayanan) and S. P. Shukla (former Ambassador to GATT, former Commerce Secretary and Finance Secretary, Government of India and former Member, Planning Commission) participated in the proceedings apart from many activists and farmers.

The Kisan Sansad was a civil society effort and the organising committee comprised of eminent citizens as following: Justice Gopal Gowda, Justice Kolse Patil, Admiral Ramdas, Aruna Roy, P Sainath, Yashwant Sinha, Medha Patkar, Sant Gopaldas, Sompal Shastri, Mohammad Adeeb and Prashant Bhushan. The presidium included Justice Kolse Patil, Prof. Jagmohan Singh, Prashant Bhushan, Medha Patkar, Dinesh Abrol and Nikhil Dey. As the momentous farmer movement for the repeal of the three farm acts and for MSP continues across the country the government chose to do away with the Winter Session of Parliament. Hence the Kisan Sansad was organised so that agricultural experts, farmers leaders and political representatives could discuss the issues around the farmer movement. The Kisan Sansad concluded by passing resolutions demanding the repeal of the three central farm laws, legalisation of MSP and condemning the governments repression of the farmer protests. It was also resolved to continue to hold such gatherings and take these discussions across India and to form Save Farmer, Save Nation committees in various districts. The co-organisers of the Kisan Sansad are Kisan, Majdur, Berojgar, Karjdar Samarthak Janpartinidhi Sanghrash Morcha (KMBKSJSM) and Nation for Farmers, People First and Jan Sarokar.

The Kisan Sansad began on 23rd January, 2021 by paying tributes to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Prof. Jagmohan Singh (Professor, Punjab Agriculture University and nephew of Bhagat Singh) was the Chair of the first session and gave the opening remarks. Joginder Singh Ugrahan also spoke in this session and talked about the threat that these laws pose to farmers and food security. He also emphasised the need for the farmer movement to stay non-violent. Dr. Reetika Khera highlighted how the laws are in a direction to dismantle the public distribution system currently in place to be replaced by cash transfers. Prof. Himanshu of the Jawaharlal Nehru University also spoke in this session.

The next session was chaired by Justice Kolse Patil, who said that he stands with the farmers and the government is trying to divide farmers, the army and police who are all members of the same fraternity. In this session some prominent politicians such as Brinda Karat (former MP Rajya Sabha and Politburo Member of CPI-M), Sukhpal Singh Khaira (Former Leader of the Opposition of Punjab Assembly), Sudama Prasad (MLA, Bihar from CPI-ML), Dharamvir Gandhi (from MP, Punjab), Iliyas Azmi (former MP, Uttar Prasad), Ashok Tanwar (from MP, Haryana and former President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee), Udit Raj (former MP, Delhi) and K. J. George (Karnataka MLA from Congress and former Home Minister, Karnataka) spoke apart from several others. Prof. Dr Rajinder Chaudhary (former Professor of Economics at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak) explained how the contract farming laws are a threat to all farmers and not just those whose produce is currently procured at MSP.

On day two, P. Sainath via his video message said that the first demand should obviously be on repeal of the laws and the second demand should be for the special session of Indian Parliament specifically on the agrarian crisis and issues of women and dalit farmers. Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel participated via video and said that those states which dont have an efficient mandi system are facing losses for years. He added that the rights of elected state governments have also been snatched by the central government through the passage of these laws. He explained that common consumers will also face the heat of this bill gradually and that this was the reason that the Chhattisgarh Government passed laws to prevent this threat from the central law to farmers as well as consumers. Prof. Atul Sood drew attention to the lessons to be learnt from the farmers resistance to three laws and the response of the Central government to the political opposition.

Devinder Sharma highlighted how the government could ensure guaranteed remunerative prices if it was ready to invest Rs. 4-5 lakh crores. Yogendra Yadav addressed the gathering by saying that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been converted into a maximum securable price by the government. He said that the legal guarantee of remunerative prices is possible if there is a political will. In a fiery speech, Annie Raja highlighted the issues of women farmers and how the farm laws affect the food security of all sections of society, especially women and children. Thol Thirumavalan (MP from Tamil Nadu and President, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi party), Vaiko (Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu and founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Tarun Mandal (from MP from West Bengal belonging to the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)) also sent in video messages to the Kisan Sansad.

Former Prime Minister Devegowda had written a letter to the organizing committee thanking him for the invitation and extended his support for farmers agitation. In her strongly worded letter to the Kisan Sansad, Sonia Gandhi tore into the ruling dispensation saying that the Central Government has shown shocking insensitivity in its desire to please a few private companies. She added that the farmer movement will be the first issue that the Congress raises in the forthcoming session of the Parliament.

Participants of Kisan Sansad passed a resolution against these three acts as they give unregulated freedom to corporates at the expense of crores of marginal farmers of India. The acts are also flawed as there was no pre-legislative consultation before they were passed. In solidarity with the farmers of India, the Kisan Sansad resolved that farmers must be guaranteed a MSP in law and a guaranteed procurement of the notified crops at this MSP is ensured. The Sansad demands that the Central government immediately accept these demands of farmers in principle and form a suitable committee to recommend how this policy can be enacted in law and draft a bill which may then be placed before Parliament.

The Kisan Sansad and its organisers deeply regret the attack on the Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu by some anti-social elements who thereby tried to disrupt the proceedings of the Sansad. He had come as an invited representative of the Congress Party to the Kisan Sansad. The Sansad expressed its satisfaction that the government has finally realized the folly of not allowing the farmers to take out a tractor parade on Republic Day in Delhi. The Sansad also condemned the repression, disinformation and false accusations hurled upon protesting farmers by the government and some media houses.

Annexures:

Background notes and invite: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1seMGB2f0VmkTojte2wwDXssC0RB5wFtt?usp=sharing

Complete list of speakers: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13aohrkpNoNwb1wKhl4Hgb-9UBNQfA7RogRb5acH-mAo/edit?usp=sharing

Letter from H. D. Deve Gowda: https://twitter.com/H_D_Devegowda/status/1352856772042608640

Letter from Sonia Gandhi: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U4iiNyDW7-Mvxq2WlZs9BtDC4_fZKgLf/view?usp=sharing

Link to livestream of proceedings:

-* Day 1: https://www.facebook.com/267085264181154/videos/186356426555296/ Day 2: Part 1: https://www.facebook.com/267085264181154/videos/486944682299629/ Part 2: https://www.facebook.com/267085264181154/videos/287774666146723/
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

The steady drip drip of news about the damage global warming is doing to marine environments, especially their corals, is bleak and depressing to this keen diver. Im glad I saw the Great Barrier Reef before the latest rounds of warming  both under and above the water its a heart stopping spectacle.

I once spent about a month hanging out in Cooktown, in a part of Queensland that saw many Australian tourists, but attracted few foreign ones. In 1770, Captain Cook beached his bark, the HMS Endeavour, there and then had to figure out how to repair the damage the Great Barrier Reef had done to its hull.

One day I climbed to the top of the tallest hill and looked out at the Pacific, to see the pattern created by the reef. And realized Cook had probably done the same thing, no doubt several times in the seven weeks he spent int this place, seeing more or less the same ocean view. Despite an intervening 19th century gold rush  few signs of which other than some historic buildings were evident  I was able simply to enjoy the vista and get some sense of the extent of the reef. Cooks thoughts were no doubt more troubled, dominated by the question  how the hell will I get out of this maze  even if he managed to repair his ship. Which he did  sailing away from this particular calamity.

Most marine news is depressing. The Guardian however featured a story last week, about the discovery of a sunken cypress forest off the coast of Alabama, One of a kind: calls to protect Alabamas 60,000-year-old underwater forest. The forest is the only one of its kind known and is estimated to be 60,000 years old. So old that radiocarbon techniques are of no use in dating it.

Over to the Guardian:

Submerged below the waters are the remains of a cypress tree forest that grew 60,000 years ago, but was inundated by the Gulf of Mexico and preserved from decomposition beneath sediment. Nothing like Alabamas underwater forest, in terms of age or scale, has ever been found. Now efforts are under way to protect the expanse of tree stumps from exploitation by designating the site a marine sanctuary  some firms have sought to salvage the wood for commercial use  and to see if the underwater forest harbors new compounds for medicine.

After a hurricane uncovered the submerged forest, local divers brought the find to wider attention

It took giant waves driven by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 to exhume the forest from its seafloor grave. In 2012, environmental journalist Ben Raines went in search of the arboreal seascape after he was tipped off by a savvy source in the local diving community. One of Rainess articles about swimming with dinosaurs caught the attention of Kristine DeLong, a paleoclimatologist at Louisiana State University (and an avid scuba diver herself). She immediately called asking if she could carbon date some samples from the site. After sending samples out to a colleague for dating, she received an email saying the trees were  to her surprise  radiocarbon dead. Essentially, that means theyre older than 50,000 years, DeLong said. We did it three times to make sure. She then turned to a team of geologists who collected core samples from the seafloor and confirmed the results. With that, Raines and DeLong formed a partnership to extract as much knowledge from the site as possible while also preserving it. From a scientific perspective, its a goldmine of information that we just dont have access to anywhere else, Delong says. She has worked with a cadre of scientists  from dendrochronologists to geologists and marine biologists  using only non-invasive instruments to collect rare information on Ice Age-era climate, rainfall, insects and plants. The forests bald cypress trunks are teeming with life, including shipworms  types of clams that like munching on wood so much theyre known as the termite of the sea. Researchers are collecting these and other marine creatures from the depths to study their chemical potential to produce life-saving medicines on the surface.

Alas, at one time  incredible as this now seems  it looked like salvage companies might log the ancient forest, and turn its 60,000 year-old timbers into coffee tables, curiosities for those without any sense: of how rare and special these ancient logs are. An Alabama Republican House member, Bradley Byrne introduced legislation that would make the forest site as a marine sanctuary before leaving office earlier this month:

But the site is at risk from salvage companies seeking to dig up the ancient logs and sell them. According to DeLong, the army corps of engineers had received a permit request in 2020 from a furniture company seeking to salvage wood from the site. With a wealth of potential information and research, its no wonder scientists have worked for years to stop the valuable 50,000-year-old wood from becoming high-end coffee tables. In October, a Republican representative from Alabama, Bradley Byrne, proposed the creation of a national marine sanctuary encompassing the ancient underwater forest. The underwater forest is another unique Alabama gem with global importance. As the only known site where a coastal ice age forest this old has been preserved in place, we must take action now to protect it, Byrne said in a statement when he introduced the bill. This is a one of a kind natural wonder, like Yellowstone national park, or the Grand Canyon, Raines told AL.com in October.  It should be protected from exploitation and saved for the American public, just like those amazing sites on land. Under this designation, the sunken forest would stay open to tourists, fishermen and research groups, but it would be protected rom logging, peat harvesting and other disruptive activities. Though Congress didnt pass the underwater forest bill before Byrne left office earlier this month, he told NBC hes very hopeful the next Congress will.

I hope some successor to Byrnes legislation, the ALABAMA UNDERWATER FOREST NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY AND PROTECTION ACT  or something similar  is enacted soon. Doing so wont do anything to save the many coral reefs global warming is destroying worldwide. But at least such a bill could make sure these 60,000 year-old trees dont end up as someones coffee table.
Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Serhiy Shkarlet says that most of the institutions of general secondary education have already begun the educational process in full-time.

"From today in Ukraine there are quarantine measures that were established by the government in December 2020 [...] According to operational data, most of the institutions of general secondary education have already begun the educational process in full-time (with partial use of mixed and distance forms). Pupils returned to their desks (almost 100% of schools are full-time) in Odesa, Khmelnytsky, Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr regions and Kyiv," Shkarlet wrote in the Telegram channel on Monday.

According to him, from 99% to 91% of schools returned to full-time education in Cherkasy, Luhansk, Sumy, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, as well as in Kherson and Kharkiv regions. From 70% to 58% of schools work full-time in Chernivtsi, Zaporizhia, Kirovohrad regions.

In Poltava region, the mixed and distance learning are mainly used. In Ternopil region, primary school students attend lessons as usual, and students in five-eleven grades study in a mixed form. In Vinnytsia region, grades one-four and nine-eleven study full-time, grades five-eight study in a mixed form. In Rivne, Lviv and Zakarpattia regions, students study mainly full-time and in the mixed form, partially on distance learning.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

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Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

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Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

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Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

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Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

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MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

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Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

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Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

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Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

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Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

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Des violences opposent le Jubaland et l'Armee

Les violences se deroulent au Jubaland, une region somalienne dont les relations sont depuis longtemps tendues avec le pouvoir central de Mogadiscio. Elles opposent les forces du Jubaland a larmee nationale. Plusieurs sources parlent dau moins cinq morts et chaque camp assure lavoir emporte.

Les combats se concentrent sur Baled Hawo, une localite controlee par les troupes federales depuis presque un an, mais situee au Jubaland, un Etat de la federation somalienne qui a pourtant ses propres forces de securite.





Chaque camp accuse l'autre davoir lance les hostilites, mais Mogadiscio dit en plus que lassaut proviendrait dun  allie du Kenya  voisin. La tension est vive entre les deux pays, au point que la Somalie a rompu ses liens diplomatiques avec Nairobi le mois dernier.





Lallie en question pourrait etre Abdirashid Janan. Le ministre de la Securite du Jubaland, est en effet proche de Nairobi. Il sest evade dune prison de Mogadiscio, il y a un an, et serait refugie cote kenyan de la frontiere, dou il aurait mobilise ses forces.





Une region strategique

La region attaquee englobe beaucoup denjeux egalement. Cest lun des fiefs claniques du president somalien Mohamed Farmajo. Il souhaite y engranger des soutiens avant la presidentielle davril. Cest aussi une zone riche en terres fertiles. Enfin le Jubaland et son leader Ahmed Madobe sont en conflit avec le chef de lEtat. Deux visions sopposent : Farmajo a une conception centralisee du pouvoir somalien alors que Madobe lui veut plus dautonomie pour sa region.




And patriotism doesnt belong to conservatives. I am a proud patriot of this country. Australia is remarkable and we have much to be proud of and to celebrate. But it is not an act of patriotism to say that we have gotten everything right or that we cannot do better. Australia has evolved and will continue to do so. Australia is remarkable and we have much to be proud of and to celebrate. Credit:Getty Images So, is it too much to acknowledge that we can do better? And that we have some improvements that are overdue. January 26 means different things to different people, and questions about our national identity provoke strong opinions. As long as our national day is held on the date which marks the beginning of atrocities committed against Australias Indigenous population, it will always be a divisive one.

The movement to change the date is a movement for justice, and I suspect in the long run it is inevitable that we will get there. But we are still some way off being able to do so. And to be frank, there are other important things we need to do first. The movement to change the date is a movement for justice. Credit:Ben Plant For now, Australia Day is January 26, but just like the Australian story, it remains incomplete  especially for our First Nations people. Yet the annual debates over Australia Day generate far more attention and controversy in the public domain than reconciliation, constitutional reform or treaty. Loading It is easier to debate and dismiss a single day than commit to a long and difficult road of reform. For over 80 years, our First Australians have been asking for a Voice. Malcolm Turnbulls rejection of the Uluru Statement was devastating, and Scott Morrison has made little progress since.

Achieving true reconciliation would also provide us with the momentum to push for a republic referendum. In reality, the First Nations Voice, a treaty and constitutional reform should all come before we look at changing the date. In the meantime, in my electorate, the City of Port Phillip will precede its Australia Day citizenship ceremony and celebrations with a morning dedicated to the First Australians and their perspective of the date. s Credit:AAP I think this is an idea worth supporting, and a meaningful way for us to celebrate all of the great modern, multicultural successes of Australia while acknowledging that this day comes with a sorrowful past. Late on New Years Eve, the Prime Minister made an announcement. He was changing a word in our national anthem  we are young and free would now become we are one and free.

And fair enough too, because Australias history is not just one of European settlement  our country is home to the worlds oldest continuous culture and civilisation. But changing a word isnt substantive reform. We should be aiming higher. Celebrating Australia doesnt mean beers and a barbecue even though theyre fun. It should be more than that, it should be about appreciating what we have and the ongoing responsibility to strive for better. Pat Anderson from the Referendum Council with a piti holding the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen January 26 is an historic day for our nation. For both good and bad, it says a lot about who we are today. But our story is not complete until we have an Australian as our national head. Australias story is not complete until we have achieved meaningful reconciliation with our First Nations in accordance with the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
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A jealous wife has been arrested in Mexico after she reportedly stabbed her husband in a blind rage when she found old photos on his cell phone of him having sex with another woman - failing to realize the images were actually of her.

The woman, identified by police only as 'Leonora R', was arrested last week after law enforcement were summoned to a home in the municipality of Cajeme, Sonora, to reports of a domestic dispute.

When officers arrived they found that Leonoras husband, identified as 'Juan N', had been stabbed multiple times on his legs and arms.

The violent attack was reportedly sparked after Leonora found explicit photos on Juans cell phone, showing him having sex with whom she believed to be another woman.

Without giving him time to explain himself, Leonora allegedly began stabbing Juan over and over again, while hurling insults at him.

Police said Juan was eventually able to wrestle the knife out of his incensed wifes hands, and asked her what photos she was talking about.

He then explained to her that the photos were actually of him and Leonora taken years earlier when they were just dating.

The woman, identified by police only as 'Leonora R', was arrested last week after law enforcement were summoned to a home in the municipality of Cajeme (above), Sonora, to reports of a domestic dispute

Leonora reportedly didnt immediately recognize herself because the woman in the images was younger, thinner and wearing make-up, according to Dossier Politico.

Juan told police he then explained to his wife that he had recently found the images in an old email and saved them to his phone.

She soon realized she was the woman depicted, reports say.

Leonora was immediately taken into custody and remains behind bars pending charges, local media say.

The case has reportedly been referred to the Public Ministry of the State Attorney General's Office.

The extent of Juans injuries have not yet been disclosed by officials.

However the man was taken to hospital to be treated for multiple stab wounds but is expected to recover.

Police were reportedly notified to the scene after neighbors heard screaming and shouting inside the couple's home.
Larsa Pippen's recent visit to Tiger King star Doc Antle's Myrtle Beach Safari may have the animal trainer in hot water.

PETA has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking them to investigate Doc over allegations that he had violated parts of the Animal Welfare Act during Larsa's recent visit to his Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina (per TMZ.)

But Antle says everything was on the up-and-up, claiming Pippen was there shooting a PSA on wild tiger conservation and that he was completely compliant with USDA guidelines and recommendations.

Controversy: Larsa Pippen's recent trip to Tiger King star Doc Antle's Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina prompted PETA to send a letter to the USDA alleging Doc violated parts of the Animal Welfare Act

Illegal: Debbie Metzler, PETA's Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement, claimed that photos of Pippen's visit clearly showed adult and juvenile tigers in direct public contact

Debbie Metzler, PETA's Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement, claimed that photos of Pippen's visit clearly showed adult and juvenile tigers in direct public contact.

She went on to claim that the USDA told Antle photographing the public with large adult cats was illegal a full 15-years-ago.

Metzler then asks why 'USDA has apparently refused to take any meaningful action to prevent Antle from allowing these types of dangerous, direct contact stunts.'

Pointing out another vulnerability, PETA said that Larsa and family's visit put the tigers and an infant chimpanzee at risk of contracting COVID-19. They also claimed the contact was another violation of the law.

Doc - born Kevin Antle - says that nothing sketchy was going on, however. He claims Larsa took a tour and visited with tiger cubs and primates before shooting footage for a PSA on wild tiger conservation.

According to Antle it was a closed set with strict protocols in compliance with USDA guidelines and recommendations.

All kosher: Doc - born Kevin Antle - says that nothing sketchy was going on, however. He claims Larsa took a tour and visited with tiger cubs and primates before shooting footage for a PSA on wild tiger conservation

Earlier this month the 46-year-old estranged wife of Scottie Pippen got wild during a visit to the South Carolina attraction.

The Myrtle Beach Safari, which is run through The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) is run by Doc Antle, an animal trainer and zoo keeper who has dubbed himself a conservationist.

Antle has been fined numerous times by the USDA for various instances of animal mistreatment, and in 2019 the safari was raided by law enforcement officials.

In October 2020, Antle was indicted on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges for alleged wildlife trafficking, violations of the Endangered Species Act and animal cruelty.

He was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary Tiger King

Getaway: Larsa has recently been staying in Miami, Florida, after her home on the West Coast was vandalized and robbed

Larsa has recently been staying in Miami, Florida, after her home on the West Coast was vandalized and robbed.

Late last year, she was linked to the Minnesota Timberwolves player Malik Beasley, 24, after photos of the two together at a mall in Miami emerged.

Beasley's wife Monica Yao filed for divorce shortly after the pictures were released, and Larsa later claimed on Instagram that the two were separated before she and Beasley were seen together.

A furious Yao responded to the tweet, calling it '100% false.'

'Continue to speak on my name and my relationship and we're going to have issues. Receipts don't lie. Let's not go there. I think you've embarrassed yourself enough already,' she wrote.

Larsa and Malik were subsequently seen spending the holidays together.
Runners: Get your summer program off on the right foot
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 41F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 41F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
The Nepal Election Commission on Sunday refused to recognise either of the factions of the Nepal Communist Party--one led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The poll panel stated that both the factions have failed to follow the Political Parties Act-2017 and party statute.

"Decisions made by both the parties didn't come in line with the party's statute. As the decisions don't fall in line, we can't update the details of the Nepal Communist Party. We have notified both chairman KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal about it, making them clear that the Commission will maintain existing details of the party," Spokesperson for Election Commission Raj Kumar Shrestha confirmed.

The Nepal Communist Party which has broken into two factions, one led by caretaker Prime Minister Oli and the other faction led by Dahal and Nepal. Both the factions filed an application in the Election Commission claiming authenticity along with the election emblem--the "Sun".

The party broke into two factions on December 22, two days after Oli dissolved the lower house on 20th December, NCP-formed after a merger between then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) in May 2018, Oli and Dahal became the chairs of the party, as per the statute.

The Kathmandu Post reported that the commission concluded that decisions taken by both sides failed to follow the provisions of the party statute that was submitted to the commission.

The Election Commission decision means that even though the party has practically split, it continues to remain intact--technically and legally.

(ANI)

Also Read: India dispatches Covishield vaccines to Bangladesh, Nepal
GREENWICH  Two years ago, Greenwich police bolstered its detail of plainclothes officers working on Greenwich Avenue to target a rise in shoplifters, bank fraud perpetrators and organized retail-theft rings.

As police administrators and elected officials work out plans for the future of law-enforcement on the Avenue and debate the use of police officers to direct traffic, the plainclothes unit has been deemed a success.

The program is called ORCA, an acronym for Organized Retail Crime Activity, police said. The unit aims to be proactive in confronting perpetrators, and it keeps a low profile. Its deployment was not publicly announced until recently.

According to Capt. Mark Zuccerella, the departments spokesman, improved cooperation with the local business community has been a key component of the initiative.

One of the main functions that has allowed ORCA officers to achieve success has been the ability to engage with local business owners, managers and employees. ORCA officers have been able to instruct employees and business owners in ways of detecting and deterring fraud, in the trends and strategies utilized by shoplifters, and in sharing information regarding the criminal groups operating in the tri-state area, he said in a statement.

Through these relationships built with local businesses, ORCA officers have been able to make arrests that have included members of violent gangs and organized retail theft organizations, he said.  They have stopped crimes in progress and created an omnipresence in the Greenwich central business district. ORCA criminal cases will frequently become intertwined with federal law enforcement investigations, as well as thief of the New York Police Department and other surrounding state police agencies.

The Greenwich Police Department released statistics from 2020 on the units activities in the downtown business district:

* Cases investigated: 45

* Cases closed with an arrest: 26

* Number of people arrested: 37

* Number of felony charges: 65

* Number of misdemeanor charges: 37

The police department also noted that several of the people arrested had ties to violent gangs.

Last summer, the officers who were posted to direct traffic at two locations on Greenwich Avenue were reassigned to other duties. The department has added bike-mounted officers in their place.

Some community members and business owners have called on the department and the town administration to return the officers to traffic duty on the Avenue, calling it a venerable local tradition.

But police point to the crimes reported on the Avenue in recent years, including organized retail crime rings that targeted high-end shops on Greenwich Avenue in recent years, as well as other shopping destinations in New York and New Jersey.

In September 2017, a Greenwich police officer grappled with one of three suspects who tried to steal handbags from a store on Greenwich Avenue, blocking their escape, police said. Three suspects stole a number of Canada Goose jackets  valued at a total of $6,420  from a store on Greenwich Avenue in November 2019, police said.

Organized crime rings have been targeting purses and other luxury items at shopping destinations around the region, reselling them on the Internet, police said.

In addition, banks in the central business district have been targeted by thieves using doctored credit cards and identity documents to fraudulently withdraw funds, police said.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.com
An age discrimination lawsuit filed by a former Montgomery Hyundai plant employee can go to trial, after a federal judge last week said the companys legal logic reminded him of the hapless Wile E. Coyote of Road Runner cartoon fame.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled in favor of James Michael Keller, who was let go from his job at Hyundai after 14 years in the stamping shop during a 2018 downsizing move. Keller, who was 50 at the time, claims that his age was a factor.

Keller seeks reinstatement on the job, plus double the amount of his back pay, along with court costs.

Hyundais senior management responded in depositions that Keller was fired because he did not tamp down union sentiments among employees. Keller eventually claimed the company also broke state law when it dismissed him for keeping his employees from attempting to unionize.

A high number of employees under Kellers supervision wore gold shirts, which symbolized support for a union drive. According to testimony, this was noticed at the highest echelons of the companys leadership. The company interpreted this as employees having low morale, as they felt they needed representation to have their concerns addressed, Thompson noted.

Hyundai asked for summary judgment, saying he couldnt have been fired for both reasons. Thompson dismissed this argument, writing on Jan. 19 that it crashes, Wile E. Coyote-esque, into veritable mountains of contrary precedent. However, he added that Keller has little remedy under state law if he was fired for not properly containing pro-union sentiments among employees.

As to the age claims, Thompson wrote that he was skeptical that age was not a casual factor in some of the companys decisions.
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (January 25) lashed out at the BJP, accusing it of insulting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by raising 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans at an event to mark the icon's 125th birth anniversary.

Addressing a rally, the Trinamool Congress chief branded the BJP as a group of "outsiders" and "Bharat Jalao Party". The West Bengal CM said it has been continuously insulting the icons of Bengal, Netaji being the "latest addition to the list".

She said, "Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is everyone's leader...They were teasing me in front of the Prime Minister (at Victoria Memorial on Jan 23). I don't believe in guns, I believe in politics. BJP has insulted Netaji and Bengal."

Live TV

"To taunt me, they shouted slogans which had no relation to the programme. I was insulted in front of the prime minister of the country. This is their (BJP) culture," Mamata said, adding "Would you invite anyone to your house and then insult the person?"

The TMC chief added, "Is this the culture of Bengal or our country? I would have had no problem if slogans hailing Netaji were raised."

On Saturday, Mamata Banerjee had refused to speak at an official event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary, after 'Jai Shri Ram' chants greeted her.

Terming the turncoats in her party as "betrayers", Mamata said those who have deserted the TMC in the run-up to the assembly polls will never be welcomed back.

She said, "The ones who left knew they would not be getting tickets in the coming elections. It is good they exited, or else we would have thrown them out... Those who want to leave the party should do that as early as possible."

She further said that the party will give tickets to those who have worked for the people, adding "Those who haven't, will not get any tickets."

Many senior TMC members have recently joined BJP including prominent names like Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee.
[January 25, 2021] Epson Signs Industrial Control as Distributor in the State of Michigan

CARSON, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Epson Robots, the #1 SCARA robot manufacturer in the world, today announced it signed Industrial Control, a minority-owned provider of factory automation solutions, products, and training, as an official distributor of Epson Robots automation solutions in the state of Michigan. Industrial Control's wealth of knowledge and experience gained through long-standing relationships with machine builders, combined with Epson Robots' reputation for easy-to-use, proven, innovative technology, will help manufacturers reach today's challenging factory automation objectives. "Customers are asking for smarter, pre-engineered, and turn-key solutions to help reduce risks and save time," said Mark Ermatinger, CEO of Industrial Control. "Epson and Industrial Control have great synergy in offering integrated ready-to-implement solutions that make automation as easy as possible for our joint customers. Epson's turn-key solutions such as the IntelliFlex Feeding System and All-in-One robots with built-in controllers and integrated machine vision and logic control, bring the ease of use and cost savings needed for the best return on investment." The partnership with Industrial Control involves the full lineup of award-winning Epson Robots automation products, including the extensive portfolio of SCARA and 6-Axis robots as well as the great selection of integrated options such as the IntelliFlex Feeding System, Vision Guide, Force Guide, and more. "Partners are critical to our success and we are very pleased to add Industrial Control as a trusted, value-added distribution partner," said Tom Versfelt, VP Commercial Sales Epson. "Industrial Control has been supporting Michigan manufacturing companies over 45 years and its customers rely on their pre-engineered, ready-to-implement solutions for their factory automation jobs. Together we can provide first-class robot-based automation solutions to our customers in the state of Michigan allowing them to compete globally." Abou Industrial Control





Zeeland, Michigan , Industrial Control was incorporated in 1975 and is now celebrating 46 years of serving Michigan manufacturers. The company is a second-generation family-owned business, co-owned by brothers Mark and Karl Ermatinger . Since both brothers are members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the company is certified as a minority-owned business. For more information, visit www.industrialcontrol.com About Epson Robots

Epson Robots is a global leader in PC-controlled precision factory automation, with well over 100,000 units sold worldwide1 and a product line of hundreds of models of easy to use SCARA, Cartesian and 6-Axis robots based on a common PC-based platform. Building on a 35-year heritage, Epson Robots today delivers robots for precision assembly and material handling applications in the aerospace, appliance, automotive, biotechnology, consumer product, electronics, food processing, medical device, pharmaceutical, plastics, semiconductor, and telecommunication industries. For more information, visit www.epsonrobots.com

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to becoming indispensable to society by connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. The company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics. Epson is proud of its contributions to realizing a sustainable society and its ongoing efforts to realizing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of more than JPY 1 trillion. global.epson.com/ Epson America, Inc., based in Los Alamitos, Calif., is Epson's regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), YouTube (youtube.com/epsonamerica), and Instagram (instagram.com/EpsonAmerica). 1 Epson internal sales data through 2020. Note: EPSON is a registered trademarks and EPSON Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson. IntelliFlex is a trademark of Epson America. All other product brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2021 Epson America, Inc. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/epson-signs-industrial-control-as-distributor-in-the-state-of-michigan-301212005.html SOURCE Epson America, Inc.

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The state mitigation plan includes three tiers, ranging from the most restrictive level at Tier 3 to less restrictive at Tier 1. After Tier 1, upon meeting certain benchmarks, a region can move into Phase 4, which marks the end of the tiered system and a return to the five-phase reopening plan that had been put in place before the tiers kicked in during the fall COVID-19 surge.

In the first half of 2020, small home appliances remained the only electric appliance category with sales growth, which is attributable to a series of measures the industry has taken in order to better meet consumers needs.

Little Bear Electric Appliance Co., LTD, one of the fastest growing small home appliance brands in China, registered a sale volume of over 318 million yuan (about $49.2 million) in a shopping spree in November 2020.

A user uses a Tineco cleaner to clean the floor. (Photo courtesy of Tineco)

The brand gained 23.8 million new consumers, with its egg-boilers, egg beaters, electric heated lunch boxes and electric stoves all top products of the category by sales volume.

The brand has a deep understanding of customers needs. With a Little Bear egg boiler, which can be preset, users can put ingredients into the pot in the evening and have their breakfast ready the next morning.

The growing sales volume of small home appliances is a result of both the stay-at-home economy and digital economy, said Fu Guoqun, a professor of the department of marketing at Guanghua School of Management of Peking University.

Small home appliances, which are good-looking, intelligent and user-friendly, also represent a lifestyle of young people, so when they are shared on social networking platforms, they quickly arouse a lot of interest.

Tineco, a cordless vacuum cleaner and floor washer brand, garnered a sale volume over 410 million yuan in the November shopping event last year. Its success lies in accurately spotting the needs of consumers.

The products can sweep and mop the floor in one step, targeting middle-and high-end customers. We want to give as many pleasant surprises to our customers as possible, introduced Qian Dongqi, founder of the brand.

Cross-industry collaboration is another reason for the success of small home appliances. Launching new products in collaboration with the cartoon series My Little Pony, Little Bear has worked with artists to add more cultural elements to its products.

Roaman launches an electric toothbrush in the color of avocado, in collaboration with Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba. (Photo courtesy of Roaman)

Some brands aim to become high-end. Tineco, with similar functions and prices as that of Dyson vacuum cleaners, doesnt hide its ambition to target the high-end market.

What we want to do is to not only become an innovation-driven brand like Dyson, but also improve peoples living quality with the intelligent technologies and change their lifestyle, said Qian.

Different from other domestic electric toothbrush brands that focus on the low-end market, Roaman is working hard to grab a share in the high-end market, which is mainly occupied by foreign brands, through providing customized products, said Wang Yuanwei, the brand director of Roaman.

Through cooperating with Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba, Roaman launched a product with an attractive look and functions integrating those of a facial cleansing brush and a toothbrush. The product became a hit after it was rolled out in November 2019.
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Two popular Kilkenny restaurants  Campagne in Kilkenny City and the Lady Helen at Mount Juliet Hotel in Thomastown  have retained their Michelin Star status in the new Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2021 just published.

Just one newcomer  Dede at the Customs House in Baltimore, Cork  joins the list of 18 Michelin Star recipients in the Republic of Ireland whose names feature in the 2021 Michelin Guide.

Other restaurants that hold their Michelin Star from previous years are the Two Star Restaurants Patrick Guilbaud and The Greenhouse in Dublin City along with Aimsir in Celbridge. One Star Dublin establishments are Chapter One, Variety Jones and LEcrivain in Dublin City and Liath in Blackrock village. Elsewhere, other one-star restaurants are Aniar and Loam (Galway City); Wild Honey Inn, Lisdoonvarna (Clare); House Restaurant at Cliff House Hotel, Ardmore (Waterford); Ichigo Ichie (Cork City Centre); Chestnut in Ballydehob, West Cork; Bastion in Kinsale and The Oak Room at Adare Manor in County Limerick.

In Northern Ireland, three Belfast restaurants  Eipic (Howard Street), Ox (Oxford Street) and The Muddlers Club (Cathedral Quarter)  have also retained their Michelin Star status.

This years Guide sees the introduction of the new Michelin Green Star distinction  highlighting restaurants that are leaders in sustainability practices. Irelands three Michelin Green Star recipients are Kai and Loam Restaurant (both Galway City) and Inis Meain Restaurant & Suites on the Aran Island of Inishmaan in Co. Galway.

Bib Gourmand awards

Four restaurants join the list of 18 Bib Gourmand recipients in the Republic of Ireland whose names feature in the 2021 Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland. Michelin Bib Gourmand awards recognise those establishments offering good food at affordable prices.

The four newcomers are: Spitalfields in The Coombe, Dublin City; Volpe Nera in Blackrock, Co. Dublin; Goldie in Cork City and Table Forty One in Gorey.

Two special awards

Ross Lewis of Chapter One in Dublin was honoured with the Michelin Chef Mentor award 2021, whilst Noble Restaurant in Holywood won the Michelin Service and Welcome Award 2021.

This has been a hugely challenging period for the hospitality industry and our thoughts remain with all those who have suffered from the pandemic and by the restrictions that have been put in place," said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides.

We were heartened by the number of chefs who called us during the year to ensure we were still going ahead with the Guide and our yearly awards. The Michelin Guide is about promoting the hospitality industry as a whole and we want to shine a light on the hard work, tenacity and commitment of chefs and restaurant teams, he added.

Published now in a digital format only, by tyre manufacturer Michelin, the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2021 is available at https://guide.michelin.com/ie/ en and via the iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/ michelin-guide-worldwide/ id1541129177
The Australian share market finished session at fresh 11-month high on Monday, 25 January 2021, as investor sentiment received a boost following news that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in Australia, with the phased vaccine rollout set to commence in late February.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 24.35 points, or 0.36%, to 6,824.71. The broader All Ordinaries added 32.45 points, or 0.46%, to 7,111.39. Australian share market will be close tomorrow for Australia Day public holiday.

Investor sentiment received a boost following news that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in Australia, with the phased vaccine rollout set to commence in late February.

With the exception of energy stocks, gold miners and travels stocks within the industrial sector, all other areas of the market finished higher.

Travel stocks underperformed, with both Webjet (WEB) and Flight Centre (FLT) slumping by 3%. These stocks lost ground despite no new COVID cases across most of the country and the Pfizer vaccine receiving a nod of approval for distribution in Australia starting next month.

Ampol (ALD) was the worst performer on the ASX 200, slipping by 4.9% after completing its $300m off-market share-buyback at a discounted price.

Lynas (LYC) slumped by 3.2% a day after surging close to 14%. The rare earths miner on Friday said it had reached a deal with the US Department of Defence to build a facility in Texas.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.773, off levels above $0.776 seen last week.

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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - PARKIT ENTERPRISE INC. (TSXV: PKT) (OTC: PKTEF) ("Parkit" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement (the "Purchase Agreement"), with a private company (the "Vendor"), pursuant to which Parkit has agreed to purchase one property, located at 5610 Finch Ave East, Toronto, Ontario (the "Property"), for an aggregate purchase price of $12,250,000, subject to customary adjustments (the "Proposed Acquisition"). It is anticipated that the Proposed Acquisition will be financed through existing cash resources and a mortgage on the Property. The Vendor is not a related party to Parkit and the Proposed Acquisition constitutes an arm's length transaction for the purposes of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") policies. It is anticipated that the Proposed Acquisition will be completed on or before March 31, 2021.

Property and Expansion

The Property complements Parkit's existing platform as it neighbor's the Company's 5600 Finch Road Ave East property. After closing the Proposed Acquisition, Parkit will own an additional Class A industrial property with 54,853 square feet of rentable space on 5.5 acres of land.

The Company plans to expand the Property by approximately 62,000 square feet of rentable industrial space.

Post closing of the Proposed Acquisition and completion of the planned expansions, the Company will own over 245,000 square feet of industrial space on over 11.6 acres of land on the combined 5600 and 5610 Finch Ave East properties.

Steven Scott, the Chair of Parkit, states, "The Proposed Acquisition is a natural purchase for Parkit as it not only supports the Company's strategy of acquiring high-quality industrial properties in the Greater Toronto Area but provides for a valuable expansion opportunity and optionality in the future."

About PARKIT

Parkit Enterprise Inc. is engaged in the acquisition, optimization and asset management of income producing industrial real estate and parking facilities across Canada and the United States. Parkit's Common Shares are listed on TSX-V (Symbol: PKT) and on the OTC (Symbol: PKTEF).

For more information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Email: ir@parkitenterprise.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information: This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", " expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information in relation to: the completion of the Proposed Acquisition and the terms thereof; the anticipated closing date for the Proposed Acquisition; the potential expansion of the Property; and the funds to be used for the Proposed Acquisition. This forward-looking information reflects Parkit's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Parkit and on assumptions Parkit believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: the completion of satisfactory due diligence by all parties in relation to the Proposed Acquisition; the satisfactory fulfilment of all terms and conditions contained in the purchase agreement; the receipt of all required approvals for the Proposed Acquisition; and Parkit's continued response and ability to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic being consistent with, or better than, its ability and response to date . Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Parkit to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market prices for securities; delay or failure to receive required approvals; the actual results of Parkit's future operations; competition; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting Parkit; the timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; conclusions of economic evaluations; lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals; risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic including various recommendations, orders and measures of governmental authorities to try to limit the pandemic, including travel restrictions, border closures, non- essential business closures, service disruptions, quarantines, self-isolations, shelters-in-place and social distancing, disruptions to markets, economic activity, financing, supply chains and sales channels, and a deterioration of general economic conditions including a possible national or global recession; and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on Parkit which may include: decreased demand for the services that Parkit offers; and a deterioration of financial markets that could limit Parkit's ability to obtain external financing . A description of additional risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in Parkit's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although Parkit has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of Parkit as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. However, Parkit expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72784
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We are extremely pleased to join forces with Deca, an acknowledged leader in the Advanced Packaging field, to enhance our thermal processing portfolio, said Rezwan Lateef, President of YES.

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.), a leading manufacturer of process equipment for semiconductor advanced packaging, life sciences and AR/VR applications, today announced that it has signed an agreement to license Deca Technologies Rapid Cure technology. The Deca IP, a combination of UV and direct thermal exposure that significantly lowers curing temperature and process time, will enable YES customers to reduce thermal budgets for the organic and inorganic thin films used in semiconductor front end, packaging and display applications.

We are extremely pleased to join forces with Deca, an acknowledged leader in the Advanced Packaging field, to enhance our thermal processing portfolio, said Rezwan Lateef, President of YES. The addition of Decas Rapid Cure technology to our cure capabilities allows YES to address a broader variety of Advanced Packaging applications including low temperature polymer cure, underfill bake, adhesive curing, degas/curing of low-K films, and a variety of new fan-out processes. Ultimately, this partnership will provide our customers with a wider array of thermal processing tools with lower CoO and better reliability to enable next generation products.

We are delighted to collaborate with YESs innovative team to extend Rapid Cure into multiple new product applications, stated Tim Olson, founder & CEO of Deca. M-Series technology has demonstrated industry leading fan-out performance. Rapid Cure has proven to be an integral part of the process which produces consistently excellent quality and reliability.

About Rapid Cure

The Rapid Cure process consists of ultraviolet (UV) pre-treatment to provide preliminary cross-linking of the polymer, followed by precisely controlled thermal curing. Rapid Cure provides a significant throughput advantage over conventional curing, while delivering comparable or superior properties.

About YES

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) is a leading manufacturer of high-tech, cost-effective equipment for transforming surfaces, materials and interfaces. The companys product lines include vacuum cure ovens, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems, and plasma etching tools used for precise surface modification and thin-film coating of semiconductor wafers, semiconductor and MEMS devices, and biodevices. With YES, customers ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies can create and volume-produce products in a wide range of markets, including Advanced Packaging, MEMS, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality and Life Sciences. YES is headquartered in Fremont, California, with a growing global presence. For more information, please visit http://www.yieldengineering.com.

About Deca Technologies

Deca was born of a passion to transform the way the world builds advanced electronic devices. In their first decade, Decas 10X thinking brought to life exciting breakthroughs for leading mobile semiconductor companies including M-Series FX fan-out and Adaptive Patterning. From first-generation applications in traditional semiconductor packaging to the growth of second-generation capabilities for chiplets and heterogeneous integration, Decas technologies are emerging new standards, providing key foundational building blocks for the future of the semiconductor industry.

Decas world-class investors include Infineon, Qualcomm, ASE, nepes and SunPower, all respected industry leaders that provide Deca with strength and visibility for continuing innovation. For more information, please visit http://www.ThinkDeca.com.
Mock trails for remote facility for electors would begin soon, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has said.

In his message to mark the 11th Voters' Day, he said a research project on remote using cutting-edge technology has already begun.

"There has been a good progress in this regard and mock trials will begin soon," Arora said on Sunday, adding the poll panel's proposal to extend postal ballot facility for overseas Indian voters is under active consideration of the Law Ministry.

The has collaborated with IIT-Madras to work on a new technology which will allow electors to vote from faraway cities without going to designated polling station of their constituencies.

Explaining the 'blockchain' technology involved in the project, former Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena had earlier said the concept is a "two-way electronic system in a controlled environment on white-listed IP devices on dedicated Internet lines enabled with biometric devices and a web camera".

Saxena, however, made it clear that voters will have to reach a designated venue during a pre-decided period of time to be able to use this facility.

"It does not mean voting from home. After a voter's identity is established by the system, a blockchain-enabled personalised e-ballot paper will be generated.

"When the vote is cast, the ballot will be securely encrypted and a blockchain hashtag generated. This hashtag notification will be sent to various stakeholders, in this case the candidates and political parties," the official said.

The encrypted remote votes so cast will once again be validated at the pre-counting stage to ensure that they have neither been decrypted nor tampered with or replaced.

"Suppose there is a Lok Sabha election and a Chennai voter is in Delhi. Instead of returning to vote in his or her constituency or missing out on voting, the voter can reach a pre-designated spot set up by the EC, say in Connaught Place, in a particular time window and can cast his vote," Saxena had said.

He said such voters may have to apply in advance to their returning officers to exercise the option.

(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.)
Lucknow, Jan 25 : A total of 117 inmates and three officials of the Basti district jail in Uttar Pradesh have tested positive for Covid-19.

They were found positive during random testing. Senior jail officials said that they were all asymptomatic.

The barrack has been converted into an L-1 hospital where a team of doctors are monitoring the patients.

Jailor Satish Chandra Tripathi said a preliminary investigation revealed that the infection spread from some jail officials who had gone outside the premises. "All patients have been isolated in the barracks," he said.

On January 1, during a routine Covid test, none of the inmates had tested positive.

The sudden increase in the number of Covid cases is a cause for concern.

A senior district official said, "We are taking all precautions to ensure that the virus does not spread further." There are 1,275 inmates and 50 staff members in the Basti jail.
WASHINGTON - Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, announced Monday that he will not seek reelection to a third term in 2022, ensuring a fierce and costly campaign for the open seat in a state Democrats are eager to wrest out of Republican control.

Portman, 65, cited his frustration with "partisan gridlock" as the impetus for his retirement. The decision comes two weeks before the Senate chamber is due to be convulsed by a second impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump.

"We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground," Portman said in a statement announcing his retirement. "This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but a problem that has gotten worse over the past few decades."

"This is a tough time to be in public service," he added.

The surprise announcement by Portman, who first came to Congress as a House member in 1993 and later served as President George W. Bush's budget director, follows the similar decision by Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from neighboring Pennsylvania, to decline to seek a third term in 2022.

Portman's decision set off a flurry of public consideration on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Tim Ryan, who is the best-known among potential Democratic candidates, tweeted that he was "looking seriously" at running and included a donation link. He made a brief and unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

The prohibitive favorite on the Republican side, if he chooses to run, is Rep. Jim Jordan, a Trump devotee who is well-liked by the GOP base and is a known commodity for his near-daily appearances on Fox News. Jordan had no immediate comment on whether he would consider running.

Jordan, whose support of Trump was so fierce and provocative that he received the Medal of Freedom in the waning days of the administration, would be a departure from the more mild-mannered Portman.

Elected to the Senate in the 2010 tea party wave, Portman is a staunch fiscal conservative, but his genial demeanor has long made him appear more moderate compared with some of his fiery GOP colleagues. Even as he distanced himself from Trump's more incendiary rhetoric, he was a dependable vote for Trump during the former president's single term.

For Democrats, the vacancy will serve as an opportunity to bolster their razor-thin majority in the 2022 midterm election. And for Republicans, the election could be an early test of whether the party's now-dominant Trumpian wing can defeat the establishment Republicans who represented the state before the former president's candidacy.

With its aging, mostly White population, Ohio has trended more conservative in recent years and has become a steeper climb for Democrats who in the 1980s and 1990s fared well in the state.

Ohio had long been a bellwether in presidential elections, siding with every presidential winner after 1960 until last year, when Trump defeated Biden by 8 points while Biden won the popular vote nationally.

Republicans also have won the past three statewide races for governor. The sole successful statewide Democrat in recent years has been the state's senior senator, Sherrod Brown, a liberal who in 2018 won his third term.

Jeff Rusnak, a Democratic consultant in the state, called Portman's exit "a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Ohio."

"I think it's a new day in Ohio, I think it's wide open and it's game-changing in a lot of ways and there's a huge opportunity here for someone to emerge," he said of Democrats' chances.

But Corry Bliss, who ran Portman's successful reelection campaign in 2016, laughed off the opposing party's odds of taking the seat.

"The Ohio Democratic Party is dead, they're inept, incompetent, they cannot and do not win races," Bliss said.

As Portman lamented divisions in the Senate, former Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper called him out for not doing more during his time in the Senate to fight back against the vitriol.

"Those who could have made it a better environment, like Senator Portman, spent 10 years cowering and allowing it to become what it is now," Pepper tweeted. But he also warned that Democrats "will need a strong candidate to keep the far right from winning this."

Portman's withdrawal means two perennial swing-state targets, Ohio and Pennsylvania, will have high-profile Senate races in 2022. Wisconsin also may host a nationally watched race as Democrats angle to unseat incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican.

In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, has kicked off a formidable exploratory Senate campaign, raising more than $1 million in two weeks.

Without the risk of a primary challenge, Portman and Toomey face less pressure as they consider a possible vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial next month. Toomey has signaled a willingness to hold Trump accountable for his role in inciting the violent mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, but Portman has expressed concern that doing so would deepen the nation's polarization.
Rob Cohen's spokesperson denied Asia Argento's sexual abuse claims and termed them as 'absolutely false'

Asia Argento has made fresh accusations of sexual abuse against The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen.

The Italian actress and director, 45, was one of the first to speak out against sexual abuse in the film industry, helping to trigger the #MeToo campaign.

In 2017, she revealed that disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had raped her in 1997 when she was 21.

In an interview published Friday, 22 January, with Italian daily Corriere Della Sera, Argento said she was also assaulted by Cohen in 2002.

"It's the first time I'm talking about Cohen. He abused me making me drink GHB, he had a bottle of it," she said, referring to the date rape drug.

"At the time I really didn't know what it was. I woke up in the morning naked in his bed," she added.

Argento said the assault happened while she was filming Cohen's action movie xXx, also starring Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson.

Argento confirmed to Agence France Presse the contents of the Corriere interview.

"I can confirm that it is all true," she said in a short text message.

A spokesperson for Cohen denied the allegations Friday.

"Mr Cohen categorically denies Asia Argento's accusation of assault against him as absolutely false," the spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.

"When they worked together, they had an excellent working relationship and Mr Cohen considered her a friend, so this claim dating back to 2002 is bewildering, especially given what has been reported about her in recent years."

Argento herself has been accused of sexual assault.

In 2018, US actor Jimmy Bennett accused Argento of sexually assaulting him in a California hotel when he was 17. The legal age of consent in California is 18.

After initially denying having sex with the young actor, she later retracted, although she denied Bennett's version of the events.

In response to news reports that Argento paid Bennett $380,00 following his accusations, she said her late partner, chef and television celebrity Anthony Bourdain, gave money to the actor "to deal compassionately with Bennett's demand for (economic) help."

Argento's accusations are included in an upcoming autobiography, 'Anatomy of a Wild Heart', due for release in Italy on 26 January.
File image: Farmers participate in a tractor rally to protest against the three new farm reform bills at Singhu border near New Delhi on January 7. (Image: Reuters)

A day before the scheduled tractor rally, the farmers protesting against the central government's three agricultural reform laws on January 25 announced their plans to march to Parliament on foot.



On February 1, we will march on foot towards Parliament in Delhi from different locations: Darshan Pal, Krantikari Kisan Union

(File Photo) pic.twitter.com/sCbBRFxuON January 25, 2021

"On February 1, we will march on foot towards Parliament in Delhi from different locations," said Darshan Pal of the Krantikari Kisan Union, one of the nearly 40 groups protesting around Delhi.

Pal said the protesting farmers remain firm in their stand of repealing the three new farm laws and their agitation will continue till their demands are met.

Every march or protest will be peaceful as the movement has been so far, he said.

"The farmers who have come for the tractor parade will not go back now and will join the protest. The agitation will continue till our demands met. Our stand remains the same," Pal told a press conference, sharing the farmers plans to intensify the protest, reported news agency PTI.

Thousands of armed personnel have been deployed at the Rajpath and several border points of the national capital which has been brought under a multi-layered security cover in view of Republic Day celebrations as well as the proposed tractor parade by farmers on January 26.

Protesting farmer unions opposing the three contentious farm laws said their parade will not enter central Delhi and it will start only after the official Republic Day parade concludes.

The unions claimed that around two lakh tractors are expected to participate in their parade which will move into the city from three border points: Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

--With inputs from agencies
Photo: The Canadian Press President Joe Biden waves as he departs after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington. Less than a week after the economic gut punch of cancelling Keystone XL, Canada is bracing for more bad news today from the White House.

Less than a week after the economic gut punch of Keystone XL, Canada was bracing Monday for more bad news from the White House.

President Joe Biden was expected to enact his promised new Buy American regime, designed to better ensure U.S. workers and companies are the primary beneficiaries of the $600 billion the government spends on contracting each year.

Monday's executive order "directs agencies to close loopholes in how made-in-America products are measured, so that we can close loopholes and increase the amount of a product that must be made in the U.S. for it to qualify under Buy American law," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told a media briefing.

Biden is also setting up a "Made in America" office under the White House Office of Management and Budget, and naming a senior official whose job will be to ensure the rules are "actually enforced," Psaki said.

The order "will also tighten and make public the waiver process, so that American workers and manufacturers can see how federal dollars are spent and where they're going."

That waiver process is the one Canadian contractors and suppliers, many of whom are heavily dependent on U.S. government business, will have to navigate in order to continue to ply their trade south of the border.

The plan would increase the amount of U.S. content a project would need to qualify as made in America, and to apply more stringent standards to the sort of hard-won exceptions Canada secured to similar rules imposed in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

It would also establish a "central review of agency waivers of Buy American requirements," fulfilling Biden's campaign promise to "crack down on unnecessary waivers."

Such exceptions will be subject to public scrutiny on a website established by the General Services Administration.

A more stringent and orderly system of approving and enforcing waivers might ultimately prove a "silver lining" for Canada, said Dan Ujczo, a Canada-U. S. trade lawyer based in Columbus, Ohio.

The enforcement of procurement rules can sometimes be haphazard, particularly when they are confusing and poorly understood, said Ujczo, senior counsel with the U.S. firm Thompson Hine LLP.

"Canada has a network of agreements with the U.S. to address Buy American programs, but the nuance often is lost on procurement officers that do not want to risk using non-U. S. products," he said.

"If Canadian companies can use this new Made in America office at OMB to emphasize Canadas 'exemptionalism,' it could prove worthwhile."

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the replacement trade deal for NAFTA negotiated under Donald Trump, does not include specific government procurement provisions between the U.S. and Canada.

The deal envisioned relying instead on the terms of the World Trade Organization's general procurement agreement, to which both Canada and the U.S. are signatories.

Biden "remains committed to working with partners and allies to modernize international trade rules  including those related to government procurement," the White House says.

Even so, Canadian suppliers and contractors will need to remain on guard, Ujczo added.

"Make no mistake: Canadian companies, supported by federal and provincial governments, will need to remain vigilant and aggressive on this file. There is a risk that Canada gets lumped in with everybody else. "

The latest order comes just five days after Biden "disappointed" the Canadian government and enraged Alberta Premier Jason Kenney by rescinding a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline expansion.

Kenney, whose government has invested US$1.1 billion in the project and secured US$4.2 billion in loan guarantees, has threatened legal action against the U.S. in order to get some of that money back, and urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to join the effort.

Critics of Trudeau say they fear Biden's Keystone XL decision, which effectively killed the US$8-billion plan to export Canadian oilsands bitumen to the U.S. Gulf Coast, may be just the beginning.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said Canada missed a golden opportunity to more closely align itself with the U.S. by taking a harder line on Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that American lawmakers see as an ever-present threat to national security.

Canada is the only member of the "Five Eyes" intelligence bloc that has not banned the company's equipment from its next-generation 5G mobile telecom network.

That could be making it more difficult for the U.S. to treat Canada as a trusted ally, O'Toole said Friday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"In the United States, you never have a conversation about trade without a conversation on security," he said.

"We have to have a much smarter approach. I think there's more opportunity with a Biden administration. But there needs to be a far more serious and strategic approach from the government."
Biden and Harris: The great uniters?

By Mark Alexander



Joe Biden was inaugurated the 46th president of the United States last, with Kamala Harris at his side. His inauguration was attended by Barack Obama and Michelle, George W. Bush and Laura, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. While Donald Trump was not present, former Vice President Mike Pence represented the Trump administration.

Biden's inaugural theme was "America United," in which he laid out his plan to "unify and heal the nation."

Ahead of the inauguration, Biden outlined his theme in a lengthy statement on his campaign website: "My fellow Americans, The people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory. A victory for 'We the People.'" Biden continued, "I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to unify. Who doesn't see Red and Blue states, but a United States. ... I sought this office to restore the soul of America. ... To ... unite us here at home."

After listing all the leftist identity groups they've cultivated, Biden insisted: "To those who voted for President Trump, I understand your disappointment tonight. ... It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each other again. To listen to each other again. To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. ... The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season  a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America. ... I ran as a proud Democrat. I will now be an American president. I will work as hard for those who didn't vote for me as [for] those who did. Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end  here and now. ... We must restore the soul of America. ... A nation united."

In Biden's brief and relatively lucid inaugural remarks, he repeated the "unity" theme along with a few other canards (with annotations):

"I've just taken the sacred oath ... the oath first sworn by George Washington." (That would be the oath "to support and defend" our Constitution, which Biden and most Democrats violate every minute of every day.)

"To restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy  unity. Unity." (We are a Republic, and for Biden/Harris, "unity" is nothing more than a word.)

"Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause. Uniting to fight the foes we face, anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence..." (I think you know who Biden identifies as the "foes.")

"I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days." (Only for those who think Biden is sincere.)

"Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war." (Tell that to your raging mobs who spent last summer burning, looting, and murdering in urban centers across the nation.)

"The right to dissent peaceably ... is perhaps this nation's greatest strength." (Tell that to your Leftmedia and social media blackout and cancel mobs.)

"I pledge this to you: I will be a president for all Americans, all Americans. I promise you, I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did." (C'mon man...)

"My fellow Americans, I close the day where I began, with a sacred oath before God and all of you. I give you my word, I will always level with you. I will defend the Constitution. I'll defend our democracy." (Again with the Constitution and "democracy.")

Biden concluded, "May God bless America and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America."

So, about all that unity chatter...

A uniter is a peacemaker and reconciler. But Democrat Party principals, including Biden and Harris, have spent decades dividing up constituencies in order to foment discontent and dependence. Democrats have cultivated "entitled victim" underclasses, the direct result of their socialist policies, and those ensnared and enslaved by Democrats are key political constituencies (read: dependencies) upon which the Democrats' statist power relies.

The net result is not a party defined by Biden's fake "unity" theme but a collective of groups defined by disunity, anger, and victimhood, and tied to their racial, ethnic, or gender characteristics. There can be no "unity" as long as Democrats continue to promote this sort of disunity.

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words the coup d'etat by their deep-state operatives to take down the Trump administration, even though it's now more clear than ever that the Russia-collusion accusations were completely fabricated.

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words the baseless impeachment charade their party launched after their Russian delusion failed.

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words their party's politicization of the ChiCom Virus pandemic, hanging their 2020 election strategy on pandemic fear and casting blame.

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words their party's politicization of the death of a black Minneapolis man and disavow their assertion that the nation is awash in "systemic racism."

Fact is, Democrats were, are, and will continue to be the party of racist oppression, being simultaneously the author and beneficiary of the subjugation of generations of poor Americans under the systemic poverty they both seeded and institutionalized over the last century.

Democrats are the party of division and hate, and they built their entire "Hate Trump" platform on that theme.

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words their party's use of the pandemic as cover to implement their bulk-mail ballot fraud strategy and make it a permanent voting option.

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words their party's plans to impeach a 74-year-old former president in order to bar him from ever running for office again. (Depending on the outcome of U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation, Trump may have the last laugh.)

If Biden and Harris had any genuine interest in unity, they would condemn in the strongest words the emerging systemic redlining of First Amendment rights by their leftist brethren in Big Tech.

And, of course, the Democrats' legislative agenda is anything but unifying, especially if they attempt to pack the Supreme Court and eliminate the Electoral College so the voters within a few massive urban centers can elect our presidents and rule the nation.

Make no mistake, as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) observed: "Democrats are very sore winners."

On the other side of the "unity" theme, political analyst David Harsanyi concludes: "Political unity is an ugly, authoritarian idea. No free nation has domestic political unity, nor should it aspire to it. What 'unity' really means is capitulation. ... Unity is found in comity with your neighbors, in your churches and schools, in your everyday interactions with your community. Politics is not a place for unity. It is a place for airing grievances. And we've got plenty." As policy analyst Josh Lawson notes, if Biden really wants unity, he will affirm equality under the law as did Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

A few other parting observations from the day...

Democrats claimed that the "Trump supporters" who rioted in the Capitol building (and would otherwise be defined as "peaceful protesters" by the Demos' standard) made our nation look like a "banana republic."

What really looks like a banana republic was having to activate 26,000 military personnel to protect the "peaceful transfer of power" (a 26:1 military-to-civilian attendee ratio). This necessitated running background checks on military personnel to ensure an attack would not come from within. If Biden and Harris had an ounce of genuine interest in unity, no barriers would be required at their inauguration.

The capital looked like an allied-occupied war zone  a lockdown as overdone as the Demo virus lockdowns across the nation. Of course, it was mostly political theater and grossly disproportionate to the threat. Of course accommodations were made for dissenting voices  two "First Amendment zones" limited to 100 people.

For the record, recall that on the day of Trump's inauguration in 2017, thousands of Demo-leftists rioted in DC, and hundreds were arrested on felony rioting charges. However, the government ultimately dropped the charges against all inauguration protesters.

And it was just six months ago that leftist mobs attempted to storm the White House, injuring dozens of Secret Service agents  when that failed, setting fire to St. John's Church across Lafayette Square.

With Biden and Harris now in office, the biggest winner beyond the tidal wave of Democrat socialists, is Red China, the nation that poses the most perilous existential threat to the United States, and that is counting on its investment in "the Big Guy" to pay big dividends.

Finally, for perspective, here is some good news moving forward: Despite all the handwringing about political divisions on the Right, that split is over support for Trump, the personality. There is no split over support for the Trump administration's considerable policy successes. As Biden and his Democrats endeavor to undo those policies that will have the net effect of further unifying conservatives going into the 2020 midterms.

Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post.
NORTHWOOD, Iowa  Hitting and killing a rollerblader will not send a Mason City man to prison.

Luke J. Beenken, 44, was found guilty in November 2020 of homicide by vehicle-reckless driving. Authorities say Beenken was driving east on 390th Street in Worth County on May 3, 2019, when he hit and killed Rick Johnson, 58 of Kensett, who was rollerblading in the east lane of traffic.

The judge in the case ruled phone records showed Beenken was texting around the same time as the fatal collision and there is no other explanation for Beenken not seeing Johnson and hitting him from behind. The judge said there is no evidence Beenken reduced speed or moved to avoid hitting Johnson.

Beenken has now been sentenced to five years of probation and 100 hours of community work service. He has also been ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution to Johnsons estate or heirs.

After paying millions in revenue back to the state over the past decade, the Montgomery Independent School District has adopted its first legislative platform that focuses on school finance reform and other key issues.

The legislative platform will serve as its voice for educators and students to state lawmakers, said Montgomery ISD Communications Director Justin Marino.

In any year the stakes are high for public education, you can say that every session is a public education session, so this platform will represent the policy priorities of Montgomery ISD on key educational related issues as our state lawmakers conduct their work at the Capitol this session, Marino said. Its important that the voice of Montgomery ISD is heard in Austin.

The pillars of the platform focuses on five keys issues: school finance reform, assessment and accountability, additional support from the state as school districts continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, local control and school safety.

It was developed over the past month by Superintendent Heath Morrison, Marino, and a subcommittee of school board members.

The school officials are hoping to build on the momentum of a school refinance reform bill passed in by the state lawmakers in 2019 and that the state will continue to support the district as it works through the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, Marino said.

Montgomery ISD board member Mike Hopkins said the school officials have already received feedback from state legislators, who convened for the 140-day regular session at the Capitol in Austin last week.

Hopkins served on the subcommittee along with school board members Matt Fuller and Laurie Turner.

This platform is a first for MISD, but it ensures we have a voice at the state level, Hopkins said. There are a lot of things that come down, Robin Hood being one of them. Understanding how that affects our budgets, how that affects our school finance, our ability to plan and manage our district financially and in the assessment and accountability portion of it is  how are we measured and are those measurements reflective of what we feel is best for our district, our kids, our teachers and our administrators? Those things are voices that we want to drive upwards into our state legislators.

In 2017, The Courier reported Montgomery ISD was subject to state-mandated recapture or Robin Hood payments at least 12 times since 2004. The payments ranged from $53,000 to $2.69 million, and totaled more than $9.8 million over that time.

That was because the enrollment growth had not met projections while the districts property appraisals rose by 11 percent in 2016. That resulted in an estimated property wealth per student of $551,250 in 2017-18  which was well above the states threshold of $515,000 per student.

Exceeding the maximum wealth value per student required Montgomery ISD to pay $3.7 million back to the state in 2017.

The funds are used to help finance the foundation school program, which redistributes the wealth to property-poor school districts. But as result, Montgomery ISD dealt with budget shortfalls, had to delayed the opening of an elementary school, and it prompted a hiring freeze in 2018.

The Chapter 41 recapture payment terminology was changed with House Bill 3 that was passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019. The school finance reform bill was expected reduce recapture for districts subject to the payments, such as Montgomery ISD.

Montgomery ISD may still be required to pay recapture this year after finally balancing the budget from a $1.7 million deficit  which followed a $4.3 million deficit. The district purchased attendance credits from the state in previous years and chose the method again in October. The option requires the district to reduce its wealth by sending the money to the state, Lynn said.

We anticipate notification of the amount in February or March, sometime in early Spring, Lynn said in October. It will be significantly lower than what the district has experienced in the past.  I believe prior to House Bill 3 the district was used to $3-4 million a year in recapture. The amount will not be anywhere near that amount this time.

The district confirmed Friday that it was still unclear how much it would be obligated to pay and the school officials still anticipated notification in February.

Montgomery ISD stated House Bill 3 made a number of enhancements to the states foundation school program, including an increase to the states basic allotment, funding for full-day pre-kindergarten, an expansion of Career and Technical Education program funding and increases to special funding weights and allotments.

This session, lawmakers can build upon the momentum and progress they made in 2019 as it relates to reforming our states outdated method for funding public schools and lessening the burden the current system places on local property taxpayers, Board President Matt Fuller said. Educators across the state have courageously stepped up for our students during an incredibly challenging school year. Now, were urging our elected officials to do the same.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
(Photo : Discovr via YouTube) Huawei

Huawei's recent smartphone spinoff revealed its brand new devices on Friday which surprisingly featured certain chips coming from MediaTek, Intel, and even NVIDIA. The company then said that it was able to reach agreements along with global partners in order to resume its supplies that were cut off by the United States sanction in the past.

Huawei Honor in talks with Samsung, Qualcomm, and more

According to the story by Bloomberg, more of the known suppliers of the Honor Device Co., the new budget phone brand that started to be sold by Huawei back in November, have reportedly started doing business again with the recently created company. Honor's own chief executive George Zhao gave that information in a statement.

It was stated that there is no restriction when it comes to choosing their component and software suppliers, according to George Zhao who added that they are also in talks with other firms. The firms that Zhao is looking at as of the moment are Qualcomm, Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices, and even Samsung Electronics Co.

Shenzhen-based Huawei

Huawei has reportedly hived off its Honor to the Chinese government-backed consortium some time last year as the new technology giant had grappled with problems with the previous administration sanctions that had even cut off its own supply of mobile chipsets. The particular Shenzhen-based company was even said to have safeguarded its main telecom equipment business by being able to stockpile critical components for it to continue supplying it's home country's very own 5G rollout. However it had lacked inventory for its very own smartphone business, which was at some point even larger than Samsung.

Honor's reportedly latest smartphones even featured the fifth-generation wireless capability that uses mobile chips reportedly developed by a certain Taiwanese chipmaker known as MediaTek, the company had announced on Friday. It's brand new laptop is said to be equipped along with Intel's very own CPU and GPU that were both made by NVIDIA.

Read Also: Kirin 9020: Huawei Mate 50 Series Chipset Might Be First to Hold 3nm Processor

Honor confirms partnership with top tech companies

According to the company's statement, uploaded to HiHonor, which had announced its brand new lineup, based on the global consumer needs, Honor currently has both the flexibility and the independence in order for it to choose the best solution for its wide global supply chain. It was also stated that Honor has already confirmed its partnership along with leading suppliers which included Microsoft, AMD, Intel, MediaTek, Micron Technology, Qualcomm, SK Hynix, Samsung, and even Sony.

With Huawei's massive partners with the top chipmakers from all around the world, there could be a significant change in the type of smartphones that it will be able to sell to the rest of the world. While Huawei has had a rough time in the US due to the previous administration, it still remains to be seen if the company's relationship with the US will improved under the new administration.

Related Article: Why are US Parts Still Used in Huawei Smartphones Despite Blacklisting?

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian Buenconsejo

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The number of people in intensive care units will "hold if not grow" in the coming days, the health service chief has said.

Paul Reid said ICU admissions are a "real challenge" with delayed discharges from units and an increased number of deaths.

He told RTE's This Week that something has changed in terms of the level of transmission and the impact of the virus.

A total of 1,931 people were in hospital with the virus on Sunday afternoon including 218 in ICU.

Twenty-four beds were available in intensive care but eight hospitals had reached surge capacity.

"Talking to the ICU consultants I think there's a huge learning in the last three weeks about what we're seeing," Mr Reid said.

"We're seeing huge difference in terms of delayed exit from ICU and, sadly, increased mortality.

"There are still 430 patients who are receiving critical care outside of ICU with advanced respiratory support."

Mr Reid said a third of those patients could end up in intensive care units or die.

"There's a very significant pipeline, unfortunately, we would see continuing into ICU. I'd expect to see ICU numbers holding if not growing in the coming days," he said. "That's a real challenge for us."

Asked about the Irish National Nurses and Midwives Organisation's concerns over a lack of high-grade face masks for nurses, Mr Reid said there was a "good supply" of up to 1.3 million masks per week for healthcare staff who required them.

He also said officials have deployed antigen testing recently to assess where there are outbreaks in hospitals, and have secured another 500,000 antigen tests. He said this will be brought into the hospital system from Wednesday.

Mr Reid also said officials are "very anxious" to get back to testing close contacts.

"We do aim to get back to it," he said. "We would need (cases) to be sustained below 2,000 for a few days for that to happen but we're very anxious for that to happen."

Asked about the announcement by AstraZeneca of possible delays in the production of its vaccine, Mr Reid said he believed shortfalls will be a "feature of the supply" and setbacks will happen.

He said the HSE is planning on rolling out the vaccine for over-70s as envisioned, having been assured by AstraZeneca that it would receive its February delivery as planned.

"So our plan to commence the over-70s in the middle of February will continue," he said. "We're not quite sure of the impacts beyond that.

"I do know that in a similar way when we had the same announcement from Pfizer it had triggered very significant concerns across the EU and from the Taoiseach, and they do expect, as they've said already, very strong conversations to happen to assess the health impacts."

The Taoiseach described the AstraZeneca production issues on Saturday as a "real problem" and warned it could delay the rollout of the vaccine to over-70s.

On Saturday Health Minister Stephen Donnelly described the news from AstraZeneca, which has advised the EU of a reduction in vaccine supply in February and March, as a "real setback".

"The numbers are still tentative and AstraZeneca is due to provide more exact figures at a meeting early next week," he said. "Will provide an update as soon as possible."

Sunday saw a further 23 deaths and 1,378 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed by the Department of Health. All the deaths occurred this month.

The median age of those who died was 84 and the age range was 61-99.

It is the second day in a row since the start of the year that the number of new cases has fallen below 2,000.
METUCHEN, N.J., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tevogen Bio today announced it has secured necessary funding from HMP Partners of New Jersey, an investment firm managed by medical doctors, which will allow Tevogen to support all clinical trials of its investigational, potentially curative COVID-19 treatment. Tevogen's Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its proprietary antigen-specific T cell therapy is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

All COVID-19 therapeutics utilized to date have sought to slow the progression of the infection and/or moderate its symptoms. These approaches buy time for the patient's own T cells to activate and respond to the infection, which is the mechanism that the body employs to rid itself of viruses such as the SARS-CoV-2.

In the upcoming trials, Tevogen will study its investigational treatment, TVGN-489, allogeneic T cells that have been programmed and grown in the laboratory, for its safety and capability to recognize and destroy COVID-19 infected cells. Lead investigator Dr. Neal Flomenberg, Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University, stated his optimism, "We're excited by the purity and potency of the cells we've been able to generate in the lab. Based on prior experience with these sorts of cells in other settings, we're very hopeful that they will be both safe and effective when the clinical trials are launched."

HMP Partners is supporting Tevogen's efforts to develop a curative treatment due to concerns over recent COVID-19 mutations and the current lack of curative options for this deadly infection. HMP CEO Dr. Manmohan Patel, a prominent pulmonary and critical care specialist, said, "We believe it's imperative to create a curative treatment that is not expected to be compromised by mutations." He added, "Unmodified virus specific T cells are well established as being effective and safe at treating viral infections, which is why we are supporting Tevogen's efforts to develop a much-needed COVID-19 cure."

While Tevogen has raised private investment from HMP Partners to launch its clinical trials, the company is seeking government funding to expedite capacity to manufacture at the scale necessary to develop pandemic-level product supply, just as have a number of vaccine and antibody manufacturers.

Tevogen's proprietary solution is designed to enable a single donation from a donor to generate more than a thousand doses of COVID-19 specific cytotoxic T cells. Yale-trained infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Ryan Saadi is leading Tevogen's efforts and is among those who are financing the trials. Dr. Saadi stated, "We halted our pursuit for an oncology cure in order to focus solely on COVID-19, and our manufacturing efficiency and agile business model will allow us to deliver a cure that will be affordable and accessible to all."

About Tevogen Bio

Tevogen Bio was formed after decades of research by its contributors to concentrate and leverage their expertise, spanning multiple sectors of the healthcare industry, to help address some of the most common and deadly illnesses known today. The company's mission is to provide curative and preventative treatments that are affordable and scalable, in order to positively impact global public health.

About HMP Partners

HMP Partners of New Jersey is a consortium of medical doctors who are dedicated to supporting the advancement of potentially life-saving technologies. HMP CEO Dr. Manmohan Patel, a prominent pulmonary and critical care specialist, has nearly 50 years of medical expertise in a diverse field of specialties, including pulmonary, internal, geriatric and emergency medicine as well as critical care. Dr. Patel's commitment to community and medical management is demonstrated by his distinguished appointments, including serving as the Director of Post Cardiac Surgery at Saint Michael's Medical Center in Newark, NJ and as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, NJ. In 2000, he was appointed by the Governor of New Jersey to the Board of Medical Examiners Executive Committee for the state and served on various other committees, including reviewing malpractice actions, in that capacity.

About Dr. Neal Flomenberg

Dr. Neal Flomenberg is the Chairman of the Department of Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Dr. Flomenberg launched Jefferson's Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Program in 1995. Throughout his four decades of practice, he has maintained a longstanding interest in the immunogenetics and immunology of stem cell transplantation, with the goal of making transplantation safer and more widely available. He is board certified in the fields of internal medicine, hematology, and medical oncology.

Media Contacts:

Mark Irion

[email protected]

Katelyn Petroka

[email protected]

SOURCE Tevogen Bio
(Natural News) The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released thousands of previously classified documents on unidentified flying objects (UFO) this week. The documents were made available to the public on the Black Vault, an online archive of declassified government documents.

The sites founder, John Greenewald Jr., reportedly purchased from the CIA the disc containing the previously released UFO records as well as those the Black Vault was attempting to unseal.

According to reports, the massive trove of UFO data included some declassified documents dating back as far as the 1970s. But some of the documents were difficult to read and it was unclear what exactly they were used for.

Greenewald told Vice.com that the intelligence agency put the documents together in an outdated format that makes it hard to parse the collection.

In addition, Greenewald said that he had to file around 10,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reports to obtain the PDFs in an excruciatingly long process. He then had to scan the documents by hand.

Around 20 years ago, I had fought for years to get additional UFO records released from the CIA, Greenewald said. It was like pulling teeth. I went around and around with them to try and do so, finally achieving it. I received a large box, of a couple thousand pages, and I had to scan them in one page at a time.

Now, he has over 2,700 pages of information collected and recorded by government agencies over the course of decades. He willingly shared them to the world, but the world may find it difficult to understand.

Researchers and curious minds alike prefer simplicity and accessibility when they look at data dumps such as these, Greenewald said. The CIA has made it incredibly difficult to use their records in a reasonable manner. They offer a format that is very outdated and offer text file outputs, largely unusable, that I think they intend to have people use as a search tool. In my opinion, this outdated format makes it very difficult for people to see the documents, and use them, for any research purpose.

The documents included a report about the mysterious explosions in a Russian town, as well as a first-hand account of a strange sighting of a flying object near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

One of the most interesting documents involved the assistant deputy director for science and technology being hand-delivered some pieces of information on a UFO in the 1970s.

According to Greenewald, there have been thousands of downloads within the first 24 hours of the release.

Senate wants to know if UFOs pose threat

The UFO sightings seemed to have caught the attention of the lawmakers, as well.

As part of the recent coronavirus stimulus packaged signed into lay by former President Trump, the Senates intelligence committee has asked intelligence agencies to submit reports on any unidentified aerial phenomena and any links they have to adversarial foreign governments and the threat they pose to U.S. military assets and installations. (Related: Classified UFO info must be disclosed within 6 months according to newly signed bill.)

Prior to that, on Aug. 4, 2020, Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist had also approved the establishment of a UAP Task Force (UAPTF).

The Department of Defense (DOD) is establishing the UAPTF to improve its understanding of and gain insight into the nature and origins of UAPs. The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Three videos that were leaked from and eventually released by the DOD in April of last year showing unidentified objects encountered during pilot training flights. The pilots could be heard noting the speed and shapes of the objects.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida who leads the Senate intelligence committee, suggested that lawmakers are more concerned about technological advancement from U.S. adversaries than signs of extraterrestrial life.

Frankly, if its something from outside this planet, that might actually be better than the fact that weve seen some sort of technological leap on behalf of the Chinese or the Russians or some other adversary, he said.

Follow UFOs.news for more news and information about UFOs, aliens and space.

Sources include:

WakingTimes.com

Vice.com

The Tory leader in Scotland called for Labour and other parties to join him in a boycott of any attempt by Nicola Sturgeon to call a wildcat referendum on independence.

Douglas Ross said his party would not take part in any vote not sanctioned by Westminster as the Scottish National Party threatened to hold one whether it was given permission or not.

And he called for his political opponents to join him in refusing to lend legitimacy to the separatist project to break up the United Kingdom.

Under UK law the prime minister has to give permission for a referendum, but Boris Johnson has constantly refused to agree to SNP demands for a rerun of the 2014 vote.

Ahead of an expected visit to Scotland this week by the Prime Minister, Mr Ross told an online event for a think tank that if the 2014 vote had been the 'gold standard of referendums' then 'no-one who believes in democracy should enter into this wildcat referendum that would have no actual bearing in terms of the outcome, would not be enforceable'.

He added: 'It is moving all the focus away from what Scottish politicians should be concentrating on right now: protecting jobs, improving the economy, supporting communities right across the country, making sure our education system is fit for our young people.

'That is where the focus should be, not on wildcat referendums, which I would absolutely boycott because they would be an absolute waste of precious time and resources when our focus should be on defeating Covid-19, rolling out the vaccine and concentrating on our economic recovery.'

Mr Johnson is expected to head north this week, according to the Sun. He named himself 'minister for the Union' when he entered Downing Street 18 months ago, but visiting Scotland is a high-risk strategy, as opinion polls show he is hugely unpopular north of the border.

A survey by Panelbase for the Times at the weekend found that he has a -44 rating for his handling of the pandemic among voters in Scotland, compared to Ms Sturgeon's +36.

The Prime Minister (pictured today in north London) lashed out at Scotland's First Minister after her Scottish National Party threatened to unilaterally call a new referendum on splitting up the United Kingdom.

Ms Sturgeon used an interview yesterday to claim Mr Johnson 'fears the verdict and the will of the Scottish people'

A poll in the Sunday Times shows indicates a vote for independence would have the backing of the Scottish people and that a referendum should be held in the next five years

UK stronger together in fight against Covid, says Matt Hancock Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted the 'UK is stronger together in the fight against' coronavirus tonight, amid concerns of increasing support for Scottish independence. He told the Downing Street press conference that the Scottish Ambulance Service put out an appeal for extra help over the weekend and other nations 'stepped forward'. 'Our health systems across the UK routinely work closely together offering support when it's needed and from vaccines to ambulance services we are stronger together. And the UK is stronger together in the fight against this pandemic,' Mr Hancock said during a Downing Street press conference. He said there are 'early signs that the actions we are taking are working', with the rise in case numbers slowing and falling in some areas such as London and Scotland. During the Downing Street press conference, he was questioned about Scottish independence and asked if his performance, and that of his colleagues, over the past year, had helped or hindered the case for the union. Mr Hancock replied: 'The case for the union is undoubtedly strengthened by the work that we've done and shown how over this pandemic we're stronger together as one United Kingdom.' He highlighted the vaccine rollout programme across the UK, which is the 'fastest' in the world after Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Mr Hancock added: 'That's a sign of what the UK can do when we pull together.' Addressing people in Scotland considering the independence question, he said: 'We're so much stronger together. 'It means an awful lot to me and my English UK colleagues, in the UK Government, that we are one union that can pull together when things get difficult.' He said the vaccine rollout was a 'real example of this country firing on all cylinders'. Advertisement

Labour is in the midst of a leadership election, with one of the candidates, Monica Lennon, previously abstained in a vote on legislation for a new referendum, rather than voting against it.

The Prime Minister today slapped down Nicola Sturgeon's demands for a new vote, saying she should be totally focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Scotland's First Minister used an interview yesterday to claim Mr Johnson 'fears the verdict and the will of the Scottish people' and, ahead of Burns Night tonight, quoted one of his works to accuse the PM of being a 'wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie'.

On a visit to a vaccination centre in north London today, Mr Johnson sidestepped a question about whether he would legally challenge Ms Sturgeon's plans for an advisory independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority in May's Holyrood elections.

'The whole UK is going through a pandemic, I think what the people of the UK want to see is everybody focusing on beating that pandemic, which we are, rolling out the vaccine, and getting ready to bounce back from that pandemic and have the strongest possible economic recovery,' he said.

'I think people also can see everywhere in the UK the visible benefits of our wonderful union.

'A vaccine programme that is being rolled out by a National Health Service, a vaccine that was developed in labs in Oxford and is being administered by the British Army, so I think the strengths and advantages of the Union speak for themselves.'

The SNP hit back at Mr Johnson over his planned visit, with a spokeswoman saying: 'The law in Scotland requires all work that can be done at home, to be done at home.

'Scottish ministers are not engaging in visits in line with the current Stay at Home regulations and the requirement to stay local, so it's clear the PM must think the union is really in peril if he considers his visit to be so essential.'

His comments come after The Sunday Times published the results of opinion polls in the four nations of the UK, which found a majority of voters thought Scotland was likely to be independent in the next 10 years.

In Scotland, the poll found that 49 per cent backed independence compared with 44 per cent against  a margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent if the undecideds are excluded.

The SNP has unveiled an 11-point roadmap to splitting the UK, including a Catalonia-style wildcat vote that would effectively force a drastic response from the Prime Minister to stop it having legal effect.

Ms Sturgeon is vowing that a referendum will be held if there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood after May's elections - where her party is on track to get a landslide.

Jubilant SNP MPs said they wanted to 'focus on undermining the union', even though all sides made clear the 2014 vote would settle the issue 'for a generation'.

The separatists lost that contest by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, but polls have been consistently showing that a majority north of the border would now vote to break away.

Under the blueprint, Ms Sturgeon would demand that Mr Johnson agree to a 'Section 30' order that paves the way to a second independence referendum.

The PM has pledged to refuse such a request. But for the first time, the SNP has said it will then hold a referendum anyway, forcing Mr Johnson to make it legal or take the Scottish Government to court to stop it.

UK Government sources said it would be more likely to ignore a referendum, although that would lead to huge political fallout.

Mr Johnson named himself 'minister for the Union' when he entered Downing Street 18 months ago, but visiting Scotland is a high-risk strategy, as opinion polls show he is hugely unpopular north of the border

A graphic shows how experts forecast a landslide victory for the SNP in May's Scottish elections

It came as former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown warned that Britain risks becoming a 'failed state' unless it makes reforms to the union.

He urged Boris Johnson to consider reforms like replacing the House of Lords with a 'senate of the regions' and to review the way the UK is governed.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Brown said that 'the choice is now between a reformed state and a failed state', and the Government should use the Armed Forces and NHS to demonstrate the 'everyday benefits' of the union.

Mr Brown called on the Prime Minister to set up a commission on democracy which would review how the UK is governed

He writes: 'The commission will discover that the United Kingdom urgently needs a forum of the nations and regions that brings them and BorisJohnson together on a regular basis.

'No country can have national integration without political inclusion, and the commission might start by learning from the experience of countries like Australia, Canada, Germany and America where, partly because of British influence in times past, second chambers are senates of their regions, and minorities who can easily be outvoted are guaranteed a stronger voice.'

Britain risks becoming a 'failed state' unless it makes reforms to the union, former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned

A Cabinet spokesman said the public in Scotland want to see the UK's politicians 'working in partnership to focus on defeating coronavirus'.

'That remains the top priority of the UK Government, which has supported jobs and businesses across all four nations throughout the pandemic,' he added.

'The question of Scottish independence was settled decisively in 2014, when Scotland voted to remain part of the UK.

'Now more than ever, we should be pulling together to strengthen our United Kingdom, instead of trying to separate it'.

The Sunday Times poll found that in Northern Ireland, 47 per cent still want to remain in the UK, with 42 per cent in favour of a United Ireland and a significant proportion  11 per cent  undecided.

However, asked if they supported a referendum on a United Ireland within the next five years, 51 per cent said yes compared with 44 per cent who were against.

In Wales, where support for independence is traditionally weakest, 23 per cent still backed leaving the UK while 31 per cent supported a referendum.

The soaring prices of petrol and diesel are squeezing the common man across the nation, but the people in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh are shelling the most from their pockets for fuel.

On Monday, the Naxal-affected district recorded one of the highest prices of petrol anywhere in the country at Rs 95.66 per litre, while branded petrol sold at Rs 99.31 a litre. Prices in Rewa district of the state were just a touch higher at 95.78.

Diesel sold at Rs 85.77 per litre in this tribal dominated town on Monday. The region pays a higher price for fuel than the rest of the state because of an added transportation cost.

Prices of fuel in other parts of MP are also touching new highs. Petrol price had already hit a new high at Rs 93.58 a litre on Sunday and the rate remained unchanged on Monday. Diesel prices, which touched Rs 83.88 a litre on Sunday, dipped marginally to Rs 83.84 per litre in state capital Bhopal.

The Madhya Pradesh government levies 39 per cent VAT on petrol and diesel, and amid the soaring prices, demands have increased that the tax be reduced.

Ajay Singh, president of MP Petrol Pump Dealers Association, told News18 that the state government had hiked petrol prices by around Rs 5 in two instalments while the Centre has revised excise duty on several occasions. This has resulted in a Rs 13-14 per litre hike in petrol prices since the outbreak of Covid-19.

The association had also tweeted to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan urging him to rollback additional charges levied on fuel during Covid-19 to make up for the states revenue shortfall during the lockdown.

The Shivraj government recently had removed the cess levied on fuel due to Covid-19 outbreak, but added it to the VAT already in existence, which resulted in no relief to people.

Besides offering a shock to buyers, costly fuel has also led to a tough time for petrol pump dealers, especially those in areas adjoining nearby states where the fuel is much cheaper.

We live in vicinity of Maharashtra where the diesel is cheaper by around Rs four a litre so those buying fuel in bulk prefer going to Maharashtra, Monu Khandelwal, district president of Petrol Pump Dealers Association of Balaghat told News18 over phone.

We are incurring losses due to costly fuel and nearby states are selling it at cheaper rates, said Khandelwal.

Congress leader Bhupendra Gupta, who has started a Facebook page to channelise public anger on costly fuel, said India sells petrol to neighbouring nations, and those countries sell the fuel at much lower rates. He said petrol in Nepal is sold at around Rs 60 a litre, in Sri Lanka at Rs 63 per litre and in Pakistan at Rs 49 a litre (in Indian currency).

So what is our fault that we are forced to buy such costly fuel, questioned Gupta. He claimed that oil companies have made Rs 68,000 cr profits in last five months but are crying over alleged losses.

BJP hit back on Congress party on allegations over fuel hike. BJP state secretary Rajnish Agrawal said the state government hasnt levied anything on the fuel and prices are high due to existing taxation structure.

He lambasted Congress party for double standard on the issue saying when in opposition the grand old party cried foul over fuel price hike and promised Rs 5 and Rs 3 a litre price cut in petrol and diesel respectively in MP ahead of 2018 assembly polls but did not lower prices after it came to power.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The krewes of Drips and Discharges/Krewe of KAOS contacted Gambit to note the event will not accept items from the public, and the dumpster fire will be at an as yet undetermined date.

Parade watchers are not supposed to hurl throws theyve caught, or anything else, at krewe floats, except for a handful of riderless floats where that became a tradition. But a couple of Krewe du Vieux subkrewes have found a new twist on returning unwanted items in the satirical groups 2021 parade-alternative event, which begins Saturday, Jan. 30.

The subkrewes of Drips and Discharges and Krewe of K.A.O.S. are constructing a large effigy of Donald Trumps head which will be placed in a dumpster. Mementos or emblems of the horrors of the past year will be tossed in a dumpster. Afterward, the dumpster will be taken to an open field and torched, says Krewe du Vieux captain Sebastian Bogershausen. The fire also will be filmed and live-streamed.

Were trying to create this cathartic moment of finally getting rid of all the crap that happened to us in 2020  the president, the pandemic  and hope for better days to come, Bogershausen says.

Just having an event should be welcome news to Carnival fans. Krewe du Vieuxs plan is for subkrewes to stage their own satirical, artistic or socially conscious installations around the city. Most will be on display Saturday, when the parade would have rolled, and Sunday, Jan. 31. Some of the displays will stay up through Fat Tuesday, or as long as they last. There is a list of subkrewes and the locations of many of the installations in Le Monde de Merde, the krewes newspaper, which is available in print and online at kreweduvieux.org.

Were encouraging the public to nominate a designated driver and then safely and in a socially distanced way, in their pod, go around town and see the installations, have a drink and contribute at locations where that is possible, Bogershausen says.

The theme for 2021 is Krewe du Vieux has No Taste, a reference to a symptom of contracting COVID-19 and a nod to the groups often crass themes and floats. The Krewe of Mama Roux is providing scratch-and-sniff COVID tests at 1113 Decatur St., so anyone who smells something foul should take it as good news.

The Krewe of Comatose is running a sort of treasure hunt. Its members are adding to the citys array of little libraries, the birdhouse-like collections of free books many residents have posted in front of their homes. Krewe carpenters built 10 alternative libraries which each will have their own special collections. Anyone looking for Rouses Right Wing Recipes can find them on a block near the Rouses supermarket on Tchoupitoulas Street. The cookbook satirizes the news that Donald Rouse Sr., the co-owner of Rouses, and the companys former HR director, attended Trumps rally in Washington, D.C., prior to the deadly assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Other libraries focus on other topics, and each will have a list of all the libraries locations, says Comatose captain Lee Mullikin.

Many exhibits are not political. The Mystick Krewe of Inane is Staging a Coop at the parklet at the Phoenix Bar at 941 Elysian Fields Ave. Visitors to the giant chicken coop, which may have a live chicken or krewe members dressed as chickens, can get a plastic egg, which may have a note, or a surprise or confetti. The coop will be up while egg supplies last. The Krewe of SPANK is creating two Pants Down, Masks Up displays. There will be displays on the history of Carnival masking and an imagined future of masking. One is in Gentilly and one is across from Markeys Bar at 640 Louisa St. in Bywater. The Krewe of Space Age Love is building an Oral Vaccination Station. Seeds of Decline is taking over the balcony above the R Bar. The Krewe de C.R.A.P.S. is reworking its 2020 float and parking it at 171 Walnut St., and it will accept donations of canned foods for Second Harvest Food Bank.

Krewe du Vieux also is running a fundraiser to support the brass bands that would normally march in the parade. Its inviting krewe members and fans to donate to a fund being set up in conjunction with the Krewe of Red Beans, Boegershausen says. Theres a link on the Krewe du Vieux website, and funds are earmarked for its bands. Individual subkrewes also are raising funds for other Covid relief efforts, including the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Fund, formerly the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Various installations will be filmed, and a documentary about the activities will be screened at a live event later year in the year, Bogershausen says.

He also sees a positive message in the alternative events.

Its just not possible to do what we normally do, but thats not a reason to pack up your bags and go home, he says. There was plenty of material from the city and the country to be lampooned. Its smaller and not as bombastic, not as lewd and crude as other years, but itll still be something special.

First Amendment Rights Being Eroded by Technocrats: Director of Citizens for Free Speech

The increased censorship of peoples views expressed on social media by Big Tech companies has been part of an orchestrated attack on the First Amendment, Patrick Wood, director and founder of Citizens for Free Speech, told The Epoch Times.

Wood believes that there is an agenda behind the censorship. It would be almost statistically impossible to attack simultaneously all five elements of the First Amendment: freedom of religion, free speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, Wood said in an interview for Epoch Times Crossroads.

All five of those have been shattered to pieces in the last year and the attack had started actually before that probably five [or] six years ago, Wood said, adding, Free speech is hanging by a thread and the First Amendment is hanging by a thread.

Wood said that it was unprecedented that three Big Tech companies in one day took down competitor Parler under the pretext of violating their policies, calling it collusion.

Apple and Google removed the social media platform Parler from their app stores, saying that the app would be suspended until they could moderate egregious content. Soon after, Amazon Web Services took the site down due to alleged violations.

Parler was taken down by those companies after civil unrest and acts of violence marred a largely peaceful protest at the Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 6.

Free speech has been at the heart of all human and economic progress in the last 200-300 years, Wood said. When you curtail free speech it becomes regressive to society; in other words, youre going backwards when you start to censor it, he added.

Wood compared censoring speech on the Internet to electronic book burning. Every Marxist or fascist revolution takes over or squashes media first because they need to control communications before they proceed with the rest of the revolution, Wood explained.

The people in the technocratic core of Big Tech believe that they must silence any narrative which disagrees with their narrative, Wood said. And it is not limited to conservatives, he explained, providing the example of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., founder of the Board of Childrens Health Defense, who was also silenced for criticizing vaccine safety even though Kennedy is a liberal.

They dont want to hear an alternative narrative so they are squashing free speech in the process of shutting other people up from contradicting their own narrative, Wood said.

When attacks on First Amendment rights started about five years ago, similar policies had been openly advocated at the World Economic Forum (WEF) as part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Wood explained.

World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab during the WEFs annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 20, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres, Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the WEF, wrote on the organizations website.

Schwab also proposed the concept of the Great Reset to transform the world economy from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism which will harness the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to address health and social challenges.

But the Great Reset is warmed over technocracy from the 1930s, Wood said.

The campus of Columbia University in Manhattan in a file photograph. (Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times)

What is Technocracy?

Technocracy was a political-economic movement that started in the early 1930s at Columbia University in New York.

Engineers and scientists at that time believed capitalism was dead and that they and only they had some kind of a mandate to create a brand-new economic system that was a resource-based economic system that would control the entire economy, Wood said.

The concept of technocracy assumes that price cannot be used to control the abundance of goods because it decreases with the increase of abundance. Therefore a scientific method of balancing production and distribution must be used, according to a 1937 edition of The Technocrat magazine.

Technocracy will distribute by means of a certificate of distribution available to every citizen from birth to death, The Technocrat magazine states.

The movement failed when the economy recovered after the Great Depression, but it was revived in the early 1970s and it began to mature, Wood said, adding that what he called a global elite had embraced the idea that controlling the worlds resources would allow them to control the worlds economy.

Michael Rectenwald, a retired liberal arts professor at New York University, wrote for the Mises Institute that the planners of the Great Reset support driving ownership and control of the most important factors of production to those enrolled in stakeholder capitalism.

Stakeholders include the enterprises owners and shareholders, customers, suppliers, collaborators of any kind, as well as the government and society, including the communities in which the company operates or which may in any way be affected by it, according to a WEF report (pdf).

The productive activities of said stakeholders, meanwhile, would be guided by the directives of a coalition of governments under a unified mission and set of policies, in particular those expounded by the WEF itself, Rectenwald wrote.

While these corporate stakeholders would not necessarily be monopolies per se, the goal of the WEF is to vest as much control over production and distribution in these corporate stakeholders as possible, with the goal of eliminating producers whose products or processes are deemed either unnecessary or inimical to the globalists desiderata for a fairer, greener future. Naturally, this would involve constraints on production and consumption and likewise an expanded role for governments in order to enforce such constraints, Rectenwald wrote.

Former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski speaks at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Oslo on Dec. 11, 2016. (Terje Bendiksby/AFP via Getty Images)

The technocracy idea was introduced to communist China in the 1970s by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the political scientist, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission, and the national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, Wood said.

That caused a blending of the Chinese Communist Party and communism in general with this technocratic system of social management, of total management of the economy and the people, Wood explained.

If you look deeper you see that theres a group of people, a core of engineers and scientists, that are working to use high technology to capture the entire society, all of the people in it, and to control and engineer the economic system.
Many individuals across the country have tried to improve sanitation facilities in India. One such citizen is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM), Shraddha Joshi. In association with Centre for Water and Sanitation (C-WAS), CEPT University, Ahmedabad, her organisation initiated a project in order to provide sanitation and good hygiene. The project in Maharashtras Jalna introduced affordable sanitation credit for members of the self-help groups (SHG). The organisation proved that with its help, the access to sanitation can improve.

MAVIMs Community Management Resource Centre (CMRC) used sanitation credit in the city of Jalna. The organisation led by Shraddha plans to implement their pilot project in other cities of the state as well. For the implementation of this project, a five-step approach was taken. First, the group conducted a primary research to identify the borrowers in the groups. The second step was to generate demand. This was done by conducting workshops and training programs that helped people recognise the demand for toilets. Thirdly, CMRC helped borrowers get loans for toilet construction from banks.

The borrowers were also given technical support for the construction of toilets. Lastly, CMRC monitored the completion of toilets and repayment of loans.

MAVIM, along with ICICI bank, monitored a database of all the members of the SHGs who had applied for a loan at the bank. They jointly used this database to track repayments done by the members.

Through this project, Shraddhas MAVIM provided 207 toilet loans to borrowers till October 2018. The construction of toilets with the help of sanitation credit helped in tackling the problem of open defecation and manual scavenging in the city of Jalna. With the help of 54 CMRCs in Maharashtrian cities, MAVIM hopes to scale up the project.

But this is not the only project which Shraddha has undertaken that aims to make the country cleaner. In August 2018, her organisation planned to tackle water pollution by using flowers offered at religious places to create incense sticks and perfumes.

Mostly flowers offered at religious places are discarded in water bodies which cause pollution. Using self-help groups, the project planned to collaborate with any technical agency to train women in these SHGs in manufacturing perfumes and incense sticks.

Be a part of the Harpic  News18 Mission Paani campaign, take the Pledge to Save Water and catch all updates to the Waterthon here.
PM Modi interacts with children awarded Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lauded the contribution of children in raising awareness about handwashing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and said that a programme tastes success if they become part of it.

In an interaction with the 'Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar' awardees via video conferencing, Modi praised the winners and said they should never stop working and stay humble all the time. He also asked them to work for the country, urging them to think of what they can do as the nation approaches the 75th year of its Independence.

The prime minister also asked them to read biographies and said it will keep inspiring them. Speaking to a boy who made farming equipment, Modi said modern agriculture is the need of the country. Children also played a big role in spreading awareness about sanitation as part of the 'Swachh Bharat' programme, he noted.

Modi the person through which Balakot information went to Arnab: Rahul Gandhi

The prime minister said that this year's awards are special as the recipient earned them in the difficult times of Corona. During the interaction, Modi acknowledged the role of children in major behaviour-change campaigns like the swachata movement. He said when children got involved in campaigns like the one on handwash during Corona time, the campaigns caught the imagination of people and achieved success. He also noted the diversity in the fields in which awards have been given this year.

Prime Minister Modi observed that when a small idea is supported by the right action, results are impressive. He asked the children to believe in action as this interplay of ideas and action will trigger many actions inspiring people for greater things. The prime minister advised the children not to rest on their laurels and said they should continue to strive for better results in their lives. Modi asked the children to take note of three pledges.

"First, pledge of consistency. There should not be any slackening of speed of the action. Second, pledge for the country. If we work for the country and treat every work in terms of the country then that work will become greater than the self. Third, the pledge of humility. Every success should spur us to be more polite as our humility will enable others to celebrate our success with us, " he said.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

The government has been conferring the Bal Shakti Puraskar under the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar to the children with exceptional abilities and outstanding achievement in the fields of innovation, scholastic achievements, sports, arts and culture, social service and bravery. A total of 32 applicants from across the country under different categories of Bal Shakti Puraskar have been selected for PMRBP-2021.

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The government has conveyed to all officers, who have been invited to attend the ceremony at Rajpath, to compulsorily attend the event and warned that a serious view would be taken against those who fail to do so.

In a communication to all secretary rank officers of the central government, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba said due to the coronavirus pandemic, the seating capacity at the official function at Rajpath has been decreased to just 25 per cent of the original capacity.

In his letter, Gauba said the ceremony at Rajpath is an important function held every year on January 26 and considering the importance of the ceremony, it is expected that all the officers, who are invited, attend the event.

"In view of social distancing requirements imposed due to COVID-19, the seating capacity this year has been decreased to 25 per cent of the original capacity. It is all the more important, therefore, that the officers who are invited attend the ceremony as part of their duty.

"You may suitably advise all officers of your ministry/ department, who are invited to the ceremony at Rajpath, to attend the function. You may also like to caution them that a serious view would be taken of their absence on this occasion," the letter said.

President Ram Nath Kovind will take the salutes from the armed forces, police, paramilitary forces and others at the Republic day function.

The armed forces will display various tanks, missiles and other equipment which will be followed by a vibrant parade comprising tableaux from different states and cultural dances.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his ministerial colleagues, MPs and other dignitaries will attend the event.

There will be no chief guest in this year's function as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was invited to attend it, had cancelled his visit due to the growing health crisis in the UK.

(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.)
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Europe beat its previous annual high of $41.9 billion in VC investment (2019), attracting $49 billion in VC investment in 2020, said a study.

According to the KPMG Private Enterprise Venture Pulse report, Europe also saw a second straight quarter of record VC investment, with $14.3 billion raised across 1,192 deals, compared to $13.8 billion across 1,473 deals in Q3'20.

France-based agtech Ynsect attracted the second-largest deal this quarter in Europe ($372 million), just after LumiraDx's $389 million funding.

VC investment in the UK surged to a record $5 billion during Q4'20, significantly higher than the previous record of $3.9 billion seen in both Q4'17 and Q3'19.

The UK accounted for more than half of Europe's largest deals in Q4'20, including LumiraDx ($389 million), Molo ($343 million), Cazoo ($310 million), and OneTrust ($300 million).

The UK ($15.3 billion), Germany ($7.1 billion), France ($6.3 billion), the Nordic regions ($5.7 billion), and Israel ($5 billion) all saw record amounts of annual VC funding in 2020.

"We all know that COVID-19 has been an incredible challenge this year in every region of the world. But with great challenge often comes great opportunity - and the tech sector has certainly seen that this year," says Kevin Smith Co-Leader, KPMG Private Enterprise Emerging Giants Network, KPMG International.

"The acceleration in digitization and changes in consumer behavior ......................

To view our full article Click here
Various Alphabet unions have joined forces and created a global alliance called Alpha Global. It was created with some help from UNI Global, a federation of unions that represents 20 million workers from a variety of fields including the technology industry. According to The Verge, 13 different unions are part of Alpha Global, spanning 10 different countries including the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.

In a statement published by UNI Global, the alliance said it would demand fundamental human rights for all workers in Alphabet operations and generally hold the company, which owns Google and various other bets including DeepMind, Waymo, Verily, Sidewalk Labs and Wing, accountable.

The problems at Alphabetand created by Alphabetare not limited to any one country, and must be addressed on a global level, said Christy Hoffman, UNIs General Secretary. The movement launched by tech workers at Google and beyond is inspiring. They are using their collective muscle to not only transform their conditions of employment but also to address social issues caused by increasing concentration of corporate power.

The announcement follows the creation of Alphabet Workers Union, a group affiliated with the Communications Workers of America.

The newly-formed Alpha Global alliance will work together to increase pressure on Alphabet management. The group has promised to build a common strategy, for instance, create collective goals and support individual unions demands. It will speak as one to pressure other entities  governments, investors, stakeholders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)  who can ensure Alphabet is maintaining and consistently implementing workers rights. The alliance will also encourage other trade unions to come into the fold, thereby increasing its size and bargaining power.

Alphabet has long lost its commitment of Dont be evil, but we havent, the statement published by UNI Global reads. Together, we will hold Alphabet accountable. Together, we will change Alphabet.

According to The Verge, the alliance wants to tackle a bevy of issues including the treatment of content moderators and usage of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs).

Google has been accused of firing employees for their role in union organizing. The company said the workers were let go, however, over clear and repeated violations of data security policies. Before that, an employee claimed she was unfairly treated after organizing a mass walkout that protested how Google had handled sexual harassment cases. In recent months, the company has also been criticized for the departure of AI researcher Dr. Timnit Gebru.
The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said on Monday that it would fine Grindr, the worlds most popular gay dating app, 100 million Norwegian kroner, or about $11.7 million, for illegally disclosing private details about its users to advertising companies.

The agency said the app had transmitted users precise locations, user-tracking codes and the apps name to at least five advertising companies, essentially tagging individuals as L.G.B.T.Q. without obtaining their explicit consent, in violation of European data protection law. Grindr shared users private details with, among other companies, MoPub, Twitters mobile advertising platform, which may in turn share data with more than 100 partners, according to the agencys ruling.

Tobias Judin, head of the Norwegian Data Protection Authoritys international department, said Grindrs data-mining practices not only violated European privacy rights but also could have put users at serious risk in countries, like Qatar and Pakistan, where consensual same-sex sexual acts are illegal.

Image Tobias Judin leads the Norwegian Data Protection Authoritys international department. Credit... Ilja Hendel

If someone finds out that they are gay and knows their movements, they may be harmed, Mr. Judin said. Were trying to make these apps and services understand that this approach  not informing users, not gaining a valid consent to share their data  is completely unacceptable.
Ford Motors German subsidiary, headquartered in Cologne, has announced 800 new job cuts.

Last week the IG Metall trade union announced 600 job losses. On January 18, the management of GFT (Getrag-Ford Transmissions GmbH), a joint venture between Ford and supplier company Magna, informed the Cologne workforce that 200 jobs would be eliminated.

While the IG Metall union is not disclosing where the 600 jobs at Ford will be cut, the 200 jobs at GFT result from the closure of Fords transmission development centre, which employs a total of 400 people. This means 200 workers will lose their jobs, 100 are to transfer to new jobs in the Ford group, and the remaining 100 will be shunted off to a so-called transfer company, their ultimate fate unknown.

Assembly line at Ford Dearborn Truck. Credit: Ford Motor Company

On Wednesday, the 400 workers at the transmission development centre protested the planned closure by remaining in their cars in the company parking lot and honking their horns during a plant meeting.

Ford and the Canadian-Austrian auto supplier Magna had already decided at the end of August last year to end their cooperation with GFT. Shortly before Christmas the GFT management announced a holiday surprise when it informed its venerable employees that they had to prepare for drastic cuts.

The two corporations are splitting up GFT. Magna will get the transmission plant in Bordeaux, France, which will continue to make transmissions for the Ford Fiesta. Ford will keep its factory in Cologne, which produces light commercial vehicle transmissions, and its plant in Halewood, UK, which produces transmissions for some Kuga and Focus models, among others. The development centre will be wound up by the works council and management. Both bodies are determining who will move to the main plant in Cologne, who will join the transfer company and which workers will be made redundant.

As usual, the central role in the job cuts is played by IG Metall and its affiliated Cologne Works Council, chaired by Martin Hennig.

In March 2019, Ford announced plans to cut 25,000 jobs worldwide, including 12,000 in Europe and more than 5,000 in Germany. Plants have been or will be closed in Brazil, France and Wales, along with up to four production sites in Russia.

The job cuts have been implemented in every country by the trade unions and their company representatives, and in Germany and Europe by Hennig, who is also chairman of the European Works Council, together with his fellow union colleagues.

Shortly before Christmas, Hennig gave an interview to the German Press Agency (dpa) in which he summed up with satisfaction the job cuts he had already implemented. By the end of the year, the workforce in Germany will have been reduced by 4,900 to just under 20,000 compared to the beginning of 2019, Hennig reported. The job cuts are painful, but in view of the overall situation, we have managed this reasonably.

Just over 15,000 workers remain in Cologne, and 4,500 in Saarlouis, plus around 200 at the Ford development centre in Aachen. Hennig proudly explained that a total of 5,400 jobs were to be cut, 500 more than had been implemented by the end of last year.

Despite the difficult situation, Hennig claimed in his interview that the job cuts at Ford Germany were now over. There will be no more major cuts for now. This statement was a deliberate lie and served solely to pacify staff. The half-life of this lie was just three weeks!

The grandiose declaration that cutbacks at Ford had been reduced was also a lie. Instead, Hennig and the works council ensured that these cutbacks would take place in affiliated supply companies.

Employees whose jobs had been eliminated, Hennig said, had been retrained and are now working in areas where outside contractors were previously used. For example, Ford employees would now take over the final assembly of doors. In the style of a purchasing manager, Hennig explained, The cost calculation showed this is more favourable for the company. Sometimes outsourcing does not pay off, top management has also recognized that.

What Hennig did not tell dpa was that bringing previously outsourced jobs back to the Ford plant (insourcing) merely shifts job destruction to suppliers and plays off one part of Fords workforce against another.

When Magna and Ford announced the dissolution of their GFT joint venture late last summer, Hennig claimed, For the workforce, this is a slap in the face. The plans came as a complete surprise, he said. We will fight tooth and nail to make sure no jobs are lost.

The same spectacle was repeated only a short time later in October of last year. IG Metall reported that Ford had terminated its contract with Faurecia Interior Systems effective April 15, 2021. The union declared that a production cutback was planned at Ford in Cologne from January, which would result in surplus personnel at Ford. The union claimed these workers could be employed in the companys own door production, while Faurecia workers, who had formerly assembled the doors in the immediate vicinity of the Ford plant, will lose their jobs.

Three months ago Kerstin Klein, deputy representative and manager of IG Metall for Cologne-Leverkusen, demanded that job cuts be cushioned by transfers to vacant jobs and training programs at Ford. Employees affected by job losses must have access to existing retraining and education programs as well as the job exchange scheme at Ford plants.

Once again, Cologne-based IG Metall claimed that both cuts in production and the insourcing of door manufacturing had not been discussed with Ford and Faurecia works councils.

Who can believe this? Such plans are discussed in all of the economic and personnel committees of the works councils, but not, workers are to believe, this time at Ford in Cologne?

IG Metall and its works councils have been implementing cutbacks for years. The unions most favoured method is to divide workers between those employed in different factories all over the world, between the employees of the Ford factories in Cologne and Saarlouis, between workers at Ford and those working for suppliers, and even inside one production facility, between those working in administration and those in production.

For example, union representatives at Ford in Cologne are spreading the rumour that the 600 jobs to be cut were to be eliminated in administration, but that the workers there were not prepared to quit. The ones who will suffer ultimately are then production workers, whose jobs will allegedly be lost due to economic necessity.

As if the planned job cuts in administration could not be carried out because no one was willing to volunteer to quit!

The unions policy of slash and burn will also be used this spring when Ford management announces where the companys first electric auto is to be built in Europe. Two plants are competing for the contract, the factories in Cologne and Craiova, Romania.

It is safe to assume that Hennig is already trying to convince management in secret talks to build the e-model in Cologne. Possibly the elimination of another 600 jobs is already part of such a deal. Even now, Hennig has indicated that, despite the most recent cuts, there would be no let-up in downsizing.

The potential for related job creation was limited, Hennig told dpa. After all, the platform, the substructure including the e-motor and battery, stems from Volkswagen with Ford responsible only for final assembly. The value added would be significantly lower than if we produced our own auto with a combustion engine.

The works council under Hennig is doing everything in its power to maintain Fords future profitability. This is evident not only in the job cuts that have now been taking place for two years, but also in its attitude toward dealing with the Corona pandemic.

Immediately after the first outbreak of the virus in Germany last year, it spread quickly among Ford workers, although the workforce does not receive exact figures on colleagues who have been infected and those who have died. Workers told WSWS that a company driver who delivers material and components for the assembly line died after contracting Covid-19 last year. The worker was due to retire shortly prior to his death.

To defend their lives, health and jobs, Ford workers must organise independently of the union and unite internationally. They must build independent action committees and establish contact with workers throughout the auto industry and other sections of workers.

Auto production does not count as an essential industry and must be suspended until the spread of the coronavirus is stopped, with workers paid in full until they can return to their jobs. The World Socialist Web Site and its Autoworker Newsletter are calling on all those who want to join in this principled struggle against the spread of the coronavirus, layoffs and plant closures to get in touch.

Ben Caspit speaks this week with former Israeli Consul General in New York Dani Dayan. The veteran leader of West Bank settlers describes former President Donald Trump as a "diplomatic miracle" for the state of Israel, saying that the diplomatic dividends in his term were beyond Israels wildest imagination. On the other hand, Ambassador Dayan admits that Trump was a "car wreck" for American democracy, and says President Joe Bidens term presents an opportunity for Israel to expand the scope of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Don't believe your lyin' eyes, and certainly do not believe the scores of fellow citizens who, under oath, signed affidavits and testified about the fraud those lying eyes witnessed.

Put this behind you. Move on. Just forget it.

But you can't.

You probably want to, particularly as your spouse complains about how tense you seem these days.

Fraud is an ugly thing, even when it happens to someone else. When it happens to you, or at least to the guy you were voting for, even if you did not like his tweets, it is a bit more personal.

Children are born with a fear of loud noises. It is one of their only innate fears. They do not fear hot stoves; they do not fear loaded pistols; they do not fear that pot of boiling water. They learn about those dangers soon enough.

Children are also born with a sense of justice. It is inherent, innate, in there somewhere. Everyone, or about everyone, has it. Angry voices make them cry. Witnessing someone harming an animal is horrible to them. It should remain so. Something immediately angers a child when someone cuts in line.

That innate sense of justice, right and wrong, is why you remain tense and your spouse tells you so. It is why you just cannot get over it.

There's another reason. It is uglier.

When someone doles out a clear injustice, like stealing your stuff, breaking into your car, there is some finality. You get the window fixed. You get the stuff back or not. It ends.

This 2020 election fraud thing is a bit different.

Sure, it runs against that innate sense of justice. You still believe what you saw on Election Night with swing states  only swing states  stopping ballot-counting as Trump was surging.

There's that Atlanta video with the ballots under the desk, everyone sent home with a water main break proven to be fake.

There are those math geeks who show the possibility of event combinations that favored Biden happening were one in a bazillion. Just too many zeroes to comprehend, but you know it is way worse odds than you winning the lottery three times in a row.

You cannot unsee that Joe Biden was in mental decay that had it been Trump, the press would have been demanding cognitive tests daily.

What's really different about the 2020 election fraud is that it has such profound ramifications. It is not ending  the fraud is initiating the destruction of your worldview: of your faith and patriotism. It doesn't have an endpoint.

The country as you know it is about to change in ways unimaginable to you a year ago. This was not just an election; it was a change of course that may make your country unrecognizable in four years. And you know it was stolen.

Well then prove it!

Frustration is overwhelming, because you cannot prove a thing. You cannot prove what you saw, you cannot prove what you know, because the institutions with the video hide it. The institutions with the voting data change their websites so data are no longer visible, and nobody does a thing about it.

The FBI won't investigate because they are still hiding what they did to undermine the 2016 election!

Well, perhaps everything needed to prove 2020 election fraud is at hand.

OK, let's go there.

What is the proof? Aha, thought you got me there!

Signed affidavits, from a hundred people who witnessed fraud, in a binder may be evidence, but it is not proof.

Proof means people believe it, they get it, they know it in their heart.

Rudy and his Excellent Adventure Team brought up all sorts of evidence but never were able to establish proof. It was not their fault. They had evidence of all kinds, too many kinds, and so everyone heard some part of it, remembered less, and knew there was something askew, but it was...complicated.

Proof is a rhetorical phenomenon. That means it is something that persuades people that stuff happened. Let's dig in.

Remember the paragraph about innate justice when a kid cuts in line. The important part is that the child experienced it. Experience is a key to persuasion.

Here's a story.

In December, my team was contacted by some data geeks with official election data from one of the swing states. It was a set of about 4 million records, mail-in and absentee ballots with all the supporting data. They asked if we could do anything with it.

We are not election guys, and we have day jobs doing pretty cutting-edge stuff in technology, but we do love to play with data. The bigger, the more complicated, the better.

We built a spreadsheet with about 4 million rows, one for each of the ballots. We saw a video some teenager did counting how many ballots were received before they were mailed out. That's not a typo.

The U.S. Postal Service, which still finds letters from World War II in its system and piles of mail under bridges, delivered the ballots back to the state officials before they were mailed. As tech guys, we did think this might be a new, disruptive technology, and we are still trying to recreate it.

So we ran the test on the data we were given.

Guess what! About 30,000  more, I recall  ballots were received before they were sent. A bunch more, in the thousands, were sent and received the same day. You get the picture.

O.K., big deal. We took an analysis some kid performed, and we did it, too, but with the most cutting-edge software out there, one that could create a 4-million-row spreadsheet that responded in less than a second.

Right. Our analysis was not the eureka moment.

The eureka moment was when we created the SIMPLE BUTTON. We created a button that said "ballots received before being mailed." It is just a button on the screen!

Some of our team, who may not even vote and certainly do not care a bit about election fraud, were amazed at how much fraud they experienced  by seeing it in live data. They touched the hot stove!

So we built a couple of more queries. Ballots sent and received in 24 hours, 48 hours!

The effect was the same to everyone we let hit the SIMPLE BUTTON  everyone was blown away.

Now comes the fun part.

There are a lot of publicly available data out there, and there are many, too many for us to track down, excellent analyses of those data. It is evidence but not proof.

We are reaching out to our contacts for anyone who has those data  or any publicly available data of absentee and mail-in ballots. Remember, some data were publicly available a few days after the election but now are behind a wall.

More data will become available as lawsuits proceed. We want it.

It might be hard to check machine source code or run ballots through optical scanners to see if they were printed in Iran, but election data will eventually just come out. They are, after all, public information.

We think there are tons of fun queries to build.

How's "people who voted and do not live in the state," or "people who voted and are dead"? Maybe "people who voted more than once"? And the real clincher: "people who voted and live in a vacant lot"? Using Google maps, we even show a photo of the empty lot, which is really cool. Who knows? You may be someone who says he lives at that address.

Running a SIMPLE BUTTON query does not generate a dead report. You actually see the data move around, and, bam, you get a spreadsheet  4 million rows! Scroll down. You see every instance. You scroll to the bottom, and there's the total  and a lot of the columns are enough to change an election outcome.

Experience turns evidence into proof.

We do not need Amazon or Google, and we are not losing any sleep about being deplatformed. We are just fun data guys, with a lot of fraud investigation experience, doing entertaining data analysis. After all, if there was no election fraud, there should be nothing to see.

If people can log onto a website, even those who want to question the data; hit a button to see not only how many dead people voted, but their names; see that vacant lot where 135 people claim to live, or the people who voted in multiple states  well, that is the way to relieve that frustration you feel.

So if you have data  public election data, non-confidential stuff  we are most happy to add it to the mix.

When we have enough of these queries built, we will bring up the system that we will call "Fun With 2020 Election Fraud" or something like that and let the world play with it. Experience the fraud that did not happen.

After all, who has anything to hide? Nothing to see here, right?

Jay Valentine's website is www.JayValentine.com.

Jay's email is jay@ContingencySales.com.

Image: tom.arthur via Flickr, CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Bhatti pointed out that turmeric is grown every year over thousands of acres in Telangana state but farmers are not getting an appropriate price for their hard work. (Photo:By arrangement)

HYDERABAD: Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu has demanded that the Central and state governments buy turmeric from farmers at minimum support price (MSP) and take immediate action for setting up the Turmeric Board in Nizamabad.

In a statement on Sunday, the CLP leader accused both BJP at the Centre and the TRS in the state blaming each other when it comes to farmers issues and providing them MSP. He asked the two governments to immediately focus on the plight of farmers and support them by providing MSP.

Bhatti pointed out that turmeric is grown every year over thousands of acres in Telangana state but farmers are not getting an appropriate price for their hard work.

He said that this year too, farmers cultivated turmeric on 40,624 acres in Nizamabad, 26,165 acres in Nirmal, 34,078 acres in Jagtial, 16,739 acres in Warangal Rural, 1,766 acres in Bhupalpally, 10,234 acres in Mahbubabad, 4,200 acres in Vikarabad, 1,491 acres in Peddapalli, 1,388 acres in Sangareddy, 1,091 acres in Warangal Urban, 363 acres in Adilabad, 191 acres in Kamareddy, 140 acres in Mancherial, 77 acres in Khammam, 50 acres in Jangaon, 25 acres in Ranga Reddy, eight acres in Suryapet, and two acres each in Medak and Siddipet districts, totalling to 1,39,698 acres.

The CLP leader said farmers are facing trouble as they are unable to sell their harvest for a reasonable price, as there is no MSP. Farmers were getting Rs 15,000 per quintal eight years ago. But now, the crop is not even selling for Rs 5,000 or Rs 4,000 per quintal. Farmers are facing huge losses, as a result, he pointed out.

Bhatti said instead of resolving the issue, the BJP-led government at the Centre and TRS government at the state are blaming each other about not taking care of farmers interests. BJP leaders are saying that the centre will take action if the state government gives a letter mentioning the price, while the state government and TRS leaders say the centre must decide on the support price.

The CLP leader demanded that the state government buy the turmeric crop till the issue is resolved between the central and state government, so that the farmers could find some relief.
Russias coronavirus case tally rose by 21,127 in the past day reaching 3,719,400, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Sunday, TASS reports.

According to the crisis center, over the past six days less than 22,000 new cases were registered. The average growth rate reached 0.57%.

The lowest growth rates in the past day were registered in the Tuva Republic (0.1%), the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, Moscow, the Altai Republic and the Magadan Region (0.3%).

Moscow confirmed 3,069 new COVID-19 cases in the past day. Some 2,929 coronavirus cases were recorded in St. Petersburg, 1,134 in the Moscow Region, 489 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 392 in the Sverdlovsk Region and 391 in the Voronezh Region.
Dustin Poirier has been called out by Nate Diaz after his UFC 257 victory over Conor McGregor.

Poirier stunned McGregor to take the biggest win of his career, after unleashing a flurry of punches to seal a technical knockout victory two minutes and 32 seconds into round two of their rematch.

Diaz has previously said he wanted to fight the winner of the clash, and has hit out at both men after their fight in Abu Dhabi.

Nate Diaz has called out Dustin Poirier after the latter's momentous win over Conor McGregor

Poirier got revenge for a 2014 defeat to McGregor with a second round TKO victory

Diaz who holds a 1-1 record against McGregor was unimpressed by the Irishman's performance

He confirmed his intentions to fight Poirier posting a mocked up image of the two staring off against each other with the caption: 'Im training to whoop ur ass next. Be about it dont talk about it.'

Diaz also had time to rip into his former rival McGregor for his first ever KO loss at the hands of Poirier.

The 35-year-old tweeted: 'These guys all get finished all the time.'

Diaz has a history with McGregor, and stunned the world himself to seal a submission victory over 'The Notorious' at UFC 196 in 2016.

McGregor however would get his revenge later that year, beating Diaz by majority decision at UFC 202.

After a two-year long layoff, it was expected that Diaz would face Poirier in November 2018, before the latter was forced to pull out due to injury and the bout was cancelled.

Before Saturday's fight, McGregor had been out of action since a convincing victory against Donald Cerrone one year ago.

Diaz himself has also been out of action for a considerable amount of time.

The last time he fought was in a November 2019 loss to Jorge Masvidal, when the doctor was forced to stop the match due to a cut over Diaz's eye.

Poirier, who enacted revenge on McGregor for a 2014 defeat, talked about his future options after the fight against the Irishman.

Diaz hopes to face Poirier after the two had a scheduled match cancelled back in 2018

'A rematch with Conor interests me,' Poirier said. 'Always wanted to hip Nate Diaz's a**. That interests me. I'm sure something will make sense. But just now, I don't know.

'Me and Conor are 1-1. Nate Diaz got away and likes to talk a lot of s*** online.'

'I can guarantee I'm not fighting Michael Chandler. They can do whatever they want with the division.'

Chandler knocked-out Dan Hooker in the first round of their fight in UFC 257 - the bout which took place before the main event between Poirier and McGregor.
Out of two dozen requests for sentence reductions from inmates concerned about their health amid the pandemic, federal judges in Colorado approved only three in the final four months of 2020.

Known as compassionate release, a 2018 change in the law allows federal inmates to petition a court directly if there are extraordinary and compelling reasons to leave prison, which could mean an elevated threat to an inmate's life from COVID-19. However, an inmates susceptibility is not the only factor, and different judges may apply the criteria differently.

The problem, as with many cases in law, is the interpretation, said Jackie Fielding, a fellow and counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. While some judges may interpret a COVID-19 risk factor like obesity or smoking to weigh heavily in the inmates favor, others are saying that unless you can prove that theres been enough transmission within your facility specifically, its not extraordinary and compelling enough.

The American Bar Association in December advised that courts were looking at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's identified risk factors in addition to pre-pandemic legal requirements, directing lawyers to "use their creativity in developing arguments for compassionate release."

Colorado Politics reviewed 24 opinions that judges in the U.S. District Court in Colorado published from September through December in response to compassionate release requests. Judges also reviewed other types of release requests related to inmates fears of COVID-19, including a temporary release from custody pending sentencing, pretrial release to a halfway house and release from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detention for an asylum applicant who contracted the novel coronavirus.

In many cases, judges analyzed inmates circumstances in great detail.

On Dec. 26, Judge William J. Martinez rejected an application for compassionate release in what he admitted was a very close call. The inmate had received a sentence of 40 years for bank robbery and had served nearly 17 years at the time of his request. The man, 56, had an exemplary record while incarcerated, a minimum risk of recidivism and medical conditions that included coronary artery disease, hypertension, chronic lung disease and a past heart attack.

"I have earned 40 college credit hours with a 4.0 GPA from Pueblo Community College and certificates in both renewable energy and business management," the man explained in his handwritten compassionate release motion, adding: "May I be granted just one second chance?"

Nevertheless, the inmates crimes were among the most serious and violent crimes that the undersigned has encountered, Martinez ruled. In three years, once the inmate had served at least half of his sentence, a request for compassionate release would enjoy greater equities in its favor.

Beyond finding that an inmates health condition or the level of prison transmission was not severe, judges commonly denied requests to those who were not 65 or older, had not served 75% of their sentence or whose family circumstances did not merit release.

The U.S. Sentencing Commissions 2018 guidelines list those factors, plus other reasons as determined by the director of the Bureau of Prisons as extraordinary and compelling circumstances.

However, in her two opinions denying compassionate release, Senior Judge Marcia S. Krieger found inmates may be safer from COVID-19 in prison than outside of it.

 Release from custody would not ensure that he would not contract COVID-19, Krieger wrote in the case of a man whose health problems weighed in favor of release, but who also had a lengthy and violent criminal history. Indeed, his release into the community  to socialize, to work, to shop, etc.  could increase, rather than decrease his risk of contracting the disease.

In some ways, an argument could be made, she concluded, that continued incarceration serves to protect him against COVID-19.

Some inmates who applied for sentence reductions resided in facilities with relatively successful containment of the virus. The Federal Defenders of New York noted a rate of 86 COVID-19 infections per 1,000 inmates within the federal Bureau of Prisons, an incidence nearly five times higher than the U.S. as a whole.

As of January 14, the bureau reported 190 federal inmate deaths from the disease, with 38,535 prisoners having recovered, out of a population of 123,052 in bureau-managed facilities.

Virginia L. Grady, the federal public defender for Colorado and Wyoming, declined to comment on compassionate release.

I think we need to acknowledge at a certain point what is more important: Preserving peoples lives and allowing them to return to their communities because they havent finished their punishment, said Fielding, with NYUs Brennan Center, or if you want to stand so firmly on these retributive principles that you're willing to endanger somebodys life because you dont want to relax their punishment.

A previous Colorado Politics analysis covering the period from March through August found that five out of 42 court opinions, 12%, resulted in a successful compassionate release. Two judges, Martinez and Christine M. Arguello, issued half of the opinions and did not grant a single sentence reduction.

In two of the three compassionate releases that Colorados federal judges approved in the last four months of 2020, two of them fit under the category of death or incapacitation of the caregiver of the defendants minor child or minor children, in the words of the U.S. Sentencing Commissions handbook.

On Nov. 6, Judge R. Brooke Jackson cleared a woman for release who was serving a 30-month sentence for mail fraud. She gave birth in prison, and the responsibility was on the grandmother to care for the child. However, the grandmothers job and health issues created additional burdens.

Noting that the woman had served 85% of her sentence, Jackson determined the childs need to be with its mother qualified as an extraordinary and compelling circumstance.

The court hopes that being reunited with the baby she has hardly seen and the knowledge that any new conviction is likely to take her away from the child for an extensive period will be enough, he wrote, to develop respect for the law and the rights of others."

In December, Martinez granted a sentence reduction to an inmate serving time on drug, identity theft and money laundering charges. However, the applicant had only served 28 months of his 66-month sentence  significantly less than the 75% threshold in the sentencing guidelines. Furthermore, the 66-month sentence was already less time than recommended for his offenses.

Nevertheless, Martinezs decision centered almost entirely around the mans ex-wife, who had from cancer and was the only caregiver besides himself for their children. The inmates crimes did not involve violence and, while incarcerated, he comported himself well.

This case presents extraordinary extenuating circumstances, and given the fairly unique facts of this case, justice more than amply supports the courts decision to exercise its discretion, Martinez concluded.

The final grant of compassionate release also came from Jackson, who, in effect, waived the six-month sentence that an inmate would have served for a firearm offense in Colorado. The man, who was in poor health and at elevated risk of contracting COVID-19, was 70% of the way through a 126-month sentence for crimes in Virginia. He was to serve the brief Colorado sentence afterward, until Jacksons order.

The Marshall Project, a news organization focused on the criminal justice system, released findings in October that between March and May, 10,940 federal prisoners applied for compassionate release. Such requests must first go to wardens, who have 30 days to respond. If they do not, prisoners may petition the courts directly  although several judges in Colorado pointed out where inmates failed to pursue the administrative route correctly before filing their motions.

Of those requests, 156 were approved. Including judicial grants of compassionate release, the number amounts to more than 1,600.

The Bureau of Prisons reports more than 2,600 compassionate releases in total since the enactment of the 2018 legislation that provided the judicial workaround for inmate requests. While compassionate release existed prior to 2018, the bureau only approved 6% of applications between 2013 and 2017, and 250 people died awaiting a decision.

In a recent report providing policy recommendations for the Biden administration, the Brennan Center suggested the Bureau of Prisons proactively identify vulnerable inmates for release. The CARES Act, and a subsequent memo from then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr, granted greater flexibility to the bureau in moving inmates into home confinement, using factors similar to those judges apply in compassionate release cases. The Marshall Project reported in October that less than 5% of the prison population benefited from the change.

Cynthia Orr, a lawyer in San Antonio and the past chairwoman of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section, believed that inmates know about their options, but may not understand how to properly pursue release.

"People eventually will be released," she said. "I think we're recognizing that our wisdom in 'we just need to lock up the bad people and throw away the key' does not fly at all."

Orr, who successfully obtained a compassionate release for an 80-year-old inmate in Mississippi through the Bureau of Prisons, also favors re-instating federal parole, which the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 abolished. She worries that people with money who can hire an attorney may disproportionately benefit from the program, as is the case generally in the justice system.

"I just think this ad hoc system we have now," Orr added, "that's not a fair process."
Mariel Hufnagel said she asked for a recount after losing her bid for Eatontown Borough Council by just 10 votes in November not because she suspected foul play.

Rather, the Democratic challenger said it was because the margin was simply too thin to risk letting what could have been a few chance counting errors defy the will of the people, particularly in an unprecedented election conducted almost entirely via mail-in balloting in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

As it turned out, the recount only confirmed Hufnagels defeat. But she accepted the results, after the accuracy of the initial machine tally of the races 6,500 mailed-in paper ballots was largely borne out by a recounting of the ballots by hand. And although she was disappointed, her faith in the electoral process was unshaken.

I believe that our democracy has checks and balances in place, such as a recount, exactly for situations like this, Hufnagel wrote in an email. I am sure if the situation was flipped, the Republicans would do the same.

More than 6.2 million paper ballots were sent to registered voters for Nov. 3 races ranging from school board to president, and 4.4 million were returned and counted.

But despite the extraordinary nature of the mail-in balloting, the Nov. 3 election was certified as accurate by election officials in all 21 New Jersey counties, including the 14 carried by President Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger who was sworn in Wednesday, and the seven by former President Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent.

Non-partisan observers applauded the election for its accuracy and transparency, as well as for keeping voters, poll workers and others safe amid a pandemic that has now taken the lives of more than 20,500 people in New Jersey.

The ballots also provided an auditable paper record and we are seeing that the vote count is really accurate, New Jersey League of Women Voters Executive Director Jesse Burns wrote in an email. Voters can have confidence in the security and accuracy of this election.

Burns said there were some problems, however, mostly involving the fewer number of polling places that were open as a result of the shift to mail-in voting, which was ordered by Gov. Phil Murphy in August. Some polling places had long lines, some opened late, and others were not fully accessible to voters with disabilities, said Burns, who called for early voting, same-day registration, and electronic poll books in future elections.

What the audits revealed

To test the accuracy of the machines used to tally the millions of mail-in ballots, Murphy called on each county to conduct post-election audits using a hand-count of a random sampling of ballots totaling 2% of the total number cast.

Typically, county officials recounted batches of ballots from various election districts, and for most of the batches, the hand counts and corresponding machine tallies were found to be perfect matches.

Six counties reported that their hand counts matched machine tallies for the entire 2% sample  meaning thousands of votes  while most other counties reported near-perfect matches, with variations in the vote counts mainly in the single digits.

The counties submitted their certifications to the New Jersey Secretary of States office, which posts them online under Post-election audit results. Some counties merely included their accuracy figures, while others detailed any discrepancies revealed by the audit.

Some discrepancies were attributed to voters merely placing a checkmark or X in the empty ovals next to their candidates name, which were meant to be completely filled in, resulting in a dropped ballot that was not counted.

But in some counties, election officials said the problem was all but eliminated thanks to scanning technology that flags a ballot the tabulating machine cannot decipher. In such a case, the machine produces a scanned image of the ballot that a bipartisan team of election commissioners can then examine with their own eyes to interpret the voters intent, and then record the vote accordingly during the initial tally.

So, if someone made an X or a checkmark, we would be able to adjudicate it, said Allan Roth, a Republican board of elections commissioner and secretary in Monmouth County, which uses Dominion Voting Systems technology.

In Gloucester County, human error was blamed for 30 ballots not being fed into a ballot-counting machine.

Even though New Jerseys election audit law has been in place for more than a decade, the November race was the first time it was actually invoked. Thats because most counties had been using in-person voting machines that dont generate a physical record of the vote on paper, so there was no way to conduct a statewide hand-count before last Novembers race, when the mail-in ballots constituted their own paper trail.

What the recounts revealed

The accuracy of the machine tallies was also underscored by the 14 recounts granted by Superior Court judges around the state. Although races involving recounts were typically decided by razor-thin margins, only two of them  both in Ocean County  changed the outcome.

In one, a tie for a seat on South Toms River Council between Republican Sandford Ross Jr. and Democrat George Rutzler was broken when the recount cut Ross total by two votes, giving Rutzler the win, at least for the time being. That case is now in court, and while a judge allowed Rutzler to be sworn in, he cant be sure hell keep the seat before a ruling thats expected to be issued late in February, said a lawyer for Ross, Matthew Moench.

The other involved a race for two open seats on the Brick school board, in which the original second-place finisher, Jessica Clayton, had appeared to beat out her closest rival by two votes. Clayton lost five votes in the recount, however, and the initial third-place finisher, Michael A. Blandina, picked up 10 votes, producing a flip.

One of Novembers more controversial races was a special election for a Paterson City Council 3rd Ward seat, after the results of the regular May non-partisan race were tossed out by a state judge.

The judge ordered that the special election be held after state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal filed criminal voter fraud charges against the initial winner of the May race, Alex Mendez, who was accused of improperly delivering mail-in ballots without signing as their official bearer, among other crimes.

The episode attracted the attention of then-President Donald Trump before the Nov. 3 election, who said it demonstrated that mail-in voting invited fraud. Despite the pending criminal indictment against him, Mendez won the special election, though by just 9 votes and a recount increased that to 13 votes.

Despite the bizarre circumstances surrounding the Paterson race, Passaic Countys board of elections administrator, Kenneth Hirmann, certified that the Nov. 3 machine tally itself was 100% consistent with the hand-count conducted for the audit.

The biggest snafu of the Nov. 3 election attributable to the mail-in balloting was in Atlantic County, where a judge tossed out the results and ordered a new election in a race for county commissioner, the post formerly known as freeholder. The new election was ordered after the discovery that 554 ballots had been mailed out incorrectly, some with the names of the candidates sent to voters outside the election district, while others sent to voters in the district lacked the candidates names.

Success of mail-in ballots still a political debate

Phil Swibinski, a spokesman for the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, called the election an incredible success, citing a record turnout and the governors executive order allowing ballots to be opened and readied for counting 10 days in advance of the machine tabulations on election day.

Swibinski pointed across the Delaware River, where Pennsylvania didnt allow the same kind of advance preparations, pushing its count well past election day and leading to accusations of election fraud in the presidential race that helped fuel the Jan. 6 raid on the U.S. Capitol.

New Jersey really had a lot of foresight in realizing that having the mail-in ballots counted early really made things run a lot smoother, Swibinski said.

The state Republican party, on the other hand, reiterated GOP assertions ahead of the election that mail-in balloting was a mistake. The executive director of the Republican State Committee, Phil Valenziano, cited the races in Paterson and Atlantic County, as well as a county commissioners race in Mercer, as examples of mail-in balloting gone awry.

In the Mercer County race, a Democratic incumbent, Commissioner Samuel T. Frisby, is under investigation by the state Attorney Generals Office, after he delivered three ballots for a family grieving the death of its patriarch, including one that had been filled out by the man who had just died.

Back in Eatontown, where a recount confirmed council candidate Mariel Hufnagels loss, the winning Republican incumbent, Councilman Mark Regan Jr., said his Democratic challenger was probably right when she suggested he would have asked for a follow-up count had the initial tally gone the other way. (The recount narrowed Regans margin of victory by 4 votes, but preserved his win nonetheless.)

I certainly would have considered requesting a recount, Regan said in an email. However, I am confident in the process and that the will of the people was recognized. I look forward to serving the residents of Eatontown for three more years.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - BELGRAVIA HARTFORD CAPITAL INC. (CSE: BLGV) ("Belgravia" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its investment in the Currie Gold Project and the appointment of Mehdi Azodi, President & CEO of Belgravia, as Executive Chairman of the Board of Autumn Resources Inc. ("Autumn Resources").

Highlights

Autumn Resources has completed a private financing and signed a definitive option agreement (the " Option Agreement ") to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Currie Gold property (the " Property ").

") to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Currie Gold property (the " "). Belgravia has made an investment in the development of the Property to include share ownership of 69% on a partially-diluted basis.

Belgravia will commit up to $1,000,000 additional working capital to Autumn Resources for future exploration and development purposes.

Mehdi Azodi has been named Executive Chairman of the Autumn Resources Board of Directors.

Mehdi Azodi, President and CEO of Belgravia stated: "We have built, over the years, an investment portfolio which has grown organically and enabled Belgravia the opportunity for greater diversification and growth exposure. Autumn Resources is the first expansion opportunity for Belgravia to own a larger piece of an operating asset in a sector we feel bullish towards. Belgravia will continue to hold significant ownership in various public and other private holding as well seek other assets which Belgravia will secure upon strict due diligence."

Property Highlights

43-101 Technical Report

J. Garry Clark, P.Geo. and Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo. of Clark Exploration Consulting Inc ("Clark Exploration") were retained by Autumn Resources to produce a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "Technical Report"), currently classified as a "historical estimate," for the Currie Gold Property. The authors believe this is a property of merit.

Location and Mining Claims

The Property is located 10 km southwest of the town of Matheson, Ontario and 40 kilometers east of Timmins, Ontario, Canada. in Currie and Egan Townships, Porcupine Mining Division.

The Property lies within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt of Northeastern Ontario and lies along the contact between the Tisdale and Blake River assemblages. The area is also situated between the Destor-Porcupine Fault and Cadillac-Larder Break.

The Property consists of 131 mining and/or boundary claims totaling approximately 2,620 hectares.

Infrastructure

Direct road access by well-maintained, rear round gravel roads extending southwards from Highway 101.

The local community of Timmins offers all the services for exploration and mine production both underground and open pit.

Timmins has a modern airport, and it is connected to the province's major network of highways including the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Property is fully permitted.

Geology

The work completed to date on the Currie Gold Property has defined an anomalous gold-silver-base metal zone that has a strike length of over 250 metres.

Timmins is also host to the Kidd Creek mine, a polymetallic mine containing zinc, copper, gold and silver, owned and operated by Xstrata.

Abitibi Greenstone geological belt is host to numerous operating mines and mineralized (gold-silver-base metal) zones. It should be noted that results/resources on adjacent or similar properties are not necessarily indicative of what may be expected from the current program.

The Property exhibits anomalous gold and silver mineralization and lies in one of the most prolific metallogenic Archean greenstone belts. Further exploration of the Property is required to determine the economic potential.

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical content of this press release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by J. Garry Clark, P.Geo. and Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., each of whom is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 regulations and is a consultant of the Company.

About Belgravia

Belgravia Hartford Capital Inc. is a Canadian publically traded investment holding company which invests in public and private companies in legal jurisdictions and under the rule of law. Belgravia and its investments are high risk business ventures and expose shareholders to financial risks.

For more information, please visit www.belgraviahartford.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding planned investment activities & related returns, the timing for completion of research and development activities, the potential value of royalties, and other statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, changes in market trends, the completion, results and timing of research undertaken by the Company, risks associated with resource assets, the impact of general economic conditions, commodity prices, industry conditions, dependence upon regulatory, environmental, and governmental approvals, and the uncertainty of obtaining additional financing. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Mehdi Azodi, President & CEO

Belgravia Hartford Capital Inc.

(250) 763-5533

mazodi@blgv.ca

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72732
Former President Donald J. Trump is still committed to reelecting Republicans. However, he is not considering launching a third party at the moment, as per a senior Trump adviser, while noting things could change.

Trump advisor claims the former President not actively planning to make the third party

Jason Million, a senior campaign advisor of Trump, said that the former President made his goal clear: to win back the Senate and the House for Republicans in 2022. Miller added that there is nothing that is actively planning regarding an effort outside that goal.

However, according to CNN, Miller noted that it's up to Republican senators to become more serious, referencing Trump's upcoming Senate impeachment trial. Last week several Trump advisers confirmed he contemplates launching a third party, but those advisers change their statement saying the idea is not severe.

On Sunday evening. A separate adviser noted to CNN that the former President talked about making a third party for decades. Many Republicans expressed confidence that the party will acquit Trump in a charge he was accused of inciting the deadly insurrection at stopping President Joe Biden's electoral win.

Read also: Trump Offers Washington DC Hotel To National Guards Kicked Out of the US Capitol





Republicans won't join Democrats in convicting and barring Trump

Republicans sharply grew against the proceedings after Democratic leaders announced they would kick off the process to start the impeachment trial. The party made clear that they virtually saw no chance that 17 Republicans would join with 50 Democrats in convicting Trump and barring him from running again for office.

More than a dozen GOP senators made it clear through interviews that most Republicans are likely to acquit the former President. Meanwhile, few are at risk of flipping to convict Trump unless more evidence will emerge or political dynamics within their party changed. Republicans believe the arguments that claim the proceedings are unconstitutional will allow them out of convicting Trump.

Read also: Trump Prepares to Offer at Least 100 Pardons and Commutations Before He Leaves the Office





Will Trump attempt a comeback?

According to Daily Mail, Trump reportedly is not moving forward with his plans in creating a 'MAGA Party' as he does not believe he will be impeached. The former Presidents previously told people that the third-party could give him leverage in preventing Republican senators from voting to convict him next month in the Senate trial.

New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman revealed that sources claim Trump believes there are 'fewer votes to convict than there would have been if the vote was held almost immediately after January 6."

On Wednesday. Trump said farewell to Washington, but he also hinted regarding returning despite a legacy of chaos, as per AL. At Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Trump walked across a red carpet and boarded Air Force One to fly to Florida, he told his supporters, "So just a goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form."

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
At the end of the workday in New York, editors will hand off coverage to editors in Hong Kong and Seoul, who are currently 13 and 14 hours ahead on the clock. As editors in Asia wind down their day, a waking London newsroom will take over as the primary hub. Several hours later, that team will pass the baton back to New York, and it all repeats again, a rotation that is critical for a 24-hour news operation.

Theres a lot of overlap, said Adrienne Carter, The Timess Asia editor, so theres probably only a handful of hours where any one group is on its own.

When Asia hands off coverage to London, a newsroom of about 70 staff members must keep watch on four continents. The journalists start the newsrooms coverage of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, while often also coordinating news early in the U.S. morning with the International, National and Science desks, as well as the Washington bureau.

Jim Yardley, the Europe editor, said that the way the international newsrooms are structured helps makes the joint effort seamless. One of the things about London and Hong Kong is that, primarily, they are outgrowths of the International desk, but they are part of every desk in many ways, he said. Its an attempt to actually make the work more collaborative and less siloed.

Thats it for this briefing. Wishing you a pleasant start to the week.  Natasha

Thank you

To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.

 Were listening to The Daily. Our latest episode is on President Bidens executive orders and how governing by decree can be fraught.

 Heres our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Champ or Major, for the Bidens (three letters). You can find all our puzzles here.

 Marcela Valdes, who has covered politics, culture, immigration and more for The New York Times Magazine for many years, is joining the Magazine as a staff writer.
Little more than one year ago, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee convened to review the rapid and dangerous developments in the spread of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan city, Hubei Province, China, and neighboring countries and as far as the United States.

On January 30, the committee reached a final decision warranting a Public Health Emergency of International Concern declaration, the strongest recommendation to the world to prepare for an outbreak of pandemic proportions.

One year later, having squandered every opportunity to eradicate the pandemic once and for all, the United States under the control of the Democratic Party is doubling down in pursuit of what has correctly been termed a policy of herd immunity that places profits over the well-being of its population.

President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In March of 2020, the WSWS aptly characterized the ruling classs aim as malign neglect, where governments are making a deliberate decision to minimize their response, to adopt an attitude of indifference to the spread of the virus. The Democratic Party only offers a somewhat more polished form of this policy compared to Trumps more crude and raucous approach. Their goals, however, are the samean economy unrestrained by the demands of the pandemic.

Barely a full day into his presidency, President Joe Biden delivered the following astounding remarks to a world audience, saying, There is nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months. On Friday, he added, A lot of America is hurting. The virus is surging. Were 400,000 dead expected to reach well over 600,000.

Nothing we can do, Mr. President?

The New York Times, the premier newspaper of the bourgeois press, has provided information from health experts indicating there are measures that could indeed be taken to curb the death toll. Writing on Sunday, the Times says that millions more will still be infected and become ill unless people continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing measures until midsummer or later, according to a new model by scientists at Columbia University.

It bears reviewing the data provided to the Times by Dr. Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia. According to his estimates, more than 105 million people have been infected across the US. This is four times higher than the COVID-19 tracking dashboards because most infections are either asymptomatic or mild enough that they have gone unnoticed. Millions more will continue to be infected until a sufficient number of people develop immunity, including those who have been vaccinated, to drive the reproductive number under one. However, many infectious disease researchers speaking to the Times warned that it would take months before enough people in the US are vaccinated to allow for a return to a more normal way of life.

However, if restrictions were to be lifted in February, Dr. Shamans team estimated that there would be 29 million additional total infections by July. He said, There are people who are going to want to relax the controls we have in place. If we start thinking, Weve got a vaccine, theres a light at the end of the tunnel, we can stop in a couple of months, thats way too soon. Even if restrictions were lifted by mid-March, their modeling notes there would be 6 million additional infections above current estimates.

On the other hand, if more substantial restrictions were immediately implemented and kept in place until late July, there would be 19 million fewer infections. The difference here is almost 50 million infections, the difference between the policy of herd immunity and death versus the mass implementation of public health measures to save lives and livelihoods. This means roughly 250,000 deaths could be averted. Clearly, the president, with all his access to advisers, scientists and epidemiologists, is aware of these calculations as well as those by the financial oligarchs.

Every analytical model works with certain assumptions that must be held constant to reach statistical conclusions. Dr. Trevor Bedford, an associate professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, noted that the pace of vaccine rollout is unknown and would impact these conclusions. This means that if the vaccine rollout is much slower, the loosening of restrictions will lead to even more infections.

COVID-19 vaccine production globally has been challenged by delays. AstraZeneca is facing shortages as its yield from its production facility is 60 percent under projections, threatening Europes vaccine rollout, which will strain supply and distribution of the existing vaccines.

Also, Pfizer has recently relabeled its vaccine vials, saying they are suitable for six doses instead of five, which means the US will now be receiving 16 percent less in bulk vaccines. The extra sixth dose to be drawn requires a special syringe called a low dead space syringe. Though the CDC said it would adjust to increase the number of needles they are shipping with the vaccines, they may not be the correct syringes that can extract the sixth dose. This will lead to considerable vaccine wastage.

Contrast in dead space between syringe designs. Source: Wikipedia

More concerning, and not incorporated in Columbia Universitys model, are the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 variants. Specifically, the B.1.1.7 virus also known as the UK variant has been shown to be more contagious and now also more deadly. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted on Friday, We have now learned that, in addition to spreading more quickly, the new variant of the virus may also be associated with a higher degree of mortality. It is therefore more important than ever that we all follow the rules and stay at home, protect the NHS [National Health Service] and save lives.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are now nearly 200 cases of the B.1.1.7 detected in the US across 22 states. Florida, California and New York have the largest number of such cases. There are concerns that by March, the B.1.1.7 variant will be the dominant strain in the US. Epidemiologists fear with the dominance of the new strain there will be a surge of infections in the spring.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of Bidens coronavirus taskforce, told CNN, The data is mountingand some of it I cant sharethat clearly supports that B.1.1.7 is causing more severe illness and increased death. Already we know this variant has increased transmission, and so this is more very bad news.

The presidents pandemic policy, to see schools and workplaces open in the first 100 days of his administration, seeks to see the entire workforce at their stations generating profits for the corporations. However, there is much that can be done to avert more death and suffering. Workers and teachers must be forewarned that the course pursued by the Democratic Party is no different than that of the Republicans under Trump. It is to Wall Street that all of them have sworn their allegiances.
PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Automotive Antifreeze Market by Fluid Type ( Ethylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol and Glycerin), Technology (Inorganic Additive Technology (IAT), Organic Acid Technology (OAT) and Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT)), Application (Passenger vehicle, Commercial vehicle and Construction vehicle), and Distribution Channel (Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Aftermarket): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027." According to the report, the global Automotive Antifreeze industry generated $4.92 billion in 2019, and is expected to generate $6.01 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 7.9% from 2020 to 2027.

Download Report Sample (263 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2557

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in demand for high-performance vehicles and increase in use of high-quality technologically advanced additive drive the growth of the global automotive antifreeze market. However, fluctuations in prices of raw materials restrain the market growth. On the other hand, environment friendly and bio based coolants and antifreeze present new opportunities in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

Manufacturing plants of automotive antifreezes were shut down and further activities have been hindered due to lockdown across many countries. Furthermore, the ban on international trade and export activities during the initial phase led to disrupted supply chain, thereby creating shortage of raw materials.

However, the relaxations issued by the government in various regions have supported the industry in economic terms. Also, the demand is expected to grow during the post-lockdown period.

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Automotive Antifreeze Market Request Here!

The ethylene glycol segment to maintain its lead by 2027

Based on fluid type, the ethylene glycol segment held the largest market share, contributing to more than half of the global automotive antifreeze market in 2019, and will maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period. In addition, the segment is estimated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 8.5% from 2020 to 2027. Ethylene glycol is the most cost-effective antifreeze available in the market today. In addition, it has relevant coolant/antifreeze properties such as stability over a wide range of temperatures, high boiling point, low freezing point, and high thermal conductivity and specific heat. All these factors drive the growth of the segment.

The organic acid technology segment to witness its dominance in terms of revenue during the forecast period

Based on technology, the organic acid technology (OAT) segment contributed to the highest share in 2019, accounting for nearly half of the global automotive antifreeze market, and is expected to witness its dominance in terms of revenue during the forecast period. Moreover, the segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 8.5% from 2020 to 2027. The fact that Organic Acid Technology (OAT) based antifreeze does not use silicates which enables longer service life, drives the growth of the market.

Interested to Procure The Data? Inquire here at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2557

Asia-Pacific to dominate the market, North America to grow at a significant pace

Based on region, Asia-Pacific accounted for the highest share in 2019, holding more than one-fourth of the global automotive antifreeze market, and will maintain its leadership status by 2027. This is due to rising production & sales of ICE vehicles in this province, which leads to increased demand for antifreeze. On the other hand, the Europe region is estimated to portray the largest CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. The lower temperature in major parts of the region followed by the increased usage of commercial vehicles as a means of transportation in Europe drives the growth of the market. At the same time, the North America region is expected to manifest a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period.

Leading market players

Prestone Products Corporation

Rock Oil Company LLC.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC

TOTAL SA

Valvoline Inc.

Castrol

Chevron Corporation

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Halfords Group PLC.

Motul

Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts/Industry Experts to Find Solution for Your Business at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/2557

Similar Reports We Have on Automotive (Antifreeze Related) Industry:

Automotive Antifreeze Liquid Market by Product Type (Ethylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol, and Glycerin), Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicles and Commercial Vehicles), and Distribution (OEM and Automotive Aftermarket) - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industrial Forecast, 2020-2027.

Antifreeze Agents Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast 20192027.

Plant Antifreeze Market by Product (Ethylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol, and Glycerin) - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027.

Synthetic Lubricants & Functional Fluids Market by Product (Engine Oils, Transmission & Hydraulic Fluids, Antifreeze & Deicing Fluids, Metalworking Fluids, Heat Transfer Fluids, and Dielectric Fluids), Synthetic Base Stock (Glycols, Polyalphaolefins, Esters, Group III & IV Base Oils, Aromatics, Silicone Fluids, and Others), and End-use Industry (Automotive, Aerospace, Metals, Industrial Machinery, Power Generation, Construction, Process Industry, and Others) - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027.

About Allied Market Research

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP, based in Portland, Oregon. AMR provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

AMR launched its user-based online library of reports and company profiles, Avenue. An e-access library is accessible from any device, anywhere, and at any time for entrepreneurs, stakeholders, and researchers and students at universities. With reports on more than 60,000 niche markets with data comprising of 600,000 pages along with company profiles on more than 12,000 firms, Avenue offers access to the entire repository of information through subscriptions. A hassle-free solution to clients' requirements is complemented with analyst support and customization requests.

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Dont put down your birdwatching binoculars just because winter has arrived.

While many of our summer birds have flown south to warmer places this time of year, Michigan is, in fact, a balmy winter destination for birds who usually spend their summers much father north.

So when winter wraps its chilly arms around our state, it ushers in its own special season for birdwatching, starring birds like the enchanting snowy owl and boisterous winter finches who arrive from the boreal forests in search of food and fairer weather.

Depending on the bird, dont necessarily expect to see these beauties at your backyard feeder. Rarities might require a special trip to the kind of places they prefer  but in that way, birding can become a sort of treasure hunt, and a wonderful reason to plan a winter escape.

A good place to start? One of Michigans nine formal birding trails. These driving routes linking prime birding destinations often include sites from the states 100-plus Important Bird Areas, a National Audubon Society designation that identifies and protects critical bird habitat.

Its a great opportunity for folks that are just getting into birding to go out to those sites for some really special birds, said MiBirds program associate Erin Rowan.

Michigans birding trails make it easy to string together a birding trip in any season, especially when used in conjunction with the popular bird tracking database eBird.org, which you can use to reference recent sightings in specific locations.

Ready to hit the road in search of some cool birds? Read on for a guide to Michigans birding trails, and check out the Audubon list of Michigan Important Bird Areas for more.

RELATED: Michigan winter owl etiquette, what to know about viewing these majestic birds

Superior Birding Trail: This trail offers world-class birding through parts of the eastern Upper Peninsula. The 150-mile trail encompasses rare ecosystems in 14 destinations, including Tahquamenon Falls State Park, Whitefish Point, Hulbert Bog and Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Birds you might see this time of year: Gray jays, black-backed woodpeckers, boreal chickadees, common redpolls, bald eagles, and migratory owls such as the teensy Northern saw-whet owl. superiorbirdingtrail.com

Sleeping Bear Birding Trail: More than 30 possible stops are listed as part of this Lake Michigan birding trail, which winds through four counties and includes many points of interest in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This time of year you might be treated to less-common waterfowl like snow geese, tundra swans, Iceland gulls and the arresting Northern pintail. Snowy owls, Northern saw-whet owls and Northern shrikes are possibilities, too. sleepingbearbirdingtrail.org

Sunset Coast Birding Trail: If youre using your hand as a map, as Michiganders tend to do, this trail winds through the tip of Michigans ring finger. There are 35 primary sites along the way, including nature preserves, state parks and state game areas, with even more possible stops listed on the trails website. Keep your eyes peeled for pine grosbeaks, evening grosbeaks, cedar and bohemian waxwings, snow buntings, and winter wrens. sunsetcoastbirdingtrail.com

Thornapple Birding Trail: Located in Barry County, just a bit east from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, this trail highlights great habitat at 20-plus stops in more than 22,000 acres of public lands. You might see common redpolls, pileated woodpeckers and sharp-shinned hawks here, among other species. Website here

AuSable Birding Trail: In warmer months this mid-Northern Michigan birding trail is known for being home to the rare Kirtlands warbler  a migratory songbird that brings birders to this region from around the globe. There are still plenty of special birds to be seen in winter, though, when you could spot snowy and Eastern screech owls, Northern shrikes, and pine or evening grosbeaks. There are 22 sites in all, ranging from state parks to two-track trails. ausablebirding.org

North Huron Birding Trail: This pristine wilderness on the eastern edge of the Upper Peninsula is a longtime winter destination for birders hoping to glimpse seasonal rarities, such as Northern hawk owls, crossbills, purple finches, common redpolls and Bohemian waxwings. A robust and helpful winter birding map on this trails website simplifies planning ones trip and target species. northhuronbirding.com

Sunrise Coast Birding Trail: This trail traces the Lake Huron coastline for nearly 150 miles, starting at the AuSable River in Oscoda and heading north all the way to Mackinaw City. Conservation areas, boat launches, lighthouses and other landmarks provide excellent viewing opportunities for migratory owls, winter waterfowl and other birds in a wide variety of habitats. Website here

Saginaw Bay Birding Trail: This east side trail roughly skirts the shoreline of Saginaw Bay, covering a total of 142 miles and encompassing diverse habitat considered to be critical to more than 200 migratory species. A great place to look for winter waterfowl such as mergansers and common goldeneyes, as well as bald eagles and snowy owls. saginawbaybirding.org

Beaver Island Birding Trail: If youre up for an adventure, take the ferry from Charlevoix over to Lake Michigans largest island, where youll find a birding trail comprised of more than 12,000 acres of public lands plus four Little Traverse Conservancy preserves. The website walks you through the islands best birding sites, plus it offers a bird species checklist to keep track of your finds during your trip. beaverislandbirdingtrail.org

RELATED:

How to take a winter rafting trip on Michigans Pine River

Snowshoe through a forest winter wonderland on Pictured Rocks newest trail

Geodesic dome cabins soon open for reservations at this Michigan state park
The IWFA claim wind farm operators were deprived of their procedural rights by the Commission

Independent wind farm owners in Ireland are taking a legal challenge against the European Commission over its refusal to conduct a formal investigation into claims that fossil fuel electricity producers in Ireland are being granted illegal State aid in the form of reduced commercial rates.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will begin a hearing tomorrow in a case taken by the Irish Wind Farmers Association (IWFA) and three of its members against the summary dismissal in 2019 by the then EU Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, of its claims.

The Commission refused to initiate a formal investigation procedure after concluding the method for assessing commercial rates for fossil fuel electricity producers did not constitute State aid under EU legislation. The IWFA had filed its original claim in February 2016.

The three IWFA members who are parties to the case are Carrons Wind Farm, Briska, Co Limerick; Foyle Wind Farm, Courtstown, Co Kilkenny and Greenoge Wind Farm, Ravenswood, Co Carlow.

Lawyers for the IWFA will ask the CJEU to annul the Commissions decision to reject its claims over illegal State aid. They will argue that the wind farm operators were deprived of their procedural rights by the Commissions refusal to open a formal investigation into the case.

On the wider issue, The IWFA claims methods used for the calculation of commercial rates under the Valuation Act 2001 constitute aid which is incompatible with the EU internal market.

It argues that the methods used to calculate the Net Annual Value (NAV) are unfair and it highlighted what it claimed were figures which showed differences in the valuation of properties owned by fossil fuel producers of electricity and other competitors.

The IWFA claims the contractors method used for calculating the NAV for most fossil fuel operators has resulted in them being charged lower commercial rates than wind farms whose rates bills are usually calculated using a different method.

IWFA chairperson Grattan Healy said: While this weeks case is about trying to get the European Commission to conduct a formal investigation into our claims, there is a problem with how rates are calculated for energy providers. Since the process of the revaluation of rates was begun, commercial rates for fossil fuel operators have gone down, while those for wind farms have increased radically.

Read More

He added: The level of increase is such that commercial rates for wind farm operators are taking back every cent which we gain in supports from the Government for providing renewable energy.

The IWFA said the Valuation Office had great flexibility over the methods used to calculate NAVs of rateable sites but it wanted to ensure there is a level playing field between different providers of electricity.

The Government has rejected the IWFAs claims of unfairness and insisted that the system for calculating NAVs is based on the general principle of equality of treatment.

It also argued that commercial rates were based on the value of properties and comparisons based on the NAV per megawatt were not relevant.

The Government said there was no evidence that use of different methods to calculate the NAV was not justified given the differences between the premises of fossil fuel operators and wind farms in terms of their physical and locational differences and the fact they operate under different market and commercial conditions.

It also argued there was no analysis or empirical evidence to support the IWFAs claims while it noted individual local authorities applied their own multiplier to NAVs to determine the actual amount owed in commercial rates.
Chinas coronavirus vaccines were supposed to deliver a geopolitical win that showcased the countrys scientific prowess and generosity. Instead, in some places, they have set off a backlash.

Officials in Brazil and Turkey have complained that Chinese companies have been slow to ship the doses and ingredients. Disclosures about the Chinese vaccines have been slow and spotty. The few announcements that have trickled out suggest that Chinas vaccines, while considered effective, cannot stop the virus as well as those developed by Pfizer and Moderna, the American drugmakers.

In the Philippines, some lawmakers have criticized the governments decision to buy a vaccine made by a Chinese company, Sinovac. Officials in Malaysia and Singapore, which both ordered doses from Sinovac, have had to reassure their citizens that they would approve a vaccine only if it had been proved safe and effective.

Right now, I would not take any Chinese vaccine, because theres insufficient data, said Bilahari Kausikan, an influential former official at Singapores Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added that he would consider it only with a proper report.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Nagaland Lokayukta, Justice (retd) Uma Nath Singh, has told the Supreme Court that he seeks a safe and graceful exit from the state as one of the conditions for his resignation.

On January 11, a bench headed by Chief Justice S. A. Bobde had given him week to consider resigning from the post after the Nagaland government had moved the top court complaining against his "unjust and arbitrary demands".

"We do not think you have been or can function properly with this kind of relation with the government," the top court had noted. It had also disagreed with his contention to operate as Nagaland Lokayukta while staying in Delhi.

Justice Singh, a former Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, had, in a note submitted to the top court, said he is willing to submit his resignation upon the dismissal of petition by the Nagaland government and set out five terms and conditions.

He said that upon dismissal of the petition by the state, he will submit his resignation, as he is unable to continue "due to unpleasant circumstances and a very hostile environment".

Singh, who was represented through senior advocate Vikas Singh, said the top court may treat this note as his resignation and may pass orders accordingly.

"That the Registrar General of the Guwahati High Court and the Chief Secretary, Government of Nagaland and Commissioner/Secretary to the Governor be directed to ensure taking custody of articles supposed to be handed over by the Lokayukta to his office, providing vehicles and other facilities as per his entitlement, processing of his resignation if asked to submit to the Governor and safe and graceful exit of the respondent from Nagaland," his note listed among the terms and conditions for the resignation.

The note added that Nagaland or any other authority or person should not use or refer to any material or averment placed on record in the present matter against him for initiating any kind of action, complaint or proceedings or defaming him in media or any other manner etc. whatsoever in nature which could cause any stigma in any manner to his privileges, status (professional, official or otherwise).

Singh also sought compromise between the parties in a case registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including his earlier PSO, Vimazho Natso, as an accused.

"The respondent also has no objection to the compromise between the parties in view of poor and pathetic condition of the family of the accused, who has apologised saying that he committed the act under hallucination caused by withdrawal syndrome," his note said.

The Nagaland government, in its plea, had said the Lokayukta insisted to function online from Delhi by making a representation to the Chief Secretary in May 2019, citing that his house is far away from the office, the terrain is hilly, and he has his library in Delhi and for security reasons. A letter dated June 6, 2019 was engineered from the department permitting him to function from Delhi.

"Later when the Chief Secretary learned that one such letter was issued purportedly on his approval though he was not aware of the same, immediately thereafter a letter was issued to the Lokayukta stating that the earlier letter issued by the department did not have the approval of the Chief Secretary, and therefore, the same stands withdrawn and the Government intends to conduct an inquiry in the matter," Nagaland Advocate General K.N. Balgopal said in a statement.
Nearly 5 per cent of India's total Union Budget 2020-21 would be spent on schemes that benefit women, stated the gender budget for the year. Amounting to Rs 1.4 lakh crore ($19 billion) in 2020-21, the gender budget includes allocations made by different ministries for schemes that fully or partially benefit women.

Gender-responsive budgeting, along with supportive laws and other policy measures, could help governments track whether public funds are effectively allocated in furthering gender equality and empowering women. India was ranked 112th of 153 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2020.

India started releasing a Gender Budget along with the Union Budget in 2005-06. Ahead of the Union Budget 2021-22, we analyse how useful, or not, gender budgets have proved to be.

In India, many crucial sectors such as health and education are funded by both central and state governments. In this report, we are analysing the central government's gender budgets that feature schemes funded by the central government. (At least 16 states in India have adopted gender-responsive budgeting and introduced schemes benefitting women, which are included in the state budgets. These allocations do not get counted in the Union Gender Budget statement, and are not part of our analysis.)

Allocations and trends





Over the last 16 years, India's Gender Budget has increased from Rs 24,241 crore ($5.5 billion) in 2005-06 to Rs 1,43,462 crore ($19 billion) in 2020-21, a six-fold increase in absolute terms. However, in the last 13 years, the allocations as a proportion to the total budget have stayed constant between 4.3 per cent and 5.9 per cent. The allocation was less than 5 per cent of the total budget in five of the last six years.

The Gender Budget has two parts: Part A includes schemes with 100 per cent allocation for women such as the widow pension scheme, girls' hostel scheme and maternity benefit scheme; and Part B with schemes allocating at least 30 per cent of funds for women, such as the mid-day meals programme, the rural livelihoods mission and the biogas programme.

Since its inception, the gender budget has been dominated by allocations under Part B, accounting for at least two-thirds of the total Gender Budget.

In 2020-21, Part A constituted 20 per cent of the Gender Budget--the second-lowest since 14 per cent in 2015-16.





The composition of the budget and its focus areas

While the Gender Budget collates allocations made by different ministries, it omits some schemes that benefit women. For example, the Department of Water and Sanitation did not report any part of the allocation of the Jal Jeevan Mission, a scheme that aims to provide household tap connections to all rural households. This despite the scheme guideline document stating that it will particularly improve quality of life for women and the ministry reiterating this in press releases.

It also does not include state government allocations, hence an analysis of the allocations and their proportions to the total budget is limiting.

Nevertheless, the composition of the Gender Budget highlights the government's focus areas and the efforts made to close the gender gap. Over the last three years, five schemes--the rural jobs programme called the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the rural housing scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the Anganwadi Services Scheme that is a part of the early childhood care and development programme, the school education programme called the Samagra Shiksha and the Health Systems Strengthening under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)--have made up half of the total Gender Budget allocations.

The PMAY alone constituted nearly 70 per cent of the allocations in Part A and 14 per cent of the total Gender Budget.



The fact that 10 per cent of the Gender Budget was earmarked for rural housing schemes for women irked experts because while the scheme might benefit women, the houses may not always be owned by women. "Allocations for PMAY are considered 100 per cent for Gender Budget as the houses are encouraged to be in the names of women," said Avani Kapur, director of Accountability Initiative, a research organisation based in Delhi, "But no one is really monitoring or seeing the extent to which that is being done or the difference it is actually making on the ground."

The Ministry of Women and Child Development's handbook on states how the process is a continuous activity and must include monitoring and impact assessment in addition to formulation of policies and allocation of funds.

However, the process practiced by the ministries is largely focused on reporting information in the format provided by the Ministry of Finance and there is not always a clear methodology for attributing weights to different schemes, say experts.

Since the gender budget amounts are based on the proportions decided by the respective departments and ministries, a clear methodology becomes crucial. For instance, in the 2020-21 gender budget, the AYUSH ministry listed the central councils for research in Ayurvedic sciences, Siddha and Unani medicine in Part A of the budget and reported that 100 per cent of these allocations would benefit women.

The Department of Rural Development allocated a third (33 per cent) of the total allocation of MGNREGS under Part B of the Gender Budget for 2020-21. However, women make up for nearly 55 per cent of workers under the scheme.

"For Gender Budgets to be able to address crucial gender gaps, budgetary allocations should be based on grassroots-based planning," said Aasha Kapur Mehta, chairperson, Centre for Gender Studies at Institute for Human Development, Delhi, and founder member of the Feminist Policy Collective. However, most ministries and departments report allocations to the Gender Budget without doing this, she added. Further, there is no clarity regarding how the estimates are prepared.

"An essential first step to is determining the outcomes and then defining what inputs will be needed to achieve them," said Kapur, "In India, it is still done more as an aggregation exercise of different schemes or ministries."





What have Gender Budgets achieved?

Despite its shortcomings, the Gender Budget has succeeded in drawing attention to gender issues. "One of the biggest achievements of gender-responsive budgeting is the mainstreaming of the idea that a gender lens is important within the fiscal discourse," said Kapur.

Studies have found that gender budgeting can help reduce gender gaps in educational attainment and in reducing violence against women, said Lekha Chakraborty, professor and chair at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), which pioneered the integration of gender budgeting within both state and central government policy frameworks.

"While the gender budgeting was started as an ex-post policy analysis of [the Union] Budget through a gender lens, it has given a framework to integrate future-centric programme design and budgeting favouring women," added Chakraborty, citing the example of schemes providing clean fuel to women in poor income households.

While the targeted programmes have helped to reduce sectoral inequalities, they have a long way to go towards eliminating inequalities. Gender budgeting policies should not assume that "all women are equal" and must focus on adopting intersectionality (an approach to understand how a person's various social and political identities combine and can lead to different forms of discrimination), added Chakraborty. Focussed gender budgeting policies are also needed to deal with increasing caste-based crime.

"While intersectionality issues need careful calibration in the context of Indian gender budgeting," said Chakraborty, "One quick example is the Black Economic Empowerment ( BEE) in the context of South Africa--a powerful policy to deal with the inequalities of Apartheid. The interface between gender and race is tackled in BEE."
WASHINGTON  Republican senators staked out opposing views Sunday on the wisdom of holding an impeachment trial for former President Trump, with Marco Rubio declaring the idea stupid and Mitt Romney asserting truth and justice demanded that the chamber pass judgment on whether Trump incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol.

With the House preparing to send a single article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday, Democrats remained united in condemnation of the departed presidents actions on Jan. 6 in whipping up a mob of partisans who besieged the Capitol as Congress was certifying President Bidens victory.

Senate Republicans, on the other hand, have largely avoided criticizing Trumps alleged incitement of the crowd and have signaled they would prefer not to stand in judgment of a former president who commands an intensely loyal following of GOP voters.

In the House, 10 Republicans joined Democrats in voting 232-197 on Jan. 13 to impeach Trump. Those GOP lawmakers have endured withering attacks from Trump allies.

The Senate trial, by mutual agreement of the chambers leadership, is set to start during the second week of February. That provides Biden a short respite to attend to the most pressing legislative business, and gives Trump time to muster a legal defense.

Even for Republicans who no longer need fear angry tweets  Trump has been banned from Twitter  the prospect of an open vote on whether to convict him is clearly unsettling.

Many GOP senators have sought to make the case that trying Trump, now a private citizen, would be unconstitutional. The question has never been tested, but Romney (R-Utah) said on CNNs State of the Union that a preponderance of legal opinion holds that that it can be done.

I will, of course, hear what the lawyers have to say for each side, said Romney. But I think its pretty clear that the effort is constitutional.

Romney, who last year was the sole Republican to vote to convict Trump after his first impeachment, said it was important to hold the former president accountable for his refusal to accept the election results, as well as his strong-arming state election officials and his provocation of the mob that attacked the Capitol.

If were going to have unity in our country, I think its important to recognize the need for accountability, for truth and justice, the Utah Republican said.

Rubio (R-Fla.), appearing on Fox News Sunday, did not defend Trumps conduct but said a Senate trial would be too divisive.

I think the trial is stupid  I think its counterproductive, Rubio said. We already have a flaming fire in this country, and its like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.

Other Republican senators also sought to advance the argument that a trial was pointless now that Trump is out of office. Sen. Mike Rounds, appearing on NBCs Meet the Press, called Trumps impeachment a moot point.

There are other things wed rather be working on instead, said the South Dakota Republican.

Democrats argued that convicting Trump in the Senate can be a prelude to barring him from again seeking public office.

There is a remedy that would help in the future, which would ban former President Trump from running again, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on ABCs This Week. Such a disqualification could be approved by a simple majority, unlike the two-thirds vote necessary to convict.

On the House side, lawmakers tasked with prosecuting the case said they would be able to present a compelling argument for conviction.

The facts and the law reveal what this president did, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), an impeachment manager, told CNN.

He incited them with his words. And then he lit the match and sent them on their way to pursue the big lie, she said, referring to Trump falsely claiming to have rightfully won the election before instructing assembled supporters to march to the Capitol. Its an extraordinarily heinous presidential crime.

The House is expected to deliver its impeachment charge to the Senate at 7 p.m. Monday, and senators were to be sworn in Tuesday for the trial. But proceedings are to then be paused until the week of Feb. 8. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the majority leader, said that would allow time for legal briefs to be written and exchanged by the opposing sides.

___

Laura King of the Los Angeles Times wrote this story.

2021 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

New figures reveal that farm animals worth an estimated 2.3m were stolen from UK farms in 2020, making it one of the most costliest crimes for farmers.

Although the pandemic saw the cost of rustling decrease by a quarter, in the South West region the cost of animals stolen rose by over a third to an estimated 320,000.

Overall, livestock rustling remains one of the most costly crimes for British farmers after vehicle and machinery theft.

The Midlands saw a sharp fall of 44% in 2020 following the prosecution of thieves, who, in 2019, slaughtered large numbers sheep in Northamptonshire.

Rebecca Davidson, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual said tougher police enforcement seemed to have taken effect last year.

Last years overall fall is encouraging news to an industry which has worked hard through the pandemic to keep the nation fed.

The coronavirus restrictions may have also deterred criminals who would have been easier to detect during lockdown."

However, she said the latest figures from NFU Mutuals claims were 'not a reason for complacency', and farmers remained 'deeply concerned' that the crime continued, even at a time of crisis.

"Modern rustling is a large-scale, organised crime causing suffering to animals, adding financial pressures to farmers and putting public health at risk," Ms Davidson added.

We are worried that when movement restrictions ease there could be a resurgence as thieves target the countryside again.

"We are urging farmers to remain vigilant and check stock regularly.

Rustling has always been an aspect of farming, but ten years ago NFU Mutual would rarely see claims of more than a dozen sheep taken at a time.

The insurer now regularly receives reports of thirty to a hundred sheep being taken in a single raid.

Ms Davidson added: As well as causing untold suffering to ewes, who may be in lamb when they are stolen, rustling is causing high levels of anxiety for farmers who have built up their flocks over many years.

Farmers have welcomed the successful prosecution and jailing of criminals responsible for horrific killings and butchery of sheep in fields, which shocked the nation in 2019.

In November 2020, a further joint operation between Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Police resulted in the conviction of a man for the theft and slaughter of sheep in Rugby.

More recently in January this year, a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were sentenced in connection with the theft of a lamb in South Warwickshire.

Carol Cotterill, from the Warwickshire Police Rural Crime Team said: Livestock thefts can be extremely distressing to both the animals who suffer, and also to the farmers who bred and raised them.

Our Rural Crime Team is determined to reduce rustling offences and to investigate when they do occur, to ensure those who are responsible are brought to justice for their actions.

How can I help prevent livestock rustling?

Modern livestock thieves scout the countryside for targets and come equipped to steal with large vehicles.

Protecting flocks requires increasingly sophisticated measures, NFU Mutual says:

 Ensure stock is clearly marked and records are up to date

 When possible graze livestock in fields away from roads

 Check stock regularly - and vary times of feeding/check ups

 Consider a high-tech marking system such as TecTracer which puts thousands of coded microdot markers into a sheeps fleece

 Join a Farm or Rural Watch scheme to share information about rural crime in your area

 Ask neighbours to report any suspicious sightings to the police, or to give information 100% anonymously to the Crimestoppers Hotline 0800 555 111

 Dial 999 immediately if an incident is taking place - do not approach criminals
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WAS HE POISONED? WHO POISONED HIM? In 2017, Navalny was attacked with a bright green liquid  a common antiseptic used in Russia. It was splashed on his face in Moscow, according to BBC. Navalny had said that it hurt a lot and he was diagnosed with a chemical burn in one eye. In 2020, however, things turned a little more serious after he was poisoned while on a flight. In August, his spokesperson confirmed that Navalny had become violently ill after consuming tea at the airport. He was taken to a hospital in Berlin and was in a coma for weeks. Labs in Sweden and France confirmed that he had been poisoned with Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Later, according to a report by NYTimes, Navalny phoned a Russian intelligence officer and duped him into confessing the plot to poison Navalny. Photo: AP
- Only 7.1% of patients had a majority of their attacks associated with increased levels of perceived stress and 76% of the total number of migraine attacks were associated with either flat or decreasing levels of perceived stress.

- The study is the largest stress-migraine study to date, following 351 patients over three months and analyzed 2115 migraine episodes.

- Done in collaboration with the University of Calgary, the study is unique in that it examines individual patterns rather than aggregate ones.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Curelator today announced new data that challenges the age-old belief that stress is a significant factor in triggering migraine attacks[1]. The results are published in the January issue of the leading Headache, The Journal of Head and Face Pain medicine journal, and they underscore the need for personalized phenotypic analysis and treatment plans in migraine.

The study concludes that only 7.1% of patients had a majority of their attacks associated with increased levels of perceived stress. Most individuals, 61.5%, had more than 50% of their attacks preceded by flat stress levels. Only 3.4% of people had half of their attacks following decreasing levels of stress. The remaining portion of individuals, 28%, had a variable mixture of increasing, flat and/or decreasing levels of stress preceding their attacks.

In addition, in all individuals, only 24% of migraine attacks were preceded by increased levels of perceived stress. In contrast, patients had either flat or even decreasing levels of perceived stress preceding 76% of migraine attacks.

"These findings strongly suggest that, for the vast majority of patients, the role of perceived stress in triggering migraine attacks is less important than previously hypothesized," commented Serena Orr, M.D., senior author of the study, headache specialist, pediatric neurologist, and researcher at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada. "This contradicts the previous belief that increases in stress consistently trigger migraine attacks, because we found that this relationship is rather uncommon."

The international study, conducted by Curelator and in collaboration with the University of Calgary, is the largest to date to examine the relationship between perceived stress and migraine: both in number of participants (n= 351 patients) as well as study duration (three months). During the course of the study, participants had a total of 2,115 migraine attacks, each of which were analyzed with respect to individual person's daily stress levels before, during and after the attack.

In comparison to traditional clinical studies, this one specifically examined individual patterns, not just aggregate patterns, in relation to how perceived stress changes in relation to the onset of pain of migraine attacks. Results showed a surprisingly high amount of variability between individuals and even within the same person.

"Clearly, average population results can only be applied to a minority of individuals; providing compelling rationale for generating individual phenotypic profiles before administration of individual treatment plans," explained Marina Vives-Mestres, Ph.D., lead author, Analytics Lead at Curelator and Visiting Professor of Statistics at the Universitat de Girona (Spain).

"The N of 1 methodology used in this study applies the approach of personalized medicine to help individuals understand their headache patterns," said Richard Lipton, MD, Edwin S. Lowe Professor and Vice Chair of Neurology and Director Montefiore Headache Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "There is tremendous variation from person to person in their trigger factors. The typical approach of assessing population averages generates results that are difficult for individuals to apply. If red wine triggers your headaches but not mine, there is no need for me to avoid it."

Individualized digital data capture and analytics were enabled by Curelator's N1-Headache, a digital platform that combines a simple smartphone data entry process with personalized N=1 analytics. After 90 days of data entry, the application generates Individual Trigger Map, Protector Map and No Association Map for each user incorporated within a Personal Analytical Report. The information featured in the Personal Report enables patients and their clinicians to generate individual, high resolution phenotypic profiles to manage risk factors, assess therapeutic response to drugs and monitor potential medication overuse.

Reference

[1] Marina Vives-Mestres, PhD; Amparo Casanova, MD, PhD; Dawn C. Buse, PhD; Stephen Donoghue, PhD; Timothy T. Houle, PhD; Richard B. Lipton, MD; Alec Mian, PhD; Kenneth J. Shulman, DO; Serena L. Orr, MD, MSc. Pattern of Perceived Stress Throughout the Migraine Cycle: A longitudinal Cohort Study Using Daily Prospective Diary Data. Headache 2020; 0:1-16.

About Curelator

Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2013, Curelator is a data-driven digital health company focused on developing clinical grade, personalised disease management tools for patients and clinicians. Since its inception, Curelator has published dozens of papers and abstracts in major headache and migraine journals and conferences, and it has enrolled thousands of patients on clinical studies through its N1-Headache platform.

About N1-Headache

N1-Headache is a unique patient engagement platform that delivers personalized, disease management tools for people with a history of migraine or medication overuse, allowing them to understand their migraine attack patterns in an individualized manner. This personalized information enables patients and their healthcare providers to manage individual migraine risk factors, assess therapeutic response to drugs and identify opportunities to prevent medication overuse.

Contacts for additional information:

Curelator

Noel Ortiz, VP Communications & Strategy

nortiz@curelator.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424830/Curelator_Logo.jpg
The Challenge stars Jordan Wiseley and Tori Deal were together for three years, engaged for one, until they decided to call it quits. A couple of months after the couple announced they parted ways, Deal admitted she would compete in a Battle of the Exes spinoff alongside her ex-fiancee.

Tori Deal attends Are You The One? | John Lamparski

Jordan Wiseley proposed to Tori Deal during The Challenge 34

In 2017, returning champ Jordan Wiseley and rookie Tori Deal met during The Challenge: Dirty 30. Although she had a boyfriend at the time, she fell for Wiseley, and the two pursued a relationship after the show.

The couple moved in together and returned a year later for War of the Worlds 2 (2019). Following an elimination, Wiseley proposed to Deal. They went on to compete with Team UK, and he finished the finals, winning $250,00.

Tori and Jordan met on The Challenge, fell in love on The Challenge, and now they just hit another relationship milestone on The Challenge! #TheChallenge34 pic.twitter.com/wUvfcrZ3oW  challengemtv (@ChallengeMTV) November 10, 2019

RELATED: The Challenge 36: Tori Deal Denies Cheating on Jordan Wiseley With Fessy Shafaat

After their engagement, the two traveled began releasing music together, and Deal dropped a podcast with her fiancee appearing in a few episodes. Additionally, they adopted a cat named Miso.

The couple returned for the following season, Total Madness, where they were eliminated back-to-back.

Wiseley and Deal broke up after The Challenge 36 filming

Although Deal returned for Double Agents, Wiseley remained home. After filming ended, many fans began speculating something happened as Deal and The Challenge star Fessy Shafaat was photographed in Turks and Caicos.

Additionally, the reality star seemingly moved into an Airbnb. When followers began asking questions, Deal addressed them on her Instagram Story, asking for privacy.

RELATED: The Challenge Stars Jordan Wiseley and Tori Deal Split After 3 Years of Dating

When Double Agents started airing a few weeks later, the couple announced they parted ways on their Instagram accounts. Deal explained they separated because they wanted to work on themselves in their own space.

According to the three-time champ, the couple could not escape the pressures that come with being in a very public relationship. Additionally, he claimed his past offensive comments, a reason why many believe he didnt appear in the current season, didnt play a part in their breakup.

Deal says she would love to do an exes season with Wiseley

During the Jan. 6 episode, a segment seemingly teased a budding romantic relationship between Shafaat and Deal, where he admitted his attraction to her. When fans began believing the edit proved she cheated, the Are You the One? star took to Instagram Story to debunk the rumors.

She claimed the two never did anything in the house and denied cheating on Wiseley with him. However, she didnt deny vacationing with him in Turks and Caicos when MTVs Official Challenge podcast co-host Aneesa Ferreira asked.

RELATED: The Challenge: Jordan Wiseley Responds To Tori Deals Comments About Their Breakup: Its News To Me

A few weeks later, Deal broadcasted on Instagram Live and noticed a fan asking her about possibly doing another season with her ex. She answered she would love to do a Battle of the Exes spinoff with Wiseley and noted it would be amazing if that happened.

Wiseley previously won Battle of the Exes II with Sarah Rice. The Challenge 36: Double Agents airs Wednesdays at 8/7 Central on MTV.
Scientists have found an 'exquisitely preserved' skull of a herbivorous dinosaur species in New Mexico, known for its weird head adornment.

The skull belongs to the iconic tube-crested dinosaur Parasaurolophus, which lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.5 million to 73 million years ago.

Parasaurolophus were herbivorous reptiles that sported trumpet-like nasal passages which they blew air into through the so-called tube on their head.

This particular skull belonged to one particular species of the Parasaurolophus genus  Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus.

The newly-revealed specimen would have been roughly 20 feet long (6.1 meters) and around 7.5 feet tall at the hip (2.3 metres) in its day.

Despite its extreme morphology, details of the specimen show that the crest is formed much like the crests of other, related duckbilled dinosaurs.

Life reconstruction of the head of Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus based on newly discovered remains

'TUBE-CRESTED' DINOSAURS Tube-crested dinosaurs, known as Parasaurolophus, lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76.5 million to 73 million years ago. The huge herbivorous reptiles sported trumpet-like nasal passages which they blew air into through the so-called tube on their head. Parasaurolophus lived in lush, subtropical floodplains in one of two ancient landmass that once comprised North America, separated by a 2,000-mile-long stretch of water. It lived with other, crestless duckbilled dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs, and early tyrannosaurs alongside many emerging, modern groups of alligators, turtles and plants. Advertisement

Parasaurolophus lived in lush, subtropical floodplains in one of two ancient landmass that once comprised North America, separated by a 2,000-mile-long stretch of water.

It lived with other, crestless duckbilled dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs, and early tyrannosaurs alongside many emerging, modern groups of alligators, turtles and plants.

'My jaw dropped when I first saw the fossil,' said Professor Terry Gates, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University.

'I've been waiting for nearly 20 years to see a specimen of this quality.

'Imagine your nose growing up your face, three feet behind your head, then turning around to attach above your eyes.

'Parasaurolophus breathed through eight feet of pipe before oxygen ever reached its head.'

The partial skull was discovered in 2017 by Erin Spear from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, while exploring the badlands of northwestern New Mexico but is only now being described by scientists.

Located deep in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness of New Mexico, only a tiny portion of the skull was visible on a steep sandstone slope.

'The preservation of this new skull is spectacular, finally revealing in detail the bones that make up the crest of this amazing dinosaur known by nearly every dinosaur-obsessed kid,' said Joe Sertich, curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

New skull of Parasaurolophus as originally exposed in the badlands of New Mexico. 'Exquisite' preservation of the new skull gives palaeontologists their first opportunity to definitively identify how such a bizarre structure grew on this dinosaur

The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a 45,000-acre (18,000 ha) wilderness area located in San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico

'This just reinforces the importance of protecting our public lands for scientific discoveries.'

Museum volunteers led by Sertich were surprised to find the intact crest as they carefully chiselled the specimen from the sandstone.

Among the most recognisable dinosaurs, Parasaurolophus sported an elongated, tube-like crest on its head containing an internal network of airways.

'Over the past 100 years, ideas for the purpose of the exaggerated tube crest have ranged from snorkels to super sniffers,' said David Evans, the Temerty Chair in Vertebrate Palaeontology and Vice President of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Life reconstruction of Parasaurolophus group being confronted by a tyrannosaurid in the subtropical forests of New Mexico 75 million years ago

'But after decades of study, we now think these crests functioned primarily as sound resonators and visual displays used to communicate within their own species.'

Abundant bone fragments at the site indicated that much of the skeleton may have once been preserved on an ancient sand bar, but only the partial skull, part of the lower jaw, and a handful of ribs survived erosion.

'This specimen is truly remarkable in its preservation,' said Evans, who has worked on the Parasaurolophus dinosaur for almost two decades.

'It has answered long-standing questions about how the crest is constructed and about the validity of this particular species. For me, this fossil is very exciting.'

Today, the badlands of northwestern New Mexico are dry and sparsely vegetated, a dramatic contrast to the lush lowland floodplains preserved in their rocks that would have been Parasaurolophus' natural habitat.

Seventy five million years ago, when Parasaurolophus lived in the region, North America was divided into two landmasses by the Western Interior Seaway.

This shallow stretch of water ran from the Gulf of Mexico through to the Arctic Ocean and divided the continent into two landmasses  East America, or Appalachia, and West America, or Laramidia  for several million years.

The creation of the seaway caused the formation of a long, slender landmass known as Laramidia to the west and the wider, more rectangular Appalachia to the east

Laramidia (to the west) extended from today's Alaska to central Mexico, hosting multiple episodes of mountain building in early stages of the construction of today's Rocky Mountains.

These mountain-building events helped preserve diverse ecosystems of dinosaurs along their eastern flanks, some of the best-preserved and most continuous anywhere on Earth.

Thanks to various fossil finds, three species of Parasaurolophus are currently recognised, which range from 77 million to 73.5 million years old.

The new skull belongs to P. cyrtocristatus, previously known from a single specimen collected in the same region of New Mexico in 1923 by legendary American fossil hunter Charles H. Sternberg.

The other two recognised species of Parasaurolophus are P. walkeri (whose remains were found in Alberta in Canada) and P. tubicen (remains from younger rocks in New Mexico).

'The original species of parasaurolophus, P. walkeri, is from 1921,' said Professor Gates.

'Our Parasaurolophus [P. cyrtocristatus] is a different species, that was originally described in 1960 (but found many years before being named).

'So this is the first P. cyrtocristatus to be found and described in 60 years.'

P. cyrtocristatus was the smallest of the three species  overall, the newly described specimen is around 75 per cent the size of the original P. walkeri found in 1921.

P. cyrtocristatus also has the curviest crest. The other two species had long crests with only slight curvature.

The shorter, more curved crest of P. cyrtocristatus may have been related to its immaturity at death, according to researchers.

For decades, the family tree of Parasaurolophus placed the two long, straight-crested species (P. walkeri from Alberta and P. tubicen from New Mexico) as most closely related despite being separated by more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and 2.5 million years.

This new analysis, together with information from other Parasaurolophus discoveries from southern Utah, suggest for the first time that all of the southern species from New Mexico and Utah may be more closely related than they are to their northern cousin.

This fits patterns observed in other dinosaur groups of the same age, including horned dinosaurs.

'This specimen is a wonderful example of amazing creatures evolving from a single ancestor,' said Sertich.

The specimen is detailed further in a paper published in the journal PeerJ.
Married At First Sight's Martha Kalifatidis hit Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach on Monday.

The 32-year-old appeared to be in great spirits as she donned a pair of dark sunglasses to blend in with the crowd on the warm summer's day.

Martha teamed her itsy-bitsy blue bikini with a colourful knee-length wrap skirt.

Beach babe: Married At First Sight's Martha Kalifatidis [pictured] couldn't help but pout as she flaunted her sensational curves on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Monday

The tanned beauty let her long ginger locks flow down her back as she strutted across the beach looking for a place to sit.

Martha accessorised her look with a stripey beach towel, a gold ring and a bracelet.

In one shot, Martha appeared to be looking off into the distance while she dusted off her striped beach towel.

The make-up artist-turned-Influencer is a local in Bondi, having moved into a two-bedroom apartment last year with boyfriend Michael Brunelli.

Famous: The tanned beauty let her long ginger locks flow down her back as she strutted across the beach looking for a place to sit

Is it a bird, is it a plane? Martha accessorised her look with always-fashionable black shades and a stripey beach towel

Sandy everywhere: In one shot, Martha appeared to be looking off into the distance while she dusted off her striped beach towel

In an image posted to Instagram a day earlier, Martha slipped into cobalt-blue swimwear at home to film some 'content' for her adoring fans 380K followers.

She captioned the steamy selfie, shot at the foot of her bed: 'Fresh content... me in my room taking pics.'

Her boyfriend Michael was quick to comment on the post, writing: 'So this is why our room got cleaned today.'

The risque shot comes after Martha showed off the results of her a new fitness regimen on Friday. The Channel 9 star flaunted her toned physique in skimpy swimwear while vacuuming her bedroom.

Content Queen: Former Married At First Sight star Martha Kalifatidis [pictured] slipped into a revealing blue bikini to make 'fresh content' in her bedroom on Sunday

Martha is currently in the middle of the Tru Fit 30 day fitness challenge, which is run by her boyfriend Michael Brunelli.

Michael often shares fitness advice with fans and most recently said that one of the best things people can do for their health is walking.

The 29-year-old personal trainer said: 'Now I'm not talking about a leisurely stroll. I'm talking about a solid pace where you get a sweat on.'
The Midland County Health Department expects to get 400 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week and will schedule clinics for people in the top tier of Phase 1B, which includes educators and law enforcement personnel as well as the senior population.

"We are, with limited vaccine, aggressively going after the top part of Phase 1B, which always includes our senior population, said Fred Yanoski, Midland County Department of Public Health director/health officer on Sunday. "We're going to do seniors every week."

He said last week the health department received 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and distributed doses in clinics, including ones on Saturday and Sunday. To date, the health department has administered 2,335 first doses, he said.

The state on Sunday announced it will deploy 300 additional Michigan National Guard (MING) members to support the state's COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts throughout the state.

Yanoski said the Midland health department has been in recent contact with the National Guard and used them for traffic control and logistics at a clinic as well as at last summer's two-day mass testing event at Dow Diamond.

"They are a tremendous resource to have, especially with their expertise in logistics and the response people in uniform get," he said.

He said his staff currently is able to handle the department's limited vaccine distribution but will use the National Guard for future, larger clinics.

"We look forward to getting more vaccine and bringing in the National Guard to come in and help us," he said. "They are a tremendous asset."

Saturday, Jan. 23 daily numbers

Midland County reported 14 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and two new deaths on Saturday, according to the daily state report.

A total of 17 new deaths were also added throughout the five-county region including Midland, Saginaw, Bay, Isabella and Saginaw counties.

 Midland County: Pandemic total is 4,053 cases, 555 probable, 52 deaths and three probable deaths.

 Bay County: 14 cases and seven deaths were added; pandemic total stands at 6,719 cases, 266 probable, 248 deaths and five probable deaths.

 Gladwin County: one case and three deaths were added; pandemic total stands at 1,173 cases, 209 probable, 38 deaths and three probable deaths.

 Isabella County: 18 cases and one death were added; pandemic total stands at 3,393 cases, 408 probable and 66 deaths.

 Saginaw County: 54 cases and four deaths were added; pandemic total stands at 13,221 cases, 650 probable, 455 deaths and 11 probable deaths.

The state on Saturday added 1,601 new cases and 221 deaths, including 205 deaths identified during a vital records review. Overall, Michigan is at 548,069 cases and 14,291 deaths.

Testing

The state report shows as of Jan. 23, Midland County has performed 48,823 COVID-19 tests. Gladwin County is listed as having administered 13,717 tests.

Midland Countys seven-day rolling positivity rate on Jan. 19 was listed at 6.3%, and Gladwin County was listed at 6.7%. Our 12-county region is 6.8% and Michigan is at 6.6%.

Vaccination sign up

Seniors age 65 and older can register for the vaccination by following the COVID Vaccination Information link in the upper left corner of the Midland County Health Department's website.

MidMichigan Health statistics

As of Jan. 22, MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland is listed as having a 82% bed occupancy, with 25 COVID-19 patients, including three in the ICU. MidMichigan Medical Center in Gladwin is listed as having an 8% bed occupancy, with no current COVID-19 patients and none in the ICU.

Regarding PPE supplies, the Midland hospital reported 15-30 days for N95 masks; 15-30 days for surgical masks; 30-plus days for surgical gowns; 15-30 days for exam gloves and 30-plus days for eye protection. The Gladwin hospital reported 30-plus days for all the reported supplies.
Slamming Prime Minister on Monday, Congress leader accused the central government of "attacking the farmers" by enacting the three new farm laws.

"The PM is attacking our farmers. He has brought three new laws that are going to destroy Indian (sector) and hand it over to two-three big industrialists. Imagine that one of the laws clearly states that farmers can't go to court to protect themselves," said Gandhi.

The Congress MP was addressing a gathering during a roadshow organised in Karur district of Tamil Nadu, ahead of the state's Assembly polls.

Gandhi further alleged that the PM Narendra Modi-led central government's wrong policies are responsible for ruining the country's economy, which left the youth jobless.

"Our youngsters are no longer capable of getting jobs and it is not their fault. It is the fault of the actions taken by our Prime Minister. Those actions include demonetisation and a flawed Goods and Services Tax (GST)."

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of communalism, the Congress leader further stated, "If we look at the nation and we see what PM has done over the last six years, we see a weakened India, a divided India, an India where BJP-RSS ideology keeps spreading hatred throughout the country. Our biggest strength, our economy, has been demolished."

The Congress leader is on a three-day visit to the western belt in Tamil Nadu. He is interacting with farmers, weavers and the general public over there.

Gandhi is in the state till today and is also scheduled to visit Dindigul district.

Assembly elections are due in Tamil Nadu in April-May 2021.

(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.)
Brazil's 'super-covid' variant has arrived in the US with a first case in a Minnesota resident who recently returned from the hard-hit South American country.

The variant - known as P1 - is likely around 50 percent more infectious.

It comes after President Biden reinstated travel bans blocking people travelers from entering the US from several countries with dangerous variants, including the UK and Brazil and added South Africa to the list.

But it was far too late. The Twin Cities resident tested positive for COVID019 on January 9 and was already ill by then.

Brazil's variant is particularly worrisome because its mutations may render vaccines less effective.

The Brazilian variant has a mutation in its spike protein (circled in yellow) that makes it more contagious, capable of reinfection and potentially more immune to vaccines

Minnesota now has a total of eight case of the UK variant of 'super-covid' in addition to the nation's first case of the Brazilian P1 variant (purple)

It is the first case of the P1 variant and the second imported variant to be imported to the US.

Just hours earlier on Monday, Dr Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner and board member of Pfizer said he believed the Brazilian variant was already in the US.

Direct flights between Brazil and the US have long been suspended but itineraries arriving in the US via layovers in others countries have still been available according to quick Google flight searches.

The person who was diagnosed with the new variant is a resident of the US and became ill the first week of January.

When they developed symptoms the person got tested for COVID-19.

Upon getting a positive result, they told the Minnesota health department that they had recently been to Brazil.

Health officials urged the person to isolate.

The sample was one of 50 random samples that University of Minnesota and state other state labs collected for genetic sequencing - the process that allowed them to tell that it was the new variant.

'Were thankful that our testing program helped us find this case, and we thank all Minnesotans who seek out testing when they feel sick or otherwise have reason to get a test,' said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm.

'We know that even as we work hard to defeat COVID-19, the virus continues to evolve as all viruses do.

'Thats yet another reason why we want to limit COVID-19 transmission  the fewer people who get COVID-19, the fewer opportunities the virus has to evolve.'

On Sunday night, former FDA boss Scott Gottlieb, said he was 'fairly confident' the Brazilian variant was already in the US too.

'I think we have to assume it's here. And I feel fairly confident that it is here and we're just not detecting it yet.

'There might be certain cities where there's hotspots of this virus, where it might be 5 percent of all infections.

If we're just sequencing one or two people within each of those cities, it's unlikely that we'll pick that up. We need a much broader effort.

'So I think based on the data we have, we can't confidently conclude it's not here.

'And just given how widespread it is in Brazil right now and how widespread it is in South Africa, and given all the connections we have to those nations, we have to assume it's in the United States right now,' he told CBS' Face the Nation.

Brazil is in the clutches of an absolutely devastating outbreak.

The new variant accounts for nearly half of all cases in the Amazons, and hospitals in the largest city in the region, Manaus, are so overwhelmed with patients the city is in the midst of an oxygen shortage.

Data collection in Brazil has not been as consistent, so the actually infectiousness of the new variant is not well understood.

But there are two clues: the devastation seen in the Amazons where the variant is on its way to dominance, and the mutations the Brazil variant shares with the South African one, which Dr Fauci said last week is the most worrisome one for the US.

The South African variant is estimated to be about 50 percent more infectious.

And the spike protein mutation it and the Brazilian variant share may make them both more resistant to vaccines.

In fact, Moderna also announced Monday that while it's vaccine still works well enough to be protective against the South African variant, lab tests suggest the antibodies triggered by the shot may be 60 percent less potent against the virus in vitro (in a cell culture, not a live animal or person).

It's possible the Brazilian variant could have a similar impact on the effectiveness of the shot - but it hasn't been tested directly in the lab, in animals or in humans.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman may announce a national bank in the upcoming Budget 2021 on February 1 for easy access to low cost fund for big infrastructure project, reports CNBC.

Sources have said that government may make it mandatory for Provided Fund, Pension and Insurance Funds to put a certain amount to this bank.

The proposed bank may have an authorised capital of Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 20,000 crore as initial paid up capital, the report said.

Multiple sources confirmed to CNBC that the bank will likely be set up by the government through a special law.

CNBC reported finance ministry sources as saying that the government has prepared a draft of the bill called- National Bank for Financing lnfrastructure and Development Bill, 2020 to set up the back that is likely to replace the lndia lnfrastructure Finance Company Ltd. It is learnt that this bank will have higher power and autonomy.

Reports suggest that the purpose of setting up this bank is to finance the National Infrastructure Pipeline.

The National Bank will not only provide long-term financing for infrastructure projects, but also ensure the financial closure of projects. It will also ensure any such project is close on time.
A bottle shop owner has been caught on camera fighting off two men twice his size after they tried to walk out of his store without paying for their alcohol.

CCTV footage showed the men enter Liquor.com on Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand, in June 2020.

One man, wearing a red shirt, makes a beeline for the fridge at the back of the store where he pulls out cases of alcohol.

The other man, wearing headphones, hovers around the front counter waiting for his friend.

A bottle shop owner has been caught on camera fighting off two men twice his size after they tried to walk out of his store without paying for their alcohol

As the pair go to leave, the store owner steps between the men and the front door.

He tries to grab the alcohol from their hands before the pair push him up against the door.

One of the men grab the owner and lift him off his feet before pushing him out of the way.

The men walk out of the store as the unrelenting owner tries to pull them back in.

Both men make it back into their silver Corolla before fleeing the scene.

Social media users were quick to heap praise on the store owner for his bravery.

'Respect to the little guy, he tried to stop those two buffaloes in spite of the size difference,' one person said.

Another person commented: 'Award for employee of the year.'

One of the men grab the owner and lift him off his feet before pushing him out of the way

The men walk out of the store as the unrelenting owner tries to pull them back in

Police said they received a report of an alleged theft incident at the liquor store on June 18.

'Two males entered to store shortly before 11pm and stole cases of alcohol,' police said in a statement.

'The storekeeper attempted to stop them leaving but has been assaulted by one of the men, who forced the staff member out of the way and fled in a vehicle.'

Police ask anyone with information about this incident to contact Police on 105, quoting file number 200622/2315, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The ABC has defensively backed down from describing Australia Day as 'Invasion Day' following a complaint from the communications minister.

The national broadcaster published an online events guide on Sunday interchangeably using a politically contentious term to describe the January 26 public holiday commemorating the British First Fleet's 1788 arrival in Sydney Cove.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher spoke out against this ABC article.

'The ABC online article is incorrect about Australia Day,' he said on Monday.

'The ABC has clearly got this one wrong.

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The ABC has defensively backed down from describing Australia Day as 'Invasion Day' following a complaint from the communications minister. The national broadcaster published an online events guide on Sunday interchangeably using a politically contentious term to describe the January 26 public holiday commemorating the British First Fleet's 1788 arrival in Sydney Cove. Pictured is a 2020 protest

'The name of our national day is well understood and supported, and for the ABC to suggest otherwise - that in some way Invasion Day is interchangeable with Australia Day - is clearly wrong.'

Hours later, the ABC issued a defensive statement arguing the policy was to refer to Australia Day.

'In light of some misreporting on this issue, to be abundantly clear: The ABC's policy is to use the term Australia Day, as it always has,' it said on Monday afternoon.

'As the editorial advice states, other terms can be used when they are appropriate in certain contexts. This does not mean they are used interchangeably.'

The ABC events guide on Sunday had described Australia Day as 'a contentious day for many' despite the national broadcaster's style guide recommending Australia Day as a 'default' terminology.

The initial article, which has now been amended, was titled 'Australia Day/Invasion Day 2021 events for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin'.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has spoken out against this ABC article. 'The ABC online article is incorrect about Australia Day,' he said on Monday.

Hours later, the ABC issued a defensive statement arguing the policy was to refer to Australia Day

The national public holiday was described as 'one of the most polarising dates on the Australian calendar' because it marked 'a day of sorrow for the colonisation of an ancient culture'.

'For some First Nations people, it is a day to mourn the past and galvanise the community to address ongoing systemic racial injustice,' the ABC public holiday guide said.

Jacinta Price, the indigenous Deputy Mayor of Alice Springs in central Australia, has campaigned to keep the date as is, arguing symbolism would do nothing to tackle alcohol and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities

'For others, it's a chance to spend time with family and friends at the beach or around barbecues.'

The ABC had earlier defended the decision to use the terms interchangeably as it would be 'inappropriate' to demand its staff to refer to one or the other.

Mr Fletcher, who represents the safe Liberal electorate of Bradfield on Sydney's wealthy upper north shore, said that original article was inaccurate.

'While the ABC has editorial independence, and I do not control what it says, I call on the ABC to correct this inaccurate article,' he said.

'The obligation on the ABC Board is clear under the Act: to ensure that the gathering and presentation of news is accurate and impartial.'

Not all indigenous Australians are opposed to Australia Day being celebrated on January 26 every year.

Jacinta Price, the Deputy Mayor of Alice Springs in central Australia, has campaigned to keep the date as is, arguing symbolism would do nothing to tackle domestic violence, alcohol and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities.

An ABC events guide, published on Sunday, described Australia Day as 'a contentious day for many'. Pictured is an Invasion Day rally last year

The councillor, who has Warlpiri heritage on her mother's side, was also a Country Liberal Party candidate at the 2019 federal election in the Labor-held seat of Lingiari in the Northern Territory.

Ken Wyatt, the Liberal federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, also supports keeping Australia Day on January 26.

He made history in 2010 as the first Aboriginal candidate to be elected to the House of Representatives.

Australia Day has been a national public holiday since 1994 after it was previously recogised in some states.

The movement against recognising January 26 gathered momentum in 1988 when indigenous activists held protests during the bicentenary commemoration. Pictured are Invasion Day protesters in 2020

Despite that, the ABC statement argued January 26 had been described differently in each state from Australia Day in New South Wales to '26 January' in South Australia, a dual-named 'Australia Day (26 January)' in Western Australia and Tasmania and '26 January (Australia Day)' in Queensland, the NT, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.

Indigenous activists have since 1938 protested against commemorating the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Harbour arguing the arrival of British people eventually led to the dispossession of land.

The movement against recognising January 26 gathered momentum in 1988 when indigenous activists held protests during the bicentenary commemoration that featured a tall ships re-enactment on Sydney Harbour.

Nonetheless, Mr Fletcher said Australia Day needed to be respected as a nationally recognised public holiday.

'The name of Australia Day is reflected in legislation across Australia. More important, it is reflected in the usage of the overwhelming majority of Australians,' he said.

Last year, Mr Fletcher complained to ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose after the Four Corners program 'Inside the Canberra bubble' suggested cabinet ministers Alan Tudge and Christian Porter had formed relationships with staff.

The Institute of Public Affairs think tank's director of communications Evan Mulholland said the ABC was divisive, despite receiving more than $1.19billion a year from taxpayers.

'It is clear that the ABC is now the Un-Australian Broadcasting Corporation,' he said.

'The government can and ought to step in and prevent the ABC from pushing divisive identity politics and diminishing our national day.

'It can refuse to fund a public broadcaster that doesn't respect Australian values.'

Some indigenous rights activists have suggested Federation in 1901, when Australia became a nation, was a more appropriate day for a national public holiday but this coincides with New Year's Day.
Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For the past several years the revenue projections for the global cannabis market have continued to rise at an extraordinary pace and the future looks even more impressive. More legalization has created more revenues and more competition for retail operators. In order to keep at the forefront retail dispensaries and growers/producer each have a way to ensure their being on the front of the wave for some time to come. For dispensaries, delivery is essential helping revenues and for growers/producers, new strains will set them apart. According to a recent report by ArcView Market Research and BDS Analytics, the global licensed dispensary sales of cannabis will reach $40+ billion by 2024 and that should rise as recently as New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota, and Montana became the newest states to legalize marijuana. This addition raised the total number of states with recreational cannabis use from 11 to 15 states and 3 territories. Active Cannabis companies in the markets this week include Christina Lake Cannabis Corp. (OTCPK: CLCFF) (CSE: CLC), Truelieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCQX: TCNNF) (CSE: TRUL), Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: CURLF) (CSE: CURA), Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTCQX: GTBIF) (CSE: GTII), Cresco Labs (OTCQX:CRLBF) (CSE:CL).

For growers/producers, creating strains with higher THC could be what they need to continue to hold and expend their market share. A recent report on Cannabis Industry Trends for 2021 by industry insider, TRYM said: "At the top of our cannabis industry trends list is the race to the highest THC %. There's an interesting two-way communication between producers and marijuana consumers in the legal marijuana market. Breeders and growers define what cultivars they choose to grow each year. And consumers vote with their dollars to signal back to brands, distributors and cultivators what strains they prefer.

Christina Lake Cannabis Corp. (OTCPK: CLCFF) (CSE: CLC.CN) BREAKING NEWS: Christina Lake Cannabis Announces 2021 Expansion and Crop Allocation for Upcoming Growing Season - Christina Lake Cannabis Corp. (the "Company" or "CLC" or "Christina Lake Cannabis"), is pleased to announce that its executive management and its team of Master Growers have agreed upon a provisional crop allocation structure for the 2021 growing season. Based on the 2020 performance of the Company's proprietary cannabis strains, which are genetically optimized for outdoor growth under natural sunlight, CLC has selected seven strains which would comprise approximately 90% of its 2021 crop. Additionally, the Company has elected to trial the outdoor performance of 49 other cannabis strains from CLC's seed bank and plant portfolio, which would comprise the remaining 10% of the Company's planned crop for 2021.

Although higher ratios of experimental growth are common in the cannabis industry, the Company is taking a conservative approach to its allocation for this year by heavily favouring strains in which CLC has the greatest degree of confidence based on previous results. The Company intends to continue focusing on extraction to produce winterized oils and distillates, which are presently in high demand for uses in medicinal applications as well as consumer packaged goods under "Cannabis 2.0".

In its December 18, 2020 press release, CLC shared details about its genetic databank which consists of more than 600,000 seeds and over 100 different proprietary strains of cannabis. Over a period of approximately three years, the Company experimented with combining genetics to optimize the properties of a given plant's biomass when grown under sunlight. These proprietary formulations are engineered with an objective of maximizing specific elements of a given cannabis plant (or their respective extracts) such as tetrahydrocannabinol ("THC") content and terpene profiles.

During trial periods of outdoor cultivation, the Company's Master Growers meticulously track the growth and performance of each proprietary strain, noting any areas of concern such as mildew or susceptibility to pests, as well as its flowering patterns and the plant's response to certain nutrients. Although the Company's primary objective is to cultivate cannabis for extractions with high THC content, certain strains with lower THC levels have been chosen for their highly desirable terpene profiles, which can be strategically utilized in specific products for end users. To read this and more news for Christina Lake Cannabis Corp., please visit https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-clc/

Other recent developments in the markets include:

Truelieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCQX: TCNNF) (CSE: TRUL), a leading and top-performing cannabis company based in the United States, recently announced the opening of a brand-new Florida dispensary, the Company's 77th nationwide. The new, 5,100 sq. ft. location marks the Company's first in Summerfield, expanding patient access to Florida's largest and broadest assortment of high-quality medical cannabis products.

The new dispensary supports Trulieve's goal of expanding and ensuring direct, reliable access to medical cannabis across its home state of Florida. It joins the Company's 71 other dispensaries statewide, including those in nearby Ocala and Lady Lake.

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: CURLF) (CSE: CURA), a leading U.S. provider of consumer products in cannabis, recently announced the closing of its previously announced overnight marketed offering (the "Offering") of subordinate voting shares of the Company.

The underwriters have exercised their over-allotment option in full, and as a result 18,975,000 subordinate voting shares of the Company were issued at a price of C$16.70 per share for total gross proceeds of C$316,882,500, before deducting the underwriters' fees and estimated offering expenses. Canaccord Genuity Corp. acted as lead underwriter for the Offering on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters including Beacon Securities Limited, Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corp., Cormark Securities Inc., Eight Capital and Haywood Securities Inc.

The Offering was conducted in each of the Provinces of Canada, other than Quebec, pursuant to a prospectus supplement to the Company's base shelf prospectus dated November 2, 2020 (the "Prospectus") and elsewhere on a private placement basis.

Green Thumb Industries Inc. (OTCQX: GTBIF) (CSE: GTII), a leading national cannabis consumer packaged goods company and owner of Rise retail stores, recently reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020. Financial results are reported in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("U.S. GAAP") and all currency is in U.S. dollars.

"This was an excellent quarter for Green Thumb as we delivered substantial revenue growth and our 'Enter, Open, Scale' strategy is generating meaningful operating leverage across our business. We expanded gross margins and EBITDA margins quarter-over-quarter while delivering positive net income for the first time. This was driven by the execution of our capital projects in Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the rebound in our Nevada and Massachusetts markets following the initial impact of COVID-19. We are poised to further benefit from the strong tailwinds driving a robust, multi-billion-dollar marketplace*," said Green Thumb Chairman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ben Kovler.

Cresco Labs (OTCQX:CRLBF) (CSE:CL), one of the largest vertically integrated, multistate cannabis operators in the United States, and Bluma Wellness Inc., a vertically integrated operator in Florida, recently announced they have entered into a definitive agreement (the "Agreement") pursuant to which Cresco Labs will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Bluma ("Bluma Shares") in an all-share transaction that values Bluma at an equity value of US$213 million (the "Transaction").

"Our strategy at Cresco Labs is to build the most strategic geographic footprint possible and achieve material market positions in each of our states. With Florida, we will have a meaningful presence in all 7 of the 10 most populated states in the country with cannabis programs  an incredibly strategic and valuable footprint by any definition. We recognize the importance of the Florida market and the importance of entering Florida in a thoughtful way  we identified Bluma as having the right tools and key advantages for growth. Bluma is known for having best-in-class cultivation in the state of Florida, a differentiated retail experience and omnichannel offering with effective delivery, a clear pathway to scale and an incredible management team. We have a proven track record of integrating assets in strategic states, improving fundamentals, and amplifying operations to take share in the most competitive cannabis markets," said Charles Bachtell, CEO of Cresco Labs. "In 2020, we demonstrated the growth and leverage that can be created by focusing only on the most strategic markets, executing high-quality cultivation at scale, and marrying it with a targeted, consumer-focused model of high-volume retail. In 2021, it's rinse and repeat. We're using the same playbook to go deeper in strategic states, including Florida  we look forward to bringing our Cresco Labs brands and our Sunnyside stores to the Sunshine State!"

DISCLAIMER: FN Media Group LLC (FNM), which owns and operates FinancialNewsMedia.com and MarketNewsUpdates.com, is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. FNM's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed FNM has been compensated forty five hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by Christina Lake Cannabis Corp. by a non-affiliated third party. FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.



This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.



Contact Information:

Media Contact email: editor@financialnewsmedia.com - +1(561)325-8757

SOURCE Financialnewsmedia.com
This article will be updated throughout the week with coronavirus case counts and other need-to-know information about the pandemic in San Antonio.

San Antonio officials reported 16 new deaths from COVID-19 over the past two weeks as the coronavirus maintained its grip on the region. Officials also disclosed Sunday that the virus had been confirmed as the cause of 59 additional deaths between Dec. 4 and Jan. 6. Since it began in March, the pandemic has claimed the lives of 1,967 people in Bexar County.

January 23

COVID-19 updates: The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reported 1,684 new coronavirus cases Saturday  563 fewer than reported the day before. The seven-day rolling average stood at 1,806 Saturday, decreasing by 165.

But the health authority also reported 18 new deaths Saturday, after two days of 17 deaths each. In one week, 176 people have died with COVID-19.

January 22

COVID-19 updates: The coronavirus continues to pose a serious threat to San Antonio as local officials reported 2,247 new cases and 17 more deaths Friday. For now, the citys risk level is classified as severe. Thats right below the worst possible level of critical.

January 21

COVID-19 updates: On Thursday, officials reported 2,507 new infections, pushing the seven-day average for daily new cases to 2,063.

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 17 more people in San Antonio, adding to the growing death toll from the latest coronavirus surge. Thousands more are still actively ill with the virus.

January 20

COVID-19 updates: For the first time this year, new COVID-19 cases in San Antonio have fallen to fewer than 1,000. Officials reported 850 new cases on Wednesday  a precipitous decline from the 2,395 cases recorded on Tuesday.

The relentless pandemic continued to exact a grim toll in Bexar County, killing 18 more residents over the last two weeks.

January 19

COVID-19 updates: San Antonio surpassed 150,000 coronavirus cases Tuesday as the winter surge of COVID-19 kills more residents and threatens to cripple area hospitals.

Officials reported 2,395 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, pushing the total since the pandemic began in March to 152,231. Ten more people have died of COVID-19, officials reported Tuesday. The youngest was a white man in his 30s.

January 18

1,281 new cases Monday, three deaths: At the start of January, hospitals were caring for 1,100 patients, 328 of whom needed intensive care and 178 relied on ventilators to breathe. Those figures have soared since then: Hospitals on Monday were caring for 437 patients who needed intensive care and 260 relying on ventilators to breathe.

Patients with COVID-19 now make up nearly 38 percent of all those hospitalized in San Antonio  more than double the 15-percent threshold that triggers the business occupancy restrictions and bar closures.

Area hospitals were caring for 1,520 patients with COVID-19 on Monday  253 more than the record set this summer, when state leaders shut down bars and mandated masks to stave off the virus.
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NEUVOGEN, an immunoncology company, is pleased to appoint Christian Ottensmeier MD, PhD, FRCP Head of our Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB").

"NEUVOGEN's technology platform differs from other immune priming technologies developed for solid tumors by virtue of its unprecedented breadth accompanied by an impressive adjuvant strategy," said Dr. Christian Ottensmeier, Head of the NEUVOGEN Scientific Advisory Board. "Even if only a fraction of the targets primed by their vaccine are translated into primed T cells, the vaccine breadth will still exceed what is possible with other modalities."

Ottensmeier continued, "NEUVOGEN's preclinical data demonstrates (in vitro) that their proprietary adjuvant strategy is able to prime against self-proteins preferentially expressed by tumors, opening the possibility that the vaccine may overcome peripheral tolerance. Furthermore, NEUVOGEN's preclinical demonstration can translate into clinical results based on their in vitro data which includes a favorable direct comparison to an allogeneic whole cell vaccine that showed efficacy in a segment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients."

Christian Ottensmeier MD, PhD, FRCP is Professor of Immuno-Oncology, University of Liverpool School of Medicine, Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, The Clatterbridge Cancer Center NHS Foundation Trust. Dr. Ottensmeier also currently serves as Adjunct Professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Dr. Ottensmeier's core academic interest links to his clinical practice: to understand and modulate adaptive immune responses in patients. His laboratory studies inform how best to induce tumor-antigen specific immunity through vaccination and how to overcome immune suppressive features of the tumor microenvironment. As a result, his research focuses on three areas of investigation: (1) the study of antigen-specific immune responses in patients, (2) assay development and validation, and (3) adaptive immune responses to tumor antigens.

Other members of the NEUVOGEN SAB are:

David Reardon, MD is Clinical Director of the Center of Neuro-Oncology, Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School. He previously served as President of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. Dr. Reardon is an active researcher with special interests in the design and implementation of clinical trials for neuro-oncology and the preclinical evaluation of promising therapeutics for central nervous system tumors. His work includes using innovative clinical therapeutic agents to improve outcomes for patients with brain and spinal tumors, with particular focus on immuno-therapeutics.

Dr. Abul Abbas, MBBS is Distinguished Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Abbas' research interests are in immunology, with a focus on the control of immune responses and the causes of autoimmunity. His laboratory has used experimental models to analyze the generation and maintenance of regulatory T cells. Dr. Abbas has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and invited reviews and is the author or Senior Editor of multiple widely-read textbooks of Immunology and Pathology.

Hideho Okada, MD, PhD is Director and Principal Investigator of Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Center, at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is Professor of Neurological Surgery at UCSF. He also serves as a Parker Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy Investigator. As a physicianscientist, Dr. Okada has been dedicated to brain tumor immunology and the development of effective immunotherapy for brain tumor patients for over 20 years.

Adil Daud, MD is Professor of Medicine and Dermatology at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and serves as Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Division, UCSF. He also is a Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Investigator. Dr. Daud is an expert in immunotherapy and has pioneered the development of novel immunotherapeutics and targeted therapies.

Lyudmila A. Bazhenova, MD is Professor of Clinical Medicine, Lung Cancer Unit Leader at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Bazhenova's clinical practice and research concentrate on lung cancer. Dr. Bazhenova has vast experience in clinical trial management, design and implementation. She serves a vice chair of UC San Diego Protocol Review and Monitoring committee.

A link to comprehensive biographies can be found at www.neuvogen.com.

About NEUVOGEN

NEUVOGEN, Inc. is an immunoncology company focused on whole cell cancer vaccine therapies. NEUVOGEN believes its cancer vaccines have the broadest combination of tumor associated antigens and tumor specific antigens ever delivered in a cancer vaccine and as a result can directly target a greater percentage of cancer cells in a solid tumor than any previous cancer vaccine. Based in San Diego, California, NEUVOGEN's goal is to develop therapeutic cancer vaccines that activate the body's immune system to eradicate solid tumors and meaningfully extend the lives of patients while limiting side effects. To learn more, visit www.neuvogen.com.

SOURCE NEUVOGEN

Related Links

http://www.neuvogen.com


The one thing 5-year-old Amaya Lopez wanted for her 6th birthday was a cat.

That wish came true on Saturday.

Amaya got to pick out her present at the countys animal shelter in Bonita during the fourth annual Clear the Shelters campaign, a nationwide effort to find forever homes for animals.

Amaya found what she was looking for when she met Butters, a 1-year-old tabby.

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She had a cute collar and a cute face, Amaya said just before she, her 1-year-old sister and their mother walked away from the shelter with their new family member.

Butters was one of about 608 animals that were adopted across San Diego County as part of the Clear the Shelters initiative, which was sponsored by NBC 7 and Telemundo 20.

An estimated 75,000 animals were adopted nationwide as of early evening.

In San Diego County, a dozen shelters waived adoption fees for dogs, cats and rabbits as part of the campaign.

Its a good day, said Dan DeSousa, director of San Diego County Animal Services, which participated in the campaign. Any day an animal leaves here, its a good day.

DeSousa said the first prospective owner to show up at the county shelter in Bonita arrived around 5:45 a.m.  hours before the facility opened its doors at 9:30 a.m.

It is truly exhilarating to watch all these people here so eager to adopt, and to see some of these animals walk out our gates today, DeSousa said.

Waves of people visited the Bonita shelter all day  from young couples to families with children eager to find a pet. Some looked for their first dog or cat, while others hoped to find a companion for a pet at home.

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They peeked at dogs in outdoor kennels and at cats in so-called condos.

Before each adoption, staff and volunteers reviewed an application, spoke with the prospective owners about the pet and gave them the opportunity to meet and interact in a designated play area.

Our goal is to find the animals here the perfect home, DeSousa said.

Most animals were spayed or neutered and microchipped before Saturday and ready to go to their new homes.

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Robert Zuniga walked out of the shelter with his wife, 19-year-old son, 16-year-old daughter and the new addition to their family: Scarlet, a 3-year-old red and white Siberian husky.

Were very happy, very excited, said Zunigas son, Diego.

The family from Chula Vista had confirmed Scarlet was the dog for them when they interacted with her in the play area, where at one point, while Diego Zuniga sat on his knees, Scarlet jumped on him, placing her paws on his shoulders.

It was a great connection from the start, he said.

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Edna Cabrera, of Chula Vista, left work early to find a companion for her dog, a Chihuahua mix named Alaska.

She found Keith, a 5-year-old Mexican hairless dog/terrier mix that was shy in his kennel but later warmed up when Cabrera got to play with him.

I really liked him, said Cabrera, who re-named her new dog Chucho.

By the end of Saturday, about 70 animals were adopted at the Animal Services two shelters in Bonita and Carlsbad.

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DeSousa said the main challenge of finding a home for animals in shelters is simply that not enough people show up to adopt.

Theres so many (animals), and not enough people who want to adopt, he said.

Fourtunately, shelters in San Diego County are not overcrowded, DeSousa said.

No shelter in San Diego County has euthanized for (issues related to) time or space in ages, he added.

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He said county shelters only euthanize an animal if it is suffering from a severe medical condition.

Other agencies that participated in the Clear the Shelters Campaign in San Diego County include the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility, El Cajon Animal Services, Rancho Coastal Humane Society and the San Diego Humane Society.

Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

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Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez

UPDATES:

4:05 p.m. on Aug. 21: This article was updated to remove statements from an Animal Services volunteer who erroneously said Leslie, a 4-year-old pit bull at the shelter in Bonita, was adopted as part of the Clear the Shelters campaign. This article was originally published at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 18.
President Joe Biden's Treasury Department is reviving a plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill after it was delayed under President Donald Trump.

The decision to put Tubman, a former slave and noted abolitionist, in place of former President Andrew Jackson was made by the Obama administration in 2016. But last year then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said any change would be delayed until 2030 because of anti-counterfeiting technology requirements.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who served as communications director for former President Barack Obama, said Monday that Treasury would take the steps necessary to put Tubman on the $20 note.

'I was here when we announced that and it was very exciting,' she said at her press briefing. 'The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes.'

'A note reflects the history and diversity of our country and the Harriet Tubman image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that. So we're exploring ways to speed up that effort but any specifics would, of course, come from the Department of Treasury,' she said.

Tubman would be the first woman and first African American to be featured on an American paper currency. Tubman, who served as a 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, is a civil rights icon.

President Joe Biden's Treasury Department is reviving a plan to put Harriet Tubman on $20 bill

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office on Monday

The plan to replace Andrew Jackson with Tubman was originally made in the Obama administration but delayed under President Trump's administration

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Treasury Department would take the steps to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill

The original plan to change the currency was not without controversy.

In April 2016, then-Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced the plan to put Tubman on the bill while, at the same time, saying founding father Alexander Hamilton would remain on the $10 bill instead of being replaced with a woman.

The proposed changes to the American currency were part of a larger effort by the Obama administration to be more inclusive to women and minorities.

Harriet Tubman was a former slave turned abolitionist, who served as a conductor on the Underground Railroad during Civil War

But Hamilton's popularity was high due to the hit Broadway musical 'Hamilton' from Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had pressured Treasury to keep Hamilton on the $10.

However, a number of high-profile women complained about Lew's decision, writing to him to ask him to select a woman for the $10 note because a redesign of the $20 bill will take longer to complete, possibly up to 10 years.

'As a country, it is about time we put our money where our mouth is in the fight to support women,' states the letter signed by, among others, Ellen DeGeneres, Katie Couric and Gloria Steinem.

But the plan to change on the $20 was put into place, with the expectation the change would come in 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment establishing womens suffrage.

Jackson is a controversial president who has been accused of genocide for his role in orchestrating the removal of Native Americans from lands to the east of the Mississippi River. He sent them marching west on the so-called Trail of Tears.

Last year Mnuchin said the redesign would not be released until 2030 because the new currency would require the development of anti-counterfeiting technology and a new print process.

'I just want to clarify that we have not changed any of this and this is something in the distant future,' Mnuchin said, calling reports that he had delayed it a 'myth.'

His decision came amid nationwide calls for racial justice since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

But officials said because the $20 bill is the standard A.T.M. note it has a high volume that requires major security features and sufficient time to make those security changes.

Andrew Jackson is one of Donald Trump's favorite presidents. Trump hung Jackson's portrait in the Oval Office as seen above and to the left. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump criticized the Obama administrations plans to take Jackson off the $20

The Obama administration also proposed to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 with a woman but the founding father was enjoying high popularity because of Lin-Manuel Miranda's (above) hit Broadway musical

The $10 bill also was slated to be redesigned and released in 2026. Mnuchin said he had no intention of replacing Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary, on that bill.

Additionally, Jackson is one of Trump's favorite presidents. Trump hung Jackson's portrait in the Oval Office.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump criticized the Obama administrations plans for the $20 bill.

'Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think its very rough when you take somebody off the bill,' Trump said at the time.
New Delhi:

The government would do everything possible for the safety and well-being of Indians in Qatar which has been battling economic sanctions from a number of Arab countries, said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday.

Please do not worry. We will do everything required for the safety and well-being of our countrymen. We are in touch with our Ambassador, Swaraj tweeted.

Her response came after one Ramana Kumar asked her about the governments plans to ensure security of Indians in Qatar.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt had imposed a boycott on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

The government had on Thursday said all Indians in Qatar were safe and secure and special flights were being operated to facilitate travel of those who wanted to come home as connectivity from that country had been hit due to restrictions imposed on it.

Also read: Sushma Swaraj asks Indian envoy in Saudi to help nurse pushed into slavery in Gulf country

Also read: Sushma Swaraj says Iran has released 25 Tamil Nadu fishermen detained since March 2017



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"At Enertia, we believe a large part of this accomplishment is due to our customers for helping us achieve such a remarkable score," Vince Dawkins, President & CEO

The Net Promoter Score is calculated based on responses to a single question: How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague? NPS can be as low as 100 (all detractors) or as high as +100 (all promoters). An NPS of +50 or over is considered excellent.

Enertia Softwares customer support solution initiative was announced in 2019 as the organizations core priority. The internal campaign was thoughtfully released with the intention of setting an industry standard for innovating customer support solutions for the upstream oil and gas software industry.

Our support solutions spanned beyond the NPS score to include a 10% increase in customer satisfaction score for an average of 98% positive customer replies, mentions Vince Dawkins, President and CEO for Enertia Software.

The momentum to push for our customers couldnt have come at a better time to help support them with innovative solutions and new approaches in work from home efficiencies across all of our support services, Dawkins concludes.

Ive never experienced such a vast improvement in such a short time span, comments Steve Fryer, President of CXOpportunity, a 20-year established independent client relations leader. Team Enertias dedication and commitment to the customer has evolved beyond expectations with response readiness, extensive training, and tangible results to position them well above their current score by the end of this quarter, Fryer mentions. It is exciting to observe the remarkable supportive relationship between Enertia and its customers. Enertia has listened and taken its customers feedback to heart, resulting in improved service exactly as the customer requested. When a company and its customers work so closely together, the results are almost always impressive," Fryer concludes.

The high score was obtained by Enertia proactively reaching out to all their customers for their objective feedback on how Enertia could improve the customer experience. I think it's important to stress that the success is the result of the unique partnership between Enertia and its customers because Enertia understands the best way to improve customer satisfaction is to work hand in hand with their customers to understand what can enhance the customer experience, Fryer adds.

All of these efforts by Enertia are going to continue, with outreach to customers twice a year so the customer experience can continue to improve, Dawkins adds. Enertia has no plans of resting on its achievements. At Enertia, we believe a large part of this accomplishment is due to our customers for helping us achieve such a remarkable score; emphasizing the importance of our partnerships and the needs of each customer, Dawkins concludes.

About Enertia Software:

Enertia Software is a fully integrated, enterprise grade system that can be uniquely and individually tailored. Enertia is designed specifically for the needs of the energy industry and provides unparalleled integrated functionality to vertically incorporated upstream oil and gas companies.

About CXOpportunity:

CXOpportunity is a service-centric, client relations leader, with successes spanning more than 20 years directing client relations for firms known for elite customer experiences. CXOpportunity expert customer service skills align with their client's need for innovation and continual improvements within the customer service arena.
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Chief minister Fabian Picardo issued a statement describing Monday as "our saddest day", as the number of people who died from or with Covid-19 had risen to 45.

"I am shaken to the core by the knowledge that, since I addressed Parliament just 72 hours ago, 21 of our fellow Gibraltarians have died of complications relating to Covid-19. Gibraltar has not experienced such loss of life in such a short time since the 1951 explosion of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ammunition ship, the Bedenham," he said.

Unfortunately, the situation has continued to worsen, and by Wednesday 53 people had lost their lives, although the number of infections has gradually been reducing since Gibraltar went into lockdown again on 2 January.

Picardo also said that the vaccine brought hope, and 4,875 more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were delivered to the Rock from the UK on Wednesday evening. A further delivery of 6,825 doses is expected very shortly.

So far, over 7,000 people have been vaccinated, including frontline staff, over-65s and the clinically vulnerable, and nursing students from Gibraltar university have been fully trained to assist the Health Authority by administering the vaccine.

Despite the lockdown restrictions, some people are still failing to wear a mask when out and about in the town centre, and the Royal Gibraltar Police even took to social media to highlight the fact that one resident had been fined and taken to court for repeatedly refusing to do so, despite having no medical or other reason not to comply.
The combination of symplr and Phynd expands the healthcare industry's leading end-to-end GRC platform of scale by enhancing symplr's provider data management offering to enable management of a provider's profile, location, clinical expertise, health plan and network participation, and programs. symplr's provider data management SaaS platform will now offer hospitals, health systems, and health plans an industry-leading pathway for leveraging symplr's credentialing and privileging data in several patient-facing applications, including provider directory, provider search, digital front door, and provider scheduling.

Growth through acquisition, coupled with organic expansion and product innovation, is an integral part of symplr's business strategy to deliver the industry's leading healthcare GRC SaaS platform. The acquisition of Phynd represents symplr's eleventh acquisition in the past six years, and its sixth under sponsorship from Clearlake and SkyKnight since November 2018.

"We're very excited to welcome Phynd to the symplr family," said BJ Schaknowski, CEO of symplr. "Their SaaS solutions will integrate with our provider software solutions to create an unmatched end-to-end provider data management platform for hospitals, health systems, and payers. This addition will deliver unparalleled value to our customers."

"We look forward to joining the symplr team," said Tom White, CEO of Phynd. "symplr's leading GRC SaaS platform, further enhanced by Phynd's deep provider data management, provider search, and integration capabilities, will extend the Company's impact across the healthcare landscape, enhancing consumer experiences, clinical operations, health plan and network management, and revenue cycle operations."

"This is an impressive milestone for symplr as the acquisition of Phynd provides highly complementary cloud provider directory management technology, expanding the company's capabilities and addressable market," said Behdad Eghbali, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Prashant Mehrotra, Partner, of Clearlake. "The combination of both platforms further establishes symplr as the healthcare GRC software leader, and we look forward to supporting the symplr management team as they drive consolidation in the industry and accelerate organic growth."

"We are excited to support symplr in its acquisition of Phynd," said Claude Burton, Partner, and Jordan Milich, Principal, of SkyKnight. "The acquisition enhances symplr's offerings and is an exciting step toward delivering an even more comprehensive end-to-end healthcare GRC SaaS platform."

Harris Williams and Healthcare Growth Partners served as financial advisors to symplr.

About symplr

As the global leader in healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance software, symplr has a single mission: to make healthcare GRC simpler, resulting in improved efficiency, better outcomes, and safer patients. symplr customers depend on our provider data management, workforce management, contract management, spend management, compliance, quality, safety, and facility access solutions to drive positive outcomes and to protect their patients and staff. More information is available at www.symplr.com .

About Clearlake Capital

Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a leading investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake's operational improvement approach, O.P.S. The firm's core target sectors are technology, industrials and consumer. Clearlake currently has approximately $25 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 200 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @ClearlakeCap.

About SkyKnight Capital

Founded in 2015, SkyKnight Capital manages over $1.5 billion in private equity capital on behalf of leading institutional family offices, foundations, and endowments. SkyKnight makes long-term investments into high quality businesses in acyclical growth sectors alongside exceptional management teams. SkyKnight aims to build category-leading businesses with a clear growth orientation in healthcare, insurance, and business services. More information is available at www.skyknightcapital.com.

Media Contact

Lambert & Co.

Jennifer Hurson

845-507-0571

[email protected]

SOURCE symplr

Related Links

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Srinagar:

As an encounter raged between security men and militants holed up inside the Public School here, Jammu and Kashmirs top cop today said the enemy has nefarious designs to destroy school buildings in the Valley so that children abandon their studies.Director General of state Police S P Vaid said his men want to ensure minimum collateral damage.



The staff and whoever was inside the building was evacuated yesterday. Cordon was maintained and we will have room intervention done and get these terrorists eliminated, but with minimum collateral damage.



We want to ensure that the (school) building is safe, because the enemy has a nefarious design that the school buildings are destroyed and children have nothing to study and ultimately abandon their studies, which we will ensure that no such thing happens, he told reporters here.



He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a wreath laying ceremony of a CRPF officer killed in the attack by militants on a road opening party of the force on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway at Pantha Chowk yesterday.



The militants then took refuge inside the school premises.

Read | Encounter breaks out in DPS Srinagar, Pantha Chowk, 2 army personnel injured, 2 terrorists killed

The DGP said the operation to flush out the militants was getting prolonged because of the size of the building.



There are 36 rooms, the building is huge. So, it has to be searched floor by floor, room by room, he said, adding the building where the militants are holed up has been located.



The school has seven buildings.



Vaid said there are reports of the presence of two militants inside the building.The exact number will be known after the search of the building is over, but as per the information, there are two probably, he said

.Asked whether the security forces were using drone cameras and other hi-tech gadgets to help flush out the militants, the top cop said, We will use whatever equipment we have.



Two army personnel were injured in the encounter today as the security forces launched an offensive to flush out the militants.



The militants had entered into the premises of the school in Srinagar last evening after carrying out an attack on CRPF personnel deployed on road opening duty near the school on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.



One CRPF officer was killed and a constable of the force injured in the attack that took place in high security zone located less than a kilometer away from headquarters of Armys Chinar Corps.



Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched search operations in the large school campus.



Authorities have imposed restrictions under section 144 CrPc from Ram Munshibagh to Sempora stretch of the national highway as a precautionary measure to avoid protests near the encounter site.

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Its not clear if every school will accept the money. Northwestern University and the University of Chicago declined the first allotment after other wealthy institutions turned it down amid criticism of their vast endowments. A Northwestern spokesman said the school hasnt decided if it will take the new money and is evaluating the Act and guidance from the Department of Education. A U. of C. spokesman said the school is also reviewing the issue.
Roger Sollenberger, a staff writer for Salon, has accused Sen. Tom Cotton of lying about his military service. Sollenberger writes:

In his first run for Congress, Cotton leaned heavily on his military service, claiming to have been a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, in a campaign ad, to have volunteered to be an Army Ranger. In reality, Cotton was never part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the elite unit that plans and conducts joint special military operations as part of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

But Cotton has never claimed to be a part of the 75th Ranger Regiment. He has always said that he served with the 101st Airborne. Thus, there is no contradiction between what Cotton said about his service  the first sentence quoted above  and the fact set forth in the second.

The reality is that (1) Cotton is a Ranger School graduate, (2) graduates of the Ranger School earn the Ranger Tab, and (3) thereafter they are Rangers.

This is clear from this U.S. Army Ranger Association bulletin, which calls for nominations for the Ranger Hall of Fame. It states that candidates must have served in a Ranger unit in combat or be a successful graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School. (Emphasis added) Either accomplishment makes one a Ranger.

This reality is also clear from the statement by legendary Ranger Gen. Scott Miller at a ceremony for Ranger School graduates:

Youll leave Victory Pond today with a small piece of cloth on your shoulder, but more importantly, you carry the title of Ranger from here on out.

(Emphasis added)

Thats why Rick Merritt, the Regimental Sergeant Major for the Ranger Regiment, called Salons attack on Cotton is almost slanderous. Cottons] 100 percent a Ranger, he will always be a Ranger, Merritt stated.

Salon itself understands that graduates of Ranger School are Rangers. It described first female Ranger school graduates as the first female U.S. Army Rangers, even though they werent eligible to join the Ranger Regiment. And the bio of a Salon journalist describes him as a Ranger, apparently by virtue of having graduated from Ranger School.

Salons definition of Ranger seems to depend on a graduates gender or political leanings.

Here is a partial list of other publications that have described Ranger School graduates as Rangers: NBC News, NPR, Business Insider, Time, Politico, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and Fox News.

Tom Cotton is an American hero. After 9/11, he left a job in Big Law and volunteered, not for the JAG Corps, but for combat. In Iraq, he led patrols through the perilous streets of Baghdad.

When he was about to be discharged from the Army, Tom volunteered for a stint in Afghanistan. He told me he hadnt yet done enough for his country.

None of this would justify lying about his service record. However, a journalist who chooses to accuse Tom of this better have a solid case.

Sollenberger has no case. Hes attacking Cotton for a claim he never made  service in the Rangers Regiment. He has concocted a definition of Ranger thats inconsistent with that of the Rangers and even Salons.

Cottons heroism has always caused the left angst. When Cotton first came to the publics attention, via his letter to Power Line, some questioned whether he existed.

His existence firmly established, along with his status as a GOP leader and his potential for national office, the left now wants to discredit Cottons military service. Thats what Sollenberger hopes to do in his hit piece.

He fails to accomplish his mission.
Indian development economist Jayati Ghosh is among 20 prominent personalities appointed by the United Nations to a high-level advisory board that will provide recommendations for the UN Secretary-General to respond to the current and future socio-economic challenges in the post-COVID-19 world.

Ghosh, 65, is a professor of economics at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University for nearly 35 years and has authored several books.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) announced that the 20 "prominent personalities, globally renowned for their intellectual leadership in economic and social fields, will form the second United Nations High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs."

Over the next two years, the board will strengthen the United Nations thought leadership on sustainable development and reinforce its impact on policies at every level from global to local, it said.

Comprising a diverse group of experts from around the world, the board will closely collaborate with UNDESA to provide guidance and focused recommendations for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to respond to current and future socio-economic challenges in the post-COVID-19 world and to advance the Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The first United Nations High-level Advisory Board was established in June 2018 as a key element of the efforts to support the UN Member States in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Over the course of the last two years, the interventions and insights of the board greatly expanded the understanding of UNDESA of some of the most burning economic and social issues shaping the world and inspired the United Nations to break new ground in policy research, the UN agency said in a statement.

Born in 1955, Ghosh got her M.A, M. Phil. in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and joined Cambridge University for her Ph.D.

Also Read:Biden ropes in 20 Indian-Americans in administration, 17 at key White House positions

She's starring in the newest series of Celebs Go Dating.

And Chloe Ferry showcased her peachy bottom in skimpy cut-off blue denim shorts as she shared a sizzling Instagram snap from her recent Dubai trip.

The Geordie Shore star, 25, flaunted her svelte figure in a pink string bikini top as she lowered her gaze in the picture which she posted on Monday.

Sizzling: Chloe Ferry, 25, showcased her peachy botto in skimpy blue denim shorts and a pink string bikini top as she shared a sizzling Instagram snap from her recent Dubai trip on Monday

She posed with her back to the camera, showing off her golden tan and a tattoo going down her spine.

Chloe tied her golden locks back in a ponytail, keeping her accessories to a minimum wearing diamond earrings and a gold watch.

The reality star captioned the photo 'Dream catcher' with a feather emoji, referencing the wall decoration she is standing in front of.

She has posted a series of snaps from her recent work trip to Dubai, including a glamorous shot of herself in a stunning emerald dress on Sunday.

Glam: Chloe showed off her ample assets in the skintight emerald dress with cut out details at the side which she posted to social media on Sunday

Chloe showed off her ample assets in the skintight dress which showcased cut out details at the side, throwing a white shirt on to tie the look together.

Staying true to her signature glamour, she wore long eyelashes and a glossy lip to highlight her natural beauty.

Her blonde tresses hung loose around her shoulders as she smouldered for the camera.

Heading home: The reality star filmed herself heading to the airport in black leggings and a cropped black jacket as she posed with her matching Louis Vuitton holdall and suitcase

The TV personality headed home from her trip to warmer climates, and documented her trip home on her Instagram Stories.

She filmed herself heading to the airport in black leggings and a cropped black jacket as she posed with her matching Louis Vuitton holdall and suitcase.

Chloe then donned a mask as she filmed herself on the way to the airport before showing fans her seat on the flight home.

Enjoying a green drink on the flight, she joked: 'Time to get some goodness back in my body. Looks like snot, but it tastes nice.'

Selfies on the go: The star donned a mask as she filmed herself on the way to the airport before showing fans her seat on the flight home to the UK

The star had recently taken to Instagram to say she was she was looking forward to getting back into her gruelling fitness regime.

She said: 'I'm back home in a few days and I'm not gonna lie I'm actually really excited to get back to doing some workouts I want to start training and eat healthy every single day and get some work done.

'It's really really out of my routine here I can't wait to just get in the gym get training every single day, I know you probably can't tell I've put weight on but I can feel it in myself.

Wow: Chloe flaunted her peachy posterior in a sizzling Instagram snap on Friday after admitting she's gained weight during her lavish getaway to Dubai

'I just can't wait. I know I've obviously been training a little bit out here, and I was at the start just living on chicken Caesar salads, but then it started becoming burgers everyday and pizzas and stuff like that.

'So I'm gonna really get my mind in a good place, eating healthy, meditating, stuff like that.'

Chloe is one of dozens of reality TV personalities who had swapped the UK's third lockdown for some sun in the UAE, claiming the trip was for 'work purposes'.

But many fed-up Brits have unfollowed a slew of reality stars' accounts with Anton Danyluk, 25, and Laura Anderson, 31, dropping a combined 26,000, reports The Sun.
A Tennessee man who is also known as the 'zip tie guy', for carrying flexible plastic handcuffs during the United States Capitol siege earlier this month which is confirmed by the authorities, was about to be released but a District of Columbia federal judge has granted a stay in the motion to release from custody.

Chief Judge for the United States District of Columbia, Beryl A. Howell has ordered the 'zip tie guy' Eric Munchel, to be transported by the United States Marshals Service to the District of Columbia for further proceedings.

Howell ruled that the lower court's order be upheld pending a review.

A judge for the United States District Court of Middle Tennessee, Judge Chip Frensley, ruled on Friday after a five-hour detention hearing that Munchel should be released from custody.

Tactic to Delay Release

Ben Schrader, a U.S. Attorney appealed the ruling and the stay on order by Howell was a tactic to delay Munchel's release on Monday

According to News4, Frensley mentioned that he did not believe Munchel to be a flight risk and that he does not believe he posed an obvious and clear danger to the American community.

Eric Munchel, who was known for being one of the Capitol rioters who is considered as a 'zip tie guy,' was arrested on January 10 for his role in the riots.

Munchel was arrested and held in Davidson County Detention Centers, as he faced charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds.

Munchel's mother, Lisa Eisenhart, was also arrested on January 16 in the city of Nashville with similar charges.

Read also:National Guard Denies Guardsmen Guilty Turning Backs on Presidential Motorcade in Washington DC

The 30-year-old man from Tennessee is one of five individuals who can be tied with the state in connection with the Capitol riots.

In order to ensure the safety of the community, federal prosecutors are arguing regarding the offenses of Munchel if those were serious enough in detaining him and pending trial.

Based on court records, the Federal Bureau of Investigations searches the home of Munchel and they have found the gear that the 'zip tie guy' wore on January 6 when they stormed the Capitol along with other rioters, multiple weapons, five pairs of plastic handcuffs, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, including a drum-style magazine, CBS reported.

With the charges mentioned, Munchel possibly faces up to 20 years of imprisonment if convicted.

The 'zip tie guy' has been under the custody of the federal FBI since his arrest on January 10, the date when he turned himself over to authorities.

Moreover, in a memorandum in support of the detention, prosecutors stated that Munchel traveled to Washington with his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, who has also been charged in the Capitol riot, Yahoo! News reported.

The two participated in the 'Stop the Steal' rally of Donald Trump wherein the former president repeated his claims of election fraud and exhorted the crowd to march to the Capitol and 'fight like hell' but no basis was presented.

Based on the court documents, Munchel allegedly went into the chamber of the Senate just minutes after the chamber had been evacuated.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Gustavo Huerta, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The Texas GOP drew attention over the weekend for using its slogan, "We are the storm," on publicity materials and its Twitter account, which critics say links the party to QAnon.

"The Storm" is a phrase widely visible within the QAnon movement, a web of baseless conspiracy theories that claim a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles run the world and were plotting against former President Donald Trump. Origins of the movement are linked to an anonymous 4chan account calling itself "Q Clearance Patriot," who claimed "The Storm" was when Trump would expose those plotting against him. Many believed Inauguration Day would start "The Storm."
The Nagol is Back! VTOs guide to this years Nagol, plus where to stay and play in south, central and north Pentecost.
The Petroleum Facilities Guard has shut down the Hariga oil port in eastern Libya after the National Oil Corporation delayed the payment of salaries for its members, the Libya Observer reports, adding that according to the PFG, some 1,000 of its members have not been paid for a year.

A few years ago, the Petroleum Facilities Guard blockaded all the Libyan oil ports. This action suspended exports until the Libyan National Army, a group affiliated with the eastern Libyan government, wrested control of the ports and handed it over to the National Oil Corporation.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Corporation, Mustafa Sanalla, warned of lower oil revenues for January because of maintenance work on oil transport infrastructure, which will reduce the flow of oil. For December, the NOC reported record revenues of $1.115 billion, yet Sanalla noted that the government has been slow in disbursing money the corporation needs to keep operating after more than eight months of oil port blockades that have cost it billions in lost revenues.

The Petroleum Facilities Guard, meanwhile, has been threatening the suspension of exports again. Earlier this month, the guards blocked the loading of at least one oil cargo at the Hariga port and delayed it, signaling that Libyas recovering oil production is still facing substantial challenges such as export disruption.

Meanwhile, however, the North African nation has managed to ramp up its oil production from less than 100,000 bpd in September when the LNA lifted the oil port blockadeto 1.25 million bpd at the end of 2020. This has been bad news for oil exporters as prices slumped, pressured by the additional supply. It may also have been one reason for Saudi Arabias decision to cut an additional 1 million bpd from its oil production to reverse the price drop.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
As a state MP for 15 years and Victorias deputy premier from 1999 to 2007, John Thwaites was constantly in the public eye but after politics he has flourished in academia as a sustainability advocate.

Professor Thwaites, 65, has been made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2021 Australia Day honours, for significant service to the environment, and to the people and Parliament of Victoria.

Professor John Thwaites

As chair of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute at Monash University and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, he sees himself as a bridge between researchers, government and business.

The Institute works in Australia and Asia on climate action, sustainable cities and developing a more environmentally conscious approach to water management.
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Now the decision should be considered by the PACE Monitoring Committee and the Committee on Rules and Procedures (Regulatory).

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has backed Ukraine's initiative to appeal the credentials of the Russian delegation.

The relevant initiative of Head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE Maria Mezentseva was backed by 38 PACE members from over five delegations. These votes were enough to ensure an appeal, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

Read alsoMezentseva voted in as new chair of Ukraine's delegation to PACEBoris Tsilevitch (Latvia), presiding over the assembly, said the corresponding initiative must be supported by 30 representatives from at least five delegations for Russian delegation's credentials to be appealed.

Mezentseva proposed to appeal the Russian delegation's credentials because of the policy of the Russian authorities aimed at violating political and civil freedoms, arrests of opposition leaders and hundreds of Russian citizens, violations of human rights in occupied Crimea, as well as violations of many PACE resolutions.

She reiterated persons from the territories occupied by the Russian Federation were illegally included in the Russian delegation to PACE.

Now, after appealing the Russian delegation's credentials, the decision should be considered by the PACE Monitoring Committee and the Committee on Rules and Procedures (Regulatory). The monitoring committee within 24 hours must prepare a report and present it to the delegates on the situation with the observance of human rights in Russia, while the regulatory committee must prepare an opinion on the appeal of powers.

The PACE winter session is being held in Strasbourg on January 25-28.

Grounds for appealing Russian delegation's credentials in PACE

During the opening of the session, Ukrainian delegates, as well as their colleagues from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Georgia planned to initiate a procedure for appealing the Russian delegation's credentials, DW's Ukrainian service reported.

According to the PACE regulations, procedural problems or substantive grounds could lead to an appeal. This includes a violation of Article 5 of the Charter of the Council of Europe, which states that each member state must respect the principle of the rule of law and guarantee to all its citizens the protection of their rights and fundamental freedoms.

If the initiative receives support, the issue will be considered by the PACE monitoring or regulatory committee. In its resolution, the committee may recommend to the assembly to confirm credentials, not to confirm them, or to confirm with restrictions.

Russia in PACE: Previous developments

In April 2014, PACE stripped the Russian delegation of the right to vote and expelled its representatives from all governing bodies of the Assembly over the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.

Russia then refused to pay contributions to the Council of Europe as of June 2017. Many PACE members and politicians called such actions of Russia blackmail.

On June 25, 2019, PACE adopted a resolution that canceled the existing mechanism for imposing sanctions against delegations.

On June 26, 2019, PACE voted to ratify the credentials of the Russian delegation without imposing any sanctions. This allowed Russia to return to the Assembly's session hall, and it reportedly resumed paying its contributions.

Reporting by UNIAN
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
New Delhi:

The Congress on Saturday slammed Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu for his remarks on the importance of learning Hindi and asked him not to give sermons and befool the country with his partys parochial views.

Surprisingly and ironically, Venkaiah Naidu is giving us sermons on importance of Hindi in English which he is deprecating.

We would advise the BJP leader to sop befooling the country with his parochial views and understand that no one can undermine the importance of our national language Hindi, AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

He said Indias strength lies in its diversity of cultures, languages and spirit, as also the capacity to encompass all of it.

Will BJP now prohibit use of Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Odiya, Marathi, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati and other languages. Will Venkaiah Naidu ji promise to never use Telugu here and after, he said.

Naidu had said it is important to learn the Rashtra Bhasha (national language) Hindi as most people in the country speak this language.

He also stressed on the promotion of Matrbhasha (mother tongue) and lamented that too much importance was attached to English in the country.

Also Read: Presidential Poll | Meira Kumar made scapegoat by Congress, says BJP

The minister was speaking at an event in Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad where he presented 100 volumes of collected works of Mahatma Gandhi in English to the Ashram.

Hindi as Rashtra Bhasha (national language) is very important, we cannot do without it...Most people in our country speak Hindi, so learning Hindi is also important... but we should be fluent in our mother language like Gujarati, Marathi, Bhojpuri..., Naidu said.

We should bring them (these volumes) in all Indian languages. I do not call them regional languages because they are mother languages and national languages. Because English came subsequently. Hindi became Rashtra Bhasha subsequently, Naidu said.

Also Read: Cracks in opposition ahead of crucial meet, Meira Kumar meets Sonia

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Skeleton of Female Dormitory at PSS Mankon Ndi Tsembom

No fewer than 60 girls and 73 boys are seeking alternative accommodation at Presbyterian Secondary School, PSS, Mankon after their dormitories went up in flames in under 24 hours.

Three students were injured when the boys' dormitory went up in flames at about 8:30 pm on Friday, January 22, 2021.

Around the same time on Saturday, January 23, 2021, the girls' dormitory also went up in flames.

Authorities have ruled out the possibility of an electrical fault.

Preliminary reports suggest that armed separatists operating in the area set the dormitories on fire. This supposition is supported by the fact that elements of the Army Rescue, on their way to PSS Mankon Saturday night, came under attack from separatist fighters.

Authorities are of the opinion that the non-state armed groups planned the dormitory fires. But the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC, Rt. Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba says "the source of the fire is yet to be ascertained".

At the time of this report, no separatist group had claimed responsibility.

Students say they "were having preps on Saturday night when fire engulfed the female dormitory. Soldiers of the Army Rescue Unit were not forthcoming. It took the bravery of male students to rescue part of our belongings."

The charred remains of beds, mattresses, trunks, clothes, and groceries, among others, lie in and out of the affected dormitories.

Administrative authorities assured parents and guardians that the situation is under control.

"Two separate fire incidences at the campus of PSS Mankon on Friday, 22nd and Saturday 23rd January 2021 affected three dormitories and the property of some students," Rt. Rev. Fonki, proprietor of Presbyterian schools said. "The students in the affected dormitories have been relocated and the Proprietor, in collaboration with the Education Secretary and the administration of the school, is doing everything possible to ensure that affected students are well catered for."

The campus of PSS Mankon also hosts Presbyterian Secondary School Bafut. The Member of Parliament for Bafut-Tubah Constituency, Hon. Oliver Agho visited the school Sunday, January 24, 2021, to evaluate the extent of the dormitory fires.

"One of our duties is to accompany our population in distress anywhere they find themselves and to ensure that they regain their dormitory and get back to classes, it was important for me to answer the call made by the SDO and the city Mayor of Bamenda, "Hon. Agho told The Observer.

The lawmaker donated 150 roofing sheets to Presbyterian Secondary School Mankon. He is quoted as telling the school officials and students that, "the state is accompanying them and will do everything to bring the perpetrators to justice".

As a measure to ensure that all the students continue attending classes while the dormitories are refurbished, the Principal of PSS Mankon, Dr. Mbaku Henry had to pair students in the other dormitories not affected.

To decongest the students at the various dormitories, the Member of Parliament for Mezam-Center Constituency, Hon. Nestus Fru Manju donated mattresses, buckets, and blankets to the school Sunday night.

While on an assessment visit to PSS Mankon Sunday, the Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam, Simon Emile Mooh instructed the Mayor of Bamenda II to see into the reconstruction of the boys 'dormitory while the Mayor of Bafut maintains the girls' dormitory.
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To access low cost funds for big infrastructure projects, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may announce a national bank in Budget 2021 on February 1. The proposed bank may be incorporated by enacting a special law from parliament, three different sources confirmed the development.

According to sources, the ministry of finance has prepared a draft of the bill called - the National Bank for Financing infrastructure and Development Bill, 2020. The proposed bank may have an authorised capital of one lakh crore rupee and twenty thousand crore rupees as an initial paid-up capital.

To meet the adequate capital, the bank will be financed through a tax-free fund, and there will be higher borrowing limits and lower capital adequacy requirements compared to NBFCs. A direct access to the line of credit from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may also be provided. Suitable changes in the RBI Act and the banking regulation act may be proposed.

The government may make it mandatory for Provident Fund, Pension and Insurance Funds to put a certain amount in the proposed bank. This bank will replace the India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (llFCL) with higher power and autonomy.

The national bank will provide easier and long term financing to the big infrastructure project. The bank will also facilitate infra project restructuring, financial closure of the project. Apart from these activities, the bank will also engage in monetisation of the project and regular monitoring for timely completion.

The main purpose of the bank is to finance the project of National Infrastructure Pipeline. The government has planned a total infrastructure investment of Rs 11.1 lakh crore in the next five years.
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Action Financial Services Declared Defaulter, Expelled by NSE

Mumbai-based Action Financial Services (India) Ltd (AFSL), a listed company, which in October last year closed its business, has been declared as defaulter member and expelled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Similarly, NSE Clearing Ltd has also declared AFSL as defaulter. The exchange has also advised investors to file their claims within three months.

In a public notice, NSE says, "...Action Financial Services has been declared defaulter under Byelaws 1(a) of Chapter XII of the Byelaws of the Exchange and expelled under Rules 1 and 2 of Chapter IV of the Rules of the Exchange."

In a statement, NSE Clearing says, following AFSL being declared by other exchange and clearing corporations, it has declared AFSL as defaulter in accordance with SEBI circular issued on 17 March 2010.

NSE has also asked investors of Action Financial Services to submit their claims within three months online on its website

(hhttps://investorhelpline.nseindia.com/NICEPLUS/welcomeuser) and upload relevant documents. Investors can file their claims offline as well after downloading forms and submitting it physically at NSE offices from across the country.

"All claims submitted by investors will be considered for processing if found due and payable in accordance with Rules, Byelaws, Regulations and Guidelines of the Exchange, SEBI circulars and Regulations and the maximum compensation limit per investor is Rs25 lakh out of the Investor Protection Fund (IPF)," the Exchange says in a public notice.

Read: Action Financial Services Closes Trading Business Leaving Investor-clients in Lurch ) As reported by Moneylife, in October 2020, Action Financial Services had closed its business as a stock trading member. While AFSL disabled its terminals from 18 September 2020, several of its clients were clueless about this decision and were raising complaints on social media about their money being stuck with the brokerage. (

In a regulatory filing in September last year, Action Financial Services says, "...we are a trading member registered in capital market, equity derivatives, currency derivatives segment of the NSE and capital market segment of the BSE. We have voluntarily requested the membership departments of the BSE and NSE on 18 September 2020 to disable our trading terminals in all segments from closing of trading hours on Friday, 18 September 2020."

A few days later, the company decided to dispose of its depository business. A resolution passed in its board meeting says, "...having received the approval of the audit committee, the consent of the board be and is hereby accorded to sell or dispose of the depository business of the company, taking into consideration the estimated investment being less than 20% of net-worth as per the audited balance sheet as on 31 March 2019, and estimated income being less than 20% of total income during the previous financial year, as continuing with the said business may be detrimental/ disadvantageous to the interest of the company and its stakeholders."

Several investors are finding it difficult to access their account details and are not being given pool account shares and money, despite contacting top management, including Milan Parekh who is chairman and managing director (CMD) of the brokerage.

AFSL has also witnessed the exit of independent directors. Earlier this month, Harbhajan Singh Dhillon and Bindiya Joshi, both independent directors, resigned from AFSL. While Mr Dhillon cited prolonged illness, Ms Joshi clearly stated that she resigned due to "personal reasons as well as owing to the decision of the company to voluntary close the membership registration with the BSE and NSE."

Earlier on 25 August 2020, its joint managing director (Jt MD) and chief financial officer (CFO) Bakul Parekh resigned. Bakul Parekh is one of the promoters of AFSL along with his brother Milan Parekh. This explains why despite resigning as Jt MD and CFO, Bakul Parekh remains as non-executive, non-independent director of AFSL.

While there was so much action happening in AFSL, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was either too slow to act or not bothered at all.

Set up in 1992, AFSL is in the retail broking business and had membership of the NSE, BSE and National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL).

AFSL has two subsidiaries, Action Securities Ltd and Action Commodities Ltd, which are yet to start full-fledged operations. AFSL has not yet declared its financial results for the year ended in March 2020.
Carmel McMahon from Finglas, receives a meal delivery from Garda Anna Szczepan and Garda Louise O'Sullivan while cocooning last year. The study found over 40pc disliked the term cocooning. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA

One in six older people who are cocooning because of Covid-19 do not seek medical attention when they feel very unwell, a new study revealed today.

It also highlighted the effect on their physical and mental health, as well as increasing loneliness.

The findings emerged in a new study by researchers from Trinity College Dublin and St Jamess Hospital outlining the health effects faced by older people while cocooning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The findings published in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine looked at cocooning for the over-70s from October to December last. Cocooning is staying at home and reducing face-to-face interaction with other people to reduce the risk of contracting coronavirus.

The study revealed:

Almost one in six participants reported that when cocooning they did not seek medical attention for an illness, when they otherwise would have done so. Half of those who did not seek medical attention said this was because they were afraid of catching Covid-19.

Almost 40pc reported their mental health was worse or much worse since the start of cocooning.

More than 57pc of participants spoke of loneliness at least some of the time while cocooning, with one in eight reporting they were lonely very often. Participants were almost twice as likely to report loneliness if they lived alone.

More than 40pc of participants told of a decline in their physical health since cocooning and one in five reported not leaving their house at all since being advised to cocoon.

Despite this, more than 60pc agreed with the Government advice regarding cocooning while one quarter of participants reported they did not agree with the advice.

Read More

More than 40pc disliked the term cocooning but almost 10pc reported they liked the word.

Dr Robert Briggs is a research fellow in medical gerontology at Trinity College and a consultant geriatrician at St Jamess Hospital, Dublin. The senior author of the study, he said: These findings highlight the potential secondary impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people.

"While cocooning is important and reduces the likelihood of older people becoming unwell with Covid-19, there may be important adverse impacts on the health of those who cocoon that also need to be addressed.

"Given the possibility of further waves of Covid-19, with the likelihood of ongoing restrictions despite the rollout of vaccines, clear policies and advice for older people around strategies to maintain social engagement, manage loneliness and continue physical activity should be a priority.

Dr Laura Bailey, specialist registrar in geriatric medicine at St Jamess Hospital, Dublin and first author of the study added: It is a particular worry that one in six older people who were acutely unwell did not seek medical attention, often for fear of contracting Covid-19.

"We must give a clear message to older people that when you are unwell that you should seek medical attention and that hospitals and general practices have appropriate infection control practices in place and continue to deal with non-Covid-19 related medical issues.

Meanwhile, Alone, the support organisation for older people, said it was seeking clarity on Irelands vaccination strategy and implementation for older people, addressing the importance of quality for access.

The organisation is taking action after one in five calls to their national support line in the past week related to general Covid-19 queries, vaccination and testing questions and the restrictions that concern older people as Level 5 looks to continue well into February.

Of these Covid-19 calls, roughly half of these older people were specifically asking about when they would be receiving the vaccine.

One caller to the Alone national support line was dissatisfied at the knowledge provided by the Government around the vaccination rollout.

Alone said it also believed that keeping to the promise of the rollout timeline was essential to support the reintegration of older people in society. The organisation is seeking clear instructions to be issued by the Government as guidance, in addressing who will contact older people and when.

It is appealing for the strategy to be adhered to and for those who are more vulnerable to receive the vaccine in the estimated timeframe.

Alone has received a number of reports of phone scams relating to the administration of the vaccination in homes, which only drives the need for clarity of information.
Two South Jersey men were fatally shot Sunday during a birthday party at a Burlington County home, authorities said.

James Gist III, 29, of Westampton, and Marcus Thompson, 29, of Willingboro, were pronounced dead at the residence on the 200 block of Dogwood Road in Edgewater Park Township shortly after police arrived around 1 a.m., according to a statement by Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Edgewater Park Police Chief Robert D. Hess.

About 10 people were present at the party, but no one else was shot, according to the statement.

Authorities are investigating the deaths as homicides. No arrests had been made by late Sunday afternoon.

Authorities ask that anyone with information contact Burlington County Central Communications at 609-265-7113 or at tips@co.burlington.nj.us.
Tarkwa-Nsuaem Member of Parliament (MP), George Mireku Duker has called on the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery to pay listening ears to issues affecting the grass roots.



Speaking on "Kokrokoo" on Peace FM, Hon. Mireku Duker cautioned the Interior Minister against entertaining a character he (Mireku Duker) has noticed around him following his appointment as Minister.



Mr. Ambrose Dery served as Interior Minister in the four-year term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and has once again had the nod to serve another term with the President.



A statement issued by the Communications Directorate at the Presidency disclosed names of Ministers appointed by the President in his second administration.



The President has reduced his large size of Ministers to 46 and among them are Mr. Dery.



Touching on the ministerial appointments, Hon. Duker asked Mr. Dery not to stay in office speaking "big English grammar" but rather be on the grounds working.



"He must go to the grass roots and listen to the grass roots. He must pay heed to the ongoing issues, so he can attend to issues as they're happening. I feel the experience he has gained, he must build on the experience," he said.



He also urged him (Ambrose Dery) to listen to "some of us, in Parliament, we will whisper but he must be ready to listen to us. He must be ready to listen to us as Members of Parliament. We know what's happening on the grounds and so I believe he will pay a good listening ear to the things we share with him and take appropriate steps to address them".







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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We thought we were ready. We told ourselves we were. Then we told this lie to the world. We are open for business. We are COVID-free! Read more
So far, China has developed three leading vaccines in the fight against COVID-19, produced by the companies Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino. However, in the race to inoculate their populations, developing nations have found themselves pushed to the "back of the queue" by Western countries.



As of the time of writing, China's vaccines have been procured and donated to most of Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, as well as several countries in Europe. A growing number of leaders in these countries have also taken the vaccines, including the prime ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, Turkey's President Recep Erdogan and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia.

However, not everyone is convinced. Despite the importance of China's international vaccine cooperation, the Western mainstream media has persistently portrayed Chinese vaccines in a negative light, depicting them as unreliable, dangerous and amplifying doubts toward them.

The level of scrutiny surrounding Chinese vaccines has not been shared equally by U.S.-produced vaccines, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, despite legitimate concerns about side effects. Chinese journalists have also been attacked for pointing out these discrepancies.

It is quite clear that there is a campaign to discredit China's vaccines  one which is motivated more by politics than facts. Western media and political elites have spent the past year whipping up negativity against China and blaming Beijing unfairly for the virus in order to manufacture consent for tough policies. Therefore, the general goal of proliferating negative coverage based on Sinophobic stereotypes, is to dissuade countries from procuring Chinese vaccines.

There is a longstanding stereotype in Western discourse that Chinese products are unreliable and of inferior quality. For decades, China has been at the center of manufacturing and supply chains, meaning it has been repeatedly associated with goods that are "cheap" and "poor quality." However, such an understanding overlooks the nuanced fact that as China has developed, so has its capabilities and workforce. Meanwhile, the country has subsequently moved "up the value chain," producing more sophisticated and higher quality products. The products China made in the 1980s and '90s, are not the same as those nowadays, while that portion of manufacturing is increasingly associated with other markets.

However, those seeking to oppose China in Western media and government circles are well aware that this stereotype can be weaponized to political ends, and it is of course an easy avenue for discrediting Chinese vaccines. While sophisticated digital products made by China  such as smartphones and high-tech applications  have been accused of espionage in the bid to try and discredit them, a vaccine is a product that requires a much higher threshold of public trust and credibility to be used. This provided an easy route of attack for critics peddling the idea that China's vaccines aren't safe enough. Against such a background, it's not hard for people to believe it.

Most of the attacks have concerned the outcome of Sinovac's clinical trials in Brazil, where a recalibration of the results purportedly showed an efficiency rate of only 50% if "mild cases" were excluded. The mainstream media jumped on this, ignoring the fact that the same methodology would also reduce the efficacy rate of Pfizer's vaccine too, and further dismissing other Sinovac trials in Turkey which showed a 95% success rate, and a 78% one in Indonesia. Some U.K. tabloids also dishonestly portrayed Sinovac as if it were producing China's only vaccine. Meanwhile, mainstream American newspapers have persistently claimed that the vaccines "lack transparency" and sowed various stories of distrust amplifying voices of people in countries who said they won't take the vaccine.

However, this rhetoric isn't yielding results. Countries who procure Chinese vaccines have to grant them independent regulatory approval and utilize their own judgement. President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines sought to down-play negative reports in securing Chinese vaccines, noting: "The Chinese are smart." In addition, China is making these vaccines in conjunction with other countries via joint production agreements. For example, the UAE has secured a license to produce Sinopharm vaccines and is voluntarily distributing them to other countries, such as Sudan.

Therefore, contrary to media hysteria, China's vaccines are not part of a zero-sum game whereby a country simply buys a product and takes one's word for it, leaving room for deception. This is a multilateral effort and engagement which is allowing nations around the world to get vaccines quicker, all without the supply chain hurdles that companies such as Pfizer face as they need to keep their vaccines in extreme cold temperatures.

Likewise, with Western countries largely hoarding vaccines for themselves, China's role is a gamechanger. It goes without saying that those promoting scare stories and negative content about such vaccines are doing so out of political motivations.

Tom Fowdy is a British political and international relations analyst and a graduate of Durham and Oxford universities. He writes on topics pertaining to China, the DPRK, Britain and the U.S. 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 YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UM, the global media agency network of IPG Mediabrands, today announced the appointment of Christine Villanueva to U.S. Chief Strategy Officer. Villanueva will be responsible for the agency's strategy product and capability roadmap, and will be the driving force in uncovering marketplace opportunities, identifying new and innovative strategic storytelling capabilities. Villanueva will also be charged with developing industry-first strategies and propositions to futureproof clients' businesses and drive short- and long-term growth. Reporting directly to UM U.S. CEO, Lynn Lewis, Villanueva will be a key member of the Executive Leadership Team.

"We are thrilled to have Christine join our team as we continue to deepen our strategy offering and deliver on our promise to help our clients futureproof their businesses," said Lewis. "A dynamic leader and future-facing strategist, Christine will leverage the power of strategy to unlock opportunities that drive strategic excellence and better business outcomes for today and tomorrow."

In her role, Villanueva will develop end-to-end consumer strategies in collaboration with the agency's analytics, research, planning and investment functions, as well as UM Studios, the agency's creative content arm, to develop communication platforms that will inspire full funnel content and innovative media plans.

"With their unrivaled access to rich data and consumer insights, as well as their ability to connect with audiences through creative storytelling that shapes culture, there has never been a more exciting time to join the UM team," said Villanueva, "I look forward to collaborating across the agency to drive smart thinking across platforms and touchpoints to deliver innovative and creative strategic offerings to new and prospective clients."

Prior to joining UM, Villanueva served as the Chief Strategy and Brand Officer at Walton Isaacson where she led the strategy team and an internal rebranding of the agency, and worked with clients including Lexus and McDonald's. She also built out the agency's Diversity & Inclusion offering. Villanueva spent time at McCann New York as an Executive Strategy and Analytics Director, leading all planning, branding and communication efforts across several iconic brands. Villanueva holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan.

ABOUT UM

UM is a global media agency committed to Futureproofing our clients' businesses for the now and the next. We leverage the transformational power of rich business analytics and real-time intelligence to maximize growth and activate the full consumer journey across content and connections. Our consultative approach and agile model, rooted in diversity, equity and belonging, drive better business outcomes for brands. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 5,000 people innovating on a roster of global clients including Accenture, American Express, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Fitbit, GoPro, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Mattel and Spotify. For more information, please visit https://www.umww.com/.

SOURCE UM

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Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor handles approximately 10,000 rail cars, 75 ships, 325,000 trucks, 450 barges and 200 Great Lakes vessels per year. View the complete port director job description at https://www.portsofindiana.com/about-us/careers/

Ports of Indiana today announced that Ian Hirt has resigned after four years as port director of Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor, effective May 3, 2021. The Ports of Indiana executive leadership team has commenced plans to hire a new port director.

In his statement, Hirt explained he is returning to the private sector.

It has been an honor to lead the northwest Indiana port that has an impressive 50-year history, said Hirt. It truly has been a pleasure to work with an outstanding executive leadership team, staff, tenants, commission and community partners.

During Hirts tenure, the northwest Indiana port achieved the following:



Implemented numerous environmental initiatives including the adoption of its own stormwater management program authorized by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management;

Received 2019 South Shore Clean Cities Sustainability Leadership Award for its work to reduce diesel emissions throughout the port;

Received 2019 Northwest Indiana Partners for Clean Air Industrial Award for its work to improve air quality in northwest Indiana;

Completed exceptional year of handling heavy-lift cargo in 2020, including cargo for a $1 billion power plant, one of the largest shipments in its 50-year history;

Extended its partnership with Federal Marine Terminals, a nationally-renowned stevedore company.

Additionally, Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor hosted Indianas first U.S. Navy vessel commissioning ceremony for USS Indianapolis.

We are grateful for Ians professional leadership and dedication to help grow Indianas economy through notable project cargo shipments, environmental stewardship and partnership opportunities throughout the northwest Indiana port, said Vanta E. Coda II, CEO of Ports of Indiana. As we work through this transition, we are confident our staff will continue delivering exceptional service to our port companies. We wish Ian the best of luck in his next endeavor.

The Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor has nearly 600 acres of land and 30 port companies, including 15 steel-related companies and three steel mills. The port handles approximately 10,000 rail cars, 75 ships, 325,000 trucks, 450 barges and 200 Great Lakes vessels per year.

The port director is responsible for managing daily operations for Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor to ensure optimal, effective use of facilitates and execution of operational strategy. In addition to having at least five years of experience, the qualified port director candidates must have a proven record of success in marketing and sales, leading and supervising others, strong knowledge of the freight transportation on the Great Lakes and Inland Waterway shipping and commerce.

View the complete port director job description at https://www.portsofindiana.com/about-us/careers/

###

About the Ports of Indiana: The Ports of Indiana is a statewide port authority operating three ports on the Ohio River and Lake Michigan. Established in 1961, the Ports of Indiana is a self-funded enterprise dedicated to growing Indianas economy by developing and maintaining a world-class port system.
The Moderna Covid-19 vaccine can still protect people who are infected by the more infectious strains from the UK or South Africa although it may be less effective against the latter and require a booster shot, the drug company announced today.

The Moderna vaccine  along with the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine  are the only two jabs approved for use here yet.

The company is now working on a booster shot for people who get the vaccine and are infected by the South African strain.

Read More

Over 6,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been delivered so far and they have been mostly administered to GPs.

The fear is that Covid-19 vaccines will not work against new strains.

A statement said today that no significant impact on the immune response to the UK variant was found.

However, the vaccine generated a weaker immune response against the South African strain, but the antibodies remained above levels that are expected to be protective against the virus.

It is now working on a booster shot against the South African strain in an abundance of caution.

This is be because of concerns protections against the South African variant may wane.

The UK variant is now the strain affecting over 60pc of people here who get the virus. The South African strain has not been detected here.

Stephane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna said, As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna should be protective against these newly detected variants.

Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Centre at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, said hes glad Moderna is preparing for this possibility.

Prepare for it. Sequence these viruses. Get ready just in case a variant emerges, which is resistant to the vaccine, he said..

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said new data showed that the Covid-19 vaccines currently on the market may not be as effective in guarding against new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus. Some early findings that were published in the preprint server bioRxiv indicate that the South African variant can evade the antibodies provided by some coronavirus treatments.

Read More




South Carolina Health Officials Shift to Simplified Call Center for Vaccine

Health officials in South Carolina are rejoicing as a new COVID19 vaccine registration portal prepares to launch, replacing a system that many users and employees have described with rather harsh language. In fact, Marshall Taylor, acting director of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control has called the system a four-letter word.

The DHECs first system started on January 13th, following the announcement that seniors would be allowed to receive a vaccination. The Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) is described as being overly complicated, slow, and totally inefficient. The system requires users to select green dots on a map to find available appointments, then using that information to contact providers. VAMS also requires users to provide an email address, which many senior citizens in South Carolina simply do not have.Health care providers are also hindered by VAMS, with many employees reporting that the system spontaneously cancels appointments.

Its a difficult system for the providers to use, and DHEC, and the public, most importantly., Taylor emphasized.

The new centralized online system will allow users to see providers available appointment times, and can schedule both their first and second shots. Both the Moderna and Pfiszer vaccines require a follow up shot several weeks after the first to ensure immunity. Staff will also be increased at the call center by 100 people, and is expected to grow by several hundred as demand continues to grow. South Carolina receives roughly 63,000 doses of the vaccine per week from the federal government.

Until the new system is officially up and running, South Carolina residents are being encouraged to use the DHEC website and social media pages for important updates.

Edited by Maurice Nagle
The Nagol is Back! VTOs guide to this years Nagol, plus where to stay and play in south, central and north Pentecost.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks edged lower in cautious trade on Monday as investors awaited a slew of corporate earnings results as well as the Federal Open Market Committee's policy meeting this week for directional cues. Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to deliver his first speech since U.S. President Joe Biden entered the White House at the World Economic Forum's 'The Davos Agenda 2021' online event. The Federal Open Market Committee monetary policy decision and briefing by Chair Jerome Powell are scheduled for Wednesday. The benchmark CAC 40 dropped 6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,553 after closing 0.6 percent lower on Friday. Telecommunications operator Orange rose 0.6 percent. The company announced that it has agreed to sell 50 percent equity interest and co-control of Orange Concessions to La Banque des Territoires, part of France's state-owned bank Caisse des Depots, insurer CNP Assurances and EDF Invest consortium. Meanwhile, Sanofi, Capgemini, Generali and Orange announced plans to create a joint venture in France that will help model the healthcare solutions of the future. The companies will create a digital ecosystem to federate large companies and startups at a European level, around an open-innovation approach. Sanofi shares gained half a percent and Capgemini was marginally higher. Eurofins Scientific edged down slightly. The testing laboratories company said its business outlook remains strong for 2021 and beyond. 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.
Dixon Technologies, a contract manufacturer of electronic goods, on Monday saidits wholly-owned subsidiary Padget Electronics has entered into an agreement with HMD India for manufacturing smartphones.

"Dixon's wholly-owned subsidiary - Padget Electronics, has entered into an agreement with HMD India for manufacturing of smartphones. The smartphones will be manufactured at Padget's manufacturing facility situated at Noida, Uttar Pradesh," the company said in a regulatory filing.

Dixon Vice Chairman and Managing Director Atul B. Lall said: "..we have partnered with as manufacturers of smartphones in India, which is an iconic brand. They have established a strong and trusted foothold globally thanks to their advanced technology.

"We are sure that with their vision and stringent industry-leading processes, combined with our expertise in manufacturing, we will be able to bring a range of to customers."



In December last year, had announced that Padget Electronics Pvt Ltd has entered into an agreement with Motorola Mobility LLC for manufacturing smartphones.
David Wessel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where Ms. Yellen most recently worked, said that she is likely to play a key role in working with Congress given her credibility with both Republicans and progressive Democrats. He suggested that, because of Mr. Bidens long history in the Senate, Ms. Yellen could be less involved in haggling with lawmakers and deployed to make the economic case for certain policies.

I expect theyll use her as an asset when they need an expert, Mr. Wessel said. Particularly if some people need to be talked into something.

While she gained the support of many Republicans, several voted against her confirmation, including Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska. Mr. Sullivan said on the Senate floor that he voted against Ms. Yellen because she refused to commit to being an advocate for all of the above energy policy, including natural gas and oil. Ms. Yellen has made combating climate change and creating incentives for clean energy a priority at Treasury.

As a matter of fact I thought it was shocking, Mr. Sullivan said, noting that he made the decision to vote against Ms. Yellens confirmation reluctantly given her strong qualifications.

In addition to negotiating with lawmakers, Ms. Yellen will have the responsibility of being the United States most senior economic diplomat at a time of frayed global tensions. Ms. Yellen will have to try to repair Americas economic relationships around the world, including with allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union, which became strained under President Donald J. Trump.

Those relationships will be critical given the Biden administrations plan to try to combat what Ms. Yellen called Chinas illegal, unfair and abusive economic practices by marshaling allies to exert pressure on Beijing.

At her confirmation hearing, Ms. Yellen said that China was engaging in practices that give it an unfair technological advantage and said the administration was prepared to use Americas full array of tools to address that. One of her first challenges will be to review the trade deal that Mr. Trump struck with Beijing, including Chinas failure to meet its commitments, and determine if the United States should keep tariffs on $360 billion worth of Chinese goods.
By Carl Bildt



STOCKHOLM  A sigh of relief swept across Europe when it became clear that Joe Biden would replace Donald Trump in the White House. New leadership in the United States would mean that after four years of disruption to the transatlantic relationship, an era of constructive cooperation on bilateral and global issues was at hand.



But in recent weeks, that previous sense of relief has given way to nervousness as the U.S. political scene has plumbed new depths of dysfunction. America's democratic institutions have withstood assaults unlike anything seen since the Civil War. The ransacking of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6  broadcast live to a stunned world  will not soon be forgotten.



The hatred and disdain for democracy exhibited by the insurrectionists will not disappear with Trump's departure. Millions of Trump supporters around the country will maintain the false belief that the election was stolen. Trump has left American society deeply wounded, and Europe with an abiding sense of nervousness and concern for its longtime ally's future.



Much has changed since early December, when the European Commission released a document outlining its vision for renewed EU-U.S. cooperation. "With a change of administration in the U.S., a more assertive Europe and the need to design a post-corona world," EU leaders saw a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to design a new transatlantic agenda for global cooperation."



Hopes were high. Biden and his impressive team of advisers have made clear that they will reach out to friends and allies to address pressing global challenges such as climate change, threats to public health, and the rise of China.



But while European institutions and governments will remain ready to answer America's call, they should not assume smooth sailing. The winds have changed. A poll of 11 EU member states commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) shows that European attitudes toward the U.S. have shifted substantially during the Trump era.



A majority of respondents in EU member states believe that the U.S. political system is broken; that Europe can't rely on the U.S. for its defense; that China will be more powerful than the U.S. within a decade; and that Europe should not take sides in a conflict between the two.



Across the countries polled, 51 percent do not think that the U.S. can overcome its internal divisions and invest in addressing key global issues that concern the future of Europe. Though there are of course differences between countries, they are small.



Even in the United Kingdom, with its "special relationship" to America, 81 percent of respondents believe that the U.S. political system is completely or somewhat broken. Only in Hungary and Poland do a majority believe otherwise.



Moreover, while other polls show that attitudes toward China have hardened across Europe, 60 percent of Europeans would prefer that the European Union stay out of the Sino-American rivalry. Only 22 percent of respondents in the ECFR poll think that Europe should back the U.S., while 6 percent think it should side with China.



Attitudes about the U.S. are far more reserved than in the past, and confidence in Europe's ability to shape its own future has grown (whether that outlook reflects reality is another matter).



This clear shift in European attitudes could not come at a worse time. In a world of changing power relationships, U.S.-EU cooperation is urgently needed. There is no way for either side to prevail against global challenges by going it alone. The transatlantic link is the foundation on which wider global cooperative networks must rest.



But Europeans' nervousness following the recent events in the U.S. cannot simply be willed away. It will linger, implying at least some impact on diplomacy and policymaking. The immediate risk is that America's political turmoil will bolster those who are already calling for Europe to blaze its own trail, build new barriers, or retreat from the world.



If Europe's traditional and natural ally is no longer reliable, what other choice is there? That is the question now hanging over European policy and strategy debates.



Biden, of course, will be welcomed with near-universal jubilation across most of Europe. But it will take much longer to settle the question of whether Trump was an historical aberration or a harbinger of what is yet to come.



As such, the shift in European public opinion will pose an ongoing challenge for U.S. and European leaders alike. The Biden administration must do whatever it can to restore trust in U.S. society and policymaking; and European leaders must convince a skeptical domestic audience that it should support measures to restore transatlantic ties.



The ECFR poll suggests that European leaders have their work cut out for them. But failure is not an option. With new leadership in Washington, DC, now is the time to ensure that the nightmare of the past four years is never repeated.





Carl Bildt, a former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden, was European Union special envoy to the former Yugoslavia, co-chair of the Dayton Peace Conference, high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995-97), and U.N. special envoy to the Balkans (1999-2001). This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).




Runners: Get your summer program off on the right foot
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California Resident Dies Hours After Getting CCP Virus Vaccine

A person in California who received a CCP virus vaccine on Jan. 21 died several hours later, authorities said.

The cause of death isnt yet clear.

The vaccine was not administered by Placer County Public Health. There are multiple local, state, and federal agencies actively investigating this case; any reports surrounding the cause of death are premature pending the outcome of the investigation, the Placer County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.

Authorities didnt disclose identifying characteristics of the individual or say whether the vaccine was produced by Moderna or Pfizer.

In the United States, 149 people have died after getting a CCP virus vaccine, according to reports submitted to the passive Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. Anyone can submit reports to the federal database, and the reports are generally impossible to verify, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email earlier this month.

The new figure is from an update of reports. Last week, it was at 55.

Authorities dont have a centralized location of verified deaths of people who have been vaccinated. Any reports of death following the administration of vaccines are promptly and rigorously investigated jointly by the administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the spokeswoman said.

The agencies didnt immediately respond to requests for comment about the California death.

California officials last week directed vaccine providers not to administer any further doses of a particular batch of more than 330,000 Moderna vaccines that had been circulated across the state.

The reason was a higher-than-usual number of possible allergic reactions for that batch, California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan said in a statement.

Moderna, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration are investigating.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Sandia National Laboratories employees came together in a big way in 2020, contributing $4.8 million to the annual Sandia Gives campaign, which benefits United Way of Central New Mexico, United Way of the Bay Area and other nonprofits, increasing donations by $324,000 over 2019.

A booster from National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, the contractor that manages the labs, added $1.4 million to the 2020 giving effort, focusing its support on family stability and educational success in local communities.

"The challenges of 2020 brought Sandia's generosity to a new level," said Labs Director James Peery. "I could not be prouder of our workforce. Sandia employees and retirees have supported vital needs in our communities for more than 60 years."

Sandia's New Mexico site also supported its annual Holiday Gift Drive, raising more than $33,000 to ensure that every child in Bernalillo County foster care received a gift during the holidays, while NTESS contributed $12,500 to NM Kids Matter to support their Court Appointed Special Advocates program.

Labs employees in New Mexico and California also contributed to the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots Program. The Albuquerque drive raised about $9,500, roughly half the total monetary donations from all sources in previous years. The California campaign garnered 240 toys.

COVID-19 created unprecedented needs

In addition to their regular giving efforts, Sandia employees and National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia responded to calls for monetary and volunteer help to meet needs generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

NTESS was the first corporate partner to donate $20,000 to the United Way of Central New Mexico's Emergency Response Fund.

Sandia employees in New Mexico also were challenged to raise $15,000 in 15 days to support the drastic increase in food insecurity in the early months of the pandemic. Employees donated more than $75,000, with an additional $25,000 from NTESS.

In late April, a grassroots effort initiated by Sandia's workforce called Need is Now generated more than $225,000, plus a $25,000 match from NTESS. These funds went to hard-hit tribal communities in New Mexico.

Employees contributed more than $20,000 to the California site's Together Apart campaign, which supported local efforts to provide critical resources to the Bay Area. NTESS contributed another $10,000, for a total donation of $30,000 to the United Way of the Bay Area and the United Way of San Joaquin. And, Sandia volunteers and their families bagged 24 pounds of produce and more than 14,000 pounds of pasta. NTESS provided $15,000 to support the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

"Sandia employees are generous with their money and their time," said Community Involvement Manager Amy Tapia. "This year, they stepped up at a time when the need was greatest."

###

Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia Labs has major research and development responsibilities in nuclear deterrence, global security, defense, energy technologies and economic competitiveness, with main facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Livermore, California.
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In brief: Google is joining the list of tech companies helping in the fight against Covid-19. The search giant will convert some of its facilities at various US locations into vaccine clinics and has promised to donate $150 million to promote vaccine education and access.

CEO Sundar Pichai writes that Google has partnered with health care provider One Medical and public health authorities to make everything from its buildings to parking lots to open spaces available for the vaccine efforts.

The first locations to offer the service will be Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in California; Kirkland, Washington; and New York City, before expanding nationally. With 29 offices across the US, most of which are empty or nearly empty due to most staff working from home, there should be plenty of options for people to get vaccinated on Google grounds.

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected every community all over the world, Pichai said. Its also inspired coordination between public and private sectors, and across international borders, on a remarkable scale. We cant slow down now.

In addition to opening up its grounds, Google is pledging financial aid. A massive $150 million will promote vaccine education and distribution via grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization, and other global non-profits. Additionally, $50 million is destined for public health agencies. The company has also committed $5 million in grants to organizations addressing racial and geographic disparities in Covid-19 vaccinations.

Google is also helping organizations speed up the delivery of vaccines through its Google Cloud service. Search and Maps, meanwhile, will highlight authoritative information and local vaccination sites.

Google is following Amazon in its pledge to assist with the vaccine rollout. Jeff Bezos firm wants to help Joe Biden reach his goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his presidency. The company has partnered with a third-party occupational health care provider to administer the vaccines on its facilities.

Letter to @POTUS: Amazon stands ready to assist you in reaching your goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of your administration. pic.twitter.com/bH6y6IZZEW  Amazon News (@amazonnews) January 20, 2021
"Venture capital interest in our industry continues to surge with a record setting $17B dedicated to healthcare in 2020 alone. We see this trend continuing into 2021. Investor interest in medtech and healthtech startups has never been higher, and there are some incredible startups ripe for investment that are solving the world's biggest healthcare problems out there. Many of them will be presenting at our event in May," said Scott Pantel, President and CEO of Life Science Intelligence.

The LSI Emerging Medtech Summit is focused on connecting the hottest innovators with active investors and strategic buyers for thought-provoking discussions around the future of medtech. Last year's attendees have been enthusiastic in their praise of this annual event:

"By far the best medical device investment conference I've been to, and I've been to plenty. I've worn the hat of the innovator, investor and the founder. This is a must-attend if you want to meet with senior investors and deal-makers," says Manny Villafana , Founder, St. Jude Medical, ATS, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. and CEO, Medical 21.

, Founder, St. Jude Medical, ATS, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. and CEO, Medical 21. "LSI's Emerging Medtech Summit has now become a tentpole event for medtech investors and innovators. LSI curated vetted start-ups and created a perfect platform to network and partner. I'll definitely be back in 2021," says Lisa Carmel , Vice President of Business Development, Ximedica.

, Vice President of Business Development, Ximedica. "It was a great event and I will be back in 2021. Strong presenting companies and content. Very likely USVP will make investments based on connections at this event," says Jon Root , General Partner, US Venture Partners.

, General Partner, US Venture Partners. "Thanks, LSI, for such a great meeting and for giving the scrappy entrepreneur such a great venue to tell their stories and build their companies," says Dennis McWilliams , Venture Partner, Sante Ventures.

Many things about this year's summit will be familiar to returning attendees, including the venue's beautiful location on picturesque bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. However, some things will be different, including mandatory wearing of face masks, socially-distanced seating arrangements at the event's numerous seminars, and an abundant use of the hotel's outdoor terraces for cocktail parties and dinners.

"Out of an abundance of precaution, we decided to move the summit's date from February to May. We've also initiated new safety protocols, including the hiring of a medical director and the development of an event logistics plan in conjunction with Ritz-Carlton Hotel to ensure the safety of all attendees and staff," said Pantel.

LSI Medical & Safety Director, Dr. Jared T. Williams, M.D., a physician experienced in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, will be on-site, along with his staff, throughout the entire three-day event to ensure safety protocols are met.

Emerging Medtech Summit has quickly developed a reputation for its stellar keynote speakers, comprised of industry influentials who set the pace for the industry. This year's line-up is no different and includes the following programs and featured speakers:

Paul LaViolette , Managing Partner, SV Health Investors  Fireside Chat with an industry legend to get a perspective on the future of healthtech and where their new Medtech Convergence Fund will look for opportunities.

, Managing Partner, SV Health Investors  Fireside Chat with an industry legend to get a perspective on the future of healthtech and where their new Medtech Convergence Fund will look for opportunities. Scott Huennekens , Executive Chairman, Acutus  Keynote Presentation "Medtech 3.0 & Creating Unicorns" from industry mogul, entrepreneur, investor and past CEO/Board Member of Verb Surgical, NuVasive, ViewRay, Volcano, Envista and Wonder Medical.

, Executive Chairman, Acutus  Keynote Presentation "Medtech 3.0 & Creating Unicorns" from industry mogul, entrepreneur, investor and past CEO/Board Member of Verb Surgical, NuVasive, ViewRay, Volcano, Envista and Wonder Medical. Christopher Velis , Founder & Executive Chairman, Miraki Innovation  Featured Keynote speaker to share his ongoing vision for the future of medtech and to discuss how many of his predictions from 2020 are already playing out before us in the COVID era. Velis is Co-Founder of Auris Health which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2019 for $5.3 billion , one of the largest venture-funded exits, if not the largest, in the history of medtech.

The most influential and key investors in the industry have confirmed their participation. Among the investors attending are New Enterprise Associates, JJDC, SV Health Investors, US Venture Partners, MVM Partners, Sante Ventures, Gilde Healthcare, Longitude Capital, Pitango Venture Capital and Versant Ventures. Among the strategics attending are Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Siemens Healthineers, Stryker, GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Boston Scientific and Roche Diagnostics. For a complete list of the 400+ confirmed attendees: https://www.lifesciencemarketresearch.com/medtech-summit/presenters

"Over the course of organizing medtech events for the past 20 years, I can attest that what makes Emerging Medtech Summit stand apart from other industry events is its critical mass of investors, strategics and other thought-leaders, who are behind the greatest companies in medtech that are in the vanguard of solving the world's most significant health problems," says Pantel.

For more information about the 2021 Emerging Medtech Summit and virtual attendance options visit https://www.lifesciencemarketresearch.com/medtech-summit/ .

About Life Science Intelligence (LSI):

LSI is a medical technology focused market intelligence & consulting company. We help medtech executives make informed strategic decisions by better understanding market dynamics, trends, opportunities and the competitive landscape.

SOURCE Life Science Intelligence
Men in Ireland have received a boost with Viagra Connect being made available over the counter for the first time without a prescription.

Sales of the drug, which assists with erectile dysfunction, are expected to rise in the wake of the decision to reclassify viagra, which became one of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's most famed ever products.

Ringaskiddy has become synonymous as the global epicentre of production, with grateful men the world over rediscovering their virility due to the hard work of the men and women in Cork manufacturing the drug.

Reclassifying the drug will cut off the blood supply to a major counterfeiting operation that has grown in recent years.

Counterfeit viagra sourced online can be filled with dangerous ingredients, with the fake drug being seen as one of the most lucrative to sell to vulnerable men.

Pfizer Ireland Ringaskiddy plant, Co Cork, is the global epicentre of viagra production. Picture: Larry Cummins

Even legitimate purchases online have faced stiffer rules after Brexit, with prescriptions from online doctors based in the UK now no longer valid.

That method had been used by men who were too shy to see their own doctors in Ireland.

That will change with the new system, where a pharmacist will ask a number of questions on symptoms, general health and other medications in order to determine if Viagra Connect is suitable, according to Pfizer.

Viagra Connect's new availability over the counter will give a new lease of life to men in need, Irish pharmacists said.

Dublin-based digital pharmacy Healthwave said the new service would bridge the gap left by online UK doctors unable to issue prescriptions to Irish patients.

Niamh Lynch of CarePlus Pharmacies said it is now stocking Pfizers viagra product for sale without prescription across its network.

"When it comes to using any medicinal product, we strongly advise our customers to come and talk to us about any questions or concerns they may have. Community pharmacies are ideally placed to offer private consultations when required around health-related matters," she said.

One of the main unanswered questions in this years mayoral race is how the introduction of ranked-choice voting will change the nature of the election.

The first taste of how things will change came on Sunday, with an endorsement of two candidates, in ranked order.

Other questions were also addressed last week, including how much time candidates spent outside of New York City during the pandemic, and how they view the long-term job prospects of the current police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea. (Hint: Count on a job opening in January.)

Here are some key developments in the race:

A double endorsement?

For months, New York mayoral campaigns, political strategists and officials have quietly grappled with one of the biggest uncertainties in the race: how to approach the new ranked-choice voting system in the June Democratic primary, for which New Yorkers will be asked to rank as many as five choices. Can a candidate draw contrasts without alienating a rivals supporters? Are alliances in order? Do voters even understand the process?

Mamatas nephew also challenged the BJP to prove its allegations of extortion and claimed he'd publicly hang himself if charges against him are proved

Kultali: In a direct challenge to his detractors in the BJP, Trinamool Congress MP and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday said he will quit politics if the Centre brings a law allowing only one member of a family in politics.

Banerjee said he will publicly hang himself if the corruption charges levelled against him are proved to be true.

The Diamond Harbour MP, while addressing a rally in Kultali Assembly constituency, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should table a bill banning more than one member of a family from active politics and the next moment, Banerjee will no longer be in the political arena.

"From Kailash Vijayvargiya to Suvendu Adhikari, Mukul Roy to Rajnath Singh, there are other members of your families who occupy important posts in the BJP.

"If you ensure that there will be only one family member in active politics, there will be only Mamata Banerjee from our family in the TMC from the next moment. I promise that," he said.

Taking exception to BJP leaders calling him an "extortionist", Banerjee challenged them to prove their allegations and said he will publicly hang himself if the charges against him are proved to be true.

Referring to the Victoria Memorial incident during a programme on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on Saturday, he said 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were deliberately raised to prevent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from delivering her speech.

The chief minister had refused to deliver her speech after the slogans were raised in the presence of the prime minister, saying she felt insulted.

"We are proud that Mamata Banerjee made it clear that if Netaji is insulted by such slogans during a government function, we will rise in protest. Bengal will rise in protest," the TMC MP said.

"You can chant Jai Shri Ram thousand times, but at temples, at religious functions, at your place but not in this fashion at a government programme to commemorate an icon like Netaji," he said.

By not allowing her to make her speech in such a programme, they also insulted the people who elected her to the assembly. This reminded people of the vandalism of the Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar bust in 2019, he said.

Coming down heavily on BJP leader Sovan Chatterjee, the TMC leader said, "After waking up from hibernation after three years, he is now making a false claim that he was instrumental in my victory in Diamond Harbour in 2014. He should know what people in the area think about him."

Without naming Chatterjee, a TMC turncoat who joined the BJP in 2019, Banerjee challenged him to contest any of the 31 seats in South 24 Parganas district.

On Banerjee's comments on dynasty politics, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said that the TMC MP had never raised such demands earlier and is making such statements now as the party is faced with imminent defeat in the assembly elections due in April-May.
In each of its annual budget requests, the Trump administration made deep funding cuts to federal research spending, in spite of Congress consistent refusals. However, the administration's 2021 proposal actually sought to promote AI and quantum computing research. It asked for double funding to those departments in the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, Darpa, and the Joint AI Center to $2 billion annually. While decried as wholly inadequate to address the fields rate of technical advance, that funding bump would come at the expense of funding other basic sciences in those same agencies, as well as an overall reduction in research and development spending by 9 percent over 2020, to $142.2 billion.

I find it disappointing and concerning that funding for basic research is down, Martijn Rasser, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Wired in 2020. We just dont know where the next breakthroughs will come from.

The Trump administration did roll out an American AI Initiative in February 2019 which outlined a national strategy for AI development, however the plan did not provide any additional funding for research, but merely redirected existing funding sources towards AI R&D.

The Trump administration continues to make US leadership in AI a top priority, Michael Kratsios, the Trump administrations chief technology officer said in a statement. Under the American AI Initiative, efforts are underway to promote R&D and workforce development, collaborate with international partners, develop technical standards, and much more. We look forward to continued engagement with the AI community on these important issues.

The new Biden administration plans to make a clean break from Trumps openly hostile stance towards the sciences. Among the many departures from his predecessors policy positions, Biden has pledged to restore trust in science and pay great attention to scientists as a matter of course in crafting responses to the COVID pandemic and climate change. As a first show of intent, he has petitioned for America to rejoin the Paris climate accord, elevated the position of Science Advisor to the cabinet, and appointed genomic pioneer and founding director of the Broad Institute, Eric Lander, as the next director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

I think with the Biden administration, we're going to see a larger focus on science generally, Dr. Danny Tobey, partner at global law firm DLA Piper, told Engadget. I think that's good  good for science and good for AI.

The administration has already committed $300-billion to R&D and breakthrough technologies as part of its Innovate in America plan, which promises to unleash high-quality job creation in high-value manufacturing and technology  specifically electric vehicles, 5G and AI  in order to drive dramatic cost reductions in critical clean energy technologies, including battery storage, negative emissions technologies, the next generation of building materials, renewable hydrogen, and advanced nuclear.

I think that's what's most exciting today, RingDNA CEO Howard Brown told Yahoo!Life in December, we're seeing the incoming administration doubling down, tripling down, on artificial intelligence, and putting that spend to augment the lives of human beings.

The Biden administration has not yet revealed how much it intends to spend on AI research but it will likely come attached to numerous regulatory strings and additional government oversight. Vice President Harris, during her time in the Senate, has previously spoken out against the use of AI in law enforcement, raised concerns over the technologys biases in recognizing faces with dark complexions, and called upon the HUD to review its policies on implementing the tech as the expansion of facial recognition technology in federally assisted housing properties poses risks to marginalized communities, including by opening the door to unchecked government surveillance that could threaten civil rights.

A December report from the Brookings Institute notes that no other segment of the market has grown as much with as little regulation. Even that framing understates the importance of data systems and algorithms, which are affecting nearly every part of our society, the report reads. While the economic growth is undeniable, the mass proliferation of data systems and algorithms  especially in the form of permissionless innovation  has enabled extensive societal harms.

Will Hunt, a fellow at UC Berkeleys AI Security Initiative welcomes additional regulation, arguing that it is a superior option to allowing the technology to continue to develop unabated. While a hands-off approach might foster innovation on the Internet, in aviation and other industries it can be an obstacle to progress, Hunt wrote in a November Fortune op-ed. Part of the problem is that safety regulations for aviation are both extensive and deeply incompatible with AI, necessitating broad revisions and additions to existing rules.

For example, aircraft certification processes follow a logic-based approach in which every possible input and output receives attention and analysis, he continued. But this approach often doesnt work for AI models, many of which react differently even to slight perturbations of input, generating a nearly infinite number of outcomes to consider.

The US military also stands to gain from added federal AI funding. According to a November Congressional report by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, AI is and will continue to be a critical component of US national security. Both the Russians and the Chinese have concluded that the way to leapfrog the US is with AI, Bob Work, distinguished senior fellow at CNAS, told Wired, arguing that the government must take additional steps to assuage public fears that it might leverage the technology to develop lethal autonomous weapons and instead will only act to counter Russia and Chinas own efforts.

Chinas government is actively investing in research and commercialization across these types of important technology areas, in an effort to overtake American technological primacy and dominate future industries, the Biden campaign told Fortune last November.

I think there's a national security imperative to maintain a leadership position in artificial intelligence, Tobey said. From a moral and ethical leadership perspective, like other incredibly powerful technologies, you need a global framework and consensus on how to use them safely without a race to the bottom.

Inherently tied to the development of AI and other advanced technologies is Americas immigration system, one which, under the Trump administration, has been subject to increasingly stringent limits and, in the case of numerous Muslim-majority nations, outright travel bans for their people.

The US government must drastically relax its restrictions on the number of H-1B visas it issues in order to attract and retain top international talent if it wishes to remain technologically competitive against other world powers, Rasser argues. You want these people to live, work, and stay in the US.

AI also offers an opportunity for renewed international ties after the past four years. The Biden administration has a real opportunity to focus on collaborations where artificial intelligence and other types of scientists are working together to really advance the ball, Tobey said. I don't think you can prioritize artificial intelligence in a vacuum.


The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is seeking offers from qualified persons to provide personal services under contract as described in this solicitation.

1. SOLICITATION NO.: 72066021R10005

2. POSITION TITLE: Chauffeur (Mission Director)

3. CLOSING DATE/TIME FOR RECEIPT OF OFFERS: February 12, 2021 at 17:00 (Kinshasa Time)

General Statement of Purpose of the Contract:

The incumbent serves as the Chauffeur for the USAID Mission Directors and occasionally provides transportation service to VIP visitors and to the other members of the Mission, as directed, in accordance with instructions and schedules provided by the Mission Directors and the MD Administrative Assistant. The incumbent is responsible for driving light vehicles, as assigned, to provide services in support of USAID/DRC program activities: transports the Mission Directors and official visitors, as/when appropriate, to conduct official business within Kinshasa and to points outside the city. As needed on special occasions and upon request (i.e. VIP visits), the incumbent may be called upon to provide back-up assistance. In the performance of these duties, the incumbent must rely heavily on his/her interpersonal skills, his/her knowledge of the procedures associated with the specific tasks assigned, and the relationships developed in the various DRC government offices, local companies, and/or governmental and international organizations.

A copy of the full position description listing all duties and responsibilities is available in the websites: https://www.usaid.gov/democratic-republic-congo/work-with-us/careers

and https://cd.usembassy.gov/embassy/jobs/usaid-jobs/

Eligible Offerors are required to complete and submit the offer form- DS-174 (Application form for U.S. Federal Employment) along with a cover letter and a CV. All the three (3) documents must be in English.

To ensure consideration of offers for the intended position, Offerors must prominently reference the Solicitation number in the offer submission.

Please submit Your Application by email to: usaidhrkinshasa@usaid.gov

Offers must be received by February 12, 2021 at 17:00 via email.

Click here to download the full document - PDF format
Union Agriculture Minister on Monday termed the government's proposal to suspend new farm laws for 1-1.5 years as the "best offer" and hoped that the protesting farmers' unions will soon reconsider it and convey their decision.

The talks between the government and 41 protesting farm unions have remained inconclusive even after 11 rounds of discussions. During the 10th round of talks, the government had climbed down and offered a proposal to keep the new laws in abeyance for 1-1.5 years, but it was rejected by the unions.

In the 11th round of discussion, the government asked unions to reconsider the proposal and convey their final decision.

"The government has given the best offer to farmers' unions. I am hopeful that they will convey their decision to us after discussing it among themselves. Once they communicate, we will take it forward," Tomar told PTI.

After the 11th round of talks, the minister had indicated that there won't be further talks but he would be ready to meet for farmers' final decision on the offer made by the government.

It remains to be seen whether the farmers' unions will convey their decision after their planned tractor rally or 'Kisan Gantantra Parade' in the city on January 26.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed committee on farm laws is scheduled to hold its second round of consultations with farmers and agricultural organisations on January 27.

Notwithstanding severe cold, thousands of farmers -- especially from Punjab, Haryana and parts of western Uttar Pradesh -- have camped at Delhi borders seeking repeal of the new laws and a legal guarantee of government-fixed minimum support price for agri-crops.

The farmers' protest at Delhi borders has entered its 61st day and even peasants in other states like Maharashtra have started extending support to them.

(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.)
When I came to the office and talked to my doctor, I just started crying, Thomas said. The doctor asked what was wrong, and I was like, Im so stressed out. I got this baby with me, and hes 3, and I dont want to let him down. She said she asked for help because she was scared and had no support from family members.

Ireland is facing a cocaine crisis after the Covid-19 pandemic as health researchers and criminologists predict more people are turning to drugs to cope with unemployment and mental health issues.

Rehab centres have seen a surge in people seeking help for cocaine addiction during lockdown as concerns grow about the impact on local communities. James Leonard, a youth support officer with the Cork Education and Training Board, told the Irish Independent that cocaine use among young people is a major issue at the moment.

In terms of my own research, we went around and did area profiles in Cork to find out the different issues, and cocaine use among young people and parents was one of the biggest problems, he said.

In certain communities where the GAA or rugby team may be the pinnacle of the community, we found that cocaine use was very prevalent among sporting role models who young people there looked up to and this was having a big impact on drug use.

Read More

Mr Leonard graduated from University College Cork last year with a Masters in Criminology and received widespread praise for speaking about his own previous battle with addiction on The Tommy Tiernan Show. He believes Irelands return to economic prosperity in the last few years is part of the reason cocaine use has increased during lockdown. "People had more disposable income again, and cocaine use started to rise, so what were left with now is the legacy of that creeping into the pandemic. Theyve developed the habit and its carried into the lockdown.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 proved to be a record year for cocaine smuggling both here and across Europe. Gardai seized 14m worth of cocaine  double the amount recovered in 2019.

However, the overall figure is expected to be much higher as a Garda spokesperson said figures are currently not available across the entire organisation. This year, so far gardai have seized 642,000 worth of cocaine. Suzi Lyons, a senior researcher with the Health Research Board, said Ireland undoubtedly has a cocaine problem and their data indicates more people are using the drug casually.

Not everyone will develop a problem but clearly a proportion of them will and we have seen the number of cases presenting for treatment triple in recent years, Ms Lyons said.

The amount of cocaine seized by gardai is quite striking. Nearly one-third of people who presented for treatment in Ireland in 2019 were in paid employment and the median age was 30 years old.

While data about cocaine addiction treatment for 2020 is not yet available, Ms Lyons believes the pandemic and spending more time at home may have helped more people realise they have a problem. There are a couple of scenarios that may have arisen. People might have stopped using because they werent going out socialising, or they may have realised how much they were relying on it before, discovered they had a problem and sought treatment.

Addiction treatment centres have seen more people presenting for help during the pandemic, the majority for cocaine use. Paddy Byrne, manager of the St James Camino Rehabilitation Network near Enfield, Co Meath, said there has been an obvious rise in people suffering from cocaine addiction in the last three years.

Cocaine was always considered the rich mans drug but it is accessible to all nowadays and it does just as much damage as heroin. Its tearing families apart. Some people wont even pay for electricity or buy food as they would rather spend it on cocaine, he said.
Serving as tranquil urban retreat, the hotel offers 65,000 square feet of meeting space spread across 34 state-of-the-art meeting rooms able to accompany up to 3,500 attendees along with its indoor and outdoor pools, spa, salon and movie theatre  all with easy access to the shopping and business hubs of Gujarat state's largest city and commercial capital. The Wyndham Ahmedabad joins the Ramada, Hawthorn Suites and Ramada Encore brands in Gujarat upon the heels of the recent debut of the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham brand in Dwarka.

"The Wyndham brand is recognized around the world for providing an upscale experience and our latest addition in Ahmedabad perfectly complements our strong brand portfolio in India, increasing our presence to over 4,000 hotel rooms now open and operating," said Nikhil Sharma, regional director Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. "Our teams have executed 18 new franchise agreements in India and have helped our owners break ground on the construction of 11 of these hotels which are expected to open over the next two years, in addition to helping independent owners convert their hotels to the world's best known brands on the industry's leading distribution and loyalty platform."

Wyndham Ahmedabad Shela offers refined amenities and elevated service. The property provides easy access to various attractions such as the Jama Masjid Mosque and Kankaria Lake, as well as major transport links including Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad Junction Railway Station and the SG Highway.

Wyndham's growing presence in India was recently recognized by the prestigious South Asian Travel Awards, as one of the leading hospitality development companies for India. Several Wyndham-branded properties were also awarded for achievements in their individual categories, highlighting the company's excellence and drive.

All Wyndham Hotels & Resorts properties in India and around the world participate in Wyndham Rewards, the world's most generous hotel rewards program with thousands of hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals worldwide.

About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) is the world's largest hotel franchising company by the number of properties, with approximately 9,000 hotels across approximately 90 countries on six continents. Through its network of 804,000 rooms appealing to the everyday traveler, Wyndham commands a leading presence in the economy and midscale segments of the lodging industry. The Company operates a portfolio of 20 hotel brands, including Super 8, Days Inn, Ramada, Microtel, La Quinta, Baymont, Wingate, AmericInn, Hawthorn Suites, Trademark Collection and Wyndham. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is also a leading provider of hotel management services. The Company's award-winning Wyndham Rewards loyalty program offers 85 million enrolled members the opportunity to redeem points at thousands of hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally. For more information, visit www.wyndhamhotels.com.

SOURCE Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Related Links

http://www.wyndhamhotels.com


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The situation at a Belfast landfill site is unacceptable, the environment minister said (PA).

The situation at a Belfast landfill site is unacceptable, the environment minister said.

Mullaghglass Landfill has been the subject of more than 100 complaints from residents to the authorities following concerns about odour.

They live in the Colin, Hannahstown and Glen Road area.

Edwin Poots said: The current situation is unacceptable and I have instructed Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) staff to work with the local councils to increase their efforts to ensure that all regulated sites have in place all necessary measures to reduce the off-site odours which are impacting the wider community.

I have also asked my officials to review all enforcement options available to both NIEA and local councils that could be taken to help bring about a resolution to this issue as quickly as possible.

The Public Health Agency has advised that if anybody has concerns about the impact of odours on their health they should seek advice from their GP.

Phoenix Law has been instructed by concerned residents to commence litigation to ensure steps are taken by the NIEA and the local council.

Alpha Resource Centre, owners of Mullaghglass Landfill, said: Working to the highest environmental standards is paramount to our business.

We are absolutely committed to being good neighbours and are in contact with the local community and its representatives to thoroughly investigate any complaints.

Mullaghglass Landfill has complied in full with the NIEA permit under which the site operates, and continues to proactively engage with NIEA on all aspects of site management and regulation.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) is against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind, according to a spokeswoman for the senator.

The spokeswomans comments to the Washington Post come as the possibility of voting to end the Senates practice of imposing a 60-vote threshold for most legislation has moved to the forefront of conversation, as Democrats have taken control of the House, Senate and White House.

Ending the filibuster would allow any legislation to pass with a simple majority.

Sinema joins moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia as well as President Biden in opposing abolishing the filibuster.

While Biden said in July that he would take a look at eliminating the rule dependent upon how ostreperous they become, speaking about Senate Republicans, he also added then that he had not supported the elimination of the filibuster because its been used as often  the other way around [for Republicans benefit], but I think you have to just take a look at it.

Biden has not changed his mind and continues to oppose eliminating the filibuster, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.

However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said for years that nothings off the table once Democrats have the majority in the Senate and has previously said that Democrats would do what it takes to pass policy.

Job number one is for us to get the majority. We dont take anything for granted but its looking better and better, he said over the summer. Once we get the majority, well discuss it in our caucus. Nothings off the table.

Ahead of the election, a growing group of Democrats signaled they were open to the idea of ending the filibuster, including 18 of the original 26 democratic presidential candidates: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang who expressed full support, and Senators Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) and former Rep. Beto ORourke (D., Texas) who said they would be open to the idea.

Story continues

However, with Manchin and Sinemas opposition, it is unlikely Democrats will receive enough support to abolish the filibuster.

Meanwhile, Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have warned that eliminating the filibuster would cause long-lasting damage to the Senate.

This threat to permanently disfigure, to disfigure the Senate, has been the latest growing drumbeat in the modern Democratic Partys war against our governing institutions, McConnell said in September, according to The Hill.

More from National Review



While other states chose the federal plan, which partnered with Walgreens and CVS to inoculate people in nursing homes around the country, officials decided the idea made little sense in West Virginia, where many communities are tucked into the hills, miles from the nearest big box store, and about half of pharmacies are independently owned.

West Virginia created a network of pharmacies in the state, pairing them with about 200 long-term care facilities. As a result, West Virginia finished its first round of vaccinations at nursing homes last month, while many states were just getting started. By the end of this week, officials expect to have delivered a second round of shots to all nursing homes.

A growing number of governors and state health officials have voiced frustration with the speed of the federal program, which has been slow in part because of the sheer number of long-term care facilities nationwide. Some states, like Maine, have also begun looking to local pharmacies as a resource.

Using your local partners and really having more control over where the vaccine is going, thats what has been successful for West Virginia, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.

The approach in some ways reflects the scrappy outlook that has become embedded in West Virginia, a state that is used to being labeled in broad strokes by outsiders. After years of coming in at the bottom of various national rankings  highest rate of cigarette smokers, largest share of adults with multiple chronic conditions, among the highest prevalence of diabetes and obesity  there is a sense of proud defiance around the states vaccine plan.

Our state motto is montani semper liberi  mountaineers are always free, said Stephen New, a lawyer in Beckley, whose father, a former coal miner, is scheduled to get vaccinated at a local clinic this week. There is a fierce sense of independence here that we dont need to follow others.

Central to West Virginias strategy, too, is putting the National Guard at the helm of vaccine operations.
Pulmuone's kimchi is sold at a supermarket in the United States in this 2019 file photo. / Courtesy of Pulmuone



By Kim Jae-heun



Since its entry into the Vietnamese market in December 2019, local food firm Pulmuone has established a foreign branch office in Hanoi and been expanding its business through local retailers.



In the third quarter of 2020, its sales had reached 51.61 million won ($46,850), quadruple the figure for the previous quarter, but still fairly low.



Pulmuone Vietnam spent 200 million won to open its business, however, considering how fast revenue is growing there, the food firm has high expectations for the new market.



Its sales from the Vietnamese market do not contribute much to its overall overseas figures, but the food firm believes it can better connect to neighboring Southeast Asian markets once it establishes itself there.



"Our Vietnamese branch is busy securing local distribution networks and forming a marketing team. We will build production lines there and Vietnam will become a bridgehead for us to enter other Southeast Asian countries," a Pulmuone official said.



Its Korean rivals Daesang and Orion have achieved solid results in Vietnam already. They are making consistent investments to expand product categories and set up more production facilities there. These are all possible as the Vietnamese economy is continuing its high growth at the moment and people's improved living standards are creating high demand for Korean food thanks to hallyu, or the Korean wave.



As a latecomer, Pulmuone is investing in the Vietnamese market with a long-term plan. It wants to bring its knowhow that helped its business success in China and adapt it to the Vietnamese market.



Pulmuone established foreign branches in Beijing and Shanghai in 2010 and set up production lines as part of its long-term investment in China. It started with a rice cake business there and expanded its product range to kimchi and frozen dumplings. Now, it is selling tofu, pasta, hot dogs and home meal replacements.



Sales in China soared recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic that encouraged people to shop for food online. The food firm business in Beijing made a turnaround in the third quarter of last year, recording an operating profit of 6 billion won.



The food firm is willing to do the same in Vietnam and slowly increase its presence in the local market. Its main products in Vietnam are home meal replacements, although frozen dumplings and tteokbokki, or stir-fried rice cakes, are also two popular items.



For the long term, Pulmuone will study Vietnamese consumers' favorite Korean food and introduce new items developed for local tastes.



Currently, all the products exported to Vietnam are produced in Korea, but considering the labor and logistics expenses, it is better to build a production line in Vietnam for the Southeast Asian market.




On January 26 the whole of India celebrates Republic Day. In 1950 we became a Republic on this day and it meant India was no longer a Dominion Status. But the question does arise - why was this dare chosen of all dates? Well, January 26 does have a special significance in the history of our freedom struggle.

Rewind to 1929. Lahore hosted the Indian National Congress session. Jawaharlal Nehru was the president and back then Subhash Chandra Bose was in ally. They were working against those in the party who were happy with the British Government's proposal of Dominion Status instead of complete independence.



PTI

On December 31 of that year, Nehru hoisted our National Flag on the banks of the river the Ravi river. His demand was Poorna Swaraj or complete self-rule. The date was set. January 26, 1930.



On that day Congress passed the Poorna Swaraj resolution or the Declaration of Independence. Until 1947 this was celebrated as Independence Day.



PTI

India became independent on August 15, 1947. The date was chosen as it was that day 2 years ago Japan had surrendered to the Allies as World War II came to an end. On November 26, 1949, when the Constitution of India was adopted, it seemed that January 26 seemed to be the ideal date to celebrate becoming a republic. So, January 26, 1950, became our Republic Day.



In other words, the day we celebrate becoming a Republic is the day when India first celebrated Independence in spirit even though it was still under British Rule.






The Covid-19 death toll now stands at 440, with the deaths of 15 more people yesterday.

The Ministry of Health reported the deaths in its daily update yesterday evening.

One of the new deaths occurred in Tobago. The Tobago Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development disclosed that the patient was a 38-year-old male with co-morbidities.
WASHINGTON - A station for a maglev train line that would take passengers from Washington to Baltimore in 15 minutes could alter a neighborhood and have significant effects on the city, District of Columbia officials said Monday.

A maglev station in the Mount Vernon Square area has the potential to change the character of the neighborhood and bring "substantial construction and long-term operational implications on nearby properties," Andrew Trueblood, director of the D.C. Office of Planning, said in a statement that urged residents and city leaders to engage in the federal review of the multibillion-dollar project.

The 40-mile "superconducting magnetic levitation train system," commonly called a maglev, is planned as the first leg of a system that would carry passengers from Washington to New York in an hour.

Once built, proponents say, it could ease travel along congested Interstate 95 by adding rail capacity to the Northeast Corridor - the nation's busiest rail network. The technology, being tested in Japan, would also revolutionize train travel in the country and operate separately from existing railroad lines.

The maglev would travel at 311 mph, project officials said.

Building the Washington-Baltimore stretch could cost between $14 billion and $16 billion, according to a recent report by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which is leading the federal environmental review for the project. The planned line would make three stops: one in each city and at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The FRA is on pace to select a preferred route and issue a final recommendation for the project that could give crews clearance to begin tunneling as early as next year and begin operations in 2030.

The Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail, which would develop and operate the train, has proposed to bring the new station to the trendy northwest D.C. neighborhood, which was once known for its run-down parking lots but now is a popular home to condos, shopping and restaurants.

The proposed site is steps from the Washington Convention Center and six Metro lines at Gallery Place, Metro Center and Mount Vernon Square. It's also an area with a robust network of bus lines and close to the proposed expansion of the D.C. Streetcar.

Discussions of putting the station in the NoMa neighborhood - where it would have connected to Metro's Red Line with easy access to Union Station - were halted earlier in the review process. The project's proponents said Mount Vernon Square is better suited for the high-speed train because of its connection to a larger transit network.

Building the maglev stop at the Mount Vernon Square location would require the acquisition of a portion of a park that borders New York Avenue, as well as two public parking lots. A five-level, 1,000-space parking garage would be built on-site as part of the project, according to project documents.

The maglev line "would increase vehicular traffic at intersections and pedestrian traffic on sidewalks" in the area around the station, according to the FRA report.

The D.C. planning office said it is reviewing the draft environmental impact statement that the FRA issued Jan. 15 to determine if it adequately addresses broad concerns about impacts on the environment, land and consistency with the city's development plans and long-range transportation goals.

Trueblood said the city would require the project to be effectively integrated into the neighborhood and adequately connected to other modes of transportation. He warned that the potential effects will be considerable.

"The connection between Downtown DC and Baltimore, with a possible extension to New York City, has the potential to considerably impact Washington's housing and office markets, its economy, nearby neighborhoods, as well as local and regional transportation networks," Trueblood said in his statement.

In an October 2018 planning office letter to the FRA, the city agency said a project of this magnitude "has the potential to cause significant disruption" in the Mount Vernon Square location, which the agency said is among the most historically significant neighborhoods in the city and is nearly built out.

According to the federal draft environmental review, the project would yield financial benefits in construction and permanent jobs once operational. But construction would take a toll on residents and businesses on the route's path.

"Temporary negative construction impacts to business revenues in the affected areas may be significant, ranging from $18.5 million to $311.3 million," according to the report. "This decrease in business revenues is due to lane closures, traffic delays and limited accessibility that would reduce the number of people frequenting the area and supporting businesses."

Northeast Maglev, the team of private investors behind the project and its sister company, Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail, says it has secured financial commitments, including $5 billion from Japan. Project officials have said they also would seek federal loans and grants.

Trueblood is urging residents, civic, business and elected leaders to engage in the federal review of the project, which is expected to be completed this year. The FRA will be accepting comment on the draft report until April 22.

After that, the FRA will review the feedback and issue a final recommendation. While it could give the project the green light, it also could rule against building it.
HISTORY was made this Monday evening as all 40 members of Limerick City and County Council met virtually for the first time.

While there have been some virtual meetings and briefings over the past year because of Covid-19, meetings of the full council had taken place at Limerick Racecourse in Patrickswell to facilitate physical distancing.

"Can everybody hear me - give me a thumbs up - okay good!" was how Mayor Michael Collins began as more than 70 people 'dialled in' via Microsoft Teams shortly before 3pm.

Cllr Collins chaired the meeting from the boardroom at City Hall, Merchant's Quay while councillors and officials participated remotely from locations right across the city and county.

Thanks to Mayor @cllrmcollins for chairing our first virtual full Council meeting.



Important that the work of local Govt continues despite the public health situation.



Notwithstanding the cries of I cant hear you whats that noise and youre on mute it worked well! pic.twitter.com/EOkpFZ2Ago  Cllr Conor Sheehan (@ConorSheehan93) January 25, 2021

While most appeared to be at home, Cllr John Egan had to make his way to the Kilmallock area office while Cllr John Costelloe had to connect from an office elsewhere in City Hall.

"Welcome to our January meeting, it's a historic occasion, it's our first online meeting of the full council ever to be heard in Limerick City and County Council - we will try to work through the agenda as best we can," said Mayor Collins who set out the ground rules before starting the meeting.

"If everybody can stay on mute and as we progress if people want to speak they can raise their hand by pressing that little yellow hand on your screen," he advised members.

While there were some minor technical hitches and the occasional contribution was missed because a councillor was "muted", the business of the meeting was completed in a little under four hours.

There was heated and sometimes passionate debate about the process to draw up the Draft Limerick Development Plan while there was a more somber discussion about the Mother and Baby Homes report which was recently published.

First ever virtual meeting of the Full Council of @LimerickCouncil



A historic day in that regard but also as we progress the Limerick Development Plan. pic.twitter.com/bDsMgUn8zQ January 25, 2021

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Collins thanked everyone for their cooperation and patience throughout the afternoon.

"I'd just like to thank all the members and the executive and everybody that contributed to today's meeting. We got through a lot of important items and I think we had a good debate and everybody got a good chance to speak," he said.
A BASE jumper has pulled off one of the world's most dangerous fashion shoots  base jumping from a cliff in Arizona wearing only stylish lingerie and a parachute.

Clair Marie, a 32-year-old expert in BASE jumping and a professional skydiver, leaped from a 350-foot cliff in Arizona while modeling for the luxury lingerie brand Bluebella as part of its new #LoveYourPassion Valentine's Day campaign.

'It took three jumps to get it right,' she explained. 'It's not easy BASE jumping in lingerie, and I had a wardrobe malfunction on the first couple of descents! Let's just say there was too much of on display, so we had to give it another try.'

Daring: Clair Marie, a 32-year-old expert in BASE jumping and professional skydiver, leaped from a 350-foot cliff while modeling for Bluebella's new #LoveYourPassion lingerie campaign

Making the leap: BASE jumping is a dangerous recreational sport that involves parachuting from a stationary point

Serious business: Clair explained it was a 'very risky shoot and had to be rigorously prepared'

Clair is also a civilian trainer for the U.S. Special Forces, as well as a Hollywood stunt-woman, with major movies such as Tomb Raider under her belt.

Preparations for the shoot were meticulously planned to make sure conditions were both safe and warm enough, so the team traveled 1,100 miles to reach the perfect location in the Arizona mountains, close to Tonto National Forest.

BASE jumping is a dangerous recreational sport that involves parachuting from a stationary point. 'BASE' is an acronym that stands for categories one can jump: building, antenna, span, and earth.

Getting it right: The civilian trainer for the U.S. Special Forces said it took three jumps to capture the perfect shot, admitting she suffered a few wardrobe malfunctions

Got it: The team traveled 1,100 miles to reach the perfect location in the Arizona mountains, close to Tonto National Forest

Expert: 'You've only got one chance to get it right. If you don't, then that's pretty much it,' Clair said of the dangers of BASE jumping

'This was a very risky shoot and had to be rigorously prepared,' Clair said. 'BASE jumping has a lot more risks than skydiving, even without the added complication of wearing only lingerie.

'A lot more factors come into play, such as weather conditions and the fact that you only have one parachute instead of two, so you've only got one chance to get it right. If you don't, then that's pretty much it.'

Clair once broke her neck while participating in adventure sports. She had an 'off-heading opening' (where the parachute opens with the jumper facing the cliff face) on a BASE jump in Utah, which resulted in her smashing into a cliff face.

Expert: Clair boasts 17 years of experience with over 10,000 skydives and 1,000 BASE jumps to her name

Jumping in style: The BASE jumper looked incredible in the brand's see-through mesh bra and underwear set

Fan: Clair said the shoot was a 'no brainer' because she loves the brand and the message behind its new #LoveYourPassion campaign

She also suffered a mountain-bike accident that left her out of action for nine months due to a badly broken wrist.

Neither of these incidents diminished her passion, and she now boasts 17 years of experience with over 10,000 skydives and 1,000 BASE jumps to her name, making her one of the most sought-after jumpers and instructors in the world.

Despite the immense demand for her skills, the Bluebella shoot was an opportunity she couldn't resist.

Universal: The Bluebella #LoveYourPassion campaign brought together women from all over the world to shine a spotlight on their passions, including pole dancer Ashley Fox

Campaign stars: Tattooist Ayla Nieuwland (left) and hula hooper Claire Attias (right) showed off their talents while wearing black lingerie

She means business: Martial arts expert Yasmeen Green gave a high kick while wearing a blue bra and underwear set

'I was thrilled at the chance to jump for Bluebella; I adore their lingerie designs and I respect their belief in female self-empowerment so it really was a no-brainer,' she said.

'Their ethos that all women should follow their passion in life is one that I share. I guess you could say that when opportunity comes, I jump!'

The Bluebella #LoveYourPassion campaign brought together women from all over the world to shine a spotlight on their passions and show that they can do anything they can set their minds to.

The campaign also featured several other women, including martial arts expert Yasmeen Green, tattooist Ayla Nieuwland, pole dancer Ashley Fox, and hula hooper Claire Attias.
MILAN, JAN 25 - AN Italian ER doctor was arrested Monday on suspicion of administering lethal drugs to two COVID-19 patients at a public hospital at Montichiari in the province of Brescia north of Milan. The doctor, acting ward chief Carlo Mosca, has been charged with murder, police said. He is suspected of deliberately giving the two patients anaesthetic and nerve and muscle-blocking drugs, causing their deaths. The deaths occurred during the first wave of the pandemic, in March, police said. The man has been placed under house arrest and police say there is a risk he may reoffend. His suspected victims were aged 51 and 80. Mosca is suspected of murdering the two patients to try to ease the pressure on the ER, which was being overwhelmed during the critical early days of the pandemic in northern Italy. (ANSA).
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Bitcoin fell by 9.30 per cent in the past seven days after touching an all time high of $42000 January 8, according to data from coinmarketcap.com.

The worlds most popular cryptocurrency within the last 24 hours hit a low of $31,107 and has witnessed a $33,687 high as at Monday morning trading session, the data showed.

The dip in Bitcoins value comes amidst growing fears of U. S. stricter regulation and continuing concerns about cryptocurrencys price volatility.

Traders said they were afraid that the just installed U.S. president, Joe Biden, administration could attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies.

This was also triggered by sentiments when the head of U.S. Treasury, Janet Yellen, during a Senate hearing on Tuesday stated that cryptocurrencies could be used to finance illegal activities.

I think many are used, at least in a transaction sense, mainly for illicit financing, and I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use and make sure that money laundering does not occur through these channels, she said.

Crypto expert and blockchain enthusiast, Iniobong Williams, said Historically, I think Its normal to expect 30-70% pull back in the prices of crypto currencies after they reach or exceed previous all time highs.

He said the public must understand that the market does not only move in linear fashion as it makes it unhealthy. He also said that the crypto market must experience corrections from time to time because the market reacts to the laws of demand and supply, as well as other market dynamics.

Mr Williams said the crypto market is still in its infant stage and that the market is highly volatile and unregulated to a larger extent.

A crash in price is to be expected from time to time, he added.

However, he said a crash in price could mean huge losses for some new traders and investors, as well as a golden opportunity for other seasoned traders and investors.

It is advised that you seek the guidance of an expert before investing in crypto currencies, he explained.
North Korea's acting ambassador to Kuwait has defected to South Korea, the latest in a recent string of high-profile escapes from the isolated country, a South Korean lawmaker said on Monday.



Ryu Hyun-woo had led North Korea's embassy in Kuwait since former Ambassador So Chang-sik was expelled after a 2017 U.N. resolution sought to scale back the country's overseas diplomatic missions.



Ryu defected to South Korea last September, according to Tae Yong-ho, who was North Korea's deputy ambassador to Britain before settling in the South in 2016 and being elected as a lawmaker last year.



Kuwait had been a key source of foreign currency for Pyongyang, which sent thousands of labourers there, mostly for

construction projects.



Tae said Ryu is also the son-in-law of Jon Il Chun, who once oversaw a Worker's Party bureau responsible for managing the ruling Kim family's secret coffers, dubbed Room 39.



The National Intelligence Service declined to comment.



Ryu's defection could be a sign that the North Korean elite who shore up leader Kim Jong Un's power base has been drifting away from him slowly but constantly, Tae said.



Ryu fled several months after Jo Song Gil, who was North Korea's acting ambassador to Italy, vanished with his wife from

the embassy and resurfaced in South Korea.



Tae told Reuters that the knowledge and experiences of the outside world gained as a diplomat had fostered disillusionment among his family, and he decided to escape to "give freedom" to his children, calling for other officials to follow suit.



"I want to deliver to my colleagues working around the world and North Korean elites that there is an alternative to North

Korea, and the door is open," Tae said in an interview at the recent Reuters Next conference. (Reuters)




BATON ROUGE, La.  Louisiana continues to see high numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. And, state health officials confirmed a case of the more contagious U.K. variant of the virus. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana reminds state residents to take strong precautions against getting or spreading COVID-19.

While the COVID-19 vaccines are being given to more Louisianians, we know it will take time to make them widely available to the general public, said Dr. Stephanie Mills, Blue Cross executive vice president and chief medical officer. Until then, we can all play a role in protecting public health and keeping our loved ones safe. Follow the precautions that we know effectively slow the spreadwear a mask, keep a safe distance from others, wash your hands.

About the COVID-19 Vaccine

Blue Cross joins the Baton Rouge Health District and its member organizations in encouraging everyone to feel safe, prepared and comfortable getting the COVID-19 vaccine when you can.

Here are some things to be aware of:

 How soon you can get the COVID-19 vaccine depends on your age and health status/risk. Visit the Louisiana Department of Health website, ldh.la.gov, very often to see the latest information. You should consider this site the official source on who is eligible for COVID-19 vaccines and where you can get one.

 Vaccines are not given to walk-in patients. DO NOT show up at a clinic or pharmacy without checking first. Health officials say you must make an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

 The vaccines are covered for $0 out of pocket on individual and employer health plans, Medicare and Medicaid. The federal government prepaid for U.S. Food & Drug Administration-approved COVID-19 vaccines through 2021. This coverage is included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Blue Cross will cover the vaccines administration without any member cost-share (deductible, copay or coinsurance) on most health plans. If you have questions about vaccine coverage on your health plan, contact Customer Service at the number on your member ID card.

 Be wary of cold calls, emails or texts claiming you can pay to get a COVID-19 vaccine sooner. Scammers are taking advantage of this situation, and several people have reported fraud. Be very careful about sharing any of your personal information or sending money, especially when dealing with people you dont know. Even if the person is claiming to be from your healthcare providers office or your pharmacy, make sure thats really the case.

For more information about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, visit the Baton Rouge Health Districts COVID Safe website, brcovidsafe.com. When you get the COVID-19 vaccine, share a picture on your personal social channels using the hashtag #COVIDSAFE to show how you are protecting our community.

Slow the Spread

Steps you can take to prevent getting or spreading COVID-19 include:

 Wear a face mask when youre around people who do not live with you. The mask must cover your nose and mouth. Only take your mask off to eat or drink, and put it back on as soon as you are finished. Remember that Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued a statewide mandate that requires residents to wear face masks in grocery stores, shops and other public places.

 Keep at least six feet between yourself and others. This is especially important while youre eating or drinking, since youll need to remove your face mask.

 Wash your hands often. Keep hand sanitizer thats at least 60% alcohol with you to use when you cant wash your hands.

 Isolate yourself if you feel sick and contact your healthcare provider. Symptoms to watch for include sore throat, coughing, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, and/or a fever of 100.4 or higher.

The state of Louisiana launched a COVID Defense mobile app for contact tracing. The free app is available for Apple and Android devices. The app uses Bluetooth technology to let you know if youve been near someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

You can post Blue Cross #MaskUp graphics to your personal social media to encourage taking precautions. Find and download the graphics at www.bcbsla.com/covid19. Blue Cross has also produced Spanish versions of the social graphics, which are available to download and share.

You can visit the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana YouTube channel to see short videos with the medical directors and others discussing COVID-19 prevention and other health topics. Subscribe to know when new videos are added. You can also connect with Blue Cross on social media for regular updates on COVID-19 and other health topics.

For more on what Blue Cross is doing for members during COVID-19, visit www.bcbsla.com/covid19.
When the Navy carrier Roosevelt entered the South China Sea on the same day Chinese bombers and fighters flew into Taiwan's airspace, it signaled how difficult it will be for the Biden administration to craft a new China policy, former Pentagon policy chief Michele Flournoy said Monday.

"Taiwan has really become the flashpoint" of U.S. China relations following efforts in the waning days of the Trump administration to bolster military ties to Taiwan, said Flournoy, who was widely expected to be nominated to lead the Pentagon under Biden. The job of defense secretary ultimately went to Retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin.

Read Next: Lawmaker Calls for Hearing on Why Guard Troops Ordered Out of Capitol

The Trump administration's actions "poked China in the eye on this issue," adding another level of tension to an already fraught relationship with Beijing, Flournoy said.

The result will be an "all China, all the time" focus in the Biden administration's policy review, U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, said retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and

"The possible flashpoints include, obviously, Taiwan," said Petraeus, who joined Flournoy for a virtual Council on Foreign Relations discussion of the strategic issues facing the U.S. in 2021.

On Sunday, U.S. Indo-Pacific command announced that the Roosevelt strike group had passed into the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan charged that at least eight Chinese bombers and four fighters flew into its claimed airspace.

The Command made no reference to the Taiwanese charge, saying that the Roosevelt's presence was "to ensure freedom of the seas" and "build partnerships that foster maritime security."

However, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that the U.S. was urging China "to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan's democratically-elected representatives."

In a statement, Taiwan's defense ministry said that as the Chinese bombers and fighters approached, "airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued and air defense missile systems deployed to monitor the activity."

In the wide-ranging CFR discussion, Flournoy said the task of deterring China while seeking avenues of cooperation was hindered by divisions in the U.S.

"I am concerned about the risks of miscalculation" in deterring China, she said, but "what concerns me most is what we've been going through in the U.S. -- the mishandling of the pandemic, the incredibly dire economic impact that's had on us, and the internal political divisions that erupted in violence and attacks on our own democracy."

Those struggles, Flournoy said, "[Feed] the narrative of U.S. decline."

"If you watch China or Russia TV, you see the tapes of chaos [in the U.S.] over and over and over again, she said. "And if they really start to believe their own propaganda about us, that could increase their risk-taking."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Related: New SecDef Lloyd Austin's First Foreign Leader Call Went to NATO Chief
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NEW YORK and TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. ("iAnthus" or the "Company") (CSE: IAN) (OTCPK: ITHUF) which owns, operates and partners with regulated cannabis operations across the United States, provides updates on: (i) a complaint filed by MPX New Jersey, LLC ("MPX NJ"); (ii) the Company's previously announced recapitalization transaction (the "Recapitalization Transaction"); and (iii) a class action complaint filed against the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, iAnthus Empire Holdings, LLC ("IEH") for alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA").

Receipt of Complaint Filed by MPX New Jersey, LLC

The Company is in receipt of a complaint (the "Complaint") filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey by MPX NJ against iAnthus New Jersey, LLC ("iAnthus NJ") and iAnthus Capital Management, LLC ("ICM"). MPX NJ entered into a Financing, Leasing, Licensing and Services Agreement with iAnthus NJ in August 2019 (the "Services Agreement"). Additionally, MPX NJ and iAnthus NJ entered into several other agreements, including a Loan Agreement and an Option Agreement, whereby iAnthus NJ is provided various rights by which it may acquire 100% ownership of MPX NJ, subject to certain conditions and approvals. The current majority owner of MPX NJ is Elizabeth Stavola, a former director and Chief Strategy Officer of iAnthus.

MPX NJ seeks a declaratory judgment from the court declaring: (i) MPX NJ is solely authorized to represent its interests to state and local officials and other parties and that Ms. Stavola is principally responsible for the management and operations of MPX NJ; and (ii) that the Services Agreement is currently ineffective and unenforceable. In the Complaint, MPX NJ also seeks preliminary and final injunctive relief enjoining ICM and iAnthus NJ from representing itself as having authority to act on MPX NJ's behalf or as having a controlling interest in MPX NJ and from executing any agreements on MPX NJ's behalf with any state or local official or other party. Additionally, MPX NJ seeks relief enjoining ICM and iAnthus NJ from acting, directing, or causing any actions at the Pleasantville, New Jersey cultivation facility absent express consent from MPX NJ. The Superior Court of New Jersey has preliminarily entered an Order, with ICM's and iAnthus NJ's consent, granting temporary restraints that: (i): enjoin ICM and iAnthus NJ from entering into contracts that would bind MPX NJ; (ii) enjoin ICM and iAnthus NJ from representing that iAnthus currently has a controlling interest in MPX NJ and that any future control is subject to approval by the New Jersey Department of Health; and (iii) require ICM and iAnthus NJ to disclose to MPX NJ all contracts and activities taking place at the Pleasantville, New Jersey cultivation facility and to obtain consent of MPX NJ for any construction that takes place in regulated cultivation areas of the facility.

iAnthus disputes the allegations of the Complaint and disputes that it ever engaged in the conduct that was the subject of the temporary restraints in the first place. The Company will avail itself of all available legal remedies to vigorously defend its interests in court.

Recapitalization Transaction

Further to iAnthus' news release dated November 5, 2020, regarding the appeal in respect of the Supreme Court of British Columbia's (the "BC Supreme Court") final approval for the plan of arrangement to implement the Recapitalization Transaction, the Company confirms that the appeal is scheduled to be heard on January 26, 2021. The submissions will be held virtually before a three-member panel of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. iAnthus considers the appeal to be without merit and intends to vigorously defend its interest in court.

For further details on the BC Supreme Court's approval for the Recapitalization Transaction, see the Company's news release dated October 6, 2020, a copy of which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Receipt of Class Action Complaint

The Company is in receipt of a class action complaint ("Class Action Complaint") filed against its wholly-owned New York management company subsidiary, IEH, alleging violations of the TCPA relating to IEH's alleged text message marketing. Similar class action complaints have been filed against other cannabis operators across the U.S. The Class Action Complaint seeks actual and statutory damages and other remedies for IEH's alleged violations of the TCPA. iAnthus disputes the allegations of the Class Action Complaint and will vigorously defend its interests in court.

About iAnthus

iAnthus owns and operates licensed cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensary facilities throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.iAnthus.com.

COVID-19 Risk Factor

The Company may be impacted by business interruptions resulting from pandemics and public health emergencies, including those related to COVID-19. An outbreak of infectious disease, a pandemic, or a similar public health threat, such as the recent outbreak of COVID-19, or a fear of any of the foregoing could adversely impact the Company by causing operating, manufacturing, supply chain, and project development delays and disruptions, labor shortages, travel, and shipping disruption and shutdowns (including as a result of government regulation and prevention measures). It is unknown whether and how the Company may be affected if such a pandemic persists for an extended period of time, including as a result of the waiver of regulatory requirements or the implementation of emergency regulations to which the Company is subject. Although the Company has been deemed essential and/or has been permitted to continue operating its facilities in the states in which it cultivates, processes, manufactures, and sells cannabis during the pendency of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no assurance that the Company's operations will continue to be deemed essential and/or will continue to be permitted to operate. The Company may incur expenses or delays relating to such events outside of its control, which could have a material adverse impact on its business, operating results, financial condition, and the trading price of the Company's common shares.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including concerning COVID-19 and the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in iAnthus' periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "hope", "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "believe", "should", "our vision" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements related to: the Company's financial performance, business development and results of operations, the implementation and completion of the Recapitalization Transaction, the dispute with MPX NJ, the appeal of the BC Supreme Court's approval of the plan of arrangement for the Recapitalization Transaction, and the Class Action Complaint.

Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. iAnthus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and iAnthus does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

The securities to be issued pursuant to the Restructuring Transaction have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. "United States" and "U.S. person" are as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.

SOURCE iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.ianthus.com/


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A government watchdog will investigate claims that Justice Department officials plotted to help Donald Trump overturn the election result.

The Justice Departments inspector general has launched a probe after it was alleged that Mr Trump worked with a DOJ lawyer to oust the acting attorney general and force Georgia lawmakers to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the state.

Mr Trump allegedly conspired with Jeffrey Clark to cast doubt on election results in the state and heap pressure on politicians there to help him, according to the New York Times.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said that his investigation would look "into whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election."

The New York Times was told by officials that the former president considered firing acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen after he refused to help him stay in power, and replacing him with Mr Clark.

The plan only failed when senior department officials got on a conference call and agreed they would resign together if Mr Trump followed through with it.

The twice-impeached former president eventually decided he had to keep Mr Rosen rather than risk the controversy of mass resignations that would overtake his claims of voter fraud.

But his decision only came after Mr Trump had both men make their rival arguments to him, which was compared by officials to an episode of The Apprentice.

Mr Clark has defended his actions in secretly working with Mr Trump.

Senior Justice Department lawyers, not uncommonly, provide legal advice to the White House as part of our duties, Mr Clark told the New York Times last week.

All my official communications were consistent with law.

Mr Clark was reportedly introduced to Mr Trump by Pennsylvania congressman Scott Perry, who was sympathetic to the ex-presidents claims that the election had been stolen.

Judges and election officials in battleground states repeatedly debunked Mr Trumps false and baseless claims and the Supreme Court refused to get involved.

Mr Trump was impeached for an unprecedented second time for inciting the Capitol violence on 6 January that left five people dead, including a police officer.

He will face a Senate trial starting on 8 February, which will require a two-thirds majority to convict him.
Some provinces were forced to push back vaccination for health-care workers and vulnerable seniors on Monday as deliveries from a major manufacturer ground to a temporary halt.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is administered to a personal support worker at the Ottawa Hospital Tuesday December 15, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Some provinces were forced to push back vaccination for health-care workers and vulnerable seniors on Monday as deliveries from a major manufacturer ground to a temporary halt.

Canada is not due to receive any Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines this week as the company revamps its operations, and deliveries are expected to be slow for the next few weeks.

Ontario announced Monday that it was pausing COVID-19 vaccinations of long-term care staff and essential caregivers so that it can focus on giving the shots to all nursing home residents.

Premier Doug Ford said the delay has taught the province that it cant take vaccine shipments for granted.

"I want to be clear: were using every single vaccine we can to protect our most vulnerable," Ford told a news conference. "But delivery delays are forcing us to be careful and cautious as we plan, to ensure were able to offer second doses."

The news came as more cases of the more contagious U.K. variant of COVID-19 were detected across Ontario, including in at least one long-term care home.

Some provinces have used up nearly all their vaccine supply and have been forced to push back their vaccination schedules.

Saskatchewan announced Sunday that it had exhausted all the doses it received. However, even after technically running out, the province still managed to vaccinate another 304 people as it continued to draw extra doses from the vials it received. It had administered 102 per cent of its allotted doses by Monday, and it expected the remaining excess doses to be gone this week.

Quebec has used up more than 90 per cent of its supply. It confirmed that the delivery delay would force it to postpone its vaccination rollout in private seniors' residences, which had been scheduled to start Monday.

"Let's be realistic: our vaccination momentum will be reduced as of this week," Marjaurie Cote-Boileau, press secretary to Health Minister Christian Dube, said in a text message.

"Given the important reduction of Pfizer doses we'll receive in the next two weeks, we have had to review our vaccination calendar."

Quebec finished giving first doses to long-term care residents last week and has vaccinated some 9,000 seniors in private homes by using leftover doses. The province gave less than 2,000 shots Sunday, compared to an average of more than 9,600 a day over the previous week.

In British Columbia, the provincial health officer said the government is extending the interval between the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Bonnie Henry said further delays in the production and delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the next two weeks caused the time period between the shots to be extended from 35 days to 42.

She said about about 60 per cent of more than 119,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in the province so far have gone to protecting residents of long-term care homes.

The Manitoba government also said it may soon have to put off some second-dose vaccine appointments as a result of the disruptions to the supply of the Pfizer vaccine.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stressed that the delay is only temporary and that Canada is expected to receive 4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of March.

As Parliament resumed Monday, Trudeau faced a barrage of questions from MPs of all parties as they blasted the Liberal government for what they described as a botched approach to rolling out vaccines.

Both Trudeau and Procurement Minister Anita Anand repeated the governments promise that by the end of September, all Canadians wishing to be vaccinated will have received their shots.

Trudeau added that the country is still receiving shipments of the Moderna vaccine.

Earlier Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said there is tremendous pressure on the global supply chain for vaccines that the government has tried to mitigate.

We are working on this every single day, because we know how important vaccines are to Canadians, to first and foremost the lives of Canadians and also to our economy," she told a news conference in Ottawa by video.

Despite the vaccine delay, some provinces continued to report encouraging drops in the number of new cases and hospitalizations. Ontario reported fewer than 2,000 cases, as well as fewer people in hospital. It was a similar story in Quebec, where hospitalizations dropped for a sixth straight day.

Newfoundland and Labrador also reported no new cases of COVID-19 for a third straight day.

Alberta reported only 362 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, compared with daily numbers peaking as high as 1,800 in mid-December. But the big concern for health officials was a case of the U.K. variant that could not be directly traced to international travel.

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro said that while it is one case, the variant could quickly overwhelm hospitals if not checked.

Theres no question that this kind of exponential growth would push our health-care system to the brink, Shandro told a news conference. It would significantly impact the health care and the services available to all Albertans.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.

 With files from Shawn Jeffords, Jordan Press, Dean Bennett and Stephanie Levitz.
The family of a woman who went missing in Florida 15-years-ago this month hope to finally solve the case this year after raising more than $80,000 to pay for private investigations.

Jennifer Kesse, 24, went missing from her newly purchased condo in Orlando, Florida, on January 24, 2006.

A police search was launched after she failed to turn up for work as a finance manager at Central Florida Investments.

But despite extensive searches, few clues to her alleged abduction have ever been found.

Now, on the 15th anniversary of her disappearance, her parents Joyce and Drew claim they are 'moving forward' with the case and have 'great hope' to solve it.

They maintain an on-going Go Fund Me page that has raised more than $80,000, out of a $200,000 goal, to pay for their private investigations.

Scroll down for video

Jennifer Kesse, 24, went missing from her newly purchased Orlando, Florida, condo on January 24, 2006

Jennifer Kesse (pictured left) before her disappearance in 2006. In 2015 police released an updated photo, on the right, of how she may look now

Miss Kesse went missing from her recently purchased condo at the Mosaic At Millenia, a private, gated community in Orlando, Florida

In 2007 police released a grainy photo of an individual seen parking Miss Kesse's black Chevy Malibu car around midday on the day she disappeared. It is unclear if the person is female or male

Jennifer Kesses father, Drew Kesse, said: 'We have great hope that this year were going to know, maybe not exactly what happened to Jennifer but where we need to go and what we need to do', as reported by My Sun Coast.

The family took over the investigation in 2017 after they successfully sued Orlando Police for Kesse's cold case files which they said were 'gathering dust', with no new information filed since 2010.

After the litigation, Orland Police relinquished 16,000 pages into the hands of the family who are now lead investigators.

Mr Kesse said they family have been 'fighting through these files' for the last 22 months, receiving new files two weeks ago.

He added: 'Were really put ourselves in a good position currently. Were truly starting to talk to the people we really need to talk to which leads us down many paths. But were doing the handwork now and were moving forward. Its tedious work, its going to be long and hard but were at the point now where we can see where we can move ahead and we have moved ahead.'

He urged people in the know to get in touch and said: 'If you know where Jennifer is and the information is real... name your price, go ahead. Well get it. Well find it somewhere.'

In an open letter to their daughter on the 15th anniversary of her disappearance, the Kesses said they remain 'relentless' in their pursuit of answers.

'We will not cease until we have found her, for the good or the bad. Jennifer is loved by us, her family, so many friends as well as strangers around our country and the world, the family wrote.

'Jennifer, we love you in a place where theres no space or time.'

According to a website set up by her family, the 24-year-old Kesse had just spent a long weekend in St Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands with her boyfriend Rob Allen and a group of friends.

Her family said it was completely out of character for Jennifer not to call if she was going to be late for work.

Jennifer Kesse and her boyfriend, who lived several hours away in south Florida and was cleared early on by authorities, would call each other on the drive to work each morning.

The day before she disappeared, Kesse had left Allen's home to drive to work.

That evening, she left her office around 6pm and wished her boss a good evening.

She chatted to her parents, brother, boyfriend and some friends on the phone at home that evening.

Jennifer, pictured in a photo on social media, with her mother Joyce prior to her disappearance

Jenifer, pictured with her family at her graduation from The University of Central Florida, has been missing since 2006. Her family have not given up looking and took over the case from the police in 2017

The last person to speak to Jennifer was her boyfriend, in a call shortly before 10pm on the Monday night.

The next morning, when her boyfriend called her office, he was told that Jennifer had not arrived.

Her employer then alerted her family, who could not reach her at her home or on her cellphone. Police were informed within two hours.

The family went to their daughter's new condo and said it appeared 'normal' - clean and with everything in place.

She had slept in her bed, taken a shower (as indicated by a wet towel and shower) and left out clothes on the bed.

Kesse appeared to have disappeared after leaving her home around 7.30am.

Her black, Chevy Malibu car was later found a mile away on Thursday, January 26 at a condo complex around a mile down the road from where she lived.

Surveillance footage later revealed a suspect pulling into a parking space in her car around midday on January 24, waiting around 30 seconds, climbing out and walking away.

Despite more than a thousand tips, police have not been able to work out what happened to the missing woman.

In 2007, police released grainy surveillance footage of the suspect who had been driving her car. It was not clear if the person was a man or a woman and no information came from the tape.
HARTFORD  A city man will spend three years in federal prison for fentanyl and crack cocaine sales, stemming from a 2019 investigation, according to federal prosecutors.

Nathaniel DeJesus, 21, was sentenced by Judge Kari A. Dooley to serve 36 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

In July 2019, after what authorities referred to as a spate of gun violence in Hartford, the FBIs Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force, DEA, Hartford police and other law enforcement agencies launched an investigation into gang-related drug sales and associated violence in north Hartford.

Investigators made controlled purchases of fentanyl and crack cocaine from DeJesus during the course of the investigation, officials said.

DeJesus was arrested on state charges on Aug. 28, 2019. When law enforcement took him into custody, he was found to be in possession of fentanyl and crack packaged for distribution, authorities said.

On Sept. 13, 2019, DeJesus was arrested on federal narcotics distribution charges.

When investigators searched his Andover Street home, authorities said they found 73 grams of fentanyl, more than two grams of crack and items used to process and package narcotics for street sales.

DeJesus has been detained since his September 2019 arrest.

He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine base  crack.
Biden attends mass at DC church that prayed for dignity of the unborn

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President Joe Biden attended mass at a historic Jesuit Catholic congregation in Washington, D.C., the same church he attended when he was vice president years ago.

Biden went to mass on Sunday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, which was founded in the 18th century and is based in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nations capital. He attended with his son, Hunter, and two of his grandchildren, Finnegan and Maisy, reported the Associated Press.

Biden is the second Roman Catholic president in United States history. John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first Catholic commander-in-chief after being elected president in 1960.

Holy Trinity held multiple masses on Sunday, with Biden attending the noontime mass and receiving holy communion, according to a representative of the church.

The 9:00 a.m. mass, which was livestreamed and not attended by the president, showed a service practicing social distancing guidelines.

The Rev. C. Kevin Gillespie gave a homily in which he discussed a recent experience on Capitol Hill after the Inauguration, explaining that when helping to pick up American flags with others, he felt as if a new life had happened there and nationwide.

Change is always happening, when we notice it or not, said Gillespie, who quoted National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gormans Inauguration day poem The Hill We Climb.

During the prayers offered up for petition, a prayer was offered for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to lead our country toward unity and justice for all people.

Right after that prayer, another offered up was that the dignity of the human person be realized and upheld, especially the elderly and the unborn, the prisoner and the migrant.

Some have questioned the beliefs of Biden due to his pro-choice stance, as he stated on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade last week promising to codify the controversial decision.

In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack, said Biden in the White House statement.

We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care  including reproductive health care  regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.

In 2019, Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church in South Carolina garnered headlines when he denied then-candidate Biden the sacrament of communion.

Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching, Morley explained to SC Now at the time.

However, last November, Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory stated that he will not refuse Biden communion, in spite of his position on the abortion issue.

The kind of relationship that I hope we will have is a conversational relationship where we can discover areas where we can cooperate that reflect the social teachings of the church, Gregory told Catholic News Service.
The Australian finance broker that sponsors English Premier League team Sheffield United allegedly scammed up to $588 million from Chinese investors who thought they were putting their money in a high yield product that may never have existed.

The massive pile of money was instead allegedly partially used by the broker, Union Standard International Group (USG), to bankroll its sale of high risk financial betting products to customers around the world including Australia.

Sheffield United players celebrate the winning goal against Newcastle United in January this year. Their sponsor is now in liquidation. Credit:Getty

Those financial betting products, contracts for difference, were allegedly illegally sold to customers in China, Taiwan and other countries where the products are banned or restricted.

The incredible story of Sydney-headquartered USG and its popular trading website USGFX has been laid bare in a liquidator's report by BRI Ferrier which includes allegations the Australian group at one point was handling $30 billion worth of trades.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended Police Day celebrations on Monday at the Police Academy in New Cairo.

The ceremony was attended by state officials and ministers, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, and Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb.

Accompanied by Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik, El-Sisi laid a wreath at the memorial of police martyrs.

Police Day commemorates resistance by Egyptian police to British occupation forces in Ismailia in 1952, which resulted in the death of dozens of police officers.

The president honoured the memory of a number of police victims who died on duty, presenting the national order to their families.

The honoured victims include police officer Mohamed El-Houfi, who was killed by terrorists during a police raid in Cairos Al-Amiriya district.

El-Sisi said at the ceremony that the 1952 Ismailia battle has drawn an immortal painting in which the heroics of police and people were intertwined.

He referred to the challenge of terrorism, saying it has become an explicit tool to manage conflicts and execute schemes and conspiracies.

The president thanked policemen for their ongoing efforts amid regional developments that destabilise nations and endanger national security.

He referred to the 25 January 2011 Revolution, which coincides with Egypt's Police Day, saying it was led by faithful youth who have looked forward to a better future."

In January 2011, millions of Egyptian demonstrations flooded the streets to oust late president Hosni Mubarak, forcing him to step down on 11 February.

I say to Egypts youth that your homeland is in need of your vigorous arms and sincere efforts to proceed in the path of reform, construction, and development, El-Sisi said.

He urged Egyptian youth to contribute to achieving the aspirations of all Egyptians for a bright future that secures for all citizens equal chances of a decent life.

Concluding his speech, El-Sisi referred to the government's programme to develop 4,500 villages nationwide, saying the project will change the lives of 55 million people.

He affirmed the states commitment to work on finishing the project in three years.

At the ceremony, the interior minister stressed the ministrys focus on facing terrorism in cooperation with the Armed Forces.

Despite the success (in combating terrorism) that reflected on more security and stability in the region, the ministry is aware of the importance of continued security vigilance and the monitoring of terrorist organisations movements, Tawfik said.

He added that terrorist groups exploit tensions and violence in the region to destabilise other African nations.

This is El-Sisis second visit to the Police Academy in a week. On Friday dawn, he inspected the academy's facilities and was briefed on cadets' training systems.

Egypt's Police Day is celebrated on 25 January and is a paid holiday for employees in the public and private sectors.

This year, employees will take Thursday 28 January off instead, following a decision by the premier to make Thursday a day off instead of any week-day holiday to "give citizens a chance to have a long weekend."

Short link:


Keep an eye on the weather tonight -- especially in western Alabama.

There will be the risk of a few strong storms, according to forecasters, and a tornado watch is now in effect for part of the state. It will be in effect until 1 a.m. Tuesday:

A tornado watch has been issued for parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee until 1 AM CST pic.twitter.com/nOKU8Ad3Gk  NWS Tornado (@NWStornado) January 25, 2021

The Storm Prediction Center on Monday night again expanded the severe weather risk for parts of Alabama. Now more of north and central Alabama has a slight risk, and there is a marginal risk that covers more of central Alabama and parts of southern Alabama.

Some of the cities in the slight risk area are Huntsville, Decatur, Muscle Shoals, Florence, Hamilton and Cullman. Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Gadsden have been included in this area as of the latest update just before 7 p.m.

A slight risk is Level 2 out of 5 and means scattered severe storms will be possible. A marginal risk is Level 1 out of 5 and means isolated severe storms will be possible.

Some of the cities in the marginal risk area are Montgomery, Auburn and Talladega.

Storms will be possible during the overnight hours, so the weather service urged Alabamians to have multiple ways to receive severe weather information -- including warnings -- overnight.

The Storm Prediction Center and the National Weather Service said stronger storms could bring isolated tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and maybe some hail up to the size of quarters.

The weather service will be watching a cold front that is expected to move into Alabama later today.

The front combined with above-average temperatures today could spawn a few storms, and a few of those could approach severe limits.

Forecasters expect storms to form ahead of the front later this evening an into the overnight hours.

As of 6 p.m. storms were moving across parts of western and central Alabama, and more were expected to move in from the north and west later tonight.

Heres what north Alabama forecasters are thinking:

2:50pm Isolated strong to severe storms are possible tonight.

 Primary threats: Damaging winds & hail but a tornado can't be ruled out.

 W of I-65: 6pm-10pm

E of I-65: 8pm-Midnight

 North AL & S. Middle TN

 Have more than 1 way to receive a warning#HUNwx pic.twitter.com/2vZPBPHxf2  NWS Huntsville (@NWSHuntsville) January 25, 2021

The weather service in Birmingham has also introduced a marginal risk for parts of north-central Alabama from 7 p.m. until around 2 a.m.:

The severe weather outlook for tonight has been updated based on our latest analysis and coordination. Be sure to have multiple ways to receive weather information/warnings. pic.twitter.com/4hucnsudxy  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) January 25, 2021

So far there isnt an organized severe weather risk for south Alabama today, however, the SPC has added a marginal risk for south Alabama for Tuesday:

Parts of south Alabama will have a marginal risk for severe weather on Tuesday.

There have already been a few strong storms early this morning, and the National Weather Service in Huntsville, which issued several severe thunderstorms warnings overnight for areas along the Tennessee line.
Sergeant First Class Christopher Buckley, a member of the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets and United South High School alumnus, performed during the 46th Presidential Inauguration for President Joseph Biden Jr. and was celebrated by his former school district.

I would like to commend Dr. Buckley. He exemplifies the traditions of excellence that we espouse at all of our campuses. UISD and the United South High School Panther family is very proud of him and wish him continued success, UISD Superintendent Roberto J. Santos said. Id also like to extend congratulations to his spouse Mrs. Leah Buckley and their children Joseph and Theodore.

In what was his third Inauguration ceremony, Buckley said that it was still a great honor to be present and to continue to serve his country. Buckley said that he is part of the U.S. Army Band Pershings Own, the premier musical organization of the army since 1922.

According to the U.S. Army, the band provides music support for the leadership of the United States, its branches of government and multiple national and international events such as inaugurations, military funerals, retirement ceremonies, the Olympics and the Super Bowl. As a proud member of the U.S. Army Band, Buckley said he is looking forward to continuing his service and performances.

We serve the military district of Washington, so we serve the president, we serve the White House, Buckley said. Its a great honor to see and hear things that you might not see on TV and just to be a part of history.

Buckley added that the U.S. Army hosts a bevy of ensembles in which the Herald Trumpets are included. They are the official fanfare ensemble to the President of the United States and were founded in 1959 to provide splendor to military ceremonies.

Being on a stage, viewed worldwide, Buckley said that his position allowed him to get one of the best views in the house to see a historical moment.

Expecting a long day, he said that he got a good nights rest before Inauguration Day. After preparations and security checks before arriving at the Capitol, he and his fellow band members stood for three hours playing fanfares as the president, vice president and ex-presidents were introduced. About five different fanfares were memorized and cycled through on that day.

Once the ceremony was finished, Pershings Own waited at the White House until President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrived to their fanfares.

In the evening, he and the band performed Hail to the Chief at the Lincoln Memorial as the president gave his speech. Buckleys day ended at approximately midnight, but he said it was all worth it, including the steady wind amid a temperature around 30 degrees.

While Laredoan viewers saw a bright, sunny day during the inauguration, attendees like Buckley were treated to a cold wind that numbed the digits despite the warm coats seen on national television. He emphasized that the performance was physically demanding, much more than some may think.

The concert at night, the sun is down, so it was even colder, Buckley said. We had different uniforms, so it was even colder, so you just think warm thoughts and get yourself through it.

As the U.S. continues to struggle at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony was restricted to a small number of attendees to reduce the risk of infection. Instead of the usual crowd brought by prior ceremonies, the National Mall was filled with 200,000 flags that represented the thousands unable to attend due to the pandemic.

After performing at two prior inaugurations, Buckley said that the lack of the massive crowds did not affect his emotions and performance. He still had to perform well as he knew that the world, including his family, would be watching.

Music means so much to me. Its a big part of everyday life, and its actually a big part of the military, Buckley said. Music has been used in military ceremonies forever and a big part of my job in the United States Army Band Pershings Own is to provide music support to the military district of Washington.

As the ceremony hosted the talent of Pershings Own, Garth Brooks, Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga, music played a big role. Additionally, Buckley said that he enjoyed the opportunity to play alongside and hear the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the legendary composer John Williams.

That evening, the music continued with a concert hosted by Tom Hanks where the lineup included big names such as The Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato and Bon Jovi. Present at the concert, Buckley was amused by the thought of having been close to the celebrities and happy to share that many were nice and funny.

Whether youre near The Rock or Earth, Wind and Fire or Tom Hanks, thats something I normally dont get to do, but its fun when it does happen, Buckley said.

However, spending time with celebrities hasnt affected his longing to return back to Laredo, as his previous planned trip was stopped by the pandemic.

I miss Laredo, I miss my family, I miss the people, Buckley said.

Being a UISD alumnus and a 2017 UISD League of Legends Honoree, Buckley gave a simple message to current students for Laredo.

Work hard and try to be a good person, he said.

By working hard, treating others with respect and being kind to others, any student can reach their goals, Buckley concluded.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
A huge python was discovered lurking under the bonnet of a woman's car, with the driver only discovering her unexpected hitchhiker thanks to warning notes left on the windshield.

The woman from Currimundi on the Sunshine Coast woke up to find four notes on her car from strangers who claim to have seen a snake slithering next to her vehicle.

Frightened at the thought of the reptile appearing out of nowhere while driving, the woman contacted snake catchers.

The 2m coastal carpet python was found curled up under the car's bonnet hiding from the rain

The woman received a series of notes on her car warning her that a snake was seen next to her vehicle (pictured)

Incredible footage shows Stu from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 searching the car before popping open the bonnet and finding a massive 2m coastal carpet python curled up.

'We arrived to search for the snake curled up under the bonnet keeping dry from the morning rain,' Stu wrote on Facebook.

Stu then effortlessly grabbed the huge python and showed it to the crowd of people who were watching in awe.

He finally placed the snake into a bag and said it has finally been relocated to bushland where it is out of harm's way.

Stu effortlessly grabbed the huge python and showed it to the crowd of people who were watching in awe

Carpet pythons are some of the largest snakes found on the Sunshine Coast growing up to 3.5m in length and sometimes even 4m.

They are mainly found on the Sunshine Coast, Noosa and Deception Bay regions close to homes, particularly in roofs looking for rats, mice and possums.

The larger snakes usually target small pets such as dogs, cats, chickens and guinea pigs.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois launched a new COVID-19 online site Monday as more than 3.2 million Illinoisans became eligible to make appointments to get a COVID-19 vaccine under Phase 1B of Illinois vaccine administration plan.

Initial supplies of the vaccines will be limited, according to state officials.

Phase 1A of the vaccine plan focused on front line health care workers, such as doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. Phase 1B includes residents 65 and older and front line essential workers.

Eligible residents will be able to get a vaccine at one of the Illinois National Guard assisted sites, at a site operated by a local health department or at a pharmacy, according to a state news release.

Walgreens is now providing vaccines at 92 sites across the state and Jewel-Osco plans to begin vaccinating eligible residents Tuesday. They are expected to be followed by pharmacies such as CVS, Hy-Vee, Marianos and Kroger later in the week, according to Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office.

Illinois is building capacity so that as the vaccine supply increases, we will be ready, Pritzker said in a released statement.

As the nation awaits greater supplies and we ramp up vaccination sites, every Illinoisan can do their part to fight this pandemic with the tools we know to work  masking and distancing  and over the last eight weeks weve all used those tools and made real progress,  he said.

On Monday, Pritzker announced the new online portal on coronavirus.illinois.gov to provide residents with easily accessible information about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Pritzker said coronavirus.illinois.gov will provide eligible residents with nearby vaccination sites, information on how to make an appointment to receive the vaccine, updates on the states plan and eligibility, and answers to frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccine.

This site will serve as a hub of all vaccine-related information, directing residents to the appointment booking homepages of our 97 local health departments and our pharmacy partners, which will total hundreds of locations statewide, he said.

As federal supply is currently limited and every state in the nation is facing a shortage, I urge all eligible Illinoisans to check back regularly for available appointments, he said. And in the meantime, mask up, keep our distance, wash our hands, and remember well stay healthy and safe if we look out for each other.

State officials said that, at this time, vaccination sites will be available by appointment only. As the federal supply of vaccines increases and Illinois receives more vaccine, the state will launch walk-in locations and expand sites to additional providers such as doctors offices and urgent care clinics.

More information about those locations will be released in the coming weeks.

As more vaccine is allocated to Illinois, and more people are eligible to be vaccinated, we are starting to see the finish line coming into focus, IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a statement.

I am cautiously optimistic with the trends we are seeing in Illinois, but I want to stress how important it is for us to continue our public health actions of wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings, she said. Getting to the end of this pandemic will be about the choices we make  the choice to wear our mask, the choice to keep our distance, and the choice to get vaccinated.
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A command post is seen outside the First Works Baptist Church after an explosion in El Monte, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

Authorities Investigate Explosion at Los Angeles Church

The FBI and local law enforcement are investigating an explosion that occurred Saturday at a Los Angeles-area church that is known for its open condemnation of homosexuality.

Police officers responded on 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 23 to what they initially believed was a vandal who had broken the windows of the First Works Baptist Church in El Monte, reported The Associated Press.

Then we realized that the windows were not smashed, that they had actually blown out from some type of explosion, Lt. Christopher Cano of the El Monte Police Department told AP.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said that no injuries have been reported and a joint investigation is underway to find the individual or group responsible for the attack.

El Monte Police Chief David Reynoso, left, with another officer peeks inside the churchs windows after an explosion in El Monte, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

While it was too early to call the incident a hate crime, Eimiller said thats always going to be considered as a theory when a house of worship is attacked.

First Works Baptists pastor Bruce Mejia told The New York Times that his church would continue to hold services at a different location.

Its not going to really deter us from doing what we always do, Mejia said. Were not afraid of this.

Protesters have repeatedly targeted the church because of Mejias message about homosexuality. The church, founded in 2017, says on its website that it believes homosexuality is a sin and an abomination which God punishes with the death penalty.

We oppose worldliness, modernism, formalism, and liberalism, the churchs website reads.

Keep El Monte Friendly, a group that has led protests outside First Works Baptist, said in a statement on Instagram that the protesters were profoundly shocked to learn about the explosion. The group cancelled a demonstration originally scheduled for Sunday, and urged everyone to stay away from the church to allow investigators to do their job.

We understand that what they preach can make people upset, the statement reads. However, we would never promote, encourage or condone any violence or acts of harm.

Earlier this month, Keep El Monte Friendly started an online competition that calls on El Montes administrators to kick the church out of the city. The petition gained more than 15,000 supporting signatures as of Sunday morning.

I am saddened to see that we are allowing this type of bigotry to freely exist in our neighborhood, the petitioners stated. We need to let Bruce Mejia and his following know that they are not welcomed.
A Vidor woman charged with illegally selling opiates that were connected to at least three overdose deaths was sentenced Friday to 15 years in federal prison.

Catherine Ardis, 62, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a controlled substance, hydromorphone, with intent to distribute it. She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone.

Vidor police Chief Rod Carroll cited the partnership with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as critical in building a case against Ardis, whom he described as a suspected longtime dealer who had eluded investigators.

We ended up making several undercover buys with agents before it was done, and that made all the difference, he said. It was a very complicated investigation because she was very careful about who she dealt with. Thats why she hadnt been caught for years.

The year-long investigation began in June 2019 following a string of fatal overdoses. It involved not just the DEA and Vidor Police Department, but also the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office and the Beaumont and Port Arthur police departments.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Anderson.

As a part of her plea, Ardis admitted to selling the hydromorphone pills, usually referred to as Dilaudid, that had been connected to three overdose deaths.

Two of the deaths occurred at her home on FM 105 North.

Carroll said there were other negative impacts in the community. He said an elderly neighbor of Ardis was fatally struck by a driver headed to Ardis home while intoxicated. When her arrest was announced last March, Carroll said, the family of the deceased man called him to express their relief.

Prescription opiates require a doctors consultation and care for a reason, Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said in a statement announcing the sentencing. Those that put the public at risk for a quick buck will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jd_journalism
Armie Hammer has been in the headlines since allegations of his wild partying ways and 'cannibalistic' kinks emerged after a lurid text message leak earlier this month.

And now a 2017 clip of the actor hinting he was let go from Gossip Girl has emerged, piquing the eyebrows of many a fan.

Armie, who played the role of Gabriel on season two, suggested he got canned, calling the shoots 'tough' after Andy Cohen asked who was the biggest diva on set during a special episode of Watch What Happens Live with an in-person audience.

After wringing his hands and attempting to pass, he said: 'Let me just say that was a tough show to film and I didn't end up actually filming all the episodes I was supposed to because it was so tough.'

Canned? Armie Hammer seemed to suggest he was let go from Gossip Girl in a recently resurfaced 2017 interview where he called the shoot 'tough' and revealed he didn't film 'all the episodes' he was scripted for

'Oh really? So you were like, "Get me out of this?"' Andy inquired.

'It was also like "Get him out of here,"' Armie dished, making it seen like he was fired.

He was then asked who his love interest was, telling Andy it was Blake Lively's character Serena.

'It sounds like she was the problem,' fellow guest Chelsea Handler tried to suggest.

'No, no, that's not what I'm saying,' a now beet-red Armie said with a knowing smile.

This comes after ex girlfriend Paige Lorenze shared shocking revelations about the star's taste for over-the-top BDSM sex.

Rumors: Hammer played Gabriel on season two of the show n 2007

Booted: He joked that the show wanted to 'get him out of here' while appearing on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live

Not the issue: When Chelsea Handler suggested his romantic opposite Blake Lively was a diva, Armie told her 'that's not what I'm saying'

Lorenze, 22, opened up about her 'deeply traumatic' four-month relationship with Hammer last week, describing how it left her emotionally and physically scarred.

The former professional skier-turned-Instagram model provided DailyMailTV with an exclusive image of a sickening scar just millimeters away from her private parts that was left when Hammer allegedly carved his first initial 'A' into her skin during a kinky sex game.

She recently revealed that Hammer allegedly learned how to tie women up by practicing on mannequins he stored in the basement of the $5.8 million home he shared with his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers and their two young children in Los Angeles.

'He told me that he had mannequins in his basement in his family home that Elizabeth and him were living at to practice rope tying on,' Lorenze told The Sun.

'It creeped me out, honestly. It was really strange. I'd never even heard of anything like that before.'

Tell all: This comes after ex girlfriend Paige Lorenze shared shocking revelations about the star's taste for over-the-top BDSM sex

Receipts: Lorenze's story about the basement mannequins was supported by photos posted online by another alleged former lover, known on Instagram as Nastya D. Screenshots of messages (above) purportedly sent to Nastya D by Hammer showed a mannequin wrapped in red rope with what he called a 'leash' coming out of the back

Lorenze also claimed that Hammer talked about wanting to strangle his dog, a Welsh Terrier named Archie.

'He would get angry at his dog and say like: "I'm going to kill this dog, I would have strangled him if you weren't here,"' she said, noting that she does not believe he ever hurt the animal.

Lorenze's story about the basement mannequins was supported by photos posted online by another alleged former lover, known on Instagram as Nastya D.

Screenshots of messages purportedly sent to Nastya D by Hammer showed a mannequin wrapped in red rope with what he called a 'leash' coming out of the back.

A partially blurred message accompanying the photos read: 'I was thinking about how perfect your [expletive] are and I tried to come up with a chest harness that had a handle in the middle of your perfect [expletive]... oh, and a [expletive] knot.'

Where it happened: This is the home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles where Hammer allegedly stored mannequins in his basement. The actor and his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers are seeking to sell the property for $5.8million amid their divorce and custody battle

Animal welfare: Lorenze also claimed that Hammer talked about wanting to strangle his dog, a Welsh Terrier named Archie

Lorenze said Hammer often tied her up, hit her with paddles and planned out 'high protocol nights' of painful sexual moves, which often left her covered in bruises.

She said her lover - 12 years her senior - was 'sweet and kind' but 'manipulative'.

'I think he definitely loved it that I was younger. He always had me wear lingerie and tied me up,' she said.

'I just kind of agreed to it and let it happen, I was just trying to please him.

'He would say things like: "I want to bite a piece of your skin off and eat it," he would bite me so hard. Sometimes it would basically break skin.'

A lawyer for Hammer has categorically denied the allegations against him, calling them 'patently untrue'.

But Lorenze says she wanted to make her experiences known to help protect other women.

'I'm not trying to kink shame at all,' Lorenze said. 'But I think that dangerous men [sometimes] use this as like a smoke screen for abusing and hurting women for their own sexual pleasure.

'I am holding him accountable and I think he knows that he's caused a lot of women pain, even if he doesn't want to admit it right now. And there is power in numbers.'

'This [situation] is terrible, it's so unfair on his children and I think everyone is just so disgusted and shocked.'

Trauma: Lorenze, 22, opened up about her 'deeply traumatic' four-month relationship with Hammer last week, describing how it left her emotionally and physically scarred

Painful: The former professional skier-turned-Instagram model provided DailyMailTV with an exclusive image of a sickening scar just millimetres away from her private parts that was left when Hammer allegedly carved his first initial 'A' into her skin during a kinky sex game

In her interview with DailyMailTV, Lorenze exposed Hammer as an out-of-control narcissistic sexual deviant and said his wild fantasies and BDSM-fueled desires could 'seriously injure another woman.'

She described how Hammer - who has claimed he's '100% a cannibal' in vile Instagram messages to other women - licked blood from the wound he left when he allegedly carved his initial into her.

The blond beauty said Hammer was fixated on biting her body, begging that she allow him to take lumps of flesh from her arm, before consuming them.

Hammer, who is currently embroiled in a bitter divorce and custody battle with his wife Chambers, also urged his lover Lorenze to participate in 'role play' sex, she said.

Even on their first night of intimacy, Lorenze claimed Hammer insisted: 'You can either call me daddy or sir.'

Lorenze described their time together in Los Angeles as 'like a real life 50 Shades Of Grey without the love'.

Family: Even with his family at Thanksgiving, Hammer took along his leather bound BDSM case for kinky sex games. In a photo shared exclusively with DailyMailTV Hammer is seen posing with Lorenze and his mother Dru Ann during the holidays, which they celebrated in Dallas, Texas

Handsy: Pictured - Hammer grabbing Lorenze's inner thigh in a photo posted to her private Instagram account

Lorenze told DailyMailTV: 'I want Armie to address his demons, see the pain and trauma that he has caused me and other women. But any man who is fantasizing about crushing bones, eating them, having sex with female limp bodies is a danger to all women'

Laying out more of his sick fantasies, Hammer begged the Instagram model to have her ribs removed, so that he could barbecue them.

Even with his family at Thanksgiving, Hammer took along his leather bound BDSM case for kinky sex games.

In a photo shared exclusively with DailyMailTV Hammer is seen posing with Lorenze and his mother Dru Ann during the holidays, which they celebrated in Dallas, Texas.

In another exclusive photo the former couple are seen shirtless on a moped in the desert, Hammer smiling and wearing a cowboy hat.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Hammer's lawyer said: 'These assertions about Mr. Hammer are patently untrue. Any interactions with this person, or any partner of his, were completely consensual in that they were fully discussed, agreed upon, and mutually participatory.'

Bruised: Lorenze's body appeared to be covered in bruises during the few months she was dating Hammer. Pictured: The model appears to have a discolored mark on her chest in an Instagram picture posted in late October

Ouch: Lorenze said 'I had bad bruises all over me when we were together. I was left with marks from him using a paddle. I was his own real life Christian Grey fantasy. There were teeth marks and bite marks all over me'

She added: 'He was completely obsessed with biting me. He told me 'be proud as they were just love bites.'' Once he said, ''If you did not tell me to stop I would eat a piece out of you.'' And he was serious too. It was like he actually wanted to eat my flesh away'

Up until 2020 Hammer was regarded as one of the most suave, handsome and brightest stars and family men in Hollywood.

But behind closed doors, Lorenze saw a 'broken' side of the actor, famous for films like The Lone Ranger, Social Network and Call Me By Your Name.

'Armie is deeply insecure. He really opened up at times about his marriage break-up and family issues,' she said.

'He would cry in my arms, about how he loved his kids and felt Elizabeth was a great mother. But then would villainize his wife at other times.

'And he also talked about all the women that he had been with, which made me think he cheated all the time. There are issues too with his parents, which haunt him. I didn't ask questions, I just listened, because I felt we had an instant trust.

'Now I think a lot of it was an act, attention seeking and part of his mind games. It was an Oscar winning performance.'

Despite issues with his family Hammer still took Lorenze to visit his mother Dru Ann for Thanksgiving in Dallas.

Together: Lorenze described their time together in Los Angeles as 'like a real life 50 Shades Of Grey without the love'. Laying out more of his sick fantasies, Hammer begged the Instagram model to have her ribs removed, so that he could barbecue them

Pictured: The 34-year-old posted to his secret Instagram account a snippet of himself taking a drag from a vape box on December 16, writing: 'When you realize they don't test for DMT on drug tests'

DMT is a hallucinogenic drug

Lorenze says that 'money problems' meant the pair drove 1400 miles from LA to Dallas for the family gathering.

'It was a rare moment when I felt like we were in a normal relationship, because he felt we were serious enough to meet his family,' she recalls.

'I immediately bonded with his mom, who was super kind and considerate. Even around them Armie would call me his 'little pet'.'

But Lorenze sensed the tension between mother and son.

'He told me that his mother poured oil on his head one night speaking in tongues, claiming he had demons inside of him.

'That seemed weird, but she seemed a sweet traditional and Christian woman. But I feel now she knew he had a dark side.'

Hammer even took his BDSM leather case on the trip, but Lorenze 'refused to have sex out of respect to his mom'.

Just days after returning home, in early December, Lorenze, still recovering from his branding, decided to call off their romance.

Visit: Despite issues with his family Hammer still took Lorenze to visit his mother Dru Ann for Thanksgiving in Dallas. Lorenze says that 'money problems' meant the pair drove 1400 miles from LA to Dallas for the family gathering

Ex: While he decried the 'bulls**t claims' made against him, he has yet to comment further after two of his former girlfriends spoke out about their 'traumatizing' flings with Hammer, as his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers is in 'complete shock' and 'sickened' over the allegations

'It was too much. I felt sick to my stomach, insecure and no longer attracted to him - and he was getting stranger,' she said.

'I texted him that morning to say I do not think we can see each other anymore.

'Perhaps I hoped he would change or try to make things right, but instead he replied: 'okay I understand'.

'He left soon after to see his family in the Cayman Islands for Christmas, but told me he did not want to go as he was lonely and sad.

'It will take me a long time to get over this. It still feels like a fever dream and not real.'

Hammer's romance came as he and ex wife Elizabeth Chambers attempted to work out joint custody of their children and requested that she return to the US to arrange a custody schedule.

In September, the actor told British GQ his separation from Chambers, whom he married in 2010, was a 'seriously seismic event'.

'I don't think you'll find anyone in the world who would ever say what I'm going through is an easy thing to go through,' he said.

Hammer said when he and Chambers discussed their separation, they kept their focus on what was best for their kids.

Lorenze added: 'Elizabeth is a really smart loving caring person and he is doing all of this with no regard to his family,

''We have been in touch. Elizabeth has been nothing but supportive of me and she wants me to get my truth out. I cannot thank her enough.

'I feel this is so hard for her, she has been through hell with him.'

She concluded: 'People who know Armie say he already has three new 'pets', one aged 19.

'I am worried for her safety. After what happened to me, I cannot imagine what she is going through, even though she may not realize the physical and mental trauma.'

Lorenze plans to use her platform to support women, who are victims in abusive relationships.
Our team pivoted immediately to focus our efforts on addressing the needs of the residents as they were in the moment, and that included helping families access federal and local dollars to pay their rent and to meet some basic needs.

AHC Inc., a premier provider of affordable housing communities in metro D.C., sprang into action last spring to help residents suffering from the effects of the pandemic. In 2020, AHCs Resident Services team with support from the property management arm, AHC Management, has provided substantial food and financial assistance to more than 3,000 families in Maryland and Virginia.

By April 30th of last year, more than 30 million Americans applied for unemployment due to the pandemic, causing many to struggle to meet their rent obligations. And as jobless claims continue to rise, more than 50 million people, including 17 million children, have experienced food insecurity due to COVID, according to Feeding America.

As the pandemic took hold, AHC Inc.s Resident Services team pivoted to launch its own COVID-19 Residents Relief program. Throughout 2020, the program helped secure approximately $2.3 million in rental assistance for affordable-housing residents and continues to offer extended payment plans.

In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a 50 percent increase in requests for food assistance from our residents, said Susan Davidson, AHC Resident Services Director. To meet this increased need, AHC established 18 more food distribution sites for its residents in addition to the six sites we typically operate in Maryland and Virginia.

To build its reach, Resident Services worked with 24 community partners, many of whom stepped up to help neighbors in need, including the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization and local farmers markets, Amazon, Maryland Food Bank, World Central Kitchen, and AFAC.

The company has also distributed grocery gift cards to nearly 3,000 families in need thanks to generous individual donations and organizations such as the Arlington Community Foundation and Volunteer Arlington.

The relief initiatives are being implemented by AHCs 32-member Resident Services department, which helps residents in four key areas: Education, Health & Wellness, Financial Wellness, and Community Building.

COVID turned everyones lives upside down and especially those of our residents, said Davidson. Our team pivoted immediately to focus our efforts on addressing the needs of the residents as they were in the moment, and that included helping families access federal and local dollars to pay their rent and to meet some basic needs.

In addition to the COVID-19 Residents Relief efforts, AHCs Resident Services team provides year-round resources, such as after-school programs, college and career readiness initiatives, summer camps, job readiness mentorship, eviction prevention, and social services assistance.

Jennifer Endo, Vice President of Community Relations added: We believe that we are more than a company  we are a community. Everyone on the AHC team is passionate about providing our residents the best environment to lead happy and healthy lives. Our Resident Services program is the embodiment of that passion.

About AHC Inc.

Founded in 1975, AHC Inc. is a nonprofit developer of affordable housing that provides quality homes and education programs for low- and moderate-income families. Based in Arlington, VA, AHC has developed more than 7,500 apartment units in 50+ properties in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. AHCs Resident Services program reaches 3,000 children, teens, adults and seniors each year through on-site education and social service programs and activities. For more information, visit https://www.ahcinc.org/.

About AHC Management

AHC Management is a premier full-service property management company serving affordable-living communities in Virginia and Maryland. A subsidiary of national nonprofit affordable housing developer AHC Inc., for over 20 years AHC Management has been servicing thousands of families in more than 4,500 units across 33 properties. AHC is certified by Virginia Housing Development Authority and is a licensed Community Association Management Company in the Commonwealth of Virginia. For more information, visit: https://www.ahcinc.org/.
Palmaia  The House of Aia

A paradise of eco-nuances and intangible delights cocooned between an undisturbed jungle and the glistening Caribbean Sea. Something that, until now, youd need to travel to Tulum to find on Mexicos Riviera Mayaand as anyone whos been there can tell you, visiting Tulum can at times be an expensive, inconvenient and annoying proposition, what with the distance, traffic, crowds, constant partying and inflated prices. Palmaia  The House of Aia, one of the regions best new luxury resorts, allows you to indulge in a Tulum-esque, Immersive jungle and beach experience, much closer to the travel hub of Cancun.

Palmaia  The House of Aia is bigger than a boutique, yet its space and configuration make it feel as intimate as a more compact property. It is all-inclusive yet defies the preconceptions of corner-cutting and compromised quality that labels often bring. The secluded sanctuary offers swim-up suites, a jungle spa, cenote, a private beach with the incomparably soft sand the area is known for, infinity pools, in-suite dining and four gourmet restaurants overseen by chefs trained in Michelin-starred restaurants from around the world.

Palmaia  The House of Aia

There are 234 oceanfront suites in all, each with a private terrace, and within the overall footprint there are seven different layouts to choose from, providing the perfect fit for everyone. The elegant, understated decor is airy and natural with a few tasteful references to the oceanfront setting, beautiful views of which are to be had from nearly every accommodation. Vegans even have the option of booking the specially-designed Vegan Suites, which are completely free of animal or animal-tested products. A Nomadic Guide is also assigned to each guest to attend to their needs throughout the stay.

Palmaia  The House of Aia

Palmaia  The House of Aia

With the pandemic still dominating headlines daily, Palmaia  The House of Aias focus on holistic wellness and sustainability is even more welcome. There are two fitness centers including an open-air gym along with guided meditation sessions, yoga classes, sound baths, energy healing and more available daily, while the Mayan jungle-inspired Atlantis Spa boasts numerous offerings including ayurvedic treatments, Temazcal ceremonies, and a wide range of massages and body treatments.

Palmaia  The House of Aia

In addition to great design, all of Palmaias restaurants feature 100% plant-based menus, with animal protein available as add-on options. Executive Chef Eugenio Villafana helms the propertys five signature dining venues, including the fine-dining restaurant LEK, serving gastronomic Mexican cuisine; Mar de Olivo, offering refined and redefined, Mediterranean fare; Oriental-fusion eatery Ume merging Thai and Continental cuisines in a symphony of sensual fragrances and exotic flavors; Su Casa, an outdoor restaurant and beach bar with a laid-back Caribbean beach vibe; and El Caminante, delivering an authentic food truck experience with a daily, rotating menu.

In the later part of the day and into evening, the place to be is Eolo, a Mediterranean-style beach club with a chic Tulum aesthetic, complete with craft cocktails and colorful sunsets, to a soundtrack provided by Palmaias Rituals of Sound music program. Other on-property programs include the Architects of Life program, which invites guests to partake in a rotating series of classes such as art, astrology, gong baths, ancient plant rituals, tai chi, and cacao ceremonies, all designed to encourage inward reflection and further self-discovery.

The Principles of Aia which guide the running of the property are as followsNatural Inclusion: All are welcome to a seat at the table or a place by the fire. The House of AiA transcends age, race, and gender. We are defined by our principles, and by their power to inform and shape the greater community. Balance: Excess is easy but harmful. Restraint is difficult but fortifying. The House of AiA provides all you need, when you need it, helping to restore balance. Self-Expression: A home where you can relax, shine, and be your truest self. A place to share wisdom, talents and knowledge with the tribe  or to listen, watch and learn.

Palmaia  The House of Aia

These precepts continue with Non-Violence: With vegan rooms and extensive plant-based menu options at every restaurant, The House of Aia helps you participate in non-violence towards yourself, the planet, and the natural world of mammal, fish and avian species; Participation: To seek and discover new experiences to achieve personal growth, you must first open your heart and mind to AiA, let her in, so you can be one; And Absolute Respect: The authentic tribe is founded above all on respect for ourselves and for each other. Safe space is created within the gathering of mindful souls. Nor are they just mere marketing copy. Last May Palmaia founded No Home Without Food, a complimentary plant-based meal service providing healthy food to families in need in the Tulum and Riviera Maya region, which was soon delivering nutrient-rich food to approximately 2,000 people every day.

Palmaia  The House of Aia

Palmaia  The House of Aia

The Architects of Life, Rituals of Sound, restaurants, room service, premium drinks, and personal Nomadic Guides are included in the price of the stay. The resort now offers on-site, antigen and PCR COVID testing for guests, simplifying their return travel home, with results delivered within 48-72 hours. It also offers a unique Wellness Work-Away package for those who cant disconnect entirely while at the property. Starting at $7,500 per month it includes on-site IT support and computer repair advice, laundry service three times per week, all daily meals, and a private beachfront suite with a terrace featuring built-in Bluetooth speakers, fiber-optic wifi, and ethernet plug-ins, among other perks.

Palmaia  The House of Aia

Palmaia  The House of Aia

Palmaia  The House of Aia

Palmaia  The House of Aia
The National Investigation Agency team on Sunday visited the spot where the alert troops of Border Security Force unearthed a terror tunnel that started from the Shakkargarh district of Pakistan and entered into Kathua district of Jammu. The visit came after security agencies shared vital inputs that the mastermind of Pathankot airbase attack Qasim Jan was spotted in the same area some time ago. Qasim Jan was in the same area before the fidayeen attack was carried out on the Pathankot Airbase in the year 2016.

BSF on Saturday said that the tunnel seems to be dug up during 2012-14 and they are probing whether this was used for terror infiltration or not. This was the second tunnel unearthed by alert troops of BSF based on a specific Intel operation. The visit came in the backdrop that NIA is also probing the Pathankot Airbase attack case. Another terror-related incident that happened in the same area when a hexacopter was shot down by the BSF on 20 June 2020 is also being probed by the premier investigation agency.

READ | BSF Unearths Over 6-year-old Tunnel In J&K, Recovers Old Bags With 'Pakistan Markings'

BSF in its official statement said that during the anti-tunneling drive it has detected another tunnel in the Pansar area of Kathua district. The tunnel is in between D Pakistan BOPs Abhiyal Dogra and Kingre-de-Kothe (Distt Sakargarh). The tunnel is approx 150 Mtrs long and 30 feet deep. BSF troops dug it out during their continued and persistent effort.

It further added that BSF had shot down a Pakistani Hexacopter carrying a load of weapons & ammunition in June 2020 in the same area. BSF troops had also foiled an infiltration bid in the same area in Nov 2019 wherein BSF troops had fired upon the party trying to infiltrate into India.

The tunnel started from the Shakar Garh area of Pakistan which is the house to terror launch pads and opened up in the Pansar area of the Kathua district. Pakistani side is nowadays posing a triple challenge to the BSF as apart from the fence guard, the BSF now has to tackle the terror tunnels as well as the weapon dropping via drones.
Myanmar's displaced Christians form village called 'Bethel' outside Yangon

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Minority Christians displaced by conflict in northern Myanmar (also known as Burma) have formed their own village outside of Yangon and named it Baythala  or "Bethel"  the biblical town that served as a refuge for those in need.

The ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army in the northern Rakhine state has spilled over into the neighboring Chin state, forcing the ethnic Chin, who are predominantly Christian, out of their villages and into temporary camps.

After months of traveling hundreds of miles, a group of about 80 Christians settled on a small plot of land in Yangon's Hmawbi Township and formed their own village.

Led by Kan Lwat  a 36-year-old whose home state was shelled in the fighting  the Christians christened their new home Baythala, according to a report from AFP.

"It means Jesus was blessing and helping people in trouble with this place, which will be peaceful, Kan Lwat told the press agency.

The village is currently supported by Christian organizations and Chin rights groups that send food and other supplies while villagers wait for water, electricity and supplies to build homes.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yangon is currently in an economic slump. This makes it difficult for Chin migrants to find work. Kan Lwat told the AFP that hes hopeful that once the pandemic eases, adults will be able to find jobs and the 30-some children in the village will have access to better education.

"Even if our lives are not good, I hope my children will have a brighter future ahead," he said.

Village pastor Aung Far said that despite their troubles, being able to live in a safe place, away from artillery shelling or soldiers, is a godsend.

"Even if we wanted to go home, we can't live in peace because there's still fighting," the pastor said.

Villager Hla Sein told the international news outlet she hopes to stay in the village forever, adding: I feel happy living here. It's a different feeling [than] in my home village."

Open Doors ranks Myanmar 18th on its 2021 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

The group notes that due to ongoing fighting, more than 100,000 Christians have been forced to flee their homes and are now living in camps where they are denied access to food and healthcare.

Christian converts in Myanmar also face persecution for their faith in the Buddhist-majority country.

According to Open Doors, converts to the Christian faith often face persecution and ostracisation from their families and communities for leaving, or betraying, the system of belief they grew up in.

Pastor Langjaw Gam Seng, who was jailed in 2016 for helping journalists report on the bombing of Christian churches in the majority-Christian Kachin province, previously shared at the U.S. State Department's Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in 2019 how he was tortured and jailed by Myanmar officials.

I was detained, handcuffed and shackled for over one month with my eyes tied sealed and I was unable to see for an entire month, Seng said. And they put me in something like a dungeon for an entire month and gave me minimal food.

I was going in and out of consciousness for several weeks," he added.

Seng said that he played an instrumental part in helping to provide aid to victims of violence and even helped to bury the dead amid the ongoing violence between the Myanmar military and rebels in Kachin.

Many times we have experienced repression because of our belief in our country, Seng stated. Our country is very diverse with multi-ethnic and multi-religious. We want our society to be plural and not oppressed by one singular state religion.

I can attest to the fact that with my own experience, the welfare of the society or even nation is incumbent upon the liberty that they enjoy," he added. "I do not want another person to go through the same ordeal that I have gone through.

After visiting Kachin in 2018, Texas Pastor Bob Roberts told The Christian Post that the military had bombed as many as 60 churches in the previous 18 months in the region. He added that about 20 of them were converted into Buddhist pagodas.

"[To] be clear, most of it is about ethnic cleansing, Roberts told CP at the time.

In December, the U.S. State Department again listed Myanmar as a "country of particular concern," a designation that highlights countries that tolerate or engage in egregious violations of religious freedom.
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Iran's Minister for Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif said Iran may cooperate with the United States on issues relating to oil and security in the Gulf, however, that will not be extended to Israel.

Zarif said though Iran is ready to cooperate in those fields, it will not allow the U.S. to interfere in its internal affairs.

"In my personal opinion, we should define our relationship with the United States: To tell the U.S. that 'we will not cooperate with you on the issue of Israel and we will disagree with you,'" Zarif told Etmad newspaper in an interview.

He added that Iran believed the foreign presence in the Persian Gulf causes insecurity and the U.S. "should not be there".

Zarif's comments follow those he made earlier this week urging U.S. President Joe Biden to "unconditionally" lift U.S. sanctions imposed on his country to help the U.S. salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.

Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 launching a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran reimposing and reinforcing crippling sanctions. Tehran, in turn, retaliated by gradually violating key limits in the agreement.

Biden had previously said that if Iran resumed strict compliance with the 2015 agreement, the U.S. would too.

Under the administration of Trump, relations between the U.S. and Iran deteriorated seriously.

The two countries have twice come to the brink of war since June 2019, especially following the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

However, there is renewed optimism that relations between the two countries may be repaired under the Biden administration.

(CGTN)
London, Jan 25 : Another 30,004 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 36,47,463, according to official figures released on Sunday.

Another 610 people have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 97,939, the data showed.

Earlier on Sunday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said "early evidence" shows the lockdown restrictions in Britain are starting to bring the number of new infections down, the Xinhua news agency reported.

However, it is still a "long, long, long way" before coronavirus cases are low enough for the lockdown to be lifted, he told Sky News, adding that the National Health Service (NHS) remains under "enormous" strain.

"We should be worried enough, all of us, about this pandemic to follow the rules and it is just so important that people do," he said.

Meanwhile, Hancock expressed his concerns over the new Covid-19 variants not yet discovered.

"The new variant I really worry about is the one that is out there that hasn't been spotted," he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the coronavirus variant first identified in Britain may be more deadly than the older variant.

The British government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said "a lot of uncertainty around these numbers" remains but early evidence suggests the variant could be about 30 percent more deadly.

The new strain of coronavirus first identified in Kent, England, is thought to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible. However, Johnson said that the current vaccines are still effective against the new variant.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
The media mogul Rupert Murdoch denounced an awful woke orthodoxy and declared, Im far from done, while accepting a lifetime achievement award this weekend.

Mr. Murdoch, 89, made the remarks in a prerecorded video shown on Saturday during a virtual event for the United Kingdom nonprofit that honored him, the Australia Day Foundation. The video was shared on the website of The Herald Sun, a newspaper in Melbourne owned by Mr. Murdoch.

The video is noteworthy because Mr. Murdoch, despite exerting enormous influence over the global media landscape as the executive chairman of News Corp, has been relatively quiet publicly in recent years. He has been weathering the pandemic in his home in the Cotswolds in England, and received a Covid-19 vaccination in December.

In the video, Mr. Murdoch, standing next to a bottle of Australian red wine and wearing a medal, thanked the foundation for the award in the video but said his career that began in a smoke-filled Adelaide newsroom is still in motion.
India has offered domestically made covid-19 vaccines to diplomats and their families posted in the country, a little more than a week after the government began the vaccination drive and opened up limited exports, two people familiar with the development said on Monday.

The decks have also been cleared for India-made vaccines to be made available for use by United Nations peacekeepers and health workers through Covax, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to covid-19 vaccines for all countries.

The latter development comes in the wake of India assuming the non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for a two-year term on 1 January. The moves strengthen Indias image as a major supplier of medicines to the world, against the backdrop of the covid-19 pandemic.

New Delhi made the offer of vaccination to foreign diplomats posted in India and their mission staff on Friday, describing it as a gesture of goodwill" and solidarity", according to one of the people mentioned above. Indians working in the missions or embassies will not be covered by the offer.

The government of India, as a gesture of goodwill and solidarity, is considering to offer covid-19 vaccination to eligible foreign diplomats and their family members accredited to all diplomatic missions, including consulates, the UN and its specialized agencies and other international organizations, based in lndia," the letter sent from the Indian foreign ministry said. The vaccination would be on a voluntary basis and in accordance with the phased plan of the domestic rollout."

There was, however, no specific date for vaccination. Neither was it clear which vaccine would be administered. Indian drug regulators have given the go ahead to two vaccines. One is the Serum Institute of Indias Covishield, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, while the second is the domestically developed Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech. A clutch of other vaccines are in various stages of testing and development in India.

Most diplomats contacted by Mint welcomed the offer, while some said they were considering the proposal and others said they would seek advice from their capitals.

The vaccines on offer in India are not cleared by our regulatory authorities," one European diplomat said.

So far, India has sent vaccines as gifts to almost all its neighbouring countries with the exception of Pakistan under its Vaccine Maitri initiative. New Delhi has also sent vaccines as a gift to Mauritius and Seychelles among countries in its extended neighbourhood. It has also started exports to Morocco, Brazil, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

India is also looking at sending vaccines under the Covax arrangement for UN personnel, including peacekeepers and health workers.

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The central government has termed the recent clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers at Nakula area of North Sikkim as "minor face-off", which was resolved by local commanders. "We have received several queries regarding a face-off between Indian Army and PLA troops in the Sikkim sector. It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Nakula area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021, and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols," the government said, while advising the media to refrain from overplaying or exaggerating reports.

As per sources, however, the Chinese army suffered yet another setback as it tried to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control at the hands of Indian army soldiers.

Some Chinese soldiers who tried to move into Indian territory on January 20 were challenged by Indian soldiers and a clash ensued. In the physical brawl, 20 Chinese soldiers suffered injuries. On the Indian side, 4 soldiers sustained injuries, confirmed India Today.

Currently, the situation is said to be "tense" but "stable".

The recent clash comes at a time when both the countries are engaging in military-level talks after the Galwan valley clash in June 2020. Though there's "tense calm" along the LAC, both sides have been doing huge deployment of forces and military equipment amid harshest weather conditions.

Ever since the talks started, China has withdrawn around 10,000 troops from LAC areas in Ladakh and Sikkim.

Both the armies also held another round of Corps Commander-level talks on Sunday, with an aim to move forward on disengagement of troops from all friction points in eastern Ladakh. The ninth round of high-level military talks began at around 10 am at Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

The eighth and last round of military talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points. The Indian delegation at talks is being led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps.

Also read: China increases troop deployment along LAC; India to take preemptive action

Also read: China increases troop deployment along LAC; India to take preemptive action
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From todays Down in Alabama podcast:

Human beings tend to focus on bad news, and as 2020 has turned into 2021 the world has found plenty of things to fuss about.

At some point its just not healthy. So, in the interest of mental health, lets appreciate this bit of good news:

The secondary severe-weather season hasnt really brought much in the way of bad weather this year.

(Well take what we can get.)

Each Monday on the show we talk a little weather with Leigh, and today is no exception.

Well also talk about what the Air Force had to say about accusations that politics played a role in placing Space Command in Alabama. And what the VA is trying to do to boost COVID vaccinations.

The Down in Alabama podcast is short and free. Listen to it by clicking on the player above or subscribe by looking for Down in Alabama on the device of your choosing. Get this and other AL.com newsletters here.

Click here for the Spotify podcast page

Click here for the Alexa skill page on Amazon

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Click here for the iTunes podcast page
The irish government will today discuss a proposal to introduce a 'buffer zone' along the border.

The 'buffer zone' could be used to stop the spread of Covid-19 between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

It's part of a plan being suggested to the government by a group of scientists to allow Ireland impose stricter public health controls than the UK.

The Taoiseach's already said the government is 'not in a position to seal the entire border' with the North - and the Northern Executive has a 'different perspective' on quarantining travellers coming in from Britain.

The Independent Scientific Advocacy Group, which includes leading public health experts who've long called for a 'zero covid' strategy, has written to the government with a possible solution.

A 'red zone' in border areas with high levels of infection would be surrounded by a 'buffer zone' between ten and thirty kilometres wide, with graduated travel restrictions.

The cabinet subcommittee on the pandemic will meet later today to discuss the way ahead.
WASHINGTON  Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appear close to a power sharing agreement that will define the 50-50 Senate, after McConnell relented Monday night on a key demand that Democrats promise not to eliminate the filibuster.

McConnell, R-Ky., said he changed his mind after two Democratic senators said publicly they would vote against changing the arcane, but influential Senate rule. Democrats can't afford to lose any votes from their caucus if they want to change the rule.

McConnell's announcement means the Senate is likely to approve an organizing resolution soon that will allow new committees to form and legislative work to begin in earnest.

But Schumer is almost certain to face ongoing pressure from many members of his caucus to eliminate the filibuster so Democrats can pass their agenda without needing any Republican votes. The filibuster rule means Democrats need 60 votes to end debate on most topics and move to a final vote on legislation.

Reversing her position from 2017, when Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., now says Democrats should eliminate the filibuster if Republicans won't agree to a deal for more COVID-19 relief.

"I'm of the view that we should eliminate the filibuster despite all the risks," Gillibrand said. "There are great risks, and so maybe in this sharing agreement we can have a period of time to see if they're willing to negotiate in good faith and willing to not hold common-sense things up and not have lots of party line votes. If that's possible, then maybe we can govern with the filibuster, but if they start jamming us on basic things like COVID relief, then that may change Sen. Schumer's view. If they are unwilling to let us pass a robust COVID package, you know these are the kinds of things that are relevant, but I prefer to eliminate the filibuster."

Gillibrand was one of a bipartisan group of 61 senators in 2017 who signed a letter urging Senate leaders to keep the 60-vote threshold for legislation. At the time, President Donald J. Trump had strongly urged McConnell to end the filibuster and eliminate the need for Democratic votes. McConnell refused to do so.

In 2005, when then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., sought to eliminate the filibuster, Democrats called it the "nuclear option." Schumer declared such a move would turn the "United States Senate  everything all of us have worked for and worked in  into a legislative wasteland."

But since that time, both parties have participated in weakening the filibuster. Facing Republican opposition to President Barack Obama's executive branch nominations and judicial appointments, Democrats changed the rules in 2013 to stop use of the filibuster in those instances. Republicans in 2017 nixed the filibuster for Supreme Court confirmations, allowing Trump to appoint three justices to the bench.

Now the question is will Democrats take it one step farther and end the filibuster for legislation.

The debate poses a weighty predicament for Democrats: will they change the rules to maximize their power and swiftly pass the agenda voters sent them to Washington to enact  a move that would fundamentally change the Senate into a majoritarian body for the future, regardless of whether Democrats remain in control? Or will they maintain the status quo (however broken some believe it to be) and fulfill President Joe Biden's promises of bipartisanship and unity, while sacrificing elements of their agenda?

Biden will be a key figure deciding these questions. Biden, who spent more than three decades in the Senate, said in July hed take a look at killing the filibuster if the GOP blocked his agenda: Its going to depend on how obstreperous they become. More recently, Biden's White House press secretary has emphasized that the new president still believes bipartisanship can work, especially when it comes to COVID-19 relief.

To end the filibuster, Democrats would probably break Senate rules and use their 51 votes to eliminate the filibuster rule, said Richard Arenberg, a professor at Brown University and longtime former Senate staffer. The tie-breaking vote would come from Vice President Kamala Harris who is likely to act on Biden's wishes. She signed the 2017 letter opposing changes to the filibuster.

Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are the two senators who said they oppose eliminating the filibuster. Other centrist Democrats may also agree.

Democrats are facing outside pressure from liberal groups to end the filibuster rule; at least one organization is paying for advertising to push Democrats to nix it.

Carlos Algara, assistant professor of political science at the University of Texas at El Paso, said during a Brookings Institution debate on the filibuster last week that the rule distorts responsible party government.

"The filibuster allows individual senators to potentially dodge very tough votes and obfuscates the ability of citizens to reward or punish majorities on the basis of delivering their campaign promises," he said.

Arenberg, author of "Defending the filibuster: the Soul of the Senate," said a 50-50 Senate could be a fruitful time to reform use of the filibuster in some ways because neither party knows who will be in the majority in two years. But he argued the rule, in general, is more important now, in a polarized era, than ever.

"The filibuster is fundamental to the protection of the minoritys right to debate and offer amendments," he said. "It fosters negotiation, moderation and compromise."

In 2005, it was negotiation that saved the filibuster: a gang of seven Democrats and seven Republicans worked out a deal to preserve the filibuster and ease some of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees through the Senate.
People from racial minorities are more likely to become very unwell or die from COVID-19 than those of white ethnicity. Compared to the general population, those of Black African heritage are 3.24 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and Bangladeshi populations are 2.41 times more likely to die.

38-year-old Nurul Islam from Forest Gate contracted the virus in February. He says: "I've never felt anything like it. One night I woke up suffocating. So many things came into my mind, I was scared and panicking. But what worried me most was my children - our 14-month-old daughter also contracted COVID-19 and was unwell".

Now research will focus on East London, a densely urbanised, multi-ethnic area which has some of the UK's highest incidence and death rates of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study will gain deep insight into the causes of COVID-19 based on the lived experience of East London's racially diverse communities, through interviews and questionnaires. The researchers will work directly with local residents to understand their life before, and during, COVID-19.

The research will also address the lower vaccine uptake within racially minoritised groups. The team are already working with a number of boroughs on how trust around the vaccine can be built, and this study will help them to better understand and unpick the hesitancy within these groups.

The researchers are planning further studies into the treatment and outcomes of 3,000 patients from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds treated for COVID-19 at Barts Health NHS Trust, cross-referenced with local authority data from Tower Hamlets and Newham to explore factors like socioeconomic status, household density, and geographic health factors such as pollution.

It's expected that the research will help the NHS and policymakers develop strategies to reduce the damaging impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and could also provide useful insights for the many other health issues where ethnic differences exist.

The project is led by Professor Chloe Orkin, Professor of HIV Medicine at Queen Mary, and Dr Vanessa Apea, NIHR BME clinical co-leads for COVID-19. As clinical lead for COVID-19 Research for Barts Health NHS Trust, Professor Orkin has recently played a crucial role in setting up a COVID-19 vaccine trials centre at Bethnal Green Library.

Dr Apea, who was born in East London herself, says: "Poorer health outcomes in racially minoritised groups are not new, but have been revealed more starkly than ever by COVID-19, and must be urgently addressed. Authentic community engagement and co-creation of solutions are key to achieving health equity."

Barts Charity funding for this study forms part of a suite of seed grants to help provide insight into a number of conditions affecting the health of East Londoners, including COVID-19.

Chief Executive of Barts Charity, Fiona Miller Smith, says: "As a charity dedicated to supporting the health of East Londoners, we are no strangers to the stark effects of health inequalities. And providing funding to better understand and ultimately overcome these inequalities is really important for us. As we are by no means out of the woods yet when it comes to COVID-19, we are rightly proud to be backing this very valuable contribution."

Register your interest in taking part in the study at http://www. amplifyinglives. com

###
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A maximum award of 15,000 has been awarded to a member of the Traveller Community against a hotel for discrimination in what is being described as a significant case for the Traveller Community and businesses.

The Workplace Relations Commission has found in favour of a Traveller woman in an anonymised case in which she claimed that she was discriminated against by a hotel where she was considering having her wedding reception.

The hotel, which provided no defence or did not attend a hearing, was shown not to be responsive to the womans initial email enquiries regarding a booking for her wedding until such time as it was established that she was a Traveller, at this point the hotel adopted a dismissive attitude towards the woman and ceased engaging with her enquiries, preventing her from making a booking.

The woman attended a wedding fair in the hotel with her two sisters in July 2019 but claimed that she was stared at and was not given a tour of the hotel similar to what other people received.

The adjudication officer said that the woman provided her name and fiance's name to the hotel in advance and contended that her surname readily identifies her as a member of the Traveller Community. The officer agreed that she had been dealt with "in a rushed and abrupt manner".

It was claimed that the hotel employee who met the women and corresponded with the bride to be previously told her on leaving the fair that there were not many dates available but committed to getting back to her.

The adjudicator found, in the ruling published on January 24, that a lack of subsequent response to the hotel to follow up emails and other correspondence represented disengagement.

"Having carefully reviewed and considered all of the evidence adduced, I find there to be no other plausible or logical explanation for this disengagement other than the fact that the complainant was a member of the Traveller Community. Consequently, I find that the complainant has established, not just a prima facie case of discrimination, but a strong and valid claim that she was discriminated against on the grounds of her membership of the Traveller Community," the Adjudicator found.

"Given the dismissive nature of the respondents disengagement with the complainant, following the provision of information which would have identified her as a member of the Traveller Community and the subsequent failure to appropriately engage with the investigation of the complaint by the WRC, I am satisfied that the level of the compensation awarded in the within case must be reflective of these factors and must be such that it dissuades the respondent from repeating such discrimination in the future," said the ruling.

"Having carefully considered all of the evidence adduced and based on the considerations/findings as detailed above, I find that the complainant was discriminated against, contrary to Sections 3(1) and 3(2)(i) of the Equal Status Act 2000, by the Respondent on the grounds of her membership of the Traveller Community. Consequently, I award the complainant the sum of 15,000 in compensation for the effects of the discrimination involved," concluded the adjudication.

The Free Legal Aid Advice Centres (FLAC) represented the woman. It said the ruling sends a clear message to both the Traveller and the business communities.

A FLAC statement said the woman who received the award said of the result: It is a very satisfying feeling, that we as Irish Travellers do matter, and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity as is a human right afforded to all citizens of Ireland.

Speaking about the outcome, Christopher McCann, Solicitor with FLACs dedicated Traveller Legal Service said: We are very pleased with the outcome. Our client was subjected to humiliating treatment by the hotel in question. This decision demonstrates that those engaging in commercial life stand to be penalized if they deny their goods or services to Travellers.

Eilis Barry is FLAC CEO.

"What we at FLAC witness through our dedicated Traveller Legal Service is that many Travellers experience great difficulties when it comes to booking venues to celebrate the important events of their lives like weddings, holy communions and funerals. The decision by the WRC today shows that this kind of practice, which essentially amounts to a kind of social apartheid, will not be tolerated," she said.

Read also: FULL RULING HERE

FLAC says it is an Irish human rights organisation, which exists to promote equal access to justice.

It says it offers basic legal information through its telephone information line (1890 350 250). Free legal advice is available from volunteer lawyers through a countrywide network of advice clinics (these clinics are currently conducted over the phone)  more at www.flac.ie/help/.

FLAC adds that it provides legal advice directly to members of both the Roma Community and The Irish Traveller Community via specialist legal clinics. FLAC also campaigns on a range of issues including consumer credit, personal debt, and fairness in social welfare law, public interest law and civil legal aid.

New Delhi:

The Public Works Department of the Delhi government has issued a notice to former Cabinet minister Kapil Mishra, asking him to vacate his Civil Lines bungalow at the earliest.

A senior government official said that as Mishra was no longer a Cabinet minister, he was not entitled to such an accommodation.

Mishra was sacked as the city water minister on May 6 over alleged poor water management.

After being discharged from his duty as a minister, he could have retained the governments bungalow for 15 days. As per rules, he is no loner entitled to a government bungalow. In view of this, the department has asked Mishra to vacate the accommodation at the earliest, a senior official told PTI.

Sources said PWD Minister Satyendar Jain had a week ago issued a note to the department asking it to get the house vacated at the earliest.

Since he was sacked, Mishra has been continuing with his salvo against Aam Aadmi Partys top leadership, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Also Read: Kapil Mishra stopped to meet Delhi CM, high drama outside Arvind Kejriwals residence

Last month, the Karawal Nagar MLA had accused Kejriwal of accepting Rs 2 crore from Jain and filed a complaint in this regard with the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).

After he made the stunning allegation, Mishra was suspended from AAPs primary membership.

Also Read: Delhi govt allowed Chinese CNG kits to be sold with 'made in Canada' label, alleges Kapil Mishra

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
The Nigerian government should abandon its plans to procure vaccines from pharmaceutical companies and focus on administering Ivermectin on Nigerians, Philip Njemanze, a medical doctor and research professor of neuroscience, has said.

Speaking at a virtual conference tagged Information for Healthcare Professionals and the Media on Pfitzer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines Friday, Mr Njemanze said the government needs to strategically handle the pandemic by administering drugs that help the body fight against the infection and reduce its viral load.

We are facing a pandemic and the question is how we go about it, said Mr Njemanze.

There are established ways to deal with a pandemic, depending on the situation. In this situation, we are facing the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a unique virus because it is constantly mutating.

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug believed to also have anti-Covid properties, although it has not been confirmed by relevant health authorities.

As of January 24, Nigeria has recorded 121,566 COVID-19 infections with over 1,504 deaths.

The Nigerian government said it would receive at least 100,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech-approved COVID-19 vaccines by the end of January.

Prioritise Ivermectin

But Mr Njemanze said rather than expend resources on vaccines, the Federal Government should prioritise Ivermectin in tackling the virus.

This Ivermectin should have been and should be our first line of defence. If you prioritise the vaccine and the virus mutates then, there is a bigger challenge. It does not make any medical sense to put our defence on the vaccine. These are not even vaccines, they are genetic devices,  he said.

The Pfizer vaccine is not a vaccine, it is a misnomer to say it is a vaccine, it is a genetic device.

We still do not know the level of allergies that will come from this vaccine and nobody knows that, they will not tell you that. Since we do not know, we have to proceed cautiously, there has to be a real clinical trial to see that the variant of the virus here is responding to it, Mr Njemanze said.

The health expert warned the Nigerian government not to transpose the trial done in the U.S. and conduct a clinical trial in Nigeria because the fact that the vaccine worked in the U.S. does not mean it will work in Nigeria.

Can we really trust Pfizer? And I say that in capital terms. In 1996, Pfizer came to this country when we had the meningitis epidemic and brought in a brand new antibiotics which they have never tested.

If we have such a company without ethical grounds and we want to adopt their vaccine without any clinical trial?

He said the administration of Pfizer vaccine without any clinical trial conducted by Nigerian doctors was improper.

What the federal government is doing is totally unconstitutional and illegal, they should not do it. It has to be tried first, Mr Njemanze added.

Speaking on the cost of the vaccine, the professor said the Nigerian government intends to spend the entire budget of the health sector for the next 10 to 11 years on the COVID-19 vaccine.

For what purpose? It makes no medical or economic sense, the outlook is very poor even for disease control. What can work right now and we recommend is to continue the distribution of ivermectin all around Nigeria.

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We will achieve such a level of immune protection, it will have not only the COVID-19 prevention gain but wipe out parasites and other diseases. There is a lot to be gained and we are not spending our national budget for it, he said.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has rearraigned George Turnah, a former Special Adviser to an ex-Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dan Abia, for N2.9billion fraud.

A statement by EFCCs spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said Mr Turnah was re-arragined alongside two others and nine firms before Mohammed Turaki of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday.

The defendants were re-arraigned on amended 23 counts of obtaining money by false pretence, money laundering and abuse of office involving about N2,894, 500,000.

Mr Turnahs co- defendants, according to the statement, include, Ebis Orubebe and Uzorgor Silas Chidiebere.

The companies charged along with them are, El- Godams Global Services Ltd., Turnoil and Gas Nigeria Ltd., Kolo Creek Petroleum Development Ltd., Celtic Pride Consult and Events Ltd., Yenagoa Mall Ltd., the Incorporated Trustees of Concerned Niger Delta Initiative, Akara Boro Marine Services Ltd., Sugarland Integrated Farms Nig. Ltd and Geohan Telecommunications Nig. Ltd.

FULL STATEMENT

The Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on January 22, 2021 re- arraigned George Turnah, former Special Adviser to Dan Abia, erstwhile managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and two others alongside nine companies, before Justice Mohammed Turaki of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The defendants were re-arraigned on amended twenty-three count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretense, money laundering and abuse of office to the tune of N2,894, 500,000( Two Billion, Eight Hundred and Ninety-four Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira).

The co- defendants with Turnah are: Ebis Orubebe and Uzorgor Silas Chidiebere. They were arraigned alongside El- Godams Global Services Ltd., Turnoil and Gas Nigeria Ltd., Kolo Creek Petroleum Development Ltd., Celtic Pride Consult and Events Ltd., Yenagoa Mall Ltd., the Incorporated Trustees of Concerned Niger Delta Initiative., Akara Boro Marine Services Ltd., Sugarland Integrated Farms Nig. Ltd and Geohan Telecommunications Nig. Ltd.

Count 6 of the charge reads: that you George Turnah Alabh, Uzogor Silas Chidiebere, El-Godams Global Services Ltd., Turnoil and Gas Nigeria Ltd, Kolo Creek Petroleum Dev. Ltd, Celtic Pride Consult and Events Ltd, Yenagoa Mall Ltd, The Incorporated Trustees of Concerned Niger Delta Initiative, Adaka Boro Marine Services Ltd, Sugarland Integrated Farms Nig. Ltd, Geohan Telecommunication Nig. Ltd and others at large, on or about the 24th day of November, 2014, at Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did take possession of the sum of Seven Hundred and Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N708,500,000.00) which you reasonably ought to know that the monies is obtained by a false pretence from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) purportedly for the purpose of providing quick win jobs for 300 youths and women groups and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under 15 (3) of the same Act.

ALSO READ: EFCC urges court not to grant Maina fresh bail

Count 23 of the charge reads, that you George Turnah Alabh in 2014 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did receive the sum of $1000,000.00 (One Million United State Dollars) (at the exchange rate of N184 to a Dollar) cash from one Umar Lawal of Hakuri Global Concept exceeding the statutory limit without going through a financial institution and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 16 (2) (b) of the same Act.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them. Prosecution counsel, I. Agwu, adopted the subsisting evidence on record, praying the court that we shall not be calling any other witness or any other prosecution witness who earlier testified before this court.

Defense counsel, Professor Amuda Kaneke, SAN, prayed that the bail granted the defendants be maintained. He also prayed the court for an adjournment to enable him study the amended charge and further proceed with his defense. The prayers were not opposed by the prosecution.

Justice Turaki granted that the defendants continue in their existing bail and adjourned the matter till March 15, 16 and 17, 2021 for continuation of trial.

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media & Publicity

25 January, 2021
The master tenant of a San Francisco Bay Area warehouse where 36 people perished when a fire ignited during a 2016 dance party pleaded guilty Friday to the deaths, avoiding a second trial after the first ended in a hung jury.

Derick Almena, 50, pleaded guilty to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a 12-year sentence. Already free on bail, Almena likely wont return to jail because of the nearly three years he already spent behind bars and credit for good behavior.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson read each count with the name of the victim. When she asked Almena his plea for each charge, he answered guilty, but his quiet responses were sometimes inaudible through an online stream of the hearing held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thompson scheduled sentencing for March 8, when she will determine whether he will pay restitution, continue to be monitored electronically at his home in rural Northern California and be subject to supervised probation. Families of the victims will be allowed to give victim impact statements at that time.

Prosecutors say Almena was criminally negligent when he illegally converted the industrial Oakland warehouse into a residence and event space for artists dubbed the Ghost Ship, stuffing the two-story building with flammable materials and extension cords. It had no smoke detectors or sprinklers.

The Dec. 2, 2016, fire broke out at the warehouse during an electronic music and dance party, moving so quickly that victims were trapped on the illegally constructed second floor. Prosecutors said the victims received no warning and had little chance to escape down a narrow, ramshackle staircase.

The case has been emotionally wrenching for family and friends of the victims. Many of them packed a courtroom for months in 2019, only to see a jury split on whether to convict Almena, who leased the building. The jury also found co-defendant Max Harris, who was the Ghost Ships creative director and rent collector, not guilty at the same trial.

Zita Gregory, grandmother of victim Michela Gregory, said Almenas punishment could never compare to the pain and suffering her family has endured the last four years. She said her husband, already in ill health from cancer, died a year after Michela.

His condition got worse. He used to say, Why didnt God take me instead? Gregory said in a tearful interview.

Another grandchild who was born on Dec. 2 no longer celebrates her birthday on that solemn date, Gregory said.

The fire destroyed our family, we have never been the same, she said. Theres never going to be just punishment for what all the victims lost.

Almena had been jailed since 2017 until he was released in May because of coronavirus concerns and after posting a $150,000 bail bond. He is on house arrest with an ankle monitor in the city of Upper Lake, where he lives with his wife and children.

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The U.S. Navy and NATO Air Command conducted 2021's first joint maritime and air training mission in the Black Sea on January 23. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75); one U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance aircraft from VP-46 out of Sigonella, Italy,; and NATO Air Command aircraft E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft based in Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany, participated.

The U.S. Navy and NATO Air Command conducted 2021's first joint maritime and air training mission in the Black Sea on January 23. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75); one U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance aircraft from VP-46 out of Sigonella, Italy,; and NATO Air Command aircraft E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft based in Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany, participated.

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Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) (Picture source: U.S. Navy)

Integrated maritime operations demonstrate our ability to seamlessly combine capabilities to provide multi-layered defense across all warfare domains, said Vice Adm. Gene Black, Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet. We operate in an incredibly complex security environment, which demands high-level cooperation and commitment to ensure regional stability.

Donald Cook began her northbound transit from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea Jan. 23 to work with NATO Allies and partners in training missions throughout the region. The training mission is part of an ongoing integration of air and maritime units throughout U.S. European Command area of operations. The ultimate goal is to refine joint air defense procedures to better defend U.S. Navy ships.

Participants conducted training scenarios to establish air and maritime superiority, which enable freedom of navigation in all international waters and airspace.

"As I observed our combat watchstanders, I was impressed with the crew's growing familiarity with NATO joint interoperability procedures, readiness to cooperate with friendly units, and excitement to perfect our tactical proficiency by real-world application," said Cmdr. Matthew Curnen, commanding officer of USS Donald Cook. "This is exactly what we train for, and the opportunity to perform alongside allied surface and air assets is rewarding."

The Black Sea is a critical waterway for maritime commerce and stability throughout Europe. The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea to work with our NATO Allies and partners, including Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is in the worlds best interest to maintain a stable, prosperous Black Sea region and deter aggressive actors who seek destabilization for their own gain.

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force routinely operate in the Black Sea consistent with international law, including the Montreux Convention. The U.S. participation in this joint maritime and air training mission demonstrates the U.S. commitment to working closely with NATO allies and partners to enhance maritime security and stability, readiness, and naval capability.

Donald Cook is one of four U.S. Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain, and is assigned to Commander, Task Force 65 in support of NATOs Integrated Air Missile Defense architecture. These Forward-Deployed Naval Forces-Europe ships have the flexibility to operate throughout the waters of Europe and Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Arctic Circle, demonstrating their mastery of the maritime domain.

VP-46 is forward deployed to the U.S. Sixth Fleet area of operations and is assigned to Commander, Task Force 67, responsible for tactical control of deployed maritime patrol and reconnaissance squadrons throughout Europe and Africa.

U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with joint, allied, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.
SUTTONS BAY, MI  An auto repair shop in Northern Michigan celebrated five years in business by paying it forward.

Grant and Kris Hoxie, the owners of Mr. Hoxies Garage in Suttons Bay, wrote a check for $2,033.99 to cover unpaid student lunch debts for elementary, middle, and high school students in Suttons Bay.

We know what a trying year this has been for so many, especially for the kids, so we wanted to find a way to help relieve some of the stress that comes with attending school on a daily basis, Grant Hoxie told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Kris Hoxie said the couple usually supports school arts and sports, but COVID-19 disrupted those programs, the newspaper reported.

Grant and Kris said believe strongly in giving back to the community that so graciously supports their business, school staff wrote on Facebook.

They chose to clear lunch debts so that our students and their families had one less thing to worry about this holiday season. Thank you so much for your generous donation, and for helping us continue to spread some joy.

Suttons Bay is in Leelanau County just west of Traverse City. The couple says they have spoken with other business owners in the Leelanau County community about making a five-year pledge to the school lunch program, according to the newspaper.
In mid-October Reuters reported that Huawei is negotiating the sale of the Honor brand. This was denied at the time, but eventually proved correct. Now Reuters is saying that Huawei is negotiating the sale of the flagship P and Mate series.

In response, Huawei officials have issued a statement to Chinese media that the company has no plans to sell its mobile phone business and that it will continue building high-end phones.

The statement does not detail how that will happen, though. Currently, the company has no source of chipsets for its flagship models  HiSilicon is barred from TSMC fabs, Qualcomm and MediaTek are not allowed to sell chips to Huawei.

After the Trump administration put Huawei on the entity list, US companies (and those relying on US tech) required a license to trade with Huawei. Some companies were granted such licenses eventually, but a report from a week ago indicated that some of those were revoked. The Biden administration has so far given no indications as to how it will handle the situation going forward.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
Judah Smith talks about Christian alternative to YouTube

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Bestselling author and lead pastor of Churchome, Judah Smith is part of a new innovative mobile app developed by Seventh Spark named Faithful.

The Christian app is a space for believers to stream sermons and original content from some of the most prominent spiritual leaders today.

The app offers users an alternative space to help people deepen their connection to God without being bombarded with secular ads as what is seen on YouTube and other streaming services.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Smith said he's "really excited and thankful for what we've been able to put together through the Faithful app.

"We found that 50% of millennials are watching Christian content on YouTube and the experience at YouTube, obviously, is not tailor-made or curated for someone who's living a faith-based lifestyle, he said.

Smith explained that Christians streaming on YouTube might be watching their favorite Steven Furtick sermon on the platform but then suddenly get push notifications for someone who's from a different religion.

YouTube is fantastic, [but] it's just not wired that way, he said.

The curated content features over 50 motivational voices around the world. The faith leaders include: Smith and his wife, Chelsea; Charlotte Gambill of LIFE Church; Levi and Jennie Lusko of Fresh Life Church; Dharius Daniels of Change Church; Samuel Rodriguez of New Season Worship; Chad Veach of Zoe Church; Erwin McManus of Mosaic Church; Chris Hodges of Church of the Highlands; Steven Furtick of Elevation Church; Rich and DawnChere Wilkerson of Vous Church; reality star and Christian speaker Sadie Robertson, and many others.

"We're going to be that space in the world saying, Hey, you can grow spiritually in just a couple minutes a day, Smith said. One of the first things that happens when you download the app is we're going to ask the question, How much time do you have?

"There's a little button that says under five minutes, and then you can pick the topics that you're struggling with. You can also pick your favorite preachers from our roster, which is going to grow every day.

The app allows users to choose a specific time every day to listen to preachers speak on various topics such as anxiety, or loneliness, or joy, or courage.

We're going to use technology as much as we can to get the word out, Smith stressed.

The minister also said that the technology will provide Bible studies in addition to topical options and will not be a seeker-friendly experience, but instead biblically sound.

"The Bereans searched the scripture to ensure that what Paul taught was true, Smith noted. We want to inform people, we want to educate people, we want to empower people to understand how to study their Bible.

There's thousands of hours of content on the Faithful app, not the least of which is how to study your Bible. There are masterclasses from some brilliant theologians and thinkers who are going to put that together to help us study our Bible, he continued.

Smith said he believes both topical sermons and in-depth chapter studies are essential.

As a pastor and pastoring Churchome now, for instance, we're about to go into a Galatians series. I'm going to do a study on multiple chapters and we're just going to go verse by verse, but we just got done with the series on trauma, he added. I think being able to understand that both topical study of Scripture is important and then, of course, verse by verse is also important. But context is always imperative when interpreting the Scripture.

2020 was a year of great hopelessness for many and even exposed some preachers' failings, but Smith assured that all of the pastors featured on the app are people of integrity.

We've tried to be really diligent in our roster to have people that are people of integrity, people who understand hermeneutics and how to study their Bible, Smith insisted. I think you're going to find there's a really sound, good Bible teaching that can really help us grow just a few minutes every single day.

The platform, he added, is designed to allow users to choose who they want to follow while also discovering new pastors.

When asked about the importance of being a preacher in these times, the prominent American pastor said modern-day ministers help people learn how to apply the Word of God to their everyday life.

"The word application comes to mind when Bible study or Bible teaching is in play. We've got to be really effective and efficient at making application to people's everyday life, Smith maintained.

The Seattle resident referenced how Jesus spoke of modern-day things when He walked the Earth to help share the message of God.

"It's one of the reasons I'm excited about Sadie Robertson. She is a young, powerful woman who has so much to say about Jesus and living a life in loving others, he said. She's been exposed to this massive TV program with her parents, and so she has this take on how to reach the world and how to love people, and how to love people who maybe don't know Jesus. It is time that more and more voices begin to rise.

"You got Steven Furtick, who might be the most listened to preacher in the world, Smith added. Then you have brand new faces and voices that I think people will be like, Wow, I didn't know of her or him. Now I do. And they might end up finding their brand new favorite preacher and we're pretty excited about that as well.

When asked why people should choose Faithful instead of YouTube, the spiritual leader who is popularly known as Justin Biebers pastor, said because its a safe space.

"I think YouTube, rightfully so, dominates the space [because] it just seems like that's the easiest spot, Smith said. One of the challenges, I'll just be very candid, I have 16 and 13-year-old sons, and honestly, them going to YouTube to watch content  YouTube also understands that it's a young man watching and there'll be notifications for models or girls or whatever. That can be very counterproductive to your spiritual growth.

He added, "We believe that Faithful is a safe space. It also can be tailor-made to the individual and your spiritual journey, while also [pushing] you [to] some new voices so that you don't stay siloed in listening to the two preachers you love.

"I think one of the beautiful things that we're experiencing with faithful is we're also demonstrating that over 50 preachers, pastors and leaders of different communities around the world can work together to share the message of faith, hope and love at a time that we desperately need it, Smith continued.

So I assure you, if you go to Faithful, do our onboarding process, which honestly will take you about two minutes or less, we're going to find out where you are and what headspace you're in, what needs you have, and the communicators that you like, and we're going to be able to, in just a few minutes a day, give you content that really will help you grow.

Smith added that he likes to meditate on just one scripture a day which helps him to not get overwhelmed and actually apply the Word of God.

Faithful is a free ad-free service and is available now on the App Store and Google Play. A paid subscription option is also available for $9.99 monthly.

The free content includes thousands of hours of full sermons (all ad-free with background audio) and a unique Verse of the Day experience that mixes scripture with interactive teaching. The subscription feature includes guided prayers and masterclasses.
Bullet train

A consortium of construction major Larsen and Toubro and Japanese IHI Infrastructure Systems on Monday bagged the Rs 1,390-crore contract for procurement and fabrication of 28 steel bridges for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited said. These bridges will be built over railway lines, rivers, highways, roads and other structures, it said in a statement.

It is estimated that about 70,000 MT of steel will be used for the fabrication of these bridges and Indian steel industries and their allied supply chains will get a big boost, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said. "Indian steel manufactures will be providing quality steel for the fabrication of super structures for these steel bridges. The NHSRCL has already sensitised the Indian steel industries to cater to such a huge demand for India's first high speed rail corridor," it said.

Budget 2021: Will railway Budget focus on bullet train network?

The NHSRCL has already awarded civil contracts for the construction of 64 per cent of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Corridor alignment which includes a train depot at Surat, a mountain tunnel of 350 metre and five HSR stations  Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch and Anand/Nadiad. In total, 28 steel bridges with individual spans varying from 60 metre to 130 metre will be constructed for the project. The length of all the steel bridges put together will be around 4.5 km and their construction will involve more than 70,000 tons of steel fabrication, the statement said.

For this purpose, at the initial stages, the steel super structure work was assigned to Japan Lead (JV) companies, as the job required construction of steel super structure bridges of high-quality Japanese standards for high speed railway. But as the 'Make in India' prospect took flight and fabrication of steel structures are being executed by Indian companies for all other railway projects, the NHSRCL looked into the possibility of opening steel structure fabrication bid to Indian companies as well, the statement said.

On discussion with the Japanese side for opening steel superstructure works to Indian companies also, a high-power committee comprising of experts from both the Indian and Japanese sides, namely NHSRCL, India Experts and JRTT, was formed in March 2019, it said. The committee's main task was to assess the capability of various Indian fabricators and ensure whether they can be entrusted with the work, the statement said.

It was also tasked with the responsibility of recommending improvements to Indian fabricators so that their fabrication quality meets Japanese and global high speed railway standards. The committee mentioned that manufacturing of steel bridges can be achieved by Indian fabrication companies as they have the infrastructure. With the support of highly-skilled human resource and a systematic human-training system the required quality level can be achieved, it said.

"Opening of steel fabrication to Indian companies will not only reduce cost but will also give a boost to the 'Make in India' aspect of the business, and as a result upgrade the standards of fabrication in the country. Enhanced skills of Indian technicians will further pave the way for 'Make for World' and put Indian companies for fabrication of reliable, cost-effective and high-quality products on the global map," the statement said.
The National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) has congratulated Mr Daniel Kwaku Botwe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere as minister-designate for the newly renamed Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development.



According to the Association Mr Botwes years of experience as MP and achievement in various portfolios in previous administrations of government would come in handy to improve the Ministry.



We believe that your years of experience as Member of Parliament and achievement in various portfolios in previous administrations of government will come in handy to improve the Ministry.



A statement issued by Mr Kokro Amankwah, General Secretary of the NALAG also congratulates Justina Owusu-Banahene and Justina Marigold Assan, Municipal Chief Executives for the Sunyani Municipal Assembly and Agona West Municipal Assembly respectively, on their elevation to the front bench as Regional Ministers-designate of Bono Region and Central Region.



Your outstanding reputation in local government for the period while you served come as an inspiration to the people you served and we are hopeful that you will bring your expertise to bear when given the nod by Parliament, he added.



The Association also wish the nominees well in their vetting and expressed the hope that Parliament would approve of their nomination so that they can assist in the delivery of service to Ghana.





Source: GNA









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This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.

As insurgents stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a certain shock and awe settled over many white Americans. On Twitter, politicians, cable news hosts, and regular everyday white folks seemed unable to understand how an attempted coup was playing out, not in a third-world country, but right here in the USA. Those whod been paying attention, however, recognized that Jan. 6 was neither unprecedented nor foreign. It was plain American whitenessemboldened beyond measure under Donald Trump.

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The attack on the Capitol and the apparent plans to harm lawmakers were extreme reactions to a lost election. But this was a response already programmed into Trumpism, an ideology made possible by its forefather, white supremacy. Trump was, as Ta-Nehisi Coates explained in 2017, the first American president to exist purely because of his whiteness. He brought no credentials or qualifications to the position outside of his role as a shamelessly racist retort to the political success of the disciplined and highly qualified first Black president.

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A lot of white folks ate up this brand of nationalism because Trump promised to actively assure their dominance and power by any means necessaryan idea that clearly appealed to the white public, consciously or not. Trump was bold enough to say it openly, with his chest. His general theatrics managed to convince many observers that these assertions of raw power were somehow not real. People chose to believe he was simply a loudmouth who had accidentally become president, while his administration dismantled human rights protections at every turn. (The very serious function of racism is distraction, said Toni Morrison.)

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The quieter phenomena of white complacency, downplaying, and silence are what gave whiteness the guts to violently storm government buildings.

Some of us saw him from the beginning as a real threat to the countrys very fragile social fabric. In 2016, even as much of the media wrote Trump off as an imbecile who wouldnt be capable of orchestrating serious damage to American democracy, many Black and brown reporters, as well as those who cover extremism, warned against underestimating Trump and his followers. We urged against focusing on economic anxiety as he described predominantly Black countries as shitholes and called Mexicans criminals and rapists. We knew that white Americans had not voted against their own self-interest, but rather many believe that preserving whiteness in an unequal society is their best interesteven if its at the expense of the institutions that benefit many of them as well.

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But for every white person yelling along at a Trump rally, there was another white person declaring that there was nothing to seriously worry aboutand that the people who said the danger and damage were real were getting carried away. This is the pervasiveness of whiteness. Its a force many white people have long seemed unwilling to deconstruct. It is why well-meaning white people will go to great lengths to superficially distance themselves from obvious racists while giving the benefit of doubt to their parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and friends who fit the same paradigm.

In the Atlantic, a white writer could describe the insurgents who stormed the Capitol as a ragtag band of undesirables, deadbeat dads, YouPorn enthusiasts, slow students, and MMA fans, even as other reporting showed otherwise. It was seemingly comforting for some white journalists to view the Trump mobs as Confederate flagtoting rednecks who eat bushels of fast food and dont bother to drink water. Imbeciles who dont know any better. The subtext of this, of course, is that those white people werent like them. Insisting that those who stormed the Capitol fit into cartoonish hick stereotypes of whiteness shows just how little well-meaning white people are willing to accept that racists come from all walks of lifeincluding their own circles. Their failure to recognize their own proximity to the problem is part of why Trump and his supporters were able to go as far as they did.

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From Nov. 3 until Jan. 6, high-ranking Republicans facilitated Trumps brand of whiteness by raising questions about the election, hearing out the challenges, or failing to say that Joe Biden won until the last possible instant. Our institutions are actually built for this, said Sen. Mitch McConnell in November amid the Trump campaigns crusade to overturn the election results, disregarding the fact that there was no evidence that Trump had won. We have the system in place to consider concerns and President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options. The allegations were enough, an angry fantasy world where white people could retreat.

The quieter phenomena of white complacency, downplaying, and silence are what gave whiteness the guts to violently storm government buildings wearing preprinted paraphernalia celebrating the attack. This is what empowered whiteness to attempt to rewrite history, disenfranchise Black voters, build pipelines through Native American reservations, and construct an entire conspiracy theory upholding Trump as a savior.

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Dont fool yourself into thinking that the end of the Trump Administration marks the dawn of a new era. The same whiteness that uplifted Trumps egregious policy agenda existed before him and will be around after hes gone. Even now, as President Joe Biden takes office, the press cannot take premature sighs of relief. If history serves as an accurate predictor, the desire to speak plainly and directly about racism will wane, and the idea that we have moved beyond this ugly moment in history will prevail. And so will whiteness, yet again.

This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.
Nokian Tyres is launching the most ambitious hiring campaign yet at its Dayton factory. The company plans to add approximately 150 jobs in the first half of 2021, and hiring is underway now.

Interested candidates can visit NokianTires.com/DaytonFactory to apply.

Nokian Tyres is pursuing team members to work in its mixing, tire production, maintenance and logistics areas, and those interested in performing tasks related to general factory overhead and quality control. Most production positions require the following qualifications:

High school diploma and/or GED

Associates degree from an accredited community, technical or vocational college preferred

1-to-2 years of direct experience in a manufacturing environment preferred

Experience with lean/process improvement tools and/or interest in advancing knowledge in this area

Nokian Tyres is eager to welcome new employees to our team as part of our quest to be an employer of choice in Southeast Tennessee, said Dayton Factory HR Operations Manager Blake Markham. This latest hiring phase will nearly double our workforce and allow us to significantly increase production of safe, sustainable tires at our high-tech factory.

The growing workforce will enable the factory to expand from two production shifts to four, a necessary step as Nokian Tyres seeks to satisfy rising demand for its products in North America, including the Nokian Tyres One, an all-season passenger tire the company launched in January.

The Southeast Tennessee facility opened in fall 2019 and is one of the most sustainable production factories in the industry; last year, it was the first tire factory to earn LEED v4 Silver certification, a result of its solar energy, energy efficiency and eco-friendly design. Last April, the factory earned ISO 9001 quality certification just six months after officially opening.

Nokian Tyres plans to hire approximately 400 employees to produce tires and oversee operations at the Dayton factory by 2023. It eventually aims to make as many as four million tires per year at the facility.

Officials said the company seeks to provide a positive culture for its employees. Workers are exposed to some of the most advanced production machinery and processes in the tire industry, and Nokian Tyres aims to foster an environment that helps employees develop professionally. Perks include competitive pay and benefits, a wellness center, a greenspace and even a sauna.

For more information about Nokian Tyres Dayton Factory or to apply for jobs there, interested parties can visit NokianTires.com/DaytonFactory.


ATLANTA: Delta Air Lines plans to return 400 pilots to regular flying duties by this summer in a sign that it expects travel to increase over the peak vacation season from current, low pandemic levels.

The airlines senior vice president of flight operations, John Laughter, said in a memo that the airline is bringing back pilots to active flying well ahead of when we originally estimated.

The 400 are not new hires; through March, they are being paid with taxpayer money that Delta received as part of $15 billion in additional federal aid to the airline industry. Delta had threatened to furlough about 1,700 less-senior pilots last fall but backed down after their union agreed to concessions including reduced pay and removal from active flying.

Union spokesman Chris Riggins said the Air Line Pilots Association was encouraged by Deltas decision.

U.S. passenger traffic so far in January is down 61% from a year ago. Delta and United are forecasting continued weak travel demand through March, but industry officials expect improvement as more people are vaccinated against COVID-19.

Delta shares were down 2%, and other airline stocks fell even more in afternoon trading as countries tightened travel restrictions to curb the spread of new COVID-19 variants. The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden will ban travel of non-U.S. citizens from Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom and more than two dozen other European countries.

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
WASHINGTON - The revelation that the Capitol mob - covered in emblems of extremist groups - included off-duty law enforcement officers possibly assisted by working police is escalating pressure on sheriffs and police chiefs nationwide to root out staffers with ties to white supremacist and far-right armed groups.

Law enforcement leaders have faced criticism in the past for a lack of policing their own officers' involvement with extremist groups. The selfies that off-duty officers took inside the Capitol during the violent siege, which left one police officer dead and dozens of others injured, was a wake-up call for many who have long denied the extent of the problem within policing.

National Sheriffs' Association President David Mahoney said many police leaders have treated officers with extremist beliefs as outliers and have underestimated the damage they can inflict on the profession and the nation.

"We saw the anti-government, anti-equality and racist comments coming out during the Obama administration. Shame on us for representing it as freedom of speech and for not recognizing it was chiseling away at our democracy," Mahoney said in an interview. "As we move forward, we need to make sure we are teaching our current staff members that they must have the courage to speak out when they know about another deputy's or officer's involvement. There should be no reference to the thin blue line."

The Capitol riot came as law enforcement officials face a tense national landscape after last year's protests against policing, calls to cut their funding and a broader reckoning on racial injustice. Then the mob stormed the Capitol, prompting criticism about how police treated the largely White crowd and then anger when allegations emerged that officers were among their ranks.

More than a dozen off-duty law enforcement officers are under investigation after being linked to the Jan. 6 mob, according to a Washington Post analysis using news accounts and police and FBI reports. At least a dozen Capitol Police officers are also under investigation for possibly playing a role in the rioting by assisting or encouraging the mob.

Another 14 off-duty officers, who do not appear to have entered the Capitol, attended the preceding rally held by President Donald Trump that was advertised by extremist groups on social media. The event drew tens of thousands of people to Washington to fight the election results that made Joe Biden the 46th U.S. president. Local and federal law enforcement warned in the run-up that it could lead to violence.

Law enforcement leaders across the nation are talking to cadets and veteran officers about the need to report colleagues who have aligned themselves with white supremacists or far-right militants. The leaders are considering policies that would expressly prohibit officers from affiliating with such groups.

They are also discussing ways to conduct deeper background checks on recruits so such extremists are blocked from entering the profession. Some police experts suggest hiring outside experts to help scour social media sites.

The FBI, they say, could play a greater role in helping to identify and remove local law enforcement officers with ties to extremists by making better use of intelligence gathered from its own investigations.

"They know who these bad apples are,'' said Michael German, a former FBI agent who worked domestic terrorism cases. "They learn about them when they are investigating white supremacists and militia groups."

However, legal experts and police watchdogs said they are wary of the promise for change. Many in law enforcement have committed to similar changes in the past after police killed Black Americans, including the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody last year.

"These officers are hiding in plain sight, and law enforcement is so reluctant to do anything about it," said Vida Johnson, a law professor at Georgetown University. "And until they're willing to . . . discipline officers, this is going to continue to be a problem, and it's one that's completely destabilizing the country and putting us at risk."

Johnson also noted the legal obstacles unions can present when police chiefs attempt to discipline or fire officers for misconduct. Efforts to remove officers are routinely challenged by unions and resolved by arbitrators who often are reluctant to deviate from the history of how sheriff and police departments have dealt with members who have been affiliated with these groups.

- - -

Art Acevedo, president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, said the attack on the Capitol may make the task of firing officers with such affiliations easier, but he agrees with union leaders that the greatest success could come from blocking them from ever becoming a part of the force.

He is heartened that recruits are getting the message.

"A brand new cadet, first week in the academy, openly bragged that they were part of the Aryan Brotherhood. Another cadet notified us. That is how emboldened some of these folks are right now," said Acevedo, who is police chief at the Houston Police Department. "Needless to say, this cadet is no longer with us. We are looking to see what we failed to check before he entered the academy."

On Tuesday, Acevedo paced in front cadets on their first day of the academy, shouting about his anger over the riot in the Capitol like a preacher at a tent revival.

He asked whether they had heard about Tam Dinh Pham, a former Houston police officer who allegedly joined the violent mob that entered the Capitol and was charged recently with federal crimes by the Justice Department.

In a fiery call and response that was posted on Twitter days later, Acevedo warned the cadets that such conduct would not be tolerated.

"If anyone in this room right now believes that anyone needed to be in that Capitol building, they need to check out now! Understand me?"

"Yes sir!"

"You will not survive in this department with that mind-set. You understand that?"

"Yes sir!"

"Is there room for hate?"

"No sir."

"Is there room for discrimination?"

"No sir!"

"Is there room for militia in this department or any other police department?"

"No sir."

Acevedo's voice lowered, telling the cadets this was something "I had to get off my chest."

"I think we are all pretty p----- off right now that we have cops thinking it's OK to storm our nation's Capitol," he said. "Those people are absolute traitors to our nation, to our oath of office."

According to an FBI affidavit, Pham told agents that he went to the rally because he wanted to "see history" and that he climbed over barricades and went into the Capitol. Acevedo learned of Pham's actions through an anonymous email tip he received the day after the riot. Acevedo said they have found no evidence of Pham being part of a hate or armed group, but the investigation is ongoing. The Washington Post has been unable to reach Pham for comment.

Acevedo said his department does a thorough job of looking for such affiliations among officers but acknowledged that such efforts are uneven among the 18,000 police departments in the nation, which function autonomously.

Acevedo also said anonymous online platforms on the "dark web" are making such investigations impossible, even for departments with sufficient resources. He expects the move away from public platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to grow rapidly in response to the FBI arrests of those who rioted at the Capitol.

This month, Acevedo was asked by the House Oversight and Reform Committee to explain what actions police chiefs are taking, and he responded by asking for help. For years, law enforcement officials have asked for passage of a federal law that would require such platforms to have a "back door" that law enforcement can access if they have "a legitimate investigative need and a court order" to gain entry.

"Congress's failure to act has enabled industry giants to flaunt the law and operate with impunity," Acevedo wrote in response.

This debate over encryption has simmered for years, with privacy advocates and technology executives defending encryption as a necessary protection and arguing that giving law enforcement these back doors would weaken security overall.

The degree to which white supremacist and far-right armed groups have otherwise infiltrated police and sheriff departments is unknown. Johnson, the law professor at Georgetown, said it is "the million dollar question."

Lynda Williams, national president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, said she was "sad and disappointed" but not surprised to learn that police were allegedly among the Capitol rioters.

"That just goes to show: We all put on our badge, but you really don't know the person that's besides you," said Williams, a former deputy assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service. "In 30 years of law enforcement, any time I needed backup or assistance . . . the last thing I wanted to be concerned about was if this person has my back."

Black officers across the country are "absolutely" looking around their departments and wondering what they might not know about the people they work with and their viewpoints, she said.

"In law enforcement, we see things through a different lens," Williams said. "Now it's giving you another thought that you never had to think about, like, 'Could he? Could she? Are they?' "

Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he does not view extremism among police as a widespread problem but believes better screening of job candidates is warranted. For veteran officers, more robust and confidential mental health services are needed, he said, so officers do not become easy recruiting targets for the groups.

"Most of us have one or two traumatic events in our life. Officers can have 60 or 70. We really need to recognize the stresses of this job," Yoes said.

- - -

Police departments that are able to root out these rogue officers have a challenge in deciding where to draw the line on officer expression, said Will Aitchison, a labor and employment attorney based in Portland, Ore., who primarily represents law enforcement in labor negotiations.

"It's a bit of a more subtle one than most people are thinking: The challenge is going to be regulating what can constitutionally be regulated but not going so far as to violate the officers' free speech," Aitchison told The Post.

Aitchison said most officers, and even police unions, probably would welcome revisions to departmental policy when it comes to what kind of expression is permitted and what is punishable.

Over the past several years, departments have struggled to define the boundaries around speech - including tattoos, social media posts and group membership - that community members view as objectionable or as evidence of bias but nonetheless protected.

In 2016, Ian Hans Lichterman, a Philadelphia police officer, caused an uproar when he was photographed in his short-sleeved patrol uniform that prominently showed his forearm tattoos that resembled Nazi imagery.

He was cleared of wrongdoing since the department didn't have a tattoo policy on the books. The city later crafted one that banned "offensive, extremist, indecent, racist and sexist tattoos on any part of the body" over the police union's objections.

Lichterman and the Philadelphia Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Last year, the Sanford Police Department in North Carolina parted ways with an officer after an anonymous Twitter account published social media posts that indicated that the officer, Michael Lankford, was part of a pro-Confederacy group. Lankford could not be reached for comment, and the Sanford Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

In some cases, officers have turned in their colleagues for making blatant threats. The night of the Capitol siege, a sheriff's deputy in Florida's Polk County, angered by police fatally shooting someone in the mob, texted a colleague that they needed to "make the streets of D.C. run red with the blood of the tyrants" and "kill them all," Sheriff Grady Judd said. The colleague reported the exchange, and the deputy was charged with making written threats to kill.

"You can't police a society if you don't first police yourselves," Judd said. "Words matter, and threatening words to hurt, to kill, are not acceptable."

- - -

The Washington Post's Razzan Nakhlawi, Rachel Weiner, Julie Tate and Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
Handout photo of Taoiseach Micheal Martin during Post-Cabinet Press Briefing at Government Buildings, Dublin, after he announced that Dublin will move to risk level three of the Governments blueprint plan to deal with Covid-19.

Level Five lockdown measures will continue until at least early March, under proposals to go before Cabinet on Tuesday.

A Cabinet sub-committee met on Monday night to consider a range of new measures to combat the pandemic, including extending lockdown until March 5th  in line with Northern Ireland.

Mandatory quarantine of 14-days will be enforced for international travellers who arrive in the country without a negative PCR test taken in the previous 72-hours.

Passengers from Brazil and South Africa, where new variants of Covid-19 have emerged, will also be subject to quarantine, according to Government sources.

A full meeting of the Cabinet is to take place on Tuesday where the proposals are expected to be signed off on.

It comes as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer warned the full reopening of schools is unlikely to happen in the coming weeks as transmission of Covid-19 in the community remains too high.

The daily case tallies have dropped significantly in recent weeks due to lockdown measures, with 1,372 cases reported on Monday, compared to a high of 8,248 cases on January 8.

But while case numbers are dropping and the numbers of people in hospitals and intensive care units is beginning to plateau, it still to early to consider reopening schools, Dr Ronan Glynn said.

Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team



The Health Protection Surveillance Centre @hpscireland has today been notified of 7 additional deaths related to COVID-19.



All of these deaths occurred in January.  Department of Health (@roinnslainte) January 25, 2021

He told a briefing on Monday evening: Its a very significant improvement over the past couple of weeks and where we were.

But were still at a level of disease that is way, way higher than where we want to be, or need to be in general terms.

All I can say is that, from our perspective, right now is not the time to see mobility of over a million people that would be associated with the full reopening of education.

In the first instance we need to be assured that the improvements that weve seen in the disease numbers, in the trajectory, is continuing. And that we dont now plateau at where we are. We need to see a continued improvement.

He added: I cant see it happening in the next fortnight for sure.

A Cabinet sub-committee is meeting on Monday evening to discuss current restrictions  including the implementation of stricter quarantine rules for international travellers.

Any measure that reduces passengers coming into this country for non-essential purposes we welcome, Dr Glynn said.

Despite all of the hard work that we're doing, it is going to take a long time for numbers in hospital to reduce. Dr Ronan Glynn

Dr Glynn said there are positive signs, with the number of hospital admissions per day decreasing for the last two weeks.

He said: It peaked at around 140 admissions per day, on average, its below 100 over the last seven days, and we saw 74 admissions or confirmations today. The number in ICU plateauing at over 200.

However, he said the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) expects those numbers to remain very high for weeks to come.

He said: Despite all of the hard work that were doing, it is going to take a long time for numbers in hospital to reduce.

We do expect to see numbers in hospital at or above 1000, even out to the end of February.

In terms of numbers of people in critical care, we expect to see that start to reduce over the coming week. But again, likely to remain above 100, well out to the end of February.

Im saying that so that people prepare for that or not disheartened by the fact that it is going to take a long time to bring the burden on our healthcare system back down to reasonable levels.

Face coverings can help to reduce the spread of #coronavirus. They should:

cover the nose & go under the chin

fit snugly against the side of the faceaa

be secured with ties or ear loopsaa

include at least 2 layers of fabricaa

allow for unrestricted breathing pic.twitter.com/LPFpjJGNsx  HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 25, 2021

Dr Glynn said the number of close contacts reported by confirmed cases has dropped and is remaining low.

He said: That indicator, the number of close contacts per case has been below 2.5 since the beginning of January.

People are maintaining that effort and the numbers of contacts remains low.

Thats a little bit different from what we saw in October, where numbers of contacts came down to a low level and then immediately began to drift back up.

Here the context came down to a low level, and are remaining low. And thats something that we need to feed back to people.

We can clearly see the efforts that theyre making to stay apart, to prevent transmission of the virus.

There were seven additional deaths linked to Covid-19 on Monday, and an additional 1,372 cases.

The number of people in intensive care units has increased by one, to 219, according to the latest figures.
UW in the News

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

The Casper Star-Tribune (CS-T) interviewed UW economist Rob Godby in an article about Wyoming legislators preparing to tackle massive budget cuts in the coming legislative session. Godby discussed taxes, noting that economic development is not just about low taxes, but the ability to keep funding services.

Beginning this week, UW, Albany County Public Health and Ivinson Memorial Hospital will administer the COVID-19 vaccine to county residents who are in categories 1-3 of the Phase 1b priority schedule in the Wyoming Department of Healths distribution guidelines. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle and Laramie Live published UWs release on the notice.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle noted how UW and Wyomings community colleges have virtual opportunities to help high school students navigate the application process. Kyle Moore, UWs associate vice provost for enrollment management, was interviewed for the article that originally appeared in The Sheridan Press.

Matt Kauffman, director of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit at UW, discussed year three of a six-year study of the effects of wind turbines on migrating pronghorn. Kauffman told The CS-T that pronghorn generally stay away from turbines, but more work is still needed to know the full effects.

Buckrail published UWs release noting that university researchers and their colleagues recently published a paper that explores how visitors to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks can help conservation efforts in lands close to the national parks.

A new study recently found that hunting season does not trigger untimely mule deer migration in Wyoming. Wyoming Public Media spoke with UWs Patrick Rodgers, an associate research scientist at the Wyoming Migration Initiative, who was among the authors of the study.

Mining Magazine reported that UW received a $500,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant for the generation of rare earth metals from rare earth oxides by using microwave plasma.

UW researchers are developing techniques to study the rare Wyoming pocket gopher, according to a report from Wyoming Public Radio.

KGAB Radio was among media outlets publishing UWs release noting that an additional gift of $300,000 from the John P. Ellbogen Foundation will help support civics education for Wyoming students. The additional gift enhances the John P. Ellbogen Civics Education Fund to more than $1.5 million.

UW Assistant Professor Shawn McClean and his colleagues published a study that showed abusive bosses may retain their positions by taking steps to repair their social images without acting meaningfully to change their behavior. Sheridan Media and Laramie Live published UWs media release.

County 10 and The Wyoming Tribune Eagle published UWs release noting that Thomas Boothby, a UW molecular biologist, will discuss his research on tardigrades when he participates in a worldwide broadcast from the International Space Station Tuesday.

Western bumblebee populations are so dire that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is researching whether the bee should be placed on the endangered species list. UW researcher Christy Bell was interviewed for the article that appeared in The Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Wyoming Public Radio interviewed UW Associate Professor Christine Porter about her food insecurity project on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

UW Art Museum Director Nicole Crawford discussed with Wyoming Public Radio her perspectives regarding the aftermath and effects of the recent U.S. Capitol insurrection on art, history and museums.

The Good Men Project quoted UW Professor Bryan Shuman about climate changes warming trend the last several years for an article, titled Heart Attacks Can Rise During Extremes of Heat.
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Continuing with my tales about the bravest of the braves, let me share a few interesting snippets to reinforce the legend of a Johnny Gorkha. While many of these are apocryphal tales they do give us a glimpse of how the world views this breed of warriors at large. It is true that an act of bravery requires a certain degree of stupidity and a wee bit of insanity; or else, why would any rational person ever want to put his own life in peril voluntarily or deliberately, right? But, Gorkhas are neither stupid nor insane, that I can vouch for; they are simply brave.

Sometime in 1943, during the Second World War, a plan was afoot to drop troops behind enemy lines on the Burma front - which later came to be known as Chindits Operation - to disrupt and delay the advance of the Japanese army. When a Gorkha unit was asked to volunteer for this operation and are told that they had to jump out of the planes at 500 feet, the Subedar Major, after a quick confab with the men, agrees to volunteer but asks if they could jump closer to the ground. When told that any lower than 500 feet wont give their parachutes time to open, he quips, Oh! So we get parachutes, eh? The men were relieved to learn that they would not be simply jumping off the planes after all! Talk about raw courage, will you?! Sometime in 1943, during the Second World War, a plan was afoot to drop troops behind enemy lines on the Burma front - which later came to be known as Chindits Operation - to disrupt and delay the advance of the Japanese army. When a Gorkha unit was asked to volunteer for this operation and are told that they had to jump out of the planes at 500 feet, the Subedar Major, after a quick confab with the men, agrees to volunteer but asks if they could jump closer to the ground. When told that any lower than 500 feet wont give their parachutes time to open, he quips, Oh! So we get parachutes, eh? The men were relieved to learn that they would not be simply jumping off the planes after all! Talk about raw courage, will you?!

Miraculously, two months after being declared missing in action during the Chindits Operation, a Gorkha soldier resurfaced and reported back to the nearest military garrison in Manipur. Apparently, after losing all his team members to the scourge of malaria and Japanese patrols, he had managed to find his way back through the jungles of Burma by map reading and navigating along the Irrawady and Chindwin rivers. Perhaps, only a Johnny Gorkha could have exhibited such amazing map reading and survival skills since the map he purportedly used was actually a map of Shimla town and the surrounding hills! (Incidentally, Shimla used to be the summer capital of British India then). As they say, fortune favours the brave....!!

During the Anglo-Nepalese War between the Kingdom of Gorkha and East India Company, the first battle was fought around the Nalapani Fort, near Dehradun, which was placed under siege by the British between 31 October and 30 November 1814. There is an interesting anecdote about this Gorkha soldier, who having sustained a deep wound in his left arm during a skirmish, went to the enemy camp at night to get medically treated (the Fort had run out of ration and other amenities) and when asked by the doctor to stay put, politely refused, explaining that he needed to get back to the Fort to fight them again in the morning! Not surprisingly, the Britishers made the historical decision to recruit these indomitable warriors as part of East India Company army soon after this battle.

Gorkhas are famed for their deadly skill with the khukri, and one of the most popular khukri tales relates to an incident that supposedly occurred during the Second Opium War fought by Britain and France against China (1856-60).

On a warm summer night, a Johnny Gorkha on sentry duty challenged a French army officer seeking entry into the camp, and asked for the password as per laid down protocol in a battle zone. In his arrogance, the French officer, instead of acknowledging the challenge, admonished the soldier for not paying compliments. Undeterred, the sentry persisted. In anger when the officer tried to open the gate forcibly, the sentry pulled out his khukri and swiped in a flash. The officer jumped back in alarm and holding his head in mock dismay, shouted, Hey, be careful with that, soldier...I could have got hurt!! The soldier politely replied, Why dont you remove your hands and confirm, sir? Moment the officer lifted the hands his head just rolled over. Believe you me, as a young Gorkha officer I never ever made the mistake of forgetting the password for the day especially at night! One of the famous victories of the Gorkhas in partnership with the British was the capture of the great fortress of Bharatpur in 1825. In a display of competitive spirit they raced the British grenadiers to the breached gates of the fort. Later, as the British soldiers cheered them on, the Gorkhas reciprocated the gesture and the senior most Subedar delivered a short speech which remains immortalised in the annals of folklore:

The English are as brave as lions; they are splendid soldiers and are very nearly equal to us! Pardon them their vanity but as warriors these men from the hills, indisputably, are a cut above the rest.

And lastly, did you hear this story about an unfortunate mule that kicked a Johnny Gorkha in the head and ended up in the vet hospital with a fractured hind leg, while the soldier reported to the regimental doctor complaining of a mild headache?! So, guys, dont ever mess with a Gorkha! God bless them and may the tribe continue to thrive!

Ayo Gorkhali (the Gorkhas are upon you)......!!

Kenter Joya Riba

She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.comPhone: 0360-2212313

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Jodie Turner-Smith will take a starring role in forthcoming Netflix series The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel to the streaming service's fantasy drama The Witcher.

The British actress will play Eile, an elite warrior blessed with the voice of a goddess who leaves her position as Queen's guardian to become a nomadic musician.

However a battle on the continent forces her to reclaim her sword in the search for vengeance and redemption.

Coming soon: Jodie Turner-Smith will take a starring role in forthcoming Netflix series The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel to the streaming service's fantasy drama The Witcher

Set some 1200 years before the events of original show, the six-part live action series will focus on the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the conjunction of the spheres, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves collided.

Declan de Barra - who previously wrote one episode of The Witcher - will act as Executive Producer, while resident show-runner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich will serve as Executive Producer.

Author Andrzej Sapkowski, who wrote the popular book series upon which the show is based, will serve as creative consultant.

The original: The new show is one of two planned spin-offs based on The Witcher, starring Henry Cavill (pictured as Geralt of Rivia)

Jason Brown and Sean Daniel from Hivemind, and Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko from Platige Films will all serve as executive producer.

Based on Sapkowski short stories The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, series one of The Witcher was released in its entirety on December 20th, 2019.

British star Henry Cavill - best known for his work in the rebooted Superman franchise - was cast as chief witcher Geralt of Rivia after being chosen from more than 200 actors.

Netflix is also planning an animated spin-off inspired by the series titled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, focusing on the origin story of Geralts mentor Vesemir, played by Killing Eve star Kim Bodnia.

Coming soon: Turner-Smith also set to play Queen of England Anne Boleyn across three episodes of a yet to be titled Channel 5 drama. The show is expected to air in 2021

Turner-Smith is married to fellow actor and former Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson, 42. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in April 2020.

Her previous acting credits include Netflix hit Nightflyers, a horror science-fiction series based on the 1980 novella by Game Of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and Nicolas Winding Refn film The Neon Demon, a critical and commercial flop.

She is also set to play Queen of England Anne Boleyn across three episodes of a yet to be titled Channel 5 drama. The show is expected to air in 2021.

Main man: British star Cavill - best known for his work in the rebooted Superman franchise - was cast as chief witcher Geralt of Rivia after being chosen from more than 200 actors

Boleyn, who was the white daughter of English nobility, was one of the key causes of the English Reformation and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

Producers Fable Pictures say the drama - which has prompted controversy for casting a black actress in the role - 'challenges all the conventions of who we think Anne Boleyn was and shines a feminist light on her story.'

'We're absolutely thrilled to have the magnetic Jodie Turner-Smith on board to encapsulate Anne's determination to be an equal among men and to pave a path for her daughter.

'We feel that history has side-lined the voice of this ambitious Queen in favour of the men who brought her down, and that Lynsey Miller's beautiful, intimate vision will put Anne's gaze at the heart of the piece.'

Happy couple: Turner-Smith is married to fellow actor Joshua Jackson. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, in April 2020

Speaking about taking on the role, she said: 'Delving deeper into Anne Boleyn's immense strengths while examining her fatal weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Eve's scripts immediately captured my imagination.

'In the hands of Lynsey Miller, the legend of this formidable queen and fierce mother will be seen as a deeply human story that is still so relevant for today.

'I look forward to bringing my heart and spirit into this daring retelling of the fall of this iconic woman.'
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Nova star Kate Ritchie recently debuted her relationship with her much younger boyfriend John Bell, 25, last week.

And it appeared things were going from strength to strength when they enjoyed a romantic getaway together to Byron Bay this month.

Kate, 42, was spotted getting supplies at the local bottle shop with her picking up boxes of booze before heading to the couple's rented holiday home.

Supplies: Nova star Kate Ritchie, 42, (pictured) stocked up on boxes of booze before heading to her rented holiday home with boyfriend John Bell, 25, in Byron Bay earlier this month

The actress looked to have the radiant glow of a woman in love as she carried a number of bottles of wine from the shop.

At one point, a shop assistant even offered to carry another over-sized white box full of Italian Peroni beers for her.

The former Home and Away star ensured her outfit matched her vibrant mood wearing a graphic red and white maxi dress.

Essentials: Kate looked to have the radiant glow of a woman in love as she carried a number of bottles of wine from the shop

I'm over here: At one point, a shop assistant even offered to carry another over-sized white box full of Italian Peroni beers for the radio queen

Kate accessorised with a tan fedora along with a pair of black quilted sandals. She finished her outfit with a large tote bag slung over her shoulder.

The star appeared to be makeup free and wore her trademark brunette bob out and around her shoulders.

Kate's new man was nowhere to be seen, with the radio queen making the trip for the supplies solo.

Stylish: The former Home and Away star ensured her outfit matched her vibrant mood wearing a graphic red and white maxi dress

Boho chic: Kate accessorised with a tan fedora along with a pair of black quilted sandals. She finished her outfit with a large tote bag slung over her shoulder

Kate and John reportedly stayed at an Airbnb and spent most of their time on holiday relaxing by their private mineral salt pool and visiting Byron Bay's top restaurants.

While little is known about John, resurfaced court records show he has had a minor brush with the law.

Court extracts reveal John was charged with careless driving in March 2015, but was not convicted.

Dressed to impress: The star appeared to be makeup free and wore her trademark brunette bob out and around her shoulders

Independent women: Kate's new man was nowhere to be seen with the radio queen making the trip for the supplies solo

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, John was described as a 'messed up teenager from little old Portland [Victoria]' in an Instagram post by a friend last year.

John started security solutions business VIREOSS in September 2019.

He runs the company from the small town of Seymour, an hour and a half from Melbourne.

Romance: Kate and John reportedly stayed at an Airbnb and spent most of their time on holiday relaxing by their private mineral salt pool and visiting Byron Bay's top restaurants

Personal live: It comes after Kate split from her ex-husband, Stuart Webb

Meanwhile, Kate has been keeping low-key since splitting from her husband Stuart Webb, after 10 years of marriage.

While it's unclear when exactly Kate and Stuart split, she hasn't worn her wedding ring in a year and moved out of their marital home in Sydney's Randwick in late 2019.

Kate moved out after police took out an interim AVO on her behalf against the former NRL star following an incident at the property.

Past: While little is known about John (pictured), resurfaced court records show he has had a minor brush with the law

In December 2019, Stuart's five-time drink driving history was revealed in a police fact sheet as he faced court for blowing 0.083 when he was pulled over by highway patrolmen in the city's east in March of that year.

The former couple were last spotted together in February 2020, when they celebrated their six-year-old daughter Mae's first day of school.
An investment by a Silicon Valley private equity firm and its Canadian partner is propelling a major expansion of London-based Davies into the U.S. insurance services sector, including claims management.

Davies has acquired 17 insurance-related businesses since HGGC of Palo Alto, Calif. bought a majority stake in the business in 2017. The smorgasbord included seven firms in the United States. The U.S. expansion started with Frontier Adjusters in Independence, Ohio in September 2019. Davies added Alternative Service Concepts in Nashville, Tenn. one month later.

Davies has also broadened its technical acumen in the U.S. with the purchase of an actuarial firm, an audit, subrogation and claims management consultant and a disability management provider.

HGGC said when it invested in Davies that it is championing the insurance industry as a sector that could greatly improve from technology upgrades, according to a report in Mergers & Acquisitions.

More is coming. HGGC announced Thursday that it and minority owner Alberta Investment Management Corp. are increasing their investment in Davies to continue the global expansion. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

HGGC said in a press release that Davies grew revenues by 49% in 2019 and has added 150 new accounts to its platform in the past year.

Were excited to invest further in Davies as it revolutionizes a complex, highly regulated industry, stated James Ridout, a director of the AIMCo private equity group. The team continues to identify great additions that bring a similarly disruptive, technology enabled mindsight across the insurance services world.

Davies U.S. expansion includes the purchase of:

TriPlus Services, a long-term care third-party administrator based in Hopkinton, Mass., announced on Sept. 21.

Johnson Claim Service, a third-party administrator specializing in transportation claims based in Tulsa, Okla., on Nov. 2.

Wakely Actuarial, a compliance, risk management and actuarial services provided based in Palm Harbor, Fla., on Dec. 17.

Northshore International Insurance Services, which provides audit, claims management and subrogation management services from a headquarters in Danvers, Mass., on Jan. 4.

Disability Management Services, a third-party administrator based in Springfield, Mass., on Jan. 7.

Davies appointed one of its London-based executives, Matthew Button, as chief executive officer for U.S. claims last July.

Button said in an interview with the Claims Journal that Davies has provided services to the Lloyds of London market since its founding in 1968 and is continuing that relationship as it grows its U.S. operations. He said the firms use of technology and the people it hires to operate that equipment are factors most likely to make it stand out among its competitors.

He said Davies is focused on employee culture and client service.

We call ourselves a technology-enabled business rather than a claims-technology business, he said.

We combine our specialist teams with our technology offerings to provide efficient solutions to our clients, he continued later, elaborating in an email. We do however, have a growing part of our business which is offering pure technology solutions where our clients require it.

The corporate culture that Button referenced includes annual disruptive thinking innovation labs where teams of employees brainstorm new ideas and compete to participate in a trip to the Silicon Valley, where they can pitch new insurtech solutions to a panel of tech executives.

Davies was an early adapter of technological solutions for the claims business in the U.K., deploying drones, photo-estimates and an app that allows claimants to communicate directly with desk adjusters.

Kath Mainon, chief executive officer of Davies Claim Solutions, said in a promotional video that Davies is using technology to accomplish routine tasks such as reading medical reports and validating documents. She said the goal is instant validation through data enrichment.

Davies expansion into the United States continues a consolidation of the claims-management sector that started a decade ago, said Jonathan Held, CEO of JS Held, a New York-based engineering consulting firm.

While interesting, Davies growth in the U.S. wont likely transform the property and casualty claims marketplace, Held said. He said five firms will continue to dominate: Sedgwick, Crawford & Co., Charles Taylor, McLarens and Engle Martin.

Davies, from a U.S. standpoint, is probably under the radar screen, he said. He said other developments, such as Sedgwicks purchase of Cunningham Lindsey in 2018 and York Risk Services in 2019 had a greater impact on the sector  while also continuing the general trend toward consolidation.

Davies is obviously seeking to be global firm and the United States is a natural part of that, Held said.

About the photo: This screen shot taken from a promotional video shows Davies employees participating in virtual reality training.
First studies reported on antiviral drug effects against new variant mutant U.K. strain of SARS-CoV-2



Plitidepsin shows potent anti-viral effect in preclinical models of original SARS-CoV-2 as well as the new mutant U.K. strain, and by inhibiting a key host protein, has the potential to have antiviral activity against other future mutations and viruses

Drug targets the biologic pathway prospectively identified and published in Nature months ago from QBI research on SARS CoV-2 which elucidated host proteins and pathways that fuel the survival and virulence of the virus

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a study published online in Science today, scientists at UCSF QBI and the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) reported data showing the promise and potential of Aplidin (plitidepsin), a drug approved by the Australian Regulatory Agency for the treatment of multiple myeloma, against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Specifically, plitidepsin demonstrated antiviral activity that was 27.5-fold more potent against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro than remdesivir, a drug that received FDA emergency use authorization in 2020 for the treatment of COVID-19. In addition, in two preclinical models of COVID-19, plitidepsin showed a 100-fold reduction in viral replication in the lungs and demonstrated an ability to reduce lung inflammation. Furthermore, in a separate publication in bioRxiv, the researchers, in collaboration with Greg Towers and Clare Jolly at University College London in London, England, shared additional in vitro data demonstrating comparable anti-viral activity of plitidepsin in the newly identified b.1.1.7 variant mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2 when compared to the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. Additionally, they found plitidepsin to be ~100 times more potent than remdesivir in human epithelial cells.

The studies were led by the laboratories of Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., Director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) at the School of Pharmacy at UC San Francisco, Senior Investigator at Gladstone Institutes, and Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute of ISMMS in New York, among others.



From the start, our scientific investigation at QBIs Coronavirus Research Group (QCRG) was to research where and how the SARS-CoV-2 virus was co-opting its human host to thrive, survive and become deadly, said Dr. Krogan. That research led us to a biologic pathway, eukaryotic translation machinery, where inhibition of this pathway showed significant antiviral activity in cell culture. One of the promising agents that arose from our screen of drugs that inhibit this pathway was plitidepsin. The preclinical data published today showing increased potency compared to remdesivir, and in conjunction with recent early clinical data showing promise in COVID-19 patients as reported by the drugs manufacturer, highlight plitidepsin should be further evaluated as a COVID-19 therapy. Additionally, this further validates our prospective and novel approach of looking first at host mechanisms that permit the virus to wreak havoc. By targeting host factors that enable or facilitate disease, we have the potential to have a more far-reaching impact in drug development. In this case, SARS-CoV-2 and its mutant strains, and possibly other viruses that leverage the same pathway may also be susceptible to the same therapeutic agents that inhibit this virus-host interaction.

The research studies showed that the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of plitidepsin was potent in human cells, with an IC90 of 0.88 nM, which was a 27.5-fold more potent antiviral than remdesivir tested in the same cell line. In addition, the antiviral effect of plitidepsin was tested in an established model of human lung cells, which showed that treatment with plitidepsin inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication with an IC90 of 3.14 nM and a selectivity index of 40.4, suggesting that plitidepsin has potent antiviral activity in primary human lung cells. The researchers also tested the synergy between plitidepsin and remdesivir, given remdesivirs use as part of the current standard of care for the treatment of COVID-19. In vitro data suggests that plitidepsin has an additive effect with remdesivir and would be a potential candidate to be considered in a combined therapy.

Dr. Garcia-Sastre added, The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has created the immediate need for antiviral therapeutics that can be moved into the clinic urgently. This led us to screen clinically approved drugs with established bioavailability, pharmacokinetics and safety profiles. Our previous study of the SARS-CoV-2 interactome led us to the eEF1A eukaryotic translation pathway as a druggable target with the potential for potent inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, this pathway has been previously described to be an important host factor for the replication of many viral pathogens, including influenza virus and RSV suggesting its pan-antiviral targeting potential. These studies have only been possible by the combined efforts and expertise of the multiple academic research groups that are co-authors in the published study. We have also been doing these studies in close collaboration with PharmaMar, the company that first isolated the potent eEF1A inhibitor plitidepsin/ Aplidin from a sea organism.

Plitidepsin is an extremely potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2, but its most important strength is that it targets a host protein rather than a viral protein, said Kris White, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), who was a corresponding author on the Science paper. This means that if plitidepsin is successful in the treatment of COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be unable to gain resistance against it through mutation, which is a major concern with the spread of the new U.K. and South African variants.

About QBI: The Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) is a University of California organized research unit reporting through the UCSF School of Pharmacy. QBI fosters collaborations across the biomedical and the physical sciences, seeking quantitative methods to address pressing problems in biology and biomedicine. Motivated by problems of human disease, QBI is committed to investigating fundamental biological mechanisms, because ultimately solutions to many diseases have been revealed by unexpected discoveries in the basic sciences. Learn more at qbi.ucsf.edu.

About UCSF: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSFs primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. Learn more at ucsf.edu or see our Fact Sheet.

About the Mount Sinai Health System: The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school the Icahn School of Medicine, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality carefrom prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. Learn more at mountsinai.org.

About Gladstone Institutes: To ensure our work does the greatest good, Gladstone Institutes focuses on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impactunsolved diseases. Gladstone is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. It has an academic affiliation with UC San Francisco. Learn more at gladstone.org.

Authorship and funding: This work was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both part of the National Institutes of Health; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the Center for Research for Influenza Pathogenesis; the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; the Centers of Excellence for Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France); F. Hoffmann-LaRoche AG; Vir Biotechnology, Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS), European Research Council (ERC) and QCRG philanthropic donors. Shokat is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. A complete list of authors and full funding information is available in the Science paper.

Media Contacts

UCSF QBI UCSF Sylvia Wheeler, Wheelhouse LSA Pete Farley, UCSF Office of Communications swheeler@wheelhouselsa.com peter.farley@ucsf.edu 415-317-3781 Aljanae Reynolds, Wheelhouse LSA Mount Sinai Health System areynolds@wheelhouselsa.com Lucia Lee, Mount Sinai Communications lucia.lee@mountsinai.org 917-837-8914 Gladstone Institutes Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Julie Langelier, Gladstone Communications Marlene Espinoza-Moraga, PhD Julie.langelier@gladstone.ucsf.edu marlene.espinozamoraga@mssm.edu 415-734-5000 212-241-9812

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WEF_World economic forum

The World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda Summit began on Sunday night with the premier of a concert filmed during the coronavirus pandemic in different parts of the world and the event will see top global leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, speak on the state of the world over the next five days.

After a welcome address by WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Shwab, Swiss President Parmelin delivered a special address, followed by annual Crystal Awards and the premier of 'See Me: A Global Concert'.

The concert was presented as a shared expression of trust, connection and hope and it features orchestras and choirs in Beijing, Drakensberg, Florence, Kabul, Philadelphia, Vienna and Sao Paulo, with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and music director Marin Alsop. The concert was filmed on location despite the COVID-19 challenges.

In what could be the first major global summit of the year, the event will see more than 1,000 global leaders, including heads of state and government, CEOs and chairmen of big companies, heads of multilateral organisations as also members of academia and civil society, discuss economic, environmental, social and technological challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WEF said there would be 15 special addresses from G20 heads of state and government and international organisations during the summit that will continue till January 29. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his address on Thursday.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Petroleum and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, as also business leaders such as Anand Mahindra, Salil Parekh and Shobana Kamineni would be among other speakers from India.

While the WEF will host its physical annual meeting in May in Singapore, as against the regular venue of the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, the Geneva-based organisation is hosting this online event, named 'Davos Agenda' around the same time it generally hosts its yearly congregation of the rich and powerful of the world.

The event has been billed as a platform that will see top world leaders deliver special addresses and engage in dialogue with business leaders at the start of a "crucial year to rebuild trust".

Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a special address on Monday, while the day will also see several sessions including on the COVID-19 crisis, restoring economic growth and stakeholder capitalism. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also address a session.

On Tuesday, the speakers would include South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, as also IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in, Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are among the listed speakers for Wednesday.

On Thursday, in addition to Modi, Jordan King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez will also deliver their special addresses.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will speak on Friday, the last day of the summit.

On Monday, Schwab will also release his latest book, titled 'Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet.' It explores how societies can build the future post-COVID and builds on the WEF's 50-year-old advocacy of the stakeholder approach.

Other major speakers would include Christine Lagarde, Bill Gates, Punit Renjen of Deloitte, Brian T Moynihan of Bank of America, Al Gore, Ishaan Tharoor, Mark Carney, Angel Gurria of OECD, Ajay Banga, K T Rama Rao, Masayoshi Son of Softbank and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the WHO.

The list of registered participants also include Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani and Piyush Goyal, along with top business leaders such as Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Ravi Ruia, Rishad Premji, Pawan Munjal, Rajan Mittal, Sunil Mittal, Ajay Khanna, Ajit Gulabchand, Hari S Bhartia and Sanjiv Bajaj.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Tata Steel CEO T Narendran and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon are also among registered participants.

The WEF's Davos 2020 summit was the last major global event that took place before almost the entire world got locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 'Davos Agenda' will also mark the launch of WEF's "Great Reset Initiative'' and begin the preparation of the special Annual Meeting in the spring, said the Geneva-based entity, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation.

Industry leaders and public figures will discuss how to advance and accelerate public-private collaboration on critical issues such as COVID-19 vaccination, job creation and climate change, among others, according to the WEF.

While the WEF annual meeting for 2021 will be held during May 13-16 in Singapore, the high-profile summit will return to Davos in 2022.

The conclusions from the Davos Agenda week will feed into task forces working on global issues for the upcoming Special Annual Meeting in Singapore, the WEF said.
"We understand the strong traveler demand to set sail once again and there's no better time to plan for the future than on National Plan a Vacation Day," says John Downey, President of the Americas for Hurtigruten. "This limited time offer allows guests the opportunity to book a sailing to a variety of destinations offering unique experiences hand-crated by our expert team."

Travelers can discover new destinations with savings on expedition cruises to some of the world's most extraordinary areas and on select itineraries, experience the world's first hybrid electric-powered ships, MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen. Destinations available for booking with only a $500 deposit include:

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Norway  Recognized as Hurtigruten's Destination of the Year 2021, explores who travel to Norway can expect days filled with adventures hand-selected from a local team of experts. Drawing from Norwegian heritage, both the coastal and expedition itinerary options are steeped in culture, connecting guests with the warmth of community the destination is known for.

Antarctica  Explorers are invited to embark on a polar excursion with the leader in exploration travel. A seasoned and passionate team will take guests to the most unique and remote place on earth to discover the frozen wilderness on land and at sea. Travelers can embrace sustainable travel as they get a deeper understanding of the fragile ecosystem while aboard one of the greenest fleet's newest hybrid electric powered ships, MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen.

Travelers ready to celebrate National Plan a Vacation Day can book online at https://www.hurtigruten.com/offers/Plan_for_Adventure/ by calling Hurtigruten at 1-866-679-8305.

About Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten is the world leader in exploration travel. As the largest cruise operator in polar waters, and with 126 years of know-how, they offer immersive experiences to some of the world's most pristine and remote destinations, including Antarctica, Alaska, Arctic Canada and the Northwest Passage, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Svalbard, and more. Hurtigruten's fleet consists of 14 expedition ships, custom built for adventure travel, including two of the world's first hybrid electric-powered ships, MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen. These ships are two of the most advanced and environmentally friendly expedition vessels at sea. Hurtigruten is an industry leader in sustainability, with a deep commitment to improving the marine environments they call home.

SOURCE Hurtigruten

Related Links

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25.01.2021 | 18:59 | Agrarian sector overview Azerbaijans agricultural landscape: cooperation with Germany Berlin - As the participant of the EU Eastern Partnership initiative, being one of the leading producers of agricultural goods in the South Caucasus and holder of substantial share in the GDP of the very region, Azerbaijan continues its efforts in economic diversification, non-oil sector development, further promotion of equal progress of the countrys regions, increasing national economic competitiveness, improving export structure and efficient integration into the global food supply chains. H.E. Mr. Ramin Hasanov (c) Pressefoto





Being the industrial-agricultural country, Azerbaijan attaches high importance to the advancement of sustainable agriculture as one of the priority fields in the non-oil sector development. Increasing the international competitiveness of agricultural products, ensuring the food security and provision of population with high quality and safe food products are the directions of the agrarian policy of Azerbaijan.



The fertile lands and advantageous climatic diversity create favorable conditions to increase the agricultural productivity. The existence of 9 climatic zones in Azerbaijan allows the country to produce a variety of bio-organic agricultural products throughout the year and provides favorable opportunities for the introduction of new kinds of agricultural varieties.



Countrys agrarian sector is mainly specialized in the cultivation of fresh vegetables and fruits, cotton, tobacco, as well as livestock, poultry, wine-making, silkworm breeding, sheep husbandry and dairy. As a food-secure country, Azerbaijan is fully or almost self-sufficient in beef, poultry, eggs, lamb, diary, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products. Food-processing sector constitutes an important component of the agricultural sector. In order to further increase production of agricultural products and accelerate development of agropreneurship, the local producers of agricultural products have been exempted from all taxes, except the land tax. Azerbaijan is keen to further develop its agricultural potential and food industry to foster the export-led growth and import substitution.



A number of agro-parks (Shamkir, Yalama, Aghstafa, etc.) currently operate in the various regions of Azerbaijan in order to increase production of agricultural goods, support the domestic SMEs, contribute to the food security, as well as promote Make in Azerbaijan and Invest in Azerbaijan concepts. Economic Zones Development Agency has been established, in January 2021, to improve the management of the industrial parks and estates, as well as the agro-parks. The holders of Investment Promotion Document (IPD) enjoy certain tax and customs holidays for the period of 7 years. The issuance of IPD is based on the following criteria: Areas of economic activity; Minimum investment amount (down payment); Administrative units where investment is to be made



Made in Azerbaijan brand



Azerbaijan trades intensively in agricultural products. The number of the countrys trading partners, as well as the quantity of bilateral trade, investment, double taxation and economic partnership agreements and treaties continue to expand. Azerbaijan possesses a liberal foreign trade regime, as well as favorable business and investment climate (no restrictions on technology transfer, foreign exchange, repatriation of profits; no local counterpart requirement; no discrimination between foreign and domestic investor; no limit on the amount of foreign capital in companies; no prior authorization of foreign investment is required). Traditionally the main destination and the largest consumer of agricultural and food exports have been the relevant neighboring countries, but in recent years this market has expanded to include many other countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas.



A special focus is placed on contributing to the sustainable and inclusive development through stimulating exports of the agricultural products, as well as promoting Made in Azerbaijan brand abroad. Export promotion is boosted by Made in Azerbaijan program which includes the following support mechanisms: Participation at international exhibitions and fairs under the national stand; Trade/Export missions; Organization of customer missions to Azerbaijan; Market research; Individual participation at the international exhibitions and trade fairs. In order to stimulate agricultural exports, the following associations have been established in Azerbaijan: Beekeepers Association, Hazelnut Producers and Exporters Association, Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association, Pomegranate Producers and Exporters Association, Wine Producers and Exporters Association.



Azerbaijan has a great potential with respect to geographical indications such as Zira tomato and olive, Sirab, Badamli and Vaykhir mineral waters, Goychay pomegranate and others. The commercialization of intellectual property generates the substantial revenue for the Azerbaijani economy, as well as promotes Made in Azerbaijan brand.



Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation contributes to the national sustainable development through stimulating exports in the non-oil sector, including agricultural products, as well as promoting Made in Azerbaijan brand abroad. Azerbaijan Investment Company supports the development of the non-oil sector of the economy, including agriculture, via investing in current and new projects in the country or abroad in order to attract local and foreign investments to the economy. The soft loans are provided to the agricultural producers by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund. Agrarian Credit and Development Agency provides the soft agricultural loans, as well as the concessions for the equipment and breeding animals, including subsidies to the farmers.



Agrarian Services Agency carries out the state services related to the animal-plant health, seed production and agricultural machinery. Food Safety Agency implements the state control over the food safety, as well as issues the veterinary and phytosanitary certificates. Agrarian Procurement and Supply OJSC performs the centralized procurement of the foodstuffs by the state order, supports the participation of the local farmers and food producers in the agro-trade chain and promotes their products abroad. Aqroservis OJSC focuses on supporting agropreneurship through purchasing and leasing of agricultural machinery to the local farmers on the concessional terms and conditions. Agrarian Insurance Fund provides the insurance services to the agricultural producers through promoting sustainable agro-insurance system.



Bilateral agricultural cooperation with Germany



The German-Azerbaijani economic relations are one of the most dynamically developing areas of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Mutual visits and economic events promote business opportunities of Azerbaijan, as well as contribute to the expansion of bilateral economic and trade relations. Azerbaijan considers Germany as a strategic market, especially for its agricultural exports.



Azerbaijan is the most significant trade partner of Germany in the South Caucasus. During January-September 2020, trade turnover between two countries constituted almost EUR 1 billion. In the same timeframe, Azerbaijans share on Germanys overall trade turnover with the countries of the South Caucasus was equivalent to roughly 65%. During 1995-2020, Azerbaijan has invested more than USD 2.6 billion to the German economy and the inflow of the German investments, particularly to the non-oil sector, exceeded USD 765 million.



The various bilateral formats and platforms open up new horizons for expanding Azerbaijans economic cooperation with Germany. The German companies (total: 224) and German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (members: 149) successfully operate in Azerbaijan. The German-Azerbaijani High-Level Working Group on Trade and Investments, as well as the German-Azerbaijani Business Dialogue provide important platforms to discuss bilateral economic perspectives.



Germany is a strategic market for exporting agricultural products of Azerbaijan. Currently, in Azerbaijans exports to Germany, the certain part in the non-oil sector belongs to the agricultural products. Several companies with the Azerbaijani investment are operating in Germany and specialized in selling, among others, Azerbaijani agricultural products (wine, dried fruits, canned products, juices, jams and etc.).



Azerbaijan intends to boost its agricultural exports to Germany in upcoming years. With the aim of promoting economic potential of the country, Azerbaijan has participated, with a national stand, at various international food and agricultural exhibitions held in Germany (International Green Week, ProWein, Anuga, Fruit Logistica). Furthermore, Azerbaijan organizes annual international agricultural exhibition entitled Caspian Agro. The 14th Azerbaijan International Agriculture Exhibition, envisaged to be held in June 2021 in Baku, has been included at the trade fairs list of the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry. This trade fair provides an opportunity to demonstrate the agricultural products, introduce the advanced technologies in the agro-industrial sphere, hold B2B meetings, expand networking, as well as strengthen the mutually-beneficial business ties between the local and foreign companies.



In order to further promote Made in Azerbaijan brand, Azerbaijan organized, in 2017, its first export mission to Germany with participation of a number of national companies. The second export mission to Germany was organized in 2018. Azerbaijan procures the agricultural products and machinery from Germany, and is particularly interested in importing from Germany the sophisticated agricultural technologies (smart, bio, nano), as well as learning the German experience and best practices in the agricultural digitalization and green innovations.



Azerbaijan cooperates, in the agrarian sphere, with the relevant German companies and technical assistance agencies. Furthermore, with the aim of developing human capital and strengthening capacity building, the cooperation exists with the relevant German scientific-research institutions and universities in the field of agriculture and food security. Pd In this context, countrys agricultural sector plays an exceptional role and has promising prospects in breaking into new markets. Agriculture remains a strategic priority in Azerbaijans non-oil economy as it offers a tremendous potential, accounts for a significant share of employment, contributes to the livelihood of the population and food security. Agricultural sector constituted almost 7% of the countrys GDP in 2020. The percentage of the lands suitable for the agriculture exceeds 55%.Being the industrial-agricultural country, Azerbaijan attaches high importance to the advancement of sustainable agriculture as one of the priority fields in the non-oil sector development. Increasing the international competitiveness of agricultural products, ensuring the food security and provision of population with high quality and safe food products are the directions of the agrarian policy of Azerbaijan.The fertile lands and advantageous climatic diversity create favorable conditions to increase the agricultural productivity. The existence of 9 climatic zones in Azerbaijan allows the country to produce a variety of bio-organic agricultural products throughout the year and provides favorable opportunities for the introduction of new kinds of agricultural varieties.Countrys agrarian sector is mainly specialized in the cultivation of fresh vegetables and fruits, cotton, tobacco, as well as livestock, poultry, wine-making, silkworm breeding, sheep husbandry and dairy. As a food-secure country, Azerbaijan is fully or almost self-sufficient in beef, poultry, eggs, lamb, diary, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products. Food-processing sector constitutes an important component of the agricultural sector. In order to further increase production of agricultural products and accelerate development of agropreneurship, the local producers of agricultural products have been exempted from all taxes, except the land tax. Azerbaijan is keen to further develop its agricultural potential and food industry to foster the export-led growth and import substitution.A number of agro-parks (Shamkir, Yalama, Aghstafa, etc.) currently operate in the various regions of Azerbaijan in order to increase production of agricultural goods, support the domestic SMEs, contribute to the food security, as well as promote Make in Azerbaijan and Invest in Azerbaijan concepts. Economic Zones Development Agency has been established, in January 2021, to improve the management of the industrial parks and estates, as well as the agro-parks. The holders of Investment Promotion Document (IPD) enjoy certain tax and customs holidays for the period of 7 years. The issuance of IPD is based on the following criteria: Areas of economic activity; Minimum investment amount (down payment); Administrative units where investment is to be madeAzerbaijan trades intensively in agricultural products. The number of the countrys trading partners, as well as the quantity of bilateral trade, investment, double taxation and economic partnership agreements and treaties continue to expand. Azerbaijan possesses a liberal foreign trade regime, as well as favorable business and investment climate (no restrictions on technology transfer, foreign exchange, repatriation of profits; no local counterpart requirement; no discrimination between foreign and domestic investor; no limit on the amount of foreign capital in companies; no prior authorization of foreign investment is required). Traditionally the main destination and the largest consumer of agricultural and food exports have been the relevant neighboring countries, but in recent years this market has expanded to include many other countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas.A special focus is placed on contributing to the sustainable and inclusive development through stimulating exports of the agricultural products, as well as promoting Made in Azerbaijan brand abroad. Export promotion is boosted by Made in Azerbaijan program which includes the following support mechanisms: Participation at international exhibitions and fairs under the national stand; Trade/Export missions; Organization of customer missions to Azerbaijan; Market research; Individual participation at the international exhibitions and trade fairs. In order to stimulate agricultural exports, the following associations have been established in Azerbaijan: Beekeepers Association, Hazelnut Producers and Exporters Association, Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association, Pomegranate Producers and Exporters Association, Wine Producers and Exporters Association.Azerbaijan has a great potential with respect to geographical indications such as Zira tomato and olive, Sirab, Badamli and Vaykhir mineral waters, Goychay pomegranate and others. The commercialization of intellectual property generates the substantial revenue for the Azerbaijani economy, as well as promotes Made in Azerbaijan brand.Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation contributes to the national sustainable development through stimulating exports in the non-oil sector, including agricultural products, as well as promoting Made in Azerbaijan brand abroad. Azerbaijan Investment Company supports the development of the non-oil sector of the economy, including agriculture, via investing in current and new projects in the country or abroad in order to attract local and foreign investments to the economy. The soft loans are provided to the agricultural producers by the Entrepreneurship Development Fund. Agrarian Credit and Development Agency provides the soft agricultural loans, as well as the concessions for the equipment and breeding animals, including subsidies to the farmers.Agrarian Services Agency carries out the state services related to the animal-plant health, seed production and agricultural machinery. Food Safety Agency implements the state control over the food safety, as well as issues the veterinary and phytosanitary certificates. Agrarian Procurement and Supply OJSC performs the centralized procurement of the foodstuffs by the state order, supports the participation of the local farmers and food producers in the agro-trade chain and promotes their products abroad. Aqroservis OJSC focuses on supporting agropreneurship through purchasing and leasing of agricultural machinery to the local farmers on the concessional terms and conditions. Agrarian Insurance Fund provides the insurance services to the agricultural producers through promoting sustainable agro-insurance system.The German-Azerbaijani economic relations are one of the most dynamically developing areas of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Mutual visits and economic events promote business opportunities of Azerbaijan, as well as contribute to the expansion of bilateral economic and trade relations. Azerbaijan considers Germany as a strategic market, especially for its agricultural exports.Azerbaijan is the most significant trade partner of Germany in the South Caucasus. During January-September 2020, trade turnover between two countries constituted almost EUR 1 billion. In the same timeframe, Azerbaijans share on Germanys overall trade turnover with the countries of the South Caucasus was equivalent to roughly 65%. During 1995-2020, Azerbaijan has invested more than USD 2.6 billion to the German economy and the inflow of the German investments, particularly to the non-oil sector, exceeded USD 765 million.The various bilateral formats and platforms open up new horizons for expanding Azerbaijans economic cooperation with Germany. The German companies (total: 224) and German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (members: 149) successfully operate in Azerbaijan. The German-Azerbaijani High-Level Working Group on Trade and Investments, as well as the German-Azerbaijani Business Dialogue provide important platforms to discuss bilateral economic perspectives.Germany is a strategic market for exporting agricultural products of Azerbaijan. Currently, in Azerbaijans exports to Germany, the certain part in the non-oil sector belongs to the agricultural products. Several companies with the Azerbaijani investment are operating in Germany and specialized in selling, among others, Azerbaijani agricultural products (wine, dried fruits, canned products, juices, jams and etc.).Azerbaijan intends to boost its agricultural exports to Germany in upcoming years. With the aim of promoting economic potential of the country, Azerbaijan has participated, with a national stand, at various international food and agricultural exhibitions held in Germany (International Green Week, ProWein, Anuga, Fruit Logistica). Furthermore, Azerbaijan organizes annual international agricultural exhibition entitled Caspian Agro. The 14th Azerbaijan International Agriculture Exhibition, envisaged to be held in June 2021 in Baku, has been included at the trade fairs list of the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry. This trade fair provides an opportunity to demonstrate the agricultural products, introduce the advanced technologies in the agro-industrial sphere, hold B2B meetings, expand networking, as well as strengthen the mutually-beneficial business ties between the local and foreign companies.In order to further promote Made in Azerbaijan brand, Azerbaijan organized, in 2017, its first export mission to Germany with participation of a number of national companies. The second export mission to Germany was organized in 2018. Azerbaijan procures the agricultural products and machinery from Germany, and is particularly interested in importing from Germany the sophisticated agricultural technologies (smart, bio, nano), as well as learning the German experience and best practices in the agricultural digitalization and green innovations.Azerbaijan cooperates, in the agrarian sphere, with the relevant German companies and technical assistance agencies. Furthermore, with the aim of developing human capital and strengthening capacity building, the cooperation exists with the relevant German scientific-research institutions and universities in the field of agriculture and food security. Kommentieren

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Second time lucky: Im going to seek the authority for a legal referendum in May, said the SNP leader. Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Nicola Sturgeon has said Boris Johnson is frightened of democracy on the question of another referendum on Scottish independence.

She quoted poet Robert Burns during an interview on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show, saying the British Prime Ministers opposition to a second referendum reminded her of the poets timorous beastie.

It comes after the Sunday Times reported a series of opinion polls which found voters across the UK believe Scotland is likely to become independent within the next decade.

Yesterday, Ms Sturgeon was asked about the prime ministers suggestion there should be a 40-year gap between the last independence referendum and any future one.

She said: Its Robert Burns birthday tomorrow, our annual Burns Day.

And when I hear Boris Johnson talk about this I bring to mind a Burns poem: Cowerin timorous beastie, what a panics in thy breastie.

Hes frightened of democracy.

The polls now show that a majority of people in Scotland now want independence.

Asked if she would hold an advisory home-made Scottish referendum if the SNP wins in the upcoming election, she said: I want to have a legal referendum, thats what Im going to seek the authority of the Scottish people for in May.

And if they give me that authority thats what I intend to do.

Meanwhile, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross hit out at the SNPs publication of its roadmap to a referendum  an 11-point document which sets out how the party intends to take forward its plans for a second vote.

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Mr Ross told Times Radio: Why dont we have an 11-point plan to protect jobs in Scotland?

"Why dont we have an 11-point plan to ensure businesses get the support they need?

Why dont we have an 11-point plan to rebuild our education system in Scotland?

He added: This is where the focus should be in Scotland right now, not fighting another independence referendum.

In response to the SNPs roadmap, the UK Government said the issue of Scottish independence was settled decisively in 2014.

A spokeswoman said earlier: Now more than ever, we should be pulling together to strengthen our United Kingdom, instead of trying to separate it.

The Sunday Times published the results of opinion polls in the four nations of the UK, which found a majority of voters thought Scotland was likely to be independent in the next 10 years.

In Scotland, the poll found 49pc backed independence compared with 44pc against  a margin of 52pc to 48pc if the undecideds are excluded.

In Northern Ireland, 47pc still want to remain in the UK, with 42pc in favour of a united Ireland and a significant proportion  11pc  undecided.

However, asked if they supported a referendum on a united Ireland within the next five years, 51pc said yes compared with 44pc who were against.

In Wales, where support for independence is traditionally weakest, 23pc still backed leaving the UK while 31pc supported a referendum.

Across all four nations, more voters expected Scotland to be out of the UK within 10 years than thought it would still remain.

The newspaper also reported that the UK governments Union policy implementation committee had met and agreed a five-step programme.

These included a new campaign to promote the benefits of the union ahead of the Scottish election, and to consider further devolution only later and only as part of wider reforms to the UK, according to the newspaper.

The Sunday Times also said that Oliver Lewis, a former Vote Leave campaigner, would lead new attempts to promote the Union.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson made clear to President Joe Biden on Saturday that hes eager to forge a new US-UK. trade deal.

A new deal between the allies is a higher priority for Mr Johnson than it is for Mr Biden.
Odesa maritime merchandise port handled 23.370 million tonnes of cargo in 2020, which is 7.8% less than in 2019.

According to the information on the website of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, during this period the port reduced handling of export cargo by 9.7%, to 16.858 million tonnes, and import cargo by 1.7%, to 5.184 million tonnes.

At the same time, handling of transit cargo decreased by 4.5%, 1.126 million tonnes, while coastal cargo by 10.8%, to 200,770 tonnes.

Handling of containers amounted to 652,211 TEU (more by 0.4%) in 2020.

As reported, in 2019 the seaport handled 25.344 million tonnes of cargo, which is 16.8% more than in 2018.
Harris County Emergency Services District No. 11 has filed counterclaims against Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Services in the EMSs existing lawsuit against the district. This is the latest development in an ongoing legal battle between the two entities as ESD No. 11 continues taking steps to become their own EMS provider.

CCEMS has been serving as an emergency medical services provider for 600,000-plus people in northwest Harris County under contract with HCESD No. 11  a taxing entity that funds part of the EMSs operations. The service agreement between CCEMS and ESD No. 11 is scheduled to end in September after the ESD voted last year to terminate the contract with 360 days notice.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Harris County ESD No. 11 terminates contract with Cypress Creek EMS

Through the transition, CCEMS said it intends to honor the contract to continue its ambulance services with the provision of payments made monthly by the ESD for services. HCESD No. 11 maintains it is not obligated to continue monthly payments if certain stipulations arent met. Should the need arise, the ESD said it has an agreement with the Harris County Emergency Corps to jump in as an EMS provider to ensure uninterrupted services.

CCEMS had filed the existing suit against the ESD last year for alleged breach of contract and Texas Open Meetings Act violations, according to an EMS press release. CCEMS claims ESD No. 11 owes them $2.5 million in back payments that were withheld from their monthly payments starting in June and lasting through November.

Commissioners started using economic coercion by withholding contractually-obligated funds in an attempt to coerce CCEMS into cooperating with their demands. Many of those demands exceeded the reach of the contract and even interfered with the administration of our employee health benefits. It was only because of these economic coercion and defunding efforts that CCEMS was forced to go to the courthouse, Wren Nealy Jr., Chief Executive Officer of CCEMS, said in a written response.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce addresses CCEMS, ESD No. 11 conflict

ESD No. 11 is now countersuing CCEMS, claiming CCEMS stole up to $20 million in taxpayer funds and ran an illegal operation through their maintenance facility according to documentation provided by legal counsel for ESD No. 11, Brian Trachtenberg with Greathouse Holloway McFadden Trachtenberg.

The ESD gave notice last September that it would be terminating its service agreement with CCEMS. Commissioners claimed that CCEMS repeatedly refused to disclose financial documents needed by the ESD for their investigation into the potential misuse of funds.

The countersuit from ESD No. 11 claims CCEMS overbilled the ESD more than $1 million in 2020, claiming they knowingly provided false information to the district over time.

In response to ESD No. 11s counterclaims filed last week, Nealy said CCEMS was not given the proper documentation to provide input on allegedly illegally used funds, which the countersuit states is one of the reasons for filing said suit.

The district-funded Pannell Kerr and Forster audit, that their own auditor admitted was incomplete and required additional input and explanation from CCEMS, is the supposed basis of this lawsuit, Nealy said in a press release. We still have not been given the report, nor have we been given the opportunity to answer any of the questions raised by the auditor that have simple explanations.

The district started withholding 30 percent of its monthly payment to the EMS in June and, according to its counterclaim document, made it clear that any further attempts by CCEMS to withhold information or refuse to cooperate with its investigation would result in additional funding cuts, the document states.

CCEMS maintains the withholding of funds was to force its board to provide documents that were beyond the scope of the emergency services contract, states a CCEMS press release. CCEMS has been in full compliance with all auditor requests. Furthermore, the EMS said there was no evidence of theft present in a summary of the audit funded by the ESD.

CCEMS announced in December that if defunding efforts persisted, the EMS would be unable to carry on operations.

However, CCEMSs services continue after the ESD commissioners voted to pay 100 percent of the monthly invoice at the December meeting, and again at the meeting on Jan. 21. The invoice at the December meeting was approved with the caveat that the EMS work with the auditor and continue providing services.

On HoustonChronicle.com: CCEMS to continue ambulance services for at least another month; ESD No. 11 to become self-operated EMS provider

ESD No. 11 is now asking CCEMS to submit its monthly reports  including operations information and invoices  to the organization a week before monthly meetings, which commissioners will vote on, in order to secure payment to operate until the contract for operation expires in September.

We want these done seven days before the meeting so we have the chance to look at them, Commissioner Robert Pinard said during the Jan. 21 meeting. If we dont get them seven days before the meeting, we table it to next (meeting) to review and well table your check to the next (meeting). Today you are getting your check.

According to a response from ESD No. 11 Executive Director Doug Hooten, the entity has not guaranteed consistent payments to CCEMS through the end of the contract.

Because CCEMS has a habit of sending the Commissioners its report at the last minute, CCEMS was warned that if it does not present its written monthly report to the ESD 11 Commissioners 7 days in advance of the next regular meeting, CCEMSs report and CCEMSs invoice will be tabled until the following meeting so that the Commissioners have adequate time to consider the report and invoice, Hooten said in a written response.

Nealy said CCEMS intends to keep operations going with the expectation that the ESDs payments continue through the end of the contract.

Cypress Creek EMS intends to honor the contract and we expect the ESD commissioners to do the same, Nealy said. The residents should seek reassurance from the ESD commissioners by way of the commissioners honoring their part of the contract and paying for the services provided during the transition period.

As ESD No. 11 continues to build their own EMS  filling several administrative positions while simultaneously purchasing ambulances and a new building for the organization  the ESD said a plan is in place to ensure continuous services are provided. Hooten said ESD No. 11 commissioners approved an agreement with Harris County Emergency Corps to provide emergency medical services should the case arise in which CCEMS cannot answer calls while the two entities finish out their contract and transition.

The Commissioners are confident this plan ensures there will be no gaps in service whatsoever should CCEMS suddenly stop answering ESD 11 residents calls, Hooten said.

Yet, Nealy confirms that CCEMS is not looking to shut down soon.

CCEMS will continue to serve the community as a provider of emergency medical services, accredited education programs, and emergency communications, Nealy said.

Nealy said that even when the contract with ESD No. 11 ends, CCEMS intends to continue operations, but cannot comment on how they will secure funding at this time.

The only thing Commissioner Brost wanted to discuss was when we planned on filing bankruptcy and handing over the keys to the kingdom, Nealy said. CCEMS does not plan on doing either of those things.

As of the Jan. 21 meeting, the ESD commissioners approved a new DBA, or doing business as, name: Harris County ESD 11 Mobile Health Services.

Along with purchasing ambulances, the ESD has hired Casey Patrick as the medical director, Jamie Chebra as chief operating officer, Robert Farmer as chief administrative officer, Dave Snavely as chief financial officer, Shirley Ware as executive assistant and Hooten. The district has also purchased a new building on Jan. 14 according to Hooten, where commissioners held their January meeting at 18334 Stuebner Airline Road in Klein.

Because the Commissioners voted to employ a self-operated model, the District needs adequate facilities for its executive and administrative staff to work, space to manage supplies and vehicles, room to operate a 9-1-1 call center, and space adequate for conducting all the business that comes with providing top-notch emergency services care to over 600,000 residents, Hooten said.

chevall.pryce@chron.com
Asos is in exclusive talks to buy Topshop out of administration with a deal likely to be signed within a week.

Rival bidders are waiting in the wings but the online fashion group has stolen a march in the frenzied bidding war for the jewel in the crown of Sir Philip Green's collapsed Arcadia empire.

But there are fears for Arcadia's 13,000-strong workforce as Asos does not want to take on the stores if it completes the deal.

Target Topshop: Online fashion group Asos has stolen a march in the frenzied bidding war for the jewel in the crown of Sir Philip Green's collapsed Arcadia empire

The internet-only retailer is also seeking to buy Topman, Miss Selfridge and the HIIT gym clothing brand, with the price tag believed to be at the higher end of the 250million to 300million range.

It is up against deep-pocketed rivals including Boohoo, Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein and US investment firm Authentic Brands, which is working with High Street retailer JD Sports.

The Issa brothers, who bought Asda last year, have also made a 'very competitive' offer in a bid to gatecrash the process at the last minute.

Asos said the deal 'would represent a compelling opportunity to acquire strong brands' that 'resonate well with its customer base' but cautioned that a deal was not guaranteed.

Sources said administrators were keen on Asos because of its existing wholesale relationship with Topshop and because its cash offer would allow the transaction to be completed quickly.

An insider said: 'Everyone's very focused on trying to get it done this week, or early next week.'

Asos shares rose 5.6 per cent, or 268p, to 5,056p yesterday. The move is a diversion from its strategy of developing its own brands, and last month the business had played down rumours it would be a serious contender for Topshop.

But it decided to join the fray believing the strength of its teams of designers and marketers, and the ongoing popularity of Topshop with fashion-conscious customers aged 18 to 34, made it a good fit.

In the last fortnight, tough competition has tested Asos's mettle.

Shein and Authentic are on the hunt for a trophy asset to give them a foothold in the UK market, pushing up the price.

Next was forced out of the race last week, with bosses saying they were not prepared to pay the premium. A sale to Asos would usher in a changing of the guard in British retail, following yesterday's sale of Debenhams to Boohoo.

In 2006 when Green was knighted and given the nickname 'king of the High Street', Asos was turning over just 19million.

Green is even said to have labelled Asos a 'fad'. Asos is now a 5billion giant operating in 239 countries. Arcadia's stable of brands and 440 stores is expected to fetch no more than 400million having suffered a decade-long decline.

But a cloud remains over Arcadia's estimated 350million pensions black hole as the national 'lifeboat', the Pension Protection Fund, confirmed it is still analysing the deficit.

Green's wife Tina paid in the second instalment of a planned 100million in December, but the fall in the value of the Oxford Street store means it is likely savers will be forced to take a cut.

In 2017, Green was forced to put 363million into the pension scheme for BHS workers following calls for him to be stripped of the knighthood he received for services to the retail industry.
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Here's a sneak peek inside Kamala Harris' hair and makeup bus for the inauguration concert, complete with white bouquets, 'inauguration blankets' and San Pellegrino mineral water

Here's a sneak peek inside Kamala Harris' hair and makeup bus for the inauguration concert, complete with white bouquets, 'inauguration blankets' and San Pellegrino mineral water.

This is where the first female Vice President of the US celebrated her victory, with the help of Pirate's Booty Aged White Cheddar Popcorn, Twinings green tea with lemon and a modest selection of other savory snacks and herbal teas.

The 'Celebrating America' event was held in Washington D.C last Wednesday, featuring celebrities including Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Demi Lovato, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Kerry Washington.

Performers Katy Perry and John Legend can be seen chatting with their spouses Orlando Bloom and Chrissy Teigen at the new VP's production bus.

Everyone was incredibly joyful and friendly,' said Travis Laday, 37, who works for On-Time Elite, a production motorhome company.

'It was unlike any event I had worked before.

'John, Chrissy, Katy, and Orlando were air hugging and fist pumping.

'VP Harris had bare minimum, only water and peanuts and I believe chips due to Covid.'

This is where the first female Vice President of the US celebrated her victory, with the help of Pirate's Booty Aged White Cheddar Popcorn, Twinings green tea with lemon and a modest selection of other savory snacks and herbal teas

Harris made history on Wednesday becoming not just the first female Vice President, but also the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the office. Ahe received a special inauguration blanket

Harris made history on Wednesday becoming not just the first female Vice President, but also the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the office

In her first address as the nation's Vice President, meanwhile, Kamala Harris talked about the power of 'American Aspiration'

Laday said: 'VP Harris had bare minimum, only water and peanuts and I believe chips due to Covid'

'Katy Perry and I talked about being cold and congratulations on her new baby and she said she was ready to tour after this pandemic dies down.

'John Legend was really playful with his kids during the firework ceremony.

'I was responsible for bringing the bus down from New Jersey, setting it up, and ensuring that all was going according to plan.

'It was funny, our company didn't know exactly what we would be doing when we were hired.

'When we arrived though, they were saying make sure there isn't a crumb and that everything is perfect.

'That's when I realized it must be something special that we were doing.'

Laday ended up working as a part of the 'holding production team' for Vice President Harris and her entourage.

Everyone was incredibly joyful and friendly,' said Travis Laday, 37, (pictured) who works for On-Time Elite, a production motor home company. 'It was unlike any event I had worked before'

He said: 'Katy Perry and I talked about being cold and congratulations on her new baby and she said she was ready to tour after this pandemic dies down'

Laday said: 'John, Chrissy, Katy, and Orlando were air hugging and fist pumping'

He added: 'In my 15 years of my career, this job succeeded every other by far,' he said. 'I will never forget it'

'In my 15 years of my career, this job succeeded every other by far,' he said. 'I will never forget it.'

Harris made history on Wednesday becoming not just the first female Vice President, but also the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the office.

She watched the spectacular firework display with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff as the Washington Monument lit up behind her.

In her first address as the nation's Vice President, meanwhile, Kamala Harris talked about the power of 'American Aspiration'.

Harris called on Americans to remember 'we are undaunted in our belief that we shall overcome, that we will rise up.'

She also cast her ascension as the first female vice president as a demonstration of the nation's character.

'In many this moment embodies our character as a nation. It demonstrates who we are, even in dark times. We, not only dream, we do. We not only see what has been, we see what can be. We shoot for the moon, and then we plant our flag on it. We are bold, fearless and ambitious. We are undaunted, in our belief that we shall overcome, that we will rise up. This is American aspiration,' she said.

She also lauded the achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. and his tireless efforts to fight for racial and economic justice.

'A great experiment, takes great determination. The will to do the work and then the wisdom to keep refining, keep tinkering, keep perfecting. The same and determination is being realized in America today,' she said.
The Justice Department inspector general announced Monday he has officially opened an investigation into whether officials at the department tried to overturn the election results.

Michael Horowitz said in a statement that the probe will look into 'whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election.'

The two paragraph statement was released days after a New York Times bombshell report Friday revealed that Donald Trump, while still president, plotted to replace then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen will Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Clark  an ultra-loyalist.

The plan, according to sources, was to get someone at the helm of the department who wanted to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia, an initiative in which Rosen did not agree.

Horowitz made sure to draw a line by clarifying that the investigation will not extend to any other government officials.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded over the weekend that Horowitz probe the matter.

'Unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people's will,' the New York Democrat tweeted Saturday afternoon.

'The Justice Dept Inspector General must launch an investigation into this attempted sedition now,' he continued. 'And the Senate will move forward with Trump's impeachment trial.'

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Monday he launched an investigation into 'whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election'

He said in a statement that the probe would not be looking at any other government officials  only those within the DOJ

The investigation comes as a New York Times report revealed last week that Trump was plotting to replace then-acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen (left) with DOJ attorney and ultra-loyalist Jeffrey Clark (right)

Schumer, who recently was elevated form minority leader to majority leader, also announced Saturday that an impeachment trial against Trump will commence February 9 in the upper chamber before a vote is held on whether to convict the former president.

Rosen, who took over after Bill Barr resigned at the end of December, repeatedly rebuffed Trump's insistence that action be taken to overturn the election results in Georgia  where Joe Biden won by a tiny margin.

On the other hand, Clark was on board with the plan to get the results in the southern swing state flipped.

Several insiders told the Times that the scheme came to a screeching halt when DOJ officials said they would all resign if Rosen was ousted before Trump's term ended.

Trump, during his final month in office, pushed Rosen to appoint special counsels, including one who would look into Dominion Voting Systems - an election machinery company.

Following the November 3 election, Trump and his supporters accused Dominion of switching votes cast for Trump to register as votes cast for Biden.

Chuck Schumer demanded the Justice Department open an investigation into Donald Trump's alleged plot to replace his Attorney General with someone who wanted to overturn the election results in Georgia in his final month in office

The Senate majority leader called the plot an 'attempted sedition' to 'subvert the people's will' to elect Joe Biden to the White House

Trump was already working with Clark to try to overturn the Georgia vote, which went 49.5 per cent for Biden and 49.3 per cent from Trump  only a 0.2 per cent margin.

Overturning Georgia's 16 Electoral College votes would not make Trump the automatic victor of the 2020 presidential election. But his legal team felt if just one state's results were brought into question and successfully overturned, it could create a domino effect where other states' results, which cost Trump the election, could come into question, too.

The former president went as far as staging an 'Apprentice-style' interview with Clark and Rosen, with both men arguing to have the job, according to the Times report.

Clark, who resigned from the DOJ Jan. 14, is now 'radioactive' to future potential employers, Bloomberg reported, as law firms become increasingly aware of the hits they would take to their reputation in hiring the form Trump administration official.

When word reached other Justice Department officials of the plan to replace Rosen with Clark, and throw the presidential election into turmoil, they all agreed to resign en masse.

Steven Engel, the head of the Justice Department's office of legal counsel, held a January 3 phone call with the shocked senior officials, and told them of Clark's plan.

Trump, concerned at the fallout from the mass resignation, then backed down, after a three hour meeting.

Clark was nominated by Trump to be the Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), and sworn into office on November 1, 2018.

In September he also asked Clark to be the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

Clark, who graduated from the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware in 1993), followed by the Georgetown University Law Center, told the paper that he had in no way acted improperly.

'Senior Justice Department lawyers, not uncommonly, provide legal advice to the White House as part of our duties.

'All my official communications were consistent with law.'

Trump declined to comment.

Clark told Rosen on January 3 that he was taking his job, but Rosen could be his deputy

An adviser told the paper that Trump has consistently argued that the justice system should investigate 'rampant election fraud that has plagued our system for years.'

The adviser added that 'any assertion to the contrary is false and being driven by those who wish to keep the system broken.'

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment, as did Rosen.

Rosen was serving as the deputy Attorney General when Barr announced his resignation, on December 14, giving a week's notice.

Trump, according to the paper, summoned Rosen in to his office on December 15 to demand the Justice Department file legal briefs supporting his allies' lawsuits seeking to overturn his election loss.

Rosen refused, and reiterated what Barr had privately told Trump - that they had investigated voting irregularities, and found no evidence of widespread fraud.

Trump continued to push Rosen, with phone calls and in person demands.

Rosen and his deputy, Richard P. Donoghue, were unaware that Clark had been introduced to Trump by a Pennsylvania politician and had told the president that he agreed that fraud had affected the election results.

Clark was swiftly embraced by Trump.

Ted Lieu, who drafted the impeachment articles, was outraged at the report

Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York - who was forced out by Trump - said that the report was just the beginning of a 'torrent' of damning information

He alarmed Rosen and Donoghue by mentioning that he spent a lot of time reading on the internet: they inferred that he was getting sucked into the conspiracy theory that Trump had won the election.

Clark also told them that he wanted the department to hold a news conference announcing that it was investigating serious accusations of election fraud, but Rosen and Donoghue rejected the idea.

Clark drafted a letter that he wanted Rosen to send to Georgia state legislators that wrongly said that the Justice Department was investigating accusations of voter fraud in their state. The letter said they should overrule the November 3 election. Rosen and Donoghue again blocked Clark.

On New Year's Eve, the three men met to discuss their disagreements, and Donoghue told Clark that what he was doing was wrong.

On New Year's Day Clark told Rosen, who had mentored him while they worked together at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, that he was going to discuss his strategy with the president early the next week.

On January 3, at midday, Clark told Rosen he had met with Trump, and that Trump was planning to announce he was replacing Rosen with Clark.

Clark could then try to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College results.

Clark told Rosen he could stay on as his deputy attorney general.

The two men met with the president and other legal officials on the evening of January 3, and Trump ultimately decided not to replace Rosen with Clark.

Trump complained to Justice Department leaders that the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, Byung J. Pak, was not trying to find evidence for the election fraud claims promoted by Rudy Giuliani and others.

Pak resigned on January 4, and a watchdog is now investigating the circumstances of his resignation, The Washington Post reported.

Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York - who was forced out by Trump - said that the report was just the beginning of a 'torrent' of damning information.

Ted Lieu, who wrote the impeachment articles against Trump, said it showed why impeachment was so important: to show that a president cannot get away with such misconduct.
Precious Metals Could Decline Before their Next Attempt to Rally

My team prepares Custom Valuations Index charts to understand how capital is being deployed in the global markets alongside US Dollar and Treasury Yields. The purpose of the Custom Index charts in this article is to provide better insight into and understanding of underlying capital movements in various market conditions. Recently, we discovered the Custom Index chart shares a keen alignment with Gold (and likely the general precious metals sector). Lets explore our recent analysis to help readers understand what to expect next in precious metals.

Weekly custom valuations index chart

The first thing that caught my attention was the very clear decline in the weekly Custom Valuations Index recently, as can be seen in the chart below. The second peak on the Custom Valuations Index chart occurred on the week of August 3, 2020. Gold also peaked at this very same time. This alignment started an exploratory analysis of the Custom Valuations Index and the potential alignment with the precious metals sector.

The peak in the Custom Valuations Index on March 20, 2020 (near the height of the COVID-19 market collapse) presented a very clear upside target which was confirmed with a second peak level in August 2020. The fact that the Custom Valuations Index reached that peak level again and that peak level also aligned with the peak price in Gold may just be a coincidence. As we continue to explore this unique alignment, well explore more unique characteristics to see if there is a link that is more than mere chance.

There have been two very clear Pennant/Flag formations as you can see on the above weekly Custom Valuations Index chart. The first one is highlighted in BLUE and the second one is highlighted in GREEN. In both of these instances, the Custom Valuations Index broke lower and Gold followed this trend. Currently, the Custom Valuations Index has begun to breakdown into a new bearish trend. This suggests that Gold and Silver may also move lower as this Custom Index attempts to find a bottom.

Now, lets do a more in-depth analysis of Gold and the Custom Valuations Index. In the following charts, weve attempted to highlight key price traits that took place in Gold over the past 9+ years and wanted to see if these key price points were reflected in the Custom Valuations Index chart. The purpose of this is to identify if our assumption that the Custom Valuations Index chart is aligned to Gold (in some way) shows any additional (past price) alignment to validate our thinking.

Weekly Gold chart

First, well start with a Weekly Gold chart that highlights key price points, peaks, bottoms, and breakout/breakdown events. We want to see if the Custom Valuations Index chart also aligned with these key price moves/dates.

The following Gold Futures Weekly chart highlights the Appreciation/Depreciation cycles weve identified in earlier research as well. The GREEN ARCs near the bottom of the chart show you where each cycle starts and stops. The RED descending line represents a Depreciation Cycle and the GREEN Ascending line represents an Appreciation Cycle. We are focusing on the September 2011 peak price in Gold and the key price events after the Failure Peak that took place to set up the bottom in early 2015, the rally in early 2016, and the breakout rally in June 2019. Does the Custom Valuations Index chart show these same characteristics and dates?

weekly customs valuation chart and gold price history

This next chart is the Weekly Custom Valuations Index chart with the same highlighted price points/dates. The first thing we see from this chart is that the Failure Peak (October 2012) was a higher price peak on this Custom Index chart than the setup on the Gold chart at the same time. Thus, the Custom Valuations Chart represented the extended excess phase top in Gold as a continued upward trend. The downtrend after the October 2012 peak on this Custom Valuations Index chart does align with the big breakdown on the Gold chart (above).

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Additionally, the early 2015 bottoming on the Custom Index chart represented a very early sign that Gold may be looking for a bottom as well. Gold did move lower throughout the next 11+ months, but so did the Custom Valuations Index price. It makes sense that the Custom Valuations Index may be representing underlying key market dynamics that could be applied to the Gold chart in some way.

The Initial Gold Rally in February 2016 was the first real clear trigger on both these charts that coincided with a breakout/rally trend in Gold. This rally attempt eventually stalled near the end of 2016 and began an extended momentum base setup. Notice how the Custom Valuations Index chart represented this momentum base as and extended sideways Pennant/Flag formation that ended near June 2019. Also, notice how the stalling in the Custom Valuations Index chart initiated many weeks before Gold actually peaked in 2016.

From the February 2019 Breakout, we can clearly see the impressive rally in the Custom Index chart aligned with a big rally in Gold. What is interesting is the DUAL PEAK in the Custom Index chart that first setup from the lows of the March 2020 COVID-19 bottom. Could it be that extreme price move somehow represented a key future target for Gold and for the Custom Index chart?

There is very little corresponding data to compare to  so well have to continue to try to dig deeper for any confirmation of this unique setup. Yet, we cant underestimate the DUAL PEAK setup on the Custom Index chart and the fact that the second peak, August 2020, also aligned perfectly with the current peak price in Gold. Since that August 2020 peak, both Gold and the Custom Index chart have continued to breakdown and trend lower. It makes sense that Gold will continue to move lower, in alignment with the Custom Index chart, attempting to find a new bottom/momentum base. We believe the 200 to 240 level on the Custom Valuations Index chart may be a suitable range for this new bottom.

One thing we can say with a moderate degree of certainty is that the Custom Valuations Index chart appears to lead the precious metals in many instances and it appears to perfectly align in other instances. Our research suggests the US and global markets have recently entered a Depreciation Cycle phase which may last many years. The Custom Valuations Index chart is suggesting that the US, global and precious metals sectors are weakening and attempting to find/set up a new momentum/base.

This would suggest that capital will move away from precious metals as well as major market sectors and attempt to find opportunities in undervalued or other hot sectors. Eventually, once the new momentum base/bottom is firmly established in Gold and the Custom Valuations Index chart, the US and Global major market sectors will likely resume a very strong upside price trend.

The key take-away from this research is that sector rotations related to precious metals, major global markets and potential early warning signs of strength or weakness may be attainable by focusing on how the Custom Valuations Index trends in comparison to Gold and the major indexes. Currently, the Custom Valuations Index is suggesting that precious metals will move lower and try to find a new bottom/base. This means other market sectors will perform better than precious metals for a period of time.

This is also an important reason to focus your attention on finding the best and hottest sectors for new trade opportunities. When broad components of the market enter bearish trends, like the Custom Valuations Index is suggesting for precious metals, it is best to have a proven system for identifying the best sector trends and trade opportunities. While one sector may stall, others are rallying. Long term success is found by focus your trading capital on the strongest opportunities while avoiding weaker trends.

2021 is going to be full of these types of trends and setups. Quite literally, hundreds of these setups and trades will be generated over the next 3 to 6 months using my BAN strategy. You can learn how to find and trade the hottest sectors right now in my FREE one-hour BAN tutorial. For those who believe in the power of relative strength, cycles and momentum then the BAN Trader Pro newsletter service does all the work for you. Those who want even more trades use my BAN Hotlist to make sure their trades are going with the momentum to maximize their odds of success.

Dont miss the opportunities in the broad market sectors over the next 6+ months. 2021 and beyond are going to be incredible years for traders. Staying ahead of these sector trends is going to be key to developing continued success in these markets. As some sectors fail, others will begin to trend higher. Learn how BAN Trader Pro can help you spot and trade the best trade setups while mitigating risks at every turn. You owe it to yourself to see how simple it is to trade 30% to 40% of the time to generate incredible results.

Please take a minute to visit my website to learn about our BAN Trader Pro and our other services and courses that are all designed to give you that edge you need to be a successful trader.

Stay safe!

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

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Despite surging numbers of COVID-19 infections across greater Houston, more than 40,000 students chose to go back to in-person classes this spring, slowly edging some districts closer to pre-pandemic enrollments at the beginning of the second semester of the 2020-21 school year.

Current Texas Education Agency guidelines require districts that offer remote instruction to give parents the choice of whether to send their students to campuses or have them learn at home every grading period.

Of 16 Houston-area districts that responded to a Houston Chronicle request for attendance data for the third grading period, all but Fort Bend and Alief ISDs reported more than half their students are back on campuses. Nine had more than two thirds of students back in their classrooms, including Dickinson ISD, with 93 percent of students back, and Friendswood ISD, with 90 percent.

Ten districts shared placement data for the first three grading periods, all showing that more parents opted to send their students back for in-person instruction each time they were given the choice.

In Houston ISD, 43 percent of students were learning in-person and 56 percent were learning virtually as of December.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 infections in greater Houston soon could surpass the spike seen here last summer. The Texas Medical Centers intensive care unit beds remain filled beyond its Phase I capacity, with 41 percent of all ICU patients being treated for the virus; more than 3,022 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Harris County on Thursday.

In schools, active case counts in January have been higher than at any point in 2020. There were 577 active COVID-19 cases in Houston ISD as of Friday, 89 in Dickinson ISD and 39 in Friendswood ISD. Across the 16 districts that responded to the Chronicles request for data, there were a combined 3,381 active cases logged on the districts COVID-19 dashboards on Friday.

Dr. Carlin Barnes, a Houston-based adolescent psychiatrist who has written about sending students back to school for Psychology Today magazine, said while the surge likely is leading some families to keep their kids away from schools, the distribution of vaccines may have given others more comfort that an end to the pandemic is in sight. At the same time, she said, parents must consider their childrens academic needs, as data has shown virtual learners have struggled academically much more than peers who returned to campuses.

A lot of parents, theyre worried about their own health as well as their kids, but at the same time their kids educational needs are not being met by the virtual learning model, Barnes said.

Parents decision

Scott Olivers decision to send his 11-year-old son, William, back to Glenn York Elementary in Alvin ISD was made easier by the younger Olivers struggles to stay on task at home. He decided to send his third grader, Lauren, back at the same time His eldest, 15-year-old Hailey, did not feel comfortable starting her freshman classes in-person at Shadow Creek High until this month.

All his kids have done better since returning, but his sons class has had to quarantine twice due to infections.

There isnt a right or wrong answer whether to learn virtual or in-person, Oliver said. But for my kids, going back was a good thing for them, even though were still having to deal with cases and things like that.

The shift back to in-person instruction is not as pronounced in districts that serve higher rates of students from lower-income households and students of color. Locally, Aldine, Alief, Sheldon and Spring ISDs tended to have more families opt to keep their students home during the third grading period than districts in more affluent and whiter neighborhoods.

Barnes said that is not surprising, considering lower-income families often live in multi-generational households, and CDC data shows Black and Hispanic people are 2.8 times more likely to die of the virus than white people. Additionally, Barnes said, Black and Hispanic families tend to have less access to healthcare and greater distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.

Others, including schools in Dickinson ISD, are almost as full as they were before the pandemic prompted all Texas schools to close last March.

About 94 percent of students are back at Calder Road Elementary, said Principal Sophia Acevedo, after starting the year last September with about half of the kids learning from home. She attributes the increase of on-campus students to a mix of parental fatigue, kids asking to come back and families feeling safer sending young students back to school.

All students are required to wear masks, wash their hands at regular times, use hand sanitizer between subjects, limit interactions between classes and stand farther apart when in lines. Even with those precautions, Acevedo said, it is hard to maintain social distancing with so many students in the halls. Administrators created extra lunch periods and blocked off tables in the cafeteria, the music room was moved to the science lab so there would be more space and ventilation, and students no longer gather on the carpet for story time.

We focus on what we can do, but we cant really social distance with so many back, Acevedo said. In class, we cant guarantee six feet, but we can make sure theyre wearing masks and handwashing.

Rising cases

Maria Rivera, who is co-leading the Harris County Health Departments school advisory group during the pandemic, said the advisory groups recommendation still is that school buildings remain closed until, among other things, the COVID-19 positivity rate for tests dips below at least 5 percent.

Because the Texas Education Agency has told districts they must offer five days a week of in-person instruction to receive state funding, Rivera said her team has told districts to focus on preventing kids from mingling with other classes, keeping things clean, keeping as much distance as possible and doing as much contact tracing as they can. Still, those measures may not prevent more infections.

As more kids join the classroom, weve seen more cases arise in the classroom setting, Rivera said. All these safety measures to decrease transmission  its just not possible when you have 30 kids in a classroom.

There currently are 14 students in Yadira Seshers third grade bilingual classroom at Calder Road Elementary, and only one student learning online. Twelve came back for in-person classes as soon as they could, including 9-year-old Isideo Lopez.

He said he missed his friends and, even though he is frustrated he has to stay farther away from his classmates, he is glad to see more come back each grading period. He figures they were struggling like he was.

I didnt like it at home, he said. My mom told me I was learning, but I get it a lot more here.

shelby.webb@chron.com
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Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anani inaugurated Jan. 15 Egypts newly restored Temple of Isis in Aswan.

The more than 2,200-year-old Ptolemaic temple, located in a residential area in the center of Aswan, was discovered in 1871 during the extension of a railway line. (It is not to be confused with the much larger and older Temple of Isis that was moved piece by piece to nearby Agilkia Island from Philae Island in the 1970s after flooding from the Aswan High Dam south of Aswan threatened to destroy the archaeological treasure.)

The work for the 19-meter-long (62-foot) temple in the city of Aswan included restoring its floors and columns, cleaning bird and bat poop from its walls and installing window screens to prevent birds and bats from getting back inside. Also, the inscriptions on the entrance to the sanctum have been restored and soot was removed from the temple ceiling. The drawings and colors at the entrance to the temple and the side door were cleaned, as were the offering tables in the Hypostyle Hall, officials said.

Mustafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the temple's importance lies in the fact that it was established during the 246-222 B.C. reign of King Ptolemy III for the worship of the goddess Isis and the triad of Aswan (Khnum, Satis and Anuket). The temple was built with sandstone and has two doors. The main door is crowned with ornamentation topped by a winged sun disk, and it is through this door that visitors enter a hall with three open rooms, he said.

Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Al-Monitor by phone that authorities came up with routes for visitors to follow and installed a modern lighting system to highlight the temple's aesthetics.

He added, The restoration and development works sought to provide various services to visitors, such as signboards and explanations, visitor centers, toilets, umbrellas, benches, rubbish bins designed for collecting recyclable waste, and brochures and leaflets that are available both in Arabic and English. Also, people with special needs have been provided with special tracks, offered booklets in Braille, films with sign language and coronavirus guide boards.

Abdel Moneim Saeed, the director general of the Aswan and Nubia Antiquities Sector, said that the Supreme Council of Antiquities carried out excavations with a depth of 2 meters (6 feet), including in the sanctum and the temple hall, and that this led to the discovery of small pottery vessels. He said excavations also were carried out on the northwest side of the temple courtyard, where some red brick walls were discovered.

In recent years, the Swiss mission handling excavations in Aswan decided to use the temple as a warehouse, which drew renewed attention to the importance of the site and the need to breathe new life into it.

Fethiye al-Hefni, the supervisor of the Isis Temple restoration project, told Al-Monitor over the phone that she obtained approval in January 2019 to start the restoration process.

Since our first visit, we understood the value of the archaeological temple, and we came to the realization that once inaugurated, it was bound to turn into a destination for Egyptians and foreign tourists in Aswan governorate.  The 26-member restoration team embarked on the first stage of the restoration works, as they closed the windows to prevent birds and bats from entering the ancient site, she said.

Safe mechanical brushes and scalpels were used to deal with antiquities, but we additionally used restoration chemicals to be able to eliminate the poop and the dense [bat] blood stuck on the walls, she continued.

Hefni said she believes a group of Christian priests lived in the temple in the sixth century, as evidenced by the presence of crosses on the columns, altars and engravings across the rooms, and drawings on the outer wall of the place.
Kuwait's government has delayed the second phase of its plan for resuming commercial flights until further notice, the state news agency said on Monday, citing a cabinet decision, keeping the airport's capacity at 30% of pre-pandemic levels.

The cabinet also ordered Kuwait's Directorate General of Civil Aviation to reduce the number of flights arriving in the country. Kuwait began the first phase of resuming flights in August last year at the reduced capacity, which it had said would last for six months, after which a maximum capacity of 60% was to be allowed.

Kuwait on Sunday reduced the number of daily overseas airline passenger arrivals by 80% to 1,000 to manage the spread of a new coronavirus variant, a source told Reuters.

Short link:


A Republican Congressman wants to put a stipulation on who receives the next round of stimulus payments  they must receive a coronavirus vaccine.

Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, told Yahoo Finance Live he thinks President Joe Bidens $1,400 stimulus shouldnt be distributed without the vaccine stipulation.

I hope the administration will look at that option because we actually buy something with our $1,400  and thats herd immunity, Stivers said.

Biden has proposed the $1,400 per person stimulus that, when coupled with the $600 payments approved in December 2020, would bring the total to $2,000, an amount sought by both Democrats and former President Donald Trump. The first $1,200-per-person stimulus was approved in March during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stivers said the $2 trillion price tag for the entire stimulus package would be worth it if it pays for the right things.

The quickest thing we need to do if we really want to help the American people, is get this economy turned back on  get people back to work, get kids back in school, get ourselves some herd immunity, get the vaccine distributed as quick as we can and get the uptake rate up, Stivers said. Thats why Id be willing to accept a $1,400 stimulus check if people are willing to take the vaccine.

Stivers suggestion isnt the first time pay for vaccine has been proposed.

U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Maryland, said late last year that payments  he suggested $1,500  would be an incentive for people to receive the vaccine.

The faster we get 75% of this country vaccinated, the faster we end COVID and the sooner everything returns to normal, Delaney said. We have to create, in my judgment, an incentive for people to really accelerate their thinking about taking the vaccine.
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A special court in Hyderabad issued a non-bailable warrant on Monday against Asaduddin Owaisi, MP and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) for his failure to appear in connection with the attack on former minister and Congress leader Shabbir Ali. A magistrate in the Nampally Metropolitan special court of Hyderabad issued the warrant.

In 2016, during the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation-GHMC election campaign, a car carrying senior Congress leaders Uttam Kumar Reddy and Shabbir Ali, was intercepted and attacked.

The police had named Owaisi as the main accused, along with several others, in the chargesheet of the incident, which took place within the Mirchowk limits of the city.

ALSO READ | Owaisis AIMIM May Join Hands With Kamal Haasans MNM for Tamil Nadu Polls, Likely to Contest At Least 25 Seats

The AIMIM chief was booked under the charges of assault, intimidation and violation of the model code of conduct, citing eye-witnesses and videographs.

However, Asaduddin has denied his involvement in the attack.
Talks for national alliance of opposition parties to start soon: Sanjay Raut

Toolkit used by BJP to target opponents, says Sanjay Raut

Nobody should feel pain while chanting 'Jai Shri Ram': Sanjay Raut

India

oi-Deepika S

Mumbai, Jan 25: Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declined to speak at an event where''Jai Shri Ram'' slogans were raised, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Rautsaid nobody should feel pain while chanting the slogan.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Raut said he issure Mamata Banerjee also has faith in Lord Ram.

Banerjee on Saturday declined to speak at an officialprogramme to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 125thbirth anniversary in Kolkata after ''Jai Shri Ram'' slogans wereraised from the audience in the presence of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

She said such ''insult'' was unacceptable.

Asked about the BJP accusing Banerjee of feelingpained when chanting the slogan, Raut said, ''Nobody shouldfeel pained to say 'Jai Shri Ram' in the country.'' ''Nobody's secularism will be under threat by sayingJai Shri Ram. We think Lord Ram is the pride of the countryand support,'' he said.

''Jai Shri Ram is not any political word. It is amatter of our faith, and I am sure that Mamata Didi also hasfaith in Lord Ram,'' the Rajya Sabha member said.

Harassing those against BJP seems to be ED's national duty': Sanjay Raut

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' also saidBanerjee should not have got upset when ''Jai Shri Ram'' sloganswere raised by some people during the programme.

''Rather, tables would have turned on them (those whoraised slogans) had she mixed her voice among theirs. Buteveryone is catering to their own vote banks,'' it said.

The BJP has identified Banerjee's ''weak point'' and itwill keep playing up such sensitive issues until the Assemblyelections (in West Bengal) are over, it said.

The editorial also launched a veiled attack on theBJP, accusing it of poaching TMC leaders in West Bengal todefeat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the forthcoming pollsin that state.

It said the leadership of West Bengal, Punjab andMaharashtra were at the forefront of the country's freedomstruggle.

The three states are fighting for their self-pride atpresent also and the Centre is against them, it claimed.

Farmers from Punjab, who are agitating against theCentre's new farm laws near Delhi border, are allegedly beingtrampled, it said.

Maharashtra is being targeted in a ''pre-decided''manner, the Marathi daily alleged, apparently referring tonotices by central agencies to some of the Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) leaders.

The BJP poached Congress and NCP leaders ahead of the2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls and gave them candidature, italleged and said most of such candidates had got elected.

''What happened in Maharashtra is (now) happening inWest Bengal. (BJP) doesn't have anything of its own. Itcreates its legion poaching with whom it is going to fight. Ithappened in Bihar. Now, struggle is on to defeat the TMC bypoaching TMC (leaders),'' the Shiv Sena charged.

Notably, West Bengal forest minister Rajib Banerjeequit the Mamata Banerjee cabinet recently, joining the growinglist of dissenters who have put the ruling camp in a tightspot ahead of the Assembly elections.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

The editorial said the BJP winning 18 Lok Sabha seatsin West Bengal is a matter of concern for Mamata Banerjee.

''But this Bengal tigress (Mamata Banerjee) is the onewho fights on the streets and will keep fighting,'' it added.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 12:09 [IST]
Mr. Angelson succeeds Thomas S. Johnson, who chaired the IIE Board for nearly two decades. Mr. Johnson was named Chair Emeritus and Life Trustee, and the Institute's Internship Program was named in Mr. Johnson's honor in recognition of his distinguished service.

"Mark stands in the shoes of former chairs Edward R. Murrow, Justice Arthur Goldberg, Senator Charles Percy and so many others who shared a deep commitment to international education and how it can transform nations into people," said IIE President and CEO, Allan Goodman. "We will continue to benefit greatly from Mark's wisdom, professional experience and enduring commitment to keeping America's doors open."

Maria Livanos Cattaui, former Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, will continue as IIE Vice Chair. She will be joined in that capacity by Calvin G. Butler, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Exelon Utilities, and Thomas A. Russo, Former Executive Vice President and General Counsel of American International Group, Inc. Hartley R. Rogers, Chairman of Hamilton Lane, will continue as Treasurer.

Mr. Angelson is Chair of the Board of Governors of Rutgers University, and is a life trustee of Northwestern University, where he is Adjunct Professor of Mergers and Acquisitions at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. He also was Vice Chair of the Biden Foundation and has worked prominently on President Biden's behalf since 1986.

After practicing international law for two decades in Asia, Europe and New York, Angelson served as chair/CEO of several public companies, including as CEO of R.R. Donnelley. He also served as Chair of MidOcean Partners, an international investment firm, and as Deputy Mayor of the City of Chicago.

Angelson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Royal Society of Arts, The Pilgrims, and the Economic Club of New York. He received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the John Marshall Law School and the Harold Hines Award from the United Negro College Fund. He is an alumnus of Rutgers College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and of Rutgers Law School, and is a member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

Angelson is a longtime member of the IIE Board, and has served as IIE Treasurer and then as IIE Vice Chair. He also served as Chair of the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund and of the Fund's Selection Committee.

Ms. Cattaui was Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) from 1996 through June 2005, where she championed the role of world business in the global economy, and has been closely involved in placing business know-how and experience at the disposal of developing and emerging economies. She holds board and advisory board memberships on the International Crisis Group, the EastWest Institute, Open Society Foundations, and the Elliott School of International Affairs (George Washington University), among others. Ms. Cattaui, of Greek origin and Swiss nationality, was educated in the United States. She graduated with honors from Harvard University and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from York University, Toronto.

Mr. Butler is a senior executive vice president of Exelon and chief executive officer of Exelon Utilities, overseeing Exelon's six local electric and natural gas companies, which together form the nation's largest utility company by customer count. He has been recognized by several organizations for his leadership and community commitment. In 2020, he was named among Black Enterprise Magazine's "Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America," and as Zpryme's "ETS Thought Leader of the Year." In 2019, the Boy Scouts of America honored him with the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award, and in 2017, he was named among Black Enterprise Magazine's "300 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America," as well as "Industrialist of the Year" by the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Butler earned a bachelor's degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo. He received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Morgan State University in 2014.

Mr. Russo served as executive vice president and general counsel, with responsibility for legal, compliance, regulatory affairs, and government affairs, at American International Group, Inc. from February 2010 to November 2016. A thought leader on financial market issues, Mr. Russo has testified before Congress on numerous occasions and participated at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for over ten years. He has also written more than 70 articles on topics in the commodities, securities and banking fields relating to financial market regulation. Mr. Russo holds both a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Mr. Rogers is the Chairman of Hamilton Lane. As such, he plays significant roles in the Firm's investing and client relationship activities, as well as in its strategic and organizational development. He is a member of various Investment Committees of the Firm and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board of HarvardX, the on-line learning initiative of Harvard University. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

About IIE:

Established in 1919, IIE is a global not-for-profit that creates and implements international education programs, conducts research, and provides life-changing opportunities for students and scholars worldwide. IIE collaborates with a range of corporate, government and foundation partners across the globe to design and manage scholarship, study abroad, workforce training and leadership development programs. IIE has a network of 18 offices and affiliates worldwide and over 1,450 member institutions. Visit iie.org .

SOURCE Institute of International Education

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A local mechanic has been arrested in connection with a cocaine transaction that was set to take place at a McDonalds in south Laredo, according to an arrest affidavit.

Authorities identified him as Francisco De Leon Martinez. He was arrested and charged with possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and conspire to possess with the intent to distribute the cocaine.

His arrest came after a Laredo police officer pulled over his co-defendant, Antonio De Jesus Lopez Juarez, at about 1:38 p.m. Jan. 19 in the 2500 block of South New York Avenue for failure to stop at a designated point of stop and for defective tail lamps.

The officer also noticed that Lopez Juarez did not have a drivers license. A consensual search of the vehicle yielded an open cardboard box with a blue gift bag containing two square-shaped bricks wrapped in duct tape, states the affidavit.

The bricks contained 5 pounds of cocaine. Lopez Juarez was cited for the traffic violations before Drug Enforcement Administration special agents would take over the case.

Lopez Juarez admitted to knowingly transporting two kilograms of cocaine to be sold to an unknown subject at $25,500 per kilogram at the McDonalds on Sierra Vista next to the Valero gas station, states the affidavit.

In a post-arrest interview, Lopez Juarez stated that he picked up the cocaine from a man he identified as Franky and further admitted to previously transporting cocaine in this manner, according to court documents.

Lopez Juarez positively identified Francisco De Leon Martinez as FRANKY as his ongoing source of supply of cocaine and stated that he picked up the two kilograms of cocaine from De Leon Martinezs auto mechanic shop in Laredo, Texas, states the affidavit.

On Jan. 20, special agents conducted a consensual interview with De Leon Martinez at his mechanic shop.

De Leon Martinez spoke to agents freely and advised that he knew about the cocaine but would feel more comfortable speaking at a more private location so as not to alert his employees, states the affidavit.

De Leon Martinez went with special agents to the DEA Laredo district office.

De Leon Martinez spoke of his involvement with Lopez Juarez and the cocaine. De Leon Martinez advised he has been paid by Lopez Juarez for using his business to move at least (63 pounds) of cocaine, the affidavit states.

De Leon Martinez was paid $300 per about 2 pounds and moved between 4 to 6 pounds per week for the past few months, according to court documents. De Leon Martinez then allegedly allowed special agents to search his phone.

The call log showed that De Leon Martinez was calling Lopez Juarez at the time Lopez Juarez was in LPD custody. De Leon Martinez stated it was because Lopez Juarez owed him the $300 per each brick of cocaine Lopez Juarez had picked up at his business, according to court documents.
Discovery: A suspect device and ammunition were discovered by police in Fermanagh

First Minister Arlene Foster last night thanked the PSNI for its handling of a security alert close to the Fermanagh border.

The DUP leader was speaking after police confirmed the security operation in the Wattlebridge Road area had ended.

Chief Superintendent Andy Freeburn thanked the local community for their patience and support.

"This was a challenging and complex operation, made all the more difficult by the weather conditions. I would also like to thank our officers, our colleagues in An Garda Siochana and army bomb disposal experts for their assistance and expertise," he said.

"A device left at a bus shelter has been declared a hoax. Four rounds of ammunition have also been recovered.

"They have now been taken away for forensic examination.

"At this stage it is too early to determine if any weapons were fired, as has been claimed.

Expand Close Discovery: A suspect device and ammunition were discovered by police in Fermanagh Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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"No community should have to live under the threat of such violence."

Mrs Foster told the Belfast Telegraph the Continuity IRA hoax, in which the gang claimed to have fired on a PSNI helicopter, was a "futile act" that only hurt local people.

"I commend the police for how they have handled this alert both in working with the community on both sides of the border and also protecting officers from walking into an ambush," she said

"It is deeply concerning that there are people still in that area who want to kill police officers.

"They still don't get it that terrorism failed to achieve anything other than heartache and broken homes in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties.

"The people living around Newtownbutler are good people. I appeal to those salt of the earth people on both sides of the border to work with the police to find the people behind these alerts and remove them from our streets."

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie, a former soldier, said that bullets pictured at the scene of the alleged helicopter attack had not been fired.

After being shown images of one of the rounds, he said: "That's an unspent round. It was never in a weapon.

"It still has the warhead and there are no markings on it.

"It was never ejected from a weapon."

Sinn Fein councillor Sheamus Greene said the incident had caused upset and annoyance.

"A lot of people in the area always suspected it was a bit of a hoax, and wondered why it took the police so long to deal with it," he said.

Calling on those behind it to desist, he added: "It's only putting annoyance onto their own people."

The alert is the second time in 18 months that dissidents had attempted to lure police into the area. In August 2019 police searched the same isolated roadside looking for a bogus device when a bomb exploded nearby.

Fermanagh UUP MLA Rosemary Barton said: "I have been absolutely astounded by actions of these thugs, but am very relieved that it has turned out to be a hoax.

"Once again the people of the Wattlebridge have had their daily lives disrupted by selfish evil people. This is a community that has suffered a great deal in the Trouble and unfortunately are still suffering.

"To leave them in a state of suspense and fear for over a week, can only be described as the work of ruthless, mindless thugs who have no place in our society. Their selfish deeds at such a difficult time for our country as it fights a deadly virus, confirms that the people responsible for this disruption have no thought or care for the lives of others.

"I would continue to urge the public to give their full support to the Police as they seek to protect the community in their investigation into this incident."

Matthew Beaumont, Alliance Party representative in Fermanagh, added: Whilst Im glad this alert is now over and the device was a hoax, it should never have happened in the first place. Those behind it represent nobody and will not drag us back to the past.

I feel sorry for the families and businesses disrupted in the area and urge anyone with information on this incident to contact police with it immediately.
The first people to settle in the Americas some 15,000 years ago traveled from northeast Asia and were accompanied by canine companions, a new study reveals.

A team of international researchers examined a trove of archaeological and genetic records of ancient people and dogs and found both had traveled together west into the rest of Eurasia and then east into the Americas.

These findings also suggest dog domestication first took place in Siberia at least 23,000 years ago and may have been a result of the region's harsh climatic conditions.

The land connecting Canada and Russia and most of Siberia were extremely cold and may have forced humans and wolves into close proximity due to their attraction to the same prey  thus sparking a relationship between the two.

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The first people to settle in the Americas some 15,000 years ago traveled from northeast Asia and were accompanied by canine companions, a new study reveals

Co-author Professor Greger Larson, Oxford University, said: 'Researchers have previously suggested that dogs were domesticated across Eurasia from Europe to China, and many places in between.'

'The combined evidence from ancient humans and dogs is helping to refine our understanding of the deep history of dogs, and now points toward Siberia and Northeast Asia as a likely region where dog domestication was initiated.'

Numerous studies have looked into the story of man's best friend, with some works suggesting humans first domesticated the wild animals 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.

However, the new study led by archaeologist Dr Angela Perri of Durham University investigates the origins of pet dogs.

The land connecting Canada and Russia and most of Siberia were extremely cold and may have forced humans and wolves into close proximity due to their attraction to the same prey  thus sparking a relationship between the two

The team analyzed archaeological and genetic records of ancient people and dogs, which revealed the first people to make the journey from northeast Asia to the Americas did some 15,000 years ago and they brought their pet dogs.

This discover, according to researchers, suggest that dog domestication likely took place in Siberia before 23,000 years ago.

And they both ventured into the rest of Eurasia followed by going east in the Americas across the maritime bridge that once connected Canada and Russia, known as Beringia.

The data suggests it was a group called the North Siberians may have been the first people to first domesticate wolves by feeding them leftovers.

The Americas were one of the last regions in the world to be settled by people and by the time the first settlers crossed over to the new world, dogs had already been domesticated from their wild wolf ancestors.

Research lead author Dr Angela Perri, in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, said: 'When and where have long been questions in dog domestication research, but here we also explored the how and why, which have often been overlooked.'

The Americas were one of the last regions in the world to be settled by people and by the time the first settlers crossed over to the new world, dogs had already been domesticated from their wild wolf ancestors

'Dog domestication occurring in Siberia answers many of the questions we've always had about the origins of the human-dog relationship.'

'By putting together the puzzle pieces of archaeology, genetics and time we see a much clearer picture where dogs are being domesticated in Siberia, then disperse from there into the Americas and around the world.'

During the Last Glacial Maximum, which took place from 23,000 to 19,000 years ago, Beringia and most of Siberia, was extremely cold, dry, and largely unglaciated.

The harsh climatic conditions leading up to, and during this period may have served to bring human and wolf populations into close proximity given their attraction to the same prey.

This increasing interaction, through mutual scavenging of kills from wolves drawn to human campsites, may have began a relationship between the species that eventually led to dog domestication, and a vital role in the populating of the Americas.

As co-author and archaeologist David Meltzer of Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) notes, 'We have long known that the first Americans must have possessed well-honed hunting skills, the geological know-how to find stone and other necessary materials and been ready for new challenges.

'The dogs that accompanied them as they entered this completely new world may have been as much a part of their cultural repertoire as the stone tools they carried.'

Since their domestication from wolves, dogs have played a wide variety of roles in human societies, many of which are tied to the history of cultures worldwide.

Future archaeological and genetic research will reveal how the emerging mutual relationship between people and dogs led to their successful dispersal across the globe.
Merck & Co says it is ending development of two potential COVID-19 vaccines following poor results in early-stage studies.

The drugmaker said on Monday that it will focus instead on studying two possible treatments for the virus that also have yet to be approved by regulators.

The company said its vaccine candidates, V590 and V591, were 'well tolerated' by patients, but they generated an 'inferior' immune system response compared with other vaccines or natural infection.

'We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to the volunteers in the trials,' Dr Dean Y Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories said in a statement.

'We are resolute in our commitment to contribute to the global effort to relieve the burden of this pandemic on patients, health care systems and communities.'

However, the company still plans to submit results from its clinical trial for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Merck & Co said on Monday it is ending development of two potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Pictured: Merck headquarters in Kenilworth, New Jersey

Officials say the vaccines were well-tolerated but didn't generate enough of an immune response compared to other shots or natural infection. Pictured:L isa Taylor receives a COVID-19 vaccination from RN Jose Muni during a vaccine trial

Instead, the New Jersey-based company says it will focus its research on therapeutic drugs, MK-7110 and MK-4482, to fight COVID-19. pictured: Merck scientists conduct coronavirus research in a laboratory

Merck was developing one of the potential vaccines with France's Pasteur Institute based on existing measles and Ebola vaccines.

The French institute said it will keep working on two other vaccine projects using different methods.

Merck entered the race to fight COVID-19 later than other top drugmakers.

Last fall, the firm said it had started early-stage research in volunteers on potential vaccines that require only one dose, different from.

At that point, vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna - each of which require two doses - were already in late-stage research.

Within a few months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use of the two-dose shots, both of which are are 95 percent effective.

However, the rollout of these vaccines have moved at a sluggish pace, especially as new mutant variants popped up around the world, including in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, with cases now spreading across the U.S.

Since vaccinations began in December, nearly 22 million doses have been delivered to people nationwide and nearly six percent of the population has received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A total of 3.2 million people, or one percent of the population, have received both doses required for those vaccines.

The government is paying Merck about $356 million to fast-track production of one of its potential treatments under Operation Warp Speed, a push to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

The money will allow the Kenilworth, New Jersey-based company to deliver up to 100,000 doses by June 30, if the FDA clears the treatment for emergency use.

The treatment, known as MK-7110, has the potential to minimize the damaging effects of an overactive immune response to COVID-19. This immune response can complicate the life-saving efforts of doctors and nurses.

Nearly 22 million doses have been delivered to people nationwide and nearly six percent of the population has received at least one dose (above)

Merck said early results from a late-stage study of that drug showed a more than 50 percent reduction in the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients hospitalized with moderate or severe COVID-19.

The company expects full results from that study in the first quarter.

Merck's other potential treatment is an oral antiviral drug to give to patients in the early stage of their illness called MK-4482.

The company also expects to see early results from mid-to-late-stage research on this drug in May.

Chief Marketing Officer Michael Nally told Bloomberg that Merck expects to produce more than 20 million courses of the drug, which patients will take twice a day for five days.
20 manoeuvres in January, in addition to naval ones. Attack jets and bombers also used. Washington protests. Experts: message from Beijing to the Biden administration. Xi Jinping does not rule out the use of force for reunification.

Taipei (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At least 15 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwans air defense identification zone yesterday. It was the second consecutive day that Beijing's aircraft, including attack jets and bombers, have carried out such large-scale operations near the island: on 23 January, Taiwanese authorities identified 13.

On both occasions, the Taiwanese armed forces scrambled their planes to tail the Chinese ones, which however did not cross the midline dividing the Taiwan Strait. Yesterday was Beijing's 20th air raid in the area: The Asian giant has intensified military pressure on Taiwan - including with naval activities - since last September.

According to most observers, with these raids the Chinese government wants to signal its disapproval to the Biden administration, which is seemingly unwilling to abandon the harsh line of confrontation with China inaugurated by Donald Trump.

It was also Beijings response to the deployment of the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt yesterday in the South China Sea. In a note published on January 23, the US government urged the Chinese to stop intimidating Taiwan and to engage in dialogue with Taiwanese rulers.

Beijing has always opposed Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, accused of pursuing an independence agenda. The Chinese regime considers Taiwan a rebel province, and has never ruled out reconquering it by the use of force. The island has been independent of China since 1949; at the time, Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists found refuge there after losing the civil war on the mainland against the Communists, making it the heir to the Republic of China founded in 1912.

In a speech delivered on January 2, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the people of Taiwan to accept the fact that the island "must and will be" reunified with China. The Chinese leader called for peaceful reunification on the basis of the "one country, two systems" principle, but warned that Beijing reserves the use of force to achieve this.

Last week, Wang Yang reiterated the same concept. A member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Wang explained that China will use its political and economic strength to contain Taiwan's pro-independence forces. He stressed that this is a prime objective for the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, which takes place this year.
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On Thursday, teachers and staff at Los Gatos Union School District received a tantalizing offer in their emails: a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of schedule.

According to investigative news outlet San Jose Spotlight, Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Gatos offered district Superintendent Paul Johnson and staff the vaccine as a "gesture" of kindness after the district raised funds for a program to provide frontline workers meals.

"The COO of the hospital says we can access the appointments ... and has cleared [Los Gatos schools] staff to sign up under the healthcare buttons," the email from Johnson to district staff obtained by Spotlight read. Educators are part of Phase 1B in California and Santa Clara County, behind frontline staff, nursing home residents and those 65 and older.

Teachers, per the email, were told to impersonate health care workers despite the threat of perjury  with the approval of COO Gary Purushotham  in order to obtain access to the vaccine. "Remember to register under healthcare initially," Johnson's note read. He declined to comment to SFGATE.

Schools in the district are closed for in-person learning.

Now, Santa Clara County is withholding vaccines from the hospital after the offer was extended and an estimated 65 doses were offered to district teachers and staffers.

Per a letter from the county obtained by SFGATE, Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county's COVID-19 vaccine officer, said that the hospital's actions "are inconsistent with both the letter and spirit" of California's vaccine protocol. It also created confusion, he alleged, "causing other educators to understandably but incorrectly expect" vaccinations.

Santa Clara County will provide second doses for those who received their initial shot at Good Samaritan. But "any additional doses," he warned, will be withheld "unless and until Good Samaritan provides sufficient assurances it will follow state and county direction on vaccine eligibility."

Good Samaritan currently has just over 6,500 first and second vaccine doses, according to a county dashboard.

Fenstersheib also suggested that the vaccine was offered as something of a quid pro quo, rewarding "employees of a school district that had provided fundraising that assisted Good Samaritan employees, rather than prioritizing older educators or those from areas of the county with high prevalence of COVID-19."

In a follow-up email sent to teachers obtained by Spotlight, Johnson, the superintendent, denied any allegations of quid pro quo. He also apologized for the suggestion that "Good Samaritan [was] returning a good deed" in a statement.

"While I apologize for that characterization, I also will continue to advocate for school staff to be a high priority for vaccinations," he said. My job, as superintendent, is to ensure the safety of all our students and staff."

Good Samaritan CEO Joe DeSchryver, in an apology posted Saturday in which he said the hospital was "in error," explained that the decision to expand their vaccine distribution past state and county recommendations was done in order "to avoid wasting supply that was already thawed."

But by that point, Spotlight reported, the hospital barely had sufficient doses for hospital workers, other frontline workers and individuals 75 years or older.

"We are committed to working with the county on a plan to assure we have clarity and are adhering to the state and county guidelines on vaccine eligibility, which we have done so prior to this incident," DeSchryver added. "Additionally, we are reviewing our processes and systems to ensure this does not happen again."

The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.

As of Monday, California has dispensed over 2.3 million vaccines  47% of its currently available doses.
Dhaka, Jan 25 (UNI) Bangladesh Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Monday hoped that the Bangladesh-US relations will reach a new height under the new Biden administration.

The developmental vision of Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the welfare view of the new administration in the US closely matches lockstep, he said.

Dr Momen said the new US administration has already marked such indications as it rejoined the Paris Agreement and also started exploring whether genocide took place in Myanmar.

We welcome the new administrative and thank them for their initiatives, he said.

The foreign minister was addressing the virtual Frontline Journalism Award Presentation Ceremony as chief guest organized by The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham). US ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller spoke as the special guest.

Momen urged AmCham to play substantial role for boosting Bangladeshs export to the USA and attract Foreign Direct Investment and incubation of technology.

He said Bangladesh hopes to promote Culture of Peace, creating a mindset of respect and tolerance towards others irrespective of religion, ethnicity, race and colour for a sustainable world of peace and stability across nations.

We dont want to see any more the movement like Black life Matters or uprooting of 1.1 million Rohingyas due to spread of venom of hatred and intolerance, he said.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the foreign minister said journalists played a noteworthy role in raising awareness about the vicious effects of the deadly virus.

I am happy that the journalists disseminated every directive and initiative of the government to the people, he said.

He urged the media to highlight the remarkable works of the government and create a narrative so that we all could be proud of. We are no longer a bottomless basket but a land of opportunity, a vibrant economy.

He said everyone will agree that in the last 12 years, Bangladesh achieved tremendous success in its efforts to develop its economy and to provide improved living standard to its people.

UNI MAZ JAL 1924
We thought we were ready. We told ourselves we were. Then we told this lie to the world. We are open for business. We are COVID-free! Read more


Saudi Arabia monarch King Salman has named former top adviser and head of Board of Directors of the Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul, Dr Fahad bin Abdullah bin Abdullatif Al Mubarak, as the new governor of the kingdoms central bank, reports say.

The new appointee according to the royal degree will hold the new position in the rank of minister. He replaces Dr Ahmed bin Abdulkarim Al-Kholifey, who has been appointed as an adviser at the Royal Court in the rank of minister.

Dr Fahad is described as one of the most prominent economic figures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The 65-year old man prior to the appointment had been a Royal Court Advisor since 2015 and the Secretary-General of G20 Saudi Secretariat as well as Member of the SABIC Board of Directors Investment Committee since 2017.

He also assumed the Chairmanship of the Board of Directors of Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia, from 2005 to 2011 and held the position of Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency during the period between 2011 and 2016.

Dr Fahad schooled in the kingdom and the U.S where he obtained Bachelor of Engineering Civil and a masters degree in industrial engineering.
The HCM City People's Committee has recently asked four international schools to suspend their foreign syllabus from the 2021-2022 school year following Decree 86/2018/N-CP.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has recently asked four international schools to suspend their foreign syllabus from the 2021-2022 school year following Decree 86/2018/N-CP.



The four international schools including APU International School, Sai Gon Pearl International School, Canadian International School, and American International School are required to stop their foreign syllabus starting from the 2021-2022 school year.



Deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Nguyen Van Hieu noted that the change would be gradually applied to only newly-admitted students while students at on-going courses would continue with their current syllabus.



The piloting of foreign syllabus at these four international schools which has been carried out since 2018, allowed the schools to use different foreign-designed programmes along with the syllabus by the Vietnamese education ministry in their training. This was intended at giving graduates both Vietnamese and international certificates that can be used in their overseas studies.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic would make it difficult for students to study overseas in the coming time, the department said. Therefore, they should return to Vietnamese syllabus so that they can study at local universities.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has also asked 44 other international schools or private schools that are using foreign syllabus to report on their training activities. Dtinews

Vietnamese education lures over US$4 billion foreign investment capital The number of foreign investment projects in Vietnam's education sector have increased by 321 compared to five years ago, the registered capital has also increased by over US$3.5 billion.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. ("Northern Dynasty" or the "Company") (NYSE:NAK) from December 21, 2017 through November 25, 2020 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you purchased Northern Dynasty securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Northern Dynasty Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or MGuarnero@bernlieb.com.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the Company's Pebble Project was contrary to Clean Water Act guidelines and to the public interest; (2) the Company planned that the Pebble Project would be larger in duration and scope than conveyed to the public; (3) as a result, the Company's permit applications for the Pebble Project would be denied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and (4) as a result, Defendants' public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.

On August 24, 2020, the U.S. Army released a statement concerning the Pebble Project, stating that it would result in "significant degradation of the environment and would likely result in significant adverse effects on the aquatic system or human environment." The U.S. Army further found that "the project, as currently proposed, cannot be permitted under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act." The U.S. Army requested that the Company submit a mitigation plan in response to this finding. On this news, Northern Dynasty's stock price fell $0.55 per share, or 37.9%, to close at $0.90 per share on August 24, 2020.

Story continues

On November 25, 2020, Northern Dynasty reported that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had rejected its permit applications related to the Pebble Project.

On this news, Northern Dynasty's stock price fell $0.40 per share, or 50%, to close at $0.40 per share on November 25, 2020, damaging investors.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than February 2, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

If you purchased Northern Dynasty securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/northerndynastymineralsltd-nak-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-stock-fraud-339/apply/ or contact Matthew E. Guarnero toll free at (877) 779-1414 or MGuarnero@bernlieb.com.

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2020 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

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After studying the Kenyan Imposter for 14 years, it's evident that the former president was, and is, a thin-skinned, vindictive, narcissistic, self-obsessed child. Condescending Barack Obama has proven that accolades are his life's blood. When accolades turn into differing opinions, the former POTUS soothes his wounded ego by publicly disgracing his critics.

Barack Obama thinks so highly of himself that disagreeing with anything he says makes all challengers the target of mockery and ruin.

Take, for instance, the former president spending eight years sharing his distaste for what he believes is a "deeply flawed" nation. If critics dared challenge Obama's plan to "fundamentally transform the United States of America" into a Saul Alinsky nightmare, they often met with acerbic pushback.

Throughout his presidency, Obama consistently admonished or sarcastically insulted his critics. To punish conservatives, the former president creatively weaponized a federal agency and sicced the IRS on detractors he referred to as "teabaggers."

By articulating his disdain for "bitter" gun-clinging Judeo-Christians, Obama found a way to openly reaffirm his deep-seated hate for the First and Second Amendments. Then, in an attempt to make his true feelings known to his detractors, Obama vilified law enforcement and the U.S. military, censored and surveilled U.S. citizens, and deprecated right-leaning news anchors. A spiteful Obama imposed his vision on the rebellious by resettling middle-class neighborhoods with unvetted putative refugees, destroying jobs, waving thousands of medically compromised illegals over the border, and insulting Israel by sharing American wealth with genocidal regimes.

In other words, if Barry sensed disapproval, detractors could expect to be tacitly schooled in a backhanded, albeit painful way.

Fast-forward to 2016, and in the race for the White House, an "America First" non-politician caused Obama's Marxist momentum to come to a screeching halt. The election of Donald Trump symbolized the antithesis of everything the progressive left stood for. Trump campaigned on reverence for God and respect for the sanctity of life. He inspired patriotism and had workable plans to create jobs and renew the economy  all of the things Barack had spent eight years attempting to destroy.

In one night, Barry Soetoro's Marxist takeover was sidelined by a populist billionaire who dared to disagree with the left's doctrine. Imagine Obama's embarrassment  all that "Hope and Change," crushed by the weight of a guy with bad hair who hailed from Queens. Let's just say that after Hillary lost, she probably wasn't the only one smashing vases and sticking pins into voodoo dolls.

Rest assured: Hillary's slap-down was most definitely personalized by the touchy "all about me" narcissist as a total rejection of his anti-American radicalism. Hence his admitted desire for a "third term."

Nevertheless, if "past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior," after that crushing loss, Obama most likely invested his time making sure there would be hell to pay. That's why, based on the former president's typical response to humiliation, from that night forward, Barack likely slept little and planned much.

Thanks to orchestrated overkill, some Americans believe that Trump lost to a guy with dementia, was impeached twice, will lose the right to run for a second run, and might be denied a presidential library. No Twitter, no Facebook, no nothing.

Although pure speculation, that sort of heavy-handedness indicates that it might have been Obama all along concocting an attack to purge "Orange Man Bad" from the collective consciousness. In Barack's sick, twisted mind, the former president probably is deluded enough to believe he can re-establish his legacy by making a complete ass out of someone who dared confront the progressive global vision Obama took mainstream.

With that in mind, since President Trump took office, it's hard to not smell Obama's obsessive stink all over a calculated effort to destroy a good man.

Of late, those carefully crafted plans include acrimony and suspicious ACORNish activity, not to mention a year-long lockdown and Rules for Radicals-style chaos. Recently, Americans witnessed a sham inauguration and post-inaugural mischief where every executive order Joe the Automaton signed reeked with the stench of Obama's malicious effort to reinstate himself as all-knowing redeemer.

Lest we forget, Kamala "I'm Speaking" Harris has had a longstanding relationship with former president Obama. Thus the reason for her meteoric rise from the shadows of Willie Brown's love shack to the vice presidency. Unfortunately for America, besides having a cackle from hell, "the best-looking" attorney general on the planet also has Barry's slimy fingerprints all over her high tops.

Then there's the return of the posse of familiar co-conspirators who emerged from the political ash heap of history to take up where the Obama era left off. Those throwbacks include the likes of White House press secretary Jen "Pink Hat" Psaki and domestic secretary Susan Rice, who, on behalf of her old boss, would be more than willing to rise from a cobwebbed crypt to deliver social and economic pain to 74 million of Trump's loyal supporters.

Considering that, and more, it's hard to deny that Joe "Marionette" Biden is probably being "nudged" around by a syndicate of Obama-directed operatives.

Trust me: since 2016, the former president's goal has been not only to help Democrats win back the White House, nor has it been merely to complete the anti-American job he had hoped Hillary would finish. Oh, no! Based on Obama's track record of revenge, with the help of the media and Big Tech, Alinsky's star agitator may be the one who instituted a plan to soothe his wounded ego by making sure Donald Trump, his family, and his supporters are permanently blackballed and publicly disgraced.

That's why, if all goes according to plan, there will be an Obama-inspired, Pelosi-goaded, RINO-supported impeachment trial designed expressly to put Trump and his supporters on notice that punitive reprisal awaits anyone who defies the tenets Barack Obama spent eight years cramming down America's throat. In the meantime, the former community organizer is probably stirring a massive vat of warm tar and plucking bushels full of chicken feathers for the impending walk of shame he hopes will be the death knell for Donald Trump's reputation.

Hence, what the world is witnessing isn't only an Obama Redux dressed up in a Biden suit; this is about extracting political blood for an insufferable egomaniac named Barack Obama, whose thirst for retribution remains unquenchable until all his critics are destroyed.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com.

Image via Picryl.
Vials of coronavirus vaccine and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Pfizer logo, on Oct. 31, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Pfizer Vaccine Approved in Australia One Year After Countrys First Case

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has granted provisional approval of the Pfizer vaccine one year after Australia confirmed its first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus.

It is the first to receive regulatory approval in Australia. Two doses at least 21 days apart will be required, with aged care and disability residents and workers, frontline healthcare staff, as well as quarantine and border employees at the front of the queue.

The target of vaccinating four million people by late March has been pushed back to early April, with suppliers global commitments affecting the rollout speed.

There will be swings and roundabouts on this process, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

About 80,000 shots are expected to be administered a week during the initial phase before ramping up to one million every seven days.

Australians can be confident that the TGAs review process of this vaccine was rigorous and of the highest standard, the TGA said in a media release on Jan. 25.

The provisional approval is granted for two years. It is strictly conditional on Pfizer continuing to provide information to the TGA on the long term efficacy and safety of the vaccine from ongoing clinical trials and post-market assessments.

As an added safety check, the TGA will test every batch before it can be supplied in Australia. The TGA will continue to actively monitor the safety of the Pfizer vaccine both in Australia and overseas and will not hesitate to take action if safety concerns are identified, the TGA said.

Health secretary Brendan Murphy said authorities had closely monitored concerns in Norway, where about 30 elderly people died after receiving the Pfizer jab.

The TGA adviceand we have been concerned about thisfor the very elderly and frail will need a very careful clinical decision, he said.

A World Health Organisation expert panel found no evidence the vaccine had contributed to the Norwegian deaths. However, it has issued an advisory that pregnant or breastfeeding women should not take the Pfizer vaccine.

Murphy said the government currently is not aware how effective the vaccine will be in preventing transmission of the virus, but data is expected to filter through in the coming months.

One Year After Australias First Case

Australias first case of the CCP virus, a Wuhan man in his 50s, arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on Jan. 19, 2020, on China Southern Airlines flights CZ321.

A week later, on Jan. 25, the case was confirmed by state and federal health departments.

At the time, China was dealing with a full-blown epidemic of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. But while the regime banned domestic flights to and from Wuhan, it allowed international flights from Wuhan to the rest of the world.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a daily press briefing on COVID-19, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 2, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

We now know that by at least mid-December, the Chinese regime was aware that human-to-human transmission was occurring. Yet, the CCP did not admit there was an issue until Jan. 20one day after Australias first case arrived in Melbourne.

In fact, about 5 million people had left Wuhan without being tested, prior to Wuhan being locked down on Jan. 23.

During the early developments of the outbreak, the Chinese regime did not make critical information about the SARS-CoV-19 infection risk public. This meant that Australian authorities did not have border measures when the countrys first case walked into Tullamarine Airport.

By March, Australia had its own frontline against the CCP virus and states and territories implemented lockdown measures to stem the spreadfollowed by an array of economic measures to cushion the lockdowns financial impact.

Since then, there have been over 28,000 confirmed cases in Australia, with more than 25,000 recovering. Nine hundred and nine people have died of COVID-19 in Australia to date.

AAP contributed to this article.
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
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The City of Harrisburg had more homicides in 2020 than at any time in the past 30 years. And many of them involved youth.

PennLive and The Patriot-News is sponsoring Save Our Children: A Harrisburg Community Forum to explore reasons for the increased violence among youth and what can be done to stop it.

A panel of experts will discuss parenting in the next online forum at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26. The event will examine the special challenges of single mothers, grandparents raising small children and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on parenting.

Speakers for Tuesdays webinar include Marisa McClellan, administrator, Dauphin County Children and Youth; Daniel Jurman, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Office of Advocacy and Reform; Judge Jeannine Turgeon (Ret.) Court of Common Pleas; Lavet Henderson, Harrisburg parent advocate; and Pat Gadsden, President, Life Esteem, a non-profit that provides support to parents.

PennLive Outreach and Opinion Editor Joyce M. Davis will moderate the forum.

Tuesdays event is the second in the Save Our Children webinar series that also will be aired live on PennLives Facebook page.

Click here to register to join the webinar to ask questions of the panelists, as well as to provide comments. Harrisburg residents and stakeholders are invited share their respectful comments and questions during this important community event.

The first Save Our Children: A Harrisburg Community Forum was held in December and featured Harrisburg Police Commissioner Thomas C. Carter, Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo, Nativity School Headmaster Lavelle Muhammad and Judge Turgeon and Henderson.

Henderson was the catalyst for the forum series, calling for the community to come together to try to save young lives in the city.

Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.
Checks on people quarantining at residences are also likely to intensify, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said.

Stricter sanctions for people breaking the 5km lockdown rule will be considered by Cabinet tomorrow, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said.

Almost 1,000 fines were issued by gardai to people who breached the non-essential travel regulations in the first 11 days since their introduction.

Regulations and sanctions around 5km travel will strengthen after Cabinet meets tomorrow to discuss restrictions. Mr Ryan believes this would bring non-essential travel in contravention of the rules down to a trickle.

Minister Ryan said there would be increased surveillance to reduce unnecessary travel but said certain workers from the UK, such as those working at power stations, were necessary and needed to travel across the Border.

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The Government will look at introducing much stricter sanctions in terms of the 5km route that would also discourage more people from flying, according to the Green Party leader.

He said gardai had put checkpoints near airports since last Friday in an attempt to cut out non-essential flying.

He warned that authorities needed to significantly increase their surveillance" to reduce unnecessary travel.

There will be increased checks near the Border, Minister Ryan told Claire Byrne on RTE Radio One, but said the idea of restricting travel across the border, or creating an all-island bubble isnt politically possible as of yet.

If someone is on a road 5km south of the Border, and doesnt have a valid reason as to why they are travelling; they will be subject to prosecution and a fine. The guards have those powers, Minister Ryan said.

The Green Party leader said it was a matter for the PSNI whether similar checks would be in place on the other side of the Border.

Minister Ryan also confirmed that all arrivals without a negative PCR test, or arrivals from areas that are concerning due to variants such as South Africa and Brazil, would be subject to a mandatory quarantine.

It is anticipated this will be done in designated hotels.

Gardai will receive powers to enforce this after cabinet meet on Tuesday, Mr Ryan confirmed.

Mr Ryan also said the Covid-19 sub-committee would look at strengthening checks on people who are quarantining in houses.

We will introduce much stricter checks on this...and there will be no shortage of resources on this, the minister said.

On the reopening of schools, Minister Ryan said the Leaving Cert students must be the first key cohort back after children attending special education schools.

I think we should try to do a written Leaving Cert this year, even if it may have to be varied.

The reopening of schools will also be discussed at cabinet tomorrow and Minister Ryan said government must work with unions toward a graduated return and lay out a plan for students to return to school in the spring.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Ahead of oral arguments on the Anti-Terrorism Act, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio led petitioners in calling on the tribunal to look into what appears to be a military commander's "intimidation" and red-tagging of critics of the controversial law.

The petitioners on Monday filed a manifestation and motion bringing attention to a Facebook post, which appears to have been written by Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade. He is the commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' Southern Luzon Command and the spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

The post labeled as "Communist Party of the Philippines representatives" some of those questioning the validity of the anti-terrorism law, including lawmakers Ferdinand Gaite, Carlos Zarate, and Sarah Elago, and lawyer group National Union of Peoples' Lawyers.

"The SC will soon be hearing petitions against the Anti Terror Law. Let's be watchful of these individuals, groups, and organizations opposing a law that will protect our citizens from terrorists," read the Jan. 16 social media post, penned by a certain "Antonio Parlade."

"You can no longer be called legitimate dissenters as your agenda is clear: it is not dissent, it is sedition. It is to topple a democratically-elected President," it added.

While it has yet to be verified if the statement was written by Parlade, the military official has a history of tagging government critics as communist rebels. He also drew flak last year after warning a celebrity against keeping ties with a progressive organization.

The petitioners asked the SC to seek confirmation from the Office of the Solicitor General on whether or not the Facebook post is "an official communication from the government or a public officer thereof, including details on the source, circumstances behind and, the intent."

'A clear threat to petitioners'

Carpios group said the post is "a clear threat" directed at them for seeking redress before the Supreme Court.

"Petitioners believe this is a matter of serious concern that requires judicial remedy as the post, if indeed made by a state actor, construes the ATA to be able to penalize the right to seek judicial relief before the Honorable Court," they said.

Citing the line "Very soon, blood debts will be settled" included in the Parlade statement, the group added that it is "designed to intimidate," and "amounts to interference" with the SC's power to administer justice.

They also pointed out that based on the specific provision of the anti-terrorism law which penalizes an act meant to "intimidate the general public or a segment thereof, [and] create an atmosphere or spreads a message of fear," Parlade could be punished for publishing that post. The petitioners stood by their stance, however, that the law's constitutionality still has to be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

They ask that the explanation be submitted by the OSG before Feb. 2, which is the scheduled date for the oral arguments on the anti-terrorism law.

In total, there are 37 sets of petitioners seeking to junk the law, which critics said may be open to abuse and human rights violations as it gives more surveillance powers to government forces.

Despite mounting criticisms, some government officials have repeatedly allayed fears over the law, saying citizens have their rights and several safeguards under the Constitution.
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Britain's Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi today insisted that he is 'confident' the UK's Covid vaccine supplies will not be disrupted amid an extraordinary threat from Brussels to stop the life-saving Pfizer drug crossing the Channel.

EU health chiefs have demanded drug firms give them early warning when exporting Covid vaccines to countries outside the 27 member states - including tens of millions of doses destined for Britain.

It came amid claims from two German newspapers that the EU's vaccine regulator could reject giving Britain's Oxford/AstraZeneca jab to the over-65s after officials anonymously briefed its efficacy for pensioners was eight per cent, a claim branded 'absolutely incorrect' and 'unsubstantiated' by the pharmaceutical company today.

A new threat from the EU means that American firm Pfizer - which has a vaccine manufacturing plant in Belgium - will now need to tell Eurocrats when it wants to export its BioNtech jab to the UK, raising fears such exports could also be blocked or delayed.

But Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News: 'I'm confident they [Pfizer] will deliver the quantities we need to hit our mid-February deadline and beyond that. Pfizer will deliver to us. I'm sure they will deliver to the UK, EU and the rest of the world. I'm confident that will be able to vaccinate the entire adult population by the Autumn'.

He dodged the question about whether the EU was trying to block supplies the the EU, whose vaccination programme has fallen massively behind Britain's. The move was branded 'mean-spirited and selfish' by MPs.

Last night two German newspapers reported sources in Berlin saying EU experts told them in an off-the-record briefing that they have found the UK-made Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is only eight percent effective in pensioners.

The drug firm has furiously denied those reports, which came a fortnight after Klaus Cichutek, the head of Germanys vaccine regulator, hailed the success rate of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine saying: 'The efficacy remains outstanding and excellent'.

An AstraZeneca spokesman said: 'Reports that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine efficacy is as low as 8 per cent in adults over 65 are absolutely incorrect.

'In the UK the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) supported use in the population and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) included this group without dose adjustment in the authorisation for emergency supply. In November we published details in The Lancet demonstrating that older showed immune responses to the vaccine, with 100 per cent of older adults generating spike-specific antibodies after the second dose.'

Concerns over vaccine supply on the continent have prompted the European Union to tell pharmaceutical companies they can only export to Britain with explicit permission from the bloc. Pictured: Jenny Holland, 86, from Mansfield receives her injection of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at a former Wickes store in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire

All companies producing vaccines against COVID-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries,' EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides warned last night, as Britain prepares to receive nearly 3.5m of the Belgian-produced Pfizer (pictured: The company's production plant in Belgium) vaccine in the next three weeks

Stella Kyriskides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, tonight warned delays at AstraZeneca were 'not acceptable,' and has scheduled for a second meeting after warning the vaccine developer's initial excuses 'have not been satisfactory'

AstraZeneca has blamed the EU's supply chain for their failure to deliver the promised 80million vaccines by the end of March

The statement came after a weekend of protests over the tightening of lockdown rules in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands (pictured: Protests in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on Sunday)

Early figures show there were 220,000 vaccinations in the UK yesterday. The number will be updated later today by the Department of Health to include jabs in all settings

How does the Oxford vaccine work? The vaccine  called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19  uses a harmless, weakened version of a common virus which causes a cold in chimpanzees. Researchers have already used this technology to produce vaccines against a number of pathogens including flu, Zika and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers). The virus is genetically modified so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans. Scientists have transferred the genetic instructions for coronavirus's specific 'spike protein'  which it needs to invade cells  to the vaccine. When the vaccine enters cells inside the body, it uses this genetic code to produce the surface spike protein of the coronavirus. This induces an immune response, priming the immune system to attack coronavirus if it infects the body. It was 62 per cent effective if given as two doses and 90 per cent when one half dose is given followed by a further full dose. Advertisement

AstraZeneca angered Brussels earlier yesterday by warning it would cut the number of vaccines it will deliver to Europe by the end of March from 80million to 31million. But more concerning for EU health chiefs is the claim, the exact nature of which remained unclear today, that the AstraZeneca jab fails to adequately protect pensioners.

That would leave a large hole in the EU's vaccine supplies as well as throwing into question the effectiveness of immunisation strategies in other countries including the UK, where getting AstraZeneca's jabs in as many pensioners as possible is key to ending lockdown.

German financial broadsheet Handelsblatt and tabloid Bild both quoted sources in the federal government as saying the AZ jab was less than 10% effective in over-65s.

The papers said German officials now fear the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU's medicine regulator, may not approve giving the Oxford vaccine to such people.

The federal and state governments in Germany had planned to use the AstraZeneca vaccine for older people who live at home and cannot go to a vaccination centre due to age or illness.

However AstraZeneca last night branded the German reports 'absolutely incorrect'.

The EMA's approval of the vaccine is expected to take place on Friday, according to reports.

Like in the UK, European vaccine drives are relying on shots from multiple suppliers to reach their targets.

Britain has so far ordered 40million doses of AstraZeneca's jab - which was the first to be approved in the UK and is a so-called 'work horse' of the UK vaccine roll-out. The UK is expecting to receive nearly 3.5million Pfizer doses within the next three weeks.

But in a stern warning likely to raise eye-brows in Westminster, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides last night declared the bloc would take 'any action required to protect its citizens'.

The row came after British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca announced yesterday it could not meet the demand of a 300million dose vaccine deal it made with the EU in August - for which it was paid 298million upfront.

The move, described as 'surprising' by Ms Kyriakides, sparked fears of a vaccine shortage on the continent. EU bosses subsequently hit back, demanding 'full transparency' concerning the export of vaccines from the bloc.

In statement, she said: 'Last Friday, the company AstraZeneca surprisingly informed the Commission and the European Union Member States that it intends to supply considerably fewer doses in the coming weeks than agreed and announced.

'This new schedule is not acceptable to the European Union. The European Union has pre-financed the development of the vaccine and the production and wants to see the return.

'The European Union wants to know exactly which doses have been produced by AstraZeneca and where exactly so far and if or to whom they have been delivered.'

Ms Kyriakides said the EU had asked AstraZeneca about the the change, but said the company's answers had 'not been satisfactory so far'.

She said: 'We want our contract to be fully fulfilled. In addition, the Commission has today proposed to the 27 Member States in the Steering Board that an export transparency mechanism will be put in place as soon as possible.

'We want clarity on transactions and full transparency concerning the export of vaccines from the EU.

'In the future, all companies producing vaccines against COVID-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries.

In a stern warning, she added: 'The European Union will take any action required to protect its citizens and rights.'

HOW DO THE OXFORD, MODERNA AND PFIZER/BIONTECH VACCINES COMPARE? Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have both released interim results of the final stage clinical trials of their vaccines, with both suggesting they are extremely effective. Oxford University has published the findings from its second phase, which show the jab provokes an immune response and is safe to use  it is not yet clear how well it protects against coronavirus in the real world. Here's how they compare: CREATOR: MODERNA (US) PFIZER (US) & BIONTECH (DE) OXFORD UNIVERSITY (UK) How it works: mRNA vaccine  Genetic material from coronavirus is injected to trick immune system into making 'spike' proteins and learning how to attack them. mRNA vaccine  both Moderna's and Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccines work in the same way. Recombinant viral vector vaccine  a harmless cold virus taken from chimpanzees was edited to produce the 'spike' proteins and look like the coronavirus. How well does it work? 94.5% effective (90 positive in placebo group, 5 positive in vaccine group) . 95% effective (160 positive in placebo group, 8 positive in vaccine group). 62% - 90% effective, depending on dosing. Average 70.4%. How much does it cost? Moderna confirmed it will charge countries placing smaller orders, such as the UK's five million doses, between 24 and 28 per dose. US has secured 100million doses for $1.525billion (1.16bn), suggesting it will cost $15.25 (11.57) per dose. The US will pay $1.95bn (1.48bn) for the first 100m doses, a cost of $19.50 (14.80) per dose. Expected to cost 2.23 per dose. The UK's full 100m dose supply could amount to just 223million. Can we get hold of it? UK has ordered five million doses which will become available from March 2021. Moderna will produce 20m doses this year, expected to stay in the US. UK has already ordered 40million doses, of which 10million could be available in 2020. First vaccinations expected in December. UK has already ordered 100million doses and is expected to be first in line to get it once approved. What side effects does it cause? Moderna said the vaccine is 'generally safe and well tolerated'. Most side effects were mild or moderate but included pain, fatigue and headache, which were 'generally' short-lived. Pfizer and BioNTech did not produce a breakdown of side effects but said the Data Monitoring Committee 'has not reported any serious safety concerns'. Oxford and AstraZeneca said there are no serious safety concerns about the vaccine. Phase three trial saw three out of 23,745 participants have 'serious adverse events' that were 'possibly' linked to the vaccine. All three have recovered or are recovering, and remain in the trial. Advertisement

The statement came after a weekend of protests over the tightening of lockdown rules in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands.

The jab has already been approved in the UK, as well as Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Morocco, while Canadian officials have asked for more data before approving the vaccine.

The Oxford jab is cheaper and easier to store than the rival Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine - which is also being used in Germany.

The Oxford vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions. This is unlike the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be kept at minus 70C.

But the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine came under fire last year when initial tests showed the vaccine was 62 per cent effective when two full doses were given at least a month apart.

This was less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which were both shown to be 95 per cent effective.

However, the Oxford vaccine's efficacy rose to 90 per cent when people were given half a dose followed by a whole dose at least a month later.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, praised the results in a piece to the Sunday Times in December, saying: 'We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else. I can't tell you more because we will publish at some point.'

On the results, he said: 'We would have preferred a simpler set of results, but overall we thought these are positive.'

Riots in the Netherlands (pictured) and Denmark come as EU chiefs voiced their fury after AstraZeneca said it would not be able to meet supplies set out in a 300m contract

A large group of young people clash with police on Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam on Monday night amid growing anger over lockdown measures

Dutch policemen arrest a man during clashes with a large group of young people on Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam, on January 25

Anti riot forces gather as groups of local youth gather on the streets of Schilderswijk, the Netherlands, for a second day on January 25

The deserted Avenue de l'Opera leading up to the Opera Garnier during a nationwide curfew, from 6pm to 6am, due to restrictions against the spread of Covid

The deserted Pont de Bir-Hakeim Bridge and the Eiffel Tower during a nationwide curfew, from 6pm to 6am, due to restrictions against the spread of the coronavirus

Politicians pushed to tighten lockdown measures across the continent even after a weekend of rioting brought scenes of chaos to the Netherlands and Denmark.

Matt Hancock reveals nearly 80% of UK over-80s have now had a Covid vaccine as NHS rollout reaches 6.6MILLION people Health Secretary Matt Hancock last night announced that 78.7 per cent of Britons over the age of 80 have had a Covid vaccine as he confirmed 6.6million people have received their first dose. That means nearly one in 10 people across the country has had at least one dose that could protect them against deadly Covid-19, and the Government is nearly halfway through its drive to hit 15million by mid-February. Britain is ahead of all other countries in Europe in its vaccine drive and has one of the highest per-person rates in the world. But a Sunday slowdown meant that only 221,067 people received vaccines, down from a record high of 493,013 people on Saturday. Department of Health figures showed 220,249 first doses and 818 second doses were administered across the country on January 24. The Sunday slowdown is thought to have been triggered by fewer doctors and nurses being on shift on the last day of the working week, meaning fewer Britons could receive their jabs. The smallest number of cases and deaths is also generally recorded on Sundays, when more staff are off work and unavailable to tick off reports. It comes as ministers battle to vaccinate the most vulnerable to the virus by mid-February. This includes the over-70s, vulnerable, care home residents and NHS frontline staff. But the NHS appears to have already missed its internal target of reaching all care home residents by January 24. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last Thursday they had already vaccinated 63 per cent of care home residents - leaving another 154,660 out of an estimated 420,000 residents waiting for their jabs. But ministers are yet to say whether the NHS target has been hit. Britain last night recorded another 22,195 infections with the virus, a 41 per cent drop on last week, and a further 592 deaths, down one per cent on the same time last week. Advertisement

France is due to decide whether to bring in a third national lockdown this week as Prime Minister Jean Castex warned the situation there is 'worrying', with Italy's top medic also calling for a month-long national shutdown.

The EU has not officially approved the Oxford/AstraZenecca jab yet but it is expected to give its assent on Friday, starting the mass roll-out.

Europe, which was initially praised for its tough response to Covid after most countries went into full lockdowns in March last year, has been hammered by a second wave that a mish-mash of measures has largely failed to control.

Those efforts have been complicated by the emergence of new and potentially more-infectious variants of the virus, including in the hard-hit UK, which is now back in full lockdown.

While many countries have announced new measures to try and bring infections down, case numbers have remained stubbornly high in countries such as France, Italy and Germany, causing hospitals to run out of space.

Meanwhile Spain and Portugal have both seen infections soar to record levels after a brief dip over the festive period, putting health services under strain.

The Netherlands, which had become one of Europe's worst-affected countries with its light-touch lockdown approach, has seen cases fall dramatically in January but remain well above the lows seen during the summer.

As a result and amid fears the UK variant could cause cases to spike, new measures designed to bring the toll down were announced last week, including a 9pm to 4.30am curfew - the country's first since World War Two.

The prompted protests in 10 cities on Sunday which turned violent, as protesters fought police, looted shops, and trashed police stations.

Authorities in Eindhoven announced on Monday that 62 people had been arrested and more are being sought, while officers in Amsterdam said 192 were arrested.

'It is unacceptable,' Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. 'This has nothing to do with protesting, this is criminal violence and that's how we'll treat it.'

'My city is crying, and so am I,' Eindhoven Mayor John Jorritsma told media Sunday night. In an emotional impromptu press conference, he called the rioters 'the scum of the earth' and added 'I am afraid that if we continue down this path, we're on our way to civil war.'

Meanwhile, in locked-down Britain, it was announced yesterday that the UK had recorded the fewest coronavirus cases in a day since December 15 with 22,195 more people testing positive  a 41 per cent drop on last Monday  and new deaths remained level at 592, down one per cent in a week.

In further good news, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced yesterday that 78.7 per cent of Britons over the age of 80 have had a Covid vaccine as he confirmed 6.6million people have received their first dose.

Boris Johnson sowed confusion today as he hinted that 'some' lockdown curbs could be eased in mid-February - but defied a growing Tory mutiny by refusing to guarantee that schools will be open by Easter

That means nearly one in 10 people across the country has had at least one dose that could protect them against deadly Covid-19, and the Government is nearly halfway through its drive to hit 15million by mid-February.

Britain is ahead of all other countries in Europe in its vaccine drive and has one of the highest per-person rates in the world - ahead of the Spain, France, Germany and Italy.

But furious EU officials have said they will investigate why Britain is not suffering from similar delays in the rollout as have been seen on the continent.

Peter Liese, an EU lawmaker from the same party as Angela Merkel, said: 'The flimsy justification that there are difficulties in the EU supply chain but not elsewhere does not hold water, as it is of course no problem to get the vaccine from the UK to the continent.

'AstraZeneca has been contractually obligated to produce since as early as October and they are apparently delivering to other parts of the world, including the UK without delay.'

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had received an up-front payment of 336 million euros (298million) from the EU when they struck a deal in August, an EU official told Reuters.

Europe's vaccine roll-out was already among the slowest in the world, but has been hit by further problems as France's Pasteur Institute mothballed its jab on Monday and AstraZeneca cut supplies to the bloc by 60 per cent due to 'supply issues'

EU executive Ursula von der Leyen had a call on Monday with AstraZeneca's chief Pascal Soriot to remind him of the firm's commitments

The agreement for at least 300million shots was the first signed by the EU to secure Covid vaccines.

Under advance purchase deals sealed during the pandemic, the EU makes down payments to companies to secure doses, with the money expected to be mostly used to expand production capacity.

But AstraZeneca said on Friday: 'Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain.'

The site in question is a vaccine factory in Belgium run by the drugmaker's partner Novasep.

A senior EU official said the bloc had a contractual right to check the company's books to assess production and deliveries.

A Commission spokesman said: 'We expect the company to find solutions and to exploit all possible flexiblities to deliver swiftly.'

EU executive Ursula von der Leyen had a call on Monday with AstraZeneca's chief Pascal Soriot to remind him of the firm's commitments, with a second meeting scheduled for the same day.

AstraZeneca was not immediately available to comment last night.

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot denounced the 'me first' approach by some countries to obtaining doses

The first EU official, who has been directly involved in talks with AstraZeneca, said there were no high expectations about the meeting in which the company will be asked to better explain the delays, although its outcome is still unclear.

Earlier in January, Pfizer, which is currently the largest supplier of COVID-19 vaccines to the EU, announced delays of nearly a month to its shipments, but hours later revised this to say the delays would last only a week.

EU contracts with vaccine makers are confidential, but the EU official did not rule out possible penalties for AstraZeneca, given the large revision to its earlier commitments. However the source did not elaborate on what could trigger the penalties. 'We are not there yet,' the official added.

AstraZeneca's vaccine is expected to be approved for use in the EU on January 29, with first deliveries expected from February 15.

On Monday, the boss of the pharmaceutical company denounced the 'me first' approach by some countries to obtaining doses.

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot, speaking at a virtual event for the Davos World Economic Forum, also attacked a lack of global preparation for the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

The arrival of ground-breaking Covid-19 vaccines could have been grounds for celebrating, 'but it unfortunately wasn't because there was a little bit of 'me first' behaviour', Soriot said.

'Globally, it is fair to say we could and should have been better prepared for this pandemic,' he added.

Soriot noted however that 'things are changing and international collaboration is emerging' over the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of more than two million people.

'There are many good examples of tremendous public-private collaboration actually in many countries,' he said.

Going forward, 'the first thing to do is to invest in prevention and early detection and early treatment', Soriot added.

He noted that among the world's most industrialised countries, only three-percent of health expenditure is spent on prevention.

'Twenty percent of this 3.0 percent... is spent on immunisation and early detections of disease.

'So, essentially, we kind of tend to wait for people to become sick to try to address that, as opposed to early detecting (of) disease and preventing it.'
A mother has turned her oven racks from grimy to gleaming with a 'no scrub' cleaning product from Aldi - and hundreds are raving about the result.

She used $8.70 Oven Power, a kit from Queensland cleaning brand Oz Kleen which contains a detergent and plastic bag that racks can be left to soak in overnight.

The kit, which is also stocked in other major supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths, comes with gloves to protect your hands from chemicals.

The mother said she left her racks in the bag for 24 hours, 'turning often' to ensure the detergent covered every inch.

Scroll down for video

These photos uploaded to Australian Facebook group Aldi Mums show the racks before and after cleaning

Photos uploaded to Australian Facebook group Aldi Mums show the racks before and after cleaning.

'I swear by this product I bought a while ago from Aldi and was hesitant to use,' the mother wrote.

'Wow, I should have used this a long time ago. Never ever will I use anything else again. Best product by far on the market for your ovens and barbecues.'

The photos, which have racked up 421 likes less than 24 hours since they were posted on Monday, have drawn some delighted responses.

Oven Power (pictured) is a kit from Queensland cleaning brand Oz Kleen which contains a detergent and plastic bag that racks can be left to soak in overnight

'I've been using it for years. I love it. Soak the racks then into the dishwasher, no scrubbing at all,' one woman replied.

'Yes it's great, it's from a family-owned company and has no harsh chemicals or strong smell,' added a second, while a third wrote: 'This is the only oven cleaner I use. It's superb.'

A fourth called the kit 'the best thing since sliced bread'.

Oz Kleen started as a small shop in Beenleigh, 32 kilometres from Brisbane, Queensland, in 1995 and has since grown to become one of Australia's leading cleaning labels.
The Indian government, on Monday, informed Delhi High Court that WhatsApp's treatment in regards to opting out of its new privacy policy is different for Indians when compared to Europeans and this is concerning.

The central government told the court that it is looking into the issue as the disparity in treatment is a serious matter of concern. It said that the users in India were being "unilaterally" subjected to the change in the privacy policy by WhatsApp, whereas it's not the same for Europeans.

As per PTI report, the submissions were made before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma during the hearing of a petition by a lawyer against WhatsApp's new privacy policy. The new policy has been receiving a strong backlash in India soon after its rollout.

Under the new policy, users can either accept it or leave the app, but they cannot opt not to share their data with other Facebook-owned or third-party apps.

What happened at the hearing?

At the beginning of the hearing, the court reiterated its previous statement that WhatsApp is not a mandatory-to-download app, it's people's personal choice to download it or not. The court also noted that the Personal Data Protection Bill is being considered by the Parliament and government is already looking into the issues highlighted in the plea.

ASG Sharma told the court that by not giving an option to opt-out of the policy appears to be treating users with an "all or nothing approach". He said, "insofar the government is concerned, while the privacy policy offered by WhatsApp to its European users specifically prohibits the use of any information shared with other Facebook companies." However, this clause was not found in the privacy policy terms shown to the Indian users.

"This differential treatment is certainly a cause of concern for the government. It is also a matter of concern for the government that Indian users are being unilaterally subjected to the changes in the privacy policy," the ASG told the court.

"This leverages the social significance of WhatsApp to force users into a bargain which may infringe on their interests in information privacy and information security," he added.

Sharma also said the government was already looking into the issue and has sent a communication to WhatsApp about the same. Kapil Sibbal, senior advocate appearing for WhatsApp told the court that the communication has been received and the company will have a response soon.

The court, thereafter, scheduled the matter for hearing on March 1.

It is incorrect to say that digital media was unregulated before the introduction of the present bill. There are external forms of regulation on all forms of media through the judiciary, for instance

The President of India, in November 2020, issued a notification amending the Government (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 to grant jurisdiction to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the regulation of digital news platforms as well as OTT platforms. The two new entries Films and Audio-Visual programmes and News and Current Affairs on online platforms were added.

The Central government had recently submitted in the Supreme Court that digital media is "uncontrolled" and needs to be regulated. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had told the top court that any endeavour to regulate media has to begin with digital media. This stance was taken by the centre during the hearing of a case concerning Sudarshan TV's controversial "UPSC Jihad" programme in which the court was contemplating framing of guidelines to regulate television channels.

The existing legal architecture, precedents and proposed legislative frameworks raise important concerns for free speech and fair regulation. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had included digital media platforms within the definition of news media in the Draft Press Registration Bill, that was introduced in 2019. Section 2(k) of the draft bill defines news on digital media as news in digitised format including text, audio, video and graphics, which is capable of transmission over the internet, computer or mobile networks.

Another problematic aspect of the bill is that it enables the Central government and the state government to frame appropriate rules/regulations to regulate the criteria/conditions for issuing Government advertisements in newspapers as well as accreditation of newspapers. Considering the pronounced role of government advertising on financial sustenance of media organisations, this allocation instead needs to be made in a non-partisan manner. The powers of delegated legislation give wide scope of arbitrariness while framing rules and regulations relating to advertisements. The government may also frame some rules which are beneficial to certain companies that are pro-government, as history has already shown.

Additionally, in 2019, the Union Cabinet decided to limit the foreign direct investment in digital media to 26 percent while the limit was kept at 49 percent for TV news channels. This has various ramifications from news organisations that rely on global financial resources.

Regulatory setup for traditional media

These measures were brought in to deal with the lack of regulation on digital media, juxtaposed with those on the print and broadcast media. This largely ignores the context in which these regulations are made, since most of these are related to the nature of the medium than the content. It is often said that the print media has a myriad of regulations, such as through the Press Commission of India, the Press and Registration of Books Act, and other minor laws and regulations. However, it is important to understand the context and operation of these laws to appreciate the nature of regulation over them, as most of these have either outlived their utility or rendered ineffectual in some form.

Take the Press and Registration of Books Act of 1867, a decidedly colonial legislation that requires the registration and identification of the publishers, editors and printers of newspapers, to hold them liable for any violations under the law. This law played its part in the broader attempt to surveil the different forms of knowledge dissemination in the country. It allowed for better control over the press and book publishing industries, and in restricting speech. While many of the more stringent provisions have been removed, the Act still continues to exist without serving any real purpose since such registration and information collection has no real place in a democratic society.

Then there is the Press Council of India, established through the Press Council Act, 1978. The body had been set-up as a self-regulatory institution giving it powers to conduct inquiries against the newspapers, editors etc. It also has a detailed set of journalistic ethics, violations of which can be adjudicated by the Council. Post-Emergency, there was a significant amount of deference and esteem given to it. Leading lawyers used to represent the media houses in cases before the PCI, their press releases and decisions received wide coverage. However, over the years, the council has been largely rendered ineffective by large media houses, with very little deference given to its processes or decisions. To that extent, there is hardly any, if at all, regulation of the ethical conduct of newspapers.

This lack of regulation is typified even more in the case of broadcast news channels where there are no governmental regulations on their content. Regulatory approvals with regards to broadcast media are related to getting licenses based on eligibility criteria, clearing uplinking of television channels etc. These licensing mechanisms are bureaucratic and filled with red-tape for sure, but stem more from the medium as being broadcasters than their acting as news agencies. The only ethical or content-based control comes through a voluntary organisation set up by the broadcasting industry, the National Broadcasting Standards Authority, which is not backed by any law.

External regulatory pressure on digital news platforms

It is incorrect to say that digital media was unregulated before the introduction of the present bill. There are external forms of regulation on all forms of media through the judiciary, for instance. The existing laws restricting freedom of speech and expression apply to all forms of speech.

Moreover, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) contains several provisions which restrict speech and expression, which apply to media. These offences include sedition (Section 124A), defamation (Sections 499 and 500), obscenity (Section 292), hate speech (Section 153A, 153B, 295A, 298 and 505) among other enactments.

Other enactments which restrict aspects of free speech and expression are Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, Official Secrets Act, 1923, Cable Television Network Regulation Act, 1995, Cinematograph Act, 1952, Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, SCs & STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

More importantly, specific content-based restrictions on digital media can be applied under the Information Technology Act, 2000. The infamous Section 66A of the IT Act, which was commonly used by the government, was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal versus Union of India on the grounds of vagueness and overbreadth, and the consequent chilling effect on speech. There are many other provisions which continue to regulate online content like Section 69A, Section 79, etc.

Section 69A enables the government to block any public information on the grounds mentioned under the Act. Section 79 allows the government to force any intermediary to take down any sort of objectionable content.

In light of the above discussion, it is important to consider the various policy design alternatives for digital media regulation.

Click here to read the second part of this analysis

Dhawan is a fourth year student at NLSIU, Bengaluru

Rakhecha is a 5th year student at NALSAR, Hyderabad
Actress and socialite, Efia Odo in an interview with Sammy Kay, on the Go online show has disclosed that she has now come of age and that going forward, any media outlet that wants to interview her would have to pay her some amount of money before she grants them the interview.



Efia Odo argued that seeking information comes with a cost hence the need for radio stations, TV stations and bloggers to realise that.



She added that her interview will be a form of content to these media outlets therefore money will have to be paid to her before she gives out information.



She categorically stated that henceforth she will charge before she will grant any interview.



Watch video below:





Source: Peacefmonline.com/GHANA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The first inmate incarcerated at Fort Dix federal prison, where more than half of the inmate population has contracted COVID-19, has died from the virus, the Bureau of Prisons announced.

Myron Crosby, 58, tested positive for the coronavirus at the federal prison on Dec. 28 before being transported to a local hospital on Jan. 7 due to breathing difficulties, according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

The agency said his health continued to decline after being admitted to the hospital.

He died on Jan. 22, the BOP said.

Crosby, of Springfield, Mass., had been incarcerated at Fort Dix since September 2019, where he was serving a 14-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute heroin.

Crosby, according to court documents, previously warned the BOP and a federal judge that he was susceptible to the deadly effects of COVID-19 due to his health and underlying conditions he had.

Mr. Crosby has four significant underlying health conditions which place him at an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19, Jeffrey Silverstein, his attorney, wrote in a motion for compassionate release last summer.

Crosby, according to the motion, had a serious heart condition and suffered a heart attack in federal custody in 2015, had a history of kidney issues, was severely obese and had type-2 diabetes.

It seems undisputed that the Defendant, though still less than 65, has several on the high-risk conditions that make him particularly more susceptible to a severe COVID illness than are others in his age group, Silverstein wrote.

The motion to be released was denied by a federal judge in October.

Despite his health conditions, the nature and seriousness of Mr. Crosbys offense, his criminal history, and dangerousness to the community counsel against his release, U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. wrote.

Silverstein did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his clients death.

Crosby tested positive for the virus in the midst of the second significant outbreak at Fort Dix during the pandemic. The prison has the most number of positive cases of any prison in the federal system with more than 1,400 inmates testing positive  more than half of the inmate population at the low-security prison, according to the BOP.

Your honor, this is a cry for help, one inmate wrote to a federal judge on Jan. 2. I am in the middle of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the federal prison system and Im sick. I dont want to die here. Please send me home where I can get the medical help I need.

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Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.

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Sen. Hawley: Communist China-Style Social Credit Scores Coming to US in Form of Cancel Culture

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) warned that the Communist China-style social credit score system is being imported into the United States in the form of cancel culture.

Everyone knows what a credit score is. But social credit scores are new. Theyre the latest corporate import from Communist China, where government and big business monitor every citizens social views and statements, Hawley wrote for the New York Post.

And theyre the latest form of cancel culture in this country, as corporate monopolies and the left team up to shut down speech they dont like and force their political agenda on America, Hawley continued, adding that those who still believe in free speech and the First Amendment should take a stand.

In recent weeks, Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have come under fire for challenging the electoral results during the Jan. 6 Joint Session of Congress. Some Democrats have claimed the two helped incite violence at the Capitol building, causing lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence to flee.

A publisher canceled Hawleys forthcoming book, a campaign fundraising event was canceled by a hotel chain, and some called on him to resign.

It will get worse, Hawley added. The tech titans have already booted dozens of conservatives off social media, and if they have their way, half the House Republican conference will be expelled from Congress. The corporate titans seem to believe that the only way to get a democracy to their liking is to eliminate all threats to the Democratic Partys unified control of government.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed social credit system seeks to punish alleged transgressions such as supporting Falun Gongthe persecuted meditation groupUyghurs, or Tibetans, criticizing the government, late payments, or more. Punishments can include bans on leaving China, using public transportation, checking into hotels, getting hired at certain jobs, or being placed on a public blacklist.

Hawley noted that conservatives are under even more duress as cancel culture intensifies.

Your conservative social platform isnt worth much when Amazon can shut it down. Your vote may still be yours, but if your party is denied the means to effectively organize by corporate monopolies, its not going to win. Your church, well, you can still attend for now, but go to the wrong church and you may not have a job in a few years, he wrote.

I for one am not going to back down, Hawley said. My book will be published, and I will continue to represent the people of my state without fear or favor, whatever the left or the corporations say.

Hawley argued that those who cherish the First Amendment should take a stand now.

The powerful see in the present moment an opportunity to consolidate their control over society and to squelch dissent, Hawley wrote. That means those who believe in the First Amendment and the fundamental principles of American liberty must now take a stand, while we still can.
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"With his industry expertise and experience, CFO Reynolds will accelerate Britishvolt's collaboration with the UK Government as a valued partner in developing an innovative and uniquely British battery supply chain. Based on his executive management roles within the energy and construction industries, Mr. Reynold's strong track record of raising capital and his expertise in the energy industry make him the ideal CFO to lead Britishvolt to its next chapter of growth and success. As CFO of a company that grew from 25 to 3,500 employees, while raising over $10 billion in less than 12 months, he delivered extraordinary results during a period of tumultuous global capital market disruption. We are excited to welcome CFO Reynolds, a world-class leader, to Britishvolt." said CEO Orral Nadjari. "We remain on track to begin construction in July 2021 with battery deliveries to the UK and EU automotive sector by the end of 2023."

"I am privileged and honoured to join Britishvolt as its CFO", said Mr. Reynolds. "With my renewable energy company experience, I have great appreciation for companies that pursue Environmental and Societal standards that demonstrate a deep sense of responsibility to reinvigorate communities by providing local residents with meaningful work opportunities. I believe Britishvolt has a tremendous ability to leverage the UK Government's insightful investment in a state-of-the-art Battery Pilot Plant to meet the unique demands of the global climate crisis. As the UK continues to pursue a net zero emissions future by 2050, Britishvolt is poised to play a pivotal role at the forefront of this mission. I look forward to a bright future for Britishvolt and guiding it to become a leader in the global battery technology and energy storage business."

SAFE HARBOR

Certain statements in this press release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectation intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the U.S. Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, competition including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, equipment procurement, wage increases, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time contracts or time and material construction contracts, customer concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage international operations, reduced demand, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages related to battery service agreements, the success of the companies in which Britishvolt has made strategic partnerships, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies and unauthorised use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. In addition, please note any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release.

Notes to Editors

About Britishvolt

Britishvolt will be Britain's foremost manufacturer and supplier of advanced battery technologies. It is dedicated to supporting the future of electrified transportation and sustainable energy storage, producing world-leading lithium-ion battery technologies.

Britishvolt's aim is to establish the UK as the leading force in battery technology. It is working with leading partners and suppliers to achieve this because it is of paramount importance to the future of the UK automotive industry and the overall economic and industrial health of the UK.

The company believes that the UK is the right place for its investments because of the strength of its automotive and energy industry, its expertise and history of industrial and academic battery research and development.

Quarter four of 2023 has been targeted as the start of production in Britain's first Gigaplant.

www.britishvolt.com

SOURCE Britishvolt
HOUSTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu of the California Supreme Court will discuss diversity and trends in law school enrollment virtually on Jan. 26, highlighting how the demographic composition of law students has shifted since the Great Recession.

Liu is the first speaker of the year for the Justice Ruby Kless Sondock Jurist-in-Residence Lectureship in Legal Ethics. His topic is titled, "Who's Going to Law School? Trends in Law School Enrollment Since the Great Recession."

The Jurist-in-Residence program is named in honor of Justice Ruby Kless Sondock, a trailblazer in the law who graduated as valedictorian and one of only five women in the UH law school class of 1962. Sondock was appointed to the 234th District Court in 1977, the first female state district judge in Harris County. In 1982 she was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court, the first woman to serve in a regular session of the court.

Based on a detailed analysis of U.S. law school enrollment trends, Liu will discuss variants in enrollment data such as gender, race, ethnicity and nationality as well as the demographics of law school ranking, pinpointing evolutionary trends in law and the legal profession.





Nominated by former California Gov. Jerry Brown, Justice Liu was unanimously confirmed by the Commission of Judicial Appointments and sworn into office in 2011 and retained by the electorate in 2014. Prior to joining the state's highest court, Justice Liu was a professor of law and associate dean at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Liu clerked for Judge David Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and later worked as a special assistant to the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and as a senior program officer at the Corporation for National Service, helping to launch the AmeriCorps national service program. He went on to clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Liu grew up in Sacramento, Calif. going on to earn his bachelor's degree from Stanford University, master's degree from Oxford University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. His primary areas of expertise are constitutional law, education law and policy, and diversity in the legal profession. He was the first person in his family to attain a law degree.

"Through the Sondock Jurist-in-Residence Program, the Law Center brings outstanding jurists to the campus to speak on important legal topics and meet with UHLC faculty, alumni and students," said Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes. "These interactions will bring the Law Center community closer to the bench so we can learn from each other. It also will help inspire our students to be the next generation of outstanding jurists."

The lecture will be held virtually from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 26. Attendees will receive one hour of CLE credit. Click here to register.

UHLC media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Law Center Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-2184, [email protected]; Elena Hawthorne, Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-1125, [email protected]; and John Brannen, Media Relations Rep, 713-743-3055, [email protected].

About the University of Houston Law Center

The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, top tier law school located in the nation's 4th largest city. UHLC's Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Part-time programs rank in the U.S. News Top 10. It awards Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, through its academic branch, the College of Law. The Law Center is more than just a law school. It is a powerful hub of intellectual activity with more than 11 centers and institutes which fuel its educational mission and national reputation. UHLC is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with enrollment of more than 47,000 students.

SOURCE University of Houston Law Center

Related Links

http://www.law.uh.edu


Caravans of tractors clogged a key highway in northern India on Monday as tens of thousands of farmers protesting against agriculture reforms streamed into the capital ahead of celebrations for Republic Day. India marks its founding as a republic on Tuesday with a military parade in the historic city centre, but the farmers, who are demanding a rollback of Prime Minister Narendra Modis deregulation effort, plan their own peaceful show of strength. We will teach Modi a lesson that he will never forget, said one of the protesters, from the district of Ludhiana in ...
South Africa: Mthembu remembered as a committed, humble public servant

The late Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, has been hailed as a gentle and humble public servant, who committed his life to serving the nation.

These were among the glowing accolades attached to the life of the Minister during a virtual memorial service on Monday. The Minister was buried on Sunday in Emalahleni after succumbing to COVID-19 related complications last Thursday.

In a eulogy, Deputy President David Mabuza said Mthembus death was not only the passing of an individual, but a premature departure of a representative of the great generation.

Our country is in the deep throes of pain. Death keeps striking. In this instance it struck in the Cabinet. The likes of Minister Mthembu...pass this way once. In their wake, they leave us the gifts of liberty and freedom. In their commendable journey, they leave footprints of a well-fought struggle against apartheid and a well-trodden journey to build the foundations of democracy in South Africa.

"It falls upon a special generation to fight for freedom and achieve it. He belongs to this eminent group and deserves to be cherished, Mabuza said.

He saluted Mthembu for, despite having suffered personal tragedies in recent times, having demonstrated great ability to overcome pain and use his own experience to inspire hope in others.

As we gather to celebrate him, it is not lost on us that [he recently] survived a robbery where he almost lost his life, and the pain of losing his eldest daughter and mother. This was a man always willing to meet anyone and everyone, regardless of their social standing. This was a man full of empathy and compassion, committed to the values of human solidarity and servantship.

"Having overcome this and many threats on his life as an activist, tragically, we [have now] lost him to this invisible enemy, Mabuza said.

The Ministers passing, he said, was a tangible reminder that life knows no sense of occasion.

Just as it gives, arbitrarily in birth, it also takes indiscriminately, taking away the steady shoulders of giants. It shakes the ground that we stand on and exposes that we are but mere mortals, said the Deputy President.

He described Mthembu as a paragon of unrivalled ethical leadership, saying the country has been robbed of a champion of social justice for the stigmatised and destitute.

The Deputy President used the address to urge the public to play its part in curbing the spread of Coronavirus, as well as support efforts to find scientific solutions.

A champion of equality

Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Thembi Siweya, who was the programme director, said the department has lost a great and jovial leader, who supported young women.

Speaking on behalf of the South African National Editors' Forum, Eyewitness News editor Mahlatse Mahlase, described Mthembu said a gentle soul, whose death has cut deeply in the media fraternity.

As the media, we have lost a communicator par excellence, a gentleman who spoke to us no matter what. The relationship between politicians and journalists will forever be a tricky one, but he took the punches, not personalising issues... He never insulted us and never took it personally.

"He was accessible... He understood he was being held accountable. He understood [media and politicians] needed each other, albeit for different reasons, she said.

In his honour, Mahlase called for government and the general public to commit to having a sustainable and independent media.

Mthembus chief of staff, Musi Sikhosana, said the ministry has been dealt a significant blow by the Ministers passing. Mthembus loving and caring attitude, he said, was epitomised by the working relations fostered with the ministry, entities and department staff.

He supported everyone... he came across. The entire ministry staff will dearly miss the Minister and the times shared with him... The news of his passing has caught us off guard and it has not sunk in.

Consoling staff, Sikhosana called on them to find time to mourn the passing of the man whom he described as a father figure, who knew us all by name, not as staff members, but as family.

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke, speaking on behalf of agencies that reported to the Minister, said the country has lost a dignified servant, who was committed to serving the nation with humility.

We were comfortable working with him. We are used to a world where authority is feared. We comfortably referred to him by his first name, not to undermine him, but as brother. We had jovial banter. We told stories. He [made us] laugh but not forgetting the job at hand, said Maluleke.

Mthembu, he said, drove home the message of humility for those who reported to him.

He wanted the message of serving with pride to transcend in all of us. He made technocrats flourish in their duty. This is a person whom we never wanted to disappoint.

Despite his prominent position, Maluleke said the Minister accepted the he was not beyond reproach.

He would always appreciate [correction] when he made a mistake  that was his humility. He... never took anything personally, said Maluleke said.

The Statistician-General likened Mthembu's death to a soldier losing his life in war.

It gives us more responsibility to fight this (pandemic). Let us, in his memory, save as many lives as possible. We will do all we can to support government to achieve this."

MP and former Finance Minister, Mondli Gungubele, reminisced about Mthembus professionalism in the National Assembly chambers, even as he interacted with opposition party MPs.

He was consistent. He respected the right of other parties to exercise the role for which they were elected, and their right to express their views. He never wanted to personalise issues. He made sure that Parliament is a chamber where great ideas are contested.'

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said government has been inundated by comforting words from all corners of the world.

Theyve said Jackson was a servant of the people, excellent communicator and a unifier. We want to thank all those who have spoken, written and unleashed the tapestry of Minsiter Mthembu's beautiful life.

Public Service and Administration Minister, Senzo Mchunu, said Mthembu was a leader many should seek to emulate.

He was honest, truthful and a good listener. His unwavering fight against corruption is commendable and his legacy is one that must be kept alive.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister, Ronald Lamola, hailed Mthembu for being at the forefront of government's fight against the pandemic and for being a guiding light for the youth in the ANC.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Naledi Pandor, said her colleagues passing has left cabinet poorer.

His nature was that of optimism, courage and sincere enterprise, and had strong ethical opinions stated without fear -- that was his political badge. He was a premier spokesperson. He would mesmerise media practitioners like no other.

Family spokesperson Teddy Gomba said although the family has been dealt a severe blow by Mthembus death, they have found solace in that he had made a contribution to South African society. For that, wed like to thank his party and the people of South Africa for giving him that opportunity.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Almost 30 years ago, Mount Pinatubo of the Philippines erupted. It became the second-most powerful volcanic eruption in the 20th century, which is equivalent to ten times the Mount Saint Helens' eruption, leaving a devastating mark in the area.

The volcano spewed lava and ash, covering 600 feet thick the Zambales Mountains. After the eruption, the country also experienced powerful typhoons and monsoon rains that triggered landslides in the areas, while the ash flow continued for months. Unfortunately, 800 people lost their lives, and the once lush forests have also been destroyed.

But what most people are unaware of, there are also some mammals that were greatly affected by that tragedy that killed all of their populations. Thirty years later, a new paper published in the Philippine Journal of Science revealed that scientists had rediscovered the extinct Pinatubo volcano mouse.

ALSO READ: The Resurgence of Two Seemingly Extinct Species





Journey to Rediscovering the Extinct Pinatubo Volcano Mouse

According to a report by Phys.org, Field Museum researcher Danilo (Danny) Balete went to Mt. Pinatubo in early 2011 and in 2012 to study the volcano's mammal fauna. He and his team of field assistants, which includes local men of the Aeta tribe, surveyed the mammals on the bottom to near top of the forest where the eruption had disrupted it.

Although the volcano was not surveyed for mammals before the eruption, data from the US National Museum of Natural History revealed that the extinct Pinatubo volcano mouse once lived in the mountain's lower elevations. The mouse was first described in 1962, which they named Apomys sacobianus, the Pinatubo volcano mouse.

The conditions of Mount Pinatubo were very harsh that even after 20 years, the eruption in 1991 is still evident. As a result, the team finds it challenging to survey the area. Indeed, the environment is far from what it was before the eruption.

According to previous field surveys on Luzon, old-growth forests contain various active species and few non-native species. However, in heavily disturbed second-growth habitats, it is the reverse wherein non-native rats are more abundant than native species. The researchers noted that one of their motivations to scour Zambales mountains is to know what happened to the mouse, but they failed to find it.

Finally Finding the Extinct Pinatubo Volcano Mouse

Rediscovery of the 'extinct' Pinatubo volcano mouse https://t.co/Isz9ZWHnhh pic.twitter.com/QEvJQqqaDi  Paul McCullough (@ThePostsynaptic) January 24, 2021

But to their surprise, they were able to make significant discoveries in Mount Pinatubo. They were able to find a total of 17 species, which included eight bats, seven rodents, one wild pig, and a deer. Contrary to expectations, non-native species were not the most abundant in the Aeta croplands; instead, they found that native rodents were abundant everywhere.

According to SciTech Daily, the most surprising find is that the once extinct Pinatubo volcano mouse Apomys sacobianus is found to be abundant in the area. Far from being wiped out from the volcanic eruption in 1991.

As of now, Mount Pinatubo is still recovering from the damage of that eruption. Hopefully, the forests will return, and other species of animals will move in.

RELATED STORY: 3 New Marsupial Species Fossils Classified As Extinct Discovered in Southern Bolivia





Check out more news and information on Extinct Species on Science Times.
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On Friday, MLB.coms Mark Feinsand reported former New York Yankees reliever David Robertson is hoping to make a comeback in 2021.

On Sunday, the Boston Globes Peter Abraham reported Robertson could be destined to sign with the Red Sox.

David Robertson, who missed most of the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery, could be a low-cost/high-upside bullpen possibility for the Sox. Hes planning a showcase for scouts in February. Robertson has a home in Rhode Island and has said in the past hed be interested in playing in Boston.

Roberston began his MLB career in 2008, pitching out of the bullpen and helping the Yankees win the 2009 World Series.

Introducing Yankees Insider: Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers

He left as a free agent following the 2014 season, signing a four-year, $46 million contract with the Chicago White Sox. But the Yankees re-acquired Robertson before the non-waiver trade deadline in 2017 as part of the deal bringing reliever Tommy Kahnle and third baseman Todd Frazier to the Bronx.

Following the 2018 season, Robertson signed a two-year, $23 million contract the Philadelphia Phillies, but he only pitched in seven games before going down with an arm injury. He missed all of the 2020 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Robertson, who was an All-Star in 2011, has a 2.90 ERA over 12 MLB seasons.

Get Yankees text messages: Cut through the clutter of social media and text during games with beat writers and columnists. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now.

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Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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In the Black community, pound cake is as ubiquitous and ever present as a deck of playing cards. By that I mean most of the time you dont actually seek out pound cake as much as its just always ... there. Its presence can be felt at almost every important Black function in America.

Funeral or a baby shower? Check.

Wedding or post-Sunday dinner? Check.

Shoot, theres a vanilla creme pound cake sitting on the kitchen counter in my parents home as I type this.

When I asked my dad why he bought a pound cake for the house  seeing as New Years Day was weeks ago and no one in our family had experienced a funeral, baby shower or wedding in the month of January  he just shrugged and said in his West Tennessee accent: Ya mama and I just had a taste for it.

No matter who I asked, no one seems to know why pound cake is so omnipresent in the Black community. But there are theories.

I spoke to one of Charlestons premier Black culinary masters, BJ Dennis, to see if he had any answers.

Hmm.

He paused to gather his thoughts then continued, I actually dont know.

The world-renowned, award-winning chef and Gullah Geechee cuisine expert was just as stumped as I was.

When we think about who was doing all the cooking in Colonial kitchens, it was us, the enslaved Africans, he ventured. From dinner to dessert, we were the ones making everything.

That covers the when. But when pressed if he can remember learning why or how the poundcake became entrenched in African American society, he drew a blank.

Man, I really dont know," he said. "I dont make a lot of pound cakes, to be honest, but I know what youre saying is real: Pound cake just seems to be everywhere.

In fact, Chef Dennis mentioned that just a few weeks ago, one of his aunts, who lives in Atlanta, sent a 7-Up pound cake to his grandmothers Clements Ferry home. It was an Im sorry we cant see each other because of COVID token of love.

While neither one of us could verify any connections between Black peoples love for pound cake and slavery, we did feel comfortable making one assumption about the mass appeal of this cake in the Black community: Unlike other cakes that have tens of ingredients and a dizzying myriad of steps, pound cake is relatively easy to create, even without a written recipe.

A pound of this and a pound of that, explains Chef Dennis. Thats where the name pound cake came from.

While contemporary pound cakes have added a few more steps and ingredients to the process (as in the 7-Up pound cake), its origins are much, much simpler.

Hennything is possible.

This idea that one can pinpoint the Black communitys love for a particular food or beverage is not farfetched. Take the French cognac, Hennessy. The bond between Black people and this spirit is both strong and well documented, if you know where to look.

The brand, which is responsible for almost half of the cognac produced in the world, has been around since 1765  a full 11 years before the founding of the United States. But one of the connections between the brand and Black people started in 1896 when the president of spirits importer Schieffelin & Company, William Jay Schieffelin, befriended the founder of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington.

Schieffelin joined the historically Black colleges board of directors and reportedly never missed a meeting. Almost 30 years after his death, Moet-Hennessy S.A. bought his familys company.

Before that, at the end of World War II, French residents would gift the cognac to Black soldiers as a sign of appreciation. In addition, Hennessy was the first spirit brand to advertise in both Jet and Ebony magazines, the premiere publications for Black America in the 1950s.

So its understandable that Henny would become the unofficial liquor of Black America. The same cannot be said for pound cake.

Watch me whip

Historic ingredients lists for this well-known cake require very little understanding of math or actual culinary skills. Most ingredient lists I found, going back to the 1700s, ask for a pound of all the major ingredients.

Take, for instance, this recipe from the 1747 cookbook The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy. Hannah Glasse calls for the following:

(A) pound of Butter, beat it in an earthen Pan, with your Hand one Way, till it is like a fine thick Cream; then have ready twelve Eggs, but half the Whites, beat them well, and beat them up with the Butter, a Pound of Flour beat in it, and a Pound of Sugar, and a few Carraways 

Thats it! I mean, this recipe asks the reader to stir all of this  by hand  for an hour before baking. Sheesh! And for the most part, since its creation in Northern Europe (most people place the cakes origin in England), pound cake was made like that for, literally, hundreds of years.

To get an idea of what current pound cake recipes require, I reached out to my homie Danetra Richardson, owner of Summerville-based bakery Swank Desserts. Her answer floored me!

I dont have a recipe for pound cake, she said.

She gets asked about it, though.

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When I started my business, people were always asking me What do you have for Black people?" she said. "Because when it comes to baked desserts, Black people are looking for a few staple items  pound cake, red velvet cake, banana pudding.

Its a sentiment that Nate Brown, co-owner of Daddys Girls Bakery in North Charleston, shares.

When I first started my business, I was selling in barbershops and salons, he says. And Black people, they want the same things. In Charleston, theyre going to want chewies  number one  then banana pudding and red velvet. And of course, pound cake.

While Daddys Girls Bakery sells mini pound cakes from time to time, hes intentional about not having them available at all times. For Brown and Richardson, its not about being opposed to the staples. Its about introducing the community to new flavors and creating new traditions.

Im not against pound cake, Richardson says. I really like it! That and banana pudding. I just dont want to make it every day.

This is partly because, for her entire life, pound cake has never not been present.

She also admits its partly because she didnt dedicate her pastry education to just reproduce things that Black people grew up with, saying, It warms my heart to see Black people  especially Black men  come into my shop and buy macarons. It shows that if you make it, and are consistent with quality, people will catch on.

My mom still makes pound cake to this day. Ive been trying to get one from her for a while now, Richardson says, smiling. Thats why I always tell people when they ask me for pound cake or a pound cake recipe: Ask ya Auntie.

Asking an auntie

Armed with Richardsons advice, my next call was to my familys designated pound cake maker, Aunt Jane.

Honestly, baby, I dont know, she says when asked about the reason for her pound cake-making. She laughs. Its like that story of the young lady, the ham hock and the pot.

For the uninitiated, the story my Aunt Jane is referring to goes as follows: A little girl watches as her mother cuts off the end of a ham hock before putting it in a pot. Seeing this done her whole life, she finally decides to ask her mother why she does this.

Mother shrugs, telling the little girl to ask her grandmother. When the little girl inquires of her grandmother, the grandmother shrugs and says, Ask your great granny.

When the little girl asked her great-grandmother why they cut the tail off the ham hock before placing it in a pot, her great-grandmother says, Oh, thats simple: Because it couldnt fit in the pot I had at the time.

Aunt Janes response is similar: Its just something Ive always done. Never asked why.

She did, however, add a new theory for me to ponder. She believes pound cake is ubiquitous among African Americans because its the ultimate comfort food. She makes pound cakes when she wants to feel better or to make someone else feel better, like Chef Dennis aunt did for his grandma.

Not only that, Aunt Jane says, its a celebratory food. Black people have this at all joyous occasions. From graduations to weddings to Sunday dinner. Anytime Black people want to celebrate something, pound cake is there.

Nate Brown of Daddys Girl Bakery says that his mother is his familys designated pound cake maker. When I got on the phone with Mrs. Ivone Brown, she agreed with my aunts assertion that pound cake is for celebrating:

Baby Christening, baby shower, graduation, wedding, no matter. A pound cake is going to be there.

When asked about what makes pound cake so special, Mrs. Brown says its the individual touch that each baker brings to the table: I dont believe a factory could ever perfect a pound cake recipe. Theres just a certain touch that we have that cant be reproduced by a machine.

When I asked her for a recipe she said, like Richardson and my aunt before her, that she doesnt have one. I can give you a basic idea, but each person is going to bring their own flavor to the recipe.

She said that most peoples pound cakes include the following, all at room temperature:

Butter (Not margarine! I dont like how that bakes, Mrs. Brown exclaims.)

Cake flour

Milk

Salt

Vegetable oil

Vanilla extract (The pure stuff, not that imitation stuff)

Eggs

Almond, lemon or orange extract (Just depends on what flavors you want to highlight that day.)

She prefers a slow bake: 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

I need that light crunch on the top of my pound cake," she said. "And no butter streak! Ill throw the whole cake away if I cut a cake and see that streak. My husband says Im a perfectionist.

Pound cakes in heaven

I mentioned funerals earlier. I know some are reading this and wondering how funerals play into the whole celebration thing. I get it. Yes, funerals can be very sad. But for Black people, death is also seen as a reason to celebrate. Not because of the loss of life, but because of the deceaseds transition to his or her heavenly home.

No more having to prove ones humanity to white supremacists. No more enduring the hardships of wealth disparity, environmental racism and police brutality, nor any of the historical oppositions that Black people have had to face for hundreds of years.

We call funerals Home Goings because we feel as if our loved ones are finally free from the trials and tribulations of this Earthly realm. Many Black Christians have always considered this world a stopping off point on their journey toward the ever-loving arms of their Lord and Savior.

And if getting to hang out with God, Jesus and any dead relative that you havent seen in a long time isnt reason for celebration, then I dont know what it is.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and other members of the Presidium vote to adopt the agenda of the 13th National Party Congress. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  The on-going 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), which opened in Hanoi on January 25, is a focus of attention of the media in Southeast Asia over the last few days.



Singapore-based The Straits Times said the nine-day event with the participation of nearly 1,600 delegates will select new leaders and shape policy for the next five years and beyond. It also highlighted Vietnams success in containing COVID-19, that has helped its economy outstrip much of Asia in the past year, and further noted that Vietnam is already eyeing average annual gross domestic product growth of 7 percent over the next five years.



Malaysias The Star, meanwhile, reported that the total of 1,587 delegates representing more than 5.1 million Party members nationwide at the congress makes this the largest number ever in the history of Party congresses.



It quoted Mai Van Chinh, deputy head of the CPV Central Committees Organisation Commission, as saying that women and members of ethnic minority groups account for 13.99 and 11.03 percent of the delegates, respectively.



The guests will include former Party and State leaders, ambassadors, and heads of international organisations in Hanoi, representatives from the intelligentsia and arts community, outstanding youth union members and religious officials, among others, it said.



Nguyen Xuan Thang, Director of Vietnams Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, was also quoted by The Star as saying that among the documents submitted to the Congress, there were numerous new items, especially in terms of approach.



The agenda of the congress focuses on reviewing the implementation of the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress associated with the evaluation of 35 years of the implementation of Doi moi (Renewal) policies and the 10-year socio-economic development strategy 2011-2020, and outlines the socio-economic development orientations and tasks for the 2021  2025 period and goals and orientations to 2030 and the national development vision to 2045, it added.



According to the Malaysian news agency, all the preparations for the congress have been completed, from security to logistics and reception.



It reported that Vietnam has gone through 53 consecutive days without any new COVID-19 cases in the community. The total confirmed cases in the country was at 1,548 with 35 deaths as of January 23.



The UKs BBC and Financial Times and the USs AP also ran articles on the first day of the congress.
Mumbai: Amid the ongoing protests, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Monday (January 25, 2021) warned the Centre and said that the farmers will 'destroy' the new agri laws.

Sharad Pawar said that the Centre may pass any law undermining the Constitution and on the back of its majority, but once the common man and farmers rise, they will not keep quiet until the new farm acts and the ruling party are destroyed, PTI news agency reported.

The NCP Supremo also accused PM Narendra Modi of not inquiring about the condition of the agitating farmers who have been protesting against the agri laws at the Delhi borders from over past two months.

"It has been 60 days since the farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan are protesting near Delhi. Did the country's PM enquire about (the farmers)?

"It was mentioned that the farmers are from Punjab. Does Punjab mean Pakistan?" Pawar said.

Pawar was addressing a rally organised at Mumbai's Azad Maidan to express solidarity with the protesting farmers near the national capital.

He also alleged that the agri laws were passed without detailed discussion in the Parliament despite opposition parties demanding deliberations on the bills concerned and said, "The bills could have been discussed by a select committee, but that did not happen."

He also launched a scathing attack on Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for heading to Goa at a time when peasants from the state were to submit a memorandum to the latter against the farm laws.

Pawar said that Koshyari has no time for farmers but had time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut. Kangana had met the Governor after the BMC demolished parts of her office in 2020.

Maharashtra Revenue Minister and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah and others were also present during the rally.



Live TV
China is planning its first ever solar probe coded Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) scheduled to launch next year. The solar mission will be the country's first ever mission to "touch" the sun, where it will be performing a 24-hour continuous observation of the sun, for a duration of at least four years. It is expected to lift in the first half of 2022.

About China's Solar Probe

The mission is set to orbit 720km or 447 miles above the Earth carrying with it a magnetic detector, a solar telescope as well as an X-ray imager, which is meant to record all of the activities in the sun including its magnetic fields and stormy activities. According to Gan Weiqun, the mission's chief scientist in an interview with Xihuan News Channel, this will identify the space's weather forecast.

It is said that the probe will be capable of monitoring solar storms "at least 40 hours ahead of their arrival ... which is expected to facilitate early warnings of damage to the Earth's electromagnetic environment", Weiqun said.

Read more: Sun is Back at it Again as Massive Planet-Sized Sunspot Discovered, Possibly Causing Solar Flare Headed to Us

China's Solar Mission of Utmost Importance Timing of Solar Activities

According to South China Morning Post, experts believe that China's timing to enter into the field is important because of its timing. Activities such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections are considered as two of the most violent eruptions that emanate from the sun's magnetic field. Due to these activities that reached its peak in October 2003, a series of problems in satellite systems as well as in communications emerged. According to NASA, This led to a number of malfunctions and shutdowns, evident in the power outage that happened in Sweden.

However, it is expected that the sun will restart a new 11 year cycle for its solar activities this year and will reach its peak for its activities by 2024 and 2025. Thus, China's entrance will provide a great contribution for the gaps in the study of the sun.

It was still way back in 2011 that the Solar mission in China was proposed. It was only during 2017 that it was approved by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Testing of prototypes for the spacecraft has already started last week. The testing also included a series of environmental and heat experiments, which is expected to finish at the end of January.

China isn't the first to perform such ventures around the sun. Since the 1960s, more than 70 solar expeditions have been made by different countries. China's solar probe in 2020 is meant to "plug China's gap in the field"and make its name in solar studies. In the many years, China has been making rounds in the space program. By 2023, it also aims to land astronauts in the moon and build a research station there.

Most solar radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere, so scientists send probes into space to ensure a complete picture.

China has stepped up its space programme in recent years. It aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and eventually plans to establish a permanent research station on the moon's south pole.

Its first mission to Mars will see a probe landing on the planet in May. Its deep space exploration plan also includes a mission to bring rocks back from Mars by 2030 and explore Jupiter and its satellites.

China isn't the first to perform such ventures around the sun. Since the 1960s, more than 70 solar expeditions have been made by different countries. China's solar probe in 2020 is meant to "plug China's gap in the field"and make its name in solar studies. In the many years, China has been making rounds in the space program. By 2023, it also aims to land astronauts in the moon and build a research station there.

Related Article: Scientists Identified Mysterious Behavior of Sun: What is This Weird Phenomenon

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Written by Nikki Delgado

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Zydus Cadila confirmed on Monday that it has completed the Phase II study of Desidustat in COVID-19 patients in Mexico and has received positive results from it.

In June 2020, Mexico's regulatory authority had given Zydus Cadila permission to test Desidustat on Covid patients. Desidustat is a drug for the treatment of anemia of chronic kidney disease.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Zydus Cadila, which is part of Cadila Healthcare, said in its regulatory filing: "Patients infected with COVID-19 have been reported to display signs of 'Hypoxia' leading to organ failure and death despite the use of antivirals, anti-inflammatory drugs or ventilators.

"The lung cells have been reported to develop extremely intense poisoning and inflammation, shortness of breath sets in and this can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Patients with ARDS may require mechanical ventilator support to help circulate oxygen in the body."

It further said, the Phase II results of this study revealed that Desidustat treatment led to increased red blood cell production and improved oxygen delivery to tissues. None of the hospitalised patients required a mechanical ventilator in the Desidustat arm, while 25% of COVID-19 patients on the standard of care arm required mechanical ventilation.

Pankaj R Patel, Chairman, Zydus Group said, We are excited to report for the first time, this encouraging data of... Desidustat, showing the potential to help prevent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. ARDS is associated with high mortality rate and Zydus remains committed to further develop this novel therapy for patients suffering from ARDS."

Clinical and regulatory development of Desidustat in COVID-19 was executed in Mexico by Avant Sante Research Center S.A. de C.V., a leading Contract Research Organization (CRO) headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, the company said.

Shares of Cadila Healthcare were trading 0.59% higher at 463 apiece on the BSE.

(With inputs from agencies)

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SummitStone Health Partners announces the grand opening of Garcia House, A Circle Program by SummitStone. Garcia House is named in honor of one of Larimer Countys most stalwart Substance Use Disorder (SUD) champions, Fred Garcia. It is one of only three Circle Programs within the State of Colorado.

Garcia House provides residential treatment for up to 16 residents who are working through co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (SUD), bringing our community one step closer to achieving the vision of providing a full continuum of care for adult SUD services within Northern Colorado. Length of stay will be determined by medical necessity and may be up to 90 days, with intensive support following discharge.

I am extremely proud for SummitStone to be able to bring this milestone program to the entire recovery community, said Michael Allen, SummitStone CEO. Garcia House offers the promise of evidence-based practices in a warm, supportive, home-like environment to help our highest needs patients begin their journey of recovery.

Colorados Circle Programs, with guidance and funding from the Department of Human Services, provide Medically Monitored Residential Substance Use Treatment level of care for individuals with co-occurring mental health diagnoses. This is the highest level of care available short of hospitalization.

"We are thrilled to celebrate the opening of the third Circle Program in our state," said Robert Werthwein, director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health. "Expanding this proven treatment for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders will help more Coloradans recover and thrive."

Garcia House is located at 1008 Patton Street, Fort Collins, CO and can be reached by calling (970) 494-5729.

About Fred Garcia: Garcia House is named in honor of Fred W. Garcia, who has dedicated his career to ending the stigma surrounding addiction as an advocate, and by promoting policy improvements and changes at the local, state and federal levels. He has more than 40 years of experience in chemical dependency and mental health treatment and prevention. He has served as chief programs officer for the state alcohol and drug authorities in both Colorado and Washington state. Mr. Garcia was appointed by President Bill Clinton and approved by the U.S. Senate to serve as Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He also served under Attorney General Janet Reno as a liaison between the drug treatment system and law enforcement. He joined the SummitStone Health Partners board of directors in 2013 and is a founding member of Larimer Latinos.

About SummitStone Health Partners: SummitStone Health Partners is the not-for-profit behavioral health provider for Northern Colorado and Larimer County. Since 1957, SummitStones mission has been to provide unsurpassed mental health and substance use prevention, intervention and treatment services. SummitStone now serves more than 10,000 community members across Larimer County annually, which includes a Behavioral Health Urgent Care and Crisis Stabilization Unit located at 1217 Riverside Ave. in Fort Collins.

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For more information about Garcia House, contact marketing@summitstonehealth.org or visit http://www.summitstonehealth.org/garcia-house.
First time buyers in Northern Ireland trying to get on to the property ladder are having to put down an average deposit of almost 30,000, new analysis has shown.

The figure, for 2020, is a 17% increase on the previous year, but remains some way short of the average 130,000 new buyers need to pay up front to secure a home in London.

The statistics have been released by the Halifax and show just how difficult the housing market is becoming for people seeking to buy a property for the first time.

Northern Ireland is one of the UK regions with the biggest decline in the number of first time buyers throughout 2020.

The Northern Ireland figures show that the average deposit of 25,327 in 2019 rose to 29,523 last year - a rise in money terms of 4,196.

Across the UK the average first-time buyer was required to put down over 10,000 more last year as a deposit than if they had got on the property ladder in 2019, according to analysis.

The average amount put down by a first-time buyer in 2020 was 57,278, compared with 46,449 the year before, marking a 23% increase, or 10,829 in cash terms.

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Average deposits for first-time buyers in London were up by 20,211 (18%), from 110,145 to 130,357.

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Other areas also saw big increases, with the average first-time buyer deposit growing by 25% (6,634) in Wales, from 26,029 to 32,663.

Despite many low-deposit mortgages being pulled from the market in 2020, first-time buyers still made up 50% of home purchase loans last year, Halifax estimated, down from 51% in 2019.

The overall number of first-time buyers in 2020 was down by more than 46,000, or 13%, compared with 2019, with an estimated 304,657 first-time buyers in 2020. This was the lowest number since 2015.

Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland were the parts of the UK with the biggest decreases in first-time buyers last year.

According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, average UK house prices jumped to a record high of 250,000 in November and those in London broke through the 500,000 barrier for the first time.

A temporary stamp duty holiday and pent-up demand after the market was put on hold in the early part of 2020 have fuelled demand, though rising prices making life harder for those that are trying to get on the property ladder.

Russell Galley, managing director, Halifax, said: "Whilst these figures confirm the almost inevitable fall in the overall number of first-time buyers in 2020 - with the entire housing market effectively shuttered during the first national lockdown - they also underline just how strong the bounce-back was in the second half of the year.

"Despite the obvious challenges presented by soaring house prices, first-time buyers still accounted for half of all home purchases.

"However, with the economic impact of the pandemic likely to be felt most keenly by the young and those in lower-paid jobs, the need to prioritise improved housing availability and affordability for all those looking to make that first step on to the property ladder becomes ever greater."

North Down and Ards made the top 10 in the most affordable areas for new buyers to invest in.





Haiti - Politic : The Protestant sector supports the opposition and calls for the transition





In a note, the representatives of the Protestant community : Dr. Gerard Forges and Dr. Gerald Bataille ambassadors of the Protestant Federation of Haiti (FPH; Pastor Jacques N. Janvier, President of the Federation of Haitian Pastors (FEPaH); Dr. Francoise St Vil Villier, President of the National Spiritual Council of Churches (CONaSPE) and Pastor Ismael Baptiste, representative of the Conference of Haitian Pastors (COPAH), after consultation and analysis of the current crisis takes a stand against the Government of Haiti, in favor of the opposition and call for the transition.



Extracts from our Protestant sector :



"[...] We met in Tabarre to reflect on the general situation of the country, on the eve of February 7, 2021.



[...] We are literally sitting on a powder keg, a dangerous situation exacerbated by the stubbornness of Mr. Jovenel Moise to remain in power after February 7, 2021, the constitutional date of the end of his mandate.



Mr. Moise [...] knows full well that his mandate ends on February 7, 2021 [...] To persist in staying beyond his constitutional mandate, ii is to embark on a dangerous adventure because it is a here a flagrant violation of the Constitution. A dictatorship is being established [...]



[...] We, the undersigned, aware of our mission which is to clear the way for the people of God and remove all obstacles (Isaiah 57 verse 14)



DEMAND compliance with the Parent Law, in particular the provisions of Articles 134-1 and 134-2.



ASK the President of the Republic, Mr. Jovenel Molse to take note of the end of his mandate on February 7, 2021.



INVITE international organizations, including the OAS and the UN, to immediately cease their interference by supporting a President openly in rebellion against the law and the Constitution of the Country



CALL on the country's living forces (religious sectors, employers, trade unions and others...) to take a clear position in favor of a peaceful transition in order to spare the country and its citizens the pains and pangs of indiscriminate violence.



Finally PROPOSE to civil society organizations a meeting with a view to setting up a support and reflection committee in order to supervise the initiatives of a disruptive transition, as demanded by Haitian society."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Belfast Magistrates' Court heard Kevin Phillips has no memory of carrying out the attack on the woman

A chef who punched a hole in a bedroom door and kicked his partner in the stomach during a drink-fuelled blackout has been jailed for two months.

Belfast Magistrates' Court heard Kevin Phillips has no memory of carrying out the attack on the woman.

The 34-year-old, of Sliabh Dubh Lane in the city, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and two counts of common assault.

Police called to the scene in the early hours of December 6 last year discovered the victim bruised with a large bump on her head.

The woman told officers that she had gone up to bed following a row with Phillips.

"She stated that he came up to the bedroom, kicked her to the stomach and then returned on a second occasion and punched her to the forehead," Crown lawyer Eoin Macdonald said.

"There was a hole in the bedroom door observed by police. The injured party stated it had been caused by the defendant."

During interviews Phillips stated that an argument developed while they had been drinking.

"He also admitted to punching the door in anger, which would explain the cut on his knuckle," Mr Macdonald told the court.

According to the prosecutor Phllips became upset when police put to him the condition in which they found the victim.

"He stated that sometimes he blacks out when he drinks, and he couldn't remember the incident in question," Mr Macdonald added.

Defence solicitor Brendan Blaney stressed his client's remorse for his actions.

"He's ashamed of his behaviour," the lawyer said.

"He realised this matter has crossed the custody threshold... he has stayed voluntarily in custody right over the Christmas and New Year period."

Judge Austin Kennedy was told Phillips, who works as a chef in the hospitality sector, binge drinks due to an alcohol addiction.

"When he does drink he would frequently black out and lose recollection of his behaviour," Mr Blaney added.

Ruling that the offences merited a jail term, Mr Kennedy sentenced Phillips to two months imprisonment.

The judge also directed: "He will be ordered to pay 250 to the injured party."
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 01:40:09|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's remarks at the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda on Monday have boosted confidence in upholding multilateralism and injected impetus into joint response to global challenges, experts said.

In his special address entitled "Let the Torch of Multilateralism Light up Humanity's Way Forward," Xi said that the problems facing the world are intricate and complex, adding that the way out of them is through upholding multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The Chinese president called for staying committed to openness and inclusiveness instead of closeness and exclusion; staying committed to international law and international rules instead of seeking one's own supremacy; staying committed to consultation and cooperation instead of conflict and confrontation; and staying committed to keeping up with the times instead of rejecting change.

"Multilateralism, international cooperation in (not only) vaccine policy but also in employment and financial policy needs to be on top of the policy agenda as we start this new year," said International Labour Organization Director-General Guy Ryder.

Meanwhile, "there's no way the world can defeat issues such as the pandemic without any multilateralism," said Jannie Rossouw, head of the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

"Countries have to cooperate in terms of the vaccine and in improving conditions in the world especially following the pandemic," he said, adding that China has been making great strides in promoting global cooperation.

Likewise, Sonia Bressler, French writer and sinologist, said Xi's speech has reaffirmed China's commitment to cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and creation of space for openness and dialogue between China and other countries.

"It is good to hear leaders of nations expressing long-term commitment to development of global trade and multilateralism. President Xi has expressed such views constantly, and it is good to hear this being restated," echoed Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain's 48 Group Club.

The world needs "a much better coordination" for dealing with COVID-19 and economic recovery, Perry added. Enditem
Chad Bjorkman Wins MSPT Grand Falls ($101,450)

January 25, 2021 Anthony Thompson

This past weekend, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) returned to Grand Falls Casino for an $1,100 buy-in, $200K GTD Main Event and it was just as successful as the last. The second MSPT Main Event of the year attracted 488 entries (230 from Day 1a; 257 from 1b) and generated a $471,860 prize pool, putting it just behind the record-breaking field from this past August.

While Grand Falls Casino is situated just outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it is technically located just across the border in Larchwood, Iowa. Despite being a bit remote, players flocked from the Midwest as well as Colorado, Florida, and Las Vegas. The turnout was evidence that, despite the current pandemic, there is a big demand for live tournament poker.

On Sunday, 67 players returned for Day 2 action, and at the end, it was Minnesota native Chad Bjorkman coming out on top to win a $101,450 top prize and his first MSPT title.

"Feels good," Bjorkman said after his win. "It still hasn't quite sunk in but I'm giggly, happy, and warm."

It was a triumphant return to live poker for Bjorkman, who hadnt played since August when the MSPT last visited Grand Falls.

"I didn't do too well the last go around I was here but the atmosphere is great, the staff is great, and the stay was wonderful, so it was an easy choice to come back," stated Bjorkman.

It was the correct choice for Bjorkman made to come back as he secured the largest payday of his career. He plans on investing his winnings into some future MSPT's.

"I was looking at the schedule and am definitely planning playing the Venetian and then map out more future events."

MSPT Grand Falls Final Table Results

Place Player Prize MSPT POY Points 1 Chad Bjorkman $101,450 1,600 2 Cory Nordstrand $62,339 1,400 3 Dave Sanderson $44,921 1,300 4 Cy Church $33,974 1,200 5 Anthony Scarborough $25,480 1,100 6 Ha Nguyen $19,346 1,000 7 Phil Gioia $15,100 900 8 Drazen Ilich $11,797 800 9 Larry Loose $8,965 700

With 54 spots slated to get paid, more than a dozen players needed to exit before players reached the money. Among those to leave empty-handed were MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang, MSPT Champs David Gonia and Erv Bjerga, just to name a few.

Once Shanda Myers bubbled in 55th place, the march to the final table began. Among those to fall along the way, albeit with a payday, were Marc Harrell (10th - $7,078), Tim Garles (12th - $7,078), Day 1a chip leader Paul Carney (13th - $5,662), Cory Cove (24th - $3,633), Kyna England (25th - $3,161), Lori Johnson (29th - $2,548), and Lyman Woodworth (50th - $2,123).

Final Table action

Cy Church entered the final table with a stack of 2.9 million, well ahead of the rest of the field ,and once players returned from their dinner break it didn't take long before Larry Loose dropped in ninth place holding ace-nine against Bjorkman's ace-queen suited.

A few minutes later, Drazen Ilich hit the rail after losing the majority of his stack holding ace-jack against Cory Nordstrand's pocket kings. Day 1b chip leader Phil Gioia was the next player to fall after his pocket queens came up just short after Ha Nguyen rivered a king with big slick. Unfortunately for Nguyen, he woke up in back-to-back spots holding an inferior ace and was sent him home in sixth place.

Five-handed play went on for a full level before the next body drop when Anthony Scarborough jammed his ace-king suited into Dave Sanderson's pocket aces. In the same level, Cy Church got his short-stack in the middle holding live cards but couldn't connect with the runout and he took his exit in fourth place for $33,974.

Three-handed action turned into a one-sided affair after Bjorkman sent Sanderson home in third place and Nordstrand was flushed out on the river for a second-place finish worth $62,339.

The MSPT will be heading back to the Venetian in Las Vegas for its next stop of Season 12 with the $350,000 GTD, $1,100 buy-in Main Event being held February 4-6.

Keep yourself safe from the COVID-19 virus by taking advantage of the at-home test drive service at Baierl Toyota.

For the past year, many businesses started to offer services that were previously not available. These services include delivery, online ordering, pick-up service and much more. One of the many businesses that started offering new services to keep their customers safe is Baierl Toyota. This Toyota dealership, located near Pittsburgh, is offering an at-home test drive service for customers who wish to stay at home to avoid the COVID-19 virus.

Baierl Toyota services citizens from Cranberry Township, Beaver Falls, Mars and all other surrounding areas. The at-home test drive service can bring the vehicle of interest to a clients home or office. When scheduling a test drive online, the shopper will indicate that they would like the at-home test drive option, when they would like to test drive and where they would like to test drive the vehicle.

If any interested residents are still worried about being safe while test driving, the Baierl Toyota staff properly disinfects every vehicle after it is used. Additionally, the staff follows regular cleanings, local mask mandates, proper hand washing techniques and social distancing. In addition to at-home test drives, Baierl Toyota can also appraise any trade-in vehicles to help speed up the car buying process without needing to visit the dealership.

If any customers would like to learn more about this service, they can find more information at baierltoyota.com. Questions can also be directed to the Baierl Toyota team by calling 724-655-4309. The dealership is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Baierl Toyota is located at 19045 Perry Hwy in Mars.
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy market size is anticipated to shoot up exponentially attributing to an increase in the approval of a growing number of gene therapies and readily adoption on approval, ability to treat a broad array of conditions, increasing prevalence of diseases, convenient one-time dosing approach and curative treatment options.

DelveInsight's Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market report offers a clear picture of the market position of the AAV vectors in the Gene therapy, emerging pipeline therapies, AAV vector-based Gene Therapy market share occupied by individual diseases, current and forecasted market share in the 7MM (the US, EU5 (the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) and Japan) for the study period 2017-30.

The Report highlights the drivers and constraints shaping the present AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy market along with the unmet medical needs that offer opportunities to the key players to explore the underlying potential of the market.

Key Highlights of AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market :



The Adeno-Associated Viral vector is the safest and effective vehicle that is able to maintain long-term gene and protein expression following a single injection of the vector.

vector is the safest and effective vehicle that is able to maintain long-term gene and protein expression following a single injection of the vector. Currently, two classes of recombinant AAVs (rAAVs) are in use: single-stranded AAV (ssAAV) and self-complementary AAV (scAAV). rAAV gene therapy strategies include Gene replacement, Gene silencing, Gene addition and Gene editing.

(ssAAV) and (scAAV). rAAV gene therapy strategies include and The first AAV-based gene therapy drug, Glybera , was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2012 but later in 2017, it was withdrawn from the market mainly due to commercial failure.

, was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2012 but later in 2017, it was withdrawn from the market mainly due to commercial failure. The present AAV-based Gene therapy market owns two FDA-approved AAV-based gene therapies namely, Luxturna , approved in 2017 for a rare inherited retinal dystrophy, and Zolgensma , approved in 2019 for spinal muscular atrophy.

, approved in 2017 for a rare inherited retinal dystrophy, and approved in 2019 for spinal muscular atrophy. Key pharma and biotech players working in AAV-based Gene therapy market are Biomarin Pharmaceutical , Sarepta Therapeutics , Roche (Spark Therapeutics), Sangamo, Pfizer, NightstaRx, Freeline Therapeutics, Horama S.A, MeiraGTx, RegenxBio, Asklepios Biopharmaceutical, Audentes Therapeutics, and others.

, , (Spark Therapeutics), and others. Key indications in which the most clinical trials are ongoing include Hemophilia A, Hemophilia B, Choroideremia, Retinitis pigmentosa, Fabry disease, Pompe disease, Hunter Syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Batten Disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Among all the indication, Hemophilia A is expected to contribute maximally to the growth of the market size in terms of revenue by 2030 owing to a maximum number of gene therapies with mostly in late phase of development, which are expected to enter into the market, the precedence of existing high treatment cost and also expected high cost for these upcoming gene therapies and also significant residual unmet need.

is expected to contribute maximally to the growth of the market size in terms of revenue by 2030 owing to a maximum number of gene therapies with mostly in late phase of development, which are expected to enter into the market, the precedence of existing high treatment cost and also expected high cost for these upcoming gene therapies and also significant residual unmet need. Whereas among the emerging AAV gene therapies, Valoctocogene Roxaparvovec (BMN 270) expected to generate the maximum revenue by 2030 in the 7MM from the haemophilia A owing to visibility around the clinical profile and also early mover advantage.

Most of the therapies in the AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market are expected to get launched after 2021.

Know more about the report highlights @ Adeno-associated virus (AAV) Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Landscape

Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV)

Adeno-associated virus hails from the genus Dependoparvovirus, which in turn belongs to the family Parvoviridae. They are small viruses (25-nm) with a genome of single-stranded DNA (~4.7 kb) that can either be the plus (sense) or minus (anti-sense) strand. AAV is replication-defective and depends on a helper virus for effective and productive replication in mammalian cells. However, for choosing AAV as a gene delivery vector depends on:

which cell/tissue types are being targeted;

the safety profile associated with the delivered gene;

the choice of systemic versus local delivery; and

the use of tissue-specific or constitutively active promoters.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) Vector-Based Gene Therapy

With advances in bioengineering and genetics, the horizon of the medical approaches giving rise to novel treatment options, such as Gene therapy has also widened. Gene therapy has emerged out as a promising treatment approach for a number of inherited disorders, certain types of cancer, and certain viral infections. The delivery of gene therapy involves "vectors" which can be either viral or non-viral vectors. Out of the several viral vectors, Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are currently among the most frequently used, safest and effective viral vectors for gene therapy delivery. AAV vectors are the leading viral vectors for gene delivery to treat a variety of human diseases.

Key Indications:

Haematology

Hemophilia A

Hemophilia B

Ophthalmology

Choroideremia

Retinitis pigmentosa

Lysosomal Storage Disorders

Fabry disease

Pompe disease

Hunter Syndrome

Neurology

Parkinson's disease

Neurological Disorders

Batten Disease

Musculoskeletal

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)

Request for sample @ Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market

Epidemiology Segmentation

In the year 2020, the total prevalent cases of selected indications in which AAV Gene Therapies were administered were estimated to be 2,863,103 in the 7MM. DelveInsight's Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Report provides historical as well as forecasted epidemiological analysis for the study period 2017-30 for the 7MM segmented into:

Total prevalent cases of selected indications (Hemophilia A, Hemophilia B, Fabry disease, Pompe disease, Choroideremia, Retinitis Pigmentosa, Hunter syndrome, Batten disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Parkinson's disease) in the 7MM [2017-2030]

Total Indication wise eligible cases in the 7MM [20172030]

Indication wise Treated Cases of AAV Gene Therapies in the 7MM [20172030]

Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market

At the moment, the AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market has only two FDA-approved AAV vector-based gene therapies approved.

Spark Therapeutics' Luxturna is approved for the treatment of patients with confirmed biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy. It is the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease, the first and only pharmacologic treatment for an inherited retinal disease and the first AAV vector gene therapy approved in the United States.

Another therapy occupying the market share is Novartis/AveXis's Zolgensma, an AAV-delivered gene therapy indicated for the treatment of paediatric patients <2 years of age with SMA with bi-allelic mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. Currently, it is being investigated in the global Phase III STR1VE clinical program (consisting of STR1VE-US, STR1VE-EU, and STR1VE-AP) to evaluate the intravenous (IV) formulation of AVXS-101 in patients who have SMA Type 1, and the multinational Phase III SPR1NT trial in presymptomatic patients who have a genetic diagnosis of SMA with two or three copies of the SMN2 gene.

However, before Luxturna and Zolgensma managed to steal the spotlight in the AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market, there was another candidate, Glybera, which got the nod from the EMA to treat an ultra-rare, hereditary lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD); and became the first Gene therapy to get launched. However, the decision of the company to not renew its market authorization after it expired in October 2017 stresses on the cost of the maintenance and development of the gene therapies even if they prove to be outright cures.

DelveInsight estimates that the Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market, is anticipated to pick up momentum as companies across the globe are thoroughly working toward the development of new AAV-gene therapies to treat a spectrum of diseases. Key pharmaceutical and biotech companies such as Biomarin Pharmaceutical, Roche (Spark Therapeutics), Sangamo, Pfizer among several others are involved in exploring the AAV vector-based gene therapy for a wide range of indications such as Hemophilia A and B, MPS, and others.

Visit, Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market , for more information

Key Pipeline Therapies:

Valoctocogene Roxaparvovec (BMN 270): BioMarin Pharmaceutical: Phase III

PF-06939926: Pfizer: Phase III

Fidanacogene elaparvovec: Pfizer (initiated by Spark Therapeutics): Phase III

AMT-061: uniQure/CSL Behring: Phase III

Timrepigene emparvovec (BIIB111): NightstaRx Ltd, a Biogen Company: Phase III

Giroctocogene fitelparvovec (SB-525): Pfizer (previously Sangamo Biosciences): Phase III

BIIB112 (AAV8-RPGR): NightstaRx Ltd, a Biogen Company: Phase II/III

NLX P101 (AAV-GAD): MeiraGTx: Phase II

VY-AADC (NBIb-1817/ AAV2-hAADC): Neurocrine Biosciences/ Voyager Therapeutics: Phase II

SPK-8011: Roche (previously Spark Therapeutics)/Pfizer: Phase I/II

ST-920: Sangamo Therapeutics: Phase I/II

FLT190: Freeline Therapeutics: Phase I/II

SPK-3006 (AAV-sec-GAA): Spark Therapeutics: Phase I/II

ACTUS-101: Asklepios Biopharmaceutical (Actus Therapeutics): Phase I/II

AT845: Audentes Therapeutics: Phase I/II

SRP-9001: Roche/Sarepta Therapeutics: Phase I/IIa

HORA-PDE6B: Horama S.A.: Phase I/II

AAV-RPGR (AAV2/5-RPGR): MeiraGTx UK II Ltd: Phase I/II

RGX-121: RegenxBio: Phase I/II

SB-913: Sangamo Therapeutics: Phase I/II

AT-GTX-501 (scAAV9.CB.CLN6): Amicus Therapeutics: Phase I/II

AT-GTX-502 (scAAV9.P546.CLN3): Amicus Therapeutics: Phase I/II

There is not a shred of doubt that clinical successes in AAV-mediated gene replacement have helped Adeno-Associated Viruses to get recognized as an ideal therapeutic vector for delivery of gene therapies. With two AAV vector-based gene therapies having won regulatory approval, their popularity as the predominant vectors that deliver genes of interest to target tissues with improved specificity, efficiency, and safety in the Gene therapy market further fuelled. However, the production and formulation of AAV products require specified conditions so as to ensure good stability and yield, and even after caution, some of its processing methods (filtration or lyophilization) may lead to aggregation or loss of AAV titer. Further, storing the AAV products can also prove to be quite challenging.

Conclusively, Gene therapy has proved to be an ingenious tool in the healthcare sector and with dramatic advancements being made in the domain, its potential is unfolding at a rapid pace. Thus, it is not wrong to say that Gene therapy is set to emerge as a novel therapeutic option.

Scope of the report:

Geography Coverage : The United States , EU5 ( Germany , France , Italy , Spain , and the United Kingdom ), Japan.

: , EU5 ( , , , , and the ), Japan. Study Period : 3-year historical and 11-year forecasted analysis (2017-2030).

: 3-year historical and 11-year forecasted analysis (2017-2030). Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy Market Segmentation : By Selected Indication Patient Pool, Market Size by Therapies, Market Size by Indication, Market Size by Country

: By Selected Indication Patient Pool, Market Size by Therapies, Market Size by Indication, Market Size by Country Key Players Involved : BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Sangamo Therapeutics, Amicus Therapeutics, Roche, Pfizer, NightstaRx, MeiraGTx UK II Ltd, Horama S.A, Sarepta Therapeutics, Neurocrine Biosciences, Voyager Therapeutics, Asklepios Biopharmaceutical, Spark Therapeutics, and several others.

: BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Sangamo Therapeutics, Amicus Therapeutics, Roche, Pfizer, NightstaRx, MeiraGTx UK II Ltd, Horama S.A, Sarepta Therapeutics, Neurocrine Biosciences, Voyager Therapeutics, Asklepios Biopharmaceutical, Spark Therapeutics, and several others. Analysis : Comparative and conjoint analysis of Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy Emerging therapies

: Comparative and conjoint analysis of Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy Emerging therapies Tools used : SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces, PESTLE analysis, BCG Matrix analysis methods.

: SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces, PESTLE analysis, BCG Matrix analysis methods. Case Studies

KOL's Views

Analyst's Views

Table of Content

1 Key Insights 2 Executive Summary of Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy 3 Competitive Intelligence Analysis for AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market 4 AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market SWOT Analysis 5 Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Overview at a Glance 6 Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy: Disease Background and Overview 7 Patient Journey 8 Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy Epidemiology and Patient Population 9 AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market: Treatment Algorithm, Current Treatment, and Medical Practices 10 AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Unmet Needs 11 Key Endpoints of Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy Treatment 12 Marketed Products in AAV Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market 13 Emerging Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapies 14 Adeno-Associated Virus Vectors in Gene Therapy: Seven Major Market Analysis 15 Attribute analysis 16 Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Outlook: 7MM 17 Access and Reimbursement Overview of Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market 18 KOL Views 19 Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Drivers 20 Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Based Gene Therapy Market Barriers 21 Appendix 22 DelveInsight Capabilities 23 Disclaimer 24 About DelveInsight

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP)  A former pathologist at an Arkansas veterans hospital has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a patient he misdiagnosed.

Robert Morris Levy, 54, of Fayetteville was sentenced Friday in federal court.

Prosecutors said Levy diagnosed a patient with lymphoma when the patient actually had a small-cell carcinoma. Levy falsified the patients medical record to state that a second pathologist agreed with his diagnosis, according to the plea agreement. The patient later died.

In a statement to the court, Levy apologized for his actions.

Im angry with myself, and it just penetrates the surface of how I became this man. My plan going forward is to continue in the alcohol rehabilitation community to get the best long-term therapeutic strategy, the statement said.

Levy also pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for receiving 2-methyl-2-butanol, a chemical that he used to intoxicate himself but that standard drug and alcohol screenings dont test for, prosecutors said.

Levy was fired from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville in April 2018.

VA officials have said that outside pathologists reviewed nearly 34,000 cases handled by Levy and found more than 3,000 errors or missed diagnoses dating back to 2005. Levy has acknowledged that he once showed up to work at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks drunk in 2016, but he denied that he had worked while impaired. He entered an in-patient treatment program following that incident and returned to work in October 2016 after agreeing to remain sober and submitting to random drug testing.
Colorado Politics senior political reporter

Joey Bunch is the senior correspondent and deputy managing editor of Colorado Politics. His 32-year career includes the last 16 in Colorado. He was part of the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and he is a two-time finalist.

The Taoiseach has moved to resolve a row with First Minister Arlene Foster over the North's testing for new Covid strains after she took offence to words he used in a weekend interview.

Micheal Martin spoke to both Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill after the Northern Ireland Department of Health said radio remarks by the Taoiseach were wholly incorrect.

Mr Martin declared on the Brendan OConnor radio show on RTE at the weekend that Northern Ireland was not carrying out genomic sequencing of Covid-19, which is essential to track the emergence of new variants.

The Taoiseachs spokesman said today that what the Taoiseach meant was that figures were not available for Northern Ireland alone, which would be helpful towards obtaining the all-island picture.

Read More

He said Mr Martin accepted that Northern Ireland was testing the genomes as part of wider screening on a UK basis, just that data for that part of the island is not available as a breakdown.

After calling Ms Foster to explain his position, the First Minister tweeted: Just finished a call with Micheal Martin where he accepted that Northern Ireland is testing for SARS-CoV-2. The variant testing here is massively more advanced than (in the) Republic of Ireland.

She added: (I) also pressed him on sharing travel locator forms. He committed to movement soon on that issue.

As officials here said their Northern counterparts had heard something other than what the Taoiseach intended to convey, the Northern Ireland Department of Health referred to some misleading commentary in recent days.

The spat threatens to impact on North-South cooperation just as the Taoiseach is exploring whether Britain and Ireland can work together on a two islands approach to travel and quarantine.

Mr Martins spokesman said the Taoiseach had repeatedly emphasised the importance of data-sharing between both jurisdictions on this island.

He said: There has been lots of good cooperation, and discussions on data-sharing have been going well, with real progress. In this case they took offence.

The NI Department of Health said its work to identify new variants of the virus was complex and specialised, and included using whole genome sequencing to track the B.1.1.7 variant, known as the UK variant.

At present the UK, including NIis carrying out 40pc of all global whole genome sequencing and is submitting its data to share with other countries.

As of the weekend, Northern Ireland had submitted 2,209 genomes to international scrutiny, compared to 1,757 for the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Irelands per capita levels of genome sequencing are significantly higher than almost all other countries, both in Europe and beyond.

To suggest that NI is inactive in this field would be wholly incorrect  and is unfair to the dedicated, expert local staff working intensively in this area.

Mr Martin had separate phone conversations with the First Minister, and then with the Deputy First Minister, his spokesman said.

He said they spoke against a background of an EU recommendation that member states urgently ramp up genome sequencing  by a factor of five  in order to track potentially deadly variants in the community.

Some Twitter users protested at the tone of Ms Fosters post on the affair, and called for politics to be put aside in the pursuit of developments that would benefit the whole island.

The Taoiseach did not respond to the First Ministers tweet.

Read More




Program prepares designers to be collaborative, strategic and social innovators

By Julie Carle

Bowling Green State Universitys graphic design program is creating the next generation of designers to be collaborative, strategic thinkers and social innovators.

The new Master of Design (MDes) in Integrative Design degree at BGSU teaches creative, strategic and collaborative skillsets that prepare designers to think bigger. The inaugural program starts in Fall 2021.

Design is no longer solely a brochure or a logo, said Jenn Stucker, chair of BGSUs graphic design division in the BGSU School of Art. We think about design in a bigger context and not just an object.

The social and cultural issues that surround us are complex systems that require designers to be strategic, creative and adaptive in their work, Stucker said. Todays designers are leading interdisciplinary teams that are challenging the status quo on topics such as climate change, health care, education, diversity and inclusion, poverty and globalization.

The new masters degree is offered as a low-residency, online-hybrid program that is ideal for working professionals and recent graduates who want to extend their impact, experiences and marketability within their profession.

The low-residency, online-hybrid structure makes the program unique.

There are MDes degrees offered at a couple of Ohio universities and one in Michigan, but they all have residency requirements, Stucker said. Our program provides access for people to work their jobs and participate in the courses. It is also more affordable.

Students will come to campus three weekends a semester  during weeks 5 and 10 and finals week  for the hybrid component. The three face-to-face weekend sessions allow for longer critiques and the opportunity to develop connections within the cohort.

The remainder of the semester, the courses are presented online. There are asynchronous parts, but mostly students will meet simultaneously with the cohort and their faculty.

There is also a six-week summer social innovation session that allows the group to work on a special innovation challenge, Stucker said. Students come together for the first week to ideate, plan and strategize on an innovative topic; the remainder of the summer session, done remotely, is for implementation and execution of the project, dividing the work among the teams. The challenges will be real-world projects in collaboration with community partners.

We built the online-hybrid format before COVID-19 happened, Stucker said. Im really even more excited about that now, because people have experienced online and virtual collaboration so it wont feel like a big jump or hurdle for people.

A total of 60 hours is required for degree completion. Students have the option to complete the program full-time in two years, or to attend part time and extend the timing to three or four years for people who need or want to go at a different pace.

We built these different structures so people can be thinking about how they want to create their program of study, Stucker said.

Among the strengths of the program is that 65% of the courses are studio-based, meeting the standards established by the accrediting body, the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). The new program is in the process of seeking NASAD accreditation.

The curriculum also requires nine hours of design research and 12 hours of electives from such preapproved courses as arts, business, ethnic studies, media and communication, political science, popular culture, sociology and womens studies. Interdisciplinary alternatives can be proposed to align with students interests. Required courses include Graphic Design History + Integrative Models, Design for Social Impact, and Design Research + Methods. Studio courses include Complex Systems, Context + Culture, Integrative Strategies, Theory + Implementation, Social Innovation I and II.

Additionally, there is a thesis component required for degree completion.

Students will work on and develop their thesis throughout their time in the program, Stucker said. They will have a final output, which is traditionally an exhibition in MFA programs. In a visual communication program, it might not be an artwork display, but instead a very comprehensive online strategy.

The program primarily appeals to design professionals; however, people who understand design or are working in design-related fields can benefit from the curriculum. They may have to add some design-basics courses to their studies, Stucker said, but the wonderful thing about design is that so many people understand the value of it in todays culture.

They are the ones who want to be strategic and innovative design thinkers and leaders who are working on the big picture and its authentic impact and value.

The demand for the integrative design skillsets will continue to increase, Stucker said. Employers are hiring designers and visual communicators in a wide variety of industry sectors ranging from advertising, marketing and media to insurance, health care, finance and government.

There is no shortage of opportunities for employment with design-related skills, particularly skills that incorporate integrative thinking, leadership, management and critical thinking, she said.

Public good is at the heart of this degree purpose. BGSU and the School of Art encourage collaborative and interdisciplinary partnerships with corporate and nonprofit sectors, which expand the Universitys impact.
Herreid Legion to remember 400 Campbell County area veterans Monday

The Herreid American Legion and the Sons of the American Legion work together to recognize veterans on Memorial Day.
Supt. Austin Beutner tours one of the LAUSD's Grab & Go food centers at San Fernando Senior High School last April. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Reopening Los Angeles campuses for students in kindergarten through 12th grade will require the vaccination of teachers and other staff, says L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner. The teachers union is going a step further, saying vaccinations alone would not be enough to operate schools safely until the community spread of COVID-19 is brought down.

Their stances throw into question whether schools will be able to reopen this academic year as there is currently no firm date for inoculating teachers. In parts of the state, including Los Angeles, dissatisfied parents are ramping up efforts to pressure campuses to reopen more quickly.

"Vaccinations are a critical piece of the puzzle, and were all frustrated at the pace of the rollout despite everyones best efforts," Beutner said in remarks broadcast Monday.

The L.A. schools chief called vaccines "the last piece to help reopen classrooms," in addition to such measures as providing funding to operate campuses safely and consistent rules on when campuses should be reopening.

"Theres a unique and important benefit to vaccinating all who work in schools  doing so will help reopen schools sooner," Beutner said. "This will not only protect the health and safety of staff but will provide enormous benefit to children and their families with a faster reopening of schools and of the economy more broadly by enabling the working families we serve to go back to work."

At this point, vaccines are not widely available locally for teachers and other school staff as the priority is focused on healthcare workers and those 65 and older. Long Beach, which has its own health department independent of L.A. County's, is expected to begin teacher vaccinations this week. Several other smaller California school districts have begun to inoculate teachers, part of the patchwork of availability to educators across the state and nation.

L.A. County health officials have said publicly they are not yet ready to open up vaccines to teachers  suggesting immunizations may be available for them at some point in February, although even that timeline is uncertain due to limited supplies.

Story continues

The two vaccines currently authorized in the U.S. require two doses: For one, the interval between doses is three weeks; for the other, four weeks. Experts have said that maximum immunity is expected about two weeks after the second dose.

"The Biden Administration has set a goal of administering 100 million doses in the next 100 days," Beutner said. "Two doses per person means 50 million people or about 15% of people in our country will be vaccinated by April 30, and 85% will still need to be vaccinated."

The last day of instruction for the current school year is June 10.

Leaders of the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, essentially agree with Beutner on the importance of vaccinations for school staff but also insist that vaccines will not be an immediate panacea. They want to see coronavirus infection rates drop significantly in communities served by Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest school system.

"We don't believe that all employees being vaccinated is a sufficient trigger for the full reopening of schools, because neither vaccine currently on the market is proven to provide sterilizing immunity," the union said in a bargaining update sent to members. "What this means is that children, who currently do not have a vaccine available for them, and especially the family members they go home to, could continue to be at risk. A safe path to reopening must include low community transmission and infection rates."

Beutner also made clear that he wanted to see lower community infection rates as well, as part of a strategy to open schools in the "safest way possible."

The union and district are in negotiations over what a return to campus would look like. The two sides were unable to reach agreement Sunday  which was their self-imposed deadline. Those negotiations are continuing.

Polling data have indicated that parents have widely ranging views over the safety of reopening campuses for in-person instruction, although there is broad agreement that distance learning has hampered education for most students. A group of parents seeking the option to return announced the formation of a new group Monday, Open Schools California. The group has local sites in nine areas across the state.

A Los Angeles leader in the effort, Ross Novie, has two children in Palisades Charter High School on the Westside. His ninth-grade son has yet to attend a class in person at the campus.

"We all want schools back this semester, and if vaccinating gets us there, that's great, Novie said. But "all of these other schools in other places went back without needing vaccines."

Novie added that the current surge might temporarily limit options but that campuses could have reopened to more students in the fall and officials needed concrete plans and timetables for reopening.

Meanwhile, the spring semester is continuing online.

L.A. County health officials have advised against any reopening during the month of January. Recent trends show a decline in new cases, but infections still are well above levels that would permit a general reopening of schools under state guidelines. And this modest good news is tempered by evidence of emerging coronavirus variants found locally that could be more contagious or potentially more deadly.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Nebraska Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit to continue against an Omaha natural gas utility for a 2016 fire that destroyed part of the downtown Omahas Old Market.

The ruling affirms the finding of a lower court that rejected Metropolitan Utilities Districts request for summary judgment to be excused from the lawsuit.

The lawsuit stemmed from an explosion and fire sparked Jan. 9, 2016, when construction workers struck a natural gas line in front Ms Pub restaurant in the Old Market. Gas leaked into the basement of the building and exploded, destroying the building that included other businesses and homes.

The Nebraska Fire Marshals Office later issued a report saying Metropolitan Utilities District workers didnt properly mark the natural gas line that was breached, sparking the explosion and massive fire.

Property owners sued various contractors and MUD, and eventually settled with all defendants except MUD, which held that it was immune from the lawsuit.

The lower court and Nebraska Supreme Court justices disagreed, noting that MUD was required under law and its own policies to ensure that lines were clearly marked, that the gas was to be immediately shut off by MUD in the event of a gas fire and to ensure that abandoned gas lines are properly abandoned. Plaintiffs in the case say MUD failed at all three.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Nebraska

(Photo : Youtube/ Simone Internauto) Tesla lawsuit against employee

On January 22, Tesla went to court to file a lawsuit. The company claimed that a newly hired software engineer transferred more than 26,000 confidential documents to his personal Dropbox, including trade secrets.

Tesla files lawsuit against engineer

Alex Khaitov, the senior software quality assurance engineer, started his job at Tesla on December 28, 2020 and almost immediately began downloading thousands of sensitive files, according to Tesla.

Tesla said in a complaint filed on January 22 in the San Jose Division of the US district court of the Northern District of California that in just three days after he was hired, Khaitov stole thousands of trade secret computer scripts. These scripts took Tesla years to develop.

Also Read: Elon Musk Sees Tesla Selling 20 Million Cars Per Year Before 2030 In a Bid to Dominate 66% of the EV Market!

Tesla is suing Khaitov and the company accused him of stealing trade secrets and confidential information, as well as breaching his contract. Khatilov was fired when the internal investigators discovered the file transfer, according to Tesla. Alex Khatilov denies all of the accusations, according to MailOnline.

Khatilov became the latest employee in Silicon Valley to be accused by Tesla of trade secret theft. Former Tesla employees working at Zoox were also sued back in 2019 for the same issue, according to Business Insider.

In March 2020, Tesla sued Rivian, a company competitor, stating that its employees also stole trade secrets. Martin Tripp, a former Tesla process technician, was set to pay Tesla $400,000 for sharing trade secrets, according to a court filing on December 2020.

Only 40 people on Khatilov's team of quality assurance engineers had access to the trade secrets that he was accused of stealing, according to Tesla. Within that group, only 8 engineers could access the files. According to Tesla, they detected Khatilov's downloads on January 6.

According to Tesla, Khatilov gave company investigators access to his Dropbox, saying he would only transfer a couple personal administrative documents.

Tesla stated that its investigators viewed his Dropbox account. They discovered that his claims were outright lies, saying that he had transferred thousands of Tesla's computer scripts to his personal Dropbox.

Tesla added that Khatilov lied about it and that he tried to delete the evidence of his theft when he was confronted by the security team, forcing the company to file a complaint. Tesla said Khatilov claimed he forgot about the files.

Theft case

On January 22, Khatilov was interviewed by The New York Post, he said that he have been working for 20 years in the industry and he knows what sensitive documents are about and he insisted that he never tried to access or steal the files.

Tesla said that it instructed Khatilov to delete the files it could see in his Dropbox account. However, the company could not be sure that the engineer had not already transferred them someplace else.

Tesla said that as soon as Khatilov uploaded the stolen files to his Dropbox account, he could have shared or retransferred those files to anyone or to any other storage media such as an external thumb drive, a mobile device, another computer or another cloud-based storage system and they would have no way to trace it.

Tesla added that investigators had to interview Khatilov remotely because of COVID-19, which means that they were not able to ensure the complete deletion of the files from his devices. Tesla is now seeking a jury trial and payment for damages.

Related Article: Tesla FSD Mode Will Be Available for $100 Monthly Subscription in 2021

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sieeka Khan

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Haircuts, manicures and other personal services could be available as soon as this week after California lifted mandatory stay-at-home orders across much of the state Monday.

All counties will return to the color coded tier system that was in place prior to Decembers stay-at-home orders. All nine Bay Area counties remain at the purple tier, the most restrictive level in the system that prevailed before December, but one that allowed more business activities than under the December lockdown.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the changes go into effect immediately, but counties are free to institute stricter rules amid concerning news about new variants and bumpy vaccine rollouts. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the city would allow purple-tier activities beginning Thursday. Santa Clara County allowed personal care services and outdoor dining to resume immediately Monday, as did Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and Solano counties.

The return to the purple tier allows outdoor dining to restart and for hair and nail salons to offer limited services indoors. Business owners greeted the news with a mixture of relief and uncertainty on what to do next. Many have dealt with the financial and emotional strain of closing-reopening-closing, and reopening again during the pandemic.

Im definitely going to reopen, said Lennotch Taplett, owner of Details Barbershop & Grooming Lounge in Union Square. Most of the barbers who are renting chairs in my shop are planning to come back as well.

The on-and-off reopenings have made Taplett revise his offerings. He plans to reopen his storefront this week or next and keep it open in the long run. But he said he would also begin offering haircuts and other services in a mobile unit, an investment that took months of permit approvals but one he saw as imperative for his businesss survival.

Although Im excited to open again, its the uncertainty thats concerning, Taplett said.

As before, businesses that reopen will have to abide by restrictions set by counties, including mandatory mask-wearing and limiting the numbers of customers inside. Many barbershops and salons have also put up plexiglass dividers between customers as an extra precaution.

Annie Stancliffe, owner of the High Five nail salon on Hayes Street north of the Panhandle, said she doesnt see herself reopening until she sees more details from San Francisco.

Even if we go back to the purple tier, I dont make enough money if Im only allowed to have up 20% of customers, Stancliffe said. I have to look at how my team can be better supported when theres only so many shifts I can schedule.

Stancliffe said 2020 served as a cautionary tale and she wants to take a measured approach to the latest reopening news. Her first disappointment came last summer after a slew of businesses, including nail salons, were allowed to reopen after the first shelter-in-place orders lifted, only to be shut down days later.

Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available.

When her salon reopened again in fall for outdoor services, she applied for a grant to build an outside parklet. Days later, indoor operations got the green light. And then the state-wide stay-at-home orders closed her business and thousands of others as coronavirus cases surged.

Im happy and excited about this, I am, but Id like to reopen with a plan for growth and not for another false start, she said.

Yen Tuyet Le, owner of Paua Beauty Lounge on Powell Street, said she was ready to start operations as soon as she could. Back rent to her landlord is piling up.

She pays $3,200 a month, which she considers affordable for the size of her salon that fits 13 pedicure chairs, three nail stations, and two rooms for facials. But because shes had next to zero income coming in, shes had to rely on loans and is working out a rent repayment program with her landlord. The few months she was open, she said, she paid double her rent in an effort to catch up.

I hope business picks up again, Le said. It was slow during the holidays but I hope itll go back to normal.

Shwanika Narayan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: shwanika.narayan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @shwanika Instagram: @shwanika
[January 25, 2021] MACOM and U.S. Air Force Enter into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

MACOM Technology Solutions Inc. ("MACOM"), a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (News - Alert) ("AFRL") regarding Gallium Nitride-on-Silicon Carbide ("GaN-on-SiC") technology. Under the agreement, AFRL and MACOM will work together to transfer AFRL's production ready 0.14 micron GaN-on-SiC semiconductor process to MACOM's Massachusetts-based U.S. Trusted Foundry. Semiconductor experts from both parties will collaborate to support a rapid process transfer to MACOM. The AFRL GaN-on-SiC process is suitable for monolithic microwave integrated circuit ("MMIC") products and is capable of achieving industry leading frequency and power density performance. Once the process is transferred, MACOM anticipates that it will expand its standard and custom MMIC product offerings. "This semiconductor process will enable us to enter the microwave and millimeter wave GaN MMIC market with high-performance producs," said Stephen G. Daly, MACOM's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our wafer fabrication facility is already well equipped to support GaN, including installed electron beam lithography capability, so we can bring the process online with minimal capital investment. We intend to service a wide range of commercial and U.S. defense opportunities, including satellite communication systems, as well as land-, air- and sea-based radar systems."



"We look forward to MACOM supporting critical U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense requirements with an industrialized and best in class GaN semiconductor process," said Dr. Robert Fitch of AFRL Sensors Directorate. "Expanding domestic advanced semiconductor manufacturing is a national priority." ABOUT MACOM:

MACOM designs and manufactures semiconductor products for Data Center, Telecommunication, Industrial and Defense applications. Headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, MACOM has design centers and sales offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. MACOM is certified to the ISO9001 international quality standard and ISO14001 environmental management standard. MACOM's Lowell wafer foundry is a registered ITAR facility and maintains a "U.S. Trusted Foundry" designation, which is a preferred facility for U.S. defense business. ABOUT AFRL AFRL leads the discovery, development and delivery of warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace forces. The AFRL Sensors Directorate ensures America's air, space, and cyber forces have superior Air Force intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, precision engagement, and electronic warfare systems capabilities by developing, demonstrating and transitioning advanced sensors and sensing technologies. FOR SALES INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT:

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New Delhi, Jan 25 : While hearing a petition seeking direction for an injunction against the updated privacy policy by WhatsApp, the Delhi High Court on Monday emphasized that downloading the application is not mandatory and a person can choose not to download it.

The petition filed by Advocate Chaitanya Rohilla has claimed that the new policy violates the Right to Privacy guaranteed under the Constitution and gives a 360-degree profile into a person's online activity without any government oversight.

"It is voluntary. If you do not want to, you can choose not to. It is not mandatory for you to download it," a single-judge Bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said, reiterating his stand from the last proceedings.

In the last hearing, the judge had remarked that if a person feels that WhatsApp will compromise data, they must delete it. "It is a private app. Do not join it. What is your grievance? I cannot understand your concern." During the course of proceedings today, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing on the behalf of Centre, also raked up the issue of differential treatment by WhatsApp to its users in India and European Union.

"Indian users form a substantial part of WhatsApp's user base and yet preferential treatment has been given to European Union users. This is a major cause of concern. Reasonable and cogent policies must be put in place by WhatsApp," ASG Sharma said.

The case has been adjourned till March 1. Notably, WhatsApp has asked users to either give their consent to sharing data with Facebook or lose their accounts after February 8.

The policy was, however, put on hold till May 15 due to a massive backlash by the users. It aims to share commercial user data with parent Facebook.

The Petitioner has also sought a direction to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to lay down guidelines to ensure that WhatsApp does not share any data of its users with any third party or Facebook and its companies for any purpose.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda event will take place virtually from Jan. 25-29 and is widely expected to bolster global cooperation in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and promoting economic recovery.

Under the theme "A Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust," more than 1,500 leaders from government, business and social organizations from more than 70 countries and regions will hold in-depth discussions on how to deal with the economic, environmental, social and technological challenges facing the world today.

Rebuilding trust

"Rebuilding trust and increasing global cooperation are crucial to fostering innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery," the forum's official website quoted Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the forum, as saying.

This upcoming meeting, he added, will be "an opportunity for leaders to outline their vision and address the most important issues of our time, such as the need to accelerate job creation and to protect the environment."

The virtual meeting comes as the raging pandemic, in addition to claiming the lives of more than 2 million people, risks triggering widened long-standing health, economic and digital disparities.

Meanwhile, the World Bank warned the global economy could be heading for "a decade of disappointing growth outcomes" after the pandemic triggered one of the worst economic recessions in history.

The International Labor Organization said the outbreak has created a crisis in global labor markets and that the working time lost in the second quarter of 2020 is equivalent to 495 million jobs worldwide.

"We have to make all efforts to ensure that the gap of the advanced economies and the emerging economies is not becoming bigger as a consequence of the crisis," Schwab previously told Xinhua, calling for more attention to small and medium-sized enterprises that have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.

China's role

When addressing the Beijing Forum 2020 in December, Schwab hailed China's role in fighting the pandemic and reinvigorating its own economy.

While an equitable distribution of vaccines has attracted notable attention from the international community, Chinese vaccines are regarded increasingly as global public goods, contributing to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.

Also, China was the only major economy to achieve positive growth in 2020, providing hope for a wider world economic recovery.

Saadia Zahidi, the forum's managing director, told Xinhua that China's faster than expected economic rebound after the COVID-19 shock is a bright spot and could serve as a roadmap for other countries.

Similarly, as the world is looking for ways to combat the epidemic and spur economic recovery, China's participation at the meeting is expected to contribute to a solution, other analysts said.

According to event organizers, participants at the meeting will discuss a series of topics including designing cohesive, sustainable, resilient economic systems; driving responsible industry transformation and growth; enhancing stewardship of the global commons; harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution; and advancing global and regional cooperation.
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NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Gabriel Silva has joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner in New York, with an impressive practice that focuses on M&A and private equity in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia. In particular, Silva has significant experience in transactions in the digital infrastructure sector, such as telecommunication towers, data centers and fiber.

"Gabriel is one of the leading young M&A partners in New York, with a strong blend of digital infrastructure, Latin America and general private equity experience," said Keith Fullenweider, co-head of the firm's Corporate Department. "His practice fits beautifully with our platform, including our leading infrastructure practice. We have also invested recently in adding experienced lawyers with strong connections and deal experience in Latin America, which Gabriel will certainly enhance. We are excited to welcome him to the firm and believe that our clients will enjoy working with him across a range of industries."

Some of Silva's recent matters include:

Digital Colony Partners on multiple digital infrastructure transactions in Latin America , including its establishment of Scala Data Centers, a hyperscale data center platform headquartered in Brazil through the acquisition of assets from UOL Diveo; and its acquisitions of Highline and Phoenix do Brasil, independent telecom infrastructure solutions providers in Brazil , and Andean Telecom Partners, an owner and operator of wireless communication infrastructure in the Andean region

Vantage Data Centers, supported by a consortium led by Digital Colony Partners, on the establishment of its European platform and its acquisitions of Next Generation Data, UK's largest data center, and Etix Everywhere, a European-based company offering a worldwide network of colocation data center services

Marfrig Global Foods, one of the world's largest animal protein producers, on the $2.4 billion sale of its U.S. and Asia chicken business, Keystone, to Tyson Foods and the $969 million acquisition of a 51% interest in National Beef, the fourth-largest beef processor in the U.S., from Jefferies

"I have been very impressed with the platform that V&E has created to service a broad array of the world's leading private equity clients," Silva said. "Additionally, the firm's growing Latin America practice, which encompasses talented lawyers on both the corporate and disputes side, was extremely appealing for me."

Silva is the fourth attorney to join the firm in New York over the past two years where Latin America is a significant component of their practice.

"Gabriel is well-recognized as a leader in infrastructure M&A for a reason  he's excellent  and we're excited to have him here at V&E," said Jim Fox, co-managing partner of the firm's New York office. "His extensive experience in infrastructure will create new opportunities as we continue to expand our infrastructure practice, while also enhancing our capabilities to serve clients pursuing investments in Latin America."

Silva received his LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He also earned a Brazilian law degree from Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo, and a specialization degree in Brazilian Corporate Law from Fundacao Getulio Vargas de Sao Paulo. Prior to joining the firm, Silva was previously a partner at Linklaters in New York and Sao Paulo.

V&E's approximately 200 M&A and private equity attorneys represent clients that include leading private equity firms, investment banks and other financial institutions, as well as public and privately held companies in sophisticated transactions. V&E also works on diverse projects across Latin America, including landmark energy, infrastructure and finance transactions and disputes. The firm's Latin America practice is internationally recognized by both Chambers and Partners (2020) and Legal 500 (2021).

Vinson & Elkins LLP is an international law firm with approximately 700 lawyers across 11 offices worldwide. For more information, please contact Melissa Anderson at +1.713.758.2030.

SOURCE Vinson & Elkins LLP

Related Links

http://www.velaw.com


South Africa: SASSA reassesses Temporary Disability Grants

Over 4 000 Temporary Disability Grant reapplications have been assessed in KwaZulu-Natal, since the process commenced this year.

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in KwaZulu-Natal said more beneficiaries are heeding the call to visit the offices to reapply for Temporary Disability and Care Dependency Grants in the province.

The reapplication process, which commenced on 5 January 2021, follows the suspension of 43 861 medically related grants that lapsed in December 2020, comprising 40 875 Temporary Disability Grants and 2 986 Care Dependency Grants.

Regional Executive Manager of SASSA KwaZulu-Natal, Themba Matlou, said as of 15 January 2021, the region has assessed 4 007 Temporary Disability Grants and 1 829 Care Dependency Grant cases.

The local offices are currently finalising the application process. Other responding clients have been booked to see the SASSA contracted doctors for assessment purposes, Matlou said.

During his recent visit at the SASSA local office in Pietermaritzburg to assess progress being made in the reapplication process, Matlou said the region has introduced shift work of not more than 50% of staff in the office to allow for social distancing, and to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection.

He said the region also plans to finalise the reapplication for all lapsed grants by the end of March 2021.

This could be finalised even earlier than the set date if the surge subsides. The region is planning to work extended hours and even weekends to finalise these cases before end March 2021.

We encourage affected citizens to continue reporting to the nearest SASSA office, with a detailed referral report from their treating doctor, which confirms the impact of the medical condition or disability, Matlou said.

Who qualifies for disability grant?

A disability grant may be awarded as either a permanent grant, which may or may not be subject to a medical review after a certain period of time.

Permanent disability grants are awarded for conditions that impact on the applicants ability to work for a period longer than 12 months.

Where the disability or medical condition is likely to improve with treatment or other interventions, the grant may be awarded for a temporary period of between six and 12 months.

After this time, the grant lapses, in accordance with the conditions set in the Social Assistance Act, 2004. If, on lapsing of the grant, the client is still unable to be employed as a result of the disability or medical condition, s/he needs to re-apply for the grant.

For enquiries, beneficiaries can contact SASSA call centre numbers: SASSA National Call Centre 0800 601011, and KZN Regional Office Call Centre 033 846 3400.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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The Smart Antenna Market is anticipated to reach around USD 9,705 million by 2026 according to a new research published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, MIMO segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global smart antenna market revenue during the forecast period.

The growing demand for smart antenna in wireless communication networks coupled with rising need for efficient and stable network performance has boosted the adoption of smart antenna. The rising penetration of smartphones, and increasing adoption of mobile-connected devices further support the growth of this market. The growing demand for high speed communication services, high demand for wireless broadband services, and declining costs of connected devices would accelerate the adoption of smart antenna during the forecast period. However, high costs associated with smart antenna is expected to restrict the growth of the market to a certain extent. Growing demand from emerging economies, increasing adoption of IoT and advancements in cellular networks are expected to provide numerous growth opportunities in the coming years.

Get Sample Copy @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/smart-antenna-market/request-for-sample

North America generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global smart antenna market throughout the forecast period. The presence of established telecom and cloud infrastructure in this region, and growing trend of IoT drive the smart antenna market growth in the region. The growing demand of mobile devices, and technological advancements further support market growth in the region. The use of smart technologies in varied sectors and growing need for high speed communication services for increased efficiency in diverse industries is expected to support smart antenna market growth in this region during the forecast period.

The key players operating in the smart antenna market include Texas Instruments Incorporated, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Broadcom Limited, Airgain, Inc., Motorola Solutions, Inc, Ruckus Wireless, Airgo Netwroks Inc., Interdigital communications Corp., Lucent technologies, and Sierra Wireless. 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.

Get Special Discount On this Research Report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/smart-antenna-market/request-for-discount-pricing
Alexei Navalny returned to Russia, knowing what he would face when he arrived, and yet, none of the Syrian opposition leaders have dared to return to Damascus writes Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Alexei Navalny decided to return to Russia despite President Vladimir Putins threats to have him arrested. Navalny had left Russia months ago, after Putin tried to poison him, but luckily, his life was saved when German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, sent a private jet to fly him to Germany to receive treatment. But his condition was critical.

As soon as Navalnys health improved, he made the decision to return to Russia. He was well aware that Putin would arrest him, try to neutralize him, and tarnish his reputation, if not try to assassinate him once again. Navalny could have sought asylum in Germany or any other Western country and become the leader of the Russian opposition abroad. Western governments would have welcomed him and offered him a comfortable life and a wide array of outlets for political action. He, however, refused.

Navalny knew that Moscow would follow through on their promise. The Putin government had routinely made threats against the governments enemies and had usually succeeded in preventing people from returning home. In 2003, oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, decided to defy his governments threats. As soon as he set foot on Russian soil, he was arrested, stripped of his wealth, and imprisoned for 10 years. In 2014, politician Boris Nemtsov, defied a similar warning and was killed. That did not weaken Navalnys resolve, though.

Navalny engineered his comeback with meticulous precision and a distinctive sense of humor. On Sunday morning, Alexei and Yulia, Navalnys wife, boarded a Berlin-Moscow plane, accompanied by his lawyer and spokesperson Kira Yarmish, and several journalists.

On board, Navalny took a selfie with the flight attendants, who apparently had requested to take a photo with him, and he and Yulia recorded a five-second video in which Navalny said, Garcon, bring us some vodka. We are going home!  Navalny was arrested as soon as he arrived at the airport and was taken to prison.

I cannot but compare Navalnys courage and his insistence on returning home  because it is at home where the real battle must take place  with the decision that many leaders of the Syrian opposition took to continue to reside in Istanbul, Riyadh or Paris, where they lead, all the way from their home-away-from-home, worthless and useless Don Quixote-ian battles against the regime.

What if the head of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition forces, Naser al-Hariri, or the head of the High Negotiations Committee, Anas al-Abdah, or both, decided to return to Damascus? I am not, in any way, referring to the shameful return of some opposition figures who came back to the heart of the homeland and threw themselves into the arms of the security services. Rather, I am talking about another kind of return; one imbued with defiance and determination to oppose and overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, from within. A return that is characterized by a desire to work adamantly in order to form a strong and united opposition front in the face of the criminal Assad regime.

Assads brutal history of murder, torture, rape, and immoral trials would make anyone think twice before returning.

Before Navalny, the Russian opposition was not of great significance. However, Navalnys courage, defiance, and determination to confront the oppression of Putin and his government made him a symbol around whom most of the figures across the opposition spectrum rallied. I think a similar situation would come to life should the Syrian opposition leaders decide to return to Damascus and challenge Assad in their homeland.

Will they be arrested? Perhaps, but it is likely that they will not be subjected to the same kind of torture to which the peaceful activists were subjected to, the same activists who decided to keep on fighting despite their imminent fate, which they were well aware of.

Assad and the Russians know that they can arrest figures as prominent as Hadi al-Bahra, Burhan Ghalioun, or Naser al-Hariri, but they are also aware that they will not be able to liquidate them, torture them, or make them disappear as they did with the leader Abdul-Aziz al-Khair.

A return to the homeland would constitute an effective framework for convincing Syrians at home and abroad that the leadership of the opposition is serious in its political pursuit and that it is putting the interests of the Syrians first and not partisan or individual interests. Most importantly, it would put the interests of the Syrians before the interests of the regional powers which the opposition is allied with.

I am not optimistic, nor do I think that this will happen soon, for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that the brutal history of Assad when it comes to killing, torture, rape, and shameless, unfair trials makes anyone question their decision to return. However, there is an even more important factor, which is that the leaders of the Syrian opposition differ from Alexei Navalny at the level of honesty, integrity, and independence. At the end of the day, Navalnys decision was his own, not anyone elses.

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.
Minnesota announced Monday that it is updating its registration process for the second week of the COVID-19 vaccination pilot program.

The announcement comes as the state attempts to keep with the demand for the vaccine.

This is about having the infrastructure in place to be ready when the federal government finally begins to send us more vaccine, Governor Walz said. Every shot in the arm is another step toward crushing COVID and ending this pandemic. And we're going to get the vaccine we do have into arms quickly in Minnesota  whether thats a few thousand doses or many more.

Minnesotans age 65 and older will now have a 24-hour window of time beginning at 5:00 am Tuesday to pre-register for a randomized opportunity to get an appointment.

You can pre-register online at mn.gov/findmyvaccine.

The website will be open for pre-registering from 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, January 26 until 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 27. If you are unable to register online, you may call 833-431-2053 to sign up.

Around 8,000 doses of the vaccine will be available to Minnesotans 65 and over at the pilot community clinics this week.
Florence Police have released the identity of the 29-year-old man who was murdered Saturday.

Hattan Atif Mashat was found after police responded to a call about shots being fired on South Cedar Street. Police said the rendered aid until Mashat was taken to North Alabama Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Police say they arrested James David Hall and charged him with murder. He is currently in the Lauderdale County Detention Center being held on a $150,000 bond.

Authorities say the investigation is still ongoing.

On Wednesday, James Irby, a lawyer who said he is representing Hall, issued a statement that said his client's actions "were legal and justified."
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HOLLY, MI -- The Holly Police Department is looking for a suspect believed to be involved in five armed robberies across Metro Detroit.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, the suspect was involved in an armed robbery of a CVS Pharmacy located at 4031 Grange Hall Road.

The suspect was last seen headed east on Grange Hall Road, according to Holly police.

Both the suspect and a vehicle tied to the suspect were captured by surveillance footage.

The Holly Police Department has released screenshots of the suspect dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt and a dark-colored, four-door sedan while asking for the publics help to identify the suspect.

CRIME ALERT - Armed Robbery Please report any information or tips to the Holly Police Department at (248) 634-8221.... Posted by Holly Police Department on Saturday, January 23, 2021

Police believe the same person and vehicle were involved in similar crimes in Independence Township, Rochester Hills, Lake Orion and Orion Township.

Anyone from the public with information or or tips may contact the Village of Holly Police Department at 248-634-8221.

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DiaoyuIslands in the E China Sea and its affiliated islands have always been China's inherent territory.

China passed its coastguard legislation on Friday, and experts said China will safeguard sovereignty regarding the dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.

The 25th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) concluded on Friday afternoon in Beijing, and adopted the coastguard law. The law came one day after senior Japanese and US officials discussed their alliance and the Japan-US security treatys Article 5, which assures the US defense obligations apply to the Diaoyu Islands.

Japanese media said that the phone call between Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to US President Joe Biden, and Shigeru Kitamura, head of the secretariat for the Japanese governments National Security Council, was the first high-level dialogue between the two countries since Joe Biden became president on Wednesday.

The law, according to the draft released in November by the NPC, empowers the Chinese coastguard to take action, including the use of weapons, when national sovereignty, sovereign rights or jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon or threatened by foreign organizations or individuals at sea.

The purpose of formulating the Coastguard Law is to clarify the functions, positioning and authority of Chinas coastguard, ensure a legal basis for their law enforcement cooperation, and help the coastguard better fulfill duties and obligations under international treaties, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press briefing Friday.

It is a normal legislative activity of Chinas NPC to formulate the coastguard law, said Hua, noting China's maritime policy remains unchanged.

The Diaoyu Islands are China's inherent territory and China upholds its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, Hua said, urging Japan to manage differences through dialogue with China and maintain peace and stability in relevant waters.

Tian Shichen, vice president of Grandview Institution, a think tank, previously told the Global Times that international law has no specific regulation on the use of force in dealing with disputes regarding waters. "But in practice, countries are very cautious about using force.

Lu Yaodong, a research fellow with the Institute of Japanese Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that the new coastguard law shows China's clear attitude and determination to safeguard its sovereignty.

Regular patrols near the Diaoyu Islands will be guaranteed by the legislation, according to Lu.

Observers said the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands could be worsened because of Japan's provocations. The law is aimed at preventing crises and managing risks. Wang Guangtao, an associate research fellow at the Center for Japanese Studies of Fudan University, told the Global Times on Friday that Japan is eager to seek reassurance on the issue of the Diaoyu Islands from the new administration in Washington.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in late December that he hoped to visit the US for talks with Joe Biden before the end of February 2021, Japanese media said.

Japan tries to create an impression that the US is on their side to contain China but their tactics show Japan's dependence on the US, Wang said, noting that the Japan is unlikely to be the priority for Biden, who is facing a domestic mess including the epidemic and political division.
The New York Times

In monopolizing the supply of vaccines against COVID-19, wealthy nations are threatening more than a humanitarian catastrophe: The resulting economic devastation will hit affluent countries nearly as hard as those in the developing world.

This is the crucial takeaway from an academic study to be released Monday. In the most extreme scenario  with wealthy nations fully vaccinated by the middle of this year, and poor countries largely shut out  the study concludes that the global economy would suffer losses exceeding $9 trillion, a sum greater than the annual output of Japan and Germany combined.

Nearly half of those costs would be absorbed by wealthy countries like the United States, Canada and Britain.

In the scenario that researchers term most likely, in which developing countries vaccinate half their populations by the end of the year, the world economy would still absorb a blow of between $1.8 trillion and $3.8 trillion. More than half of the pain would be concentrated in wealthy countries.

Commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce, the study concludes that equitable distribution of vaccines is in every countrys economic interest, especially those that depend most on trade. It amounts to a rebuke to the popular notion that sharing vaccines with poor countries is merely a form of charity.

Clearly, all economies are connected, said Selva Demiralp, an economist at Koc University in Istanbul who previously worked at the Federal Reserve in Washington, and one of studys authors. No economy will be fully recovered unless the other economies are recovered.

Demiralp noted that a global philanthropic initiative known as the ACT Accelerator  which is aimed at providing pandemic resources to developing countries  has secured commitments for less than $11 billion toward a $38 billion target. The study lays out the economic rationale for closing the gap. The remaining $27 billion may, on its face, look like an enormous sum but is a pittance compared with the costs of allowing the pandemic to carry on.

The commonplace idea that the pandemic respects neither borders nor racial and class divides has been promoted by corporate chief executives and pundits. This comforting concept has been belied by the reality that COVID-19 has trained its death and destruction of livelihoods on low-wage service workers, and especially racial minorities, while white-collar employees have been able to largely work safely from home, and some of the worlds wealthiest people can ride out the pandemic on yachts and private islands.

But in the realm of international commerce, there is no hiding from the coronavirus, as the study brings home. Global supply chains that are vital to industry will continue to be disrupted so long as the virus remains a force.

A team of economists affiliated with Koc University, Harvard University and the University of Maryland examined trade data across 35 industries in 65 countries, producing an extensive exploration of the economic impacts of unequal vaccine distribution.

If people in developing countries remain out of work because of lockdowns required to choke off the spread of the virus, they will have less money to spend, reducing sales for exporters in North America, Europe and East Asia. Multinational companies in advanced nations will also struggle to secure required parts, components and commodities.

At the centre of the story is the reality that most international trade involves not finished wares but parts that are shipped from one country to another to be folded into products. Of the $18 trillion worth of goods that were traded last year, so-called intermediate goods represented $11 trillion, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The study finds that the continued pandemic in poor countries is likely to be worst for industries that are especially dependent on suppliers around the world, among them automotive, textiles, construction and retail, where sales could decline more than five percent.

The findings add a complicating layer to the basic assumption that the pandemic will leave the world economy more unequal than ever. While this appears true, one striking form of inequality  access to vaccines  could pose universal problems.

In an extraordinary testament to the innovative capacities of the worlds most skilled scientists, pharmaceutical companies produced lifesaving vaccines in a small fraction of the time thought possible. But the wealthiest countries in North America and Europe locked up orders for most of the supply  enough to vaccinate two and three times their populations  leaving poor countries scrambling to secure their share.

Many developing countries, from Bangladesh to Tanzania to Peru, will likely have to wait until 2024 before fully vaccinating their populations.

The initiative to supply poor countries with additional resources gained a boost as President Joe Biden took office. The Trump administration did not contribute to the cause. Bidens chief medical officer for the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, promptly announced that the United States would join the campaign to share vaccines.

In contrast to the trillions of dollars that governments in wealthy countries have spent to rescue companies and workers harmed by the health emergency and the wrenching economic downturn, developing countries have struggled to respond.

As migrant workers from poor countries have lost jobs during the pandemic, they have not been able to send as much money home, leveling a major blow to countries that have relied on these so-called remittances like the Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The global recession has slashed demand for commodities, decimating copper producers like Zambia and Congo, and countries dependent on oil exports like Angola and Nigeria. As COVID-19 cases have soared, that has depressed tourism, costing jobs and revenue in Thailand, Indonesia and Morocco.

Many poor countries entered the pandemic with debt burdens that absorbed much of their government revenue, limiting their spending on health care. Private creditors have refused to participate in a modest debt suspension program forged by the Group of 20. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund both promised major relief but failed to produce significant dollars.

This, too, appears to be changing as new leadership takes over Washington. The Trump administration opposed a proposed $500 million expansion of so-called special drawing rights at the IMF, a reserve asset that governments can exchange for hard currency. Bidens ascent has bolstered hopes among fund members that his administration will support the expansion. Democrats in Congress  now in control of both chambers  have signaled support for a measure that would compel the Treasury to act.

Still, in capitals like Washington and Brussels, the discussion about support for the developing world has been framed in moral terms. Leaders have debated how much they can spare to help the planets least fortunate communities while mostly tending to their own people.

The study challenges that frame. In failing to ensure that people in the developing world gain access to vaccines, it concludes, leaders in the wealthiest nations are damaging their own fortunes.

No economy, however big, will be immune to the effects of the virus until the pandemic is brought to an end everywhere, said John Denton, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce. Purchasing vaccines for the developing world isnt an act of generosity by the worlds richest nations. Its an essential investment for governments to make if they want to revive their domestic economies.

Peter S. Goodman c.2021 The New York Times Company
When Shane White lost his job making flyscreen doors during the pandemic last year, a friend suggested he would make a good disability care worker.

The 56-year-old, who has worked in everything from landscaping to rubbish disposal and manufacturing, says its the best career decision he has made.

He enrolled in a JobReady program, which offers people with no prior disability experience seven days initial training and ongoing support in the workplace.

I think that people dont realise that entry to the industry is not that difficult and the rewards are just incredible, Mr White said.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Some 79 illegal migrants of various nationalities were rescued on Sunday by Libyan coastguards and port security service during a rescue operation north of Zaouia, 19 km off the country's western coast
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Supreme Court on Monday gave a last chance to the Centre to take a decision on mercy pleas filed on behalf of Balwant Singh Rajoana who was awarded the death penalty for the 1995 assassination of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde that the government is examining the matter and it would not be prudent to decide on Rajoana's mercy plea, as it could have some repercussions given the present situation. Mehta sought three weeks' time in the matter.

The Chief Justice said, "What are you doing Mr Mehta? Why three weeks? We told you to decide it before January 26, today is January 25." Mehta insisted on three weeks' time in the matter. The Chief Justice replied that the court is giving last chance to the Centre in the matter. "Two weeks", said the Chief Justice.

A bunch of mercy pleas have been filed on behalf of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was given death sentence for assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. Rajoana contends he has been on death row for 10 years, which is sufficient to reduce sentence to life term.

On January 8, the top court had told Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, representing the Centre, that the govermment should take a decision on mercy pleas seeking commutation of death penalty before January 26. "It is a good date", said the Chief Justice.

On December 4, the Supreme Court had said that after the Centre has decided to recommend presidential pardon for a convict on death row, then the pendency of the appeals of the co-accused in the apex court cannot become a ground to delay the process.

The top court had asked Centre when will it send the proposal to the President, under Article 72 of the Constitution, for commutation of death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the 1995 assassination case of then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

This article deals with the power of President to grant pardon, suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases. The bench noted that on September 7 last year, a letter was sent from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Punjab chief secretary intimating that a proposal would be sent to the President to commute Rajoana's death sentence.

The Chief Justice had cited this letter by MHA to Punjab government, which said on the occasion of the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, release of some prisoners was proposed, which included Rajoana. Additional Solicitor General Nataraj, representing the Centre, said before the bench that the proposal was not sent to the President since appeal of other co-accused in the case is pending.

The bench had said "appeal pending by other co accused has no relevance to decision by HM to commute death sentence of some convicts taken to commemorate 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
United Airlines may make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for employees, and other companies should do the same, United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby told workers at a meeting on Thursday, according to a transcript reviewed by Reuters.

A United spokeswoman confirmed that the company was strongly considering making vaccines compulsory, though it isnt a policy yet.

I think the right thing to do is for United Airlines, and for other companies, to require the vaccines and to make them mandatory, Kirby said.

If others go along and are willing to start to mandate vaccines, you should probably expect United to be amongst the first wave of companies that do it.

CNBC had earlier reported the news of Kirby wanting to mandate the vaccine for employees.

Private U.S. companies can require employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but are unlikely to do so because of the risks of legal and cultural backlash, experts have said.

Companies are still in the early stages of navigating access and distribution of vaccines against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but inoculation is considered the key to safely resume operations at crowded warehouses, factory lines and on sales floors.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)

Topics COVID-19 Commercial Lines Business Insurance Aviation
Streaming giant Netflix has chosen Belfast Harbour Studios to make the screen adaptation of a young adult fantasy series, it was announced today.

Filming of The School For Good and Evil - described as "a big huge fairytale action spectacular" by the novels' author - will support around 350 jobs.

Belfast Harbour and Northern Ireland Screen said Netflix will use the full 125,000 sq ft of studio, workshop and office spaces.

Netflix, which now has over 200 million global subscribers, is ramping up the original content on its service as competition intensifies with rivals like Disney, Apple TV and Amazon.

The movie will be directed by Paul Feig - who directed Bridesmaids and the 2016 female-led remake of 1980s classic Ghostbusters.

It is based on novels by Soman Chainani about children taken to an institution and trained to become heroes and villains. Sofia Wylie and Sophie Anne Caruso have been cast in the lead roles.

The production will adhere to the strictest Covid-19 guidelines and British Film Commission safe working protocols.

It is the first movie landed by the studios where the bulk of the production will be shot here.

Belfast Harbour chairman David Dobbin said; "Today's landmark announcement is a great boost for the growing creative industry sector in Northern Ireland and we are delighted to welcome Netflix to Belfast Harbour Studios for the first time.

"As part of Belfast Harbour's strategy to develop a key economic hub for the region, our 20m investment in state-of-the-art facilities at Belfast Harbour Studios continues to attract high quality global productions such as this.

"We have recently secured planning approval for a major extension to our studios and this news reinforces our confidence that high quality studio space will continue to be in demand due to the ever-increasing requirement to provide viewers with fresh new content."

Richard Williams, CEO of NI Screen, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Paul Feig to film The School for Good and Evil. Paul's illustrious career speaks for itself. He has been the creative driving force behind many critically acclaimed film and TV projects over the past two decades.

"Netflix is the world's largest subscription streaming service with millions of subscribers worldwide and an outstanding track record for offering very high quality, original programming. For another global player like this to choose Belfast as its base is a great start to the new year, and a real vote of confidence in Northern Ireland's screen industry and further cements our reputation as a leading centre for film and television production."

Mr Feig said: "I am absolutely thrilled to get to shoot The School for Good and Evil at Belfast Harbour. This is a challenging film to mount and their facilities offer us everything we need and so much more for a production of this size. They have also been wonderful to work with and we can't thank them and NI Screen enough for all their support and enthusiasm."
CaliforniaMexico Coalition Helps Women, Girls in Sex Trade Tolerance Zone

TIJUANA, MexicoOn a bright, warm afternoon in January, women on the streets of Tijuanas red-light district, Zona Norte, lean on the walls of run-down hotels and gentlemens clubs.

Some stand alone, looking down at their smartphones between catcalling passersby. Some, not wearing masks, stand together and chat.

The business of selling sex continues day or nightpandemic or no pandemicin the three-block-square area.

Inside the clubs, women and underage girls are on hand to fulfill requests, Proyecto Rahab members told The Epoch Times. Proyecto Rahab is an anti-trafficking coalition; most of its members are from the northern part of Mexicos Baja California state and from Southern California.

With a fairly short drive from LA and Orange counties to this red-light district, many customers are Californians, though the clientele come from all over the world. On the drive from the U.S. border, billboards promote gentlemens clubs with suggestive images of women.

A man walks by two women standing near a strip club in Zona Norte, Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 16, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The group is concerned about the exploitation in Tijuanas unofficial zona de tolerancia (tolerance zone) for the sex trade, and it offers help to those looking to break their bonds. Although prostitution is illegal in Tijuana, police ignore it in this area. The Epoch Times saw police standing next to their cars in Zona Norte.

Drug cartels keep the human trafficking business running, Proyecto Rahab members told The Epoch Times. Its hard to collect data on the scope of the issue because of threat from the cartels, they said.

Hola Amiga

A Baja resident who has helped women in Zona Norte for more than four years spoke with The Epoch Times, requesting we use the pseudonym Mary.

I say Hi friend, how are you doing? You talk to them as if they are your neighbor and you are trying to show the love of Jesus to them, Mary said.

I treat them as I would myself or my friends.  They are just like us. When you talk to them, when you try to connect to them, thats the attitude that you have to have.

Mary has a degree in psychology and attended formal theology training at a Christian learning institution in Northern California for establishing houses of worship. She served as the director of a safehouse in Southern California for some time.

She regularly hosts participants of short-term mission trips to Mexicos Baja California state. Many participants in her outreach are from Orange, San Diego, and Los Angeles counties.

Mary said her ministry first came together for worship and to encourage those working with people in need in this area. The ministry then expanded into outreach as the natural next step, to help the victims of the sex trade in this part of Tijuana.

It provides essential items, such as food, feminine products, and health items. It also provides meals, haircuts, and other services. Counseling and spiritual encouragement are an important part of its mission.

Magdalene Hope

Doug Bennett, founder of the nonprofit faith-based ministry Magdalene Hope, regularly facilitates what he calls streetreaches.

The overall goal is to share a message of hope and love through Jesus Christ and letting the women know that there is a way out, Bennett told The Epoch Times.

We hand out backpacks to women in the red-light district who are being sold. The backpacks consist of everything a woman would need over the course of a weekend while being trafficked.

His ministry is based in Bakersfield, California, and has a chapter in Orange County. Bennett said he has been helping women voluntarily leave their forced sex labor for 11 years.

A statue of Jesus looks over a small coastal town in Baja California, Mexico, on Jan. 16, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Aside from his work in Tijuana, Bennetts ministry gives women coming out of trafficking a safe shelter for one year in Bakersfield, including counseling, therapy, and restoration in a faith-based environment.

We have met women in the red-light district from all parts of Mexico, including Mexico City, that have been brought to Tijuana to be sold, Bennett said.

These traffickers transport women on Interstate 5 from city to city, and its not uncommon for these women to have seen us [Magdalene Hope] in a different city because the traffickers move the women to different regions to sell them to keep a fresh product for the men to buy and to keep law enforcement guessing or confused about their whereabouts.

His involvement with Proyecto Rahab began when the project first formed three years ago.

Proyecto Rahab

In February 2018, Proyecto Rahab brought together the fewmostly untrained and very under-resourcedpeople dedicated to ending human trafficking, founder Adam Stieve told The Epoch Times in an email.

It started with only a handful of people, almost exclusively Mexican. But many Americans eventually joined, providing more resources and training. It now includes more than 25 organizations.

Most of the names of these organizations are unrecognizable, Stieve said. The well-funded American organizations are not present there. Sadly, there is almost no attention given to this area that lies just a few miles from San Diego. Until now, it has been left largely ignored and forgotten, except by a few courageous individuals.

Only by coming together do these devoted servants have any chance at combating the forces of evil, including the powerful cartels of Mexico.

On Jan. 16, Proyecto Rahab began the first in a series of training seminars.

This first one was for the existing caregivers who put their hearts into healing and reintegrating victims, Stieve said. About 70 people attended.

The Rahab Project engages in all areas of anti-human trafficking, which include prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership, Stieve said.

He said the training for caregivers would help them identify the different stages of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims and give appropriate treatments to help stabilize them initially.

Further training will include identifying the signs of human trafficking, working with authorities to combat it, how to teach life skills for victims to reintegrate in society, and how to access and share resources.

Among the experts giving training at the first seminar was a counselor from Fort Worth, Texas, who detailed American Psychiatric Association-approved therapy tailored to victims of commercial sexual exploitation, including children.

Many victims have only ever known fear and hopelessness, Stieve said. The training will help caregivers establish a safe and secure environment for them.

In addition to being trafficked, many victims are also recovering from drug addiction and domestic violence trauma, Stieve said.

The journey starts with detox and ends with homeownership and a real job, he said.

Stieve is also the founder of Las Aves del Paraiso, the first safehouse in Baja designed specifically for adult women and their children. He has been involved with anti-trafficking initiatives in California and served in Mexico since 2016 by helping build homes, medical clinics, and orphanages; distribute food and other essentials; and provide other forms of care.

For most Americans, Tijuana is a notorious city to be contained by border, Stieve said. But just on the other side of the wall are thousands of victims entrapped in a never-ending nightmare.

Californians need to be aware that the cross-border sex tourism trade is continuing to fuel this illicit industry. A quick trip across the border has consequences.

He said theyre working to educate people in Mexico to prevent them from becoming victims, especially their children.

This work is not for the faint of heart, especially in an area controlled by the cartel, he said. But this bi-national effort is growing in strength and in numbers. The coalition is making a difference.

For more information, email Adam Stieve adam@lasavesdelparaiso.org.
Barriers separate a residential compound in Jilin in China's northeastern Jilin Province on May 25, 2020. (AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese City Facing Food Crisis After Authorities Impose Strict COVID-19 Lockdown

Chinas recent surge of CCP virus infections has made life difficult for local residents in Tonghua, a city located near the North Korean border in northeastern Chinas Jilin Province.

Ms. Liang, a businesswoman in Dongchang district in Tonghua, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that local authorities began to seal off her community on Jan. 15, nearly a week before the official announcement.

Tonghua municipal officials announced that Dongchang residents would be subjected to seal-off management beginning at 10 p.m. local time on Jan. 21. The announcement said residents wouldnt be allowed to leave their homes, and local community officials would deliver the required living necessities.

It turned out the seal-off management was not limited to Dongchang district but included other areas in Tonghua.

Liang said the decision by local authorities to seal off households came abruptlylocal officials put seals on her doors one early morning without any advanced notice.

Now in isolation, Liang says shes running out of food, with many of her friends facing a similar crisis. Shes unable to leave her home, being told that she will be arrested by the police if she tries to leave.

Ive run out of meat. The only vegetable I have is a single Chinese cabbage. I have also run out of noodles, and I have a half bag of rice left. So I have a one- or two-day supply of food left. I dont even have eggs. I didnt know we would be sealed off for such a long time, Liang said.

She added that nobody has delivered food supplies to her as the government promised, and online food delivery services are slow and expensive.

She said that the food shortage problem hasnt been limited to Dongchang district. Families in other parts of Tonghua are facing the same problem.

According to official government data from Jilins provincial health commission, at least 196 people in Tonghua have recently tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, as of Jan. 24.

However, due to the Chinese authorities past record of underreporting infections and covering up information, its difficult to assess the true scale of the outbreak. Tonghua has a population of about 2.3 million.

Liang also complained that the local government made a U-turn on one of its policies. She said initially residents were told they could apply for a household certificate, allowing one person per household to leave the house every three days. But the policy never materialized.

There is definitely panic among people, Liang said, adding that locals should be allowed to leave their homes to buy food at least twice a week.

A male businessman in Dongchang, who declined to give his name for fear of repercussions for speaking to independent media, said his family only had enough food for one more week, and had run out of fruit. He said he hadnt received any food supplies from local officials, and his doors had been sealed.

He expressed concerns about his wife, who is due to give birth at the end of March. He said he doesnt know whether she can still attend her regular pregnancy checkup since her hospital is now being used as a quarantine hospital.

In a press conference on Jan. 24, Jiang Haiyan, Tonghuas deputy mayor, apologized for delays in the delivery of living necessities to households.

Her apology was immediately met with heavy criticism on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, Chinas Twitter equivalent.

One netizen from Tianjin wrote: I dont want to see apologies. I want to see people having food to eat and taking their necessary medication  toddlers having powdered milk to drink.

Another netizen, from Beijing, wrote: What good is an apology. It has been a year since the outbreak started, and we still cannot deliver supplies to people in a timely manner.

Guo Xiaohua and Zhang Yujie contributed to this report.
Former Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is drawing interest from the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco Chronicles Susan Slusser reported. They also have interest in free agent corner outfielder Eddie Rosario.

Slusser wrote, Sources told The Chronicle that the team has interest in Eddie Rosario, who  like recent Giants acquisition Matt Wisler  was non-tendered by the Twins last month. Rosario, 29, cleared waivers and is now a free agent, as is another Giants target, longtime Boston center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr.

MLB Networks Jon Heyman reported Friday that the New York Mets are interested in Bradley as well.

The 30-year-old star defender, who has played his entire career for Boston, batted .283 with a .364 on-base percentage, .450 slugging percentage, .814 OPS, seven home runs, 11 doubles, 22 RBIs, 32 runs and five steals in 55 games during the shortened 2020 season.

George Springer signed with the Blue Jays last week. And so Bradley is the top center fielder remaining on the free agent market that also includes Kevin Pillar, Jake Marisnick, Albert Almora and Delino DeShields Jr.

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CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has intensified its preparations for the forthcoming Municipal Corporation, Municipal Committee and Nagar Panchayat elections. Under this, the party on Sunday (January 25) released another list of 160 candidates in 11 local bodies.

In a statement issued from the party headquarters, AAP's state in-charge and MLA from Delhi Jarnail Singh and state president and MP Bhagwant Mann said that the AAP, which is contesting the upcoming local bodies elections in Punjab on its election symbol 'Broom', will win on all the seats and clean up the political filth.

The leaders said that 160 candidates from 11 local bodies that include Abohar, Morinda, Nabha, Pathankot, Gidderbaha, Dhariwal, Batala, Mundki, Mamdot, Jalalabad and Kotkapura, were announced. The AAP leaders said that it was a golden opportunity for the people this time to bring change in the cities by electing their councillors among the people, who would work for the people.

They said that it was imperative that an educated and competent person be elected as peoples representative. The leaders added that the Aam Aadmi Party has fielded candidates who would serve the people, are honest, educated and intelligent. The AAP leaders appealed to the voters of Punjab to choose the right candidate by exercising their voting right enshrined in the Constitution

Earlier, the party had announced 320 candidates for 35 local bodies. Elections to the eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Punjab will be held on February 14.

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In today's climate of racial reckoning, it's fitting for Moody Nolan, the nation's largest African American-owned architecture firm, to be honored with the 2021 Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The annual award is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture practice. The award recognizes a firm that has consistently produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. This is the first time a Black-owned architecture firm has ever received the award in the AIA's 58 years of conducting the annual recognition.

"We are delighted to be recognized with our industry's most prestigious award for our work, which always has been grounded in a belief that a diverse design team is more creative and delivers architecture that better responds to the needs of the community," says Jonathan Moody, who succeeded his father in the role of CEO in January 2020. "This clearly demonstrates that architectural designs that are centered on and respectful of cultural nuances and are attuned to the impact they have on neighborhoods and residents can coexist."

The No. 26 ranked architecture firm (Building Design + Construction) has received more than 49 awards from the American Institute of Architects and 45 from the National Organization of Minority Architects. While the recognition makes them immensely proud, it never overshadows the firm's deep commitment to meeting the unique goals of each client. Its primary focus is always to work collaboratively with clients from initial idea through construction to ensure their vision is met. "This core belief, we think, is what sets us apart from the vast majority of award-winning design firms," says Curt Moody, chairman of the board.

"We recently celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who believed in the value of each person, regardless of color," says Curt Moody. "Over the course of nearly 40 years, our practice has opened doors for people of color and women by recruiting at HBCUs and equipping newly-hired employees with the tools they need to succeed."

Moody Nolan has full-service offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York City, and Washington, D.C. The Connor Group Headquarters, Texas Southern University Library Learning Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Branch Library in Columbus, OH, CenturyLink Technology Center of Excellence, and Englewood S.T.E.M. High School are just a few designs in a portfolio that has earned the firm high praise and has opened the door to future opportunities as well as incremental new projects from satisfied clients.

In February, as the nation celebrates historic and recent contributions of African Americans during Black History, Curt and Jonathan Moody continue making history of their own and on their own terms. The Legacy House Project helps fulfill the firm's philanthropic commitment to community investment and closing the wealth gap for families by giving away a new home designed by the firm to a deserving family in each city where its offices are located. The Columbus Legacy House was completed in 2019. The Nashville Legacy House broke ground in 2020, and the one for Chicago is slated for 2021.

Being able to leave a legacy for his son Jonathan Moody evokes special memories for the elder Moody. "Most Black-owned businesses do not become generational-owned businesses because often we lack access to capital, networking, and other necessary resources to propel a business forward," says Curt Moody. "This is why mentoring and fully supporting new hires has been a passion of mine. We have to prepare the next generations to take the helm to carry on our legacies."

About Moody Nolan

Moody Nolan is the country's largest African American-owned architecture firm with 11 offices across the country. Headquartered in Columbus, OH, Moody Nolan was founded in 1982 with just two employees. It has grown to more than 200 employees and has received notable national recognition and awards. Moody Nolan specializes in corporate, education, sports/recreation, collegiate, healthcare, housing/mixed-use, and public service facilities. For more information about Moody Nolan, visit www.moodynolan.com. For more information about the AIA award, visit https://www.aia.org/showcases/6346446-moody-nolan.

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Legislative Update from Rep. Randy Bridges

By Representative Randy Bridges

PADUCAH -The vetoes issued by Governor Beshear last week will be among the most pressing tasks on our agenda when we return to Frankfort in February. The Governor vetoed six of the seven bills we sent to his desk, allowing only the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (SB 9) to become law without his signature. While we will consider his stance on each of these bills, I also know that they are good long-term public policy, something that our state direly needs.While the vetoes were expected, I am still disappointed because they will make state government more accountable, transparent, and effective in the long run. The Governors but actions over the last several months have revealed weaknesses in the law and as a lawmaker it is our responsibility to address those weaknesses. Three of the bills vetoed deal specifically with restoring the balance of government authority and are aimed at bringing statutes in line with our state constitution. They include:HB 5 - requires the reorganization of executive branch agencies and boards to be approved by the General Assembly before they are implemented instead of after as the law now reads.SB 1  balances the need for Kentucky to act quickly in an emergency with ensuring that a governor does not overstep his or her authority and attempt to legislate through executive orders.SB 2  prevents the executive branch from effectively making laws by issuing regulations rather than going through the legislature.Regardless of what some may say, these bills were not politically motivated, nor do they simply strip the Governor of his authority. In fact, they are part of a movement that is taking place across the nation. As your legislator, I take my constitutional responsibilities seriously and, frankly, many legislators across the country are concerned about how governors are using their emergency powers. This was bound to happen as laws created to address short-term emergencies are now being used to allow governors to run their states without any input from the branch of government responsible for enacting laws and setting policies. It is even happening in states like Indiana, where the legislature and governor are of the same political party. This is commonsense, really, because when all of state government works together, the policies better reflect what the people want. After all, we have a greater chance of reaching an agreement and making more thoughtful decisions.This is particularly true as we need to stop treating COVID like a temporary crisis and accept that we are almost a year into a pandemic with major health, economic, educational, and social implications. Justin Phillips, a political scientist at Columbia University, was recently quoted in an article on this very topic. Its no longer about a rapid response, Phillips said. Its time for more deliberative decision-making.Of course, working together means collaborating, listening to different approaches and ideas, and making the solution and not the credit for it your priority. It may not be easy, but we were not elected to do easy things and I was sent to Frankfort to do the right things for our state.The Governor also vetoed a proposal to avoid future shutdowns and provide a more consistent approach to mitigating the spread of COVID-19. HB 1 provides a path to help businesses, schools, nonprofits, and other organizations remain safely open throughout the pandemic; gives employers some relief in making their unemployment insurance payments; and ensures visitation opportunities for those in long-term care and children in state custody.Legislation that would make justice more accessible was also vetoed. HB 3 removes the antiquated requirement that Kentuckians file suit against the state in Franklin Circuit Court and allows these lawsuits to be sued in the plaintiffs home county.The Governor also struck down a bill that would give the Attorney General the authority to enforce state laws and regulations as they apply to abortion providers. This measure, HB 2, was part of another bill that he vetoed at the end of the 2020 Regular Session. I am grateful that this time we will have an opportunity to override his decision.We will reconvene on February 2. In the meantime, I can be reached during the week from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (EST) through the toll-free message line at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via e-mail at Randy.Bridges@lrc.ky.gov.

Reena Jani rose early, finished her chores in the crisp January cold and walked uphill to the road skirting her remote tribal hamlet of Pendajam in eastern India.

"I was frightened because of my son and daughters. If something happens to me, what will they do?" Jani told Reuters, visibly relieved after the injection produced no immediate side effects.

The vaccine she received had travelled much further. It was taken by plane, truck and van some 1,700 km from the factory to the clinic where Jani waited, and it had to be kept cold the whole way.

Its safe arrival in Koraput district, where leftist guerrillas wage a low-level insurgency amid rolling hills and thick forests, was testament to detailed planning and groundwork by authorities in the state of Odisha.

But officials acknowledge this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The 1.5 million vaccinated so far, mainly targeting key workers like Jani, are a tiny first phase of a vaccine programme that India hopes will eventually protect its 1.4 billion people from the coronavirus.

Only when the much larger third phase is launched, aimed at 270 million people deemed vulnerable, will the government know if its plan to distribute shots across sometimes hostile terrain and amid high temperatures will succeed.

"The problem will start from the third phase when the public will start coming," said Madhusudan Mishra, Koraput's district collector. "That will be a real challenge."

Supplying vaccines is one thing. Convincing people to take them is another.

Scepticism about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 shots is high in India, particularly in rural areas, officials say, and misinformation via social media platforms and word-of-mouth could undermine the effort.

The COVID-19 vaccine Jani took was developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. India is also using another developed by Bharat Biotech.

The deployment comes as the number of coronavirus cases in India approached 11 million and deaths exceeded 150,000.

'MOST AWAITED VACCINE'

Manufactured in the western city of Pune by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, some 40,800 vials of the AstraZeneca shot were flown on a commercial airline into Odisha's capital city on Jan. 12.

A fire last week at the Pune plant killed five people but officials said vaccine production would not be affected.

India has distributed 16.5 million doses of the two approved vaccines to its states and territories, which dispersed them using an army of drivers and an infrastructure established for existing vaccination programmes but bolstered for the pandemic.

In Odisha, after a delayed start on Jan. 13, government staff at the vaccine centre pulled out vials from a cavernous refrigerator and carefully counted them, before packing them into insulated boxes with ice packs to keep them at between 2-8 degrees Celsius for up to three days.

Then it was over to veteran health department driver Lalu Porija. He drove his delivery van all night to reach the site, and now had to truck the vaccines 500 km (310 miles) back to Koraput with an armed policeman in plain clothes for company.

"I am feeling a little tired," said Porija, as he stopped to sip tea late that evening after a traffic jam delayed the trip by several hours.

Negotiating cows, debris, thick fog and hairpin bends, and fighting fatigue, Porija drove nearly 24 hours within three days to collect and deliver the vaccine shots to Koraput town.

On Jan. 15, at Koraput's main vaccine store, healthcare workers counted, packed and loaded smaller quantities for the district's five vaccination sites, including the Mathalput Community Health Centre some 30 km away.

A small white van drove out at noon, kicking up dust on narrow countryside roads, for a delivery run to multiple sites. Again, an armed policeman sat inside.

"The most awaited vaccine," a healthcare worker at Mathalput said to colleagues, as a box of shots was unloaded.

CHALLENGES LOOM

India has mapped out a plan to vaccinate around 300 million people by July-August.

In the first phase, which got underway earlier this month, the target is 10 million healthcare workers, including Jani. Next are 20 million essential services workers, followed by 270 million people deemed susceptible to the coronavirus.

Beyond that there is no clear road map, although the government has said every Indian who wants or needs the vaccine will get it.

In Koraput, a team of officials spent months putting together a local COVID-19 vaccination plan, officials said.

With much of the district lacking internet access, they chose vaccination sites with good connectivity and conducted dry runs, said Koraput's top health official Dr Makaranda Beura.

And where mobile coverage was patchy, like Jani's Pendajam village, health workers were called to meetings to inform them of vaccination plans, followed by visits from supervisors to people registered to be inoculated.

Despite initial glitches, particularly with CO-WIN - a centralised digital platform to roll out and track India's mammoth vaccination programme - officials in Koraput said the system would suffice for the first two phases.

For the much bigger third phase, district collector Mishra said he anticipated deploying the entire local police force to manage crowds as well as acquiring additional vehicles to support staff working in far-flung areas.

But moving the vaccine deep into the interiors, where Maoist insurgents are known to operate, also requires police to work with paramilitary troops and special forces, said southwest Odisha's police chief Rajesh Pandit.

"We have to take extra care," Pandit said.

RUMOURS AND HESITANCY

Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago.

She monitors pregnant women in her village of 500 people, helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea.

The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school.

When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour.

"Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened."

In a survey conducted by New Delhi-based online platform LocalCircles, 62% of 17,000 respondents were hesitant to get vaccinated immediately, mainly due to worries over possible adverse reactions.

The fears are rife among health workers too, prompting India to appeal to frontline workers not to refuse vaccines after many states failed to meet initial vaccination targets.

Dr Tapas Rajan Behera, the medical officer in charge of the Mathalput Community Health Centre, said authorities were aware of possible reluctance to take the vaccine and had instructed health workers to allay fears over safety.

A jittery Jani eventually received her shot, partly vaccinating her against COVID-19: one tiny step in India's mission to beat the pandemic.

Also Read:Tata Group in talks with Moderna to launch COVID-19 vaccine in India
A Polish butcher accused of raping and murdering a student told the court she was 'a very beautiful woman' and that he was 'looking for easy sex' that night as he admits having sex with the 21-year-old.

Pawel Relowicz, 26, is on trial for the murder of Hull University student Libby Squire, who disappeared during a night out in February 2019 and whose body was found in the Humber estuary weeks later.

The prosecution have said that he drove her in his car to the remote Oak Road playing fields, where he raped and murdered her, before putting her body into the River Hull.

This afternoon, Relowicz took the stand at Sheffield Crown Court and told the jury on the night of Libby's disappearance he was driving around the student area of Hull looking for a woman to have 'easy sex' with.

Describing Libby as so drunk she could barely stand, Relowicz said he did not physically force her into the car and that he had to put her seatbelt on for her.

The court heard he then drove her to the playing fields where they had consensual sex before he drove away and left her there.

The jury had previously heard that the suspect had broken into homes and stolen sex toys and women's underwear.

His defence barrister Oliver Saxby QC showed the jury images proving Relowicz was driving close to the scene of his previous crimes between 9pm and 11pm on the night of January 31.

The barrister defending Polish butcher Pawel Relowicz, 26, (pictured right, with his wife) against accusations of having raped and murdered Hull University student Libby Squire (left) has said his client 'cannot be guilty of killing Libby Squire' because there is no evidence

Mr Saxby asked his client: 'Why were you driving around?'

Relowicz, speaking through an interpreter, replied: 'I was looking for a woman to have easy sex.'

Mr Saxby said: 'We know that on occasion when you saw a woman you would masturbate in front of her, is that something you were looking to do or was it just sexual intercourse?'

The defendant replied: 'I was looking to find a woman on the street and masturbate.'

The court heard the defendant visited Oak Road Playing Fields, where it's alleged Libby was later taken, at around 9pm that evening.

Mr Saxby said: 'What were you doing there?'

Relowicz replied: 'I tried to commit voyeurism.'

The barrister said: 'When you got out of your car what did you do?'

His client replied: 'Look for a woman to have sex with or commit voyeurism.'

Relowicz told the court he did not see anyone and returned back to his vehicle.

CCTV footage shows Libby Squire on her way to the Welly Nightclub, which she was later turned away from

Mr Saxby began his questioning by listing the defendant's nine convictions and after each one asked him, 'was this you?', to which he replied 'yes'.

Mr Saxby also told the jury about a number of sex toys and items of underwear police found in Relowicz's possession after his arrest in February 2019.

The defendant admitted stealing them from homes in Hull and using them as an 'aid to masturbation'.

Relowicz told the court he is not excited by violent sex, rape or the idea of causing pain through sex.

He told the jury he saw Ms Squire on the pavement and he went over to see her, explaining: 'I was interested, it was just out of curiosity.'

She was crying and shouting, he told the court.

Relowicz said: 'I said I wanted to help her.'

Asked by his barrister Oliver Saxby QC, how she behaved towards him, he replied: 'Nice, she was nice, but she was saying she didn't know what was going on with her.'

He said he did not have sexual feelings towards her.

Pawel Relowicz, 26, is on trial for the murder of Hull University student Libby Squire (pictured), 21, who disappeared during a night out in February 2019 and whose body was found in the Humber estuary weeks later

Asked if he found her attractive, he said: 'She was a very beautiful woman.'

The butcher was shown a number of CCTV clips showing Libby Squire on Beverley Road, in Hull, on the evening of January 31.

He also watched footage of his car driving into and parking at the end of Haworth Street.

The defendant said he had not seen Ms Squire before parking his silver Vauxhall Astra, and he got out of the car because he 'was going to watch people'.

Relowicz told the court that he did not physically force Libby Squire into his car.

He said he put her seatbelt on for her 'because she was drunk'.

He said she was 'barely' able to stand but he believed she understood everything that he said to her.

The defendant said he drove Libby Squire to Oak Road, where she began to make sounds as if she wanted to vomit so he stopped the car.

The defendant told the court she undid her seatbelt, ran from the car and fell to the ground.

He said: 'I asked her if everything was OK with her, she said yes and she asked me to hug her.'

He added: 'We were hugging each other and we started kissing.'

Relowicz, who said he felt 'excited', told the court he grabbed Ms Squire's bottom and she tried to undo his trousers.

He said she then laid down near his car and they had sex.

When they had finished, she tried to kiss him but he did not want to, Relowicz told the court.

He said: 'I turned away and she scratched me on my face.'

The defendant said he got into his car and drove home.

Relowicz told the jury Ms Squire was stood behind his car as he drove away, shouting at him not to leave her.

After leaving Libby Squire he said he drove home and watched porn on a sex chat site while he was in the bath.

He explained: 'I like watching porn and I like sex.'

He did not watch violent porn, he told the court.

Around 2.25am he said he went back to Oak Road to see if he could find Ms Squire.

'I was worried about her,' he said.

He checked to see if she was on the ground, and said he could not see her anywhere and thought she might have gone home.

Relowicz told the court he had a bath and washed his clothes that night as he had had sex and he did not want his wife to find out.

Oliver Saxby QC, defending, asked him how he felt about what happened with Ms Squire.

He replied: 'I was worried about her because I knew it was cold and she was drunk.'

Asked how he felt about having sex with her, Relowicz said: 'I was emotionally broken down that I had cheated on my wife for the first time in my life.'

He said later that night, he masturbated in the street, explaining he did it 'because I was sexually excited'.

The defendant said he did not rape or kill Ms Squire or put her body into the river.

Earlier today, his barrister Oliver Saxby told the jury: 'To say he has a problem barely scratches the surface.

'How he has behaved, what he has done - it is utterly disgusting.'

But he said there was no evidence that Relowicz had killed Libby.

Sheffield Crown Court has been told he picked up Ms Squire, who was drunk and distressed after she had been turned away from a nightclub, while he was 'prowling around the student area' looking for an opportunity to commit a sexual offence against a vulnerable young woman.

Mr Saxby said: 'Let me spell it out: He has violated homes, he has violated the intimate possessions of student girls, he has violated intimate moments and he has expressed his enjoyment at all of this by masturbating at the time, and elsewhere - including in public places.

'It is, I repeat, disgusting.

'What he did I don't doubt will have been extremely frightening.

'And you will hate him for it. That's the reality, being frank. Why wouldn't you?'

Mr Saxby said the defendant found it difficult to accept he had a problem and had lied to his wife, and to himself.

'Why? Because his behaviour is so gross; and, perhaps, we would say, because - in the context of this case - he feared that if he admitted it, it would count against him,' Mr Saxby said.

The jury has been told that after the police arrested the Polish-born defendant, a married father-of-two of Raglan Street, Hull, they found sex toys and women's underwear that he had stolen after breaking into students' homes

The defence barrister said Relowicz's sexual offences were his only previous convictions.

In his opening defence speech, Mr Saxby said he will call two witnesses, both students, who heard screams in the early hours of February 1, 2019.

Mr Saxby said Relowicz had already returned home at the time the witnesses said they heard the screams, and so he 'cannot be guilty of killing Libby Squire'.

A previous witness who also heard 'desperate' screaming, Mr Saxby said, could be explained as Ms Squire being 'lost, and disorientated, and confused, and desperate'.

This was the type of case where the defendant 'is left simply saying 'I didn't do it, I don't know what happened, I wasn't there, I cannot say',' Mr Saxby said.

The defence barrister said: 'That, then, is the backdrop to the defence case - which I am about to commence by calling Mr Relowicz.

'The essentials? 'What this case revolves around is not the offences Mr Relowicz has committed.

'Nor is it the lies he has told - about these offences, about his problem, or about his contact with Libby Squire - how he met her, what happened and so on.

'No doubt, those who are guilty lie. But so, sometimes, in fairness do those who are innocent - for a whole host of reasons including a fear, a childish fear perhaps, that their honest account will not believed.

'Instead, the case against Mr Relowicz centres on whether there is evidence proving the theory surrounding Libby Squire's disappearance which the prosecution have advanced at this trial.'

Relowicz denies murder and rape and the trial remains ongoing.

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A major hospital in San Jose has been suspended from receiving coronavirus vaccine doses from Santa Clara County after it reached out to a local school district and let staff members jump the line to obtain inoculations.

At the invitation of Good Samaritan Hospitals leaders, 65 teachers and staff members from the Los Gatos Unified School District were able to get vaccinated at Good Samaritan Hospital on Thursday, hospital spokesperson Sarah Sherwood confirmed. They received their doses while the county is experiencing a vaccine shortage and was only inoculating health care workers and people 75 and older.

According to an email obtained by the San Jose Spotlight, which first reported the story, Los Gatos Union School District Superintendent Paul Johnson told teachers the hospital had not forgotten the districts kindness in raising money to provide meals for the hospitals health care workers during the spring through its Feed Our Heroes program, which also provided meals to El Camino Hospitals.

Staffers in the affluent district were encouraged to represent themselves as health care workers when signing up for the vaccinations, according to the email.

I completely understand concerns about the vaccine rollout, and any characterization I may have made about Good Samaritan returning a good deed was my own personal interpretation, Johnson wrote in an email to The San Francisco Chronicle. While I apologize for that characterization, I also will continue to advocate for school staff to be a high priority for vaccination.

Johnson wrote that his job as superintendent is to ensure the safety of all the districts students and staff, and that it was more urgent as they approach their target for school reopening within the next week or two.

Thats why we were so grateful when Good Samaritan Hospital reached out to us with this opportunity, Johnson wrote.

California only recently expanded vaccine eligibility to residents 65 years and older, but Santa Clara County says most health care systems there are still offering vaccination only to people 75 and older because of supply shortages. Good Samaritan Hospital has reported it is only vaccinating health care workers for now.

According to the email, Johnson informed staff that Good Samaritan Chief Operating Officer Gary Purushotham informed the district that teachers and staff could access appointments and had cleared LGUSD staff to sign up under the healthcare buttons.

In a letter sent to Purushotham on Friday and provided to The Chronicle by county officials, Santa Clara Countys testing and vaccine officer wrote that the hospitals actions were problematic for multiple reasons, including that the decision rewarded employees in connection with fundraising, rather than prioritizing older educators of those from areas of the county with a high prevalence of COVID-19.

And by offering vaccination only to a staff of a particular school district, Good Samaritans actions have created further confusion regarding to the categories of persons eligible to be vaccinated countywide, causing other educators to understandably but incorrectly expect that they will be able to access vaccination through Good Samaritan and/or other vaccine providers in the county, wrote Marty Fenstersheib, testing and vaccine officer for Santa Clara County.

The exchange also intensified already pressing issues around the ethics of vaccine availability  and accessibility  where seniors around the state are struggling to navigate a complicated and slow vaccine rollout system. Many may not have spouses, children, or caregivers to do the difficult technical work of booking their appointments online, or take them to a health center.

When asked why Good Samaritan Hospital chose to offer vaccines to teachers at one particular school district instead of seniors, caregivers or any other vulnerable populations, Sherwood told The Chronicle that the hospital had exhausted its outreach that day. When youve exhausted it, that means you dont have anybody coming in, so (Purushotham) was trying to fill that, Sherwood said.

These were thawed vaccines, Sherwood said. We wanted to use them right away, so we called the school district.

As stated in the countys letter, Good Samaritan will now be barred from receiving any additional vaccine doses unless it provides sufficient assurances it will follow state and county direction on vaccine eligibility and provides the county with a concrete plan. Sherwood said the hospital is working on a plan of action.

Health care workers and patients will still receive their second doses of the vaccine as planned. As for the staff at the Los Gatos Unified School District, that remains to be seen, Sherwood said.

I would have to check on that, but I would think so, she said.

Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annievain
ROME, JAN 25 - President Sergio Mattarella on Monday demanded a response from Egypt over the torture and murder of Giulio Regeni on the fifth anniversary of the Italian student's disappearance in Cairo. The Cambridge University research student's brutalized body was found a week later. Rome prosecutors have requested that four members of Egypt's security services face trial in relation to the case. "Among many difficulties, the work of the Rome prosecutors' department has led to the conclusion of investigations that have identified a picture of grave responsibility that will soon be subject to a trial for the consequent punishment for the guilty parties," wrote Mattarella in a statement. "We expect a full and adequate response from the Egyptian authorities, which have been relentlessly called on in this regard by the Italian diplomatic services". (ANSA).
AK vs AK was always intended as primarily a thriller. I don't think we were on a high horse about showing a mirror to anyone,' says Avinash Sampath.

The world might be reeling from being homebound for a majority of last year, but Avinash Sampath does not sound particularly perturbed. His screenwriting debut AK vs AK released on Netflix India on 24 December, 2020, and good wishes have not stopped pouring in.

Connecting on video call, he tells me about his journey from Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Dubai, to finally settling in Amsterdam, where he has been living for nearly a decade now. Studying visual communication at Loyola college (Pushkar-Gayathri of Vikram Vedha-fame and Thiagarajan Kumararajan of Super Deluxe-fame are his juniors), Sampath made his foray into advertising. "I think until our batch, we did whatever we did, but the subsequent batches really took to film. One of the options after that course, would be to move towards film. But I came out of wanting to be a copywriter," he says.

Moving to Bengaluru for his first job, it took him three agencies and four cities to start getting disillusioned about his professional life. "There comes a time in advertising, where you're in boardrooms talking about it rather than doing the actual work," he says. It is during this period that he started jotting down ideas for possible scripts. Only after he started his advertising agency Lovely in 2011 that he really found time to start working on his "crazy" ideas. "It's a two-person agency. I work out of Amsterdam; my work partner is Swedish, and he works out of Ibiza (Spain). It's an agency run on Skype so we've been essentially living the COVID lifestyle for almost a decade."

It is around this time that Phantom Films also emerged as Hindi cinema's "new-age" production house, probably bold enough to even consider Sampath's idea. Starting out as AK vs SK in 2014, when Shahid Kapoor was in Anil Kapoor's place, Sampath's dream finally came to fruition when Vikramaditya Motwane's Andolan Films and Netflix India joined hands.

Below are edited excerpts of a conversation with debutante screenwriter Avinash Sampath on the rollercoaster of bringing his first script to screen.

What was the germ of the idea for AK vs AK?

This idea had been brewing in my head since 2009-10, but it was only in 2014 that I sent a five-pager to the folks at Phantom. It had a beginning, middle, and end but it was a completely different story at that point. It had the same premise  director kidnaps the wife/daughter of an actor, and then casts him in the movie. And the fun for the audience was  are they watching a film or the film that the director is making in the film? You would blur the lines, where you see the actor talking to their daughter, who is the actual daughter. But then you hear 'cut,' and you don't know if it was a scene or he was actually talking to his daughter.

The mid-point was that the woman behind the camera ('crazy chick' as we called her then) had the upper hand in the whole scheme because she had kidnapped the parents of the director too, and made him the fall-guy for the whole thing. I had a whole bunch of endings in the original story  one where the girl comes out on top. There was a version where these are a bunch of 21-year-old film school students, and how far would they go to break into the film industry.

The initial plan was that the search would be spread out over three days, and it had a lot more complexities. It felt like a plot, where there's no end to improvisation. For example, what if the next task would take you to another celebrity's house, and they were busy in the middle of something else.

I sent the five pages, and all I knew at that point was that it would need a real director kidnapping someone close to a real actor. And it would make more sense in a place like India, because we love our celebrities. We put them on a pedestal for no good reason.

The commentary on stardom  was that theme you wanted to tackle from the beginning?

I came to it quite linearly. I haven't studied screenwriting. So I just came at it swinging, thinking this is the craziest idea I have. And coming back to that thing that I knew this needed a real director. Now, the thing is we don't know most of our directors by face. Very few directors are popular. At the same time, there's the believability of this that here's a director who is mad enough to do something as absurd as this shit! Off the bat, I think I knew this would have to be Anurag Kashyap. If there was something that was set in stone even at the five-pager level, it was Anurag Kashyap. Which is why I even sent the pitch to Phantom, so that one part of this puzzle would be fixed, sooner than later. Fortunately for me, the guys at Phantom wrote back within seven to 10 days. I never wrote this thinking Vik (Vikramaditya Motwane) would want to direct it. I just sent it saying, "Here's an idea, but Anurag Kashyap will have to act in it. What do you guys think?"

(Also read: Udaan to AK vs AK, Vikramaditya Motwane's decade-long, genre-hopping filmography is commendable)

So Vikram has always been in the picture?

Yeah, Vikram said he wanted to direct it. Hand on heart, once Vikram came on board, he took care of everything. He convinced Anurag Kashyap. I only kinda sorta knew Vik at that point, but once he brought Anurag on board, he told me to write a screenplay. I ended up writing the screenplay. It took its own fair share of twists and turns on its way to Mumbai, and Vikram at some point had decided that it would be Shahid (Kapoor) in the role of the actor.

This was around 2014, right?

Yeah, 2014. I spent a week in Mumbai, and that's when we realised that it needed to be tighter. We understood that it couldn't be this long drawn-out affair, there had to be a clock they would be running against. Why are AK and SK (at that time) fighting, what was the grudge against each other? It was kinda brave of Anurag, who had just directed Bombay Velvet. It was around then the film had come out, and it had tanked. So how it was supposed to begin then, was that Anurag bumping into Shahid at the wrap party of Bombay Velvet, when he's riding high on the adrenaline of what he considers is the greatest thing to happen to Hindi cinema. Then they get into an argument about what does he know about cinema. And then a week later... it tanked so badly.

I remember the 'demise' of Bombay Velvet. How everyone was writing obituaries within three days of the release.

True. And then they started shooting this film. The only thing I heard after that was that they had shot for a couple of days, after which the dates collided, and they had to stop. I was really excited at that point  first movie about to come out, everything seems to be falling into place. This was in 2015, and I'm like... this (a feature film debut) is the easiest thing in the world, and then poof! The whole thing crashes. And it ends with me back in my bedroom, walking around in circles, trying to think whether I'm a writer or not.

At that point, the film was pretty much shelved. Vik had moved on to Sacred Games, and it was lying dead, in all of our bottom drawers for a good three years after that. I was completely disillusioned, and was trying to chip away at something else. Then in August 2019, I heard from Vikram where he was like  why don't we do this with Anil Kapoor? Then Vikram came around to Amsterdam, where we spent a week trying to rewrite the whole thing. We figured it would need a different grudge, and we chanced upon the history behind Allwyn Kalicharan, which would be the Bombay Velvet here. I don't think we intended to write this as a comedy. I think it was always meant to be a thriller. But the comedy emerged out of our tendency to put actors on a pedestal. Why the film was interesting at that point, was that person's worst day, and the fact that we meet that person becomes our best day, was what was the heart of the film.

How do you ensure that the core idea does not become dated?

Luckily, no one made something similar in the last five years.

It would be horrible to probably call it a 'timeless' idea, but it's an idea you could have executed in the '60s, or even 20 years from now! We haven't lost our love for our celebrities. In fact, it might have even gotten better 2014. We're all so deep in social media.

We know exactly what Anil Kapoor wears for lunch, dinner. Anurag Kashyap's Twitter persona in the last five years, if anything, has only further amped up the drama.

What are the challenges of writing meta-fiction? Do you rein yourself at any point? Or do you let it run wild?

We genuinely never used the word 'meta' while writing the film, but it seems like I've heard the word more than ever, since the trailer dropped. I guess it's easier for the audience to box a film in a genre. Even then, I would maintain that it's actually a thriller first. We understood that it couldn't have a straightforward climax. We had to pull the rug from underneath the audience. We figured what if the story's seeming victim turns out to be the perpetrator. So this was Anurag's film, which Anil took over at some point. At what point do you start confusing Anurag to keep even the viewer interested  that was something we had to figure out.

The way I read Anil coming out on top is  how stars tend to sabotage the projects of these indie filmmakers. Was that something you had intended?

No, not really. It was always a simple, straightforward  'who is more important? A star director or a star?' The last scene in the film where Anil comes to the hospital and says, "Anil Kapoor has been a star for 40 years, and will always be," and he goes "Cut." Initially, there was something along the lines of "Dude, am I the actor and you're the director? Or am I the director and you're my actor?" and *cut*. And that's how Anurag pieces it together in his head. Frankly, it's about how relevant anyone is in this world. Anil Kapoor is trying to relive the glory he once enjoyed, Anurag is perennially seeking relevance, Harsh (Harshvardhan Kapoor)... everyone is seeking their own moment in the limelight.

Were you ever tempted to make it into a full-blown mockumentary, holding a mirror to Bollywood and the country?

This was always intended to be a thriller. There's obviously the realisation that this won't be just the dark thriller that we initially intended. It's only after we began fleshing out scenes that we saw the humour. Like when you tell an actor their relative being kidnapped, the first thing they will do is go to the cops. You put a celebrity in a police station, that scene writes itself. I don't think we tried to write a comedy. It's just completely incidental. It all ends with a selfie with the star. I don't think we were on a high horse about showing a mirror to anyone.

(Also read: Vikramaditya Motwane's AK vs AK effortlessly holds the film industry accountable while also being hilarious)

One of the reviews picked up on this thing  how the film begins with Anil Kapoor saluting the Indian flag, probably meant to be a dig at the patriotic films these days.

I wish I had that much depth. The short answer is no. The only people it intended to take potshots at is Anil roasting Anurag, and Anurag shooting back at Anil. That's the start and end. If anything, there just happened to be a production designer who had a helicopter set. We just shot in that, which led to a series of choices. Even the controversy that emerged out of it, hand on heart, we didn't mean to offend anyone.

Yeah, that was silly...

A friend of mine, his father was in the air force. So I told him, "Listen, this thing has taken a twist. Please tell him that we didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings." As it turns out, that the friend's father watched the film and recommended it to my friend. That was the only ending I could have hoped for.

(Also read  AK vs AK controversy: Indian Air Force should avoid Twitter war; its values are too strong to be shaken by a film clip)

In a movie like this  you can either go full gonzo or you can fully stage the whole thing. AK vs AK seems like a hybrid of the two styles. What was the vision going in?

Off the bat, I knew this would be a single-camera film. My one-line pitch was  "How far would a filmmaker go to make the most 'real' thriller," which was the logline, and it was also a lie... which we understand by the end of the film. The more we started discussing it, we also considered it to be a livestream on dark web, where people comment on who should kill whom... you've seen those kind of movies! We considered that like you know Anurag is livestreaming the film in real time to some of his devoted fan clubs somewhere, who are also characters of their own, but then we found that it was becoming too complex and indulgent.

Until then, the film (within the film) was called AK vs AK, but once we figured out the ending, we knew that this was going to be a different film. Anil is making it, and he is going to bring this out as a product. Hence the title, 'Once upon a time in Bollywood.' Once we knew that film was a different film in AK vs AK, that one is completely single camera. It's like putting brackets in the script. Once he pulls the trigger, he realises that he shouldn't have done this. Yogita (Bihani) puts the camera on the table and helps Anurag out. Technically, that's the end of 'Once Upon a Time in Bollywood.' In that film, Anurag is the villain, Anil is the hero. It's only in AK vs AK we realise that Anil is both the hero and the villain, while Anurag is collateral damage.

There is that great scene of Anil performing on stage. What was the genesis of that scene?

I think this film is majorly about the 'hero' wanting something, and he's asking the least person likely to help him  the general public. So people are constantly asking him for autographs and selfies, then you go to the hotel where the manager asks Anil to tweet about the hotel. Then he's going to a taxi driver, who asks him for his watch. In fact, we thought of having a scene where Harsh goes INSAAAF, and shortly after that, he goes back to the taxi driver and asks for the watch. I think the film is, also in terms of set pieces, in two halves. The first half is Anil's world, the lavish vanity van, the posh hotel, his house, and we see him as a true-blue Kapoor, living his best life. Then the second half is running you through the mud, which we associate more with Anurag Kashyap's movies. But Anil comes back, and tells Anurag that he's from f*cking Chembur. He's like, "Anurag, you're not the only guy who has slept on streets and struggled. We've all done it." Which is why Anil is fully game to put himself through the streets. And coming back to the scene, since we had taken so much from him... and there was this set-up of a community Christmas party... the initial plan wasn't to make him dance... but since we had a ready stage, musicians and the lights, we figured we might as well make him dance. That kind of is the essence of the film  the audience controls the power and its love for a star.

(Also read  AK vs AK, The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, and Sushant Singh Rajput: Curious case of fact-fiction and the unreliable narrator)

All images from Twitter.
MOREMARRONE has a heart, a soul, and a will. Bare knuckled intellectuals. Original and nimble thinkers and doers who have produced some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

For the fifth straight year, veteran personal injury and class action lawyer, Thomas More Marrone is honored to announce that MOREMARRONE LLC was named to the 2021 Best Law Firms in America. MOREMARRONE LLC has earned this honor every year since its inception at the end of 2016.

In November of 2021, U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, for the eighth consecutive year, announced the Best Law Firms rankings. Firms included in the 2021 Best Law Firms list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.

This is not your grandfathers law firm, he says. MOREMARRONE has a heart, a soul, and a will. Bare knuckled intellectuals. Original and nimble thinkers and doers who have produced some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We represent plaintiffs in substantial personal injury, catastrophe, class action, and complex civil litigation matters; individuals and businesses in crisis avoidance and crisis management; and we provide lawyer-to-lawyer case strategy and trial consulting and intervention. Experience, proven success, and peer reviews have earned Thomas More Marrone regular honors as The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, AVVO Clients Choice + perfect 10.0 rating, and Martindale Hubbell AV 5.0 Peer Rating for Highest Level of Professional Excellence.

After a prior stretch that included two class action jury trials resulting in a settlement and a verdict combining for well over $15 million, several substantial personal injury recoveries, successful business and employment negotiations, and hundreds of satisfied clients, Tom Marrone established his multifaceted firm, MOREMARRONE LLC. His approach to success for his clients has always followed a simple mantra, I wont be outworked and I refuse to give up.

U.S. News has decades of experience evaluating key institutions in societyfrom colleges to hospitals, says Tim Smart, executive editor at U.S. News. Law firms perform a vital role in American life, and ranking them is a key extension of our overall mission to help individuals and companies alike make important life decisions.

Firms included in the 2021 Edition of U.S. News  Best Lawyers Best Law Firms are recognized for professional excellence with consistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. To be eligible for a ranking, a rm must rst have a lawyer recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, which recognizes the top 5% of private practicing lawyers in the United States. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise. The 2021 Best Law Firms rankings can be seen in their entirety by visiting bestlawfirms.usnews.com.

Choosing the right law rm can be a vital decision, said Tim Smart, executive editor at U.S. News & World Report. The rankings draw on U.S. News 35 years of experience evaluating complex institutions to help individuals and companies alike make the best decisions.

The U.S. News  Best Lawyers Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process.

About Thomas More Marrone and MOREMARRONE LLC:

MOREMARRONE LLC has handled cases producing some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The firm represents plaintiffs in significant personal injury, class action, and other complex civil litigation. After a recent 11-month stretch that included two class action jury trials resulting in a settlement and verdict amounting to well over $15 million in addition to several substantial personal injury recoveries, successful business and employment negotiations, and hundreds of satisfied clients, Tom Marrone established his multifaceted firm, MOREMARRONE LLC.

Licensed to practice in the State and Federal courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, Tom Marrone has extensive experience and proven success handling difficult, complex cases, especially class actions and collective actions, cases involving personal injury, employment, wage and hour claims, insurance matters, product liability, consumer protection, consumer fraud, deceptive practices, legal malpractice, and wrongful use of civil proceedings.

Individual and corporate clients also engage MOREMARRONE LLC for advisory services, including legal matters, crisis prevention and crisis management. A veteran class action trial lawyer, Tom Marrone also offers consultations with other attorneys and law firms related to class action and complex litigation theory development, implementation, and trial strategy.


Varun Dhawan is a cool actor and a cooler groom. A while ago, the actor shared a picture from his haldi ceremony, and boy, he is looking so happy. In the picture, one can see haldi smeared on Varun's face and body, while the actor proudly flaunts his biceps. In another picture, Varun can be seen posing with his squad, who have donned quirky customised t-shirts and black and blue jeans. Both the pictures have 'swag' written all over it, and they have lightened up the internet.

For the unversed, yesterday (January 24, 2021), Varun tied the knot with his girlfriend Natasha Dalal in the presence of family members and close friends. The entire ceremony was an intimate affair, but the duo made sure to come out to pose for the media, and won everyone's hearts with their appearance.

While Varun looked handsome in ivory sherwani, Natasha looked drop dead gorgeous in her heavily embellished lehenga.

Earlier, while speaking to a magazine, Natasha, who's a fashion designer, had spoken about her love story with the Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania actor and said, "Varun and I were in school together. We stayed friends until we were in our mid-20s and then, I remember, we started dating just before I moved away. It was around then that, I think, we realised we were more than just good friends."

ALSO READ: Varun Dhawan-Natasha Dalal's Wedding: Actor Hits The Dance Floor Post Nuptials; Read On

Varun, on the other hand, had called Natasha his 'rock' in an interview and said, "She and I went to school together. So, she knows my parents since ages. She's been attending functions with my parents before also but it wasn't photographed then. She's my rock, she's my anchor. She's the stabilising factor in my life. It's pretty much like family."

Netizens are super happy to see Varun as a married man and wish he sets many husband goals in future.

ALSO READ: Varun Dhawan Asks Paparazzi Not To Scare His Wife Natasha Dalal & Netizens Are Awwing Over Him!
Apple has updated its support document to reflect that MagSafe accessories and the iPhone 12 series can cause electromagnetic interference with certain medical devices like pacemakers and defibrillators.

The company says that it is best to keep iPhone and MagSafe accessories a safe distance away for such devices to avoid any potential issues. Seemingly, the interference is caused by pacemakers and defibrillators containing certain sensors that might respond to magnets and radios when in close proximity.

Medical devices such as implanted pacemakers and defibrillators might contain sensors that respond to magnets and radios when in close contact. To avoid any potential interactions with these devices, keep your iPhone and MagSafe accessories a safe distance away from your device (more than 6 inches / 15 cm apart or more than 12 inches / 30 cm apart if wirelessly charging). But consult with your physician and your device manufacturer for specific guidelines.

Apples acknowledgment does not mean that all pacemakers and defibrillators can face electromagnetic interference when near an iPhone 12 or MagSafe accessories. The company recommends users check with their physician and device manufacturers for the proper guidelines.

MagSafe accessories include not only the MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo but also other MagSafe accessories sold by Apple or other accessory makers. MagSafe works using a circular ring of magnets that could potentially affect the working of a pacemaker or defibrillator which could be life-threatening for many.

This issue was first brought to light by the Heart Rhythm Society earlier this month. The study cites three different doctors in Michigan who brought an iPhone 12 near a patients cardioverter defibrillator that put it into a suspended state.

Once the iPhone was brought close to the ICD over the left chest area, immediate suspension of ICD therapies was noted which persisted for the duration of the test. This was reproduced multiple times with different positions of the phone over the pocket.

If you use a pacemaker or a defibrillator, it is recommended that you simply keep your iPhone 12 away from your body for your safety.

[Via MacRumors
US President Joe Biden on Sunday spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, expressing his desire to strengthen bilateral ties, the White House said. In a phone call, Biden also stressed his commitment to bolstering the transatlantic relationship, including through NATO and the United States partnership with the European Union, the White House said in a statement.

The leaders agreed on the need for close coordination, including through multilateral organisations, in tackling common challenges such as climate change, COVID-19 and the global economic recovery, it said.

Biden and Macron also agreed to work together on shared foreign policy priorities, including China, the Middle East, Russia, and the Africa's Sahel region, the White House said. This was Bidens fourth phone call with a foreign leader after being sworn in as the US President on January 20.

Bidens first two phone calls have been, as per tradition, with the leaders of its two neighbours - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico. Biden spoke with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday. After taking over the reins of the country, the Biden Administration has started reaching out to its traditional allies.

The defense secretary has so far spoken over the phone with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his counterparts from Britain, Japan and South Korea. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has spoken with his counterparts from France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Afghanistan, South Korea and Israel.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Anchor Brewing is hitting a milestone year in 2021 with its 125th anniversary in February, and with it the Potrero Hill-based company is marking the occasion with a pretty significant change: an overhaul to the companys packaging and branding.

The new look comes with a bolder color scheme and new copy on the packaging  which the company has dubbed as a retro-modern aesthetic  but with some obviously familiar elements. Anchors, well, anchor remains front and center, and the company found itself delving back through its history of labels and advertisements to find elements to bring into its new design.

We were super excited as we approached the milestone of what would be the 125th anniversary, and we kind of used it as an opportunity looking ahead to not only go to a new look, but kind of set a new vision and reinvigorate the spirit for the future, said Anchors brewmaster Thomas Riley. You know, in our 125-year history, we've always charted our own path. We were America's first craft brewery. We introduced the public to a completely unique style of beer.  So we thought we needed to keep evolving and keep pushing the brand forward.

Anchors more recent labels have largely been drawn by James Stitt, who worked on most of the beer labels for the company since the 1970s. Stitt is also credited with drawing the labels on the companys annual Christmas ales, with its classic label style that changes each year. But given Stitts retirement last year at the age of 93, and the impending 125th anniversary of Anchor, it seemed the time for a brand refresh was at hand.

Courtesy Anchor Brewing Co.

Anchor sought out local design companies and called on R/GA and Swig to come up with an update, going through multiple versions of the new logo and packaging before landing on Anchors final look. Nathan Yoder, a West Coast illustrator who was tapped to design the 2020 Christmas Ale after Stitts retirement, was also on hand to help with the new illustrations for the beers, as well as Steven Noble, who also worked with Anchor in the past.

Although the look is a drastic departure from its previous labels, Riley said the company wanted to be innovative and bring products that are more current, but staying true to our history at the same time.

The beer itself remains unchanged, and the team stressed that it is still the same brews inside the new branded packaging that has drawn fans to their beers over the decades. Still, that doesnt mean Riley and Co. cant have a little fun with some upcoming beer releases. Riley and Pilot Brewer Dane Volek teased a new release of three beers that will be coming out in March: a Tropical Hazy IPA, a Crisp Pilsner and a low-cal beer dubbed, Little Weekend, a light Golden Ale with mango flavor.

Volek is the head of the innovation team at Anchor and has been brewing a number of experimental beers at Anchors Public Taps tasting room. Its his work there and being in direct contact with customers over the years  Volek said theyre 121 brews in at Public Taps  that have helped inform the three new beers coming out.

I would say that the process itself [of creating the newest beers] has been more driven by watching the consumers themselves and interacting with them and seeing what they really connect with, Volek said. Is it an ingredient that's driving their desire? Is it sort of a lifestyle type of decision with their beer? We get everything from families and dog owners to local workers and all the different tech companies in the neighborhood here. And we get that wide swath [of people] that we get to enjoy these beers with directly, and nothing could really inform those [brewing] decisions better than the consumers themselves.

Ryan Tuttle

The group said Anchor is committed to San Francisco, and so beyond their insistence on working with local companies on their new packaging, the company is also working on sustainability projects at the Potrero Hill plant. In progress right now is a water reclamation project with Cambrian Innovation that is set to wrap up in February. This should help Anchor use less water  with water being something that breweries are notoriously known for using a lot of during brewing. The brand is also continuing its partnership with Baykeeper and has formed a new partnership with the California State Parks Foundation as well.

In keeping with the Anchor teams commitment to San Francisco and the Bay Area, they are planning a local celebration of sorts for the company and its anniversary. In a cheeky nod to the 125th anniversary, starting January 25, locals can place an Anchor Public Taps to-go order for one six-pack of cans or bottles (in the new packaging, of course), for the vintage price of $1.25.

Anchor Public Taps, located at 495 De Haro St. in San Francisco, is open for beer pickups Thursday and Friday, 1-6 p.m., and Saturdays from 12-5 p.m. Beer pickups at the special $1.25 pricing can grab their beers the following weekend, January 28-31, during extended hours. For more information on available beers, and for ordering and hours, head to anchorbeertogo.com. For more information on the new look, head to raiseanchor.anchorbrewing.com.
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BRUSSELS  The European Unions foreign ministers on Monday condemned the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the detention of thousands during protests backing the most well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin but stopped short of weighing new sanctions against Russia.

The Council considered it completely unacceptable, condemned the mass detentions, and the police brutality over the weekend, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after chairing the meeting in Brussels. We call on Russia for the release of Mr. Navalny and those detained.

Navalny was arrested earlier this month when he returned to Moscow after spending months in Germany recovering from a poisoning in Russia with what experts say was the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

More than 3,700 people were detained across Russia during Saturdays nationwide protests in support of Navalny, according to OVD-Info, a human rights group that monitors political arrests. The group said the number was a record in its nine years of work. More than 1,400 of the detentions occurred in Moscow alone  also a record, according to Russian media.

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Asked whether the EU ministers had discussed new sanctions against Russia, Borrell said there has not been any concrete proposal on the table, but added that the ministers are ready to act, depending on the circumstances.

The EU already imposed sanctions in October on six Russian officials and a state research institute over Navalnys poisoning.

Borrell said he would visit Moscow next week for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The EUs top diplomat said the long-standing invitation from Lavrov would be a good opportunity to discuss all relevant issues, and help prepare for a debate on Russia ties between EU leaders in March.

When it was suggested that he could make his visit conditional on meeting Navalny, Borrell said: You dont do things this way.

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed concern about what he called Russias authoritarian drift. He told France-Inter radio that all light must be shed on Navalnys poisoning.

This was an assassination attempt, Le Drian said.

Saturdays protests attracted thousands of people in major Russian cities, including an estimated 15,000 in Moscow. As they unfolded, the U.S. embassy spokeswoman in the city, Rebecca Ross, said on Twitter that the United States supports the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression. Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights.

The embassy also tweeted a State Department statement calling for Navalnys release.

Putins spokesman said the statements interfered in the countrys domestic affairs and encouraged Russians to break the law.
[January 25, 2021] Burlington Code Academy Closes $10mm in Income Share Agreement Financing Capital to Expand Access to Software Engineering Education

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Burlington Code Academy (BCA) today announced the close of $10mm in growth financing to drive the expansion of their Income Share Agreement program. The Vermont-based education company is one of New England's premier technical bootcamps and continuously delivers exceptional student outcomes in the software engineering sector, projected to grow 22% over the next 10 years . BCA plans to use this capital infusion to expand their Income Share Agreement program, enabling more students, not only historically within New England but now growing across the country, to access top-tier in-person and online training and demonstrating their commitment to delivering superior outcomes and high return-on-investment to students. Burlington Code Academy has partnered with Leif, the nation's leading ISA Management Platform. Leif works with top education providers that deliver exceptional outcomes to students across a variety of fields. Leif's outcomes-aligned tuition financing solutions help education providers unlock full program growth and impact potential. Alex Horner, co-founder and COO of BCA, commented: "Income Share Agreements align perfectly with our mission to deliver a strong return on invstment to students and prepare them for the modern workplace. We chose to partner with Leif because they are the market's only full service ISA Program Manager, offering best-in-class technology solutions to help solve the origination, program management, and financing needs for our program. Leif's expertise made launching and growing our ISA program a smooth experience for BCA and our students."



"Leif partners with the best education providers across the country, with both national and regional reach," remarked Jeffrey Groeber, CEO of Leif. "Burlington Code Academy has made a demonstrable impact on lives and careers within its local community of Vermont and New England, more broadly. Their pedagogy and intense focus on strong return on investment demonstrates clear value and ISAs demonstrate their alignment of incentives. We are thrilled to help Burlington Code Academy grow as it expands its presence across the country." About Burlington Code Academy

Founded in 2017 by Benny Boas (CEO) and Alex Horner (COO), Burlington Code Academy was born out of a shared vision: to create an accessible technology school that always gives students a return on their investment.

The school has since earned a reputation as a leading center for career transformation and technology education. BCA's award winning education programs emphasize teamwork, career-readiness and the importance of collaborative learning. About Leif:

Leif is a technology company dedicated to increasing access to quality and affordable education. The company has developed an end-to-end platform that enables the design, origination, and program management of Income Share Agreement programs. As the infrastructure layer that powers the Income Share Agreement ecosystem, Leif partners with schools to provide students with an outcomes-aligned form of education finance. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/burlington-code-academy-closes-10mm-in-income-share-agreement-financing-capital-to-expand-access-to-software-engineering-education-301213570.html SOURCE Leif

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Australia will face significant pressure to join US military action in the Taiwan Strait if Chinas military escalates threats to its island neighbour, say strategic experts, after days of harassment from Chinese bombers and fighter jets.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds on Monday called for restraint and peace after China sent more than two dozen warplanes over the strait at the weekend.

The show of force came days after US President Joe Bidens inauguration and the publication of the Trump administrations Indo-Pacific strategy, which recommitted the US to defending Taiwan.

A Taiwanese Air Force F-16 in the foreground flies on the flank of a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force H-6 bomber in 2020. Credit:AP

The Australian government continues to watch very carefully what is happening in the Taiwan Strait, Reynolds said. We would say to all parties to settle their disputes peacefully and to do it in accordance with international law. And to take into consideration the wishes of people on both sides of the strait.
Charity, not politics

Regarding Big Oil reassessing political donations, (B1, Jan. 12): It was a pleasure to read in the Houston Chronicle that major corporations are rethinking their corporate political donations. I would request the corporations to consider redirecting the political donation funds to charity for the next few years. States and charitable organizations are working extremely hard to feed and clothe people who have lost their jobs and property due to the pandemic and do not know where their next meal will come from. More funds and help are required now. So much can be done for people who cannot afford even a basic meal. Education, job training and more opportunities for jobs, to name a few. The corporations do their share in assisting people in need, but more is needed this year and the next few to get people back on their feet. My earnest request to the corporations is to please consider making the changes and start improving the living conditions of our countrymen. It will take a lot of time and money, but those who want to do it, can.

Mondira Tangri, Houston

Elected to govern, not fight

Regarding Texas GOP goes on the offensive, (A1, Jan. 21): Now that the transfer of power has gone to President Biden, the big question is what are the Republicans going to do? Will they work with the incoming administration or will they reprise the role they played during the Obama administration and become the party of no. No cooperation, no compromise, no agreement and shut the government down. Much has been said that the concerns of the 74 million voters who chose Trump need to be addressed. The same goes for the more than 81 million who voted for Biden. I fear that far too many Senators and Congressmen and women believe that they were elected to fight not to govern. The reason for this can be laid at the feet of the voters who elected them. We are after all a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and the people determine what kind of government we will have.

Gonzalo Martinez, La Porte

Protect our troops

Regarding Georgia on our minds, (A13, Jan. 18): Georgia is indeed in our minds. So is the Capitol, Congress and democracy. Last but never the least, those who give all for our freedom and our security: U.S. Capitol police officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood are also in our minds. God bless the men and women in uniform who keep us safe. God protect our troops!

Jose Carlos Gonzalez, Houston
Education Minister Cliff Cullen turned some heads on Thursday when he announced that the province is allocating more than $24 million for seven future land acquisition projects, which includes a K-12 Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine school in Brandon.

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Education Minister Cliff Cullen turned some heads on Thursday when he announced that the province is allocating more than $24 million for seven future land acquisition projects, which includes a K-12 Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine school in Brandon.

This update came as a pleasant surprise to DSFM Supt. Alain Laberge, who told the Sun on Friday that he and his colleagues have been working back-and-forth with the Manitoba government for years to get this project off the ground, with things ramping up in particular over the past couple months.

"And now we are just awaiting confirmation on when we can start to acquire the land, get an architect and  work with the city to get permits and everything," Laberge said.

While the superintendent couldnt divulge any more behind-the-scenes details about the school, he said this update should serve as an encouraging sign for francophone families living in Brandon.

Currently, these parents only have one real option if they want to enrol their children in a fully French education, and that involves shipping them off to Ecole La Source, located roughly 30 kilometres outside of town at CFB Shilo.

Otherwise, these families will have to make due with French immersion programming within the Brandon School Division, since the only other DSFM facilities in Westman are situated around 160 kilometres away in small communities like St. Lazare (Ecole Saint-Lazare) and Laurier (Ecole Jours de Plaine).

Local parent Paul Alexandre eventually determined that BSDs French immersion offerings werent up to his standards, which is why his son Julien started attending Ecole La Source in the fall of 2017.

While Alexandre is confident in saying that his son, whos now in Grade 3, is getting a "superb" education under the DSFM umbrella, he admitted that Ecole La Sources out-of-town location presents a series of challenges.

Not only does the long travel time take its toll on his son and other students, but Alexandre reveals that this distance also prevents him from getting involved in the school community more directly.

"The moment they call me and they say can you get here for this and this reason? I cannot do it right away," he said. "Its more than a half-hour drive and particularly in winter it becomes an issue."

Outside of these travel issues, Laberge said Ecole La Source also has very little room for expansion due to its proximity to Shilo, which presents a real problem since the schools student population is almost at capacity by his count.

"Its on an army base, so we really cant put any portables out there, we cant really expand," he said. "Were not leasing. Its our school, we paid for it. But its not our place."

Of course, none of these issues come as a big surprise to Laberge and his colleagues.

For years, DSFM officials have been consulting with members of Brandons French community, even going so far as to scout out locations for a possible school within the city after determining that the size of the local francophone population warranted it.

"Five years ago, we visited Assiniboine Community College because we heard they were moving, so there were talks with (Manitoba Education) at that time that maybe we could acquire that site," Laberge said. "But it was way too big for our needs at that time and way too close to Shilo."

With this recent funding announcement, Laberge hopes that the current Conservative government follows through with its 2019 promise to build 20 new schools across the next decade and moves this Brandon project along in an expedient manner.

"We would like to buy the land before June if possible, and then it usually takes between 18 to 24 months to build a school," he said, mapping out his best-case scenario. "So if we can start as soon as possible then we can probably get into our new school by September 2024."

However, Alexandre is not nearly as confident about this new DSFM school being a high priority for the province, given that Cullen did not provide any specific details about its construction during Thursdays announcement, including a timeline.

And after years of similarly vague promises from the province about developing new infrastructure within city limits, Alexandre is not going to hold his breath.

"The central point is my frustration. That is my feeling. This announcement doesnt do anything. It is just a press release," he said. "And at the end of the day, lets see boots on the ground. Lets see some action. Lets see some actual commitment with dates."

Still, Alexandre would love to witness this project completed in a timely fashion, since that would allow his son to reap the benefits of attending a DSFM school within Brandon for at least a couple years before he graduates high school.

As such, Alexandre encourages other francophone parents in Brandon and the Westman region to put pressure on their elected officials when it comes to this subject, since he believes that it is the only way to guarantee that this project comes to fruition.

"I feel that the public  we have to keep their feet to the fire, and make sure that they stick with those promises," he said.

DSFM currently operates 26 schools within the province of Manitoba, from Winnipeg to as far away as Thompson.

The division first established Ecole La Source in Shilo back in 2004.

 kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @KyleDarbyson
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

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Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

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France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

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Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

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Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

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Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

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Armenia acting FM resigns

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China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

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Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on January 24, 2021. (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

New Zealand Records First CCP Virus Case in Months

A 56-year old woman has become the centre of a new CCP virus scare for New Zealand, contracting the highly transmissible South African variant of the virus and becoming the countrys first locally transmitted case in over two months.

It is believed she became infected while in hotel quarantine, as she recently returned from overseas travel and completed two weeks of managed isolation in the Pullman Hotel in Auckland.

All potential close contacts of the previously reported Northland case have now returned negative test results, the Ministry of Health confirmed in a media statement on Jan. 27.

The woman had tested negative twice before leaving the hotel on Jan. 13. A few days later, she developed muscle aches but no respiratory symptoms. On Jan. 23, she tested positive for the virus.

Our current advice is that although there is a low risk of exposure, out of an abundance of caution, we are asking individuals to stay at home and get a test if they visited these locations during the relevant times and call Healthline. You will need to continue to stay at home until you receive a negative test result back, the Ministry of Health said.

New Zealands previous case of community transmission was on Nov. 18, 2020.

In response, Australias health minister Greg Hunt immediately announced an end to the travel bubble with New Zealand for 72 hours.

Anyone who has arrived in Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 is asked to isolate and arrange to be tested and to remain in isolation until they have a negative test, Hunt said.

Currently, there have been no further restrictions announced.

Related Coverage UK Scientists Worry Vaccines May Not Protect Against South African Coronavirus Variant

The South Africa variant carries a mutation known as E484K. Scientists have suggested that this variant of the CCP virus, known as B.1.351, and the United Kingdom variant, are more transmissible.

Both variants are associated with a higher viral load, meaning a greater concentration of virus particles in patients bodies, likely contributing to increased transmission.

There have also been suggestions that the variants may cause more severe reactions, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnston saying on Jan. 22 that the UK variant may be associated with higher mortality rates.

Weve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variantthe variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast [in England]may be associated with a higher degree of mortality, Johnston said. Investigations into the new variant are ongoing.

The worlds wealthier countries with existing cold chain infrastructure have started vaccinating their populations to safeguard against a disease that has killed 1.8 million people globally and devastated the global economy.

Current vaccines being trialed include those already being rolled out from AstraZeneca and Oxford, Pfizer, Moderna, and Russias Sputnik V.
"The Heroes for Children awards recognize and celebrate remarkable Canadians for their passion and work to make a positive difference in the lives of vulnerable children," said Michael Messenger, President and CEO, World Vision Canada. "In this unprecedented time in all our lives and our world, we are so grateful to this year's recipients, who have demonstrated their philanthropy and service through volunteer work, raising awareness or using their influence to help children around the world. When we work together, we can accomplish so much more."

The 2020 recipients of the Heroes for Children Awards are:

Mr. Alex Trebek

Voice for Children Award

Alex Trebek, best known for his work as host of Jeopardy!, first connected with World Vision during the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s. He was so moved by World Vision's reports on that crisis that he picked up the phone and asked how he could help. Over the years, Alex travelled to many developing countries to learn about the challenges children were facing and shared his experiences and childrens' stories with Canadians. Alex genuinely cared for the needs of vulnerable girls and boys. And when he spoke, he inspired people to act. While it's difficult to summarize the totality of Alex Trebek's life and accomplishments, World Vision estimates that his influence has had a positive impact on well over one million children around the world. We were so saddened by his passing this year but are pleased to recognize his many years of service through this posthumous award.

The Honourable Dr. Jean Augustine

Ruth Roberts Award

Jean Augustine is a trailblazer devoted to the pursuit of social justice. In 1993, she made history as the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to Canada's House of Commons as a Member of Parliament, where she worked to pass legislation to protect disadvantaged low-income families in Canada and around the world, and later served in Cabinet. Originally from Grenada, Dr. Augustine immigrated to Canada in 1960 and worked as an educator and school principal, shaping the lives of hundreds of children in Toronto, all while deeply involved in grassroots efforts in the community. Today, she remains involved with numerous community activities related to social and racial justice, as well as the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women's Empowerment.

Dr. Terry Leblanc

Ken McMillan Award

Terry LeBlanc, a Mi'kmaq-Acadian, is the Executive Director of Indigenous Pathways and the founding Chair and current Director of the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (NAIITS), an indigenous learning community. For more than 38 years, he has worked in Native North American and global Indigenous contexts as an educator in theology, cultural anthropology and community development practice, helping the church and communities build a better world for children facing injustice. For seven of those years, between 1994-2001, Dr. Leblanc gave support to World Vision's work with Indigenous communities. In addition to serving as an adjunct professor at Tyndale University in Toronto, Dr. Leblanc also teaches at George Fox University and Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and Acadia University and Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Rev. Verner Drost and Dr. Bernie Zebarth

Courage Award

FreddyLink began in 2009 when a few local leaders wondered aloud if the residents of Fredericton, New Brunswick, could join together to help fight global issues like poverty. The group approached World Vision to partner and determined they wanted to connect with a community in Haiti. Over the years, this unique partnership between the city of Fredericton, two communities in Haiti's central plateau region, and World Vision has helped thousands of children and families get access to clean water, supported economic empowerment programs like woodworking, sewing and animal husbandry, education, health, nutrition, hygiene and child protection. Rev. Drost, church liaison, and Dr. Zebarth, the project coordinator, have given hundreds of volunteer hours to support the FreddyLink initiative.

Mr. Malcolm MacKillop

Power of Generosity Award

Malcolm MacKillop is a successful trial lawyer, speaker, professor of law, and author. Throughout his 30-year career, he has consistently sought out opportunities to advocate for important causes. In 2009, Malcolm founded Lawyers International Food Enterprise (LIFE), a not-for-profit organization raising awareness of child poverty in Africa and raising money from the legal community to support The Stephen Lewis Foundation and World Vision. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support health programming primarily in Tanzania. His passion and commitment have meant that many mothers and children have access to the health care and nutrition they need for a better start in life.

About World Vision

World Vision is a relief, development and advocacy organization working to create lasting change in the lives of children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Inspired by our Christian values, World Vision is dedicated to working with the world's most vulnerable people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. For more information, visit worldvision.ca or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

SOURCE World Vision Canada

For further information: MEDIA CONTACT: Joanne Legin, Communications Officer, World Vision Canada, [email protected]; m 416-738-7720

Related Links

http://www.worldvision.ca


Science and technology are key to agricultural production, allowing for increases in the capacity and quality of products and improving farmers lives.

Hi-tech melon farming in Me Linh District. Photo hanoimoi.com.vn

For many years, Hanoi has focused on solutions to promote the transfer of science and technology to farmers.

However, to make science and technology the leverage for sustainable agricultural development, more supportive mechanisms and policies are needed, as well as the participation of the authorities.

Initial progress

Thanks to the application of science and technology in production, Kim Son Commune in Gia Lam District has become the capital citys hub for growing high quality bananas.

My family grew more than 200 trees of the South African banana variety and earned over VND250 million (US$11,000) per year on average, Nguyen Trong Nghia, a banana farmer, told Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) Newspaper.

We were planting bananas as per the VietGAP process, which raised consumption, said Nghia.

Meanwhile, farmers in Van Thai Commune of Ung Hoa District have invested in raising pigs to produce clean and safe pork.

A farm belonging to Nguyen Van Thanhs family is one example.

His farm is located on an area of 150,000 sq.m, raising 30,000 pigs in a closed and modern barn system.

Every year, his family earns about VND200 billion (US$8.6 million).

According to the president of Ung Hoa Districts Farmers Association, Pham Van Hoach, the association has guided, trained, and transferred technology and techniques to hundreds of local farmers.

Ung Hoa District has 51 agricultural production establishments applying high technology, bringing high economic efficiency.

To help farmers access and grasp technological advances of the fourth industrial revolution and master some new technologies, in 2020, the Hanoi Farmers Association coordinated with agencies to organise more than 1,800 scientific and technical training seminars for 188,126 farmers, members of the cooperative and agricultural technicians.

The results achieved were remarkable.

The application of science and technology increased added value in agricultural production by 30 per cent, said Ta Van Tuong, vice director of the Hanoi Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

Hanoi formed several high-tech agricultural models with revenue from VND50 billion to hundreds of billions of dong, he said.

In particular, the application of biotechnology in seedling production has brought about a positive effect.

Every year, the city supplies more than 100 million poultry to the market, excluding other breeds of livestock and seedling plants, he added.

According to Duong Thi Hang, vice president of the Hanoi Farmers Association, in the 2015-2020 period, there were 3,200 farming households in Hanoi achieving the title of good producers and businesspeople thanks to the application of science and technology.

However, Hang said that the number of farmers in the city who have the ability to access or master science and technology had not yet met expectations.

This limitation was because the supporting mechanisms as well as the facilitation for farmers to access science and technology including training programmes had not yet met the real demand, Hang said.

Hi-tech applications

In order to improve farmers' access to science and technology, Thuong Tin District would select appropriate models and integrate them into agricultural vocational training programmes as well as support farmers to build hi-tech production establishments, according to Thuong Tin Districts vice chairman Bui Cong Tin.

Meanwhile, vice chairman of Ung Hoa District Tien Hoang said the local authority will link with businesses to build high-tech agricultural models which would be venues for directly guiding and supporting farmers in science and technology.

The district would guide and support farmers to promote the application of information technology, proactively create production chains and marketing channels online, Hoang said.

Hoach, president of Ung Hoa Districts Farmers Association, suggested that the city should study and create a mechanism to build farmer support centres in each commune and township.

In addition to the application of information technology in production, it was necessary to guide farmers to access and expand consumption markets, Hoach said.

However, in order for science and technology to reach farmers, first of all, farmers needed to promote autonomy and self-learning.

In the future, the Hanoi Agriculture and Rural Development Department will also coordinate with Farmers' Associations and localities to integrate vocational training and science and technology transfer programmes to farmers through many forms such as building agricultural extension models, organising production and branding conferences and seminars.

To have a modern agriculture sector, farmers must have mastery of science and technology. Bringing science and technology to farmers would help Hanois agriculture production to thrive, said Tuong. VNS

Hanoi offers good opportunities for high-tech agriculture for investors A number of high-tech agricultural projects have been proposed in Hanoi, a trend encouraged by the recent Hanoi investment promotion conference.
Marking the occasion of Egyptian Copts' traditional January Christmas celebrations on Jan. 5, the countrys Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities ceremoniously opened the first stop on its much-anticipated Holy Family Trail, a long-distance route tracing the locations thought to be visited by Jesus, Mary and Joseph 2,000 years ago during their flight into Egypt. The project has been under development since 2013 and is now ready for visits by international tourists.

The stop is located in Samannoud, a small city in Gharbeya governorate where according to the Virgin Mary is believed to have prepared bread and Jesus to have blessed bread for a local woman. The development works in Samannoud included the conservation and enhancement of St. Abba Noub Church, the surrounding landscape and a nearby square and commercial area. Signposts provide information about the history of the place, its location along the trail and different Christian points of interest.

The rest of the stops on the trail will be opened during this month, said Adel Gendy, national coordinator for the trail project and the general manager for international relations and strategic planning at the government-affiliated Tourism Development Authority. Gendy told Al-Monitor, The main target of this phase was the development of the infrastructure and the facilities for all the sites to be available to international tourists, he added.

The Holy Family Trail runs through 11 Egyptian governorates that, according to the tradition of the Coptic Orthodox Church, witnessed their journey in Egypt, starting in North Sinai and heading south to Asyut. Many of the places where the Holy Family is said to have stayed have become churches and monasteries. Gendy says that the 3,500-kilometer (2,175-mile) trail is the worlds longest pilgrimage route in a single country.

One of the most important stops along the trail is Al Muharraq monastery in Asyut, one of the worlds oldest operational monasteries. Al Muharraq was built on the spot where the Holy Family is thought to have settled for more than six Coptic months, their longest stay during their journey in Egypt. Other significant stops are located in Cairo, where the stops are most developed, and the monasteries of Wadi El Natrun in Beheira.

The Holy Family Trail is being developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, which handles educational materials for the route, and the Ministry for Local Development, charged with facilitating coordination among the governorates included in the trail. Gendy said that 25% of the cost of the project is expected to be paid with public funds, while the other 75% should come from the private sector and nongovernmental organizations, which next month will be presented with the an investment plan prepared by the TDA. The minister of tourism and antiquities, Khaled El-Enany, stated that the ministry has allocated 60 million Egyptian pounds ($3.8 million) for the development of the stops on the trail, Al-Ahram reported.

For Egypt, [the Holy Family Trail] is a very good opportunity to diversify its tourism products. Cultural and religious tourism in Egypt have a lot of potential, said Nader Guirguis, a former member of the committee in charge of developing the trail and vice president of the tourist agency Holy Egypt International. He told Al-Monitor, The price of the package of religious tourism is up to four times that of the beach tourism, which is very cheap and all-inclusive, he added.

Along with the development of each of the trails 25 stops, the development works also include the design of a logo and the installation of traffic signs leading visitors to the sites as well as entry and exit gates, which have built using local materials. A publicity campaign has targeted the Vatican authorities, international tour operators and the heads of churches abroad, Gendy said.

Now that the international community knows that Egypt is working hard to launch this project, we decided to open the 25 stopping points, Gendy explained. He said that initially the ministry thought it would be necessary to combine it with another, well-known product, such as Nile cruises or rural tourism in the Nile Delta. That was the philosophy, he added, noting that the ministry will still try to maximize the benefits of featuring different products along the trail.

The main goal of the Holy Family Trail is to boost spiritual tourism in Egypt, especially among Christian pilgrims, but the project also aims to support local communities along the trail by creating economic opportunities. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has conducted training courses for local communities on how to accommodate visitors.

The Ministry of Local Development contributed to the trail by assisting the Ministry of Tourism in rehabilitating the 25 recognized sites," said Mohamed Higazy, a former ambassador and current adviser to the minister of local development for international cooperation. He told Al-Monitor, "We developed a plan through which we assisted the eight governorates involved financially by channelling funds from the Ministry of Tourism and involving technical teams supervised by the governors who gave all of their attention" to the project.

In the future, Gendy said, the focus will be on maintenance and further development of the services and infrastructure along the trail. The Ministry is considering establishing a national administrative entity responsible for providing services and facilities, maintaining the infrastructure and monitoring use.

We are waiting for this pandemic to finish, Gendy said. But meanwhile, what we are doing is developing the infrastructure so that it is ready. The competition will be very wild, and we have to be ready, he concluded.
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MBABANE  Facebook posts by Phetsile Masilela concerning COVID-19-related deaths in the country have got the public talking, with some questioning whether she had a premonition about the unfolding events.

Masilela of Edlozini under Maphalaleni Constituency shared her posts on her Facebook account on two occasions, in June and December last year. The born again Christian posted that she heard a clear message from God in June last year. She posted that she saw fire falling from heaven. According to the post, the fire destroyed everything on earth. To me, it was clear that we are living in the wrath of God, reads the post. In her second post, Masilela mentioned that on December 28, 2020, she had a dream where she saw a large gathering with the late Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini. Worth noting was that December 28, 2020, was the second day after the burial of the late premier. She stated that the majority of people in the crowd were both female and male prominent people, including artists of the country and were clad in suits.

Ministers

I saw the PM shaking hands with a group of high profile people including cabinet ministers and celebrities. As he was shaking hands with the people, he would say you are welcome with his calm voice and smiling face. I cried that this should not happen because I knew the interpretation of the dream. To me, it meant we will lose many of the people who appeared in the group as a country, reads the post. Most people who saw the post asked why Masilelas premonitions were not taken seriously as what she posted appeared to be happening. Worth noting was that many prominent people have succumbed to COVID-19-related illnesses after the death of the premier. They include President of the Conference of Churches Bishop Stephen Masilela, Minister of Public Service Christian Ntshangase, Senator Jimmy Hlophe, Kings Offices Boy Mdluli, Anglican Bishop Ellinah Wamukoya, Minister of Labour and Social Security Makhosi Vilakati, EBCs Winnie Magagula, among others. Worth noting was that the deceased died within a short space of time after the death of the PM.

The recent death brought the total number of people who died from the virus to 458 while there are 4 659 active cases. The positive news is that 9 102 people have recovered. When called yesterday, Masilela confirmed the posts. She stated that she took the dream seriously so much that she posted it on her Facebook page, where she usually interacted with people. Apart from the post, she stated that she wrote a formal letter to the Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, where she explained her dream in detail.
Saudi Arabia is working to replace the use of petroleum liquids for power generation with solar energy and gas-fired capacity, Argaam reported on Monday, citing Saudi Arabias Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as saying.

As part of the program Hydrocarbon Demand Sustainability, the worlds largest oil exporter will aim to replace petroleumwhich it still burns for electricitywith solar power energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at a meeting to describe the strategy of the Saudi energy ministry.

The program will rank among the most important initiatives, given its value added to the national economy and its ability to stop the countrys financial waste, Argaam noted.

Replacing petroleum with solar energy for electricity generation would free up more oil for OPECs top producer and de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, to export. This could potentially give the Kingdom even more sway on the global oil market and help it obtain more revenues from crude oil sales, despite constant assurances that the economic diversification away from oil is underway.

At the event on Monday, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman also noted that Saudi Arabia made strong efforts to balance the oil market last year, according to Argaam.

Last year, Saudi Arabia went on a brief and ill-timed oil price war with Russia after the two friends/foes disagreed in March 2020 how to manage oil supply to the market at a time of collapsing demand in the pandemic. After Saudi Arabia and Russia returned to negotiations and sealed a new OPEC+ pact a month later, both leaders of the alliance had to cut their production much more than what they had discussed in March.

This quarter, global oil demand and the market are still wobbling due to the still spreading COVID, and Saudi Arabia abandoned, this time around, its insistence that everyone at OPEC+ take their share of the burden in rebalancing the market. The Kingdom announced a surprise unilateral cut of 1 million bpd of its crude oil production in February and March.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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Chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Fair Business Banking, Kevin Hollinrake, said the change was 'alarming'

Mastercard has been accused of 'opportunism' and 'greed' for increasing fees for British shoppers using debit or credit cards to buy from EU-based companies five-fold.

Visa and Mastercard levy 'interchange' fees on behalf of banks for card payments that used their networks.

The European Union brought in a cap in 2015 amid fears over hidden fees costing companies hundreds of millions of euros, meaning higher prices for consumers.

Mastercard has now revealed that the cap does not apply to some transactions following Brexit, as payments between Britain and the European Economic Area are now technically 'inter-regional', the FT reports.

The company will raise its credit card charge from Britain to the EU from 0.3 per cent of the transaction's value up to 1.5 per cent from October 15, with debit card payment fees jumping from 0.2 per cent to 1.15 per cent.

The change will reportedly be a benefit for British banks and card issuers rather than Mastercard, but it has sparked a backlash from companies who rely on online payments.

Chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Fair Business Banking, Kevin Hollinrake, said the change was 'alarming'.

He added: 'This smacks of opportunism and I would urge the regulators to step in as a matter of urgency to ensure that financial institutions do not use Brexit as an opportunity to hike up costs that consumers will ultimately bear.'

Head of policy at the Coalition for a Digital Economy, Joel Gladwin, said: 'Some people might put this change down to Brexit, but it is actually just greed. It is well within the power of the card schemes to make merchants' lives easy and keep things operating as they were pre-2021.

Visa and Mastercard levy 'interchange' fees on behalf of banks for card payments that used their networks

'Not only does this hurt the already squeezed bottom lines of ecommerce start-ups and subscription businesses, it comes at a time when a huge number of small businesses have shifted to online models to survive.'

The change could mean consumers see higher costs of companies pass on the fee.

Amazon UK domestic purchases typically go through a company based in Luxembourg.

A source familiar with its plans said there could be a change of location for the UK store to avoid fee increases for those who use the platform.

Hotels, airlines, travel groups and car rentals could also be hit by the move, according to Callum Godwin, chief economist at global payments consultancy CMSPI.

He added that any sector where the consumer is in Britain and the merchant is in the EU may be affected.

Visa told the FT that the company would aim to provide clients with 'advance notice' if a change to interchange became 'appropriate'.

The announcement is one of a series of challenges now facing Britain in the wake of the country's exit from the European Union - and the end of the transitional period.

Recent reports revealed up to 50 per cent of all lorries bringing goods into Britain from the EU are crossing the Channel back empty afterward as British businesses shun exporting because of Brexit red tape.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said that far fewer containers filled with goods are leaving for the continent from the UK since Boris Johnson agreed a trade deal with Brussels.

And UK businesses that export to the EU are reportedly being encouraged by trade officials to set up hubs across the Channel so they can avoid post-Brexit disruption.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the RHA, said: 'Most of the trucks that bring goods into the UK are not British and we've seen a noticeable reduction in hauliers wanting to make the journey'.

He told The Times: 'There is not normal demand from exporters, which means around 40 per cent are returning to the Continent empty. They are also worried about being stuck in port if they don't have the right customs paperwork.

'The new Covid tests are also very unpopular and are having an effect on the number of hauliers who are prepared to make the trip.'

Some firms claim they have been advised to set up subsidiary companies in the EU so they can avoid extra paperwork when exporting products into the trade bloc.
On January 24, the 9th round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting was held on the Chinese side of the Moldo-Chushul border meeting point. The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of China-India border areas.

The two sides agreed that this round of meeting was positive, practical and constructive, which further enhanced mutual trust and understanding. The two sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops. They also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation, and hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation.

The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility.
Perhaps the most memorable venue in the Mona Foma festivals Hobart leg was the former Beaumaris Zoo, where Second Echo Ensemble united performers with and without disability to create a mysterious and mythic work, Let Me Dry Your Eyes, about a doomed love affair between a bird and a whale.

One advantage Hobart has over bigger cities is a wealth of atmospheric locations easily repurposed as temporary art spaces. The property boom and rampant gentrification all but wiped out such opportunities in Sydney and Melbourne, and the loss has been keenly felt.

Lucy Bleach with Alethea Coombe, Rueremus, Mona Foma 2021 Credit:Mona/Jesse Hunniford

The zoo has been defunct since 1937  not long after the last thylacine in captivity died there  and has fallen into eerie desuetude; the performance layered music, video art and physical theatre throughout the site to incredibly haunting effect.

Meditations on extinction and ecological collapse proved a running theme. At Rueremus, slabs of ice suspended from the rafters melted, depositing rocks and rubble frozen inside. Lucienne Rickards Extinction Studies has been ongoing since 2018, with the artist drawing meticulously detailed sketches of extinct species, before erasing them one by one. Her final muse  the critically endangered swift parrot  isnt gone yet, offering tenuous hope.

There were diverse responses to COVID-19. At Good Grief studios, locked down creatives had made bizarre art machines allowing COVID-safe cuddles and handshakes, while a local cathedral played host to a musical adaptation of Edgar Allan Poes Masque of the Red Death.

That gruesome tale seems tailor-made for a pandemic. Its the one where a prince and his decadent followers hole up in a castle with no entrance or exit, carousing as a hideous plague rages across the land.
Therese Coffey dramatically terminated an interview with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain today after a brutal row over the UK's coronavirus death rates.

The Cabinet minister switched off the camera on her computer saying she was late for other broadcasters after clashing with the presenter over the country's grim mortality figures.

Britain was averaging 935 daily fatalities in the week up to January 17, or the equivalent of 16.5 people in every million, according to it research platform Our World in Data. No other country currently has a higher death rate per capita.

During the exchanges by video link, Ms Coffey suggested that Britain's ageing population and the level of obesity were some of the factors behind the high death numbers from the disease.

But she became furious when Mr Morgan said she seemed to be blaming the problems on people being too fat and too old, asking her: 'Are you saying that the reason for us having the worst death rate in the world is because of the public?

'We're too old and we're too fat?'

A clearly angry Ms Coffey shot back: 'I think that's a very insulting thing that you just said.

Therese Coffey was seen reaching over to switch off her connection, saying: 'Piers, I'm sorry I'm going to have to go.'

Guinness-drinking minister who tried to pick a Twitter fight with Marcus Rashford Theresa Coffey has hit the headlines repeatedly after taking over the poisoned chalice of Work and Pensions Secretary, tasked with sorting out the mess of the UK's benefits system. The Guinness-loving Liverpool fan, 49, found herself blasted as 'cold and uncaring' last summer after trying to correct Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United striker and child poverty campaigner, on Twitter. At the time England star Rashford was pressing Boris Johnson to U-turn over free school meals, tweeting: 'When you wake up this morning and run your shower, take a second to think about parents who have had their water turned off during lockdown #maketheuturn.' However, Ms Coffey then replied: 'Water cannot be disconnected though'. Ms Coffey, who is not married, has been MP for Suffolk Coastal, which includes the major port of Felixstowe, since 2010. She is a noted critic of gay marriage, twice voting against it, including as recently as 2019. Previously a junior environment ministers she was the surprise choice to replace Amber Rudd after she stepped down in September 2019 after just a few months working for Mr Johnson. But she has made several gaffes during the pandemic. As well as clashing with Rashford and Morgan, last October she faced a backlash after suggesting that cabin crew should retrain as carers amid coronavirus chaos. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey made the remark as she mulled how to draw out 'transferable skills' from people in industries smashed by the crisis. She highlighted the options for cabin crew, floating that they might want to work in social care or become nurses. But unions slammed the comments as 'ill-informed and insensitive', saying the government had 'washed its hands' of the aviation industry. More recently Ms Coffey has been leading Cabinet pressure on the Prime Minister to reverse plans to scrap a 20 increase in Universal Credit to help people affected by the pandemic economic crisis. Advertisement

'I'm conscious that there are a variety of factors that would have sadly led to being ill during this time, sadly that translating into deaths.

'I'm very conscious that this is a very serious impact that our prime minister was in hospital, in intensive care himself last April.

'I am conscious that we want to have a wrap-around response from people.'

Morgan replied: 'What did you find insulting, out of interest? What did you find insulting?'

As tensions rose, Ms Coffey snapped: 'I also need to point out that you started this interview late, unfortunately I need to go to other broadcasters as well and I wish that we had more time.'

She then was seen reaching over to switch off her connection, saying: 'Piers, I'm sorry I'm going to have to go.'

She added: 'You've already had 20 minutes of my time, I appreciate your time as well.'

Ministers have been struggling to explain why the UK looks to have among the worst death figures internationally.

Some have argued that the figures are not direct comparable between countries - while others have suggested it is down to demographics.

It is not the first time that the pair have clashed over coronavirus.

Last April she was savaged as she faced the media to defend efforts to provide adequate masks, gowns, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE).

At the time it was revealed that the UK missed three chances to participate in an EU scheme to buy huge quantities of such items, as one in three NHS and critical key workers tested positive for the coronavirus.

In a heated exchange, Mr Morgan raged at Ms Coffey, asking: 'Do you know how many care workers have died of coronavirus or are currently seriously ill with it?'

Coffey admitted she didn't know the answer.

She is the latest Cabinet minister to clash with excitable GMB host Mr Morgan over the UK's high death rate.

Last week Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis was skewered by the Good Morning Britain host over the devastating new research by Oxford University experts, showing the UK had the world's highest death rate.

Asked to explain the figures, Mr Lewis tried to explain that it was not possible to do a direct comparison between countries.

This prompted the excitable host to interrupt, saying: 'With respect minister, as a government you have spent the last three weeks giving us direct comparisons about the vaccination programme, by comparing it to every other country.

'We literally never hear you stop talking about it - and by the way you have got every right to, because we are doing very well.

The clashes turned even more bitter as Ms Coffey complained that the interview with Piers and Susanna had started late and was now making her miss other appointments

'But please don't tell me you're not in the business of international comparisons, because you stopped telling us how many people were dying by comparison to other countries many months ago, when the numbers got very bad.

'Yesterday the numbers came out and were the worst in the world. Given that you have been using international comparisons for weeks now about the vaccines I don't think it is unreasonable to ask you why we have the worst death rate int he world

Mr Lewis tried to interrupt, saying 'It is just too early to do those comparisons' as Mr Morgan continued to search for an answer.

This morning Ms Coffey said ministers will decide 'soon' whether to extend the 20-a-week increase in Universal Credit (UC), the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.

Therese Coffey said the Government wanted to extend its support 'throughout the impact' of the coronavirus pandemic, but declined to guarantee that the uplift would remain.

She said she was in 'active discussion' with the Chancellor over whether to keep the increase in place beyond March.

The uplift was originally announced last year to support struggling families through the Covid-19 crisis but it is due to expire at the end of March.

However, Rishi Sunak is under intense pressure, including from some Tory MPs, to extend it while lockdown restrictions remain in place.

He has so far resisted the calls, insisting he needs to start rebuilding public finances after the massive support the Government has given to nurse the economy through the pandemic.

Ms Coffey told BBC Breakfast: 'We are hand in glove with the Treasury, working through to make sure we provide the best support to people throughout this pandemic...

'I can assure you that we are in active consideration of the options on how to best support people during this time and I hope we will be able to come to a decision soon.'

She added: 'We are working very closely with the Treasury so that we can make sure that we have the best decision which I hope the Prime Minister will be able to announce shortly.'

Ms Coffey later told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that UC had been a 'lifeline' and said the Government wants to try to 'extend our support throughout the impact of this pandemic'.

Asked whether that meant the uplift or other extra support will stay for the rest of this year, she said: 'I think it is fair to say that I'm in active discussion with the Chancellor and of course with the Prime Minister about how we continue to make sure we support families during this difficult time.'
Deputy charge nurse, Katie McIntosh administers the first of two Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine jabs at the Western General Hospital on December 8, 2020 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Andrew Milligan - Pool / Getty Images)

Pfizer Vaccine Approval Injects Business Positivity

Australias approval of its first COVID-19 vaccine will lift confidence and help fuel the countrys economic recovery from recession.

The federal government announced on Jan. 25 the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, with the start of vaccination program due late February.

Australians can have confidence if the best regulator in the world approves the vaccine it is safe and effective, Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

The vaccine announcement came one year to the day after Australia recorded its first coronavirus infection.

Its an encouraging development, Commonwealth Securities chief economist Craig James told AAP.

Its just adding to the positivity Down Under.

Australia is already enjoying a marked turnaround from its first recession in almost 30 years that was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent figures show 90 percent of the jobs lost when the labour market collapsed between March and May last year when the pandemic struck have now been recovered.

Home building is also booming, retail spending is on a rising trend and international trade of goods remains buoyant.

The vaccine approval helped to lift Australian shares at the start of the week, despite US shares coming off the boil on Friday.

While ever the good news continues, what well see is investors pricing in the fact company earnings will be rebounding and, overall, companies will be getting back to more normal levels of operation, James said.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox says industry will be closely watching the vaccine roll out and hoping that it can provide real confidence to propel the economic recovery.

The approval is a positive step on what will be a long process to bring COVID-19 under control, Willox told AAP.

Business Council of Australia executive director Jess Wilson agreed the vaccine will be a crucial part of the recovery.

But it wont be an instant solution, she told AAP.

We cant control the global pandemic but as the vaccine is rolled out we must ensure we have a nationally consistent plan to live alongside the virus.

Wilson said there must be a risk-based approach to managing restrictions that keep people safe while protecting jobs.

Knee-jerk restrictions and disproportionate and inconsistent reactions are confusing and confidence sapping, she said.

Colin Brinsden in Canberra
ROME, JAN 25 - Italy's governors belonging to the right-wing League party on Monday made a joint appeal for the way regions are classified in the tiered system of COVID-19-linked restrictions to be "immediately revised". The appeal comes after a mistake led to Lombardy last week being classified as a red zone, the highest level in the system of restrictions. The region said the Higher Health Institute (ISS) got the call wrong but the ISS said its assessment was made on the basis of data sent by Lombardy that it subsequently corrected. All restaurants and bars are closed, except for takeaways and home deliveries, in red zones and all non-essential shops are closed too. In medium-high risk orange zones, shops can do business but restaurants and bars must stay closed. In moderate risk yellow zones, on the other hand, shops are open and so are bars and restaurants until 6pm. Lombardy went back to being an orange zone on Sunday. The appeal by the League governors said the system needs to be revised to "face a serious situation with greater serenity". "The government cannot duck out of responsibility with every problem and blame the regions," it added. The appeal was signed by Massimiliano Fedriga (Friuli Venezia Giulia), Attilio Fontana (Lombardy), Chtistian Solinas (Sardinia), Nino Spirli (Calabria), Donatella Tesei (Umbria) and Luca Zaia (Veneto). (ANSA).
The missing minor children of a couple, who had been jailed for five years for a crime they did not commit, have finally been traced to separate children's homes in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad and Kanpur. The couple, Narendra Singh (40) and his wife Najma (30), were unable to locate their son Ajeet and daughter Anju, who were five and three-years-old at the time of their arrest in September 2015.

According to sources, both the children were shifted to an Agra child protection home in October 2019 after their grandfather Bhagwan Das was unable to take care of them due to poor financial condition. The duo had been handed over to their grandparents immediately after the couple's arrest.

Agra Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Chairman Gopal Sharma said, "Both the children were living in separate children's homes. They were sent to separate facilities after age verification revealed they were above 10 years."

While Ajeet was found living at the state children's home for boys in Firozabad, Anju was traced to the state children's home for girls in Kanpur.

Meanwhile, the couple's lawyer Vansho Baboo disputed Sharma's claims and said the children were wrongfully removed from the child protection home despite their age. He said the couple's priority now was to reunite with the children at the earliest and they would meet the CWC officials on Monday to complete the formalities.

Meanwhile, Agra District Magistrate, Prabhu N. Singh, said the district Probationary Official is in touch with them and would provide all assistance to bring the children back to Agra. The police had arrested the couple, Narendra Singh and his wife Najma from Bah in Agra in 2015, following the murder of a five-year-old boy.

In its order to release the couple, the Additional District and Session Courts came down heavily on the police. "It is unfortunate that the innocent couple has spent five years behind bars and the main accused is still free," the court said and directed the Senior Superintendent Of Police (SSP) to take action against the Investigation Officer (IO) for his negligence.

The court then recommended that the case be reinvestigated on the basis of available evidence to nab the real culprit. "The then Sub-Inspector, Chidanand Singh, who was working with the Investigation Officer, admitted in court that he did not even try to find out against whom the FIR was registered."

Narendra Singh, the father of the children and who earlier worked as a teacher, said, "What was our children's fault? They had to live like orphans. My son Ajeet and daughter Anju were so small when police arrested us for alleged murder."
The Department of Ecology and Environment of Anhui Province recently released the air quality ranking of all 16 cities in the province in 2020, with Huangshan, Xuancheng and Chizhou ranking the top three. Chizhou saw the biggest improvement in air quality year-on-year, at 17.6%.

The ranking is determined by the size of the Air Quality Composite Index, with a smaller index indicating better air quality. The evaluation takes 6 indicators into account, including PM2.5, PM10 and CO. Last year, the average concentration of PM2.5 in the province was 39 micrograms per cubic meter, and the proportion of good days was 82.9 percent, the data showed.

According to the data in the ranking table, the air quality of all 16 cities improved year on year. Chizhou, Wuhu and Anqing ranked the top three in terms of improvement rate.

Heartfelt support for the Mail Force campaign has arrived from one of the pioneers of home computing  Bill Gates.

The co-founder of Microsoft gave his staunch backing to the Mail's drive to get laptops to schoolchildren.

The US philanthropist, 65, said: 'There is no limit to what young people can achieve if they have the right resources and are able to access quality digital learning online.

'It's vital, with so many kids stuck at home, that we equip more students with the tools they need to succeed and prevent inequalities from deepening.'

In the 1980s, Mr Gates' vision of a computer in every home helped make Microsoft the world's largest supplier.

Heartfelt support for the Mail Force campaign has arrived from one of the pioneers of home computing  Bill Gates. The co-founder of Microsoft gave his staunch backing to the Mail's drive to get laptops to schoolchildren [File photo]

Further backing to the cause came from David Walliams, the award-winning comedian and best-selling children's author.

He has donated a generous five-figure sum to the campaign and hailed its crusade to help poorer children cross the 'digital divide' between those can access online lessons and those who cannot.

He said: 'I am pleased and proud to support the Mail's campaign to put computers into the hands of children who need them most. I was shocked to learn of the extent of the digital divide that exists in this country.

'A computer and WiFi is something many of us take for granted. We need a fairer society and education for all is a pillar of that.'

The award-winning comedian and best-selling children's author David Walliams has also voiced his support for the Mail's campaign [File photo]

Walliams is a hit with children due to his books such as Demon Dentist and The Beast of Buckingham Palace. He is also a judge on ITV's Britain's Got Talent.

The star added: 'I know these are tough times, but if you are fortunate enough to be able to help, please join me in this fantastic initiative from the newspaper.'

When the campaign was launched on Saturday, England rugby star Maro Itoje said: 'We must strive for every child to have an equal education because it is the one gift that stays with them for life and opens up their world.'

And former education secretary Lord Blunkett said: 'Quite simply, our children need laptops if they are to learn.

'That is why I am backing the Mail's campaign to get the equipment, connectivity and conditions right for youngsters to have everything they need to be able to learn at home and begin catching up in the months and years ahead.'

Spain's top general resigned over the weekend after allegations he had received the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of priority groups, one of a number of public officials who have sparked public anger because of reports they have jumped the vaccination queue.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles had asked General Miguel Angel Villaroya, chief of defence staff, for explanations after media reports on Friday that he had received the vaccination.

In a statement on his resignation, the defence ministry indicated but did not explicitly state that Villaroya had had the vaccination. The general "never intended to take advantage of unjustifiable privileges which damaged the image of the Armed Forces and put in doubt the honour of the general," it said.

It added that Villaroya "took decisions which he thought to be correct" but which "damaged the public image of the Armed Forces".It was not immediately possible to contact Villaroya for comment.

At start of the pandemic, Villaroya represented the military at media daily briefings where he detailed how troops were cleaning care homes and caring for elderly residents.

Spaniards have been indignant over the queue-jumping.

"General Villarroya and other colleagues, my companion is 67, has Alzheimer's and is blind. We are waiting for the vaccine. A clerk and a former nurse and we are in the first group. Are you more important?" tweeted a user with the handle @Marcosendra1.

Nationwide infection rates have soared since late December, with 42,885 new cases added to the tally on Friday bringing the total of cases to 2,499,560. Four hundred deaths were reported, for a total death toll of 55,441.
New Zealand has suffered its first coronavirus case for more than two months, sparking a travel ban with Australia.

The more contagious South African mutant strain was discovered in a 56-year-old woman who had flown back from London after visiting Spain and the Netherlands.

She tested positive ten days after her mandatory 14-day quarantine ended.

New Zealand hasn't had a covid case since mid-November because it has a zero covid strategy of strict border controls. It has recorded just 25 coronavirus deaths.

Australia shutdown the country's travel-bubble with New Zealand for at least 72 hours while further contact-tracing is carried out.

COVID-19 Minister Chris Hipkins (pictured left with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern) praised the woman for scrupulously keeping track of her movements

Security patrol outside the Pullman Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand, earlier this year. The woman had been staying at the hotel for 14 days and tested positive after leaving

Rock band SIX60 perform in front of 22,000 fans at the Hawkes Bay A&P Showgrounds on Saturday in Hastings, New Zealand

More than 20,000 fans rocked out with SIX60 on Saturday as New Zelanders enjoy normality after eradicating covid

Fans are packed into the concert venue without any fears over social-distancing

'The strain of infection is the South African variant and the source of infection is highly likely to be a fellow returnee,' said Health Minister Chris Hipkins.

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said it was a case of 'significant concern' and the increased possibility of transmission had prompted his government to suspend its 'travel bubble' with New Zealand for a minimum of 72 hours.

'This will be done out of an abundance of caution whilst more is learnt about the event and the case,' he told reporters in Canberra.

'The changes come into effect immediately.'

Hunt urged New Zealanders with a flight to Australia scheduled within the next three days to 'reconsider their need to travel' as they will have to go into hotel quarantine - like other international arrivals - for up to 14 days on arrival.

The woman is thought to have been infected during quarantine by a person on the same floor of the hotel who tested positive two days before the woman left.

The 56-year-old travelled around the Northland region near Auckland after her release from quarantine and showed symptoms for several days before being tested.

Two people close to her, including her husband, have since returned negative tests and New Zealand's director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said they likely avoided contracting the illness due to the type of infection.

'She didn't talk about respiratory symptoms, it was more muscle aches, so she may not have been sharing or spreading the virus much,' he said.

'I don't think that's peculiar to this variant, it's just how it was expressed in this woman.'

The World Health Organization has said there is no clear evidence the South African variant leads to more severe disease or a higher death rate.

People wait in line outside a pop up Covid-19 testing station in Auckland in November

New Zeland's Health Minister Hipkins said: 'This woman concerned has been scrupulous in keeping a good record of her movements, scanning the QR codes wherever she has gone.

'That's laid a very good foundation for our contact tracing team ... I want to acknowledge that.'

Health authorities have also ordered further testing at the woman's isolation hotel, the Auckland-based Pullman Hotel.

While the case is the first in the community for three months, New Zealand has continued to pick up cases within the border regime, including the British mutant strain.

The country's total number of confirmed cases is 1927, with 25 deaths recorded since the disease arrived on Kiwi soil in February last year.
This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.

Katy Tur was one of the first reporters on the Trump beat when he declared his candidacy for president in 2015, and it was not entirely on purpose. The NBC News star just happened to be in New York when she got the assignment to cover the announcement at Trump Tower, and it began a five-year tenure on what she calls the most important story out of many of our lifetimes. Just before Donald Trump left office, we talked on the phone about when she knew Trump was for real, how she assesses her own coverage now, and what Trump will do next. Our interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Aymann Ismail: Do you remember the specific point when you thought Trump might really be elected?

Katy Tur: The moment where I started thinking that this was not an anomaly was when he went after John McCain. I was at a rally in Mobile, Alabama, in 2015, where there were 20,000 people, maybe even more than that. It was the biggest rally that any politician had seen since Obama, certainly bigger than any Republican. And I remember asking the folks in the crowd if they cared that he was going after John McCain, who was a war hero. Nobody cared. They sided with Trump over John McCain. And I remember thinking to myself, he is not going anywhere. For my story, I did an interview with someone an the RNC who said there was no way Trump would survive after the McCain thing. The public would never stand for that. I had just been speaking to people in the crowd, so I thought, They dont even know whats coming at them.

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How did you end up on the Trump beat?

I was typically based in London as a foreign correspondent, but I was in New York on vacation. I was saying hi to my friends, reminding the New York office that I still existed, and I happened to be in the Nightly News room right around when Trump had announced his campaign for president. They needed someone to cover it. So they assigned me to it because they werent going to put one of those political reporters on it. They were already assigned to real-deal candidates. And Donald Trump wasnt somebody to take seriously. So they assigned me. A day story turned into a two-day story turned into three. And then they thought, This guy, hes not going anywhere. Lets have someone on him just, just in case. And they sent me to my firstits hard to call it a rally. It was only a couple hundred people over in the backyard pool. A few days after that first assignment, I remember thinking to myself, Im supposed to be on a plane to London. Do I really want to do this? Then, Youre just going to cover him for the summer. Dont worry. Ill be back home in no time. But there was something about Trump that kept me there. And so I went. I struggled for a moment, thinking to myself, They really dont take me seriously if theyre sending me to cover Trump.

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In hindsight, do you think that was good luck or bad luck?

Journalistically, I think it was great luck. Because you get into this business to cover big stories. It ended up becoming the most important story out of many of our lifetimes.

Youre one of the journalists who got a special Trump nickname.

The first rally I covered, he called me out and accused me of not paying attention to him. I actually was just tweeting what he was saying. He got more antagonistic after my first interview with him, which was soon after, in 2015. I was thinking, Well, if he wants to be president, I am going to have to treat him like a man running for president. I asked him some tough questions, and he didnt like it one bit. At the end of the interview, he said that he was going to release the full footage of the interview, that I stumbled, and that I could never be president. Like, what a weird thing to say!

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Sometimes he was really happy to see me. Other times he was really angry to see me. As we got deeper into the campaign, toward the end of 2015, he decided he didnt like me, and started calling me names. A third-rate reporter. Little Katy. The first time he called me Little Katy was at a rally in South Carolina. Not pleasant. This was the day he announced he wanted to ban all Muslims from coming into the United States. He was angry with me because a few days earlier I had reported on how organized protesters disrupted his rally enough to cut it short. To him, I think it implied that he was too weak to stand up to the protesters. He was furious. He called me out on Twitter, and then at this rally he pointed me out in the back and he said Little Katy, shes back there. The place turned around and looked at me, and people were angry. I remember thinking that the bicycle rack surrounding the press pen was pretty flimsy and we dont have security. There is Secret Service, but theyre not here to protect me. All those things crossed through my mind in a second. And then youre like, Im going to do my job. So you focus on your job, but you also compartmentalize the danger. And so thats what I did. What was I going to do? Run outside and cry?

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How did you feel after it was called for Trump?

I was in Donald Trumps victory party at the Hilton in New York. I was on the riser. I remember thinking to myself, Oh my God, he did it. I remember being told hes going to keep doing rallies. And at that point, it just felt like my world was spinning. I thought I had done my last rally that very morning. The idea of living out of my suitcase for any longer was just hard to takenot in a partisan way, but because the man had been such an assault on truth and had put so many good reporters lives in danger. It was just like, wow, this isnt over. Were gonna be living with this now for the next four years.

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Was there anything that you regret in the way you covered Trump?

I mean, thats a hard question. I think this is a discussion that were going to be having for years. I dont think were really going to know what we did right or what we did wrong until we have some distance between us and the moment were in. Were still covering it every single day. Its hard to see through this fog for what we should have done better. That being said, I know we will look back and think we should have done X, Y, or Z better. Or we should have pulled back here or pushed forward here as we always do with everything, not just in this business. The amount of coverage he got during 2016 has been a big point of criticism, and I think it was corrected to a degree in the subsequent four years. Im not sure if it was totally right, but I do think we will figure out what went wrong and what went right when we have some more space from it.

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Listen, were not perfect. Were all trying to cover something that is unlike anything else. The guy and his administration werent truthful with us since the beginning. And its hard to figure out how to deal with, and be fair with, that.

Did you see this crescendo at the end of Trumps presidency coming? The violence, the GOP turning on him, getting impeached twice, as someone who followed his rise closely, did you see this coming?

I didnt see a Capitol riot coming. I did think that there was going to be something violent after he lost the election, and Ill tell you why. Its been a slow burn since the very beginning. He came out swinging at immigrants in 2015. At the rallies, he would encourage his supporters to beat up protesters. He told some that he would pay their legal bills for punching protesters. He used very inflammatory language. Some folks would say not to take him literally, that we should just take him seriously. Thats a bunch of baloney. His supporters took him literally. And we saw it at the rallies. We saw the anger in the crowds. Its been building because he has painted himself the victim now for five years, saying, Everybody is out to get me. And they are out to get you. He fueled the anger and this desire to fight back. And it was going to culminate into something. Donald Trump was telling his supporters that the only way he can lose is if hes cheated. And if you truly believe that your democracy has been stolen from you, if you truly believe it, there are people out there who are willing to fight for that.

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I went to a rally in Pennsylvania, a small rally, and I stayed with these supporters who were outside. I asked them, Can Donald Trump lose? To a T, every single person said the only way he could lose was if theres fraud. So Id ask what we should do about it, and everybody said, Well protest, or Its not going to happen. But there was one guy on a motorcycle. He looked like he was a veteran. He said to me, Im prepared to do whatever it takes. I asked, What does that mean? Hes said, It means whatever it takes. I asked him if he thinks it could get violent. He said, Whatever it takes. I asked if it was just him. Hes said, No, Ive been talking to my friends about it. He said this to me on camera. I remember sending out flares, saying this was a big deal. And postelection, the anger was there, the rhetoric was hot, but nothing had spilled over. There was a sense of relief. And then we got Jan. 6.

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When you wrote Unbelievable, your book about your experience, did you learn anything about yourself as a reporter when you sat down and collected all that?

Oh yeah. The campaign was a test of endurance, and looking back on it, I was impressed with all of the campaign reporters who survived it. You really do have to surrender yourself and your life to it completely. And it happens every four years. Its a trial. And I learned that I could be very stubborn when I was challenged.

Given all of what youve learned from covering Trump the past five years, what do you expect him to do now?

I dont know. Losing his Twitter is quite a big deal. Thats where he posted every thought that he had. Thats where he really riled people up. That and ralliesI dont know if hell continue doing rallies. Will he go on Fox News every day and spin people up? I dont know. It just depends on how he chooses to express his anger. It depends on how he chooses to make himself visible. Without his Twitter account, what form is that going to take? I talked to one of his advisers, and asked him if Trump was going to follow through with running for reelection in 2024. And they said that before Jan. 6, he had been very seriously talking about it. Now? I dont know.

This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.
The Irish Government is set to introduce a raft of tighter measures around travel, the Transport Minister has said.

Eamon Ryan said that part of these measures include garda check points at airports.

He added gardai are stopping people going to and from airports to establish why they are travelling.

The Green Party leader said the decision to set up check points was made because the Government realised we needed to go further and tighten up Covid-19 measures.

Face coverings are mandatory in retail outlets.



This not only helps to protect you from #COVID19, but also to prevent people who do not know they have the virus from spreading it to others.



This helps to protect our most vulnerable from developing serious illness. #ShopSafely pic.twitter.com/drbs9N7X3I  Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (@DeptEnterprise) January 22, 2021

That started on Friday  people will have noticed guards check points at approaches coming out of the airport and (gardai) are saying you cant fly, you cannot be more than five kilometres from your home, you will be fined, you will be prosecuted. That has to stop immediately, he told RTE.

Mr Ryan said there is rising concern among health officials about the new strains of the virus.

This evening we will be meeting to agree an approach that is being proposed, that we would introduce quarantine measures  that if someone is coming in and they havent filled in their form in advance of flying, again, sorry you cannot come in  you have to go into quarantine, he added.

Gardai are also set to be given powers to deal with air and ferry passengers who do not have a negative PCR test.

Mr Ryan said that gardai will be able to prevent them from travelling on into the country.

He also added that people travelling from certain countries, including South American countries and South Africa, can no longer travel to Ireland on a short-term holiday visa.

We will significantly increase our surveillance to reduce unnecessary travel Eamon Ryan

It has to be decided by the (Covid) sub-committee and then by Cabinet tomorrow, he added.

Mr Ryan also said Government will be seeking an all-island approach to travel arrangements in both jurisdictions.

He added: If we could get an agreement on an all-island basis, if we could get an agreement with the (Northern Ireland) Executive, with the five parties, then absolutely, we will close the door that way.

If that isnt possible, we will have to work very closely with the UK Government.

The Government will introduce tighter measures around cross-border travel, including garda check points five kilometres from the border.

Mr Ryan added that if anyone is found travelling without a valid explanation they will be subject to prosecution and fine.

We will significantly increase our surveillance to reduce unnecessary travel, he went on.

Mr Ryan also said that a global response is needed.

It isnt all just about a ban solves this and the problem goes away, because those people coming in, from say Portugal could easily fly a different route, he added.

If they don't have a pre-arrival negative test they should be sent back to from whence they came Mary Lou McDonald

There isnt a silver bullet here, but what there are is layers of security.

Meanwhile, the leader of Sinn Fein said the Government needs to introduce mandatory quarantine for all travellers arriving into Ireland.

Mary Lou McDonald described proposals to quarantine those who arrive without a negative Covid-19 test as absolutely insufficient.

The Government Covid-19 sub-committee will meet on Monday to discuss the current public health restrictions.

On Tuesday, the Government is to make a decision on whether to extend the health measures in place since last month.

Cabinet will also consider the issue of mandatory quarantine for some arrivals, particularly for those who arrive without a negative test.

The COVID-19 vaccines have gone through all the usual steps needed to develop a safe and effective vaccine.a We only use a vaccine if it meets the required standards. For factual, expert information you can trust, visit: https://t.co/x9GT42FBj2

a#HoldFirm #CovidVaccine pic.twitter.com/NZiVFlPjeo  HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 23, 2021

However, Ms McDonald said these measures do not go far enough.

If they dont have a pre-arrival negative test they should be sent back to from whence they came, she told RTE Morning Ireland.

Secondly, we need a second mandatory test after five days of being on the island and we need a mandatory enforced quarantine.

It seems that the Government is proposing simply to quarantine those that arrive without a negative test  that is absolutely insufficient.

Im very surprised at this stage that they dont realise  certainly Nphet and the public health experts realise  we have to grasp this nettle now, and it needs to be very, very clear that only essential travel onto the island, and then a mandatory form of quarantine.

Expand Close Ireland remains in lockdown to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ireland remains in lockdown to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (Niall Carson/PA)

Ms McDonald said that a mandatory quarantine of 14 days will act as an effective push back on travel.

The Government is still advising against all non-essential overseas travel.

All passengers arriving into Ireland are required to produce a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival.

Passengers are being asked to give evidence of their negative test before boarding a plane or ferry.
The tiny clinking vials supervised by silent PPE-wearing technicians belie the excitement inside the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, a major player in the fight against coronavirus.

The firm, founded in 1966 in the western city of Pune, is producing millions of doses of the Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, for India and much of the developing world.

Unlike the rival Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Covishield can be stored and transported using standard refrigeration.

It is also significantly cheaper than the vaccines developed by Pfizer or the US firm Moderna, making it better suited for countries with poorer populations and rusty infrastructure.

Even before the pandemic, the Indian firm was a world leader in vaccines, producing 1.5 billion doses a year and inoculating two out of three children in 170 countries against diseases such as polio, mumps, meningitis and measles.

Its journey kicked off on a stud farm, where the firm's owners, the Poonawalla family, began breeding horses in 1946, before a conversation with a vet sparked the realisation that anti-toxin serum extracted from the animals could be used to make vaccines.

The Serum Institute soon became a market leader thanks to its cheap and effective drugs, which were eagerly sought after by price-conscious governments and consumers, prompting the company to expand at a dizzying rate.

Adar Poonawalla, its 40-year-old CEO, has spent nearly a billion dollars in recent years enlarging and improving the sprawling Pune campus.

AFP image

As a result, when the coronavirus pandemic began to sweep across the world, the company, which recorded annual revenues of over $800 million in 2019-20 and is debt-free, was in pole position to reap the rewards.

Used to pressure

The palm-fringed Pune campus, whose grounds boast horse-shaped topiaries in a playful nod to the firm's origins, is home to several buildings where vaccines are manufactured and scrutinised for quality before being deposited into sterilised vials and stored for delivery.

From Brazil to South Africa, there is no shortage of customers, with governments clamouring to buy Covishield.

With Poonawalla vowing to reserve 50 percent of Covishield stocks for the Indian market, New Delhi, which intends to immunise 300 million people by July, is engaging in a bout of vaccine diplomacy, planning to supply 20 million doses to its South Asian neighbours.

The Serum Institute also plans to supply 200 million doses to Covax, a World Health Organization-backed effort to procure and distribute inoculations to poor countries.

AFP image

If all this sounds overwhelming, the firm's bosses are not worried.

"We are used to these kinds of pressures because even in the past there were situations when we were required to step up the production to meet individual countries' requirements," Suresh Jadhav, Serum Institute's executive director, told AFP.

Even a deadly fire at an under-construction building this week failed to dent confidence, with Poonawalla promptly tweeting that "there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies".

The pandemic has transformed Poonawalla's public profile, from a jet-setting billionaire known for his expensive taste in cars and fine art to a pharma-tycoon applauded for his willingness to take risks and his commitment to affordable vaccines.

Unsurprisingly, the father-of-two has not held back from taking so-called anti-vaxxers to task, including berating US rapper Kanye West for spreading conspiracy theories.

"Though we enjoy your music very much @KanyeWest, your views on #vaccines come across as irresponsible and borderline dangerous, considering the influence you have today and may have in the future; vaccines save lives," Poonawalla tweeted in July.
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Prince Charles is 'atrociously hypocritical and entitled' and looks older than his 94-year-old mother, a royal biographer has claimed.

Clive Irving, author of the new biography The Last Queen, has launched a scathing critique of the future king, 72 - adding that if he does succeed Her Majesty, there's a real risk 'the monarchy will go over a cliff very fast.'

Speaking to Vanity Fair about one of the more 'serious problems' he see with Charles, the author explained: 'One problem is that he doesnt look like an invigorating generational shift, does he? Thats what would be needed, something that reinvigorates and sends a sense that theyve understood the modern world.

'In some ways, Charles looks older than the queen....thats his deliberate and chosen style, like a younger brother of the queen rather than a son.'

Clive Irving has spoken to Vanity Fair and claimed Prince Charles (pictured), 72, is 'atrociously hypocritical and entitled'

The royal biographer claimed that one of the most 'serious problems' is that he doesnt 'look like an invigorating generational shift' and 'looks older than the queen.' Pictured, Her Majesty recording her annual Christmas broadcast in Windsor Castle, Berkshire on December 25, 2020

He also worries that the royal has run The Duchy of Cornwall solo, away from the Royal Family, for so long, that his actions may be indicative of the way he will operate if he were to take to the throne.

'He pulls in groups of advisers he targets for his issues and invariably theyre sycophants,' Clive claimed. 'He doesnt like to be challenged, and he thinks like an autocrat. And hes shown himself to be a hypocrite.'

The royal biographer went on to cite the royal's efforts in highlighting the importance of climate change, while alleging he still opts to travel by executive jets rather than commercial flights - which would have a significantly lower carbon footprint.

Clive added: 'Hes born with such a sense of entitlement that its never occurred to him that maybe you cant continue to do that.'

Charles runs his organic farm on the Sandringham estate, which he manages on behalf of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Pictured, Sandringham

Prince Charles popular high-end food brand started life as Duchy Originals but is now known as Waitrose Duchy Organic. Pictured left: a pasty sold under the brand's former name Duchy Originals. Right: A preserve featured in the current range sold by Waitrose

The Waitrose Duchy Organic brand, previously known as Duchy Originals, has hundreds of products sourced from organic farms across the UK and globally, including the Home Farm site at Highgrove in Gloucestershire (Pictured: Duchy Originals organic Welsh lamb leg steaks)

Speaking on the same topic, the author also went on to give the example of his 'atrocious act of hypocrisy' when it came to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

He explained that the royal took the view that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shouldn't use the Sussex Royal brand to monetise on the royal name.

However, he alleged the Prince of Wales was one of the first to do exactly that with his luxury 'Waitrose Duchy Organic' food brand, which is supplied to upmarket supermarkets Waitrose and Ocado.

The Prince of Wales founded the popular high-end brand as Duchy Organics 35 years ago and runs his organic farm on the Sandringham estate.

Waitrose has a 3million-a-year contract to sell Waitrose Duchy Organic products. Set up by Prince Charles in 1990, the brand remains a separate entity to the Duchy of Cornwall despite the similarities in name.

In 2018, the prince's charitable foundation earned 3.2million from profits made by the company, which has grown to become the UKs largest own-label organic food and drink brand.

The brand also sells to small independent shops and is wide ranging in its offering, selling everything from luxury Cornish pasties to regional ales, cheeses and organic meat. Products are sourced from a wide range of UK farms and also from across the globe, including fruits that are flown in from as far away as New Zealand.
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Market Reports on Saudi Arabia Provides the Trending Market Research Report on Coffee in Saudi Arabiaunder Food category. The Coffee Market in Saudi Arabia is projected to exhibit highest growth rate over report offers a collection of superior market research, market analysis, and competitive intelligence and industry reports.

In 2020, Coffee in Saudi Arabia recorded negative total volume growth, spurred by a steep decline in on-trade volume growth. This was brought about as a result of the government mandating Kingdom-wide closures of cafes and restaurants in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. At-home consumption increased during this time, and off-trade coffee pods showed very positive volume and sales growth as greater numbers of consumers purchased Nespresso and Dolce Gusto machines in an attempt to...

Coffee in Saudi Arabia report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data 2016-2020, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they legislative, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2025 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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Table of Contents

Coffee in Saudi Arabia

List OF CONTENTS AND TABLES

KEY DATA FINDINGS- 2020 IMPACT

Foodservice closures lead to total volume decline in 2020, despite an increase in at-home consumption

Disruptions in production and supply chains see average unit prices of coffee increase

Nestle SA continues its strong lead in 2020, thanks to the enduring popularity of its Nescafe brand

RECOVERY AND OPPORTUNITIES

Despite ongoing on-trade challenges, the future for coffee remains bright

Complex factors will combine to push up unit prices of coffee in the future

Product innovation and investment in advertising will see leading players retain top rankings over the forecast period

CATEGORY DATA

Table 1 Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: Volume 2015-2020

Table 2 Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: Value 2015-2020

Table 3 Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: % Volume Growth 2015-2020

Table 4 Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: % Value Growth 2015-2020

Table 5 Retail Sales of Fresh Ground Coffee Pods by Hard vs Soft: % Volume 2015-2020

Table 6 NBO Company Shares of Coffee: % Retail Value 2016-2020

Table 7 LBN Brand Shares of Coffee: % Retail Value 2017-2020

Table 8 Forecast Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: Volume 2020-2025

Table 9 Forecast Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: Value 2020-2025

Table 10 Forecast Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: % Volume Growth 2020-2025

Table 11 Forecast Retail Sales of Coffee by Category: % Value Growth 2020-2025

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

COVID-19 impact on hot drinks

COVID-19 country impact

Company response

Retailing shift

Foodservice vs retail split

What next for hot drinks?

CHART 1 Hot Drinks Value Sales Growth Scenarios: 2018-2025

CHART 2 Hot Drinks Impact of Drivers on Value Sales: 2017-2025

Browse our full report with Table of Contents: http://www.marketreportsonsaudiarabia.com/marketreports/coffee-in-saudi-arabia/363883

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Market Reports on Saudi Arabia provides you with an in-depth industry reports focusing on various economic, political and operational risk environment, complemented by detailed sector analysis. We have an exhaustive coverage on variety of industries  ranging from energy and chemicals to transportation, communications, constructions and mining to Food and Beverage and education. Our collection includes over 2000 up-to-date reports all researched, analysed and published by top-notch international research firms.

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This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.

Over the years, Ive bounced around the political spectrum. I was liberal in Texas, more conservative in college, and now Im somewhere in the middle. Through it all, I saw politics as a fight between left and right. I dont see it that way anymore. Donald Trumps presidency has exposed a bigger threat: an all-out attack on the principle that facts must be respected. We used to take that principle for granted; now we must defend it. Politics has become a fight between those who are willing to respect evidence and those who arent.

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Im not saying Trumps other sins and crimesthe corruption, the bigotry, the treachery, the hundreds of thousands of deathsdont matter. They certainly do. But those legacies, awful as they are, arent as crippling as the damage he has done to our capacity for deliberation. On the issues before usCOVID, jobs, infrastructure, immigration, trade, police reformthere are lots of ideas that could unite progressives and conservatives. But without agreement on facts, or at least on a method of distinguishing facts from lies, we lose our ability to agree on policy.

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What Trump has brought to the United States is ruthless, relentless, denialist propaganda at a scale we used to see only in dictatorships. He proved that tens of millions of Americans would believe such lies and that thousands would violently attack our own government. President Joe Biden, in his inaugural address, recognized this menace. We face an attack on democracy and on truth, said Biden. The challenge, he observed, wasnt just ordinary political spin, but allegations that were wholly manufactured. Each of us, said Biden, has a duty  to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.

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Progressives and conservatives have always quarreled about whats true. But to make those debates productive, and to correct our countrys mistakesfailed projects, naive policies, bad warswe need a common standard for judging truth. That standard cant be the Bible or identity politics. It has to be the standard we apply in daily life: evidence. If you say the election was stolen, you have to prove it in court. If you accuse a police officer of murder, your story has to withstand investigation.

If we dont get control of thisif we dont reestablish an ethic of respect for factsnothing else will be solved.

Thats how science works. While politicians stage stupid, interminable fights over wearing masks, scientists have quickly devised vaccines from genomes posted on the internet. Science has cured diseases, rolled back infant mortality, extended healthy lifespans, broadened access to information, and developed new energy technologies.

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Why is science so effective? Because it constantly tests its theories against reality. It seeks out, accepts, and learns from falsification. Thats what Vice President Kamala Harris, in remarks last week, said she had learned from her mother, an endocrinologist: She instilled in me a fundamental belief in the importance of collecting and analyzing data, facts, of forming a hypothesis, and recognizing that its not a failure to reevaluate that hypothesis when the facts dont add up. In science, discovering you were wrong isnt failure. Its progress.

Scientists take this process of testing and reevaluation for granted. To them, its common sense. But its more than that. Its an ethic. No law of nature forces you to test your theories against evidence or to admit, when those theories dont check out, that you were wrong. Scientists concede error, often grudgingly, because their peers demand it. Science has a culture of falsification.

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Politics doesnt. When political promises dont pan outwars turn into quagmires, public schools underperform, or tax cuts fail to pay for themselvespoliticians invent excuses. This has always been a problem, but its getting worse. Trump and his acolytes dont just spin facts; they completely disregard them. They repeat fantastic lies about election fraud, and when theyre confronted with contrary evidence, theyre not even embarrassed.

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If we dont get control of thisif we dont reestablish an ethic of respect for factsnothing else will be solved. We cant extinguish the virus if tens of millions of Americans insist its a hoax and refuse to be vaccinated or wear masks. We cant restore public faith in election results and put down insurrectionism if half the population refuses to believe anything the media report. Repairing the consensus that facts must be respected wont settle our debates on spending, education, or criminal justice. But without that consensus, the crisis were in will get much worse.

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If youre not willing to compromise with reasonable people in the other party, youre not appreciating the gravity of the crisis. Four hundred thousand Americans are dead, most of them needlessly. Two-thirds of the House Republican conference, nearly one-third of the entire House, voted to reject the 2020 election results. Thousands of Americans just invaded our own Capitol, some of them looking to hang the vice president or kidnap the speaker of the House. Tens of millions of others believe the lies that inspired the attack.

If you hold Trump and his party responsible for this madness, as I do, its tempting to write off the whole GOP. The COVID deniers and election conspiracy theorists are overwhelmingly on the right. For the next two years, Democrats will control the presidency, the House, and the Senate. Why not just tell Republicans to go to hell? The answer is that propagandists thrive on polarization. They recruit and derange their followers by dismissing all criticism as partisan. To break their grip on the right half of the country, we need a fact-based alliance that crosses party lines.

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That means looking for common ground everywhere. It means supporting Sen. Mitt Romney, Rep. Liz Cheney, and other Republicans when they speak the truth. It means seriously engaging with fact-based journalism at the Dispatch, the Bulwark, National Review, and other publications in the center and on the right. It means distinguishing the sins of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush from the pathologies of Trump and Newt Gingrich. In this fight, we need everyone whos willing to play by the rules of deliberative democracy. So, for at least the next four years, thats my commitment: If you believe in settling disputes by consulting evidence, Im on your team.

This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.





Philippines to provide US$8.3 million for repopulation of hogs

The Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) will be providing 400 million (US$8.3 million) for the repopulation of local hogs and mitigate the impact of the African swine fever (ASF).

In a virtual briefing, Reildrin Morales, executive director of the DA's National Meat Inspection Service, said that, under a programme called "Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion" (INSPIRE), they would distribute mother pigs as well as feed to areas that are now cleared of ASF.

"Through INSPIRE, we will distribute mother pigs to raisers in areas that are already cleared of ASF to increase our supply of pork meat in the market. We will also provide the feeding to guarantee that the pigs will not be fed with swill," he said, adding that they will announce the list of areas that would benefit from the aid in the coming weeks.

The initiative would be implemented under the DA's National Livestock Program (NLP).

INSPIRE intends to speed up the recovery of the Philippines' hog sector and ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of pork and pork products.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar has a standing order for Morales, who will assume as officer in charge-director for the Bureau of Animal Industry on February 7 to elevate the measures in combating the adverse effects of ASF in the country.

Dar planned out the intervention to involve the establishment of swine multiplier farms through clustering or village-level approach composed of 20 hog farmers each.

The agriculture chief said through its livestock programme, the DA will provide every member with five piglets each, 20 bags of animal feed and biologics. Each cluster with 20 members will have a total of 100 piglets to raise.

Dar said the clustering strategy will be implemented initially in ASF-affected areas as part of the DA's enhanced hog production stimulus package.

- Philippine News Agency
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Five terrorists were killed by security forces in Pakistan's northwestern tribal district of North Waziristan on Sunday, the country's military said in a statement.

The security forces conducted two intelligence-based operations in Mir Ali and Khaisur areas of North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in the statement.

The statement added that those killed belonged to the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Two terrorist commanders were among the five killed.

The Pakistani military has conducted a series of operations against terrorist groups in North Waziristan that borders Afghanistan.

Although the area has mostly been pacified, remnants of terrorist groups still manage to launch attacks on security forces sporadically.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

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Rain. Low 42F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

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Rain. Low 42F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.
Governor has time to meet Kangana but not farmers, alleges Sharad Pawar

India

oi-Deepika S

Mumbai, Jan 25: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday aunched a scathing attack at the Modi governmentover the ongoing farmers' protest and said that those who are in power have no affection for the farmers.

"Braving cold weather, farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are agitating for the last 60 days. Has the PM enquired about them? Do these farmers belong to Pakistan?," Pawar said addressing farmers' rally in Mumbai in support of farmers protesting in Delhi.

Attacking Maharashtra governor over farmers' protest, Sharad Pawar said, 'He has time to meet Kangana but not farmers.'

"You are going to Raj Bhavan to meet the Governor. Maharashtra has never seen such a Governor before. He has the time to meet Kangana Ranaut but not the farmers. It was the moral responsibility of the Governor to come here and meet you," he said.

Thousands of farmers from 21 districts of Maharashtra have gathered at Mumbai's expansive Azad Maidan on Monday to begin their three-day sit-in to protest against the new farm laws that were enacted in September last year.

Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several border points of Delhi since November 28 last year, demanding a repeal of these laws.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Multiple rounds of talks between the government and farmer unions have failed to break the impasse so far, while the Supreme Court has appointed a panel for resolution.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks edged higher on Monday as renewed hopes for robust earnings helped investors look past the possibility of rising Covid-19 cases and extended lockdowns. Amid growing frustration over vaccination availability, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described delays in consignments by Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc as 'unacceptable.' Elsewhere, U.K. health minister Matt Hancock warned that coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease. The benchmark DAX was marginally higher at 13,886 after declining 0.2 percent on Friday. In stock-specific action, Siemens Energy shares rallied 2.5 percent. The company, which was spun off from Siemens AG last year, reported that preliminary revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 increased by 2.6 percent to 6.54 billion euros. The company confirmed its outlook for fiscal year 2021. Merck KgaA rose over 1 percent. EMD Serono, the healthcare business sector of the German company and Pfizer Inc. said that the European Commission has approved Bavencio or avelumab as monotherapy for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma. 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 51st edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held its award ceremony on the closing day of the festival on Sunday, 24 January in Goa.

The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held its award ceremony on the closing day of the festival on Sunday, 24 January in Goa.

While the Danish film Into the Darkness won the Golden Peacock award for the Best Film, the Best Director award was presented to Chen-Nien Ko for his Taiwanese film Silent Forest. Tzu-Chuan Liu, who was the lead actor in the film was honoured with the Best Male Actor award. The Best Female Actor award was bagged by the Polish actor Zofia Stafiej for her performance in the film I Never Cry. The Special Jury award was presented to the film February by Bulgarian filmmaker Kamen Kavlev.

Veteran actor, producer, director, vocalist of Hindi and Bengali films, Biswajit Chatterjee won the IFFI's Indian Personality of the Year Award.

Check out the highlights here

Legendary Actor Shri Biswajit Chatterjee was Felicitated as Indian Personality at The Year At The Closing Ceremony of #IFFI51.@satija_amit @Chatty111Prasad @PIB_India @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/H8Ay3Mv3Xg  International Film Festival of India (@IFFIGoa) January 24, 2021

Danish World War II drama 'Into the Darkness' bags Golden Peacock Award at #IFFI51 The film by Anders Refnis is a gripping dive into the complex emotional turmoil which the people of Denmark had to undergo, during the Nazi occupation of the country pic.twitter.com/PLAvp8gN8D  PIB India (@PIB_India) January 24, 2021

Taiwanese Director Chen-Nien Ko wins Best Director Award for The Silent Forest, Tzu-Chuan Liu adjudged Best Actor  Male for the filmhttps://t.co/nyazoYkmLF#IFFI51  PIB India (@PIB_India) January 24, 2021

#IFFI51 ICFT @UNESCO Gandhi Award, for a film best reflecting Gandhiji's ideals of peace, tolerance & non-violence, goes to Ameen Nayfehs 2020 Arabic film '200 Meters' A moving story of a Palestinian father in the Occupied Territories of the Middle East, trying to reach his son pic.twitter.com/gHkJEREmRk  PIB India (@PIB_India) January 24, 2021

I wish that nobody will ever have to go through separation. I hope #Pandemic will go away and hope we will be reunited with our family and loved ones Amin Nayfeh, Director (200 Meters) which won ICFT @UNESCO Gandhi Award pic.twitter.com/qe2YAGJJdN  PIB India (@PIB_India) January 24, 2021

Here's a look at the winners of 51st IFFI:

Golden Peacock Award  Into the Darkness

Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor  Male  Tzu-Chuan Liu, The Silent Forest

Silver Peacock Award for Best Actor  Female  Zofia Stafiej, I Never Cry

Silver Peacock Award for Best Director  Chen-Nien Ko, The Silent Forest

Best Debut Director Award  Cassio Pereira dos Santos, Valentina

Special Mention Award  Kripal Kalita, Bridge

Special Jury Award  Kamin Kalev, February

ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award  Ameen Nayfehs 200 Meters

Indian Personality of the Year Award  Biswajit Chatterjee
They outlined a set of priority actions that should restore public confidence in the Ukrainian judiciary and anti-corruption infrastructure.

The Ambassadors of the G7 countries (the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan) in Ukraine have provided advice to the Ukrainian authorities on how to reform the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) and conduct judicial reform in general.

This was reported by the UK Presidency of the G7 Ambassadors' Support Group in Kyiv on Twitter on January 25.

Read alsoZelensky: In 2021, Ukraine to launch major judicial reform

"Late last year, our Ukrainian partners asked for G7 Ambassadors' advice on steps to strengthen anti-corruption institutions and reform the judiciary, responding to the problems caused by the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in late October and previously," it said.

"We were happy to provide this advice to Ukrainian partners, & are now sharing it more widely. G7 members have long supported Ukrainian reforms in these sectors, practically, financially & politically, and remain committed to further supporting Ukraine to deliver them," it said.

According to the G7 Ambassadors, they provided a set of priority actions that should restore public confidence in the Ukrainian judiciary and anti-corruption infrastructure and trust in them, as well as significantly contribute to the advancement of Ukraine on the path to achieving a prosperous, secure democracy.

They recommend that certain urgent actions should be taken to immediately repair the damage caused by the CCU and ensure this crisis is not repeated in the near future.

"In particular, we believe urgent action is necessary to 1) reestablish with a firm legal basis the anti-corruption provisions recently declared unconstitutional; 2) prevent the CCU from causing further harm even while it is being reformed into a truly independent and accountable institution; and 3) ensure all nominations to key judicial and law enforcement bodies are transparent, merit-based, and credible," the Ambassadors said in the Judicial Reform Roadmap.

According to the roadmap, while it is necessary to act quickly to repair the damage inflicted by the CCU upon Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions, it is equally critical to ensure that these institutions emerge from this crisis with the ability to carry out their missions effectively. "In this regard, the provisions aimed at restoring liability for false or unfiled asset declarations adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 4 do not have a sufficiently deterrent effect and thus would not be an effective tool in preventing corruption," it said.

Speaking about the Constitutional Court reform for the period of December 2020 to February 2021, the Ambassadors say that a modest increase in the decision-making quorum of the CCU should be instituted temporarily. They also say it is necessary to postpone ongoing selection procedures for CCU judges until new selection rules are introduced and to urgently establish a clear and transparent competitive selection process for CCU judges with the meaningful participation of internationals in vetting all candidates. Besides, they advise strengthening disciplinary proceedings and ethical requirements for CCU judges and mandating impartial open deliberation of cases and voting by CCU judges.

Speaking about the High Council of Justice (HCJ) reform (December 2020 to February 2021), they say it is a necessary precondition for judicial reform to be effective, it should be addressed as a matter of urgency. They advise establishing an independent Ethics Commission that is empowered to vet current HCJ members and submitting a motion as necessary to dismiss HCJ members to appointing bodies for their final decision. According to them, a new transparent selection process should be introduced for HCJ members that ensures high ethical and integrity standards, with a meaningful role for international participants.

The Ethics Commission will create a pool of qualified, high-integrity candidates for the HCJ from which appointing/electing bodies must choose.

Speaking about the High Qualifications Commission of Judges (HQCJ), they say that until May 2021, the Ukrainian authorities should ensure a transparent reboot of the HQCJ, with a meaningful role for international participants, involving an independent Selection Commission empowered to establish its own internal regulations for competitively selecting HQCJ members. They should also ensure that the new HQCJ is independent and has the authority to approve its own rules of procedure and internal regulations. The HQCJ should be integrated into the HCJ once the latter's integrity is ensured and the vacancies at first instance and appellate courts are filled by the HQCJ, in order to reduce the number of judicial self-governance institutions.

The Ambassadors also recommend that the Ukrainian authorities should by the end of February 2021 "through inclusive consultations, develop and adopt a comprehensive judicial reform strategy that is in line with international and European standards and harmonized with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2020-2024."

The recommendations include measures to establish clear, public HQCJ rules and procedures for a transparent, merit-based judicial selection and evaluation of qualifications and to resume suspended processes for judicial selection and qualifications evaluation.

The Ambassadors also advise revising procedures for the consideration of high-profile administrative cases against government agencies in line with International Monetary Fund commitments, including transferring jurisdiction for such cases to the Supreme Court or establishing a new specialized administrative court with judges selected through an open, competitive, and merit-based process with the meaningful participation of international experts.

Other related news reports

Reporting by UNIAN

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos Getty

Heres a question for the supermarket tabloid publisher formerly known as American Media Inc.: Is that a Pecker in your pocket or are you still hot for Trump?

Yellow journalism purveyor and Donald Trump acolyte David Pecker ostensibly retired as chairman and CEO of the National Enquirers financially strapped parent company last August when AMI changed its name to A360 Media as it was being acquired by a marketer of face masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, disinfectant wipes, and vitamin supplements. But he has, allegedly, remained very much in the saddle.

The revelation comes amid mass layoffs across A360 Medias titleswhich also include Star magazine, OK!, Globe, Examiner, In Touch, Us Weekly and Life and Stylewith significantly curtailed severance packages being offered to a fired workforce that already took a 23-percent pay cut last March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began affecting print-media bottom lines.

According to three well-situated A360 Media insiders, the 69-year-old Pecker, nominally just an executive adviser, is still driving editorial decisions from his Greenwich, Connecticut, estate and protecting his longtime pal Trumpmuch as he did during the 2016 campaign.

Then, Pecker weaponized the Enquirer against Trumps adversaries and, along with disgraced Trump attorney Michael Cohen, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to catch and kill the life stories of porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claimed to have had extramarital sex with the reality game show host-turned-presidential candidate.

AMI Tabloids, Including National Enquirer, on a Ventilator After Pecker Enforces Brutal Staff Pay Cut

Peckers strong hand was evident last Wednesday, current staffers told The Daily Beast, in two cover stories about the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection in both the National Enquirer and Globe that were published the same day as Joe Biden was being sworn in as the 46th president.

With cover lines blaming the attempted coup on WHITE SUPREMACISTS (National Enquirer) and NEO-NAZI ASSASSINS (Globe), the two tabloids didnt even bother to mention the twice-impeached Trump who is facing his second Senate trial next monthan historical first for an American presidentfor allegedly inciting the lethal riot in which five people died, including a Capitol police officer.

Story continues

When you run stories like the Capitol riots and not mention Trump, it raises eyebrows. Why is Pecker still protecting Trump? demanded an A360 Media employee who, like others who spoke to The Daily Beast, asked not to be further identified out of concern for corporate reprisals. Im surprised no one has called out Pecker for his support of Trump.

A second staffer said Peckerwho, along with his former sidekick Dylan Howard, signed a non-prosecution deal in December 2018 with the Southern District of New York to come clean about their, and Trumps, potential violations of campaign finance lawsis A360 Medias man behind the curtain.

The running joke is Pecker is behind the curtain pulling the strings just like The Wizard of Oz, this staffer told The Daily Beast.

Pecker is there and getting paid and is completely in control, a third insider said. Pecker never went away. They lied. They wanted to take the heat out of the whole Trump hush money payments saga.

Indeed, people familiar with the situation said Pecker is still calling the shots and picking covers, just as he did during his two decade-long, financially ruinous leadership of AMIa claim denied by Dan Dolan, the editor-in-chief of both the National Enquirer and Globe.

Trump Had Kushner Push the National Enquirer to Probe Scarborough Murder Conspiracy

All editorial decisions for the National Enquirer and Globe are made by me and my editorial team and any suggestion that David is still involved is baseless and completely false, Dolan said in a statement to The Daily Beast. In fact, the last time he attended an edit meeting was July of 2020.

While top Enquirer editors recently announced a so-called cover committee designed to choose and review cover stories, an insider scoffed: At the end of the day its all Pecker. They can say that its not really Pecker, but it is complete bullshit.

According to insiders, shortly after The Daily Beast requested comment on Peckers role at A360 Media, the Enquirer killed a planned expose scheduled for last Wednesdays issue detailing Joe Bidens supposed extramarital cheating scandala highly dubious allegation based on claims dating back 45 years that the 46th president and first lady Jill Biden had an affair that broke up her first marriage.

Meanwhile, a week ago, A360 Media permanently terminated around three dozen staffers who were placed on pandemic-related furloughs last year. According to several laid-off employees, their severance packagesbased on their COVID-reduced salaries, not their original compensationgrant only one weeks payment, instead of the traditional two, per year of service, plus one bonus week. Severance payments, however, are capped at 13 weeks.

If I had been laid off in February [before the 23-percent cut] I would be getting two weeks per year at full pay, one outraged longtime staffer told The Daily Beast. Now Im walking away with peanuts. Its disgraceful.

A second fired employee blamed Chatham Asset Management, the hedge fund that financially propped up Peckers AMIto the tune of 80-percent ownershipand remains a major investor in A360 Media.

Its the Chatham guys, said this ex-staffer. They are screwing us for every last dollar. Its reprehensible.

The hedge funds spokesman, Jonathan Gasthalter, disagreed.

Chatham has no involvement whatsoever in the management of A360s business and any suggestion otherwise is patently false and libelous, he said in a statement to The Daily Beast.

A spokesperson for A360 Media, meanwhile, explained the layoffs and reduced severance packages this way: While we have been able to bring back a number of furloughed staff and extend benefit protection to those still furloughed, the Covid-19 pandemic is still having a measurable impact on our industry and as a result we have had to make difficult decisions in regard to staffing.

An A360 Media insider, however, noted: Pecker is there and getting paid and is completely in control. If he wasnt earning $2 million a year maybe they could reinstate our pay The feeling is we are never going to get the money back.

The National Enquirers David Pecker Tried to Extort Me, Claims Theme Park Promoter

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Washington, Jan 25 : US President Joe Biden's administration will on Monday impose a ban on most non-American citizens from entering the country if they had recently travelled to South Africa, where a new Covid-19 strain has been detected.

According to US media reports on Sunday, Biden is also expected to reinstate broader restrictions that would affect non-US citizens travelling from the Schengen area of Europe, Britain, Ireland, which share a common visa process.

The curbs will also affect travellers from Brazil, an NBC News report said on Sunday citing White House officials as saying.

Former President Donald Trump had planned to rescind these restrictions effective from Tuesdayonwards, Xinhua news agency reported.

The media report have also said that the US was yet to detected any cases of the coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, but several states have detected the other strain discovered in Britain.

Also on Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that beginning Tuesday, it will no longer consider exceptions to its requirement that international travellers present negative coronavirus tests, NBC News reported.

Airlines had asked the agency to relax the rule for some countries with limited testing capacity.

"As variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to emerge in countries around the world, there is growing evidence of increased transmissibility of some of these variants, as well as unknown health and vaccine implications," a CDC spokesman said in a statement.

"Testing before and after travel is a critical layer to slow the introduction and spread of Covid-19 and emerging variants." A year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the US is still fighting a brutal battle against the virus as its total number of infections has topped 25 million.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the the Johns Hopkins University revealed that the country's overall caseload and death toll stood at 25,123,857 and 419,204, respectively.

The US remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, making up more than 25 per cent of the global caseload and nearly 20 per cent of the global fatalities.
Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan accused the administration of President Joe Biden of making the U.S. less safe after he swore in last week.

Mark Morgan said that Biden made the country less safe "with the stroke of a pen."

"It's pure politics over public safety," Morgan told Breitbart News. The former commissioner noted that he knew what their team said to the transition team, and he believed that the new administration did not speak to experts with the CBP and Border Patrol about which policies should remain.

Mark Morgan cited the removal of the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), also known as the "Remain in Mexico" program. He said the program should have been kept, MBNC News reported.

"I know the facts and data and analysis that was provided. I know what they told them and gave them that showed that the wall works," Mark Morgan said in the report.

Related story: Trump Officials Warn of Illegal Border Crossings Surge If Biden Reverses Immigration Policies

Mark Morgan on Immigration Policy Changes

The "Remain in Mexico" program is a policy that focuses on deterring asylum seekers trying to enter the United States through the southern border. Mark Morgan said the Biden administration should have retained the program.

According to The Guardian report, the program highlighted that asylum seeker would have to wait for their court hearings in Mexican border towns, such as Ciudad Juarez, Mexicali, and Matamoros.

However, activists claimed that it exposed highly vulnerable migrants to physical harm and illness in an unfamiliar and dangerous environment since it includes areas with some of the world's highest murder rates.

Mark Morgan said removing the "Remain in Mexico" program and ending the border wall system construction were something they have been saying the "most dangerous thing" that "he was going to get rid of on day one, and that's what he did."

He stressed that the program alone attributed to the absolute reduction of migrant families coming from Central America.

According to Breitbart, CBP reported a 92 percent reduction in the number of Central American migrant families crossing the border from Mexico from May 2019 to February 2020.

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would halt deportations of some undocumented immigrants in the United States for 100 days.

The DHS also announced that it would stop new enrollments in the "Remain in Mexico" program, according to an NPR report.

Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske said the country faces enormous operational challenges at the southwest border as it confronts the global pandemic.

Pekoske explained that halting some enforcement policies would let them thoroughly review the immigration policies and programs of the United States.

Under his memo, Pekoske directed DHS-sub agencies CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to review immigration policies and set interim guidelines for civil enforcement as the DHS develops its final priorities.

The DHS acting head said the department wants to focus its resources where it is most needed.

Thousands of migrants from Central America have moved forward to Mexico in recent days. Guatemala security forces are attempting to block a caravan of migrants from Honduras since last week.

Some migrants have been able to avoid security forces by moving off the roads. However, Mexico has imposed strict border forces, making crossing into the country difficult for the migrants.

According to Guatemala's top immigration official, Guillermo Diaz, at least 7,000 to 8,000 Hondurans have crossed into Guatemala in an "irregular" manner.

Related story: Joe Biden Plans to Reverse Trump's Immigration Policies Once He's in Office




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As hospitals nationwide struggle with the latest covid-19 surge, it's not so much beds or ventilators in short supply. It's the people to care for the sick.

Yet a large, highly skilled workforce of foreign-educated doctors, nurses and other health practitioners is going largely untapped due to licensing and credentialing barriers. According to the Migration Policy Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., some 165,000 foreign-trained immigrants in the U.S. hold degrees in health-related fields but are unemployed or underemployed in the midst of the health crisis.

Many of these workers have invaluable experience dealing with infectious disease epidemics such as SARS, Ebola or HIV in other countries yet must sit out the covid pandemic.

The pandemic highlights licensing barriers that predate covid, but many believe it can serve as a wake-up call for state legislatures to address the issue for this crisis and beyond. Already, five states  Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and New York  have adapted their licensing guidelines to allow foreign-trained health care workers to lend their lifesaving skills amid pandemic-induced staff shortages.

"These really are the cabdrivers, the clerks, the people who walk your dog," said Jina Krause-Vilmar, CEO of Upwardly Global, a nonprofit that helps immigrant professionals enter the U.S. workforce. "They also happen to be doctors and nurses in their home countries, and they're just not able to plug and play into the system as it's set up."

That's left doctors such as Sussy Obando, a 29-year-old from Colombia, jumping through hoops to become physicians in the U.S. In 2013, she graduated after six years of medical school in Colombia, then spent a year treating patients in underserved communities. But when Obando arrived in the U.S., her credentials and experience weren't enough.

While licensure guidelines vary by state, foreign-trained doctors typically must pass a medical licensing exam costing more than $3,500, and then complete at least a year of on-the-job training, known as a residency, in the U.S. For many, including Obando, that means brushing up on their English and learning the relevant medical terminology. She also needed U.S. clinical experience to qualify for a residency, something U.S.-trained doctors achieve through rotations during medical school.

"If you don't know anyone in this field, you have to go door to door to find somebody to give you the opportunity to rotate," Obando said.

She tried emailing Hispanic doctors she found online to ask if she could complete a rotation with one of them. She ended up paying $750 to enter a psychiatry rotation at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston.

"I tried to go into internal medicine," Obando said. "But because psychiatry was less expensive, I have to go for that."

She also worked for almost a year as a volunteer at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center, and is now assisting with clinical trials for covid vaccines at the Texas Center for Drug Development. She's applied for a residency through a national program that matches medical school graduates with residency slots. But it's difficult for foreign-trained physicians to secure a spot, because many are earmarked for U.S. med school graduates. And many residency programs are open only to recent graduates, not those who finished medical school years ago.

"It's competitive for people who trained in the United States to get into a residency program. If you're trained outside the United States, it's even harder," said Jacki Esposito, director of U.S. policy and advocacy for World Education Services, a nonprofit that helps immigrants find jobs in the U.S. and Canada.

That's why states such as Colorado have eased the requirement for a residency during the pandemic. Early on, Colorado officials realized they couldn't license doctors and other health workers because covid lockdowns had canceled required licensing exams. Under an executive order from Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in April, state officials created a temporary licensing program allowing medical school graduates to begin practicing under supervision for six months, and then extended it through June 2021.

Officials created a similar pathway to temporary licensure for foreign medical school graduates who lacked the minimum year of residency.

Colorado also created temporary licenses for foreign-trained nurses, certified nurse's aides, physician assistants and many other health professionals. All of those licenses require supervision from a licensed professional and are valid only as long as the governor's public health emergency declaration remains in effect.

The state relaxed the scope-of-practice rules for those health workers, too, allowing them to perform any task their supervisors assign to them.

"So if you're an occupational therapist, you can give vaccinations as long as they are delegating to you and they're confident you have the skill and knowledge," said Karen McGovern, deputy director of legal affairs for the professions and occupations division at the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. "You can exceed your statutory skill and practice to what needs to be done during the pandemic."

Through mid-December, the state had received 36 applications from foreign-trained doctors seeking temporary licenses, although only one applicant met all the criteria. New Jersey, on the other hand, received more than 1,100 applications for temporary medical licenses last year. (Michigan also issued an executive order allowing temporary licenses, but it was later rescinded.)

Many of the medical professionals stuck on the sidelines have unique skills and experience that would be invaluable during the pandemic. Victor Ladele, 44, finished medical school in Nigeria and treated patients during a drought in Niger in 2005, in the midst of the Darfur genocide in Sudan in 2007 and after a civil war in Liberia in 2010. His family moved to the U.S. a few years later, but Ladele was recruited to help with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. What he thought would be a three-month stay turned into a two-year mission.

Now back in Edmond, Oklahoma, working with a U.N. program that helps new business ventures get off the ground, Ladele has found that the challenges of the covid pandemic parallel many of his past experiences. He saw how a program for Ebola contact tracing told people with a cough or fever to call a hotline, which would direct them to a care center. But as soon as the initiative went live, rumors began to spread on social media that European doctors at the care centers were harvesting organs. It took months of outreach to tribal and religious leaders to instill confidence in the system.

He's seen similar misinformation spread about covid and masks.

"If, in Oklahoma, the public health officials had done outreach to all the pastors in the churches and gained their support for masking, would there be more people using masks?" Ladele said.

Ideally, he said, he would like to spend about half his time seeing patients, but the licensing process remains a challenge.

"It's not unsurmountable," he said. But "when I think of all the hurdles to credentialing here, I'm not really sure it's worth the effort."

Upwardly Global helps health professionals navigate that unfamiliar application and credentialing system. Many foreign-trained health workers have never had to write resumes or interview for jobs.

While the pandemic has temporarily eased entry in five states, Krause-Vilmar and others believe it could be a model to address workforce shortages in underserved areas across the country. As of September, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration had designated more than 7,300 health care shortage areas, requiring an additional 15,000 health care practitioners.

"We've had a crisis in access to health care, especially in rural areas, in this country for a long time," she said. "How do we start imagining what that would look like in terms of more permanent licenses for these folks who are helping us recover and rebuild?"
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OMAHA, Neb.  A major winter storm threatened to blanket parts of the middle of the country with more than a foot of snow Monday, promising to disrupt travel and forcing the closure of some coronavirus testing sites.

The National Weather Service said at least 4 inches (10 centimeters) of snow is expected across most of an area stretching from central Kansas northeast to Chicago and southern Michigan. Parts of southeast Nebraska and western Iowa could get more than three times that much by Tuesday morning.

Several coronavirus testing sites in Nebraska and Iowa were closing early Monday because of the snow. More than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow had already fallen in parts of eastern Nebraska by Monday evening.

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National Weather Service meteorologist Taylor Nicolaisen said 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 centimeters) of snow was likely between York, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa, and that it has been at least 15 years since that area received more than a foot of snow in a single storm.

This is historic snow, said Nicolaisen, who is based near Omaha, Nebraska.

Many schools and businesses closed Monday as the storm moved across the region. In western Iowa, Missouri Valley Superintendent Brent Hoesing reworked the lyrics of the 1970s hit I Will Survive to tell students in his district to So Stay Inside.

Officials urged drivers to stay off the roads during the storm, especially during the heaviest snowfall in the afternoon and evening. Nebraska State Patrol troopers responded to more than 200 weather-related incidents Monday.

Do not travel unless its absolutely necessary, said Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc.

Roughly 250 semi trucks pulled off the road to wait out the storm at the Petro truck stop alongside Interstate 80 in York, Nebraska. Manager Rachael Adamson said she could see knee-high drifts and that the maintenance man had to go out every 30 minutes to shovel the sidewalks to keep up with the snow.

We havent had this much snow in quite a few years, Adamson said.

Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said road conditions deteriorated quickly and numerous vehicles slid off roads in central Iowa.

The big thing that people are seeing is that this snow system is packing a big punch, Dinkla said to the Des Moines Register. As we have seen this system move into Iowa, the road conditions go from zero snow on the road to an immediate totally covered roadway in just a matter of minutes.

A section of eastbound Interstate 80 was closed in central Nebraska Monday afternoon following a crash. And Missouri officials urged drivers not to travel on Interstates 29 and 35 in northwest Missouri into Iowa. The agency said most roads in the area were covered with snow and heavy snow continued falling Monday afternoon.

If northern Missouri or Iowa are part of your travel plan, please re-route or find a warm, safe place to wait out the storm, the Missouri Transportation Department said.

Elsewhere in the U.S., a storm moving across the Southwest on Monday and Tuesday was forecast to bring gusty winds and snowfall, the weather service said. Over the weekend, more than a foot of snow fell in Southern Californias mountains, making driving conditions hazardous. Interstate 5 was shut down Monday in the Tejon Pass between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley. Wind, snow and ice also forced the closure of State Route 58 through the Tehachapi Pass.

Until recently, California had been experiencing significantly dry weather accompanied by relentless wildfires. A band of clouds suggested more rain could fall Tuesday in areas north and south of San Francisco Bay, bringing the threat of possible flash floods and landslides in areas scarred by the fires.

Forecasters at the Sacramento-area National Weather Service office predict an abundance of snow in the Sierra Nevada between late Tuesday and Friday that will make travel through the mountains difficult.

A major winter storm buried northern Arizona in snow on Monday while sending flurries to the outskirts of Las Vegas and Phoenix.

And most of Nevada was bracing for another series of powerful winter storms that could bring rare snowfall to the Las Vegas Strip late Monday or early Tuesday and several feet to the mountains above Lake Tahoe with winds up to 60 mph (96 kph) by Thursday.

Up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow fell Monday in the Reno-Sparks area, where up to 10 inches (25 cm) is possible and up to 20 inches (50 cm) in the Sierra foothills above elevations of 5,000 feet (1,828 meters) on the edge of town by Thursday.

Three to 6 feet (91 cm to 1.8 meters) of snow is forecast in the Sierra above elevations of 7,000 feet

Portlaoise has again made it to the top five cleanest towns in Ireland.

In the first 2021 survey by Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL), the Laois county town is in fifth position.

Laois is top of the 'Clean to European Norms' list. It is a slight drop from fourth cleanest last Autumn.

Laois County Council CEO John Mulholland praised Portlaoise today at the January council meeting on the result.

"Congratulations to Portlaoise Tidy Towns, Downtown Portlaoise and our roads staff. Laois has established itself as having one of the cleanest towns in Ireland, consolidating our position today," he said.

FULL TABLE BELOW STORY

Only four towns made the highest category of 'Cleaner than European Norms' level, including Tullamore in Offaly in 4th place.

However the second nationwide litter survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) since the Covid-19 pandemic reveals a continued rise in litter levels across the country, with further increases in PPE and coffee cup litter in particular.

Kilkenny topped the rankings for 2020 for a record 5th time, while Ballymun and Dublins North Inner City were both seriously littered. For the first time in 13 years, fewer than half of the towns surveyed were deemed clean.

In all, litter levels rose in 24 of the 37 towns and cities inspected by An Taisce at the end of 2020, resulting in only 17 being judged to be clean  a fall of over 25% on last summer and in sharp contrast to just 3 years ago, when 80% were clean. Retaining its title from last year, Kilkenny won out over Killarney, Ennis and Tullamore at the top of the IBAL table.

Praising Kilkenny in its report, An Taisce commented: There is surely a lesson in this result for other towns  while the majority of towns have deteriorated during Covid, Kilkenny has been maintained in pristine condition. The High Street, River Nore Walk and grounds of Kilkenny Castle were all excellent with regard to not just litter, but overall presentation.

According to IBAL, the survey results are consistent with a trend in recent years. The decline in cleanliness is less a case of the poorer areas getting worse, but of previously clean towns slipping to littered, says IBAL spokesperson Conor Horgan. Covid is clearly a factor here, but we should never accept litter as inevitable. It comes down to people disposing of their waste without regard for their surroundings or their fellow citizens and it is entirely unnecessary.

One explanation for the rise in litter lies in the restrictions surrounding cleaning services during the pandemic. While council workers have not been on the streets as much as normal, the general public has been spending more time than ever out of doors, says Mr Horgan. There was a sharp rise in the amounts of litter on approach roads to towns, reflecting the fact that the benign winter has seen masses of people out walking. Ironically, too many of them are showing a shameful disregard for the environment they are enjoying.

PPE litter

Coffee cups were among the most prevalent litter types found, while there was another rise in glass bottles and cans, suggesting that outdoor drinking has not waned over the winter months. The survey also showed that the second half of 2020 brought a further increase in PPE-related litter, primarily masks. 8 months into the pandemic, we would have hoped people would have moved to reusable masks with a resulting fall in mask-related litter. In fact, we are seeing more and more of them ending up our streets, says Mr Horgan.

Heavily littered sites getting worse

The report highlighted a continued rise in the number of blackspots in towns and cities. IBAL was once again critical of the failure of local authorities to address sites that had been identified in previous surveys as heavily littered. 36 such sites were revisited in this latest survey, yet only 11% were found to have been cleaned up and more than a quarter had actually worsened. Among the worst sites were Dry Dock in Dublins IFSC, Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun, where there was litter everywhere, and St Patricks Park in Navan which again suffered from a very large dumping problem. Ballybane Village in Galway wasnt just casually littered but subject to dumping.

With restrictions on time and resources, local authorities need to be more selective in their cleaning efforts, says Mr Horgan. Too many sites are persistently littered. It is disheartening that yet again our work in reporting them is falling on deaf ears.

Reluctance to pick up litter

According to IBAL, the reluctance among civic-minded people to pick up litter during the pandemic may carry long term consequences. While people have certainly become more attuned to their natural surroundings and more conscious of how litter can spoil those surroundings, this is offset by an understandable unwillingness to pick up waste for fear of contamination. As the pandemic endures, and with it the sensitivity around touching items, people may simply get out of the habit of picking up other peoples litter. We risk losing a civic behaviour which is vital in keeping our country clean. concludes Mr Horgan.
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Donald Trump is reportedly not moving forward with his plans to create a 'MAGA Party' because he doesn't believe that he will be impeached now that the vote has been delayed, but he could still put pressure on Republicans who oppose him with a shortlist of his own candidates for primaries.

Trump previously told people that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate trial next month.

New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman revealed in a tweet Sunday evening that: 'In the last 24 hours, after floating through a few folks that he was considering creating a third-party as a way to keep Senate Rs in line ahead of impeachment, Trump has been talked out of that and is making clear to people he isn't pursuing it, per ppl familiar w his thinking.'

According to Haberman, the sources also said that Trump believes that there are 'fewer votes to convict than there would have been if the vote had been held almost immediately after Jan. 6'.

'Theres also the fact that threatening a third party while simultaneously threatening primaries makes no sense, which some folks gently pointed out to him,' Haberman added.

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Donald Trump is reportedly not moving forward with his plans to create a 'MAGA Party' because he doesn't believe that he will be impeached now that the vote has been delayed until next month

New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman revealed in a tweet Sunday evening that Trump as been talked out of that and is making clear to people he isn't pursuing it, per ppl familiar w his thinking'

Since President Joe Biden took office, Trump has been ensconced at Mar-a-Lago, remaining publicly cryptic about his plans except to tell a reporter on Friday: 'We'll do something, but not just yet.'

But behind closed doors, Trump is already drafting an enemies list of Republicans who opposed his baseless claims of election fraud, instructing aids to prepare primary challenges against them, sources told the Washington Post.

The list is said to include Rep Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who broke party ranks and voted to impeach Trump over his role in the January 6 Capitol riot, Rep Tom Rice, a South Carolina Republican, is on the list for the same reason.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is also reportedly on the list after provoking Trump's fury for refusing to back his challenge to the state's election results, which were certified for Biden.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who has signaled that she is open to voting to convict Trump, is also said to be a Patriot Party primary target. Kemp and Murkowski are both up for re-election in 2022.

Trump advisers had previously said that they planned to recruit opposing primary candidates and commission polling as soon as next week in districts of targeted lawmakers.

Trump advisers had previously said that they planned to recruit opposing primary candidates and commission polling as soon as next week in districts of targeted lawmakers

To fund his splinter party, Trump has more than $70million in campaign cash on hand, the sources said.

Though the Trump campaign was essentially tapped out on Election Day, the campaign and several allied groups raised $207million between November 3 and November 23, fundraising on his push to challenged the election results.

The number is certainly higher by now, but hard numbers won't be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission until January 31.

Much of Trump's fate in the Senate trial will rest in the hands of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been cagey about his plans but publicly rebuked Trump after the Capitol riot, saying Trump had 'provoked' the mob.

McConnell will have to weigh the exodus of corporate donations away from the GOP in the wake of the riot, against the risk of infuriating and alienating Trump's base by voting to convict.

A vote to convict could split the party, but some see it as the only way to unify Republicans, by banishing Trump to the sidelines and removing the source of the tensest divisions.

A conviction would also allow the Senate to bar Trump from holding federal office again, insuring Republicans would be able to put forward a slate of non-Trump candidates in their 2024 presidential party.

Reps Liz Cheney (left) and Tom Rice (right) are said to be on Trump's enemies list of Republicans to target for primary challenges. Both voted to impeach him

Senator Lisa Murkowski (left) and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (right) are also on the list

Because conviction requires a two-third vote in the Senate, at least 16 Republicans would have to join the 50 Democrats to secure a conviction. Opening arguments in the trial will begin the week of February 8.

Meanwhile, the widening split in the Republican Party was on evidence on Saturday in Arizona, where state GOP officials voted to censure John McCain's widow Cindy McCain and two other prominent Republicans who bashed Trump's election fraud claims.

The censures of McCain, former Senator Jeff Flake and Governor Doug Ducey are merely symbolic.

But they show strong elements of the party are focused on enforcing loyalty to Trump, even in the wake of an election that saw Arizona inch away from its staunchly Republican roots.

Party activists also reelected controversial Chairwoman Kelli Ward, who has been one of Trump's most unflinching supporters and among the most prolific promoters of his baseless allegations of election fraud.

The Arizona GOP's combative focus has delighted Trump's staunchest supporters and worried Republican insiders who have watched the party lose ground in the suburbs as the influence of its traditional conservative establishment has faded in favor of Trump.

Much of Trump's fate in the Senate trial will rest in the hands of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been cagey about his plans

GOP activists in Arizona on Saturday reelected controversial state party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, who has been one of Trump's most unflinching supporters

A growing electorate of young Latinos and newcomers bringing their more liberal politics from back home have further hurt the GOP.

'This is a time for choosing for Republicans. Are we going to be the conservative party?' said Kirk Adams, a former state House speaker and chief of staff to Ducey. 'Or is this a party ... that's loyal to a single person?'

It's a question of Republican identity that party officials and activists are facing across the country following Trump's 2020 loss, and particularly after a mob of his supporters laid siege on the Capitol earlier this month.

Cindy McCain endorsed Biden and became a powerful surrogate for the Democrat following years of attacks by Trump on her husband.

After the censure vote, she wrote on Twitter that 'it is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so well.'

'I'll wear this as a badge of honor,' she wrote.

Also after the vote, Flake tweeted a photo of him with McCain and Ducey at Biden's inauguration and wrote: 'Good company.'

Flake was one of the few congressional Republicans who was openly critical of Trump for failing to adhere to conservative values. He declined to run for reelection in 2018 and endorsed Biden in last year's election.

'If condoning the President's behavior is required to stay in the Party's good graces, I'm just fine being on the outs,' Flake wrote on Twitter before and after the vote.

Ducey is being targeted for his restrictions on individuals and businesses to contain the spread of COVID-19. While it's not mentioned in the proposed censure, he had a high-profile break with the president when he signed the certification of Bidens victory.

'These resolutions are of no consequence whatsoever and the people behind them have lost whatever little moral authority they may have once had,' said Sara Mueller, Ducey's political director.
Billionaires including Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have seen their wealth soar during the COVID-19 pandemic while the world's poor face years of hardship, charity Oxfam said on Monday as it demanded steps to tackle inequality.

Nations have a "shrinking window of opportunity" to build a fair, green recovery, according to "The Inequality Virus" report, published as global leaders tune in for the World Economic Forum's virtual "Davos Dialogue" meeting.

"We stand to witness the greatest rise in inequality since records began," Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement as the charity called for higher wealth taxes and stronger protections for workers.

"Rigged economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite who are riding out the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic  shop assistants, healthcare workers, and market vendors  are struggling to pay the bills."

COVID-19 has unleashed an economic storm that hit the poor and vulnerable hardest, with women and marginalised workers facing the worst of job losses and the World Bank warning more than 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty.

It could take more than a decade to reduce the number of people living in poverty back to pre-crisis levels, Oxfam said.

Meanwhile, the collective wealth of the world's billionaires rose $3.9 trillion between March and December 2020 to reach $11.95 trillion, the report calculated.

The 10 richest men - a list led by Bezos and Musk which also includes LVMH luxury group's CEO Bernard Arnault, Microsoft's Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg - saw their net worth increase by $540 billion in the same period, Oxfam said.

That sum would be enough to prevent anyone from falling into poverty as a result of the pandemic and pay for a vaccine for everyone on earth, researchers calculated.

The pandemic marks a "pivotal" point which has exposed economic disparities and built support for "transformative" policies, Oxfam said, calling for higher taxes on wealth and corporations alongside stronger protections for workers.

A temporary tax on excess profits made by the 32 global corporations that have profited the most during the pandemic could have raised $104 billion in 2020, Oxfam said.

International cooperation would be key to implementing many changes, said Jayati Ghosh, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was among the economists polled by Oxfam for the report.

The administration of new U.S. President Joe Biden will spur "more willingness" for joint action on issues including a crackdown on tax havens and a bailout for developing nations, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

"There are some very, very big hurdles, but there are many things that can be done very quickly," she added.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Bollywood actor Sophie CHoudry soared the temperature higher by sharing fresh pictures from the picturesque location of Maldives, where she celebrated her New year recently. (Image: Instagram)
- New manifesto from Wall's suggests happiness lies in social connections and communities whilst also calling for happiness to become a recognised marker of social progress LONDON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new manifesto from global ice cream brand Wall's, people across the world are calling for happiness to be recognised as a marker for social progress. A Launched at Goals House, the telling insight has been revealed as part of the findings from a global survey exploring the effects of lockdowns on people's perceptions of happiness. A A Titled "Wall's Manifesto for a Happier World", the manifesto includes research from Wall's conducted in 12 different countries across the globe, surveying 12,500 people, which reveals that: A 65% say interactions with people during lockdown changed their outlook on happiness

78% now feel strongly that happiness and wellbeing should be prioritised over money

63% want their government to take action to put happiness before economic recovery

58% found human connection is what really makes them happy

76% admitted they knew more about celebrities' lives than their own neighbours'

(but this has changed during lockdown)

62% said that lockdown has made them feel more part of their community The Wall's manifesto reflects on last year and argues that global lockdowns drove people to re-evaluate life's priorities. For too long people have been looking for happiness in the wrong places and the isolation from family and friends has given us a renewed appreciation for the importance of human connections and community support in our lives. Speaking about the manifesto, Happiness Expert, LSE Professor and co-author of the World Happiness Report, Lord Richard Layard said: "What we see in the data in this manifesto is an indication of A a wider societal shift; for too long people have linked material possessions, financial prosperity and success to happiness. And whilst these are undoubtedly important, people are coming to the realisation that it is human relationships and connections that bring true meaning and happiness to one's life. This is a topic I have dedicated many decades to, and it's promising to see this realisation gathering momentum." Society's clear desire to rethink how national development is measured presents an opportunity to change the current system, which overlooks happiness and wellbeing. As official partners of the UN SDSN World Happiness Report, Wall's is committed to boosting the happiness movement so that governments prioritise the happiness of their citizens. A World-renowned economics professor and senior UN advisor Jeffrey Sachs said: "People in every culture and society share common hopes and aspirations for a better world. Increased global connectedness depends on a strong home base of family and community. That's the beauty of an interconnected world: meaning starts at home and reaches the entire planet."

Wall's will be working throughout 2021 and beyond to bring academics, policy makers, businesses, communities and activists together to consider how we can develop a blueprint for a future where happiness is considered a measure of development.

By doing this, and celebrating community togetherness and social connections, we'll be able to create a better world and live a happier future.

Ian Maskell, Vice President at Wall's, said: "Wall's provides the world with 28 billion portions of happiness each year. Our experience of spreading happiness and bringing people together makes us determined to lead the global movement to prioritise happiness. Human beings are happiest when well connected with friends, family and community. Wall's is in the business of creating social connections, please join us in making the world a happier place." Electronic copies of the manifesto can be viewed at: https://www.unilever.com/Images/walls-manifesto_tcm244-558473_en.pdf NOTE TO THE EDITORS About Wall's Wall's commitment to happiness is deeply embedded in the company.A Wall's is the largest and most loved ice cream brand globally. At the turn of the last century, our founders took over streets across the globe to spread their ice-cream magic. The result? Happier hearts opening up to each other. Their vision inspired us to continue to act as leaders in driving social change. We know that ice-creams reliably offer people small moments of happiness, with UK researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry revealing that when ice cream is consumed, it lights up the brain's pleasure zones providing an immediate effect on the parts of the brain known to activate when people are enjoying themselves. We believe that, as a brand, we can play a huge role in building a happier more inclusive world, one street at a time. The brand also upholds principles for responsible food & beverage marketing to children, adopting new thinking when it comes to where, what and how it communicates to parents & children. Wall's was the first global ice cream brand to carry the 'Responsibly made for kids' promise. Since 2013 Wall's has been working with partners on a programme called Vanilla for Change in Madagascar. It's designed to help smallholder farmers improve their livelihoods and provide Wall's ice cream with more secure and sustainable sources of natural vanilla. For more information about Wall's: https://www.unilever.com/brands/foods-and-refreshment/heartbrand/happier-together.html A Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424396/Walls_Happiness_Manifesto.jpg A
" " A male (the bright red bird) and female cardinal go a-courtin'. Male and female cardinals each have their own separate songs. Gary Carter/Getty Images

Many bird-watchers (and bird-listeners) believe that a singing bird must be a male bird. But that's not true. And that misconception can have a lot of serious consequences. Two ornithologists (scientists who study birds) recently put out a call to action for scientists and laypeople alike to pay more attention to the singing habits of female birds. The paper was published online on March 14, 2018, in the journal The Auk: Ornithological Advances.

Traditionally, female songbirds have been overlooked because more males sing, says the paper's co-author Lauryn Benedict, a University of Northern Colorado biology professor. But the ratio isn't overwhelmingly in favor of males, as it turns out. "Worldwide, we think that females sing in about two-thirds of all songbird species," she emails. "That's a pretty rough estimate, though, because for the majority of all bird species we don't have enough information to even determine whether females sing. In species where males and females look alike it can be hard to know which sex is doing the singing."

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Of the 660 songbird species that feature female song, recordings have been only made for about 200. An additional 3,500 species have yet to be studied to determine whether their ladies sing, or not.

The male/female study disparity may have initially occurred because more research hours are devoted to birds in temperate regions, where females are less likely to sing. "This may be because male and female roles are separated because of the short breeding season: Males show up and sing to attract females and defend territories, whereas females spend more time devoted to building and attending to the nest," explains fellow co-author Karan Odom, a researcher with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in an email interview. "However, in the tropics we see a very different pattern: Both males and females of many songbird species sing and they do this a large part of the year."

This is an important distinction because most bird species live in the tropics. These tropical birds sometimes keep the same mate and territory for years, so the reasons for singing may be different than those of their temperate relatives.

And why do female birds sing? "Based on what we do know, female birds sing for similar reasons to males (in one species, females are known to attract mates with their songs, and in other species, females appear to use songs to defend territories). However, females may also sing for broader reasons, such as to defend resources year-round, possibly for herself or her offspring," says Odom. She notes that, compared to male birdsong, we know very little about female birdsong, which is why more studies are needed.

"Many people assume that every singing bird is a male, and that's just not true. Because of that bias we're missing out on a lot of really interesting information about bird behavior and communication," Benedict says, adding that previous studies of birdsong have shone serious light on how brains control communication behaviors. "Birdsong is a learned complex signaling system that has many parallels with human language. So far, we've answered fascinating questions about how male brains help them to communicate, but I think the same questions should be asked about females."

The researchers also note that better understanding of female songbird habits will demystify how behaviors evolve over time in relation to mating behavior and habitat. Knowing the differences between male and female song can help with estimating bird population sizes. It's also critical for the worldwide conservation effort. "Having good documentation of female song will give us powerful tools for helping to protect wild bird populations. If we can track male and female behavior by listening to the songs of both sexes we'll learn a lot more than if we only listen to males," Benedict says.

Now That's Cool Odom and Benedict are calling on professional ornithologists and recreational birders to note the sex of any birds they are observing and upload the data, along with any audio or video recordings, to the recently established site Female Birdsong.
Though nearly 70% of terrorist attacks and plots in the US last year were committed by white supremacists and far-right militia groups, the portion led by anarchist and anti-fascist groups rose to 20% from 8% in 2019. There is additional danger coming down the road where we have this extremism almost feeding on each other, almost inspiring one another, Jones said. Based on recent trends, we can expect violent far-left networks to conduct explosive, incendiary and firearm attacks against police, government and corporate targets. Portland has been a hotbed of both extreme-right and extreme-left activity, a trend that last weeks destruction suggests will continue. Demonstrators hold a sign saying We are the ungovernable during a protest march on Inauguration Day in Portland. Credit:The Oregonian via AP More than 100 protesters in black bloc  all-black attire meant to anonymise the wearer in a crowd of similarly dressed people  had gathered on Inauguration Day at Revolution Hall, a music venue in the south-east part of the city, before a handful of demonstrators broke off to bash in the windows of the vacant Democratic headquarters while others shielded them from view with large, black umbrellas.

Hours later, another group protested outside Portlands ICE headquarters  a demonstration that had been advertised on social media with the tagline, Whats outrageous? Kids in cages!  calling for the dissolution of the agency. Prosecutors allege protesters threw large rocks at federal officers, the demonstration ending in explosions and clouds of gas as federal agents unleashed a barrage of chemicals and sparking munitions that skidded across the pavement toward crowds of protesters. Fourteen people were arrested during several Inauguration Day protests in the city. Prosecutors are pursuing charges against four individuals, the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office said in an email on Friday  all in their 20s and alleged to have participated in a riot. Prosecutors cautioned that number may not be final, as an investigation is ongoing and police are expected to file additional reports. Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascists Handbook, said the graffiti that the Portland protesters left behind and the flags some carried included anarchist symbols. There is a fair amount of overlap between the ideologies of anarchists and antifascists. Both tend to be anti-government, opposed to both the Democratic and Republican parties, and frequently protest on Inauguration Day and at the parties annual conventions. A member of the Proud Boys, right, stares down a counter-protester in Portland in September. Credit:AP Broadly speaking they want directly democratic, self-managed communities at the regional and macro-regional levels, said Bray, a historian and lecturer at Rutgers University who helped organise Occupy Wall Street. They want decision-making from the bottom up versus the top down. They reject capitalism.

Portlands protests undercut claims by Republicans that far-left groups have embraced Biden and have committed destructive acts in support of his policies, said Oren Segal, vice-president of the Centre on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League. There have been so many efforts to link Biden to the radical elements of the left, including antifa, he said. This demonstrates a disconnect between that messaging from the Trump administration and elected officials, who tended to lump together the left more broadly with these radical elements. Many on the left have criticised how such groups have demonstrated their ideologies, fearing it weakens their unity and message. Gregory McKelvey, a political consultant and vice-chair of the Democratic Party of Oregons Black Caucus, noted that some activists who want to empathise with the extreme left finding it hard to do so right now. I dont think these tactics work. It alienates people, and growing the coalition is essential to creating change, McKelvey said. I also think Trump was abhorrent and Inauguration Day was a day of the country really getting to exhale and celebrate and to do so and feel as though someone is telling you there is no cause for celebration when clearly there is, its frustrating. But McKelvey, who has for years attended racial justice demonstrations in Portland, added that many in the citys activist community also continue to lash out against police and the government as a result of months of trauma  being on the receiving end of crowd-control munitions, including tear gas, as well as the ongoing pandemic and economic anxiety.

We can argue about if this is strategic or not, but I do think there is also an element of lashing out because the world is messed up right now and people are messed up right now, he said. Loading McKelvey worries that the conversation that has followed last weeks clashes has distracted from the key issues he and other community organisers hope that the Biden administration will address, including climate change and systemic racism. On the scale of everything thats going on in the world, for anybodys top priority to be there were four broken windows or graffiti on the DPO building, it doesnt compare to the fact that George Floyd was murdered and we still have a flawed criminal justice system in our country, he said. I might think broken windows is bad, but its not going to be my fight. Three of those arrested as a result of the destruction in Portland were accused of damaging the offices of the Democratic Party of Oregon. Austin Nuchraksa, 25, is accused of smashing a window at the party headquarters with a silver metal baton, according to court documents, after marching with a group that carried banners declaring WE DONT WANT BIDEN - WE WANT REVENGE and WE ARE UNGOVERNABLE.

After Nuchraksa was detained by police, officers said they smelled gas and found four green beer bottles, wrapped in socks, with cloth wicks protruding from each bottles mouth, according to court records. The homemade molotov cocktails were leaking gasoline all over the inside of the backpack, prosecutors wrote. Nuchraksa was charged with participating in a riot, first-degree criminal mischief and unlawful possession of a destructive device. Loading Kai-Ave Douvia, 22, is accused of using a pry-bar kind of tool to break windows at the DPO building, according to court documents. He was charged with first-degree criminal mischief and participating in a riot. Nicole Rose, 25, is accused of helping to break windows at the DPO by handing a metal baton to another demonstrator who then used the baton to break the glass, according to court documents. Rose later took the baton back and used it to break the rest of the window, prosecutors wrote. She was identified using live-streamed video of the event and charged with second-degree criminal mischief and participating in a riot. Those arrested have been released on their own recognisance, according to Multnomah County Sheriffs Office records. The Washington Posts efforts to reach them on Friday were unsuccessful.
Christian flag should be allowed at city hall, law group argues

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A conservative law firm argued in federal court that a Christian nonprofit should be allowed to fly the Christian flag at Boston, Massachusetts city hall.

The Liberty Counsel presented oral arguments in the case on Wednesday, arguing that local resident Hal Shurtleff and his group Camp Constitution should be able to fly the Christian flag at the city hall, just like other civic organizations are allowed to.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Liberty Counsel said, The undisputed facts reveal that Boston has allowed more than 300 flag raisings by private organizations on the City Hall flagpoles, including the Turkish flag (which depicts the Islamic star and crescent) and the Portuguese flag (which uses religious imagery).

City officials have also never denied the messages communicated by the Chinese Progressive Association, the LGBT rainbow flag of Boston Pride, and a transgender pink and blue flag. The flags from other countries such as Albania, Brazil, Ethiopia, Italy, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, as well as of Communist China and Cuba have all been approved to fly on the citys flagpoles.

At issue in the lawsuit was a denied request by Camp Constitution to fly the flag during a Constitution Day and Citizenship Day event in 2017.

Camp Constitution sued the City of Boston over the rejection, in the hopes of being allowed to fly the flag at the City Hall Plaza for future events.

In late August 2018, however, U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper ruled against the Christian group, concluding that Boston had not unlawfully restricted Plaintiffs' ability to speak publicly.

The City has only denied Plaintiffs permission to compel the City to endorse a particular religion by raising the Christian flag, ruled Judge Casper.

Given the range of options available to Plaintiffs for their event on City-owned property, the Court concludes Plaintiffs are unlikely to suffer irreparable harm without an injunction.

Casper also wrote that the flags that had been approved to fly at city hall all passed the "Lemon test" since their "primary effort is not to advance or inhibit religion."

"The names of the flags alone are enough to reveal their primary purposes," continued the judge. "The Christian flag primarily represents a specific religion, while the other cited flags represent a sovereign nation, a city government and a group committed to remembering a military victory."
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The Bexar County Medical Examiner has identified a man who was killed while sitting in a parked car on an East Side road Friday night.

Chris Cooper, 30, suffered numerous gunshot wounds after multiple men shot at the vehicle. A 43-year-old man in the driver's seat was also injured.
If you thought only earth was lucky enough to be blessed with seas and lakes, then think again. Many planets have their versions of water bodies even though it may not be water that forms these liquid bodies. One such space rock to host a number of liquid structures is Saturns moon Titan. In latest data released by researchers, they have revealed that the largest sea on the moon, Kraken Mare, is over 1,000 feet deep.

NASA is always in search of planets and moons to find traces of water. Though H2O is hard to find, the agency has found lakes and oceans made with a variety of liquid chemicals on some planets. Saturn was the focus of NASAs Cassini spacecraft that made a few flybys around the moon Titan. It was a collaboration between NASA, European Space Agency, and Italian Space Agency to research the planet, its moons, and its rings.

While the mission ended in 2017, the vast amount of data accumulated by the craft is still being sifted through and analysed. According to NASA, most of the rivers and lakes on Titan are liquid methane.

In a previous release, they revealed that there were a number of lakes, rivers and seas of hydrocarbons on the moons surface. Hydrocarbons are compounds made of hydrogen and carbon, mostly found in petroleum and natural gas on Earth.

According to the latest study, Kraken Mare contains 80% of the moon's surface liquids. The size is so huge that it can encapsulate all of Americas five Great Lakes within. The contents of the lake is a mixture of ethane and methane.

Some scientists hypothesize that Titans environment, hydrologic structure, and so on can be a model of earths early atmosphere. According to lead author of the study, Valerio Poggiali, the origin of liquid methane is slightly puzzling. The solar light on Titan is 100 times weaker than Earth. The environment constantly converts the methane content in atmosphere into ethane. So in ten million years worth of time, the entire surface reserve of methane should be depleted, argues Poggiali.

They also observed another lake on the surface which is named Moray Sinus. It is much smaller at 280 feet deep (as compared to the 1,000ft deep Kraken Mare).

Poggiali told ScienceDaily that one day, we might be able to board a vessel and take a cruise on these lakes. While it sounds like a distant science-fiction fantasy, space exploration and research may help us actually achieve that dream someday, or at least send an un-maned rover/robot to do it.

Scientists can now infer the density of the liquid with higher precision, and consequently better calibrate the sonar aboard the vessel and understand the sea's directional flows, said Poggiali.
personal money service Oceonica Corp. acquires Personal Money Service

Oceonica Corp. announced that it has acquired Personal Money Service Company, an online-based platform that connects consumers with trusted lenders across the USA. The purchase will better serve the need of Oceonica Corp.s and Personal Money Service's clients across the country as the company strives to promote education in various spheres and deals with creating an innovative educational platform.

The acquisition of the Personal Money Service Company fits into Oceonica Corp.s strategy to improve the overall level of education among American consumers and provide the best technology and services to help every citizen become more literate in different spheres, including personal finances and money management.

Now that Oceonica Corp will own Personal Money Service, it will not only better serve the needs of both companies' customers, but also bring more value to every American resident who wants to boost their education using modern technology. By purchasing the company, Oceonica Corp will provide education services in financial topics for Americans as well.

Our acquisition of Personal Money Services complements our overall educational strategy so we can now provide numerous finance-related services to our clients. PMS is not only about loan services, this company is making a truly great contribution to financial literacy of everybody who visits their website. Our investment represents a significant strategic opportunity to help every customer deal with debt issues, improve their financial education, and learn about modern crediting options tailored to their personal needs and preferences, said Lincoln Arch, head sales manager of Oceonica Corp.

Being among the top online platforms in the USA, Personal Money Service presents a solid system of customer support. The company hires professionals who write on finance-related topics and help consumers receive quick assistance tailored to their financial needs. The Company has developed a reputation as an expert center for connecting borrowers with direct lenders.

More About Us

Personal Money Service is an online-based platform with an official website https://personalmoneyservice.com/ that assists American consumers in finding the most suitable crediting services and financial options. This service offers a wide range of relevant articles on financial topics. The company has already helped 200,000 people across the USA to solve their finance-related issues since 2013. Due to the growing demand for financial services and financial education, it was announced that

Oceonica Corp. acquires Personal Money Service to expand the company and bring more value in terms of education.

Oceonica Corp., based in San Francisco, California, is one of the leading providers of modern educational services to customers across the country through their web platform.

The main aim of the company is to offer high-quality education in various spheres to people using computerized technologies and innovative methods. To learn more information about Oceonica Corp. visit https://oceonica.com/.
A contract is to be signed this week.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says Ukraine could receive a coronavirus vaccine from another producer.

He announced this on TV Channel Ukraina 24.

Read alsoAP: Pfizer to supply 40 mln COVID-19 shots for poor countries

According to him, Ukraine will definitely receive China's Sinovac Biotech vaccine (700,000 doses).

A limited delivery of a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (210,000) is also possible.

"I do not exclude that we will get a vaccine from another producer. I hope that this week we will also conclude an agreement and then we will be able to tell about it," Stepanov said.

COVID-19 vaccine for Ukraine

In February-March 2021, Ukraine expects the delivery of a vaccine against COVID-19.

The first batch of a vaccine via the COVAX Facility will include 8 million doses, which will be enough to vaccinate 4 million people (two shots per person required). First to get vaccinated will be healthcare workers, the elderly, and seriously ill patients.

On December 24, 2020, Health Minister Stepanov said that his ministry was working out a plan to increase the COVAX vaccine quota from 8 million to 16 million doses.

On December 30, Ukraine signed a contract with China's Sinovac for the supply of 1.9 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine.

On January 8, 2020, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Ghebreyesus said that rich countries have the majority of the supply of a COVID-19 vaccine from the manufacturers Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.

On January 13, Health Minister Stepanov said that his ministry planned to sign contracts in the coming days with new companies that produce the coronavirus vaccine.

Reporting by UNIAN
Now Open

25 January 2021

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,000 hotels across 90 countries, continues to cement its presence in Gujarat with the opening of the Wyndham Ahmedabad Shela.

Serving as tranquil urban retreat, the hotel offers 65,000 square feet of meeting space spread across 34 state-of-the-art meeting rooms able to accompany up to 3,500 attendees along with its indoor and outdoor pools, spa, salon and movie theatre  all with easy access to the shopping and business hubs of Gujarat state's largest city and commercial capital. The Wyndham Ahmedabad joins the Ramada, Hawthorn Suites and Ramada Encore brands in Gujarat upon the heels of the recent debut of the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham brand in Dwarka.

Wyndham Ahmedabad Shela offers refined amenities and elevated service. The property provides easy access to various attractions such as the Jama Masjid Mosque and Kankaria Lake, as well as major transport links including Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad Junction Railway Station and the SG Highway.
The father of three children brutally slain by their own mother had been out buying his family a new television set when the atrocity happened.

Tom Perinovic had been just down the road at a nearby shopping centre blissfully unaware of the mayhem taking place inside the family's Tullamarine home, north west of Melbourne.

Katie Perinovic, 42, will escape justice for the murders of her children Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 after also taking her own life.

Katie Perinovic, 42, murdered her children while their father was out on a shopping trip

Tom Perinovic had been texting his wife asking her for an opinion on television sets he was looking to buy for the family

Detectives arrive at the crime scene on January 14. The carnage inside was later described as 'gruesome'

Daily Mail Australia has been told the children were dispatched by their mother 'quickly and brutally' sometime before midday on January 14.

Mr Perinovic, 48, had found the bodies and raised the alarm with a harrowing triple zero call at 12.20pm that afternoon.

He had lived in the home for 25 years.

A source has told Daily Mail Australia the doting dad had been texting photographs of televisions to his wife asking for her opinion as she went about her murderous rampage.

On returning to their Burgess Street property, Mr Perinovic immediately suspected something was amiss when he observed all of the curtains had been closed.

It had been a mild summer's day, with a top temperature reaching just 22C.

Detectives have described what Mr Perinovic saw next as 'gruesome'.

A source told Daily Mail Australia it was a 'terrible scene' amid suggestions a knife was used to murder the children.

'He's not coping well at all,' the source said.

Daily Mail Australia has been unable to make contact with the devastated dad, who remains under the care of his extended family.

So horrific was the crime scene that seasoned paramedics who attended the scene were left deeply traumatised.

A view of the backyard where the Perinovic family was killed.

People continue to leave flowers outside the Tullamarine property

Curtains at the property can be seen closed. Tom Perinovic suspected all was not well inside. He was right

The bodies of the family remain with the state coroner and are expected to be farewelled in services over the coming days.

Flowers continue to be placed outside of the home weeks after the tragedy happened.

Little is known publicly about what may have caused Perinovic, who also went by the surname Blazevic, to snap.

She had unexpectedly left her job at Glenroy Physiotherapy Centre about three months ago and it is believed she may have fallen into depression in the lead up to her murderous rampage.

Long time neighbours of the family noted seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the weeks and months leading up to the atrocity.

The first indication they had that something was wrong was seeing emergency services rushing to the street.

Officers who were called to the scene in Tullamarine stand with police tape outside the home on January 14

Father Tomislav Perinovic (left), the children and Ms Perinovic. Mr Perinovic has been left devastated by the tragedy

Police said there was no history of family violence involving the family. Pictured: Katie and Tomislav Perinovic with their daughter

'We saw Tom sitting on the chair with his hands behind his back,' a neighbour told The Australian at the time.

'He was quiet  numb.

'And then they took him in the police car. He was really stressed, believe me.'

Another neighbour had claimed perhaps there had been warning signs missed.

'On November 29, I got her to come across and help celebrate my daughters birthday with my kids,' a neighbour said at the time.

'She was only there for a short period  her two older girls were very similar to my younger daughters, they were chatting and laughing  typical seven-year-olds, they were beautiful kids.

'On that day she did seem to be a bit withdrawn  that was not usual  she was very quiet  in retrospect maybe that was a pointer.'

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Rex Olawoye, has said the party must follow its constitution and respect the resolution of its National Executive Committee (NEC) in resolving its protracted internal crisis in the state.

Mr Olawoye was a member of the 80-man transition committee named by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq ahead of his swearing-in in 2019. But he is now one of the party leaders angry with the governor.

He spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday on the crisis.

This newspaper had reported how the crisis in Kwara APC escalated last week following the removal of the chairperson of its caretaker committee, Bashir Bolarinwa.

The development was a fallout of a rift between Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and a group of party leaders led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Mr Bolarinwa, who is loyal to Mr Mohammed, was removed by the national caretaker committee of the party led by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni and replaced with Abdullahi Samari.

While the faction loyal to the governor swiftly lauded the development, party members on the side of Mr Mohammed saw the hand of the governor in it and have even been angrier.

The leadership of the party at the national and North Central zonal levels has intervened in the crisis, but there is yet no solution.

But Mr Olawoye appears not to be comfortable with the role of the zonal leadership of the party in the search for peace in the party in Kwara.

I do not know the method the North Central Zone executive of the party wants to use to resolve the issue, he said. One thing that is sure is that whatever method that does not follow the constitution and the resolution of NEC is null and void.

He said if Governor Sani Bello of Niger State, who is the chairperson of the party in the zone, wants peace, he should respect the truth.

We are talking about NEC, you are talking about North Central. How many of us are members of North Central? What is happening is that they know that it will not work, he said.

Mr Olawoye urged the NEC of APC to appeal to Governor AbdulRazaq to let the sleeping dogs lie.

It is the NEC of the party that can resolve this crisis. I have not seen where people in that hierarchy of the party will say one word and swallow it the second day. They will resolve and get a resolution and somebody that is supposed to execute that resolution will turn it upside down and they are looking at him.

That person ought to be fired from the party because that is the highest order of disobedience. Indiscipline is one of the things killing this party, he said.

The APC chieftain also identified leadership tussles as one of the causes of frictions in the party.

He described as abnormal for governors to control the partys structure.

To me, I find it abnormal for Government House to dominate the partys structure as this appears unreasonable. It is abnormal for somebody you pick to represent you in a position and that person comes back and becomes your boss. It looks absurd and very illogical, Mr Olawoye said.

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Mr Olawoye called for the amendment of the partys constitution to make the chairperson the leader of the party and not governors.

Until the constitution is amended accordingly, we will continue to have this problem over and over again, he insisted.

We have people fighting for the leadership of the party, some people will say because he is holding the highest office in that state, he is the leader of the party in the state. The governor is the leader of the party; it is this terrible confusion that gives room for that kind of discrepancy.

Usually, the partys chairman is number one in the state and he is the leader of the party in the state. In a meeting, before the governor comes in, the governor has to take excuse to come in or they can ask him to go back. The discipline was there then. That is why we are having party squabbles all over the states.

I have always told the governor that we should not embark on a project that we may not be able to finish, a project that may consume us. I told him one on one, he added.

Mr Olawoye said for internal democracy to reign in Kwara APC, it must respect its constitution.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Recently, Hendricks asked Griffith to bring him some tools so he can adjust glasses for residents.

Hendricks is amazing, said Griffith. Hes taught us a lot about the business.

Griffith said she got into optometry for some of the same reasons Hendricks did.

Ive been wearing glasses since I was in third grade, she said. I had been going to the same optometrist and he really inspired me. He also had that passion for his career. He allowed me to come in and observe and I really fell in love with the idea of helping people see better.

Optometry has changed significantly over the past 100 years, she said.

Back in the early 1900s, optometrists were mostly making glasses for people and checking vision, she said.

Over the years, the industry has evolved so that now, optometrists send the glasses to a lab to be made and we do vision testing and focus a lot on eye health, such as dilating pupils looking for diabetic changes, high blood pressure or glaucoma. Thats a very important part of an eye exam.

Larsen Eye Group uses technology to view eyes which allows us to pick up and diagnose eye disease earlier.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 00:45:13|Editor: huaxia

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-- President Xi Jinping urged abandoning arrogance and isolation mindsets, saying that "we have been shown time and again that to beggar thy neighbor, to go it alone, and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail."

-- "Multilateralism should not be used as pretext for acts of unilateralism. Principles should be preserved and rules, once made, should be followed by all."

-- Xi said the international community needs to "stand united and work together," stressing that people should "let multilateralism light our way toward a community with a shared future for mankind."

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday expounded on China's stance over how to improve multilateralism against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and world economic recession, when attending his first international virtual gathering in 2021.

"Every choice and move we make today will shape the world of the future," said Xi in his special address at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda.



Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda and delivers a special address via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)



REJECTING SELECTIVE MULTILATERALISM

Noting that the problems facing the world are intricate and complex, Xi said that the way out of them is "through upholding multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for mankind."

"Multilateralism is about having international affairs addressed through consultation and the future of the world decided by everyone working together," Xi said.

The Chinese president called on the international community to say no to narrow-minded, selfish beggar-thy-neighbor policies, and stop unilateral practice of keeping advantages in development all to oneself.

"Multilateralism should not be used as pretext for acts of unilateralism. Principles should be preserved and rules, once made, should be followed by all," Xi said.

"Decision should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist," he said, adding that "selective multilateralism should not be our option."

Each country is unique with its own history, culture and social system, and none is superior to the other, he said, reiterating that "no two leaves in the world are identical, and no histories, cultures or social systems are the same."

"State-to-state relations should be coordinated and regulated through proper institutions and rules. The strong should not bully the weak," he said.

Moreover, he said scientific and technological advances should benefit all humanity rather than be used to curb and contain other countries' development.

Xi urged abandoning arrogance and isolation mindsets, saying that "we have been shown time and again that to beggar thy neighbor, to go it alone, and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail.



Chinese medical team experts and Italian doctors pose for a photo in Padua, Italy, March 18, 2020. (Chinese Medical Team/Handout via Xinhua)

LOOKING TO FUTURE TO UPHOLD MULTILATERALISM

Xi noted that multilateral institutions provide the platforms for putting multilateralism into action and are the basic architecture underpinning multilateralism, saying that their authority and effectiveness should be safeguarded.

He called on the international community to stay committed to openness and inclusiveness, to international law and international rules, to consultation and cooperation, and to keeping up with the times instead of rejecting change.

"History and reality have made it clear, time and again, that the misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of cold war, hot war, trade war or tech war, would eventually hurt all countries' interests and undermine everyone's well-being," he said.

"To uphold multilateralism in the 21st century, we should promote its fine tradition, take on new perspectives and look to the future. We need to stand by the core values and basic principles of multilateralism. We also need to adapt to the changing international landscape and respond to global challenges as they arise. We need to reform and improve the global governance system on the basis of extensive consultation and consensus-building," he said.

Xi urged to give full play to the role of the World Health Organization in building a global community of health for all, and to advance reform of the World Trade Organization and the international financial and monetary system in a way that boosts global economic growth and protects the development rights, interests and opportunities of developing countries.

Photo taken on July 15, 2020 shows the exterior view of the World Trade Organization (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo by Li Ye/Xinhua)

Adriano Lucatelli, co-founder and managing director of Descartes Finance, which is a leading Swiss digital wealth management company, told Xinhua that he expected China to continue to push for multilateralism to find global solutions for an after-pandemic world and wished China to take a leading role in fostering global cooperation.

CHINA'S CONCRETE ACTS IN PROMOTING MULTILATERALISM

More than 2,000 business, government and civil society leaders and over 20 heads of state or government are set to meet virtually for the WEF Davos Agenda to tackle the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and address the urgent need for global cooperation.

The Davos Agenda 2021 was scheduled to convene from Jan. 25 to 29 under the theme "A Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust."

In his speech, Xi elaborated China's pledge in five aspects to promote multilateralism and common prosperity, including taking an active part in international cooperation on the fight against COVID-19, implementing a win-win strategy of opening-up, promoting sustainable development, advancing science, technology and innovation, and promoting a new type of international relations.

Statistics showed that China's GDP exceeded the 100-trillion-yuan (15.42 trillion U.S. dollars) threshold in 2020 and is expected to be the only major economy to post growth in the pandemic-ravaged year.

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows the container terminal of Qinzhou Port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

"As China enters a new development stage, we will follow a new development philosophy and foster a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other," Xi said.

"Zero-sum game or winner-takes-all is not the guiding philosophy of the Chinese people. As a staunch follower of an independent foreign policy of peace, China is working hard to pursue friendly and cooperative relations with other countries," he said.

Xi said China will get more actively engaged in global economic governance and push for an economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

As people in the world now cope with the current crisis and endeavor to make a better day for everyone, Xi said the international community needs to "stand united and work together," stressing that people should "let multilateralism light our way toward a community with a shared future for mankind." 
Sarah Sanders, Donald Trump's former chief spokeswoman and one of his closest aides, is running for Arkansas governor - a seat previously held by her father.

Sanders, who left the White House in 2019 to return to her home state, announced her bid in a video posted to Twitter on Monday.

'With the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense. In fact, your governor must be on the front line. So today I announce my candidacy for governor of Arkansas,' she said in the eight-minute clip.

'As governor, I will defend our right to be free of socialism and tyranny, your Second Amendment right to keep your family safe and your freedom of speech and religious liberty. Our state needs a leader with the courage to do what's right, not what's political correct or convenient.'

The former White House press secretary is launching her bid less than a week after the end of Trump's presidency and as the ex-president faces an impeachment trial.

The daughter of former Gov Mike Huckabee, who served in that role from 1996 to 2007, Sanders had been widely expected to run for the office after leaving the White House - and Trump publicly encouraged her to make a go.

Sarah Sanders, Donald Trump's former chief spokeswoman and one of his closest aides, announced she is running for Arkansas governor in a Twitter video on Monday

Sanders is pictured in January 2020 at a rally with Trump, who publicly encouraged her to run for governor

The daughter of former Gov Mike Huckabee (pictured together in 2017), who served in that role from 1996 to 2007, Sanders had been widely expected to run for the office after leaving the White House

Sanders has been laying the groundwork for a candidacy, speaking to GOP groups around the solidly-red state where Republicans tend to embrace Trump.

She joins an expensive Republican primary that already includes two statewide elected leaders, Lt Gov Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.

The three are running to succeed current Gov Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who is unable to run next year due to term limits. No Democrats have announced a bid to run for the seat.

Sanders launched her bid weeks after a riot by Trump's supporters at the US Capitol left five people dead. More than 130 people have been charged in the insurrection, which was aimed at halting the certification of President Joe Biden's win over Trump.

Sanders was the first working mother and only the third woman to serve as White House press secretary. But she also faced questions about her credibility during her time as Trump's chief spokesperson.

Sanders served as Trump's press secretary from 2017 to 2019 before returning to Arkansas

During her nearly two-year tenure as Trump's chief spokeswoman, daily televised briefings led by the press secretary ended after Sanders repeatedly sparred with reporters who aggressively questioned her about administration policy and the investigation into possible coordination between Trump's campaign and Russia.

She described her struggles with the press in a bestselling book after leaving office, writing that she felt like she was caught in the middle of a 'raging battle between the president and the media'.

'I often felt like I was on the front lines in no-man's land,' she wrote in 'Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom and the Fight for Our Lives Inside the Trump White House'.

Sanders ultimately earned reporters' respect by working behind the scenes to develop relationships with the media.

She was a favorite adviser of Trump's, earning his endorsement for governor after she left the White House.

'After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas,' Trump tweeted in June 2019.

'She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas - she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!'

Sanders was a favorite adviser of Trump's, earning his endorsement for governor after she left the White House

Sanders' announcement video featured footage of her with her father, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee

Trump's tumultuous exit from the presidency may do little damage to Sanders in Arkansas. Republicans hold all of Arkansas' statewide and federal seats, as well as a solid majority in both chambers of the Legislature.

Griffin and Rutledge have combined raised more than $2.8million in the race, which could get even more crowded. Republican state Sen. Jim Hendren, who is also a nephew of Hutchinson's, is considering a run.

Sanders, who joined Fox News as a contributor after leaving the White House, enters the race with a much higher profile than any of the candidates.

But she remains an unknown on many of the state's biggest issues and has said she doesn't want to distract from Hutchinson's agenda.
In his tribute, Joe Ghartey applauded the example of the relationship that developed between President Rawlings and President Akufo-Addo.



He said, We see pictures of Rawlings & Akufo Addo together, talking. People who were committed to different forms of governance".



President Akufo-Addo led demonstrations during the Rawlings era demanding a return to multi-party democracy.

Hon Joe Ghartey stated that "It teaches us that we must be humble, as we experience changes in life".



Hon Joe Ghartey further remarked that after MPs finish debating on the floor, they share a cup of tea together. He said the relationship that exists between politicians on opposite sides should be an example to their supporters.



"Yes we may not agree with each other, but we must not be enemies".



Hon Joe Ghartey noted that the beauty of life and the maturity of democracy is that people can disagree with each other vehemently for many years and end up being friends.



The example set by these two Presidents is worth emulating.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Specialists in Norway are investigating the deaths of 23 people, who died after being vaccinated with Pfizer vaccine against coronavirus, the Norwegian Medicines Agency said on Thursday

MURMANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2021) Specialists in Norway are investigating the deaths of 23 people, who died after being vaccinated with Pfizer vaccine against coronavirus, the Norwegian Medicines Agency said on Thursday.

"As many as 23 vaccine-related deaths were registered. Thirteen of them have been studied. Common side effects may have aggravated illnesses of older people," the statement said.

According to the agency, each such case is carefully studied. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has slightly changed the recommendations for vaccinating older patients with serious illnesses.

Noway launched a mass vaccination campaign with Pfizer vaccine on December 27, with residents of retirement homes in Oslo and medical staff being the first to receive the shots. Over 25,000 residents have already received the vaccine.

NRK broadcaster reported, citing the agency, that all fatal cases involved people over 80 years old in weak health condition.
OTTAWA, ON, Jan. 24, 2021 /CNW/ - The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their COVID-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world's poorest to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic, reveals a new Oxfam report today.

The Inequality Virus is being published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum's virtual meeting, The Davos Agenda. The report shows that COVID-19 has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began over a century ago. Rising inequality means it could take at least 14 times longer for the number of people living in poverty to return to pre-pandemic levels than it took for the fortunes of the top 1,000, mostly White male billionaires to bounce back.

In Canada, the fortunes of the country's 44 billionaires have increased by almost $63.5 billion (CAD) since March 2020. Oxfam estimates this would be enough to give every one of the 3.8 million poorest people in Canada a cheque for $16,823 (CAD).

"We stand to witness the greatest rise in inequality since records began. The deep divide between the rich and poor is proving as deadly as the virus," said Diana Sarosi, director of policy and campaigns for Oxfam Canada.

"Women and marginalized racial and ethnic groups are bearing the brunt of this crisis. They are more likely to be pushed into poverty, go hungry or be excluded from healthcare. And yet, they are more likely to work frontline jobs that increase their exposure to the virus. COVID-19 has also led to an explosion in unpaid care work, which is done predominantly by women. This kind of extreme inequality is not inevitable, it is the result of policy choices. Canada and governments around the world must seize this opportunity to build more equal, more inclusive economies that end poverty and protect the planet."

A new global survey of 295 economists from 79 countries, commissioned by Oxfam, reveals that 87 per cent of respondents, including Jeffrey Sachs, Jayati Ghosh and Gabriel Zucman, expect an 'increase' or a 'major increase' in income inequality in their country as a result of the pandemic.

Oxfam's report shows how the rigged economic system is enabling a super-rich elite to amass wealth in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression while billions of people are struggling to make ends meet. It reveals how the pandemic is deepening long-standing economic, racial and gender divides.

The recession is over for the richest. The world's 10 richest men have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began  more than enough to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone and to ensure no one is pushed into poverty by the pandemic. At the same time, the pandemic has ushered in the worst job crisis in over 90 years with hundreds of millions of people now underemployed or out of work.

The world's 10 richest men have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began  more than enough to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone and to ensure no one is pushed into poverty by the pandemic. At the same time, the pandemic has ushered in the worst job crisis in over 90 years with hundreds of millions of people now underemployed or out of work. Women are hardest hit, yet again. Globally, women are overrepresented in the low-paid precarious professions that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. If women were represented at the same rate as men in these sectors, 112 million women would no longer be at high risk of losing their incomes or jobs. Women make up roughly 70 per cent of the global health and social care workforce  putting them at increased risk of contracting COVID-19.

Globally, women are overrepresented in the low-paid precarious professions that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. If women were represented at the same rate as men in these sectors, 112 million women would no longer be at high risk of losing their incomes or jobs. Women make up roughly 70 per cent of the global health and social care workforce  putting them at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Inequality is costing lives. Afro-descendants in Brazil are 40 per cent more likely to die of COVID-19 than White people, while nearly 22,000 Black and Hispanic people in the United States would still be alive if they experienced the same COVID-19 mortality rates as their White counterparts. Infection and mortality rates are higher in poorer areas of countries.

Afro-descendants in are 40 per cent more likely to die of COVID-19 than White people, while nearly 22,000 Black and Hispanic people in would still be alive if they experienced the same COVID-19 mortality rates as their White counterparts. Infection and mortality rates are higher in poorer areas of countries. Fairer economies are the key to a rapid economic recovery from COVID-19. A temporary tax on excess profits made by the 32 global corporations that have gained the most during the pandemic could have raised $104 billion in 2020. This is enough to provide unemployment benefits for all workers and financial support for all children and elderly people in low- and middle-income countries.

Billionaires fortunes rebounded as stock markets recovered despite continued recession in the real economy. Their total wealth hit $11.95 trillion in December 2020, equivalent to G20 governments' total COVID-19 recovery spending. The road to recovery will be much longer for people who were already struggling pre-COVID-19. When the virus struck over half of workers in poor countries were living in poverty, and three-quarters of workers globally had no access to social protections like sick pay or unemployment benefits.

"The fight against inequality must be at the heart of economic rescue and recovery efforts. This needs to be a global effort by governments to ensure everyone has access to a COVID-19 vaccine; financial support if they lose their job; investing in public services as well as low carbon sectors to create millions of new jobs," Sarosi added.

"These measures must not be band-aid solutions for desperate times but a 'new normal' in economies that work for the benefit of all people, not just the privileged few."

Notes to editors:

Download the full report of 'The Inequality Virus', the report summary and the methodology document outlining how Oxfam calculated the statistics in the report. All reports found HERE.

During the week of January 25 , the World Economic Forum (WEF) will digitally convene the Davos Agenda, where key global leaders will share their views on the state of the world in 2021.

, the World Economic Forum (WEF) will digitally convene the Davos Agenda, where key global leaders will share their views on the state of the world in 2021. Oxfam's calculations are based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the very richest in society come from Forbes' 2020 Billionaires List. Because data on wealth was very volatile in 2020, the Credit Suisse Research Institute has delayed the release of its annual report on the wealth of humanity until spring 2021. This means that we have not been able to compare the wealth of billionaires to that of the bottom half of humanity as in previous years.

According to Forbes the 10 richest people as of December 31, 2020 , had seen their fortunes rise $540 billion dollars since the March 18, 2020 . The 10 richest men were listed as: Jeff Bezos , Elon Musk , Bernard Arnault and family, Bill Gates , Mark Zuckerberg , Larry Ellison , Warren Buffett , Zhong Shanshan, Larry Page , and Mukesh Ambani .

, had seen their fortunes rise since the . The 10 richest men were listed as: , , and family, , , , , Zhong Shanshan, , and . The oldest historical records of inequality trends are based on tax records that go back to the beginning of the 20th century.

The World Bank has simulated what the impact of an increase in inequality in almost every country at once would mean for global poverty. The Bank finds that if inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient) increases by 2 percentage points annually and global per capita GDP growth contracts by 8 per cent, 501 million more people will still be living on less than $5.50 a day in 2030 compared with a scenario where there is no increase in inequality. As a result, global poverty levels would be higher in 2030 than they were before the pandemic struck, with 3.4 billion people still living on less than $5.50 a day. This is the Bank's worst-case scenario, however projections for economic contraction across most of the developing world are in line with this scenario. In the World Economic Outlook ( October 2020 ), the International Monetary Fund's worst-case scenario does not see GDP returning to pre-crisis levels until the end of 2022. The OECD has warned this will lead to long-term increases in inequality unless action is taken.

a day in 2030 compared with a scenario where there is no increase in inequality. As a result, global poverty levels would be higher in 2030 than they were before the pandemic struck, with 3.4 billion people still living on less than a day. This is the Bank's worst-case scenario, however projections for economic contraction across most of the developing world are in line with this scenario. In the World Economic Outlook ( ), the International Monetary Fund's worst-case scenario does not see GDP returning to pre-crisis levels until the end of 2022. The OECD has warned this will lead to long-term increases in inequality unless action is taken. Oxfam calculated that 112 million fewer women would be at risk of losing their jobs or income if men and women were equally represented in low-paid, precarious professions that have been most impacted by the COVID-19 crisis based on an ILO policy brief published in July 2020 .

. All amounts are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Calculations of the salaries of Canada's CEOs was based on data from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (2018).

CEOs was based on data from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (2018). Data on the average salary of a nurse in Canada came from Statistics Canada.

came from Statistics Canada. Oxfam is part of the Fight Inequality Alliance, a growing global coalition of civil society organizations and activists that are holding the Global Protest to Fight Inequality from January 23  30 in around 30 countries, including Kenya , Mexico , Norway and the Philippines , to promote solutions to inequality and demand that economies work for everyone.

SOURCE Oxfam Canada

For further information: or to arrange an interview please contact: Paula Baker, Media Relations | Oxfam Canada, m. (613) 240-3047, e. [email protected]

Related Links

www.oxfam.ca



Essen-based energy company STEAG, Duisburg-based steel producer thyssenkrupp Steel and Dortmund-based thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers, specializing in electrolysis technology, are working on a joint feasibility study. The study deals with the construction of a water electrolysis plant at the STEAG site in Duisburg-Walsum by thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers, the structuring of energy supply and operation of the electrolysis plant by STEAG and the supply of green hydrogen and oxygen to thyssenkrupp Steels steel mill in the neighboring Duisburg district of Bruckhausen.





The STEAG power station in Duisburg-Walsum, the site for the construction of a large-scale green hydrogen generation system. euroluftbild.de/Hans Blossey

The study will lay the basis for the subsequent project development. All three parties involved are planning to participate as investors and will actively seek private and public funding.

The hydrogen strategies recently adopted by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as well as those of the German Federal Government and the European Union underline the importance of hydrogen for a climate-neutral society. They endorse the development of a hydrogen economy and infrastructure in Germany and in Europe.

In the coming years, thyssenkrupp Steels climate strategy will entail a continuously increasing and constant demand for green hydrogen. In a first step, this hydrogen is to substitute part of the carbon in the existing blast furnaces, later on it is to be used in new direct reduction plants.

In the next few years, the company expects the conversion of one blast furnace to result in an annual demand of around 20,000 tonnes of green hydrogen. This demand will increase to some 720,000 tonnes per year by 2050 as a result of the gradual conversion of the plants and equipment.

With a capacity of up to 500 megawatts (MW), the projected electrolysis plant on the STEAG site could produce as much as about 75,000 tonnes of green hydrogen each yearenough for the first direct reduction plant of the steel producer. It would thus make an important contribution to the short- and long-term supply of the steel mill.

At its core, our climate transformation is based on the use of hydrogen. It is the key to using the great potential we have in reducing CO 2 emissions in the steel industry. It is important to plan ahead. We must set the course for supply today so that we can produce climate-neutral steel tomorrow. In this context, the cooperation between three companies based in the region is an important element. With this project, we will lay the foundation of a hydrogen economy in North Rhine-Westphalia. Moreover, this project offers investors the possibility to directly invest in this growth market. Dr. Arnd Kofler, Chief Technology Officer at thyssenkrupp Steel

The immediate proximity of the sites allows optimum transport connections to the steelworks: The project includes the construction of two new pipelines to transport hydrogen and oxygen from Walsum to the steel mill less than three kilometers away.

The connection to the extra high-voltage grid ensures the supply of green electricity for the electrolysis; large-scale battery systems ensure grid stability. The approximately 15-hectare site in Duisburg-Walsum offers the possibility to erect electrolysis units with a total capacity of up to 500 MW. It also has a connection to the existing natural gas network, which in the future could also be used for the transport of hydrogen.

With the HydroHub in Volklingen-Fenne, Saarland, a project outline included by the Federal Ministry of Economics in the group of Real-World Laboratories of the Energy Revolution, STEAG has already gained experience in the field of hydrogen economy.

The water electrolysis system will be installed by thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers product division Green Hydrogen and consists of pre-fabricated standard modules. This modular system allows to easily scale up a plant to several hundred megawatts or gigawatts.

This kind of sector coupling enables new business models and a sustainable circular economy, which is to be completely powered by renewable energy sources in the future. Together with the Business Unit Chemical and Process Technologies, thyssenkrupp in Dortmund is able to supply the entire range of green chemicals, from hydrogen to ammonia, methanol and synthetic natural gas, thus contributing significantly to a climate-neutral industry.

The project will be open to investors: Aside from participating in the project development, investors can acquire shares in the new operating company to be founded. In doing so, investors financetogether with the project partnersthe development and construction of the water electrolysis plant and the connection to the steel mill, while securing a stable cash flow due to the regular purchase of green hydrogen and oxygen by thyssenkrupp Steel.

The geographical proximity to the customer makes the project largely independent of third parties and facilitates its swift realization. Apart from attracting investors, the project partners will also apply for public funding granted within the scope of state aid for climate-neutral technologies.

The project development is planned to start as soon as a positive result of the feasibility study is obtained.
Government advocate Amit Singh Sisodia opposed Faruqui's bail plea. Local advocates Rajesh Joshi and Manish Gupta, too, opposed bail to the comedian, contending that he has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus

The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday reserved order on the bail plea of stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui who was arrested last month over alleged indecent remarks against Hindu deities during a show.

According to LiveLaw, a single-judge bench of Justice Rohit Arya questioned why Faruqui takes "undue advantage of others religious sentiments".

"But why you take undue advantage of other's religious sentiments and emotions. What is wrong with your mindset? How can you do this for the purpose of your business?" the report quoted the bench as saying.

As per the report, the bench asked Faruqui's lawyer Vivek Tankha if he wanted to withdraw the bail application, to which Tankha replied that Faruqui had not committed any offence and bail should be granted.

The 32-year-old comedian, in judicial custody, has been lodged at Indore Central Jail since 1 January, when he was arrested by the police following a complaint against him filed by Eklavya Singh Gaud (36), son of local BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud.

According to news agency PTI, Tankha contested the charge against his client under Section 295A (outraging religious feelings) of the IPC and argued that the comedian, a resident of Junagadh in Gujarat, had not spoken any word that would hurt anybody religious feeling during the 1 January show at a cafe in the city.

Tankha alleged that the complainant created a furore on the dais and got the event stopped mid-way.

According to Bar&Bench, an objection was also raised to the Uttar Pradesh Police seeking Faruqui's custody in relation to comments allegedly made during another show in May 2020.

According to PTI, government advocate Amit Singh Sisodia opposed Faruqui's bail plea. Local advocates Rajesh Joshi and Manish Gupta, too, opposed bail to the comedian, contending that he has hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus.

According to LiveLaw, Gupta alleged that Faruqui has posted several videos in the past on social media that insulted Hindu deities. He submitted that the comedian repeated the remarks in three different shows.

"This has led to other comedians making such remarks about Hindu gods. This is happening with 70 percent of the comedians", the report quotes him as saying.

Adv. Manish Gupta: These remarks were made 18 months ago. He repeated the same remarks on three different occasions i.e. comedy shows. This has led to other comedians making such remarks about Hindu Gods. This is happening with 70% of the comedians.  Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) January 25, 2021

When the bench asked other counsels objecting to the bail plea, Sisodia referred to other alleged objectionable statements made by Faruqui against Lord Ram and Sita, LiveLaw reported.

Justice Arya reserved his order on the bail application after hearing the arguments of both the petitioner and prosecution for around 30 minutes via video conferencing.

"Such people must not be spared. I will reserve the order on merits," the LiveLaw report quotes the judge as saying. The judge also reserved orders in the bail application of a co-accused, Nalin Yadav.

The court also asked the prosecution and two local advocates opposing Faruqui's bail to furnish documents relating to the case. The court is expected to pass the order over the next two or three days, reported The Indian Express, quoting Faruqui and Yadav's advocate.

#MunawarFaruqui and Nalin Yadav's bail plea was heard today by the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court. However, court after hearing both sides is expected to pass their order over the next two-three days, according to their advocate. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/cIOd0VQxQD  Iram Siddique (@Scribbly_Scribe) January 25, 2021

The bail pleas of Farquqi and other accused have been rejected two times by lower courts. On 15 January, the high court had adjourned the bail application after the police failed to produce the case diary, as per a Bar&Bench report.

Besides Faruqui, four other persons associated with organising the show were booked under IPC section 295A (outraging religious feelings) and other counts.

According to the complainant, indecent statements were made at the show against Hindu deities, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the 2002 Godhra incident.

All the accused were booked under IPC sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), section 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and other relevant provisions.

With inputs from PTI
A nuclear war could trigger an unprecedented El Nino-like warming episode in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, slashing algal populations by 40 percent and likely lowering the fish catch, according to a Rutgers-led study.

The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, shows that turning to the oceans for food if land-based farming fails after a nuclear war is unlikely to be a successful strategy - at least in the equatorial Pacific.

"In our computer simulations, we see a 40 percent reduction in phytoplankton (algae) biomass in the equatorial Pacific, which would likely have downstream effects on larger marine organisms that people eat," said lead author Joshua Coupe, a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Environmental Sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. "Previous research has shown that global cooling following a nuclear war could lead to crop failure on land, and our study shows we probably can't rely on seafood to help feed people, at least in that area of the world."

Scientists studied climate change in six nuclear war scenarios, focusing on the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The scenarios include a major conflict between the United States and Russia and five smaller wars between India and Pakistan. Such wars could ignite enormous fires that inject millions of tons of soot (black carbon) into the upper atmosphere, blocking sunlight and disrupting Earth's climate.

With an Earth system model to simulate the six scenarios, the scientists showed that a large-scale nuclear war could trigger an unprecedented El Nino-like event lasting up to seven years. The El Nino-Southern Oscillation is the largest naturally occurring phenomenon that affects Pacific Ocean circulation, alternating between warm El Nino and cold La Nina events and profoundly influencing marine productivity and fisheries.

During a "nuclear Nino," scientists found that precipitation over the Maritime Continent (the area between the Indian and Pacific oceans and surrounding seas) and equatorial Africa would be shut down, largely because of a cooler climate.

More importantly, a nuclear Nino would shut down upwelling of deeper, colder waters along the equator in the Pacific Ocean, reducing the upward movement of nutrients that phytoplankton - the base of the marine food web - need to survive. Moreover, the diminished sunlight after a nuclear war would drastically reduce photosynthesis, stressing and potentially killing many phytoplankton.

"Turning to the sea for food after a nuclear war that dramatically reduces crop production on land seems like it would be a good idea," said co-author Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick. "But that would not be a reliable source of the protein we need, and we must prevent nuclear conflict if we want to safeguard our food and Earth's environment."

###

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Colorado, Boulder; Australian Antarctic Partnership Program; University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley; and National Center for Atmospheric Research contributed to the study.
Geneva, Jan 25 : More than 2,000 business, government and civil society leaders and 25 heads of state or government are set to meet virtually for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos Agenda this week to tackle the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and address the urgent need for global cooperation.

The Davos Agenda 2021 will convene from Monday to Friday under the theme "A Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust" and discuss current challenges such as Covid-19 vaccination, job creation and climate change, reports Xinhua news agency.

The annual gathering, which usually takes place in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, kicked off on Sunday with an opening ceremony featuring a welcome address by WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab and a special address by the President of the Swiss Confederation Guy Parmelin.

"The first step we have to undertake is to restore trust. But in order to restore trust, we have to reinforce first global cooperation," Schwab urged in his virtual welcome remarks.

"Second, we have to make sure that everybody is contributing in shaping a more positive future: governments, business, civil society and also the young generation." Schwab said the Davos Agenda week will address five policy areas.

"First, we will drive responsible industry transformation... Second, we have to enhance global stewardship and this year, with COP26 taking place later in Glasgow, we have to make progress in becoming carbon zero. Business has to take on a very strong commitment." Thirdly, Schwab also called for fairer economic and social systems and to create sufficient and decent jobs in order to build a more inclusive society.

"Fourth, we have seen in the pandemic the importance of new technologies. We have to shape those technologies for good," Schwab told the virtual audience.

"Fifth, we have to create a new multilateral system. A multilateral system which is fair, a multilateral system which takes into account the necessities of the 21st century." During his speech, Parmelin said the Davos Agenda will tackle crucial issues such as "shaping a sustainable global economy, strengthening global cooperation, capitalizing on the opportunities offered by digital technology".

"The speed and efficiency of vaccine developments show just what governments, businesses and the scientific community are capable of achieving when they join forces," he said.

Six-hundred global CEOs are expected to represent the private sector in 140 sessions live-streamed to the public, according to the WEF.

The five program themes this year are "Designing cohesive, sustainable, resilient economic systems", "Enhancing stewardship of the global commons" and "Harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution".

The WEF said that the conclusions from the Davos Agenda week would feed into task forces working on global issues for its upcoming Special Annual Meeting in Singapore, which is scheduled to take place from May 25-28.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.

ITHACA, N.Y. - Researchers from Cornell University and the National Park Service have pinpointed and confirmed the location of the remnants of a wooden fort in Alaska - the Tlingit people's last physical bulwark against Russian colonization forces in 1804 - by using geophysical imaging techniques and ground-penetrating radar.

The fort was the last physical barrier to fall before Russia's six-decade occupation of Alaska, which ended when the United States purchased Alaska in 1867 for $7 million.

The Tlingit built what they called Shiskinoow - the "sapling fort" - on a peninsula in modern-day Sitka, Alaska, where the mouth of Kasda Heen (Indian River) meets Sitka Sound at the Sitka National Historical Park.

"The fort's definitive physical location had eluded investigators for a century," said co-author Thomas Urban, research scientist at Cornell. "Previous archaeological digs had found some suggestive clues, but they never really found conclusive evidence that tied these clues together."

To find Shiskinoow, Urban created a grid to see if the electromagnetic induction methods could spot the potential outline of the fort and then created a small grid for dragging the ground-penetrating radar. Urban's modern tools picked up the fort's unusual perimeter shape.

"We believe this survey has yielded the only convincing, multi-method evidence to date for the location of the sapling fort, which is a significant locus in New World colonial history and an important cultural symbol of Tlingit resistance to colonization," Urban said.

In 1799, Russia sent a small army to take over Alaska in order to develop the fur trade, but the Tlingit successfully expelled them in 1802. Expecting the Russians to return, the Tlingit built a wooden fort over two years - the trapezoidal-shaped Shiskinoow. The Tlingit armed it with guns, cannons and gunpowder obtained from British American traders.

When the Russians returned in 1804, the Tlingit held them off for five days, but suffered a setback when a gunpowder supply being carried to the fort from storage across Sitka Sound blew up in a canoe. The Tlingit clans escaped Shiskinoow by night across Shee (Baranov Island) to Chaatl ?aa Noow (Halibut Man Fort) and the Russians then established a trading post at what is now Sitka.

"A large-scale survey was necessary to convincingly rule out alternative locations for this historically and culturally significant structure," said co-author Brinnen Carter of the National Parks Service.

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The research, "Geophysical Survey Locates an Elusive Tlingit Fort in Southeast Alaska," was published Jan. 25 in the journal Antiquity.
Certain anchor proteins inhibit a key metabolic driver that plays an important role in cancer and developmental brain disorders. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University of Innsbruck, together with a Europe-wide research network, discovered this molecular mechanism, which could open up new opportunities for personalized therapies for cancer and neuronal diseases. They published their results in the journal Cell.

The signaling protein MTOR (Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin) is a sensor for nutrients such as amino acids and sugars. When sufficient nutrients are available, MTOR boosts metabolism and ensures that sufficient energy and cellular building blocks are available. Since MTOR is a central switch for metabolism, errors in its activation lead to serious diseases. Cancers and developmental disorders of the nervous system leading to behavioral disorders and epilepsy can be the result if MTOR is malfunctioning.

Therefore, the cell controls MTOR activity very precisely with the help of so-called suppressors. These are molecules that inhibit a protein and help to regulate its activity. The-TSC complex is such a suppressor for MTOR. It is named after the disease that causes its absence - tuberous sclerosis (TSC). The TSC complex is located together with MTOR at small structures in the cell, the so-called lysosomes, where it keeps MTOR in check. If the TSC complex - for example due to changes in one of its components - no longer remains at the lysosome, this can lead to excessive MTOR activity with severe health consequences.

Protein with an anchor function

The teams led by Christiane Opitz at DKFZ and Kathrin Thedieck at the University of Innsbruck therefore investigated how the TSC complex binds to lysosomes. They discovered that the G3BP proteins (Ras GTPase-activating protein-binding protein) are located together with the TSC complex on lysosomes. "There, the G3BP proteins form an anchor that ensures that the TSC complex can bind to the lysosomes," explains Mirja Tamara Prentzell of DKFZ, first author of the publication. This anchor function plays a crucial role in breast cancer cells. If the amount of G3BP proteins is reduced in cell cultures, this not only leads to increased MTOR activity, but also increases cell migration.

Drugs that inhibit MTOR prevent this spread, the researchers were able to show in cell cultures. In breast cancer patients, low levels of G3BP correlate with a poorer prognosis. "Markers like the G3BP proteins could be helpful to personalize therapies based on inhibition of MTOR," explains Kathrin Thedieck, professor of biochemistry at the University of Innsbruck. The good thing is that drugs that inhibit MTOR are already approved as cancer drugs and could be tested specifically in further studies.

G3BP proteins also inhibit MTOR in the brain. In zebrafish, an important animal model, the researchers observed disturbances in brain development when G3BP is absent. This leads to neuronal hyperactivity similar to epilepsy in humans. These neuronal discharges could be suppressed by drugs that inhibit MTOR. "We therefore hope that patients with rare hereditary neurological diseases in which dysfunctions of the G3BP proteins play a role could benefit from drugs against MTOR," says Christiane Opitz of DKFZ. In the future, the scientists plan to investigate this together with their Europe-wide research network.

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The authors of the current study received funding from the German Research Foundation and the European Union as part of the MESI-STRAT breast cancer consortium, the German Tuberous Sclerosis Foundation and the Dutch TSC Fund foundation, among others.
New Delhi:

The cart festival of Lord Jagannath, traditionally known as the Jagannath Rath Yatra, is more than 5,000 years old and marks the return of Lord Krishna to Vrindavan with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. The annual rath yatra has begun from the Enami Jaggannath temple of Odishas Balasore city on Sunday.

The festival is celebrated on the second day of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh, the third month, according to the traditional Oriya calendar. The journey started around 7.30 AM from the Emami Jagannath temple. As many as three new splendid chariots have been created for the yatra of the Gods - Lord Jagannath and his siblings -- from the 78-feet high magnificent shrine, constructed on sprawling three acres of land on the premises of Emami Paper Mills, a release said.

The caravan of Lord Jagannath will stop midway for a meal of sweet pancakes, believed to be Jagannaths favorite dish. The Lord will also be accompanied by the celestial wheel called Sudarshan Chakra during the journey. Apart from the three holy chariots, the procession will have 10-12 trucks accompanying them.

In his 'Mann Ki Baat' program, PM Modi too said that the Rath Yatra is being celebrated in various parts of the country with great fervour.

Car festival of Lord Jagannath, Rath Yatra being celebrated in several parts of country with great piety and fervour: PM Modi. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/eDvXAQ7s3i  ANI (@ANI_news) June 25, 2017

ALSO READ: Jagannath Yatra 2017: Everything you need to know about Rath Yatra

The colourful chariots of 45-feet high idols of Lord Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra are pulled by thousands of devotees from India and abroad, moved through the major city roads amid the joyous chants of Jai Jagannath and Hare Krishna. The carpenters, having rights for this job by heredity, follow century-old styles, written in the holy Hindu text, for building and decorating the chariots.

Lord Jagannath is God of poor; few know that in English, juggernaut means a magnificent chariot, that is unstoppable: PM Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/Xx5RuvE8wO  ANI (@ANI_news) June 25, 2017

One of the significance of this Yatra is that people from all religions and faiths can see the deities and participate in the procession as they are not allowed to enter the temple on other days, the release said.

The lord of mercy himself will come out on the streets of Balasore to shower his benevolence on all, blessing the participants and their families with happiness and peace forever, said Sushil Goenka, trustee of the temple.

READ: ISCKON Visakhapatnam to hold Jagannath Ratha Yatra

Jena, a senior IAS officer, in-charge of the temple administration, had yesterday said that the administration had made the provision of sign boards to be put at different places in order to create awareness among devotees visiting the holy town. The state government is expecting a congregation of about 10 lakh devotees during the yatra.

With PTI inputs

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KYIV, Ukraine, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (BYHMC) unveiled its plans for constructing one of the world's largest Holocaust memorial centers. The complex will be built at Babyn Yar, over an area of 150 hectares. It will include a dozen buildings in memory of the 33,771 Jewish victims were shot at the Babyn Yar ravine by the Nazis during just two days, 29 and 30 September 1941 and estimated number of 100,000 victims: Jews, Ukrainians, Roma, mentally ill and others murdered at Babyn Yar, making it Europe's largest mass grave and in the memory of 1.5 million Jews murdered in similar Nazi mass shootings across Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, The establishment of the Babyn Yar Memorial Center which will begin during the 80th year since the terrible massacre, is essential for the commemoration of the Holocaust (Credit: President Office)

The buildings which will be erected as part of the complex include: A museum to commemorate the Babyn Yar massacre; a museum to commemorate the Holocaust of Ukrainian and Eastern European Jewry as a whole; a structure depicting the names of the victims; a religious/spiritual center including a synagogue, church and mosque; an educational and scientific research center; a multi-media center; a learning and recreational space for children; an information and conference center and more. The very first synagogue at the site, plus an additional exhibition space are scheduled to be completed this year, ahead of the eightieth anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre, which will be commemorated in September.

Plans for the museum complex are being formulated by Ilya Khrzhanovsky, BYHMC's Artistic Director, in cooperation with international experts in museum development, including: Nick Axel - Head of the architectural design department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam; Robert Jan Van Pelt - Professor at the University of Waterloo, who chaired the working group which created the master plan for the future Auschwitz Museum; Troy Conrad Therrien  Chief Curator of Architecture and Digital Initiatives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Professor at Columbia University; Ines Weizman - Head of the MPhil/PhD Architecture Program at London's Royal College of Art; Barbara Holzer  Urban planning expert and Professor of Architecture and Interior Design at the Peter Behrens School of Art in Dusseldorf (DE) and Adrien Gardere  A designer and museographer, who has designed several prestigious museums, such as the Louvre-Lens in France (2012) and the Cairo Islamic Art Museum in Egypt (2010); Marina Abramovic  An internationally acclaimed pioneer of performance art, who is also a writer and filmmaker. The team also includes talented young Ukrainian experts in various fields. Maks Rokhmaniyko  Architect and 3D model developer; Anna Furman  Director of the BYHMC Names Project; Oleg Shovenko  Head Manager of the BYHMC library and publishing project and Anna Kamyshan  Head Manager of the BYHMC Architectural and Design Department.

In September 2020, Ukraine's government represented by the Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko, under the auspices of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with BYHMC, represented by Supervisory Board member Ronald S. Lauder, to promote the construction of a fitting memorial to the Babyn Yar tragedy.

Last month BYHMC presented its plans for the Memorial Center to President Zelensky and the Minister of Culture. The President welcomed the plans and instructed the Minister of Culture to promote the opening of a synagogue and an additional exhibition space in the complex during this year, which marks eighty years since the Babyn Yar massacre. Doing so during this eightieth anniversary year, will enable residents of the Ukraine and visitors from all over the world to see, touch and feel the horror which took place there and was subsequently silenced.

Ilya Khrzhanovsky and his team of international experts presented its concept for the Memorial Center to the Supervisory Board of BYHMC. The Supervisory Board, comprised of eminent international figures, enthusiastically welcomed the plans.

Underscoring the need for such a memorial, a recent survey in Ukraine, conducted to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, revealed that 68 per cent of respondents believe the memory of twentieth century genocides such as the Holocaust is fading. Meanwhile, just 16 per cent of respondents knew that more than one million Jews were shot dead near their homes during the Holocaust.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky: "The Babyn Yar Massacre and the Holocaust of the Jews of Ukraine are an important and tragic chapter in the history of our country. The establishment of the Babyn Yar Memorial Center, the construction of which will begin during the 80th year since the terrible massacre, is essential for the commemoration of the Holocaust. As Europe's largest mass grave, Babyn Yar represents unimaginable destruction. Thanks to these plans, it will become a place of peace, reflection and tranquility."

Head of the Presidential Administration, Andrii Yermak: "As we enter this eightieth anniversary year since the massacre at Babyn Yar, it is more important than ever that we properly remember the tragedy and honor its victims. The crimes that took place at Babyn Yar were a national tragedy and as a country, we are committed to making sure it is fittingly commemorated. Approving these plans for establishing a world-class museum complex, is a significant and meaningful step towards doing this."

The Artistic Director of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, Ilya Khrzhanovsky: "The decision to establish a museum complex expanding across the entire territory where one of the greatest tragedies of the Holocaust took place, was taken in order to build a place of commemoration and learning, of observation and doubt. It will transform a place of killing and destruction into a sacred space. It is designed in a way that everyone can connect to a life that was and is no longer. The construction of this complex will keep the story of the Jews of Ukraine and Eastern Europe alive."

The chair of the Supervisory Board of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center, Natan Sharansky: "The concept which was presented is both very interesting and amazing. It demonstrates how the museum and educational center will not only both be high quality, but at the same time different from many other Holocaust centers. As such, it will help fill a vacuum in the field of Holocaust studies."

BYHMC is already operating a series of research and education programs. Through the Center's work, around 20,000 previously unknown names of massacre victims have been uncovered and verified. Meanwhile, scientific research at the Center has been completed to determine for the first time exactly where the shootings took place in the Babyn Yar Forest. In addition, educational programs have been built together with Yad Vashem and a number of new memorial structures have been erected in the area.

About the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center

The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre https://babynyar.org/en/ is a non-governmental charity whose purpose is to preserve and cultivate the memory of the Holocaust and the Babyn Yar tragedy in Ukraine by turning the Babyn Yar area into a place of remembrance. The Foundation's mission is to worthily honour the memory of the victims of the tragedy and to contribute to the humanization of society through preserving and studying the history of the Holocaust. A series of commemorations during 2021 will mark the eightieth anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1425846/Babi_Yar_Zelensky.jpg

SOURCE Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center

Related Links

https://babynyar.org/en/


La Ville de Bamenda, Cameroun Archives

The Cameroon military has been faulted for killing four teenagers in Meta Quarters, a locale in Mankon, Cameroons northwestern city of Bamenda.

The Voice and other local media outlets quoted eyewitnesses as saying that soldiers killed the quartet point-blank around 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 23, 2021.

The soldiers were in search of armed separatists in the area when the incident happened.

Three of the four victims, Ngalim Alucious, Ntakah Nelly Mbah, and Sale Sadam are residents of Old Town while the fought, Brian, lived in Meta Quarters.

According to eyewitnesses, soldiers found the teenagers smoking weed in an uncompleted building.

They were killed in an uncompleted story-building by the military when they were caught smoking hard drugs, The Voice quotes an eyewitness who preferred anonymity.

Locals say the military had been drawn to Meta Quarters by gunshots fired by armed separatists who apparently fled before the military zoomed in.

Saturdays incident in Bamenda is not isolated. Cameroon-Info.Net recalls that there have been at least three other killings similar to the Meta Quarters executions.

On Thursday, May 28, 2020, the state military conducted an offensive raid around the neighborhood of Upper Bunduma, Buea, which led to the killing of four unarmed young men, according to the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA.

The incident took place in an uncompleted building, where the young men were allegedly caught smoking weed before being executed by the military, CHRDA said.

The people of Bakweri Town, Sandpit area in Buea, on Monday, July 30, 2018, experienced one of their greatest horrors in memory, when masked elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) moved into Bakweri Town and massacred youths, took some away and executed them in neighboring Muea, leaving communities behind wailing and mourning their children and friends.

On September 27, 2018, soldiers rounded up six young men around Babouti quarters in Buea Town in the early hours of the morning before shooting them dead. A stray bullet caught a seventh person, an elderly man who gave up the ghost.

So far, as at press time, no Government official had made any statement on the killings.
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Cong forms 8 panels for Assam polls; Ripun Bora to head election committee

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Congress on Monday formed eight panels for the upcoming Assam Assembly elections with state unit chief Ripun Bora named as the head of the 'Pradesh Election Committee'.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal of the constitution of the state election committee, election management committee, manifesto committee, coordination committee, campaign committee, publicity committee, media and communication committee and outreach committee, a statement issued by the party said.

While Bora has been appointed chairman of the state election committee, MP Gaurav Gogoi has been named the head of the manifesto committee, according to the statement.

The election committee has 24 members with heads of frontal organisations being ex-officio members of the panel. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Debabrata Saikia will be the panel's vice-chairman. The campaign committee will be headed by party MP Pradyut Bardoloi, the coordination committee will be chaired by ex-Pradesh Congress Committee chief Paban Singh Ghatowar and deputy CLP leader Rakibul Hussain will head the publicity panel. The party has appointed ex-MP Ram Prasad Sarma the head of the election management committee. While party MP Abdul Khaleque will chair the media and communication committee, Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev will head the party's outreach panel.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) had announced last week that it will contest the forthcoming state polls in alliance with five parties to oust the ruling BJP from power.

APCC president Bora had said following discussions with various parties, it has been decided that the Congress will join hands with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and the Anchalik Gana Morcha. The elections are likely to be held in the state around April-May.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 23:52:12|Editor: huaxia

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HAIKOU, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Preparations are in full swing for the first China International Consumer Products Expo set to be held in May in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province.

It will be the first international expo in the tropical province since China released a master plan last June to build the whole of Hainan Island into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

According to the provincial bureau of international economic development, many overseas companies have already secured their spots in the 80,000-square-meter exhibition venue.

Kentaro Fujiwara, Shiseido China CEO, said the expo will create a global platform for international investors to display and trade consumer products.

Amid a global economic downturn due to COVID-19, the Hainan free trade port has become a unique magnet for foreign investment as it ushers in a golden opportunity of further opening-up.

According to the government work report delivered Sunday by Feng Fei, acting governor of Hainan, the number of new market entities in the province increased by 30.9 percent year on year in 2020. The number of new enterprises, says the report, grew by 113.7 percent.

Official statistics showed that in 2020, a total of 1,005 overseas-funded enterprises were established in Hainan, surging 197.3 percent over the previous year, and its actual use of foreign capital stood at 3.03 billion U.S. dollars, up 100 percent.

Eighty countries and regions had investment in Hainan last year, double the number in 2019, and the investors covered all G20 member countries, said Peng Wei, deputy director of the provincial commerce department.

On Feb. 1, the 2020 negative list for foreign investment access in Hainan free trade port will take effect. The list introduces measures to promote opening-up in crucial areas, such as value-added telecommunications and education. Overseas high-level universities and vocational colleges specializing in science and engineering, agriculture, and medicine will be allowed to run on the island independently.

Hainan is making every effort to build itself into a place for educational innovation.

Germany's Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences signed an agreement to open a campus in the Yangpu Economic Development Zone last year. The campus plans to enroll students this year.

Meanwhile, public opinion is being solicited for a draft Hainan free trade port law, which is expected to grant the province greater autonomy in reform and provide a legal guarantee for the construction of the free trade port, according to Shen Xiaoming, Party chief of Hainan. Enditem
Support for Australia becoming a republic has slipped, according to a poll that reveals only a third of Australians are in favour.

The online Ipsos poll, conducted for the The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Nine News, surveyed 1222 people nationally and found 40 per cent were opposed to a republic, under which Australias own head of state would replace the British monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle in November. A new poll has found support for the idea of Australia becoming a republic has slipped. Credit:Getty Images

One quarter said they didnt know, which is the highest level of undecided responses on the issue recorded by successive Ipsos and Nielsen polls.

The polls show support for a republic has steadily ebbed since a peak in December 1999  when 57 per cent of Australians were in favour  immediately after the failed 1999 republic referendum.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- After a rigorous agency review, Prospect-based Petroleum Technical Services (PTS) has handed their full advertising account to Circletree Enterprises, headquartered on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Circletree will be responsible for developing all strategic, creative, media, and data analytic initiatives, along with managing Petroleum Technical Services transition into becoming a much more innovative and technologically advanced service provider.

"It's an honor and always enjoyable to work with clients as forward-thinking as PTS," says Kyle Borgman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Circletree Enterprises, "They will be the catalyst for permanent change within the petroleum services industry, and we're thrilled to have earned the opportunity to support them through this process."

Kim Tosadori, Chief Executive Officer at Petroleum Technical Services, is very confident that her and the executive team made the correct decision, "I needed a company that was as innovative and goal-driven as PTS."

"Kim wasn't looking for an agency that was creativity driven, but one that held bottom-line growth as the priority which seems to be nonexistent these days," Kyle explains. "She's very determined to increase their market share and profitability all while entering an entirely new market. We're the most qualified agency in Pittsburgh to help them get the job done, period."

That confidence may be strong, but it's certainly justified. Using the Extailing strategy that Circletree was founded upon, the agency's unique combination of long-term brand experiential improvement and short-term sales results, Circletree has accumulated a variety of client success stories throughout the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. From growing a Florida-based technology company, earning less than $100,000 in annual revenue, to $3.6 million in less than six months, all the way to growing a retail ecommerce client 12.4% in revenue compared to 2019 financial records.

Kim has a feeling that those types of stories won't stop with her, "With the goal of furthering growth and entering a new market in our industry, it's necessary to have a sound brand, financial focus and a substantial understanding of your market." Kim adds, "Circletree is the company that will help us get to the next level."

Petroleum Technical Services is ready to change the industry forever, with the combination of sound persistence, financial prioritization and an innovative outlook, both Kim and Kyle strongly believe that the sky's the limit for Petroleum Technical Services.

CONTACT: Capen Brendle, [email protected]

SOURCE Circletree Enterprises

Related Links

https://www.circletreeenterprises.com


Unlike a traditional bank, our services are not created for profit. They are created for community. The Grand Junction Federal Credit Union believes in this community and we cant wait to expand our services and increase our membership in the surrounding areas.

The Grand Junction Federal Credit Union (GJFCU) has been a trusted financial provider in the Grand Valley and surrounding areas since 1957 and this year expanded their charter to provide their quality, personalized services to everyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Mesa, Delta, and Garfield Counties. Until now, becoming a member of the Grand Junction Federal Credit Union required affiliations with particular employer groups or family connections to the member-run organization. In 2020, GJFCU expanded their charter, ultimately removing those prior restrictions for access to service.

We are excited about this opportunity to serve more of our Western Colorado neighbors, said Gabriella Stockton, Operations Manager of GJFCU. Now that the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has approved our Charter Expansion, we can better serve our local areas and help residents learn the benefits of belonging to a member-owned organization.

For 64 years, GJFCU abided by the member-owned philosophy that founded the first credit union in 1909, which is based on the simple idea that people can achieve a better standard of living by pooling their savings, working together and providing reasonable loans to their neighbors and co-workers. Compared to banks that earn profit and interest off of loans, GJFCU passes these savings on to members, reduces loan rates, eliminates unnecessary service fees and strives to provide exceptional customer service.

Unlike a traditional bank, our services are not created for profit. They are created for community. The Grand Junction Federal Credit Union believes in this community and we cant wait to expand our services and increase our membership in the surrounding areas, said Ms.Stockton. The new open charter approval is truly a reason for all our members and our community to celebrate.

GJFCU provides the following, competitive services to the community: low-balance savings accounts, free checking accounts, share certificates, IRA certificates, direct deposit, wire transfers, payroll deduction, debit cards, Visa credit card  no annual fee, pre-paid debit and travel cards, gift cards, money orders, low interest loans and notary services.

Visit http://www.grandjunctionfcu.org for information about Grand Junction Federal Credit Union, located in Downtown Grand Junction at 910 Main St. Grand Junction, CO 81501.

About Grand Junction Federal Credit Union: The Grand Junction Federal Credit Union received our Approval of Organization certificate on April 30, 1957. Our membership was limited to the employees of the City of Grand Junction, members of their immediate families; and organizations of such persons. Over the years our membership has grown to include employees of the City of Fruita, Roaring Fork Valley, and Mesa County. Demonstrating a track-record of successful member service for 63 years, the Grand Junction Federal Credit Union was granted their community charter approval from the NCUA on January 30, 2020. Those who live, work, worship or attend school in Mesa, Delta, and Garfield counties are now eligible to join.
The Republic of Latvia has voted to define family solely as a union of a male and female person, excluding the countrys countless loving LGBT+ families.

On Thursday (14 January) the Latvian parliament, or Saeima, voted 47-25 for an amendment to the constitution stipulating that a family unit consists of a marriage between a woman and a man.

Section 110 of the constitution will now read: The state protects and supports marriage  a union between a man and a woman, a family based on marriage, blood relation or adoption, the rights of parents and a child, including the right to grow up in a family based on a mother (woman) and father (man).

The vote came in response to a pro-LGBT+ ruling last year by the constitutional court which confirmed that parents in a family can also be same-sex, and imposed on the state the obligation to protect and support them as well.

But National Alliance leader Raivis Dzintars declared that the court had violated its powers, creating a definition of a family that is not acceptable to the general public in Latvia.

Latvia is a democratic country with a diversity of views and respect for every citizen. But at the same time, there are values that have been especially close and even sacred to our nation and its culture for hundreds of years, he told Skaties.

One of these values is the understanding of the family, which is based on the father and mother  man and woman  and their children. Until now, such an understanding seemed self-evident, but with the decision of the constitutional court it is questioned.

The decision represents a huge setback for the Latvian LGBT+ community, and yet another troubling example of the anti-LGBT+ rhetoric sweeping across eastern Europe.

Todays vote in the Latvian Parliament threw us back to the times when being an openly homophobic politician was a thing to be proud of, tweeted activist Kristine Garina of the European Pride Organisers Association.

Forty-seven members of the parliament voted YES to proceed with same-sex families are not families statement to be added to the constitution.

Latvian politician Marija Golubeva described the move as a call for discrimination and an attempt to separate families into right and wrong.

Support for these changes is a mockery of the principles of a democratic state, and I call for their rejection, she urged the parliament.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
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More cases of the highly infectious COVID strain are threatening the states efforts to contain the disease, while older adults are still struggling to make appointments to get vaccinated, the governor said Monday.

However, Gov. Ned Lamont predicted all residents 75 and over could be vaccinated within three weeks.

We are racing to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as we can ahead of what could be this super-infectious strain, Lamont said after health officials identified four new cases  bringing the statewide total to eight  of the highly contagious United Kingdom variant.

Lamont also is seeking an extension of his COVID-19-related executive orders to April 20. Majority Democrats on a key legislative committee had previously extended his powers to Feb. 9.

On Monday, 5,817 new cases of COVID-19 were reported over the previous three days. The new cases were found among 123,037 new tests, for a positivity rate of 4.73 percent. There were 10 more hospitalizations, increasing the statewide total to 1,068.

The death toll now hovers just below 7,000, with an additional 92 deaths over the weekend, bringing the statewide total to 6,911.

The new cases of the U.K. variant was found in patients from New Haven and Oxford.

This new strain, which is considered to be more easily transmitted, is spreading quickly throughout the world, and its highly likely that these are not the only eight cases in Connecticut, Lamont warned. That is why it is so important that everyone continues taking precautions to prevent transmission of this disease.

Lamont said he will ask for the extension of his executive orders to April 20 because he believes by then the state will have a really good handle on vaccinations. He said the state should also have a better understanding of the number of vaccines it can expect to receive weekly from the federal government, as well as the impact of the U.K. variant.

He said he wanted to avoid the herky jerky effect that letting his executive orders expire on Feb. 9 could have on the states economy as well as public health. The governor later clarified that he did not intend to simply let the orders expire on April 20, but would reassess them at that time, since the General Assembly will be in session until at least June 9. In the meantime, Lamont said if the legislature objects to any of his orders in particular, they should pass a bill to change them.

On Monday night, minority Republicans in the General Assembly requested a March 1 termination of Lamonts executive powers, if he could provide enough reasons to extend them that long.

Simply put, weve reached a point where the need for a deliberative process when making decisions and developing policy requires public input, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford and Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford wrote in a letter to the governor. Unfortunately, in our view the continued exercise of emergency powers has become a matter of convenience, rather than a matter of emergency.

They called for an end of the 100-person limit on indoor church services and an extension of Lamonts powers only to March 1, if he comes up with good reasons.

Max Reiss, Lamonts communications director, discounted the opinion of the Republican caucuses, which are 97-54 and 24-12 in the House and Senate, respectively.

Seeing that Republicans do not view the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency is troubling to say the least, especially considering how the federal government, and every state that border Connecticut continue to treat this with the seriousness it deserves, Reiss said.

Earlier Monday, Lamont acknowledged there have been major obstacles for those 75 and over to register for the COVID vaccine, but he expects the glitches will be overcome as more health professionals reach out to seniors, and the United Way 211 phone lines accept more calls.

After greeting some of the hundreds of older adults in cars lined up at a mass-vaccination center near Rentschler Field in East Hartford, a former Pratt & Whitney airfield, Lamont projected on Monday that all of those 75 and over may be inoculated within the next two-to-three weeks.

For now, Lamont said the state will continue to receive about 46,000 doses of vaccine each week.

This site right here can vaccinate all the doses we get over the course of a week right now, and if we can double, triple, quadruple the number of doses coming into Connecticut, we can double, triple and quadruple the number of people getting vaccinated every day, Lamont said, stressing that local senior centers and health centers are being asked to call the DPH or even his office, to arrange delivery of vaccines.

Its a supply issue, Lamont told reporters during an outdoor news conference attended by Acting Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Community Health Center President and CEO Mark Masselli and state Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford.

I think were going to go through the 75-and-above over the next two to three weeks, so were making good progress there, he said. We may be getting a little bit of good news on Moderna. We may see a few more vaccines there. Pfizer told me that they could have the capacity to double what theyre producing over the course of the next 30 to 45 days. I think there is a trend line in the right direction.

State officials concede that many eligible people are having trouble getting reservations, but more providers will be active later this week. Those 75 and over comprise 7 percent  about 270,000  of the states 3.5 million population. About 25 percent of them have been inoculated in the 120 sites statewide.

Josh Geballe, Lamonts chief operating officer, said the federal Vaccine Administration Management System has proven difficult to navigate for older adults who are not technologically savvy. Most of the complaints, however, have been over the lack of available appointments.

Lamont said health care providers who administer the shots are asking for more than 150,000 doses each week.

In all, 308,502 doses of vaccine have been administered, including 42,555 who received both shots.

Gifford said the United Way last week doubled the number of people staffing the 211 line.

Obviously, the demand is high and theyll be adding even more people this week, Gifford said, adding that health care providers are also contacting their eligible patients. We understand that there have been some challenges in the appointment-making. We have been on it pretty much 24/7. We dont have enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone who wants it right now.

She said that only a small percentage of people, such as some teachers, have received the vaccine ahead of schedule.

The vast, vast majority of everybody with an appointment is over the age of 75, she said. Those under-75 in the line of cars at Rentschler Field parking lot included health care workers who remain eligible from an earlier phase of the process. Later this week, an interactive map showing where vaccines will be offered will be posted on the DPH website.

Blumenthal said he expects more vaccines to become available, but said President Joe Biden is confronting the failures left by the Trump administration. He praised Lamont for helping set the national standards for the states percentage of people vaccinated.

Donald Trump cost us time, he said. Donald Trumps falsehoods and failures cost Connecticut and the country time in fighting this pandemic and administering this vaccine. Joe Biden inherited a black box and a bare cupboard. The black box was a complete lack of reliable information, particularly as to the science that underlied this pandemic effort. And the bare cupboard was the lack of vaccine.

The nation, he said, now has the facts to fight the pandemic, noting that sites are opening throughout the state, including Hillhouse High School in New Haven and Post University in Waterbury. He wants the next round of pandemic relief to include at least $20 billion for vaccines.

What we need now and Joe Biden is doing it, is a massive national vaccine strategy that gives Connecticut the vaccine supplies it needs, to provide these folks in line here with the life-saving immunity that is safe and effective, Blumenthal said. The biggest thing you can do is tell others that it is safe and effective.

On Monday, Walgreens announced selected outlets in the state will accept reservations from those 75 and over, subject to supply availability. Participating pharmacies include Walgreens in Litchfield, Thomaston, Torrington and the Terryville neighborhood of Plymouth.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Photo taken on Jan. 24, 2021 shows an ambulance transfering patients who have recovered from COVID-19 at the No. 6 Peoples Hospital in Shenyang, northeast Chinas Liaoning Province. On Sunday three patients infected with COVID-19 have recovered and moved into rehabilitation wards for medical observation and rehabilitation at the hospital. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
A missing Australian man has been found alive after surviving on wild mushrooms and dam water for three weeks.

Robert Weber (58) was last seen on January 6 leaving the Kilkivan Hotel-Motel, 130 miles north of Brisbane, Queensland, in his car with his dog.

Search efforts were called off earlier this week, but he was discovered by a local politician and his wife yesterday.

Police reported that Mr Weber was safe and well, despite suffering exposure to the elements.

He had become disorientated in the heat, but managed to stay close to a dam. He left on foot and became lost and remained at a dam where he survived by sleeping on the ground, drinking dam water and eating mushrooms, Queensland police said in a statement.

Mr Weber ran into trouble when his Ford Falcon became bogged down on an unfamiliar road. He waited in his car for three days, but was forced to abandon the vehicle when his water ran out.

The car was found by search and rescue teams on January 17, but Mr Weber and his dog had long since moved on.

He was discovered two miles away from his vehicle by the local MP for Gympie, Tony Perrett and his wife, who told the Australian Broadcasting Company: Wed been past this dam on numerous occasions over the last week and when we saw him there it was just quite extraordinary. Mr Perrett had decided to continue searching for Mr Weber, despite police calling off the extensive ground and air hunt a few days before. The MP described how he found Mr Weber in a stressed state.

He said he was trying to get to Caboolture and he got disorientated... he became lost and didnt know where he was, Mr Perrett added.

Mr Weber became separated from his dog at an unknown point and it has yet to be found.
HIGHLAND  Sarah A. Delashmit, 36, of Highland, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for fraud related to false claims of cancer.

She also must serve three years of court supervision after her release.

In October, Delashmit pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges after spending years defrauding nonprofit organizations by falsely posing as a person with muscular dystrophy and a breast cancer survivor to receive money, donated items and other benefits.

The charged offenses took place between 2015 and 2019, but evidence presented at sentencing established that Delashmit had engaged in similar scams going back as far as 2006.

Miss Delashmit deceived and manipulated individuals and families facing terminal illness and debilitating disorders, and nonprofit organizations and volunteers who serve those individuals, U.S. District Court Judge Staci M. Yandle said at Delashmits sentencing hearing this week.

She preyed on these communities by posing as someone with muscular dystrophy or a mother who was diagnosed with Stage 4 terminal breast cancer, Yandle said. She exploited peoples trust, their kindness, their sympathy and their generosity for her own benefit.

She accepted donations and allowed volunteers to care for her when she did not need or deserve that care, Yandle said. She took resources from those who did.

At the hearing, the court heard statements from two victims, one who befriended Delashmit while believing she was dying of cancer and another who cared for Delashmit while she pretended to be wheelchair bound at a camp for people with disabilities.

As part of the sentence, Yandle ordered Delashmit to pay a $1,250 fine, forfeit several items she received through her scheme, and make full restitution of $7,629 to the nonprofit organizations and others she defrauded.

The investigation was conducted by the Highland Police Department, the FBI, and the United States Postal Inspection Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Luke J. Weissler.
Amber Beverage Group has announced further details about its entry into hard seltzer with two Moskovskaya Vodka-branded variants in Europe.

Moskovskaya Street will be available in Europe from next month

The company, which handles most of the drinks operations for Stolichnaya brand owner SPI Group, initially unveiled plans for a hard seltzer play in July. Earlier today, Amber readied the roll-out of Moskovskaya Street, an alcoholic sparkling water modelled on the Moscow Mule cocktail.

The two-strong line, which has an abv of 4.5%, comprises Raspberry & Lime and Ginger & Mint. The former will be released "throughout Europe", while the latter will debut in the UK next month.

Both will target the on-the-go consumption occasion and be available in 25cl cans.

Moskovskaya global brand ambassador Felicity Gransden said: "Following the effects of the lockdowns, our drinking habits have changed over the past year. More and more people are enjoying a drink at home rather than going out. Despite being at home, consumers are still looking for a high-quality, delicious cocktail. The hard seltzer offers a ready-to-go cocktail with the perfect balance of flavour to enjoy Moskovskaya."

Amber finished last year with the appointment of an interim CEO after Seymour Ferreira stepped down from the role. Jekaterina Stuge, the company's COO & CFO, assumed the role at the start if December, although Amber declined to comment at the time on whether Stuge would become CEO on a permanent basis.

How to win in vodka in the US - A history lesson - Click here for a just-drinks comment

By Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu



The emergence of COVID-19 has proven to be a balance-changer in the 21st global system. The deadly situation is reminiscent of events such as the Plague of Athens in 430 BC and the Black Death in Europe in the 14th century, which also dramatically changed the continental and global landscape.



From the very beginning of the outbreak, COVID-19 played an undeniable role in altering state and human behavior. Daily habits, short- and mid-term plans, and human relationships dramatically changed after a period of confusion and imprudence. Just as the pandemic has ruined people's social lives with travel restrictions and activity limitations, its economic damage is growing daily.



At the macro level, interstate relations have become a scene of constrained collaboration due to a lack of medical equipment as well as costly indirect necessities. Once state-level cooperation became insufficient, international organizations tried to take responsibility to meet the requirements of people around the globe. At this point, coordination among individuals, states, and international organizations brought a new image to the global system after a long period of conflict over the centuries.



All parties are aware that they may lose, and the total system may collapse if they don't cooperate and help each other against this global threat. That is not a preference of those who only seek their own benefit as they did before. But it is the only way for survival of their loved ones, by keeping all others under protection.



Therefore, we witnessed the helpful initiatives of states which provided masks and testing kits to each other regardless of their position in the international system. Also, individual level of cooperation continues among citizens within each country, promoting the need to be careful and protect each other, at least rhetorically. But still, the global system faces a dichotomy in regards to citizen and state behavior.



Even though all world citizens try to obey the rules in the pandemic process, they are stuck in their own countries and cannot have contact with other nationalities. It means they are in a position of responsibility to their own nationals. Even though some of them live in another country, they became a potential source of the virus spread in the eyes of their hosts since all states closed borders to foreigners and put heavy measures in place regarding travel.



This situation created a conflict source in a period of global harmony. For example, numerous countries closed their borders only to travelers from the East Asian region in the early stages of the pandemic. This became a general method for all states in the following months and skepticism skyrocketed. People even discussed the potential danger of accepting parcels delivered from another country.



State-run media organs of some countries served as important apparatus in the war of rhetoric especially among big countries from the first day of the virus outbreak.



For example, the U.S. and China blamed each other for the occurrence of the pandemic. Iran also participated in the Chinese claims to blame the U.S. On the other side, Russia's initiative to produce vaccines is still being criticized by most Western countries as well as the World Health Organization. As a result, Russia, Cuba, and China were targeted as unreliable actors because of their own solutions. Additionally, the process didn't help to decrease the conflict level in the world if we look at the situation in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, North Korea, or Yemen. The world seems to be aggressive even in a time of cooperation.



Consequently, the COVID-19 outbreak required all states to cooperate, but still strongly affected the lives of individuals and fanned the flames of conflict even though the United Nations called for the cessation of all hostilities. It might be too early to evaluate the outcomes, but the situation of 2020 was like that.





Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu is a political analyst, living in Seoul. You can reach him via oztarsu(at)gmail.com


India has reached a major milestone in the field of the surface to air missile development as today it has successfully conducted the first test of Akash Next Generation (also known as Akash NG) missile.

The Akash Next Generation missile system testing was concluded successfully at a DRDO defence facility off the coast of Odisha today.

ANI

Reported first by PTI, the missile was launched from a mobile platform installed at the Launching Complex-III of the Integrated Test Range at 2:30 PM IST at an electronic target.

The missile system successfully met all the mission objectives with the performance as per expectations, revealed an official statement by DRDO (Department of Defence Research and Development Organisation).

The statement also highlighted that the Akash missile system intercepted the target with textbook precision and the launch met all test objectives by performing high manoeuvres during the trajectory, "Performance of the Command and Control system, onboard avionics and aerodynamic configuration of the missile was successfully validated.

To the uninitiated, Akash-NG is a latest-generation Surface-to-Air Missile that will be in operation by the Indian Air Force for helping it takedown and intercept high manoeuvring aerial threats.

It is capable of tackling multiple targets as well as destroying manoeuvring targets such as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), cruise missiles, and jet fighters. The missile travels at supersonic speeds and is capable of taking down both subsonic and supersonic targets.

Reuters

The novel weapon system has been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation from scratch with 96 percent indigenous content. The Akash Missile system has been designed with better deployability compared to other similar systems with canisterized launchers as well as a much smaller ground system footprint.



The successful test came just a few days after the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi agreed to export the state-of-the-art missile to friendly nations.

What do you think about the novel missile system? Let us know in the comments below.
A Harris County grand jury has indicted a Houston narcotics officer on a murder charge and five other current and former Houston police officers with crimes stemming from a yearslong probe into the 2019 Harding Street raid, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Monday.

Felipe Gallegos, a current narcotics officer, is accused of shooting homeowner Dennis Tuttle. The indictment says that on Jan. 28, 2019, Gallegos did then and there unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly cause the death of Dennis Tuttle, hereinafter called the Complainant, by shooting him with a deadly weapon, namely, a firearm.

The indictments  which also include eight allegations of engaging in organized crime to commit overtime theft and records tampering  are the latest development following the January 2019 raid of 7815 Harding St., which ended in the deaths of homeowners Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58.

The consequences of corruption are that two innocent ordinary people were killed in their homes, four police officers were shot, one of them paralyzed, Ogg said.

Harris County District Attorney: list of current and former Houston Police Department officers indicted Felipe Gallegos - (HPD) was indicted for murder in the death of Dennis Tuttle. The charge is a first-degree felony and carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Other officers indicted on first-degree felonies Monday who face a maximum of life in prison if convicted are: Oscar Pardo - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree) Cedell Lovings - (Status Unclear) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree) Nadeem Ashraf - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree) Two officers who were already facing charges were also indicted on first-degree felonies: Clemente Reyna - (No longer HPD, retired) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree) Thomas Wood - (No longer HPD, retired) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($30,000 or more but less than $150,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (1st degree) The following officers are charged with second-degree felonies. If convicted, they face 2 to 20 years in prison: Frank Medina - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($2,500 or more, but less than $30,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (2nd degree) Griff Maxwell - (HPD) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($2,500 or more, but less than $30,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (2nd degree) One officer who was charged last year was also indicted Monday on a second-degree felony: Hodgie Armstrong - (No longer HPD, retired) Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, to wit: Aggregate Theft by a Public Servant ($2,500 or more, but less than $30,000) and Tampering with a Governmental Record (2nd degree) Goines - (No longer with HPD, retired) was previously indicted for two counts of felony murder. Bryant - (No longer with HPD, retired) previously charged with tampering. See More Collapse

With Mondays indictments, 12 current and former officers have now been charged for their role in the raid or other misconduct discovered in a subsequent investigation into the affair.

And now, all of them will face Harris County jurors who will decide their fate, Ogg said.

Three current and former officers, Nadeem Ashraf, Oscar Pardo, and Cedell Lovings, were charged with aggregate theft of between $30,000 and $150,000, and with tampering with government records. The charges are first-degree felonies and carry a maximum of life in prison. The officers conspired to falsify overtime and other records, according to the district attorney, which is why they face organized crime charges.

WRONG DOOR: Botched Houston drug raid was not the first

The organized crime that they were indicted for is aggregate overtime theft. Making false entries into the offense reports and other records are the basis of the tampering of governmental documents, Ogg said. Its doing it as a group that allows us to charge and the grand jury to listen to organized crime charges.

In the days after the operation, police announced that Gerald Goines, a veteran narcotics officer and the leader of the raid, was under investigation for lying about buying drugs from the Harding Street home. The scandal prompted several other investigations, including a federal civil rights probe, and a massive review by the Harris County District Attorneys Office of cases that Goines and his colleagues had handled.

Goines was later charged with murder, tampering with government records and violating Nicholas and Tuttles civil rights. His partner, Steven Bryant, was charged with tampering with government records. Both men retired from the department.

In a written statement posted on Twitter, Chief Art Acevedo reiterated past comments that his departments investigation led to charges against Goines and Bryant and said he believed Gallegos responded appropriately to the deadly threat while trying to execute the warrant on Tuttles home.

I am disheartened this process has taken two years and that the officer who was willing to testify was not afforded the opportunity to do so by the grand jury, said Acevedo, noting that the officers indicted Monday who remained active HPD officers have been relieved of duty.

An operation completely out of control: Damning HPD narcotics audit reveals hundreds of errors

Neither Acevedo nor Ogg has ever released the ballistics report showing which officers shot Tuttle or Nicholas.

Lovings was one of the officers shot in the raid and is paralyzed from the neck down. Two former narcotics supervisors, Clemente Reyna and Thomas Wood  who were previously charged with overtime theft and records tampering  were also indicted Monday on engaging in organized criminal activity.

Three current and former officers, Frank Medina, Griff Maxwell and Hodgie Armstrong, were indicted on second-degree charges of engaging in organized criminal activity by stealing between $2,500 and $30,000 and records tampering; those charges carry penalties of two to 20 years in prison.

Armstrong retired from the department shortly after the fatal raid; Maxwell retired in January 2020.

QUESTIONABLE CASES: Key Houston police narcotics officers at center of fatal Harding Street drug raid tallied few arrests, low-level busts

Even as Ogg praised the two-year probe  which she described as a game changer into how the prosecutors handle narcotics cases  union officials and attorneys for the accused officers lambasted the latest indictments.

Reynas attorney accused Ogg of filing unfounded charges for political gain and said Ogg was repackaging indictments from July to deflect from recent negative publicity.

She is continuing to try to criminalize administrative errors, Andrews said.

Woods attorney, Ed McClees, compared the indictments to political pandering based on administrative errors and said he looked forward to fighting them in court.

Rusty Hardin, who is representing Gallegos, said he would be releasing a statement Tuesday. Houston Police Officers Union President Douglas Griffith said union officials would be responding to the latest indictments on Tuesday at a news conference at 3 p.m.

A lawyer for Nicholas relatives said the latest indictments left several key questions unanswered.

How high does the corruption of HPD Narcotics Squad 15 go and why has the City and HPD fought so hard, still, to conceal the basic facts about what happened before, during and after the murderous raid? attorney Mike Doyle said. The Nicholas family is grateful for news of the district attorneys continuing work on the case and urges the mayor and police chief to finally end the coverup of the full facts they have been sitting on for so long.

Overturned: Conviction for $10 crack buy, based on casework of disgraced ex-HPD cop Goines, is overturned

So far, prosecutors have identified more than 150 convictions on cases in which Goines was involved that they believe may need to be overturned. Three defendants have had convictions overturned. Lawyers for relatives of the slain couple have also signaled their intent to sue the officers and the city.

As the scandal widened, Ogg announced in July that a grand jury had indicted Goines, Bryant, Wood, Reyna and Armstrong on charges of overtime theft and records tampering. Former Narcotics Lt. Robert Gonzales was also charged with one count of misappropriation of fiduciary responsibility.

At the time, Ogg described the officers behavior as straight-up graft, which she said can literally rot an institution from the inside out.

Court documents filed in those cases show investigators used cellphone records to try to show that officers and their supervisors were lying when they said they were together for operations such as confidential informant payments  but werent actually present.

And defense attorneys for the accused men have lambasted Oggs prosecutors for refusing to turn over critical evidence in the case, including an initial offense report prepared by DA investigators and cellphone mapping.

Twice, judges have ordered prosecutors to turn over the information, but Oggs subordinates have appealed both orders.

On Monday, Ogg rebuffed criticism that her prosecutors have refused to turn over evidence to defense attorneys.

We have a disagreement about work product, she said. And because of that disagreement, were seeking legal relief from a ruling that a visiting judge made instead of Judge (Frank) Aguilar, and so were not hiding anything.

st.john.smith@chron.com

twitter.com/stjbs
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

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Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

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Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

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Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

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New Delhi: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday (January 25, 2021) said that the Centre has given the best offer to the protesting farmers and said that he is hopeful that the unions will reconsider it.

"The government has given the best offer to farmers' unions. I am hopeful that they will convey their decision to us after discussing it among themselves. Once they communicate, we will take it forward," Tomar told PTI news agency.

This comes following the government's proposal to suspend new farm laws for 1-1.5 years.

The Centre and the representatives of the protesting farmer unions have so far had eleven round of talks that have remained inconclusive.

They last met on January 22, when the government told the unions that all possible options have been given to them, and they must discuss internally the proposal of suspending laws.

During the 11th round of discussion, the government had asked unions to reconsider the proposal and convey their final decision.

Narendra Singh Tomar had also indicated that there won't be further talks but he would be ready to meet for farmers' final decision on the offer made by the government.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed committee on farm laws is scheduled to hold its second round of consultations with farmers and agricultural organisations on January 27.

Notably, thousands of farmers have camped at the Delhi borders and have been demanding these laws to be repealed - The Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.
(TNS)  Riders may have disappeared amid the pandemic, but Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority employees are still riding overtime that added up to $82 million last year  on par with prepandemic spending  that shows no signs of slowing down.Dozens of employees are on track to pad their salaries with six-figure payouts again in 2021, even as the cash-strapped agency rolls out deep service cuts. Thirty-five T workers earned more than $100,000 in overtime in 2020, with 50 employees doubling and two nearly tripling their base pay thanks to overtime accrued.Charlie Chieppo of the Pioneer Institute said the out-of-control overtime shows, "a lack of basic respect for taxpayers," in an agency that has been plagued by numerous spending scandals and is at the mercy of powerful unions.The MBTA employee with the highest overtime total  a wireman foreman  raked in $310,859, which included $196,716 in overtime on top of a base pay of $114,143. An electrical inspector came in second, hauling in $310,198, which included $191,451 in overtime on top of his salary of $118,747. Ninety-three T employees earned more than Gov. Charlie Baker through combined salary and overtime pay.review of the payroll data so far in 2021 shows significant sums of overtime still being paid to those same top earners from 2021.Overtime spending by the T peaked at $96.2 million in 2019 with the Red Line derailment, service interruptions and necessary repairs. The total 2020 overtime figure of $81.4 million is on par with the 2018 figure of $81.9 million.Ridership has plummeted to 8% of pre-pandemic levels, say T officials who are projecting a budget gap of $54 million to $79 million for the current fiscal year and $577 million to $652 million in the next one, which starts in July. But transportation advocate Christopher Dempsey of Transportation for Massachusetts called the budget woes a "manufactured crisis."The MBTA is in line to receive $1.1 billion in total federal stimulus funds so far  money it isn't factored in to plug the budget hole."They are saving it for a future rainy day. We say this is the rainy day," Dempsey said.To balance its budget, the T last year issued $1.6 million in buyouts and in December ordered furloughs for hundreds of its union members, which is expected to save the T $2.5 million.MBTA GM Steve Poftak meanwhile took a $20,800 bonus on top of his $324,522 salary, according to payroll records. The bonus is tied to Poftak's 2019 performance per his contract. He has deferred acceptance of his 2020 bonus, according to a spokesman.The T wouldn't say on Sunday how much it plans to save with the temporary service cuts.MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo told theovertime costs were necessary to keep up operations in an unprecedented year.The Carmen's union local 589, which represents the bus and train operators, defended the overtime collected by, "brave workers stepping up to take extra shifts amid a life-threatening pandemic."Hundreds of employees contracted the virus or had to take leave after being exposed to the virus, requiring others to step in. Transit police, who are included in the MBTA payroll, are understaffed and dispensed resources at "large demonstrations last year," Pesaturo said.
Evelyn Chepkirui Kilel is a cybersecurity expert currently working as the Principal Cyber Security Engineer at Safaricom PLC. She is also a co-founder of SheHacksKE, a community of women in Cybersecurity from various backgrounds and counties in Kenya.

The 26-year-old shared her career path with Sunday Nation.

Briefly tell us about yourself

My name is Evelyn Chepkirui Kilel. I have been working in the cyber security industry for close to five years as a cyber security engineer, Consultant and Pentester. Currently, I work as a Principal Cyber Security Engineer at Safaricom PLC where I majorly undertake security testing of the products going to market and periodic security reviews, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests across all of the companys systems/infrastructure.

I also co-founded SheHacksKE alongside two ladies Laura Tich and Patricia Jepkoech. SheHacksKE is a community of over 1000+ women in cyber security which seeks to educate more students and women about cyber security and also bridge the gender gap in the cyber security ecosystem. The community works to ensure that ladies are trained in cybersecurity through boot camps, training and campus outreach.

I am very passionate about technology, network and application security, software development (Web Applications), penetration testing and business intelligence.

I enjoy playing chess in my free time.

Tell us about your childhood and family life

I am the third born in a family of five, I have three brothers and one elder sister. We grew up in Sotik where I went to a Catholic boarding primary school. I later attended Kipsigis Girls in Kericho for my high school education.

My parents and siblings have been very supportive and instrumental in my education and career journey. My elder sister has majorly been my roommate in both primary school and at the university. We have grown as a very close-knit family. We play a lot with my brothers and I love my siblings very much!

One of my memorable childhood memories was a visit to Thomson Falls with my family when I was about seven years old.

Educational background

I graduated from Kabarak University in 2016 with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering. I have also pursued various professional certifications including IBM Security Intelligence Analyst, IBM Business Intelligence Analyst, IBM Application Security Specialist and CCNA Routing and Switching.

Share with us your career journey

My interest in cybersecurity developed through one of my school professors, the late Prof Kefa Rabah. He was great in cryptography and started learning more when I was in my third year.

IBM MEA University came to our university to train us more about cybersecurity more so the application security using AppScan and SIEM management using QRADAR. After successfully completing these programmes, I was hired by IBM as a part-time Application Security Trainer.

Once I completed my undergraduate degree, I joined Safaricom for my internship as a cybersecurity SOC analyst. In 2017 July, I joined EY (formerly Ernst & Young) as a cybersecurity consultant. In 2019 I joined Safaricom, where I currently work as a Principal Cyber Security Engineer.

In August 2016, I co-founded SheHacksKE, a community of women in cybersecurity which we seek to educate more students about cybersecurity and also bridge the gender gap in cybersecurity.

Besides, I have also undertaken various voluntary roles with Kenya Web Designers as a Software Development Engineer, Google as a Google Developer Groups Lead Nakuru region, Lead Organizer for Women Techmakers Kabarak University Chapter and Kabarak University IHUB organizer and Strategic Planner.

I would encourage anyone in the cybersecurity and tech industry to keep learning as there are many resources available online. Also volunteer as much as you can in tech community-related work as that is how I started my career as I was a computer science student as I started.

How have you progressed over the years career-wise?

I have perfected my skills and expertise in security monitoring for anomalies, intrusions and events of interest, penetration testing which revolves around application, mobile and network security assessments in the banking, telcos and fintech industries.

Over the years, through significant exposure and experience, I have honed my IT security governance skills and can assist organisations to implement security controls such as ISO 27001.

I have also become very proficient with DevSecOPs usage, a technique that ensures security for microservices and cloud infrastructure in use.

Working with Safaricom PLC, has also been very transformative to my career journey through significant exposure, capacity-building and support for cybersecurity in tech communities.

I was also recognised among the top 50 women in cybersecurity in 2020 by CyberInAfrica.

I also spoke at the BlackHat conference in 2020 alongside Laura Tich fellow co-founder on Building Cyber Security Strategies for Emerging Industries in Sub Saharan Africa.

What has been the key driver to your growth?

Continuous learning as there new technologies coming up and also keeping up with current technological developments, research as well as Certifications in this space such as CCNA Security, AWS Security and also through online learning platforms such as LinkedIn, Microsoft Learn and Oreilly.

There are a bunch of resources available online to expand knowledge, skill sets in the Technology and cybersecurity field. Being part of tech communities has also played a significant role in not only exposing me but also SheHacksKE globally.

Running SheHacksKE activities alongside the founders and team and in collaboration with partners such as Microsoft, Safaricom, COMAE, EKRAAL, AH, Huawei, Liquid Telecom and Strathmore University has also been a great experience which I have learnt a lot.

Who are the people or relationships that you can single out that were useful in your career growth and how did they influence your trajectory?

My University School Professor, the late Kefa Rabah guided me through my career journey. My parents, siblings and mentor have also significantly supported me especially when I was out.

My siblings are all in the technology, engineering, finance, and Fintech space and therefore we have significantly a lot of knowledge, information and trends to keep abreast of especially given the interconnectedness of these fields.

Key decisions you might have taken along your career?

Innovation, creativity, flexibility and going above and beyond your expectations is very crucial to succeed in the career world. Continuous learning and pro bono work is also important for anyone starting out in the tech world especially if and when the job search is hard.

Your current role and scope?

I am a Principal Cyber Security Engineer at Safaricom PLC. My role encompasses, but not limited to security testing of the products going to market, undertake periodic security reviews, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests across all of the Companys systems/infrastructure.

I also ensure all new and existing systems/products/services comply with Companys security policies & standards and other industry best practices e.g. ISO27001, PCI, GDPR, etc.

Additionally, I provide timely and quality security assurance reports and advice to the business when required as well as undertaking regular follow ups with system custodians/owners to ensure any security risks identified are addressed within the agreed timelines.

What would you tell your younger self?

I would echo these phrases: Be kind to yourself, Dont shy away from opportunities, Seek out avenues and channels to improve yourself daily, and Quality over quantity, always!

What would you advise the youth in Kenya and Africa today?

Technology and related disruption is the future for Kenya, Africa, and globally and therefore the youth should seek to align their skills, businesses, and efforts in that direction. Diversify your skills and go above and beyond your call of duty.

Future plans career-wise?

My current role in Safaricom is quite exciting and also portends significant opportunities for growth. I plan to enroll in a Masters degree programme in the near future and also seek out certification programs that would broaden and diversify my skill set in technology and finance.

Anything else youd want to add?

I am happy to see more women join and take on opportunities in the cybersecurity industry. In line with the core motivation for SheHacksKE is to inspire, engage and empower women to take up positions in the cybersecurity industry.
Up to 3,000 people could have arrived here from Brazil and South Africa in recent weeks without the authorities knowing, it has emerged.

At the same time the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has estimated that the new Kent variant of Covid-19, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said may be more deadly than older strains, makes up 68% of all local cases.

However, it warned the rate could actually be as high as 83%, raising fears that the variant is now the dominant strain after an unknown number of people travelled here from south east England for Christmas.

According to the ONS, Northern Ireland had the third highest percentage of positive tests of the Kent variant between January 11 and 17 in the UK, with only London and the south east of England recording more.

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The startling figures have prompted a warning from a leading public health expert.

Dr Gabriel Scally, who is a member of independent UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and its equivalent in the Republic, the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group, has called for officials to act immediately to halt the arrival of any further variants.

Dr Scally is one of a growing number of experts who have called for the introduction of mandatory quarantine centres across Ireland as a matter of urgency.

"The ONS figures show us how quickly these variant strains can take hold," he said.

"We need managed isolation for anyone arriving into the island of Ireland, whether that is at a port or airport, to control the virus.

"It's a measure other European countries are discussing."

Dr Tony Holohan, the Republic's chief medical officer, has said 1,400 people flew into Ireland from South Africa from the start of December until January 11.

Expand Close Figures: The 3,000 visitors were revealed by Republics chief medic Tony Holohan / Facebook

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A further 1,600 people flew into Ireland from Brazil during the same period.

Currently, the authorities in Dublin are refusing to share details of new arrivals with health officials here, citing concerns over legal and data protection issues.

This means up to 3,000 people, potentially carrying the Brazilian and South African variants, could have travelled across the border without local officials having any knowledge of their arrival.

Dr Scally added: "Essentially, Covid-19 is on tour in Northern Ireland.

"We're almost a year into this - managed isolation should have been done a long time ago. Imagine what it would have been like if this had been done in the summer, when there were only one or two cases a day.

"We could have had a wonderful Christmas and the health service wouldn't be in the state it's in today."

The stalemate between officials at Stormont and Dublin is due to be discussed this week.

It comes as we surpassed 100,000 cases of Covid-19, with 433 cases announced on Sunday.

That brings to 100,319 the number of people diagnosed with the virus since last February.

A further 14 deaths were announced, while there are currently 74 people with Covid-19 in intensive care units.
After FIRs in Mumbai, Lucknow and Greater Nodia, now a fresh FIR has been lodged in Bengaluru against Ali Abbas Zafar and Saif Ali Khan, over their recent release Tandav. Social activist Kiran Aradhya has accused the producers and others associated with the show of hurting Hindu sentiments. According to reports, the Bengaluru police have sought legal opinion before proceeding with the FIR.

The complainant has also expressed objection on the character 'portrayed as Shiva' using cuss words in the controversial scene. The FIR reportedly has been lodged under sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings), 153 A (wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc) and 298 (utters any word or makes any sound with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person).

Apart from actors including Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Saif Ali Khan, Aparna Purohit of Amazon Prime Video, director Ali Abbas Zafar, and producer Farhan Akhtar have also been named in the complaint.

Last week, after the backlash, the makers assured netizens that after consulting the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, they have decided to drop two scenes from the first episode of the series. The makers had also released a statement apologising that their intention was not to hurt any religious sentiments.

"We have utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead," the statement explained.

The makers on Friday (January 22) also recorded their official statement with the UP Police in an FIR filed against them in Lucknow.

ALSO READ: Tandav Controversy: UP Police Records Statements Of Ali Abbas Zafar And Show Writers

ALSO READ: Tandav Controversy: Bombay HC Grants Relief From Immediate Arrest To Director Ali Abbas Zafar
Features virtual presentations by eminent psychedelics companies and industry leaders

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / Novamind Inc. (CSE:NM) ("Novamind" or the "Company"), a mental health company specialized in psychedelic medicine, today announced the Company's participation at the Psychedelics Investor Conference, hosted by KCSA Strategic Communications on Tuesday, January 26th and Wednesday, January 27th from 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST.

The two-day event will feature presentations by eminent psychedelics companies and industry leaders. Novamind CEO and Director Yaron Conforti will present on Wednesday, January 27th at 9:55 AM EST.

"We look forward to connecting with industry leaders and investors to discuss Novamind's operating model for clinical care and clinical research in psychedelic medicine," said Conforti.

Novamind recently became the latest psychedelics company to go public. On January 5th, 2021, the Company began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol "NM".

KCSA Strategic Communications, an integrated strategic communications firm specializing in public relations, investor relations and social media, is organizing the inaugural conference to bring together leaders and investors in the psychedelics industry.

Webcast Information

To attend the live video webcast, please register or email KCSA Strategic Communications at conference@kcsa.com.

About Novamind

Novamind is a leading mental health company enabling safe access to psychedelic medicine through a network of clinics, retreats, and clinical research sites. Novamind provides ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and other novel treatments through its network of Cedar Psychiatry clinics and operates Cedar Clinical Research, a contract research organization specialized in clinical trials and evidence-based research for psychedelic medicine. Both Cedar Psychiatry and Cedar Clinical Research are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Novamind. For more information on how Novamind is enhancing mental wellness and guiding people through their entire healing journey, visit www.novamind.ca.

About KCSA Strategic Communications

KCSA is a fully integrated communications agency specializing in public relations, shareholder communications and social media, with expertise in financial and professional services, technology, healthcare, digital media, cannabis and energy. Since 1969, the Firm has demonstrated strategic thinking and program execution that drives results for its clients in the ever-changing communications and digital landscape. The Firm's clients are its best references.

For more information, please visit www.kcsa.com.

Contact Information

Novamind

Yaron Conforti, CEO and Director

Telephone: +1 (647) 953 9512

Bill Mitoulas, Investor Relations

Email: bill@novamind.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations including the risks detailed from time to time in the Company's public disclosure. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable laws.

SOURCE: Novamind Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/625708/Novamind-to-Present-at-Inaugural-KCSA-Psychedelics-Investor-Conference
- According to a five-year (2016-2020) blueprint that China and Egypt signed during Xi's Egypt tour in 2016, the two sides vowed to "double their efforts" to develop the zone.

- With sales revenues exceeding 2.5 billion dollars, the businesses in the zone have paid taxes of over 176 million dollars and provided about 4,000 direct jobs and 36,000 employment opportunities in related industries.

- Having pulled through the tough year of 2020, most of the companies in the cooperation zone have full confidence that the pandemic will certainly be overcome, and new opportunities will come their way

TIANJIN/CAIRO -- Economic and trade cooperation between China and Egypt have given a completely fresh look to a former desert by the Red Sea near the Suez Canal and thus, literally changed its fortune.

For the convenience of thousands of new residents in and surrounding the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, some 120 km to the east of Egypt's capital city Cairo, the Egyptian bus system "Go Bus" is scheduled to offer bus services to the zone within this year.

"Go Bus company chose to set stations here because of the urban community that has emerged in the zone," said Ahmed Radwan, executive director of Egypt-TEDA Investment Company.

On Jan. 21, 2016, during his state visit to Egypt, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended an inauguration ceremony of the second phase of the zone with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and the two countries agreed to expand cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Five years on, as a flagship project under the BRI, the zone that has undergone massive changes has also witnessed strengthened cooperation between the two countries.

"TEDA" MODE

In Egypt, the cooperation zone is also called "TEDA," which actually is short for "Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area." In locals' eyes, the four letters represent not only the zone's operator, but also a development mode.

TEDA, situated about 150 km to the east of China's capital city Beijing with the Bohai Sea to its east, used to be a piece of land with saline-alkali soil. However, it became a modern industrial zone after over 36 years of development.

In the 1990s, China drew up a plan to help Egypt build an economic zone in Suez. With similar geographical conditions and its own story of successful transformation, TEDA took up the task of assisting in developing the project.

In 2008, the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone project kicked off with the first-phase construction of a 1.34-square-km area. In 2016, heads of the two states unveiled the second-phase project, which covers an area of 6 square km.

According to a five-year (2016-2020) blueprint that China and Egypt signed during Xi's Egypt tour in 2016, the two sides vowed to "double their efforts" to develop the zone.

During his talks with Sisi, Xi suggested that the two countries work together to make Egypt a pivot along the Belt and Road. He also pledged that China will participate in Egypt's key projects, including the development of the Suez Canal Corridor and the construction of a new administrative capital.

Sisi for his part said that Egypt is ready to connect its own development plans with the BRI and called for more Chinese investment in his country.

Li Daixin, executive general manager of China-Africa TEDA Investment Co., Ltd., the developer and operator of the cooperation zone, said that thanks to the efforts of both governments, the cooperation zone has seen a "high-speed development" in the past years.

So far, the second phase of the zone has attracted 15 enterprises, and the infrastructure construction for a 2-square-km part has been finished, with supporting facilities running well.

Based on the "TEDA mode," the cooperation zone has been transformed into an industrial city rather than merely a cluster of industrial enterprises, equipped with several recreational facilities such as hotels and even an amusement park -- the TEDA Fun Valley, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.

STRENGTHENING COOPERATION

By the end of 2020, the cooperation zone has attracted 96 enterprises and investment of over 1.25 billion U.S. dollars. With sales revenues exceeding 2.5 billion dollars, the businesses in the zone have paid taxes of over 176 million dollars and provided about 4,000 direct jobs and 36,000 employment opportunities in related industries.

Yet the significance of the cooperation zone reaches far beyond.

In 2016, Xi said that China is also ready to expand bilateral cooperation with Egypt in trade, finance, space technology, energy, human resources development and security.

"These kinds of deeper cooperation are gradually being implemented, in addition to the cooperation on infrastructure construction, especially during the recent two years," Li said.

Mohamed Khaled Ghanem, executive manager of import and export with Egypt Yanjiang New Material Co., Ltd., now could give full play to his 15 years' expertise in foreign trade, as international trade has been continuously expanding in the zone.

In May 2019, the Egyptian general authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone approved import and export trade and agreed on a bonded logistics project in the cooperation zone, making TEDA the first foreign company to carry out international bonded trade and entrepot trade in Egypt.

In December 2020, the first phase of the Chinese-funded TEDA Royal Bonded Warehouse was put into use after acceptance checks.

In the same month, Egypt's Luban Workshop was also opened, giving the cooperation zone another role -- a training base. Luban Workshop is a project supported by north China's Tianjin Municipality, home to TEDA, and concentrated on international cooperation in vocational training.

"The Egypt Luban Workshop could not only help provide stable employees (resources) for enterprises in the zone, but also cultivate talents for all kinds of projects along the Belt and Road," Li said.

ECONOMIC ENGINE

After cooperation for over a decade, Chinese and Egyptian colleagues in the cooperation zone have established close ties, which have been tested in the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to timely preventive measures, enterprises in the zone have quickly resumed operation.

"We applied successful anti-virus measures to ensure zero infections in the company. We also offered extra subsidies for those who continued their work amid COVID-19," said Zhang Xiaoyu, deputy general manager of XD-EGEMAC High Voltage Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd.

Ashraf Moustafa, general director of industry with XD-EGEMAC, said that they had followed all precautionary measures, so production was not significantly affected.

Lin Xiangchun, plant manager of Egypt Yanjiang New Materials Co., Ltd, said his company had established a subsidiary in Egypt to expand business in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

"The year of 2020 was tough, but our company has managed to balance the anti-pandemic work and routine production, gaining a year-on-year increase of 22 percent in revenues," Lin said.

In 2020, as bilateral trade between China and Egypt has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and maintained a momentum of growth, China remains Egypt's largest trading partner.

Having pulled through the tough year of 2020, most of the companies in the cooperation zone have full confidence that the pandemic will certainly be overcome, and new opportunities will come their way, said Li, the TEDA manager.
I am a descendant of the Walbanga and Wadi Wadi people of the Yuin nation on New South Wales South Coast. My father grew up around Botany Bay. My mother is a ten-pound pom.

Last week, a friend phoned and told me they were to receive an Australia Day Honour on January 26  and to apologise for any offence caused.

As a nation, were only just beginning to talk about the uncomfortable chapter in our history when the colonists arrived. As the 2021 Australia Day TV commercial says: In parts it is painful, in parts it is raw.

Alison Page, director of the National Australia Day Council.

Australia Day is a vital part of the conversation about who we are as a people. As Australians, all of our lives are, in some way, shaped by the events of 26 January 1788 and all the decisions made in England that led to that day. Whether a descendant of First Nations people, the First Fleet or the many migrants who built a life here, it is a history that we know so little about. It is vital that we explore our true history together.

The story of modern Australia is uncomfortable. Cancelling Australia Day wont change that. Our nation has an amazing legacy in its Indigenous history, culture and connection to Country stretching back for millennia. Its a gift that deserves reflection, respect and celebration.

The National Australia Day Council has been asking Australians to do just that  to reflect, respect and celebrate. This message was born out of a desire to make Australia Day more inclusive of the histories, stories and contributions of all Australians, but especially First Nations people.
On Saturday night, Vanitha complained of pain in the chest and discomfort. The family members assumed that she was suffering from acidity and gave her medication before she went to sleep. On Sunday morning, her children found her dead. (Representational Photo:AP)

Warangal/Hyderabad: Telangana state recorded its second post-Covid-19 vaccination death among state government workers on Sunday.

A 45-year-old female anganwadi worker from Warangal, identified as G. Vanitha of Deendayal Colony, died on Sunday morning. She had received the first dose of the vaccine at New Shayampet Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) on January 19. Vanitha is survived by her two children, her husband having pre-deceased her.

On Saturday night, Vanitha complained of pain in the chest and discomfort. The family members assumed that she was suffering from acidity and gave her medication before she went to sleep. On Sunday morning, her children found her dead.

Vanitha's family and colleagues, who came to her house on learning about the death, suspect that she died on account of the vaccination. Vanitha was known to be suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes.

Her family lodged a complaint with the Subedari police. Warangal Urban collector Rajeev Gandhi Hanumanthu said he had instructed the health department to get a post-mortem examination conducted at the MGM Hospital. He also spoke with police officials.

Subedari inspector D. Naresh Kumar said a case of suspicious death was registered under Section 174 of the CrPC.

In Hyderabad, Director of Public Health & Family Welfare Dr G. Srinivasa Rao said the district Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) committee was examining the matter and would submit its report to the state SEFI panel. It would will furnish its report to the Central AEFI committee for taking a view.

It may be recalled that a 42-year-old 108 ambulance driver from Nirmal district had died on January 20, less than 18 hours after receiving the first dose of the vaccine. Dr Srinivas had then said that preliminary findings appeared unrelated to vaccination and added that, He is said to have developed chest pain and was brought dead to the Nirmal district hospital.

Bengaluru, Jan 25 : Even as Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa struggles to contain the rumblings within the party over allocation of portfolios, newly-inducted ministers R. Shankar, M.T.B. Nagaraj and K.C. Narayan Gowda on Monday demanded on Monday that they needed to be in charge of their home districts - Haveri, Bengaluru Rural and Mandya, respectively.

In a bid to contain rising disgruntlement, Yediyurappa has summoned Revenue Minister R. Ashoka to cut short his tour in Udupi district and remain available in Bengaluru.

Ashoka said in Udupi that he was heading back to Bengaluru. "Yes, after the third round of reallocations of portfolios, some problems have cropped up but all these problems can be sorted out through discussions," he said before leaving.

He had played a pivotal role in persuading the 17 Congress and JD-S MLAs to defect to BJP and as a result, the Congress-JD-S coalition government headed by H.D. Kumarswamy collapsed in 2019.

Earlier in the day, Horticulture and Sericulture minister, Shanakar who is already peeved over the change of his portfolios twice, told reporters that in next two days, he would be made Haveri district in-charge minister.

"I won my first Assembly elections from Ranebennur, which is part of Haveri, so this is my home district. I am sure that Yediyurappa will announce the district-in-charge minister list in two days after the Republic Day ceremony," he said in a bid to mount pressure on Yediyurappa.

Newly-appointed Municipal administration minister Nagaraj said that he was looking at becoming in-charge of Bengaluru Rural district. "Naturally, I wish to be Bengaluru Rural district incharge ministry as Hoskote constituency, which I represented thrice in Assembly in the past, is part of Bengaluru Rural district," he told reporters.

Youth affairs, Planning and Statistics Minister Narayan Gowda angrily sought to know the credentials of Minor Irrigation Minister C.P. Yogeshwar to be made Mandya in charge.

"I have won from Mandya district, he is from Ramnagar district, he is most welcome if he is coming to Mandya as a guest, not as district in charge minister. IF he comes, he will not get the desired welcome here," he said.
Petra Ecclestone's ex-husband James Stunt today denied racially harassing a police officer at his former 3.9million mansion.

The gold bullion dealer, 38, is accused of threatening PC Richard Harper at the multi-million pound mews home in Knightsbridge, southwest London, on June 6.

On Tuesday, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard how he had been summoned to court by postal requisition but he did not appear. A warrant for his arrest was issued.

The gold bullion dealer, 38, is accused of threatening PC Richard Harper at his former multi-million pound home in Knightsbridge, southwest London, on June 6

On Tuesday, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard how Stunt - pictured with Petra Ecclestone - had been summoned to court by postal requisition but he did not appear

But the following day he showed up and entered not guilty pleas to the offences.

Court documents showed that Stunt is charged with offences relating to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Public Order Act 1986.

In November, Stunt appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court with his girlfriend Helena Robinson charged with possession of cocaine, damage to a police cell, assault, harassment and theft said to have been committed between 5 and 7 August.

He is facing a crown court trial for those matters.

Last month Stunt's former bodyguard Justinas Ivaskevicius, 34, was cleared of stealing a 515,000 diamond ring from Stunt's safe after a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death during an alleged fight with four other younger girls at a grocery store, police said.

All four of the accused girls were younger than the victim, who suffered stab wounds that caused her death. At approximately 7:30 PM on Saturday, the incident occurred at a grocery store in Lake Charles, Louisiana. A fight allegedly happened between the four young girls and a 15-year-old girl as per Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office (CPSO) statement on social media. All suspects are between the ages of 12 and 14.

According to ABC News via MSN, the alteration's motive and causes remain unclear, and it is not disclosed in the CPSO statement. However, officials have confirmed that the 15-year-old girl was stabbed during the incident, and the victim was subsequently transported to a local area hospital where she was pronounced dead. Details of where the teenager was stabbed and her cause of death have not been released.

Read also: 'An Act of Mass Murder' - Indianapolis Mayor Condemns Deadly Shooting, Five People Dead

CPSO claims suspects stole knives from the store used to stab the victim

At a press conference on Sunday night, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said that the young girls stole knives from the grocery store where they were.

"It is heart-breaking when we have to come in and pick up the pieces as many families are damaged after this," Mancuso added. Besides, Mancuso disclosed the evidence that authorities could get directly from videos posted on social media.

Through Facebook and Instagram live, the whole case unfolded before the authorities. Officials have videos of what took place in the incident, said Mancuso. He claims that the entire murder was played out on social media, where it appeared to be no remorse.Read also: Christa Pike Awaits Execution as Youngest Woman on America's Death Row

"It was very cold to see 12, 13, 14, and 15-year-olds acting this way, and we as a society can't tolerate it. We cannot let this plague and take over our community."

The four young girls aged 14, 12, and two girls are 13 were booked into the juvenile detention center. One of them was charged with second-degree murder, where the others were charged with principal to second-degree murder. Mancuso indicated the investigation is still in process, and there may be other arrests involved in the case.

In six months, this was the third homicide that CPSO had had, which involved juveniles ranging from 11 to 16. Mancuso explained the cases involve all backgrounds and races. He claims that the problem they have with kids is having access to weapons.

The stabbing happened inside a Walmart on Highway 14, Louisiana, KPLC reported. The young girls' fight might have started at a movie theater before it ended with a deadly stabbing, Stitch Guillory, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy, said in a KPLC interview.

While the investigation remains on-going, anyone with further details is encouraged to contact the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office (337) 491-3605.

Read also: Washington Potato Factory Battles Large Fire, Prompts Evacuation over Fears of Ammonia Explosion
Honorable President of the Republic of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, its Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Honorary Consul (Mumbai) of the Republic of Maldives Bobby Mohanty have expressed their sincere gratitude and appreciation and have praised the Hon. Prime Minister of India Sh. Narendra Modi for providing the COVID-19 vaccine to their country. Bobby Mohanty called it a noble and memorable Republic Day gift! India has supplied 100,000 doses of CoviShield (Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine) manufactured by SII (Serum Institute) to the Maldives.

The Maldives is among the first countries to receive COVID-19 vaccines from India.In his address to the nation on 20th January 2021, Hon. President of the Republic of the Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced the arrival of the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines in the Maldives from India.

A short while ago, a flight from India with a 100,000 doses of the CoviShield vaccine arrived in the Maldives, renewing our hopes for a resolution to the Covid 19 crisis soon. Our heartfelt thanks to PM @narendramodi , government and people of India for this most generous gift.  Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (@ibusolih) January 20, 2021

The Maldives extends deep and profound appreciation to PM @narendramodi & EAM @DrSJaishankar for their commitment to address the needs of India's neighbours, and for its special regard for the Maldives, at all times. #MaldivesIndiaPartnership  Abdulla Shahid (@abdulla_shahid) January 20, 2021

Prior to this, in December 2020, India even contributed BCG vaccines to the Maldives where Hon. Consul Bobby Mohantys office played a vital role in managing the logistics along with various agencies.As part of its Neighbourhood First policy, India urgently dispatched the vaccine, administered to babies to prevent tuberculosis, to bridge a shortfall in the National Immunization Programme of the Maldives.India had dispatched 30,000 doses of the Measles-Rubella vaccine in January 2020.

Besides Maldives is planning to attract investment in areas such as core infrastructure, travel & tourism, maritime/ marine, medical tourism, education, healthcare, defence, technology and emerging businesses.Bobby Mohanty also proposes a Tourism Bank with Indian investors and the Maldives Government in Male for rendering financial services in the entire Indian Ocean Region (IOR).Mohanty believes that Maldives can also assist in the Sea Plane Project implementation for the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Odisha through the Trans Maldivian Airlines for Coastal Tourism in India.

The recent appointment of Mr Mohanty is significant as India-Maldives relationship has been on the upswing since the visit of Indias Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.India aspires to work closely for the realization of Maldives developmental priorities, especially in areas of infrastructure, health-hygiene, connectivity, disaster management and human resources.

Mohanty will strive to enhance trade, investment and diplomatic ties between the two countries in several key areas.

Mohantys recent introduction visit to Maldives where in he met several Cabinet Ministers speaks of further strengthening of Indo-Maldives bilateral relations between the IOR countries.Mohanty met Abdulla Shahid (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Dr. Abdulla Mausoom (Union Minister of Tourism), Uz. Fayyaz Ismail (Minister of Economic Development), Khadeeja Adam (Minister of State for Higher Education), Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan (Minister of Environment) and Zaha Waheed (Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture) amongst others.

This visit to the different Maldivian Cabinet Ministers and decision makers have opened up many new INDO-Maldivian ventures and cooperation in the field of tourism, fisheries, renewable energy & storage, education & cultural exchange, Bollywood visits with destination wedding and coastal tourism opportunities in the Maldives - Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujarat and others.Mohanty is extremely confident of this developing permanent and everlasting relationship between India and the Maldives with all credence to Honble PM Narendra Modi, Honble President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Honble Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid.

India is Maldives 4th largest trade partner after UAE, China and Singapore. Indian imports from the Maldives primarily comprise scrap metals while Indian exports to the Maldives include a variety of engineering and industrial products like drugs and medicines radar apparatus, rock boulders, aggregates, cement and agriculture produce like rice, spices, fruits, vegetables and poultry produce etc.Indians are the second-largest expatriate community in Maldives.

To boost trade and investment, an 18 member CII CEO delegation visited Male in August 2020 to meet their Maldivian counterparts and concerned Ministers in order to explore business avenues.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly metastatic cancer. The liver is one of the common sites of metastases, as seen in this image of mouse liver with metastatic SCLC lesions. SCLC tumors are composed of tightly packed epithelial cells with few immune cells infiltrating inside the tumor. Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells are missing a surface protein that triggers an immune response, allowing them to hide from one of the body's key cancer defenses, a new study led by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The findings, reported online today in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, could lead to new treatments for SCLC, which has no effective therapies.

Despite decades of study, SCLCa subset of lung cancer that makes up about 13 percent of lung cancer diagnoseshas a very poor prognosis, with only about 6 percent of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. For the past 30 years, this disease has been treated with a combination of chemotherapies. Although most SCLC tumors initially respond to treatment, the majority of patients relapse within a year.

These tumors tend to carry many genetic mutationsoften a good predictor of a strong immunotherapy response. However, says Esra Akbay, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UTSW, immunotherapy drugs tend to not work well for SCLC patients, typically extending survival by just a few months.

"SCLC's inability to respond to immunotherapy made us think that there might be something about these tumors that allowed them to evolve to hide from the immune system," Akbay says. "We thought there might be defects in how these tumors communicate with immune cells that are supposed to recognize them as cancer."

To investigate this idea, Akbay and her colleagues looked at publicly available cancer datasets from patient tumors and data gathered from human tumor cell lines at UTSW to compare proteins on the surfaces of SCLC cells against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, which tend to respond better to immunotherapy. They quickly noticed that SCLC cells were missing the surface protein NKG2DL, which is known to interact with natural killer (NK) cells. NK cells make up a key part of the innate immune system, an evolutionary ancient part of the body's natural defense system that continually monitors for foreign invaders to launch an attack.

Data from mouse models of SCLC confirmed that the rodent version of NKG2DL was also missing from the surfaces of their cancer cells. When the researchers examined the animals' tumors, they found far fewer immune cells compared with those from mouse models of NSCLC. Additionally, the immune cells in the SCLC tumors weren't activated and therefore were unprepared to fight.

To better understand what role NKG2DL plays in SCLC immunity, Akbay and her colleagues genetically manipulated SCLC cell lines to force them to produce this protein on their surfaces. When they implanted these cells in mice, they grew smaller tumors and were less likely to spread. These tumors had a significantly higher population of immune cells than SCLC tumors that didn't express NKG2DL, and far more of the immune cells in tumors with NKG2DL were activated and ready to fight.

Akbay explains that some chemotherapy drugs can induce surface expression of NKG2DL; however, when she and her colleagues dosed SCLC cell lines with these medicines, they didn't prompt the cells to make this protein. Further investigation showed that the gene for NKG2DL wasn't mutated, suggesting that this protein was missing due to a problem with turning the gene on, rather than a faulty gene. Sure enough, further experiments showed that in SCLC cells, the gene responsible for making NKG2DL is hidden behind tightly coiled DNA, making it impossible for the cellular machinery that translates this gene into a protein to access it. When the researchers dosed animal models of SCLC with drugs called histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which loosen DNA coils, the SCLC cells began expressing NKG2DL on their surfaces, translating into significantly smaller tumors that had more activated immune cells.

Neuroendocrine tumors, including small cell lung cancer, are not highly visible to immune cells due to a lack of surface proteins called NKG2DL. A UT Southwestern study found that HDAC inhibitor drugs allow these proteins to be produced, causing tumor cells to be recognized and targeted by immune cells. Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center

Turning again to a public cancer dataset, the researchers saw that neuroblastomaone of the most common childhood cancersis also typically missing NKG2DL on its cell surfaces. When the researchers dosed neuroblastoma cell lines with HDAC inhibitors, they also began expressing surface NKG2DL.

Together, Akbay says, these findings could lead to new ways to more accurately predict a patient's prognosis and guide better treatment choices for SCLC, neuroblastoma, and potentially other cancers. Patients whose tumor cell surfaces lack NKG2DL may have a more aggressive disease that is unlikely to respond to immunotherapy drugs, she explains. But the hope is that treatment with HDAC inhibitors may spur patients' immune systems to fight these tumors, enhancing immunotherapy effectiveness.

"The more we know about how the immune system interacts with cancer," Akbay says, "the more we can take advantage of the body's inherent defense system to fight this disease."

Explore further 'RethiNKing' which immune cells are the best weapon against lung cancer

More information: Mingrui Zhu et al, Evasion of Innate Immunity Contributes to Small Cell Lung Cancer Progression and Metastasis, Cancer Research (2021). Journal information: Cancer Research Mingrui Zhu et al, Evasion of Innate Immunity Contributes to Small Cell Lung Cancer Progression and Metastasis,(2021). DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-2808
A shattered couple whose unborn son died when the mother was injected with 10 times too much morphine have been denied an inquest into his death.

Little Zyeed was stillborn, meaning the coronial court have no jurisdiction to investigate his death.

This is despite a devastating hospital bungle while his mother, Sarah Hassan, was already in early labour, which saw her receive a lethal dosage of morphine.

Ms Hassan spent four days in a coma at the St John of God hospital in Bunbury, before waking to learn her unborn son hadn't survived.

Premier Mark McGowan spoke of the incident and insisted that a coronial inquiry would be held to determine exactly what went wrong while the couple were at the hospital.

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Pictured: Mansurin 'Sarah' Hassan on life support while her husband Touhidul 'Sunny' Alam stands with their dead son, Zyeed

But the coroner's court has since confirmed that it will not go ahead.

A coroner has no legal standing to investigate a matter in which a baby was not born alive.

In this case, little Zyeed was not breathing at the time of his birth, and there were no signs of life immediately afterwards.

St John of God Health Care Group Chief Executive Shane Kelly said initial investigations suggested the mistake was a matter of 'human error'.

Dr Kelly said both a doctor and a midwife failed to correctly identify the dosage of morphine that was supposed to be administered.

Now, the Health Department's Perinatal and Infant Mortality Committee will investigate Zyeed's death, a state government spokesman told The West Australian.

But father, Touhidul 'Sunny' Alam said he was devastated to learn Zyeed's death would not be formally investigated by a coroner

But the findings and recommendations made in the investigation will not be made public, and can take up to 12 months.

The independent review will include a review of the hospital's maternity ward, and will be conducted by a senior Department of Health official, an independent midwife and obstetrician.

'The department will ensure that the lessons learnt from the independent review are shared with other hospitals in WA,' the spokesman said.

But father, Touhidul 'Sunny' Alam said he was devastated to learn Zyeed's death would not be formally investigated by a Coroner.

'I am disappointed with the irreparable loss that happened to my family and I wish it wouldn't happen to any other,' he said.

The couple had spent five years trying to fall pregnant, and were thrilled to finally be starting their family before the tragedy.

Ms Hassan and Mr Alum tried to fall pregnant for five years. Ms Hassan didn't take any painkillers throughout her pregnancy

On December 9, Ms Hassan went into labour and by 11pm that night had agreed to a dosage of morphine to help ease her pain.

Up until that point in her pregnancy, she had not even taken any Panadol out of fear of harming the unborn child.

Her husband was relieved to see the drugs work instantaneously, as Ms Hassan fell unconscious.

What he didn't realise was she was in a coma and their child was dying from a lack of oxygen after being given 100mg of the powerful painkiller instead of 10mg.

'I was sleeping while my baby was dying, and she was fighting for her life,' Mr Alam told 7 News.

When Ms Hassan was still asleep by the time a nurse visited the expectant mother the next morning, she couldn't find a pulse and rang the emergency bell.

Doctors performed a C-section on the spot to pull the now-dead infant from his mother.

Pictured: Ms Hassan, 28, crying as she talks about her son who tragically died in a hospital blunder. The couple said their dreams of becoming a family were destroyed 'within moments'

They handed the new father his lifeless child, and told him that his wife was on life support in intensive care because her heart and lungs were not functioning properly.

'His body was still warm, so I was in disbelief if he was alive or dead,' he said.

Mr Alam faced the possibility of caring for a wife with brain damage, and then Ms Hassan was flown to Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth after a heart attack.

She remained unconscious for four days and woke up asking for her baby, but immediately knew her husband was hiding something.

Eventually, Ms Hassan heard the words 'the baby is gone' over the phone from her mother, who lives in Bangladesh.

'She couldn't tell me the lie,' Ms Hassan cried. 'It broke my whole life.'

Riddled with grief, the mother has been asking herself question why she agreed to take the morphine that night.

'Because of that, I lost my child,' she said.

The couple said their dreams of becoming a family were destroyed 'within moments' by the blunder.

The midwife who administered the morphine was stood down and another staff member resigned of her own accord.
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New estimates reveal extent of the health burden of armed conflict--affecting at least 630 million women and children worldwide in 2017, and contributing to more than 10 million deaths among children under 5 years of age over 20 years

New estimates reveal extent of the health burden of armed conflict--affecting at least 630 million women and children worldwide in 2017, and contributing to more than 10 million deaths among children under 5 years of age over 20 years.

Changing nature of war is a growing threat to humanitarian access and the provision of essential health services for women and children, but responses in countries like Syria, Pakistan, and Colombia may provide context-specific innovative ways forward.

Armed conflicts are becoming increasingly complex and protracted and a growing threat to humanitarian access and the delivery of essential health services, affecting at least 630 million women and children--over 8% of the world's population--in 2017, according to a new four-paper Series exposing the far-reaching effects of modern warfare on women's and children's health, published today in The Lancet.

The authors highlight the failure of the global community to prioritise women's and children's health in areas of conflict, and call for an international commitment from humanitarian actors and donors to confront political and security challenges, together with consensus on a framework for identifying high-priority interventions to reach the most vulnerable women and children with the best care possible.

The Series led by academic co-investigators and partners affiliated with the BRANCH (Bridging Research & Action in Conflict Settings for the Health of Women & Children) Consortium synthesises existing evidence with new modelling and insights from a range of local research partners, humanitarian agencies, and civil society organisations.

"The new estimates provide compelling evidence of the enormous indirect toll of modern warfare caused by easily preventable infectious diseases, malnutrition, sexual violence, and poor mental health, as well as the destruction of basic services such as water and medical facilities", says Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta from the Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in Canada and the Institute for Global Heath & Development, The Aga Khan University, who led the Series. [1]

He continues, "Today, more than half of the world's women and children are living in countries experiencing active conflict. The international community cannot continue to ignore their plight. It's time for a radical rethink of the global response that confronts challenges to insecurity, access, politics, coordination, and the logistics of delivering high-priority interventions to women and children in politically unstable and insecure settings." [1]

The Series papers explore the changing nature of war and conflict, its short- and long-term health effects on women and children, strategies for identifying best responses, and interventions supported by in-country assessments and studies.

Growing threats of armed conflict to women's and children's health

New estimates suggest that the number of women and children affected by armed conflict around the world has risen steadily since 2000, as a result of population growth, more conflicts, increasing use of explosive and chemical weapons in urban areas, and growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced people [2].

In 2017, one in 10 (10%) women and almost one in six (16%) children worldwide were either forcibly displaced by conflict or living dangerously close (ie, within 50 km) to conflict zones. Around a third of those affected live in Pakistan, Nigeria, and India.

Evidence suggests that the risk of dying from non-violent causes increases substantially with proximity to more intense and chronic conflicts, with women of childbearing age in Africa living near the highest-intensity fighting three times more likely to die than women in peaceful areas, and the risk of death among infants higher by more than 25%.

Between 67 and 75 million infants, and more than 10 million children under 5 years of age, born within 50 km of armed conflict are estimated to have died from the indirect consequences of fighting across Africa, Asia, and the Americas between 1995 and 2015.

"It is clear that the indirect effects of armed conflict on women and children are far greater than the effects of actual fighting", says Series co-author Dr Hala Ghattas, Director of the Center for Research on Population and Health, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. "But the reality could be much worse. Insecurity and insufficient resources mean data are often scarce and of poor quality. Far greater investment in strengthening data collection and collaboration between humanitarian agencies and local authorities is needed to generate better, more readily available, and actionable information to improve the response in humanitarian crises." [1]

Changing nature of armed conflict demands new humanitarian strategies

In 2019, there were 54 ongoing state-based armed conflicts in 35 countries, averaging 20 years or more [3]. Once mostly confined to warring nations, armed conflict increasingly involves clashes between nations and insurgent groups in control of large geographical areas, and is characterised by a lack of respect for International Humanitarian Law, the systematic use of explosive and chemical weapons in cities, pervasive sexual violence against women and girls, and hybrid warfare (eg, cyberattacks and the manipulation of social media).

How war is being fought and who is fighting bring new challenges to humanitarian access, the delivery of health services, and the protection of humanitarian workers and health facilities from attack. Climate change and new health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic have further complicated the response. At the same time, new medical capabilities such as modern trauma care offer opportunities for improved health provision.

According to Series co-author, Dr Michele Barry, Senior Associate Dean for Global Health and Director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University School of Medicine: "Given the changing nature of armed conflict, this Series underscores the importance of a humanitarian response that includes the empowerment of local communities and leaders as they are best able to deliver life-saving services, services that rely on a community's capabilities, perceptions, and trust." [1]

Lessons learnt from ten conflict-affected countries

The Series also assessed the provision of proven health interventions for women and children in 10 conflict-affected countries in different stages (eg, acute, protracted, post-conflict) of conflict and geographical, political, and economic conditions--Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

While priority is commonly given to a range of interventions including antenatal care, emergency obstetric care, childhood vaccination, and infant and young child feeding, evidence suggests that the delivery of many life-saving services, including most sexual, reproductive, newborn, and adolescent health services, is limited.

The authors recognise that humanitarian agencies and national authorities face a wide variety of barriers to delivery, from limited funding and shortages of skilled health-care workers (eg, midwives and nurses in Pakistan and Syria) to insecurity (eg, attacks and kidnapping of health workers in Colombia and Somalia), and mistrust due to the politicisation of aid.

But these challenges have also spurred extraordinary creativity in the humanitarian response. Innovative approaches include: task sharing and hiring other types of community health workers (eg, traditional healers and birth attendants); using new modes of delivery such as remote management (ie, subcontracting to local organisations) and technology like WhatsApp; and establishing contingency funds for emergencies.

In Afghanistan, for example, mobile clinics are used to deliver health services to remote areas, and in South Sudan, donors made emergency funds available to stock up on medical supplies to ensure rapid respond to future disease outbreaks (eg, cholera). In Pakistan, senior health workers living in the middle of the Keich district rotate week-long visits to remote areas every month to address the workforce shortage.

Professor Isabel Garces-Palacio from the Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia says, "Although these solutions need more rigorous evaluation, they have the potential to provide a timely response to current implementation challenges and remind health authorities of their responsibility to deliver basic health services to the whole population." [1]

However, there are also wider issues in the humanitarian system that need to be addressed. "Predefined packages of priority health services for women and children are not commonly agreed upon. Instead, international donors remain the key drivers of influencing what, where, and how interventions are delivered", explains Dr Jai Das from The Aga Khan University in Pakistan. "Although technical and operational guidance on promoting women's and children's health in humanitarian crises exist, they are not specific to conflict settings and have been developed as a broad response to a range of emergencies including natural disasters and epidemics."[1]

A way forward

As a first step towards filling the guidance gap, the authors call for humanitarian health actors including global and local agencies and NGOs, and academia working in conflict settings to establish a decision-making framework to guide the selection of priority interventions and improve accountability.

"While the needs of conflict-affected communities are great, their voices are also often unheard or overlooked, so it is imperative they have a seat at the table--and that humanitarian actors listen to them--when decisions concerning them are made", says Series co-author Assistant Professor Neha Singh, Co-Director of the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. "It is imperative that the world make more concerted efforts to reduce the risk of conflict, but until that happens, improving the delivery of health and nutrition services for women, children, and adolescents affected by conflict remains an ethical and moral responsibility." [1]

Writing in a linked Comment, Helen Clark, Chair of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and former Prime Minister of New Zealand (who was not involved in the Series papers) writes: "The rights and needs of women, children, and adolescents must to be placed at the centre of all humanitarian, development, and peace-building efforts, in line with the concept of centrality of protection. Doing this isn't the responsibility of any one sector or stakeholder group, and all actors need collectively to agree on and demand greater alignment, investment, and political attention for women, children, and adolescents who are trapped in conflict zones. Only then can the unequal burden of preventable morbidity and mortality in the world's most challenging regions be addressed in a way that ensures that no one is left behind."

###

Peer-reviewed / Review and modelling / People

NOTES TO EDITORS

As coordinator of the BRANCH Consortium, the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health has received funding for BRANCH research activities from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and UNICEF. Aga Khan University has received funding for BRANCH research activities from the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation. Additional costs to convene consortium members and collaborators, and support to advocacy and communications for the Series have been provided directly by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH).

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] Quotes direct from authors and cannot be found in Series papers.

[2] Worldwide, the number of a children forcibly displaced by violence or conflict almost doubled from nearly 19 million in 2009 to almost 36 million in 2017, and the number of women increased from almost 11 million to over 16 million. Similarly, the number of non-displaced women and children living dangerously close to armed conflict zones (within 50km) rose from 185 million women and 250 million children in 2000, to 265 million women and 368 million children in 2017.

[3] FAQ - Department of Peace and Conflict Research - Uppsala University, Sweden (uu.se)
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Explained: What awards are given to the recipients on Republic Day?

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

New Delhi, Jan 25: As one thinks of Republic Day, the pictures that come to mind are usually those of marching soldiers, tableaux, and the display of India's weaponry. However, another equally important event that takes place on Republic Day is the award presentation ceremony. These awards are given to the police officers, defence personnel, and children for their gallantry and bravery.

This year's Republic Day, a muted affair, will not see the parade of gallantry awardees and children who have won the bravery award.

However, What are these awards? And who felicitates the recipients? Here are the answers.

The Padma Awards

It can be seen that the Padma Awards are the highest civilian awards in the country. They comprise of three categories based on the scale of the awardee's achievement - The highest being Padma Vibhushan, followed by Padma Bhushan, and lastly, Padma Shri.

It can be seen that the award winners are announced on the eve of Republic Day - January 25 - and are felicitated by the President of India around March or April.

The Gallantry Awards

This award is honoured to the country's military personnel. As many as six awards are honoured to the recipients to show of gallantry and valiance. The Param Vir Chakra, given for displaying acts of valour during wartime, is India's highest military decoration.

The Ashoka Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra, and Shaurya Chakra are the other awards, listed in descending order of their honour.

The President's Police Medals

The President awards three medals - one for meritorious service, followed by distinguished service, and another for gallantry - to law enforcement personnel in the country. The Police Medal was originally called the President's Police and Fire Service Medal when it was established in 1951.

The Meritorious Service medals are usually given to police and law enforcement agencies personnel who have stayed true and committed to enforcing the law of the land for at least 15 years. Of the three, it is the lowest honour that is bestowed upon a recipient.

The Distinguished Service Medal is given to those who have served for over 21 years, and were previously felicitated with the meritorious service medal, which must have been kept for at least six years.

The Gallantry medal is bestowed upon those law enforcement personnel who display "gallantry in saving life and property, or in preventing crime or arresting criminals."

Correctional Services Medals

The President also awards prison personnel for their 'meritorious' and 'distinguished' efforts in rendering the special services that they are tasked with. They are also given a gallantry award like their law enforcement peers.

While there is no limit on the number of awardees for the Gallantry Medal, 25 receive the Distinguished Service Medal, while 75 receive the Meritorious Service Medal. These medals are bestowed upon those with an exceptional record, for having managed their duties during mass admission of prisoners, or handling riots and preventing the escape of prisoners.

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

Since 1996, the Prime Minister has felicitated children between the age of 5-18 for exceptional achievements across various fields on Republic Day. Along with the medal, they also receive a certificate, citation, and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

There are six fields of achievement for which children are awarded - Sports, Innovation, Social Service, Scholastic, Arts and Science, and Bravery.

The President's Fire Medals

The President awards fire personnel with two medals - one for gallantry, and another for distinguished service. A medal is also awarded for meritorious service.

Home Guard and Civil Defence Honours

Home Guard and Civil Defence personnel are honoured with the President's Home Guards and Civil Defence Gallantry Medal and the Home Guards nad Civil Defence Medal for Meritorious Service.

Jeevan Raksha Padak

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

The Government of India awards civilians, law enforcement and defence personnel who save lives - from drowning, from electrocution, fire accidents or in rescue operations. Started in 1961, the award has three categories - Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak, and Jeevan Raksha Padak.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 12:17 [IST]
It is a question that we often ask ourselves. In an era of ginormous large screen phones, do we really need all that screen estate? For some, the answer is simple. They use the extra screen space to watch videos, play games and multitask between office and homework.

For others, the philosophy of an unergonomic and unwieldy 7-inch screen to lug around is just too cumbersome.

Personally, I use an Oppo F7 (outdated and irrelevant today I know), but I would be lying if I said if I did not find the size of the 6-inch device cumbersome on occasions. Lying in bed while trying to watch a video? Well, good luck trying not to register unnecessary swipes or touches while trying to switch from portrait to landscape mode. Trying to toggle between two workspaces in split-screen? Sure, but do we really need to? I mean the functionality is nice, but I have used it maybe twice the entire time I have had the device.

As someone who does not have the patience to stand pay-to-win, grindy mobile games that seem to be designed with the sole intention of sucking your wallet dry, I do not game much on the device either. Maybe revisit a few SNES classics via an emulator, but that is about it.

So, the question is what do I end up using the big screen the most for? The answer is taking calls, socialising on WhatsApp and maybe going through a few emails. Seems anti-climactic to me, especially with hype and hoopla the companies make when they tout what you can use the screen for.

The thing is that the smartphone industry is stagnant and it has been for a while. When they are not aping design trends from Google or Apple, most companies simply put the top of the line hardware and the biggest screen size they can cram into a chassis without draining your battery supply dead within minutes and call it a day.

These days phones are not really meant for one-handed use, they are often designed with the philosophy of giving users options, too many on some occasions and while that is a sound concept on paper, maybe it is time companies take a step back and realise ergonomics matter too.

The phablet or how I learned to stop worrying and accept that big screen sizes were now a thing

Let us take a small trip down memory lane to 2011, small phones are still popular, and the 7-inch tablet is still a thing. In fact, any screen size about 6.5-inches is automatically categorised a tablet as opposed to a smartphone. Then, Samsung came along and changed everything.

The Samsung Galaxy Note became the first phablet. An unfortunately named portmanteau of a phone and you guessed it, tablet. The very first Note smartphone was an experiment, a test of the waters so to speak, to see if anyone would bite. Unsurprisingly, the concept proved extremely popular in Asian countries, where households often had to compromise on having either a high-end phone or a tablet. In a genius move, Samsung solved both problems and the industry caught on.

Slowly, we saw other companies aping what Samsung was doing and given the immense popularity of Note series at the time, bigger screen sizes were a differentiating factor in a market that was starting to drown in the hardcore specifications war.

With top-of-the-line hardware already putting the power of a small laptop in your hands, companies needed something to differentiate themselves from the competition and for a while, it became an increasingly mind-numbing joust to see who could cram a large screen into a vertical chassis without making it unwieldy.

The after effects of the so-called size war was that bigger screens were now becoming mainstream and any phone without at least a 6-inch screen was becoming increasingly irrelevant and slowly, the smaller screens started to fade away.

The smartphone market stagnation

It is a fact that most businesses like to play it safe. Especially true if you are competing in a market that only has so many spots in the top five. You either aim to be there with great designs and user experience or you simply follow the herd. Sadly, most manufacturers opted for the latter, and eventually, the practice of cramming super high-end hardware on a mobile device reached a point where it started to seem like overkill.

Combined with Googles free-from reign over the smartphone market meant that many great companies from the past like Nokia and Motorola ended up being bought out or shut down entirely. The Android market was just drowning in options, everything and every price point seemed like a steal. Hardware was front and centre on every PR decision the companies made, and it is what is to blame for what most people talking about How much RAM or processor power one phone has compared to the other. Sadly, the one important thing that got lost in all the noise was the importance of design.

Let me ask you a question, why is it that people often compare hardware the phone has, touting numbers they probably got from a user manual to judge which phone is better? Is that really a thing you should judge phones on?

Okay, that was more than one question, but think about it if you have two phones that are worlds apart in terms of pricing, but feature hardware that is likely more than enough to get you through a day without any problems. What makes people pay for the expensive one?

It is the user experience. It is one thing having a swiss-army knife of a phone that claims to do everything, but does nothing in particular well while on the other, you have a phone that is expensive and does probably one or two things well, but does them REALLY, really well.

The other thing to consider is that the more expensive phone likely had a design period where everything was planned, every touch you make on the screen tested and tons of talented UI designers poured their heart into making it a great experience for the end-user. On the other hand, the cheaper phone probably did not have that much time put into the design phase, it probably already had the design because it aped what others are doing and simply chose to phone it in when it came to the experience.

Now tell me, what would you rather have? A cheaper phone that claims to do a million things and does them all poorly or the more expensive phone that spent time in pre-production and took pains to make the user experience seamless.

The revenge of the minis

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact made a lot of noise in 2014. It did not sell well and did Sony absolutely no favours when it was scoffed at by a lot of editorial pundits, but it did prove one thing. In an era of over-sized phones that required special cases of their own to be lugged around in, this 4.3-inch device still found a market. It showed that people were still willing to take a chance on smaller screen sizes, especially for a normal user who would not use the phone the way tinkerers would.

The ergonomics of one-handed smartphone use has many implications and for some were a welcome change in the face of ghastly, overpowered large screen devices that would be better off being a tablet instead.

The movement that the Z1 compact started has now coalesced in the announcement and the popularity of the iPhone 12 mini. Apple does not have the sales yet to prove that there is a segment of the audience that wants experience instead of overpowered hardware and useless software, so lets hope this trend continues.

In the end, all smartphones can and will co-exist. Its the user who has to make a choice, and if enough people vote with their wallets, companies will perk their ears up and listen.
Bidorbuy founder and uAfrica MD Andy Higgins said the government can fund the COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa by offering it to people who are willing to pay a high price for it first.

The government is under severe pressure to acquire a vaccine soon after it failed to engage early enough with vaccine suppliers to get the vaccine.

Many countries have already started to vaccinate their citizens against COVID-19, including Israel, Bahrain, the UK, United States, and China.

South Africa, in comparison, have only recently approved the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine from India.

According to President Cyril Ramaphosa the government has secured 20 million vaccine doses, but details about these COVID-19 vaccines remain sketchy.

These also does not seem to be a coherent vaccine rollout plan which prompted the DA to threaten legal action if Ramaphosa does not provide further details.

Another problem is funding. President Ramaphosa said the vaccination campaign will cover 67% of the population, at a cost of approximately R20 billion.

The government did not budget for this cost, and the government is now considering increasing public borrowing or raising taxes to fund South Africas vaccination drive.

South Africas debt is already at concerning levels and increasing taxes will hamper economic growth at a time when it is desperately needed.

Let rich people pay for the vaccine

Recent news that billionaire Johann Rupert flew to Switzerland to get the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine shows that rich people are willing to spend a lot of money to get the vaccine as soon as possible.

There is currently high demand and limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines, especially those which are more likely to be effective against the 501Y.V2 variant which is widespread in South Africa.

This creates a unique opportunity where rich individuals and companies are willing to pay far above market value to get the vaccine.

The government can make the most of this opportunity by allowing medical aids and hospital groups to distribute the vaccine early, but at a high cost.

Higgins said he acknowledges that this is a controversial proposal, but it has the potential to fund the governments COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

What if government offered the first 100,000 vaccines to South Africans willing to pay R10,000 each? Higgins said.

That would generate R1 billion to spend on even more vaccines. Think of it as a willing wealth tax. It is also cheaper than flying to another country, he said.

If companies decide to fund vaccinations for employees and their families, such a programme has the potential of raising billions for the governments planned vaccine rollout.

Since it will be handled by the private sector the government will merely collect a wealth tax which was voluntarily given to them by rich people and companies.

Cut state spending instead of raising taxes

Another proposal came from Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage who said raising funds for the COVID-19 vaccine is an opportunity for the government to show it is serious about reducing the cost of a bloated government, unprofitable SOEs and recovery of funds lost to corruption.

Funding by way of increasing taxes should be regarded as the worst and last-resort option, said Duvenage.

South Africas tax base is diminishing and overtaxed. By trying to squeeze more blood out of this stone, the state will merely drive further investment and savings offshore, he said.

He said widening the budget deficit or borrowing from international sources are better options than raising taxes, but they also pose dangers to the economy under our current conditions.

Instead, he said, the state must demonstrate its competence and ability to find these funds, in a manner which citizens can respect. This includes:

Place an immediate ban on purchasing vehicles, property and other assets for political office-bearers, at all levels of government.

Merge a number of ministries and departments and reduce the bloated size of government.

Reassess SOEs. There are more than 300 SOEs, many of which are superfluous and running at a loss.

Recover R11 billion of state funds from organisations which helped to loot Transnet and Prasa.

Stop excessive spending of state office rentals with the private sector, whilst Government offices remain empty and in disrepair.

Call on MPs to introduce acute awareness and oversight of wasteful and dishonest spending by Cabinet and members of parliament.

Cut the budgets of those government departments with high irregular expenditure that adds up to billions of rand each year.

Reassess the viability and impact of some lockdown restrictions on businesses. The loss of excise duties from the alcohol ban needs to be revised.

Andy Higgins proposal
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID


Clifford Chance expands leveraged finance practice with lateral hire Elizabeth Hundt Russell in Australia

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance is strengthening its Australian and global leveraged finance practice with the hire of partner Elizabeth Hundt Russell. The experienced finance specialist will join the firm's Sydney office in late March 2021.

With the hire of Elizabeth the firm further strengthens its regional sponsor-side offering and its position as the pre-eminent adviser on the financing of complex transactions worldwide.

Australian Managing Partner Richard Gordon commented, "Liz is a standout finance expert and her experience advising on complex and wide-ranging leveraged finance transactions will bring great value and insight to our clients and the firm. She brings an impressive record of advising private equity funds, sponsors and corporations as well as local, regional and global financial institutions on a range of complex matters. She will be boosting one of the market-leading leveraged financing teams in the APAC region. We are thrilled to have her join us."

Co-head of the Asia Pacific Corporate practice Andrew Crook added, "Liz's strong relationships and knowledge of the local market will be invaluable as we continue to grow our offering for financial investors. Her stellar record of working with domestic and international sponsors on critical and complex matters will be key as we focus on advising the world's foremost financial investors. Our corporate practice is extremely excited about the opportunity to work alongside such a high calibre finance expert who brings wide-ranging experience and complementary skills to the firm."

Co-head of the Asia Pacific Finance practice Anthony Wang said, "We are excited to welcome Elizabeth to our practice and firm. Her knowledge and enthusiasm will complement our existing offering and, in particular, our leveraged finance capability across the region. Her expertise will keep us at the cutting edge of the global leveraged finance market."

With the appointment of Elizabeth the firm continues to expand its finance platform in Australia. She will work alongside Sydney-based Richard Gordon, who specialises in event-driven finance, and recently appointed partners Mark Gillgren in Perth, who focuses on restructurings, distressed loans and asset-backed finance, and Chad Bochan in Sydney, who focuses on project finance and regulatory work.

Elizabeth joins from King & Wood Mallesons where she was a partner.
Actor Chuck Norris hit abortion supporters stating they value bamboo straws more than human life as he reflected on the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade through an article posted at WND last Jan. 18.

Live Action reported that Norris was referring to the 2020 Angus Reid poll that revealed 51% of respondents found it "always or usually morally wrong" to use plastic straws while 26% of respondents believed abortion "is always or usually morally wrong" and that 20% believe "assisted suicide is morally wrong."

"Am I missing something? Do you value bamboo straws more than human life? In the womb?" Norris wrote.

"Some might retort that the Angus Reid poll surveyed Canadians' views, not Americans. However, do we really expect U.S. poll percentages on the issue to be any different than our northern neighbors, especially since America legalized abortions 15 years earlier than Canada's legalization, in 1988?" He said.

Norris raised that "issues regarding babies' value and abortion have been recently compounded even with the COVID-19 vaccinations as some of the companies that produce them use aborted fetal cells in development or lab testing." He cited the research paper of Randy Alcorn entitled "COVID Vaccines and Fetal Cells" as evidence on the use of fetal cells in the recently released vaccines. He said those with true pro-life conscience would have the desire to really read it.

"It's crazy sometimes what modern humans value over human life," he stated in disappointment.

In reminder, Norris mentioned Thomas Jefferson and expressed hope that Joe Biden would follow in his footsteps.

"Thomas Jefferson explained in the founding of our country that preserving human value and life was government's primary role: 'The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government'." Norris stressed.

To which he added, "It is the reason Jefferson created and penned in his own hand the words in the Declaration of Independence: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness-- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government'."

In addition, Norris highlighted the Bible's Psalm 139 as basis for the "enduring value of humans."

"We pray a Biden administration would keep Jefferson's wisdom in mind instead of expand access to abortion as is expected," he said before ending his article.

Since 2008, Norris has been very vocal on his pro-life stance. He was identified in 2015 by the Washington Examiner as one of the eight pro-life celebrities described as "one of the most conservative celebrities in Hollywood" and known as an "avid pro-lifer." Other pro-lifers identified by the Washington Examiner include Martin Sheen, Matt Birk, Kenny Chesney, Andrea Bocelli, Patricia Heaton, Jordin Sparks, and Justin Bieber.
Joe Bidens new administration faces a murderers row of hard decisions on everything from controlling the Southern border to dealing with Iran. But one choice dominates all of them: Does Biden intend to govern from the center-left or to make more far-reaching concessions to his partys progressive wing?

Bidens nominations and early executive orders suggest he wants to govern from the center-left, but his sweet spot will be much more progressive than President Obamas because the Democratic Party has kept moving steadily left.

How will President Biden resolve tensions between his partys left wing and its establishment-corporate center? His first day in office showed one way. He will signal his virtue to progressives on hot-button issues like Keystone XL pipeline, the Guantanamo Bay detention center, and the Paris climate accord. He wont build another new mile of border barrier. He wants a higher minimum wage. Those gestures are meant to please party activists without, he hopes, costing too much with average voters. Best of all, they dont require any pesky, time-consuming procedures, like passing actual laws or ratifying treaties. They will be implemented by presidential orders and bureaucratic regulations

More broadly, President Biden will use EOs, bureaucratic regulations, and sub-Cabinet appointments to placate his partys vital interest groups in education (teachers unions), criminal justice, race relations, immigration, and the environment. Important as those policies are, Biden has no intention of meeting the far-reaching socialist demands of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Just how far Biden intends to go, just how big a price he is willing to pay will become clear when his energy regulations begin cutting into jobs and his policies on immigration and law-and-order lead to more crime, especially in poor communities.

We can already see tension rising among Democrats over COVID regulations, which have devastated state and local revenues because they crush local businesses and the tax revenues they generate. How do you pay public-sector unions if taxes arent flowing into municipal coffers in Chicago and New York City? The only growth businesses there are U-Haul trailers. Biden can delay a national reckoning by printing more money, but, even there, he faces fiscal and political constraints.

The more moderate Bidens policies are, the more pushback he will face from progressives. Still, the president and his supporters think they can prevail for three reasons. First, he defeated the far-lefts banner candidate in the primaries, beginning with South Carolina, after Democratic voters were finally faced with the stark choice between Biden and Bernie. Democratic voters and party leaders feared Sanders would not only lose the White House, he would sink down-ballot candidates. Second, even with Biden atop the ticket, Democratic senators and representatives are well aware they nearly lost their races because progressive demands were so prominent. Their Republican opponents ran against socialism, against AOC and her Squad, against defunding the police, and against rioters in Portland, Minneapolis, Kenosha, and Seattle. Democrats who squeaked through those elections hold the partys left-wing radicals directly responsible for their tough races  and for the fate of losing moderate Democrats who are no longer in their ranks. They have no reason to bow to those radicals demands now. Finally, progressives lack any realistic options beyond fighting for influence within the Biden administration. Yes, they can threaten primary races in Deep Blue states and districts. But only there. They are toxic in purple districts, and party professionals know it. The more trouble these progressives create, the more likely Democrats are to lose the House and Senate in 2022 and the White House in 2024.

This political reality and the partys thin margins on Capitol Hill will inform Bidens next big choice. Will he urge Chuck Schumer to strike a power-sharing deal with Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell so the administration can move legislation through a 50-50 Senate? Without that deal, Republicans will block major bills with the filibuster. (And Biden has made clear he does not support nuking the filibuster, as many of his fellow party members advocate doing.)

Schumer and Biden know they dont have the 60 votes needed to overcome filibusters. Actually, they cant even command a simple majority if one Democrat objects. Thats a real problem. If the legislation is too progressive, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin wont go along. If it is too centrist, the objections will come from the likes of Sanders, Warren, Jeff Merkley, and Ed Markey.

How can Joe Biden, himself a creature of the Senate, overcome these obstacles? Two ways. First, like all modern presidents, he will govern like a monarch, issuing orders, modifying legislation with signing statements, and directing his bureaucracies to promulgate rules. Such is our democracy that we are seldom governed by detailed laws, duly passed by our elected representatives. We are governed by presidential fiat and bureaucratic diktat. This fundamental constitutional transformation took off in the mid-1960s when Lyndon Johnson passed the Great Society programs. Since then, only Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump have tried to resist Washingtons growing power and, within it, the growing power of the executive branch and federal agencies.

Second, if Biden actually needs to pass laws, then he and Schumer must build a workable majority on the Senate floor and in committees. Unless they kill the filibuster rule, building that majority requires Republican cooperation. McConnell will offer it only if he wins major concessions about power-sharing.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has her hands full controlling her diminished Democratic majority. Pelosi cant afford to lose many liberals, progressives, pragmatists, or the dwindling number of moderates in her caucus if she expects to pass legislation on strict party-line votes. Thats where any Senate compromise will bite in the House. Senate Democrats and Republicans will agree only on centrist legislation, which is bound to frustrate progressives, as well as conservative Republicans, on Capitol Hill and across the country. When those compromise bills make it over to the House, progressives in Pelosis caucus will object. If they refuse to approve the bill, Pelosi cannot pass it with only Democratic votes. She will need support from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the more moderate members of his caucus.

Pelosi has never needed Republican help before, and her eagerness to impeach Donald Trump a second time indicates she is not seeking it now. On Thursday, she said she had no intention of giving Trump a get out of jail free card. On Friday, she said she will transmit the Houses Article of Impeachment to the Senate on Monday.

Although the impeachment trial will delay the new administrations agenda, it does not pose any real dilemmas for Biden. The presidents really hard choices are deciding how progressive his agenda will be, how much he needs new laws to effect it, and how much bipartisan support he needs to move forward.

Everything turns on how far left Biden will go to appease party activists, especially on policies that lack broad popular support. Of course, he will virtue signal with executive orders and some appointments, especially those dealing with the environment, labor, education, and civil rights. All involve key Democratic constituencies. But those constituencies alone are not enough to win national elections. Figuring out how to build a broader coalition without alienating party progressives is most far-reaching dilemma facing President Biden and his new administration.
[January 25, 2021] Achiko Concludes Phase 1 Study of Project Gumnuts for Covid-19 Testing

Completion of Phase 1 Testing Demonstrates 91% Sensitivity and 85% Specificity



Further Optimization Studies are Currently Being Performed and are Expected to Continue to Improve Results and Match WHO Standards

Next Steps are Completion of Regulatory Approvals and Moving the Technology to Market as Soon as Possible

ZURICH, Switzerland, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Achiko AG (SWX: ACHI, ISIN CH0522213468) along with Regenacellx.sl, announces the completion of their Phase 1 study, for the groups patent pending, nanoparticulate DNA aptamer conjugate and diagnostic testing technology, Project Gumnuts. Following a successful in vitro study conducted in 2020 by the University of Rovira, Tarragona, Spain, the current series of studies in Spain and Indonesia were conducted by IS Global (The Barcelona Institute for Global Health), and both Riau University and Madani Pekanbaru City District Hospital, respectively. The study conducted in Barcelona involved translating the Rovira laboratory protocol into a clinical setting using the original prototype materials. A sample of 82 participants collected over 3 months and across a range of scenarios was compared and cross-referenced against positive and negative results obtained through RT-PCR. An initial manual read yielded a result of 80% sensitivity and 63% specificity. Subsequent application of software and machine learning yielded a result of 91% sensitivity and 85% specificity. We are encouraged by the progress of Project Gumnuts in the field, said Dr Michael Edel of Regenacellx.sl and Inventor of Project Gumnuts. The chemistry offers possible advantages over other approaches especially in the areas of consumer experience, stability and cost and were looking forward to the further development of the technology. The ongoing studies in Pekanbaru, Indonesia are being conducted with both the original prototype conjugate (Barcelona study) and additionally with a new conjugate with applied improvements. To date, over 250 patient tests have been compared with results obtained through nasopharyngeal swabs with 20 to 30 more being performed each week. Using prototyping materials, the Indonesian team has successfully replicated results from Spain in the field in Pekanbaru: test results from 64 participants initially yielded 82% sensitivity and 63% specificity rates. After conducting further testing using improved pre-production materials, and further improvements in software and machine learning, i yielding additional results such as bringing testing time under 15 minutes, and further improvements in sensitivity and specificity. The Company expects further gains to be made in ensuing months.



Were now moving quickly to get the technology into test kits and into and through approvals, and we believe that given the progress beyond the initial prototypes, well be able to deliver test kits which pass the WHO guidelines for sensitivity and specificity, said Steven Goh, CEO of Achiko AG. We believe that as testing moves from point of care to point of need, the presence of the right testing technologies with the right consumer experience, available in large quantities and at the right price point, to customers at the right time, will contribute to successfully responding to and overcoming the impact of Covid-19 on society and do good in this world. That is what were here for.

ABOUT ACHIKO AG

We harness ground-breaking science with innovative technology to create solutions that provide a great user experience for patients, physicians, and governing bodies alike, leading ultimately to the transformation of the healthcare industry. The current development of our patent pending diagnostic testing kit for Covid-19 (Project Gumnuts) provides an easy and effective way that enables people to obtain the information they need and require. Complemented by our mobile check-in app (Teman Sehat), we empower users to manage their diagnostic experiences on their own terms, safeguard their privacy, share experiences, obtain passport verification and find community. Achiko holds exclusive commercialization rights to the technology underlying Project Gumnuts from Regenacellex.SL. It may be used to detect all types of Covid-19, but also many other pathogens. Achiko is looking forward to the completion of regulatory approval and getting the technology to market as quickly as possible, applying it in an array of test kits and other assay formats. Headquartered in Zurich, we have offices in Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, and Seoul. For more information, visit www.achiko.com ABOUT REGENACELLX.SL

We are a regenerative medicine company working with expert clinicians and scientists in the field of stem cells and small chemicals to advance cell replacement strategies to regenerate damaged tissues of the human body. In response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, we are developing next stage technology in the testing and diagnosis of pathogens as simple kits for home use or point of care (PoC) for a range of human diseases including Covid-19. For more information, visit www.regenacellx.com/ Media contacts: ACHIKO AG

Investor Relations

E: ir@achiko.com SWITZERLAND

Marcus Balogh

Farner Consulting Ltd.

E: achiko@farner.ch

T: +41 44 266 67 67 GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

Axel Muhlhaus / Dr Sonke Knop

edicto GmbH

E: achiko@edicto.de

T: +49 69 90 55 05-51 DISCLAIMER

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Achiko AG and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Achiko AG to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Achiko AG is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.



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Scientists developed vaccines less than a year after Covid-19 was identified, a reflection of remarkable progress in vaccine technology. But progress in vaccine distribution is another story.

Many questions that arose in vaccine rollouts decades ago are still debated today. How should the local and federal authorities coordinate? Who should get vaccinated first? What should officials do about resistance in communities? Should the hardest-hit places be prioritized? Who should pay?

Some answers can be found in the successes and failures of vaccine drives over the past two centuries.

Kim Kardashian has snubbed former US President Donald Trump after he granted clemency to an inmate despite working with him on prison reform during his presidency.

The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star neglected to publicly thank Trump for commuting the life sentence of Chris Young, who was released on Thursday.

In an Instastory, the 40-year-old aspiring lawyer wrote that her 'heart was full' as she thanked the 32-year-old ex-con's attorney Brittany K. Barnes, Judge Kevin H. Sharp, REFORM Alliance CAO Jessica Jackson, and Alice Marie Johnson.

The former president was noticeably absent from the list of people Kardashian mentioned.

The reality star turned prisoners rights activist has worked with the White House on criminal justice reform issues since 2018, and has slowly gained a reputation for herself as an influential advocate for criminal justice reform.

Dissed! Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian (R, pictured in 2019) neglected to publicly thank former President Donald Trump (L) for commuting the life sentence of Chris Young, who was released on Thursday

In an Instastory, the 40-year-old aspiring lawyer wrote that her 'heart was full' as she thanked the 32-year-old ex-con's attorney Brittany K. Barnes, Judge Kevin H. Sharp, REFORM Alliance CAO Jessica Jackson, and Alice Marie Johnson

'It brings tears to my eyes to see Judge Sharp welcome him home. He was forced to sentence him to a life sentence based on mandatory minimums and ended up resigning due to these injustices,' Kim - who boasts 304.8M social media followers - wrote on Sunday.

'Judge Sharp and I went to the White House a few years ago asking for clemency for @thechrisyoung_2021. He's so deserving and smart and I can't wait to see all he accomplishes in this life! I worked on this case with Barnett for years so this victory is so sweet!'

Trump granted pardons to 143 people last Wednesday including Chris, who was 26 when he received a 'three-strikes' mandatory life sentence for federal drug and firearm charges.

After working in a funeral home, Young reportedly became increasingly involved with drug dealing in the Clarksville, Tennessee area.

In December 2010, he was charged with drug offenses by Federal prosecutors for being in possession of marijuana and a half a gram of cocaine. Prosecutors accused Young of being involved in drug trafficking in the Clarksville, Tennessee area and said he was buying crack cocaine from the leader of an illegal drug ring at a local gas station.

Young was specifically charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and other drug and firearm-related charges. Initially offered a plea deal that included a 14-year term in prison, he rejected the offer to take his case to trial.

The new charges against Young subsequently triggered Federal three-strikes laws against him if he was found guilty and he was ultimately convicted in August 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2014.

Kardashian successfully pushed for Trump to free him after appealing to the White House to grant him clemency.

'Fortunately, we have men like Judge Sharp that had the courage and temerity to speak out against our unjust system,' Young said at a Tennessee airport on Thursday.

'And we had women like Kim Kardashian who was willing to use her celebrity to help bring attention towards that. And fortunately, we had President Trump there [who] was willing enough to put a pencil to paper to correct some of the wrongs.'

Kim wrote on Sunday: 'It brings tears to my eyes to see Judge Sharp welcome him home. He was forced to sentence him to a life sentence based on mandatory minimums and ended up resigning due to these injustices'

Kardashian continued: 'Judge Sharp and I went to the White House a few years ago asking for clemency for @thechrisyoung_2021. He's so deserving and smart and I can't wait to see all he accomplishes in this life! I worked on this case with Barnett for years so this victory is so sweet!' (pictured in 2018)

Not the first time: In 2018, Kardashian (M, pictured March 4) famously persuaded the 74-year-old reality star-turned-politician to grant clemency to Johnson (3-R), who was a first-time drug offender serving life

Trump commuted the sentences of 70 people and granted full pardons to 73 others early Wednesday morning as part of a flurry of clemency action that benefited rappers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.

Among the 143 people were 32 who had been convicted of non-violent drug offenses, including distribution of marijuana.

Their commutations comes nearly three years after Kardashian managed to convince Trump to free Tennessee grandmother Alice Marie Johnson.

Final day in office: Trump granted pardons to 143 people last Wednesday including Chris, who was 26 when he received a 'three-strikes' mandatory life sentence for federal drug and firearm charges

Young said at a Tennessee airport on Thursday: 'Fortunately, we have men like Judge Sharp that had the courage and temerity to speak out against our unjust system. And we had women like Kim Kardashian who was willing to use her celebrity to help bring attention towards that'

He concluded: 'And fortunately, we had President Trump there [who] was willing enough to put a pencil to paper to correct some of the wrongs'

The reality TV star successfully campaigned for the 63-year-old to be pardoned by Trump after spending 21 years in prison for a non-violent drug offense.

Johnson was convicted in 1996 for her involvement in a cocaine trafficking ring.

She was released from prison in 2018 after Trump granted clemency before he issued her a full pardon in August last year.

Trump also supported the First Step Act, which was passed by a majority of the US Senate, after a passionate plea from The Justice Project star.

Kim Kardashian had also advocated for the clemency of death row inmate Brandon Bernard, who was executed in Indiana after last-minute clemency pleas were rejected by the US Supreme Court.

In December, Bernard, 40, received a lethal injection of phenobarbital at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, in a rare execution of a person who was in his teens when the crime occurred.

Kim Kardashian had also advocated for the clemency of death row inmate Brandon Bernard, pictured, who was executed in Indiana after last-minute clemency pleas were rejected by the US Supreme Court

Lighting the match: The twice-impeached president exited office beneath a cloud of coup controversy after inciting his Trump mob's insurrection of the US Capitol on January 6, which left six people dead

The execution prompted Kardashian to declare that the US Justice System was 'f****ed up'.

In a Twitter thread, Kardashian wrote: 'They killed Brandon. He was such a reformed person. So hopeful and positive until the end. More importantly he is sorry, so sorry for the hurt and pain he has caused others.'

The twice-impeached president exited office beneath a cloud of coup controversy after inciting his Trump mob's insurrection of the US Capitol on January 6, which left six people dead.

Chris - who dreams of coding for SpaceX founder Elon Musk - spent his third night as a free man dining on oysters at seafood spot Henrietta Red in Nashville.

Kim reportedly spends 18 hours a week studying law under the guidance of Jackson, Van Jones, and Erin Haney so she can pass the California State Bar in 2024 and start her own law firm.

'#lifeafterlife': Chris - who dreams of coding for SpaceX founder Elon Musk - spent his third night as a free man dining on oysters at seafood spot Henrietta Red in Nashville

Prison selfie: The Justice Project star reportedly spends 18 hours a week studying law under the guidance of Jackson, Van Jones, and Erin Haney so she can pass the California State Bar in 2024 and start her own law firm (pictured in 2019)

Legacy: Kim is following the footsteps of her late father - OJ Simpson (R) defense attorney Robert Kardashian Sr. (M) - who died, age 59, from esophageal cancer in 2003

Kardashian is following the footsteps of her late father - OJ Simpson defense attorney Robert Kardashian Sr. - who died, age 59, from esophageal cancer in 2003 when she was only 22.

She revealed to Vogue back in April 2019 she had been mentoring with practicing attorneys with the hopes of taking the infamously difficult test in 2022.

At the time, She said the legal concepts had been coming easily to her.

On January 8, the newly-separated mother-of-four and her famous family finished filming the 20th (and final) season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which premieres later this year on E!

On December 10, Kim and her family signed a new multi-year global content deal with Hulu/Star, which starts streaming in late 2021.

End of an era: On January 8, Kardashian and her famous family finished filming the 20th (and final) season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which premieres later this year on E!
Chinese authorities plan to position their first homegrown semi-submersible oil rig in a deep-water field in the disputed South China Sea to show rivals how far its willing to go for energy security and possibly to expand its political clout, observers believe.

The platform built over the past 21 months will begin work at the Lingshui 17-2 gas field 150 kilometers away from China, domestic media outlets said January 18. The site happens to be Chinas first deep-water gas field in the sea, which is contested by five other governments.

While the proposed drilling site lies within Chinas exclusive economic zone of 370 kilometers from its shorelines, Beijing's widespread reporting of the new platform shows the other claimants and rival superpower Washington how far it could go in securing fuel for domestic use, analysts say.

I assume theyll probably put it in contested waters and leave it there for a few days until whoever gets upset, said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.

We really dont know what theyre going to do, but I think its just further evidence of China staking a stronger claim in the South China Sea, pushback against the United States and other countries who are putting pressure on China or at least arguing that China doesnt have sovereignty within the region, he said.

Beijing claims about 90% of the South China Sea and cites historic usage records to back its position. China has used its technological and military superiority over the other claimants to develop islets in the sea, which stretches from its southern coasts to the island of Borneo. Rival claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam drill for oil and gas in the same 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea.

Vietnams claims come closest to the Chinese gas field and Hanoi is unlikely to protest if the rig stays on site without expanding, said Alexander Vuving, professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. But in 2014 a Chinese rig positioned in disputed waters touched off boat ramming and deadly anti-China riots in Vietnam. That sort of flap could pop up again, Vuving said.

Chinas assertiveness has become a new normal, he said. If China is really thinking in terms of calming the waters, then they would probably be a little more cautious, but of course China has been very assertive, even aggressive, since a decade now.

The drilling platform operated by China National Offshore Oil weighs an impressive 50,000 tons, Chinese media outlet CGTN.com says.

State-run China Dailys news website calls the creation the worlds heaviest deep-water semi-submersible oil production and storage platform. It has three world-class innovations and 13 domestic advanced technologies, the website said January 14.

Both news outlets publish in English to reach readers outside China.

Wording of that type suggests that China wants to impress on the world that the platform can help it get the fuel that it needs, said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in the Philippines. The world factory powerhouse depends on oil and gas for manufacturing.

Maybe its just their way of showing they want to address their energy security [and] maximize their resources, Rabena said.

A net oil importer since 1993, China aims to ease its fear of strategic vulnerability by looking abroad for fuel, developing natural gas and expanding refineries in the Middle East, the RAND Corp.-published book Chinas Quest for Energy Security says.

The super-sized drilling setup might help China shine politically, too, as it pushes other countries to explore jointly for undersea fuel, analysts say.

Development of the homegrown platform could stir up discussions over joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea again, the Chinese state-controlled news outlet Global Times said in 2019.

Joint development with the other maritime claimants would help build political relations, scholars have said.

In 2018 China offered the Philippines 60% of any discoveries made in a disputed tract of sea. The Philippines is ready to support companies of the two countries in joint oil and gas development, the Chinese foreign ministry said on its website in October 2020.

Other countries, however, suspect that China would leverage any joint deals to scope out contested waters, Nagy said.

The South China Sea holds about 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was seen boarding a commercial plane to conclude a three-day tour on his return to Mexico City on Sunday morning nearly eight hours before announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19 later in the evening.

A video recorded by a passenger shows the 61-year-old Lopez Obrador wearing a face mask and walking closely next to a woman down the airplane aisle before the 10:55am local time flight took off from San Luis Potosi.

It was not until 6:30pm that he had announced via Twitter that he was infected with the deadly virus.

As the pandemic swept across Mexico in the early days, Lopez Obrador once claimed that he was protecting his nation by removing two religious amulets from his wallet and proudly showing them off.

'The protective shield is the 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' Lopez Obrador said, reading off the inscription on the amulet, 'Stop, enemy, for the Heart of Jesus is with me.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19, had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and announced Mexico will soon receive 24 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. The 61-year-old was diagnosed with light symptoms and is receiving medication as he continues to serve in his normal capacity while quarantining at the National Palace

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seen boarding a Sunday morning commercial flight in San Luis Potosi, where he capped off a three-day visit, before returning to Mexico City and announcing later in the evening that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra, Mexico's director of epidemiology, said Lopez Obrador had a 'light' case of COVID-19 and was 'isolating at home.'

As of Monday, the ravaging coronavirus has been responsible for 1,763,219 confirmed cases and 149,614 deaths - fourth-most in the world.

Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard tweeted Monday morning that Lopez Obrador had spoken on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure the arrival of 24 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.

'I saw the President very well, with a resolute spirit, working and with a good demeanor,' Ebrard wrote.

Lopez Obrador then went on Twitter and said he had invited the Russian head of state to visit Mexico.

Ebrard, who is now relegated to working from home, was tested for the coronavirus Monday and is awaiting his results.

The Mexican president has been criticized for his handling of his country's pandemic and for not setting an example of prevention in public by refusing to wear facial coverings. He has been seen in public often disregarding social distancing measures by greeting and hugging supporters, but then shied away from it as the epidemic worsened.

Mexican Secretary of the Interior Olga Sanchez (pictured) talks to the media during the daily presidential press briefing at the National Palace in Mexico City. Sanchez will be representing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in press conferences until he recuperates from the coronavirus, which he tested positive for Sunday

An increase of COVID-19 cases in the Juchitan, a city in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, has forced many businesses to temporarily close their doors to customers as a cop guards the perimeter on Saturday. The virus is responsible for 149,164 deaths in Mexico, fourth-most in the world. Mexico, to date, has reported 1,763,219 confirmed cases

A health worker in Mexico City takes the temperature of a restaurant worker before conducting a test for the coronavirus at the Angela Peralta Theater in Mexico City on Saturday

Mexico generated its highest levels of infections and deaths to date last week. However, it was not enough for Lopez Obrador to reconsider imposing a full lockdown of the economy. He has regularly noted the devastating effect it would have on so many Mexicans who live day to day.

On Friday, Lopez Obrador posted a photo of him, Ebrard, a translator and former chief of staff Alfonso Romo, all gathered around a table for a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden. None were wearing masks.

Despite his age and high blood pressure, as well as undergoing surgery after a heart attack, Lopez Obrador has said he wont jump the line for a vaccination. But he was getting tested for the coronavirus once a week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to his Mexican counterpart on Monday as part of a plan to send Mexico 24 million doses of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, which still has not been approved for use in the Latin American nation, where 149,614 people as of Monday have died due to the pandemic

For Lopez Obrador, who was a heavy smoker until he quit after suffering a serious heart attack in 2013, his turn for a vaccine could still be weeks away as the country still works to vaccinate front line health workers.

As of Sunday night, Mexico had given nearly 630,000 doses of vaccine.

As Lopez Obrador recovers and continues working under a normal capacity, Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez will be taking over for him in his daily news conferences, at which he usually speaks for two hours without breaks each weekday.

'The President is a public servant committed to the people of this great country, so even in these circumstances,' Sanchez said Monday. 'He continues to direct the efforts of the [national development plan] from a distance. The president of all Mexicans is one, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is in full exercise of his functions as President of the Republic.'
Hi there,

I would have two weeks to travel around Pakistan from 20 February to 6 March. Knowing that it is still winter, and even more so in the north, I am ready to reschedule another visit to the beautiful northern Pakistan mountains. Hence, I'd have time to discover the other beautiful regions of the country.

So far I thought of visiting: Sindh, Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar. Not only the cities but also any other natural or cultural sites.

Do you have any suggestions for an itinerary for the two weeks?

Thanks,
She recently returned to her hosting duties on her long-running daytime talkshow after recovering from the novel coronavirus.

And Ellen DeGeneres looked to be in good spirits on Sunday, when she was seen getting into her light gray Porsche in Montecito, California.

The embattled comedian, 62, was seen holding what looked to be a notebook featuring the blue fish from the Pixar films Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, which famously featured DeGeneress voice.

She found Dory: Ellen DeGeneres looked to be in good spirits on Sunday, when she was seen getting into her light gray Porsche in Montecito

Ellen smiled at the shutterbugs has she headed towards her car, dressed in casual sweat clothes that included a dark hoodie and lighter gray sweatpants.

Her footwear was also light gray, featuring a bright stripe of orange down the center.

She wore a white face mask in light of the ongoing pandemic, and it hung from her neck.

Getting into her ride: Ellen headed towards her car dressed in casual sweat clothes that included a dark hoodie and lighter gray sweatpants

DeGeneres reportedly had several items in her car, including paintings.

Ellen lent her voice to the character of Dory, the famously forgetful fish, in the blockbuster Disney Pixar hits Finding Nemo in 2003 and the sequel of Finding Dory in 2016.

Ahead of the Christmas holiday last year, the daytime queen had to temporarily cancel her talkshow after testing positive for COVID-19.

One fish, two fish: Ellen lent her voice to the character of Dory, the famously forgetful fish, in the blockbuster Disney Pixar hits Finding Nemo in 2003 and the sequel of Finding Dory in 2016

Ahead of the Christmas holiday last year: The daytime queen had to temporarily cancel her talkshow after testing positive for COVID-19

She returned to work in the middle of this month, saying she felt 'very fortunate and feeling OK now' after her bout with the virus.

By way of symptoms, she told viewers she slept for 16 hours a day and experienced extreme back pain.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been on the air since 2003, and has won an impressive bevy of awards including some 30 Daytime Emmys.
An expert says the state media report is unlikely to assuage global concern over policies in the region.

China on Monday labeled as lies a U.S. designation of abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) as genocide in a report that cites residents it said had flocked to social media to refute the claim, but an expert said it would do little to address growing concerns over the situation there.

On Jan. 19his last full day as top U.S. diplomatformer Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Chinese policies in the XUAR aim for the forced assimilation and eventual erasure of a vulnerable ethnic and religious minority group as he announced a designation that Uyghur exile groups have advocated since the revelation in 2017 of mass internment camps that have held as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

Pompeo said he had determined China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the XUAR against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups, and that Beijing and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must be held to account.

The new Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has endorsed the designation, suggesting that President Joe Bidens administration will pursue a more forceful approach in holding China accountable for its abuses in the region. Emily Horne, the spokesperson for Bidens National Security Council, told the Washington Examiner over the weekend that President Biden has called the oppression of the Uyghurs a genocide, and he stands against it in the strongest possible terms.

On Jan. 20, the first day of the Biden administration, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying slammed Pompeos venomous lies and called the determination nothing more than a piece of wastepaper.

This notorious liar and cheater is making himself a doomed clown and a joke of the century with his show of lies and madness just before the curtain falls, she told reporters at a regularly scheduled press briefing in Beijing.

On Monday, the official Global Times newspaper ran an unsigned report which said that since the announcement many residents from Xinjiang began to post videos of themselves telling stories of their own lives to refute Pompeo's genocide claim with the hashtag This is Xinjiang on the Sina Weibo social media platform. It said that at the time of publishing, the topic had been viewed nearly 47 million times and commented on by more than 53,000 netizens.

The report, which was accompanied by a video of Uyghurs using the Uyghur language and Mandarin Chinese to discuss how the CCP had improved their lives in the region, quoted four Uyghurs praising the government and telling Washington to butt out of Chinas affairs.

Pompeo is a liar. What he said is opposite to what I see with my own eyes every day, the report cited Alinur, a grassroots civil servant, as saying.

As a Uyghur living in Xinjiang, I have more rights to say whether it is good than a U.S. politician, said the resident of Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining)the seat of Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture and the XUARs third largest city.

The report also said that in recent days authorities in China and the XUAR have expressed strong opposition to Pompeos designation. It cited a statement released by the Standing Committee of Xinjiang Regional People's Congress on Sunday, which said that Pompeos slander severely violated international laws and hurt the feelings of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

The regional legislature trumpeted achievements in poverty alleviation, anti-terrorism, employment and improving local residents living standards in recent years, and said members of the international community who have been invited to the XUAR have applauded Xinjiang's improvements in protecting human rights.

The report quoted Chinese analysts as saying that countries should be cautious about following Pompeos lead as it would jeopardize bilateral ties, noting that Canadian Conservatives on Sunday called on the federal government to also label Beijings policies in the region as genocide and crimes against humanity.

A guard tower rises along the fence of an internment camp in Urumqi's Dabancheng district in Xinjiang in a Sept. 4, 2018 photo. Reuters

Sweet-talking Washington

German researcher Adrian Zenz, a leading expert on Chinas policies toward Uyghurs whose research provided critical evidence of abusive policies in the XUAR, told RFAs Uyghur Service on Monday that China is trying to promote a counternarrative both internationally and domestically about the Uyghurs. And while that narrative may be largely successful on the nations majority Han Chinese, there's a good chance that the Uyghurs will interpret this in light of their entire and past experience with the regime and its propaganda and might come to opposite conclusions.

Reports suggest that amid increasing international scrutiny, authorities in the XUAR have begun to send detainees to work at factories as part of an effort to label the camps vocational centers, although those held in the facilities regularly toil under forced or coerced labor conditions.

Former President Donald Trumps administration in July leveled sanctions against several top Chinese officials deemed responsible for rights violations in the region, including regional party secretary Chen Quanguo, under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

The move, which marked the first time Washington had sanctioned a member of Chinas powerful Politburo, followed Trumps enactment in June of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 (UHRPA), which passed nearly unanimously through both houses of Congress at the end of May. The legislation highlights arbitrary incarceration, forced labor, and other abuses in the XUAR and provides for sanctions against the Chinese officials who enforce them.

The Biden administration has yet to lay out its foreign policy approach to China and Zenz, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said Beijing may be trying to test the waters with state media reports such as the one published Monday.

I think they're now being very careful because of the new Biden administration and I think there is some hope on the side of the Chinese that they can sweet talk the Biden administration into being more compromisingtaking a more compromising or lenient stance on China which, from what I gather, is unlikely  at least on Xinjiang and human rights, he said.

China is obviously hoping to sweet talk them and is trying to sort of blame individuals like Pompeo. It is always easy to blame individuals for a wider problem.

Adrian Zenz (R) speaks with RFA during an interview in Washington, July 17, 2019. RFA

Targeting individuals

In June, Zenz published a report documenting a dramatic increase in recent years in the number of forced sterilizations and abortions targeting Uyghurs in the XUAR. The report concludes that such measures may amount to a government-led campaign of genocide under United Nations definitions.

China did not make a spokesperson available for comment on this report, but when Zenzs study on forced birth control came out in June, official media vilified him and said Beijing is considering suing him for libel, while the foreign ministry denounced him.

Zenz said he is very used to being vilified in China these days for speaking out about rights violations in the XUAR and elsewhere in the country.

It's become very normal for the Chinese foreign ministry to attack me by name, which kind of shows their desperation, he said.

They're quite desperate, quite on the defensive, because there's been so much evidence on the terrible atrocities they're committing, and so that seems to be their solution to try to attack and discredit individuals.

He said Chinese propaganda has a certain value in that there are always going to be people who are going to read between the lines.

Anybody with any experience knows that they often say the very opposite of what is true, and so there might be some benefit in their propaganda falsehoods, as long as people know how to interpret it, he said.

Zenz acknowledged that such reports by state media give nations that benefit from Chinese investment the ability to appoint their version of the truth, saying that Beijing is denying rights abuses in the XUAR and that there isnt enough evidence, and thus construct an alternative narrative.

But he warned China against becoming too overconfident about its ability to continue its policies of repression there without being held to account.

I think the Chinese at this point just trust that they're not going to pay a heavy price for the atrocities and in that sense, maybe they think it doesn't matter ... [They say] We can do whatever we want to and internationally theres enough countries who are at least quiet or are on our side, Zenz said.

They might feel just confident about this, but people who are very confident also tend to make mistakes, so this could be very interesting.

Reported by Nuriman Abdurashit for RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

The Biden administration faced a grilling over its $1.9trillion coronavirus spending package on Sunday with senators from both parties calling for more targeted relief.

Senators including conservative Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican moderate Susan Collins were among those on the 75-minute call with top Biden officials amid pressure to strike a deal before Donald Trump's second impeachment trial.

Collins said it 'seems premature to be considering a package of this size and scope', adding that she would try to rally the senators to 'come up with a more targeted package'.

Her fellow Maine senator Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, also voiced doubts about the cost and said the $1.9trillion was not 'Monopoly money', according to Politico.

President Biden, pictured leaving church in Washington on Sunday, is pushing to pass a virus relief package after long touting his abilities as a bipartisan dealmaker

The pandemic has killed more than 400,000 people in the US and thrown millions out of work, and Biden campaigned on a promise to aggressively tackle the crisis in contrast to Trump's half-hearted response.

Biden has long touted his skills as a bipartisan dealmaker after a decades-long career in the Senate, but his former rival Bernie Sanders has warned that Democrats may need to push through a spending package without Republican help.

A three-fifths majority of 60 Senate votes is normally needed to advance legislation without a filibuster, and Democrats currently have 50 seats.

But Sanders suggested Democrats might use a procedural step known as budget reconciliation to push the $1.9trillion through with a simple majority.

'What we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks and months and months to go forward,' Sanders said, saying he did not have high hopes for negotiations.

But King said Sunday's summit was a 'serious effort', joking that 'if they were just trying to jam this through, I don't think it would have interrupted the Packers game'.

There was no discussion of budget reconciliation in the meeting, King said, adding: 'That didnt come up today explicitly but thats sort of in the background.'

He added that there was 'absolute consensus' among the group that the main priority was to speed up vaccine distribution and test-and-trace efforts.

Susan Collins (R-ME) said she was seeking a more 'targeted' package of relief after joining Sunday's call with Biden aides

Angus King (I-ME) said Sunday's summit was a 'serious effort', joking that 'if they were just trying to jam this through, I don't think it would have interrupted the Packers game'

Senators from both parties raised questions about the economic aid provisions, particularly making direct $1,400 payments to Americans more tailored to recipients based on need.

Lawmakers also sought more data from Biden aides on how the White House reached the $1.9trillion figure.

Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said there was consensus that 'the more targeted the aid is the more effective it can be'.

'It was a conversation and it was not about drawing lines in the sand,' Shaheen said. 'It was about how can we work together to help the people of this country.'

However, the White House did not seem to budge on breaking up the package or reducing the overall price tag, even as it pushes for bipartisan support.

Pressed on whether Biden will hold out for bipartisan agreement, hischief of staff Ron Klain said the administration does want to see the proposal passed quickly, but that engaging both sides is not the 'enemy' of speed.

'We're reaching out to people,' Klain said. 'I don't think bipartisanship and speed are enemies of one another. The need is urgent.'

Before the meeting, Utah senator Mitt Romney raised concerns about Biden's plans for massive deficit spending.

'If we get beyond Covid, I believe that the economy is going to come roaring back,' the Republican senator told Fox News on Sunday.

'Spending and borrowing trillions of dollars from the Chinese, among others, is not necessarily the best thing we can do to get our economy to be strong long-term.'

Democratic senator Dick Durbin said he was hopeful for a show of bipartisanship in the Senate.

'The object is trying to see if there's an area of agreement we can launch when it comes to this rescue package,' he said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Many of the senators on the call were from a bipartisan group that struck the contours of the last Covid-19 deal approved late last year.

They were joined on the call by the two leaders of the House's so-called Problem Solvers Caucus, Democrat Josh Gottheimer and Republican Tom Reed, who were also part of earlier discussions.

Joe Manchin (D-WV) was among the Democratic lawmakers on the call as Biden tries to push through $1.9trillion of relief

Biden's national economic council director Brian Deese was among the White House officials on the call, along with coronavirus response czar Jeff Zients and legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell.

'We're going to continue to push because we can't wait,' said White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. 'Just because Washington has been gridlocked before doesn't mean it needs to continue to be gridlocked.'

The 46th president has called for immediate relief as the pandemic continues to spiral, and has already signed executive orders on food aid and unemployment.

But some Biden advisers have watched with worry as the Senate was immediately beset by procedural wrangling over a power-sharing agreement in the evenly-divided chamber.

The partisan rancour of the Trump years is set to be renewed during the former president's impeachment trial, which is due to begin in two weeks.

Many working on the virus relief package hope to approve it before Washington's attention is diverted back to Trump.

The Democratic-controlled House impeached Trump for a historic second time earlier this month after he incited a mob to invade the Capitol on January 6.

A two-thirds majority would be needed to convict Trump, which could in theory lead to him being disqualified from running for office again in 2024.
President Joe Biden signed an order Monday reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military.

The new order, which Biden signed in the Oval Office during a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, overturns a ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office. It immediately prohibits any service member from being forced out of the military on the basis of gender identity.

The decision comes as Biden plans to turn his attention to equity issues that he believes continue to shadow nearly all aspects of American life. Ahead of his inauguration, Bidens transition team circulated a memo saying Biden planned to use his first full week as president to advance equity and support communities of color and other underserved communities.

As he signed the order on Monday, Biden said, What Im doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.

America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception, the order says. Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, its the right thing to do and is in our national interest.

The order directs the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to take steps to implement the order for the military and the Coast Guard. And it says they must reexamine the records of service members who were discharged or denied reenlistment due to gender identity issues under the previous policy.

It requires the departments to submit a report to the president on their progress within 60 days.

Austin, in a statement, voiced support for the change and said the Pentagon will work over the next two months to implement the new policy.

I fully support the Presidents direction that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the United States military and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination, Austin said. This is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do.

Congress members and advocates hailed the signing.

This is the triumph of evidence-based policy over discrimination, said Aaron Belkin, the executive director of the Palm Center, which researches and advocates against LGBTQ discrimination. The inclusive policy will make it easier for trans troops to do their jobs and to fulfill their missions.

The Trump policy triggered a number of lawsuits, including from transgender individuals who wanted to join the military and found themselves blocked.

It is my highest goal to serve my country in the U.S. military and Ive fought this ban because I know that I am qualified to serve, said Nicolas Talbott, an aspiring service member involved in one of the lawsuits. Im thrilled and relieved that I and other transgender Americans can now be evaluated solely on our ability to meet military standards. I look forward to becoming the best service member I can be.

Under Bidens new policy, transgender servicemembers wont be discharged based on gender identity.

The move to overturn the transgender ban is the latest example of Biden using executive authority in his first days as president to dismantle Trumps legacy. His early actions include orders to overturn a Trump administration ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, stop construction of the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and launch an initiative to advance racial equity.

Until a few years ago service members could be discharged from the military for being transgender, but that changed during the Obama administration. In 2016, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly. And the military set July 1, 2017, as the date when transgender individuals would be allowed to enlist.

After Trump took office, however, his administration delayed the enlistment date and called for additional study to determine if allowing transgender individuals to serve would affect military readiness or effectiveness.

A few weeks later, Trump caught military leaders by surprise, tweeting that the government wouldnt accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail, he wrote.

After a lengthy and complicated legal battle and additional reviews, the Defense Department in April 2019 approved the new policy that fell short of an all-out ban but barred transgender troops and military recruits from transitioning to another sex and required most individuals to serve in what the administration called their birth gender.

Under that policy, currently serving transgender troops and anyone who had signed an enlistment contract before the effective date could continue with plans for hormone treatments and gender transition if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

But after that date, no one with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or has transitioned to another gender was allowed to enlist. Troops that were already serving and were diagnosed with gender dysphoria were required to serve in the gender assigned at birth and were barred from taking hormones or getting transition surgery.

As of 2019, an estimated 14,700 troops on active duty and in the Reserves identify as transgender, but not all seek treatment. Since July 2016, more than 1,500 service members were diagnosed with gender dysphoria; as of Feb. 1, 2019, there were 1,071 currently serving. According to the Pentagon, the department spent about $8 million on transgender care between 2016 and 2019. The militarys annual health care budget tops $50 billion.

All four service chiefs told Congress in 2018 that they had seen no discipline, morale or unit readiness problems with transgender troops serving openly in the military. But they also acknowledged that some commanders were spending a lot of time with transgender individuals who were working through medical requirements and other transition issues.

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UPDATE: Gov. Gavin Newsomlifted mandatory stay-home orders across California. Go here for the latest updates.

California will lift regional stay-at-home orders across the entire state on Monday, sources have told The Chronicle.

A source close to the governors office confirmed that the state plans to end the stay-at-home order on Monday morning, moving counties back into the reopening framework based on colored tiers. It will no longer be tied strictly to the number of beds that are available in intensive care units.

Now, with the post-holidays surge lessening, ICU availability in the regions that remained under the stay-at-home order as of Sunday  including the Bay Area and Southern California  are projected to rise above the 15% threshold that triggered the lockdown measures. This is why the Newsom administration has decided to lift the restrictions, according to the source.

Counties will be moving back into the tiered system to determine how to re-open. Most regions across the state are expected to move into the purple tier, which means restaurants can open for outdoor service, and personal care services, like hair and nail salons can re-open with modifications.

News of the possible change began circulating Sunday evening after the California Restaurant Association sent a letter to members saying it had received word from Newsoms administration that the stay-at-home orders would be lifted. Several members passed the letter along to media outlets including The Chronicle.

The decision comes more than six weeks after the Bay Area and nearly all the rest of the state was placed under stringent stay-at-home orders due to the explosive spread of the virus in late November and early December.

Though the Dec. 3 order was statewide, it was not triggered unless ICU projections fell below 15%. Because of this, the states northernmost counties were never affected. Most Bay Area counties voluntarily moved into the lockdown condition on Dec. 6. But as of Saturday's report from the state, based on Friday data, the Bay Areas ICU capacity was 23.4%.

More details about the decision are expected Monday morning.

Alexei Koseff and Michael Williams are staff writers at The Chronicle. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com, michael.williams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff @michaeldamianw
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

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Still Time to Enroll in Entrepreneur Essentials Course Through CWC, UW

Theres still time to enroll in a six-week program offered by Central Wyoming College (CWC) and the University of Wyoming to gain knowledge and tools to be successful entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur Essentials (e2), with face-to-face and virtual components, is scheduled to start Friday, Jan. 29. Its an intensive education program in which participants will learn the key frameworks and tools, and answer essential questions, to effectively launch or grow their businesses. This program can help entrepreneurs move from the idea stage to working on a prototype or selling a completed product or service.

The program is a collaboration involving CWC and UWs College of Business and College of Engineering and Applied Science. Its based on the highly successful Start-Up Intensive (SUI), a 10-week program hosted in Jackson, which has trained more than 140 Wyoming entrepreneurs over the last six years.

The deadline to register is Wednesday, Jan. 27. More detailed information regarding the course and registration is available at www.cwc.edu/essentials/. For more information, email Lynne McAuliffe at lmcaulif@cwc.edu or Peter Scott at pscott5@uwyo.edu.

In the last year, 28 entrepreneurs participated in e2 from all corners of Wyoming, including Sundance, Cheyenne, Casper, Laramie, Lander and Jackson -- 93 percent of whom would recommend the course to a friend. The hybrid format of the course offers bookended on-site instruction the weekends of Jan. 29 and March 12 in Riverton and Casper, with intervening virtual components. This format encourages participants to connect face to face at the beginning and the end of the course, and allows for participation across Wyoming. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and unpredictable nature of Wyomings winters, entrepreneurs have the option to join 100 percent virtually.

Im thrilled to be making good use of the years of investment and refinement made to SUI and e2, and look forward to offering the e2 course across Wyoming, CWC President Brad Tyndall says.

David Sprott, dean of the UW College of Business, concurs: The partnership between UW and CWC has developed over the last year and has the opportunity to really serve Wyoming entrepreneurs as they look to start new businesses.

Some 77 percent of the SUI programs graduates are still operating their businesses after three years, and 20 percent of those graduates have raised significant private investment capital. Additionally, 82 percent of last years e2 participants made demonstrable progress and moved from the idea stage to working on a prototype or selling a completed product. To read about one of last years participants and her company, Juliet, click here.

The topics covered in e2, including business models, market research, financials, legal and communicating the story, will really help entrepreneurs move the needle on their startups, says Cameron Wright, interim dean of UWs College of Engineering and Applied Science.

US President Joe Biden will reinstate a COVID-19 travel ban on non-US citizens who have been in Brazil, Ireland, the UK and much of Europe, a White House official said. According to CNN, Biden will also be extending the restrictions to travellers who have recently been to South Africa amid warning that new coronavirus variants are already establishing themselves in the US. The newly minted President has made the fight against the pandemic his top priority and he has even said that his administration aims to inoculate 100 million Americans in 100 days in a bid to revive a vaccine rollout that had floundered in the last weeks of the previous Trump presidency.

Bidens recent step of travel restrictions, on the other hand, comes just a week after Donald Trump signed an executive order in his final days in office lifting the restrictions on travellers from the aforementioned countries effective January 26. However, Bidens team had vowed the same night that the new administration would not lift the restrictions. They instead added that the President would strengthen public health measures around international travel to further mitigate spread of the deadly virus.

READ: Biden To Drop Trump's Military Transgender Ban

Biden says worst of pandemic yet to come

The decision to reinstate travel ban and expand restrictions in the case of South Africa also marks the latest effort by the Biden administration to break from Trumps decisive approach to the pandemic. Last week, Biden had warned that the worst of the pandemic is yet to come. He said that America needs all the strength to persevere through this dark winter.

READ: Coronavirus: Fauci Explains Biden's Plan, Says Vaccine Goal Would Cover 67 Million People

Biden also proposed a gigantic $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package to ramp up COVID-19 vaccines and boost the financial help for those impacted by pandemic. His first executive order was launching his 100-day masking challenge that urged all US citizens to wear facemasks for 100 days. Even though it was previously announced, Joe Biden officially appointed a COVID-19 response coordinator in a bid to have a unified approach to the health crisis in the country. Further, he also re-established the national security team that was responsible for the global health, security and bio-defence of the United States.

According to CNN, Jeff Zients, who is Biden administrations COVID-19 response coordinator, said that the executive action will direct the agencies to take action to require compliance with CDC guidance on mask-wearing and physical distancing in federal buildings, on federal lands and by federal employees and contractors. He added that the incoming President will call on governors, public health officials, mayors, business leaders and others to implement masking, physical distancing and other public measures to control the deadly virus.

READ: Biden Administration Appoints Indian-Americans To Key Posts In Energy Dept

READ: After Failed Trump Romance, France Seeks Reset Under Biden


A man in his 20s has been charged with the sexual assault of a 92-year-old woman after allegedly breaking into her home in Sydneys inner west in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Police were called to the home on Burton Street in Concord about 4am, following reports of a home invasion that allegedly began about two hours earlier.

Police arrived and were told a man broke into the house and physically and sexually assaulted the elderly female resident and stole a wallet and cash before fleeing. According to court documents, the incident took place over nearly two hours, between 2am and 3.45am.

The woman activated her emergency medical alarm which alerted her son, who arrived and contacted emergency services.

Amid the political crisis in Nepal, the Election Commission on January 24 refused to recognise either of the factions of the Nepal Communist Party - one led by PM KP Oil and the other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar. According to ANI, the poll panel said that both the factions have failed to follow the Political Parties Act 2017 and party statute. It is important to mention that both the factions had filed an application in the Election Commission claiming authenticity along with the election emblem the 'Sun'.

The spokesperson for Election Commission Raj Kumar Shrestha said, Decisions made by both the parties didn't come in line with the party's statute. As the decisions don't fall in line, we can't update the details of the Nepal Communist Party. We have notified both chairman KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal about it, making them clear that the Commission will maintain existing details of the party.

READ: Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli Expelled From Ruling Communist Party Over Dissolution Of Parliament

The recent decision by the EC comes after Nepal Communist Party expelled PM Oli from the party in a decision taken by a Central Committee Meeting. "His membership has been revoked", the spokesperson for the splinter group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, told news agency ANI. The party leaders are now also planning further action against KP Oli post his ouster threatening 'serious disciplinary actions' against him.

Nepal's political crisis

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after the Prime Minister Oli in a surprise move recommended dissolving the 275-member House, amidst a tussle for power with former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. The Nepal PM had proposed holding fresh elections for April and May this year, a decision which was accepted by the President with elections being scheduled for April 30 and May 10. The Prachanda-led faction of the party, however, came down heavily on this move saying, "By dissolving the House, Oli has given a blow to the Constitution as well as the democratic republic system which has been established in the country through seven decades of struggle by the people."

READ: Tens Of Thousands Protest Against Nepal's Prime Minister

Moreover, Oli had not mentioned any constitutional clauses while recommending dissolution of the lower house to President Bidya Devi Bhandari, showed a leaked paper from the Supreme Court of Nepal. The leaked paper stated, "There is a necessity of two-third majority Government. According to the basic essence and values of Nepal's Constitution and Parliamentary system and practice of our own and various countries with a parliamentary system". "It is to be recommended to President to dissolve House of Representatives of incumbent Federal Assembly and head for polls on April 30 for the first phase and May 10 for the second phase."

(With inputs from ANI)

READ: PM Modi Says 'committed To Assist Nepal' After Oli Extends Gratitude For Vaccine Supply

READ: Nepal And Bangladesh Receive Coronavirus Vaccines Sent By India
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

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Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

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NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

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KORE Mining Completes Spin Out Transaction Creating Karus Gold, A Leading British Columbia Gold Explorer

Posted by Publisher Internet

KORE Mining Ltd. (TSXV: KORE | OTCQX: KOREF) (?KORE? or the ?Company?  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/kore-mining-ltd/ ) and Karus Gold Corp. (?Karus Gold?) are pleased to announce that they have closed the plan of arrangement (the ?Arrangement?) previously announced on December 16, 2020, pursuant to which KORE has spun-out its Canadian assets to Karus Gold effective as of 12:01 a.m. (Vancouver time) (the ?Effective Time?) on January 25, 2021 (the ?Effective Date?).

KORE CEO and Karus Gold Director, Scott Trebilcock commented, ?Karus Gold is well positioned with a large 1,000 kilometer square land position in the re-emerging Cariboo Gold District of BC.? With two advanced exploration projects, including FG Gold and Gold Creek, and supported by news flow from 19 drill holes at the lab, Karus Gold is strongly positioned to attract capital and generate value for shareholders.? We are excited to see Karus Gold?s assets exposed to the valuation forces of a pure play explorer.?

Mr. Trebilcock continued, ?Karus Gold will now raise seed capital in a rights offering. This is a rare opportunity for shareholders to access seed round financing usually reserved for industry insiders.? Karus Gold then plans to list its shares on the TSX Venture Exchange later in the first half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.?

Pursuant to the Arrangement, the owners of common shares of KORE will receive: (i) one-half of a common share of Karus Gold; and (ii) one new common share of KORE, for every common share of KORE held at the close of business on January 22, 2021.

The KORE shares will continue trading under the existing CUSIP (50066W105) until markets close today and will then be delisted. Effective at the opening on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, the new KORE shares will begin trading under the new CUSIP number 50067K100. There is no change in the Company?s trading symbol on the TSX Venture Exchange or on the OTCQX in the United States.

To be clear, there is no change to a shareholder?s ownership of KORE as a result of the completion of the Arrangement.? The majority of shareholders (those who hold their shares through their broker) will receive their Karus shares with no further action.? Please contact the Company if you do not get your Karus shares by mid-February.

Early Warning

As a result of the Arrangement, Mr. Sprott through 2176423 Ontario Ltd. (?2176423?), will receive 13,659,222 common shares of Karus Gold and 1,750,000 Karus Gold common share purchase warrants representing approximately 25.7% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Karus Gold on a non-diluted basis and approximately 28.1% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Karus Gold on a partially diluted basis assuming exercise of such Karus Gold warrants.? Prior to the Arrangement, Mr. Sprott did not beneficially own or control any securities of Karus Gold.

The securities above are held by Mr. Sprott for investment purposes. Mr. Sprott has a long-term view of the investment and may acquire additional securities of Karus Gold including on the open market or through private acquisitions, or sell securities of Karus Gold including on the open market or through private dispositions in the future depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other factors that Mr. Sprott considers relevant from time to time.?

A copy of?2176423?s?early warning report will appear on?Karus Gold?s profile on SEDAR and may also be obtained by calling Mr.?Sprott?s?office at (416) 945-3294 (200 Bay Street, Suite 2600, Royal Bank Plaza, South?Tower,?Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J1).?

About KORE Mining

KORE is 100% owner of the Imperial and Long Valley gold projects assets in California.? Both projects have positive economic assessments put KORE on the path to over 250,000 ounces of gold production. KORE is supported by strategic investor Eric Sprott who owns 26% of KORE?s basic shares.? KORE management and Board are aligned with shareholders, owning an additional 38% of the basic shares outstanding.? KORE is actively developing its Imperial Gold project and is aggressively exploring across its portfolio of assets.

Further information on KORE can be found on the Company?s website at www.koremining.com

About Karus Gold

Karus Gold controls 1,000 kilometers square of the Cariboo Gold District (?District?) in British Columbia.? The FG Gold and Gold Creek projects are set for growth and the District is wide open for additional discovery. Karus Gold is supported by strategic investor Eric Sprott who owns 26% of Karus?s basic shares.? Management and the Board are aligned with shareholders, owning an additional 27% of the basic shares outstanding.? Karus Gold has drill results from 2020 pending and has plans to continue aggressive exploration in 2021.

Further information on Karus Gold can be found on the Company?s website at www.karusgold.com

On behalf of KORE Mining Ltd

?Scott Trebilcock?

Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of Karus Gold Corp

?James Hynes?

Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer

Karus Gold Investor Support

David Jan

1-888-455-7620

karusgold@koremining.com

KORE Investor Relations

Arlen Hansen, KIN Communications

1-888-684-6730

kore@kincommunications.com

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and Karus and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as \will\, \may\, \plan\, \should\, \anticipate\, \expects\, ?intends?, ?indicates? and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Company and Karus are forward-looking statements.? Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information.?

Such factors include, among others: the future potential of both KORE and Karus Gold and expectations related to the trading price of KORE and the future listing of Karus Gold, and other expectations and assumptions concerning the outcome of the Arrangement.?

In addition to the above summary, additional risks and uncertainties inherent to the Company and its operations are described in the ?Risk Factors? section of the Company?s management discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2019, prepared as of April 27, 2020, available under the Company?s issuer profile on www.sedar.com. Other risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the possibility of adverse reactions or changes in business relationships resulting from the completion of the Arrangement; the failure to realize the expected benefits of the Arrangement; and other risks inherent to both KORE and Karus? current business and/or factors beyond their control which could have a material adverse effect on KORE or Karus.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company and Karus disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.?
oooh i do enjoy this webcomic! the characters aren't exactly super well developed imo but it's harmless and very cute so i'm looking forward to this~

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Make it as non-white as possible, cowards Netflix.

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Most of the lead couple's friend group is POC, although the leads themselves are white in the webtoon. Nick (blonde jock) is already cast or close to it, so my guess is mixed-race (or white with a tan) dude as Charlie (since they are currently calling for 'any ethnicity'), which would be Typical Netflix Casting really!



Edited at 2021-01-25 03:17 pm (UTC)

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Make him with a Middle-Eastern, Northern-African or West-Asian ancestry, Netflix!

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Ah that's great, I read the comic and it's adorable. I usually don't watch romantic TV shows about teenagers, but I'll be checking in how this develops.

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Ohh thats fun. Dont get me wrong bc Im trying to keep it positive here though since Im a bit taken back between this and the other post on white gays. So like aiggggght. Guess Im in feels this super early morning and just downed my breakfast green smoothie. Sigh @ "feature their mostly-queer gang of friends". Im tired. I prob will catch this one much later so anyhoo: Keep the show cute I guess

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i'm here for this and i also want an adaptation of Check Please! i've been there since Ngozi started her webcomic and it's great to see her project succeed.

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I want an animated adaptation of check please lol, it would be so cute

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What's your icon animation from? It's so cute <3

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This comic is super cute, I hope Netflix doesn't fuck it up.

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Love this for the light-skinned folk! 



At least we got a gay, PoC lead character in Love, Victor this last year. And all of season 2 of Pose!

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i made the mistake of reading a jenny jinya webcomic at work today and now im having to pretend my tears are from allergies

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why would you do that to yourself bb omg *hugs*

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What is that really cute webcomic about ice hockey. That should be some sort of series.

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Check Please

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I think Alice does try really hard to be inclusive within her stories and I have read this webcomic as well as a couple of her novels. She has a nice writing style and knows well how to write for teens, but I think her latest works have just been a little young for my tastes now although Im the same age as the author.



But I think her inclusivity can sometimes be a bit vapid, she introduces her characters but never really develops them unless they are the main two. Her main characters are often the white or light skinned characters also. A bit disappointed they are opening Charlie up for any ethnicity because I put money on him being white or ~~~ambiguous~~~ as its Netflix.

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I loooooove Heartstopper and am pumped for this. It seems that Alice is super involved too so that makes it promising. This project is very special to her

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Kinda OT but I'm currently watching Still 2gether (sequel series to 2gether: The Series, a gay Thai show) and I'm sad because it's almost over. Are there similar gay shows that any of you recommend?

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i've hard that the japanese live action bl series "cherry magic" is good, i haven't watched it yet but i've been reading the manga it's based off and enjoy it. the premise might sound dumb at first but i'd give it a chance.



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I actually watched the first episode of Cherry Magic and thought it was really cute, then I watched a bunch of edits of it and the fact that the two leads don't share an onscreen kiss just doesn't sit right with me.

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I still havent got around to watching the sequel series, thank you for reminding me! Although I saw previews and am not ready for how good Bright looks.

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honestly i haven't watched still 2gether and dropped 2gether after hearing not so great things about it, and i feel like thai dramas are very hit and miss, however i def recommend taiwanese drama anthology HIStory, s1 is p bad since it's they're so short and it's obvious they had zero budget lmao but s2 and 3 are pretty good

thai dramas that i do like, my engineer (esp second couple, literally the cutest) he's coming to me (v cute, v wholesome), love by chance (really liked the 2 main couples, skipped everything from the 3rd bc it was weird lmao), kiss me again (gay couple is not the main one, they do have their own show/season but it sucks imo)

if you want more, mydramalist.com is a great place to discover dramas, you can search by country/tag/year/etc and read the comments bc they're very helpful

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Gaya sa Pelikula / Like in the Movies (on YT, supposed to be on Netflix but dont know when)

Gameboys (on YT & Netflix)

Where Your Eyes Linger

I Told Sunset About You

History 3: Trapped



Edited at 2021-01-25 06:52 pm (UTC)

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Ooh this seems cute.



I'm really excited for the Lore Olympus adaptation will turn out. I'm glad they're keeping it animated and I'm especially excited that the Henson Company is producing.

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I fully stay out of anything in the LO loop that isn't just a new episode so this is the first I'm hearing about this! Deets?

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There haven't been any new details since it was announced but I'm guessing we'll see a 2022 release date. Rejoice bb: https://nerdbot.com/2020/06/01/lore-olympus-animated-series-coming-to-netflix-from-jim-henson-company/ There haven't been any new details since it was announced but I'm guessing we'll see a 2022 release date.

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Ahh I remember this one, I couldn't really get into it because I don't dig the art style :\

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yeah i remember seeing it on tumblr a while ago and thought it looked like the books i learned to read with in primary school

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New Delhi:

The Congress on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark on the Emergency by saying that he should remember the country is facing an undeclared Emergency under the BJP rule.

It, however, acknowledged that the Emergency, imposed on this day in 1975, was a mistake and said lessons have been learned.

The prime minister talks of remembering the Emergency. Yes, we remember the Emergency. But we also ask him to remember we are facing an undeclared Emergency, All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Tom Vadakkan alleged.

History may repeat itself if the prime minister failed to learn from the past, he warned.

We accept the Emergency was a mistake. We have learned from it. But while reminding us of those mistakes, please learn to correct yourself. If you do not learn from history, you are bound to repeat it. The country is witnessing just that, he said.

The Congress leader referred to the CBI raids at the residence of NDTV founder Prannoy Roy to drive his point home that there is an undeclared Emergency under the BJP rule, with the media being muzzled.

The Group of Ministers has been reduced to just a name under the Modi rule. It is not the Union Cabinet but the Prime Ministers Office which takes the decisions, Vadakkan claimed.

No meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security took place. No explanation has been given till date on the amount of money collected through demonetization, he said.

The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity should issue a white paper on those receiving its advertisements and to what extent corporate houses are involved in the backroom management of the media.

The Congress leader also expressed concern over a spurt in the number of lynching incidents and harassment by anti-Romeo squads (in Uttar Pradesh).

The situation at present is no match to a declared Emergency, he said.

In his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, Modi today remembered the Emergency, saying such a black night cannot be forgotten, and underlined the need for eternal vigilance to preserve democracy.

He recalled that democracy-lovers had fought a big battle against the Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and said the pro-democracy heritage needs to be strengthened.

Modi said it was essential to remember the incidents which have caused harm to democracy and move ahead towards the positives of democracy.

Also read: Mann Ki Baat: PM Modi recalls emergency, says it was the black chapter of Indian democracy

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
A panel led by retired judge Kathleen Satchwell recently released the report of the commission of inquiry into ethical challenges facing South African journalism and officially handed it over to the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF).

Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels

Panel methods and processes

SANEFS initial response

Way forward

The report by Satchwell and fellow panel members - veteran journalist and author Rich Mkhondo and award-winning journalist and former Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Nikiwe Bikitsha was commissioned by SANEF in June 2019.The Inquiry was proactively set up following the events surrounding the publication and subsequent retraction of a series of stories by thebetween 2011 and 2016, and public debates about reporting and processes followed in newsrooms across the country. The terms of reference of the inquiry were to look at possibilities of ethical lapses within the industry and to find solutions to enhance quality, ethical journalism.While South African journalism has been lauded for courageous, investigative work that has helped advance our democracy, as SANEF believes that the media must continuously introspect to strengthen the relationship of trust with the public they serve and ensure accountability. The terms of reference included a review of the systemic problems that could be impeding ethical conduct across the media landscape.The panel sought clarity on, those challenges confronting the media industry generally and journalists in particular which hinder the appropriate, honest, accountable and effective reporting necessary for advancing and strengthening Constitutional democracy in South Africa.Thewas thanked for their full cooperation with the Inquiry, showing their commitment to ethical journalism.Between July 2019 and March 2020 the three-person panel engaged in various ways with 167 individuals and entities, perused close to 200 documents and sought ad hoc research inputs including a comprehensive longitudinal study of the work of the South African Press Council. Consultations occurred with newsroom practitioners, owners, academics, consumers and concerned individuals and institutions. Members of the public were encouraged to participate in the process.From April to December 2020, Satchwell, Mkhondo and Bikitsha drafted the report including 69 recommendations.The panel, unlike national commissions of inquiry, functioned without a secretariat, investigators or evidence leader. It relied on limited financial resources and had no statutory powers. SANEF, as the commissioning organisation, provided the terms of reference, the funding and ad hoc administrative support. Further, SANEF made an initial and detailed formal written submission to the panel outlining its views on the issues, followed up with further detailed clarifications and expansions as requested by the panel. The final report is the independent product of the panels deliberations.SANEF notes that the inquiry made no official findings but extensively details some of the challenges to news gathering and reporting as raised by those who contributed to the inquiry. They include constrained financial models, digital disruption, smaller newsrooms with growing demand for journalists to do more. SANEF notes the detailed 69 recommendations put forward, arranged into the following eight categories: media freedom, media diversity, ethics and standards, financial resources, safety and security of journalists, continuing professional development, theand regulatory bodies.SANEF will rigorously debate these recommendations to assess them and to see how they can be implemented in the advancement of ethical journalism that is at the heart of strengthening our democracy.As an initial response SANEF welcomes the reports endorsement of the critical role of self and co-regulatory bodies such as the Press Council and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) and the importance of all print and online publications seeking membership of the Press Council and adhering to its ethics code.SANEF welcomes the suggestions around ensuring the strengthening of these bodies and ensuring their accessibility to the public to ensure accountability.The recommendations that call for government, the private sector, civil society and other bodies endorsement of media freedom and, safety of journalists were also welcomed.SANEF also welcomed the recommendations on media sustainability including the establishment of a media sustainability fund supported by government, corporates, private and and international donors that could support media regulatory bodies, media freedom organisations and ongoing projects to build the long-term sustainability of the media industry including vulnerable sectors such as community media.SANEF notes that this is even more critical as they confront the dire state of the industry as it sheds jobs and is forced to find new funding models as advertising revenue dwindles.SANEF commits to consulting as widely as possible with both its own members and all other media stakeholders to draft a SANEF and industry 5-year ethics action plan. The plan will be debated and adopted at an ethics and credibility conference to be held later this year.The full report is available here
A highly superstitious teacher couple killed their two daughters, believing that they could be resurrected at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. Image Source: IANS News

A highly superstitious teacher couple killed their two daughters, believing that they could be resurrected at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. Image Source: IANS News

A highly superstitious teacher couple killed their two daughters, believing that they could be resurrected at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. Image Source: IANS News

A highly superstitious teacher couple killed their two daughters, believing that they could be resurrected at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. Image Source: IANS News

Madanapalle : , Jan 25 (IANS) A highly superstitious teacher couple killed their two daughters, believing that they could be resurrected at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district.

V. Purushotam Naidu, lecturer in a government women's degree college and his wife V. Padmaja, a maths teacher in Masterminds IIT Talent School committed these murders on Sunday evening.

"It appears that they were following some superstitious beliefs like after death they will be resurrected and life can be put into them," Chittoor superintendent of police S. Senthil Kumar told IANS.

Kumar said Naidu and Padmaja are currently in a deranged mental state and it appears that they were living in occult practices, which he said is the motivation them to kill their daughters.

Of the murdered two, elder daughter Alekhya (27) completed a forest studies diploma in Bhopal while the younger one Sai Divya (22) studied BBA. Divya was also a student of A. R. Rahman Music School in Chennai.

On Sunday, one of Naidu's colleagues alerted the police and when the police arrived, the couple tried to prevent them from entering their house.

However, on entering the house, police found one girl lying dead in the prayer room while other girl was found in another room with some ritual material on her body and a red cloth.

Incidentally, the parents asked police to keep their daughters bodies in their home itself for a day as they believed that they would return to life.

According to police, parents as well as the daughters were devotional to the extent that they thought God will save them.

"They performed some puja in the house itself because they are saying that ill will come out of their daughters. They killed them within the house," said a police official.

One of girls was bludgeoned with a dumbbell and police found both of their bodies naked when they entered.

Naidu and Padmaja told police that they got a divine message to sacrifice their daughters as Kal Yug would end on Sunday night and Satya Yug would begin on Monday with the resurrection of their daughters.

Kumar said that a case has been registered and the couple is in the process of being produced before a magistrate as some formalities such as panchnama and other are currently being done.

The couple was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 302.
President Joe Biden signed an order Monday allowing transgender people to again openly serve in the military, reversing the transgender ban imposed by the Trump administration four years ago.

Biden said at a White House signing ceremony that he was reverting to a position that previous commanders as well as (defense) secretaries have supported.

It is my conviction as commander in chief of the armed forces that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, the order says, noting that national security is strengthened when the military is composed of diverse Americans who can meet the rigorous standards for military service and is inclusive.

Troops for years could be discharged for being transgender. But the Pentagon reversed that policy in 2016 and said transgender people could serve openly. The decision was part of a series of changes under President Barack Obama starting in 2010 that protected servicemen and servicewomen from being kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

President Donald Trump imposed the ban after he took office in January 2017. After several court challenges, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the prohibition in January 2019.

San Antonio native Map Pesqueira, who lost a coveted ROTC scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin because hes a transgender student, said he wants to re-enter ROTC as early as this fall and get his scholarship back. He was awarded the grant from the North East School of the Arts, where he was in the National Honor Society.

Pesqueira, 20, said he dashed out for a 2-mile run when he heard the news Monday, to sort of exert my happiness and physically express my happiness and overjoyedness.

Biden has vowed to fight discrimination at all levels of American society. Mondays executive order comes less than a week after he signed a decree the day he was inaugurated to reinforce laws that forbid federal agencies from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Monday that the Pentagon would re-examine all cases of transgender service members that may be in some form of adverse administrative proceedings.

On ExpressNews.com: As high court backs restrictions, transgender man still hopes to come to San Antonio for Air Force basic training

The number of transgender troops isnt clear, but its a fraction of the total armed forces. A Rand study found that the Pentagons 2016 decision affected up to 7,000 active-duty and 4,000 Reserve troops.

Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, which focuses on sexuality in the military, said Monday that there are 14,700 transgender troops in the armed forces.

The Biden administration has made good on its pledge to put military readiness above political expediency by restoring inclusive policy for transgender troops, Belkin said. The ban will now be replaced with a single standard for everyone that, as in the successful previous policy, will apply equally to all service members.

Just how the order would affect the Air Force Recruiting Service in San Antonio wasnt immediately clear. Up to 60 days may pass before officials here get guidance on how they can proceed with recruiting transgender airmen.

As far as the Air Force goes, we will follow the DOD policy, recruiting service spokeswoman Leslie Brown said. We would be getting out ahead of (Pentagon) and (Air Force) leadership if we commented further.

The recruiting service at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland said at least one applicant who identified as transgender entered basic training there in March 2009. It wasnt clear if any others had been through basic training since.

Ash Carter, who served as defense secretary under Obama, said the 2016 decision to let transgender troops serve openly was made in part to allow them to obtain medical care through the military, including surgeries.

Previously, transgender troops had to go to private care providers at their own expense. A Rand estimate put the increased cost at between $2.4 million and $8.4 million a year.

Under Trumps policy, transgender people with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria, the medical diagnosis associated with being transgender, could not join the military if they had tried to transition in the preceding 36 consecutive months.

Those diagnosed with gender dysphoria after joining the military could remain, as long as they did not take steps to medically transition and were physically and mentally able to do their jobs.

Austin said Monday that this revised policy will also ensure all medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law is available to all service members.

On ExpressNews.com: Militarys transgender policy costs San Antonio ROTC student his scholarship

Bidens order prohibits involuntary separations, discharges and denials of re-enlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity.

The president also is instructing the military branches to review records of transgender troops who were kicked out and correct the documents to remove an injustice.

The Pentagon also must offer transgender troops who were involuntarily discharged an opportunity to rejoin the military if they meet the current entry standards.

Reaction to the executive order was swift.

All Americans who are willing and able to serve in the U.S. military should have the opportunity  openly and free from discrimination, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said on Twitter. Inclusion makes America stronger.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, whose district includes part of San Antonio, cited Pesqueiras case in celebrating the presidents action.

This policy will encourage young people like Map Pesqueira  a native of Military City, USA, whose military scholarship was revoked  and my former intern Tegan Debrock, who was kicked out of ROTC at Texas State at the stroke of Trumps pen, Doggett said.

Pesqueira, who two years ago was a University of Texas freshman, was born female but began the transition in 2018 to become male, hoping the courts would strike down Trumps transgender ban.

The Pentagon later stripped him of the scholarship, which had been worth more than $10,000 a year to help defray his expected annual cost of $26,000 to attend UT.

Pesqueira scrambled to pay tuition and expenses in 2019, using loans and creating a GoFundMe account that raised $26,193 in 13 days.

Pesqueira said that if he can get the scholarship back and return to ROTC this fall, he could finish the dream hes had since childhood, even before he knew his true gender.

I see it as a victory to celebrate for this community, he said. President Biden told us on the campaign trail that this was something that he was going to make sure that he would do immediately once he gets into office. He kept that promise, and so Im grateful. Im celebrating.

sigc@express-news.net
WASHINGTON  Facing an ethics complaint for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley filed his own complaint Monday against the seven Democratic senators seeking an investigation of him.

Hawley accused the Democratic senators of abusing the ethics process with their complaint against him and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

They submitted their meritless complaint in potential coordination with a campaign by partisan and dark-money groups that have peddled falsehoods about me and my objection, Hawley said in his letter to the Senate Ethics Committee requesting an investigation.

By knowingly submitting a frivolous complaint to accomplish impermissible partisan purposes, these Senators have engaged in improper conduct that may reflect upon the Senate.

Hawley filed the complaint the same morning he appeared on the front page of The New York Post with duct tape on his mouth for a column about how how corporations and Democrats are muzzling him for his objection to President Joe Bidens electoral votes.

Hawley and Cruz led the effort to contest Bidens victory in the Senate.

The initial complaint filed by the seven Democrats alleges that they amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence and by proceeding with their objections after the attack on the Capitol lent legitimacy to the mobs cause and made future violence more likely.

The Democratic complaint asks the committee to consider recommendations on censure, a formal but largely symbolic reprimand, or expulsion, the process by which senators are removed from office.

Hawleys complaint asks the committee to take all disciplinary action that it deems appropriate against the seven Democrats.

The Democrats who filed the complaint are: Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

In his complaint, Hawley defends his decision to object to Pennsylvanias 20 electoral votes, despite no evidence of fraud, based on his assertion that the Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits mail voting, an argument disputed by Pennsylvania officials and legal experts.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in December rejected a GOP-backed lawsuit filed after the election as untimely. Hawleys motion, if it had succeeded, would have overridden the state courts authority and effectively canceled the 6.9 million ballots cast in Pennsylvania in the November election.

Hawley has received widespread condemnation, including from early backers such as former Sen. John Danforth and former Ambassador Sam Fox, for promoting Trumps baseless claims and undermining trust in the election.

But in his complaint, Hawley accuses the Democrats of defaming him without evidence and of undermining trust in the Senate.

Most astonishingly, the Democrats who filed the complaint against me insinuate  without any evidence whatsoever  that I or my staff may have conspired with the criminals who stormed the Capitol, Hawley said.

Fabricating conspiracy theories to attack me for political purposes is bad enough. Offensively trying to tie me to Nazi antisemitism  as Senator Hirono did when she outrageously accused me of pushing the Big Lie  is even worse, he said.

Hawley employed a similar tactic in Missouri last year by responding to an audit by Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway of his tenure as Missouri attorney general, which found potential misuse of state resources, by asking a state board investigate Galloway, who was the Democratic nominee for governor.

The Senate Ethics Committee, the panel which will weigh both complaints, is led by Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a Biden ally who was one of first senators to call for Hawleys resignation, and Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford, who initially backed Cruzs challenge to Arizonas electoral votes but rescinded his support after the Capitol riot.

--Bryan Lowry/Tribune Content Agency
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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki admitted on Monday officials had no idea how many vaccines were in reserve across the US

The White House on Monday admitted that it has no idea how many COVID vaccines there are in the country.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked at the daily briefing if the new team at least had a ball park idea of how many doses there were in the country that have not yet been given out.

She responded: 'Weve been here for five days to evaluate the supply so that we can release the maximum amount while also ensuring that everyone can get the second dose on the FDA recommended schedule.

'So the confusion around this issue, which we acknowledge, there is some confusion, it speaks to a larger problem, which is what were inheriting from the prior administration, which is much worse than we could have imagined.'

Later, President Biden promised the country would be on par to do 1.5million a day within three weeks but he too said the administration did not know what it was walking into.

'Time is of the essence. We are optimistic that we'll have enough vaccine... we came in office without knowledge. We've gotten commitment from some o the producers they'll make more in a relatively short time frame,' he said.

He said that vaccines will be widely available for anyone who wants one in spring and that by the summer, the US will be 'well on the way' to getting herd immunity.

America has only given 6 percent of its population their first COVID-19 vaccine and 0.9 percent have had both shots.

The woefully slow roll-out has been labored with problems since the start with states left to handle their own distribution amid staff shortages, and while other countries storm ahead in dishing it out.

President Biden has given the ambitious target of giving 100million vaccines in his first 100 days in office. So far, he's on track with more than 1million a day going out.

But with more than 328million in the US - including an unknown number who may not sign up to get it even when it becomes available - there are a number of issues that need to be addressed,

One huge problem is that the states say they are running out of doses, while the CDC's data suggests they still have millions.

Another is that in certain states, some people can get access to it before others; New Jersey and Pennsylvania, for example, are allowing smokers of any age to get the vaccine without having to put up any proof that they actually smoke.

Another problem is that people are not showing up for appointments which puts the supply of dose at risk.

The vaccines have a short window to be used in - once defrosted and opened, they have to go in someone's arm within six hours.

Anecdotes have started emerging of young, healthy people being randomly offered extra doses in pharmacies because the person who was meant to receive it didn't show up. There are also stories of people in the eligible categories being unable to nail down an appointment for their first dose.

SHORTAGE VS SURPLUS

The CDC says 41million doses have been distributed across the country, but only 22million have actually gone in people's arms.

It's unclear if the remaining 20million doses are designed to be the second dose for those who have already had the first shot.

Per the most recent CDC data, 18.5million people have had their first vaccine and 3.2million have had both which equates to 5.6% and 0.9% of the US population.

The CDC says more than 41million doses have been distributed but only 21million have gone in arms. That number is higher at around 22million. The 20million difference accounts for some 2nd doses but not in every state and the Biden administration is scrambling to find out where they are

The US is behind several other countries in its vaccine program. These numbers show the percentage of the population that has received the first dose only

Where exactly the remaining 20million doses are remains unknown.

A large number are in storage but some Biden officials cited by The Daily Beast say they have been unable to nail down where exactly every dose in the country is because there was no streamlined system for tracking them put in place by the Trump administration.

While the federal government tries to find them, states are crying out for more.

According to the CDC, New York has been given 2.4million doses in total. But New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that the state had only received 1,868,650 in total to date which includes 1,304,050 first doses and 564,600 second doses.

So far, 1,144,70 have had their first dose and only 139,929 people have had both doses.

The 531, 350million discrepancy between the allotment Cuomo says he got and what the CDC claims was sent out has not yet been accounted for and it's a problem that is happening all over the country.

RACE BETWEEN STATES

On average, 1.2million doses are going in people's arms every day across the country but it varies wildly by state.

For example Alaska has given more than 12 percent of its population their first shot, but Nevada and Alabama are yet to hit 5 percent.

There has been no clear cut answer for when every state gets their next batch of vaccines and from where. Pfizer and Moderna are on different production schedules.

Former President Trump's administration set the framework that the states would be given doses relative to their populations then they would be responsible for dishing them out.

Every state is vaccinating at a different pace and has its own set of eligibility criteria. Alaska is storming ahead with more than 12 percent of its population receiving the first dose. That is largely down to the fact it has a large veteran and military population and they are receiving doses faster through the Department of Defense

It means that while nationally, between 5 an 6 percent of the population have had their first shot, it is a different picture state by state.

Alaska, New Mexico, West Virginia, Connecticut and North and South Dakota are the fastest at getting the vaccine out. They have vaccinated 10 percent of their respective populations or more.

Some states say they are out of vaccine and not just because they are withholding their reserves to give as second shots for people who have already had the first

Alaska is by far the furthest ahead, having given 12.88 percent of its population their first shot.

One large reason for that is Alaska has the highest veteran and active military per capita population across the US.

They are receiving doses separately through the Department of Veteran's Affairs and the Department of Defense.

It also has a high native American population and those doses are being sent out through the Indian Health Service.

Alabama and Nevada, however, are yet to give five percent of their populations their first shot.

Alabama health officials say they simply do not have enough.

The CDC says Alabama has been given 521,255 doses and that it has given out 243,000 doses.

DIFFERENT ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The states generally followed the same set of eligibility criteria to begin with. Elderly people and healthcare workers went first, with other front line workers behind them.

According to data released in June, there are around 36million people in America aged 70 and above.

But the way states are allowing people to get the vaccine means it's impossible to know what percentage of them are getting it first.

The CDC has not released that data and it's unclear if it has even collated it from the states.

The general rule was to prioritize those in nursing homes and those working in hospitals.

Then, it was opened up to over 65s. They become eligible at the same time as grocery store workers in New York, for example.

But in New Jersey, smokers of any age are also now allowed to get the vaccine because health officials say they are immuno-compromised.

Pennsylvania is following the same model and it's causing outrage among the non-smoking population.

'EXTRA' DOSES BEING RANDOMLY GIVEN OUT SO THEY DON'T EXPIRE

Some people who happen to be in the right place at the right time are getting the vaccine so they don't go to waste

Anecdotes have started emerging of people being randomly asked if they want the vaccine despite not fitting the eligibility criteria to avoid the doses having to be thrown out.

Multiple people have told of how their friends have called them from pharmacies or healthcare centers offering them the vaccine at the last minute because the people they were intended for did not show up.

In some cases, people have been randomly approached in the street by pharmacists.

The vaccines have a short shelf-life. Once defrosted, they have to be used within a matter of hours otherwise they are no longer effective.

It's unclear if any have had to have been disposed of yet.

The news has caused some people to line up at pharmacies near closing time in the hope that they may get a dose.

But not every pharmacy across the country has even started receiving the vaccines.

In the same time, many people who are eligible and fit the criteria are struggling to book legitimate appointments through government websites.

With no federal guidelines issued for procedure on what to do with extra vaccine doses that have already been defrosted, some providers are taking matters into their own hands. Pictired above is a vaccine line in Seminole County, Florida, where leftover vaccine doses were administered to shoppers at the end of the day rather than being thrown away
We are thrilled to welcome Chuck to the British Swim School family, especially in the backyard of our headquarters here in Virginia Beach"

British Swim School, the nations leading learn to swim franchise company, is thrilled to open in two new pools in the Virginia Beach, Virginia region, which happens to also be home to British Swim Schools corporate headquarters. The Virginia Beach school joins our other British Swim School locations helping to save the lives of infants, children and adults across the United States and Canada.

Virginia Beach is a community surrounded by water  including the ocean, bay, canals, and both commercial and private swimming pools. It was clear to me that a British Swim School could fill a critical need in the area, said Chuck Cassidy, longtime Virginia Beach resident, and owner of British Swim School of Greater Virginia Beach.

The mission of British Swim School  ensuring that every swimmer has the opportunity to become a safe and happy swimmer  resonated with Cassidy, especially considering his 28 years of work in the Methodist Church and currently with Virginia Beach Methodist Church, where he serves as the Director of Hospitality and Missions.

British Swim Schools mantra of Survival of the Littlest also appealed to Cassidy as a dad. The father of two identifies with parents who are looking to make their own children water safe and to grow them into confident swimmers. He is especially excited to begin teaching water survival skills to infants and children, starting with those as young as 3 months old.

We are thrilled to welcome Chuck to the British Swim School family, especially in the backyard of our headquarters here in Virginia Beach, said Brian Garrison, British Swim School President. We knew this area could benefit from a swim school of this caliber, and expect that Chucks welcoming personality and focus on survival swimming will resonate well with area parents who will entrust his team with teaching their children.

British Swim School, a premier swim school franchise, launched in England in 1981. It was then brought to America and Canada and eventually rolled out to more than 200 locations.

Research shows that participation in formal swim programs, such as those offered by British Swim School, can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent among children who are most at risk for accidental death by drowning.

British Swim School of Virginia Beach will teach water safety and survival first  and swimming skill development second. Students are placed in classes based on skill level.

Classes are underway in two locations: the DoubleTree by the Virginia Beach Convention Center and the DoubleTree on North Military Highway, down the street from IKEA.

For more information, visit http://www.britishswimschool.com.

Devastating News on Drownings:



Drowning ranks fifth among the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the U.S. among children aged 14 or younger. (CDC)

Seventy-seven percent of drowning deaths involve children under age 5. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

African American children between ages 519 are 5.5 times more likely to drown in a pool than white children of the same age. (USA Swimming Foundation)

###

About British Swim School

British Swim Schools mission is teaching water safety and survival skills to children as young as 3 months old. Rita Goldberg founded British Swim School in 1981 and developed the unique and highly effective teaching methods that are a recognized trademark of the brand today. Acquired by Buzz Franchise Brands in early 2019, British Swim School is the latest addition to the Buzz Franchise Brands family, which includes pool cleaning and maintenance company Pool Scouts and residential cleaning company Home Clean Heroes. British Swim School currently operates over 215 schools across the United States and Canada. For more information about British Swim School, visit http://www.britishswimschool.com. To learn more about the benefits of British Swim Schools franchising opportunities, visit https://britishswimschoolfranchise.com. For more information about Buzz Franchise Brands, visit https://www.buzzfranchisebrands.com/.

BEIT YANAI, Israel, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ElectReon (TASE: ELWS), developing and implementing Wireless Electric Road Systems that wirelessly charges commercial and passenger electric vehicles while driving, has completed the deployment of 1.65 km of a dynamic wireless charging system on a public road in Gotland, Sweden, which is the largest deployment of its kind in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2S2qzGkcis&feature=youtu.be

The charging coils before covered with asphalt The truck being charged while driving with above and underground managements units on both sides

The fully electric long-haul truck was charged by the road while driving at various speeds of up to 60 km/h on a 200-meter electric road segment, with an average transfer rate of 70 kW from the road to the receivers and into the truck's battery. The system reached stable operation with consistent results, and testing confirmed that snow and ice do not affect the wireless charging capabilities. The Company proved the robustness of its proprietary cloud-based software by remotely operating, monitoring, and testing the system from the Company's headquarters in Israel.

In the coming months, following the successful testing on the 200-meter section and given additional approvals from relevant agencies, the Company expects to start operation of the entire road and simultaneously charge an electric bus on the same electric road. The wireless charging system will be further calibrated to enable the increase of power and a local truck operator will regularly operate the truck in order to conduct further tests.

The wireless charging of the electric truck on a public road is a significant milestone in the commercialization of the wireless electric road technology developed by ElectReon. This is also a significant milestone towards meeting the preliminary requirements for applying for the large-scale pilot of the construction of a wireless Electric Road planned by the Swedish Road Administration (Trafikverket) of approximately 30 kilometers designed for dynamic charging of electric trucks while driving.

In Tel Aviv, the Company completed the deployment of 700 meters of dynamic charging segments on a road in Ramat Aviv and a wireless charging station at the Tel-Aviv University train station bus terminal. This represents a significant achievement as the Company deployed the segments in a short time frame, minimizing interruption to the public and illustrating the suitability of its technology for commercial-scale deployment in public roads. The Company is currently waiting for the electric grid connection, expected in the coming weeks, in order to begin road-charging the electric bus, while conducting further tests.

Oren Ezer, CEO of ElectReon Wireless:

"Charging a long-haul truck while driving on an electric road that is open to the public is an exceptional technological achievement coming after years of intense development. The achievement brings us closer to our goal of revolutionizing the field of electric vehicle charging and we thank the strong support from Trafikverket that enabled this to take place in Sweden. Soon we expect to test our urban application when an electric bus will start testing in our pilot project in Tel Aviv."

Truck driver Emelie Gardell from the truck operator Gotlands bilfrakt:

"I was very surprised at how peaceful and quiet it was to drive the electric truck while it was driving and charging from the road. It did not interfere with my driving experience at all and I am happy to know we are reducing transport emissions and proud to drive the future."

About ElectReon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2S2qzGkcis&feature=youtu.be

ElectReon, a global leader in Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer technology for charging all types of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The company accelerates the world's transition to electric transportation by leveraging existing road infrastructure with its proprietary wireless charging technology to eliminate range anxiety, lower total costs of EV ownership and reduce battery capacity - making it one of the most environmentally sustainable, scalable and compelling charging solutions available today.

For cities and fleet operators, ElectReon offers a shared, invisible "Charging as a Service" platform enabling cost effective electrification of public, commercial and autonomous fleets with minimal batteries and smooth and continuous operation.

Investor Relations Contact

GK Investor Relations

Ehud Helft

+1 646 201 9246

[email protected]

Company Contact

ElectReon Marketing and Sales Officer

Charlie Levine

+972 585818433

[email protected]

SOURCE ElectReon
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Haiti - Security : The Ministry of Education condemns kidnappings and attacks on schools





In a note, the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) condemns the latest acts of kidnapping targeting the school population and also the attacks on schools.



"The Ministry of National Education condemns with the utmost rigor all acts of kidnapping, including recent ones particularly affecting the school population and which affect Haitian families.



The MENFP calls on the police authorities to strengthen control measures around school buildings, particularly in sensitive areas.



The Ministry expresses its solidarity with the victims and the affected families and calls for a common front against these criminal and unacceptable acts which mourn and leave families in desolation.



The MENFP takes the opportunity to also condemn all the attacks against schools under the pretext of mobilization against kidnapping by those who have other unacknowledged and unspeakable agendas.



The defense of our rights to life and to free movement cannot be used as a pretext to violate and trample the right to education of our children, whatever the circumstances."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Oman authorities have extended the closure of land borders for one more week. The borders will now remain shut till February 1 to curb the spread of Coronavirus. The lockdown was imposed in the month of December when COVID-19 mutation was discovered in some countries.

It was on January 17 when the authorities closed the land border for one week. Also, the Supreme Committee which is responsible for tackling the circumstances caused due to the virus has decided to further extend the border closure. According to a tally by the John Hopkins University, Oman has recorded over 133,000 cases with 1,521 fatalities.

Current situation in Oman

In another significant development, recently, Omans sultan announced fresh changes to the country's constitution. One of the important changes includes the introduction of the post of the crown prince; other steps aim to encourage transparency in the government. The development comes as the Oman government faced growing pressures at home.

Read: Oman Sultan Amends Constitution To Create Crown Prince Post, Eliminate Succession Crisis

The amendments bring Oman into closer conformity with other Gulf kingdoms and eliminate the fear of any destabilising succession crisis that can happen in the future. Sultan Haitham has also organised ministries that were once controlled by his predecessor. The sultan also changed Omans basic law to allow for the appointment of a crown prince, which is a common practice in the Gulf states.

Read: WHO Secures 40 Million COVID-19 Doses For Poorer Nations, Announces Chief Tedros

The decree introduced by the sultan includes a committee to review the performance of senior government officials. This is also an effort to encourage accountability. Talking about the changes introduced, Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University, called it a "revolutionary" move. He added, "It took (Sultan Haitham) a year to absorb everything, and now hes pushing ahead with his own stamp. You dont change the basic law lightly.

Read: COVID-19: Netherlands Begins First Curfew Since World War II; Travel Ban Comes Into Effect

Also Read: British Firm Claims To Have Created COVID-19 Vaccine That Will Work Against All Strains

(Image Credits: Pixabay)
The Pompidou Center, whose daring, inside-out architecture and modern art museum have made it one of Pariss premier cultural attractions, will close for renovations from late 2023 until some time in 2027, Frances culture minister said on Monday.

The center, which opened in 1977, is notable for the way its architects, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, moved many of the buildings structural and mechanical elements to its exterior, which is veined with color-coded water pipes, air-conditioning ducts and a caterpillar-like escalator snaking up its facade.

But it has had physical problems before  it was closed in 1997 for renovations that took a couple of years  and lately has been showing signs of aging again. Roselyne Bachelot, Frances culture minister, told the newspaper Le Figaro that she had been faced with two options: trying to keep the Pompidou Center open during the work, which would then take longer, or allowing it to be closed completely for the duration.

I chose the second because it should be shorter and a little bit less expensive, she said.

Officials now said that many components of the building, which was once seen as a jolt of shocking modernity in the stately heart of Paris, are at the end of their useful lives  including an antiquated heating and cooling system, escalators and elevators that break down, and asbestos that must be removed  Le Figaro reported. The newspaper reported that the renovations could cost 200 million, or about $243 million.
Sairagul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh from China, was sent to work as a teacher in one of the country's so-called "reeducation camps." Human rights researchers say more than 1 million detainees, mostly Muslims, have been imprisoned in the camps. In 2018, Sauytbay escaped to Kazakhstan, then Sweden, and began recounting shocking stories of torture and oppression at the camp in China's Xinjiang region. Her efforts to reveal the conditions there have won her international recognition.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Congress is pinning its hopes on the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, where it will contest in alliance with the DMK, with former party president Rahul Gandhi making a trip to the southern state twice in 10 days and is expected to visit the state again in February.

Rahul Gandhi has been invoking Tamil pride in the state and attacking the BJP and AIADMK. In one of his speeches, the Congress leader said, "The Prime Minister says one language, one culture and one nation. Is Tamil not an Indian language? Is Tamil history not Indian history?" Attacking the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said in another of his speeches, "It is an honour for me to be here with you. Whenever I come to Tamil Nadu, I am struck by your enthusiasm and by the way you live your life, something that I call Tamil spirit. No matter what difficulty you face, you always have a smile on your face and remain positive." He also said that in every non-BJP ruled state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses the CBI and ED to attack the opposition. "Why is the ED and the CBI not investigating the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister? What has the CM given to PM Modi in exchange for this? That is the central question," he said.

Rahul Gandhi also alleged that Modi has the remote control to the government of Tamil Nadu, but the people of the state will take the batteries out of his remote control and throw them away.

The Congress is eyeing the Tamil Nadu elections as the feedback to the party is that the DMK-Congress alliance will sweep the polls, sources said.

The DMK-Congress alliance had outsmarted the AIADMK in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and holds an advantage in the Assembly elections as the ruling party lacks a charismatic leader such as Jayalalitha.

While the DMK has an alliance with the Congress, the AIADMK is likely to go with the BJP. The Congress is optimistic as its alliance with the DMK and the CPI(M) had won 38 out of the 39 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

There is also an anti-incumbency factor in Tamil Nadu with the AIADMK ruling the state for two terms now.
The entry of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) into the authorized capital of Ukraine's state-owned bank Ukrgasbank is a big step to reduce the role of the state in the economy and will be an important indicator for investors, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

He said this during the signing of a loan agreement between the Ukrainian Finance Ministry, IFC and Ukrgasbank with the possibility of converting credit funds into the bank's authorized capital, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"This is one of the important and big steps in reforming our state - reducing the role of the state in the economy. It is part of the program of the President of Ukraine. It is one of the points of the program of the Government of Ukraine ... Today it is a signal to investors, to Ukraine's future partners that it is necessary and possible to invest here," Shmyhal said.

He thanked partners from the International Finance Corporation for the help and support they provided during the implementation of a number of projects in Ukraine.

"Actually, the International Finance Corporation will become an important indicator for someone, an important sign that Ukraine's banking system is a stable and reliable partner for future investments," he added.

In June 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers authorized Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko to sign agreements on the provision of a loan to the state-owned Ukreximbank by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). IFC can provide the state-owned Ukrgasbank with a five-year loan of 30 million euros with the possibility of converting it into a share in the bank's share capital of up to 20%.

Photo: angolaforex.com
Pfizer covid-19 vaccine

Australia's medical regulator has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use under a formal process, one of the first countries to complete a comprehensive approval, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday.

The vaccine had been provisionally approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration's (TGA) for Australians aged 16 years and over, Morrison told reporters, noting it was a year since the first coronavirus case was detected in the country.

Vaccination of priority groups is expected to begin in late February, at 80,000 doses per week, Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters.

Two doses will be required  at least 21 days apart, a government statement said. Australia will administer both doses of the vaccine at the recommended time.

"You don't start what you can't finish, and finishing the job involves two doses," said Morrison, adding a digital system would ensure people get two doses.

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 cautioned there are limitations to what the vaccines can do and that the rollout would not mean border restrictions would be lifted.

Quarantine and border personnel, frontline health workers, aged care and disability staff and residents will be the first group to receive vaccines.

Australia expects to have the capacity to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine onshore starting late March.

"I welcome the TGA's approval of the Pfizer vaccine, with our own Australian experts finding it is safe, effective and of a high standard," Morrison said in a statement.
Colonel Santosh Babu, the Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar regiment, who lost his life during the Galwan Valley clash last year, will be posthumously awarded with Maha Vir Chakra on Republic Day.

The 39-year-old colonel was among the 20 Indian soldiers killed in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, last year, during a violent clash with Chinese.

Mahavir Chakra is Indias second-highest military decoration after Param Vir Chakra. Colonel Babus name was recommended for the honour by the Indian Armys top brass.

Days after the Colonel fell in the line of duty, his wife Santoshi was felicitated by the Army on the occasion of Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) Foundation Day at Officers Mess of Basantar Brigade in Hyderabad.

She was also appointed as deputy collector by the Telangana government and was handed over a house site in Hyderabad.

"The state government has appointed Ms Santoshi, wife of Col Santosh Babu who was martyred in the recent clashes on the Indo-China Border, as Deputy Collector. Honourable Chief Minister Sri K Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday at Pragathi Bhavan handed over the appointment letter to Ms Santoshi," an official release had said.

Colonel Santosh's body was draped in tricolour and a large number of people paid their last respects to him amid chants of "Bharat mata ki jai".
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 25 : The national tourism day is generally celebrated in a grand manner in Kerala as the state which is named as " God's Own Country" , has been pitching itself as a major tourist destination.

However the tragic death of an adventure tourist while holidaying at a rain forest resort at Meppadi in Wayanad, has spoilt the tourism day celebrations. Shahana Kallarapurayil, 26, was trampled to death by a wild elephant at a makeshift tent on Saturday night.

The resort, which did not have the necessary permit to conduct adventure tourism, was ordered to be shut down by Wayanad district collector Adeela Abdulla.

The big question arising is: Is the department conducting due diligence before granting permission to operate tourist resorts in the natural habitat of wild elephants. The resort where the tragedy struck was located in a landslide-prone area as well.

Meppadi Grama panchayath president Omana Ramesh, while speaking to mediapersons, said: "We have just assumed office after the local body elections and on primary investigation we found that this resort doesn't have a licence issued by the gram panchayat. The district collector has already ordered closure of this resort." The government has issued guidelines for resorts to conduct adventure tourism and for outdoor tents and conducting trekking within the dense forests.

State minister for tourism , Kadakampally Surendran while speaking to mediapersons, said, "The government has already issued guidelines regarding the installation of tents in dense forests and promoting adventure tourism. The government has been promoting all areas of tourism but those who own such resorts have to be more careful and take all necessary precautions and procure all the required licences." While Kerala tourism is also promoting mud tourism, rain tourism and medical tourism, the euphoria on the national tourism day is not there following the mishap which could have been averted if more caution would have taken regarding these tourist spots.

Sebastian Vetturparyil ,a tourist resort owner at Idukki, told IANS. "The tourist resort owners have been hard-pressed following Covid and lockdowns and once the situation was looking up, this incident will definitely hit our fortunes. The resort owners should have been more alert while organising such camps in the elephant paths. This has affected the entire industry and the message going out is not good."
Vietnams field hospital in South Sudan honoured for outstanding contributions to UN peacekeeping

Vietnamese peacekeepers at Vietnams Level-2 field Hospital No. 2 (L2FH2) in South Sudan have been honoured with United Nations Peacekeeping medals in recognition of their outstanding contributions during a year-long mission in the country.













Member of Vietnams second Level-2 Field Hospital in South Sudan.







At a medal parade ceremony held in Bentiu, South Sudan on January 22, Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Bentiu Field Office Hiroko Hirahara and Sector Unity Commander for UNMISS Major General Shamim Kamal presented the medals to all 63 members of the L2FH2.



This is a recognition from the UN of the hospitals efforts during their mission in South Sudan, as well as being a testament to Vietnam's contributions as an active and responsible member of the UN, contributing to peace and stability around the world.



Speaking at the event, Hiroko Hirahara expressed her sincere thanks to the Vietnamese government for deploying the hospital to the UN peacekeeping mission.



She affirmed that amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnams field hospitals have played an important role in pandemic control and prevention at the Bentiu base, as well as actively contributing to the implementation of response plans and strictly following the regulations of the mission as well as those of the World Health Organisation.



The UN official also hailed the L2FH2 for its active participation in Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) activities, including HIV/AIDS counselling, supporting Bentiu Hospital, sharing medicine and equipment with local authorities, and providing useful devices and learning tools for local students, in addition to their consistent and professional work.



Thanking the UNMISS and other relevant units for their support at the hospital over the past year, Director of the L2FH2 Lieutenant Colonel Vo Van Hien, expressed how it was both his and his teams honour to make contributions to solidarity and cooperation within the UNs organs.



After more than a year in the UN peacekeeping mission, L2FH2 has received and treated over 1,600 patients, performed 28 surgeries and transported seven patients for emergency treatment by airway to higher level hospitals, while successfully handling complex medical emergencies that require a high level of expertise.



In particular, the hospital examined, screened and treated more than 59 suspected COVID-19 cases while protecting the hospital staff, participated in anti-epidemic support for other units in the mission, as well as providing professional training and advising on disease prevention and control measures in the stationed area.



The hospital earlier received compliments from the UN health division based in New York as the hospital with the best preparation within the UNMISS in response to COVID-19, in addition to other commendations from the heads of the UN health agency, the UN peacekeeping forces medical division, and the UNMIS health department.
A major and messy winter storm will rage across parts of the Midwest Monday and Tuesday, particularly to our south in central Iowa, but some of this could clip our area.

First, here is how today plays out.

TODAY'S FORECAST

Monday will be a mix of sun and clouds. Dry air in central Minnesota will keep skies more clear during the middle of the day in Southern Minnesota, but clouds will likely hang on just over the border in Northern Iowa as the storm works to our south. High temps near 20 degrees today can be expected, with wind chills around 10 degrees at the very most.

SNOW OVERNIGHT - IT'S GOING TO BE CLOSE

Between dry air to our north being pushed south, and humid air with the storm being pushed north, this is a great setup to get an incredibly sharp and narrow divide between where we see snow and where we don't. And with the storm working west-east through Iowa, there won't be a whole lot of north/south movement in the snow by the time it's snowing.

Snow will add up fast on one side of the divide where multiple inches are possible. Little to no snow at all is expected on the flipside to the south. The current forecast calls for 1-4 inches moving through Charles City, with Mason City on the edge of that divide. It is important to note that the difference between no snow and 4 inches could be as small as 10 miles. Some widely used weather models are pushing snow further north into Minnesota, but high resolution models are resoundingly trending south with dry air keeping things at bay. This is about as good of a setup for a sharp cutoff as you can get.

Winter Weather Advisories are out for Hancock, Cerro Gordo, and Floyd counties 6pm Monday - 6am Tuesday. These could be expanded or contracted later today as the storm draws closer.

Bottom line: Folks in northern Iowa need to be aware of the potential for several inches of snow tonight, and stay tuned to the forecast tonight for changes.
HARRISBURG  In December 2017, Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation to increase oversight for drug and alcohol recovery houses  a measure that lawmakers said was needed to fight the opioid epidemic and protect vulnerable people from being exploited.

The action by lawmakers came after years of complaints from local government leaders and some recovery advocates, who said profit-driven owners packed people into homes, provided few rules and little support, and put residents at greater risk of relapsing.

But more than three years later, recovery homes  believed to number in the thousands  continue to operate without state oversight, Spotlight PA has found. The states Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs missed a June 2020 deadline to, for the first time, create a certification or licensing process for them.

People often move into these homes after going through a treatment program, and they agree to rules, like following curfews, to help them avoid using drugs and alcohol.

Department officials said earlier this month they were completing an internal review of draft regulations and planned to send them to the attorney generals office by the end of January, but couldnt commit to a timeline for when licensing and oversight will begin.

Im saddened by that because the longer it takes to set that up, the more individuals could pass away in these unstructured recovery homes, said Amber Longhitano, a former council member in Bristol Twp., Bucks County, who pushed state lawmakers to create oversight for recovery homes.

Beyond the delay, theres a more fundamental problem with the oversight effort: Its voluntary, though there are incentives.

Homes that receive or want to receive state or federal money, as well as ones seeking referrals from state agencies and state-funded facilities, will have to follow the licensing rules. And judges will have to first consider a licensed home when approving housing for people under court supervision.

Some advocates for higher standards believe poorly run or predatory homes might simply opt out of the licensing process. Jason Sabol  an attorney for the city of York, which several years ago estimated it had about 80 recovery homes  said he appreciated the effort, though he doubted it would bring the relief residents are looking for.

They think that help is coming, Sabol said. Unfortunately, its really not.

And many in the recovery home industry fear proposed regulations requiring fees, background checks, training and annual audits could make it almost impossible for good homes to obtain a license.

There was a cost to the operator that a lot of people had problems with, especially if it was a mom-and-pop recovery house, said Fred Way, executive director of the Pennsylvania Alliance of Recovery Residences.

Even a Republican state representative who helped write the 2017 recovery house law  Frank Farry of Bucks County  warned that regulations proposed by the Wolf administration go too far, telling the department that he heard from local recovery house owners who support having their industry regulated but fear these regulations cannot be met and are unmanageable.

Officials with the department have adjusted the draft regulations based on feedback. But they are defending the proposal and said the latest version  which they havent made public  keeps the audit requirement and others the industry opposes, according to Jennifer Smith, secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

I think we may still hear some of those same concerns, Smith told Spotlight PA. In fact, I think we probably wont hear the concerns die a little bit until we actually start implementing.

The lack of action on recovery homes comes as the opioid crisis continues to kill thousands of people in Pennsylvania each year. More than 4,400 people died of a drug overdose in Pennsylvania in 2018  a rate that ranked fourth in the nation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug overdose deaths were similar in 2019, and some parts of Pennsylvania are reporting a record number of drug overdose deaths for 2020, in tandem with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 has contributed to the delay, but the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs was already behind on its plan before the pandemic began. Smith said the department faced other priorities as it responded to the opioid epidemic, including expanding access to naloxone, which can rapidly reverse a narcotic overdose.

Its just a matter of kind of juggling priorities and making sure that were continuing to keep everything moving, she said.

The wild, wild, west

As a council member in Bristol Twp., Longhitano championed a local ordinance regulating recovery homes.

These homes  which dont offer formal treatment, such as medical prescriptions or counseling can provide important support early in someones recovery, as they are starting new jobs and taking on new responsibilities, industry officials and addiction advocates said.

If we dont provide them a way to do that, people end up homeless, or back in prison, or back in treatment, said William Stauffer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance.

Longhitano agreed that communities need these facilities, some of which are set up wonderfully and are helping people by the hundreds recover.

But she said too many unregulated homes hurt the whole community.

And sometimes tragic things happen to the people inside.

In 2016, The Philadelphia Inquirer described how pastors and others in Puerto Rico sent people to Philadelphia, where recovery house operators took advantage of them, forced them to hand over food stamp benefits and generated money by referring residents to treatment centers.

An investigative statewide grand jury report, released in 2019, alleged that a Bucks County-based treatment provider, the now-closed Liberation Way, used recovery homes as part of an elaborate and complex insurance fraud scheme in which patients were cycled through the treatment process as many times as possible to maximize billing. Some housing staff and employees had sexual relationships with patients who were actively receiving treatment, and some homes were located in areas known for nefarious activity, which made it easier for residents to relapse, the grand jury said.

It was like the wild, wild west, said state Rep. Tina Davis, D-Bucks, one of the lawmakers who turned their attention to recovery homes as the opioid epidemic surged.

In 2014, Stauffer and Way served on a task force, alongside others in the recovery community and state officials, to study recovery houses and make recommendations for safety standards. Some of those recommendations, released in 2016, were incorporated into legislation that came up for a vote the following year.

It has been a long time coming, Davis said on the House floor at the time.

Smith said the department used input from the recovery house task force to influence its proposed regulations. But three members of the group  Way, Stauffer and Denise Holden, CEO of the recovery home operator RASE Project  told Spotlight PA they had concerns about the draft released in 2019.

Ways organization, the Pennsylvania Alliance of Recovery Residences, is in favor of oversight. In fact, his organization inspects and certifies homes for owners that want to meet national standards. The goal, he said, is to make the homes better.

But the cost of implementing the proposed requirements  from a $250 license and renewal fee to hiring an independent certified public accountant to conduct annual financial audits  would make it prohibitive to get a license in the first place, he said.

Stauffer said some of the proposed changes are welcome. That includes safety requirements for the property, as well as measures to protect residents financially. The draft regulations would ban recovery house operators from forcing residents to sign over public assistance benefits, and it would ban them from requiring residents to attend a specific treatment facility.

But like Way, hes concerned about the additional financial burden. Hes glad the state hasnt introduced the regulations during the coronavirus pandemic, at a time when many are already struggling and the homes are desperately needed.

Any kind of change at this point would make that housing less stable.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 00:07:46|Editor: huaxia

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ANKARA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Pirates that kidnapped 15 Turkish crew members of a cargo ship off the Gulf of Guinea two days ago have not established any contact with the authorities, Turkey's foreign minister said on Monday.

"Pirates have not got in touch either with us, with the company or with the families of the sailors," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters.

The Turkish government is contacting Nigeria to rescue its sailors, he added.

"We are in contact with the neighboring countries. Everyone is making great efforts. The company that owns the ship, likewise, has completed all necessary preparations," Cavusoglu said.

The incident would be a lesson both to the countries and to companies in the region, the minister said, noting that similar attacks have happened in the same region in the past.

The ship named Mozart was attacked by naval thugs on Saturday about 180 miles off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria. The pirates kidnapped 15 from the ship, and one Azerbaijani citizen was reportedly killed during the fight. Enditem
Allies should work closely over North Korea



The United States has vowed to map out a "new strategy" for the denuclearization of North Korea in consultation with its allies. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that President Joe Biden believes North Korea's ballistic missiles and other nuclear proliferation-related activities constitute a serious threat to international peace and security. "The U.S. still has a vital interest in deterring North Korea," she said in a press briefing



Her remark drew attention as it was the Biden administration's first official statement on North Korea since its Jan. 20 inauguration. The statement is in line with what Tony Blinken, Biden's pick for secretary of state, said during his confirmation hearing Jan. 19 that the U.S. would review its approach toward North Korea.



This shows North Korea will not be an exception in the Biden administration's pursuit of "Anything But Trump" (ABT). This also means the U.S. will refrain from taking Trump's "top-down" approach of focusing on summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Instead, Biden will likely pursue a "bottom-up" method based on working-level negotiations. The U.S. is also expected to boost multilateralism and close cooperation with allies.



The Biden administration has yet to work out the details of its North Korea policy. Yet President Moon Jae-in should seek closer collaboration with Washington so that South Korea's stance can be reflected in the U.S. policymaking process based on the firm bilateral alliance.



Against this backdrop, we welcome the telephone conversation between Suh Hoon, director of the National Security Office at Cheong Wa Dae, and Jake Sullivan, White House security adviser. During the 40-minute call Saturday, Sullivan reconfirmed the Biden administration's commitment to strengthening the bilateral alliance, according to the White House. In the same vein, Defense Minister Suh Wook also held phone talks Sunday with newly confirmed U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, stressing the importance of the alliance and agreeing to improve it.



However, there are concerns over the possible discrepancies between the two allies with regard to North Korea. Seoul is trying to revitalize the Korean Peninsula "peace process" based on the denuclearization agreement reached by Trump and Kim Jong-un in their historic June 2018 summit in Singapore. But Washington is poised to scrap Trump's "progress."



North Korea is stepping up pressure on the U.S. by pursuing a "strength for strength and goodwill for goodwill" formula in dealing with the U.S. Amid the tug-of-war with Washington, Pyongyang might resort to military provocations to escalate tension on the peninsula.



The Korea-U.S. joint military exercise slated for March will be a significant juncture in determining the future security landscape. The two allies need to hold high-level talks to discuss the scale and size of the drill.



Besides North Korea, the allies need to jointly tackle many issues such as Biden's new strategies on the Indo-Pacific region and China. We urge Moon and Biden to hold a summit at an early date to discuss matters of mutual concern.


Pretoria (South Africa) 24 January 2021 (SPS)- The President of South Africa and Chair of the African Union, Cyril Ramaphosa, called on the US President, Joe Biden, to reverse the illegal recognition of Morocco sovereignty over Western Sahara, in his speech Today before the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) lekgotla, which ended its weekend-long meeting on Sunday.

President Ramaphosa called on America to speedily reverse the illegal recognition and imposition of Morocco sovereignty over Western Sahara, welcoming the positive commitment to renewed global collaboration signals by President Joe Biden of the USA.

He further raised concerns about the lack of progress in solving the issue of Western Sahara in a manner that recognizes the right of Saharawi people to full self-determination and independence, emphasizing that Sout Africa will intensify our efforts in the African Union. (SPS)

090/500/60 (SPS)
Officers were called to the 2800 block of West 23rd Street about 7:45 a.m., Chicago police said. A man was discovered outside with multiple gunshot wounds throughout the body, according to a statement from authorities. Chicago Fire Department personnel took the man to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said police, who provided no details about the circumstances of the shooting.
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A few years back one of my friends was trying to share the gospel with a guy who, after a while, started almost screaming at him, What about the pygmies?? What about the pygmies?? My friend let the guy calm down for a second and then he asked him a simple question:

Are you a pygmy?

His point was, on the day of judgment its not going to be about those who may have never heard the gospel in general, but about you in particular. As C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, If you are worried about the people on the outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself.

That said, the question of what happens to those who supposedly never hear the gospel is something worth exploring and getting to the bottom of.

What do we know?

In approaching the question, its helpful to revisit some core biblical facts that arent up for dispute. The first is that an all-powerful, good, and all-knowing God exists who isnt handicapped in any way when it comes to a persons salvation: Behold, the Lords hand is not so short that it cannot save (Is. 59:1).

Next, Scripture makes it clear that, because of general revelation, and what John Calvin called the sensus divinitatis, everyone knows God exists and we are all without excuse when it comes to a basic knowledge of the Creator (Rom. 1:18-20).

Third, the Bible is unequivocal in its stance that salvation is obtained only through the work of Jesus Christ (Act 4:12) and that humanity is fallen and will not seek God on their own (Rom. 3). It doesnt matter when or where a person is born, they will not come to God in and of themselves and instead must first be sought by God (John 6:44).

Lastly, Gods plan of salvation is one where not everyone is saved, but in fact only few are saved and most are lost.

What are the options?

There are at least four positions put forward when it comes to answering the question of those whove never heard the gospel. The first is universalism, which says that Jesus died for everyone on the cross and therefore all are saved whether they have heard of Him or not. The biblical evidence against universalism is very weighty and, because of that, its not a view to be embraced.

The second is an obscure stance called post-mortem evangelism. Based on 1 Peter 4:6, it asserts that after death those who dont know about God/Jesus will be presented with the gospel and given a chance to accept it. There are myriads of problems with this stance (e.g. one should never use obscure passages in Scripture instead of clear ones to interpret key doctrines) and so its also one not held by the Church at large.

A third stance is called inclusivism and is the first of two positions that are held by the majority in Christendom. It teaches that people dont need to directly hear the gospel, but instead are educated about God via nature and will be judged by the moral law inside everyone and what information they do possess. C. S. Lewis was one who held to this position, writing: There are people in other religions who are being led by Gods secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religions which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it.

The last majority position is called exclusivism (or restrictivism) and says that today a person must be presented with and accept the gospel in order to be saved.

Which is it?

The Bibles plan of progressive revelation is best summed up by Charles Ryrie: The basis of salvation in every age is the death of Christ; the requirement for salvation in every age is faith; the object of faith in every age is God; the content of faith changes in the various ages.

Before Christ, In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness (Acts 14:16). Were told the faith of those in the Old Testament was sufficient for salvation just like the writer of Hebrews says: For by it [faith] the men of old gained approval (Heb. 11:2). The raising of some Old Testament saints after Christs resurrection (Matt. 27:52) serves as one proving point of this as Calvin says: "At the moment when He rose again, he deigned to make many of the saints partakers of his resurrection, and allow them to be seen in the city; thus giving a sure earnest, that everything which he did and suffered in the purchase of eternal salvation belonged to believers under the Old Testament, just as much as to us."[1]

Another good example is in the gospels and involves the tax collector spoken about by Jesus who, after confessing his sin, went to his house justified (the same word used elsewhere in the New Testament for salvation; Luke 18:14).

But today? Were told: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned (Mark 16:1516).

Paul says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. . . .How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:8-10, 14).

One of my favorite salvation stories told in this vein comes from a dean at Oxford who supported a missionary couple in Iran. The couple was driving in a desolate place, needed gas and stopped at a market. Outside was a heavily armed man in the Iranian military.

Before the man got out of the car, his wife said he should give the soldier a Bible and tucked one into his coat. When the man went inside to pay, the solider followed him in. Keep in mind that Christian evangelism in Iran can get you killed.

The man came out, got in the car, and drove off. You didnt give him the Bible did you?, the wife asked. The husband reminded her about the penalty for evangelism, after which a wonderful argument ensued between the two, which resulted in him making a U-turn and going back to the market.

He got out of his car and, in great fear, approached the soldier and handed him the Bible. The soldier stood there silent for what seemed like forever, but then first he began to quiver and then started to cry. He looked up at the missionary and said, Three days ago I had a dream where I was told to make a journey to this market and wait until a man came who would give me the book of life. Thank you.

So, what about the pygmies? The reality is, because we are all born blind and deaf to Gods call, there is no difference between a native in a distant land whos never seen a Bible or heard the gospel and someone dead in sin who is surrounded by Bibles and hears the gospel every week.

God saves those He saves regardless of where they currently are through His efficacious call and gospel message because, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you (Jer. 32:17).

[1] Calvin, John Institutes of the Christian Religion (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007), 285.
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Tens of thousands of people protested in cities across Russia on January 23, denouncing the government and demanding the release of jailed Kremlin opponent Aleksei Navalny. Thousands were detained in a harsh police crackdown that drew condemnation from Washington. RFE/RL senior correspondent Mike Eckel joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks on the East Steps of the House of Representatives in Washington, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Everybody Across This Country Has Some Responsibility for Capitol Attack: McCarthy

Americans across the country share responsibility for the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to the top Republican in the House of Representatives.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) noted then-President Donald Trump that day told supporters to demonstrate peacefully, but said he should have responded faster after the breach.

The president bears responsibility for Wednesdays attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding, McCarthy said on the House floor before Trump was impeached for alleged incitement of insurrection.

In an interview with Gray TVs Full Court Press that aired Jan. 24, McCarthy said he hasnt changed his mind on that matter.

What I said, I thought the president had some responsibility when it came to the response. If you listen to what the president said at the rally, he said, demonstrate peacefully. And then I got a question later about whether did he incite them. I also think everybody across this country has some responsibility, McCarthy said.

So I think theres from a whole nation, we should take this moment in time to find how we can correct ourselves. But President Trump said peacefully. What I said on the floor was that President Trump could have responded faster when the riots first started.

Protesters storm the Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2020. (Ahmed Gaber/Reuters)

Trump hadnt finished speaking at The Ellipse, about two miles from the Capitol, when the violence began on Jan. 6. After the breach happened, he put out one video, then another, urging people to leave the building and go home, and to respect law enforcement.

I thought his video, the second video, was a very good video. I wish that was the first one, McCarthy said.

Some Democrats took issue with McCarthys remarks.

You werent the one who, in the words of [Rep.] Liz Cheney, summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Stop trying to take credit for the insurrection. Only one person could have unleashed this mob: the former President, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) wrote in a tweet.

All of us now, everybody, he says, must take responsibility. No way. No way can that work, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) added on MSNBCs The Sunday Show.

This man is one of the operatives of Trump, and he has done everything to support him throughout his four years in office. Hes tried to back away from it, now hes trying to blame others for it. The fact of the matter is, this wont workit wont work. They cannot blame anybody else, the responsibility is squarely on the shoulders of the president.
Editor,

I find it quite disturbing how many recent letter writers espouse their religious beliefs when they obviously, to me, have little understanding of how and why their beliefs came to be what they are.

My understanding of Christianity and Catholicism in particular came about by attending a Catholic University. My education taught me all I needed in chemistry and physics to be a scientist first and then a law enforcement officer. These careers rely on evidence.

Being a trained scientist, I question everything, no matter who might be offended or why. Evidence in the Christian faith is ostensibly absent. Belief without question is an exercise in futility. These writers only regurgitated what the leaders of their faith force-fed them.

First there is the notion that a savior ever existed. One would expect the people or followers of Jesus time would have somehow marked for reference the locations of his crucifixion, burial and supposed resurrection.

The Bible makes no mention of Jesus until several hundred years after his death. Those writers could not have lived during his times. They simply pass on legends and fairy tales of his life and death. Strict followers in the time soon after his death would have somehow marked these sites for future reference.

Consider the other notable events of the last few hundred years. The locations of these events are clearly marked. World War events and the World Trade Center destructions are clearly marked. There is no mistaking them and there likely never will be.

Now, let us consider the dates of Christmas and Easter. Christmas is quite obviously stolen from the religion of Saturnalia. In the millennia predating Christianity, the Roman Empire was the most powerful on Earth. In pre-Christian time, the Roman population generally believed in the god Saturn.

Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honor of Saturn, held on Dec. 17 of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through Dec. 23 to celebrate the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

These festivities involved gift-giving and feasting leading to the holiday we celebrate today. It predated the churchs supposed savior by hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Easter is a Christian take on another Roman tradition celebrating crop fertility. Easter was a tradition Christians in the second and third century began to observe during the Roman persecution of the church. However, the exact date it was to be observed was debated. It wasnt until that persecution lifted that the church made the date notoriously, needlessly and officially variable based on lunar cycles.

Ultimately, religious observation is futility.

Robert Hudson

Black Creek Twp.
Highlights Canon RF lenses roadmap for 2021 is out.

Canon may release a couple of lenses including zoom, prime, macro, super telephoto and more.

Some of the lenses will certainly launch ahead of the Tokyo Summer Games.

We earlier informed our readers about the expected cameras from Canon in 2021. We reported, Canon may unveil two 8K cinema cameras, APS-C RF body and more in 2021. Now we have the company's expected lens roadmap. Courtesy of Canon Rumors, Canon RF lens roadmap "for the next couple of years" is out.

In the list of the cameras, there are tilt-shift lenses, zoom lenses, prime lenses, macro lenses and super telephoto lenses. All the lenses will support Canon RF lens mount which is an interchangeable lens mount for the company's full-frame mirrorless cameras.

--For the Canon RF tilt-shift lenses, the company may release TS-R 14mm F4L and TS-R 24mm F3.5L.

--For the Canon RF zoom lenses, users will probably get 10-24mm F4L USM, 14-35mm F4L IS USM, 18-45mm F4-5.6 IS STM, and 100-400mm F5.6-7.1 IS USM.

--For the Canon RF prime lenses, these are the expected optics: 35mm F1.2L USM and 135mm F1.4L USM.

--For the Canon RF macro lenses, there will be 24mm F1.8 IS STM Macro and 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM reportedly.

--For the Canon RF super telephoto lenses, users will reportedly get 400mm F2.8L IS USM, 500mm F4L IS USM, 600mm F4L IS USM, 800mm F5.6L IS USM and 1200mm F8L IS USM.

This is not a complete list of the upcoming lenses for the Canon RF mount for 2021, according to Canon Rumors. The report also states that there is a possibility of lenses getting delayed for the launch. The aforementioned lenses may take time to reach in the hands of consumers. The primary reason is the manufacturing challenges that many camera makers are facing in the current scenario. In fact, the already announced Canon RF 70-200mm F4L IS USM has also been delayed for months because of the same problem.

But it is certain that Canon would want to make a splash ahead of the Tokyo Summer Games. And if the company decides to release the Canon EOS R1 flagship camera, we will see new lenses as well that may complement the camera body.
Human females rely on aids like charting, test strips or wearable tech to identify periods of fertility. Some animals, like baboons, undergo obvious physical changes during ovulation. How did fertility become so hard to detect in humans?

For nearly half a century, the evolution of concealed ovulation in human females has been explained as useful for securing male partners to help raise and support children. A study published on January 25 in Nature Human Behaviour casts doubt on this long-standing idea. Using agent-based computational models, a team of evolutionary scientists has shown that concealed ovulation might have actually evolved to allow females to hide their fertility status from other females.

"The study of human evolution has tended to look at things from a male perspective, and even adaptations specific to females - like their social behavior and concealed ovulation - are have been viewed in terms of how males shape them. This study challenges the idea that the role of female sociality is to better secure male partners and their resources; our computational model shows female sociality is about much more than securing male investment," said Athena Aktipis, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University and senior author on the paper.

Out with the old, in with the new

The idea that females evolved to conceal ovulation from males to encourage them to help with children, called the male investment hypothesis, was proposed as a way of understanding why human females do not advertise ovulation. This hypothesis has been the predominant explanation for female sociality and concealed ovulation for decades, though it has undergone few empirical tests and has not been formally modeled until now.

But females do not just interact with males. They interact with each other, sometimes cooperating and other times engaging in conflict.

"I have been puzzling over the male investment hypothesis for years, and because you cannot argue with a verbal hypothesis, I started work on how to test it," Aktipis said. "At the same time, I was working on female sociality and it struck me that females could have been aggressing against other females showing ovulatory cues, which then would create a benefit to concealing ovulation."

The team of evolutionary scientists tested the idea that female conflict might have driven the evolution of concealed ovulation, which they call the female rivalry hypothesis, using an agent-based computational model. Evolutionary adaptations in humans happen on the timescale of many generations, which makes it hard to test whether or how traits might evolve. Computational modeling allows researchers to test ideas that would be hard to test in the real world.

In agent-based computational models, an agent represents an individual whose behavior can be programmed and analyzed. Each agent follows a specific set of rules and can interact with other agents and with the environment. In the model developed to test the female rivalry hypothesis, male and female agents followed rules governing their movement, reproductive behavior and attractiveness.

The male agents varied in terms of their promiscuity. Promiscuous males did not partner with females to help raise subsequent children, while male agents that were not promiscuous stuck around to share resources and support future children.

Female agents either had physical cues indicating when they were ovulating or ovulation was concealed. The female agents could also aggress against each other.

The female and male agents interacted with each other and had opportunities to procreate and form parenting partnerships. The model supported the female rivalry hypothesis by showing that females who concealed ovulation fared better. They had more children, avoided female-female aggression and succeeded in forming parenting relationships with males.

"Work in social science has tended to assume that male cognition and behavior is the default. But females recurrently face some unique challenges--particularly in their interactions with other females. This work is the result, in part, of taking that idea seriously. When we do that, I think we'll learn more, not just about the female mind, but about the human mind," said Jaimie Arona Krems, assistant professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University and first author on the paper.

The research team also used the model to test the male investment hypothesis, by running scenarios that did not allow females to aggress against each other. But there was no clear benefit from concealing ovulation in this scenario, suggesting that concealed ovulation in females might not have evolved because of interactions with males, but rather because of interactions with other females.

"This work represents a necessary shift in thinking about how human females have evolved. Female sociality and other adaptations are not just about securing male investment, even though that has long been the underlying assumption about the purpose of female social behavior," Aktipis said.

###

Other coauthors on the paper include Scott Classens, a former visiting scholar in the ASU Department of Psychology now at the University of Auckland; Marco Campenni, a former ASU psychology postdoctoral scholar now at the University of Exeter; and Melissa Fales and Martie Haselton of the University of California, Los Angeles.
scion Lee Jae-yong will not appeal a court ruling that sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for bribing South Korea's then-president for business favours.

Lee's lawyers informed reporters of the decision on Monday as prosecutors faced a deadline for filing an appeal to the Supreme Court, which would extend the legal saga over South Korea's largest business group.

They had sought a 9-year prison term for Lee, whose case highlighted often-corrupt ties between the country's family-owned conglomerates and politicians.

The allegation involving Lee was a key crime in the 2016 corruption scandal that ousted Park Geun-hye from the presidency and sent her to prison.

In a much-anticipated retrial of Lee last week, the Seoul High Court found him guilty of bribing Park and one of her close confidantes to win government support for a 2015 merger between two affiliates. The deal helped strengthen Lee's control over Samsung's corporate empire.

Lee had portrayed himself as a victim of presidential power abuse and his lawyers criticised the ruling. But after mulling his options, Lee decided to humbly accept the High Court's decision, his lawyer Injae Lee said.

did not release a statement over Lee Jae-yong's legal issues. Prosecutors as of Monday afternoon have not revealed whether they would appeal the High Court ruling, which was criticized by some activists as being too lenient.

Lee, 52, helms the Samsung group in his capacity as vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest makers of computer chips and smartphones.

Aside of the case, Lee has also been separately indicted on charges of stock price manipulation, breach of trust and auditing violations related to the 2015 merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.

Like other family-run conglomerates in South Korea, Samsung has been credited with helping propel the country's economy to one of the world's largest from the rubbles of the 1950-53 Korean War.

But their opaque ownership structure and often-corrupt ties with bureaucrats and government officials have been viewed as a hotbed of corruption in

While never admitting to legal wrongdoing, Lee has expressed remorse over causing public concern over the corruption scandal and worked to improve Samsung's public image.

He declared that heredity transfers at Samsung would end, promising the management rights he inherited from his father wouldn't pass to his children.

He also said Samsung would stop suppressing employee attempts to organize unions, although labor activists have questioned his sincerity.

It's not immediately clear what his prison term would mean for Samsung businesswise.

Samsung showed no specific signs of trouble the previous time Lee was in jail in 2017 and 2018, and prison terms have never really stopped corporate leaders from relaying their business decisions from behind bars.

The Supreme Court earlier this month confirmed a 20-year prison sentence for Park for the Samsung case and other bribes and extortion while she was in office from 2013 to 2016.

(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.)
MBABANE  Renowned political activist and PUDEMO founding member Mphandlana Shongwe wants the High Court to compel the DPP to either prosecute him or issue a legal notice that the Crown has abandoned prosecution against him.

The charge of allegedly contravening the Suppression of Terrorism Act has been hanging over Shongwes head for almost 11 years and five months now.

Shongwe is further seeking an order directing the director of public prosecutions (DPP) to refund him a sum of E6 000 he paid as bail and the variation of his bail conditions.

Compel

The political activist wants the court to also compel the DPP and the national commissioner of police to issue a nolle prosequi certificate to him in terms Section 6 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.

Nolle prosequi is a Latin word for we shall no longer prosecute, which is a declaration made to the judge by a prosecutor in a criminal case (or by a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit) either before or during trial, meaning the case against the defendant is being dropped. The statement is an admission that the charges cannot be proved, that evidence has demonstrated either innocence or a fatal flaw in the prosecutions claim or the district attorney has become convinced the accused is innocent.

Section 6 provides that: The DPP may, at any time before conviction, stop any prosecution commenced by him or by any other person; but, in the event of the accused having already pleaded to any charge, shall be entitled to a verdict of acquittal in respect of such charge.

In his application, Shongwe recounted that on July 18, 2009 he was arrested by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service while in the Manzini City. I was subsequently charged with the offence of allegedly contravening Section 11 (1) of the Suppression of Terrorism Act No.3 of 2008, submitted Shongwe. He told the court that he was then incarcerated and later granted bail.

Reporting

He brought it to the attention of the court that he had been subjected to reporting to the Manzini Police Station every last Friday of each month, a thing he was doing even today.

I verily believe that the criminal charges have been hanging over my head for the past 11 years and five months. I verily believe that this is a violation of my constitutional right and abuse of the countrys legal system, contended the renowned political activist.

It was further his averment that the period of 11 years five months without trial was due to the fact that his conduct was not unlawful as per the charges that were preferred against him.

I verily believe that the scanty, vexatious and frivolous evidence in the summary of evidence gives the DPP powers to prosecute my case as indicted. It is common cause and trite law that the DPP has since stopped to prosecute and as such has a constitutional right to issue a nolle prosequi certificate or issue a legal notice that he had abandoned prosecution.

He contended that at all material times he had been out on bail with stringent bail conditions attached. Shongwe submitted that he was applying for variation of the bail condition and refund of the money he paid as bail because the DPP was not willing to prosecute him for the charge that was preferred against him on July 28, 2009.

I verily believe that in determination of the criminal offence, I should be afforded or given a fair and speedy hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court. I am presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law, argued the political activist.

He informed the court that he believed that the DPP would not suffer any prejudice in the event the court granted him the orders. The matter is pending before court and the respondents are expected to file their papers in the event they are opposing the application. Shongwe is represented by Leo Ndvuna Dlamini of L.N Dlamini and Associates in Manzini.
Undergraduate enrollment at New Jerseys two-year and four-year colleges declined by 25,358 students last fall as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on higher education.

Community colleges took the biggest hit, losing 18,851 students, a more than 13 percent decline in enrollment, according to state data.

Four-year private colleges saw enrollment drop by 7%, a loss of 3,172 students. And public universities lost 3,335 students, a 2% decline.

The data, released by the state Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, reflects a nationwide trend of sagging higher education enrollment during the pandemic.

Its not a full generation but it is a lost cohort of people whose journey to a college education and better career or job was put on hiatus for a variety of reasons, said Aaron Fichtner, president of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges.

The fact that community colleges lost the most students is likely another sign that the pandemic has disproportionately affected the lives of low-income families, Fichtner said. Some students do not have internet access or a proper device for remote learning and others likely couldnt afford to continue courses, he said.

The students that are served by community colleges are disproportionately first-generation college students, students working to pay their way though college, he said. Look at the industries that have been decimated by the pandemic. They are the industries that we believe disproportionately employee our students and their families.

Enrollment is one of many challenges colleges have grappled with since the pandemic turned campuses into ghost towns and pushed courses online, college presidents told state lawmakers at a hearing Thursday.

The lost tuition revenue could be especially painful at smaller private colleges, many of which struggled in the 2010s as families looked for lower cost alternatives following the Great Recession.

Georgian Court University, a Catholic college in Lakewood, experienced a 7% decline in enrollment in the fall, President Joseph Marbach said. Spring retention rate is higher than 80%, which is similar to prior years, but the number of transfers is down, he said.

The university is also worried about the impact the pandemic has had on current high school students, who might not have as much support from school counselors as usual with applying for college, he said.

When we were in the worst of the pandemic and had no idea how long and how bad the situation would be, we envisioned horror stories of student enrollment dropping dramatically, Marbach said. In reality, the picture has been uneven.

Four-year public colleges saw the smallest percentage loss in the fall, but a sizable number of Rowan University students decided to skip the spring semester, President Ali Houshmand said Thursday.

They basically see the light at the end of the tunnel in the fall, hoping they will come back to normal, Houshmand said.

Though colleges are hoping for a speedy return to normal, there are still challenges ahead, officials at Rutgers University said.

The university expects it will be able to get all students back on campus this fall but only under a rotating schedule for in-person instruction.

Vaccines are a game-changer, and our aspirational goal is to be 100% returned in the fall, President Jonathan Holloway said. But we will not have 100% of the community at the university at the same time.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Adam Clark may be reached at aclark@njadvancemedia.com. Have a news tip or a story idea about New Jersey schools? Send it here.
Before Beaumont ISDs board of trustees votes on whether to place the renaming of the districts football stadium on the ballot Monday evening, they will meet in closed session to discuss the legal parameters with their attorney.

Some community leaders, including city councilmember Mike Getz, are questioning whether the closed portion of the meeting violates Texas open meeting laws, although BISDs attorney says the session is all above board.

I am not aware of any pertinent legal matters that the board could possibly discuss with regard to placing a matter on the May ballot that would allow the public to determine the name of the BISD stadium should continue as Memorial Stadium or revert back to having the Thomas name on it, Getz said over the weekend.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

Several exceptions are listed on the agenda posted Friday, including a section that allows for the private consultation between a governmental body and an attorney on certain matters.

BISDs attorney, Sierra Fisher, said the provision allows for any discussion that would be protected by attorney-client privilege and that the discussion would be limited to the legal parameters of the provision.

What is posted is consultation about the stadium because it is the intent of the board to consult with me and get my analysis recommendation for compliance with the law with regard to how they move forward considering the stadiums name, Fisher said. Anytime they are consulting with regard to my recommendations and options that is subject to attorney-client privilege and therefore is allowed to be conducted in closed session.

Read more: Stadium question could go to voters

The cited codes allow for private meetings between the board and attorney to discuss active or pending litigation or settlements, and other matters where the attorneys duty of confidentiality conflicts with the requirement for open meetings, according to a Q & A on the rule published by the Texas Association of School Boards.

Getz said the listed items dont fall into any of those categories.

As far as the petition to put it on the ballot, Im all for it, Getz said. My only concern is (the board) getting in there behind closed doors and discussing something that is of public interest, and that I dont see how in the world that would pertain to a legal matter.

The special meeting was called a day after board members voted down a proposal to revert the name of the complex, currently known as Memorial Stadium, to that of a former superintendent Carrol Thomas.

Related: BISD to hold special meeting on election order for stadium name change

A debate over the name has highlighted longstanding rifts in the community, with several board members agreeing that allowing voters to make a final decision would provide closure and an opportunity for the district to move on.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:45 p.m Monday evening.

isaac.windes@hearstnp.com

twitter.com/isaacdwindes
Seventh Annual Holiday Donation Drive Benefits Hospices in Poland and Vilnius; Supports New York Childrens Smile Foundation in Queens

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the seventh consecutive year, members of the nations largest ethnic credit union, the Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union, donated more than $100,000 to organizations and foundations committed to assisting sick, terminally ill and disadvantaged children.

The PSFCUs annual holiday donation drive garnered nearly $103,000 from members, all of which will be donated to The Childrens Home Hospice Foundation (Promyczek) in Otwock, Poland; the Nursing Home for Children and Youth (Dom Chlopakow) in Broniszewice, Poland; the Blessed M. Sopocko Hospice in Vilnius, Lithuania; and the New York Childrens Smile Foundation in Queens, NY.

This years program commenced Nov. 27 and ran through the end of the year. Members donated money while visiting local PSFCU branches or online via the credit unions mobile banking app and website.

Since debuting its holiday donation drive in 2014, PSFCU has collected more than $834,000, which has been donated in its entirety to benefit a total of 16 childrens hospices throughout Poland these past seven years. The hospice in the Lithuanian capital has been receiving donations from PSFCU members for the second time, and the New York Childrens Smile Foundation has been part of the program since the beginning in 2014.

As they have done so thoughtfully these past seven years, our caring members have once again shown great generosity, said Bogdan Chmielewski, PSFCU President/CEO. It is remarkable how our members have stepped forward to help those who are less fortunate. We are so grateful to have members who recognize the need to assist these organizations that do so much to care for children. Even the smallest donations, done in such difficult times during this pandemic, will go far.

The Otwock hospice will receive $38,390, the Broniszewice nursing home will receive $25,719, the Vilnius hospice will receive $24,435, and the New York childrens foundation will receive $14,361 from this years charity drive.

In total, thousands of members donated to the effort over the 35 days, recording nearly 4,700 transactions in the form of donations.

ABOUT PSFCU

Founded in Brooklyn, NY in 1976, PSFCU is the largest ethnic credit union in the U.S. with $2.3 billion in assets. It offers carefully tailored financial products and services to its 135,000 members and their families throughout the country, mainly through its 20 branches in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennslyvania. Long known for its commitment to the communities it serves, the credit union proudly sponsors and supports countless Polish-American organizations, schools, churches and cultural events that all help make local neighborhoods succeed and thrive.

Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union

100 McGuinness Boulevard

Brooklyn, NY 11222

Tel: 718-610-3980

Fax: 718-610-3981

www.psfcu.com

Pawel Burdzy

PR Manager

Phone: +19733497088

Email: pburdzy@psfcu.net

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/868b7f0a-2648-4f70-ba4c-ad5c197b7dda


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Sonet: one of the main reasons why new arrival Kia became India's number four brand in 2020

Earlier this month, the former KMC (Kia Motors Corporation) revealed a new logo and tagline, changed its name to Kia Corporation and updated us on the number of EVs it is planning to launch. But Kia's not done yet. Soon, we'll see the production version of the CV electric car project; GL3, a successor for the K7; then NQ5, the next Sportage. It's going to be a busy 2021 for the company.

Cars

Kia says it will be selling 11 electric models by 2027 including seven which won't be offered with a combustion engine alternative. Cars will likely be called EK1, EK2 etc (up to EK9) and crossovers/SUVs EV1-EV9.

The seven EVs are due to be launched before 2025 with the first one coming soon. The name is still secret (it could be EK6) but we do at least know the project code: 'CV'. This electric car is due to be shown in April, three months before series production begins in South Korea. A general preview, the KED13 Imagine By Kia concept, was first exhibited at the Geneva motor show in March 2019. The platform is HMG's E-GMP.

The Imagine By Kia was about the same size as the Skoda Octavia. The company stated in February 2020 that the production model would be compatible with 350 kW chargers thanks to 800 V electrics. That will mean a battery down to 20 per cent of its reserve can be topped up to 80 per cent (roughly 200 miles) in 20 minutes.

GL3, the replacement for the K7 (Cadenza in some countries), may be called K8. This should also be the first piston-powered sedan to feature the brand's new logo when it debuts in March. A K8 Hybrid and/or K8 Plug-in Hybrid for the South Korean market also seem(s) highly likely.

Korean market sales should commence in April/May: series production is due to commence on 21 March. There is by no means any certainty that this car will be sold in the US and Canada as the current model has not performed well in those countries.

Kia might standardise K8 as the model name worldwide, something it did when rolling out the latest K5 which had been sold as the Optima in North America.

MPVs

Either Carens or Rondo might be revived as the name for a five, six and seven-seat MPV. Kia is planning to introduce this 4.4-4.6 m long model in 2022. Although it will mainly be for the Indian market, it isn't yet clear whether that means manufacture or assembly at the Penukonda plant in Andra Pradesh. Both petrol and diesel engines should feature, each one said to be a 1.5-litre unit.

Pick-up

A vehicle in the same size and pricing category as the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and VW Amarok is under development. There will also be a Hyundai model, these facts having been stated by the CEO of Kia's importer for Australia. Kia Corporation's pick-up, the name of which isn't yet known, should hit relevant markets in 2022. Production of this ladder frame vehicle will most likely be in South Korea although another possibility is Monterrey/Pesqueria in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

SUVs

The Sonet is a sub-4 m long SUV built in and for India as well as for export to certain other markets such as Indonesia and South Africa. It was revealed as a concept at the New Delhi auto expo in February 2020. The production model was announced six months later, with the first deliveries following soon after.

Although the vehicles look entirely different, the platform is shared with the Hyundai Venue. Other major components used by both models include 1.2-litre petrol, a 1.0-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines, the latter two being turbocharged. The Sonet also offers an extraordinary number of transmissions: five. These are five-speed manual, six-speed manual, six-speed 'Smartstream intelligent' manual (no clutch pedal), six-speed automatic and seven-speed DCT.

After the wildly successful launch of the larger Seltos in August 2019, Kia Motors stated a year later that it wanted to see its Indian plant reach annual capacity before adding more models. The factory was operating at two shifts which equates to 200,000 vehicles per annum before the Sonet was added. Full capacity is 300,000. For more details, including the Sonet's platform, code name and projected life cycle, see PLDB.

Kia has had the Sorento and Mohave in its range for many years so creating a concept with what looked like a misspelling wasn't news. The 4,430 mm long HabaNiro, a concept which was revealed at the New York auto show in April 2019, was about the same size as the Niro. A bright red slash across the rear pillars was meant to link the name to a ripe chilli pepper.

The company hinted that there might be a production car based on this model: "Some will assume the HabaNiro concept will never be built, but we don't advise betting the farm on it". As the Niro has been around since 2016, this concept is likely to show how SG2, the second generation - due later this year or in 2022 - will look.

The next Sportage is due to be announced in April. Production for Kia's home market comes first, with build and sales in Europe to follow from September. There should be a Sportage Hybrid as well as a Sportage Plug-in Hybrid. There will also be an extended version for the first time, the Sportage L (codename: NQ5C) being exclusive to China, insiders claim. Life cycle details can be found in PLDB (see link at end of this report).

MX4, the latest Sorento, (see PLDB for full details) has been in production for a year now but the petrol-electric derivatives took some time to arrive. The Sorento Hybrid is powered by a 1.6-litre T-GDi (Turbocharged Gasoline Direct injection) engine and 44.2 kW electric motor with energy stored in a 1.49 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack. The engine and motor produce a combined total output of 230 PS and 350 Nm torque. The transmission is a six-speed automatic. Production at Kia's Hwasung plant in Korea commenced in early July 2020.

The Sorento Plug-in Hybrid, announced to the media in November and on sale a few weeks later also has a 1.6-litre petrol turbo engine. This produces 180 PS and 265 Nm, supplemented by 67 kW and 304 Nm from a motor. Combined, the powertrain offers 265 PS of power and 350 Nm of torque. A 13.8 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack is located beneath the driver and front passenger seats. There are seven seats in all.

Some presumed that the front- and all-wheel drive monocoque platform Telluride was the effective successor for the brand's big body-on-frame 4x4. It wasn't. Kia should instead directly replace the Mohave later in 2021. The Telluride is mainly for North America and the Mohave (Borrego in certain countries) should again be mostly for South Korea as well as markets in the Middle East.

The new model should be based on a fresh platform but this would still be a ladder frame chassis. If it instead turns out to be a monocoque, then the architecture would be M3 as introduced by the Genesis GV80.

We can of course expect many of Kia's next generation SUVs and crossovers to be electric and the firm has some very aggressive production targets. By 2026, the company insists it will be selling half a million EVs per annum plus the same combined number of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and other 'alternate energy' vehicles.

Canoo

In February 2020, HMG stated that it would be collaborating with Los Angeles-based Canoo to bring EVs to market for its Hyundai and Kia brands. Other than these vehicles using Canoo's skateboard architecture, no other specifics were given. The provisional start date for production is 2023 but the vehicles in question could be launched before then.

Reports for many other manufacturers' future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.

Future platform intelligence

More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database which is part of GlobalData's Automotive Intelligence Center. That includes the many Kia vehicles not in this report.

This is the third and final report in a series with HMG as its focus, the other brands having been Hyundai, followed by Genesis. The next OEM to be looked at will be Chery Auto.
The Ukrainian economy will begin to recover in 2021 due to positive trends in foreign markets and monetary policy of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

Such forecasts were made by Ukrainian presidential advisor on economic issues Oleh Ustenko, the press service of the President's Office reported.

"If we talk about 2021 in general, we expect it to be a year of economic growth, a year of the gradual recovery of the entire global economy and, of course, the Ukrainian economy," Ustenko said.

He added that Ukraine was largely dependent on the situation in foreign markets, where prices for raw materials exported by the country, including metals and agricultural products, have risen in recent months, and this situation is expected to continue.

Secondly, Ustenko said, the situation on the world financial markets has also improved.

"After the election campaign in the United States and the recent inauguration of the 46th U.S. President Joe Biden, all stock markets have begun to grow, which means that both creditors and investors are showing activity. In general, international markets have grown by more than 15% during this time. This means that investors who used to look for 'quiet harbors' are now looking for investment opportunities. This means that Ukraine, which is in the group of countries with emerging markets, can already actively compete for resources and count on the global inflow of investment," he said.

At the same time, Ustenko stressed that Ukraine should take its "homework" seriously, in particular in terms of creating a quality investment climate, protecting property rights, improving the judiciary and more.

"The third important stimulus for economic development is the National Bank, which I anticipate will continue its relatively soft monetary policy. Last week, the NBU Monetary Council left the discount rate unchanged. It remains at its historic low since independence - 6%. This means that the economy is credited at 10-12% with a possible downward trend in the lending rate. This will be an additional stimulus for economic growth this year," Ustenko said.

Another impetus for economic growth, according to him, could be government programs to stimulate the economy, such as "Big Construction" and the construction of large-scale infrastructure facilities.

"In addition, there is a forecast that in 2021 the world will emerge from the crisis associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Ukraine will start receiving the vaccine. Negotiations are underway on the part of the Ministry of Health. The President of Ukraine is talking to foreign leaders about the possibility of obtaining a vaccine for Ukraine, and it is hoped that this will be implemented soon enough," he said.

Ustenko said that all these factors would contribute to the recovery of the Ukrainian economy. "The recovery trajectory in 2021 will be at the level of 4-4.5% growth. It is possible that the growth will be even greater if it is possible to actively attract investment resources into the economy - and not only from outside but also inside the country," he said.

op
DOCTORS yesterday reacted with alarm and anger over allegations by Information secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana that some medical practitioners were deliberately killing Zanu PF politicians and hiding behind the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ministers Sibusiso Moyo (Foreign Affairs), Joel Biggie Matiza (Transport) and Ellen Gwaradzimba (Manicaland Provincial Affairs) were among other senior party and liberation war stalwarts who died from complications related to the virus and Mangwana claimed on Twitter yesterday that doctors had become medical assassins, and that they were hiding behind their medical profession.

Most of the now-deceased ministers were admitted at local private hospitals before they succumbed to the respiratory virus and Mangwana alleged that some doctors were acting like mini Josef Mengele, a Nazi officer and physician, by threatening to withdraw oxygen based on the political party that one supported.

Mengele performed medical experiments at the Auschwitz death camps during World War II.

I followed that. This is whats leading to the unfortunate conspiracy theory that there are certain political players being eliminated in hospitals by political activists hiding behind medical qualifications, Mangwana said in his response.

In fact, not just political players, but medical assassins, he said. His comments irked doctors and observers who immediately called him to order, accusing him of stoking tensions at a time the country is struggling to contain the pandemic.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) described the branding of doctors as medical assassins by a government spokesperson as irresponsible, adding that this could escalate tensions in the health sector.

They also said there were threats of arrests and deregistration of medical practitioners who were alleged to have communicated unethical statements on social media.

ZADHR strongly advises against continuous persecution of health care professionals. Cases of alleged medical misconduct, if any, must always be handled by the appropriate medical regulatory bodies, the rights doctors said.

Furthermore, we advise that the continuous persecution of medical practitioners is likely to destabilise the health sector during this time when the nation is supposed to be focusing on resolving the COVID-19 crisis.

Earlier, ZADHR executive director Calvin Fambirai said: Peddling such conspiracy theories is indecorous and has dangerous public health consequences. It reduces confidence among patients to seek services for COVID-19 and also reduces the motivation of frontline workers who are working under difficult circumstances to deal with the pandemic.

Besides, healthcare workers have been going all out in fighting the pandemic under these difficult circumstances.

The Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe, an inclusive body that includes nurses, medical doctors, dental therapists, dentists and laboratory scientists among others, described Mangwanas comments as worrisome.

We as private practitioners, note with concern the social media rants which seem to point out that there are numerous doctors that may be involved in the deaths of some individuals, the associations president Johannes Marisa said.

The accusations are quite unfortunate and worrisome at this juncture when every health worker has tightened their belts in the midst of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. The world is quivering because of the deadly virus, so we call upon everyone to refrain from inflammatory talk that has potential to demoralise the resilient front liners who are obviously working very hard to contain and mitigate against the virus.

The country is battling a second wave of the coronavirus and statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care show that the virus has been rapidly spreading.

As at yesterday morning, the number of cumulative COVID-19 infections had soared to 31 007, with a total of 974 deaths, and 21 377 recoveries.

Zimbabwe Council of Churches secretary-general Kenneth Mtata also rubbished the claims that doctors were using COVID-19 to kill people.

We are already struggling with mistrust and lack of confidence in many key institutions. If someone suggests that doctors are deliberately killing people using COVID-19, then the nation has gone to the dogs, Mtata said.

Human rights defender Dewa Mavhinga described Mangwanas accusations as wild and dangerous.

Authorities refuse to face the grim reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they now make wild and dangerous claims that political players are victims of medical assassins. This is utter rubbish, and very dangerous coming from a government spokesperson, he said.

Meanwhile, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) urged political parties to iron out their differences and work together to fight the common enemy, COVID-19.

NPRC commissioner Charles Masunungure said the ruling Zanu PF party, and the opposition should put their differences aside and work together to confront the pandemic that is ravaging the country and killing a number of Zimbabweans.

This is time to put ruling party or opposition party politics aside, and put our heads together as citizens, build consensus, brainstorm and fight the common enemy COVID-19 in our midst, Masunungure said.

Even wild animals stop fighting when facing an intruding enemy. Ceasefire politicians, he said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his MDC Alliance counterpart Nelson Chamisa at the weekend both called for unity in the country to fight the second wave of the pandemic which is said to be the deadlier.

Critics accuse the Zanu PF leader of using the COVID-19 pandemic to close democratic space after arrests of opposition MDC Alliance party vice-president Tendai Biti, spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, vice-chairperson Job Sikhala and Harare mayor Jacob Mafume. Newsday
Tel Aviv, Jan 25 : Israel has announced that it has opened an embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), following a normalisation deal signed last year to establish diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Taking to Twitter on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said: "The Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi officially opened today with the arrival of the Head of Mission Ambassador Eitan Naeh.

"The Israeli embassy in the United Arab Emirates will promote the full range of relations between the two countries in all areas and expand ties with the Emirati government, economic entities and the private sector, academia, the media and more." In a separate statement published on its website, the Ministry said that until a permanent location is found, the embassy will operate from temporary offices, which will be inaugurated in the coming days.

In the statement, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi said: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to lead the implementation of the peace and normalisation agreements in the Gulf and to advance Israel's international status.

"The opening of the mission will enable the expansion of bilateral ties between Israel and the UAE, and the full and quick implementation of the potential inherent in our relations." Israel's announcement came just hours after the Council of Ministers of the UAE approved the establishment of an embassy in Israel's Tel Aviv city.

In a tweet on Sunday, the UAE government said the decision was made during a cabinet meeting earlier in the day, chaired by the Kingdom's Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, reports Xinhua news agency.

Ashkenazi also welcomed the UAE government's decision, saying it "will facilitate the promotion of the warm ties between our countries and peoples. We look forward to receiving representatives of the UAE soon".

The Israeli Liaison Office in Rabat and Consulate General of Israel in Dubai are expected to open in the coming days, the Ministry statement said.

This is in addition to the Israeli embassy in Manama, Bahrain, which has already been active for several weeks.

Since the signing of Abraham Accord in September 15, 2020, in Washington, several delegations from the UAE and Israel have met to sign bilateral agreements on trade and investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, culture, the environment, the establishment of reciprocal embassies, and other areas of mutual benefit.

Meanwhile, major UAE airlines, including Emirates and Etihad, are expected to start commercial flights to Tel Aviv in the first quarter of 2021.

An earlier aviation agreement was signed that will allow up to 112 weekly flights between the two countries.

UAE was the first Arab country to normalise relations with Israel.

Morocco, Bahrain and Sudan followed suit.
President Ram Nath Kovind said on Monday that the right to vote must be respected, noting that people around the world have struggled a lot for it.

Addressing the 11th National Voters' Day Celebrations, Kovind said even in America, which is known to be one of the leading democracies in the world, people had to undertake decades of struggle to get this right.

In Britain, women got the right to vote after a long fight, he said.

The condition was similar in India before Independence. But after India's Independence, anyone of 21 years of age and above were allowed. The voting age was later reduced to 18, he said.

We should always respect the valuable right to vote. The right to vote is not a simple right. People around the world have struggled a lot for this. Since Independence, our Constitution has given equal voting rights to all citizens without any discrimination on the basis of merit, religion, race, caste, Kovind said.

The President said B R Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, considered the right to vote as paramount.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of all of us, especially our youth, who get the right to vote for the first time, to exercise their franchise with the utmost sincerity and inspire others too to do so, he added.

He also praised the Election Commission for conducting successful and safe elections in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Voters' Day is celebrated on January 25 every year since 2011 to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India.

The main purpose of the National Voters' Day celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximise enrolment, especially for the new voters. Dedicated to the voters of the country, the day is utilised to spread awareness among voters and for promoting informed participation in the electoral process.

Also Read: NCP's Sharad Pawar to address Mumbai farmers rally at Azad Maidan
Rep. Richard Heath's Legislative Update

By Representative Richard Heath

WESTERN KENTUCKY -All eyes were on Washington, DC, earlier this week as we witnessed one of the many things that sets this great nation apart from so many of our counterparts across the world - a peaceful transition in power. One leader stepped down, as another stepped up to begin his term as President.While I may disagree with President Bidens priorities and question what he has done during his first few days as President, we must recognize the unique comfort of this transition. The first peaceful transition between political opponents took place between President John Adams and his rival, President Thomas Jefferson in 1797. These men were bitter enemies, blasting each other frequently about policies and political philosophy. However, when the time came to turn over the Presidency, Adams did so diplomatically, setting the stage for similar transitions in the 224 years since. Sure, there have been some exceptions. Remember when members of the Clinton administration removed the W keys on keyboards throughout the White House when President Bush was inaugurated? However, none have approached the level of violence that other nations endure when a new leader takes control.That peaceful transition allows the federal government to continue serving the American people, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. In this case, it also provides an opportunity to reflect on the Trump administrations many great accomplishments. Under his administration, we have experienced one of the strongest economic growth in generations. We saw improvements in many areas, including a historic increase in income for low income Americans, as well as record-breaking optimism among small businesses and manufacturing. We also saw a priority placed on our relationship with Israel, as well as our role in the Middle East. Without a doubt, one of the most enduring parts of his legacy will be the Supreme Court appointments made during his tenure. Did he make mistakes? Of course, but they should not shadow his many accomplishments.A government of the people and by the people must both respect the people it serves and be accountable to them. That means anyone who calls the White House home must be held accountable for representing the values of our nation and state. Like many of you, I am disappointed with many of the actions taken by the new President and I am concerned that they will weaken our economy and national security. I will be watching, just as you are, to see how the next few weeks and months play out. I know this, there will be more elections and more peaceful transitions in our future.Regardless of how we voted in November, we are Americans, and we all have a great deal at stake. I wish President Biden the best of luck and pray that he has the wisdom, discernment, and opportunity to do what is best for our nation.Until the Kentucky General Assembly reconvenes on February 2, I will be studying and working on the legislation that remains. If you would like to share your views about an issue, I can be reached during the week from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (EST) through the toll-free message line at 1-800-372-7181. You can also contact me via e-mail at Richard.Heath@lrc.ky.gov.
Jayashree Ramaiah was found dead at an old age home in Bengaluru, where she was reportedly undertaking treatment.

Kannada actress and former Bigg Boss Kannada contestant Jayashree Ramaiah was found dead in her residence on Monday, 25 January, reports Times of India.

According to media reports, the actor, who was battling depression, has died at an old age home in Bengaluru.

Ramaiah had previously set off an alarm when she shared an alarming post on Facebook on Wednesday morning. "I quit. Goodbye to this f*****g world and depression." Her followers on social media immediately drew attention to her post and friends and acquaintances began reaching out to the actress, asking her to return their calls and desist from taking any extreme steps, reports News18.

Ramaiah removed the post a few hours later from Facebook and wrote, "I'm Alright and safe!!

Ramaiah is a model-turned-actress who made her acting debut with Imran Sardhariya's Uppu Huli Khara.

*

A collection of Suicide prevention helpline numbers are available here. Please reach out if you or anyone you know is in need of support. The All-India helpline number is: 022 2754 6669
MINSK -- Almost 160 demonstrators were detained over the weekend in continued protests against strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka's claiming of a landslide victory and a sixth presidential term in an August 2020 election that opposition politicians and hundreds of thousands of citizens contend was stolen.

The Vyasna human rights center said on January 24 that many of the protesters were detained after groups linked arms to form human chains in a show of solidarity with political prisoners, including jailed blogger Ihar Losik, who has been on hunger strike since mid-December 2020.

Police arrested Losik, a popular Belarusian blogger and an RFE/RL consultant for new media technologies, in late June on a charge of helping prepare for violations of the public order, which has a maximum punishment of three years in prison.

On December 15, the 24-year-old was charged additionally with helping prepare mass disorder in connection with protests against the disputed August 9 presidential election. To protest the new charge, Losik immediately launched his hunger strike.

He is being held at the Akrestsina detention center in Minsk, which Amnesty International has described as synonymous with torture. Former detainees have spoken of brutal beatings by guards at Akrestsina and other jails in Belarus.

January 23 was the 169th day of protests against Lukashenka, who has run the country for almost 30 years.

Police have violently cracked down on the postelection protests, and many of Belarus's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country as the demonstrations continue.

The United Nations says authorities have detained more than 30,000 protesters since the rallies started and there have also been credible reports by rights groups of torture and ill-treatment.

Western governments have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote, and imposed sanctions on him and his allies, citing election rigging and the police crackdown.

Lukashenka has refused to step down and says he will not negotiate with the opposition.
Commentary The US Voted for Change; When Will Myanmar Truly Be Able to Do the Same?

--

Americansalong with the rest of their fellow global citizenscan now say that the Trump era is consigned to history. To the relief of all but his most fanatical admirers, Donald Trump left the White House on Jan. 20 without inciting any further insurrections or another siege of the Capitol.

The transition of power went smoothly in the end, though Trump skipped the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president on the steps of the Capitol. In one final break with precedent, he snubbed a tradition observed by every president for the past 150 years. In the eyes of many Americans, Trump and his administration inflicted huge damage, both visible and invisible, on their country, not only to its reputation, but also to its democratic systems and traditions.

Following the inauguration, two international magazines, Time and The Economist, devoted their covers to the mess Trump left behind as his administrations legacy. Times cover featured a drawing of President Joe Biden standing in a vandalized Oval Office strewn with papers and debris, while The Economist depicted the president standing in front of a White House covered in filth, shouldering a mop and holding a bucket in one hand. They perfectly portray the US current situation and the task facing the new president from day one.

Trumps administration may only have ruled the country for four years, but wielding the powers of a US president, someone like Trump can do massive damage, even in an established and developed democracy. Trump left America in a terrible mess.

Nonetheless, the Trump era is overthat fact is evidence of an established democratic country or system functioning as it should.

In that respect, sadly, the situation in the US stands in stark contrast with the experience of a country like Myanmar.

Like the US, Myanmar also held elections last November. And while Democrat Joe Biden eventually emerged as the victor in the US, the National League for Democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won Myanmars poll in a landslide.

The big loser here was the NLDs main rival, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was formed by the previous military regime. The USDP is in lockstep with the current military leaderships stance that the armed forces must continue to play an important role in the countrys political arena without the consent of the public. In fact, the USDP was created by the generals in 2010 as a political wing through which they could perpetuate their rule, which began when General Ne Win staged a coup in 1962. But the USDP has lost every election that has been even somewhat free and fair, and the latest poll was no exception; the NLD won unambiguously, and the USDP lost. That means that the generals, who are determined to play a role in politics, lost too.

But what Myanmar people cant say is that the generals era is over. Far from it. Their party, the USDP, had already lost the previous election held in 2015also to the NLD, and also in a landslide. But then, as now, no one here in Myanmar could say, The generals era is gone, or The militarys era is over, because its simply not the case.

Despite the electoral losses suffered by the military-backed USDP, the generals still claim legitimacy in the political arena on the basis of the Constitution drafted by their predecessors in 2008. The Constitution guarantees the military outsize roles in all of the countrys crucial sectorsparticularly in the legislature (25 percent of seats are held by military officers appointed by the commander-in-chief) and in the executive branch (three key ministerial positions appointed by the commander-in-chief).

Back in America, the Trump era is over. Due to its established electoral system, the US suffered only a four-year disruption at the hands of Donald Trump. After four years under Trumps administration, Americans still had the right to say, Enough is enough.

But here in Myanmar, the political disruption by the generals lasted for nearly 50 years. And that five decades refers only to the period of absolute control under the military regimes from March 1962 to March 2011. Since the junta stepped down, however, the military has continued to exert a degree of control. The lasting legacy of those military governments is the continued political power wielded by the armed forces. Thats the reality.

In America, some of the worst aspects of Trumps rule departed with him; others will need to be expunged by his successor. On the first day of his presidency, Joe Biden signed 17 executive orders, some of which directly overturned actions taken by Trump. Many Americans seemed happy with it and the American media hailed the quick moves.

Such decisive action to undo the steps taken by the previous military regime, including the Constitution it left behind, was not an option for the NLD after it won the 2015 election and formed its own government for the first time in March 2016, and everyone here in Myanmar understood that. Any attempts to do so would inevitably have provoked the military into staging an immediate comebacka course of action not available to Trump.

Five years later, the NLD was re-elected in an even bigger landslide. But it is still not free to declare a new era.

Of course, after the NLD first took office in 2016, many Myanmar people were tempted to say, or even shoutor in the case of we journalists, writethat The generals era is gone!

The former and current generals are still powerful, both officially and unofficially. If the military is to be sent back to the barracks where it belongs, pro-democracy groups and the general public know that the 2008 Constitution, which guarantees the military a continued role in the political arena, must be amended, if not totally rewritten. Attempts by the NLD and other pro-democracy parties, including ethnic parties, to amend the charter in Parliament in 2019 and 2020 failed in the face of vehement opposition by the military-appointed lawmakers and the USDP.

Realistically, no one can predict when the Constitution will be amended and the military will leave politics, even if the NLD or other pro-democracy parties continue to win elections. It will probably take years or even decades. Nothing would please me more than if my own analysis, headlined Civilianizing This Militarized Nation Could Take Another Three Decades, turned out to be wrong. So far, however, I have seen no evidence or political formula that rules out such a prediction.

The mess facing Myanmar is much bigger, and has been far more deeply entrenched by five decades of misrule and its legacy, than the one in Washington. In truth, there is no comparison with the situation in the US.

I enjoyed reading many columns on the last days of the Trump years in international newspapers. Among them, I particularly liked the headline for an article written by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, President Donald J. Trump: The End, and its accompanying subhead: This terrible experiment is over. Thats exactly right.

I wish I could write a similar headline and subhead here for my country: The Generals in Politics: The End and The military era is over. Alas, its simply not true. I cant write itand theres no telling how many more years I will have to wait until I can.

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AFP Raid Properties in Connection to German Shutdown of Dark Web Site

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has carried out a series of raids between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in connection to the shutdown of Darkmarket, the worlds largest illegal e-commerce site on the dark web.

The AFP was alerted after German authorities arrested a 34-year-old Australian man, accused of running the site. Authorities allege the site was being used for selling contraband, counterfeit money, stolen credit card data, anonymous SIM cards and malware.

German police officers also terminated DarkMarkets servers and criminal infrastructure before arresting the alleged administrator near the border of Germany and Denmark on Jan. 11.

Operation Futurist Raids, Queensland, Australia, January 2021. (AFP)

On Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, AFP officers in Operation Futurist carried out search warrants across Queensland properties in Park Ridge, Mount Cotton and at a commercial facility in Molendinar.

Officers seized six USB thumb drives, five hard drives, four mobile phones, a laptop, as well as SIM cards and bank cards. However, no arrests have been made in connection to the searches.

AFP Southern Command Acting Commander Investigations, Jayne Crossling surmises Australians were also involved in trading illegal items on the dark web site.

Some of these items could have been used or acquired by Australians in Australia, Crossling said. There is no difference with the dark web, although the anonymising features of the dark web makes it harder for law enforcement to identify perpetrators, who commit abhorrent crimes.

Crossling noted that action would be taken if police discovered exactly where criminal activity was taking place.

A growing number of child sex offenders, organised crime syndicates and those who sought to harm law-abiding citizens, use the dark web Crossling said.

The AFP works very effectively with law enforcement globally to combine tools and expertise to reduce the risk of harm to the community. Despite that, too many crimes are being facilitated on the dark web, she said.

Darkweb takedown image (AFP)

Before its shutdown, DarkMarket had almost half a million users globally, more than 2,400 of them were sellers conducting over 320,000 transactions, including almost $220 million in cryptocurrency.
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's inspector general announced Monday an investigation into whether any current or former department officials tried to improperly "alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election" - a broad review that follows the revelation that then-President Donald Trump considered replacing his acting attorney general with another appointee more amenable to his unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced the review in a two paragraph news release, though he noted his jurisdiction would be limited to "allegations concerning the conduct of former and current DOJ employees," and he could not examine activity by other government officials. The news release said the inspector general's office would follow its normal process in releasing the results of its work publicly.

Horowitz's announcement comes just days after reporting that Trump entertained a plan to replace the acting attorney general for his final weeks in office, Jeffrey Rosen, with a different department lawyer, Jeffrey Bossert Clark, who was more amenable to wielding the department's power to help keep Trump in office. Trump aborted the plan only after Justice Department officials threatened a mass resignation, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's political sensitivity.

The plan sparked outrage among lawmakers and former Justice Department officials, who saw in it another attempt by Trump to inappropriately leverage the powers of federal law enforcement to benefit his political interests. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had publicly called for the inspector general to investigate, and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the department to preserve records because they, too, would be looking into the matter. The Senate could subpoena records and seek to compel testimony, though the politics of legislative inquiries often make them less revelatory than other inquiries.

Horowitz said he announced the investigation "to reassure the public that an appropriate agency is investigating the allegations," but he declined to comment further. While Horowitz will likely have broad access to Justice Department files and emails, he cannot compel the cooperation of former officials - which could limit his probe. The investigation will likely reveal conversations officials had with Trump, but Horowitz's office does not have the jurisdiction to specifically explore actions taken by the president or other White House officials.

Trump and his political allies had long sought to press the Justice Department to help boost his unfounded claims of election fraud. The department inquired into allegations across the country but ultimately found the evidence lacking, and then-Attorney General William Barr said as much publicly in early December.

In addition to resisting the installation of Clark as attorney general, top Justice Department officials refused Trump's demands that they get involved in contesting the election's outcome at the Supreme Court, efforts first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Trump had pinned his hopes on a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas seeking to throw out the election results in four battleground states that had gone for President Joe Biden - Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia - and wanted the Justice Department to support it, as Republican state attorneys general had. But department officials agreed with most legal observers that the case was a lost cause, and that the Supreme Court would not agree that Texas had the legal standing to bring such a claim.

Barr consulted with then-acting solicitor general Jeffrey Wall and told the White House why the approach was not viable, accurately predicting what the Supreme Court decided on Dec. 11, according to a former administration official. None of Trump's three choices for the Supreme Court separated themselves from that finding.

After that, Trump pressed for the department to file its own petition at the Supreme Court, and the White House supplied a draft written by a private lawyer of what it might say. The former administration official said it was similar to the case the court rejected, but substituted the United States as the challenger instead of Texas. The department officials told the White House there was even less chance the Supreme Court would agree to that, and the department refused to file it.

"It was dead on arrival," the official said.

Barr's relationship with Trump already had grown fraught because Barr would not take other steps that Trump saw as helpful to him politically in the months leading up to the election, and his publicly breaking with the president on fraud was something of a last straw. Trump erupted, and Barr contemplated whether he might have to resign or be fired, according to people familiar with the matter. While tensions later eased somewhat, Barr later submitted his resignation, indicating he planned to step down Dec. 23.

That left in charge Rosen, who had been Barr's top deputy and who shared his views on the lack of evidence to support Trump's claims of fraud, according to people familiar with the matter. But, the people said, Trump soon came to meet a different Justice Department official who seemed to share his worldview: Clark, whom Trump had appointed to lead the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division and who later would come to lead the Civil Division.

Clark, according to people familiar with the matter, pushed in the final month of the administration to have the department hold a news conference to announce that investigators were examining serious fraud allegations, and to take particular steps in Georgia, such as sending a letter asserting there was an investigation ongoing and Biden's win could be voided there. Trump, the people said, then contemplated putting Clark in charge of the department, and Rosen was soon informed of the plan. The acting attorney general pushed for a meeting with Trump himself.

All of those involved have since left the Justice Department, as they were Trump appointees. Even if the plan had been carried out, it seems unlikely it would have impacted the election results - which already had been certified by the states - though it would have significantly eroded the Justice Department's credibility.

Clark, in a written statement, has denied that he "devised a plan . . . to oust Jeff Rosen," and he has also denied that he made recommendations "based on factual inaccuracies gleaned from the Internet." He seemed to quote language from the New York Times, which first reported the event.

"My practice is to rely on sworn testimony to assess disputed factual claims," Clark said. "There were no 'maneuver[s].' There was a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the President. It is unfortunate that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation would comment in public about such internal deliberations, while also distorting any discussions . . . Observing legal privileges, which I will adhere to even if others will not, prevent me from divulging specifics regarding the conversation."

Rosen has declined to comment.

Horowitz already had been examining another incident of possible Justice Department malfeasance over the election: the abrupt departure of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta after Trump complained officials in Georgia were not doing enough to find election fraud.

Byung "BJay" Pak unexpectedly announced Jan. 4 that he was stepping down that day as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Trump then bypassed his top deputy in selecting a temporary replacement. According to people familiar with the matter, Pak had received a call from a senior Justice Department official in Washington that led him to believe he should resign shortly before he did so.

Pak's resignation came just a day after The Washington Post reported on a call in which Trump urged Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to "find" enough votes to overturn his election defeat in that state.
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat are expected to address farmers rally in Mumbai today. The city is thronged by over 6,000 farmers from 21 districts of Maharashtra standing in solidarity with protesting farmers at Delhi borders on three contentious farm laws.

A convoy of 500 vehicles arrived in Mumbai on Sunday evening for a three-day sit-in at Azad Maidan. The farmers have gathered under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha's (AIKS) Maharashtra unit.

More farmers are expected to gather on Monday.The rally is part of the call given by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which is leading the Delhi protests, to intensify and broaden the struggle from January 23 to 26.

Majority of farmers who entered the city on Sunday were members of AIKS, but other farmers and political organisations will also be a part of the protest. Farmer organisations and political parties will be present on a single platform of Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha.

Leader of the AIKS have claimed that over 50,000 farmers are expected to take part in Monday's march. The agitation will conclude on the morning of January 26, Republic Day, with a flag hoisting ceremony and with a pledge to make the struggle of farmers and workers victorious at all costs.

Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Chaitanya S said elaborate arrangements were made for farmers' rally. "In addition to the local police department, extra support in the form of 100 officers, 500 constables has been provided. Apart from this, nine platoons of SRPF have been provided and drones will also be used," the spokesperson said.

Also read: Farmers protest: 250 km long tractor march on Republic Day; check traffic, security details

Also read: Restricted Delhi Metro services on Republic Day; 4 stations to remain closed
There is one exceptionally fine performance in this otherwise mostly unremarkable revival, staged on a set by Mark Thompson that feels overly fancy for a Chicago apartment house. Okonedo's world-weary but hopeful Ruth is a beautiful piece of acting, at once determined, kind, hopeful, loving and sad. Hansberry split herself in two when she wrote this play: You can see her in Beneatha  Anika Noni Rose is a lively presence but not as edgy as would be ideal  and you can see her in Ruth, a woman of great strength and wisdom with the misfortune to be born prior to the manifestation of freedom that would have served her soul. Okonedo captures all of that and more, and very much anchors the production; productions of "Raisin," and I've seen several in the past couple of years, have been going that way.
Published by Steve Litchfield at 7:25 UTC, January 25th 2021

The Nokia name has had a rough time over the last two decades, from market dominance in the early 2000s to an unsuccessful chase after the bottom end of the smartphone market with Windows Phone in the early 2010s - and then into oblivion between 2014 and 2016 after the sale of the business to Microsoft. But Finland-based HMD acquired the rights to the Nokia name in 2016 and announced its first Android-running smartphone in 2017 - four years ago. Long enough to form a verdict on HMD's performance with the brand...

Nokia as a name has been central to much of what we've written over the years on AAS and AAWP - the first Symbian smartphones and communicators, the Nseries legends that represented just about the best camera phones in the world, leading to the mighty PureView flagships, the 808 and 1020. Not that everything was rosy throughout, as I've documented before. The very shaky transition from Symbian to Windows Phone, the aforementioned concentration on ultra-budget devices, followed by the sale to Microsoft and the loss of the Nokia brand entirely. In smartphones, at least.

At which point enter HMD, determined to revive the brand and with a number of ex-Nokians in charge.

From left to right, Nokia 808 PureView (running Symbian), Nokia Lumia 1020 (running Windows Phone 8.1), Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (running Windows 10 Mobile), Nokia 9 PureView (running Android)

The first Android-running Nokia smartphone (under HMD) was the Nokia 6 and 2017-2021 then saw a range of phones at various price points, from the cheapest devices under the '1 series' to the most expensive (the '9 PureView'). Although AAWP wouldn't have routinely covered Android handsets, I have tested them extensively by way of comparisons here:

You'll note that I've concentrated on the 'higher end' models - there have been various lower end devices (ranging down the number spectrum right to '1') that aren't worth dealing with, using low spec components. What we're interested in here though is whether the best of HMD under the 'Nokia' name lives up to the legend - and expectations.

Microsoft Lumia 950 nestles up to a Nokia 8...

Bringing me to my central contention. That the HMD Nokia 'flagships' (essentially 'mid-range' in the wider Android phone market) were mainly very competent devices, unlikely to massively disappoint anyone. Decentish screens, decentish cameras, decently fast, decently specced. And even decently good value - sometimes. But 'decent' has been nowhere near enough to convince the 'old Nokia' fans.

When you or I think of Nokia, we think of the highlights, the star devices and features, the innovative designs and features of old. True, no device was perfect (though the 808 got close - for its day and target market) and many Nokia smartphones from 2002 through to 2014 were downright flawed. But now that so much water has passed under the bridge, it's the best bits that come to mind. The groundbreaking cameras (N95, N82, N86, N8, 808, 1020), the wonderful stereo speakers (many examples here, but the 5800 and X6 come to mind), the outrageous transformer designs (N91, N92, N93), the unique QWERTY communicators (9210, 9300, 9500, E90, even the E7).

Whereas the Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 8, Nokia 9, are relatively unremarkable Android slabs. The 9 PureView was the only really innovative piece of tech, thanks to the five camera system bought in from Light, Inc, designed to offer unparalleled depth of field calculations and greater HDR, but in practice taking photos was slow and clunky, plus results were only remarkable if one dove into photos in the supplied on-phone RAW editor. Plus the 9 was ruined by Nokia taking so long to get it to market that the in-screen fingerprint scanner they chose was first-gen and almost unusable.

The Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro, the most recent Windows 10 Mobile handset (though still 2017), next to the Nokia 7 Plus...

Again - I'm not criticising the Nokia 6, 7, 8 and 9 ranges of Android phones for being awful. They're demonstrably not. You or I could set one up with main SIM and data and use any of these happily for a year or two (they're kept up to date by HMD in terms of security, at least). But there's not the same excitement, the same passion, the same awe engendered in the new Nokia users. The new Nokia is most definitely not the old Nokia, whatever tech labels are mentioned in the specs lists and marketing (e.g. PureView).

Is all of this anyone's fault at HMD? Not really. The writing was on the wall four years ago when it became apparent that the Nokians who really mattered - the design genuises, the imaging specialists, they'd all moved on or been made redundant back in 2013/2014 (PS. Do listen to my interview with Juha Alakarhu in PSC 560 last year).

Although HMD clearly do a lot more than licensing a Chinese reference design (now THAT would have been a cheap way out!), at the same time they don't have the depth of engineering talent (or budget) to produce jaw-dropping step changes in phone hardware.

There are still innovations in the smartphone world, from crazy cameras (that actually work) to folding and flipping hardware, and we'll carry on reporting on these on AAWP and AAM, but I'm not expecting any of this to come from HMD, i.e. from 'Nokia'. Which is sad. But understandable.

As I write this, there are strong whispers about new HMD-created Nokias about to be released. All are in the budget or low-mid-range. Forgive me, but... wasn't this concentration on the low end the strategy that caused the old Nokia's Windows Phone range to ultimately fail? If there's one thing we can learn from the success of Apple and Samsung, it's that there needs to be really high end, aspirational devices in a range, to give the rest some credibility. HMD, look and learn. A Nokia 10.20 (get it?) with 60MP PureView RGB camera outputting at 12MP and a Snapdragon 888 chipset would seem the way to go. Pretty please?
Regulatory News:

Under the liquidity agreement between Legrand (Paris:LR) and Exane BNP Paribas, the following assets were held in the liquidity account at December 31st, 2020:

97,727 shares

- 19,377,778

In the second half of 2020, it has been negotiated a total of:

Number of executions on buy side on semester: 9,167

- Number of executions on sell side on semester: 9,263

- Traded volume on buy side on semester: 1,331,316 shares for 92,529,715

- Traded volume on sell side on semester: 1,346,196 shares for 93,676,081

Recap:

At the previous statement date (June 30th, 2020), the following assets were held in the liquidity account:

112,607 shares

- 18,238,210.81

In the first half of 2020, it has been negotiated a total of:

Number of executions on buy side on semester: 7,504

- Number of executions on sell side on semester: 7,531

- Traded volume on buy side on semester: 2,216,621 shares for 142,296,978.66

- Traded volume on sell side on semester: 2,143,627 shares for 138,538,429.24

When the agreement was first put in place, the following assets were held in the liquidity account:

90,346 shares

- 19,880,644

The liquidity agreement complies with AMF Decision no. 2018-01 dated July 2nd, 2018, introducing liquidity agreements on equity securities as permitted market practice.

Date Buy Sell Quantity Number of

executions Traded volume Quantity Number of

executions Traded volume 01/07/2020 4 000 7 268 800 9 000 32 612 090 02/07/2020 15 003 45 1 032 206 03/07/2020 7 000 15 484 050 18 997 63 1 317 442 06/07/2020 2 000 7 139 900 16 001 66 1 126 310 07/07/2020 16 000 64 1 123 840 16 999 53 1 197 070 08/07/2020 22 000 76 1 531 860 12 653 46 883 306 09/07/2020 9 000 27 619 200 10/07/2020 5 000 14 342 000 8 000 26 549 760 13/07/2020 5 000 27 344 250 21 000 103 1 455 300 14/07/2020 19 000 94 1 307 580 15/07/2020 9 000 35 622 800 25 000 88 1 734 500 16/07/2020 5 000 24 345 700 18 347 60 1 284 290 17/07/2020 12 000 52 842 040 6 000 31 423 420 20/07/2020 8 000 24 559 440 19 000 86 1 335 130 21/07/2020 16 000 68 1 133 440 14 000 68 996 660 22/07/2020 15 026 58 1 062 338 20 450 65 1 449 905 23/07/2020 15 000 62 1 067 100 16 550 78 1 180 346 24/07/2020 11 974 61 843 808 1 000 3 70 500 27/07/2020 11 239 29 788 416 12 000 57 846 360 28/07/2020 19 761 72 1 382 084 19 000 67 1 332 090 29/07/2020 7 000 36 494 340 14 000 39 991 060 30/07/2020 20 000 67 1 401 800 3 261 15 230 651 31/07/2020 25 000 109 1 695 250 03/08/2020 20 000 143 1 308 392 22 500 171 1 474 710 04/08/2020 18 400 118 1 222 496 18 400 134 1 224 626 05/08/2020 7 500 89 506 066 12 500 70 847 634 06/08/2020 14 000 103 962 344 16 000 116 1 101 750 07/08/2020 11 000 110 762 793 15 000 133 1 041 472 10/08/2020 12 500 92 868 578 12 500 119 869 905 11/08/2020 6 000 73 420 283 11 500 80 808 273 12/08/2020 10 390 75 732 115 11 695 104 826 917 13/08/2020 8 790 62 625 339 11 790 107 840 467 14/08/2020 5 500 48 387 250 17/08/2020 8 000 63 557 460 8 000 54 559 480 18/08/2020 11 000 80 768 960 11 000 77 771 260 19/08/2020 8 000 56 557 870 8 000 54 560 070 20/08/2020 6 870 53 476 404 6 870 69 477 853 21/08/2020 13 237 97 919 559 13 237 72 922 577 24/08/2020 8 500 47 602 200 25/08/2020 12 000 73 855 150 12 000 78 858 140 26/08/2020 5 500 40 390 550 11 500 79 822 850 27/08/2020 8 500 48 607 350 28/08/2020 8 500 70 599 870 1 497 9 105 989 31/08/2020 7 793 57 547 473 7 793 49 550 517 01/09/2020 3 916 33 273 671 5 500 52 386 320 02/09/2020 8 500 44 603 500 8 500 50 605 600 03/09/2020 8 500 44 602 750 5 500 41 393 300 04/09/2020 14 022 83 978 020 14 000 108 979 900 07/09/2020 5 000 34 347 087 8 500 60 593 700 08/09/2020 13 000 82 910 500 4 500 28 315 448 09/09/2020 2 500 30 173 900 14 500 110 1 017 910 10/09/2020 13 182 100 933 822 3 182 24 225 667 11/09/2020 17 606 114 1 233 288 17 606 178 1 235 080 14/09/2020 7 000 57 494 922 6 500 45 460 350 15/09/2020 17 250 176 1 208 621 16 800 173 1 178 646 16/09/2020 11 044 89 774 109 11 044 72 775 214 17/09/2020 9 000 93 629 849 12 000 85 841 080 18/09/2020 16 500 121 1 157 939 16 500 145 1 159 300 21/09/2020 15 500 121 1 063 460 22/09/2020 10 000 81 662 312 10 000 79 664 320 23/09/2020 16 250 102 1 070 500 16 250 147 1 072 092 24/09/2020 19 500 120 1 264 180 19 500 131 1 265 552 25/09/2020 12 500 90 801 730 12 500 108 802 700 28/09/2020 2 325 28 152 055 8 575 53 564 604 29/09/2020 2 465 25 164 555 6 678 58 449 230 30/09/2020 5 500 38 372 450 9 000 54 611 510 01/10/2020 3 750 39 257 648 6 250 31 430 700 02/10/2020 13 500 78 931 290 17 000 155 1 175 962 05/10/2020 5 500 52 388 930 6 605 49 467 795 06/10/2020 10 000 87 708 416 8 000 80 568 540 07/10/2020 7 000 60 494 822 3 110 32 220 310 08/10/2020 6 500 58 458 800 4 000 28 283 600 09/10/2020 15 000 79 1 046 725 15 000 105 1 048 176 12/10/2020 13 757 84 959 225 13 835 93 967 841 13/10/2020 8 025 62 565 706 14/10/2020 5 000 33 355 900 5 000 37 356 900 15/10/2020 15 000 80 1 045 308 1 090 10 76 954 16/10/2020 10 000 49 696 200 19/10/2020 10 975 86 765 538 5 975 48 418 638 20/10/2020 8 460 78 594 288 13 260 94 932 780 21/10/2020 13 750 86 950 100 5 150 15 363 652 22/10/2020 7 444 60 502 142 9 944 64 674 152 23/10/2020 5 000 51 342 693 11 100 71 762 240 26/10/2020 7 500 45 504 450 27/10/2020 10 000 60 659 721 7 705 57 509 221 28/10/2020 20 000 125 1 270 997 20 000 218 1 273 050 29/10/2020 7 550 56 479 779 7 550 48 482 674 30/10/2020 20 000 130 1 262 442 20 800 196 1 315 416 02/11/2020 5 000 31 319 500 10 000 43 641 000 03/11/2020 8 000 75 523 629 8 000 55 524 586 04/11/2020 12 500 114 815 942 15 000 114 983 004 05/11/2020 16 000 180 1 085 536 16 000 93 1 088 646 06/11/2020 9 300 93 638 541 11 500 86 791 886 09/11/2020 8 790 92 623 889 13 790 61 984 298 10/11/2020 12 500 129 901 444 12 500 97 903 804 11/11/2020 2 500 27 180 100 5 000 44 360 950 12/11/2020 13 500 132 972 189 10 000 97 722 214 13/11/2020 12 500 97 891 887 12 500 92 893 272 16/11/2020 12 501 83 896 197 12 501 144 898 440 17/11/2020 15 444 87 1 113 673 10 000 80 723 672 18/11/2020 7 500 61 542 550 10 000 80 725 100 19/11/2020 9 500 62 684 010 7 000 71 504 667 20/11/2020 5 000 16 360 236 5 000 41 361 250 23/11/2020 7 500 37 539 250 24/11/2020 10 228 89 730 980 6 203 57 446 738 25/11/2020 5 000 27 354 000 7 500 93 532 962 26/11/2020 2 759 36 195 392 2 759 36 195 637 27/11/2020 7 500 80 536 000 7 500 56 536 200 30/11/2020 15 000 112 1 071 450 7 500 54 538 682 01/12/2020 11 440 76 812 168 1 440 13 102 600 02/12/2020 14 500 86 1 016 320 12 000 67 841 924 03/12/2020 9 000 98 622 848 9 000 76 625 262 04/12/2020 12 166 114 841 768 17 166 146 1 190 085 07/12/2020 23 572 133 1 640 342 26 572 202 1 850 805 08/12/2020 15 100 124 1 053 005 17 500 176 1 221 630 09/12/2020 15 000 184 1 060 369 15 000 119 1 061 431 10/12/2020 9 343 46 660 227 9 895 84 701 102 11/12/2020 11 646 75 820 429 15 890 63 1 125 723 14/12/2020 18 078 156 1 285 272 15 078 119 1 073 230 15/12/2020 11 500 120 816 923 11 500 85 817 720 16/12/2020 10 000 85 713 700 17/12/2020 10 000 53 718 500 18/12/2020 11 500 99 829 131 14 000 129 1 010 964 21/12/2020 15 000 99 1 067 250 15 000 103 1 072 500 22/12/2020 7 500 51 543 200 23/12/2020 5 000 45 366 257 5 000 35 367 650 24/12/2020 7 354 60 533 694 28/12/2020 7 034 46 513 795 9 000 79 659 037 29/12/2020 7 500 60 555 550 30/12/2020 3 835 34 282 598 3 825 39 282 543 31/12/2020 10 000 57 732 900 7 500 74 550 051

Key financial dates:

2020 annual results: February 11, 2021

Quiet period 1 " starts January 12, 2021

Quiet period " starts January 12, 2021 2021 first-quarter results: May 6, 2021

Quiet period 1 " starts April 6, 2021

Quiet period " starts April 6, 2021 General Meeting of Shareholders: May 26, 2021

About Legrand

Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Its comprehensive offering of solutions for commercial, industrial and residential markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide. The Group harnesses technological and societal trends with lasting impacts on buildings with the purpose of improving life by transforming the spaces where people live, work and meet with electrical, digital infrastructures and connected solutions that are simple, innovative and sustainable. Drawing on an approach that involves all teams and stakeholders, Legrand is pursuing its strategy of profitable and sustainable growth driven by acquisitions and innovation, with a steady flow of new offerings-including Eliot* connected products with enhanced value in use. Legrand reported sales of over 6.6 billion in 2019. The company is listed on Euronext Paris and is notably a component stock of the CAC 40 and Euronext ESG 80 indexes. (code ISIN FR0010307819).

https://www.legrandgroup.com

*Eliot is a program launched in 2015 by Legrand to speed up deployment of the Internet of Things in its offering. A result of the group's innovation strategy, Eliot aims to develop connected and interoperable solutions that deliver lasting benefits to private individual users and professionals.

https://www.legrandgroup.com/en/group/eliot-legrands-connected-objects-program

1 Period of time when all communication is suspended in the run-up to the publication of results.

The reader is invited to verify authenticity of press releases by Legrand with the CertiDox app. More information on www.certidox.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005026/en/

Contacts:

Investor relations

Legrand

Ronan Marc

Tel: +33 (0)1 49 72 53 53

ronan.marc@legrand.fr

Press relations

Publicis Consultants

Charles-Etienne Lebatard

Mob: +33 (0)7 86 65 03 94

charlesetienne.lebatard@publicisconsultants.com
By Julie Zhu, Yingzhi Yang and David Kirton

(Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is in early-stage talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, a move that could see the company eventually exit from the high-end smartphone-making business.

The talks between the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker and a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms have been going on for months, the people said, declining to be identified as the discussions were confidential.

Huawei started to internally explore the possibility of selling the brands as early as last September, according to one of the sources. The two sources were not privy to the valuation placed on the brands by Huawei.

Shipments of Mate and P Series phones were worth $39.7 billion between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, according to consultancy IDC.

However, Huawei has yet to make a final decision on the sale and the talks might not conclude successfully, according to the two sources, as the company is still trying to manufacture at home its in-house designed high-end Kirin chips which power its smartphones.

"Huawei has learned there are unsubstantiated rumours circulating regarding the possible sale of our flagship smartphone brands," a Huawei spokesman said. "There is no merit to these rumours whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan."

The Shanghai government said it was not aware of the situation and declined to comment further.

The potential sale of Huawei's premium smartphone lines suggests the company has little hope that the new Biden administration will have a change of heart towards the supply chain restrictions placed on Huawei since May 2019, the two people said.

The Shanghai government-backed investment firms may form a consortium with Huawei's dealers to take over the P and Mate brands, according to the second person, a similar model to the Honor deal. Huawei is also likely to keep its existing P& Mate management team for the new entity, if the deal goes through, the two people said.

Story continues

OVERCOMING U.S. CURBS

Huawei, the world's biggest telecoms equipment vendor and No.2 smartphone maker, last November announced the sale of its budget phone brand Honor to a consortium of 30 dealers led by a company backed by the Shenzhen government.

The second source said the all-cash sale fetched more than 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion). Honor declined to comment.

The Honor sale was aimed at keeping the budget brand alive, as sanctions slapped on Huawei by the United States had hampered the unit's supply chain and cut off the company's access to key hardware like chips and software such as Alphabet Inc's Google Mobile Services.

Huawei may have a similar objective in pursuing the sale of the mobile brands. The two sources said that Huawei's latest plans for the two high-end brands were motivated by insufficient chip supplies.

Washington says that Huawei is a national security threat, which Huawei has repeatedly denied.

On Friday, Honor indicated that the goal of the spin-off had been reached by announcing it had formed partnerships with chip makers such as Intel and Qualcomm and launched a new phone.

Last year, the company's Consumer Business Group Chief Executive Richard Yu said U.S. restrictions meant Huawei would soon stop making Kirin chips. Analysts expect its stockpile of the chips to run out this year.

Huaweis HiSilicon division relies on software from U.S. companies such as Cadence Design Systems Inc or Synopsys Inc to design its chips and it outsources the production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which uses equipment from U.S. companies.

The P and Mate phone series are among the top players in the higher-end smartphone market in China and compete with Apple's iPhone, Xiaomi Corp's Mi and Mix series and OPPO's Find series.

The two brands contributed nearly 40% to Huawei's total sales over the third quarter of 2020, according to market research firm Counterpoint.

Analysts have already noted recent insufficient supplies of the flagship P40 and Mate40 series due to a severe components shortage.

"We expect a continuous decline in sales of P and Mate series smartphones through Q1 2021," said Flora Tang, an analyst at Counterpoint.

($1 = 6.4695 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Julie Zhu, Yingzhi Yang and David Kirton, Additional reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee & Shri Navaratnam)
China President Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned global leaders at an all-virtual Davos forum Monday against starting a "new Cold War", and urged global unity in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Having largely curbed the spread of the pandemic within its borders, Xi wants to position China as a key player in a new multilateral world order as the US remains crippled by the pandemic.

"To build small cliques or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others... will only push the world into division," said Xi, adding that confrontation will lead to a "dead end".

In a veiled swipe at moves targeting China launched by the previous US administration under President Donald Trump, Xi said confrontation "will always end up harming every nation's interests and sacrificing people's welfare".

The Chinese leader also reaffirmed Beijing's ambitious climate pledges to slash carbon emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 -- both significant commitments as China emits a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases.

"Meeting these targets will require tremendous hard work from China. But we believe that when the interests of the entire humanity are at stake, China must step forward, take action and get the job done," he said.

Ensuring children are reading on grade level by the end of the third grade is one of three priorities announced Tuesday by the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents.

Wes Watts, president of the group and superintendent of the West Baton Rouge Parish School District, said making the issue part of the state's annual review of public school operations will elevate the topic.

"Making it a piece of the accountability system sends the message that this is even more of priority than it was in the past," Watts said.

Watts made his comments during a 30-minute meeting with the editorial board of The Advocate.

State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said last week the state needs to prioritize reading skills for children in kindergarten, first and second grades amid dismal statistics on how students are faring today.

Reading woes in students' early years are setting off alarms, 'This is unconscionable' After years of neglect, state education leaders are launching plans to improve reading skills for students in kindergarten, first and second g

A report earlier this year said only 43% of kindergarten students were reading on grade level, 54% of first graders, 56% of second graders and 53% of third graders.

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Watts said superintendents favor the use of developmentally appropriate literacy assessments for first and second graders.

They also favor more professional development on proven reading instruction methods and more spending on proven curricula and materials.

Superintendents also want to find ways to encourage students to pursue education careers and for all high school graduates to leave with a college or career credential.

"I think we do a good job of encouraging them to pursue all careers but our own," Watts said.

The group spelled out its priorities in part because of concerns that it too often merely opposes education policies.

"We have got to change that," Watts said.

Australia needs to secure more vaccines in case the AstraZeneca jab doesn't give the population heard immunity, a top doctor has warned.

Epidemiologist Zoe Hyde from the University of Western Australia said the government needed to 'urgently diversify our vaccine portfolio' and should prioritise securing the Moderna vaccine.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration on Monday approved the Pfizer vaccine and is expected to give the Oxford/AstraZeneca one the green light soon.

Epidemiologist Zoe Hyde from the University of Western Australia said the government needs to 'urgently diversify our vaccine portfolio' and should prioritise securing the Moderna vaccine

Dr Hyde said health authorities and the government should turn their focus on building herd immunity by using Moderna in preference to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

Novavax is also being considered, but there is no deal in place for the Moderna, which Dr Hyde said needed to be quickly remedied.

'Its absence from Australia's strategy is puzzling. Like the Pfizer product, it's a high efficacy vaccine but doesn't have the same ultra-cold storage requirements,' she told The Australian.

'It can be stored in a standard freezer for up to six months, or in a refrigerator for 30 days.

'That means we can easily roll it out in regional and remote Australia. Canada is already using the Moderna vaccine in their remote Indigenous communities.'

The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine will be the first one administered in Australia with the first jabs set for late next month.

The TGA found it met strict standards around safety, quality and efficacy

The Morrison Government is confident that is on track for late February, but has conceded there is a possibility a delay in shipping or production could push it to early March.

Dr Hyde said health authorities and the government should turn their focus on building herd immunity by using Moderna in preference to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

'Not only does it have superior efficacy, it's a more reliable long-term option. It will prevent more disease, and has a better chance of delivering herd immunity, which should be our aim,' she said.

Regulatory reviews for the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines are ongoing

Dr Hyde also called on health officials to put together a plan for dealing with emerging mutations.

She said we are seeing the beginning of an 'antigenic drift,' which means it's only a matter of time before the vaccine needs to be updated and booster shots will be required.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Moderna had been unwilling to sign an agreement with Australia over supply of the vaccine.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said the approval of the Pfizer vaccine is an important step in the fight against coronavirus.

'Australians should take confidence in the thorough and careful approach taken by our world-class safety regulator,' he said.

'Our priority has always been to keep Australians safe and protect lives and livelihoods.

'Today's approval is another big step forward for our community, particularly in the protection of our most vulnerable people.'

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said Moderna had been unwilling to sign an agreement with Australia over supply of the vaccine

The rollout will begin across 30 to 50 hospital sites covering aged care and disability residents and workers, frontline healthcare workers, as well as quarantine and border workers.

It will then expand to 1,000 vaccine administration sites as the five-phase rollout widens across the population.

TGA boss John Skerritt said the regulator's job was far from finished.

'The monitoring of vaccine safety post-approval is an important part of the regulatory review of vaccines,' he said.

'We now check the individual batches of vaccines that are destined for Australians while closely monitoring the safety and efficacy of the vaccine as it is rolled out.'

Monday marks one year since the first coronavirus case was diagnosed in Australia, which has since had more than 28,700 cases and 909 deaths.
Image: Reuters

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Indian IT majors Infosys and TCS on Monday joined global giants like Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Bank of America in an international coalition launched by the World Economic Forum to tackle racism in workplaces.

Announcing the coalition during its week-long online Davos Agenda Summit, the WEF said it would work towards improving racial and ethnic justice in the workplace.

The founding members include 48 organizations representing 13 industries, with more than 55 lakh employees worldwide and with headquarters in three continents, the WEF said.

It further said companies must put racial and ethnic justice on their board's agendas, take at least one firm action and set a long-term strategy to become an anti-racist organization and build equitable and just workplaces for professionals with under-represented racial and ethnic identities.

Examples of business commitments towards racial and ethnic justice range from allocating financial and human resources to racial justice work, setting representation goals for all seniority levels, and establishing mentorship programmes for racially and ethnically diverse employees. One of the initiative's starting points will be Black inclusion and addressing anti-Blackness.

"With just 1 percent of Fortune 500 companies led by Black chief executives, the need to tackle racial under-representation in business is urgent and obvious," WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said.

The founding members of the coalition also include AP Moller-Maersk, AlixPartners, AstraZeneca, BlackRock, Bloomberg, Boston Consulting Group, Bridgewater Associates, Centene, Cisco, Cognizant, Dentsu International, Deutsche Bank, EY, H&M, Henry Schein, HP and IKEA.

Other members are Jacobs Engineering Group, Jefferson Health, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, Kearney, LinkedIn, ManpowerGroup, Mastercard, Mayo Clinic, McKinsey, Nestle, PayPal, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Salesforce, SAP, Standard Chartered Bank, Coca-Cola, Depository Trust & Clearing (DTCC), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Uber, Unilever, UPS and Willis Towers Watson.

The WEF said the COVID-19 pandemic continues to widen inequalities, with disproportionate repercussions for disadvantaged groups and minorities.

At the ongoing summit global leaders will discuss what policies, practices and partnerships are needed to embed equity and inclusion into our economic systems.
COVID-19 has killed more than 420,000 Americans in a year, and infections have continued to mount despite the introduction of a pair of vaccines late in 2020. USA TODAY is tracking the news. Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox, join our Facebook group or scroll through our in-depth answers to reader questions.

California health officials lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday, citing a decline in the numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care unit patients.

The stay-at-home order had included most of the state's counties, including the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The change will allow restaurants to resume outdoor dining in many areas, though local officials could choose to continue stricter rules. The state is also lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

The restrictions had fueled an angry outcry from many small-business owners. California will now return to its four-tiered, color-coded system of county-by-county restrictions, state health officials announced. The state is also considering extending eviction protections through the end of June because of the pandemic.

Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains," said Dr. Tomas Aragon, California Department of Public Health director and state public health officer.

 Amanda Ulrich and Julie Makinen, Palm Springs Desert Sun

In the headlines:

The first case of the highly contagious coronavirus variant initially discovered in Brazil has been detected in the U.S. Minnesota officials said Monday a state resident who recently traveled to Brazil has been confirmed as having contracted that strain.

World Health Organization officials indicated Monday that they do not believe Olympic athletes should receive priority access to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly if it means cutting ahead of the world's health care workers and elderly population.

Story continues

President Joe Biden on Monday reinstated a ban on travel to the U.S. from South Africa for most non-U.S. citizens, in addition to restrictions on travel from Brazil, the U.K., Ireland and 26 countries in Europe.

With the backing of eight Arizona mayors, baseball's Cactus League is pushing for a delay to the start of spring training. MLB has endorsed a one-month postponement till mid-March but the players' union is opposed.

Merck dropped out of the COVID-19 vaccine race, citing "inferior" immune responses. That's proof safety systems are working, experts say.

 Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 25.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 420,800 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 99.6 million cases and 2.1 million deaths.

 What we're reading: President Joe Biden is seeking to reset the nations inconsistent coronavirus testing efforts with a $50 billion plan and more federal oversight. Read more here.

Joe Biden's new goal: 1.5 million vaccine shots a day

President Joe Biden is raising expectations for his administration's vaccination program, which initially aimed to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. On Monday, Biden said that daily average of 1 million doses was still the minimum goal, but that 50% more may be feasible.

I hope well be able to increase as we go along so well get to 1.5 million,'' Biden said.

Biden signaled his increasing bullishness on the pace of vaccinations after signing an executive order to boost government purchases from U.S. manufacturers. The original target of 100 million doses seemed ambitious when the vaccine rollout got off to a slow start in December, but the U.S. has exceeded a pace of 1 million doses per day over the last week, prompting calls for the Biden administration to shoot higher as the pandemic continues to rage.

Moderna: Vaccine as effective vs. UK variant, less so vs. South African strain

Modernas COVID-19 vaccine protects against two variants of the coronavirus that have emerged from Britain and South Africa, though not as strongly against the second one, according to a company study.

The biotechnology firm said in a statement released Monday that its vaccine produced an immune response to all key emerging variants tested and no significant reduction in neutralizing antibodies against the variant first identified in the U.K., which the CDC said may become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.

The immune response to the South African variant did show a six-fold decrease in neutralizing antibodies, which Moderna said were still "above levels that are expected to be protective.''

Nonetheless, the company is developing a booster dose that could combat the South African variant and future emerging ones.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., called the South African variant different and more ominous than the one in the UK.

 Adrianna Rodriguez

COVID-19 test requirement to fly into US goes into effect Tuesday

Starting Tuesday, travelers flying into the U.S. from foreign countries will be required to present proof of a recent coronavirus test with a negative result.

The new rule has already impacted the travel industry, leading to a rash of cancelations and a decline in bookings to Mexican beach resorts.

Here are seven things you need to know about the test requirement.

-- Dawn Gilbert

CDC: NFL study finds transmission without 15 minutes of close contact

A study of NFL players found that coronavirus transmission is still possible even if exposure didnt surpass 15 total minutes within six feet, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, published Monday in the agencys Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, tracked 20 players from Oct. 15 to Nov. 21 who were identified as high-risk contacts of a COVID-19 patient. Researchers determined through contact tracing that seven of them had no interactions exceeding 15 cumulative minutes per day within (six feet).

The findings put into question the CDCs guidance on community exposure, which it defines as having close contact with an individual who is confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19. According to the agency, close contact is defined as within six feet for a total of 15 minutes or more. The CDC also noted most of the cases came from community exposure and not from the field or other work-related environments.

 Adrianna Rodriguez

Google to provide vaccination sites, improve vaccine searches online

Google said it will open up select facilities for use as vaccination sites and bolster search results to provide better information on where to find a vaccine for COVID-19.

In a blog post Monday, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said the company will partner with a medical provider and public health authorities to open up sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Kirkland, Washington, near Seattle. The company plans to expand the initiative nationally.

"Getting vaccines to billions of people wont be easy, but its one of the most important problems well solve in our lifetimes," Pichai said in his post. "Google will continue to support in whatever way we can."

Japan scrambling for 'herd immunity' as Tokyo Olympics draw near

Japan's vaccine effort is falling short and could imperil the Tokyo Olympics, at least one expert warns.

Japan probably won't achieve herd immunity to COVID-19 through mass inoculations until months after the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to begin July 23, Rasmus Bech Hansen, the founder of British research firm Airfinity, told Reuters.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged to have enough shots for the populace by the middle of 2021. Hansen, however, said Japan will not reach a 75% inoculation rate, a benchmark for herd immunity, until around October.

Japan looks to be quite late in the game, Hansen said. Theyre dependent on importing many (vaccines) from the U.S. And at the moment, it doesnt seem very likely they will get very large quantities."

In rural Pennsylvania, COVID-19 is making a tragic mark

The pandemic hasn't bypassed rural America, and it's not going away.

In the Pennsylvania town of Beaver, 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, vaccine shots are nearly impossible to get. Nurses at Heritage Valley Beaver had to open a second COVID-19 unit to treat all of the critically ill patients. The community-based health system recently treated 115 patients simultaneously with COVID-19.

"The struggle to just breathe. It sounds like a small thing, you just keep breathing, it is not a small thing," said Rebecca Register, 40, of Beaver, a seven-year veteran nurse who works on the COVID-19 unit. "Watching someone struggle with that, and they're on the highest amount of oxygen that I can give them at any time and it's ripping your heart out." Read more here.

 Daveen Rae Kurutz, Beaver County Times

2 in 5 Americans live where COVID-19 strains hospital ICUs

Straining to handle record numbers of COVID-19 patients, hundreds of the nations intensive care units are running out of space and supplies and competing to hire temporary traveling nurses at soaring rates. Many of the facilities are clustered in the South and West.

An Associated Press analysis of federal hospital data shows that since November, the share of U.S. hospitals nearing the breaking point has doubled. More than 40% of Americans now live in areas running out of ICU space, and only 15% of beds are still available.

Intensive care units are the final defense for the sickest of the sick, patients who are nearly suffocating or facing organ failure. Nurses who work in the most stressed ICUs, changing IV bags and monitoring patients on breathing machines, are exhausted.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID update: Biden seeks 1.5 million daily vaccines; Brazil variant
Combined industry experience, existing and deep supply chain relationships, and unique IP formulations create one of the leading cannabis consumer packaged goods platforms in Canada

Upfront purchase of LYF for CDN$24.9 million plus approximately CDN$17.5 million in consideration subject to achieving certain EBITDA milestones, which if met implies a ~4.2x multiple on fiscal 2022E EBITDA

Accretive acquisition accelerates Valens entry into one of the fastest-growing segments of the Cannabis 2.0 and 3.0 markets

Valens now poised to substantially expand edible product portfolio and market share with collective capabilities to produce innovative gummies, chocolates, baked goods and more

KELOWNA, BC, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - The Valens Company Inc. (TSX: VLNS) (OTCQX: VLNCF) (the "Company," "The Valens Company" or "Valens"), a leading manufacturer of cannabis derivative products, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of LYF Food Technologies Inc. ("LYF") in a cash and share transaction (the "LYF Acquisition") for closing consideration of CDN$24.9 million, plus up to an additional CDN$17.5 million in consideration (the "Milestones Consideration") payable upon the business achieving certain earn-out EBITDA milestones (the "Milestones"). The LYF Acquisition is expected to be accretive to the Company's EBITDA and diluted EPS in 2021, and if all of the Milestones are met, the transaction represents an approximate ~4.2x multiple on the last milestone achieved. With the LYF Acquisition, The Valens Company not only strengthens its already wide-reaching production capabilities for the 2.0 and 3.0 markets, but also unlocks significant growth potential with the addition of a cutting-edge platform designed to capitalize on one of the fastest growing product segments in the cannabis industry.

LYF is a premier edibles manufacturer based in Kelowna, British Columbia with expertise in novel product creation, white label manufacturing and infusion technologies. Similar to Valens, LYF operates a product development and manufacturing platform focused on consumer-driven innovation, and product safety and consistency. LYF brings a proven team with significant experience producing high throughput food products, in addition to experience operating and working with major Canadian grocery chains, health and wellness retailers, and pharmacies. Just minutes away from Valens' headquarters, LYF's purpose-built manufacturing facility produces innovative edible products using the highest quality ingredients and cannabis extracts, offered in proprietary delivery methods.

Valens' access to low-cost active ingredients paired with LYF's industry-recognized product IP formulations of over 100 recipes strengthens its capabilities to produce higher-margin, new-to-market edible formats in a segment with limited product variability, and increased consumer demand. With the added infrastructure and expertise from the LYF Acquisition, The Valens Company significantly expands its edibles footprint and strategy to remain a best-in-class manufacturing platform for its partners, while also increasing its ability to capture market share in the rapidly growing product category. Similar to consumer trends in the US cannabis market, edible products are anticipated to represent over 10% of sales in the maturing Canadian cannabis market.

Tyler Robson, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of The Valens Company, said, "LYF has set the standard of what high quality edibles should be and has developed a diverse and flexible manufacturing platform to play a dominant role in the Canadian edibles market. LYF stood out for its product innovation and marketing teams, as well as its broad range of edible products which will introduce new formats to Canadian consumers that are typically only available in more mature markets. We look forward to further developing our product offering to reach more consumers with high-quality and unique cannabis edibles as this product segment continues to gain in popularity."

"Our team could not be more thrilled to join forces with The Valens Company and collectively fuel our shared passion for producing exceptional cannabis products with consumers top of mind," said Paolo Pero and Matthew Amado, Founders of LYF. "As a fellow Kelowna-based company, Valens' vision for global growth resonated with the team and ultimately led us to recognize the significant value in combining what we have each uniquely created to bring a new level of manufacturing excellence to Canada and beyond."

Strategic Highlights

With the added capabilities from the LYF Acquisition, The Valens Company is better positioned to capture edibles category market share with the following key success factors:

Experienced team with a background in commercial-scale food manufacturing, cannabis processing, and a thorough knowledge in developing and producing innovative cannabis derivative products, specializing in confectionary goods. With combined industry knowledge and in-depth relationships with food ingredient, packaging, and equipment providers, Valens expects to boost its reputation in the market as a trusted third-party operator.





with a background in commercial-scale food manufacturing, cannabis processing, and a thorough knowledge in developing and producing innovative cannabis derivative products, specializing in confectionary goods. With combined industry knowledge and in-depth relationships with food ingredient, packaging, and equipment providers, Valens expects to boost its reputation in the market as a trusted third-party operator. Expected to be an accretive transaction to both anticipated EBITDA and diluted earnings per share in 2021 with an earnout structure that effectively aligns the interests of all parties to drive financial performance and generate shareholder value.





to both anticipated EBITDA and diluted earnings per share in 2021 with an earnout structure that effectively aligns the interests of all parties to drive financial performance and generate shareholder value. Speed to market utilizing LYF's existing infrastructure and relationships throughout the edibles community. With white label edible products currently available for purchase in British Columbia , LYF adds a fully operational platform and robust partner network ready for integration with Valens' suite of products. In addition, LYF and Valens' existing roster of new, innovative edible products with various partners remain ready for immediate commercialization and launch into the Canadian market. With the agility and speed to capitalize on this product segment, Valens sees both new and existing opportunities on the horizon.





utilizing LYF's existing infrastructure and relationships throughout the edibles community. With white label edible products currently available for purchase in , LYF adds a fully operational platform and robust partner network ready for integration with Valens' suite of products. In addition, LYF and Valens' existing roster of new, innovative edible products with various partners remain ready for immediate commercialization and launch into the Canadian market. With the agility and speed to capitalize on this product segment, Valens sees both new and existing opportunities on the horizon. Category-leading scale with over 77,000 square feet of licensed manufacturing space at Valens, including the addition of LYF's 10,500 square feet nimble production facility in close proximity to the Valens K1 and K2 facilities to allow for ease of operational and management control and associated cost synergies. LYF brings an existing asset base with nearly CDN$10 million invested into the business to-date, including over CDN$5 million in property, plant, and equipment alone, a standard processing licence and a pending provincial sales licence. The Valens Company anticipates the LYF edibles manufacturing facility will be used for both existing licensed producer and brand partners, as well as other consumer packaged goods companies who have been observing the space and awaiting an attractive entry point, and for the further development of Valens-owned IP for use in North America and emerging markets.





with over 77,000 square feet of licensed manufacturing space at Valens, including the addition of LYF's 10,500 square feet nimble production facility in close proximity to the Valens K1 and K2 facilities to allow for ease of operational and management control and associated cost synergies. LYF brings an existing asset base with nearly invested into the business to-date, including over in property, plant, and equipment alone, a standard processing licence and a pending provincial sales licence. The Valens Company anticipates the LYF edibles manufacturing facility will be used for both existing licensed producer and brand partners, as well as other consumer packaged goods companies who have been observing the space and awaiting an attractive entry point, and for the further development of Valens-owned IP for use in and emerging markets. Further diversified platform equipped to produce expectedly higher margin edible products for the Cannabis 2.0 and 3.0 markets, including those leveraging SoRSE by Valens emulsion technology. The integrated platform also contains additional R&D, testing and distribution capabilities, with multiple manufacturing lines capable of producing various new product formats such as real fruit gummies, caramel filled bars, peanut butter cups, hard candies, granola products, and other customized baked goods. These precisely dosed edibles products are highly customizable, with vegan, sugar-free, low-sugar and natural ingredient offerings.





equipped to produce expectedly higher margin edible products for the Cannabis 2.0 and 3.0 markets, including those leveraging SoRSE by Valens emulsion technology. The integrated platform also contains additional R&D, testing and distribution capabilities, with multiple manufacturing lines capable of producing various new product formats such as real fruit gummies, caramel filled bars, peanut butter cups, hard candies, granola products, and other customized baked goods. These precisely dosed edibles products are highly customizable, with vegan, sugar-free, low-sugar and natural ingredient offerings. Complementary and high-value partnership network with existing definitive supply agreements and a robust pipeline of near-term executable opportunities with licensed producers, brand houses and white label customers, some of which are already part of Valens' ecosystem, as well as strong relationships with third-party operators and retailers.

Transaction Details

The purchase price payable on closing is CDN$24.9 million, including the assumption of CDN$2.9 million in mortgage related debt and the issuance of up CDN$22.0 million in common shares of the Company, of which up to CDN$5.0 million is payable in cash and the remainder payable in common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") (being up to 9,846,154 Common Shares issued based on Valens' 20-day VWAP of CDN$2.23 as of January 22, 2021). CDN$2.2 million in value of Common Shares (being 984,615 Common Shares) will be placed into escrow for indemnity purposes. In addition, CDN$2.9 million in value of Common Shares (being 1,282,051 Common Shares) of further consideration will be placed into escrow and is subject to release upon the achievement of certain Milestones relating to financial performance with other Milestones to be payable upon achievement in cash and/or Common Shares, at the Company's option.

The LYF Acquisition remains subject to approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange and customary conditions and approvals from senior lenders. The Common Shares issued in connection with the LYF Acquisition will be subject to lock-up restrictions of four months and eight months for certain vendors and up to two years for the founders and majority share owners. There are no finders' fees payable by the Company in connection with the LYF Acquisition. The vendors are each arm's length parties to the Company. This transaction has been approved by the Company's Board of Directors and is expected to close on or about February 18, 2021.

Advisors

McCarthy Tetrault LLP acted as legal counsel to The Valens Company on the LYF acquisition and Aird & Berlis LLP acted as legal counsel to LYF.

About The Valens Company

The Valens Company is a leading manufacturer of cannabis derivative products with a mission to bring the benefits of cannabis to the world. The Company provides proprietary cannabis processing services across five core technologies, in addition to best-in-class product development, formulation and manufacturing of cannabis consumer packaged goods. The Valens Company's high-quality products are exclusively formulated for the medical, therapeutic, health and wellness, and recreational consumer segments, and are offered across numerous product formats, including oils, vapes, concentrates, edibles and topicals, as well as pre-rolls, with a focus on next-generation product development and innovation. Its breakthrough patented emulsification technology, SoRSE by Valens, converts cannabis oil into water-soluble emulsions for seamless integration into a variety of product formats, allowing for near-perfect dosing, stability, and taste. In partnership with brand houses, consumer packaged goods companies and licensed cannabis producers around the globe, the Company continues to grow its diverse product portfolio in alignment with evolving cannabis consumer preferences in key markets. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Valens Labs Ltd., the Company is setting the standard in cannabis testing and research and development with Canada's only ISO17025 accredited analytical services lab, named The Centre of Excellence in Plant-Based Science by partner and scientific world leader Thermo Fisher Scientific. Discover more on The Valens Company and its subsidiaries at http://www.thevalenscompany.com.

About LYF Food Technologies Inc.

LYF produces expertly crafted chocolate, confectionery and baked cannabis-infused edibles. The LYF team has over 25 years of experience in commercial-scale food manufacturing, working with the largest grocery chains, health and wellness retailers and pharmacies across Canada.

With unparalleled expertise in manufacturing scalability, novel product creation, shelf stability, proprietary delivery methods and infusion technologies, LYF is able to bring great tasting, accurately dosed edibles to the legal Canadian marketplace at affordable prices. LYF offers co-packing and white label manufacturing services that will turn potential competitors into strategic partners.

Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements

All information included in this news release, including any information as to the future financial or operating performance and other statements of The Valens Company that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are included for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Wherever possible, words such as "plans", "expects", "scheduled", "trends", "indications", "potential", "estimates", "predicts", "anticipate", "to establish", "believe", "intend", "ability to", or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", or are "likely" to be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of these words or other variations thereof, have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding future results of operations, economic conditions and anticipated courses of action. Investors and other parties are advised that there is not necessarily any correlation between the number of SKUs manufactured and shipped and revenue and profit, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information.

The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others, that the LYF Acquisition does not close, the Milestones are not met, the increase to the Company's EBITDA and diluted EPS is not achieved, regulatory risk, United States border crossing and travel bans, reliance on licenses, expansion of facilities, competition, dependence on supply of cannabis and reliance on other key inputs, dependence on senior management and key personnel, general business risk and liability, regulation of the cannabis industry, change in laws, regulations and guidelines, compliance with laws, reliance on a single facility, limited operating history, vulnerability to rising energy costs, unfavourable publicity or consumer perception, product liability, risks related to intellectual property, product recalls, difficulties with forecasts, management of growth and litigation, many of which are beyond the control of The Valens Company. For a more comprehensive discussion of the risks faced by The Valens Company, and which may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of The Valens Company to be materially different from estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, please refer to The Valens Company's latest Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com or on The Valens Company's website at www.thevalenscompany.com. The risks described in such Annual Information Form are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Although the forward-looking statements contained herein reflect management's current beliefs and reasonable assumptions based upon information available to management as of the date hereof, The Valens Company cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. The Valens Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Valens Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Nothing herein should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell securities of The Valens Company.

SOURCE The Valens Company Inc.

Related Links

https://thevalenscompany.com/


"The Clark Avenue Self Storage building is our first multi-story self-storage facility and we're delighted to team up with our partner Invesco Real Estate and Extra Space Storage on this well located asset," noted Timur Tecimer, CEO of OMP. "We are very excited to expand in the self-storage space and are looking for new opportunities in California," added Tecimer.

The store is set to open on January 25th, 2021. Rentals can be made by visiting the website at extraspace.com/storage/facilities/us/california/newark/7539/, calling the Extra Space new customer line at (877) 229-4023, or stopping by the office located onsite. Office hours will be 9:30 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday and 9:00 am to 5:30 pm on Saturday. After renting a unit, the site can be accessed from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM every day of the week by secured gate entry.

Ranked among the largest real estate developers in Los Angeles, Overton Moore Properties (OMP) is a privately held company specializing in real estate development, acquisition, master planning, marketing, asset management, property management, construction management, and financial reporting of industrial, self-storage, office and mixed-use projects. OMP's long-term franchise value, local market knowledge, deep relationships with tenants and the brokerage community and strong institutional relationships have contributed to its success throughout the past 42 years. OMP has developed and acquired more than 38 million square feet of office, industrial, self-storage and mixed-use space, representing over $2 billion in value. The firm has offices in Southern and Northern California and manages nearly 10 million square feet of space in California.

CONTACT: Janine Walker

Overton Moore Properties

310-354-2465

[email protected]



SOURCE Overton Moore Properties

Related Links

http://www.omprop.com






Ministers are meeting this afternoon to discuss a range of new Covid restrictions and the possible return of Leaving Cert classes.

The Covid sub-committee meeting is expected to run until late this evening with measures on foreign travel, cross-border traffic and the reopening of schools all up for discussion.

It is expected that the committee will also discuss an extension of Level 5 restrictions beyond this month before recommendations are brought to Cabinet tomorrow morning.

An almost empty arrivals hall in Terminal 2 of Dublin airport as bolstered travel restrictions came into effect requiring passengers arriving into Ireland's port and airports to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test. Picture: Brian Lawless

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has already indicated that most classes may not return to school for many weeks as pupils will only be allowed back on a phased basis, starting with those with special educational needs and those due to take the Leaving Certificate.

Education Minister, Norma Foley who will attend today's meeting has been in discussions with teaching unions and other representative bodies around the safe return to the classroom.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan is also pushing new stricter measures to deter people from entering the country from abroad and to cut down on cross-border travel.

Gardai are to be given increased powers under stricter measures to combat non-essential travel, Green party leader Eamon Ryan has confirmed.

Because of the risk of this new variant we're going to take a much tougher, much stricter, much more wary approach, while still allowing emergency essential people to come in, Mr Ryan said.

The new measures being discussed by the Covid sub-cabinet committee today, which are expected to be signed off by Government tomorrow include:

Garda checkpoints outside airports to stop non-essential travel.

Introduction of much stricter sanctions in terms of the five-kilometre rule to stop people flying. This will include fines for those who try to go abroad for non-essential reasons.

Mandatory quarantining for those arriving into the country who don't have a negative PCR test.

A ban on holiday visas or short-term visas for those coming from certain countries in South America and mandatory quarantining.

Antigen testing at motorway services areas close to Dublin Port and Rosslare for hauliers travelling to France from Thursday.

Strengthening the passenger locator form with more questions asked and more follow-ups after a person arrives in the country.

The Transport Minister said: There isn't a silver bullet here, but what there are is a whole series of layers."

Mr Ryan said the recent introduction requiring all passengers to have a negative PCR test before arriving in Ireland "dramatically" cut the number of people flying straightaway.

Read More Irish Examiner view: Hard decisions required on international travel

"Now when we go another layer on top of that and have someone outside the airports saying 'I'm sorry, you cannot fly,' that will do it again."

He said the same five-kilometre rules will apply both at Dublin Airport and along the border with Northern Ireland, meaning people will be sanctioned and fined if they are found outside their five-kilometre distance.

"If on a road south of the border, five kilometres from the border someone is on that road and doesn't have a valid explanation as to why they are travelling, they will be subject to prosecution and fine and the guards have those powers."

However, Mr Ryan conceded that the gardai would not have the power to turn people back if they are travelling more than five kilometres.

He added: "We need to significantly increase our surveillance to reduce particularly unnecessary travel."

But Mr Ryan said some people will always need to travel and used the example of those who come here from the UK to service power stations.

"We do need to maintain our ferries and our air cargo system. We do need to keep supplies."

Asked if the Government would follow the UK in stopping flights coming from Portugal, which is a major hub for South American flights, Mr Ryan said: "We will look at everything if there's an instance like that, where we see that there's a gap in the defences, we will close it."

Gardai are investigating after a priest in Co Monaghan discovered an email scam was using his name to try to get money from people.

They confirmed the fraudulent emails are circulating purporting to be from a priest in Monaghan.

These emails request donations from the public to assist a parishioner who is going through cancer treatment.

Gardai said donations are then sought using an external link.

We are asking members of the public who receive an email not to click on this link, not to make any donations, and to delete these emails, they said.. Anyone who has become a victim of this fraud is asked to report this to their local garda station.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Clogher said: This is a scam, using the name of a priest in Co Monaghan.

"The matter has been reported by the priest to the gardai, who are investigating. We have no further comment to make.

It is understood this latest scam was uncovered in the last two days and there have been several other email and phone scams on priests and parishes on both sides of the Border in the last week.


Irelands highest infection rate of Covid-19 has been in Co Monaghan for the last three weeks, but this stark statistic is no surprise to the health professionals who warned it would happen.

Doctors have been crying out for an all-island approach since the pandemic began as they watched conflicting restrictions north and south wreak havoc on the Border counties.

The decision to allow people to continue travelling into the North from the UK at Christmas, at a time when the Republic banned flights, may prove to be the most detrimental yet.

Early evidence suggests the UK variant of coronavirus, which has now taken hold in Ireland, may be more deadly, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday.

On December 22, Dr Illona Duffy of the Swan Park Family Practice in Monaghan pleaded for anyone travelling from the UK to isolate for 14 days.

Getting a [negative] test does NOT shorten this, I repeat you MUST isolate alone in your bedroom for two weeks. No exceptions, she tweeted.

The new strain was already beginning to make a mark on her practice. Covid-19 patients were presenting in greater numbers  and with different symptoms than before.





Slammed

She slammed the continuation of travel with no mandatory quarantining as sheer idiocy.

People were travelling into Belfast when they couldnt go to Dublin, Dr Duffy told the Irish Independent.

We are a county which has struggled from the beginning with high infection rates and having varying lockdowns on both sides of the Border didnt help.

I was tweeting before Christmas about how we were seeing more of the UK variant, and we could definitely see how the virus changed.

It was sweeping through whole houses and spreading much faster.

The symptoms have absolutely changed.

Were seeing less people with coughs now and more people with severe nasal congestion.

All frontline staff at the Swan Park Family Practice got their first Covid-19 vaccine at the weekend after the local nursing home had some vials left over.

The relief was palpable.

Since the new rules for close contact testing were introduced, weve had a few worrying experiences, Dr Duffy said.

We had a patient in for a check-up and two days later they developed symptoms and tested positive, so my nurse and I were exposed.

The patient was told they didnt need to give our details as they only needed to contact who they were with on the day they developed symptoms, she added.

At the time of writing, Monaghans incidence rate is 2,134 per 100,000 of the population.

One in 44 people in the county have been infected in the last two weeks.

Christmas socialising, out-of-sync restrictions and cross-border travel have all played a factor in the surge in new infections, and efforts are under way to combat that.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it was working closely with An Garda Siochana to try to stop people travelling for non-essential reasons.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd told the Irish Independent: We have a joint interest for people to stay at home and protect both our health services and save lives on both sides of the Border. You will continue to see police patrols and checkpoints across Northern Ireland, including in Border areas, and we will engage with the public to ensure that everyone understands and is adhering to the public health regulations.

We will continue to engage with people and explain what we need them to do and encourage them to follow the restrictions that are in place. But for the small numbers of people who are continuing to ignore the restrictions, it is inevitable that we will have to move to enforcement through the issue of penalty notices, he warned.
The COVID-19 pandemic is out of control, President Bidens nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services said Sunday, echoing the commander-in-chiefs recent prediction about the months ahead.

The plane is in a nosedive, and weve got to pull it up and youre not going to do that overnight, Xavier Becerra said on CNN. We have to pull it up. Failure is not an option.

Hed been asked about Bidens Friday remark that there is nothing that can be done to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the coming months.

Becerra touted the presidents plans to rescue the people, rescue the economy, apparently alluding to Bidens goal to get 100 million Americans vaccinated during his first 100 days, as well as a nearly $2 trillion economic relief package thats in the works.

It wont happen overnight. We can do better. We can not only control COVID, but get us back to real normality, said Becerra, who recently stepped down as Californias attorney general.

Weve got to make sure were coordinating, the Democrat continued. We cant just tell the states, Heres some PPE, some masks, heres some vaccines  now go do it. When we hand them over, we stay with them and provide resources to make it happen.

He added that if the government can get people to follow Bidens order to wear masks on federal property and during interstate travel, were going to get control of this thing.

The comments came as COVID-19 infection rates appear to have gone down since the holidays, though the death toll continues to climb, with more than 417,000 Americans dead as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.

___

Shant Shahrigian of the New York Daily News wrote this story.

(c)2021 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Passengers wait in line to enter a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 25, 2020. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Updates on CCP Virus: China Pushes Conspiracy Theories on Origin, Vaccines

Chinese state media have stoked concerns about Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine, despite rigorous trials that showed it was safe. A government spokesperson has raised the unfounded theory that the CCP virus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab.

As the ruling communist party faces mounting questions about Chinas vaccines and renewed criticism of its early CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus response, it is hitting back by encouraging conspiracy theories that some experts say could cause harm.

Mexicos Death Toll Set to Pass Grim Milestone of 150,000

Mexico is set to surpass 150,000 deaths from COVID-19, one of the worlds highest death tolls. Its death count is closing the gap with that of India, a country with a population several times larger.

The confirmed death toll in Mexico had risen to 149,084 by Saturday, and the number of infections to more than 1.75 million, authorities reported.

California Resident Dies Hours After Getting Vaccine

A person in California who received a CCP virus vaccine on Jan. 21 died several hours later, authorities said, adding that the cause of death isnt yet clear.

Authorities didnt disclose identifying characteristics of the individual or say whether the vaccine was produced by Moderna or Pfizer. One hundred and forty-nine people have died in the United States after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, according to reports submitted to the passive Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

Chicago Restaurants, Bars Officially Resume Indoor Service

Bars and restaurants in Chicago resumed indoor service over the weekend, in the latest reopening move since President Joe Bidens inauguration.

Democrats governing Michigan, Illinois, and Washington have ordered the resumption of indoor dining in the last week, after shutting down such services last year. California officials were expected to announce reopening plans on Monday. The movement came because the CCP virus, a disease that causes COVID-19, test positivity rate and several other metrics were met, officials said.

Dutch Police Detain 240 Nationwide as Anti-Lockdown Protests Turn Violent

Rioters looted stores, set fires, and clashed with police in several Dutch cities on Sunday, resulting in more than 240 arrests, police and Dutch media reported. The unrest came on the second day of new, tougher CCP virus restrictions, including a night curfew, which had prompted demonstrations.

Police used water cannon, dogs, and mounted officers to disperse a protest in central Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon, witnesses said. Nearly 200 people, some of them throwing stones and fireworks, were detained in the city, police said.

Chinese City Facing Food Crisis Following Hard Lockdown

Chinas recent surge of CCP virus infections has made life difficult for local residents in Tonghua, a city located near the North Korean border in northeastern Chinas Jilin Province.

Ms. Liang, a businesswoman in Dongchang district in Tonghua, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that local authorities began to seal off her community on Jan. 15, nearly a week before the official announcement, which stated that residents would not be allowed to leave their homes and local community officials would deliver required living necessities.

Mexican President Tests Positive

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he has tested positive for COVID-19, an announcement that comes as his country registers the highest levels of infections and deaths to date.

Lopez Obrador said Sunday on his official Twitter account that his symptoms are mild and he is under medical treatment. Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra, Mexicos director of epidemiology, said the 67-year-old Lopez Obrador had a light case of COVID-19 and was isolating at home.

Frank Fang, Zachary Stieber, Reuters, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
With much of the country experiencing icy conditions and snow in the last week and weather warnings for the coming days for more of the white stuff, below freezing temperatures and risks of flooding, research has revealed which UK cities historically have the highest percentage of road collisions caused by winter conditions.

Glasgow tops the table, with 2,012 recorded incidents in the months of December to March between 2015 and 2019 caused by drivers crashing in the snow, ice and rain.

That's according to analysis of Department for Transport and Office for National Statistics data by warranty provider, MotorEasy.

The figures suggest that treacherous conditions accounts for almost two in five accidents in the Scottish city during the winter months over the five-year period.

Glasgow is the UK with the highest percentage of crashes in snow, ice, rain and floods over a five-year period, according to a new study

The report comes after a weekend of torrential weather conditions and a spike in accidents across the UK.

Despite restrictions being in place for a third national lockdown, police and highways agencies were forced to close a number of major roads around the country over the weekend due to drivers crashing in the snow.

Central Motorway Police Group tweeted on Sunday an image of an overturned vehicle between junction 2 and 3 on the M54 near Wolverhampton and warned it had attended four traffic collisions in the area by 8:41 this morning, including a car that had lost control in the snow on the M6.

Closures on other major routes, including the M1, and reports of vehicles stranded in the snow meant an unusually busy weekend for police, recovery firms and insurers.

And with more harsh winter conditions predicted in the coming days, there are parts of the country where motorists are more likely to be involved in incidents.

UK ROAD ACCIDENTS IN WNTER CONDITIONS IN MARCH-DECEMBER MONTHS (2015-2019) City Accidents by rain/flooding Accidents by snow/ice As a % of all road accidents Glasgow 1,906 106 38.0% (5,301) Manchester 1,213 31 28.3% (4,389) Sheffield 1,376 82 27.6% (5,284) Edinburgh 1,207 78 27.6% (4,657) Bristol 1,147 38 25.1% (4,727) Leeds 2,031 123 25.0% (8,615) Birmingham 3,171 152 24.2% (13,718) Bradford 1,102 119 23.4% (5,208) Liverpool 1,122 25 23.2% (4,936) London 23,401 780 18.8% (128,449) Source: MotorEasy analysis of Department for Transport and Office of National Statistics data

Historical data from the DfT and ONS for the months of December to March over the five-year period , reviewed by MotorEasy, suggests that 38 per cent of all road traffic collisions in Glasgow occur when roads are snow covered, icy, wet or flooded.

Manchester was second in the list, with 28.3 per cent of road collisions in the city during the same period occurring in these conditions.

Sheffield and Edinburgh were joint third with 27.6 per cent of accidents being a result of drivers struggling in - or poorly judging - winter conditions, according to the research.

Central Motorway Police Unit posted this image on Twitter on Sunday as it attended an RTC on the M54 between junctions 3 and 2. 'Please slow down and drive to the conditions,' its said

Despite Sunday's warning to motorists, CMPG this morning confirmed it had already been to four traffic collisions on the network by 8:41am, including this vehicle that had lost control at junction 8 M6

London, which arguably suffers less extreme conditions during the winter months than cities in the north, had by far the largest volume of reported road accidents of the top 10 locations, with just over 24,000 cases of crashes caused by snow, ice and rain during those months over a five-year period.

However, these accounted for just 18.8 per cent of all crashes on the capital's roads over this time.

Duncan McClure Fisher, founder of MotorEasy, said: 'Wintery conditions clearly account for a large portion of UK road accidents.

'On average, more than 20 per cent of accidents occur on wet or icy roads, but for some cities the figures are even more alarming - jumping to nearly 30 per cent in Manchester and 40 per cent in Glasgow.

'Having your car properly maintained and serviced can keep it in its best condition ahead of the winter months, and if you are involved in a bump or a scrape, repair plans can help with the cost.'

Leicestershire Road Policing Unit said on Sunday that the M1 Junction 22 South had been closed due to a 5-car accident in the snow

One road police unit for Leicestershire said at 10:17 this morning that it had been to 10 accidents on the M1, M69, A42 so far today

Motorists warned they could incur fines for driving with snow on their cars

Drivers continue to be warned by motoring groups to ensure they clear all snow from the windscreens and windows of their cars, and also the vehicle's roof.

In the 'driving in adverse weather conditions' section of the Highway Code, rule 229 states motorists must clear all snow and ice from all windows, endure that lights are clean and number plates are clearly visible and legible, make sure the mirrors are clear and the windows are demisted thoroughly and remove all snow that might fall off into the path of other road users.

This is supported by the section 41D of the Road Traffic Act 1988, meaning it is a legal requirement to have a clear view of the road ahead before you set off.

Failure to do so could incur a fine of 60 and three penalty points for risking the lives of drivers, passengers and other road users.

However, enforcement of this type of offence lies with over-stretched and under-resourced police forces, which means cases of motorists receiving fines for this reason are relatively small in comparison to other driving infringements, such as speeding.

Despite the threat on punishment, a recent survey of 2,000 motorists by findandfundmycar.com revealed that almost two thirds (63 per cent) of Britons will drive a car with snow on the roof.
There are heightened fears for up to 1,000 jobs across Ireland working for the Topshop-Topman group after it emerged that a British online giant was in exclusive talks to buy the troubled retail group.

Mandate trade union national co-ordinator Jonathan Hogan said it expects to have definitive news about the future in Ireland of the Arcadia group's Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge stores in the coming days, after online retailer Asos said it was in exclusive talks to buy the names from administrators.

Ever since Arcadia went into court-appointed examinership in Britain and Ireland in late November, there have been fears that its bricks and mortar stores across numerous city centres would never reopen, putting at risk 13,000 jobs in Britain and an estimated total of 1,000 direct and indirect jobs across Ireland.

In Ireland, the court documents showed there were around 500 people working directly in the stores in the Republic, but the Mandate union said that are many more jobs across Arcadia's Topshop-Topman working in concessionaires, including in many Shaws department stores, as well as in the North.

With the shuttering of the Oasis and Warehouse outlets, Mr Hogan said the Covid crisis had accelerated the difficulties facing the retail industry and the future of city centre retailing "in an overwhelming sense".

The union's hopes were pinned on a bricks-and-mortar retailer buying the Topshop-Topman stores, as an online retailer could be less inclined to keep the physical stores open. "It is a concern," he said.

Last week, British fashion retail giant Next said it had pulled out of the bidding for the troubled Arcadia group.

In its stock market announcement today, online retailer Asos said it was confirming its "exclusive discussions" with the Arcadia administrators to buy Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, as well as other Arcadia brands.

Asos said the acquisition if it went through, would be financed from its own cash reserves and "would represent a compelling opportunity to acquire strong brands that resonate well with its customer base". Asos shares climbed more than 5% to value the firm at 5bn (5.6bn) by the stockmarket.

Separately, another online retailer Boohoo which also owns PrettyLittleThing, said it was buying the collapsed Debenhams group for 55m (62m) from administrators, in a deal that does include the stores. In Ireland, Debenhams had shut all its stores in the early stages of the first lockdown last spring under controversial circumstances.

Analyst Emily Salter at GlobalData said the unexpected Boohoo deal showed "the speed of change" sweeping across retail that raises the "question of the relevance of traditional department stores" after the Covid-19 crisis.

However, there is strong competition from other online marketplaces, not least from leading force Amazon, but also from the likes of Next and Asos, so the Boohoo group will have to develop a more compelling branded offer for Debenhams for it to succeed," she said.

Boohoo shares rose 3.5% to value the retailer at 4.4bn (4.9bn)
(Newser)  A former Transportation Security Administration agent who was accused of tricking a traveler into showing her breasts as she went through security at Los Angeles International Airport pleaded no contest Friday to false imprisonment, authorities said. Johnathon Lomeli entered the plea to a felony count and was sentenced to 60 days in county jail, 52 classes on sexual compulsion, and two years of probation, California's attorney general's office announced, per the AP. Lomeli, 23, was also barred from working as a security guard. Lomeli had been charged with using fraud or deceit to falsely imprison the woman in June 2019. The woman told investigators that Lomeli told her he had to look inside her bra to ensure she wasn't hiding anything, had her hold her pants away from her waist for a check, and then said he would take her to a private room for further security screening, prosecutors said.

story continues below

But when they were alone on an elevator, Lomeli told the woman he could perform the screening there and ordered her to lift her shirt and show her breasts, then looked down her pants, she said. Lomeli then told the woman she was free to go and added that she had nice breasts, authorities said. "We all have the right to be treated with dignity and respect in all places," Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement, per the Los Angeles Daily News. "And no one is entitled to use a position of power to violate those rights. Why can't some men absorb that simple truth? This is 2021, not 1921. Today, Johnathon Lomeli learned this the hard way."

(Read more Transportation Security Administration stories.)
Ex Love Island star Georgia Steel has been slammed by Maldives residents for posing topless for Instagram snaps, according to The Sun.

The reality personality-turned-influencer, 22, has been abroad for weeks, claiming to be there 'for work'm posting sultry snaps to social media to advertise brands.

And her latest was a topless snap - which seems to have angered the locals.

Top(less) to bottom: Ex Love Island star Georgia Steel has been slammed by Maldives residents for posing topless for Instagram snaps, according to The Sun

The Sun reports that a local source said: 'It may seem strange to Westerners, but coming here and failing to observe our laws and customs is incredibly insulting.

'Influencers who think the Maldives is just a great backdrop for their Instagram should stop and think before one ends up in jail.

'The resorts could also be in serious trouble if guests like Georgia are found to be generating [nude] images on the premises'.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office states, of the Maldives: 'Local laws reflect the fact that Maldives is an Islamic country. Violations of local laws may lead to a prison sentence.

'Nudism and topless sunbathing are not allowed anywhere, including on resort islands.

'Public observance of any religion other than Islam is prohibited. You should respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times and be aware of your actions to ensure that they dont offend, especially during the holy month of Ramadan or if you intend to visit religious areas.'

Oh! The reality personality-turned-influencer, 22, has been abroad for weeks, claiming to be there 'for work'm posting sultry snaps to social media to advertise brands

There are still laws that can lead to public floggings or death should they be broken.

MailOnline has approached Georgia's reps for comment.

Georgia posed for her latest topless snap while soaking up the sun on the beach on Thursday.

She wore just a blue patterned bikini bottom and a sun hat in the snap.

Georgia styled her brunette locks into plaits as she posed next to a tree while fixing the camera with a sultry stare.

The Sun reports that a local source said: 'It may seem strange to Westerners, but coming here and failing to observe our laws and customs is incredibly insulting'

In another snap, the reality star looked away from the camera as she fixed her hair.

Georgia, who appeared on Love Island in 2018, has been documenting her sun-soaked Maldives getaway in detail for her 1.6million Instagram followers.

She is holidaying currently with another former Love Islander Joanna Chimonides.

Despite the UK being in national lockdown, Georgia and Joanna flew from Dubai to the Maldives.

Georgia previously told her Instagram followers the 'work' trip had been planned for a long time and she was thankful it could go ahead despite the pandemic.

Fun in the sun: Georgia recently jetted to the Maldives for 'work purposes' with her friend Joanna Chimonides

She captioned one snap: 'I feel so lucky to be able to travel with my job at the moment.

'I'm so grateful that I've been given the opportunity to work with @velassarumaldives for the next week and make memories that are going to last me a lifetime. I thank the universe every day.'

However, their fun-filled getaway might be overshadowed on their return as travellers returning to the UK need to present proof of a negative Covid test result.

New arrivals who flout the rules will face a minimum 500 fine, while the operator who transported them will also be fined.

Passengers will still have to quarantine for 10 days regardless of their test results, transport minister Robert Courts said in a statement.
The local sharemarket entered the Australia Day holiday at a fresh 11-month high as the major miners offset niggling concerns around the impending rollout of a coronavirus vaccine.

The ASX 200 added 0.4 per cent in extremely light trade on Monday to finish at 6824.7 - its highest since February 25 last year.

The ASX 200 added 0.4 per cent on Monday. Credit:Louie Douvis

Volumes were low to start the week, with many traders likely taking the chance to stretch a two-day weekend into four ahead of the public holiday.

The session did continue what has been a bright start to the year for the local market, in which investors have generally looked through the damage wrought by the coronavirus and instead focused on the promise of extra stimulus thanks to US president Joe Biden and his effective senate majority.

The market has also largely priced in the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine, though developments in this space on Monday appeared to deliver local investors a reality check.

Before the opening bell, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australias medical regulator, provisionally approved Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine, with the government expecting first vaccinations expected to begin rolling out across the country from late February.

The news, however, came with a caveat from authorities.

It remains unclear if the vaccine will have any effect on reducing the transmission of the virus. It also remains unclear what effect the vaccine has on asymptomatic COVID-19, or how long the vaccine will be effective.

Tribeca Alpha Plus portfolio manager Jun Bei Liu said ultimately the vaccine news proved negative for investors, with travel-aligned stocks and energy firms faltering.

Flight Centre fell 3.3 per cent, Webjet dropped 3.8 per cent, Qantas lost 1.7 per cent and Corporate Travel Management finished 1.1 per cent lower.

Its a negative but I do also think its just a matter of time with the vaccine, before we see everyone benefiting, she said.

I think the market will continue to gyrate until it is rolled out.

Ms Liu said focus would now turn to US earnings season numbers, which she said this week could prove a litmus test for the true strength of the global economy and how far it has managed to bounce back.

This week weve got the big tech stocks up - things like Apple, Microsoft, Facebook - and they will really set the tone for the reporting season, she said.

Shares in Breville Group hit an all-time high of $30.20 on Monday, giving the manufacturer a market capitalisation of $4.18 billion.

Wesfarmers got up to $54.48 and closed 1.7 per cent ahead at a record $54.34.

Nearly 140 police officers were assaulted when a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to stop Congress certifying the results of the 2020 election, officials have revealed.

In a court filing Monday, the US Department of Justice said that 81 officers from the Capitol Police and 58 members of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted during the insurrection - a total of 139.

This is the first time officials have offered an exact count of the number of law enforcement injured in the attack.

The filing comes as it was revealed Sunday that at least 38 Capitol cops have also tested positive for COVID-19 in the nearly three weeks since, though it is unclear how many of them were on duty during the assault.

In total, five people were killed in the riots including Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher and later died from his injuries. A suspect has not yet been identified in his death.

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Nearly 140 police officers were injured when the violent pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol on January 6

In a court filing Monday, the US Department of Justice said that 81 officers from the US Capitol Police and 58 members of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted during the insurrection (pictured: a police officer has eyes flushed with water after a confrontation with rioters)

The Department of Justices filing was first reported by NBC 4s Scott MacFarlane on Twitter.

In total five people were killed in the riots, including Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher and later died from his injuries

MacFarlane shared an excerpt from the legal document, which read: In the course of the insurrection, approximately 81 Capitol Police and 58 MPD officers were assaulted, including one Capitol Police officer who died.

Prosecutors go further in the latest filing than in previous ones, broadly condemning the actions of rioters and calling the storming of Congress an insurrection 10 times across the 20-page document.

Every person who was present without authority in the Capitol on Jan. 6 contributed to the chaos of that day and the danger posed to law enforcement, the Vice President, Members of Congress, and the peaceful transfer of power, prosecutors wrote.

They continued: Make no mistake: the fear the defendant helped spread on January 6 persists  the imprint on this countrys history of a militia clad insurrectionist standing over an occupied Senate chamber is indelible.

Disturbing footage from the riots has shown dozens of officers being crushed by crowds, dragged down steps, and struck with projectiles as the MAGA mob overwhelmed law enforcement to breach the legislature nearly three weeks ago.

One officer, Daniel Hodges, was filmed screaming for help as he was being crushed against a metal door frame, with blood pouring from his mouth. He has since recovered and returned to duty.

More than 150 of the thousands-strong crowd have since been arrested, with more suspects still being sought by federal authorities.

At least 31 officers in law enforcement agencies across 12 states are also currently being investigated over their suspect role in the riots.

One officer, Daniel Hodges, was filmed screaming for help as he was being crushed against a metal door frame, with blood seen pouring from his mouth. He has since recovered and returned to duty

An officer in the above image was seen being dragged down steps outside the Capitol before being beaten by a mob of Trump supporters

More than 150 of the thousands-strong crowd have since been arrested, with more suspects still being sought by federal authorities

Investigators are seeking to establish whether officers only attended the rally where Trump spoke, or whether they were involved in the subsequent violence at the Capitol.

According to the Associated Press, officers from Los Angeles, a small community in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma are among those under investigation.

Most of the officers have not been publicly identified; only a few have been charged. Some were identified by online sleuths. Others were reported by their colleagues or turned themselves in.

Among them are an Oklahoma sheriff and New Hampshire police chief who have acknowledged being at the rally, but denied entering the Capitol or breaking the law.

Sgt. Thomas Robertson and Officer Jacob Fracker, of Rocky Mount, Virginia, face criminal charges after posting a photo of themselves inside the Capitol during the riot.

According to court records, Robertson wrote on social media that the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem  The right IN ONE DAY took the f***ing US Capitol. Keep poking us.

On the other side of the country, five Seattle officers are under investigation by the citys Office of Police Accountability.

Two officers posted photos of themselves on social media while in the district and officials are investigating to determine where they were and what they were doing. Three others told supervisors that they went to Washington for the events and are being investigated for what they did while there.

Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz said his department supports officers freedom of speech and that those who were in the nations capital will be fired if they were directly involved in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Sgt. Thomas Robertson (right) and Officer Jacob Fracker (left), of Rocky Mount, Virginia, face criminal charges after posting a photo of themselves inside the Capitol during the riot.

At least 31 officers in law enforcement agencies across 12 states are also currently being investigated over their suspect role in the riots

A report released by CNN on Sunday revealed that 38 officers from the Capitol Police Department have since tested positive for COVID-19 since January 6.

While its unclear how many of those officer were on duty during the attack, or when they specifically contracted the virus, health officials previously voiced concerns over the mass of largely unmasked people, shouting at and pushing up against officers.

I do think you have to anticipate that this is another surge event. You had largely unmasked individuals in a non-distanced fashion, who were all through the Capitol, former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield said.

Several lawmakers have also tested positive since the attack, with some Democrats claiming to have contracted COVID after sheltering in place with GOP members of Congress who refused to wear masks.

Following the events of Wednesday, including sheltering with several colleagues who refused to wear masks, I decided to take a Covid test. I have tested positive, New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman tweeted on January 11.

In an addition statement from her office, a spokesperson said Coleman believes she was exposed during protective isolation in the US Capitol building as a result of insurrectionist riots. As reported by multiple news outlets, a number of members within the space ignored instructions to wear masks.

A report released by CNN on Sunday revealed that 38 officers from the Capitol Police Department have since tested positive for COVID-19 since January 6

Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman is being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his heroics during the insurrection. Goodman was captured on video (left) single-handedly leading a group of rioters away from the Senate chamber, buying time for senators to evacuate with minutes to spare

Also Monday, 35 senators from across the partisan divide introduced a bill to honor Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal for his heroics during the insurrection.

Goodman was captured on video single-handedly leading a group of rioters away from the Senate chamber, buying time for lawmakers to evacuate moments after the Capitol was breached.

The Officer Eugene Goodman Congressional Gold Medal Act describes how the officers quick thinking left an indelible mark on American history.

The bill was originally introduced by senators Thom Tillis, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Coons, Sherrod Brown, and Ben Cardin.

Officer Eugue Goodmans selfless and quick-thinking actions doubtlessly saved lives and bought security personnel precious time to secure and ultimately evacuate the Senate before the armed mob breached the chamber, the act reads.

By putting his own life on the line and successfully, single-handedly leading insurrectionists away from the floor of the Senate Chamber, Officer Eugene Goodman performed his duty to protect Congress with distinction, and by his actions, Officer Goodman left an indelible mark on American history.
Barely three weeks after Google employees in the US registered a minority union, an international amalgam is coming to the fore. Employees of the search engine giant, spread across 10 countries, have reportedly formed 'Alpha Global' - an international union alliance.

The coalition's stated objective is to hold Alphabet Inc - Google's parent company - "accountable", The Verge reported. The alliance includes 13 unions, and has been registered with UNI Global, the report added.

The affiliation with UNI Global holds significance as the group was responsible for organising the coordinated "black friday strikes" in 2020 to pressurise Amazon Inc to raise the minimum wages of their workers.

Before the emergence of Alpha Global, the AWU was formed on January 4. The union, after starting with a miniscule strength of 250 members, raised its overall membership to over 700 within a week.

The numbers deny AWU the strength to bring Google to the negotiating table. The union, however, is not focusing on the sole issue of wage increment.

Members of the union said their efforts are aimed at providing structure and longevity to activism at Google, rather than negotiating contracts, NYT had reported.

Alpha Global, which is expected to spearhead the agenda laid out by AWU, includes Google employees based in the following 10 countries - the US, Switzerland, Ireland, UK, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Belgium.

Fionnuala Ni Bhrogain, an organizer with the Communications Workers Union in Ireland and member of UNI Global, told The Verge that a global amalgam of tech giant workers is essential to hold the companies accountable.

"If theyre acting in this way nearly entirely unchecked by governments then there is no hold on what they can do. That power needs to be checked, and its only through collective action that workers are able to do that," Bhrogain said.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "I was a victim of this type of accident. I still have not physically returned to normal because of it," said an inventor from Channelview, Texas. "So, I invented the LIFE SAVER."

This invention detects when a work vehicle is accidentally lifted off the ground. It immediately alerts the crane operator to stop lifting the container/truck. This could help to reduce the risk of dangerous accidents, potential lawsuits and the associated cost for companies. Additionally, it is designed to enhance the safety of the vehicle operator and it could protect the vehicle against damages.

The original design was submitted to the Houston sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 19-HUN-665, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

SOURCE InventHelp

Related Links

http://www.inventhelp.com


Sydneysiders could remain locked out of Queensland until March as contact tracers race against the clock to link six mystery infections before the border restrictions are reviewed on Thursday.

The Palaszczuk government is sticking to its policy of keeping Queenslands border closed to declared hotspots until they can go 28 days without a mystery case of COVID-19.

There have been six infections in greater Sydney since January 1 that remain under investigation, the most recent recorded on January 15.

NSW contact tracers must pinpoint the source of each infection or Queenslands border will not open at the end of the month.
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President Biden Diverts Military Away from its Mission, Forces it to Pay for Gender Reassignment Surgeries

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Family Research Council

Jan. 25, 2021

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /Standard Newswire/ -- President Joe Biden, in one of his first official acts, reinstated President Obama's military transgender policy. The president did so without any kind of systematic study of the consequences of allowing men and women in the military to live as the opposite sex and even obtain gender reassignment procedures paid for by the military. This stands in stark contrast to the DoD review that was conducted of President Trump's policy. The Department of Defense reported that medical costs for service members with "gender dysphoria" were three times higher than for other service members before the Trump administration repealed the Obama era rule.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins (photo), a Marine veteran, criticized President Biden's swift reinstatement of President Obama's costly transgender military policy:

"In one of his first acts as commander-in-chief, President Biden is redirecting the military's focus from where it has been and where it belongs -- fighting and winning wars. Political correctness doesn't win wars, but the president is indulging dangerous and unproven theories that have the potential to undermine national security.

"As president-elect, Joe Biden promised to bring unity to our country. Providing our servicemembers with the resources to keep our country safe would help move our country in this direction. Instead, President Biden is diverting precious dollars from mission-critical training to something as controversial as gender reassignment surgery. The military cannot focus its efforts on preparing to fight and win wars when it is being used as a vehicle to advance the far Left's social agenda.

"As our nation faces serious national security threats, our troops shouldn't be forced to endure hours of transgender 'sensitivity' classes and politically-correct distractions like this one," concluded Perkins.

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, former U.S. Army Delta Force commander and current Family Research Council Executive Vice President, added the following comments:

"Every cent spent on this politically-correct exercise is money that could be used to prepare our troops for war. Every second wasted in 'transgender sensitivity training' is time that could be spent on the rifle range.

"I'm appalled that our commander-in-chief is more focused on appeasing special interest groups than on military readiness," concluded Boykin.

For FRC's issue brief on the potential cost of a transgender military policy, please see: https://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF17F52.pdf.

SOURCE Family Research Council

CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Joshua Arnold, (866) FRC-NEWS or (866)-372-6397


(CNN)  US President Joe Biden attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, DC's Georgetown neighborhood, his first time attending Sunday Mass since taking his oath of office.

Biden is the second Catholic president in US history, and weekly Mass is expected to be a fixed part of his schedule. That's a level of devotion to regular religious services not seen from recent presidents, who were professed Christians but intermittently attended church or worshipped privately while in office.

And while it's unclear whether he will adopt a permanent parish in Washington during his term, Biden's churchgoing will provide a window into how his spiritual side aligns with his politics.

Biden was inside Holy Trinity for at least 35 minutes and his grandchildren, Maisy and Finnegan, and his son, Hunter, accompanied the President to Sunday's service. Asked how the service was, he replied, "Lovely."

Biden's motorcade then made a stop at Call Your Mother, a popular bagelry-deli in the area, to pick up an order. Call Your Mother retweeted a video of the motorcade on Sunday and called the visit a "GREAT Sunday surprise."

"Thrilled to have an admin again who will love all that DC has to offer  starting with sesame bagels!! Come back anytime @JoeBiden," the post said.

Catholicism has been an integral part of Biden's life, who has been a regular at Mass since childhood and attended Catholic schools. He married his late first wife, Neilia, in a Catholic church and peppers his political speech with quotes from Scripture, Catholic hymns and references to the nuns and priests he learned from in school.

He frequented Holy Trinity during his time as vice president to former President Barack Obama. The church -- the oldest Catholic church in Washington, according to Holy Trinity -- was also regularly attended by the first US Catholic president, John F. Kennedy.

The morning of his inauguration, Biden attended a service at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC, with all four congressional leaders.

This story was first published on CNN.com 'Biden attends first Sunday Mass as President'
With the arrival of winter and the U.S. coronavirus outbreak in full swing, the restaurant industry  looking at losses of $235 billion in 2020  is clinging to techniques for sustaining outdoor dining even through the cold and vagaries of a U.S. winter.

Yurts, greenhouses, igloos, tents and all kinds of partly open outdoor structures have popped up at restaurants around the country. Owners have turned to these as a lifeline to help fill some tables by offering the possibility at least of a safer dining experience.

Were trying to do everything we can to expand the outdoor dining season for as long as possible, said Mike Whatley with the National Restaurant Association.

Dire times have forced the industry to find ways to survive. Whatley said more than 100,000 restaurants are either completely closed or not open for business in any capacity.

Its going to be a hard and tough winter, Whatley said. As you see outdoor dining not being feasible from a cold-weather perspective or, unfortunately, from a government regulations perspective, you are going to see more operators going out of business.

In recent months, many cities and states have imposed a raft of restrictions on indoor dining, given the high risk of spreading the virus in these crowded settings.

Many have capped occupancy for dine-in restaurants. Some halted indoor dining altogether, including Michigan and Illinois. Others have gone even further. Los Angeles and Baltimore have halted indoor and outdoor dining. Only carryout is allowed.

Those who can serve customers outdoors, on patios or sidewalks, are coming up with creative adaptations that can make dining possible in the frigid depths of winter.

Embrace the Yurtiness

Washington state shut down indoor dining in mid-November and has kept that ban in place as coronavirus cases continue to surge.

On a blustery December evening, servers at the high-end Seattle restaurant Canlis huddled together in the parking lot, clad in flannel and puffy vests, while their boss Mark Canlis gave a pep talk ahead of a busy night.

The hospitality out here is exactly the same as it is in there, Canlis said, gesturing to his restaurant, which overlooks Lake Union. But that looks really different, so try to invite them into the yurtiness of what we are doing.

Tim Baker, owner of Seattles San Fermo, holds a hot air cannon he uses inside the dining igloos ahead of each seating. After a thorough ventilation, the device warms up the interior, he says, and also helps disperse any lingering infectious particles. (Will Stone/KHN)TNS

Canlis has erected an elaborate yurt village in the parking lot next to his familys storied restaurant.

It includes an outdoor fireplace and wood-paneled walkways winding between small pine trees and the circular tents. The assemblage of yurts, with their open window flaps, is the Canlis familys best effort to keep fine dining alive during the pandemic and a typically long and wet Seattle winter (referred to locally as the Big Dark).

Arriving guests are greeted with a forehead thermometer to take their temperature and a cup of hot cider.

It gives us an excuse to think differently, Canlis said of the outdoor dining restrictions.

The yurts are meant to shield diners from the elements and from infectious airborne particles that might otherwise spread from table to table.

Dining inside such structures is not risk free: Guests could still catch the virus from a dining companion as they sit near each other, without masks, for a prolonged period. But Canlis said there is no easy way to determine whether every member of a dining group is from the same household.

Im not the governor or the CDC, he said. Im assuming if you are there at the table, youre taking your health into your own hands.

New rules for outdoor dining structures in Washington require Canlis to consider issues such as how to ventilate the yurts properly and sanitize the expensive furniture.

What is the square inch of yurt volume space? What is the size of the door and the windows? How many minutes will we allow the yurt to breathe? " Canlis said.

The structures get cleaned after each dining party finishes a meal and leaves; during the meal service the waiters enter and leave quickly, wearing N95 masks.

Igloos, Domes, Tents: Just How Safe Are They?

Another, more modern-looking take on outdoor dining involves transparent igloos and other domelike structures that have become popular with restaurant owners all over the country.

Tim Baker, who owns the Italian restaurant San Fermo in Seattle, had to order his igloos from Lithuania and assemble them with the help of his son.

His restaurants policy is that only two people are allowed in an igloo at a time, to cut down on the risk of those from different households gathering together.

Youre completely enclosed in your own space with somebody in your own household. These domes protect you from all the people walking by on the sidewalk, and the server doesnt go in with you, he said.

Baker said he consulted with experts in airflow and decided to use an industrial hot air cannon after each party of diners leaves the igloo and before the next set enters  aiming to clear the air inside the structure of any lingering infectious particles.

You fire this cannon up, and it just pushes the air through really aggressively, quickly dispersing the particles, Baker said.

His restaurants igloos have become a big attraction.

Im particularly proud of anything that we can do to get people excited right now, because we need it, he said. Were all getting crushed by this emotionally.

Not all outdoor dining structures are created equally, said Richard Corsi, an air quality expert and dean of engineering and computer science at Portland State University in Oregon.

The popular Seattle restaurant San Fermo allows only two people inside each of its enclosed dining igloos at a time  to reduce the risk that people from different households will dine together. (Will Stone/KHN) TNS

Theres a wide spectrum, Corsi said. The safest that were talking about is no walls  a roof. And then the worst is fully enclosed  which is essentially an indoor tent  especially if it doesnt have really good ventilation and good physical distancing.

In fact, Corsi said, some outdoor dining structures that are enclosed and have lots of tables near each other end up being more dangerous than being indoors, because the ventilation is worse.

Dining that is truly outdoors, with no temporary shelter at all, is much safer because there are higher air speeds, more dispersion and more mixing than indoors, Corsi said, which means respiratory droplets harboring the virus dont accumulate and are less concentrated when people are close to one another.

If they have heaters, then youre going to actually have pretty good ventilation, Corsi said. The air will rise up when its heated, and then cool air will come in.

He said private pods or domes can be fairly safe if they are properly ventilated and cleaned between diners. That also assumes that everyone eating inside the structure lives together, so they have already been exposed to one anothers germs.

But Corsi said he is still not going out for a meal in one of the many new outdoor dining creations  even though I know theyve got a much lower risk of spreading covid-19 than most indoor alternatives.

(Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)

___

Will Stone of Kaiser Health News wrote this story.

(c)2021 Kaiser Health News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert and The Outsiders star Rob Lowe got engaged in 1986. But they broke up about a year later (before getting married) after Gilbert found out she was pregnant.

After Gilbert learned Lowe had cheated on her with his co-star in The Hotel New Hampshire, she was always on the lookout for romantic scenes that involved her boyfriend. When Lowe got the part of Nick De Angelo in Oxford Blues, Gilbert was immediately worried about his relationship with Amanda Pays.

Rob Lowe In Oxford Blues | MGM-UA/Getty Images

Why Amanda Pays freaked [Melissa Gilbert] out when Rob Lowe got a part in Oxford Blues

Since Lowe had been unfaithful to Gilbert in the past, the Little House actor was always concerned about love scenes  those were red flags, she wrote in her memoir, Prairie Tale. But there was another reason Pays freaked [Gilbert] out. She looked just like the last girl Lowe had cheated on Gilbert with, Nastassja Kinski.

Gilbert wasnt the only one who noticed the similarities between Pays and Kinski. Lowe did, too.

Its freaking me out, Gilbert told Lowe.

Dont, he replied, according to Gilbert. Theres absolutely no reason. Believe me.

Rob Lowe and Nastassja Kinski

RELATED: The Breakup Advice Warren Beatty Gave Melissa Gilbert After Rob Lowe Cheated on Her

The first time Gilbert caught Lowe cheating on her was when he was filming The Hotel New Hampshire. One night when she was trying to get a hold of him via his hotel phone, one of the hotel operators picked up and told Gilbert he was staying in Kinskis room. So she flew to Montreal (where the movie was being filmed) and confronted him. They broke up briefly as a result but got back together after an emotional fifteen hours of crying, screaming, talking, making love, carrying on, and laughing.

Where Melissa Gilbert and Rob Lowe stood when he filmed Oxford Blues

Despite what had happened while filming The Hotel New Hampshire, Gilbert and Lowe were at a good place in their relationship when he left for London to film Oxford Blues.

Rob Lowe and Melissa Gilbert | Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

RELATED: The Actor Who Admitted To Little House on the Prairie Star Melissa Gilbert She Once Set a Critics Blazer on Fire

Letters from him arrived by the bundle, and I joined him there for a couple of blissfully fun weeks, wrote Gilbert.

When the Little House actor got to London, it was a nonstop party.

We drank and caroused our way through the city, she wrote. I may have seen the sun rise too many times for my own good, but I felt secure and loved and in a really comfortable place. It seemed like Rob and I had been through a fire and come out much better for the pain.
Manx National Rally cancelled

The Manx National Rally has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers of the event planned for 14th and 15th of May will not go ahead.

The popular two-day rally would normally see a host of competitors from across the UK and beyond contest over 120 stage miles across the islands roads.

However, due to the uncertainties surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic, the restrictions imposed by the UK and Isle of Man authorities, current lockdown legislation and implications of running a large-scale event which brings around 1000 people from the UK mainland to the island, organisers have no choice but to cancel the May event. A primary consideration being to safeguard island residents, landowners, spectators, volunteers, and competitors.

Mark Quayle, Clerk of the Course, said Manx Auto Sport regrets to announce that the 2021 Manx National Rally will not go ahead. Much like last year, this has not been an easy decision for the organising team who have been working hard behind the scenes to deliver another memorable rally on the island.

But with so many uncertainties with restrictions and the large number of officials, competitors, support teams and volunteers that we draw in from the UK and even further afield, it would be impossible to predict the situation in May. We have left our decision as late as possible, but we have reached a critical stage in our planning and it is not possible to guarantee that an event of such a large scale could go ahead.
A Hindu Rohingya woman speaks to a BenarNews reporter at a section of the Kutupalong refugee camp designated for Hindus, in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, Jan. 24, 2021.

Bangladeshs priority is returning to Myanmar more than 1 million Muslim Rohingya refugees, not a small group of Hindus among them, Dhaka said Monday in responding to Naypyidaws demand that some 500 Hindu Rohingya be included in the first phase of repatriation.

Meanwhile, Hindu refugees living in a camp designated for them in Coxs Bazar district said they wanted to return to Myanmar with the consent of both countries. They had fled across the border, after Rohingya Muslim militants killed nearly 100 Hindus while attacking police and army outposts in Myanmars Rakhine state in 2017.

The number of Hindu Rohingya is close to four hundred. Their repatriation is not our priority, Muhammad Delwar Hossain, director general of the Myanmar Cell of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told BenarNews.

The number of Muslim Rohingya who have taken refuge in this country is more than 1 million. It will not make much difference whether a small number of Hindu Rohingya return or not, he said.

Alluding to the Hindu refugees, he said it was easy for them to go back as he alleged that Myanmar government forces were on their side.

The return of the Hindus and the return of the Muslim Rohingya, who fell victim to brutality by Myanmar forces, is not the same. When the Muslim Rohingya return, the Hindus will also go. We have no objection in this regard, Hossain said.

There are 550 Hindu Rohingya, divided into 115 families, in the Hindu section of the Kutupalong refugee camp in Coxs Bazar, according to a BenarNews reporter who conducted a tally at the camp during the weekend.

Last week, Myanmars foreign office had demanded that Bangladesh send back the Hindu refugees in the first repatriation phase, during an online meeting with Bangladeshi and Chinese officials, according to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), a sister entity of BenarNews.

The two neighbors had tentatively discussed a fresh attempt to begin repatriation in the second quarter of 2021, although it was not immediately clear what guarantees Rohingya would receive about their safety and livelihood under the plan.

Myanmar had urged that verified refugees, including the Hindus, be returned in the first phase after the coronavirus pandemic subsided.

About a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, most living in 34 refugee camps in and around Coxs Bazar. These include more than 740,000 who escaped a brutal military crackdown in 2017 after Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army insurgents attacked police and army outposts in Rakhine.

At the time, ARSA insurgents carried out attacked Hindu women, men, and children in two villages and abducted residents, according to a May 2018 report by Amnesty International.

Hindu refugees want to come home

Myanmars demand that Hindu refugees be returned during the first stage of the repatriation is an attempt at misdirection, said Ehsanul Haque, a professor of international relations at Dhaka University.

Myanmar has been dilly dallying to repatriate Rohingya refugees from the very beginning. The country has been maneuvering to prolong the issue, Haque told BenarNews.

Saying they want to take back the Hindu Rohingya is a ploy. By doing so, they seem to want to show the international community that they want to take at least some Rohingya back.

Still, the Hindu Rohingya refugees want to return to Myanmar, said Shishu Shil, a Hindu refugee leader at the Kutupalong camp.

The government is taking care of our security, but we want to go back to our country, Shil told BenarNews.

If the environment in Rakhine is safe, I want to return to my country without any condition if arranged through bilateral talks between the two countries.

Meanwhile, a Hindu community leader in Rakhines Maungdaw township told RFA that the refugees longed to return to their homeland.

The Hindus over there want to come back to our side as soon as possible. They want to come home. They have expressed their wishes to return to Myanmar to the Bangladeshi authorities, Ni Maw said.

They expressed this to the Myanmar authorities too. We also want them to be repatriated and have the people of our ethnic group back in their homeland.

According to Myanmar government announcements, more than 170 men and 290 women have returned to the Nga Khu Ya refugee welcome center in Maungdaw between 2018 and October last year, but none of the repatriated refugees were Hindu.
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Indigo Paints, the fifth-largest company in the Indian decorative paint industry by revenue, is expected to finalise the share allocation of its public issue on January 28, as per the schedule available in the prospectus.

The Rs 1,170-crore public issue closed on January 22 after receiving subscription of 117 times. Its equity shares are likely to get listed on bourses on February 2.

After the finalisation of share allocation, the process for unblocking of funds from ASBA account will take place on January 29. Shares allotted in the issue will get credited to the demat accounts of eligible investors around February 1.

Investors can check the allotment in few easy steps on the website of IPO's registrar.

One should select the company (Indigo Paints);Enter either PAN Number, Application Number, DP/Client ID, or Account Number along with IFSC code;Enter the Captcha available next to the box;

Click on Submit to get the actual result.

One can check also the application status on the BSE Website.

Select Issue Type (Equity);Select Issue Name (Indigo Paints);Enter application Number and PAN Number;

Click on Search to get the result.

Indigo Paints had opened its IPO on January 20, which comprised a fresh of an issue of Rs 300 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 870.16 crore worth of shares by promoter (Hemant Jalan) and investors (Sequoia Capital India Investments IV and SCI Investments V).

The company had reserved 70,000 equity shares for its employees and the eligible employees will get these shares at a discount of Rs 148 per share.

Indigo Paints is the fastest growing among the top five paint companies in India and fifth-largest company in the Indian decorative paint industry in terms of revenue from operations for FY20. The company has three manufacturing facilities - in Jodhpur, Kochi and Pudukkottai, with aggregate production capacity of 1,01,903 KLPA of liquid paint and 93,118 MTPA of putties and powder paints.

The company will utilise the net fresh issue funds for expansion of the existing manufacturing facility at Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu by setting up an additional unit adjacent to the existing facility (Rs 150 crore); purchase of tinting machines and gyroshakers (Rs 50 crore); and repayment certain of borrowings (Rs 25 crore).
UPDATE, Jan. 24, 8:35 p.m.: Cal Fire announced it is adding Davenport to the list of areas in Santa Cruz County receiving evacuation warnings.



Jan. 24, 6:25 p.m: Cal Fire announced evacuation warnings Sunday evening for Santa Cruz County, comprising the San Lorenzo Valley area and the north coast of Santa Cruz County.

"An evacuation warning means these individuals need to be prepared to leave immediately with a go bag and planned evacuation route," Cal Fire said.

To see which zones are evacuated visit the Cal Fire CZU Twitter page. To find out what zone you are in, visit Community.Zonehaven.com. Sign up for alerts at scr911.org.

The warning comes ahead of an atmospheric forecast to drench the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday night into Thursday, with up to 10 inches of rain expected in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and mud slides and debris flows possible.

Jan. 24, 3 p.m. A wet and powerful storm system called an atmospheric river is poised to soak the greater San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday night into Thursday, and Santa Cruz County officials are watching the forecast closely to determine whether to evacuate some residents in the mountains due to the risk of mud slides and debris flows.

Officials are meeting Sunday night to decide whether to issue a 48-hour evacuation warning ahead of the storm. Residents should watch the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office's Twitter page, track the National Weather Service Bay Area's Twitter page and visit Zonehaven.com for updates and information. Any mandatory evacuations would be issued 24 hours ahead of the storm, said Cal Fire Deputy Chief Nate Armstrong.

"Our primary objective is to get people out of the area so we dont have to rescue them because theres no stopping the debris flows," said Armstrong. "Weve been working on early messaging for weeks and months and making sure people know they are in areas that have potential for debris flows. Weve been telling them to have an evacuation plan, have your bags packed."

The storm is expected to be the wettest and strongest of the rainy season so far with the heaviest rainfall Tuesday night into Wednesday. Atmospheric rivers pull long plumes of water vapor in the atmosphere  250 to 375 miles wide on average  and are often referred to as rivers in the sky. On the West Coast, they most often originate in the South Pacific, and as they travel from the tropics across the ocean, they collect incredible amounts of moisture.

With the upcoming storm, the National Weather Service estimates the Santa Cruz Mountains could receive up to 10 inches of rain and this could create a mess across the 86,000 acres burned by the CZU Lightning Complex in August.

The weather service has calculated rainfall rate thresholds for the Santa Cruz Mountain region and determined that mud slides and debris flows could occur if rates reach 0.3 inch in 15 minutes, 0.5 inch in 30 minutes or 0.7 inch in 60 minutes.

"Areas of most concern in Santa Cruz are the two areas that have the highest burn severity at the headwaters of steep drainages that homes are below," said Armstrong. "That's Swanton Road on the north Santa Cruz County coast and the community of Boulder Creek especially as you move up the Highway 236 corridor."
Protesters expected to gather in Sydney tomorrow will risk being fined if the event exceeds the cap of 500 people for outdoor protests under public health orders.

About 2800 people have indicated they are planning to attend the annual Invasion Day protest at the Domain on Tuesday morning.

Last years Invasion Day march in Sydney. Credit:Rhett Wyman

However, COVID-19 public health orders limit protests within Greater Sydney to a maximum of 500 people, or 3000 people outside Sydney.

Police Minister David Elliott said police will be out enforcing the public health orders.
The 2020 wolf moon was coloured by a penumbral eclipse. (Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images)

The first full moon of January will blaze in the sky on Thursday, reaching its fullest point at 7.16pm that day.

Its called the wolf moon traditionally, due to the howling of wolves in midwinter when food is scarce.

Royal Museums Greenwich explains in a blog post: Other names for this month's full moon include old moon and ice moon.

A full moon happens roughly every 29.5 days. This is the length of time it takes for the moon to go through one whole lunar phase cycle.

Last years wolf moon saw an eclipse that was described as a super blue blood wolf moon eclipse.

This years will, however, just be an ordinary full moon.

Watch: A wolf moon is coming this month, heres how to see it

Read more: What is a supermoon?

Full moons occur when the moon appears as a full circle in the sky, when the whole side of the moon facing Earth is lit up by the sun.

In this case, the moment will come at 7.16pm UK time, but the full moon can occur at any time during day or night.

Last year's wolf moon looked spectacular around the world. (Gary Hershorn/Corbis via Getty Images)

To the naked eye, the moon will appear close to full for a couple of nights either side.

According to Royal Museums Greenwich: The time refers to the exact moment when the sun and moon are aligned on opposite sides of Earth.

This moment is known as the 'syzygy' of the sun-Earth-moon system, and can happen at any time day or night.

Read more: Five moon myths (and how to disprove them yourself)

The names we use for full moons today come to us indirectly from Native American traditions, according to NASA.

NASAs Gordon Johnston wrote in 2020: In the 1930s the Maine Farmer's Almanac began publishing Indian names for the full moons, tying these names to the European months.

By season, as the first full moon of winter, the Algonquin tribes of what is now the northern and eastern United States named this the wolf moon, from the packs of wolves that howled hungrily outside the villages amid the cold and deep snows of winter.

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British Gas engineers are staging their eighth one-day strike in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Members of the GMB union are embroiled in a deadlocked row, with more industrial action planned later this week and into February.

The union claimed on Monday that the backlog of customers waiting for service is nearing 150,000 as a result of the industrial action, a figure the company disputes.

British Gas engineers are staging their eighth one-day strike in a dispute over pay and working conditions. Pictured: A striking engineer burns a contract of employment outside the company offices in Leeds on January 22

The company said it had 'strong contingency plans' in place and would prioritise vulnerable households and emergencies.

Last week members of the union were pictured burning new contracts during one of their strikes.

GMB national officer Justin Bowden said: 'The backlog of households awaiting services for British Gas is growing at treble the 6,000 per day the company admits.

'At the end of strike day eight, the backlog will have grown to more than 150,000 household waiting for services.

The GMB union claimed on Monday that the backlog of customers waiting for service is nearing 150,000 as a result of the industrial action, a figure the company disputes

'The fire and rehire changes being imposed on engineers mean hourly pay rates would be 15% below agreed pay rates along with other worse term and conditions.'

A spokeswoman for British Gas owner Centrica said: 'We're operating in an incredibly competitive market and British Gas has lost too many jobs and too many customers over recent years. Our business needs to change to survive and protect 20,000 jobs.

'We know change is difficult but we have offered a fair deal that has been negotiated over 300 hours with unions - we're not cutting base pay and pensions are protected.

'Eighty-three percent of our employees have already agreed to the new terms and we believe the vast majority of our workforce understand that the company needs to change.'

GMB National officer Justin Bowden previously accused British Gas of a 'fire and rehire' policy which would lead to a pay cut and longer working week for its members. Pictured: A British gas engineer burns a contract outside of Centrica headquarters on January 22

British Gas added: 'We're sorry we are having to reschedule some work but we are catching up within 24 hours.

'The majority of our workforce are not on strike and are working incredibly hard to ensure our customers are taken care of.'

Speaking earlier in the week, a British Gas spokesperson also said that changes are being made to modernise the company, with pay for their engineers remaining the highest in the sector.

They said that working hours would increase from 37 to 40 hours a week but that no changes would be made to base pay or pensions and productivity will be rewarded with additional bonuses.

GMB National officer Justin Bowden previously accused British Gas of a 'fire and rehire' policy which would lead to a pay cut and longer working week for its members.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  Sarah Sanders, Donald Trumps former chief spokeswoman and one of his closest aides, is running for Arkansas governor, a senior campaign official told The Associated Press.

Sanders, who left the White House in 2019 to return to her home state, planned to announce her bid on Monday, according to the campaign official who spoke Sunday night on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the formal announcement.

FILE - In this Wednesday, May 22, 2019, file photo, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders talks with reporters outside the White House, in Washington. Former White House spokeswoman Sanders is running for Arkansas governor, a source told The Associated Press, late Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

The former White House press secretary is launching her bid less than a week after the end of Trumps presidency and as the ex-president faces an impeachment trial. But Sanders is also running in a solidly red state where Republicans tend to embrace the former president.

The daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders had been widely expected to run for the office after leaving the White House  and Trump publicly encouraged her to make a go. Shes been laying the groundwork for a candidacy, speaking to GOP groups around the state.

Sanders joins an expensive Republican primary that already includes two statewide elected leaders, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. The three are running to succeed current Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who is unable to run next year due to term limits. No Democrats have announced a bid to run for the seat.

Sanders launched her bid weeks after a riot by Trumps supporters at the U.S. Capitol left five people dead. More than 130 people have been charged in the insurrection, which was aimed at halting the certification of President Joe Bidens win over Trump.

Sanders was the first working mother and only the third woman to serve as White House press secretary. But she also faced questions about her credibility during her time as Trumps chief spokesperson.

During her nearly two-year tenure as Trumps chief spokeswoman, daily televised briefings led by the press secretary ended after Sanders repeatedly sparred with reporters who aggressively questioned her about administration policy and the investigation into possible coordination between Trumps campaign and Russia. But Sanders earned reporters respect working behind the scenes to develop relationships with the media.

Trumps tumultuous exit from the presidency may do little damage to Sanders in Arkansas. Republicans hold all of Arkansas statewide and federal seats, as well as a solid majority in both chambers of the Legislature.

Griffin and Rutledge have combined raised more than $2.8 million in the race, which could get even more crowded. Republican state Sen. Jim Hendren, who is also a nephew of Hutchinson's, is considering a run.

Sanders, who published a book last year and joined Fox News as a contributor after leaving the White House, enters the race with a much higher profile than any of the candidates. But she remains an unknown on many of the states biggest issues and has said she doesn't want to distract from Hutchinson's agenda.

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A new innovation allows scientists to 3D-print human bones from a person's own living cells and for the first time, the process has been done at room temperature.

A team at Australia's University of New South Wales-Sydney created a 'bio-ink' gel that contains a patient's live bone cells in a calcium phosphate solution, which are necessary minerals for bone formation and maintenance.

Using a technique known as ceramic omnidirectional bioprinting in cell-suspensions (COBICS), the gel is 3D-printed directly into the patient's bone cavity instead of surgeons having to remove a piece from a different location.

The material then hardens within minutes of being exposed to bodily fluids and converts into mechanically interlocking bone nanocrystals.

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A new innovation allows scientists to 3D-print human bones from a person's own living cells and for the first time , the process has been done at room temperature

The act of 3D-printing bone-mimicking structures is not new, but the University of New South Wales-Sydney's method allows the process to be done at room temperature for the first time.

This means bones can be created on the spot inside a medical room, along with using the patient's own living cells.

Dr Iman Roohani from UNSW's School of Chemistry, said: 'This is a unique technology that can produce structures that closely mimic bone tissue.'

'It could be used in clinical applications where there is a large demand for in situ repair of bone defects such as those caused by trauma, cancer, or where a big chunk of tissue is resected.'

A team at Australia's University of New South Wales-Sydney created a 'bio-ink' gel that contains a patient's live bone cells in a calcium phosphate solution, which are necessary minerals for bone formation and maintenance

Prior to this work, if a patient needed a piece of bone doctors would have to remove a section from a different location in the body.

And 3D-printing was only available by first going to a laboratory to fabricate the structures using high-temperature furnaces and toxic chemicals.

Associate Professor Kristopher Kilian who co-developed the breakthrough technology, said: 'This produces a dry material that is then brought into a clinical setting or in a laboratory, where they wash it profusely and then add living cells to it,' Professor Kilian says.

Using a technique known as ceramic omnidirectional bioprinting in cell-suspensions (COBICS), the gel is 3D-printed directly into the patient's bone cavity instead of surgeons having to remove a piece from a differently location

The special ink made for the process forms a structure that is chemically similar to bone-building blocks, according to the scientists.

'The cool thing about our technique is you can just extrude it directly into a place where there are cells, like a cavity in a patient's bone. We can go directly into the bone where there are cells, blood vessels and fat, and print a bone-like structure that already contains living cells, right in that area.'

'There are currently no technologies that can do that directly.'

The special ink made for the process forms a structure that is chemically similar to bone-building blocks, according to the scientists.

'The ink is formulated in such a way that the conversion is quick, non-toxic in a biological environment and it only initiates when ink is exposed to the body fluids, providing an ample working time for the end-user, for example, surgeons,' Dr Roohani said.

He explains that the ink combines with a collagenous substance that contains living cells, 'it enables in-situ fabrication of bone-like tissues which may be suitable for bone tissue engineering applications, disease modelling, drug screening, and in-situ reconstruction of bone and osteochondral defects.'
Zimbabwes Information Secretary, Nick Mangwana, has apologized for labeling some doctors medical assassins, which he alleged were killing politicians in hospitals.

Responding to William Mzambezis tweet following a backlash over his claims, Mangwana said, I expressed my personal view on an issue a Dr had tweeted on. I had no intention to offend any doctor or call any of them names. Since it has caused such an offence, I withdraw it and apologize for any offence caused. I just hope we can move and not be distracted from work at hand.

But some are already calling for his arrest for peddling what many say are falsehoods about the presence of professional killers in Zimbabwes hospitals.

Mangwana was unavailable for comment as he did not respond to calls on his mobile phone.

In a statement, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) noted with extreme concern some social media statements issued by a government representative labelling some medical practitioners as medical assassins.

It is unfortunate and regrettable that we have high ranking government officials who are making such bold statements on unverified and unfounded allegations. ZLHR finds this allegation absurd and unwarranted at a critical time when all medical practitioners and ordinary citizens are giving their all in seeking to curb the spread of coronavirus which is claiming the precious lives of people.

The ZLHR said such statements are also very dangerous and may lead to certain sections of society shunning medical treatment should they be infected by COVID-19.

It is shocking that while medical practitioners are being celebrated the world over during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as they battle to save people from one of the most infectious viral attacks in recent years, Zimbabwean authorities seem to frown at their valuable efforts and contributions.

The ZLHR further said it is unfortunate that this is not the first time that medical practitioners have been accused by government officials of committing such misdemeanours as in recent years and months authorities have summarily dismissed doctors and nurses from employment after accusing them of being influenced by political motives in protesting against poor remuneration and working conditions.

Of note is that our medical practitioners are risking their lives by caring for patients suffering from COVID-19 without provision of adequate personal protective equipment and other safety measures in their workplaces and this has not deterred them to sacrifice a lot for people.

ZLHR is worried that government is defying observations and recommendations by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) which in Resolution 443 on the Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Zimbabwe following its meeting during the 66th Ordinary session released in August 2020 expressed concern on medical practitioners, who were arrested for demanding improved salaries and working conditions.

The ZLHR noted that the ACHPR also urged the government to protect the rights of medical practitioners and address their concerns for better wages and working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ZLHR reminds government of the need to guarantee protection of the rights of medical practitioners and demands that authorities address their concerns in line with the Resolution of the ACHPR. ZLHR urges government to treat and protect the countrys remaining healthcare personnel with dignity as this is our most valuable assets on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus.

Responding to a tweet by a person that has since deleted his Twitter account, who claimed that there are some doctors said to be killing some political players, Mangwana noted that people are talking about such issues.

This is whats leading to the unfortunate conspiracy theory that there are certain political players being eliminated in hospitals by political activists hiding behind medical qualifications. In fact not just political players but medical assassins.

He was immediately rebuked by large numbers of people with some urging him to step down.
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Editor's note: CGTN's First Voice provides instant commentary on breaking stories. The daily column clarifies emerging issues and better defines the news agenda, offering a Chinese perspective on the latest global events.

The Joe Biden administration is flexing its muscle to contain China.

As it surveys the shattered geopolitical wreckage left by the Trump administration, the new administration is testing how far it can push China in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits. To find out, on Saturday, Washington sent an aircraft carrier group to test the uncertain waters.

The geopolitical situation has certainly changed since Biden's days as U.S. vice president owing to the last administration crossing a number of red lines. Protesters in Hong Kong waved American flags and asked for former U.S. President Trump to intervene on their behalf.

On his way out, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid a number of landmines for the future of China-U.S. relations. He sought to normalize official political contact between the U.S. and authorities in Taiwan, violating the fundamental agreement that forms the basis of ties between China and the U.S.  the one-China principle. Building the one-China principle was a diplomatic high-wire act that required goodwill from all sides, with an eye to a peaceful and prosperous future for Chinese compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

Throughout his long career in Washington, Biden has supported America's one-China policy and the delicate status quo across the Taiwan Straits, believing the framework offers the best chance for a peaceful unification. In 2001, Biden specifically warned the authorities in Taiwan: "Don't go declaring independence, because we are not willing to go to war over your unilateral declaration of independence."

Joe Biden delivers his inaugural speech at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., January 20, 2021. /VCG

Now, the Biden administration is making noise about making sure an increasingly rebellious Taiwan can defend itself. They have backed this talk with the movement of the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group near Taiwan on Saturday.

The threat of military action against China would certainly be a political boost for Biden at home. After four years of demonization by the Trump administration, a shooting war against China would undoubtedly be extremely popular among the disappointed "America First" crowd  at first.

But the U.S. should be under no illusion that using military force against China would somehow yield a positive response.

The U.S. might be able to bully smaller countries, but China is much larger, much more capable of defending itself, and will prove to be a tough opponent to any country that infringes on its core interests.

On Saturday, China responded to the U.S. military provocation with resolve, activating air force assets powerful enough to counter the naval threat, showing China has both the political will and military capability to prevail in a cross-Straits conflict. As China has shown in Hong Kong, it will not countenance threats to its territorial integrity.

No one should question this red line. The one-China principle adopted by the U.S. and other major nations was built on the skill and goodwill of generations of diplomats, including Biden. Peace across the Taiwan Straits has enabled decades of prosperity for Chinese people on both shores. This can continue as long as all sides continue with their pledge to honor the one-China principle.

China has made clear that it must be  and will be  reunified by all means necessary. The use of military force is not off the table. Anyone entangled will pay a high cost, however unfortunate that may be.
Day care shortage creates barriers for working parents

With a labor shortage plaguing the state, working parents are ready to fill these positions. The lack of childcare options creates barriers.

A tattoo artist has taken his love of Bernie Sanders to the next level by getting the American politician and his now infamous mittens inked on his arm.

Tattoo artist Samazon, who works at Copperhead Tattoo Parlor in Denver, Colorado, revealed a photo of the finished ink on Instagram on January 23.

The tattoo shows the 79-year-old senator sitting on a chair with his arms folded over, while wearing thick mittens and socially distancing himself from others.

A tattoo artist has taken his love of Bernie Sanders to the next level by getting the American politician and his now infamous mittens inked on his arm

The 79-year-old's wool mitten and signature brown coat stood in stark contrast to the long flowing overcoats and leather gloves at the Capitol

'A certain gentleman in some cool mittens that I saw on the internet -thanks @jimmyhomesick and @berniesanders,' Samazon wrote alongside a photo of his tattoo.

'Got a weird empty space you wanna fill, put a bern on it.'

Unsurprisingly, the tattoo has received plenty of attention, having racked up 9,390 likes so far and dozens of comments.

One Instagram user wrote: 'My jaw literally dropped, this is so amazing,' before requesting their own Bernie Sanders tattoo.

Jen Ellis, the woman behind the mittens worn by Bernie Sanders during US President Joe Biden's inauguration, has sold out of the hand-warmers

Another person added: 'Holy smokes this is epic.'

But not everyone was impressed with the hilarious inking, with another person commenting: 'Tattoos used to have meaning. Now it's just about being cool.'

'This tat says nothing of politics, it was done because of the meme.. Honestly, very corny.'

The original image, which has gone viral on social media, was taken by AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski at US President Joe Biden's inauguration.

The 79-year-old Vermont senator became an overnight meme sensation after he was pictured wearing a light-brown jacket and the over-sized mittens last Wednesday.

It has inspired countless memes worldwide and has become so popular that the woman who created the mittens has been inundated with requests for others who want the same.

Vermont school teacher Jen Ellis gifted Saunders the unique mittens on the campaign trail in 2016.

She claims the gloves have proved so popular that she has been inundated with hundreds of requests, but no longer has any for sale.

Meanwhile, Sanders has laughed off his status as a viral meme, telling a CNN reporter on Thursday that it 'makes people aware there are good mittens in Vermont.'

'We have some good coats as well,' he added.

Speaking to Gayle King following the ceremonies, and after people flocked to Twitter to share their photoshopped creations featuring for his mittens and signature brown coat, the 79-year-old said that people in Vermont weren't as concerned about their fashion.

'In Vermont, we know something about the cold,' Sanders said, 'and we're not so concerned about good fashion.

'We want to keep warm. And that's what I did today.'

King quickly replied with a laugh: 'Mission accomplished.'

Twitter users also fell in love with Sanders' outfit with many joking that he looked like he was heading to the post office as he clutched a manila envelope.

Others photoshopped Sanders into movie scenes and on everything from the New York Subway to manning a hotdog stand.

The image of Sanders is proving a lucrative business opportunity, with the photograph being sold on T-shirts, mugs and other items.
Pakistan: Police drop charges against Muslim man who kidnapped, shackled Christian girl in cattle pen

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Police in Pakistans eastern Punjab province have withdrawn criminal charges against three Muslim men accused of abducting a 12-year-old Christian girl who was forced to marry one of the accused, tortured and chained up in a cattle pen for up to five months.

Police dropped the charges against 45-year-old Muslim man Khizar Hayat and his two associates after the girl, identified as Farah Shaheen and who was 12 when she was abducted from Faisalabad city last June, testified she willingly married Hayat, The Times reported, adding that the police ignored her parents complaint that she had been abducted and tortured.

Ms Shaheen confessed before a magistrate  that she married  of her own will and wants to live with him, investigating officer Musaddiq Riaz was quoted as saying.

A police report suggested the girl was aged 16 or 17, Riaz claimed, while the birth certificate confirms her age was 12 at the time of her abduction.

On Dec. 5, police recovered the girl, who had marks of abuse on her body, and a local court later sent her to a shelter home, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

Officials first brought [Shaheen] to the police station after negotiations with the criminals, Lala Robin Daniel, a local activist, told UCAN, according to ICC. Her ankles and feet were wounded. They were bandaged at the police station. She was in trauma and couldnt talk about the torture.

The girls parents claim she was forcefully married to Hayat and converted to Islam.

(She) has told me she was treated like a slave, the girls father has said, according to The Daily Mail. She was forced to work all day, cleaning filth in a cattle yard. 24X7, she was attached to a chain.

Her marriage, forceful conversion, and injured feet speak of the horror, Daniel wrote on social media, according to ICC. Underage girls from religious minorities are unsafe due to faulty and incomplete lawmaking. Police, judiciary, and weak laws make fun of poor parents.

Shaheen is in hiding, with the help of the British charity Aid to the Church in Need, which has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow her to seek asylum in Britain, according to The Telegraph.

A 2014 study by The Movement for Solidarity and Peace Pakistan estimated that about 1,000 women and girls from Pakistans Hindu and Christian community were abducted, forcibly married to their captor, and forcibly converted to Islam every year.

The issue of religion is also often injected into cases of sexual assault to place religious minority victims at a disadvantage, ICC has said earlier. Playing upon religious biases, perpetrators know they can cover up and justify their crimes by introducing an element of religion.

Last year, the U.S. State Department designated Pakistan as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating egregious and systemic abuses of religious freedom. Pakistan was also ranked as the fifth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List.
DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- StashAway, Southeast Asia's largest and fastest-growing digital wealth manager for both retail and professional investors, has announced that they're managing more than US$1billion.

Since StashAway first launched its services in 2017, numerous wealth managers in Southeast Asia and MENA have emerged. StashAway is the first digital wealth manager in any of those regions to announce that it manages more than $1 billion USD. StashAway has surpassed US$1B in assets under management in 42 months, faster than it took the world's largest digital wealth managers, Betterment and Wealthfront to reach the same milestone.

Michele Ferrario, Co-founder and CEO of StashAway says, "When the company was founded, our objective was to significantly improve the way people build their wealth. For those who do invest their savings, traditional investment options just weren't acceptable. But we knew that cash in the bank is actually our biggest competitor: in MENA, 45% of financial wealth is held in bank deposits, compared to 14% in North America. That's why we've always focused not only on sophisticated investment principles and a great customer experience, but also financial education to help more people understand how to better manage and grow their wealth. This relationship with our clients and the public has been a key to our fast growth."



One of the keys to attracting so much in assets has been StashAway's ability to generate such strong returns even through the last few years' volatility: through 2 market corrections in 2018 and a market crash in 2020, StashAway portfolios generated annualised returns* ranging from 17.1% (for its highest risk portfolio) to 5.3% (for its lowest-risk portfolio) since it launched in July 2017. In 2020 alone, the portfolio returns ranged from 24.1% to 5.2% for those same portfolios, and consistently outperform their same-risk benchmarks.

The World Economic Forum recognised StashAway in 2020 as a Technology Pioneer for developing cutting edge technology and "contributing greatly to improving the state of the world."

Ramzi Khleif, General Manager of StashAway in MENA adds that "Reaching this $1 billion USD milestone in less than 4 years is only one of the many signs we see that Asia and MENA truly want a better way to create wealth: We see high conversion rates, large consistent deposits, and engagement with our educational content, for example. We're still only scratching the surface for what's possible when it comes to transforming wealth creation in Singapore, Malaysia, and MENA."

*As of the End of December 2020, returns in USD. Past performance is not a guarantee for future returns. Before investing, investors should carefully consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses, and if need be, seek independent professional advice.

About StashAway

StashAway is a digital wealth management platform that offers investment and cash management portfolios for both retail and accredited investors. Its technology delivers automated, personalised portfolio management for each client's individual portfolios. It offers global growth-oriented investment portfolios targeting different levels of risk and StashAway SimpleTM, a straightforward cash management solution.



StashAway has attracted financial backers from around the world. Backers include: Eight Roads Ventures, the global investment firm backed by Fidelity and early investor in Alibaba; Square Peg, the largest venture capital fund in Australia; Asia Capital & Advisors, the private equity firm led by Francis Rozario and Aaron Razario; as well as Burda Principal Investments, the growth capital arm of German media and tech company Hubert Burda Media.

StashAway has a total paid-up capital of US$36.6million. These funds have gone towards launching an income portfolio, a cash management portfolio, as well as new market entries in Malaysia and the MENA region. Since raising its Series C in August 2020, the Company has launched StashAway Workplace, a corporate financial benefits solution, and launched its services in the MENA region, out of its Dubai office.

StashAway operates in Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. StashAway holds fund management licenses from Singapore's MAS and Malaysia's SC, and an asset management license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

www.stashaway.com

SOURCE StashAway
- The global vehicle occupancy detection systems is anticipated to exceed market value of around US$ 180 Mn through 2030. Market participants utilizing economies of scale to cater to the rising demand

- Continuous efforts are being made to handle rising vehicle congestion on road and better handle both future and existing roadway networks

ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In recent times, there has been growing demand for incorporation of video imagery to keep a check on the high occupancy vehicles (HOV) lanes. This factor is likely to work in favor of the global vehicle occupancy detection system market over the timeframe of analysis, from 2020 to 2030. In addition, this system offers new solutions for ensuring traffic safety and minimizing congestion on roads in the urban areas.

Vehicle occupancy detection systems refer to those electronic systems that find use for counting, detection, and identification of passengers inside a vehicle. In recent years, there has been a rising demand for a system more tolerant toward low visibility condition, automated and more accurate in vehicles. A system incorporated with more technologically advanced features and functions to meet up with the evolving demands of passenger safety is in demand in the market. This factor is encouraging manufacturers in the global vehicle occupancy detection system market to come up with innovative solutions.

Integration of deep learning and artificial vision technologies are anticipated to add to the overall accuracy of the system. This factor is likely to assist companies in meeting the criteria of minimum accuracy level as set out by different authorities. Besides, companies are increasingly working toward non-intrusive and highly reliable vehicle occupancy detection system for automatic real-time detection of the rear and front occupants.

Use of artificial intelligence technology in this system along with increasing use of this technology in automotive sector is expected to bolster growth of the global vehicle occupancy detection system market over the forecast period. The global vehicle occupancy detection system market is likely to expand at a double-digit growth rate of ~18.5% over the analysis timeline, from 2020 to 2030.

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Key Findings of Vehicle Occupancy Detection System Market Study

Market to Thrive on Rising Demand of this Vehicle Technology in Urban Planning

Existence of a robust city infrastructure is essential for physical, social, and economic welfare of citizens. Government authorities, however, are faced with substantial challenges while doing urban planning. In particular, finding and marking empty parking spaces on the side of road has become a considerable challenge in urban planning. The vehicle occupancy detection system is cashing in on this urban planning challenge to increase the availability of mobile and fixed mobile installation products. Existence of such opportunities are likely to foster development of the global vehicle occupancy detection system market over the analysis, from 2020 to 2030.

In the concepts of smart city and urban planning, vision-based technology is gaining popularity, which is estimated to work in favor of the market. Participants in the global vehicle occupancy detection system market are inventing gadgets that able to maintain brightness during night automatically.

Explore 156 pages of superlative research, current market scenario, and extensive geographical projections. Gain insights into the Vehicle Occupancy Detection System Market (Installation: Fixed and Mobile; and Technology: Infrared, Ultrasonic, and Hybrid) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2020-2030 at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/vehicle-occupancy-detection-system-market.html

Radar-based Variant of the System to Gather Significant Traction

In the global vehicle occupancy detection system market, radar-based occupant alert systems are gaining rapid momentum. A car parts company in South Korea, Hyundai Mobis has invented an innovative radar-based occupant alert system. This new technology from Hyundai Mobis prevents kids from getting stuck in back seats. Manufacturers in the US are generating new growth opportunities, as there is increased awareness about the rising incidences children dying in locked cars

Vehicle owners are increasingly aware of different safety features found in today's cars. In addition to that, there has been augmented popularity of radar-based occupant alert system, which is expected to pave way for the rapid development of the global vehicle occupancy detection system market over the forecast analysis, from 2020 to 2030.

Analyze global vehicle occupancy detection system market growth in 30+ countries including US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Benelux, Nordic, China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Request a sample of the study

Vehicle Occupancy Detection System Market: Key Driving Factors

Efforts to lessen overall congestion through construction of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are expected to augur well for the market.

Advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated into this system to make it function smoothly and correctly under all conditions.

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The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said providing adequate 5G spectrum to the debt-laden telecom sector at reasonable rates will be the key to creating a competitive market for the technology.

"For India, spectrum allocation will be key to the successful launch of 5G services. Based on available information, the spectrum for 5G in India will be relatively more expensive than other countries," the CCI said in a report titled 'Market study on the telecom sector in India'.

It said the quantum of spectrum allocation will determine the quality of 5G offerings as scarcity of airwaves increases costs and makes operations inefficient. For the success of 5G technology in India, it is imperative to create a competitive market.

"This will imply ensuring assignment of the spectrum at a reasonable cost balancing revenue realisation and industry viability. This will ensure that the capital market remains interested in funding network upgradation and expansion, including the acquisition of spectrum," the report said.

The government will conduct auction for 4G airwaves in March. However, it has not said when it would be done for 5G spectrum.

The current financial health of the sector would result in an uneven speed of adoption of 5G technology by operators, with the more profitable ones likely to be faster off the block. "In case this scenario unfolds, it will have implications for the level of competition in the long-run," the fair trade regulator said.

The high cost of spectrum acquisition and the demands of network upgradation have increased the industry's debt burden.

Operators have paid upwards of Rs 3.5 lakh crore across six auctions between 2010 and 2016. The spectrum costs in India are approximately 7.6 per cent of their aggregate revenue, making them amongst the most expensive in the world, CCI said, adding that the average spectrum an Indian operator holds is 31 MHz compared to the global average of 50 MHz.

Besides, technological disruption and tariff competition triggered by the entry of Reliance Jio aggravated the financial distress, which is reflected in the "unprecedented" decline in the revenue of the industry through the years 2017 and 2019, CCI said.

While India is among the lowest priced telecom markets in the world, it has caused quality issues in services. "While India is undoubtedly a price-sensitive market and price elasticity of mobile services is known to be much higher than most other countries, the quality of service has been a victim, with call drops finding mention in the Parliament as well," it said.

The report said rising leverage is among the principal challenges facing the sector. The interest coverage ratio for the industry is considerably depressed due to the presence of heavily indebted operators. Besides, the Return on Equity (ROE) is also negative for most operators for several years since 2011-12, which presents difficulties for the long-term viability of telecom businesses.

"Recent investments in RJio and the rights issued by Airtel and VIL (Vodafone Idea Ltd) reflect long-term intent and are positive signals for the industry. By themselves, these are, however, inadequate to address the sustainable future for the industry," the report said.

It also highlighted the need for formal and informal line of communications between the Department of Telecommunication, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, CCI and the envisaged Data Protection Authority to ensure regulatory decisions are robust and consistent.

Also read: Pakistan plans to roll out 5G internet in 2022-23
Australia has suspended its quarantine-free travel arrangement with New Zealand for 72 hours after a new case of the South African variant of the coronavirus was detected in the community in Auckland.

A woman is thought to have acquired the highly contagious strain of COVID-19 while in hotel quarantine but didnt test positive until she was released.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison discussed the temporary measure with New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern on Monday. Credit:Getty Images

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday Australia would shut down the green zone travel corridor with New Zealand effective immediately for at least three days out of an abundance of caution.

Any travellers who have arrived in Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 are being asked to isolate and get tested. Two green zone flights from New Zealand were due to travel to Australia late on Monday.
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In a year marred by the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that early-stage startups on the African continent are continuing to see some notable growth, both in terms of their business and from investors looking to back them.

Microtraction, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, saw funding nearly quadruple for its portfolio.

In a review of the year published last week, the firm noted that 21 companies in its portfolio have raised more than $33 million in funding. This represents nearly four-fold growth over a year ago, when its portfolio raised $6 million (and just $3 million in 2018). The companies combined valuation stands at more than $147 million, according to the firm.

Founded by Yele Bademosi in 2017, Microtraction arrived on the continent's early-stage investment scene with all intent to be "the most accessible and preferred source of pre-seed funding for African tech entrepreneurs."

Bademosi, who returned to Nigeria from the U.K. in 2015, worked as the general manager for Starta Africa, an online community for African tech entrepreneurs. After his stint there, he saw the need to plug the gap of early-stage funding in Nigeria and the continent at large with Microtraction.

Microtraction does not specify the size of its fund, but what is more clear is that it has attracted a great deal of attention and has built a strong network in part because of who backs it.

Michael Seibel, the CEO of Y Combinator, is a global advisor and an investor in the firm, and so is Andy Volk, the head of ecosystem for Google Sub-Saharan Africa. Other investors include Pave Investments and U.S.-based angel investor Chris Schultz.

Being entrepreneurs in the past, some of these investors know what it takes to build a startup in the U.S. But it's completely different in Africa. With no on the ground knowledge as to which startups to fund but an interest to do so, for portfolio diversification and other personal reasons, Microtraction and a few other early-stage investors present the best bets to accomplish this goal.

Story continues

At first, Microtraction's standard deal was to offer portfolio startups $15,000 in exchange for a 7.5% equity. But as a sign of how the market is firming up, that changed last year, and now the firm invests $25,000 for 7% equity.

Microtraction revealed that it accepted more than 500 applications from startups in Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and Mauritius in its first full year of operation (though, just eight of those companies got investments).

The introductory batch was all Nigerian: four fintech startups -- Cowrywise, Riby, Wallets Africa and ThankUCash; a crypto-exchange startup, BuyCoins; a SaaS platform, Accounteer; an edtech startup, Schoolable; and healthtech startup, 54gene.

2019 saw the local VC firm invest in six companies. This time there was a representative outside Nigeria -- Ghanaian fintech startup Bitsika. The Nigerian startups included social commerce startup Sendbox; events startup Festival Coins; and communications-as-a-service platform Termii. The rest were unannounced.

Half of its portfolio companies are backed by YC and other global accelerators

Last year (the one this latest review covers), Microtraction announced seven startups. The latest selection includes Nigerian fintech startups Evolve Credit and Chaka; edtech startup Gradely; bus-hailing platform PlentyWaka; and Kenyan credit data marketplace CARMA.

Of the total investments raised in 2019 and 2020, 54gene contributed more than half of those numbers by raising $4.5 million in seed and a $15 million Series A investment. With an ingenious solution to solve the underrepresentation of African genomics data in global genomics research, 54gene got accepted into the winter batch in January 2019, the same month it officially launched.

Excluding 54gene, there were six other African-focused startups in the YC W19 batch. Two out of the six, Schoolable and Wallets Africa, were Microtraction portfolio companies. Others accepted into YC before and after include BuyCoins, Cowrywise, Termii and two unannounced startups.

Microtraction-backed ThankUCash and a second unannounced startup have also joined cohorts at 500 Startups. On the other hand, Festival Coins is the only startup to be selected into Google for Startups Accelerator. With all accounted for, 11 out of the 21 startups are either backed by Y Combinator, 500 Startups or Google for Startups.

The Microtraction team with founding partner, Yele Bademosi (far right). Image Credits: Microtraction

Getting into these global accelerators is a surefire way to receive follow-up investment, ranging from $125,000 to $150,000. From the outside in, startups see Microtraction and other early-stage VC firms like Ventures Platform as a means to that end. There have also been arguments that these firms build startups to be "YC or any global accelerator ready."

However, Dayo Koleowo, a partner at Microtraction alongside Chidinma Iwueke, debunks it saying there's no formula behind the numbers we see. He believes YC and other accelerators share the same fundamentals with Microtraction, which revolves around the team, the market and traction.

"We love super technical teams that understand the industry they are in and are likely to succeed without us. We are always looking for companies that are solving huge problems that a lot of people face," he told TechCrunch. "Also, the tech and startup world moves fast, so we like teams who understand that and can show in real-time that they can execute. I believe that these global accelerators look for these same things."

Typically, YC and other accelerators may perform extended due diligence and risk assessments before cutting cheques for any African startup without a local backer. Koleowo points out that this might be why Microtraction portfolio companies get accepted quicker. "The icing on the cake is that there is a level of de-risking that has been done by Microtraction and other local investors on the ground before these global accelerators step in," he added.

That said, there's no denying the significance of Microtraction's advisory board in playing a part as to why half the firm's portfolio are in global accelerators. Besides the names mentioned earlier, some of its past advisors included Lexi Novitske, former PIO at Singularity Investments; Dotun Olowoporoku, VC at Novastar Ventures; and Monique Woodward, ex-venture partner at 500 Startups.

And with the growing trends of globalization, plus the acceptance of a more decentralised approach to building and operations in the tech industry because of COVID-19, it's a trend that might continue for a while.
A 48-year-old Portland man has died after crashing his car into the Columbia River, police said.

Portland police said Eddie Robert Larson died at a hospital after being rescued from his car Sunday morning.

There were no known witnesses to the crash, which happened in the 7000 block of Northeast Marine Drive, but a passerby reported seeing tire marks in the grass and headlights in the water. Police responded to the scene at 7:32 a.m.

Officers determined Larson veered off the road and went down a hill, across a bike path and off an embankment into the river.

Officers confirmed with his wife that he was alone in the car.

Investigators are looking into the cause of the crash. The car has been removed from the river, police said.

-- Jaimie Ding

jding@oregonian.com; 503-221-4395;@j_dingdingding

Air Arabia Egypt, has announced the resumption of directs flights between Alexandria and Doha, Qatars capital, starting February 2.

Customers can now book their direct flights between Alexandria and Doha by visiting Air Arabias website, by calling the call centre or through travel agencies.

Ensuring the highest standards of safety at every step of the journey by following all health and safety protocols, Air Arabia has also added to the convenience and confidence of passengers by introducing Covid-19 insurance coverage. The insurance is automatically included as part of the value and extra fare tickets booking and no additional documents are required from passengers.

Since Covid-19 outbreak, Air Arabias customer journey has been upgraded to include all safety measures that are in line with the highest international measures. Air Arabias entire fleet is fitted with HEPA cabin air filters, which help to provide a safer and healthier environment for passengers. Customers are always requested to comply with the conditions and requirements of the countries of departure and destination. - TradeArabia News Service
Hyderabad, Jan 25 : Colonel B. Santosh Babu, who has been awarded Mahavir Chakra posthumously by the government on Monday, had laid down his life in the fight with Chinese troops in Ladakh.

He hailed from Suryapet district of Telangana.

State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the nation bows before his supreme sacrifice.

"Acknowledging the valour of Col Santosh Babu, who lost his life in a fight with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley clash, the Government of India has awarded him posthumously with the 2nd highest wartime gallantry medal Mahavir Chakra. The nation bows before his supreme sacrifice," Sanjay, also a Member of Parliament, tweeted.

The colonel and 19 other soldiers of 16 Bihar Regiment were killed in the clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley of Ladakh on June 15 last year.

He is survived by his wife Santoshi, nine-year-old daughter Abhigna and four-year-old son Anirudh.

Santosh, Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar Regiment, had been serving on Indo-China border for last one-and-half year and his family was looking forward to his transfer to Hyderabad.

An alumni of Sainik School Korukonda and National Defence Academy, he got commissioned into the Bihar Regiment from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and went on to complete the prestigious Defence Service Staff Course from Wellington before taking over the command of his Battalion.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had, on June 20, visited Santosh Babu's house handed over the financial package announced by the state government.

He handed over Rs 4 crore cheque to the Colonel's wife Santoshi and Rs 1 crore cheque to his parents, who requested him to deposit the amount for their granddaughter.

He also handed over to Santoshi letter of her appointment to Group-1 job and documents of allotment of a house site measuring 711 square yards in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

In November, the Telangana government appointed Santoshi as trainee collector.
The Centre on Monday instructed States and Union Territories in a letter to take penal action against those spreading misinformation about the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines currently in circulation. Any such persons or organisations should be punished under the Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code, it said.

Concerned that "unfounded and misleading rumours" are circulating in the social media and creating doubt about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines, Bhalla stated that there was a need to check such scare mongering.

"I would like to strongly emphasize that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immunogenic" the letter stated. The Centre was also concerned over "rumour mongering by vested interests" , which could create doubts among the people at large. The letter further urged the state governments to counter the spread of misinformation and also disseminate factual messages.

The Disaster Management Act 2005 was implemented during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic across the country. Sections of the law have provisions for punishment for making false claims. For issuing false warnings, there could be imprisonment for a year or fines.

India initiated the rollout of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Oxford and AstraZeneca's Covishield, developed by Serum Institute of India, on January 16. Hesitancy to take the shot, however, remains. Some doctors have expressed doubts about Covaxin, which was given approval for emergency use without efficacy data from late-stage clinical trials. The government has said it is safe and effective.

In a survey conducted by New Delhi-based online platform LocalCircles, 62% of 17,000 respondents were hesitant to get vaccinated immediately, mainly due to worries over possible side-effects. The government has reported hospitalisation from side effects in only 0.002% of vaccine recipients.

Vaccine hesitancy, coupled with glitches in the CO-WIN app which is being used for registrations, has resulted in India missing its targets. The government has said it expected a greater number of volunteers, especially in major states such as Tamil Nadu and Punjab, which are lagging behind other states.

Allaying fears of adverse effects, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had said that the vaccines have been subjected to the best scientific scrutiny and approval has been granted by experts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged people to refrain from falling prey to the rumours and myths around the vaccines. "Our vaccine developers have a global credibility. Life-saving vaccines given to 60% children globally are made in India," he said.
It was a good day. Warm in its content. Soft in its delivery. Kindly in its message. Generous in its intentions. Healing in its purpose.

Implementing the soaring hopes of President Joe Bidens inauguration began immediately. Maybe too immediately, too fast, and with actions that were too sweeping. Biden signed 17 executive orders, which suggested an underlying philosophy of bring it on.

Biden doesnt need to open hostilities on all possible fronts at once. He needs to pick his wars and shun some battles. I have a feeling that 17 battles are too many to initiate simultaneously and, possibly, some are going to be lost at a cost.

In his inaugural address, Biden did well in laying out six theaters where his administration will prosecute its wars. But some of those wars will go on for decades  maybe forever.

Big ships take a long time to turn around, no matter how many tugboats are engaged. Actions have consequences and so do intentions.

The Biden wars

The pandemic: This is the war that Biden must win. It is the one into which he needs to pour all his efforts, his own time and talent, and to focus the national mind.

Americans are dying at a horrendous pace. He has promised 100 million vaccine doses in the first 100 days. If that effort falters, for whatever reason, it will stain the Biden presidency. It is job one and transcends everything.

The environment: It will remain a work in progress. Rejoining the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is a diplomatic and political move, not an environmental one. It will help with the Biden goal of better international standing. It will make many in the environmental movement feel better, but it wont pull carbon out of the air.

There have been dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon the United States puts into the air since 2005. Biden is in danger of picking up too much of the environmentalists old narrative.

The environmental movement can get it very wrong and maybe has again in pushing the world too fast towards wind and solar. These arent perfect solutions.

The amount of carbon put into the air by electric generation in the United States is partly due to the hostility toward new dams and particularly toward nuclear power. These were features of the environmental narrative in the 1970s and 1980s.

Simple solutions seldom resolve complex problems.

Personally, I have a feeling that we are going breakneck with solar and wind; making windmills and solar panels is environmentally challenging, as will be disposing of them after their useful life is over.

Canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline  after nearly two decades of litigation, diplomatic and environmental review in Canada and the United States  would seem to be a concession to a constituency rather than sound policy with virtuous effect.

Biden has identified three other theaters where he plans to wage war: growing income inequality, racism, and the attack on truth and democracy.

Income inequality is escalating because new technologies are concentrating wealth, workers have lost their union voice, and our broken schools are turning out broken people, who will start at the bottom and stay there. Racial inequality ditto. Many inner-city schools are that in name more than function.

If there was one big omission from Bidens agenda of things he is prepared to go to war for, it was education. Most of the social inequalities he listed have an educational aspect. Primary and secondary schools are not turning out students ready for the world of work. Too many universities are social-promoting students who should have been held back in high school.

More are going to college when they should get a practical education in a marketable skill. People with skills like carpentry, stone cutting, plastering, electrical and iron work are more likely to start their own businesses than those with, say, journalism or sociology degrees.

Bidens continuing challenge will be how to handle the left wing of his party, stirred up by the followers of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They havent gone away and are expecting their spoils from the election.

The presidents battle for truth will be how we accommodate the new carrier technologies of social media with the need for veracity; how to identify lies without giving into universal censorship. That battle cant be won until the new dynamics of a technological society are understood.

Go slow and carry a big purpose.

Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of White House Chronicle on PBS. His email is llewellynking1@gmail.com. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
President Bidens quick but cautious moves to undo the more draconian immigration policies of his predecessor spawn both trepidation and expectation in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

I just pray Mr. Biden will be prudent and keep America safe, said Debbie Schuster, whose familys modern farm house sits within sight of where ex-President Donald Trump signed what could be a final fragment of his far-from-finished wall. I am very frightened.

Fifty miles downriver, hundreds of migrant adults and children have huddled for more than a year on a fenced and forlorn Mexican field near a border bridge, awaiting a chance to plead for U.S. asylum.

Lets see if he keeps his word, Luis Calix, 25, a former law student and social worker from the Caribbean coast of Honduras, said of Biden. This has to be orderly. If there is chaos everything will be ruined.

On his first day in office Wednesday, Biden signed orders pausing construction of Trumps wall, suspending the deportations of most immigrants and canceling orders that have sent tens of thousands of asylum-seekers back to Mexico to await court hearings.

Biden also granted protections for DACA recipients, covering hundreds of thousands of people brought illegally to the U.S. as children. And he proposed to Congress an eight-year path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants already living across the country.

My administration is committed to ensuring that the United States has a comprehensive and humane immigration system that operates consistently with our nations values, Biden said as he put the temporary hold on border ramparts.

Scott Strazzante, Staff Photographer / The Chronicle

Still, leery of sparking a fresh surge to the border by desperate migrants from Central America, Biden and his aides have signaled that not all of Trumps policies will be revoked quickly, and probably not entirely.

Those fears were punctuated last week as Guatemalan security forces turned back a thousands-strong caravan of walking and hitch-hiking Honduran migrants intent on reaching the U.S.

Theyre trying to split the difference for changes in policy as soon as possible, but doing it in a way that wont create a rush to the border, said Andrew Selee, president of the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Im not sure how they do that.

I dont think any of us know what is going to happen at the border, Selee said. Now the rubber meets the road.

While they welcome short-term fixes, Selee and other experts say a more lasting solution depends on somehow bolstering the failed economic, public security and political systems driving many Central Americans northward.

To that end, Biden has proposed an initial $4 billion aid program for Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, from which most migrants are fleeing.

Biden also has named Roberta Jacobson, a State Department veteran with extensive experience in Latin America, to coordinate border policy on the National Security Council. Jacobson resigned as U.S. ambassador to Mexico three years ago, amid widespread frustration with Trumps harsh policies among U.S. career diplomats.

Mexico never paid for the construction of the wall, as Trump had long vowed it would do. But under pressure from Washington and his own citizens, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has in recent years become a firm ally in turning back the Central American migrants.

Trump similarly forced cooperation from Central American leaders by threatening to cut off aid unless tougher enforcement was applied to the migrations.

The fact that there is already a relationship on migration will help, said Shannon ONeil, a Mexico analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. There is room for cooperation.

Carrot and stick

Sandra Sebastian, STR / Associated Press

Biden is well familiar with the fraught dynamics in play.

As vice president under Barack Obama  who won the derisive title of deporter in chief by expelling some 3 million people during his two terms  he was dispatched to Central America in 2014 in an attempt to stop a surge of immigrants.

Some critics accuse both Obama and Biden of abetting the 2009 removal of an elected leftist president in Honduras, which they say spurred much of the recent migration. New leaders have taken power in the region, but little else has changed. U.S. strategy may have to.

Trump was all stick  and a big one, ONeil says. Biden will be both carrot and stick.

Cooperation will have to be won as well with Congress. An indication of the challenge is Sen. Josh Hawleys quashing last week of a rapid confirmation of Bidens pick for homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.

Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said in a statement that Mayorkas has not adequately explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden's promise to roll back major enforcement and security measures.

Al Seib, MBR / TNS

Among those measures was Trumps Great Wall, which Biden on Inauguration Day called not a serious policy solution and a waste of money. The 450 miles built by the Trump administration was largely replacement of old fencing with more formidable structures.

While pausing construction now, Biden administration is reviewing existing contracts with an eye on canceling many of them.

Its important to absolutely, completely and immediately halt construction, said Scott Nichol, an environmental activist who has been a leading opponent of the wall in far South Texas. But until contracts are canceled and we start to see wall torn down, I am not going to feel confident.

Stopping new construction is an important first step. But those walls do need to come down, Nichol said. They are tremendously destructive.

The bit of recently finished barrier that Trump visited days before leaving office  high concrete walls topped by tightly packed 18-foot steel bollards  hugs or tops a flood-control levee more than a mile from the Rio Grande. Its part of a few miles of wall whose construction was rushed to completion in recent months, residents say. Gates have yet to be installed and huge gaps in the barrier remain.

The wall is mostly built on levees far from the border river, cutting off huge swaths of farmland and several small communities from the U.S. interior. Among them is Jackson Ranch, homestead of an extended family descended from an Alabama farmer and his former slave wife who settled 5,550 acres before the Civil War and helped other slaves escape to Mexico.

Family members so far have succeeded in keeping the walls construction from destroying a small cemetery where the communitys founders and many of their descendants are buried. But the new wall Trump visited is a short distance away and construction machine engines grind nearby.

This is part of our history. What is this wall doing here? asks Paul Pablo Villarreal Jr., the Hidalgo County tax assessor-collector who is a Jackson family member. Youd think this is a war zone.

Meanwhile, unknown thousands of asylum-seekers  most from Central America and Mexico, but others from Cuba, Africa and Asia  remain snared in precarious and often dangerous parts of Mexico. Asylum applications at border crossings were curtailed sharply in mid-2018 and suspended altogether last spring as COVID-19 flared.

Some 70,000 asylum seekers were returned to Mexico since the policy kicked in.

A study published in November by the Strauss Center at the University of Texas at Austin found nearly 16,000 migrants registered for asylum hearings in nine Mexican border cities. The report notes that many asylum petitioners have returned home, crossed the border illegally or melted into Mexican communities.

Running the gantlet

Jeoffrey Guillemard / Bloomberg

The nearly 600 adults and children stubbornly holding out in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, are the remnants of 3,000 camped here a few years ago. Their tent camp is now surrounded by a high fence, with access in and out restricted. The local crime gangs prey upon them, some migrants say.

But Team Brownsville and other private volunteer groups continue supplying the camp with basic food, water, firewood and medical care. Some migrants have found jobs in local shopping centers, construction sites or factories.

Sandra, a 44-year-old single mother and street vendor from El Salvador who asked that her last name not be used, sobbed as she described fleeing gang extortion with her two daughters, aged 8 and 11, and paying smugglers $5,000 a head to get them to waiting relatives in New England.

After being forcibly held in a smugglers safe house, the family instead was shuttled to the U.S. riverbank and advised to turn themselves in to the Border Patrol. They were quickly put back across the river in late 2019.

Jeoffrey Guillemard / Bloomberg

Last fall, she used more borrowed money to have her children smuggled across the river, Sandra said. Many others in the camp have used the same strategy, she and other migrants said.

Like others interviewed through the compound fence the day after Trump toured the border wall, Sandra said other migrants, many traveling by the thousands in caravans, are certain to come. Life is simply too untenable in their home countries.

But she said, the new travelers cant fathom the gantlet they will run.

I have suffered more on this journey than I suffered in my own country, she said. I dont recommend anyone to leave their country. If we tell the truth, no one will choose to make this trip.

Still, Sandra said, there is no going back for me. I am going to wait for President Biden.

We are waiting for the change.
San Francisco, Jan 25 : Electric car-maker Tesla has sued a former software engineer for allegedly stealing trade secrets from its internal systems.

The lawsuit against Alex Khatilov alleged that he stole filed from Tesla's internal Warp Drive software.

The back-end software system by Tesla automates "a range of business processes involved in manufacturing and selling its cars," reports CNBC.

The company also accused him of "deleting possible evidence when security teams confronted him", the report said on Sunday.

Khatilov allegedly moved files to his personal Dropbox account. He began working for Tesla on December 28, 2020, and "almost immediately began uploading files and scripts".

The stolen Tesla code could reveal to competitors "which systems Tesla believes are important and valuable to automate and how to automate them - providing a roadmap to copy Tesla's innovation".

This is not the first time Tesla has sued ex-employees of trade theft.

In 2019, Tesla sued self-driving startup Zoox accusing four of its employees who earlier worked at Tesla for stealing confidential documents.

The case was later settled, with Zoox admitting that "certain of its new hires from Tesla" were in possession of Tesla documents. And Another case against Guangzhi Cao, accused of stealing files related to Tesla's Autopilot system, is ongoing.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Delhi police cyber teams keep strict vigil for miscreants

Police said that the rally will be conducted in three parts -- first from Singhu border will have a 62 km-long route, then from Tikri border with around 60 km route and Ghazipur Border with 46 km route. (Photo:PTI)

NEW DELHI: After several rounds of talks between Delhi Police and the farmers unions, the police on Sunday allowed their proposed tractor rally inside the national capital on January 26. "Protesting farmers can enter Delhi but can't disturb the Republic Day parade," the Delhi Police said Sunday evening, declaring that the tractor rally will begin amid tight security after the Republic Day parade on Rajpath, which terminates at the iconic Red Fort close to noon.

Barricades and other security arrangements will be removed and the farmers will enter the national capital. Later, they will return to their destinations after covering a respectable distance, a senior police official said.

Police said that the rally will be conducted in three parts -- first from Singhu border will have a 62 km-long route, then from Tikri border with around 60 km route and Ghazipur Border with 46 km route. There are approximately 12,000 to 13,000 tractors at various borders -- around 7,000 to 8,000 at Tikri, around 5,000 at Singhu and around 1,000 at Ghazipur border which is expected to go up in coming days, said police.

Police also said that there are intelligence inputs suggesting that there are elements, which pose a threat to the proposed rally and may disrupt it. After analysis of Twitter handles it was revealed that there are 308 such accounts created in Pakistan which are attempting to create confusion and thus disturbances during farmers rally, police said.

According to sources, the Delhi Polices cyber teams are keeping a vigil on social media to track miscreants who may try to create panic.

Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastva issued a circular and directed all officers and men, as well as Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and other forces to be deployed for Republic Day Parade security to remain in a ready position to move at short notice for law and order arrangement.

Giving details about the parade, Deependra Pathak, special commissioner of police (intelligence), said, The rally will start from Singhu border and pass through Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Kanjhawala, Bawana, Auchandi Border, Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway and will return to Singhu border. It will cover around 62 kilometres stretch. Police teams have done the assessment of these routes.

From Tikri border, the farmers have been given the route which will pass through Nangloi, Najafgarh, Jharoda, KundliManesarPalwal expressway and then will head back to Tikri border. They will cover a distance of around 63 kilometres, he added.

The farmers tractor rally from Ghazipur border will pass through Apsara Border, Hapur Road Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway and conclude at Ghazipur. Those farmers' groups will cover 46 kilometres, the special CP said.

For the Delhi Police, it will be a challenging task. We have spoken to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh police officers about how it will be conducted in a convenient way We have also told farmers that the expected number of tractors should be distributed in a way that the rally is concluded in a peaceful and disciplined way. Adequate security will be provided to the rally by the police, a police official said.

Police said that the farmers union Sanyukt Kisan Morcha had assured them that they will go back to their respective places from where the rally starts.

While police tried to convince farmers leaders to hold their tractor parade outside the national capital, they were adamant on holding the proposed rally on Delhis Outer Ring Road.

Earlier three rounds of meetings were held between the unions and police officers from Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, but it was during the fourth round of talks over the tractor parade on Friday where both sides reached an agreement.
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Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis (PTI)

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday alleged that some political parties were doing "drama" and spreading wrong information over the issue on farmers'' protest against the Centre''s three new farm laws.

His remarks came in the wake of a rally organised by farmers in Mumbai which has been supported by the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.

Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis, who is the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, claimed that it was the previous Congress-NCP government which allowed contract farming and direct purchase of farm products.

He said so much time has passed since the farm bills were passed (by the BJP-led central government last year) and Maharashtra did not witness any protest against it.

"Some political parties are now purposely doing drama and misleading farmers by spreading wrong information," the former state chief minister alleged.

"I have a question for the parties supporting these morchas that whythe Congress in its 2019 election manifesto said it would suspend market committees if it comes to power?

"The Congress and NCP should answer why they had approved the Contract Farming Act in 2006. They are ok with this Act in Maharashtra, but they do not want it at the Centre. Why this drama?" Fadnavis asked.

He claimed 29 licences for direct purchase(of farmers'' produce) were issued during the previous Congress-NCP regime.

"It was the Congress-NCP government which started giving licences to corporates to purchase outside market committees in Maharashtra. The current central government is not doing it," he said.

"This is all drama and it has no support of farmers. On the contrary, the Shetkari Sanghatna (led by late Sharad Joshi) has welcomed all the three farm laws," he said.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis along with several BJP workers staged a demonstration in Bhandara over various issues.

Before the agitation, he told reporters here that they were protesting against the state government''s "insensitivity" over the fire tragedy in the Bhandara general hospital in which 10 newborn babies died earlier this month.

He also alleged that a "huge corruption" has taken place in the purchase of paddy in Bhandara.

"The money which farmers were to receive has gone to others...bogus material is being given to the Food Corporation of India. A huge crop scam has taken place in connivance with ruling party leaders," he claimed.

Fadnavis said they were also agitating against the state government for going back on its assurance of bearing the excess amount of inflated power bills of consumers.
A recent move allowing people to take pets with them to COVID-19 quarantine venues in east China's Shanghai has been hailed by netizens.

After three local COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday in the city, an old residential area in Huangpu District was classified as a medium-risk zone and residents were transferred to designated hotels for 14-day concentrated quarantine.

A video clip showing a resident carrying a dog in one hand and luggage in the other while boarding a bus bound for a designated quarantine hotel went viral. The thoughtful step by the authorities has garnered praise from netizens.

"When it comes to dogs or cats, pet owners worry the most. It is good for them to be isolated together," wrote an internet user.

Liu Jinwen, who is in charge of a local pet protection platform in Shanghai, said the measure solved the problem of pet owners separating from their pets when the owners went into concentrated quarantine sites.

Last year, some owners turned to their friends or pet care centers asking them to take care of their pets when the owners were placed under concentrated observation. Some netizens living nearby also volunteered to feed the animals left behind.

Shanghai reported three new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 and three new imported cases on Saturday, the municipal health commission said Sunday.
[January 25, 2021] Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Raises $5 Million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's Annual Thanks and Giving Campaign

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM), a leading home specialty retailer of high-quality, sustainable products for the home, today announced that it has raised $5 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital during the 2020 St. Jude Thanks and Giving Campaign. This multi-faceted campaign included 593,000 donations from the company's customers at time of purchase, special St. Jude-designated product sales where a portion of the sale was donated, employee donations, and donations from the company. The amount raised in this past year was nearly 40% higher than the previous year and significantly exceeded the company's goals. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is proud to celebrate 16 years of partnership with St. Jude, raising a total of more than $55 million for its Thanks and Giving Campaign. These funds have been used to support vital research and treatment to help increase the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened over 50 years ago. St. Jude continues to uphold its promise that no family will receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food - because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. "Over the past 16 years, our annual campaign benefiting the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital has become a company tradition that we are deeply proud of," said Laura Alber, President and CEO of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. "In a year that has brought hardship to so many, we are humbled by the generosity of our customers and our associates in supporting an organization that is changing the lives of children and their families across the country." "The kindness and compassion that our partners share year after year during the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign is truly invaluable," said Marlo Thomas, national outreach director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "This holiday season was like no other, but one thing remained certain, the outpouring of generosity from our St. Jude family. Our partners, their employees and customers continue to have big hearts for the children of St. Jude and their support helps ensure our doctors and researchers will continue their tireless work to end childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases." The St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign, created in 2004 by Marlo Thomas and her siblings Terre and Tony, children of St. Jude founder Danny Thomas, asks people to "give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who are not" in order to help St. Jude continue its lifesaving mission. Those wishing to contribute to The St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign can do so on the following e-commerce sites: St. Jude | Williams Sonoma, St. Jude | Pottery Barn, St. Jude | Pottery Barn Kids, St. Jude | Pottery Barn Teen, St. Jude | West Elm, St. Jude | Rejuvenation, and St. Jude | Mark and Graham.



ABOUT WILLIAMS-SONOMA, INC. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is a specialty retailer of high-quality products for the home. These products, representing distinct merchandise strategies - Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, West Elm, Williams Sonoma Home, Rejuvenation, and Mark and Graham - are marketed through e-commerce websites, direct-mail catalogs and retail stores. These brands are also part of The Key Rewards, our free-to-join loyalty program that offers members exclusive benefits across the Williams-Sonoma family of brands. We operate in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, offer international shipping to customers worldwide, and have unaffiliated franchisees that operate stores in the Middle East, the Philippines, Mexico and South Korea, as well as e-commerce websites in certain locations.

ABOUT ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food - because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel. WSM-PR View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005063/en/

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January 23 marks the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in Vietnam. On this day, a man visiting from China tested positive for coronavirus.

Since then all our lives have been turned upside down as the pandemic spread to all corners of the globe. But despite global upheaval, Vietnam has been praised for the way it has handled this deadly plague.

The otherwise busy Ta Hien Street in Hanoi became quiet in March last year, when a nationwide lockdown order was imposed.  VNS Photo

As of January 22, the country has seen a total of 1,548 cases with just 35 proving fatal, while 1,411 have recovered. The country has undergone 52 days without a case of COVID-19 community transmission.

VNS takes a look back at the key events of the past 12 months since that very first case was recorded, and the tremendous efforts made by the authorities, medical staff and security forces, as well as the entire nation, to contain COVID-19.

January 23, 2020: The first case of COVID-19 is reported after a 66-year-old Chinese man came from Wuhan to Vietnam to visit his son. He and his son were then treated at Cho Ray Hospital, HCM City.

February 13, 2020: Son Loi Commune, Binh Xuyen District in Vinh Phuc Province is locked down after six cases were discovered there.

Truc Bach Street, where patient 17 lives, is quarantined.  VNS photo

March 6, 2020: Patient 17 tests positive for coronavirus after coming back from Europe, marking a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

March 18, 2020: Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc orders a halt to issuing new visas for foreigners to Vietnam and limited flights from pandemic zones.

March 25, 2020: Vietnam suspends all international flights to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Soldiers of the Army Chemicals and Military Medicine Department spray disinfectant to sterilise the area around Bach Mai Hospital.  VNA/VNS Photo

March 28, 2020: Bach Mai hospital is locked down after many cases related to the hospital were reported. Bach Mai hospital becomes the virus epicentre of Hanoi.

April 1, 2020: A social distancing order is implemented nationwide.

April 12, 2020: Bach Mai Hospital reopens after 14 days of quarantine.

April 23, 2020: The social distancing order is lifted in most areas of the country except for some high-risk zones.

British pilot Stephen Cameron recovers after being in a coma.  Photo courtesy of Cho Ray Hospital

May 27, 2020: British pilot Stephen Cameron, Vietnam's sickest COVID-19 case, shows signs of recovery.

July 11, 2020: Pilot Stephen Cameron flies back to the UK.

July 25, 2020: The first COVID-19 case is reported in Da Nang City.

July 28, 2020: All of Da Nang City is locked down.

August 4, 2020: Army disinfects Da Nang Citys Son Tra District.

August 13, 2020: Domestic flights take stranded tourists back from Da Nang.

A nurse holds the infant born to a mother with COVID-19.  Photo courtesy of National Hospital for Tropical Diseases

September 10, 2020: A baby is born to a mother with COVID-19.

September 11, 2020: Da Nang loosens social distancing orders.

November 30, 2020: HCM City announces the first case of COVID-19 after 100 days.

December 10, 2020: Call for registration for human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine.

December 17, 2020: First dose of the vaccine is administered.

December 26, 2020: Vinh Long Province reports a man who entered Vietnam illegally tests positive for COVID-19.

January 2, 2021: New highly more transmissible variant of coronavirus first reported in HCM City after a woman is repatriated from the UK.

VNS

Health sector proves its mettle in COVID-19 fight Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the health sector to continue using drastic measures to tackle COVID-19 this year, particularly ahead of the Tet (Lunar New Year) celebrations and other important events.
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Leader of Sinn Fein Mary Lou McDonald said the Government needs to introduce mandatory enforced quarantine for people arriving in to the country (PA)

The leader of Sinn Fein has said the Government needs to introduce mandatory quarantine for travellers arriving into Ireland.

Mary Lou McDonald described proposals to quarantine those who arrive without a negative Covid-19 test as absolutely insufficient.

The Government Covid-19 sub-committee will meet today to discuss the current public health restrictions.

If they don't have a pre-arrival negative test they should be sent back to from whence they came Mary Lou McDonald

On Tuesday, the Government is to make a decision on whether to extend the health measures in place since last month.

Cabinet will also consider the issue of mandatory quarantine for some arrivals, particularly for those who arrive without a negative test.

However, Ms McDonald said these measures do not go far enough.

If they dont have a pre-arrival negative test they should be sent back to from whence they came, she told RTE Morning Ireland.

Secondly, we need a second mandatory test after five days of being on the island and we need a mandatory enforced quarantine.

It seems that the Government is proposing simply to quarantine those that arrive without a negative test  that is absolutely insufficient.

Im very surprised at this stage that they dont realise  certainly Nphet and the public health experts realise  we have to grasp this nettle now, and it needs to be very, very clear that only essential travel onto the island, and then a mandatory form of quarantine.

The COVID-19 vaccines have gone through all the usual steps needed to develop a safe and effective vaccine.a We only use a vaccine if it meets the required standards. For factual, expert information you can trust, visit: https://t.co/x9GT42FBj2

a#HoldFirm #CovidVaccine pic.twitter.com/NZiVFlPjeo  HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 23, 2021

Ms McDonald said that a mandatory quarantine of 14 days will act as an effective push back on travel.

I think now at this juncture it is absolutely proportionate to ensure that those coming onto the island are tested pre-arrival, tested post-arrival, and that the quarantine isnt laissez faire, or a matter of just a hit and miss which, lets be honest, has been the case up to now, that now needs to stop, she added.

We need very firm and very secure arrangements. I would be urging the Government to move away from any kind of minimalist notion that quarantine is only for those who arrive without their negative test, it needs to be much more comprehensive than that.

Of course, it goes without saying, that for this to work it has to be island-wide so that poses now a real challenge for the Government in Dublin to now, very belatedly, use its influence to ensure that the same stringent measures are in place for those arriving in Belfast, or any point of entry, north of the border onto our island.

Expand Close Ireland remains in lockdown to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ireland remains in lockdown to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (Niall Carson/PA)

The Government is still advising against all non-essential overseas travel.

All passengers arriving into Ireland are required to produce a negative PCR test within 72 hours of arrival.

Passengers are being asked to give evidence of their negative test before boarding a plane or ferry.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Alan Kelly said gardai should police the border to prevent non-essential travel.

He also backed the idea of introducing mandatory quarantine for all arrivals.

Mr Kelly said that garda checks should be set up on arterial routes within five kilometres of the border.
The violence on display during the January 6th Capitol insurrection has forced Americans across the political spectrum to ask what has gone so wrong. Beyond the horror of the underlying crime, the insurrection, not to mention the support it received from so many corners of our society, was an unmistakable symptom of a cancer in the body politic. Even amid a global pandemic and an economic catastrophe, finding ways to combat that underlying cancerand to root out the anger and dissatisfaction that drives itrepresents the thorniest and most lasting challenge the nation will face under President Joe Bidens leadership.

In addition to bringing all the perpetrators to justice, we as a nation need to confront the fact that Americans today face a societal transformation more destabilizing than any other in our history. In just a few decades, technology and employers have reshaped the definition of work faster than our culture, traditions, and institutions can keep up. Working- and middle-class incomes have remained stagnant even as everyday costs have risen. And perhaps most important, weve seen a bigger shift in the racial and ethnic makeup of the electorate over the last 20 years than in the previous two centuries. As such, our generational burden now is to face down the deep-seated fear many harbor about being rendered powerless in the next cultural, racial, political, and economic order.

To face this kind of historic moment, some might have Biden look to Lincoln and FDR for inspiration. But Teddy Roosevelt actually provides a more useful guide. At the turn of the 20th century, our nation faced a series of changes that combined to be utterly destabilizing. The population was churning as immigrants poured in from poorer corners of Europe, and Southern Blacks began the Great Migration north. The nation was undergoing its first true economic transformation, with urban industry eclipsing rural agriculture, and electricity, oil and engines quickly changing what work meant. As corporations grew more powerful, the nationwide concentration of wealth spurred many to term the phrase robber baron. And the resulting tumult sparked a stampede of extremism.

Story continues

We should never lose sight of the underlying landscape the original Progressives emerged to confront. The Ku Klux Klan, which had largely been defunct, was re-formed in 1915 and launched a campaign of domestic racial terror. Anarchists threatened institutions of all sorts, assassinating President William McKinley and bombing cities with a frequency that seems shocking now. Labor unrest, too, was often violent. Many wondered whether American democracy could survive at all.

Remarkably enough, the changes behind todays whirlwind may be even more pronounced. At the birth of the American Republic, whites constituted the whole of the nations electorate. When Bill Clinton was elected president two centuries later, the white share still stood at 87 percent. But get this: In the 28 subsequent years, the white share has fallen to 67 percent. Think of how that dramatic shift reverberates differently in disparate American communities.

Meanwhile, that more hopeful change is being accompanied by other shifts that are much more ominous. Inequality today puts Gilded Age wage gaps to shame. The climate is in crisis, requiring us to re-tool huge portions of our economy. We face a rising China and an increasingly adversarial Russia. And as the pandemic has revealed, our health care and public health systems, once a cornerstone of our national strength, are in dire need of reform. It takes nothing away from the crucibles represented by the Civil War, the Great Depression, or the Second World War to realize that the present sense of disruption is most similar to the challenge we faced at the turn of the 20th century.

The level of turmoil is easy to overlook for those whose lives have benefited from the changes. But Americans whose education ended in high school, who live beyond the footprint of a cosmopolitan bubble, or who have seen their neighborhoods inundated with deaths of despair, have a right to worry that the combined effects will leave their children bereft of any opportunity to claim the American Dream. Thats not license to abandon the principles of democratic governance or to break the lawfar from it. But it is a worry the rest of us ignore at our nations peril.

Fortunately, because todays problems echo those that defined the Gilded Age, turn-of-the-century politics has something to teach us as well. When Teddy Roosevelt assumed the presidency in 1901, he had a big reform agenda. The move from farm to factory prompted reformers across the country to make high-school education a universal touchstone. But the primary agent of exclusion at the timethe institution most culpable not only for economic inequality, but for upending middle- and working-class aspirations to real prosperitywas monopoly power. So in shaping the contours of his Fair Deal, Roosevelt embraced a broad agenda designed to give the excluded masses greater opportunity. He established the federal government as a neutral arbiter in labor disputes, rather than a backstop for monopolists. He embraced more robust ongoing regulation for the nations private corporations. And maybe most notably, he took on the trusts directly, bringing suit to break up one of J.P. Morgans behemoth railroad corporations, Northern Securities.

Today, as a new wave of monopoly power threatens the broader economy, the new administration has a range of challenges demanding bold solutions. There are already signs the Biden administration may acknowledge a new strain of tech monopolists, and could get bipartisan support in pushing back against them.

But in the end, nothing works as forcefully to address the division between inclusion and exclusion than education. As Vice President Kamala Harris noted in her debate with Mike Penceand as First Lady Jill Biden, a community college professor herself, knows wellschooling has emerged as the single most important determinant of economic prosperity and lifelong opportunity in the 21st century economy. College degrees, while always advantageous, are now irreplaceable passports to middle class success. Of late, presidents of both parties have entered office intending to improve the nations antiquated and inadequate education system. Now we need a much more robust agenda. In the same way Roosevelt-era progressives attacked monopolistic trusts, Biden-era progressives must improve our educational system.

Fortunately, in the spirit of Louis Brandeiss embrace of local experimentation, effective reforms are close at hand. We need to find ways to ensure students start earlier and go longer. As my administration did in Chicago, and as incoming Labor Secretary Marty Walsh did in Boston, municipal government can reimagine basic public education, abandoning the K-12 model for something much broaderlike Pre-K through 14.

Every child in American can and should be guaranteed a seat in a prekindergarten program today, regardless of their zip code. And at the other end, public school instruction shouldnt end in grade 12we should guarantee every citizen the opportunity to earn an associate degree by making community college free and accessible. Moreover, we should transform the focus on high school graduation to a focus on a successful post-graduation, nationalizing Chicagos requirement that, before receiving a diploma, every student have in hand a letter of acceptance from a college, community college, or vocational school, a job offer, or a plan to enter either the military or a national service program like AmeriCorps.

To heal the body politic right now, we first need to address the entry woundnamely the actual criminal mobs attempt to undermine our democracy, and uncover the complicity of anyone in power. But, in time, we will need to focus on the underlying cancer plaguing society-at-large. At a moment when questions of inclusion and exclusion gird nearly every political and economic debate, Washington needs to focus on giving every citizen the tools required to build a prosperous middle class life.

The disruptions to the social order have left too many in our society plagued by a fear that they will be excluded from tomorrows bounty. Reaching to much the same challenge, Teddy Roosevelts Fair Deal reverberated to shape Woodrow Wilsons New Freedom and FDRs New Deal in the decades that followed. Our burden today is to ensure that every member of every community believes in America because America is invested in them.
St. Lukes University Health Network will be expanding its footprint in Tamaqua.

Its latest plans are to take over space currently occupied by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Boards Fine Wine & Good Spirits store, 141 N. Railroad St.

St. Lukes will expand into this space to better serve our community and expand access to the services that we currently have at the Tamaqua Medical Center, St. Lukes spokesman Sam Kennedy said. We will also add an urgent care St. Lukes CareNow walk-in center.

As a result, the liquor store will move to a new site next to Boyers Food Market at 201 Cedar St. That building is under construction.

We are relocating the existing Fine Wine & Good Spirits store in Tamaqua to a new location, PLCB spokesman Shawn Kelly confirmed. We anticipate that the new store will be larger and have more products.

Kelly said the new store should be open by summer.

St. Lukes has been working collaboratively with the PLCB as it devises its relocation plans.

The structure that houses the liquor store also contained a pizza restaurant and video store before St. Lukes expanded services into them.

The Tamaqua Medical center currently offers family medicine, internal medicine, audiology, ENT, OB-GYN, spine and pain, urology, orthopedics and more.

We look forward to continuing to bring specialty care to the region, Kennedy said.

During a recent virtual meeting, members of the Tamaqua City Revitalization and Improvement Zone Authority heard an update of the liquor store construction project.

Solicitor Anthony Odorizzi said that a sewer line relocation project is underway. Not only is the new liquor store under construction there, but Boyers is adding an extension to maximize its own space.

In an unrelated matter, Odorizzi noted that the former Conrad Bischoff Planing Mill and Furniture Factory at 320 Layfayette St. was recently sold.

Its new owner plans to convert the historic structure into a bed and breakfast.

The 0.17-acre site contains three buildings, according to Schuylkill County property records.

The CRIZ program was established in 2013 and amended in 2016 to encourage growth in areas that have been underutilized.

Tamaqua is the only borough in the program, which is administered by the state departments of revenue, community and economic development and the governors budget office. The cities of Lancaster and Bethlehem are the other participants

The CRIZ authority also reorganized this week, reappointing Dan Evans as chairman and Paul Fridirici as secretary/treasurer.

Evans thanked Fridirici for his service as well as members for their confidence in me for 2021.
Bravo to Philadelphia Orchestra music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin for urging the Biden administration to create a cabinet-level arts and culture post. In an open letter last week, Nezet-Seguin  who is also music director of New Yorks Metropolitan Opera  said the pandemics crippling impact on the creative economy makes a voice at the table in Washington, D.C., even more critical.

The fact is, the pandemic has only served as the latest threat to arts and culture. Government support for the arts has never been robust, but it has grown anemic in recent times. For example, the $162 million budget for the National Endowment for the Arts remains at the same level it was in 1984. And every year of his administration, President Donald Trump proposed eliminating it altogether, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The maestros call is perfectly timed. The role that the arts can play in helping the country heal and overcome the massive challenges it has grappled with in the past year needs no more evidence than the rhapsodic reception to former Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gormans performance at the inauguration.

Arts and cultures importance to the health of the economy is also critical. A survey conducted last fall by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance found that 266 local arts organizations large and small expect to lose a combined $214.4 million in the 12 months that will end this March. Phillys creative economy lost 1,277 jobs as of October.

The Philly regions arts and culture economy helps propel the tourism and hospitality industries and adds vitality not only to Center City but throughout the region. Venues of all sizes have been shuttered for months, and some, like South Phillys beloved Boot & Saddle, have closed for good.

 READ MORE: Philadelphia Orchestra maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin asks Biden and Harris to add cabinet-level arts position

While $15 billion in Save Our Stages funding was approved as part of the December stimulus package, the Small Business Administration has yet to begin the application process and no date for doing so has been announced. President Joe Biden should see to it that this money is put to work soon.

Other help has come in payroll protection funds through the first stimulus last year, which some museums, performance venues, and other arts organizations received. Pennsylvania provided $20 million in COVID-19 relief assistance to museums and cultural organizations across the state. The William Penn and Mellon Foundations have provided $8 million, and Phillys Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy worked with the alliance and others to set up the $4 million COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL Fund. But all this is not enough.

 READ MORE: William Penn and Mellon Foundations give $8 million to Philly arts and culture groups hit by COVID-19

Given that a Brookings study found the creative economy lost 2.7 million jobs and more than $150 billion in revenue between April and July of 2020 alone, a cabinet position or arts czar would have a substantial portfolio. New York Times arts critic Jason Farago recently suggested that Biden establish a national program to put arts and culture professionals to work, a la Franklin Roosevelts New Deal.

That approach is worth supporting.

President Biden can take a step in the right direction by taking the advice of maestro Nezet-Seguin  and enabling the arts to play a larger role in Americas recovery from the pandemic.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
New Delhi: India and China on Monday said they had positive" and constructive" talks on reducing tensions as they agreed to work towards an early disengagement" of tens of thousands of troops amassed along their common borders for months.

This was the main takeaway from a long session of talks that started on Sunday morning and ended in the early hours of Monday. The Indian delegation was led by Lt. General P.G.K. Menon, general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, which oversees security in Ladakh.

But while the two countries reported talks that they said further enhanced mutual trust and understanding," evidence of the simmering tensions between the two countries came to the fore on Monday with the Indian Army saying soldiers of the two sides were engaged in a minor face-off at Naku La in north Sikkim last week.

The situation was however resolved by local commanders following established protocols, the Indian Army in a statement also on Monday.

Analysts in India, however, called the 20 Januarys incident provocative", coming days before senior military commanders of the two countries were to meet on 24 January for talks at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Sundays talks were candid" and resulted in an in-depth exchange of views on disengagement," a joint statement after the talks said.

The two sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops," it said adding that the delegations agreed to hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation."

The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility," it added.

Lt. General (retired) Deependra Singh Hooda, former head of the Indian Armys Northern Command was of the view that the principles of disengagement had to be finalized at the diplomatic and political level rather than the military level. The military commanders then work out how it will play out on the ground," he said.

Tensions between India and China have been simmering since last May. Both sides have deployed tens of thousands of troops backed by artillery, missile batteries and fighter jets. In fact, following a serious clash between Indian and Chinese troops on 5 May 2020, along the banks of Pangong Tso in Ladakh, the troops were yet again involved in another serious clash at Naku La, which led to injuries on both sides.

The incidents prompted India to mobilize troops to secure its borders along the LAC.

It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on 20 January and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols," the Indian Army said in a statement. Two people aware of the incident said Chinese troops had attempted to transgress into Indian territory, but were stopped by the Indian Army. One of the two people cited above said a physical fight broke out injuring soldiers on both sides.

Hooda said the Chinese are attempting establish permanence to their claims" in the disputed areas along the LAC. While one of the ways of doing this was to challenge Indian patrols along the Pangong Tso lake, another was by building a new village in an area in Arunachal Pradesh. The village was being built in an area that both countries recognize as disputed though under Chinese occupation since 1959, Hooda said. Knowing that there were military level talks to take place it was provocative."

Following the mobilization of troops in Ladakh last May, India strengthened its vigil along the 3,000-km border with China, including the 23 posts, which are seen as possible areas for incursions by the Peoples Liberation Arm.

Indian Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane had told reporters earlier this month that Indian troops will hold their ground as long as it takes to achieve the national goals and objectives" while expressing hopes of an amicable resolution to the border standoff through talks.

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Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has released a list of 62 prominent Nigerians to be blamed for the curre...

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has released a list of 62 prominent Nigerians to be blamed for the current state of the nation.

He made the claim in a post on his Facebook page.

Let us not forget former US President Barrack Obama and former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and all members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Kanus Facebook post read.

According to him, those people take the full responsibility of what Nigeria has turned into today, owing to the roles they played in kicking out former President Goodluck Jonathan and installing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

Top on Kanus 62-man list are: Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore; Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministries, Enugu, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The IPOB leader said that those whose villages, cities, or town are currently under siege by Fulani herdsmen should hold these people responsible.

His list also has the likes of Fela Durotoye, Donald Duke, Professor Charles Soludo, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Pastor Sunday Adelaja, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, Professor Tam David West, Professor Wole Soyinka, Rev. Chris Okotie, Professor Pat Utomi and Nasir El-Rufai.

Others in his list include, Dino Melaye, former Senator, Lai Mohammed, Rochas Okorocha, Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Raji Fashola, Dr. Chris Ngige, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Ibikunle Amosun, Rauf Aregbesola, Kayode Fayemi, Sanusi Lamido, Deacon Femi Adesina, Pastor E.A Adeboye, Pastor W.F Kumuyi, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Kenny Ogungbe, Dato Adeneye, Magnus Abbey, and former Rivers State governorship aspirant, Dakuku Peterside.

Also in the list are Nigerian musician, 9ice, Kenny St. Ogungbe Brown, Tunde Disu, John Momoh, Maupe Ogun, Chamberlain Usoh, Suleiman Aleide, Monday Onyekachi Ubani, Iffy Ubani, Labourous Osuoma, Citizen Useni Jones (Radio continental 102.3FM), Joe Igbokwe, Dele Momodu, Abike Dabiri,

Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, Muazu, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr., Timpre Silva etc., Victor Umeh, Wasiu Ayinde (Kwam 1), T.Y Danjuma, Lauretta Onochie and actor, Jide Kosoko.

Continuing, Kanu said, These people went to school [they claim they are educated], many if them are professors. Some claimed to have direct access to God. Some are gifted with prophesies.

They read history. They understood international relations. They understood how societies work or so we thought.

They were more than 20 years old in 1983 when Buhari shot himself to power. They saw Buhari destroy the economy in 1983. They saw the role Buhari played in Abachas government.

They read all the threats of violence by Buhari against the nation. They saw Buhari harass Lam Adesina the Oyo State Governor due to Fulani herdsmen conflicts with locals in Oyo State.

They saw Buhari lead the sharia protest that claimed the lives of innocent Nigerians in 2001.

They saw Buhari and his minions open the gate of hell on innocent Nigerians when he lost the presidential election in 2011.

If Buhari was not speaking and defending his Fulani heritage he would be fighting to defend his religious heritage.

Never for once did he defend Nigeria or gave interview on how to rebuild the economy, education, power, health, etc.

They saw everything this man did. They knew him too well to miss the little details of his violent life.

But they were united in hatred.

Hatred for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. One among the few Nigeria leaders that actually wanted Nigeria to work.

Hatred became a unifying force to push forward a false narrative. They exploited his humility. They exploited his kindness.They exploited his humanity

They danced and made merry in Ojota. They ate, drank and danced away the destiny of a nation.

Saints Tinubu, Amaechi, Fashola etc led the chorus against corrupt Goodluck Jonathan.

Tinubu a private jet owner and owner of Lagos, Amaechi a private jet owner and funder of Buhari campaign, Atiku a University owner paid with his civil service allowance etc wanted corrupt Goodluck Jonathan out.

But the people did not see the moral paradox because you see  hate is a unifying factor.

They mobilised thugs to stone a sitting President.They harassed his family wherever they went. Because they are from the hated minority who must NOT be king.

For Kings must come from the Fulani lineage. Jonathan is Ijaw. Ijaws should not be Kings. Jonathan must not loot also. For looters must come from enablers of evil.

These are intellectuals. Amongst whom are Pastors and Prophets. Wisdom failed. Prophesies failed.

WAEC issued a fake WAEC attestation to Buhari. It is possible many Nigerian intellectuals are working with fake certificates.

Fulani herdsmen have on many occasions been accused of causing crisis in their host communities in the country.

For instance, following the high rate of criminalities which come in form of kidnappings, raping of women and killings allegedly committed by the herdsmen hiding in forests across Ondo State, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had recently given herdsmen a seven-day ultimatum to vacate the areas.

Also a Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho had issued ultimatum to Fulani in Igangan, a town in Ibarapa North Local Government of Oyo State.

He vowed that Fulani herdsmen must be chased out of Yoruba land.

And a week later, he made good his threat when he and his supporters stormed the area, insisting that the Fulani must leave the town.
A murder investigation is under way after a teenage boy was stabbed to death in north London.

Police officers, along with the London Ambulance Service, were called to the scene on Holland Walk, Islington, at around 5.30pm today to reports of a stabbing.

Despite the efforts of the emergency services, the young boy was pronounced dead at the scene a short while later.

His next of kin has been informed and is being supported by specialist officers.

One male has been arrested on suspicion of affray, the Metropolitan Police said.

The police have now enforced a Section 60 Order, granting officers additional stop and search powers for the entire borough of Islington, until 7am tomorrow.

Forensic teams arrive to the scene after a teenage boy was stabbed to death in Islington today

Police officers stand at the scene after the boy was stabbed on Holland Walk, Islington, at around 5.30pm today

Tonight officers remained at the scene as detectives carried out their investigations.

The force said that there will also be an increased police presence in the area in the days while officers conduct their enquiries.

In a statement the force said: 'The public can expect to see an increased police presence in the area in the coming hours and days while officers conduct enquiries.

'Any information about the incident could be vital to finding out what happened and bringing those responsible to justice.'

Anyone with information is urged to call 101 or tweet @MetCC, quoting CAD 4987/25JAN.

Alternatively, information can be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, by calling 0800 555 111.

The police have enforced a Section 60 Order granting officers additional stop and search powers for the entire borough of Islington

A tent is put up as forensic teams carry out their investigations into the fatal stabbing
Christian leaders demand Cuban authorities release pastor arrested for leading illegal' church

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Christian leaders are calling on the communist government of Cuba to immediately release Pastor Karel Parra Rosabal, who heads an unregistered church and was arrested on false charges of hoarding. He's been held in detention for 11 days.

Rosabal, who leads the Fuego y Dinamica Apostolic Church, was arrested by police in the town of Jobabo in Las Tunas on Jan. 12 and was told he was being arrested so that you learn that illegal churches in Cuba are not allowed, according to the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

The pastor was kept incommunicado during the first two days of detention and was on hunger strike, CSW said, adding: During the COVID-19 pandemic, accusations of hoarding have been used by the Cuban authorities on occasion to target religious leaders, many of whom have played important roles in providing resources for their local communities.

After searching his house, police told the pastor that he was being arrested for hoarding, which means possessing too many tools without proof of purchase, according to Premier Christian News.

The police seized equipment worth about $1,900 from the pastors house. The pastor says he bought all the equipment legally and can show the receipts.

The Apostolic movement has many churches in Cuba, but the Castro regime has listed the denomination as illegal and banned it from registering as a religious group. That appears to be the reason why the pastor was targeted.

The detention of Pastor Karel Parra Rosabal and the trumped-up charges against him are the latest case in a long record of the Cuban government targeting the pastors of unregistered churches for harassment and imprisonment, CSWs Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said.

We call on the authorities to allow Pastor Parra Rosabal to return to his wife and three young children and to allow him to continue his pastoral work and maintain his small business, which not only sustains his family in a difficult economic climate but also provides a valuable service to the community in an area of the country where transport options are severely limited, Stangl added.

Rosabal's trial was to begin on Thursday but was postponed to give the police more time to investigate. He is likely to be under arrest for another week.

The Cuban government amended its Constitution in 1992, declaring it a secular state, instead of an atheist state, partially allowing religious activities. Since then, the percentage of the country's population that identifies as Christian has grown.
Thiago Silva was the first player to break silence on 'legend' Frank Lampard following his Chelsea sacking  and the Brazilian now faces an awkward reunion with incoming boss Thomas Tuchel.

The former midfielder was dismissed by the club on Monday following a dismal run of five defeats in eight which left the club in ninth-place in the Premier League.

Former Paris Saint-Germain captain Silva, 36, claimed earlier this month that his old manager's sacking at the French club this season was 'predictable'.

Thiago Silva was the first player to break silence on 'legend' Frank Lampard following his exit

Silva hailed Lampard as a 'legend' and thanked him for his work during their stint together

Lampard is set to be replaced by former Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel

With Tuchel now set to take over at Stamford Bridge in time for Wednesday's game against Wolves, Silva may now wish he hadn't made those comments about the German, with whom he won four major honours.

After the 47-year-old was sacked by the Ligue 1 club, Silva  who left PSG to join Chelsea in the summer  told French Broadcaster RMC Sport: 'It's difficult but it was predictable that this was going to happen.

'Not now, but being inside, we knew there were situations that had to be changed. In my opinion, Leonardo took the situation in hand, he made his choice.

'We do not know if it was good, it was not at all for Tuchel and his staff, especially after the match (4-0 defeat of Strasbourg). This change was not planned at this time.'

Former PSG captain Silva (left) claimed his former manager's (right) sacking was 'predicable'

Silva does not seem to have the same sentiments for his outgoing Chelsea boss, as he took to Instagram to thank Lampard for his help during their short stint together.

'I would like to thank you for everything you and your committee have done for me since the day I arrived', Silva wrote.

'As I told you, it seemed like we had been together for 10 years!! Thank you for everything legend.'

Silva was one of Chelsea's arrivals in a summer spend of over 200million under Lampard.

Tammy Abraham, who was Lampard's main striker in his first season in charge, posted a picture of them together, writing: 'A role model, a mentor & a great manager. Thank you Gaffer'.

Tammy Abraham called Lampard 'a role model, a mentor & a great manager' in his post

Reece James (left) thanked Lampard (right) for 'giving me the opportunity to live my dream'

The Chelsea club legend was dismissed on Monday following a dismal run of form

Meanwhile, Reece James, who was handed his senior Chelsea debut by Lampard, thanked his former boss for 'giving me the opportunity to live my dream'.

Confirmation of his sacking came just before 11.30am on Monday after the club took decisive action following a torrid run of five losses in eight league games.

Owner Roman Abramovich, speaking publicly in a statement sacking a manager for the first time, described Lampard as a 'man of great integrity' in the statement confirming his dismissal but added: 'Under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers' with the club in mid-table.

Outbreaks of avian influenza at poultry farms across South Korea have prompted the culling of 21.7 million birds since late November, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Monday, citing the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Strain H5N8 avian influenza was first detected at a bird farm in South Korea on November 29 in ducks at a farm in the southwestern North Jeolla province. From then on, the outbreak continued and new cases were found weekly at farms all across the country.

According to the report, a total of 72 cases were detected to date, with the latest confirmed case traced to an egg farm in Hwaseong, south of Seoul.

South Korea raised the nationwide bird flu alert level to "serious danger." The regulations in these circumstances are to cull all birds within 2 miles from the infected farm and suspend all production activities at animal farms within a 6-mile radius for one month.

The resulting drop in the supply of poultry and animal products amid the outbreak pushed prices sharply up, the news agency said. For example, prices went up 24.8% on eggs last week year-on-year, 14.9% on chicken and 18.1% on duck meat.

As a result, South Korea reportedly plans to import up to 50,000 tons of fresh eggs and seven other types of egg products without tariffs by the end of June.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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The first people to settle in the Americas likely brought their own canine companions with them, according to new research which sheds more light on the origin of dogs.

An international team of researchers led by archaeologist Dr Angela Perri, of Durham University, UK, looked at the archaeological and genetic records of ancient people and dogs.

They found that the first people to cross into the Americas before 15,000 years ago, who were of northeast Asian descent, were accompanied by their dogs.

The researchers say this discovery suggests that dog domestication likely took place in Siberia before 23,000 years ago. People and their dogs then eventually travelled both west into the rest of Eurasia, and east into the Americas.

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

The Americas were one of the last regions in the world to be settled by people. By this same time, dogs had been domesticated from their wolf ancestors and were likely playing a variety of roles within human societies.

Research lead author Dr Angela Perri, in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, said: "When and where have long been questions in dog domestication research, but here we also explored the how and why, which have often been overlooked.

"Dog domestication occurring in Siberia answers many of the questions we've always had about the origins of the human-dog relationship.

"By putting together the puzzle pieces of archaeology, genetics and time we see a much clearer picture where dogs are being domesticated in Siberia, then disperse from there into the Americas and around the world."

Geneticist and co-author Laurent Frantz (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) said: "The only thing we knew for sure is that dog domestication did not take place in the Americas.

"From the genetic signatures of ancient dogs, we now know that they must have been present somewhere in Siberia before people migrated to the Americas."

Co-author Professor Greger Larson, Oxford University, said: "Researchers have previously suggested that dogs were domesticated across Eurasia from Europe to China, and many places in between.

"The combined evidence from ancient humans and dogs is helping to refine our understanding of the deep history of dogs, and now points toward Siberia and Northeast Asia as a likely region where dog domestication was initiated."

During the Last Glacial Maximum (from ~23,000-19,000 years ago) Beringia (the land and maritime area between Canada and Russia), and most of Siberia, was extremely cold, dry, and largely unglaciated.

The harsh climatic conditions leading up to, and during this period may have served to bring human and wolf populations into close proximity given their attraction to the same prey.

This increasing interaction, through mutual scavenging of kills from wolves drawn to human campsites, may have began a relationship between the species that eventually led to dog domestication, and a vital role in the populating of the Americas.

As co-author and archaeologist David Meltzer of Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) notes, "We have long known that the first Americans must have possessed well-honed hunting skills, the geological know-how to find stone and other necessary materials and been ready for new challenges.

"The dogs that accompanied them as they entered this completely new world may have been as much a part of their cultural repertoire as the stone tools they carried."

Since their domestication from wolves, dogs have played a wide variety of roles in human societies, many of which are tied to the history of cultures worldwide.

Future archaeological and genetic research will reveal how the emerging mutual relationship between people and dogs led to their successful dispersal across the globe.

###

The Durham University research was funded by a COFUND/Marie Curie scholarship.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Monday overturned a controversial ban by his predecessor on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military, a move that fulfills a campaign promise and will be cheered by LGBTQ advocates.

Former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016 allowed trans people to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders, but Republican President Donald Trump froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain.

"President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America's strength is found in its diversity," the White House said in a statement.

"Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, itas the right thing to do and is in our national interest," it said.

When Trump announced the ban in 2017 on Twitter, he said the military needed to focus on "decisive and overwhelming victory" without being burdened by the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of having transgender personnel.

A November 2020 report by the LGBT-rights think tank the Palm Center co-written by former military Surgeons General said the transgender ban had hurt military readiness.

While advocates applaud Biden's move, the fact that any president can decide whether transgender people can serve in the military is problematic, they say. Any American who is fit and able should have the right to serve, they say.

During his confirmation hearing, Biden's pick to lead the Pentagon, Retired Army General Lloyd Austin, said he supported overturning the ban.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump transgender policy of 2019 could stand while it faces separate lawsuits in lower courts.

About 1.3 million active personnel serve in the U.S. military, Department of Defense data shows. There are no official figures on the number of trans members but the Rand Corp, a U.S. policy research institute, estimated in 2016 about 2,450 active service members were transgender.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Jeff Mason; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
(Natural News) Norway has recorded 33 deaths of elderly people who received a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine since the start of the countrys vaccination campaign in late December.

Several countries have also reported post-vaccination deaths but health authorities believe they are not related to the vaccine.

Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland have all reported post-vaccination deaths. There were also reports that 55 people in the United States have died after getting vaccinated. (Related: Compilation of recent stories and videos covering covid vaccine injuries, side effects and DEATHS.)

Norwegian Institute of Public Health Director Camilla Stoltenberg noted that there are 45 people who die every day in medical facilities in Norway. Its not a given that this represents any excess in mortality or that the deaths are related to the vaccines, she said

While there is still no link established between the vaccine and the deaths, Norway has reiterated in recent days its recommendation for a medical evaluation before the vaccine is administered to a very fragile or dying person.

It is not impossible that some of those who are offered vaccination are so fragilethat it is not worth the trouble to vaccinate them because they can potentially see their condition deteriorate. Those effects are normal, said Stoltenberg on Monday, Jan. 18.

So far, more than 48,000 out of 5.4 million people have been vaccinated in Norway.

The rollout of the vaccines in Norway is continuing as planned although doctors in the country are now being instructed to carefully consider whether to vaccinate people who are very frail or at the end of their life.

Norway officials investigate possible link of coronavirus vaccine to deaths of elderly patients

Norway officials were also investigating the deaths of the elderly patients who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

They were looking into the prospect that adverse reactions to the vaccine may have contributed to a fatal outcome in some frail patients.

According to Sigurd Hortemo, chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, reports of adverse reactions with a fatal outcome suggest that common adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines, such as fever and nausea, may have contributed to a fatal outcome in some frail patients.

Rare side effects usually emerge after a vaccine or a drug has been released in the real world and tested on millions of people.

After giving at least one dose to more than 11 million people, health authorities in the U.S. are starting to see rare instances of severe, albeit treatable, allergic reactions to some Covid-19 vaccines.

These rare but serious side effects are the reasons why regulators and health authorities continue to closely monitor vaccines even after theyve been approved for use.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency said in a statement that all deaths that occur within days of the vaccination will be investigated.

We cannot rule out that adverse reactions (such as fever and nausea) to the vaccine occurring within the first days following vaccination may contribute to more serious course and fatal outcome in patients with severe underlying disease, the statement read.

On Jan. 14, Norwegian officials changed the countrys vaccination guide and said very frail people should not receive the shot. If you are very frail, you should probably not be vaccinated, Steinar Madsen of the Norwegian Medicines Agency told reporters.

Pfizer and BioNTech told news outlets on Monday, Jan. 18, that they are now working with the Norwegian Medicines Agency to gather all the relevant information following the deaths. Our immediate thoughts are with the bereaved families, Pfizer said.

Pfizer also recalled that the Norwegian vaccination campaign started with the elderly living in medical establishments, noting that most of them are very old with illnesses and some are terminally ill.

Follow Vaccines.com for more news updates and information about vaccine-related injuries and side effects.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

EuroNews.com

ABC.net.au
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WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Monday put an end to two lawsuits that had accused President Donald J. Trump of violating the Constitutions emoluments clauses by profiting from his hotels and restaurants in New York and Washington.

In brief orders, the court wiped out rulings against Mr. Trump in the two cases and dismissed them as moot. There were no dissents noted.

The move means that there will be no definitive Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of the two provisions of the Constitution concerning emoluments, a term that means compensation for labor or services. One provision, the domestic emoluments clause, bars the president from receiving any other emolument from the federal government or the states beyond his official compensation.

The other provision, the foreign emoluments clause, bars anyone holding a federal office of profit or trust from accepting any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state without the consent of Congress.
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In a statement, Heather Knox, an Amazon spokeswoman, said the company did not believe that the union represents the majority of our employees views. She added, Our employees choose to work at Amazon because we offer some of the best jobs available everywhere we hire, and we encourage anyone to compare our total compensation package, health benefits and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs.

The company created a website that suggests that the unions dues  which could total about $9.25 a week for a full-time employee  would leave workers with less money to pay for school supplies.

Why not save the money and get the books, gifts and things you want? the website says.

An early version of the website included photos of happy-looking young workers, including the image of a Black man leaping in the air that appeared to be from a free stock photo website. On the site the man and a woman are pictured in an image labeled excited african-american couple jumping, having fun.

Asked about the site, Amazon called it educational and said it helps employees understand the facts of joining a union. (As of last Tuesday evening, the company had removed the stock photos including that of the leaping man.)

Race has often been at the heart of unionizing campaigns in the South. A century ago, multiracial steel and coal miners unions around Birmingham were a cockpit of labor militancy, Mr. Lichtenstein said.

In the 1960s, unions  including the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union  gave Black workers a venue to assert their civil rights and gain more equality in the workplace.

Organizing was dangerous work. A Black organizer with the retail union in Alabama named Henry Jenkins recalled being shot at and receiving death threats at his home. At one point, a bomb was found in his car outside a church in Selma. Mr. Jenkins died in 2011 after an illness.
A Ryanair ad that suggested holidaymakers could 'jab & go' has been heavily criticised by Ireland's advertising watchdog.

After receiving 59 complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) said in a draft report that the ad was in bad taste and that it's 'likely that consumers would interpret the phrase "jab and go" as an unequivocal endorsement of vaccinating and travelling unconditionally', according to a newspaper report.

The ad, set to be withdrawn, featured a syringe and a small bottle labelled 'vaccine'. The ad promoted flights to sunny European destinations and offered seats for 19.99 ($27), telling customers to 'jab & go'.

Complaints about a Ryanair ad that suggested holidaymakers could 'jab & go' have been supported by Ireland's advertising watchdog in a draft report

A voiceover on the TV version of the ad said: 'Vaccines are coming, so book your Easter and summer holidays today with Ryanair. One million seats on sale for 19.99 to sunshine destinations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and many more - so you can jab and go.'

Some argued it was misleading to suggest the vaccines would be rolled out across the population by the spring and that travel restrictions would be over.

Others said it was 'irresponsible, insensitive and offensive and trivialised the effects which the pandemic was having on society and in particular front-line workers', The Irish Times said.

'Ireland's vaccination plan did not support the perception created in the marketing communications of people being capable of being vaccinated if they wished in sufficient time to travel by Easter,' the ASAI said in the draft report, according to The Irish Times.

A voiceover on the TV ad said: 'Vaccines are coming, so book your Easter and summer holidays today with Ryanair. One million seats on sale for 19.99 to sunshine destinations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and many more  so you can jab and go'

The newspaper also reported that the ASAI deemed the advert to have the 'potential to exploit the credulity, inexperience or lack of knowledge of consumers and was not prepared with a sufficient sense of responsibility to consumers and to society'; that it was 'not reflective of good taste', and that it 'did not pay sufficient regard for prevailing public sentiment, illnesses suffered, or morality and its tone was inappropriate'.

[The Ryanair 'jab and go' ad] did not pay sufficient regard for prevailing public sentiment, illnesses suffered, or morality and its tone was inappropriate Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland

The budget carrier argued that, in light of the vaccine programme, the ads were factually accurate and that bookings could be changed without fees.

It said in an earlier statement: 'Our ad is factually accurate, vaccines are coming (two are already approved) and this will enable passengers to book much-needed sunshine breaks for Easter and Summer 2021 and avail of Ryanair's low prices.

'The ad also confirms that any such bookings can be changed free of charge if customer plans change, which gives Ryanair customers even more assurances when they make Easter or Summer 2021 bookings now.

'Some critics wish to complain just for the sake of getting noticed when it is clear that vaccines will mean an end to Covid travel restrictions in mid-2021.'

The ASAI said: 'In relation to the [Ryanair] advertising in question, the ASAI issued a draft report to the advertisers and to the complainants. This draft will be submitted to our Independent Complaints Committee for their consideration and final decision.'

Complaints about the advert, 1,600 in total, have also been made to Britain's advertising watchdog, the ASA, which will publish its ruling in due course.

MailOnline Travel understands from a source that Ryanair will be withdrawing the advert.
A SEX pest who groped a sleeping teenage boy on the back seat of a Dublin bus has been jailed for seven months.

Honorio Medina Barboza (49) claimed he had thought the 15-year-old victim was a lovestruck gay man who had signalled that he was attracted to him.

Judge Bryan Smyth sentenced him, saying he had shown little responsibility for his behaviour.

However, Barboza walked free from court shortly after, when he served notice of appeal and took up bail.

The accused, a Spanish interpreter with an address at St Edmunds Park, Lucan, had pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

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Dublin District Court heard the boy was travelling on a bus from west Dublin into the city centre on a morning in July 2019 when the accused boarded. He sat beside the victim, who was asleep at the back.

While the bus was on the quays, Barboza placed his left hand on the victims genital area, outside his clothing, and stroked him a number of times, Det Gda PJ Gallagher said.

The boy challenged the accused and told him to feck off, at which Barboza said: theres no need to scream, calm down.

He then got up and when the doors opened, he got off the bus.

Barboza was only identified when CCTV footage was broadcast on RTE's Crimecall in a garda appeal months later.

He pleaded guilty last November and the case was back before the court for a probation report and victim impact statement.

Defence solicitor Lorraine Stephens said the victim appeared in the statement to be a very resilient young man.

Barboza apologised to him in the strongest terms and had written a letter but the gardai did not feel this was appropriate as the victim wanted to put the matter behind him.

Barboza was prepared to offer 500 as a compensation gesture, or charity donation.

In the probation report, Barboza stated he did not realise the age of the victim, Ms Stephens said. However, he wholly accepts it was his responsibility and he was 125pc in the wrong, she added.

The accused had no mental health issues and the incident was serious but isolated, she said. Barboza had been in the country for five years without so much as a parking ticket.

Ms Stephens also asked the judge to take account of the punishment that had been inflicted on the accused by newspaper coverage of his case.

He worked as an interpreter for a pharmaceutical company and his employer was aware of the mistake that he made.

She asked the judge to suspend any sentence.

Judge Smyth said it was of concern to the court that the probation report stated Barboza accepted little responsibility for his behaviour and minimal insight.

He had attributed his behaviour to a perceived lovestruck signal from the victim, who was underage, asleep and did not communicate with him.

Barboza had said he was of the belief that the boy was awake and an adult gay man who indicated that he was attracted to the defendant.

The judge set recognisances in the event of an appeal and the accused later served notice of appeal and took up bail.




The day has finally arrived.

The Leeds location of Texas-based convenience chain -- the second in Alabama -- opened this morning. By lunchtime, several thousand people had stopped in for barbecue brisket sandwiches, Beaver nuggets and just to see what all the fuss was about.

Not everybody in the area knows what we do, because quite frankly we havent been out of Texas long, said Bucees co-owner, Arch Beaver Aplin III. Our first store out of Texas is in Alabama so I can assure you we love this state.

Another location operates in Georgia, making the Leeds store the only the the third Buc-ees outside of Texas, Alpin said.

We had a lot of competition to get this, Leeds Mayor David Miller said at the ribbon-cutting today. Everybody was after them.

Watch the ribbon cutting for the new Buc-ees in Leeds. Posted by al.com on Monday, January 25, 2021

The new Buc-ees is located at 6900 Buc-ees Blvd. off Interstate 20 and joins the chains first state location in Loxley. A third is set to be built in Athens.

Officials from Limestone County attended the ribbon-cutting in Leeds.

Athens and Limestone County were invited to the Buc-ee's grand opening in Leeds so officials could see what's coming soon to Athens! pic.twitter.com/PTAljvWVBA  City of Athens, AL (@AthensAL) January 25, 2021

The Leeds store, as of Friday, had hired 281 employees, Miller said.

Occupying more than 53,250 square feet with 120 fueling spots, Buc-ees is known for its unique offerings including Texas barbecue, homemade fudge, kolaches, Beaver nuggets, jerky and fresh pastries.
CADILLAC, MI  A Michigan man has been arrested after he allegedly entered his neighbors home and attacked the homeowner.

According to the Cadillac Police Department, the incident occurred in the 100 block of West Bremer Street at 2:31 a.m. on Jan. 23.

Police say a 44-year-old Cadillac man reported he had been attacked by a neighbor with weapons and that he was being restrained in his home. He had managed to call the police on his cell phone, according to police.

Once police responded, the man identified his attacker by name since they knew who each other were. The victim was transported to Munson ER for injuries related to this attack, police said.

Cadillac Police and Wexford County deputies then went to a nearby home and arrested the suspect, a 50-year-old Cadillac man.

The man was taken into custody and lodged at the Wexford County jail. He has not been identified.
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended Police Day celebrations on Monday at the Police Academy in New Cairo.

The ceremony was attended by state officials and ministers, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, and Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb.

Accompanied by Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik, El-Sisi laid a wreath at the memorial of police martyrs.

Police Day commemorates resistance by Egyptian police to British occupation forces in Ismailia in 1952, which resulted in the death of dozens of police officers.

The president honoured the memory of a number of police victims who died on duty, presenting the national order to their families.

The honoured victims include police officer Mohamed El-Houfi, who was killed by terrorists during a police raid in Cairos Al-Amiriya district.

El-Sisi said at the ceremony that the 1952 Ismailia battle has drawn an immortal painting in which the heroics of police and people were intertwined.

He referred to the challenge of terrorism, saying it has become an explicit tool to manage conflicts and execute schemes and conspiracies.

The president thanked policemen for their ongoing efforts amid regional developments that destabilise nations and endanger national security.

He referred to the 25 January 2011 Revolution, which coincides with Egypt's Police Day, saying it was led by faithful youth who have looked forward to a better future."

In January 2011, millions of Egyptian demonstrations flooded the streets to oust late president Hosni Mubarak, forcing him to step down on 11 February.

I say to Egypts youth that your homeland is in need of your vigorous arms and sincere efforts to proceed in the path of reform, construction, and development, El-Sisi said.

He urged Egyptian youth to contribute to achieving the aspirations of all Egyptians for a bright future that secures for all citizens equal chances of a decent life.

Concluding his speech, El-Sisi referred to the government's programme to develop 4,500 villages nationwide, saying the project will change the lives of 55 million people.

He affirmed the states commitment to work on finishing the project in three years.

At the ceremony, the interior minister stressed the ministrys focus on facing terrorism in cooperation with the Armed Forces.

Despite the success (in combating terrorism) that reflected on more security and stability in the region, the ministry is aware of the importance of continued security vigilance and the monitoring of terrorist organisations movements, Tawfik said.

He added that terrorist groups exploit tensions and violence in the region to destabilise other African nations.

This is El-Sisis second visit to the Police Academy in a week. On Friday dawn, he inspected the academy's facilities and was briefed on cadets' training systems.

Egypt's Police Day is celebrated on 25 January and is a paid holiday for employees in the public and private sectors.

This year, employees will take Thursday 28 January off instead, following a decision by the premier to make Thursday a day off instead of any week-day holiday to "give citizens a chance to have a long weekend."

Short link:


Donald Trumps former lawyer Michael Cohen said that the ex-president might have issued secret pardons to himself and his children during his tenure, which he will reveal if he is indicted.

Talking to MSNBC, Mr Cohen said he believes Mr Trump has already pardoned himself, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and his children in what he termed as pocket pardons to save themselves from criminal conviction if needed.

The former president had issued a slew of pardons in his final days of office. He granted clemency to 70 people and commuted the sentences of a further 73 people, excluding himself and his family by using his presidential powers.

Mr Cohen wondered why the former president did not pardon himself, saying that the one thing Mr Trump fears the most is serving a jail term.

"I kind of think I figured it out," he said to MSNBC host Alex Witt. "I think Donald Trump actually has given himself the pardon. I think he also has pocket pardons for his children and for Rudy and it's already stashed somewhere that, if and when they do get indicted and that there's a criminal conviction, federal criminal conviction brought against him, that he already has the pardons in hand."

He said he reached the conclusion after some research over the legality of pardons being disclosed to the people and press.

The estranged former lawyer of Mr Trump said he could not find anything in the Constitution that said he has to make the pardons public and it is more in line to what anti-Trump attorney George Conway said.

Mr Conway had written in The Washington Post that the former president could break a number of laws in fear of criminal indictment and should be tried for his crimes.

Mr Trump not issuing pardons for himself and his family came as a surprise to many experts and politicians, given that the Trump family faces legal troubles more than any other presidential family in American history.

According to reports by Reuters and The New York Times, Mr Trump had said to his aides that he wanted preemptive pardons that are issued before any charges are filed.

The report said, citing sources, Mr Trumps level of interest in pardoning himself goes beyond idle musings.

However, there is no definitive answer to the question of whether a president can pardon himself, as the Constitution does not mention this possibility and none of the former presidents have used this power for themselves in the past.

However, scholars have said it would be unconstitutional, as it is against the basic principle that no one could be the judge of their own wrongdoings.
New Delhi/Davos: Climate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Monday asked the world to remember the promises it made to safeguard the environment in the wake of the crisis situation that has been created and inflicted on the present generation because of their wrongdoings.

In a statement issued during the ongoing online Davos Agenda Summit, the young climate activist said the world must remember the promises it made to children and grandchildren.

My name is Greta Thunberg and I am not here to make deals. You see, I dont belong to any financial interest or political party. So I cant bargain or negotiate. I am only here to once again remind you of the emergency we are in. The crisis that you and your predecessors have created and inflicted upon us. The crisis that you continue to ignore," she said. She further said she was there to remind the world of the promises that it had made to their children and grandchildren and to tell it that there was no question of any compromise on the very minimum safety levels that still remain.

The climate and ecological crisis can unfortunately no longer be solved within todays systems. According to the current best available science that is no longer an opinion; thats a fact," she said. Thunberg further said there is a need to keep it in mind as countries, businesses and investors now rush forward to present their new so-called ambitious climate targets and commitments.

The longer we avoid this uncomfortable truth, and the longer we pretend we can solve the climate - and ecological emergency - without treating it as a crisis the more precious time we will lose. And this is time we do not have," she said. Thunberg further said that leaders and nations all over the world are speaking of an existential climate emergency, but instead of taking immediate action in an emergency, they set up vague, insufficient, hypothetical targets way into the future, like net-zero 2050.

She said these were targets based on loopholes and incomplete numbers and targets that equal surrender. Its like waking up in the middle of the night, seeing your house on fire, then deciding to wait 10, 20, or 30 years before you call the fire department while labeling those trying to wake people up as alarmists.

We understand that the world is very complex and that change doesnt happen overnight. But you have now had more than three decades of blah blah blah. How many more do you need? Because when it comes to facing the climate and ecological emergency, the world is still in a state of complete denial," she said. Thunberg said the justice for the most affected people in the most affected areas is being systematically denied.

She said she was not here to tell anyone what to do, as safeguarding the future living conditions and preserving life on earth as we know it is was voluntary. The choice is yours to make. But I can assure you this. You cant negotiate with physics. And your children and grandchildren will hold you accountable for the choices that you make. Hows that for a deal?" Thunberg asked.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. At least five people were killed as a result of a shooting in a residential building in the American city of Indianapolis, Indiana, TASS reports citing the Associated Press.

According to their information, a call about the shooting was received by a policeman on duty at 04:00 am local time. Having arrived at the site, the police discovered a wounded teenager. Later, the policemen received information that the shooting also occurred in an adjacent house where five bodies were found. According to the police, this was a premeditated murder.

The local police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are involved in the investigation. As of Sunday evening, the law enforcement could not detain a suspect, the policemen also cannot say whether the criminal acted alone. Mayor of Indianapolis Joe Hogsett called the incident a mass murder.

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Imperial and High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) Institute of Materials Structure Science, discover new Ba7Nb4MoO20-based materials with high oxygen-ion (oxide-ion O2-) conductivities--"the hexagonal perovskite-related oxides"--and shed light on the underlying mechanisms responsible for their conductivity. Their findings lead the way to uncovering other similar materials, furthering research on developing low-cost and scalable renewable energy technologies.

Over the past few years, fuel cells have become a focal point of research in eco-friendly technology because of their superior abilities to store and produce renewable energy and clean fuel. A typical type of fuel cell gaining ground is the oxide-ion-conducting fuel cell, which is primarily made of materials through which oxide ions (oxygen ions: O2-), can easily move. New materials with higher conductivity at low and intermediate temperatures, provide a number of advantages over commonly used fuel cells based on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolytes, such as higher power generation efficiency, longer lifetimes, and lower costs.

However, only a limited number of such materials are known and their application to developing fuel cells has largely remained at the laboratory scale. To truly achieve a sustainable energy economy, new oxide-ion conductors with high conductivity need to be discovered that can allow low-cost and efficient scaling up of these technologies.

Scientists from Tokyo Tech, Imperial and KEK set out to address this need, and in a recent study, identified a new oxide-ion-conducting material that may be a representative of an entire family of oxide-ion conductors.

The material in question has the chemical formula Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 and is classified as a "hexagonal perovskite-related oxide." Prof Masatomo Yashima, who led the study, explains: "Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 shows a wide stability range and predominantly oxide-ion conduction in the oxygen partial pressure range from 2x10-26 to 1 atm. Surprisingly, bulk conductivity of Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05, 5.8  10-4 S/cm, is remarkably high at 310 C, and higher than bismuth oxide- and zirconia-based materials (Fig. 1)."* Prof Stephen Skinner comments that the fast oxide ion transport was unambiguously confirmed using the 18O tracer diffusion technique at Imperial.

Prof Yashima and his team note that the crystal structure of Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 contains oxygen-deficient layers (c' in Fig. 2a and Fig. 2c) and that its high oxide-ion conductivity is attributable to the oxide-ion migration on the c' layers. In fact, they succeed in experimental visualization of O1-O5 oxide-ion diffusion pathways by the neutron-diffraction measurements at a high temperature 800 oC with SuperHRPD diffractometer of Prof Takashi Kamiyama's group at KEK/J-PARC (Figs. 2b,d). Prof Yashima says that the oxide ions migrate via interstitialcy diffusion mechanism through interstitial octahedral O5 and lattice tetrahedral O1 oxygen sites and that the (tetrahedral)-(octahedral) diffusion pathways on the c' layer in Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 is the same as those in another hexagonal perovskite-related oxide Ba3MoNbO8.5-. Therefore, Prof Yashima and his team claim that "The common feature of the diffusion mechanism would be a guide for design of oxide-ion conductors with the hexagonal perovskite related structures and that the present finding of high oxide-ion conductivities in rare-earth-free Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 suggests the ability of various hexagonal perovskite related oxides as superior oxide-ion conductors".*

Prof Yashima and his team note that the crystal structure of Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 contains oxygen-deficient layers (c' in Fig. 2a and Fig. 2c) and that its high oxide-ion conductivity is attributable to the oxide-ion migration on the c' layers. In fact, they succeed in experimental visualization of O1-O5 oxide-ion diffusion pathways by the neutron-diffraction measurements at a high temperature 800 C with SuperHRPD diffractometer of Prof Takashi Kamiyama's group at KEK/J-PARC (Figs. 2b,d). Prof Yashima says that the oxide ions migrate via interstitialcy diffusion mechanism through interstitial octahedral O5 and lattice tetrahedral O1 oxygen sites and that the (tetrahedral)-(octahedral) diffusion pathways on the c' layer in Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 is the same as those in another hexagonal perovskite-related oxide Ba3MoNbO8.5-. Therefore, Prof Yashima and his team claim that "The common feature of the diffusion mechanism would be a guide for design of oxide-ion conductors with the hexagonal perovskite related structures and that the present finding of high oxide-ion conductivities in rare-earth-free Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 suggests the ability of various hexagonal perovskite related oxides as superior oxide-ion conductors".*

Prof Yashima and his team note that the crystal structure of Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 contains oxygen-deficient layers (c' in Fig. 2a and Fig. 2c) and that its high oxide-ion conductivity is attributable to the oxide-ion migration on the c' layers. In fact, they succeed in experimental visualization of O1-O5 oxide-ion diffusion pathways by the neutron-diffraction measurements at a high temperature 800 C with SuperHRPD diffractometer of Prof Takashi Kamiyama's group at KEK/J-PARC (Figs. 2b,d). Prof Yashima says that the oxide ions migrate via interstitialcy diffusion mechanism through interstitial octahedral O5 and lattice tetrahedral O1 oxygen sites and that the (tetrahedral)-(octahedral) diffusion pathways on the c' layer in Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 is the same as those in another hexagonal perovskite-related oxide Ba3MoNbO8.5-. Therefore, Prof Yashima and his team claim that "The common feature of the diffusion mechanism would be a guide for design of oxide-ion conductors with the hexagonal perovskite related structures and that the present finding of high oxide-ion conductivities in rare-earth-free Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 suggests the ability of various hexagonal perovskite related oxides as superior oxide-ion conductors".*

Prof Yashima and his team note that the crystal structure of Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 contains oxygen-deficient layers (c' in Fig. 2a and Fig. 2c) and that its high oxide-ion conductivity is attributable to the oxide-ion migration on the c' layers. In fact, they succeed in experimental visualization of O1-O5 oxide-ion diffusion pathways by the neutron-diffraction measurements at a high temperature 800 C with SuperHRPD diffractometer of Prof Takashi Kamiyama's group at KEK/J-PARC (Figs. 2b,d). Prof Yashima says that the oxide ions migrate via interstitialcy diffusion mechanism through interstitial octahedral O5 and lattice tetrahedral O1 oxygen sites and that the (tetrahedral)-(octahedral) diffusion pathways on the c' layer in Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 is the same as those in another hexagonal perovskite-related oxide Ba3MoNbO8.5-. Therefore, Prof Yashima and his team claim that "The common feature of the diffusion mechanism would be a guide for design of oxide-ion conductors with the hexagonal perovskite related structures and that the present finding of high oxide-ion conductivities in rare-earth-free Ba7Nb3.9Mo1.1O20.05 suggests the ability of various hexagonal perovskite related oxides as superior oxide-ion conductors".*

###

About Tokyo Institute of Technology

Tokyo Tech stands at the forefront of research and higher education as the leading university for science and technology in Japan. Tokyo Tech researchers excel in fields ranging from materials science to biology, computer science, and physics. Founded in 1881, Tokyo Tech hosts over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students per year, who develop into scientific leaders and some of the most sought-after engineers in industry. Embodying the Japanese philosophy of "monotsukuri," meaning "technical ingenuity and innovation," the Tokyo Tech community strives to contribute to society through high-impact research. https:/ / www. titech. ac. jp/ english/

About High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)

KEK was established to promote various types of researches as a center of excellence for overall development of Japan's accelerator science (particle and nuclear research using high energy accelerators, research on the structure/function of materials including living organisms, research on improving the accelerator performance, and related basic technologies). As the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, KEK provides researchers across the country and abroad with opportunities for research. With the Tsukuba and Tokai campuses as centers for excellence, KEK joins international collaboration experiments and developments. In addition, KEK is in charge of the School of High Energy Accelerator Science of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI).

https:/ / www. kek. jp/ en/

About Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC)

J-PARC is a high intensity proton accelerator facility, and it aims at the frontier in materials and life sciences, nuclear and particle physics. It is a joint project between KEK and Japan Atomic Energy Agency. SuperHRPD is installed at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) of J-PARC.

German car manufacturer Volkswagen is in talks with its main suppliers about possible claims for damages due to a shortage of semiconductors, a company spokesman said on Sunday.

Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines due to problems in the delivery of semiconductors, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former Trump administrations actions against key Chinese chip factories.

The shortage has affected Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co., Subaru Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and other car makers.

For Volkswagen, the top priority is to minimize the effects of the semiconductor bottleneck on production, the Volkswagen spokesman said, adding the company wanted to resolve the problem in close cooperation with its suppliers.

But the spokesman added that this exchange would also include examining claims of damages together with its suppliers.

Among the affected car suppliers are Germanys Bosch and Continental, which in return are dependent on chip suppliers in Taiwan and other Asian countries.

Volkswagen had communicated to its suppliers shortly after the first lockdown in spring that it was ramping up production to pre-pandemic levels again, industry sources said.

Still, manufacturers of semiconductors shifted production to other industrial sectors with high growth rates such as consumer electronics which left clients in the car industry with less chips than needed, the sources said.

Automobilwoche magazine reported that Volkswagen was in talks with alternative suppliers of semiconductors but there were concerns this could lead to higher prices.

Volkswagen wants to make sure that both Bosch and Continental share the burden and partly compensate the company for the resulting additional costs, the magazine reported.

A Bosch spokeswoman said the company was currently focusing on maintaining supply chains as much as possible.

We will discuss all further aspects of the shortage of semiconductors directly with our customers and suppliers in due course, she added.

Continental declined to comment.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has urged his Taiwanese counterpart Wang Mei-hua to persuade Taiwanese chip manufacturers to help ease the semiconductor shortage in the car industry which is hampering its fledgling economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Altmaier has asked Wang to address the issue in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker and one of Germanys main suppliers.

To reduce dependency on Asian suppliers and avoid similar problems in the future, Berlin is now planning to increase state support to increase the production capacity of semiconductors in Germany and Europe.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by David Evans)

Topics Claims

The corps commander level talks between India and China has not led to any agreement for disengagement from the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, but officials told News18 that both sides have agreed in principle to withdraw troops after a nine-month standoff.

The catch, however, is the lack of consensus on the withdrawal mechanism. While India is insisting on simultaneous withdrawal, the Chinese want India to first disengage from southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh.

They insisted on discussion on South Bank alone. We want a discussion on all friction points, an officer in the know told News18. It is the South bank of Pangong Tso where India had occupied heights in the last week of August, taking China by surprise and foiling the plans of the PLA.

ALSO READ | 'Minor' Face-off Between India, PLA Troops in Sikkim's Naku La, Resolved by Local Commanders: Army

The 9th round of talks between GoC, Lt General PGK Menon-led Indian delegation and the Chinese delegation led by Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang Military Region, lasted for over 15 hours at Moldo.

An official statement by the defence ministry stated that the two sides had a "candid and in-depth exchange of views on disengagement" and they "agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops".

"They also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation, and hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation. The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility," the statement read.

One of the officers aware of the deliberations described the talks as "good and effective," but qualified it by saying that whatever the Chinese side promised is subject to "political and diplomatic clearance from Beijing."

In the 8th round of talks too, China had assured withdrawal of troops from Pangong Tso. Though close to 10,000 men were withdrawn subsequently, Indian officials feel it was more to do with weather conditions than a change in Beijings stance towards the border standoff.

ALSO READ | With Beds and Heated Tents, Army Sets up Living Facilities for Troops in Ladakh amid Tussle with China

"Most of the withdrawal was from rear areas. The temperatures are now in the region of -40 degree Celsius, so that seems to be the real factor, an official told News18.

While China wants to focus solely on southern bank of Pangong Tso, the Indian side has called for a complete restoration of pre-April 2020 status quo ante. If Delhi and Beijing agree, then a phase-wise troop withdrawal from Pangong heights where both sides continue eye ball-to-eye ball deployment, can take place.

Officials said that only once the troops are withdrawn can the modalities of patrolling be worked out. China since April 2020 has not allowed the Indian troops to patrol up to finger 8.

ALSO READ | On Reports of Chinese Construction in Arunachal Pradesh, MEA Says India on 'Constant Watch'

The corps commander level talks happened in the backdrop of fresh clashes in Naku La in Sikkim, but officials told News18 that the issue didn't come up for discussion at Moldo.

"Major General Liu Lin is the commander of Xinjiang, the Sikkim unit would come under the Tibet commander so maybe that is why the issue didn't come up. There is also a possibility that Indian side didn't take up this matter because local commanders in Sikkim resolved the issue, "the officer said.
The search for another habitable location in the vastness of the cosmos has been one of the most intriguing explorations of all times, bringing us close to a set of stars and exoplanets. The most fascinating among them is the TRAPPIST-1 system, which consists of the most Earth-sized planets found in the habitable zone of a single star.

A new research published in The Planetary Science Journal has now evoked a renewed interest in the system, with astronomers finding that the exoplanets have remarkably similar densities. This system of seven rocky worlds  all with the ...
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  While the country is on the lookout for a possible surge in the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant, government officials insisted that stricter nationwide quarantine rules may not be necessary for now.

Health Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez both agreed on Monday that for now, a granular lockdown approach works to spur economic recovery in the country, despite recording at least 17 cases of the new virus variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom.

"May mga systems alert tayo na kapag may surge ay puwedeng baguhin ang restriction level kaya ayaw rin naman nating magkaroon ng surge [at] magkakaroon ng malawakang lockdown," Lopez said in a briefing in Malacanang. "I think iyong granular approach natin is really working for us. At generally, working ang continuous easing of restriction."

[Translation: We have a systems alert that is being implemented and whenever there is a surge, the restriction level can be changed and this is why we don't want a surge and a wider lockdown. I think the granular approach is really working for us. And generally, the continuous easing of restriction is working.]

Vergeire expressed a similar sentiment in the same briefing, noting that the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has a scientific basis on imposing lockdowns. Current protocols will still be applied, until such time when certain "parameters" would tell them to revert to tighter restrictions, she added.

"A specific area cannot be on lockdown forever because there are a lot of repercussions," she said.

"Tayo po binabase natin sa health care utilization rate at sa numero ng kaso," Vergeire also said. "Ngayon pag tiningnan natin, hindi pa naman ho nagkakaroon ng senyales para magkaroon ng lockdown. Gaya ng sinabi ni Secretary Mon, mukhang nagwo-work naman po sa atin ang granular lockdowns, iyong mga localized lockdowns na sinasabi natin para hindi naman masyadong magkaroon ng burden ang ating ekonomiya."

[Translation: We are currently basing this upon the health care utilization rate and the number of cases. Now, when we look at it, there is still no sign of imposing a wider lockdown. Like what Secretary Mon said, it looks like granular lockdowns are working, these localized lockdowns that we've been calling so that our economy would not be burdened.]

Of the 17 recorded cases, 12 residents of Bontoc in Mountain Province were found with the B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant, three of whom are minors. Vergeire said 11 people found with the UK variant in the province were all contacts of the case who arrived from the UK.

Two other patients are overseas Filipino workers who returned to the country last Dec. 29 from Lebanon via a Philippine Airlines flight. Two others are local cases detected in La Trinidad, Benguet and Calamba City, Laguna. The other case was identified as the Philippines' first known case of the variant  a 29-year-old Filipino who arrived home from Dubai on Jan. 7.

The villages of Bontoc Ili, Caluttit, Poblacion, Samoki, and Tocucan in Bontoc were placed under enhanced community quarantine until the end of January amid spiking COVID-19 cases. Mayor Franklin Odsey said the decision to extend the heightened quarantine controls will depend on efforts to search for carriers of the new virus variant.

READ: 5 Bontoc villages under ECQ, extension possible - mayor
If this bill passes, it is certain that the state will lose wetlands, according to planned testimony by Indra Frank of the Hoosier Environmental Council. There would still be protection for the federally regulated wetlands, but the wetlands that are delegated to the states care would be stripped of all protection. We dont have a solid estimate of the number of acres covered by the Isolated Wetlands Law, so we dont know for certain how many acres of wetlands would be in jeopardy.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
This article, ADT technician pleads guilty to spying on customer camera feeds for years, originally appeared on CNET.com.

Calling it a "disgusting betrayal of trust," US attorneys with the Northern District of Texas announced Thursday that an ADT home security technician has pleaded guilty to repeatedly hacking into customer video feeds for the purpose of spying on women.

The breaches of customer privacy affected 220 accounts, prosecutors say. The technician, 35-year-old Telesforo Aviles, admits to viewing those accounts 9,600 times over a period of four-and-a-half years. Now he faces up to five years in federal prison on computer fraud charges.

OGG BLASTED: Harris County judge dismisses vaccine theft charge against local doctor

According to the plea, Aviles admitted to violating company policy by routinely adding his email address to ADT Pulse customer accounts, granting him real-time access to those customers' video feeds. In some instances, he acted without the customer's knowledge; in others, he told the customer he needed temporary access to test the system. Once in, Aviles admitted, he'd screen the video feeds for women he found attractive, then repeatedly view those feeds for sexual gratification, including watching women undress and watching couples have sex.

"This defendant, entrusted with safeguarding customers' homes, instead intruded on their most intimate moments," said Acting US Attorney Prerak Shah. "We are glad to hold him accountable for this disgusting betrayal of trust."

'SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR': League City woman alleges Apple stole emoji designs

ADT said it discovered the breach last April, after a customer complained about an unauthorized email on an account. Upon investigation, ADT learned that Aviles had added his email to numerous accounts throughout the Dallas area for the purpose of improperly viewing customer feeds.

At that point, the unauthorized access was revoked, Aviles was fired and referred to law enforcement, and ADT notified customers of the breach.

"We apologize to the customers affected by the actions of this former employee and deeply regret this incident," the company wrote in a statement from April.

"Our customers trust ADT with their safety and protection," the statement reads. "We understand that this incident jeopardizes that trust and is entirely unacceptable. We will make extraordinary efforts to earn back that trust."

To that end, the company says it has implemented "technical and procedural solutions" to prevent this sort of abuse from happening again, and adds that it's enlisted third-party experts to assist in a full review of the company's privacy and security practices. The company committed to supporting law enforcement with "whatever they need to help bring justice to the victims of this former employee."

"We are grateful to the Dallas FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for holding Telesforo Aviles responsible for a federal crime," the company said in a statement released Friday.

ADT has been sued over the case and is seeking to resolve its legal liability through arbitration courts. An ADT spokesperson says that the company has identified and contacted all of Mr. Aviles' victims.

"We're using all the resources at our disposal to help ensure their safety, provide peace of mind and attempt to address all the concerns they may have," the company posted.
The U.S. is amidst the deadliest wave of the pandemic. Credit: COVID Tracking Project

The new year has brought the deadliest weeks of the U.S. COVID-19 epidemic thus far, with thousands of deaths every day. It's been several weeks since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first of two emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines, but getting one isn't easy.

There are no available appointments to get a vaccine in many communities. Wait times at California's Dodger Stadium, the nation's largest distribution site, reached five hours earlier this month. At the current rate, it could take until 2022 for all adult Americans to be vaccinated, according to some estimates.

The Biden administration is trying to change that. The national strategy President Biden rolled out in his first week in office includes a target of injecting 100 million vaccines during his first 100 days as president and strengthening distribution to high-risk communities.

A key component of the president's five-step vaccine plan, he said, is to "fully activate the pharmacies across the country." This will greatly expand the number of providers to administer vaccinesand expand the role of pharmacists in the pandemic in the weeks and months ahead.

As pharmacists who work in both rural and urban settings, we are among those who are preparing to meet this challenge.

Challenges with handling and distribution

With the slow rollout, community pharmacies are being brought on board much sooner than anticipated. They've been an underutilized resource: U.S. pharmacies have experience storing and administering many types of vaccines. In 2018, they gave about one-third of all flu shots, up from 18% in 2012. They are now preparing to handle the new Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Our goal is 100 million shots administered in our first 100 days. Here is how we plan to get it done. pic.twitter.com/9H8dilhSxp  The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 21, 2021

These messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have a new, but not unknown, mechanism. The Moderna vaccine can be kept in a traditional freezer, but the Pfizer vaccine requires ultra-cold storage at -112 to -76 F before being thawed and administered. Health systems and federal partner pharmacies equipped with these specialized freezers are key hubs for distribution.

It's not just the vaccine that needs to be protected. Pharmacies are stockpiling personal protective equipment to keep staff safe. They have also established safety protocols for patientssocial distancing, disinfection and observation for 15 to 30 minutes after vaccination.

There are also administrative requirements, issuing immunization cards to those who have been immunized and reporting the number of administered doses to state and federal officials.

Pharmacies are registering with the searchable Vaccine Finder websitewhere people will be able to search for participating pharmacies. The vaccine is free: Insurance companies will be billed an administration fee, though a national relief fund covers that cost for the uninsured.

Under a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate, pharmacists and pharmacist interns who have completed a minimum of 20 hours of accredited training are authorized to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

Sharing information

While health departments and local officials are working to share information, many people are calling their local pharmacies with questions. Because the vaccine was produced, tested and approved in record time, some are questioning its safety. It was produced quickly because government funding fast-tracked various phases of development, allowing them to be conducted simultaneously rather than sequentially. Thousands of volunteers signed up for clinical trials, speeding the process, and emergency FDA approval allowed for rollout while some phase 3 studies are completed.

People are also concerned about contracting coronavirus from the vaccine, which is impossible. Neither mRNA vaccine contains live virus; they simply teach the body to recognize the unique spike protein on the outside of the COVID-19 virus to create a faster immune response to the invader if exposed. Two doses must be spaced 21 to 28 days apart, and it takes another few weeks after the second dose to reach full immunity.

Some who have called us are worried about possible side effects. The most commonly reported aftereffect is pain and swelling at the injection site; some individuals have also reported chills, fever, headache or fatigue. While this may be uncomfortable, it's not alarming: These are all signs that the immune system is doing its job.

We have also helped explain to people why all are monitored after their shot. A few people have had serious allergic reactions  anaphylactic shock, which is why there is an established observation period after the vaccine that is longer for anyone with a history of allergies. Pharmacists are trained to respond to these rare reactions should they occur.

There have also been reports of individuals who have died within days or weeks of receiving the vaccine. Researchers are investigating these rare events, but so far, there is no evidence that the vaccine is responsible. Unrelated or "incidental" illness seems to be the culprit, which is unsurprising given the demographicsmany of those vaccinated in the early rollout are elderly people who are in frail health.

Vaccines have the power to bring this pandemic under control. They could possibly even end it, but only after some 70% of humanity is inoculated. Almost 90% of Americans live within five miles of a local pharmacy where, starting in February, many will be able to get vaccinated against this virus.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Ihar Losik, a popular Belarusian blogger, says he has ended a hunger strike he began almost six weeks ago* to protest charges that he helped organize riots over a disputed presidential election that has triggered a wave of protests -- and a harsh crackdown by the officials under Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the authoritarian leader who has held power since 1994.

"I have decided to end my hunger strike. Why have I done so? I did it on my own volition.... I was simply moved by the unbelievable wave of solidarity," he said in a statement via his lawyer on January 25.

"Also, because of the hundreds and thousands of requests by Belarusians for me to end it, so that we can await our common victory in a healthy state. I also know that many have begun hunger strikes in solidarity with me. I cannot take on the weight of that responsibility. I don't want people to suffer for my conscious decisions."

Losik was arrested on June 25 and accused of using his popular Telegram channel to "prepare to disrupt public order" ahead of an August 9 presidential election that Lukashenka claimed he won by a landslide amid allegations of widespread fraud.

Since then, Belarus has witnessed nearly daily demonstrations whose size and scope are unparalleled in the country's post-Soviet history.

While awaiting his trial, the 28-year-old was sent to the Akrestsina detention center in Minsk, which Amnesty International has described as "synonymous with torture."

Former detainees have spoken of brutal beatings by guards at Akrestsina and other jails in Belarus. If convicted, Losik faces a possible three-year prison term.

Then, on December 15, Losik, a consultant for RFE/RL on new-media technologies, was slapped with fresh charges that could result in an eight-year prison term if he is convicted. In protest, Losik, who has been recognized as a political prisoner by rights activists, launched his hunger strike.

On January 15, his wife, Darya Losik, told Current Time that her husband's health was deteriorating and that medical attention was minimal.

Losik's statement on January 25 did not give details on his current health status.

Western governments have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote, and imposed sanctions on him and his allies, citing election rigging and the police crackdown.

Lukashenka has refused to step down and says he will not negotiate with the opposition.

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this article said that Ihar Losik began his hunger strike almost 2 1/2 months ago.
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Sensible, sustainable nuclear power for Africa By Dr. Kelvin Kemm and Knox Msebenzi





Centuries ago European countries were scrambling to take control of large pieces of Africa, to increase their wealth and colonial prestige. They brought their sophisticated, advanced ideas and methods to Africa. This changed the developmental direction of African countries, and positive influences were absorbed, while a great deal of unhappiness and conflict also resulted when colonizers could not grasp the limitations of converting Africa into a European clone.



Famed British author, Rudyard Kipling came to South Africa many times and wrote beautiful prose about the country but emphasized the deep spiritual differences in terrain and general character between Africa and England. He understood the heart and soul of the country, but very many did not and still do not.



Since then Europe has advanced greatly. But so has Africa, though not in the same way.



People of Africa have developed locally applicable solutions to issues and challenges. First World countries must accept that their technological solutions were developed for their social and geographic conditions, not ours. Yes, we have adopted and adapted many foreign solutions, but in most cases a straight transplant from the First World to Africa does not work optimally.



A major infrastructure development is electrification. High-voltage power lines of over 1000 km (620 mi) in length are unheard of in Europe but are common in South Africa, where they also traverse one of the highest lightning incidence areas on the planet. These realities have led to technologically advanced solutions.



The people of Africa know what is best for the people of Africa. First World countries really must refrain from using a paternalistic attitude in trying to tell Africans to see sense and to do it the right way, which means their way.

In South Africa coal has been the mainstay of electricity production for over a century, but the major coal fields are clustered in the far northeast. The port city of Cape Town is further away from the coalfields than London is from Rome! Thats why a nuclear power station was built near Cape Town some 40 years ago, to supply power for and from the south.



The decision to adopt nuclear power in South Africa was made because of sound strategic planning. It has turned out to have been a very good decision.



Nuclear is most certainly a source of sustainable clean energy. At least seven African countries have signed agreements with Russian nuclear company Rosatom to develop nuclear capabilities. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are currently being developed, which are ideal for deployment in virtually any location. Large conventional nuclear can be 3000 megawatts (MW) in output, whereas an SMR is only about 100 MW.



Contrary to widely circulated rhetoric  that nuclear and renewable energy (RE) are mutually exclusive  they actually complement each other very well. SMRs can vary power output at the will of the system operator. RE sources such as wind and solar depend on variable weather. If a cloud is cast over a solar plant, modern nuclear power can be ramped up to replace the reduced output.



Critics of nuclear falsely say nuclear is very inflexible. The reason why most nuclear plants are not designed for highly flexible operation is that their output does not depend on the amount of input fuel, like coal, diesel or gas. They are designed to just run flat out, reliably.



Certain critics of nuclear for Africa have argued that it requires specialized skills that African countries do not have. The truth is, these skills can be developed once a decision to go nuclear has been taken. Besides, conventional electrical or mechanical engineers can be nuclearized by training them on specialised nuclear aspects. Everything else is the same.



The idea that a national power system can run on RE sources is unrealistic and suicidal. A prudent approach is to find an optimal mix, providing grid stability and reliability. African countries need reliable disptachable power. This means, if there is any loss of generation somewhere in the system, the system controller can instruct other units to increase generation. With RE one gets only what the sun or wind is producing at the time. Increasing output is out of the question.



SMR systems can be sized for the needs of any country, and placed close to large load centres, thereby reducing the need for expensive transmission networks. As electrical power demand increases, it can be satisfied by small increments of one SMR at a time, which is a small stress on financial and logistical planning.



Nuclear power plant costs are predominantly in their construction; fuel costs are low. So once an SMR is in place, operational costs and fuel costs are low and are very predictable far into the future.



If Africa were to go nuclear in a large way, which seems probable, it would make sense to standardize on one particular SMR model. Staff in each country would be trained to be part of the network. Local construction ability in each country would be used to optimise benefit to each host country. As with large aircraft and vehicles, a policy of standardization to some degree allows for mutual benefit in the exchange of expertise, experience and spare parts.



An ideal High Temperature Gas Reactor for African use is the HTMR-100, designed in South Africa. The technology uses gas cooling and high temperatures, which make these units very suitable not only for power generation but also for industrial processes that require heat. A typical application is desalination of sea water.



Many African countries rely to a very large extent on hydro power. But much African hydro is very problematic because of unpredictable rainfall patterns, and because dams are very wide and shallow, in comparison to dams in Nordic countries for example. So it is very challenging to maintain the pressure-head and water volume required for hydroelectricity.



All African countries are obliged to devise African solutions that fit the realities of African conditions. African countries must have an immediate planning target of increasing electricity generation by 100% and then, in most cases, double that again  and again. Such an outlook requires vision and foresight. In many instances that means developing very different approaches to those used in Europe or the USA.



In the case of Small Modular Reactors, the fuel is extremely small in volume and is also of robust construction. That means it is quite feasible to transport nuclear fuel overland for thousands of kilometers. It is also entirely feasible to stockpile a fuel supply that could last for months, or years if need be.



It is also reasonable to conceive of numerous stand-alone radial power grids that are based on two or three SMRs. Such small grids may be only 10 or 20 km in diameter, but one could serve an entire industrial area. In a large African country it may well be better to plan for half a dozen independent SMR-based mini-grids, than to construct one large national grid that must traverse many kilometers of inhospitable terrain.



Why should the traditional image of a single national grid apply? In the United States the state of Texas has its own electricity grid, independent of the rest of the US.



African countries do not substantially connect electrical grids to each other, as many European countries do, so why shouldnt African countries run a number of separate grids within one country, where they serve specific areas? Such an approach is ideally suited to using distributed nuclear power plants which do not need large-scale water cooling.



The more one thinks about it, the more inappropriate it is for African countries to follow the electricity development models of Europe, or America.



Dr Kelvin Kemm is a nuclear physicist and CEO of Stratek Business Strategy Consultants, a project management company based in Pretoria, South Africa. He carries out business strategy development and project planning in a wide variety of fields for diverse clients. Stratek@pixie.co.za

Knox Msebenzi is an electrical engineer and Managing Director of the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa, in Johannesburg. He has many years experience in the nuclear power industry. knox.msebenzi@gmail.com

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Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide, has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against arresting Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho. ...

Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide, has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against arresting Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho.

Omokri warned that Buhari would turn Igboho into a Southwest version of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB if arrested.

Recall that Igboho had issued a quit notice to Fulani Herdsmen in the Southwest.

The Yoruba activist had asked Fulanis to leave after allegations of criminal activities and kidnapping were raised against them.

Following Igbohos ultimatum, there were speculations that the Presidency ordered his arrest.

However, Omokri dared Buhari to learn from the popularity Kanu gained after he was arrested.

In a tweet, the former presidential aide wrote: Nobody knew who @MaziNnamdiKanu was until #Buhari arrested him. That arrest actually turned Kanu from an unknown to a messiah.

I thought @MBuhari had learnt his lessons. If he arrests Sunday Igboho, he will only be doing him a favour by turning him to the SW version of Kanu!

Meanwhile, Igboho had reaffirmed his decision to chase herdsmen out of the Southwest despite the public outcry that followed his declaration.
STATE ANNOUNCES NEW VACCINE HOTLINE

The state is still on track to vaccinate its 70-and-older population by the end of February. But providers and patients have complained about the difficulty of getting on a waiting list, a process focuses on the use of online portals.

In an effort to at least partially address this frustration, officials said Monday the state has set up a hotline  1 877 268-2926  to answer questions about the vaccine.

The hotline will be staffed by 50 operators, officials said, and will be open 13 hours a day to begin with, before switching to 24 hours by Feb. 1.
There are lots of good reasons why business owners would want to know how, when, and if employees are getting the Covid-19 vaccine. From a safety and health standpoint, vaccine information could help business owners make key decisions. The knowledge could affect hourly schedules, location, and whether people can work from home as a reasonable accommodation for not getting a jab. For businesses now temporarily closed, it could support the decision to open shop.

Generally, yes: You can ask employees if they've received a vaccine. Though if you do request information, tread lightly and make sure there's a legitimate business reason for doing so such as resigning a lease or hiring more people. Asking for additional information could get you in more trouble than it's worth, says David Barron, a Houston-based labor and employment attorney for Cozen O'Connor.

For instance, simply asking when an employee received a vaccine could become a liability. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the first round of vaccine distribution is designated for essential workers, health care professionals, and people with high-risk medical conditions. By asking employees who are not essential workers or health care professionals to specify when they got a vaccine, you may inadvertently reveal a disability or an underlying health condition.

"An employer should never step into a line of questioning that elicits information from the employee about their genetic illness or other health conditions," says Sadie Banks, assistant general counsel and human resources consultant for Engage PEO, an HR outsourcing and consulting company for small and midsize businesses. Doing so would violate the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (part of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), which became law in 2008 and prohibits the use of genetic information, including medical history, in making employment decisions such as hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, and other conditions of employment.

Instead of asking what day and month an employee got the vaccine, Barron suggests asking a broader question. For instance, "Has it been at least two weeks since you've received a vaccine?" That question elicits an answer without asking an employee to provide the exact date. It's also acceptable to ask if an employee has received a second booster shot or whether they plan on getting one, but again, avoid an exact time frame.

It's also best to avoid pushing for any information beyond questions related to the essential functions of the job, notes Banks. If an employee says they're declining a vaccine, it's best to leave it at that. You need to avoid any situation where an employee feels they must reveal a medical condition or religious exemption, which could make them feel targeted-- and you subject to a possible discrimination case.

It's also not a good idea to tell workers exactly how many people at an organization have been vaccinated, as it could single out individuals. Of course, this also depends on the size of the company; for example, sharing that 400 out of 500 employees have been vaccinated is less likely to single out someone than noting that 18 out of 20 workers have been vaccinated.

Each person who receives a vaccine is given a vaccination card, which includes an individual's name, date of birth, vaccination date, who administered it, and type of vaccine. This is not the only existing record, but an extra one that can be put in a wallet or purse and kept for personal medical records. An employer can request a copy of the card to show as proof of vaccination, but keep in mind that any information you collect may be considered medical information that has to be kept private in files that are separate from personal files and treated as confidential under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). It's best to consult with an attorney or HR professional before doing so.
The claim: To defeat this pandemic AND recover our economy, the safest and most effective way is for the population to be immunized. The way to reach herd immunity is for >70% of the population to get vaccinated.  State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Cypress.

Rosenthal, who has lost a family member and a friend to COVID-19, said he took to Twitter to dispel rampant misinformation about the virus and its vaccine.

PolitiFact rating: Mostly True. The herd immunity threshold is calculated by using a diseases rate of transmission. Although scientists have not agreed upon a definite rate, and even though these rates are highly theoretical, estimates show that the threshold for COVID-19 lies between 60 percent and 83 percent.

Discussion

The strategy to achieve herd immunity within a population to reverse the spread of COVID-19 has been a matter of intense debate over the course of the pandemic.

One component of this debate involves the herd immunity threshold, or the percentage of a population that must be immunized from a disease, be it through infections or vaccinations, for the spread to abate. The more infectious a contagion, the higher its threshold.

About PolitiFact PolitiFact is a fact-checking project to help you sort out fact from fiction in politics. Truth-O-Meter ratings are determined by a panel of three editors. The burden of proof is on the speaker, and PolitiFact rates statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made. See More Collapse

For instance, measles, a highly infectious disease that is at least three times as contagious as COVID-19, requires a herd immunity threshold level of around 94 percent, meaning that 94 percent of a population would need to be immune to measles before its transmission rate declines.

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But pinning down a concrete herd immunity threshold level for COVID-19 has so far been theoretical guesswork.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that the herd immunity threshold for any virus lies between 50 percent and 90 percent.

Immunity can be reached one of two ways: through natural infections, which create antibodies in people who have recovered from a disease that can potentially ward off future infection (an estimated 20 percent of the global population has been infected); or through vaccination, a safer way to immunity because it does not cause illness.

The herd immunity threshold for COVID-19 has been somewhat of a moving target throughout the pandemic as researchers grapple with understanding the virus.

Theres kind of been this shifting conversation about what is the actual basic reproduction number of the virus, said Spencer Fox, associate director of the COVID-19 modeling consortium at the University of Texas. We try and extrapolate from other populations, but every population will have a slightly different number.

The result is a herd immunity threshold of 60 percent to 83 percent for the novel coronavirus.

Dr. David Dowdy, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, stressed that these numbers are highly theoretical.

The herd immunity threshold is something thats easy for the public to understand, but not really reflective of reality, Dowdy said. The reality is that its a spectrum, but people like to see things in black and white and they like to have specific numbers to latch onto.

At some point we will build up enough immunity. Whether it be through people getting the disease or through people getting the vaccine, that transmission (rate) will start to go down, he said. Its not like theres a magic number that we have to hit and if we dont hit it well forever have this pandemic with us. The more people we can get vaccinated the fewer people get sick and die.

Nevertheless, Fox said that publicizing a herd immunity threshold level is useful for public health efforts.

Right now, the main use of providing a high number is to motivate people to actually get the vaccine, because in my mind we should try and vaccinate as many people as possible, Fox said.

The 70 percent threshold cited by Rosenthal and others is, to Fox, in the ballpark.

It could be possibly as low as 50 percent and as high as 80 percent, so 70 percent is kind of in the middle. I would shoot higher. I wouldnt have this expectation that the disease goes away at this point, he said.
When the artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed was commissioned to conceive of a project honoring Brooklyn abolitionists, she wanted to turn the idea of a monument on its head. She proposed to reinvent the design of the anticipated Willoughby Square Park in Downtown Brooklyn with pavement engravings and bronze placards, which would offer questions and prompts to highlight the boroughs antislavery movement and its legacy.

But the preservationists and activists who, for 20 years, have pushed the city to honor Brooklyns abolitionist roots were displeased with Ms. Rasheeds designs, complaining they were too abstract at a time when women and people of color are fighting to see themselves figuratively represented in New Yorks monuments.

ROXBORO, N.C., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Book Extracts (OBX) is pleased to announce the release of their Winter 2021 Product Catalog, which includes some of the newest and most innovative cannabinoid products, combining high-quality, pure cannabinoid ingredients with effective formulations and break-through technologies.

Open Book Extracts Winter Product Catalog

The launch of the latest catalog emphasizes OBX's renewed focus to inspire cutting edge products that leverage precise minor cannabinoid formulations for increased product efficacy and targeted releases that address specific ailments and need states. New product highlights from the Winter 2021 Catalog include:

Beauty From Within: This finished goods collection combines CBG with Collagen, to help you maintain great skin, hair, bones, and joints, giving you the glow of good health inside and out. Products include:

Hydrobond CBD tinctures with Collagen (250mg)

CBG Beauty Gummies with Collagen (25mg / dose)

CBG Collagen Softgels (25mg / dose)

Stay In Focus: This collection blends THCV with adaptogens, energizing herbs and vitamins, to provide clean energy that promotes mental sharpness, concentration, and improved brain function. Consider this your brain food. Products include:

THCV Tinctures blended with focus terpenes, B12, Ginkgo Biloba, Omega-3 DHA, and Valerian Root (300mg)

(300mg) THCV Focus Gummies with B12 (10mg / dose)

THCV: CBC Oral Dissolving Focus Mints (5mg:2.5mg / dose)

Regenerative Rest: This product collection is expertly formulated to help you sleep, alleviate stress and improve your mind to wake up with no grogginess and ready to tackle the day. These products combine CBN with terpenes, adaptogens and vitamins into one convenient stack, for sleep support that does more than just knock you out, boosting all aspects of next-day performance and long-range health. Products include:

CBN:CBD Tinctures blended with calming terpenes, GABA, L-Theanine, and Lemon Balm (2:1 CBN:CBD)

CBN Sleep Gummies with Chamomile (10mg / dose)

CBN: CBD Softgels (5mg:5mg / dose)

CBN: CBD Oral Dissolving Sleep Mints (5mg:5mg / dose)

CBDA: Cannabidiolic Acid (CBDA) is the precursor to cannabidiol (CBD) and is the compound that is grown in the plant. CBDA is a broad spectrum powder with 80+% potency. CBDA has an improved bioavailability as compared to CBD for several key benefits due to lower clearance, and higher absorption.

OBX continues to provide the full portfolio of bulk cannabinoid ingredients, including THC-Free Broad Spectrum Distillate, and pure cannabinoid isolates at 99%+ purity, including CBD, CBG, CBN, CBC, THCV, and CBDV. All OBX ingredients are tested internally during production and then by licensed third-party laboratories to ensure the quality and safety of all OBX products.

Additional finished consumer products in the Winter catalog include functional gummies, chocolates, powder drink blends, tablets, soft gels, oral dissolving strips, and tinctures, as well as signature body care products such as the relief balm and cooling salve.

OBX's product offering further includes Easysnap, the only one-hand opening and dispensing portion pack for liquid & semi-liquid products, including tinctures, water-soluble beverage enhancers, and topicals. With Easysnap, brands can increase margins and drive customer adoption, while providing an ideal solution for product dosage and on-the-go consumption.

To download a copy of the Winter 2021 OBX Product Catalog, click here: https://openbookextracts.com/winter-catalog-2021/

For those interested in learning more about OBX's products and services, please reach out directly to Nicole Brown, Chief Commercial Officer, at [email protected] .

About Open Book Extracts

Headquartered in Roxboro, N.C., Open Book Extracts is a cGMP-certified manufacturer of premium plant-based cannabinoid products, aiming to be the industry's true north by delivering premium products, exceptional service, and industry-leading transparency. With control of the entire supply chain, a state-of-the-art extraction campus near North Carolina's Research Triangle, proprietary refinement and conversion methods backed by a growing IP portfolio, and a team of PhD chemists and seasoned business leaders, OBX is the trusted partner for global brands seeking to enter the marketplace. OBX Asia, with its headquarters in Hong Kong, provides strategic guidance and on-the-ground support for our Asia customers.

For more information, visit https://www.openbookextracts.com .

Media Contact:

Media relations at [email protected] or 336-592-7317

SOURCE Open Book Extracts

Related Links

https://www.openbookextracts.com


ATLANTA, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Georgia Dental Association (GDA) supports Governor Kemp's Executive Order temporarily allowing Georgia licensed dentists to administer the COVID-19 vaccine at public health sites on a volunteer basis.

"Governor Kemp's January 15 Executive Order will further enhance dentists' ability to assist in Georgia's recovery efforts so that our fellow healthcare providers, the medically fragile, and ultimately all Georgians have an opportunity to receive the vaccine," said GDA President, Dr. Louvenia Annette Rainge.

Dr. Rainge adds that as GDA President she will be issuing a statewide call to action urging all of her dental colleagues to take full advantage of this volunteer opportunity. "This is a time for Georgia dentists to unite for the common good of all Georgians," she says.

"Through GDA's many charitable outreach programs, our dentists are widely regarded for their volunteer spirit, altruism, and strong commitment to community service," said GDA Executive Director Frank J. Capaldo. "At the onset of the pandemic, our members generously donated PPE and volunteered their time to assist with COVID-19 testing. As states turn to dentists to accelerate vaccine distribution, GDA member dentists will continue to answer the call to serve."

The GDA is working closely with Governor Kemp, the Georgia Department of Public Health, and the Georgia Board of Dentistry to provide resources to Georgia-licensed dentists who are ready to assist with the COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan.

About the Georgia Dental Association

The Georgia Dental Association (GDA) is the state's leading professional association representing dentists in Georgia. The premier source of oral health information in Georgia, GDA has promoted the highest standards of dentistry through education, advocacy and professionalism since 1859. A constituent of the American Dental Association, GDA is based in Atlanta. More at www.gadental.org.

SOURCE Georgia Dental Association

Related Links

http://www.gadental.org


Seattle's 2021 mayoral race got a new candidate Monday morning.

Chief Seattle Club Executive Director Colleen Echohawk launched her campaign for mayor, calling herself a "new face" in local politics.

"Im running for Mayor of Seattle because I love this city, and we have a once-in-a-generation chance to rethink how it works, and who it works for. If we take a people-first approach to renewal then we can become as transformative as our communities demand us to be," wrote Echohawk on her new campaign website.

A member of the Kithehaki Band of the Pawnee Nation and a member of the Upper Athabascan people of Mentasta Lake, Echohawk hinted at a possible run after incumbent mayor Jenny Durkan said she would not seek reelection and instead focus on the city's recovery to COVID-19.

"People of color are suffering and we need a new way," Echohawk told The Seattle Times. "I'm hoping we see as many people of color run (for mayor) as possible."

Echohawk's resume proves she has both strong community and business ties and can juggle a variety of interests: she is the founder the Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness, serves on the Community Police Commission and has previously served on the board of the Downtown Seattle Association.

Her work in homeless advocacy informs her campaign's "people-first" approach to increasing affordable housing in the region.

"We do not have enough affordable housing for our community. We also know that with COVID, and with the impact of COVID, we have more and more people who have fallen into homelessness, or are at risk of homelessness because of COVID," Echohawk told KING5. "So we do have to have someone at the helm who understands these issues, and I have a very good track record of serving our homeless community."

She also expressed support for reducing the Seattle Police Department's budget and reinvesting in community, but said it would be a gradual process.

"Do I think that we need to move some resources out of police department? Yes. I would like to see those resources be put into supporting mental health like we have a crisis of mental health in our city," Echohawk said. "I want to bring everyone to the table and talk about what is going to truly work and can get done, we have to remember that we're looking at a huge system. And it takes time to figure out how to get the systems to change."

Former Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw endorsed Echohawk for the role, saying that she can align broad interests and help reimagine the city's economy post-COVID-19.

"I have seen her in action: she is passionate about service to this city and encourages those who have been left out while listening to those who have been all-in," Bagshaw said. "She is a respected leader who will help us solve critical issues including homelessness while rebuilding safe and healthy neighborhoods.

Echohawk is only the third candidate to launch a formal campaign. Architect Andrew Grant Houston launched a campaign earlier in January, and SEED Interim Executive Director Lance Randall has also declared he will run.

While the filing deadline for candidates isn't until the end of May, there is plenty of speculation of who will run.

Here's a Seattle P-I analysis of some names to watch in the 2021 race as candidates begin launching their campaigns.
Representative Image.

The countdown to Budget 2021 has begun and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget in Parliament on February 1, 2021. There is a lot of anticipation and expectation not only from salaried and working-class individuals but also from various sectors of the economy that have suffered a huge blow due to the pandemic.

The Indian economy needs greater fiscal stimulus to revive its key sectors and provide impetus to bring back the growth trajectory. One such sector which needs dire attention is real estate.

Real estate sector has always played a key role in overall economic growth and development. One cannot ignore the contribution this sector has made towards generating employment and attracting foreign direct investment in India.

It is, therefore, necessary and imperative to provide fiscal stimulus and relief measures to the real estate sector in this coming Budget to lift spirits and spur demand-supply to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Underscoring the importance of the real estate sector, below is the wishlist from real estate fraternity which will have a far reaching impact on the economy.

Tweaking tax policies for developers

In November 2021, the government had announced specific relief for developers and home buyers wherein the safe harbour limit of up to 10 percent deviation between circle rates and sales consideration was increased to 20 percent.

However, this safe harbour provisions were applicable only up to June 30, 2021, in respect of the primary sale of residential units of value up to Rs 2 crore. This was a welcome move considering the slump in the real estate market owing to the pandemic.

The government should consider extending this relaxation at least by a year or two in order to boost demand in the real estate sector and enable developers to liquidate their unsold inventory at lower rates without attracting tax on deemed income. Further, this relaxation should also be extended to commercial premises as well because the commercial sector has also taken a significant hit due to pandemic and work from home policies.

For income tax purposes, the annual value of unsold inventory held as stock-in-trade is considered as Nil for two years from the end of the financial year in which completion certificate is received. After the expiry of two years, the developer is taxed on the notional rent deemed to be received for such unsold inventory.

There is a need to re-look at this provision in the current situation when there is slow down in the sector and to consider removing this provision. At the minimum, some relaxation by extending the period by two years should be considered looking at the current market scenario. This will provide huge relief to developers and relieve them from paying taxes on notional income

Currently, the transfer of shares of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), held as a capital asset, in exchange for units of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is a tax-exempt transaction in the hands of developer/sponsor. However, direct transfer of real estate asset in exchange for units of REIT is considered as a taxable transaction.

This results in an unnecessary cash outflow for developers just for getting into REIT structure. Therefore, to make REIT even more lucrative, it would be prudent to extend capital gains tax exemption for exchange of real estate asset directly with REIT.

Under the current GST law, input GST credit during the construction phase (for commercial properties) is not available. Therefore, GST charged on input services like cement, contractors, steel etc. is ended up being capitalised and the developer ends up losing substantial GST credit on which he could have saved substantial cash flow.

The government should consider allowing input tax credit to commercial projects, especially which are built to lease against rental income. This could attract more developers to construct Grade-A build to lease projects and also rationalize rents giving a boost to the commercial real estate market.

Tax incentives and reliefs to homebuyers

Currently, homebuyers are allowed a deduction to the extent of Rs 2 lakh with regards to self-occupied house property for interest paid on funds borrowed for acquisition of house property.

This limit should be done away with or at least enhanced substantially in order to enable the home buyer to claim higher deduction considering borrowing rates offered by financial institutions and ticket size of home loans in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities.

Similarly, a ceiling on the deduction for repayment of the principal amount of loan should be enhanced which will help individuals lower their tax outflow and give them much needed liquidity in these times and also promote purchase of a residential property.

An individual taxpayer is allowed to claim a deduction for interest paid to the extent of Rs 1.5 lakh provided loan has been sanction on or before March 31, 2021, and the stamp duty value of the residential property does not exceed Rs 45 lakh. The time limit for sanction of loan should be further extended by a year or two which may help boost demand for residential properties. Further, the condition with regards to stamp duty value of the property should be re-looked considering the circle rates in metro cities.

The government can consider enhancing this limit up to Rs 1 crore keeping in mind the ground realities of the housing market especially in cities like Mumbai.

The revival of the real estate sector is imperative in order to achieve double-digit GDP growth, create more employment and attract foreign investments in India. Introducing relief measures and advantageous tax and regulatory policy will not only improve the condition of the real estate sector but also support the sentiments of all the stakeholders across the spectrum which has improved in the last quarter.

(Rishabh Jain, Senior Manager with Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP and Harsh Shah, Deputy Manager with Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, also contributed to the article.)
A 26-year-old man is in custody in the Hale County Jail with a charge of tampering with evidence and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

A Department of Public Safety spokesman said Corey Lee Webster was arrested Thursday, though the location of the arrest was not disclosed.

Webster was found driving a stolen vehicle and was witnessed dumping something  later determined to have been a corpse. The location had not been disclosed as of Monday afternoon.

The DPS spokesman said the remains have not been identified.

Missing person flyers for 61-year-old Traci Boston indicate she had been missing since Dec. 18 and loved ones were searching for Webster for information. Its unclear how the two were associated. The same flyer also made note of a missing vehicle.

On social media, Bostons loved ones posted Friday that shed been found dead.

The DPS spokesman did not say who the stolen vehicle was registered to and authorities had not released the identity of the deceased by Monday afternoon.

The spokesman did note that Webster also had active arrest warrants when he was apprehended.

It was also noted that DPS was called to assist in the investigation, which is headed by the Hale Center Police Department. Phone messages left for the Hale Center PD have not been answered. The voicemail message from the PD refers callers to the Hale County Sheriffs Office. A spokesman for the SO also noted the PD is heading the investigation and deferred questions to that agency.
Because it is meaning-based, the solution reaches higher levels of accuracy even when extracting whole sentences and paragraphs which makes it very reliable and provides efficiency and savings to our customers

Cortical.io today announced a new release of its Cortical.io Contract Intelligence software. Utilizing a patented natural language understanding (NLU) approach based on semantic folding theory, the software analyzes the content of large quantities of documents with a degree of accuracy that is difficult to achieve with manual labor or other automation tools. It automatically and accurately searches, extracts, classifies and compares key information from agreements, contracts, and other unstructured documents like policies and financial reports. The Cortical.io Contract Intelligence solution understands the meaning of whole sentences and concepts, instead of just keywords.

Other vendors offer contract review and analysis software, but are limited to pre-defined contract types. Cortical.io offers the capability to easily customize the extraction and classification to any type of document and to the specific corporate requirements with little training data, said Cortical.io COO Thomas Reinemer. Because it is meaning-based, the solution reaches higher levels of accuracy even when extracting whole sentences and paragraphs which makes it very reliable and provides efficiency and savings to our customers.

Cortical.ios newest Contract Intelligence version capabilities include: high-fidelity rendering of documents, improved extraction capabilities and advanced search (i.e. the ability to perform range queries that allow you to search for numerical and date ranges). Benefits include:



Improved operational efficiency and money saved by reducing extraction and review time by up to 80%

Faster turnaround by reducing extraction and review time

Higher accuracy that reduces the cost of improperly reviewed documents (for example, coverage gaps in insurance policies, risks of not monitoring important provisions)

Cortical.io Contract Intelligence helps dramatically reduce the time and costs for any organization that needs to review and extract information from a large number of unstructured documents. It also helps reduce human errors inherent to a boring repetitive task and make better use of expensive subject matter experts. This a major boon for markets such as insurance, that review and extract sensitive information from policies and loss run reports on a large scale.

Pricing

Pricing is based on annual volume of documents.

For more information about Contract Intelligence, visit: https://www.cortical.io/solutions/contract-intelligence/.

About Cortical.io

Cortical.io delivers AI-based business solutions which are quicker and easier to implement and more capable than current approaches. The companys patented method of Natural Language Understanding (NLU) enables enterprises to more effectively search, extract and analyze information from unstructured text. The companys solutions, including Contract Intelligence and Message Intelligence, cover a wide spectrum of use cases with proven implementations in Fortune 500 companies. Cortical.io is working to enable Semantic Supercomputing, the ability to process streams of natural language content at massive scale in real time through the use of hardware acceleration. Cortical.io has offices in the U.S. (New York and San Francisco) and Europe (Vienna). For more information, visit: https://www.cortical.io. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Cortical_io.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Renee Maltezou

ANKARA/ATHENS (Reuters) - Turkey and Greece resumed talks aimed at addressing long-standing maritime disputes on Monday, ending a five-year hiatus after months of tension in the eastern Mediterranean.

The neighbouring NATO members are at odds over claims to Mediterranean waters and energy rights, air space and the status of some islands in the Aegean Sea. They made little progress in 60 rounds of talks from 2002 to 2016.

Plans for resuming talks foundered last year over Turkey's deployment of a seismic survey vessel in contested waters and disagreements over which topics they would cover. The vessel was withdrawn to Turkish shores last year.

Ankara and Athens agreed this month to resume the talks in Istanbul, in a test of Turkey's hopes of improving its relations with the European Union, which has supported EU-member Greece and threatened sanctions on Turkey.

As the talks resumed, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said France will present proposals to Greece for the renewal of its fleet of frigates, and had finalised a 2.5-billion-euro ($3.04 billion) deal for Greece's purchase of 18 Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets.

"Under the strong leadership of our president, the solution to all problems, including the Aegean, is possible and our will for this is strong," said Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, who was part of Monday's talks.

Washington welcomed the talks, saying it backed efforts to reduce tension in the eastern Mediterranean. "The United States welcomes...the commitment of both governments to this process," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Twitter.

The exploratory talks are meant to reach common ground on disputed issues to allow for formal negotiations. But, despite agreeing to resume talks, Ankara and Athens still appeared to disagree over the topics to be covered in the run-up to Monday's meeting.

Athens has said it will discuss only the demarcation of exclusive economic zones and continental shelf in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean, not issues of "national sovereignty", while Ankara has said it wants all issues, including air space and the Aegean islands, on the table.

Story continues

Greek government spokesman Christos Tarantilis said on Monday Greece was "attending the talks in good faith and expects Turkey to act similarly", reiterating the Greek position that the talks are unofficial and focused on maritime zones only.

The agenda for Monday's talks, which lasted more than three hours, was not disclosed. Another round of talks is expected to be held in Athens, a Greek diplomatic source said, without providing any further details.

Despite the technical disagreements, both sides voiced guarded optimism, though they were still trading barbs in the days leading up to Monday's meetings.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said last week Greece would approach the talks with optimism but "zero naivety", while Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped the resumption of talks would herald a new era.

Analysts have said an immediate breakthrough is unlikely given decades-old policy differences, but that resuming dialogue is an important first step after EU pressure on Ankara.

(Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and James Mackenzie in Athens; Editing by Daren Butler and Timothy Heritage/Mark Heinrich)
WASHINGTON  It was New Years Eve, but the Justice Departments top leaders had little to celebrate as they discussed Jeffrey Clark, the acting head of the civil division, who had repeatedly pushed them to help President Donald J. Trump undo his electoral loss.

Huddled in the departments headquarters, they noted that they had rebuked him for secretly meeting with Mr. Trump, even as the department had rebuffed the presidents outlandish requests for court filings and special counsels, according to six people with knowledge of the meeting. No official would host a news conference to say that federal fraud investigations cast the results in doubt, they told him. No one would send a letter making such claims to Georgia lawmakers.

When the meeting ended not long before midnight, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen hoped that the matter was settled, never suspecting that his subordinate would secretly discuss the plan for the letter with Mr. Trump, and very nearly take Mr. Rosens job, as part of a plot with the president to wield the departments power to try to alter the Georgia election outcome.

It was clear that night, though, that Mr. Clark  with his willingness to entertain conspiracy theories about voting booth hacks and election fraud  was not the establishment lawyer they thought him to be. Some senior department leaders had considered him quiet, hard-working and detail-oriented. Others said they knew nothing about him, so low was his profile. He struck neither his fans in the department nor his detractors as being part of the Trumpist faction of the party, according to interviews.
After years of waiting, Coca-Cola with Coffee arrived in the United States on Monday.

The breakthrough innovation creates the new refreshment coffee category with a pioneering proposition that sips like a Coke and finishes like a coffee  giving Coca-Cola fans and java lovers alike a refreshing and reinvigorating reset to their daily routine, the company said.

First debuted in Japan in 2018, the drink is now available nationwide in three flavors, Dark Blend, Vanilla and Caramel. There is also a zero-sugar option, which comes in Dark Blend and Vanilla.

While the typical can of Coke has 34 milligrams of caffeine, this new drink will contain 69 milligrams of caffeine per can. Still, thats not quite as much as your typical cup of coffee, which has about 95 milligrams of caffeine.

Last July, 2,000 members of the Coca-Cola Insiders Club got to taste the Coca-Cola with Coffee before it hit shelves. Now the U.S. is the 50th market to launch the drink, the company said.

Many people are often torn between reaching for a soft drink or a coffee at 3 p.m. at work, at school or on the go, said Brandan Strickland, brand director, Coca-Cola Trademark. Now, you dont need to leave Coca-Cola to get your coffee fix.

The drinks will be available in the ready-to-drink coffee aisle at local stores, the company said.

Related Content:
A screen capture from "Straight" from MBC Courtesy of MBC



By Park Ji-won



Jang Jin-sung, a famous North Korean defector and author, was accused of rape by a female defector. She claimed that Jang, widely known for his award-winning book "Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea," raped her four times in 2016 and made her perform sexual favors for the rich over the last five years.



Jang denied the allegations through statements issued on social media.



On the 118th episode of MBC's "Straight" released Sunday, Seung Sul-hyang, the female defector, said that "Jang asked me to have sex with him, threatening me with my naked photos  Whenever he wanted to have sex, (he) contacted me. He was like a beast  I wanted to kill myself."



Jang, the publisher of "New Focus," an online newspaper for North Korean defectors, defected to the South in 2004. He is known to have graduated from Kim Il-sung University, the top university in North Korea, and served as an officer at the United Front Department, which is in charge of affairs related to the South. Since arriving in Seoul, he has been actively working as a political commentator and poet.



She claimed that Jang sold her to a rich person surnamed Jeon whose father is chairman of a private school foundation and she ended up being raped by Jeon. Speaking about the aftermath of the situation, she said, "I did as I was taught to do things in North Korea, thinking 'Okay, well, let's try to get along,' meeting with him for around a month like he was my boyfriend." But photos were taken of her naked without her knowledge when she was drunk on the first day they met.



"I didn't realize that it was rape  Jang, who received the photos from Jeon, threatened me, saying that he would upload the photos on the website of my university."



But Jang, after the episode aired, accused her of lying and said MBC didn't check the facts, pledging to file a suit against the relevant people and MBC.



Stressing that the episode is false and defamatory, Jang wrote that "I didn't respond to MBC's request for comment as Seung and her boyfriend, who is behind this false accusation against me, because it was not worth it  She is making false accusations against me to justify her claims  I am ready to take legal action."



After Jang's response, MBC reportedly said Monday that "As Jang said, he refused our requests for comment  We raised an allegation that Jang raped Seung four times by blackmailing her with her naked photos and forced her to have sex with other rich men  Jang didn't explain the allegation. If he wants to talk about the rape and sexual favors, which are key to the issue, we will guarantee that we will reflect his stance in an upcoming episode."


Snowy conditions are expected to persist most of Tuesday, with Midland County forecast to get 2 to 3 inches of snow.

Widespread snow is expected to move into the Saginaw region early Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Detroit. An elevated frontal system associated with an approaching low will bring wintry weather to Michigan, drifting from the south to the north overnight Monday, according to the weather service.

Snow will linger as the low pressure system advances across the Ohio Valley. The Saginaw and Flint areas are forecast to get 3 to 4 inches, according to the NWS.

After Tuesday's snow, Midland high temperatures through Friday are expected in the 24- to 26-degree range. Saturday will be warmer at 30 degrees and will bring with it the next chance for precipitation.

Snow, rain and ice make the winter months a risky time for motorists to be behind the wheel. According to data from the Michigan State Police, last year two out of three (67%) traffic crashes that occurred during inclement weather were on snowy, slushy or icy pavement.

AAA Top 10 tips for winter driving

 Before starting out, remove ice and snow from the entire car, mirrors and lights so you have clear driving visibility.

 Don't use cruise control in precipitation and freezing temperatures.

 Remember that four-wheel drive helps you to get going quicker, but it won't help you stop any faster.

 Familiarize yourself with your vehicles braking system. Drivers with anti-lock brakes should apply firm, constant pressure while those without may need to pump the pedal in order to avoid loss of traction while stopping.

 Always drive at a speed that matches the prevailing visibility, traffic and road conditions  even if that means driving below the posted speed limit.

 Compensate for reduced traction by increasing your following distances (normally three to four seconds) to eight to 10 seconds.

 Allow sufficient room for maintenance vehicles and plows, stay at least 200 feet back and, if you need to pass, go to the other vehicles left.

 Watch for icy surfaces on bridges and intersections, even if the rest of the road seems to be in good condition.

 If you get stuck in snow or ice, straighten the wheel and accelerate slowly. Add sand or cat litter under the drive wheels to help avoid spinning the tires.

 If your tires lose traction, continue to look and steer in the direction you want to go. If the drive wheels start to spin or slide while going up a hill, ease off the accelerator slightly and then gently resume speed.
Wilkes-Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Periods of rain. Low 48F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 48F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch.
Every year, people leave unused time-off on the table, and with growing interest in sustainable travel, Colombia is perfect for nature lovers planning future vacations. The guide includes information about the country's rich biodiversity and nature offerings, as well as 50 podcasts and factsheets available in Spanish and soon, English. It's free of charge and available here .

"The launch of this guide represents a step in the right direction for the development of sustainable nature and adventure tourism," said Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia. According to the Vice Minister of Tourism, Julian Guerrero Orozco, "the guide will surely become a handy tool for tourist guides in helping them understand the country's natural heritage. At the same time, it will be incredibly useful for curious travelers who have an interest in Colombian nature. The idea is for all Colombians and foreigners to have access to it, which will also help us take care of our natural wealth. People tend to protect those areas they know and love, and this document is a contribution to the knowledge of our country."

The project is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), "Riqueza Natural" Program, the Humboldt Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Punto Aparte Editors.

Colombia is poised to be a top destination this year, making top travel lists such as the New York Times' "52 Places to Love in 2021." Tourism is also rapidly rebounding. Since September, 533 international weekly air frequencies from 20 countries have already been reactivated.

As eco-conscious travelers continue seeking socially-distanced outdoor experiences, Colombia provides a plethora of natural offerings. It's the second most biodiverse country in the world, and #1 in bird species. It also has 27 sustainable tourist destinations certified by the Colombian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Tourism, and recently became a founding member of The Future of Tourism Coalition.

For more information, visit Colombia.Travel and follow us: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.





SOURCE ProColombia

Related Links

https://procolombia.co/en



Hundreds of members of the Massachusetts National Guard are expected to be sent to Washington, D.C. to support the United States Secret Service through late February, state officials announced Monday.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed an order Monday approving up to 700 Massachusetts Air and Army National Guard personnel for the mission, which was requested by the U.S. Department of Defense, according to a statement from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS).

The hundreds of Massachusetts guard personnel will serve alongside members of the military body from other states, providing additional assistance to the Secret Service in D.C. beginning this week, the statement said.

The guard members are expected to travel to the nations capital in the coming days and should return to Massachusetts on Feb. 23, according to EOPSS.

The mission is separate from last weeks in which 500 Massachusetts guard members were sent to D.C. to support events related to Democratic President Joe Bidens inauguration. They returned to the state over the weekend, EOPSS said.

The Massachusetts National Guard will ensure all appropriate force health protection measures are implemented leading up to, and throughout, the mission, EOPSS said in its statement Monday. This includes pre-departure screenings, COVID-19 testing, and mandatory mask wear.

Additionally, Soldiers and Airmen will have individual rooms while deployed to the D.C. area to further reduce risks during this pandemic, the agency added.

EOPSS noted that Mondays activation of the guard will not interfere with its ability to respond to and assist in emergencies in the state.

Related Content:

Archaeologists have discovered traces of a 200-year-old wooden fort in southeastern Alaska built by Indigenous people to resist an invasion by Imperial Russia.

The discovery confirms the events of the 1804 invasion by Russia, which went on to govern parts of Alaska as a colony for 60 years until 1867, when it was purchased by the United States.

Its also of cultural importance to the indigenous Tlingit people, and especially to those of the Kiks.adi, or Frog clan, whose ancestors defended the fort near the town of Sitka on Baranof Island in what's known as the Alaskan Panhandle, and who now regard it as a symbol of their resistance to colonialism.

The forts definitive physical location had eluded investigators for a century, said Cornell University archaeologist Thomas Urban, a co-author of a study published Monday in the journal Antiquity that detailed the discovery.

Decades of searching had turned up only clues, and archaeologists debated whether the fort was really sited near a forest clearing in the Sitka National Historical Park said to approximate its location, he said.

A detailed archaeological survey by Urban, however, has revealed electromagnetic anomalies and ground-penetrating radar signals around the clearing show the distinctive shape of the sapling fort  "Shiskinoow" in the Tlingit language  but not at proposed alternative sites.

The

The area of the fort was larger than the area of the clearing, he said. As such, the detected fort perimeter is in the forest that surrounds the clearing.

The discovery matches both Tlingit and Russian accounts of the Battle of Sitka in 1804, said co-author Brinnen Carter, an archaeologist at the U.S. National Park Service who was stationed at Sitka during the survey.

Although the Tlingit had occupied the region for about 11,000 years, Russia established a settlement in 1799 at Old Sitka, about seven miles north of the modern town, to profit from a lucrative trade in sea-otter pelts, he said.

Story continues

In 1802, following disputes with the Tlingit, that settlement was destroyed and the Russians were repelled.

They returned in 1804 to invade the region with up to 1,500 attackers  some of them Russian sailors, and some warriors from the Aleutian Islands  but found the Kiks.adihad built the sapling fort to resist them beside a river mouth, Carter said.

The fort was strategically situated behind tidal flats and out of range of the Russian naval guns; it was surrounded by thick walls of alder saplings in a trapezoidal shape about 240 feet long and 165 feet wide.

The invading Russians estimated the fort was defended by at least 800 men, and Tlingit histories record that Kiks.adi women fought there, as well. The defenders were armed with guns and cannons they had purchased from British and American traders.

Electromagnetic anomalies, in color, and ground-penetrating radar signals, inset in gray, match the distinctive shape of the

According to Tlingit accounts, the Kiks.adi suffered an early loss when a canoe bringing their reserves of gunpowder to the fort was hit by a Russian gun and exploded, killing many of their leading warriors.

But they nevertheless held out against the fierce Russian attacks on Shiskinoow for several days, in part, thanks to the strength of their fortifications.

It was constructed of wood so thick and strong the shot from my guns could not penetrate at the short distance of a cables length [between 600 and 720 feet], Yuri Lisyansky, the captain of the Russian warship Neva, recorded at the time.

Ultimately, running short of gunpowder, the Kiks.adi decided they could not continue to defend the fort; so they abandoned it and embarked on a survival march across the island  a grueling trek fatal for many and still recalled in oral histories, Sitka Tribal Council member Louise Brady said.

The Kiks.adi later returned to the area and made a treaty with the Russians, allowing them to trade at Sitka but restricting them to settlements along the coast, she said.

The agreement influenced the subsequent indigenous legal claims against the United States, which purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. The Tlingit argued that the whole of Alaska was not Russias to sell, but only their coastal settlements, Brady said.

The Kiks.adi defenders of the

Those claims culminated in a $1 billion settlement by the government in favor of indigenous people under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which remains the largest land claims settlement in U.S. history.

Brady, a member of the Kiks.adi clan and the lead ranger at the Sitka National Historical Park, said the story of Shiskinoow remained an important part of local oral histories, while the fort site itself in the foreshore forest is a place of remembrance  a status confirmed by the latest scientific finding.

Its a very sacred place, she said. You have the river there, there are lots of eagles, there are ravens  it is incredibly beautiful.
A UAE Cabinet meeting, chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has approved the formation of the "Emirates Tourism Council", said a report.

The council will be chaired by Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs. It will strengthen the tourism portfolio, drafting a tourism strategy in line with the nations aspirations and the UAE Centennial, and integrating all relevant local authorities and departments, news agency Wam reported.

The council will be responsible for suggesting and revising policies and legislation that will support the tourism sector and national tourism development plans, as well as supporting the growth of tourism industries, attracting tourism investments, suggesting economic incentives to encourage the growth of the sector, establishing a comprehensive national tourism information database, and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) involved in the tourism sector.

"Today, we approved the establishment of the Emirates Tourism Council, to coordinate, market and support national tourism plans. The campaign, titled, "Worlds Coolest Winter," highlighted the importance of working as one national tourism team and we aim to enable our youth to benefit from tourism opportunities around the country," Sheikh Mohammed said.

The councils members include the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing-Dubai, the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, the Ajman Tourism Development Department, the Umm Al Qaiwain Department of Tourism and Archaeology, the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority and the Fujairah Tourism and Antiquities Authority.

Foreign university students allowed to invite family members to UAE

The Cabinet also approved a resolution to allow foreign university students to invite their family members to come to the UAE, as long as they can afford suitable housing. The resolution aims to achieve moral stability, which will support the countrys education sector and reinforce its position as a leading global destination for work and study, the report said.

"We have approved some amendments to our national residence and citizenship procedures by allowing foreign students to sponsor their families, providing they can afford it," Sheikh Mohammed pointed out.

Sheikh Mohammed said: "We approved changes in the residency and nationality procedures in the country by enabling foreign students to bring their families whenever they have the financial means.The UAE has become a regional educational destination with more than 77 universities and tens of thousands of students annually."
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

[music]

Over the weekend, a standoff between President Vladimir Putin and his loudest critic turned into a showdown in the streets of Russia. Today: My colleague Anton Troianovski with the improbable story of Alexei Navalny. Its Monday, January 25th. Anton, tell me about Alexei Navalny.

anton troianovski

So hes a real estate lawyer. Hes 44 years old. He got his start around 2007 as a shareholder rights activist. He would buy small numbers of shares in various Russian state-owned companies and then sue them for information that he would then put on a blog that quickly became widely read among people in the finance industry in Moscow. So more and more, he made a name for himself as an anti-corruption activist, investigating the hidden wealth of the Russian elite, the questionable financial transactions made by Russian officials and people close to them. And he increasingly started dabbling in politics, and his breakout moment as a politician came in 2011. That was back when Putin announces that hes going to run for president again, which was a big shock to a lot of people in Russia who had hoped that the country would see a more liberal turn. And you have this big explosion of protests that Navalny ends up leading. He becomes someone who can get thousands of people out into the streets with his Twitter posts, with his blog posts. He gets thrown in jail for a few weeks, but that doesnt stop the protests from continuing. So he really builds a platform that way as a politician. He is not universally appreciated even by Putins critics. A lot of liberals in Moscow had a problem with his nationalist views. He was also known for some pretty xenophobic things he would say about immigrants from Central Asia or people from the North Caucasus. So hes quite a controversial figure, but hes really someone who, unlike most Putin opponents, unlike most Russian liberals, hes really someone who can speak to a broad cross-section of people.

michael barbaro

It sounds like hes a very successful agitator.

anton troianovski

Absolutely, absolutely, and we saw that in 2013. He runs for mayor of Moscow. And even though hes largely barred from the airwaves, hes running against Putins former chief of staff, he still gets 27 percent of the vote.

michael barbaro

Huh.

anton troianovski

And thats a lot in Russia for an opposition figure.

michael barbaro

So he has very much arrived on the national stage in Russia.

anton troianovski

Well, not quite yet, because in 2013, he was still mostly known in Moscow and the big cities because his only platform really was the internet. It was Twitter, and it was his blog. And what happens after 2013 is you see the internet access expand across Russia, and Navalny takes advantage of that using YouTube. And the most striking moment came in 2017, when Navalny puts out a video on what he describes as the hidden wealth of Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister at the time.

archived recording (alexei navalny) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

He goes into his yacht 

archived recording (alexei navalny) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

 his property in Italy, his hidden connections to Russian business tycoons. He claims that Medvedev essentially embezzled a billion dollars and 

michael barbaro

Wow.

anton troianovski

 change out of the Russian budget. And this is the kind of stuff that many Russians suspect happens. But whats so different about Navalnys approach is that he puts it out there on YouTube in this really fast-paced, gripping style.

archived recording (alexei navalny) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

And its a huge hit. This video gets millions of views within days. And then what Navalny does is he calls for protests across the country, saying, we have to show the government that we will not accept this. And a guiding throughline of Navalnys politics has been elections are well and good, but that at the end of the day, this is an authoritarian system, and the only real way to make our voice heard is to go out on the street. And thousands of people come out all across the country in dozens of cities. And so that really shows his potential to use the internet to mobilize people.

michael barbaro

So what exactly is his goal? Hes calling for protests. Hes clearly trying to weed out corruption from the government. But at the same time, he has been seeking public office. So how are you making sense of all this?

anton troianovski

Well, his goal, he said it for years, is to take down Putin 

michael barbaro

Wow.

anton troianovski

 to change the political system in Russia.

michael barbaro

So hes explicit about it?

anton troianovski

Yes, yes. His marquee line, starting in 2011, was Putins party is a partiya zhulikov i vorov, a party of crooks and thieves.

michael barbaro

Anton, I dont think of Vladimir Putins Russia as a place that tolerates public criticism of its leadership. In fact, we know Putin has gone to extraordinary lengths to silence his enemies, dispatching operatives across the world to punish those who criticize them. So how is Navalny getting away with this?

anton troianovski

Its a bit more complicated than that, because for a long time, Putins Kremlin has tried to create something they call managed democracy in Russia. So theres a big middle class here. Theres a lot of exchange with the West. They really recognize that people here dont want this country to turn into North Korea or even China. People have become used to some degree of personal freedom of expression, to the internet being free. So basically, the Kremlin has for a long time tried to give people the feeling  some would say the illusion  of some degree of democracy. And many analysts make the argument that allowing opposition figures like Navalny to exist has allowed the Kremlin to give people in this country the feeling that they can make dissent heard without it ever actually threatening the Kremlin. And also there was clearly the decision made that Navalny was more of a danger to the Kremlin in jail than free, because going all the way in terms of putting him in prison would have run the risk of turning him into this totemic figure with the potential to unite the opposition.

michael barbaro

So to summarize, Navalny is not seen as threat enough to actually punish or threaten directly, and putting him in jail or worse might actually endanger this idea of managed democracy. So more or less, theyre going to leave him alone.

anton troianovski

Yeah, absolutely, because also, lets remember, this was after Putin annexed Crimea and after the blow-up of tensions with the West. So that was all something that gave Putin this huge patriotic wave that he was riding on for several years. From 2014 into 2018, Putins approval rating in independent polls was around 80 percent.

michael barbaro

Wow.

anton troianovski

But that starts to change in 2018. First of all, that patriotic fervor around the annexation of Crimea has really gone away. And then that summer, the government does something that really sends these shockwaves throughout the Russian public, which is they raise the pension age drastically by five years for men, by eight years for women. So that summer of 2018 was really a watershed moment, where Putins really strong public approval started to dissipate quickly. And then Navalny, at the same time, has been putting himself in position to take advantage of that. So he tried to get on the ballot for the presidential election in 2018, when Putin was elected to his fourth term. The government, not very surprisingly, didnt let him get on the ballot. But what Navalny did nevertheless was build this physical infrastructure of campaign-style offices all across the country in dozens of Russian cities  really something that basically no other opposition figure has been able to do. So what that means is just as Putins popularity is fading, Navalnys ability to influence events across Russia has never been stronger. And we see more and more pressure from the government on Navalnys organization. We see very frequent raids against his offices, detention of supporters. And its really starting to feel like were headed for a collision between Putin and Navalny.

michael barbaro

Well be right back.

[music]

michael barbaro

Anton, when does this collision come?

anton troianovski

So in August of last year, Navalny is in Siberia, meeting with supporters ahead of local elections there. Then he flies home to Moscow. And on that plane, soon after takeoff, he starts to feel sick. He screams in pain. He vomits. He collapses.

michael barbaro

Wow.

anton troianovski

He falls into a coma. The pilot makes an emergency landing in the city of Omsk, and Navalny is met at the tarmac by an ambulance crew. They determined hes been poisoned. They give him emergency treatment. Hes taken to the hospital. Hes put on a ventilator. And then a standoff begins, because his supporters are saying, the guy has been poisoned. He needs help. He needs to be airlifted somewhere out of the country for treatment. But initially, the doctors dont let him leave. Angela Merkel, the German government, puts pressure on Russia to evacuate him to Berlin, to let him go. And eventually, he is let go. Hes flown directly to Berlin, to the Charite Clinic, where doctors treat him. And within days, a special lab of the German military comes back with this really stunning finding that he was poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok.

michael barbaro

And this, of course, is the exact same military-grade poison that we know was used to attempt to assassinate different Putin enemies, including one in the United Kingdom. So the assumption has to be that Putins government is behind this poisoning, right?

anton troianovski

Yeah, exactly. And for the longest time, people assumed that this would not be something that the Russian government would want to do. But when people heard it was Novichok, it was like, wow, this strongly points to the Russian state at the highest levels being involved. So as this is playing out, Navalny actually, almost miraculously, starts to get better. And he comes out of a coma later on in September. And one of the first things he says is hes going to come back to Russia.

michael barbaro

Wow. That is a very unexpected instinct for someone who has been poisoned by Russia.

anton troianovski

Indeed. And also, we didnt even know at this point whether or not hed be able to make a full recovery. He was in a coma for weeks. And then he raises the stakes even further in December by marshaling evidence and publicly accusing Putin of having tried to kill him.

archived recording (alexei navalny) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

michael barbaro

Well, what kind of evidence?

archived recording (alexei navalny) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

Well, so he works with Bellingcat, this investigative journalism outlet that uses a lot of open source evidence. And they, together with the Russian outlet  the Insider  they basically get all these leaked telecommunications records out of Russia. And they piece those together along with flight records, and theyre able to show that a team of officers from Russias domestic intelligence agency apparently followed Navalny around for years and were near him when he was presumably exposed to Novichok in Siberia right before he took that flight. And then sticking the knife in even further, Navalny releases a video a week later, [TELEPHONE RINGING] where hes actually calling  hes on the phone with a member of this Russian team that was allegedly part of this assassination attempt.

archived recording (alexei navalny) [CONVERSING IN RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

Navalny pretends to be a senior Russian official requesting a briefing from this officer and 

michael barbaro

Wow.

anton troianovski

 apparently successfully tricks him into essentially confessing the whole plot.

michael barbaro

Thats extraordinary.

anton troianovski

Yeah, yeah. I mean, even down to the point that they apparently applied the poison to the inside seam of his underwear.

michael barbaro

Oh my gosh.

archived recording (alexei navalny) [CONVERSING IN RUSSIAN]

michael barbaro

So Navalny is more or less fully recovered. He has made these videos, embarrassing Putins government. But is he really going to follow through and return to Moscow?

anton troianovski

Thats the question, because also, the Russian government was increasingly making it absolutely clear that if Navalny comes back, he gets arrested. And then a couple of weeks ago, one morning, Navalny posts on Instagram and says 

alexei navalny

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

Im coming back this Sunday. Ive bought a ticket. Come meet me at the airport.

michael barbaro

Wow.

alexei navalny

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

So a week ago, [APPLAUSE] he boards a flight in Berlin to Moscow.

archived recording [INTERPOSING VOICES]

anton troianovski

This is such an extraordinary event. Its being live-streamed in multiple places online. Its being watched by millions of people, because everyones like, so whats going to happen when he lands?

michael barbaro

Right.

anton troianovski

Will the Russians actually arrest him and risk setting off even more protests? So hundreds of his supporters go out to Vnukovo Airport, the airport where hes supposed to land. Theyre chanting. The police try to keep them away. Theyre starting to arrest some of his supporters who were there. And minutes before its supposed to land, you see the plane make a turn away from Moscow. And then it turns out its been diverted to a different airport allegedly, according to the official version, because there was a stuck snowplow on the runway at the airport where he was supposed to land. Obviously, no one believes that. So every one of the journalists and supporters of his who are at Vnukovo Airport rush to try to get to Sheremetyevo Airport. So he ends up landing there, and he is allowed off the plane. He gets onto the tarmac bus with all the other passengers. Before going into passport control, he very cinematically stops in front of a billboard that has a big picture of the Kremlin on it and gives a statement to journalists. Hes saying, Im not afraid. Im so happy to be home. Then he heads to passport control, where hes met by a group of police officers who tell him he is being detained.

archived recording (speaker) [CONVERSING IN RUSSIAN]

michael barbaro

And what is he being detained for, exactly? I mean, the government, it seems, has just poisoned him. What has he allegedly done wrong?

anton troianovski

Right. They are saying he has violated the terms of his parole from a suspended prison sentence he received six years ago by being in Germany and not properly notifying prison authorities about his whereabouts. So he was taken to a police station near the airport. Then the next day, hes sentenced to 30 days in jail. And before being taken to jail, he manages to record a video where he tells his supporters 

archived recording (alexei navalny) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

anton troianovski

You need to go out into the streets. You need to protest. Its not just about me. Its about your future. His message is: This is the moment. Theyre trying to shut me down. Theyre trying to shut our movement down, and theyre trying to show that this kind of authoritarian rule is possible in this country. And hes again telling his supporters, the only way to really effect change in Russia is by protest in the streets. Then his associates say, these protests are going to happen on January 23rd. They start organizing these protests in dozens of cities across the country. But then the question becomes, OK, all these people are watching Navalny. They know who he is. Theyre even willing to support him maybe on social media. But are they willing to physically go out into the streets and risk their own well-being on his behalf? And so the risk for Navalny out of all that is, what if all these people dont show up? And this really becomes a key test for his movement.

[music]

michael barbaro

So what ends up happening on Saturday?

anton troianovski

So Navalnys supporters had said, go out into the streets at 2:00 p.m. local time. Russia has 11 time zones. So that meant it was still the middle of the night here in Moscow when protesters started emerging on Russias Pacific coast.

archived recording

[PROTESTORS CHANTING]

anton troianovski

But as the day progressed, that wave of protest rolled across the country. It hit the city of Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world where it was negative 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

michael barbaro

Wow.

anton troianovski

And over and over again, we saw hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people protesting in the streets.

archived recording

[PROTESTORS CHANTING]

anton troianovski

I was in Pushkin Square here in central Moscow on a Saturday afternoon, and people were totally packing that square, chanting, Putin is a thief.

archived recording

[PROTESTORS CHANTING]

anton troianovski

The police for the most part let people gather, but then they still used rather violent methods to get the crowd to disperse. We repeatedly saw riot police in camouflage, in shiny black helmets and body armor, charging at the protesters, swinging their batons, trying to clear the square. There was this awful video out of St. Petersburg which has been really ricocheting through social media in Russia, where a woman walks up to a riot police officer whos detaining someone else, and that police officer just goes up to her and kicks her incredibly hard in the stomach, so hard shes gone to the hospital. So we have these really intense scenes here. But the people surprisingly stood their ground often, even fighting back against the riot police, which is one way in which these protests were really different from a lot of what we saw in the past. There was one moment really striking where a black government car drove by with one of those blue official lights on top, and people first started throwing snowballs at it. Then they rushed at it and started jumping on it and kicking it, actually injuring the driver. This was a degree of brazenness on the part of protesters we really pretty much havent seen before.

michael barbaro

So very clearly, Russians answered Navalnys call by showing up and expressing their disgust with the Putin government.

anton troianovski

They did. They answered his call. These werent numbers that we can expect to force the Kremlin to change course within days, but they made it clear that Navalny has become a symbol of the opposition. There were lots of people we spoke to, who attended rallies all over the country yesterday, who said, I dont even really support Navalny. I dont agree with all his ideas. But right now, this is a moment where were seeing such unfairness, such injustice on the part of those in power that we need to respond. So this has become this moment that really crystallizes all this pent-up frustration that people have with the economic situation, with the judicial situation, with corruption. People have really come together around the symbol of Navalny in jail. And in terms of the breadth of the movement thats going on here, whats absolutely key too is that these protests didnt just happen in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They didnt just happen in major cities across the country. According to one count, they took place in 109 cities across Russia on Saturday. I mean, think about that. 109 cities saw coordinated protests in favor of Alexei Navalny.

michael barbaro

So is it fair to say that this strategy has backfired for Putin, that he has turned Alexei Navalny into an even more powerful force and an even bigger threat to Putins government?

anton troianovski

Yes, no question. I think thats become very clear that the hard line that the government has pursued against Navalny over the last six months and certainly over the last couple of weeks has really turned him into a figure of really large national stature.

michael barbaro

So what happens now? Hes still in jail.

anton troianovski

Yeah. Hes still in jail. His supporters have already called for more protests. We expect those to take place next weekend already. And now, its becoming a real standoff, a real showdown, I would say, between those opposed to Putin and those in power. Putin has survived protest movements before, including some back in 2011 and 2012 that, in Moscow, saw far greater numbers of people in the streets than what we saw this past Saturday. But given the volatility here, given how much of this is playing out on the internet now, which is a communications medium thats completely outside of the Kremlins control, we do have to ask, will this be a turning point for Putin? Will this be a turning point for the Russian political system as we look to the coming months and years?

[music]

michael barbaro

Anton, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

anton troianovski

Thanks for having me, Michael.

michael barbaro

Over the weekend, the Biden administration called for the quote, unconditional and immediate release of Alexei Navalny, demanded that Russia cooperate in the investigation of his poisoning, and condemned Putins crackdown on protesters.

[music]

Well be right back. Here is what else you need to know today.

archived recording (chuck schumer) Ive been speaking to the Republican leader about the timing and duration of the trial. But make no mistake. A trial will be held in the United States Senate, and there will be a vote whether to convict the president.

michael barbaro

Senate leaders have reached a deal to delay the impeachment trial of former President Trump by two weeks, giving President Biden time to install a cabinet and pass legislation. As part of the deal, the House of Representatives will transmit the article of impeachment, which charge Trump with inciting a violent mob at the Capitol, over to the Senate at 7 p.m. tonight. And over the past few days, new coronavirus infections have steadily fallen by a significant amount in what health experts say may be a temporary phenomenon, following surges during the holiday season. New cases have dropped by about 30 percent over the past two weeks, but new variants of the coronavirus could quickly erase those declines. Todays episode was produced by Luke Vander Ploeg, Rachelle Bonja, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lynsea Garrison and Rachel Quester. It was edited by Dave Shaw and engineered by Chris Wood.

[music]
Ghanaian actor Eddie Nartey has reportedly lost his beloved wife, Vida Obenewah Nartey.



Two years ago, on September 22, 2018, the actor got married to his beautiful bride Vida in a colorful and joyous wedding ceremony.



Sadly, the actor announced Morning morning, January 25, 2021 the passing away of his wife.



In a heartbreaking Instagram post, Eddie Nartey said; ''I dont know what to say, I dont know what to feel. Im just in constant pain. Rest well my Habibi. God knows Best. I pray for strength! #ripvida''.



The cause of her death is yet-to-be known.



Celebrities like Nana Ama Mcbrown, John Dumelo, Joselyn Dumas, Prince David Osei, Vicky Zugah, Gloria Safo, James Gardiner and a host of others including the general public have extended their condolences to the actor.



























































View this post on Instagram











A post shared by E d d i e N a r t e y (@eddienartey)





Before Mr. Nartey shared this sad news with his followers and the general public, he and his late wife had granted an interview narrating their love story, journey to marriage and tackling other related issues.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 04:27:17|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkey received on Monday 6.5 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by the Chinese company Sinovac. Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said that Palestine is studying the option of closing borders to limit the spread of the new coronavirus strain.

A Turkish Airlines cargo plane loaded with the vaccines landed at Istanbul Airport early in the morning from China's capital Beijing.

After the completion of the customs clearance formalities at the airport, the vaccines were transferred to several warehouses in Istanbul for the necessary security tests, a health ministry official told Xinhua.

The official said the tests will last 14 days, and then the vaccines will be distributed to 81 provinces of the country to be used in the vaccination program.

The latest shipment was part of the second planned consignment of 10 million doses, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Sunday.

Turkey launched the mass vaccine campaign on Jan. 14 after receiving the first batch of 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China at the end of December 2020.

Nurettin Yiyit, chief physician of the Feriha Oz Emergency Hospital in Istanbul, said "if we use our maximum capacity, we are in a position to vaccinate (people) in our country in a short period of time, as long as one month."

The physician also pointed out that the Turkish healthcare professionals always express their confidence in inactive vaccines like the Sinovac's shots.

"There are no serious side effects reported so far," he noted, adding this factor increases the trust of the citizens in the vaccination.

According to the health ministry's data, more than 1.25 million Turkish citizens have been vaccinated so far, and the program is going on as planned.

Also on Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said that Palestine is studying the option of closing its border crossings to limit the spread of the new coronavirus strain.

Ishtaye told the weekly meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet held in Ramallah that "Palestine is studying with Jordan and Israel the choice of closing all its border crossings to prevent the spread of the new COVID-19 strain."

Palestine has recently reported 17 cases infected with the new strain.

"Wearing face masks, washing hands, and abiding by social distancing are the only available weapons in our hands until now to combat the spread of the virus before we receive the vaccines soon," Ishtaye said in a press statement.

The Palestinian government in the West Bank, and Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, have been imposing lockdowns and precautionary measures since last March to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

"The wide commitment to the lockdown measures had led to positive results, and the occupancy rate decreased significantly in the hospitals designated for coronavirus in the Palestinian territories," Ishtaye added.

Meanwhile, Mai al-Kaila, the Palestinian Health Minister, told a news briefing that Palestine recorded five more deaths, 470 new COVID-19 cases, and 729 recoveries in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.

Iran's health ministry reported 6,309 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising the total nationwide number to 1,379,286. The pandemic has so far claimed 57,481 lives in Iran, up by 98 in the past 24 hours.

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported 813 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide number of cases to 614,576.

The ministry reported in a statement seven new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 13,000. It also said that 1,585 cases recovered during the day, bringing the total recoveries to 583,127.

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 8,664 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total tally in the country to 605,397.

The death toll from the COVID-19 reached 4,478 after 86 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 1,181 to 1,174, out of 1,845 hospitalized patients. The total recoveries rose to 529,586, with 7,218 newly recovered cases.

According to the ministry, the number of people vaccinated against the COVID-19 in Israel has surpassed 2.63 million, or 28.3 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

Lebanon registered on Monday 2,652 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the tally to 282,249, the health ministry reported. Death toll from the virus went up by 54 to 2,374 in the country.

Firas Abiad, director of Rafic Hariri University Hospital, warned on Monday against easing lockdown measures, which would lead to losing what has been achieved over the past weeks.

Morocco's total COVID-19 infections rose to 466,626 as 337 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.

The death toll stood at 8,172 as 22 COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 increased to 443,472 after 1,031 new ones were added.

The first batch of coronavirus vaccines developed by China's Sinopharm company will arrive in Morocco on Jan. 27.

Kuwait's COVID-19 cases increased by 492 to 161,777 on the same day, while the death toll rose by two to 954.

The Kuwaiti Health Ministry also announced the recovery of 513 more patients, taking the total recoveries to 154,766.

The Omani health ministry announced 209 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the sultanate to 133,253.

Meanwhile, 72 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall recoveries to 126,334, while one death was reported, pushing the tally up to 1,522. Enditem
BOZEMAN, Mont. - More than a dozen crystalline rivers ribbon out of the mountains in the southwest corner of this state, free-flowing through canyons, valleys and prairies before emptying into the Missouri River and helping to sustain a nation.

"This is the best that Mother Earth has to offer," says Montana's senior senator, Jon Tester. "But if we do nothing, they will disappear."

At a time of intense economic and political crosscurrents - both here and in Washington - Tester, D, is pushing legislation to protect 336 miles of these rivers. He believes that his effort is more than a parochial concern, that the fate of streams and tributaries in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park matters to many Americans.

The approach is not novel; Tester's proposed Montana Headwaters Legacy Act would place its 17 targets under a landmark federal law that over the past half-century has helped preserve the "outstandingly remarkable" features of more than 12,700 miles of wild and scenic waterways across the country. The safeguards can block dams, transmission lines and most anything else that would pollute the water or sully the view.

Until now that law has had little impact here, an irony given the state's renowned beauty. More than twice as many river miles are designated for protection in Idaho, nearly five times as many in Oregon.

Yet with a copper mine in the works on land near Montana's prized Smith River, the bill's goals seem especially timely.

"There is going to be more and more pressure put on the air and the water every day," Tester warned when he announced the bill along the Gallatin River in late October. "We are really past the time to do something about it."

His call to action comes at a crucial time for Montana. The census will have to confirm its pandemic-induced swell in population, but the signs are abundant. In Gallatin County - which includes several rivers in Tester's measure and is one of the nation's fastest-growing counties - the price of a home rose nearly 61% last year to $699,000. Out-of-state license plates are no longer an anomaly, crowds bloat once-lonely trails and rivers, and locals long for a harsh winter to chase off the newcomers.

The state's politics are shifting, too. Splitting tickets is a source of pride for many residents, but Tester has seen his party's fortunes plummet. In November, Republicans handily won every statewide and federal race and added seats to their legislative majorities. Once predictably purple, Montana went full-on red - the first presidential election year that a party has run the table since 1936, according to Chuck Johnson, the dean of the state's political reporters.

And many of the successful candidates campaigned for fewer regulations. "Less government, more jobs" is the calling card of the state's other senator in Washington, Republican Steve Daines, who two months ago walloped the outgoing governor and challenger Steve Bullock.

Whether that mind-set will be a boon for loggers and miners is up for debate. Either way, it doesn't encourage a measure like Tester's, which is fundamentally a government regulation.

Tester, though, is banking that clean rivers can be part of a recovering economy, that not all politics must end with a winner and a loser and that diverse interests can come together to protect the waters that drew many to Montana in the first place.

"Protecting rivers shouldn't be a partisan issue," agreed Scott Bosse, the Northern Rockies director for American Rivers, one of several conservation groups supporting the bill. "After all, no one remembers who supported a tax cut. They remember who protected the wilderness and the rivers they love."

The work leading up to the proposed legislation began a decade ago when a coalition of conservation organizations led some 400 public meetings to ask Montanans what rivers they viewed most worthy.

What resulted was a list that includes the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Stillwater and Madison, a "who's who" inventory, said Charles Drimal with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "We have national treasures here."

The senator may seem an odd figure to champion the effort since he doesn't hunt or hike and rarely has time to fish. He is a farmer, though, the only one in the Senate, and works the land his grandparents homesteaded in north-central Montana. You can find him there almost every weekend, planting or harvesting, fixing something, always hoping for just enough rain.

"We rent this Earth from our kids," he said in a recent interview. "It's best we don't screw it up."

The addition of Montana's East Rosebud Creek to the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 2018 bodes well for Tester's bill. Daines and then-Rep. Greg Gianforte, the state's new GOP governor, supported the creek's inclusion to ward off a hydraulic dam in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Gianforte even featured the creek in campaign ads.

There is precedence for bipartisan support of protecting rivers here, noted Sara Guenther, a political science researcher at Montana State University. "But now we aren't talking about one river. We're talking about 17."

One person important to the outcome is Matt Rosendale. The former state auditor won the state's only House seat in November - two years after he lost to Tester in an ugly Senate election. President Donald Trump repeatedly visited Montana in 2018 to stump for him and, more to the point, against Tester.

Rosendale hasn't stated his position on the pending measure. But it's difficult to see him doing any favors for Tester, who noted in his book "Grounded" that Rosendale, a transplanted millionaire from Maryland, pronounces "Montana" with a clearly-you-aren't-from-here accent.

"What flips his switch?" Tester said in the interview. "We will find out. He may oppose everything I do."

Regardless, with Democrats now controlling the Senate, a friendly hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is much more likely - to say nothing of the legislation's passage and President Biden's signature.

Yet Tester isn't playing only to party. He believes there is plenty for regulation-adverse Montanans to like about his proposal. Clean and plentiful water is vital to agriculture - a bellwether for the state's economy - and those outdoors-loving tourists and coronavirus refugees aren't showing up for smog and defiled streams. Many spend big on rafts and fishing waders, shotguns and hunting vests. The Outdoor Industry Association hypes outdoor recreation in Montana as a $7.1 billion industry.

Jason Fleury, president of the Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana, agrees that the benefit of safeguarding rivers is twofold.

"Obviously, doing so is good business," said Fleury, whose group represents 1,000 guides and outfitters. "The flip side is that 99% of us got into this business because we love these places and want to share them."

A potential outlier issue is the copper mine under construction near Sheep Creek, a tributary of the Smith River. The Smith, which on a map looks like a broken zipper, all zigs and zags, is indeed legendary. Thousands of people enter an annual lottery for the right to float it, starting at the single permitted put-in and ending their float nearly 60 miles later. Tester's act would protect 24 of those miles.

The mine is being built on private property, but Sandfire Resources America, the company behind it, holds another 525 permits on adjacent land in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. There, the protections afforded by Tester's proposal would impede more mining.

Sandfire is adamant that neither Sheep Creek nor the Smith will be harmed and emphasizes the project's massive potential for the economy of central Montana, most notably the small town of White Sulphur Springs. The company expects to spend $300 million constructing the mine and plans to hire 240 people to retrieve an estimated billion pounds of copper.

"I don't see any impact with the kind of mining we are doing," said Senior Vice President Jerry Zieg, who grew up in the area. "If they did it like they did 50 years ago, yeah, different story, but that's not how we do things."

Montana is littered, though, with the good intentions of mining companies. Tester sees the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act as a necessary insurance policy.

"This will ensure they do it right," Tester said. "Once it's gone, you can't protect it."
Check out Ferrero Rocher Facebook and Instagram pages for tips and advice from lifestyle experts on how to plan a special Valentine's Day celebration

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ferrero Rocher, the brand of fine hazelnut chocolates that enhances any occasion, is offering eight individuals the chance to win $400* and a 30-minute tele-consultation session with lifestyle influencer and gifting expert, Alison Deyette (@alisondeyette) to ensure this year's Valentine's Day is a moment to cherish. To enter the Ferrero Rocher Valentine's Day Sweepstakes, fans are invited to post a photo of their Valentine on Instagram, tagging @ferrerorocherusa and using #FerreroValentineSweeps, or to post their photo using the hashtag to the Ferrero Rocher USA Facebook page.

"Ferrero Rocher has been at the heart of celebrations for generations, and no matter the occasion, it's the special moments and experiences created by our loved ones that are the most treasured," remarked Alessandro Rapali, Senior VP  Ferrero North America. "Many of our traditions are changing to address our current challenges which is why Ferrero Rocher is offering expert advice and curated tips from prominent influencers to ensure this Valentine's Day is just as special, if not more, than the ones before."

Because Valentine's Day celebrations might need to transform a bit this year, Ferrero Rocher will also share curated "how-to" gifting content from lifestyle and gifting aficionados and real life couples, including Lindsay Silberman (@lindsaysilb) and Matt Stevens (@instahusband), as well as Parker York Smith (@parkeryorksmith). Now through Valentine's Day weekend, helpful tips and recommendations will show how - with just a little creativity - people can create a Valentine's Day to remember.

More details about the brand and special Valentine's Day offerings, which are available online and retailers nationwide, can be found at www.ferrerorocherusa.com. Celebrate the Moment with Ferrero Rocher by following the brand on Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Story continues

Ferrero Rocher Valentine's Day Sweepstakes

The Ferrero Rocher Valentine's Day sweepstakes begins on January 19, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. ET through February 2, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Consumers must be 18 years or older and a legal resident of the 50 U.S. and the District of Columbia to be eligible to participate in the Sweepstakes. No purchase necessary. Void in PR and where prohibited. For more information and full sweepstakes rules, please visit www.ferrerorochervalentinesday.com.

* Prize awarded in the form of a gift card or a check, as determined in Sponsor's sole discretion.

ABOUT FERRERO ROCHER

Ferrero Rocher is one of the many brands offered by Ferrero, the global confectionary company with a long legacy in premium chocolate that's also responsible for Nutella, Tic Tac and Kinder Joy. Wrapped in gold and presented in new packaging that reflects light to create a dazzling diamond effect, Ferrero Rocher's delicious multi-layered hazelnut and milk chocolate are the perfect gifts to enjoy with loved ones. Ferrero Rocher products are available nationwide in a variety of packaging options, beautifully suited for holiday gifting and celebrations.

ABOUT FERRERO

For over 70 years, Ferrero has created products loved by generations. We've grown from a bakery in Alba, Italy into the third largest confectionery company in the world. Ferrero entered the North American market in 1969 and continues to spread joy with Ferrero Rocher, Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Fannie May chocolates. Ferrero Group expanded its portfolio in 2018 with the addition of Butterfinger, Crunch, Baby Ruth, 100Grand, and other legendary chocolate brands.

We're proud to be a family-owned company with 3,000 employees in eight offices and ten plants and warehouses in North America, including a cocoa processing plant in Brantford, Ontario and a planned chocolate processing factory in Bloomington, Illinois. Instilled in every aspect of our business is the entrepreneurial spirit of our founders, and their passion for quality, creativity, and innovation. Follow @FerreroUSA on Twitter and @ferrerousacorp on Instagram. www.ferreronorthamerica.com

Media Contact:

Amanda Yodice, Golin on behalf of Ferrero

ayodice@golin.com

Cision

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SOURCE Ferrero USA
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WASHINGTON - Lawmakers from both major political parties lobbied White House officials Sunday for a more targeted relief bill as they questioned the need for some of the items included in President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan.

The discussion came on a private Zoom call with key centrist lawmakers of both parties and Biden administration officials led by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. It was an early test for whether Biden's relief plan has a chance of getting the kind of support it would need to pass Congress with bipartisan backing.

Lawmakers on the call raised questions including whether a new round of $1,400 checks included in the proposal could be more narrowly targeted to those who need them the most, according to several people involved.

Participants also asked administration officials to justify the need for hundreds of billions allocated for other purposes, including $130 billion for schools, given that Congress has already spent about $4 trillion on the coronavirus relief effort - including $900 billion approved in December.

"There are still a lot of unanswered questions, most notably, how did the administration come up with $1.9 trillion dollars required, given that our figures show that there's still about $1.8 trillion left to be spent," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a leader of the bipartisan group of senators on the call. "We hope to get more data documenting the need from them."

There was widespread support among the lawmakers for spending on vaccine production and distribution, which several described as by far the highest priority to beat the pandemic and resurrect the faltering economy.

The Zoom call, organized by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., ran more than an hour. In addition to Deese, it featured Louisa Terrell, the director of legislative affairs, and Jeff Zients, the White House's covid-19 response coordinator.

"I think it's important to note that call happened, that this was a genuine, open discussion between top White House staff and a dozen or so senators to try to establish how we move forward on a covid relief package," said Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats.

"This isn't Monopoly money," King said. "Every dollar that we're talking about here is being borrowed from our grandchildren. We have a responsibility to be stewards."

People involved said the White House team listened to lawmakers' concerns and promised to get back to them. A White House official declined to comment on specifics of the call.

The call came with the stimulus package facing criticism from Republicans who say it's too costly, making prospects tough for the kind of bipartisan deal Biden promised he'd deliver as president. The lawmakers involved were part of the group that broke through a partisan logjam late last year and helped ensure passage of the $900 billion relief bill in December.

The group includes 16 senators, eight from each side of the aisle. The leaders of the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House also joined Sunday's call.

Before the call, Deese told reporters that he intended to impress upon lawmakers that "we're at a precarious moment for the virus and the economy. Without decisive action, we risk falling into a very serious economic hole, even more serious than the crisis we find ourselves in."

Republicans have been lukewarm to such arguments.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday ahead of the call with Deese, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, described the nearly $2 trillion cost of Biden's plan as "pretty shocking," while saying there were individual elements of it he could support.

In addition to a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks, the proposal includes an increase in and extension of emergency unemployment benefits set to expire in mid-March, and an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour - an item that Republicans have called problematic and that GOP senators raised to White House officials as a point of concern, according to two people familiar with the meeting. It also includes hundreds of billions of dollars to assist schools in reopening safely and to boost testing capacity and vaccine manufacturing and distribution.

If modeled after legislation passed by the House, the $1,400 stimulus checks would phase out for individuals who make $75,000 or more a year and families making $150,000 or more. But the phaseout level increases for families with larger numbers of children, creating a situation where a family with multiple children making more than $300,000 a year could still see some benefit, even if they have not suffered income loss during the pandemic. Multiple lawmakers on Sunday's call raised this as a concern.

"At least in my state, if you're a household of five people with an income in excess of $300,000, it's unlikely that you've been financially harmed by the pandemic," Collins said. "Whereas lower-income workers and small businesses in the hospitality industry have been devastated."

Biden faces a difficult balancing act in pushing the proposal into law. The types of concessions that might be necessary to win support from Republicans such as Collins and Romney probably would make the proposal smaller and less palatable to liberal lawmakers. Liberals are pushing for Biden to use special Senate rules to force through the package with only Democratic votes, but doing that would undercut Biden's pledges to seek unity and bipartisan outcomes.

The path ahead for the legislation is also complicated by unrelated disputes happening in the Senate, including the impending impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, giving Democrats control because Vice President Kamala Harris can break ties, giving Biden little room to maneuver.
The Bachelor star Locky Gilbert sadly didn't get to meet winner Irena Srbinovska's family while filming the show amid the covid pandemic last year.

But on Sunday, the 32-year-old adventure seeker certainly made up for lost time when he met his ladylove's mother Vesna and her father Vasco.

Taking to Instagram, Locky shared a photo of himself posing alongside her parents.

Better late than never! The Bachelor Locky Gilbert finally met winner Irena Srbinovska's parents as the family in South Australia over the weekend

Irena's mother and father looked delighted to finally meet their daughter's hunky suitor as they enjoyed a pint at a pub in Hahndorf, South Australia.

The trio all held up a beer in the photo as they celebrated the meeting.

Bonding: Irena later shared a video of the group enjoying drinks at sunset at the couple's accommodation

'Better late than never, they finally got to meet in person,' Irena captioned the photo.

Irena later shared a video of the group enjoying drinks at sunset at the couple's accommodation.

The foursome also took a tour of a winery in the Barossa Valley. South Australia's wine-making region.

Activities: The foursome also took a tour of a winery in the Barossa Valley. South Australia's wine-making region

The former Survivor star was unable to meet the Srbinovskas in person while filming The Bachelor because of COVID-19 border closures.

'Has Locky met your parents yet? As Victoria is still in lockdown?' one of her followers asked in October last year.

'Unfortunately Locky hasn't met my parents or my brother but they have spoken many times [online],' Irena replied.

Waiting game: Locky was supposed to meet Irena's family during The Bachelor, but the Srbinovskas couldn't fly to Sydney because Victoria closed its borders

Locky was supposed to meet Irena's family during The Bachelor, but the Srbinovskas couldn't fly to Sydney because Victoria closed its borders.

He didn't have a chance to see them after filming either, because he was living in Perth.

The couple have since settled in the Western Australia capital.
(Natural News) Doctors across the United States scored a major victory Tuesday, Jan. 19, when a federal court struck down the Transgender Mandate. The plaintiffs in the case are religious doctors, hospitals and clinics that serve all patients regardless of sex or gender identity.

This was not the first time a court ruled against the mandate.

In December 2016, a Texas court also struck down the mandate after eight states, an association of almost 18,000 doctors and a Catholic hospital system challenged it.

Under the controversial mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2016, doctors must perform gender transition procedures on any child referred by a mental health professional, even if they believe the treatment or hormone therapy could harm the child. Failure to comply can cost the doctors their job.

The mandate also doesnt allow a doctor to refer the child to another doctor, even a more qualified one, or for a hospital to find a doctor willing to perform the procedure.

The mandate aims to help children with gender dysphoria, a so-called psychological distress that results from an incongruence between ones sex assigned at birth and ones gender identity.

But studies about the issue show that up to 94 percent of children with gender dysphoria (77 to 94 percent in one set of studies and 73 to 88 percent in another) will naturally grow out of their dysphoria and live healthy lives without the need for surgery or lifelong hormone treatments.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Help (WPATH) said that in most cases, gender dysphoria disappears before or early in puberty. (Related: Transgenderism is a disorder stemming from psychological trauma, says man who had TWO sex changes.)

Gender transition procedure, hormone therapy pose serious health risks

Studies show that the physical changes caused by hormone therapy can cause massive distress for many children who grow out of their dysphoria.

Hormone therapy in female to male patients can affect changes such as deepened voice, clitoral enlargement, growth of facial and body hair, cessation of menses, atrophy of breast tissue and decreased body fat percentage to muscle mass.

On the other hand, the effects of hormone therapy in male to female patients include breast growth, decreased erectile function, decreased testicular size and increased percentage of body fat compared to muscle mass.

Transgender medical interventions also carry very serious medical risks. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies noted that transgender individuals may be at increased risk for breast, ovarian, uterine or prostate cancer as a result of hormone therapy.

Meanwhile, WPATH identified the following potential health risks associated with hormone therapy: cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, venous thromboembolic disease and hypertension.

Government double standards on display

The Transgender Mandate requires nearly all private insurance companies and many employers to cover gender transition procedures or face stiff penalties and legal actions.

But the two major insurance plans run by HHS  Medicare and Medicaid  were exempted from the mandate. The reason they were exempted is that HHSs medical experts believed gender transition procedures can be harmful.

Based on a thorough review of the clinical evidence available at this time, there is not enough evidence to determine whether gender reassignment surgery improves health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with gender dysphoria, the medical experts of HHS wrote. There were conflicting (inconsistent) study results  of the best designed studies, some reported benefits while others reported harms.

In other words, the HHS issued the mandate despite the findings of its own medical experts on gender transition procedures. The government also exempts its own military doctors from the mandate.

Follow Gender.news for more news and information related to transgender people.

Sources include:

ThreadReaderApp.com

BecketLaw.org

TransGenderMandate.org

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 25th Jan, 2021) The virtual sessions of the fifth International Rain Enhancement Forum (IREF), which opened today under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, discussed a broad range of topics related to rain enhancement research.

Lining up prominent experts in rain enhancement science and technology, the two-day event is hosted by the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) through the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science (UAEREP).

The sessions drew the participation of several high-level officials, including Dr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, who delivered a keynote speech at the panel discussion titled "Outlook for Global Water Security in the Light of Climate Change".

Speaking about the correlation between climate change and water stress, he said, "Climate change will not only aggravate the situation in currently water-stressed regions but also generate water stress even in some of those regions that have sufficient water resources today. In addition to the depletion of groundwater, land degradation and desertification, and an increase in water consumption due to rising temperatures, climate change poses risks to water-related infrastructure."

"We have adopted the UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 that ensures continued and sustainable access to water. We are also implementing initiatives to reduce water losses and consumption. In addition to the introduction of green building and product standards, building retrofit initiatives, and water tariff reform, government authorities have been running awareness campaigns to promote behavioural change among consumers," the minister added.

The session examined changes to the global climate in recent decades with a focus on the Arabian Gulf region, one of the most water-stressed parts of the world. The participants also discussed addressing water scarcity through renewable water resources, how climate change is contributing to the problem, as well as the growing imbalances between water supply and demand.

The panellists included Dr. Rupa Kumar Kolli, Executive Director at the International CLIVAR Monsoon Project Office at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology at the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India; Prof Mansour Almazroui, Head of the Department of Meteorology at the Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia; Qais Al Suwaidi, Assistant Expert on Climate Change at the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and Dr.

Said Al Sarmi, Meteorological Expert at the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The panel discussion was followed by two sessions. The first, titled "Transitioning from Research to Operations in Rain Enhancement: Case Studies and Roadmap", was divided into two parts  "A. Systematic Approach to Evaluating New Cloud-Seeding Nanomaterial" and "B. The Future of Rain Enhancement: Roadmap Development and Challenges.

Sufian Farrah, Meteorologist and Cloud Seeding Expert at NCM, Prof Istvan Geresdi from the University of Pecs in Hungary, and Dr. Roelof Bruintjes, Scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research, and Co-Principal Investigator of UAEREPs second-cycle awardee Dr. Paul Lawson, participated in Part A.

Part B featured Dr. Deon Terblanche, Senior Weather and Climate consultant at the World Bank; Dr. Estelle De Coning, Acting Head of the World Weather Research Programme at the World Meteorological Organisation; Prof Steven Siems, Professor at the school of Earth Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University in Australia, and Omar Al Yazeedi, Director of Research and Development and Training at NCM.

The session included highlights from the programmes field campaigns conducted in collaboration with several local and international organisations and examined the process, challenges and technologies involved in transitioning from research to operations in rain enhancement.

The final session of day one was titled "Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent System Applications in Meteorology and Rain Enhancement". The participants included Talal Al Kaissi, Vice President of Strategic Projects and Space Programme at G42; Dr. Juha Tonttila, Scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute; Prof Eric Frew from the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States and UAEREPs third-cycle awardee, and Dr. Duncan Axisa, Director of Science Programmes at Droplet Measurement Technologies and Co-Principal Investigator of Prof Frew.

The session featured presentations on high-performance computing and AI analytics capabilities to support rain enhancement, using unmanned aircraft for cloud seeding, algorithms for determining suitable cloud-seeding conditions, and meteorological research, forecasting and monitoring applications followed by a panel discussion.
The House Our Families Built. Photo: Caledonia Curry/Swoon Studio

During the pandemic, artist Caledonia Curry  better known as Swoon  went back and read almost 20 years of her journals. I found that I had a recurring dream about this house and there was a performance happening in it, she says. And my friend had written the performance and we were working together.

Caledonia Curry. Photo: Sarah St. Amand/Swoon Studio

This dream became the basis of this project, The House Our Families Built. Last January, PBS launched a national storytelling project, American Portrait, inspired by the groundbreaking 1955 MoMA exhibition, The Family of Man. The PBS project, done in partnership with RadicalMedia, was designed to offer a platform for people across the country to share their stories and how the past manifests in our present, in first-person narratives. Its collected over 13,000 stories so far, and they show the commonality of American life, despite our public divisions of late. In that spirit, James Spindler, the creative director at RadicalMedia, asked Kim Hastreiter to curate and chose three artists who proposed works that reflected the highly personal nature of the project.

Curry is one of them. Inspired in part by that recurring dream, she created an installation on a box truck that opens to a fantastical setting in strategic ways, while her friend and collaborator, director Jeff Stark, cast actors to recite portions of different stories featured in the PBS-collected narratives inside the house-like sculpture.

Curry began as a street artist and went on to make installations including the Swimming Cities of Serenissima, a series of handmade rafts that made a surprise waterborne appearance during the 2009 Venice Biennale, and the ongoing Konbit shelter project in Haiti in response to the devastation in after the earthquake the following year.

I spoke with Curry as she was putting finishing touches on her truck.

This seems so prescient given what weve been going through during this recently ended presidency in general, but especially during its terrible final week. Were so divided as a country, talking past each other.

If we can make spaces for people to have those hard conversations, thats one of the goals of the piece for me  One of the themes that is big for me about owning your legacy and choosing what things to let go of, and I have very much been thinking about our nations legacy of white supremacy and my own ancestral legacy of white supremacy because my family dates back many, many generations in the South, so I was personally going through the experience of being like: Oh this is my specific history, this is not some abstract thing, this is something that I need to own in my family and make a decision to evolve past what I inherited. And then watching what happened at the Capitol, like wow, we all need to be doing this.

Photo: Sarah St. Amand/Swoon Studio

What is it made of?

So its a box truck and we cut it up in strategic ways so that it would open up and appear house-like, and we added wood, built a staircase, brought in furniture, formed it into this rather fantastical house-like sculpture.

So it opens into rooms?

Almost no rooms I would say. [Laughs.] It opens into many different sides, I was calling them more like ecosystems and the public doesnt get to go into the house, unfortunately; too dangerous during COVID. One side youve got the couch and youve got the kitchen and theres a cutting board, and pans and theres this painting of a mother and theres a kid on the couch and there are these things going on and over here theres a balcony and its outdoors and there are these stairs and people are playing chess, but it kind of looks like church windows and is somebody going to preach from here? So its kind of like the language of architecture sort of turning itself into these little ecosystems but never fully resolving or undoing. The actors are delivering lines from American Portrait and so its not a direct narrative its more like a montage, but they are going to be interacting  one of the actors is going to be able to get on the roof. But there is not a one to one relationship between the architecture and the stories.

Photo: Steffie van Rhee/RadicalMedia

Photo: Sarah St. Amand/Swoon Studio. Photo: Sarah St. Amand/Swoon Studio.

Where did you get the furnishings?

Some of it we built and some of the furniture we got from secondhand stores  theres a mix of things, we brought in toys that exist, theres going to be portraits that are painted during the sculpture day, i.e, the idle day when its just a sculpture for a day and then its a live performance, so its kind of a mix. Its still fairly a fantastical sculpture but its much more focused on the language of home, which sometimes involved going down to Build It Green! and buying moldings, and rocking chairs and things like that.

Was the house designed to evoke any particular vernacular?

I would say that between the cracker house and Victorian house that was the starting place. Another place that had a huge impact on me was the Alhambra in Spain, with the kind of all over patterned walls, so theres a lot of wallpaper in the house, youll see, so I think its kind of everything from like Victorian, those huge pattern wallpaper to the all over patterning that is in a lot of those beautiful sacred spaces, because I am really drawn to decoration and to details  so there are a few different languages going on.

Photo: Steffie van Rhee/RadicalMedia

Howd you design the wallpaper?

I start with paper cuts so youll see a repeating pattern and then lay them out in such a way that they can get translated into wallpaper.

Its a house but also something out of your subconscious it sounds like 

Theres also precedent in my work for thinking about the house as kind of a metaphor for psyche and getting into relationships and family, so that was sort of a natural reaction, especially once we were into this question of American Portrait, these very intimate images, stories people are telling.

The installation will be at various locations around New York City:

 Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1, January 30 to 31.

 Prospect Park Willink Plaza, February 6 to 7.

 Flushing Meadows Corona Park, February 13 to 14.

 Union Square 17th Street, February 21.
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Not only does Second Harvest do wonderful things for the people in need in our community, but they also help other local organizations in need. They are great stewards of the donations they receive and we know that each dollar donated will be used to the maximum benefit.

Sam Boak, president and founder of Boak & Sons, Inc., is no stranger to giving back to the community. His company is based in Youngstown, Ohio and serves commercial and residential customers from Cleveland to Pittsburgh in exterior contracting. The company specializes in roofing, siding, sheet metal, insulation and gutters. Sam Boak has dedicated himself and his company to giving back to the community since he started the business over 45 years ago with his father, Sam Boak Sr. Since then, he has donated time, funds and goods to dozens of local organizations, one in particular being the Second Harvest Food Bank.

This holiday season, Sam Boak decided to donate a large portion of a Workers Comp rebate the company received to the Second Harvest Food Bank. The rebate was awarded to Boak & Sons for their success in working safely, especially during the COVID-19 shut down. Portions of this rebate were also given back as bonuses to the hourly employees of Boak & Sons for their hard work.

Earning the rebate was something to be extremely proud of, said Sam Boak. The men and women of Boak & Sons have worked tirelessly in an extremely difficult year to ensure the success of this company, and we all know how important it is to give back. We are extremely grateful to have the opportunity to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank during a time that it is needed more than ever.

Second Harvest Food Bank is based in Youngstown, Ohio and is a member of Feeding America. They solicit, store and distribute food to hunger-relief organizations in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. Sam Boak has donated to Second Harvest on multiple occasions, and did not hesitate to do so again this year.

Not only does Second Harvest do wonderful things for the people in need in our community, but they also help other local organizations in need. They are great stewards of the donations they receive and we know that each dollar donated will be used to the maximum benefit. Mike (executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank) and his team are out in the public doing all they can to help those in need, and those are the kinds of morals we as a company uphold.

To learn more about Second Harvest Food Bank or to donate, visit https://mahoningvalleysecondharvest.org/. To learn more about Sam Boak or Boak & Sons, Inc. visit. https://boakandsons.com/about-exterior-contracting-company-boak-sons/sam-boak/

https://boakandsons.com/

About Boak & Sons:

Boak & Sons, Inc. was founded by Sam Boak in 1974 as an insulation contractor. With the high energy costs of the 70's, Boak & Sons expanded early on into the roofing business. They offered economical roof installations through cutting edge technology and equipment, allowing customers to recoup even more in energy savings. Today, Boak & Sons is a residential and commercial contractor for roofing, insulation, sheet metal, siding, and gutters. Based in Youngstown, Ohio, the company serves customers in surrounding areas from Cleveland, Akron, and Canton to Cranberry and Pittsburgh. For more information on Boak & Sons, visit their website at: https://www.boakandsons.com/
TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - FundThrough, a financial technology company that helps small businesses unlock working capital tied up in accounts receivable, celebrates the recent success of its client Run Veggie which played a pivotal role at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration.

On January 20, 2021, Run Veggie prepared 10,600 meals for the Washington D.C. police force that provided security for U.S. President Joe Biden's Inauguration. Under a tight deadline and on short notice, the company and its partners procured breakfast and lunch for the officers for the event, which was under heavy security but watched by 40 million viewers on television.

Run Veggie was founded by entrepreneur Jermaine Kelly in October 2018. Kelly started the company after noticing challenges that many restaurants, food production, and beverage customers faced in procuring raw ingredients. Today, it operates in five cities and caters to private businesses and government agencies.

The company will expand into four new markets in the coming months. Kelly says that his firm will soon start operations in Miami, Chicago, San Jose, and Atlanta.

"We congratulate Run Veggie on its important role in the Inauguration and its expansion plans in the year ahead. Jermaine Kelly is a terrific entrepreneur, and it has been a pleasure to see Run Veggie grow at such an incredible pace," said FundThrough CEO and Co-Founder Steven Uster. "We look forward to providing continued funding support to the company as it expands into its new markets in 2021."

Run Veggie partners with FundThrough to accelerate its cash flow and take on new customers and larger projects. In Washington D.C., government contracts typically undergo a bidding process by vendors. Under the stringent application process, decision-makers examine a company's ability to procure materials, deliver products on time, and have the necessary cash flow to meet these obligations.

Given that contractors typically have payment terms of 30 days or more, cash truly is king. In order to have enough cash flow on hand, Kelly uses FundThrough's invoice funding platform. Kelly exchanges unpaid outstanding customer invoices to FundThrough and receives the full value of his invoice within 24 hours or less. The working capital allows Run Veggie to purchase raw materials quickly and bid on bigger contracts.

"Having a partner like FundThrough enabled us to have the capabilities of funding the financial aspect of our Inauguration project. We had to buy a lot of food and bring in a lot of additional labor in just six days," said Jermaine Kelly, Founder of Run Veggie. "With all of the food and labor required  having FundThrough as a resource was pivotal to our success."

Kelly says that the company's cash flow position, with the help of FundThrough, has allowed it to take on much larger projects. In 2019, its average contract was relatively small as Kelly spent time building the business and relationships with customers. In 2020, the company, with stronger cash flow, bid on seven-figure contracts. In 2021, it is already primed to bid on contracts potentially worth upwards of eight figures.

About FundThrough

FundThrough is a leading fintech company that enables businesses to access unlimited capital based on the value of their outstanding customer invoices. Its platform lets businesses connect their accounting software and directly submit invoices for funding. On average, FundThrough improves its clients' cash flow position by reducing their wait time by 97%. The company serves clients across the United States and Canada. For more information, please visit www.fundthrough.com .

About Run Veggie

Run Veggie is an innovative food distributor that services multiple cities across the USA. Founded in 2018, the company has built a reputation for delivering high-quality products in tight deadlines and providing exceptional customer service.

SOURCE FundThrough

Related Links

www.fundthrough.com


He is depicted as the macho action hero for our generation and has been tee-total for almost two decades, but Gerard Butler has been caught up in a gender stereotyping row, leading to the banning of a South African beer advert.

The Paisley-born actor, famous for his lead roles in films such as Olympus Has Fallen and Machine Gun Preacher, fell foul of advertising standards with his TV ad for Diageo-made Windhoek beer.

They banned the commercial for suggesting real men, like 51-year old Butler, drink real beer.

Controversy: Gerard Butler has been caught up in a gender stereotyping row, leading to the banning of a South African beer advert featuring the tee-total actor

Butler agreed to take part in the ad despite having his well-publicised battle with the booze. He went tee-total after a spell in rehab, checking into the Betty Ford clinic in 2012.

He claims not to have drank alcohol since then.

Butler is seen casually dressed and bearded while enjoying a pint at the bar with the slogan: 'It's time for the perfect beer.'

The beer campaign features the tag line, 'Keeping It Real With Mr Gerard Butler'.

Hot water: The Paisley-born actor fell foul of advertising standards with his TV ad for Diageo-made Windhoek beer

Under fire: The beer brand used a 'gentle looking' man who succumbs to the pressure of 'macho' movie star Gerard Butler, said South Africas Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB)

The beer brand used a 'gentle looking' man who succumbs to the pressure of 'macho' movie star Gerard Butler, said South Africas Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB).

The ad features Butler, described in the regulator's decision as 'a macho looking movie star', remonstrating with a bar patron who asks for a slice of lime with his Windhoek.

'Hey, thats a Windhoek. Its 100% beer. You dont need any lime,' Butler tells the other customer, before turning to the camera and says, 'Keep it real, Joe. Keep it real.'

Getting involved: The ad features Butler, described in the regulator's decision as 'a macho looking movie star', remonstrating with a bar patron who asks for a slice of lime with his beer

Soft target: The man he takes to task, says the ARB, 'is a gentle looking, red-headed man  two characteristics that might typically make him a target for teasing in a toxic environment'

The man he takes to task, says the ARB, 'is a gentle looking, red-headed man  two characteristics that might typically make him a target for teasing in a toxic environment'.

By showing a man deciding against having a lime with his beer, Windhoek is entrenching toxic masculinity, the regulator ruled.

The interaction between the two, the regulator ruled, sends an unavoidable message that is not acceptable in advertising, especially because it does not actually come out and say that real men drink real beer.

Don't do it: 'Hey, thats a Windhoek. Its 100% beer. You dont need any lime,' Butler tells the customer, while sitting at the bar with a pint of lager

Zest free: By showing a man deciding against having a lime with his beer, Windhoek is entrenching toxic masculinity, the regulator ruled

'The reality is that it is exactly the unspoken nature of the communication that makes it particularly dangerous  the gender stereotype portrayed as so normal that it does not even require explanation,' said the ARB.

It took issue with both 'the entrenchment of the role of men as having to behave in a certain way' and 'the entrenchment of male behaviour that is bullying, and what has come to be labelled as "toxic masculinity"'.

The decision cites a clause in the ARB's code of advertising practice that bans 'gender stereotyping or negative gender portrayal' unless it is 'reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom'.

Heineken, the brewers of Windhoek, had argued its central character had ordered a lime out of habit, 'and when he tasted the Windhoek Lager without the lime, his response was one of appreciation. He does not react with offence or shame'.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Adameve.com and Adam & Eve Stores, the franchise division of America's most trusted source for adult products, are pleased to announce their 2021 XBiz Awards Wins for Best Online Retailer and Chain Retailer of the Year.

These prestigious awards were revealed Thursday, January 14, during a live broadcast on XBiz.tv.

"We are once again honored to be chosen by XBiz as its Online Retailer of the Year," said Adam & Eve Ecommerce and Merchandising Director Glenn Mersereau. "In a year that has been filled with unique challenges for the entire industry, we are especially grateful to be recognized for our continued efforts. The entire Adam & Eve team is driven to provide the very best products, value, and experience for our customers. There are not many 50 year old businesses of our size who continue to adapt, innovate, and grow and we are very glad to be among them."

Chad Jenny, national business consultant for Adam & Eve Stores, agrees. "It was a great honor to win Chain Retailer of the Year especially this year. After the turmoil of the year, the way our operators and staff came together and not only persevered but triumphed is truly inspiring. The entire Adam & Eve Stores family is truly deserving of this recognition. I can't think of a better way to kick off our 50th Anniversary year!"

"Thank you to all of our franchise operators for supporting our brand and what Adam & Eve stands for in the sexual wellness and health community," added David Keegan, Vice President of Franchising for Adam & Eve Stores.

Adam & Eve is the nation's largest marketer of adult products with millions of satisfied customers worldwide. It opened its doors in March 1971, making it one of the oldest companies in the adult industry as well. The company is dedicated to bringing customers an unrivaled selection of sex toys at competitive prices. Every product offered is backed by decades of experience, superior customer service, risk free shopping, and a passion for helping customers explore sex in a positive way.

For more information about Adam & Eve, visit their website, https://www.adameve.com . For additional information on Adam & Eve, please contact Adam & Eve Director of Public Relations Katy Zvolerin at 919.644.8100 x 3121 or [email protected] .

SOURCE Adam & Eve

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Portuguese incumbent President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was re-elected in Sunday's presidential election, partial results showed.

With 98.87 percent of votes counted, Rebelo de Sousa won a landslide victory by garnering 61.3 percent of the votes, while former member of European Parliament (MEP) Ana Gomes came second with 12.54 percent of the votes, ahead of right-wing party Chega candidate Andre Ventura, who came third with 11.89 percent of the votes, results showed.

The MEP of the Left Bloc, Marisa Matias, obtained 4.17 percent of the votes, while the deputy in the European Parliament for the Portuguese Communist Party, Joao Ferreira, collected 3.93 percent of the votes.

Portugal's presidential election was held with the lockdown measures under the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an abstention rate of 61.46 percent, official data showed.

"I am happy with the effort of the Portuguese. In spite of all these (pandemic and inclement weather) ... it was a huge effort that was not foreseen," said Rebelo de Sousa after voting on Sunday afternoon.

Rebelo de Sousa's another five-year term will start on March 9, 2021.

Varun Dhawan- Natasha Dalal Wedding: No Reception For The Couple On 2nd Feb, Confirms Actor's Uncle Anil Dhawan

Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal are happily married now. The couple tied the knot yesterday in Alibaug in the presence of family and close friends. There had been rumours that the couple will hold a reception when they return back to Mumbai for other industry colleagues. The date was also said to be on the 2nd of Feb But now, the buzz seems to be different.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

Well, this has been confirmed by none other than Varun Dhawan's uncle Anil Dhawan. Speaking to Pinkvilla, he said, Asia kuch nahin hai (Nothing like that is happening). Hoga toh uska date dekhenge (If it happens, well decide on the date), everybody is busy with their respective things. Whatever youll are hearing is not true.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

Well, there are several speculations as to what the newlywed would be doing now that the main event is over. Some reports claim that the duo would spend quality time in Alibaug, while some claimed that they will leave for their honeymoon in Turkey soon. Another report suggested that Varun would leave to shoot Bhediya right in the first week of February. We wonder what the couple would actually do! What do you think?
American electric vehicle company has sued one of its former employees for allegedly stealing company information.

According to The Verge, stated that software engineer Alex Khatilov stole files from the company's internal network related to its Warp Drive software. This software is used to automate many of the company's business processes.

In the lawsuit, alleged that Khatilov moved files to his personal Dropbox account and that he was one of the few company employees who had access to that file. However, Khatilov has told Tesla investigators that he "forgot" about moving the files to his personal Dropbox when confronted and that he had unintentionally moved the files.

Tesla has had an old history of not hesitating in suing, in order to protect the company's proprietary data. As per The Verge, back in December, the company settled a matter with former process technician Martin Tripp, who admitted to leaking confidential information to a reporter.

In 2019, Tesla had sued self-driving startup Zoox accusing four of its employees, who had previously worked at Tesla, of taking confidential documents. That case was settled last April, with Zoox admitting that "certain of its new hires from Tesla" were in possession of Tesla documents.

(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.)
No one is being forced to raise 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans and there is nothing to feel bad about such chants, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday after his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee refused to speak at an event over raising of such slogans. Banerjee on Saturday refused to speak at an official event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark the beginning of the celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 124th birth anniversary after 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were raised just before she was to start her address.

Speaking to a select group of journalists, Adityanath said, "If someone says Jai Shri Ram there is nothing to feel bad about it as it is a greeting"'.

"If someone says 'namaskar' or 'Jai Shri Ram' it shows his etiquette," he said.

Responding to questions on Banerjee refusing to speak after such chants, Adityanath said, "We are not forcing anyone to speak it. But if someone says Jai Shri Ram there is nothing to feel bad about it."

The West Bengal chief minister had expressed displeasure at BJP supporters at the event shouting slogans. She said such an 'insult' was unacceptable. With elections due in the state in March-April, the tussle between the BJP and Banerjee's TMC has intensified.

Talking about law and order in the state, Adityanath, said the state witnessed several riots during earlier regimes while under this government the state has not witnessed any such incident. He claimed the law and order situation in the state is one of the best in the country.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
For the emigrant, Tapachula is the last stop before continuing down the road and risking everything at the final border. Once in Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon or Tamaulipas, northern lands where kidnappers and drug traffickers are a distinct danger, only luck will decide whether or not they make it into the United States.

Although crossing the northern border involves the challenge of surviving some of the most violent areas in Mexico, and the whole world, the route to Tapachula (Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala) is hardly a cakewalk. Those waiting here for immigration status allowing them to continue have already experienced dangers lurking in dense Central American jungles, perilous river crossings, road bandits and other hazards awaiting them in this land, ravaged by violence and destitution.

Thus, the emigrants who reach Tapachula are all, in one way or another, survivors.

Starting points

Javier and his wife were barely 30 when they decided to leave Villa Clara and try their luck at the Spanish consulate in Managua. They thought it was the easiest way to get a visa to travel to Europe and settle there. In the end things did not go as planned, and, after eight months in Nicaragua, they decided that the best thing was to head for the United States.

"Unlike others, we were lucky. I mean, we didn't have any problems. Paying $1,000 each, we joined an immense and secure network of coyotes that brought us to Tapachula in four days. The route was from Nicaragua to Honduras, from there to Guatemala , and then to Tapachula. Except for two river crossings, everything was by road," says Javier, who has already acquired papers certifying him as a "Visitor for humanitarian reasons" in Mexico, and is now considering changing plans.

"Perhaps it's best to stay here. There are many Cubans in Cancun who can give you work. And, the truth is that the United States is no longer that appealing to me, as Im one of the few that does not have any loved ones there," he explained.

Compared to many Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Haitian, and African emigrants, Javier and his wife's luck was extraordinary. Among Cubans, however, his is not an isolated case.

There are networks of coyotes (human traffickers) throughout Latin America. The one that took Javier and his wife, for example, starts in Chile, from whence they offer to transport an emigrant to the United States for a fee of $7,000. In this case the trip is by air, with several stops, and entails the complex provisioning of passports fabricated by experts.

Placing yourself in the hands of a large network of coyotes, Javier says, guarantees a fast and safe journey. The full amount is paid up front. Along the way, a different coyote takes clients along parts of the route that he knows like the back of his hand.

"You have to have money and contacts for that. Sometimes one goes with a coyote that already took a relative who now lives in the United States. In my case, it was my brother," says Rodrigo, who also began his route in Nicaragua, then crossed Costa Rica, and is currently waiting at the northern border of Mexico for a permit to enter the United States. His wife and two-year-old son traveled with him.

According to several Cubans interviewed by DIARIO DE CUBA in Tapachula, the first emigrants to cross Central America did so from Guyana, one of the few countries that does not require complicated visa procedures from those who travel from the island. Later, when the Panamanian Government allowed self-employed Cubans to travel to the country with a tourist card for 30 days, this became a popular start of the road towards the United States.

"Starting out in Guyana is dangerous, because the way is longer. You have to go through more countries, and cross Colombia, which is a bad area. And then there is the jungle of the Darien Gap," explains Sergio, who began his migration route in Guyana and has been in Tapachula for four months.

In mid-2019 Panama ceased to be the preferred starting point for Cubans because the government of President Laurentino Cortizo cancelled the issuance of "tourist cards", which benefited immigrants and buyers in the Colon Free Trade Zone alike. Nicaragua, however, welcomed Cubans without requiring visas, thanks to the close political ties between Daniel Ortega's regime and Havana, so the new starting point moved to Managua.

"A lot of people go fast from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. In any case, it is no longer worth staying there to make some money and continue on to the United States. The pandemic has caused everything to shut down, and poverty and violence are on the rise in those countries, which is why more and more Cubans are arriving in Tapachula. Those who have been down there in Nicaragua and Costa Rica for a long time cannot take it anymore and are coming up, en masse," says Javier.

The way

According to several of those interviewed by DIARIO DE CUBA, the best way to cross Central America is without any money on you. But this method is, generally, only available to those who receive support from family members who are already living in the United States, who periodically send them precise amounts of money, in dollars, at points along the route, especially via Western Union.

"There are good and bad coyotes; that is, efficient and lousy ones. The good ones take you by car, or in vans, and they already know the Police. In fact, part of the money you give them is for bribes. The payments given to Border Police are handed over, especially, at dawn, when nobody is watching them," says Rodrigo.

Initially, Rodrigo was lucky. But his good fortune ran out when the coyote told them that the money only covered the trip as far as Guatemala.

"Here you can't start improvising or making demands. First, because it's not your country. Second, because they won't think twice about shooting you right between the eyes. If they scam you, you have to bite your tongue and find another way to continue. In the end, between one thing and the other, things went south for me. The trip with my family ended up costing about $16,000," he told us.

The rest of the journey was tough, and included crossing border areas in the back of a truck with another group of Cubans. Passing through Mexico, he barely stopped on the southern border. He did not even go through Tapachula, as the coyote opted for Tabasco as an alternative route. Then he took him directly to Mexico City, and, from there, with a layover of just a few hours, on to Chihuahua. A definite drawback on this route is that those who take it are in constant danger of being caught by immigration authorities and deported to Cuba.

According to Rodrigo, coyotes operate like many taxis in Cuba: until they get a certain number of clients, they don't depart. This results in delays because, depending on the coyote's experience and connections, the journey does not begin until he musters at least 15 clients. Some, Rodrigo says, wait until they have 60. Thus, Cubans often go in search of others, recommending coyotes.

"The more people, the safer it is. It's not the same if four highway bandits, armed with pistols, go up against 3 migrants, as opposed to 60. I did it alone. It took me almost a year, between when I left Nicaragua and arrived in Tapachula. Along the way, one time they swindled me and took everything I had while holding me at gunpoint. Women who go in small groups are even raped. It's very tough," says Carlos.

Carlos worked for a time in Costa Rica in whatever he could. It wasn't bad at all, he says. He then worked in security, and cleaning floors at a hotel in Honduras for several months. The hotel owner never paid him, as they reached an agreement that he would be compensated by being taken to Tapachula. Once he crossed into Guatemala, however, the man ditched him.

"Then I worked in anything, and made my way, little by little, along with groups of Hondurans and Salvadorans. Once I was in a little truck with twenty-odd people, covered with a tarp; unable to speak, eat, drink water, or move for 24 hours," says Carlos, who is waiting for his papers from Mexico's National Institute of Migration (INM) to continue on to the northern border.

Cuban emigrants' accounts vary in terms of the length of their routes and their conditions. These differences largely depend on the amount of money they have at the outset, the quality of the contacts they were able to make, and, above all, luck.

Despite how grueling their journeys were, in Tapachula everyone talks about them as if they were in a very remote past, which they say, proudly, that they survived.

Note: The sources interviewed for this report asked not to be identified, for safety reasons. Their names were changed.
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), has consistently increased its portfolio of projects, having funded 90 of them over a decade at a total value of about AED4.7 billion ($1.3 billion).

Cumulatively generating 9,755MW of electricity, these projects benefited 65 countries by supporting their economies and improving the quality of life.

Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of the Fund, expressed gratitude to the UAEs leadership in investing in the just cause. Such initiatives form the core of development and the UAE realised that years ago, which prompted it to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) he said. Thanks to the support of our leadership, we have been able to help our partner countries to address some of their pressing challenges through innovative renewable-energy initiatives, at the same time creating many milestones in this sector.

COLLABORATION WITH IRENA

In 2013, ADFD in collaboration with Irena launched an initiative with a commitment of AED1.28 billion ($350 million) to support renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Since then, the initiative led to the production of about 208MW of clean energy through 32 projects in 26 countries that gave more than a million people access to clean and affordable energy. The projects also improved health and education services, stimulated economic development and helped protect the environment.

UAE-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP FUND

In the same year, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation launched the UAE-Pacific Partnership Fund with an aim to step up the UAEs development cooperation with the Pacific island countries across a variety of sectors. The scheme supported renewable energy projects through the allocation of grants with a total value of AED184 million ($50 million), financed by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), and implemented by Masdar. The initiative included 10 solar photovoltaic (PV) projects and one wind farm, which collectively produces a total 5.7MW energy, thus meeting most of the islands energy needs.

The projects produced multiple benefits, including savings of $3.77 million per year on fossil fuel, and reduction of 8,447 tonnes of carbon emission per year.

THE UAE-CARIBBEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY FUND

The AED184 million ($50 million) initiative was launched to deliver renewable energy projects across 16 Caribbean Island nations to help reduce reliance on fossil-fuel imports, increase energy access, and enhance climate change resilience. Fully financed by ADFD, the UAE-CREF is the largest renewable energy initiative of its kind in the Caribbean region. The fund is a partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MoFAIC), ADFD and Masdar.

The 9.4MW projects carried out by the Fund have contributed to addressing the challenges faced by Caribbean countries.

Below is a highlight of some of the important projects funded by ADFD over the past decade.

SOLAR PV PLANT, BAHAMAS

The 925-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, which also serves as a carport with 152 parking spaces including 4 spots for families and 2 spots with fast charging electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, is the countrys first large-scale solar energy project. Developed in partnership with the Bahamas Ministry of Environment and Housing, the AED11 million project set a regulatory precedent for new renewable energy plants to feed into the grid.

SOLAR PROJECT, SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES

The hybrid power plant set a strong precedent for using renewable energy to drive down energy costs on outer islands. Located on Union Island, the 600kW solar PV plant and 637 kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery project supplies all of the islands daytime power needs.

SHEIKH ZAYED SOLAR PARK, JORDAN

The AED550 million ($150 million) solar power plant in Quweira, financed by the Fund, generates 103 MW energy that illuminates more than 50,000 homes. It helped the Jordanian government to achieve some of the countrys key developmental priorities.

WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANT PROJECT, MALDIVES

The first of its kind initiative, for which ADFD provided a concessional loan of AED22 million ($6 million) in 2015, aimed to address the countrys waste-management and energy challenges through the construction of facilities that would use waste in an ecofriendly manner to generate about 4MW of energy. The project covering three Islands of Vandhoo, Addu and Kulhudhuffushi.

The project recently received a certification from Global Innovation Institute (GINI), a leading international professional certification, accreditation and membership association in the field of innovation.

MEROWE DAM, SUDAN

In Sudan, the Fund financed two renewable-energy projects, the Merowe dam being the countrys second major hydropower project and one of the largest in Africa. It produces 1,250MW of electricity benefiting more than 30 million people. ADFD contributed AED735 million ($200 million) towards the project.

SOLAR POWER PLANT IN SOMALILAND

A project financed by ADFD at Berbera City in Somaliland was inaugurated earlier this year. The plant, which is connected to the local electricity grid, will meet the increasing demand of the entire city of approximately 50,000 people.

Set up at a cost of AED29.3 million, the 7-megawatt Berbera Hybrid Mini-grid Project is seen as a gamechanger for the city, as it will significantly bring down energy tariffs, apart from supporting economic development and reducing the countrys carbon footprint. The expansion of Berbera city has created additional demand, which the plant will fulfil.

SOLAR PV PROJECT, CUBA

The production capacity of a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant was raised to 15MW last year. The grid-connected project financed by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development currently supplies enough electricity for an estimated 10,000 homes.

SOLAR PROJECT, LIBERIA

Abu Dhabi Fund for Development gave Liberia a loan of AED 29.3 million ($8 million) to implement a solar energy project in southeastern River Gee County. The 2.1MW plant will meet the needs of 30,000 people.

SOLAR POWER PLANT, TOGO

An AED55 million ($15 million) solar power plant funded by ADFD will produce 30MW of energy covering the needs of 600,000 families and improving quality of life.

WIND POWER PLANT, OMAN

The 50MW project in Dhofar Governorate was developed with an AED455 million ($124) funding from ADFD. The plant provides clean energy to nearly 160,000 homes in Oman.

WASTE TO ENERGY FACILITY, SHARJAH

Abu Dhabi Fund for Development has contributed $33 million towards the development of a 30MW waste-to-energy facility in Sharjah. The project is the second of its kind in the Mena region and will be the flagship project of the Emirates Waste to Energy Company, a joint venture between Masdar and Beeah. The facility is being built to help Sharjah achieve its zero-waste-to-landfill target and the UAEs objective of diverting 75 per cent of municipal waste from landfills by this year.

WIND POWER PLANT, SEYCHELLES

An AED103 million ($28 million) wind farm, funded by ADFD, produces 8MW energy accounting for eight per cent of capital island Mahes energy capacity.

TWO RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS IN MALI

The Fund financed the Singlo Dam project, considered to be one of the most important energy projects in the country, generating 12MW of hydropower. It also financed the development of Taoussa Dam. Located in the north-eastern part of Mali, the dam is one of the key development projects in the Niger River basin. Aiming to elevate living standards by generating electricity for the surrounding population, the project included the construction of a 25MW hydroelectric power plant. -- Tradearabia News Service
The arguments made in a federal court in Denver Tuesday afternoon could offer a forecast of litigation to come over whether the November election was stolen and who bears responsibility if it was, or if the allegations are merely conspiracy theories and defamation.
Egypt reported 674 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, in a latest drop in daily infections detected in the past weeks, bringing the total infections tally to 161,817.

According to an official statement, the health ministry reported 57 new fatalities, bringing the death toll from the pandemic since the outbreak last year to 8,959.

The statement said that 321 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 126,497.

Minister of Health Hala Zayed announced on Sunday that the coronavirus vaccination campaign for medical teams would start nationwide on Monday.

In a press conference, Zayed said that Egypt would secure 100 million shots of coronavirus from different sources.

She added that the health ministry was currently registering vaccines from Russian, British and Chinese vaccine factories without naming them and that Egypt has the capability to store 140 million doses of the vaccine.

According to the health ministry, the coronavirus vaccination priority list starts with the medical teams at the isolation, fever, chest and screening hospitals; followed by kidney failure and cancer patients; then the elderly.

The total of medical teams targeted to be vaccinated in chest, fever hospitals is 207,000 people, including doctors, nurses, administrators, and workers.

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Uqair Fort Uqair - 

About Uqair :

Quote: Uqair (Arabic:) is an ancient fort of Islamic origin, located in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It is the first seaport in the Persian Gulf. It is alternatively spelled Al-'Uqair, Uqayr, and Ogair, all Latin transliterations of the same Arabic word. It has been linked by some to the ancient city of Gerrha mentioned in Greek and Roman sources.



The fort sits about 50 mu northeast of the fertile oasis of Al-Hasa on the east coast of the Persian Gulf. At the ancient locale are the remains of a large fort that now marks the site of the same name. The current structure that exists is of unknown origin. It is not absolutely clear who built the fort that measures roughly 150 ft (50 m) on each side which consists of a stone rampart topped with mud brick. Source Quote: Once a Busy Hub of International Trade

The cargoes moving from al-Uqair to al-Hasa ranged from 250 to 300 shipments of goods such as timber, food, coffee, cardamom, spices, clothing, perfume, incense, and sandalwood, coming from India, China, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Oman. They returned with the most significant products of al-Hasa such as dates, molasses, palm shoots and leaves, wool, and livestock.



Al-Uqair also tends to have ties with ancient Gerrha and Mesopotamia. Some believe it was built by Arabs as a defense. As foreign attacks were predicted, the fort could provide a safe haven, as well as defense.



The forts origin is still under question, and its history remains a mystery. When the Kingdom was established, al-Uqair was its economic gateway  the main port through which to access the East and the middle of the country. Its historic position was strengthened due to the political agreements established during the reign of King Abdulaziz.



This historical site was the location of the conference, at which the Uqair Protocol of 1922 was issued, helping establish the borders of modern Saudi Arabia by King Abdulaziz. The protocol is of great political significance, and to this day still marks the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.Source

We went to Uqair on 28 December 2019 (Yes, pre-covid era.) Our plan was to visit Uqair Fort & Uqair beach. Both were unexplored spots then and not many were aware of those places. Later Uqair was included in Tourism and now they are being developed.



We reached there around 12.30 PM and it was a sunny day, winter was just on the way. The Fort is in an isolated area and we couldn't even find a single shop or human being anywhere near the Fort, maybe nothing in the nearest 25 kilometers! We parked the car and walked to the fort entrance. There was no entry fee, heck no one was there at all!! We were the only visitors that day as per one caretaker who was there. Apart from us, they had some official visit that day by someone from the tourism department & a princess (as said by the caretaker).





EADO parked.







This was the widest angle I could get of a portion from the first floor of the fort.







This small building (maybe an office then) consists of 3 rooms.







The first wide-angle pic was taken from the first floor of this building.







Most of the door entrances and windows get this arch shape.







The windows & door entrances.























A closer look at the doors :



















A closer look at the staircase & finish of the wall :













This was how the ceilings looked like.











Most of the lamps were broken, I think this was done purposefully to make them look 'old'.























Exit from one of the doors takes you to this place.















This was the main office for trading as per the caretaker.







We were not allowed to enter this particular building, as the state of pillars were very weak.











We were not allowed to cross this gate under the building as well, which leads to the sea shore.

AboutWe went to Uqair on 28 December 2019 (Yes, pre-covid era.) Our plan was to visit Uqair Fort & Uqair beach. Both were unexplored spots then and not many were aware of those places. Later Uqair was included in Tourism and now they are being developed.We reached there around 12.30 PM and it was a sunny day, winter was just on the way. The Fort is in an isolated area and we couldn't even find a single shop or human being anywhere near the Fort, maybe nothing in the nearest 25 kilometers! We parked the car and walked to the fort entrance. There was no entry fee, heck no one was there at all!! We were the only visitors that day as per one caretaker who was there. Apart from us, they had some official visit that day by someone from the tourism department & a princess (as said by the caretaker).EADO parked.This was the widest angle I could get of a portion from the first floor of the fort.This small building (maybe an office then) consists of 3 rooms.The first wide-angle pic was taken from the first floor of this building.Most of the door entrances and windows get this arch shape.The windows & door entrances.A closer look at the doors :A closer look at the staircase & finish of the wall :This was how the ceilings looked like.Most of the lamps were broken, I think this was done purposefully to make them look 'old'.Exit from one of the doors takes you to this place.This was the main office for trading as per the caretaker.We were not allowed to enter this particular building, as the state of pillars were very weak.We were not allowed to cross this gate under the building as well, which leads to the sea shore. Last edited by kamilharis : 23rd January 2021 at 01:10 .
Jonathan Ernst / Associated Press

Joseph R. Biden delivered his inaugural address as the 46th president of the United States with a theme of unity. He called upon Americans to put aside an uncivil war and to find common ground for the public good. His speech was imbued with references to ethical principles, such as justice, fairness, truth and the common good. The words of this new leader are a welcome change after four years of trampling on the ethical foundations of our democracy.

Biden seeks to restore the soul of the nation and stated that his whole soul is committed to finding unity in our democracy. He asks all to put aside personal interest and unite around the common good for the future of our country. In doing so, Biden offers a vision for our country that traces its ethical roots to Aristotle and the desired outcomes for a political community. Serving the common good  the public interest  is the most basic goal of democracy. And Bidens call to action for that ethical purpose is intended to achieve unity by focusing on the moral objective of achieving the common good.

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday (January 25, 2021) addressed the nation on the eve of Republic Day 2021 and said that the Indian farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve a special appreciation.

"Our farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and a grateful nation greets them on this auspicious occasion of the Republic Day," said President Ram Nath Kovind.

He added, "Our scientists, along with doctors, administrators and people from other walks of life, have made a major contribution in containing the virus and keeping the fatality rate lower in our country, compared to that in developed countries."

He also said that a grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers.

"Every Indian salute our farmers, who have made our vast and populous country self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products. Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and COVID-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained agricultural production."

For the Indian troops, he said, "Just as our hardworking farmers ensure food security for the country, the brave soldiers of the armed forces ensure the security of our national boundaries amid severest conditions."

He added, "From the freezing cold at Siachen and Galwan valley in Ladakh with temperatures as low as minus 50 to 60 degree Celsius to the scorching heat in Jaisalmer with temperatures as high as 50 degree Celsius  on land, in the skies and at the vast coastal areas  our warriors are vigilant every moment. Every citizen feels proud about the bravery, patriotism and the spirit of sacrifice among our soldiers."

For the scientists, PM Kovind expressed, "By their contribution to food security, national security, protection against disease and disasters and to different areas of development, our scientists have strengthened our national endeavours. From space to the farms, from educational institutions to hospitals, the community of scientists has enriched our life and work."

He added that our scientists have been working day and night for decoding the Coronavirus and they have succeeded in developing the vaccine in record time.

"With this accomplishment, our scientists have added a glorious chapter of contribution to the well-being of humanity. Our scientists, along with doctors, administrators and people from other walks of life, have made a major contribution in containing the virus and keeping the fatality rate lower in our country, compared to that in developed countries," said President Kovind.

He extended his greetings to the countrymen on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day of the 'world's largest and most vibrant democracy' and said, "In this land of ours, enriched by diversity, with many festivals, our national festivals are celebrated by everyone with great patriotic fervour."

He added, "This is the day to also pause and ponder over the core values that Constitution propounds. These values  Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity  outlined in the Preamble of our Constitution are sacred to all of us."



Live TV
New Delhi, Jan 25 : In the initial releases of the Android 11 Developer Preview, it looked like Google was planning to add double-tap gesture support for Pixel phones and now, it appears the feature may arrive as part of Android 12.

The double-tap could allow Pixel users to summon Google Assistant, it could also be used for different tasks such as dismissing a timer or snoozing an alarm, reports 9To5Google.

Android 12 double-tap feature would include the ability to adjust the sensitivity to only recognise 'firm' taps.

"Alternatively, users can disable the double-tap feature," the report said on Sunday.

Users can also use the gesture to take a screenshot, pause or resume media playback, open the recent apps view, and open the notification panel.

The double-tap gesture was originally slated to take over from the old Active Edge squeeze gesture on the Pixel 4 phones - noticeably missing from the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, and Pixel 5 - but was found to be too sensitive to work properly. Now it seems that those issues have been overcome.

Considering the first Android 11 Developer Preview arrived in mid-February last year, one can expect the Android 12 preview to follow the same pattern.

To recall, a similar gesture feature was added to the iPhone with the release of iOS 14 called Apple calls Back Tap for screenshot, open Control Center, and more.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached the United States as part of his fresh campaign to reinforce India and US ties fostered by him during previous Obama administration. While, new President Donald Trump may have acted against Indias concerns by putting a cap on H1-B visas and pulling out of Paris Climate Change Agreement, his stance on terrorism suits PM Modis ambitions for peace and Indias geostrategic position in South Asia.



The Prime Minister has been trying to galvanise international support against the Pakistan-based terror groups by calling on the world at various platforms to condemn all terrorists, without any sort of differentiation between the good or bad terrorist. The US President, meanwhile, has acted with a heavy hand against alleged state-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East by encouraging blockades and sanctions against Qatar.



During the current trip, PM Modi is likely to try and swing President Trumps opinion against US long-standing ally Pakistan on the issue of terrorism, which may not be as far-fetched a dream as it once seemed.



With the long-stretched presence of US troops in Afghanistan becoming a thorn in Presidents throne, US is more inclined than ever to demote Pakistan from friends status.



In fact, in an unprecedented act, a bipartisan bill seeking to revoke Pakistans status as a major non-NATO ally (MNNA) to the US was introduced in the House of Representatives by two top lawmakers last week, claiming the country failed to effectively fight terrorism.



We must make a clean break with Pakistan, but at the very least, we should stop providing them the eligibility to obtain our own sophisticated weaponry in an expedited process granting them a privileged status reserved for our closest allies, Ted Poe, one of the Senator who proposed the bill, said in the House.



If the bill is approved, Pakistan would lose priority delivery of US defence materials, an expedited arms sale process and a US loan guarantee programme, which backs up loans issued by private banks to finance arms exports. All the facilities, India has been saying, Pakistan uses to strengthen terrorist camps against India on its eastern border.



However, the Trump administration is more cautious against a clean break with Pakistan. In a recent news conference, a White House official on the condition of anonymity revealed that US does not see ties with India and Pakistan as zero sum game.



I want to make the point here that US relationships with India and Pakistan really stand on their own merits and terms. We dont see a zero-sum relationship when it comes to the US relationship with Pakistan and the US relationship with India.



With Pakistan, we seek to have a productive partnership working together. But frankly, the priorities are different, and the nature of the relationships are different. So, I think that we would like to move forward with both countries, the official said.



US President Trump is unpredictable. If the working dinner, which will be his first with any foreign guest, goes well he may become more aligned to toe Indias line of strict global action against Pakistan-supported terrorism. After all, US cannot afford to antagonise its most crucial geostrategic partner against Chinese power any further.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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BY OPIO SAM CALEB

32,754 voters in the 62 polling stations today vote for the Kamuli Municipality Mayor in an election marked by low voter turnout.

The voters are trickling to the polling stations where there are more polling officials than voters and the candidates have resorted to ferrying them on bodabodas.

Betty Mutesi, a professional accountant and Speaker Northern Division is contesting with Azizi Luwano NRM, Francis Mutebe FDC, Twahil Waiswa NUP, and Independents David Mabirizi, Michael Kiboome.

The sore garbage sites, animals loitering and patrolling the Municipality and land issues were the major issues raised to the candidates during campaigns.

The candidate who will mobilize and ferry more voters will emerge winner because the voters are not bothered nor giving elections their time, following the unpredictable results and change in voting trends, Alfred Kizito a voter at Industrial Area commented.

By noon, not even a quarter of the voters had cast their votes as residents were busy with their businesses while others were gossiping near polling stations but not going to vote.

Twahil Waiswa the NUP candidate shortly after voting at Post office Polling Station warned he is not a push over as before.

They are going to faint from the shock of results just wait for tallying time because while they are injecting money to ferry voters, the People Power eagerly walk and are determined to cause change through their vote, he sounded.

Twahil cautioned security agents and other candidates supporters against tampering with the election process.
Direct evidence found that KNDy neurons, which express the peptides kisspeptin, neurokinin-B and dynorphin-A in the brain, are key to ovarian function in mammals. This suggests a new therapy for women suffering from certain reproductive disorders.

Gonadotropins are any hormones that are released from the anterior pituitary to stimulate the gonads, or sex glands, to carry out their reproductive functions. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is therefore fundamental for mammalian reproduction. In a healthy reproductive system GnRH is produced by the brain in pulses. Reports suggest that at least 25% of ovarian disorders are due to dysfunction of the brain mechanism controlling the release of gonadotropins, which is a kind of reproductive disorder associated with the hypothalamus.

However, the source of the "GnRH pulse generator" has been a mystery for decades, until now. The research reported here, carried out by a Japanese research collaboration between the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Science, Nagoya University, and the National Institute of Physiological Sciences in Okazaki City, Japan, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provides the first direct evidence that KNDy neurons generate the GnRH pulses, and that lack of these inhibits fertility. Using a rat model, the study also showed that "rescuing" just 20% of the KNDy neurons is sufficient to restart the GnRH and gonadotropin pulses and to maintain growth of ovarian follicles in the ovaries, thereby recovering fertility.

"Pulsatile GnRH release into the pituitary portal vein from the hypothalamus is fundamentally important for gonadal function in mammalian species, including humans," says Hiroko Tsukamura, a professor at Nagoya University and the corresponding author of the paper.

"GnRH enables stimulation of the release of gonadotropins, which in turn stimulate the growth of ovarian follicles only when GnRH is secreted in a pulsating manner at the appropriate frequency. Thus, GnRH pulse regimens are needed as therapies for infertile women as continuous GnRH treatment paradoxically inhibits gonadotropin release."

After the discovery of kisspeptin neurons in the brain as a dominant stimulator for GnRH release, circumstantial evidence had suggested that a subpopulation of these neurons, located in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (near the base of the hypothalamus), is responsible for GnRH pulses. However, no direct evidence was available that these "KNDy neurons" serve as the GnRH pulse generator. The acronym KNDy comes from the peptides (signaling molecules) kisspeptin, neurokinin-B (NKB) and dynorphin-A released by this part of the hypothalamus: for this reason, arcuate kisspeptin neurons are also known as KNDy neurons. The research by the Japanese team reported here has shown that NKB increases the frequency of GnRH pulses, while dynorphin-A reduces their frequency.

The research team used a congenitally infertile animal model (a rat) in which the kisspeptin gene (Kiss1) had been genetically deleted. The team rescued KNDy neurons by transfecting the Kiss1 gene into the rat's brain using a viral vector carrying the gene. The team noted that rescuing just 20% of the KNDy neurons (by forced expression of Kiss1 inside, but not outside, the NKB neurons) resulted in the release of pituitary gonadotropins, with concomitant growth of ovarian follicles up to pre-ovulatory size. Importantly, rescuing as little as 20% of the KNDy neurons was also enough to maintain ovarian function in female rats.

The results of the KNDy neuron-rescue experiment were confirmed in the second stage of the research by reversing the process in the first stage. This time, as the co-first-author, PhD student Mayuko Nagae explains, "We prepared genetically modified rats in which the Kiss1 gene was sandwiched between a DNA sequence named loxP. This enabled us to delete the Kiss1 gene only in KNDy neurons by excising the DNA sequence between the two loxP sites by carefully injecting a viral vector carrying the gene-encoding Cre recombinase, an enzyme that targets loxP sites in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. The rest of the kisspeptin neurons were left unaltered. In this way, we engineered conditional brain-region-specific Kiss1 gene deletion in KNDy neurons."

Deleting more than 90% of the Kiss1 gene from the specific subpopulation of kisspeptin neurons resulted in complete suppression of pulsed release of gonadotropins.

Taken together, these findings provide the first direct evidence that KNDy neurons are the GnRH pulse generator and that "rescuing" just 20% of the KNDy neurons is sufficient to restart the GnRH and gonadotropin pulses and to maintain growth of ovarian follicles, thereby recovering fertility.

The finding provides a potential therapeutic approach for patients with hypothalamic reproductive disorders. In particular, since the NKB peptide "agonist" or dynorphin-A peptide "antagonist" enhances the GnRH pulse generation, long-term administration of these NKB agonist or dynorphin-A antagonist using a sustained-release drug could be useful in enhancing GnRH pulses in patients. This would replace pulsed infusion of GnRH by an attached pump. This methodology could also be applied to domestic animals, because mammalian species, including domestic animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, primates as well as rodent experimental models, have the same brain mechanism for regulating reproductive function via hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons.

"At last, we found direct evidence that KNDy neurons are the GnRH pulse generator," continues Professor Tsukamura. "We have been seeking the source of the GnRH pulse generator - since long before the discovery of KNDy neurons - together with the late Dr. Kei-ichiro Maeda, of the University of Tokyo, the former Professor and PI of the Nagoya group, who suddenly passed away during this collaboration. We dedicate this study to him with gratitude for his leadership, supervision, and original ideas."

Professor Tsukamura and co-first-author Associate Professor Uenoyama think there is a lot more work to be done to find the molecular mechanism that controls KNDy neuronal, GnRH-pulse-generating activity. Nevertheless, they say, the present findings help illuminate the central mechanism underlying mammalian reproduction, and can be applied to the treatment of ovarian disorders in livestock as well as infertility in humans.

###

Citation: Nagae M, Uenoyama Y, Okamoto S, Tsuchida H, Ikegami K, Goto T, Majarune S, Nakamura S, Sanbo M, Hirabayashi M, Kobayashi K, Inoue N, Tsukamura H. (2021) "Direct evidence that KNDy neurons maintain gonadotropin pulses and folliculogenesis as the GnRH pulse generator," Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.

Funding: This work was supported in part by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI grant numbers 18H03973, 18K19267 (to H.Tsukamura), 19H03103 (to N.I.), and 20H03127 (to Y.U.) and the Cooperative Study Program of National Institute for Physiological Sciences. This study was also supported in part by the Graduate Program of Transformative Chem-Bio Research at Nagoya University, supported by MEXT (WISE Program). This study was also supported in part by the following research grants to the late Professor Kei-ichiro Maeda: the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activities for Innovative Biosciences and the Science and Technology Research Promotion Program for Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Food Industry.
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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.
Portlaoise hospital Frontline staff are battling harder than ever to save the lives of people with Covid-19 according to HSE figures which show that the intensive care service is at surge capacity while the Leinster Express understands that patients have had to be transferred out and while coping staff believe admissions are reaching a critical.

The HSE warned at that hospital ICU admissions could rise further due to the Christmas surge despite a falling incidence of the virus in the community. Evidence of this is confirmed on the latest figures from the Laois facility and its sister hospitals in Dublin and the midlands.

Frontline ICU staff at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise are now treating seven very ill people with the virus by 8 pm on Sunday, January 24. This number is about double the original capacity of the hospital's ICU which has been expanded since the start of the year to cope with the surge.

The figure is published in the latest HSE Covid-19 Daily Operations Update for Acute Hospitals.

The Leinster Express has also learned that four patients are in the hospital's ICU and three in the High Dependency Unit. The hospital has had to avail of the HSE ICU ambulance to move patients to other hospitals. Four ventilated patients have had to be moved since the start of January.

The designated general ward for Covid-19 patients is understood to be full most of the time.

"Pressurised but coping due to the heroics of nursing staff," was how a medical source described the situation who also had a warning.

"The numbers need to turn soon or system will collapse and normal treatment standards will be compromised or not guaranteed with the attendant awful choices/decision making,"

The HSE report, which was published on Monday, shows that there were a total of 23 people ill with the virus at the Laois hospital. This is the average amount of patients that have been treated at the hospital during the latest surge.

There was no suspected case in the hospital nor were there any new admissions on Sunday according to the report.

There was just 12 general bed and but no ICU bed at the hospital Sunday evening. The INMO said there was nobody was on a trolley waiting for a bed on Monday morning.

Portlaoise is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group which includes hospitals in Laois, Offaly, Kildare and the capital. All continue to be stretched by the third wave.

The latest report shows that there continue to be 53 confirmed cases at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore. The Offaly hospital had one suspect cases of the virus. Staff were treating four critically ill patients who had tested positive. No Covid patients were admitted on Sunday.

The bed situation has improved slightly. It had no available general care beds and has one ICU bed Monday when the INMO said 16 people were on trollies.

Naas General Hospital had 28 confirmed cases and five suspected cases on Sunday night. The Kildare hospital had 10 general care beds but no ICU bed available. It had three critically ill patients in ICU. Four trollies were deployed in Naas on Monday morning.

Tallaght and St James's hospitals are in the same group.

There were 122 confirmed and two suspected cases at Tallaght on Sunday night. The west Dublin hospital had seven general beds and one ICU bed available. Twelve confirmed Covid patients were critically ill in ICU where one suspected case was also being treated. There were five patients on trollies on Monday.

St James's had 100 confirmed and 28 suspected cases by 8 pm January 24. It had 30 general beds but just one ICU bed available going into the Monday. There were 21 confirmed and one suspected Covid patients in its ICU. It had six patients on trollies.

Nationally, there were 1,930 people in hospitals by the end of the weekend with Covid-19. However, there were 109 suspected in hospitals with 81 admitted in the previous 24 hours. These numbers have been a consistent trend for the past week.

The figures also show that 227 people were in ICU departments (219 confirmed, 8 suspected). Of these, 135 were ventilated (132 confirmed, 3 suspected). Four people died in ICU on Sunday.


For the last four years, I watched the Trump administration relentlessly attack our immigrant communities. I witnessed the administration push a nativist agenda by issuing disgraceful travel bans, separating families, threatening cities, undermining DACA, reducing refugee admissions, and imposing unprecedented burdens on visa and asylum-seekers, all while ratcheting up overheated anti-immigrant rhetoric. Most of that time I was heading the Office of Immigrant Affairs as Philadelphia, like other cities, led the way in embracing immigrants and bringing many of them from the shadows. Sadly, in the face of stiff federal resistance, cities were often the only champions for immigrants.

With Joe Biden sworn in as president, cities will no longer stand alone in supporting immigrants. But how will the new administration build back better?

 READ MORE: Biden bets big on immigration changes in opening move

The first 100 days of a new administration are crucial for setting the stage and establishing priorities. Biden has hit the ground running to undo Donald Trumps spiteful immigration policies and revive Americas welcoming spirit. In a series of executive orders, Biden rescinded the travel bans, bolstered DACA, halted border wall construction, and reversed plans to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census. While reversing past harms is promising, it will take more time and work for President Biden to rebuild trust from immigrants. To do that, his administration will have to treat cities like Philadelphia  which have been the first line of defense in protecting immigrants  as key partners in developing policy, offering insight and serving as models for reducing fears, rebuilding trust, and driving inclusion.

A crucial step in this effort will be addressing the driving cause of fear and mistrust amongst immigrants over the last four years: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Like our criminal justice system, the immigration system is in desperate need of accountability and reform. While Biden promises to end workplace raids and protect sensitive locations from immigration raids, thereby ensuring that no person avoids seeking medical attention or going to school, their job, or their place of worship for fear of confronting ICE agents, there is a lot more to be done to transform ICEs culture of fear and debunk myths like the immigration-crime connection. Emboldened by Trump, ICE terrorized communities and used deceptive practices, like wearing vests labeled Police, that are counterproductive to public safety and erode the trust local officials have worked so hard to build.

In Philadelphia, these actions made people feel scared, confused, and embattled. During my time in immigrant affairs, I regularly met with immigrant groups to discuss issues like language barriers and access to legal assistance. Yet, our conversations always returned to fear  of ICE, of deportation, and of the future  for themselves and for their children. The fear was palpable and so real that many could not attend these meetings. Cities helped ease those fears and created trust by reinforcing policies that limit the cooperation between local police and ICE and eliminating ICEs exploitation of law enforcement databases.

 READ MORE: Biden ends the Muslim ban on day one of his presidency but its legacy will linger | Opinion

The Biden administration must also advance forward-looking federal policies and programs that promote immigrant inclusion, equity, and equality. Philadelphia and welcoming cities like it understand their immigrant communities more intimately than the federal government. Cities see firsthand the local impact and importance of a diverse immigrant community that drives our economy and enriches our communities. In a promising initial step, the Biden administration proposed an immigration bill that recognizes the importance of immigrant integration and inclusion.

However, the bill faces a long and difficult congressional path toward passage. In its absence, the Biden administration must identify other ways within their executive authority to rapidly accomplish the goal of inclusion. Cities like Philadelphia can help and serve as models for action. Philadelphia has fashioned policies and programs that emphasize inclusion and benefit all residents, like accessible language resources and access to municipal IDs, regardless of immigration status, as well as those that promote dignity and access to justice like deportation defense.

Four years ago, a week after the inauguration, in an ominous sign of what was to come, former President Trump set the stage for his nativist agenda and issued the Muslim ban. I joined other city officials and thousands at the Philadelphia International Airport in solidarity with the immigrants targeted by the ban. I knew right then that the city would have to step up to fight against this hate, but I also saw the sea of people and retained faint glimmers of hope. And now that hope is justified. I hope that we will never have any more airport protests and that this will mark the beginning of a partnership between the Biden administration and cities to restore America to its role as a welcoming and inclusive nation.

Miriam Enriquez is an attorney and lecturer in law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law. She formerly served as the director of immigrant affairs for the City of Philadelphia, a legislation and policy adviser for a Philadelphia City Council member, and as a prosecutor at the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office.
Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Sound of Metal's Riz Ahmed are set to star together in the Danish animated documentary feature called Flee. They will be voicing the lead roles in the English version of the film. Coster-Waldau and Ahmed will also serve as the executive producers for the Danish documentary. Originally selected for Cannes Film Festival 2020, Flee will have its world premiere in the world documentary competition at Sundance Film Festival this week.

The animated documentary is based on a true story of a man's need to confront his past to have a future. At the age of 35 on the verge of his marriage, Amin tells the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee traveling from Afghanistan to Denmark that he has been hiding for 20 years which threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. Amin will be voiced by Riz Ahmed while Rasmussen's voice will be played by Coster-Waldau.

Also Read: Riz Ahmed Finally Reveals His Wife's Name, Talks About His Secret Wedding

Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau talk about Flee

Speaking to Variety, Riz Ahmed spoke about being floored by the emotional impact of the documentary. He stated this documentary was a unique project that pushed forward the ideas of what a documentary animation and refugee-centered narratives can be like. He said that he was proud to help bring this project to life for English-speaking audiences.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau expressed he was 'blown away by the power of the simple storytelling' of the documentary. He added that Flee is a story of extreme perseverance and hope. He expressed his thoughts on the animation used by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and how he captured the intensity of one refugee's unbelievable journey and according to him because Amin was able to tell his story hidden behind the animated avatar, it felt much more revealing and honest than had it been a standard filmed interview.

Also Read: Riz Ahmed Pays Tribute To Irrfan Khan In Gotham Awards Acceptance Speech

Flee documentary will premiere in the World Documentary competition at the Sundance film festival on Thursday, January 28. International Sales will be handled by Cinephil and 30WEST will handle North American Sales. The film is written by Rasmussen and Amin Nawabi. The documentary has been edited by Janus Billeskov Jansen, whose works include the Oscar-nominated The Hunt (2013), Joshua Oppenheimers Oscar-nominated The Act of Killing (2012), Yance Fords Oscar-nominated Strong Island (2017), and Thomas Vinterbergs Another Round (2020).

Also Read: GOT's Nikolaj Coster-Waldau & Peaky Blinders' Joe Cole Unite For Netflix's Against The Ice

Also Read: Game Of Thrones Prequel Series 'Tales Of Dunk And Egg' Is In Early Development: Reports

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
South Africa: SA COVID-19 death toll exceeds 40 000

South Africa recorded 8 147 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, along with 300 related deaths.

The country has now reached 1 412 986 confirmed infections, while the death toll now stands at 40 874.

Of the latest fatalities, 105 are in the Western Cape, 70 in KwaZulu-Natal, 45 in Gauteng, 43 in the Eastern Cape, 15 in Free State and 14 in the North West.

Meanwhile, six occurred in Mpumalanga and two in the Northern Cape.

We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated the deceased patients, said Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.

Our recoveries now stand at 1 230 520, representing a recovery rate of 87%, he added.

South Africa has 141 592 active cases, with the hardest-hit province including KwaZulu-Natal with 48 482 patients who are currently battling COVID-19.

KwaZulu-Natal is followed by the Western Cape with 25 901 active cases, Gauteng 21 941 and 13 682 in Free State.

The information is based on the 7 993 126 tests, of which 46 119 were performed since the last report.

The World Health Organisation is reporting 97 464 094 confirmed global cases of COVID-19, including 2 112 689 deaths, to date.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
President Joseph Biden, Jr. "pledged" to pursue policies advancing "moral evils and threaten human life and dignity" according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops President Archbishop Jose H. Gomez in a statement released last Wednesday.

Christian Headlines reported that the USCCB President is concerned about the new president's support of policies that "advance moral evils" amidst looking forward to work with his new administration.

"I look forward to working with President Biden and his administration, and the new Congress," the Archbishop of Los Angeles said, "Working with President Biden will be unique, however, as he is our first president in 60 years to profess the Catholic faith."

"In a time of growing and aggressive secularism in American culture, when religious believers face many challenges, it will be refreshing to engage with a President who clearly understands, in a deep and personal way, the importance of religious faith and institutions. Mr. Biden's piety and personal story, his moving witness to how his faith has brought him solace in times of darkness and tragedy, his longstanding commitment to the Gospel's priority for the poor--all of this I find hopeful and inspiring," he stressed.

Gomez explained that "as pastors" who are "given the duty of proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and power, in season and out of season, even when that teaching is inconvenient or when the Gospel's truths run contrary to the directions of the wider society and culture" it his duty and the rest of the bishop's to protect its flock against any policies that are contrary to the teachings of the church.

"So, I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences," Gomez said.

The archbishop went on to explain that the USCCB's commitment on "human sexuality and the family" among other issues "are guided by Christ's great commandment to love and to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, especially the most vulnerable," which makes abortion a "preeminent priority."

Abortion, he elaborated, "is a direct attack on life that also wounds the woman and undermines the family." Thus, it is "not only a private matter" but also a "matter of social justice" because it actually "raises troubling and fundamental questions of fraternity, solidarity, and inclusion in the human community." He raised "the reality that abortion rates are much higher among the poor and minorities" and even used to "eliminate children who would be born with disabilities."

"Rather than impose further expansions of abortion and contraception, as he has promised, I am hopeful that the new President and his administration will work with the Church and others of good will," Gomez said in the statement.

"My hope is that we can begin a dialogue to address the complicated cultural and economic factors that are driving abortion and discouraging families. My hope, too, is that we can work together to finally put in place a coherent family policy in this country, one that acknowledges the crucial importance of strong marriages and parenting to the well-being of children and the stability of communities.

"If the President, with full respect for the Church's religious freedom, were to engage in this conversation, it would go a long way toward restoring the civil balance and healing our country's needs," Gomez said before aligning with Biden's call for unity in ending his message.

Ironically, two days after Gomez released this statement, Biden announced on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade his full support to "reproductive health, and the right to choose" which he claimed "has been under relentless and extreme attack."

As such, his administration is "committed to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that reject foundational precedents like Roe" in an effort to "eliminate maternal and infant health disparities" and "increase access to contraception."
No demerit points for speeding in Phuket, for now

PHUKET: Motorists fined for speeding or any other moving violations are currently not losing any demerit points from their drivers licences as the whole demerit-points system has yet to be launched, Phuket Traffic Police confirmed today (Jan 25).

transportSafetypolice

By The Phuket News

Monday 25 January 2021, 03:45PM

Even being caught by a speed camera will not result in points being deducted from a driving licence for now, but will when the demerit-points system comes online mid-year. Photo: The Phuket News / file

The system was to be launched in December 2019. Officers in Phuket had been trained and were ready to start using the system, but the whole project  hailed as a milestone for its potential to help greatly reduce the carnage on Thailands roads each year  dragged to a halt within weeks.

The system is now expected to be brought online sometime in the middle of this year, Phuket City Traffic Police Deputy Chief Lt Col Rungrit Rattanaphakdee told The Phuket News today.

The demerit point penalties for traffic violations have not yet started. The system does not work because we are waiting for the Department of Land Transport database to be connected to all police stations in Phuket, and nationwide, Lt Col Rungrit explained.

The system is expected to be operational by the middle of this year, he added.

Lt Col Rungrit said that the system for police to use has already been set up so officers can enter details of traffic violations.

Police officers can access a national database connecting every police station in the country. They can see details of all tickets issued for moving violations and update the system with new entries, including which driver has been caught, he said.

Once the Department of Land Transport database connection with the police is finished, officers will be able to search a drivers history, see any previous traffic violations and the number of points left on their licence, Lt Col Rungrit explained.

The officer at the Phuket Land Transportation Office (PLTO) responsible for overseeing the project in Phuket was not available to answer questions when contacted by The Phuket News today.

The question of whether or not drivers were automatically having points deducted from the licences for speeding was raised after people started complaining of being fined for speeding on the bypass road despite not exceeding 100km/h.

Lt Col Rungrit confirmed today that anyone fined for speeding on bypass road will not lose points for now, but will when the demerit-points system comes online.

When the system comes online, any tickets issued automatically by speed cameras will result in points taken being automatically deducted from the licence of the registered owner of the vehicle, he said.

If the owner of the vehicle wants to dispute that, and present evidence that they were not driving the vehicle at the time, they will have to present their claim to the court, Lt Col Rungrit explained.

Lt Col Rungrit today also confirmed that the official speed limit on the bypass road was indeed just 50km/h, as he confirmed last week.

However, Lt Col Rungrit today also made it clear that police will now issue speeding tickets for motorists driving faster than 80km/h on the bypass road, as opposed to 100km/h, which for years was the unofficial speed limit along the busy road.
The two Senate leaders agreed on a trial timetable but certainly not on its outcome. Photo: Al Drago/Pool/Getty Images

In case you missed it, new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached an agreement on Friday night on a timetable for Donald Trumps second impeachment trial. Without such a bipartisan move (which superseded the schedule set out in the standing Senate rules on impeachment), the trial would have begun this week after the House formally transmitted the article of impeachment it passed on December 13.

Under the new schedule, senators will still be sworn in the day after the article arrives (which is expected to happen on the evening of January 25), but then House managers and Trumps attorneys will have two weeks to prepare and file pretrial motions before the trial itself begins the week of February 8, probably on February 9.

For Democrats, the delay gives Joe Biden some time to get his Cabinet confirmed and his legislative agenda underway (which is why he made positive comments about the agreement). Some may also hope that law-enforcement and media investigations of the events of January 6 may bring new and damning facts to light about Trumps complicity, while keeping the subject in the news.

But the delay may also strengthen the growing consensus among Senate Republicans that the trial is either unconstitutional or pointless now that Trump has left office. Despite all the excitement over McConnells comments criticizing Trump and reports that he is open to conviction, more and more members of his conference are publicly arguing that the trial should not take place, as the Associated Press reports:

When the House impeached Trump on Jan. 13, exactly one week after the siege, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he didnt believe the Senate had the constitutional authority to convict Trump after he had left office.

On Sunday, Cotton said the more I talk to other Republican senators, the more theyre beginning to line up behind that argument.

I think a lot of Americans are going to think its strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago, Cotton said.

This process argument against the trial (which has some scholarly support, as does the argument that it is entirely proper) has the benefit of appealing both to Republicans who claim Trump did nothing wrong (or at least nothing impeachably wrong) on January 6 and those who have criticized his conduct to one degree or another. Its a big part of the reason that securing 17 Republican votes to convict the former president is highly unlikely. The immediate appearance of 2022 primary opponents for the ten House Republicans who voted for impeachment, plus loud pleas and threats to senators from MAGA folk, will have an effect as well, along with Trumps own warning that he could start a third-party movement if Republicans arent loyal to him.

Even if most Senate Republicans do unite behind a no-trial strategy, theres not much they can do about it other than offer a motion to dismiss the article at the beginning of the proceedings, which is sure to fail without Democratic support. There has been some vague talk of securing a Supreme Court ruling that the trial is unconstitutional, but its doubtful there is time for that. And in any event, SCOTUS has been strongly disinclined in the past to interfere in congressional impeachment powers. Indeed, Chief Justice John Roberts is said to be eager to avoid repeating his presiding-officer role from the first impeachment trial on the reasonably solid grounds that the constitutional purpose of that position was to avoid a conflict of interest for a vice-president who might have inherited the presidency upon a conviction. Thats not the case for Trump and Kamala Harris. (CNN reported on Monday that Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, the Senate pro tempore, will preside.)

So were almost certainly going to have a trial, albeit perhaps a brief one, and we may never know how many Senate Republicans might have voted to convict Trump in a completely secret ballot. As it stands, there are simply too many easy excuses for them to resist or oppose his conviction, and they may be privately hoping that the 45th president will just go away or that his disrepute will keep him from making a comeback even if an impeachment trial doesnt.
The heartbreaking impact of enforced separation of care home residents from their families during the pandemic can be laid bare today.

Two images of 79-year-old great grandfather Stanley O'Neill, taken just six months apart, have revealed in harrowing detail the consequence of the lockdown on some of the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland.

Mr ONeill just six months later in May 2020

In the first photograph, Mr O'Neill - who was diagnosed with vascular dementia four years ago - is pictured in December 2019 smiling happily alongside his son, Simon, granddaughter Sophie, and great-grandson Ollie.

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Within a few weeks, Mr O'Neill moved to a care home for respite care after his behaviour became challenging due to his dementia.

It was the beginning of a nightmare for Mr O'Neill, and his family has blamed the lack of social interaction and emotional support from loved ones for the terrible decline in his health.

By the time the second picture was taken, just six months later, Mr O'Neill's weight had plummeted to six stone and he can be seen behind the window reaching out to touch family who had gathered outside to see him.

When Mr O'Neill, who is from Finaghy on the outskirts of south Belfast, first went to a care home in January last year, he had been living independently and was fully mobile.

He is now bedbound and barely recognises his beloved family, while medics have warned he only has six months to live.

Sophie explained: "The time that we have lost, we will never get that back.

"It has been such a distressing journey watching my granda go from someone who recognised me and was able to walk and live independently to the condition he is in today.

"When we have raised concerns, we're told that it is all down to the dementia, but I know that if I had been able to visit my granda and be there for him, he wouldn't be as bad as he is today."

When Mr O'Neill first went into a care home in January last year, Sophie and other family members were able to visit him every day.

However, visits were banned when Covid-19 arrived in Northern Ireland and within a matter of weeks, his behaviour deteriorated to the point where he had to be sectioned in hospital.

It was while he was in hospital that Mr O'Neill fell and broke his hip and needed hip replacement surgery.

"He was on the first floor so we were able to go to the hospital and look up at him through the window, but the window was closed so we couldn't even shout up to him," explained Sophie.

Mr O'Neill was subsequently discharged to another care home, where face-to-face visits were also banned, although the family was allowed window visits.

"It was the first time I had seen him in about six weeks and it was horrific," continued Sophie.

"He was so confused and upset, I took a picture of him and you can see him reaching out for my son.

"He had lost so much weight - my granda is 5ft 11in and he only weighed six stone by this stage, it was so, so shocking.

"I had an emotional breakdown. Imagine how distressing it is to see someone you love through a window and they're so upset and don't understand why you won't hold their hand or hug them and they're crying to you."

Three weeks after arriving in his new care home, the family received a call from staff to say that Mr O'Neill had been rushed to hospital after he was found unresponsive in his room.

"The doctors told us they didn't think he would make it through the night," continued Sophie.

"It turned out MRSA had been eating away at his foot and he had a big chunk out of his ear."

Mr O'Neill rallied and he was subsequently discharged to a different home which has implemented the care partner concept, which means Sophie and her father can both visit Mr O'Neill twice a week each.

The home where Mr O'Neill is living now is one of a minority of homes in Northern Ireland that have put in place the scheme to enable face-to-face visits in care homes.

Sophie said: "We're pleased about the visits but even though he is on palliative care, we won't be able to see him properly until he is actively dying and only has 72-hours left to live.

"The thing is, we're not the only family going through this, so many people are suffering."

The Department of Health has yet to respond to a request for comment.
Romania's budget is under a lot of pressure at the moment, due to the need to fall within that 7 percent deficit agreed with the European Commission, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna told on Monday a press conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Fondul Proprietatea (FP)'s listing on the local capital market.

"The pandemic crisis has put a lot of pressure on many areas of the economy, and Romania's budget is under a lot of pressure at the moment due to the need to fall within that 7 percent deficit agreed with the European Commission. And from this perspective, the capital market can be a much-needed tool and partner. I am currently working with my team and colleagues in the Government on the Reconstruction and Resilience Plan that Romania will propose to the European Commission. We are talking about 30 million euros that will be infused into Romania's capital market. From this perspective, in order to emerge from the crisis when the vaccination campaign has the expected success and we enter into a logic of economic reconstruction, the role of the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the capital market in the broadest sense is one that I see as fundamental," Barna said.

According to him, the current government sees the partnership with the capital market as a very concrete priority.

"This Government needs to compensate for the violently anti-market economy government of the PSD [the Social Democratic Party] in recent years which has conveyed a negative message internationally, which means investors who had been eyeing Romania. Over the last four years since being involved in major-league politics I had many meetings with important international investors who explained to me what a great opportunity the Romanian market is, what benefits we have through the geographical position, the type of economy, the size of the country, through the fact that we are members of the European Union and how, nevertheless, we do not use these opportunities in the capital market area due to a way of seeing things significantly lagging behind. Or, this current coalition government that is leading Romania comes with a new point of view in which the partnership with the capital market, the stake of developing the capital market, the partnership with the Stock Exchange represent a priority, not formal and declarative, but a very concrete one," said Deputy Prime Minister Barna.

He added that as long as Romania does not convey a message of real support to the capital market at Government level, the economic prospects "remain limited or marginally related to one opportunity or another".
JANUARY 25, 2021 -- UTSA today marked the groundbreaking of its $90 million School of Data Science and National Security Collaboration Center, the first new building in a series planned as part of its Downtown Campus expansion, with a virtual celebration.

The 167,000-square-foot, six-story structure on 506 Dolorosa St. will sit along San Pedro Creek east of IH-35, anchoring UTSA to San Antonio's prospering high-tech corridor and serving as a catalyst for economic and community investment in the San Pedro Creek area. The project advances the university's vision to earn national recognition as a research-intensive institution and bolsters San Antonio's national standing as Cyber City USA.

"For more than 20 years UTSA has been a pioneer in cybersecurity and also now offers best-in-class programs in data science, cyber manufacturing, cloud computing and artificial intelligence," said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. "This new transdisciplinary building, which is deeply connected to the economic well-being of San Antonio and will house the first School of Data Science in Texas, will enable UTSA to prepare students for the high tech jobs of the future and to grow its ecosystem of government, industry and academic partners tackling society's grand security challenges."

The SDS will include nearly 86,000 square feet of classroom, laboratory and research space for the 6,500 data science students who are projected to take classes there by 2022. UTSA's 70-plus faculty members in cybersecurity, cloud computing, data analytics and artificial intelligence will be located there, enabling more frequent collaborations with government, industry and community partners in the heart of San Antonio. The university's computer science, computer engineering, statistics and data sciences, and information systems and cybersecurity departments will reside in the new facility in addition to its Open Cloud Institute.

The NSCC, which includes more than 81,000 square feet for innovation, laboratories and research, will be co-located with the SDS. Currently operating at the Main Campus, the center is a hub for government, university and industry partners in the cybersecurity field.

The Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute will be co-located within the NSCC as well as various collaborative efforts in forensics; visualization and analytics; network security, cyber training and workforce development; big data analytics and privacy; postquantum cryptography, cyber-physical systems and embedded security; cloud security; attack and threat modeling and mitigation; machine learning and artificial intelligence; and platform, software and hardware integrity.

Fusing data science, cybersecurity and cyber manufacturing under one roof in San Antonio's tech sector will elevate UTSA as an innovative leader in addressing national security challenges.

"There is no other place that has built an ecosystem combining the community's business strengths and research expertise in data science, information management and cybersecurity like our ecosystem here in San Antonio," said Eighmy.

Construction on the SDS-NSCC building is funded with $75 million from The University of Texas System Permanent University Fund and a $15 million gift from San Antonio business leader Graham Weston.

"The UTSA School of Data Science will be at the heart of the thrust of new innovation over the coming decades. We can be a national leader in this field--one of the few schools that really separates itself from the pack," said Weston. "This is going to change the face of what UTSA is, and my prediction is UTSA is going to be famous around the country and the world in data science and cybersecurity.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff added, "San Antonio and Bexar County have the largest cybersecurity presence in the nation outside of Washington, D.C. Communities likes ours that have well-educated young people in cybersecurity and data science are going to have a big edge on other communities."

The UT System Board of Regents approved the design development for the SDS-NSCC building last November. Whiting-Turner | Jacobs | Overland designed and will construct the building. In December, Whiting-Turner began removing the parking lot at the property, which UTSA purchased from the City of San Antonio. Construction is expected to be complete by July 2022.

The new building will be accessible and attractive to the community. The center will house a ground-level cafe, in addition to a large, multipurpose, public event space for students and tenants.

"The expansion of UTSA's Downtown Campus footprint is beneficial to San Antonio in so many ways," said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. "From the residential life and vibrancy of a 24/7 place of recreation and business to having some of the most profound emerging economies centered in the heart of our city, the National Security Collaboration Center and the School of Data Science will attract the kind of talent and employers we want to see grow in San Antonio."

In the coming years UTSA plans to further expand its Downtown Campus footprint. It will construct its 250,000-square foot Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Careers Building just west of the SDS-NSCC building at the site of the demolished Bexar County Jail. This College of Business expansion is expected to be completed in 2025.

Plans for the university's third Dolorosa Street property are in development.

###
25 January 2021

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc

("Conroy Gold" or the "Company")

Notice of extraordinary general meeting to maintain electronic trading in the Company's shares post Brexit

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc (AIM: CGNR), the gold exploration and development company focused on Ireland and Finland, announces that it has convened an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held at Unit 3300 Lake Drive, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, D24 TD21, Ireland on 17 February 2021 at 11.00 a.m. (the "EGM").

The business of the EGM will be to consider and, if thought fit, approve certain resolutions which are necessary to effect a technical change to how, and where, the electronic settlement of trading in Conroy Gold shares occurs. Settlement is the process that occurs following a trade in Conroy Gold shares when payment is made and ownership of the shares transfers. This change is a consequence of the end of the transition period following the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union ("Brexit") and will not alter where Conroy Gold's shares are listed or traded.

Background to the EGM

As a consequence of Brexit, the settlement system relating to trading in the Company's shares needs to move from CREST in London to Euroclear Bank in Belgium ("Migration"). Migration is expected to occur on 15 March 2021. However, if the resolutions proposed for the EGM are passed, the Company's shares will continue to be traded on the AIM market in London.

There is no meaningful alternative to Migration and failure to migrate would remove the Company's access to electronic trade settlement. This would seriously risk the Company's ability to retain admission of its shares to trading on AIM and, importantly, a market for its ordinary shares. Therefore, the board is asking all shareholders to support the resolutions proposed for he EGM by voting in favour of all the resolutions being proposed at the EGM or appointing a proxy to do so on their behalf.

A circular, which includes the notice of the EGM (the "Circular"), and a form of proxy will be posted to shareholders later today. The Board strongly urges shareholders to review the contents of the Circular in their entirety, including the documents referred to therein, and consider the Board's recommendation to vote in favour of the resolutions being proposed at the EGM.

In economic terms, shareholders' interest in their shares is largely unaffected by Migration but there are some technical changes to how their interest is held and therefore shareholders are recommended to read the Circular.

The Circular, the form of proxy and copies of the documents referred to in the Circular will be available to view shortly on the Company's website, www.conroygold.com and will be available for inspection during normal business hours on any business day from the date of the Notice of EGM until the EGM at the registered office of the Company at Unit 3300 Lake Drive, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, D24 TD21, Ireland.

Public Health Guidelines and the EGM

The well-being of shareholders and employees is a primary concern for the Board. The Board is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and will take all recommendations and applicable law into account in the conduct of the EGM. Based on the latest available guidance from the Health Service Executive ("HSE") in Ireland the Board expects the EGM to proceed on 17 February 2021 but under very constrained circumstances.

In line with the measures advised by the HSE and Irish Government recommendations on public gatherings, we have put in place a number of measures to minimise the risk of spreading the Coronavirus (Covid-19) at the EGM and we encourage all Shareholders, on this occasion, to complete and return their Forms of Proxy as soon as possible to ensure their vote is registered at the EGM and to minimise the need to attend in these unprecedented circumstances. In light of the unprecedented circumstances arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Board would ask that Shareholders refrain from physical attendance at the EGM.

Given the severity of the circumstances and the health risks involved, the Directors will take all appropriate safety measures to ensure the safety of any attendees and others involved in the EGM, including restricting attendance at the EGM, should it be deemed necessary or desirable.

Proxy voting can be carried out in advance of the EGM by completing the form of proxy to the Company's Registrar, Link Registrars Limited at P.O. Box 1110, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland (if delivered by post) or Link Registrars Limited, Block C, Maynooth Business Campus, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, W23 F854, Ireland (if delivered by hand during normal business hours). To be valid, Forms of Proxy, and any authority under which they are signed, must be lodged not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for the holding of the meeting.

For further instructions on proxy voting, shareholders should read carefully the form of Proxy and the notes to the Notice of EGM.

Any relevant updates regarding the EGM, including any changes to the arrangements outlined in the Circular, will be announced via a Regulatory Information Service and will be available on www.conroygold.com.

In the event that it is not possible to hold the EGM either in compliance with public health guidelines or applicable law or where it is otherwise considered that proceeding with the EGM as planned poses an unacceptable health and safety risk, the EGM may be adjourned or postponed or relocated to a different time and/or venue, in which case notification of such adjournment or postponement or relocation will be given in accordance with applicable law.

Shareholders may submit questions relating to the business of the meeting in advance (so as to be received no later than 11:00 a.m. on 15 February 2021) by email to cgnr-egm@conroygold.com. Questions submitted using this method will be posted in a statement on the Company's website.

For further information please contact :

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources plc Tel: +353-1-479-6180 Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman

Allenby Capital Limited(Nomad) Tel: +44-20-3328-5656 Nick Athanas/Nick Harriss Brandon Hill Capital Limited (Joint Broker)

Tel: +44-20-3463-5000 Jonathan Evans

First Equity Limited (Joint Broker)

Jason Robertson



Lothbury Financial Services

Tel: +44-20-7330-1883





Tel: +44-20-3290-0707 Michael Padley Hall Communications Tel: +353-1-660-9377 Don Hall

Visit the website at:www.conroygold.com
Jeffery Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre has provided enough evidence to French officials for the late pedophile's model agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel to be charged with multiple rapes, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Virginia Giuffre, 37, is now the key witness in the prosecution of Brunel, 75, after claiming that both him and Prince Andrew, 60, used her as their 'sex slave'.

The two men vehemently deny any wrongdoing, but in December Brunel was remanded in custody in Paris after being charged with multiple rapes of Giuffre and a separate case of sexual harassment against an unidentified complainant.

It followed dozens of women saying Brunel abused them while running an underage sex ring with Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in 2019.

Almost all of the accusations leveled against Brunel are from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, meaning they fall outside the 20-year limit for prosecuting sex crimes in France.

This meant that Brunel was considered 'untouchable' by police who nicknamed him 'The Ghost' as he carried on living and working in the French capital, while frequently traveling abroad on scouting assignments and holidays.

But in November Giuffre responded to an online English language appeal by French magistrates for alleged victims to come forward.

Jeffery Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre has provided enough evidence to French officials for the late pedophile's model agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel (pictured) to be charged with multiple rapes, DailyMail.com can reveal

Virginia Giuffre, 37, (pictured) is now the key witness in the prosecution of Brunel, 75, after claiming that both him and Prince Andrew, 60, used her as their 'sex slave'

Prince Andrew was, like his friend Maxwell, a regular visitor to Epstein's mansion flat in Paris, where many of the worst crimes against girls are said to have taken place. Pictured: Prince Andrew, Virginia and Ghislaine Maxwell at Maxwell's London flat

'Ms Giuffre now lives in Australia but responded to the appeal,' said an investigating source. 'She was interviewed remotely, and provided considerable evidence against Brunel.

'She said that she was raped by Brunel in the early 2000s, including in 2001. This was a considerable breakthrough for the enquiry.'

It meant that the alleged crime was well within the statute of limitations, and therefore prosecutable.

Officers were set to arrest Brunel in January following further enquiries, but on December 16 he was intercepted at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris with a one-way ticket to Dakar, capital of Senegal, in West Africa.

'This led to his immediate arrest and he was placed in custody,' said the source. 'The multiple rape charges solely relate to the testimony of Virginia Giuffre, and not any of the other alleged rape victims.

'The sexual harassment indictment is nothing to do with the Epstein case, and instead relates to incidents in 2016 following a complaint by another woman who has not gone public.'

The 'multiple rapes' of Virginia Giuffre  now a mother of three who was called Virginia Roberts before her marriage  were said to have mainly taken place at Epstein's home on the private island of Little Saint James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Giuffre had produced sworn testimonies saying that both Brunel and Prince Andrew attacked her there.

According to French law, a French citizen such as Brunel can be tried in France for offences committed abroad.

Epstein  an old friend of Andrew's and a business associate of Brunel's  committed suicide in his prison cell in New York on August 10 2019, while awaiting trial for a range of offences, including trafficking minors for sex, and multiple rapes

Others said to have been involved in the sex ring include Epstein's ex-girlfriend, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, who is currently on remand in the USA after being charged with the trafficking of underage girls and the enticement of minors.

Prince Andrew was, like his friend Maxwell, a regular visitor to Epstein's mansion flat in Paris, where many of the worst crimes against girls are said to have taken place.

A French judicial enquiry into Brunel's conduct and the sex ring was opened in August 2019, when prosecutors first heard allegations that Brunel and the Queen's second son shared a lover.

Giuffre said she was forced to sleep with the Duke after being trafficked to him at least three times when she was 17.

Prince Andrew has consistently denied the accusations levelled by Giuffre, telling the BBC in 2019: 'I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever.'

Giuffre has now told the French she was routinely raped by Brunel between the ages of 16 and 19.

Brunel, who has worked with celebrities including Jerry Hall, Sharon Stone and Monica Bellucci, is also suspected of using his contacts in the fashion industry to provide victims to Epstein and his friends.

He is said to have flown 12-year-old sisters from a Paris housing estate to America so they could be abused by Epstein as 'a birthday present'.

Brunel was the founder of MC2, the model agency that prosecutors believe was used as a cover for the sex trafficking ring. The out-of-time evidence against Brunel comes from a number of former models, who  like Giuffre  have waived their anonymity to make their allegations public

The Dutch model, Thysia Huisman (pictured), who was 18 when she first stayed with Brunel, said she was raped by him in 1991. Huisman is now one of at least four alleged victims represented by Anne-Claire Le Jeune, a Paris barrister, who said Brunel being in custody was a huge relief, because their complaints now 'take on meaning'

Epstein  an old friend of Andrew's and a business associate of Brunel's  committed suicide in his prison cell in New York on August 10 2019, while awaiting trial for a range of offences, including trafficking minors for sex, and multiple rapes.

Brunel was the founder of MC2, the model agency that prosecutors believe was used as a cover for the sex trafficking ring.

The out-of-time evidence against Brunel comes from a number of former models, who  like Giuffre  have waived their anonymity to make their allegations public.

New Zealander Zoe Brock has claimed in statements made to French investigators that she was abused in his Paris home in the early 1990s.

The Dutch model, Thysia Huisman, who was 18 when she first stayed with Brunel, said she was raped by him in 1991.

Huisman is now one of at least four alleged victims represented by Anne-Claire Le Jeune, a Paris barrister, who said Brunel being in custody was a huge relief, because their complaints now 'take on meaning'.

Sigrid McCawley, Virginia Giuffre's lawyer, confirmed her client was cooperating with the French enquiry and had offered evidence.

McCawley said: 'My clients and I are delighted [by the French prosecution]. This is a sign that the investigation by the French authorities is advancing.

'Jean-Luc Brunel played a key role in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking ring. Virginia Giuffre in particular, my oldest client, made it a personal struggle to hold the people who assaulted so many young girls to account. She is grateful to the French authorities for taking Jean-Luc Brunel's behaviour very seriously.'

Marianne Abgrall, Brunel's lawyer, said: 'My client formally disputes the facts of which he is accused. He is very upset that his name is dragged through the mud without moderation.'
Mexico & Banderas Bay Area News



Boulder, Puerto Vallarta Fire Department Chiefs Meet



Boulder, Colorado firefighter Manny Garcia (L) has been collecting old fire gear at his department and donating it to rural departments in and around Puerto Vallarta. (Cliff Grassmick/Daily Camera Staff Photographer) Boulder, Colorado - Boulder firefighter Manny Garcia overheard a discussion a couple of years ago about the fire department needing to unload older, excess equipment.



He offered to find it a new home, connecting with the fire chief in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He said he and his wife like to travel and previously had visited the popular beach destination. He's also a first generation American with roots in Mexico.



"My natural instinct was to give back to the culture where I grew up," he said.



Since that first donation, he's helped organize several more trips to take firefighting supplies to Puerto Vallarta and some nearby rural fire departments, as well as coordinating training sessions there on wildfires, engineering, and safety and survival.



While the pandemic has temporarily put training sessions on hold, he said, the goal is to schedule two a year.





Boulder Fire Chief, Michael Calderazzo, left, welcomes Puerto Vallarta Fire Chief Adrian Bobadilla, right, as Manny Garcia listens. (Cliff Grassmick/Daily Camera Staff Photographer)



To cement what's becoming a "sister city," or sister fire department, connection between the two, Puerto Vallarta Fire Chief Adrian Bobadilla traveled to Boulder last week. He meet Boulder Fire Chief Michael Calderazzo on Thursday, took a tour of the Boulder County Regional Fire Training Center and picked up more equipment to take to Mexico.



"We are very, very happy with all the help," Bobadilla said.



In a city that depends on tourism, he said, it's been a struggle to afford updated equipment. His firefighters also respond not just to structure fires, but ocean rescues and wildfires.



Garcia said Boulder Fire Rescue is lucky to have high quality equipment, noting Puerto Vallarta only has five fire hydrants in a city of about 300,000. The fire department also has older fire trucks, with only about 200 feet of hose per truck. A Boulder fire truck has about 3,000 feet of hose.



Donations from Boulder have included about 150 fire suits, as well as boots, masks and fire hoses. One of Garcia's goals is to add a newer fire truck to the donation pile.



Calderazzo said it's a mutually beneficial relationship. Boulder firefighters who have traveled to Mexico to help with training come back 'with a glow'. "They see the fire service as an international family," he said. "We can show support for one another."



Original article - Boulder firefighter Manny Garcia overheard a discussion a couple of years ago about the fire department needing to unload older, excess equipment.He offered to find it a new home, connecting with the fire chief in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He said he and his wife like to travel and previously had visited the popular beach destination. He's also a first generation American with roots in Mexico."My natural instinct was to give back to the culture where I grew up," he said.Since that first donation, he's helped organize several more trips to take firefighting supplies to Puerto Vallarta and some nearby rural fire departments, as well as coordinating training sessions there on wildfires, engineering, and safety and survival.While the pandemic has temporarily put training sessions on hold, he said, the goal is to schedule two a year.To cement what's becoming a "sister city," or sister fire department, connection between the two, Puerto Vallarta Fire Chief Adrian Bobadilla traveled to Boulder last week. He meet Boulder Fire Chief Michael Calderazzo on Thursday, took a tour of the Boulder County Regional Fire Training Center and picked up more equipment to take to Mexico."We are very, very happy with all the help," Bobadilla said.In a city that depends on tourism, he said, it's been a struggle to afford updated equipment. His firefighters also respond not just to structure fires, but ocean rescues and wildfires.Garcia said Boulder Fire Rescue is lucky to have high quality equipment, noting Puerto Vallarta only has five fire hydrants in a city of about 300,000. The fire department also has older fire trucks, with only about 200 feet of hose per truck. A Boulder fire truck has about 3,000 feet of hose.Donations from Boulder have included about 150 fire suits, as well as boots, masks and fire hoses. One of Garcia's goals is to add a newer fire truck to the donation pile.Calderazzo said it's a mutually beneficial relationship. Boulder firefighters who have traveled to Mexico to help with training come back 'with a glow'. "They see the fire service as an international family," he said. "We can show support for one another."



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SCOTUS Rejects Case From Nevada Church Protesting CCP Virus Worship Restrictions

The Supreme Court on Jan. 25 rejected a request from a church in Nevada to suspend state restrictions on religious gatherings.

Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in May 2020 sued Nevada officials over Gov. Steve Sisolaks emergency orders barring churches and other places of worship from holding in-person services of 10 or more people.

The church alleged in its complaint that officials moved non-essential secular businesses and activities to the front of the line and pushed churches towards the back. Restaurants, for instance, were allowed to resume in-person dining at 50 percent capacity.

The U.S. District of Court for the District of Nevada denied motions seeking a stay of Sisolaks orders and an appeals court declined to intervene, prompting petitioners to go to the Supreme Court.

Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, denied the application for injunctive relief in July 2020. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, wrote in a dissent that Sisolak claimed virtually unbounded power to restrict constitutional rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The directive limiting attendance at religious services came as casinos and certain other favored facilities may admit 50% of their maximum occupancyand in the case of gigantic Las Vegas casinos, this means that thousands of patrons are allowed, they wrote.

Plaintiffs then asked the nations highest court for a writ of certiorari, or to immediately review Kagans decision.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak speaks during a news conference on the states response to the coronavirus outbreak at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas on March 17, 2020. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Before the Supreme Court weighed in, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last month reversed the initial order from the district court.

The church demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its Free Exercise claim, the panel ruled. Accordingly, we reverse the district court, instruct the district court to employ strict scrutiny review to its analysis of the Directive, and preliminarily enjoin the State from imposing attendance limitations on in-person services in houses of worship that are less favorable than 25% of the fire-code capacity. The district court may modify this preliminary injunctive relief, consistent with this opinion and general equitable principles, it ruled.

The Supreme Court said on Jan. 25 that it was denying the writ of certiorari.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford had argued this month that the appeals court ruling meant the case had progressed beyond the petition filed last year. And the extraordinary remedy of a writ of certiorari before judgment is now unnecessary, if it was ever warranted at all, he told the Supreme Court in a filing.

Lawyers challenged that filing, arguing the petition was not moot and presented an issue of great importance: the proper comparators to use when assessing a government restriction on free exercise rights.
Bradley Cooper was seen with his daughter Lea in New York City on Monday.

The 46-year-old star was spotted walking to breakfast while holding the hand of the child, age three.

While the A Star Is Born actor wore all dark colors, his little girl - whose mother is supermodel Irina Shyak - had on pastel hues.

Quality time: On Monday, Bradley Cooper was spotted taking a walk through New York City to get breakfast with his daughter Lea

Cooper wore a black double-breasted jacket on top of a matching hoodie and white T-shirt during the outing.

He contrasted his top with a pair of striped sweatpants and a set of high-top black boots.

The Alias actor kept a dark flat cap turned backwards for the walk and wore a pair of dark sunglasses to keep the bright morning light out of his eyes.

Little Lea was dressed in a pink puffy overcoat on top of a pair of graphic printed leggings and silver boots.

Layering up: The actor wore a large black jacket on top of a hoodie to keep himself warm in the New York winter weather; his daughter also wore a pink puffy overcoat for the same reason

Not taking chances: The two both wore facial coverings to protect themselves from any potential exposure to COVID-19

She also wore a pink fuzz-ball beanie to keep her head warm as she spent time in the winter air.

The father-and-daughter pair both wore facial coverings to keep themselves protected in the midst of the global pandemic.

Cooper welcomed Lea with his former partner Shayk in 2017; the couple was romantically linked from 2015 until 2019.

The exes have reportedly settled their differences and are now amicably co-parenting their daughter, with the actor having recently made a cross-country trip to spend time with her.

He was previously married to Jennifer Esposito from 2006 until 2007; before starting a relationship with Shayk, the actor was also involved with actresses Zoe Saldana and Renee Zellweger.

Time flies: Lea's mother is the actor's former partner Irina Shayk; the two were in a relationship from 2015 until 2019

Although the coronavirus pandemic has made a notable impact on the film industry, Cooper managed to stay busy throughout 2020 and currently has two major projects in the pipeline.

The actor is set to star in the upcoming Guillermo Del Toro-directed thriller film Nightmare Alley, which is based on the 1946 novel of the same name.

The Pennsylvania native will portray a carnival worker who delves deep into a seedy underground world after meeting a mysterious psychiatrist.

Production on the film initially began in January of last year and continued until March, when shooting was shut down due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic; principal photography resumed in September and finished up three months later.

Cooper will also have a main role in the period drama Soggy Bottom, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

The crew was supposed to begin filming in the spring or summer of 2020; shooting commenced in August and was finished by November; a release date for the film has not been confirmed as of yet.

It's all good: Cooper and Shayk have reportedly settled their differences and agreed to coparent their child; the two are seen with Lea during a trip to Italy in 2018

Later on in the day, Lea was seen being taken out in a stroller by her mother, who had picked up coffee before taking her daughter for her walk.

The 34-year-old supermodel was dressed in a black t-shirt underneath a large leather jacket with white fleece lining.

The former Victoria's Secret model was also spotted wearing a pair of black-and-white Adidas track pants to stay in tone with her dual-color outfit.

Shayk carried a small handbag with her to carry her belongings during her walk.

Responsive mom: After Cooper returned from his time with Lea, Shayk took the opportunity to take Lea for a walk

Style: The supermodel wore a large black jacket and track pants during her outing with the couple's daughter

The Russian native kept her beautiful brown hair messy and allowed some of it to hang out from underneath a black beanie.

Shayk accessorized with a small pair of sunglasses and two gold necklaces.

She also wore a large black face mask, which she occasionally pulled down to smile at her daughter.

At certain points during the walk, the model pulled the stroller's awning down to keep Lea from getting too much sun in her eyes.

Taking precautions: Shayk wore a black face mask to reduce the chance of contracting COVID-19

Happy parent: The model occasionally lowered her face mask in order to grin at her daughter

Before entering into a relationship with Lea's father, Shayk was notably involved with star athlete Cristiano Ronaldo, whom she began dating in 2009.

The couple was the subject of intense media attention until they split up in 2015, when she began seeing Cooper.

In an interview with Vogue, the model spoke about her feelings on dating and how she was grateful for the time that she had with her former partner.

'I think in all good relationships you bring your best and your worst  its just the nature of a human being. Two great people dont have to make a good couple. I think weve been very lucky to experience what we had with each other,' she stated.

Former flame: The supermodel was previously in a relationship with athlete Cristiano Ronaldo from 2009 until 2015
Mayfield Man Arrested on Rape, Burglary Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Police said Chapman is accused of unlawfully entering the home of a female companion, and sexually assaulting her. Officers reportedly found Chapman on a bicycle riding past the victim's home.





Officers also served an arrest warrant on Chapman for violation of pretrial diversion. He was charged with possession of methamphetamine and tampering with physical evidence.



He was lodged in the Graves County Jail.



MAYFIELD - A Mayfield man was arrested over the weekend on rape, drug and burglary charges.The Mayfield Police Department said officers arrested 49-year-old Jonathan Chapman Saturday on charges of 1st degree rape and 1st degree burglary charges.
Vizsla Extends Papayo Prospect to the South at Panuco Project, Mexico

Posted by Publisher Internet

Vizsla Resources Corp. (TSX-V: VZLA) (OTCQB: VIZSF) (Frankfurt: 0G3) (?Vizsla? or the ?Company?  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/vizsla-resources-corp/) is pleased to provide results from eight new holes at the Papayo prospect at the Panuco silver-gold project (?Panuco? or the ?Project?) in Mexico.? These results extend the Papayo zone over 120 metres to the south where it remains open.

Drilling Highlights

NP-20-50

413 g/t silver equivalent (198.0 g/t silver, 0.96 g/t gold, 1.43 % lead, and 4.53 % zinc) over 1.91 m true width from 132.4 m including;

1,009 g/t silver equivalent (477.9 g/t silver, 2.19 g/t gold, 3.67 % lead, and 11.7 % zinc) over 0.69 m true width from 132.4 m including

NP-20-36

321 g/t silver equivalent (144.3 g/t silver, 1.21 g/t gold, 0.75 % lead, and 2.41 % zinc) over 2.46 m true width from 184.5 m

Note: All numbers are rounded and widths represent estimated true widths.? Silver equivalent is calculated using the following formula: Silver-equivalent = ((Au_g/t x 52.48) + (Ag_g/t x 0.5289) + (Pb_ppm x 0.0013) + (Zn_ppm x 0.0013)) / 0.5627.? Metal price assumptions are $17.50 g/t silver, $1,700 g/t gold, $0.75 pound lead and $0.85 pound zinc, recoveries assumptions are 96% gold, 94% silver, 78% lead and 70% zinc based on similar deposit types. The Company is disclosing results on a silver equivalent basis due to the overall silver dominant nature of mineralization at the Panuco project.

Vizsla President and CEO, Michael Konnert, commented: ?Papayo now extends over 240 meters of strike with two parallel veins containing mineralization and remains open.? It is located approximately 1km north of the Napoleon discovery and is one of a number of targets along the vein corridor.? Based on these two successes, the Company has commenced a systematic 100m spaced program to test the entire 2.7km length of the corridor to find new zones and define the total endowment of the Napoleon Vein.?

Papayo Drilling detail

Drilling at Papayo has defined a central zone with mineralization that is better developed in the hangingwall vein (defined by holes NP-20-21, NP-20-28 and NP-20-36).? Stepping to south, drilling has intersected another better developed zone of mineralization around hole NP-20-50 that is open for expansion with higher grades in both the hangingwall and footwall veins (Figure 2).

The broader Napoleon structure is hosted in weakly magnetic microdiorite and trends roughly north ? south for over 2,700 m of strike.? The structure hosts two main quartz veins that are separated by 10 to 20m, and dips steeply to the east.? Between the two main veins are a series of smaller splay veins with variable orientations, that are related to opening along the structure under strike slip movement.? The two main veins have a variable true width of 0.4 to 15.3 m and are usually hosted next to the main fault structure, though occasionally also occur outside of the fault.

The two main veins are multi-episodal quartz veins, with sections of massive white to grey quartz as well as local brecciation with clasts of grey quartz, white vein quartz and/or wallrock fragments.? The grey quartz is discoloured due to the presence of very fine-grained argentite.? A later breccia cuts these earlier phases that is grey quartz supporting polymictic clasts of grey and white quartz along with strong chlorite and fine to medium grained pyrite, sphalerite and galena.? Other smaller quartz veins have been cut in both the hanging wall and footwall that appear to be splays with less continuity.

About the Panuco project

Vizsla has an option to acquire 100% of the recently consolidated 9,386.5 Ha Panuco district in southern Sinaloa, Mexico, near the city of Mazatlan.? The option allows for the acquisition of over 75 km of total vein extent, a 500 tpd mill, 35 kms of underground mines, tailings facilities, roads, power and permits.

The district contains intermediate to low sulfidation epithermal silver and gold deposits related to siliceous volcanism and crustal extension in the Oligocene and Miocene. Host rocks are mainly continental volcanic rocks correlated to the Tarahumara Formation.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Drill core and rock samples were shipped to ALS Limited in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico and in North Vancouver, Canada for sample preparation and for analysis at the ALS laboratory in North Vancouver.? The ALS Zacatecas and North Vancouver facilities are ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 certified. Silver and base metals were analyzed using a four-acid digestion with an ICP finish and gold was assayed by 30-gram fire assay with atomic absorption (?AA?) spectroscopy finish. Over limit analyses for silver, lead and zinc were re-assayed using an ore-grade four-acid digestion with AA finish.

Control samples comprising certified reference samples, duplicates and blank samples were systematically inserted into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company?s quality assurance / quality control protocol.

Qualified Person

The Company?s disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Stewart Harris, P.Geo., an independent consultant for the Company. Mr. Harris is a Qualified Person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes certain ?Forward?Looking Statements? within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and ?forward?looking information? under applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words ?anticipate?, ?believe?, ?estimate?, ?expect?, ?target?, ?plan?, ?forecast?, ?may?, ?would?, ?could?, ?schedule? and similar words or expressions, identify forward?looking statements or information. These forward?looking statements or information relate to, among other things: the development of Panuco, including drilling activities; future mineral exploration, development and production; and completion of a maiden drilling program.

Forward?looking statements and forward?looking information relating to any future mineral production, liquidity, enhanced value and capital markets profile of Vizsla, future growth potential for Vizsla and its business, and future exploration plans are based on management?s reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on management?s experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the price of silver, gold and other metals; no escalation in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; costs of exploration and development; the estimated costs of development of exploration projects; Vizsla?s ability to operate in a safe and effective manner and its ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms.

These statements reflect Vizsla?s respective current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of other assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward?looking statements or forward-looking information and Vizsla has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: the Company\-\-s dependence on one mineral project; precious metals price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Company\-\-s mining activities in Mexico; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to reliance on the Company\-\-s management team and outside contractors; risks regarding mineral resources and reserves; the Company\-\-s inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; the ability of the communities in which the Company operates to manage and cope with the implications of COVID-19; the economic and financial implications of COVID-19 to the Company; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; the Company\-\-s interactions with surrounding communities and artisanal miners; the Company\-\-s ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; litigation risk; and the factors identified under the caption ?Risk Factors? in Vizsla\-\-s management discussion and analysis. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward?looking statements or forward-looking information. Although Vizsla has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Vizsla does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward?looking statements or forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.
More than 2,500 cases have been registered against 8,000 entities since mid-November, as a part of the government's crackdown on fake goods and services tax (GST) invoices.

As many as 258 people have been arrested, including eight chartered accountants, Mint reported. Fake GST invoices are used to fraudulently avail input tax credit (ITC).

The government has asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to take action against the accountants, the report said.

Authorities have recovered more than Rs 820 crore from the accused, a government official told the business newspaper.

The last chartered accountant (CA) who was arrested was taken into custody in Jaipur on January 23 along with four business accomplices, Mint said.

Data was shared between GST, income tax and customs, which helped spot violations, the report said. Data analytics and artificial intelligence were also used to identify frauds.

Authorities have also identified the final beneficiaries, which includes two major ecommerce firms, the report said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 16:30:19|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

BANGKOK -- Thailand on Monday confirmed 187 new COVID-19 cases and two more fatalities, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Among them, 177 were domestic infections, while the other 10 were imported cases, CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan told a daily briefing.

- - - -

ISTANBUL -- Turkey received on Monday 6.5 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.

A Turkish Airlines cargo plane loaded with the vaccines landed at Istanbul Airport early in the morning from China's capital Beijing.

- - - -

TOKYO -- The Tokyo metropolitan government on Monday reported 618 new COVID-19 infections in the capital, according to preliminary figures as of 3:00 p.m. local time (0600 GMT).

The latest figure marks the first time since Dec. 28 last year that the daily tally in the city of 14 million has dropped below the 700-mark.

- - - -

SYDNEY -- Planned protests opposing Australia's national day risk breaching COVID-19 regulations and could result in fines and arrests, New South Wales State officials warned on Monday.

Held on the anniversary of European settlers' arrival in Sydney Harbour, January 26, 1788, Australia Day has become increasingly divisive in past years with some saying it overlooks the continent's long history of indigenous occupation.

- - - -

LOS ANGELES -- A person living in Placer County of the U.S. state of California died hours after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, local authorities said Saturday, adding that an investigation is underway.

Placer County Public Health and the Placer County Sheriff-Coroner Division were recently notified of the death of an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 in late December, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said on its official Facebook page. Enditem
The Duchess of York has predicted Princess Eugenie will be 'an incredibly empathetic and very strong mother' - weeks before the royal's due date in mid-February.

Eugenie, 30, is pregnant with her first baby with husband Jack Brooksbank, who will be the Queen's ninth great-grandchild and the first grandchild of Prince Andrew, 60, and Sarah Ferguson, 61.

Speaking to Us weekly, the Duchess said Eugenie would follow in her footsteps and be 'a very present' parent, adding: 'She is incredibly empathetic and will be a great mother.'

Days ago, it was revealed the Queen's granddaughter is 'nesting' at Frogmore Cottage, following reports she's moved back in with her parents at the nearby Royal Lodge over the Christmas break to prepare for her first child.

The Duchess of York, 61, has revealed Princess Eugenie, 30, will be 'an incredibly empathetic and very strong mother' - weeks before the royal's due date in mid-February

Praising her daughter for her empathetic attitude, Fergie added: 'She is a very strong and determined person, always looking for the truth in all she does.'

Meanwhile the grandmother-to-be and author said she is 'looking forward' to having storytime with the little-one.

Last week, Hello! Magazine revealed Princess Eugenie and Jack's first child is due mid-February.

The royal announced her pregnancy in a Instagram post in September, with a photo of herself and her husband, holding a pair of teddy bear slippers, with the caption 'Jack and I are so excited for early 2021...'

Days ago, it was revealed the Queen's granddaughter is 'nesting' at Frogmore Cottage with husband Jack, following reports she's moved back in with her parents at the nearby Royal Lodge over the Christmas break to prepare for her first child

The Queen is also expecting a tenth great-grandchild as her granddaughter as Zara Tindall, who is married to England Rugby pro Mike Tindall, is pregnant with her third child.

Zara is already mother to Mia, who turned seven this week, and two-year-old Lena.

Eugenie has been spotted across London in sporting her baby bump in recent months.

She was pictured leaving her work at art gallery Hauser & Wirth in London's Mayfair, in a Maje dress with a blue Zara coat just before Christmas.

Eugenie is pregnant with her first baby with husband Jack, who will be the Queen's ninth great-grandchild and the first grandchild of Prince Andrew , 60, and Sarah Ferguson , 61.

Jack and Eugenie, who wed in October 2018, were living at the three-bedroom Ivy Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace near Prince William and Kate Middleton until last year.

When Prince Harry moved to the US with wife Meghan Markle, he is believed to have handed the keys to Frogmore Cottage to his cousin Eugenie.

Earlier this month, Finding Freedom author Omid Scobie claimed Eugenie and Jack have moved into her childhood home, the Royal Lodge in Windsor before Christmas after spending just six weeks at Harry and Meghan's former home.

He explained the couple spent the Christmas holiday at the Royal Lodge, where Eugenie and sister Beatrice, 32, grew up.

'So I imagine that's probably where they will remain up until much later in the year,' he added.

Speaking in an episode of Darlton Harris' podcast City Island last year, Sarah Ferguson confirmed that Jack and Eugenie had spent the first lockdown at the 21- acre, 30-room Windsor home she shares with ex-husband Prince Andrew.

'During this lockdown period I've really loved spending more time with Eugenie and Jack,'

'My daughter got married to Jack in, oh goodness, was it last October? No, it was October before, heavens!

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank married at St George's Chapel in Windsor in October 2018

'And so, of course once she's gone to get married, they live away. So, I haven't seen her so much and so now it's been a total joy to spend real quality time with her,' she explained.

The Royal Lodge is about five miles from Windsor Castle, where the Queen and Prince Philip have spent lockdown, while it's also just a few miles from Frogmore Cottage.

It was understood that Eugenie and her cousin Harry reached a 'private agreement' over Frogmore Cottage though it is not known how long it will last.

At the time of the move, Harry and Meghan, who currently reside in an 11million mansion in California, said they were 'delighted' to 'open up their home' while they were in the United States.

Frogmore Cottage was gifted to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, by the Queen ahead of their wedding in May 2018, and remains their UK residence.

Meghan and Harry spent 2.4million from the Sovereign Grant on renovations on Frogmore Cottage - an outlay of public money which became controversial after they quit as working royals in March. However they have since paid the funds back.

Regulatory News:

Groupe SEB (Paris:SK) has announced a new partnership agreement with Chefclub, as well as the acquisition of a minority stake via its investment company, SEB Alliance.

Simplifying cooking and making it accessible to all: that's what Chefclub, the start-up created in 2016 by three brothers, Thomas, Jonathan and Axel Lang, has set as its corporate mission. Chefclub has rapidly become a leading brand in the production and dissemination of cooking content. It has already sold 700,000 books and launched a series of innovative products for kids, which more than 150,000 families have enjoyed so far, all created in collaboration with its online community. Groupe SEB, always at the forefront of innovation, decided to partner with Chefclub, in its new round of financing, for its appeal of experiential content and direct access to online communities which represents the future of e-commerce.

100 million followers: direct access to a powerful global online community

Free dissemination of quality content has enabled the brand to attract a community of tens of millions of followers. A true Digital Native Vertical Brand (DNVB), Chefclub has built a relationship of trust with its users, who they can consult and involve in the development of their products. Each product is designed based on the tastes of and requests and comments from the online community, expressed at different stages of the creation process.

More than one billion views per month: unrivaled visibility

Unlike traditional DNVBs, however, Chefclub stands out thanks to one key strength. As viewers switch from television to social media, Chefclub promotes its brand and its products via inspirational and amusing video recipes viewed all over the world: in December 2020, more than 50 million Americans and close to 15 million French viewers watched Chefclub's recipe videos.

And a strategic brand license: "Chefclub by Tefal"

This acquisition is also part of joint efforts which will be stepped up in H1 2021 with the launch of a range of products under the brand license "Chefclub by Tefal", including skillets, saucepans, kitchen tools and small domestic appliances. Created in collaboration with the Chefclub community, this range combines Chefclub's expertise in the development of creative recipes with Tefal's sustainable design for simple products to make cooking easier. It will be launched shortly in France and internationally (Germany, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Canada, Spain, the UK and Mexico), and will be sold via all offline and online channels as well as directly to customers (DtoC) on the Tefal and Chefclub websites.

The new brand "Chefclub by Tefal" benefits from unprecedented visibility on social networks and will broaden Groupe SEB's reach, particularly with Millennials, who are discovering or rediscovering the joys of cooking thanks to the start-up's content. By joining forces with Groupe SEB, world reference for small domestic appliances, Chefclub has access to recognized industrial expertise, the renown of the Tefal brand and a broader retail network which will enable its community to discover its products via the Group's retail channels.

Regarding this partnership, Thierry de La Tour d'Artaise, Chairman and CEO of Groupe SEB, commented: "In these extraordinary times, cooking is now more than ever a safe haven. While numerous studies show that French people, and indeed people all around the world, are cooking more and more, they seek fun content, simple and creative recipes, innovative products and original ideas to accompany them in their achievements. We are proud to step up our development of digital cooking initiatives, reach new audiences and we are therefore delighted to benefit from Chefclub's expertise. This collaboration will enable us to go even further in offering innovative services to home chefs."

Thomas Lang, Chairman and Co-Founder of Chefclub, added: "Not long ago, we started Chefclub in the kitchen of our apartment. Today, we are signing a global partnership with an industry leader. It is with great pride and pleasure that we join forces with a group that has succeeded in remaining agile despite its scale. With limited resources, we had already succeeded in building an unprecedented social media following and creating a community that is actively involved in developing our products. This ambitious project with Groupe SEB represents a new chapter for us, one that will enable our users to benefit from Chefclub's inspiration at every step of the cooking experience."

Next key dates 2021 February 25 before market opens 2020 sales and results April 22 after market closes Q1 2021 sales and financial data May 20 3:00 p.m. Annual General Meeting July 23 before market opens H1 2021 sales and results October 26 after market closes 9-month 2021 sales and financial data

Find us on www.groupeseb.com

World reference in Small Domestic Equipment, Groupe SEB operates with a unique portfolio of more than 30 top brands including Tefal, Seb, Rowenta, Moulinex, Krups, Lagostina, All-Clad, WMF, Emsa, Supor, marketed through multi-format retailing. Selling more than 360 million products a year, it deploys a long-term strategy focused on innovation, international development, competitiveness, and service to clients. Present in over 150 countries, Groupe SEB generated sales of 7.3 billion in 2019 and has more than 34,000 employees worldwide.

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While global temperatures are already up by 1C, the temperature rise in India indicates increasing heat waves. (Representational Image/AFP)

HYDERABAD: Mean temperature in India has risen by 0.7 Celsius this year, which indicates there could be a rise in the number of heat waves, meteorologists said.

While global temperatures are already up by 1C, the temperature rise in India indicates increasing heat waves. India had been the seventh most affected by devastating impact of climate change globally in 2019, reveals the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 released on Monday.

According to a recent report by Germanwatch, a Bonn-based environmental organisation: In terms of extreme weather events in 2019, India stands behind only Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Bahamas, Japan, Malawi and Afghanistan in the list of countries most affected by global warming.

In general, Global Climatic Extreme Events (GCEE) start in summers. Their impact on the climate we are facing right now will become quite evident. There will a rise in temperature during summers," Dr R. Krishnan, senior scientist with Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) told Deccan Chronicle.

Another weather expert from University of Hyderabad said the rise in mean temperatures will pave way for a number of heat waves. More heat means higher rate of evaporation. More water vapour in the air means heavier rainfall, he remarked, pointing out that heavy rains also means long dry spells.
The largest European folkloric/village artifacts collection in the U.S. It features costumes, textiles, rugs, pottery, painted furniture, painted eggs and a full Transylvanian interior. It has a Library and a Resource Center on Romania and the Romanian immigration. It organized - in 33 years - more than 120 exhibits in 10 states and, since 1990 in Romania, functioning as a cultural and economic bridge with Romania. A gift gallery sells eggs, rugs,

contemporary folk art, decorative arts, and books The Romanian Folk Art Museum is a non-profit organization established in 1983 in Chicago.

Its starting mission was to preserve and promote Romanian folk culture, and gradually it has expanded into a resource center about Romania for Americans, a common ground for the Romanian-American communities, and a cultural and economic promotional center for Romania.In the last 15 years it focused on promoting 500 hundreds Romanian artisans and, along with the Romanian-American League, it has been functioning as a bridge with Romania, developing cultural, educational, and economic promotion projects in US and in Romania.
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Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri was born on October 27, 1967, in Gulak, Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, in Nigerias North-East.

He had his primary education at Central Primary School, Gulak, between 1975 and 1981. For his secondary education, he attended Government Day Secondary School, Gulak, and Government Secondary School Michika between 1981 and 1986.

Ahmadu Fintiri holds a post-graduate Diploma in Policy and Strategic Studies, from the University of Maiduguri in 2004 after obtaining his first degree in History from the same University in 1992.

Most of his teachers, mentors and contemporaries know Ahmadu Fintiri as an outstanding student and an athlete throughout his boyhood and adolescent years.

After running his private business for years, he was elected to represent Madagali Constituency in 2007 and re-elected in 2011.

He held several leadership positions in the House of Assembly before being elected as the Speaker, a position he held until 2015. Ahmadu Fintiri also, twice, acted as governor of Adamawa State. He first became acting governor following the impeachment of then-Governor Murtala Nyako in July 2014. He handed over to Bala James Ngilari after serving for three months.

Ahmadu Fintiri, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won the governorship election of Adamawa State that took place on March 9, 2019. However, the election was declared inconclusive because the number of cancelled votes was more than the margin between the winner and his closest challenger.

After a supplementary election, Ahmadu Fintiri was declared the winner of the election after securing 376,552 votes to defeat incumbent Governor Jibrilla Bindow of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 336,386 votes.

Mr Fintiri is married and has three children.
The Nepal Election Commission on Sunday refused to recognise either of the factions of the Nepal Communist Party--one led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal.

The poll panel stated that both the factions have failed to follow the Political Parties Act-2017 and party statute.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

"Decisions made by both the parties didn't come in line with the party's statute. As the decisions don't fall in line, we can't update the details of the Nepal Communist Party. We have notified both chairman KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal about it, making them clear that the Commission will maintain existing details of the party," Spokesperson for Election Commission Raj Kumar Shrestha confirmed.

The Nepal Communist Party which has broken into two factions, one led by caretaker Prime Minister Oli and the other faction led by Dahal and Nepal. Both the factions filed an application in the Election Commission claiming authenticity along with the election emblem--the "Sun".

The party broke into two factions on December 22, two days after Oli dissolved the lower house on 20th December, NCP-formed after a merger between then CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) in May 2018, Oli and Dahal became the chairs of the party, as per the statute.

The Kathmandu Post reported that the commission concluded that decisions taken by both sides failed to follow the provisions of the party statute that was submitted to the commission.

The Election Commission decision means that even though the party has practically split, it continues to remain intact--technically and legally. (ANI)

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Older cancer patients are less likely to have optimal results following an operation if they live in an area affected by socioeconomic challenges

CHICAGO (January 25, 2021; 9 am CST): A new study finds that older cancer patients are less likely to have optimal results following their cancer operation if they live in an area highly affected by social challenges, especially if they are racial-ethnic minorities. The study was selected for the 2020 Southern Surgical Association Program and published as an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print.

Study investigators from The Ohio State University (OSU) used a novel risk stratification tool called the social vulnerability index (SVI), a composite measure of 15 social and economic factors. Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the SVI using U.S. census data to identify communities needing greater support during disasters, researchers recently have applied it to medical studies. The CDC defines social vulnerability as "potential negative effects on communities caused by external stresses on human health."1

The study was conducted in persons aged 65 and older. Currently, older adults account for 37 percent of all inpatient operations, and 33 percent of outpatient procedures performed annually in the U.S.2,3 The researchers found that older patients who undergo a cancer operation and reside in areas with high social vulnerability were less likely to achieve a "textbook outcome" as a result of their procedures. A textbook outcome indicated the patient did not have in-hospital complications, an extended hospitalization, or a readmission within three months and was alive 90 days after surgery, said Timothy Pawlik, MD, MPH, MTS, PhD, FACS, senior author of the study, professor and chair of the Department of Surgery in the OSU College of Medicine, and surgeon-in-chief at OSU Wexner Medical Center, Columbus.

"This study speaks to how health care and health outcomes extend beyond the doors of the hospital and even beyond the specifics of the disease the patient may have," Dr. Pawlik said. "Ultimately, the resources in the patient's community may be as important to a patient's health as what goes on in the hospital."

Included in the study were 203,800 patients from the 2016-2017 Medicare inpatient claims files who underwent an operation for one of three common cancers--lung, colon, and rectal--or cancer of the esophagus between 2013-2017. The investigators merged the Medicare information with the CDC's SVI for each patient's county of residence. The SVI includes county-level data such as unemployment rates, racial distribution, prevalence of people with disabilities, vehicle access, and overcrowded community living. A high SVI score indicates greater social vulnerability.

Only 56 percent of patients experienced a textbook outcome, the researchers reported. Residents of a high-SVI area had roughly a one in five lower odds of achieving a textbook outcome versus patients from low-SVI areas, they wrote in the article.

Differences noted by race

As social vulnerability increased, the outcomes differences by race became more pronounced, Dr. Pawlik said.

"Especially for Black and Hispanic individuals, the impact of residing in a socially vulnerable community was much more pronounced," Dr. Pawlik said. "They had much greater risk of having adverse outcomes than white patients."

Even when the researchers matched patients' characteristics, such as age and cancer type, they found that Black and Hispanic patients from high-SVI counties had 26 percent lower odds of receiving a textbook outcome compared with whites from a low-SVI county.

In general, what drove the differences in textbook outcomes were complications and prolonged hospitalization, according to Dr. Pawlik. "Patients from socially vulnerable communities had the most difficulty achieving a without a complication, and they were the most likely to have an extended length of stay. These patients are in double and triple jeopardy," he said.

"Our data clearly showed a disparity in health, as defined by textbook outcome, with poorer outcomes if a patient was a minority, or from a highly socially vulnerable community, or, in particular, both."

Recommendations based on findings

Dr. Pawlik cautioned that because the SVI is population based, it is not a useful tool to calculate risk at the individual level. Instead, he said health care providers should ask about the patient's home situation and address any lack of resources or support.

"Make sure patients have the necessary support in the community they are going back into -- access to food, basic services, transportation, home health care, wound care, things like that," Dr. Pawlik said. "I think we can do a better job with our discharge planning and partnering with community leaders to ensure a smoother transition from the hospital back into the community."

In an invited commentary, Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, FACS, of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, wrote that the study findings highlight "a growing understanding that social determinants of health have a significant influence on the health conditions and outcomes of our citizens." Regarding the higher death rate occurring among individuals with detrimental social determinants of health during the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Vickers wrote, "Unfortunately, all too often this happens to reside mostly in minority communities."

Although people of color made up only 9 percent of the patient population in the current study, they were much more likely to live in a high-SVI community, the researchers reported.

###

Other study authors are J. Madison Hyer, MS, Diamantis I. Tsilimigras, MD, Adrian Diaz, MD, Rosevine A. Azap, Jordan Cloyd, MD, FACS, Mary Dillhoff, MD, FACS, Aslam Ejaz, MD, FACS, and Allan Tsung, MD, FACS, all from OSU Wexner Medical Center and OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute; and Rayyan S. Mirdad, now in Dublin, Ireland.

The authors report no disclosures.

"FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Citation: High social vulnerability is associated with a decreased chance to achieve a "textbook outcome" following cancer surgery. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. DOI: /10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2020.11.024 (.)

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. CDC Social Vulnerability Index. Updated September 15, 2020. Accessed December 23, 2020. Available at: https:/ / www. atsdr. cdc. gov/ placeandhealth/ svi/ index. html (.)

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Hospital Discharge Survey: Number of All-Listed Procedures for Discharges from Short-Stay Hospitals, by Procedure Category and Age: United States, 2010. Accessed June 2019. Available at: http://www. cdc. gov/ nchs/ data/ nhds/ 4procedures/ 2010pro4_numberprocedureage. pdf (.)

3. Hall MJ. Ambulatory Surgery Data From Hospitals and Ambulatory Surgery Centers: United States, 2010. 2017;(102):15.

About the American College of Surgeons
[January 25, 2021] Dover Precision Components Expands TruTech High Performance Materials Portfolio

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dover Precision Components, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV), today announced the expansion of its TruTech materials brand, delivering the latest advances in polymer science to enhance the performance and reliability of critical components in rotating and reciprocating machinery. Dover Precision Components has made significant investments in its Materials Technology initiative to fully integrate materials research with engineering expertise and practical experience in machinery applications. As part of this, a world-class team of material scientists has been assembled to develop proprietary TruTech polymeric materials, optimize process parameters and ensure product quality. With a dedicated materials laboratory featuring state-of-the-art mechanical, chemical, optical and thermal analysis equipment, as well as advanced friction and wear testing, the team has the necessary tools to fully evaluate materials and their signature properties. In addition, the recently constructed Dover Precision Components Innovation Lab allows for testing in real-world environments to transform material properties into customer benefits. The TruTech portfolio includes materials formulated to extend the service life and performance of Cook Compression sealing components, Waukesha Bearings fluid film bearing products, Inpro/Seal Bearing Isolators and Air Mizer shaft seals. As a result of recent investments, the Dover Precision Components Materials Technology initiative has already developed new manufacturing methods to provide greater freedom to product development engineers. The investments have also enabled the expansion of the TruTech portfolio with new materials for use in high-pressure, non-lubricated reciprocating compressor applications. "The investments made in our TruTech materials have differentiated us in the market and provided us with a significant advantage in meeting customer needs for performance in demanding operating conditions," said Jane Kober,Vice President of Marketing and Innovation for Dover Precision Components. "Our expertise enables us to develop, test and deliver reliable solutions using the most advanced polymer materials, and positions us to serve the next generation of reciprocating and rotating machinery."



TruTech materials are designed for optimum performance characteristics in a variety of operating conditions and have decades of proven success in the field. They are formulated from high performance polymers, such as PTFE, PEEK, UHMWPE, PPS, polyimide and other high-temperature aromatic polymer materials, in combination with state-of-the-art fillers, carefully selected and formulated to satisfy application requirements. All formulation, manufacturing and testing are done in-house to ensure high-quality standards and full traceability. Broad research and development capabilities allow complete control of the material development process from material composition and processing to manufacturing and product testing. Maintaining these capabilities in-house provides Dover Precision Components the flexibility to customize material solutions for specific applications and operating environments. New materials receive intensive laboratory analysis and undergo comprehensive testing before release into the field.

The Dover Precision Components Materials Technology initiative is also currently developing material solutions to extend the useful life of reciprocating compressor packing rings, wiper rings, piston rings and rider rings, as well as enhance performance in non-lubricated environments and process gases, such as hydrogen. About Dover Precision Components: Dover Precision Components delivers performance-critical solutions for rotating and reciprocating machinery across the oil & gas, power generation, marine, industrial, chemical and general processing markets. Comprising the Waukesha Bearings, Bearings Plus, Inpro/Seal and Cook Compression brands, our portfolio includes hydrodynamic bearings, active magnetic bearings, system and bearing protection, and reciprocating compressor valves, sealing technologies, pistons, rods and more. Each solution is custom-engineered to provide optimum efficiency, reliability and productivity, and backed by comprehensive aftermarket services. Dover Precision Components serves its global customer base through facilities in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as technical sales representatives around the world. Additional information is available at doverprecision.com. About Dover: Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of approximately $7 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Fueling Solutions, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Refrigeration & Food Equipment. Dover combines global scale, operational agility, world-class engineering capability and customer intimacy to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 60 years, our team of over 23,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com .? Dover Precision Components Contact:

Krista Betts

(262) 506-3084

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Adrian?Sakowicz, VP, Communications?????

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Kentucky bill requiring abortion clinics to save babies born alive becomes law

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A bill that requires abortion clinics to save babies that survive the procedure has become law in Kentucky after Democratic Governor Andy Beshear refused to veto it.

The new law, known as Senate Bill 9 and passed last week, requires a physician performing an abortion to take all medically appropriate and reasonable steps to preserve the life and health of a born-alive infant.

Any born-alive infant, including one (1) born in the course of an abortion procedure, shall be treated as a legal person under the laws of this Commonwealth, with the same rights to medically appropriate and reasonable care and treatment. After birth, a birth certificate shall be issued and, if death occurs after birth, a death certificate shall be issued, states the law.

The parent or guardian of a born-alive infant shall not be held criminally or civilly liable for the actions of a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, nurse, or other healthcare provider that are in violation of this section and to which the parent or guardian did not give consent.

Republican State Senator Whitney Westerfield, sponsor of the legislation, told kentucky.com that he would have preferred for the governor to sign the bill into law rather than just let it pass.

Im disappointed he didnt sign it, but Im grateful he didnt veto it, explained Westerfield, then added that Ill take what I can get.

Critics of the legislation, like the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, urged Beshear to veto the bill, arguing that it was an unnecessary measure.

This bill is a solution in search of a non-existent problem, stated Jackie McGranahan of the ACLU of Kentuckys Reproductive Freedom Project, in a letter to the governor sent before the bill became law.

Senate Bill 9 uses inflammatory rhetoric to make physicians who provide abortion care appear criminal. Moreover, this bill could violate patient privacy by violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

In April of last year, Beshear vetoed a similar bill, reasoning at the time that he was just not doing divisive issues right now as the state grappled with responding to the coronavirus.

Weve got to have 100 percent of our effort aimed toward it and we got to have unity in this Commonwealth, stated Beshear, as reported by Kentucky Today. I just didnt think it was the right direction for us to go.

The bill was one of many legislative efforts at the state and federal level in response to controversial comments made by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam in 2019.

When discussing third-trimester abortions in an interview with WTOP, Northam gave the hypothetical example of a baby born with severe deformities or is not viable.

In this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, said Northam at the time. It would be resuscitated if thats what the mother and the family desired and then a discussion would ensue between the physician and the mother.

The comments generated backlash from pro-life groups and politicians, including a denunciation by United States Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska spoken on the Senate floor.

Let's be clear what we're talking about. We're talking about killing a baby that's been born. We're not talking about some euphemism, we're not talking about a clump of cells, stated Sasse.

Everyone in the Senate ought to be able to say unequivocally that killing that little baby is wrong. This doesn't take any political courage.

Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will be closing its international airport to nearly flights as the government races to bring a raging coronavirus outbreak under control.

The entry of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus, coupled with poor enforcement of safety rules in ultra-Orthodox communities, has contributed to one of the world's highest rates of infections. It also has threatened to undercut Israel's highly successful campaign to vaccinate its population against the virus.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Late Sunday, the Israeli Cabinet approved what Netanyahu said would be a tight closure on incoming and outgoing air traffic. The government said it would make exceptions for a small number of humanitarian causes, such as funerals and medical patients, and cargo flights.

We are closing the skies hermetically, except for really rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of virus mutations, and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign," Netanyahu said.

The order is to begin early Tuesday and remain in effect until January 31. Netanyahu's office said the order still required parliamentary legislation to be finalized.

Throughout the pandemic, Israel has restricted entry at its main international airport. But it has made exceptions for certain categories of people, including religious students and Israelis returning from abroad, while allowing Israeli tourists to fly to a handful of green countries." This limited air travel appears to allow highly contagious coronavirus variants from the U.K. and other places to enter the country.

Israel's Health Ministry has recorded over 595,000 cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic and over 4,361 deaths. New cases of the disease continue to climb, even as the country has launched one of the world's most successful vaccination campaigns and is in the midst of its third nationwide lockdown.

Israeli authorities have struggled to enforce compliance in ultra-Orthodox communities. On Sunday, religious demonstrators clashed with police in several cities.

Throughout the pandemic, many major ultra-Orthodox sects have flouted safety regulations, continuing to open schools, pray in synagogues and hold mass weddings in funerals. This has contributed to a disproportionate infection rate, with the ultra-Orthodox community accounting for over one-third of Israel's coronavirus cases, despite making up just over 10% of the population.

In Jerusalem, police fired tear gas and putrid-smelling water to disperse a crowd of hundreds of ultra-Orthodox residents outside a reopened school. Demonstrators cried get out of here, Nazis" at officers who were filmed arresting participants.

In the coastal city of Ashdod, police scuffled with dozens of protesters outside an ultra-Orthodox school. In the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, large crowds of protesters chased away journalists. A policeman fired into the air as he was surrounded by a crowd of protesters.

Five police officers were wounded in the disputes, and at least four people were arrested, police said.

With the country experiencing a raging coronavirus outbreak, the Israeli government last week extended the country's third nationwide lockdown until the end of January.

Sunday's clashes were the latest incident of heightened tensions over enforcement of lockdown rules in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Israel. On Friday, ultra-Orthodox Israelis attacked a police vehicle in the city of Bnei Brak, outside Tel Aviv. A crowd pelted the police car with stones and punctured its tires.

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HELSINKI, Sept. 20, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Google CEO Sundar Pichai attends a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne (not in the picture) in Helsinki, Finland, on Sept. 20, 2019. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said here on Friday that the Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Jan 25 : Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday pledged more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and ensure equitable distribution so that everyone can benefit from this triumph of scientific achievement, and quickly.

The tech giant announcing an additional $100 million in ad grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO) and nonprofits around the globe.

"We'll invest another $50 million in partnership with public health agencies to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information," Pichai said in a statement.

"We'll also be opening up Google spaces to serve as vaccination sites as needed".

Since the beginning of the pandemic, said Pichai, the company has helped more than 100 government agencies and global non-governmental organisations run critical public service health announcements through its Ad Grants Crisis Relief programme.

"Our efforts will focus heavily on equitable access to vaccines. Early data in the US shows that disproportionately affected populations, especially people of colour and those in rural communities, aren't getting access to the vaccine at the same rates as other groups," Pichai emphasized.

To help, Google.org has committed $5 million in grants to organisations addressing racial and geographic disparities in Covid-19 vaccinations.

According to Google, Searches for "vaccines near me" have increased five times since the beginning of the year.

"In the coming weeks, Covid-19 vaccination locations will be available in Google Search and Maps, starting with Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, with more states and countries to come," Pichai informed.

To help with vaccination efforts, starting in the US, the company will make select Google facilities - such as buildings, parking lots and open spaces - available as needed.

These sites will be open to anyone eligible for the vaccine based on state and local guidelines.

To help find accurate and timely information on vaccines, Google has expanded its information panels on Search to more than 40 countries and dozens of languages, with more rolling out in the coming week.

"We'll begin showing state and regional distribution information on Search so people can easily find when they are eligible to receive a vaccine," Pichai said.

Soon, Google will launch a "Get The Facts" initiative across Google and YouTube to get authoritative information out to the public about vaccines.
ALBANY  Downstate legislators have introduced a bill that would guarantee public workers four hours off, with pay, to get vaccinated.

Sen. Andrew Gounardes, D-Brooklyn, and Assemblyman Charles Fall, D-Staten Island, on Monday introduced the bill to ensure more eligible workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Our public workers have pulled us through this crisis. Now, it is a matter of both public health and what is right that they have access to the vaccine immediately, Gounardes said in a news release. They should not have to take personal time or negotiate with an employer to get this important medical care, but rather must have guaranteed time off so they can get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families.

Many essential workers are now eligible for vaccination under phase 1A and 1B of New Yorks rollout, but are at the mercy of the vaccination sites for an available appointment. New Yorkers eligible for the vaccine have encountered overwhelmed phone banks and extended waits for an appointment at certain locations, and confusion over the process continues.

New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta applauded the move, noting that its important to remove every possible barrier to getting workers vaccinated.

This legislation would help accomplish that goal by making sure these hardworking women and men can access the vaccine without facing the prospect of using sick or personal time or taking unpaid time off, Pallotta said.

The guaranteed time off for public workers to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations was included in the governors budget address, giving the measure a stronger likelihood of passage.
A masseur who raped a client while she wept during a 90-minute ordeal at her home after she ordered his services online is facing jail.

Cosmin Tudorache, 33, repeatedly assaulted the woman after advertising his services on urbanmassage.com.

His victim thought she would treat herself to a massage after her roommate went out with friends for the evening on October 6, 2017.

But the perverted masseur subjected her to a string of sex attacks which left her too petrified to speak.

Tudorache insisted his client consented to sex after she became 'horny' and reached out to grab his private parts.

Cosmin Tudorache, 33, repeatedly assaulted the woman after advertising his services on urbanmassage.com

But a jury at Inner London Crown Court convicted him of rape and two counts of assault by penetration.

He was remanded in custody at HMP Thameside ahead of sentence on March 12.

Urbanmassage.com is an online massage agency connecting freelance massage therapists with customers who can order a session at their home.

Giving evidence from behind a screen the victim told jurors she froze when Tudorache started to assault her and wept as she was raped.

The perverted masseur subjected her to a string of sex attacks which left her too petrified to speak

She said: 'I froze, which was a completely natural reaction. I couldn't bring my body and mind to do anything, all I did was cry.

'I didn't say ''no stop'', I was just busy crying the whole time he only noticed that afterwards.

'I was quietly crying, if he had paid attention to my crying when he started penetrating me and touching me.

'When he tried to kiss me I moved away.

'I'm not an expert in this, I don't engage in oral sex, I don't know that much about it. He put his hand on my underwear before I did anything.

A jury at Inner London Crown Court convicted him of rape and two counts of assault by penetration

'I wanted him to touch me as a [masseur], I booked him to help with my muscles, not so that he could rape me.

'For him to use me as anything else except a massage customer is completely unacceptable.

'I'm not a touchy person, I don't like my boyfriend to touch me that much, why would I use someone else?

'I thought he was a professional massager [sic] there to do a professional job, I didn't want to accuse him of anything.

'I kept just trying to close my legs, my body language was very much like, stop.'

Despite ringing the police at 4am just hours after the attack the victim was forced to wait more than three years to give her evidence.

Kate Blumgart, prosecuting said: 'She was upset, sobbing, she was panicked, she was a private person, she doesn't talk about personal stuff like this.

'Her friends said she kept saying with some dread: ''He knows where I live.''

'In his police interview, Mr Tudorache did not have a look of any real anxiety or surprise about the fact that he just had sex with a client, which is a bit unprofessional. He didn't even ask police why he had to go to the police station.'

Tudorache, of Dollis Avenue, Cricklewood, North-West London, denied but was found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of assault by penetration.

He hung his head and sobbed as the verdicts were announced.
Environmental groups across the state are praising President Joe Bidens executive order that will set in motion a process to review the Trump administrations rollbacks to three national monuments  including the Marine National Monument off the coast of New England called the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.

The 5,000-square-mile protected area was established in 2016 under President Barack Obama and is the first national monument in Atlantic waters. It contains vulnerable species of marine life such as right whales and fragile deep sea corals.

In June, the Trump administration issued an order to lift commercial fishing protections in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts. The new executive order does not immediately restore the commercial fishing ban, but it will begin the process of reversing the previous action.

Most people are not aware that the Canyons and Seamounts Marine Monument is just off our CT shores, or that it had lost all protections with the stroke of Trumps pen this past summer, Lori Brown, executive director of the CT League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement. This is our best chance to turn the tide on the misguided and destructive efforts of the previous administration to exploit our most critical ocean habitats. We dont have time to waste.

Other environmental organization leaders praised the efforts to protect the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which is located about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, on the edge of Georges Bank.

We applaud President Biden for taking immediate action to stand up for our national monuments, said Louis Rosado Burch, Connecticut program director at Citizens Campaign for the Environment. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts are an underwater treasure trove of sea life, including rare cold-water corals, majestic sea turtles and endangered marine mammals.

Biden is sending a clear message that protecting oceans is a priority over short-sighted efforts to exploit and damage the irreplaceable resource, Rosado said.

We are very pleased with this action and thank President Biden for fighting to keep our oceans healthy for generations to come, Rosado said.

Alicea Charamut, executive director of Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, said healthy oceans mean healthier migratory fish populations.

When we protect biodiversity in our oceans, it benefits our inland waters and LI Sound, Charamut said. We are thrilled that the Biden administration is taking steps to restore protections for the Canyons and Seamounts National Monument, and we urge the president to follow through on his commitment to protect our waters for generations to come.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, who opposed Trumps decision to roll back protections, shared similar praise for Bidens order.

I am relieved that the hard fought protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a fragile and pristine ecosystem, will be restored, Blumenthal said.

When he the monument to commercial fishing, Trump said that Obamas move to ban fishing in the area was deeply unfair to Maine lobstermen, although lobster fishermen from the state dont fish in the area.

The two land monuments that Biden will reassess are the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah.

dj.simmons@hearstmediact.com / The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Ofoase Ayirebi's Member of Parliament, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has expressed his heartwarming appreciation to his constituency for their massive support before, during and after the December 7, 2020 polls.



The Information Minister-designate returned to his constituency over the week just to say thank you to his people for retaining him as their legislative representative in parliament.



This will be Oppong Nkrumahs second term as MP  and his hard work has compelled many to tag him as a darling boy within his constituency and across the country.



Again, he has been nominated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to continue with his ministerial role as Information Minister.



He, however, took to social media to express his gratitude to his constituency and pray with their help he will do more to develop his consistency.



From Parliament yesterday to Abenase, Anyinase and Adjobue to say thank you to my people. We have a lot more to do in the next 4 years. With their support we will succeed together, he posted

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 22:00:41|Editor: huaxia

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GABORONE, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana on Monday revealed that the administration of COVID-19 vaccine will start with frontline workers once available.

Masisi made the revelation when addressing some frontline workers in Francistown, Botswana's second largest city which is situated 430 km northeast of the southern African country's capital, Gaborone.

"Once available, administration of the vaccine will start with frontline workers since they are the first line of defense in treating and curbing the spread and transmission of COVID-19," Masisi said when motivating nurses, doctors, police officers and other frontline workers in Francistown.

In early November last year, Botswana signed an agreement with a global vaccine distribution scheme which is co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), a development that gave the southern African an option to buy COVID-19 vaccine for 20 percent of its population.

The decision to procure the vaccine followed discussions between Botswana and the representatives from the World Bank, said Masisi, adding that the global financial institution explained how the bank had transitioned in the offer financial capital for borrowing that would prioritize COVID-19.

Furthermore, Botswana does not qualify for subsidized vaccines under the COVAX scheme because it is classified as an upper middle income country like neighboring Namibia and South Africa, he said. Enditem
Ghana's COVID-19 active cases have seen a further surge to 2,799 on Saturday following the confirmation of 635 new cases of infections.



This is from a previous case count of 2,413, the Ghana Health Service has announced.



This means that the country for a successive day running had recorded more than 600 new infections following the confirmation of 658 on Friday.



The new infections are from tests conducted as at January 19, 2021.



The latest update by the GHS said a total of 56,955 patients had recovered from the disease and been discharged.



Ninety-two cases, it said, were in severe conditions with 21 critical. The active cases were being managed at treatment and isolation centers across the country, while some were under home management.



The death toll, however, remained at 361 since the last update.



Ghana has so far recorded 60,115 cases of the Covid-19 since the first two cases were confirmed in March 2020.



Out of the total confirmed cases, 23,498 were from the General Surveillance; 35,579 from Enhanced Contact Tracing, while 1,038 have been recorded from international travelers disembarking at the Kotoka International Airport since it was reopened on September 1, 2020, the update said.



A total of 730,557 tests have been conducted so far, out of which 228,472 are from routine surveillance, 362,333 from contact tracing, and 139,752 from international travellers arriving at the Kotoka International Airport. The positivity rate is 8.2 per cent.



The Greater Accra and the Ashanti regions continue to be the epicentres of the virus in the country with cumulative cases of 34,255 and 11,612 respectively.



The rest are:



Western Region - 3,261



Eastern Region  2,698



Central Region - 2,215



Volta Region  816



Bono East Region  795



Western North Region  689



Bono Region- 645



Northern Region  607



Ahafo Region - 537



Upper East Region  464



Oti Region - 244



Upper West Region  152



Savannah Region  62



North East Region - 25

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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For years, films have portrayed the Indian working class as mute spectators of social and familial trauma and often the ones with the kindest heart. The White Tiger is somewhat an antidote of the underdog narrative.

In a scene from Netflixs The White Tiger, the narrator Balram Halwai proposes The moment you recognise what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave. Its one of the more quotable lines from Arvind Adigas Booker-winning novel that has made it to Ramin Bahranis Netflix adaptation. The Indian dream, however, is a little more complex than simply translating cultural epiphanies to social ones. The latter is not as permeable as individual clarity. To which effect I would rephrase the line to The moment you recognise what you are owed, you stop being a slave to fit the India envelope. Beauty can of course also be an extension of self-worth, but on each rung of Indias brutally oppressive social ladder, beauty rests not in finding whats beautiful but finding what breaks it.

The helper, the driver, the naukar (Ramu kaka) are all faithful servants in the pantheon of Indian cinema, who have delivered, often at the hidden cost of their own desires, seamless service. Theyve been mute spectators of social and familial trauma and are often portrayed as the ones with the kindest heart. Because what else would elite imagination of working-class people paint them as anything but honest and selfless, prideful yet the right amount of pitiable. The White Tiger is somewhat an antidote of the underdog narrative and immediately reminds you of two popular films. The first is Slumdog Millionaire, the global sensation that many see Bahranis film as the referendum of. Cinema cannot be thought of politically competitive in itself, but it can be seen as two different lines in the sand, each with a different vision and understanding of its world theyre drawn in.

The other film that Bahranis film immediately took me to was Zoya Akhtars Gully Boy, one of the most talked-about Indian films in recent history. The White Tiger has little in common with both and is in fact an indirect riposte of their rags-to-riches narrative. While Slumdog Millionaire believes destiny may yet come for the destitute, Akhtars Gully Boy wants us to think that talent, some sort of gifted skill, may instead become their vehicle.

The impossibility of both is cleverly crushed by the optimism of the climax, the alls well that ends well device. Protagonists simmer with rage, but they find ways to channel it or are supplied with an alternative to salvage for the sake of the viewer, the exit of heroism. Heroic because it was done the right way, the only way the elites summon, in their imagination, the will of those below them.

Craft and the prickly sight of a miscast Rajkummar Rao forcing his lines aside The White Tiger abandons a number of tropes that have become the baggage of the middle-class Indian viewer. Like Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, Bahranis film marries Balram to his rage, before breaking his moral compass in bed. Balram, the servant starts out wanting to be a servant all his life before he realises that he can be the master of at least one thing, anything, in life  especially when it is bargained away by his master, like a dispensable object. The indignity of witnessing life being transacted like a token of legal gratitude introduces Balram to the possibility of seeing it through the lens of ownership as opposed to tenancy. Anger overtakes moral debt at the precise point where Indian cinemas protagonists would otherwise choose the virtuous.

In spirit, The White Tiger has a lot in common with Sudhir Mishras underrated Serious Men, another takedown of the rags-to-riches narrative where a brilliant Nawazuddin Siddiqui cons his way to the top. Not because its his dream, but because its his only way out of a nightmare existence. There isnt the romanticism of making a destination work, because making it work, is the destination for most. Indias inequality ensures that for most people dreams equal survival, in which case the poetry of coincidence is wiped clean by the weight of our prosaic burdens. Yes, often people make it out, but the ones we hear of are the morally hand-dressed achievers whose success we let pass because it seems allowed more than it seems poached. In contrast, he who bends the rules, because they were against him, to begin with, finds himself reprimanded through collective imagination. Because at least when we are, like in the darkness of a theatre, together, we crave the foundations we never cared to build in the light of day.

Indias working class has been fed the miasma of righteousness for ages, instructing them to do the right thing unto right happens to them. Its near-sighted but it works because a certain class gets to perpetuate the myth of what clean looks like. We get to make ads telling people white means honesty, even though it probably accounts for the most dishonest gentry this country has to offer. To soothe the wounds of those below us, every once in a while, we launch a ballad of class-breaking love or caste-breaking careers, just so the smell of success remains incoherently tangled in the stench of survival.

Films like Serious Men and The White Tiger, however, channel a welcome fury against the odds without wanting to entertain the bet. Because the Indian dream is neither as linear nor as undefiled as a misleadingly straight line in the sand. It is instead the like sea knotted, anguished and inseparable from the suffering of its last wave.
A voter displays her voter identity card as others wait for their turn to cast their ballot during an assembly election at a polling booth in Aizawl, capital of Mizoram, December 2, 2008. (Image- Reuters)

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will on January 25 launch the electronic version of the voter identity card which can be downloaded on a mobile phone or a personal computer.

The e-elector photo identity card is a non-editable digital version of the elector photo identity card and it can be saved in facilities such as a digital locker and can be printed in PDF format, Election Commission officials said.

"Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will launch the e-EPIC programme and distribute e-EPICs and Elector Photo Identity Cards to five new voters," a Commission statement said on Sunday.

The physical card takes time to print and reach the voter, and the idea is to provide faster delivery and easy accessibility to the document, the statement said.

The Aadhaar card, Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, and driving licence are available in digital mode.

Introduced in 1993, the elector photo identity cards are accepted as proof of identity and address.

The e-version of the voter card is being launched to mark the anniversary of the Election Commission.

The EC came into being on January 25, 1950, a day before India became a republic.

For the past few years, January 25 is also observed as National Voters' Day.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Monday that search engine giant Google will be providing $150 million to promote COVID-19 vaccine education and to make information related to vaccination more equitably accessible to the public. The company will expand Google Search and Maps to make it easier for people to find when and where to get the COVID-19 vaccine at a local level. Pichai added that Google will be opening up its select physical spaces to be used as COVID-19 vaccine sites.

"Today we're announcing that we're providing more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution and making it easier to find locally relevant information, including when and where to get the vaccine. We'll also be opening up Google spaces to serve as vaccination sites as needed," read an official Google release.

Google claims that during the pandemic it has helped more than 100 government agencies and global NGOs make important public health announcements through its Ad Grants Crisis Relief program. The company will now provide an additional $100 million in ad grants to the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organisation, and nonprofits around the world. It will also invest $50 million in collaboration with public health agencies to spread vaccine information in communities where it is not available.

Google will commit an additional $5 million in grants to organisations which are addressing racial and geographic disparities in the COVID-19 vaccination process. These include - Morehouse School of Medicine's Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the CDC Foundation.

Google will also be taking steps to make it easier for people to find vaccine sites. "To help find accurate and timely information on vaccines, we've expanded our information panels on Search to more than 40 countries and dozens of languages, with more rolling out in the coming week. We'll begin showing state and regional distribution information on Search so people can easily find when they are eligible to receive a vaccine," read the release. It also plans to launch 'Get The Facts' initiative across its platforms to communicate vaccine information to the public.

Google has also announced that it's making its select facilities such as building, parking lots, etc, available for the vaccination program in the US. "These sites will be open to anyone eligible for the vaccine based on state and local guidelines. We'll start by partnering with health care provider One Medical and public health authorities to open sites in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in California; Kirkland, Washington; and New York City, with plans to expand nationally," read the release.

Also Read: Budget 2021: COVID-19 crisis emphasises need for higher allocation for healthcare sector
Entering its second week in movie theaters, Hazr Tagawol (Curfew) could well be considered the film of the beginning of the year.

Written and directed by Amir Ramses, a skillful and often inventive young filmmaker, Curfew is a dramatic film with a psycho-thriller flavour.

The film's action takes place in 2013, during the period of a state-imposed curfew in Egypt to control acts of violence and destruction committed by the Muslim Brotherhood. All the events of the film take place within 24 hours.

Fatin  portrayed by Elham Shaheen  an elderly mother, is released from prison, having served a 20 year sentence for killing her husband. She has to spend the night with her only daughter, Layla  portrayed by Amina Khalil  a young mother of a fairly serious and often tense family, and her husband, Hassan  portrayed by Ahmed Magdy  who is a wise and elegant doctor. Fatin has to go to her family home in Tanta in the morning after the curfew ends.

Rejected by her daughter, who cannot forget that she is the one who killed her father and forced her to spend all her childhood and youth with her relatives, Fatin tries to win Laylas forgiveness. She does so without revealing the secret of her life, the true reason behind the crime she committed.

The story almost completely revolves around this secret, which obviously destroys the life of each member of this small family, and even the life of the old neighbour Yahia, portrayed by Palestinian Comedian Kamel Al-Basha.



From the films beginning, the director slowly introduces us to the intertwined relationships, bringing together the few protagonists. The atmosphere is filled with darkness, where daylight becomes a luxury, or rather a refuge which frees the people from the curfew.

The cameras splendid movements give an impression as if it is floating in the air around the characters, surrounding them within the oppressive mist that captures the characters souls from the inside and outside.

A whole sensation is additionally deepened by the choices of talented director of photography Omar Abu Douma, who capitalises on warm light mixed with natural light. He brings out shadows, characters' eyes, or furniture in a new and compelling way.

The suspense, the angst, and the play of light and camera angles come closer, enveloping the film and the viewer in the scenery and very beautiful images.

Curfew is set in rather narrow and limited filming locations, reflecting the protagonists hearts.

Music and the sound effects play an essential role in this film, which seems to return to the sources of the musical genre. The score by Tamer Karawan punctuates the elements of the story in a simple and effective way.

Dardennian precision

In her role as Fatin, Elham Shaheen is awe-inspiring. She manages to physically display all the symptoms of her psychological troubles and the desire for revenge that dominates her. It is in the exchanges with her sister and her mother that her qualities shine and make this interpretation the most convincing that the actress has ever given us.

The actress portrays a mother with a soul that is sometimes distant and sometimes bleeding, disturbed by her secrets, as if she had come straight out of films by Pedro Almodovar or the Dardenne Brothers with great accuracy.

Ilham Shaheen won the Best Actress Award in the 42nd Cairo International Film Festival, where the movie was screened within the International Competition in December 2020, sharing the award with Natalya Pavlenkova for her role in Conference.

For Amina Khalil, her portrayal of Layla is probably the most convincing and natural role in her filmography so far. She perfectly depicts a girl torn between her murdered father and her mother who committed the crime.

Through his portrayal of Hassan, Ahmed Magdy has just added a shining spot to his promising acting career. Meanwhile, Arfah Abdul-Rasool as Fawzeya did not hide her verve as an actress, whose appeal is very clear on the screen.

We should also underscore the efforts of the young Muhra Medhat in her simple but deep role of Salma, and Mahmoud El-Lisy who exceled in the role of Sosta in a surprising way.

Until the end, the spectator expects something dazzling when Layla discovers her mother's secret, however, when she is close to remembering her father's death, it all seems quite emotional even if it is dramatically not satisfying.

The directors choice to present memories in flashbacks which gradually complement each other without resorting to direct dialogue saved the film from an end that would be rejected by some critics. This is probably the whole appeal of this movie: turning a seemingly ordinary story into an extraordinary story.

Curfew is a great achievement; it presents magnificent images, sublime photography and colors, and is topped with music that perfectly fits the dramatic framework.

Visually stunning, Curfew surprises and questions with every shot. In short, Director Amir Ramses has perhaps already made his most beautiful and mature film.

*This article was originally published in Al Ahram Hebdo, in French, 20 January 2021 edition. Additional edit: Ahram Online.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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UTICA, N.Y.  Hannaford is donating $50,000 to two local organizations to help support virtual learning and afterschool programs in the Mohawk Valley.

Students and teachers have had to adjust to learning online since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when many school buildings were closed to curb the spread of the virus.

Safe Schools Mohawk Valley and the YMCA of the Greater Tri-Valley are getting $25,000 each through the Hannaford Charitable Foundation to provide safe spaces for remote learning and help support students who are struggling in the virtual learning environment.

The organizations benefiting from this donation provide parents and caregivers with the peace of mind and security that their children are being cared for in a safe, healthy and supportive environment. We applaud these organizations for their ability to pivot their services to meet the needs of families during this challenging time, said Peter Forester, member of the Hannaford Charitable Foundation Board.

Safe Schools Mohawk Valley will use its $25,000 to host virtual activities and mentor teens who need help navigating remote learning. The programs also provide a support network for students experiencing anxiety due to isolation and quarantine.

The YMCA will use its $25,000 donation to fund a full-day virtual learning program for children whose parents are at work during the day. This will provide a space for students to go and learn remote with support from YMCA staff.

These donations are part of a $400,000 effort by Hannaford to support childcare for working families across New York and New England during the pandemic.

Update: As of Sunday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to lift the stay-at-home order statewide on Monday.

A much welcomed uptick in Bay Area hospitals intensive care availability and slower coronavirus transmission rates paint a hopeful outlook for the weeks ahead, but there was no indication Sunday as to when the region can emerge from the stay-at-home order thats stymied much of normal life.

State health officials said Sunday that projections for four weeks out in the Bay Area do not meet criteria to lift the restrictions, and that an update will be forthcoming on Monday.

Hopes had increased when, after lingering in the single digits for weeks, the Bay Areas ICU availability leaped to 23.4%, in data released Saturday, reflecting Fridays status. That was an unusually significant jump from 6.5% a day earlier, and appeared to signal that the worst of the surge could be in the past. The sentiment was bolstered by a statement Sunday sent to The Chronicle from Ali Bay, a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Health.

We see promising signs that California is slowly emerging from the most intense stage of this pandemic, the statement said.

The rate of positive tests in California over the past 14 days was 9.8%  a decrease of 3.9 percentage points from the prior two weeks, the state data showed on Sunday. California reported 24,111 new coronavirus infections Saturday, which was less than a 1% increase over Fridays totals, the data show.

But in San Francisco, Sunday brought a pause in the good news that had triggered Mayor London Breed to forecast on Friday that the city soon might be able to start reopening under Californias guidelines due to a drop in transmission rates. A day after recording its fewest new coronavirus infections in two months, 111, San Francisco reported an uptick Sunday, 283 new cases. New infections had dropped below 200 each day since Monday, but Sunday was more in line with last weeks higher daily infections.

San Francisco also recorded one of its higher death totals of the month, 15, after a week of single-digit or zero-death days.

City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest statistics, but single-day trends have often proved misleading over the course of the pandemic.

Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said he is tentatively confident that the current surge, which began at the end of November, has crested.

Thats what the data looks like and, frankly, its what the data looks like nationally, except for a couple of other states, he said. Still, he added, theres not an obvious end in sight. What we see with the last two surges here in the United States and in California is we get a surge and a crest, but we never go back to where we were before. Its like going up steps.

More for you Local Coronavirus live updates: Bay Area sees plunge in...

Under Californias system, the regional stay-home order is supposed to be lifted when a regions ICU availability is projected to equal or exceed 15% looking four weeks ahead. The projections specifically look at ICU capacity at the end of the four-week period.

For example, the state public health department would analyze Mondays data to make projections for Feb. 22. The projections are based on current regional ICU capacity, community transmission rates and regional case rates. The state analyzes the data twice a week.

State officials reported Sunday that roughly 2.2 million vaccination shots have been administered statewide out of the 4.1 million doses distributed as it rushes to recover from a slower-than-hoped initial rollout.

The vaccination picture nationally caused Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general tapped by President Biden to be the U.S. health secretary, to voice frustration Sunday over the long lines, supply lags and confusion about where and when to get shots.

The plane is in a nosedive and were going to pull it up, he told CNN. Thats not America. ... Thats not the way we treat those we consider vulnerable in need of the vaccine the most.

Becerra said he could not project when all Americans who want a shot will be able to get one. Biden has pledged to distribute 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office.

In Placer County last week, a person died hours after receiving a vaccination, having tested positive for the coronavirus in late December, the Placer County Sheriffs Office said Saturday. The countys public health department did not administer the vaccine, officials said. Sheriffs Office officials said Sunday they had no further information.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Lauren Hernandez and Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez
While distribution of the new COVID-19 vaccines is ramping up across parts of the United States, prevention tools like wearing face masks and social distancing likely will be with us for some time, health experts have said.

Because of this - and because the spread of a new, highly-contagious coronavirus variant is making headlines - some people are being even more cautious about the kinds of face masks they wear out in public.

While N95 and KN95 face masks were hard to get and were being reserved mostly for front-line medical workers at the beginning of the pandemic last year, supplies of these items have expanded recently and more people have been ordering them online for personal use.

N95 respirators are the PPE most often used to control exposures to infections transmitted via the airborne route, though their effectiveness is highly dependent upon proper fit and use. N95 respirators are intended to be used once and then properly disposed of and replaced with a new N95 respirator.

Actually a type of respirator, an N95 mask offers more protection than a surgical mask does because it can filter out both large and small particles when the wearer inhales. As the name indicates, the mask is designed to block 95% of very small particles, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Like surgical masks, N95 masks are intended to be disposable. However, researchers are testing ways to disinfect N95 masks so they can be reused.

If youre not familiar with the KN95 masks, youre not alone. Mask manufacturer 3M has described it this way: Chinas KN95s masks are pretty much an equivalent to the N95 masks used in the U.S. And both types are increasingly being sold online. Of note: According to our sister site, Cleveland.com, KN95 masks arent regulated the same way N95 masks are in the U.S. and may not provide the same protection, though theyre likely more effective than a surgical mask. The CDC published a list of NIOSH-approved N95 respirators and the FDA has a list of non-NIOSH-approved KN95 respirator models approved for emergency use during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.

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By Tong Kim



The Biden administration is making it clear that it will review its policy toward North Korea in consultation with allies including South Korea and Japan to develop a new strategy to deter Pyongyang's nuclear program, according to White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki last Friday.



There will be "a thorough review of the state of play in North Korea, ongoing pressure options and the potential for any future diplomacy," Psaki said. However, the review should be expedited for completion within a few months, not the six months that George W. Bush's team took in 2001.



Psaki's statement is consistent with testimony by Antony Blinken, Biden's secretary of state nominee, who said before a Senate confirmation hearing, Jan 19: "We have to review the entire approach and policy towards North Korea." Blinken was answering the question of whether he would support a "phased agreement" that would offer sanctions relief in return for a freeze by Pyongyang of its weapons program.



The Biden team's approach to Pyongyang may appear prudent, yet disappointing, given the president's view that North Korea's nuclear program "constitutes a serious threat to the peace and security of the world," and that it does not have an operational plan for a potential, major provocation. We hope that this does not come from the bad habit of bureaucratic inertia, as the Obama administration's North Korea policy was seen as being more reactive rather than initiative-driven.



On the other hand, familiar faces who have dealt with the North have returned to work in elevated positions with the new administration. They include Wendy Sherman as deputy secretary of state, Sung Kim as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs and Kurt Campbell, the architect of Obama's "Pivot to Asia" policy, as Indo-Pacific coordinator on the White House National Security Council.



Biden has yet to appoint a North Korea policy representative. Pyongyang would welcome it if Wendy Sherman takes up an additional role, as her predecessor Stephen Biegun did. Sherman was in charge of North Korea policy under President Clinton. She was the inventor of snap-back sanctions for the conclusion of the intricate JCPOA with Iran under President Obama.



During his inauguration, President Biden did not mention North Korea, only making a broad statement, "We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's." In the meantime, it may still be appropriate for the Biden team to send a positive signal for strategic engagement with North Korea before the situation possibly goes out of control, limiting viable options.



Perhaps, one of the immediate challenges is to determine the scale and timing of joint U.S.-South Korean exercises that begin in March. Three factors  the coronavirus, transfer of operational control, and North Korean reaction  should be discussed between defense leaders of the alliance, not with the North Korean military, as President Moon suggested during his New Year press conference.



In Washington, retired Army General Lloyd Austin assumed the duties of the secretary of defense Jan 22. He said North Korea was "a wild card" during his confirmation hearing. By tradition, he is expected to support diplomacy. But there is no diplomatic strategy to support yet.



An extension of the New START with Russia that expires Feb 5 is a time pressing foreign policy issue for the Biden administration. The world is safer with, than without, this kind of treaty that keeps caps on the number of deployed nuclear warheads and delivery systems.



One chronic problem with U.S. policy on North Korea has been discontinuity with the change in administrations. The North has learned how to prepare for a periodic reset of U.S. policy towards it. The North would not trust any long-term U.S. commitment that may extend beyond the terms of an incumbent administration.



A review of North Korea should start with a reliable intelligence assessment of the current state of the North's hardware capability, distinguishing what might be mockups or aspirational from the real functional specifications of its arsenal, including the latest SLBM on parade at the end of the 8th Party Congress, Jan 12. It is also important to identify the resources and the timeline for perfecting various nuclear strategic missiles for actual deployment and operation.



The North's intent and purpose to keep its nuclear arsenal is well documented. The Biden administration will not be able to resolve the nuclear issue in its first term. But it can slow down or halt the increasing pace of North Korean threats if it takes the right approach with the right policy. It is time to start a strategic engagement rather than returning to "strategic patience."





Tong Kim (tong.kim8@yahoo.com) is a visiting professor with the University of North Korean Studies, a visiting scholar with Korea University, a fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies, and a columnist for The Korea Times.


On Sunday night we share an alternative view of the local news scene and final word of the day from activists who advocate non-violence above all.



Check-it . . .



KC RALLY CELEBRATES NUCLEAR BAN TREATY!

Deets . . .

Peace activists gathered north of the fountain at Mill Creek Parkway and 47th Street in Kansas City, Mo., to celebrate the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). To date, 52 countries had ratified this treaty, making nuclear weapons in these countries illegal. The UN vote for the TPNW in 2017 was 122-1, with one abstention and with many countries boycotting the votenamely, the nine that have nuclear weapons and their allies. About 35 other countries have signed onto the treaty, indicating they will begin the ratification process.



Ann Suellentrop, M.S., R.N., project director of Kansas City Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR-KC) and a board member of PeaceWorks-KC, made four key points. 1. Over 2/3 of the worlds countries support the Ban Treaty (the TPNW) because nuclear weapons are too dangerous. They threaten all life on Earth. They do not keep us safe. 2. There are negative prohibitions that affect the US and Kansas City. The Ban Treaty stigmatizes nuclear weapons and restricts the 36 multinational corporations that make them. 3. There are positive obligations that affect the US and Kansas City. The Ban Treaty mandates assisting radiation victims and cleaning up contaminated environments. 4. This is a turning point in history. It is up to us to make the Treaty work! For example, we can press financial institutions to withdraw their support from nuclear weapon companies.



Suellentrop added, The Ban Treaty sets a worldwide standard, even if the US doesnt sign it. Its an international treaty among countries. Its the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons.

###########

You decide . . .
Wycliffe Bible translators overcome COVID-19 challenges

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The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for Bible translation efforts worldwide, but Wycliffe Bible Translators USA has pressed on with its mission despite the challenges.

For 79 years, Wycliffe has led the effort to translate the Bible into every language. Currently, the group and its partners are at work on over 2,700 translation projects in 167 countries, CEO John Chesnut said. Even so, 1.5 billion people still dont have a Bible translation in their own language.

Many of the countries in which Wycliffe works have poor healthcare, non-unified governments and limited communication technologies. The pandemic has also impeded Wycliffes efforts to work with people who speak languages without a Bible translation.

To overcome some of the challenges the organization has been facing, Wycliffe used technology originally designed to accelerate Bible translation, Chesnut told CP. In the last 17 years, Wycliffe increased its rate of Bible translation from 7.5 translations per year to 29.4 per year.

Over the last two decades, Wycliffe made significant investments in technology in order to accelerate our work. As a result, our digital infrastructure allows us to communicate, coordinate, research, and keep the momentum going on translation projects, he said. It used to take one translation team in one community 30 years to finish a New Testament translation. Today, projects are primarily started and led by local churches.

Gods providence has given some Wycliffe Bible translators around the world opportunities to turn the disaster into a way to advance the Gospel, said Chesnut. In 2019, Wycliffe Thai missionaries Nate and Ivy Cheeseman started passing out MP3 audio recordings of the Bible in local languages. As the word spread, hundreds of people requested audio Bibles.

It seemed like everywhere we went  we kept meeting people who wanted to get the Bible out, Ivy told Wycliffe.

When the pandemic hit, many people became believers after listening to the new Bibles, the Cheesemans said. New Christians received the discipleship they needed.

In Tanzania, another Wycliffe Bible translation team paused its Bible work to make videos for deaf people on how to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines, said Chesnut.

We are humbled and amazed at how God continues to advance Bible translation and bless this ministry despite the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, Chesnut said. We continue to work with our partners to keep projects moving forward safely during this time to the extent possible.

The most challenging part of translating the Bible into every language is the vast amount of languages around the world, he said. Although geographically isolated regions or hostility to Christianity can make translation difficult, the logistics still prove the greatest challenge.

Access to the Bible in a language we understand is a precious gift many of us take for granted, but 1.5 billion people dont yet have the complete Bible in a language they can best understand, said Chesnut. Our vision at Wycliffe Bible Translators USA is for people from every language to understand the Bible and be transformed.
Fines were issued by Laois Offaly Kildare Division Gardai for breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions to four men after they were found in Banagher having travelled from Tralee and Cavan to sell a vehicle.

A Garda spokesperson gave the example of the incident where four males were issued with fixed payment notices over the weekend in Banagher. In this incident, two of the males had travelled from Tralee and the remaining two had travelled from Cavan and were meeting in Banagher for the purpose of selling a vehicle.

Another incident involved a group of people, who had met earlier on Saturday morning last, and were found by local Gardai more than five kilometres from home. The Gardai engaged with the group and they were turned back. However, the group met at another location later in the day and were subsequently stopped again by local Gardai. This led to the group being issued with a fixed payment notice for making an unnecessary journey.

Meanwhile, local Gardai issued seven fines to motorists found in breach of the Covid-19 travel restrictions over the weekend as part of a crackdown on people engaging in non-essential travel.

The Gardai are advising people to only travel for necessary reasons and to remain at home to minimise the amount of people moving around during this level 5 Lockdown.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 25 said it is examining if there is a need to introduce central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country and, if yes, how to operationalise it.

The RBI's statement comes against the backdrop of private digital currencies, virtual currencies, and cryptocurrencies gaining popularity in recent years. In India, the regulators and governments have been sceptical about these currencies and are apprehensive about the associated risks.

Nevertheless, the RBI is exploring the possibility as to whether there is a need for a digital version of fiat currency and in case there is, then how to operationalise it, the RBI said, releasing a booklet of payment systems in India.

CBDC is a legal tender and a central bank liability in digital form denominated in a sovereign currency and appearing on the central bank's balance sheet. It is in the form of electronic currency which can be converted or exchanged at par with similarly denominated cash and traditional central bank deposits.

Innovations are changing the payments space rapidly. This has made central banks around the world to examine whether they could leverage on technology and issue fiat money in digital form, the RBI said.

The concept of CBDC has been around for a while. This has been experimented on a pilot basis in some countries. For example, Turkey had said it would pilot digital currencies in 2021.

In India too, there have been discussions around the subject.

In February 2020 RBI bulletin, the central bank, citing a survey of central banks conducted by the Bank for International Settlements, had said some 80 percent of the 66 responding central banks have started projects to explore the use of CBDC in some form.

These central banks are contemplating and studying the potential benefits and implications of CBDC in the economy. We discuss below the efforts being made in central banks of China and Sweden in this regard, the RBI Bulletin had said then.

The fact that the RBI is now evaluating the possibility of issuing its own cryptocurrency shows the importance of this sector in the future of currency regulations.

However, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has been against private cryptocurrencies, reiterating that the sovereign can be the only issuer of currency in the country. In December 2019, Das had said it is too early to talk about a central bank-issued digital currency due to technological handicaps, but the RBI is looking into this idea.

Besides the RBI, even the central government has been skeptical of privately issued cryptocurrencies. In fact, there is a bill lying with the Parliament requesting for a complete ban on privately held digital currencies. The bill is yet to see the light of the day.

Privately issued cryptocurrencies have been grabbing headlines the world over with a massive amount of trading being reported. Bitcoin is being traded at more than Rs 25 lakh and Etherium is being traded at more than Rs 1 lakh currently.

In March 202o, the RBIs ban on banks dealing with crypto exchanges got upturned by the Supreme Court of India. This has allowed crypto exchanges to restart operations in the country and dip into the booming crypto trading business in the world. Players like WazirX, Unocoin, Zebpay have hogged the limelight with a massive jump in trading volumes throughout the pandemic days.

The latest statement from the regulator is expected to charge up discussions within the financial world around the role that cryptocurrency can play in an economy and where does that put virtual currencies against fiat currencies which are backed by government guarantees.
ANSAmed - Weekly diary from January 25 to January 31

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 25 - The following are the main events of interest scheduled in the Euro-Mediterranean area between January 25 and January 31: MONDAY JANUARY 25 ISTANBUL - Turkey, Greece resume talks over Eastern Mediterranean dispute.



SANAA (Yemen) - Rally in support of Houthi rebels CAIRO - 10th anniversary of start of uprising that led to President Mubarak's ouster.



BRUSSELS - EU, council of foreign affairs ministers.



GENEVA - New round of Syrian Constitutional Committee talks (to January 29).



TUESDAY JANUARY 26 TUNIS - Parliament holds confidence vote following cabinet reshuffle.



DUBAI - Flydubai resumes flights to Doha.



WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day TUNIS - Commemoration of the first anniversary of the death of activist Lina Ben Mhenni.



DOHA - Qatar Airways resumes flights to Dubai.



RIYADH - Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum (to January 28).



THURSDAY JANUARY 28 SILIANA (Tunisia) - General strike.



FRIDAY 29 JANUARY No major events scheduled SATURDAY JANUARY 30 No major events scheduled SUNDAY JANUARY 31 No major events scheduled (ANSAmed).





East Grand Rapids is the Michigan school district with highest percentage of college graduates, according to new Census data.

Thats based on percentage of adult residents with a four-year college degree, using the Census Bureaus five-year average for 2015-19.

An estimated 79% of adults age 25 and over who live in the East Grand Rapids school district have a bachelors degree, compared to a state average of 30%.

About 37% of East Grand Rapids residents have a masters or other advanced degree, compared to a state average of 12%.

Also in the top 10, based on population age 25 and older:

Okemos: 76% have at least a bachelors; 44% have graduate degree;

Birmingham: 74% have at least a bachelors; 38% have graduate degree;

Ann Arbor: 73% have at least a bachelors; 43% have graduate degree;

Bloomfield Hills:73% have at least a bachelors; 40% have graduate degree;

East Lansing: 70% have at least a bachelors; 38% have graduate degree;

Northville: 68% have at least a bachelors; 34% have graduate degree;

Forest Hills: 66% have at least a bachelors; 28% have graduate degree;

Troy: 63% have at least a bachelors; 31% have graduate degree;

Grosse Pointe: 63% have bachelors; 30% have graduate degree.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Arenac Eastern school district north of Bay City ranks lowest among districts listed by the Census for educational attainment. An estimated 5% of adult residents in Arenac Eastern school district have a bachelors degree and 1.6% had a graduate degree, based on Census estimates for 2015-19. (Although included in the Census list, the Arenac Eastern school district was officially dissolved in 2017 and absorbed by the Standish-Sterling and AuGres Sims districts.)

Also in the bottom 10, based on educational attainment of adults age 25 and older:

Madison in Oakland County: 7% have at least a bachelors; 2.8% have graduate degree;

Burr Oak in St. Joseph County: 7% have at least a bachelors; 1.9% have graduate degree;

Muskegon Heights: 7% have at least a bachelors; 3.3% have graduate degree;

Whittemore-Prescott in Iosco County: 8% have at least a bachelors; 2.9% have graduate degree;

Genesee in Genesee County: 8% have at least a bachelors; 2.5% have graduate degree;

Hesperia in Newaygo County: 8% have at least a bachelors; 2.7% have graduate degree;

Beecher in Genesee County: 8% have at least a bachelors; 3.2% have graduate degree;

Van Dyke in Macomb County: 9% have at least a bachelors; 1.8% have graduate degree;

Hartford in Van Buren County: 9% have at least a bachelors; 1.6% have graduate degree.

Below is an interactive map shaded by 2015-19 educational attainment for adults age 25 and older. You can put your cursor over a district to see the underlying data. (Cant see the map? Click here.)

A couple of caveats about the data: These are estimates versus exact numbers, and the margin of error is higher for smaller districts.

In addition, the estimates are based on all residents who live within a school districts boundaries and not just the adults with children in the district schools. (And keep in mind school district boundaries typically differ from city and township boundaries.)

Next is a searchable database that allows you to search by school district or county. If you search by county, youll see a ranking of school districts in that county. There are 515 K-12 districts in the database.

You can click on any column header for a ranking by that category. Click once to rank by the lowest number and twice to rank by the highest number.

Educational attainment is significant because it tends to correlate with a range of other sociodemographic factors, such as median income and academic outcomes in the districts K-12 public schools.

Below is a map that shows Michigan school districts by median family income, based on 2015-19 Census estimates. East Grand Rapids ranked No. 1 in that list also.

Michigan school districts ranked by median family income: See states richest, poorest districts

You can put your cursor over a district to see the underlying data. (Cant see the map? Click here.)

Other highlights of the most recent Census data on educational attainment:

Educational attainment in Michigan has been rising. In 1990, 77% of Michigan adults age 25 and older had at least a high school diploma or GED and 17% had at least a bachelors degree. By 2010, it was 88% and 25.5% respectively. In 2019, 91% of adults had a high school diploma or GED and 30% were college graduates.

Michigans increase in college graduates is being driven by women . Among Michigan residents age 65 and older, 29.5% of men and 22% of women have at least a bachelors degree. Thats flipped for younger adults. Among Michiganders age 25 to 44, 38% of women and 31% of men are college grads.

Almost two-thirds of Michigan adults have some college experience. In addition to the 30% with a four-year degree, another 9.4% of Michiganders have an associates degree and 22.8% have attended college but lack a degree.

By race, Michigans Asian population has the highest proportion of college graduates. About 65% of adult Asians living in Michigan have at least a bachelors degree compared to 31% of whites, 22% of Hispanics and 18% of Blacks.

Earnings correlate to educational attainment. In 2019, Michigans median wage for someone with a bachelors degree was $54,634, which is 76% more than the median of $31,028 for those with a high school diploma who did not attend college. About 4% of college graduates live below the poverty line compared to 14% of those with only a high school education.

Also on MLive:

Multiple Michigan school superintendents retire as pandemic lingers

Coronavirus deaths during Michigans current surge now exceed death toll in spring

McDonalds pledges to stop using PFAS in food packaging by 2025
Not every legacy of the crazed Trump presidency is ignoble or in line to be overturned by Joe Biden. The decision last week by Mike Pompeo, the outgoing secretary of state, to officially designate Chinas abuse of the Uighurs as genocide was a unique moment of moral clarity as the administration reached its dark ending.

The shameful label is going to stick to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Antony Blinken, Bidens nomination as Americas next top diplomat, has already publicly concurred with Pompeo that a genocide is under way in Xinjiang, much to the irritation of the regime in Beijing.

HSBC has faced direct criticism for its activities in China from US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, including the executives publicly backing the oppression of Hong Kong. Credit:Bloomberg

It had hoped the new broom in Washington DC would be less confrontational on a host of issues, including concentration camps and forced sterilisations faced by its ethnic minorities.

EDITORS NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting a two-day business and networking conference March 9-10, featuring some of the states most prominent industry leaders. Early-bird registration is open. Tickets are limited.

New Jerseys top law enforcement official has extended an order halting prosecutions for low-level marijuana offenses through the end of March, according to a memo from his office addressed to prosecutors across the state.

The move from Attorney General Gurbir Grewal comes as two bills  one to launch a legal marijuana industry in New Jersey and another to halt many arrests related to the drug  sit on Gov. Phil Murphys desk unsigned.

As we continue to await anticipated final action on the pending cannabis legalization and marijuana decriminalization legislation, I am instructing all New Jersey municipal, county, and state prosecutors to seek an additional adjournment, until at least March 31, 2021, of any juvenile or adult case involving any of the following charges, alone or in combination with each other, where there are no other pending charges, according to the letter, dated Jan. 22 and obtained by NJ Advance Media.

Grewal issued a directive in November for prosecutors to halt proceedings on marijuana possession and use offenses, having marijuana while driving or driving under the influence.

In cases where residents faced additional charges on top of low-level marijuana offenses, Grewal told prosecutors to use their discretion to either ask that the marijuana charges be dismissed or to postpone the entire case.

The order puts prosecutions on hold, but does not end arrests for the same offenses. Grewal has previously said police can use their discretion, too, in enforcing laws that prohibit marijuana possession and use.

Even though New Jersey voters said yes to legalizing marijuana by a 2-1 margin on Nov. 3, arrests have continued as regulatory framework needed to implement the marijuana industry languishes.

Police issued 2,125 charges for possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana in November and another 1,703 in December, according to data from the state judiciary.

Those numbers fell from the pre-election average of about 100 a day. Statewide numbers for January are not yet available, but defense attorneys have said arrests continued into the month.

Data from the state judiciary shows prosecutions dropped in December, but did not cease. Courts found 11 people guilty of possessing less than 50 grams of marijuana and found five not guilty. They dismissed 447 cases, but held hearings in 446 others.

Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office, told NJ Advance Media earlier this month that those numbers do not necessarily mean a people were found guilty of marijuana possession. Instead, a court could have found them guilty of a charge brought concurrently with the possession charge. Its unclear from the way the state keeps the collective data.

After years of resistance by some lawmakers to legalize marijuana, the state Legislature finally passed a bill to do so in mid-December following the voter referendum.

But Murphy said he could not sign that or a decriminalization bill until lawmakers established uniform civil penalties for those under 21 who are caught with marijuana. Currently, the decriminalization bill would do away with all penalties for underage use, but the legalization bill would make underage possession a disorderly persons offense.

Lawmakers briefly considered a cleanup bill that would add such penalties, but pushback from Black legislators who feared the change would lead to more police interactions with minority youth opposed it and ultimately killed the effort.

Murphy and lawmakers have not yet reached a new agreement in the two weeks since the deal fell apart. The governor faces an early February deadline to take action on the bills.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj.
More than 50,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Germany since the pandemic began. Exactly one year ago, on January 25, an employee of the Webasto company in Bavaria was the first to test positive for the coronavirus in Germany.

At the time, the World Socialist Web Site wrote: The potential spread of the virus mere weeks after it was identified [in Wuhan] speaks both to the virulent nature of the virus and the highly integrated nature of modern economic and social life. Such a catastrophe is avoidable, we added: Medical science has advanced to the point where it is capable of identifying new viruses within weeks and developing vaccines within months.

However, the WSWS also warned: [N]o capitalist government has adequately prepared. ... The defence of human civilization against the threat of global pandemics, just like climate change and the growing threat of ecological disasters, requires a level of planning and global cooperation of which capitalism is incapable.

Refrigerated container with the bodies of coronavirus victims at the main cemetery in Hanau (AP Photo / Michael Probst)

This warning has been confirmed cruelly and beyond a doubt in the first year of the epidemic. The pandemic is assuming ever more threatening dimensions. New virus mutants such as the coronavirus B.1.1.7 detected in Britain are spreading across Europe at breakneck speed. But both federal and state governments, as well as the European Union, refuse to consistently implement the necessary strict lockdown and a global, comprehensive vaccination programme.

An EU Coronavirus Summit ended January 21 without tangible results. Before that, on January 19, Chancellor Angela Merkel and German state leaders extended the current measures until February 14 but did not agree on remote working or mandatory production and factory closures. I dont want us to have to shut down our entire economy, Federal Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (Social Democratic Party, SPD) had categorically declared shortly before.

The next morning, Baden-Wuerttembergs Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) announced that his state would reopen schools on February 1. Similarly, the state premiers of Rhineland-Palatinate (Malu Dreyer, SPD), Lower Saxony (Stephan Weil, SPD), North Rhine-Westphalia (Armin Laschet, Christian Democratic Union, CDU) and several other premiers announced different variants of face-to-face teaching at primary schools, undermining the recent decisions.

The Berlin Senate (state executive, a coalition of the SPD, Left Party and Greens) informed all day-care centres about the planned implementation of resolutions in Berlin. Within the framework of emergency care, an average weekly utilisation of the day-care centres of 50 percent is planned. Then the letter says, If a 50 percent occupancy rate is not reached, children of parents who do not work in an essential area can also be admitted. In practice, this will undoubtedly lead to facilities having at least 50 percent capacity utilisation and having to care for even more children than they already do!

At the same time, the new virus strain is spreading particularly rapidly among children. For example, experts in Britain have shown that the new virus was more rampant among 11- to 16-year-olds in November and December than in any other age group. Another large-scale study by Oxford scientists has proven beyond doubt the effectiveness of school closures in combating the pandemic. In the meantime, according to the Coronavirus Crisis Staff, two children in Hanover have also fallen so seriously ill that they have to be ventilated.

The warning voices of serious virologists and physicians are becoming increasingly clear. In an interview with Der Spiegel, Charite virologist Christian Drosten warns of a third wave with tens of thousands of new infections daily and stresses that restrictions must not be relaxed under any circumstances because of the B.1.1.7 virus mutation. Otherwise, within a short time, many more people will become infected than we can even imagine now. Then we will no longer have case numbers of 20,000 or 30,000 but in the worst case 100,000 per day.

Drosten says he would welcome a strict lockdown, as called for by the #ZeroCovid movement, to drastically reduce the spread of the pandemic. He says, I do believe that would be possible, with great effort. Of course, the virus would flare up again and again, as it does in China and Australia. But it would be desirable to aim for zero now at least. Especially because I have dire fears about what might happen otherwise in the spring and summer.

Finally, his clear statements about children being just as contagious as all other people are damning. When it comes to pandemic measures, Drosten therefore recommends in particular restricting the opening of schools and day-care centres.

Even before his study on the viral load in children, he did not think it possible that children would be spared from SARS-CoV-2, he says. From a purely biological point of view, the mucous membrane in the nasopharynx doesnt change that much as they grow up. So, children must also become infectedand are infectious. That such fundamental doubts could arise about this was a mystery to me and remains so to this day.

What the virologist does not understand, however, is a fundamental fact: bourgeois politicians are not primarily committed to reason or the lives of working people, but to the capitalist economy and the profits of the banks and corporations. The opening up of schools is an eloquent example of this. It is necessary in order to force parents back into manufacturing and other businesses. To push them through, politicians of all parties have been denying for many months that children could also infect themselves and others.

In July 2020, the Saxony state government had justified the reopening of all schools after the summer holidays with a pseudo-scientific study supposedly proving that children were not the drivers of infection, but rather brake blocks (as Saxony Education Minister Christian Piwarz, CDU, repeated at the time). At the end of November, Ties Rabe (SPD), Hamburgs school senator (state minister), still claimed: [S]chools are somewhat overestimated in terms of the dangers. It was remarkable, the senator said, that by far the most pupils were not infected in school, but outside.

To keep the profits flowing, only a few days ago, Jorg Hofmann, the first chairman of the IG Metall trade union, spread the fairy tale that workers were infected mainly in the family sphere and in their free time. When asked what would happen if industry had to shut down completely, Hofmann replied, Then our economic power would collapse.

Then the IGM leader claimed, without presenting any evidence, We can see that where the hygiene measures developed in cooperation with politicians are strictly implemented in the companies, the infection figures are lower than in the private environment.

Yet it is precisely the trade unions that contribute significantly to covering up coronavirus outbreaks in workplaces. This was recently shown by the figures that only came to light in connection with the tragic death of Berlin tram driver Sven B. According to these figures, 245 employees of the BVG (Berlin Rapid Transit Company) alone have been infected with COVID-19.

With 50,000 coronavirus deaths passed last week, this makes one thing clear: the official coronavirus policy has failed. For a year, governments have pursued a de facto contagion policy in the interests of business and trade unions have supported them. Two results can be noted: On the one hand, the Dax stock index has recovered, and on the other hand, the epidemic has recently become even more dangerous with aggressively rising death tolls.

The coronavirus pandemic is thus not a purely medical issue, but a social and political one. A political struggle is needed to solve it. Such a struggle must start from the premise that the pandemic is a global problem that requires an international solution. It must not be left to the banks and corporations and their politicians, who profit from the decimation of the old and weak and use the pandemic to blackmail workers.

The working class is international; it is being forced to bear the brunt of the epidemic. As the World Socialist Web Site and the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) have long stated, only the working class can successfully lead the struggle against the pandemic. Workers must take action themselves and collaborate internationally to implement socialist policies that end the capitalist policy that puts profits before lives. Concretely, it is necessary to build independent action committees to prepare a European-wide general strike and to carry out the necessary pandemic measures.
Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign has now reached its peak because every citizen is now adopting it with the bottom of their hearts. Apart from promoting Indian products and services, people are accepting the initiative wholeheartedly. The talent and passion that is seen in every child is the essence of our country. Given the country's acceptance of the Vocal for Local initiative, our youth is being more energized which is proving to be effective in the growth and progress of our country. Besides adopting new technologies and techniques, what if the search engine also belongs to our country? Yes, we are talking about Indias own search engine.

Yes, it is true. Keeping in mind the needs of the countrymen, a young man from Gujarat has created a private search engine in India, which will be launched on Republic Day. This easy-to-use and fast-running native Google has been named Qmamu (KyuMamu), which allows users to access different features like web, images, videos, news, shopping on one search engine. This search engine is the first search engine made in India, which can be run on any device and any browser.

How about when the privacy of your data remains safe and you get a reliable browser? If you want the same, then what are you waiting for? The wait is over now. Notably, Qmamu works just like Google, without collecting the user's personal information or any other such data, keep the search history completely private, and at the same time, protects the data from unauthorized users and access. In this way, this startup search engine of India maintains control over your data. This is what we need for the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative therefore; everything that we use in our day to day life should be made in India. So lets welcome Indias first homegrown search engine Qmamu with open arms and move towards privacy with safe and secure data.


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LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / GB Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB:GBLX), through GBS Global Biopharma, Inc. ("GBS"), has executed a Sponsored Research Agreement with Michigan State University (MSU) to obtain valuable proof-of-concept data to support the use of their new proprietary cannabinoid containing complex mixtures (CCCM) for the treatment of Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) and associated hyperinflammatory conditions such as macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. CRS, MAS, and ARDS are the leading causes of deaths in COVID-19 patients. GBS' CCCM were designed to reduce the life-threatening levels of specific cytokines and pro-inflammatory processes triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infections, while preserving those immune functions and cytokines that are necessary for fighting the viral infection.

"The human primary blood cell screens performed at MSU are state-of-the-science models for evaluating the effects of compounds on the human immune system, permitting assessment of the anti-inflammatory potential of GBS' cannabinoid containing complex mixtures," explained Dr. Norbert Kaminski, Director of the Institute for Integrative Toxicology, Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Director of the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety at MSU. "Our unique human immune cell models allow us to measure the immune modulating properties of these CCCM mixtures on the full complement of immune cell types while these immune cells are interacting with each other, like they naturally do in the human body. In addition, our human immune cell systems offer the precision to measure specific cytokines that are being released from various immune cell types in response to immunological stimuli in the presence of GBS' CCCM."

"MSU's human immune cell models will also be used to assess the impact of GBS' CCCM on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, those white blood cells responsible for immunity against a virus, to further GBS' therapeutic goal of downregulating the production of specific cytokines released in response to viral infections. We look forward to working on these promising studies with Dr. Kaminski to further the development of our novel therapies for cytokine release syndrome, MAS, and ARDS in COVID-19 patients, which pose a global health risk during this pandemic and beyond," said Dr. Andrea Small-Howard, Chief Science Officer and Director of both GB Sciences, Inc. and GBS Global Biopharma, Inc. "If successful, data from this preclinical study would be used as part of the support for an Independent New Drug (IND)-filing with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of GBS' CCCM to treat the potentially-fatal Cytokine Release Syndrome associated with COVID-19 and other dangerous hyperinflammatory conditions."

About GB Sciences, Inc. and GBS Global Biopharma, Inc.

GB Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX), through their Canadian entity, GBS Global Biopharma, Inc., is a dedicated biopharmaceutical research and cannabinoid-based drug development company whose goal is to create patented formulations for safe, standardized, cannabinoid therapies that target a variety of medical conditions in both the pharmaceutical and wellness markets.

About Michigan State University

Michigan State University is the nation's pioneer land-grant university and one of the top research universities in the world. Every day, Spartans work to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community. Located in East Lansing, three miles east of Michigan's capitol in Lansing, MSU's campus is one of the biggest and greenest in the nation. Top-ranked programs, high-caliber opportunities and an inclusive, collaborative community enable Spartan students to create powerful, personalized paths and to compete with the best in the world. https://msu.edu

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain statements relating to future results or events, which are forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import may identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further, information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's business and financial and other results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov . All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware.

Contact Information:

GB Sciences, Inc.,

3550 West Teco Avenue,

Las Vegas, NV 89118

866-721-0297

info@gbsciences.com

GBS Global Biopharma, Inc.

200-900 Morrison Drive

Ottawa, Ontario, K2H8K7

Michael Farley, PhD President & Director

michael@gbsglobalbiopharma.com

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SOURCE: GB Sciences

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/625507/GB-Sciences-Begins-Proof-of-Concept-Studies-with-Michigan-State-University-for-the-Treatment-of-Cytokine-Release-Syndrome
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Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhones could have better panorama cameras compared to the tech giant manufacturer's current flagships. The company's new patent claims that it was able to find one reason why its consumers should buy its new product.

According to Patently Apple's previous report, the popular iPhone manufacturer plans to integrate multiple cameras in its upcoming foldable devices. This is expected to assist users in capturing vastly superior panoramic images.

This innovation is a great advancement in Apple's technology. Why? Because MSPower User reported that the company's forte is not making foldable smartphones.

Apple's upcoming foldable iPhones

Apple's upcoming foldable devices are expected to have flexible housing formed from flexible materials such as flexible fabric, flexible polymer, and more. They could also arrive with multiple cameras that are mounted at various locations across the flexible housing.

Also Read: Apple Allegedly Exempts Google From Its New Policy! Here's Why It Won't Provide Its Data Collecting Habit

Apple explained that the foldable iPhone's housing may be bent into different configurations. These include a configuration in which the device's case has a concave surface facing the exterior region, as well as a configuration in which the housing has a concave-convex surface facing the exterior region.

The company's new patent explained that the cameras on the curved surface of a bent housing may have different camera image capture directions. The user can bend the foldable device's case and orient the cameras in the desired directions to use the smartphone's panoramic cameras to capture panoramic images or three-dimensional images.

Foldable iPhone's multiple images feature

On the other hand, Apple's upcoming foldable iPhones could also have a feature that allows it to capture multiple images of a scene. This can be possible since the cameras can be oriented so that their field of view can expand and allow the device to capture overlapping images that are combined together to form a composite panoramic image.

For more news updates about Apple and its upcoming foldable devices, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Apple Updates iOS 14.4 to Bring Improvements and Fixes For Some Bugs! Anti-Tracking Feature Could Also Go Live!

This article is owned by TechTimes.

Written by: Giuliano de Leon.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Israel announced on Sunday the opening of its embassy in the United Arab Emirates. Ambassador Eitan Naeh, who will serve as charge daffaires until a permanent ambassador is appointed, arrived in capital Abu Dhabi to open the embassy.

In the coming days, a consulate general will be opened in Dubai, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry, which made the announcement, said the new embassy will advance the range of relations between the countries in all areas and expand ties with the Emirati government, economic bodies and the private sector, academia, media and more, the Post added.

Israel and the UAE announced that they are making peace and normalizing ties on August 15 of last year, launching the Abraham Accords sponsored by the United States. Three more Arab countries  Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco  joined the accords in the subsequent months.

The opening of the diplomatic representation follows a series of steps made after the normalization of relations between the two countries: Airlines began operating between the UAE and Israel, and several agreements, mainly economic, have been signed in recent months.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that through this diplomatic presence, the aim is to realize the full potential of relations between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv. Some of the areas in which the two countries have been working to strengthen their relations are agri-food, tourism and high technology, which includes a leading sector in the Emirates, such as renewable energies like solar energy.

Earlier Sunday, the UAE cabinet approved the decision to open an embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv, but no names or further information has yet been released.

The man chosen to head the Israeli diplomatic delegation, Eitan Naeh, was previously stationed in Turkey, from where he was expelled in 2018 following the breakdown of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv.
Twelve years ago, the inauguration of Americas first Black president had many Americans believing that a future free of racial discrimination and inequality was finally within reach.

This year, as Obamas former vice president, Joe Biden, takes office amid a surge in far-right violence, its clear we have a long way to go  not just to build a safer country for all of us, but to close the vast racial wealth divide.

Despite Obamas historic victory, his administration made little to no progress in bridging this divide.

Over Obamas presidency, median Black wealth never returned to even its modest $10,700 from before the Great Recession. By 2013, it had dropped to just $1,700  virtually nothing  even as white wealth rebounded.

In fact, the racial wealth divide in the latter half of the Obama presidency was the largest its been in the last 30 years. Income inequality remained virtually unchanged, too. In 2007, Black Americans earned about 60% as much as whites. By 2016, that had fallen to 58%.

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, homeownership  the key source of wealth for most middle-class families  decreased for most Americans. But new Black homeowners were hit hardest, driving the Black homeownership rate down from 49% to just 44%, nearly 30 percentage points lower than the rate for white Americans.

Of course, the failure to bridge racial economic inequality is not unique to the Obama presidency. Whether under Trump, Clinton or either Bush, there has been little to no progress in bridging the economic divide for African Americans in wealth, homeownership and income.

This lack of progress should be a wake-up call: Bold action is necessary. Thats why were calling on President Biden to announce a White House Office of Racial Economic Equity.

This office should develop a government-wide audit to rigorously assess all significant economic policies and programs for how they affect racial inequality. This office should also issue a public report with actionable reforms and legislative proposals for Congress.

Bidens inauguration fell just two days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was almost 60 years ago, in the famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail, that King bemoaned that moderation was the races great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom.

He was right. In the 21st century, we have seen Black progress go from a stride toward freedom to being stuck in economic apartheid. Moderate reforms by Democrats  along with often open hostility from Republicans  have corresponded with decades of failure in addressing racial economic inequality.

Biden is the 45th white man to take the presidency. Unlike Obama, or his own vice president, Kamala Harris, Bidens inauguration did not make history. Still, Biden has the opportunity to do what the Obama administration and every other administration has failed to do over the last 40 years.

Opening a White House Office of Racial Economic Equity should be a first step in steering the country toward greater opportunity and financial security for African Americans. It is way past due to finally Build Back Better for Black America.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is the chief of race, wealth and community at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. Tyler Bond is an intern for the coalition. This article was distributed by OtherWords.org.
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden imposed stringent new made-in-America rules for U.S. government spending Monday, adding a caveat likely troubling to Canada: exceptions to those rules will be allowed only under "very limited circumstances."

President Joe Biden waves as he departs after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington. Less than a week after the economic gut punch of cancelling Keystone XL, Canada is bracing for more bad news today from the White House. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Patrick Semansky

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden imposed stringent new made-in-America rules for U.S. government spending Monday, adding a caveat likely troubling to Canada: exceptions to those rules will be allowed only under "very limited circumstances."

Monday's Buy American executive order was the result of a cornerstone Biden campaign promise, one designed to corral swing-state support among the protectionist, blue-collar voters who elevated Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.

The aim of the policy is not a new one in U.S. politics: ensuring that American manufacturers, workers and suppliers are the primary beneficiaries of U.S. government largesse, including an estimated $600 billion a year in procurement contracts.

The Trump administration liked to talk about Buy American, Biden said, but ultimately did little to toughen or even enforce the rules.

"That is going to change on our watch," he said, signing an executive order to raise standards for U.S. content, increase oversight and provide for more stringent enforcement.

The measures include a "Made in America" office attached to the White House to police the use of waivers  the exceptions that allow Canadian contractors, manufacturers and suppliers access to a lucrative and often essential source of business.

That office will "review waivers to make sure they are only used in very limited circumstances  for example, when there's an overwhelming national security, humanitarian or emergency need here in America," Biden said.

"This hasn't happened before. It will happen now."

Waiver details will also be posted on a U.S. government website to provide more public transparency about who is getting around the rules and why.

The plan would also increase the amount of U.S.-produced materials or components a project or product would need to qualify as American-made, and make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to access procurement opportunities.

President Joe Biden signs an executive order on American manufacturing, in the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, in Washington. Vice-President Kamala Harris looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Evan Vucci

It also requires government agencies to provide twice-yearly progress reports on their efforts to follow the new rules.

"I don't buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past," Biden said. "American manufacturing was the arsenal of democracy in World War Two, and it must be part of the engine of American prosperity now."

Mark Agnew, the director of international policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Canada will find little of comfort in Monday's news.

"Buy American restrictions remain a perennial problem for Canadian businesses seeking to access government contracts with our largest trading partner," Agnew said in a statement.

"Although the rules have progressively tightened over the years, (Monday's) announcement represents another unhelpful step to make it more difficult for Canadian businesses to secure contracts in the U.S."

In the midst of a deadly pandemic and resultant economic free fall, Canada and the U.S. should be looking for ways to join forces and leverage their strengths to fortify existing cross-border supply chains, Agnew said.

"Although the full impact of (Monday's) announcement will take time to cascade to different parts of the U.S. government, its chilling effect on business will be acutely felt north of the border."

As if to certify the echo of Trump's "America First" mantra, Century Aluminum  a U.S.-based producer that led last year's charge in favour of tariffs on Canadian aluminum imports  cheered Biden's measures.

"Manufacturing is the backbone of our great nation," Century CEO Michael Bless said in a statement.

"We applaud President Biden for his leadership on this critically important issue that will empower domestic manufacturing while creating more good paying jobs for American workers."

A more stringent and orderly system of approving and enforcing waivers might eventually prove to be a "silver lining" for Canada, said Dan Ujczo, a Canada-U.S. trade lawyer based in Columbus, Ohio.

The enforcement of procurement rules can sometimes be haphazard, particularly when they are confusing and poorly understood, said Ujczo, senior counsel with the U.S. firm Thompson Hine LLP.

"Canada has a network of agreements with the U.S. to address Buy American programs, but the nuance often is lost on procurement officers that do not want to risk using non-U.S. products," he said.

"If Canadian companies can use this new Made in America office at OMB to emphasize Canadas 'exemptionalism,' it could prove worthwhile."

Dennis Darby, the CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said the job now is to remind Biden that the U.S. and Canada "build things together," and that the rules risk sideswiping Canada in the same way they did 10 years ago.

"Anyone who thought it was suddenly going to be easy, clear sailing now that Mr. Trump is gone, I think, was probably not thinking realistically," Darby said.

It may help that Biden was vice-president in 2010, when Canada secured a waiver under the Buy American provisions imposed by then-president Barack Obama the previous year, Darby added.

"America is never a pushover; America is always going to be 'America First,'" he said. "We just have to make sure that our interests are protected and that we aren't threatening American jobs in any significant way."

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the replacement trade deal for NAFTA negotiated under Donald Trump, does not include specific government procurement provisions between the U.S. and Canada.

The deal envisioned relying instead on the terms of the World Trade Organization's general procurement agreement, to which both Canada and the U.S. are signatories.

Biden said he "remains committed to working with partners and allies to modernize international trade rules  including those related to government procurement."

Even so, Canadian suppliers and contractors will need to remain on guard, Ujczo said.

"Make no mistake: Canadian companies, supported by federal and provincial governments, will need to remain vigilant and aggressive on this file. There is a risk that Canada gets lumped in with everybody else. "

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced that Ian Grant, a TVA Transmission & Power Supply engineer with almost 20 years of service, has earned the utilitys highest engineering honor  the Ike Zeringue Engineer of the Year award.

Mr. Grants work helps guard against massive power failures that could cost the nation billions of dollars in lost economic activity. He leads TVAs research on electromagnetic pulse effects, including establishing a grid response model to severe geomagnetic disturbances such as solar storms and initiating a geomagnetically induced current blocker to meet Department of Energy requirements.

TVA employees are the best in the nation, and each year, we have the distinct pleasure of recognizing an individual who exemplifies excellence in the engineering field and commitment to TVAs mission of service, said TVA President and CEO Jeff Lyash. Ians leadership to protect the nations electric grid is a direct link to helping TVA deliver reliable, low-cost, clean energy  a key factor when companies choose to relocate or expand in our region.

Each day, Mr. Grant helps makes sure TVAs transmission system operates at the highest levels of reliability  99.999 percent power reliability since 2000  while keeping TVA power rates among the lowest in the nation.

Ian has distinguished himself as an industry leader whose research is being used to keep electricity flowing to our homes and businesses, said Aaron Melda, TVA senior vice president, Transmission & Power Supply. More important, his EMP work contributes directly to securing the United States bulk-power system from events that could significantly degrade critical infrastructure or disable large portions of the electrical grid.

The award is TVAs highest honor for an engineer and named for O.J. Ike Zeringue, a former TVA president, chief operating officer, and chief nuclear officer.

Mr. Grant is also one of the top 10 finalists for the Federal Engineer of the Year Award, which will be presented Feb. 24 at a virtual event.

Mr. Grant is a graduate of the University of New Zealand and holds a Master of Engineering from the University of New South Wales. A highlight of Mr. Grants 50-year engineering career before he joined TVA was working on NASAs Apollo 16 mission.
There's no doubting the power of Google and Facebook. They are two of the most popular and valuable companies on the planet and their bosses are influential multi-billionaires.

Even the company names have become verbs - for searching online, and for adding new virtual friends.

There's no doubt threats by the tech giants to withdraw their most popular services for Australian users would cause problems initially if they follow through - but ultimately the decision would backfire on both, experts say.

Both Google and Facebook faced a fierce backlash for their defiant responses to a new law, the News Bargaining Code, which will force them to negotiate payment to media companies for the news content they use.

Facebook and Google are so unhappy about a proposed new law requiring they negotiate with publishers to pay to link to news articles that they are threatening to withdraw services for Australian users

'If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,' Google's Managing Director for Australia told a Senate Committee on Friday

Google's response to a Senate Committee was to threaten stopping Google Search in Australia, while Facebook said it may have to block links to new articles in it's popular News Feed. Both companies have proposed alternatives including voluntary instead of mandatory codes, which have not been accepted by the Federal Government.

Alternatives to a Google search Bing - the default search engine for the Microsoft Edge browser is the next biggest after Google, but still only has 3.74% of web traffic in Australia despite being around for 11 years

- the default search engine for the Microsoft Edge browser is the next biggest after Google, but still only has 3.74% of web traffic in Australia despite being around for 11 years DuckDuckGo - considered the 'anti-google', this search engine doesn't collect personal data and claims to use 400 sources to return search results

- considered the 'anti-google', this search engine doesn't collect personal data and claims to use 400 sources to return search results Swisscows - family friendly search engine, launched in 2014, that filters out pornographic and violent search results. Also does not store personal data

- family friendly search engine, launched in 2014, that filters out pornographic and violent search results. Also does not store personal data Ecosia - plants trees to offset internet use. It claims: 'each search with Ecosia actually removes 1 kg of CO2 from the air.' Launched in 2009 and donates 80% of profits to non-profit organisations

- plants trees to offset internet use. It claims: 'each search with Ecosia actually removes 1 kg of CO2 from the air.' Launched in 2009 and donates 80% of profits to non-profit organisations Yelp - Australian search engine which specialises in locating local businesses such as restaurants, doctors, beauty salons and bars Advertisement

The tech giants must have felt they were on strong ground when U.S. authorities backed them up, calling on Australia to scrap the proposed laws.

Google and Facebook's threats drew a series of stinging response from across the political spectrum, as well as from industry representatives and academics.

Most notably Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed the bullying: 'People who want to work with that in Australia, you're very welcome. But we don't respond to threats.'

Both companies make huge profits in Australia but have drawn criticism for how little tax they pay.

The Australian Financial Review reported Facebook Australia earned nearly $674 million by Australian advertisers in 2019, but paid under $17 million.

Google did even better, making $4.3 billion in 2019, and paying less than $100 million.

Experts and industry spokespeople say if the tech giants make good on their threats millions of users would face impacts ranging from annoyance, to receiving even more dodgy information than usual, to potential health risks.

Small businesses that rely on Google ad words campaigns for people to find them would also be thrown into uncertainty.

'Dominance by one player does not end well for society. Google is not evil its just too dominant,' says Peter Strong the CEO of the Council of Small Business.

'The world is watching us to see what happens next, it really is.'

But ultimately, Australians - including business - would adjust and cope. A move to block Australian users would end up being 'self-destructive'.

Australian Prime Minister responded to the tech giants' comments by saying 'we don't respond to threats'

'It is self-defeating and self-destructive to treat your users in these ways,' said Peter Lewis, from the Australia Institute's Centre for Responsible Technology.

'Ultimately these companies are networks of users and they're only as strong as their networks. If they make decisions that weaken those networks and don't respect their users, ultimately they weaken themselves.'

'We managed to survive before Google, and I'm sure we could again.'

Poll Should the government pass a law to force Google and Facebook to pay for using Australian news? Yes No I don't care Should the government pass a law to force Google and Facebook to pay for using Australian news? Yes 227 votes

No 37 votes

I don't care 23 votes Now share your opinion





'We'll find a workaround, we always do,' Mr Lewis says.

On Facebook chat threads, internet natives and heavy users appear relatively unfazed by the potential for Google Search to be blocked for Australians. Many said they would simply use the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) they already pay for to get around geoblocking.

For those without a VPN, Google is not the only search engine that works.

Australian consumer tech website Gizmodo recommended four 'great alternatives as the legislation went before parliament: the so-called 'anti-google' DuckDuckGo, the family friendly Swisscows, Ecosia and Bing.

'DuckDuckGo is popular because it positions itself as being the 'anti-Google'. Unlike the tech giant, it doesn't store cookies or any kind of identifiable personal information,' according to Gizmodo.

'There would certainly be a learning curve for consumers to understand that there are alternative options out there,' says Teresa Corbin, CEO of The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).

Google is the biggest search engine by far in Australia - with nearly 95 per cent of search traffic, but it's not the only one

Teresa Corbin, CEO of The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN)

'Ultimately though some of the alternative search providers do not profile users and provide more privacy options for consumers.'

The Google Search users who will be looking for new ideas with the greatest urgency will be micro business owners and those in highly competitive markets, such as cafes, restaurants, hairdressers and tradespeople.

Facebook facts Worth A$9.29billion

Also owns Instagram

16.5 million Australians have Facebook

About half of all Australian use Facebook every day

An estimated 40% of Australians get their news each day from Facebook

Made A$674 million in 2019 but paid only $17million tax Advertisement

'We don't know what would happen, we're trying to work that out,' says Peter Strong, CEO of the Council of Small Business.

'Small businesses usually just get someone to do this for them and then forget about it. Well if Google pulls out, they're gone.

'How would people find a local hairdresser, or plumbing business, cafes, or delivery businesses? Of course they will start using other search engines, but this will cause a lot of uncertainty.'

'There could be health impacts too. What if you order your medicines online or need to get your wheelchair fixed?'

Ms Corbin agrees: "Australians would be able to adjust to using alternative services.'

'However, there are still many questions to be answered about what the future of the internet in Australia would look like if Google and Facebook follow through on these threats, such as how small businesses who depend on Google Ads in search will be affected.'

Mr Lewis agrees business will struggle, but will find other ways to reach their audiences - 'maybe even back through to news organisations.'

While it seems unlikely that news organisations could end up recommencing large scale online classifieds as a solution - the loss of which sunk the business models that newspapers operated for decades - things change quickly online.

News organisations are already building search and aggregation tools for bona fide news sites - such as Daily Mail's Newzit - have also sprung up in recent times that could meet a demand for fact-based news services.

Tama Leaver, Professor of Internet Studies, at Curtin University, says contrary to some reports, Facebook is not threatening to shut down the News Feed for Australians.

What is proposed is worse than that, Mr Leaver says.

'If you drop a link to an interesting news article into your post it wouldn't work. Information from unverified sources would start to clutter up the feed - that's a significant shift away from verified information.

'To me that is a huge issue. Facebook is already fighting a war against disinformation and it is not winning, the likes of 5G and Covid conspiracies.'

'Without credible sources to counter that Facebook could become even more of a cesspool for misinformation,' Mr Leaver says.

'It is an experiment I'm not sure I want to be in. People will be watching to see how bad it gets.'

As Mr Lewis adds: 'Without news in it, the Facebook News feed is just conspiracy theories and cat videos.'

So where can people go for news - apart from the obvious choices of news websites and news aggregation sites?

Google facts Estimated worth is A$1.29 trillion

94.4% of search traffic goes through google in Australia

19 million Australians use it

Also owns YouTube

Google news shut down in Spain since 2014

Recently agreed to pay French news publishers A$1.68billion over 3 years Advertisement

It is likely that news will migrate in greater volumes to other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram - which carried virtually no news until the last couple of years.

Ultimately, Mr Lewis doesn't think the threats by Google and Facebook will work: 'By threatening to leave by attempting to block users, they've backed themselves into a corner.'

'Unless they have a master plan I'm not seeing, I cant see how this ends with them getting what they want.'

'Google and Facebook need to come to the table in good faith,' Ms Corbin says.

'We saw Google recently agree to a copyright framework agreement with French publishers that required them to pay news publishers for their online content, so the idea of a deal is not incomprehensible to these tech giants.'

Mr Lewis says it's important to note that the News Media Bargaining Code is the first of several major changes to the way information is shared online.

Major changes will follow soon relating to data privacy, the transparency of advertising and the spread of misinformation.

These changes are seen as more urgent since it became obvious that conspiracy theories - such as those surrounding COVID-19, QAnon, Brexit and the US election - were spreading quickly online.

Google has defended itself in statements posted to YouTube and available on the Google search page. It has also laid out its case in an open letter.
As the pandemic drew to its first peak last year, the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida launched its History Up Close series, highlighting aircraft and exhibits from the Museums extensive collection. These professionally-produced, informative and immersive segments provide an excellent experience for viewers, and are well worth watching.

The next installment in the series will help the museum commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Gulf War. It is entitled Desert Storm MiG Killers Reflect, and will involve first hand accounts from two aviators who saw air-to-air combat during that conflict. The two-part, Facebook Live series shows its first episode on Tuesday, January 26th at 11:00 a.m. Central Standard Time, while the follow-up episode will occur at the same time on Thursday, January 28th. VADM Mark Fox, USN (Ret.) and CAPT Nick Mongillo, USN (Ret.) will reflect upon their experiences shooting down a pair of Iraqi MiG-21 fighters.

In the second episode, these Desert Storm combat veterans will have a close look at the actual aircraft they flew when they engaged the enemy MiGs. They will also inspect a representative, Polish example of the MiG-21 in the museums collection. Interestingly, this airframe will soon to be restored in Iraqi markings.
With Pfizer signing the deal with COVAX, and Moderna in talks, the possibility of these two vaccines becoming available to the public in India and other low middle income countries (LMIC), may soon become reality.

COVAX is a global initiative coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide equal access to COVID-19 vaccines for 92 LMIC countries. India is eligible to get COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX for vaccinating about 20 percent of its population. India has begun the first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations to inoculate three crore healthcare and frontline workers, using Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

Read here on the status check on COVID-19 vaccines in the pipeline for India over next six months

Pfizer and BioNTech on January 22 said they have signed an advanced purchase agreement with COVAX for up to 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, subject to the execution of additional agreements under the COVAX structure.

Neither Pfizer nor COVAX have provided the procurement price details of the vaccine.

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

Cold storage barrier

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already received emergency use listing from the WHO. Pfizer said it will work with the countries to put in place cold chain requirements for the rollout of the vaccines.

"As we prepare to provide these first doses, we will provide support so that countries can ensure that solid systems are in place for vaccine delivery, building on our recent innovations in packaging to manage cold chain requirements," Pfizer said in a statement

"Establishing the infrastructure needed to administer breakthrough mRNA vaccines in developing countries will not only help the world fight this pandemic but make us more prepared for the next one," the statement added.

Earlier this month, US biotech Moderna told Moneycontrol that it is still in discussions with COVAX, but is yet to sign an agreement.

"We are actively participating in discussions with multilateral organizations, such as COVAX. Moderna understands the important role that multilateral organizations will play in helping to expand access and protect populations around the world," Moderna said in an email statement.

Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are based on the messenger RNA platform and have efficacy rates of over 90 percent. While they are now available in the developed world, the high price tag and low cold storage temperature requirements have made the vaccines inaccessible to most low and middle income countries including India.

Also unlike AstraZeneca and Novavax who have tied up with SII, Johnson & Johnson with Biological E and Russia's RDIF with Dr Reddy's and Hetero for Sputnik V vaccine, to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines locally, Pfizer and Moderna haven't yet entered into any such tie-ups. Analysts say given the novelty of the mRNA, technology is possibly the reason for them not to enter.

COVAX has now become a gateway for the availability of these vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine was priced at $19.5 per dose, the Moderna charges $32-$37 per dose, according to a presentation by the government. Pfizer requires storage temperature of minus 70C, Moderna needs to be preserved at temperatures between -25C and -15C.

COVAX now has agreements in place to access just over two billion doses of several promising vaccine candidates. But it expects at least 1.3 billion of these doses will be made available to the 92 economies eligible by the end of 2021. The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX to begin in Q1 2021.

The initial focus would be to protect health care and other frontline workers as well as some high-risk individuals. The aim of COVAX is to protect at least 20 percent of each participating population by the end of the year.

The major chunk of vaccine doses for COVAX will be coming from the Serum Institute of India (SII). COVAX has signed agreements to buy 200 million doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford University and Novavax vaccines from SII, with an option to secure additional doses based on requirement. Of these first 100 million doses, the majority are earmarked for delivery in the first quarter of the year, pending WHO Emergency Use Listing. The AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine requires 2-8C and is priced at $3 per dose, making it the most affordable and convenient COVID-19 vaccine.

The WHO review process, which is currently underway, follows approval for restricted use in emergency situations by the Drugs Controller General of India earlier this month, and is a critical aspect of ensuring that any vaccine procured through COVAX is fully quality assured for international use.
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Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has vowed to arrest and prosecute people, including government officials, linked to the communal crisis involving Effium and Ezza Effium indigenes of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.

Over 60 people have been arrested, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The police have confirmed that eight people died, while several houses have been razed in the crisis caused by a leadership dispute at a local motor park, NAN reported.

Even government officials involved in the carnage would not be spared, Mr Umahi said on Monday during a tour of the affected community.

All political appointments and developmental projects being executed in the crisis area should be suspended until permanent peace returns to the area, the governor said, adding that a judicial panel of inquiry would be set up to investigate the crisis.

The governor warned the opposition not to cash in on the crisis to heighten tension in the state.

He said he has ordered the arrest of the spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state over inflammatory publication he made on social media about the crisis.

I also urge the media not to use its pen to cause or escalate the crisis in the state because precious lives are involved, he said.

Emmanuel Igwe, the governors aide on Parks Development, said he reported to relevant authorities the breach of peace at the Effium motor park where the crisis began.

Friday Nwite, a youth leader in the community, accused some politicians in the area as being behind the crisis.

(NAN)
The founders of Apollo Global Management, one of the worlds biggest private equity firms, engaged in a brief power struggle this weekend over control of the firm, a rift that opened up after an inquiry revealed that one founder  Apollos chief executive and chairman, Leon Black  had paid $US150 million ($195 million) to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On Monday, Mr Black announced his plan to step down as chief executive of the company this year.

I have advised the Apollo board that I will retire as CEO on or before my 70th birthday in July and remain as chairman, he said in a statement.

Leon Black has announced he is stepping down as chief executive of Apollo Global Management. Credit:Bloomberg

The review  ordered by the firms board in October after The New York Times detailed at least $US75 million in payments  found that Mr Black had paid Epstein significantly more, according to two people familiar with the inquiry, who requested anonymity because the report was not public.
The capital of Hanoi has been draped in red and yellow to welcome delegates to the upcoming Party Congress, Photo: Duc Thanh

As a key political event for the Party, the state, and the people of Vietnam held every five years, the National Party Congress sets critical milestones in Party-building and nation building processes.

The 13th edition will be convened between January 25 and February 2 at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi. The preparatory session is scheduled to take place on January 25, and the opening ceremony will begin the following morning.

The Congress will discuss and adopt the Political Report, which is the events keynote document; the wrap-up report of the 10-year Socioeconomic Development Strategy for 2011-2020 and building of the follow-up strategy for 2021-2030; the assessment report of the 5-year Socioeconomic Development Plan for 2016-2020 and orientations and mandates for the next 5-year plan for 2021-2025; the wrap-up report of Party-building work and implementation of the 12th National Party Congresss Statute; the review report of the 12th National Party Congress Central Committee; and also the election of the 13th National Party Congress Central Committee (2021-2026 tenure)  the highest leadership apparatus of the Party in between two national congresses.

The drafts put forward specific objectives. By 2025, it is hoped that Vietnam will become a modernity-oriented industrialised developing country and graduate from the lower-middle income group. By 2030, also the centenary of the founding of the Party, Vietnam will become a developing country with modern industry and join the upper-middle income group. By 2045, the centenary of the nations founding, it is hoped Vietnam will become a developed and a high-income country.

A total number of 1,587 deputies will attend the 13th National Party Congress, representing more than five million Party members. There are 191 automatically qualified deputies who are incumbent members of the Party Central Committee, or around 12 per cent.

As many as 1,381 deputies are elected at the Party congresses subordinate to the Party Central Committee, around 87 per cent. Fifteen are designated deputies, while deputies with a Masters degree or above account for nearly 68 per cent.

Apart from official deputies, the Party Central Committee also invited former members of the Central Committee of the third to seventh Party congresses, heroic Vietnamese mothers, representatives from the intelligentsia, artists, religious dignitaries, and exemplary youth figures to the Congress.

According to the World Bank, which has a positive view on Vietnams economy, the countrys development over the past 30 years has been remarkable.

Economic and political reforms under doi moi, launched in 1986, have spurred rapid economic growth, transforming what was then one of the worlds poorest nations into a lower middle-income country. Between 2002 and 2020, GDP per capita increased by nearly three times, reaching $3,521 in 2020, and more than 45 million people were lifted out of poverty. The poverty rate declined sharply from over 70 per cent to about 2.75 per cent last year, when the near-poverty rate sat at about 4 per cent.

Statistics from the Ministry of Planning showed that by late 2020, the Vietnamese economys GDP reached a record level of $343 billion.

Vietnam has after nearly 35 years of doi moi transformed itself from being an underdeveloped country with an outdated material-technological base, backward socioeconomic infrastructures, and a low level of development into a middle-income developing country, said Party General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong at a ceremony held in Hanoi last February to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Party. With that, Vietnam has seen its culture and society continuously developed, its populations material and spiritual living standards improved, breakthroughs in Party-building and the building of political system achieved, all-nation unity unceasingly consolidated, its political and social situation stabilised, its national defense, security, independence, and sovereignty firmly maintained, and its status and prestige in the international arena increasingly elevated.

In view of the great achievements attained, we are well-grounded to confirm that never has our country enjoyed such fortunes, potential, status, and prestige as they are today, he stressed.
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New Delhi: Larson & Toubro on Monday (January 25) won one more Bullet Train related contract under which the company bagged the contract for procurement and fabrication of 28 still bridges for Bullet Train. The contract, worth Rs 1390 crore, has been awarded to Larson & Toubro IHI Infrastructure Systems (Consortium), which is a consortium of Indian and Japanese companies.

It is estimated that about 70,000 MT of steel will be used for the fabrication of these steel bridges and Indian Steel industries and their allied supply chains will get a big boost.

National High-speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has awarded Contract for Procurement and Fabrication of 28 steel bridges (Superstructure) for crossing over railway lines, rivers, highways, road and other structures (P-4 Package) for Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, today.

NHSRCL has already awarded civil contracts for the construction of 64% of MAHSR alignment which includes five (5) HSR stations (Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch, Anand/Nadiad, Train depot at Surat, and One Mountain Tunnel of 350 metres.

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Out of the total length of 508 km, a maximum stretch of the Mumbai Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) will be covered by the viaduct, which excludes the 21 km long tunnel near Mumbai. The MAHSR alignment over viaduct (487km) will span over National Highways, Dedicated Fright Corridor Tracks (DFC), Indian Railways Tracks and rivers at many locations. Most of the viaduct is being made of concrete (PSC box, Girder). However, where the span requirement will be more than 60 meters, steel superstructures have been planned, as beyond a point PSC structures become heavy and steel superstructures are considered to be more viable and efficient.

In total, 28 steel bridges with individual spans varying from 60 meters to 130 meters will be constructed for the project. The length of all the steel bridges put together will be approximately 4.5 km and their construction would involve more than 70,000 tons of steel fabrication.

For this purpose, at the initial stages, the steel superstructure work was assigned to Japan Lead (JV) Companies, as the job required the construction of steel superstructures bridges of high-quality Japanese standards for high-speed railway. But as the Make in India prospect took flight and as fabrication of steel structures are being executed by Indian companies for all other railway projects, NHSRCL took a keen interest in the possibility of opening steel structure fabrication bid to Indian companies as well.

On discussion with the Japanese side for opening steel superstructure works to Indian companies also, a High-Power Committee comprising of experts from both Indian and Japanese side, namely NHSRCL, India Experts, and JRTT was formed in March 2019.

The main task of the committee was to assess the capability of various Indian fabricators and ensure whether they can be entrusted with the said work. The Committee was also tasked with the responsibility of recommending the required improvements to the Indian fabricators so that their fabrication quality is levelled with Japanese and global HSR standards.

Over a span of the next few months, the Committee visited various factories in India to assess their capabilities and interacted with some reputed fabricators regarding their infrastructure facility, quality control systems, the skills of their manpower, and previous experience in Railway steel bridge fabrication. In addition to all this, the Committee also visited steel fabrication facilities in Japan in October 2019.

According to the committee, the manufacturing of steel bridges can be achieved by Indian fabrication companies as they have all infrastructure facilities and with the support of highly-skilled human resources and a systematic human-training system the required quality level can be achieved.

The Indian companies may achieve the same technical & engineering finesse of the Japanese steel bridges by learning, training. A few leading Indian companies already have the infrastructure required for the fabrication of this level.

The technicians, engineers, construction workers will be exposed to high-quality learning, training, guidance, and skill development standards required for HSR bridge construction and fabrication. Systematic inputs from Japan and other countries that have built HSR can further aid in enhancing the workflow systems and upgrade the workforce here to meet the set standards. To achieve this, few additional conditions were included in the tender as explained below.
An organization called Towards An Anti-Racist North Kingstown has been promoting justice and acceptance through town.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Bengaluru: Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, who is serving a jail term in Bengaluru in a corruption case, has been moved out of the ICU after her coronavirus symptoms reduced, the Victoria Hospital authorities said in a statement. The former aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who is set to be released from prison on January 27, contracted coronavirus on January 20 and was later admitted to the Bowring Hospital.

In view of her critical condition, she was shifted to the ICU ward of Victoria Hospital. Now that the symptoms have reduced substantially and her condition has become normal, she has been taken out of the ICU.

However, the hospital authorities have been monitoring her. Meanwhile, her sister-in-law J Ilavarasi, who too is serving a jail term in the corruption case and was found COVID-19 positive, was keeping well, the authorities said.

Sasikala was sentenced to four years imprisonment in February 2017 in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case..

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(CNN Philippines, January 25) -- After its mayor recently tested positive for COVID-19, the vice mayor of Bontoc, Mountain Province also confirmed on Monday that he was infected with the virus.

In his personal social media account, Vice Mayor Eusebio Kabluyen said he was informed by the Bontoc Municipal Health Office that the results of his swab test came out positive.

The vice mayor asked anyone who had close contact with him in the past 14 days to call the Bontoc Municipal Health Office hotline for contact tracing purposes and immediate self-quarantine.

He also requested them to immediately call their respective barangay health units should they experience any symptoms related to COVID-19.

Last Jan. 15, the Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey confirmed that he was infected with the virus but was asymptomatic.

Both officials asked the cooperation of all the town residents to follow health protocols.
American actress Sharon Stone took to her Twitter to hop on the Bernie Sanders memes trend. She shared a photoshopped picture of herself where her head was replaced by Bernie's. The original picture is from the actor's movie Basic Instinct which was released in 1992. On the other hand, Jamie Lee Curtis also took some time to share a meme where Bernie was photoshopped in one of the scenes from her movie True Lies. The fans of both the actors replied with their version of the meme. Check it out.

Also Read: Bernie Sanders meme becomes 'Real Highlight' for many at the Inauguration Day

Sharon Stone's indecent take on Bernie Sanders memes

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.....

slow down buddy pic.twitter.com/0MeCTl1Rup  Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) January 23, 2021

While sharing the picture, she added the caption, "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie..... slow down buddy". One of the fans tweeted another edited picture of Sharon from her movie where she is sitting while wearing her famous white dress. Another user complimented her for the meme and pointed out that the mittens are still on. Check out their tweets.

Also Read: Priyanka Chopra Jonas shares hilarious Bernie Sanders memes ft. the Chopra-Jonas family

Best one yet! The pants are off but the mittens are on!!  Damon Gonzalez (@TheyCallMeDaymz) January 23, 2021

Jamie Lee Curtis' take on the meme trend

The 62-year-old shared the meme that was made from her famous seductive scene from the movie True Lies. Her fans replied to the tweet with their version of the meme. Check it out.

Also Read: 'I was just sitting there': Bernie Sanders finally reacts to memes on his viral mittens

Coming in hot with an appropriate crossover pic.twitter.com/NSPJGRoOLn  DROO87 (@DoctaOO) January 22, 2021

Bernie Sanders memes

The meme trend began after Joe Biden's inauguration day. Bernie was spotted sitting on a chair wearing patterned mittens and this picture took the internet by the storm. Thousands of people went on to photoshop the picture on different scenarios. From movie scenes to animes to different day to day scenery.

Later on, the story of the mittens was revealed by a politics reporter on her Twitter account. It was mentioned that Bernie Sanders' mittens were actually made by Jen Ellis. She is a teacher from Essex Junction, Vermont. The mittens were given to him two years ago and the teacher is quite surprised that he wore them. They are made out of repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece from recycled plastic bottles. Check it out.

Also Read: Bernie Sanders' Inauguration Day photo: All you need to know about the Senator's mittens

Bernies mittens are made by Jen Ellis, a teacher from Essex Junction, Vt. She gave them to him 2+ years ago and was surprised when he began wearing them on the campaign trail. They are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles. pic.twitter.com/ErLr29lY2t  Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) January 20, 2021

While the world was busy making memes on him, Bernie used this opportunity to raise money for charity. While talking to CNN affiliate WCAX, the Senator mentioned that he is happy with the meme trend and has now launched a campaign store that is selling sweatshirts. The sweatshirts will feature his viral meme picture. The proceedings will go to Meals on Wheels programs in Sanders home state of Vermont which would provide food stamps for old age, vulnerable senior citizens on a low wage. The cost of the sweatshirt is $45.

Also Read: Bernie Sanders glad over mittens memes, uses popular image for fundraiser to feed millions

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Production of the RAF's new unmanned high-speed combat drone is set to begin in Northern Ireland in a 30million project.

Nicknamed the 'loyal wingman', the aircraft will be designed to fly alongside fighter jets, armed with surveillance and electronic warfare technology to provide a battle-winning advantage over hostile forces.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the three-year contract to design and manufacture a prototype will support more than 100 jobs in Northern Ireland.

The loyal wingman will be the UK's first uncrewed platform able to target and shoot down enemy aircraft and survive against surface-to-air missiles, the MoD said.

Production of the RAF's new unmanned high-speed combat drone - the 'loyal wingman' is set to begin thanks to a 30 million Government investment: A visualisation of the loyal wingman

Nicknamed the 'loyal wingman', the aircraft will be designed to fly alongside fighter jets, armed with surveillance and electronic warfare technology to provide a battle-winning advantage over hostile forces. Pictured: A visualisation of the loyal wingman flying alongside a fighter jet

Spirit AeroSystems, in Belfast, has been selected to lead Team Mosquito in the next phase of the project.

The team will further develop the RAF's Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept, with a full-scale vehicle flight-test programme expected by the end of 2023.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said: 'This is fantastic news and underlines the distinct strengths in Northern Ireland's economy, through its advanced engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

'This ground-breaking project will involve significant investment which will not only support local employment, but also reinforce Northern Ireland's contribution to the security of our nation.'

The loyal wingman will be the UK's first uncrewed platform able to target and shoot down enemy aircraft and survive against surface-to-air missiles, the MoD said. Pictured: An MoD visualisation of the RAF's Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA)

Spirit AeroSystems (pictured), in Belfast, has been selected to lead Team Mosquito in the next phase of Project Mosquito

'This is a great win for the Northern Ireland defence industry and will showcase some of the most pioneering engineering work currently being undertaken in the UK,' UK Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin said.

'The 30 million project will accelerate the development of the UK's future air power by delivering cutting-edge uncrewed aircraft, maintaining our position as a world leader in emerging technologies.'

The director of Future Combat Air at the MoD, Richard Berthon, said: 'Project Mosquito is a vital element of our approach to Future Combat Air, rapidly bringing to life design, build and test skills for next generation combat air capabilities.

'Autonomous 'loyal wingman' aircraft create the opportunity to expand, diversify and rapidly upgrade Combat Air Forces in a cost-effective way, now and in the future.'

Boeing first unveiled the new autonomous fighter jet plane at an Australian air show in February 2019.

The aerospace giant said the new drone was particularly suited for long-distance surveillance missions that humans can't typically perform.

It may also be able to carry missiles or bombs at some point in the future.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 12:04:44|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Half of indigenous Australians over the age of 45 had died from smoking-related illnesses, a study found.

The study published by Australian National University (ANU) researchers on Monday found that smoking caused 10,000 preventable deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the last decade.

On average, indigenous Australians who smoked died 10 years earlier than those who did not.

The study tracked the health outcomes of 1,388 indigenous Australians who at the time of joining the study had not been diagnosed with cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Researchers found that smoking causes 37 percent of all deaths of indigenous Australians and half of those of people aged 45 and over.

"The results are shocking - smoking is killing one in two older adults, and we found smokers have four times the risk of early death compared to those who have never smoked," lead author Katie Thurber said. "It's close to double what the previous estimates were."

Approximately 40 percent of indigenous adults said they were smokers in 2019, down from 54.5 percent in 1994.

Raymond Lovett, an indigenous man and co-author of the study, said the high rate of smoking stemmed back to the colonial practice of paying indigenous workers in rations including tobacco.

"If you worked, particularly in rural areas, you were paid in tobacco. That has got a large part to play in why smoking rates are so high," he said.

"And it actually becomes a source of a call to action in community-controlled health services and different communities. The way we talk about tobacco as a colonial process, linking tobacco to those colonial processes, because some people have forgotten about that, particularly young people." Enditem
Rameswaram:

As many as 25 Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy in two separate incidents on charges of fishing in the territorial waters of the island nation on Saturday, drawing angry reaction from the state government.

In the first incident, eight fishermen from Nagapattinam were arrested while fishing near Paruthithurai, Fisheries Department sources said.

They were held on charges of crossing International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in a zone exclusively meant for Sri Lankan fishermen, they said.

They have been taken to Kangesanthurai port there, Joint Director of Fisheries Department, Nagapattinam district, Amala Xavier said, adding that their mechanised fishing boat was also impounded.

In the second incident, 17 fishermen from here and Jagadapattinam were arrested on charges of crossing the IMBL, Rameswaram Fisheries Department Deputy Director Issac Jayakumar said.

Their two mechanised boats were also taken into custody.

While 10 of them were taken to Thalimannar, the others were taken to Kanagesanthurai in the island nation, he said.

Two days ago, four fishermen from Pudukottai district and 17 from Karaikal region in Puducherry were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of fishing near Neduntheevu in the island nation.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami termed the arrest of the eight fishermen from Nagapattinam as an abduction and took up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Also read: Pakistan Maritime Security Agency apprehends 23 Indian fishermen, four boats off Gujarat coast

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"In the name of Lord Rama, the BJP leaders are trying to pocket money. They are doing this as a business and spoiling the name of God," Gajjela said.  (Image: YouTube)

Karimnagar: The chairman of the Telangana State Peoples organisations Joint Action Committee, Gajjela Kantham, made some sensational comments on Monday against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological inspiration for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking to the media here, Kantham alleged that RSS is more dangerous than terrorist groups and demanded that the government ban the organisation.

The Supreme Court has appointed a committee for construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The committee will look after the construction works. What is the need for the BJP to interfere in such matters and collect funds? Is the RSS exerting pressure on the BJP to take up the construction works, he asked.

When the BJP is collecting donations for the Ram Mandir, why did it not do the same for the Yadadri temple in Telangana? The state government did not ask people to donate money for renovation of the Yadadri temple. Why is the BJP collecting donations from the public for the Ram Mandir, he wanted to know.

In the name of Lord Rama, the BJP leaders are trying to pocket money. They are doing this as a business and spoiling the name of God. Why is the BJP not taking the name of Sita Devi along with the lord, he asked.

If the central government is keen on construction of the Ram Mandir, it should sanction Rs.1,000 crore immediately, Kantham proposed.

Are the people from SC, ST, BC communities not Hindus? In the name of religion, the BJP is trying to grab votes from the faithful. In the process, the party and its leaders are dividing the people. The BJP is encouraging communalism. There is no difference between the RSS, the BJP and the terrorists, he said.

He asked: Why is the central government not doing justice to farmers. When farmers are demanding that the government fix minimum support price for their produce, why is the BJP government not resolving their issues?

He alleged that there is a threat from the RSS, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to the people of the SC, ST, BC and minority communities and to democracy. They are trying to create a wedge between those who support BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotibha Phule and killing democracy in the country, he alleged.

Kantham said that in order to save democracy, there is the need to bring all caste and communities under one platform to unitedly fight against the Modi government. Several meetings will be held in all districts in the coming days, as also a massive public meeting in Karimnagar on May 29 and in Hyderabad later, he said.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) today announced the launch of a sweet, new, direct-to-consumer offering, SweetSnacking.com, that delivers favorite brands directly to consumers homes. The new option is available now.



The COVID-19 pandemic has created a massive demand for convenient and affordable food options, as many have had to shift to remote work, school and social environments. This demand, paired with BBUs mission to always keep its consumers needs at the forefront, led the company to develop this new option.

SweetSnacking.com presents no shortage of snacking options, said Omar Haque, Vice President, e-Commerce at Bimbo Bakeries USA. Whether you prefer sweet, salty, or a combination of both, we offer carefully curated, delicious options for the entire family! Consumers will be able to select from ten, pre-made boxes that offer a varied combination of BBU s iconic brands, including Entenmanns, Sara Lee, Thomas and Takis. Deliveries, which are shipped for free, are made directly to consumers homes for ease and convenience.

We know that our consumers can buy from multiple sources, but with everything that has happened since the beginning of the pandemic, we wanted to take the pressure off any way we could. This option ensures that everyone can enjoy the same snacks theyve known and loved while remaining safe inside, said Haque.

Whether looking for a snack combo to pair with coffee on a virtual meeting or a savory treat to enjoy with the kids during a family movie night, SweetSnacking.com brings snacking to consumers in a fun, compact and affordable package that takes no more than the click of a mouse.

Delivery is currently available to select zip codes. See SweetSnacking.com for more information.

About Bimbo Bakeries USA

Bimbo Bakeries USA is a leader in the baking industry, known for its category leading brands, innovative products, freshness and quality. Our team of 20,000 U.S. associates operates more than 60 manufacturing locations in the United States. Over 11,000 distribution routes deliver our leading brands such as Arnold, Artesano, Ball Park, Bimbo, Boboli, Brownberry, Entenmann's, Little Bites, Marinela, Mrs Bairds, Oroweat, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, and Thomas'. Bimbo Bakeries USA is part of Mexicos Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B de C.V., the world's largest baking company with operations in 33 countries.

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John Reynolds, 610-228-0730

john.reynolds@buchananpr.com
KYODO NEWS - Jan 25, 2021 - 12:41 | World, All

A North Korean diplomat defected to South Korea in 2019 while serving as the acting head of the North's embassy in Kuwait, South Korean media reported Monday.

The Maeil Business Newspaper said Ryu Hyun Woo defected with his wife and children and has explained he decided to do so to provide his children with a better future.

Yonhap News Agency also reported the defection, citing a source. It said a National Intelligence Agency official declined to comment.

Ryu was reportedly a counselor at the embassy. He was serving as a charge d'affaires after a North Korean ambassador was expelled from Kuwait following a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution over North Korea's missile activities, according to the media.

The report of Ryu's defection follows one of Jo Song Gil, an acting ambassador to Italy who defected to South Korea sometime between 2018 and 2019. Earlier in 2016, Thae Yong Ho, a minister at the North's embassy in London, defected to the South.

One report said Ryu's father-in-law used to head Office 39 of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, which manages the secret funds of the country's top leaders and is tasked with acquiring hard currency.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
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BOSTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The China Fund, Inc. (NYSE: CHN) (the "Fund") announced today that the Fund's annual stockholder meeting (the "Meeting") will be held Tuesday, March 9, 2021 via a virtual forum at 11:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Stockholders of record as of February 1, 2021 will be entitled to notice of, and to attend and vote at, the Meeting. Matthews Asia, International Capital Management, LLC, the investment manager, will be in attendance at the meeting and will provide an update on the China market.

The Fund is a closed-end management investment company with the objective of seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities (i) of companies for which the principal securities trading market is the People's Republic of China ("China"), or (ii) of companies for which the principal securities trading market is outside of China, or constituting direct equity investments in companies organized outside of China, that in both cases derive at least 50% of their revenues from goods and services sold or produced, or have at least 50% of their assets, in China. Shares of the Fund are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CHN."

For further information regarding the Fund and the Fund's holdings, please call (888)-CHN-CALL or visit the Fund's website at www.chinafundinc.com.

SOURCE The China Fund, Inc.

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The report of the Commission of Inquiry into Air Vanuatu is expected to be completed in March this year, says Minister Koanapo. Photo: Kizzy Kalsakau
Egypts government is warming up to implement the modernisation project of Egyptalum, a national company for aluminium industries listed in EGX as Egypt Aluminium (EGAL), with an estimated cost of EGP 13 billion, Minister of Public Business Sector Hisham Tawfik announced on Monday.

Tawfik said in a statement that the US-based Bechtel, the project consultant, is expected to finalise the projects feasibility study by mid 2021.

The project includes the replacement of old parts over two phases and adopting new technology that uses less electricity with the aim to increase the companys production capacity to reach 250,000 tones annually, according to the minister.

He added that six international companies participated in the public tender the ministry conducted to provide consulting services and prepare feasibility studies for establishing a new production line that focuses on producing auto tires.

This comes amid the crisis of the liquidation of Egypts giant Iron and Steel Company that occurred on 12 January according to a resolution passed by the companys board of directors driven by its significant losses over the years.

Egyptalum is a subsidiary of the Metallurgical Industries Holding Company. The two companies are working under the Ministry of Public Business Sector.

The companys total losses in FY2019/2020 recorded EGP 994 million, compared to FY2018/2019s EGP 571 million in profits, according to the companys financial statements released in December.

The company attributed the losses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the weak return on investments, which all affected the companys exports severely.

Egyptalums total assets are worth EGP 11.6 million in 2021, with a total liability amount of EGP 6.5 million in the same year, according to the Egyptian Bourse data.

Egyptalum began construction in 1969 as one of the most important giant national projects in Nag' a Hammady located in Upper Egypt.

In 1975, the company initiated its first spark, announcing the start of production.

In April 2010, all production lines of the company were rehabilitated and upgraded to pre-baked cells to reach 320,000 tons annually.

48 companies out of 120 affiliated to Egypt's public business sector have made a total of EGP 44 billion over the previous decades, according to Tawfik in comments he made during a discusion panel held on Sunday.

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Herreid Legion to remember 400 Campbell County area veterans Monday

The Herreid American Legion and the Sons of the American Legion work together to recognize veterans on Memorial Day.
Joseph V. Micallef is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker. Follow him on Twitter @JosephVMicallef.

2021 brings a new administration to the White House. For the first time since 2008, the Democratic Party will control both chambers of Congress and the executive branch. Such dramatic realignments are often expected to herald significant changes in U.S. foreign policy.

While the style and rhetoric of U.S. foreign policy will modify with new administrations, its content usually changes far less. With the Biden administration poised to take power, what can we expect from U.S. foreign policy in 2021?

The two most significant legacies of the Trump administration's foreign policy are a sharply confrontational relationship with China and a radically different Middle East. It is unlikely that the incoming administration can or will want to change either policy to any significant degree.

The Trump administration moved quickly to confront China over what it saw as unfair trade practices, Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property, and mercantilist economic policies that it believed had resulted in the loss of high-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Despite a highly touted agreement with China in which it promised to dramatically increase its purchases of U.S. goods, especially agricultural and energy products, Beijing has failed to live up to its commitments.

Given that roughly two out of every three Americans see China as a threat to the U.S., according to a recent PEW survey, the Biden administration will have a hard time reversing course on Trump's China policy. President-elect Joe Biden has already indicated his support for repatriating supply chains to the U.S. for critical goods, such as medical equipment and PPE supplies, and for a "Buy American" policy in federal procurement.

Moreover, China is likely to test the incoming administration with one or more provocative acts. On Jan. 5, for example, Hong Kong police arrested 53 pro-democracy activists as Beijing moved openly to squash any dissent. The arrests were condemned by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who threatened to impose sanctions on those responsible, as well as by Antony Blinken, Biden's nominee for the position.

Resetting Relations with China

The Biden administration will want to reduce the Trump administration's confrontational attitude toward China and reset relations between Washington and Beijing. Unless China abandons its aggressive posture in East Asia, however, that will prove difficult without making it appear that the U.S. is appeasing Beijing.

Hence, it's unlikely that the new administration will dismantle anytime soon the sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump or the restrictions placed on the ability of Chinese government-linked companies to access American technology and financial markets -- although some selective rollbacks may be possible.

What is more likely is that Washington will try to enlist European support for a coordinated response to China's unfair trade practices; the bullying of its South and East China Sea neighbors; and the internal repression of Tibetans, Uighurs and other minorities in China.

It's also likely that the Biden administration will signal its willingness to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated by the Obama administration in 2016.

Both efforts, however, will take a long time to resolve so it is unlikely that either effort will come to fruition in 2021 or that the tenor of Sino-American relations will change, barring a de-escalation on Beijing's part.

How forcefully the Biden administration responds to Chinese provocations will set the tone of Sino-American relations for the foreseeable future. Three key benchmarks will be how strongly it pushes back on Chinese repression in Hong Kong and elsewhere; its willingness to supply Taiwan with advanced weapons; and its continued use of Freedom of Navigation Operations to symbolically protest Beijing's militarization of the South and East China Seas

Overall, however, American public opinion, national security concerns, continued questions about how beholden Biden and his family are to China, and the lingering legacy of Trump's policy toward Beijing will limit the Biden administration's freedom of action concerning China.

The Middle East

The Middle East is a radically different place in 2020 than it was in 2016. The ISIS Caliphate has been destroyed. Although ISIS continues as an organization, and is indeed thriving, it no longer directly threatens the U.S. homeland or its military personnel.

Jihadist groups have learned that if they stage attacks against Americans, especially if they do so on U.S. soil, they will find themselves in the crosshairs of America's formidable military machine. As long as they operate elsewhere, however, they are unlikely to be subjected to the full weight and power of American military forces, even if their actions ultimately work against the foreign policy interests of the U.S.

The Abraham Accords, a 2020 joint declaration between the U.S., Israel and the United Arab Emirates, have now led to peace treaties between Israel and four other countries -- UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. It's likely that other Middle Eastern countries will sign the agreement. The Trump administration has been lobbying the Saudi government to be the next signatory and to do so before Trump leaves office.

Regardless of who else signs the Abraham Accords, unofficially they are compelling proof that concerns about Iran now supersede any other issue in the Middle East, including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

It's unclear whether the Biden administration will continue to push to expand the Abraham Accords, and if it will be willing to facilitate new agreements by offering concessions to the signatories to the same extent the Trump administration has. Blinken has, however, praised the accords.

Since the Biden administration will eventually have to deal with the issue of Iran, it will be in the White House's interest to support the accords as they strengthen the administration's hand in dealing with Tehran.

The Trump administration was confident that if it won a second term, it would be able to reach an agreement with Tehran. U.S. sanctions have crippled the Iranian economy. Iranian oil exports have declined by around 70%, from 2.5 million barrels of petroleum a day to about 750,000, although they can vary quite dramatically from month to month. Over the course of the Trump administration, Iran's economy has declined by an average of 6% a year.

During the presidential campaign Biden indicated that he would support reviving the Iranian Nuclear Agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action/JCPOA), in collaboration with America's European allies. How viable is that option?

It's unlikely that the Biden administration could muster Senate ratification of a formal treaty. That means, just as with the Obama administration, any agreement would be only as good as the willingness of the next administration to support it. Tehran has learned that lesson the hard way and may be unwilling to roll the dice again.

Moreover, the Iranian government has insisted that the restoration of the JCPOA is predicated on it receiving $70 billion in compensation for the damage done by the Trump administration to its economy from lost oil exports. Such a concession, even a significantly smaller one, would be unpopular in the U.S., even among Democratic voters. It would paint the Biden government as being "weak" on Iran.

It's possible that the Biden White House will offer Tehran some relief on sanctions. Iran is likely to ask for it as a precondition of beginning negotiations. It's also likely that Tehran will test the Biden administration with a provocative act. Iran's most formidable threat is its ability to interdict tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The world is awash in oil, however. Disrupting the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf doesn't pack the punch it used to.

Elsewhere around the world, the Biden administration has been vague about its intentions. In Afghanistan, America's longest ever running war, the Biden White House is likely to maintain the status quo: pulling back from the withdrawal demanded by Trump, or at the very least how speedily that happens, but it is also unlikely to increase the U.S. troop presence.

North Korea

North Korea is another hot spot where the incoming administration has not disclosed its intentions. Here, too, Pyongyang is likely to test Biden and push for a return to the Obama-era policy of offering North Korea concessions in return for agreeing to negotiations.

On Jan. 9, in a speech to the Eighth Party Congress, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the United States his "biggest, main enemy," and said that Pyongyang will keep developing its "long-range nuclear strike capability" to deter any threats to its sovereignty.

The Biden White House may offer to roll back some sanctions on humanitarian grounds, but a complete rollback of those sanctions is unlikely. North Korea's intercontinental missile development poses a much more tangible threat to the U.S. today than it did during the Obama administration.

The most likely North Korean provocation is another test of an intercontinental-range missile. This will likely be staged as a series of escalations, each designed to raise the stakes, finally culminating in a missile test that could demonstrate that Pyongyang's missiles have an intercontinental range capable of reaching the lower 48 states.

On the other hand, it appears that the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged North Korea's economy, already a basket case to begin with, so Pyongyang's options are also limited. Biden may opt to let South Korea take the lead in dealing with North Korea in the short term -- at least until North Korea becomes his first foreign policy crisis.

Venezuela is unlikely to be a priority for the Biden administration, because for the short term there is little that it can do to change the situation there. Long term, the transformation of the Maduro government into a narco-state and its ever-growing links with organizations like Hezbollah and the Iranian revolutionary Guard, and many of the Mexican drug cartels, pose a threat to the U.S. Until there is a violent incident on U.S. soil that can be directly linked to the Maduro government, however, the situation in Venezuela will stay on the back burner.

Russia

Russian policy is another area where the incoming Biden administration has been vague. It will avoid talk of "resetting" U.S.-Russian relations, but it may offer concessions like rolling back sanctions designed to impede the flow of Russian natural gas to Europe and, in particular, the sanctions levied on those companies engaged in building the Nord-Stream II pipeline. What it would ask for in return from Moscow is unclear.

A further eastward expansion of NATO is off the table. It has been for some time, as there is little European interest in doing so. The Biden White House may indicate that it will not interfere or support pro-Western groups in Belarus, and it may hold off from further expanding the U.S. and NATO military presence in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and the Baltic states. It may also signal a willingness to restart arms-control discussions with Moscow and possibly reinstate the treaty on Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces.

The situation in Ukraine will remain frozen. Given the past association of the Biden family with Ukraine, that is not an issue that the incoming administration is likely to prioritize.

Immigration and Climate Change

Two issues that will likely impact U.S. foreign policy under the Biden administration are its policies on immigration and climate change.

Biden was a fierce critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies. He has stated that he intends to reverse many of those policies and that he supports creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the U.S. What his policy will be on new immigration, however, is uncertain.

While a majority of Americans support "normalizing" the status of illegal immigrants, support for more open new immigration is far less. Past experience shows that every time the U.S. government legalizes the presence of illegal immigrants, it spurs a new wave of illegal immigration.

The Biden government's policy on new immigration will impact its relations with Mexico and with the countries of Central America. Mexico, in particular, has been severely impacted by both the decline in oil prices and the collapse of the tourist industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Combined with the continued lawlessness created by the drug cartels, Mexico's long-term stability could become an issue for the Biden administration and have a major impact on the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

The appointment of former Secretary of State John Kerry as Climate Czar is a clear signal that climate change issues will figure prominently in Biden's foreign policy. The incoming administration has already declared that it would rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. Climate change is an issue that is dear to the Democratic Party's progressive wing, and they are likely to demand more concrete action than just rejoining the Obama-era agreement.

The issue is what foreign policy concessions are the Biden administration likely to make in pursuit of its climate change agenda. Would it, for example, make concessions to Beijing's objectives in the East and South China Seas in return for a Chinese commitment to bring down its carbon dioxide emissions faster?

In other words, would it throw Taiwan under the bus in return for a "victory" on curbing China-induced climate change? Probably not, but neither can it be ruled out.

Indeed, offering such concessions may be one way for Beijing to identify common ground and restart a dialogue with Washington without first demanding the Biden administration immediately roll back some of the Trump administration's China policies. Framing any concessions to China in the context of a larger bilateral agreement on climate change may be one way of avoiding the appearance of appeasing Beijing.

America's domestic energy policy may also impact U.S. foreign policy. Given how many times Biden has reversed himself on his policy toward fracking, however, it's impossible to know what that impact will be until there is more clarity on how the Biden administration intends to regulate the oil and gas industry.

During the month of December, for the first time in decades, there were no Saudi oil shipments to the U.S. What happens with the domestic oil and gas industry may ultimately affect the U.S. strategy in the Mideast.

The Biden administration's foreign policy will emphasize coordination and joint action with America's allies rather than the unilateralism that characterized the Trump administration. The U.S. will likely rejoin the World Health Organization and play a more supportive role within international organizations than the Trump government did.

Biden will drop the "America First" rhetoric that marked Trump's foreign policy, but not necessarily all the substance of that policy. Policies that were popular with voters, such as repatriating supply chains; reducing American dependence on foreign -- especially Chinese -- suppliers of critical goods and electronic components; greater accountability and fairer burden sharing in regard to international organizations, will likely continue, albeit under a different name and justification.

Although Biden has expressed support for many of the key elements of the Obama-era foreign policy, a return to those policies will be difficult. Counterparties may not necessarily be willing to return to those agreements. American supporters of those policies will likely demand more far-reaching action than before. Much has changed in the last four years. The world of 2020 is hugely different from the world in 2016. Biden's foreign policy will not be an updated version of Obama 2.0

The Biden administration's foreign policy will have a very different tone and rhetoric, but it will have more in common with the substance of Trump's foreign policy than most observers expect.

-- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. Find more information on how to submit your own commentary.
Frank Goad Clement, at the age of 10, allegedly made the statement to his Dickson classmates that he would sometime lead the State of Tennessee.

Another version recently related by one of his three sons, former Congressman Bob Clement, was that at 16 years old, he told his friends that Im going to be governor of Tennessee.

At the young age of 32 in 1957 he fulfilled that boast by becoming the youngest governor in the state which earned him the title in some circles as the Boy Wonder Governor.

Clement would have to be the last of the great orators in politics in our state as the 30-second television commercials can send a political message to many more listeners than those who attend a courthouse speech in the hot sun.

Frank Goad Clement was born on June 2, 1920 in Room #5 in the Hotel Halbrook in Dickson, Tennessee.

Said hotel was built in 1913, and is one of the few remaining examples of a railroad hotel in a small Tennessee town. It functioned as a hotel for railroad workers and travelers until 1954.

His father, Robert Clement, a local attorney and politician, and his mother, Maybell Goad Clement, rented and operated the hotel.

One of the individuals who probably had the greatest impact on young Frank was his Aunt Dockie Weems who was a speech leader and taught the future governor many of his rhetorical skills.

It was those skills in the pre-television era that allowed him to develop into one of the most effective speakers in the country.

A combination of his exceptional speaking ability, passion for politics and his desire for helping people of all races, religions or creeds helped get him elected to Tennessees highest office in 1952.

Frank Clement's political and personal life has been portrayed by Dr. Lee S. Smiths biography of the Dickson native in Frank Clement, Lead Me On, published by the University of Tennessee Press in 1982.

The high point or low point of his oratory career depends upon who you speak to about his keynote speech at the Democratic Convention in 1956. He is best remembered for his repeated use of the phrase How long, Oh Lord how long? in criticism of the Eisenhower- Nixon administration but was not the success Clement had hoped for and probably eliminated any chance he might have had for being selected as the vice president running mate of Adlai Stevenson. Other sources say that the oft repeated phrase was How long, America O how long?

Supporters of Frank Clement point to his creation of the Department of Mental Health, free textbooks for students, an ambitious road building program, his stand as the first governor in the South to veto a segregation bill passed by the legislature and who sent in National Guard troops to protect the 12 black students chosen to integrate Clinton High School as the major accomplishments while in public office.

His various wins and losses in politics are well documented in the history of Tennessee.

In addition, the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville contain the gubernatorial papers of his first two terms as Governor in 1953-1959, a two-year term in 1954-1955 and the first four year term in 1956-1959.

The collection which can be viewed by the public is contained in 321 boxes of materials that consist of correspondence, subject files, extraditions and renditions, speeches, financial records, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and press releases.

The Clement Railroad Museum housed in the Hotel Halbrook State Historic Site in Dickson, Tennessee opened on June 2, 2009 and it is owned by the State of Tennessee. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On the first floor the Clement family rooms are furnished to represent the early 1920s when they occupied the managerial suite of rooms. The room in which Frank was born is furnished with several pieces of the Clements family furniture.

Occupying the second floor of the museum is the story of Franks personal and political career including the 1952, 1954 and 1962 gubernatorial elections.

Another interesting exhibit at the museum is a history of railroading in the area that includes many artifacts including original equipment and exhibits pertaining to the railroad and Clement family.

A permanent accurate display of model trains, landscaping and buildings created by the Dickson Model Railroad club is maintained by volunteer engineers and the facility recreates the history of railroading in the Dickson Railyard during the 1920s and 1930s.

Frank Clement died in an automobile accident on November 4, 1969 in Nashville at the age of 49. His political career was at a twilight at this time.

He accomplished much for the citizens of Tennessee during that period of time. His premature death foreclosed the question of whether he could resurrect his political career for a last hurrah.

A trip to the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum in Dickson gives the public a chance to observe further the life of the proverbial Boy Wonder and museum bearing his family name.

* * *

Jerry Summers



(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Your morning meal with a side of murder? Perhaps. A successful bed-and-breakfast with a violent past is on the market.

The residence that now operates as the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast in Fall River, MA, is the spot where two of the countrys most notorious unsolved murders took place.

On Aug. 4, 1892, Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby Borden, were brutally murdered in this home. Andrew's daughter, Lizzie, was accused of committing the heinous crime with an ax, but was acquitted of the murders at a trial in 1893.

For a buyer who is not afraid of the stigma attached to homes where murders have occurred, it's an opportunity to purchase an infamous house with a worldwide reputation.

This is actually the house where the murders occurred. Andrew was killed in the sitting room, and her stepmother, Abby, was killed upstairs in the guest room, explains the listing agent, Suzanne St. John, who also happens to be a tour guide at the home.

The $2 million asking price also includes everything a buyer would need to keep the business humming.

[The sale] includes the house and the barn, where there are two more bathrooms and an upstairs owner suite, St. John says. And the gift shop, the online gift shop, all the intellectual property, all the trademarks, all the websites.

The bed-and-breakfast has been in operation since the late 1990s. The current owners have owned the Borden home since 2004 and are ready to retire.

Sitting room of home in Fall River, MA Josh Chopy

Gift shop Josh Chopy

Interior Josh Chopy

Entry Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

The suite where Andrew was murdered is on the second floor. It has a private bathroom and is the most requested room at the inndespite the reports of ghosts and other unexplained phenomena that have caused guests jump out of their beds during the night.

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Watch: Historic NY Home for Sale Has a Fascinating Pastbut Is It Haunted?

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I will not sleep in there, St. John says with a chuckle. Its exciting. Its great to be in there. People love it.

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

The other suite is the one that Lizzie and her sister, Emma, shared. It's also on the second floor and shares a bathroom with another room.

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bathroom Josh Chopy

Three other guest rooms are on the third floor and share another bathroom.

Serving guests scones isn't the only revenue stream available for an entrepreneurial buyer. Tours of the housewhich St. John sometimes leadsare also popular.

In 2019, we had done over 18,000 daytime tours that year, and that's not counting overnight guests. It's a tourist destination. It's one of the top destinations in New England, St. John says.

The home known as Maplecroft, where Lizzie lived after she spent time in jail and up until she died, is still on the market for $890,000.

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

Bedroom Josh Chopy

The legend of the double ax murders attracts visitors from all over the world.

It's one of the greatest unsolved murders, and I think it was because she was a woman of society, a woman of wealth. Her father and stepmother were murdered brutally, and there was no suspect and there was no direct evidence leading to the murderer. So it's just one of the greatest unsolved mysteries, St. John says.

The interest isn't limited just to American shores. The agent added that a visiting lawyer from the Middle East told her that he had studied the case when he was in law school.

It just really attracts all types of people from all over the world that are interested for different reasons, she says. Some people are interested in the history. Some people are interested in the gore, so it's got a little something for everybody.

Kitchen Josh Chopy

Sitting room Josh Chopy

Dining room Josh Chopy

St. John says the ideal buyer for the property is a people person interested in owning a successful business.

After somebody has experienced the event of a lifetime staying here, then you're able to sit down with the guests in the morning and just talk about their experiences as they're eating an amazing breakfast.

Dining room Josh Chopy

Kitchen Josh Chopy

The post Lizzie Borden Murder House Is Listed at $2MAx Not Included appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Apple Inc. faces an Italian class-action lawsuit seeking compensation over misleading claims about the battery life of older iPhones.

Euroconsumers, an international consumer organization, said on Monday it filed the suit in Italy. The move follows similar cases filed last month in Belgium and Spain concerning users of various iPhone 6 devices.

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Owners expect sustainable quality products," Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, said in a statement. Unfortunately, that is not what happened with the iPhone 6 series. Not only were consumers defrauded, and did they have to face frustration and financial harm, from an environmental point of view, it is also utterly irresponsible." The group said its also planning a class action suit in Portugal in the coming weeks."

The lawsuits mirror US cases over claims that the company misled consumers about iPhone battery power and software updates that slowed the performance of the devices. The California-based company in November agreed to pay $113 million to settle a case with multiple U.S. regulators while customers are seeking approval from a U.S. court for a class-action settlement that could be worth as much as $500 million.





This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Air France-KLM's Dutch unit will keep operating long-haul flights as it reached a deal to have staff undergo a rapid Covid-19 test upon return to the Netherlands, eliminating the risk of leaving crews behind.

KLM earlier this week urged the Dutch government to exempt its staff from a new requirement for mandatory pre-departure virus testing.

It said it would otherwise halt all its long-haul flights, also threatening delivery of Covid-19 vaccines and other necessary cargo, because chief executive Pieter Elbers refused to leave flight personnel behind.

The airline and the Dutch health authority RIVM developed an alternative protocol for crews leaving airports outside the government's list of safe countries.

It includes an option for rapid antigen testing for crew on departure and arrival at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, KLM said in a statement.

The airline also implemented a passenger flight ban from the UK, South Africa and South America to the Netherlands on Saturday.

"Our concern is to keep the virus out as much as possible," the Dutch Minister of Transport Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said in a TV interview with Buitenhof yesterday.

"If there is an alternative to it, and the RIVM says it's just as safe, then I don't care, and they've found a solution."

( Bloomberg)
Staff at NHS coronavirus vaccination centres are offering leftover doses to their friends and family to stop them going to waste at the end of the day.

Health service bosses are reportedly threatening legal action against staff who do this if the people who get the jabs aren't in a priority group.

Pfizer's Covid vaccine, one of the two being used in the UK, has strict storage requirements and must be used within days of being defrosted and within hours after being removed from the fridge.

But they come in large boxes  of 975 doses or more  meaning medics must scramble to get through them once they have been prepared.

Reports of leftover doses at the end of the day, a problem exacerbated by people not turning up to their appointments, have led to people giving out the vaccines more liberally to people who can get to the vaccine centre at the last minute.

However senior sources in the NHS are now calling for disciplinary action to be taken against centres that are in breach of national policy, The Telegraph reports.

Staff at a hospital in Southampton were warned last week that they could face losing their vaccination licence if they did this, but NHS England refused to say whether there were nationally agreed sanctions.

It comes after Matt Hancock yesterday revealed that three quarters of over-80s had received doses of the jab - with a total of 6.4 million Britons vaccinated since the rollout began.

NHS vaccination centres are offering leftover jabs to friends and family of staff who are under the age of 70 to avoid them being thrown away. (Stock image)

In parts of Kent, Essex, Buckinghamshire and south London, friends and family who did not fall within the top four priority groups were understood to have been invited to take the vaccine, according to The Telegraph.

Meanwhile one source said that friends and family as young as 30 were being given the jab by staff at a centre in Liverpool.

At Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, friends and family in their fifties were also reportedly invited for the 'leftover vaccines'.

A spokesman for the hospital told The Telegraph that a friends and family scheme was in operation but said vaccines had only been offered to those over 80.

HOSPITAL WARNED STAFF IT COULD LOSE VACCINATION LICENCE FOR GIVING OUT VACCINES A leaked internal memo sent to staff at an NHS trust in Southampton warned second doses must not be given out too soon. Staff at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust, The Independent reports, received an email that said: 'This has become of the highest political import. 'David French, our CEO, has been sent a letter which is absolutely crystal clear and leaves nothing to the imagination  we are not to offer any second vaccines before 12 weeks under any circumstances, at risk of losing our licence. 'This is not at the present time negotiable in any way. A region near us has given 34 second doses and are being investigated centrally.' The letter was sent by anaesthetist Dr Caroline Marshall, who had been chief operating officer at the hospital before the Covid pandemic. A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust told The Independent: 'No vaccine has been wasted as we have progressed through our first dose programme, offering a second dose 12 weeks after the first, which is in line with national guidance.' NHS England denied the claim hospitals would lose their vaccination licences for not following the rules, but declined to comment. Advertisement

The source told the paper: 'If people outside those groups have been invited, then we will have to investigate that.'

Elsewhere South Trafford Primary Care Network in Hale, Greater Manchester, admitted it too had given the jab to those in their forties in an effort to stop any vaccines from being wasted.

Senior staff within the NHS are now calling for action to be taken against vaccine centres, hospitals and GPs across the country operating a 'family and friends list'.

The reports come after a hospital in Southampton reportedly warned its staff the centre could lose its licence if they gave out vaccines to people not on the priority lists.

Staff at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust, The Independent reported, received an email that said: 'This has become of the highest political import.

'David French, our CEO, has been sent a letter which is absolutely crystal clear and leaves nothing to the imagination  we are not to offer any second vaccines before 12 weeks under any circumstances, at risk of losing our licence.

'This is not at the present time negotiable in any way. A region near us has given 34 second doses and are being investigated centrally.'

The letter was sent by anaesthetist Dr Caroline Marshall, who had been chief operating officer at the hospital before the Covid pandemic.

A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton Foundation Trust told The Independent: 'No vaccine has been wasted as we have progressed through our first dose programme, offering a second dose 12 weeks after the first, which is in line with national guidance.'

NHS England denied the claim hospitals would lose their vaccination licences for not following the rules, but declined to comment.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which sets the ground-rules for the vaccine programme, has said the country should get first doses of the jabs to as many people as possible.

Matt Hancock this weekend revealed that three quarters of over-80s had received doses of the jab - with a total of 6.4 million Britons vaccinated since the roll out began.

On Saturday 491,970 people received their first dose and 1,043 got their second, the highest daily figures recorded so far

Today Matt Hancock revealed that three quarters of over-80s have received doses of the jab

Saturday alone saw 491,970 people get their first dose and 1,043 get their second, the highest daily figures recorded so far.

Ministers have set a target of vaccinating the 15 million people in the top four priority groups - which includes the over-80s - by February 15.

To achieve their ambitious target, 397,333 vaccines were needed each day - a figure which was exceeded on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Former-director of immunisation at the Department of Health David Salisbury said the Government's ambitious vaccine targets could well be achieved.

He told The Times: 'With a fair wind and a supply of vaccine they ought to make the mid-February target.

'If the Pfizer slowdown hits us, and Astrazeneca supplies take a hit  then that's going to be tough.'

NHS data shows London still lags behind all other regions in terms of the total number of jabs given, having delivered around 641,000 since December 8.

The capital also delivered the lowest number of first doses in the last seven days.

Between January 17 and January 23, 219,350 first doses were administered in London compared to 362,976 in the Midlands.
In this climate, Superenduros board has concluded that the unavoidable interruption to the Series will carry on during the 2021 season. All energies and resources will be instead focussed on the four rounds of the Enduro World Series that will take place in Italy: Val di Fassa, La Thuile, Pietra Ligure and Finale Ligure.



This decision has matured in the light of the experience made during the 2020 season while co-organizing the two Ligurias rounds of EWS: very successful events, something to be proud of, that have also made clear at first hand the amount of work involved and the resources needed to achieve such a result. Superenduro has always aimed at organizing top-notch races, but these standards  add on top all elements related to anti-COVID safety  could not be guaranteed.



Until the very last moment, valid solutions were sought to allow the organization of events that would live up to expectations, but a fair balance between efforts, resources and guarantee of success could not be struck. What has certainly not failed in this year of pandemic is the riders desire to compete and put some power down. With no less than 4 rounds of the EWS Series taking place in Italy, there will certainly be an opportunity to put themselves to the test.  Superenduro

He purchased a $8.925million mansion in Sydney's Vaucluse with wife Zoe Foster Blake in December.

And on Saturday, Hamish Blake was seen hanging out with his friend and workmate of more than 20 years, Andy Lee, out the front of his new abode in the city's east.

The comedian, 39, was standing alongside his six-year-old son, Sonny, when he greeted the 39-year-old with a warm and welcoming hug.

Friendship: Hamish Blake (right), 39, was spotted hanging out with his 39-year-old friend and workmate of more than 20 years, Andy Lee (centre), on Saturday. The pair were out the front of Hamish's new home in Sydney's Vaucluse, alongside his six-year-old son, Sonny (left)

The TV and radio presenter, who co-hosts the Hamish & Andy Show with Andy, looked a cool casual in a blue T-shirt, burgundy shorts and Adidas trainers.

He paired the outfit with shin-length socks, a navy cap, black sunglasses and silver wristwatch.

Andy, on the other hand, was in a grey T-shirt, black shorts, white cap and thongs for the occasion.

He was seen smiling as he patted his life-long mate on the back, before turning around and acknowledging Sonny.

What he wore: The TV and radio presenter, who co-hosts the Hamish & Andy Show with Andy, looked a cool casual in a blue T-shirt, burgundy shorts and Adidas trainers

Finer details: Hamish paired the outfit with shin-length socks, a navy cap, black sunglasses and silver wristwatch

Staying cool: Andy, on the other hand, was in a grey T-shirt, black shorts, white cap and thongs for the occasion. He was seen smiling as he patted his life-long mate on the back, before turning around and acknowledging Sonny

Father-son style: Much like his father, Sonny was dressed in a T-shirt, shorts, Nike trainers, high socks and cap during the pair's meeting

What they did next: Hamish and Andy then appeared to be deep in conversation as Sonny played nearby

Much like his father, the youngster was dressed in a T-shirt, shorts, Nike trainers, high socks and cap during the pair's meeting.

Hamish and Andy then appeared to be deep in conversation as Sonny played nearby.

The Blakes, who previously lived in Melbourne, spent $8.925million on the property in the upmarket suburb of Vaucluse just before Christmas.

Interstate move: The Blakes, who share two children - Sonny, six, and Rudy, three - previously lived in Melbourne before moving to Sydney. Pictured: Their Vaucluse home

Fancy: While the four-level property does not have ocean views, it is considered architecturally noteworthy and was featured on Grand Designs Australia in 2013

They have moved into the five-bedroom, six-bathroom estate - which sits on 885 square metres and features two sets of garages - with their son and three-year-old daughter, Ruby.

While the four-level home does not have ocean views, it is considered architecturally noteworthy and was featured on Grand Designs Australia in 2013.

The family's interstate move comes after Zoe made her debut on Australia's 2020 Young Rich List.

Her estimated net worth soared to $36million after her skincare company, Go-To, enjoyed a boom in sales during the pandemic.
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall have read their favourite Robert Burns messages to celebrate Burns Night.

It comes as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sent a message to staff at NHS Tayside in Dundee thanking them for their work and wishing them well on Burns Night, while gifting them a haggis dinner.

The message, which saw Kate sport a tartan dress while William appeared in a blue suit, was played to the COVID-19 response team who work in the dedicated COVID-19 Intensive Care and High Dependency Units at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Meanwhile Charles and Camilla - who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, both read poems by Robert Burns to mark the holiday celebrating his life.

Charles, 72, read the New Year's Eve classic Auld Lang Syne, while Camilla, 73, read 'My Heart's in The Highlands, which she said is one of her favourite poems.

Charles (pictured), 72, read the New Year's Eve classic Auld Lang Syne, while Camilla, 73, read 'My Heart's in The Highlands, which she said is one of her favourite poems.

The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, as they are known by in Scotland, both read poems by Robert Burns to mark the holiday celebrating his life. Camillia is pictured

Meanwhile William, 38, and Kate, 39, said they knew Burns Night was 'special for Scots' and said thanked NHS staff for working tirelessly.

In her video, Camilla sported a charcoal grey suit and with a cream pussy bow shirt with a dazzling silver broach, while she kept her hair blonde carefully coiffed in pristine bob.

The royal kept a gentle make-up natural look with a layer of foundation and dark eye-make-up, while remaining jewellery-free.

Meanwhile, the heir to the throne sported a grey suit with his signature patterned tie, a powder blue shirt and a silk pocket square as he read the first to verses of the famous poem.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have sent a message to staff at NHS Tayside thanking them for their work and wishing them well on Burns Night

After finishing the poem Charles said 'Slainte,' a Gaelic word meaning 'health' and a common toast in Scotland.

He then takes a sip from a silver cup and smiles at the camera.

The celebration, which marks the life and poetry of Scottish poet Robert Burns, usually sees the nation come together to the soundtrack of blasting bagpipes as they enjoy a meal of haggis, neeps and tatties while drinking drams of whisky.

The message was shown to staff at NHS Tayside as they were thanked for working on Burns Night

'Hello to everyone at NHS Tayside. We know Burns Night is a special evening for Scots around the world  a time to come together to eat, drink and to celebrate the life and work of Robert Burns,' William said in the video message.

'Sadly this year is a little different. And for many of you working on the frontline, tonight will be a very different occasion, as you work tirelessly through this pandemic to protect the most vulnerable in our society,' Kate added.

'We want to say a huge thank you for all of the work you are doing and the sacrifices you are making. As a token of our appreciation, weve teamed up with NHS Charities Together to provide you with a Haggis dinner,' William continued.

Camilla sported a charcoal grey suit and with a cream pussy bow shirt and dazzling silver broach, while she kept her hair blonde carefully coiffed in pristine bob.

It comes Prince Charles was branded 'atrociously hypocritical and entitled' by a royal biographer, who said he looks older than his 94-year-old mother

Who was Robert Burns? Robert Burns was born 25th January 1759 and died 21st July 1796 and was widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. He was a high-ranking member of the Freemasons and much of his popularity is due to him being seen as farmer's son who could speak to the common man. But he also led a varied social life which exposed him to high society. His poetry often used small subjects to express big ideas, as a result he is often thought of as a pioneer of the Romantic movement. He was a source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism after his death, and has a national day named after him on the 25th January each year. At New Year, his poem 'Auld Lang Syne' is still sung to this day. For 200 years his birthday has been celebrated with suppers in his honour. However, he's become more controversial in recent years, as people have questioned his personal life. The poet Liz Lochhead outed Robert Burns as a sex pest, highlighting a 1788 letter written to Bob Ainslie in which Burns implies he raped his pregnant girlfriend Jean Armour. He bragged of giving his lover a 'thundering scalade [a military attack breaching defences] that electrified the very marrow of her bones', and said he 'f****d her until she rejoiced'. Lochhead described his letter as a 'disgraceful sexual boast'. '[It] seemed very like a rape of his heavily pregnant girlfriend. It's very, very Weinsteinian', she said. 'Not only did Burns make Weinsteinian claims in his correspondence, his poetry abounds with physical violence against women', writes Daniel Cook, senior lecturer in English at the University of Dundee in The Conversation. 'Not published until after his death, Merry Muses of Caledonia is stuffed with the bawdiest songs you're ever likely to read', he writes. However, Dr Cook says these works can help us to reconsider human concerns. 'After Weinstein, the time is right to reevaluate how we respond to literary traditions', he writes. 'Rather than using literature (or private correspondence) to out so-called sex pests, though, we can use it as a vehicle for understanding the long history of sex pesting.' Advertisement

Kate finished the message by saying: 'We hope you enjoy it, and look forward to better times together soon.' before they both said 'Slainte Mhath!'

Caring for patients in ICU and HDU involves a whole team approach and today medical and nursing staff, as well as a radiographer, a physiotherapist, a domestic assistant and a renal technologist were treated to a traditional Burns celebration lunch of haggis, neeps and tatties, courtesy of Tayside Health Fund and NHS Charities Together, of which The Duke and Duchess are Patron.

Two hundred food boxes from local family business House of Bruar will also be shared with hospital staff and Royal Warrant Holders Valvona & Crolla, and Fisher and Donaldson kindly donated Burns Biscuits and gift boxes to NHS Tayside staff to thank them for all they have been doing.

Charles and Camilla have been staying at Clarence House in London for the majority of the pandemic. while William and Kate have been spending time at Amner Hall in Norfolk.

NHS Tayside employs 13,000 members of staff, who have been caring for patients from Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross in hospitals and communities throughout the pandemic.

'Over the past three weeks, the COVID-19 dedicated wards, Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit have seen unprecedented numbers of patients with COVID-19, with the number of people being cared for in hospital increasing nearly four times over.

Grant Archibald, NHS Tayside Chief Executive, said, 'Our staff have now been at the frontline in our response to COVID-19 for more than 300 days and their dedication has been truly awe-inspiring. It means so much to all of our teams across Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross to receive this special message of appreciation today which underlines the ongoing, extraordinary efforts of Team Tayside.'

Lorna Birse-Stewart, Chair of Tayside NHS Board, said, 'On behalf of NHS Tayside and Tayside Health Fund I would like to take the opportunity to thank The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for this wonderful gesture.

'It provides an opportunity for us to recognise some of the patient-facing and support staff across health and social care in Tayside who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment during these most challenging times.'
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NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

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Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

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China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

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Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

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Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

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The on Monday raided at least 10 premises of a Mumbai-based realty group in connection with its money laundering probe in the alleged bank fraud case, official sources said.

The company, Omkar Realtors and Developers, called the action a "routine enquiry" carried out by the (ED) and said it is a matter related to some writ petitions filed against it before the Bombay HighCourt.

It added that it has not diverted any funds and "has acted as per legal rules and regulations".

The premises of the company, which include seven residential and three official premises in Mumbai, were searched by the central probe agency.

The ED action was carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the raids were aimed at gathering more evidence, official sources said.

The Omkar Group is promoted by its chairman Kamal Kishore Gupta and managing director Babulal Varma, they said.

The group is charged with misusing various permissions given under Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) schemes and is alleged to have "diverted" around Rs 450 crore taken by way of loan from Yes bank, ED sources said.

The business group said the allegations levelled by the petitioners in the court with regard to diversion of funds were false.

"The management of Omkar Group would like to emphatically state that such baseless allegations is an attempt to create confusion and create hurdles in the implementation of SR (slum rehabilitation) schemes by approaching various authorities. All matters pertaining to scheme, for clubbing/de-clubbing purpose, are carried out as per legal norms laid out by the state (Maharashtra) government," a company spokesperson said.

"The matter raised by the petitioner in regard to a Rs 450 crore loan from is availed under banking guidelines as project loan against sale collaterals and utilised for the stated purpose only," the spokesperson said, adding that "we will like to emphatically state that there are no diversions of any project fund availed by us in any project of the company".

Yes Bank co-promoter Rana Kapoor (63) and and scam-hit DHFL (Dewan Housing Limited) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan were arrested in this case by the ED last year and they are in judicial custody at present.

In a related development, Kapoor's bail plea was rejected by the Bombay High Court on Monday.

The ED had booked Kapoor, his family members and others under the PMLA after studying a Central Bureau of Investigation 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 agency has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering proceeds of crime worth Rs4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later turned into non-performing assets (NPA).

(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.)
AITUC leaders and activists along with ASHA workers stages dharna at Guntur General Hospital, Guntur city seeking justice for Asha worker Vijayalakshmi of Penumaka village, who died due to corona vaccine mutation on Sunday. (DC Photo)

VIJAYAWADA: A health worker died while undergoing treatment five days after taking the Covid-19 vaccine in Guntur district on Sunday. The relatives and health workers staged a protest following the death of B. Vijayalakshmi, an ASHA health workers, alleging that reaction to the vaccine had caused the death.

Demanding justice, they said that Vijayalakshmi had got the vaccine on January 19 but developed complications two days later. She was admitted to the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Guntur. The government had failed to provide proper treatment, they alleged, and sought compensation for her family.

The family members and leaders of Telugu Desam and various organisations rushed to GGH and staged a protest demanding justice.

The family members said that Vijayalakshmi, 42, working under the Tadepalli Primary Health Centre, and her colleague G. Lakshmi had received the shot on January 20. Two days later, Vijayalakshmi started suffering from headache, vomiting and dizziness. After primary treatment, she was admitted to the GGH. Lakshmi also fell ill but recovered.

Family sources said Vijayalakshmi suffered a brain-stroke and went into a coma.

TD Guntur East in-charge Md Naseer and other leaders demanded Rs 50 lakh compensation, government job to a family member, and a house. CPI(M) Guntur district east secretary Pasam Rama Rao recalled that Vijayalakshmi was a Coronavirus warrior and was entitled to the Rs 50 lakh compensation.

Guntur collector I. Samuel Anand Kumar rushed to the spot and assured to send a proposal to the government seeking release of compensation, house site and job to a family member. He assured to provide all possible aid from the government side after which the protestors withdrew their agitation.

Meanwhile, Director of Medical and Health department Dr Geetha Prasidini conducted a meeting with medical experts and discussed the side-effects of the vaccine. She said that only a few people had experienced simple reactions after taking the vaccine. She said they are waiting for an autopsy report of Vijayalakshmi to know the exact cause of her death.
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Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low 63F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low 63F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, has sent a congratulatory letter to US President Joe Biden on assuming office.

In his letter His Holiness stated that the Armenian people and especially Armenians in the United States are ready to cooperate with him and his administration for the protection of human rights and values, strengthening of the ties between the US and Armenia, as well as the establishment of peace in the globe.

Catholicos Aram I reminded that President Biden, when he was serving as member of the Senate, has established friendly ties with the Armenian people and has shown a special respect to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. His Holiness Aram I expressed confidence that the President should continue supporting democracy, sovereignty of peoples and prevention of genocide, expressing hope over the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States.

Aram I wished success to the US President.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
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Farmers and those involved in food production can now receive rapid asymptomatic workplace testing, Defra has announced.

Food and farming businesses with a minimum of 50 employees can register for government-funded lateral flow tests for asymptomatic workers.

The lateral flow device (LFD) Covid-19 test kits will be available until 31 March 2021, Defra explained.

The free tests allow weekly testing of workers who are unable to work from home.

The government is inviting firms with more than 50 employees to establish asymptomatic testing sites (ATSs) in the workplace.

This will allow both employees and contractors to access LFDs and receive rapid Covid-19 results.

The NFU, which has been pushing for rapid workplace testing for farmers and workers in agriculture, has welcomed the move.

The union's deputy president, Stuart Roberts said: It has always been important during times of crisis to keep workers safe and our shops and fridges full.

"Its great that Defra and DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] have secured this testing for those food businesses, including farmers and growers where they have over 50 employees.

We will continue to work closely with government on reducing the need for those workers testing negative to self-isolate, and for smaller businesses to access mass testing facilities.

Food and farming businesses with over 50 employees who want to know more have been told to email p-and-psector@dhsc.gov.uk.
This news release is not for distribution or dissemination in the United States of America

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / GreenBank Capital Inc. (CSE:GBC)(OTC PINK:GRNBF)(FSE:2TL) ("GreenBank" or "the Company") is pleased to report that its portfolio company Ubique Minerals (UBQ) ("Ubique") announced today that it has achieved highly promising results from drill holes completed on its Daniels Harbour zinc project.

Zinc is a key component in battery storage technology, and demand for electricity storage using batteries is expected to grow significantly over the coming years. Wind and solar power need reliable electricity storage capacity in order to compensate for periods when the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine.

David Lonsdale, CEO of GreenBank said "These Ubique drilling results, coming hard on the heels of GreenBank's announcement on Friday concerning our portfolio company, Staminer's, acquisition of P&H Motorcycles as a first move into the motorcycle electric vehicle market, are very encouraging."

The full drilling results are as follows:

Ubique has received assay results for the balance of the drill holes completed on its Daniel's Harbour zinc project. All nine were drilled on Mineral Licenses under option from Ophir Gold Corp.(formerly Minkap Resources). Holes UM-38 - 43 tested a new, very shallow target, the 2160 Zone, with the highest grade hole intersecting a remarkable 34.6% zinc over 0.75 metres. Holes UM-44 - 46 were drilled in the Nose Zone and extended the strike length of this zone by 75 metres to the northeast which gives it a total defined length of more than 250 metres. MinKap Resources Inc., with whom Ubique has the option agreement, has changed its name to Ophir Gold Corp.

The six holes drilled to locate the 2160 Zone were successful in locating stratabound zinc mineralization dipping westerly at 15 at extremely shallow depths, the shallowest intercept starting at 4 metres vertically below surface and the deepest intercept at 11 metres depth. The attached plan shows the locations of the zones drilled and their position relative to former mine workings and mine access. The 2160 Zone drilling was along a single section line as shown below.

The Nose Zone drilling results are shown in the table below and in the longitudinal section attached. Overall intersections are 4 - 6 metres long with alternating higher and lower grade zinc sections ranging up to 24% zinc. All but one of the newly drilled holes were vertical except for UM-46 which was drilled at -75 to the northeast which means that it cut the stratabound zinc horizon at close to a true width.

In Ubique's news release Gerald Harper, Ubique CEO, said "We are very pleased with the results from the drilling, particularly in the Nose Zone, as the zone now is demonstrated to have more than 250 metres of strike and is open at both ends, making it a priority for additional drilling. It parallels one of the largest ore zones mined in the former mine and is also close to the decline ramp access to that ore zone".

Zone Drill hole From (metres) To (metres) Interval (metres) Zinc % 2160 Zone UM-38 No significant values UM-39 9.07 9.32 0.25 1.69 11.23 11.59 0.36 6.86 13.16 13.38 0.22 1.23 UM-40 10.67 11.45 0.78 2.71 11.45 12.40 0.95 2.47 14.72 14.92 0.20 5.37 UM-41 9.15 9.45 0.30 0.37 UM-42 4.10 4.88 0.78 3.56 6.60 7.10 0.50 1.92 7.75 8.35 0.60 6.19 UM-43 4.00 4.75 0.75 34.6 Nose Zone UM-44 131.23 137.00 5.77 8.62 Including 131.23 131.94 0.71 5.86 133.21 134.00 0.79 24.0 135.06 135.69 0.63 24.7 135.69 137.00 1.31 5.64 UM-45 123.10 124.54 1.44 3.45 129.70 136.04 6.34 5.15 Including 131.10 131.65 0.55 21.40 132.60 133.65 1.05 5.27 134.76 135.19 0.43 13.20 135.19 136.04 0.85 5.82 UM-46 130.38 134.35 3.97 6.57 Including 133.02 133.82 0.80 18.90 133.82 134.35 0.53 11.40



All assays were undertaken by Eastern Analytical Ltd of Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador. Eastern Analytical is I.S.O. 17025 Accredited in Fire Assay Au, as well as in multi-acid ore grade assays in Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag, Fe and Co. Standards and blanks were inserted by the company and the laboratory and all reported within acceptable limits. For all the holes except UM-46, the intervals assayed in the drill holes are estimated to be 95 - 98% of true widths of the mineralized zone assuming a dip of the zone of 10 - 15. Holes UM-38 to UM-45 were all drilled vertically and UM-46 was drilled with a collar dip of -75 towards an azimuth of True North 40 East. The intervals in UM-46 are estimated to be 80 - 85% of true width of the mineralized zone.

Ubique's exploration programs in 2017 and 2018 received financial support from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Junior Exploration Assistance Programs and Ubique has applied for financial assistance from the program for 2020 as well.

The above illustrations are also available on the Ubique website at www.ubiqueminerals.com.

About GreenBank

GreenBank is a next generation merchant banking business that has a flexible low-cost overhead structure designed to help the business grow exponentially. Our management are based in Toronto, Dallas, New York and London, and are used to remote working across borders. Our model of remote working, dynamic office space and flexible contracts - rather than expensive offices and large fixed costs - establishes GreenBank as a potential global merchant bank for the future, both during and after COVID19.

GreenBank is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Frankfurt Boerse and on the OTC Markets in the USA (trading symbols (CSE:GBC)(FSE:2TL) and (OTC PINK:GRNBF).) GreenBank seeks to invest in and work with globally-scalable companies and is focused on building consistent capital appreciation for its shareholders.

For details of our '6 Key Drivers of Value' please see our latest Investor Presentation.

For more information please visit our website or contact Mark Wettreich at +1 (647) 693 9411 or by email Mark@GreenBankCapitalinc.com.

SOURCE: GreenBank Capital Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/625779/GreenBank-Capital-Portfolio-Company-Ubique-Minerals-Achieves-Excellent-Progress-in-Its-Exploration-of-Zinc-a-Key-Battery-Storage-Component
Two people who wanted to see the new Hobby Lobby store at Laurel Mall were Lynn Castle and Karen Knodel.

Monday morning, Castle and Knodel were part of a line of about three dozen people waiting for the doors to open at 9 a.m., as Hobby Lobby held a grand opening for its 21st store in Pennsylvania.

Castle, who lives in Langhorne, Bucks County, also has a home in White Haven. She drove up especially for Mondays grand opening, accompanied by her friend, Knodel, from Willow Grove, Montgomery County.

There is a Hobby Lobby a good half-hour away from me in Willow Grove, Castle said. I like all kinds of crafts. We will spend a couple of hours just walking around, looking at everything.

Knodel is also familiar with Hobby Lobby.

My parents live in Texas, Knodel said. When I visit them, I go to Hobby Lobby, and the Willow Grove store is about 10 minutes from where she lives, she said.

Philip Shafer, the store manager, said the usual ribbon-cutting and related ceremonies were bypassed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Were trying to do as much as we can to stay safe, Shafer said.

The store had a soft opening Friday and Saturday that saw a large turnout, Shafer said.

We had strong sales, he said.

The new, 56,000-square-foot store, which opened in what was a portion of the former Kmart space, has more than 70,000 crafting and home decor products, including floral, fabric, needle art, custom framing, baskets, home accents, wearable art, jewelry making supplies, scrapbooking and paper crafting supplies.

What started out as a home-based picture-framing business in Oklahoma 50 years ago has grown into a national chain of 938 stores in 47 states that employ 43,000 people.

But Hobby Lobby never forgot its framing roots  employees do custom framing right in the store, Shafer said.

Theyre trained to put the framing all together. They go through all of the color schemes and mat samples. We have mats that you can cut right here in the store. They can cut all the glass in here, he said.

And employees will problem-solve with the customer, he said.

If they dont like the way it looks, then we are able to do that, unlike some of the other frame shops that send everything out, Shafer said.

Troy Moore, Hobby Lobbys district manager, said the Greater Hazleton market had been on the chains radar for some time.

We try to find areas that we can disperse around where we dont interfere with our other stores, Moore said. This is an area our real estate department has been looking at for awhile.

The closest stores to the Laurel Mall location, which employs 55 people, are in Dickson City, Lackawanna County, and Easton, Northampton County.

The store will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, Moore said.

We are a Christian company, so we are closed on Sundays for worship and family, Moore said.

For more information about Hobby Lobby, weekly specials, coupon offers, store locations and online shopping, visit hobbylobby.com, download the mobile app or follow on Facebook at facebook.com/hobbylobby.
The Chinese New Year selling period may face disruption after a new COVID-19 outbreak in China saw a return of lockdowns, an analyst has warned.

According to Bernstein, restaurant bookings are down in China

After an initial surge in infections and deaths at the start of last year, which led to large-scale lockdown measures, China had appeared to prevent new cases. However, earlier this month, Government authorities implemented fresh restrictions in some provinces following localised transmissions.

In a note to clients today, Bernstein analyst Euan McLeish said the new lockdowns, while not as widespread as last year's, have already shown indications of altering consumer behaviour in purchasing alcohol. Chinese New Year banquets have been cancelled and travel restrictions are increasing in the run-up to this year's 12 February celebration, which is a major gifting occasion for local and international distillers and a period of high demand for brewers as people who work across China return home for the holidays.

The analyst cited usage data from China's biggest restaurant app, Dianping, which, according to McLeish, shows a correlation between bookings and alcohol consumption. In Beijing, where new restrictions are currently in place, daily average user growth on Dianping was down 16% in the first 17 days of the year while, in Liaoning and Hebei, which also face restrictions, growth was down 34%.

According to McLeish, Chinese brewer China Resources Enterprise, which partners with Heineken in the country, as well as sellers of mid-range baijiu brands will be worst affected by a New Year downturn. Travel restrictions are most likely to affect the post-New Year occasion, which is weighted towards on-premise consumption of beer and mainstream baijiu brands such as Moutai and Wuliangye.

Last year, a note from Bernstein warned of distribution problems for Heineken in China through its partnership with China Resources Enterprise. A study showed Heineken brands do not have as high a presence as Anheuser-Busch InBev's beers in some on-premise markets.

Signs of trouble as Heineken faces China distribution gap - Click here for a just-drinks comment
In a far corner of northwestern China, a car drives along a wall lined with barbed wire, heading towards what looks like a standard apartment complex. Access here is restricted, and the cameraperson is filming secretly   because this is no ordinary residence. Its part of a contentious labor resettlement program run by the Chinese government to extend state control over Muslim minorities, mostly Uighurs, by moving them from one part of China to work in another. This covert, low-quality footage that weve adjusted to reveal some details, and obscure others, gives us some rare insights into how people in this program live and are indoctrinated. Over the last few years, the mass incarceration of more than a million Uighurs and Kazakhs by the Chinese government has led to international outrage. These labor programs are part of that larger story. Lets take a closer look at the compound we showed you at the beginning. Its in Xinjiang, in the northern city of Kuitun, where the population is mostly Chinas Han ethnic majority. But the workers in the compound are Uighurs, and other minorities transferred there from their homes in Hotan and Kashgar, hundreds of miles away. At the Kuitun complex there are multiple dormitories. We see that right around the time the transfer started in 2017, a security checkpoint and another building, a cafeteria, were built at the site. The cameraperson is now shooting inside of the cafeteria. We can see the compounds residents. They all work as street cleaners. A sign describing the program calls them Kashgar and Hotan surplus labor. It also lists instructions for how they should conduct themselves. And another poster offers guidelines on how to interact with the local population. This program and others like it have led to the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Uighurs away from their homes and families. But government propaganda openly promotes these as poverty alleviation initiatives. Whats at stake here is about more than just putting people into labor programs. The bigger goal is to turn Uighurs and other ethnic minorities away from their own heritage, to be more in line with the rest of Communist China. Back at the compound, the rules strictly limit when and where the workers can go. We hear about this as a cameraperson meets residents in the sleeping quarters. This man was pressured to come here a year earlier, leaving his family, a wife and young child, behind. His life here includes mandatory Mandarin classes in the evenings. And despite the governments claim that they are lifting these workers out of poverty, he says hes only making a third of what he did back home. Yarkand County is the home he left behind. For Uighurs in towns like these, the future is becoming increasingly uncertain because the decision, whether to stay or go, is often no longer in their hands.

The Ram Mandir being constructed at Ayodhya is a temple of unity of the country and people from different faiths support it, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said here on Sunday. Speaking at an event at the Delhi BJP office to felicitate people who donated substantial sums for the construction of the Ram temple, Javadekar said the 'Ram Janmbhoomi Andolan' was a movement for the country's self respect.

"The Ram Mandir coming up at Ram Janmbhoomi is a temple of unity of the country. Ram unifies the country and symbolises the unity of the country," he said.

"When Babar came to India he chose to destruct Ram temple in Ayodhya as he understood that the living force of the country rested there," said the Union Information and Broadcasting minister.

He further said the disputed structure that came up after alleged destruction of an ancient Ram temple in Ayodhya was not a mosque because no worship happened there. Javadekar said he was in Ayodhya in 1992 and witnessed how a 'historical blunder(Aitihasik Bhool)' was corrected.

"We were sleeping there a night before. The three domes (of Babri Masjid) were visible. Next day the world saw how a historical blunder was removed," he said.

Javadekar said the collection of contributions from people for the Ram temple is like the one under which farmers of six lakh villages provided pieces of iron for Sardar Patel's statue in Gujarat. He said the Supreme Court judgement paving the way for construction of the Ram temple led to a wave of joy across the country.

"I am happy that lord Ram is no longer claimed by one religion and has become a symbol of pride for the entire country. Even people of other religions favour construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya," he said.

He said construction of the Ram Mandir has begun in Ayodhya and it will be completed in two years. Not only all Indians but crores of people from all over the world will visit Ayodhya to see the grand Ram temple there, added the minister.
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Millions of people search for news on Google or Facebook; therefore, those tech behemoths should pay media outlets for their content. At least, this is the Australian government's position in a dispute with the companies in question. Google has responded by threatening to deprive the country of its Search service.

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Traditional news media has faltered with the rise of online search services, with those who adapted early on and got themselves searchable doing best. Newspaper advertising revenues in Australia, for example, have fallen steadily since 2008, whereas that of Google hit US$7.7 million in the same market in 2019 alone.

Therefore, the Australian government reasons, Google (and Facebook) should pay a "fair price" for content from news companies based in that country if it is accessed through their search services. The administration - led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison - intends to enforce this principle with new legislation.

Google Australia, on the other hand, has slammed the proposed new regulations as "unworkable" and has strongly hinted at the response of shutting its ever-present Search facility down for that country. On the other hand, the Mountain View giant's stance is more than slightly compromised as it has also just agreed a deal with the French media interest group APIG to do more or less what Australia wants.

This may be one reason why the government's treasurer Josh Frydenberg asserts that it is "inevitable" Google backs down and agrees to the new remuneration codes. Then again, some proponents of the internet as it is and have evolved, such as its originator Tim Berners-Lee, argue that Australia's planned regulations would have a severe impact on online life as we currently know it.

In addition, it is possible that proposals such as that of Australia do not work out as it hopes, and ends in a situation wherein tech companies only show the news content they are prepared to fund. On that note, the agreement with APIG in its current form reportedly involves no form of impartial oversight: Google is only paying for the content displayed in its own News Showcase platform. Then again, it is not like there is only one search engine in town.

Check your news on a Nest Hub Max via Best Buy
Young motorists and those who drive for a living could be punished if they have any alcohol in their blood at all, according to a new government report.

A new study published today says England and Wales should slash the legal drink-drive limits by up to a third, for the first time since the 1960s.

Researchers warn that the current law is not enough to deter people from drink driving and say even one tipple is too much for some groups, including those who have just passed their test.

The report argues the law should be reformed to mean people driving with any alcohol in their blood should be punished.

The legal limit for driving in England and Wales is currently 80mg/100ml of blood, and 50mg/100ml in Scotland and most European countries

WHAT IS THE UK'S DRINK-DRIVING LAW? England and Wales has among the most lenient drink driving laws in Europe. Motorists are allowed to have 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath or 107 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine. This does not translate into a fixed number of drinks as people of different ages, weights and alcohol tolerance process drink at different rates. However, as a rule of thumb most drivers drinking would limit themselves to around one pint or one glass of wine. But ministers have faced calls to change the law so that drivers are not allowed to consume any alcohol before they get behind the wheel - or at least far less. In most other European countries, the limit is less, usually 50 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood3. The alcohol limit for drivers in Scotland is lower than in the rest of the UK after they lowered it to 50 milligrammes of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood in December 2014. Advertisement

The report was carried out by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts) and commissioned by the Department for Transport (DfT).

The legal limit for driving in England and Wales is currently 80mg/100ml of blood, and 50mg/100ml in Scotland and most European countries.

Today's report suggests cutting that to 50mg per 100ml of blood - and warns the limit should be 0mg for drivers who have just passed their test, young motorists and people who drive for a living.

The study also says the coronavirus pandemic has seen an increase in the number of people with alcohol and mental health issues.

It points to stark figures which show that drink driving is one of the biggest causes of road deaths (13 per cent) and in the last decade 240 people have been killed each year where a driver was over the limit.

Nearly one in five, or 17 per cent, of drink drive offences is committed by a reoffender, researchers say.

The report warns that levels of police enforcement have decreased by 63 per cent since 2009, meaning drivers believe they are less likely to be caught.

It adds: 'Current arrangements are not enough to help them or to deter them from drink driving again.

'The Covid pandemic is likely to have worsened the risks as alcohol consumption, mental health pressures and traffic speeds have all increased, as other countries have reported increases in road deaths during lockdown periods, partly due to drink driving.'

The PACTS report recommends mandatory breath testing powers for the police, increased penalties for drivers who combine drink and drugs, and s a lower breath test limit for England and Wales among other measures.

David Davies, Executive Director of PACTS, said: 'Drink driving is often cited as a road safety success story, yet it remains a major killer and progress has ground to a halt since 2010.

'The legal limit should be reduced in England and Wales, police should be given additional powers to test drivers, and the growing danger of combining drink and drugs driving needs to be addressed.

'Scotland introduced a reduced drink drive limit in 2014, in line with most other countries in Europe. It has been accepted by the public; it has not significantly impacted pubs and restaurants or overloaded the police or the courts.

'Northern Ireland plans to go further, with a zero limit for novice and professional drivers.

A lower limit is not a magic bullet but government polices to reduce drink driving will lack credibility as long as they avoid this change.'

Drink driving is one of the biggest causes of road deaths (13 per cent) and in the last decade 240 people have been killed each year where a driver was over the limit

There is no fool proof way of drinking and staying under the drink drive limit, and guidelines do not state how many drinks are within the limit.

This is because it varies dramatically from person to person, depending on age, weight and what they have eaten that day, for example.

Since 1982, death from drink driving has decreased by 48 per cent in the UK.

For every 100,000 Americans under the age of 21, 1.2 people were killed in drunk driving fatalities in 2017, a reduction of 29 per cent in the past decade.
MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced Sunday night that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and was experiencing "light" symptoms. He said he would step away from his daily news conferences while being treated for the illness.

Lopez Obrador has frequently minimized the severity of the pandemic, and he has rarely worn a mask, even as covid-19, the illness the novel coronavirus can cause, has claimed nearly 150,000 lives in Mexico. That's the fourth-highest total in the world, and the 19th-highest as a percentage of the population, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

After Mexico's 70-day shutdown at the beginning of the pandemic, the president resumed his frequent travels through the country. He has been criticized for appearing in selfies with his supporters.

"I am sorry to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19," the president said in a tweet. "The symptoms are light, but I am getting medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will carry on."

He added that he would remain in his living quarters at the National Palace and would have a telephone conversation as scheduled on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss shipments to Mexico of the Sputnik vaccine.

At 67, and with hypertension, Lopez Obrador could be at risk of developing complications from the virus. He had a heart attack in 2013. Mexico has administered about 600,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, but the president has said he would wait for his shot until after front-line medical personnel and older citizens received theirs.

Mexican authorities on Sunday reported 10,872 more confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 530 deaths. The government has tallied more than 1.7 million cases. But the real total is considered higher: A recent government study based on antibody tests estimated that one-quarter of the population of about 126 million people has been infected.

The president has been regularly tested for the virus, and he insists that he keeps strict social-distancing rules in his office.

Lopez Obrador, a folksy icon of the left, took office in December 2018. He has remained popular, with approval ratings of about 60%, despite the mounting death toll from covid-19 and a severe economic crisis linked to the pandemic.

But the president's decisions to rarely wear a mask in public, and his statements minimizing the pandemic, have frustrated many in Mexico.

"In a country where government and president are often the same thing, and where the president is a continuous presence both in social and traditional media, his minimizing of the pandemic and his refusal to wear a mask have definitely encouraged people to downplay the dangers of this deadly virus," said Esteban Illades, a prominent Mexican journalist.

"Hopefully, the president's covid diagnosis will show the general population that not wearing a mask makes it easier to become infected."

Several cabinet members previously tested positive for the coronavirus. The president was in the state of San Luis Potosi over the weekend and was photographed without a mask.

Lopez Obrador has been in close contact with a range of senior Mexican officials over the weekend, including the secretary of defense and the secretary of foreign relations, along with a number of well-known Mexican business leaders. There is now concern that the virus could spread widely within those circles.

Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, the governor of Nuevo Leon, met with Lopez Obrador on Saturday and said he would "watch my symptoms so that if any appear, I'll take a test."

Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst, said: "It is kind of surprising that [Lopez Obrador] didn't catch it before, particularly given his reluctance to wear a mask and his insistence on still having plenty of meetings with officials and even traveling, most recently to Guerrero, San Luis Potosi and Nuevo Leon."

He noted that many public servants who frequently wear masks take them off in his presence - "probably as a very screwed-up sign of discipline or deference."

Early in the pandemic, Lopez Obrador was mocked for saying he could ward off the virus with religious amulets. His tone has since become more serious. The Mexico City region went into another shutdown in mid-December as cases soared during a period of holiday parties and shopping.

Critics have assailed the government for its handling of the pandemic, noting that the country has among the lowest percentage of testing of any in the hemisphere. Lopez Obrador has defended his record, noting that Mexico scaled up its hospital capacity considerably and ordered more than 100,000 doses of vaccine.

Contributing to the country's death toll are many factors, including widespread comorbidities such as obesity and diabetes, and Mexicans' reluctance to go to the hospital until their cases are advanced. Nearly 60% of the population works in the informal sector, and many have needed to go to work despite the pandemic precautions. Lopez Obrador has been criticized for not approving a major stimulus program to help such people stay home.

The news of the president's diagnosis ignited an outpouring of good wishes from critics and supporters.

"You're going to be fine President. I'm sure of that. Your strength, conviction and love for life and for what you represent give us this certainty," tweeted Claudia Sheinbaum, the mayor of Mexico City, an ally of the president's. She survived the coronavirus last year.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced through Twitter on Sunday that he tested positive for COVID-19, but his symptoms were "mild."

He also said that after testing positive for COVID-19, he received medical treatment against the virus and was "optimistic."

"I regret to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19," Lopez Obrador said in a tweet detailing his treatment and expressing hope to "move forward."

Lopez Obrador joined other world leaders who also tested positive for COVID-19, most of whom have already recovered from the disease, noted ABC 7.

Lamento informarles que estoy contagiado de COVID-19. Los sintomas son leves pero ya estoy en tratamiento medico. Como siempre, soy optimista. Saldremos adelante todos. Me representara la Dra. Olga Sanchez Cordero en las mananeras para informar como lo hacemos todos los dias.  Andres Manuel (@lopezobrador_) January 25, 2021

Lopez Obrador was heavily criticized for handling the country's pandemic, where the virus claimed nearly 150,000 lives. It was the fourth-highest death toll in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Lopez Obrador Played Down COVID-19 Risks

Lopez Obrador frequently played down the risks of the pandemic and was rarely seen wearing a mask. He also continued to keep up a busy travel schedule and took commercial flights, noted The Associated Press.

Read also: Biden Talks to Mexico President About Reversing Immigration Policies

He also refused a lockdown on Mexico's economy, arguing that it will have a devastating effect on Americans' daily lives.

Early into the pandemic, when he was asked how he was protecting Mexico, he presented two amulets from his wallet and showed them off, saying these were "protective shield."

Lopez Obrador to Skip Daily News Conferences While Recovering

Sixty-seven-year-old Lopez Obrador also said that he would be stepping away from his daily news conferences while he recovers, reported The Washington Post.

He also expressed intent to continue working from the National Palace, where he lives, Financial Times reported. Dr. Olga Sanchez Cordero, the Interior Secretary, will be replacing Lopez Obrador in his daily morning conferences.

Read also: Lopez Obrador Accuses U.S. of 'Fabricating' Drug Charges vs. Ex-Army Chief Salvador Cienfuegos

Mexico has yet to approve the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 from Russia, but its government is desperate to get more Pfizer shots. These may help with the supply gap in Mexico, where the coronavirus has infected more than 1.7 million people.
BRIDGEPORT, Ill. (WTHI) - Scott Murray resigned from the department Monday morning.

Police were called to the 700 block of Adams Street in Bridgeport Saturday night. Murray was charged with domestic battery and reckless discharge of a firearm.

News 10 spoke with Bridgeport mayor Michael Crask. Crask says "The city of Bridgeport and I would like to publicly thank Scott for his numerous years of service to our community."

There is already new leadership at the department. Mayor Crask has named Danny Ash as acting police chief. Ash is the school resource officer for red hill CUSD #10. In the meantime, Bridgeport is currently looking for a permanent police chief.
Covid-19 had infected 25 more Laois people according to the latest figures from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) which has published the average rate of new cases in each county over the equivalent of a working week.

The daily report issued on January 25 shows that apart from the new cases, the five day moving average to January 24 is 24 per day in Laois. This means Laois has the fifth-best record for the average number of cases a day nationally.

Laois is not doing as well on the method used to measure the rate of spread. The incidence per 100,000 population is now 628.1 on the back of 532 new cases in two weeks.

The latest cases mean that there have been now been 2,545 in Laois. The number of new cases broke through the 2,500 mark at the weekend.

NPHET also announced that the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of seven additional deaths related to COVID-19.

All of these deaths occurred in January. The median age of those who died is 77 years and the age range is 43-94 years.

There has been a total of 2,977 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Sunday, January 24 NPHET said that the HPSC has been notified of 1,372 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 188,923 (*3 denotified) confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of today's cases by county, NPHET highlighted 502 in Dublin, 164 in Cork, 77 in Wexford, 75 in Waterford, 66 in Louth and the remaining 488 cases are spread across all other counties. FULL COUNTY TABLE AT THE END OF STORY.

It also said 616 are men / 751 are women, 56% are under 45 years of age. The median age is 41 years old.

The national 14 day incidence has fallen further to 766.2 per 100,000 population but there have been 36,486 in the two weeks. The seven-day incidence is 296.3 nationally while the five day national average for new case numbers is 1,926.

As of 2pm today, January 25 1,905 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 219 are in ICU. There were 58 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Read also: HOSPITAL SERVICE IN DANGER OF COLLAPSE PORTLAOISE MEDIC WARNS



The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.
She spoke to Thoi Nay (Present Times) Publication of Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, sharing about her literary career, love for Vietnam, and her aspirations to connect the literature of the two countries more closely.

Question: What impressed you about Vietnams literature?

Writer Andrea H. Hedes: I was honoured to be invited to the Vietnam International Poetry Festival in February 2019. I had already heard about your country because Vietnam and Romania have maintained friendly cultural relations for many years, and a lot of Vietnamese students study at Romanian universities.

I was told about the courage and compassion of Vietnamese people, who always show great respect towards their fatherland, families, and traditional culture.

Exploring Vietnams literature through Vietnamese poets works published on Neuma magazine was my first step into the profound universe that is Vietnamese literature.

Can you tell us about the difficulties involved in maintaining the operation of a printed magazine, particularly Neuma magazine, in the digital era?

My grandfather was a journalist and he passed away when I was only two years old. I always kept in mind that I had the responsibility to continue his job. I established Neuma magazine in 2017 and it has since become considered a leading cultural publication in Romania.

I have always attached great importance to gathering people of different cultures together to discuss different topics such as literature, stage, arts, history, music, ethnology, and spirituality.

People all around the world, regardless of geological distance and difference, have the same happiness and sorrows. Literature, poetry and the arts can connect people together, helping them understand each other and become closer friends. It is important to stay united and open your hearts to others.

It is not easy to run a printed cultural magazine in the digital era. We have thought of utilising social networks and going online to reach readers across the globe, particularly during the pandemic.

I am proud that Neuma magazine has reached readers from across all continents.





Poems by Vietnamese poet Huu Thinh published in Neuma magazine.

Have you observed any similarities or differences in the ways of thinking of Vietnamese and Romanian writers?

I want to learn more about Vietnamese literature and have sought folk literature, legends and myths as I believe they are key to getting a deeper understanding about people.

I think that poets of both countries share a common similarity in showing love, patriotism, and sorrow in their works.

However, there are also slight differences in the way they express their feelings and thoughts. The differences make their works more interesting to readers, although they write about the same topics, such as flowers, rice fields and dense forests.

Can you tell us about your impressions of Vietnam? What brought you inspiration to write poems about Vietnam?

I was fascinated by Vietnam, the country made a deep impression on me. It is difficult to describe in words the beauty of your country, a mixture of colours, scents, sounds, landscapes, horizon, vibrations of the sea, friendly and welcoming people, and beautiful smiles. All of them can be only expressed through the language of poetry.

I am working on a poem collection about my journey to Vietnam. My colleagues encouraged me to write about my experiences in Vietnam after I told them about my stay there. Thus, I decided to write a lyrical diary, recording the strong impressions Vietnam has made on me.

Thank you so much!

Who is going to swoop in and save the day for Friendlys?

Superman.

Not the man of steel. The ice cream flavor called Superman, which promises vanilla plus yellow, red and blue fruit flavors.

Due out March 15, Superman ice cream is the first of what new CEO Craig Erlich promises will be periodic refreshes of the Friendlys restaurant menu, with new ice cream flavors paired with returning favorite food items. From March to June, Asian chicken salad and Buffalo chicken salad will return, along with the Heinz 57 burger and the Vermonter burger.

Its all part of the latest attempt to reinvigorate a brand that has struggled for years under different owners and against other fast-casual family restaurant chains like Applebees and TGI Fridays.

And it comes as businesses adapt to the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted government orders temporarily closing restaurants and dramatically altering how they serve customers.

Craig Erlich, President and CEO of Amici Partners and its affiliated company BRIX Holdings, LLC.

Erlich is president and CEO and an investor in new Friendlys owner Amici Partners and its affiliated company, Brix Holdings LLC.

The Friendlys restaurant business was sold to Amici Partners last month out of a bankruptcy proceeding, with a sale price of $1.9 million. Thats a pittance compared to the $337.2 million price when Friendlys sold to Sun Capital in 2007.

But that was before Sun Capital divested itself of much of what used to be Friendlys. Sun sold off real estate including the ice cream plant and office building in Wilbraham, as well as the entire Friendlys business making ice cream for its restaurants and for sale in supermarkets.

Friendlys under Sun Capital went through another bankruptcy in 2011 that wiped away $297 million in debt and resulted in the closing or more than 100 of its restaurants.

The chain was founded by brothers Curtis and S. Prestley Blake in the summer of 1935 in Springfields Pine Point neighborhood. Curtis Blake died in 2019 at age 102. Erlich said Friday that he hasnt spoken with Pres Blake, who is 106 and lives in Connecticut.

Blake brothers Curtis, left, and S. Prestley at the Taste of Springfield in 1985.The Republican file

Friendlys has shrunk substantially over the years, from 850 restaurants in 15 states at its height in 1996 to 137 restaurants in 12 states today. It has 1,300 employees.

In one of its early moves, Amici moved Friendlys headquarters to its offices in Dallas, Texas, and Long Island, New York.

Erlich said some of the corporate employees brought over from the old Friendlys ownership  folks working from home now because of the pandemic  will stay at the office in Wilbraham.

The latest bankruptcy process allowed Sun Capital to expedite its sale of the chain and not be forced to negotiate with creditors that hold liens on Friendlys assets. It followed nearly a year of negotiations between Sun Capital and Amici, according to court papers. The sale closed at the end of December.

Amicis other brands are Red Mango Yogurt Cafe & Juice Bar, Smoothie Factory Juice Bar, Redrick Pizza Kitchen Cafe and Souper Salad.

All surviving Friendlys restaurants  51 corporate locations and 86 franchises  will remain, Erlich said. But they might move within their market due to real estate needs or changing market conditions.

He said his new management team is working closely with Dairy Farmers of America. That company recently bought Dean Foods, which bought the Friendlys ice cream manufacturing and distribution business in 2016 for $155 million in cash. Dairy Farmers of America operates the Friendlys ice cream plant in Wilbraham.

My people are on the phone with them all the time, Erlich said.

In the restaurants, Erlich said he and his team know they must tackle Friendlys slow reputation and speed up service. That will mean new technology and rearranging kitchen equipment, he said. It also means designing menus so ingredients and processes have more than one use.

And there are the plans for new ice cream offerings. This summers flavor will be Summer Breeze, with a lemon flavor and a graham cracker caramel swirl. It will be paired with what Erlich described as a seafood extravaganza.

Every time that we launch a new campaign, well have a new ice cream flavor launched with it, he said. We felt that our plan forward had a recipe for success for 2021.

And beyond.

Our strategy is built from 2021 through the next three to five to 12 years, he said.

Past management teams have tried  and abandoned  similar steps to rejuvenate the brand, including smaller mini-Friendlys restaurants, fast-serve locations with walk-up counters and, briefly, Friendlys with beer and wine.

They are solutions Sun Capital described in a recent bankruptcy filing, admitting it encountered many of the same performance issues faced by the fast-casual dining sector as a whole, including substantial headwinds caused by shifting demographics, increased competition and rising costs.

The paragraph concludes: The business, which consistently lost money, relied on borrowings ... as the only way to sustain operations.

So Friendlys  born in the Great Depression because the Blake brothers feared they wouldnt be able to get summer jobs  is reinventing itself during a new economic crisis.

If you are a sitting duck, you get hit, said Atul Sheel, associate department chair and associate professor of hospitality and tourism management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. All of the restaurant chains are limping. Its not just Friendlys.

But Friendlys was hurting before COVID-19. There is the widespread opinion among consumers that time has passed it by, Sheel said.

The consumer is always looking for something new, he said. Thats why McDonalds is always coming out with new menu items.

The pandemic only accelerated trends  curbside pickup, online ordering, delivery  that existed before 2020. Erlich said Friendlys needs to do a better job on all these fronts and said a new app  smartphone application, not appetizer  is on the way.

Erlich also promised other improvements. Only a dozen Friendlys have drive-thru windows now. That number, he hopes, will rise.

Stephen Clark, vice president of government affairs for the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said its anticipated that 3,400 to 4,000 restaurants across the state will soon close or have already closed due to the pandemic. That works out to 22% or 23% of the 16,000 restaurants the state had at the beginning of March 2020.

I do think there is a sense of optimism, Clark said.

More people are getting coronavirus vaccines. The state is heading into a season where there will be the opportunity for more outdoor dining. Clark said there will be pent-up demand once the virus eases.

People feel cooped up, he said. Not everyone can get on an airplane, but everyone can go to their local restaurant.

And that includes Friendlys. Like a lot of New Englanders, Clark not only ate at Friendlys, but also worked there as his first job.

I was an ice cream scooper in West Roxbury, he said.

Erlich said his 5th birthday party was at a Friendlys. He said he wants more kids to have the same memory.

We are very excited about the future, he said. The team is passionate about moving us forward.

Related Content:

The Biden administration is set to push Democratic and Republican lawmakers for a new $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill to avert an economic crisis.

According to Reuters, the Biden administration and lawmakers discussing the coronavirus relief agreed on Sunday that they should prioritize vaccine production and distribution.

Brian Deese, one of Pres. Joe Biden's top economic aides, said he would speak to the lawmakers to make the case of a "large rescue plan," a report from WION News noted.

"We can't wait," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Sunday.

Jean-Pierre also said she hoped that even though Washington faced stalemates with coronavirus relief in the past, this additional relief won't face that issue.

Deese also said the discussion on coronavirus relief had been "robust," and the two sides of the aisle will continue working together on it.

More than 400,000 people died in America due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with about 175,000 infected by the virus daily. Millions of people were also thrown out of work.

Related story: Biden Talks to Mexico President About Reversing Immigration Policies

Only starting his term on Wednesday, the pandemic poses an immediate crisis to the Biden administration. However, he promised an aggressive campaign against the pandemic.

According to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, there were no plans on how to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines to millions of Americans in need of it when Pres. Biden took office.

After signing executive orders on economic relief on Friday, Pres. Biden said: "The bottom line is this: We're in a national emergency, and we need to act like we're in a national emergency."

$1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief to Aid in Pandemic Response, Enhance Payments

The additional $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief is still needed for pandemic response and providing enhanced jobless aid and direct payments, on top of the already approved $4 trillion.

Although the Democratic Party holds narrow control of both the House and Senate, legislation on coronavirus relief will likely need bipartisan support.

The Washington Post noted that lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have lobbied for more targeted coronavirus relief.

Some Lawmakers Question $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Plan

Some of them questioned items that were included in Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. Republican Senator Mitt Romney said on "Fox News Sunday" that the $1.9 trillion price tag was "shocking."

"Spending and borrowing trillions of dollars from the Chinese among others is not necessarily the best thing we can do to get our economy to be strong long term," he said.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also knew that Republicans in the Senate weren't all giving positive remarks about the proposal.

Still, he hoped they would see the need for the amount after their Sunday meeting. If GOP members still refuse, Schumer said, "there are tools we can use to move forward on our own."

Read also: Schumer, McConnell Agree To Delay Trump's Impeachment Trial Until Week of Feb. 8

Some of the "tools" Schumer was pertaining to included a process of allowing major legislation to pass in the Senate on a simple majority.

According to Daily Mail, Biden's coronavirus relief proposal includes $1,400 in checks, tax breaks, and enhanced unemployment benefits.
When Graham Brisbane of Wollongong applied to become an Australian citizen in 1980, he telephoned to make an appointment to attend an interview as part of the process and was told the offices were only open 9-5, Monday to Friday. When I explained I was required to work at those times and would like to attend Thursday night or Saturday morning, I was told that this was not possible but I could always take a sickie (C8). What better way to become an Aussie! Thank goodness the ceremony was held on a Sunday.

During a short career in the NSW prison service, David Markham of Flynn (ACT) had the task of taking cash left by prisoners visitors to the local bank (C8) to deposit into their accounts, accompanied by an armed prison officer. One day, he pointed to the gun and said, You do realise Im not allowed to use this, dont you?

Once or twice a week in the 1950s, a young teller was required to travel from Hornsby to Hawkesbury River Station, carrying a cash bag together with an ancient revolver (C8), to operate the Brooklyn agency of the Bank of NSW, writes Norm Leek of East Ryde. You had to walk about a quarter-mile to the agency located in the basement of an old, unoccupied house then, two hours later, hastily throw the cash deposits into a bag and literally run to catch the steam train back to Hornsby, with the gun in a trouser pocket. No wonder that any teller who ever serviced that agency was known as a Brooklyn Dodger.

In the late 1940s, Brian Keast of Minnamurra went to visit his father, a counter teller at the Bank of NSW in Griffith, to show off the cap gun his mother had just bought him and was happy to oblige when his father asked him: How does it go? Little did he know that everyone in the bank had a revolver under their counter/desk. When I pulled the trigger, everyone in the bank hit the floor and grabbed their gun. It does make a big sound in those old bank buildings!

While on uni holidays in the 1980s, Eva Elbourne of Pennant Hills worked at a jewellers and, dressed casually, delivered bags of gems unimpeded around the Sydney CBD. It was only many years later that it occurred to me that perhaps that was unwise, for both me and the owner of the diamonds.
An artist's graphic of the RAFs Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept, also called the Mosquito. (MoD)

RAF Takes 30 Million Step Towards Robot Revolution in the Skies

The RAF has taken a step closer to joining the robot revolution in the skies, with the announcement its developing self-piloting fighter jets that will tag along as wingman to a human-piloted jet.

The loyal wingman concept is being rapidly developed and explored by militaries around the world.

Now, a 30-million ($41-million) contract to design and manufacture a prototype for the RAF has been awarded by the Ministry of Defence.

The prototype, called the Mosquito, will be made by Spirit AeroSystems in Northern Ireland over the course of three years.

Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston said in a statement, Were taking a revolutionary approach, looking at a game-changing mix of swarming drones and uncrewed fighter aircraft like Mosquito, alongside piloted fighters like Tempest, that will transform the combat battlespace in a way not seen since the advent of the jet age.

Director of Future Combat Air Richard Berthon said, Project Mosquito is a vital element of our approach to Future Combat Air, rapidly bringing to life design, build and test skills for next-generation combat air capabilities.

The project marks another step towards warfare strategies around the world that involve greater numbers of autonomous platforms in the air, on land, and at sea.

Autonomous jets, tanks, helicopters, and submarines not only eliminate the risk to human life but are also potentially cheaper and simpler to make. With no flesh and blood to protect, they need less armour, less air, less space, and have fewer design constraints.

Of course, that same money and development could be ploughed into the large multi-talented robust machines of warsuch as aircraft carriers or stealth bombersthat have typically characterised next-generation military tech development.

However, theres growing interest among military strategists in a new concept known as distributed warfare.

The Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie during a test flight in this March 28, 2020, dated handout photograph from the Air Force. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Distributed warfare means that instead of a few all-singing all-dancing systems that can be easily tracked and targeted, the firepower and other military capabilities are spread through numerous cheaper platforms.

The theory is that it makes it harder to find and target any Achilles heels and to deliver a knockout blow.

In addition, it could potentially wrong-foot adversaries such as Russia and China, which have built up their war machines to target current platforms.

The unmanned wingman concept also highlights another growing theme of military modernization: integration of manned and unmanned platforms through the use of artificial intelligence. The approach has already been tested in principle by the U.S. military, which has adopted regular fighter jets for autonomy through fly-by-wire systems.

The U.S. Airforce last summer announced that four prototypes were competing to be its unmanned wingman.

Australia has also been investing heavily in the unmanned wingman concept, adopting it as its first nationally developed military aircraft for decades.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
NCP president Sharad Pawar at a rally in Mumbai, in solidarity with farmers protesting near Delhi, took a dig at Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday for taking time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut but having no time to meet farmers.

Pawar hit out at Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for heading to Goa at a time when peasants from the state were to submit a memorandum to the latter against the farm laws. Pawar said Koshyari, who holds the additional charge of Goa, had time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut after the BMC last year demolished parts of her office here, but has no time for farmers.

"You may pass any law undermining the Constitution, not keeping in with the reputation of Parliament and destroying the Parliamentary system on the back of your majority. But remember one thing, once the common man and farmers of the country rise, whether you withdraw the laws or not, they will not keep quiet until they destroy you and the laws," Pawar said during the rally.

The former Union agriculture minister also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not enquiring about the condition of farmers agitating near Delhi borders against the Centre's farm laws for two months now in cold weather.

"It has been 60 days since the farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan are protesting near Delhi. Did the countrys PM enquire about (the farmers)? "It was mentioned that the farmers are from Punjab. Does Punjab mean Pakistan?" Pawar asked.

Pawar said the leaders of farmers who attended the rally in Mumbai were to submit a memorandum to Koshyari. "We have not seen such a Governor in the history of Maharashtra. Lakhs of people have come here. They were to submit a memorandum to the Governor. But the Governor has gone to Goa. He has time to meet Kangana, but not my farmers," Pawar alleged.

Maharashtra Revenue Minister and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah and others also addressed the rally held at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai. The NCP patriarch alleged that the farm laws were passed without detailed discussion in Parliament despite opposition parties demanding deliberations on the bills concerned.

"The bills could have been discussed by a select committee, but that did not happen," he said. "...people (from opposition) opposed it. But the laws were declared passed without discussion. This is the insult of the Constitution," the Rajya Sabha MP said, hitting out at the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The NCP leader said it was the governor's moral responsibility to meet farmers, but the latter did not discharge that duty. The new agri laws, enacted in September last year, seek to encourage private trade, contract farming and remove stock limit on foodgrains.

Pawar's comments led a political storm in the state. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale accused Koshyari of running away to Goa to have fun and charged the latter with "insulting" the farmers and workers of Maharashtra.

The governor's office issued clarification stating that the farmers were made aware that the Governor was not available in Mumbai on Monday. The Raj Bhavan in its statement said that representatives of the Samyukta Shetkari Morcha were informed in advance that the Governor would not be able to meet the delegation on Monday as he would be in Goa to address its Assembly.

"It was already cleared (to Morcha representatives) that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has additional charge of Goa Governors post and he would address the session of the Goa Assembly on January 25 and hence, will not be able to meet the farmers delegation, the Raj Bhavan said in a statement.

The Raj Bhavan said the Morcha's representative, Dhananjay Shinde, was on January 22 informed over the phone about Koshyaris unavailability.

Hundreds of farmers have marched from Nasik to Mumbai to show solidarity with the protesting farmers in Delhi. Farmers protest in Mumbai was supported by the Maharashtra government. The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating Minimum Support Price's safety cushion and do away with the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

(With inputs from PTI)
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Interviews and documents in the investigation into Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish show a push to shore up the countys budget by turning the Cuyahoga County Jail into a revenue generator.

Were talking about the strong-arm tactics illustrated in the documents, on This Week in the CLE.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editors Jane Kahoun, Kris Wernowsky and me.

Youve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom account, in which he shares what were thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up for free by sending a text to 216-868-4802.

Here are the questions were answering today:

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish does not come across very well in the records of the criminal investigation we finally got a hold of. How so?

What are the Rock and Roll Hall of Fames big plans for 2021?

Whats the latest plan to kill off the inexplicable gifts that Ohio legislators gave to FirstEnergy  at the expense of Ohioans  in the very corrupt House Bill 6?

Mayor Frank Jacksons grandson, who narrowly escaped getting convicted of serious felonies a while back, is in big trouble again, getting arrested twice in a week, including early Sunday morning in Parma. Whats up with Frank Q. Jackson?

Cleveland State University President Harlan Sands sent a note to the faculty and staff Friday night to defend the hiring of Douglas Dykes at $140,000 a year, in spite of Dykes pleading guilty to obstruction of justice after lying to his former bosses in Cuyahoga County government. But he opened a can of worms.

The guys running the Jack Casino have some bad news for anyone still holding out for a state-of-the-art casino on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. Whats the news, and what else did they have to say in an interview with reporter Rich Exner?

Some good news for people trying to figure out how to get a coronavirus vaccine in Cuyahoga County, a one-stop shop for information. What is it?

Want more? You can find all our past episodes here.

We have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here.

Do you get your podcasts on Spotify. Find us here.

If you use Stitcher, we are here.

RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here.

On Google Podcasts, we are here.

On PodParadise, find us here.

And on PlayerFM, we are here.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on a three-day visit to Tamil Nadu which is scheduled to go to polls in April-May, on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of lacking courage to stand up to China over border row.

Interacting with farmers, weavers and the general public during a road show in Coimbatore, Gandhi also claimed that India under Modis governance in the last six years has only grown weaker.

PM Cant Say a Word to China

China, he said, continues to provoke India because Modi has destroyed the countrys economy. The Chinese have the guts because Modi has destroyed our economy. When the Chinese entered our territory, Modi said noone has entered. But after some days the army and defence minister admitted that they have entered our territory.

Today, the Chinese army is sitting inside the Indian territory. But he cant even say a word to China....he does not have courage to speak with china, the Congress leader said.

BJP-RSS Spreading Hatred

He also took a dig at Modi over the state of the Indian economy and said, If we look at the nation & we see what PM has done over last 6 years, we see a weakened India, a divided India.

It is now an India where the BJP-RSS ideology keeps spreading hatred throughout the country. Our biggest strength, our economy has been demolished, said Gandhi.

On Farm Laws

Gandhi further claimed that the three controversial farm laws introduced by the Modi government will destroy Indian agriculture and hand it over to big industrialists.

The PM is attacking our farmers. He has brought 3 new laws which are going to destroy Indian agriculture and hand it over to two to three big industrialists. One of the laws clearly states that the farmers can't go to court to protect themselves, he said, adding that nobody is interested in listening to PMs Mann ki Baat and what people want to see are results.

CBI, ED Being Used to Control TN Govt

Accusing Modi of using CBI, ED to control the Tamil Nadu government, Rahul Gandhi said the PM does not understand the spirit, language, culture or history of Tamil Nadu, yet he is controlling the state government through the central investigation agencies.

"There is a government in Delhi that wants to suppress the Tamil culture, language and history. And the Prime Minister believes that India should only have only one language, one culture and one idea. Prime Minister believes that entire India should worship only one person called Narendra Modi. He does not understand the spirit of Tamil people," Gandhi said.

Is the Tamil history not a part of Indian history ? What does he mean Tamil is not a part of it? Why should one ideology dominate this country? he added.

The PM believes he can blackmail and threaten the leadership of Tamil Nadu...he can use CBI and ED to control the chief minister of the state, Gandhi said, adding that he has visited the state to fight for the rights of the Tamil people.
Image: ShutterstockThere are many who think that only people who are mentally unstable or those with certain addictions need therapy and counselling. However, this is undeniably the most negative perception. Counselling is also for those who have low self-esteem, are facing issues in their relationship, are victims of trauma and abuse, or have other problems. In fact, counsellors sometimes themselves seek help from other counsellors.Counsellors and therapists come with specialisation, some in behavioural and others in cognitive therapy. They also conduct sessions differently. Remember, only you can change yourself; as the door of change is locked from inside, therapists can only knock on it. It is important for both the counsellor and the person seeking help to align and find balance. The sessions need time, patience, and opening up is a gradual process. With time, the right counsellor can help guide you to clarity.There are various online consultation platforms today which help in connecting people to the right counsellor or therapist. They make it convenient for people to access these services, while also retaining the anonymity factor so that there is no need to worry about the associated stigma. Feeling low, lost, or emotionally unstable is not a sign of weakness. It is an indication that you may need to untangle from certain emotions and come out as a sorted person. Overcoming barriers such as wrong perceptions about seeking help and approaching counsellors with an open mind is the first step.
(Natural News) Donald Tober, the 89-year-old magnate responsible for marketing and popularizing the artificial sweetener brand SweetN Low, died on Friday, Jan. 15, in what the police described as an apparent suicide.

Tober was the CEO and co-owner of New York City-based Sugar Foods Corporation, which employs around 1,400 people. According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), his body was found just after 5 a.m. at the courtyard of his apartment building in Manhattan.

The NYPD determined that Tober committed suicide by jumping off the building. Tober was dealing with Parkinsons disease at the time of his death.

He was married to Barbara Tober, whom he met in 1972. They tied the knot a year later, according to a 1992 profile in a Memphis, Tennessee-based newspaper The Commercial Appeal.

Barbara Tober worked for about 30 years as editor-in-chief of Brides magazine. She also served as a former trustees board chair at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan.

The Tobers lived most of their lives on the 11th floor of a luxury apartment building in Park Avenue, between 65th and 6th street in Manhattans affluent Upper East Side neighborhood. The couple also owned a horse farm in Dutchess County, Upstate New York, and at one point Donald was sending horses to compete in horse-jumping events.

Tober helped sell SweetN Low since the 1950s

Sugar Foods Corporation was founded in 1948 by Harry Tober, Donalds father. The company originally sold 100-pound sacks filled with sugar, but he later found it more profitable to sell sugar to restaurants and cafes in small packets.

The company itself did not manufacture the saccharin-based artificial sweetener, SweetN Low. That distinction goes to Cumberland Packing Corporation, a Brooklyn-based company that began making and distributing it in 1957. However, Sugar Foods did market it and, with Tober at the helm of the company, made SweetN Lows recognizable pink packets a common fixture in restaurants, cafes and diners all over the United States. (Related: Do you really want to use that? Artificial sweeteners linked to unwanted weight gain.)

Tober, who was born in 1931, was raised in New York. He spent part of his youth helping his father deliver Sugar Foods products. He finished his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and then went on to get a law degree from Harvard University. After working as a lawyer for a few years, he joined his father in running the company in 1958.

While Sugar Foods sold a lot of condiments and other foods, it is best known for being one of the countrys top manufacturers and distributors of sweeteners, including brands such as NJoy and ecoStick.

Basically, were concerned with everything that surrounds the coffee cup, Tober told Restaurant News in 1995. Were tightly focused.

The company truly gained prominence once it started distributing SweetN Low.

SweetN Low is the driving force in everything we do, said Tober in an interview with the newspaper Newsday in 1990. It gets us into any door in the country.

By the 1990s, with Tobers involvement, it was estimated that about 86 percent of all food-service outlets in the country had SweetN Low packets on hand, despite serious competition from other corporations peddling similar artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet, which sold artificial sweeteners in distinctive blue packets.

Donald is SweetN Low, said Steve Odell, the president and co-founder of Sugar Foods and a business partner of Tober for over 51 years. Dons had as much to do with building SweetN Low into a household name as anyone ever has with a product. Every packet of SweetN Low sold today can be traced back to a single sales call that he probably made or at least had a part in. He was bigger than life. He made everybody feel special  everybody. Hes an icon and he always will be, Odell said.

Odell said he was shocked by the suicide, especially since he just talked to him a day before and, according to him, there was no indication that Tober would ever take his own life. However, Odell admitted that he knew Tober was fighting a disease that he described as devastating.

Along with being the CEO of Sugar Foods, Tober was very involved in philanthropy in New York City. He co-founded the Citymeals on Wheels program, which provides prepared meals and support for the citys elderly residents. He was also the former chairman of The Culinary Institute of America, and he was a trustee in the American Austrian Foundation, which described Tober as an avid equestrian and skier.

Learn more about SweetN Lows and the other artificial sweeteners being peddled by corporations like Sugar Foods, as well as the health effects these products cause by reading the latest articles at Sweeteners.news.

Sources include:

NYPost.com

WSJ.com

BusinessInsider.com

FoodServiceNews.SugarFoods.com
NORWALK  An apartment complex and a hotel could soon join LA Fitness and a slew of medical offices on a property near the Norwalk-Wilton border.

iPark Norwalk II LLC filed a special permit application earlier this month for a 244,750-square-foot expansion to its property at 761 Main Ave.

The expansion calls for two new buildings to be added to the property: A 164,750-square-foot apartment complex featuring three floors of residential housing over one story of parking, and an 80,000-square-foot, 120-bedroom hotel.

The proposed apartment complex would feature 132 units. All units would either be studio or one-bedroom apartments with about 750 square feet of space on average.

Lynne Ward, executive vice president of National Resources Company, the parent company of iPark, said the development will offer units unlike those currently being built in the area.

This is really akin to workforce housing, and many of the people who will live here are already working or visiting on the site, Ward wrote in the application.

National Resources Company did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

The iPark property at 761 Main Ave., which sidles the border between Wilton and Norwalk, currently has more than 371,000 square feet of buildings, which includes an LA Fitness gym, warehouse space and office space.

The companys special permit application said there would be no changes to the existing land uses on the property.

If approved, the expansion would bring the development on the property to 616,444 square feet in total.

iPark has long eyed a potential expansion that would include a hotel. The company expressed interest in building a hotel on the northerly portion of Main Avenue parcel, which is partially located in Wilton, back in 2016.

In June 2016, the developments owners successfully lobbied Wiltons Planning and Zoning Commission to revise the towns zoning regulations to make them more hotel friendly.

Under the revised regulations, the maximum height of buildings in Wilton would be increased from three stories and 39 feet to four stories and 55 feet for properties that meet the minimum acreage requirements for 5- and 10-acre design-enterprise districts.

Wiltons then-Town Planner Bob Nerney said the changes opened the door to the eventual construction of a hotel, which he said at the time had been in discussion for many years.

The newly proposed plan is set to come before the Zoning Commission next month.

The commissions next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 4, but it is unclear if the iPark application will be discussed then.
Democrats are preparing a mix of tech and legal strategies to combat expected gerrymandering by Republicans, who are planning to go on legal offense themselves.

Why it matters: Democrats failed to regain a single state legislature on Election Day, while Republicans upped their control to 30 states' Houses and Senates. In the majority of states, legislatures draw new congressional district lines, which can boost a party's candidates for the next decade.

Redistricting experts and advocates are especially concerned about political gerrymandering this year, given a 2019 Supreme Court ruling that blocks politics-based gerrymandering lawsuits from federal courts.

Supreme Court ruling that blocks politics-based gerrymandering lawsuits from federal courts. "I think this is going to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, fight of next cycle," Kelly Ward Burton, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, told Axios.

What to watch: The expected flashpoints are the battleground states of Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia  where Democrats failed to gain any control over redistricting.

Adding to the party's concern is that, because of another federal court ruling, Republicans won't have to gain pre-clearance for their plans under the Voting Rights Act.

For their part, Republicans will be ready to sue Democrats in states where they control redistricting, particularly Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico, Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, told Axios.

The backstory: Republicans gained sweeping control of the redistricting process in 2011. Over the past decade, Democrats have fought in court against some of their subsequent congressional maps with a few notable wins, such as in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Democrats have built new, sophisticated mapping technologies, and Republicans have been working on a 50-state redistricting database to help them identify their best tactics.

Both sides are educating legislators and the public about redistricting rules.

Democrats have had people on the ground in nine states for over a year, training state legislators and building out grassroots campaigns, Burton said.

Democrats already have a large network of attorneys and organizations on their side, many of whom were involved in the surge of election lawsuits last year and the last round of gerrymandering litigation.
Global foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged by 42 percent in 2020, a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed on Sunday, while China bucked the trend becoming the world's top recipient of investment flows.



In its latest Investment Trends Monitor, the Geneva-based UN trade and development body said that FDI fell sharply to an estimated 859 billion U.S. dollars last year, from 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019, and warned of further weakness this year, putting a sustainable recovery from COVID-19 pandemic at risk.

"FDI finished 2020 more than 30 percent below the trough after the global financial crisis in 2009 and back at a level last seen in the 1990s," the report wrote.

The data showed that the decline was concentrated in developed countries, where FDI flows fell by 69 percent to an estimated 229 billion U.S. dollars, the lowest level in 25 years.

Flows to Europe dried up completely, tumbling by two-thirds to minus 4 billion U.S. dollars, it noted. In Britain, FDI fell to zero, and declines were recorded in other major European recipients. A sharp decrease of 49 percent to 134 billion U.S. dollars was also recorded in the United States.

China a bright spot

The decline in developing economies was relatively measured at 12 percent to an estimated 616 billion U.S. dollars, the report showed, while China topped the ranking of the largest FDI recipients.

FDI flows to China rose by 4 percent to 163 billion U.S. dollars, making the country the world's largest recipient in 2020, followed by the United States.

China's high-tech industries saw an increase of 11 percent in 2020, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) rose by 54 percent, mostly in information and communications technology (ICT) and pharmaceutical industries, the report said.

"A return to positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth and the government's targeted investment facilitation program helped stabilize investment after the early (coronavirus) lockdown," James Zhan, UNCTAD's director of investment and enterprise, said in a virtual press conference.

"The global dependence on the supply chains of multinational enterprises in China during the pandemic also sustained the FDI growth in China," he added.

The country saw its GDP increase 2.3 percent year on year last year and is expected to be the only major economy to post growth in the pandemic-ravaged year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Uncertain outlook

Looking ahead, UNCTAD warned that the global FDI trend is expected to remain weak this year.

"Risks related to the latest wave of the pandemic, the pace of the roll-out of vaccination programs and economic support packages, fragile macroeconomic situations in major emerging markets, and uncertainty about the global policy environment for investment will all continue to affect FDI in 2021," it wrote.

While sharply lower greenfield project announcements suggest that a turnaround in industrial sectors is not yet in sight, UNCTAD however stressed that strong deal activity in technology and pharmaceutical industries could push M&A-driven FDI flows higher.

"Overall, the global FDI is likely to follow a U-shape recovery, unlike the global trade and GDP which have been predicted to be a V-shape recovery starting already 2021. International investment projects tend to have a long gestation period and react to crises with a delay, both on the downward slope and in the recovery," Zhan estimated.

Earlier this month, UNCTAD announced that Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi will step down from his post on Feb. 15.

The selection process for his successor will start after a vacancy is posted at the beginning of February.
Indian equities failed to hold on to their gap-up start and skid 1 per cent on Monday as profit booking in Reliance Industries' stock and weakness in IT and banking counters erased gains. That apart, reports of a fresh clash between Indian and Chinese troops, which left many injured, in Sikkim's Naku La region soured sentiment. turned volatile with the India VIX index up nearly 4 per cent at close.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled the session at 48,348 levels, down 531 points or 1.09 per cent, dragged by Reliance Industries (down 5.6 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 5.5 per cent), HCL Tech (down 3.86 per cent), and HDFC (down 1 per cent).

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries' shares skid 5.7 per cent today as investors booked profit on the company's better-than-expected Q3 results. Global brokerage Macquarie has 'Underperform' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,350.

The Nifty50, meanwhile, gave up the 14,250-mark and closed at 14,239 levels, down 133 points or 0.93 per cent. Only 18 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green. Among these, Grasim Industries soared 15 per cent in the intra-day trade, and ended as the top gainer on the NSE, up 6 per cent, after the company decided to foray into paint business.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index slipped 1.14 per cent to end at 18,547 levels, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index declined 1.15 per cent.

Sectorally, pharma stocks outperformed the market with the Nifty Pharma index ending nearly 2 per cent higher. Among individual stocks, Aurobindo Pharma ended 8 per cent higher on report that the government has given the company approval under the Production Linked Incentive scheme for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical bulk drugs. The stock had jumped nearly 11 per cent higher in the intra-day trade.

On the downside, the Nifty Realty and the Nifty IT index ended with a cut of 1 per cent.

On the earnings front, shares of L&T hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 1,396 on the BSE ahead of the announcement of its December quarter results later today.

In the primary market, the public issue of Stove Kraft was subscribed 77 per cent till 3:45 pm on the first day of the issue. Meanwhile, Home First Finance IPO got subscribed by around 26 times till 4 pm on the last day of the issue.

Domestic will remain shut on Tuesday on account of Republic Day holiday.

Global markets

Asian shares climbed to near all-time highs on Monday as concerns over rising Covid-19 cases and delays in vaccine supplies were eclipsed by optimism of a $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus plan to help revive the US economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose to 726.46, while Japan's Nikkei ended 0.7 per cent up. Australian shares added 0.4 per cent after the country's drug regulator approved Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine with a phased rollout likely late next month. Chinese shares rose, with the blue-chip CSI300 index up 1.1 per cent. Hong Kongs Hang Seng index leapt nearly 2 per cent led by technology stocks.

In Europe, stocks rose as gains in technology shares and upbeat earnings reports helped investors look past the possibility of extended lockdowns. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.4 per cent.
GBP/CAD Exchange Rate Falls as UK Faces Economic Uncertainty

The Pound to Canadian Dollar dipped today despite UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying that he was looking at potential of relaxing some lockdown measures in February.

Mr Johnson commented:

The one to four groups are going to be vaccinated by 15 February, before then we will be looking at the potential of relaxing some measures.

However, last weeks comments from Matt Hancock, the UKs Health Secretary have left GBP investors uncertain about the nations economy going forward.

Mr Hancock said that the UK was still a long, long way from easing lockdown restrictions.

As a result, this sparked fears that UKs nationwide lockdown could extend until as far as Easter or summer.

Dan Hanson, analyst at Bloomberg, was downbeat, however, saying:

The hit to the economy from the latest round of restrictions will be more significant than in November when England was placed in partial lockdown.

Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rates Rise as Oil Prices Head Higher

The Canadian Dollar rose against Sterling after the commodity-linked Loonie benefited from rising oil prices because of growing supply concerns.

This follows news that Iraq had reportedly planned to reduce the production of oil. Libya has also seen disruptions in its crude exports owing to a pay dispute.

Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, commented:

If Iraq manages to reduce output to these levels, it would be the lowest output we have seen from them since 2015. However, given Iraqs record of falling short with production cuts, there is no guarantee that they will meet this target.

As a result, the oil-sensitive Canadian Dollar has benefited from rising oil prices following last weeks slump.

Added to this, expectations that US President Joe Biden will announce further plans to increase Covid-19 stimulus in the US  the worlds largest economy  has also buoyed confidence in the global economy.

GBP/CAD Forecast: Could Rising UK Unemployment Drag Down Sterling?

Canadian Dollar traders will be looking ahead to Wednesdays release of Decembers Canadian Building Permits data.

Any improvement in the outlook for Canadas economy would be CAD-positive.

Furthermore, if oil prices continue to rise, then we would see the Loonie head higher against Sterling.

GBP investors will be looking ahead to tomorrows release of the UK ILO Unemployment Rate for November.

If the UKs unemployment levels continue to rise, however, then the GBP/CAD exchange rate would sink.
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Kampala, Jan 23 (UNI) The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), deployed in Somalia as part of the African Unions (AU) peacekeeping mission, killed 189 Al Shabaab militants during several military operations, the UPDF said.

The group is linked with al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

"The interdiction and on-spot ground target separate operations in Sigaale, Adimole, and Kayitoy villages, neighboring Janaale in Lower Shaballe region, saw the forces put out of action 189 Al-Qaeda linked fighters and destroyed a number of military hardware and items used by the terrorist," UPDF Deputy spokesman Lt Col Deo Akiiki said in a statement said in Friday, as quoted by Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor.

The recent UPDF raid may be its largest operation since Ugandan troops joined the AUs peacekeeping mission in Somalia which was launched in 2007.

Somalia has been engulfed in violence since the eruption of a civil war between clan-based armed groups in the early 1990s.

The presence of terrorist groups like Al Shabaab, which regularly carries out bombings and attacks, further complicates the situation.

UNI XC-GNK PS1644
A group solemnly gathered Sunday evening in Allentown to remember all who died as a result of COVID-19 and took part in a blessing for those awaiting vaccination.

Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong was joined by Allentown Mayor Ray OConnell and Lehigh Valley clergy members for the prayer service held at Agricultural Hall at the Allentown Fairgrounds. State Rep. Michael Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, and state Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, also planned to attend.

The event paid tribute to the more than 20,000 statewide; 417,000 nationally; and 2.13 million worldwide who have died as a result of the novel coronavirus, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health and New York Times data.

Additionally, a community blessing was bestowed upon the facility from the various religious organizations and clergy members in attendance. The service was held in preparation for an upcoming vaccination clinic beginning Monday in the city, as previously announced by the Allentown Health Bureau.

The Lehigh Valleys two major healthcare networks -- Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Lukes University Health Network -- in mid-December received their first shipments of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech. Around the same time of that shipment, a government advisory panel endorsed a second COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for the Moderna shot to be added to the U.S. vaccination campaign.

Since initial supplies are limited, federal and state plans call for a tiered approach; among those getting priority are health care workers who deal with COVID-19 patients directly and the . As more is manufactured, state health officials vowed vaccine access would expand to other individuals, groups and industries.

The Lehigh Valley Health Network on Wednesday will begin administering mass vaccinations at at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in South Whitehall. St. Lukes has a website to preregister for the vaccine.

In Allentown, it took just three hours this past Wednesday to fill all of the Allentown Health Bureaus COVID-19 vaccine appointments for the next two weeks. The health bureau is creating a schedule to sign-up for available Moderna vaccine appointments. The number of appointments available, however, hinges on the number of doses the bureau receives each week, city health officials said.

The bureau expects to open its appointment windows at 9 a.m. each Thursday for appointments. The window next opens Thursday for appointments the week of Monday, Feb. 8. Folks can sign up here once the sign-up window reopens Thursday.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health recently aligned its vaccine rules with new federal guidelines that opened the eligibility pool to anyone over age 65 as well as individuals age 16 to 64 with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe coronavirus complications. With the changes, 3.5 million Pennsylvanians are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine with the state receiving about 1.3 million doses.

City health officials warn delays, therefore, are to be expected.

Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.

A NSW parliamentary inquiry has urged the Auditor-General to review $1 million-a-year salaries for university vice-chancellors, saying the disparity between their pay and that of their staff who were in insecure work represented a failure of leadership in the sector.

The coronavirus crisis has led to enhanced scrutiny of employment conditions and remuneration in universities, where about 1300 jobs were lost across NSW last year, with more expected to go in 2021.

The NSW education committees final report on the future of the tertiary education sector, made public on Friday, said it received significant evidence that COVID-19 had highlighted structural problems with university staffing arrangements and pay.

The high pay of university vice-chancellors has come under the scrutiny of a NSW parliamentary committee. Credit:

The vast disparity between the salaries paid to senior university administrators and the casual and insecure payments made to so many of the staff who actually conduct the teaching and research in universities is a matter of real concern, the report said.
Pawel Relowicz is facing trial over Libby Squire's death. (PA/Humberside Police/Elizabeth Cook)

A butcher accused of raping and murdering Hull University student Libby Squire is utterly disgusting but there is no evidence he committed the crimes, jurors have been told.

Pawel Relowicz is said to have picked up the drunk and distressed 21-year-old as he went prowling around the student area waiting for a chance to target a vulnerable young woman, according to prosecutors.

He is alleged to have picked her up and taken her to playing fields before killing her and dumping her body in the River Hull early on 1 February, 2019.

Squires body was found in the Humber Estuary weeks later.

Read more: Student who bludgeoned 15-year-old to death 'over relationship blackmail' jailed for life

Hull resident Relowicz, 26, who has previously admitted a string of sexually motivated offences, denies the charges and Sheffield Crown Court has heard he will argue they had consensual sex and that he does not know how she died.

On Monday, Polish-born Relowicz told his defence lawyer Oliver Saxby QC that he was driving around Hull the evening before Squires disappearance because he was looking for a woman to have easy sex with.

Libby Squire died in 2019. (Humberside Police/PA)

His past offences include voyeurism, outraging public decency and burglary. Upon arresting the married father-of-two, who worked as a butcher in Malton, North Yorkshire, police found sex toys and womens underwear he stole from break-ins.

CCTV also shows Relowicz appeared to masturbate on the street the same night Squire went missing, jurors have heard.

To say he has a problem barely scratches the surface, Saxby said.

How he has behaved, what he has done  it is utterly disgusting.

Let me spell it out: he has violated homes, he has violated the intimate possessions of student girls, he has violated intimate moments and he has expressed his enjoyment at all of this by masturbating at the time, and elsewhere  including in public places.

It is, I repeat, disgusting. What he did I dont doubt will have been extremely frightening. And you will hate him for it. Thats the reality, being frank.

Story continues

Why wouldnt you?

Relowicz said he had previously denied his sexually motivated offences because of his wife and children but now accepted he had a problem.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said he had a fetish for watching couples have sex and was excited by other peoples sex toys.

He said he liked to masturbate with knickers found in the boot of his car and had a fetish for masturbating in front of people.

However, he insisted he has never assaulted a woman and that he was not excited by the idea of rough sex or rape.

Relowicz said he wanted to watch people and look through the windows and masturbate on the evening of 31 January.

He said he saw Squire on the pavement and went to help her as she cried and shouted.

The defendant told jurors he did not force her into the car, and that while she was barely able to stand he felt she understood everything he said to her.

An entrance to Oak Road Playing Fields in Hull, where the prosecution says Libby Squire was raped and murdered two years ago. (Google Maps)

He said he drove Squire to Oak Road Playing Fields and stopped when she sounded like she would vomit, then she ran from the car and fell to the ground.

Relowicz said she asked him to hug her and then they started kissing before having sex near the car.

He told jurors she tried to kiss him after sex but he did not want to, so she scratched at his face and he drove home as she shouted for him not to leave her.

After returning home to watch porn in the bath, he went back to Oak Road to see if he could find Squire at 2.25am and thought she might have gone home, the court was told.

Saxby said that screams heard by witnesses early on 1 February could have come from a disorientated and confused Squire, and that Relowicz had returned home by the time they were made.

He said the defendant is left simply saying: I didnt do it, I dont know what happened, I wasnt there, I cannot say.

The trial continues.

A CONSTRUCTION worker will be sent forward to the Circuit Court accused of using a GoCar rental to travel around Dublin and steal over 8,500 from bank machines.

Elvis Chiriac (34), with an address at Erris Square, Blanchardstown, Dublin was charged with 15 counts of theft, of sums totalling 8,520, from ATMs in January last year.

The thefts were alleged to have happened at AIB bank machines at Firhouse, Rathfarnham, Santry, Artane, Clonee, Carpenterstown, Crumlin, Killiney, Clonskeagh.

He appeared again at Dublin District Court before Judge Treasa Kelly who was told the Director of Public Prosecution has directed trial at Circuit Court level, which, on conviction, can result in lengthier sentences. He could also be sent forward for sentencing in a procedure called a signed plea.

Defence solicitor Donal Quigley told the court his client has indicated he would plead guilty and he asked for an adjournment to prepare a signed plea.

The accused was remanded on bail to appear again in February.

Earlier, Det Gda Garvan Lennon of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said it was alleged the accused was involved in 15 ATM transaction reverse frauds. Bank machines were manipulated and cash was forcibly removed, he said.

Det Gda Lennon said there was CCTV evidence and the accused had rented a GoCar vehicle  a 9-an-hour car-sharing service.

He booked it using his own driving licence and a selfie photograph, the court heard.

Gardai have GPS maps of the movements of the car, the detective said.

Defence solicitor Donal Quigley submitted that his client had an Irish PPS number and ID card.

The solicitor also provided the court with utility bills in his client's name to show he was not a flight risk.

Bail was set in Mr Chiriacs own bond of 500 but required a 2,000 independent surety to be approved.

He has to sign on three times a week at Blanchardstown garda station and must not apply for any travel documents.




As Vice President Kamala Harris took office this week, many people in the Bay Area and across the country celebrated by collectively creating a kolam, a traditional South Indian art form used as a sign of welcome and new beginnings.

Harris, an East Bay Area native, is the first woman of Black and South Asian descent to hold the vice presidency. The artwork honoring her Indian heritage, consisting of hundreds of pieces submitted by the public, was part of the digital inaugural ceremonies for Harris and President Biden on Wednesday.

The word kolam is from the Tamil language meaning beauty, said Vijaya Nagarajan, a professor at the University of San Francisco and author of Feeding A Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual and Ecology in India, an Exploration of the kolam.

A traditional kolam is hand drawn with rice flour to create designs made of dots and lines outside homes to honor a new day. The rice flour is edible and can be eaten by bugs, ants, birds and small creatures, Nagarajan said.

So the idea is that the first act of the household is to feed 1,000 souls, Nagarajan said. In a lot of ways, its about wishing and hoping for prosperity and wealth for the common good.

Courtesy of Tony Ventouris

The artwork is the product of the Inauguration Kolam 2021 project spearheaded by multimedia artist Shanthi Chandrasekar. People from ages 2 to 95 contributed more than 1,800 tiles, Chandrasekar said.

A digital mosaic called Vanakkam Kolam was unveiled Wednesday. The overview appears to be a single artwork, but when viewers zoom in, they can see the individual images of each contributor with their creation.

It was just very fulfilling to watch so much happiness on peoples faces when they share their kolams, she said.

The project was also recognized during Bidens virtual inauguration welcome event on YouTube.

The physical form, called Kondattam Kolam, will eventually be installed at the U.S. Capitol after security concerns ease following a violent mob attack at the building on Jan. 6. The finished product will be 2,500 square feet.

Photo courtesy of Prafullamukhi Prabhuvenkatesh /

Prafullamukhi Prabhuvenkatesh, a kolam artist from Dublin and founder of Kolam Kreations, created two kolams with her 19-year-old daughter outside Bishop Ranch City Center in San Ramon. She snapped a photo of each and sent it to the projects organizers for the digital kolam.

We were really excited, said Prabhuvenkatesh. I am delighted that Im part of creating positive energy.

Karthick Ramakrishnan of Riverside posted a photo on Twitter of the kolam his mother created Wednesday morning.

My mothers kolam this morning marking the historic inauguration of @KamalaHarris as VP. Translation: Best wishes, Kamala with symbols of a lotus and pitcher that typically accompany images of Kamala Devi #Inauguration2021, said Ramakrishnan, a professor at UC Riverside and founder of AAPI Data, a site that publishes demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Courtesy of Prafullamukhi Prabhuvenkatesh /

Ramakrishnan said he usually doesnt post anything personal on his Twitter account, but his personal connection to Harris South Indian background inspired him to share the image.

Harris mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India and was a cancer researcher and civil rights activist who last worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She died in 2009.

Theres a deeper understanding now with Kamala Harris as VP of some of these traditions that I think most people would not have known before, Ramakrishnan said. That acceptance and that celebration truly does feel like America living up to its higher ideals in terms of how they treat immigrant populations and immigrant cultures.

Courtesy of Rani Ramakrishnan

Rani, Ramakrishnans mother, said she created the kolam to express best wishes to Harris.

I also pray for everybodys well being all over the world, Rani said, adding that she makes a kolam every day.

Seeing kolams throughout social media has been fantastic for Nagarajan, the University of San Francisco professor, as an Indian American.

I think its very powerful bringing together art, creativity, metaphors of welcome and inclusivity and really the idea of beauty and ethics coming together, Nagarajan said. Thats what to me the kolam represents at its heart. How do we have ethics in beauty and how do we have beauty in ethics?

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
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COOPER NEILL, STR / NYT

Four days after charges were filed against a Harris County doctor for allegedly stealing a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, the case was dismissed.

The case, which was brought against Dr. Hasan Gokal on Thursday, was dismissed Monday because it lacked probable cause.
TECUMSEH, MI  A Tecumseh-based hunting and outdoors company is under investigation amid claims of violating the Michigan Consumers Protection Act.

The Michigan Attorney Generals Office announced Monday, Jan. 25, it issued a cease-and-desist letter to Team Fitzgerald Marketing which is owned and operated by father-son duo, Dan and Guy Fitzgerald, after receiving a high volume of complaints about the company.

The letter was sent to the business after the AGs Office and the Better Business Bureau received more than 70 complaints in the past year claiming the business failed to deliver purchased good, provide guided hunts as advertised, satisfy contractual obligations and properly address consumer requests for refunds.

Team Fitzgerald sells hunting equipment and goods, along with offering guided hunting trips. The Fitzgeralds are also known for their television program, Team Fitzgerald Vintage Country Lifestyle, according to the Attorney Generals Office.

Several of the complaints allege the company failed to follow through with sales on the businesss website and dodged requests for refunds and complaints, often blocking email addresses, phone numbers and social media accounts of customers.

In one instance a complaining customer was allegedly threatened with legal action for contacting the AGs office, the letter states.

The Michigan Consumer Protection Act provides this office with the tools and authority to pursue reimbursements and other corrective action on behalf of consumers who have been taken advantage of, including legal action if necessary, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. Numerous complaints have been made about this company and its failure to deliver on costly hunting-related trips and products sold to consumers and businesses, and my office will aggressively seek justice as we determine the full extent of any wrongdoing.

The business may choose to enter into an assurance of voluntary compliance with the state which is a tool provided for in the act that allows consumer protection disputes to be settled outside of court.

To read the letter, click here.

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A US aircraft carrier has entered the South China Sea in what the Pentagon called a voyage to 'ensure freedom of the seas' but Beijing said was an effort by Washington to 'flex its muscles' in the region.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt sailed into the disputed waters with its carrier strike group on Saturday, with US military saying the warships would be carrying out 'routine operations' to ensure freedom of navigation and reassure US allies.

But China's foreign ministry today bemoaned the deployment and said it was 'not conducive to peace and stability in the region'.

The US has accused China of trying to build a 'maritime empire' with militarised artificial islands in the region, with one analyst saying that the patrol was a sign that the new Biden administration 'cannot show weakness in foreign policy'.

It also comes amid US concerns over tensions between China and Taiwan, which both claim parts of the waterway along with Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei.

The strike group entered the waters on the same day that Taiwan reported an incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defence zone.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt (pictured) sailed into the disputed waters of the South China Sea with its carrier strike group on Saturday to carry out 'routine operations' and reassure its allies in the region, the US military said

The Theodore Roosevelt is being accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Russell and USS John Finn.

The Pentagon said the strike group was carrying out routine operations 'to ensure freedom of the seas, build partnerships that foster maritime security'.

Rear-admiral Doug Verissimo lauded the mission as an effort to 'reassure allies and partners' and promote freedom of navigation in the region.

'After sailing through these waters throughout my 30-year career, it's great to be in the South China Sea again,' he said.

'With two-thirds of the world's trade travelling through this very important region, it is vital that we maintain our presence and continue to promote the rules-based order which has allowed us all to prosper.'

'It's business as usual for strategic competition,' said Renato de Castro, a defence expert at Manila's De La Salle University, adding the patrol was 'both reassuring and concerning'.

'The Biden administration cannot show weakness in foreign policy,' he added.

The Trump and Obama administrations also carried out regular patrols to challenge China's 'nine-dash line' claim to jurisdiction over almost the entire South China Sea.

Beijing has complained about US vessels in the South China Sea close to islands it controls, claims, or constructed and turned into military installations.

Chinese coastguard and survey vessels were repeatedly tracked in 2020 near energy exploration in offshore plots operated by Malaysia and Vietnam.

But Southeast Asian countries, while largely welcoming the US presence, fear that escalating tensions could lead to military confrontation, with potential for trade disruptions that would wreck their economies.

This map shows China's territorial claim in the South China Sea (in red), which the US rejects. Marked in blue are US bases in Okinawa off Japan and in Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, and Sembawang wharf in Singapore where Britain's Royal Navy maintains a small presence. Marked in red are three naval bases in South China belonging to the People's Liberation Army

Biden's nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told a confirmation hearing last week there was 'no doubt' China posed the most significant challenge to the US.

China has repeatedly complained about US Navy ships getting close to Chinese-occupied islands in the sea, which sees trillions of dollars worth of trade every year.

Beijing's foreign ministry said today that Washington often sends ships and aircraft to the region to 'flex its muscles', saying that such actions are 'not conducive to peace and stability in the region'.

China has not commented on what its air force was doing in Taiwan's airspace, and foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian referred questions to the defence ministry.

He reiterated China's position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that the United States should abide by the 'one China' principle.

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen visited a radar base in the north of the island on Monday, and praised its ability to track Chinese forces, her office said.

'From last year until now, our radar station has detected nearly 2,000 communist aircraft and more than 400 communist ships, allowing us to quickly monitor and drive them away, and fully guard the sea and airspace,' she told officers.

Biden's new administration says the US commitment to Taiwan is 'rock-solid'.

The US, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is the island's most important international backer and main arms supplier.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (File image: Reuters)

The challenges before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she prepares to present the Union budget for 2021-22 are all too well known. The nation is just about emerging from a year of economic contraction, business shutdowns, and job and income losses, all brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and policy decisions taken to contain it. Measures are needed to accelerate growth, create more jobs, increase household incomes, boost investment and consumption and nurse the fisc back to health.

Sitharaman has promised to deliver a 'once-in-a-100-years' budget, but she has limited fiscal room to step up spending. Increasing tax rates to augment government revenues is as difficult as offering concessions to the middle classes to stimulate consumption. Therefore, she needs to reprioritise spending plans to provide more funding to projects that have a quick turnaround and continue supporting the ongoing ones. She should refrain from announcing any new projects that have a long gestation period.

The focus should be on creating jobs and stimulating demand, particularly at the lower end of the pyramid, and thats the consensus opinion among economists, industry lobbies and other opinion-makers. Measures announced over the past year and earlier were mostly for the supply side. Those measures have not delivered the goods.

Cheaper funds were used by businesses to deleverage rather than make fresh investments to expand capacity. That was not surprising given that demand had been slipping for the past five years. Hence, policy measures that will help construction, rural development and MSMEs are vital to quickly create more jobs and stimulate demand.

The major focus of the government to revive the Covid-19 battered economy has till now been on the supply side, but it is high time to change gears and focus on the demand side as well, lest the ongoing recovery begins to lose steam, India Ratings and Research said in a recent note on expectations from the next Union budget.

Essentially, Sitharaman needs to focus on fixing the plumbings in the economy and help restart projects that are stalled for want of funding and labour. Employment creation and restoration of household incomes will be a natural outcome. Below is a detailed look at the sectors and themes that should dominate the budget.

Reviving growth in the construction and real estate sector needs to be the top priority in the forthcoming budget. The construction sector has forward and backward linkages with several other sectors and a boom in construction will lift all the connected sectors. Together, they employ the largest number of unskilled and semi-skilled workers.The construction sector is estimated to have employed over 60 million people in the pre-pandemic period, with another 40-50 million people employed directly or indirectly in industries linked to construction. Accelerating home construction will immediately create demand for not just steel and cement, but also electrical goods ranging from wires and switches to appliances and gadgets, furniture and furnishing, tiles and paints and so on. Many of these items are manufactured by labour-intensive units in the medium and small-scale sector.

The government can do its bit for the sector by speeding up the process of awarding contracts for construction, operation and maintenance of affordable rental housing complexes. That will create more jobs and decent accommodation to migrant workers and urban poor.

An increase in outlay, timely release of funds and swift approvals for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) projects can speed up completion of affordable homes. The Budget for 2020-21 had provided Rs 8,000 crore for PMAY-U and an additional outlay of Rs 18,000 crore was announced in November 2020 as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Yojana. Construction of 10.97 million (1.097 crore) houses have been sanctioned so far under the PMAY-U scheme, launched in June 2015, and of these 4.1 million (41.3 lakh) houses have been constructed.

Also Read: More income tax incentives for housing purchase necessary to revive realty sector

Construction in the private sector would get a boost with some changes in tax laws. Cheap finance has made investing in homes attractive for households. However, costs of houses have risen, and so a higher deduction for interest paid on home loans or enhanced interest subvention might stoke demand for homes. Changes in tax laws on notional rent will also help, industry body Assocham had suggested in its pre-budget memorandum to the government.

Accelerating construction of other ongoing public projects such as highways, expressways and railway lines will also provide an impetus to growth.

Close to 60 percent of Indias population depends on agriculture and related activities for their livelihood. Agriculture is highly unremunerative, and farmers rarely get the right price for their produce. Land-holdings are small -- about 85 percent of farmers hold less than two hectares. Livelihood opportunities are limited, and the rush for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) jobs during the pandemic proves that. Thus, the finance minister would do well to provide more money for this job guarantee scheme. The outlay in the 2020-21 budget was Rs 61,500 crore and an additional allocation of Rs 40,000 crore was made in May 2020 when migrant workers returned to villages. That, too, was inadequate, given the level of stress in rural India.

Also Read: MNREGA is vital but needs more govt attention

At the least, the finance ministry should provide Rs 1,00,000 crore for the job scheme in 2021-22. The demand for MGNREGS work will fall when other jobs that pay higher wages emerge as the economy recovers to the pre-pandemic level. The average MGNREGS wage rate at Rs 202 per day is far lower than the minimum wage for unskilled work.

Continued support to the MGNREGS work will result in the creation of community and individual assets, which will also help sustain income growth for long.

The finance minister will also do well to support the expansion of all-weather rural roads network under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, as it will help transfer incomes to rural households. The Centre funds 60 percent of the project cost. The outlay for the programme in 2020-21 at Rs 19,500 crore was just 2.6 percent higher than the allocation in 2019-20. That outlay was lowered to Rs 14,070 crore in the revised estimates for 2019-20, as actual spending was slow. The spending in the current fiscal was affected by the lockdown, and so that needs to be corrected in the next fiscal year with a generous increase in outlay.

A rapid expansion of the rural road networks is necessary to enable faster movement of farm produce from villages to mandis beyond the district and state borders and reduce wastage as also to attract investments in farm-gate infrastructure such as sorting centres, silos, godowns and cold chains. Currently, about 20 percent of farm yield perishes before it reaches consumers due to under-developed farm infrastructure.

Irrespective of the fate of the three controversial farm laws, investment is required in processing and packing units, storage facilities and cold chains to minimise wastage of food and increase earnings of farmers. These investments can be made by the private sector or by farmers cooperatives or farmer producer organisations. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund announced last May to provide financing facility of Rs 1 lakh crore, with disbursements in four years starting with Rs 10,000 crore in the first year and Rs 30,000 crore in the subsequent three years, can provide the necessary boost for creation farm-gate infrastructure by farmers cooperatives, agricultural entrepreneurs and start-ups. The government needs to move quickly to disburse that money.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said a comprehensive policy package is required to encourage private sector investments in food parks, cold chains and in creating backward linkages for the agricultural value-chain across the country.

The pandemic exposed the poor state of the country's public health infrastructure and the public education systems, both of which are accessed by those who cannot afford the expensive and superior services in the private sector. Although tax-payers have been paying a health and education cess for years now, (currently 4 percent on their income tax), public spending on the two sectors is below the desirable level. It is a little more than 3 percent of the GDP on education and about 1.3 percent on health. States bear a higher share of the public expenditure on education and health. Schools, universities, healthcare centres and hospitals in the government sector need an urgent upgrade.

Primary and community health care centres and sub-district and district hospitals are mostly under-equipped, understaffed and poorly maintained. Even the larger hospitals are plagued with problems and dont have enough beds, doctors and healthcare workers to cope with a rush of patients when pandemics and major accidents strike.

Also Read: Healthcare sector allocation likely to go up by 40%

While the budgetary support for healthcare had increased by 24 percent between 2018-19 and 2020-21, the rise in outlay for the National Health Mission was modest. Against the actual spending of Rs 54,477 crore in 2018-19 for healthcare, the outlay in 2020-21 was Rs 67,484 crore. Within this, the outlay for the National Rural Health Mission increased from Rs 25,495 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 27,039 crore in the budget estimates for 2020-21 and for the National Urban Health Mission from Rs 868 crore to Rs 950 crore. Funds are transferred to states under the National Health Mission to help them address the healthcare needs of the rural population and urban poor.

Such funding is clearly insufficient and the Centre needs to find resources to help states' healthcare facilities. Better funding will help healthcare centres and hospitals hire more doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, install modern equipment for diagnosis and treatment and spend on maintenance. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has suggested that the government should start spending an additional 0.5 percent of GDP on healthcare for the next five years.

The budgetary allocation for education had also risen about 24 percent between 2018-19 and 2020-21, from Rs 80,345 crore to Rs 99,312 crore, but a large share of that was funded by the education cess. For instance, the budgetary allocation for primary education in 2020-21 was Rs 59,845 crore and of that Rs 31,812 crore was provided from the Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh, a non-lapsable fund created with the primary education cess.

Digital learning was not a priority. Therefore, a small allocation of Rs 25 crore was made under the Operation Digital Board programme to provide e-learning intervention for classes 9 to 12.

In the allocation for higher education, an outlay of Rs 444 crore had been made for digital learning. That included Rs 75 crore for setting up virtual classrooms and online courses and Rs 85 crore for the National Mission on Education through information and communication technology (ICT). The largest share in the outlay for digital learning - Rs 242 crore - was set aside for e-shod Sindhu, a scheme to enable colleges, universities and institutions to subscribe to the electronic version of various journals.

The pandemic necessitated that teaching and learning be taken online. Some learning can continue online even after the country returns to normal. Classrooms can reach students in remote and difficult-to-access areas through the digital mode. That will require a robust digital infrastructure to be established in schools, universities and institutions. The budget will have to set aside significant funding for that purpose.
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For more than 1,000 years, tribeswomen in Myanmar have been decorating their faces with intricate tattoos to stop rivals from kidnapping them.

But now, only few such designs remain after the government banned the practice in 1962 in an effort to modernise the country.

The last women to have undergone the inking ritual are now elders in their tribe and the unique geometric patterns have been captured by a photographer documenting the dying art.

For more than 1,000 years, tribeswomen in Myanmar have been decorating their faces with intricate tattoos to stop rivals from kidnapping them

Only few of the incredible designs remain after the government banned the practice in 1962 in an effort to modernise the country

The last women to have undergone the inking ritual are now elders in their tribe and the dying art has been captured by a photographer

In one image, small black tattooed dots cover the face of a woman from the Dai clan who also wears bamboo shoots through her stretched earlobes measuring several inches wide.

In another, thin black lines ran both down and across the face of a woman from the Yindu clan creating an almost optical illusion.

Across the Chin State, there are 60 clans, many of which share the same tattooing traditions, with girls undergoing the transformation at 12 years of age.

The origins of the practice are unknown but according to local folklore, it started because many of the women were kidnapped by kings of neighbouring areas.

Across Chin State, there are 60 clans, many of which share the same tattooing traditions, with girls undergoing the transformation at 12 years of age

The origins of the practice are unknown but according to local folklore, it started because many of the women were kidnapped by kings of neighbouring areas. Pictured: a Chin woman playing the nose flute

Over the past millennium, the tradition has continued and the tattoos have now become a key part of Chin women's identity

The Chin girls were renowned for their beauty and were often snatched away and forced into marriage.

In a bid to stop the kidnappings, the elders decided to cover the girls' faces with tattoos to make them appear less attractive.

Over the past millennium, the tradition has continued and the tattoos have now become a key part of Chin women's identity.

Many men now consider the tattoos a mark of beauty and refuse to marry tribeswomen who have not been inked.

Photographer Marco Vendittelli, 32, from Sorrento, Italy, photographed the surviving tattooed women in Myanmar's Chin State.

Many men now consider the tattoos a mark of beauty and refuse to marry tribeswomen who have not been inked

Over seven days, Marco travelled across the region visiting the Dai, Muun, Yindu, Upu, Mkaan, and Ngaya clans.

'Many of the people I spoke to said they'd started tattooing their faces in order to become 'ugly' so they could avoid being kidnapped,' Marco said.

'Others told me they simply did it to show which tribe they were a part of. Everybody was kind and welcoming. They make you feel like part of the family by introducing you to clan traditions.

'Chin State is a wonderful place to admire the real essence of the population of Myanmar without the effects of mass tourism.'


With a new episode on tonight, lets do a recap of the shows outing last week.





The episode opens with Nolan finding himself taken aback by his mothers unannounced visit, which is a plot that plagues him for the duration of the episode. Shes emotionally overbearing, scheming and needy and seems to drive John crazy. On the flipside Frances Fisher is a delight in the role, and she seems to be sticking around for a bit so, yay!The work day begins with everyone going in for their gun recertification. Whereas Nolan gets distracted by a guy in scuba gear and fails, Lucy nails it and comes in first, leaving Harper and Tim tying for second place. Any hopes Tim had coming first with Lopez out of the running get squandered. Of course his Boot gloats, but fret not, because Officer Bradford gets his revenge when Tamara The Puppy gets one over her: shes sold the car Lucy gave her in the last episode to buy stuff like clothes, and a computer. The kid makes a decent enough argument about wanting to feel normal and using the money to do so, which resonates enough with Chen. In the end, the two come yet to another understanding about how they need to work on earning trust and its enough for Lucy to let Tamara off the hook, while she in return opens up to Lucy a bit more.Harper finds herself advocating for a young Black pregnant woman in labour for the majority of the episode. The show manages to tackle yet another topical racial issue, of the dismissal black women face by being labelled hysterical when they are in pain. If I have one gripe about this storyline, is that it could have had more focus in a whole separate hour instead of being delegated as a D-plot in an overall busy episode. But it gave us some good backstory and moments for Nyla, along with some sweet Harper/Nolan scenes, so Ill let it slide.Angela continues to assert herself in her new post. She lands what ends up being a pretty big case: what originally seems like a relatively simple gang shooting turns more complicated when the slugs found in the victim are rather peculiar. She calls in help from Grey whos got a CI in this specific gang. Meanwhile she also puts those detective skills to easily suss out Grey is actively in the process of retiring. Tying back into the scuba gear gimmick from earlier (in what is admittedly one of the more convoluted plot points the show has ever used to keep everyone and their stories somewhat connected) Harper and Nolan help her find out who killed the gang member. Hint: its the guy in the scuba gear, who is a Guatemalan cop with a vendetta. Upon further investigation the true target is revealed to be Sandra De La Cruz, aka La Fiera a drug cartel Queenpin (played by Camille Guaty). Shes scouting colleges with her son and thats where theyre planning on hitting her. Our crew head over to protect La Fiera and her kid from being assassinated, and no surprise they succeed. In the time they get to spend together Sandra seems to warm up to Angela, seeing her as some kind of kindred spirit. Lopez makes it clear that the feelings are hardly mutual, but La Fiera doesnt seem deterred. In the end she even goes as far as to sent Angela a gift for her unborn baby.Getting to bump into Angela early in her case gives Jackson enough time to reminisce and miss Lopez yet again. Stanton only manages to make things worse by the minute with everything he says and does. Jackson seems to have enough when his new T.O. detains a young Black man on completely prejudice grounds. Stantons temper only escalates the situation and but Bradford and Chen show up in time to help defuse things before they really got out of hand. Stanton trying to blame Jackson, followed by more than a few more inappropriate comments during the hunt for La Fieras assassins is what pushes West to take a stand. He goes to Grey and lays it all on the line. Sadly the Watch Commander is all too quick to dismiss the rookie without something tangible. Thankfully Bradford (and only after he too has been chewed out by Lucy for dismissing Stantons problematic behaviour) steps up with an endorsement of Jacksons assessment. Tims pedigree is the thing that pushes Wade into the only recourse he has, which is to put Stanton on desk duty. Jacksons objections that its hardly enough get shut down as ungrateful insubordination. I understand Greys argument that cops like him and Jacksons dad had it worse. And thats fair. But Jackson pointing out that things are barely better is just as astute. Tim for his part accepts Jackson berating him over his own complicity in letting this behaviour slide his whole career. Grey on the other hand is rightfully far more indignant with him, even though as he later shares with his wife, Jackson is probably not wrong.Was the Stanton stuff slightly heavy handed? Maybe. Was it necessary for it to be so? If youre asking me: absolutely. Too often shows of this nature tend to gloss over or minimize such behaviour. Hell they even excuse it or defend it to a degree... or worse glamourize it. And to try and pretend in this day and age that cops like Stanton dont exist, is no longer possible. We cant claim behaviour like this it too OTT and unrealistic, when we live in a day an age where there is undisputed evidence like the Floyd video.For years, rarely have cop shows offered scenes like the one in Greys office and meant it. Fewer shows even have had scenes like the one between Jackson and Tim, with the explicit reference of silence is complicity. It seems that The Rookie is willing to put in the work to address these issues head on, and so far so good. Lets see if they can keep it up and walk the talk in the long term.Speaking of the long term Ive seen speculation from fans that Greys retirement will be something the show will follow through to the end, in order to have Bradford step up as watch commander, but personally Im not entirely sure thats the way to go here. Not that I dont think Wade leaving the Sergeants post and Tim stepping in wont be the way this plays out. That part Im fairly sure will happen as well. No, what Im referring to is Grey retiring. This has been a plot point thats been floating about since S1. And while he finally he does seem serious enough about it, with the show taking on systemic racial problems makes his departure from the show ill-timed. Especially if his substitute turns out to be a white guy... the fact that the guy is Tim doesnt matter. The optics are the same. I would think from a narrative standpoint, him using his feeling of helplessness to motivate him into staying in the fight would be a better option. He could be offered another higher position in the department... maybe he runs for office... I dunno... but something bigger, with him taking on a role more actively involved in the conversation I find would be a better route for the character than to have him just quit, especially after this past episode. On the other hand I might be bias here... I really dont want to Richard T. Jones to leave.Thats that for last weeks episode. Tune in tonight for a brand new instalment of The Rookie!

Tourists visit an aquarium at the Atlantis resort in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 6, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

HAIKOU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- South China's Hainan Province plans to build itself into an international tourism consumption center in the next five years.

According to the government work report delivered Sunday at the annual session of the provincial people's congress, the added value of tourism will account for 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Hainan in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

Hainan will open 160 new domestic and international air routes bringing the total to 646 within five years, increasing the number of accessible cities to 200 and the passenger throughput to 60 million.

Chinese authorities on June 1, 2020, released a master plan for the free trade port, aiming to build the southern island province into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.
(Natural News) Germany is now looking to ration its electricity supply to stabilize its green power grid. The European country mulled over the measure amid looming blackouts due to its unstable energy supply.

The countrys energy issues have also threatened the stability of the larger European Union grid.

Germany once had one of the most stable and reliable power grids worldwide when the business of power generation was in the hands of engineers and experts. However, the rise of climate alarmism in the 1990s empowered activists and their political allies to push for green energy. Fluctuating and intermittent energy supply could be easily managed at a low cost, they insisted.

Their efforts led to the passing of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in 2000. As it turned out, the EEGs effectivity caused more harm than good to Germanys power supply. It currently has the highest electricity prices in the world, forcing it to rely more on imports. It has also consistently failed to meet its emissions targets.

Ironically, the German parliament has addressed these issues by relying even more on green energy. It has ordered the closure of the more stable and productive coal and nuclear power plants. Politicians in the country have also passed legislation to limit the amount of power consumed by companies and individuals.

Germanys economic affairs minister proposes a law limiting power for electric vehicle charging stations

The magazine Tichys Einblick reported that Germanys Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier proposed a law permitting peak smoothing for energy providers. Altmaiers peak smoothing law allows utilities to temporarily cut off charging power for e-cars when there is insufficient electricity available. Power utilities have demanded laws similar to what the energy minister proposed, given the instability of wind and solar energy sources.

Altmaiers draft legislation indicated that controllable consumption facilities could have their power supply cut off for up to two hours per day. These facilities, which include charging stations and heat pumps, could be disconnected from the power fully if there was a threat of overloading the grid. The proposal has since been recalled as of writing.

However, the country announced it will make a major push into electric mobility  with a vast expansion slated in the future. Germany only has 33,000 electric charging stations serving 50 million vehicles. The forecasted increase in the number of electric cars will only serve to bolster peak demand for electricity. (Related: The big electric vehicle LIE: Electric cars are not zero emissions, and their ecological impact is actually dirtier than diesel trucks.)

Talking about Germanys power grid issue, Tichys Einblick remarked: The situation in the power grids has become too critical. The only thing that helps are abstruse ideas like: You are not allowed to [recharge] your car from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day!'

Relying on 100 percent green energy is good in theory, but bad in practice

According to Tichys Einblick, a number of industries have been on the receiving end of peak smoothing efforts for some time now. Cold storage facilities and aluminum smelters have to put up with being disconnected from their power supplies for limited periods. However, the publication noted: Its a dangerous game [for aluminum smelters] because after three hours, the molten metal has solidified and the factory is ruined.

Tichys Einblick continued: The German government has recognized that in the future electricity system, it will no longer be possible to satisfy every demand at all times. Therefore, the control of the consumer side should be put on legal feet.

The magazine insinuated that blackouts would be an everyday occurrence. Controllable consumers such as heat pumps, electric heaters and wall boxes, i.e. charging stations for e-mobiles, would be switched off variably at times, it said.

One does not need to look across the Atlantic Ocean to see the problem with relying on renewable energy. In July 2018, the state of California asked residents to limit their use of electricity during peak hours. Its call came amid a heat dome settling over the southwestern part of the country, leading to more Californians using their air conditioners. Two months prior, the North American Reliable Energy Corporation (NERC) warned that the state faces a significant risk of encountering operating conditions that could result in operating reserve shortfalls.

Californias reliance on wind and solar energy gave it an edge over the fight against global warming  at the cost of its power supply not meeting the demand. (Related: Big shocker: Newsom admits that green energy is why California is suffering through blackouts.)

PowerGrid.news has more about the push for green energy caused by climate alarmism.

Sources include:

WattsUpWithThat.com

NoTricksZone.com

DailyCaller.com

LATimes.com
Pleas in Supreme Court seek Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to kin of those who died of COVID-19

Apprehension of death due to COVID-19 not a ground for anticipatory bail: Supreme Court

Supreme Court seeks Centre's reply on PIL seeking setting up of media tribunal

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre, Press Council of India (PCI) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) on a PIL seeking setting up of a media tribunal to adjudicate on complaints against media, channels and networks.

A bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian took note of the plea which also sought setting up of an independent committee headed by either by a former Chief Justice of India or an apex court judge to review the entire legal framework related to media business regulations and suggest guidelines.

Supreme Court refuses to entertain PIL for free, fair assembly polls in West Bengal

Besides the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, PCI and NBA, the bench also issued notices to News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) and News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) on the PIL filed jointly by film maker, Nilesh Navalakha and civil engineer Nitin Memane in the proceedings conducted through video conferencing.

The plea said media, particularly the electronic, has become like an unruly horse which needs to be tamed.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

The top court tagged the PIL with a pending plea on the issue.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 16:51 [IST]
Community vaccination will begin as planned in mid-February, subject to regulatory approval and 143,000 cumulative vaccine doses administered to January 24 according to the Mister for health

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD has confirmed that the vaccination of the third group in the Governments Vaccine Allocation Strategy will begin in three weeks but it will be impacted by AstraZeneca issues.

Under the Vaccine Allocation Strategy, people aged 70 and older will be vaccinated in the following order: 85 and older, 80-84, 75-79, 70-74.

Minister Donnelly said said the programme can begin but

Today we have confirmed that the community vaccination programme will begin in February, subject to regulatory approval of AstraZeneca. Despite the anticipated disruption to deliveries, which was announced on Friday 22 January, Ireland will receive a delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine within the expected range for February, although at the lower end of that range. Delivery in March is likely to be more impacted and considerably lower than what was originally stated by the company. We continue to prioritise those most vulnerable to COVID-19 in our society against the backdrop of a limited supply of vaccines.

For the moment, people do not need to take any specific action. The next stage of our vaccine programme will begin with those aged 85 years and older and will be administered initially through GPs in their surgeries. The HSE is preparing a public information campaign that will provide all necessary details in advance and ensure that everyone knows when, where and how to access their vaccine," he said.

Minister Donnelly also gave an update on the progress of the vaccination programme.

In the meantime, completing vaccinations for those most vulnerable to COVID-19 infection remains the priority. Every possible nursing home resident has already received one dose and some have received second doses. Healthcare workers are also a priority. Second doses will be administered over the coming weeks to 77,000 healthcare workers. We will continue to roll out first and second doses to our remaining frontline healthcare workers during February.

Our vaccination teams were unable to vaccinate some nursing homes residents and staff who had COVID-19 recently or vaccinate those in some facilities where there were particularly large outbreaks. I would like to reassure those staff and residents that they will be prioritised and vaccinated as soon as possible and in line with the guidelines drawn up by our National Immunisation Advisory Council.

The HSE administered 143,000 vaccine doses to Sunday, January 24. I would like to thank the HSE, members of the High-Level Task Force on COVID-19 Vaccination, and their teams, for the effort and commitment they are putting into the efficient roll out of the vaccine programme. As we have seen in recent days, in these early stages things can change quickly and we have to build delivery around supply. Everyone involved understands the importance of this programme to the country. Everything that can be done is being done and will be done, to deliver it.

There is huge interest in our vaccine programme, which is very welcome. I committed recently to providing the public with daily figures, as full transparency is important. The HSE has advised that there is a backlog of figures to be inputted and validated. It is working hard to achieve full utilisation of the vaccination IT system at which point it will be in a position to provide updates, he said.

The AstraZenca vaccine is being seen as suitable for community vaccination because it does not need to be stored at extremely low temperatures. GPs and pharmacists have been contracted to deliver more than 1 million people.

AstraZeneca has told the EU that it must cut its supply by 60%.
People in Jakarta hold candles in support of victims and their relatives following a series of bomb attacks in Surabaya, Indonesia, May 14, 2018.

A new presidential decree that gives members of the Indonesian public a role in policing extremism was criticized by observers on Monday who said it could violate human rights and create divisions in society.

President Joko Jokowi Widodos office had defended the decree  which came into force earlier this month  saying it was needed because the countrys police force wasnt large enough to deal with security issues by itself. On Sunday, the Cabinet Secretariat issued a statement on its website about the decree signed on Jan. 6.

It aims to overcome the increasing threat of violent extremism that leads to terrorism in Indonesia, the secretariat said.

The action plan prioritizes a soft approach in tackling violent extremism that leads to terrorism. The formulation and implementation of the action plan emphasizes the overall involvement of the government and the public, as an integral part of the soft approach and hard approach in countering terrorism.

Citizens would be involved in tackling extremism through training in community policing, an annex to the decree said.

The presidential chief of staff, Moeldoko, last week defended the anti-extremism decree as rational.

The size of our police force is around 470,000 members and the size of our population is about 270 million. So, we have one police officer for about 500 people, while in Japan they have one for 50, he told reporters on Thursday.

The issue of security cannot be handled by the police and the government alone. It requires the involvement of all Indonesian citizens. It is empowerment and I think this is part of democracy.

Awareness is important, Moeldoko said.

If we are not alert, we are negligent as a nation, he said.

Concerns

Abdul Fickar Hadjar, a law professor at Trisakti University in Jakarta, expressed concern that involving citizens in policing extremism could inflame tensions in society amid perceptions by conservative Muslims that the government is out to target them.

Citizens involvement in reporting alleged illegal activities has the potential to cause polarization in the communities. This can create conflict in society, Fickar told BenarNews.

Indonesia has institutions that deal with extremism and terrorism, including the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), he said. Fickar urged the government to not create a new mechanism to counter extremism.

If the existing institutions are optimized, peoples right to security will be protected, he said.

The decree said the national action plan had three pillars  prevention, law enforcement and partnerships  and takes into account the principles of human rights, the rule of law and justice.

Authorities said they were seeking to improve coordination between government agencies, increase public participation and expand data collection and monitoring.

But Abdul Muti, secretary general of the countrys second largest Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, said the decree could threaten freedom of religion and belief.

Faith is something that is not visible. Peoples actions are based on their beliefs. However, not all beliefs are expressed in actions, he said.

Proposed changes to electoral law

It appears the Jokowi government has been stepping up anti-extremism programs.

The government last month banned the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a group led by hardline cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, accusing it of violating the law and disrupting peace and security.

Rizieq was arrested in December on suspicion of flouting coronavirus restrictions just days after returning to Indonesia from three years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia.

On Dec. 7, police said they shot and killed in self-defense six FPI members who were traveling in a convoy with Rizieq.

Meanwhile, proposed revisions to the electoral law include provisions barring former members of the outlawed domestic branch of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) from running local and national elections.

It requires candidates running in regional and national election to produce a letter issued by the police certifying that they had never been involved with HTI, an international organization calling for Muslims to unite under an Islamic caliphate.

The bill is one of 33 priority pieces of legislation to be debated in the House of Representatives during the parliamentary term running through 2024.

In 2017, the government outlawed HTI for promoting a state based on Sharia law instead of the nations Pancasila ideology.

The ban came after Jokowi issued an executive decree allowing the government to bypass a lengthy court process required to disband non-governmental organizations.

Some legislators are opposed to the proposal to bar former HTI members from running in elections.

We respect our colleagues opinions, but we dont agree with them, said Zulkifli Hasan, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Militant suspects arrested

Separately, police arrested five suspected members of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) in Aceh province where they were planning to carry out attacks, local police spokesman Winardy said on Monday.

JAD is a militant group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group.

Officers on Friday also seized bomb-making materials and a note that warned the national police, the central government and the local government of attacks, Winardy said.

They had planned to make bombs that would be used for acts of terror in Aceh, Winardy told BenarNews.

The five suspects identified by their initials U.M., S.A., SJ., M.Y. and R.A. were arrested in three separate locations, he said, adding that S.J. was a civil servant.

The suspects were planning to travel to Khorasan in Afghanistan, where remnants of the IS are based, the spokesman said.
Haig Partners Serves as Exclusive Sell-Side Advisor on the Sale of CarMax Laurel Toyota Tweet this

This divestiture by CarMax aligns with other leading auto retailers who are electing to sell dealerships that do not fit their future growth strategy. Recently, Haig Partners has represented five groups in the top 25 of the Automotive News Top 150 Dealer Groups in selling non-core dealerships, allowing them to redeploy capital in other areas of strategic growth.

"We made the decision to sell our Laurel Toyota new car store to continue to focus on our core business of delivering an exceptional used car buying and selling experience," said Enrique Mayor-Mora, chief financial officer at CarMax. "We've had the pleasure of working with Kevin and Haig Partners for more than 20 years and I had the utmost confidence he would represent our company with integrity and ensure this transaction would be completed successfully."

CarMax, the nation's largest retailer of used cars, is a Fortune 500 company with 220 stores nationwide. During the fiscal year ending February 29, 2020, CarMax sold more than 830,000 used cars and more than 465,000 wholesale vehicles at its in-store auctions.

"We are excited to add the 3rd Toyota store to our growing mix of new vehicle brands," said Vince Sheehy, President of Sheehy Auto Stores. "CarMax Toyota has been a top Toyota dealer for many years, and we look forward to taking care of their customers while attracting new Toyota customers to the Sheehy family."

Haig Partners LLC is a boutique investment banking firm and the leading buy-sell advisory firm to owners of higher value auto, heavy truck, and RV dealerships. Since 1996, the principals at Haig Partners have completed more than 268 dealership transactions totaling over $7.5 billion, more than any other team in the industry. They also publish the widely followed Haig Report that tracks trends in the auto industry and how they impact dealership valuations. The latest Haig Report is available here. Alan Haig is a frequent speaker at leading industry events. For more information, visit www.haigpartners.com.

Contact:

Aimee Allen

603-933-2194

[email protected]

SOURCE Haig Partners LLC
Taiwan's population shrank for the first time ever in 2020, government data showed Friday, as the island faces a burgeoning demographic crisis similar to those affecting South Korea and Japan.

Births last year plunged to 165,000, down seven percent from 2019. Deaths also overtook births for the first time, pushing the island's overall population down 0.2 percent to 23.56 million, the interior ministry said.

Taiwan's birth rate has been falling continuously since 2000, a period where wages have remained stubbornly stagnant.

Demographers say Taiwanese women are increasingly getting married at an older age, opting for smaller families or choosing to stay single.

Rising living expenses and insufficient childcare support have also forced some working women to postpone plans to enter motherhood.

The rapidly ageing population has sparked concerns the island's economy will suffer from a declining workforce.

The previous record low was 166,000 babies born in 2010 -- the Year of Tiger in the Chinese zodiac, when births typically fall because of many taboos associated with the sign.

The Year of the Dragon -- next due in 2024 -- is considered the most auspicious in the Chinese zodiac and usually sees a spike in births.

In 2019, Taiwan's birth rate was the second-lowest in the world after South Korea, where the population also fell for the first time in 2020.

Experts say there are multiple causes for the phenomenon in South Korea, including the expense of child-rearing and soaring property prices, coupled with a notoriously competitive society that makes well-paid jobs hard to get.

Japan first registered a population decline back in 2011.
Key equity indices extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading a tad above the 14,300 mark.

At 14:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 285.09 points or 0.58% to 48,593.45. The Nifty 50 index lost 56.15 points or 0.39% to 14,315.75.

The broader market was trading lower. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.76%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.84%.

Sellers outpaced buyers. On the BSE, 952 shares rose and 1929 shares fell. A total of 169 shares were unchanged.

The slow pace of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout coupled with sparring by the US lawmakers over President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan worried investors as they imposed significant risks to the global economic recovery from the pandemic.

The investor community hoped for a reassurance from the Fed Chair Jerome Powell after Wednesday's policy meeting that $120 billion of monthly bond purchases won't be tapered any time soon.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 635.69 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,290.35 crore in the Indian equity market on 22 January 2021, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,91,95,630 with 21,29,418 deaths. India reported 1,84,182 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,53,470 deaths while 1,03,30,084 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Reports suggest Tata Group's healthcare venture is said to have started initial discussions with Moderna Inc for a partnership to launch its COVID-19 vaccine in India. Tata Medical & Diagnostics could team up with the India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to carry out clinical trials of Moderna's vaccine candidate in India.

India-China Stand-off:

The media reported that the Indian and the Chinese troops had brawled again on their contested border, leaving injuries on both sides. The incident happened last week at the Naku La pass in Sikkim state.

India and China on Sunday reportedly held the ninth round of senior commanders' talks in a fresh bid to resolve the military standoff at eastern Ladakh.

As per reports, India has insisted on setting in motion at the earliest the process of disengagement and de-escalation of troops by the two countries to restore peace and tranquility in border areas.

The last round of talks between the military commanders was held in November last year while senior diplomats of the two countries met on 18 December under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Coordination and Consultation (WMCC) in border areas.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee depreciated to 72.90 compared with its previous closing of 72.9750.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 5.936% from its previous closing of 5.939%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement fell 0.34% to Rs 48,975.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.16% to 90.267.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for March 2021 settlement rose 31 cents to $55.72 a barrel. The contract lost 1.23% or 69 cents to settle at $56.10 in the previous trading session.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index slipped 0.75% to end at 26,290.60. The index rose 0.15% on Friday.

Info Edge India (down 5.56%), Coforge (down 2.67%), MindTree (down 2.22%), HCL Tech (down 2.19%), Wipro (down 0.71%), Larsen & Toubro Infotech (down 0.67%), Tech Mahindra (down 0.36%) and Mphasis (down 0.35%) declined.

Meanwhile, TCS (up 0.44%) and Infosys (up 0.09%) bucked the trend.

Stocks in Spotlight:

PNC Infratech rose 1.65% to Rs 190.55 after the company said it received letter of award for six new rural drinking water supply projects for an aggregate value of Rs 2475 crore.

Kiri Industries shed 0.40% to Rs 467.25. The company said that it started the first phase of commercial production of specialty intermediates at Vadodara plant from 25 January 2021. The combined installed capacity of the first phase of the new plant is 6000 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum), which shall add several new products in dyes intermediates & specialty chemicals sector with incremental revenue of about Rs 300 crore considering full capacity utilization progressively in the next few months and considering current price levels in the market.

Dixon Technologies (India) fell 1.99% to Rs 13792.25. The company said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Padget Electronics, has entered into an agreement with HMD India for manufacturing of Nokia smartphones. The smartphones will be manufactured at Padget's manufacturing facility situated at Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Lupin rose 1.54% to Rs 1096.20. The pharmaceutical major received US drug regulator's approval for Sevelamer Carbonate tablets. The drug is indicated for the control of serum phosphorus in adults and children 6 years of age and older with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Sevelamer Carbonate Tablets (reference listed drug: Renvele) had estimated annual sales of $348 million in the U.S. (IQVIA MAT September 2020).

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How many parents want the COVID vaccine for their kids?

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine: Is the blood clots rare? Side effects and how worried should you be?

Govt warns of action against those spreading rumours about vaccines

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 25: The central government on Monday warned of stern action against those spreading "ill-informed rumours" about coronavirus vaccines.

Reportedly, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, in a letter to states and union territories reminded of existing provisions under the Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code, and urged them to apply such provisions to "counter the spread of all such kind of false information about the COVID-19 vaccines, as well as promptly disseminate factual messages.

The central government, in close collaboration with the state governments and UT administrations, has launched the inoculation drive of COVID-19 vaccination from January 16 across the country with the two vaccines.

The Union home secretary said healthcare workers and frontline workers are being inoculated as per the priority decided by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), and subsequently the priority groups 2 and 3 will be vaccinated.

Pakistan approves emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

"I would like to strongly emphasise that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immunogenic. However, it has been reported that unfounded and misleading rumours are circulating on social and other media, creating doubt about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines.

"Such kind of rumour mongering, particularly by vested interests, can create unwarranted doubts among people at large, and there is, therefore, a need to check all such kinds of unfounded scare mongering relating to the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccines," the communication said.

Urging the states and UTs to put in place an appropriate mechanism to check the spread of such ill-informed rumours, Bhalla asked the chief secretaries to direct all the authorities concerned under the state government to take appropriate necessary measures to counter the spread of all such kind of "false information" about COVID-19 vaccines as well as promptly disseminate factual messages.

"Further, penal action may be taken against the person/s or organisation/s who is/ are found to have indulged in such activities, under the relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act. 2005 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860," he said.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

It may be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have been consistantly urging the people to defeat the every network lies by providing right information.
Who will be the next CM of Assam? Sarbananda Sonowal or Himanta Biswa Sarma?

Assam elections 2021: Shah takes a dig at Congress on infiltration

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Guwahati, Jan 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday alleged that if the Congress-AIUDF combine come to power in Assam they will open "all gates" to welcome infiltrators. Addressing a public rally here, Shah said the Congress rule in the state gave only bloodshed, in which thousands of youths lost their lives. "Can Congress and Badrudding Ajmal keep Assam free from infiltration? If they come to power, they will open all gates to welcome them, because it is their vote bank," he said.

Only the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can protect the state from infiltration from the neighbouring country, Shah said in his first election rally in poll-bound Assam. The Congress has formed Grand Alliance with AIUDF, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) to fight the upcoming Assembly election, likely to be held in March-April.

Amit Shah promises infiltrator-free, flood-free Assam, skips CAA

Attacking the Congress, Shah said,"Congress continued the British policy of divide and rule. They created a divide between Adivasis and non-Adivasis, Assamese people and hill peoples, Bodos and non-Bodos.

"In 20 years there was only bloodshed and 10,000 Assamese youths were killed by bullets fired by the Congress." Appealing to the people to vote for the BJP, Shah said if the party comes to power again, Assam will be "bullet-free, agitation-free and flood-free".

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Shah also slammed the Congress for its constant criticism that the BJP is a communal front and said,"Congress alleges us to be communal, but it has allied with Muslim League in Kerala and AIUDF in Assam. "One thing is sure, Assam is not safe in the hands of Congress and AIUDF".

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 12:04 [IST]
WASHINGTON - Dogs have officially returned to the White House.

The administration released photos of President Joe Biden's German shepherds, 12-year-old Champ and 2-year-old Major, on the White House grounds.

Champ is enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace in Washington, and Major is taking in the grass on the South Lawn that's become his favorite running place for now, according to first lady Jill Biden's spokesman Michael LaRosa.

Major, the first shelter dog to live in the White House, was adopted by the Bidens in 2018.

"Today is Major's lucky day! Not only did Major find his forever home, but he got adopted by Vice President Joe Biden & Dr. Jill Biden!," the Delaware Humane Association posted at the time on Facebook.

President Biden has had German shepherds before, telling reporters on a 2008 campaign plane trip: "I've always had a big dog my whole life since I was a kid, big German shepherds and Great Danes and Labs and golden retrievers."

The presidential pooches mark another White House pivot now that Biden has moved in. Donald Trump was the first president in a century to not have a pet. He said it was because he didn't have time.

"How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn," he asked a crowd in 2019, adding that he thought it would be phony to have a dog even though his political handlers had suggested it. "That's not the relationship I have with my people."

Trump, who often professed he didn't receive positive or fair coverage in the media, may have missed out on an opportunity to gain positive publicity for his choice of a companion pet.

Presidential pets have become a source of media fascination and crucial to the public's image of a leader in the 20th century. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., created ads to win over White voters in his bid for office earlier this month because of the effect they have on public perception, the New York Times reported.

Photos of the Obamas playing with their Portuguese Water dogs, Sunny and Bo, captured moments of joy that pets can add to one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

Dogs also have the ability to make leaders and their families seem more relatable.

In 2015, Michelle Obama shared with a group of visiting children that Sunny had a "naughty" habit of sneaking off to poop in the other end of the White House.

After George H.W. Bush died in 2018, his yellow lab Sully was still by his side as the former president lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda. Bush's service dog, who he had grown very close to in the last few months of his life, seemed to grieve as much as the people paying their respects.

Major is a shelter dog, which beefed up Biden's likability in some online circles that praised the president for choosing to adopt a pet instead of purchasing a designer breed.

In addition to making history with Major's presence in the White House, the first family will welcome a cat soon, Jill Biden said.

Several of the most recent presidents brought cats to the White House. Bill Clinton's tuxedo cat, Socks, was among the most famous with a dedicated Wikipedia page marking his life's journey.

The first lady's office didn't confirm if their new feline pal will be adopted or bought from a breeder.
The funeral has taken place of leading Derry republican, Eamon McCourt.

Affectionately known as 'Peggy' (the name of his late mother), Mr McCourt died in Altnagelvin Hospital on Saturday after contracting Covid-19.

He was the third person from the Creggan estate to die within a week from the virus.

In 1981, Mr McCourt was wounded when members of the SAS opened fire on a car at the bottom of Southway, killing two IRA members, George McBrearty and Charles Pop Maguire.

Speaking during the funeral service in St Mary's Church in Creggan, celebrant Fr Joe Gormley said the death of the 62-year-old had brought 'the reality' of the coronavirus to the community.

Fr Gormley added: It is necessary we do everything we can to stop its spread. Today tells us death is not a statistic. Eamon's death has brought much pain to his family.

Stating Mr McCourt was committed to peace and widely respected in the Creggan community, Fr Gormley recalled how he first met him when he approached him to celebrate Mass for two IRA men shot dead by British troops in the city in December 1984.

Fr Gormley said: I first met Eamon McCourt just after I came here in the autumn of 2014. He arrived down to see me one Saturday night and asked would it be possible to have two men, Danny Doherty and Willie Fleming, remembered here at Mass on the anniversary of the 30 years since they died in the grounds of Gransha.

I suppose Eamon might have been a little bit apprehensive meeting the new priest and how I would respond, but it soon became apparent that Eamon was not making a request out of any political point, but out of a genuine concern for the families of the two men who had died.

His request was totally appropriate, because no matter the circumstances in which we die, we are all God's beloved sons and daughters  that's where we get our identity in Baptism.

Sharing a cup of tea in the kitchen that evening, what struck me about Eamon was his genuine awareness about the whole human cost of the conflict he had been engaged in and which so many people in our community know all too well about.

He began to help me to see it from a different perspective, and I began to assess that no human death was just a statistic, be it in the conflict or a condemnic. He knew the personal cost of conflict himself, he had seen friends of his die and the human cost it had on families. It was something he was acutely aware of in the years since the conflict finished.

He was always looking out for the families involved, making sure people were not forgotten about. And I know from that conversation that night that Eamon would have prayed for the families involved in the conflict, no matter what the background, who had suffered.

Fr Gormley added: Eamon was someone determined to work for peace and trying to be of service to the community.

Eamon's loss will be felt in this community because he was always a 'go to' person. If people wanted something done, they would ask Eamon and he enjoyed always wanting to help others.

Mr McCourt's coffin, draped in a Tricolour, was flanked by members of his family dressed in white shirts and black ties, and wearing face coverings, as it was taken from his Creggan Heights home to the church where only members of the family were admitted in accordance with the Covid-19 regulations.

His coffin was again flanked as it was taken from the church for burial in the new section of the City Cemetery where a white dove of peace was released.

Leading members of Sinn Fein did not attend the funeral with the Derry branch of the party hosting a tribute event on its Facebook page and YouTube at 7.00pm tonight.

Mr McCourt is survived by Majella, his wife of 40 years, daughters Shauna, Sinead and Danielle and sons Eamonn and Ryan.
In the latest blow to New Orleans' tourism industry, Carnival Cruise Line said Monday that Valor, one of its two ships that homeport in New Orleans, will now not sail until at least the end of October.

The cruise operator, the largest in the U.S., has been extending delays to sailings on a rolling basis to reflect the latest expectations in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. The previous update earlier this month already had both Valor and Glory, the other New Orleans homeport ship, not sailing until after April at the earliest.

Carnival Cruise Line delays restart of U.S. sailings through April Carnival Cruise Line has delayed the restart of U.S. sailings for another month through April 30 and said it is canceling Australian operation

Monday's announcement extended delays for several U.S. ships, including Valor, which have been in dry dock for upgrades and repairs. Valor has about 1,500 cabins and capacity for nearly 3,000 passengers, with crew of about 1,200.

The plans for Glory remain unchanged, with sailings not resuming until May at the earliest.

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"When we do go back into service it will be a gradual phased-in approach with select ships," said Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman.

Carnival's latest plans also affect dry-docked ships sailing out of Norfolk and Tampa, and the cruise line cancelled sailings from San Diego until further notice, moving some of those sailings to Long Beach, California.

Before the pandemic, Carnival and other cruise ship operators were sending around a million passengers annually through New Orleans on their way to and from cruises since 2014.

In 2019, that hit a record 1.18 million. Cruisers contribute about $110 million in direct spending as they stay extra nights in hotels, eat in the city's restaurants and spend in shops.

Carnival said booked guests and travel agents are being notified directly of the cancellations and their options for a future cruise credit and onboard credit package or a full refund.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Are there more homeless people in New Mexico now than before the pandemic? How many of them are men, women and families? When was the last time they worked?

These are just some of the questions that will be answered this week during the annual Point-in-Time count, in which people fan out across communities throughout the state with surveys, asking both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people where they slept on the night of Monday, Jan. 25.

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Communities across the United States will also be surveyed, though perhaps on different dates.

The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness is coordinating the state effort, said Hana Gossett, director of the organizations Continuum of Care program.

The data collected is compiled into a report that is submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which uses it to see which communities are experiencing an increase or decrease in homelessness, where more resources need to go, and to help paint a picture of inequities and places where we need to focus on different populations, Gossett said.

The 2019 count showed New Mexico with the highest percentage increase in homelessness in the nation.

The data is also used locally, said Lisa Huval, deputy director for Housing and Homelessness for the Albuquerque Department of Family and Community Services.

We can use the data to help us advocate for more funding for homelessness, but it doesnt necessarily mean that if we show an increase HUD will give us more money, said Gossett.

Neither has the city historically used the Point-in-Time count to determine how much it puts into homeless programs, Huval said. She noted that the city in fiscal year 2021 spent $23 million on such programs, which include, but are not limited to supportive housing programs, emergency shelters and street outreach programs.

Money for those programs comes from the citys General Fund and HUD, Huval said.

In addition to its Westside Emergency Housing Center, the city and other partners have been using hotels to provide emergency housing during the pandemic. Eighty-seven families with 186 children were being sheltered across that network as of this week.

Normally, the Point-in-Time count relies on an army of volunteers, but this year most of them will not be pressed into service because the majority of those folks are older and fall into the higher-risk categories for complications related to COVID, Gossett said.

Instead, we are coordinating with our street outreach and other organizational partners who are still providing in-person services, to do as much outreach as possible on the streets, at needle sites and at day shelters to still conduct the surveys, she said.

In even-numbered years, the Point-in-Time count only surveys homeless people who stay in shelters on the designated survey night; in odd-numbered years both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people are counted.

Huval and Gossett said they know from the outset that there would be an undercount, particularly of unsheltered homeless people, who are often difficult to locate and who frequently decline to participate in the survey.

We plan to do another unsheltered count in 2022 because were more concerned there may be a more severe undercount this year due to not being able to pull on more volunteers and everyone social distancing, Gossett said.

The last sheltered/unsheltered count in 2019 put the number of homeless people in Albuquerque at just over 1,500. Operators of homeless shelters and meal programs said the actual number was probably in the range of 4,000 to 4,500. Overall, the state experienced a 57.6% increase in chronic homelessness, which was the highest percentage increase in the nation at the time.

That survey also showed that about 40% of the unsheltered people in New Mexico were Native American.

Nationwide, according to HUD, African Americans accounted for 40% of all people experiencing homelessness in 2019, despite being just 13% of the U.S. population.

Albuquerque Public Schools estimates that at any given time over the course of a school year there are about 3,000 students who dont have a permanent address, including students who live in motels or stay with family or friends.

Gossett said the coalition is working with APS to include in the Point-in-Time count those students confirmed as homeless on the Jan. 25 count date.
"Justin's results speak for themselves," said Bobby Saadian, Esq., Founding President and Managing Attorney at Wilshire Law Firm. "We're excited to have our class action and complex litigation team headed by a passionate, award-winning attorney who has been recognized for reaching some of the largest settlements and verdicts in California within his fields of practice."

Marquez, who has been with Wilshire Law Firm since early 2019, said he is honored to take on the new role.

"This profession is about giving everyone a voice and the support they need to protect themselves against big businesses and corporations that are violating their rights," Marquez said. "As we continue to grow our team, I look forward to further advancing the important work we're doing here at Wilshire Law Firm on behalf of our clients."

With over a decade of experience practicing law, Marquez handles class action and complex litigation cases in California state and federal courts, involving claims related to wage and hour claims, consumer protection, data breach, and more. He also represents whistleblowers in False Claims and SEC matters. His landmark results, including in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, have helped shape the law by advancing the rights of employees and consumers.

Marquez has recovered multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts, including case results that made TopVerdict.com's list of the Top 20 Labor & Employment Settlements in California and the Top 50 Class Action Settlements in California for both 2017 and 2018. His results were also named among the Top 20 Civil Rights Violation Verdicts in California for 2018.

Marquez has been selected to the list of Super Lawyers Southern California Rising Stars each year since 2017, as well as to The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 under 40 each year since 2016. Additionally, he is a Mentor Committee Member and a Wage and Hour Committee Member of the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC).

About Wilshire Law Firm

Founded in 2007, Wilshire Law Firm is an award-winning personal injury, employment law, class action, and aviation injury law firm. Ranked consecutively in 2020 and 2021 as one of the "Best Law Firms" by U.S. News & World Report, Wilshire Law Firm has lawyers who are recognized as leading attorneys in California and nationwide. The firm includes nearly 200 team members and has recovered nearly $1 billion for clients. To learn more, call (844) 790-8018 or visit https://www.WilshireLawFirm.com.

Instagram: @WilshireLawFirmPLC

Twitter: @WilshireLawFirm

Facebook: @WilshireLawFirm

Contact: [email protected]

Source: https://www.wilshirelawfirm.com/press/justin-marquez-senior-partner/

SOURCE Wilshire Law Firm

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Wilkes-Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Periods of rain. Low 48F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 48F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch.
GLENN COUNTY, CALIF. - Glenn County Search Crews rescued a couple stranded in the snow after their GPS sent them to a road not recommended for winter driving.

Sheriff's Officials say Oleg Donskov called 911 just after 8:00 p.m. Saturday reporting he and his wife were stranded on Forest Highway 7 above Masterson's Campground in western Glenn County. He said they were traveling from Sacramento to Fort Bragg, and their car had no heater, food, or water.

The search and rescue team used four-wheel drive jeeps to find the couple past the end of the pavement, in a foot and a half of snow and brought them to safety.

Sheriff's officials say if GPS directs you to a non-maintained road, it's best to turn around and ask for directions or re-route to maintained roadways.

Travel using Forest Highway 7 between Glenn and Mendocino counties is not advised during the winter and is expected to be especially hazardous this winter because of impacts within the August Complex burn scar.

This is the second snow rescue by Glenn County Search and Rescue in one week.
Following the temporary app ban dated June 29, 2020, the government of India has issued a notice to TikTok on the permanent ban of the app in the country. Along with TikTok, the government has issued a similar permeant ban notice to 177 Chinese apps which were banned earlier, says sources. Conversely, one of the banned Chinese app has been unblocked.

According to the statement shared by Tiktok, the company is evaluating the notice. "We are evaluating the notice and will respond to it as appropriate. TikTok was among the first companies to comply with the Government of India directive issued on June 29, 2020. We continually strive to comply with local laws and regulations and do our best to address any concerns the government may have. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users remains to be our topmost priority," says a TikTok spokesperson.

ALSO READ: Individuals using banned Chinese apps won't be penalised: Centre in RTI reply

Between June to December 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY), Government of India had issued multiple order under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act banning 220 Chinese apps in total including popular apps and games such as TikTok, WeChat, PUBG Mobile, Shareit, UC Browser, AliSuppliers, Alibaba Workbench, AliExpress, Lalamove India, CamCard to name a few. According to the government, the action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order.

As the government of India committed to protecting the interests of citizens and sovereignty and integrity of India on all fronts, it will take all possible steps to ensure the same, states the press statement issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. However, it is also believed that as the border row intensified between India and China last year, the government soon moved to ban select Chinese apps citing reasons such as sovereignty and integrity of India. This decision to ban popular Chinese apps reiterated the government's stand that aggression on the border will not be tolerated.

ALSO READ: PUBG Mobile KR version receive 1.2 update; here's how you can download it

The ban of Chinese apps over the last few months have witnessed a sudden surge in the home-grown apps across categories including productivity, games and entertainment. This is also considered as a strategic move to boost and build a strong Indian app ecosystem. For this, the government had introduced AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge in July last year, which received close to 7,000 entries individual app developers and companies from all over the country including remote and small towns as well.
Chennai:

DMK Working President M K Stalin on Monday affirmed securing the presidential consent for the bill passed in the Assembly to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET examination was the only solution to safeguard the interests of students from the state.

The recent announcement by Edappadi K Palaniswami government about medical admissions being solely based on NEET scores is an attempt to divert the issue away from the spectacular failure of this government, he said in a statement here.

The only solution to safeguard the interest of the students in the state is to work towards securing the presidential assent to the NEET bill passed unanimously in the state legislature, he said.

DMK had pointed out that thousands of poor and rural students would be affected if NEET-based admission is implemented, he said.

Noting that the AIADMK government introduced a bill to address the issue and it was unanimously passed in the state assembly, he said, AIADMK failed to establish its rights and lend voice to the unanimous resolution passed in the Assembly.

The three factions of the AIADMK should have put forth a condition that they would offer support to NDAs presidential candidate only if the Centre accepted the NEET Bill passed by the legislative assembly, he said.

Also Read: Stalin, DMK MLAs detained after facing eviction from Tamil Nadu Assembly

Stalin asked Palaniswami why his government remained silent when Central government did not send the NEET Bill to the president to get his assent.

How is the state government going to protect the interests of the students who had performed exceedingly well in the board examinations conducted by the state government? he asked.

Also Read: Stalin expresses doubt whether Palaniswami govt in TN would continue till June 14

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Scotland should be given more political power within the United Kingdom to help see off the threat of independence, former prime minister Gordon Brown claimed today.

The ex-Labour leader said that the House of Lords should be replaced with a a Forum of the Nations and Regions that gives the constituent parts of the union a 'stronger voice' at Westminster.

Mr Brown was part of the Labour government of Tony Blair which handed out greater devolved powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland more than two decades ago, which many predicted at the time would open the door to breaking up the union.

He accused ministers today of a "devolve and forget" policy and warned that Britain risks becoming a 'failed state' unless it makes sweeping reforms.

His comments come after The Sunday Times published the results of opinion polls in the four nations of the UK, which found a majority of voters thought Scotland was likely to be independent in the next 10 years.

And Nicola Sturgeon branded Boris Johnson a coward as she threatened to hold a fresh independence referendum without his permission.

Mr Brown, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said the choice now was between 'a reformed state and a failed state' and urged Mr Johnson to launch a 'democracy commission' as previous efforts to bring Westminster and other nations together had been forgotten.

'It will find that the United Kingdom urgently needs a Forum of the Nations and Regions that brings them and Mr Johnson together on a regular basis,' he wrote.

'No country can have national integration without political inclusion, and the commission might start by learning from the experience of countries like Australia, Canada, Germany and America where, partly because of British influence in times past, second chambers are senates of their regions, and minorities who can easily be outvoted are guaranteed a stronger voice.

Britain risks becoming a 'failed state' unless it makes reforms to the union, former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned

A poll in the Sunday Times shows indicates a vote for independence would have the backing of the Scottish people and that a referendum should be held in the next five years

How the Union ended up on the brink of disaster after more than 400 years 1603 James IV of Scotland becomes James I of England, after succeeding Elizabeth I. From this point on the nations have the same monarch. 1707 England and Scotland are formally joined in the Act of Union. 1934 The Scottish Nationalist Party is formed, calling for the creation of a separate Scottish assembly. 1942 The SNP switches to demand secession from England, causing some senior figures to leave. 1966 Following the discovery of lucratice oil fields in the North Sea, the SNP secures its first MP. 1968 Tory PM Ted Heath responds to rising nationalism by committing to create a Scottish assembly. However, he does not follow through on the commitment. 1979 James Callaghan's Labour government passes the Scotland Act, which laid the ground for a Scottish assembly to be established. However, a last-minute amendment made it a condition that at least 40 per cent of Scots back the idea in a referendum. Although the subsequent vote endorsed the change, the threshold was not reached so devolution did not happen. May 1997 Tony Blair and New Labour win a landslide, sweeping the Conservatives out of Scottish seats and promising devolution. Mr Blair hopes that giving more powers will halt the SNP's independence momentum. He puts Donald Dewar in charge of creating the new structure and holding a referendum. September 1997 Mr Blair's devolution push comes to fruition when Scots back creation of a Scottish assembly with tax-raising powers in a referendum. 1999 The Scottish Parliament opens, with Alex Salmond saying it is a major step on the road to total separation. 2011 The SNP secures a surprise overall majority at Holyrood, despite the electoral arrangements being designed to avoid one party being dominant. Mr Salmond declares he has a mandate for a referendum on independence. September 18, 2014 After desperate efforts by unionists to head off a referendum, one is held. The SNP complains that the 'Better Together' campaign deploys 'Project Fear'. There are threats to stop Scotland using the pound after independence, cut it adrift from the Bank of England, and warnings that it will not be able to stay in the EU. Both Mr Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon say that the referendum will settle the issue 'for a generation'. The unionists emerge victorious by 55 per cent to 45 per cent. David Cameron later indiscreetly reveals that the Queen 'purred down the phone' at him when informed of the result. June 23, 2016 The UK votes to leave the EU in a referendum, but Scotland votes strongly to retain ties with the bloc. The SNP seizes on the Brexit vote to renew their push, saying circumstance have dramatically changed. January 31, 2020 After years of bitter wrangling with Brussels and in Westminster, and Boris Johnson winning an 80 majority at a pre-Christmas election, the UK finally leaves the EU. Nicola Sturgeon steps up her calls for an independence referendum vote to be held this year. March 2020 As the world is hammered by the coronavirus, Ms Sturgeon declares that she is putting her independence drive on hold. The devolution settlement granted Scotland control of public health issues, and that power has been boosted by new pandemic emergency laws rushed through Westminster. But critics accuse Ms Sturgeon of exploiting the crisis by refusing to move in step with the UK government. She complains that Westminster is denying her funding, even though Scotland has received more than 7.5billion extra, on top of access to national schemes like furlough. October 2020 A poll puts support for independence at a new record high of 58 per cent, the latest in a series of surveys to show a surge in separatism. November 2020 The SNP says it wants to hold a referendum next year if - as polls suggest will happen - it wins a majority at Holyrood elections in May. Mr Johnson insists he will not allow a new referendum, but there are fears that resisting will merely fuel separatist sentiment. Advertisement

'But such a commission cannot be yet another case of an elite reviewing an elite, so the Prime Minister should complement the commission's work by convening citizens' assemblies in each region and nation so that he can listen to what the public are saying.'

He also called on the PM to use the Armed Forces and NHS to demonstrate the 'everyday benefits' of the union.

Mr Johnson's official spokesman today said: I think the Prime Minister would say that the UK is the most successful political and economic union that the world has ever seen and this pandemic and our collective response has shown that we are strongest when we work together towards a common goal.

Mr Brown is one of the architects of the current political system in Scotland. He was chancellor when prime minister Tony Blair devolved powers to governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1999.

The three now enjoy a range of powers to set policy in areas such as health, education, transport and environment.

In 2002, Mr Blair's government proposed bringing in elected regional assemblies for England with similar powers but the plan was rejected.

A Cabinet spokesman said the public in Scotland want to see the UK's politicians 'working in partnership to focus on defeating coronavirus'.

'That remains the top priority of the UK Government, which has supported jobs and businesses across all four nations throughout the pandemic,' he added.

'The question of Scottish independence was settled decisively in 2014, when Scotland voted to remain part of the UK.

'Now more than ever, we should be pulling together to strengthen our United Kingdom, instead of trying to separate it'.

The Sunday Times poll found that in Northern Ireland, 47 per cent still want to remain in the UK, with 42 per cent in favour of a United Ireland and a significant proportion  11 per cent  undecided.

However, asked if they supported a referendum on a United Ireland within the next five years, 51 per cent said yes compared with 44 per cent who were against.

In Wales, where support for independence is traditionally weakest, 23 per cent still backed leaving the UK while 31 per cent supported a referendum.

Boris Johnson today slapped down Ms Sturgeon's demands for a new Scottish independence referendum today, saying she should be totally focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The Prime Minister lashed out at Scotland's First Minister after her Scottish National Party threatened to unilaterally call a new referendum on splitting up the United Kingdom.

Ms Sturgeon used an interview yesterday to claim Mr Johnson 'fears the verdict and the will of the Scottish people' and, ahead of Burns Night tonight, quoted one of his works to accuse the PM of being a 'wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie'.

On a visit to a vaccination centre in north London today, Mr Johnson sidestepped a question about whether he would legally challenge Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's plans for an advisory independence referendum if the SNP wins a majority in May's Holyrood elections.

'The whole UK is going through a pandemic, I think what the people of the UK want to see is everybody focusing on beating that pandemic, which we are, rolling out the vaccine, and getting ready to bounce back from that pandemic and have the strongest possible economic recovery,' he said.

'I think people also can see everywhere in the UK the visible benefits of our wonderful union.

'A vaccine programme that is being rolled out by a National Health Service, a vaccine that was developed in labs in Oxford and is being administered by the British Army, so I think the strengths and advantages of the Union speak for themselves.'

Taking the Scottish Government to court over the holding of another independence referendum would not be a 'good look' for the UK Government, a senior Scottish minister said.

Mike Russell, Scotland's Constitution Secretary and SNP president, told the BBC he hopes a court battle will not be necessary, adding: 'We're saying to the world: if the people of Scotland vote for something, they should get it - that's unremarkable.

'I think it's such a bad look for any government to say 'Even if the people of Scotland vote for something, we'll take them to court to stop them'.

'(It's) not just the Government - that would essentially be taking the whole people of Scotland who voted for it to court.'

He also said he did not think the UK Government would take such action.

'I think sense prevails, but it is quite fair that we say we intend to deliver that, so we'll carry on with our referendum and if the UK Government wish to challenge that in court, they will have to challenge it and we will defend it,' he said.

Mr Russell would not be drawn on what would happen if the UK Supreme Court rejected the referendum as unlawful.

There is no set timetable for the holding of a referendum laid out in the document, but it does say it must occur after the pandemic has ended.

Independence after the pandemic, Mr Russell said, would allow Scotland to better rebuild after the economic toll taken by Covid-19.

'The connection with the pandemic is to make sure that Scotland rebuilds in the way it needs to rebuild for its future,' he said.

'That is what we need to do, focused on Scotland's needs and Scotland's priorities, not be treated in the way we have been treated over the last many years and particularly during Brexit - that is ignored.'

Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) is unveiling an 11-point roadmap to independence, including a Catalonia-style wildcat vote that would effectively force a drastic response from the Prime Minister to stop it and save the UK
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The White House is demanding the unconditional release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after a crackdown on peaceful protests over the weekend  and President Joe Biden said Monday he is 'very concerned' about Russia's behavior.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday called for the 'immediate' release of Navalny, who returned to his home country and is being held for 30 days after being poisoned with a chemical nerve agent.

'These continued efforts to suppress Russia's rights to peacefully protest and assemble, their freedom of expression, the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on protests that followed are troubling indications of further restrictions on Russian civil society,' said Psaki, echoing a State Department statement issued Saturday.

'So I'll just reiterate our call from here on Russian authorities to release all those detained for exercising their universal rights and for the immediate and unconditional release of Alexei Navalny,' she added.

It came after a weekend which saw his wife Yulia Navalnaya arrested them released from custody in Moscow after being part of an anti-Putin rally on Saturday.

Alexei's wife was among nearly 3,500 people to have been detained by Russian police officers during protests in as many as 100 cities.

After being arrested by officers Yulia, 44, posted a selfie onto her Instagram page with the caption: 'Apologies for the poor quality. Very bad light in the police van.'

According to reports from Russian media outlets, Yulia has now been released from police custody in Moscow.

It comes after supporters of Putin critic Alexei Navalny continued to clash with police deep into the night as world leaders condemned officers' 'brutal tactics' which left crowds of activists bloodied and injured.

Intervention: Joe Biden said he was not reluctant to raise issues with Russia including the detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny

The wife of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, 44, (pictured) was detained at an anti-government demonstration in Moscow while major anti-Kremlin demonstrations broke out across Russia on Saturday in support of the jailed Putin-critic. She uploaded a picture to Instagram from inside the police van she was placed in following her arrest. Russian media outlets report that she has now been released by police

Riot police officers detain a participant in an unauthorized rally in support of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny by the Moscow Circus

Russian policemen detain men during an unauthorized protest rally against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny

In this Jan. 23, 2021, file photo, people clash with police during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in St. Petersburg, Russia

Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters took part in demonstrations across 70 cities on Saturday in a show of defiance against the jailing of Navalny, who was poisoned with a nerve agent he says was slipped to him by state security agents in August.

Demonstrators were dragged off by riot officers to police buses and detention trucks, while some activists were beaten with police batons.

Biden also spoke to the seriousness of the issue when asked about it by reporters Monday, and said tensions with Moscow would not keep the U.S. from tending its own interests like seeking an extension of the expiring New START agreement limiting strategic nuclear weapons.

'I find we can both operate in mutual self-interest of our countries as a New START agreement and make it clear to Russia that we are very concerned about their behavior  whether it's Navalny, whether its the Solar Winds [government hack] or reports of bounties on the heads of Americans in Afghanistan,' he said.

'I have asked the agencies in question to do a thorough read for me on every one of those issues, to update me precisely where they are, and I will not hesitate to raise those issues with the Russians.'

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday called for the 'immediate' release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny,

He did not reference Russian interference in U.S. elections, a subject Psaki raised hours earlier.

Psaki said she expected new patterns from the Trump administration, and pointed to an intelligence review of what the U.S. considers a series of malign activities by Russia.

'The president reserves the right to respond in the time and manner of his choosing and Im not going to take options off the table from here,' she said.

'We also urge Russia to fully cooperate with the international communitys investigation into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and credibly explain the use of a chemical weapon on its soil,' Psaki said, reading from a prepared statement from the podium of the White House briefing room.

She said Biden had sought a 'full assessment' over Russian activities, including the massive cyber breach, 'Russian interference in the 2020 election, its use of chemical weapons against Alexei Navanly and the alleged bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.'

Vladimir Putin has been forced to deny owning a mega-palace on Russia's Black Sea coast after Alexei Navalny accused him of building it with cash embezzled from the Russian state

Navalny released a lengthy investigation on his return to Russia which was filled with details about the palace (pictured) including floor plans and details of the interior

She at one point called it a 100-day review, then said she didn't have a timeline for it.

Putin has denied Navlany's claim that he owns an extravagant Black Sea palace.

''Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did,' Putin said during a video call with students on Monday.

The charismatic 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner had been in Germany recovering from what western governments said was an attempted assassination using Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.

Navalny accuses Putin of ordering his death at the hands of an FSB hit-squad. Russian denies the allegations.

iStock/Ridofranz(LOS ANGELES) -- While it's already been reported that a few celebrities of advanced age have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, like 73-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger, 79-year-old Martha Stewart, 78-year-old Harrison Ford, and 75-year-old Steve Martin, Variety reports that many in showbiz who aren't yet eligible for the vaccine based on age are doing everything in their considerable power to get it.

"It's like Hunger Games out there," one Hollywood exec tells the trade.

"Managers, agents, producers and a few film directors have pivoted from their daily business to focus on helping clients and stars find vaccines for family members," Variety reports, quoting an anonymous source.

"Weve been offered bribes. We see people taking [private] planes to every location. We've seen people try to transiently get into the healthcare profession or on staff at nursing homes, so they qualify for an early vaccine," said Beverly Hills-based Dr. Robert Huizenga, who has appeared as an expert on The Biggest Loser.

He tells Variety his practice has been offered payoffs in excess of $10,000 from Hollywood types looking for the coveted jab, but they've refused.

Dr. Ehsan Ali runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor, whose client list reportedly includes the likes of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, tells the Los Angeles Times that money is no object for his clients -- but vaccine supply is. "This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients," he tells the paper. "We get hundreds of calls every single day."

Dr. Jeff Toll, a physician linked to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recalled to the paper a patient asking him, "'If I donate $25,000 to Cedars, would that help me get in line?'" the answer, Dr. Toll says, was no.

Copyright  2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The Washington Post/Getty

More than 100 Politico staffers signed onto a letter sent to publisher Robert Allbritton, expressing disgust with allowing right-wing firebrand Ben Shapiro to guest-author one days edition of the Playbook, and with the outlets subsequent handling of the fallout.

Earlier this month, the Beltway news outlet handed over the keys to its signature news product to Shapiro, a talk-radio host and pundit who has long been one of the most controversial voices in right-wing media, thanks in part to his incendiary comments about the LGBT community, Muslims, Black Americans, and Jews who support Democratic politicians. The guest appearance sparked immediate backlash and criticism from many in the media industry, including within Politicos own newsroom, where employees expressed outrage on Slack and during an all-staff editorial meeting following the guest columns publication.

But the resulting response from Politico brass was unsatisfactory to a number of employees.

Mischief Making: Politico Boss Defends Handing Over Playbook to Right-Wing Bombthrower Ben Shapiro

According to multiple Politico insiders familiar with the situation, the letter to Allbritton criticized the decision to publish Shapiro, claiming it had demoralized a substantial portion of the newsroom, but also railed against the responses to criticism offered by editor in chief Matt Kaminski.

Its an internal matter and will be handled as such, a Politico spokesperson told The Daily Beast.

During a combative meeting on January 14, the day of Shapiros publication, the top editor defended the editorial decision to irate staffers by claiming, Mischief making has always been a part of Politicos secret sauce. We were an upstart. Some of that sensibility is always going to be a part of this publication.

The staff letter, sent last week to Allbritton, maintained that Kaminski had not appropriately apologized for his responses, additionally referencing an email he sent to staff on January 15, which was obtained and reviewed by The Daily Beast. The top editor expressed regret for his initial response about making mischief, but reiterated that publishing Shapiro was part of his hopes to experiment and mix things up in order to keep Politico vital and vibrant to its readers.

Story continues

In response, the letters signees asked Allbritton how Shapiros extensive record of bigotry can be considered vibrant or vital.

Ben Shapiro Storms Out of BBC Interview: Im Popular and No Ones Ever Heard of You

Elsewhere in the note to their publisher, the Politico staffers called for a commitment to clarify and improve the outlets editorial standards; an increase in newsroom diversity; an editors note on Shapiros edition of Playbook; and an internal apology for the decision to publish the provocateur.

Despite the 100+ signatures to last weeks note, some Politico staffers stressed to The Daily Beast that it did not represent the overall mood at the whole publication. Several of the companys 300 editorial employees said they hadnt heard about the effort, or werent asked to sign the letter.

Others said they were encouraged that Kaminski and other top editors have been meeting over the past several days with newsroom employees in attempts to avoid blow-ups like the Shapiro saga.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A woman has been jailed after breaking Covid rules by turning up drunk at her ex-boyfriend's house before throwing a TV, microwave and furniture out of a top floor window.

Rosemary Burgess, 19, is said to have become furious after her partner left a comment on Facebook last Thursday.

The teenager stormed round to her ex's home on the Isle of Man wielding a metal pole, before throwing 800 worth of items out of the window, a court has heard.

Rosemary Burgess, 19, was jailed at Douglas courthouse after storming into her ex boyfriend's home last Thursday and throwing more than 800 worth of his belongings out of a top floor window

Burgess, from Douglas, admitted to entering someone else's home and causing damage to property, as well as breaching Covid-19 rules.

She has been jailed for 20 weeks.

According to the BBC, Burgess arrived at her ex-boyfriend's flat in Douglas at around 9.30pm last Thursday.

Her arrival was already in breach of the island's lockdown rules.

Islanders are currently banned from leaving home without a good reason and households are barred from mixing.

Burgess is said to have tried to smash a living room window with a metal pole after she was let inside the flat.

Her ex fled to call the police, but returned to find she had tossed his property out on to a patio below.

Among the debris was a smashed television and DVD player, along with a bedroom chair, cabinets, a chest of drawers, two electric heaters, two bins and a kettle.

A curtain pole and toilet brush were also thrown out.

She was said to be intoxicated and unstead on her feet when police arrived.

Appearing at Douglas Courthouse on Saturday, Burgess was jailed for four weeks for breaching Covid-19 rules, as well 16 weeks for damaging property.

She was also jailed for four weeks for damaging a mobile phone, though that sentence will run concurrently.
During epileptic seizures, a large number of nerve cells in the brain fire excessively and in synchrony. This hyperactivity may lead to uncontrolled shaking of the body and involve periods of loss of consciousness. While about two thirds of patients respond to anti-epileptic medication, the remainder is refractory to medical treatment and shows drug-resistance. These patients are in urgent need for new therapeutic strategies.

Together with colleagues in Japan, Prof. Dr. Christine Rose and her doctoral student Jan Meyer from the Institute of Neurobiology at HHU have performed a study to address the cellular mechanisms that promote the development of epilepsy. While up to now, most studies and anti-epileptic drugs targeted nerve cells (neurons), this research team focused on a class of glial cells known as astrocytes.

Glial cells account for approximately half of all cells in the brain. There are different types of glial cells, which perform different functions. Astrocytes control the local environment and are responsible for the ion balance in the brain, but also play an important role in signal transmission between neurons.

In their recent paper, the researchers show that epileptic discharges lead to a rise in the pH of astrocytes, that is in their intracellular 'alkalisation'. The change in pH disrupts the communication within the intercellular astrocyte networks. This reduced communication between astrocytes appears to exacerbate epileptic activity of neurons.

This finding points towards a potential new target for suppressing epileptogenesis at a very early stage, namely by using drugs to suppress changes in astrocytic pH accompanying neuronal activity.

The researchers were able to confirm this option by showing that animals which were given such drugs suffered less severely from epileptic hyperexcitability than untreated animals.

Prof. Rose said: "This observation is very intriguing. But it still needs to be established whether or not it can be transferred to humans. And it will take a very long time before any potential drug can be developed and be really used in the clinics."

###

The research was carried out as a collaboration between the HHU and three universities in Japan (Keio University and Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Tokyo, Tohoku University in Sendai) as part of the "Young Glia" programme of the DFG-Priority Programme SPP 1757 "Functional Specialisations of Neuroglia" coordinated by Prof. Rose. This programme promotes collaboration between German and Japanese laboratories. In particular, it encourages and assists young scientists in realising their own bi-national research projects. For example, the HHU doctoral student Jan Meyer travelled to Japan, while Mariko Onodera from Tohoku University spent two periods working at the Institute of Neurobiology in Dusseldorf.

Original publication

Mariko Onodera, Jan Meyer, Kota Furukawa, Yuichi Hiraoka, Tomomi Aida, Kohichi Tanaka, Kenji F. Tanaka, Christine R. Rose, and Ko Matsui, Exacerbation of epilepsy by astrocyte alkalization and gap junction uncoupling, Journal of Neuroscience, 2021

DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2365-20.2020
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989. She can be reached at jmaschino@berkshireeagle.com.
(CNN) - The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine created antibodies that neutralized coronavirus variants first found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, the company said in a news release on Monday.

Two doses of the vaccine is expected to be protective against emerging strains detected to date, according to the release.

The companys study showed that the variant first found in the UK had no significant impact on the vaccines effectiveness.

The results for the variant first spotted in South Africa, however, were not as optimistic  and some early studies have suggested vaccines may be somewhat less effective against this strain.

In the press release, Moderna noted that a six-fold reduction in neutralizing titers was observed with (the variant discovered in South Africa) relative to prior variants.

The company said the vaccine was still expected to be effective.

Despite this reduction, neutralizing titer levels with (the variant discovered in South Africa) remain above levels that are expected to be protective, according to the press release.

David Montefiori, a virologist at Duke University Medical Center, said while hes cautiously optimistic Modernas vaccine will work well against this strain, hes still not sure.

The efficacy might be reduced somewhat, but it may still be very effective, he said. Hopefully the vaccine will still be 70-80% effective.

The variant first identified in the UK has also appeared in more than 45 other countries, including 195 cases in the US.

The variant first identified in South Africa has appeared in more than 20 other countries. No cases have been identified in the US, but experts say its likely there are cases and US surveillance, which has been widely criticized, has not yet found them.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is expected to protect against new variants"
Stretch marks are a natural outcome of pregnancy. These lines can also appear after a sudden change in your weight. Recently, Malaika Arora, who is known to set fitness goals with her social media posts, was snapped by photographers in Mumbai.

In Pics: Malaika Arora's Super Stylish Gym Appearances

As her images were shared on social media, many netizens started trolling her for visible stretch marks. Many also came out in her support saying it is a natural thing. As Malaika was posed for the cameras, she wore a pink T-shirt, baring her abdomen, and yoga pants.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani)

Commenting on her picture, one social media wrote, "Tummy se budapa dikh gya (sic)," while another one said, "Abhi lag rhi hai aged.... she is getting old (sic)." Some netizens came out in Malaika's support, writing, "So whats the big deal?" and "These people bitching Malaika and praising Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Aniston!!! Hypocrisy is at its height (sic)."

Malaika recently shared on her social media handle that she will be hosting sessions on beauty, hair and health shortly. These will be in the form of pre-recorded sessions and fans can tune in for advice in related fields from Malaika.

On the personal front, Malaika keeps making headlines for her relationship with Arjun Kapoor. Reportedly, she also visited the sets of Arjun's upcoming film Bhoot Police recently to spend some time with him.
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio

Identity theft: Bell Tower

Someone tried to apply for unemployment benefits using a womans information. She reported it to police Jan. 6 and notified the credit reporting agencies to clear up the problem.

Unwanted guest: East Washington Street

Police were called at 2:35 p.m. Jan. 6 to help a man remove an intoxicated family member from his home. Officers assisted, and the resident drove the intoxicated person back to his own Auburn Township home.

Fraud: West Washington Street

Police are investigating a Jan. 8 report made by a former resident who was scammed out of money through a Craigslist advertisement.

Found property: West Washington Street

After finding a purse left by customer, a specialty store owner took it to the police station Jan. 10. An officer found the Orange Village resident and turned it over to her.

Identity theft: West Washington Street

Chase Bank sent a debit card to a resident that she did not request. She reported it Jan. 11 and the bank canceled the card. Police advised her to contact the credit bureaus to put a fraud alert on her accounts to prevent further problems.

Identity theft: Nob Hill Drive

Someone applied for unemployment benefits using a mans personal information. The victim reported it to police Jan. 13. He was given contact information for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to cancel the unemployment application.

Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.
Target reportedly terminated the security team member involved

Three Black teenagers were wrongfully detained at a Target store in Westlake Village, California during a grand theft investigation, according to the Los Angeles County sheriffs department.

The teens  Malik Aaron, Aaron Frederickson, and Greg Kim  between the ages of 16 and 17, walked into the Target store to purchase snacks after a church service on Jan. 17.

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

According to ABC News, one of the teens told the Ventura County Star they were unaware of a shoplifting incident that took place a week prior at the Target location. The suspects of that incident reportedly smashed glass displays in the electronics department and stole smartphones.

The group was followed around the store by Target associates and one teen said that a security guard prevented them from leaving the store despite other customers exiting. The associates also blocked the exits with shopping carts.

Read More: Harlem community rallies in defense of Black woman attacked at liquor store

We were being followed in the store by an employee who told us, Hey, I cant have you guys loitering.'

The Daily News reported that Aaron filmed the incident until a police deputy allegedly slapped the phone from his hands, shoved him into a counter, and put him in the police cruiser, according to his mother La Shaun Aaron.

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Capt. Sal Chuck Becerra said in a statement on Friday that there was no evidence of excessive force, nor does it support any allegations of wrongdoing, use of force, violation of our department policies, or violation of any laws on behalf of the deputies.

The mother of the teen who was detained has retained attorney Toni Jaramilla to file a lawsuit against the company for violating her sons civil rights. Jaramilla will also fight against Becerras alleged use of excessive force.

The way they were detained was very aggressive and beyond necessary for the situation, she said.

Read More: New Georgia senators Warnock, Ossoff promise to carry on John Lewis legacy

Story continues

Target issued an apology in response to the incident and terminated the security team member involved. The store has also initiated mandatory security and racial bias training that all leaders at the Westlake Village location must take, according to the Daily News.

What happened to these guests is in direct opposition to the inclusive experience we want all our guests to have. Our security team member took action and stopped these guests in violation of Targets security procedures.

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The post Black teens wrongfully detained in Target, company apologizes appeared first on TheGrio.
A quick glance of Shanghai's achievements in 2020 and targets in 2021

From:SHINE | 2021-01-25 10:30

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng delivered the government work report on Sunday, summing up the city's achievements last year and mapping out the plan for this year.




























































































































Thousands of farmers from various parts of Maharashtra state arrive to participate in a protest rally in Mumbai, India on January 24, 2021. (Image: AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

The COVID-19 threat is still not over in Mumbai and proper care should be taken accordingly during farmers' protest here or else a new crisis will be there in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said on Monday.

As the farmers' protest against the Centre's farm laws continues near the Delhi borders, Raut alleged that "some invisible force" does not want peasants to get justice.

Talking to reporters here, he also said that an "atmosphere of instability" prevails in the country.

Thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra have reached Mumbai to participate in a rally here on Monday against the Centre's three new farm laws and to express solidarity with the farmers agitating near Delhi.

Follow our LIVE blog for updates on Farmers' Protest

"I saw yesterday farmers from different places in Maharashtra reached Mumbai. Will need to take care. The COVID-19 threat is still not over in Mumbai," Raut said.

"It will be better if care is taken in that case. Or else, a new crisis will spread in Maharashtra is what the chief minister is worried about," the Rajya Sabha member said.

He noted that the farmers' protest near the national capital has been continuing despite several rounds of discussions between peasants and the Centre.

"It seems some invisible force does not want farmers to get justice, an atmosphere of instability prevails in the country and it (the invisible force) seeks political mileage out of the same. It will not be in the interest of the country," the Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson said.

Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the 'mandi' (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several border points of Delhi, demanding a repeal of the three farm laws.

Multiple rounds of talks between the government and farmer unions have failed to break the impasse so far, while the Supreme Court has appointed a panel for resolution of the issue.
Court-packing by Biden Administration proponents can be done. Senator Moore moves by forwarding a constitutional amendment before it can be. Packing the court was one of the questions asked during the debate, but now the answer is obvious.

In the presidential debates, court-packing was one of the many issues President Trump's opponent did not answer. Court-packing is a practice of filling up the Supreme Court with judges partial to the administration. This is not acceptable in a democratic state.

According to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the legislation was on the floor on January 22 to keep the Supreme Court's cap to only nine justices. Some sectors are not complacent if the current DEMS administration will not attempt to add more Democrat inclined personalities in America's highest court, reported the Epoch Times.

How can the amendment be ratified?

It is a significant task to amend the constitution. The amendment must go over two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and be passed by about 38 or 50 states as a permanent part of the US Constitution. That is a big 'if', should the DEMS in control allow it to pass.

After then, President Trump's nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative constitutionalist nominee, got confirmed as SCOTUS. She is the replacement of the liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away in September last year.

Democrats promised to pack the courts for Barrett's nomination.

Choosing Barrett in 2020 made many DEMS angry, who argued it was inappropriate. The Merrick Garland precedent, did not sit well in 2016. After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, the GOP Senate majority did not consider Obama's pick to the supreme court. Senator Moore and her bill is one way to keep in check and stop court-packing by Biden Administration moves.

Also read: Biden Reportedly Got Funds from Unknown Sources Alleged to Be Dark Money

Biden allegedly considered packing the courts in the campaign period but did not answer, saying a national commission will examine a functional court system; he claims an overhaul.

Last October, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also suggested that more judges are needed because of more Americans in the population. She insists that more justices are required in the supreme court.

Before the November election, DEMS were vocal about the GOPS double standard for the eventual nomination of Trump's choice. The Barrett nomination prompted a get back from DEMS, who said they would add more justices. Some sectors have the opinion that having alleged left-leaning liberal judges will pass without notice.

Sen. Moore got support from other Republicans, who sponsored the proposed bill. They are Senators Marco Rubio, Kevin Cramer, Marsha Blackburn, Todd Young, Mitt Romney, Mike Crapo, and others. It was seen on the floor in Congress last March 25, 2019, but was not passed.

Ted Cruz and Fellow GOP anti-court packing bill

October last year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and five other Senate Republicans also introduced their interpretation of anti-court packing. The goal is to stop a packed court with democrat leaning justices should the democrats win. The suggested amendment states that only nine justices will be allowed in the Supreme Court.

Cruz forewarned that if the DEMS win in their plan, they will be eliminating the filibuster and pack the court, which will destroy America's democracy.

Senator Moore and her resurrected amendment is another move by the GOP to stop court-packing by Biden Administration adherents, which is detrimental to democracy.

Related article: More DEMS Want Chuck Schumer to End Senate Filibuster Despite GOP Plea

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
No matter where you turn, theres always one thing thats for sure  youre going to find conflict wherever you go. Your intentions could be the best of the best yet, youll still find yourself face-to-face with a complicated situation that causes you to question your morals and ethics. The real problem with conflict is not that it exists, but is how people choose to handle conflict  and that lies the real problems within our society.

Everyday people claim to be Christians yet, they verbalize ill comments and act out because of the conflictive nature they are facing. Society is quick to judge these people by proclaiming them less of a Christian because they reacted negatively. But, does a mere reaction mean youre not a Christian? The answer is absolutely not! Just because youre a Christian doesnt mean youre going to live free from mistakes. In reality, as long as youre living for Jesus Christ and doing your best thats all that can be asked of you. Now should a Christian react to lifes conflicts with a hot headed nature? Of course not, but mistakes happen and we as Christians must move on. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he would want us to also forgive the sins of our sisters and brothers.

Proverbs 10:12 says, Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. While conflict is inevitable, its important to recognize the hatred that lies within conflict and how the negativity can consume those who are suffering from conflictive natures. As Christians, we must be willing to look for the good within the evil and find a way to still love because in the end love will prevail.

True Christians recognize the reality behind the day-to-day life of the average person and they do not hold grudges. In many cases, it may appear to be easier said than done to let hurtful actions go. However, Christians must have a wider lens and be able to accept the good with the bad. There may not always be a black and white solution to the problem, however we can demonstrate the unconditional love of Christ as a response to a hateful act.

Matthew 18:16 says, But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. The only real way to combat conflict is to go at it with a great deal of wisdom, grace and love. And those who are called to deal with difficult conflictive situations should practice spiritual maturity that is lined thick with patience and kindness. Sometimes conflict calls for reinforcements and is not something that can be handled by one person  in many cases an entire community is truly needed in order to overcome a difficult situation. This is where Matthew 18:16 truly comes into play  its important to accept help from others and understand that there is no shame in a helping hand. In fact, youll grow into a stronger person if youre able to accept assistance throughout life. This doesnt make you any less a Christian. However, it does mean that youre listening to the following of Christ and youre willing to succumb to his teachings and plan.

Conflict causes people to lose sight of whats important because they allow conflict to fester.

Matthew 5:25-26 speaks about this and says, Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. Christians need to understand the importance of letting go. Jesus laid his life on the line for all of our sins therefore, it is our duty as his children to settle our own matters in timely manner. Conflict blinds everyone and steers hearts and emotions into endless circles.

With all that said youll turn on your TV tonight and see the faces of wanted people because they acted out and allowed conflict to take over their lives. Do Christ and yourself a favor and do not judge. This is a big part of being a Christian  youre vowing to abstain from casting judgment. Instead pray for them and ask the Lord to guide them through this difficult time within their life. Look for ways you can use your faith to guide those around you and help them from creating these mistakes that you see all over the news. Christians make a difference and do not allow conflict to take over their lives.
V K Sasikala, who was a close aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, will be released from central prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning after serving four-year jail term in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case. Sasikala's release has come just months before Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

If reports are to be believed Sasikala has been asked to pay a fine of Rs 10 crore to be released from jail.

Sasikala had became the AIADMK chief after Jayalalithaa died in 2016, but was later expelled from the party.

Currently, she is under treatment for coronavirus at Victoria Hospital. She had contracted Covid-19 on January 20 and was later admitted to the Bowring Hospital. In view of her critical condition, she was shifted to the ICU ward of Victoria Hospital but was moved out of it earlier in the day after virus symptoms reduced, the Victoria Hospital authorities said in a statement.

Confirming the news of Sasikala's release from prison, her nephew T T V Dhinakaran said in a tweet, "According all our expectations Chinnamma (Sasikala) will be released (from prison) day after tomorrow, 27-01-2021."

Dhinakaran, who is also an independent legislator and founder of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), said his aunt was recuperating from coronavirus and that her discharge from the hospital will be made known later after consulting doctors.

(with inputs from PTI)
Britain risks becoming a "failed state" without serious reform to its governance structures, Gordon Brown has warned.

The former prime minister urged the government to devolve more power to regions and to replace the House of Lords with a regionally elected chamber.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper Mr Brown said "the choice is now between a reformed state and a failed state".

His latest intervention comes as polls continue to show strong and consistent support for Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, which the former PM is opposed to.

Mr Brown added: "It is indeed Scotland where dissatisfaction is so deep that it threatens the end of the United Kingdom.

"For the first time, a majority of Scots now feel, according to recent polls, that Scotland and the rest of the UK are moving inexorably in opposite directions and nearly half of all Scots who have a view believe - against all the evidence - that Scotland would be better off economically independent, and they feel that the Union undermines Scotland's distinctive identity.

"While the crisis is deepest in Scotland, it is far from alone.

"Regional metro mayors - from Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool to Sheffield, Bristol and London - are demanding more powers from what they see as an insensitive, out-of-touch and overcentralised centre.

"And in Wales it is not nationalists but the pro-Union First Minister Mark Drakeford who is leading calls for change.

"But perhaps for too long we have left unstated the shared purpose and values that bind the UK together, and we have said too little about what we have in common: our shared beliefs in tolerance, liberty, civic responsibility and fairness, and our conviction that all benefit when we pool and share risks and resources across the country."

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Monday morning Mr Brown said there was no democratic mandate for another Scottish independence referendum.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 26 May 2021 Boats are seen at Southsea Moorings in Portsmouth REUTERS UK news in pictures 25 May 2021 York Glaziers Trust employees Kieran Muir (left) and Emily Price (right) remove a stained glass window panel at the start of a new five year, 5m project to conserve York Minsters South East Transept and its medieval St Cuthbert Window PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2021 Dark rain clouds above an oast house at Bewl Water reservoir near Lamberhurst in Kent during one of the rainiest Mays on record, with the UK seeing 131 per cent of the usual months rainfall already PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2021 The Premier League trophy with the Manchester City club colour ribbons on, at Etihad Stadium, prior to the last Premier League match of the season. City will finally pick up the trophy after they won the league on 11 May Getty UK news in pictures 22 May 2021 Gary Kenny lifts the Buildbase FA Vase Trophy after Warrington Rylands won the FA Vase Final against Binfield at Wembley Stadium Getty UK news in pictures 21 May 2021 A family buffeted by the wind whilst crossing the the Millennium Bridge in London, with wind and rain forecast to ravage the UK on the first Friday that people have been allowed to meet in large groups outside in England PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2021 Devon And Cornwall Police Demonstrate Their Skills For Policing The G7 Summit Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 May 2021 An employee stands before a costume for the Queen of Hearts by Bob Crowley on display at the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2021 Passengers prepare to board an easyJet flight to Faro, Portugal, at Gatwick Airport after the ban on international leisure travel for people in England was lifted following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2021 Emergency workers at the scene of a suspected gas explosion, in which a young child was killed and two people were seriously injured, on Mallowdale Ave Heysham which caused 2 houses to collapse and badly damaged another PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2021 Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause as violence escalates in the ongoing conflict with Israel, in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 14 May 2021 Member of staffs tighten screws and paint a Marlin skeleton, before it goes on display at the Natural History Museum in London, as the museum prepares to reopen to the public on 17 May, following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 13 May 2021 A worshipper at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Mordon, south London, ahead of Eid al-Fitr. The celebration marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting, called Ramadan. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters UK news in pictures 18 April 2021 Stephen Maguire (right) of Scotland interacts with Jamie Jones of Wales during day 2 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible, Sheffield PA UK news in pictures 17 April 2021 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburghs coffin, covered with His Royal Highnesss Personal Standard arrives by Landrover Defender at St Georges Chapel carried by a bearer party found by the Royal Marines during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Getty Images UK news in pictures 16 April 2021 Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, checks the teeth of "Dentosaurus" during a visit to the Thornliebank Dental Care centre in Glasgow, as she campaigns ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary Election AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 April 2021 Myanmar's former ambassador to the UK, Kyaw Zwar Minn, outside his residence in north west London. The ambassador has been barred from entering the Myanmar embassy in Mayfair after he was removed from office PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2021 People take part in coronavirus surge testing on Clapham Common, south London. Thousands of residents have queued up to take coronavirus tests at additional facilities set up after new cases of the South African variant were found in two south London boroughs. 44 confirmed cases of the variant have been found in Lambeth and Wandsworth, with a further 30 probable cases identified PA UK news in pictures 13 April 2021 The core of the Milky Way becomes visible in the early hours of Tuesday morning as it moves over Bamburgh Lighthouse at stag Rock in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 12 April 2021 Rebecca Richardson (left) and Genevieve Florence, members of the Aquabatix synchronised swimming team, during a practice session in the swimming pool at Clissold Leisure Centre in north London, which has reopened to the public. Many facilities have reopened in the latest easing of lockdown include pubs and restaurants who can serve outside, non-essential shops, indoor gyms and swimming pools, nail salons and hairdressers, outdoor amusements and zoos PA UK news in pictures 11 April 2021 A pub staff pins up a sign announcing the reopening of the Fox on the Hill pub on Denmark Hill in London EPA UK news in pictures 10 April 2021 The Death Gun Salute is fired by the Honourable Artillery Company to mark the passing of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the The Tower of London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 9 April 2021 A man arrives to lay a bunch of flowers outside Buckingham Palace in central London after the announcement of the death of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. - Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip, who recently spent more than a month in hospital and underwent a heart procedure, died on April 9, Buckingham Palace announced. He was 99. AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 8 April 2021 Cousin Pascal ridden by James King clears the chair on their way to winning the 4:05 Pool via REUTERS UK news in pictures 7 April 2021 Deliveroo riders from the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain outside Deliveroo headquarters in London, as they go on strike in a dispute for fair pay, safety protections and basic workers rights PA UK news in pictures 6 April 2021 Waves crash over the walls next to Seaham Lighthouse in Durham PA UK news in pictures 5 April 2021 Lusamba Katalay (third from left), the husband of Belly Mujinga joins activists at a vigil at Victoria station in London to mark the first anniversary of the death of railway worker Belly Mujinga who died with Covid-19 following reports she had been coughed on by a customer at London's Victoria station PA

Asked whether he thought there was one, he said: "No, no, I don't think so.

"People in Scotland are worried about the virus, they're worried about jobs, they're worried about the future of young people, this is their priority at the moment.

"Anything that diverts from that at the moment, holding a referendum this year, in the midst of a virus when you can't even have public meetings or door-to-door canvassing, would seem quite unfair to the democratic process."
India reported 13,203 new Covid-19 cases, 13,298 discharges and 155 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the data of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

With this, the total coronavirus cases in the country have mounted to 1,06,67,736 including 1,84,182 active cases and 1,03,30,084 discharges.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

The total death toll has touched 1,53,470.

As countrywide COVID-19 inoculation program is going on, a total of 16,15,504 individuals got vaccinated in the last 24 hours.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 5,70,246 samples were tested on January 24 making the cumulative total number of samples tested reach 19,23,37,117.

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Q: I have three windows that were installed by a local home-improvement company and one of its subcontractors. Above each window is a large, uncaulked gap of approximately 7/16 -inch. This allows water to enter and affect the surrounding wood siding, and it's appearing to cause rot. I contacted the contractor and was told this is a normal installation, and there should be no issue. I see no weep holes or other mechanism for the water to drain. After my painter discovered this condition and took a picture of the top of the window, I began having the gap caulked. However, the gap is so large that it requires frequent caulking, and because the windows are high on the house, I need a contractor with a ladder to inspect them on a frequent basis. What can I do, short of replacing the windows, which seem to be of good quality?

A: The gap you're worried about is supposed to be left open, without caulk. If water has been getting inside or behind the wood siding, some other detail of the installation is to blame. The most probable cause: flashing above the window that slopes toward the house rather than away from it.

Windows need to be installed so water runs down and out when wind pushes rain between pieces of siding or around the window frame. Construction details vary depending on whether windows or housewrap are installed first, or, in retrofit situations, what the existing conditions are. And different window manufacturers recommend different installation details. You can see illustrations for some of the variations by doing a Web search for "window flashing details."

But although some of the details vary, the essential strategies are always the same: Start at the bottom and overlap each higher layer, just as when shingling a house. And avoid trapping water next to the sheathing (the plywood or other material nailed directly to the studs).

So the bottom of the window opening always needs to be covered with a waterproof sill pan, often made of peel-and-stick rubberized membrane. This barrier needs to extend inward for the depth of the window opening and, on the outside, wrap down a few inches from the outside edge as well as up several inches on the sides. More self-stick membrane goes up the sides, overlapping the waterproof barrier at the bottom. There are sometimes two layers of this: one before the window goes in, then a second that covers the nails holding the window in place. Across the top, there is more membrane, which overlaps the tops of the membrane pieces up the sides. The top membrane has to be long enough to extend past the window trim, so it can stop any water that gets through the joints. Installers often stick this top membrane directly to the sheathing with a flap of the housewrap overlapping it.

Then they should install rigid cap flashing - the part at the bottom of the gap you see. This is often called Z flashing, because, from an end, it looks similar to how that letter looks if tipped sideways. One flap of the flashing extends upward and is mostly out of sight, behind the siding. The main section runs almost horizontally over the top edge of the window trim, and the final bend hangs down from the top of the trim. Ideally, the top flap fits under the housewrap and the siding, so any water running down the wall will hit the flashing and flow out, away from the window. Having membrane sealed to the sheathing over the window is extra insurance, because it makes any water that gets past the housewrap also flow down and out.

But to make the flashing function as intended, there needs to be a gap between the bottom edge of the siding and the mostly horizontal part of the flashing. Caulking that gap, which is typically 1/4 to 1/2-inch wide, traps water against the wall.

If water was getting into your house or behind the siding before you added caulk, it could be because the flashing wasn't installed properly. If the flashing was installed over the housewrap, for example, it could be trapping water that runs down the wrap. The part of the flashing that extends over the window trim also could be sloped incorrectly. This part of the flashing should angle slightly away from the house, by 10 to 15 degrees. If it's sloped toward the house, it could be channeling water into the siding.

If your windows are installed incorrectly, or if you aren't certain whether they are, call a home inspector to check with a moisture meter whether water is getting into the wall and, if so, how far that extends. The inspector should also poke into nearby siding to determine whether it's rotting and check whether the flashing slopes correctly away from the house.

If an inspection confirms there is a problem, you might also want to check with the manufacturer of the windows and ask for the installation instructions. Armed with this information, call the contractor who did the work again and, if necessary, the store. If they don't respond, you could file a complaint with the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation or get help from a lawyer. But for something like this, you're probably better off calling in another contractor to fix the problem before it leads to further damage - assuming, of course, that the damage isn't already extensive.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Union Government has decided permanently ban 59 Chinese mobile applications including TikTok.

The development comes several months after the government had first banned Chinese apps temporarily in last June.

The government had sought responses from the companies on the show cause notices, but sources said that it is not satisfied with their responses.

According to people in the know, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent notices to 59 apps including Tiktok.

The ministry suspended access to the apps in India last year amid the border tussle with China. It had said that these measures were undertaken on the basis of credible information that these apps are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.

The Chinese apps under interim ban include Club Factory, SHAREit, Likee, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), Weibo, Baidu, BIGO LIVE, WeChat, UC Browser and Xiaomi's Mi Community.
[January 25, 2021] Valneva and Instituto Butantan Sign Final Agreement on Single-Shot Chikungunya Vaccine for Low and Middle Income Countries

Saint-Herblain (France), Sao Paulo, (Brazil), January 25, 2021  Valneva SE (Valneva or the Company), a specialty vaccine company focused on prevention of infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need, and Instituto Butantan, producer of immunobiologic products, today announced the signing of definitive agreements for the development, manufacturing and marketing of Valnevas single-shot chikungunya vaccine, VLA1553, in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). This finalization follows the signing of a binding term sheet in May 20201. The collaboration falls within the framework of the $23.4 million funding agreement Valneva signed with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in July 20192. Under the collaboration, Valneva will transfer its chikungunya vaccine technology to Instituto Butantan, who will develop, manufacture and commercialize the vaccine in LMICs. In addition, Instituto Butantan will provide certain clinical and Phase 4 observational studies that Valneva will use to meet regulatory requirements. The agreement includes small upfront and technology transfer milestones. Thomas Lingelbach, Chief Executive Officer of Valneva, commented, The dreadful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world has underlined the importance of vaccines to combat public health crises. Chikungunya outbreaks have impacted over 120 countries and affected millions, yet no vaccine or treatment is currently available to prevent this debilitating disease. We look forward to working with Instituto Butantan to help address this urgent public health need and speed up the development of a chikungunya vaccine in LMICs, which are high outbreak risk areas." Dr. Dimas Covas, Director of Instituto Butantan added, Within the concept of the relevance of qualified partnerships for complementary actions with an impact on society, the relationship established between the Butantan Institute and Valneva is extremely significant and auspicious. It is a partnership that allows the development and national production of an immunizer highly relevant to the Brazilian public health system and which will allow the prevention of thousands of annual cases of Chikungunya virus infections and their consequences. Dr Melanie Saville, Director of Vaccine Development at CEPI, said: Over the past 15-20 years, we have seen the expansion of Chikungunya outbreaks around the worldparticularly affecting people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Chikungunya is a truly debilitating disease, causing symptoms which can last for months and the risk of permanent disability from long-term complications. This agreement will accelerate the development and manufacturing of this vaccine candidate for LMICs, in keeping with CEPIs core commitment to enable equitable access to vaccines. About Chikungunya

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a Togaviridae virus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Infection leads to symptomatic disease in 72-92% of humans after 4 to 7 days following the mosquito bite. While mortality with CHIKV is low, morbidity is high. Clinical symptoms include acute onset of fever, debilitating joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea and rash. 4.1%-78.6% of infections develop into chronic arthralgia (> 3 months). Chikungunya virus often causes sudden large outbreaks with high attack rates, affecting one-third to three-quarters of the population in areas where the virus is circulating. The highest risk areas of infection for travelers are places where chikungunya virus-carrying mosquitos are endemic, including the Americas, parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia. As of September 2020, there have been more than 3 million reported cases in the Americas3 and the economic impact is considered to be significant (e.g. Colombia outbreak 2014: $73.6 million4). The medical and economic burden is expected to grow as the CHIKV primary mosquito vectors continue to further spread geographically. There are no preventive vaccines or effective treatments available and, as such, chikungunya is considered to be a major public health threat. About VLA1553

VLA1553 is a live-attenuated, single dose vaccine candidate for protection against chikungunya disease and currently tested in clinical Phase 3. VLA1553 has been designed by deleting a part of the chikungunya virus genome. As a live-attenuated vaccine, VLA1553 is particularly well suited to target long-lasting protection.

Valneva is the first company to advance a chikungunya vaccine candidate into Phase 3. The sponsor of the first chikungunya vaccine Biologics License Application (BLA) to be approved in the U.S. will be eligible to receive a Priority Review Voucher (PRV) 5.

VLA1553 would expand Valnevas existing travel vaccine portfolio and as such, Valneva intends to commercialize this vaccine leveraging its existing manufacturing and commercial operations. The global market for vaccines against chikungunya is estimated to exceed $500 million annually by 20326.

VLA1553 Phase 1 data in 120 volunteers were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases7. The vaccine was well tolerated at the dose level selected for Phase 3.No vaccine-related serious adverse events were reported during 12 months of follow-up. Neutralizing antibodies were developed in 100% of volunteers within 14 days after a single vaccination and were maintained up to one year. Based on these encouraging results, pivotal Phase 3 testing was initiated in September 2020 for the program which was granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and PRIME designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).



About Phase 3 study VLA1553-301

VLA1553-301 Phase 3 study was initiated in September 2020. It is a prospective, double-blinded, multicenter, randomized, pivotal Phase 3 study comprising approximately 4,000 participants aged 18 years or above. Lyophilized VLA1553 or placebo will be administered as a single intramuscular immunization. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of the final dose of VLA1553 28 days following a single immunization. Safety data collection and immunogenicity will continue to be assessed until Month 6; further long-term follow up is planned.

Additional information, including a detailed description of the study design, eligibility criteria and investigator sites, is available at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04546724). About Valneva SE

Valneva SE is a specialty vaccine company focused on prevention of infectious diseases with significant unmet medical need. The Company has several vaccines in development including unique vaccines against Lyme disease, COVID-19 and chikungunya. Valnevas portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: IXIARO/JESPECT indicated for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. Valneva has operations in Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and the U.S. with over 500 employees.

About Instituto Butantan

Instituto Butantan is the main producer of immunobiological products and vaccines in Brazil. Instituto Butantan carries out scientific missions domestically and abroad through the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the United Nations. The Institute collaborates with other agencies of the Sao Paulo State Secretariat of Health and the Brazilian Ministry of Health for the improvement of overall health in Brazil. It acts in partnership with various universities and entities such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the achievement of its institutional objectives. For more information please visit the Institute website at www.butantan.gov.br or contact the press office at (+55 11) 2627-9606 / 9428 or email to imprensa@butantan.gov.br About CEPI

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organizations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. Before the emergence of COVID-19 CEPIs priority diseases included Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya virus. CEPI also invested in platform technologies that can be used for rapid vaccine and immunoprophylactic development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).

CEPI has moved with great urgency and in coordination with WHO in response to the emergence of COVID-19. CEPI has initiated 9 partnerships to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus. The programmes will leverage rapid response platforms already supported by CEPI as well as new partnerships. The aim is to advance COVID-19 vaccine candidates into clinical testing as quickly as possible.

CEPI, alongside Gavi and the World Health Organisation, co-leads the vaccines pillar of the ACT Accelerator  known as COVAX  which is working to develop, distribute and deploy COVID-19 vaccines to the world. Learn more at http://www.cepi.net . Follow us at @CEPIvaccines . Valneva Investor and Media Contacts

Laetitia Bachelot-Fontaine

Director Investor Relations &

Corporate Communications

M +33 (0)6 4516 7099

investors@valneva.com



Teresa Pinzolits

Corporate Communications Specialist

T +43 (0)1 20620 1116

communications@valneva.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical trials for product candidates, the ability to manufacture, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for product candidates, the ability to protect intellectual property and operate the business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of Valneva may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the current expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays, competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made during this presentation will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. 1 Valneva to Partner with Instituto Butantan on Single-Shot Chikungunya Vaccine for Low- and Middle-Income Countries 2 CEPI awards up to US$23.4 million to Valneva for late-stage development of a single-dose chikungunya vaccine 3 PAHO/WHO data: Number of reported cases of chikungunya fever in the Americas. https://www.paho.org/data/index.php/en/mnu-topics/chikv-en/550-chikv-weekly-en.html . Last accessed 13 Oct 2020. 4 Cardona-Ospina et al. 2015, Trans R Soc Trip Med Hyg 109:793-802.

5 https://priorityreviewvoucher.org/

6 VacZine Analytics Chikungunya virus vaccines Global demand analysis. February 2020

7 Wressnigg et al. 2020, Lancet ID;20(10):1193-1203.



Attachment 2021_01_25 Valneva_Butantan_Chikungunya_PR_EN_Final



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Toronto, Ontario and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - QuantGate Systems Inc. (OTCQB: QGSI) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been approved for trading on the OTCQB Venture Market, effective immediately under ticker symbol QGSI. QuantGate Systems Inc. is a fintech company that has developed, and recently launched, its proprietary AI-powered trading solutions designed to enhance investor performance.

"We are proud to officially trade on the OTCQB Venture Market. Achieving this important milestone elevates QuantGate's profile within the investment community which we expect will improve our liquidity and broaden our shareholder base. We would like to thank our shareholders for their ongoing support," said Leonardo Cardoso, CEO of QuantGate Systems Inc.

The OTCQB Venture Market is a premier market for entrepreneurial and development-stage U.S. and international companies that are committed to providing investors high-quality trading and improved market visibility to enhance trading liquidity. To be eligible, companies must be current in their financial reporting, pass a minimum bid price test and undergo an annual company verification and management certification process. Companies trading on the OTCQB meet extensive disclosure requirements, including having their financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP standards which are audited by a PCAOB approved auditor, along with other stringent requirements.

"This is an exciting time for the company as it begins to commercialize its cutting-edge mobile and desktop trading tools. The initial receptivity from our industry-leading channel partners has been extremely positive and we look forward to significantly increasing our user base. Our performance-enhancing technology is ideally positioned to capitalize on the biggest growth trends in the industry," said Mr. Cardoso.

About QuantGate Systems Inc.

QuantGate System Inc. (OTCQB: QGSI) (www.quantgatesystems.com) is a fintech company that has developed a real time sentiment trading platform, powered by sophisticated artificial intelligence and complex big-data processing algorithms, that identifies trading opportunities across multiple asset classes and financial exchanges. The platform simplifies investment decision-making to enable all types of investors to trade with confidence and empower the financial institutions (that serves investors) with best-in-class trading products and solutions. Having commercialized this technology, mobile, desktop and API products are now available to both retail and institutional investors globally.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth above may include forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties. Words such as "may", "could", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "plan", and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statement are inherently uncertain and that actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements.

QuantGate Systems Inc. does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements and cautions investors to consider all other risks and uncertainties, including those disclosed in QuantGate filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72761

Rep. Song Young-gil of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office at the National Assembly, Seoul, Jan. 20. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Biden administration urged to take gradual approach to denuclearize North Korea



By Jung Da-min



Some international relations watchers here have expressed concerns that the issue of the denuclearization of North Korea and security issues of the region will be pushed back on the priority list of the new U.S. administration under President Joe Biden, who was inaugurated Jan. 20 (local time). This is because Biden has said he will focus on dealing with domestic issues such as uniting the divided American people and fight the COVID-19 pandemic first.



Rep. Song Young-gil, a five-term lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, however, said the denuclearization of North Korea is also a pressing matter for the United States when Pyongyang continues to develop nuclear weapons that could strike U.S. territory.



"The war between the Koreas is still ongoing and we are currently in an armistice, which means the security situation here is like a dormant volcano that could explode at any time," Song said during an interview with The Korea Times at his office at the National Assembly in Seoul, Jan. 20, hours before the inauguration of Biden. "Pyongyang seemed to have returned to its past byongjin policy, meaning a parallel development of its economy and nuclear weapons, on the occasion of the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea carried out earlier this month."



Song said North Korea showing off its development of nuclear weapons, such as submarine-launched and intercontinental ballistic missiles, at the party congress followed by a military parade showed that the denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang could return to their previous level before the three meetings between former U.S. President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong-un.



"As the North will not easily give up developing nuclear weapons unless the U.S. eliminates its concerns over security threats and economic sanctions, both Washington and Pyongyang will need to turn to salami tactics, a step-by-step approach striking small deals first."





U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's plans to respond to the economic crisis, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22 (local time). Reuters-Yonhap
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday virtually ruled out any plan for the division of the state, saying his government believes in uniting and not dividing. During the BSP rule with Mayawati at the helm, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had in 2011 passed a proposal for a four-way split of the state. The proposal was to divide Uttar Pradesh into Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh.

Adityanath on Monday said, The people of Uttar Pradesh are proud of their history and the state has its own importance in the country. We believe in uniting not dividing. He said the state government has given special attention on development of the states eastern parts and the Bundelkhand region. With an aim to usher economic development in these two regions, the BJP government has been building Purvanchal expressway and Bundelkhand expressway. The two expressways will become the backbones of development in these areas, the chief minister told reporters at his residence.

Adityanath claimed that the state government has created an investor-friendly environment in Uttar Pradesh, which has yielded positive results for the state. For ensuring inclusive development of the state, the BJP government has started one-district-one product scheme which is transforming the lives of the poor and the backward people in the state, he added.
A multi-million pound scheme set up to support apprentices during the Covid pandemic has been slammed for making "tiny progress" after it emerged less than 200 applications have been submitted - with just 32 payments processed.

Back in September, Economy Minister Diane Dodds announced she had secured an additional 17.2m from the Executive to bolster Northern Ireland's efforts tackling the effects of the pandemic, which was supplemented with additional funds from the department.

The Department for the Economy's Apprenticeship Recovery Package is made up of three initiatives, which benefitted from an extensive advertising campaign across TV, print, radio and social media.

A total of 12.5m was allocated to the Apprenticeship Recruitment Incentive, which was designed to encourage and support employers to create apprenticeships for both new apprentices and those who had been made redundant. It offers support of 3,000 to employers for each new role created between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

The scheme opened for applications on October 16. However, as of December 16, only 197 applications were made to the scheme. Of these applications, only 32 payments have been processed. These figures were released by the DfE in response to an Assembly question tabled by SDLP MLA Cara Hunter.

In a new statement issued on Monday to the Belfast Telegraph, a DfE spokesperson said a "significant number" of applications were deemed ineligible as they were submitted too early and the department is working with employers to rectify this. A total of 14.3m was also allocated to fund a Return, Retain and Result scheme, which offers up to 3,700 of support, per apprentice, to employers who return an apprentice from furlough and retain them until they have completed their apprenticeship. It opened for applications on December 1.

As of December 16, only 32 payments had been processed under the scheme across 44 applications. On Monday the DfE said that there have now been 80 successful applications and a further 150 applications are being processed.

Finally, the Challenge Fund was set up to "support innovative approaches and new collaborations" to increase apprenticeship opportunities in Northern Ireland. Successful applicants could receive one-off awards of up to 50,000. It opened for applications on September 28 and closed on October 23.

Some 13 projects out of 46 applications were successful, although no payments have been made as final activities and costs are still being agreed.

In response to the figures, Ms Hunter said: "The Covid pandemic has presented young people in education and training with a set of unprecedented challenges - stop/start schooling, bleak job prospects and employers unsure of their order books means that it was absolutely vital that funding for apprenticeships reaches the employers who need it.

"Months after her multi-million pound announcement, a tiny amount of progress has been made to support apprenticeships across the north."

Roger Pollen, head of the Federation of Small Businesses, said that, while the uptake is disappointing, it is not surprising, as many businesses do not consider it feasible or socially responsible to take on apprentices at this time given the wider public health situation.

A DfE spokesperson said the Economy Minister Diane Dodds is committed to supporting apprentices and a digital hardship fund has also been set up to also training providers to purchase equipment to support more than 1,000 disadvantaged young people undertaking vocational training in the non-statutory sector.
Toto Wolff has set an eleventh-hour deadline for the conclusion of contract negotiations with Lewis Hamilton.

Dr Helmut Marko is regarding the obviously troubled negotiations as a potential boost for Red Bull, telling RTL that he hopes the "unrest works in our favour".

"The lawyers are hard at work," Mercedes boss Wolff told ORF's Sport am Sonntag program.

He was speaking from Kitzbuhel, where he spent the last ten days in quarantine after testing positive for covid-19.

"No symptoms, thankfully," said the Austrian. "We're out of quarantine now."

As for the Hamilton talks, Wolff is setting a worryingly late deadline for their conclusion.

"We have to sign something at some point before Bahrain at the latest," he said.

Wolff insists that he is not making any serious threats in the negotiations, amid rumours George Russell is the obvious favourite to step in.

"In our long-term partnership it is never about any threatening gestures. I did threaten him that I am next in line for his seat," he joked.

"We will pull out the pen at some point. We have such a solid basis in our relationship and we want to continue to have more successes in the future."

(GMM)
"The OnQue Digital Standards System was developed with these challenges in mind to enable better standards integration into engineering workflows for product development, product performance and quality management." Frank Menchaca, chief growth officer, SAE

SAE International announced today the launch of the SAE OnQue Digital Standards System, a first-of-its-kind system that delivers SAEs expansive library of engineering standards digitally. As a trusted resource in engineering standards, SAE digitally delivers its expansive library of knowledge to aerospace engineers through the OnQue Digital Standards System to help simplify the product development process by helping maintain data integrity, reducing process complexity, and digitally connecting standards to the products and processes on which they are based.

The aerospace industry is rapidly evolving, and engineers are under constant pressure to innovate the products they design and develop safely, quickly and efficiently. The OnQue Digital Standards System was developed with these challenges in mind to enable better standards integration into engineering workflows for product development, product performance and quality management, stated Frank Menchaca, chief growth officer at SAE International. As a leading standards development organization with more than 8,000 aerospace and systems management standards published over the past century, SAE continues to partner with the industry to offer solutions that help make engineers jobs easier.

OnQue Digital Standards System is an intelligent solution that revolutionizes the delivery of standards while enhancing their utility. Using the systems digital interface, aerospace customers are able to:



Link and integrate industry standards to product definitions and development tools that support model-based engineering, systems engineering, digital twin and other applications requiring systems integration.

Support compliance with change management functionality including immediate notifications when standards have been updated or revised.

Rapidly discover relevant or comparable parts and materials, along with the associated SAE standard, based on design constraints through the cloud-based, interoperable engineering data system.

Prior to launching the OnQue Digital Standards System, SAE collaborated with a group of strategic development partners, including aerospace industry leaders. The industry partnerships helped create, refine and implement the solution, utilizing the industrial expertise of each organization to explore how to effectively integrate the system into practical engineering applications.

Added Audra Ziegenfuss, director of new product development & portfolio management at SAE International, Industry standards house many of the component and process requirements that are critical to all facets of the aerospace industry. As the world shifts to an increased reliance on digital tools, the formatting of digital standards, which have previously been delivered in PDF or EPUB, has now evolved to support digital thread initiatives through the OnQue Digital Standards System in a trusted format that supports data transfer.

Additionally, SAE partnered with Cognistx, an applied AI company, to process more than 3,000 documents that include specifications for aerospace parts and materials. Cognistxs work ensures engineers worldwide can easily search documents and quickly access information and tools to apply to their workstreams.

We are delighted to be the data and AI partners with SAE for the digital standards product, said Sanjay Chopra, co-founder and CEO of Cognistx. The partnership allows us to use our AI expertise and apply it to digital standards across industries, specifically as we serve SAEs aerospace customers.

To learn more about the SAE OnQue Digital Standards System or to request a product demo, visit: http://www.sae.org/onque-digital-standards.

About SAE International

SAE International is a global association committed to advancing mobility knowledge and solutions for the benefit of humanity. By engaging nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers, we connect and educate mobility professionals to enable safe, clean, and accessible mobility solutions. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. We strive for a better world through the work of our philanthropic SAE Foundation, including award-winning programs like A World In Motion and the Collegiate Design Series. More at http://www.sae.org.

About Cognistx

Founded in 2015, Cognistx is a Pittsburgh-based applied AI company founded by Carnegie Mellon University academics. The company builds multi-strategy AI systems for clients across the U.S. Cognistx creates AI-powered computer systems that can sense, learn, and act. Its founders are pioneers in automatic question-answering, speech processing, computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), and applied machine learning. Cognistx efficiently combines and customizes advanced technologies  its AI building blocks  to create applications that extract meaningful insights to produce measurable impact for its clients. Visit http://www.cognistx.com.
A Congolese family heads to a new life in France, Cape Town International Airport, South Africa, March 2017.  UNHCR/James Oatway

Despite an estimated 1.44 million refugees in urgent need of resettlement globally, only 22,770 were resettled through UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, last year. This is according to annual statistics released by the agency today.

These are the lowest refugee resettlement numbers the agency has witnessed in almost two decades. The drop stems from low quotas put forward by states, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed departures and programmes.

We can only hope that 2020 will be an extreme anomaly for refugee resettlement. We urgently call on governments to boost their programmes this year, offer more places, expedite the processing of cases and help us save lives of those most in need and at greatest risk, said UNHCRs Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs.

Last year was an extremely challenging one for people across the globe, but even more so for so many refugees who are already living on the margins, struggling to survive.

Though the pandemic greatly impacted the numbers of refugees able to be resettled in 2020, UNHCR is encouraged by the fact that 20 countries still resumed their programmes, processing and receiving refugees throughout the year. Many of these implemented innovative and flexible ways to process cases throughout the pandemic.

We have seen that refugee resettlement can be managed, even during a global health emergency, as long as there are proper and adequate health and safety protocols in place, said Triggs.

The largest numbers of resettled refugees in 2020 originated from Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar.

With 85 per cent of the 20.4 million refugees under UNHCRs mandate hosted in developing regions, resettlement is a tangible way in which states can better protect refugees, demonstrate solidarity and support host countries. Facilitated family reunion, as well as labour and education pathways are other opportunities for refugees that countries can support.

These are key objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees, and envisaged in a three-year resettlement and complementary pathways strategy launched by governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society and UNHCR.

The fact is that as long as wars and conflict continue, displacement remains protracted, and the least-resourced countries are left with the extremely disproportionate burden of hosting the majority of the worlds refugees, we need other countries to step up, Triggs said.

More information on UNHCRs resettlement data for 2020 is available here, and UNHCRs Global Resettlement Data Portal, with statistics since 2003, can be accessed here.



For more information, please contact:
Indonesia says it has seized an Iranian tanker and Panamanian vessel suspected of illegally transferring oil in the Southeast Asian nation's waters.

Iran had previously been accused of trying to conceal its oil sales by disabling tracking systems on its tankers as it seeks to counter crippling U.S. sanctions.

The Indonesian Maritime Security Agency said on January 25 that the crude oil supertankers -- Iranian-flagged MT Horse and Panamanian-flagged MT Freya -- were seized the previous day off Kalimantan Province and will go to Batam island in Riau Island Province for further investigation.

The crew had failed to display the vessels' national flags, turned off their identification systems, and did not respond to radio calls, agency spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said.

Wisnu told Reuters that the ships were "caught red-handed" transferring oil from MT Horse to MT Freya when they were discovered by the Indonesian authorities.

He said that 61 crew members from both vessels were detained.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference that Tehran has asked Indonesian authorities to provide details about the seizure.

Both the tankers are capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil. MT Horse is owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company, while MT Freya is managed by the Shanghai Future Ship Management Co.

The two companies did not immediately comment on the seizure of the ships.

In 2018, then President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from an international nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, arguing that the 2015 accord did not go far enough, and started reimposing sanctions on Iran in a bid to force Tehran to negotiate a new agreement.

In response, Iran has gradually breached parts of the pact, which eased international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program, saying it is no longer bound by it.

Last week, U.S. President Joe Bidens secretary of state nominee said the new administration would seek a longer and stronger nuclear agreement with Iran.

However, Antony Blinken also said Washington is a long way from reaching a new accord with Tehran, echoing comments made earlier in the day by Bidens pick to lead the nations spy bureaucracy, Avril Haines.

Blinken was speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing on January 19, on the eve of Bidens inauguration.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  The Department of the Interior and Local Government wants to review its own agreement with the University of the Philippines.

This was confirmed by DILG spokesperson Jonathan Malaya in an interview with CNN Philippines Monday.

"We supported the abrogation of the agreement with the Department of National Defense. Pero yung sa amin naman po, we are taking the path of dialogue with the University of the Philippines administration. So nagpadala po ng sulat ang aming officer-in-charge Usec. Bernardo Florece (Jr.) kay UP President Danilo Concepcion para pag-usapan muli at rerepasuhuin yung agreement between UP and DILG," he told Newsroom Ngayon.

[Translation: We supported the abrogation of the agreement with the Department of National Defense. But we are taking the path of dialogue with the University of the Philippines administration. Usec. Bernardo Florece sent a letter to UP President Danilo Concepcion so we can again discuss and review the agreement between UP and DILG.]

"Bakit po ganon ang aming approach? Una po ay lumaki na po ang UP, marami nang informal settlers na nakapasok, meron na pong commercial areas na bukas sa ating publiko  yung Technohub, yung UP Ayala Town Center na nasa loob ng UP property. So ito pong mga ito have to be discussed with the University of the Philippines para po masiguro ang seguridad ng estudyante at publiko sa loob ng campus," Malaya added.

[Translation: What's the reason behind our approach? First, UP has expanded. There are many informal settlers inside UP property, as well as commercial areas that are open to the public like Technohub and UP Ayala Town Center. So these will have to be discussed with the University of the Philippines to ensure security for students and the public inside the UP campus.]

The 1992 agreement was signed by then Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan and UP President Jose Abueva after Republic Act No. 6975 placed the police from the DND to the DILG.

It bars the police from entering the university without the approval of school officials.

Malaya said they raised a number of concerns in the letter sent to Concepcion.

"We mentioned, number one, the peace and order situation in campus, the reports of rising crime in the informal sector areas of the UP campus where informal settlers live. Kasama na rin po yung aming concern din over the continued recruitment of front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines inside the University of the Philippines campuses," he said.

[Translation: We mentioned, number one, the peace and order situation in campus, the reports of rising crime in the informal sector areas inside the UP campus where informal settlers live. Along with that is our concern over the continued recruitment of front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines inside the University of the Philippines campuses.]

Malaya said the meeting with UP would take place this week but did not give a definite date.

Earlier, the DND ended its agreement with UP that barred the military and police from entering its campuses without notifying university officials.

This move was denounced by various groups, lawmakers, and even Vice President Leni Robredo. Concepcion has since urged Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to reconsider his decision and revoke the abrogation. << >>

READ: Lorenzana open to dialogue with UP but wants answers
This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.

Astead W. Herndon wasnt surprised when Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for the 2016 election. He had barely graduated college when he attended one of Trumps earliest rallies as a reporting intern for the Boston Globe. He talked to rallygoers, and saw firsthand how Trump encouraged a supporter who suggested that Barack Obama was a secret Muslim. A few years later, he became a national political reporter for the New York Times, where he continued to cover Trump rallies. In a phone conversation just after Trump left office, we talked about why his being with the Times didnt dissuade many Trump supporters from talking to him, how being a freshman reporter gave him an advantage, and the biggest challenge facing reporters in the Biden era. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Aymann Ismail: Back in 2015, you had just graduated college and were at the Boston Globe, and you were reporting on one of Trumps earliest rallies, the one in New Hampshire, and interviewed a handful of his earliest supporters. What do you remember from that time?

Astead Herndon: I remember going to that rally in New Hampshire and it was still in that kind of Trump Twilight Zone. I think there was a real belief among punditocracy that this couldnt last, that this was a kind of a sideshow that was happening among fringes of the Republican Party. I remember being really challenged by the whole tone of the event. Seeing Donald Trump in person, I was shocked that he was a real figure. Hed existed in my head as this pop culture thing for so long. For most of those early months, the media was still shedding the celebrity Donald Trump and realizing the real political movement that was happening. I think it was a failure of imagination from political media to really believe that nativism was where the base of the party was. Birtherism had political salience with the Republican base. Once you talk to Republicans, youd realize that was true. Some folks found it immoral. They thought it was inherently politically unpopular, and that was just a distinction that I really think blinded a lot of people to where that train was obviously headed.

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At the New Hampshire rally I went to initially, it was the one where someone had asked the question about Barack Obama being a secret Muslim, and having training camps throughout the country. I put that in my original piece from this rally and it was cut out. It was cut out as kind of like sensational. Honestly, Im not even trying to sell out the Globe. I love the Globe. Im just saying this because its indicative of the time. Then, the next day, Trump is dominating cable newspeople were comparing it to when McCain shot down the same question. But originally, it was cut out of the story. I just think that there was a belief that the stuff was fringe and that frankly highlighting it was worse than acknowledging it.

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So your first experience with political reporting was covering Trump. Thats wild.

I think that one thing about being a reporter forged in the Trump fire is that I dont have much of the sheen of the this cant happen here stuff. I dont think I have much of the deference to the political norms that have guided reporting for a long time. My personal opinion is that Trump has largely been consistent on the things that he has cared about since the day he came down that escalator. The chaos has been consistent in how hes gone about it, too. And so if you were to reorient yourself into recognizing the forces that were motivating him, I dont think anythings actually been all that surprising. I think these four years were a kind of a manifestation of what he promised to bring upon the country. So, in that way, I dont see the last four years as this journalistic anomaly that will never be replicated again. I think that it is one piece of what is a larger conflict in America. And I think that a risk is that a Biden administration that is better at norms, that is better at the kind of baseline stuff that people have come to get outraged about, will blind people to the forces that led to Trump in the first place.

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If you could, would you change anything about the way that you wrote about Trump, especially in the beginning?

I went to Trump rallies and I wrote about Trump from a base level. I wrote about white grievance in the Republican Party. I wrote about conspiracies and violence. And I think that those things have held up. What would I have done differently? I think that that first year and a half, there could have been much more grounding, rather than feigning shock at every tweet. The real inadequacy of writing about Trump is when you write from the top down. What I liked about the last two years was I think theres been an increasing willingness to write about Trump from the bottom uphow it was affecting people, rather than who he is as an individual leader. I think there was too much top down for too long, and I include myself in this. I think it took some folks until coronavirus to really think about how Trump impacted everyday people. And we could have more clearly communicated that for the Muslim ban, for Hurricane Maria, etc. There was too much written about Trumps disorganization, his unwillingness to deal with facts, his unwillingness to constitute the mechanics of government, and not enough about the consequences of his actions.

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I think theres a lot of legitimate palace intrigue with Trump, who is a unique figure. That wrapped up political reporting in a Washington-centric, individual-centric mode. And so when I talk about bottom-up Trump reporting, Im talking about how supporters, how communities, how people are changing because of politics, and then affecting the political scene. I am not talking about individual actors in Washington and what they say and what they do as being a real central thing. So I think in the first year and a half, he had a lot of focus on D.C. Then theres all of these things that have happened, there was a big racial justice movement last year, there was this huge pandemic that changed our day-to-day lives, which I think have made the last two years really focused on bottom-up, or regular folks, and then how the changes among those people were coming to Washington. And I think that that is actually really valuable.

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So Trump talked a lot about the New York Times. He called it the Failing New York Times. He would try to convince his supporters that it was falling apart, that the newspaper was losing subscribers, hemorrhaging money. And he made the Times a target. In the middle of all that, in 2018, you accepted a job there as a national politics reporter. That was around the same time Cesar Sayoc, the Trump super fan, mailed pipe bombs to some of Trumps opponents. Did you hesitate at all before accepting a job there?

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No. I think The New York Times is the best day-to-day news outlet in the world. And I dont think that anything Donald Trump says changes that. What Trump says about The New York Times is somewhat annoying. But, one, its not true. Two, as someone who goes to his rallies and talks to his supporters, it sometimes comes up, but usually theyll talk. It does require some building of trust, but I dont think thats any different than when I used to work at the Globe and go to Black and brown communities and try to get them to trust us when media had done horrible things to their communities for a long time. And so, I think that the process of gaining peoples trust and having them tell their story is one thats universal. On the right, theres an intentional disinformation and misinformation machine about the media, and about specifically the Times. But I think that some of the work weve done in the last two or three years is a testament to how you can still go to those places, get those people to talk, and get those people to be explicit. As a Black person who works at The New York Times, I can show up to Trump rallies in St. Cloud, where theyre trying to ban Somali immigrants, and see rally after rally with both the same explicit language and their support of Trump.

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The Times did catch a lot of flack for saying racially charged instead of just saying racist. Do you have a stance now on that as it relates to Trump?

The use of euphemisms to talk about race exists throughout the industry at large, and at the Times, its been eradicated. I know that we have guidance in our building now not to use that stuff, partly because people like me and others were saying that one, its not clear, and two, it just tells you, the reader, that they wont say the word racist. We have standards about when we use racist, mostly for individual actions or rhetoric, rather than a person. But I got to be honest with you, I dont think its that big of a deal. My stories very rarely use the word racist. And I actually dont think you need that moniker to do the work of reporting about, and writing about, even folks who are using what we would call a racist language. I used it in one spot because the guy said the N-word, right? Thats racist. I used nativist when they were talking about banning immigrants. But I think that I have found that this question over-represents the importance of the word. You can write in ways that clearly communicate to readers what this is, and you actually dont need the description. What you should not do is use those descriptors that are bad and unhelpful, like racially charged and the rest of them. Avoid those, and write in a way that clearly communicates with folks what is necessary. I actually dont think the individual moniker of racist is the most important thing.

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One thing Ive been thinking about a lot is how Trump changed me as a journalist. One thing that Ive noticed on my end was there was more interest in my work on Trumpworld and my point of view, because Im a journalist of color. And I wonder if you experienced something like the same. Did you feel any special significance to your work as a person-of-color journalist, or did you feel like maybe you had a special responsibility at all during the Trump era?

I feel that weight and responsibility, but its not because of Donald Trump. Its that our communities deserve truthful and accurate reporting. And that is what I feel a responsibility toward. I dont consider being a person of color journalist as being oppositional to Trump. I think of being a Black journalist as being pro-truth, pro-accountability and succeeding the tradition of Black journalists who have pushed the industry on what that looks like. Also, racism isnt true. Its false. And so as a journalist, its worth it to me to expose it as false, not as spite toward any one political actor. Trump certainly has changed the landscape, but my commitment to reporting does not change in a Biden era, because its not like a more norm-abiding president has any monopoly on facts. It obviously changes how were going to work, but my commitment to journalism will ground me much more than any type of resistance.

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I guess I feel a little out of place at Slate because I didnt go to journalism school. I didnt go to an Ivy League college, and I sometimes feel like an imposter, or an affirmative action hire. Like they needed a Muslim guy, and I got lucky. Do you ever feel that way at the New York Times?

I think that is a reflection on the institutions that have taken too long to change. But whether I would be here without Trump or not, Im here. And youre here. And so lets do the work for the communities who deserve accurate reporting. I dont think that we can rid ourselves of other peoples perception about us, because thats how under-representation functions. Thats how power replicates itself. It requires minimizing the work of people of color and Black journalists and the value that they add to these organizations.

Man, that was very uplifting. How do you think your approach to your reporting will change during the Biden administration?

I think we need to retrain ourselves. And I think readers do too. This is going to be an administration that clears the very low bar of norms and guard rails that the Republicans blew up, right? Its not going to be Sean Spicer in that room. Its not going to be nonstop tweets and whatever. But there will be tension in the Biden reality, and thats going to be in the substance. I think we have to retrain readers to care about substance. And thats what I expect from my work. Im not in Washington, and I dont plan on spending much time there. I spent inauguration in Charlottesville. I think that for the next four years, reporters will be finding stories that speak to the moment but are not the literal moment. And well see how it goes, and adjust if we need to.

This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Opposition lawmaker Edmon Marukyan from the LHK party, who is a member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe (PACE), is raising awareness on the Armenian prisoners of war of the 2020 Artsakh War who are still in Azeri custody, in an attempt to make the international community exert pressure on Azerbaijan to release them.

He released a video from the PACE winter sitting from Strasbourg, showing himself displaying a Freedom To The Armenian Prisoners of War Kept In Azerbaijan sign before the session began.

We started the PACE session by raising our voice of protest and demanding to exert international pressure upon Azerbaijan with the demand of immediately releasing the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives, Marukyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
The organizer of the murder of the head of the internal security department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) offered $50,000 for the crime, the crime was planned in collusion with several persons, and the criminal proceedings themselves are neither "showdowns" nor the redistribution of spheres of influence, the SBU says.

At a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday, head of the Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the SBU Anatoliy Bulich said that the arrest of one of the SBU officers caused a great resonance in society.

"Criminal proceedings are not some sort of showdown between SBU officers, but is a direct warning of the commission of a grave crime. The case is not about some ephemeral redistribution of spheres of influence or financial flows, as they write in the media," he said.

"Yesterday, on January 22 ... SBU conducted a high-profile arrest ... An employee of the anti-terrorist center under the SBU was detained for preparing a murder on order of another SBU employee, an employee of the SBU's main internal security department, Andriy Naumov," said the head of the investigation department.

According to Bulich, the issue of choosing a preventive measure for the detainee is currently being decided.

"The collection of data has been taking place for a long time ... The investigators of the SBU established that there was a conspiracy of several persons, they developed a clear plan for committing a crime, the organizer was looking for an executor for this and offered $50,000 for the execution of this crime," Bulich said.

Bulich clarified: "Yesterday, the SBU detained one of the organizers during the transfer of part of the funds. It was payment for the preparation of the crime."

According to the head of the investigation department, the information that someone allegedly escaped in handcuffs from the place of detention is not true. "It is obvious that different forces are trying to use this situation to their advantage, create a fake soap bubble, trying to tie the President of Ukraine to this story," he added.

"If there is a crime, we must respond to it ... In this case, the SBU acted on prevention ... We did the main thing - to prevent the commission of a crime," Bulich said.

In turn, head of the department of the Prosecutor General's Office Andriy Lysokobylka added: "At present, the actions of the detained person are qualified under Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 28 and Article 348 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer), the investigator, in agreement with the prosecutor announced suspicion to the specified person."

The punishment provided by law under these articles is imprisonment for a term of nine to 15 years or life imprisonment.

Also, the SBU reported that today Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court has chosen a preventive measure for the suspect - detention without the possibility of posting a bail. The pretrial investigation continues.

Vladimir Putin has denied that a palace on the Black Sea belongs to him, after arch-rival Alexei Navalny accused him of owning it in an anti-corruption investigation.

'Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did,' Putin said during a video call with students on Monday.

The Russian president spoke out after a weekend that saw thousands take to the streets in protests that Navalny - who is currently serving a 30-day jail sentence - had called for, with one of his allies urging further demonstrations on Monday.

Meanwhile Russia angrily accused Facebook and other US tech giants of failing to remove what it called fake information about the demonstrations at the weekend.

Vladimir Putin has been forced to deny owning a mega-palace on Russia's Black Sea coast after Alexei Navalny accused him of building it with cash embezzled from the Russian state

Navalny released a lengthy investigation on his return to Russia which was filled with details about the palace (pictured) including floor plans and details of the interior

Russia's foreign ministry said it will be investigating the matter further, teeing up an early spat between the country and the new Biden administration.

Speaking about Navalny's investigation into the palace - which was released alongside an hour-long video outlining evidence that points to Putin as the owner - the Russian leader said he had not 'watched it in full'.

This was due to a 'shortage of time,' he said, before adding that he 'flicked through video selections that my aides brought me.'

He also denounced protests that took place at the weekend as 'illegal and dangerous'.

As he spoke Leonid Volkov, the head of the opposition politician's regional network, called on Twitter for Russians across the country to take to the streets on January 31 'for Navalny's freedom, for freedom for all, and for justice'.

Putin has been under pressure in recent months amid high-profile leaks of information about his health and private life, now compounded by the return to Russia of arch-rival Navalny.

The charismatic 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner had been in Germany recovering from what western governments said was an attempted assassination using Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.

Putin also denounced protests which took place in Russia at the weekend as 'illegal and dangerous', even as allies of Navalny called for them to continue

Law enforcement officers clash with participants during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow

Navalny accuses Putin of ordering his death at the hands of an FSB hit-squad. Russian denies the allegations.

Upon arrival back in Russia, Navalny was immediately arrested by Russia's prison service and marched into a trial, where a judge ordered him to be detained for 30 days on suspicion of violating the terms of an early suspended sentence.

Navalny is then due to face a second trial on those charges, where he could be jailed for another three-and-a-half years.

As he was marched off to jail, Navalny used social media to call for mass protests across the country which took place at the weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters took part in demonstrations across 70 cities on Saturday in a show of defiance against Putin.

His wife Yulia Navalnaya, 44, was among around 3,400 people detained by officers. She posted a selfie following her arrest, captioned: 'Apologies for the poor quality. Very bad light in the police van.'

Demonstrators were dragged off by riot officers to police buses and detention trucks, while some activists were beaten with police batons.

The 44-year-old politician was recently poisoned with chemical nerve agent Novichok and has been jailed in Russia

Authorities eventually pushed protesters out of Moscow's Pushkin Square, but thousands then regrouped along a wide boulevard about half a mile away, many of them throwing snowballs at the police before dispersing.

The violent scenes from police drew condemnation from both the United States and the European Union, whose foreign policy chief said he deplored the 'widespread arrests' and the 'disproportionate use of force'.

Similarly, the United States called on Russian authorities to release protesters and journalists detained, and condemned what it called 'harsh tactics' used against them.

Throughout the day and into the early hours of Sunday morning, people were seen holding signs that read 'Russia will be free' and chanting 'Putin is a thief.'

Some then marched towards the Kremlin, while others blocked Tverskaya Street, the capital's main thoroughfare.

Reuters reporters estimated at least 40,000 people had gathered in central Moscow for one of the biggest unauthorised rallies for years, but authorities claimed a mere 4,000 people had shown up.

'The United States strongly condemns the use of harsh tactics against protesters and journalists this weekend in cities throughout Russia,' State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

People march during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in St.Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a post on Twitter that he deplored the authorities 'disproportionate use of force', while Britain's foreign minister, Dominic Raab, condemned the 'use of violence against peaceful protesters and journalists'.

Navalny being taken into custody and the arrests of his supporters were 'troubling indications of further restrictions on civil society and fundamental freedoms,' he added.

'We call on Russian authorities to release all those detained for exercising their universal rights and for the immediate and unconditional release of Aleksey Navalny,' Price said, using an alternative spelling.

'We urge Russia to fully cooperate with the international community's investigation into the poisoning of Aleksey Navalny and credibly explain the use of a chemical weapon on its soil.'

Among the other revelations that Putin has faced, were an expose on a former mistress and the revelation that he has a 17-year-old love-child with her - a daughter named Elizaveta.

Allegations - denied by the Kremlin - also surfaced that Putin is suffering from Parkinson's and is being treated for cancer.
New Delhi:

President of Markazi Chand Committee Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali on Sunday said that Eid will be celebrated on Monday in India. Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari has also confirmed that Eid will be celebrated across country on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE have celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr on Sunday to mark the culmination of fasting and holy month of Ramzan.

"Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated tomorrow as the Eid moon was sighted in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Uttar Pradesh today," Bukhari said.

Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims who abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.

Eid-ul-Fitr depends on the sighting of the moon and its celebration varies in different countries.



In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, the celebrations for Ramadan started a day later than other countries and so the Eid's moon in these countries will be seen a day later than the other countries.

Also Read: PM Narendra Modi greets nation on occasion of Eid

On the day of Eid-ul-Fitr, morning prayers are said and people pay family visits and celebrate with feasts. Muslims greet each other by saying 'Eid Mubarak'



Eid-ul-Fitr, which means 'festival of breaking the fast', marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramzan.

President of Markazi Chand Committee.

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro is hosting a media briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 9 a.m. EST to discuss the renewal of a partnership between the city and NASA to better understand and monitor natural hazards.

NASA signed the original five-year agreement with Rio de Janeiro in 2015. Over the next five years, NASA and Rio de Janeiro team members plan to jointly improve situational awareness and response efforts during environmental crises and the propagation of science throughout local schools and the general public.

The teleconference participants are:

Lawrence Friedl , Director of the Applied Sciences Program within NASA's Earth Science Division

, Director of the Applied Sciences Program within NASA's Earth Science Division Eduardo Paes , Mayor of the City of Rio de Janeiro

, Mayor of the Todd Chapman , U.S. Ambassador to Brazil

, U.S. Ambassador to Felipe Mandarino , Instituto Pereira Passos, Prefeitura da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

, Instituto Pereira Passos, Prefeitura da Cidade do Dalia Kirschbaum , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The U.S. consulate is hosting the teleconference via Zoom. Media may RSVP to join the teleconference by emailing [email protected].

For more information about NASA's Earth science programs, visit www.nasa.gov/earth

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


President Joe Biden has announced travellers from South Africa are barred from entering the United States as a new coronavirus variant surges through the country.

Additionally, the president has extended restrictions that targets travellers from Ireland, the UK, and 26 countries in Europe. These restrictions were expected to expire on Thursday due to a proclamation signed by former President Donald Trump prior to him leaving office, but Mr Biden has since overturned that proclamation.

With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants spreading, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel, said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, during Mondays press briefing. "Beginning tomorrow, international travellers to the US must provide proof of a negative test within three days of travel to airlines prior to departure."

Restrictions on 26 countries in Europe have been in place since mid-March. Brazil was added to the list in May.

Now South Africa has been added to the growing list.

We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDCs principal deputy director, in an interview with Reuters on Sunday.

Under the ban, most non-US citizens who have been to the countries in the last 14 days are barred from entering the United States. Some exceptions are in place for specific travellers.

For US travellers, they will be required to provide a negative Covid-19 test from within 72 hours prior to travel from any of the above countries. But most Americans are not allowed to currently enter some countries in Europe like Spain, Germany, France, and Italy due to those countries requirements.

Also all international travellers ages two years or older from any country will be required to provide a Covid-19 test within three days prior to travel to enter the US, according to a CDC order that will take effect on Tuesday.

Airlines asked the CDC to extend temporary travel waivers to people travelling from a country with limited testing, but the health agency reportedly denied the request.

Some health experts have raised concern that the South African variant, also known as the 501Y.V2 variant, could impact how effective the coronavirus vaccines will be against Covid-19. The variant, not yet detected in the US, was found to be 50 per cent more infectious and already was detected in at least 20 other countries.

The UK variant, which has been detected in the US, was revealed to likely be deadlier than other variants from the novel virus. But current vaccines have thus far appeared to be effective against the UK variant.

CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky also revealed that the health agency could sign a separate order on Monday that would require travellers on all planes, trains, ferries, busses, taxis, and other ride-sharing vehicles to wear a mask if they are two years of age or older, according to Reuters.
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DHAKA : Bangladesh on Monday received the first consignment of the 5 million doses of Covishield vaccines from India under a procurement agreement, four days after New Delhi gifted 2 million doses of the vaccine to Dhaka.

A special Air India flight carrying the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine co-manufactured by Serum Institute of India reached the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport earlier in the day to be initially stored at a warehouse of private Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd ahead of their planned countrywide distribution.

Bangladesh has so far purchased 30 million doses from the Serum Institute of India through private Beximco pharmaceuticals under a tripartite agreement.

The vaccines are being transported to Beximco warehouses in Tongi on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka in special freezer vans, Beximco Pharma's managing director Nazmul Hassan told reporters after receiving the consignment at the airport.

Health officials said the government experts would check the vaccine samples to see if any temperature fluctuation affected their efficacy and the expiry dates.

"Beximco Pharma will send the vaccines to civil surgeons at all of the 64 (administrative) districts after obtaining certificates from the Drug Administration," a health ministry statement said.

Bangladesh is expected to get 50 lakh of vaccines every month from India in the coming months, Health minister Zahid Maleque said earlier. Bangladesh will start the nationwide COVID-19 vaccine distribution from early February.

Officials say they have formed 7,344 distribution teams comprising six health workers while about 42,000 health workers are being trained. Bangladesh has reported more than 532,000 coronavirus cases so far with over 8,000 deaths.

India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines.

In the last few days, India has sent consignments of domestically produced coronavirus vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius and Seychelles.

It is also undertaking commercial supplies of the doses to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco.

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Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu participated on Monday in a meeting of the European Union heads of diplomacy that touched on a strategy for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to countries outside the EU, the Navaly case and recent protests in Russia, transatlantic relations, recent developments in Turkey, the Gulf region, Hong Kong, Venezuela, the EU-Egypt relationship, according to Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE).

The foreign ministers also addressed climate diplomacy and EU-UK relations in the field of foreign and security policy in an informal lunch discussion.

Aurescu also made a presentation of the recent developments in the establishment and hosting by Romania of the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre (E-ARC).At the same time, the heads of European diplomacy had an informal exchange of views with the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Toshimitsu Motegi.According to the MAE, Aurescu reiterated support for the creation of a mechanism to support neighbouring countries in procuring COVID vaccines, emphasising the importance of solidarity, as well as the fact that the EU's health security depends on that of the extended region. He also underscored the need for the EU to support partner countries in the field of strategic communication to combat misinformation about pandemic control and COVID vaccination.Regarding the Navalny case, the Romanian official condemned his arrest again and joined the other European foreign ministers who demanded his release as soon as possible. He referred to the very recent "undemocratic" actions of the Russian authorities to repress freedom of expression and peaceful protests. Aurescu reiterated the need for a uniform, principled and coordinated approach of the EU dialogue with Russia, which entails that any contacts of European officials with the Russian authorities must be prepared thoroughly, transparently and in accordance with the interests and principles of the common European policy.Regarding transatlantic relations, Aurescu expressed Romania's strong support for the EU's goal of deepening coordination and dialogue with the United States.In a conversation with the Japanese foreign minister, he welcomed Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision and voiced agreement with its goals of a rules-based international order, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Aurescu expressed Romania's support for a strategic EU approach for the Indo-Pacific region developed in synergy with partners with shared interests, such as the US, Japan, Australia, India and ASEAN.He pointed out that achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and achieving tangible results at this year's COP 26 meeting requires coherent European action coordinated with the efforts of partner countries and depends fundamentally on capitalising on international partnerships with major strategic allies, as well as on co-operation with other developing countries. He also reiterated the importance of the US decision to return as a party to the Paris Agreement.He also underscored that the EU's approach must be realistic and adjusted for the specific individual contexts of third countries, including those in the Eastern Partnership, in particular as regards the calibration of the EU reform and rule of law expectations, on the one hand, and those in the areas of energy and climate transition, on the other hand.Aurescu unveiled Romania's initiative on the establishment and hosting of the Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre (E-ARC) in Bucharest. In the first stage, it will operate as a national institution under the authority of MAE, and it will be open to the participation of other EU member states, NATO or partner countries wishing to join the initiative, to coordinate the actions and good practices of all relevant actors.At the informal lunch, the head of Romanian diplomacy welcomed the first exchange of views on the future framework of the EU-UK co-operation on foreign and security policy, underlining the need for in-depth internal reflection with the constant involvement of the EU foreign ministers."At the same time, he emphasised that it would be the UK's option to call for a formal framework for co-operation in this area. Bogdan Aurescu said there were already a number of areas where both the EU and the UK had common policy interests and objectives. He also showed that the United Kingdom remains a major partner of the EU's, in which relationship the EU must preserve a uniform approach and co-operation in the field of foreign and security policy. He emphasised that it would be important not to have variable or even competing formats that could affect the coherence of the European Union's co-operation with the United Kingdom in relevant foreign and security policy areas," MAE also points out.
Parents too afraid to oppose critical race theory in schools, says activist

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Critical race theory has infiltrated Christian private schools and parents arent speaking up because theyre afraid, said one education activist.

Elana Yaron Fishbein started an organization called No Left Turn in Education to help parents take the lead in the education of their children and to show people who oppose critical race theory that they have allies. Among its slogans is education, not indoctrination. In only a few months since its beginning in August 2020, her Facebook group grew dramatically. Today, her group has chapters in 18 states.

Many parents say how can you be against it (CRT)? until you open it and see whats in it. Its the exact opposite [of what it says,] said Fishbein to The Christian Post.

Fishbeins own courage in fighting critical race theory comes from her Jewish faith background, she said.

Originally from Israel, she noted, Its Jews, more than any other group in the history of the world, who have suffered from racism and the consequences of racism. Am I going to sit down and watch what theyre doing, turning this country into a racist country? Blaming all the whites for being racist and privileged? As an Israeli, I know if I dont stand up and fight, well be gone.

She sounded the alarm that both public and private schools have begun teaching CRT as well as comprehensive sexual education, which instead of encouraging abstinence, focuses on normalizing sex outside of marriage and encourages confused kids to question whether they are male or female.

Critical race theory has varied definitions. Oxford Reference notes: CRT regards the privileged position occupied by mostly White, middle-class academics as a major obstacle to a comprehensive exposure of the racism that is seen to permeate the law, its rules, concepts, and institutions.

Conservative website Pulpit & Pen argues that CRT is dangerous in that it is fundamentally opposed to the American Civil Rights Movement, as it does not advocate for treating people equally but rather that the law may actually need to [be] biased in favor of minority identity groups to redistribute power. Race is the defining feature of human identity, Pulpit & Pen states, and every person is part of either an oppressor race that holds power, or an oppressed race that oppressors abuse.

Fishbein argued, They attach to critical race theory a lot of beautiful names, but they mean the opposite. Of course, we are anti-racist. Of course, we are for diversity. But they mean the opposite.

Churches and Christian schools are teaching children how to classify each other by race and see color instead of character, she said.

Its not only being taught in public schools but its very, very pervasive in Catholic schools, Episcopalian schools, charter schools, were getting a lot of references from most private schools, she maintained.

The majority of private schools are in bed with all this too. It is very common even in religious schools and in a lot of churches. A lot of synagogues have gone totally woke.

In Missouri, a student filed a lawsuit alleging that her Catholic school tried to force her to lie that she was racist. A Nevada charter school forced students to identify themselves as members of a race. A public school in California told children to rank themselves by privilege in the classroom. Some of the elements that defined privilege was whether someone was white and a Christian.

These incidents aren't isolated. According to The Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy Director Lindsey Burke, many of America's 14,000 public school boards are embracing CRT. One key driver of this educational change is The New York Times's 1619 Project, which promotes the ideology.

"More than 4,500 classrooms around the country have begun to incorporate the 1619 Project curricular materials into their content," she said.

Burke and her colleagues specifically asked school board members and families across the country about the 1619 Project and 50% of all parents and 70% of school board members said that they do not want schools to use the instructional materials rooted in the idea that slavery is the center of the national narrative. Likewise, 70% of parents and 74% of school board members believe that slavery is a tragedy that harmed the nation but freedom and prosperity represent who Americans are.

Their data showed that only 25% of parents and 17% of school board members believe that students should be taught that the founding ideals of liberty and equality were false when they were written and that U.S. history must thus be reframed.

Fishbein believes that critical race theory often goes unopposed because its opponents feel too afraid to fight it. She often meets people who dont tell even their close friends that they oppose the ideology.

One woman she met had a close friend who would host sleepovers with her children. For years, she felt too afraid to say she opposed CRT developments at the school their children attended. When she finally spoke up to her friend, her friend agreed with her and said that she also had felt too afraid to share her real beliefs.

When Fishbein first objected to CRT at her own school, parents werent willing to stand with her. Several people loudly condemned her, she said.

The lynching was public, but the support was private, she said. I was really concerned about the people being afraid to talk. People say they are 100% with me and they agree, but theyre afraid to talk. It blew my mind. How in this country with First Amendment rights people are afraid to talk?

Fishbein encouraged parents to run for school boards, form networks, and use resources on No Left Turn in Education's website to fight back against the teaching of CRT.

"The school board dictates the curriculum," she said. "Do you care about your kids, do you care about your family, do you care about your nation? You have to start getting involved."


Two women on a motorcycle were killed after running a red light and crashing into a tipper truck in the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen on Sunday, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

The accident took place at the intersection of National Highway No. 38B and Provincial Highway No. 386 in Tran Cao Town, according to preliminary information.

Bui Thi Thao, 27, was carrying Thai Thi Nguyen, 52, on a motorbike when she ran a red light at the intersection and slammed into the side of the tipper truck driven by 51-year-old Doan Ngoc Thang.

Thao was killed on the spot, while Nguyen succumbed to her serious injuries at the hospital.

Both the motorcycle and truck were severely damaged.

According to eyewitnesses and CCTV footage, Thang was driving his truck at a normal speed.

Meanwhile, Thao was riding her motorbike at very high speed despite the red light.

Police officers have probed the crash site and carried out an autopsy to support their investigation.

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CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Darktrace, the world's leading cyber AI company, today launched Version 5 of its autonomous, self-learning Darktrace Immune System for general availability, empowering organizations to embrace the advantages of the cloud, while protecting against novel cyber-threats.

Powered by self-learning Cyber AI, the Darktrace Immune System works by learning the normal 'pattern of life' of an organization, and can interrupt in-progress attacks across today's digital infrastructure, including the cloud, email, and home office environments.

Version 5 of the Darktrace Immune System represents a fundamental upgrade for Darktrace customers, and includes:

Autonomous Response for Software as a Service (SaaS) Tools

Darktrace Antigena can take real-time action to stop in-progress attacks to cloud and SaaS tools, including Microsoft 365 and Zoom

Darktrace Antigena can take real-time action to stop in-progress attacks to cloud and SaaS tools, including Microsoft 365 and Zoom Human-triggered, Automated Threat Investigations

Cyber AI Analyst delivers automated investigations across cloud, SaaS and ICS environments, and can be triggered by humans, or third-party security tools

Cyber AI Analyst delivers automated investigations across cloud, SaaS and ICS environments, and can be triggered by humans, or third-party security tools SaaS Threat Visualization

New, intuitive visualization console for oversight of SaaS-based threats, seamlessly harmonized with other interface views

New, intuitive visualization console for oversight of SaaS-based threats, seamlessly harmonized with other interface views 100% Protection of Dynamic Workforce

New Client Sensors extend Darktrace's visibility and cyber protection to all remote workers, on clients on or off VPN

New Client Sensors extend Darktrace's visibility and cyber protection to all remote workers, on clients on or off VPN Cloud-Native Delivery  Darktrace's flexible delivery options include 100% cloud-hosted deployments, with AWS Marketplace

"Darktrace Version 5 has pushed the platform forward in ways that truly align with our business risks and security needs. We've been able to expand coverage of our dispersed workforce and take advantage of an autonomous platform that really does the work for us," says Mark Herridge, CISO, Calligo. "The new capabilities in Cyber AI Analyst have added real value to my team, especially the ability to launch on-demand investigations and query SaaS data or suspicious devices at any time. The AI Analyst is sophisticated, but the intelligence it gives us is clear and actionable  even my newest and most inexperienced starters can use and learn from it on day one."

"Today, organizations are faced with the challenge of balancing the risk of decentralized working with the opportunity for digital transformation," says Dave Palmer, Chief Product Officer, Darktrace. "As employees pivoted to new, flexible ways of working so did attackers, and signature-based security provides no protection against the novel threats that are emerging. Innovations including dynamic workforce protection, cloud-native delivery, and Autonomous Response for SaaS extend the Darktrace Immune System to interrupt threats wherever they strike."

Read more about the Darktrace Immune System Version 5 on the Darktrace blog. To hear from leading industry speakers and learn more about these new product innovations, register now for the Darktrace Cyber AI Forum.

About Darktrace

Darktrace is the world's leading cyber AI company and the creator of Autonomous Response technology. It provides comprehensive, enterprise-wide cyber defense to over 4,000 organizations worldwide, protecting the cloud, email, IoT, traditional networks, endpoints and industrial systems.

A self-learning technology, Darktrace AI autonomously detects, investigates and responds to advanced cyber-threats, including insider threat, remote working risks, ransomware, data loss and supply chain vulnerabilities.

The company has 1,300 employees and 44 office locations, with headquarters in Cambridge, UK and San Francisco. Every 3 seconds, Darktrace AI fights back against a cyber-threat, preventing it from causing damage.

Media Contacts

Amy Longo

Edelman (US)

+1 (646) 912 3210

[email protected]

Nikhol Hui

Brands2Life (UK)

+44 (0) 7908 714 331

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Aliya Anwar

Golin

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SOURCE Darktrace

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Amarinder Singh, Yogi Adityanath in war of words after Punjab govt declares Malerkotla as district

Uttar Pradesh government to take help of religious leaders to spread awareness against dumping bodies

COVID-19: Uttar Pradesh CM plans to vaccinate all parents ahead of third wave of coronavirus

We believe in uniting, not dividing: CM Yogi Adityanath on dividing Uttar Pradesh into 4 parts

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

Lucknow, Jan 25: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday rejected any plan for the state's division, and said that his government believes in uniting and not dividing.

On November 21, 2011, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had passed a proposal to split the state into four parts - Purvanchal (21 districts), Bundelkhand (7 districts), Awadh Pradesh (21 districts) and Paschim Pradesh (26 districts).

It can be seen that the proposal was passed when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati was the chief minister of the state.

BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik most popular CM in his own state: 'India Today survey

On Monday, Yogi Adityanath said, "The people of Uttar Pradesh are proud of their history and the state has its own importance in the country. We believe in uniting not dividing."

He added that the UP government has given special attention to the development of the state's Bundelkhand region and eastern parts.

Explained: What awards are given to the recipients on Republic Day?

"With an aim to usher economic development in these two regions, the BJP government has been building Purvanchal expressway and Bundelkhand expressway. The two expressways will become the backbones of development in these areas," the CM said while speaking with the media at his residence.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister further claimed that the state government has created an investor-friendly environment in the state, which has yielded positive results for the State.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

He added that the BJP government has begun one-district-one product scheme which is changing the lives of the poor and the backward people in Uttar Pradesh.

When Mayawati reiterated her demand of dividing Uttar Pradesh into four parts in 2013, the Samajwadi Party, BJP, and Congress had dismissed the idea.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 14:24 [IST]
Herreid Legion to remember 400 Campbell County area veterans Monday

The Herreid American Legion and the Sons of the American Legion work together to recognize veterans on Memorial Day.
The operations at two human rights organizations in Kazakhstan have been suspended and they may face closure amid a crackdown on rights groups in the Central Asian state.

The head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule Of Law (KMBPCh), Yevgeny Zhovtis, told RFE/RL that tax officials in Almaty ruled on January 25 to suspend the group's activities for three months and ordered it to pay 2 million tenges ($4,700) in fines, citing "financial irregularities."

According to Zhovtis, the officials did not give a detailed explanation for the action.

"We will appeal the decision in court, but if the decision is politically motivated there is not much hope for us," Zhovtis said.

Amangeldy Shormanbekov, chief of another group, the International Rights Initiative, told RFE/RL that tax authorities in Almaty had also suspended his organization's activities for three months and ordered it to pay the same fine as KMBPCh.

"This is a political order, persecution. It looks like the authorities do not want us to have links with the UN, OSCE, the European Union member states. They want to keep our mouths' shut so that nobody in the country can talk to international structures," Shormanbekov said, adding that his organization faced a full shutdown if the decision is upheld in court.

The two groups are the latest of more than a dozen of nongovernmental organizations that have faced inspections by tax authorities across the country since November 2019.

Rights groups say the inspections and restrictive decisions have intensified in recent weeks.

RFE/RL has officially asked tax authorities to explain the situation but has yet to receive an answer.

The organizations facing pressure are involved in monitoring elections, defending human and civil rights, and promoting the rule of law.

Last week, Human Rights Watch said in a statement that alleged financial-reporting violations cast "serious doubt" that Kazakhstan's leadership is working on improving its human rights record.
Thousands of armed Houthis and their supporters protested in Sanaa's old city on Monday to condemn a decision by the US State Department to designate the Houthi group as a "terrorist organization.

Militants and supporters of the Iranian-backed rebels marched carrying banners condemning the US move, which took effect on January 19, just hours before former US President Donald Trump left the White House.

The Houthis have controlled the capital, Sanaa, and large areas of Yemen since 2014, and have been fighting daily battles against forces loyal to the internationally-recognized government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition since March 2015.

The classification is expected to hinder many dealings with the Houthis, including financial transfers and payments for medical staff, food, and fuel, for fear of being subject to US sanctions.

The US move prompted the U.N. secretary-general and other humanitarian officials to urge Washington to reverse the designation to prevent massive famine and death in Yemen.

Twenty-two aid groups working on Yemen Sunday called for the designation to be revoked immediately, warning about potentially catastrophic humanitarian impact.

Yemen is in the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

The war has killed more than 112,000 people and wrecked the countrys roads, hospitals, water and electricity networks, as well as other infrastructure.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)

"We did not get the opportunity to sacrifice everything for the country's freedom, but we have definitely been given the opportunity to give our best. Whatever good we can do for the country, we should do to strengthen India," he said.While addressing the participants of the parade, which included dancers, NCC cadets and several others, PM Modi also said, "When you march along Rajpath with passion and zeal, every countryman is filled with enthusiasm. Your glimpses of the country's rich art, culture, tradition and heritage, every Indian raises their head with pride.""During the preparations for Republic Day, you must have realized how diverse our country is. Many languages, many dialects and different foods, but India is one. The Republic Day Parade salutes our country's great socio-cultural heritage strength and the Constitution on which the world's biggest democracy functions," he said.Several artists and dancers performed for the Prime Minister in colourful attires and vibrant dances ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi. (ANI)
Ombudsman Mineyeva to ask Moscow Mayor to extend support for businesses

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

12:57 25/01/2021

MOSCOW, January 25 (RAPSI)  A proposal to extend support measures for entrepreneurs will be submitted to the Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin in a report of the citys business ombudsman Tatiana Mineyeva.

The report includes about 100 initiatives waiting for the opinion of public organizations. The ombudsman is going to meet with them and discuss the proposals; and then the report including all backed requests will be forwarded to the Mayor, Mineyeva told journalists on Monday.

According to Mineyeva, entrepreneurs ask to extend support measures adopted in 2020.

She also reported tha the number of applications filed by businessmen in 2020 increased threefold as compared to 2019. This increase is surely related with the coronavirus outbreak. The complaints contain questions about protection and saving of business after the pandemic, the Moscow business ombudsman stated.

Last year, Mineyeva received 5,294 complaints, including 103 applications touching criminal matters, 39 are related the pandemic support measures and 400 other written complaints, as well as 1,651 oral applications.
Ahafo Ano North Constituency NPP has presented a Citation of appreciation to Director General of NADMO, Hon. Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh in honor of his contributions to the Constituency in the just ended 2020 elections.



The Presentation was done by the Member of Parliament, Hon. Adamu Sulemana Sanid in the company of the Constituency Chairman Mr. Owusu Asante and other constituency officers.



Hon. Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh has been a former Presiding Member of the Ahafo Ano North District Assembly and later DCE for the same Assembly.



He later served as Ashanti Regional President for NALAG.



Hon. Agyemang-Prempeh at all times used his opportunity in offices to advance the interest of the New Patriotic Party and the general well-being of all Ghanaians.



In the just-ended election, as Chairman of the Ashanti Regional Taskforce on Registration, Hon. Agyemang-Prempeh ensured a smooth registration exercise leading to a successful election outcome.



In the Ahafo Ano North constituency, he contributed heavily as he has always done since 1996, it is in this regard that the Member of Parliament and Constituency executives have honored him.

Source: peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 22:47:49|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Zambian government official said on Monday that the government has not yet approved any COVID-19 vaccines to be administered to people.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary in Charge of Technical Services Kennedy Malama said it was only the cabinet that would consider and approve the vaccine and its deployment mechanism.

"The Ministry of Health would like to reiterate that while the sector continues to participate in global, regional and country technical discussions on the COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment, cabinet is yet to sit, consider and approve the vaccine and its deployment mechanism," he said in a statement.

He added that only the health ministry will now be issuing statements on the vaccine and urged other government departments not to issue any statements until the cabinet makes a decision.

On Sunday, Zambia's Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU) Emmanuel Mwamba revealed that the continental body has allocated Zambia 8.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines under an initiative it was pioneering.

The COVID-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team has been created by the continental body to ensure that 60 percent of Africa's population was vaccinated against the coronavirus by December 2021. Enditem
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. The popularity of genetic and ancestry services like Ancestry.com and 23andMe attests that people care about where their ancestors originated. The underlying assumption is that the geography of ones forebears affects ones genes today.

Historically, scientists have found that geography is the biggest driver behind the genetic diversity of a population. Now, new research from Purdue University indicates that while that may be true for European countries, it is not true for all other parts of the world  especially places like India, where language and social systems have strongly affected how and where people live. The model the researchers developed to analyze Indias population genetics will allow other researchers to analyze populations where genetics are not as closely tied to geography. Understanding the genetics of human populations helps scientists understand the history of human movement and cultures, and paves the way to understanding human health and susceptibility to disease.

Peristera Paschou, a population geneticist and associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue, studies human genetic variation all around the world and led the study with Petros Drineas, associate head of Purdues Department of Computer Science.

Our genome carries the signature of our ancestors, and the genetic structure of modern populations has been shaped by the forces of evolution. What we are looking for is what led different groups of people to come together and what drove them apart. Paschou said. To understand the genetics of human populations, we created a model that allows us to consider jointly many different factors that may have shaped genetics. Interdisciplinary research bringing together genetics and computer science was key to our work, as well as analyzing a comprehensive dataset that represents the diversity of the Indian subcontinent.

Many population analyses mostly rely on datasets from European-ancestry individuals living in Europe or North America; genomic data for populations from other parts of the world is lacking. The data from European samples showed that genetics correlates very closely with geography: If you know someones genetics, you can guess where they are from, to within a few kilometers in some cases, and if you know where someones ancestors came from, you have a close approximation of their genetic makeup.

Aritra Bose earned his doctorate at Purdue in both data science and genetics. Reading studies about how European genomes map onto geography, Bose, who was born and raised in Calcutta, thought, Huh. That wouldnt work in India. India is home to more than 800 languages as well as a millennia-old caste system that regulates who can marry  and have children with  whom.

I read these papers, and I thought, How can I use this concept in a stratified population like India? Bose said. I grew up there, I have an understanding of the castes and the languages, and the intricacies of the society that can affect genetics.

Former studies of the Indian population had shown that the European model of population genetics and geography failed in trying to explain Indian population genetics. Bose wondered if he could come up with a model that would take into account other factors affecting the Indian population, including the caste system, culture and language.

The model, and the conclusions the team of geneticists and data scientists reached using it, were just published in a study in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. Their study revealed that shared language, not geography, is the most powerful force in shaping gene flow in India.

Developing the model was not easy. Early on, Bose hit a roadblock with some of his equations and mentioned the problem to his mentor at IBM Research, where he was an intern at the time. Working with both his doctoral advisors and several computer scientists from IBM Research, the team was able to craft a robust, flexible model.

Drineas, one of Boses doctoral advisers, said: I was intrigued by the interplay between genetics and socio-demographic factors in shaping the population structure of the Indian continent. It was exciting to see that our model detected spoken language as a major force in bringing people together in India, across geographic and social barriers. We were fortunate to have Aritra Bose, our former doctoral student (jointly advised with professor Paschou) work on this project, since he has extensive background in both the algorithmic and the human genetic sides of our research, as well the expertise to interpret our findings in the context of human genetic diversity within India.

The resulting model, the first to be able to take into account so many different variables, has been highly successful at analyzing the genetics of the Indian population, giving scientists a lens into how the Indian people moved into India and how various groups of people commingled. People who speak the same language  or even similar languages  tended to be much more closely related, even if they lived far apart geographically.

It sheds light on how genetics work in our society, Bose said. This is the first model that can take into account social, cultural, environmental and linguistic factors that shape the gene flow of populations. It helps us to understand what factors contribute to the genetic puzzle that is India. It disentangles the puzzle.

The data helps place India in context with the rest of the globe genetically. Indians who spoke Indo-European and Dravidian languages were more closely tied to Europeans, while Indians who speak Tibeto-Burman languages were more closely related to East Asians.

This type of interdisciplinary research, pairing data science with population genetics, and this model in particular, will help researchers understand the genetics of the human world, especially non-European countries with rich histories of diversity and migrations.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

Writer, Media contact: Brittany Steff, 765-494-7833, bsteff@purdue.edu

Sources: Aritra Bose, abose@ibm.com

Peristera Paschou, ppaschou@purdue.edu

Petros Drineas, pdrineas@purdu.edu

Journalists visiting campus : Journalists should follow Protect Purdue protocols and the following guidelines:

Campus is open, but the number of people in spaces may be limited. We will be as accommodating as possible, but you may be asked to step out or report from another location.

To enable access, particularly to campus buildings, we recommend you contact the Purdue News Service media contact listed on the release to let them know the nature of the visit and where you will be visiting. A News Service representative can facilitate safe access and may escort you on campus.

Correctly wear face masks inside any campus building, and correctly wear face masks outdoors when social distancing of at least six feet is not possible.

ABSTRACT

Integrating linguistics, social structure, and geography to model genetic diversity within India

Aritra Bose, Daniel E. Platt, Laxmi Parida, Petros Drineas, and Peristera Paschou

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa321

India represents an intricate tapestry of population substructure shaped by geography, language, culture and social stratification. While geography closely correlates with genetic structure in other parts of the world, the strict endogamy imposed by the Indian caste system and the large number of spoken languages add further levels of complexity to understand Indian population structure. To date, no study has attempted to model and evaluate how these factors have interacted to shape the patterns of genetic diversity within India. We merged all publicly available data from the Indian subcontinent into a dataset of 891 individuals from 90 well-defined groups. Bringing together geography, genetics and demographic factors, we developed COGG (Correlation Optimization of Genetics and Geodemographics) to build a model that explains the observed population genetic substructure. We show that shared language along with social structure have been the most powerful forces in creating paths of gene flow in the subcontinent. Furthermore, we discover the ethnic groups that best capture the diverse genetic substructure using a ridge leverage score statistic. Integrating data from India with a dataset of additional 1,323 individuals from 50 Eurasian populations we find that Indo-European and Dravidian speakers of India show shared genetic drift with Europeans, whereas the Tibeto-Burman speaking tribal groups have maximum shared genetic drift with East Asians.
MILFORD  A public hearing will be held on a proposal to convert the historic Baldwin House into a mixed-use development that will include three dozen apartments.

The Planning and Zoning Board voted unanimously to hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 via Zoom on the proposal to restore the home at 37 Prospect St. and convert the space into 36 apartments, office space and a fitness center.

I am hearing a lot of people upset about this, I think they do need to at least have a say, board member Jim Kader said.

City attorneys Jonathan Berchem and Debra Kelly noted a public hearing was neither required nor prohibited by the citys zoning regulations, and the boards review of the application is limited to whether the plan complies with the application regulations.

The two also wrote to City Planner David Sulkis to note that the application calls for a mixed-use development in the Milford Center Design District (MCDD) zone  a use specifically permitted under Section 3.21.1.8 of the Milford Zoning Regulations.

Opening the discussion about the public hearing at the PZBs recent meeting, board Chairman Jim Quish said he viewed the Prospect Street project as having a similar scope and impact as the Smith Funeral Home property.

The board recently approved a mixed-use project at the former funeral home, located at 125-135 Broad St., after a public hearing Sept. 1.

The board offered Attorney Thomas Lynch, representing the developer, a choice to have his presentation at the Jan. 19 or Feb. 2 meeting. Lynch said he would wait until the Feb. 2 meeting to present. He said the application was being presented as a site plan and is zoning compliant.

We look forward to presenting this to you as part of a settlement with the City of Milford to save the Baldwin House, Lynch said.

Patrick Rose, of Rose Tiso and Company, is applying for a coastal area site plan review for the project on behalf of the owner, 67 Prospect Street LLC. Zoning regulations require 1,000 square feet of land for each one bedroom or efficiency unit, which means a project of this density is permitted in the zone.

The three-story apartment building would have grade level parking underneath and includes 36 single-bedroom apartments on the next two floors. This is a reduction from the 44 units proposed in 2017 for the 0.98-acre lot. The property would have 58 parking spaces, of which 32 spaces would be under the building.

As part of a legal settlement with the city, the owners paid for a ground-penetrating radar investigation on Aug. 20, 2020. The investigation concluded that there were no anomalous radar reflection patterns consistent with unmarked graves. Local historians had thought the citys first burying ground was in the backyard, meaning that a number of Milfords founders could be buried on the property. However, the radar survey settled that question.

The owners also agreed to recreate and restore a bronze plaque and stone, previously located next to the Baldwin House driveway, at or near its former location.

Finally, they agreed to restore the exterior building systems on the Baldwin House to wood or replaced with wood before any Certificate of Occupancy is granted for any portion of the apartment building or site.

The Milford Historic Preservation Commission agreed to issue a Certificate of Appropriateness, to allow the house renovation to take place. The first floor of the Baldwin House would have 1,285 square feet of office space. The second floor would have a fitness center for use by the apartment dwellers.

David L. Baldwin constructed the house in 1835. Baldwin served as Milford town clerk for 27 years and clerk of probate for 12 years. The property was part of the home lot of the Rev. Peter Prudden (1601-1656), leader of the Hertfordshire Group that founded Milford in 1639, and first pastor of the First United Church of Christ.

The LLC lists Christina Smyth, of New York, along with Michael Tarantino, of Milford, and Daniel Boynton, of Milford, as its members. Boynton and Smyth purchased the property for $455,000 on July 20, 2015.

When the Inland Wetlands Agency approved the wetlands portion of the project at its Dec. 20, 2017 meeting, seven residents spoke in opposition, based on their concerns of how the project might affect neighboring properties with regard to stormwater flow.

The project needed wetlands approval because the property is located within 150 feet of wetlands or watercourses within the Wepawaug River watershed.
Italian consumer association Altroconsumo said on Monday it had told Apple it has launched a class action against the U.S. tech giant for the practice of planned obsolescence.

In a statement published today Altroconsumo said it was asking for damages of 60 million euros (US$73 million) on behalf of Italian consumers tricked by the practice which had also been recognized by Italian authorities.

Altroconsumo said the lawsuit covers owners of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus, sales of which in Italy totaled some 1 million phones between 2014 and 2020.

Apple said in an email that it had never done anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.

Similar lawsuits against Apple have been filed in Belgium, Portugal and Spain for the planned obsolescence of iPhones. While the EU has technically "endorsed" a class action mechanism covering all of Europe, it'll take up to two years before it becomes law.

Altroconsumo's website states that they now have to wait for the Judge of the Court of Milan to declare their class action admissible. For more, read the full press release here.






The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance initiated negotiations with Azerbaijans Food Safety Agency on January 26, according to the service.

The parties will discuss the situation related to the supply of tomatoes from Azerbaijan to Russia.

Earlier the federal service has revealed new cases of detecting tomato moth, which is a quarantine object for the Eurasian Economic Unions member states.

The pest was detected on products of 5 Azerbaijani enterprises, supplies of which to Russia were allowed on the basis of the conducted phytosanitary monitoring results.
US President Biden to reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions

Photo courtesy: Facebook/Joe Biden

United States President Joe Biden is set to formally reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-US travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries.

This is a reversal of an order passed by President Donald Trump in his last few days in office which called for relaxation of travel restrictions starting Tuesday. According to reports, President Biden is likely to add South Africa to the restricted list as well due to fears of the new COVID-19 variant prevalent in the country.

While the South Africa variant has not been discovered in the United States yet, the UK variant has been found in many states.

Last week, President Biden had issued an executive order directing federal agencies to require international air travelers to quarantine upon arrival in the US and all US-bound passengers ages 2 and above are now required to have a negative COVID-19 test result, obtained within three days before travelling.
SPRINGFIELD  MGM Springfield plans to return to 24-hour operations on Friday, Jan. 29, following Gov. Charlie Bakers relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.

The daily hours of operation at MGM Springfield have been from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. during the pandemic.

Despite the longer hours, occupancy on the casino gaming floor will remain capped at 25%.

Casino amenities will reopen over time, but there is limited services at present. There is no hotel, movie theater nor spa. Food service is limited, with Chandler Steakhouse open only from 4 to 9:15 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Under the easing of restrictions announced by Baker on Thursday, businesses no longer must close by 9:30 p.m., though they still cannot exceed 25% capacity. That restriction will stay in place for at least another two weeks.

Baker noted hospitalizations had decreased by 10 percent since peaking in early January, and the average positive test rate had fallen by 33 percent during the same time period. Those improvements gave the administration confidence to ease restrictions.

MGM Springfield has instituted a seven-point safety plan, which includes employee health checks, mask requirements, social distancing, enhanced sanitation and air quality controls.

The states other two resort casino properties  Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park  will open for 24-hour operations on Wednesday, according to a statement from those properties.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission usually meets as state regulations for business operating hours and capacity change to set specific rules for the states casinos, race tracks and off-track betting operations. There is no meeting on the Commissions schedule.

Business at MGM Springfield and the other two resort casinos rebounded in December, generating about $50 million in gross gaming revenue in December 2020.

The three casinos reported about $45 million in gross gambling revenue for the month of November.

The occupancy limit itself hasnt been a problem, state regulators have said. With crowds even on the busiest days with promotions not reaching 25%.

Related content:

Louisiana motorists filing car accident lawsuits will encounter tougher rules to win damage awards, under a new law championed by the states business lobby that took effect Jan. 1, a law that backers hope will lower the states hefty insurance premiums.

HB 57, sponsored by Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder and the most high-profile of two dozen statutes that took effect with the new year, is aimed at reducing the amount of money people can receive from insurance companies and businesses in crash lawsuits.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, the majority-GOP Legislature and businesses lobbyists struck a deal on the civil litigation changes in a June special session but set the start date for Jan. 1., 2021.

Supporters, including many Republicans elected with business backing, said the tort reform effort will lower insurance rates, which are among the highest in the United States. They sought to not only shrink the number of lawsuits filed after car wrecks, but also to make it harder for those lawsuits to be successful and any damages awarded less lucrative.

Business lobbying groups said the changes would help discourage frivolous lawsuits and promises of big payouts, arguing that frequent litigation is damaging business retention and recruitment in Louisiana.

Opponents, which included lawyers and some Democratic lawmakers, called the civil litigation changes a giveaway to business that will keep people from getting money needed to cover medical bills and could increase costs for court operations  with no legislative requirement that insurers have to lower rates for drivers.

The changes will force jury trials more frequently, so that lawyers have to argue damage claims to more people than a single judge; allow information about whether someone was wearing a seatbelt as evidence; limit the mentions of insurance coverage during a trial; cap certain medical expenses for which damages can be awarded, except in medical malpractice cases or in lawsuits against government agencies.

On June 12, 2020, Edwards vetoed a bill by Republican Sen. Kirk Talbot  SB 418  that passed in last years regular session, saying he rejected it because the bill didnt contain a commitment to would lower auto insurance rates.

HB 57, which passed on June 30 during the special session, contains several provisions of the earlier bill.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Auto Louisiana
A Harris County judge on Monday dismissed a theft charge against a doctor accused of stealing nine doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine he said would otherwise go to waste.

County Court-At-Law Judge Franklin Bynum criticized Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg for attempting to prosecute Dr. Hasan Gokal and said the single misdemeanor charge of theft by a public servant lacked probable cause.

In the number of words usually taken to describe an allegation of retail shoplifting, the State attempts, for the first time, to criminalize a doctors documented administration of vaccine doses during a public health emergency, Bynum wrote in his order, adding the prosecutors affidavit was riddled with sloppiness and errors.

Ogg spokesman Dane Schiller said prosecutors will still pursue the case.

Judge Bynums gratuitous observations call into question his fairness and impartiality; we anticipate presenting all the evidence in the matter to a grand jury, Schiller said.

Gokal, who worked for Harris County Public Health, was supervising a vaccine distribution site on Dec. 29, when an opened vial of Moderna doses was left over at the end of the day, around 6:30 p.m. Since the doses would expire within six hours, Gokal through his attorney said that he offered the vaccine to health workers and police on site, but they declined or already had been inoculated.

Gokal said he called a supervisor at the health department, who knew of no available patients. He then used contacts in his cellphone and administered about nine doses off-site to eligible recipients: elderly residents or those with certain medical conditions. Unable to find any other recipient, Gokal said he gave the final dose to his chronically ill wife after 11 p.m.

Gokal said he entered all of the recipients into the states database the following day, as required. He was fired Jan. 8 when Harris County Public Health leaders determined he had violated policy by taking doses away from a vaccination site.

In a news release last week, Ogg accused Gokal of stealing doses to give to his family and friends. Gokals lawyer, Paul Doyle, alleged the health department fired the doctor to deflect attention away from a mismanaged vaccine rollout.

The government has an interest in ensuring doctors follow procedures in distributing vaccines, said Valerie Gutmann Koch, co-director of the University of Houston Law Centers Health Law and Policy Institue. Those rules, however, must be clear and transparent.

Its very difficult not to feel sympathetic to the physician, and all the various steps he took in order to ensure the vaccine got into as many arms as possible, Koch said.

The health department has yet to respond to a Chronicle request for its vaccine distribution protocols. A spokeswoman did not respond to a request Monday for comment on the dismissal of the case.

Doyle said Gokal is preparing to sue Harris County for wrongful termination.

An apology by Harris County Public Health and the Harris County District Attorneys Office toward Dr. Gokal and his family will not be enough, Doyle said. The agency disparaged this good public servants name and took away his employment without cause.

Gokal, an emergency room physician, began working for Harris County last April.

zach.despart@chron.com
A French court will open a hearing on a lawsuit filed by Vietnamese-French Tran Thi To Nga against 14 multinational companies for producing and selling chemical toxins that was sprayed by the US army in the war in Vietnam,

causing serious consequences for the community, her children and herself.

Mr. Lai Van Bien in Vu Thu district, Thai Binh province are caring for his sons affected by Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin (Photo: VNA)

Nga, born in 1942, filed the lawsuit in May 2014. Among the companies named in her suit, there were such names as Monsanto (now under the German group Bayer) and Dow Chemical.

With the support of several non-governmental organizations, Nga accused the companies of causing lasting harm to the health of her, her children and countless others, as well as destroying the environment.

"I am fighting for not only myself, but also my children and millions of victims, Nga stated.

Tran To Nga graduated from a Hanoi university in 1966 and became a war correspondent of the Liberation News Agency, now the Vietnam News Agency. She worked in some of the most heavily AO/Dioxin affected areas in southern Vietnam such as Cu Chi, Ben Cat and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ultimately experiencing contamination effects herself.

Among her three children, the first child died of heart defects and the second suffers from a blood disease.

In 2009, Nga, who contracted a number of acute diseases, appeared as a witness at the Court of Public Opinion in Paris, France against the US chemical companies.

On April 16, 2015, the Crown Court of Evry city in the suburb of Paris held the first hearing on the case, but since then, lawyers of the sued chemical companies tried every way to prolong the procedures.

As scheduled, the trial was supposed to be opened in October 2020, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From 1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides44 million litres of which were AO, containing nearly 370 kilograms of dioxinover southern Vietnam.

As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical. Many of the victims have died, while millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemicals effects./. VNA

AO/dioxin still causes sufferings for generations of Vietnamese: German daily Fifty years ago the US stopped spraying Agent Orange (AO) through Vietnam, however, people still suffer from severe hereditary defects to this day, wrote a recent article published by German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau (FR).
A former Transportation Security Administration agent who was accused of coercing a traveler into exposing her breasts as she went through security at Los Angeles International Airport has been sentenced to 60 days in county jail.

Johnathon Lomeli, 23, pleaded no contest on Friday to a felony count of false imprisonment. His sentence also includes 52 court-mandated classes addressing sexual compulsion and two years of probation.

Lomeli was additionally barred from ever working as a security guard.

Former TSA agent Johnathon Lomeli, 23, has pleaded no contest to a felony count of false imprisonment after being accused of tricking a traveler into showing her breasts (stock image)

'We all have the right to be treated with dignity and respect in all places. And no one is entitled to use a position of power to violate those rights,' Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. 'Why can't some men absorb that simple truth? This is 2021, not 1921. Today, Johnathon Lomeli learned this the hard way.'

Lomeli was arrested in February 2020 and charged with using fraud or deceit to falsely imprison the woman in June 2019.

The woman told investigators that Lomeli told her he had to look inside her bra to ensure she wasn't hiding anything, had her hold her pants away from her waist for a check, and then said he would take her to a private room for further security screening, prosecutors said.

But when they were alone on an elevator, Lomeli told the woman he could perform the screening there and ordered her to lift her shirt and show her 'full breasts,' then looked down her pants, she said.

The incident took place at Los Angeles International Airport in June 2019 as the victim went through security

Lomeli then told the woman she was free to go and added that she had nice breasts, authorities said.

'There is no excuse for this kind of alleged behavior,' Becerra said in a statement at thr time of Lomeli's arrest. 'its not okay on the street, its not okay in our schools, and its certainly not welcome at the airport.'

The TSA said that the former agent's conduct was 'unacceptable and an affront to the hardworking and committed members of our workforce.'

Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Mexico on Monday agreed to acquire 24 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said after talking with President Vladimir Putin.

Lopez Obrador, who himself announced on Sunday that he had COVID-19, said on Twitter that he thanked Putin "for the decision to send us 24 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine."

The shotnamed after the Soviet-era satellitehas faced criticism because it was registered before large-scale clinical trials.

It has yet to be approved by Mexico's health regulator.

Its developers have said Sputnik V is more than 90 percent effective, and Russia has already launched a vaccination campaign using the shot.

Mexico's coronavirus czar Hugo Lopez-Gatell travelled to Argentina, one of a number of other countries already using the vaccine, earlier this month to learn about its experience.

Mexico has officially registered more than 1.7 million coronavirus cases and nearly 150,000 deathsthe world's fourth-highest fatality toll after the United States, Brazil and India.

The country began mass immunization on December 24 using the vaccine developed by US drugs giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, but it is constrained by limited supply.

It has also authorized the shot developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, and has struck a deal to produce the vaccine in collaboration with Argentina.

A first shipment of the active ingredient arrived from Argentina last week and the vaccine is expected to be available for use in Mexico in March.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 AFP
J&K: Pilot dead as Army chopper crash-lands in Kathua, another injured

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Jammu, Jan 25: An advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv of the Indian Army made a crash-landing in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district on Monday, killing a pilot and injuring another, officials said.

The chopper, which was coming from Pathankot, was forced to make a crash-landing in an Army area in the Lakhanpur belt of the district, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kathua Shailendra Mishra told PTI.

Two pilots of the helicopter were injured in the incident, he said, adding that they were rushed to a military base hospital.

A defence spokesperson confirmed the incident and said further details are awaited.

India-China LAC talks 'positive', consensus on early disengagement, says Army

According to sources, the helicopter was on a routine operational mission and a technical snag is suspected to be the reason for the crash.

A utility helicopter, Dhruv has been designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and has been inducted all three defence services besides other operators. It also has an armed version.

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Story first published: Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 0:54 [IST]

After four years with no DOTUS, we now have two.

Meet Champ and Major, President Joe Bidens German shepherds.

The Dogs of the United States, or first dogs, are also a historic first in that Major, adopted by the Bidens in 2018, is the first shelter dog to live with a president in the White House.

Majors previous home, the Delaware Humane Association, hosted an Indoguration for the first dog last week.

Former President Donald Trump and family did not have pets during his term, so Champ and Major are the first pets since Obama family dogs Bo and Sunny (Portuguese water dogs) to occupy the White House.

Champ and Major have joined us in the White House!  pic.twitter.com/R035YnavVo  Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) January 25, 2021

First lady Jill Biden shared photos of Champ and Majors arrival Sunday. The Bidens wanted to get settled in before welcoming them to their new home.

The office of the first lady said Champ, 12, who lived with Biden when he was vice president, was making himself at home in a dog bed by the fireplace. Major, 2, has taken to running across the South Lawn.

Champ's #MondayThoughts mainly involve bacun.



- Major 



 @dcclphoto - Former WH photographer for hooman @POTUS when he was @VP44 pic.twitter.com/jNaxs4vafv  The First Dogs of the United States (@TheFirstDogs) January 25, 2021

A COTUS  Cat of the United States  could also be on the way.

The cat is going to dominate the internet whenever the cat is announced and wherever that cat is found, White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently said in a video posted to Twitter.

Social media welcomed the dog development with open arms and belly rubs.

Paw to paw

And heart to heart

Were now with our parents

No longer apart

Champ and Major Biden #DOTUS pic.twitter.com/8f1RPbZNtQ  The Oval Pawffice  (@TheOvalPawffice) January 25, 2021

The Oval Pawffice Twitter fan account and website is dedicated to Champ, Major and Winstons activities. So is @TheFirstDogs, which utilizes doggo speak. Example: Our hoomans, @potus and @flotus are heccin awesome.

When Trump took office, it had been more than 100 years since a president lived in the White House without a pet.

 Were enjoying our arrival at the White House. Major is still a bit high energy, despite all of todays excitement - which would normally render any pup exhausted. Truth is, were both hyped to finally be here. Awooof! Champ & Major Biden #DOTUS pic.twitter.com/0ltfGHkYod  The Oval Pawffice  (@TheOvalPawffice) January 25, 2021

I wouldnt mind having one, honestly, but I dont have any time, he said at a 2019 rally. How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?

The former president said getting a dog would feel a little phony to him.

Before and after the dogs arrival, people shared photos of their own shelter dogs, rescue dogs and dogs in general to welcome Champ and Major.

Jake, being told that our new President has TWO dogs.#indoguration



Welcome and congratulations, Champ and Major! pic.twitter.com/JhjVjeisuk  JMCole (@drjoelcole) January 17, 2021

Nanuq and Little are happy to see Champ and Major in the White House. #Indoguration pic.twitter.com/WBkUFauPuv  Linda Childers (@lindarchilders) January 17, 2021

WELCOME TO THE WHITE HOUSE CHAMP AND MAJOR BIDEN  pic.twitter.com/zBYwuSHD7q  Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) January 20, 2021

Can I be hired to schedule Major and Champ's important meetings??



First play date: https://t.co/hVJPFS7UjP pic.twitter.com/Kw7hMmU5Dj  a  (@DenaePFA) January 25, 2021

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

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter.
In new TN assembly DMK has most MLAs with pending criminal background, crorepatis

Modi the person through which Balakot information went to Arnab: Rahul Gandhi

India

oi-Deepika S

Karur, Jan 25: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the "person through which" prior information on India''s air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan in 2019 was made available to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.

The Congress MP, however, did not provide evidence to back up his claim. The Prime Minister''s Office (PMO) also did not immediately respond to the unfounded claim.

Addressing a roadshow here during his final day of election campaign in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, he said only five people including the PM and the Defence Minister would have prior information of the planned strikes.

"Some days back it came out that a journalist knew about the air strikes in Balakot. Three days before the (Indian) air force bombed Pakistan, an Indian journalist was told it was going to happen," he said.

This meant the lives of our IAF pilots were put at ''risk,'' he said.

"Now, five people in this world knew about Balakot (air strikes). Prime Minister of India, the Defence minister of India, the National Security Adviser and the Chief of the Air Force and the Home minister."

"Nobody else in the world knew about Balakot before it happened. Now I want to understand why an enquiry has not started on who told this journalist about Balakot before it happened. The reason is that one of these five people told this man. One of these five people betrayed our Air Force," he charged.

Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi, says Chinese troops occupying Indian territory

He alleged that "one of these people put the lives of our pilots in danger."

"If the Prime Minister did not do it then why is he not ordering an enquiry. Think about it. The only reason that the Prime Minister has not ordered an enquiry is because he is the person through which that message has gone to this journalist," Gandhi claimed.

Else, the PM should investigate and tell which one of these five people did it, Gandhi demanded.

Purported chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) head Partho Dasgupta, which mentioned that the former was privy to the 2019 air strike, by the IAF on the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot had surfaced recently.

The IAF had carried out the strike deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019 in the wake of killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir''s Pulwama district then by Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Gandhi also hit out at Modi once again over the Sino-India face-off, saying "today the Chinese army is sitting inside Indian territory."

"The Prime Minister has said he has a 56 inch chest, big chest. Today the Chinese army is sitting inside Indian territory. Thousand km of Indian land has been taken by the Chinese," he said.

He alleged that Modi cannot say the word China as he "does not have the courage to say" so.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

"You look at his speeches for the last 3-4 months, he does not say the word China. When the Chinese entered our territory he lied that nobody has come. After some days the Army and Defence minister said the Chinese army had come into Indian territory," Gandhi added.

"And the only reason the Chinese have the guts and the courage to come into this country is because Narendra Modi has destroyed the economy and weakened (the country) by dividing it," he charged.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 14:10 [IST]
(Natural News) A scientist from the United Kingdom has warned that the rollout of 5G networks around the globe should be halted until the technologys safety has been tested and proven.

According to Professor John William Frank, an epidemiologist and physician at the University of Edinburgh, we should err on the side of caution by delaying any further rollout of 5G networks, pending more conclusive research on its safety.

Frank made his argument in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

5G doubts fueled by scientific uncertainty

5G technology has been hailed by governments, as well as certain vested interests, as transformative, promising economic and lifestyle benefits through greatly boosting wireless and mobile connectivity.

Compared to previous-generation technologies, 5G has a higher transmitter density, meaning that it needs more transmitter masts over a given distance. This exposes more people to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields at levels that, Frank argues, could potentially be harmful to human health.

Four key areas of scientific uncertainty have fueled Franks concern.

A growing but far from comprehensive body of laboratory research indicating the biological potential of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is among chief concerns, as well as a lack of clarity about precisely what technology is included in 5G.

5G systems is not a consistently defined term, comprising quite different specific technologies and components, Frank points out.

Then theres the almost total lack of high-quality epidemiological studies of the impact on human health of 5G electromagnetic frequency exposure, as well as mounting epidemiological evidence of such effects from previous generations of radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure at lower levels.

Frank points out that 5G uses much higher frequency radio waves than previous technologies. It uses very new  and, in terms of safety, unevaluated  supportive technology to enable this higher data transmission capacity.

He explains that the fragility of 5Gs high-frequency waves means that transmission boosting towers are required every 100 to 300 meters. This means that it requires many more transmission masts than previous technologies with lower frequency waves.

While several reviews of the existing evidence of 5Gs potential health risks have been published over the last decade, Frank says that these have been of varying scientific quality.

As such, Frank says that these studies have not stopped the clamor from a growing number of engineers, scientists, and doctors internationally  calling on governments to raise their safety standards for RF-EMFs, commission more and better research, and hold off on further increases in public exposure, pending clearer evidence of safety.

Other experts dispute 5G claims

Scientists and experts have challenged Franks suggestion, with one saying that his opinion is not supported by health authorities worldwide.

In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) has claimed that, after much research, no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies.

But Frank is sticking to his argument that the rollout of the technology around the world needs to be slowed down. He argues that there are sound bases for invoking the precautionary principle, given the doubt about the safety of a new and potentially widespread human exposure. (Related: Brussels halts 5G deployment indefinitely: 5G project, say authorities, not compatible with radiation safety standards.)

This, Frank argues, should be reason enough to call a moratorium on that exposure, pending adequate scientific investigation of its suspected adverse health benefits.

He says that there is no compelling public health or safety rationale for 5Gs rapid deployment, with its main gains being more about consumer convenience and economic gains for those pushing the technology.

Frank concludes by saying: Until we know more about what we are getting into, from a health and ecological point of view, those putative gains need to wait.

Follow 5GAlert.com for more on the efforts to slow down the deployment of 5G networks.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

News-Medical.net

MBABANE - Three of the countrys major dams have recorded full capacity and are overspilling, following the rains received on Sunday.

This is according to the Department of Water Affairs. The Director of the Department of Water Affairs, Trevor Shongwe, said the dams which recorded full capacity were Luphohlo Dam, which rose by 18.0 per cent from 81.7 per cent to 100 per cent and is now overspilling. The Hawane Dam also rose by 12 per cent moving from 88.0 per cent to 100 per cent and is also over spilling.

Shongwe said the same was observed with the Lubovane Dam, which had risen by 1.0 per cent from 99.0 per cent to 100 per cent and was also currently overspilling. The Maguga and Mnjoli dams have each recorded 41 per cent having risen by 4.3 per cent and 9.0 per cent respectively.

Shongwe urged the nation to stay away from flooded rivers and dams as these had collected a lot of water and were now a serious danger to humans. Crossing through flooded bridges and swimming or fishing in water bodies should not be done during this period, he said

Shongwe said irrigators should also ensure the safety of their pumping systems located on riverbanks as the water levels in most rivers had risen and were expected to continue rising due to the over spilling of most of the dams.
Our VIew: Governor does the right thing: Follows the science
A 20-year-old who was swept away by a wave and drowned has been remembered by loved ones as a 'beautiful young man'.



Muhammad Alee's body was discovered between rocks by his family on the Coffs Harbour southern breakwall, on the north coast of NSW, on Thursday evening.

A woman told police she was walking in front of Mr Alee when a large wave hit the breakwall behind her.

Muhammad Alee's body was discovered between rocks by his family on the Coffs Harbour southern breakwall, on the north coast of NSW, on Thursday evening

A woman told police she was walking in front of Mr Alee when a large wave hit the breakwall behind her

Family and friends of Mr Alee are seen in Coffs Harbour on Saturday

Rescue crews began searching for the 20-year-old on Thursday night and continued on Friday - but their efforts were unsuccessful due to poor weather conditions. His body was found between rocks at about 9.30am on Saturday

When she turned around, he had vanished.

Rescue crews began searching for the Pakistan-born cafe worker on Thursday night and continued on Friday - but their efforts were unsuccessful due to poor weather.

Coffs-Clarence Police District Inspector Joanne Reid said Mr Alee's family and friends discovered his body between rocks about 9.30am on Saturday.

'State Emergency Services and Police Divers retrieved the body that is yet to be formally identified but believed to be that of a 20-year-old man,' police said.

Family friend Amina Ibrahim told the ABC Mr Alee's mother has been in and out of consciousness since their worst fears were confirmed.

'The family is dying here because they are stressing so much they haven't slept,' she said.

She said it was unfortunate the family found the body as they already made their frustrations about the rescue mission clear.

Family friend Dianne Jacobus said Mr Alee was part of the Coffs Harbour Youth Group after moving to the town when he was 14.

'This beautiful young man Muhammad Alee lost his life to the ocean,' she said.

Coffs-Clarence Police District Inspector Joanne Reid said Mr Alee's family and friends discovered his body between rocks at about 9.30am on Saturday

Mr Alee was walking along a breakwall in Coffs Harbour (pictured) when a freak wave struck and dragged him out to sea

Marine Rescue NSW are seen searching for Mr Alee on Thursday night. He had disappeared at about 6pm

A GoFundMe to help his grieving family pay for his funeral has already raised $5,600.

The search was suspended at about 10pm on Thursday due to poor weather.

There were patrols of the foreshore overnight before the search recommenced on Friday morning and again on Saturday.

His sister Nargis Yaqubi said he was 'the most loving brother'.

'He was the most amazing person in our family,' she said.

Ms Yaqubi was angry the rocks were not searched by rescue crews.

But Ms Reid said the weather was 'atrocious' and it was important to keep first responders safe.

'With every search it's always dependent on conditions and the weather with this one played a huge part,' she said.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.
The Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,992 more confirmed coronavirus cases and 26 more confirmed deaths in its noon update Monday.

The data reflects numbers for two days. Monday updates typically represent just one day of data.

"Due to planned maintenance, case and test counts on 1/24/2021 are one-day totals," Louisiana Department of Health officials wrote on its coronavirus dashboard. "Counts on 1/25/2021 will be two-day totals."

The number of hospitalizations decreased by three, and the number of patients in need of ventilators increased by four.

There are also 46,735 total "probable" coronavirus cases in Louisiana, according to the agency's dashboard.

What questions do you have about coronavirus vaccines? Ask them ahead of live panel Louisiana and other U.S. states are in the midst of the major logistical challenge of getting residents vaccinated against the coronavirus.

These are another few key statewide statistics as of Monday:

Total confirmed cases: 339,207

Total "probable" cases: 46,735

Total confirmed deaths: 8,064

Currently hospitalized: 1,638

Currently on ventilators: 219

Vaccine series initiated: 272,625 (updated twice weekly)

Vaccine series completed: 41,703

Presumed recovered: 320,025 as of Jan. 18 (updated weekly)

Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Note: The Advocate and The Times-Picayune staff calculates daily case count and confirmed death increases based on the difference between today's total and yesterday's total of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. The Louisiana Department of Health releases a daily case count on its dashboard that includes probable cases as indicated by a positive antigen test. That case count can be different than the one listed here.

Coronavirus is rough for all hospitals. Rural Louisiana hospitals are particularly stressed. For the past two months, rural hospitals have been stretched thin, struggling to care for an influx of patients as more seek care not only for

Here are some of the parishes with the highest single-day increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, based on the Monday report:

Jefferson: 288

St. Tammany: 197

East Baton Rouge: 185

Orleans: 185

Caddo: 157

Lafayette: 79

You can view more graphs and charts breaking down the data by clicking here.

Louisiana began reopening for Phase 1 on May 15-16 then moved to Phase 2 on June 5. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards extended Louisiana's Phase 2 restrictions twice in August before moving the state to Phase 3 on Sept. 11. The governor then moved the state back to a modified Phase 2 near the end of November.

This is a developing story. More details and analysis to come.
I will never support acts of criminal destruction and violence. That is not how we make political points in the United States of America, Wheeler said. We are actually, unfortunately, seeing this growing trend towards people saying, If you dont agree with me politically then we are going to come after you  either physically, or we are going to come after your home, or we are going to come after your place of business.
More than four-fifths of the public plan to have the coronavirus jab in a major boost for the countrys battle against Covid.

Government polling, obtained by the Daily Mail, reveals there has been a significant jump in the number willing to get vaccinated.

Crucially, the proportion is now above the level scientists say is needed to achieve herd immunity and stop the virus spreading.

Government polls, obtained by the Daily Mail, revealed more than four-fifths of the public plan to have the coronavirus jab. Pictured: Health and social care staff given vaccine in Glasgow

However, it comes amid a growing row over the decision to extend the gap between first and second doses from three or four weeks to 12.

One doctor described it as an unregulated and unlicensed trial, while the British Medical Association has called for a maximum gap of six weeks between Pfizer jabs.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the decision to delay the second jab was essential to save more lives as the first jab gives the biggest amount of immunity.

Ministers have been using private polls to track changes in the publics attitude towards the vaccine.

The proportion is now above the level scientists say is needed to achieve herd immunity and stop the virus spreading. Pictured: AstraZeneca jab is administered in Aylesbury

The proportion saying they will definitely have the jab has risen from around half to almost 70 per cent in the past three months, with upwards of 80 per cent now saying they are likely to have it.

The percentage adamant they do not want it has dwindled to single digits, with younger people among the least likely to say they want it.

A senior Government source said: The UK started in a very strong position on vaccine confidence and we are building on that as the rollout progresses.

24m fund to win over wary ethnic minorities A 24million fund has been launched to counter misinformation about the vaccine and boost take-up among ethnic minority communities and older people. Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the money was being targeted at those who are more likely to suffer long-term impacts from coronavirus. It will go to 60 councils which have developed plans to improve communications with these groups. Measures include helplines, school programmes, workplace engagement, phoning those in at-risk groups and training to help people provide information and advice. Senior NHS figures have expressed concern that people in some black and Asian communities are reluctant to have the vaccine for religious reasons or concerns about unethical experiments in the last century. Gipsy, Roma and traveller communities will also be offered support. Mr Jenrick said: False information about vaccines could cost lives. Todays funding will help councils and community groups expand the excellent work already under way. Advertisement

Sir Patrick Vallance, the Governments chief scientific adviser, has said at least 70 per cent need to be protected from coronavirus for herd immunity to be achieved.

Three in four of the over-80s have received their first jab, Mr Hancock said yesterday.

But the Department of Health admitted fewer than two-thirds of care home residents have been vaccinated, thus failing to meet the Governments target to give them all at least one jab by last night.

Over-80s are the age group most vulnerable to dying from coronavirus and Mr Hancock said getting such a large proportion protected was absolutely brilliant progress.

He told Skys Sophy Ridge On Sunday: Weve vaccinated more people in just the last three days than France has in the entire history of this disease.

In that time, the UK vaccinated 1.38million. France has vaccinated 1million in total  less than have been given a jab in the Midlands.

Boris Johnson celebrated the progress, tweeting: Since Monday 2.3million of you have come forward to be vaccinated when asked to by the NHS.

' This puts the running total at a fantastic 6.3million doses given right across the UK.

In all, 6,353,321 had been given a first dose and 469,660 a second dose by the end of Saturday.

At current rates, the UKs entire 53.6million adult population could be vaccinated within 17 to 18 weeks  by the end of May, well ahead of the Governments target of September.

On ensuring enough take up the offer of the vaccine, Mr Hancock told Times Radio his message to the public is: Get vaccinated when the NHS calls you.

He added: The evidence is that a very high proportion of people want to get the vaccine... because people realise this is the way out, to protect yourself.
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One person from the Dodge Charger was killed in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, police said. A second person was in critical condition and was taken to an Aurora hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving, according to police.
EMILY ST. LAWRENCE, Chariho girls lacrosse, senior: St. Lawrence tied a school record for goals in a game with nine in a win over Smithfield. St. Lawrence scored 17 goals for the week and has 32 for the season.

CARLY CONSTANTINE, Stonington softball, sophomore: Constantine singled home Shea OConnor with the winning run to hand Waterford, the states No. 2 ranked team at the time, its first loss of the season. For the week, Constantine was 5 for 15.

GREG GORMAN, Westerly baseball, junior: Gorman, a junior, hit a massive home run in a win against Barrington. The homer went over the fence in center field and landed in a nearby road. Gorman was 3 for 3 with four RBIs in the game. He is hitting .571 with 10 RBIs for the season.

BRADIN ANDERSON, Wheeler baseball, freshman: Anderson, a freshman, pitched a complete-game shutout to beat Grasso Tech. Anderson struck out three to earn the first win of his varsity career.

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The Summit took place as the pandemic continues to erode recent progress in building climate resilience, leaving countries and communities more vulnerable to future shocks. A report by GCA "State and Trends in Adaptation 2020" showed that global funding would need to increase ten-fold, to US$300 billion a year, to meet the UN Environment Programme's estimates of what is needed to respond to escalating climate risks. An accompanying technical report "Adaptation Finance in the Context of Covid-19" estimated that funding for climate adaptation fell by up to 10% in 2020, reversing the decade long trend of increasing adaptation finance to developing countries.

Ministerial Dialogue

At the start of CAS2021, GCA hosted its first annual Ministerial Dialogue, with over 50 ministers and leaders from international organizations, to scale-up global leadership cooperation to accelerate climate adaptation. Going forward it will also serve as an annual high-level forum on climate change adaptation, acting as a lever for global leadership to drive a decade of transformation for a climate resilient world by 2030.

Hosting the meeting, Ban Ki-moon, Co-Chair of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"In this GCA ministerial dialogue, we hope to achieve three things: a step change in ambition, so that adaptation receives the funding and attention it deserves. We need a step change in financing to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars for this decade of transformation. And we need to strengthen partnerships and knowledge exchanges to make the best solutions and approaches available to all."

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Board Member of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"The IMF is ramping up support for the policies, investment plans and skills countries need to strengthen their response to climate change. Reducing emissions and building resilience is win-win-win  good for growth and jobs, for health and for our planet."

John Kerry, US Climate Presidential Envoy, who gave the keynote speech, noted that:

"All countries are now learning how to cope with climate change. But nobody has all the answers. The faster we gather information from each other, share data, the faster we can join together in the effort to do what we all know is necessary. The more quickly we're going to be able to put good solutions to work, the faster we're going to be able to make savings in hard pressed budgets around the world."

Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"Covid-19 ushered in an era of multiple, intersecting systemic shocks, which demand equally powerful and coordinated solutions. Adaptation should be at the heart our recovery. Combining steadily rising carbon prices with a green infrastructure push can boost global GDP over the next 15 years by about 0.7 percent and generate work for millions of people. It will make us better prepared for future shocks."

African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)

The urgency of the compounded COVID-19 and climate crises require accelerated momentum in Africa's climate adaptation efforts. The African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) announced they are joining forces to use their complementary expertise, resources, and networks to launch a bold new Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). This flagship program will focus on agriculture, infrastructure, youth, and innovative finance. The African Development Bank has committed to mobilize $25 billion as climate finance between 2020 and 2025, of which at least 50% ($12.5 billion) will support climate adaptation and resilience building. The Bank and GCA will use this to leverage an additional $12.5 billion with other key partners to support African governments, private sector, and civil society to scale up effective adaptation solutions.

An example of GCA and the Bank's transformative approach to accelerating adaptation is a project already underway in Ghana to develop its first national-level assessment of the resilience of its infrastructure systems to climate change. By exploring and showcasing the potential co-benefits of Nature-based Solutions as part of country-level package of investment in grey and green infrastructure, Ghana will function as a demonstration country of how to reduce costs and enhance ecosystems.

Commenting on the program launch, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank said:

"We must work together to accelerate adaptation action in Africa , a continent on the frontline of climate change emergency. Today's announcement with GCA marks the start of a bold global effort to ensure that developing countries have the climate financing they need to implement and scale up climate adaptation solutions."

Feike Sijbesma, Co-Chair of the Global Center on Adaptation said:

"We are all witnessing how climate change is visibly affecting people, societies and business. We must take a strategic and integrated approach to adaptation and develop the bold innovations and solutions to this global challenge. This all in combination to our continued effort to mitigate climate changes by reducing our emissions."

Youth Leadership

Following the call to action from one million young people from more than 115 countries to "Adapt for our Future", Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA announced the African Adaptation Acceleration Program would strengthen ecosystems that support youth-led climate adaptation entrepreneurship and youth participation in adaptation policies; scale up climate adaptation innovations by strengthening business development services to 10,000 youth-owned enterprises and 10,000 youth with business ideas on jobs and adaptation; Develop tailored skills and provide starting tool packs for 1 million youth to prepare them for climate resilient jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in adaptation and unlock USD 3 billion in credit for adaptation action by innovative youth-owned enterprises through innovative financial instruments.

State and Trends Knowledge Exchange

GCA launched the State and Trends in Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (STAKE) to make data, information, and learnings on climate-change adaptation both accessible and actionable, with the aim of engaging policy-makers, professionals, experts, and other stakeholders. The new platform connects areas of science, policy, and practice through dedicated elementssuch as the Adaptation Gateway, which covers data, solutions and insights, Communities of Practice, the State and Trends report series, and the Adaptation Action Agendabrokering solutions to accelerate adaptation action from a local to a global scale. The Adaptation Gateway provides data visualization, systematized solutions, analyses, and insights on the state and trends of climate-change resilience and adaptation.

1000 Cities Adapt Now Initiative

During the Summit, the Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb presented the 10-year Global Program 1000 Cities Adapt Now. 1000 Cities Adapt Now' (1000CAN) is a global program that aims for a green and just post-COVID-19 recovery  a recovery that helps create new jobs, improve equity and prepare communities to adapt to climate and health threats. The coalition network partners, including GCA which will host the program, sought the commitment of other mayors to strengthen the role of cities in improving our environment, climate and society in the lead-up to COP26, and beyond. This resulted in the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities being presented to world leaders including Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Mayor Aboutaleb speaking at the launch said:

"Every day, cities are dealing with the effects of climate change and the need to adapt to be resilient. It is our task as mayors of cities worldwide to address these issues and generate solutions. With the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities, we underline our ambitions and needs to speed up and scale up adaptation measures in 1000 cities in the coming decade."

Living with water: Climate Adaptation in the World's Deltas

GCA launched a report on climate adaptation in the world's deltas which presents a series of lighthouse adaptation case studies and sets how to scale up and accelerate adaptation in these climate hotspots. The report flagged that climate adaptation in delta areas is a complex issue and that understanding deltas requires better, open-access climate data collection. The report also noted that making deltas more climate resilient requires decades and legal and political frameworks that are conducive to long-term, integrated planning, and predictable budgets, but at the same time urgent adaptation action needs to start immediately.

Free online global education initiative

GCA announced it is collaborating with the University of of Groningen in the Netherlands to offer free online courses on Climate Adaptation Governance through FutureLearn. The first course is on Climate Adaptation Governance - Making Climate Adaptation Happen. In addition, the University of Groningen will start offering a specialisation in Climate Adaptation Governance from September 2021 onwards.

07887 804594, [email protected]

SOURCE The Global Center on Adaptation

Related Links

https://gca.org/home


Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department work the scene Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 in Indianapolis where five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death early Sunday inside an Indianapolis home. Th pregnant woman who was taken to an area hospital, both she and the unborn child died despite life-saving efforts. (Justin L. Mack,The Indianapolis Star via AP)

6 Dead in Indianapolis Mass Shooting, Including Pregnant Woman and Her Unborn Child

Six people were killed in a mass shooting incident in Indianapolis over the weekend, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child, officials confirmed, describing the crime as a different kind of evil.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) responded to an emergency call at about 4 a.m. on Sunday about a juvenile male who had been shot in the citys northeast side. Police located the juvenile with apparent gunshot wounds, IMPD Sgt. Shane Foley told reporters at a press briefing.

Foley said as officers investigated the boys shooting, about 40 minutes later officers found five people dead in a nearby home, also from apparent gunshot wounds.

The coroners office has identified the victims as three teenagers aged between 13 and 19, two adults in their 40s, and an unborn child, The Associated Press reported.

The unborn child and her mother, identified as 19-year-old Kiara Hawkins, were taken to a local hospital but later died.

Despite the best life-saving efforts provided by medical staff, both the female and the unborn child did not survive, Foley said. The juvenile male that was shot is expected to survive his injuries.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department work the scene on Jan. 24, 2021 in Indianapolis where five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot to death. (Justin L. Mack/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

The other victims were pronounced dead at the scene, in what has been described by authorities as the largest mass-casualty shooting in the city in more than a decade.

What we saw this morning was a different kind of evil. What occurred this morning, based on the evidence thats been gathered so far, was mass murder, IMPD Police Chief Randal Taylor said at the briefing.

Taylor said investigators believe the shooting wasnt a random act, but a targeted attack carried out by an assailant or assailants, adding that there seems to be no threat to the community.

The department has opened an investigation into the mass shooting. No suspects or persons of interest have been identified or taken into custody as of Sunday, police said.

The mayor of Indianapolis also addressed the shooting during Sundays briefing, saying those involved will be held fully accountable, and adding that the full might of local, state, and federal law enforcement are coming for them as I speak.

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) (R) speaks with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett at the Kountry Kitchen Restaurant on Nov. 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

This is a crisis of morality, a crisis of conscience, Mayor Joe Hogsett said. What happened this morning was not an act of simple gun violence.  What happened this morning was a mass murder, he continued.

Hogsett has since contacted the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Indiana and the Indianapolis Field Office of the FBI for assistance in the investigation.

Federal law enforcement are coming for them as I speak. Coming for them today, coming for them tonight, coming for them tomorrow and the day after that. Coming for them as long as it takes to find them, he said.

From NTD News
New Delhi/Chandigarh, Jan 25 : Congress is mulling all options to dislodge the Haryana government led by Manohar Lal Khattar, which is surviving on the support of the JJP and Independents in the assembly.

The farmers agitation has made the government weak as many Independents and some MLAs of the Jannayak Janta Party JJP led by Dushyant Chautala, who is also the Deputy Chief Ministerhave expressed their unhappiness with the state of affairs under Khattar.

Vivek Bansal, AICC in-Charge of Haryana told IANS: "Our Congress legislative party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has already demanded for the special session of the assembly but the government is not convening the session. Once the Assembly begins our leader will press for no confidence motion." Congress is eyeing a win-win situation -- if JJP and Independents pull out of the government and support farmers the government will fall and in case the government survives then the Congress can declare that JJP and others are not with farmers and score brownie points.

The Congress had earlier demanded that Khattar resign in the wake of farmers agitation as police was trying to suppress the stir.

Congress' state chief Kumari Selja had said on January 11: "The Chief Minister should resign as he has lost the confidence of the people, especially farmers." On January 26, the state ministers were set to unfurl tricolors at R-Day ceremonies but now have curtailed the program, Congress Media Department Secretary Vineet Punia said, adding "this shows that the government is afraid but not accepting the truth and repealing the farm laws as demanded by the farmers." The situation appears to be volatile in Punjab and Haryana where the BJP is on the backfoot. The farmers did not allow the Haryana Chief Minister to land his helicopter at his home turf in Karnal, which shows the amount of resentment he inspires.

The Khattar government is surviving on the support by the JJP which has 10 MLAs and other five Independent MLAs as the strength of the government stands at 55 in the 90-member assembly where 46 is the majority mark.

The Congress cannot pull the government down till the JJP is with the BJP as Congress has 31 MLAs and need 15 more which can only be achieved if Dushyant Chautala pulls out.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
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Conn. assisted suicide bill endangers vulnerable communities, advocates warn

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An assisted suicide bill being considered in Connecticut faces opposition from disability rights activists over what they contend is a lack of safeguards against the abuse of vulnerable populations, such as the elderly or the disabled.

The legislature in the Nutmeg State is considering a bill that would allow physicians to provide lethal prescriptions to terminally sick adult patients who want to end their lives.

"No amount of safeguards can counter the social stigma of needing help with intimate care, of having to rely on others for support, of seeing your caregivers are tired, and wondering whether the world would be better off without you," said Cathy Ludlum, who leads Second Thoughts Connecticut, in an interview last week with The Hartford Courant.

"One has to wonder why youre pushing it through during COVID-19 when constituents have less access to legislators and public hearings."

Second Thoughts Connecticut is a group of disability rights advocates in the state who oppose legalizing assisted suicide.

Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, a Democrat who co-chairs the state legislatures public health committee, told the Hartford Courant that the assisted suicide bill will be one of the priority bills of the public health committee in 2021.

According to the newspaper, similar bills introduced in years past would have required patients wanting to receive lethal prescriptions to submit two written requests to an attending physician at least 15 days apart with two other people witnessing each request.

After the requests are filed, a consulting physician would be assigned to examine the patient and confirm the initial physicians diagnosis. The consulting physician would also need to confirm if the patient is competent enough to make the decision and that it is being done so voluntarily.

The state legislature has previously considered similar measures in recent years but none passed out of committee. A bill proposed in 2019 received hundreds of public comments from individuals and advocate groups.

Under the previous legislation, if doctors determine the patient to be suffering from an impaired judgment, they must refer that patient to counseling. Previous bills would have also deemed fraudulent acts associated with the death of a patient as murder.

Steinberg said that the new bill will have a couple tweaks here and there but nothing of real consequence reflecting some of the learning weve had from experience of other states.

Many who back the right-to-die legislation are not aware of "all the difficulties that arise with implementation," Ludlum said.

Lisa Blumberg, a Hartford-area attorney, said the proposal is not a patients rights bill but one that grants doctors "immunity for prescribing lethal drugs to certain patients who ask for them if minimal criteria are met."

The supposed safeguards only apply to the prescribing of drugs rather than the use of the drugs, she said. We dont know if a patient is competent when he takes them. We dont know if he is having bad day. We dont know anything. We cannot afford to just have faith.

In an op-ed published Wednesday by The CT Mirror, Blumberg argued that the language surrounding the bill is laden with deceptive euphemisms and misguided assumptions about why people opt for assisted suicide.

While the legislation speaks of "aid in dying" and implies that it may increase access to hospice and palliative care, in truth, it only enables doctors to give patients a way out, she contends.

Commenting on the notion that suffering people choose to end their lives because of pain, she explained that relevant figures from Oregon reveal that the main reasons people choose to die are because of "psychosocial factors such as perceived lessening of autonomy, or feeling they are a burden."

"People with disabilities have shown these issues can be addressed by appropriate social supports if the community has the will," she wrote, adding that doctors "cannot say conclusively when a person will die, especially when the measure is months. Moreover, what is terminal illness is capable of interpretation."

"There are many reasons why assisted suicide bills have failed to pass five times in progressive Connecticut, Blumberg continued. Bringing up the bill again now should be a non-starter."

Steinberg has rebutted claims made by opponents of the legislation that it would open the door for patients to be coerced by caregivers or relatives.

I dont think the disability community has done a particularly good job of either reading the actual language of the bill nor having evaluated the actual experience of states that have passed such legislation, where Ive yet to see any real significant pattern of abuse, of coercion, Steinberg was quoted as saying.

Physician-assisted suicide is currently legal in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state.
The Quiet Waters Christian retreat house in Bungay would like to give a big thank you to those who have been Essential Workers during the past year.

The Quiet Waters Christian retreat house in Bungay would like to give a big thank you to those who have been Essential Workers during the past year.

Breakfast fellowship in Cromer for forces veterans An Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club (AFVBC) has started meeting again in North Norfolk, ending the recent social isolation of veterans during pandemic restrictions. Read more

Two Recovery Workers needed by Matthew Project The Matthew Project is advertising two exciting full time opportunities as Recovery Workers, to support people in the community delivering 1:1 and group work. The roles will be centred in either Great Yarmouth or Kings Lynn and Thetford. Read more

Call to Prayer finds a new home in Heartsease The Call to Prayer ministry is moving this summer to a new base in Heartsease. Read more

YMCA opens cafe and soft play in Norwich A brand-new cafe and soft play area is set to open in Norwich on May 28 run by YMCA Norfolk in its new community hub on Aylsham Road near the city centre. Read more

A record-breaking year for Mid-Norfolk Foodbank Wellspring Church in Dereham, Swaffham Baptist Church, and Fakenham Salvation Army centre have provided the bases for a record-breaking year at Mid-Norfolk Foodbank. Read more

Transforming Norwich offers chance to meet Transforming Norwich will hold its next ministers and Christian leaders meeting on Zoom on Wednesday June 30. Read more

How can our weakness be a strength? Andrew Frere-Smith explains why there can be some positive outcomes from the trials of the last fourteen months. Read more

Norfolk science-faith lecture on 'dying well' Professor John Wyatt will give the next Norfolk Science-Faith lecture on the ethical guidelines for palliative care, based on issues raised by the coronavirus pandemic. The lecture and discussion will be online on June 7. Read more

Walsingham Way provides a new route for pilgrims A new waymarked walking route between Norwich and Walsingham is being launched to celebrate the tradition of pilgrimage. Read more

Reedham Gospel Hall goes up for sale The Gospel Hall in the Broadland village of Reedham has closed, and will be going under the auction hammer, because of a decline in attendance. Read more

Christian artists host art trail in North Norfolk Three faith-filled artists in the Fakenham area are opening their studios to the public at the end of this week as part of a new initiative called North Norfolk Studios. Read more

Barbara begins leadership in Wymondham with baptism of fire At a hugely challenging time, the Alive network appointed Barbara McLellan as the new pastor for their church in Wymondham. Read more

Hub garden revamped by Norwich church A Norwich church has given the garden area of its community hub a makeover just in time for the reopening of the cafe at the weekend. Read more

Acle prayer walk led by local churches Acle Churches Together (ACT) held its traditional annual prayer walk last Sunday, stopping at various venues in the community to recognise and pray for the work done by the staff employed by them. Read more

Norfolk Healing Rooms has faith for our times Norfolk Healing Rooms, which offers free ministry for the sick in body, mind and spirit, is continuing its service through Zoom and offering free taster prophetic evenings. Read more

Norwich charity for homeless ex-offenders comes of age A Norwich charity which offers supported accommodation to homeless men, many of whom are ex-offenders, has come of age and is marking its 21st anniversary. Read more

GCF is an independent church in Norwich Grace Christian Fellowship is an independent, Holy Spirit-filled, Bible-based church meeting in Norwich, writes Serena Jones. Read more
A federal court hearing for a Harrisburg woman accused of participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol barely got underway Monday afternoon before it was delayed until Tuesday.

Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui agreed to reschedule the first appearance by Riley Williams, 22, before the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., at the request of the defense attorney.

Before the hearing was postponed, prosecutors said they believe Williams had been posting online urging other people to delete evidence in the case, according to Jeremy Roebuck of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Roebuck reported that Faruqui voiced surprise that prosecutors had not requested that Williams be confined to prison pending the resolution of her case.

Williams was released to the custody of her mother, who lives in Lower Paxton Township, following a federal court hearing in Harrisburg on Thursday. She is barred from leaving her mothers home except for work and court proceedings.
Dutch Police Arrest Alleged Asian Drug Syndicate Kingpin

AMSTERDAM/SYDNEYDutch police have arrested the alleged leader of a large Asian drug syndicate who is listed as one of the worlds most-wanted fugitives and has been compared to Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.

Tse Chi Lop, a Chinese-born Canadian national, was detained on Friday at the request of Australian police, who led an investigation that found his organization dominates the $70 billion-a-year Asia-Pacific drug trade, Dutch police spokesman Thomas Aling said on Saturday.

Tse is expected to be extradited after appearing before a judge, Aling said, adding that his arrest by national police took place without incident at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport.

He was already on the most-wanted list and he was detained based on intelligence we received, Aling said.

Dutch police were unable to provide details about the legal proceedings and it was not clear if Tse had a lawyer.

Tses crime syndicate allegedly dominates the Asia-Pacific crystal methamphetamine trade, which increased fourfold in the five years to 2019, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Regional law enforcers say the syndicate has imported highly potent meth into more than a dozen countries, including Japan, Australia and New Zealand, as well as trafficking heroin and MDMA.

Tse, 57, an ex-convict who formerly lived in Toronto, has moved between Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan in recent years, according to counter-narcotics officers from four countries and documents reviewed by Reuters.

The group has been connected with or directly involved in at least 13 cases of drug trafficking since January 2015, the documents showed.

Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia and Pacific representative for the UNODC, told Reuters in 2019 that Tse Chi Lop is in the league of El Chapo or maybe Pablo Escobar, referring to Latin Americas most notorious drug lords.

The UNODC estimated that Tses drug syndicate earned as much as $17 billion in 2018.

The syndicate he is suspected of running is known to its members as The Company. Law enforcers also refer to it as Sam Goror Brother Number Three in Cantoneseafter one of Tses nicknames, Reuters reported at the time. Reuters was unable to contact Tse for comment on the report at that time.

They Got Their Man

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Sunday it issued an arrest warrant for Tse in 2019, in connection with AFP-led Operation Volante, which dismantled a global crime syndicate operating in five countries.

The AFP also led an international investigation, dubbed Operation Kungur, into Tse and his syndicate that included about 20 agencies from more than a dozen countries.

The syndicate targeted Australia over a number of years, importing and distributing large amounts of illicit narcotics, laundering the profits overseas and living off the wealth obtained from crime, the AFP added.

Documents reviewed by Reuters allege the syndicates money laundering operation spans the globe, with casino junkets and property investments both used as vehicles to launder earnings.

The UNODCs Douglas hailed the arrest as a great result but cautioned that it may not have a big impact on drug trafficking in the region.

They got their man. Kudos to the Australian Federal Police. But the organization remains, the demand for synthetic drugs has been built, and someone will step in to replace Tse, said Douglas.

It is hard to see his arrest having much of an impact on drug trafficking beyond the near-term if the poor governance, corruption and easily available drug precursors in the region remain unaddressed.

By Anthony Deutsch and Tom Allard
Just like with people, good oral care helps prevent periodontal disease, which when left untreated, can result in heart, liver and kidney damage as well as tooth loss.

February is Pet Dental Health Month and to emphasize the importance of healthy gums and teeth for our furry friends, Jax & Cali introduces the easy to use, two finger Toothbrush Wipes for pets. Easy to use, Jax & Cali Toothbrush Wipes are a safe and effective way to to help prevent periodontal disease while promoting white teeth and fresh breath in both dogs and cats. Containing no alcohol, latex or parabens, these textured, pre-moistened wipes, when used on a pets teeth and gums, inhibit and reduce bacterial growth, plaque and inflammation.

Just like with people, good oral care helps prevent periodontal disease, which when left untreated, can result in heart, liver and kidney damage as well as tooth loss and costly vet visits, said Gail Beregovich, President and Founder of Jax & Cali. Daily use of our wipes can help prevent these problems and keep your pets mouth clean and healthy.

Jax & Cali Toothbrush Wipes (MSRP $15.95) are formulated with a patented blend of natural enzymes called Bactase Oral, which inhibits and reduces bacterial growth, plaque and inflammation. Designed to fit over fingers, these textured, all-natural, easy to use and disposable wipes come in a 64 ct. package.

Based on a volunteer closed clinical study, these wipes have been proven to provide results in as little as ten days, added Beregovich. They give pet owners a simple solution to oral care and provide the peace of mind that they can prevent a problem that is often subtle and can go unnoticed.

About the Company

Jax & Cali is a female owned and family operated indie brand located in Miami, FL. When you open any Jax & Cali package, you will find an all-natural, holistic product.

At Jax & Cali our mission is to promote good oral hygiene in our pets mouths through prevention and daily use.

For more information about Jax & Cali Toothbrush Wipes and other company products please go to http://www.jaxandcali.com

If you would like to request a sample please email jo@delyon-hunt.com.
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Urbane Media, an integrated marketing agency successfully bags the digital mandate for Denver, a leading fragrance brand of the FMCG giant Vanesa Care, a pioneer in the Indian fragrance industry. The account was won following a multi-agency pitch and will be handled out of the agencys Delhioffice.

With Shah Rukh Khan as the Brands Ambassador, Denver is one of Indias leading brands and has been voted as Indias Most Promising Brand in the mens grooming category.

As a part of this digital mandate, Urbane Media will drive Denvers digital marketing efforts. In order to build & strengthen the brands digital identity, Urbane Media will focus on media buying, promotional campaigns, creating sustainable brand equity, and managing the social Media, SEO and ORM duties.

Commenting on the tie up, Mr. Saurabh Gupta, Director - Marketing & Sales - Vanesa Care says,2020 was a year of considerable challenges with the traditional distribution channels taking a considerable hit due to COVID restrictions. Denver has always taken pride in being a first mover and is now focusing on Ecommerce, leveraging on our strong growing digital presence. This pivot will help grow the overall business, increase our brand recall amongst our TG and allow us to dominate the digital landscape. As we partner with Urbane Media, we intend to kick off this mandate with a strong focus on Social Media, Ecommerce, Brand Building, ORM and SEO."

Mr. Himanshu Mehrotra, Co-Founder & Chief Strategist - Urbane Media adds,We are thrilled with this new partnership to come on board as the digital agency for Denver. At Urbane Media we believe in the power of performance driven brand building and are committed to ensuring Denver's digital growth.
An alleged MAGA rioter accused of punching a cop in the head at the Capitol on January 6 is the brother of a Secret Service agent who once led Michelle Obama's security detail, it has emerged.

The former first lady was so close to agent Preston 'Jay' Fairlamb III that she attended his father's funeral in 2012, mentioned him in her 2018 autobiography and posed for a picture with him and Barack Obama at the White House.

But the bodyguard's brother, Scott Fairlamb, now faces federal charges after an FBI operative identified him in photos and videos taken during the Capitol riot incited by Donald Trump.

The New Jersey gym owner, 43, is accused of assaulting a federal officer and carrying a dangerous weapon among other charges relating to the mob attack - but says his brother knew nothing about it.

Barack and Michelle Obama pose with Secret Service agent Preston 'Jay' Fairlamb and his wife during the former president's first term in office. The former first lady mentioned Fairlamb in her autobiography and said she had grown close to her security detail

An FBI affidavit says this is Scott Fairlamb wielding a baton during the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, which has left the New Jersey gym owner facing five federal charges

This screengrab allegedly shows Fairlamb punching a DC Police officer in the head on the West Front of the Capitol during the invasion on January 6

The two Fairlamb brothers are the sons of a former New Jersey State Police trooper, also called Preston 'Jay' Fairlamb, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2012.

Mrs Obama attended his memorial service with four Secret Service agents in an appearance in May that year which had been kept nearly secret in advance.

A friar who helped arrange her visit said parishioners were 'very impressed with the first ladys concern for Jay and his family,' according to a report at the time.

The same year, another Fairlamb relative posted a picture of the younger Jay Fairlamb and his wife posing with Barack and Michelle Obama at the White House.

And in 2018, Mrs Obama mentioned agent Fairlamb in her memoir Becoming as one of the agents she had 'grown close' to during her husband's time in office.

'All of us grew close to our agents over time. Preston Fairlamb led my detail then,' she wrote, adding that another agent had later taken over.

'When we were out in public, they were silent and hyperalert, but anytime we were backstage or on plane rides, they'd loosen up, sharing stories and joking around,' she said of her agents.

'Over all the hours we spent together and many miles travelled, we became real friends.'

The father of the two Fairlamb brothers, also called Preston 'Jay' Fairlamb (pictured), was a New Jersey state trooper whose 2012 memorial service was attended by Michelle Obama

The older Fairlamb was a member of the veterans' advocacy group Rolling Thunder, and is pictured on the right here with President George W. Bush in 2007

Preston 'Jay' Fairlamb III, the agent lauded by Michelle Obama, with his wife Colleen

When the agent's brother Scott Fairlamb was married in New Jersey in September 2019, Jay was listed as best man on a wedding registry website.

But Scott Fairlamb's legal team told CNN that his brother Jay was 'not privy to anything that my client is alleged to have done' on January 6.

An affidavit filed by an FBI special agent accuses Scott Fairlamb of shoving a DC Police officer before punching him in the head at the West Front of the Capitol.

Wearing a brown camouflage jacket, Fairlamb is said to have been carrying a collapsible baton and said in a video posted on Facebook: 'What patriots do? We f***ing disarm them and then we storm f***ing the Capitol'.

Fairlamb was also allegedly seen climbing on scaffolding in the Capitol grounds, while another image apparently showed him coughing on his way out after chemical agents were deployed inside the halls of Congress.

The FBI received another tip-off from a citizen who said they had grown up with Fairlamb and identified him on the scaffolding, adding that he was the owner of an Instagram account belonging to his New Jersey gym.

The FBI agent said they had matched the pictures of Fairlamb against his New Jersey driving license to confirm that it was the same person.

Fairlamb now faces five charges relating to the riot: assaulting a federal officer, carrying a dangerous weapon, violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, unlawful entry to a restricted building and taking part in civil disorder.

Scott Fairlamb, circled right in the FBI special agent's affidavit, faces five charges over the Capitol riot

This image appeared to show Scott Fairlamb coughing after chemical agents were used in the Capitol

His social media accounts have since been deleted, but the gym's website describes him as as former fighting champion who turned professional in 2000.

After his career was derailed by a leukemia diagnosis, Fairlamb opened the gym in 2014 which trains both amateur and professional fighters, the website claims.

'Scott's life experience and approach to training are one in the same - aggressive, focused and intense,' it says.

One acquaintance of Fairlamb told HuffPost that the suspect had been 'pulled more and more into the conspiracy theory vortex' in recent years and 'pushed everything in his life aside for it'.

After an initial interest in Trump's 'lock her up' chants against Hillary Clinton, Fairlamb 'moved to QAnon type stuff over the last few years,' the associate said.

'I feel for his wife, family, employees and community, but I have zero empathy for him,' they said.

Several stories have emerged since January 6 of MAGA rioters with links to law enforcement, including two Virginia cops who posed for a photo during the attack.

At least 31 officers in 12 states are being scrutinized by their supervisors for their behavior or face criminal charges for allegedly taking part in the riot.

The invasion claimed the life of one Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher as rioters occupied the building.

Four others also died during or shortly after the insurrection, which has led to more than 150 arrests in less than three weeks since then.

It also led to a historic second impeachment motion against Trump, who had repeated his false claims of election fraud in a fiery speech near the White House shortly before the attack.

Trump's challenges to the election result were rejected by government agencies, numerous courts, the legislatures of all 50 states and eventually the US Congress.
The mainstream media has been promoting the story that, in early January, President Donald Trump entertained a plan to replace Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with an Assistant Attorney General who wanted to pursue claims of voter fraud. The Assistant in question is Jeff Clark whom I got to know, and like, when Democrats were blocking his nomination.

The story, which first appeared in the New York Times, is that Clark came to believe that the election had been stolen from Trump. He wanted his boss, acting AG Rosen, to pursue the matter and to hold a news conference to announce that the DOJ was investigating serious allegations of fraud. Rosen refused.

Clark, the story continues, got the ear of President Trump who, as a result of their discussion, considered replacing Rosen with Clark. This led to a showdown meeting at the White House. According to the Washington Post:

At the meeting were Trump, Clark and Rosen, along with Richard Donoghue, the acting deputy attorney general; Steven A. Engel, the head of the departments Office of Legal Counsel; and Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, the people familiar with the matter said. The people said Rosen, Donoghue, Engel and Cipollone pushed against the idea of replacing Rosen, and warned of a mass resignation. Cipollone, one person said, pushed hard against a letter Clark wanted to send to Georgia state legislators, which wrongly asserted the department was investigating accusations of fraud in their state and Bidens win should be voided, insisting it was based on a shoddy claim.

Trump decided not to replace Rosen and that was that.

Jeff Clark disputes much of the reporting about this matter. He states: I categorically deny that I devised a plan . . . to oust Jeff Rosen. He also disputes claims that his view about the election was based on things he read on the internet:

Nor did I formulate recommendations for action based on factual inaccuracies gleaned from the Internet. My practice is to rely on sworn testimony to assess disputed factual claims.

Based on my interactions with Jeff Clark, I believe that his views about the election, whether correct or incorrect, were based on a reasoned analysis of sworn testimony, not internet jottings.

Jeff also says this:

There were no maneuver[s]. There was a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the President. It is unfortunate that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation would comment in public about such internal deliberations, while also distorting any discussions. . . . Observing legal privileges, which I will adhere to even if others will not, prevents me from divulging specifics regarding the conversation.

I agree with these sentiments. This dispute was resolved in favor of Jeffrey Rosen and those on his side. There was no need for the winners to go the media, especially to the New York Times, a thoroughgoing anti-conservative organ that consistently sided against the Trump DOJ. I dont know who amongst this group did so, but he (or they) shouldnt have.

Now that they have, how should we assess the matter?

First, Trump clearly didnt do anything wrong. He rejected the idea of firing Rosen and having Clark send a letter to Georgia officials.

In any case, Trump was free to fire Rosen, as he was free to fire any cabinet member. If Trump had fired Rosen because he felt the acting AG wasnt doing enough to counter election fraud, he would have been within his rights. There would have been no coup.

What about Jeff Clark? On Jeffs account, he reviewed sworn testimony, concluded that the election had been marred by substantial fraud, and held a discussion of the matter with Trump and, eventually, key players at the DOJ who held the opposing view.

On this account, Jeff did nothing wrong, in my view. I would expect a high ranking DOJ official who, after reviewing evidence, believed the election was stolen to press the matter. A stolen presidential election would be a matter of gravest concern. It would justify going over the head of an acting AG who didnt want to act (if thats what Jeff did).

Was Jeffs assessment of the evidence of fraud correct? To answer that, Id have to know what evidence he relied on and review it myself. Im not aware of evidence from which I can conclude the election was stolen. But that doesnt mean the evidence doesnt exist.

In any event, even if Jeff incorrectly assessed the evidence, he still would not have acted improperly by raising his concerns, first with his DOJ superiors and then with the president. A good faith belief that an election has been stolen should spur any public official to action.

On the account of Jeffs adversaries in the media and among his former colleagues, Jeff naturally comes off looking worse. They create the impression that Jeffs view of the election was based on unreliable sources and that he was plotting, rather than simply spurring a discussion.

But these conflicting characterizations arent material, in my view. Whatever the quality of the evidence Jeff relied on, its understandable that, believing the DOJ wasnt taking allegations of fraud seriously, he would push to have them taken more seriously. And if he was being blocked in this regard, it is understandable that he would maneuver as he did.

More troubling to me is the claim that Clark wanted to send [a letter] to Georgia state legislators, which wrongly asserted the department was investigating accusations of fraud. I dont know whether its true that Jeff wanted to send such a letter. However, if he had replaced Rosen, as Trump apparently contemplated, and immediately launched an investigation, the assertion that the department was investigating wouldnt have been wrongful.

Some are saying that Jeff tried to pull off a coup at the DOJ. To me, this characterization is ridiculous. The decision whether to replace Rosen was always Trumps. If Clark caused Trump to believe that Rosen was standing in the way of combating fraud that Trump was already convinced had occurred, thats far from plotting a coup.

Personally, I think Jeff exercised poor judgment. The cause was lost (maybe justly so, maybe not). Realistically, there was nothing to gain from encouraging Trump to fight on, and something to lose.

Trump played into his enemies hands by not having accepted the result of the election by the end of the year, if not sooner. He would have played into their hands even more had he fired Rosen and authorized Clark to send a letter to Georgia legislators.

But the vilification of Jeff by the media and, it seems, by some of his former colleagues is over the top. They are trying to destroy a good man and an outstanding lawyer. Its clear to me that they want to prevent him from working again.

And Jeff isnt the only target. Theres a movement to expel Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz from the Senate. Colleges are under pressure not to hire ex-Trump officials (not that its clear pressure is required). Law firms and corporations are likely facing similar pressure.

This is the politics of personal destruction. Its another instance of the Democrats campaign to cancel political opponents, and another step down the road to the authoritarian rule they would like to impose on America.

Ulster University has lost 54.8m in the past two years with pension scheme obligations putting pressure on the institutions finances.

The universitys income decreased by two per cent in 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19.

Somewhat unusually, the financial reports for the past two years have been published one month apart.

The 2018/19 report was originally due for publication in March 2020 but it didnt appear online until December.

In the intervening period Ulster University received a 126m loan for its Belfast Campus.

The 2019 report shows that UU had an overall deficit of 48.7m.

The 2019/20 report followed last week and takes in the year ending July 31, 2020.

It shows a comprehensive deficit for the year of 6.2m.

Responding to questions about the universitys financial sustainability and the potential ramifications of Brexit, a UU spokesperson said: We continue to closely monitor the financial trends and outlook to build a sustainable financial strategy that must address not only the financial impacts of COVID, but also the pre-existing challenge of a cost base that has grown, whilst income from government block grant and fees from capped student numbers have remained largely flat.

As our Higher Education sector continues to work through the implications of Brexit, we are committed to safeguarding, as much as will be possible, the many valuable partnerships and staff and student opportunities enjoyed across the EU.

We are confidently maintaining our relationships with EU higher education institutions and partners, to create the strongest basis from which to navigate the challenges of Brexit and sustain our collaboration into the future.

Erasmus has been invaluable for student mobility and Ulster Universitys current Erasmus plus mobility funding remains in place until 2022. We will consider the available opportunities for continued exchange and mobility for our students.

LOAN

The University has prepared a five-year strategic plan and the current development of the Greater Belfast Campus is a key part of that plan.

UU entered into a revised loan agreement from the Strategic Investment Board in October 2020 to assist the funding of the Greater Belfast Development.

This was agreed in October 2020 for an additional 126m, with a term of 30 years.

The University has drawn down the first instalment of 61m.

Security against the University estate has been given as part of the conditions of the loan.

The financial report states that the University continues to prioritise its efforts to ensure the delivery of the expanded Belfast campus.

A Strategic Programme Office continues to ensure key transformation Belfast Vision projects are delivered.

A spokesperson for the university has insisted that the repayment of loans for the Belfast campus will have no bearing on Magee.

She said: Separate funding is in place for developments at other campuses including our new School of Medicine at Magee which will welcome its first cohort of students in September 2021.

The School of Medicine will provide much-needed access to medical education in the North West, positioning the Derry City region as an attractive place to study and work.

It further builds on Ulster Universitys capacity to deliver life-changing education and research, supporting the health and well-being agenda in Northern Ireland.

September 2021 will also see the launch of Northern Irelands first BSc Paramedic Science degree based within our multi-award winning School of Nursing on the Magee Campus.

She continued: Following a renewed commitment to Magee expansion in the New Decade, New Approach Deal, the Universitys senior leaders continue to work with all strategic partners across both jurisdictions to ensure that the infrastructure and policy environment is in place to achieve everyones desired growth at Magee.

When Jordanstown relocates to Belfast, the new city campus will be at full occupancy and therefore any future growth will be at the Magee and Coleraine campuses.

Our continued focus on sustainable regional and campus balance will support this growth, as we seek to align subjects in the best interests of student experience, and play our part in the distribution of further and higher educational opportunity to meet student demand across Northern Ireland."

'DELIVERY'

Sinead McLaughlin, Foyle MLA and her party's higher education spokesperson, congratulated Ulster University for reducing its financial deficit from 48m in 2019 to just 6m in the 2020 year.

She said: The university's financial challenges have included pension liabilities, which is common across the university sector, and the particular problems Ulster University has had with its Belfast campus.

Stormont's Public Accounts Committee last year said it was 'appalled by the scale of overruns' at the Belfast campus, stating that this was 'indicative of poor project management'.

This is the opposite of what is to be expected of a major university that boasts of property sector expertise.

She added: "Recent months have seen essential progress at the Magee campus with the opening of the medical school for student applications.

I am determined that this must be followed by further progress in the higher education sector in Derry and the North West.

"It is now up to Ulster University to deliver on the expectations of local people.

That delivery needs to include an unequivocal commitment to the transfer of all health and life sciences courses to Magee.

INFLUENCE

The report says that as de facto Chief Executive of the University, the Vice-Chancellor exercises 'considerable influence' upon the development of institutional strategy, the identification and planning of new developments and the shaping of the institutional ethos.

The VCs salary at Ulster University has increased by 100k over the past decade.

Ulster University has refused to provide the salary of current VC, Professor Paul Bartholomew.

Back in 2010 the VC received a salary of 193k rising to 251k after benefits and pension contributions.

By 2018/19 former VC Paddy Nixon was receiving 285k which rose to 343k.

The report for that year added that in addition to the above the VC was provided with a house, the provision of which was a non-taxable benefit - the value of this benefit in 2018/19 was 24,562.

Professor Bartholomew was appointed Interim VC on March 1, 2020 and VC on August 17.

The report says that hes on a salary of 75k, no benefits are included but it increases to 90k after pension contributions.
Bahrain and Japan have discussed cooperation between the financial and banking sectors of the two countries especially in view of the recent initiatives by the Japanese government to boost the financial market and attract more businessmen and professionals to Japan.

At a remote session organised by the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) and hosted by the Japanese Embassy in Manama, Japan announced a new initiative to provide all the services of the Japanese Financial Market Entry Office in the English language.

The Japanese Financial Market Entry Office facilitates the flow of foreign investments to Japan, by being a single point of contact for all financial companies wishing to invest in the Japanese market.

The Japanese side pointed out that the development of this offices work is part of the Japanese Governments range of initiatives aimed at transforming Japan into a key global financial centre in Asia and the world besides creating new job opportunities and increased economic growth in Japan.

Dr Waheed Al Qassim, CEO of BAB, affirmed that this session aims to promote cooperation between Bahraini financial and banking institutions and their Japanese counterparts. He pointed out that the relations between Bahrain and Japan started in 1934 with the first oil shipment. Thereafter, formal relations kicked off between the two countries in 1971.

We hope the initiative to use the English language for the first time in the Japanese Financial Market Entry Office will be a first step towards identifying opportunities in the financial sector in both Bahrain and Japan and would contribute towards enhancing investment opportunities in international markets for Bahraini financial and banking institutions, especially in Southeast Asian markets that have countless growth and prosperity openings. We also aim to apprise Bahraini institutions on the latest trends in the fields of the finance and banking, in light of the geopolitical changes in many countries, Dr Al Qassim added.

Data shows that the balance of trade between Bahrain and Japan exceeds $1 billion annually. In addition japan has steadied its commercial presence in Bahrain through five financial companies, two commercial companies, and ten industrial companies, Dr Al Qassim concluded. -- Tradearabia News Service
Gov. Charlie Baker in a 12:30 p.m. Monday news conference will provide an update on COVID-19 vaccination in Massachusetts.

As of last week, nearly 360,000 doses have been administered across Massachusetts since Dec. 15 when vaccinations began. The Boston Globe reported over the weekend that Massachusetts has vaccinated less than 5.4% of residents, placing a typical leader in health care in the bottom half of U.S. states and behind all of New England and New York.

Baker will be joined in the Massachusetts State House by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders. A livestream is available to watch below:

As of Sunday, 475,925 residents have tested positive and 13,844 have died since the pandemic hit the U.S. a year ago, according to the state Department of Public Health. There are currently more than 91,00 active coronavirus cases statewide, DPH said Sunday.

Mondays vaccination update comes as state officials, citing downward trends, lift a 9:30 p.m. curfew Monday on table service at restaurants and other businesses. For more on the easing of restrictions, read here.

According to the CDC, 21.8 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine as of Monday morning. More than 18 million people have received two doses.

In Massachusetts, Gillette Stadium opened last week as the states first mass vaccination site. Fenway Park is expected to act as another site that could provide thousands of vaccinations per day.

In Worcester, officials plan to reveal a super vaccination site some time this week.

That state does not have a vaccination site in southeastern Massachusetts, however, Walgreens and CVS have several sites open.

Related Content:
Job Title: Regional Visual Content

Producer

Organization: International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

About US:

The International Rescue Committee helps people whose lives and livelihoods

are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of

their future. It was created by Albert Einstein more than 80 years and has been

working in Uganda since 1998. It has particularly working in the conflict zones

where tens of thousands of people have been kills and over 1.6 million

displaced. Following a peace agreement in 2006, Ugandans are returning home and

looking to rebuild their lives. The IRC is there to protect women and children

from violence and exploitation by fostering a safe environment and encouraging

education, and is supporting farmers and small businesses, and helping

communities promote peace and long-term development.

Job Summary: The Regional

Visual Content Producer will be a member of the PlayMatters regional project

team based in Kampala, Uganda and work closely with the global communications

teams based in New York. The position will lead on graphic design and content

creation (including photography and videography) for the regional project. The Regional Visual Content Producer will work

closely with the Regional Curriculum Specialist and Regional Communications

Specialist to lead the graphic design for both education and communications

materials being produced for the project. They will also be responsible for

content creation, including traveling to project sites to capture creative and

high-quality photography and videography, and editing these into high-quality

end products for the project. This individual will also technically manage

other graphic design and content collection consultants, as necessary.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Graphic Design



Ensure

that all print, online, electronic products and promotional items are produced

in adherence to the PlayMatters brand guidelines



Design key

documents and promotional items like reports, PowerPoints, promotional items,

advocacy materials, leaflets, brochure, factsheets, and other displays as

needed



Design

layout of art and copy regarding arrangement, size, type size & style, and

related aesthetic concepts for key educational materials for teachers,

community members, caregivers, and potentially children. These can include guides, posters, booklets,

manuals and other content



Participate

in iterative human-centered design processes to produce flexible variations of

products



Translate

relevant project documents into visual products for online use



Create

motion graphics for different displays and purposes like infographics, video

opens and transitions



Support

the Regional Communications Specialist to develop creative concepts which

improve overall branding and visibility of the project



Understand

the illustrative process and provide technical input and oversight to

illustrators who are responsible for creating image ideas and products of

various activities to promote learning through play



Recruit/supervise

graphic design consultants (as needed)

Audio-Visual Production



Support

the Regional Communications Specialist to collect and develop communications

materials (e.g. media stories, photographs, video footage for external news

outlets and social media) to raising project visibility via earned media and

across IRC digital channels.



Generate

audio visual content (photo and video stories) for web and social media

platforms through the pre-production, production and post-production process

(shooting and editing).



Create

tutorial and other videos aimed at promoting learning through play which will

be shared on community of practice platforms. These will be adapted in terms of

length, format, and size based on mediums of distribution.



Generate

footage to be curated into in various communication products like campaigns,

promotional videos, policy dialogues among others in consultation with the

Regional Communications Specialist.



Provide

technical advice to multimedia and communications teams in the development of

audio-visual products.



Responsible

for indexing and archiving all audio-visual assets.

Technical Management



Act as

the technical link between PlayMatters and external multimedia partners in the

course of the program delivery.



Ensure

technical equipment is well maintained managed and in line with IRC procedures.





Stay

informed with latest technology developments and advise the team on how to

adapt communication/content strategies to always remain on top of the curve.



Manage

complex deliverables across three countries and multiple technical development

teams.





Qualifications, Skills and Experience:



A

minimum of five years of relevant graphic design, illustration and audio-visual

production experience



High

proficiency using creative graphic design and video production software,

including but not limited to: Adobe Indesign, Illustrator, Premier Pro, Final

Cut pro and/or related software for graphic design and video production to

produce aesthetically pleasing and engaging materials for a wide audience.



High

proficiency in using DSLR cameras and other video production equipment.



Ability

to design unique and individual elements to integrate into design.



Experience

in collecting and developing content from the field, producing compelling

communications materials.



Excellent

verbal and non-verbal communication skills, including the ability to

communicate. effectively in a multi-cultural environment with international and

national colleagues and partners.



Fluency

in English is required.



Solid

organizational skills: the ability to be flexible and work well under pressure,

dealing with competing priorities, in a fast-paced team environment.



Detail-oriented

and good multi-tasking abilities to meet multiple deadlines.



Strong

understanding of humanitarian crises and contexts in eastern Africa is a plus.



Strong

team player.



Ability

to navigate and creatively engage with diverse artistic traditions of East

Africa.



Flexible

and willing to integrate diverse feedback from a variety of technical partners.





Participation

and flexibility throughout in an iterative design process with a number of

stakeholders across a large consortium and multiple content development teams.



Proven

experience of graphic production from start to published/printed product with

knowledge of printing processes and color management.

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to apply

online at the link below.

Click

Here

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined

in IRC Way  Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity,

Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC

operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and

Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and

Anti-Retaliation.

For more of the

latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Shrugging off the disruptions of the year gone by, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Over the next few weeks, Adgully  as part of its annual TRENDING NOW endeavour  will be presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020.

Smita Murarka, Vice President - Marketing & E-commerce, Duroflex, is optimistic about revival in the new normal in 2021, where businesses will strategise to make up for the lost time in the pandemic-hit 2020. At the same time, she also feels that we are likely to live with the pandemic for a good part of 2021 as well.

Outlook for 2021

2021 is going to be a year of accepting the new normal, where we are likely to live with the pandemic for a good part of the year.

While 2020 was about staying at home mostly, 2021 will combine accepting moving around with precautions, while continuing increased consumption of social content, digital buying, prioritisation of health and hygiene. Retail, which is already showing signs of revival, will bounce back strongly, but in a safer environment and specialised brand stores would see better traction.

Consumer behaviour trends

Many of the consumer behavioural changes that have happened in 2020 are here to stay. People have become far more invested in health, wellness and preventive health practices like hygiene and building immunity. Hygiene concerns have led to a lot of people opting for quality products from trusted brands, which has triggered a shift from unbranded to branded buying in many categories like ours.

Another key trend is the record number of first-time online buyers. The pandemic has been an opportunity for many consumers, who many have been previously apprehensive, to experience the convenience of online buying. We strongly feel that these audiences will continue to buy online while also indulging in the retail buying experience time to time. So building omni-channel strategies that put consumer needs at the centre will be a key trend that brand will need to adapt to.

Learnings from 2020

2020 has been a year of agility for us as a brand. When the nation was gripped with uncertainty and fear due to the pandemic and most brands and businesses struggled to stay afloat, we at Duroflex used agility and consumer connect as key driver to continue our hyper growth. We used the power of social media and content to stay connected, provide emotional solace and relevant information with our consumers. By staying abreast with consumer sentiments, we were able to identify the new emerging needs in the sleep solutions space triggered by the pandemic leading to the launch of Duro Safe, Indias first antiviral mattress protector which went on to become a category disruptor.

Few key learnings:
He's the self-proclaimed 'favourite celebrity' of Australia, who will soon return to screens for a two-part Married At First Sight Grand reunion special.

But on Sunday, Nasser Sultan was spotted looking rather tense as stepped out for some exercise on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

The 52-year-old was spotted carrying a blue surfboard under one arm as he paced pensively around Bondi Beach's iconic grassy knoll.

EXCLUSIVE: Married At First Sight star Nasser Sultan, 52, (pictured) was spotted looking tense at Bondi Beach on Sunday amid rumours he's concerned about becoming 'Australia's most hated celebrity'

Nasser went shirtless for the occasion, showing off his extremely bronzed physique in a pair of dark blue board shorts.

At one point, the reality star flashed a peace sign to a photographer before he went about his morning.

The sighting comes amid rumours the reality star is concerned he will soon become 'Australia's most hated celebrity' if he receives a bad edit in the upcoming MAFS reunion.

Is everything OK? The reality star was spotted carrying a blue surfboard under one arm as he paced pensively around Bondi Beach's iconic grassy knoll

'Nass is worried': Sources tell Daily Mail Australia Nasser is extremely worried about how he will be portrayed, and that he's even reached out to his co-stars to ask for support

Sources tell Daily Mail Australia Nasser is extremely worried about how he will be portrayed, and that he's even reached out to his co-stars to ask for support.

'He calls himself Australia's so-called favourite celebrity and has been telling everyone that he is the star of the reunion,' said the source.

'Nass is worried that he will become Australia's most hated celebrity after spending the past few months to believe he was a favourite.'

Soon to go to TV: Last month, Nasser reached boiling point during the MAFS reunion after he was called out for various accounts of trolling by his co-stars

Last month, Nasser reached boiling point during the MAFS reunion after he was called out for various accounts of trolling by his co-stars.

It's understood only three of the show's brides and grooms came to his defence - Ines Basic, Lizzie Sobinoff and her partner Seb Guilhaus.

The two-part MAFS reunion special will air at 7pm on 31 January and 7 February on Nine.
RBI Proposes Multi-layer System, Stricter Norms for for NBFCs

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday proposed a four-layered structure for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and new norms to strengthen their governance and operations.

The RBI, in a discussion paper, proposed to differentiate between NBFCs depending upon the layer they belong to, such as base and middle.

"To sum up, regulatory and supervisory framework of NBFCs shall be based on a four-layered structure - 'Base Layer, Middle Layer, Upper Layer and a possible Top Layer'," it read.

As per the discussion paper, NBFCs in the lower layer will be known as 'NBFC-Base Layer' (NBFC-BL), and for the middle layer as 'NBFC-Middle Layer' (NBFC-ML).

"An NBFC in the Upper Layer will be known as 'NBFC-Upper Layer' (NBFC-UL) and will invite a new regulatory superstructure."

"There is also a 'Top Layer', which is ideally supposed to be empty. As such, no separate nomenclature is suggested."

Besides, the RBI proposed a reduction in NPA classification norm of 180 days to 90 days.

"It is usually argued that business cycle aspects of NBFC-clients often demand relaxed norms as their cash flows are uniquely different and often longer in frequency."

"However, such unique cash flow aspects of business should be factored by the NBFCs while fixing the due date for a customer. The NPA norm of 90 days overdue status would, therefore, not interfere with the business of the NBFC clientele."

Furthermore, the discussion paper proposes to increase the minimum capital norms from Rs2 crore to Rs20 crore.

According to the RBI's discussion paper, it is proposed that overall role and responsibilities of the 'Risk Management Committee' of NBFCs in different layers will be prescribed.

"The decision on composition for the committee as a Board-level committee or executive-level committee will be left to be decided by the Board of the NBFC."

"It is proposed to prescribe that the Board will have adequate mix of experience and educational qualification among its members. At least one of the directors shall have experience in retail lending in a bank or NBFC. The idea behind such changes is that less rigorous regulation should be supplemented by improved governance standards."

Additionally, the paper said the SSE (sensitive sector exposure) internal ceiling should separately represent capital market and commercial real estate exposures.

"Initial Public Offer (IPO) financing by individual NBFCs has come under close scrutiny, more for their abuse of the system. While there is a limit of Rs 10 lakh for banks for IPO financing, there is no such limit for NBFCs. Taking in to account the unique business model of NBFCs, it is proposed to fix a ceiling of Rs 1 crore per individual for any NBFC."

"NBFCs are free to fix more conservative limits. Further, a sub-limit within the commercial real estate exposure ceiling should be fixed internally for financing land acquisition."

In addition, disclosure requirements are proposed to be widened by including disclosures on types of exposure, related party transactions, customer complaints among others.

Over the last decade, NBFCs have witnessed phenomenal growth. From being around 12% of the balance sheet size of banks (2010), they are now more than a quarter of the size of banks.

To regulate and supervise NBFCs, RBI has implemented since 2006, differential regulation linked to size, in a limited manner.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
One of Britain's oldest identical twins has branded Boris Johnson a w****r for not implementing lockdown 'a lot earlier,' following the death of her sister.

Lilian Cox, 96, from Tipton, West Midlands, has spoken of her grief after the death of twin and 'best friend' Doris Hobday, who passed away on January 5 after a two-week battle with Covid-19.

Lil managed to call Doris and beg her to 'fight for her life,' but was not aware that Doris had died at the same hospital she was being treated at for the virus until she was discharged two weeks later.

We came into the world together,' Lil said, speaking to the Sunday People: 'She was two hours older than me and we shared everything.

The nurses and doctors were fantastic but Boris is a bloody w****r. I think lockdown should have happened a lot earlier  then there would not have been half as many deaths.

Lilian Cox, 96, from Tipton, West Midlands, has branded Boris Johnson a w****r for the way he has handled the pandemic, following the death of her sister, Doris Hobday. Pictured, appearing on This Morning on 9 September, 2019

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at a coronavirus news conference at 10 Downing Street, London, Britain January 22, 2021

It comes after her family revealed a letter offering the Covid-19 vaccine arrived at the door of Doris just two days after she died.

In a statement, the family said: 'Doris was only a few weeks away from being safe, with her vaccine letter arriving two days after her death. If you are offered the vaccine, please take it, do not refuse it. Doris did not get this choice.'

They added: 'We are aware they're both 96-years-old and we've been so lucky to have them in our lives for such a long time. But they were both still going strong before this virus got them and both were determined to live until 100.

'They had so much to live for, it's just so cruel that Covid has stopped Doris like this. Our thoughts go out to all the families who have experienced a loss through Covid and we urge people to take this seriously.'

Twin sister Lil is 'battling hard,' after contracting the virus and was pictured on GMB reading a copy of Piers Morgan's book 'Wake Up'.

Doris and Lil shot to fame when they appeared on Good Morning Britain in May and claimed the secret to long life is 'plenty of sex'.

Doris and Lil shot to fame last year after saying 'plenty of sex,' was the secret to their long lives

Doris Hobday, pictured with her husband Ray, died on January 5 after battling Covid-19 for two weeks. Doris, from Tipton, West Midlands, made up one half of Britain's oldest twins. Her family revealed the 96-year-old received a vaccine letter two days after she died

The duo had previously been guests on This Morning, where they discussed becoming social media sensations after joining Facebook in 2019 and amassing 20,000 viewers, and left the nation laughing when they admitted they sometimes wear their drawers inside out.

They made a second appearance on This Morning in September and had viewers in stitches when Lil declared she'd turned down a proposal because she wants 'an old man, about 98, with about six months to live and a big fat cheque book'.

The twins announced they had tested positive on Facebook earlier this month, writing: 'We have said in the past if him up there wants us.... hes going to have to run fast!

'We took a routine Covid test just before Christmas and it was negative. We have both stayed in over the Christmas period to keep safe and was lucky to have each other for company.

'A few days ago Doris had a high temperature and Lil had a cough, so we took a 2nd test and unfortunately the results came back positive.

'We are both in shock...we have been inside for most of 2020 sticking to all the rules and being careful, now this has happened and we cant work out why or where weve picked it up from.'

They went on to beg people to take the virus seriously, adding: 'COVID is real and its affecting so many lives across the world...dont let it affect yours or your families.

'We are running faster than ever because we both arent ready yet... we still havent met Jason Statham!'
Padmini Kolhapure Feels Marathi Cinema Is Braver Than Hindi Films; Calls Prawaas Heartwarming

Veteran actor Padmini Kolhapure believes Marathi film industry is churning out "braver" content that Hindi movies, but is struggling to thrive amid several challenges, including stiff competition from Bollywood. The 55-year-old actor's latest Marathi drama, Prawaas-- her third film in the language-- had its screening at the 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the Indian Panorama section.

In an interview with PTI, Kolhapure said the reception to Prawaas was overwhelming and instilled hope that films which are trying to push boundaries will ultimately find acceptance. "Marathi cinema is braver than Hindi films. It is still struggling. There's a lot of competition, it has to face several challenges. But I'm confident it'll eventually pave a way. Amidst all of this, when you see something like 'Prawaas' which breaks the path, it's heartwarming. I am a Maharashtrian, I want Marathi cinema to do well."

Directed by Shashank Udapurkar, the film is described as an emotional journey of an elderly couple, Abhijat Inamdar, played by actor Ashok Saraf and Lata Inamdar (Kolhapure). The actor, who has worked in acclaimed films like Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), filmmaker BR Chopra's 1980 drama Insaf Ka Tarazu and Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog, said she was touched by the messaging of Prawaas. "I was drawn to the film for the sensitivity and the story. It's a beautiful, tender film about life, living it to the fullest, looking out for reasons to make a meaningful existence. This gave me the opportunity to collaborate with Ashok also, and I had such a good experience," she added.

Kolhapure began acting at the age of seven in 1972, featuring in films like Zindagi and Dream Girl before getting a breakthrough with Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The actor said when she started her career, she simply "surrendered to the moment." "Then, it was a snowball effect. I was fortunate to get to work with good films, roles, directors and producers. I got lucky that way, despite starting so young. You can call me destiny's child."

The veteran, who was last seen on the big screen in Arjun Kapoor-starrer Panipat in 2019, said her film choices are purely dictated by her instinct. "I am extremely impulsive with my choices. It has to click or else nothing. If it's right or wrong, that's on me. I take the responsibility for the decisions but it has to touch me, I have to feel it from within for me to do it," she added.

Kolhapure said now she doesn't follow any "do's and don'ts" for scripts and rather looks out for opportunities which offer her something that she hasn't done in her nearly five decades long career. "I did 'Panipat', it didn't necessarily have this great role. But I wanted to be a part of the experience of working in an Ashutosh Gowariker film and play this 'queen.' I wanted to experience that and so I made that choice," she said.
MARIGOT:--- Three persons were shot dead at a bar in Grand Case during the early morning hours on Monday according to reports reaching SMN News.

While information thus far is sketchy it is understood that the shooting took place at a bar in the Shanty Town area leaving two men and one woman dead. Residents identified the victims as Rosy an architect from the Dominican Republic and Teddy, while the third person has been identified as Fabrice Cocks from French Quarter. The victim's ages are 45,40 and 25 years old. It is also reported that two of the victims had weapons in their possession, however, this could not be confirmed. The latter is a well known young man that works with one of the Telecommunication providers on the French side.

Residents of Grand Case woke up in shock as the news spread of the early morning shooting that claimed the lives of three people, two of the victims are well-known in the area.

Residents gathered around the area of the crime scene looking on while scores of Gendarmes from the Brigade de recherche comb the scene as they begin their investigations.

ROME, JAN 25 - An outbreak of COVID-19 in a care home near Rome has left around 40 residents positive and four dead, sources said Monday. The cluster at the home at Grottaferrata was discovered over the weekend after guests were given COVID swabs on January 14. About 10 health operators are also positive including five nuns. Italian care homes have seen some of the worst outbreaks of the virus. Probes are ongoing into the high number of COVID deaths in homes, especially in the north of Italy at the outset of the pandemic. (ANSA).
[January 25, 2021] Tauriga Sciences, Inc. Signs Major Distribution Agreement with Online Grocer and Wholesaler, Stock Up Express

Stock Up Express (www.stockupexpress.com) Receives More Than 1,000,000 Annual Online Visitors, Consisting of a Diverse Group of Customers NEW YORK, NY, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, with a proprietary line of CBD & CBG infused Supplement chewing gums (Flavors: Pomegranate, Blood Orange, Peach-Lemon, Pear Bellini, Mint, Black Currant) as well as an ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative, today announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement (the Agreement) with Stock Up Express, a division of a leading total services distributor that generates more than $3 Billion in annual sales. Stock Up Express is based in Connecticut and is a leading web-based grocer and wholesaler with over 1,000,000 online visitors annually. The Agreement will be effective February 1, 2021, and shall remain in effect for a period of two (2) years thereafter, with automatic renewal for additional successive one (1) year terms. Under terms of the Agreement, Stock Up Express will market and resell the Companys flagship brand, Tauri-Gum, to its large and diverse customer base of wholesalers and retail customers. The revenue sharing ratio established between Tauriga and Stock Up Express has the potential to create significant opportunity for both parties to this Agreement (solid gross margins). Tauri-Gum represents the first CBD edibles product/product line to be selected as part of the Stock Up Express network. The two Companies will jointly market Tauri-Gum to Stock Up Express customer base, with input by Tauriga on the content of such marketing information to attain consistency on message and to maximize sales. The Agreement allows for modification of product offerings, and Tauriga expects to offer additional items over the course of calendar year 2021. Taurigas CEO, Seth M. Shaw, expressed, This agreement is an important achievement for Tauriga. Due to the quality of our flagship Tauri-Gum product line, the strong team that we have built, and the improving macro-outlook for our industry, this Agreement became possible. Stock Up Express is an outstanding distribution partner and the Company now has access to a large, previously untapped, market segment, at margins that the Company believes is conducive to long term success. Our long-term goal is for Tauri-Gum to become a successful, widely distributed, consumer friendly CBD edibles brand. We have now taken an important step in that direction. Stock Up Express Vice President of E-Commerce, Steven Methvin, commented, After much consideration and the evaluation of numerous CBD products, our Company has made the decision to enter the CBD edibles space through Tauriga Sciences Inc. and its high-quality products. Stock Up Express will provide an opportunity to present the Tauri-Gum brand (and possibly other product offerings to follow) to a large and engaged base of wholesalers and retail customers. Our respective teams work well together and we are all committed to working had and strategically to build a successful distribution partnership and business model.



Tauriga Sciences, Inc. was represented by the law firm of Rimon P.C. in the preparation of the Agreement. ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES, INC.

Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, engaged in several major business activities and initiatives. The company manufactures and distributes several proprietary retail products and product lines, mainly focused on the Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabigerol (CBG) Edibles market segment. The main product line, branded as Tauri-Gum, consists of a proprietary supplement chewing gum that is Kosher certified, Halal certified, and Vegan Formulated (CBD Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Mint, Blood Orange, Pomegranate), (CBG Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Peach-Lemon, Black Currant) & (Vitamin C + Zinc Immune Booster Flavor: Pear Bellini). The Companys commercialization strategy consists of a broad array of retail customers, distributors, and a fast-growing E-Commerce business segment (E-Commerce website: www.taurigum.com). Please visit our corporate website, for additional information, as well as inquiries, at http://www.tauriga.com Complementary to the Companys retail business, is its ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative. This relates to the development of a proposed Pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum, for nausea regulation (specifically designed for the following indication: Patients Subjected to Ongoing Chemotherapy Treatment). On March 18, 2020, the Company announced that it had filed a provisional U.S. patent application covering its pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum. The Patent, filed with the U.S.P.T.O. is Titled MEDICATED CBD COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. On December 18, 2020 the Company disclosed that it had entered into a Master Services Agreement with CSTI to lead the Company's clinical development efforts. On October 6, 2020, the Company announced that it has been approved to operate as a U.S. Government Vendor (CAGE CODE # 8QXV4) The Company is headquartered in Wappingers Falls, New York. In addition, the Company operates a full time E-Commerce fulfillment center located in LaGrangeville, New York. ABOUT STOCK UP EXPRESS ONLINE Convenient Warehouse Shopping: We know you need to buy lots of goods with no time to waste. Thats why we created our virtual warehouse. At StockUpExpress, we sell case-size quantities of grocery, personal care, and household items from hundreds of national and regional brands. Since we are all about convenience, items in our cases are the normal shelf-size, not the jumbo club-size packaging offered at the big box stores. Unlike other e-commerce sites, StockUpExpress has the capability to ship mass amounts of product quickly and efficiently. We cover the heavy lifting and logistics, letting your business or event run smoothly all with just the click of a button. Development for Stock Up Express began in 2014. Our parent company, iMarket Technologies, LLC, was also launched in 2014 and is led by a team of executives with deep experience in warehouse operations, consumer packaged goods merchandising, logistics, and online retailing. Please visit our Website at: https://www.stockupexpress.com DISCLAIMER -- Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc.

4 Nancy Court, Suite 4

Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Seth M. Shaw

Email: sshaw@tauriga.com

Cell # (917) 796 9926

Company Instagram: @taurigum

Personal Instagram: @sethsms47

Twitter: @SethMShaw

Corp. Website: www.tauriga.com

E-Commerce Website: www.taurigum.com



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Amaravati, Jan 25 : With the Supreme Court dismissing Andhra Pradesh government's petition to defer the rural local body polls, the state government on Monday decided to proceed with the elections.

"We respect the Supreme Court's decision and the government machinery is going ahead with the elections," said Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Advisor (public affairs) to the Andhra Pradesh government.

Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said that the government has announced financial incentives for unanimous elections and called upon the people to avail them.

He said that the government has amended the laws to punish people who influence the polls by offering money, liquor or just simply by blocking people from voting freely, and the violators will be jailed for two years and also get disqualified in case they are elected fraudulently.

"People should take note of all these changes for peaceful elections," said Peddireddy.

Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said the state government welcomes the Supreme Court judgment. "In accordance with the judgment, the government wishes to hold unbiased elections," said Satyanarayana.

As the Covid vaccination drive is being carried out as per the directions of the Central government, he said a meeting was convened under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He said that a letter has been sent to the cabinet secretary, health department and the home ministry as frontline staff who will be on election duty are also scheduled for vaccination.

"We asked the Centre how to go about with the vaccination and what standard operating procedures to be followed. We will go ahead as directed," he said.

Satyanarayana said the ruling party will come out with flying colours in the rural local body elections.

Earlier during the day, right after the SC's ruling, senior YSR Congress Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP V. Vijayasai Reddy had said that the government would peruse the court decision and decide how to go ahead.

"There is no chance for an ego clash. The SEC has taken its decision, and so has the government. The reasons for the government's decision were also explained. We told for what reasons we could not go ahead with the elections to the high court and the Supreme Court. We will come to a decision after examining the court's decision," he said.

Likewise, the employee unions have also voiced their concerns, but clarified that they are not against the elections.

"Those who will be on election duty will participate. We are only telling not to compel us. The Election Commission will not directly tell us to participate as we get the directives from the government," said an employee association representative.

He also said that those employees with health issues should be exempted from election duty.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
The Egyptian Ministry of transportation announced on Tuesday the return of shipping and maritime activities between Egypt and Qatar following the resumption of the relations between the two countries.

The decision came in accordance with Al-Ula agreement for Arab reconciliation with Qatar which was signed on 5 January.

Al-Ula agreement ended a diplomatic and travel boycott by the Arab Quartet  Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain  on Doha since June 2017.

Last week Egypt agreed with Qatar to resume diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Qatar Airways and EgyptAir resumed on Monday flights to the two countries' capitals after Egypt ended its boycott of Doha also last week.

Short link:


New Delhi, Jan 25 : For Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Mahesh Bhardwaj, it was hard to believe that he has been selected for the President's medal for the distinguished services, as he completed six years of President's medal for the Meritorious services this year.

Bhardwaj's name was announced earlier in the day by the government for the President's Medal for the Distinguished services on the occasion of Republic Day 2021.

Bhardwaj, is currently deputed in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) police officers after orders from the Supreme Court in 2018 to probe the extra-judicial killings in the state of Manipur.

Speaking to IANS, Bhardwaj who is deputed as Senior Superintendent of Police in the CBI to probe extrajudicial killings in Manipur, said, "I had got the President's medal for meritorious service in January 2015. And just now as I complete the six-year gap between the two medals, I've been selected for the President's Medal for distinguished service." Bhardwaj had joined the Delhi Police as Assistant Commissioner in the year 1993 and has worked extensively with United Nations Police, Andaman Nicobar and Mizoram police, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He said that it was hard for him believe that he was selected for the highest award of the police.

In his message to other IPS officers, he said, "All officers in the police should work hard to get these medals." He said the President's medal for the distinguished services are the top medals for the police officers working across the country. "And I believe every police officer should try their best to get these," he added.

Bhardwaj was deputed in the CBI from the NHRC in February 2018 on the direction of Supreme Court to associate with the investigation of alleged extra-judicial killings and human rights violations by security forces in Manipur.

According to sources, the investigation in most of the extra-judicial killing cases are coming to closure in the next couple of months.

Bhardwaj, during his stint as DCP Traffic in Delhi, undertook various road engineering, road safety and traffic awareness initiatives to improve traffic discipline in the trans-Yamuna area, which helped in reducing traffic accidents significantly.

He also supervised traffic arrangements efficiently for the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and while posted as DCP Supreme Court Security, successfully dealt with diverse security issues and hazards arising due to heavy movement of litigants, lawyers etc in the court.

He also adopted several measures to strengthen the security of apex court in consultation with Court Registry and Bar Association.

In NHRC, besides regular investigation work, Bhardwaj has conducted spot enquiries and visited detention centres in Assam, set up for illegal immigrants.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Design of Army aerial vehicles and weapon systems relies on the ability to predict aerodynamic behavior, often aided by advanced computer simulations of the flow of air over the body. High-fidelity simulations assist engineers in maximizing how much load a rotorcraft can lift or how far a missile can fly, but these simulations aren't cheap.

The simulations that designers currently use require extensive data processing on supercomputers and capture only a portion of vortex collision events - which can cause significant performance degradation, from loss of lift on a rotor to complete loss of control of a munition. A new turbulence model could change that.

The Army Research Office, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, now known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory, funded researchers at Purdue University to advance a turbulence model known as the Coherent-vorticity-Preserving Large-Eddy Simulation, known as CvP LES. Published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, the new methodology simulates the entire process of a vortex collision event up to 100 times faster than current state-of-the-art simulation techniques.

"The thing that's really clever about Purdue's approach is that it uses information about the flow physics to decide the best tactic for computing the flow physics," said Dr. Matthew Munson, Program Manager for Fluid Dynamics at ARO. "There is enormous potential for this to have a real impact on the design of vehicle platforms and weapons systems that will allow our Soldiers to successfully accomplish their missions."

The fluid dynamics of aircraft turbulence are complex, and simulating them accurately in the computer is nearly impossible. Prof. Carlo Scalo has taken a leap forward in this process, by modeling the collision of vortices in two ways: once with direct numerical simulation, and once with large-eddy simulation. This model can now be used by engineers to design better aircraft, without having to wait months for supercomputer calculations. Carlo Scalo's Compressible Flow and Acoustics Lab: https:/ / engineering. purdue. edu/ ~scalo/ Mechanical Engineering: https:/ / purdue. edu/ ME

The model can be used to simulate vortices over any length of time to best resemble what happens around an aircraft. For instance, as a rotor blade moves through the air, it generates a complex system of vortices that are encountered by the next blade passage. The interaction between the blade and the vortices can lead to vibration, noise, and degraded aerodynamic performance. Understanding these interactions is the first step to modifying designs to reduce their impact on the vehicle's capabilities.

In this study, researchers simulated the collision events of two vortex tubes called trefoil knotted vortices. This interaction shares many common features to the vortices often present in Army applications. Simulating the evolution of the collision requires extremely fine resolution, substantially increasing the computational cost.

The methodology relies on clever techniques that balance cost and accuracy. It is capable of rapidly detecting regions of the flow characterized by fine turbulent scales and then determining, on-the-fly, the appropriate numerical scheme and turbulence model to apply locally. This also allows computational power to be applied only where most needed, achieving a solution with the highest possible fidelity for a given budgeted amount of computational resources.

"When vortices collide, there's a clash that creates a lot of turbulence," said Carlo Scalo, a Purdue associate professor of mechanical engineering with a courtesy appointment in aeronautics and astronautics. "It's very hard computationally to simulate because you have an intense localized event that happens between two structures that look pretty innocent and uneventful until they collide."

Using the Brown supercomputer at Purdue University for mid-size computations and Department of Defense facilities for large-scale computations, the team simulated an entire collision event, fully simulating the thousands of events that take place when these vortices collide.

The team is now working with the Department of Defense to apply the model to large-scale test cases pertaining to Army vehicle and weapons systems.

"If you're able to accurately simulate the thousands of events in flow like those coming from a helicopter blade, you could engineer much more complex systems," Scalo said.

###

The Rosen Center for Advanced Computing at Purdue and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Department of Defense Supercomputing Resource Center provided additional support for this research.

DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory is an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. As the Army's corporate research laboratory, ARL is operationalizing science to achieve transformational overmatch. Through collaboration across the command's core technical competencies, DEVCOM leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more successful at winning the nation's wars and come home safely. DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the Army Futures Command.
An important myth has been busted.

Any citizen with a council problem who approached the state government has been told that nothing can be done because local governments in Western Australia are autonomous bodies and have the authority to make decisions on behalf of their communities.

Police take down the tents at the homeless camp in Fremantles Pioneer Park. Credit:Peter de Kruijff

Now, in the lead-up to an election that myth is well and truly busted because the actions of the government over Fremantle clearly demonstrate that when it wants to use them, the state has plenty of powers to control wayward local governments.

Either local governments are autonomous or they are not. My view is that they are not, but the government used to hold a completely different view.

Outdoor dining will soon be available again in San Francisco and is already starting in most of the Bay Area. Restaurants in nearly all Bay Area counties  Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin counties  can restart immediately, the counties announced. San Francisco restaurants can start offering outdoor dining on Thursday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the statewide stay-at-home order on Monday, Jan. 25, which means counties will return to the colored tier system that existed before Decembers order. A statement from the California Department of Public Health said that activities such as outdoor dining may resume immediately with required modifications, subject to any additional restrictions required by local jurisdictions.

All Bay Area counties are in the purple tier, though individual counties may implement stricter rules as they have in the past. Though purple is the most restrictive among the colored tiers, it allows restaurants, bars and breweries with meal service to open for outdoor dining. Wineries can also reopen for outdoor service under state rules.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced on Monday afternoon that restaurants in the city could restart their on-site, outdoor operations on Thursday, January 28. Tables are limited to six people from up to two households, and restaurants are required to be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Its cautiously good news, said Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, a local business group.

Whether restaurants are prepared to reopen outdoor immediately is another question. Many businesses went into hibernation mode over the winter instead of staying open for takeout and delivery, and it could take a week to rehire staff and do other preparation to reopen, Thomas said. Weather, too, is a factor. Rainy, windy forecasts may mean that some restaurants will opt to hold out a while before setting out tables again, Thomas added.

Dustin Sullivan, whose online petition to bring back outdoor dining drew more than 5,000 signatures, didnt expect the end of the stay-at-home order to come for another two or three weeks. So hes not ready to reopen his Kentfield restaurant, Guesthouse, for outdoor dining yet. In addition to bringing back employees, he wants to expand the restaurants limited menu, restock inventory, reorganize the kitchen and do a deep clean of the outdoor patio.

Theres so much work that has to be done to pivot back. It takes so much time and it steals so much money every time, he said, frustrated that Newsom didnt give the public more of a warning. If there was any desire to communicate  even estimations  itd be such a huge help for businesses like ours to have a general time frame.

Still, many restaurants have said they need the outdoor dining option to stay open and will likely restart service in earnest by Valentines Day if they can. A slew of businesses have sued the state over the ban on outdoor dining, arguing that the rules are unfair. A growing number of other restaurants have simply flouted the rules, serving people for on-site service despite warnings from health departments.

Cynthia Ariosta of St. Helenas Pizzeria Tra Vigne said she was shocked but excited to hear the news, and immediately started calling furloughed employees to prepare to reopen Monday. Ariosta was one of the founding members of the Wine Country Coalition for Safe Reopening, a group of more than 50 Napa and Sonoma business owners who sued Newsom in the hopes of overturning the outdoor dining ban.

This is what we wanted: We wanted to get our employees back to work and move forward, she said.

Ariosta is speaking to the coalitions legal team later on Monday to discuss possible next steps.

We have to make sure this doesnt happen to us again, she said. We cant continue to ride this roller coaster of shutdowns anymore.

At Sausalitos Fish restaurant, which has a large outdoor patio looking out at the bay, executive chef Douglas Bernstein opened for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Monday right after Marin County announced restaurants could do so, even though they didnt have a dishwasher or bussers scheduled. It went surprisingly well, he said.

Its so cool and windy we werent expecting to be as busy as we were, he said. People were excited to sit outside even in the cold.

Some Bay Area restaurant owners, however, dont think its safe yet to reopen for outdoor dining. Yuka Ioroi temporarily closed her Outer Richmond restaurant, Cassava, in early January because of soaring coronavirus cases and concerns about more contagious variants spreading around the world. She pointed to Californias slow vaccine rollout and lack of new guidance around masks. Multiple European countries now ban the use of cloth masks, requiring everyone to wear medical-grade masks instead. In the U.S. public health officials have begun recommending people wear two masks  yet some diners still refuse to wear any kind of mask.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

This is not the time, she said.

Ioroi plans to open Cassava again in February for takeout only, with no timeline to serve on the restaurants parklet again.

Theres also no guarantee that outdoor dining will stay for good until vaccinations are more widespread. Once dining returns, behavior such as wearing masks when servers approach will still be important, Thomas implored.

We all have to continue to be vigilant unfortunately and see what we can do, Thomas said.

Breed celebrated the development as a sign of hope but warned that more needs to be done.

We want to continue to make sure that we are being very careful because we dont want to go backwards, she said.

Tara Duggan contributed reporting.

This story is developing and will be updated with new details. A previous version misspelled Yuka Iorois name.

Serena Dai is a San Francisco Chronicle senior features editor. Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: serena.dai@sfchronicle.com, janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing, Jan 22, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] The discipline inspection and supervision system will be better integrated into the national governance system this year. The move will unleash greater effectiveness in governance and serve high-quality development as the country embarks on a new journey to fully build a modern socialist country, according to a communique released on Sunday. The communique was adopted at the closing of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, an annual meeting held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday. The top disciplinary body vowed to better adapt to the needs of the country's modernization work and provide a strong guarantee for the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25). President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addressed the session on Friday. He stressed the importance of exercising full and strict governance over the Party and a steadfast political direction in ensuring the implementation of goals and tasks set out in the Five-Year Plan. Xi underscored that improving the Party working style, boosting clean governance and the fight against corruption constitute a journey to which there is no end. The CPC, as a major party with a 100-year history, must ceaselessly move forward with work in this regard if it is to forever preserve its advanced nature, purity and vitality, he said. The session considered that oversight and inspection will be strengthened in implementing the country's major policies, including building a new development paradigm, deepening supply-side structural reform and improving people's quality of life, the communique said. Efforts will be made to consolidate and expand achievements in COVID-19 prevention and control and economic and social development, increase scientific and technological strength, enhance the capacity of the industrial and supply chains and accelerate agricultural and rural modernization, it said. The communique said the fight against corruption will be pushed forward, with the focus on investigating cases where political and economic problems are intertwined and areas with huge policy support and intensive investment and resources. Anti-corruption efforts in the financial sector, State-owned enterprises and the political and legal systems will continue to be enhanced. The country will also strengthen international cooperation in combating corruption and tracking down fugitives and recovering their assets, it added. The session also affirmed that tackling corruption and misconduct related to people's livelihoodsincluding education and medical care, social security, ecological and environmental protectionwill be maintained to promote social fairness and protect people's interests, the communique said. Strengthening oversight of the top leaders and leading officials, and punishing misconduct in official appointments, including bribery in election and job promotions, were also listed as goals. "The current focus of supervision should be on consolidating and expanding the achievements in poverty alleviation" after eradicating absolute poverty, said Wang Yanfei, the top disciplinary inspection official in Sichuan province. "Efforts should be made to improve the dynamic monitoring and support mechanism for preventing a regression into poverty, and strengthen supervision of the implementation of policies promoting common prosperity among the people, so that the people will feel fairness and justice," he said. Chen Yong, the top disciplinary inspection official in Beijing, said discipline inspection and supervision authorities should coordinate the oversight of the prevention and control work on the COVID-19 pandemic and economic and social development to help achieve the success on both fronts as sporadic epidemics have appeared in the country.
(Alliance News) - Premier Oil PLC on Monday said it has hired Alexander Krane as chief financial officer, effective from April 15, replacing Richard Rose who will resign as interim chief executive and finance director on the same date.

The oil & gas company with operations in countries including Mexico, the UK, Vietnam, and Brazil noted Krane has over 20 years of experience from holding various accounting, controlling and executive roles in the energy industry.

In 2012, Krane joined Norwegian oil company Det norske oljeselskap ASA as CFO, remaining in the role following the company's merger with BP Norway in 2016. In 2019, he left the merged entity Aker BP ASA to become investment director at Aker ASA, responsible for the company's oil and gas investments.

The new hire comes as the latest change in the leadership team after in October, Premier Oil agreed to merge with Harbour Energy's UK operating firm Chrysaor through a reverse takeover. In December, the company confirmed the departure of then-chief executive officer Tony Durrant, saying Rose would take on the additional role of interim chief executive at the start of 2021 until the completion of the Chrysaor merger.

Shares in Premier Oil were trading 2.0% lower at 18.98 pence each on Monday morning in London.

By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Proper - the Properchips brand owner - to merge with Eat Real

Proper, the UK-headquartered health snacks firm previously trading as Propercorn, has sold a majority stake to London-based Exponent Private Equity, which plans to form a new snacks group with another one of its portfolio brands acquired last year.

Set up in 2011 as a popcorn manufacturer by Cassandra Stavrou and Ryan Kohn, the company then changed name to Proper in 2019 to reflect its move into vegan crisps with the launch of Properchips made with lentils.

Exponent was also an investor in two companies producing Asian-style foods including snacks  TRS Foods and East End Foods  before the private-equity firm merged the businesses to create Vibrant Foods last year.

Vibrant then went on to acquire another UK firm based in the city of Leicester in the English Midlands, Cofresh Snack Foods, which manufactures a range of Indian-style snacks under its namesake brand and also that of Eat Real, a line of allergen-free snacks.

Proper and Eat Real will now be formed into a new group by Exponent by the end of the quarter with a new CEO heading up the business  Chris Schulze-Melander, the current CEO of People Against Dirty, a manufacturer of clean-label household products. The two brands will remain separate.

In March, Schulze-Melander will replace Proper's CEO Mike Hedges, who will remain during a transition period until the summer.

In a statement provided to just-food, Proper's co-founder Stavrou said: "After ten years of building Proper, choosing the right partner for our next chapter meant everything to me. This marks a big moment for this company and our category. From our first sales in Google's offices to now millions of bags of Propercorn and Properchips sold every month, we are proving that healthy and sustainable snacking has a massive audience.

"Working with Exponent and Eat Real to achieve our vision was an opportunity too good to miss. While our brands will remain distinct, we have a shared goal to take healthy snacking mainstream and global. This partnership will amplify every arm of the business."

Terms of the deal or the size of the stake taken by Exponent were not disclosed.

Proper had previously been backed by JamJar Investments, a London-based venture-capital fund, and Piper Private Equity, a start-up investor also based in the UK capital.

In 2020, Proper, which exports to ten markets, posted revenues of GBP24m (US$32.8m).
On Monday morning coastal residents had the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and receive the much-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine in Galveston County.

According to officials, vaccination slots at the Galveston County Health District vaccine became available at 9:30 a.m. and were filled by 10:15 a.m. Approximately 6,000 vaccine doses are expected in Galveston County next week and those who qualify for the vaccine in the Phase 1B category can register on the Galveston County Health District website when supply comes available. Healthcare professionals, people 65 and older and individuals 18 or older with certain medical conditions are now eligible for the vaccine, according to the state of Texas' guidelines.

Galveston Health Authority's Dr. Philip Keiser told Chron that local officials are expecting to roll out another vaccination hub on Saturday, January 30 at Walter Hall Park.

"We're still working out the details," Keiser said. "The vaccination effort is a collaboration between UTMB, the Health Department and Galveston County."

Keiser said this has been one of the most gratifying moments during the pandemic for him as a doctor.

"It was extremely exciting," Keiser said. "People are happy and relieved, and everyone is so, so grateful. It feels like a light at the tunnel, but we realize it's just the very beginning."

?????? Registration will take place online and by phone. That info will be shared at 9:30 a.m. Please do not physically... Posted by Galveston County Health District on Sunday, January 24, 2021

This weekend, Galveston County hosted a mass vaccination hub in collaboration with UTMB in League City, where approximately 800 doses were administered.

"Our time right now is running about six minutes from the time you get here until the time you get your vaccine," Galveston County Judge Mark Henry told KHOU's David Gonzalez.

According to health officials, vaccines will be administered at the Galveston County Health District in Texas City on Monday.
Owners of energy inefficient homes may find themselves the proprietors of unsellable and unlettable properties just over seven years from now.

The Climate Change Committee, which is advising the UK government on how to achieve its net zero carbon emissions target by 2050, has recommended that all homes should have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C from 2028.

The CCC says that improving the energy efficiency of UK homes, responsible for about 15 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emission, is key to enabling the government to achieve its target.

UK homes are responsible for about 15 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions.

EPC is a rating scheme which bands properties between A and G, with an A rating being the most efficient and G being the least efficient.

There are currently about 29 million homes in the UK, of which 19 million have an EPC lower than C according to the CCC's figures.

In order to improve a property's EPC rating, an owner will need to make improvements to make it more energy efficient.

Ensuring adequate loft, underfloor or cavity wall insulation, upgrading to double or triple glazed windows, draught proofing and hot water tank insulation are just some examples of improvements that can boost an EPC rating.

The CCC are proposing all UK homes reach an EPC of band C in order to help the government meet its net zero carbon target by 2050.

'We welcome the report and share the ambition for net zero by 2050,' said Rob Wall, head of policy at the National Housing Federation.

'Buildings are the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.'

'We need to decarbonise our homes, and how they are heated, if we are successfully to tackle climate change.'

What does it mean for homeowners?

The CCC proposes that all homes for sale must attain an EPC rating of C from 2028 onwards.

Currently, only 29.1 per cent of owner occupier properties meet the required rating, so widespread changes will be required.

The last gas boiler should be sold in 2033, with the majority of homes needing to be heated by electric powered heat pumps drawing warmth from the ground. The CCC estimates 415,000 installations per year will be required by 2025 so as to hit a target of 5.5 million heat pumps in homes by 2030.

The report states 700,000 lofts will need to be insulated per year by 2025 - there were only 27,000 lofts insulated in the past year. The committee wants 200,000 cavity wall insulations each year by 2025, when only 41,000 cavity walls were insulated in the past 12 months.

It also recommends solid wall insulation measures to increase to 250,000 a year by 2025, when just 11,000 such works were carried out in the past year alone.

This all comes at a considerable cost for a homeowner.

Estimated costs of some improvements proposed by the CCC which could boost an EPC rating

According to the Green energy supplier, GreenMatch UK the installation cost for an air source heat pump ranges between 8,000 and 18,000.

A ground source heat pump will be even dearer ranging between 20,000 to 40,000 per installation.

Solid wall insulation is around 100 per square meter according to the tradesman matching site, myBuilder, meaning that for a terraced house it could cost around 7,000 while for a larger detached property it could amount to more than 20,000.

'There is a considerable quantity of pre-1950's housing stock in the UK which, in the main, lack thermal efficiency,' said James Perris a chartered surveyor for De Villiers Surveyors.

Perris warns that many homeowners will need to switch to electric or hydrogen heating systems, install double glazing and loft insulation, use solar panels and if possible, operate heat management systems to get a C rating.

Although the CCC does not specifically estimate the costs for the UK's housing stock achieving an EPC of C, Savills estimate this to be in the order of 304 billion across just England and Wales.

The CCC has set out ambitious targets, which some experts believe is unrealistic without considerable government subsidies.

'In more low-cost areas, where Victorian terraces can be priced under 100,000, it will be cost prohibitive to the value of the house and there will be need for significant grants,' said Perris.

'In the South East, where average house prices are much higher, these measures can be more easily enforced.'

'But cost will be the problem because, in the main people care more about money than climate change so it will need to be enforced.'

To make matters worse, the CCC proposes that all homes with mortgages must achieve EPC level C by 2033, which could mean added financial strain for all owner occupiers attempting to pay their monthly mortgage payments on top of funding these improvements.

What does it mean for landlords?

If the CCC's recommendations are adopted, all private rented and social homes will need to achieve an EPC rating of C by 2028.

The government itself has recently published a consultation on 'Improving the energy performance of Privately Rented Homes in England and Wales' in which it proposes bringing this further forward for some landlords with all new tenancies requiring a C rating by 2025.

If the government follows the advice given, many landlords will need to make significant energy efficient changes or face being unable to let their properties.

In the private rental sector, 32.6 per cent of homes have the highest energy ratings of A to C.

A breakdown of the EPC bands by property tenure in England and Wales.

This leaves over two thirds of rental properties requiring work in order to meet those targets.

According to the government's own recent consultation, around 3.2 million privately rented properties in England and Wales have an EPC rating of D or below.

'If Ministers want to achieve these highly ambitious aims, they need to recognise the challenges the sector faces,' said Chris Norris, policy director for the National Residential Landlords Association.

'Over 32 per cent of private rented homes were built before 1919, higher than any other tenure. These are the most difficult to improve.'

For an average three-bedroom semi-detached home, the cost of installing double glazed UPVC windows may vary from around 2,500 to over 6,000 depending on the number and size of windows you want to install according to MyBuilder.

Norris believes the CCC's proposal, which would require landlords to spend what could be thousands of pounds to bring their properties to an energy rating of C as being detached from reality.

Get a Green Homes grant In August, government unveiled a green homes grant available to those making energy efficient improvements to their homes. Homeowners and landlords in England can apply for a voucher towards the cost of installing energy efficient and low-carbon heating improvements to homes, which could help save up to 600 a year on energy bills. The government will provide a voucher that covers up to two thirds of the cost of qualifying improvements to your home. The maximum value of the voucher is 5,000. You may be able to receive a higher level of subsidy if you are a homeowner and either you or a member of your household receives one of the qualifying means-tested benefits, covering 100 per cent of the cost of the improvements. The maximum value of these voucher is 10,000. Landlords cannot apply for the low-income part of the scheme.

'If you own a house or flat built within the last 25 years you may only need to spend a few hundred pounds but if you own a late Victorian house you may have to spend upwards of 20,000 to get it to a C rating,' explained Norris.

'The mean average private rent per property across England is 10,452 a year for landlords, before tax and other deductions.'

'If for example, 10,000 is required to fund improvements, that would wipe out many landlords' returns.'

Norris notes this could prove painful not just for landlords, but also tenants who will need to be moved for some of the work to be carried out.

He also anticipates the cost of improvements will be passed onto tenants through higher rents which will in the short term offset the lower energy bills renters would be set to benefit from.

Norris warns that the government will need to develop a tax system to encourage landlords to make continuous improvements to their properties.

'It is odd that whilst replacing a broken boiler is classed as a tax-deductible repair, upgrading an old boiler for an energy efficient heating system is not,' said Norris.

'Without fundamental changes such as this, it is likely to be difficult for the government to reach such an ambitious objective.'

What will the benefit be?

The CCC is advising the government to cut UK emissions by 63 per cent by 2035, placing the UK on the path to Net Zero by 2050.

Improving the energy efficiency of our homes will help us get there.

A breakdown of the UK's housing stock based on heating system, low carbon heat suitability, EPC rating, tenure, fuel poverty and awareness of carbon heat

'This report provides a world-leading route map to address the climate emergency,' said Laura McGadie, group head of energy at the Energy Saving Trust.

'To achieve this challenging ambition, government must bring forward the existing target for improving the energy efficiency of homes to align it with the net zero trajectory.'

'Accelerating improvements in home energy efficiency requires standards, incentives, personally tailored advice for consumers and enhanced consumer protection.'

'Everyone will have a role to play and we all stand to benefit.'

Laura McGadie, group head of energy at the Energy Saving Trust believes the report provides a world-leading route map to address the climate emergency.

But lowering our carbon emissions is not the only benefit if the government decides to follow the committee's advice.

Research by Savills suggests, if the improvements were made, the country's collective energy bill could be cut by 5.1 billion each year.

Savills say it could also boost the value of many UK homes.

It estimates that such improvements could unlock supressed value of up to 370 billion in the nation's housing stock.

Savills claim that there is an average differential of 17 per cent in the value of a property between a band B compared with band F property and an average 15 per cent differential between one in band G and band D.

Surprisingly this difference narrows to less than a four per cent for properties between band C and band E.

Savills claim that higher EPC ratings lead to higher property values and estimate that if every property were to reach a C rating, this could unlock supressed value of up to 370 billion in the nation's housing stock.

'There is not a one-size-fits-all solution,' said Lucian Cook, head of research at Savills.

'However, with an estimated 20 million 'cost effective' insulation opportunities in the UK, there is no shortage of ways homeowners can do their bit for the environment, cut their energy bills and add value to their home.'

The advice for homeowners and landlords from some experts is to act now and take advantage of the current financial incentives on offer.

The government recently extended its Green Homes Grant to March 2022, allowing homeowners in England to claim back two thirds of the costs, up to 5,000, towards home improvements which boost EPC ratings.

Funding continues to be available across the UK for boiler replacements in some circumstances through the Energy Company Obligation scheme (ECO).

If you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, homeowners and landlords may also be able to get support through schemes running in their areas.
On January 15, a trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrols Interdiction Plus Unit stopped a semi-tractor and trailer for a traffic violation on Interstate 40 at the 101-mile marker in Henderson County. As the trooper was performing a Level II commercial motor vehicle safety inspection, he discovered possible indicators of criminal activity.Additional troopers were requested to the scene to assist. As the troopers proceeded with the CMV inspection, discrepancies and irregularities were discovered with the drivers shipping manifest.Continuing with the inspection, troopers entered the semis trailer. Troopers examined several pallets of cargo where they located a pallet that was not indicated on the original shipping manifest. The pallet appeared to be professionally packaged with affixed shipping labels and wrapped with cellophane.During the inspection, troopers opened 12 undocumented boxes to inspect the contents. The boxes contained 383 pounds of vacuumed sealed marijuana. A smaller box contained 40 pounds of cocaine.Charges were filed in state court on both the driver David A. Seville, age 25, from Brooklyn, NY and the co-driver Michael J. Blake, age 57, from Jamaica, NY for possession of schedule VI (marijuana) with the intent to deliver. A criminal complaint was filed on both men in federal court for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
Trouble is brewing in paradise where locals are divided over a Chinese developer which has taken over their idyllic tropical island community.

China Bloom snapped up a portion of Keswick Island in Queensland's Whitsundays region for $20million on a 99-year lease almost two years ago.

The remaining 80 per cent of the island 34km from the coastal town of Mackay is national park.

Island locals have accused the Beijing-backed developer of banning boats from accessing the public ramp, shutting down the air strip, and attempting to stop visitors from using the beach which it plans to redevelop.

Many plan to descend on the island on Tuesday for a peaceful Australia Day protest as part of their Reclaim Keswick Island campaign.

But other locals have jumped to the defence of China Bloom, claiming the life on the idyllic island has never been better and denied claims of access being restricted.

Locals are divided over China Bloom's future plans to develop Keswick Island (pictured, tourists on the island in the Whitsundays)

Rachael Cameron is among the outraged locals concerned about plans to redevelop the beach, which she says a nesting site for turtles, a claim refuted by China Bloom.

'To be told that turtles no longer nested on Keswick Island and that there had been no human intervention was an absolute disgrace and an insult to our intelligence,' she told the Courier Mail.

Rayna Asbury claimed she lost 18 months of rent on her holiday home on the island when the developer told her she couldn't lease it on AirBnB.

She later discovered holiday renting was permitted.

But other locals were quick to defend the developer, including Glenn Leigh-Smith who has been on the island for 21 years.

'All they've done is maintain the island. If you go fly there, you'll see the place is impeccable,' he said.

Mr Leigh-Smith slammed protesters opposing the developer's plans for the island by labelling them as being unfair.

Outraged locals have accused China Bloom of banning boats from accessing the public ramp, shut down the air strip, and attempted to stop visitors from using the beach, which the developer has denied. Pictured is one of the signs restricting public access

The last posts uploaded on Keswick Island's official social media platforms were in April 2019, a month after China Bloom secured the lease.

China Bloom has denied any closure of the airfield or national parks and claims just four permanent residents live on the island.

'In the first quarter of 2021, the island's plane service, which was paused as with the aviation plane industry with the COVID-19 pandemic, will be reinstated to increase capacity,' the developer said in a statement to the Courier Mail.

The developer also claimed Queensland Parks and Wildlife found no turtles on the island over a 10-year period.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted China Bloom for further comment.

China Bloom snapped up a portion of Keswick Island (pictured) for $20million on a 99-year lease in March 2019

The developer has previously stated they're working hard to 'increase visitation and access to the island for both tourists, current and future residents' and accused the outraged locals of interfering with their plans to make the island more accessible.

China Bloom said angry locals are interfering with their plans to make the island more accessible.

A Change.org petition set up by Ms Cameron urging the federal government to strip China Bloom of its island lease has reached more than 13,200 signatures.

'We are calling for the federal government to put in place legislation to rescind leaseholders within our Queensland Islands, especially those that are National Parks, in particular Keswick Island.'

The campaigners say access to its national park is being 'tampered with' and 'denied by the leaseholder'.

'The ecological protections of the island have furthermore been breached through the destruction of turtle nests which impacts on the turtle protection program,' the petition reads.

'In addition, breaches, such as unauthorised tree removal are currently occurring and we ask that this be stopped immediately.'

Outraged locals have accused developer China Bloom of restricting public access to Keswick Island (pictured)

Federal Nationals MP George Christensen is another vocal supporter of the Reclaim Keswick Island campaign.

He recently travelled to the island to erect an Australian flag and has called on the Queensland government to intervene and tear up the lease.

'To date, the Palaszczuk Government has ducked and dived on this issue, falsely claiming the Federal Treasurer signed off on the transfer, and also hiding behind bureaucratic protocols for their non-action,' Mr Christensen posted on Facebook.

'We need to put pressure on the Palaszczuk Labor Government if the fight to Reclaim is to be successful.'
Ava Martinez used to enjoy going to school. She was excited to dissect frogs and was an avid reader, a straight-A student enrolled in her schools gifted and talented program and several Pre-AP classes.

Before the pandemic, Ava had a vibrant social life but never let it interfere with grades. Now, the 13-year-old stays home and takes classes virtually. Her workload at Rudder Middle School in the Northside Independent School District seems heavier, but classes seem shorter. She cant simply raise her hand to ask a question or turn to the student next to her.

Before, I didnt think of school as work, but now its like a hassle, Ava said.

EXPRESS-NEWS APP: Breaking news, Spurs scores, COVID updates and more  at your fingertips.

Some of her high grades have slipped to Bs and Cs, and she withdrew from Pre-AP classes and the gifted and talented program, said her mother, Alejandra Crawford.

Education leaders across the country predicted massive learning loss would result when schools were shuttered last March by the coronavirus pandemic. Studies are beginning to show just how severe the COVID slide has been. And parents are crying out for help.

Photos by Jerry Lara /Staff photographer

One of the reasons state education officials decided not to cancel the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, in the spring is to gauge the dimensions of the learning loss, though the tests value there will be limited because it wont be mandatory.

But locally, some school districts have already given other tests to students. Northside ISD leaders will present results to their board of trustees, likely in February, Superintendent Brian Woods said.

Theres clearly learning loss, and learning loss in mathematics is more dramatic than it seems to be in reading, Woods said.

That aligns with state and national trends.

The Northwest Evaluation Association, a research organization that creates assessments for grades prekindergarten through 12, has found test scores for math were between 5 and 10 percentage points lower for students nationally last year when compared with same-grade students in 2019. The studys authors caution that many children were missing from last years data, but some of Texas largest districts have found the same picture in their assessments.

San Antonio ISD gave two types of tests, the Measure of Academic Progress and Circle Progress Monitoring, and found its students were, for the most part, maintaining their reading skills. But students were falling behind in math, district leaders told trustees during a November board meeting.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school districts see remote learning stretching way into next year

For example, data showed students had similar gains in reading from third grade to fourth. But in the same cohort, the district saw a 13-point decline in math test scores.

Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

We have more students scoring low and average (in math) compared to reading, where we have less students scoring low and low average, Theresa Urrabazo, the districts senior executive director of accountability, research, evaluation and testing, told trustees.

What youre going to notice throughout the presentation is that math took a much bigger hit than reading. And this is also consistent with what were seeing across the state and with other districts.

Parents who saw their kids struggling went into search mode to get help, according to the nonprofit organization Families Empowered, which helps families navigate school choice. The organization said it surveyed 208 San Antonio parents and that 70 percent said their kids needed help catching up when they went back to school after the shutdown in March.

The immediate switch to distance learning was really hard on five of Sheila and Paul Ryans six school-age children. They were in elementary and high school grades at Great Hearts Monte Vista.

Only 14-year-old Emma was thriving, her mother said.

The familys two other daughters and their three sons showed behavioral changes and complained that being on camera all day was anxiety-inducing.

One of the Ryan girls has autism, and a son has attention deficit disorder. Virtual learning was not a good fit for either.

Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

The challenges were compounded by the familys internet bottleneck. The parents work from home and have three older children  for a grand total of nine kids  who are in college. At one point, the household juggled 29 Zoom sessions in one day, Sheila Ryan said. They called Spectrum to increase their bandwidth and were told they were already getting the maximum.

Grades started slipping for most of the Ryan children. The parents began to worry less about their report cards and more about their social and emotional well-being. Still, they didnt want the children to fall so far behind that they would be unprepared for the world after school.

Weve kind of shifted our whole perspective of what making it looks like, Sheila Ryan said.

During the fall semester, the family started exploring other options. They briefly considered home schooling full time but abandoned the idea. Their oldest daughter, Abigail, 16, agreed to wear her mask all day and maintain social distancing so she could go back to her Great Hearts campus in person.

The parents changed schools for their other two daughters, who are also back in classrooms: Emma, 14, at Roosevelt High School, and Molly, 13, at Ed White Middle School, both in North East ISD.

The boys  Judah, 11, Benjamin, 9, and Simon, 7  are still at home attending the Great Hearts Online virtual academy.

Most of the kids had to take tests at the start of the spring semester this month. That encouraged Ryan, who wants to know how far behind they are and in which subjects.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

Im really excited about that. I think its really thoughtful, Ryan said.

One of the keys to tackling learning loss is collecting data, and that has to be done through testing, said Colleen Dippel, founder and CEO of Families Empowered.

I really dont see any way out of this for families without having more data, not less, Dippel said. We really have to understand the magnitude of the problem if were going to provide interventions for kids.

The states STAAR results, which come later in the year, will be too late, Dippel said. Districts that are testing students now will be ahead in the effort to make up for lost learning.

If we are learning that some kids are a year behind or 18 months behind, thats a really difficult dilemma that should not be put off to next August, Dippel said. Its not a summer slide, its not even a COVID slide. Its a COVID avalanche.

Schools and learning centers provided by organizations such as the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club should offer one-on-one tutoring, Dippel said. School districts should plan to have either more teachers available over the summer or utilize student teachers and tutors for both in-person and online assistance.

A glimmer of hope for Alejandra Crawford is that daughter Ava wants to return to school. She frequently asks her mom when she can go back, and Crawford asks for a little more time. That tells Crawford that Ava hasnt lost her love of learning.

I always tell her, This is not going to be forever, and I guarantee all the things you want to do, I will repay it, Crawford said.

krista.torralva@express-news.net
A winter storm is approaching New York today with the possibility of another severe weather event coming right behind it.

The forecast is a moving target, but it is expected that the snow will begin to drop in New York City between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

By late Tuesday morning, the snow will transition to a mix of snow, ice, and rain, which will minimize the amount of snow accumulation.

'Its going to be a wet snow because of this situation,' AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Walker said to the New York Post.

Pictured: Sledders in Central Park. They may be able to sled again this week

New York is expected to see some snow this week, which could bring out the plows

Snowfall is expected to come to New York City this week, although it should only be a few inches at most

While it isn't expected to be much of a snowstorm, the ice and cold are still expected to create dangerous conditions on the road for drivers.

Walker forecasts 1 to 3 inches of snow in New York City and 3 to 6 inches in the areas west and north of the city.

The storm is coming from the Ohio Valley, which expected to see a few inches of accumulation on Monday.

Tuesday's snowfall totals are expected to be minimal, but they may not mark the end of winter weather in the region this week.

ABC7 reports there's a possibility another winter storm could form in the area around Thursday.

It's not clear what the severity of that storm would be, though it would likely occur near the south of the metro area.

It should also get increasingly cold in the Big Apple over the next week.

The National Weather Service is forecasting that it will be around 31 degrees on Tuesday, but the wind chill could make it feel as cold as 20 degrees, with a northeast wind of 7 to 10mph.

On Wednesday, there is a 40 percent chance of precipitation, with a high of 39 degrees and a low of 30 degrees at night.

Pictured: Radar showing the snow spread of the storm across the northeast U.S.

Pictured: Radar showing the accumulation of ice, which will come with the storm

By Thursday, the temperature will drop to a high of 33 degrees and a low of 23 degrees.

That makes way for extreme cold on Friday, when sunny skies will bring a high of 29 degrees and a low of 16 degrees before temperatures start to rise again over the weekend.

Snow conditions are expected to be even more dicey on Tuesday in Western New York and Buffalo, which could see 3 to 5 inches of snow, according to Radio.com.

Pictured: Washington Square Park after a Nor'Easter hit New York in December

While snow accumulation shouldn't be high, drivers should prepare for treacherous conditions

A Winter Weather Advisory will be going into effect in the region beginning at 8am and is expected to remain in place until the early hours of Wednesday morning.

In Wyoming, Livingston, and Southern Erie counties, snowfall is only expected to be 1 to 3 inches, but there could be ice in the mix, as well.

The same applies to the western Southern Tier, where even less snow could be mixed with even more ice.

ABC News reports wild weather throughout the United States, where 24 states were anticipating the possibility of snow, ice, or flash flooding on Monday morning.

This U-shaped jet stream trough may hold for a while and will guide a series of Pacific frontal systems into the West Coast over the next week or so. The next storm in this pipeline will spread across California into the Southwest through Tuesday.

In California, a winter storm warning was issued for the mountain communities of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties on Sunday night after a foot of snow fell in southern California's mountains over the weekend.

The largest potential area of impact for the next California snow storm is forecast to be the Sacramento region.
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Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Rain. Low 42F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

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Rain. Low 42F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.
It's no secret that 2020 was one of the most challenging years in modern history. According to the Global Web Index' Connecting the Dots 2021 Report, the Covid-19 pandemic was a baptism by fire for many brands, testing purpose-driven commitments to the limit in a time when consumers needed them the most.

Angela Northover, head of content at Eclipse Communications

Reflecting on a challenging year

What the numbers say

#BizTrends2021: Humanise your brand with sustainable advertising In the last 20 years, there has been an increased call for companies and corporates to behave in a socially, economically and environmentally way to foster a culture of sustainability. Across the globe, we have seen boards put a greater emphasis on sustainability...

Brands leading with purpose

Pfizer South Africa

Carling Black Label

New WhatsApp line launched to help address spike in gender-based violence In response to a significant spike in reported cases of gender-based violence in South Africa during the national lockdown period, Carling Black Label has launched its #NoExcuse initiative...

PepsiCo

Isuzu Motors South Africa

Discovery Health and Vodacom

Burger King

Airbnb and Telstra

It forced brands to think and act differently, adapting to the changing consumer landscape to remain relevant, leading with action and social responsibility. Brands needed to impart a sense of empathy, authenticity and transparency in all they did, and be attuned to why they exist and who they serve. Consumers care now more than ever, and so should brands.From the global Covid-19 outbreak and bushfires in Australia to the Black Lives Matter crisis, 2020 saw its share of tribulations. In South Africa, there was a sharp focus on gender-based violence awareness and driving education accessibility during the lockdown. Brands that demonstrated sensitivity to these issues have won customers votes of confidence and increased its share of voice.Global Web Index Connecting the Dots 2021 Report reveals that brands exhibiting a commitment to social responsibility will attract the consumer of the now and future. Its research indicated that 56% of people surveyed wanted brands to focus on supporting people during the pandemic, and while the challenge will continue in 2021, it points to a permanent change in corporate social responsibility.Brands looking to grow need to align with consumer values in ways that are genuine and sustainable. Consumers want to see initiatives that transcend the odd donation or empty platitude and want to engage with brands that care and offer meaningful support.Deloittes 2021 Global Marketing Trends Report affirms that consumers expect more from brands they buy into, with almost four in five respondents surveyed able to cite a time a brand responded positively to the pandemic, and one in five strongly agree that it led to increased brand loyalty on their part.The report adds that more than 25% of respondents who noticed brands acting in their own self-interest, walked away from those brands. Further, 58% could recall at least one brand that quickly pivoted to respond to their needs, with 82% saying this led to them doing more business with the brand.Underpinned by its brand position of Breakthroughs that change patients lives, Pfizer South Africas investment in Unjani Clinics have provided underserved local communities with the basic human right of affordable and accessible primary healthcare. Pfizer South Africa initiated the creation of six primary healthcare facilities, in turn creating jobs for local community members, empowering women nurses and entrepreneurs and enabling an affordable and accessible healthcare solution.During the national lockdown and the banning of alcohol sales, LifeLine received as many as 12,000 calls in March 2020 reporting instances of gender-based violence. A month later, the surge of calls increased by 500% to 80,000. Carling Black Label, hot on the heels of its highly successful #NoExcuse campaign, realised that many may not be able to call for help, initiated The Bravest Thing campaign where users sent the word Brave to 0800 150 150 on WhatsApp and could start chatting to a bot. The bot would divert them based on their needs, which included dispatching emergency services or chatting to a counsellor.Addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 on the access to clean water and sanitation for all, PepsiCo Foundation pledged R6 million towards the provision of affordable washing units in homes, handwashing stations and water-saving flush toilets to South African communities in need. With an initial goal of reaching 25 million people across the African continent by 2025, the Foundation has set a new target of reaching 100 million people by 2030 and remains focused on near-term efforts on water distribution, sanitation and hygiene.Responding to farmers in need, Isuzu Motors South Africa, together with Farmers Assist South Africa, provided aid to farmers and farming communities in areas adversely affected by drought - transporting critical fodder, farming essentials and food - and thus ensuring ongoing food security for South Africa.During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa, Discovery Health and Vodacom implemented a virtual healthcare platform, which offered South Africans free access to reliable Covid-19-related information, risk screening and, when necessary, free online medical consultations.Understanding the plight of the dwindling restaurant industry during the lockdown, Burger King UK unexpectedly urged customers to Order from McDonalds on its social media platforms. Further, the post encouraged fans to order from other chains such as KFC, Subway, and others - signalling that purchasing meals from these franchises would help them retain business during these trying times. To date, the single post garnered around 172,000 likes on Twitter.Following the devastating Australian bushfires that tapered off in early 2020, Airbnb heeded the call of those displaced, activating its Open Homes Programme in New South Wales and Victoria. The initiative allowed hosts to offer accommodation to displaced residents and emergency services personnel deployed to assist with the fires.Further, the telecommunications company, Telstra, wrote off volunteer firefighters mobile phone bills for December 2019 and January 2020 to provide free services and ease the burden on those battling the fires. It provided relief packages to those in need, free payphones in affected areas, pre-paid handsets and implemented its Satellite Cells on Wheels innovation to boost coverage where needed.
In brief: Honor is now officially an independent company, and has managed to secure essential components for its products. One of those products is already available on the market as of last week -- the V40 5G smartphone.

Last year, Huawei sold its Honor division in an effort to cope with the most recent US sanctions that deprived it of valuable supply partnerships. The budget smartphone brand now has a new owner in the form of a consortium of over 30 agents and dealers that are forming a new company called Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology.

The deal is estimated at $15.2 billion and includes all Honor assets, research and development facilities, and supply chain management, along with over 7,000 employees. In the meantime, the new owners of the brand have been looking to secure access to chips and other components, as the US sanctions that applied to Huawei should no longer affect it.

Honor says it has managed to forge partnerships with essential suppliers of hardware and software for its products. That includes companies such as AMD, Intel, Micron, Qualcomm, Samsung, SK Hynix, Sony, MediaTek, and Microsoft. Some of them are worried about the potential implications of dealing with Honor, and are currently exploring ways they can avoid future disruptions.

This is an important win, as it's estimated the company has already ordered components for 60-70 million smartphones. Furthermore, Honor has told suppliers it's planning to amass a stockpile of components in the context of an ongoing shortage that is plaguing the entire industry.

Zhao Ming, Honor's new CEO, told Nikkei that "it has been very tough in the past five months. [...] But the blessings and encouragement from consumers and the industry gave us courage. Honor will confidently, bravely face everything, and the new Honor that is independent will keep its glory of the past and continue to innovate."

Ming isn't exaggerating, as Honor last week announced its first post-Huawei phone, the V40 5G. It has a 6.72-inch, 120 Hz OLED display powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 1000+ SoC, with the usual assortment of cameras and a 4,000 mAh battery that can fast charge wirelessly at up to 50 watts, or 66 watts if you're using a cable.

The V40 is already available in China at a starting price of around $550 for the base model with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. With some luck, the international version might ship with Google services, but that could easily change at the whim of the US Department of Commerce. Recently, 60 Chinese companies were added to the US Entity List and Xiaomi was designated a "Communist Chinese military company," meaning American investors could soon be forced to divest.

In any case, Reuters is confident that Huawei will soon be selling its premium smartphone brands P and Mate, following a similar strategy as it did with Honor. The company denies these rumors, but seeing as it doesn't have a never-ending stockpile of high-end chips and Chinese foundries like SMIC don't have the capabilities to make them, this course of action looks increasingly like a good idea.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was one of the most talked-about people at President Bidens inauguration with his bundled up appearance (mittens and winter coat made in Vermont, naturally). Sanderss photo was turned into a meme that last on social media for several days.

Sanders quickly started selling merchandise, including an already sold-out sweatshirt, based on the meme to raise money for Vermont Meals on Wheels and other charities.

The senator spoke about the last few days during an appearance on CNNs State of the Union.

Not only are we having fun but what we are doing here in Vermont is were going to be selling around the country sweatshirts and t-shirts, Sanders. And with all the money that were going to be raising, which I expected is going to be a couple of million dollars, will be going to programs like Meals on Wheels and Feed low-income seniors.

Shortly after the senators TV appearance, his campaign texted out a call for charitable donations which offered a free Chairman Sanders sticker to the first 1000 people to give.

So, it turns out actually its a good thing, not only fun, Sanders said on CNN.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity in the U.S. with as many as 30 million people homes not having enough to eat every day leading to President Biden issuing an executive order on Friday which included a 15% increase to food stamp benefits, among other things.

___

David Matthews of the New York Daily News wrote this story.

(c)2021 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Moderna's vaccine does protect against new coronavirus variants from the UK and South Africa, the firm said Monday.

But the firm is developing a booster shot to improve the vaccine's effectiveness against the South African variant after lab tests suggested the jab might not work as well or provide protection for as long against the worrisome new form.

Levels of antibodies that block the receptors that let the virus infect human cells were six times lower when the vaccine was tested against the South African variant.

That's still well above the level required for them to be protective, but it's a worrisome sign that protection will fade faster.

So Moderna is now working on a tweaked version of its booster shot that would specifically target the South African variant.

The booster shot candidate is now going into preclinical trials.

Moderna's vaccine worked just as well against the UK variant as it does against older forms of the virus, the firm found. It did not specify whether the shot was equally effective against Brazil's variant, or any of the four homegrown variants detected in the US.

Dr Anthony Fauci said last week that South Africa's variant is the most concerning one that has emerged because it may render vaccines less effective and has already spread to at least 20 other countries.

And President Biden banned travelers arriving from South Africa as of Monday, adding the nation to the 'restricted list' alongside the UK, Ireland, Brazil and 26 countries in Europe.

Lab tests of its coronavirus vaccine against new variants from the UK and South Africa showed that the shot is still protective against both. But its potency is reduced by six-fold against the South African variant - so the firm is testing a booster shot developed specifically to fight the evasive variant (pictured: Moderna scientists work on COVID-19 vaccines in the lab)

In lab tests, the levels of vaccine-triggered antibodies capable of 'neutralizing' the mutant spike protein on the South African coronavirus variant were lower, suggesting it may be less effective or provide less long-lasting protection against the variant

'We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa,' said Dr Anne Schuchat, the CDCs principal deputy director, in a Reuters interview Sunday.

It comes after former President Trump lifted travel restrictions, only to have them reinstated by the new administration in an eleventh hour bid to prevent the importation of new variant.

So far, no cases of the South African variant have been reported in the US, but even Dr Fauci admitted that it could easily go undetected because the US has done poor surveillance for new variants.

'Thus far, it does not appear at all that the South African strain is in the US,' Dr Fauci said during a White House press briefing last Thursday.

'That said, the level of sequence surveillance is not at the level we would like it to be, but given the information we have today, it doesn't appear that it's here.'

On Monday, he also admitted that the UK variant may be more deadly than older forms, and that the South African one could mean vaccines need to be tweaked.

Fauci on Monday also said the US might need to 'upgrade' its vaccines to work against the South African variant - but then insisted the vaccines are still effective against it and that it only makes them less effective by a 'very slight' amount.

Dr Anthony Fauci warned last week that the South African variant may be the most concerning one because it could reduce vaccine effectiveness (left). President Biden added South Africa to the list of countries from which travelers are banned from coming to the US in the hopes of keeping variants out (right)

FACT BOX TITLE Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday gave the grim warning that the UK's new variant of COVID-19 is more deadly than what's been seen in the past based on preliminary data that hasn't yet been released but that he is more concerned about the South African variant which he says makes vaccines less effective. His warning comes just days after he went against British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and said it wasn't more deadly. Johnson said at a press briefing in London on Friday that the new strain was between 30 and 40 percent more deadly but he offered no data to back-up the frightening statistic. Afterwards, the global science community - including Dr. Fauci - rushed to urge caution against what he'd said and insist that while the variant was more infectious, it was not necessarily more deadly. Many have accused politicians of scaremongering and point to the fact that cases and deaths are going down in both the UK and the US. Fauci's remarks on Monday are a marked shift away from that. There are more than 160 known cases of the UK variant in 21 states across the US including 40 in California, 46 in Florida and 16 in the state of New York. The South African variant has not yet been detected in the US, nor has another variant from Brazil. All three are thought to be more infectious. While the British strain is also feared to be more deadly, the South African and Brazilian strains are feared to make vaccines less effective. The Brazilian strain is also feared to be causing re-infection but that has not yet been proven. It comes amid an agonizingly slow roll-out of vaccines across the world. The UK and US - which were among the first to approve the vaccines - are behind Israel, the UAE and Bahrain in vaccinating their populations. President Joe Biden is imposing a travel ban from South Africa to try to stunt the flow of that variant and British officials are considering a 14-week, mandatory hotel quarantine for anyone who enters the country. Fauci on Monday also said the US might need to 'upgrade' its vaccines to work against the South African variant - but then insisted the vaccines are still effective against it and that it only makes them less effective by a 'very slight' amount. Fauci did not reveal what data he had seen that proved the British variant was more deadly, but that he was 'pretty convinced' by the numbers. Advertisement

Moderna's vaccine is more than 94 percent effective against the older 'wild-type' coronavirus variants that account for most US cases.

The firm's new research put the vaccine to the test against new variants by combining the blood plasma of someone who had been vaccinated with samples of the new virus variants in the lab.

Against the UK variant, they saw 'no significant impact' on the levels of neutralizing antibodies that bind to the virus and block it from infecting human cells.

That's both promising and expected.

The UK variant is thought to be about 70 percent more infectious than older forms, but has shown few signs that it would render vaccines less effective.

However, UK scientists announced Friday they believe it may be 30 to 40 percent more deadly than other forms.

Already the UK variant has spread to 60 countries, including the US, where there are at least 159 cases in 22 states.

Just 24 hours before the UK officials' alarming announcement, Dr Fauci had assured Americans the UK variant was not more deadly.

But as of Monday, he has changed his tune.

'The data has not come out officially but taking a look at the preliminary data that the UK scientists have analyzed, I'm pretty convinced that there is a degree of increase in seriousness of the actual infection which we really have to keep an eye on,' he told Today.

If vaccines are equally effective against it, this concern will soon ebb, though.

That's why Dr Fauci remains more worried about South Africa's variant - and Moderna's disturbing data only deepens concerns.

'We are more concerned about the South African strain right now. When you do studies in the test tube, in vitro studies, it shows that the ability of monoclonal antibodies that have been used as therapies, that is really impaired in the presence of these particular variants.

'They don't work as well as treatment. There is a very slight , modest diminution in the efficacy of a vaccine against it but there's enough cushion with the vaccines that we have that we still consider them to be effective against both the UK strain and the South African strain.

So far, at least 77 cases of the South African variant have been found in the UK and it has spread to at least 20 countries.

It has not been detected in the US, but former FDA Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said Monday it has likely already arrived.

Brazil's variant has been detected in Japan, Germany and France, but has not been found in the UK or the US.

While there was a six-fold reduction in neutralising antibodies produced against the South African variant, the levels remained above those that are expected to be protective, Moderna said.

Stephane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna, said: 'As we seek to defeat the Covid-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves.

'We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine should be protective against these newly-detected variants.'

The UK Government has purchased 17 million doses of the Moderna vaccine  enough to vaccinate 8.5 million people, but the first doses are not expected to arrive in the country until the spring.

The biotech company is also launching a clinical trial to test an additional booster dose of its vaccine (mRNA-1273) to study the ability to further increase antibodies against emerging strains beyond the existing primary vaccination series.

The company is also advancing an emerging variant booster candidate (mRNA-1273.351) against the variant first identified in South Africa.

Mr Bancel added: 'Out of an abundance of caution and leveraging the flexibility of our mRNA platform, we are advancing an emerging variant booster candidate against the variant first identified in the Republic of South Africa into the clinic to determine if it will be more effective to boost titers (antibodies) against this and potentially future variants.'

It is unclear whether the firm is developing similar booster candidates for the variant that emerged in Brazil - and has a similar profile to South Africa's - or any others, including the four homegrown variants discovered by US scientists.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital , announced several new hires to its senior leadership team, effective immediately. These hiring decisions come during an unprecedented time that presents new opportunities to demonstrate purpose and intention while driving home the St. Jude mission: Finding cures. Saving children.

Joining the ALSAC team are:

Ike Anand  Chief Operating Officer. Anand brings extensive e-commerce experience leading teams in Analytics, Strategy, Technology, Customer Engagement and Business Development. He joins us from Expedia Group where he spent 15 years in various strategic and leadership roles, most recently serving as Expedia's Vice President of Global Strategy. Prior to Expedia, Anand also spent a few years at Sabre Corporation. Anand will lead the Information Technology, Donor Experience and Finance teams.

 Chief Operating Officer. Anand brings extensive e-commerce experience leading teams in Analytics, Strategy, Technology, Customer Engagement and Business Development. He joins us from Expedia Group where he spent 15 years in various strategic and leadership roles, most recently serving as Expedia's Vice President of Global Strategy. Prior to Expedia, Anand also spent a few years at Sabre Corporation. Anand will lead the Information Technology, Donor Experience and Finance teams. Annette Green  Chief People Officer. Green is a values-driven People and Talent executive who brings more than 20 years of strategic and global human resources leadership experience at Yum, Brinker and Bloomin' Brands. Most recently she served as the Chief People Officer for Ideal Image Med Spa. Green will oversee all aspects of human resource management.

 Chief People Officer. Green is a values-driven People and Talent executive who brings more than 20 years of strategic and global human resources leadership experience at Yum, Brinker and Bloomin' Brands. Most recently she served as the Chief People Officer for Ideal Image Med Spa. Green will oversee all aspects of human resource management. Kyle Veazey  Senior Vice President  Executive Operations. Veazey brings high-level experience in project management, executive communications and crisis management. Most recently he served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the City of Memphis . He worked closely with Mayor Jim Strickland and Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen to provide Executive Division leadership and coordination of long-term priority projects involving multiple divisions of City government and external agencies. Veazey will lead all executive office operations and communications.

Senior Vice President  Executive Operations. Veazey brings high-level experience in project management, executive communications and crisis management. Most recently he served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the . He worked closely with Mayor and Chief Operating Officer to provide Executive Division leadership and coordination of long-term priority projects involving multiple divisions of City government and external agencies. Veazey will lead all executive office operations and communications. Fernand "Fern" Fernandez  Senior Vice President Strategic Marketing. Fernandez brings over 24 years of experience leading big and small global brands, with primary focus on leveraging big data into insightful marketing, customer experience and loyalty ecosystems. He joins ALSAC from Accor Hotels, a French hospitality company with 39 brands and 4,900 properties in 100 countries, where he served in Paris, France , as Senior Vice President, Global Guest Experience and Engagement. Prior to Accor, Fern served as the Interim President and CEO for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Vice President of Global Marketing and Customer Experience for American Airlines. Fernandez will lead the marketing and external communication functions across ALSAC to sustain, cultivate and grow new, diverse supporters.

 Senior Vice President Strategic Marketing. Fernandez brings over 24 years of experience leading big and small global brands, with primary focus on leveraging big data into insightful marketing, customer experience and loyalty ecosystems. He joins ALSAC from Accor Hotels, a French hospitality company with 39 brands and 4,900 properties in 100 countries, where he served in , as Senior Vice President, Global Guest Experience and Engagement. Prior to Accor, Fern served as the Interim President and CEO for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Vice President of Global Marketing and Customer Experience for American Airlines. Fernandez will lead the marketing and external communication functions across ALSAC to sustain, cultivate and grow new, diverse supporters. Candace Woods Heitzman  Vice President Strategic Partnerships. Woods Heitzman brings over 13 years in managing multi-million dollar philanthropic partnerships with numerous Fortune 500 companies as a senior leader in the nonprofit space. She returns to ALSAC after gaining a decade of experience in creating award-winning cause marketing and corporate social responsibility platforms during her time at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and March of Dimes Foundation. At ALSAC, Candace will be focused on driving additional revenue through expanding corporate engagement.

"ALSAC is continuing to reimagine our organization to be more audience-led and focused on people leadership strategies, advancing our digital, data and technology operations and continuing our marketing transformation as we reach new and diverse generous supporters for our lifesaving mission," said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "The addition of Ike, Annette, Kyle, Fern and Candace to our leadership team brings experienced executives with international perspective and a strong track record of innovation and success that will enable us to be more effective, efficient and impactful in supporting St. Jude."

About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food  because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org , liking St. Jude on Facebook , following St. Jude on Twitter , Instagram and TikTok , and subscribing to its YouTube channel.

SOURCE ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Related Links

http://www.stjude.org



MASON CITY, Iowa  The final sentence is handed down in the case of a North Iowa runaway.

Megan Marie Carlyle, 34 of Mason City, was given a deferred judgment Monday and ordered to spend two years on supervised probation. If she successfully completes that probation, this conviction will be removed from her record.

Carlyle pleaded guilty to harboring a runaway. Authorities say she, Leroy David Lomholt, and Eric Jon Anderson all helped shelter a 16-year-old Clear Lake girl who went missing for several days in Febraury 2020.

Lomholt also pleaded guilty to harboring a runaway and was sentenced to seven days in jail and two years of supervised probation.

Charges against Anderson for the February incident were dropped after he pleaded guilty to a different charge of harboring a runaway child. Court documents state that Anderson paid a taxi to drive the child to his home on March 31, where Anderson then hid the child inside a box in his garage to prevent law enforcement from finding the child during a search.

Anderson pleaded guilty for that and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Soaring natural gas prices in European markets could be seen as a boon for Russian giant Gazprom to increase its gas exports towards the Old Continent. But instead, somewhat surprising, Gazprom is adopting the exact opposite strategy, drastically reducing its physical deliveries of natural gas to the EU.

Since the end of December 2020, Gazprom gas volumes transiting through Ukraine have fallen by a third to 130 mcbm per day according to CEO of Ukrainian TSO Sergey Makogon, cited by TASS news agency. Hence, spot prices at the Central European Gas Hub (CEGH) in Austria - where Russian gas is traded after flowing through Ukraine and Slovakia - have surged during the past weeks, hitting a record 19,4 euros / MWh (or US$ 6,8 / mmbtu) on January 20th.

This ascending trend is firstly due to higher demand for gas as a direct result of the current winter weather in large parts of Europe. But it is also the result of the coal and nuclear phase-out in the long run. In fact, successive closures of thermal power plants across Europe, such as the French Fessenheim nuclear plant and several German coal and lignite plants, left a 5 GW capacity gap to be filled by gas.

An additional factor driving up these prices is Gazprom holding back its gas supplies. Indeed, to further reduce gas availability and maintain high prices, Gazprom also stopped selling gas through its online Electronic Sales platform, Russian media Kommersant reported on January 21st.

Theoretically, Europe could breach that gap by buying additional volumes of Liquified Natural Gas - a strategy that had already proved its efficiency in 2018. But in practice, this option is not viable since most LNG carriers are currently heading towards Asian markets, where the demand (and consequently spot prices for natural gas) have peaked to $21 / mmBtu for February deliveries. However, these attractive prices on Asian markets are nothing but an ephemeral phenomenon: March contracts are already traded at $12 / mmBtu. As soon as the situation stabilizes, LNG cargoes will return to Europe, challenging Gazproms dominance: LNG prices are becoming increasingly competitive with pipeline gas, while simultaneously serving the goal of European supply diversification.

Related Video: Weaponized Gas or Bridge to Cleaner Fuel? The Nord Stream Game

For the time being, European countries have no other choice than taking gas from their underground gas storage sites (UGS). But even these reserves are gradually depleting, questioning the EUs availability of gas in a season where the demand is particularly high. Latest AGSI data shows that these reserves stood at 59% of full capacity on January 21st.

The rate of depletion of these reserves can appear worrying, considering that they were 73% full in December 2020. Gas analyst Serguei Kapitonov, cited by OSN media, argues that these reserves are expected to be sufficient for 70 more days. This situation looks like a deja-vu, reminding us of the winter 2018 when Europe got to spring with almost empty storage sites : their average level was 20% in March.

The reasons behind Gazproms stance are, in fact, fairly pragmatic. According to energy experts cited by Kommersant. The strategy aims at rationalizing its supply and avoiding an excess of natural gas on the markets, which pushes up prices. The Russian gas giant is having a long-term vision, hoping that the prices will remain high when the time comes to refill European storage facilities. This would prevent a situation as we saw during the Spring of 2020, when prices reached record-lows and even negative levels, leading to major losses for Gazprom.

Back then, Gazprom had ensured to fill gas storage sites in Europe in case negotiations on a new transit agreement would not be successfully concluded with Ukraines Naftogaz. Not only did Ukraine eventually sign the transit agreement, but the pandemic also provoked a drop in gas demand. These reasons, combined with a mild 2020 winter in Europe, have contributed to lower Russian gas exports, and Gazprom closed the year with a contraction of its deliveries to Europe, which have dropped to 170 bcm from 199 bcm in 2019.

Another possible explanation to Gazprom reducing its exports is its willingness to show the indispensable character of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and encourage European countries to rapidly finish the works. In fact, Gazproms move also comes as political pressure against the Nord Stream 2 project intensifies: the United States announced sanctions against the pipe-laying ship Fortuna, several Western companies involved in the construction withdrew from the project, and recently the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny cast doubt on the continuation of the works.

According to initial plans, Gazprom expected the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to to come on stream by 2021. The megaproject is aimed at double Russian export capacity to Europe, avoiding the transit process through Ukraine by creating a parallel route to the existing Nord Stream pipeline. While more than 90% of the pipeline is already built, Gazprom recently admitted, for the first time, that sanctions have a serious impact on the NordStream 2 project.

By Tatiana Serova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


An emotional Ms Tame said her win is for 'all survivors of child sexual abuse' as she vowed to use her position for change

Grace Tame was just a 15-year-old schoolgirl battling anorexia when her high school maths teacher raped her on the classroom floor.

A decade later she has been named Australian of the Year on Monday evening for her tireless efforts to fight an archaic gag order in Tasmania that banned sexual assault survivors like herself from naming their rapists.

During her emotional acceptance speech, the 26-year-old detailed the horrific abuse at the hands of the 58-year-old teacher she trusted, telling the nation: 'I lost my virginity to a pedophile.'

'He was my teacher. For months he groomed me and then abused me almost every day - before school, after school, in my uniform, on the floor. I didn't know who I was,' she said.

Grace was just six years' old when an older child forced her into a cupboard, told to take her clothes off and molested her.

Shrouded by confusion and shame for almost a decade, Grace was hospitalised with atrophying muscles due to her life-threatening eating disorder at the age of 15.

Ms Tame launched a successful Supreme Court bid to publicly self-identify as a rape survivor

Pictured: Grace Tame with Prime Minister Scott Morrison after she won Australian of the Year

She was bullied and vulnerable with no self-esteem when she confided in maths teacher Nicolaas Bester at the elite St Michael's Collegiate School in Hobart.

Instead of guiding the youngster, the twisted pedophile saw her trust as an opportunity and began to groom her so he could live out his sick fantasies.

Bester showered Grace in attention and praise and put her on a pedestal - he tried to visited her while she was in hospital and gave a key to his office so she could stay back after school.

He fed her lies to tear her away from her friends and family, telling her to ignore medical advice about her anorexia on the grounds that she listen to him instead.

Grace Tame, from Tasmania, was just 15 when she became the sexual target of her maths teacher, more than 40 years her senior. Her experience sparked the #LetHerSpeak campaign

Bester asked Grace (pictured) if she ever sketched herself naked, claiming it might make her feel better about her body

'He measured me in his office and told me what weight I would need to get to. I began to substitute his judgment and advice for that of the experts,' Grace previously told Body and Soul.

Bester asked her if she ever sketched herself naked, claiming it might make her feel better about her body.

She initially rejected the advice, but he continued to ask her until she cooperated and handed him the pictured with a note stating it was for artistic purposes only.

From there, everything snowballed.

In June 2010, pensioner asked the teenager to meet him after school and lead her to a cupboard in the science block.

He told her to get in and undress - exactly like the traumatic scene from her childhood.

Pictured: Pedophile maths teacher Nicolaas Bester who raped grave Tame daily for six months

Pictured: Grace Tame before when she was Tasmania's 2021 Australian of the Year finalist in Canberra, Sunday, January 24

When she got out of the cupboard in her underwear, Bester was standing naked at the door with his arms outstretched.

'I was terrified. My stomach just dropped. I thought he was my friend and it suddenly hit me all at once what his real intentions were. In that moment my world fell away and I didn't know what else he might be capable of doing,' she told the newspaper.

'I had never taken my clothes off in front of anybody before. I wanted to get out, run away and scream. I remember wishing someone would burst into the room looking for me. But no one did.'

Stricken with fear, Grace went into survival mode - telling herself that she should do what he wanted, and leave.

The first time Bester raped Grace he brought alcohol. The teenager drank as much as she could so she wouldn't have to think during the abuse.

Stricken with fear, Grace (pictured) went into survival mode - telling herself that she should do what he wanted, and leave

A brave Ms Tame then reported the rapes to the school and to the police which eventually saw Bester locked up for two-and-a-half years' jail

'I will never forget that night. I was 15, drunk, and lying on the floor of a dark office at my own school. I never resisted. I just let it happen, aware that any screams would be unheard.'

Bester went on to rape Grace on a daily for six months.

A brave Ms Tame then reported the rapes to the school and to the police which eventually saw Bester locked up for two-and-a-half years' jail.

Upon his arrest, Bester was found in possession of 28 pieces of child pornography.

When he was released from prison in 2015, he described the ordeal as 'awesome' and booked multiple interviews where he made himself appear as the victim.

Furious at not being able to speak out, Ms Tame helped launch the Let Her Speak campaign that saw the law overturned.

Ms Tame was just 15 when she was suffering from anorexia and became the sexual target of her maths teacher, more than 40 years her senior

She shared her horrific story which then saw the launch of the Let Her Speak campaign

Eventually, on August 12, 2019, Ms Tame went public with her story of survival to raise awareness.

The Tasmanian became the first woman in the state to win the right to publicly name herself as a rape survivor, allowing her to speak about the abuse she went through.

During her speech on Monday, Grace said: 'Publicly, he described his crimes as ''awesome''. Publicly, I was silenced by law,' she went on.

'Together, we can redefine what it means to be a survivor. Together, we can end child sexual abuse. Survivors, be proud. Our stories are changing history.'

Ms Tame recalled the moment she first spoke about her abuse to a male teacher who believed her.

She said it was important to believe survivors and help them wherever possible because as a group you are stronger.

'I was abused by a male teacher. But one of the first people I told was also a male teacher. He believed me,' she said.

'I remember you towering over me, blocking the door. I remember you saying, 'don't make a sound'. Well hear me now, using my voice, in a growing chorus that will not be silenced.

'We do transform as individuals, and we do transform as a communityI know who I am. I'm a survivor.'

Ms Tame wants a greater focus on educating children on how to identify grooming and psychological manipulation by abusers.

Ms Tame decided to get a tattoo when she was 19 to represent her survival. The tattoo reads: 'Eat my fear'.

All the 2021 Australian of the Year finalists seen ahead of the ceremony on Monday in Canberra

She explained that the message is about speaking up against abusers and learning the lessons from survivors.

'It's about swallowing the terror and moving forward regardless,' she said.

'That's what predators weaponise  they weaponise our fear. That's the foundation of their psychological manipulation, which is a huge element of prolonged sexual abuse.

'In fact, I would say it's the main component of prolonged sexual abuse  the cycle of psychological manipulation, as opposed to the physical, criminal behaviour. And predators want us to feel that fear.

'I say, no, let's transfer it back into their hearts, where it belongs.''

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with wife Jenny with 2021 Australian of the Year winner Grace Tame, 2021 Young Australian of the Year winner Isobel Marshall, 2021 Senior Australian of the Year winner Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann and 2021 Local Hero winner Rosemary Kariuki

Recently, Ms Tame also fought the Victorian Government's plan to jail victims or their families for speaking about rape victims.

Under laws passed in February last year, Victorian rape and sexual assault victims cannot choose to identify themselves publicly - such as in media reports or even autobiographies - unless they get permission from a court.

Survivors could be jailed for up to four months or face $3,000 fines for telling their stories using their real names without a court order, which could cost them at least $10,000 to obtain.

She launched a successful Supreme Court bid to publicly self-identify as a rape survivor and the public awareness campaign has continued.

Ms Tame said the bill will reinforce the idea that 'there is shame in having to endure unspeakable suffering'.

'It's yet another example of how our society enables predators by silencing the victims, including in this case the grieving relatives,' she said last year.
A Ryanair pilot who drove his fiancee to stab their toddler son to death with a campaign of 'relentless psychological torment' has been pictured enjoying life with his new family after being released early from prison.

Flight captain Peter Chilvers, 34, was jailed in December 2019 for driving Magdalena Lesicka to kill their 23-month-old son James after forcing her to perform degrading sexual acts, isolating her from her friends and restricting her finances.

But while Lesicka is still serving a 15-year sentence for manslaughter, Chilvers served five months before he was released early on licence with an electronic tag, the Mirror reports.

Now he has now been pictured carrying one of the two children he fathered with stewardess Lisa Spencer, with whom he had an affair during his engagement to Lesicka, igniting fury among her family.

Lesickas mother Iwona, 61, from Wronki, Poland, told the Mirror: 'I can't even call him human. Magdalena was completely dependent on him.'

Flight captain Peter Chilvers, 34, repeatedly threatened to kill Magda Lesicka if she removed their son James from his care. Pictured: Chilvers pictured with one of the two children he had with stewardess Lisa Spencer

During his relationship with Lesicka Chilvers nicknamed her 'sheep', referring to himself as a 'sheep owner', and would pick hairs from his forehead and force her to swallow them, Manchester Crown Court heard.



This campaign of controlling and coercive behaviour between December 2015 and August 2017 eventually led to a breakdown which saw Lesicka stab their son to death before trying to cut her own throat and hang herself.

Magda Lesicka pictured with their son James. The former air hostess was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility

Chilvers cheated on Lesicka with another Ryanair cabin crew member, Lisa Spencer, who is now his partner and mother to his two young daughters

The couple had been in relationship since 2010 but Chilvers cheated on Lesicka from 2014 with another Ryanair cabin crew member, Lisa Spencer (pictured), jurors were told

Chilvers, who was jailed in December 2019 and is believed to have served five months in prison before being released on licence. Pictured with son James

Stewardess Lisa Spencer, who Chilvers cheated with during his relationship with fiancee Lesicka

In the days before the killing on August 26 2017, Lesicka made internet searches about 'taser UK law', 'self defence weapons UK' and 'killing in self defence' before she later contacted domestic abuse charity Women's Aid.

When Lesicka had threatened to leave him, Chilvers told her she would be walking out on her son, calling her a 'dumb b****' and insisting she would never take the child away from him.

He also said that if she were to put James in a car and drive him away she would be 'done for abduction', and if she got legal aid to fight her case it would be 'negligible [compared] to what I'm able to put up'.

The pilot warned her in a 'visceral' phone call that she did not have the financial resources to win a custody battle and shouted: 'I want James to have brothers and sisters... not a half brother and sister with a f***ing moron that you find.'

Lesicka inflicted a sustained attack on their son as he lay in his bed at her home in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, and then tried to kill herself.

A post-mortem examination revealed the boy had suffered multiple stab wounds.

The pair met at a party in 2010 when both were based out of a German airport. Chilvers and Lesicka pictured together

Chilvers told jurors: '(Lisa Spencer) is a very special lady. She has been my rock since everything happened. She has really stood by me. I don't think I would be here now if it was not for her.' Pictured: Lisa Spencer

Chilvers, from Northwich, Cheshire, denied any wrongdoing and subsequently went on trial where a jury convicted him of controlling or coercive behaviour (pictured: Lisa Spencer)

In April 2015, Lesicka discovered Chilvers affair with Lisa Spencer (pictured)

Lesicka and Chilvers met at a party in 2010 when both were based out of a German airport.

A month later they kissed at the staff Christmas party and started a relationship, moving in together.

Chilvers later transferred to Liverpool Airport and Polish national Lesicka joined him, only to become isolated.

Her social life suffered after she became financially dependent on the pilot.

In April 2015, Lesicka discovered Chilvers affair with Ms Spencer.

Chilvers promised Lesicka he would stop seeing Ms Spencer but told the jury he was 'weak' and, unbeknown to Lesicka, was drawn back to the other woman.

Lesicka pictured with son James. The Polish national had become isolated after moving to live with Chilvers near Liverpool Airport

Peter Chilvers with James. At Lesicka's sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Dove said: 'Who knows what he might have grown up to achieve?'

When Lesicka had threatened to leave him, Chilvers told her she would be walking out on her son, calling her a 'dumb b****'

Soon after James's birth the couple moved to Lanzarote when Chilvers was promoted to captain.

Lesicka again found herself isolated and financially restricted on the Spanish holiday island, the court heard.

In August 2016, Lesicka moved with James to Wythenshawe and Chilvers joined her in 2017 when he started flying in and out of Manchester Airport.

Peter Chilvers, left, and Magdalena Lesicka, right. Prosecutor Rob Hall also said that Chilvers dictated to Lesicka who she saw and when she went out

Lesicka inflicted a sustained attack on their son as he lay in his bed at her home in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, in August 2017 and then tried to kill herself

Pictured: The house in Wythenshaw, Manchester where the child was found stabbed in 2017

In July 2017, she discovered she was pregnant again but could not cope with being trapped in an 'abusive, humiliating and dishonest relationship', said Mr Hall.

On August 15 she had an abortion without Chilvers' knowledge, and told him two days later.

Nine days after that, less than two weeks after her abortion, she stabbed her son to death.
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Iran said on Monday that the seizure of one of its oil tankers by Indonesia was a "technical matter" and called on the Indonesian government to provide information on the incident.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, rejected any connection between the seizure of the supertanker and that of a South Korean tanker which was seized by Iran in the Strait or Hormuz earlier in January.

Reportedly, some Indonesian citizens were aboard the South Korean tanker.

Indonesian authorities said they seized the Iranian tanker, as well as a Panamanian tanker, both suspected of carrying out the illegal transfer of oil in their country's waters on Sunday.

The tankers - the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Frea - were seized in waters off Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, a spokesman for the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency said.

The spokesman said the tankers are suspected of a variety of violations, including not displaying national flags, shutting off their identification systems, anchoring illegally as well as the illegal transfer fuel between ships and spilling oil.

Iran, home to major oil and natural gas reserves, has seen its sales abroad deeply impacted by US sanctions after former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

That cut a crucial source of government revenue in Iran's long-anemic economy.

In the time since Iran has relied on black-market sales and deals with Venezuela to keep its sales going.

Iran's state-owned fleet of oil tankers routinely travels turn off their Automatic Identification System trackers to try and mask where they deliver their cargo.

Those AIS beacons, a safety measure so other ships know what's around them, can be tracked.

Analysts say those ships often transfer their oil to other ships, that then sell the crude under false pretenses.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)

The Connecticut Department of Education and Meriden Public Schools recently made headlines when President Joe Biden announced former Meriden educator and Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona as his pick for education secretary.But the district was already in the process of a digital overhaul years before the importance of ed tech came into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Superintendent Mark Benigni said his district has prioritized modernization and digital equity for over a decade now. It was this work that earned Benigni the EmpowerED Digital Superintendent Award in 2019 and gave Meriden Public Schools a head start in preparing for the shift to remote learning to come.Throughout the years, our Board of Education has supported our digital transformation with an equity lens by changing policies to allow for student-centered and distance learning, he said. Our guiding principle is, regardless of socioeconomic status or prior learning experiences, all students must be able to access digital resources to expand their world.The district only had a handful of devices for students in 2010 when Benigni first took the helm. The district worked to reallocate limited resources and funding to provide each student with a device that would enable them to continue learning from home and throughout the summer.For Meriden, it has never been about the device  its about leveling the playing field and embedding high-quality digital content in the core curriculum, the former principal and former Meriden mayor said.Benigni believes the COVID-19 era reinforced the need to provide anytime, anywhere learning opportunities and find ways to enable and enhance learning outside of the classroom.He said Wi-Fi access for all, putting technology in the hands of students and digital content through a single sign-on are all crucial to an engaging learning experience.The pandemic provided us with an opportunity to take a deeper look at authentic student engagement and individual goal attainment. Students are thriving in gaming-rich environments, he said. Game-based learning has moved well beyond The Oregon Trail, but the concepts of engagement, immediate feedback and individual targets are why gamification needs to play a key role in learning.Technology has also brought the world into the hands of our students, he continued. Without leaving their classrooms, all students can hike Mt. Everest, explore the solar system or even dive in the Great Barrier Reef.Just as students are learning from teachers, teachers are learning how to be proficient in this digital environment.In addition to numerous professional learning opportunities we have both in person and virtual, we also have technology teachers in every school. The district has also provided tiered professional development as we recognize, like our students, our teachers are at all different levels, he said, adding that teachers are also learning from each other.None of us wanted to be put in this place, but we made the most of it, he said. The pandemic has forced all of us to look differently at education and the role technology and access can play in supporting learning.The work taking place in Meriden is just one small example of broader digital education efforts, according to Doug Casey, executive director of the states Commission for Educational Technology.Casey said Connecticut has worked toward digital equity for the past two decades. The Commission developed Connecticuts state ed tech plan , which addresses digital learning in K-12 schools and higher education.A report released this spring on the state of K-12 technology in Connecticut indicated that most middle and high schools in the state already have 1:1 computer programs and assistance with Internet connectivity. Meanwhile, other states have struggled to reach similar milestones.These efforts were bolstered by Gov. Lamonts Everybody Learns initiative, which utilized $45 million in CARES Act funding to help provide a computer and home Internet connection for every student who needed one.Connecticut purchased and has seen the delivery of 142,000 devices this fall  extraordinary news considering global supply-chain delays, Casey said. We have provided for more than 40,000 home broadband connections, and thousands of students now have home Internet access to attend remote classes, check and complete assignments and stay connected to their teachers and classmates.Over the summer, Casey said state education officials collaborated with the city of New Haven and Southern Connecticut State University on the launch of Eduroam to connect tens of thousands of students across New Haven Public Schools, SCSU, Yale, the University of New Haven and other institutions.While Casey said he hopes for a safe return to brick-and-mortar schools, technology will continue to play a central role in districts like Benignis.My expectation, or at least hope, is that leaders fully leverage the investments that they have made in technology for teaching and learning, he said. "Students especially need meaningful problems to address, the opportunity to take on engineering, ethics, political or other types of challenges to equip them for advanced learning and careers.Technology supports that work in the real world, and integrating digital learning tools and approaches can make education more meaningful and relevant.
In the midst of the pandemic, we are reminded of the difficulties of providing quality education, as schools across the country struggle with adequate funding to remain afloat and give students the resources they need. I know this pain firsthand. As chairman of the board of Independence Mission Schools (IMS), last week we announced that St. Gabriel, one of our 15 grade schools in Philadelphia, would consolidate its students into St. Thomas Aquinas at the beginning of the next academic year.

It doesnt have to be this way  yet recently thats been the trend. In November, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia shared it will be shutting the doors of two high schools at the end of the school year. St. Basil Academy in Jenkintown is also closing in 2021. The slow but steady decline of enrollment at private schools is not a new trend, but it has been dramatically accelerated by the pandemic. Since 1970, there has been a nearly 40% reduction in private school enrollment. Nobody ever wants to make the difficult decision to close a school, but there comes a point when it is no longer financially feasible.

Closing St. Gabriel was a difficult decision that came after much deliberation and only after every other option was exhausted.

 READ MORE: 112-year-old S. Philly Catholic grade school will close at the end of the year, leaders say

So what happens to these students?

Although there are nearby public and charter school options, my hope is that families will stay within our system. Some parents choose Catholic schools specifically because they want their children to be educated in the Catholic faith, but Catholic schools enroll students from a variety of faiths and backgrounds. IMS currently educates about 4,000 students at 14 schools across many diverse neighborhoods and communities in Philadelphia, and 80% of our enrollment is non-Catholic.

When you look at school closures, elite private schools that enjoy high tuitions rarely shut down. Closures more frequently affect cost-effective Catholic schools benefiting underserved communities and middle-class families.

Like everything, it comes down to funding. Schools like those operated by IMS would not have to close with $2,500 per child of increased scholarship support and state aid  a pittance by public education standards, as the Philadelphia School District spends more than $16,000 per student, according to the latest data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. When leaders do not adequately fund all of Pennsylvanias education alternatives, they shift the onus of educating our children back to local taxpayers, depriving parents the ability to make a choice and straining their districts budgets.

Our leaders need to put their money where their mouth is  they owe it to the parents, the taxpayers, but most of all, the students. Supporting school choice is noble, but only if we set schools up to succeed. If that $2,500 of increased funding was made available for scholarships through programs like the Education Improvement Tax Credit, there could be a vibrant values-based education alternative for the approximately 1,000 children affected by recent closures. The alternative for policymakers is to allow these students to consolidate into an already strained public sector and educate them at as much as six times the cost.

With proper funding, the IMS network could enroll another 1,500 students, providing them access to a high-quality Catholic education in a safe, nurturing, and inspiring learning environment. With adequate scholarship support, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia could take nearly 15,000 more students in its high schools. Similarly, hundreds of other schools around the commonwealth could serve students if they just had enough scholarship funding.

 READ MORE: Closing the countrys first all-girls Catholic school is a mistake | Opinion

For decades, Pennsylvanias private primary and secondary schools have educated millions of children at low cost to the education establishment and taxpayer. Although private, they do a tremendous public service and should be treasured as the resource that they are. Without deliberate policy to see that these schools survive, we could bleed dry this goose that has laid the golden egg and put more strain on public schools, potentially increasing the states budget by about $4 billion to cover the over 230,000 current private school students. That would be a true loss for the state, the districts, and most of all, the students. Unless Pennsylvania leaders allocate sufficient funding or tax credit support, school closures will continue, school taxes will increase, and parents will have fewer and fewer choices as to where they can send their children to succeed.

It was Benjamin Franklin, the quintessential Pennsylvanian, who once said, An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Its time we heed his advice.

Brian McElwee is board chairman and chair of the executive committee for Independence Mission Schools, an independent network of Catholic schools.
A 97-year-old Auschwitz survivor who made a 'miraculous recovery' from Covid-19 has been hailed a 'hero' after urging the public to 'never give up' in the face of the pandemic.

Lily Ebert contracted the virus in January, after receiving her first dose of the vaccine a month earlier, and was treated at her home in north London by her relatives who were able to use oxygen supplies.

Her great-grandson Dov Forman, 17, last week celebrated her first walk outside in a month on Twitter, adding that she was a 'fighter and survivor'.

Lily, a survivor of Auschwitz and the Nazi death marches, was liberated in April 1945 and began her new life in June that year, when she and her sisters were evacuated from the ruins of Germany and taken to Switzerland by train.

She appeared on Good Morning Britain today where she urged viewers to 'chose' to be positive in the face of adversity, and to do what we can to keep others safe against the virus.

A 97-year-old Auschwitz survivor (pictured) who made a 'miraculous recovery' from Covid-19 has been hailed a 'hero' after a Good Morning Britain appearance

Her great-grandson Dov Forman, 17, (pictured right) after hailing her a 'fighter and survivor' last Thursday

When asked how she remained positive after facing such adversity in her life, she said: 'It was very important, because you could chose. You could chose life and carry on or give up, I chose the first one.

'I chose life and said "I can not give up, I have to carry on to fight". That is what I promised myself, I would tell the world what really happened and I kept my promise.'

She went on: 'This virus is terrible. When Covid will end, we don't know - but we know only what we can do. We should never give up, and try to do what we can try to survive, and be very careful with other people that nobody should get it.

'How much we can do - be separated from other people. That will pass, and we should do everything that we can to help each other, that nobody should get this virus.'

Viewers quickly took to Twitter to praise Lily, with one hailing her 'amazing' while another called her a 'hero'

Viewers quickly took to Twitter to praise Lily, with one writing: 'Now that is what you call a hero!! Lily are are a true inspiration.'

Another said: 'Lily on @GMB getting me emotionally happy. We can learn and gain strength from her.'

'What an amazing woman. Bless her heart', wrote a third.

In his Twitter post last Thursday, Dov penned: 'My 97-year-old great-grandma, Lily Ebert BEM - Auschwitz Survivor, has just recovered from Covid- 19.'

'Today she went on her first walk in a month after making a miraculous recovery. A fighter and survivor,' he added.

Hundreds of Twitter users were quick to offer their well-wishes to Lily, with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan writing: 'What an inspiration. Wishing Lily a continued safe and speedy recovery, and best wishes to all the family.'

Lily contracted the virus in January and was treated at her home in north London by her relatives who were able to use oxygen supplies. Pictured, with her great-grandson, Dov Forman

Her great-grandson Dov Forman, 17, took to Twitter (pictured) to celebrate Lily's first walk outside in a month, adding that she was a 'fighter and survivor'

Another said: 'Thats amazing. Go Great Grandma Lily. An inspiration to us all,' while a third added: 'Bless her. Fans my small flame of optimism into fire.'

Speaking to The Guardian, Dov confessed his family 'have no idea' how Lily contracted the virus because they had all been careful throughout the pandemic.

'She was able to have her first dose of the vaccine on 17 December but some time afterwards she was feeling ill. We kept her at home because we were worried about seeing her again if she went to hospital,' he explained.

Lily's local GP regularly checked in on her and relatives who were able to use oxygen supplies looked after her.

Dov admitted that there were some 'dark moments' during Lily's recovery, but that his great-grandmother is now '100%'.

'She has always been very positive. She is just a real survivor and a fighter and has been from a young age,' he added.

Lily Ebert celebrated her first walk outside in a month (pictured) after making her incredible recovery from Covid-19

Lily (pictured second from right) was just a teenager when she was liberated from a Nazi death march in 1945

Lily first hit headlines in July 2020, after successfully searching for the family of the American soldier who gave her a banknote with a message wishing her 'good luck and happiness'.

She left for Switzerland in June 1945 after she was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp, having previously been at Auschwitz where her mother, brother and sister were murdered by the Nazis.

Prisoners at Auschwitz and other camps in occupied Eastern Europe were moved west in the so-called 'death marches' as Soviet troops closed in from the east.

SS guards were ordered to kill prisoners who could no longer keep up, while others died of cold and exhaustion.

More than 10,000 prisoners arrived at Buchenwald in January 1945, but thousands died before the Allies arrived.

Lily first hit headlines in July 2020, after successfully searching for the family of the American soldier who gave her a banknote with a message wishing her 'good luck and happiness' (pictured)

Dov took to Twitter in a bid to try and reveal the US soldier who liberated his great-grandmother (pictured)

US soldiers from the 6th Armored Division entered the camp on April 11 and found more than 21,000 people there.

Lily, then aged 21, was given a banknote by a US soldier with a message wishing her 'good luck and happiness'.

She previously showed it to her great-grandson, explaining to BBC's Today programme: 'I even didn't know what I have with this note, how interesting it is and how interesting it will be for the whole world.

'I got something from a soldier who did not have a piece of paper to write on... so instead he took out this banknote and he wrote good luck for future life.'

The Hungarian-born survivor later spoke over Zoom with the family of the US soldier, Private Hayman Shulman, who died seven years ago.

Dov tracked down the private's family on Twitter and they shared an emotional conversation last year.

Only around 400,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive today to give their testimony, it is believed.

The Auschwitz museum marked 75 years in January since the most infamous Nazi death camp was liberated in early 1945.

She told hosts Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan (both pictured) to 'chose' to be positive in the face of adversity, and to do what we can to keep others safe against the virus

Despite German efforts to cover up evidence of their crimes against humanity, the Red Army found horrific piles of corpses at Auschwitz along with 7,000 survivors.

Almost a million Jews were killed at the camp, along with tens of thousands of others including Poles, gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war.

Lily was transported there from her native Hungary, which was occupied by the Nazis in 1944. Hungarian authorities collaborated with the Nazis and rounded up Jews in urban ghettos before deporting them to Auschwitz.

More than 500,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered or died of maltreatment, historians estimate - around two-thirds of the country's Jewish population.

Previously speaking about how much the banknote from the US soldier meant to her, she told Sky News: 'We had not a piece of paper, we had nothing, you cannot know that, you cannot explain it, especially today.'

She continued: 'People cannot understand humans being without anything - you had the rug that you had on your body and that was it.'

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To close schools and fully fund remote learning, Chicago educators have formed the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee. This committee is independent of the CTU and Democratic Party and aims to unite educators, parents, students and the broader working class to prepare strike action to close all schools and nonessential workplaces. We call on all Chicago educators, parents and students to join our committee at wsws.org/edsafety wsws.org/edsafety.

In the face of threats that taking collective action to prevent deadly school reopenings would constitute an illegal strike, Chicago educators voted overwhelmingly to approve a union resolution to continue teaching remotely. In response, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Janice Jackson was forced to announce Sunday that the return of K-8 educators would be delayed to Wednesday at the earliest.

Despite this temporary delay in the full reopening of schools, Chicago educators must not have any illusions that the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is fighting in their interests. Behind the scenes, Chicagos Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS officials are working furiously to hammer out a deal with the CTU on the resumption of in-person learning, as they have done in over 60 negotiating sessions throughout the fall that led to the situation today.

Chicago teachers ordered to return teaching outside the building. (Image Credit: One of our reporters)

Support for the resolution among Chicagos 25,000 educators was overwhelming, with a 71 percent margin in favor. Those voting represented 86 percent of the total membership. The high degree of support for the resolution and the districts move to delay shows the real relationship of forces in the city, and both CPS and CTU are interested in avoiding a confrontation that could quickly get out of the unions control and raise demands far beyond those it has been negotiating.

Both CPS and the CTU have undoubtedly followed the recent establishment of the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, which is spearheading the fight to unite educators with the broader working class to close all schools and nonessential workplaces. Our committee is completely independent of the unions and the capitalist parties, and is demanding that the financial elite pay for educators, nonessential workers and their families to stay home safely until the pandemic is contained.

A network of such independent committees have now been established in New York, Michigan, California, Texas, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, with plans to form further committees in Utah, Colorado, Washington and other states in the coming days. In Montgomery, Alabama, teachers are considering wildcat strike action to close schools in the district, after four educators died from COVID-19 in the past week alone and the pandemic is ripping through the state.

Educators and other workers throughout Chicago are overwhelmingly opposed to the reopening of schools and other businesses by the Lightfoot administration and Illinois billionaire Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. Just 3,200 students, or about half of the roughly 6,000 Pre-K and special education cluster program students whose parents opted them in for in-person learning, have actually showed up to school buildings, according to CPS attendance figures. This represents only 19 percent of all such students.

Reaction to the reopening of restaurants among Chicago workers has largely been one of dismay, as it increases the likelihood that infections will spiral further out of control. Already, Chicago has an elevated test positivity rate of 7.2 percent, while daily testing in the city has fallen dramatically since November. To date, 20,680 Illinois residents have died from COVID-19, the sixth-highest figure for any state.

The Lightfoot administration and CPS officials have continued to insist that the reopening of schools and other workplaces is safe, to the point of commissioning the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) to submit a flawed, low-quality article to a journal in order to claim science is on their side. In fact, the most recent scientific studies indicate schools are vectors of infection and pose a grave danger not only to children, but also to their family members as well as educators and their families.

This is to say nothing of the emergence of new variants of COVID-19, including the B.1.1.7 strain, which has prompted the closure of schools in Europe due to its faster rate of spread, and recent reports of its higher lethality. In fact, the continued delay of taking widespread and coordinated measures to halt the pandemic threatens a catastrophe, as the deepening spread of COVID-19 throughout the population increased the likelihood that mutations will develop which allow the virus to evade current vaccines.

Lightfoot is being driven by the agenda of the financial oligarchy, ably represented by the new Biden administration which has pledged to reopen the majority of schools by the end of April. For the ruling class that the Democrats represent, workers must return to work in order to produce profits and prop up share values in the stock market. In order for this to happen, educators must be dragooned into classrooms to serve as childcare, no matter how many become infected or die.

Indeed, the Federal Reserves Beige Book report for January noted that for the district under the purview of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Contacts continued to report elevated employee absenteeism due to Covid-19 cases or exposures and childcare challenges for their workers, with some manufacturers saying they were forced to slow production following the Thanksgiving holiday due to staffing challenges.

One veteran CPS teacher who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site made clear the irrational and business-driven nature of the reopening, saying, CPS has been leaving Chicago families, teachers and staff in a state of uncertainty and constant anxiety surrounding their decision of returning to in-person instruction while in the middle of some of the highest positivity rates some neighborhoods have seen so far during this entire pandemic. They have no interest in instruction staying consistent and predictable for all involved while keeping everyone at home and safe.

It is irresponsible for anyone to go back until teachers and students are vaccinated and community spread has been adequately dealt with. CPS continues to lie and shows depraved indifference to so many workers that have requested tele-work accommodations for very valid reasons.

Lightfoot and Jackson want people to return so they can babysit the kids of parents they want back at work. They do not have an instruction problem, they have a child care issue. Teachers are not babysitters, contrary to some public opinion. Continuing to try to force teachers back and play Russian roulette with their and their families lives shows how morally bankrupt they are. The vote showed that we will not allow her to bully and threaten us back. We refuse to return, but we do not refuse to teach.

Even with the delay to bring back K-8 educators, Pre-K and special education cluster program teachers are still being hung out to dry by CTU leadership and forced to make the decision whether to report to school buildings or face being docked pay and locked out of their virtual classrooms. According to recent reports, 55 of these teachers are still being locked out.

This division of CTUs membership was facilitated by the formulation of the unions resolution, which called for all educators to work remotely starting on January 25, 2021, or on whatever date the Board requires K-8 members to appear in person. Jacksons letter to teachers made clear she expected Pre-K and cluster program teachers to continue to report in-person.

At an online union town hall meeting on Sunday, one Pre-K teacher questioned the CTUs invocation of solidarity, saying she could not afford to risk being unable to pay bills. CTU vice president Stacy Davis Gates responded condescendingly, I trust as a grown up you make decisions that reflect your needs. Theres always a choice. There are members. Its a false choice, and it is your choice to make. You do not have to enter those doors. Use the letter provided.

While union leaders have claimed any agreement with the district would involve reinstatement and making whole teachers victimized in this way, it is clear most Pre-K and special education teachers feel they do not have a choice and that they have been completely abandoned by the union.

In fact, the unions have long exploited divisions among their own workers to assist in ramming through sellout agreements. During the 2019 wave of teachers strikes, the unions worked might and main to ensure one strike was over before another began, in order to prevent a national movement from emerging outside of their control.

Even now, CPS staff organized by SEIU, who went on strike with CTU members in 2019, are working in school buildings. In response to a question about these workers, Sharkey expressed complete indifference, saying, They have the right to refuse work just like we do. Glad were concerned about SECAS (special education classroom assistants) and thats something well hold in our hearts.

Asked why it has taken months for CTU to vote to authorize a strike, the veteran teacher noted, CTU has totally allowed clerks, techs, Pre-K and clusters to hang in the wind and did NOTHING for them except a lot of talk, adding, theyre okay with sacrificial lambs and fallout. It's worth it to them.

While the enormous opposition to school reopenings has forced CTU to take a strike authorization vote, educators must be clear that CTU has already signaled it is prepared to come to an agreement involving voluntary staffing at reopened schools, as well as a plan that would see teachers back in classrooms before they or the general population have received effective doses of vaccine. As Sharkey pathetically said on the call, we will try to win as much as we can.

In the coming days and weeks, rank-and-file Chicago educators must organize themselves independently of the CTU in order to return to fully remote learning for all CPS workers until the pandemic is contained. To oppose the homicidal policies demanded by the Democrats on behalf of Wall Street, a real leadership of educators must come forward and extend the struggle until all necessary measures are taken.

The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee is fighting to unite educators and all workers in Chicago and throughout the state around the central demand that all schools and nonessential workplaces must be shut down and workers paid to stay home until the population is vaccinated and the pandemic is contained. The vast wealth of the financial oligarchy must be redirected to meet the needs of society, including fully funding remote learning and providing every student and educator with state-of-the-art technology. We urge all Chicago educators who support these demands to join and help build our committee today!
Gurugram, Jan 25 : In the view of the farmers' protest and the Republic Day celebrations, the Gurugram police have stepped up security arrangements and special instructions have been given to the police force to keep a vigil on suspicious elements, senior Gurugram police official said.

"Around 40 police checkpoints have been erected across the district and along with border areas. Apart from this, the police personnel, a unit of the ITBP and Harayana police commandos have been deployed at the key locations. Also, duty of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) rank officers have been ensured on rotation basis," said a senior police official.

Also, ACPs and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCPs) will continue patrolling in their respective areas on a rotational basis. The farmers and other social organisations in Gurugram will not be allowed to go the national capital on tractors, the officer said.

Several farmers' outfits are agitating in Delhi from last 61 days against the three agricultural laws. They have also planned a tractor parade on January 26 in Delhi. In view of this, the police have to keep an eye on both the farmers' movement and Republic Day celebrations simultaneously.

However, the district police have already deployed 4,000 police personnel across the district and a three-layer security has been placed around Tau Devilal Stadium Sector-38 in Gurugram where the Republic Day celebrations will be organised.

Moreover, a number of policemen have been deployed in the Manesar near NSG campus and Panchgaon Chowk on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway so that the farmers coming from Rewari to Gurugram do not proceed beyond these security points.

ACP (Traffic) Sanjeev Balhara has been pressed into service in the Manesar NSG campus Similarly, the responsibility of other ACPs has also been fixed. At these points, a unit of the ITBP along with the Gurugram police personnel have been stationed. Also, officials from the intelligence and crime branch units have been placed in civil dress to keep an eye on anti-social elements.

Apart from this, policemen have also been deployed in uniform and plain clothes in all the crowded areas including Sadar Bazar. The police strength has been increased around metro stations, railway stations, bus stands and crowded places.

"In view of the Republic Day celebrations, the entry of heavy vehicles from Gurugram border in Delhi has been banned from 3 p.m. on Sunday till 4 p.m. on January 26. Transporters have been appealed not to take heavy vehicles to Delhi. Traffic policemen have been deployed at the Delhi-Gurugram border on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway, who will bar heavy vehicles no to enter the national capital. The suspects are being specially monitored. Hotels and guest houses are being searched," said Preet Pal Sangwan, ACP (crime).

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text

Egypt will re-nominate Ahmed Aboul-Gheit to the position of Arab League secretary-general for a second five-year term, diplomatic sources told Saudi owned Al-Sharq news website on Monday.

The incumbent Aboul-Gheit will end his tenure, which started in 2016, in June.

The new holder of the position is likely to be determined in the next summit scheduled for March.

The Egyptian nomination will be sent within days to be presented during the anticipated summit, according to the sources.

The sources said that if the summit could not be held as scheduled because of the coronavirus, which was the case with last year's Algeria summit, the nominations will be decided by the Arab foreign ministers in a meeting of the League Council before 30 June.

Aboul-Gheit was nominated by Egypt for the position in 2016, succeeding the former Egyptian secretary-general Nabil El-Arbi.

Aboul-Gheit served as Egypts foreign minister from July 2004 till March 2011.

Since the establishment of the Arab League in 1945, the position of secretary-general has been held by Egypt, except for the period from 1979 to 1990, when the post went to Tunisia.

Seven Egyptian foreign ministers have assumed the office.

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An Upstate New York animal park says its new baby kangaroo is so rare, it may be the only one of its kind in the world.

The Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, NY., known around the world as the home April the Giraffe, welcomed a baby kangaroo named Cosmo four months ago. But the joey had been hiding in his mothers pouch until last week, when he was old enough for zoo keepers to give him his first full medical review.

According to the Times Union, they discovered Cosmo is leucistic, which means he has a partial loss of pigmentation; he does not have pink eyes like albino kangaroos, which have no pigment. Leucistic kangaroos are white and extremely rare, and Cosmo may be the rarest of all as his parents, Rosie and Boomer, are both typical red kangaroos.

We are not aware of any leucistic red kangaroo in the United States, indicating just how rare of an occurrence this is, park owner Jordan Patch told the Albany newspaper.

Patch told WIVB that some red leucistic red kangaroos may exist in Australia, but none have been officially identified anywhere in the world.

Upon identifying the fact that we had a very rare kangaroo, I immediately took to Google and I Goolged leucistic kangaroo and when nothing came up, I knew we had something unique, Patch told the Buffalo TV station.

Patch said Rosie and Boomer, who had never mated before, may carry the recessive gene for leucism. The animal park hopes Boomer and Rosie produce another white kangaroo or if Cosmo, when he matures, also produces white kangaroos.

So now its a long term study of the genetics, isolating the trait and seeing exactly what were working with, he told WIVB.

Visitors will get their first chance to see Cosmo on display at the new kangaroo exhibit when the park reopens to the public on April 28.

The Animal Adventure Park previously made world news when it hosted a livestream of April the Giraffe giving birth to a baby calf in 2017. More than 300,000 watched the birth of Azizi, Aprils fifth calf, before she went on birth control last year in 2019. Azizi died unexpectedly at the East Texas Zoo and Gator Park in October after being treated for a parasitic issue.
Northern Ireland health trusts are to invite those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable into their regional centres for the coronavirus vaccine.

It comes as demand at the centres has dropped after healthcare workers received their first dose, the BBC reports.

Around 100,000 people were told to shield during the first wave of the virus. Shielding was paused in July last year, however, the advice was updated in December and the category widened to include more people. Those people now classed as clinically extremely vulnerable have been advised not to attend a workplace.

In terms of vaccinations, more than 155,000 people have had the first dose with another 22,000 having received the second in NI.

Some healthcare staff are to be stood down as vaccinators to allow them to return to their main job while others are to take up the service as part of their core responsibilities. However, there may be a need to recall staff at short notice.

The Department of Health said staff - such as school nurses - would be working as vaccinators as their service had been stopped. Others would return to hospitals and help ease pressure on services.

It said invitations will be sent out to people for vaccines. It has also urged healthcare staff to take up their offer of a jab.

Northern Ireland hospitals have faced intense pressure dealing with the third wave of the virus. Last week was expected to be the peak for hospitals. At one stage last week four hospitals were operating over capacity.

While numbers remain high, there was a decrease in the number of people in hospital and in intensive care

Current 746 beds are occupied with Covid patients with 74 people in ICU. Hospital occupancy is at 88%.

At Belfast's Nightingale hospital, extra beds have been opened to cope with large numbers of extreme sick patients.

Melanie McClements director of acute services at the Southern Health Trust said the weekend had been very busy for their staff.

"We have been running on empty for the last few weeks as we had such a high percentage of Covid patients in the southern area," she told BBC Good Morning Ulster.

"Thankfully that is starting to go in the right direction.... we are starting to feel the tail in our intensive care units."

She praised staff for their hard work in dealing with the intense workload outlining how the current wave was much more demanding than anything previous. She said they were beginning to feel a plateau in the amount of patients needing respiratory support. However they were anticipating increased numbers in intensive care as it was around two weeks of a lag behind.

She said there had been very busy days in vaccination centres and the focus was moving to those clinically extremely vulnerable patients.

She said freeing staff up from vaccination duties allowed them to deal with surge three pressures in hospitals on the front line. Mrs McClements said staff were keen to get the jab.

"It does not mean we have taken focus off our vaccination, it is just dealing with the demand as it comes in. And we are ready at any stage to deal with demand. We flex every day," she added.
The 20th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Senior Economic Officials Meeting (CLMV SEOM) was held on January 25 via video conference,

during which Vietnam suggested countries study and select the form of implementing projects suitable to the new normal in each country when compiling the CLMV Action Plan for 2021-2022.

Deputy head of the Asian-African Markets Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Phuc Nam (C) attends the CLMV SEOM 20 (Photo: VNA)

Deputy head of the Asian-African Markets Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Phuc Nam, who is head of the Vietnamese delegation, stressed the need to intensify the application of digital technology as well as the organisation of activities in the online format, while creating favourable conditions for experts, technicians, and project officials from development partners to carry out entry procedures, take COVID-19 tests, and undergo quarantine.

It is also important for CLMV to propose more cooperative projects to benefit all four countries and support post-pandemic recovery efforts, especially projects facilitating trade and investment, improving regional connectivity, supporting micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in accessing finance and technology, and increasing their capacity.

Regarding the building of a detailed action plan to implement the CLMV Development Framework approved at the 10th CLMV Summit last December, Nam suggested the countries step up coordination to identify feasible activities and projects to be included in the action plan.

The CLMV SEOM 20 reviewed the implementation of activities in the 2019-2020 CLMV Action Plan, discussed the plan for 2021-2021, reviewed the implementation of the Promotion of Competitiveness within the Framework of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (COMPETE) project, and discussed the next steps in carrying out the CLMV Development Framework.

Many activities and projects in the 2019-2020 action plan were postponed or cancelled last year due to COVID-19. Thanks to its activeness, however, Vietnam carried out several planned trade and investment cooperation activities.

The country proactively proposed organising online meetings, trade fairs, and training courses, facilitating trade and investment activities and services, particularly those through CLMV borders, restricting and removing unnecessary trade barriers, and ensuring the operation of supply chains./. VNA

PM stresses solidarity, cooperation at 10th CLMV Summit Only solidarity and cooperation would help Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) overcome difficulties and build a CLMV region of dynamism,

Why Madigan Had to Go

Madigans Legacy

Changing of the Generational Guard

New Faces in State Legislatures

Michael Madigan was first sworn into the Illinois House 50 years ago this month. He ruled as speaker for 36 of those years, making him the longest-serving state House speaker in American history. His reign finally ended on Jan. 13, when Chris Welch was elected to replace him.He has been a dominant force for so long that very few of us can think of Illinois politics without the role of Mike Madigan, says John Jackson, a political scientist at Southern Illinois University. He dominated the House and, to a lesser extent, much of Democratic politics.Madigans tenure as leader finally ended due to a bribery and patronage investigation that has resulted in multiple indictments of his allies and associates. Madigan has not been charged with any crime. Republicans had complained for years that Madigan was a corrupt figure and the latest round of indictments led prominent Democrats to decide it was finally time for him to go.Although Madigans fall from power was triggered by a corruption scandal, its emblematic of a larger generational shift in legislative politics. Mike Madigan is definitely in the category of a kind of leader were never going to see again, says Christopher Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. of Maryland, who was the longest-serving president of any state Senate, died on Jan. 15, less than a month after resigning his seat due to health reasons and just over a year after leaving his leadership post. Millers body was lying in state at the Annapolis Capitol rotunda on Friday and buried on Saturday.In Maryland, youre not going ever to be able to forget the impact of Mike Miller, when the Senate building is actually named after Mike Miller, says Mileah Kromer, a pollster at Goucher College.Leaders can come not only to dominate but also seem to define their chambers, running their internal operations, protecting members politically and speaking for the body in negotiations with the governor and the other house. Their passage from power, for whatever reason, spells the end of a particular era.That doesnt mean they cant be replaced. Some longtime leaders will acknowledge that when they were newcomers, their chambers were ruled by individuals who seemed irreplaceable at the time. Even the names of those prior leaders, however, might not be remembered by todays junior members.None of the current members of the California Assembly or Ohio House served with Willie Brown or Vern Riffe, for example. They were such dominant and long-serving leaders that their very presence was used as a symbol to help convince voters to enact term limits back in the 1990s.When a leader leaves, as with any change, people fear it, but then we just get by, Mooney says. There are plenty of competent people to do these things, so its not like its going to fall apart. On the other hand, its not like things automatically become great.Republicans had long chafed under Madigans iron rule of the Illinois House. During his term as GOP governor, Bruce Rauner referred to him as a dictator more than once.Madigan ran an old-fashioned patronage operation , placing people in jobs that helped Democrats retain their majority, which in turn helped drive clients to his law firm. Madigans legislative office was served with a subpoena last July as part of a federal investigation surrounding Commonwealth Edison, which allegedly directed $1.3 million in contracts and payments to Madigan associates.At the time, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that, if the allegations were true, Madigan  must resign . Pritzker, along with Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth , the states two U.S. senators, all called last year for Madigan to step down as chair of the Illinois Democratic Party.Madigan was used as a lightning rod during the successful campaign to defeat a ballot measure in November that would have created a graduated income tax in Illinois, a top Pritzker priority. Madigan still intended to run for another term as speaker. A group of 19 House Democrats, however, said they would never support him.Democrats should see this defeat as the bill coming due for decades of cronyism, corruption, ghost payrolling, insider deals and all the other hinkiness that gives Illinois its reputation as the most politically dishonest state in the nation, Edward McClelland wrote inmagazine. The federal investigation into Madigan for pressuring ComEd into hiring his lackeys was the final bag of garbage into a dumpster the Democrats' couldn't shut the lid on, allowing the stench to spread all across the state.With Madigan finally out of power, its hard to point to a single piece of legislation that stands as his legacy, but his fingerprints were on everything the state did  or failed to do  for decades. He was a master at putting together coalitions when he wanted to, or stopping bills when he wanted to do that. Nobody knew the mechanics of the process, or mobilized the process, better than Mike Madigan, says Jackson, the SIU political scientist.Madigan was enormously deft at keeping the various factions within his party under control. When representatives got into trouble, they knew they could count on him  and his multimillion-dollar campaign treasury  to bail them out.His main job was retaining the majority, says UICs Mooney. He was extremely skillful at both electoral politics and policymaking, and he accomplished what his caucus wanted.Madigan held power the old-fashioned way. His control of both the chamber and the state party were mutually reinforcing sources of power, allowing him to punish enemies and reward friends. Given his long tenure, he was able to incrementally build up and consolidate his power in various ways  keeping control of all the policy staff in leadership offices, rather than spread among individual legislators, or swapping people off committees for a single vote.With Madigan out, it will allow for a much more rich conversation, says Michael Pagano, dean of UICs College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. The animosity toward state politics is just palpable, given the opaqueness of decision-making at the state level. To remove Madigan will hopefully rebuilt trust in state government.Like Madigan, Marylands Mike Miller was an old-school Irish Catholic politician who operated more as a pragmatic dealmaker and fundraiser than an ideologue. Like Madigan, Miller found himself challenged by a younger, more progressive generation of Democrats.President Miller is out of step and out of date with politics in the state of Maryland, state Comptroller Peter Franchot toldin 2019. He is the embodiment of a bygone era.Miller had helped abolish Marylands death penalty and legalize same-sex marriage, yet four of his top lieutenants were ousted during Democratic primaries in 2018 as part of a  Take a Hike, Mike  challenge from the left. Miller survived and held on to his leadership post, which he then gave up in 2019 due to prostate cancer. Miller was replaced as president by Bill Ferguson, who hadnt yet reached his fourth birthday when Miller first held the post.Millers resignation as president came a few months after the death of Michael Busch, who had served as speaker of the Maryland House for 16 years.It was clear that there is a new generation of leadership that has taken over, says Kromer, the Goucher College political scientist. Fred Risser , the longest-serving state lawmaker in American history, retired earlier this month. He was first elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1956 and then won election to the state Senate in 1962, serving in a variety of leadership roles over the years.Former Indiana House Speaker Patrick Bauer , who was first elected to the chamber in 1970, also decided not to run for re-election last year. Mississippi Sen. Tommy Gollott , first elected to the state House back in 1969, retired a year earlier. Fifty-two years is long enough to be anywhere, he said.Texas Rep. Tom Craddick, a former House speaker, is now the last active legislator who began his service during the 1960s. Madigan and New York Assemblymember Dick Gottfried are the only other remaining legislators with a full half-century in office.When Madigan and Miller were first elected in 1970, roughly 97 percent of state legislators were white men. The share of women, Black and Latino legislators is still not representative of the population as a whole, but has increased dramatically since then.Welch, the first African American speaker in Illinois, has appointed a leadership team that includes some Madigan holdovers, as well as a diverse lineup of women, Black and Latino members.Adrienne Jones, who succeeded Busch as Marylands first African American speaker, recently unveiled what she called a Black agenda to address systemic racism in housing, health, wealth and policing Lets put it this way, the 106 speakers before me, they would not put [this] as a priority, Jones told the. Historically, there has been a white agenda.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akars recent visit to Iraq has seen plenty of verbal agreements on an array of issues Ankara shares with the central Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Yet whether these agreements would translate into concrete steps remains to be seen.

Following Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimis visit to Turkey Dec. 17, 2020, Akar paid a high-profile visit to Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan on Jan 18-20. He was accompanied by a large Turkish delegation including Chief of Staff of the Turkish armed forces Yasar Guler. In Baghdad, the delegation headed by Akar met with the Iraqi minister of defense and minister of interior along with President Barham Salih and Kadhimi. In Erbil, Akar held separate meetings with KRG President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and former President Massoud Barzani, who is also leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the dominant political force in Iraqi Kurdistan. The delegation also paid a visit to the office of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Erbil.

Eight meetings and the high-profile welcome indicate the importance the Iraqi side attached to the visit considering the cold shoulder the Iraqi authorities gave to the Turkish defense minister only months ago. Akar's previous planned visit to Iraq in August last year was canceled after a Turkish drone strike killed two Iraqi border guards in the Sidekhan area in the same month, as part of ongoing Turkish military operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) members based in northern Iraq. Turkey and much of the Western powers including the United States consider the PKK a terrorist organization.

The first sign of breaking the ice came with Kadhimis Ankara visit last month that took no less than four invitations by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Akar's follow-up visit has further boosted the expectations that the two countries were ready to settle their differences.

During Kadhimis visit, the sides discussed a large array of bilateral issues, including strengthening the security cooperation against the PKK, removing PKK militants from Sinjar and Makhmour, opening of a second border crossing between the two countries, reconstructing a main highway linking Mosul to this crossing in an attempt to set up a buffer zone between the PKK-based regions of Iraq and Syrias region under the control of the Kurdish groups, reopening of an oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Turkeys Mediterranean coast, setting up joint modernization projects to solve the chronic water-sharing problem between the two neighbors and developing reconstruction projects that were planned to be financed through a $5 billion Turkish pledge for Iraqs reconstruction.

Coming only days before US President Joe Bidens inauguration, Akars visit mainly focused on security issues. The visit was aimed at building on the momentum generated by Kadhimis visit to curb Iraqi objections against the Turkish military operations against the PKK, and forcing Baghdad and Erbil to maximize their cooperation on this front before the new US administration steps into the calculation. Debilitated by the Baghdad, Tehran and Ankara triangle, the Iraqi Kurds hope to find room to breathe under the new US administration policies. Likewise, the Syrian Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces also hope the US approach would rein in the Turkish aggression in Syria.

Will the high-profile meetings that Akar held in Baghdad and Erbil mean concrete steps in favor of Turkey?

According to Akar, both sides are almost on the same page in most of the bilateral issues, particularly on the security front. We have agreed on many issues, Akar said during a press conference at the Turkish Consulate in Erbil. The mutual talks between the two delegations will continue. I believe that these will yield positive outcomes on the ground soon, he noted. He stressed that the Iraqi Kurdish authorities' willingness to cooperate with Turkey in the fight against the PKK was very meaningful" for Turkey.

In addition, he said that both sides discussed the implementation of a security deal between Erbil and Baghdad that Turkey hopes would lead to the removal of the PKK militants from the Sinjar region. According to Akar, the PKK militants will soon be removed from the region through measures to be taken in the near future.

We have repeatedly expressed that our fight [against the PKK] will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated, Akar added, thereby summarizing Turkeys expectations from the visit.

Yet, despite Turkeys determination to fight against the PKK from the Qandil Mountains on the Iraqi-Iranian border to the western Syrian border, the verbal consensus between the Turkish and Iraqi authorities have so far failed to translate into concrete achievements on the ground and are unlikely to produce any results in the near future. This means that Turkeys military approach to seek a solution to its deep-rooted and decadeslong Kurdish problem through cross border operations in neighboring countries will continue to mar the joint projects between the two countries.

The PKK presence in the Sinjar region was the focal point of Akars visit, according to sources in Baghdad and Erbil who have knowledge about the visit. Accordingly, Turkey gauged Baghdad's reaction to set up new military checkpoints to the west of Mosul in order to force PKK members to leave Sinjar. Yet the sprawling number of Turkish checkpoints, particularly the Turkish military presence at the Bashiqa military base near Mosul, is already a point of contention between Ankara and Baghdad, with the Iraqi side having protested twice against Turkey's refusal to withdraw its forces from Bashiqa. A prospect for a permission to new checkpoints seems highly unlikely under such circumstances.

The Sinjar deal between Baghdad and Erbil that calls for the deployment of central government forces in the region has also failed to produce the desired results Turkey has hoped for. Ankara considers the local Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) as a PKK affiliate and asks for its dissolution, while Baghdad wants to integrate the YBS into the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in order to avoid a possible military confrontation.

Moreover, pro-Iranian PMU factions that hold sway in areas where Turkey wants to set up new military checkpoints stand as another obstacle before the Turkish demand. There are also political opposition blocs that are against Turkeys further involvement in Mosul and other Iraqi regions. The Turkish proposal for a second border crossing in Ninevah has been shelved partly due to the objections by these blocs wary of increasing Turkish influence in the predominantly Sunni region. Turkeys proposal aims at bypassing Iraqi Kurdistan to set up direct trade links between Turkey and the central government also has potential to disrupt Erbil-Baghdad ties. While Turkey helps the Iraqi government to counterbalance the Iranian influence, Kadhimi does not want to risk the support of major political forces in Iraq ahead of the general election in October.

Baghdads reluctance, meanwhile, may lead Turkey to turn to the KDP-controlled regions for the new checkpoints. Yet proximity of these areas to the Semalka-Fishkhabour crossing  the only link that connects the Kurdish-controlled northeast of Syria to foreign trade routes through Iraqi Kurdistan  stands as a major impediment before this plan. During Turkeys 2012 military operation against the Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria, the United States prevented Turkey from having bases near the Semalka-Fishkhabour crossing, wary that Turkish interventions could cut off the only lifeline the Syrian Kurds have. Erbil probably would not favor the idea out of similar concerns.

As for Turkeys demands on the Makhmour camp, an area home to a refugee camp that hosts more than 12,000 Kurds who fled Turkey in the 1990s, the Iraqi Kurdish sources believe that Baghdad may opt to disperse the camp by granting Iraqi citizenship to its residents.

Sources believe that although the Barzani family is eager to boost cooperation with Ankara, it does not want to be dragged into the conflict between Turkey and the PKK.

The fatal clashes between PKK militants and peshmerga forces Dec. 13 in Gare has served as a bitter warning for the KDP against a possible intra-Kurdish fight. The region was alarmed by the specter of another fratricide similar to the intra-Kurdish bloodshed in the 1990s. The incident prompted calls for restraint by intellectuals and politicians. Direct confrontations between the PKK and peshmerga forces under the KDP also threatens the ties between the KDP and its coalition partner Sulaymaniyah-based Patriotic Union of Kurdistan  the KDPs main political rival that has been on better terms with the PKK. A possible escalation may lead to the division of the region between Sulaymaniyah and Erbil.

Moreover, both Baghdad and Erbil would probably want to see the extent of the change that the Biden administration will bring on the ground before bowing down to any Turkish demand.
Pak back at UNSC over Kashmir, India to respond to rant at appropriate time

With a likely meeting of Jaishankar, Qureshi Indo-Pak tensions set to thaw further

No Indo-Pak bi-lateral so far on sidelines of Afghan meet

Ready to work with new US administration says Pak foreign minister

International

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Islamabad, Jan 25: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Sunday that his country was ready to work with the new US administration and asserted that the world has changed a lot in the last four years and any engagement and relations should be developed on the basis of new ground realities.

Under the Trump administration, the relations between Pakistan and the US were chaotic as well as complex.

"In (these) four years the world has changed, the region has changed and Pakistan has changed and you have to engage with this new Pakistan," Qureshi said while addressing a press conference in Multan.

US talk show host Larry King dies weeks after testing Covid positive

He said that the Pakistan government was ready to work with the new US government and hoped that the Biden administration would be guided by a "new approach and new policy guidelines."

"I understand that there is a lot of similarity between the current thinking in the United States and our policies," he said.

Qureshi said that he in a letter addressed to the incoming Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tried to update him about the positive trajectory of Pakistan's policies with the idea of more talks on the issue of interests with him.

"We have made a very big shift, from a geo-strategic position to a geo-economic position," he said, highlighting the focus of the current government to fix the ailing economy of the country.

The statement came as Pakistan looked forward to build on the improvement in ties with Washington in the wake of peace agreement with the Taliban, which Islamabad claims it facilitated.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has already expressed his desire to work with the new American administration to deepen bilateral ties.

"Look forward to working with @POTUS in building a stronger Pak-US partnership through trade and economic engagement, countering climate change, improving public health, combating corruption and promoting peace in the region and beyond, Khan tweeted while congratulating the new US President.

Qureshi, whose government is accused of vote rigging by the opposition parties, said that India has also changed, alleging that "it is no more a democratic country."

Pakistan approves emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

The India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by a Pakistan-based terror group, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Evergrande Auto, the NEV arm of Chinese real estate giant China Evergrande Group, announced on Jan. 24, it agreed with six investors to allot and issue a total of 952,383,000 shares, raising an aggregate of HK$26 billion ($3.354 billion).

The shares to be issued represent roughly 9.75% of the company's enlarged total number of issued shares at HK$27.3 per share. Each investor has agreed to a 12-month lock-up period with regard to the subscription shares.



Photo credit: Hengchi



The subscription can strengthen the capital base of the company, accelerate the development of the new energy vehicle segment, and help realize the group's strategic goal to become the world's largest and most powerful new energy vehicle group, said Evergrande Auto.

The investors include Cosmic Success Holdings Limited, Upper World Limited, Heyirong International Trade Co.,Ltd., Greenwoods Global Investment Limited, Ms Chan Hoi-wan and Mr. Liu Ming Hui.

The company attempts to use the net proceeds to repay indebtedness and further invest in the technology R&D, production of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and general corporate purposes. After deducting the companys costs and expenses, the gross proceeds and net proceeds from the subscription are estimated to be HK$26,000,055,900 ($3.354 billion) and HK$26 billion respectively.

About four month ago, Evergrande Auto announced it would raise about HK$4 billion ($516.006 million) through the introduction of four investors including Tencent Holdings Limited, Sequoia Capital, Yunfeng Fund and Didi Chuxing.

Evergrande Auto is stepping up its efforts to develop NEV business. Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Group, said the group planned to invest 45 billion yuan ($5.805 billion) within three years in NEV development, build 10 manufacturing bases around the world, and increase its NEV capacity to 1 million units in three to five years. The company has a total of 14 Hengchi-branded models in works, 6 of which has been launched already.
As Winnipeggers lined up outside stores on the weekend after certain pandemic restrictions were lifted, many business owners could only hope for some much-needed customers to walk through their doors soon.

As Winnipeggers lined up outside stores on the weekend after certain pandemic restrictions were lifted, many business owners could only hope for some much-needed customers to walk through their doors soon.

Not being able to open to diners feels like punishment to Roula Alevizos.

The general manager of Saddlery on Market, a comfort food destination in the Exchange District, has spent a lot of time wondering how the eatery will survive: there have been few customers, and business, which is limited to pickup and delivery, is down 95 per cent from this time last year.

When she learned restaurants were not on the latest list of businesses allowed to open to in-person service, with capacity limits, it came as another blow.

"I dont understand, and its not just me, I think a lot of people feel that restaurants have been picked on," she said.

Hair salons and barbershop owners scrambled to open as of Saturday, when code-red restrictions were relaxed. New public health orders kept in place the ban on in-person customers for restaurants and gyms.

The provinces top doctor, Brent Roussin, said a limited loosening of restrictions would help keep COVID-19 at bay. He noted prolonged contact indoors involves a higher risk of infection.

But Alevizos argued restaurants in Winnipeg can distance their customers safely.

"I was at Superstore two weeks ago, and the place was packed," she said. "We have a lot of space here, and tables are so far apart you have to yell, never mind touch someone next to you."

Saddlery on Market opened briefly in the summer, using its patio space, but has been closed since early November. She worries her industry is being punished for mistakes made by restaurants that were fined for rules violations during the summer.

"I dont think that everyone has to pay the price for one or two of us not following the rules, because most of us are following the rules," she said.

The question of why a barbershop or a hair salon  arguably spaces where prolonged contact is part of the job  are allowed to conduct in-person business now may be based on data collected by the province on transmission, but it hasnt been made available to Alevizos, or other business owners.

"Id like to know where this data is coming from, and where these numbers are coming from, because I certainly dont see it," she said.

On Lagimodiere Boulevard, North Star Fitness has two open spaces for people to work out  one 5,000 square feet, and the other 4,000 square feet.

'I don't understand, and it's not just me, I think a lot of people feel that restaurants have been picked on'  Roula Alevizos, general manager of Saddlery on Market

The idea that people would be unable to safely work out in a socially-distanced space is confusing to Annette Tetrault, the fitness centres manager.

"I dont have the data, if I did, maybe that would ease my mind," she said. "But right now, we dont have it, the government has it, and its not being shared."

There are a lot of ways to work out at a gym, Tetrault said, and much of it is solitary. Even personal training, where only two people are working together, would be safer than most businesses allowed to be open now.

"We have a very big space  why put all the gyms in one category?" she said. "I dont know how small a barbershop is, but probably people are a lot closer."

She hopes gyms are able to open in three weeks, maybe even at a staggered level  allowing one-on-one training but not group classes, for example  but she worries that the restrictions being lifted now will set the province back too far for that to be a possibility.

"I dont understand why thats more essential than fitness, where it seems to me it really helps your mind and health to do some exercise," she said.

Even restaurants that have been a Winnipeg staple for decades will feel the effects of even just three more weeks of being closed to in-person service, said Sachit Mehra, owner and manager of East India Company restaurant said.

The family restaurant has been in business for almost 50 years and spanned three generations, but discussions around revenue have taken a dark turn recently.

"Were eating into reserves quite aggressively, and you can only sustain yourself for so long given that amount of crunch," Mehra said.

"So now, its not a matter of writing off the year, discussions were now having internally within the family is just writing off retirement."

Learning restaurants would have to keep waiting was "incredibly difficult, from a business standpoint, from a mental standpoint," he said, but noted the restaurants decades of service has helped keep it afloat through repeat customers.

COVID-19 counts have proven that people are going to attempt to gather regardless of public health orders, Mehra said, and suggested the province could have allowed the "highly scrutinized" food industry to remain open in an attempt to let a small number of people gather in a regulated, sanitized space.

"I think there was an opportunity to approach the hospitality industry, not only here in Manitoba but across the board, as a resource instead of a liability," he said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_
Airlines that were hoping to turn the corner this year after a rough 2020 may be in for a rude awakening. Major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways is planning to slash international flights during the summer by 50 percent.

The company will apply the reduction from March 28 through October 30.

ANA will halt flights on 16 international routes, including from Narita to New York, and put the brakes on starting service from Haneda Airport to Istanbul and Stockholm.

Pilots will fly smaller planes on the international routes it is keeping to reduce total seating by half.

The airline has already suspended or cut international flights by about 80 percent.

ANA could make further reductions if the pandemic continues to restrict travel.
On Monday South-west state governors namely Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) will meet with leaders of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria leaders in Akure.

The subject of he discourse revolves around the seven-day ultimatum issued by Mr Akeredolu on herders, directing them to vacate forest reserves within Ondo State.

The meeting is also expected to address a series of clashes between cattle herders and farmers in relation to killings and kidnappings in the six Southwest states.

Genesis

One of the major challenges facing Nigerians is insecurity and in Southwest Nigeria, there have been re-occurring cases of killings and kidnappings for ransom on highways and farmlands.

Many victims who regained their freedom after abduction have also in the past alleged Fulani herders as the perpetrators of their predicament.

While some have narrated sorrowful tales and their experiences with the abductors, there are many others who did not return home alive to speak on their ordeals.

One of the prominent Nigerians who shared his tales in captivity is Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government, who was abducted by armed herders in his farm located in Akure, the capital of Ondo state.

He did not regain his freedom despite efforts by police to rescue him until he paid N5 million ransom.

Unlike Mr Falae who lived to share his experience, Olufunke Olakurin, a daughter of the Afenifere leader, Reuben Fasoranti, could not. She was killed on her way to Lagos by suspected herdsmen along Ore road in Ondo State.

Following the attestation of the failure of the current security system at bringing about the needed safety of lives and property as contained in. Chapter II, Section 14(2b) of the Nigerian Constitution, south-west governors launched a security outfit to tackle the problem of insecurity within the region.

Amotekun and what comes after

The primary responsibility of the government is to ensure the security and welfare of citizens, hence, the six states were convinced that with the creation of Operation Amotekun, the unending terror from suspected herders would be contained.

While Amotekun operatives are working hard to curb insecurity, many individuals are still being abducted and killed either on the highways or in the forests.

As the matter gets worse daily, it threatens the unity of Nigeria and shows that there is an urgent need to examine and work on the security architecture of the country.

But as efforts to tackle the menace continue, two states governors, Messrs Akeredolu and Makinde expressed different positions on the security of citizens of their states.

Akeredolus comments

Last Monday, Mr Akeredolu echoed the opinions of the residents of Ondo State by issuing a seven-day ultimatum on herders to vacate all forest reserves in the state.

He argued that the quit notice was to help expose criminals using the forests as a hideout to perpetrate killings and kidnappings.

We have taken major steps at addressing the root cause of kidnapping, in particular, and other nefarious activities detailed and documented in security reports, the press and debriefings from victims of kidnap cases in Ondo State.

These unfortunate incidents are traceable to the activities of some bad elements masquerading as herdsmen. These felons have turned our forest reserves into hideouts for keeping victims of kidnapping, negotiating for ransom and carrying out other criminal activities.

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As the Chief Law and Security Officer of the State, it is my constitutional obligation to do everything lawful to protect the lives and property of all residents of the State, Mr Akeredolu said then.

But in a swift response, the presidency in a statement signed by Garba Shehu, the special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, tackled Mr Akeredolu.

Mr Shehu said Mr Akeredolu will be the least expected to unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals.

Makinde opposes Akeredolu

Unlike Mr Akeredolu, governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, said herders in any state have the constitutional right to live in any part of the country. He maintained that issuance of ultimatum on herders to vacate any place is an assault on them.

We cannot overlook the fact that there have indeed been instances that cause concern. The fragile peace between the herdsmen and farmers in Oke-Ogun is being threatened, he said.

Individuals who are not authorised are going around chasing people from their homes and causing mayhem. This assault on residents of Oyo state is not the way to further the Yoruba cause.

Let me state that we shall not sit back and watch anyone make any law-abiding resident of Oyo State feel unsafe in their homes, farms, or business places. We are aware of some people circulating flyers and giving people ultimatums to leave their land. This is totally unacceptable and will not be condoned.

Who is correct between the two governors?

The comments by the two governors have triggered controversies on social media. While some persons claimed that Mr Akeredolu has the constitutional power to issue quit notice to anyone in the state, others claimed that the Ondo State governor was wrong.

Many Nigerians also threw their weight behind Mr Makinde for opposing Mr Akeredolu. Those who subscribed to Mr Makindes position argued that section 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.

Others said there could be a derogation to these rights in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality or public health or for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons as provided by Section 45 of the constitution.

A Lagos based lawyer, Ademola Owolabi told PREMIUM TIMES that the right of Nigerians to live anywhere is constitutional but must also respect the right of those owning the areas.

First, the right of Nigerians to live anywhere is constitutional but must respect the right of those owning the areas and secondly, that right is subject to either leasing or buying or lawful occupation. No one can go to Kano and move into the Emirs Palace. That will be criminal trespass. The forest reserve is not available for Nigerians to occupy except as permitted by the Ondo State Government.

Thirdly, the Federal Government should rethink its sickening support for brigandage visited on other Nigerians and the traumas of herdsmen incursion and violence. It is not right that the complaints of Nigerians from Zamfara to Enugu, Benue, Oyo and everywhere is treated with such dismissive posturing by the federal government, he noted.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, a legal practitioner, Festus Ogun said the Court of Appeal in Kalu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria ruled that the rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement, guaranteed respectively by Sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution, are not absolute.

The court held that the right to freedom of movement may be deprived under a law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society imposing restrictions. Therefore, no argument of constitutional or human rights breach can be maintained.

More reactions

Another lawyer, Akintayo Shittu, noted that Section 1 of the Land Use Act, 1978, entrusted and administered the use of land for the benefit of citizens on the governor of the state.

He explained that the act in Section 12 also gives the governor the power to grant licence or permits to anyone entering or using a land.

Apart from granting licence to users, Mr Akeredolu has the power according to the act in section 12(5) to cancel any such licence if it fails to comply with the conditions of the licence.

The lawyer also said the Forestry Law of Western State and National Forestry Policy, 2006 forbids using of forest reserve without obtaining permit from the state government.

The forest reserves belong to state government and it right for any government to forbid encroachers. No reasonable governor would allow criminals use the place as a hideout. Since the aim of the governor was to secure lives and properties, it is correct.
Adaptrack & Olive Helps Partnership We are thrilled to bring Adaptracks personalized risk management, continuing medical education, and insights to the healthcare worker  so day-to-day blindspots can be addressed before they become costly risks.

Adaptrack (adaptrack.com) today announced a new partnership with Olive (oliveai.com) and their cybernetics division, Olive Helps (olivehelps.com). This partnership enables current and future health systems using Olive Helps to realize smarter risk management and greater ROI using Adaptracks turnkey behavioral nudges, custom insights and personalized rewards (https://adaptrack.com/partners/olive-helps).

Olive Helps commitment to supercharging healthcare teams is inspiring for the industry and for Adaptrack as a partner. We are thrilled to bring Adaptracks personalized risk management, continuing medical education, and insights to the healthcare worker  so day-to-day blindspots can be addressed before they become costly risks, says Niraj Swami, CEO of Adaptrack. Adaptracks nudge platform interweaves seamlessly with Olive Helps and we look forward to building solutions that drive value to healthcare workers in 2021 and beyond.

Mike Biselli, VP of Partnerships at Olive, stated "Olive Helps fill a crucial gap in the healthcare industry for a digital sidekick - one that enables healthcare workers to lighten their workload by delivering real-time intelligence to give them superhuman powers. The key to the success of Olive's new platform is pooling the intelligence and innovation of the healthcare industry through strategic partnerships!

With Olive Helps, everyone wins - our hospitals and health systems significantly improve workplace efficiencies and patient safety, our Loop developers expedite go-to-market engagement opportunity, and Olive gets to build the internet of healthcare alongside the movers and shakers of the healthcare industry we partner with!

Today's healthcare workers battle unprecedented workloads & digital fatigue. Olive is honored to partner with Adaptrack to help realize their mission to empower physicians and their teams to work and live better."

The benefits of this new partnership include:



A turnkey balance Loop that mitigates workplace fatigue and risky personal habits with meaningful nudges, such as meditations, desk exercises and motivational messages. Eligible providers also accrue continuing medical education credits.

A no/low code platform for health system leaders to push Adaptracks engaging risk management and incentive nudges to their employees real-time, via Olive Helps.

Access to Adaptracks risk intelligence services that unlock deeper liability discounts and lower continuing medical education spend for Olive Helps customers.

Sean Lane, CEO at Olive, added Im extremely excited to announce our newest platform: Olive Helps. This platform works hand-in-hand with human workers, using cybernetics to provide real-time intelligence while they're handling their most critical tasks. We know that Olive Helps increases efficiency, reduces errors, and ultimately increases the ROI of our human workforce.

About Adaptrack: Adaptrack is a ridiculously simple platform for todays healthcare workforce to avoid costly risks, while earning liability premium discounts and Continuing Medical Education credits. Enabled by Adaptracks proprietary AI-powered personalized nudges, healthcare providers and practice teams can track, learn from and adapt to evolving risks to reputation, performance, clinical practice and personal wellbeing from any device and hands-free (100% voice). Adaptrack, a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, is dedicated to helping providers and their teams work and live better. For more information, visit adaptrack.com. Follow @adaptrack on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn.

About Olive: Olive's AI workforce is built to fix our broken healthcare system by addressing healthcare's most burdensome issues -- delivering hospitals and health systems increased revenue, reduced costs, and increased capacity. People feel lost in the system today and healthcare employees are essentially working in the dark due to outdated technology that creates a lack of shared knowledge and siloed data. Olive is designed to drive connections, shining a new light on the broken healthcare processes that stand between providers and patient care. She uses AI to reveal life-changing insights that make healthcare more efficient, affordable and effective. Olive's vision is to unleash a trillion dollars of hidden potential within healthcare by connecting its disconnected systems. Olive is improving healthcare operations today, so everyone can benefit from a healthier industry tomorrow. Follow @oliveai__ on Twitter, Instagram, & LinkedIn
For weeks, union leaders have been saying CPS has shut them out of the process of forging a reopening plan. Yet CPS spokesman Emily Bolton says the district has had more than 60 negotiating sessions with CTU leaders about a safe reopening of schools. The union says reopening schools would be safe only when Chicago achieves a citywide positivity rate of 3% or less. In reality, it would be hard to find any public health official at the federal, state or local level who has ever suggested that standard.
Its such a dirty five letter word, anger. There it is written and even muttered, an ever common emotion, that can go from annoyance into a fit of rage. Crazy? Not at all. Anger is completely normal and is a healthy human emotion that we try to hide beneath the undercurrent of passivity.

We know that anger can be created by external influences such as bad memories, relationships, arguments, disappointments, shame, or betrayal. It can be set off in some people at any given moment slithering in ways through the conscious and subconscious mind. Dealing with anger is necessary to remain healthy. Researchers have found that not venting can damage your health and create other problems for relationships, and can lead to destructive behavior. It is an emotion that no one wants to chat about or express, even in a healthy manner. Psychology Today shared that Anger is the result of beliefs that lead you to place unreasonable demands on circumstances, such as, life must be fair. Unfairness exists. The belief that you are entitled to fairness results from the mistaken idea that you are special."

What is the reason for this thinking? We may have to go back years ago, where children were taught not to express the feeling, especially girls. This was not a proper attribute for a lady and not very attractive. They were told that you were bad for feeling that way, even when there were injustices. This leads to stuffing emotions to the point when they reach adulthood they hide it or become passive aggressive. Unexpressed anger can create other problems. It can lead to pathological expressions of anger, such as passive-aggressive behavior (getting back at people indirectly, without telling them why, rather than confronting them head-on) or a personality that seems perpetually cynical and hostile. People who are constantly putting others down, criticizing everything, and making cynical comments haven't learned how to constructively express their anger. Not surprisingly, they aren't likely to have many successful relationships, The American Psychological Association cited.

Admit youre angry and accept that bad things happen. Not dealing with it, could be detrimental.

Stuffing emotions are bad for us, something we do to avoid pain or confrontation. When we don't express anger it can come out in other ways like depression, isolation, overeating and not eating. This pattern can be hard to break on your own and enlisting a therapist can help you deal with deep rooted and unexpressed anger. Scientists at the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University found. Anger can sometimes be adaptive. We are showing for the first time that when you are in a situation that is maddening and in which anger or indignation are justifiable responses, anger is not bad for you, lead researcher Jennifer Lerner said. Fear and anger can trigger different responses from different parts of our brain. Admit youre angry and accept that bad things happen. What you can do is get rid of old ideas of what anger is. One thing people fear is the consequences of anger. Ask yourself the following questions Psych Central recommended: Is it true that whenever you express your feelings that this leads to a fight? How do you know with certainty that it will lead to a fight? What alternative outcomes might be possible? Has there ever been an instance where you did express your feelings and nothing bad happened? You heard about counting to 10? Doing so will slow down blood pressure, breathing, and keep you from making a big mistake, like flipping someone off for cutting you off in traffic.Look at forgiving, and letting these small aggravations go. Walk away if needed. Forgiving will help you from playing the same scenario over in your head! Also, forgiving is shown to be healthy. Holding in your emotions can cost your life by sending fight-or-flight chemicals. The stomach, digestive system and the cardiovascular system are compromised. This can also trigger hives, migraines, overall pains, and anxiety.

Have you heard of cognitive restructuring? The APA explained that it means changing the way you think and changing your language in order to allow logic into play. Logic meaning, stuff happens and it is not the end of the world. Watch your words. Be careful of words like "never" or "always" when talking about yourself or someone else, or This !&*%@ machine never works," or "you're always forgetting things" are not just inaccurate, they also serve to make you feel that your anger is justified and that there's no way to solve the problem. They also alienate and humiliate people who might otherwise be willing to work with you on a solution. Allow a change in mindset to happen, and take place to live in the present. Everything will take time, but having more tools at hand will make dealing with emotions a lot better. Exercising helps deal with anger as well. Go for a run or walk, when anger is brimming to the point where it can have lasting damage. If this doesnt work distract yourself with a game or puzzle to bring down emotions.

Katherine Kueny, PhD, director of behavioral medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha told clients to also read, cook, or take a deep breath before engaging in any interactions or problem solving as reported by Health.com. Reacting is based on emotions. It's almost automatic. Our emotions feel very real but they're not always rationale, said Kueny. When we respond we're choosing how to respond and were cognitively thinking through what we want to have happen and what the best way is to make that happen. Jotting thoughts down will allow you to slow down, and we will take it. Although these suggestions are not a magic potion to an anger free life, they are pretty practical and universal. You can feel empowered when youre angry, and learn not be a victim anymore. Next thing you know, the word anger will come out more naturally, without shame or disdain. How do you cope with anger? Share with us ways that work for you.
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The government is making continuous efforts to resume mining in a systematic manner, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said on Monday, in his inaugural address to the state Legislative Assembly during the winter session.

"My government is continuously making efforts to resume mining in a systematic manner by rejuvenating the state's economy, preserving the environment, the natural resources, the health status of the people in the mining sector with the main vision to ensure 'sustainable mining' in the state of Goa," Koshyari said in his speech.

The mining issue has been hanging fire in Goa, ever since the apex court in 2018, citing irregularities in the processes adopted by the state government to renew 88 mining leases, scrapped the leases rendering them invalid.

As a result of the order all fresh ore extraction activity has stopped, bringing the industry to a standstill.

The state's mining sector accounted for nearly 16 per cent of Goa's Gross Domestic Product in 2011-12, but the contribution slipped to only 0.2 per cent in 2019-20, due to the virtual non functioning of the industry in wake of the fresh stoppage.

As a result of the order all fresh ore extraction activity has stopped, bringing the industry to a standstill. The only revenues generated by the in the period between 2018 and 2021 is via e-auctioning of iron ore already extracted and dumped at respective mining leases.

"My government has conducted 24 e-auctions and sold 14.68 million tons of mineral ore lying at various stack yards," Koshyari also said.

The stoppage in 2018 is the second time in less than a decade, that all mining in the state has come to a standstill. It was banned for the first time in 2012 after a judicial commission exposed a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, indicting top mining companies as well as politicians and bureaucrats.

--IANS

maya/dpb

(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.)
Ice is disappearing across the planet at an increasing rate, according to research which shows 28 trillion tonnes was lost between 1994 and 2017.

Scientists found that the rate of melting had accelerated from 0.8 trillion tons per year in the 1990s to 1.3 trillion tonnes by 2017.

The total lost over that period is the equivalent of a sheet of ice 100m thick covering the whole of the UK.

It has contributed as much as 3.5cm to global sea levels during that time, increasing the risk of flooding in coastal communities and threatening to wipe out precarious habitats.

The increase in ice loss has been triggered by global warming, with more than two-thirds of the total driven by rising atmospheric temperatures (0.26C per decade since the 1980s) and 32 per cent by rising ocean temperatures (0.12C per decade).

According to the study  the first survey of global ice loss using satellite data  there has been a 65 per cent increase in the rate of ice loss over the 23-year period, mainly driven by steep rises in losses from the polar ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.

Although every region we studied lost ice, losses from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have accelerated the most, said lead author Dr Thomas Slater, a research fellow at Leeds Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling.

The ice sheets are now following the worst-case climate warming scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Sea-level rise on this scale will have very serious impacts on coastal communities this century.

The survey covered 215,000 mountain glaciers spread around the planet, the polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, the ice shelves floating around Antarctica, and sea ice drifting in the Arctic and Southern Oceans.

The biggest losses were from Arctic sea ice (7.6 trillion tonnes) and Antarctic ice shelves (6.5 trillion tonnes), both of which float on the polar oceans.

Half of all losses were from ice on land  including 6.1 trillion tonnes from mountain glaciers, 3.8 trillion tonnes from the Greenland ice sheet, and 2.5 trillion tonnes from the Antarctic ice sheet. These losses have raised global sea levels by 35mm, and it is estimated that around 1 million people are in danger of being displaced for every centimetre of sea-level rise.

Dr Isobel Lawrence, a research fellow at Leeds Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, said: One of the key roles of Arctic sea ice is to reflect solar radiation back into space which helps keep the Arctic cool. As the sea ice shrinks, more solar energy is being absorbed by the oceans and atmosphere, causing the Arctic to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet.

Not only is this speeding up sea ice melt, its also exacerbating the melting of glaciers and ice sheets which causes sea levels to rise.

Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures California In this decade, humans have become ever more aware of climate change. Calls for leaders to act echo around the globe as the signs of a changing climate become ever more difficult to ignore Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Athens, Greece Fierce wildfires have flared up in numerous countries. The damage being caused is unprecedented: 103 people were killed in wildfires last year in California, one of the places best prepared, best equipped to fight such blazes in the world AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Redding, California Entire towns have been razed. The towns of Redding and Paradise in California were all but eliminated in the 2018 season AP Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Athens, Greece While wildfires in Greece (pictured), Australia, Indonesia and many other countries have wrought chaos to infrastructure, economies and cost lives AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Carlisle, England In Britain, flooding has become commonplace. Extreme downpours in Carlisle in the winter of 2015 saw the previous record flood level being eclipsed by two feet AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Hebden Bridge, England Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire has flooded repeatedly in the past decade, with the worst coming on Christmas Day 2015. Toby Smith of Climate Visuals, an organisation focused on improving how climate change is depicted in the media, says: "Extreme weather and flooding, has and will become more frequent due to climate change. An increase in the severity and distribution of press images, reports and media coverage across the nation has localised the issue. It has raised our emotions, perception and personalised the effects and hazards of climate change." Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Somerset, England Out west in Somerset, floods in 2013 led to entire villages being cut off and isolated for weeks Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Dumfries, Scotland "In summer 2012, intense rain flooded over 8000 properties. In 2013, storms and coastal surges combined catastrophically with elevated sea levels whilst December 2015, was the wettest month ever recorded. Major flooding events continued through the decade with the UK government declaring flooding as one of the nation's major threats in 2017," says Mr Smith of Climate Visuals Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Weather has been more extreme in Britain in recent years. The 'Beast from the East' which arrived in February 2018 brought extraordinarily cold temperatures and high snowfall. Central London (pictured), where the city bustle tends to mean that snow doesn't even settle, was covered in inches of snow for day PA Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Months after the cold snap, a heatwave struck Britain, rendering the normally plush green of England's parks in Summer a parched brown for weeks AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures New South Wales, Australia Worsening droughts in many countries have been disastrous for crop yields and have threatened livestock. In Australia, where a brutal drought persisted for months last year, farmers have suffered from mental health problems because of the threat to their livelihood Reuters Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Tonle Sap, Cambodia Even dedicated climate skeptic Jeremy Clarkson has come to recognise the threat of climate change after visiting the Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. Over a million people rely on the water of Tonle Sap for work and sustinence but, as Mr Clarkson witnessed, a drought has severley depleted the water level Carlo Frem/Amazon Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Addis Ababa, Ethiopia In reaction to these harbingers of climate obliteration, some humans have taken measures to counter the impending disaster. Ethiopia recently planted a reported 350 million trees in a single day AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Morocco Morocco has undertaken the most ambitious solar power scheme in the world, recently completing a solar plant the size of San Francisco AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures London, England Electric cars are taking off as a viable alternative to fossil fuel burning vehicles and major cities across the world are adding charging points to accomodate AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Purmerend, The Netherlands Cities around the world are embracing cycling too, as a clean (and healthy) mode of transport. The Netherlands continues to lead the way with bikes far outnumbering people Jeroen Much/Andras Schuh Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Xiamen, China Cycling infrastructure is taking over cities the world over, in the hope of reducing society's dependency on polluting vehicles Ma Weiwei Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Chennai, India Despite positive steps being taken, humans continue to have a wildly adverse effect on the climate. There have been numerous major oil spills this decade, the most notable being the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures Amazon rainforest, Brazil More recently, large swathes of the Amazon rainforest were set alight by people to clear land for agriculture AFP/Getty Climate change: Decade's defining issue in pictures California This decade may have seen horrors but it has led to an understanding that the next decade must see change if human life is to continue Getty

Glaciers have contributed to almost one-quarter of the global ice losses over the study period, despite storing only 1 per cent of the Earths total ice volume.

Report co-author and PhD researcher Ines Otosaka said: As well as contributing to global mean sea-level rise, mountain glaciers are also critical as a freshwater resource for local communities.

The retreat of glaciers around the world is therefore of crucial importance at both local and global scales.

The research, led by the University of Leeds with assistance from the University of Edinburgh, University College London and data science specialists Earthwave, was funded by UK Natural Environment Research Council and is published in European Geosciences Unions journal The Cryosphere. A preprint of the research was published last August.
BLOOMFIELD  A Connecticut resident most known for his portrayal of Captain Kangaroo in the shows 1997 revival died in his home on Thursday.

According to his obituary, John Edward McDonough died in his Bloomfield home on Jan. 21, his 67th birthday.

The obituary said McDonough was born in Hartford and went to Northwest Catholic High School. During that time, it said, he played Puck in Midsummer Nights Dream and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.

He went on to perform at the College of Holy Cross under Ken Happe while majoring in English literature, the obituary said. In his junior year, he studied in Ireland at University College Dublin, staying in a working mans Rooming House which became the source for many stories later on.

The obituary said McDonough continued to be involved in theater after graduating, including being a member of the Hartford Stage Company and co-founder of Company One Theater.

A marvelous Storyteller, with a rich voice, he was featured as the Narrator in concerts with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, it said. He was a frequent guest of Garrison Keillers Prairie Home Companion. 

The obituary said McDonough was chosen to play Captain Kangaroo in The All New Captain Kangaroo after producers held a nationwide search for the title character. It noted he also appeared in several of the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parades as the Captain.

McDonough is survived by his brother and sister, nieces and nephews as well as several grandnieces and nephews.

The obituary said a private live streaming Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Timothys Church in West Hartford, followed by burial in Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield. It said a celebration of his life would take place at a later date, most likely in the fall.
The government has invited bids to privatise (NINL), seeking to divest 93.7 per cent stake held by four central public sector enterprises and two Odisha government-owned

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had in January 2020 given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of equity shareholding of MMTC, NMDC, MECON, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL) and Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) in Neelachal Ispat Nigam to a strategic buyer. MMTC owns 49.78 per cent, and NMDC owns 10.10 per cent in NINL, while MECON and BHEL hold 0.68 per cent each. IPICOL and OMC own 12 per cent and 20.47 per cent, respectively. The remaining stake is held by government-owned banks and insurance

The divestment receipts would go to state-owned companies, and not to the government.

Interested bidders can submit their expression of interest by March 29. NINL was incorporated in 1982 to set-up an integrated steel plant to undertake manufacturing and sale of steel products. NINL has a 1.1 million tonne per annum steel manufacturing unit which produces pig iron and billets. The company reported net sales of 801 crore in Arpil-Dec 2019, and a loss of 826 crore.

The interested bidders should have a minimum net worth of Rs 2,000 crore. Any entity permitted to invest in India can submit an EOI either independently or as a consortium member. Government-owned are not eligible to participate in the transaction. Employees can participate in the bidding process through a consortium considering the net worth criteria is met.

Through the strategic disinvestment, management and control of NINL will be transferred to a new buyer that will include purchase of shares and infusion of funds into NINL that will be used to repay existing debt of the company. Debt repayment will be detailed in the Request For Proposal stage.

Once shortlisted based on criteria, the bidders would be quote on an enterprise value of NINL. The amount payable by successful bidder would be used for settlement of labour dues, operational creditors, commercial lender debt, promoter debt and purchase of 93.71% of shareholding of NINL through a predetermined waterfall mechanism.
25 January 2021

Karelian Diamond Resources plc

("Karelian Diamonds" or the "Company")

Notice of extraordinary general meeting to maintain electronic trading in the Company's shares post Brexit

Karelian Diamond Resources plc (AIM: KDR), the diamond exploration and development company focused on Finland, announces that it has convened an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held at Unit 3300 Lake Drive, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, D24 TD21, Ireland on 17 February 2021 at 12.00 noon (the "EGM").

The business of the EGM will be to consider and, if thought fit, approve certain resolutions which are necessary to effect a technical change to how, and where, the electronic settlement of trading in the Company's shares occurs. Settlement is the process that occurs following a trade in the Company's shares when payment is made and ownership of the shares transfers. This change is a consequence of the end of the transition period following the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union ("Brexit") and will not alter where the Company's shares are listed or traded.

Background to the EGM

As a consequence of Brexit, the settlement system relating to trading in the Company's shares needs to move from CREST in London to Euroclear Bank in Belgium ("Migration"). Migration is expected to occur on 15 March 2021. However, if the resolutions proposed for the EGM are passed, the Company's shares will continue to be traded on the AIM market in London.

There is no meaningful alternative to Migration and failure to migrate would remove the Company's access to electronic trade settlement. This would seriously risk the Company's ability to retain admission of its shares to trading on AIM and, importantly, a market for its ordinary shares. Therefore, the board is asking all shareholders to support the resolutions proposed for he EGM by voting in favour of all the resolutions being proposed at the EGM or appointing a proxy to do so on their behalf.

A circular, which includes the notice of the EGM (the "Circular"), and a form of proxy will be posted to shareholders later today. The Board strongly urges shareholders to review the contents of the Circular in their entirety, including the documents referred to therein, and consider the Board's recommendation to vote in favour of the resolutions being proposed at the EGM.

In economic terms, shareholders' interest in their shares is largely unaffected by Migration but there are some technical changes to how their interest is held and therefore shareholders are recommended to read the Circular.

The Circular, the form of proxy and copies of the documents referred to in the Circular will be available to view shortly on the Company's website, www.kareliandiamondresources.com and will be available for inspection during normal business hours on any business day from the date of the Notice of EGM until the EGM at the registered office of the Company at Unit 3300 Lake Drive, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, D24 TD21, Ireland.

Public Health Guidelines and the EGM

The well-being of shareholders and employees is a primary concern for the Board. The Board is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and will take all recommendations and applicable law into account in the conduct of the EGM. Based on the latest available guidance from the Health Service Executive ("HSE") in Ireland the Board expects the EGM to proceed on 17 February 2021 but under very constrained circumstances.

In line with the measures advised by the HSE and Irish Government recommendations on public gatherings, we have put in place a number of measures to minimise the risk of spreading the Coronavirus (Covid-19) at the EGM and we encourage all Shareholders, on this occasion, to complete and return their Forms of Proxy as soon as possible to ensure their vote is registered at the EGM and to minimise the need to attend in these unprecedented circumstances. In light of the unprecedented circumstances arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Board would ask that Shareholders refrain from physical attendance at the EGM.

Given the severity of the circumstances and the health risks involved, the Directors will take all appropriate safety measures to ensure the safety of any attendees and others involved in the EGM, including restricting attendance at the EGM, should it be deemed necessary or desirable.

Proxy voting can be carried out in advance of the EGM by completing the form of proxy to the Company's Registrar, Link Registrars Limited at P.O. Box 1110, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland (if delivered by post) or Link Registrars Limited, Block C, Maynooth Business Campus, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, W23 F854, Ireland (if delivered by hand during normal business hours). To be valid, Forms of Proxy, and any authority under which they are signed, must be lodged not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for the holding of the meeting.

For further instructions on proxy voting, shareholders should read carefully the form of Proxy and the notes to the Notice of EGM.

Any relevant updates regarding the EGM, including any changes to the arrangements outlined in the Circular, will be announced via a Regulatory Information Service and will be available on www.kareliandiamondresources.com.

In the event that it is not possible to hold the EGM either in compliance with public health guidelines or applicable law or where it is otherwise considered that proceeding with the EGM as planned poses an unacceptable health and safety risk, the EGM may be adjourned or postponed or relocated to a different time and/or venue, in which case notification of such adjournment or postponement or relocation will be given in accordance with applicable law.

Shareholders may submit questions relating to the business of the meeting in advance (so as to be received no later than 12:00 noon on 15 February 2021) by email to kdr-egm@kareliandiamondresources.com. Questions submitted using this method will be posted in a statement on the Company's website.

For further information please contact :

Karelian Diamond Resources plc Tel: +353-1-479-6180 Professor Richard Conroy, Chairman

Allenby Capital Limited(Nomad) Tel: +44-20-3328-5656 Nick Athanas/Nick Harriss Brandon Hill Capital Limited (Joint Broker)

Tel: +44-20-3463-5000 Jonathan Evans Lothbury Financial Services

Tel: +44-20-3290-0707 Michael Padley Hall Communications Tel: +353-1-660-9377 Don Hall

Visit the website at:www.kareliandiamondresources.com
EDWARDSVILLE  Two men this week pleaded guilty to federal charges related to bank fraud in Edwardsville in March.

Elvin Lugo-Cales, 47, of Orlando, Florida, and Johnny Collado, 30, of Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, on March 2, 2020, Lugo-Cales and Collado traveled from New York to St. Louis for the sole purpose of defrauding banks in the St. Louis metro region. On March 5, they drove to a U.S. Bank location in Edwardsville where Collado waited in the car while Lugo-Cales went into the bank.

Inside, Lugo-Cales presented a fake United States passport bearing his photograph but someone elses name and tried to cash a counterfeit check in the amount of $3,650 made payable to that other person. Fortunately, the bank teller recognized the check was counterfeit, refused to conduct the transaction and called the police.

Lugo-Cales left the bank and drove away with Collado, leaving the counterfeit check and false passport with his picture on it with the teller. The two men were stopped by police and taken into custody a short time later.

At the time of his arrest, Collado possessed and attempted to conceal numerous items used to perpetrate the fraud scheme, including over $20,000 cash, numerous blank counterfeit checks, a counterfeit Oregon drivers license, and a false United States passport card.

Sentencing hearings for the two men will be held April 27 at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Benton. Lugo-Cales and Collado face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million on each of their fraud charges. Their aggravated identity theft charges carry a mandatory sentence of two years of imprisonment, which must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed.

The investigation was conducted by the Edwardsville Police Department and United States Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Luke J. Weissler.
NEW YORK (AP)  A Central New York native accused of dragging a police officer down steps to be beaten by an American flag outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was ordered held without bail Friday after a prosecutor said the man afterward tried to flee to Switzerland and commit suicide.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause, based in White Plains, said during an electronic hearing that he found the alleged actions by Jeffrey Sabol, a 51-year-old born in Utica, New York, beyond the pale and it is troubling to a degree that is really ... shocking.

Krause said the allegations were very disturbing, deeply troubling and that Sabol needed to remain behind bars as a danger to the community and a risk to flee. Sabol, who worked in Colorado as a geophysicist, was arrested Friday morning at the Westchester Medical Center.

What we see is Mr. Sabol, part of a group of people dragging a law enforcement officer down the steps of a building at the Capitol, where that officer has been repeatedly assaulted by a number of people, apparently including Mr. Sabol, Krause said.

The judge said he also saw video footage that showed Sabol going back up the stairs after the first officer was dragged down to possibly look for someone else to bring down those stairs into the teeth of that mob that was at the Capitol that day.

Important hashtags to know https://t.co/o7uyOmZhMF  Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) January 23, 2021

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Gianforti said Sabol identified himself to law enforcement authorities as the black-gloved man in the video wearing a brown or tan jacket, a black or gray helmet and a green backpack.

We see the defendant dragging a police officer down a set of stairs just outside the Capitol, Gianforti said. This allows another man, whos standing nearby, to beat that police officer with an American flag ironically, as the officer is being dragged down the stairs.

The prosecutor said other images show the defendant holding a police baton across a police officers neck, and we have reason to believe he may have assaulted another police officer to procure that baton.

Gianforti said Sabol had offered investigators self-serving statements saying he was trying to protect the officer but had also admitted to being in a fit of rage that day and that the details of the day were quote, cloudy.

Gianforti noted the video evidence and said: I would just submit that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Note: Video contains potentially disturbing content.

Terrorist beats an officer with an American Flagpic.twitter.com/HVNa0i9E9O  Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) January 11, 2021

After the attack, the prosecutor said, Sabol booked a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland, where he would not be able to be extradited to the U.S.

Sabols lawyer, Jason Ser, argued for his clients release on $200,000 bail, saying the man had steady employment for decades  Ser said Sabols job, in which he supervises other employees and contractors, involves removing unexploded ordnance from testing grounds for the military  and the support of family that includes a longtime girlfriend, an ex-wife, three children and parents.

He said video of the actions by his client were not as clear cut as they had been described by a prosecutor and noted that Sabol was currently charged only with civil disobedience charges that carry a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison.

He said his client was coherent, stable and cooperative with federal law enforcement authorities after he underwent treatment at a psychiatric facility for a week and spent several days at the Westchester Medical Center.

Both the judge and the prosecutor referenced Sabols suicide attempts in the wake of the attack, though Ser told pretrial services his client was no longer suicidal.

Im sorry for what Mr. Sabol has been through since he left the Capitol but I think, your honor, that his suicide attempts can be taken as consciousness of guilt and in some respect really the ultimate flight attempt, Gianforti said. This is a man who just cant face the fact that he is facing a felony charge because of his actions on Jan. 6.

56 Trump supporters storm U.S. Capitol

Note: An earlier version of this story referred to the image of Jeffrey Sabol as a video still. The photo caption has been updated.

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Four years ago, when Shah Rukh Khan's action-drama Raees hit the theatres, the film found itself in hot water owing to the sour relations between Pakistan and India. Artists from Pakistan were banned in India following the Uri attack in Kashmir. Consequently, Mahira Khan did not get to promote her Bollywood debut film in India. As the film completes four year today, we bring to you her interview, wherein she had admitted that she was heartbroken about not being able to sit in the interviews with Shah Rukh Khan.

ALSO READ: Here's Why Deepika Padukone And John Abraham Won't Join Shah Rukh Khan In Pathan's November Schedule

While speaking to Dawn, Mahira had said, "I was coming here (Pakistan) and the new song is out. Everyone was sending messages and I had tears rolling down in the car. Again. For the tenth time! And my hairstylist sent me a message saying 'I think we should always say goodbye with tears because we always meet again when we do that.'"

Mahira further said, "I don't want to romanticize things but by the end of the two years we had people crying saying goodbye. And I am so indebted to all of them, especially my director Rahul Dholakia and the producer Ritesh Sidhwani, who have stood by me all through these two years, even at the worst of times."

"I also want to promote the film. I also want to be in an interview with Shah Rukh Khan talking about it. Why not? Why is it I get told that that's asking for too much? It isn't! It is my right. This was also my film," Mahira had spoken her heart out.

In the same interview, Mahira said that she was also heartbroken because Pakistan refused to release Raees after raising questions over its content. On this, Mahira had said that she wanted her country to watch Raees.

Directed by Rahul Dholakia, Raees also features Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in key roles.

ALSO READ: Kartik Aaryan's Role In Dhamaka Was Earlier Offered To Kriti Sanon; Film Was To Be Directed By Rahul Dholakia
US President spoke to his French counterpart over the phone on Sunday and agreed to work together on shared foreign policy priorities, including China, the Middle East, Russia, and the Sahel.

During the phone call, President Biden also stressed his commitment to bolstering the transatlantic relationship, including through NATO and the United States' partnership with the European Union.

According to White House's readout, the two leaders agreed on the need for close coordination, including through multilateral organizations, in tackling common challenges such as climate change, COVID-19, and the global economic recovery.

"President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President of to express his desire to strengthen bilateral ties with our oldest ally. President Biden also stressed his commitment to bolstering the transatlantic relationship, including through NATO and the United States' partnership with the European Union," the statement read

"The leaders agreed on the need for close coordination, including through multilateral organizations, in tackling common challenges such as climate change, COVID-19, and the global economic recovery. They also agreed to work together on shared foreign policy priorities, including China, the Middle East, Russia, and the Sahel," it 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.)
SAVONA, JAN 25 - Italian police on Monday arrested three female care home staff near Savona in northwestern Italy on suspicion of mistreating their elderly clients. The three operators, aged 48,58 and 64, are suspected of pushing and shoving, shaking, slapping and threatening their charges, police said. The allged mistreatment took place at the La Villa Care Home at Varazze. Police said the accused staff members carried on physically abusing residents despite the latters' weeping, pleas to stop and cries of pain. The probe lasted several months, during which police found numerous episodes of physical and verbal violence, judicial sources said. The staff member are also accused of ignoring their clients' calls for service and treatment. Police said the suspects threatened to tie clients to their beds and not to feed them if they disturbed them. "The conduct with which the arrestees are charged is of absolute gravity and harshness," said the local police command. The three women also took advantage of the frailty and vulnerability of their clients, police said. Police searched the homes of the suspects in Savona, Varazze and Genoa looking for clinical records and other information. La Villa's supervisor, Michele Assandri, said the arrests were a "bolt from the blue" and said "we had no inkling of what was going on". (ANSA).
Dutch police have clashed with protesters demonstrating against the countrys lockdown in Amsterdam and the southern city of Eindhoven, a day after rioting youths torched a coronavirus testing centre in a fishing village.

In Amsterdam, police used a water cannon to disperse protesters taking part in a banned demonstration in a major square ringed by museums. Video images showed the water cannon spraying people grouped against a wall of the Van Gogh Museum.

Police in Eindhoven used a water cannon and tear gas against a crowd of hundreds of demonstrators that also included supporters of the anti-immigrant group Pegida.

Eindhoven police said they made at least 30 arrests and warned people to stay away from the city centre. There were no immediate reports of injuries. It was the second Sunday in a row that police had clashed with protesters in Amsterdam angry at the countrys lockdown.

The unrest followed a night of rioting in the fishing village of Urk on the first night of a curfew imposed by the Dutch government to rein in the spread of the more transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Police said yesterday that they had fined more than 3,600 people nationwide for breaching the curfew that ran from 9pm on Saturday until 4.30am yesterday, and arrested 25 people for breaching the curfew or for violence.

Video from Urk, 80km north-east of Amsterdam, showed youths breaking into the coronavirus testing facility near the villages harbour before it was set alight on Saturday night.

The police and municipality issued a statement yesterday expressing their anger at rioting, from throwing fireworks and stones to destroying police cars and with the torching of the test location.

This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test centre to help people from Urk, the local authorities said.

They added that the curfew would be strictly enforced for the rest of the week.
On Monday morning, the Horesca president Alain Rix gave an interview for RTL Radio about the existential challenges to the sector.

"It's a catastrophe", president Rix proclaimed at the start of the interview. Bars and restaurants have now been shut for almost six months. Reserves have dried up, and even though the government assistance helps businesses, it is still insufficient: "We are not even asking for enough to live, all we want is enough to survive!"

The biggest issue in the sector, according to Rix, lies in the lack of a roadmap, which interferes with businesses' ability to plan ahead. Despite the prioritisation of people's health, it should remain possible to eventually open up the sector under safety restrictions, Rix further noted.

The Horesca president further addressed the precarious situation between Luxembourg and its neighbouring countries. He questioned whether bars and restaurants were only closed because the Grand Duchy would be penalised with closed borders by others in the greater region: "It appears that we are held hostage."

Rix emphasised that his relationship with Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Lex Delles remained productive. He explained that Minister Delles showed understanding for the existential threats to the sector, but that he was also limited in terms of financial aids he could provide. Nevertheless, Rix lamented that the bill for independent entrepreneurs was still being processed, when it had become clear throughout the pandemic that if need be, laws can be passed within a week instead of two or three.

When asked about the members of the Horesca sector that went out to protest, president Rix emphasised that he showed complete understanding for their situation, but noted that Horesca is continuing to operate with public announcements and dialogues with the government. His final plea to the administration: quick actions, an improved perspective, and no further costs for businesses.

Horesca sector holds renewed protests against restrictions

by Thanh Thuy

Ahead of the New Year of the Buffalo, Msgr. Joseph Nguyen uc Cuong visited the ethnic communities living on the border with Laos. A poor reality, which survives thanks to agriculture and the forest resources. But at the same time rich in faith and happy to receive a visit from tehir pastor. Mass in the open air, a tree as an altar.

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - Re-launch the mission among ethnic minorities, strengthen the bond of local populations with the diocesan community, pray for the new year of the Buffalo that is about to begin, so that "the difficulties and the danger of the Covid pandemic can be overcome -19 ".

These are the aims and spirit that animated the pastoral mission of Msgr. Joseph Nguyen uc Cuong, bishop of Thanh Hoa, in the north of Vietnam on the shared border with neighbouring Laos. In recent days, with the lunar New Year celebrations approaching, the prelate together with Catholic, lay and benefactor groups visited the H'Mong peoples of the municipalities of Loc Ha and Pa Pua, in the Muong Lat district.

Msgr. Joseph has been bishop of Thanh Hoa since 27 June 2018 (he was appointed on 25 April of the same year) and, for the four-year period 2019-2022, he also holds the position of president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Vietnamese bishops. The area of the diocese is located in the mountainous north-west region, along the border with Laos and the inhabitants live on agriculture and the forest resources.

Almost 42,000 inhabitants live in the area, divided into six different ethnic groups which include, among others: Thai, H'Mong, Muong, Dao, Kho Mu and Kinh. Of these, the Thai and the H'Mong are the majority. And most of the H'Mong families live in conditions of extreme difficulty, often on the verge of poverty.

For the bishop it is the third visit to the community since he began his mandate. The 67-year-old prelate is in good health and for this reason he does not give up traveling and moving, in order to testify his closeness and the bond with the faithful who are always happy to meet their bishop and celebrate mass in the open air, surrounded by forests and natural mountains.

Asked by AsiaNews, a priest said that "we celebrated Mass in the open air, in the heart of the northern mountains". The bishop, he continues, used "an altar made with a tree from the forest" praying "in poverty, as the people who live in these lands are poor" who do not even have a church in which to meet.

Peace, the end of the new coronavirus pandemic, community development were some of the many prayer intentions that have united pastor and faithful, eager to nourish their life in faith and strengthening the spirit of solidarity and mutual help.

At the end of the function, Msgr. Joseph and some members of the delegation distributed some gifts to celebrate the Lunar New Year which falls on February 12th. "In these visits - concludes a Catholic volunteer - the miracle of God's work in the heart of this people really emerges" capable of "praying, singing, smiling open to a prospect of hope to overcome the harshness and dangers of daily life, including the pandemic ".
Cyclone Yaas: How mangrove forest in Odisha acted as protective barrier against Nature's fury yet again?

'Insulted in front of PM': Mamata Banerjee attacks BJP over Netaji event

India

oi-Deepika S

Pursurah, Jan 25: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the BJP, accusing it of insulting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by raising ''Jai Shri Ram'' slogans at an event to mark the icon''s 125th birth anniversary.

Branding the BJP as a group of "outsiders" and "Bharat Jalao Party", she said it has been continuously insulting the icons of Bengal, Netaji being the "latest addition to the list".

"Would you invite anyone to your house and then insult the person? Is this the culture of Bengal or our country? I would have had no problem if slogans hailing Netaji were raised.

"But they didn''t do that. To taunt me, they shouted slogans which had no relation to the programme. I was insulted in front of the prime minister of the country. This is their (BJP) culture," the Trinamool Congress boss told a rally here.

Supreme Court refuses to entertain PIL for free, fair assembly polls in West Bengal

Banerjee had on Saturday refused to speak at an official event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe Subhas Chandra Bose''s 125th birth anniversary, after ''Jai Shri Ram'' chants greeted her.

Dubbing turncoats in her party as "betrayers", she said those who have deserted the TMC in the run-up to the assembly polls will never be welcomed back.

"The ones who left knew they would not be getting tickets in the coming elections. It is good they exited, or else we would have thrown them out... Those who want to leave the party should do that as early as possible," Banerjee added.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 17:16 [IST]
SCHENECTADY  Roscoe Foster called his girlfriend at 12:50 a.m. He said he'd be home in 20 minutes.

Amanda Patterson opened the door to their Parkwood Boulevard apartment and dozed off.

Patterson was awakened less than an hour later by a frantic Jennifer Bacon, Foster's ex-girlfriend, who told her he had been shot.

The father of five, including Bacon's children and Patterson's then 3-year old son, Roscoe Jr., was rushed to Ellis Hospital where died not long after being shot at 1 a.m. Jan. 25, 2019 near the intersection of Becker and Linden streets. Police would later describe it as a botched robbery in which Roscoe Foster tried to fight off his assailants.

Police were initially optimistic an arrested would be made, but two years later Foster's death is among the unsolved homicide investigations in Schenectady.

Patterson hopes someone comes forward with the words police need to hear to make an arrest.

"We live it every day, and they may forgot about it and think that they didnt do anything thats a big deal or their conscience wont let them say anything if they know something about it," said Patterson who now lives in Glenville. Were just appealing to anyone that knows any information to please come forward, let our family and him receive the justice thats deserved."

As frustration about unsolved cases sets in, families press police and prosecutors for answers and wonder if justice will ever come. Six homicide investigations  including an arson at a home on Hulett Street that killed a father and his three children  remain open after killings over the last decade.

In some cases, detectives have a person of interest or suspect but don't have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Shanta Merritt, who lives in New York City, said last week that she sometimes wishes she were closer to Schenectady to do more to keep her daughter's case in the public eye.

Ieasha 'Esh" Merritt was 34 and pregnant when she was shot in the head on July 5. She'd been attending a local party.

Merritt, who also had a teenage son, was not the intended target of the gunman. Police said the killer opened fire during a gathering at an illegal after-hours club in the Hamilton Hill neighborhood.

Merritt was found in a parking lot near Albany and Hamlin streets and taken to the hospital. She died after being taken off life support.

All I need to know is why and all I want to ask is that if somebody knows something, say something, she said. My daughter was pregnant, and the person or persons who did this, you all did this not only to my daughter, but to my grandchild and justice needs to be served.

Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford said in a statement Monday that the detective division is "is committed to continuing all homicide related incidents until the responsible party is held accountable" but that "many times it takes the community to bring justice to victims of violence."

"All cases remained assigned to investigators and are investigated as information becomes known," he added.

He urged anyone with information to call the department's TIPS Line at (518) 788-6566.

Both Merritt and Patterson said they understand murder investigations can be complex and sometimes slow to solve. Still, they say it is disheartening when they dont hear from police for long periods of time.

Its just very frustrating because these are family members, he worked a job, he paid child support, he hadnt been in trouble recently ... he was a father of five, Patterson said. For me, I just will never leave him behind.

Patterson said the authorities have told her Foster's homicide is an "an open case and theyre still working it.

She said Foster, 38, "had some struggles in his life and he overcame all of them."

Merritt said her daughter had just gotten a new apartment with her now 16-year-old son. The older woman is now helping to raise the teenager.

Its beyond painful," she said.

"When I look at him, I see the pain in him, she said. He needs answers.

An emotional Merritt appealed to her daughters friends who were with her the night she was shot.

Come forward, your friend is not here no more, and you all know what happened. I know they know what happened, she said.

Making matters worse, Merritt in 2012 lost her 19-year-old son Daryl Adams, who was gunned down in Queens. Police later charged several people in connection with the slaying.

In the past Foster's family and friend have marked the grim anniversary with a candle light vigil. Over the summer they unveiled a billboard at a busy intersection to offer a reward of $5,000 asking for anyone with information on his killing to contact police at (518) 788-6566.

At the time of the killing, a witness told the Times Union that he heard two shots, then saw Foster's car move slightly before stopping. Foster got out of the car and fell motionless in the street, the man said. He said another person ran from the scene toward Elder Street.

The anniversary will be marked in a different way Monday. Patterson said they plan to light candles at the cemetery and the site of the shooting.
Jamie Dornan and Eddie Redmayne have revealed they had so little work when they lived together as roommates that they resorted to making crockery together.

During an appearance on Varietys Actors on Actors, Jamie, 38, and Eddie, 39, reminisced about their brief time sharing an apartment in Los Angeles in 2009.

Fifty Shades of Grey hunk Jamie said: 'Weve known each other forever and been best friends for 15-plus years. We lived together in LA.'

Back in the day: (L-R) Jamie Dornan and Eddie Redmayne have revealed they had so little work when they were roommates that they resorted to making crockery together. Pictured in 2015

He continued: 'We look better than we did when we met, probably, in many ways. Some pretty terrible hair going on. I remember that it was 2009, because  lets set the scene up a little bit. We werent working a great deal.'

After assertions from Eddie that they weren't working 'at all', Jamie admitted: 'OK, we werent working at all. Were going up for a lot of stuff in LA, a lot of the same stuff sometimes, which was depressing.

'I think we lived together for about three months. And there was so little to do  if we didnt have an audition. The reason I remember it was one day we went to a Pottery Barn or something, and we made some crockery.

'We made plates and clay pots, and I remember we wrote the names of all these actors who were our gang. Everyone has done pretty good. Youve got an Academy Award. I mean, its kind of insane.'

Chat: During a chat on Varietys Actors on Actors, Jamie, 38, and Eddie, 39, reminisced about their brief time sharing an apartment in Los Angeles in 2009. Pictured in 2019

Eddie said: 'Im slightly embarrassed youre putting that out into the public arena, given I used to tell my parents that I was going to LA in January to endlessly slave away to try to get work.

'You and Andrew Garfield and I were texting, trying to remember what those things were. And one of them was BioShock [a movie based on a video game, which never got made]. You remember BioShock?

'We were furious with each other as we were going through it, and competing for the same role. I remember auditioning for 10,000 BC, which involved being topless, running around, like in Egypt.

'I mean, look at me. Im sort of pallid, white, moley. I was always two hours early or an hour late to auditions, endlessly running these lines. But it was great in the sense that you got to try everything and fail hard.'

'Totally,' said Jamie. 'There was just so much failure. I just remember your rental car  the foot area of the front passenger seat was a sea of failed audition sides.

Work: Jamie and Eddie lived together in California for three months as they searched for work

'You were just shucking them down there after coming out of one of those auditions, going, "Thats another fail."'

Back in 2018, Eddie, who is married to Hannah Bagshawe, relived his time with the Irish star during an appearance on Good Morning America.

The Danish Girl star said sharing a place with Northern Irish heartthrob Jamie was like 'living with a puppy' because of his abundant energy.

He told George Stephanopoulos: 'Basically, it was like living with a puppy because he has more energy than any human being you've ever met.

'There's sort of a twilight zone between 5:00 and 6:00 when he just goes insane and it was like a puppy.'

Jamie, who is married to actress Amelia Warner, had previously revealed he and Eddie were 'desperate' when they lived together, as both of them struggled to get their feet off the ground in acting industry.

Asked what it was like living with Eddie, Jamie said: 'Desperate. We were both very desperate, you know it was slim pickings in those days for work - the idea was you'd come out and all go to the same sort of auditions.'

And with both of them struggling to find work at the beginning of their careers, the pair used to compete over how many scripts each of them received.

Jamie shared: 'We both had the same agent at the time and I remember on the second day, one of the couriers arrived with 25 scripts and Eddie and I were like, "Who's it for?" It was for me.

'Eddie didn't take it that well. He was calling his agent saying, "Jamie just got a sent loads of scripts." About an hour later a courier arrived with the exact same stack of scripts.'
- Recognized for progress in Wellbeing and Diversity & Inclusion

GENEVA, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- JTI has been recognized as one of only 16 Global Top Employers for the seventh consecutive year, after Top Employer Institute certified the Company in every region [https://www.jti.com/news-views/jti-global-top-employer] it operates([1]). This latest certification once again acknowledges JTI's excellent working conditions, as well as the progress it has made to improve wellbeing, and diversity and inclusion, such as with the launch of its leading global Family Leave Policy.

Diversity and inclusion: key to global recognition

"The Top Employer certification is not an end-in-itself. For us, it is confirmation that we have always been on the right track by making our workplace a safe and flexible environment for all our employees, whether they are farmers, scientists, office or factory workers.

"This seventh consecutive certification also sends a strong message to our future employees: we constantly give our people the opportunity to develop their career under the best conditions in order to perform to their highest abilities while being themselves," said Steve Dyer, JTI's Vice President, Global Talent Management.

Since January 1, 2021, JTI employees across the world, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or the way they become parents, benefit from 20 weeks fully paid leave when welcoming a child.

The Company's headquarter has been Equal Pay certified for 3 years in a row by the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation for providing fairness and equal opportunity to women and men.

In 2020, JTI PRIDE, an Employee Resource Group, was also recognized for its contribution to furthering LGBT+ Inclusion by the Global Diversity List [https://www.globaldiversitylist.org/lgbt-network].

JTI was also awarded the "Swiss LGBTI Label" [https://www.jti.com/news-views/jti-awarded-swiss-lgbti-label]; a certification that honored the Company's fully inclusive equal employment opportunity plan.

Commenting on what it means to work for a Global Top Employer are JTI's employees:

"To me, JTI sincerely cares about its employees. The Company believes in us and promotes the values of equality, fairness, and diversity. As a Top Employer, I expect JTI to continue being transparent, listening to its employees and providing fair career opportunities. I am proud of working here and being part of something big," said Bridget Ngoma, Agronomy Supervisor, and local winner of the Corporate Inspire Awards, JTI Zambia.

A plan to maintain excellence in 2021

JTI will focus more than ever on:

-- Gender equality in leadership positions: the Company is committed to pursuing its goal to increase the representation of women in leadership positions in addition to reaching gender parity at all levels. -- EmbRACE: a dedicated Employee Resource Group created to help JTI build a truly meritocratic and inclusive culture across the world by ensuring all ethnic groups are treated equally. -- New Ways of Working: a mission to empower employees from factories and offices through remote working; removal of managerial barriers and styles from the past; and a creation of a global environment where they feel safe to be themselves, learn from their mistakes, speak up, take risks, trust and respect each other.

Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognizing excellence in People Practices. The organization helps accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work. Through the Top Employers Institute Certification Program, participating companies can be validated, certified and recognized as an employer of choice. Established 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified 1,691 organizations in 120 countries/regions. These certified Top Employers positively impact the lives of over 7 million employees globally.

JTI is a leading international tobacco and vaping company with operations in more than 130 countries. It is the global owner of both Winston, the number two cigarette brand in the world, and Camel, outside the USA and has the largest share in sales for both brands. Other global brands include Mevius and LD. JTI is also a major player in the international vaping market with its brand, Logic and tobacco vapor brand, Ploom. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, JTI employs over 44,000 people and was awarded Global Top Employer for the seventh consecutive year. JTI is a member of the Japan Tobacco Group of Companies. For more information, visit www.jti.com [http://www.jti.com/].

[1] JTI was certified in 64 countries in the following regions: Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North America.

Logo -- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1084015/JTI__Logo.jpg [https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1084015/JTI__Logo.jpg]

CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Corporate MediaRelations, Caroline Kulko/Deborah Perez, +41 22 703 02 91,pressoffice@jti.com

Web site: https://www.jti.com//
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Vaccine FAQ: Monitoring the vaccine rollout in San Antonio and Texas

 Timeline of coronavirus in San Antonio 

January 28

6:45 p.m. | San Antonio officials reported 20 new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday as the coronavirus continues to spread in the region. The newly reported deaths occurred in the past two weeks and are the second-most reported in a single day here since the summer surge.

Officials also reported 1,752 new cases Thursday, pushing the seven-day rolling average of new cases down to 1,459 per day, which is down from 2,062 a week ago.

January 27

6:25 p.m. | The coronavirus death toll in Bexar County topped 2,000 Wednesday, a tragic milestone fueled by the virus uncontrolled spread during the holidays.

Officials warned months ago that gatherings and unmasked activities could have deadly consequences. Now that the holidays have passed, its clear they did: Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported nine more deaths Wednesday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 2,007.

January 26

6:00 p.m. | The coronavirus death toll in Bexar County neared 2,000 Tuesday even as the number of COVID-19 patients in area hospitals fell to the lowest point in three weeks, officials said Tuesday. San Antonio added 18 new deaths and 821 cases of the virus Tuesday. The total case count since March now stands at 162,929.

January 24

5:00 a.m. | Years before COVID-19 emerged as a worldwide threat, the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District developed a plan to handle exactly such a catastrophic public health scenario. So what went wrong? Read the full story.

6:45 p.m. | The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in San Antonio has nearly doubled over the last month. Today, the figure rose by six  to 1,381  after having dropped in each of the past five days.

January 23

6:45 p.m. | The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reported 1,684 new coronavirus cases Saturday  563 fewer than reported the day before. The seven-day rolling average stood at 1,806 Saturday, decreasing by 165.

But the health authority also reported 18 new deaths Saturday, after two days of 17 deaths each. In one week, 176 people have died with COVID-19.

January 21

7:30 p.m. | COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 17 more people in San Antonio, adding to the growing death toll from the latest coronavirus surge. On Thursday, officials reported 2,507 new infections, pushing the seven-day average for daily new cases to 2,063 and the cumulative number of cases to 155,588.

January 20

6:15 p.m. | For the first time in 2021, new COVID-19 cases in San Antonio have fallen to fewer than 1,000.

Officials reported 850 new cases on Wednesday  a precipitous decline from the 2,395 cases recorded on Tuesday.

There were 18 new deaths reported, however.

January 19

6:30 p.m. | San Antonio surpassed 150,000 coronavirus cases Tuesday as the winter surge of COVID-19 kills more residents and threatens to cripple area hospitals.

Officials reported 2,395 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total since the pandemic began in March to 152,231. More than a fifth of those cases  34,627  have occurred since the start of the new year.

January 18

6:37 p.m. | In a month filled with grim milestones, San Antonio hit another one Monday, with area hospitals caring for 1,520 patients with COVID-19  253 more than the record set this summer, when state leaders shut down bars and mandated masks to stave off the virus. Health officials fear the worst is yet to come.

January 17

6:47 p.m. | San Antonio set a record for the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 Sunday, pushing local hospitals even closer to reaching full capacity. In the past 24 hours, San Antonios hospitals admitted 130 people with COVID-19, pushing the total number of infected patients to 1,439, up from 1,394 Saturday and six patients higher than the previous record, which was set Jan. 11.

January 15

7:07 p.m. | Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced 2,889 newly diagnosed coronavirus cases and six more deaths of people who tested positive for the virus. San Antonios new seven-day rolling average of cases has exceeded 2,000 for the first time and now stands at 2,041.

January 13

6:13 p.m. | San Antonio recorded a staggering death toll Wednesday of 25 residents killed by COVID-19, the second highest number recorded in a single day since the pandemic began. The record remains 26 San Antonians reported dead on Aug. 12.

The sharp daily increase has pushed the death toll here to 1,685. It follows an unprecedented surge in new cases that hit a record of 3,002 on Sunday.

January 10

6:30 p.m. | Officials reported 3,002 new cases Sunday  by far the most in one day here  plus 70 backlogged cases from more than two weeks ago.

As San Antonio officials reported a record-breaking number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations Sunday, state health officials said more vaccine doses are on the way.

January 9

2:30 p.m. |The South and West Sides are both getting their own mass vaccination sites.

Starting Monday, WellMed will offer 1,500 free vaccinations per day, six days a week. The Moderna vaccine doses will be administered at two locations: The Elvira Cisneros Senior Community Activity Center at 517 S.W. Military Dr. and the Alicia Trevino Lopez Senior One-Stop Center at 8353 Culebra Road.

January 8

7:30 p.m |As more alarming news emerges about the U.K. variant of the coronavirus having reached Houston and an even more contagious strain rising in South Africa, officials of Bexar County and San Antonio announced Friday evening in their daily briefing that local COVID-19 cases continued to surge, though none involved the new virus variants.

Officials here reported 1,079 new coronavirus cases and five new deaths.

January 5

6:30 p.m. | Hospitals in Bexar County were caring for more coronavirus patients than at any other point in the pandemic as the virus continued its winter assault on the San Antonio region Tuesday and broke records for new cases and daily hospital admissions. The San Antonio region added a record 2,152 new cases of the virus.

5:00 p.m. | Houston and its surrounding communities on Tuesday became the latest region to require new emergency restrictions after seven straight days of ballooning coronavirus hospitalizations.

3:00 p.m. | Brooke Army Medical Center is taking on a greater number of trauma patients as University Hospital works to preserve beds for the soaring number of COVID-19 patients in San Antonio.

January 4

6:30 p.m. |COVID hospitalizations swelled to 1,259 on Monday  just a handful of patients away from the peak of the last surge in mid-July, when 1,267 people were being treated.

Were right at that, and probably in all likelihood well exceed it, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said during the daily coronavirus briefing.

January 3

4:00 a.m. | Whether San Antonio gets more federal cash to spend on coronavirus-related expenses as its leaders see fit may depend on what happens Tuesday in Georgia.

4:00 a.m. | Nearly a year into the pandemic, even as a more contagious variant of the coronavirus circulates and the death toll rises to previously unimaginable levels, many have lost the discipline  if they ever had it  to follow the advice of public health experts to socially distance and wear masks.

January 2

8:00 p.m. | San Antonios coronavirus numbers continued to climb over the New Years holiday, and officials pounded the increasingly urgent drum beat to avoid large gatherings, wear that mask when in public and stay at home as much as possible. There were 1,298 new cases of coronavirus reported Saturday, bringing the seven-day average to 1,197. So far, 119,355 people in Bexar County have tested positive for the virus.

4: 00 a.m. | Registration now is closed on the website, WeCanDoItSA.com, but people will be able to schedule appointments when more doses of the Moderna vaccine arrive.

University Health officials said they dont know when that will be.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 03:30:17|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIRUT, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon registered on Monday 2,652 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the tally to 282,249, the health ministry reported.

Meanwhile, death toll from the virus went up by 54 to 2,374 in the country.

The Lebanese government has imposed a total lockdown until Feb. 8 to curb the pandemic.

Firas Abiad, director of Rafic Hariri University Hospital, warned on Monday against easing lockdown measures, which would lead to losing what has been achieved over the past weeks.

Charaf Abou Charaf, head of Lebanese Order of Physicians, also emphasized the need to extend the total lockdown. "We need to keep the lockdown ongoing until we start the vaccination campaign."

Lebanon is expected to receive the first batch of vaccines by mid-February. Enditem

The Summit took place as the pandemic continues to erode recent progress in building climate resilience, leaving countries and communities more vulnerable to future shocks. A report by GCA "State and Trends in Adaptation 2020" showed that global funding would need to increase ten-fold, to US$300 billion a year, to meet the UN Environment Programme's estimates of what is needed to respond to escalating climate risks. An accompanying technical report "Adaptation Finance in the Context of Covid-19" estimated that funding for climate adaptation fell by up to 10% in 2020, reversing the decade long trend of increasing adaptation finance to developing countries.

Ministerial Dialogue

At the start of CAS2021, GCA hosted its first annual Ministerial Dialogue, with over 50 ministers and leaders from international organizations, to scale-up global leadership cooperation to accelerate climate adaptation. Going forward it will also serve as an annual high-level forum on climate change adaptation, acting as a lever for global leadership to drive a decade of transformation for a climate resilient world by 2030.

Hosting the meeting, Ban Ki-moon, Co-Chair of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"In this GCA ministerial dialogue, we hope to achieve three things: a step change in ambition, so that adaptation receives the funding and attention it deserves. We need a step change in financing to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars for this decade of transformation. And we need to strengthen partnerships and knowledge exchanges to make the best solutions and approaches available to all."

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Board Member of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"The IMF is ramping up support for the policies, investment plans and skills countries need to strengthen their response to climate change. Reducing emissions and building resilience is win-win-win  good for growth and jobs, for health and for our planet."

John Kerry, US Climate Presidential Envoy, who gave the keynote speech, noted that:

"All countries are now learning how to cope with climate change. But nobody has all the answers. The faster we gather information from each other, share data, the faster we can join together in the effort to do what we all know is necessary. The more quickly we're going to be able to put good solutions to work, the faster we're going to be able to make savings in hard pressed budgets around the world."

Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of Global Center on Adaptation said:

"Covid-19 ushered in an era of multiple, intersecting systemic shocks, which demand equally powerful and coordinated solutions. Adaptation should be at the heart our recovery. Combining steadily rising carbon prices with a green infrastructure push can boost global GDP over the next 15 years by about 0.7 percent and generate work for millions of people. It will make us better prepared for future shocks."

African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)

The urgency of the compounded COVID-19 and climate crises require accelerated momentum in Africa's climate adaptation efforts. The African Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) announced they are joining forces to use their complementary expertise, resources, and networks to launch a bold new Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). This flagship program will focus on agriculture, infrastructure, youth, and innovative finance. The African Development Bank has committed to mobilize $25 billion as climate finance between 2020 and 2025, of which at least 50% ($12.5 billion) will support climate adaptation and resilience building. The Bank and GCA will use this to leverage an additional $12.5 billion with other key partners to support African governments, private sector, and civil society to scale up effective adaptation solutions.

An example of GCA and the Bank's transformative approach to accelerating adaptation is a project already underway in Ghana to develop its first national-level assessment of the resilience of its infrastructure systems to climate change. By exploring and showcasing the potential co-benefits of Nature-based Solutions as part of country-level package of investment in grey and green infrastructure, Ghana will function as a demonstration country of how to reduce costs and enhance ecosystems.

Commenting on the program launch, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank said:

"We must work together to accelerate adaptation action in Africa , a continent on the frontline of climate change emergency. Today's announcement with GCA marks the start of a bold global effort to ensure that developing countries have the climate financing they need to implement and scale up climate adaptation solutions."

Feike Sijbesma, Co-Chair of the Global Center on Adaptation said:

"We are all witnessing how climate change is visibly affecting people, societies and business. We must take a strategic and integrated approach to adaptation and develop the bold innovations and solutions to this global challenge. This all in combination to our continued effort to mitigate climate changes by reducing our emissions."

Youth Leadership

Following the call to action from one million young people from more than 115 countries to "Adapt for our Future", Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of GCA announced the African Adaptation Acceleration Program would strengthen ecosystems that support youth-led climate adaptation entrepreneurship and youth participation in adaptation policies; scale up climate adaptation innovations by strengthening business development services to 10,000 youth-owned enterprises and 10,000 youth with business ideas on jobs and adaptation; Develop tailored skills and provide starting tool packs for 1 million youth to prepare them for climate resilient jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in adaptation and unlock USD 3 billion in credit for adaptation action by innovative youth-owned enterprises through innovative financial instruments.

State and Trends Knowledge Exchange

GCA launched the State and Trends in Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (STAKE) to make data, information, and learnings on climate-change adaptation both accessible and actionable, with the aim of engaging policy-makers, professionals, experts, and other stakeholders. The new platform connects areas of science, policy, and practice through dedicated elementssuch as the Adaptation Gateway, which covers data, solutions and insights, Communities of Practice, the State and Trends report series, and the Adaptation Action Agendabrokering solutions to accelerate adaptation action from a local to a global scale. The Adaptation Gateway provides data visualization, systematized solutions, analyses, and insights on the state and trends of climate-change resilience and adaptation.

1000 Cities Adapt Now Initiative

During the Summit, the Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb presented the 10-year Global Program 1000 Cities Adapt Now. 1000 Cities Adapt Now' (1000CAN) is a global program that aims for a green and just post-COVID-19 recovery  a recovery that helps create new jobs, improve equity and prepare communities to adapt to climate and health threats. The coalition network partners, including GCA which will host the program, sought the commitment of other mayors to strengthen the role of cities in improving our environment, climate and society in the lead-up to COP26, and beyond. This resulted in the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities being presented to world leaders including Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Mayor Aboutaleb speaking at the launch said:

"Every day, cities are dealing with the effects of climate change and the need to adapt to be resilient. It is our task as mayors of cities worldwide to address these issues and generate solutions. With the Joint Statement on Accelerating Climate Adaptation in Cities, we underline our ambitions and needs to speed up and scale up adaptation measures in 1000 cities in the coming decade."

Living with water: Climate Adaptation in the World's Deltas

GCA launched a report on climate adaptation in the world's deltas which presents a series of lighthouse adaptation case studies and sets how to scale up and accelerate adaptation in these climate hotspots. The report flagged that climate adaptation in delta areas is a complex issue and that understanding deltas requires better, open-access climate data collection. The report also noted that making deltas more climate resilient requires decades and legal and political frameworks that are conducive to long-term, integrated planning, and predictable budgets, but at the same time urgent adaptation action needs to start immediately.

Free online global education initiative

GCA announced it is collaborating with the University of of Groningen in the Netherlands to offer free online courses on Climate Adaptation Governance through FutureLearn. The first course is on Climate Adaptation Governance - Making Climate Adaptation Happen. In addition, the University of Groningen will start offering a specialisation in Climate Adaptation Governance from September 2021 onwards.

07887 804594, [email protected]

SOURCE The Global Center on Adaptation

Related Links

https://gca.org/home


Delhi Police Commissioner S N Srivastava on Sunday issued a circular regarding the security arrangements for the tractor rally by protesting farmers that will be held after the Republic Day celebration on Tuesday.

The circular said that all officers and personnel as well as CAPF and any other force deployed for the Republic Day Parade security arrangements should be made aware and be prepared that they will be required for law and order arrangements immediately after the official celebration is over.

Arrangements of lunch for police personnel should be made and they be kept in readiness at their points of duty under the charge of their respective zonal/sector officers, it said.

The officers should also ensure adequate rest after the Republic Day celebration arrangements and should remain in ready position to move at short notice for law and order arrangements in connection with the 'kisan tractor rally' on Tuesday, the circular said.

On Sunday, police said the farmers' proposed tractor rally will start after the time period of the Republic Day celebration has ended. The rally will be held from Delhi's three border points  Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur  and adequate security will be provided to it, police said.

Since November last year, farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the Centre's three new agriculture laws at several Delhi border points, including Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, demanding that the legislations be repealed. The farmers had earlier announced that they will hold a peaceful tractor parade on Republic Day as a mark of their protest against the farm laws.
Mumbai, Jan 25 : At a time when almost all of Bollywood seems obsessed with circulating US senator Bernie Sanders' memes, actress Sonakshi Sinha has expressed that she can't wait to feature in a meme. On Monday, Sonakshi shared a photograph of herself staring at the mirror with her hands covering her cheeks.

Sonakshi asked netizens to create memes of the photo posted on Instagram and informed that the ones she likes would feature on her Instagram story.

"You know i love memes right?? So Bring your meme game on! Share memes using this picture and don't forget to tag me! My favorite ones will be shared on my story. Get creative, get funny... cant wait #AsliMondayMeme," wrote the actress.

Sonakshi is currently gearing up for her next release, Bhuj: The Pride Of India, co-starring Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sharad Kelkar, Ammy Virk, Pranitha Subhash and Nora Fatehi. The film is set against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
Princess Athena of Denmark looked in high spirits as she posed up a storm in new photographs released to mark her ninth birthday.

The young royal sported a beaming smile when enjoying a frolic in the snow in Paris, where she lives with her parents Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, and her 12-year-old brother Prince Henrik.

In two of the four photographs shared, the princess made sure to wrap up warm against the chilly weather by donning a light puffer coat and adorable pink earmuffs.

The photographs were posted to the Danish royal family's Instagram account yesterday to celebrate Athena's birthday, and were captured by her mother Princess Marie.

Princess Athena of Denmark looked in high spirits as she posed up a storm in new photographs released to mark her ninth birthday (pictured)

The caption, translated from Danish, read: 'The princess is celebrating her birthday in Paris, where Her Highness lives with her parents and brother.

'On the occasion of the birthday, Your Royal Highnesses Prince Joachim and Princess Marie have the pleasure of sharing new photos of the Princess, which were taken in the snow-covered French capital.'

In another image, a beaming Athena, dressed in a light blue jumper, poses with a white dog, thought to be the family's pet.

Athena is tenth in the line of succession to the Danish throne. She is the daughter of Prince Joachim, 51, and Princess Marie of Denmark, 44.

The young royal (pictured) sported a beaming smile when enjoying a frolic in the snow in Paris, where she lives with her parents Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, and her 12-year-old brother Prince Henrik

In two of the four photographs shared, the princess made sure to wrap up warm against the chilly weather by donning a light puffer coat and adorable pink earmuffs (pictured)

She is also the youngest grandchild of Queen Margrethe and the late Prince Henrik, and was born on 24 January 2012 at the Copenhagen University Hospital.

Athena has three older brothers: Prince Nikolai, 21, and Prince Felix, 18, through her fathers first marriage to Countess Alexandra and Prince Henrik.

Father-of-four Prince Joachim is currently recovering from an emergency brain surgery carried out in France this summer after he was diagnosed with a blood clot.

Queen Margrethe youngest had been celebrating his son's 18th birthday in France with his current wife Princess Marie, his ex-wife Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg, and the children from both his marriage.

The photographs were posted to the Danish royal family's Instagram account yesterday to celebrate Athena's (pictured) birthday, and were captured by her mother Princess Marie

He gave the Danish royal family a scare when he was rushed to the Toulouse University Hospital in France, where he was immediately operated on.

A statement by the Danish royal court said at the time: 'His Royal Highness Prince Joachim was admitted to the University Hospital of Toulouse, France, late last night.

'The prince was operated on immediately afterwards for a blood clot in the brain and the operation was successful. The condition of His Royal Highness is stable.'

The court communicated that his doctors were confident he would suffer no effects as a result of the blood clot.

He was eventually allowed to return home to his family in the French capital after two weeks in care.
MBABANE - The Industrial Court has dismissed an application filed by a former employee of the Eswatini Beverages Limited, formerly known as Swaziland Beverages, who had filed a claim for constructive dismissal.

The former employee, Pascal Dlamini, filed a claim for constructive dismissal in which he alleged that the conduct of his former employer, the respondent in the matter, rendered his continued employment intolerable, as a consequence of which he was compelled to resign. In a judgement issued by Industrial Court Judge, Abande Dlamini, it was stated that at the close of the case for the applicant, the respondents counsel applied for absolution from the instance, his contention being that the claim of constructive dismissal brought to the court by the applicant be dismissed because he had failed to make out a prima facie case.

Giving a brief summary of the case of the applicant in evidence, the judge said the applicant testified that he was first employed by the respondent in January 2001, initially as a sales representative, and worked continuously until the end of March 2011 when he resigned from his position. At the time of his resignation, according to the court papers, he held the position of regional sales supervisor, responsible for nine sales representatives who reported to him.

Circumstances

Testifying on the circumstances that led to him resigning from his position, the judge said the applicant informed the court that in November 2008, a consultant was engaged to look into reviewing and restructuring of the sales department after which he was to make recommendations to management. The reviewing and restructuring process, the court papers state, resulted in two sales representatives being promoted to the position of key accounts manager and key accounts representative respectively and this was in January 2009. The applicant is said to have testified that the consultant, however, could not continue with the review and restructuring exercise because he then encountered problems with his work permit around February 2009, which compelled him to leave the country. When the consultant left though, there were now two new positions of sales managers  one for alcoholic beverages and the other for soft drinks.


Kenya Moore of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is known for throwing shade. The reality TV personality has infamously feuded with Nene Leakes over the years and never misses a moment to take a jab at her former co-star. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Moore made sure to call out Leakes and fans took to social media to react to the dig.

Kenya Moore and Nene Leakes | Prince Williams/Wireimage / Annette Brown/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

What did Kenya Moore say about Nene Leakes?

Things didnt end well between Moore and Leakes after season 12. Since then, Leakes has left RHOA but the animosity between the two stars has seemingly lived on. When Moore made an appearance on WWHL, she took the opportunity to allude to the tastiest peach in Atlanta.

Cohen put up Sheree Whitfield to play a game called The Shady Bone Collector. Whitfield was tasked with asking shady questions to Moore.

Name a Real Housewife from any franchise who went too far in efforts to, fix that face,' Whitfield asked.

Moore laughed at the question as she even knew it was completely shady. Although she hesitated to answer in the beginning, she did hint at the name of the housewife.

Oh, God! Uhhhh Ohhhh, Moore said as she thought about who to shade. I mean, most of them have been improvements but I probably would say one thats not on a franchise right now. So, thats all Ill say.

Cohen pressed Moore to say which housewife she was referring to and the former beauty queen said, The one that originally said, Fix your face.'

RHOA fans know that the moment Moore was talking about was a feud Whitfield and Leakes had during a reunion. The shade toward Leakes could not be more evident.

RELATED: RHOA: Andy Cohen Ready To Send Sheree Whitfield Contract To Return

Nene Leakes calls for Bravo boycott

After Moore alluded to Leakes, Cohen quickly changed the subject and took to break. The relationship between Leakes and Cohen deteriorated drastically after the former quit the franchise she helped make a mainstay. Leakes has called out Bravo and even suggested a boycott of the network on Twitter.

Yall ready to start this boycott yet? What has happened behind the scenes is WRONG, Leakes tweeted in December 2020. While others were being promoted, BLACK WOMEN who created shows, created genres, built franchise, and built networks were being DEMOTEDTURN OFF YOUR TVS.

Yall ready to start this boycott yet? What has happened behind the scenes is WRONG! While others were being promoted, BLACK WOMEN who created shows, created genres, built franchise and built networks were being DEMOTEDTURN OFF YOUR TVS  NeNe Leakes (@NeNeLeakes) December 21, 2020

RELATED: RHOA: Sherri Shepherd Claps Back at Kenya Moore After Shade on WWHL

Leakes also linked to a petition that demands justice as they feel there has been an unfair treatment toward their Black talent.

We have witnessed her sacrifice her physical health, have her mental health jeopardized, and her spiritual well-being tested, the petition reads. It is also evident that your disciplinary actions are far more stringent when it comes to your black talent. This is not acceptable and needs to be more balanced.

The Fashion Police alum has also alluded to taking her former employer to court for the treatment she has received.

If you know someone that works in the U.S. Department of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in California, New York or Georgia, please have them contact me, the tweet read.

Leakes has been focused on opening a new lounge in Atlanta and other projects for TV.
Farmers to march towards Parliament from different locations on Budget day on February 1

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 25: Farmer leader Darshan Pal, who heads the Krantikari Kisan Union, said that on February 1, farmers will march on foot towards Parliament in Delhi from different locations.

"We will march towards Parliament on foot from different locations on the budget day on February 1. As far as tomorrow''s tractor rally is concerned, it will give the government an idea of our strength and they will know the agitation is not just limited to Haryana or Punjab but it is an agitation of whole of the country," he said.

Every march or protest will be peaceful as the movement has been so far, he said.

"The farmers who have come for the tractor parade will not go back now and will join the protest. The agitation will continue till our demands met. Our stand remains the same," Pal told a press conference, sharing the farmers' plans to intensify the protest.

To maintain law and order during the farmers'' tractor parade, thousands of security personnel have been already deployed at several border points.

Farmer leaders have appealed to those participating in the tractor parade to carry enough ration for 24 hours and ensure that the rally remains peaceful.

"No one should carry any weapon or drink alcohol. Banners carrying inciting messages are not allowed," a farmer leader said.

Those starting from the Singhu border will traverse Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Bawana, Qutabgarh, Auchandi border and Kharkhoda toll plaza. The entire route will be 63 kilometers long.

The 62-km long second route, starting from the Tikri border, will pass through Nagloi, Najafgarh, Jharoda border and Rohtak bypass and Asoda toll plaza, the farmer leaders said.

Thousands march to Mumbai to protest farm laws, Sharad Pawar to join

Tractors starting from Ghazipur will drive through Apsara border, Hapur road and Lal Kuan. Covering 68 kilometers, it is the longest route for the march.

The farmer leaders will be on the frontline in their cars.

Enacted in September last year, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of minimum support price and do away with the ''mandi'' (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID-19 Disease Control Sudarshani Fernandopulle said the vaccine will be imported to Sri Lanka by mid-February.She said Sri Lanka will get 20 per cent of the population covered by the World Health Organization, while for another 30 per cent of the population, the government will purchase a vaccine."Our intention is to cover at least 50 per cent of the population," Fernandopulle said.Sri Lanka has to date recorded over 56,000 Covid-19 patients and recorded 276 deaths.Source: IANS


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CINCINNATI, Ohio  Three people were killed and two others injured Sunday night in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 75, according to reports.

Three women were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred at about 6:30 p.m., WCPO Channel 9 reports. Another man and woman in the vehicle were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, cincinnati.com reports.

None of the victims had been identified early Monday morning. I-75 north was closed for several hours because of the crash.

There were no reports on what might have caused the crash, which remains under investigation.

More content on cleveland.com:

Elyria man killed in single-car crash in Lorain, police say

Two people, including 90-year-old woman, severely injured in Cleveland house fire
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Arnold Samba better known as Saviour is a stand-up comedian studying law at Mount Kenya University. The Churchill Show funnyman got his big break after six years of auditioning.

He speaks about his journey and why comedy doesnt pay in Kenya.

You studied law, but how come you landed in comedy?

I am yet to graduate, though it is set for some time this year. I started with film where I found out I could do comical skits. I would be given a sad script or role and when I go on stage, no matter how sad my role is, people would be laughing. So, comedy came to me, then I started auditioning for comedy.

What discipline of law do you relate with in comedy?

None actually, this law is not mine, it is one of those courses you do for parents.

How do your parents react to your comedy?

Initially, they frowned about it thinking it would derail me from the main goal but, as time goes by, they are getting used to it. When I get little money and share it with them, it opens up their hearts to the fact that comedy is not bad. These days they ask if they should tag me on posts!

Your skits are not specific, how come?

I love classifying myself as a versatile comedian; I dont like being pointed out to a specific style of humour, especially not the tribal ones. Besides, I dont want to be branded a Luhya or Kikuyu comedian. And if a comedian is creative enough, they do not have to be tied to one style of humour or character, a comedian should be able to create content on any subject.

How was your childhood like?

My upbringing was bad. I didnt have a social life as a kid, no friends, no best friends; just me and my brother. To make it worse, I went to a boarding school in class three, so aside from the boarding friends, I had my parents and brother as my world. I started socialising while in campus from where I learned that people go out and have fun.

How has this affected the person you are today?

It is a challenge. I feel like I would have been a better version of myself or in better places, if I had a social childhood

How did you land your spot at Churchill Show?

Consistency. I did my first audition in 2012 and got my first performance in August 2018. For over six years I was behind the curtains auditioning, and every time I would be told to come on Tuesday. This meant you didnt meet the cut so you come for more auditions as you grew. So, in 2018, I went for the audition knowing I was going to be told come Tuesday, surprisingly, I auditioned with one of my old skits and I was told to come on Saturday in white outfits, which meant I had met the cut. Thats how I got my first performance.

What dont you like about comedy?

Comedy has cartels. There are so many creative people starting up but they will never be discovered because there are people at the top who have refused to release their work. There is so much raw undiscovered talent in comedy.

Is comedy a lucrative field to venture into?

Today, if I meet an upcoming comedian, who needs my advice, I will tell them to study very hard and find a formal job. In Kenya, unless you are super popular, comedy does not pay. It is the gigs that pay, corporate events want popular people, so they are not calling an upcoming artist to host an event, and that means you wont make money unless you make a breakthrough on stage. I have started earning a little bit, I hope for more.

How did your parents shape you to become who you are?

My parents are very religious and like most African parents, being an artist sums up to everything bad  alcoholism, drugs and all vices. My parents are comedians, they just dont know it. Most of the skits inspiration comes from my father, he is very funny. I would go to school and tell things that happen in my house and people would laugh and say Im funny not knowing that it was all my fathers act.

I knew it was my father who was funny and not me. My father was a watchman and he kept it a secret in the village, my mother was a house help in Nairobi. It was a humble home I grew up in but we never felt belittled.

Your dreadlocks, how are you going to maneuver in law with them?

My dreadlocks are very dear to me, in as much as it is linked to societal vices. I think it just a hairstyle like any other, like someone would choose to go bald. My objective is to change the perception of locks. My dread is my brand, it is my makeup, it is a symbol of my journey.

Do you have someone special in your life?

Love? No! I have been played by girls; my heart has been broken so many times; so I have decided to wait until Im 30 or 35 then I can settle down.

Do you have any regrets?

I regret studying law. I should have done film. However, I respect and appreciate my fathers effort to pay my school fees single-handedly. I would have been better off right now with a degree in filmmaking. I have very little hope in law. Im planning to go back to school and pursue a degree in film.

How would you describe your act and humour?

My face speaks for me. Im very good with facials and very creative. When people need facial training when making jokes, they are normally referred to me. Im also a good storyteller, so I use these two skills for my stage performance.

What is your most embarrassing moment on stage?

One time, I was performing in Ngong, my third show after I was accepted at Churchill and I made a vulgar joke, it was a mature audience, so I was advised to go ahead with my joke. I went on stage and gave my vulgar joke about condoms and the whole audience was quiet with embarrassment. It was very hard to get myself out of the embarrassment. It was my most embarrassing moment and it was never aired.

Who do you look up to in comedy?

Kevin Hart, because we share so many things in common. He grew up like me and coincidentally, my mother shares the same name as his mother.

Did you always want to be a lawyer or comedian as a child?

My parents wanted me to be a lawyer, and parents win. I started seeing myself as a wrestler, then later thought of a neurosurgeon. My parents were excited about it so I held on to it for a while then went on to film; this is where I found my passion and stuck by it, although I had to do law as my parents wanted.

If not law or comedy, what would you pick as a career?

Acting, I need a career in film so badly.
The animal protection organisation Humane Society International and Vietnam Airlines began a campaign against the consumption of rhino horn consumption by screening a short film,

titled When I Grow Up, on all Vietnam Airlines flights as well as in premium airline lounges across Vietnam.

Hero Boy, a character in the short film, titled When I Grow Up, which will be shown to passengers on all flights of Vietnam Airlines. It aims to promote the reduction of rhino horn consumption. Photo courtesy Humane Society International

The film features Vietnamese primary school children sharing their big dreams for the future.

The film is an emotionally charged commercial to reduce demand for rhino horn among affluent air travellers in the hope of reducing demand for rhino horn in Vietnam which will help to ultimately end the poaching of rhinos in Africa.

Our rhino horn reduction commercial will run consecutively for a six-month period starting January 2021. By reaching the targeted demographic of mostly affluent air travellers with our tailored campaign messages, we expect to achieve demand-reduction results. We strongly believe that reducing rhino horn demand will reduce the number of rhinos poached in Africa, said Tham Hong Phuong, HSI Vietnam country director.

Dr. Teresa Telecky, vice president of Humane Society International Wildlife, added: The increased demand for wildlife products in Vietnam and other Asian countries is one of many key threats to endangered species over the world. I hope our message can touch emotions and gradually change behaviour.

Toby Wosskow, British-American award-winning filmmaker who is the projects creative director, said: Im grateful to have been part of such a special project. I was inspired by the passionate team in Vietnam who brought this story to life. In the commercial, when the young boy stands in front of the rhinos, the look he shares with his father and grandfather sends a universal message: its never too early or too late to stand up for what is right."

When I Grow Up is funded by the Glen and Bobbie Ceiley Foundation and is part of HSIs long-term efforts to reduce the consumption of rhino horn and other wildlife products in Vietnam and other countries.

When first hearing about the concept, I was drawn to how powerfully a little boys courage can motivate emotional change and I realised how crucial the message of reducing rhino horn usage should be. I am honoured to play a part in shedding light on this tragic cause that needs to be addressed. It was great to collaborate with such a passionate team, said Kathy Uyen, who directed the commercial.

HSI is looking forward to cooperating with business associations and government websites that will feature the commercial and help spread the message of rhino conservation and demand reduction. Three versions of the commercial will also be broadcasted virtually through HSI's social media channels and via project partners.

Humane Society International works around the globe to promote the human-animal bond, rescue and protect dogs and cats, improve farm animal welfare, protect wildlife, promote animal-free testing and research, respond to natural disasters and confront cruelty to animals in all of its forms. Humane Society International started working in Vietnam from August 2013.

An image of a short film, titled When I Grow Up, launched by Humane Society International on rhino horn consumption among Vietnamese consumers. Photo courtesy of Humane Society International

Rhino horn is valued in countries like China and Vietnam for medicinal benefits even though there is no scientific evidence to back these claims. Horns can be sold for high prices on the black market. However, there are indications that the price has fallen recently in Vietnam, due in part to a rhino horn demand-reduction campaign launched in 2013 by HSI and the Vietnamese government. This multi-faceted campaign has reached an estimated 37 million people  approximately one third of the population.

With HSIs support, for the first time in the countrys history, Vietnam destroyed over two tonnes of ivory, 70kg of rhino horn, and other seized wildlife specimens. This sent a powerful message to the public and the international community that these animals are valued rather than the products derived from them.

HSI partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Education and Training to implement a ground-breaking project to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. This project developed and distributed educational lessons on threatened wildlife to millions of schoolchildren in Vietnam as part of an effort to put an end to the illegal trade in rhinos, elephants, pangolins, tigers and more. VNS

Vietnam has wildlife legal framework, needs better enforcement: environment official Pham Van Dien, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry, talks on the countrys efforts to consolidate the legal framework on wildlife protection.
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Siliguri:

Bus and car services between Siliguri, considered the gateway to the north east, and Gangtok were affected on Saturday as drivers of West Bengal registered vehicles stopped plying to Sikkim, inconveniencing a large number of tourists.



Several Sikkim registered cars were damaged by anti-Gorkhaland protesters and the services of Sikkim Nationalised Transport (SNT) from Siliguri was stopped. SNT additional general manager (operations) H L Lamichaney said its buses were not plying on Saturday out of fear.



Local drivers have threatened us that they will torch our vehicles if we carry on with our services. We will resume our service if West Bengal government provides security to our buses, Lamichaney said.

ALSO READ | Darjeeling stir: GJM chief Bimal Gurung, Secy Roshan Giri, 43 others resign from GTA



Sikkim-bound tourists were stranded at the SNT bus stand at Siliguri. Hundreds of tourists were seen standing in long queues at the SNT bus depot in Gangtok waiting to purchase tickets to Siliguri.



An indefinite bandh is being observed in Darjeeling hills by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) spearheading an agitation demanding separate Gorkhaland state. The unrest in Darjeeling in peak tourist season has come as a boon for Sikkim, a landlocked state, with tourists thronging the neighbouring hill state instead of Darjeeling.



But problem was created after Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling extended support for a separate Gorkhaland state on June 22. Drivers of tourist vehicles in Siliguri alleged that GJM activists were not allowing them to ply cars along NH-31A, the lone highway connecting Gangtok and Siliguri, but bandh supporters were not objecting to Sikkim registered cars.



GJM is not stopping cars from Sikkim. Their chief minister has supported Gorkhaland. And our livelihood is at stake, a driver said. They stopped a Sikkim-bound bus in the morning and later small cars from going to the neighbouring hill state. Two cars were damaged by a mob at Champasari as the drivers were not ready get down.



None was injured in the incident and police intervened and removed the two cars from the road.

ALSO READ | Darjeeling violence: Police register case against GJM supremo Bimal Gurung, wife

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Zeshaan Naqvi, 31, a New York City middle school teacher, flew to Florida last week to have sex with a teenage girl he met online. He was arrested on Saturday, Florida authorities said.

A New York teacher has been arrested after flying to Florida to have sex with an underage girl he met online.

Zeshaan Naqvi, 31, teaches social studies at the all-girls Young Womens Leadership middle school in Jamaica, Queens.

Last week he flew to Tampa after allegedly grooming his victim online for around three months, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office.

He picked the teenager up at her home and took her to a hotel where he engaged in illegal, sexual acts with a minor, the sheriffs office said in a statement.

Officers arrested Naqvi at the hotel the next day where he allegedly admitted knowing his victim was underage.

He has been held on a $60,000 bond.

Sheriff Chad Chronister, said in a statement: 'It never ceases to amaze us the lengths predators will go to, to get what they want', as reported by New York Daily News.

He added: 'In this case, a middle school history teacher booked a ticket, boarded a plane, and traveled across the country to meet with a minor who he had been chatting with for about three months. This behavior is deeply disturbing and serves as a grim warning to parents to monitor their childs online activity.'

Naqvi taught social studies at The Young Women's Leadership School in Queens, New York. He had been a teacher in the New York Public School system since 2014. The department suspended him and called the allegations 'disturbing'

Naqvi has worked for the New York City school system since 2014.

Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for New York's education department, said: 'These allegations are extremely disturbing, and we have zero tolerance for this behavior.'

She added: 'The teacher was immediately reassigned from his current position pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.'

The victim's age was not released by the office, who cited a recently passed victims rights law.

In Florida it is illegal for any adult aged 24 or older to have sex with an individual under the age of 18-years-old.

The charges that Naqvi faces usually apply to victims aged between 16-17-years-old.
Panasonic AI-driven cameras empower an expanding vision of new uses

Imagine a world where video cameras are not just watching and reporting for security, but have an even wider positive impact on our lives. Imagine that cameras control street and building lights, as people come and go, that traffic jams are predicted and vehicles are automatically rerouted, and more tills are opened, just before a queue starts to form. Cameras with AI capabilities Cameras in stores can show us how we might look in the latest outfit as we browse. Thats the vision from Panasonic about current and future uses for their cameras that provide artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities at the edge. Panasonic feels that these types of intelligent camera applications are also the basis for automation and introduction of Industry 4.0, in which processes are automated, monitored and controlled by AI-driven systems. 4K network security cameras The companys i-PRO AI-capable camera line can install and run up to three AI-driven video analytic applications Panasonics 4K network security cameras have built-in AI capabilities suitable for this next generation of intelligent applications in business and society. The companys i-PRO AI-capable camera line can install and run up to three AI-driven video analytic applications. The AI engine is directly embedded into the camera, thus reducing costs and Panasonics image quality ensures the accuracy of the analytics outcome. FacePRO facial recognition technology Panasonic began advancing AI technology on the server side with FacePRO, the in-house facial recognition application, which uses AI deep learning capabilities. Moving ahead, they transitioned their knowledge of AI from the server side to the edge, introducing i-PRO security cameras with built-in AI capabilities last summer, alongside their own in-house analytics. Moreover, in line with the Panasonic approach to focus more on collaboration with specialist AI software developers, a partnership with Italian software company, A.I. Tech followed in September, with a range of intelligent applications, partially based on deep learning. Additional collaborations are already in place with more than 10 other developers, across the European Union, working on more future applications. i-PRO AI-capable security cameras Open systems are an important part of Panasonics current approach. The companys i-PRO AI-capable cameras are an open platform and designed for third-party application development, therefore, applications can be built or tailored to the needs of an individual customer. Panasonic use to be a company that developed everything in-house, including all the analytics and applications. However, now we have turned around our strategy by making our i-PRO security cameras open to integrate applications and analytics from third-party companies, says Gerard Figols, Head of Security Solutions at Panasonic Business Europe. Flexible and adapting to specific customer needs This new approach allows the company to be more flexible and adaptable to customers needs. At the same time, we can be quicker and much more tailored to the market trend, said Gerard Figols. He adds, For example, in the retail space, enabling retailers to enhance the customer experience, in smart cities for traffic monitoring and smart parking, and by event organisers and transport hubs to monitor and ensure safety. Edge-based analytics offer multiple benefits over server-based systems Edge-based analytics Edge-based analytics offer multiple benefits over server-based systems. On one hand, there are monetary benefits - a cost reduction results from the decreased amount of more powerful hardware required on the server side to process the data, on top of reduction in the infrastructure costs, as not all the full video stream needs to be sent for analysis, we can work solely with the metadata. On the other hand, there are also advantages of flexibility, as well as reliability. Each camera can have its own individual analytic setup and in case of any issue on the communication or server side, the camera can keep running the analysis at the edge, thereby making sure the CCTV system is still fully operational. Most importantly, systems can keep the same high level of accuracy. Explosion of AI camera applications We can compare the explosion of AI camera applications to the way we experienced it for smartphone applications" We can compare the explosion of AI camera applications to the way we experienced it for smartphone applications, said Gerard Figols, adding However, it doesnt mean the hardware is not important anymore, as I believe its more important than ever. Working with poor picture quality or if the hardware is not reliable, and works 24/7, software cannot run or deliver the outcome it has been designed for. As hardware specialists, Figols believes that Panasonic seeks to focus on what they do best - Building long-lasting, open network cameras, which are capable of capturing the highest quality images that are required for the latest AI applications, while software developers can concentrate on bringing specialist applications to the market. Same as for smartphones, AI applications will proliferate based on market demand and succeed or fail, based on the value that they deliver. Facial recognition, privacy protection and cross line technologies Panasonic has been in the forefront in developing essential AI applications for CCTV, such as facial recognition, privacy protection and cross line. However, with the market developing so rapidly and the potential applications of AI-driven camera systems being so varied and widespread, Panasonic quickly realised that the future of their network cameras was going to be in open systems, which allow specialist developers and their customers to use their sector expertise to develop their own applications for specific vertical market applications, while using i-PRO hardware. Metadata for detection and recognition Regarding privacy, consider that the use of AI in cameras is about generating metadata for the detection and recognition of patterns, rather than identifying individual identities. However, there are legitimate privacy concerns, but I firmly believe that attitudes will change quickly when people see the incredible benefits that this technology can deliver, said Gerard Figols, adding I hope that we will be able to redefine our view of cameras and AI, not just as insurance, but as life advancing and enhancing. i-PRO AI Privacy Guard One of the AI applications that Panasonic developed was i-PRO AI Privacy Guard Seeking to understand and appreciate privacy concerns, one of the AI applications that Panasonic developed was i-PRO AI Privacy Guard that generates data without capturing individual identities, following European privacy regulations that are among the strictest in the world. Gerard Fogils said, The combination of artificial intelligence and the latest generation open camera technology will change the worlds perceptions from Big Brother to Big Benefits. New applications will emerge as the existing generation of cameras is updated to the new open and intelligent next generation devices, and the existing role of the security camera will also continue. Future scope of AI and cameras He adds, Not just relying on the security cameras for evidence when things have gone wrong, end users will increasingly be able to use AI and the cameras with much higher accuracy to prevent false alarms and in a proactive way to prevent incidents." Gerard Figols concludes, That could be monitoring and alerting when health and safety guidelines are being breached or spotting and flagging patterns of suspicious behaviour before incidents occur.
University of North Georgia (UNG) students along with their parents, guardians and family members will have the opportunity on Jan. 29 to hear updates on the remainder of the spring semester.

UNG President Bonita Jacobs will host a virtual Parent, Family and Student Town Hall at noon Friday, Jan. 29, at this link. The town hall will focus on helping students navigate the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic academically and personally. Students, parents and family members may submit questions in advance via email to enrollment@ung.edu. University leaders will address the questions during the event.

One of the resources the town hall will highlight is the newly launched Nigel Cares mental health initiative that complements Student Counseling with additional aid for students. It provides a free 24/7/365 mental health support line for students, along with other resources.

"The Nigel Cares initiative is an incredible opportunity to help students with immediate assistance for mental health challenges when they need it most so they can continue to focus on success in their academics," Michelle Eaton, director of enrollment management for student success, said.

Additionally, Dr. Kate Maine, chief of staff and vice president of university relations, and Greg Williams, associate director of emergency preparedness, will provide updates on the steps UNG continues to take to keep students, faculty and staff safe during the pandemic.

Dr. Chaudron Gille, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at UNG, will answer the academic questions and highlight the academic resources available to students.

"We surveyed our students and faculty in fall semester to identify where the greatest areas of challenge were so that we could better support student success," Gille said. "The changes made in the course modalities are only one example of this."

This marks the fourth student and parent forum that UNG has held since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The virtual town hall meeting for students and families provides an opportunity for us to be clear in our approach to handling all of the challenges that our students are facing," said Dr. James Conneely, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. "The meeting also provides the chance to ask questions that will reassure them that UNG is committed to serving the student body in a positive and proactive manner."

For students, parents and family members unable to attend, a recording of the digital town hall will be available on the Nighthawks Together website about a week after the event.
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A former New Bedford police officer was sentenced in federal court in Boston on Monday for possessing and distributing child sexual abuse images.

Paul E. Hodson II, 42, of Acushnet, was sentenced to 6 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release, authorities said. He pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography in December 2019.

Federal investigators executed a search warrant at Hodsons home in June of 2019. The then-officer was home at the time, along with his wife and 6-year-old child, according to an affidavit.

When agents asked if Hodson knew why they were there, he indicated that he did, because he had reviewed the warrant, authorities said.

Hodson told the investigators they would find child sexual abuse images on a laptop computer located in a basement, the affidavit said. Hodson provided the agents with the password to the computer.

Hodson admitted that he had been into child pornography since some time before his son was born, that he had used peer-to-peer file sharing software for a number of years (previously, to download music), and that eMule was the only program he used to trade child pornography, authorities said.

Hundreds of child sexual abuse image files were recovered the computer, including at least one file that had been given to an undercover cop during the investigation, authorities said. The files contained pictures and videos of underage girls involved in sex acts with other children and adults.
Montclair is no ordinary town.

The newly elected mayor, Sean Spiller, is the No. 2 official at the statewide teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association. The president of the local teachers labor group, Petal Robertson, is competing for a leadership job at the association. And one of the governors top political strategists, Brendan Gill  an Essex County commissioner who is also the townships Democratic chairman  lives there, as does the states new education commissioner, Angelica Allen-McMillan.

Montclair is also home to an array of prominent journalists, academics and television celebrities.

All this gives the battle outsize relevance in a state where the governor, a Democrat running for re-election, has repeatedly said that he wants students back in schools but has done little to require it.

On Monday night, teachers in a nearby district, South Orange-Maplewood, followed Montclairs lead.

The teachers union, South Orange and Maplewood Education Association, released a letter notifying the superintendent and school board that they would no longer participate in in-person instruction. The unions action comes only a week after schools reopened for the first time since March.

We will continue to educate passionately but will do so from our homes until such time as temperatures are moderate enough to avoid bone-chilling working conditions in violation of minimum temperature standards and vaccines are made available to educators, the union wrote.

Montclairs teachers union has said that communication with the superintendent, Dr. Jonathan C. Ponds, has been poor. Information and reports about ventilation and other safety measures in school buildings were not provided, they said, and a meeting with union leaders was canceled, leaving them with little confidence in his assurances that the schools were safe.

The union has also noted that cases of the virus are more prevalent now than they were over the last two months, when the district delayed earlier plans to reopen.

In a slide show presentation to the superintendent, the union asked: With case of transmissions on the steady increase, even more since the holiday breaks, is now really a good time to return to in-person instruction?
Mr Morrison has backed the existing date and said on Monday he was not surprised by a national survey published in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald showing only 28 per cent of 1222 people were in favour of changing the date. But Mr Albanese said the date was a painful day for First Nations people given the frontier wars after 1788, and he aired a proposal to hold a referendum to recognise First Australians in the constitution and to mark Australia Day on the date of that vote. Mr Albanese also acknowledged a call by Indigenous leader Noel Pearson to hold two days of commemoration, with January 25 marking the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Im very open to these ideas but I think they should be generous and I think they should be warm-hearted in the same spirit as the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Mr Albanese said, referring to the call for constitutional recognition.

The Greens said January 26 should be recognised as a day of mourning for the countrys first people. Labor Senator Sue Lines said last week that Australia Day celebrates white supremacy and the legacy of colonisation. Mr Turnbull said he accepted the concerns with January 26 and believed the national day should be moved to the day when the country votes at a referendum in favour of a republic. The problem is if you say January 26 is not appropriate, and there are powerful arguments which I respect against the actual day, the next question is what is the alternative? he said. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says Australia Day should change to a future date when the nation votes to become a republic. Credit:James Brickwood

The next good date would be the date we become a republic. Hopefully, that wont be too long delayed. That would be a good alternative. Asked if this would take too long, given the low public support for cutting ties with the monarchy, Mr Turnbull said: Id rather see this as being an additional incentive to become a republic. The former prime minister, who led the Australian Republican Movement when voters rejected a republic at a referendum in 1999, acknowledged the reform lacked majority support at the moment but said it could be achieved after the rein of Queen Elizabeth. When the Queen either dies or abdicates that will be a massive watershed, he said.

Loading You will see the monarchy seen in a very different perspective. The glamour of the younger Royals, as celebrities, is real, but its also controversial, as weve seen with Harry and Megan. I mean, the Americans love the Royals, but theyre not proposing to import the British royal family as their head of state. Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt backed January 26 and called for a better understanding of Australian history on the day, including the experience of First Australians. We can engage in productive dialogue, with considered understanding for each others points of view, he said on Monday.

Part of this includes greater recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples history, traditions and culture are an important part of all Australia Day events  from citizenship ceremonies to festivities, which is already occurring across the country. Labor Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, another prominent Indigenous Australian, said a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to the Australian Parliament was imperative to achieving change and was a bigger debate than the national day. So on January 26, or Australia Day, or Survival Day or Invasion Day, or just another day, whatever you call it, remember we are a democracy, and we have our individual views, she said. But to survive takes a collective mindset and determination to work together in overcoming our differences. Senator Malarndirri McCarthy says getting a constitutionally-enshrined Voice to Parliament for Indigenous people is more important than a debate about the national day. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Dr. Anthony Fauci is the nations highest paid federal employee raking in an annual salary of $417,608 in 2019, the latest year federal salary data is available.

The nations top infectious disease expert, 80, is not only the highest paid doctor in the federal government but the highest paid employee out of four million federal staffers.

In the pandemic Fauci became the face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and according to salary data, made more than his peers in 2019.

Vice President Mike Pence, who outranks Fauci in authority, made $235,100 salary in 2019, meanwhile Dr. Deborah Birx earned $305,972 in 2019.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci is the nations highest paid federal employee raking in $417,608 in 2019, the latest year federal salary data is available

Fauci's salary even surpassed the $400,000 pay of the president. Donald Trump did not accept the presidential salary and instead wrote checks equal to a quarter of his salary each quarter to various government agencies.

The salary data was collected by OpenTheBooks.com via Freedom of Information Act requests, which included federal employees whose salaries are funded by taxpayers.

On the list the highest paid federal government employees are medical and dental officers.

In other branches of government, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will earn $223,500 this year, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will make $270,700 and House an Representatives and Senators will make $174,000. Four-star military generals will make $268,000 a year, all less than Fauci, according to Forbes.

Fauci's salary even surpassed the $400,000 pay of the president. Donald Trump did not accept the presidential salary and instead gave it out to various government agencies instead of keeping it for himself

In the pandemic Fauci became the face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and according to salary data, made more than his peers in 2019. Vice President Mike Pence (left), who outranks Fauci in authority, made $235,100 salary in 2019, meanwhile Dr. Deborah Birx (right) earned $305,972 in 2019

In the 10-year period from 2010 to 2019 Fauci made $3.6million in salary. In 2014 Faucis pay increased from $335,000 to its current $417,608.

If Fauci remains as Director of the National Institute for Healths (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and current Chief Medical Advisor to the President hell make a whopping $2.5million from 2019 through 2024 - that is, if he doesnt get a raise.

In an August 13 interview with actor Matthew McConaughey Fauci was asked if he had millions of dollars invested in COVID vaccines.

Fauci said with a laugh: 'Matthew, no, I got zero! I am a government worker. I have a government salary.'

The makers of those vaccines, though, had salaries that far outpaced Fauci's.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla reported $17.9million in total compensation for 2019, according to the company's most recent government filing on salaries and bonuses.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel reported $8.9million in total compensation for 2019, a company filing shows.

Meanwhile CDC scientist Dr. Stephen Lindstrom, who was in charge of overseeing the CDC COVID-19 testing system, made just $108,747 in basic pay, an additional $23,533 in adjusted pay, and an 'award'of $750 in 2019.

In other branches of government, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will earn $223,500 this year, nearly half of what Fauci makes

The Executive Branch includes 2.1million federal agency employees, 1.4million members of the military and 500,000 postal employees.

Federal employee salaries are typically called at a certain level, under IV of the Executive Schedule, which was $172,500 in 2019, which will rise by 2.6 percent in 2020.

However, there are exceptions to the rule  as with Fauci. This is likely because the federal government has to compete with private sector medicine when it comes to doctor and scientist salaries.

Fauci has a medical degree from Cornell University. He started his 53-year career at the NIG in 1968 and has advised every president since President Ronald Reagan. In 2008, President George W. Bush honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor.

Polls show hes the most trusted public figure in the US for information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
TVAM Growth Fund announces the Resolution of Extraordinary General Meeting of Investors with the following contents:

1) Approving the plan to dissolve the Fund.

2) Approving the estimated delisting date on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) on May 05, 2021 and the estimated cancellation date at the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) on May 15, 2021.

3) Approving the estimated liquidation date of the Funds assets on June 19, 2021 as from the dissolution date of 20 May 2021, and the estimated payment date on June 29, 2021.

4) Approving the selection of Ernst & Young Vietnam Company Limited as the auditor for the financial statements in 2021 (while the Fund is in operation).

5) Approving the selection of Ernst & Young Vietnam Company Limited as the auditor for assets liquidation after the dissolution date of May 20, 2021.

6) Approving the Resignation Letter of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Anh Tu as member of the Board of Representatives of Fund from October 29, 2020.

7) Approving the advance of cash income with the ratio of 20% (2,000 dongs/certificate fund).
A lot of them have just given up, turned over the keys and abandoned places, Pappas said. So in a very difficult time in human history, Ive turned it into something I think is beneficial for others. When you get to be my age, what matters is whether or not you can help someone.
Spains Chief of Staff General Miguel Angel Villarroya resigned this weekend as anger mounts among workers at Spanish generals, royalty and politicians who obtained COVID-19 vaccines without medical justification. Vaccines are now suddenly and inexplicably running out for front-line health workers.

On Friday, El Confidencial Digital leaked that Villarroya and several other top officers recently received the first dose of the vaccine out of turn, skipping protocols. Villarroya resigned Saturday.

It is the first time a chief of staff has resigned since the position was created in 1984. In a statement Saturday, the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos governments Ministry of Defence defended Villaroya, saying he never intended to take advantage of unjustifiable privileges which damaged the image of the Armed Forces and cast doubt on the generals honour. It cynically added that Villaroya took decisions he thought to be correct but which damaged the public image of the Armed Forces.

Members of Military Emergency Unit arrive at Abando train station, in Bilbao, northern Spain earlier this year. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

This scandal exposes the criminal character of the European Unions (EUs) herd immunity policy. In the European Union, more than 650,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the past year and over 18 million have been infected. In Spain, nationwide infection rates have soared since late December, with over 40,000 new cases every day, bringing total infections to over 2.5 million. The death toll is now over 80,000.

The ruling class has refused to implement medically necessary lockdown orders in order to continue extracting profits from the working class. Workers are bombarded with endless calls to sacrifice to save the economy, including prominently from Villarroya himself.

As the pandemic began, the PSOE-Podemos government put forward Villarroya, who held regular press conferences alongside the health officials to talk about deploying the army to disinfect buildings, build makeshift hospitals and transport bodies. The army received unprecedented levels of positive news coverage.

The deployment exposed the disastrous state of the civilian health care system. After decades of privatisation and austerity, it was unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. The PSOE-Podemos government responded by trying to politically rehabilitate the Spanish army, which is historically associated with neo-colonial wars and fascist violence against the working class.

With his motto every day is Monday and his appeals to militarist sentiment, Villaroya told the public that discipline, spirit of service and sacrifice were necessary to defeat the pandemic. He portrayed the pandemic as a war, saying: In this irregular and strange war that we have to live through, in which we all have to fight, we are all soldiers.

What Villarroya did not say was that in this war the bourgeoisie treated the workers as cannon fodder. While soldiers in World War I were told to jump over the top of trenches in countless fruitless offensives into massed machine gun fire, today millions of workers and youth are packed into trains and trams to go to non-essential work and school. The aim is to ensure that profits continue pouring into the coffers of the banks, at the cost of infecting millions with COVID-19.

Like Spains wealthy soldados de cuota (quota soldiers) in the early 20th century whose families paid large sums to avoid universal military service, todays billionaire parasites, far-right generals and countless corrupt officials skipped the wait-list to save themselves at others expense. This has provoked outrage.

Tens of thousands tweeted under the hashtag #QueremosLaLista (WeWantTheList), demanding that a public list be drawn of all those in public positions of power that have vaccinated out of turn.

One Twitter user said, Im joining WeWantTheList. To use your position in power to jump the priority of vaccinations in COVID-19 is miserable, with no justification. Another user said: They lie to us, they rob us, they privatise, they let us die, WeWantTheList.

Another demanded of Defence Minister Margarita Robles: WeWantTheList of the Chiefs of Defence who have taken the vaccine and for you to sack them. With this right-wing Minister [i.e., Robles], these people wont fall.

Another Twitter user said: [T]hey say you should put the second dose to not squander the vaccine. The only way to not squander vaccines is putting a guillotine in each town square. You will be naive if you think band-aids will conceal this. WeWantTheList.

Anger is mounting amid revelations that the vaccination campaign is stalling due to vaccine shortages. The PSOE-Podemos governments COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy specified that from January to March, it would vaccinate 2.5 million people, including nursing home residents and staff, health workers,and people with serious disabilities. It is now rapidly falling behind schedule.

Over the weekend, Spains most populous region, Andalusia, halted administration of the vaccine. We must stop vaccinating on Saturday and Sunday to use the 10 percent kept as a strategic reserve on Monday and Tuesday, the regions Health Minister explained Saturday. This followed the Madrid regions announcement that it was stopping the rollout of the vaccines for front-line health workers fighting COVID-19 because it has run out of vaccines.

The PSOE-Podemos governments sacking of Villarroya amounts to nothing more than political damage control. Defence Minister Margarita Robles reacted to the scandal on Friday by requesting a report from the chief of defence, the usual procedure to buy time. Only when public anger mounted did Podemos request Villaroyas head, in a desperate attempt to suppress the scandal.

The PSOE-Podemos government has refused to disclose how many vaccines the army has hoarded and name all vaccinated army officers. Other generals named in El Confidencial Digital s report Friday have remained in their posts: Generals Fernando Garcia Gonzalez-Valerio, Francisco Braco Carbo, Carlos Prada Larrea, and Francisco Javier Vidal Fernandez.

In fact, and as the PSOE and Podemos officials well know, if everyone implicated in hoarding vaccines and skipping vaccination queues had to resign, the entire top echelon of the state would have to be sacked. The PSOE and Podemos are themselves politically implicated in the scandal.

This was implicitly acknowledged by the only public official who came out to defend Villarroya. Madrids Popular Party (PP) mayor, Jose Luis Almeida, said: We are in a crisis situation, lets face it. Those who lead the nation, those who have the responsibility to make decisions for the future, it seems very logical and very reasonable for them to be vaccinated. Almeida differentiated between the many cases of politicians who should not have received the dose and those who have to lead the nation at a crucial moment. Spain, he cynically concluded, cannot become leaderless.

Workers can have no confidence in Podemos, the PSOE or any other faction of the political establishment to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers and youth should be warned that the damage control operation will not lessen the right-wing, authoritarian drive of the ruling class. Terrified by mounting mass anger, it will shift further to the right, and the coup-plotting conspiracies of the army general staff and the fascist Vox party will escalate even as the PSOE and Podemos double down on their herd immunity policy.

The turn is to the European and international working class. Strikes and protests erupt on a daily basis across Europe as health and postal workers, teachers, other sections of workers and youth mobilize against herd immunity policies. Developing this movement requires organizing the workers and youth in rank-and-file safety committees independent of the union bureaucracies and parliamentary parties, and building a political movement for socialism against Podemos, the PSOE, the EU and the capitalist system.
The Chicago Teachers Union said on Sunday that a majority of its members had voted to authorize a strike if the nations third-largest school district sought to force teachers back into school buildings.

Chicago Public Schools said it would delay the teachers return, originally scheduled for today, by two days for ongoing discussions. Students are still due back on Feb. 1.

Teachers unions are flexing their muscles nationwide. This weekend in Montclair, N.J., an affluent suburb of New York City, the union also delayed a planned reopening of schools. And in Bellevue, Wash., district officials sought an injunction against the union after teachers, concerned about safety, refused to participate in in-person instruction.

These actions may complicate President Bidens plan to reopen schools in his first 100 days in office. He has vowed to throw the strength of the federal government behind an effort to reopen school doors as quickly as possible. But our colleague Dana Goldstein reports that the return to normality may be anything but speedy.
Minister of Social Policy Maryna Lazebna expected the adoption of the bill on the funded pension system in 2021 and the launch of the system from January 1, 2023.

"We are working to ensure that a consolidated and compromise law on the introduction of a funded pension system in Ukraine will be adopted this year," Lazebna said on the air of the Savik Shuster's Freedom of Speech television program on Friday evening.

The minister said that it is important to adopt this document in 2021 in order to then prepare all the necessary by-laws and determine when the contributions will start.

"Therefore, I hope 2021 will be the year of the adoption of the law, 2022 will be the year of the adoption of all the necessary by-laws and the preparation of the entire infrastructure, and January 1, 2023, will be the year when working people, those categories that will be determined by the law, will start using their savings accounts," she said.

Lazebna said that it is envisaged that the funded pension system will be compulsory for people under 50, and for the rest it will be voluntary.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said on January 22 that it sees no evidence that Pfizer and BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine has contributed to the deaths of the elderly people that occurred in Norway. It said in a statement the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety said that the reports of deaths are in line with the expected, all-cause mortality rates and causes of death in the sub-population of frail, elderly individuals, and the available information does not confirm a contributory role for the vaccine in the reported fatal events. It added that the risk-benefit balance of the COVID-19 vaccine remains favourable in the elderly.

The WHO panel had met earlier this week to review the reports that some of the terminally-ill people had died after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Initially, the deaths being reported from Norway had raised an alarm among the authorities. Just last week, it was reported that several elderly people died just shortly after receiving the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in Norway. However, the health authorities in Norway had also said that "no direct link" was established between Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine and post-vaccination deaths in the country.

WHO further said, Countries should continue to monitor the safety of vaccines, and promote routine after-care following immunization, consistent with good immunization practices for any vaccine. The committee recommends that data on suspected adverse events should be collected and reviewed continuously - nationally, regionally, and globally - as the COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, world-wide.

Read - Two Flights With Covishield Vaccine Depart From Mumbai Airport To Brazil, Morocco

Read - Florida Starts To Restrict COVID Vaccine

Australia Seeks Info From Pfizer, Norwegian Regulator

Meanwhile, the Australian government has reportedly demanded detailed information from Pfizer-BioNTech and the Norwegian medical regulator after 30 vaccine recipients died in Norway. As per reports, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt called on both the Norwegian regulator and the vaccine manufacturers demanding detailed information regarding the incident. This comes after reports emerged on Norway's medicine regulator NOMA stating that the deaths of 29 people may have occurred due to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Read - California Faces High Demand For COVID Vaccine

Read - Turkey's Erdogan Says Extra 10M Doses Of Chinese Vaccine Due


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Chuck Colson liked to say that the Kingdom of God will never arrive on Air Force One. Its still true. Any reprieve in the last few years in the areas of religious liberty and the sanctity of life is coming to an end, and recent events should make the truth of Chucks statement obvious. Whether politics are upstream or downstream from culture (and the right answer is that its really both), it is not the vehicle for lasting cultural change.

In fact, the history of Christianity shows that lasting cultural change rarely comes about in ways we are expecting. Christian influence requires that Christians cultivate virtue in both our private and public lives. One virtue that once changed the world is patience.

In his book, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, the late Mennonite historian Alan Kreider explained Christianitys extraordinary rise from a beleaguered sect to the movement that transformed the Roman Empire.

As one reviewer of Kreiders book put it, Christianity probably shouldnt exist. Not only did its Roman contemporaries hate the Church, but Christians didnt make it easy to join up. With a stringent moral code and an extended period of catechesis prior to baptism, which only happened one a year around Easter, the Early Church wasnt very seeker friendly.

Yet, it grew.

Why? Surprisingly, it wasnt because of an emphasis on evangelism, public preaching, or other missionary activities. The Church Fathers seldom wrote about those subjects, perhaps because they didnt need to. But they did emphasize patience, which Kreider defined as not controlling events, not anxious or in a hurry, and never using force to achieve [their] ends.

If this sounds like a boring and timid church-growth strategy, it wasnt.

In the ancient world, patience was a trait associated with subordinates, such as slaves and victims. People at the bottom of the social hierarchy were expected to exercise patience, not those at the top. By emphasizing patience, the Church Fathers mobilized early Christians to be profoundly counter-cultural, which, to borrow a line from the Book of Acts, turned the world upside-down.

Patience, enacted in habits such as teaching and worship, produced the ferment of Kreiders title. People lived lives that were not only in marked contrast to the lives of their neighbors but were better than those practiced in the larger society. Christians ran towards the plague when others ran away from it. They didnt kill their children, and even adopted children left to die. They treated their spouses and children with love and respect while others treated their own families as little more than household slaves.

At the Colson Centers Truth. Love. Together virtual event last year, Andy Crouch marvelously described the patient ferment of the Early Church. As he put it, people took notice and asked Christians to give an account for the hope that was within them. As a result, the Church grew from being a persecuted sect numbering in the thousands at the end of the first century to half the empire by the start of the fourth. The patient ferment of the Early Church transformed the world.

As Crouch put it, instead of fermentation, we often prefer carbonation, hoping a quick shot of power or a new clever church-growth method will do the trick. There might be some fizz, but the effects are short-lived. The Early Church understood that long-lasting change requires long-lasting effort. It requires understanding that the fruit of our labors may not be seen until after we are gone. It requires that we live for faithfulness, not success.

Now none of this means that Christians should abandon the public square or the political process. It certainly doesnt exempt us from speaking the truth at every level, and it includes speaking, when necessary, those very hard truths our culture wont tolerate right now.

A prime example of cultural fermentation was British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce. Wilberforce and his committed band of Christian co-laborers worked for decades to abolish the slave trade and restore virtue in the British Empire. Yet, neither he nor his children lived to see the full fruit of their labors. Why should we expect things to be different? Why should we be exempt from the need for patience?

We shouldnt. And to think otherwise is to confuse carbonation for fermentation and Air Force One for the Second Coming.

Originally posted at breakpoint.org
Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington has split with The Queen's Gambit actor Jonjo O'Neill after four years, telling fans she's a 'fragile girl at the moment.'

The TV star, 46, started dating Irishman Jonjo, 42, after she split from fellow actor Martin Freeman, 49, in 2016 after 16 years together.

Amanda, known for playing Mary Morstan in the BBC series, and Jonjo took the step of moving in together in her Hertfordshire home during the pandemic last year.

The actress announced the split to fans on her Instagram Live, saying: 'Sadly no Irishman anymore. He's gone... it's fine, it's just one of those things.'

'I'm a fragile girl at the moment': Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington revealed she has split from actor Jonjo O'Neill after a four year romance as she admits 'sadly, the Irishman has gone' (pictured in September 2019)

The mother-of-two hinted at her heartbreak by saying she was, 'very sad for personal reasons' and admitting she was struggling with lockdown because she was 'on my own in the house', The Sun reports.

She added: 'At the moment I'm quite fragile... I'm a fragile girl at the moment.'

Amanda also joked that she had joined a dating app in a bid to combat her loneliness.

She wrote: 'I go on Tinder. No, I've never been on Tinder, nor would I, that was a joke.

'Being on your own, certainly, you build your strength up and you get a sense of perspective.'

She hinted at her heartbreak by saying she was, 'very sad for personal reasons' and admitting she was struggling with lockdown because she was 'on my own in the house' (pictured in February 2019)

Amanda and Jonjo first began dating in November 2016 - nine months after she secretly split from The Office star Martin, 49.

They first went public in October 2018, when Amanda supported him in a West End showcase of Harold Pinter.

Talking about when they first met, she said: 'At the end of the night I went up to him and said: 'I think we should go for a drink.' He was: 'Yeah, OK.'

'We were following each other on Twitter and it was really nice, but then I met him and it was like: 'Oh, you're lovely. I'll be brazen'.'

Love: They first went public in October 2018, when Amanda supported him in a West End showcase of Harold Pinter, (pictured in August 2019)

In March, she said lockdown had brought them closer together. He said: 'We're enjoying drinking red wine and bingeing on TV series. I'm nearly a married woman.'

Meanwhile, Amanda discussed her split from Martin after 16 years together in an interview with The Sunday Times magazine back in April 2018.

The actress and Martin are parents to Joe, 14, and Grace, 11.

She said: 'When we broke up nobody knew, we didn't tell anybody except for a few key people because they had to know, because of the logistics of hotels and stuff.

'It took six months for it to get out and a lot of that was while we were working on Sherlock.

'We were professional and we were going to get on and make a show and be civil to each other.

When they broke up, hopeless romantic Amanda was terrified of being a single mother in her 40s and the separation was one of the darkest times of her life.

'I had thought Martin was the love of my life. This wasn't meant to happen to us,' she said in an interview with Red magazine.

'I would wake every morning with a sudden lurch. 'Why do I feel sick?' I'd ask myself, in the darkness of the bedroom I no longer shared with my partner.

'And then, a split-second later, I'd remember what had happened. 'Oh,' I thought, as the tears started to fall. 'That's why'.'

She added: 'During that long, lonely week, I had to keep things together for the sake of our children, Joe and Gracie, who were then 10 and eight.

'They needed to be looked after. I had to wake them up and make them breakfast and take them to school and, in a way, the normality of that routine kept me going.

'It got me up in the mornings.'




Yoga, unlike any other exercise form, is a complete workout for the mind, body, and spirit. This ancient and traditional science for well-being incorporates elements of physical postures, pranayama, meditation, mudras and more. Yoga is a powerful tool that helps to strengthen your body, builds resilience, eliminates fluctuations of the mind and retains your youthfulness. Yoga helps you to remain disciplined in your practice in order to experience its innumerable benefits.

Image: Shutterstock



Movement Is Therapy

Continue your practice with commitment even during cold winter days with the following practices. When you move the body on a regular basis it makes you happy as exercise releases endorphins in the body. This can cause you to experience a sense of fulfilment, remain productive and energetic throughout the day.



Sukshma Vyayam

Before you begin your yoga routine make sure that you start your practice with subtle exercises known as Sukshma Vyayam. Yoga recommends that you warm up the body from the toes upwards. This will ensure the body is thoroughly warmed up mind is focused and you are ready for a practice free from injury. Mobilise your ankles, start gentle rotation of hips, arms, wrists, head and neck. Walk around briskly, and stretch to loosen up your muscles.



Princess Charlene of Monaco's 43rd birthday today will be an intimate 'family affair', her husband Prince Albert has revealed.

According to the royal, 62, the couple are set to celebrate the big day today in a low-key way with their twin children Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, both six.

Prince Albert has said the former Olympic swimmer will spend the day surrounded by family, but explained gatherings would be in low-key amid the Covid-19 crisis, telling People magazine: 'She doesn't like big celebrations.'

Weeks ago, it emerged Prince Albert is set to appear in court in the coming months to fight explosive claims he fathered a third love child with a secret girlfriend.

Princess Charlene of Monaco will enjoy an intimate 'family affair' on her 43rd birthday, Prince Albert, 62, has revealed

Meanwhile he revealed the family party would likely be subdued to the Covid-19 restrictions preventing groups of more than six gathering.

His comments have emerged days after Princess Charlene made her first comments about Prince Albert amid allegations he is facing a paternity suit.

Speaking with Point du Vue, she revealed: 'When my husband has problems, he tells me about it. I often tell him, "No matter what, no matter what, I'm a thousand percent behind you. I'll stand by you whatever you do, in good times or in bad."

The mother-of-two went on to say she also often tells her husband she will 'protect him' and will 'always be by his side.'

Prince Albert said the former Olympian 'doesn't like big celebrations' as he opened up about their plans for the big day today

Meanwhile Princess Charlene revealed her drastic new haircut was 'her decision', explaining she had wanted the cut 'for a long time' because the 'style pleases her.'

She said she had dismissed comments about the style 'not being royal', adding: 'And I have nothing to answer them, except that we are in 2021, and that in these times so troubled, so difficult, other much more important subjects deserve our attention.'

And after being asked 'are you happy', the royal responded: 'There are times more or less easy, it is the case for everyone.

'But I am happy as I am, fulfilled by what I am going through, I know I am very privileged.'

Last month, Princess Charlene unveiled a striking new punk style haircut at a Christmas market

Sources in the Mediterranean principality say Charlene has had a 'terrible' year as lawyers for the billionaire couple brace themselves for the court case that opens in Milan in February.

The couple have been sharing snaps and videos together over the past few weeks, standing side-by-side for Prince Albert's annual New Years speech last month.

The royal used his traditional annual speech, which was shared on Facebook, to talk about his hope for the future and his determination to lead the principality towards better times.

The message was shared online just days after Princess Charlene posted a series of festive snaps of her family Christmas.

The couple have made several appearances together in the past few weeks after allegations arose Prince Albert is facing a paternity suit

The photos were interpreted as a show of unity amid reports Prince Albert faces a paternity suit over a third love child.

Albert, who already supports two illegitimate children, is alleged to have had a relationship with a 34-year-old Brazilian woman which resulted in a daughter in on July 4, 2005.

The claim, which his lawyers dismissed as a 'hoax', is particularly painful as he was dating Charlene at the time, having met the former Olympic swimmer in 2000.

Albert received a handwritten letter from the child, who is now 15, in September this year reading: I don't understand why I grew up without a father, and now that I have found you, you don't want to see me.

Last month, Princess Charlene posted a series of festive snaps of her family Christmas, which were interpreted as a show of unity

Legal papers were also filed, as lawyers for the claimant called on Albert to undergo a DNA test  just as he did before finally being identified as the father of two illegitimate children born in the 1990s and early 2000s.

This was before Charlene and Albert were an item, but the latest case covers a time when she was already in love with him, said a source who works closely with the Monaco Royal household.

Charlene has had a terrible year, with one family crisis after another including Albert going down with Coronavirus, and now shes gearing herself up for this hell.

The princess, whose maiden name was Charlene Wittstock, was an Olympic swimmer for South Africa when she first met Albert at a Monaco aquatic competition in 2000.

A second picture showed Albert II, sporting red Christmas pyjamas and matching crocs, as well a a 'Joyeux Noel' Santa hat while hugging his six-year-old twins Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella

They began dating soon afterwards, before Charlene married into the House of Grimaldi at a star-studded wedding in July 2011.

Their twins  daughter Gabriella and son Jacques  were born three years later and are the family's official heirs.

Princess Charlene's life in the Monaco royal family 1987 - Bea Fiedler, a German topless model, claims her son Daniel was the prince's son, although this was never proved. 1992 - An American national files a paternity lawsuit against the Prince, claiming that he was the father of her daughter, Jazmin Grace. 2000 - Princess Charlene meets Prince Albert at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monte Carlo 2005 - In May, a former flight attendant claims that her youngest son, whom she named Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, was Prince Albert's child. She states that his parentage had been proven by DNA tests requested by the Monegasque government. On 6 July, a few days before he was enthroned on 12 July, the Prince officially confirms via his lawyer Lacoste that Alexandre was his biological son. 2006 - After a DNA test confirmed the child's parentage, Albert admitted, via statement from his lawyer, that he is Jazmin Grace's father. 2010 - Princess Charlene and Prince Albert announce their engagement 2011 - Princess Charlene was said to have bolted two days before the royal wedding after hearing Prince Albert had a third love child during their relationship. It was alleged that Charlene tried to flee home to South Africa three times before her 'arranged marriage', at one point taking refuge inside her country's embassy in Paris. Monaco officials were said to have coaxed her back by brokering a deal between the Prince and his reluctant bride that she provide him with a legitimate heir. After that she would be free to leave of her own free will. During the wedding, Charlene was in floods of tears, while her husband looked on impassively. Later in the year, Princess Charlene confessed she felt 'very lonely' in Monaco 2012 - Princess Charlene was reported to be 'depressed' at her failure to provide her husband with a legitimate heir. 2014 - Pregnancy was announced in May. In December Charlene gave birth to twins Princess Gabriella and heir to the throne Prince Jacques. 2017 - Princess Charlene visits Africa, tells media: 'I am African and this is my heritage. It will always be. Its in my heart and in my veins.' 2019 - In a rare interview, Princess Charlene confessed it is 'sometimes hard to smile' and said the year had been 'very painful' In another interview, she said she found motherhood 'exhausting' Advertisement

By this time, Charlene had come to terms with Alberts hard fought legal battles with women who eventually won financial settlements over children they had with Albert  even though he originally denied their claims.

In May 2005, just before he was enthroned as Prince of Monaco, Albert confirmed he was the biological father of Alexandre, whose mother was Nicole Coste, a former Air France flight attendant from Togo.

A DNA test in May 2006 also confirmed Albert was the father of Jazmine Grace, the result of an affair with Tamara Rotolo, an American estate agent he met while she was on holiday in the South of France.

Jazmine was born in the 1990s and Alexandre in 2003. The Brazilian woman says she travelled around the world with the Prince in the 2000s.

Her Italian lawyer is, by coincidence, called Erich Grimaldi  the name of the Grimaldi Royal Household of which Albert and Charlene are a part.

Mr Grimaldi said he had filed papers with specific details of his clients love affair with Albert, including trips to Brazil, the USA, France and Russia.

While in Moscow, the lovers are even said to have had a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who gave the Brazilian a warm hug, according to court papers.

Now Albert is said to be ignoring all correspondence from his alleged third daughter, instead leaving the matter to his legal team.

Alberts lawyer, Thierry Lacoste, has described the allegations as a a hoax, saying: There are no intimate photos, no tangible facts surrounding a possible relationship.

Mr Lacoste said he was also considering filing a counter claim for attempted fraud and blackmail because the claimant threatened to publicise her story if no cash was forthcoming, Mr Lacoste told Frances Le Point magazine.

Neither Alberts daughter Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, now 28, nor his son, Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, 17, can claim the throne of Monaco, according to negotiated financial agreements.

The line of succession instead favours Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, who have just turned six, and who frequently appear in their parents social media posts.

Charlene is known for being exceptionally quiet and soft-spoken, leading another Monte Carlo resident who has known the couple since before their marriage to speculate that her new hairstyle may be a sign of distress.

She pointed to a series of unsettling incidents in Charlenes career as a royal, which included the princess being in floods of tears throughout her wedding to Albert.

They were saying she was very home sick, and was desperate to get back to Africa, said the friend.

This was a time when there were already rumours that Albert had yet another love child conceived during his time with Charlene.

It was said that Charlene got news of the child when she was being fitted for a bridal gown in Paris. The rumours subsided for a while, but now they have exploded again.

In an interview with the South African magazine Huisgenoot a year ago, Charlene confirmed that her fairytale lifestyle came with deep problems.

Charlene said: People are very quick to say, Oh, why isn't she smiling in the photos?.

Well, sometimes it's hard to smile. They don't know what's going on in the background.

She added: I have the privilege of having this life, but I miss my family and my friends in South Africa and I'm often sad because I cannot always be there for them.
If Indian press reports prove true, both the countrys Ministry of Defence and its Department of Space may soon give up their claims on parts of the 3300-3600 MHz spectrum.

This, of course, would be a boost for planned operator rollout of 5G. At the moment the 3300-3400 MHz band is held by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and a block of 25 units (3400-3425 MHz) is used by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

In the past, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has repeatedly asked the two groups to vacate the 125 MHz of radiowaves, so this would be a sign of real progress in 5G spectrum allocation.

Theres a long way to go, however, when it comes to clearing the way for 5G auctions. Even though a new committee aimed at simplifying and clarifying the countrys spectrum allocation process was set up late last year, there still seem to be issues bothering the Department of Space related to potential 5G interference with satellite hubs. Theres also the problem of the 26GHz-28GHz band, which both the DoT and operators would like to see made available, not least in the light of 5G standards approval for the 26GHz band from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The ongoing issue of price also remains unresolved. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended a base price of somewhere in the region of $67.4 million per unit for spectrum in the 5G band. The telecommunications industry, not surprisingly, wants a better price and more choice of spectrum.

The good news is that there will almost certainly be a 4G auction in March in a number of bands. However, its hard to know when or whether 5G will follow.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
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The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday dismissed the N763million money laundering charges filed against Uyiekpen Giwa-Osagie, who is a lawyer to a former Nigerian Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Abubakar was the Peoples Democratic Partys presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections.

Mr Giwa-Osagie was arrested along with his brother Erhunse Giwa-Osagie in the run-up to the election in 2019.

The Nation reports that the judge, Chukwujekwu Aneke, similarly dismissed the charge against both Mr Giwa-Osagie and his brother, Erhunse, on Monday.

Mr Aneke made the order dismissing the charges in a ruling on the no-case submission filed by the defendants after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) closed its case.

The EFCC had on February 23, 2020 re-arraigned the defendants on three counts of money laundering.

The prosecution specifically alleged that the defendants sometime in February 2019 in the build-up to the general elections that year, conspired and made cash payment of N763million without going through a financial institution.

It alleged that the payment was in breach of the threshold of cash transactions outside a financial institution as provided in the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.

The EFCC two witnesses testified that the N763million was part of funds earmarked by politicians to influence the outcome of the 2019 general elections.

But instead of opening their defence, the defendants opted to file a no-case submission insisting that the prosecution failed to make a prima-facie case linking them to the alleged offences.

They added that their action was in line with the law.

The judge upheld their no-case submission on Monday and dismissed the charges, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish that the N763million was part of proceeds of illegal act.
A hoodlum who beat up his former headmaster after harbouring a 20-year grudge against him over his school days was back behind bars for drug dealing today.

Jermaine Bullen, 37, was locked up indefinitely for public protection in 2010 after setting about Kieran Heakin in an Indian restaurant. He served four years before being freed on parole.

Last October father of one Bullen was arrested after police raided his home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester and found he was using it as a base to deal cannabis.

Jermaine Bullen (pictured), a thug who beat up his old headteacher in 2010, is back behind bars after Greater Manchester Police raided his home in Rochdale and found 1.5kg of cannabis

Bullen was jailed for 12 months after admitting possession of cannabis with intent to supply

Officers recovered 1.5kg of the drug worth 3,090 plus snap bags, electronic scales and cash.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Bullen was sent back to prison for 12 months after he admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

He had earned national notoriety after attacking Mr Heakin, then 58, during a night out in Rochdale after telling him: 'You used to beat me up when I was six years old and I have waited all these years to meet up with you again.'

During the attack, which took place in an Indian restaurant, Bullen punched Mr Heakin continuously until he fell to the floor, when he then began kicking him in the head.

The victim who was headmaster at a primary school in Burnley was left needing facial reconstruction surgery, had four metal plates fitted and was left permanently deaf in one ear, with no sense of smell and taste.

Bullen who admitted causing grievous bodily harm later claimed he had been the subject of corporal punishment at the age of six but gave no further details.

Kieran Heakin, who has since forgiven his attacker, was left needing facial reconstruction surgery and is deaf in one ear with no sense of taste or smell after the attack by Bullen in 2010

Bullen (pictured), who has a 15-year-old son, told the court he hugely regretted his actions

Devout Christian Mr Heakin decided to forgive his former pupil.

The latest offences occurred after Bullen rekindled a relationship with a former girlfriend. Susan Hargreaves prosecuting said: 'Officers executed a search at the defendant's home at 6.30am.

'On arrival, they found a large quantity of cannabis in the rear bedroom, and Bullen was arrested. He then offered to show where the cannabis was stored.

'Officers found further bags, a number of which contained cannabis. A large number of 'snack bags' were found at the site, as well as a set of electric scales and two mobile phones.

'Police also found a large amount of cash, and in the kitchen, they found a clear food bag with cannabis inside it.

Jermaine Bullen

'Bullen was interviewed on the same day but declined to answer questions. He was on indefinite license before he was arrested.'

In mitigation defence lawyer Anna Chestnut said: 'This is his first brush with criminality since 2014.

'The probation service was planning to suspend his supervision on licence before he was arrested. He had been working full time as a labourer and then at a demolition company.

'But in December 2019, Mr Bullen bumped into a woman who he once had an off and on relationship with and she said she was pregnant with his child.

'She was in debt, and he wanted to help. He was working at the time, but due to the pandemic, his work dried up and he was on universal credit.

'Having made a promise to this woman, he foolishly turned to drug dealing.

'He was selling mainly to his friends but was also using it himself. He hugely regrets his actions. Mr Bullen has a 15-year-old son.

'He had promised him he would not go back to prison, and he now feels he has let his son down once again.'

Sentencing Bullen Judge Bernadette Baxter told him: 'You are no stranger to these courts and your principal motivation in this enterprise was to make money. You must face the consequences.'
Photo: JIBC Vancouver Police Department officers show use of force tactics to Chinese international students.

British Columbias police academy has a growing international police-training program tailor-made for Chinas Public Security Bureau that critics say is a threat to the countrys security and common values.

The Justice Institute of B.C. (JIBC) has accepted close to 2,000 Chinese law enforcement students, recruits and officials, plus dozens of Chinese state judges, to its purported education and training programs, since 2013.

Yet, despite JIBC partnering with some of the worlds most undemocratic countries, whose criminal justice systems enable widespread human rights violations  such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and China  its international law enforcement studies (ILES) program has operated with limited guiding principles and oversight for such considerations, despite being tailor-made for Chinese police academies.

The ILES program is offered to Chinese police academy students, who are Chinas future police officers, border agents and prison guards  handpicked by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The program, critics charge, is at best a questionable source of revenue that does nothing to achieve its stated goal of reforming the authoritarian police regime or, at worst, a Trojan horse chock-full of national security threats, such as foreign influence activity, espionage and further offshore human rights violations.

To think for a second that the Chinese aren't capable of policing their own people is ridiculous when they have a 99.9% conviction rate, suggests intelligence analyst and transnational organized crime expert Scott McGregor.

If you compare the criminal justice system of Canada with the criminal justice system of the People's Republic of China, you're going to find the Grand Canyon, said Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon.

However, said JIBC president Michel Tarko, hosting Chinese judges, police officials and future Chinese police and law enforcement officers in B.C. provides exposure to the Canadian criminal justice system to broaden their perspective and their understanding of a different system of law enforcement.

Everything that we do around programming, in the sense of our training, or education, is about looking for safer communities or promoting safer communities in a more just society, not just in Canada, but around the world, said Tarko, adding he is not at liberty to comment on how Chinese police operate in China, particularly toward political dissidents, journalists and minorities.

I'm not a police expert. I don't have expertise in law enforcement, said Tarko, who has taken multiple trips to Chinese police academies in an administrative role.

And so, unlike the recent cancellation of Chinese military training in Canada, JIBC intends to continue educating Chinese recruits and their accompanying officials.

JIBC internationalized to Public Security Bureaus satisfaction

Tarko, who said he wasnt aware of Chinas impeccable conviction rate, told Glacier Media, in a 30-minute interview, the institute has engaged with China dating back 30 years.

In reviewing open source JIBC documents  annual reports, strategic reports, accountability plans, financial statements and board meeting minutes  dating back to 2012, it is clear the scope of the international law enforcement program grew exponentially starting in 2013.

JIBC reports international contract revenue (including non-law enforcement studies, such as for firefighters and paramedics) nearly quadrupled from $600,000 in 2014 to $2.3 million in 2018. In that same period, international students increased more than six-fold.

It's important that we can invest in programs, curriculum development and build further capacity in other areas of the organization, said Tarko of the revenue.

Political events in China and B.C. in 2013 set a course for such internationalization at JIBC. General Secretary of the CCP Xi Jinping became president of the PRC and embarked on more centralized state authority at home while expanding Chinese state influence abroad, including in Canada, with its CCP branch, the United Front Work Department.

Meanwhile, in B.C., Christy Clark of the BC Liberal Party was elected to her first full term as premier. Clark ambitiously pushed to intertwine the two economies, culminating in a May 2016 memorandum of understanding with Guandong Province on Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, a Xi blueprint for foreign economic and cultural expansion.

The MOU included an agreement to expand international student exchanges, signed by then-Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson, whose ministry controls JIBC. The Ministry of Advanced Education is also responsible for the BC Council for International Education (BCCIE), a Crown corporation formed by the Clark government in 2012 with the stated goal of internationalizing the provinces education system. (BCCIEs board is comprised entirely of private- and government-funded education executives, including Tarko and Coquitlam School District superintendent Patricia Gartland, who operates a Confucius Institute, funded by the Chinese government)

During the 2013-2014 school year, JIBC brought more than 300 Chinese officials to B.C. on more than two dozen, two-week training programs. As well, 19 judges from the Higher Peoples Court of Jiangsu received an introduction to the Canadian legal and justice system.

It was in 2014 when the world became acutely aware of policing issues in China, with Hong Kongs Umbrella Movement for democracy formed in the face of repressive police tactics. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported worsening conditions for minorities (non-Han) in the country, aided and abided by Chinese law enforcement and a corrupt criminal justice system.

The Chinese Communist Party maintains authority over all judicial institutions and coordinates the judiciarys work through its political and legal committees. The Public Security Bureau, or police, remains the most powerful actor in the criminal justice system, stated HRW.

The Chinese, stated JIBC, showed great interest in the student exchanges and the following year, 400 police recruits came from China, including those from the Peoples Public Security University of China, known for its elite training under direct control of the Ministry of Public Security of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), also known as the Public Security Bureau.

In 2017, the heightened demand resulted in JIBC launching a new four-month, 15-credit (ILES) program piloted and developed over several years through educational partnerships with Chinese police colleges. ILES was promoted in one JIBC document as being highly regarded by (Chinese) officials.

Sending recruits to Canada for the ILES have been: Henan Police College, Railway Police College, Shanxi Police College, Chongqing Police College, Jiangxi Police College, Guangxi Police College, Hunan Police Academy, Sichuan Police College, and Jiangsu Police Institute.

The Chinese police recruits are instructed in JIBC classrooms in New Westminster or at a dormitory in Chilliwack that the institution opened for them exclusiveky in 2017.

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Photo: Ina Mitchell Vancouver Police Department Const. Terry Yung embraced by PRC Consulate General Tong Xiao Ling at a public event in 2019.

Chinese recruits become familiar with local police detachments

The Chinese recruits take tours of local police detachments, such as Burnaby RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD).

JIBC states the recruits have gained hands-on training and learned from officers from specialized units of several local municipal police departments.

Specifically, VPD officers help train the recruits through the JIBC. VPD Chief Adam Palmer is pictured at numerous graduation ceremonies, and often alongside VPD Constable Terry Yung, a program instructor.

Yung, whose wife is Vancouver city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung, is particularly familiar with Vancouvers Consulate General, having attended many of its local events, not unlike a liaison for the department, research provided to Glacier Media from documentary filmmaker Ina Mitchell shows.

In May 2018, Yung was part of a four-officer ceremonial brigade at the 9th Conference of the World Guangdong Community Federation trade conference, hosted by Chinas consul general Tong Xiaoling at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre. Before the massive event, attended by pro-Beijing B.C. politicians, more than 200 intended attendees from China were denied entry visas, reported the Globe and Mail. The brigade stood at attention to the Chinese and Canadian flags and anthems.

Chinese interested in studying Canadian police, but only in Canada

JIBC offers offshore international training in several fields (such as firefighting) but when asked how many Chinese recruits are educated as offshore students back in China with JIBC material, Tarko said none are, meaning the Chinese are only interested in coming to Canada.

As such, Chinas interest in studying Canadian police in Canada raises two possibilities by which JIBCs program may facilitate espionage, experts and observers of China and the CCP suggest.

First, the Chinese police academies represent an immediate intelligence-gathering threat, said former chief of Asia Pacific for Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Michel Juneau-Katsuya.

First of all, they will be handpicked and have the duty to report on everything happening and everyone they are meeting, he said.

You think bringing a few cadets to the academy is going to help change their mind? This naivety is borderline stupid, in my point of view, however it is a product of decades of engagement by the Canadian government dating back to Pierre Trudeaus rapprochement with China in the 1970s, said Juneau-Katsuya.

Gordon echoes Juneau-Katsuya.

These would be young men and women, mostly men, who have been selected for their ideological purity to come to Canada and pick up some information and then trot back with it to the People's Republic, he said.

Gordon said SFU has faced similar pressure from China. The Chinese recently wanted open access to high-level cyber-security courses for its nationals but Gordon said he led a push to block the course to international students outside the Five Eyes group of countries (New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom and the United States).

We were particularly concerned about the fascination that was clearly playing out through their embassy.

And that was in part because of concerns about people from the police service in China and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) coming in and grabbing all sorts of information and then finding out how we did things, said Gordon, a former Hong Kong police officer before the 1997 British handover.

McGregor also ties the PLA to what is occurring at JIBC. McGregor is a former military intelligence advisor, once stationed in Afghanistan, and has recently advised the RCMP Federal and Serious Organized Crime unit and B.C. attorney generals office on the intersection of money laundering and foreign state actors, such as China.

There is a number of things [the Chinese police recruits and senior officials] can be doing while they're on the ground in a host nation. And that's the concern, because we don't really have that much insight into what exactly that activity is, he said.

Some Chinese students denied visas

JIBC reported how some Chinese students were denied study visas during the 2018-2019 school year, which saw a record 280 Chinese ILES students attend JIBC.

Tarko said he was not provided details as to why some students were denied entry and its unclear if the denials followed the Vancouver arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and subsequent arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by Chinese officials.

Tarko said hes never been briefed on matters such as espionage or national security from CSIS or the RCMP; Mounties themselves have visited China in the past and invited the Chinese to their police academy in Regina, in 2013, Chinese state media has reported.

Global Affairs and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) declined to explain why Chinese JIBC students were denied entry, citing privacy reasons for the Chinese nationals. CSIS stated it does not comment on such matters. The Consulate General did not reply to Glacier Medias query, either.

McGregor said the denial could be for a host of reasons but if it was for national security grounds, he says Canada is late in addressing these sorts of arrangements.

To be honest, I didn't realize the level of infiltration. I knew they had done some community police stuff, which was very obvious what they're trying to do. I didn't know they had gotten into JIBC at the level they have. Im a bit taken aback, he said.

No one is looking at internal security within law enforcement; very, very few. So you're able to do all these different things; maybe you're just reporting on the port; maybe you're finding out information about how best to get a certain product into the country.

They can facilitate transnational organized crime by exposing information, said McGregor.

Or, maybe they integrate into society, and who they integrate into society with can be important.

International students to become future local law enforcement?

The second manner by which the JIBCs program could facilitate espionage, critics suggest, is by helping the CCP integrate into local law enforcement.

After all, the JIBC views its international programs as a mechanism to meet B.C.s rising labour force demand for diverse and highly-skilled workers.

Why do we have to gather recruitment from international students? Why cant we just get the recruitment from our own citizens? Li asks.

I don't understand this. We have lots of Canadian students with different ethnic backgrounds. They are Canadians, said Li.

Tarko said he could not envision todays Chinese police academy student becoming tomorrows local community police officer.

I really can't see that happening, said Tarko.

In B.C., Tarko explained, local detachments first hire recruits, who are then sent to JIBCs domestic police academy for certification.

CCP-loyalists can gain citizenship, apply to a local police department using spotless credentials, possibly citing JIBC education, and then become dormant until called upon by the CCP, McGregor, Juneau-Katsuya and Gordon all suggest.

But McGregor said it neednt be a JIBC program participant; the CCP will choose its best candidates and, using the information it has on the police recruitment process, it will send the sleeper agent abroad.

They will know every single aspect of it that there is. You need this requirement, this requirement, this requirement. You need these documents. So then they figure out, Who do I have to bribe to get those documents? Or, Is there a way that we can get them legitimately? They're very good. They have unlimited resources when it comes to money, said McGregor.

The one thing about the People's Republic [of China], said Gordon, is that they're immensely patient. They will install individuals or groups of individuals in useful positions and let them sleep until such time as they're needed.

Having a bunch of people installed that you described is perfectly feasible, Gordon told Glacier Media. Now, to get into a police service, they would have to become citizens, right  but that's hardly a difficult task, isnt it? suggested Gordon.

JIBC also accepts international students on an individual basis in the Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Law Enforcement Studies (PBDLES), a 60-credit, two-year program that Tarko said is a pathway to permanent residency and thus citizenship.

Tarko said its more likely PBDLES could be used by international students as a merit for any future application to domestic law enforcement.

Its notable that JIBC students may also enter private security jobs. Recently, the B.C. government issued a security license to alleged money launderer and convicted criminal Paul Jin King, raising serious questions about oversight of that field.

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Photo: JIBC JIBC international students with VPD Chief Adam Palmer, sixth from left, and JIBC President Michel Tarko, sixth from right, in second row at a ILES graduation ceremony.

Chinese-Canadian concerns have fallen on deaf ears

The prospect of CCP infiltration at any level of local law enforcement frightens Ivy Li, a core member of Canadian Friends for Hong Kong, a pro-democracy group.

The more they (CCP) understand how we operate in here, our legal system, the more they can manipulate our system to their advantage, given that they are known for espionage, surveillance, and also on stealing sensitive information, suggests Li.

Two key motives for infiltration include facilitating transnational crime in the interests of China, said McGregor, and facilitating threats and harassment against Canadians within B.C. communities, who speak out against Chinese communist ideology or the Chinese government.

McGregor suggests crimes by pro-Chinese government people can be perpetrated out of ideology for the party, by bribery, including promises of business opportunities or coercion (such as threats to family members in China).

Subversive Chinese sleeper agents within Western law enforcement is not without its examples.

In 2005, CBC News reported Chinese defector Hao Fengjing, a low-ranking Chinese intelligence officer, said he had worked in a group in the Chinese Public Security Bureau known as the 610 office, a special unit created in 1999 to monitor and disrupt the activities of the Falun Gong overseas. Hao told of how Canada has more spies operating in it than any other country. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa called Haos allegations pure fabrication at the time.

Then there is a more recent high-profile alleged spying event within the New York Police Department (NYPD). Last September, the U.S. Department of Justice issued charges of espionage against an NYPD officer, who claimed to be Tibetan but, as alleged, was a CCP informant against Tibetan dissidents living in the city.

Li says the case of NYPD officer Baimadajie Angwang is concerning to Canadians who are politically vocal against the Chinese government and the CCP, particularly as it relates to matters of religious freedoms, Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan  or simply opposing authoritarianism.

Li fears CCP infiltration in B.C. police forces could result in concerns and complaints by CCP dissidents and pro-democracy activists, such as her, being silenced and likely secretly documented. The Chinese, in effect, could build a much more robust dossier on Canadians and Chinese nationals living here, says Li.

Although, similar concerns already exist, as evidenced by testimony at the House of Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations. Those openly opposed to the Chinese government testified how their complaints have not led to investigations by police across the country.

Amnesty International and activists from the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China (CCHRC) have called for police to take Chinese government actors seriously and for the federal government to conduct a review of Canadian laws to address foreign agents and political influence campaigns.

Last month, the National Observer reported how Canadas Public Safety Minister Bill Blair issued a letter to MPs outlining the threat of foreign influence in Canadian society and within its institutions. CSIS had already revealed much of this activity in past consultative public reports. And international observers had been noting this activity before Blairs Liberals took power in October, 2015.

That CSIS calls China a threat nation and the B.C. government is facilitating tours of its police detachments by Chinese officials makes no sense to Li.

Our Constitution is officially anti-authoritarian and anti-dictatorship. And now you have handpicked future police, current police students, under the supervision of the Chinese Consulate embedded and trained by our police, said Li.

Li said she is concerned about the extent of the relationship between the VPD and the Chinese government.

We should ask, the question is, does this relationship get in the way of our police force? Is it able to look at and investigate all the cases objectively and without bias?

Courting Chinese dollars discredits B.C.s policing institution: Critics

Another aspect for the JIBC to consider  which it appears to have not, until last year  is how the Chinese may be using Canadian credentials, said Li.

Tarko said JIBC does not track how the Chinese could market their police forces abroad; say in Africa or South Asia where China is exerting more influence with Chinese-built infrastructure.

Or, as Li asks, are these Canadian-educated officers committing human rights violations in China?

Are they ending up in Hong Kong, where the democratic government has effectively been dismantled by Beijing with the support of police actions? Could they work in Xinjiang to arbitrarily detain Muslims in re-education camps in the name of anti-terrorism initiatives? May they suppress freedom of thought in Tibet? Or, could the recruits facilitate the disappearance of journalists and businessmen who fall out of favour with a corrupt official?

As Gordon suggests, they may end up guarding Kovrig and Spavor.

JIBC has no accountability plan to gauge if the ILES program is achieving its goal of creating a safer and more just society in China.

I think the brick over the head here is, without a shadow of a doubt, the hypocrisy of, on the one hand, trying to protect the two Michaels and, on the other, inviting Chinese criminal justice agents to come here and receive education training. This has not been thought through by the various agencies, said Gordon.

I'll be quite candid. I think it's disgraceful that we've got two people being held in a mediaeval fashion as hostages in the People's Republic of China and those who are around them and keeping them have been, in some way, trained at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. Whats wrong with that picture? asked Gordon.

Oh, you know, they say they're trained to understand human rights issues. No theyre not.

The JIBC board of directors raised human rights as it relates to the international programs in June 2018.

The board encouraged management to ensure more critical thinking when looking to work with countries that may have noted problems regarding human rights violations, stated the meeting minutes.

Its not stated anywhere by the JIBC of what critical thinking has been done since June 2018.

Yet, since then there is international consensus that Chinas human rights violations have only worsened to the point a parliamentary subcommittee declared last October that China is committing acts of genocide in Xinjiang, facilitated by mass surveillance systems operated by the Public Security Bureau.

In March 2020, Discussion took place on international contracting and having a clear understanding of international guiding principles or a statement of principles as we enter into negotiations around international contract training

The board determined it would discuss creating guiding principles on international contracts at its fall 2020 retreat.

So with that, we are in process right now working on a policy that will guide decision making, at the request of the Board of Governors, said Tarko.

Board chair Stephen Gamble, Township of Langleys fire chief, did not reply to Glacier Medias offer to comment. The past board chair Sukhminder Virk did reply to Glacier Media but said he did not care to comment.

According to the B.C. government, the role of a board in guiding its institution takes place within a broader context of serving the public interest and advancing overall public policy objectives.

Palmer also declined to speak about his detachments involvement with the international program.

Furthermore, Minister of Advanced Education Anne Kang declined an offer from Glacier Media to speak about the program. Wilkinson, the former minister of advanced education, also declined to speak specifically to the unique agreement he signed with China, as well as oversight of JIBC.

What's going on, of course, is the lure of the international students and bags of cash that hang around their necks. said Gordon.

Shut it down, he said.

MP CM Claims Young Minds Are Getting Affected By Obscene Content Shown On OTT Platform; Demands Censorship

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday underlined the need to censor "obscene" content on OTT (Over the Top) platforms and said the Centre is seriously thinking in this regard. Chouhan's comments came against the backdrop of a controversy over web series Tandav and registration of multiple FIRs in many states, including Madhya Pradesh, against its makers for hurting religious sentiments.

"Obscene content is being served on OTT platforms. Young children are also getting affected due to Internet and mobile phones. After seeing such content on mobile phones, a 12-year-old boy recently misbehaved with a six-year-old girl," Chouhan said. He was speaking at the launch of PANKH abhiyan as part of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao drive. "Young minds are getting affected by such content. Shouldn't such content be censored? Children are like a soft clay and learn what they watch. The Government of India is considering it (censor on OTT) seriously," the senior BJP leader said.

An over-the-top is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms. Chouhan said the people who commit crimes against women will not be spared. "Similarly, drug mafia who makes youth addicted to drugs won't be spared. Drugs ruin lives. These criminals make young children and girls drug addicts and force them to commit wrong deeds. Young children commit criminal acts by watching pornographic videos. Government and society should come together to stop such cases," he said.

Chouhan said he had introduced the Ladli Laxmi Yojana for girls so that they should not be considered a burden by their families. He reiterated the demand for a debate on increasing the legal age of marriage for women from the current 18 years to 21 years, on par with men. The chief minister also underlined the need to usher in reforms in "our judicial system, which does not spare the people who commit crime against daughters in the name of human rights". Chouhan said he had introduced the Ladli Laxmi Yojana for girls so that they should not be considered a burden by their families. He reiterated the demand for a debate on increasing the legal age of marriage for women from the current 18 years to 21 years, on par with men. The chief minister also underlined the need to usher in reforms in "our judicial system, which does not spare the people who commit crime against daughters in the name of human rights".

Chouhan said the ruling BJP government will "crush" criminals who commit crimes against women. He also advocated capital punishment for criminals involved in rape cases. Speaking on PANKH drive, the CM said, "P stands for protection, A for awareness, N for nutrition, K for knowledge and H for health. Under this drive, various schemes for the welfare of girls and women will be implemented at a fast pace," the CM said.

Chouhan also said that society should come forward to create awareness about women and girls.
CAN views the experienced leadership and attractive cost basis of its relationships with manufacturers as a recipe for success

The Shed, a RIchmond-based company that is transforming the product rental industry, announced today that it has received funding from 757 Angels and CAN (Charlottesville Angel Network). The funding will be used to fuel growth of The Shed rental commerce platform, open new locations and expand the management team. The Shed is a rental marketplace that enables manufacturers to participate in the expanding rental economy by stocking products ranging from tools and lawn equipment to party and event supplies to recreation gear.

757 Angels members are excited to support The Sheds growth. The Shed aligns well with surging e-commerce and rental trends and is positioned to provide value to users and manufacturers, explained Monique Adams, 757 Angels Executive Director.

757 Angels has been recognized as a Top 10 Group in North America and is a network of over 130 business and community leaders in the Hampton Roads region. Members provide investment capital, strategic advice and mentoring to selected startup and early-stage companies to help them achieve market leadership. The Shed was one of 3 companies selected from more than 50 applicants to participate in 757s funding cycle in late 2020.

Daniel J. Perrone, The Shed CEO and a Richmond serial entrepreneur, said, Were grateful to add 757 and CAN to our growing list of Virginia-based investors. The $200 billion product rental industry is ripe for disruption. We are building a solution that addresses consumer demand for access over excess by bringing manufacturers into the solution. Its working.

Manufacturers such as Stanley Black & Decker, Segway, Powerboss, SANY and Bluebird are leveraging The Shed platform to create a new rental revenue channel. The Shed brings partner products into a local facility and manages the turn-key operation including inventory, logistics, marketing and repair /maintenance.

CAN views the experienced leadership and attractive cost basis of its relationships with manufacturers as a recipe for success, according to Craig T. Redinger, CAN Board Member and General Counsel. The Charlottesville Angel Network is a group of approximately 70 independent, accredited investors and family offices and is one of the most active angel networks in the United States.

The Shed currently serves customers in Richmond and Denver, Colorado. Perrone said the company is planning to expand with a combination retail-warehouse store format based on customer shopping preferences. Well continue to offer delivery but we have found that our customers love how easy it is to pick-up what they need when they need it at The Shed, Perrone explained. It opens up even more opportunities for our manufacturing partners to connect with their customers.

About The Shed

The Shed is disrupting the $200 billion product rental business with the first online rental marketplace that brings together product rental across categories ranging from tools and recreation equipment to party and medical and moving supplies. The Shed platform provides a contemporary, online customer experience, and opens a new commerce channel for manufacturers by allowing them to participate in the growing rental economy. The Shed currently serves Richmond, Virginia and Denver, Colorado with plans to expand in 2021. For more information visit http://www.iShed.com.

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US Senator Bernie Sanders on January 24 said that he was happy to have gone viral, calling his inauguration meme on mittens a good thing. He is now raising money for charity from the iconic image. The Vermont senator was perched solitary, adhering to social distancing in a cross-legged posture in the likeliness of a tired uncle at a bar, donning a Burton coat, mask, handmade mittens and a scowl. The image, that intrigued the internet worldwide, turned to meme fodder as people photoshopped Sander transporting him across time and space, into the iconic paintings, historical moments, anime art covers, popular Hollywood as well as Bollywood movies, New York City subways, fashion shows, even replacing Tom Cruise with Bernie for a Top Gun sequel, taking off on a fighter jet.

The internet really can be magical pic.twitter.com/Jrwkj2twii  Ashley Holub, PhD (@ashtroid22) January 21, 2021

However, the 79-year-old superimposed senator turned meme fest into an opportunity as he told CNN affiliate WCAX, that he has now launched a campaign store that is selling sweatshirts featuring his popular meme photo for a fundraiser. The proceeds from the donations would be allocated for Meals on Wheels programs in Sanders home state of Vermont which would provide food stamps for old age, vulnerable senior citizens on a low wage. Priced $45, the sweatshirt made in the US and union printed, with Sanders popular mittens meme emblazoned on it is currently selling with overwhelming demand, according to the website.

[Credit: Stores.berniesanders.com]

Read: Bridgerton Memes, Bernie Sanders' Mittens & Other Meme-fodder From Last Week

Read: 'I Was Just Sitting There': Bernie Sanders Finally Reacts To Memes On His Viral Mittens

.@BernieSanders talks about his mittens and coat "You know in Vermont, we dress warm, we know something about the cold, and we're not so concerned about good fashion, we want to keep warm. And that's what I did today." pic.twitter.com/FiTCLpn95m  People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) January 20, 2021

Campaign a 'tremendous gift

Apparently, the image that has turned into an internet sensation and inspired memes worldwide has dramatically helped to provide meal services for those in need. Age Well foundations CEO Jane Catton told CNN that the campaign fundraiser from Bernie Sanders meme was a tremendous gift, adding that the center couldnt be more grateful. Meanwhile, in a response that Live streamed on Twitter, Sanders said: "In Vermont, we know something about the cold. We are not so concerned about good fashion, we want to keep warm". Therefore, Vermont senator was donning mittens and a practical brown coat as he was captured candidly by the Washington-based photojournalist Brendan Smialowski.

Read: Moon Rock, From NASA's Apollo 17 Mission, Displayed In Joe Biden's Oval Office

Read: From Portraits To Sculptures, Biden Makes Symbolic Changes To Oval Office, See Pictures
Linguists from RUDN University found out how Russian speakers differentiate between similar consonants of the Greek language and associate them with Russian sounds. The results of the study were published in the Speech Communication journal.

Efficient learning of a foreign language depends on a student's mother tongue and similarities between the sounds of the two languages. If they have a lot of similar sounds, foreign speech is perceived better, and if a student's mother tongue has no or few sounds similar to those of a foreign language, the progress will be slower. For example, it could be quite difficult for a Russian speaker to learn Greek, as some Greek consonants don't have Russian analogs. Linguists from RUDN University were the first to conduct a comprehensive study of these consonants and to identify what sounds Russian speakers associate them with.

"Our study covered several Greek consonants that do not have direct analogs in the Russian language. Our goal was to find out what Russian sounds they are usually associated with. Moreover, we assessed the ability of Russian speakers to differentiate between similar Greek sounds and perceive them in syllables that begin either with a consonant or a vowel," said Georgios Georgiou, Ph.D., a postdoc, and a researcher at the Institute of Modern Languages, Intercultural Communication and Migration at RUDN University.

Unlike Greek, the Russian language doesn't have fricative sounds [] and [], palatal plosive [?], or palatal fricative [c]. For their study, the team chose 16 Russian-speaking students that never learned Greek before. The students were asked to listen to a recording with fragments of Greek words, specifically, syllables containing the sounds [], [t], [], [d], [?], [g], [c], [x]. After that, the students were asked to match the Greek sounds with Russian ones that could potentially be used to replace them. Also, the students stated the acoustical differences between the sounds in the pairs []-[t], []-[d], [?]-[g], and [c]-[x].

The students were quite successful in differentiating between similar Greek sounds regardless of the types of syllables they were used in. Traditionally, scientists believe that Russian speakers find the Greek sound [] similar to Russian [t]. However, the majority of participants decided it was similar to [f]. As for the sound [], the participants found it similar to [z] both vowel and consonant initially.

"Previously, we thought that in the Russian language [] was most likely to be replaced with [t], and [] with [d]. This is because this occurs in some linguistic borrowings from Greek to Russian, such as the word "????????????????" - "orthodoxy". It is still unknown why the experiment showed a different result. It may be due to the fact that in addition to Russian the participants spoke basic English which gave an additional dimension to their perception of foreign sounds. Another possibility is that some of the participants came from regions of Russia and initially spoke Russian dialects that were quite different from the literary norm. Regardless of the reason, this is an interesting result, and we plan to study this issue further," added Georgios Georgiou from RUDN University.

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The party is racked by internal divisions and soul-searching  all of which is now being funneled into the question of whether to convict Trump in the Senate and leave him for dead, or acquit him and leave the door open for him to re-enter the political fray. But its happening in the opposite context from the events that got him impeached: Trump is no longer president, and hes no longer on Twitter.

Even most of Trumps supporters consistently said in polls that they wished he would set fires on Twitter less often. And it is his public statements  including those he made on the social media platform  that prompted this impeachment in the first place. When I did polls and focus groups with Trump voters, they would say time and time again: They wished he would stop tweeting so much, said Glen Bolger, a longtime Republican pollster.

There is certainly something to be said for a little bit of a pressure valve loosened, if hes not tweeting stupid things every day, Bolger said of Republican senators who are deciding how to vote on impeachment. I think the bigger factor that theyll be thinking about is, what are the implications in terms of me being primaried by someone?

Trumps effect on the shape of the Republican base has been powerful; the question now is whether it will be long-lasting.
Posted Monday, January 25, 2021 9:13 am

Washington could become the first state in the country to provide a right to legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction in housing court.

The measure is part of a Senate bill introduced last week that pairs temporary tenant protections aimed at staving off mass evictions with permanent changes to ensure tenants have equal access to the housing court system.

"If I've learned anything from the past ten months, it's that state policies to help ensure renters can stay in their homes and landlords can pay their bills during a public health crisis are inadequate," said Sen. Patty Kuderer, Chair of the Senate Housing and Local Government Committee and one of the bill's six Democratic sponsors, at a hearing on Wednesday.

More than 17,000 eviction cases are filed every year in Washington courts, and only about 8% of those tenants have legal representation, according to a wide-ranging University of Washington study that looked at statewide data from housing courts (known in Washington as "unlawful detainer" cases) between 2004-2017.

The most frequent outcome of those cases is tenants losing their homes.

The pandemic and Gov. Jay Inslee's statewide moratorium on evictions has greatly slowed  though not entirely stopped  that process. Inslee's order is set to expire on March 31, the same day as the federal CDC moratorium, which President Joe Biden extended on his first day in office.

When that happens, more than 175,000 Washington households that are currently behind on rent, according to the Census Bureau's latest tally, will be at risk of eviction.

Unlike in criminal cases, where the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Gideon vs. Wainwright that the state must appoint a lawyer if a defendant cannot afford one, civil cases entail no such constitutional right to defense.

Attorneys from across the state who represent tenants in housing court testified on Wednesday that even when the facts are on their side, tenants who represent themselves in court are often evicted anyway because they don't know how the legal system works.

If passed, the bill would require the state to appoint a lawyer prior to the first hearing for all "indigent" tenants  in this case broadly defined to include anyone who earns less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level or is simply unable to afford the anticipated costs.

The bill also would require courts to seal eviction records unless a judge rules in favor of a landlord. Studies have shown that having an eviction on your record makes it very difficult to get into housing in the future.

Initial estimates by the Office of Civil Legal Aid show it would cost the state close to $13 million in the first year and about $11.5 million in subsequent years to hire enough attorneys, assuming that about 80% of tenants will qualify for legal aid. The program would entail contracting with lawyers to work with local branches of Northwest Justice Project and county-level volunteer legal services such as Tacoma Pro Bono.

History of laws on right to counsel

New York City in 2017 became the first jurisdiction in the United States to guarantee legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction. Since then, San Francisco, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, Cleveland, and Boulder have all followed suit, but no states have made such promises.

Prior to the passage of New York's law, the city had been gradually increasing funding for tenant legal representation. When that process began in 2013, just 1% of tenants in housing court were represented by a lawyer.

By 2019, the percentage of tenants with access to a lawyer increased to 38%. Even with the program's yet-incomplete rollout  it is being implemented in phases by zip code  the effects have been dramatic: Evictions in New York declined by 41% since 2013, according to a report on the program by the city's Office of Civil Justice.

Four other states have introduced similar legislation in 2021: Nebraska, Maryland, South Carolina, and Indiana.

The state of Massachusetts, while it did not legislate a right, invested $12.3 million this past October in providing legal aid for tenants and homeowners facing eviction. This followed the expiration of a statewide moratorium on evictions, after which more than 4,000 eviction cases were filed in the subsequent month-and-a-half  a look at what might happen if Washington, a state with a similar population (and similarly hot housing market) were to let evictions fully resume.

No-cause evictions

The bill also contains multiple sections that would provide additional protections for renters after the declared state of emergency in Washington ends. It would expand the required process for landlords to offer individualized repayment plans without late fees and refer tenants to a local Dispute Resolution Center for mediation before making attempts to evict. Only if tenants refuse or default on repayment plans could landlords initiate the eviction process.

There's some help for landlords, too  the bill also directs the Department of Commerce to allow landlords to apply directly for the next round of federal rental assistance. Washington is poised to receive $500 million of the $25 billion in rent aid approved by Congress in December, but it's unclear when it will be distributed.

Gov. Inslee has also proposed an additional $164 million for rent aid in his budget proposal, and a separate bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives calls for $600 million in rent assistance, which would be funded from the states' budget stabilization reserve.

The provision most discussed at the Senate bill's hearing last week, however, was a freeze on 20-day notices, also called no-cause terminations. Under Washington's landlord-tenant law, a landlord can terminate a month-to-month lease at any time, without providing a reason, by issuing a 20-day notice to vacate. While termination is different from eviction, if tenants do not comply with the notice within 20 days, they can then legally be evicted.

The proposed bill would prohibit landlords from issuing 20-day notices for two years after Gov. Inslee's proclaimed state of emergency ends, unless the landlord intends to sell or occupy the unit, or if they already live there with the tenant.

More than 60 people testified at the hearing on Wednesday. With two exceptions, dozens of landlords and representatives of rental housing industry groups testified against the bill, which some likened to an extension of Gov. Inslee's current eviction moratorium. Many landlord cited a small number of tenants they call "elective non-payers," whom they believe can afford to pay rent but are exploiting the moratorium.

Meanwhile, even tenants who are current on their rent testified that they still fear they'll be evicted after the governor's moratorium expires. One Spokane tenant said his landlord of two years refused to renew his lease in December, meaning he could be issued a 20-day no-cause notice at any point.

Several cities in Washington have passed legislation that require "just-cause" for landlords to terminate leases, including Burien, Federal Way, and Seattle, which passed its ordinance in 1980. The states of California, New Jersey, and New Hampshire also have statewide "just-cause" laws, and Oregon's law protects tenants who've been in their unit for longer than one year from having their leases terminated without cause.

Bills to permanently address no-cause terminations were introduced in the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions, but failed to advance.

Kuderer on Wednesday called the bill "a work in progress."

___

(c)2021 The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)

Visit The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.) at www.theolympian.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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EXCLUSIVE: Freddy, 71 died in Princess Alice Hospice in Esher, Surrey on May 20 after being admitted just four days earlier. He was diagnosed with cancer in January and told that he had only months to live. Mr Marks married Jane who married him in 2016 (left) after divorcing bandmate Rod Burton in 2019, part of the singing trio 'Rod, Jane and Freddy' (right) on the beloved children's TV show (inset), and Ms Tucker has said that her ex-husband is also bereft. Fighting back tears, Jane Tucker, who married Freddy only five years ago, told MailOnline: 'My final words to him were 'I love you.' 'But Freddy didn't say anything back, he just had a gentle smile on his face like he always did. It was incredibly beautiful. I'm totally devastated by his loss and it's going to take me and a lot of other people in the country a long time to get over this'. She added of her first husband, who comforted her at home yesterday, she said: ''Rod is feeling Freddy's loss very deeply. For a long time, the three of us were inseparable. We toured together, did Rainbow for a long time and were all very close'. Freddy married her five years ago, more than 30 years after they first met and became stars. Jane was first married to fellow Rainbow bandmate Rod, who she divorced in 1979 but they remained friends. 'Years later' she began dating Freddy, which when it emerged around 15 years ago led to rumours a secret love triangle between the singing trio.
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A number of final year medical students claim they were forced to wet themselves during a formal exam to avoid being disqualified from the online test.

The Doctor's Association UK (DAUK) has stepped in to represent the students following a string of complaints to the UK Foundation Programme (UKFPO) over the way they handled the virtual exams.

The UKFPO exam in December was being sat by students across the country using the Pearson Vue system - a secure online testing programme.

The Situational Judgement Test the students had been sitting was two hours and 22 minutes long.

The complaints include one student who claims they were disqualified for going to the toilet, despite trying to contact the exam invigilator multiple times without hearing back.

A number of final year medical students around the country claim they were forced to wet themselves during a formal exam to avoid being disqualified from the online test (stock image)

While other students claim they were forced to 'urinate' in their seats in order to avoid being disqualified.

Other students allege they were disqualified from their exams for answering a call during their exam, believing the caller to be an invigilator.

Another pupil claims their exam was revoked for using blank paper and another claims they were disqualified for putting on a jumper.

While other students claim their exams were revoked for turning off a noisy clock and for playing a multimedia question aloud rather than through headphones.

One anonymous medical student took to Twitter to share the treatment some students were subject to during their exams.

Tweeting on January 21, the student said: 'Final year UK med student here. Going public with some experiences of a compulsory online exam.

'Summary: students threatened with disqualification from becoming doctors (in a pandemic) due to problems with online exams (incl. some being forced to urinate in their seats).'

The anonymous medical student wrote: 'Another student's exam was revoked after he tried to contact the proctor numerous times to request to use the toilet, he was ignored, and then did so anyway to avoid wetting himself.

One anonymous medical student took to Twitter to share the treatment some students were subject to during their exams and others were quick to share their own experiences

'Multiple other students in this position did not have their exams revoked because they chose to urinate in their seats. I can't imagine how demeaning and humiliating this must be.'

'I was made aware of many similar cases. Other causes of revoked exams have included putting on a jumper, turning around to turn off a noisy clock, receiving a cold call through a 'safe exam browser' (Candidate thought it was the invigilator) and playing a multimedia video question out loud (instead of via headphones).'

The student also said that the UKFPO should issue an apology for the way they allegedly treated some of the students.

On behalf of the DAUK, Medical Student Representatives Freya Rhodes and Anna Sigston have written a letter to the UKFPO and Pearson Vue outlining the concerns of many students, asking for both organisations to respond to the complaints.

A number of professional doctors responded to the claims on Twitter, with Dr Meenal Viz saying: 'I've heard many similar cases and I'm so, so sorry that our medical students are wetting themselves as part of a test to assess their judgement in medical ethics.

'Clearly something is badly, badly wrong. We can't treat our future doctors like this. During a pandemic, no less.'

While celebrity doctor Ranj Singh, who works at London's St George's and St Thomas' Hospitals said: 'Will be looking into this and rectifying it asap? It's disgusting and shameful to treat students like this.'

Dr Kit Byatt added: 'It is embarrassing to see adult professionals (never mind future colleagues) treated like this. More strength to your elbow & hang on in there - right behind you in this.'

While geriatric & internal medicine trainee Vicky Gibson responded to the claims by alleging: 'In my specialty exam run by Pearson VUE, I had to beg to be allowed to take a bottle of water into a three hour exam in a hot room when I was pregnant. Others werent so fortunate.'

Responding to the claims, Dr Mike Masding MA(Ed) FRCP, Co-Chair UKFPO & Lead HEE Foundation School Director said: 'Out of 8000 UKFPO applicants a small number (less than 0.25% of the Cohort) were disqualified by the testing invigilator for prohibited actions.

'We are working with individual applicants whose tests were discontinued and where appropriate will offer the option to re-book.

'All applicants were given guidance in advance of the test but we will continue to work with partners to review the process and ensure all applicants are fully supported.'

A spokesperson from Pearson Vue said: 'Pearson VUE is not in a position to comment on the experiences of anonymous SJT candidates. The UKFPO is handling the cases of individual candidates and offering re-sits to those applicants as appropriate'.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of share dealings by London-listed company directors and managers announced on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:







U&I Group PLC - London-based property regeneration developer and investor - Chief Executive Officer Richard Upton buys 220,000 shares at an average price of GBP0.72 each, worth GBP157,366, on Thursday and Friday last week. Upton had bought 108,000 shares on Tuesday and Wednesday. Upton was promoted to role of CEO on Tuesday from chief development officer, charged with leading a 100-day strategic review that will look ways to simplify and refocus the business toward more predictable income streams.







Oriole Resources PLC - gold explorer in West Africa - Raises GBP2.8 million from exercise of warrants for 4.2 million shares at 0.60p and 0.68p on Friday. Most of the warrants are exercised by Oriole's top team. Non-Executive Chair John McGloin exercises for 2.2 million shares and CEO Tim Livesey and Chief Financial Officer Robert Smeeton for 735,294 each. McGloin now has 6.6 million shares, a 0.4% stake, Livesey has 8.5 million, a 0.6% stake, and Smeeton 5.8 million. Oriole notes the three directors will hold onto the shares and the company is fully funded for its current exploration programme in Cameroon.







Oracle Power PLC - coal-to-power project in Pakistan and gold project in Australia - Chief Executive Officer Naheed Memon buys 49.0 million shares at 0.45 pence, worth GBP220,512, on Friday last week. She now has 65.0 million shares, a 3.0% stake. Oracle says the purchase was in a block transaction from a single shareholder, whom it didn't name, "to facilitate their complete disposal of holdings in the company".







Polar Capital Holdings PLC - investment manager - Non-Executive Director Brian Ashford-Russell sells 15,547 shares at 681.65 pence, worth GBP105,977, on Friday. Ashford-Russell had sold 70,855 shares the Friday before.







RTW Venture Fund Ltd - invests in life sciences, biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies - Chair William Simpson buys 25,000 shares via Simpson Ltd at USD2.12, worth USD53,000, on Monday.







By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Homicides were up in St. Tammany Parish last year, with 18 people losing their lives to violence in a year that was marked by three double homicides.

The number of 2020 killings compares to 11 homicides in 2019 and 10 in 2018 and comes close to the 2017 tally, when St. Tammany saw 20 homicides, an unusually high number that law enforcement officials said at the time was an anomaly.

Most of the homicides last year  16  occurred in unincorporated St. Tammany Parish. There were seven homicides in unincorporated St. Tammany in 2019, according to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office.

There were no homicides in Mandeville last year, compared to two in 2019. Slidell and Covington each had one homicide in 2020, the same number as in the previous year.

+3 Stabbing suspect fatally shot by Slidell police, St. Tammany Sheriff's Office deputies Slidell police officers and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies responding to a report of a stabbing shot and killed the alleged suspect in 

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith said in a news release that the increase in violent crime  which he described as "slight"  follows a national tend that can be attributed in part to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to more domestic violence and narcotics-related crime.

The first homicide of 2020 fell into the domestic category: 28-year-old Juan Amaya is accused of fatally stabbing his 58-year-old father, Jose Amaya, during a fight at the family's home near Covington in January.

Other domestic killings last year included a double murder and suicide in August, when 80-year-old Lawrence Lynchard killed his wife and adult daughter before taking his own life at their home near Pearl River, and a domestic homicide in which Fernando Cortez was accused of the stabbing death of his girlfriend at their home in Lacombe.

The double homicide of a pregnant woman and her boyfriend, whose bodies were found shot to death in a vehicle parked in the Big Branch area in July, is suspected to be drug related, as was the death of a Slidell High student in February.

The final homicides of the year occurred in December, when four armed men broke into a house in Lacombe. Two were fatally shot by the homeowner. The two who survived were booked with two counts of first-degree murder as well as armed robbery and home invasion. The homeowner was not charged, the Sheriff's Office said.

Smith said only one of the homicides in unincorporated St. Tammany Parish remains unsolved  another home invasion, this one in November, that triggered an exchange of gunfire. That shooting in the Alton community left one man dead, and there have been no arrests.

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Smith noted that the Sheriff's Office has a clearance rate of nearly twice the national average for violent crimes and 2.5 times the national average for nonviolent crimes.

The parish saw a decrease in nonviolent crimes that Smith credited in part to public education efforts on the need to lock doors and secure valuables.

Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Sticker also reported a 75% decrease in thefts. Sticker said that decrease might stem from the prevalence of curbside pickup at stores.

Slidell, the parish's largest municipality, saw an 8% decrease in violent crime last year, according to a news release. But overall crime was up 9%, driven by an 11% increase in property crimes such as burglary and theft, Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal said.

Fandal said he is working with Mayor Greg Cromer and the City Council to beef up staffing levels. Fandal said he has been forced to use overtime and grants to maintain enforcement levels. Slidell's population continues to grow, but he's been unable to offer competitive pay and benefits to officers, he added.

"We have been working short-handed for the last several years, but this year as been the worst," Fandal said of 2020. "Our officers are jumping from call to call with little to no downtime. This creates a reactive police force."

He said he is working with Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer and the City Council to address the problem.

Overall crime was down 4% in Covington, the Covington Police Department said. according to statistics released by that city's Police Department. The number of robberies doubled, from three in 2019 to six last year, and thefts were up 11%, from 106 in 2019 to 118 in 2020. Aggravated assault and motor vehicle theft decreased slightly in 2020. The biggest drop came in the number of burglaries, with 21 reported in 2020 compared to 48 in 2019.

Covington officers each received a $4,000 raise in salary on Sept. 1 after Mayor Mark Johnson and the City Council supported increases in water/sewer bills to provide police better pay. Covington's police were the lowest paid in the parish, and officers trained and outfitted by the department were jumping to better pay at other area law enforcement agencies after only a short time on the force.

The salary hike has helped attract new hires and should help retain them, Chief Stephen Culotta previously said.

Andrew Canulette contributed to this report.
The number of schools districts throughout the state that now have full in-person instruction amid the coronavirus pandemic is on the rise, Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday.

There are 86 schools in New Jersey out of the more than 600 districts across the state open for in-person instruction, Murphy said. That number increased by six schools since last week and nine since the end of winter break.

The number of schools using all-remote learning has declined to 270  thats down 55 from last week and 69 since the beginning of the month, Murphy said during his regular COVID-19 briefing.

And 41 districts are currently implementing a mix of all-remote, in-person, or hybrid learning across buildings, and this is down from 47 at the start of 2021, he said.

Additionally, there are 414 schools that have a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Case rates for the virus, meanwhile, dropped two weeks ago in all six New Jersey regions tracked by the state and used by school districts to evaluate risk in educational settings. Though all 21 counties are orange, indicating high coronavirus activity, according to data released by the state Department of Health Thursday.

Some New Jersey districts have yet to hold any in-person classes this year.

The Newark school district, the states largest district, pushed back returning to classrooms until April 12. Jersey City is extending all-remote learning until April 21 and Trenton has pushed the return to in-person classes to May.

New Jersey health officials on Monday reported another 3,694 confirmed cases of the virus and 21 additional deaths as total vaccinations in the state surpassed 565,000.

The seven-day average for new confirmed positive test is 4,365, down 15% from a week ago, and down 5% from a month ago.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) testifies at a House hearing in front of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, in Washington on July 12, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Rep. Biggs Criticizes Media for Generating Ever-More-Sensational Lies

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), one of the members of Congress to object to electoral votes on Jan. 6, on Friday refuted allegations that he organized and encouraged the storming of the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, noting that some media are generating ever-more-sensational lies about him.

Since January 6, many on the Left and in the media have claimed that I:

organized the peaceful rally of January 6, planned the unlawful riots that took place,

led reconnaissance tours of the U.S. Capitol to those scheming to riot,

funded the rally and the riot.

All of those allegations are false. I have publicly denied all them, Biggs said in a statement.

I believed that when they heard the truth, honest reporters would stop writing untruths. I was wrong. The reality is that there are few honest reporters remaining, and Leftists do not care about the truth, he said. For them, the ends justify the means. The media has buried my statements, ignored the evidence, and is instead generating ever-more-sensational lies about me.

Campaign for Accountability, a left-wing government watchdog group, on Friday filed a complaint calling on Congress to investigate Biggs, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) for violating federal law by allegedly inciting a riot on Jan. 6.

Biggs, Gosar, and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala), who all objected to the counting of electoral votes, have been under attack since Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander claimed in a video that the legislators assisted in the coordination of the Jan. 6 Capitol protest as Congress voted to certify the electoral votes.

But Biggs said in a statement that he had no idea why Alexander named him, and that he had nothing to do with organizing or planning the gathering at the Capitol. He said that he had never contacted Alexander in any way and did not premeditate a riot.

Campaign for Accountability cited Alexander playing a video of Biggs at an Arizona protest on Dec. 19 in which Biggs asks Trump supporters to keep fighting for transparency around the allegations of election fraud.

The NGO said that after playing the video, Alexander told the crowd we are all marching to D.C. on January the 6th, and we are going to plop our asses on the U.S. Capitol with or without a permit.  And those members of Congress will hear from us after they exit that chamber January 6th.

Biggss spokesman, Daniel Stefanski, said Biggs had provided the video to one of Gosars aides at their request. Biggs did not mention Alexander during his remarks, according to The Arizona Republic.

In sum: All of the allegations are false. I do not know why the rumors started, why the media has repeatedly ignored the evidence, or how to state the truth more clearly. Biggs said in his statement on Friday.

This situation is typical of many false news stories that the press reported against former President Trump, the most famous of which was the Russia hoax, he added.

Biggs told The Hill that he and his family as well as other Congress members have faced death threats since the allegations against him began.
In her Ohio hometown, she's known as an Army veteran who runs a bar and set up a smallaself-styled militiaaher boyfriend says she created to help neighbors if tornadoes hit.

To the FBI, she's aamilitant leader who traveled to Washington, DC, and stormed the US Capitol, encouragingaothers to do the same.

The two worlds of Jessica Watkins crashed into each other in theasmallavillage of Woodstock, Ohio, when FBI agents turned up early one morning to arrest her for her alleged role in the Januarya6ainsurrection.

"We could hear so many sirens. And then we heard them yelling for her to come downstairs with her hands up and she did not," said Emma Dixon, who witnessed the pre-dawn raid from a home across the street.

Watkins was seen on video taking part in the insurrection that is linked to the deaths of five people and that terrified lawmakers, who were forced to run to hiding places, fearing for their lives.

When the FBI arrived in Woodstock, Watkins was not there. Her boyfriend, Montana Siniff was. He told CNN disorientating flash-bangs were used.aaA window was broken. It remained that way days later.

FBI agentsaquestioned him and eventuallyaleft, he said. In a complaint filed in court, federal prosecutors said agentsarecovered what "appears to be directions for making explosives, authored by 'the Jolly Roger.'" Jolly Roger is also the name of Watkins' bar and a Facebook account believed to be linked to her, authorities say.

"That is entirely false. She hates explosives. There is no moral or lawful way to really make use of explosives as a regular citizen," Siniff said.

Watkins, 38,ais now detained at the Montgomery County Jail, about 50 miles away in Dayton,aafter she handed herself in to authorities last Sunday.

Records show Watkins served in the Army under a different name from April 2001 to December 2003. She was deployed to Afghanistan from September to December 2002.

Watkins is accused, along with two other military veterans, ofaa multitude of charges: conspiracy,aconspiracy to impede an officer, destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry or disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Theathree veterans were the firstato face conspiracy charges, some of the most severe charges so far for those who breached the Capitol on January 6.

CNN has found a disproportionate number of people charged in the Capitol attack are former members of the military.

'The most beautiful thing'

No one disputes that Watkins went to the Capitol to protest against the certification of President Joe Biden's election win.aShe is seen on video bragging about it while inside the Capitol building.

Her boyfriend said she went to "help protect some Trump VIP members within the rally," but he did not know whom.

After breaching the Capitol, Watkins described the scene inside the building as she saw it.

She told the Ohio Capital Journal: "To me, it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw until we started hearing glass smash. That's when we knew things had gotten really bad."

She added: "It was some people hijacking what started off as a peaceful movement."

But the words on her Parler account after the breach offer a very different perspective. They are highlighted in the federal complaint against her.

"Yeah. We stormed the Capitol today. Teargassed, the whole, 9. Pushed our way into the Rotunda. Made it into the Senate even," she wrote.

Another post from Watkinsaused as evidenceaby the FBI said: "We never smashed anything, stole anything, burned anything, and truthfully we were very respectful with Capitol Hill PD until they attacked us.a Then we stood our ground and drew the line."

Watkins and many others came to Washington trained in warfare, some wearing their combat gear of ballistic helmets, Army fatigues and goggles.

Videos showed one group of more than a dozen people, in formation, hands on each other's shoulders, marching up the Capitol steps.

Federal prosecutors say Watkins and others used the Zello phone app, which works like a walkie-talkie, to communicate and plan the assault.

Watkins has yet to have an attorney assigned to her. But her boyfriend did talk on her behalf. The two own the Jolly Roger bar together. They are both members of the group she "commanded" called theaOhio State Regular Militia. "She's not a violent person," Siniff told CNN. "She can be very spirited, but she is a very good person at heart and she just really wants to try to help people."

But law enforcement and many of the lawmakers inside say the rioters that breached the Capitol put lives in danger.

Links to far-right Oath Keepers

Siniff said Watkins formed the militia to help victims of tornadoes when local authorities were absent or overwhelmed.

There's a long history of paramilitary groups setting themselves up in rural areas of Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere,aandathe FBI says sometimes there is a darker side.

Watkins is a member of the Oath Keepers, a pro-Trump, far-right, anti-government group that considers itself part of the militia movement charged to protect the country.

There is no private citizen militia that exists in the US. A militia has to be sanctioned by the state.

The Oath Keepers are clear that they try to recruit members from among active or retired military, first responders anda police, and its name refers to the oath taken to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

In court documents the FBI says, "Oath Keepers will violate federal law if they believe their cause is just."

Recruiting veterans

Watkins' alleged co-conspirators are named by the FBI as Donovan Crowl, a former Marine, and Thomas Caldwell, who served in the Navy.

Crowl lives just down the street from Watkins' Jolly Roger bar and was a regular there.

Neighbors told CNN that Watkins would try to recruit people when they came into the bar. Most didn't take her up on it. But Crowl did join Watkins and Siniff in their armed group.

"When drunk, he's the guy you want to shut up. aWhen sober the best man you could have," Siniff said of the former Marine. "The militia was a good thing to help him ... like it was a reason to be sober."

CNN has reached out to Crowl's attorney but has not received a response.

Crowl's criminal record shows charges for domestic abuse and drunk driving, some of which resulted in conviction. This was noted by the federal judge when his attorney tried to get him released before his trial. His attorney said he merited release as he was not a danger to society.

"He's seen on video saying, 'we overran the Capitol,' his criminal history includes violence and alcohol offenses, he also demonstrated prior non-compliance.aThe suggestion to release him to a residence with nine firearms is a non-starter," Judge Sharon Ovington said. Crowl was remanded back into custody awaiting a preliminary hearing in Ohio.

Crowl's mother, Teresa Joann Rowe,atold CNN her son has expressed increasingly hostile political viewsain recent years.

"It felt like he did a 180-degree turnaround, felt like the world owed him a living and had a big chip on his shoulder," Rowe said. "I don't know if it's because life didn't go the way he planned."

Asked why she thinks Crowl may have been drawn to this extremist group, she said, "I would like to understand myself. I don't get it."

Caldwell, the third veteran named as a co-conspirator, lives in a secluded property down a country road in Berryville, Virginia, 400 miles from the Woodstock homes of Watkins and Crowl.

It is unclear how long Caldwell knew Crowl and Watkins.a But the FBI says they met up in Washington, DC. Crowl took video of himself and Watkins inside the Capitol and posted it on social media.

Outside the Capitol Caldwell made his feelings clear on January 6.

"Everyone single b**** in there is a traitor, every single one," he screamed in a video, appearing to refer to the legislators inside.

Caldwell was a name in his local Virginia political circles. He was a delegate to the Clarke County, Virginia, Republican convention last year.

A lawyer temporarily assigned to Caldwell said at a detention hearing that his opposition to Biden's election win was not out of the ordinary, and that he was not accused of a violent crime.

But the judge disagreed: "The conduct and statements of Mr. Caldwell and the others, it really is just pure lawlessness," Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe of the federal court in Harrisonburg, Virginia, said on Tuesday.

Strong support for Watkins

The village of Woodstock is home to about 300 people. Many of the homes are clustered around the crossroads, and the only traffic signal still fly "Trump 2020" banners.

There is also the "Don't Tread on Me" or Gadsden flag of the American Revolution and a Stars and Stripes being flown upside down -- a signal of "dire distress," according to the US code.

Some of the villagers were hostile to our CNN crew, calling the local sheriff to complain twice. Others were happier to talk and argued with their neighbors to back off.

And even after all the video and social media posts showing Watkins ranting about storming the Capitol, Watkins's boyfriend defends her.

"I do not believe the charges of conspiracy areaat all fair," Siniff said.
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Thomas More Marrone has been selected to the Super Lawyers List for 2020 making this the 11th consecutive year he was awarded this honor.

MOREMARRONE LLC is honored to announce that Thomas More Marrone has been selected to the Super Lawyers List for 2021 making this the 12th consecutive year Mr. Marrone was awarded this honor. Every year Super Lawyers selects attorneys from all firm sizes and over 70 practice areas throughout the United States. The final published list represents no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state. The lists are published annually in state and regional editions of Super Lawyers Magazines and in inserts and special advertising sections in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers. All attorneys selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers, regardless of year, can be found on SuperLawyers.com.

Super Lawyers' attorney-led research staff searches for lawyers who have attained certain honors, results or credentials, which indicate a high degree of peer recognition or professional competence. For example, certification as a specialist in a particular area of practice, or admission to prestigious colleges or academies, e.g., The American College of Trial Lawyers. The staff identifies these credentials by reviewing a proprietary list of database and online sources, including national and local legal trade publications.

Super Lawyers' comprehensive selection process has been patented (U.S. Pat. No. 8,412,564). Super Lawyers is one of the few lawyer rating services in the country to be granted this distinction, and we are honored that our unique process now has the backing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Super Lawyers' multiphase selection process involves three steps: creation of the candidate pool, evaluation of candidates by the research department, and peer evaluation by practice area. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Candidates cannot nominate themselves, nor can they pay to be on a Super Lawyers list.

The objective of Super Lawyers is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. Our unbiased approach and third-party validation make us a trustworthy resource for both attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel.

About Thomas More Marrone and MOREMARRONE LLC:

MOREMARRONE LLC has handled cases producing some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The firm represents plaintiffs in significant personal injury, class action, and other complex civil litigation. After a recent 11-month stretch that included two class action jury trials resulting in a settlement and verdict amounting to well over $15 million in addition to several substantial personal injury recoveries, successful business and employment negotiations, and hundreds of satisfied clients, Tom Marrone established his multifaceted firm, MOREMARRONE LLC.

Licensed to practice in the State and Federal courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, Tom Marrone has extensive experience and proven success handling difficult, complex cases, especially class actions and collective actions, cases involving personal injury, employment, wage and hour claims, insurance matters, product liability, consumer protection, consumer fraud, deceptive practices, legal malpractice, and wrongful use of civil proceedings.

Individual and corporate clients also engage MOREMARRONE LLC for advisory services, including legal matters, crisis prevention and crisis management. A veteran class action trial lawyer, Tom Marrone also offers consultations with other attorneys and law firms related to class action and complex litigation theory development, implementation, and trial strategy.


ANCHORAGE (ALASKA) : Earths ice is melting faster today than in the mid-1990s, new research suggests, as climate change nudges global temperatures ever higher.

Altogether, an estimated 28 trillion metric tons of ice have melted away from the worlds sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers since the mid-1990s. Annually, the melt rate is now about 57% faster than it was three decades ago, scientists report in a study published Monday in the journal The Cryosphere.

It was a surprise to see such a large increase in just 30 years," said co-author Thomas Slater, a glaciologist at Leeds University in Britain.

While the situation is clear to those depending on mountain glaciers for drinking water, or relying on winter sea ice to protect coastal homes from storms, the worlds ice melt has begun to grab attention far from frozen regions, Slater noted.

Aside from being captivated by the beauty of polar regions, people do recognize that, although the ice is far away, the effects of the melting will be felt by them," he said.

The melting of land ice  on Antarctica, Greenland and mountain glaciers  added enough water to the ocean during the three-decade time period to raise the average global sea level by 3.5 centimeters. Ice loss from mountain glaciers accounted for 22% of the annual ice loss totals, which is noteworthy considering it accounts for only about 1% of all land ice atop land, Slater said.

Across the Arctic, sea ice is also shrinking to new summertime lows. Last year saw the second-lowest sea ice extent in more than 40 years of satellite monitoring. As sea ice vanishes, it exposes dark water which absorbs solar radiation, rather than reflecting it back out of the atmosphere. This phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, boosts regional temperatures even further.

The global atmospheric temperature has risen by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. But in the Arctic, the warming rate has been more than twice the global average in the last 30 years.

Using 19942017 satellite data, site measurements and some computer simulations, the team of British scientists calculated that the world was losing an average of 0.8 trillion metric tons of ice per year in the 1990s, but about 1.2 trillion metric tons annually in recent years.

Calculating even an estimated ice loss total from the worlds glaciers, ice sheets and polar seas is a really interesting approach, and one thats actually quite needed," said geologist Gabriel Wolken with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. Wolken was a co-author on the 2020 Arctic Report Card released in December, but was not involved with the new study.

In Alaska, people are keenly aware" of glacial ice loss, Wolken said. You can see the changes with the human eye."

Research scientist Julienne Stroeve of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado noted the study had not included snow cover over land, "which also has a strong albedo feedback", referring to a measure of how reflective a surface is.

The research also did not consider river or lake ice or permafrost, except to say that these elements of the cryosphere have also experienced considerable change over recent decades."

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A smuggler who tried to sneak 74 protected chameleons into Austria by stuffing them into socks and ice cream boxes has been arrested at Vienna Airport.

The man, who was travelling from Tanzania via the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, hid the lizards in his luggage.

But his unusual cargo was discovered after his suitcase was X-rayed.

A smuggler who tried to sneak 74 protected chameleons into Austria by stuffing them into socks and ice cream boxes has been arrested at Vienna Airport

The man, who was initially travelling from Tanzania via the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, hid the lizards in his luggage

His unusual cargo was discovered after his suitcase was X-rayed and airport officials found the smuggled animals

The suspect is now facing criminal proceedings and a fine of up to around 5,000 after stashing the animals in his suitcase

Officials found the animals, whose black market value is valued at around 32,000, mostly in good health although two had died en route.

The man was immediately arrested while the boxes of chameleons were brought to Schoenbrunn Zoo.

They have since been given appropriate accommodation and a veterinary examination.

The chameleons, which included a one-week-old youngster, are now living in proper terrariums where environmental conditions are provided to meet their needs.

Officials found the animals, whose black market value is valued at around 32,000, mostly in good health although two had died en route

The man was immediately arrested while the boxes of chameleons were brought to Schoenbrunn Zoo

The chameleons, which included a one-week-old youngster, are now living in proper terrariums

The lizards had been stuffed into his socks for the long plane journey but were picked up by the X-ray machine

Zoo experts claimed the chameleons come from the Usambara Mountains, a cold and rainy region of Tanzania.

They believe the animals were destined to end up on the Czech black market.

The suspect is now facing criminal proceedings and a fine of up to around 5,000.

Finance Minister Gernot Bluemel said in a statement that he is happy that the customs officers could contribute to ending animal suffering and support animal welfare including supporting the preservation of rare species such as these.

Zoo experts claimed the chameleons come from the Usambara Mountains, a cold and rainy region of Tanzania

Experts believe the animals were destined to end up on the Czech black market
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Steering between the simplistic and the messy complexities of identity politics in West Bengal, the BJP is travelling over a minefield

If the BJP had studied the traditions of the celebration of Netaji Jayanti in West Bengal over the decades, it would have discovered the facts and stopped itself from inventing a fiction. (Photo:PTI)

Before it can defeat Mamata Banerjee, the BJP has to find a way of disarming the Bengali. As a target, Mamata Banerjee could be vulnerable if the grievances of the discontented were the only issue. But the Trinamul Congress and its leader are embedded in the tricky topography of West Bengal, which is peppered with hidden pitfalls.

Armed with its brand and its scorecard in elections across India, the BJP is anticipating a tough fight to attain its goal of fusing the state with the main body of a saffronised Bharat, of reaching the point where it can claim that the nation is governed by one party. Yet, the seemingly closer it gets to pulling off an election victory in West Bengal, the more elusive its target appears.

The Bengali spirit has insinuated itself between the BJPs hopes and Mamata Banerjees fightback. It was this that was out in the open when Ms Banerjee launched the year-long celebrations of Netaji Subhash Chandra Boses 125th birth anniversary on Janaury 23, with a rally and a spontaneous burst of song, a surging crowd of people and finally a ringing assertion that Bengal was the crucible that crafted a new vision of a modern India, gave birth to the national movement and defined patriotism by the struggles and sacrifices of its mesmerising leaders. In contrast, the curated, organised and hygienically wrapped celebrations for an audience of essentially one, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and television viewers was a sanitised, lifeless, joyless programme, minus the exuberance and pride that is quintessentially Bengali.

Voters and their contradictory allegiances and primordial attachments are whimsical and wayward; none more so than the Bengalis. Impressions matter; though not necessarily the first ones.

When Ms Banerjee declined to speak at Victoria Memorial at the spectacle organised by the Union government because she felt insulted by her hosts, she upstaged the Prime Minister, the hecklers and the BJP, by shrewdly turning it into a desecration of the spirit by bully boys primed to create trouble. Television and Twitter went into a frenzy of reactions. The BJPs army of defenders went on the offensive, asserting that Mamata Banerjee had insulted Shri Ram and Netaji. The Trinamul Congress went into overdrive, accusing the BJP and its leadership of intimidation, harassment and disrespect.

Having already paid her homage to Netaji by hitting the streets in a 6 km walk and a rally where she demanded a list of changes in his name, Ms Banerjee was ready to checkmate the BJP and Narendra Modi. In doing so she heavily underlined the difference between celebrating Netaji and his vision and rigid ceremonials. Her celebrations were a bigger, noisier version of the usual para (local) events; Mr Modis was entirely alien to the Bengali tradition. While the jury is inclined to believe that the homage to Netaji was debased by petty politics, the verdict will be delivered sometime in May, when the ballots are counted for the state Assembly elections.

If the BJP had studied the traditions of the celebration of Netaji Jayanti in West Bengal over the decades, it would have discovered the facts and stopped itself from inventing a fiction. In the scramble to and cover up the mistimed and misdirected attack on Mamata Banerjee, the BJPs IT cell boss Amit Malviya was so rattled that he declared she had walked out of the event in a huff. To cover that up, the BJPs army of defenders declared that Netajis birthday had never been celebrated in style in West Bengal. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact that the All India Forward Blocs headquarters are in Kolkata is incontrovertible evidence that Netajis birth anniversary was dutifully and faithfully observed every year. As the party set up by the leader in 1939, when he asked members to swear a blood oath to devote themselves to the cause of a militant freedom struggle, the Froward Blocs small presence in West Bengal politics is nevertheless a meaningful one.

For decades, rickety scaffolding has been annually erected at the Netaji statue in Esplanade and at the Shyambazar five-point crossing, where generations of Forward Bloc leaders have ascended the steps to garland the icon, as have leaders from the Congress and the CPI(M) and the CPI, as homage to a Bengali and a national hero, cruelly snatched by a mysterious death from becoming Independent Indias tallest leader, be it as Prime Minister or as President.

The memory of Netaji lives on in humble homes as a framed portrait. It lives in the conspiracy theories written and reworked by generations of authors and amateur and professional researchers. In every Kolkata para (locality) Netaji Jayanti is a local affair; children practise marching to the drums weeks in advance and then the procession through the streets mimicking the Azad Hind Fauj progressing to free the nation from imperial bondage.

In consonance with this spirit, Ms Banerjees celebration was inclusive and participatory. Netajis grand-nephew Sugata Bose, the eminent historian, led the concluding event. It was the right occasion for Mamata Banerjee to invoke the injured aspirations of the Bengali people. She demanded that Kolkata should be returned to its former status as a national capital; the Planning Commission should be revived, because it was conceived by Netaji; a monument to the Azad Hind Fauj should be erected in New Delhi. These were sentiments that are the dull nagging ache in every Bengali heart, where the idea that Bengal was the birthplace of Indias nationalism, its radical social reforms and its ideology of secularism, unity, communal harmony and diversity.

The distance between Bengali pride and the BJPs blunders can be measured in the last-moment inclusion of the visit to Netaji Bhavan in the Prime Ministers itinerary. To close the gaps in its knowledge of and familiarity with the Bengali mind, spirit, traditions and contradictions the BJP has a mere three months before the elections.

For the BJP to become local, it is neither necessary nor sufficient to poach local leaders from the Trinamul Congress and destabilise the party. It has to organically integrate. As is evident, this is an endeavour that would be difficult because of the contest between Bengali narratives of nationalism and its development over time and the BJPs hybrid version, enshrined in books -- Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra Darshan -- and now being translated into practice. Steering between the simplistic and the messy complexities of identity politics in West Bengal, the BJP is travelling over a minefield.
Australia will face significant pressure to join US military action in the Taiwan Strait if Chinas military escalates threats to its island neighbour, say strategic experts, after days of harassment from Chinese bombers and fighter jets.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds on Monday called for restraint and peace after China sent more than two dozen warplanes over the strait at the weekend.

The show of force came days after US President Joe Bidens inauguration and the publication of the Trump administrations Indo-Pacific strategy, which recommitted the US to defending Taiwan.

A Taiwanese Air Force F-16 in the foreground flies on the flank of a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force H-6 bomber in 2020. Credit:AP

The Australian government continues to watch very carefully what is happening in the Taiwan Strait, Reynolds said. We would say to all parties to settle their disputes peacefully and to do it in accordance with international law. And to take into consideration the wishes of people on both sides of the strait.
The Cleveland Innovation District will be a center of excellence that acts as a catalyst for ongoing investment in Northeast Ohio, including the attraction of businesses and the talent needed to keep the state competitive in healthcare and IT.

"The Cleveland Innovation District creates partnerships across different sectors of the economy and positions Ohio as a competitive place to invest in," said Governor Mike DeWine. "Each of the Cleveland Innovation District partners bring unique skills and areas of expertise. Having these institutions partner together will help Ohio emerge as a leader in healthcare and IT nationally and globally."



The State of Ohio, through DSA, and JobsOhio, and Cleveland Clinic, will commit a combined $565 million to the Cleveland Innovation District. A significant portion of this commitment will be put towards the creation of the Cleveland Clinic's new Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health.



"We've all known for a long time that if you could bring these five great institutions together we could build a world-class health innovation destination for Cleveland and Ohio, and that's exactly what we are doing today," said Lt. Governor Husted. "This is an important part of making Ohio the most innovative, entrepreneurial state in the Midwest, a goal the InnovateOhio team is pursuing every day."



The Innovation District will be a point of collaboration among healthcare, higher education, and business institutions, creating significant research, development, and job opportunities. The Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health's focus will be on research and innovation regarding pathogens, both current and future health threats.



"The Cleveland Innovation District will be anchored by premier institutions in medicine and learning that will drive the next great advancements in healthcare education and R&D while positively impacting the lives of millions around the world," said JobsOhio president and CEO J.P. Nauseef. "Together, each partner will play a unique role and the combined effort will establish Ohio nationally, and globally, as a go-to place for innovation with the talent that makes it happen."



The State of Ohio, through DSA, together with JobsOhio's private funding, will commit $265 million. DSA will commit to $155 million, and JobsOhio will invest $110 million. An additional $300 million will be invested by Cleveland Clinic.



As the Cleveland Innovation District develops, it is expected that additional investments will be made.



"Working with our local partners, we have a strategy for the Cleveland Innovation District that leverages our state and local strengths," said Lydia Mihalik, Director of the Ohio Development Services Agency. "Northeast Ohio will become the premier location for advancements in healthcare and medicine."



The Cleveland Innovation District's goal is to bring 20,000 new jobs to Northeast Ohio over 10 years. This includes 10,000 direct jobs in the healthcare and IT sectors, as well as 10,000 indirect jobs. The economic impact of the Innovation District is expected to be $3 billion for Cleveland and Ohio.



"We are honored to join Governor DeWine and Lieutenant Governor Husted in their vision for transformational impact in our great state of Ohio," said Tom Mihaljevic, MD, CEO and president, Cleveland Clinic. "This historic investment will position Cleveland Clinic's Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health to alter the course of human welfare. The world has experienced the destruction triggered by pathogens, we will be part of the solution. Together, our four world-class partners will build the Cleveland Innovation District into a vibrant forward-thinking partnership that creates jobs, transforms research and educates the workforce of the future."



Additionally, the Cleveland Innovation District will build and invest in current initiatives at the partner institutions. Case Western Reserve's Next Generation Health Care initiative will further expand community engagement, and quantitative health efforts to improve population-wide well-being. The initiative builds on the university's biomedical technologies and drug development to advance diagnosis and treatment for cancer, cardiac, neurological, and infectious diseases.



"To see such strong collaboration among our five institutions bodes well for the future," said Scott Cowen, interim president of Case Western Reserve University. "We are grateful to the State of Ohio and JobsOhio for this investment, and look forward to working with our partners to create jobs and businesses that not only contribute to Cleveland's economy, but also enhance the health and well-being of our region."



The MetroHealth System will partner with the institutions and further expand expertise in population health, medical informatics, epidemiology and modeling to support early detection, and monitoring of disease spread within communities.



"The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shown why we need a robust public health ecosystem, one that can respond quickly to new threats through research, innovative treatment and effective, community-informed delivery of care and that is sustained by a world-class workforce," said MetroHealth CEO and President Akram Boutros, MD. "The blueprint we're unveiling today  and the collaboration between the state and the five major local institutions that produced it  builds on Cleveland's existing strengths and sets us up to be the global leader in health innovation and education. This will bring new investment to Cleveland and help make both our community and the world healthier and safer."



University Hospitals will leverage current research and partnerships in the Cleveland Innovation District to identify and attract technology and process innovation for pharmaceutical development generated in Northeast Ohio. Specifically, University Hospitals will lead efforts to advance medical research and product innovation.



"As an anchor institution focused on community benefit, we hold in the highest regard our responsibility for taking a leadership role in ensuring the economic vitality and prosperity of the Northeast Ohio region," explained Cliff A. Megerian, MD, President of University Hospitals. "And as a health system whose mission is 'To Heal. To Teach. To Discover' it's incumbent upon us to ensure we invest in medical research and innovation as well as the necessary talent to fuel discovery. We are proud to collaborate with the Governor's office, Ohio DSA, JobsOhio and our partners in the Cleveland Innovation District to lead the efforts focused on Global Health and Emerging Infections; SmartHealth Product Innovation; and leveraging the success of The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals, part of the Harrington Project for Discovery & Development, an international initiative to enable advancement of therapeutic breakthroughs. Today, University Hospitals has nearly 3,000 clinical research studies underway, with more than 150 focused specifically on COVID-19 prevention and treatment, which underscores our excitement for leading such an important and vital project not only for our region, but for advancing medical discovery in general."



Cleveland State University (CSU) will invest in education and talent development to increase the number of higher education degrees, adult learning opportunities, and virtual educational programming opportunities in key STEM fields. Through this initiative, CSU is tasked with recruiting, educating and graduating the skilled talent needed to fuel growth in post-pandemic health care careers, emerging technologies, life sciences, and data-intensive fields.



"As the largest producer in the state of 4-year college graduates that live and work in NEO, we are extremely excited about this investment that will enable us to do even more," said Cleveland State University President Harlan Sands. "We are grateful for the investment that the State of Ohio and JobsOhio is making in our unique partnership. We can't wait to get started!"



City of Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson joined the Cleveland Innovation District partners, and expressed his support for the collaborative and innovative nature of the partnership.



"The City of Cleveland congratulates our project partners the State of Ohio, JobsOhio, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth, Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland State University. Today's announcement is another example of how our collaborative efforts position Cleveland's economy for the future," said Mayor Frank G. Jackson. "We look forward to future collaboration with these partners to bring more jobs and innovation in the Cleveland Innovation District and Opportunity Corridor."





SOURCE JobsOhio

Related Links

http://www.jobs-ohio.com


CROTONE, JAN 25 - Italian police on Monday arrested 12 suspected members of the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia, Italy's richest and most powerful mafia, in and around the Calabrian city of Crotone. They have been charged with 'Ndrangheta-style mafia association, murder, extortion, usury, weapons offences, robbery and thefts, and arson, all aggravated by using mafia methods. Catanzaro Chief Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, Italy's no.1 anti-Ndrangheta magistrate, said the operation had thwarted another murder. "They had dug up their weapons and were gearing to use them to carry out a murder," he said. "We just couldn't wait". Some of those arrested have been charged with the 'lupara bianca' ('disappearing') of farm hand Massimo Vona, 44, who went missing on October 30 2018 and is believed to have been the victim of the so-called 'white shotgun' after falling foul of the Calabrian Mob. Vona's cousin Valentino Vona, 25, was killed by 'Ndrangheta in 2012. 'Ndrangheta has overtaken its Sicilian cousins in Cosa Nostra thanks to its control of the European cocaine trade. Its tentacles now spread across Italy and the world. Italy's third main mafia is the Camorra, based in and around Naples. (ANSA).
Illustration by Braulio Amado Talk Teenagers Made Ninja a Gaming Superstar. He Has a Message for Parents.

Tyler Blevins  Ninja, to video-game fans  is the closest thing gaming has to a crossover mainstream star. Largely on the back of his skills playing Fortnite, as well as his puckish commentary while he plays, the 29-year-old has amassed 16.5 million followers on Twitch, 14.4 million on Instagram, 6.5 million on Twitter, 24 million subscribers on YouTube and gobs of money. (He has said he makes $500,000 a month from streaming. And by the way, I fully admit to envying Blevinss success; would that esports and streaming had been such a big deal when I was probably the worlds best at GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64.) All that, and Blevins is wondering whats next, or least how to achieve more while spending less time at his desk. Physically, sitting and streaming in one spot for eight hours a day, its a lot, he says. Weve talked about fading out of that slowly. But Im never going to go cold turkey. I love video games too much for that.

Being watched live for hours day after day by tens of thousands of people while youre playing a video game is a deeply new and also deeply unnatural activity. It must have some effect on a persons sense of self. How do you think it affects you? Streaming makes you super self-conscious. You have to be the most sure person on the planet if youre going to get into this and not be completely torn apart. If I didnt have my wife and my family to talk to  everyones like, Dont listen to what people say. All right, but when youre reading You suck [expletive] 20 times in a chat, its going to get in your head. Like, for example, when we came back from Mixer, I knew that I wasnt going to be the biggest streamer in terms of viewers anymore. You dont be the No. 1 streamer, leave, come back and youre No. 1 again. I get people coming in my chat, and theyre like: Youre falling off. LOL. Good Mixer move, man. The Mixer move was smart. I dont regret anything Ive done. I could teach all these kids talking [expletive], but when you reply to them, theyre like, He said my name! Their name is 69fartsniffer, and you read their name, and their next comment after they roasted you is them giggling like a little schoolgirl. Like, You noticed me! Its the worst.

Is that kind of stuff just a part of gaming that youve resigned yourself to? Could it be mitigated somehow? I dont think its gaming. I think its internet culture. People are behind the screen. They say what they want and can get away with it. You have complete anonymity. Your information and data are precious and should remain private, but it sucks that there are kids who can say racist things and be incredibly aggressive and threatening to women online and have zero repercussions. It would be awesome if when someone said something threatening, you could be like, Let me look up this dudes gamer tag on this website  if the law could do this, not a normal person  and then boom: Its Jimmy. He said this. Lets call his parents. But it all comes down to parenting. You want to know who your kid is? Listen to him when hes playing video games when he thinks youre not. Heres another thing: How does a white kid know he has white privilege if his parents never teach him or dont talk about racism? If theyre gaming and their first interaction with racism is one of their friends saying the N-word and they have no idea what it is  what if it was on my stream? Is it my job to have this conversation with this kid? No, because the first thing thats going on in my head is, This kid is doing this on purpose to troll me. If someone says a racial slur on someone elses stream, it can potentially get that streamer banned. Its awful, but thats the first thing I think of.

Ninja at a Fortnite tournament he hosted in Las Vegas in 2018. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Do you have a sense of your fans politics? I know a lot of them are just kids. Funny enough, a majority of the people who follow me on Twitter and Instagram and watch me on Twitch are not children. The average age range is 18 to 27. But yeah, I will go on a mini-rant here: Every time I ranted about coronavirus  this was last January, February  I was like, Guys, this is going to be serious. What I got back was: Fake news. You know how many people die of the flu each year? That was my chat. But I dont know if my audience leans one way or the other. I try to be as neutral as possible.

Whats your feeling about the responsibility that online platforms should have for how theyre used? Its their platform, so they should be able to do what they want if it isnt violating any constitutional rights. The president of the United States on his Twitter account should not be allowed to spread false information to the world. The fact that people were giving Twitter [expletive] for banning Trump? Where does it end? No, you idiots. Hes the president, and hes lying. They had a duty to stop letting him manipulate people with lies. And that it took Facebook this long to do it? Come on! The Big Z, what are you doing?!

A few years ago, you said you didnt want to play with female gamers, which to me only underscored more of the crap that women have to deal with online. What did that controversy teach you about the gender dynamics of gaming? Oh, man. Theres so much. This kind of goes with what I was saying about how I wish that there were some ways to police what people say to women in video games. The second a girls voice comes over the mic, guys lose their [expletive]. Its like: Holy [expletive]! A girl is playing a video game! Its astonishing that someone could think its OK to say stuff like that to women. But with the level that Im at  and that a lot of top streamers are at  its like how it is with actors. I dont want to start drama, but Justin Timberlake  hes married  was filming a movie, was at a bar, was holding hands with an actress. They were just working together, but all it takes is one moment, and now its horrible, even if its just accusations. Accusations are what made me say that about female gamers. I was like, Im going to do anything in my power to make sure that no one can even start a rumor or make YouTube clickbait videos: Ninja is playing with this person a lot lately. Theyre flirting. Heres a clip. You know how to make that never happen? You dont let it happen! Thats what was going through my head. I still stand by not having a lot of alone time with a woman, in general, if you are a married man. I mean, they could be your best friend, thats totally cool. But if I randomly start playing with a woman no one knows, people are going to start talking. So if I am going to play with female gamers, I do it with a big group so its not that one-on-one interaction.

Do you not believe in the possibility of platonic friendship? Of course a guy and a girl can be friends without getting intimate. But its like, temptation, man. Actually, I dont like that word, because I have control of myself and 100 percent respect for my relationship, but  I dont know how to word it. I know people are going to potentially take this now like, Oh, he cant trust himself, blah blah blah. Dude, no. But when youre not Joe anymore, who can have a drink with his co-worker and no one gives a [expletive]  I dont have that luxury.

Is there anything you could be doing to move all these dynamics in a more positive direction? Theres always more you can do. But right now, Im not tweeting that much in general. Im kind of zoned in on myself, just gaming and Valorant. Again, its the internet. You dont change anyones mind. Thats another thing: Ill tweet something, and then Jess will be like Tyler, the only people replying to you most of the time are people who are looking to fight. You can be like, I love butter, and everyones going to reply back: Why dont you like I Cant Believe Its Not Butter? Unbelievable! Its crazy out there.

Ninja speaking at the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. Johannes Eisele/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images

Presumably, there are career things you want to be ahead of the curve on. Things like your audience getting a little older and a little less interested in Ninja. Or maybe its you getting a little older and a little less interested in being Ninja. How might those possibilities affect the way you build your business? Its about understanding where your core audience is and expanding off that. We know that we have a large, young audience who is in love with Ninja, with this gamer, this blue-haired avatar. Were super aware of that, and thats why trying to move into voice acting for cartoons or animation  boom  thats right on brand. I love doing impressions and voices. I can quote every SpongeBob episode. Its crazy the memory that I have when it comes to SpongeBob. Im passionate about that stuff. I dont do anything I dont want to do. Thats a good philosophy: to not be a fake or a sellout.

What, in your world, would constitute selling out? Selling out is endorsing or doing something that you dont believe in and dont want to do. Like, Im a Red Bull guy. Always been a Red Bull guy. If Im ever going to  and Im never going to  but if Im ever going to go with a different energy company  which I wouldnt  it wouldnt be Monster. If out of nowhere, its like: Oh, Ninjas with Monster now. Why? If it was solely because they paid me more, thats selling out. I never want someone to be like, Youve sold out in the chat, and then I read it and am like, I did.

Im curious: Since your job is playing video games, what do you do for fun? Watch shows with my wife.

Do you never get tired of looking at a screen? You dont want to take a walk or something? I dont want to get Covid! Im kidding. We take our dogs out all the time. So Im good.

You must, I assume, have certain cognitive capabilities that allow you to be exceptional at gaming. What else could those capabilities lend themselves to? What else would you be good at? Im an idea man, and Im very good at coming up with things that people dont think of.

Whats an idea that youre particularly proud of? Dude, I used to drive to tournaments  eight-hour drives, 10-hour drives. Once I did an 18-hour road trip to Washington for a tournament. I drove the whole time. Im not trying to drink 20 Red Bulls to do that. Im not. No one should. So what happens on a long drive? You get cold, and its like: Im freezing! Im tired! Well, you turn up the heat, and you get too hot. Now youre hot or falling asleep, but you also dont want the window down, because what if its freezing out or what if its super loud with that window down? So its right here: little stick-on chill strips you put underneath your eyes so you can have the windows up and the heat on. This would be good for truck drivers. Dude: chill strips.

I dont know why youre wasting your time gaming. Chill strips are a million-dollar  well, honestly, theyre probably a hundred-dollar idea. Per strip! Thats what well sell em for!

Opening illustration: Source photograph by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan, via Getty Images.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity from two conversations.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : All the 20 Indian Army bravehearts killed in action during the clash with Chinese People's Liberation Army troopers at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh last year have been honoured with war gallantry aawards posthumously on the eve of Republic Day.

Colonel Santosh Babu, who led from the front during the Galwan Valley clash on June 15 last year, have been conferred with Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest military award, posthumously. Four of them have been conferred with Vir Chakra, the third highest military award, while others have been awarded with Sena Medal.

In total, 256 Indian Army personnel were conferred gallantry and distinguished awards on the occasion of Republic Day.

On June 15 last year, Colonel Santosh Babu, the Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar battalion deployed in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, during operation Snow Leopard, was tasked with establishing an observation post. Organising and briefing his troops about the situation with a sound plan, he successfully executed the task.

While holding the position, his column faced stiff resistance from the adversary who attacked them using lethal and sharp weapons along with heavy stone pelting from adjoining heights. Undaunted by the violent and aaggressive action by the overwhelming strength of enemy soldiers, the officer in true spirit of service before self, continued to resist the enemy's attempt to push back Indian troops.

Despite being grievously injured, Colonel Babu led from the front with absolute command and control despite hostile conditions to deter the vicious enemy attack.

In the skirmish that broke out and the ensuing hand to hand combat with enemy soldiers, he valiantly resisted the enemy attack till his last breath, inspiring and motivating his troops to hold their ground.

"For conspicuous bravery, exemplary leadership, astute professionalism and supreme sacrifice in the line of duty, Colonel Babu has been conferred with Maha Vir Chakra, the Indian Army said.
A taste of spring will be in the air for the next two days  but then winter will return.

Todays warm weather does come with a catch, however.

There is a chance for a few storms this afternoon as a cold front moves through the state, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The SPC expanded todays severe weather outlook and now has a marginal risk area covering a large part of north and central Alabama from roughly Montgomery northward.

A marginal risk is Level 1 out of 5 and means isolated severe storms will be possible:

The Storm Prediction Center has expanded a marginal risk area to include more of Alabama as of Monday morning. The areas in dark green could see isolated severe storms later today.

It will be warmer than average both today and Tuesday, according to the weather service.

Highs today, despite the rain, will range from the mid-60s and low 70s in north Alabama, the low to mid-70s in central Alabama and the mid-70s in south Alabama.

Tuesdays expected high temperatures will be similar:

Tuesday's temperatures will be similar to today, but not all of Alabama will see rain.

No 80s expected just yet, however.

The 70s will be a nice break from typical January highs, which for Alabama are in the 50s and 60s.

Here are the average high temperatures for Jan. 25, according to weather service data:

Anniston: 54

Birmingham: 54

Geneva: 62

Huntsville: 52

Mobile: 61

Montgomery: 58

Muscle Shoals: 51

Tuscaloosa: 56

More typical winter weather will return after Wednesday, when another cold front moves through Alabama.

According to the weather service temperatures will fall back into the 40s and 50s for highs, with low temperatures hitting near the freezing point and below by Thursday night-Friday morning:
Boris Johnson is reportedly flying to Scotland this week to save the Union. Why? Its not as if he hasnt anything better to do, apart from the small matters of dealing with a global pandemic and the economy going to hell in a handcart.

Yet the Prime Minister is about to drop everything to race north, panicked by the threat of a new wildcat independence referendum, with polls suggesting that this time a majority of Scots would vote to break away from the UK.

This isnt the smack of firm leadership, its a feeble knee-jerk response to an opportunist smack on the backside from a two-bob Toytown Tartanista chancer.

Wee Burney told the BBCs Andrew Marr on Sunday that following the SNPs expected landslide victory in Mays local elections she intends to call another referendum, with or without Westminsters permission.

Theres always the Catalan Model as a precedent, even though most people cant tell the difference between a Catalan Model and a Matalan Model posing in cut-price knickers on an artificial beach in Dubai.

Thats if they dont think a Catalan is a boat with two hulls. So, I repeat, why is Boris bothering to take the high road? An unscientific survey conducted by this column yesterday produced the decisive finding:

Boris Johnson is reportedly flying to Scotland this week to save the Union. Why? Its not as if he hasnt anything better to do

What we want is another independence referendum, said absolutely nobody outside the ranks of swivel-eyed SNP supporters.

The people of Scotland, like everyone else in the UK, are first and foremost fixated on surviving Covid-19 and getting back to some semblance of normal life.

By banging on about independence yet again in the middle of a catastrophic health crisis, Sturgeon has only served to highlight her insular monomania.

Wee Burney is the John Cougar Mellencamp of British politics. She was born in a small town . . .

Theres not a single issue in life that this Lilliputian charlatan cant refract through the prism of Scottish separatism.

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore once produced a spectacularly tasteless sketch in which the cause of every misfortune was put down to cancer. In Wee Burney World, the solution to every failure of her own dysfunctional, jumped-up parish council at Holyrood is: independence.

If in doubt, blame the English.

Failing schools: blame the English. Corona: blame the English. Celtic falling 23 points behind Rangers: blame that cheating Scouse Git Stevie Gerrard. Send him hame to think again!

Yet the Prime Minister is about to drop everything to race north, panicked by the threat of a new wildcat independence referendum,

Sturgeon never takes responsibility for her own failures. Far easier to point the finger at the wicked Westminster bogeyman.

In a brilliant commentary for this newspaper in November, Andrew Neil eviscerated the dismal record of the Nats. He highlighted the cynical fashion in which Holyrood has become a trebles-all-round job creation scheme for otherwise unemployable William Wallace wannabes.

Neil pointed to the shocking fall in educational standards north of the border  an area in which Scotland once proudly led the world.

The SNPs stewardship of the NHS has been equally disastrous. Life expectancy in East Glasgow is shorter than in Djibouti and Mongolia. Even during the current Covid crisis, the SNPs performance has been no better than elsewhere in the UK.

But Sturgeon has been allowed to pretend that she is handling the pandemic with far more assurance than Boris.

Part of this is down to the cult of personality which has been constructed around the First Minister, by a largely slavish domestic media and the support of a political class who owe their lucrative fealty to the myth of SNP competence and invincibility.

Sturgeons presentational genius appears to amount to little more than listening in to the morning Cobra briefing in London and then announcing whatever has been decided before Boris can get to the cameras ahead of her.

Every lunchtime at midday  until I switched off in disgust  the BBC and the increasingly Left-wing Sky News Black Lives Matter Channel (under its new American management) beamed Wee Burney and Her Amazing Dancing Bear across the kingdom. TV producers are happy to roll out the red carpet for Sturgeon because she reinforces their own anti-Boris, anti-Brexit fanaticism.

She was at it again on Marr, using Burns Night to accuse the Prime Minister of being a cowering, timorous beastie...

Boris should have ignored her, instead of dancing to her tune, as usual, terrified of being the PM who lost the Union.

Gordon Brown is no better. Hes been disinterred since Sunday, warning that unless further concessions are made to the Scot Nats, the UK is over. Brown wrote: The choice is now between a reformed state and a failed state.

He could have said that if theres one failed state out there, its Scotland under Wee Burney and the Nats. And if anybody failed to see that coming, it was Gordon and New Labour who thought devolution would shore up their hegemony north of the border  and by extension give them a guaranteed majority at Westminster.

Instead, first Alex Salmond and now Wee Burney have done up Labour like an Arbroath smokie.

Sorry, but its time Westminster stopped parking the bus and went on the offensive.

Boris should be reminding the Scots that its Englands money footing the bill for the largesse they enjoy and for which the SNP takes credit.

Its the UK Government which took the gamble on the Oxford vaccine and approved the Pfizer jab currently being administered everywhere.

Celtic are 23 points behind Rangers  blame the English

He must turn the spotlight on Sturgeon and her husband, who run Scotland as their personal fiefdom.

They wouldnt get away with it in London. Carrie may bend Boriss ear over climate change, but shes not chairman of the Conservative Party  unlike Burneys old man, who is the SNPs full-time chief executive.

By all accounts, its not all sweetness and light within the SNP, either. And not just because of the split between Alex Salmond and Sturgeon, who is accused of misleading the Edinburgh parliament over complaints against her former boss.

Shell probably dodge the bullet. Demagogues generally do in one-party states. But theres also simmering resentment between the Holyrood crowd and the SNPs Westminster contingent, led by porky pub bore Ian Blackford, suspected of living high on the hog in London at taxpayers expense.

Everybody back to the cigar bar at Boisdale!

Word is that if Wee Burney fell under a bus tomorrow, theres no natural successor and the whole shooting match could go belly up. So Boris would have been well advised to stay away for while and concentrate on the day job.

From all this, some of you may conclude that I couldnt give a monkeys if Scotland broke away from the UK. You couldnt be more wrong. Im a visceral believer in the Union.

Twenty years ago, I made a documentary for ITV wondering whether London should go on subsidising Scotland.

I even tracked down the late Joel Barnett, the Labour politician who dreamed up the eponymous Barnett Formula under which Scotland even today receives well over the odds from the Treasury  reckoned to be pushing an extra 2,000 in cash and other benefits for every man, woman and child north of the border.

Even though this generous discrepancy is a bone of contention, when anyone bothers to think about it, especially in Englands Northern Red Wall constituencies, I concluded that it was worth it.

The ties that bind matter. Only yesterday, we booked a hotel room in the Lake District for the wedding of the son of our best friends, proud Aberdonian Scots who live west of Glasgow. We met when they lived round the corner in North London.

We like the same music, we like the same bands. . . as Springsteen sings on one of my all-time favourite tracks, Bobby Jean. In fact, the last time I saw Springsteen live was at Hampden.

It didnt occur to me that I was in a foreign country. Im just as comfortable in Glasgows Horseshoe Bar as I am in Londons French House.

Unlike our ill-fated experiment at bonding with our European neighbours, we are one people  albeit with our own peculiarities. We have a shared history, shared values, and hopefully a shared destiny.

Look, as a hardline Brexiteer and a democrat, I couldnt deny the Scots the right to self-determination.

Even though I fear that if you extended the vote on Scottish independence across the whole UK, the English would in a heartbeat wish the North British a fond farewell  glad to be well shot of whining Wee Burney and her gang of ingrates.

Still, lets hope that never happens and the last two lines of Bobby Jean dont come true.

And Im just calling you one last time, not to change your mind,

But just to say I miss you, baby, Good luck, goodbye...
Posted Monday, January 25, 2021 7:06 am

Editors Note: Reader Tom Regan asked to write this guest commentary in response to a previous column by Reflector columnist Brian Mittge, who was critical of Donald Trump. The Reflectors Opinion pages are open to all. Requests for guest commentaries can be sent to eric@thereflector.com. Letters to the editor, which should be limited to 500 words or less, can be sent to letters@thereflector.com.

A few years back there was a rabbi, a Hindu priest and a congressman traveling together through Nebraska.

Seeking lodging for the night, they discovered the hotels were completely full because of a convention that was in town. They decided to knock on a farmers door to see if they could sleep in the barn. The farmer said, sure, help yourselves. Ten minutes later, the rabbi came knocking on the farmer's door and said, I cant sleep in the barn because you have a pig in there and thats against my religion. The farmer said OK, you can have the upstairs bedroom. Ten minutes after that, the Hindu priest came knocking and said, I cant sleep in the barn because you have a cow in there and thats against my religion. The farmer said, OK you can have the other bedroom, now good night.

Ten minutes later there was another knock on the back door. Getting really irritated, the farmer furiously opened the door, and there stood the cow and the pig.

I relate this joke because I too share the same sentiments as the cow and the pig  total disgust for congress, especially this bunch that is currently in Washington D.C.

By the time you read this, former president Donald Trump will have been impeached again and probably convicted. Why? Because they can. They have the majority.

They say he incited a riot, encouraging people to tear through the Capitol building and destroy things. People died on both sides. Have you taken a ride through downtown Portland lately?

You can cross it off the list of major American cities. Its done. Put a fork in it.

No one in their right mind would start a business in Portland. You might as well change the name to Plywoodville or Fecesland. Same with Seattle, New York City, Minneapolis, Kenosha, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Louisville and on and on.

All were destroyed by Antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists, except those riots were approved by the Democratic mayors that controlled them.

Heck, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler even joined sides with the rioters. This selective enforcement of the law only makes the law irrelevant and a joke. I say to Congress, How does it feel?

You gave tacit approval for the riots all summer, and now you are shocked rioters ransacked the Capitol building?

To be sure, Trump has a lot of character flaws. I mean a lot of character flaws. He is full of pride, arrogance, abrasiveness and for a sophisticated billionaire from NYC, he talks like a truck driver.

But he is also not a politician, which is why I like him.

Like one guy said, he swings through D.C. like King Kong, destroying everything in his path. He clearly loves America, and this is important. The other western democracies are too small to stand against an aggressive Russia and Communist China.

Remember when Obama said those jobs are gone and they are not coming back. Trump brought them back. Obama said you didnt build that. Trump said let them keep some of their own money and they can build anything.

Trump enabled the fracking industry, and now our price of gas is among the lowest ever. We even export oil and gas. By lowering the price of oil, Trump has cut off Iran and Russia at the knees. They dont have the money to finance terrorism throughout the world, except for the money that Obama gave them in pallet loads. Remember that?

Prior to COVID-19, Black and Hispanic unemployment was the lowest ever. Four million people left the food stamp rolls. The stock market has been on a tear. How did he do this? By letting us keep more of our own money.

He defeated ISIS and is pulling us out of Afghanistan. He built 450 miles of border wall to slow down illegal immigration. He negotiated new trade deals with the rest of the world that benefited us and not them. He exposed the danger of Communist China.

Trump is the best pro-life President, bar none. I have a question for you. If Black Lives Matter, then why is there abortion? If science is settled about global warming, then what does science say about a woman who is pregnant? Is she carrying a human being or not? Why do we condemn innocent babies to death and then free guilty murderers? What does the science say about changing your sex based upon your feelings? Or your skin color based upon how you wish to identify? Or dont chromosomes matter anymore?

I dont write these things to provoke or insult anyone but they are legitimate questions. The answer is that we were never given the right to decide these matters. Only God has this right, not mankind.

In the meantime, I prefer to sleep with the cow and the pig.



Tom Regan was born in New York City and has lived in the Pacific Northwest for 46 years. Hes a former Southwest Washington business owner.
A federal appeals court says Gov. Gavin Newsoms ban on indoor worship services in virtually all of California does not discriminate against religion and is justified by the need to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Newsom went too far in numerical limits on indoor services in a few smaller counties with lower rates of the virus and more space available in hospital emergency rooms, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Friday. But the court said the states evidence showed that indoor worship services, with large groups gathered together for extended periods that include singing and chanting, pose risks that warrant a near-statewide ban to protect the public during serious outbreaks of coronavirus infections.

It is difficult to see how allowing more people to congregate indoors will do anything other than lead to more cases, more deaths, and more strains on Californias already overburdened health-care system, Judge Kim Wardlaw said in the 3-0 ruling.

Newsoms orders met the standards that the U.S. Supreme Court set in November when it struck down New York states limits on religious services, Wardlaw said. The high court said New York had set tighter restrictions on indoor worship than on grocery stores and other retail outlets, and it required states to show that any such discrepancies were the only means available to protect public health.

California places no restrictions on attendance at outdoor religious services, and applies similar or lesser restrictions to indoor services than it does to weddings, funerals, college lectures and political gatherings, Wardlaw said.

The court indicated that religious organizations in a few rural counties could seek to ease the states limits on indoor services to match lesser restrictions on retail businesses.

Newsoms orders have allowed houses of worship in Trinity, Mariposa and Alpine counties to hold services for up to 25% of their capacity, to a maximum of 100 people, and in Sierra County for up to 50% of capacity or 200 people. Groceries and other retailers have similar percentage limits but no maximum numbers for attendance, and religious services are entitled to equal treatment, Wardlaw said.

But the court issued no such immediate orders Friday because the lawsuit was filed by a single church, South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista (San Diego County), where religious services face the same indoor bans as comparable secular activities.

On Monday, another panel of the court said the same rules would apply to 162 churches throughout the state affiliated with Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, which had filed a separate suit against Newsom. In a separate opinion, Judge Diarmuid OScannlain said he would have struck down the ban on indoor services because of Californias discriminatory treatment of houses of worship but he was required to follow the earlier panels standards under the courts rules.

South Bay United had sought to remove all limits on indoor attendance as well as the states separate ban on singing and chanting during indoor worship. Wardlaw said the state currently prohibits singing and chanting during all indoor gatherings, religious or secular, because when a person sings or otherwise loudly vocalizes, droplets are expelled with greater force, travel farther, and thus present a greater danger of transmitting the virus.

Daniel Lopez, a spokesman for Newsom, said the court had upheld important health protections.

These measures, and the sacrifices made by those observing them, have helped to reduce the current surge and to preserve our health care systems ability to treat seriously ill patients, he said.

Harvest Rock Church and its affiliated congregations in Harvest International Ministry will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, their lawyer said.

The high court has already issued a clear road map that leads to the ultimate conclusion that Gov. Gavin Newsoms ban of worship is unconstitutional, said Mat Staver, chairman of the religious conservative legal organization Liberty Counsel.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
In the race between Intel Alder Lake vs Apple M1 chip, who could win? Intel's upcoming Alder Lake could be the closest thing to Apple's latest in-house processor, which is currently used in the company's MacBook lineup. Intel spends a lot of time during the previous CES to provide a preview of its next major chipset.

Also Read: Raspberry Pi Pico vs ESPR32: Microcontroller Module Moves Away from Single-Board Linux Computers

According to The Verge's latest report, Intel confirmed that its upcoming hybrid Alder Lake processors would utilize an approach similar to Arm's Big.little technology, which is already featured in the chips Lake Field predecessor.

The upcoming chipset is also expected to feature high-performance and high-efficiency cores in a single package. This innovation will allow the new Intel Alder Lake to maximize both efficiency and power.

Intel Alder Lake vs Apple M1 Chip

While the company's Lakefield processors focus on mobile devices, Intel confirmed that its upcoming Alder Lake will focus on its future desktop and mobile devices, serving as their foundation.

It is expected to have a new and enhanced version of the 10nm SuperFin designs, which are already integrated on the company's 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors. Aside from this, Intel Alder Lake will also feature new high-power cores.

These include the new Gracenote cores, which will be used for the chip's efficiency, as well as the latest Golden Lake cores. This innovation simply shows that Intel now has plans for hybrid chips that will scale far beyond simple smartphone flagships.

Intel's upcoming Alder Lake processor is considered as the closest chip to Apple's latest M1 processor, which is currently used in its latest laptops. Since Intel is now focusing on hybrid processors, this means that the company is looking to scale its hybrid chips across its lineup could indicate that the company is looking to emulate Apple's Arm success with its own technology going forward.

When will Alder Lake arrive? Release Date

TechRadar previously reported that Intel's new processor could arrive in the second half of 2021. Other rumors claimed that the new chipset could be released in September.

However, there could still be some changes since the company usually releases its new processors around a year after the release of their predecessors. This means that people should heavily rely on speculations. It is still advisable that you wait for Intel's actual announcements.



For more news updates about Intel and other Apple competitors, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Samsung Allegedly Developing a Chipset to Beat Apple's A14 Bionic Processor; Is This Bad News for Apple?

This article is owned by TechTimes.

Written by: Giuliano de Leon.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A top vaccine expert has criticised the British Medical Association for generating anxiety about the Covid jab.

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation which advises the Government, accused the doctors union of misleading the public over the injections.

He hit out after the BMA criticised the Governments decision to extend the wait time for the second jab from three to 12 weeks.

The BMA wrote to health bosses over the weekend asking them to cut the gap as it claimed that the vaccine could become less effective if the wait for the second dose is too long.

Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation which advises the Government, accused the doctors union of misleading the public over the injections. Picture: Stock

But Professor Finn, of Bristol University, said that if anything, the early evidence suggests that protection might increase with a greater gap.

I must be careful [with] what I say about the BMA but I would say that it would be a good idea to really understand the issues before you make public pronouncements, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

However, on social media he went further as he posted the phone number for the BMA membership cancellation line and encouraged fellow doctors to leave the union.

He claimed that the 12-week gap is likely to offer more protection than the three weeks initially proposed.

He added: Other countries are looking at what the UK is doing with enormous interest and this may well turn out to be another example of a long tradition in us being innovative and creative with our resources, and producing a much better way of using the vaccine.

Professor Finn warned that the public could be misled by critics saying that there is a lack of evidence for the Governments approach.

He claimed that the 12-week gap is likely to offer more protection than the three weeks initially proposed. Picture: Stock

He insisted there is rock-solid evidence that if you give a dose of the vaccine to more people you... save lives.

In a letter to Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, the BMA called for the 12-week gap to be reduced.

It said: The absence of any international support for the UKs approach is a cause of deep concern and risks undermining public and the professions trust in the vaccination programme.

Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert, last night said he was also concerned about the delayed second dose.
Perth houses are being snatched up before they are even listed as the state experiences a clamour for property not seen in 15 years.

REIWA statistics showed during the December quarter the average time it took for a Perth house to sell was nearly halved to 21 days, compared to 38 days the year before.

Perths houses are selling nearly twice as fast as this time last year. Credit:Bourkes Property

Bourkes Property real estate agent Steven Webster said the surge in demand had led to one in five of the Como agencys properties being sold before it even reached market.

It would have been lucky if it was one in 50 sold off-market last year, he said.
The COVID-19 threat is still not



over in Mumbai and proper care should be taken accordingly during farmers' protest here or else a new crisis will be there in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said on Monday.

As the farmers' protest against the Centre's farm laws continues near the Delhi borders, Raut alleged that "some invisible force" does not want peasants to get justice.

Talking to reporters here, he also said that an "atmosphere of instability" prevails in the country.

Thousands of farmers from across Maharashtra have reached Mumbai to participate in a rally here on Monday against the Centre's three new farm laws and to express solidarity with the farmers agitating near Delhi.

"I saw yesterday farmers from different places in Maharashtra reached Mumbai. Will need to take care. The COVID-19 threat is still not over in Mumbai," Raut said.

"It will be better if care is taken in that case. Or else, a new crisis will spread in Maharashtra is what the chief minister is worried about," the Rajya Sabha member said.

He noted that the farmers' protest near the capital has been continuing despite several rounds of discussions between peasants and the Centre.

"It seems some invisible force does not want farmers to get justice, an atmosphere of instability prevails in the country and it (the invisible force) seeks political mileage out of the same. It will not be in the interest of the country," the Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson said.

Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the 'mandi' (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several border points of Delhi, demanding a repeal of the three farm laws.

Multiple rounds of talks between the government and farmer unions have failed to break the impasse so far, while the Supreme Court has appointed a panel for resolution of the issue.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
He may be one of Australia's longest-serving breakfast TV anchors, but Sunrise host David 'Kochie' Koch is still dividing opinion 18 years after stepping into the role.

After it was reported last week that Basil Zempilas once thought Channel Seven was lining him up to replace Kochie, fans flocked to Facebook to share their thoughts on the veteran presenter.

'Basil would be much better than Kochie,' one viewer wrote, while another added: 'Koch has long outstayed his welcome.'

Divisive: He may be one of Australia's longest-serving breakfast TV anchors, but Sunrise host David 'Kochie' Koch is still dividing opinion 18 years after stepping into the role

A third fan commented: 'God, anyone would be better than Kochie.'

One Facebook user suggested: 'It is time for Channel Seven to get some new blood. Kochie and the team are so boring. The Today show is so much better.'

Others agreed they preferred Channel Nine's breakfast show, which is hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon.

'Can't stand Kochie or Sunrise. Karl, Ally and the Today program for me all the way,' one wrote.

Another added: 'Sorry, Kochie, you bore me to death. Even [though] I'm not a great supporter of Karl, I'd rather watch him.'

View: After it was reported last week that Basil Zempilas once thought Seven was lining him up to replace Kochie, fans flocked to Facebook to share their thoughts on the veteran presenter

They wake up with Today! Many viewers said they preferred Channel Nine's Today show, which is hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon

Last week, former Weekend Sunrise host Basil Zempilas revealed he was convinced he was next in line to take over from Kochie as Sunrise co-anchor.

But his hopes were dashed when network bosses made it clear they were sticking with Kochie, who signed a new two-year deal in July.

Basil, 49, who quit Weekend Sunrise in 2019 for family reasons, assumed Seven had big plans for him because of the travel required for his job.

Successor: Last week, ex-Weekend Sunrise host Basil Zempilas (right, with Monique Wright) revealed he was convinced he was next in line to take over from Kochie as Sunrise co-anchor

For two years, he commuted from Perth to Sydney every weekend to host the show.

'Look, I suppose if you're living in Perth and they ring you up out of the blue and say, "Can you fly to Sydney every weekend and host Weekend Sunrise and we'll see how it goes"  I guess there was a sense of expectation that if they didn't have a role for me, they wouldn't be flying a bloke from Perth every weekend,' he said on Triple M.

But it seems no plans were forthcoming, as Kochie, who joined Sunrise in 2002, signed a two-year contract extension in 2018, which was renewed in July 2020.

Not going anywhere: Sadly, Basil's hopes were dashed when network bosses made it clear they were sticking with Kochie (pictured), who signed a new two-year deal in July

Basil said he 'wasn't annoyed' at Kochie, but he did think Seven had dangled a carrot when there was no job opportunity available.

'Did I think maybe there was an opportunity there and maybe was that the direction I was heading? Yeah, I probably did,' he said.

Fortunately, Basil has other duties keeping him busy: he hosts 92.9 Triple M's breakfast show in addition to being the Lord Mayor of Perth.

High hopes: Basil, who hosted Weekend Sunrise for two years before quitting in 2019, assumed Seven had big plans for him because of the travel required for his job. He used to commute from Perth to Sydney every weekend to host the show. Pictured with Sam Armytage

While Kochie did renew his deal with Seven six months ago, it's believed he didn't get a pay rise because of the Covid-19 recession.

He's said to be earning $800,000 a year to host breakfast show Sunrise.

Television expert Rob McKnight told Daily Mail Australia it was a 'smart play by Seven' to lock in Kochie for another two years.

No hard feelings? Basil said he 'wasnt annoyed' at Kochie, but he did think Seven had dangled a carrot when there was no job opportunity available

'Kochie has always been the driving force of Sunrise and is loved by viewers,' said McKnight, who is the editor of industry website TV Blackbox.

'Sunrise has been a dominant number 1 and it makes sense to stay with a winning line-up. Kochie and Sam have proven to be a great team who connect with viewers.

'In these tough times, Kochie won't mind the fact there's no pay rise as reported; he has always been a team player.'
Passengers will have to pay for their own stay in quarantine hotels which may be policed by security firms under plans being discussed by the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19.

It is expected passengers arriving without negative a PCR test will be required to pay to stay in supervised hotels for between five and 14 days.

Those who are willing to pay for a Covid-19 test will be permitted to leave after five days if they get a negative result but those that do not may be required to remain in the quarantine centres at their own expense for up to two weeks.

A number of Government sources said they do not believe gardai will be involved in policing quarantine hotels and rather private security firms will be hired.

Separately, new rules for all other passengers flying into Ireland are expected to become stricter with all arrivals asked to quarantine in their homes for two weeks.

Read More

To date, instructions to restrict movements on arrival have been guidance rather than regulations but ministers are now considering making it a legal requirement to stay a home for two weeks.

There is a desire across Government that the 14 days restricting your movements would be required and not requested, a source said.

This may involve gardai making unannounced spot check on a passengers home to ensure they are restricting their movements.

Breaches of the new rules may be punishable by fines and imprisonment if introduced. Failing to fill in a passenger location form currently can be punished by a fine of up to 2,500 and six months in prison. Similar penalties are being considered for the new home quarantine laws.

The Cabinet Committee will also consider making travellers arriving from Britain, Brazil and South Africa quarantine for two weeks due to the new more transmissible strains in these countries. They may also be able to leave quarantine if they secure a negative PCR test result after five days.

The government is also considering a number of factors such as allowing people avoid quarantine if they are travelling on compassionate grounds.

A range of quarantine measures were discussed by senior officials from across Government departments over the weekend. The proposals will be debated this evening before being agreed by Cabinet tomorrow.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has said the Citywest Hotel in Dublin may be used a as a quarantine centre.

Separately, the Government is expected to extend Level 5 restrictions for the entire country until the end of February. They will also discuss reopening schools but a decision is not expected until later in the week. The Taoiseach has indicated that schools may not fully reopen until St Patricks Day.

The Cabinet Committee will meet at around 4pm. Taoiseach Micheal Martin along with Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan will discuss the next stage in the fight against the coronavirus with Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan and HSE chief executive Paul Reid. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath, Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Education Minister Norma Foley will all attend the meeting either in person or by video link.

During the height of the epidemic in Wuhan last year, Huoshenshan Hospital captured headlines around the world. The 1,000-bed hospital was built in only a matter of days. Construction started on January 24 and ended by February 2. Zhao Yunfei speaks with the project manager, who recalls the pressure and pride, he experienced.

FENG HUAJUN Construction Project Manager, Huoshenshan Hospital "We think the hospital has a life of its own. When we were building it, we put our heart and soul into the process. The hospital contains a life of its own, because every part of the building holds so many special memories for us.

"We started to build it just six hours after the first meeting. All the environmental requirements, technical requirements, and epidemic prevention requirements were all set to the highest standard. We had to complete a high-standard hospital in ten days, and to complete Leishenshan Hospital in 12 days, so we were under a lot of stress.

"When building this hospital, we were given tremendous support from other cities. A lot of people volunteered to come help, which was very inspiring. During the peak period, more than ten thousand migrant workers came from all around China to help with the construction. It was during the Lunar New Year.

"The epidemic control measures were also strict at that time. The fact that we were able to organize all these domestic resources reflects our national strength."

ZHAO YUNFEI Wuhan, Hubei Province "Military freight planes from the People's Liberation Army have arrived here at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. They're carrying some medical supplies to support the city. Soon they will get transferred to the newly built Huoshenshan Hospital, which is ready to hand over to the army."

MA LING Military Medical Team Member "Our nation needs us now, and this is so we can prove the true value of this army. We don't want our citizens to undergo difficulties, but whenever our citizens are experiencing difficulty, we will always have their backs."

FENG HUAJUN Construction Project Manager, Huoshenshan Hospital "As a construction worker, I worked alongside more than ten thousand workers. We feel proud of our effort. This period of construction will inspire us for the rest of our lives. Huoshenshan Hospital and Leishenshan Hospital, they are monuments to Wuhan's fight against the virus.

"It's a very iconic monument, symbolizing the strength of our city, our province and our nation as a whole, fighting against the virus together until the final triumph."
[January 25, 2021] VDAS launches VinFast global showroom design competition, total prize valued over USD 60,000

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Jan. 25, 2021 /CNW/ -- On January 25th 2021, Vietnam Design Association  Ho Chi Minh City (VDAS) officially announced the "VinFast Global Showroom Design Competition 2021" (VFDC 2021) to find the most outstanding design idea that will be deployed for VinFast smart vehicle brand's showrooms globally. VFDC 2021 offers designers the opportunity to showcase their talents to the prestigious jury board from leading international architectural organizations and win prizes valuing a total of more than USD 60,000. With the pioneering mission to connect the community of enthusiastic and talented designers and promote the general development of the architecture and design industry, VDAS has organized VFDC 2021 with deep inspiration from VinFast  Vietnam's only car brand that has globally inspired millions of people through its image of a modern, dynamic, creative, intellectual, and smart Vietnam. VinFast, a subsidiary of Vingroup - one of Asia's leading groups, is currently the leading car brand in all domestic market segments with key models including VinFast Lux SA2.0, VinFast Lux A2.0, and VinFast Fadil. In addition, VinFast has successfully researched and developed the first 3 level 3-4 Autonomous Smart EV models with 30 outstanding smart features, affirming its vision to be the global smart electric mobility company. This milestone has attracted great attention from global media. VFDC 2021 organized by VDAS seeks and selects outstanding showroom design ideas that can represent VinFast's vision and core values, as well as the cultural values and identities of the target markets. This event marks a great milestone for VinFast regarding the company's global strategy in the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia Pacific markets.



Undertaking a design competition on a global scale with VinFast's auspices, VDAS was immediately supported by leading prestigious Interior Design and Architectural organizations such as Asia Pacific Design Center (APDC) and Competitions Archi. In addition to this active support, VFDC 2021 has also received reputable media partners such as ArchDaily, Young Architects Competitions, and PR Newswire.

VFDC 2021 also brings together a distinguished jury board including renowned professors, designer experts from the prestigious architect and design associations globally, and high-level leaders of VinFast. Work Submission schedule will be from now to 25/2/2021. The works should complete 3D design in 3 main work items: Exterior architectural space with an area of 30m x 20m

x Architectural space of standard car showroom with a minimum area of 10m x 7m

x Architectural space of creative zone with a minimum area of 10m x 7m . The most unique, impressive design ideas will be projected at Times Square, New York (USA) in April 2021. Also, the prize structure includes: 01 First Rank Prize worth 40,000 USD

03 Second Rank Prizes worth USD 3,000 each

each 05 Third Rank Prizes worth USD 1,000 each

each 41 Consolation Prizes worth USD 200 each The winners will also receive certificates from the competition organizers and have the opportunity to cooperate with VinFast in the future. VFDC 2021 is definitely one of the most attractive architectural competitions in terms of scale, prestige level, and prize value for designers. With its inspiring journey, VinFast has showcased the company's global vision yet honoring the diversity of backgrounds and styles of designers from all over the world. For more information, please visit: vinfastcompetition.com About VDAS Vietnam Design Association - Ho Chi Minh City (VDAS) is one of Vietnam's leading organizations in creative design and architecture. For further information, please contact: VinFast Competition Communication Department

info@vinfastcompetition.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vdas-launches-vinfast-global-showroom-design-competition-total-prize-valued-over-usd-60-000--301213737.html SOURCE VDAS Design Association HCM, VN

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Patna, Jan 25 : Following the murder of a block agriculture officer (BAO) named Ajay Kumar in Patna, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday slammed the Nitish Kumar-led government for being unable to prevent frequent criminal acts in the state.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who's also the leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly, said that Kumar was kidnapped a week ago but the police were asleep.

"Criminals protected by the state government are rampaging the state with frequent incidents of crime. And this is happening due to the shameless, immoral, shoddy and illegal rule in the state. This government has two Deputy CMs, but still it is unable to prevent criminalacts," Tejashwi said.

Kumar was missing since January 18 soon after he joined work following month long illness. On Sunday at around 10.30 a.m., the police in Patna managed to arrest the main accused named Golu, who confessed to the crime. Based on the information given by him, the police recovered Kumar's body from the bank of Morhar river near Sahab Nagar under Dhanarua police station.

The accused along with his three accomplices had killed Kumar by hitting on the back side of his head with a blunt object before burying the body.

According to an officer, the victim had given Rs 5 lakh to Golu and his father Sanjay Kumar to purchase a land. When Kumar went to see a plot, the accused held him captive in a room. Kumar was beaten up brutally before one of the accused hit on his head with a 'khurpi', an object used to trim grass. The motive behind the murder was to usurp the Rs 5 lakh which the victim had paid to the accused.

The victim's daughter has also slammed Patna police for being unable to trace her father's mobile phone.

"Ever since my father went missing, we met all the senior police personnel but they were unable to trace my father. I am not sure what to expect from the police and the administration," she wrote on social media.

Ravi Shankar Singh, the SHO at Kankarbahgh police station, said that three of Golu's associates are still at large. "They will be put behind the bars soon," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 01:55:31|Editor: huaxia

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SANAA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels said that the Saudi-led coalition warplanes launched a total of 18 airstrikes on their fighters in the Yemeni central province of Marib on Monday.

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said the airstrikes targeted several positions in Sirwah district, in the western part of Marib, without providing more details.

Residents in the district told Xinhua that "the airstrikes hit Houthi's military reinforcements on the desert roads, weapon depots in the mountains and other military sites of the rebels."

The airstrikes came a day after other airstrikes on the same district killed at least 34 Houthi rebels, according to a local Houthi security source.

The gas-producer province of Marib, about 173 km east of the capital Sanaa, is under control of the Yemeni government, while the Houthi rebels have been trying to advance to some eastern and southern districts.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in 2015 to support Hadi's government. Enditem
Patna, Jan 26 : Ahead of the scheduled tractor rally by the agitating farmers in the national capital on Republic Day, Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) led by its chief Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav announced to hold a tractor rally in Patna on Tuesday.

The rally will start from the Patna Art College and go to Veerchand Patel Path, Patna Junction and Dak Banglow Chowk before terminating at the Gandhi Maidan.

It is not clear yet if the police will allow the rally to go ahead amid the Republic Day function scheduled at the Gandhi Maidan.

Raghvendra Singh Kushwaha, the state president of JAP, said that the three Central farms laws are against the interest of the farmers of the country.

"The three farm laws will weaken our farmers economically and give direct benefits to the corporates. Our agitation will continue in Bihar until the Centre repeals these black laws," Kushwaha said.

"The Centre is claiming that these three laws will double the income of the farmers, which is nothing but an eyewash. The Narendra Modi-led government just wants to bring the farmers of the country under the corporates," Kushwaha said.
The Covid-19 pandemic is out of control, President Bidens nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services said Sunday, echoing the commander-in-chiefs recent prediction about the months ahead.

The plane is in a nosedive, and weve got to pull it up and youre not going to do that overnight, Xavier Becerra said on CNN. We have to pull it up. Failure is not an option.

Hed been asked about Bidens Friday remark that there is nothing that can be done to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the coming months.

Becerra touted the presidents plans to rescue the people, rescue the economy, apparently alluding to Bidens goal to get 100 million Americans vaccinated during his first 100 days, as well as a nearly $2 trillion economic relief package thats in the works.

It wont happen overnight. We can do better. We can not only control Covid, but get us back to real normality, said Becerra, who recently stepped down as Californias attorney general.

Weve got to make sure were coordinating, the Democrat continued. We cant just tell the states, Heres some PPE, some masks, heres some vaccines  now go do it. When we hand them over, we stay with them and provide resources to make it happen.

He added that if the government can get people to follow Bidens order to wear masks on federal property and during interstate travel, were going to get control of this thing.

The comments came as Covid-19 infection rates appear to have gone down since the holidays, though the death toll continues to climb, with more than 417,000 Americans dead as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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(c)2021 New York Daily News
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID
This is the first time in 55 years that a foreign dignitary will not attend the parade as chief guest. United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson was invited to be the chief guest of the R-Day parade but the emergence of a new and a more infectious coronavirus strain and surging COVID-19 cases in UK forced Johnson to cancel his visit. The government has said that no other head of state has been invited as the chief guest. (Image: AP)

India will celebrate its 72nd Republic Day on January 26, and the celebrations will differ as compared to the previous years due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.

The parade route has been trimmed and so have been the marching contingents. Children and veterans will not walk the Rajpath and social-distancing will be in place for those coming to watch the celebrations.

India's might, as well as culture, will be showcased but the event will follow strict safety protocols and see many firsts.



Republic Day is celebrated to commemorate the Indian Constitution. It was on this day 71 years ago, the Indian Constitution came into effect, in the year 1950, and the country became a Republic.



India gained independence in 1947 but didn't have a constitution then. It was felt that a written constitution would help to run the country more systematically and for that, a drafting committee was constituted, headed by Dr BR Ambedkar.



It took the committee 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days to draft the constitution.



After making all the necessary changes it was formally adopted on 26 November 1949, by the Constituent Assembly of India. However, it came into force on 26 January 1950, and since then, India started celebrating 26 January as Republic Day.



There's a reason why the date of 26 January was chosen- it marks the anniversary of Purna Swaraj Day, which was held on 26 January 1930. The Purna Swaraj resolution called for complete freedom from the British rule.





Usually, Republic Day Celebrations are a 3-day long affair which ends on 29 January with the Beating Retreat ceremony.



The first R-Day parade was held in Rajpath in 1955.



A Christian song, Abide With Me, is played at the Republic Day Parade. It is believed to be one of Mahatma Gandhi's favorite songs.



A majority of national awards such as Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan and Kirti Chakra are awarded during the Republic Day ceremony.



Dr Rajendra Prasad was sworn in as the first President of India on January 26, 1950, at 10:24 am.



President Sukarno, Indonesias first President attended Republic Day celebrations as the first chief guest.





To begin with, it is the longest in the world with 448 articles.



There are two copies of the Indian Constitution, one in English and one in Hindi. Both copies of the Constitution of India are handwritten which were signed by 308 Assembly members on 24 January 1950.



Our leaders tried to imbibe the best aspects of other countries' constitution into ours. The concept of liberty, equality, and fraternity came from the French Constitution, whereas, the fundamental rights were enshrined akin to the Irish Constitution.



72 years is a long period and, today, Republic Day could just seem like a national holiday, a day-off from a busy working week. So let's take a walk through memory lane and remember on the eve of 72nd Republic Day, the importance it holds to India and its freedom movement.Now that we know the history and significance, here are some rather fun and interesting facts about Republic day that will leave you amazed-As mentioned, the Indian Constitution is the reason why we celebrate the day of January 26. The constitution declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring justice, equality, liberty, and promoting fraternity to all its citizens. There any many reasons why our constitution must be celebrated-
Families of the Manchester Arena attack victims today accused a security guard who said he feared being called a racist if he approached suicide bomber Salman Abedi of an 'unattractive attempt to deflect responsibility for his actions onto liberal society'.

Kyle Lawler, then 18, told the public inquiry in October he was 'scared of being wrong' about approaching Abedi after a concerned parent reported him to staff.

Asked by a lawyer if he had feared being labelled a 'racist' if he was wrong and if it had caused him to 'hesitate' on what to do, Mr Lawler said 'yes'.

Islamic terrorist Abedi went on to murder 22 innocent bystanders at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 by detonating his bomb, blowing himself up in the process.

When asked about the incident last year, Mr Lawler said he feared 'mess[ing] it up by over-reacting or judging someone by their race'. He added: 'It's very difficult to define a terrorist. For all I knew he might well be an innocent Asian male.

However, lawyers for the families of the victims accused Mr Lawler of deflecting responsibility for not approaching Abedi before the attack.

They argued that Mr Lawler and his colleague Mohammed Agha were not paid to complete their training, which 'created an obvious risk', and blasted the venue's security firm over its 'flagrant disregard' for safety that proved an 'open goal' for the terrorists.

Duncan Atkinson QC, representing the families of seven people murdered by Abedi and his brother Hashem, slammed a series of 'unacceptable and unjustified' security failures before the terror attack.

Hundreds more were injured in the blast and lawyers for those who died heaped criticism on both private firms and public bodies responsible for security at the arena, with a long list of 'missed opportunities' cited.

The public inquiry, before retired High Court judge Sir John Saunders, is hearing final submissions on chapter seven of the inquiry, relating to security at the venue, run by corporate giant SMG, which employed Showsec, another major company, to provide security and stewarding.

Pete Weatherby QC, lawyer for the family of seven victims, said SMG's failings - including allowing 'a CCTV blind spot to exist for many years so obvious that even Salman Adebi spotted it' - had left an 'open goal to terrorists'. Pictured, Abedi at Victoria Station before the attack

What Kyle Lawler told the inquiry back in October Lawyer: 'You said "I continued to watch the man, I felt unnerved by him". Did you feel unnerved by him? Lawler: 'At first, yes' Lawyer: '"(You said) He was fidgety and sweaty". Is it right that he was sweaty?' Lawler: 'From when I was within 10 to 15 feet I could see he was quite sweaty, yes' Lawyer: 'You said it was a warm night but he was heavily dressed. You said "I felt something was wrong," and then you used this phrase "But I was conflicted about it".' Lawler: 'Yes.' Lawyer: 'You do in the statement go into what you mean by that, but I would like to give you, in your own words, what the conflict was in your mind.' Lawler: 'There's a lot of conflicting factors as to the fact that I have now observed this man, sat there, he displayed brief behaviours for a slight period of that time. 'But throughout that night I had also had nothing mentioned in the briefing earlier on, that there was a potential threat of an attack that night. 'I had a radio so I had heard that the City Room's check had been completed twice and come back clear in that time. 'And then to be put into this situation with all them other factors there, I honestly didn't know what was about to happen.' Lawyer: 'No one will suggest for a moment that you thought there was probability of anything like it of what did occur, but 'I'm going to remind you what you said, you said "I felt unsure about what to do, it's very difficult to define a terrorist, for all I knew he could have been an innocent young Asian male sitting on the steps. I did not want people to think I was stereotyping him because of his race. It could have been an older brother waiting for his younger sister. He looked like he was dressed for travel in a train station, people would sit in that area often when they were waiting for trains. 'You then said this: "I was scared of being wrong and being branded a racist. If I got it wrong I would have got into trouble. It made be hesitant about what to do. I wanted to get it right and not to mess up by overreacting or judging someone by their race". 'As I say, those are your words, does it encapsulate how you were feeling at the time?' Lawler: 'Yes.' Lawyer: 'So to put it in very simple terms, you were concerned that on the basis of what you knew at that stage, that if you approached him and he was just some innocent kid, that people might think you were a racist?' Lawler: 'Yes.' Lawyer: 'And that made you hesitate about what to do?' Lawler: 'Yes' Advertisement

Mr Atkinson said the inquiry should reject the 'belated suggestion' by Mr Lawler, 'whose account altered in material respects over time'.

'This was an unattractive attempt to deflect responsibility for his actions onto liberal society,' Mr Atkinson told the inquiry today.

'It is an explanation completely undermined by his calm, jovial demeanour and carefree body language when he left the City Room and his own attempt to suggest that he tried to radio [the control room] with his concerns.

'The only credible explanation for their actions that is consistent with all the objective evidence is that neither of them recognised the threat that Abedi posed.'

Mr Lawler was on duty when a colleague, Mohammed Agha, told him a member of the public had raised concerns about Abedi, who was hanging around outside the Arena.

He told the inquiry in October that he was stood 10 or 15ft away from Abedi, who had been reported to security by a member of the public who thought he looked 'dodgy'.

The Showsec security guard, aged 18 at the time of the terror attack, told police in a statement read to the inquiry sitting in Manchester: 'I felt unsure about what to do.

'It's very difficult to define a terrorist. For all I knew he might well be an innocent Asian male.

'I did not want people to think I am stereotyping him because of his race. I was scared of being wrong and being branded a racist if I got it wrong and would have got into trouble. It made me hesitant.

'I wanted to get it right and not mess it up by over-reacting or judging someone by their race.'

Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: 'If you were to approach him and he was some innocent kid, people might think you were racist?'

Mr Lawler replied: 'Yes.'

Today, Pete Weatherby QC said SMG's failings had also included allowing 'a CCTV blind spot to exist for many years that was so obvious even Salman Adebi spotted it'.

He also accused the Government of failing to plug a 'gaping hole' in counter-terrorism measures and of 'dither and delay' over legal changes.

Both firms were focused on keeping costs down and had become 'complacent' over security, it was claimed.

British Transport Police (BTP), who had 'primacy' in policing as the venue is at Manchester Victoria railway station, and Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the local lead on counter-terrorism, also came under fire.

Making his closing submissions on the security at the arena, Mr Weatherby called it a 'foreseeable and readily preventable outrage' committed at a time when 'the known threat level meant that all involved should have ensured that they had fully discharged their responsibilities'.

'There were reasonable and proportionate measures which could and should have been taken which would have prevented the bombing and such loss of life,' he told the inquiry.

The picture involved the 'overwhelming, devastating loss caused by such attacks and the relatively straightforward and cheap protective measures which prevent ones such as this,' the lawyer said.

Families of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing today blasted the operator responsible for the venue's security over its 'flagrant disregard' for the safety of those attending the concert. Pictured, the aftermath of the terror attack

Victims (top row left to right) Elaine McIver, 43, Saffie Roussos, 8, Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, Eilidh MacLeod, 14, Nell Jones, 14, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, Megan Hurley, 15, Georgina Callander, 18, Chloe Rutherford,17, Liam Curry, 19, Courtney Boyle, 19, and Philip Tron, 32, John Atkinson, 26, Martyn Hett, 29, Kelly Brewster, 32, Angelika Klis, 39, Marcin Klis, 42, Michelle Kiss, 45, Alison Howe, 45, and Lisa Lees, 43, Wendy Fawell, 50 and Jane Tweddle, 51

He added he was using 'strong terms with care', continuing: 'It was a flagrant disregard for the safety of those attending, or picking up children from the Ariana Grande concert' for SMG, the arena operator to fail to have a manager with expertise in security against terrorism.

He said it was also a 'flagrant disregard' for the safety of those people to fail to have a system to prevent Abedi, the bomber, from entering the City Room foyer without being noticed and 'to skulk on the raised platform of the City Room for two periods totalling nearly 80 minutes, all without detection'.

Mr Atkinson suggested complacency had set in, with a 'tick-box' mentality to security.

Earlier, the inquiry heard how Abedi had carried out 'hostile reconnaissance' in the days leading up to the attack on May 22, 2017, which was not picked up.

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi murdered 22 bystanders at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017

On the day of the bombing, Abedi, dressed all in black and carrying a large rucksack, had repeatedly visited the City Room, the foyer to the arena.

He wandered around the station, covered by CCTV, for around two hours, before spending the final hour in the City Room waiting for the crowd to emerge at the end of the concert.

In that time, security was alerted by members of the public to his 'dodgy' appearance but no action was taken, one man was 'fobbed off' and Abedi was never approached or the threat identified by any Showsec staff or BTP officers.

Mr Atkinson said Abedi's presence was 'obviously suspicious and out of place' but the security operation at the arena was 'under-resourced, mal-co-ordinated and insufficiently focused on counter-terrorism', especially a threat from a suicide bomber.

This led to a 'series of missed opportunities to prevent, deter, detect and, or, mitigate the attack'.

Mr Atkinson added: 'In short, the evidence shows the attack to have been, at least in significant part, the result of a failure of reasonable foresight, a failure to anticipate and address a risk that should have been obvious, rather than a failure that only hindsight reveals.'

He said risk assessments for terror attacks at the arena were clearly flawed despite the national threat level being severe, and both SMG and Showsec were focused not on risks to the audience but risks of the audience, and they had become complacent.

CCTV cameras were not always monitored, there were not enough staff to do so and they were not adequately trained, Mr Atkinson said.

The inquiry continues.
Mr Biden first attended mass - then stopped at a bakery (AFP via Getty Images)

If you are the US president you can do mostly what you like with your motorcade  including ordering it to stop so you can buy bagels from a trendy bakery.

On Sunday, the sidewalks outside of Georgetowns Call Your Mother Deli were briefly filled by men in dark suits wearing earpieces, and the presidential motorcade of Joe Biden.

Returning from Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Georgetown neighborhood, having attended his first mass after being sworn in as president, Mr Biden and family stopped to pick up an order.

Mr Biden did not leave his car, but his son Hunter was seen going inside and collecting the items.

According to a White House press pool report, the administration did not provide details as to what the president had ordered.

But it did note that his motorcade took twice as long traveling to the church as it did on the return, because of the stop.

NBC News assignment editor Tom Lynch tweeted a video clip of the moment and wrote: President Biden just left @CYM_DC in Georgetown after leaving mass at Holy Trinity.

He added: A Secret Service agent placed and picked up the order. Biden never exited his motorcade but did wave to a crowd of cheering onlookers.

The bakery, which has four outlets in DC and enjoys something of a cult following, did not immediately respond to enquiries.

However it did post a message on Twitter saying Mr Biden would be welcome to return.

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What a GREAT Sunday surprise! Thrilled to have an admin again who will love all that DC has to offer  starting with sesame bagels, it wrote. Come back anytime @JoeBiden."

The Washingtonian noted that Barack Obamas economic advisor Jeff Zients, who was recently asked by Mr Biden to lead the administrations response to the Covid pandemic, is an investor in the shop.

It is not unknown for a president to be spotted at one of Washington DCs food haunts. George W Bush often ate out in Georgetown, while Barack Obama dropped in to Bens Chili Bowl, a food landmark in what was once a traditionally African American neighhourhood, at least once.

Story continues

Bill Clinton used to visit number of restaurants, including the The Bombay Club, located near the White House.

By contrast, as many political correspondents noted on Sunday, Donald Trump rarely ventured out in the city, other than to his own hotel, preferring to spend the weekend out of DC at one of his various golf courses.

Peter Baker of the New York Times wrote: The Bidens stop at Call Your Mother, the bagel shop in Georgetown, en route back to the White House -- already a big change. Trying to remember but can't recall Trump ever stopping anywhere in DC other than his own hotel.

Read More

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Biden spends first weekend enacting new reforms. Trump spent his lying

Biden attends Mass at DC church where he worshipped as VP

Newtown native Brendan Smialowski got a taste of fame last week when his infamous photo of Bernie Sanders became a viral meme.

"I am not crazy about (my photojournalism) becoming memes but I am glad to have eyes on my work," the 40-year-old father of one, who works for the wire service Agence France-Presse told Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

But that photo is certainly not Smialowski's only feat. He has traveled as a photographer with President George W. Bush to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with President Barack Obama to Nelson Mandela's funeral and with President Donald Trump to his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone, to name a few.

Here are some of Smialowski's other photographs from recent events in politics.
The White Paper lays down the agency's assessment of major external threats to national security.

Russia is actively increasing its army's combat capabilities in the occupied Crimea, boosting the number of troops and arming them with new models of weapons, creating conditions for strengthening its nuclear potential in the region, Ukrainian intelligence reports.

On its professional holiday, January 24, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, SZRU, published on its website the White Paper 2021, according to Apostrophe.

The White Paper lays down the SZRU's assessment of major external threats to Ukraine's national security in foreign policy, economic, information, and other domains, with the special focus in this regard on the main source of such threats, which is Russia.

Ukrainian intelligence reports that the Russian government in Moscow, despite declarative statements, has never considered Crimea in terms of developing its economy. By increasing the number of troops on the occupied peninsula and creating conditions for strengthening its nuclear potential in the area, the Kremlin intends to make Russia a dominant power in the Black Sea region.

Read alsoPolitical destabilization among dimensions of Russia's hybrid aggression against Ukraine  intel chief"Russia has created a nearly 32,500-strong powerful multitype military grouping in Crimea, covering ground, air, and sea components. The Russian side is creating conditions for deploying in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea nukes, their individual components and carriers, working to restore nuclear infrastructure, and posing a threat to the national security of Ukraine," says the SZRU White Paper.

According to intelligence, almost all Soviet-era nuclear-capable anti-aircraft missile systems have been accepted for service in Crimea. Amid the ongoing re-equipment of these surface-to-air missile systems with modern missiles, new missile systems have been put on combat duty. Such launchers already cover most of the Black Sea, while surface-to-surface missiles cover it entirely. Also, Russia deployed in Crimea nuclear-capable warplanes and missile ships.

"Russia's moves to deploy air defense systems in the annexed Crimea, modernize the Russian Black Sea Fleet and massively deploy naval-based cruise missiles such as Kalibr-NK and Kalibr-PL testify to Moscow's plans to ensure own access control capabilities both in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean," the report reads.

Moreover, Russia's plans to develop and use tactical nuclear weapons, including in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, "allow the Kremlin to increase pressure on the international community and aggressively dominate the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and European theaters of operations," said the Ukrainian intelligence.

Such behavior on the part of the Kremlin, the White Paper says, poses a threat not only to the security and national interests of Ukraine, but also to those of the latter's strategic partners.

On a separate note, the intelligence notes that such policy infringes on the rights of the indigenous people in the area, the Crimean Tatars.

Read alsoUNGA adopts updated resolution to protect human rights in occupied Crimea"Russia is gradually and comprehensively transforming Crimea into one large military base, taking into account all factors required, including the social dimension. The demographic structure on the peninsula is being altered. Crimean Tatars, as a 'disloyal' part of the population, are being deliberately pushed out toward mainland Ukraine or Turkey, by manipulating social aid policies, while military and their families are being turned into a social base of the occupying power," the SZRU reports.

Reporting by UNIAN
January 25 : Actor Varun Dhawan and his longtime girlfriend Natasha Dalal are married now. The actor has posted some amazing pictures from his wedding ceremony on Instagram on Sunday. Sharing two smiling pictures of himself along with his wife Natasha, Varun wrote, Life long love just became official along with a heart emoji.

In the pictures, Varun is seen wearing white traditional sherwani and Natasha wore cream colour lehenga choli with dupatta. In the first picture, both of them are smiling while performing wedding rituals and Varuns father David Dhawan and mother Karuna Dhawan can be seen smiling looking at the couple. In the second picture, Varun and Natasha are seen doing pheras as a part of their wedding ritual. The recent post from Varun has got more than 700K likes within a half hour.

Many bollywood celebrities like Sonam Bajwa, Badshah, Karan Johar, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor, Tiger Shroff, Aparshakti Khurana, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor, Sania Mirza, Huma Qureshi, Neha Dhupia, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Punit Malhotra and many others congratulated newlywed couple in the comment section.

Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's love story began in school. The couple has been dating for several years. Natasha Dalal is a fashion designer. The couple were reportedly meant to marry last year but they had to postpone their wedding because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown.

In the presence of 40 people, Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal got married as per Hindu customs. Besides the families of the couple, close friends of both the families also witnessed Varun-Natashas big day. Karan Johar is also present as a special guest in the wedding, who arrived in the afternoon on Sunday. Karan gave Varun his first break in Bollywood with Student of The Year.

Apart from Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra, Shashank Khaitan, Zoa Morani and Kunal Kohli are also among the people from Bollywood who are present for the wedding. The much-awaited wedding is taking place in the one-acre luxury resort 'The Mansion House' in a very intimate atmosphere.

While fans across the nation are curious about the big Bollywood wedding, groom Varun Dhawan, bride Natasha Dalal and their families have chosen to keep the matter as private as possible from the eyes of the media. There is a strict no-phone policy in place for all the wedding functions. The wedding functions extending over three days began from January 22 with guests following the bio bubble protocol.

On the work front, Varun was last seen in father David Dhawan directorial Coolie No 1 alongside Sara Ali Khan. He will next be seen in Param Vir Chakra recipient Arun Khetarpals biopic which will be directed by Sriram Raghavan and Dharma Productions' comedy film Jug Jugg Jeeyo along with Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor and Kiara Advani. While shooting for the film, Varun tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Varun and Natasha will be hosting a grand wedding reception in Mumbai next week. The reception will take place in Mumbais five star hotel on February 2 and it will be attended by the couples friends and celebs from the film fraternity.
[January 25, 2021] Reputation Refreshes Brand, Drops the ".com" and Prepares for Another Year of Accelerated Growth

Reputation Updates Name to Reflect Continuous Innovation and Markets Evolution; Dedication to Customers Remains Top Priority

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reputation.com , the global leader in reputation experience management, today announced the companys rebrand. In the spirit of new year, new you, the company is dropping the .com and refreshing its name to Reputation. With this update, Reputation illustrates its growth and commitment to meeting the moment with new innovations, while also reminding customers of its dedication to helping them create consistently excellent customer experiences. The companys name refresh to Reputation reinforces its core commitment and upholds its long-held mission  to connect companies to their customers  while also reflecting a modern Customer Experience (CX) company that competes in a constantly evolving market. The updated name is just part of the rebrand; it also includes a new logo and website that showcase a reinvigorated visual look and feel. Although the Reputation brand is evolving, the companys commitment to its customers isnt changing; Reputation remains committed to helping them maximize their exposure, inspire customer loyalty and operate efficiently through the reputation experience management platform . The relationship between brands and customers has forever changed, and for a company to succeed in todays market, they must transform customer feedback from reviews, business listings and social media comments into actionable insights that drive their business forward. Reputation is the only platform that can help them do it, said Joe Fuca, chief executive officer at Reputation. Our rebranding efforts further illustrate our commitment to continuous growth and innovation while simultaneously building a better brand for our customers so they can, in turn, forge stronger relationships with their own customers and turn a world of interactions into action. A world of interactions demands a platorm of action



The Reputation rebranding signifies that we are committed to building a better brand for our customers  not just visually, but also in our approach to the market as a whole, said Joe Fuca, chief executive officer at Reputation. We will continue to help businesses of all sizes across various industries forge relationships between companies and communities with a new brand that symbolizes our commitment to continuous growth and innovation. Impressive Growth; Rising Demand for CX Capabilities

Reputation has grown to over seven locations with more than 500 employees worldwide. Over the last nine months, the company has welcomed several impressive executive hires, including DocuSign and Salesforce veteran Scott Barmmer as chief revenue officer. The company introduced a number of new customer-led innovations, including Reputation Score X , a next-generation reputation measurement tool, and plans to introduce an array of additional solutions later this year to continue to meet the growing needs of its customers. In todays volatile business climate, reputation management tools are top of mind for savvy customer experience professionals, and demand for a robust CX and open API-based platform has grown. Managing business interactions and using feedback for immediate action is more important than ever. In 2020, Reputation secured significant new business wins by pairing deep industry expertise with insights-driven innovation, proving to be a disruptive force in a saturated customer experience market. The company is now the valued customer experience platform provider for close to 1,000 of the most recognizable brands in the automotive, healthcare, property management and financial services industries, and remains committed to innovating, disrupting and leading the industry for years to come. Businesses interested in transformative experience management know that traditional CX tools are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the market, said Rebecca Biestman, chief marketing officer at Reputation. Our new brand showcases the value we bring to our customers, allowing them to turn every interaction into positive action by turning their feedback into the fuel to help their business grow. About Reputation

Reputation, creator of the Reputation Experience Management category, is changing the way companies gather and act on customer feedback to drive decision making and enhance Customer Experience (CX) programs. Reputations interaction-to-action platform translates vast amounts of solicited and unsolicited feedback data into prescriptive insights that companies use to learn from and grow. Thousands of global organizations rely on the patented algorithms behind Reputation Score X to provide a reliable index of brand performance in order to make targeted business improvements. Backed by Bessemer Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, and trusted by over 250 integration partners, including Google, Facebook, Salesforce, J.D. Power, Amazon and Web.com, Reputation turns feedback into the fuel to grow businesses around the world. Visit reputation.com to learn more. Media Contacts

Kalie Marsch

Reputation

kmarsch@reputation.com Brigit Valencia

BOCA Communications

360.597.4516

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Canadian Dollar Forecast Overview:

CAD/JPY rates look ready to trade higher as multi-year resistance is pressured USD/CAD rates look like they want to try higher too, however, with a bullish falling wedge taking shape in recent weeks.

The first Bank of Canada rate decision of 2021 proved an ineffectual central bank that doesnt want a stronger currency but cant do much to stop it.

According to the IG Client Sentiment Index USD/ CAD rates have a bullish bias.

Canadian Dollar Spars with BOC, Winning

The Canadian Dollar has had a mixed January, in part thanks to the resurgent (so to speak) US Dollar. The first Bank of Canada rate decision of 2021 brought into new light policymakers frustration, with Governor Tiff Macklem saying that weve seen this broad-based US dollar deprecation that doesnt reflect some positive development in Canada that the exchange rate is absorbingthe exchange rate is starting to create a material headwind for the Canadian economy.

Unfortunately for the BOC, as Governor Macklem noted, when in a situation where our Canada-U.S. exchange rate is moving largely because of made-in-U.S. developments as opposed to made-in-Canada developments, it means that the BOC can do very little to prevent global macroeconomic forces (or rather, the Federal Reserve) from pushing traders out of low yielding safe havens like the Japanese Yen and US Dollar and into growth-sensitive currencies like the Canadian Dollar.

CAD/JPY Rate Technical Analysis: Daily Chart (January 2020 to January 2021) (Chart 1)

CAD/JPY rates have recently tested parallel channel resistance in the 81.58/91 area, but failed for the fifth such since June 2020 that this zone has rejected a bullish advance. But the more times resistance (or support) is tested, the more likely it is to break as supply on the other side of the trade is exhausted. CAD/JPY rates continue to hold near resistance in the form of the descending trendline from the January 2018, October 2018, and February 2020 highs, as well as the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement of the 2020 high/low range at 82.16.

CAD/JPY rates are intermingled among their daily 5-, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMA envelope, which is in neither bearish nor bullish sequential order. Daily MACD is starting to decline while above its signal line, while daily Slow Stochastics are trending lower out of overbought territory. More patience is still required as bulls may get another attempt at a breakout attempt to the topside in the coming sessions.

USD/CAD Rate Technical Analysis: Daily Chart (January 2020 to January 2021) (Chart 2)

USD/CAD rates hit another fresh yearly low last week, setting new lows each week of 2021. But the sharp bounce higher on Friday setup a potential morning star candle cluster, a bullish bottoming pattern. In context of price action since mid-December 2020, it appears that USD/CAD rates may be consolidating within the confines of a bullish falling wedge, which would call for a return to as high as 1.2957. In doing so, USD/CAD rates would break the downtrend from the March and October 2020 highs, a feat that would suggest USD/CADs longer-term double top may not be valid. Before getting ahead of ourselves, said descending trendline comes into play near 1.2800 through the rest of January.

IG Client Sentiment Index: USD/CAD Rate Forecast (January 25, 2021) (Chart 3)

USD/CAD: Retail trader data shows 54.28% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.19 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 12.40% higher than yesterday and 0.14% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 68.97% higher than yesterday and 46.63% higher from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests USD/CAD prices may continue to fall.

Yet traders are less net-long than yesterday and compared with last week. Recent changes in sentiment warn that the current USD/CAD price trend may soon reverse higher despite the fact traders remain net-long.

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist

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Theres this video clip, that, to me, has become a kind of shorthand for the way Donald Trump walloped American media, catching so many people blithely unaware. Its from a 2015 episode of This Week With George Stephanopoulos.

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In the clip, then-Rep. Keith Ellison warns a roundtable of guests, including Maggie Haberman from the New York Times, to take Donald Trump seriously as a Republican candidate. Six years later, this clip continues to fascinate me. First, there are the visuals. Ellison is a Black man, the only Black person in the room, just calmly predicting the future. And then, after everyone laughs, Ellison stands his ground.

I think a lot about whether this could happen again. I wonder how much blame journalists share for the past four years. And I wonder what were missing again, now. So, for Mondays episode of What Next, I called up Farai Chideya to talk about all this. Chideya was a political reporter for FiveThirtyEight back in 2015 and now hosts the radio show Our Body Politic. But mostly, shes one of the sharpest observers of media I know. Chideya has been trying to understand why voters make the choices they do for a long time. Shes reported from 49 states, covered white supremacy and white nationalism since the 1990s.

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So while Trumps rise surprised many people, Chideyas not one of them. But she says, even though individuals like her saw Trump coming, the news organizations they worked for had more trouble. I spoke with Chideya about how much the media is to blame for Trump and how journalists can do better in the future. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Mary Harris: When you look back at the past four years, how much blame do you put on the media versus the Republican Party? Because I look back and at least I see the press struggling with its roletrying to figure it out and getting it wrong a lot of the time. But I see the Republican Party just outright enabling bad behavior.

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Farai Chideya: I love journalism or I wouldnt still be doing it, but I think that theres a question of who should have known better. When I look at someone like Kellyanne Conway, she should have known better, and I think she did know better than to unleash the beast of weaponized racial and class resentment that would come back to bite us all. And she made a choice. And shes inside the GOP. But Les Moonves also made that choice.

It took a lot of people making a lot of choices.

As I like to say, a lot of hands on the knife.

Someone talked about how in many ways the coverage of the past four years was a failure of access journalism. Trying to constantly talk to the Spicers and the Conways taught us a lot less than if wed actually gone out and talked to Trump voters more consistently and Clinton voters and nonvoters. Again, this idea of only assuming that power lies in the hands of the traditionally powerful has been the kryptonite of American journalism.

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Theres been so much criticism of diner safarisfolks who went out into real America and sat down at diners with people with Make America Great Again hats and painted a picture of what was happening there. Do you think there is too little of that or that that wasnt done critically enough?

First of all, a lot of journalists, like a lot of Americans, dont actually know American history or political science or behavioral economics, all of which I think are critical to understanding the electorate. So there has to be a process of self-education in newsrooms to make sure people have the right context to report on this country. But when I went, for example, to eastern Ohio, I spent three days there. I could have gotten all the interviews I needed for the piece, theoretically, in about 45 minutes, but I wanted to actually sit down with people. I went to their places of work. I talked to people who would never make the article. I sat in Republican Party meetings.

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What did that teach you?

It taught me to understand the framework with which people were approaching politics. I had a great respect for the operations of the Trumbull County Republican Party. They were ace organizers. They understood their audience. They mobilized young people. They mobilized older people. The people I interviewed when I was there ranged from 19 to 82 or something. So I think that the idea of a diner safari is not so appealing, but the idea of rooting down when I interview peopleI just let them talk for like an hour and then I start asking questions

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Youve written about how you DMd with a white nationalist for more than a year. And theres something I struggle with, which is how to cover real people when they are pumped full of disinformation. How do you authentically present their voices without laundering their perspective?

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I think its pretty straightforward. If you look at my articles from FiveThirtyEight from the voters, at one point I have a lead character in an article about Trump voters in eastern Ohio, and I talk about his rhetoric on Mexico. I dont say thats wrong or thats racist. I dont need to. He speaks for himself. When I interviewed Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2010, I didnt say hes wrong or hes racist. I let him speak for himself. And the thing is not everyone will be on the truth bus when they read your articles, but I think actually being less judgmental and more exploratory gets people to be more in line with your articles. And Ive actuallythis is pretty funnygotten praised by a white nationalist, different one than I was DMing with, who was like, Well, I started reading this article and I was mad. And then I realized, you actually talk to us. I was like, OK, well, sure.

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Do you worry about that, encouraging these kinds of beliefs in some way?

Absolutely, but I worry less about that than not covering it. I interviewed a woman from the Aryan Nations in the 1990s. I interviewed her by phone, and I said at the end, Im Black. Would you have granted me an interview if you knew that? And first she said no and then she quickly said, Yes, because for every 10 people who read this, one of them will follow me. And that was absolutely chilling, but I would rather have a situation where the other nine people know that one of the people will follow her than where we pretend she doesnt exist, which is effectively what most of journalism has done.

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The place where I think it gets complicated is the place were at now, where there are so many conspiracy theories about what happened with the election, stuff that is patently false. For some reason I feel like theres more risk to exposing that.

When I report on white nationalism, as I did in that piece with the woman from the Aryan Nations, Im not both sidesing. I talk about people being killed. I talk about a woman who was forced into a child marriage and had to flee for her life from a white supremacist cult. Theres a difference from listening to people in real time and presenting it as just as, like, tra-la-la a walk in the park. Thats not what I do. And part of it is that you have to synthesize a context around your interviews that makes all of it make sense without being both sidesy.

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Youve written about your time at FiveThirtyEight as really revelatory for you as a reporter. You talk about interviewing a woman in Las Vegas about Trump during his candidacy. And she was making a comparison through her conversation with you to Trump and the rise of Hitler. And in the end, that was struck from the article. Can you tell that story?

Theres a woman in the Las Vegas area where Id gone out for the final debate to cover that. And she talked about how, as someone who worked in a corporate position, she had multiple people in both business and personal settings say that the reason to vote for Donald Trump was to preserve, basically, the purity of the white race. Thats not a dog whistle. Thats a frigging club or an ax. And her husband is Black and Latino, so her daughter is multiethnic. And so we got the first part of this in. But then she said her daughter was doing a unit in high school on the rise of Hitler, and she said, I feel like this is happening. How could people believe this again? And it was struck. And I know that it may have sounded incendiary to some people. I didnt think it was incendiary, but I was like, Im not going to fight over this. But what it showed that people didnt realize and some may not realize still is that there is a battle for the soul of whiteness. There is what I call the call to whiteness, which is white nationalist, white supremacist mobilization. And then theres what I call establishment whiteness, which is the idea that whiteness is neutral, the idea that whiteness is meritocratic and essentially invisible because it is the standard. And what this woman was doing was acknowledging the call to whiteness through her own personal experience. And I dont think we, including me, paid enough attention.

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Its interesting the way youre framing that, because you can see how those two calls to whiteness fed off of each other. There was the one call to one group of people and then the establishment whiteness nicely kept a lid on things until Trump was president.

Essentially what we think of as mainstream media represents an interest of establishment whiteness, which failed to respond to the supremacist nationalist call to whiteness, which is not objective journalism. It is self-interested elite journalism that makes money. It is not objective.

I tend to reject the title of objectivity because I find it so tainted. I dont disagree with all of what it can be under some circumstances, but fundamentally, the reason that objectivity in journalism is a white construct is because it relies on you shedding the self. Its this idea that youre above it all, youre sitting on some little magical cloud and looking down at the people. Well, you know what? I am one of the people. Im a Black woman who grew up in Baltimore. Ive seen race, class, and gender affect my life and my familys life my whole life. And so when I interview a white supremacist, as I have for the past 25 years, I wont be like, Oh, Im objective about white supremacy. Its like, No, this is a threat. But these are people, these are my fellow Americans, and Im going to listen to them. And many people have said recently that Black people and Asian people and all other people are adjectives and white people are a noun. White people are just people. We have to unpack that. There is a tragic lack of attention to whiteness as a subject. And if journalism were truly objective, whiteness would be a bigger subject than Blackness or any other race.

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What youre saying is objectivity doesnt mean we all have the same perspective. Its that we know about everyone elses perspectives, respect them, and consider them all.

I reject objectivity because I believe its impossible. I dont reject the sentiment that leads people to use the phrase objectivity, but I reject it because being in the newsrooms Ive been in, white people are not rejecting their whiteness. They just think it doesnt exist. And I dont reject my Blackness. And so when I go into a situation where Im interviewing people who use racial resentment as a tool, I say to myself, How can I debias my own reporting process? I ask myself a critical question so that I can do my job well, which is fairness, not objectivity. I say, How can I do an unbiased interview with my subject? One thing that has to happen in America is better funding of journalists of color starting their own enterprisesand womenbecause where the money has flowed determines the shape of the media.

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I will sayalthough its self-serving, its accuratethat I pretty much called all of this. My piece in 2016 talks about the infiltration and weaponization of white supremacy and nationalism in government and the fact that it was a clear and present danger. This is not because Im a genius. Its because I do a lot of pattern recognition based on what I know about race, class, and politics. I had to learn pattern recognition of this type in order to survive as a Black woman in America. It doesnt mean that other people cant learn it. But this is survival for me. People I know died for liberation in this country. We cant trivialize the stakes here. And if journalism wants to be better, it could learn from some of the pattern recognition that people of color and immigrants have to do simply to survive in this country and instead of that being viewed with suspicion in the newsroom, it could be respected.

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'Christ born of Mary' inscription uncovered in ancient church in Israel

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Archaeologists have discovered an Ancient Greek inscription bearing the phrase Christ, born of Mary in northern Israel  the first evidence of an early Christian settlement from 1,500 years ago in Taibe, located in the Jezreel Valley.

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday that archaeologists discovered the inscription on a wall of a late-Byzantine era structure during excavations in Taibe. According to researchers, the inscription had originally been laid at the entryway of a previously unknown fifth century church.

The phrase Christ born of Mary was often used at the beginning of documents or other forms of text, serving as a blessing and protection from evil.

As a blessing, the inscription must have originally stood at the entrance of the church, where people could see it, Antiquities Authority archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre said, according to Aleteia. However, it was now found incorporated in the walls, therefore we know that the stone was reused as construction material. Likely the building collapsed and was rebuilt.

The ruins of a Crusader-period church were previously discovered at Taibe, a Christian village in the Byzantine period that was later rebuilt into a Christian fortress during Crusader times. However, before the discovery of the inscription, there had been no evidence of a Christian presence from the earlier Byzantine era, said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Walid Atrash.

The importance of the inscription is that until now we didnt know for certain that there were churches from this period in this area, Atrash told the Times of Israel.

There are many signs of ancient Christian life in the region  the Jezreel Valley  but this is the first evidence of the Byzantine Churchs existence in the village of Taiba, he told the Jerusalem Post.

Still, the discovery that there was a Byzantine-era church built in the area is unsurprising, said Atrash, adding that the new inscription has closed the circle, and now we know there were Christians in this area during this era.

The complete inscription reads: Christ born of Mary. This work of the most God-fearing and pious bishop [Theodo]sius and the miserable Th[omas] was built from the foundation. Whoever enters should pray for them.

The inscription greets those who enter and blesses them. It is therefore clear that the building is a church, and not a monastery, Leah Di Segni, researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said in a press release. She said that churches, unlike monasteries in those times, greeted visitors at the entrance.

Atrash told the Times that Theodosius, one of the first bishops of Christianity, encouraged the construction of churches in his region. The mention of his name, he said, points to a financial donation from his seat in Beit Shean, the center of the religious life and the capital of Palaestina Secunda, a Byzantine province from 390 CE until the Muslim invasion of circa 636 CE.

There is a large blank circular area on the stone where a large cross once was engraved, Atrash said, adding he believes the cross was intentionally destroyed  by Christians or Jews who lived in the area  prior to the stones recycled use in the wall of the later building.

In July, remains from a 1,300-year-old church were discovered at a village called Kfar Kama, located near Mount Tabor  the location believed to be where the transfiguration took place.


Dec Quarter Activities and Cashflow Report

Brisbane, Jan 25, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Lake Resources' ( ASX:LKE ) ( FRA:LK1 ) ( OTCMKTS:LLKKF ) 100%-owned Kachi Lithium Brine Project in Catamarca province, NW Argentina, covers 39 granted mining leases (74,380 hectares), centred around a previously undrilled salt lake within a large lithium brine-bearing basin. Kachi is one of the few salt lakes in Argentina with substantial proven lithium brines controlled by a single owner. The project is located at about 3000 metres altitude, south of Livent's Hombre Muerto Lithium brine operation ( NYSE:LTHM ) which is Argentina's longest operating lithium brine project.Lake aims to bring the project to production by using the efficient, low cost-competitive direct extraction technology from Lake's technology partner, Lilac Solutions Inc, in California. Lilac has successfully produced high purity lithium chloride eluate from Kachi Project brine samples using its proprietary ion-exchange direct lithium extraction method at pilot plant module scale in California (refer ASX announcement 3 July 2020). Samples of this lithium chloride were further processed into high purity 99.97% lithium carbonate by an independent laboratory, Hazen Research Inc, in Colorado (refer ASX release 6 August 2020; 20 October 2020). Hazen continues to produce lithium carbonate samples for Lake.Pricing in the lithium carbonate market is largely determined by purity, and the level and type of impurities. The high purity results indicate premium pricing potential, higher than previously envisaged. The Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) (refer ASX announcement 30 April 2020) was based on achieving 99.9% lithium carbonate and a fixed selling price of US$11,000/t.To view the report, please visit:About Lake Resources NL

Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) (OTCMKTS:LLKKF) is a clean lithium developer utilising clean, direct extraction technology for the development of sustainable, high purity lithium from its flagship Kachi Project, as well as three other lithium brine projects in Argentina. The projects are in a prime location within the Lithium Triangle, where 40% of the world's lithium is produced at the lowest cost.



This method will enable Lake Resources to be an efficient, responsibly-sourced, environmentally friendly and cost competitive supplier of high-purity lithium, which is readily scalable, and in demand from Tier 1 electric vehicle makers and battery makers.
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.
Constitutional Amendment to Prevent Supreme Court Packing Resurfaces

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) introduced legislation on Jan. 22 to amend the U.S. Constitution to limit the Supreme Court to nine justices, the numerical cap that has been in place for well over a century, in order to prevent Democrats from enlarging the courts membership.

Amending the Constitution is no easy task. The amendment bill must pass by a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of Congress and then be ratified by three-quarters of the states, or 38 of the 50 states, to become part of the Constitution.

The move comes after then-President Donald Trumps conservative constitutionalist nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed before Election Day, replacing the liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September.

Filling the seat quickly in an election year enraged many Democrats, given the precedent of Merrick Garland. Following the election-year death in 2016 of Justice Antonin Scalia, the then-Republican-majority Senate refused to take up then-President Barack Obamas nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court. He has since been nominated by President Joe Biden to become his attorney general.

Biden flirted with the idea of court-packing during the recent campaign but didnt endorse it, saying he would create a national commission to look at a court system he described as out of whack. In October, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that because the U.S. population has increased over the past century and a half, more justices may be needed to sit on the Supreme Court.

In the lead-up to the November election, Democrats accused Republicans of a double-standard for moving expeditiously on Barretts nomination and vowed to pack the Supreme Court with additional justices in order to dilute the power of the courts conservative-majority bloc, a move they argued would make it easier for big-government legislation favored by the political left to survive court scrutiny.

A group of GOP senators also co-sponsored Capitos bill, S.J. Res 4. They are Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Todd Young (Ind.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Pat Toomey (Pa.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Rob Portman (Ohio), John Cornyn (Texas), and Mike Braun (Ind.). The bill was introduced in the previous Congress on March 25, 2019, but lapsed.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and five other Senate Republicans introduced their own proposed constitutional amendment in October last year to prevent Democrats from packing the Supreme Court if Biden won the White House and Democrats recaptured the Senate. That proposed amendment simply stated: The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices.

Make no mistake, Cruz said at the time, if Democrats win the election, they will end the filibuster and pack the Supreme Court, expanding the number of justices to advance their radical political agenda, entrenching their power for generations, and destroying the foundations of our democratic system.

Capito explained her rationale for the new bill in a statement.

A nine Justice court has worked for our country for more than 150 years, she said.

Increasing that number in a partisan effort to achieve a desired policy result is a never-ending proposition. Once this door is opened, respect for the Supreme Court as an independent arbiter of cases and controversies would fall away as it became another partisan branch of government.

We should preserve our independent judiciary by closing the door to court-packing. Ratification of this amendment would stop the Democrats current desire to pack the courts. It would also remove the temptation for either party to attempt to restructure the court in a partisan way in the future.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, tried to pack the Supreme Court in the 1930s after it struck down as unconstitutional a series of his legislative initiatives, but lawmakers from his own party viewed the move as a political bridge too far when the public expressed its disapproval of court-packing. Court-packing legislation died, though the justices later dropped much of their opposition to Roosevelts government-enlarging New Deal legislation and upheld the various laws constitutionality.


SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO (dpa-AFX) - Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (RHHBY), said that its investigational bispecific antibody, faricimab, met primary endpoint in two global phase III studies. The two identically designed late-stage studies, TENAYA and LUCERNE, evaluated faricimab in people living with neovascular or 'wet' age-related macular degeneration or nAMD.



The studies results showed that people receiving faricimab injections at fixed intervals of up to every 16 weeks achieved visual acuity outcomes that were non-inferior to those receiving aflibercept injections every eight weeks. It potentially reduces the frequency of injections and overall burden of the treatment.



According to the company, about half (45%) of people in both studies were treated with faricimab every 16 weeks during the first year. This is the first time this level of durability has been achieved in a Phase III study of an injectable eye medicine for nAMD. In both studies, faricimab was generally well-tolerated, with no new or unexpected safety signals identified.



The company stated that it has now seen positive and consistent results in four Phase III studies for faricimab across both neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. It looks forward to submitting these data to global regulatory authorities, with the aim of bringing the promising treatment option to patients as soon as possible.



The findings from TENAYA and LUCERNE build on positive topline results from the Phase III YOSEMITE and RHINE studies, announced in December 2020, which support the potential of faricimab as a treatment option for diabetic macular edema, a leading cause of vision loss among working-age adults.



Age-related macular degeneration or AMD is a condition that affects the part of the eye that provides sharp, central vision needed for activities like reading. Neovascular or 'wet' AMD (nAMD) is an advanced form of the disease that can cause rapid and severe vision loss. It develops when new and abnormal blood vessels grow uncontrolled under the macula, causing swelling, bleeding and/or fibrosis.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Aboriginal activists have demanded 'every black person' should be handed $1 million in 'reparations' for having their land 'stolen' when British settlers arrived on Australia Day.

Other speakers said they will 'never celebrate Australia Day' and want to be 'liberated from this country' in speeches to more than 5,000 'Invasion Day' protesters in Sydney.

Demonstrators also gathered in cities across the rest of Australia to protest the national holiday, one protester climbing a statue of Queen Victoria in Brisbane with a 'not The Queen's land' banner.

Protesters swarmed into The Domain near the Sydney CBD from 9am despite coronavirus restrictions preventing the huge marches of last year and ones before.

One of several speakers at the event, Gwenda Stanley, said it's time for Indigenous Australians to be given proper reparations.

'A million dollars for each black person,' she said.

'Don't be fooled by the Uluru statement from the arse. Let's do reparations before treaty. A million dollars for each black person and then we can talk treaty.'

Relations between police and protesters were friendly during most of the event, with officers even snapping selfies with some participants, but turned ugly when some of the crowd moved to Hyde Park after the rally ended.

Four protesters were arrested and dragged away in handcuffs while dozens of officers formed lines and forced them out of Hyde Park.

A protester holds up a sign that reads 'No pride in Genocide' at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney's Domain on January 26

Invasion DAy Protesters wearing face masks prepare to march on January 26, 2021 in Sydney, Australia

A huge police presence was on hand at the rally as officers watch on to enforce social distancing measures at the gathering

A protester hold up a sign that reads 'We walk on stolen land' at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney's Domain on January 26, 2021

A protester is seen attaching an aboriginal flag to a statue of Queen Victoria in Queens Gardens during an Invasion Day rally in Brisbane, January 26, 2021

Aboriginal activist Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts addresses Indigenous and non-indigenous protesters during an Invasion Day rally in The Domain, Sydney, Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Up to 100 police separated participants into two groups of 500, the maximum allowed protest size, with threats to break up the event, issue fines, and make arrests should rules be broken.

Covid marshals asked everyone to sign in to the event with a QR code and to wear masks on arrival, and offered hand sanitiser as throngs continued to arrive before the speeches started.

'We are advocating so that Australia Day is abolished. We will never celebrate this day,' Indigenous activist Vanessa Roberts told the swelling crowd in a powerful address.

'We will achieve liberation in this country, and if it's not me, it'll be my grandchildren'.

Paul Silver, whose Aboriginal nephew David Dungay Jr died while in police custody, told the crowd that the government 'does not give a f**k about us!'

'For the past five years, our family has been demanding justice and we've got f**k all'

'The injustice and racial discrimination still happens today and it's happened since the first fleet arrived. It happens on our land'

A protester at the Invasion Day Rally which broke off from the Domain into Hyde Park is pictured grappling with police

The woman and another protester in the background can be seen grappling with police in Sydney's Hyde Park

An officer is pictured grabbing a woman's arm at Sydney's Hyde Park as Invasion Day protests turn ugly

A demonstrator is pictured being wrestled by police as onlookers appear to grabbing at the protesters arms

A man is pictured in the custody of two police officers at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney's Hyde Park

A man can be seen grappling with police as an officer holds onto a man's arm at the Invasion Day rally in Hyde Park

Several police officers can be seen grappling with a protester at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney at Hyde park

'The government doesn't give a f**k about us, neither does the place. It was all ripped away from us when those 11 boats came here.

'The Australian government are still celebrating this day like it's a birthday or Christmas when our ancestors were killed - how does that make sense?'

Following his speech the group held a minute's silence remember all Indigenous Australians who have died in custody.

Another speaker declared: 'Today is triggering, today is traumatic, today is sad. Go home today and love yourself'.

'You are living in a coronavirus bubble where you are being told what to do. This is our world'.

A protester is pictured speaking with a police officer at the the Invasion Day rally in Sydney's Domain on January 26

Protesters wearing face masks prepare to march on January 26, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Australia Day

Protesters hold up a large Aboriginal flag at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney's domain on January 26, 2021

A protester is pictured wearing a face mask decorated with tradition Aboriginal art at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney

'I want everyone here to go on social media, talk to everyone, your bus driver, your Uber driver, a post office worker, educate them. Tell them decolonisation is coming.'

Soon after 11am - two hours before the event was supposed to end - organisers told protesters to go home peacefully before numbers swelled too big.

Organisers promised police there would be no march and the rally wouldn't stretch too much beyond the 500-person limits, and they were 'sticking to their word'.

'Please stick together and get yourself home safely, no loitering,' organisers shouted to crowed.

Ms Stanley was less diplomatic: 'We've been threatened by police intimidation saying they will smash us if we take to the streets.

'Instead of allowing them to incite a riot, we've advised everyone to disperse and stay safe.'

Protesters could be heard chanting 'Stop black deaths in custody' and 'black lives matter'. Pictured: a protester hold up a Black lives matter sign

'Please spread out, we don't want police to ruin our day,' event organisers shouted at the group. Pictured: Police patrol the area

A protester holding a flag stands in front of New South Wales police officers as he prepares to march on January 26, 2021 in Sydney, Australia

Indigenous performers play the didgeridoo during a smoking ceremony as part of the WugulOra Morning Ceremony at Barangaroo Reserve during Australia Day in Sydney, Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Organisers of the protest in the Domain made a last-ditch effort to lobby the state government and raise the limit on public gatherings from 500 under Covid restriction to 3,000.

Aboriginal Legal Service made an application to the Supreme Court to get the cap raised but the request was not granted.

The group demonstrated against Australia's Day celebrations and the plight Indigenous communities have faced at the hands of colonial settlers.

Officers could be seen discussing and planning how to separate the crowd in order to stay in-line with Covid restrictions.

'Please spread out, we don't want police to ruin our day,' event organisers shouted at the group.

Protesters could be heard chanting 'Always was, always will be aboriginal land' and 'No justice no peace no racist police'.

Scott Morrison spoke to Sydney radio earlier this morning where he discussed the contribution Indigenous Australians have made to the nation.

Protesters could be heard chanting 'Always was, always will be aboriginal land' and 'No justice no peace no racist police'

Over 1000 demonstrators have arrived in the Domain for the Invasion Day protests. Due to Covid rules the groups have been split up into two groups of 500

Rally organisers are requiring all demonstrators to sign in with QR code and are also providing face masks, hand sanitiser and enforcing social distancing

A man can be seen getting dragged away by police in Hyde Park during Invasion Day demonstrations

'One of the greatest overcomers of all of our people has been our First Nations people that have had to overcome this position and they've had to overcome colonisation, they are a thriving surviving community,' the Prime Minister told 2GB.

'The world's oldest living culture. Now I think this story of overcoming is one of, if not the greatest, Australian stories.

'It is one that we can all combine together and acknowledge that whether it's our first nations people, or the convicts, or the settlers that came or many that have since come and made us the most successful immigration country in the world.'

On Australia Day in 1938, indigenous activist Jack Patten organised 'Day of Mourning' on January 26.

His great great granddaughter is Kyah Patten, told the crowd in Sydney she's continuing the fight that he started.

'What is Australia Day? What the f**k is Australia?... Australia is built on blood,' she said.

'I stand here with my first held high.

'It's time to make change, open your f**king eyes and your f**king ears'

A mural of Scott Morrison dressed as a colonial settler was painted by street artist Scott Marsh in Sydney's Newtown early on Australia Day, January 26, 2021

The number of demonstrators at the Invasion Day protests in Sydney's Domain is continuing to grow throughout the morning

An Indigenous activist is pictured speaking to the crowd at the Invasion Day protest in Sydney on January 26

A group holds up a sign that reads 'Palestinians for Indigenous liberation' at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney's Domain

An Indigenous activist is pictured speaking to the crowd at the Invasion Day protest in Sydney on January 26

In Melbourne, thousands of protesters congregated outside parliament on Spring Street for a socially distanced march.

Under Victorian Covid restriction, public gatherings over 100 people are still banned.

Premier Daniel Andrews had warned any behaviour which could spread Covid will not be tolerated by police.

In bizarre scenes, protest organisers refused to kick off the event until the masses broke themselves into groups of 100 and moved along Bourke Street.

More than an hour after the protest was supposed to begin, protesters were still distancing themselves hundreds of metres across the CBD.

Protesters braved the rain to attend the Invasion Day rally in Melbourne, Tuesday, January 26, 2021

A protester wearing a face mask poses for the camera at a rainy Invasion Day rally in Melbourne on January 26, 2021

A protester holds up a sign that reads 'pay the rent' as thousands gather in Melbourne for an Invasion Day protest

A large number of protesters are pictured in Melbourne, packed close together despite coronavirus restrictions on gatherings

A woman is pictured holding a up a sign that reads 'Always was always will be' at an Invasion Day protest in Melbourne

In bizarre scenes, protest organisers refused to kick off the event until the masses broke themselves into groups of 100 and moved along Bourke Street

Melbourne's wet and wild weather did little to dampen the crowd's spirits, which was warned the march would not take place unless everyone socially distanced.

Hundreds of police officers have swamped the city as protesters lay placards outside parliament.

The peaceful protest threatened to turn sour when a man draped in an Australian flag was set upon by the protesters.

The ugly incident happened outside Melbourne's Flinders Street Station about 1pm and saw police rush into break up the melee.

Protesters could be heard shouting the 'Australian flag was racist' as they grappled with the man, who was sporting a 'Proud Boys' T-shirt.

The Proud Boys are an all-male group which originated in North America who have been widely condemned for their far-right views.

A man pictured in a Proud Boys shirt can be seen facing off with police at an Invasion Day protest in Melbourne

Police are pictured grabbing the man's arm outside Flinders Street Station in Melbourne on January 26

The same man is again pictured facing off with another man wearing a shirt with an Aboriginal flag on it

Police are pictured grappling with a man during an Invasion Day protest in Melbourne where scenes turned ugly

A protester was seen shoving the flag into his bag as police dragged the other man away.

The crowd settled down as rain once again descended.

The CBD remains cut in two as a concert takes place outside the iconic station.

Protesters also gathered in Newcastle to rally against Australia Day.

It was a more family-friendly atmosphere in the beachside city with with parents and their young children pictured marching on through the streets and then lounging in the sun-soaked Civic park.

A strong police presence remained on scene as the demonstrations went on but the event was resoundingly peaceful.

Protesters can be seen marching through the streets of Newcastle in a demonstration against against Australia Day

It was a family-friendly atmosphere in the beachside city with with parents and their young children pictured marching on through the streets and then lounging in the sun-soaked Civic park

A protester in Newcastle poses for a photo in a yellow shirt that reads 'Always was always will be Aboriginal land'

A strong police presence remained on scene as the demonstrations went on but the event was resoundingly peaceful

A group of young women hold up placards at an Invasion Day rally in Newcastle on January 26, 2021

A group of demonstrators are pictured in the midst of a smoking ceremony at Civic Park in Newcastle

About 2,000 Queenslanders turned up in Brisbane as the group marched from Musgrave Park in to Queens Gardens.

Demonstrators at the rally demanded the date of Australia Day be changed.

'Today, me, my friends and family continue the fight my ancestors started and not let it die and hopefully get the message across,' one protester told 9News.

Organisers of the event provided face masks and hand sanitiser for those in attendance and required everyone to register their contact details.

One of the more famous faces in the crowd was Quaden Bayles - a young Indigenous boy who made headlines last years becoming the target of bullies at his school.

The inspiring young man stood stood proud with a group of other protesters wearing an Aboriginal flag shirt.

A large number of demonstrators can be seen at an Invasion day protest in Brisbane with many in the crowd carrying signs with slogans

A man poses for the camera as protesters are seen during an Invasion Day rally in Brisbane, Australia, 26 January 2021

One of the more famous faces in the crowd was Quaden Bayles - a young Indigenous boy who made headlines last years becoming the target of bullies at his school

Quaden Bayles (centre) is seen during an Invasion Day rally in Brisbane, Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Young Quaden raises his fist in solidarity with other protesters calling on Australia Day to be abolished

About 2000 Queenslanders turned up in Brisbane as the group marched from Musgrave Park in to Queens Gardens

An animated protester can be seen with both arms in the air as a large group of demonstrators gather in Brisbane

A man with an Australian flag and a monkey shirt can be seen speaking with police in Brisbane on January 26

The man in the monkey shirt is pictured looking at an officer as he holds and Australian flag

Similar scenes also played out in Adelaide and Canberra.

Massive crowds called for the date of Australia Day to be changed in Canberra as protesters descended Parliament House.

Protesters assembled at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy earlier this morning before marching up the hill.

The crowd chanted slogans, such as 'always was, always will be, Aboriginal land' as local elders spoke of why January 26 was a day of mourning for Indigenous people along with injustices still faced more than two centuries later, AAP reported.

While in Adelaide about 3,000 turned up to protest.

Two protesters are pictured outside Parliament House in Canberra with signs calling on the date of Australia Day to be changed

Police watch Indigenous and non-indigenous protesters during an Invasion Day rally in front of Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Indigenous and non-indigenous protesters are seen during an Invasion Day rally in front of Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Discrimination cost black farmers at least $250B in property, law scholar says Habitat for Humanity joins to tackle 'huge gap' in homeownership

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Property law scholar Thomas W. Mitchell, who was a 2020 recipient of a MacArthur "genius" fellowship for his work looking at how black and other disadvantaged Americans have been deprived of their real estate wealth, says black farmers alone have lost millions of acres of land and at least $250 billion in wealth over the last century due to historic discrimination.

Mitchell shared the data during a virtual session hosted by Habitat for Humanity Friday to mark the 35th anniversary of the federal observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, reflecting on Kings vision of the Beloved Community  a community that includes diversity and allows for tension undergirded by love and leads to transformation.

One of the things that we need to acknowledge is the scope of historic discrimination and its fallout. So for example, when were dealing with black farmers and the land that they have lost in the last 100 years, which you know, were talking its at a scale of 15, 16, millions of acres of land, Im part of a research team thats looking at the economic consequences of that loss and our conservative estimate of just the value of that property itself is $250 billion, said the Texas A & M University School of Law professor.

Our research team  is now trying to build a more robust estimate taking into account things like, when you own property, you can use that property as collateral to finance your childrens higher education and those outcomes you can expect intergenerationally from that, he said, noting that the losses for black farmers are likely to increase to several hundred billion dollars.

A key area of Mitchells research focuses on heirs property, which is a subset of tenancy-in-common property, which tends to be created in the absence of a will or estate plan and results in undivided ownership. This means each of the legally defined heirs own a fractional interest in the property, rather than a specific piece or portion of the property. After several generations, ownership of land and other property, including single-family homes, may be fragmented among many heirs, any one of whom can sell their fractional ownership or seek to force a sale of the land, with or without the agreement of all owners.

His work showed how property laws have worked against black families in both the rural and urban contexts.

Law and policy has a huge role. In addition to the kind of extralegal means that were used in terms of violence and lynching and physical intimidation, theres a whole set of laws that have contributed to either preventing African Americans and other disadvantaged families of color from becoming property owners in the first instance but then for those kind of rarified few who have achieved that status, that has then led to them losing property or property rights that they had developed, he said.

He argued that while the coronavirus has exposed a number of racial inequalities in areas such as health and housing, another area of disparity that continues to dispossess black families of wealth is estate planning.

One of the racial wealth gaps, which is probably not very well known, is a massive racial will-making or estate planning gap in this country, he said.

He explained that while approximately 62% of white Americans make a will but about only 22% of African Americans do. And while the most educated across racial lines tended to do a better job of estate planning, the most educated African Americans still make wills at a lower rate than the least educated white Americans.

He also argued that while the high watermark for black homeownership in the U.S. was nearly 50% in 2004, that rate is now lower than the 41% that existed in 1968 when the federal Fair Housing Act became law.

Before the pandemic, we had lost so much ground, we were below the homeownership rate at the time the federal Fair Housing Act had been enacted into law. Its kind of shocking kind of realization, Mitchell said.

If legislators and other housing stakeholders are going to fix this enduring problem, he said, the remedy, its got to be to the level of the problem, not things like a token or symbolism.

You need people in policymaking positions that reflect the diversity of the country so that you have African Americans and Latinos and others who are in important policy positions to develop and direct and to help the policy team overall raise their awareness of problems they might not be familiar with, he said.

Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, said during the virtual session that we have to acknowledge that housing was absolutely a part of the problem.

In the last century, housing policy [is] maybe the most tangible example of systemic racism, where so many black families and other families were denied access to housing through practices such as redlining and we saw that created a huge gap in homeownership, which created then a huge wealth gap, which came with that. We believe we can do better than that as a nation and we see that housing certainly isnt the only piece but it can be a critical foundation in a way that Habitat can be a part of the solution, he said.

Pointing out Habitat for Humanitys foundation as a faith-based organization, Reckford said: We have a theological imperative  to put Gods love into action in a very tangible way to love our neighbors as ourselves and insist on reconciliation and relationship and justice.

He explained how the organization began some 80 years ago out of an interracial farm just outside of Americus, Georgia.

Some 80 years ago, there was an interracial farm, far ahead of its time where black and white farmers lived together, ate together, were paid equally and tried to create a community that was going to be a demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God of how communities should work. It was often at that time, as you can imagine, not welcome, he said.

We believe for our mission we have a business imperative. Our mission is to build homes, communities and hope but a key part of that has always been about breaking down barriers between people and building relationships. And in our image of our beloved community, it really will take everyone. And we know that housing is complicated and its going to take the public sector, the private sector and the social sector coming together. And weve got a lot of ideas of what has worked and what we believe can work, Reckford continued.

We are in the midst of our first U.S. advocacy campaign called Cost of Home, which is really to bring attention to the huge affordability gap for so many families and particularly families of color. And so we have a number of initiatives we are excited about to try to reduce that gap to increase access to homeownership, particularly for black families, and to increase homeownership more broadly as well as to broaden the supply thats affordable for low- and moderate-income families. We believe that everyone benefits and the right model for any healthy community is to have a community where everyone can afford to live there and where people across income bands and certainly across race and other divisions can come together and live in the same community and build the kind of community we all want to be a part of.
RESTON, Va., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Clean, renewable energy for West Virginia residents surged forward today when Clearway Energy Group selected the Bechtel-Reed & Reed Joint Venture, to build its Black Rock wind farm in Grant County and Mineral counties. The new wind farm represents a nearly 15% increase in the state's wind power and will produce enough green energy to power 34,000 homes.

The Bechtel-Reed & Reed team, will engineer, procure, and construct the farm. The project will include twenty-three Siemens-Gamesa SG 5.0-145 wind turbines on 107.5-meter tall towers, producing 115 MW of electricity at the point interconnection to the First Energy electrical grid.

"We're excited to partner with Bechtel and Reed & Reed and look forward to potential that their combined resources can bring to this critical project," said Chris Fox, Vice President of Construction at Clearway Energy Group. "This represents Clearway's second renewable project in West Virginia, and provides a great opportunity for us to add construction jobs and permanent positions to our existing workforce in the state. Black Rock represents an important and growing sector of West Virginia's economy and we are proud to help drive that growth."

"The Black Rock Wind Farm is a significant contribution to renewable wind production in the region, and we are delighted to have Reed & Reed as partners and we are eager to join Clearway Energy Group on their path to deliver clean energy for future generations," said Kelvin Sims, Bechtel's Infrastructure general manager, Americas. "Our customers are setting ambitious targets to decarbonize energy systems, and we're excited to support them in their journey to net-zero."

"Our partnership with Bechtel combines two leading companies in the new world economy of renewable energy. All of us at Reed & Reed are pleased to begin work on this project with our partners from Bechtel. It's a chance to demonstrate our expertise and experience in wind projects in a new region. We are especially pleased to have been selected by Clearway to build such an important project," said Jackson Parker, CEO of Reed & Reed, Inc.

The project will create around 200 jobs in the area during construction, with several permanent jobs when operational. Once the wind farm is active, currently scheduled for late 2021, it will save 298,500 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

About Bechtel:

Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers' objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world's infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.

Bechtel serves the Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.bechtel.com

About Reed & Reed:

Founded in 1928 by Captain Josiah W. Reed and his son Carlton Day Reed, Reed & Reed has a long history of successful public & private construction projects throughout New England. Headquartered in Woolwich, Maine, Reed & Reed performs a wide range of construction services for both public and private clients. From complex cable-stayed bridges to industrial facilities, marine terminals to wind farms, commercial and institutional buildings to pile driving, parking garages to environmental remediation, Reed & Reed has a track record of superior performance. www.reed-reed.com

Media contacts:

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On Saturday, January 16, 2021, Deputies were dispatched to Doiron Road, Lake Arthur, Louisiana in reference to an Aggravated Assault. Deputies met with the complainant and discovered that a altercation had occurred and a gun was pointed at the complainant by a neighbor. The complainants wife witnessed the assault and provided deputies with video of the suspect with a gun. The suspect, Timothy Wayne Landry, 50, of 406 Louisiana avenue, Lake Arthur came into the Sheriffs office on Friday January 22nd and was arrested on warrant for 2 counts Aggravated assault with a firearm and 1 count simple battery.
Four months after the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House, Israel opened its embassy yesterday in the United Arab Emirates. The embassy will be located in a provisory office until the Foreign Ministry decides on a permanent location.

Israels former ambassador to Turkey, Eitan Naeh, will serve as charge daffaires in Abu Dhabi until a permanent ambassador is appointed.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Foreign Ministry said the new embassy will advance the range of relations between the countries in all areas and expand ties with the Emirati government, economic bodies and the private sector, academia, media and more.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi wished Na'eh the best of luck in his new mission. He said the ministry is leading the implementation of the peace and normalization agreements in the Gulf. "Opening the mission will allow the expansion of bilateral ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates for the maximum and speedy realization of the potential in those relations," said Ashkenazi.

Naeh himself arrived in Abu Dhabi yesterday morning. Embarking on the plane at Ben Gurion Airport, Naeh tweeted, "Home and away  with my hometown name [Kiryat Bialik] on the El Al plane that brought us to the Emirates. Saying 'Excited to be here' will be an understatement."

According to the Foreign Ministry, Israel will open a general consulate in Dubai in the coming days. It will also open soon a liaison office in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. An embassy was opened in Bahrain a few weeks ago.

Relations between Israel and the Emirates have advanced rapidly. Former President Donald Trump first announced normalization between Israel and the Emirates and Bahrain in mid-August. As aforementioned, the formal agreements were signed a month later. On Oct. 20, a senior Emirati ministerial delegation arrived in Israel, with the two countries signing a series of agreements at Ben Gurion Airport. These included an aviation agreement for 28 direct flights between Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and an agreement for visa exemption. On that occasion, the Emirati delegation presented Ashkenazi with a formal request to open an embassy in Israel.

A few days after, a large Israeli economic and trade delegation arrived in the Emirates. In parallel, Israeli authorities approved the trading of the Emirati dirham in Israel. The Emiratis on their side authorized bilateral agriculture trade. The visa exemption agreement was ratified by the Emirati parliament on Jan. 13. Its implementation has been delayed until July due to the coronavirus pandemic. But even without the agreement, tens of thousands of Israelis have already visited Dubai, taking advantage of the short, direct flights. Several Dubai hotels and restaurants now also offer kosher food. More so, some Israelis chose in the past two months to hold their weddings in the Emirates, where gatherings are still allowed. Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Dec. 20 in the first-ever visit by a sitting chief rabbi to an Arab country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to visit the Emirates and Bahrain in mid-February, and he will participate in the opening ceremony of the embassy in Abu Dhabi. Once Netanyahu makes his visit, other Israeli ministers could also plan official visits to both countries.

In the same spirit of advancing ties with Arab countries, the Israeli Cabinet officially approved yesterday the normalization of relations with Morocco.
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(Natural News) You would think that the nut job democrats would be all excited about the lockdowns and capitalism shutdowns all over the world.

(Article by Liberty Paige republished from SteveGruber.com)

And they are. But its not enough.

To the cultist members of the climate change religion, itll never be enough.

The earth is dying and were all killing it.

No matter what we do apparently.

The political and business leaders of the climate change movement started this fraud in order to enrich themselves and re-distribute wealth to themselves and their friends. However, their cult believers obviously think that we are here to sustain the earth, not the other way around.

The United Nations put out a memo recently that said that even though we had a drop of 7% in emissions in 2020, its just not good enough and will have an insignificant effect on the overall global warming trend.

Well, gee what more can we do?

Die?

According to liberal thinking and their false predictions and fake statistics, I think thats really the only way to meet the goals of the leftist climate change nuts. Its the only way that were not using any of the planets resources.

Dont laugh.

Everything we laugh about pertaining to the leftists always seems to become a reality.

Its obvious that they dont want us to go anywhere or do anything or use any energy. That means that we wont be able to provide for our families. Hence we will die.

Although, the truth of the matter is, that dying probably wont make the leftists happy either.

Think about all of the energy that is needed to create our coffins and run funeral homes. Plus there are all of the people driving to our funerals in their SUVs Its just one big strain on the planet.

I guess we just need to be put in a blender and fed to the birds  and with no memorial services (kind of like now).

This might seem like a crazy idea to you but the leftists just dont think were doing enough for the planet.

Dont believe me? Take a look at what happened in Aspen, Colorado recently. Thousands lost power because of an intentional attack on natural gas lines. The FBI is investigating an environmental group called Earth First.

Talk about the perfect name for the leftist agenda. They have decided that the planet is more important than the people on it and the brave ones dont mind going public about it.

According to psycho leftist Mike Berners-Lee who talked to CBS recently and also wrote How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything, even sending everyone home to work in their domiciles isnt helping the planet enough.

These crazy leftists tell us that were not supposed to drive or fly  but working from home doesnt do enough for the planet either.

He has the same idea as the Aspen environmental terrorists.

We are taking up too much space and energy and were actually hurting the planet.

Of course we are.

Were using heat. Were using electric. Were expelling carbon dioxide.

So its not far-fetched to expect these psycho leftists to tell us to kill ourselves soon and REALLY make a difference for the planet.

Why the heck are liberals even TRYING to end the pandemic?

Its the perfect solution for them.

Kill off the parasites to save the host.

Read more at: SteveGruber.com
The world is on the verge of reaching 100 million COVID-19 infections, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center statistics. More than 2 million people have died from the virus.

The coronavirus continues to create an unyielding and staggering path of illness and death across the United States. Johns Hopkins reported early Sunday that the U.S. has nearly 25 million COVID infections, with more than 417,000 deaths. Both tolls are the world's highest.

India follows the U.S. caseload with 10.6 million infections and more than 153,000 deaths. Brazil has nearly 9 million cases and more than 216,000 deaths.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said COVID vaccines could bring the global pandemic under control, with vaccinations under way in more than 50 countries. However, all but two of those countries are high- or middle-income countries. "We must work together as one global family to ensure the urgent and equitable rollout of vaccines," he said.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

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Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

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Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Vancouver, BC -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/25/2021 -- There are many areas where radiation power has been utilized for the benefit of humans, including its applications in the medical segment. A high number of benefits availed by patients owing to the appropriate usage of radiation for improved diagnosis and treatment are evident. It has become a crucial part of modern medical treatment, prominently in treating cancer. Radiation-producing technology like X-ray machines and X-ray diffraction equipment are used in several diagnostic centers and hospitals.



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Some of the prominent players in the Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring, and Safety industry include: Mirion Technologies, Inc., Sun Nuclear Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Fortive Corporation, Bertin Instruments, Polimaster, Inc., Biodex Medical Systems, Inc., Amray Group, PTW Freiburg GmBH, Infab Corporation, among others.



Market Drivers



The key factors which are expected to act as drivers for the medical radiation detection, monitoring, and safety market growth are rising cancer prevalence, rising usage of nuclear medicine and radiation therapy for diagnosis and treatment, and a rise in the population of individuals with insurance.



Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

Personal Dosimeters

Passive Dosimeters

Active Dosimeters

Area Process Monitors

Environment Radiation Monitors

Surface Contamination Monitors

Radioactive Material Monitors

Other Medical Radiation Detection and Monitoring Products



Detectors Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

Gas-Filled Detectors

GM Counters

Ionization Chambers

Proportional Counters

Scintillators

Inorganic Scintillators

Organic Scintillators

Solid-State Detectors

Semiconductor Detectors

Diamond Detectors



Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2017-2027)

Hospitals

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Clinics

Others



The medical radiation detection, monitoring, and safety market is expected to register extensive growth owing to rising threats of nuclear attacks and technological advancements, like OSL (optically stimulated luminescence), which provide better accuracy for measurement of low levels of radioactivity.



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Regional Outlook



In the Asia Pacific region, India, Singapore, Australia, Japan, China, and South Korea are the emerging markets for radiation detection, monitoring, and safety products. In these countries, the market is still in the budding stage. Emerging countries, such as India, Brazil, China, and Russia, are projected to witness a lucrative growth potential in the near future.



Table of Content



Chapter 1. Methodology & Sources



1.1. Market Definition



1.2. Research Scope



1.3. Methodology



1.4. Research Sources



1.4.1. Primary



1.4.2. Secondary



1.4.3. Paid Sources



1.5. Market Estimation Technique



Chapter 2. Executive Summary



2.1. Summary Snapshot, 2019-2027



Chapter 3. Key Insights



Chapter 4. Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring and Safety Market Segmentation & Impact Analysis



4.1. Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring and Safety Market Material Segmentation Analysis



4.2. Industrial Outlook



4.2.1. Market indicators analysis



4.2.2. Market drivers analysis



4.2.2.1. Growing Prevalence of Cancer Worldwide



4.2.2.2. Growth in the number of people covered by insurance



4.2.2.3. Increasing use of nuclear medicine and radiation therapy for diagnosis and treatment



4.2.3. Market restraints analysis



4.2.3.1. Lack of skilled radiation professionals



4.3. Technological Insights



4.4. Regulatory Framework



4.5. Porter's Five Forces Analysis



4.6. Competitive Metric Space Analysis



4.7. Price trend Analysis



4.8. Covid-19 Impact Analysis



Chapter 5. Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring and Safety Market By Product Insights & Trends Revenue (USD Million)



5.1. Product Dynamics & Market Share, 2019 & 2027



5.1.1. Personal Dosimeters



5.1.1.1. Passive Dosimeters



5.1.1.2. Active Dosimeters



5.1.2. Area Process Monitors



5.1.3. Environment Radiation Monitors



5.1.4. Surface Contamination Monitors



5.1.5. Radioactive Material Monitors



5.1.6. Other Medical Radiation Detection and Monitoring Products



Chapter 6. Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring and Safety Market By Detectors Insights & Trends Revenue (USD Million)



6.1. Detectors Dynamics & Market Share, 2019 & 2027



6.1.1. Gas-Filled Detectors



6.1.1.1. GM Counters



6.1.1.2. Ionization Chambers



6.1.1.3. Proportional Counters



6.1.2. Scintillators



6.1.2.1. Inorganic Scintillators



6.1.2.2. Organic Scintillators



6.1.3. Solid-State Detectors



6.1.3.1. Semiconductor Detectors



6.1.3.2. Diamond Detectors



Continue!



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The market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow in the near future owing to increased cancer incidences, a rise in the presence of hospitals in the region, and an increase in the number of installations of radiological imaging instruments.

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UPDATE: Gov. Gavin Newsomlifted mandatory stay-home orders across California. Go here for the latest updates.

California will lift regional stay-at-home orders across the entire state on Monday, sources have told The Chronicle.

A source close to the governors office confirmed that the state plans to end the stay-at-home order on Monday morning, moving counties back into the reopening framework based on colored tiers. It will no longer be tied strictly to the number of beds that are available in intensive care units.

Now, with the post-holidays surge lessening, ICU availability in the regions that remained under the stay-at-home order as of Sunday  including the Bay Area and Southern California  are projected to rise above the 15% threshold that triggered the lockdown measures. This is why the Newsom administration has decided to lift the restrictions, according to the source.

Counties will be moving back into the tiered system to determine how to re-open. Most regions across the state are expected to move into the purple tier, which means restaurants can open for outdoor service, and personal care services, like hair and nail salons can re-open with modifications.

News of the possible change began circulating Sunday evening after the California Restaurant Association sent a letter to members saying it had received word from Newsoms administration that the stay-at-home orders would be lifted. Several members passed the letter along to media outlets including The Chronicle.

The decision comes more than six weeks after the Bay Area and nearly all the rest of the state was placed under stringent stay-at-home orders due to the explosive spread of the virus in late November and early December.

Though the Dec. 3 order was statewide, it was not triggered unless ICU projections fell below 15%. Because of this, the states northernmost counties were never affected. Most Bay Area counties voluntarily moved into the lockdown condition on Dec. 6. But as of Saturday's report from the state, based on Friday data, the Bay Areas ICU capacity was 23.4%.

More details about the decision are expected Monday morning.

Alexei Koseff and Michael Williams are staff writers at The Chronicle. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com, michael.williams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff @michaeldamianw


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DENVER, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercer Global Advisors, Inc. ("Mercer Advisors"), a national Registered Investment Adviser ("RIA"), today announced the acquisition of Marrs Wealth Management, LLC, ("Marrs"), a respected wealth management firm located in Ames, Iowa. Marrs serves approximately 275 clients with assets under management ("AUM") of approximately $215 million. Marrs was founded in 2010 by Craig Marrs, CFP, CIMA, AIF ("Craig"), focusing on delivering comprehensive wealth management services to high net worth (HNW) clients. Marrs has three LLC members: Craig, Andra L. Reason, CPA, CFP, and CSEP ("Andra"), and Nathan Brammer, MBA, CIMA, AIF ("Nate"). In all, four Marrs team members will be joining the Mercer Advisors' team. The Marrs transaction closed December 31, 2020. From November 30 to December 31, Mercer Advisors acquired seven RIAs with a combined total of nearly $3.9B in AUM serving over 3,200 new clients with its expanded wealth management offering.

At Marrs Wealth Management, they understand the need to balance their clients' current obligations with their future expectations, and they help their clients develop a plan to achieve that balance. Marrs was recognized for the fourth year in a row in AdvisoryHQ's 2019 Ranking of the Top Financial Advisors in Iowa. The firm was one of only nine firms in the entire state of Iowa to be honored and is the only firm in Ames honored with this award.

Commenting on the transaction, Craig Marrs, Founder, stated: "We had been internally revising our succession planning for some time. We agreed the best course of action for us was to join a national partner that shared our commitment to serve our clients at the highest level, while simultaneously enhancing the client experience by offering more in-house services like estate planning, insurance planning, and tax return preparation. We met many times with David Barton, Vice Chairman and M&A Leader at Mercer Advisors, and we loved what they had to offer to us, our staff, and most importantly our clients. We are very excited to be joining the Mercer Advisors' team." Andra Reason added, "We worked with David Barton and other Mercer Advisors' staff over the past several months to complete all the necessary documentation like our letter of intent, purchase and employment agreements, but also developed a vision for how our two companies would come together operationally. I felt at ease knowing Mercer Advisors has a process developed over years of experience merging RIA firms like ours." One of Nate's top priorities was to find a national firm that matched our footprint. He stated, "We have clients across the nation. Partnering with Mercer Advisors will make it even easier to help clients as their life's mission changes and they relocate."

David Barton who led this transaction on behalf of Mercer Advisors stated: "Craig, Andra and Nate have built a great business and they are highly regarded in the Hawkeye (and Cyclone) state. Like other growing firms, they found themselves wearing many hats and spending their time performing non-revenue producing but nonetheless necessary back-office work. With Mercer Advisors taking over their back-office functions, they now have more time to do what they do best, serve their current clients and develop relationships with new ones."

Dave Welling, Chief Executive Officer of Mercer Advisors said, "We are very excited to partner with Craig, Andra, Nate, and the Marrs team. We share their commitment to putting clients' needs first and providing them with the highest quality financial care. We look forward to expanding our presence in Iowa and the Midwest."

About Mercer Advisors

Established in 1985, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ("Mercer Advisors") is a full-service wealth management firm that specializes in providing investment advice, financial and estate planning, and taxes, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. It is one of the largest Registered Investment Advisers and financial planning firms in the U.S. with over $27 billion in client assets. Headquartered in Denver, Mercer Advisors is privately held, has approximately 525 employees, and operates nationally across the country with 45+ locations. Mercer Advisors, Inc. is a parent company of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. (RIA), majority owned by both Oak Hill Capital and Genstar Capital. Mercer Global Advisors has a related insurance agency. Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercer Advisors Inc. Employees of Mercer Global Advisors serve as officers of MAIS. For Mercer Global Advisors clients who wish to purchase insurance products, MAIS has entered into a non-exclusive referral agreement with Strategic Partner(s). More information about MAIS and our Strategic Partners may be found in our Form ADV 2A. Visit us at www.merceradvisors.com.

Data as of December 31, 2020. AUM includes affiliates and wholly owned subsidiaries announced to date.

Contact: Chris Tofalli

Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC

914-834-4334

SOURCE Mercer Global Advisors Inc.

Related Links

http://www.merceradvisors.com




In the latest development, the Pakistan federal government has considered mortgaging the gigantic Fatima Jinnah Park in the F9 sector in Islamabad for procuring a loan of 500 billion PKR, as per Pakistan media reports. The park named after Mohammad Ali Jinnah's daughter is sprawled across 759 acres of land in the F-9 sector in Pakistan's capital. As per local media reports, the proposal of mortgaging the Fatima Jinnah park has been included in the agenda of the cabinet meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

READ | Pakistan Likely To Get Pushed In FATF Blacklist For Not Combatting Terror Financing

As per reports, financial issues faced by Pakistan has forced the country's cabinet to consider the move to mortgage the park. The Pakistan government intends to mortgage the park for 500 billion PKR by issuing bonds, local media reported. Pakistan has a history of its governments mortgaging public properties to meet the financial crisis.

READ | Imran Khan's Estranged Wife Avantika Malik Shares Note About 'feeling Stuck'

FATF will consider Pakistan 'greylist' status

Pakistan is likely to be pushed into the 'black list' of the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) by February 2021, as it continues to finance and tolerate terrorist organizations, as per reports. Terrorist organizations, such as JuD and JeM, allegedly continue to operate with impunity in Pakistan. The said blacklist is for countries that the intra-governmental organization considers non-cooperative in the global effort to combat the financing of terrorism. The FATF will consider Pakistan 'greylist' status, meant for countries "under increased monitoring" during a meeting in coming days. The country in question was already placed on the grey-list once in 2018.

READ | 'Focus On Saving Your Economy': BJP Gives Advice To Imran Khan Over His Twitter Theatrics

FATF President Marcus Pleyer reportedly said during Octobers review meeting in 2020 that there were very serious deficiencies in Pakistan's efforts to counter terrorist financing. As long as we see that the country is progressing with the action items, and we have seen progress with Pakistan, we give them a chance to repair the outstanding issues, but we do not do this forever, Pleyer said.

After placing Pakistan on the Grey List in June 2018, the FATF had asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing. The FATF meeting scheduled in February is likely to decide on Pakistan's Grey List status. Maintaining that the Pakistani establishment uses the terrorists and proscribed groups as "proxies" to execute its anti-India agenda, he called upon the international community to hold the Imran Khan-led government accountable.

READ | Pakistan PM Imran Khans Lookalike Spotted In Auto, Netizens Say 'uncanny Resemblance'
On Sunday, January 24, the United Arab Emirates approved the opening of its Embassy in Tel Aviv. This comes months after the two nations agreed to normalise relations. As per UAE government's official Twitter handle, the Council of Ministers of the UAE has approved the establishment of the UAE embassy in Tel Aviv.

Israel and UAE announced that they had agreed to normalize ties under the Abraham Accords that were signed at the White House in a US-brokered peace agreement on September 15. When UAE signed the historic agreement, it became the third Arab country after Egypt and Jordan to officially normalise ties with Israel. At the ceremony, Mnuchin said, The Abraham Accords establish direct economic ties between two of the Middle Easts most thriving and advanced economies. He added, These ties create a tremendous foundation for economic growth, opportunity, innovation and prosperity. With greater economic prosperity comes stronger security.

Read: US Embassy In Israel Changes Twitter Name To Include West Bank & Gaza, Deletes It Later

Normalizing relations

In October, the first official delegate from the UAE visited Israel. According to the reports by AP, the United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin accompanied Emirati Finance Minister Obaid Humaid al-Tayer and other senior officials from the UAE. As a result of this meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that both UAE and Israel have agreed for visa-free travel for their nationals.

Read: Iran Can Hold Dialogue On Oil & Gulf Security, No Cooperation On Israel Issue: Zarif

As per the reports by AP, Netanyahu during a ceremony said, Today we are making history. We are making history in a way that will stand for generations. He added, We will remember this day, a glorious day of peace. Al Tayer from UAE reportedly said that the Emirates is looking forward to establishing legal frameworks with Israel to achieve prosperity for both our economies and our people.

Read: Israel Accused Of Paying More And Skipping The Queue For COVID-19 Vaccine

Also Read: Israel Excluding Palestinians Colonies From COVID-19 Vaccine Programme: Report

(Image Credits: AP)
Dixon Technologies (India) said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Padget Electronics, has entered into an agreement with HMD India for manufacturing of Nokia smartphones.

The smartphones will be manufactured at Padget's manufacturing facility situated at Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Commenting on this occasion, Atul B. Lall, vice chairman & managing director, Dixon, said: It gives us immense pleasure to announce that we have partnered with HMD Global as manufacturers of Nokia smartphones in India, which is an iconic brand. They have established a strong and trusted foothold globally thanks to their advanced technology. We are sure that with their vision and stringent industry-leading processes, combined with our expertise in manufacturing, we will be able to bring a range of Nokia smartphones to customers."

Dixon Technologies (India) is a design-focused products and solutions company. The firm engages in manufacturing products in the consumer durables, lighting and mobile phones markets in India.

The company reported 22% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 52.36 crore on a 17% rise in net sales to Rs 1638.74 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019.

The scrip slipped 0.64% to Rs 13,982.95. The stock has declined by 8.59% in five sessions.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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As of January 22nd, there were sixteen (16) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however ten (10) persons have recovered; bringing the total active cases to one hundred and thirty three (133). The total number of confirmed cases is now one thousand seven hundred and twenty four (1724).





The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) are monitoring one hundred and thirty three (133) people in home isolation. We are pleased to announce that there are currently no patients hospitalized at the St. Maarten Medical Center. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 remains at twenty seven (27).





The number of people recovered since the first case surfaced on St. Maarten has increased to one thousand five hundred and sixty four (1564). Two hundred and forty (240) people are in quarantine based on contact tracing investigations carried out by CPS.





The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (VSA) Airport Health Team in collaboration with Health Care Laboratory Sint Maarten (HCLS) have tested 2258 travelers arriving at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA), while CPS tested 13, 533 people throughout the community. As the numbers continue to fluctuate, CPS will continue to actively execute its contact tracing measures.





Minister Panneflek advises everyone to move with caution when in public places. COVID is still active within the community and everyone should continue to practice the implemented guidelines for safety




The unmanned combat aircraft nicknamed the loyal wingman is being put into production (Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/PA)

Production of an unmanned combat aircraft nicknamed the loyal wingman is set to begin thanks to a 30 million Government investment.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the three-year contract to design and manufacture a prototype will support more than 100 jobs in Northern Ireland.

The aircraft will be designed to fly at high speed alongside fighter jets, armed with missiles, surveillance and electronic warfare technology to provide a battle-winning advantage over hostile forces.

The MoD said the loyal wingman will be the UKs first uncrewed platform able to target and shoot down enemy aircraft and survive against surface-to-air missiles.

Expand Close The RAFs Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) is set to be further developed at Spirit AeroSystems, in Belfast (Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/PA) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp The RAFs Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) is set to be further developed at Spirit AeroSystems, in Belfast (Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/PA)

Spirit AeroSystems, in Belfast, has been selected to lead Team Mosquito in the next phase of the project.

The team will further develop the RAFs Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) concept, with a full-scale vehicle flight-test programme expected by the end of 2023.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said: This is fantastic news and underlines the distinct strengths in Northern Irelands economy, through its advanced engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

This ground-breaking project will involve significant investment which will not only support local employment, but also reinforce Northern Irelands contribution to the security of our nation.

Workers at Spirit AeroSystems in Belfast (Leo Murray/Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/PA)



Defence Minister Jeremy Quin said: This is a great win for the Northern Ireland defence industry and will showcase some of the most pioneering engineering work currently being undertaken in the UK.

The 30 million project will accelerate the development of the UKs future air power by delivering cutting-edge uncrewed aircraft, maintaining our position as a world leader in emerging technologies.

The director of Future Combat Air at the MoD, Richard Berthon, said: Project Mosquito is a vital element of our approach to Future Combat Air, rapidly bringing to life design, build and test skills for next generation combat air capabilities.

Autonomous loyal wingman aircraft create the opportunity to expand, diversify and rapidly upgrade Combat Air Forces in a cost-effective way, now and in the future.
The Heights Hospital in Houston, Texas, remains locked, with the situation still unresolved after the hospital was closed without warning last Monday. The closure is the result of a financial dispute over a loan payment between the owner of the hospital, AMD Global and Arbitra Capital Partners LLC, as well as the non-payment of maintenance, repair, and property insurance.

Dr. John Thomas, an internal medicine specialist who is affiliated with the Heights Hospital, told the WSWS that all the locks were changed over the weekend when the medical facility is typically closed, with staff only finding out on Monday. Dr. Thomas stated that Dr. Felicity Mack was treating quite a few COVID-19 patients at the hospital before it was shut down, and that around 100 coronavirus tests were being performed at the hospital per day.

According to Dr. Thomas, hospital staff were only allowed to go in briefly on Tuesday and take personal belongings before the hospital was locked again. When asked about patient records Dr. Thomas stated they are all locked up. We were allowed to get personal belongings.

Heights Hospital in Houston (Credit: Facebook)

Dr. Thomas stated bluntly that the lockout was not only immoral, but illegal: It is illegal. We have a duty to the patients to provide 30 days notice. And they broke that law. It is called patient abandonment; we have to give 30-days notice.

The reason behind this is purely financial. The company who took control of this hospital does not care, does not care about their wellbeing. It is completely unacceptable to deny people healthcare. Its 100 percent money driven. They dont care about anyone else, they don't care about the laws, about doing the right thing.

When asked about the impact of the lockout on patients he stated that not transferring patients records would mean that treatment details, medication records, and other data is effectively lost and that diagnostics on patients would have to be redone as patients typically dont remember the minute details of their treatment. Additionally, patients would have to find new doctors and a place to get treated, all delaying potentially vital medical treatment.

Speaking of the neighborhood where the Heights Hospital is located, Dr. Thomas stated, That area is under-served, there is only one other hospital in the area. It hurts a lot of people. Its a shame that people become so greedy and there is so much greed involved in healthcare.

The hospital, located in the Heights, northwest of downtown Houston, serves what is referred to by the US Department of Health and Human Services as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), which are characterized by a low availability of health services. Harris County, where Houston is located, is a partial HPSA as designated by the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The Heights Hospital lies within North Central Houston which is listed as an HPSA by the HRSA. The HRSA calculates HPSA scores based on the population-to-provider ratio, the travel time to the nearest health care provider outside the area, and the total population below the federal poverty level.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation drawing from data from the HRSA, 81 million Americans live in a primary care HPSA as of September 2020. Texas is the second highest in population for primary care HPSAs, with 7.4 million living in shortage areas, and California ranking first at 8 million. According to the HRSA January 2021 estimates, the number living in primary care HPSAs stands at 83 million, meaning the number of people living in under-served areas has increased by 2 million in four months.

Houston is currently suffering one of its worst health disasters in recorded history in no small part due to the efforts by the Republican state Governor Greg Abbott as well as Democratic Mayor Sylvester Turner, who have worked to reopen schools and non-essential businesses against scientific evidence and the advice of health professionals.

Almost 300,000 have been infected with COVID-19 in Harris County according to Worldometer, with more than 4,013 deaths, an increase of around 13,000 cases and 147 deaths since five days ago. Many of those who have been infected will require long-term care for the variety of long-term ailments resulting from the virus.

Throughout the country hospitals have been closing despite the increased need in health care caused by the pandemic, with a January 2021 Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform report stating that more than 500 rural hospitals were at immediate risk of closure before the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly stemming from financial losses and a lack of reserves to continue operating. One year into the pandemic that number has risen to more than 800 rural hospitals at immediate or high risk of closure.

It is an absolute indictment of the for-profit healthcare system and the financial oligarchs that benefit from it that hospitals should be shut down in the middle of a pandemic, let alone when 83 million already lack sufficient access to primary healthcare, in the richest country in the world.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 16:02:49|Editor: huaxia

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BANGKOK, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Thailand on Monday confirmed 187 new COVID-19 cases and two more fatalities, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Among them, 177 were domestic infections, while the other 10 were imported cases, CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan told a daily briefing.

Proactive testing led to the discovery of 116 new cases, mainly among workers and residents in Samut Sakhon and Bangkok and among other provinces, according to the CCSA spokeswoman.

The two fatalities, one 61-year-old British man in Bangkok and the other 56-year-old Thai woman in Samut Sakhon, brought the total death toll reported in Thailand to 75, Apisamai said.

Thailand has so far confirmed 13,687 COVID-19 cases, with more than 9,000 of the infections being reported since the latest outbreak was first detected at a seafood market in Samut Sakhon in mid-December.

Of that total cases, 10,662 patients have recovered and been released from hospitals while 2,950 others are currently hospitalized, Apisamai said. Enditem
Cyprus plans to reopen its airports to visitors from all countries on March 1, Deputy Tourism Minister of Cyprus Savvas Perdios has said.

This means that passengers will be able to visit Cyprus without quarantine restrictions, unless they test positive for COVID-19 on arrival, Perdios told CyBC state television, Ekathimerini reported.

According to him, 56 countries with which Cyprus has an air connection will be divided into categories according to their coronavirus pandemic situation. Passengers arriving from green category countries will not have to take a COVID-19 test, while those flying in from orange category countries will be obliged to present a negative test certificate before boarding a plane. Passengers arriving from red category countries will have to be tested both before boarding and after arrival.

Perdios said he did not expect any tourists to arrive in the country before March 1 and preferred not to cite an estimate for tourist arrivals this year, saying only that currently all countries are facing a second or third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cyprus' air connections are currently restricted to only a few countries, mainly Greece, Britain, Russia, Lebanon, Egypt and Gulf states.
Louisiana and other U.S. states are in the midst of the major logistical challenge of getting residents vaccinated against the coronavirus.

But patient worries about vaccine safety have the potential to slow the rollout of these lifesaving doses. With cases rising, public health experts are seeking to allay fears, particularly among Black residents and other races and ethnicities with long-standing concerns about how they are treated by the healthcare system.

To further that goal, The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate will host an online panel discussion with medical experts focused on the vaccines and their importance in eventually ending the pandemic.

Sponsored by LCMC Health and hosted by health reporter Emily Woodruff, the panel will take place at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, and will be streamed on NOLA.com, as well as the newspaper's YouTube and Facebook channels.

Submit your question in the form below. Can't view the form? Click here.
According to the latest research the global food supply chain system is responsible for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions; a third of all food is lost or wasted somewhere in the supply chain; fossil fuel-based materials need to be phased out; and significant improvements are needed to the way packaging is dealt with after use.

Laurence Mott, Executive VP for Development and Engineering at Tetra Pak, says: "We are joining forces with our strategic partners and paperboard producers to find solutions. It's possible to make a completely sustainable package, but you have to make it safe. And if you can't make it at scale, you can't minimise food waste, and you can't serve a growing global population. In order to bring those three things together, it takes very strong collaboration."

Mott says that the scale of the environmental challenges the world faces requires that actors within the value chain join forces to develop truly sustainable packaging solutions.

Leading paperboard producers are united in their approach to tackle carbon emissions and have an ambition to create a net-zero carbon future.

Hannu Kasurinen, Executive Vice President Packaging at Stora Enso, a leading global provider of renewable solutions, says: "We trust, we share, we learn together. Our best innovators collaborate, and we move forward and we innovate. Sometimes we fail, but then we learn from those failures. We have grown much closer to each other, because we have the same strategic objectives  which are good for the people and the planet."

Francisco Razzolini, Industrial Technology, Innovation, Sustainability and Projects Director at Klabin, Brazil's largest paper producer, says: "We are seeing new demands from society and from consumers to make products and processes that are more sustainable. Meeting these demands requires a lot of collaboration between our companies. By sharing experiences, thoughts, ideas and developments, we can speed up the innovation process."

Malin Ljung Eiborn, Head of Sustainability and Public Affairs at BillerudKorsnas, a world leading provider of fibre-based packaging material, says: "The vision is 100% fibre-based and fully recyclable packaging, where plastic and aluminium are not needed anymore. We still have, of course, some steps to go before we are there from a technical perspective. But we work as one project team on this because the only way that we can solve them is to do this together."

The challenges the industry faces include removing the thin layers of plastic and aluminium replacing them with plant or wood fibre-based materials, developing a renewable alternative to the plastic straw, and improving the recyclability of packages. When responsibly sourced, plant-based renewable materials can support towards protecting biodiversity and the natural ecosystem. This means the industry can minimise the need for fossil-based materials.

And it is these and other challenges on which Tetra Pak and its partners are teaming up within the new collaborative innovation model. Tetra Pak's aim is to create the world's most sustainable package  one that secures food safety and availability while reducing the impact on the planet.

Doodle illustrations

Tetra Pak Innovation journey

Innovating for sustainability

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO9iwd1Fr2c

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLb514KO8Rs

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424926/Tetra_Pak.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424927/Tetra_Pak.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424928/Tetra_Pak_Laurence_Mott.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424930/Tetra_Pak.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424931/Tetra_Pak_Lund.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1424920/Tetra_Pak_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Tetra Pak
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

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Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Chair of The ECOWAS Authority, has amplified the call for increased solidarity and cooperation between states in the region to fight and alleviate the human and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.



He said West Africa cannot risk being overwhelmed by the second wave of the COVID-19 disease sweeping the region, as this would heighten the unprecedented economic and social difficulties wrought by the initial outbreak.



Addressing the 58th Ordinary Session of The ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State And Government on Saturday in a virtual summit, President Akufo-Addo noted that the repercussions of the pandemic, which is being felt in every sector, called for a common response by the economic bloc.



He said the onset of the second wave of COVID-19 and the outbreak of a new variant in most parts of the world, was a point for the Region to coordinate more its responses and approach to the common challenge that could "worsen the exogenous shocks affecting our region."



The ECOWAS Chair told the meeting that though the region had showed considerable hardiness from the outbreak of the pandemic last year, the lessons of the period should not be lost. It should offer the bloc the chance to build a more resilient economic region.



"Far from viewing this situation as a disaster before which we are powerless, we must embrace fully the lessons it teaches us, as well as the direction it is pointing us.



"In particular, we must remember that it has given us a good sense of how important it is for us to strengthen our unity and solidarity. It has provided us with the avenue to be self-reliant, and it is a clarion call for us to remain faithful to the main objective of ECOWAS, which is to promote cooperation and integration for the well-being of our citizens," he stressed.



President Akufo-Addo extended appreciation to the Nigerian Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, for championing fight against COVID-19 in the region, by providing medicines, medical equipment, and deploying human resources to sister Ecowas countries.



He also commended the region's foreign partners for thier support, which ensured that the ECOWAS Commission and the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) were able to broaden their scope of support to Member States as a complement to their efforts.



With vaccines soon to be available, the ECOWAS Chair said, "The time has now come for us to work earnestly towards the vaccination of our populations."



"We need to send a strong signal to them, from this Summit, of our determination to protect them, " he said.





Source: GNA









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The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department held at the end of December that Uber drivers can be considered employees eligible for benefits such as unemployment insurance.

The finding upheld two previous April 2019 decisions by the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board stating that Uber qualifies as its drivers employer and is liable for unemployment insurance contributions.

Uber Technologies Inc operates a smartphone app that connects customers with available drivers to pick them up and transport them to their destination. Drivers are typically considered independent contractors, and as a result, lack the same protections granted to regular employees under U.S. labor law, such as health and unemployment insurance and workers compensation.

In this case, claimant Colin Lowry served as a driver for Uber in its upstate New York market when he applied for unemployment insurance benefits after he stopped participating on the platform.

The New York Department of Labor initially found that Lowry was an employee of Uber, making Uber liable for his unemployment insurance claim. Uber objected to the finding, but following a hearing, an administrative law judge upheld the determinations. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board affirmed, and Uber again appealed.

The New York Supreme Court in its December ruling found evidence to support the findings that Uber exercised enough control over its drivers to establish an employment relationship with them. This is because Uber controls drivers access to their customers, calculates and collects fares and sets drivers rate of compensation.

Although drivers are given freedom to choose the route they take to transport customers, Uber provides a navigation system, tracks the drivers location on the app throughout the trip and reserves the right to adjust the fare if the drivers take an inefficient route.

Uber also controls the vehicle used, precludes certain driver behavior and uses its rating system to encourage and promote drivers to conduct themselves in a way that establishes a positive experience for customers.

With this in mind, the New York Supreme Court affirmed the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Boards findings that Uber has an employment relationship with its drivers, making it liable for unemployment insurance contributions.

In its ruling, the court specified that while Uber also operates a separate New York City market, the December decision is limited to drivers in the upstate New York market where Lowry served as an Uber driver.

Calls for Gig Worker Classification from Coast to Coast

This isnt the first time a ruling like this has come out of New York.

In March of last year, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that drivers for the online food delivery service Postmates Inc. are employees who are eligible for state unemployment insurance, Insurance Journal reported.

The decision was born of similar circumstances to Lowrys case, reaching New York states top court as Postmates sought to overturn the states Unemployment Insurance Appeal Boards decision in favor of the driver, Luis Vega, who filed for unemployment benefits after he was terminated in 2015. Postmates initially won on appeal in state court in 2018 but lost in the New York State Court of Appeals.

Calls for app-based ridehailing and delivery service workers to be considered employees eligible for things like unemployment insurance and workers compensation arent just limited to New York, either.

On the opposite coast, in California, drivers for app-based ride-hailing and delivery services filed a lawsuit just this month to overturn a California ballot initiative that makes them independent contractors instead of employees eligible for benefits and job protections.

The lawsuit filed with the California Supreme Court said Proposition 22 is unconstitutional because it limits the power of the Legislature to grant workers the right to organize and excludes drivers from being eligible for workers compensation, the Associated Press reported.

The measure passed in November with 58% support, serving as the most expensive in state history as Uber, Lyft and other services poured $200 million in support of it. Labor unions joined drivers in the lawsuit, spending about $20 million to challenge it, according to the Associated Press.

Topics New York Personal Auto Sharing Economy Ridesharing Uber


WASHINGTON - The Justice Departments inspector general is launching an investigation to examine whether any former or current department officials engaged in an improper attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Former President Donald Trump waves to the members of the media on arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON - The Justice Departments inspector general is launching an investigation to examine whether any former or current department officials "engaged in an improper attempt" to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Monday that the investigation will investigate allegations concerning the conduct of former and current Justice Department officials but will not extend to other government officials.

The Justice Department watchdog investigation follows a report in The New York Times that a former assistant attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, had been discussing a plan with then-President Donald Trump to oust the acting attorney general and try to challenge the results of the 2020 race by falsely saying there had been widespread election fraud.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded the inspector general launch a probe "into this attempted sedition." The New York Democrat said it was "unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the peoples will."

The watchdog's probe is part of a growing number of efforts underway to investigate the attempts by Trump and his allies to subvert the election results. The moves culminated in a deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and a second impeachment of Trump, this time for inciting an insurrection. Also on Monday, the voting machine company Dominion Systems filed a defamation suit against Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani for his repeatedly false claims about widespread voting fraud in the election.

Election officials across the country, along with Trump's former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed there was no widespread fraud in the election. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Greenhouse strawberries planted in Hongyan Community, Songtao Miao Autonomous County, Tongren City, southwest China's Guizhou Province enter harvest season. Villagers make live broadcast in national costumes to promote sales and attract tourists. (Long Yuan Bin/Guangming Picture)

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[ Editor: WXY ]
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A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
OTTAWA - The seats were nearly empty Monday as the House of Commons returned in hybrid form, but the opposition was full of fighting spirit over the Liberal government's handling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in the in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA - The seats were nearly empty Monday as the House of Commons returned in hybrid form, but the opposition was full of fighting spirit over the Liberal government's handling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

A new sitting convened after an extended winter break for MPs, though many remained in their ridings Monday after reaching an agreement to resume sitting in a format that allows them to either log in virtually or attend in person.

While a smattering of Conservatives, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois MPs took up their seats, Liberal cabinet ministers  including the prime minister  appeared from their homes or offices to fend off criticisms from their rivals about their COVID-19 response.

The fury emanating from the Opposition was such that Speaker Anthony Rota was forced to remind them several times to watch their language, even as he also had to remind MPs to unmute their devices.The sitting began as the country continues to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic: over 19,000 people are dead, there are new outbreaks of a highly contagious variant ripping through long-term care homes, curfews, stay-at-home orders and a vaccine rollout that started with promise now being compromised by manufacturing delays.

The Liberals insist their goal of getting a shot in the arm of every Canadian who wants one by September remains feasible even as Canada was set to receive no doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week, and sharply curtailed deliveries next week.

Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel Garner challenged the math, noting the time in between the required two doses of vaccine means September seems impossible.

"This means that Canada, on average, needs to be administering roughly two million doses per week to meet this goal. This week's total is zero," she said.

"How the hell did this happen, and what are the Liberals doing to fix it?"Though she was rapped on the knuckles by Rota for her language, Rempel Garner continued her pressure unabated, a theme picked up by MPs from all opposition parties as they castigated the government for appearing to fail Canadians.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen as he speaks via video conference during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Procurement Minister Anita Anand insisted again and again that was not the case.

The delays  due to Pfizer needing to retool a factory in Belgium  won't compromise the ultimate goal, she said.

Claims from Ontario that it has run out of vaccines are untrue, she said, as there are thousands of doses yet to be used.

Anand invoked the fact her own 90-year-old father is waiting for his vaccine as proof she understands the pressure to get the rollout right.

"We are on track to have vaccines for all Canadians before the end of September because we will stop at nothing to ensure that all Canadians have access to a vaccine this year," she said.

The political scandal that broke last week  the resignation of Julie Payette as governor general ahead of a damning report into working conditions at Rideau Hall  barely made the cut in question period.

Ahead of time, opposition leaders had demanded the prime minister provide more transparency around the terms of her departure.

Both Conservative and NDP leaders said given the circumstances around her departure, Payette should not receive the customary lifetime salary afforded to outgoing governor generals, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ought to disclose whether he offered one.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the scandal created by Payette's departure was one of the Liberals' own making and also serves as a distraction from the goal at hand: managing through the pandemic.

But even as he pushed on the vaccine rollout, Singh also sought  and won  a symbolic victory on another subject: all-party consent on a motion condemning white supremacy and asking for the group Proud Boys to be listed as a terrorist entity.

The group has ties to Canada and was involved in the deadly riots in the U.S. earlier this month.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole was also successful in his efforts to get emergency debates on vaccines, and also on the implications of a decision by the new U.S. president to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, which will kill thousands of jobs in Tory-held ridings in the prairies.

Such a show of unity was not in place for efforts by the Liberals to fast-track their first piece of legislation for the sitting, a bill that would close a loophole allowing anyone forced into quarantine for COVID-19 to access government benefits.

The bill, which was in response to people returning from vacations abroad accessing the benefit, will now move through the legislative process.

The key piece of legislation up ahead for the government, however, is the next federal budget, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday is one of the most significant of a generation.

It could also send Canadians to the polls, as any vote on its contents will be a confidence motion.

The NDP and Conservatives suggested the Liberals are too focused on pre-positioning for an election than on pandemic response, a charge Trudeau denied Monday.

"Our focus is on delivering for Canadians and supporting Canadians through the tragedies and the incredible heroics we're seeing on display right across the country from our front-line workers," he said.

"There are far too many tragedies but we know that Canadians are continuing to be there for each other and this government will continue to be there for them."This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.

A safety director at a Kentucky coal mine has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of rigging dust monitoring in underground mines.

Steve DeMoss pleaded guilty earlier this month in federal court in Owensboro. He was one of nine former supervisors and safety officers at the now-bankrupt Armstrong Coal company in western Kentucky charged with tampering with dust monitoring. The miners were charged in 2018 and 2019.

Dust levels in underground coal mines are regulated to keep miners from working in conditions that can contribute to black lung disease. DeMoss Jan. 12 plea agreement said he ordered workers to remove dust sampling equipment before full readings could be taken and he signed incomplete dust sample reports.

DeMoss faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine at his sentencing.

An indictment says the offenses happened at Armstrongs Parkway and Kronos mines between 2013 and 2015. DeMoss was safety director at both mines. The case originated when a group of miners who were fed up with the dust conditions at the mines hired an attorney in 2014.

Two other men charged in the original indictment, Ron Ivy and Billy Hearld, have pleaded guilty to similar charges.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Kentucky Mining
Since early December, California has topped the list of the states with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Now, a report by The Los Angeles Times reveals that California scientists have discovered a homegrown coronavirus strain that appears to be propagating faster than any other variant on the loose in that state.

The discovery of the new strain was stumbled upon by two independent research groups who were looking for signs that a highly transmissible variant from the U.K. had established itself in California, the report said.

However, in late December and early January, what they found, as they examined genetic sequencing data, was a new branch of the virus family tree - one whose sudden rise and distinctive mutations have made it a prime suspect in the states brutal holiday surge, the report revealed.

Though focused on different regions of the state, according to the report, what the two teams saw leap off their spreadsheets, was evidence of the new strains prolific spread - and trends that were both remarkably similar and deeply worrying.

Despite the fact that the strain had been barely detectable in early October, the report said that researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found in the last weeks of 2020, it accounted for 24% of roughly 4,500 viral samples gathered throughout California.

The report said a separate analysis of 332 virus samples, taken mostly from Northern California during late November and December, revealed 25% were of the same type.

The Los Angeles Times cited Dr. Charles Chiu, a laboratory medicine specialist at UC San Francisco who examined the samples from the northern part of the state with collaborators from the California Department of Public Health, who said: There was a homegrown variant under our noses.

Had they not been on the hunt for the U.K. strain and other viral variants, Dr. Chiu said, we could have missed this at every level.

What does the new strain look like?

Scientists have dubbed the new strain, B.1.426, the report noted. It bears five mutations in its genetic code - one of them, known as L452R, alters the virus spike protein, the tool it uses to infiltrate human cells and turn them into virus-making factories.

The report noted that even a small improvement in this ability, over multiple generations, allows a virus to spread more easily through a population, resulting in increased infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

When was the strain first spotted?

According to the report, a single instance of B.1.426 was spotted in California back in July - detected through spotty surveillance efforts that use genetic sequencing to track changes in the virus, and as far as scientists can tell, it lay low for the next three months.

Then things began to happen.

The Los Angeles Times cited Dr. Eric Vail, a pathologist who usually sequences genes in search of cancer drivers, who stated: We said, Wow! Theres something different, something we didnt expect to find, He added, All of a sudden, your brain starts going a mile a minute.

What precipitated Dr. Vails reaction? The team at Cedars-Sinai, at 11 p.m. on New Years Eve, uploaded to their genetic sequencer, 192 viral samples collected from patients at the medical center between Nov. 22 and Dec. 28.

Data from that upload began to appear over the first weekend of the new year - the strains sudden prominence elicited both wonder and sorrow, the report said, turning thoughts quickly to the states devastating recent COVID-19 surge, which killed more than 18,000 Californians, and doubling the states total death toll in the space of less than three months.

Had the culprit been found?

Preliminary evidence seemed strong - health officials working to contain the outbreak had hypothesized that they were up against a new coronavirus strain with enhanced transmission capabilities, the report said. However, there were additional suspects to be considered: chilly weather, restaurant dining, holiday gatherings and a growing disregard for public health measures.

How will researchers clarify B.1.426s role in the surge?

The report said that investigators will need to determine just how much devastation it is capable of producing by focusing on its transmissibility as well as its ability to circumvent the tools - including masks, drugs and vaccines - that can be used to bring the pandemic under control.

The Los Angeles Times reported that for now, both sets of researchers doubt they have found a lone actor. But they may have caught an accomplice.

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ALBANY  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to convene a commission to study the crucial but oft-criticized role that mental health officials have in New Yorks Family Court system.

The planned blue-ribbon commission, announced in Cuomos budget briefing book released last week, will examine the role of the forensic evaluators, whose recommendations often determine which parent prevails in a child custody or visitation dispute.

There are few limits on who may act as a forensic evaluator or how the evaluations should be done, Cuomo's proposal states. Moreover, families of color are often harmed by racial and poverty biases in the child welfare system."

The governor's plan is for the commission to be composed of judges, court personnel, forensic evaluators, attorneys who represent parties in custody matters, attorneys who represent children, survivors of gender-based violence, domestic violence advocates, and others with knowledge and experience on the topic.

When parents are unable to reach a settlement in a custody dispute, and a trial appears inevitable, Family Court judges often appoint forensic evaluators. Evaluators then interview parents, children and other stakeholders and issue written reports, which often include recommendations about whether one or both parents should gain custody or visitation rights. Family Court judges often rely heavily on the evaluators recommendations in making their rulings at trial.

But as the Times Union reported last May, there are no state-issued criteria for writing forensic evaluation reports beyond considering a child's "best psychological interests and well-being."

In 2011, Dr. Daniel Saunders of the University of Michigan School of Social Work issued a much-cited study finding that evaluators estimated up to a third of child abuse allegations were false  when research showed false allegations in divorce cases at vastly lower rates.

In downstate New York courts, forensic evaluators are required to be a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. The courts maintain a list of those deemed qualified and require six hours of training. In the rest of the state, there is no public list and no required training. Critics of the system say that few evaluators in New York are trained to recognize the behaviors that stem from trauma, abuse and addiction.

There are also no enforceable standards by which evaluators must conduct interviews examining accusations, including any standard concerning whether an evaluator can interview a child with an allegedly abusive parent present.

The evaluators work producing the reports is expensive, at times costing parents ten-of-thousands of dollars. And the work is secretive: Because of a state law imposing strict confidentiality, litigants often cannot see copies of the reports produced for their own cases.

In recent years, the charge to reform evaluations has been led by Jacqueline Franchetti, a Long Island woman whose 2-year-old daughter Kyra was murdered in 2016 by her ex-boyfriend, who then committed suicide.

Before Kyras murder, a forensic evaluator recommended that the parents receive joint custody, despite Franchettis warnings that her ex-boyfriend was suicidal and stalking her. Franchetti has since successfully pressed several state legislators to introduce legislation reforming the process. She told the Times Union that she also welcomed Cuomos move to create the commission.

I am so thankful that Gov. Cuomo is focusing on forensic evaluators, Franchetti said via email. Now, both the legislative and executive branches recognize the dire need for changes in how forensic evaluators function in child custody cases. There is no accountability, no standards, no training requirements, and no transparency with forensic custody evaluators  its the wild wild west. And childrens lives  just like Kyra's  are in jeopardy each time.

Franchetti said she was excited that Cuomo is including "survivors of gender-based violence on the commission.

Its critical our voices are not only heard, but that stories  like Kyras  are taken into account and lead the way for reform of a completely dysfunctional court system, Franchetti said.

Queens Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi has been working on sweeping legislation, to be called Kyras Law, aimed at bolstering child safety in the Family Court system. Separately, Hevesi introduced a bill last year to eliminate forensic evaluations from the system altogether.

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz reintroduced a bill this month that would create greater standards and training requirements for forensic evaluators. And Brooklyn Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein has a longstanding bill, which in 2019 passed in the Assembly but not the Senate, making the evaluations less secretive.

All the Assembly Democrats bills have faced opposition from the New York State Psychological Association, a trade group that represents the interests of psychologists that often serve as forensic evaluators.
America is experiencing a cash box boom, with exchanges in Britain, Europe and Singapore eager to cash in on the phenomenon. Australia, meanwhile, sits on the sidelines with no plans to join the new financial gold rush.

In the US there is a boom - some say bubble - in SPACs, or special purpose acquisition vehicles, listed shell companies probably more familiar to Australia investors as the cash box companies last seen  before the ASX and Australian Securities and Investments Commission effectively prohibited them  during the sharemarket boom that burst in October 1987.

SPACs, or what are known as cash boxes, are experiencing a boom in the US. Credit:AP

In the US they have become extraordinarily popular, with about 250 SPACs listed last year, raising more than $US80 billion ($104 billion). In the December quarter alone there were more than 40 SPAC listings, raising $US3.6 billion, which for the first time was more than was raised via traditional initial public offerings, or IPOs.

There are a number of reasons for the boom in SPACs (also known as blank cheque companies), not the least of which is that the pandemic and the volatility it generated in financial markets made a traditional IPO, with the time, cost and disclosures required to bring a company to market, more problematic.
A crane lowers bags of rice into a cargo ship. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has released a list of 205 local traders nationwide who were certified as eligible for rice exports as of January 18  PHOTO: VNA

According to the list, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho recorded the highest number of licensed rice exporters at 43. HCMC ranked second with 38 eligible rice exporters, followed by the provinces of Long An, An Giang, Dong Thap, Tien Giang and Hanoi City at 25, 20, 18, 8 and 8, respectively.

Besides, some other localities saw only one licensed rice exporter, such as Dak Nong, Tra Vinh, Tay Ninh, Binh Dinh, Binh Duong and Ha Tinh.

Data from the ministry showed that the countrys rice exports last year faced a number of difficulties mainly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the Government and the ministry had adopted multiple measures to concurrently fight the deadly disease, ensure national food security and remove obstacles facing rice export activities, aimed at helping local farmers consume rice at the most reasonable volumes and prices.

As a result, national food security was ensured last year, even when the coronavirus outbreak hit the country and foreign countries significantly increased purchases of Vietnamese rice.

The country in 2020 exported 6.15 million tons of rice worth some US$3.07 billion, dipping around 3.5% in volume due to food security purposes but up 9.3% in value against the 2019 figures. Also, the export price of Vietnamese rice reached US$499 per ton, rising 13.3% compared to that of 2019. This is the highest price of rice for export in recent years, which has brought about benefits to local rice farmers.

The country is switching to exporting more fragrant and high-quality rice at a higher price and added value. Furthermore, local rice farmers and traders have paid much attention to improving the quality of rice, origin traceability as well as adopted measures to meet the requirements of demanding markets such as the European Union, South Korea and the United States. SGT




A Seoul court has allowed the import of life-size dolls, saying such sex toys for personal use do not corrupt public morals.







According to the Seoul Administrative Court on Monday, it has recently overturned a decision by Gimpo International Airport's customs office to block the import of a mannequin.







In January 2020, a local company tried to import one sex doll from China through the airport in Gimpo, western Seoul. But the gateway's customs authorities put the entry on hold, saying that the material would harm public morals.







It took legal action against the decision as its petition to the Korea Customs Service has been shelved.







"We don't see this item as explicitly depicting body parts or sexual conduct that it gravely damages or distorts human dignity," the administrative court said in its ruling. "It is not an example of materials that corrupt public morals."







It said sex toys are used in a personal area and the state should not interfere with one's private life to protect dignity and freedom.







In June 2019, the Supreme Court also ruled in favor of a sex doll importer in a separate clearance deferral case.







The ruling had sparked a heated debate on whether sex dolls should be treated as a type of ordinary sex toy. Between July and August of that year, over 200,000 people agreed with the petition on the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae's website, asking for an import ban on sex dolls. (Yonhap)


Egyptian Minister of Education Tareq Shawqi asserted on Monday that there is no intention to call off mid-year exams or hold them in May under any circumstances.

On his official Facebook page, Shawqi urged students to study well and benefit from all available learning resources in order to get prepared for the exams.

The minister denied all rumours in this regard, affirming that the ministry will reveal all details about mid-year exams and the second term on 14 February.

First-term exams in schools and universities in Egypt were pushed back until after the end of the mid-year break, a decision that aimed to contain the rising infection rates caused by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the country in December.

The mid-year break started in 16 January and will last until 20 February.

In late December, the Egyptian government ordered remaining classes in the first semester of the current academic to take place only through an online system.

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Francis Chan discovers link between birth mother, move to Hong Kong: 'It's confirmation of Gods goodness'

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Francis Chan shared a personal story about his new neighborhood in Hong Kong and a connection his late missionary mother had to it  an unlikely event he said highlights Gods goodness and grace.

So I just have to tell you a story about Gods grace, Chan, the former teaching pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, said in a recent video. Were getting to move to Hong Kong last week, and Im here now. We were going to move into this neighborhood, Sham Shui Po, because a friend of mine was planting house churches here, another buddy of mine right down the street had set up an office for me where theyre caring for the poor.

[I kept asking] 'Lord, is this the place?' Im trying to figure out the will of God.

While packing for the big move, Chan said he came across a folder containing pictures of his birth mother. The pictures show his mother nearly 70 years ago as she was living in Hong Kong.

Now, my mom gave birth to me and died while she was giving birth to me in San Fransisco. But these pictures were of her in Hong Kong, and she was in the same neighborhood and she was a believer doing ministry right here 70 years ago, like its dated and shows the exact location," Chan explained.

She was doing ministry in this building right behind me, he said.

She walked this neighborhood and prayed to God, God, can I have an impact here? 70 years ago. I can see God going, OK, its not going to be the way you think. Youre going to go to San Fransisco, give birth to a son, and youre going to die in the process, and hes going to come back here.

When I saw that and I realized where it was, it was just confirmation of Gods goodness, the popular pastor said, adding he believes him finding the pictures was Gods grace telling him, youre on the right direction.

In November, Chan announced he would be moving his family to Asia sometime in February 2020.

Nine years ago, while we were in Hong Kong, Lisa and I both felt God was calling us to move there, Chan wrote in an online update, adding that they enjoyed their "dependence on God in unfamiliar, uncomfortable places."

Chan shared how he was in Myanmar traveling "from hut to hut with a translator, sharing the Gospel with people who had never heard about Jesus" and the more he did it, the more he realized he wanted to do this for "the remainder of my life."

"I have no idea how long I will stay in Hong Kong," Chan said. "We will just try to discern the Spirits leading daily."

During a sermon last month, the Crazy Love author revealed that he and a team of other Christians had witnessed the miraculous healing of several people in a rural village located in Myanmar, including two deaf children.

"I'm going, 'God, please, please hear,'" he recalled. "People started coming forward for healing."

"Every person I touched was healed," Chan said. "I have never experienced this in 52 years. I'm talking like a little boy and a little girl who were deaf. We laid hands, she starts crying and smiling. These are not Christians who have even heard about Jesus, and she's freaking out. We lay hands on her little brother, we lay hands on him, and he starts hearing for the first time."

Chan also admitted that the experience was out of his "comfort zone," but "man, it happened. It happened."

"I thought I had faith, but my faith was at another level," he noted. "And I think there are some things that contributed  some of it was just faith in His Word, that when Jesus says, 'I am in you and you are in Me,' to take that literally."

Chan explained that although he disagreed theologically with some of his team members, he believes God was "honored by this fight for unity, and I believe God was honored by this pursuit of the unreached, and obeying the Great Commission and we saw power."

"And I don't know that that means it will happen every time," he continued. "My theology says I don't think it will happen everywhere ... but best I understand Scripture, He wants me to believe in my unity with Him, this power that I have because He and I are one. He wants to believe that you and I can become perfectly one."
The two parliamentary opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright Armenia (LHK), called for such an inquiry in June as they accused the government of mishandling the coronavirus crisis.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians My Step bloc initially opposed the move. But it reluctantly agreed afterwards to the creation of an ad hoc parliamentary commission tasked with assessing the effectiveness of government efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The 12-member commission was formed earlier this month. Although the commission is headed by the LHKs Arkadi Khachatrian, eight of its members are affiliated with My Step.

Some of those members voiced skepticism about the probe during the first meeting of the panel held on Monday. They said it will not be possible to objectively assess the effectiveness of the Armenian authorities response to the pandemic as long as it has not been irreversibly contained by any country in the world.

We are being drawn into a process the effectiveness of which has not been evaluated in the world, said one of them, Artak Manukian. There is no [COVID-19] containment model that can be replicated.

Naira Zohrabian, a commission member representing the opposition BHK, dismissed these misgivings, saying that there are many unanswered questions regarding the governments fight against the deadly disease.

We dont know what the money from the [governments] COVID-19 fund has been spent on, said Zohrabian. We dont know why ambulances did not react to [calls for help,] why people were dying in their homes, why the former health minister drew up a list of privileged medical centers and only those centers received coronavirus-related government funding.

Khachatrian reiterated, for his part, that the commission should also look into the governments efforts to alleviate the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic and restrictions on civil liberties imposed during and after last springs nationwide lockdown.

Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic, with over 166,000 coronavirus cases officially confirmed in the country of about 3 million so far. The real number of cases is believed to be much higher.

The Armenian Ministry of Health says that more than 3,000 people have died from COVID-19. The figure does not include the deaths of 753 other Armenians infected with the virus. According to the ministry, they were primarily caused by other diseases.

Opposition politicians and other critics of the government say that many of these deaths were avoidable.

Pashinian insisted on January 19 that the government has done a good job dealing with the coronavirus crisis. He described the Ministry of Health as one of our most efficient agencies.
Russia is expecting newly-appointed UN Special Envoy for Libya Jan Kubis to visit Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Russia is expecting newly-appointed UN Special Envoy for Libya Jan Kubis to visit Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday.

"I talked to him on Friday. In principle, yes," Bogdanov told reporters, answering reporter's question on whether the visit was planned.

Bogdanov noted that the new UN emissary needed to contact the Libyan parties first, and then one of the first places that Kubis would visit was Moscow.

The minister added that the exact dates were not set yet, but the Russian side confirmed that it was ready to host him at any time and hold detailed consultations.

Kubis was appointed as the UN special envoy for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in the country earlier in January.

On Friday, Bogdanov and Kubis discussed development of the situation in and around Libya emphasizing the necessity of an early political settlement in the country.

Since January 18, representatives of the Libyan State Council and members of the ruling Libyan parliament in the east of the country held talks under the auspices of the UN Mission in Libya. On January 20, the sides reached an agreement to hold a referendum on the country's constitution.
The latest figures on Covid-19 infection rates in Louth are going in the right direction but what is needed now is maximum suppression, Sinn Feins Ruairi O Murchu has said.

The Dundalk TD was speaking after it was revealed that Louth now has an incidence rate of 1259 per 100,000 population as of January 23, while the average rate across the State stands at 840.

However, figures up to January 18 show that there was a 14-day incidence rate in Dundalk South of 2962.8, more than double the State average for the same period.

Louth had the third highest incidence of Covid-19 in the State as of last weekend.

Deputy O Murchu said: While it looks like we are going in the right direction, infection rates remain extraordinarily high in Louth, particularly in Dundalk South.

'It is very worrying that the British variant of Covid-19, which seems to be more transmissible and perhaps more deadly, is becoming more dominant here over the last couple of weeks.

It has been very difficult for families, businesses and everyone in the community during this third lockdown but I would urge everyone to continue to do their very best to help supress the virus by staying at home and avoiding contact with people as much as possible.

The Louth TD said he had been contacted by a number of sectors of the local health service seeking clarity about the vaccination programme.

He said there needs to be transparency and fairness with regard the vaccine rollout.

He also said the government and the EU need to be robust in negotiations with pharma companies, particularly AstraZenica, about difficulties with vaccine supply. He said: We cannot afford to mess up the vaccine roll-out programme.

And respect and fair payment needs to be at the forefront of the governments policy when it comes to student nurses, Deputy O Murchu told the Dail last week during Sinn Feins motion on student nurses pay.

He said: We request fair payment and respect for the people out there doing all the heavy lifting. The Government has the power to do this and it is straightforward.

We accept there are difficulties relating to vaccination but we want transparency, clarity and to ensure fairness in the process. Although 100 is not sufficient for the work done by student nurses, I request that the allowance be paid upfront. That request was made to me by student nurses at Dundalk Institute of Technology.

Deputy O Murchu said the Tanaiste had told him that the upfront payment could be looked at and he would follow up with him about it.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 23:50:47|Editor: huaxia

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SKOPJE, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- President of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, signed here on Monday a decree promulgating the law on the 2021 census of population, households and dwellings, Pendarovski's press office said in a statement.

"President Pendarovski expects that the census process will not be politicized, and that the data obtained will be to the benefit of the country's overall development, enabling the establishment of long-term strategies in key areas," the statement said.

The country's Parliament passed the law on the 2021 census last Thursday with 62 votes in favor, none against and no abstentions.

The census will be conducted between April 1 and April 21 this year. North Macedonia conducted its last census in 2002. Enditem
Gloucester County said people who received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine administered at the mega-site in Sewell are currently not able to book an appointment for a second dose.

And the clock is ticking.

The site at Rowan College of South Jersey has been administering the Pfizer vaccine since Jan. 8. The vaccine requires a second dose after 21 days. For those who received their shot on the day the site opened, the 21-day mark is Friday.

Over the weekend, Gloucester County posted an update on its website and sent emails to those who had received the vaccine, explaining that the county is using the states registration system, called the New Jersey Vaccination Scheduling System or NJVSS, for all appointments.

Gloucester County is unable to currently schedule second dose appointments for individuals visiting the site for their first dose because the NJVSS does not have those capabilities, the message said.

And at the governors daily briefing, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said the states website should be able to accept second dose appointments on Friday. She also called a suggestion that the state set up a separate phone line to schedule second doses a good recommendation.

She also said the Health Department sent an email to vaccine administrators to remind them that they should be scheduling second doses before a patient leaves after receiving the first dose.

Persichilli also said the Gloucester site was closed on Monday because it had run out of vaccines. She said she was unsure of how many appointments had to be canceled, but that the visits would be rescheduled. The mega-site is supposed to be operational again on Tuesday, she said.

Some people who received their doses early on said no one at the site was able to give them information about the second dose other than directing them to sign into the states registration system to make an appointment. Others said they received emails with a link to the site, but when they tried to book a time slot, either none were available or they said there was no way to indicate they were looking for the second dose.

Mary Milner, 80, said she got her first dose at the Gloucester site on Jan. 22. She said the site was well-run but no one had information about second doses.

It puts us in the position, come Feb. 12, if we have not gotten a new appointment, it puts us in the same highly vulnerable position we were before the first dose, and its essentially wasting the first dose, said Milner, who lives in Monmouth County and drove 90 minutes to get her vaccine.

The county said some people have received second dose emails from the state while others are still waiting.

Gloucester County is hopeful the state will update their capabilities and give us the option to schedule second dose appointments on-site in the near future, it said. Additionally, Gloucester County is working to create our own scheduling system so we can easily accommodate our guests for the second dosage.

State officials have repeatedly said vaccination sites are responsible for bringing people back for second doses and it encourages sites to make those appointments when the first dose is given. But officials havent said how people at the Gloucester site, which is run by the state, will be able to book this appointment.

Despite the uncertainty on making appointments, the county said it will be able to provide second doses.

The State releases vaccine appointments as vaccines are available, the countys statement said. We understand the frustration on wait times, but we urge everyone to be patient.

The timing is essential, said Stephanie Navarro Silvera, an epidemiologist and public health professor with Montclair State University.

She said the clinical studies done by Pfizer and Moderna show that the vaccines offer the highest rate of protection at 21 and 28 days after the first dose, respectively.

Unfortunately there isnt much science to support expanding the interval between doses, she said. Without more studies, including larger and more diverse sample sizes, it is difficult to say what impact expanding the interval between doses may have on vaccine efficacy.

Gloucester County didnt immediately respond to questions about when the states site, or its own site, might be able to handle second dose appointments.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
PHILADELPHIA  They couldnt beat him at the polls in November, but leaders of Pennsylvanias Democratic Party on Sunday called for Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, an outspoken Donald Trump supporter who represents Harrisburg, Hershey and York, to resign following news reports he urged Trump to use a lawyer from Philadelphia to try to overturn Joe Bidens election as president.

Scott Perry has disgraced South Central Pennsylvania, failed his country, and betrayed the trust of anyone who cares about our democracy. He is a stain on our Congress and must resign immediately, state Democratic Party chair Nancy Patton Mills said in a statement.

If Perry wont quit he should be removed from congressional committee assignments by House GOP minority leader Kevin McCarthy of California and denied state and national congressional funding, Patton Mills added.

There must be consequences for this conduct, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who hopes to run for governor, said in a post on social media. Shapiro also wrote that Perry should familiarize himself with a section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which bars people from Congress who engaged in insurrection or rebellion or aided rebels against the government.

Liberal Democratic Philadelphia state Reps. Malcom Kenyatta and Brian Sims also called on Perry to resign.

Perry has not issued a public response. Staff at his Washington and Pennsylvania offices, which are closed Sunday, did not immediately respond to phone and email inquiries.

Perry is popular among south-central Pennsylvania voters. He was reelected to his fifth two-year term in November by voters in Dauphin and parts of Cumberland and York Counties, winning 209,000 votes and beating former state auditor general Eugene DePasquale, a Democrat, who only garnered 183,000 votes for a mixed district Democrats had hoped to capture.

Trump had considered designating attorney Jeffrey Bossert Clark, a Northeast Philadelphia native, to mount a last-ditch legal challenge against Bidens election, the Washington Post and other news outlets reported last week.

Trump met with Clark at the urging of Perry, according to the New York Times, adding that Clark, unlike more senior lawyers working for the U.S. Department of Justice, believed election challengers might still make a successful legal case, despite the failures of court challenges by previous Trump lawyers.

The effort, which reportedly included a plan to replace acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark, was dropped after senior Justice Department officials who considered it futile to try to overturn the winner of a national election threatened to quit, according to news reports.

Democrats have attacked Perry for that extra effort to overturn the election, whose results were certified by the states and the Democrat-led majority in Congress.

Perry, since Bidens election, has condemned Democrats hasty rush to judgement in pushing a second impeachment of President Trump. The sham vote on Jan. 13, he said in a statement at that time, wouldnt be fit for the Inquisition or prairie justice  its an embarrassing and dangerous stunt that furthers our American divide, and I proudly voted against it.

Clark, a graduate of Father Judge High School and Harvard University, earned a masters from the University of Delaware before attending Georgetown Law Center and working at the prestigious corporate law firm Kirkland and Ellis. He had been responsible for environmental law policy in Trumps Justice Department. Trump had made simplifying and rolling back environmental rules that he said crippled industry a goal of his administration; he blamed excessive rules for destroying U.S. industrial jobs.

Perry was one of eight Pennsylvania Republican Congressmen who voted against certifying the states vote for Biden, citing their concern about voting problems, despite courts dismissal of similar claims. Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), who is not running for reelection, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), who represents electorally competitive Bucks County, voted with Democrats to confirm the totals.

Staff writer Jonathan Tamari contributed to this article.
Health officials in California are investigating whether a homegrown coronavirus strain could be partly to blame for the state's surge in infections.

According to the Los Angeles Times, scientists stumbled upon the new strain while looking for signs of the highly contagious variant that originated in the United Kingdom before making its way over to the US.

During that search, researchers found a new strain, dubbed B.1.426, which is thought to be responsible for the rapid rise in infections during the holiday season in California where more than 3.1 million cases have been reported and 36,790 people have died.

The new strain is also highly contagious and is propagating faster than any other variant in California.

'While the B.1.1.7 strain may play an important role in increased COVID rates in the UK and Europe, there are still no reports to account for the current spike of cases in Los Angeles and California as a whole that began in early November 2020,' researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center wrote in their findings.

Health officials in California are investigating whether a homegrown coronavirus strain, dubbed B.1.426, could be partly to blame for the state's surge in infections. The strain has five mutations including, CAL.20C (red bubble), which has been increasingly found in California

According to researchers, the CAL.20C strain was barely detectable in October, but by December it made up 24 per cent of 4,500 viral samples

The graphic depicts the rapid increase of infections between late November through December in California. The increase is being blamed on what researchers believe is a homegrown strain of the coronavirus

In California, more than 3.1 million cases have been reported and 36,790 people have died. More than 18,000 people died in the state in less than three months

'We report the existence of a novel strain CAL.20C that is currently increasing in numbers in Southern California,' they added.

The B.1.426 strain was initially discovered in July, but it wasn't seen again until three months later.

According to the research, the CAL.20C strain was barely detectable in October, but by December it made up 24 per cent of 4,500 viral samples.

In a separate study, researchers found that 25 per cent of viral samples from Northern California between late November and December were of the same type, according to the LA Times.

'There was a homegrown variant under our noses,' Dr Charles Chiu, a laboratory medicine specialist at UC San Francisco, told the newspaper.

Chiu said if they hadn't been searching for the UK strain, they 'could have missed this at every level'.

According to the Cedars-Sinai team, the B.1.426 strain has five mutations, including the L452R mutation, which alters the virus' spike protein. The spike protein is what the virus uses to infiltrate human cells.

The new strain is believed to be partly responsible for California nearly doubling its death toll in less than three months.

However, just how big of a role the new strain played in the surge is still unclear due to the presence of other factors including holiday gatherings and people disregarding CDC guidance.

In order to determine B.1.426s role in the surge, investigators are trying to figure out what it's capable of doing.

In a separate study, researchers found that 25 per cent of viral samples from Northern California between late November and December were of the same type. A doctor checks in on a patient with COVID-19 in Los Angeles

Researchers told the LA Times that they will focus on its transmissibility and its ability to circumvent masks, drugs and vaccines, which are being used as tools to stop the spread.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is stepping up its efforts to track coronavirus mutations to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines and treatments stay ahead of new variants of the disease until collective immunity is achieved, the CDC chief said on Sunday.

Dr Rochelle Walensky spoke about implications posed by the rapidly evolving virus during a Fox News Sunday interview as the

More than 25 million Americans have been infected with the virus and there have been more than 418,000 deaths just over a year after the first US case of COVID-19 was documented.

Walensky, who took over as CDC director last Wednesday, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in, also said the greatest immediate culprit for sluggish vaccine distribution is a supply crunch worsened by inventory confusion inherited from the Trump administration.

'The fact that we don't know today, five days into this administration, and weeks into planning, how much vaccine we have just gives you a sense of the challenges we've been left with,' she told Fox News Sunday.

Biden's transition team was largely excluded from the government's vaccine rollout deliberations for weeks after his election as then-President Donald Trump refused to concede defeat and allow the incoming administration access to information needed to prepare to govern.

There have been more than 25 million cases of the virus reported in the US since the pandemic began last year

Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, said in a separate interview on NBC's Meet the Press, that a plan for distributing the vaccine, particularly beyond nursing homes and hospitals, 'did not really exist when we came into the White House.'

Walensky said she was confident the government would soon resolve supply questions, and go on to dramatically expand vaccine production and distribution by late March.

Uncertainty over immediate supplies, however, will hinder efforts at the state and local levels to plan ahead for how many vaccination sites, personnel and appointments to set up in the meantime, exacerbating shortages in the short term, she said.

Vaccination has become ever more critical with the recent emergence of several coronavirus variants believed to be more transmissible, and in the case of one strain first detected in Britain, possibly more lethal.

'We are now scaling up both our surveillance of these and our study of these,' Walensky said, adding that the CDC was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and even the Pentagon.

The object, she said, is to monitor 'the impact of these variants on vaccines, as well as on our therapeutics,' as the virus continues to mutate while it spreads.

Until vaccines can provide 'herd' immunity in the population, mask-wearing and social distancing remain vital to 'decrease the amount of virus that is circulating, and therefore, decrease the amount of variants that are out there,' Walensky said.

Although British officials on Friday warned that the so-called UK variant of the coronavirus, already detected in at least 20 US states, was associated with a higher level of mortality, scientists have said existing vaccines still appeared to be effective against it.

They worry, however, that a more contagious South African variant may reduce the efficacy of current vaccines and shows resistance to three antibody therapeutics developed for treating COVID-19 patients.

Similarities between the South African variant and another identified in Brazil suggest the Brazilian variety may likewise resist antibody treatment.

'We're in a race against these variants,' said Vivek Murthy, nominated by Biden to become the next US surgeon general, on ABC's This Week program on Sunday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease specialist, said in late December he was optimistic the US could achieve enough collective immunity to COVID to regain 'some semblance of normality' by the fall of 2021.

But Murthy said getting to herd immunity before a new school year begins in September was 'an ambitious goal'.

Nevertheless, Murthy suggested the government may exceed Biden's objective of administering 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days of his presidency, telling ABC News, 'that's a floor; it's not a ceiling'.

Fauci, appearing separately on CBS News' Face the Nation, said the 100-million-shot goal encompasses people who may have received both injections of the two-dose vaccines and those who have only gotten the first jab.
(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 25 - President Sergio Mattarella on Monday demanded a response from Egypt over the torture and murder of Giulio Regeni on the fifth anniversary of the Italian student's disappearance in Cairo.

The Cambridge University research student's brutalized body was found a week later.

Rome prosecutors have requested that four members of Egypt's security services face trial in relation to the case.

"Among many difficulties, the work of the Rome prosecutors' department has led to the conclusion of investigations that have identified a picture of grave responsibility that will soon be subject to a trial for the consequent punishment for the guilty parties," wrote Mattarella in a statement.

"We expect a full and adequate response from the Egyptian authorities, which have been relentlessly called on in this regard by the Italian diplomatic services". (ANSA).


A printing company in Maryland saw the photo on Twitter the night of Jan. 6: an employee roaming the halls of the U.S. Capitol with a company badge around his neck. He was fired the next day.

Others are facing similar repercussions at work for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Some business owners are being trashed on social media and their establishments boycotted, while rank-and-file employees at other businesses have been fired.

The printing company, Navistar Direct Marketing, declined to name the worker but said it cant offer employment to people demonstrating dangerous conduct that endangers the health and safety of others.

Wired reported on Jan. 16 that more than 100 people have been arrested since Jan. 6, when loyalists to outgoing President Donald Trump disrupted lawmakers as they met to confirm the Electoral College results and President-elect Joe Bidens victory. People on social media have been trying to identify rioters photographed or filmed at the Capitol, pressuring companies that employ them to fire them.

At a data analytics firm in suburban Chicago, the employee in question was the top boss. Cogensia fired CEO Bradley Rukstales for his participation in the riot.

This decision was made because Rukstales actions were inconsistent with the core values of Cogensia, said newly named acting CEO Joel Schiltz in a statement. Cogensia condemns what occurred at the U.S. Capitol  and we intend to continue to embrace the values of integrity, diversity and transparency in our business operations, and expect all employees to embrace those values as well.

Rukstales, who was arrested for unlawful entry, told a local CBS news channel that he had entered the Capitol and apologized for his role in the events. Calls and emails to Rukstales werent returned.

A Cleveland school occupational therapist resigned from the district after her alleged involvement in the riot. A spokeswoman for a fire department near Orlando, Florida, said one of its firefighters was being investigated for his participation. Sanford Fire Department firefighter Andy Williams has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome, said spokeswoman Bianca Gillett.

Insurance Journal reported that the CEO of Texas-based personal lines insurance agency Goosehead Insurance fired an employee after seeing a video of him at the riot. According to a posting on Gooseheads Twitter account, Paul Davis, who was associate general counsel, was no longer with the firm on the day after the riot.

Reports on Twitter by Roger Sollenberger, a writer at Salon, indicated the firing happened after Davis posted a photo of himself on Instagram, claiming that he was tear gassed at the Capitol.

Insurance Journal confirmed the dismissal with a company vice president. A copy of an internal company email from CEO Mark Jones obtained by Insurance Journal confirms the firing was due to the former executives alleged participation in the violence at the Capitol.

While we support our employees right to vote and express themselves politically, we do not condone violent or illegal acts. This one former employees actions are not reflective of our company culture or values, and we are disappointed with his behavior, Jones said in the email.

Most private employers can fire workers for attending protests, since First Amendment rights only prohibit people from being punished by the government for their speech, not by a private employer, said Susan Kline, an Indianapolis-based labor and employment attorney at law firm Faegre Drinker.

There are some exceptions: Those who work for the government may be more legally protected, and so too are many unionized workers, who typically have a contract listing the reasons for which they could be fired. And some states may have laws that protect workers free speech.

But what people did at the Capitol  was rioting, not protesting, said Aaron Holt, a labor and employment attorney with law firm Cozen OConnor. When someone violates the law, thats almost never going to be protected, and a private employer is going to be within their rights to discipline or take some kind of action in response to that [which] might go against their fundamental core values.

Business Backlash

Small businesses are also facing backlash on online review sites such as Yelp, which flagged at least 20 businesses for unusual review activity related to the rioting at the Capitol.

One business, Beckys Flowers in Midland, Texas, is owned by Jenny Cudd, a former mayoral candidate who posted a video on Facebook bragging about breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office. By Jan. 8, Cudds flower shop was flooded with dozens of one-star reviews in which she was called a traitor and domestic terrorist, along with photos of her inside the Capitol.

Cudd later said in a video message to The Associated Press that she didnt personally go into Pelosis office or see people break down the door, and that when she said we, she meant all of the people who were at the Capitol. She said she didnt do anything violent or destroy any property.

I walked through an open door into the Capitol along with several hundred other people, Cudd said. She added that she had received several death threats along with thousands of one-star reviews from across the country of people who have never frequented my business.

Yelp has flagged businesses for unusual review activity following less egregious but still controversial events. Reviewers raged on the Yelp page of Virginia restaurant The Red Hen after it booted former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders from its establishment a few years ago. And commenters from the left and right bombarded Big Apple Pizzas Yelp page with political beliefs after former President Barack Obama was enthusiastically hugged by a customer there.

Social media has outed people for their involvement in activities outside of the workplace, landing them in trouble with their employers. In 2017 after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, many posted photos on social media of those who participated, leading in some cases to their firing.

In Louisiana, customers said they would boycott supermarket chain Rouses Market after retired owner Donald Rouse was shown in a photo at the Jan. 6 riot. Rouse said in an email that he attended the rally as a supporter of the president but left before the violence began.

Im horrified by the violence and destruction we saw yesterday and the pain it has caused so many, Rouse said. Our country desperately needs to come together to heal, and I will do everything I can to be a part of that process.

The Krewe of Red Beans, a group that organizes parades, posted on Instagram that it would return $20,000 in donations it received from the market.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hours ahead of mega tractor rally called by farmers protesting against three new farm laws, Delhi's iconic Signature bridge was on Monday closed by police after some tractors "forcefully" tried to enter the national capital from Loni border side and allegedly broke the barricades. A mild force was used by the police in order to control the disturbance caused.

Delhi Police has allowed farmers to carry out a tractor rally from only three of Delhi's border points i.e. Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

The police have made tight security arrangements and have deployed force at Shahdara in view of the huge response to the farmers' rally on January 26. Cemented blocks and cranes are also kept on standby. Only limited number of tractor have been allowed from each borders by police.

ALSO READ: Multiple Routes, No 'Anti-national' Posters, Onus on Farm Leaders: Delhi Police Plans for Tractor Rally on R-Day

The Delhi Police will be on high alert, especially as it has received inputs about possible efforts attempting to disturb peace during the rally.

The Delhi Traffic Police has also issued a traffic advisory for commuters that details blockades, diversions and alternative routes for them. "NH-9 and NH-24 will remain closed from 10 PM today at toll near Murga Mandi Ghazipur Border both side towards Ghaziabad due to Farmer's Protest at UP Gate Ghaziabad."

The Anand Vihar interstate bus terminus will also remain closed on Tuesday during the day as a precautionary measure.

The farmer leaders have provided the assurance that the rally will be conducted peacefully and will not impact the official Republic Day parade and events scheduled at Rajpath on January 26.

The tractor rally is scheduled to start after the conclusion of the Republic Day parade at Rajpath. It will likely begin at around 11 am and will pass through the Outer Ring Road of Delhi.

Out of the three rallies, the first one will start from the Singhu border and traverse through Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Bawana, Qutabgarh, Auchandi border and Kharkhoda toll plaza, along a 63-km stretch. The second rally will kick off from the Tikri border following a 62-km route passing through Nagloi, Najafgarh, Jharoda border and Rohtak bypass and Asoda toll plaza. The third will start from Ghazipur and pass through Apsara border, Hapur road and Lal Kuan, covering a distance of about 68-km.

ALSO READ: 3-Layer Security in Sec 38, Cops on Delhi-Jaipur E-way: Amid Farmers' Rally on R-Day, Gurugram on Alert

Haryana government has issued a travel advisory for citizens warning them against unnecessary travel towards Delhi from January 25 to 27. Vehicular movement on the national highway would be disrupted from Karnal and Rohtak towards Delhi.

The Mathura police on Monday claimed it has persuaded hundreds of tractor-borne farmers against proceeding to join tractor parade in Delhi on the Republic Day and made them return home. Mathura Superintendent of Police (Rural) Shirish Chandra said hundreds of Delhi-bound farmers from Mat, Baldeo, Bajna, Raya and Goverdhan areas of the district agreed to halt their tractor journey to the national capital and return home on long persuasion by the police.

As a precautionary measure, the police force had been deployed on the Yamuna Expressway and other routes leading to Delhi, he said. He said farmers' attempts to reach the Yamuna expressway were foiled without any untoward incident.

(with inputs from PTI)
A 14-year-old Ukrainian was attacked in the French capital's center on January 15.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a statement as regards an assault on a Ukrainian teenager in Paris, stressing that justice must be served to the attackers who must be thrown behind bars.

"This is something that doesn't let me go. An attack that shocks with its savagery, barbarity, and hate. On January 15, our Ukrainian boy, a teenager, was severely assaulted in Paris. Who did this? Judging by the video, they were also teenagers, perhaps a bit older. Ten on one. They wielded iron bars and cold arms. And they had a goal  to kill, maim, and cripple," the president wrote on Facebook, adding that the victim was returning from school along with his friends when their group was attacked.

The president noted the Ukrainian teen is in grave condition, having sustained multiple injuries, while doctors remain very careful in their predictions, but there is reason to hope that he will recover.

"To find and punish the attackers. This is not even a demand, it's a matter of civilizational principles. In any country, such an attack deserves a tough reaction on the part of government," he stressed.

According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian Embassy in France is in contact with local law enforcement.

Read alsoUkraine updates travel advisory on latest corona spread news"The Ukrainian government will do everything to ensure that Yuriy and his family receive the necessary assistance, and the investigation  the necessary incentives. There is already a harsh reaction from French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. The attackers must definitely end up in jail," he added.

Severe beating of Ukrainian teen in Paris: Background

According to the Ukrainian community in France, a 14-year-old Ukrainian teenager was brutally attacked by a street mob in Paris. He is in critical condition, undergoing treatment in intensive care. The boy has sustained multiple fractures to his skull and arms, ribs, as well as stab wounds and an eye injury.

The spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, Oleh Nikolenko, told UNIAN the Ukrainian embassy had appealed to the Paris prosecutor's office to probe the incident.

On January 22, Ambassador of Ukraine to France Vadym Omelchenko said positive dynamics had been observed in the teenager's rehabilitation, while his condition remained serious.

Reporting by UNIAN
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Olam Ghana, a leading supply chain manager of agri-products and one of Ghanas largest cocoa buying agencies has been certified as a Top Employer for 2021 by the Top Employers Institute for their commitment to upholding HR best practices in the country.



The Top Employers Institute certifies organisations dedicated to a better world of work by exhibiting this through excellent human resource policies and people-centered practices.



A global HR authority on certification of excellence in employee conditions, the Top Employers Institution for over 25 years has certified and recognised more than 1,600 organisations in 119 countries across five continents and positively impacted the lives of over 6.9 million employees globally.



The award was presented over a virtual ceremony and brought together a diverse pool of companies receiving their certification alongside Olam Ghana. Olam in Cote dIvoire, Nigeria, Netherlands, and South Africa were also recognised during this ceremony.



Based on an industry-leading research methodology, participating organisations are certified according to the results of their HR best practices. The survey covered six HR domains consisting of 20 topics including; People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being and Diversity & Inclusion, and more.



The CEO of Top Employers Institute, David Plink said: Despite the challenging year we have experienced (which has certainly made an impact on organisations around the globe), the certified institutions continued to demonstrate the power of putting their people first in the workplace. We are proud to share this years announcement and congratulate all the organisations who have been certified in their respective countries through the Top Employers Institute programme.



We are delighted that Olam Ghana has achieved certification as a Top Employer in Ghana and Africa and there is no doubt that it is the various policies, practices and our broad HR People Agenda which have culminated in this prestigious recognition, said Mr. Kenneth Antwi, Head of HR at Olam Ghana.



In our journey towards this proud achievement, I hasten to acknowledge the hard work and contribution of our senior leadership, led by the Country Head, Mr. Amit Agrawal, for his strong commitment to Olams people agenda and also the various leaders within our business portfolio, Mr. Antwi continued.



Established in 1994, the company over the years has earned meritorious recognition from the Association of Ghana Industry (GI) for Best Employerand was simultaneously named Best Company in the Agriculture and Agribusiness sector, the seventh (7th) overall best performing company in Ghana and also decorated as the best performing New Entrant at the 17thGhana Club 100 Awards organised by Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.



The Institutes certification helps accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work and through its Certification Programme, participating companies can be validated, certified and recognised as an employer of choice.









Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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More than 70 Texas organizations are calling for the resignations of Sen. Ted Cruz, Attorney General Ken Paxton and the 16 Texas representatives who voted on Jan. 6 against certifying election results that formalized President Joe Biden's win.

The grassroots coalition is led by civic engagement group Indivisible TX Lege and includes organizations determined to hold Texas' elected officials accountable for their role in inspiring and encouraging the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump. More than 850 individuals have also signed a letter in support of the effort to expel the Texas officials.

"They have made a mockery of democracy by embracing the fascist rhetoric of a far-right figurehead with a far-right movement behind him," the group's statement reads. "They have suppressed votes while lying about the nature of our election system, sullying our elections while opposing their legally legitimate losses. They have proven themselves entirely unfit for office. They must resign."

Paxton gave a speech at the "March to Save America" rally on Jan. 6 in D.C., telling the crowd that "we will not quit fighting." In December, Paxton filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn election results in four states, despite no evidence of voter fraud. Last week, the attorney general declined to sign a joint letter condemning the violent mob, saying he has already made his position clear.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Ted Cruz, Texas Republicans face backlash after mob storms Capitol

Seven Democratic senators are calling for an ethics investigation into Cruz, who raised objections to Arizona's electoral votes in the Senate chamber shortly before pro-Trump rioters stormed the building. The senator repeatedly touted falsehoods of election fraud leading up to the certification vote.

Many Houston-area groups are among the coalition, including Black Lives Matter Houston, CAIR Houston, Harris County Young Democrats, FIEL Houston, Say Her Name HTX and Sunrise Houston. Texas House Reps. Ron Reynolds and Vikki Goodwin also signed on as supporters of the call for resignations.

"They were perpetuating a fraud," Reynolds said. "They knew the electoral process was sound, it had already been vetted, it had already been validated, and they were simply attempting to overthrow the will of the American people."

Candice Matthews of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats said the situation goes "beyond politics."

"This is about the foundation of our democracy," she said. "If we sanction these traitors to go back to work and normalize this behavior, we will never get past what happened on Jan. 6."
Maryland

Maryland

Maryland

Mark Martin

Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities

the United States

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center

Maryland

Baltimore City Council

Nick Mosby

Maryland

Samantha Artiga

Anthony S. Fauci

University of Maryland, Baltimore

Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center

Morgan State University

Lois Privor-Dumm

Bob Atlas

Maryland Hospital Association

Maryland

Clarence Lam

Maryland

(TNS)  Ashealth officials scramble to meet growing demand for the coronavirus vaccine, a red flag is emerging: Minorities, whove been hit hardest by the disease, have received shots at disproportionately low rates.While observers caution its too early to draw conclusions about racial disparities in vaccine administration, the preliminary data has some health experts and lawmakers inconcerned that the vaccination campaign isnt effectively reaching the populations the virus has harmed most.The figures prompted them to demand more information and to emphasize the need for equity in the rollout, which has been criticized as slow and inaccessible to some populations.Only about 16% of the first doses of the vaccine administered infor which race data is available have gone to African Americans, and 4.6% have gone to Latino people. Those groups represent 31% and 11% of the population, respectively.Black residents have accounted for approximately 33% of Marylands coronavirus cases and 35% of deaths from the disease; Latino residents 19% of infections and 9% of fatalities. As of Sunday morning, the virus had infected 341,452 and claimed 6,690 casualties.White people, who account for about 40% of the states cases and 50.5% of deaths, have received 66% of the first shots administered for which race data was available. White residents make up about 58.5% of the population.When we see numbers that indicate disparity, theyre always concerning, said Dr., deputy director of the health departmentsMartin said public health officials must take a deeper dive into the data. He hypothesized that vaccine hesitancy in long mistreated communities of color, internet access issues and an under representation of minorities in health care may be contributing to the gap.He said the health department plans to address the disparity through a mass vaccination campaign, promoted by the likes of athletes and academics, pastors and politicians, community and neighborhood leaders. Furthermore, the department will host virtual town halls and call on the sound truck to drive through communities blaring a message about the importance of getting immunized.That the vaccine is being distributed at all marks a critical milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, with public health experts and medical professionals widely hailing the first two authorized products as safe to inject and capable of preventing people from contracting serious illness. It follows a nationwide surge in infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the disease caused by the virus, which threatens to sicken more people as a contagious new variant circulates inand elsewhere.But the rollout has gotten off to a slow start throughout the country, with officials citing a shortage of supplies and a lack of centralized planning by former President Donald Trumps administration that has stalled vaccinators from quickly getting shots into arms. No state has fully vaccinated more than 3% of its population as of Sunday, according to figures from theIn, the vaccination campaign has focused on front line health care workers, emergency responders and, more recently, residents 75 and older as well as teachers. On Monday, eligibility opens up to include residents 65 to 74 years old and other groups of essential workers.Presidentexpressed concerns about the racial disparity but said its impossible to know the extent of the issue without more detailed data.The Democrat, who early in the pandemic pushedofficials in his role as a state delegate to release race data about the coronavirus, suspects socioeconomic and technology gaps exposed by the pandemic contribute to minorities receiving fewer shots. But Mosby wants to know more about the recipients of the 280,769 first doses administered as of Friday morning. He wonders how many are health care workers and first responders, and when we take them out of the equation, how does the percentage look?I think that data will be more telling about the administration of this. And it could be worse, Mosby said. Thats why we have to press for data., vice president and director of the Kaiser Family Foundations Racial Equity and Health Policy Program, co-authored a report released Thursday that raised flags about early vaccination data. She cautioned that the data was reported inconsistently state-by-state  and the majority dont yet report race data about vaccines.Artigas analysis relied on figures from 16 states that reported vaccination race data to the federal government and found the share of vaccinations among Black people is smaller than their share of cases in all 16 reporting states and smaller than their share of deaths in 15 states. It also found that the portions of shots for Black and Hispanic people is smaller than their shares of the populations in those states.The early data highlight the importance of prioritizing equity as we continue vaccination efforts, Artiga said. Weve seen people of color have borne the brunt of the pandemic in terms of health outcomes and financial impact. It will be necessary to reach all communities, she said, if we want to achieve population level immunity.Various factors could be influencing the data, such as who has had access to injection sites. Internet access and computer proficiency have proven to be barriers, too. Research shows that people working in hospitals who have direct contact with patients are about 60% white and 40% people of color, about on par with the general population. At long-term care facilities, more workers are people of color, and one in four are Black, and some are low-income or non-citizens and may be more hesitant to take the vaccine, she said.Hesitancy is a widespread phenomenon that follows generations of abuse of people of color within the health care system and cant be cured with a quick fix, Dr., the nations top infectious disease expert, said during a virtual event Friday hosted by theA poll led by theandbacked up Faucis assertion. Conducted in late November and early December, the survey found some hesitancy among almost 40% of African Americans living in senior housing, a large number of whom (about 1 in 5) were just unsure about being immunized, said, the centers director of adult vaccines.Fauci used the panel discussion Friday, moderated by Black church leaders, educators and vaccine clinical trial volunteers, to appeal to clergy members and trusted community messengers to help spread awareness and faith in the vaccination campaign. He also recommended digging deeper at the source of the hesitancy and using trust in the facts as a way to combat fears.You can be an important part of the solution, Fauci said. People have great trust in their churches, and when the church takes the lead, its amazing how you can help turn around things., president and CEO of the, said hes not sure why the rollout has been uneven, but any disparities in health care are a top concern and hospitals are providing equal access to the vaccine.The figures could indicate that Black and Hispanic front line hospital workers have questions about the vaccine, Atlas said. As time goes on, and education continues, more health care workers are expressing comfort in getting the vaccine and we expect the numbers to grow.Meanwhile,Sen., the state Senates only physician, said early warning signs of inequities could be exacerbated if the state doesnt address them promptly. He saidshould make the immunization process as easy as possible for communities of color which lack access to the health care system.A lot of lower-income individuals that might be on Medicaid, and might not have a primary care provider, might not have interacted with a health system before, Lam said. I dont think theres been a real plan to reach them.
DALLAS - Jan. 25, 2021 - Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells are missing a surface protein that triggers an immune response, allowing them to hide from one of the body's key cancer defenses, a new study led by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The findings, reported online today in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, could lead to new treatments for SCLC, which has no effective therapies.

Despite decades of study, SCLC - a subset of lung cancer that makes up about 13 percent of lung cancer diagnoses - has a very poor prognosis, with only about 6 percent of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. For the past 30 years, this disease has been treated with a combination of chemotherapies. Although most SCLC tumors initially respond to treatment, the majority of patients relapse within a year.

These tumors tend to carry many genetic mutations - often a good predictor of a strong immunotherapy response. However, says Esra Akbay, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UTSW, immunotherapy drugs tend to not work well for SCLC patients, typically extending survival by just a few months.

"SCLC's inability to respond to immunotherapy made us think that there might be something about these tumors that allowed them to evolve to hide from the immune system," Akbay says. "We thought there might be defects in how these tumors communicate with immune cells that are supposed to recognize them as cancer."

To investigate this idea, Akbay and her colleagues looked at publicly available cancer datasets from patient tumors and data gathered from human tumor cell lines at UTSW to compare proteins on the surfaces of SCLC cells against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, which tend to respond better to immunotherapy. They quickly noticed that SCLC cells were missing the surface protein NKG2DL, which is known to interact with natural killer (NK) cells. NK cells make up a key part of the innate immune system, an evolutionary ancient part of the body's natural defense system that continually monitors for foreign invaders to launch an attack.

Data from mouse models of SCLC confirmed that the rodent version of NKG2DL was also missing from the surfaces of their cancer cells. When the researchers examined the animals' tumors, they found far fewer immune cells compared with those from mouse models of NSCLC. Additionally, the immune cells in the SCLC tumors weren't activated and therefore were unprepared to fight.

To better understand what role NKG2DL plays in SCLC immunity, Akbay and her colleagues genetically manipulated SCLC cell lines to force them to produce this protein on their surfaces. When they implanted these cells in mice, they grew smaller tumors and were less likely to spread. These tumors had a significantly higher population of immune cells than SCLC tumors that didn't express NKG2DL, and far more of the immune cells in tumors with NKG2DL were activated and ready to fight.

Akbay explains that some chemotherapy drugs can induce surface expression of NKG2DL; however, when she and her colleagues dosed SCLC cell lines with these medicines, they didn't prompt the cells to make this protein. Further investigation showed that the gene for NKG2DL wasn't mutated, suggesting that this protein was missing due to a problem with turning the gene on, rather than a faulty gene. Sure enough, further experiments showed that in SCLC cells, the gene responsible for making NKG2DL is hidden behind tightly coiled DNA, making it impossible for the cellular machinery that translates this gene into a protein to access it. When the researchers dosed animal models of SCLC with drugs called histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which loosen DNA coils, the SCLC cells began expressing NKG2DL on their surfaces, translating into significantly smaller tumors that had more activated immune cells.

Turning again to a public cancer dataset, the researchers saw that neuroblastoma - one of the most common childhood cancers - is also typically missing NKG2DL on its cell surfaces. When the researchers dosed neuroblastoma cell lines with HDAC inhibitors, they also began expressing surface NKG2DL.

Together, Akbay says, these findings could lead to new ways to more accurately predict a patient's prognosis and guide better treatment choices for SCLC, neuroblastoma, and potentially other cancers. Patients whose tumor cell surfaces lack NKG2DL may have a more aggressive disease that is unlikely to respond to immunotherapy drugs, she explains. But the hope is that treatment with HDAC inhibitors may spur patients' immune systems to fight these tumors, enhancing immunotherapy effectiveness.

"The more we know about how the immune system interacts with cancer," Akbay says, "the more we can take advantage of the body's inherent defense system to fight this disease."

###

Other UTSW scientists who contributed to this study includefirst author and cancer biology Ph.D. student Mingrui Zhu, along with Yi Huang, Matthew E. Bender, Luc Girard, Rahul Kollipara, Buse Eglenen-Polat, Trisha K. Savage, Kenneth E. Huffman, John D. Minna, and Jane E. Johnson.

Akbay is a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar in Cancer Research. This work was supported by a CPRIT Scholar Award RR160080, National Institutes of Health grants CA070907, CA213338, and CA213274, and The Welch Foundation grant 1975-20190330. Dr. Minna receives licensing fees for the cell lines described in the manuscript.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution's faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 23 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,500 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 105,000 hospitalized patients, nearly 370,000 emergency room cases, and oversee approximately 3 million outpatient visits a year.
First responders came to the rescue of a dog named Rocky last week after he fell through the ice on a Massachusetts pond and become stuck in the sand at the bottom of the body of water, authorities said.

Firefighters in Shrewsbury were sent to Flint Pond shortly after 9:20 a.m. Friday to respond to a report of a dog that had fallen through the ice, according to a statement from Captain Frank Ludovico of the towns fire department.

A firefighter in a rescue suit with a line attached first tried to help Rocky but was unable to because of the amount of sand and silt at the bottom of the pond, the statement said.

Two firefighters then used the departments hovercraft to get closer to the dog, according to the statement. One of the first responders was able to reach Rocky and bring him back to the vehicle.

Rocky was then safely reunited with his owner at the nearby boat ramp, according to authorities.

The owner did the right thing by calling us to rescue the dog rather than trying to rescue the dog themselves, Vuona said.

The fire captain warned that during the winter months, temperatures can fluctuate and cause ice to weaken. Its important that residents do not try to walk out on any ice, regardless of the depth of water, he noted.

Thank you to everyone involved with todays rescue and for their skilled, thoughtful work to safely reunite the dog and the owner, Vuona said. This incident showed how critically important the hovercraft is during the winter months when the ice is very thin.
Riley Williams, one of the Capitol rioters who is accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop, is facing a potential ban on internet access after allegedly attempting to destroy evidence.

Riley Williams, 22, is accused of taking part in the Capitol riot and stealing Nancy Pelosi's laptop

Williams, 22, was arrested a week ago in Central Pennsylvania, according to the Justice Department.

She was seen in a video on January 6 guiding some of the rioters to Nancy Pelosi's office, where she allegedly stole the House Speaker's laptop.

Federal prosecutors claimed Williams told her ex-boyfriend she would sell it to someone in Russia, who would then send it to the Foreign Intelligence Service in Russia.

Now, Scott MacFarlane of NBC 4 is reporting that her internet access is in danger of being restricted due to her actions since she was released on bail last week.

'NEW: US Justice Dept tells judge Riley Williams, woman accused of stealing computer from Nancy Pelosi's office, is suspected of using internet in recent days, encouraging people to destroy evidence in Capitol insurrection case. They want judge to prohibit internet access,' MacFarlane tweeted on Monday afternoon.

It's unclear what evidence Williams is allegedly trying to destroy or encouraging others to destroy.

Williams has been out on bail since Thursday and is confined to her mom's apartment

Williams, seen leaving the Dauphin County Prison on Thursday with attorney Bryan McQuillan, allegedly wanted to sell Pelosi's laptop to the Russians

But one reporter says her internet access could be in danger after she allegedly encouraged the deleting of evidence related to the insurrection at the Capitol

Williams was granted bail on Thursday and instructed to stay on the ground floor of her mother's apartment, outside of work, church, doctor, and court appointments.

Williams' lawyer has previously said that her ex-boyfriend was 'vengeful' and the accusations she would sell the laptop to Russia were phony.

She has since obtained a restraining order against Michael Prodanov, which accuses him of sharing nude photos and threatening to rape Williams.

'He has stalked and harassed her and she had to change her phone number at the suggestion of a police officer,' public defender Lori Ulrich said of Prodanov.

Williams poses with a rifle in a social media photo

She was seen in video at the riot allegedly directing people to the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Williams faces two felony and two misdemeanor charges and could potentially land in jail for more than 30 years with fines of more than $600,000 if she is convicted of the charges stemming from the riot.

In videos from the melee, Williams can be seen wearing a large brown coat over a green t-shirt that features an alt-right message.

She also had a zebra print bag slung over her shoulders as she seemingly directed rioters to Pelosi's office.

The laptop was stolen and Williams allegedly planned on getting it to the Russian government

Williams was scheduled to have her first appearance in federal court on Monday afternoon.

PennLive reports that the defense attorney asked to have the appearance delayed to Tuesday, which was granted.

The insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 occurred as Congress was working on counting the Electoral College ballots and certifying Joe Biden's presidential victory.

Five people died in connection with the riot, including one Capitol police officer.

Dozens of arrests have been made, with the FBI continually putting out posters in hopes of making hundreds of more arrests.

The insurrection also resulted in the historic second impeachment of Trump, who is accused of inciting and goading the rioters.
The warm coast of California is a place where many western monarch butterflies stay during the cold winter months in the United States. Researchers fear the record low number of monarchs this year could mean the insects are in danger of disappearing in the near future.

Researchers from the Xerces Society said they found fewer than 2,000 orange-and-black butterflies in the yearly count this January. That number showed a big drop from the tens of thousands in recent years. In the 1980s, there were millions of them in trees from Northern California's Marin County to San Diego County near the Mexico border.

Every winter, western monarch butterflies fly south from the northwestern U.S. to California, going to the same places and even the same trees. They often stay together to keep warm. At the start of November, they usually arrive in California. The insects then spread across the country once warmer weather arrives in March.

On the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, another monarch butterfly population travels from southern Canada and the northeastern United States to spend the winter in Mexico.

Scientists estimate the eastern monarch population has decreased by 80 percent since the mid-1990s. But the decrease in the western monarch population has been much greater.

The Xerces Society works on conservation efforts for insects. Last winter, it recorded around 29,000 butterflies in its yearly survey. That was similar to the winter before, when an all-time low of 27,000 monarchs was counted.

But the count this year is dangerously low. Pacific Grove is a city known for having monarch butterflies during the cold season. But volunteers did not see a single one this winter. Other well-known areas, such as Pismo State Beach, Monarch Butterfly Grove and Natural Bridges State Park, only had a few hundred butterflies, researchers said.

Scientists say there are several causes for the extremely low numbers of butterflies in the western states.

Homebuilding and chemical use have destroyed milkweed plants along their migratory path. The plants are needed for monarch butterflies to grow and develop. Climate change interferes with the growth of wild plants. And huge wildfires in the west may also have influenced their migration.

A 2017 Washington State University study predicted that monarch butterflies would likely disappear within 10 to 20 years if the population dropped below 30,000 and nothing was done to save them.

Last December, U.S. federal officials said the monarch butterfly is a candidate for the threatened or endangered species list. The designation would provide protection for their food supply and environment, including their migratory path. However, they said no action would be taken for several years because many other species are still awaiting that designation.

The Xerces Society said it will keep working with other partners to protect the monarch. The organization added that people can help by planting flowers and milkweed along these butterflies migratory path.

Im Armen Kassabian.

Olga R. Rodriguez reported this story for the Associated Press. Armen Kassabian adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

__________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

conservation  n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources

milkweed  n. type of North American plant that has white juice

migratory  adj. moving from one place to another at different times of the year

endangered  adj. used to describe a type of animal or plant that has become very rare and that could die out completely

species  n. a particular group of things or people that belong together

Is habitat destruction a problem for insects in your country? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.


To kick off 2021, Manuka Health has launched four new initiatives to ensure every consumer receives a genuine, transparent, and high-quality jar of Manuka honey. These traceability initiatives include:

Receiving a certified Non-GMO Project verification; North America's most trusted third-party verification for Non-GMO food.

verification; most trusted third-party verification for Non-GMO food. A partnership with UMF , the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association, to dual rate Manuka Health's entire product range.

, the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association, to dual rate Manuka Health's entire product range. A partnership with Trust Codes , the world-leading technology provider, to create unique QR codes so consumers can trace their Manuka Health honey from hive to jar.

, the world-leading technology provider, to create unique QR codes so consumers can trace their Manuka Health honey from hive to jar. A partnership with Oritain  , a scientific traceability company, that goes beyond label traceability to track the honey inside the jar.

Manuka Health is the first Manuka honey company to implement these multifaceted certification and traceability programs simultaneously, proudly cementing the brand as a prominent leader and innovator in the Manuka honey market.

Acknowledging this monumental milestone for the brand, Manuka Health's GM of Marketing Kate Kember states, "Consumer trust and transparency has always been at the forefront of company ethos, which is why we pioneered MGO as the most transparent indicator of Manuka honey's potency over a decade ago."

She adds, "With these new technologies and accreditations, we can meet consumers' increasing need for authenticity and we can continue to say with confidence that all of our honey is protected and traceable from beekeeper to jar. Our new packaging gives consumers the additional information they require to easily make that all important purchase decision."

Additional details about each new rollout can be found below:

Verifications + Ratings

Certified Non-GMO Project Verification

Manuka Health is proud to announce that the entire Manuka Health Manuka honey range is now Non-GMO Project verified. Products bearing the Non-GMO Project Verified seal have gone through a comprehensive verification process according to a consensus-based rigorous standard for GMO avoidance.

UMF, Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association

Manuka Health now includes MGO and UMF ratings as a 'super mark' to cut through the increasing confusion consumers face in selecting their Manuka honey. By combining the most transparent rating system MGO (methylglyoxal), the key measure for Manuka honey potency backed by sound scientific research, with the independently certified UMF quality mark which verifies New Zealand origin, quality and potency, consumers can now easily navigate the honey aisle and be assured they are buying the exact potency the label displays.

Traceability + Transparency

Trust Codes QR Codes

Manuka Health's new packaging solution uses cryptographically unique codes to identify each and every honey jar, leveraging the power of mathematics and algorithms to deter and catch counterfeiters. Using individually coded unique QR codes, Manuka Health can easily and directly communicate with consumers to confirm the authenticity of their purchase. Consumers can scan the QR code directly from the camera of their phone, confirming the batch number, packing date and place of manufacture of their individual jar. Counterfeiting this code is next to impossible, giving consumers the ultimate assurance that Manuka Health's Manuka honey is safe and authentic.

Oritain Scientific Traceability

Furthering the traceability and trust of their products, Manuka Health uses Oritain scientific traceability to go beyond label traceability and trace the honey inside the jar. Independent verification by Oritain analyzes the naturally occurring chemicals in authentic Manuka Health Manuka honey and uses this data to produce an Origin Fingerprint. Once established, this Origin Fingerprint is used to verify the authenticity of Manuka Health Manuka honey as it moves through the suppply chain, reassuring shoppers that it is genuine Manuka Health product. 'When a company goes the extra mile to have their product independently and scientifically tested, you can be confident you're choosing a brand that really cares about the quality and safety of the products it makes', says Science Commercialisation Director, Sam Lind, of Oritain.

About Manuka Health

Manuka Health is one of New Zealand's leading global Manuka honey brands and one of the largest Manuka honey producers in New Zealand. They produce more than three million jars of honey per year from its state-of-the-art production facility in Te Awamutu in the central North Island of New Zealand. Manuka Health is made up of a growing team of dedicated specialists (about 1.5 billion bees and 200 humans) including a large New Zealand-based beekeeping team, second-to-none production and lab testing facilities. Their natural health and wellness portfolio include premium high grade MGO Manuka honey, New Zealand Propolis, Manuka Health's Manuka honey carries the MGO, UMF, Oritain, FernMark, and non-GMO certifications. Carrying the official New Zealand FernMark, the company flies the flag for its genuine New Zealand origin.

Press Contact:

Kelly Fordham / Alyce Bonnar

Bullfrog + Baum

[email protected]

SOURCE Manuka Health
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(Newser)  Three teenagers, one of them pregnant, were among five people shot dead in an Indianapolis home early Sundayand police now believe the killer is also a teenager. Police said a male juvenile was arrested Monday in connection with the city's worst mass casualty shooting in more than a decade. They did not release the suspect's name or age, but WRTV reports that the suspect is a 17-year-old who faces charges including murder and attempted murder. A juvenile male injured in the shooting is expected to survive. "Yesterday, we promised swift justice for this heinous act. Today, we delivered on that promise," Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor said in a statement Monday, per the Indianapolis Star.

story continues below

"While removing the alleged perpetrator of yesterday's mass murder from our neighborhoods does not bring back the lives senselessly lost, hopefully, it will bring us one step closer to healing as a community," the chief said, thanking the officers "who have worked tirelessly for the last 30 plus hours to bring justice for these victims, their friends and families, and our entire community." The coroner identified the victims Sunday as Kezzie Childs and Raymond Childs Jr., both 42; Elijah Childs, 18; Rita Childs, 13; Kiara Hawkins, 19; and Hawkins' unborn baby. Police, who have not disclosed a possible motive or the suspect's relationship to the victims, do not believe any other suspects were involved. (Read more Indianapolis stories.)
In its updated guidance, the World Health Organization (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) has cautioned experts not to rely solely on the results of a PCR test to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and consider the results in combination with other factors such as timing of sampling, specimen type, and assay specifics, among others.The WHO has updated its guidance on nucleic acid testing (NAT) technologies that use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. It has requested users to follow the instructions for use (IFU) when interpreting results for specimens tested using PCR methodology. The WHO has advised users of IVDs to read and follow the IFU carefully to determine if manual adjustment of the PCR positivity threshold is recommended by the manufacturer.According to the WHOs guidance on diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2, careful interpretation of weak positive results is needed as the cycle threshold (Ct) needed to detect the virus is inversely proportional to the patients viral load. Where test results do not correspond with the clinical presentation, it recommends that a new specimen should be taken and retested using the same or different NAT technology.The WHO has reminded IVD users that disease prevalence alters the predictive value of test results; as disease prevalence decreases, the risk of false positive increases. This means that the probability that a person who has a positive result (SARS-CoV-2 detected) is truly infected with SARS-CoV-2 decreases as prevalence decreases, irrespective of the claimed specificity. Since most PCR assays are indicated as an aid for diagnosis, the WHO has advised health care providers to consider any results in combination with the timing of sampling, specimen type, assay specifics, clinical observations, patient history, confirmed status of any contacts, and epidemiological information.
Good Guys Legal Over the years, the attorneys at Christensen & Hymas have been called the good guys in personal injury law because of the success theyve had handling injury cases and the exceptional service they provide their clients

The personal injury lawyers at Christensen & Hymas Law Firm are pleased to announce the launch of the law firms new brand Good Guys Legal. This new brand helps accident victims identify the law firm as plaintiffs attorneys representing accident victims and not insurance companies.

Over the years, the attorneys at Christensen & Hymas have been called the good guys in personal injury law because of the success theyve had handling injury cases and the exceptional service they provide their clients - so they added it to the name of their law firm.

The law firm was founded by Ken Christensen in 2006. Since that time the law firm has only specialized in accident and injury claims  helping people who have been injured and making sure insurance companies treat them with respect and fairness.

Good Guys Legal mission and purpose is to give a voice to those injured by others. Reflecting on the mission, Ken Christensen states, we strive to give the people of Utah valuable information and resources so they can make an informed decision about pursing an injury claim and hiring the right lawyer.

Ken Christensen and Russ Hymas wrote the book on accident and injury claims. They are the authors of the Utah Accident Book  7 Biggest Mistakes That Can Wreck Your Accident Case and How to Avoid Them. This book is free to Utah accident victims. The book walks you through the insurance claims process and helps you understands your rights after an accident.

At most big personal injury law firms, you are shuffled from person to person, never dealing with an attorney - Not at Good Guys Legal. Their attorneys meet with you and personally handle your case. From the moment they start working on your case, youll never have to take another phone call from an insurance company or deal with having to answer questions from an insurance adjuster. And when you become their client, you become part of their law firm family. Russ Hymas says this gives us a lot of satisfaction having those long term relationships with our clients.

Injured in an Accident  Call the Good Guys!

Ken Christensen and Russ Hymas, along with the rest of the attorneys and staff at Good Guys Legal have dedicated their careers to helping those who have been injured by others. They are different than other law firms because they limit their case loads to ensure their clients receive the personal attention they need and deserve after an accident. Theyre just good guys!
The UK government faced growing pressure on Monday to detail a strategy to reopen schools in England, following a backlash from lawmakers about reports they could remain closed for months.

A dozen MPs from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling Conservatives have warned publicly that pupils risk becoming the pandemic's "forgotten victims" and demanded schools fully reopen sooner.

The group -- which includes former minister Esther McVey and Graham Brady, head of an influential committee of Conservative lawmakers -- backed a parents' pressure group campaign on the issue.

"We need to get our children learning again - with clarity from @educationgovuk and an education routemap out of the coronavirus," Conservative MP Rob Halfon, chairman of parliament's watchdog education committee, said on Twitter.

"The engine of government should be directed towards opening our schools. We face an epidemic of educational poverty and mental health otherwise."

However, Halfon's bid to force a government statement on the issue in parliament Monday failed after House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle opted against selecting his urgent question on the issue.

During a visit to a vaccination site in northwest London, Johnson said officials were reviewing key data daily and that teachers and parents would be told "as much as we can, as soon as we can".

"Schools, obviously, will be a priority but I don't think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high so as to lead to another great spread of infection," he added.

Johnson closed English schools to all but the children of key workers this month as he ordered a third national lockdown after Covid-19 infections spiked.

The surge has been blamed on the emergence of a more contagious virus variant first identified in southeast England in September.

- Quarantine hotels -

Ministers had hoped schools might reopen in February but Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined on Sunday to guarantee that it would happen even by early April.

The UK government sets education policy in England. The sector is handled by the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where schools have also been shut.

The dramatic spike in cases through December has led to unprecedented levels of hospitalisations and fatalities, with Britain now approaching 100,000 deaths.

The number of new cases has now begun to fall and the country appears on course to meet a target of vaccinating nearly 15 million by the middle of next month.

Johnson said on Monday that it could mean "looking at the potential of relaxing some measures" but did not offer details.

Downing Street aides later insisted that would not happen before February 15.

Meanwhile, the government is also being urged to beef up its borders policy as several countries around the world tighten travel rules over fears of new virus strains.

Ministers have for weeks been mulling whether to require all incoming travellers to isolate in hotels, and a decision is expected within days.

Earlier this month, the UK scrapped its "travel corridors" from countries with lower caseloads following the emergence of new variants, and now asks arrivals to show negative Covid-19 tests and then self-isolate.

But following calls for even stricter curbs, senior ministers are due to discuss on Tuesday introducing an obligation on arriving travellers to pay to quarantine at a designated hotel.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Nokia is reported to launch three smartphones in the first quarter or early second quarter of 2021. The three smartphones that the Finnish smartphone maker is reported to unveil are the Nokia 1.4, Nokia 6.3, and the Nokia 7.3. All three of these smartphones have surfaced in rumours and reports in the past, with the Nokia 1.4 being a new entrant in the rumour mill. The Nokia 6.3 and the Nokia 7.4 were previously expected to release in Q3 2020 and it is also being rumoured that the smartphones may be called the Nokia 6.4 and the Nokia 7.4 upon launch.

According to a report in NokiaPowerUser, a website that keeps a track of Nokia developments, the Nokia 1.4 may launch in February this year. The Nokia 6.3 and Nokia 7.3, on the other hand, may launch some time in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2021. Recently, a report in MySmartPrice had said that the Nokia 1.4 may come with a 6.51-inch HD+ LCD display, and may be powered by a quad-core processor (unspecified), which will be paired with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, along with a dual rear camera setup. The Nokia 1.4 has been reported to be a budget offering and may be priced under EUR 100 (roughly Rs 9,000).

The Nokia 6.3 has previously been reported to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 SoC and a 24-megapixel camera. The Nokia 7.3, on the other hand, has been said to come with a 6.5-inch full-HD+ display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 SoC. The Nokia 7.3 could come with a 48-megapixel primary camera and a 24-megapixel front snapper, according to previous reports.

While the three Nokia phones have been rumoured on multiple times in the past, there is no official information from Nokia or its parent HMD Global.
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Combined industry experience, existing and deep supply chain relationships, and unique IP formulations create one of the leading cannabis consumer packaged goods platforms in Canada

Upfront purchase of LYF for CDN$24.9 million plus approximately CDN$17.5 million in consideration subject to achieving certain EBITDA milestones, which if met implies a ~4.2x multiple on fiscal 2022E EBITDA

Accretive acquisition accelerates Valens entry into one of the fastest-growing segments of the Cannabis 2.0 and 3.0 markets

Valens now poised to substantially expand edible product portfolio and market share with collective capabilities to produce innovative gummies, chocolates, baked goods and more

KELOWNA, BC, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - The Valens Company Inc. (TSX: VLNS) (OTCQX: VLNCF) (the "Company," "The Valens Company" or "Valens"), a leading manufacturer of cannabis derivative products, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of LYF Food Technologies Inc. ("LYF") in a cash and share transaction (the "LYF Acquisition") for closing consideration of CDN$24.9 million, plus up to an additional CDN$17.5 million in consideration (the "Milestones Consideration") payable upon the business achieving certain earn-out EBITDA milestones (the "Milestones"). The LYF Acquisition is expected to be accretive to the Company's EBITDA and diluted EPS in 2021, and if all of the Milestones are met, the transaction represents an approximate ~4.2x multiple on the last milestone achieved. With the LYF Acquisition, The Valens Company not only strengthens its already wide-reaching production capabilities for the 2.0 and 3.0 markets, but also unlocks significant growth potential with the addition of a cutting-edge platform designed to capitalize on one of the fastest growing product segments in the cannabis industry.

Story continues

The Valens Company Logo (CNW Group/The Valens Company Inc.)

LYF is a premier edibles manufacturer based in Kelowna, British Columbia with expertise in novel product creation, white label manufacturing and infusion technologies. Similar to Valens, LYF operates a product development and manufacturing platform focused on consumer-driven innovation, and product safety and consistency. LYF brings a proven team with significant experience producing high throughput food products, in addition to experience operating and working with major Canadian grocery chains, health and wellness retailers, and pharmacies. Just minutes away from Valens' headquarters, LYF's purpose-built manufacturing facility produces innovative edible products using the highest quality ingredients and cannabis extracts, offered in proprietary delivery methods.

Valens' access to low-cost active ingredients paired with LYF's industry-recognized product IP formulations of over 100 recipes strengthens its capabilities to produce higher-margin, new-to-market edible formats in a segment with limited product variability, and increased consumer demand. With the added infrastructure and expertise from the LYF Acquisition, The Valens Company significantly expands its edibles footprint and strategy to remain a best-in-class manufacturing platform for its partners, while also increasing its ability to capture market share in the rapidly growing product category. Similar to consumer trends in the US cannabis market, edible products are anticipated to represent over 10% of sales in the maturing Canadian cannabis market.

Tyler Robson, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of The Valens Company, said, "LYF has set the standard of what high quality edibles should be and has developed a diverse and flexible manufacturing platform to play a dominant role in the Canadian edibles market. LYF stood out for its product innovation and marketing teams, as well as its broad range of edible products which will introduce new formats to Canadian consumers that are typically only available in more mature markets. We look forward to further developing our product offering to reach more consumers with high-quality and unique cannabis edibles as this product segment continues to gain in popularity."

"Our team could not be more thrilled to join forces with The Valens Company and collectively fuel our shared passion for producing exceptional cannabis products with consumers top of mind," said Paolo Pero and Matthew Amado, Founders of LYF. "As a fellow Kelowna-based company, Valens' vision for global growth resonated with the team and ultimately led us to recognize the significant value in combining what we have each uniquely created to bring a new level of manufacturing excellence to Canada and beyond."

Strategic Highlights

With the added capabilities from the LYF Acquisition, The Valens Company is better positioned to capture edibles category market share with the following key success factors:

Experienced team with a background in commercial-scale food manufacturing, cannabis processing, and a thorough knowledge in developing and producing innovative cannabis derivative products, specializing in confectionary goods. With combined industry knowledge and in-depth relationships with food ingredient, packaging, and equipment providers, Valens expects to boost its reputation in the market as a trusted third-party operator.





Expected to be an accretive transaction to both anticipated EBITDA and diluted earnings per share in 2021 with an earnout structure that effectively aligns the interests of all parties to drive financial performance and generate shareholder value.





Speed to market utilizing LYF's existing infrastructure and relationships throughout the edibles community. With white label edible products currently available for purchase in British Columbia, LYF adds a fully operational platform and robust partner network ready for integration with Valens' suite of products. In addition, LYF and Valens' existing roster of new, innovative edible products with various partners remain ready for immediate commercialization and launch into the Canadian market. With the agility and speed to capitalize on this product segment, Valens sees both new and existing opportunities on the horizon.





Category-leading scale with over 77,000 square feet of licensed manufacturing space at Valens, including the addition of LYF's 10,500 square feet nimble production facility in close proximity to the Valens K1 and K2 facilities to allow for ease of operational and management control and associated cost synergies. LYF brings an existing asset base with nearly CDN$10 million invested into the business to-date, including over CDN$5 million in property, plant, and equipment alone, a standard processing licence and a pending provincial sales licence. The Valens Company anticipates the LYF edibles manufacturing facility will be used for both existing licensed producer and brand partners, as well as other consumer packaged goods companies who have been observing the space and awaiting an attractive entry point, and for the further development of Valens-owned IP for use in North America and emerging markets.





Further diversified platform equipped to produce expectedly higher margin edible products for the Cannabis 2.0 and 3.0 markets, including those leveraging SoRSE by Valens emulsion technology. The integrated platform also contains additional R&D, testing and distribution capabilities, with multiple manufacturing lines capable of producing various new product formats such as real fruit gummies, caramel filled bars, peanut butter cups, hard candies, granola products, and other customized baked goods. These precisely dosed edibles products are highly customizable, with vegan, sugar-free, low-sugar and natural ingredient offerings.





Complementary and high-value partnership network with existing definitive supply agreements and a robust pipeline of near-term executable opportunities with licensed producers, brand houses and white label customers, some of which are already part of Valens' ecosystem, as well as strong relationships with third-party operators and retailers.

Transaction Details

The purchase price payable on closing is CDN$24.9 million, including the assumption of CDN$2.9 million in mortgage related debt and the issuance of up CDN$22.0 million in common shares of the Company, of which up to CDN$5.0 million is payable in cash and the remainder payable in common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") (being up to 9,846,154 Common Shares issued based on Valens' 20-day VWAP of CDN$2.23 as of January 22, 2021). CDN$2.2 million in value of Common Shares (being 984,615 Common Shares) will be placed into escrow for indemnity purposes. In addition, CDN$2.9 million in value of Common Shares (being 1,282,051 Common Shares) of further consideration will be placed into escrow and is subject to release upon the achievement of certain Milestones relating to financial performance with other Milestones to be payable upon achievement in cash and/or Common Shares, at the Company's option.

The LYF Acquisition remains subject to approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange and customary conditions and approvals from senior lenders. The Common Shares issued in connection with the LYF Acquisition will be subject to lock-up restrictions of four months and eight months for certain vendors and up to two years for the founders and majority share owners. There are no finders' fees payable by the Company in connection with the LYF Acquisition. The vendors are each arm's length parties to the Company. This transaction has been approved by the Company's Board of Directors and is expected to close on or about February 18, 2021.

Advisors

McCarthy Tetrault LLP acted as legal counsel to The Valens Company on the LYF acquisition and Aird & Berlis LLP acted as legal counsel to LYF.

About The Valens Company

The Valens Company is a leading manufacturer of cannabis derivative products with a mission to bring the benefits of cannabis to the world. The Company provides proprietary cannabis processing services across five core technologies, in addition to best-in-class product development, formulation and manufacturing of cannabis consumer packaged goods. The Valens Company's high-quality products are exclusively formulated for the medical, therapeutic, health and wellness, and recreational consumer segments, and are offered across numerous product formats, including oils, vapes, concentrates, edibles and topicals, as well as pre-rolls, with a focus on next-generation product development and innovation. Its breakthrough patented emulsification technology, SoRSE by Valens, converts cannabis oil into water-soluble emulsions for seamless integration into a variety of product formats, allowing for near-perfect dosing, stability, and taste. In partnership with brand houses, consumer packaged goods companies and licensed cannabis producers around the globe, the Company continues to grow its diverse product portfolio in alignment with evolving cannabis consumer preferences in key markets. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Valens Labs Ltd., the Company is setting the standard in cannabis testing and research and development with Canada's only ISO17025 accredited analytical services lab, named The Centre of Excellence in Plant-Based Science by partner and scientific world leader Thermo Fisher Scientific. Discover more on The Valens Company and its subsidiaries at http://www.thevalenscompany.com.

About LYF Food Technologies Inc.

LYF produces expertly crafted chocolate, confectionery and baked cannabis-infused edibles. The LYF team has over 25 years of experience in commercial-scale food manufacturing, working with the largest grocery chains, health and wellness retailers and pharmacies across Canada.

With unparalleled expertise in manufacturing scalability, novel product creation, shelf stability, proprietary delivery methods and infusion technologies, LYF is able to bring great tasting, accurately dosed edibles to the legal Canadian marketplace at affordable prices. LYF offers co-packing and white label manufacturing services that will turn potential competitors into strategic partners.

Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements

All information included in this news release, including any information as to the future financial or operating performance and other statements of The Valens Company that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are included for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Wherever possible, words such as "plans", "expects", "scheduled", "trends", "indications", "potential", "estimates", "predicts", "anticipate", "to establish", "believe", "intend", "ability to", or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", or are "likely" to be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of these words or other variations thereof, have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding future results of operations, economic conditions and anticipated courses of action. Investors and other parties are advised that there is not necessarily any correlation between the number of SKUs manufactured and shipped and revenue and profit, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information.

The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others, that the LYF Acquisition does not close, the Milestones are not met, the increase to the Company's EBITDA and diluted EPS is not achieved, regulatory risk, United States border crossing and travel bans, reliance on licenses, expansion of facilities, competition, dependence on supply of cannabis and reliance on other key inputs, dependence on senior management and key personnel, general business risk and liability, regulation of the cannabis industry, change in laws, regulations and guidelines, compliance with laws, reliance on a single facility, limited operating history, vulnerability to rising energy costs, unfavourable publicity or consumer perception, product liability, risks related to intellectual property, product recalls, difficulties with forecasts, management of growth and litigation, many of which are beyond the control of The Valens Company. For a more comprehensive discussion of the risks faced by The Valens Company, and which may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of The Valens Company to be materially different from estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, please refer to The Valens Company's latest Annual Information Form filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com or on The Valens Company's website at www.thevalenscompany.com. The risks described in such Annual Information Form are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Although the forward-looking statements contained herein reflect management's current beliefs and reasonable assumptions based upon information available to management as of the date hereof, The Valens Company cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information. The Valens Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. The Valens Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Nothing herein should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell securities of The Valens Company.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-valens-company-expands-cannabis-2-0--3-0-footprint-with-the-acquisition-of-leading-canadian-edibles-manufacturer-lyf-food-technologies-inc-301213738.html

SOURCE The Valens Company Inc.
The subject of euthanasia may sound like a grim topic for a drama series, but writer Samantha Strauss can thank her grandmother for inspiring The End -an offbeat and sometimes humorous tale set in a Queensland retirement village.

The Foxtel series has attracted a top-notch cast including Dame Harriet Walter (Succession, The Crown, Killing Eve), Frances OConnor (The Missing, Mansfield Park) and Noni Hazlehurst (A Place to Call Home, City Homicide).

She was horrified by the whole scenario. She arrived really depressed, dressed in browns and hunched over. Shed survived a couple of cancers and my dad, who is a doctor, gave her six months to live. He said to us, I dont think shes going to be around for very long. Shes lost the will to live,' says Strauss (Dance Academy).

But my mum, who isnt a doctor, said No, we just need to get her into the cool group at the retirement village.'

What transpired was something akin to a second lease of life in a very lively community.

To me it just felt exactly like high school, Strauss observed. There was the Queen Bee, the Mean Girls plastic equivalent, but there was also a rebellious lot and my grandmother became best friends with a woman called Pamela who lived right next door. Together they just got up to so much mischief.

She was wearing sexy red dresses driving a red car, dancing on tabletops

Rather than being dead in six months, she was wearing sexy red dresses, had ditched the motorised scooter, was driving a red car, dancing on tabletops and drinking like an absolute fish!

She was having having so much fun it really struck me at the time that shed only ever been a daughter, a wife, or mother. Shed never been single. In her 80s this was her first chance at being completely free. I found that really inspiring.

The End produced by See-Saw films, explores three generations of a family living with separate but intersecting obsessions  trying to figure out how to die with dignity, live with none and make it all count. Strauss originally wrote the story as a short film when she was just 19.

While Harriet Walter plays determined octogenarian Edie, Noni Hazlehurst plays the free-spirited Pamela (fittingly given the same name as her inspiration).

It was really important having the ability to die well

At the retirement village, sex and alcohol were the hot topics, but also euthanasia. My grandmother and her friend Pamela would go off to Exit International workshops where they would learn how to make their own Nembutal. So it was really important having the ability to die well.

In the end, she didnt -she missed her window and when the cancer came back, she still had a grim last few days. I know that thats not what she would have wanted. She would have wanted to go out with a glass of whiskey, and a smile.

Producers filmed at actual Gold Coast retirement villages, with supporting cast including Luke Arnold (Black Sails), Morgan Davies (Storm Boy), Ingrid Torelli (Matilda), Roy Billing (Jack Irish), Robyn Nevin (Relic), John Waters (Offspring), Alex Dimitriades (The Principal), Brendan Cowell (The Letdown), Brooke Satchwell (Mr Inbetween), Andrea Demetriades (Janet King), Uli Latukefu (Marco Polo), and Seb Thornton-Walker.

Noni is spectacular across the series. She is who I want to hang out with in a retirement village, if not, I want to be her. We got so lucky with her and Robyn Nevin, Roy Billing, John Waters. Theyd all worked together decades earlier and it was terrific to see them all in the same shot. You cant get any luckier as a writer than having those sorts of luminaries say your words.

Despite the confronting topic and some searing moments, Strauss strikes an optimistic approach to her subject matter.

Its very much an optimistic look

The very heart of it is that you can mess up your whole life. But if you can find a way to work out who you are at 80 or 90 -or even at 40- then youre okay. Its very much an optimistic look. I think being able to have a little bit of control over your own end, in my personal view, is a great comfort.

But although a lot of us wear scars through life its about family and connection across three generations no-one ever really figures it out that well.

Were all just sort of humans doing our best.

The End double episode 8:30pm Tuesday February 2 on FOX Showcase.

Related
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Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup has unveiled a plan to sink the rail line at the train station in West Perth to create a new inner-city precinct.

The Liberal party promised to put aside $5 million to create a masterplan for the idea if elected but has no estimate for the total cost of the project, which Labor claims would cost between $600 million and $1 billion.

Tjorn Sibma, Libby Mettam, Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup, Liberal candidate for Perth Kylee Veskovich and Bill Marmion at City West Station. Credit:Peter de Kruijff

Labor also blasted the Liberal and National Party election commitments made up to Monday, which it estimated would have a $8.1 billion impact on WAs budget even with the $1.2 billion promised by the federal government for the Roe 8 and 9 extension.

Mr Kirkup said the plan to sink about 500 metres of rail between the Mitchell Freeway and Thomas Street by 2029 could be a cost-neutral exercise with the involvement of developers.
NAGOYA, Japan, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hayashi Telempu Corporation (hereinafter HTC, headquartered in Nagoya, Japan), the parent company of Hayashi Telempu Thailand, and the controlling shareholder of Adler Pelzer Group (hereinafter APG, headquartered in Germany) have jointly established GAIA (Global Automotive Interior Alliance) Holdings and entered into capital partnership to further strengthen cooperation in the automotive interior parts business. GAIA, the alliance for automotive acoustic parts, has the largest share in the world market of automotive floor carpets.

(Logo1: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M106461/202101210048/_prw_PI1fl_HAfH41TV.jpg)

(Logo2: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M106461/202101210048/_prw_PI2fl_MMoprOUG.jpg)

HTC and APG signed a technical partnership agreement in the automotive interior parts business in April 2017. In February 2018, the duo established NEVHA, a joint venture focusing on development for new energy vehicles, and has since been jointly developing acoustic technology, materials and parts.

HTC and Paolo Scudieri, the controlling shareholder of APG and owner of his entire group, built a capital alliance through HTC's equity acquisition in APG while jointly establishing GAIA. By effectively utilizing the technology and production know-how of both companies and their respective global business bases, the duo will be able to comprehensively provide development, production and delivery in all regions to customers expanding globally.

"We are delighted to bring value to our OEM customers and to the market by tying up the best of our both companies," commented H. Hayashi, COO of Hayashi Telempu. "The market will take great advantage of the global scale thanks to the Global Automotive Interior Alliance," highlighted Paolo Scudieri. Pietro Lardini, CEO of Adler Pelzer Group, expressed his thanks for the unique opportunity for further development of the companies.

Hayashi Telempu (Thailand) Co., Ltd.: http://www.htt.co.th

Adler Pelzer Group: http://www.adlerpelzer.com/

Hayashi Telempu Corporation: http://www.hayatele.co.jp/english/index.html

About Hayashi Telempu (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Headquartered: Chonburi, Thailand Employees: 785 Sales: 2,600 MTB in 2019

About Hayashi Telempu Corporation

Headquartered: Nagoya, Japan Employees: 5,000 Sales: 270 billion yen in 2019 Location: 40 locations Number of floor carpets produced: About 11 million units a year

About Adler Pelzer

Headquartered: North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Republic of Germany Employees: 11,000 Sales: 1.4 billion euros in 2019 Location: 80 locations Number of floor carpets produced: About 9 million units a year

SOURCE Hayashi Telempu Corporation
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Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on schools, stores, businesses and events. With in-person concerts, talks, comedy shows, food festivals and other gatherings cancelled, we have turned our events column into a "nonevents" column. It will remain this way as long as social distancing and stay-at-home orders are in effect.

During this difficult time, please consider contributing to your local arts organizations or to individual artists and performers.

Attend any number of great movies and discussions, including one with Sofia Loren. Listen to African American poets, including L.A.'s own Amanda Gorman. Learn about the Saturday Night Live audition process. Try your hand at sous vide cooking. Head to Sundance without having to hop on a plane to Park City.

Monday, Jan. 25 - Saturday, Jan. 30



American Cinematheque Spotlight: Amazon Studios

Can you tell it's awards season? The studio hosts screenings and Q&As with cast members and creative talent from several of its recent flicks. On Monday, join the actors from One Night in Miami (Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., Eli Goree and Kingsley Ben-Adir) and writer Kemp Powers. Other events feature Marjane Satrapi and Rosamund Pike from Radioactive (Tuesday); actor Clare Dunne and director Phyllida Lloyd from Herself (Wednesday); Time director Garrett Bradley (Thursday); director Darius Marder and actors Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke and Paul Raci from The Sound of Metal (Friday); and Rachel Brosnahan, Julia Hart (director) and Jordan Horowitz from I'm Your Woman (Saturday). Free screener included with an RSVP (or watch them on Amazon Prime).

COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO

Films.Dance Trailer from Films.Dance on Vimeo.

Monday, Jan. 25; 9 a.m.



Films.Dance

Since we can't watch dance in person right now, here's a new global film series about international dance film projects. The series features 150 artists from 52 cities in 25 countries, culminating in 15 short films that were shot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting Monday, Jan. 25 and each Monday for the next 15 weeks, one film will premiere at 9 a.m. on at Films.Dance, on Instagram and on Facebook, where they will remain.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Monday, Jan. 25; 7 p.m.



The SNL Audition Experience

If you've ever dreamt of joining the cast of Saturday Night Live, Groundlings main company member Josh Duvendeck delivers an online lecture-style class on the SNL audition process. He'll walk attendees through his experiences, from submitting a tape to the in-person audition at studio 8H. Get tips and bring questions as there promises to be a robust Q&A. There is no prerequisite required to enroll in this class.

COST: $45; MORE INFO

Tuesday, Jan. 26; 7 p.m.



Sister Groundling: The Ladies of the Attic Online Edition

The Groundlings Theatre presents an improv show featuring the women of the main company. Stay on after the show to join the cast for "Cocktails and Questions." Directed by Groundlings alum Deanna Oliver (Casper), the cast includes Samantha DeSurra, Allison Dunbar, Patty Guggenheim, Lyric Lewis, Edi Patterson, Emily Pendergast, Ariane Price, Lisa Schurga and Annie Sertich.

COST: $12; MORE INFO

Tuesday, Jan. 26; 6 p.m. PST



An Evening with Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

The Skirball presents an online discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, whose book Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, inspired the Skirball's current online exhibition. The conversation and Q&A will be moderated by Eric Liu, co-founder and CEO of Citizen University. Signed books aare available for purchase at bronxriverbooks.com.

COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO

Artist Arshile Gorky, pictured here in childhood with his mother, inspired the collaborative film, 'They Will Take My Island.' (Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Tuesday, Jan. 26; 4 p.m. PST



They Will Take My Island

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the digital world premiere of work by Armenian American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan. The MetLiveArts commission is a personal, 30-minute video collaboration focusing on their mutual admiration of Armenian painter Arshile Gorky, with performances by the JACK and Silvana string quartets. The documentary explores themes of family and immigration. It also includes footage from Egoyan's Ararat. Watch the film on The Metropolitan Museum of Art's website, Facebook and YouTube channels.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The Bowers Museum holds its first Chocolate Week from Jan. 26-31 virtually. (Courtesy of the Bowers Museum)

Tuesday, Jan. 26 - Sunday, Jan 31.



Bowers Museum: Chocolate Week

Attend daily virtual lectures, tours and talks dedicated to all things chocolate throughout the week, which culminates in a chocolate-themed virtual family festival on Sunday. Programs include Where Chocolate Began, Chocolate History from Asia & the Pacific and The Future of Craft Chocolate.

COST: FREE - $10; MORE INFO

Tuesday, Jan. 26; 6:30 p.m. PST



Lavender Suarez: Transcendent Waves

Curious about sound healing? Skylight Books welcomes practitioner Lavender Suarez to talk about her recently released book (via Crowdcast). The how-to guide shows readers how intentional listening can lead to mindfulness and creativity. Suarez will be talk with artist Bibbe Hansen who wrote the book's intro.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Thierry Mechinaud, a sous chef at Michelin three-star restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, removes pheasant from the vacuum-sealed bag in sous vide cooking. (JOE RAY/AFP via Getty Images)

Tuesday, Jan. 26



International Sous Vide Day

There's an all-day celebration that focuses on sous vide cooking (vacuum-sealing food in a bag then cooking it in water at a specific temperature) that also honors Bruno Goussault, who developed and promoted the cooking technique. Nycci Nellis, the host of Industry Night and Foodie and the Beast, emcees a number of panels with Michelin-starred chefs and industry professionals. Also tune in for global cooking demos and a film that focuses on Goussault's work over the last 50 years. The videos will be available through March 26.

COST: FREE with registration; MORE INFO

Wednesday, Jan. 27; 4:30 p.m. PST



The Moth National Mainstage

The storytelling night returns for a virtual event where participants share tales related to the theme "around the bend." Think undiscovered places, travels and jumping into the unknown. Music by Dayren Santamaria. The livestream link will be sent to ticketholders the day of the show.

COST: $15 - $50; MORE INFO

Wednesday, Jan. 27 - Friday, Jan. 29; 10 a.m - 4 p.m. PST



Blood Drive at The Original Farmers Market

6333 W. 3rd St., Fairfax

January is National Blood Donor Month and the Farmers Market teams with nearby Cedars-Sinai Hospital to host a blood drive. Strict health protocols will be in place to ensure safety for staff and donors. Spaces are limited and participants must sign up in advance. Cedars will also provide free COVID-19 antibody tests for all donors as well. And as a bonus: Anaheim House of Jerky is giving 2 oz. packages of their artisan jerky to donors.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Wednesday, Jan. 27; 7 p.m. PST



Tracy Lee Nelson: Live from Home Performance

The Musco Center at Chapman University presents the blues guitarist who performs and discusses blues and roots music from a Native American perspective. Nelson, a former Tribal Chairman of the La Jolla Indian Reservation, was part of the band Redbone ("Come and Get Your Love,") and has released nine blues albums with two more coming at the end of 2021.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

ALOUD presents 'Lift Every Voice: Why African American Poetry Matters Today' with Kevin Young, poetry editor of 'The New Yorker.' (Courtesy of ALOUD)

Thursday, Jan. 28; 5 p.m. PST



Lift Every Voice: Why African American Poetry Matters Today

The Library Foundation's ALOUD series is taking part in a nationwide celebration of African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song, a new anthology edited by Kevin Young (New Yorker poetry editor). Young hosts an event with readings and discussion with Amanda Gorman; Robin Coste Lewis, poet laureate of Los Angeles; and pianist and composer Kris Bowers (who most recently scored Netflix's Bridgerton).

COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO

CAP UCLA presents L.A. Omnibus: Lost in Translation with Omar Offendum and Thanks Joey. (Courtesy CAP UCLA)

Thursday, Jan. 28; 7 p.m.



Lost in Translation with Omar Offendum and Thanks Joey

L.A. Omnibus returns for its fourth installment with Offendum, a Syrian American rapper, spoken word artist and music producer, and Thanks Joey, the Colours Of The Culture label owner. "Featuring samples from some iconic Syrian films and a dizzying dose of Damascene bilingualism, Lost In Translation is a celebratory love-letter to this very merry & hairy Arabian way of life in the California Califate of Los Shamgeles." The conversation will be livestreamed on CAP UCLA Online.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO



Thursday, Jan. 28; 7 p.m. PST



Sophia Loren and The Life Ahead

Before KCET Cinema Series screens the new Netflix feature film, starring Sophia Loren and directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, series host Pete Hammond presents the Lumiere Award to the actress, virtually. Loren and Ponti discuss her career and and the new film, which is about a Holocaust survivor who forges a bond with the young Senegalese immigrant who recently robbed her.

COST: $15; MORE INFO

'Summer Of Soul (Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)' by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson screens at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute, photo by Mass Distraction Media)

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Wednesday, Feb. 3



Sundance Film Festival

Many of us can't head to Park City each January to attend Sundance in person. Now that the festival is going virtual, a larger audience will be able to view movies, discussions and filmmaker talks. (A few cities, although not L.A., will host satellite screenings.) Since networking is also a big part of the festival, attendees can gather in virtual waiting rooms to chat with other guests. This year's fest includes 72 features, 50 shorts, four indie series and 14 New Frontier projects.

COST: $15 - $350; MORE INFO

Sam Shapiro stars as the Sodbuster in LA Opera's 2021 Digital Short 'The West is a Land of Infinite Beginnings,' from composer Missy Mazzoli. (LA Opera)

Through Feb. 12



New Digital Shorts from Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid

This month, the L.A. Opera presents the premieres of new digital shorts from two prominent female composers. As part of the On Now platform, the series features new works that pair composers with visual artists. Missy Mazzoli's The West is a Land of Infinite Beginnings is currently on view through Jan. 29. Reid's Lumee's Dream will be available from Jan. 29 to Feb. 12. As a bonus for opera fans, Reid's full-length performance of "p r i s m," winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in music, will stream online for two weeks, beginning at 4 p.m. PST on Jan. 26. All three of these productions were directed by James Darrah.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO



TV Streaming Pick



Snowpiercer, Season 2

The second season of the sci-fi thriller returns on Monday, Jan. 25 to TNT. Based on Bong Joon-ho's 2014 film, the TV series follows the passengers of a large, perpetually moving train that circles the globe carrying survivors of another Ice Age. The passengers are arranged according to class and wealth, and the show explores themes of justice and class warfare. Snowpiercer stars Daveed Diggs, Sean Bean and Jennifer Connelly.





Dine & Drink Deals

Who doesn't miss going out to eat or stopping by a bar for a drink? Here are a few options from restaurants and bars as we work our way back toward normal.
The governor on Monday announced changes in the Phase 2 eligibility for the vaccine and the setup of several mass vaccination sites.

State Moves Residents 65-and-Older Ahead in Vaccination Line



Map of scheduled vaccination sites. The online map is expected to be updated with this locations later this week. BOSTON  Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday announced that the commonwealth is moving residents age at least 65 ahead in the line to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

Individuals 65 and older will be moved into the second priority group for Phase 2 of the state's vaccination plan, which is expected to begin on Monday, Feb. 1.

The first priority group in Phase 2 will be residents 75 and older. They can begin to schedule vaccination appointments on Wednesday, Baker said at his daily COVID-19 press briefing.

According to the change in priorities announced on Monday, residents 65 and older will be moved into the same group as residents with two or more comorbidities.

In addition, the governor announced Monday that by the end of the week, the state expected to have 103 publicly available sites to distribute the vaccine and the capacity to administer 242,000 doses per week by next week. By the middle of February, the commonwealth plans to have 165 public sites and the capacity to administer 305,000 doses per week.

But, Baker, emphasized, capacity to administer doses does not translate directly to shots in the arm because the commonwealth relies on vaccine distribution from the federal government.

"It's going to be important for people to go to the website, click on the [vaccination] site that's closest to you and determine if in fact you're eligible and, if you are, make an appointment," Baker said. "But we are overbuilding [capacity] with respect to what we anticipate we're going get from the feds by the time we get to middle of February.

"I certainly hope I'm wrong about that. I hope the feds give us the vaccine we need to ensure every single seat and every single appointment can get filled."

Baker drove that point home repeatedly during an hourlong news conference.

"If we continue to get the same number of doses we're getting now, we may end up with some empty seats and empty appointments, but I think it's better at this point to overplan and hope the feds can get there, then to underprepare," Baker said.

Part of that preparation includes one "Mass Vaccination" site in Western Massachusetts. On Friday, the commonwealth plans to stand up a mass distribution site at Springfield's Eastfield Mall to join sites at Gilette Stadium and Fenway Park along with large-scale vaccination sites in Danvers and Roxbury. Eventually, the plan is to have seven Mass Vaccination sites, which each can ramp up to 5,000 vaccinations per day, Baker said.

Appointments at the Springfield site will be available on Wednesday for residents eligible under Phase 1 (health care workers, first responders and congregate care workers and residents) and the first part of Phase 2 (residents 75 and older).

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito also announced the launch of an eight-week pilot of COVID-19 testing sites for for child-care providers and families using their services. The Department of Early Education and Care has partnered with the Massachusetts Early Childhood Funder Collaborative and BayCoast Bank on the pilot. It will consist of eight rotating drive-through testing sites, one of which will be in Dalton. The testing sites will start the first week in February. More information, including how to sign up, can be found here.

On Monday, Baker and other members of his administration were joined by president of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, who talked about the commonwealth's focus on equity in creating a distribution plan for the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Equity is and will continue to be front and center in the state's carefully considered rollout plan," said Michael Curry, who serves on Baker's COVID-19 vaccine advisory board. "We were very clear and quick to acknowledge the virus has not affected everyone equally. We know that our Black and brown communities have higher rates of infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the virus. Too often, up to three times higher rates in ... communities of people of color across the country and here in Massachusetts. With that stark data in front of us, we understood that an equity lens needed to be applied at every stage of the rollout.

"In Phase 2, we focus on seniors and individuals with two or more comorbidities with additional allocation for those communities with higher prevalence of the disease and social vulnerability. We know from looking at the data that the cases of COVID-19 for Black and Latinx individuals are worsened by underlying conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma -- all related to a historic lack of access to care and structural racism."

Curry cited research that shows 42 percent of Black men and 43 percent of Black women have hypertension, compared to 31 percent of white men and 27 percent of white women. Likewise, whites have lower rates of diabetes than Black and Hispanic counterparts, he said.

"This pandemic has heightened our consciousness about the underlying disparities born out of these inequities," Curry said. "And I've described this as our 'National Katrina.' "

Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Suddders said the commonwealth's vaccination distribution plan was based on recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state's vaccine advisory group.

"As we continue to allocate a constrained supply of vaccine, in addition to Mass Vaccination sites, our priority is to ensure that the lens of equity is reflected in the allocation and distribution," Sudders said.

"Phase 1 has prioritized employees and other groups who have been significantly marginalized or have significant representation of communities of color that other states did not prioritize, including individuals who are homeless, home health aides, personal care attendants and the like."

And Sudders reported that the commonwealth is making moves to ensure that the vaccine doses it already has distributed are finding their way into the arms of residents who are eligible.

"Last week, we made it crystal clear that providers have 10 days from the receipt of the vaccine to administration," Sudders said. "All hospitals were contacted last week to review their existing inventory and their administration plans. We are actively monitoring their scheduled clinics and vaccine utilization. This week, hospitals did not receive additional inventory. They need to utilize what they have in hand, and, if we must, we will redistribute these fragile vaccines to other providers."

Later, Sudders said the acceptance rate for vaccines distributed in Phase 1 has been lower than anticipated.

"We're only five weeks into vaccinations," Sudders said. "When we first started to order vaccines for hospitals, the first allocation for Hospital X was [hypothetically] 10,000 doses. We put that allocation in, and if it was Moderna or Pfizer, three weeks later, we put in another 10,000 doses to make sure they had the second dose amount.

"Clearly, hospitals and everyone overestimated what the uptake was for vaccines.  We've seen that in long-term care facilities, where 50 percent of the staff have accepted vaccines. It's a little over 80 percent of residents. I think in the beginning, people were enthusiastic about vaccines and anticipated an amount that turned out not to match what the acceptance rate was. So we've now gone back to folks to readjust it down significantly. That's all part of the maturation of the vaccine program.

"With constrained supplies, we need to get doses out, distributed and into people's arms as quickly as possible."
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 3 mesi fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

The global Aluminum Nitride Substrates Market report offers a comprehensive analysis of current trends and future opportunities. This report is responsible for quantitative estimation and foreseen future for upcoming years based on the recent companies strategic moves and historical data. Further, the market report is categorized into different segments, regions, and countries level. This report also provides competitor analysis with its market share and developments.

The final report will cover the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

The global Aluminum Nitride Substrates market report presents a complete research-based study of the industry including details such as company shares, forecast data, in-depth analysis and an outlook of the market on a worldwide platform. The report further highlights the market drivers, restraints and the top manufacturers at the global and regional levels. For a thorough understanding, the report also offers market segmentation and regional analysis for the forecast period from 2020 to 2025.

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According to this study, over the next five years, the Aluminum Nitride Substrates market will register an xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach $ xx million by 2025, from $ xx million in 2020. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in the Aluminum Nitride Substrates business, shared in Chapter 3.

This Aluminum Nitride Substrates market report also splits the market by regions: Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil), APAC (China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Australia), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain), Middle East & Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, GCC Countries).

This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of the Aluminum Nitride Substrates market by type, application, key manufacturers, key regions, and countries.

The key manufacturers covered in this report: Breakdown data in Chapter 3.

MARUWA

Stellar Industries Corp

Rogers/Curamik

Toshiba Materials

CeramTec

CoorsTek

Denka

Ferrotec

Remtec

KCC Corporation

Shengda Tech

Others

To inquire about report customization, feel free to reach out to our team of expert analysts @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/ask-questions-31369

This study considers the Aluminum Nitride Substrates value and volume generated from the sales of the following segments:

Segmentation by type: breakdown data from 2015 to 2020, in Section 2.3; and forecast to 2025 in section 11.7.

AN-170

AN-200

AN-230

Segmentation by application: breakdown data from 2015 to 2020, in Section 2.4; and forecast to 2025 in section 11.8.

Heat Dissipation Substrate

LED Package

Power Module

Wafer Bonding

Power Resistor

Others

In addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, challenges, and the risks faced by key manufacturers and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development.

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Research Objectives

To study and analyze the global Aluminum Nitride Substrates consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, type and application, history data from 2015 to 2019, and forecast to 2025.

To understand the structure of the Aluminum Nitride Substrates market by identifying its various subsegments.

Focuses on the key global Aluminum Nitride Substrates manufacturers, to define, describe, and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in the next few years.

To analyze the Aluminum Nitride Substrates with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

To project the consumption of Aluminum Nitride Substrates submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.

About Us:

DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research report provider, enriching decision-makers, and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research reports, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.

Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

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Reference Source:

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Senate's former Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu claims that the case in which he is indicted by the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) is an "eminently political" one.

"It is interesting that the DNA decided to make public the content of each procedural act it carries out in the case of alleged bribe! It would have been good if it did the same with the investigation into Mr. Iohannis' six houses or with the bribes taken by the leaders of the ruling parties! But here the law does not apply in the same way for all! Given that the criminal investigation is not public (this goes also for the DNA, but it does not apply to them!), I can only assure you that this case is an eminently political one. There is no evidence of any bribe, just a story of some obedient prosecutors!" Tariceanu wrote on Facebook on Monday.

According to the former prime minister, prosecutors "refuse" to find that the Executive he led adopted a series of Government's Decisions for Romania to "enter into legality", given that the central and local administration used "fraudulently" Microsoft software licenses.According to the former speaker of the Senate, this is not the first time that a political power is trying to "silence him through a judicial frame-up".The DNA announced on Monday that former Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu has been indicted in a case in which he is accused of taking bribes worth 800,000 dollars. Procedurally, the anti-corruption prosecutors have reached the stage where he is to be sent to court.
Tasmania's Grace Tame has been crowned Australian of the Year (pictured)

Campaigner Grace Tame has been crowned Australian of the Year for her advocacy and work for survivors of sexual assault.

The 26-year-old, herself a rape survivor, was presented with the award at a ceremony in Canberra on Monday evening, marking the first time a Tasmanian has won the title.

Detailing her remarkable fight for justice in an emotional speech, she explained how she was abused by a teacher at just 15-years-old.

An emotional Ms Tame said her win is for 'all survivors of child sexual abuse' as she vowed to use her position for change.

'Discussion of child sexual abuse is uncomfortable. But nothing is as uncomfortable as abuse itself,' she said.

'I lost my virginity to a paedophile. I was 15, anorexic. He was 58, my teacher. For months he groomed me, then abused me every day: Before school, after school, in my uniform, on the floor. I didn't know who I was.'

The Tasmanian became the first woman in the state to win the right to publicly name herself as a rape survivor, allowing her to speak about the abuse she went through as a 15-year-old, at the hands of a maths teacher.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and 2021 Australian of the Year winner Grace Tame during the 2021 Australian of the Year Awards at the National Arboretum in Canberra

All the 2021 Australian of the Year finalists seen ahead of the ceremony on Monday in Canberra

Prior to her legal victory, Ms Tame was barred from speaking publicly about the crimes in which she was a victim thanks to an arbitrary law, while her abuser - who was jailed - was able to openly tell his story.

'Publicly, he described his crimes as ''awesome''. Publicly, I was silenced by law,' she went on.

'Let Her Speak helped give me a voice. Campaign creator  Nina Funnell, campaign partners, the 16 other brave campaign survivors: thank you.

'Together, we can redefine what it means to be a survivor. Together, we can end child sexual abuse. Survivors, be proud. Our stories are changing history.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with wife Jenny with 2021 Australian of the Year winner Grace Tame, 2021 Young Australian of the Year winner Isobel Marshall, 2021 Senior Australian of the Year winner Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann and 2021 Local Hero winner Rosemary Kariuki

An emotional Ms Tame said her win is for 'all survivors of child sexual abuse' as she vowed to use her position for change

Grace Tame, from Tasmania, was just 15 when she became the sexual target of her maths teacher, more than 40 years her senior. Her experience sparked the #LetHerSpeak campaign

Ms Tame recalled the moment she first spoke about her abuse to a male teacher who believed her.

She said it was important to believe survivors and help them wherever possible because as a group you are stronger.

'I was abused by a male teacher. But one of the first people I told was also a male teacher. He believed me,' she said.

'I remember you towering over me, blocking the door. I remember you saying, 'don't make a sound'. Well hear me now, using my voice, in a growing chorus that will not be silenced.

'We do transform as individuals, and we do transform as a communityI know who I am. I'm a survivor.'

An emotional Ms Tame (pictured) after being announced 2021 Australian of the Year on Monday

Governor General David Hurley and wife Linda (middle) pictured with all the winners (from left) Grace Tame, Isobel Marshall Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann and Rosemary Kariuki

Ms Tame wants a greater focus on educating children on how to identify grooming and psychological manipulation by abusers.

Ms Tame decided to get a tattoo when she was 19 to represent her survival. The tattoo reads: 'Eat my fear'.

She explained that the message is about speaking up against abusers and learning the lessons from survivors.

'It's about swallowing the terror and moving forward regardless,' she said.

'That's what predators weaponise  they weaponise our fear. That's the foundation of their psychological manipulation, which is a huge element of prolonged sexual abuse.

'In fact, I would say it's the main component of prolonged sexual abuse  the cycle of psychological manipulation, as opposed to the physical, criminal behaviour. And predators want us to feel that fear.

'I say, no, let's transfer it back into their hearts, where it belongs.'

Ms Tame decided to get a tattoo when she was 19 to represent her survival. The tattoo reads: 'Eat my fear'

Ms Tame was just 15 when she was suffering from anorexia and became the sexual target of her maths teacher, more than 40 years her senior.

She had first confided in 58-year-old maths teacher Nicolaas Bester about when she was molested at the tender age of six by an older child, hoping for help and guidance.

Telling him about when an older child had forced her into a cupboard and told her to undress before she was molested, the predator then saw an opportunity to pounce.

'He then introduced the actual sexual abuse by recreating that scene that I had described to him of my childhood trauma,' she recalled.

Bester locked Ms Tame in a cupboard at Hobart's elite St Michael's Collegiate Girls' School where he then sexually molested her for the first time.

From there, Bester then groomed the young Ms Tame and exposed her to films which glorified relationships between young women and older men.

Ms Tame was just 15 when she was suffering from anorexia and became the sexual target of her maths teacher, more than 40 years her senior

Ms Tame launched a successful Supreme Court bid to publicly self-identify as a rape survivor

He would also isolate her from her family and friends saying she would overcome anorexia alone.

'He would tell me the things that he perceived I wanted to hear, like, ''you are beautiful, you don't need your mother, you don't need your father. You can beat your illness on your own. You are so intelligent''.

'He would be showering me with praise, putting me up on a pedestal. But if ever I got too much confidence or I was building enough strength to potentially see the abuse for what it was, he would take me down, he would just tear shreds off me.

'I remember I was really upset and I asked him, ''do you think I look fat?'' And he looked me up and down. He said, ''you could do with some more exercise.''

A brave Ms Tame then reported the rapes to the school and to the police which eventually saw Bester locked up for two-and-a-half years' jail.

Upon his arrest, Bester was found in possession of 28 pieces of child pornography.

When he was released from prison in 2015, he described the ordeal as 'awesome' and booked multiple interviews where he made himself appear as the victim.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and 2021 Australian of the Year winner Grace Tame during the 2021 Australian of the Year Awards at the National Arboretum in Canberra, on Monday

Furious at not being able to speak out, Ms Tame contacted Sydney-based journalist and sexual assault survivor advocate, Nina Funnell.

She shared her horrific story which then saw the launch of the Let Her Speak campaign .

'I pitched #LetHerSpeak and then spent three months designing the media and law reform strategies to underpin the campaign, also working closely with Marque Lawyers and community campaigning group, End Rape On Campus Australia, to learn from their expertise in campaigning,' Ms Funnell said at the time.

Eventually, on August 12, 2019, Ms Tame went public with her story of survival to raise awareness.

Recently, Ms Tame also fought the Victorian Government's plan to jail victims or their families for speaking about rape victims.

Under laws passed in February last year, Victorian rape and sexual assault victims cannot choose to identify themselves publicly - such as in media reports or even autobiographies - unless they get permission from a court.

Survivors could be jailed for up to four months or face $3,000 fines for telling their stories using their real names without a court order, which could cost them at least $10,000 to obtain.

She launched a successful Supreme Court bid to publicly self-identify as a rape survivor and the public awareness campaign has continued.

Ms Tame said the bill will reinforce the idea that 'there is shame in having to endure unspeakable suffering'.

'It's yet another example of how our society enables predators by silencing the victims, including in this case the grieving relatives,' she said last year.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with 2021 Senior Australian of the Year winner Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann during the 2021 Australian of the Year Awards at the National Arboretum in Canberra on Monday

Dr Miriam-Rose Ungumerr Baumann (AM) of Daly River in the Northern Territory was named Senior Australian of the Year.

In 1975, she became the Northern Territory's first fully qualified Aboriginal teacher, becoming a principal in her community of Nauiyu, 143 kilometres south-west of Darwin.

She visited schools through the Top End as an art consultant for the Department of Education.

The 69-year-old she advocated for the inclusion of visual art as part of every child's education.

Dr Ungunmerr-Baumann is also a renowned writer, public speaker, activist and artist.

Dr Ungunmerr-Baumann is also a renowned writer, public speaker, activist and artist

When announced as Senior Australian of the Year on Monday, she said she 'couldn't breathe' from her excitement.

'We have lived in this great country for many thousands of years and 200 years ago we began to interact with whitefellas,' Dr Baumann said.

'And now, Australia has become multicultural. Since then we have adapted to a new way of living. We learnt to speak your English fluently. For years, we have walked on a one-way street to learn the white people's way.

'I've learnt to walk in two worlds and live in towns and cities, and even worked in them. Now is the time for you to come closer to understand us and how - and to understand how we live, and listen to what needs are in our communities.

'When you come to visit or work in our communities and leave your comfort zones, I ask that you bring your knowledge and wisdom, but we ask you also to learn and understand how we live and function in our communities, and listen to what our needs are.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with 2021 Young Australian of the Year winner Isobel Marshall during the 2021 Australian of the Year Awards at the National Arboretum in Canberra on Monday

The Young Australian of the Year was awarded to 22-year-old social entrepreneur Isobel Marshall.

At the age of 18, Ms Marshall and her friend Eloise Hall crowdfunded a massive $56,000 in 2018, and established the charity TABOO.

TABOO was launched as a brand of ethically sourced organic pads and tampons.

All of the profits raised were sent to TABOO's charity partner One Girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda, where they are used to fight period poverty.

Ms Marshall was motivated to help young women after visiting Kenya and saw 'nothing but dirty rags to soak up the blood'.

'We met girls who had dropped out of school at 13 because of their gender and biology,' she previously said.

Ms Marshall called on for more resources to help those in need during her speech on Monday after being named 2021 Young Australian of the Year

Following her acceptance speech, Ms Marshall called for more resources to help those in need.

'The reality is that 30 per cent of girls in developing countries still drop out of school because of menstruation,' she said.

'We have a responsibility to acknowledge our privilege and use our resources to lift others up.

'Our mission is simple: to fight period poverty  to fight menstrual stigma overseas and at home.

'Those on your period, expect respect in place of shame.'

Migrant and refugee advocate Rosemary Kariuki was named Australia's Local Hero

Migrant and refugee advocate Rosemary Kariuki was named Australia's Local Hero on Monday.

She emigrated from Kenya to Sydney in 1999, carrying only a few hundred dollars, and some clothes.

Her first year in Australia was quite lonely for Ms Kariuki who decided to help support other refugees in the same position.

For the past 15 years she has specialised in helping migrants who are facing domestic violence, language barriers and financial distress.

'Sometimes we don't realise the difference the smallest gesture can make,' Ms Kariuki said.

'As humans, we have more similarities than differences.

'Together we can make this wonderful country that I call home even greater.

'I would like to encourage every one of you to meet someone from a different background this week, and see what opens up to you.'
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:06:23|Editor: huaxia

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RAMALLAH, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership seeks to revive the peace process with Israel through communicating with international bodies that would mediate between the two sides, a senior Palestinian official said Monday.

Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy chief of the Fatah movement, told reporters in Ramallah that the Palestinian leadership is communicating with China, Russia and the European Union to revive the peace process with Israel.

"Reviving the peace process must take place under multilateral international mediation, not under the United States mediation only," al-Aloul noted.

However, the Palestinian leadership will communicate with the new U.S. government for its support for the peace process with Israel based on the international law, he said.

"We hope the new U.S. government will adopt a new policy different from the controversial one that was adopted by the Trump administration," the Palestinian official added. Enditem
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Europe's battle against coronavirus entered a dangerous new phase this week as politicians pushed to tighten lockdown measures across the continent even after a weekend of rioting brought scenes of chaos to the Netherlands and Denmark amid warnings of 'civil war'.

France is due to decide whether to bring in a third national lockdown this week as Prime Minister Jean Castex warned the situation there is 'worrying', with Italy's top medic also calling for a month-long national shutdown.

That is despite John Jorritsma, mayor of Eindhoven which was hit by its worst riots in almost four decades at the weekend, warning 'we're on our way to civil war' after new nationwide curfew measures sparked public outcry.

Meanwhile hopes that vaccines might provide a quick way out of the crisis all-but faded after France's Pasteur Institute was forced to scrap a jab it had been developing with US drug-maker Merck because it doesn't work.

The news came as AstraZeneca - whose jab has yet to be approved by EU regulators - announced it was cutting vaccine supplies to the continent by up to 60 per cent because of problems with supply chains, thought to be due to under-production at a factory in Belgium.

Head of the EU executive Ursula von der Leyen had a call with the firm on Monday to 'remind them of their commitments', but EU President Charles Michel admitted that vaccinating 70 per cent of Europe's population - the figure theoretically needed to ensure herd immunity - by the end of summer as planned will now be 'difficult'.

Despite the violence, EU leaders were this week pushing to tighten restrictions further - with France and Italy both facing the prospect of more national shutdowns and the bloc recommending suspending all non-essential travel to infection hotspots

Europe's vaccine roll-out was already among the slowest in the world, but has been hit by further problems as France's Pasteur Institute mothballed its jab on Monday and AstraZeneca cut supplies to the bloc by 60 per cent due to 'supply issues'

John Jorritsma, mayor of Eidhoven which saw anti-lockdown riots at the weekend, said the country is 'on the path to civil war' as unrest grows over ever-tightening Covid lockdown measures

In other developments on the continent...

Police in the Netherlands warned of 'days or weeks of unrest' as a result of new curfew measures, imposed on the country for the first since it was occupied by the Nazis

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned rioters will be treated like 'criminals' while insisting '99 per cent' of the country supports curfew

The EU recommended cutting off all-but essential travel to dozens of regions deemed to be among the continent's hotbeds of infection, including locations in Italy, Germany, France and Spain

Italy and the European Union have suggested they could sue AstraZeneca for breach of contract after the company announced it would not meet its vaccine quota

Madrid announced its own curfew as Spain's case numbers continued to soar, with Valencia banning groups of more than two from meeting outside

Spain's health minister, Salvador Illa, stepped down amidst the pandemic to run in local elections in his home region of Catalonia

Europe, which was initially praised for its tough response to Covid after most countries went into full lockdowns in March last year, has been hammered by a second wave that a mish-mash of measures has largely failed to control.

Those efforts have been complicated by the emergence of new and potentially more-infectious variants of the virus, including in the hard-hit UK, which is now back in full lockdown.

While many countries have announced new measures to try and bring infections down, case numbers have remained stubbornly high in countries such as France, Italy and Germany, causing hospitals to run out of space.

Meanwhile Spain and Portugal have both seen infections soar to record levels after a brief dip over the festive period, putting health services under strain.

The Netherlands, which had become one of Europe's worst-affected countries with its light-touch lockdown approach, has seen cases fall dramatically in January but remain well above the lows seen during the summer.

As a result and amid fears the UK variant could cause cases to spike, new measures designed to bring the toll down were announced last week, including a 9pm to 4.30am curfew - the country's first since World War Two.

The prompted protests in 10 cities on Sunday which turned violent, as protesters fought police, looted shops, and trashed police stations.

Authorities in Eindhoven announced on Monday that 62 people had been arrested and more are being sought, while officers in Amsterdam said 192 were arrested.

'It is unacceptable,' Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. 'This has nothing to do with protesting, this is criminal violence and that's how we'll treat it.'

'My city is crying, and so am I,' Eindhoven Mayor John Jorritsma told media Sunday night. In an emotional impromptu press conference, he called the rioters 'the scum of the earth' and added 'I am afraid that if we continue down this path, we're on our way to civil war.'

Hubert Bruls, mayor of the city of Nijmegen and leader of a group of local security organizations, added: 'These demonstrations are being hijacked by people who only want one thing and that is to riot.'

In France, where fears about the UK variant are also prevalent, new border controls came into force on Sunday amid fears that a third nationwide lockdown could be on the cards later this week.

A store has been damaged near the train station in Eindhoven, after a rally by several hundreds of people against the corona policy

The EU's vaccine roll-out is also in disarray after France's Pasteur Institute was forced to admit that its vaccine doesn't work and scrap the programme, even as AstraZeneca said supplies to the EU will have to be cut by 60 per cent

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal told the France 3 broadcaster that 'all scenarios are on the table', adding that 'the next few days will be decisive'.

Some doctors meanwhile said that a lockdown was all but inevitable.

'We moving towards a lockdown,' said Denis Malvy, a member of France's Scientific Council and head of the infectious diseases department in a Bordeaux hospital.

In Italy, Professor Walter Ricciardi - adviser to the Minister of Health - used an appearance on radio to call for another four-week national shutdown, saying it is necessary to bring cases down.

Warning the Italy's current measures will be enough to flatten the number of cases but not decrease them, he added: 'We need a real lockdown of three or four weeks then resume tracing and testing, only in this way can we recover a normality that we lack.'

Meanwhile the EU recommended cutting off all-but essential travel to areas deemed to be infection hotspots with 500 or more cases per 100,000 people, and was due to publish a map later this week outlining where they are.

EU Justice commissioner Didier Reynders said that between 10 and 20 EU countries would see all or part of their territory deemed to be a high-infection zone if the map was published today.

'We also think it is necessary for essential travelers arriving from [those] areas to get tested before traveling and to undergo quarantine, unless these measures would have a disproportionate impact on the exercise of their essential function,' Reynders said.

Europe continues to be the world's worst-hit region with coronavirus, having suffered both more cases and more deaths than any other continent.

Since the start of the pandemic, some 29million cases of the virus have been logged in Europe compared to 28.6million in North America - the second-worst affected.

Meanwhile deaths in Europe are now at a combined total of 660,000 - well above second place North America with 600,000.
Posted Monday, January 25, 2021 9:15 am

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission this week is expected to decide the fate of a Navy proposal to use up to 28 state coastal parks to help train special operations SEALs on how to be undetectable.

The Navy held a five-year permit to use five state parks that expired in 2020, and the state commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to approve a five-year permit for the expanded access.

The SEALs training in state parks is controversial, as these exercises put the elite Special Operations forces in some of the state's most special outdoor places. Some Washingtonians are passionately opposed to what they view as a kind of militarization of state parks and are uneasy about the surveillance that is part of the exercise.

Navy officials say their request reflects the imperatives of finding more diverse and challenging areas to conduct important training that is not intended to be visible to visitors and will not interfere with the public's use of the parks.

The training involves submersible vessels that will navigate through offshore waters, and unarmed SEAL team trainees  in groups of six to eight  who will then make their way to shore, typically under the cover of darkness. Once on land, they will conceal themselves for 24 to 48 hours to conduct surveillance, then depart by water.

"These aren't the guys that are your Rambo guys. ... These are the guys who ghost into the environment and just disappear ... ," Chief Warrant Officer Esteban Alvarado said at a November meeting of the state Parks and Recreation Commission.

While on shore, the trainees will carry simulated weapons with no firing capability and conduct reconnaissance on other military personnel who will be "acting out a scripted scene," according to J. Overton, a deputy public affairs officer with Navy Region Northwest.

These personnel would be dressed in civilian clothing and appear to be "benign" if viewed by a park visitor, according to Overton.

In a presentation at the November meeting, Navy officials said they would "coordinate with local law enforcement on all training to ensure their awareness."

But it appears they have not always done that in some years past in Jefferson County, which includes state parks where Navy training has occurred.

Larry Morrell is a retired businessman in Port Townsend. He investigated the Navy outreach to law enforcement and obtained under a public-records request more than 35 Navy notifications to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office between 2018 and 2020. None of these notifications, which he reviewed with The Seattle Times, mentioned SEAL training exercises at state parks.

Navy SEALs have been training in state parks for years, and in 2015 formalized that use with a permit that gave permission for SEALs to train at Blake Island, Fort Flagler, Illahee, Mystery Bay and Scenic Beach state parks.

In 2018, the Navy first released the current proposal to use nearly 30 parks ranging from Cape Disappointment at the state's southwest tip to Deception Pass in northwest Washington. In 2019, the Navy completed an environmental assessment of the proposal that noted there could be up to 36 SEALs in training and support staff involved in any one exercise.

The Navy, in its environmental assessment, has divided the state's coastal state park into three zones. In the preferred alternative, the parks that would receive the heaviest use  up to 36 SEAL exercises a year  are located in a zone that stretches from Triton Cove on the Hood Canal north to Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, east of Port Townsend.

In the other two zones, parks would be used for training much less frequently: no more than three times every other year. Some of these parks are located on land, such as Fort Flagler, once controlled by the military

The environmental assessment concluded that this frequency of training would not have a significant impact on the park resources.

In the November meeting, some state Parks and Recreation commissioners were skeptical that other training areas would not work for these exercises. They asked why satisfactory sites couldn't be found within the 46-miles of state coastline already under Navy jurisdiction.

Navy officials said that the varied geography of the parks, as well as the range of currents and bottom terrain in waters around the parks, offered far better training than was available at naval sites, where some bottom areas have been cleared to allow the approach of big submarines.

"It's absolutely necessary," said Rear Adm. S.D. Barnett, commander of the Navy Region Northwest. "We just don't have a diverse range of realistic training believe it or not on the bases."

The park commissioners also asked for more information about the surveillance teams.

Navy officials said that if park visitors encountered any of the SEAL teams concealing themselves onshore, the team members would identify themselves as U.S. Navy service members conducting training, terminate the exercise and leave the area. They said this had not happened in past years and doubted it would in the future.

"The public has never interacted with them," said Chief Warrant Officer Alvarado.

The proposal has drawn more than 500 written public comments. An initial batch of these comments received as of Dec. 18, and published without the name of the writers, were overwhelming against the training.

Some were opposed to "the creep factor" of surveillance, others cited safety concerns should armed visitors suddenly come upon SEALs in training or concerns that sensitive plants might be trampled during nighttime missions. Many felt that the training conflicted with the parks' mission.

"Parks are for the public to use for recreation, for wildlife to use as natural open space," wrote one commenter, " ... for children to explore nature and discover new critters and old growth ... and all of us to decompress from the stresses of our lives."

The commission has scheduled an online hearing with oral testimony for Tuesday, two days before the scheduled vote.

The commission is made up of seven citizen members appointed by the governor. Commissioners may not hold elected office while they serve and do not receive compensation other than travel expenses.

If the commission opts to approve the Navy's use of the parks, opponents are hopeful that some state lawmakers would introduce legislation that  if passed  would void the permits and prohibit future training, according to Morrell.

___

(c)2021 The Seattle Times

Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.
Herreid Legion to remember 400 Campbell County area veterans Monday

The Herreid American Legion and the Sons of the American Legion work together to recognize veterans on Memorial Day.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Delhi police have arrested two notorious snatchers-cum-robbers identified as Sahil Goswami and Sumit who had committed multiple mobile snatching incidents at posh colonies of South Delhi like Hauz Khas, South Extension, Safdarjung Enclave, Greater Kailash, Defence Colony and nearby areas.

According to the police, on analysing the CCTV footages of multiple incidents it was revealed that same motorcycle was used in all the incidents by the accused persons. After that the police launched a search for the accused but the vehicle remained untraced despite continuous efforts as the criminals were using defective number plate on the bike.

"During analysing of CCTV footages, it was revealed that one of accused persons went inside Green Park Extension with a polythene bag and returned after 15-20 minutes without the bag. This fact gave a lead to the team that some of his known was residing in the area," DCP South Delhi Atul Thakur said.

Thereafter, the police team started an extensive search in Green Park. During the investigation, it was found that two old people were living in a park in the area for a long time and there actual residence was in Sultanpuri.

During the interrogation the elderly people revealed their family details and address.

"After cross-checking the details it was found that the son of the old man was involved in multiple cases of snatching, Arms Act and robberies. On analysing his dossier his description matched with alleged motorcycle rider Sumit," the officer said.

Working on the lead, the police nabbed Sumit from Sultanpuri after conducting raids. Sahil was arrested from Green Park on the information provided by Sumit.

During the investigation, the accused persons revealed the name of Rani Khera village resident Rohit who used to purchase the stolen mobiles from them. He was also arrested after technical surveillance.
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) is calling for clarity around when remaining frontline healthcare workers will receive a vaccine, as supply shortages continue to bring setbacks.

There are still thousands of healthcare workers waiting for their first jab with delays in the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine meaning many healthcare workers are likely to have to wait until next month to receive the jab.

Dr Matthew Sadlier of the IMO said clarity is needed among how many health workers are still in need of the first jab, as almost 6,000 HSE staff are out of work for Covid-related issues.

The problem is we dont know [when remaining staff will be vaccinated] and the problem is wed like to know. The issue is that were trying to protect staff and keep hospitals functioning.

Obviously, the hospitals cant work if we dont have staff. At this moment, there are approximately 6,000 staff that are off work because of issues related to Covid.

It is not acceptable that we dont have a plan to vaccinate those with face-to-face patient contact as the priority within the hospital service. What we are calling for is transparency around who is vaccinated and how many involved in face-to-face care are still left to be done, Dr Sadlier told Morning Ireland.

Dr Sadlier said the difficulty the health service and staff now face is that every ward is now a Covid ward, due to the sheer amount of Covid patients in each hospital.

There are 1,930 Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals, 219 of which are in ICU, according to the latest HSE data. There are 25 ICU beds unoccupied across the healthcare system, with 10 hospitals having no ICU bed remaining.

132 people in intensive care are currently on ventilators.

The concept that some layers of the hospital are affected by Covid and others arent is just not true anymore. Everyone who has face-to-face contact with a patient is now at risk.

We should have had a very definitive list in every hospital worked out over the last two months and list all staff that needed a vaccination, and then how we were going to deliver that vaccine over the last two to three weeks, Mr Sadlier said.

Dr Sadlier said he had sympathy for the HSE in dealing with such a shortfall of vaccines, but he insisted that protecting healthcare workers is actually protecting patients by having adequate staff to care for them.
Indian, Chinese soldiers clash at Sikkim's Naku La, several injured

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed at Naku La in North Sikkim last week with many injuries reported, said a government source. The situation is said to be under control though as of now. Read here

JSW Steel approaches auto companies for a hike in contract prices

JSW Steel has approached auto companies for an increase in contract prices in the wake of a widening gap between spot and contract prices. Half-yearly contracts for auto companies were renewed in October. Though prices started increasing after unlocking in July, the major surge came post October. Read here

Biden to sign executive orders to promote 'Made in America' products

US President Joe Biden will sign a series of executive orders on Monday to promote "Made in America" products and strengthen supply chains, senior officials said, asserting that the new administration remains committed to working with partners and allies to modernise international trade rules. Read here

Electric vehicles to overtake gas guzzlers in India by 2030: Mahindra

Electric-vehicle sales should overtake gas guzzlers in India by the end of the decade as prices become more aligned and infrastructure and technology improves, hopefully with help from the government, according to Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., one of the countrys biggest automakers. Read here



L&T Q3 profit rises 5% YoY

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,466.71 crore for the October-December quarter of FY21 (Q3FY21), clocking a growth of 4.8 per cent year on year (YoY) on the back of highest-ever order inflow in a quarter. Read here
Foreign factions in Libya on January 23 displayed reluctance to abide by the UN-brokered peace agreement that called for their complete withdrawal by early Saturday. Instead, the Russian-backed mercenaries Wagner were seen digging an enormous trench across Libya, stirring suspicion about the long-term goals of the Kremlin ally. United Nations-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) had brokered a truce, agreeing on temporary executive authority mechanism itching closer to diplomatic dialogues and conflict resolution in the aftermath of the fall of the ousted Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi who was captured at Sirte by rebels and shot. On January 22, LPDF negotiated a peace deal with the warring sides, brokering a cease-fire between the internationally recognized government and warlord Khalifa Haftar on the pretext of temporary political administration.

Early Saturday, foreign fighters, instead of pulling out of the war-torn region were seen demarcating a trench that extended several kilometers south of the Wagner-controlled stronghold of al-Jufra, according to ground sources of CNN. Open-source monitoring released satellite imagery maps of at least 30 defensive posts along the trench line of about 73 kilometers that stretched from the strategic port city of Sirte towards the Al-Jufra oil region. This has raised fears of foreign forces defying the terms of the LPDFs deal between the Turkey-backed Government of the National Accord in Tripoli and the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army, supported by Russia, to evacuate Libyan soil as it charts a political roadmap for the countrys national elections.

[Satellite photos of Wagner defensive positions. Credit: Twitter/@Ralee85]

Read: UN Says Breakthrough Achieved In Libya Transition Talks

Read: UN Chief Recommends Libya Cease-fire Monitors Based In Sirte

Turkish military, defense missile systems

In an exclusive statement to the network, a US intelligence official said that the Wagner is settling for the long haul in Libya and despite UN mediation, Russian-backed military group Wagner with aid from 2,000 foreign mercenaries will not withdraw. A report from Ankara, by Anadolu agency, citing ground sources in Libya suggested that the conflict-ridden region has witnessed regular breaches by militias affiliated with warlord Khalifa Haftar.

Russian-backed Wagner mercenaries might plan to stay longer in an advantage to LNA, and Moscows agenda, than supporting eastern rebel forces, analysts of the Libyan crisis told CNNs sources. It informed that the GNA has bolstered its military equipment under defense agreement with Turkey, and Turkish military troops heavy presence, presence, installation of HAWK air defense missile batteries, 3D (KALAKAN) radar suggested they are now vouching for a stronghold in the region.

Read: Reaction To Egypt Talks Between Libya's Rivals

Read: UN: 43 Europe-bound Migrants Killed In Shipwreck Off Libya

(Image Credit: AP)
Prayagraj, Jan 25 : The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a writ petition challenging penalty of Rs 2.72 crore and cess amounting to Rs 1.36 crore, imposed on constructions at Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur.

Dismissing the writ petition filed by Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust through its chairman Mohd Azam Khan, Justice J.J. Munir said the petitioner has an alternate remedy of filing an appeal against the order imposing cess under The Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996.

Earlier, appearing for the trust, senior advocate S.G. Hasnain had argued that the order against the University was passed in violation of the principles of natural justice as no opportunity was granted to the petitioner to present his case. It would be a case of consideration of adverse material in violation of the first principle of natural justice, Hasnain in court.

Additional advocate general Manish Goyal, representing the state government, argued the petitioner could file an appeal against the cess imposed.

The court after hearing concerned parties observed, "There is a complete remedy under the Cess Act available to the petitioner, which is a special and a fiscal statute. That remedy, in the opinion of this court, ought to be availed by the University, which, it cannot be permitted to bypass, by invoking this court's jurisdiction, under Article 226 of the Constitution." "It is made clear that anything said in this judgment shall not be construed as an expression on the merits of the case, which shall remain open to be determined by the Statutory Appellate Authority, if the University chooses to appeal, under the provisions of the Cess Act," the court clarified.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / Tsodilo Resources Limited ("Tsodilo" or the "Company") (TSXV:TSD) is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of a private placement financing (the "Financing") for gross proceeds to the Company of C$1,343,019

Pursuant to the Financing, the Company issued 2,686,038 units of securities of the Company (the "Units") at a subscription price of C$0.50 per Unit. Each Unit is comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company ("Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance at an exercise price of USD$0.55.

The Common Shares and Warrants issued as a result of the Financing are subject to a statutory four month and one day hold period expiring on May 26, 2021.

Proceeds from the Financing are to be used by Tsodilo for general corporate purposes and for working capital.

A director of the Company subscribed for 23,992 Units. As a result, the Financing is a related party transaction (as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements available under MI 61-101. The Company is exempt from the formal valuation requirement in section 5.4 of MI 61-101 in reliance on section 5.5(a) of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the Financing, insofar as it involves the director, is not more than the 25% of the Company's market capitalization. Additionally, the Company is exempt from minority shareholder approval requirement in section 5.6 of MI 61-101 in reliance on section 5.7(b) of MI 61-101 as the fair market value of the Financing, insofar as it involves the director, is not more than 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

About Tsodilo Resources Limited:

Tsodilo Resources Limited is an international diamond and metals exploration company engaged in the search for economic diamond, metal deposits and industrial stone at its Bosoto (Pty) Limited ("Bosoto"), Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Limited ("Gcwihaba") and Newdico (Pty) Ltd. ("Newdico) projects in Botswana and its Idada 361 (Pty) Limited ("Idada") project in Barberton, South Africa. The Company has a 100% stake in Bosoto (Pty) Ltd. which holds the BK16 kimberlite project in the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF) in Botswana and the PL216/2017 diamond prospection license also in the OKF. The Company has a 100% stake in its Gcwihaba project area consisting of seven metal (base, precious, platinum group, and rare earth) prospecting licenses all located in the North-West district of Botswana. The Company has a 100% interest in its Newdico industrial stone project located in Botswana's Central District. Additionally, Tsodilo has a 70% stake in Idada Trading 361 (Pty) Limited which holds the gold and silver exploration license in the Barberton area of South Africa. Tsodilo manages the exploration of the Gcwihaba, Bosoto, Newdico and Idada projects.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements pertaining to the use of proceeds, the impact of strategic partnerships and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward- looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, changes in equity markets, changes in general economic conditions, market volatility, political developments in Botswana and surrounding countries, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, exploration and development risks, the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration results and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, uncertainties relating to availability and cost of funds, timing and content of work programs, results of exploration activities, interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, risks relating to variations in the diamond grade and kimberlite lithologies; variations in rates of recovery and breakage; estimates of grade and quality of diamonds, variations in diamond valuations and future diamond prices; the state of world diamond markets, reliability of mineral property titles, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required project approvals, operational and infrastructure risk and other risks involved in the diamond exploration and development business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty. This news release may contain assumptions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are subject to factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

James M. Bruchs

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

JBruchs@TsodiloResources.com

Dr. Alistair Jeffcoate

Project Manager and Chief Geologist

Alistair.jeffcoate@tsodiloresources.com

Head Office

Telephone +1 416 572 2033

Facsimile + 1 416 987 4369

Website

http://www.TsodiloResources.com

SOURCE: Tsodilo Resources Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/625781/Tsodilo-Resources-Limited-Closes-First-Tranche-of-Private-Placement-Financing-for-Units

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 04:31:09|Editor: huaxia

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Video: Take a look of the COVID-19 testing scene in Houston, Texas, in January, 2021. (Xinhua)

Besides distribution confusion and anxiety, incorrect and even misleading data have also been found in southern states as healthcare providers rush to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.



HOUSTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A little over a month since COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna began reaching U.S. southern states, problems such as miscommunication, technical issues and inaccurate data have concerned officials and the public.

On Thursday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick sent a letter to the chair of the state's Expert Vaccination Allocation Panel, asking the state to refine its vaccine rollout program for people to have a clearer idea of when they can expect the vaccination.

According to a report of The Texas Tribune, Patrick's request came as distribution of vaccines in Texas has been beset with "miscommunication and technical issues" that have created confusion for patients and providers.

Texas started to receive COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said earlier this month that each week of January, the state was expected to receive 310,000 first doses and up to 500,000 second doses.

Currently, Texans in phases 1A and 1B of the vaccine rollout - which includes healthcare front-line workers, long-term care facility residents, people over 65 years old and those who are at least 16 with certain chronic medical conditions - are already eligible to be vaccinated.

Photo taken on Nov. 13, 2020 shows the Parkland Hospital which admits COVID-19 patients in Dallas, Texas, the United States. (Photo by Dan Tian/Xinhua)

Patrick wrote in his letter that in many cities and counties when an announcement of available vaccinations is made, "website sign-up pages crash and phone calls go unanswered."

"Texans need to have a better understanding of the time it will take for everyone to be vaccinated in order to reduce lines, confusion and frustration," he continued.

In the letter, Patrick suggested the state to subgroup the people in category 1B "so that the more than 4 million plus Texans and those with chronic conditions don't all expect to get their vaccination at the same time - something we know is not possible."

Texas is outpacing other states in administering the vaccine. Last week over 1 million doses were administered in the state. Since both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines need two shots, many people who already had the first dose begin to worry if they could have the second one on time as the deadline is approaching.

The state's health department said on Saturday that it was working to secure the second doses when it would release next week's vaccine allocation list.

Photo taken on Nov. 13, 2020 shows the closed F.P. Caillet Elementary school in Dallas, Texas, the United States. (Photo by Dan Tian/Xinhua)

"DSHS (Texas Department of State Health Services) automatically allocated second doses to providers based on the number of first doses they received, so people should be able to return to the same provider to receive their second dose," the department said in a release.

While some people are worried about their second dose, others are struggling to get their first one. In Tulsa, one of the largest cities in the state of Oklahoma, people are trying their best to get appointments.

"We are seeing a lot of Tulsa residents drive around the state in search of their appointment," local media quoted Oklahoma's Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed as saying on Friday.

Asking those seeking an initial dose not to take up available slots for those seeking the second shot, Reed said state officials are working to increase the availability of the vaccines in Tulsa.

Besides distribution confusion and anxiety, incorrect and even misleading data have also been found in southern states as healthcare providers rush to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.

A notice telling COVID-19 vaccine is not yet available is pictured on the door of a pharmacy in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, Nov. 25, 2020. (Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)

In the state of Louisiana, healthcare workers recently found flawed data collection concerning the race of vaccine recipients.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards unveiled on Friday that data from the state's health department showed that over half of the people who had received the vaccine had been marked "other" or "unknown" to describe their race on forms health providers are required to submit to the department.

According to Edwards, about 36 percent were marked "other" and 20 percent were marked "unknown," making the state unable to know the race of more than half the roughly 300,000 doses administered to date.

The lack of accurate information on race paints an imprecise picture of who is getting vaccines in the state, local media said. It could also undermine the push by federal and state officials to distribute vaccines equitably. 
Amazon is again asking the National Labor Relations Board to direct thousands of warehouse employees at its Alabama facility to cast ballots in person.

Amazon Demands Face-to-Face Milestone Union Voting

On Thursday, the e-commerce giant filed a motion to delay the union election, which is scheduled to start on February 8, so that the NLRB can reconsider its decision to hold the election by mail over almost two months rather than via an in-person event.

The board said in its ruling, "A mail ballot election will face employees who can not enter the voting location for health reasons or due to positive COVID tests." "In addition, during the current health crisis, the mail ballot election will protect the health and safety of voters, agency personnel, representatives and the public during the current health crisis."

On January 21, Amazon filed a petition that aims to delay the election to take place in person, with no mail votes.

Amazon said in a filing that the decision of the board doesn't define what constitutes an outbreak. The company added that the acting regional director of the board "reached the remarkable conclusion that any level of employee infection or potential infection counts as a 'outbreak.'"

Amazon asked the board to reconsider its decision to hold a mail-in referendum, claiming that the board did not adequately describe what an "outbreak of COVID-19" is. In favor of a mail-in election, the Bessemer employees quoted the outbreak in Alabama.

The workers aspire to become the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Claiming that the union members will provide better working conditions makes it more difficult for Amazon to fire them unfairly and offer the opportunity to file lawsuits about write-ups or terminations.

Amazon's two filings ask the NLRB's full board to reconsider the decision on in-person voting and to stay an election until the matter is resolved. After objections arose in a union election for nurses at a Michigan hospital, the board created the mail-in voting guidelines in November.

ALSO READ: Trump Offers Washington DC Hotel To National Guards Kicked Out of the US Capitol



Amazon said that 2.88 percent of Amazon's 7,575 staff and third-party personnel at the facility - or 218 individuals - tested positive at its Bessemer facility over the 14 days ending on January 7. The thought that this would be considered an epidemic was dismissed by Amazon.

In last week's NLRB ruling, Henderson noted that as of January 11, Jefferson County, where the facility is located, had a positive rate of more than 17 percent, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In November, the NLRB said that if the number of reported cases in the county increases, or if it is 5 percent or higher, mail-in elections will "normally be appropriate" Amazon claimed in its filing that this decision "reflected assumptions developed comparatively earlier in the pandemic."

The union drive comes as the working conditions in Amazon's warehouse during the pandemic have come under heightened scrutiny. To meet a rise in demand, the organization has employed hundreds of thousands of employees globally. After the start of the pandemic, several factory employees have spoken out about safety issues.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The two companies are working together to expand outreach to Southern California's economic power players. Tweet this

"Even with the introduction of the vaccine, it is important to keep expanding access to testing. By providing easy access to RT-PCR with lab and home-based collection, and lab site rapid tests, Vivera is working with the businesses and laboratories who rely on us to ensure supply," stated Paul Edalat, Vivera Pharmaceuticals' CEO.

Burkhan's focus is to invest with companies that can bring revolutionary technologies and experiences to our society to help better our standards of living for today.

"As an organization that deals with the day to day challenges presented by the pandemic, Burkhan is very proud to be a part of this initiative," said Shahal Khan Burkhan's Founder, "Providing the latest in accessible COVID-19 testing is a way to increase efficiency and get our local economies back to work."

The two companies are working together to expand outreach to Southern California's economic power players, including the film and television industry, hospitality, and travel sectors.

About Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is an innovative, science-driven pharmaceutical company focused on novel therapies for a variety of indications. In addition to its pharmaceutical, medical device, advanced diagnostics, medical supply, medical technologies, neurosciences, and health and human service divisions, the Company has global exclusivity to license the patented and patent-pending TABMELT sublingual drug-delivery system for the pharmaceutical use of therapeutic compounds. Vivera is vertically integrated with patented technology, manufacturing capabilities, and distribution for its products. For more information please visit www.viverapharma.com, or email at [email protected]

About Burkhan

All projects of Burkhan are designed to give back to society and to reinvest in fundamental development of the human mind into one that is more aware, responsible, caring and empathetic. Burkhan is the holding company of Shahal Khan and is privately held operated as an investment holding company in the USA. White City Ventures has been active for over 14 years and advised on over $5b in transactions globally.

Contact:

Vivera Pharmaceuticals

Press Office

949-234-6161

[email protected]

SOURCE Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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Three hare coursers who showed 'complete disregard' for a farmer after they drove over his sugar beet crop have now been fined over 1,000.

The men were spotted driving a silver Land Rover across a field near Cambridge Road, in Fowlmere, at about noon on 24 September 2020.

Officers from Cambridgeshire Police's Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) were able to quickly box the car in near the junction with the A505.

They found the five-seater car was overloaded with the three men, including three children and three dogs.

The driver, Jimmy Cole, 43, denied hare coursing and claimed he had driven to the area from Surrey to 'walk the dog'.

The hare coursers were issued with community protection notices and dispersed from the area.

Officers then returned to the field and found extensive damage caused to the crops where the men had driven straight through the middle and ignored a number of 'no vehicles' signs.

The damage caused to the sugar beet crops was estimated to cost the farmer about 500.

The men were summonsed and sentenced at Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 20 January 2021.

Jimmy Cole, of Lyne Road, Surrey, admitted criminal damage, daytime trespass in pursuit of game and using a motor vehicle dangerously.

He was ordered to pay 500 compensation to the farmer, fined an additional 500 and three penalty points were added to his licence.

Chase Loveridge, 36, of Guildford Road, Surrey, and Levi Cole, 20, of Lyne Road, Surrey, admitted daytime trespass in pursuit of game and were handed 300 fines.

DC Tom Nuttall, from the RCAT, said: These men showed complete disregard for the farmer by driving over his crops and damaging his livelihood, all to try and escape from police with an overloaded car.

"We will continue to do all we can and use whatever methods possible to disrupt and deter hare coursers in Cambridgeshire."

A new petition seeking to increase sentencing for hare coursing and poaching has gathered over 11,000 signatures.

The online campaign, uploaded on the parliament.uk website, says the current law surrounding the crime is 'not fit for purpose'.

It adds that criminals are 'not deterred with the small fines handed out', and that increased fines and custodial sentences are required.
Australia's exports to China surged by 21 per cent in just one month despite the nasty trade war with its biggest trading partner.

In December alone, almost $35billion worth of Australian goods and services were sent overseas, as the Communist power bought substantially more iron ore to make steel for its Covid recovery.

China's 80 per cent tariffs on barley have also done nothing to dent the agricultural sector, with other markets buying Australian cereals.

Last month, barley exports tripled while wheat exports surged to a record high as Russia battled a drought.

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Australia's exports to China surged by 21 per cent in just one month despite the nasty trade war with its biggest trading partner. Pictured is President Xi Jinping

The China trade spat has clearly failed with Australian exports to China surging by 21 per cent in December to $13.3billion.

Australia's remarkable trade balance Australia's exports to China surged 21 per cent in December to $13.3billion China bought 38 per cent of Australia's $34.9billion worth of exports The monthly trade surplus of $8.956billion was the fourth highest on record Chinese demand for iron ore saw exports of this commodity surge 21 per cent Wheat exports hit a record high as Russia drought boosted demand from Saudi Arabia Advertisement

China bought 38.2 per cent of Australia's overall exports of $34.9billion - which rose by 16.3 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics trade data showed.

Australia's monthly trade surplus also stood at $8.956billion - the fourth highest on record - as the value of imports fell nine per cent to $25.971billion.

'Exports of metalliferous ores and cereals are the strongest in history, resulting in the fourth highest goods trade surplus on record,' the ABS's head of international statistics Katie Hutt said.

China's insatiable demand for iron ore, the commodity from Western Australia used to make steel, soared by $2.2billion, or 21 per cent, in December to $12.5billion as Brazil continued to struggle with production.

Even more bizarrely, barley exports last month rose by $182 million, or 254 per cent, despite China in May imposing 80 per cent tariffs on the cereal in retaliation at Prime Minister Scott Morrison's April call for an inquiry into the origins of Covid.

That first round of trade intimidation sparked a December complaint to the World Health Organisation from former trade minister Simon Birmingham.

Saudi Arabia last month bought 42 per cent of Australia's barley exports as Russia, the world's biggest wheat exporter, suffered from a drought.

Australian wheat exports surged 423 per cent in December.

'December exports of cereals was the largest on record,' the ABS said.

'Favourable growing conditions in Australia, coupled with less favourable conditions in other wheat growing regions such as Russia has driven demand for Australian wheat to record highs.'

Despite the good news, Oxford Economics senior economist Sean Langcake said more Australian exports were vulnerable to more trade sanctions from China.

In December alone, almost $35billion worth of Australian goods and services were sent overseas, as the Communist power bought substantially more iron ore to make steel for its Covid recovery. China's insatiable demand for iron ore, the commodity from Western Australia used to make steel, soared by $2.2billion, or 21 per cent, in December to $12.5billion

'Given these disputes are far from resolved, trade barriers could be in place for quite some time and may broaden to include other goods,' he said.

Oxford Economics concluded that while resources exports had a low vulnerability score, more rural exporters could be in danger if China could source them from other markets.

'A particular export is more vulnerable if China is a relatively important market (for Australia and globally) and/or if Australia is a relatively small supplier (to China and globally), which would allow China to substitute to supply from elsewhere,' Mr Langcake said.

Mr Morrison on Monday said he was prepared to meet President Xi Jinping to resolve the trade dispute provided China didn't demand concessions.

'We will remain absolutely open and available to meet, to discuss, any of the issues that have been identified,' he said.

Even more bizarrely, barley exports last month rose by $182 million, or 254 per cent, despite China in May imposing 80 per cent tariffs on the cereal in retaliation at Prime Minister Scott Morrison's April call for an inquiry into the origins of Covid. Wheat exports surged 423 per cent in December to a record high

'But those discussions won't take place on the base of any sort of preemptive concessions on Australia's part on those matters.'

Even before the Covid pandemic, China was upset with Australia over its decision in August 2018 to ban Huawei from installing 5G mobile networks.

In February 2019, Chinese customs authorities delayed shipments of Australian coal at its Dalian port to send a message.

Similar tactics were tried in 2020 with Australian coal shipments.

China has also stymied Australian exports of timber, lobster, lamb and cotton as part of its intimidation tactics despite in 2015 signing the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement eliminating tariffs and trade barriers.
President Joe Biden is poised to repeal his predecessor Donald Trump's ban on transgender people enlisting in the US military, a person familiar with the matter said.

The source, who spoke to Reuters anonymously because the action is not yet public, said Biden could lift the ban as soon as Monday. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plan marks the latest effort by the Biden administration to roll back many of Trump's policies.

President Joe Biden is poised to repeal his predecessor Donald Trump's ban on transgender people enlisting in the US military, a person familiar with the matter said

The source, who spoke to Reuters anonymously because the action is not yet public, said Biden could lift the ban as soon as Monday. Demonstrators gather to protest in July 2017

Trump announced the ban in July 2017, reversing a landmark decision by his predecessor, Barack Obama, which allowed transgender people to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders.

According to US Department of Defense data, there are about 1.3 million active personnel serving in the US military, but no official figures on the number of trans members are available.

While transgender military personnel under Trump's policy were allowed to keep serving, new recruits were kept out.

Biden's plan to repeal the ban is supported by newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

'If you're fit and you're qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve and you can expect that I will support that throughout,' Austin said at his confirmation hearing.

The move comes as Biden tries to tackle discrimination against LGBT+ people.

Biden has also tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.

A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide.

Trump announced the ban in July 2017, reversing a landmark decision by his predecessor, Barack Obama, which allowed transgender people to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders. Demonstrators are seen protesting the ban in 2017

She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

'Dr Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic  no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability  and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,' Biden said in a statement.

'She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration's health efforts.'

Annise Parker, former Houston mayor and president & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Institute, said in a statement: 'Her nomination is groundbreaking and shows the Biden administration will choose the most qualified individuals to lead our nation regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

'Dr Levine is making history and will transform Americans perceptions of trans people when she takes office and begins to work on their behalf.'

It was also revealed last week that people can now select gender-neutral pronouns when contacting the US government.

People who identify as non-binary - neither male nor female - can now select the gender-neutral title 'Mx' on the White House website's contact page, which also added a drop-down list of personal pronouns, including 'they/them'.

The website update marks a departure from Trump's administration, which issued orders emphasizing the importance of 'biological sex' rather than gender identity.

On Wednesday, Biden also signed an executive order that said federal agencies must not discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity when implementing existing federal laws that bar discrimination on the basis of sex.

That will apply in areas including 'education, housing, credit and healthcare', Graciela Gonzales, a spokeswoman for LGBT+ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, said by email.

'Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,' Biden's order said.

'Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes.'

Biden published a lengthy list of LGBT+ pledges during the presidential campaign and said he wanted to sign the Equality Act, which would explicitly outlaw discrimination against LGBT+ people - during his first 100 days in office.

Biden also revoked a Trump order that had banned federal diversity training on racist, sexist and homophobic bias, as part of his 'order on advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government'.

A former Irish priest who pleaded guilty to possessing crystal meth had been removed from ministry by Pope Francis.

Michael O'Leary, originally from Dublin, was arrested in 2019 after being caught in a New York car park with more than half-an-ounce of methamphetamine.

The 52-year-old was charged and later released on bail before pleading guilty to two charges, including attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell it.

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He had been awaiting sentencing, with his case listed for compliance to ensure he was abiding by certain court conditions.

Records show that on Wednesday at Westchester County Criminal Court, the attempted drug-dealing charge, the most serious of the two, was dismissed.

He was sentenced for the lesser charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance, which is categorised as a misdemeanour under New York State law.

O'Leary was given a conditional discharge for one year and released on his own recognisance. It means he will avoid serving any prison time and possibly a criminal conviction if he does not commit an offence over the next 12 months.

The charge of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree with intent of sale or supply was recorded as dismissed.

Court records stated O'Leary was the driver of a Toyota vehicle that was searched by police in the March 17, 2019, incident.

Pipes

Officers discovered a number of plastic bags, 16 grams of methamphetamine and two glass pipes.

One of the pipes had residue of the drug on it.

Digital weighing scales were also recovered from the vehicle.

O'Leary's co-accused, Alberto Calderon (29), of Brooklyn, New York, faced three charges, including the sale of drugs and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

A notice in Catholic New York, America's largest Catholic newspaper, in June of last year confirmed O'Leary had been laicised by Pope Francis.




Neetu Kapoor's daughter and Ranbir Kapoor's sister Riddhima Kapoor, and her husband Bharat Sahni completed 15 years of marital bliss on Sunday (January 24, 2021). On this special occasion, Riddhima took to her Instagram page to pen a heartwarming note to wish her hubby. She also shared a few unseen pictures from their wedding.

Riddhima Kapoor took to her Instagram page and wrote, "15 years 180 months 780 weeks 5475 days 131400 hours 7884000 minutes and counting ... Happy 'Crystal' Anniversary @brat.man #tothenext15years   Love & kisses."

Riddhima's friends reacted to her post. Neelam Kothari commented, "Happy anniversary ." "Aw lovely . Happy Anniv loads of good wishes and love ," wrote Tara Sharma. Bhavana Pandey posted, "Happy Anniversary ." "Happy happy anniversary ," wrote Amrita Arora's comment.

Meanwhile, Riddhima's hubby Bharat, also dropped an endearing anniversary wish for his wife dearest.

He posted, "They say if at first you don't succeed try doing it the way your wife told you. Happy Anniversary @riddhimakapoorsahniofficial  Thank you for everything you do for us  #15 #happywife #happylife #happyme ."

Earlier, Riddhima, Bharat and Samara had accompanied Neetu and Ranbir for a holiday in Ranthambore.

Unlike her parents and brother, Riddhima was never interested in becoming an actor. "I am very old now, but even when I had the chance, I was always inclined towards my creative side, and fashion, jewellery, etc. My parents never pressurised me (to become an actor), they always supported what I wanted to do, be it getting into the fashion business, or getting married in Delhi despite being a Mumbai girl. I am fortunate that my husband too has been supportive," she was quoted as saying in an interview with Hindustan Times.

In another interview, Riddhima had opened up about her marriage and said, "Marriage is a two-way street. You just can't keep expecting from your partner and your partner can't keep expecting from you. There's a lot of giving and take, but it's more important to be friends. My husband and I started with a friendship that developed into a relationship, and that led to marriage. And now even though we are married, we are very good friends."

Riddhima and Bharat welcomed their baby girl, Samara in 2011.

ALSO READ: Karisma Kapoor Shares Pics From Riddhima's Birthday Bash; Alia, Ranbir, Kareena Have A Gala Time

ALSO READ: Riddhima Kapoor Sahni Says Alia Bhatt And Sister Shaheen Are 'Too Too Cute'
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India is all set to display its rich cultural heritage, economic progress and defence prowess during the annual parade on the 72nd Republic Day .

The celebrations this year are expected to be less grandeur, with smaller marching contingents, a shorter distance for the parade and fewer spectators compared to the previous years.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

The newly procured Rafale fighter jets will take part in the parade for the first time and the armed forces will showcase T-90 tanks, the Samvijay electronic warfare system, Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets, among others, said the Defence Ministry on Monday.

Total 32 tableaus -- 17 from states and union territories, six from the Defence ministry and nine from other Union ministries and paramilitary forces -- will roll down the Rajpath on Tuesday.

"School children will perform folk arts and crafts displaying skills and dexterity handed down from generations -- Bajasal, one of the most beautiful folk dances of Kalahandi in Odisha, Fit India Movement and Aatmanirbhar Bharat," the ministry noted.

A 122-member proud contingent of the Bangladesh armed forces will also march on Rajpath on Tuesday, the ministry said.

"The Bangladesh contingent will carry the legacy of legendary Muktijoddhas of Bangladesh, who fought against oppression and mass atrocities and liberated Bangladesh in 1971," it added.

India is currently celebrating the Swarnim Vijay Varsh - Golden Jubilee year - commemorating the country's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

The Indian Army will showcase the main battle tank T-90 Bhishma, infantry combat vehicle BMP-II-Sarath, mobile autonomous launcher of the Brahmos missile system, multi-launcher rocket system Pinaka, electronic warfare system Samvijay among others during the parade on Tuesday, the Defence ministry noted.

The Indian Navy's tableau at the Republic Day parade this year will showcase models of Indian naval ship (INS) Vikrant and naval operations that were conducted during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will showcase models of light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas and indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile Dhruvastra on its tableaus during the parade, the ministry noted.

They also showcased scaled-down models of the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet and Rohini radar on the tableaus.

A total of 38 IAF aircraft, include Rafale, and four planes of the Indian Army will participate in the flypast on Tuesday.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will have two tableaus at this year's parade, one showcasing light combat aircraft Tejas' successful take off from aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in 2020, and another displaying full complement of the anti-tank guided missile systems, the Defence ministry said.

The Republic Day parade ceremony will commence with Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the National War Memorial.

"He will lead the nation in paying solemn tributes to the fallen heroes by laying a wreath. Thereafter, the PM and other dignitaries will head to the saluting dais at Rajpath to witness the parade," the ministry noted.

As per tradition, the national flag will be unfurled followed by the national anthem with a booming 21-gun salute, it said.

The parade will commence with President Ram Nath Kovind taking the salute, the ministry added.

Seventeen tableaux from various states and union territories, namely, Gujarat, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Tripura, West Bengal, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi and Ladakh will be showcased during the parade, depicting the geographical and rich cultural diversity of the country, it said.

It stated these tableaux will show the vision for Ladakh to be carbon neutral, the sun temple at Modhera in Mehsana District of Gujarat, tea-tribes of Assam, shore temple and other monuments of Pallava Dynasty in Tamil Nadu, Bhakti Movement and saints of Maharashtra, etc.





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Accused paedophile Malka Leifer has boarded a plane for Australia just hours before Israeli airports were set to close due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ms Leifer lost an appeal challenging her extradition to Australia at the Supreme Court of Israel in December, which cleared the way for her to stand trial after a six-year legal saga.

Malka Leifer (right) appears in a Jerusalem court in February 2018. Credit:AP

The Supreme Court justices said that the ruling finalises the decision of the appellant as extraditable to stand trial in Australia.

Ms Leifer, 52, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick in Melbournes inner south-east, is charged with 74 counts of sex abuse against three of her former students. The offences allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2008.
WIPRO

News Summary

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced that it has been recognised by the Top Employers Institute as a Top Employer in Australia, for 2021, for the second consecutive year.
London: Chinas President Xi Jinping has warned of possible confrontation if countries pursue a policy of economic decoupling from China.

Speaking to the World Economic Forum, ordinarily hosted in the Swiss ski resort of Davos but held virtually this year due to the pandemic, Xi said confrontation would lead the world to a dead-end.

Chinas president Xi Jinping, pictured last year. Credit:AP

To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation, he said.

We have been shown time and again that to beggar thy neighbour, to go it alone and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail.
Manitoba not only lags behind other Canadian provinces when it comes to quickly vaccinating its highest-priority citizens, but also in providing details to the rest of its population on when  or if  they can expect to be immunized against COVID-19 in 2021.

Manitoba not only lags behind other Canadian provinces when it comes to quickly vaccinating its highest-priority citizens, but also in providing details to the rest of its population on when  or if  they can expect to be immunized against COVID-19 in 2021.

Other provincial governments  in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec  have released far more detailed information than Manitoba's on the order in which different groups will be vaccinated and how long it is expected to take.

While the province previously promised to release a timetable for when different Manitobans could expect to become eligible for vaccination as early as last week, that changed when news broke that Pfizer-BioNTech would reduce shipments of its product to Canada.

Over the next month, Manitoba will receive 28,000 fewer doses than expected, which accounts for the majority of its forecasted delivery.

It was this development that Dr. Joss Reimer  medical lead on the provinces vaccination task force  pointed to last week when explaining why there would be a delay in releasing the vaccine rollout plan to the public.

"With the Pfizer disruption, we want to take a second, and take another look at that again, so that we can ensure we provide accurate information to Manitobans and can follow through on any commitments that we make," Reimer said.

A provincial spokeswoman told the Free Press, via a written statement on Sunday, that further updates on the rollout will be provided this week.

But multiple public health experts who spoke to the Free Press said that disruptions in the vaccine supply chain  which are not only expected but have been long predicted  should not impact the timeline for releasing information about the rollout to the public.

James Blanchard, an epidemiologist and public health specialist at the University of Manitoba, said he hopes this foot-dragging isnt a sign the province has yet to determine how it plans to proceed with its vaccine rollout.

"Once we knew the characteristics of the vaccine, in terms of the number and timing of doses  and thats been known for some time  at that point you can develop a basic sequencing for the rollout. Im assuming that would have been done quite some time ago," Blanchard said.

"The question becomes: when or why do you communicate it to the public? I would suggest you communicate that to the public as soon as you know what your plan is."

That Manitoba is lagging behind other provinces when it comes to providing such information is consistent with patterns seen throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic. Last year, the provincial government released far less detailed virus modelling than seen in other jurisdictions.

Blanchard said releasing such information and forecasting gives people insight into what the government is envisioning as the pandemic continues to unfold, and helps them know what to expect for themselves and their families.

"Its important for that information to be out because people know there are going to be constraints until vaccination is having an effect on transmission and protecting the vulnerable. Having a sense of what the timeline looks like is helpful to buttress strategies for reducing transmission in the meantime," Blanchard said.

"I think its also important to indicate that once we reach certain thresholds with vaccine coverage that it may affect certain aspects of people's lives and the strains on the health-care system."

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said there should be a public list of which populations get vaccines, in what priority, with flexible timelines based on the supply chain and distribution.

"We called for that more than a month ago Manitobas vaccine rollout has been one of the worst in Canada. Our mortality rate is the second-worst as well, and unless they get their act together, that will be the legacy of this government," Lamont said.

Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said transparency from the provincial government and informed decision making among citizens will lead to the best results for Manitobans.

"Listening to the people on the frontlines and actioning the next steps accordingly will not only help to keep our nurses here in Manitoba but will put the health of Manitobans first," Jackson said.

"Our neighbouring provinces seem to be forthcoming with their plans and we would invite this government to do the same."

Cynthia Carr, a Winnipeg-based epidemiologist and the founder of EPI Research, said there have been some smart decisions with the vaccine rollout in Manitoba, including prioritization for first doses.

"I really liked how Manitoba looked at the two most important categories and put them together, in terms of the strategy for how to use the small amount of the vaccine we started with. That is looking at what we call exposure-vulnerable individuals and health-vulnerable individuals," Carr said.

By "exposure-vulnerable" Carr meant people who are at a high risk of contracting the virus due to their job or where they live, and by "health-vulnerable" she meant individuals who are at high risk of complications should they become infected.

"They put those together and said, If you work in these frontline health care situations and youre within these age groups then you are a priority. I thought that was really smart in terms of strategy," Carr said.

Carr added that the province was smart to ignore calls to "get needles in arms" as soon as possible, instead taking a more measured approach that saw them hold back some doses.

"That approach would only be productive if you absolutely have 100 per cent certainty in your supply chain And the time to trust the supply chain is not at the start of a very new and global situation," Carr said.

"Youre only inoculated if you get the right dose for your age group and its on time. My understanding is Manitoba reserved the second dose and didnt get caught up in (the calls to rush) and thats extremely intelligent."

Carr also said Manitobans should be prepared for additional bumps in the road as the vaccine rollout continues  although she hopes that wont include major disruptions.

"This is a global issue. There are billions of people involved Its now up to the manufacturing process to be able to keep up. Its not just about the vaccine. Its about vials, the needles, the boxes, the refrigeration," Carr said.

"Its really important to remember that this is an enormous endeavour and it would be surprising if there were not further challenges."

But hopefully those challenges are few and far between, because with the risk of a COVID-19 variant turning up in Manitoba increasing all the time, speed is of the essence.

"The consequences of a variant coming in thats much more transmissible, the health impact  before the vaccine is able to dampen down the epidemic sufficiently  could be substantial," Blanchard said.

"Its just another reason why there should be such a substantial impetus into putting all our resources into the vaccine rollout."

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe
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[January 25, 2021] Ivanti Wavelink Improves Mobile Productivity in the Supply Chain With SAP Certified Integration With SAP S/4HANA and SAP NetWeaver

Ivanti Wavelink, the supply chain business unit of Ivanti Inc., today announced that Ivanti Velocity 2.1 and Ivanti Speakeasy 1.0 have achieved SAP (News - Alert) certification as integrated with SAP S/4HANA and SAP NetWeaver. These integrations help to optimize the mobile user experience for customers within their SAP environments. Adding SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) and the browser apps for the mobile internet transaction server (ITS) component within SAP S/4HANA to its portfolio of supported solutions, Ivanti Wavelink (News - Alert) brings a modern, mobile interface to SAP environments. Key benefits of this support include improved workflows, reduced training times and streamlined supply chain and warehousing operations through Ivanti Velocity 2.1 and Ivanti Speakeasy (News - Alert) 1.0. Furthermore, organizations leveraging Ivanti Speakeasy can now add voice capabilities to their SAP applications running on Android, iOS and Windows based mobile devices for a consistent user experience across devices. "Ivanti is excited for its industrial browser and terminal emulation solutions to have achieved SAP certified integration with SAP S/4HANA and SAP NetWeaver," said Brandon Black, vice president and general manager, Ivanti Wavelink. "We're pleased to be able to offer our customers end-to-end mobile productivity through a modernized web user interface that is optimized for touch, scanning and voice interaction." By supporting SAP applications for rapid deployment, without redesign or IT system modifications, Ivanti Wavelink is providing businesses that use SAP technologies with the flexibility to choose the mobile devices that meet their needs. Additionally, Ivanti Velocity and Ivanti Speakeasy reduce risk of inconsistency through the delivery of an enhanced touchscreen-friendly user experience across multiple operating systems. With Ivanti Velocity 2.1 and Ivanti Speakeasy 1.0 now SAP certified as integrated with SAP S/4HANA and SAP NetWeaver, key benefits to supply chain andwarehousing organizations include:



A familiar user interface and consistent experience across all mobile devices, including Android (News - Alert) , iOS and Windows-based platforms for increased productivity

Voice enablement of SAP EWM workflows with no middleware or dedicated voice devices required

Reduction of risk and the ability to increase investments in mobile productivity and enablement strategies Supply chain and warehousing organizations today are relying more than ever on mobile productivity solutions to keep up with the e-commerce demand and growth. As such, it is becoming increasingly important to provide a consistent look and feel across all devices, whether they leverage the Android, iOS or Windows operating systems. Furthermore, the solutions provide the ability to tailor screens for SAP technologies with optimal end-user components to drive improved productivity. "In a warehouse or factory setting, end users may only need one or two choices," continued Black. "By altering what is delivered on screen through their SAP applications, organizations can focus the attention of their workers on the task at hand and prevent mistakes which can slow the process considerably. The ability to have an enhanced user experience that is designed with an intuitive display minimizes training time while simultaneously improving efficiencies."

Availability Ivanti Velocity 2.1 and Ivanti Speakeasy 1.0 are available now. For more information, visit www.ivanti.com/wavelink. About Ivanti Wavelink Ivanti Wavelink software enables organizations to leverage modern mobile technology in the warehouse and across the supply chain to improve productivity, picking accuracy, and reduce risks without modifying backend IT systems. It's been deployed with 10,000+ customer on over 5 million devices. Ivanti Wavelink is part of Ivanti, which automates IT and Security Operations to discover, manage, secure and service cloud to edge. Ivanti is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and has offices all over the world. For more information, visit www.ivanti.com/wavelink and follow @GoIvanti. Copyright  2021, Ivanti. All rights reserved. Any statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) ), including its most recent annual report on Form 20-F, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. SAP cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which SAP has no obligation to update and which speak only as of their dates. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005003/en/

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Thomas S. Rimel, Jr., President of Stockwell Elastomerics, Inc. Bill Stockwell said, With the addition of Tom Rimel to our leadership team, we move into the next phase of our mission. Tom brings the expertise and experience that Stockwell Elastomerics needs to grow and succeed. I have every confidence he will lead the company well.

Stockwell Elastomerics, Inc. announces today that Thomas S. Rimel, Jr. has joined the company as its new president. The announcement was made by company Chairman Bill Stockwell. Mr. Rimel is the first executive outside of the 4th generation Stockwell family to lead the business since it was founded in 1919.

Bill Stockwell said, With the addition of Tom Rimel to our leadership team, we move into the next phase of our mission to become Americas leading provider of highly innovative gasketing, cushioning and sealing solutions to protect sensitive technology in extreme environments. Tom brings the expertise and experience that Stockwell Elastomerics needs to grow and succeed. I have every confidence he will lead the company well.

Rimel was previously the president of Dunmore Corporation, a well-established provider of engineered films, foils, fabrics and adhesive products for technical applications. During his 25 year tenure with Dunmore, Rimel played an integral role in the strategy and execution of sales growth in new markets, manufacturing improvements, and strategic acquisitions. He held a number of positions including Chief Operating Officer, Business Development Manager, Plant Manager and Process Engineering Manager.

Rimel holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and later earned an M.B.A. from LaSalle University in Philadelphia PA. His career began working in various technical and business positions with companies such as DuPont, International Paper and Adhesives Research, Inc.

Over the past four years, Stockwell Elastomerics has become an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) company, built a third building to expand capacity on its northeast Philadelphia campus, and celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Company Chairman Bill Stockwell adds, My goal has been for Stockwell Elastomerics to remain durable and independent, growing its business with strategic customers in our key markets and setting a standard for excellence in our industry. Keeping our business in Philadelphia, while building a high performance culture with our diverse mix of tenured and newer employees, has become a special passion in recent years of service to our mission. We are fortunate to have Tom join our company and lead us to greater heights of business excellence.

About Stockwell Elastomerics, Inc.

Stockwell Elastomerics provides high performance silicone rubber gaskets and materials to solve design and manufacturing challenges. Its customer base includes companies in the North American technology sector who utilize the companys innovation and responsiveness to bring their products to market more quickly. Key markets include medical diagnostic equipment, ruggedized portable devices, aerospace and defense, airflow management, alternative energy and analytical instrumentation. The 90 person company became an ESOP in 2017. Stockwell Elastomerics is ISO 9001:2015 registered. For complete information on Stockwell Elastomerics' products, manufacturing capabilities and industries served, please visit https://www.stockwell.com.
Facebook screenshot

Redlands Grill, a concept by J. Alexander's Holdings, Inc., is coming to The Rim area this spring.

The grill at 17422 Fiesta Texas Drive was expected to open in the first half of 2020. According to the website and social media pages, the date was pushed back to March 29, 2021. Social media promotions say the location is "coming along nicely."
A team of scientists from Saudi Arabia has recently surveyed healthcare workers to evaluate their knowledge, attitudes, practices, and stress level during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The study reveals that healthcare workers from Saudi Arabia suffer from a high level of anxiety due to a higher risk of acquiring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

Background

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on frontline workers' professional and personal lives, particularly healthcare workers. Because of fast-paced research works, new information related to the pandemic is emerging almost daily, which has made it challenging for healthcare workers to stay updated with the current knowledge. This can severely impact their attitudes and practices toward patient care.

In Saudi Arabia, during the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a high level of compliance and adaptive attitude toward infection prevention and control has been observed among healthcare workers.

In the current study, the scientists have evaluated the anxiety level and preparedness of healthcare workers related to COVID-19 management in a government tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia during the pandemic.

Study design

During the survey, online questionnaires were sent to 1,500 healthcare workers, bringing 957 responses. Of all respondents, the majority were females and nurses. Specifically, the information about COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes toward control measures, variation in hygiene practices, and stress level was collected.

Important observations

The scientists have compared the self-reported anxiety levels of healthcare workers during COVID-19, MERS-CoV, and seasonal influenza. The highest anxiety level was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 88% of healthcare workers reporting a high anxiety level. However, the respondents have mentioned having a higher preparedness during COVID-19 compared to other viral outbreaks. About 97% of respondents have mentioned attending N95 mask fit testing, whereas only 58% have mentioned attending simulation sessions organized by the hospitals for COVID-19 management. Notably, about 25% of respondents have mentioned that their hospitals do not have any psychological support systems.

Regarding knowledge, attitude, and practices related to COVID-19, most respondents have mentioned that they understand the importance of control measures recommended by the hospitals and strongly believe in implementing them during COVID-19 patient care. An improvement in hygiene practices has been observed among respondents. However, their hygiene practice attitude has been found to associate significantly with higher anxiety levels.

About 95% of respondents have mentioned being worried about acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection regarding the source of anxiety. More than 50% have mentioned that they are worried about the shortage of personal protective equipment in the hospital, especially in high-risk wards. The respondents who use social media to gather COVID-19 related information has been found to have higher anxiety level.

Importantly, a positive association was observed between the anxiety levels of healthcare workers and their clinical roles and work locations. Low anxiety level was seen among resident physicians and nurses compared to consultants. Similarly, a higher anxiety level was seen among healthcare workers serving general hospital wards, including COVID-19 wards and pediatric emergency wards. In general, a lower anxiety level was seen among healthcare workers who are working in a hospital with an appropriate psychological support system.

The anxiety level of healthcare workers were found to increase over the period of the COVID-19 pandemic gradually. Similarly, the knowledge related to COVID-19 management and attitude toward hygiene practices increased significantly during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. An increase in the frequency of receiving annual influenza vaccine also occurred among healthcare workers during the pandemic. Moreover, a tendency of rescheduling annual leave has been observed among them.

Study significance

The study reveals that healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia suffer from increased anxiety levels during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly because of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection. Having proper emotional and psychological support systems at the workplace can help reduce their anxiety level and improve mental well-being.

*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.

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Seven has appointed Clare Gill as Head of Regulatory and Government Affairs, to replace Justine McCarthy, who is moving to a new role as Senior Adviser to Paul Fletcher MP.

She was previously Group Director, Regulatory Affairs and Spectrum Strategy, at Nine and Head of Government and Corporate Affairs at SingTel Optus.

At Seven she will be responsible for Government and regulatory affairs, corporate affairs, industry group representation, external stakeholder management and strategic input to business strategy.

CEO James Warburton said: Justine McCarthy has been a highly valued member of the Seven West Media team since 2012 and has made an important contribution across many parts of our business. We are sad to lose her, and she leaves with our thanks and very best wishes for the future.

The fact that she has been selected for the new role with our Minister is a tribute to her abilities, experience and profile and we look forward to continuing our association with her on industry matters at a Government level.

We are delighted to welcome Clare Gill to Seven West Media. Clare has a long and impressive track record in government, regulatory and corporate affairs, as well as policy development, industry relations and business strategy, he said.

She is a strong addition to our executive team and joins at a critical time for Seven West Media and the media industry in general.

Ms Gill said: I am thrilled to be joining Seven West Media at such an exciting time for the business and the industry. I am looking forward to working with the team as they continue to innovate and reshape the future of media.

Ms McCarthy added: It has been a great privilege to lead the Regulatory and Government Affairs team at Seven West Media and drive the achievement of a range of significant policy reforms for the media sector over the past eight years.

At a time when this sector faces significant challenges and opportunities, I look forward to working with the Minister and contributing towards the ongoing evolution of regulatory policy from a broader perspective.

Clare Gill begins on February 1st.

Related
Some of Cairn Energy Plcs marquee shareholders that include BlackRock, MFS, Franklin Templeton and Fidelity, have asked the Indian government to honour an arbitration award and return $1.2 billion to the British oil firm, people familiar with the matter said.

Cairn, which on this day seven years back was first slapped with a retrospective tax assessment, is three-fourth owned by worlds top investors with $529 billion MFS Investment Management of US being its largest investor with 14.02% stake. New York-based BlackRock is the second biggest shareholder with 12.19% stake. Other investors include Fidelity International, Franklin Templeton, Vanguard Group and Aberdeen Standard Investments, according to stock exchange data.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Two people with knowledge of the development said the investors have written to the Indian government as well as the governments of the US and UK seeking adherence to the award of a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The three-member tribunal, which comprised a judge appointed by India, last month unanimously overturned a 10,247 crore retrospective tax demand on Cairn Energy and asked the government to return value of the shares it sold, dividend it seized and tax refunds it stopped to enforce the tax.

Cairn is not a single-promoter driven firm but is owned by worlds top investors who are now seeking to protect their interest, the people said.

It wasnt immediately known how many of the Cairns top 20 shareholders, who between them hold 74.94% stake, have written to the US, the UK and the Indian government. Cairn refused to comment on the story.

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The victim, a resident of Nagole, noticed posts on Facebook regarding lucrative forex trading and upon responding, he was made to transfer Rs 41,98,508 to the accused.  Representational Image

HYDERABAD: A doctor was arrested by the cyber crime police of Rachakonda on Monday for cheating a person to the tune of Rs 41.98 lakh on the pretext of forex trading investment with the help of a Chinese national.

According to police, the 37-year-old accused, Dr Aditya Narayan Godbole, who got his MBBS from China, was a native of Indore. Officials froze Rs 11.50 lakh in his bank account following his arrest.

The victim, a resident of Nagole, noticed posts on Facebook regarding lucrative forex trading and upon responding, he was made to transfer Rs 41,98,508 to the accused for investment in forex trading on his behalf, said Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat.

"The main accused in the case is Mao Zhibin, who is running a fraudulent forex trading company from Vietnam and China, along with Annie Pierce alias Monica. She sweet talks the customers into investing huge funds. Dr. Aditya got acquainted with them while he was there in 2007," said the official.

As per the technical evidence collected, the police team from Rachakonda went to Indore and apprehended the accused. He was brought to Hyderabad and sent to judicial remand.
The Duchess of Cambridge is adopting a new 'chic and simple' style to appear 'more mature and business-like' during the Covid-19 crisis, a stylist has revealed.

Kate Middleton, 39, is spending lockdown living at her Norfolk home of Anmer Hall with husband Prince William, 38, and their children Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two.

On recent appearances the mother-of-three, who is known for her love of playful, colourful prints and flowing midi dresses, has ditched her usual look for chic blazers, which she has paired with smart shirts and t-shirts.

Celebrity stylist Rochelle White told FEMAIL the move was particularly poignant because of the current crisis the UK is facing amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing: 'It could be a mix of wanting to be more mature and business like, while still being herself.'

The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is adopting a new 'chic and simple' style to appear 'more mature and business-like' during the Covid-19 crisis, a stylist has revealed

Rochelle said the Duchess might be trying to keep focus on her message, rather than on her outfits, explaining: 'I think that Kate knows that the press always have their eye on her what/who she is wearing.

'I think her approach right now is to not be known for that but for what she is doing during this time.'

'She is keeping it smart, simple and chic so that the attention isn't based on what she is wearing when speaking to people of importance.'

Meanwhile, Rochelle explained the royal's wardrobe choices could reflect a desire to appear more 'professional' amidst the crisis.

Towards the end of last year, Kate appeared to adopt a more 'business-like' style, with Rochelle suggesting she looks more 'mature'

Rochelle added that while this 'could lead to a new look going forward', she believed Kate would to return to her usual styling later in the year.

Meanwhile Anthony McGrath, celebrity stylist and lecturer at the Fashion Retail Academy in London, agreed, saying: 'The Duchess of Cambridge has always been known for her love of bright, patterned dresses but during her recent appearances, she has adjusted her wardrobe to something more sedate and formal.

'In the first lockdown, where she continued to wear her signature dresses and stylish, soft cardigans, the country was experiencing a sense of togetherness, and we were clapping for the NHS every week.

'Kate was able to exude optimism with her outfits, which were often as bright as the rainbow drawings tacked onto windows across the country.

The Duchess is better known for her love of colourful clothing and playful prints, often choosing to wear midi dresses for appearances

While launching her Early Years survey in November, the Duchess paired simple white t-shirts with a selection of colourful blazers

'Now, though, with the country in another lockdown almost a year on, the mood is more sombre. Her most recent calls with NHS workers and a bereavement service called for more formal, toned-down colours to reflect the sensitivity of those conversations.

'The Duchess is aware that every outfit she wears will be scrutinised, and she wants to ensure she respects the seriousness of the occasion when it is called for.'

He continued: 'Don't be surprised if the brighter outfits make a come-back though. On video calls with families, and particularly with children, she will try to inject a sense of fun into a conversation.

'She is far less likely to wear a formal suit when she wants to strike a more joyful, positive tone.'

Kate, who is currently spending lockdown at her Norfolk home of Anmer Hall, has worn smart blazers with simple t-shirts and minimal jewellery on recent video calls

The mother-of-three donned a smart black blazer teamed with a white blouse as she spoke to nurses from the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust via video link in a clip released today.

Rather than her usual bouncy blow dry, the Duchess ditched the glamour and swept her hair into a tidy side parting for the call.

Kate also opted for minimum jewellery as she spoke with NHS staff to hear about their work and thank them for their efforts during the pandemic.

It comes days after she stunned in a smart grey blazer teamed with a chic hairdo for her first engagement of 2021.

During her first two appearances of 2021, the Duchess has worn smart suit jackets with minimal jewellery

Kate ditched her usual loose curls for a slicked back classic style when speaking to frontline workers and counsellors about bereavement support alongside Prince William last week.

Kate appeared ready for business when appearing on the call, which saw her question the frontline workers on what more could be done to convince their colleagues of the importance of prioritising themselves for help with mental health.

She put on a stylish display in a Smythe grey blazer with black collar detail, paired with a simple black top.

And it's far from the first time in recent months the Duchess has adopted the business-casual style.

Kate and Prince William are currently working from the Queen's Sandringham estate, after the monarch loaned her and Prince William the residence to use as their working base during lockdown

While presenting the findings of her Early Years survey at the end of last year, the Duchess donned a series of colours blazers, which she paired with simple black and white t-shirts.

In a clip from Tuesday's phone call, which was released earlier today, Kate praised Vasu Lingappa for going the 'extra mile' and shared a lighter moment with the NHS worker who joked the patient's wife had wanted him to sing the rock group's hits - but he declined because of his strong Asian accent.

She made the call from the Queen's Sandringham estate, after the monarch loaned her and Prince William the residence to use as their working base during lockdown.

The grand estate in Norfolk is currently empty as the monarch and Prince Philip are at Windsor for lockdown and it is not open to the public.

The Duke and Duchess reside down the road with their children at the 10 bedroom Anmer Hall but have set up a small temporary office with their staff at Sandringham.

It is just a few minutes drive from Anmer and means they can carry out their work without fear of interruption from George, Charlotte and Louis.
After discovering the dead bodies of five individuals, including an unborn child, on Sunday, the mayor of the city called the incident an act of mass murder.

The identities and ages of the found victims were not released, and a motive was not immediately known.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett emphasized that the shooting had brought terror to their community.

Hogsett mentioned to the report during an interview that Indianapolis that morning was targeted with an act of depravity. It has become all too common around the country and will never cease to shock the conscience.

The Indianapolis Mayor also mentioned that the gathered evidence so far suggested that the killings were not linked to the confluence of guns, substance abuse, and poverty in the city, a problem that officials had been addressing for years.

According to NBC News, a police spokesman shared that the police have found the first victim, a male juvenile, at around 4 a.m. local time, suffering from gunshot wounds northeast of downtown Indianapolis.

Officers later discovered the bodies of five individuals at home, which is less than half-mile away.

The police spokesman also shared that a pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, but she and her unborn child were pronounced dead.

The juvenile victim was expected to survive.

Police Chief Randal Taylor shared to the reporters that the incident, which is considered by the city mayor as an 'act of mass murder', did not appear to be random as they are currently investigating the connections between the victims.

Taylor also mentioned that as of the moment, no suspect had been identified, and there is a possibility of having more than one shooter.

The Shooting Incident

A wave of violence in Indianapolis occurred between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 a.m. Sunday morning as at least seven individuals were shot.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the shooting incident resulted in two individuals in critical condition, two in serious condition, three are considered to be stable and six are declared dead, Fox59 reported.

The police also mentioned that the first shooting incident occurred in the 3300 block of N. Gladstone Avenue late Saturday near 11:30 p.m., as a man was shot and in serious condition as a result of his injuries, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Moreover, at 1:10 a.m., police also reported that a man who was suffering from a gunshot during that time walked into IU Health Methodist Hospital.

Based on an update, the man was already in stable condition. However, no crime scene was determined.

A man was critically shot at 7000 Graham Road at a McDonald's drive-thru at around 2 a.m.

At 3:17 a.m., three individuals walked into a hospital suffering from gunshot wounds, as the police mentioned that one of the victims was critical. At the same time, the other two were considered stable.

The seventh victim of the night was found at around 3:45 a.m. in the 3300 block of E. 36th Street.

The police shared that the victim was in serious condition and being transported to Riley Children's Hospital.

The law enforcement at the 36th Street scene then moved to the nearby Adams Street and began another investigation into a shooting that left six individuals dead.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The people of Anlo have petitioned Torgbui Agbesi Awusu II, the Awadada of Anlo to demand that the body of former President Jerry John Rawlings be brought home for burial.



They said the longest serving President and properly installed Chief of Anlo consciously remained and died an Anlo and must be buried according to Anlo customs, which meant that his body must be conveyed to and buried in his ancestral home.



A petition jointly authored by the three wings of the Anlo State, their military groups and the Anlo citizenry and presented by Regent Torgbui Tamakloe, said the people of Anlo and the entire Ewe stock acknowledged the need for the State to honour their celebrated son, but it must not be done contrary to their (Anlos) traditional and customary practices.



We are keenly aware of his place in the history of Ghana. We also appreciate the need for the State to honour him and have him buried at the newly created Military Cemetery as needed, but our chieftaincy customary practices and usages also strongly demand that we do not pay our last respect to our departed chiefs and people of JJs stature in public. So for convenience, chiefs are always the last persons to send bodies of departed colleagues to the village.



The petition said there were precedents of former heads of states taken to their roots for burial noting, it followed that every now and then, various cultural and ethnic groups often made requests of this nature to enable them meet stringent demands of their cultural practices.



This is not the first time that a request is being made for a former head of state to be buried among his people to assure proper observances of customary beliefs and practices. Requests of this nature have been made at various times in the history of Ghana. For example, this request was made for Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia for his burial at Wenchi, his home.



Ex-President Edward Akufo-Addo, the father of the reigning President His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his burial at Kyebi; Dr Hilla Limann for his burial at Gwolu, his home; and recently in a far away South Africa, Ex-President Nelson Mandela was not buried in Pretoria but in his hometown and much more recent was that of ex-President Robert Mugabe, who was also not buried in Harare but at his hometown.



Torgbui Gbordzor III, Dusifiaga of Anlo who received the petition on behalf of the Awadada assured the petitioners that he would rightly convey their request to Torgbui for consideration.



Earlier on Tuesday, The Agbotui, Tamakloe and Allied families, families of the late Mr Rawlings wrote to the Presidency asking for changes to be made to the burial date and place of their kinsman to now become January 29 and 30 and Anloland respectively.



Original arrangements included the main funeral at the Black Star Square, Catholic Mass, lying in state at the Accra International Conference Centre, two-day hosting of traditional mourning by the Anlo Traditional Council and subsequent burial of Mr Rawlings at the Military Cemetery in Accra on January 27.





Source: GNA









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NEW DELHI: A fire broke out on the fourth floor of a building in Paschim Vihar area of Delhi in the wee hours of Monday (January 25). According to reports, the fire department received a call at around 1:05 am after which they pressed at least seven firetenders into service.

According to reports, the floor where the fire broke out, is an office of property dealers. Rescue workers evacuated two people from the site of the incident. The two persons, who were rescued out of the building, were rushed to a nearby hospital with 50 per cent and 10 per cent burn injuries.

This is a developing story and more details are followed.

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HBOs hit show Euphoria is an R-rated look into high school as a Gen-Z student. Euphoria has been a career highlight for leading lady Zendaya, earning her her first Emmy Award in 2020. The show has launched the careers of several actors, including 21-year-old Hunter Schafer.

Hunter Schafer as Jules in HBOs Euphoria | Eddy Chen/HBO

Hunter Schafer didnt dream of being an actor growing up

Though Schafer now lives the life of an actor, it wasnt what she always saw for herself. After graduating high school in 2017, Schafer moved to New York and started modeling. She had plans to study fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London when her agent said shed been asked to audition for an HBO show called Euphoria.

Schafer said she was mildly interested in acting but hadnt thought she would pursue it seriously. I gave it a shot, she said, then I just kept going back in and getting more of the scripts and eventually started to fall in love with my character.

Actress Hunter Schafer during an interview on January 20, 2021 | Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

RELATED: Cher Admits She Didnt Handle Her Son Chaz Bono Coming Out as Trans All That Well

Hunter Schafer is one of the breakout stars of Euphoria

On Euphoria, Schafer plays Jules, a trans teenage girl who quickly becomes friends with Zendayas character Rue after she moves to town.

Throughout Euphorias first season, Jules had several gripping storylines, not the least of which was her whirlwind romance with Rue. One episode also explores her childhood and her reckoning with her gender identity.

The role of Jules is also unique in that it follows a recent sea change in Hollywood as trans actors are increasingly cast in trans roles. In this case, Schafer brings more than just her experience as a trans girl to the role of Jules.

Hunter Schafer | Cindy Ord/Getty Images for FIJI Water

Hunter Schafers teen years were difficult

Much how Jules faces some hardship at school on Euphoria, Schafer herself had a rough time at school growing up.

Schafers parents moved around the United States while she was young before they settled in Raleigh, North Carolina. Schafer came out as trans while in high school and has described transitioning at a public school as a pretty intense experience.

North Carolina in recent years has been the focus of trans rights after the passing of an anti-trans bathroom law in 2016. It was this that led to her to sign on as a plaintiff in the ACLUs lawsuit against North Carolinas bathroom bill.

Schafer described her experience at the time in an op-ed for i-D. As a transgender teenager who grew up in North Carolina, navigating bathrooms on my own was an extremely difficult journey, particularly at public school, Schafer recounted.

In early high school (during a more primary stage in my transition), I felt safer using the womens restroom and locker room. But I was often met with compromises, like being told to use a staff bathroom or the mens room, which was basically a sentence to eternally hold it in, she continued. I felt like an outlaw every time I had to pee, as if I this natural bodily function were some unforgivable act.

Ultimately, Schafer and the ACLU were successful, as North Carolinas anti-trans bathroom bill was partially repealed in 2017, allowing trans citizens to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

on Sunday registered 18,436 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, pushing the total count to 3,053,617.

Since reported its first COVID-19 cases in late January 2020, a total of 73,049 people have died from the disease, figures released by health authorities showed.

Hospital admissions increased by 493 to 26,393, while the number of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) was up by 69 to 2,965.

A curfew starting at 6 p.m. has been in force since Jan. 16, forcing shops to close two hours earlier and citizens to stay at home until 6 a.m. in a move to contain the viral circulation amid the emergence of highly infectious virus variants.

If the nightly ban on people's movement falls short to limit the virus spread, a new lockdown would be ordered, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said.

"We need the curfew to show results," he told Le Parisian newspaper on Sunday. "In a best-case scenario, we will manage to reduce the epidemic pressure. If not, we will not wait for the month of March before acting."

"We are monitoring the development of the curfew's effects day by day...If we see that the virus starts to progress strongly again, we lock down," he added.

Jean-Francois Delfraissy, head of the scientific council that advises the French government on COVID-19, said a third confinement is needed to curb the viral circulation.

"The intermediate measures did not work enough to stop the (virus) variants...It will probably be necessary to move into confinement," Delfraissy told BFMTV on Sunday evening.

"If we do not tighten regulations, we will find ourselves in an extremely difficult situation from mid-March...In a difficult situation, the quicker you make a decision, the more effective it is, the more it can be of limited duration," he said.

Warning that "this week is critical," the French immunologist proposed to extend the February school holidays by at least one week.

As of Sunday, some 1.027 million people in have received a first dose of vaccination against COVID-19, according to data released by the health ministry.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in France and some other countries with the already-authorized vaccines.

(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 appeal of electric vehicles (EVs) is continuing to grow. Couple that with emerging legislation. Such as the zero-emission vehicle executive order in California, and interest is only rising. This shift in sentiment makes investing in the EV niche enticing for many. ElectraMeccanica Vehicles (SOLO) is one of the options that is gaining attention. Giving people a way to snag a piece of the EV world for themselves. But does that mean that investing in SOLO is a good idea? If youre considering adding SOLO to your portfolio. Heres what you need to know.

The Current State of ElectraMeccanica

First, its important to understand that, in many ways, ElectraMeccanica is still a company in its development stage. While the company does have a flagship vehicle  a single-seat three-wheeled car called the SOLO  as well as some other designs in the works, its vehicle delivery rate is incredibly small at the moment.

While the company does have sales, ElectraMeccanicas net income is currently in the negative. Some experts also believe that SOLO may be overvalued, something that should give aspiring investors at least a moment of pause. In fact, Charles Schwab estimates that SOLO will take a net loss of 54 cents per share in 2020. From their website:

Source: schwab.com.

Its also important to note that the companys November earnings release did outperform expectations. However, that doesnt mean ElectraMeccanica had a great performance. Expectations were, overall, pretty low. Additionally, earnings were below the $300,000 mark, and the net loss actually widened.

However, ElectraMeccanicas vehicles are slated to be both quirky and affordable, something that could ultimately work in the companys favor moving forward. The company also has plans to open an assembly facility in the United States, which may be a positive sign.

The Influence of Tesla and NIO on SOLO Stock

Recently, both Tesla (TSLA) and NIO (NIO) have experienced some dramatic highs. They are both benefiting from the increasing interest in EVs, causing their stock prices to experience substantial increases in recent months.

This led to some boosts to SOLO as well. In a way, the gains were based on SOLOs association with a rising market, with some investors willing to bet that the company might become the next EV star. However, both Tesla and NIO are much more established, leaving much of the sentiment about SOLO to be, at least partially, speculative.

Trends such as this are regular occurrences. When a sector sees gains, some investors look for smaller companies in the same niche, hoping to snag a bargain at an opportune time. This often bolsters additional interest as others see the price of the lower-cost stock rise and assume it means the company is moving toward something big.

However, at times, this ultimately ends up being nothing more than hype. Once the shine wearers off, the stock price tumbles.

Is Investing in SOLO a Good Idea?

While it may seem like theres a lot of doom and gloom surrounding SOLO, that doesnt mean investing in it is an entirely bad idea. In reality, the company is still developing, and the push for EVs is likely to keep rising overall.

The biggest point to understand is that SOLO would be a fairly risky venture, considering the companys current state. It isnt necessarily an issue of volatility as it is one of uncertainty about whether the company will gain traction in major markets leading to a rise in demand.

Ultimately, if you arent risk-averse and are open to taking a chance in the EV market, SOLO could be a way to do that. The stocks price has largely been below the $10 mark, so it could be a fairly affordable way to get into the sector. Just make sure youre comfortable with the companys current state before you jump in and that youre prepared for potential losses as well as the chance for gains. If youre in that category, then SOLO might be right for you.

Investing Platforms and Investing Advice

Platforms: Fees and Minimum: Best for: Robinhood Free Beginner investing Acorns $1 per month

Spare change investing The Motley Fool $99 for the first year. Stock advising

Do you plan on adding SOLO to your portfolio? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Matthew Wright left This Morning's Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield aghast on Monday, when he revealed his pet pooch likes to 'sleep on [his] winky woo'.

The former presenter of The Wright Stuff, 55, made his regular appearance on the ITV daytime show to discuss the latest headlines, before things turned lighthearted as they looked at viewers' snaps of their dogs sleeping in odd places.

And as the amusing images were flashed up on the screen, Matthew quipped: 'I didn't realise you had to send in pictures! Mine sleeps on my winky woo  it's the warmest place in the bed!'

Wow: Matthew Wright left This Morning's Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield aghast on Monday, when he revealed his pet pooch likes to 'sleep on [his] winky woo'

Reacting to his off-the-cuff revelation, 39-year-old Holly gasped: 'Oh my god!'

Also looking stunned, Phillip, 58, told Matthew: 'I don't know what I'm more horrified about  the fact that it does that or that you called it a winky woo!'

Undeterred by their reactions, Matthew chuckled as he asked: 'Do you want photos?'

'No thank you,' Phillip rapidly replied, as Holly also shared that she had no desire to see any photographic evidence of the pet's sleeping habits.

Declined: This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby declined Matthew's offer to view photographic evidence of the dog's unconventional sleeping habits

Matthew's appearance on the show comes weeks after he revealed that he and his family are 'out the other side' after suffering from novel coronavirus symptoms.

The TV personality took to Twitter earlier this month to say he, wife Amelia and daughter Cassady, 23 months are on the mend.

He wrote: 'Good news: All three of us seem out the other side of this now I reckon bar the coughing. Thanks again for your kindness x stay well everyone.'

He also told a follower: 'The cough is pretty grim! just told a friend it's easy to see how breathing could become v difficulty v quickly.'

Having a laugh: The 55-year-old TV personality was seen chuckling after making the revelation

Days earlier, Matthew revealed he suspected his whole family had contracted COVID-19.

The presenter appeared on This Morning via video link for a debate about if the UK will go into another national lockdown, but first announced he believed he had caught the virus.

Matthew said he was trying 'not to panic' while the family await the results of their tests, but added his daughter Cassady had been sick from coughing so much.

Matthew said: 'Happy New Year everybody. I'd like to start off by declaring we suspect my whole family has the virus. We are waiting for test results to come back at the moment.'

Better: His appearance comes weeks after he revealed that he and his family are 'out the other side' after suffering from novel coronavirus symptoms. Pictured with wife Amelia

Phillip asked: 'How are you all feeling? Are you OK?'

Matthew explained his wife Amelia had it 'really tough' but also voiced fears about his daughter.

'Well the idea that little children don't suffer the COVID symptoms badly. I can put that to one side,' he said.

'Amelia has had it really tough but Cassie also been coughing through the night, coughing up phlegm and making herself sick from coughing during the night.

'It has been pretty grim and I'm trying not to panic, trying not to call an ambulance knowing the hospitals are going to be overcrowded.

Fatherhood: The former The Wright Stuff presenter, 55, took to Twitter earlier this month to say he, wife Amelia and daughter Cassady, 23 months are on the mend

'We are just trying to keep a cool head on things and push on it through it.'

While Phil tried to reassure Matthew it could be a winter bug not coronavirus, Matthew told the host how his neighbour was put into intensive care on Christmas Day after testing positive for COVID-19.

Talking about how he was doing, the presenter said: 'It's eased off a bit in the last 36 hours. We've also had to offset it with the fact that we've got a neighbour who went down.

'He was in intensive care on Christmas Day, no underlying health conditions. Just over 60, and we've heard that he may have his life support turned off today.'

Health scare: TV personality Matthew explained his wife Amelia had it 'really tough' but also voiced fears about his daughter

Matthew and wife Amelia welcomed their daughter Cassady in January 2019 after trying for eight years and enduring six failed IVF attempts and one life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

The star revealed at the time he almost missed the birth of his first child after being stuck in traffic.

Matthew said that he was 'having kittens', after coming off air to learn that his wife was in labour with their baby daughter on the other side of London.

After receiving a text as he finished his radio show, the star hopped in a car to make his way across London from Waterloo to Hammersmith, where Amelia was giving birth at the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital.

He said to Hello Magazine at the time: 'There was a taxi drivers' strike, every road we went on was stuck and there was no more communication from her.

'It took one hour 15 minutes to get from my offices in Waterloo to the hospital in Hammersmith, usually it would be 40 minutes, and I was having kittens.'

Amelia said: 'My blood pressure suddenly went sky high and they said, "This is dangerous, it has to happen now."

'They said they would try and wait for Matthew to get there but otherwise they were going to have to start. He needed to get there no later than when he did, or he would have missed it.'

Matthew has been with his second wife Amelia, a Sony music executive, since 2007 and they have been married since 2010.
A group of petrolheads who call themselves the Mexican Hoon Cartel have posted footage of themselves recklessly swerving down freeways at high speeds.

The Gold Coast 'cartel' uploaded an infuriating clip to YouTube on Sunday showing drivers veering diagonally across the multi-lane M1 highway in the dark.

Set to the tune of El Jarabe Tapatio, also known as the Mexican Hat Dance, the video also showed drivers dangerously careening at more than 100km/h.

Pictured: A video showing a car veering diagonally across lanes on the M1 near the Gold Coast

The rev-heads shared the footage to more than 120,000 adoring fans across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

'[sic] Yew love ya work boyz, Any chance of getting some pedals and steering cams in the next vid? That'd be dope,' one viewer wrote.

'Casually doing 100... Love it,' another commented.

The group also boasted about the video to a local crime watch Facebook group, which was quick to report it to 13HOON - a hotline for residents to report reckless driving.

Fans then mocked the crime watch group moderator who realised the cartel was bragging about unlawful driving by its own members.

The 'cartel' driver careened across the motorway at speeds of more than 100km/h in the dark

Pctured: A 'cartel' member wearing a sombrero while posing on top of a police car in Queensland

The group boasted about the video to a local crime watch Facebook group (pictured)

'It seems from your name and page that you may have been involved?' the moderator asked.

'Outstanding detective skills,' the cartel replied.

The cartel is known for share boastful videos on social media which show members doing burnouts and performing other reckless manoeuvres city roads.

All footage is watermarked with the cartel's sombrero and mustache logo.

Clips uploaded to YouTube over the past six months have labelled the local LNP member Ros Bates as 'public enemy number one' for her ongoing mission to eradicate hooning.

The Mexican Hoon Cartel have a history of infuriating police by posting videos of their illegal driving on social media

The cartel is known for share boastful videos on social media which show members doing burnouts (pictured)

In a statement to Parliament in December, Ms Bates accused the group of 'stalking and harassing' her during her election campaign in October.

To the cartel, she said: 'We don't want you here and now I have a mandate to fight for the tough laws we need to dismantle these criminal hoon cartels.'

The group doctored images of Ms Bates to show her wearing sombreros, while her campaign paraphernalia was defaced to show the parliamentarian with a black mustache and goatee.

In June, the rev-heads told the Queensland government they want tax payer-funded concrete skid pad that does not charge entry fees.

The group said 90 per cent of members would stop drifting - where a driver spins the rear wheels while taking a corner - on suburban roads if a designated location was available.

'Would you rather us cause havoc on public streets like we have been doing for years?' a cartel member previously told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

In June, the rev-heads told the Queensland government they want tax payer-funded concrete skid pad that does not charge entry fees. Pictured: Cartel members on top of a moving car

The Mexican Hoon Cartel frequently use to show a series of illegal stunts and burnouts (pictured)

The 'cartel' leader said they would not stop drifting illegally until the state government gives them what they want.

'All we want is an easy access affordable drift/burnout venue so we can safely perform our passions and not feel like we are just gold mines for police state revenue,' the gang member said.

One member of the group said they believed their actions weren't dangerous as they haven't hurt or killed anyone.

'It's only dangerous if people don't know what they're doing. The average person wouldn't have a clue what to do if their car went sideways,' the cartel member said.

Members call each other 'sicarios' which is Spanish for 'hit men'.
Beware! Fraudsters Are Using Mobile Numbers That Are Similar to Toll-free Numbers

Technological advances are often expected to benefit everyone. However, it appears that only fraudsters are becoming smarter, leaving common consumers an easy prey. Take, for example, the new fraud taking place where fraudsters are obtaining mobile numbers that are mostly similar to toll-free number, mostly that of a bank.

In a warning to its customers, Bank of Baroda calls this type of cheating as social engineering fraud. Explaining the modus operandi, the Bank says, "Fraudsters obtain mobile numbers similar to toll free numbers of financial institutions and save the number on apps such as TrueCaller with the name of the institution. For example: 800-123-1234 is a number taken by the fraudsters in lieu of 1800-123-1234, which is a toll-free number. They can call or ask you to dial into this number and ask for your personal and account information."

"Before dialling please ensure number starts with 1 (for domestic calls) and is indeed a toll-free number. Bank will never call customers from these toll-free numbers," the Bank says.

We, at Moneylife also find that sometimes these fraudsters post their own mobile numbers as the customer care number of a bank or financial institute.

However, since we know the actual numbers of banks and financial institutes, our webmaster removes such messages posted as comment. Further, every time we warn readers not to share any personal detail like email ID and mobile number on any public platform where it can be misused by someone.

The point is, the warning issued by Bank of Baroda is quite serious. This also raises several questions on know-your-customer (KYC) that is being or not being followed by telecom operators. As we know, all telecom companies sell not just SIM cards but earn more money by labelling some numbers as premium or fancy or lucky number, with 0 as last few digits or a sequence ending with numbers such as 1122 or 6633 and so on.

For example, Vodafone Idea sells new mobile numbers that have the last three digits as 0 at Rs1250, for 0 as the last two digits it charges Rs500 as premium. When last checked, the telco was selling a number with last four digits as 0088, 5558, 5550 and 3300 at Rs500 premium.

Although not all numbers sold by telecom companies are 'premium' per se, but they still attract a hefty price. Fancy or lucky number can be anything starting from the date of birth or anniversary date or any specific date that holds special significance in the customer's life.

However, there is the other category of buyers who want specific numbers only, for example, a number matching with the toll-free number of an entity, preferably a bank. Bank of Baroda's toll-free number for domestic customers is 1800-102-4455. In this case, the fraudster would try and buy a number starting with 800 and ending with 4455. Usually, most customers will not notice a change in three digits in the middle and would end up calling the fraudsters thinking that it is the Bank's number.

Just like Bank of Baroda, no other bank or bank official calls any customer, especially to know their personal details. The basic reason is that the customer would have given all the details while opening her account and it would be already in the records of the bank. So why would the bank ask for the same information, which is already on their records and that too on a phone call?

"Bank staff will never ask for confidential information like card verification value (CVV), personal identification number (PIN), one time passcode (OTP) or debit card details. Such details are asked by fraudsters only. Never share any such confidential information with anyone," Bank of Baroda says.

Fraudsters, on the other hand, will seek information like full name or name on the card, expiry date of the card, ATM PIN, secure password and even net banking ID and password besides some personal information like date of birth.

To sum it up, there is no easy solution to save customers from this type of fraud. What one, however, can do is, visit the website of your bank or any other service-provider and store their customer care numbers in your contact list. Avoid responding to unknown numbers and last, but most important, never share your personal details on phone with anyone. This may save you and your hard-earned money from falling in to the hands of the fraudsters.
Even though India inoculated its first one million individuals faster than the US and UK, the country may take up to three years to vaccinate the prioritised 300 million population going by the current rate, experts have estimated.

Indias current capacity is about vaccinating 300,000 people per day. Going by the first weeks number, the current rate of vaccination is about 58% of capacity, which would improve in the coming days.

Also Read | Pushing on with vaccine drive amid no-shows

If the vaccination rate improves to an average of 200,000 per day, i.e., 67% or 2/3rd of capacity over the next couple of months, covering 30 million healthcare and frontline workers would take 5 months or till mid-June, said virologist Shahid Jameel, director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University.

Vaccination for the 270 million higher age group would likely start while the second phase of 20 million frontline workers is still being vaccinated. This may happen by late April or early May. At the current capacity of 3 lakhs per day or 90 lakhs (9 million) per month, it would still take at least 27 months. Since everyone needs two doses 4 weeks apart, it would possibly take 36 months (or 3 years).

The bottleneck is not vaccine availability, but our ability to get it into people. We will require much more capacity to get this done faster, Jameel told DH.

So far more than 1.6 million persons (16,13,667) received the vaccine at 28613 sessions, which is 56% short of the governments plan of giving the vaccine to 100 persons at each session. On Sunday, only five states carried out the vaccination inoculating 31466 persons at 693 sessions  a shortfall of 45%.

Also Read | One million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India in just 6 days: Health ministry

The gap was there on each of the seven days between January 17 and January 23, ranging from 30-47%. India, however, took only 6 days to roll out 1 million vaccine doses. This count is higher for countries like the US and the UK. The UK took 18 days whereas the US took 10 days to reach the 1 million mark.

Sources said that some of the states like West Bengal asked the Centre to clarify if a person refused to take Bharat Biotechs Covaxin  a vaccine that lacks efficacy data at the moment  could he or she be given Serum Institutes Covishield. At the moment, there is no clarity in the central governments instructions submitted to the states.

Also Read | India to administer Covaxin in seven more states this week

Public health experts are of the opinion that India needs to accelerate the vaccination exercise to inoculate 3-4 million people daily if it has to inoculate 300 million by August. This seems to be an impossible task going by the current rates.

Asked whether 300 million can be vaccinated by October, senior scientist Satyajit Rath, formerly associated with the National Institute of Immunology, Delhi said, "By current speed, the obvious arithmetic is that it will take years to vaccinate the country.

However, I expect that the vaccination process will expand further and will become smoother and somewhat faster. Just how much faster is anybody's guess. I still doubt that an October deadline can be met, but I will be glad to be wrong."

Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

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European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched


Beginning last summer, school districts across Texas took comfort in knowing they would not lose state funding despite having fewer students in classrooms as a result of the pandemic.

The hold harmless guarantee from the Texas Education Agency was a lifeline for districts during a school year marked by unprecedented enrollment losses.

But the commitment expired around the start of the new year. Now, superintendents fear they could lose millions of dollars in state funding if the TEA decides not to reinstate the hold harmless policy.

On ExpressNews.com: Studies show that online learning has hammered student performance

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has made clear that rules adopted last year to shore up school funding during the pandemic were temporary and that it is now up to the Legislature to decide how to move forward.

Superintendents say they arent sure what to expect, given the states own budget gap and the persistence of the pandemic.

Were all a little nervous, said Sean Maika, superintendent of North East Independent School District, whose enrollment this year is about 5 percent less than projected. It would be nice  it would be a huge relief  to myself and to my staff if we knew (the guarantee) was going to extend onward so we could build some cohesive plans for kids.

Attendance takes a hit

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school districts see remote learning stretching way into next year

School leaders are looking ahead to next fall, trying to plan the coming school year. But theyre in the dark as to how the state will determine their funding and whether the TEA will continue to include remote learners in districts average daily attendance, a figure that dictates state aid.

Across Texas, average daily attendance has taken a hit this school year. Some students have not been able to keep up with remote learning. Others lacked the necessary technology at home. And some have had to take jobs to help support their families, superintendents say.

Texas public schools have seen their enrollment drop 3 percent on average. Most of the loss has been in prekindergarten and kindergarten, TEA data shows.

Enrollment losses could cost Bexar County school districts about $85 million in state funding during the spring semester alone if hold harmless is not renewed, according to a letter to Morath and Gov. Greg Abbott from the Bexar County Education Coalition, which includes 17 superintendents.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school leaders concern: COVID-induced decline in enrollment will take funding down with it

Losing millions of dollars in funding while our students, families and schools have greater needs would be catastrophic, said the letter, sent in December. We believe that our fiscally responsible schools, with stable funding, will be critical to the recovery.

Rene Barajas, deputy superintendent for business and finance at Northside ISD  the largest school district in Bexar County, with more than 100,000 students  said the district is making plans on the assumption that hold harmless will not be renewed.

Northside ISD has lost 4,663 students since last school year  a decline of about 4 percent  but administrators expect that the district will be able to absorb any funding losses, Barajas said.

Personally, Im not expecting any more funding in the next biennium, he said. Were just going to have to, as an organization, adjust very, very quickly. I think were still nimble enough to make those course corrections to not impact instruction or our students or teachers.

Grounds for optimism

Some other school leaders express tempered optimism that state funding will continue to be based on previous years enrollment figures. They cite a smaller-than-expected state budget gap, the passage of the federal governments second stimulus package and support from some key decision-makers at the state level.

On ExpressNews.com: Federal aid, rebounding economy soften COVIDs impact on Texas state budget

Over the summer, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar projected a state budget deficit of about $4.6 billion. He lowered that estimate significantly, to $950 million, at the start of the legislative session this month.

In December, Congress approved a $900 billion stimulus that included more than $5 billion for Texas public schools.

And Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, has been vocal in his support for school funding.

The hole that the Legislature has to dig out of for this current biennium is much smaller than we thought it would be and much more manageable, Clark Ealy, superintendent of Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, told the districts board of trustees during their meeting last Tuesday. Were cautiously optimistic this will be a good session and provide some really good leadership for public schools.

Maika said he thinks the Legislature will find a way to maintain school funding, but with so much uncertainty, districts have had to take precautionary steps such as leaving some vacant positions open, cutting programming or preparing to lay off staff if state funding cuts do materialize.

We knew the pandemic would have some impacts ... so we adopted a conservative budget, which allowed us to be as prepared as you could be based on what we knew at that moment, Maika said.

North East ISD, which has about 3,300 fewer students this year than administrators projected, is at risk of losing about $11 million in state funding this year after spending about $8.8 million on pandemic-related expenses, Maika said.

Partnerships to the rescue

School partnerships under Senate Bill 1882, which allots additional state dollars to schools that contract with outside partners such as nonprofits and colleges, will become even more valuable now that so much uncertainty surrounds the hold harmless guarantee, said Eduardo Hernandez, superintendent of Edgewood ISD.

The district, the poorest in Bexar County, has lost about 600 students since last school year, a decline of about 6 percent.

Edgewood ISD has the second-most SB 1882 partnerships in the county, trailing only San Antonio ISD, and it has more planned for the coming school year. Income from existing partnerships will help offset costs on campuses that do not have outside partners, softening the blow of any state funding cuts, Hernandez said.

Thats why the 1882 partnerships have been so important, he said. With any partners that we would bring on, weve had those conversations, that we would leverage the power of both parties to help our schools.

Superintendents say funding for the next two years must be maintained at pre-pandemic levels to avoid draining fund balances and cutting staff positions. For most districts, the likelihood of such measures is low, at least for the current school year.

But if schools do not get the money they need soon, the state will be setting them up for harmful cuts in 2022, Maika said.

This doesnt just end now, Maika said. This continues on through next year.

As lawmakers develop a plan for school funding, superintendents hope they will consider districts need to make up the ground lost by students whose education was disrupted by the pandemic.

Im concerned about how much learning loss has happened with students, and if theyre going to cut funding to us, how are we going to respond to those types of things? Maika said. To have less money doesnt help you respond to a greater need.

andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon
SUV

REVan Evan loves horsepower in motion - cars, planes, trains and more, according to his YouTube channels description, and this time around, he was able to spend get up close and personal with some of the latest releases belonging to the Blue Oval And were not just talking about the ones that freshly reached the dealer lot  such as the 2021 Ranger (most likely in Tremor specification) or the all-new Bronco Sport (an extensive video with the smaller sibling is also embedded below). Above all else, he also dealed with the elusive Big Bronco, which is still waiting to kick off series production and deliveries.By the looks of it, Evan was attending an official Ford event of some sort so he used Ford Bronco brand manager Esteban Plaza-Jennings' help for the quick presentation of the 2-Door Bronco seen here. Its a pre-production unit of the Black Diamond series, which is a mid-level offering that goes from $36,050 in 2-Door configuration, according to the official Build & Price online tool.On this occasion, the Ford official also explained the vehicle had been dressed up in the Cyber Orange color to provide a contrast to the standard MIC (molded-in-color) hardtop and the Sasquatch elements. By the way, from the 2:15 mark, one can find out a little bit about the main differences between a truck-based Broncoand the Ford C2-derived Bronco Sport , as Evan was curious to find out what makes each of them tick for a different customer base.Before getting to the part were mostly interested in, the official also discusses a bit about the trims and packages (3:30), as well as his favorite element of the Bronco (hint  it has to do with the easy to wash interior of the Black Diamond and Badlands). From the 5:20 mark, were finally delving deep into the interesting process of disassembling the Broncos doors and MIC hardtop.After all, this feature is a major part of the Broncos appeal and turns it into a direct competitor for the equally legendary Jeep Wrangler. As far as we can tell, taking off the door isnt a complicated process , although the assembly does weigh quite a bit compared to the front elements of the MIC top. Also, the rear panel disassembly is also a bit of a hustle, and will probably need two persons for safe handling.
BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Generali Global Assistance ("GGA") today announced a recap of the types of identity theft cases received last year, product growth metrics, and a summary of corporate highlights in 2020.

Resolution Highlights

GGA's identity theft resolution department saw an increased level of activity during 2020 likely due to the pandemic as resolution team members saw a massive spike in employment-related fraud and ID monitoring inquiries.

Generali Global Assistance saw an eighty percent (80%) increase YoY in the number of identity theft resolution cases that they handled.

As a result of the enhanced unemployment benefits distributed during the pandemic, GGA saw a massive increase (5,630%) in employment-related fraud from approximately 20 cases during 2019 to nearly 750 cases in 2020 alone.

Due to the increase in pandemic-related ID theft scams, the team also saw a significant uptick (220%) in the number of inquiries for ID Monitoring from approximately 950 inquiries in 2019 to almost 3,100 in the past year alone.

GGA also sustained a Net Promoter Score (NPS) in the high 70s throughout 2020. An NPS is a measure of how likely a customer would be to recommend the platform rated on a scale of 1-100.

Product Milestones

Generali Global Assistance's Identity Portal was enhanced for both GEICO & Nationwide customers using the service. GGA's Identity & Cyber Protection services remained resilient while the platform saw a significant spike in the number of ID email alerts generated.

In 2020, GGA launched Email Health Check for GEICO's identity protection customers. Email Health Check is an interactive tool that searches data that's been leaked in a breach in order to notify a user if their email address has been compromised.

GGA also enhanced the Identity Theft Protection Program it offers through Nationwide by adding additional cyber protection-focused services. The new features provide an added layer of protection to consumers' identity security with an online data protection suite, including RansomStop, DataScrambler  , and PhishBlock  software, data recovery, home internet security restoration, and 24/7 identity theft resolution with cyber advice.

, and PhishBlock software, data recovery, home internet security restoration, and 24/7 identity theft resolution with cyber advice. GGA saw a 186% increase in the number of alerts sent per customer, helping them to better monitor and address threats to their identity. The surge in the number of alerts is likely due to the hike in scams and breaches in 2020.

During the course of the year, GGA maintained an uptime of 99.99% for its identity & cyber protection portals.

Corporate Updates

Generali Global Assistance expanded its international footprint in 2020 by launching its Identity Protection platform in 68 additional countries. As a result of this significant international growth, GGA was awarded the Gold Stevie for Achievement in International Expansion at the American Business Awards. Its team was also recognized for its industry-leading customer service with the Silver Stevie for Customer Service Department of the Year and ranked 9th overall among the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of 2020. GGA also continued its longstanding partnership with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) to educate the public on the best ways to protect themselves online.

GGA's Identity & Cyber Protection Services division was ranked 9 th among the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of 2020 according to The Software Report.

among the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of 2020 according to The Software Report. Generali Global Assistance won two Stevie Awards for Achievement in International Expansion at the American Business Awards (Gold) and Customer Service Department of the Year at the American Business Awards (Silver).

The Identity & Cyber Protection Services Division continued its work with the NCSA releasing a number of webinars and educational resources to help consumers and business owners better protect their data, and served as a Cybersecurity Awareness Month Champion for the fifth consecutive year.

The Identity & Cyber Protection Services division also expanded its international footprint in 2020 with the rollout of its identity and cyber protection platform to 68 additional countries across the globe, making its services available in 90+ countries. In support of this expansion, GGA has also made the U.S. version of its Iris Identity Protection portal bilingual, with languages in both English and Spanish.

Paige Schaffer, CEO, Global Identity and Cyber Protection Services at Generali Global Assistance, commented on today's news, "When transformative events like the COVID-19 pandemic occur, it's only natural for us as consumers to be distracted by the steady stream of new information as we look to get a handle on the situation. Unfortunately, this distraction creates an ideal environment for scams and misleading information to thrive. In 2020, we saw scammers stoop to new lows by taking advantage of everything from American's much-needed stimulus payments, their charitable natures, and even their desire for canine companions. Taking proactive steps to combat scammers in combination with a reliable identity and cyber protection service is essential to helping to ensure peace of mind when it comes to protecting consumers' identity during these moments of crisis."

Download Generali Global Assistance Identity & Cyber Protection's 2020 Highlight Reel infographic for a snapshot of the division's 2020 accomplishments.

About Generali Global Assistance

Generali Global Assistance has been a leading provider of identity and cyber protection solutions, travel insurance, and other assistance services for more than 35 years. The Company offers a full suite of innovative, vertically-integrated travel insurance and emergency services, identity protection solutions, and beneficiary companion services. Generali Global Assistance is part of the multinational Generali Group, which for over 185 years has created a presence in 60 countries with over 71,000 employees. Our success has been built on the foundation of trust that clients have placed in our ability to provide assistance in the most difficult of circumstances.

To learn more about Generali Global Assistance's identity & cyber protection offerings, please visit https://www.irisidentityprotection.com/

GGA Media Contact

Jay A. Morakis

M Group Strategic Communications (for Generali Global Assistance North America)

+1 646.859.5951

[email protected]

SOURCE Generali Global Assistance
DUBAI : A majestic new Hindu temple with a distinct Arabian look is expected to open its doors for worshippers in Dubai by October next year during Diwali, according to media reports here.

The new temple is being constructed adjacent to the Guru Nanak Darbar in Jebel Ali, making the locality a multi-religious corridor in the city.

The temple is an extension of the Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple in Souq Baniyas, Bur Dubai, one of the oldest Hindu temples in the United Arab Emirates, open since the 1950s.

According to a report in Khaleej Times in February last year, the 25,000 sq.ft. temple will be built at an estimated cost of Dirham 75 million ( 1,48,86,24,396).

Raju Shroff, an Indian businessman and one of the trustees of the Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple, announced on Sunday that the construction of the temple is underway, and the basement of the structure is complete.

Piling, shoring and casting of basements one and two are complete as of now. We are on track to open during Diwali 2022," Khaleej Times quoted Shroff as saying.

The temples foundation-stone-laying ceremony took place in February last year.

Once complete, there will be several churches, the Sikh Guru Nanak Darbar, and a Hindu temple in the same location," Shroff said.

The temple will be home to 11 Hindu deities, he added.

The temple's architecture will have a distinct Arabian look.

We want to give back to the local economy and this our way to repay the gratitude we have for the UAE leadership for celebrating religious tolerance," Shroff said.

He added that worshippers could use the spacious 4,000 sq ft banquet hall for cultural events, religious gatherings and community get-togethers.

The temple intends to display a subtle blend of contemporary Hindu and Arabic elements, Gulf News said.

The temple is an east-facing structure, designed as per norms of Indian Temple Architecture and Hindu Vastu Shastra. The temple structure includes two basements, a ground floor and first floor. The total height of the temple is 24 metres, it said.

The columns on the facade and interior take inspiration from the traditional columns of the Somnath Temple in Gujarat.

The main dome is inspired by the Nagara style of Hindu temple architecture found predominantly in north India.

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Ukrainian Startup Fund will finance five startups to receive grants of $25,000

The supervisory board of the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF), based on the results of the 20th Pitch Day, has defined five more startups that will receive grants of $25,000, the fund's press service has said.

In total, 11 projects took part in the pitching. Following the meeting of the fund's supervisory board, it was decided to finance five of them at the pre-seed stage (they will receive a grant of $25,000):

OSBB Online (Kyiv) - a comprehensive solution for the management of multi-apartment buildings and the comfortable life of their residents;

ComeBack Mobility (Dnipro) - smart sensors for crutches that monitor the load after diseases and injuries of the lower limbs;

obimy (Kyiv)  a service and application for non-verbal communication;

LineBar (Kyiv) is a multifunctional technology for construction 3D printing, which allows you to construct house elements from several materials at once and directly at the construction site;

MindSelf (Kyiv) is a mobile psychological self-help tool that allows you to develop stress resistance, increase the level of mental health and attention.

The press service recalled that during the pitching, projects are evaluated according to a number of criteria, namely, team, market, appropriateness of financing, idea and development strategy.

As reported, on average, the Ukrainian Startup Fund allocates funding for every 25th application.

The Ukrainian Startup Fund is a state fund established at the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers. Its purpose is to provide funding to technology companies at the early stages of development (pre-seed and seed).
We personally know a person or two that we think eats in a weird manner. No, not sloppy, but strange. But, no matter how odd that person eats his/her food, he/she got nothing on these animals.

Yes, animals don't eat the way humans do, so we should not judge them. But, the way the animals on this list consume their foods is truly bizarre, even for animal standards.

Related Article: EU: Mealworms Now Safe for Human Consumption

Shrike Spike Kabob

Northern Shrikes might have one of the most deceptive looks in the animal kingdom.

Native to the northern parts of the US and southern Canada, these sweet looking tiny birds are notorious for their horrific eating habits.

The northern shrikes are actually predatory birds that dine on small rodents, insects, and even other birds. But, unlike other flying raptors, the shrikes do not have sharp talons to dig into their prey and rip them apart.

To compensate for their lack of razor talons, they have extremely sharp beaks to pierce through their potential meals, killing them. But, what's more, gruesome is that the horror does not end there. When they have leftovers, they impale the remains unto sharp branches, thorns, or barbed wires.

The impaled leftovers are not just for future meals, but they also serve as territorial marks or attract mates.

Nature sure has some sick ways of showing how one tiny bird compensates for its size.

Handy Bird Chef

When cooking a perfect omelet, the most crucial part is the cracking of the eggs. To ensure that the eggs are perfectly opened, humans use tools and gadgets to crack them open.

But, it turns out that it's not just humans who do that.

No, not monkeys. Aside from the apes, there's also another animal that uses tools to open up its foods. Egyptian vultures use tools like sticks and rocks to crack open their foods. They bash ostrich eggs or animal remains using their tools like a hammer to expose the tasty snack hiding inside.

The Egyptian vulture developed this method since they are the smallest vultures, and they need an ace to feed on the wild without worrying about their giant cousins.

Small birds are scary.

Aquatic Spitballing

Since the dawn of time, the earliest humans have been using projectiles for hunting down potential food. The discovery of projectile weapons has advanced the species and helped us secure our space on the food chain's top.

The same method is now used by aquatic animals to shoot down aerial prey. Flying won't save an insect when it is caught on the crosshairs of the Archerfish.

Archerfishes use their ability to shoot down the projectile spit, resembling spitballing, with high accuracy. Once hit, the preys come barreling down the water surface, and there they turn into fresh fish food.

Drinking Tears

Movie buffs or anyone with a flair for the dramatics are familiar with the line "drinking the tears of your enemy." Well, it turns out some insects actually do!

Some bees and butterflies are known to drink the tears of other animals. No, they are not necessarily their enemies, but they still drink tears!

They don't just drink tears; they are also drawn to sweat, blood, and other bodily fluids.

Scientists believe that these insects are actually drawn not to the tears but the salt in them. Many critters, including butterflies, can't get enough sodium, and they will grab all the opportunity they can to take a sip of that delicious salty liquid.

You might start rethinking how magnificent it looks when butterflies are landing and naturally staying on your body. It's not that they don't like you; they just like the salt you excrete more.

Sucking the Bloods of their Youngs

Like all ant species, Dracula ant colonies can reach up to tens if not hundreds of thousands in population. And, with the common ant social hierarchy, workers are sent out to the open to gather food for the entire colony.

But, what makes Dracula ants especially terrifying is that they don't just get sustenance from the food they gathered; they also suck out the blood of their larvae. In another twist that makes these ants scarier, larvae don't die during the entire process. They can act as sustainable food sources for adult workers, especially when food supplies are down.a

ALSO READ: Treating Pets with Separation Anxiety: What to do to Keep Your Pets Feel Emotionally Safe

For more new about the Animal Kingdom, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
The Mark V was big, overwrought, not exactly impressive in terms of performance, and with fuel economy that clearly spelled I dont care about money. The Special Designer Editions, which were continued from the Mark IV, added an additional layer of excess to all that.The 1977-1979 model years got famous designers of the time to put their name on a limited number of vehicles for what was, at the end of the day, only an eye-catching cosmetic upgrade. Givenchy was among them, with some 2,200+ Givenchy Designer Edition vehicles made for the year 1979. Three color options were offered for that same timeframe, with Metallic Crystal Blue being one of them.In case you ever wanted to see how the late 70s defined opulence or were actually on the market for a classic that still looks great after all this time, Europes leading classic cars specialist since 1975, Gallery Aaldering out of the Netherlands, is offering one. Its a 1979 Lincoln Mark V in the Givenchy Designer package, and it could best be described as a blue dream inside out.Measuring 5.9 meters (230 inches) in length and weighing 2,5 tons, this Lincoln cost $22,000 at the time of purchase. Its first home was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the low-humidity, warm climate ensured that it stayed rust-free for all this time. It somehow made its away across the world in Europe and is offered with Crystal Blue paint and vinyl roof, with color-matching leather interior  which, admittedly, is easier on the eyes than the Dark Majestic Velour interior offered for the 77 model year.Powered by a 6.6-liter engine with a 3-speed automatic transmission, this Lincoln features the signature addons of the Designer package, like the opera windows in the C-posts with the designer logo and concealed headlamps, but also a Cartier clock with date display on the dashboard.The paintwork is superb and the interior shows only minimal signs of use and just 73,252 miles on the clock, the listing notes. This Mark V drive and handles superbly and has always been well maintained.The asking price is 26,950 ($32,800) if youre feeling like indulging in a sudden craving for late 70s auto nostalgia
Another Texan has been arrested and charged for participating in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, weeks after his son reported him to the FBI.

Guy W. Reffitt of Wylie, Texas was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.

CAPITOL ATTACK: Nearly 1 in 5 of Capitol rioters charged so far served in the military

But Reffitt's 18-year-old son Jackson had reported him earlier after Reffitt told his son he was going to do "something big."

I didnt know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side, Jackson Reffitt told the New York Times' Bryan Pietsch.

Jackson Reffitt told investigators that his father came home on Jan. 8 and told his family that "we stormed the Capitol." In an interview with CNN, Jackson Reffitt said he did not know his father was going to Washington D.C. until the day Reffitt left.

Reffitt's son also told investigators that Reffitt had threatened Jackson Reffitt and his sister in the days after the riot, saying, If you turn me in, youre a traitor and you know what happens to traitors... traitors get shot.

FBI investigators identified Reffitt in several videos taken at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He could be seen on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building wearing a blue jacket and a helmet with a GoPro-style camera attached, according to a filing in the District Court for the District of Columbia.

Pietsch reports that federal investigators contacted Jackson Reffitt on Jan. 6 to follow up on the previous tip.

I put my emotions behind me to do what I thought was right, Jackson Reffitt said, Pietsch reports.

Reffitt's wife told federal investigators that Reffitt is a member of the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group. Jackson Reffitt also appeared on CNN and discussed how his father had become more active on the internet and involved in the militia group, leading to his participation in the Jan. 6 riot. Reffitt was arrested on Jan. 16.

"I wish I could tell you exactly what [influenced him], but it's been definitely over the past four years that it's grown and just snowballed into what my dad's become now," Jackson Reffitt told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "He's still my father, but he's changed a lot."

Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
As the political crisis tightens its grip on Nepal, the rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party on January 25 has announced the third phase of agitation against Prime minister KP Olis decision of dissolving the House of Representatives, the lower house, reported news agency ANI.

Earlier, the Election Commission on January 24 refused to recognise either of the factions of the Nepal Communist Party - one led by PM KP Oil and the other by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar. According to ANI, the poll panel said that both the factions have failed to follow the Political Parties Act 2017 and party statute. It is important to mention that both the factions had filed an application in the Election Commission claiming authenticity along with the election emblem the 'Sun'.

The spokesperson for Election Commission Raj Kumar Shrestha said, Decisions made by both the parties didn't come in line with the party's statute. As the decisions don't fall in line, we can't update the details of the Nepal Communist Party. We have notified both chairman KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal about it, making them clear that the Commission will maintain existing details of the party.

Read - Nepal Election Commission Refuses To Recognise Either Faction Of Ruling NCP

Read - Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli Expelled From Ruling Communist Party Over Dissolution Of Parliament

KP Oli expelled from the NCP

Following the dissolution of the 275-member House, Nepal Communist Party expelled PM Oli from the party in a decision taken by a Central Committee Meeting as disciplinary action. "His membership has been revoked", the spokesperson for the splinter group, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, told news agency ANI. Reportedly, the party leaders are now also planning further action against KP Oli post his ouster threatening 'serious disciplinary actions' against him.

Todays Central Committee Meeting which conveyed at Paris Danda decided to remove KP Sharma Oli from the party. He no longer holds even a simple membership of the Nepal Communist Party, Shrestha told the news agency.

The chaos was kickstarted by Oli decision back on December 20, 2020, to dissolve the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Nepali Parliament and touted the move as the only way to resolve the budding disputed and non-cooperation in the party that according to him led to a state of inaction. However, the abrupt move by the 68-year-old pushed the country into general elections, more than a year ahead of schedule and a flurry of court petition challenging the decision.

Read - Tens Of Thousands Protest Against Nepal's Prime Minister

Read -PM Modi Says 'committed To Assist Nepal' After Oli Extends Gratitude For Vaccine Supply




Commissioners Vote To Seek Bids For Projects, Discuss Vaccine Plan The Hill County Commissioners Court met in a brief special session Tuesday, January 19.



Commissioners voted to rescind former court orders awarding bids for the construction of a new Precinct 3 maintenance barn in Penelope and a bridge over Brooken Creek on HCR 3206.



The court will accept bids for the projects again after determining that the requests were not properly advertised the first time.



County Judge Justin Lewis also updated commissioners on an effort to increase COVID-19 vaccine availability to Hill County residents.



Although the county is not in charge of the vaccine rollout, Lewis said that the county worked with Ascension Medical Group Providence Clinic and Hill Regional Hospital to develop a proposal that was submitted to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM).



"We have a good plan to vaccinate up to 30,000 people in 10 weeks by using the county fairgrounds," Lewis said.



The judge pointed out that the plan has not been approved by the state yet, but state officials had responded requesting additional information about the proposal.



"My goal is to make Hill County a sub-hub vaccine site, so anybody in Hill County who wants the vaccine has a place they can go and register and we can administer it," Lewis said.



"If they allocate vaccine to us, we have a plan in place to benefit Hill County citizens if approved by the state."



The vaccination plan would require keeping the testing site at the Franklin Street annex to free up the fairgrounds for vaccinations.



In other updates, Lewis said that the construction project at the Waco Street Support Services Building is wrapping up, and the final portion of the project on the Franklin Street Annex should be completed soon with the installation of awnings.


(Newser)  Moderna reported mostly good news on Monday about two new variants of the coronavirus, though the Washington Post sees an "ominous" red flag in the mix. In the undisputed good news, the company says preliminary studies suggest its COVID vaccine provides protection against fast-spreading variants of the virus first identified in Britain and South Africa, reports the New York Times. But here's the "ominous" part: The vaccine appears to be less effective at fighting the South African variant, which the company says may suggest a potential risk of earlier waning of immunity to the new B.1.351 strains," per CNBC. In the results, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, researchers found a six-fold decrease in effectiveness on the South African variant.

story continues below

The company says the resulting level of protection is still good enough, but it's working on improvementsincluding the development of a possible third shot to the two-dose regimen. I dont know if we need it, and I hope we dont," Dr. Tal Zaks, Modernas chief medical officer, tells the Times. "I think of it as an insurance policy." Last week, Pfizer also reported early results suggesting its vaccine protected against the new variants, though not all the research on the South African version had been completed. Meanwhile, in what STAT News sees as a "major setback," drug-maker Merck has stopped developing its two COVID vaccines because of underwhelming results. Instead, the company will focus on COVID therapies. This only heightens the pressure on Johnson & Johnson and NovaVax for their own upcoming vaccine updates, notes STAT. (Read more Moderna stories.)

Judge Beau Higginbotham, who has sat on the 19th Judicial District Court's criminal bench for six years, is fighting for what he calls his "rightful claim to the civil bench."

What had been an in-house dispute among Higginbotham and his 19th JDC colleagues over who had the most seniority  and the right to move into a vacant civil seat on the Baton Rouge-based state court  has gone public. Higginbotham has sued.

A majority of Higginbotham's colleagues snubbed him for the civil seat vacated by retired 19th JDC Judge Janice Clark, instead allowing Judge Ron Johnson to move from the criminal bench to the civil bench, taking Clark's spot. Higginbotham has, in turn, sued East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk Doug Welborn, saying the longtime clerk rejected Higginbotham's request that Welborn assign civil cases to him.

Welborn told Higginbotham that the clerk of court lacked the authority to do what the judge had requested.

A hearing in the case is scheduled Monday.

Higginbotham was elected to the 19th JDC Division M seat in fall 2014, then to the Division C seat nearer to his home in fall 2019. Johnson, the twin brother of longtime 19th JDC Judge Don Johnson, also was elected in fall 2019.

+5 Metro Councilman, twin brother of 19th JDC judge headed for judicial runoff Baton Rouge City Court Judge Tarvald Smith was elected Saturday to the 19th Judicial District Court, while Metro Councilman Trae Welch and law

There are 15 judges on the 19th JDC bench  eight with a criminal docket and seven with a civil docket.

A majority of Higginbotham's colleagues decided he lost his seniority on the court when he switched criminal divisions and, therefore, lost his right to lay claim to the vacant civil seat.

Higginbotham, however, argues there was "no gap" in his service on the court.

The 19th JDC approved a new policy in mid-2019 that said judges are allowed, on the basis of "overall seniority," the opportunity to move from their present section to take over a vacant section.

The policy also provided that once a judge exercises the option to move from their present section to take over a vacant section, he or she will not retain seniority for the purpose of future moves and, instead, will go to the bottom of the "Seniority for Moves" list.

"Because Judge Higginbotham had no gap in service ... Judge Higginbotham's 'overall seniority' remained as December 30, 2014 because ... Judge Higginbotham's uninterrupted service on the bench began on December 30, 2014," he claims in a lawsuit filed against Welborn on Dec. 23 and amended Jan. 4.

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Higginbotham's motion to be assigned to the civil bench failed at a Dec. 9 meeting of the 19th JDC judges.

Judge Don Johnson then moved to assign the vacant civil bench seat to his brother, and the motion was approved, the lawsuit says.

+4 How twin brothers went from inner city Baton Rouge to making history as judges Growing up poor in Baton Rouge's poverty-stricken inner city with their nine siblings during the civil rights era, twins Don and Ron Johnson n

Higginbotham is asking an ad hoc judge, Emile St. Pierre, appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court, to hear the case to recognize his seniority on the 19th JDC and order Welborn to allot civil cases to him.

"The 19th Judicial District Court is moving forward with the process to allot civil cases to Judge Ronald Johnson despite Plaintiff's rightful claim to the civil bench," Higginbotham's amended lawsuit claims.

Higginbotham argues that even if his seniority begins on Oct. 21, 2019, the date of his oath of office in Division C, he still has more seniority than Ron Johnson because his oath is dated Dec. 12, 2019.

Veteran defense attorney Ron Johnson wins seat on 19th Judicial District Court, beating Trae Welch Veteran defense lawyer Ron Johnson, the twin brother of 19th Judicial District Court Judge Don Johnson, defeated East Baton Rouge Metro Counci

Welborn said Wednesday in a written statement that his office enjoys "great working relationships" with all of the 19th JDC judges and "we strive to be as accommodating to them as possible."

The clerk noted that Higginbotham's litigation against the Clerk of Court's Office involves a dispute among the judges concerning court sections and divisions.

"It is hoped that the lawsuit will ultimately result in providing clearer guidance concerning our role and authority in that process, and we will follow the decision of the Court," Welborn said. "Regardless of the outcome in this matter, we look forward to continuing a successful working relationship with all of the judges and their staffs."

Higginbotham said Sunday he could not comment on pending legislation, as Ron Johnson did previously.

In a Dec. 10 email, Don Johnson explained to his fellow 19th JDC judges that when a judge resigns from an elected office, there is no continuous service, according to the lawsuit. Don Johnson explained in a later Dec. 18 email that Higginbotham's seniority began anew when he resigned from his Division M seat and assumed the Division C seat on Oct. 21, 2019.

Higginbotham claims Welborn erroneously concluded that he did not have the authority to allot civil cases to Higginbotham. He adds that the clerk of court failed to perform his ministerial duty required by law.
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A long-time friend of a former solicitor who shot dead his partner at her luxury Kew home has admitted signing blank documents that allowed the killer to move his guns around the state and dodge authorities before the fatal attack.

Disgraced former lawyer Charles Bisucci had his firearms licence cancelled in the early 2000s after being issued with a family violence intervention order regarding a former partner.

His guns were all supposed to be seized by police, but on Monday the Coroners Court of Victoria heard not all were permanently confiscated and Mr Bisucci was instead able to create a web of lies to conceal his access to lethal weapons.

Police outside the home in August 2017. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The bodies of Mr Bisucci, 69, and his partner of six years, Marilyn Burdon, 70, were found in separate rooms of her Princess Street home in Kew on August 21, 2017. Both had been shot dead in a suspected act of murder-suicide.
WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences is presenting its 2021 Public Welfare Medal to scientist, physician, and public health leader Anthony Fauci for his "decades-long leadership in combatting emerging infectious diseases, from the AIDS crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic, and being a clear, consistent, and trusted voice in public health." The medal is the Academy's most prestigious award, established in 1914 and presented annually to honor extraordinary use of science for the public good.

Fauci's career as a public servant spans more than four decades, and he has advised seven U.S. presidents, including President Joe Biden. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health, Fauci has played a key role in shaping the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic while leading NIAID-sponsored research efforts to better understand, prevent, and treat COVID-19. Despite a heavy workload, he continues to promote and reinforce critical public health guidance through numerous media appearances, clearly and compellingly informing the public based on the best available science and evidence - all while directing the NIAID research enterprise, treating patients and conducting research in his own laboratory.

"During this extraordinarily challenging time for the nation and the world, Anthony Fauci has never wavered, tirelessly working almost around the clock to help America fight COVID-19," said Susan Wessler, home secretary of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the selection committee for the award. "He is an outstanding physician, researcher, and public servant whose immeasurable contributions to public health and welfare have undoubtedly made all of our lives better."

"Anthony Fauci is an American hero who has earned the respect and trust of millions for his no-nonsense approach to the pandemic," said National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt. "Throughout his long and distinguished career, his leadership and ingenuity during public health emergencies has saved countless lives here in the U.S. and around the world. I am delighted to present him with the Academy's highest honor."

Long before he became a household name for his work on the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci was a pioneer in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases, helping to steer the nation and the world through many public health crises, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, the swine flu, and Zika. Fauci was also the principal architect of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a lifesaving global program that has accelerated progress toward controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in more than 50 countries. In recognition of his leadership in PEPFAR, President George W. Bush awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Fauci also contributed to the establishment of the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative in 2005, a program that has greatly reduced the burden of this disease in Africa and Asia.

Fauci has made seminal contributions to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body's defenses leading to its susceptibility to deadly infections, and in developing treatments that enable people with HIV to live long and active lives. He continues to devote much of his research to the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to HIV. As the longtime chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, Fauci also developed effective therapies for once fatal inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases.

In addition to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Fauci has received numerous other awards and honors. He is a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the George M. Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, the Prince Mahidol Award, and the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, as well as other professional societies; has received 45 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in the United States and abroad; and is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 1,300 scientific publications, including several textbooks.

###

The Public Welfare Medal will be presented to Anthony Fauci during the Academy's 158th annual meeting. More information, including a list of past recipients, is available at http://www. nasonline. org/ public-welfare .

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and -- with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine - provides science, technology, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

Contact:

Molly Galvin, Director, Executive CommunicationsOffice of News and Public Information202-334-2138; news@nas.edu
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 05:39:20|Editor: huaxia

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GENEVA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- On the first day of the virtual World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos Agenda meeting on Monday, world leaders highlighted the importance of multilateralism and green economy in the post-COVID-19 global cooperation.

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, addressed the opening day of the WEF meeting, reiterating the call for a "reinvigorated, inclusive and networked multilateralism," and a "full, inclusive and equal participation for developing countries in global institutions."

"We need to be calling for a new social contract to create equal opportunities for all, and respect the rights and freedoms of all. A new social contract within societies is needed to enable people to live in dignity," he said.

"Now is the time to transform humankind's relationship with the natural world and each other. And we must do so together," he stressed.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), participated in the "Restoring economic growth" session, calling for more green development and financing.

"While both on the fiscal front and on the monetary policy front, authorities will have to stay the course and continue to support, at the same time investment will have to really be focused in order to lay the ground for a new economy," she said.

The ECB announced on Monday that it would set up a climate change center to bring together the work on climate issues in different parts of the bank.

The new unit, which will consist of about ten staff working with existing teams across the bank, will report to Lagarde, who oversees the ECB's work on climate change and sustainable finance, the bank said in a press release.

Lagarde also said that the eurozone's economic recovery has simply been delayed "but should not be derailed."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast in October that the eurozone economy shrank by 8.3 percent in 2020, but would resume growth of 5.2 percent in 2021.

Other sessions on Monday focused on responding to the COVID-19 crisis, building crisis-resistant healthcare systems, re-imagining education and building "net-zero" cities.

Also on day one, the WEF launched a coalition to tackle racism and improve racial and ethnic justice in the workplace.

The "Partnering for Racial Justice in Business" initiative consists of 48 organizations representing 13 industries, with more than 5.5 million employees worldwide and with headquarters in three continents, according to a news release.

More than 2,000 leaders will join the virtual Davos Agenda meeting under the theme of "A Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust" on Jan. 25-29.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to address the forum. Enditem
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How Mr Modi intends to redefine and rework his approach to the new America of Mr Biden and Ms Harris remains to be seen

Given the domestic economic pressures and promises made, Mr Biden may well not be able to ease up on the demands being made on India on the trade and economic side (AP)

Ending his much-acclaimed address to a joint session of both Houses of the American Congress in July 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, to rapturous applause: Partnerships can be of two kinds. There are partnerships based on principle and there are partnerships based on pragmatism. I believe we are at a juncture where we can embark on a partnership that can draw both on principle as well as pragmatism. We must build on this opportunity.

The India-US relationship has waxed and waned depending on how this mix between values, defined by principles, and interests, based on pragmatism, has worked out. As a new administration with a very different and well-defined ideological orientation takes charge in Washington D.C., diplomats and observers in both countries will wait to see what kind of a balance would be struck between the two considerations in taking the India-US relationship forward.

For a long time, when leaders of both countries met, they could only speak about their shared democratic values because their interests were so wide apart. The simultaneous occurrence in 1991 of Indias economic opening up and the end of the Cold War added the ballast of shared interests to the relationship. India's desire to secure new markets, new technologies and foreign investment as well as its need to diversify the countrys sourcing of defence equipment and bolster its national security, at a time when China was rising and jihadi terrorism had come closer home, created a powerful and potent mix of values and interests.

Long-term and durable bilateral relations between nations do require a balance between values and interests. The principles by which nations define themselves constitute their values, but a purely values-defined relationship cannot endure unless it also addresses the individual needs of both partners. While political and intellectual leaders define values, it is left to diplomats to identify and secure the pragmatic foundations of a relationship.

Several developments at home and around the world over the three decades, from 1990 to 2020, ensured that the bilateral relationship grew from strength to strength. However, even as global developments continued to favour closer India-US relations, domestic political and economic developments during the tenures of President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi did emerge as potential problems for the durability of the relationship.

Mr Trumps America First policies created new uncertainties for Indias interests, in areas such as trade and immigration policy, while Prime Minister Modis Atma Nirbhar Bharat trade and industrial policies and Indias desire to maintain its good equations with Russia and Iran, raised concerns in Washington. However, the weakening of the interests side of the equation was balanced by greater emphasis on the values side, with Mr Trump hailing Indias democracy while turning a blind eye to Mr Modis majoritarian communal politics, in his campaign against non-democratic China. If Mr Trump had been re-elected it remains to be seen how this equation would have worked out. President Trump may well have continued to ignore the BJPs politics, but would perhaps have demanded his pound of flesh on the trade and market access side.

What now with the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris duo? Clearly, their values are very different from Mr Trumps, and in a world where domestic politics increasingly influences foreign policy no country can ignore the influence of these new values at home on US foreign policy. At the same time, given the domestic economic pressures and promises made, Mr Biden may well not be able to ease up on the demands being made on India on the trade and economic side.

Consider then the emerging balance between principles and pragmatism -- the principles dear to the new Democratic administration in the US may favour Mr Modis India less than the principles that defined Mr Trumps attitude; and domestic policy pragmatism may require Mr Biden to stay the course on the economic demands the United States has been making on India.

On the Indian side, Mr Modi has weakened Indias global standing as a multicultural, pluralistic, liberal and secular democracy, especially in his second term in office, while at the same time pursuing insular trade policies that raise hackles in Washington D.C. How Mr Modi intends to redefine and rework his approach to the new America of Mr Biden and Ms Harris remains to be seen.

The fact that vice-president Kamala Devi Harris is partly of Indian origin and that several Indian Americans have been nominated to serve the Biden administration is no guarantee of a smooth ride for India in the US capital. While the interest groups that lobby for good relations between India and the US may have better access to the Biden-Harris team, the team itself may have many whose values clash with the BJPs majoritarianism. Listen carefully to Mr Bidens speech.

In the past it used to be assumed all too easily that Indian Americans are Indias diplomatic asset. Indeed, they were. Their role in ensuring congressional support for the India-US civil nuclear agreement cannot be underestimated. Prime Minister Modis rallies in New York and Houston, attended by enthusiastic Indian Americans, also helped Indian diplomats build bridges with Mr Trumps people. However, those Indian Americans lost out in this election. The Indian Americans now in office are the ones who may well have disliked external affairs minister S. Jaishankar refusing to meet US Congresswoman Premila Jayapal and her delegation, or his quoting Donald Trump approvingly in his book.

Among senior Biden administration officials there are many from the Obama administration who know India and Indians well, including the new CIA director William Burns and the pointman for Asia, Kurt Campbell. They may well wish to strengthen relations with India. It remains to be seen if their diplomatic pragmatism in the pursuit of interests, is able to score over the assertion of principle by those who seek to defend the liberal, democratic values of the Democratic Party. Clearly, Prime Minister Modi will have to undertake some reset in his domestic politics and policies to ensure that he gets as warm a reception in Joe Bidens America as he did in Donald Trumps.
South Africa: Basic Education commits to paying assistants' stipends

The Department of Basic Education says it is working with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) to ensure that all qualifying education assistants and general school assistants -- who were employed in December and have submitted all the required documents -- are paid this month.

In a statement, the department said some PEDs experienced challenges in processing the December stipends due, in part, to incomplete paperwork submitted (in some instances), which had to be returned to the affected schools for rectification.

This happened at a time when schools were busy dealing with the administration of the end-of-year examinations, and preparations for the 2021 academic year, including finalising work related to 2021 post provisioning, the department said.

The department said the Provincial Education Departments are aware of the non-payment of some of the December stipends, and are working with education districts to ensure that all the necessary requirements are met in order for everyone who qualifies to receive their payments".

The department said it is also working with Provincial Education Departments to implement the Presidential Employment Stimulus, through the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI).

The Presidential Employment Stimulus is an initiative that seeks to address youth unemployment, while simultaneously addressing the devastation of COVID-19 on households. For most young people employed under this initiative, this forms their first form of formal employment.

The initiative aims to create temporary employment opportunities for 300 000 youth between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. Of these, 200 000 are education assistants and 100 000 are general school assistants.

The second objective of the Presidential Employment Stimulus is to save jobs. As such, another aspect of the BEEI pertains to the saving of School Governing Body (SGB) funded posts in fee-paying schools and posts at government-subsidised independent schools, the department said.

To date, the department said 22 526 jobs have been saved and PEDs are adjudicating more applications to support saving more posts.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
AstraZeneca denies its COVID-19 vaccine is not very effective for people over 65, after German media reports said officials feared the shot may not be approved in the European Union for use in the elderly.

German daily papers Handelsblatt and Bild said in separate reports the vaccine - co-developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University - had an efficacy of 8 per cent or less than 10 per cent, respectively, in those over 65 years of age.

German officials were concerned the vaccine may not receive approval from the EUs medicines authority EMA for use in the age group, Bild said in its online edition.

A researcher works on the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Credit:University of Oxford

The reports mark another potential issue for AstraZeneca, which told the EU on Friday it could not meet agreed supply targets up to the end of March after running into vaccine production problems.

Frustration was already growing among European countries because Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced a temporary slowdown in vaccine supplies earlier in January.

In a written response, AstraZeneca described the German media reports as completely incorrect.

It said Britains Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation supported the vaccines use in the elderly. It also said that a strong immune response to the vaccine had been shown in blood analysis of elderly trial participants.

Read more: AstraZeneca denies report vaccine less effective in elderly
SpaceX

SpaceX carried 143 small spacecraft into orbit on Sunday, the company's first mission for its SmallSat Rideshare Program that offers prices for as low as $1 million.

The 143 spacecraft included 133 commercial and government satellites and orbital transfer vehicles, which get satellites to their precise orbit, as well as 10 SpaceX Starlink satellites. The Starlink satellites are part of a constellation seeking to provide high-speed broadband internet service around the world.
10,000 people turn 65 every day in the United States. At this rate, the number of older adults will more than double over the next several decades to more than 88 million, representing more than 20% of the population by 2050. This is why the role of a caregiver is more important than ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a divergent effect on todays workforce, driving many businesses to downsize or close, while others have increased temporary hiring efforts to meet seasonal demand. One industry has experienced accelerated growth, with permanent job opportunities expected to surge in the near future: in-home care.

In-home caregiving is a rewarding career experience that has become increasingly important during the pandemic, as staying home remains one of the safest places for older adults. The role of a caregiver is to offer supportive care to older adults by providing companionship and conversation, performing light housekeeping, preparing meals, running errands and assisting with transportation and personal care needs. Many qualities and skills developed in other jobs carry over seamlessly into caregiving responsibilities, such as being reliable, attentive and a strong communicator.

Caregivers are able to make a direct, positive impact in someones life every single day, making the hard work and dedication well worth it, said Lakelyn Hogan, Ph.D., gerontologist and caregiver advocate at Home Instead. In return, caregiving can offer a deep sense of purpose in your career by helping others age with dignity in the comfort and safety of their own home.

In addition to providing purpose, caregiving offers reliable employment and will for years to come, as the senior population continues to grow. According to a study by AARP and FP Analytics, 10,000 people turn 65 every day in the United States. At this rate, the number of older adults will more than double over the next several decades to more than 88 million, representing more than 20% of the population by 2050.

This is why the role of a caregiver is more important than ever. People who are patient, have a passion for helping others and an interest in interacting with older adults could find caregiving to be the perfect job. Hogan outlines a few of the benefits of working in the home care industry.



Flexible schedule. Caregiving requires dedication to best serve care recipients; however, caregivers can oftentimes arrange for flexible schedules that work well with other commitments such as attending school or raising children. The accommodating schedule also makes this a great job for retirees.

Professional and personal growth. To be a caregiver, no prior medical experience is necessary. This career provides ongoing training opportunities to gain a variety of skills and experience. In addition, it teaches important values such as time management, organization and communication skills that can be a benefit in both personal and professional life.

Opportunity to learn from an older generation and build relationships. Caring for members of the aging population offers the ability to form connections with people from different backgrounds and generations. It also allows the caregiver to develop deeper bonds with these individuals, especially during these difficult times. In the time spent together, older adults can share their decades of experience, wisdom and valuable advice with their caregivers.

A rewarding experience. Caregivers work with a wide variety of care recipients, each with their own unique needs. Working to identify a care plan and helping your care recipient maintain some of their independence and achieve their best quality of life as they age is a very meaningful and joyous experience.

COVID-19 has proven that in-home care is an invaluable service that can help protect older adults and keep them safe in difficult times. Being a caregiver is a meaningful labor of love and one of the most personally rewarding roles a person can play in their lifetime.

If youre interested in pursuing a fulfilling career, while making a difference in the lives of older adults, than caregiving is for you. For more information on what it takes to be a caregiver and how to become one yourself, visit http://www.homeinstead.com/careers.

ABOUT HOME INSTEAD

Founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, the Home Instead franchise network provides personalized care, support and education to enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. Today, the network is the world's leading provider of in-home care services for older adults, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 80 million hours of care annually throughout the United States and 13 other countries. Local Home Instead offices employ approximately 90,000 CAREGivers worldwide who provide basic support services that enable older adults to live safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. Home Instead franchise owners partner with clients and their family members to help meet varied individual needs. Services span the care continuum  from providing personal care to specialized Alzheimers care and hospice support. Also available are family caregiver education and support resources. Visit HomeInstead.com. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
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Our reporting is free for everyone, but its not free to make.

Alessa Fajardo is 4 years old and a superstar. It says so on the badge her mother pins to her clothes as she gets ready for school.

It's a high honor for the preschooler, who's been chosen to lead her class that week at Mariposa-Nabi Primary Center in Koreatown.

It's Oct. 16, 2019, a Wednesday morning. Alessa's mom, Erica Fajardo, packs her daughter's lunch bag. It has a rainbow on it  Alessa says it's her "favorite color," since she can't decide among the others.

Before they leave, Alessa makes sure her dad, Jaime Fajardo, gets his goodbye kiss as he's getting ready for work. Her grandmother is home this morning, so she gets one, too. Since Jaime's mother is there, Erica leaves their 2-year-old daughter, Clarissa, at home with her  otherwise she'd be along for their short walk to Alessa's school.

Outside the apartment building, Erica kneels and tells Alessa she loves her, kissing her hand. Alessa smiles.

"I love you, too."

(Dan Carino for LAist)

They walk north up Normandie toward the intersection with Olympic, Alessa in her Minnie Mouse sweater, carrying her little backpack. They're hand-in-hand. Erica never lets go. It's busy here. Lots of cars and people. The campus is directly across the street. They cross here every morning, and Erica always keeps Alessa on her right side  as far from oncoming traffic as possible.

When the traffic light and pedestrian signal turn green, Erica looks over her left shoulder to make sure no drivers are turning right off Normandie from behind her. Then she checks for drivers turning onto Olympic. All is clear.

They're about halfway across, still holding hands, when Alessa looks up at her mom and smiles.

That's when Erica hears it. People screaming, "Watch out!" The roar of a revving engine. As she turns to look, it's too late.

Seconds later, Erica is lying on the asphalt. She's been knocked out of the crosswalk. Her shoes are gone. She doesn't see Alessa.

Her only thought: Where is my daughter? Erica finds her a few yards away. "Everything is going to be fine," she tells her. But Alessa isn't breathing.

Fellow parents who witnessed the collision rush to their side. "Where's the baby?" they ask Erica. She tells them Clarissa is at home. She can't find her phone, so she borrows one to call Jaime, who runs to the scene.

By the time he gets there, EMTs have arrived and are giving CPR to Alessa. Jaime feels like he's having an out-of-body experience, looking down on it all, trying to make sense of it. He rides with Alessa to Children's Hospital while Erica is taken to another hospital nearby.

At Children's Hospital, a medical team is ready when Alessa arrives. Her skull is fractured and the trauma to her brain is too severe. They can't save her.

Jaime stays in the room with his daughter, holding her, not believing this is happening.

Erica is discharged from the other hospital and rushes to Children's. Jaime comes out to meet her in the waiting room.

He doesn't have to say anything. Erica can see it in his face.

A portrait of Alessa Fajardo in her family's home. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

LA's Traffic Violence

Alessa Fajardo was one of 134 people killed by drivers while walking L.A. streets in 2019. She was the second pedestrian killed in the city that October morning. The first victim was Efrain Espinoza , a father of five who was walking to catch his bus in West L.A. when a driver hit him and fled the scene. That driver was later arrested.

News of their deaths led a group of street safety advocates to protest outside City Hall , calling on the city to take meaningful action to save the lives of pedestrians and cyclists, who together represent roughly 60% of all fatal crash victims in L.A. in 2019, according to our analysis of preliminary city data.

"We have all the tools and solutions to solve this crisis," local cyclist Andres Quinche told me at a protest in December 2019. "What we are lacking is the courage and the conviction from our city council members, our mayor, [and] the Department of Transportation to stand up and say that safety matters more than speed, and that someone's life is more valuable than a driver losing 10 seconds on their way to work."

Street safety advocates held a die-in protest on the front steps of Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, calling on city leaders to take bold action to address the surge in traffic deaths in recent years. (Ryan Fonseca / LAist)

Quinche is one of a growing number of Angelenos criticizing city leaders for not following through on the promise of Vision Zero , a safety initiative launched by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2015. The program, adopted from a European safety philosophy , set an ambitious goal to eliminate all traffic deaths in Los Angeles by 2025. Vision Zero advocates believe such progress is possible because traffic deaths are a result of systemic flaws in street design and cultural priorities.

By fundamentally changing the approaches to managing speed and driver behavior, the initiative argues, cities can save lives and improve mobility for all road users. And there are signs of progress in some U.S. cities, including Seattle and New York City .

The story has been notably different in Los Angeles. Since the initiative was announced five years ago, traffic deaths in L.A. have risen rather than fallen. In 2015, 186 people were killed in collisions on city streets. In 2019, the combined death toll for pedestrians, cyclists and people killed in vehicles was 244 people, about a 31% jump. Pedestrian deaths rose more sharply, up about 65% over the same five-year span.

Another startling statistic from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation: Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 12 in the city.

'This Wasn't An Accident'

A 4-year-old girl was killed while walking to school with her mother. Who is responsible?

Let's take a step back for a moment to make one thing clear: when it comes to traffic violence , intention is separate from result. Of course, the typical driver who kills someone in a collision didn't wake up that morning planning to take a life.

That lack of malice in most traffic crashes is one reason we still see the term "accident" commonly used to describe traffic deaths. That's how LAPD officials and TV news reports framed Alessa's death. But that's not how Jaime and Erica see what happened to their daughter.

"This wasn't an accident," Erica told me. "This was a traffic violation."

Erica and Jaime Fajardo hold a portrait of their daughter, Alessa, who was killed by a driver while walking to school. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

For her family, calling what happened to Alessa an accident diminishes the tragedy of her death  and the failures of the driver who killed her. It also obscures the shortfalls of Vision Zero, through which the city  on paper at least  has taken the stance that traffic deaths are preventable and can be eliminated.

In the simplest sense, Alessa's parents blame the driver.

If the woman was looking where she was going while making that turn, how could she not have seen two human beings walking right in front of her?

"If she didn't see us, obviously she was looking at something else," Erica said. "How can you not see us?"

The investigation found that the driver was not licensed to operate a motor vehicle. Should that be considered a form of negligence?

How can you not see us?  Erica Fajardo

The Fajardos also question why the city has still not made improvements at the intersection, even though the danger to pedestrians is well documented.

L.A.'s safety officials know precisely which streets and neighborhoods are the most dangerous and deadly for people walking. Before Alessa was killed, Olympic and Normandie had been listed for years on L.A.'s High-Injury Network  roadways that represent roughly 6% of L.A. streets, but account for 70% of crashes citywide in which a pedestrian is killed or severely injured.

That traffic violence disporportionately affects residents in disadvantaged communities, city data shows . According to L.A.'s Equity Index , between 55% and 75% of residents in the Fajardos' neighborhood are considered low-income, based on census data and 2018 federal poverty guidelines. The community is predominantly Latino.

In a Vision Zero safety study published in 2017, officials ranked all of L.A.'s neighborhoods based on the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed or severely injured by drivers per mile of street. Koreatown ranked 4th.

And in 2013, before Alessa was even born, the city identified the 500 LAUSD schools "with the most need" for traffic safety improvements out of the district's more than 1,000 campuses. According to a fact sheet on its Safe Routes to School program , schools were prioritized by:

the number of nearby collisions in which a driver hit a pedestrian or cyclist

the number of students who live within a quarter-mile of campus

the number of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals

a lack of prior state or federal funding for street safety projects

Alessa's school, Mariposa-Nabi Primary Center, ranked 13th.

A slate of upgrades were proposed in 2018 to make the streets around the school safer, but that work has not been funded.

It wasn't until after Alessa was killed that LADOT repainted the crosswalk. Four months after Alessa's death, a crossing guard was approved at the intersection and "remained at Olympic and Normandie until schools were closed due to COVID-19," according to LADOT spokesperson Colin Sweeney.

The city also approved left-turn phasing (those green arrow signals) at the intersection, which gives pedestrians more protection by limiting the time drivers can turn left through a crosswalk. But upgraded traffic signals have not yet been added, and Sweeney told me "there is no estimate at this time of when installation will be completed as funding is yet to be identified."

Taking all of these factors into consideration, is it fair to call what happened to Alessa an accident? How are drivers held accountable when they kill someone on L.A.'s streets, and what is the city doing (or not doing) to protect Angelenos from traffic violence?

'She Took Something Very Precious From Us'

(Dan Carino / for LAist)

I first met Erica and Jaime at their home three months after their daughter was killed. Alessa's rainbow lunch bag was still in the kitchen. Her toys were still in the living room: an easel for art projects, her little plastic kitchen, her Peppa Pig playset.

Erica and Jaime sat with me at their kitchen table. Their younger daughter, Clarissa, was working on a nap in another room. They took turns checking in on her as they told me about Alessa.

She was bright. Assertive, bordering on sassy. A natural leader. Compassionate. Opinionated. Always looking out for her little sister. Perpetually outgoing. She loved school and shopping for clothes.

"She didn't see anything wrong with anybody... she just loved everything," Erica said. "I don't know what else to say other than she was perfect."

Top: Alessa's family framed some photos of her with her paintings, which now hang above her grandmother's bed. Bottom: Jaime and Erica Fajardo go through a box of Alessa's belongings in their kitchen. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

"Everywhere we went people looked at her and they would say, 'Oh, she looks just like you!'" Jaime said. "It just feels weird that I'm talking about my daughter now in the past tense."

Through their grief, both said little Clarissa was their North Star. Being able to play with her, read to her and sing to her "helps us keep going," Jaime said.

After Erica was hit by the driver, she experienced excruciating pain in her back and was hardly able to walk. She used a cane while her body healed. And because she was still nursing Clarissa at the time, she didn't take any painkillers.

"I know it's not fair for her for me to feel sorry about what happened," Erica said. "I want to give her the life that I wanted for Alessa. That's what keeps me going."

A bouquet of Alessa's handprints are displayed next to a photo of her in Jaime and Erica Fajardo's Koreatown home. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Jaime and Erica want to see the driver held accountable for her actions.

"She took something very precious from us," Jaime said. "She should definitely be behind bars for a long time to think about what she did."

Erica said she knows nothing will bring Alessa back, but hopes to feel a sense of justice, saying there should be "consequences for actions."

"It wasn't an animal that she ran over," she said. "It was a person."

(Courtesy / Erica and Jaime Fajardo)

The Investigation

Jeff Fischer, an LAPD traffic investigator, was assigned to Alessa's case.

Under California law, when a driver kills someone with their car, and it's determined they acted "without malice," they can be charged with vehicular manslaughter . If that happens, the death is not considered intentional from a legal standpoint, but it is still considered an unlawful killing and can be criminally prosecuted.

Before Fischer submitted his findings to county prosecutors in March, he spoke with me about what he'd determined.

The mother and daughter were crossing in the crosswalk with the walk signal, which is activated automatically. They were almost to the double-yellow line dividing traffic when a woman driving a Ford Explorer made a left turn from Normandie onto Olympic and hit them. The driver continued through the crosswalk and came to a stop on Olympic.

TV news footage shows the aftermath of the fatal collision on Oct. 16, 2019. Erica and Alessa Fajardo were crossing to Alessa's school, on the right, when a woman turned left from Normandie and struck them, killing Alessa. (Screenshot from video courtesy / NBC Los Angeles)

According to the L.A. County coroner's report, Alessa died from the blunt force trauma to her head when the driver struck her. Some eyewitnesses reported that she was also run over but Fischer said he could not confirm that. He concluded Alessa was struck by the front bumper, while Erica, being a little taller, took more impact from the hood, knocking her forward and out of the intersection.

Fischer obtained surveillance video from a nearby business which showed that the intersection of Normandie and Olympic was "pretty much clear" when the woman made her left turn and struck Alessa and Erica.

"She wasn't in a hurry trying to beat any cars," Fischer said. "She was just coming down the street [as] normal, making a left turn, just didn't see them."

Fischer drove the route at the same time of day the collision happened to simulate the conditions.

"I could clearly see the intersection," he said.

The woman who killed Alessa and injured Erica had her kids in the car at the time  she was driving them to a different school. Police and TV news reports emphasized that she remained at the scene, cooperated with investigators and was visibly distraught. Both authorities and reporters used the word "accident" to describe the crash, noting that she was not driving under the influence, according to police.

The driver has been identified by police, county D.A. and city attorney officials as Indira Marrero, of Los Angeles. She did not have a driver's license at the time of the crash. Marerro did not respond to requests for comment for this story.



The Case

The woman who killed Alessa Fajardo and injured her mother, Erica, drove down Normandie Avenue and made a left at the intersection with Olympic Boulevard, directly into the mother and daughter. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Based on his findings, Fischer concluded Marrero could be charged with vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence.

Fischer filed the case with the D.A.'s office in early March. It was referred to the city attorney's office, which handles misdemeanors. That's because even when a driver is found to be fully at fault  as is the case with the driver who killed Alessa  L.A. County prosecutors may decide not to pursue felony charges.

Marrero faces two charges, according to Rob Wilcox, a spokesperson for the city attorney's office: vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and driving without a license.

The maximum sentence for the first charge is a year in county jail, Wilcox said, and the maximum for the second is 180 days in county jail.

I reached out to both the D.A.'s office and the city attorney's office, seeking to understand their process for assessing these kinds of cases. They both declined to speak about the case, or discuss vehicular manslaughter in broad terms. A colleague and I also contacted a current and former county prosecutor in an effort to get some sense of how cases like these are viewed, but neither of them would speak on the record.

So I asked Fischer how this process works.

"They don't want to just see one violation, they want to see multiple violations, which will constitute a felony," he said of prosecutors. "Say if you have a witness as someone's crossing the street, and then prior to crossing the street, witnesses say, 'Yeah, this guy was speeding down the street, going in and out of traffic, ran a stop sign, he made a left turn and hit these people.' Now you're looking at felony stuff."

If a driver had been driving drunk, or fled the scene after hitting someone, those actions can bolster the prosecution's argument that a driver acted negligently.

A pedestrian crosses the street at Olympic and Normandie in Koreatown -- the same crosswalk where Alessa was killed. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Distracted driving is also an all-too-common factor in collisions. Jaime Fajardo hoped police would check the driver's phone records to see if she was using hers at the time. That wasn't done.

"In general, running a search warrant on a cell phone record is something we normally do not do that often," LAPD Captain Jonathan Pinto, who commands the department's South Bureau Traffic Division, told me.

"It's really difficult sometimes to prove distracted driving, unless we have an eyewitness or we can clearly see on video that the individual was texting or was distracted somehow," Pinto said, adding that collision investigators have to go "beyond just mere suspicion" when they write an affidavit seeking a search warrant on a driver's phone records.

I also asked Fischer if the fact that Marrero was unlicensed could be used to establish negligence. If she was not legally authorized to operate a motor vehicle, but did so anyway and killed a child as a result, could prosecutors argue that she acted negligently?

Not really, according to Fischer.

"Having no license is like an infraction," he said. "[Prosecutors] don't look at that."

I later recounted to Jaime and Erica his explanation of why the lack of a driver's license wasn't given more weight by prosecutors.

"I think that's total B.S.," Jaime said. "It is being negligent because you're getting behind the wheel of a car that you're not legally supposed to be driving... that is being negligent 100%."

So what's the typical outcome for these kinds of cases? Fischer explained:

"Most of the time when these things happen  and if there's no drugs involved, no alcohol involved, nothing very serious  most of the time they'll file charges on the other person, but they usually will offer probation. [As] long as they have a good record and nothing else going on, they're usually given three years probation."

Initially, Marrero was to be arraigned in early July, but due to the pandemic, her court date was moved to October, then pushed again to Nov. 25. She failed to appear and the judge issued a warrant for her arrest. As of this publication she had yet to be arrested, according to the city attorney's office.

'Is Anything Going To Be Different?'

The Fajardos want to see effective changes on streets in their neighborhood like lower speed limits and more left-turn arrows to protect pedestrians from drivers. Jaime said they both think about Clarissa and how to keep her safe as she gets older.

"She's growing up quickly and each day that passes by, she looks more like her sister," he said. "We just think about how [it's] going to be when it's our turn to drop her off to school. Is anything going to be different?"

Top: Jaime and Erica Fajardo's daughter Clarissa draws on the easel that belonged to her older sister, Alessa. Bottom: Photos of Alessa and Clarissa decorate the walls of the family's home in Koreatown. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Shortly after Alessa's death, Jaime contacted the office of now former L.A. City Councilmember Herb Wesson, who at the time represented the family's neighborhood. Jaime said he spoke with a couple field deputies from the district, who told him they would be working with LADOT to improve safety at the intersection.

"As of today, the only 'improvement' in that intersection has been a re-striping of the crosswalks from white to yellow," he told me.

Erica attempted to contact the city's Vision Zero team using the main email promoted on its website. She wrote to them in July, asking for a number of improvements at the intersection, like left-turn arrows and speed bumps to slow speeding drivers and protect children and parents at Mariposa-Nabi.

"I don't want anyone else to go through what [I] am going through right now," she wrote. "Parents from the school are concerned and would like to know what they can do for these changes to happen before their kids go back to school."

She has yet to hear back from anyone from L.A.'s Vision Zero team.

Traffic on Olympic Boulevard in Koreatown. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Erica said she knows those street changes could take a while, but the harder thing to change will be the sometimes-fatal decision by drivers to take their eyes off the road.

"They have their phone underneath the steering wheel, and they're looking down, pretending to be driving straight with their eyes straight ahead, but they're not looking at me. I have to stop for them," she said. "You're knowledgeable that you're driving, there's people around, vulnerable to a person in a car."

"It's a great weapon. It killed my daughter."

In June, the family experienced another terrifying incident on a walk.

They were headed to a park across the street from L.A. High School, crossing Lucerne Boulevard legally in a marked crosswalk. Jaime was pushing Clarissa in her stroller next to Erica, who was several months pregnant at the time.

"I'm hyper vigilant during this time, always watching to see if there's any cars coming by, any cars turning," Jaime recalled. "And sure enough, I see this car just starting to approach the intersection, and sure enough, she's looking down at her phone...I told my wife, 'babe, slow down because this person is not watching us.'"

Jaime said he yelled out to get the driver's attention, and she made a hard stop just shy of the crosswalk. The situation escalated from there.

Erica, who had been very reluctant to walk at all, said the trauma of losing Alessa several months earlier came flooding back. Jaime said he was "livid" and stood in the crosswalk, telling the driver she needed to pay attention. They tried to explain that they had lost their older daughter to a driver in a similar situation several months ago.

"This young lady just kept apologizing but she just wouldn't listen," Erica said.

Then, according to Jaime and Erica, the woman got out of her car and started yelling at them.

"In my head, I can't believe this is happening," Jaime said. "She's really cursing at us, because we're the ones that are about to get hit by her distracted driving. My wife and I were both telling her that we lost a daughter because of people like her that weren't paying attention. And it did not register with her. She did not care."

Erica took the stroller and moved with Clarissa onto the sidewalk, but Jaime says the driver briefly pushed and scratched him, then made a threat.

"This lady then yells at me and tells me if I don't get out of the way... she's going to run me over with her car," Jaime said. "I tell her, 'OK, do it.' And she goes back into her car, and she runs the car toward me. She actually hits me with her car and I have to put both of my hands on the hood to keep from being pushed back."

Jaime told Erica to call the police and the woman sped off, but they got the license plate and filed a police report.

LAPD Detective Gabriel Medina investigated the incident and confirmed that the woman scratched Jaime and "drove intentionally towards him," striking him with her car, though Jaime was not seriously injured.

The woman is now facing multiple misdemeanor charges, including assault with a deadly weapon (her car), simple battery, hit and run, and driving with a suspended license, according to city attorney spokesperson Rob Wilcox.

She faces a potentially longer sentence than the driver who killed Alessa.

'Our Family's Still Here'

On the first Saturday of October, nearly a year after her death, several dozen of Alessa's family and friends gathered in front of her school. LAPD officials from the West Bureau Division had organized a memorial to dedicate a plaque and plant a tree in her honor.

Top: Jaime, Erica and Clarissa Fajardo embrace during a memorial for Alessa nearly a year after her death in Koreatown. Bottom: Alessa's grandmother, Maria Fajardo, right, holds a poster with an image of her granddaughter during the service on Oct. 3, 2020. (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Alessa's teacher, Silene Corn, choked back tears as she talked about the student she said will "always be part of my class."

She told a story about the time a guest speaker had come to talk to the class about being cautious of strangers. "After she had finished her presentation," Corn recalled, "she asked the class one more time: 'So, if a stranger asked you for help, what would you say?' Everyone said 'no,' except for Alessa, [who] said, in the kindest voice, 'I will help!' Even after we explained everything again to her, she could not bring herself to say that she would not help a person in need of assistance."

Ms. Corn had given Alessa that superstar badge the day before she died. She knew how excited her student had been to be "a little teacher" for the rest of the week.

"There's a lot of guilt," Corn told me after the memorial. "She was coming to my class. She was coming to me."

Top: A plaque was posted in front of a tree planted in honor of Alessa Fajardo outside her school in Koreatown. Bottom: Alessa's teacher, Silene Corn, fights through tears as she speaks about how the 4-year-old would "always be part of my class." (Chava Sanchez / LAist)

Alessa's badge was battered and bloody from the crash. Erica and Jaime asked their daughter's teacher if they could get a new one, which she had made for them. Alessa was buried with it.

A few days after the ceremony, Erica and Jaime's son was born. They named him Alexis, in honor of Alessa.

I watched the family walk home after the memorial, crossing the same street where Alessa was taken from them. How can they bear this constant reminder of that day?

I asked them if they had talked about moving. At first, Erica said, she wanted to. But the more she thought about it, the more she resolved to stay.

"I put a thought in my head that this situation is not going to chase me elsewhere," she said. "Something has to be done here."

Erica holds to the advice she often gave Alessa: "Don't give up. If you feel like you can't do it, take a break, get up again, try again."

"I have that little voice  hers  in my head that's telling me that," Erica said. "That's why I'm still here. Our family's still here."
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Its been 35 years since Congress has passed significant immigration reform.

Since then, the debate over immigration has evolved from a conversation on the needs of the agricultural sector and the squalid living conditions of migrant workers, to a discourse on xenophobia, family separation and the construction of a border wall.

Other than stoking fierce national division, little progress has been made.

Now, as the Biden administration takes the lead on the next round of debate over immigration, legislative reform remains intricately tethered to the ability of a deeply divided Congress to find common ground.

Just hours after his inauguration, President Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping immigration bill that would provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status. Bidens bill would roll back harsh Trump administration immigration policies, specifically broadening protections to children of refugees or asylum seekers.

Comprehensive immigration reform in the United States has been elusive and I think remains an uphill battle, said Chris Borick, political science professor and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

You see the public align in support on a number of issues, such as DACA, which gets support from a majority of Americans, but when you talk about a path to citizenship or border security or the wall, the idea that you can come up with a grand bargain is not there, he added. I think that is what Biden is pushing for and it remains pretty challenging.

Passage requires Herculean effort

In a narrowly divided Congress, the deeply bipartisan flashpoint faces a daunting uphill battle. Republicans and conservative groups have already assailed the Biden proposal for failing to address border security and tendering an amnesty plan for undocumented immigrants.

First and foremost, our focus should be on securing our borders to stop the flow of illegal immigration, said Rep. Fred Keller, of the 12th Congressional District. The federal government has spent more than $4 trillion in relief for Americans suffering through the pandemic, and we must ensure that we are continuing to take care of Americans first. Im concerned that President Biden is rushing to grant blanket amnesty at a time when our focus should be on defeating the virus and helping American workers recover.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed similar sentiments, calling Bidens proposal a nonstarter, a mass amnesty with no safeguards and no strings attached.

Rep. Scott Perry, the newly re-elected 10th Congressional District Republican, signaled some willingness to negotiate.

Ive always worked to find common ground with legislation that was shared transparently with the American People and allowed for honest debate and input from members, he said. But until I can see an actual bill with details that I can research and share for feedback from our constituents and stakeholders, it would be irresponsible for me to speculate.

Even Democrats have acknowledged that the task of winning support for the measure from across the aisle amounts to a Herculean effort, as U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Thursday.

Others, like U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said the Biden plan represents the kinds of policies he supports.

A path to citizenship for immigrant workers who pay taxes and have longed called America their home is not just long overdue, but critical to building our economy back better, he said. Our immigration system must be an orderly one that is governed by fair rules and welcomes those seeking to become Americans; this is what President Biden is proposing.

Hot potato for decades

Activists and stakeholders, for years disappointed with the lack of progress, for now guard their enthusiasm about the plan.

The whole issue of immigration has been a hot potato for decades and used as leverage by both parties in their platforms, said Gloria Vazquez Merrick, the executive director of the Latino Hispanic American Community Center in Harrisburg, which serves growing ranks of undocumented immigrants. Once they get elected, its like other things. They forget the things they committed to.

President Joe Biden is poised to reverse Trump administration harsh immigration policies. The majority of Americans support a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers. This file photo was taken in 2017. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS) TNSTNS

Biden may be attempting to make a strong statement with the proposal, she said, delivering on one of his campaign promises to overhaul immigration and transform the system with more humane policies, but she worries that his proposals could have a double-edged effect.

I think it will be a sweeping attempt but then some things will fall out, Vazquez Merrick said. And thats a good thing, but then you look at the fine print...just like a medication.

Her concern is rooted in history.

In 1986, Vazquez Merrick saw the Reagan administration enact the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which was hailed as a panacea for a convoluted immigration system that made it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in the United States but not a crime to employ one.

The Reagan administrations law led to the mass legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants while sanctioning employers who hired them. Ultimately, the law led to resentment, lax and nearly unenforceable restrictions, and indeed, encouraged a groundswell of immigration across the southern border that has fueled the immigration debate since.

When that was passed it simultaneously had some good coming out where immigrants received status and were allowed to get emergency care. It addressed the human side, Vazquez Merrick said. But it put controls in place and made it illegal for companies to hire undocumented workers. That included farm workers. A lot of things had to change. Farm owners were afraid to hire illegal immigrants. They were policing these farms and giving out severe penalties if they were caught with illegals.

In the end, immigration experts concluded that the Reagan policy encouraged rather than deterred illegal immigration.

Revisiting the past, Vazquez Merrick said, will be critical to the Biden proposal.

We need to reopen some of those doors and have a conversation and say what can we do? How far can we go to have a win-win for agriculture and workers, Vazquez Merrick said. Not only for workers and immigrant families but for all of us. For all citizens who benefit from the agriculture industry.

A human rights issue

Under the Biden plan, undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2021, would have a five-year path to temporary legal status, or a green card, if they pass background checks, pay taxes and fulfill other basic requirements. From there, its a three-year path to naturalization, if they decide to pursue citizenship.

The Biden plan would bolster Obama era measures impacting so-called Dreamers, the young people who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children, and who with the 2012 Obama executive order won protection from deportation. Under the Biden plan, Dreamers could qualify more immediately for green cards if they are working, are in school or meet other requirements. The same would apply to agricultural workers and people under temporary protective status.

Advocates for immigration reform hail the plan as a long overdue remedy to a system that adversely impacts not only immigrants but the state and nation as a whole.

Its a human rights issue, said Maria Hernandez, a member of the Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania. With everyone that has happened with the pandemic, we have seen that our community contributes and continues to contribute during this time. There are undocumented immigrants working in food packaging, food processing, food cultivation to keep food on our tables. People whove had to risk everyday getting COVID but continue to contribute. These are the undocumented unsung heroes.

Hernandez insists that there are common solutions that could address all the concerns of the different stakeholders, including Republicans.

Its time for healing and time for addressing the wrongs that have been done for so many years, not just by the last administration, but previous ones where immigration reform was talked about but never came to fruition, she said.

During a White House briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday said the administration was hopeful Bidens bill would provide a moment of reset that could restart discussions among lawmakers.

For now, the newly convened Congress remains deeply divided over immigration.

In response to a request for comment from PennLive, Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he was reserving judgment on the bill until it was introduced.

Others, like Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., both of whom have in the past drawn conservative backlash for supporting immigration reform deemed too progressive by hardliners, have already expressed flat out opposition to the Biden plan.

A short window

To be sure, one week into his White House administration, few issues other than immigration have received as visceral a reaction from conservatives as immigration.

Meanwhile, immigration advocates say the cultural landscape sowed by the former president poses a major hurdle to Congress securing the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster on the Biden bill, but also the nations outlook on immigration reform.

We are coming out of a four-year period in which we had a president who was a loud, public advocate of white supremacy. Its going to be an uphill battle, said Sundrop Carter executive director, Pennsylvania Immigration & Citizenship Coalition.

We are starting from a very different place than the last time we had immigration reform. There has been a huge amount of misinformation that has been pushed out over the last four years. Theres been such an empowerment of white supremacy. I think it will be an uphill battle but think it will be unequivocally a good thing if we can pass this bill.

The bill has yet to be officially introduced in the Senate. Menendez, the lead sponsor of the bill, on Thursday told Congressional Quarterly Roll Call that he planned to reach out to Graham and Rubio to begin negotiations.

Still, Biden could be about to take a page out of the Obama playbook.

Like Biden, Obama in the first two years of his presidency had a Democratic majority Congress, and leveraged it to push through his health care overhaul, which cost his administration dearly at the midterms.

You have a window those first two years, Borick said. You do burn capital and President Biden may want to burn some capital to push things through.

The gambit hurt Obama in the short term (with tea party Republicans seizing conservative control of the House in 2010) but his health care law remains a popular policy, and has withstood GOP efforts to dismantle it.

In the end does Biden double down and say this is the one issue Im going to invest in even if it does end up hurting us two years down the road? Borick said.

More from PennLive

New pick for Pa. health secretary draws praise, hopes for fresh perspective in tackling COVID-19

While Dr. Rachel Levine inspired and enraged Pennsylvanians, her work caught President Bidens eye
An unemployed recluse who allegedly broke into a 92-year-old woman's home and raped her has refused to front court after his arrest.

Craig Anthony Wheatman is accused of what police are calling one of the most 'heinous' home invasions in recent memory after allegedly storming the elderly woman's Concord home about 2am on Saturday.

The 28-year-old allegedly sexually assaulted the victim in a sickening attack which police claim lasted 105 minutes.

Wheatman, who is originally from South Australia but known to reside at a Strathfield address, has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated break and enter and assault occasioning actual bodily harm among other charges.

He was arrested on Sunday but refused to appear in Burwood Local Court on Monday.

Craig Anthony Wheatman (pictured) is accused of one of the most 'heinous' home invasions in recent memory after storming the elderly woman's Concord home about 2am on Saturday

His lawyer Catherine Hunter said Wheatman was not looking to apply for a release and did not want to front court.

The 92-year-old victim survived the brutal alleged attack and called her family for help using her remote-controlled medical emergency alarm.

She was rushed to hospital, but has since been released.

'It's probably one of the most appalling (incidents) I've seen in 30 years of policing,' NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Acting Commander Chris Goddard claimed on Monday.

'Some of the most heinous crimes in the Crimes Act have been committed against this poor, defensiveness vulnerable member of our community.

'With a 92-year-old person - frail, of age - those injuries will take some time to heal.'

The 28-year-old (pictured being arrested) allegedly fled the scene with a stolen wallet and cash after physically and sexually assaulting the 92-year-old woman in her Concord home

Wheatman, who is originally from South Australia but known to reside at a Strathfield address, has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated break and enter and assault occasioning actual bodily harm among other charges

'(But) she's very strong-willed and very positive about this whole thing. She's getting better with each day.'

Court documents allege Wheatman lived a short distance from the woman's home, but neighbours say he was evicted from the small brick cottage months ago.

Neighbours told The Daily Telegraph that Wheatman often drew attention to himself because most of the street were Chinese or Nepalese, while he is Caucasian.

They say the landlord changed the locks in November, renovated the house and sold it by December.

'He just moved up to Sydney and said he was struggling to find work and make a decent living,' the neighbours said.

A neighbour revealed in the days leading up to the alleged Concord attack, every window in his old home was shattered.

Wheatman has not been charged with the vandalism of his former home, and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest he had any involvement.

The 92-year-old victim was able to activate her emergency medical alarm and has been described by police as 'brave, positive and strong-willed' (pictured, Wheatman being arrested)

Police are still working to determine when and how Wheatman moved to Sydney from South Australia, but they are certain Saturday's alleged attack was 'purely random and opportunistic'.

Detective Goddard told 2GB radio the elderly woman was doing 'remarkably well, considering the circumstances'.

'It was a very confronting scene, when your dealing with some of the most vulnerable members of our community,' he said.

Wheatman is known to police and was spotted in Homebush by some 'eagle-eyed' detectives.

Mr Goddard said it was an outstanding team effort from all parts of the NSW Police force and 'good old fashioned police work' that led to the arrest of the man.

'The crime scene was processed meticulously by our forensics evidence command, which gave us some evidence to go with, with eagle eye detectives out and about patrolling once we'd identified a suspect,' he said.

Detective Acting Superintendent Chris Goddard confirmed the alleged attack was random, with police arresting the identified man when he was spotted on the side of the road
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SOURCE Phoenix American Financial Services
Why it is not yet time to write Sasikalas political obituary

Expelled AIADMK leader Sasikala to be released from prison on Jan 27, says nephew Dhinakaran

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Chennai, Jan 25: Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, serving a jail term in Bengaluru in a corruption case and presently under treatment for coronavirus, will be released from prison on Wednesday "according to all our expectations," her nephew T T V Dhinakaran said on Monday.

With the former aide of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa recuperating in a Bengaluru hospital, her discharge from the medical facility will be made known later, he said in a tweet.

"According all our expectations... Chinnamma (Sasikala) will be released (from prison) day after tomorrow, 27-01-2021," Dhinakaran said. Independent legislator Dhinakaran, Sasikala''s nephew and founder of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) said his aunt was recuperating from coronavirus and that her discharge from the hospital will be made known later after consulting doctors. Sasikala, under treatment at Victoria Hospital, had been earlier moved out of the ICU there after her virus symptoms reduced.

She had contracted coronavirus on January 20 and was later admitted to the Bowring Hospital.

In view of her critical condition, she was shifted to the ICU ward of Victoria Hospital. She was sentenced to four years imprisonment in February 2017 in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 19:04 [IST]
(Newser)  The stalled effort to honor abolitionist Harriet Tubman by putting her likeness on the $20 bill is being started up again by the Biden administration. She would be the first Black person on US currency. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the nation's currency should "reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubmans image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that," NBC reports. Born into slavery in Maryland, Tubman escaped and helped more than 300 others to freedom through the Underground Railroad. The Obama administration announced the change in 2016, but the work has never been completed. Psaki said the administration is "exploring ways to speed up that effort."

story continues below

The new design moves Andrew Jackson, who kept people as slaves, to the back of the bill. President Trump is a fan who displayed Jackson's portrait in the Oval Office and visited his tomb while in office, per the Wall Street Journal. Trump discounted the effort as "pure political correctness," saying perhaps Tubman could go on the $2 bill. At one point, his administration announced that technical issues would prevent the change in the bill until 2028. "For me, having Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill really says, first of all, that America realizes that it's not the same country that it once wasthat it's a place where diversity matters," Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, told NPR in 2016. "And it allows us to make a hero out of someone like Harriet Tubman, who deserves to be a hero." (A new photo of Tubman, showing her in her 40s, surfaced in 2017.)




Haiti - News : Zapping...





Individuals block EDH's work

The EDH deplores the behavior of individuals in Jacmel who have prevented works to upgrade the electricity grid to increase the capacity of the EDH plant in the city. Otherwise, these three newly installed groups will not be able to join the network. Following these malicious acts Michel Presume the Director General of EDH launched an appeal "I appeal to the sense of responsibility of the citizens of Jacmel in order to allow the EDH to proceed calmly with the installation of infrastructure to electrify the department of Southeast in order to improve its economic situation".



Diaspora Atlanta

The Consul General of Haiti in Atlanta Mrs. Roudelyne Nogar Jean, as well as members of the consulate, had the pleasure to welcome the HMI Sensational Flav, Samuel Dameus, Creator of "Faces of Haiti" which promotes positive visuals of Haiti through the arts and photos. Including members of their new project Dr Love while touring Atlanta.



Heritage : Exploration mission in the Northwest

The National Bureau of Ethnology mobilizes part of its resources for an exploration mission in the northwest of the country. This exploration mission will allow the creation of an inventory of the city of Capois Lamort in order to establish an inventory of resources (objects, cultural sites and myths) which make up the wealth of this department.



Did you know ?

One in 10 adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 is already pregnant or mother in Haiti. Let's work for better access to the full range of modern contraceptive methods in Haiti.



Closing of the International PAPJazz Festival 2021

Saturday Pradel Henriquez, the Minister of Culture accompanied among others by his colleague from Tourism, Ms. Myriam Jean participated in the closing evening of the 15th Edition of the International Jazz Festival (PAPJazz 2021), which took place from 16 to 23 January, under the high patronage of the Ministry. The evening took place on the Wingaz stage at the Karibe Convention Center, which hosted concerts by Alex Jacquemin, Denis Belyakob and Johbern Thomas, Kreyol Jazz Project and James Martin Band.



The bad weather affected the 115Kv line at Peligre

Following the bad weather on Saturday evening from 9:28 p.m., unwanted trips were recorded on the 115 kV line at Peligre, leading to network collapses. This morning, the grid was reestablished at 6.30 am with P2 from Peligre.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















(Natural News) The U.S. State Department on Friday, Jan. 15, released a fact sheet revealing several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) fell ill with symptoms similar to those caused by the coronavirus in the autumn of 2019.

It contradicted claims by a senior researcher from the facility who said there were no infections among the staff scientists.

The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illnesses. This raises questions about the credibility of WIV senior researcher Shi Zhenglis public claim that there was zero infection among the WIVs staff and students of SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-related viruses, the fact sheet stated.

The fact sheet also noted that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has systematically prevented a transparent and thorough investigation of the Covid-19 pandemics origin, choosing instead to devote enormous resources to deceit and disinformation.

Accidental viral outbreaks arent new in China, including the 2004 SARS outbreak in Beijing that originated in a lab.

All the State Department wants is transparency. (Related: Chinese authorities hid the fact that medical staff in coronavirus-hit city were infected.)

The CCP has prevented independent journalists, investigators and global health authorities from interviewing researchers at the WIV, including those who were ill in the fall of 2019. Any credible inquiry into the origin of the virus must include interviews with these researchers and a full accounting of their previously unreported illness, the State Department said.

As expected, the Chinese quickly deflected the blame.

Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for Chinas foreign ministry, said on Monday, Jan. 18, the U.S. government should invite experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct origin-tracing in the U.S., implying that the country may be the source of the virus.

She also denied the fact sheets claims and insisted that China was cooperating with virus origin investigations.

A team of WHO experts arrived in Wuhan on Jan. 14. The experts are waiting for their mandatory quarantine period to end before they can start work on the ground to investigate the origin of the virus.

In early 2020, U.S. experts were continually denied access to Wuhan to conduct research.

CCP plays blame game

The Chinese regime rarely admits its own mistakes. When pushed into a corner, the Chinese use the blame game as its way out.

In March 2020, another Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, tweeted that the U.S. military brought the epidemic to Wuhan.

Quoting Alexander Kekule, director of the Institute for Biosecurity Research in Germany, Chinese state-run media claimed that the virus spreading around the world was a kind of variant mutating in north Italy.

Kekule disproved the claim in an email interview with Indian newspaper Hindustan Times, saying that his words were taken out of context from his book and his interview with German television.

The origin of the virus in China is described in detail in my book, and also the Chinese efforts to conceal the magnitude of the outbreak at the beginning. I never stated that the virus originally came from Italy, this is pure propaganda, Kekule wrote to the Indian outlet.

India wasnt spared from Chinas blame game. Chinas state-run media Global Times published a story on Nov. 29 last year saying that the earliest human-to-human transmission occurred in the Indian subcontinent, several months before the outbreak in Wuhan. The story quoted a Chinese study titled The early cryptic transmission and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in human hosts. It was conducted by three researchers, one of them affiliated with the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The study, which first appeared on the research paper website SSRN in November 2020, was later retracted.

Follow FluSurvival.com for more news and information about the pandemic.

Sources include:

IndiaToday.in

TheEpochTimes.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - CVR Medical Corp. (TSXV: CVM) (OTC: CRRVF) ("CVR Medical" or the "Company" or "we") a Canadian listed and US based healthcare company in the medical device market is pleased to share a message from new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Rhodes:

I am delighted to be offered the opportunity to lead CVR Medical Corp. as we focus on getting our Carotid Stenotic Scan (CSS) into the hands of primary care doctors so that patients at risk of ischemic stroke can be diagnosed earlier, helping to save lives and improve quality of life. The Board of Directors have worked diligently to restructure the business and my primary focus from day one is to create the team and drive the actions needed for a new De Novo submission at the earliest opportunity.

I've had the advantage of working closely with the CSS engineering team and the regulatory consultants as a consultant to CVR Global during the original FDA application process and this has provided me with first-hand knowledge of the CSS device and its regulatory status. The FDA provided excellent feedback after the original De Novo submission and, to ensure ongoing alignment with the FDA and eliminate any potential ambiguity, I intend to use the FDA Q-Submission program to ensure that our response and plans to action their feedback is designed to meet FDA expectations from the outset. The project scope and timeline will quickly follow.

It has been a little over 2-years since the original CSS De Novo submission and there is still no medical device on the market readily available to help primary care doctors evaluate at risk patients for carotid arterial stenosis. With stroke accounting for approximately 1 of every 19 deaths in the United States and total direct medical stroke-related costs projected to more than double to $94.3 billion by 2035, I believe that the CSS is uniquely positioned to solve the technical challenge and fulfill the urgent need to diagnose patients earlier.

During the same period, we have seen new technologies gain a foothold and influence user expectations in the ultrasound arena. Unlike the CSS, these ultrasound products are not available for asymptomatic, at risk patients, but they have created greater interest in sonography which is to our advantage. They have also changed the form factor with increasing use of highly portable smartphone-based products, and we will thoroughly explore the market opportunity for smartphone or similar derivatives of the CSS for next generation products along with additional revenue streams such as software subscription. Achieving FDA clearance for the existing fully integrated cart-based CSS will pave the way for 510(k) submissions for future derivatives.

About CVR Medical

CVR Medical Corp. is a healthcare company that operates in the medical device industry focused on the commercialization of its disruptive, proprietary Carotid Stenotic Scan device ("CSS"). The CSS is a diagnostic tool that encompasses subsonic, infrasonic, and low frequency sound wave analysis technology. The CSS is a patented device designed to detect and measure carotid arterial stenosis. CVR Medical's shares are listed on the OTC under the symbol "CRRVF". The Company is listed for trading under the symbol "CVM". Additional information regarding the Company can be found in our recent filings with the SEDAR as well as the information maintained on our website at www.cvrmed.com

(signed) Michael Rhodes

Chief Executive Officer

For further information contact:

Paul Blunden, M.D., President/Director and interim CFO

Email: info@cvrmed.com

This press release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events related to: trading on and dialogue with the Exchange, communications and negotiations with CVR Global, dialogue with certain advisors, the Proposed Restructuring, the License Agreement, the Review, certain corporate and securities law requirements, raising capital and potential litigation. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: (1) a failure or material setback in the Company satisfying the remaining conditions outlined by the TSX-V; (2) a failure of the Company to raise sufficient capital to relaunch the Company; (3) an inability to complete the Proposed Restructuring with CVR Global: (4)a downturn in general economic conditions in North America and internationally; (5)the inherent uncertainties and speculative nature associated with commercialization of technology and the practice of medicine; (6) a change in health regulations; (7) any number of events or causes which may delay or cease commercialization and development of the CSS Device; (8) the risk that the Company does not execute its business plan; (9) the risk of litigation between the Company and certain shareholders and the risk of litigation generally; (10) an inability to retain key employees; (11) an inability to finance operations and growth; (12) compliance with certain corporate and securities law requirements; and (13) other factors that are beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE INC. HAS NEITHER APPROVED NOR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72730

Washington, Jan 25 : A little over a month since Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna began reaching the southern US states, officials and the public have faced several problems such as miscommunication, technical issues and inaccurate data.

Last week, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick sent a letter to the chair of the state's Expert Vaccination Allocation Panel, asking to refine its vaccine rollout program for people to have a clearer idea of when they can expect the vaccination, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

According to a report of The Texas Tribune, Patrick's request came as distribution of vaccines in the state has been beset with "miscommunication and technical issues" that have created confusion for patients and providers.

Texas started receiving the Covid-19 vaccines in December 2020.

Governor Greg Abbott said earlier this month that each week of January, the state was expected to receive 310,000 first doses and up to 500,000 second doses.

Currently, Texans in phases 1A and 1B of the vaccine rollout, which includes healthcare front-line workers, long-term care facility residents, people over 65 years old and those who are at least 16 with certain chronic medical conditions, are already eligible to be vaccinated.

Patrick wrote in his letter that in many cities and counties when an announcement of available vaccinations is made, "website sign-up pages crash and phone calls go unanswered".

"Texans need to have a better understanding of the time it will take for everyone to be vaccinated in order to reduce lines, confusion and frustration," he continued.

Texas is outpacing other states in administering the vaccine. Last week over 1 million doses were administered in the state.

Since both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines need two shots, many people who already had the first dose begin to worry if they could have the second one on time as the deadline is approaching.

The state's health department said on Saturday that it was working to secure the second doses when it would release next week's vaccine allocation list.

While some people are worried about their second dose, others are struggling to get their first one.

In Tulsa, one of the largest cities in the state of Oklahoma, people are trying their best to get appointments.

"We are seeing a lot of Tulsa residents drive around the state in search of their appointment," Oklahoma's Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed said.

Asking those seeking an initial dose not to take up available slots for those seeking the second shot, Reed said state officials are working to increase the availability of the vaccines in Tulsa.

Besides distribution confusion and anxiety, incorrect and even misleading data have also been found in southern states as healthcare providers rush to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.

In the state of Louisiana, healthcare workers recently found flawed data collection concerning the race of vaccine recipients.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said data from the state's health department showed that over half of the people who had received the vaccine had been marked "other" or "unknown" to describe their race on forms health providers are required to submit to the department.

According to Edwards, about 36 per cent were marked "other" and 20 per cent were marked "unknown," making the state unable to know the race of more than half the roughly 300,000 doses administered to date.

The lack of accurate information on race paints an imprecise picture of who is getting vaccines in the state, local media said.

It could also undermine the push by federal and state officials to distribute vaccines equitably.
Directors of Napas public school network are sketching out a path to modernize local campuses, with an eye toward replacing aging portable and modular space  and adjusting to smaller numbers of students in the future.

A study by the Napa Valley Unified School District envisions upgrading existing school buildings, reducing the number of modular and movable structures, and improving campus technology over the course of a decade. Such a project would be focused not on new construction but on refreshing campuses that often are decades old or lacking adequate libraries, lunchrooms and other features.

With fewer students enrolling and state funding under pandemic-triggered economic stress, its really important that we are super-strategic in how we spend our money, Mike Pearson, NVUSDs assistant superintendent for operations, told trustees during a discussion of the plan Thursday.

Pearson said the plan is meant to cope with multiple challenges facing the Napa school district at once  from years of deferred maintenance, to the high cost of keeping up temporary structures two decades old or more, to falling enrollment expected to squeeze the per-student payments NVUSD receives from the state. (The district forecasts the current enrollment of 16,962 students dropping to 14,668 by 2026-27.)
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The Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, on Monday, said the absence of a Cape Verdean judge, Januaria Costa, to hear the case of detained Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, was not the reason the hearing was postponed.

The court said there was a mistake in communicating a shift in the date to the parties involved.

Mr Saab, an ally Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, has been in a Cape Verdean prison following his arrest in the island June 2020, causing legal and diplomatic row between the latter and the U.S.

The court, in reaction to a PREMIUM TIMES report, identified a January 22 hearing notice on the matter as a possible mistake which has been clarified with defence counsel lead, Femi Falana.

The facts of the matter is that; the Court had earmarked the case for hearing on the 4th of February, 2021, in its Cause List published on the 21st of December 2020 and this can be verified on the website of the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

However, the List was reviewed as is a common practice and the date was brought forward to 2nd February 2021 in the revised Cause List of 19th January 2021. This is consistent with the usual tradition of allocating convenient dates to hear matters before the Court, the ECOWAS court spokesperson, Ogoh Sunday, explained.

While his explanation corresponds with the information on the courts website, a hearing notice obtained by this reporter at the time the report was filed, confirmed that indeed the ECOWAS court sent a notice to Mr Saabs defence counsel fixing the hearing for January 22 at 10 a.m.

The notice was sent with zoom meeting identification and password on Wednesday, two days before the hearing which the court later claimed was canceled.

Defence

When PREMIUM TIMES presented this fact before the ECOWAS courts spokesperson, he admitted this but argued that Mr Falana was also notified about this development.

My understanding is that registry has called him earlier. Chief Falana is not a new person to the ECOWAS court and he understands how it works.

If there was going to be a case and you log in to the case to join a virtual session, and you were not allowed in, then you will know that things have changed.

Im sure that people in the registry must have called him. And even if they didnt, Mr Falana would have called to know what happened to his case. Those are possibilities, Im not saying that was what happened, Mr Sunday told this reporter, also suggesting there was a mistake in communication to the parties involved.

Efforts to reach Mr Falana were unsuccessful.

Mr Sunday also said Ms Costa, one of the three judges presiding over the case, has not come back from holiday and could have participated virtually from anywhere.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday wished Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador an early recovery from COVID-19. Obrador has announced that he has tested positive for the disease and the symptoms are mild.

In a tweet, Modi said, "Concerned to hear about the COVID-19 diagnosis of President @lopezobrador_ of Mexico. The people of India join me in wishing him an early and complete recovery."
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Metro Manila (CNN Philipines, January 24)  A province-wide lockdown in the whole Mountain Province may be imposed amid a surge in cases of the new coronavirus variant reported in Bontoc town, its mayor said over the weekend.

Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey said in a statement on Saturday evening that there could be an expansion of lockdowns in the town, including its other villages or the whole province, depending on the contact tracing results being done after at least 12 residents tested positive for the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom.

"Given the detection of the UK variant in Bontoc, the extension of the lockdowns is likely, and may also expand to all the 16 barangays of the town and perhaps to the whole Mountain Province, depending on contact tracing results," Odsey said.

READ: Bontoc, Mountain Province sees 200% increase in COVID-19 cases

The Department of Health reported on Saturday that the 12 Bontoc residents were among the 16 reported cases of the B.1.1.7 variant which is described to be more contagious than previous ones. Eleven cases with the variant virus were recorded in one Bontoc village alone.

According to Odsey, the "dramatic increase" in positive cases prompted the municipality to impose a two-week lockdown until end of January on Barangay Samoki, and a one-week lockdown on Barangays Bontoc Ili, Caluttit, and Poblacion in Central Bontoc until January 24. The four villages were also placed under "critical zone" until the end of the month.

Odsey, who has tested positive for COVID-19 himself, said that the local government of Bontoc is coordinating with the national government for the provision of testing kits for a mass testing initiative. They have also sought deployment of additional contact tracers and other health personnel as a number of their medical frontliners in the local hospital and the municipal health office have also contracted the virus.

READ: Bontoc town mayor tests positive for COVID-19

"As president of the Mountain Province League of Mayors, we have coordinated with our fellow mayors here about intensified and collaborative COVID response in all towns, including stricter border control," Odsey said.

Of the 16 cases, the other two patients are overseas Filipino workers who returned to the country last Dec. 29 from Lebanon via a Philippine Airlines flight. The remaining two are local cases detected in La Trinidad, Benguet and Calamba City, Laguna.

Effective last Saturday evening, La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda imposed an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in the municipality. All business establishments must also be closed at 8 p.m., except for drug stores and gasoline stations, the order read.
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Capella Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: CMIL) (FRA: N7D2) (the "Company" or "Capella") is pleased to advise that, further to the Company's news release of January 7, 2021, the Company has now completed and closed the sale of its 100% interest in its Argentine subsidiary, Minera Mariana Argentina S.A. ("Minera Mariana"), to Cerrado Gold Inc. ("Cerrado") (the "Transaction"). Minera Mariana is the owner of the Las Calandrias and Los Cisnes gold-silver projects, in addition to a portfolio of exploration concessions located in the Eastern Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz Province, southern Argentina. The terms of the Transaction were announced in the Company's News Release dated October 28, 2020.

Under the terms of the Transaction, Capella received 1,125,000 Cerrado shares on closing. The Company transferred 562,500 of the Cerrado shares to Sandstorm Gold Limited (TSX:SSL;NYSE:SAND)("Sandstorm") in consideration of the extinguishment of the annual maintenance payments of the Company owing to Sandstorm in respect of the Las Calandrias and Los Cisnes projects under a share purchase agreement dated February 19, 2018 as amended and assigned.

Eric Roth, Capella's President and CEO, commented today: "With the closing of the sale of Minera Mariana S.A., Capella has now become a shareholder of Cerrado and holds indirect exposure to new exploration success on both its Santa Cruz (Minera Don Nicolas gold-silver mine and Las Calandrias gold project) and Brazilian (Monte do Carmo) gold projects. The Cerrado shareholding also complements the Company's Ethos Gold Corp. shareholding, which was acquired through the Savant Lake earn-in agreement and which also provides Capella shareholders with exposure to growth outside of discovery success on its own high-quality portfolio of gold and copper projects."

On Behalf of the Board of Capella Minerals Ltd.

"Eric Roth"

___________________________

Eric Roth, Ph.D., FAusIMM

President & CEO

About Capella Minerals Ltd

Capella is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of quality mineral resource properties in favourable jurisdictions with a focus on high-grade gold and copper deposits. The Company's precious metals focus is on the discovery of high-grade gold deposits on its Southern Gold Line Project in Sweden, in addition to its active Canadian Joint Ventures with Ethos Gold Corp. at Savant Lake (Ontario) and Yamana Gold Inc. at Domain (Manitoba). The Company also retains a residual interest (subject to an option to purchase agreement with Austral Gold Ltd) in the Sierra Blanca gold-silver epithermal project in Santa Cruz, Argentina.

The Company's copper focus lies in the discovery of high-grade massive sulfide (VMS) deposits within district-scale land positions around the past-producing Lkken and Kjli copper mines in central Norway. Field activities are ongoing on all projects, with the primary focus being to advance priority targets through the permitting process and onwards to drilling and discovery.

Cautionary Notes and Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future results of operations, performance and achievements of Capella, including the timing, completion of and results from the exploration and drill programs described in this release. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. All such forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analyses made by Capella in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. This information, however, is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from this forward-looking information include those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in Capella's most recently filed MD&A. Capella does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Capella Minerals Limited

Related Links

www.newdimensionresources.com


Kerala and Maharashtra together contribute nearly 65 per cent of the total active coronavirus caseload of the country, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said today. Kerala accounts for 39.7 per cent (73,121) of the active cases whereas Maharashtra contributes 25 per cent (46,057) of the total active coronavirus cases.

#COVID19India updates



Active caseload falls to 1.84 lakh (1,84,182) today; comprises 1.73% of total positive cases



Two States - Kerala and Maharashtra, alone contribute nearly 65% of total active caseload of the country



Read more: https://t.co/7Buu3uyUvJ pic.twitter.com/e0LDeEZlIN  PIB India (@PIB_India) January 25, 2021

India's active caseload has fallen to 1,84,182 today. The share of active cases in the total positive cases has further shrunk to 1.73 per cent.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

16,15,504 beneficiaries have been inoculated under the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination exercise as on 25 January 2021, 8 am. In the last 24 hours, 33,303 people were vaccinated across 694 sessions. 28,614 sessions have been conducted so far.

The total recovered cases stand at 1,03,30,084. The total death toll in the country due to COVID-19 mounted to 1,53,470 including 131 new deaths.

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Former Minister of Defense of Armenia David Tonoyan gave an interview to Mediamax, and reflected on his statements before the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war, the course of the war, and the reasons for the defeat of the Armenian side.

Chief of General Staff Onik Gasparyan stated that at the meeting of the Security Council on June 12, 2020, he said that our adversary is not only Azerbaijan, but also Turkey. Therefore, Armenia cannot effectively resist the combined military potential of these states, and it is necessary to direct all the political and diplomatic potential to avoid or at least postpone the war. What was your position at that Security Council meeting?

The coordinated and synchronized approach of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff was reported at the meeting.

In that case, how adequate do you think the PR campaign of Tavush July battles was, which could not but cause additional concern to Azerbaijan and Turkey?

The PR-campaign and additional concern to Azerbaijan and Turkey were the last things representatives of the Armed Forces were interested in. But the unbalanced attitude of Aliyev and the Azerbaijani elite, followed by rather harsh brotherly assurances of Turkey to punish Armenia for not knowing the regional realities and destabilizing the situation, was unexpected for us.

Onik Gasparyan also stated that on the fourth day of the war he noted that it was necessary to take measures to stop the war within two or three days, otherwise we would have more unfavorable conditions for the negotiation process every day that follows. What was your position?

The Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces have honestly and selflessly done more than it was possible in order to win. And the analysis made on the basis of General Staffs cold calculations was coordinated with me.

There are many publications and evidences that the situation in the Defense Army was chaotic, and unauthorized people participated in the planning of military operations. How could a situation like this occur?

I believe that when the internal political situation stabilizes, an investigation will be launched and all similar questions will get their answers.

What was your biggest personal omission during this war?

During the war, I failed to overcome the uncertainty in PM-Defense Ministry-General Staff command order and the obstacles arising from it. In particular, these are issues related to mobilization, the role and functions of the Security Council, the functions and official relations between the Armenian Armed Forces, the Defense Army and President of Artsakh, the organization of self-defense in Artsakh and the evacuation of the population.

Under the new Constitution adopted in 2015, the Minister of Defense is actually excluded from the process of planning and conducting military operations during the war, since these powers are vested in the Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces. After the constitutional amendments, an attempt was made to settle this ambiguity in the law On Defense, which, as life has shown us, was not enough.

Nevertheless, as I said in my November 20 address, I am ready to assume my share of responsibility.

Ghanaians paid their last respect to former president Jerry Rawlings on Monday, during the second of a four-day event organized in his honour by the government and his family.Rawlings' coffin was displayed at Accra International Conference Centre, where the body will remain until Tuesday.

The former president will be buried on Wednesday.Rawlings, who staged two coups and later led the West African country's transition to a stable democracy, died on November 12. He was 73.Rawlings was born in 1947 to a Scottish father and a Ghanaian mother.

He trained as an air force officer and came to power in 1979 after leading his first coup, and then transferring power to civilian rule soon after.Rawlings is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)

Conte will hand in his resignation on 26 January.

Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte will offer his resignation to the president on Tuesday 26 January, his office said tonight.

Conte has convened his cabinet for a meeting at 09.00 during which he will inform government ministers of his intention to resign.

From there he will go to the Quirinale to see President Sergio Mattarella, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

Conte is hoping that Mattarella will give him a mandate to form a stronger government, according to senior government sources, after the premier lost his majority last week.

The government was plunged into crisis after the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party led by former premier Matteo Renzi withdrew from the nations ruling coalition, leaving Conte without a parliamentary majority.

Since then Conte has focused on trying to entice centrist and independent senators to the governments ranks to broaden his majority.

However he has had little success and has come under increasing pressure from within his coalition.

The political turmoil comes as Italy is grappling to contain a covid-19 pandemic amid the worst economic recession since world war two.

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About 150 National Guard soldiers will work at the Tinley Park site, which will administer the Moderna vaccine, according to Illinois Air National Guard Richard Neely. Members of the Army and Air Force guard units from throughout the state have been deployed to the site since Saturday and those who are far away from home will stay at nearby hotels, he said.
[January 25, 2021] Perella Weinberg Partners Announces New Partners

Perella Weinberg Partners ("PWP") today announced that it has named three individuals Partners of the firm, effective January 1, 2021: John Cesarz - New York, Restructuring

Jackie Chan - San Francisco, Technology

Guy Morgan - London, Restructuring "We are thrilled to announce the promotion of John, Jackie and Guy to Partner," said Peter Weinberg, Chief Executive Officer of PWP. "Their promotion reflects their many outstanding contributions in strategically important areas, both to the firm and our clients, whom they have served with unwavering dedication and integrity. We congratulate these three deserving colleagues and look forward to their many contributions to come." Biographies John Cesarz Mr. Cesarz focuses on advising clients on matters regarding capital structure, liability management, restructuring and distressed M&A solutions. Mr. Cesarz has more than 20 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining PWP, Mr. Cesarz was a Managing Director at Miller Buckfire & Co., where he worked from March 2007 to June 2016, focusing on capital structure, liability management, restructuring and distressed M&A transactions for a variety of clients. Prior to that, Mr. Cesarz worked at Chanin Capital Partners and began his career at Banc of America Securities. Mr. Cesarz earned his BS in Accountin and Finance, magna cum laude, from Fordham University.



Jackie Chan Mr. Chan focuses on advising clients in the technology, financial technology and business services sectors.

Mr. Chan has more than 15 years of investment banking and related experience. Prior to joining PWP, Mr. Chan was at Greenhill & Co., where he advised clients in the technology and business services sector across a range of strategic matters. He began his career as a Management Consultant at Accenture (News - Alert) , serving technology and telecom clients. Mr. Chan earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a BA in Applied Mathematics in Systems Theory from University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Guy Morgan Mr. Morgan focuses on advising clients on capital structure, restructuring, liability management, distressed M&A and private capital solutions. Mr. Morgan has 18 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining PWP, Mr. Morgan was at Goldman Sachs, where he served as Managing Director and Head of Goldman Sachs' EMEA Liability Management Group. Before that, he worked at Deutsche Bank, where he served as Director in the Liability Management Group. Mr. Morgan earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Geneva and a Master's degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. About PWP Perella Weinberg Partners is a leading global independent advisory firm, providing strategic and financial advice to a broad client base, including corporations, institutions, governments, sovereign wealth funds and private equity investors. The firm offers a wide range of advisory services to clients in the most active industry sectors and global markets. With approximately 560 employees, PWP currently maintains offices in New York, Houston, London, Calgary, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Paris, Munich, and San Francisco. For more information on PWP, please visit: http://www.pwpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005203/en/

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Eagle Scouts run in the family. Sarah Coss (right) is the first girl to achieve Eagle Scout status with the Midnight Sun Council and one of the first in the nation. Her brother (left) Jonathan recently became an Eagle Scout. And her other brother David is currently working on becoming an Eagle Scout as well. Photo courtesy Midnight Sun Council/BSA
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  A Virginia family has filed a lawsuit against two police officers who the group claim unjustifiably attacked them while responding to a car crash in 2019.

In the lawsuit, Elder Chacon, Brenda Samayoa and their 12-year-old daughter stated two Richmond police officers used excessive force and inflicted emotional distress after shooting Chacon with a stun gun and pushing Samayoa and the child to the ground.

According to the suit, the family was involved in a four-car crash on Aug. 7, 2019. Two officers responded to the scene and the daughter spoke for her parents, who do not speak English fluently.

The daughter tried to explain the incident, telling officers that a vehicle struck the family from behind and fled the scene, according to the lawsuit. The officers are accused of ignoring the explanation and then writing Chacon a ticket, which he refused to sign.

The suit said one officer became enraged, threw his clipboard down and violently grabbed at Chacon.

Samayoa stepped between the two men but the officer pushed her into her daughter and forced Chacon onto the ground, the lawsuit said.

One officer is accused of punching Chacon in the head and body, and the lawsuit also accuses the other officer of later shooting Chacon with a stun gun.

Chacon was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer but the charge was ultimately dropped.

Family attorney Jonathan E. Halperin told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the police-worn body camera footage of the incident was disturbing. He declined to comment any further and also declined to release the video to the news outlet.

Richmond police declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday and seeks $2 million in damages.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Newcomb Sex Abuse, Drug Case Continues

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - A Paducah man facing numerous sex and drug-related charges was in court on Friday.According to the McCracken County Court Clerk, 19-year-old Joseph Newcomb appeared for a suppression hearing on Friday. During the appearance, a second suppression hearing was scheduled for February 8.Newcomb was arrested on September 30 after someone reported seeing two people in a vehicle smoking marijuana. He reportedly told police the girl with him was his 14-year-old cousin, but later admitted they were not related. The girl told police she was 12 years old.Officers said Newcomb exchanged marijuana for sexual contact with the girl. They also searched the vehicle and both people's cell phones.Newcomb was charged with 2nd degree sexual abuse, promoting a minor in a sexual performance, use of electronics to procure a minor for sex, 2nd degree sodomy, unlawful transaction with a minor, tampering with evidence, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and failure to use a turn signal.
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The new Lion Trail at Red Rock Canyon Open Space runs along the formation known as the Hogback in the popular park.
Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the BJP, accusing it of insulting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by raising 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans at an event to mark the icon's 125th birth anniversary.

Branding the BJP as a group of "outsiders" and "Bharat Jalao Party", she said it has been continuously insulting the icons of Bengal, Netaji being the "latest addition to the list".

"Would you invite anyone to your house and then insult the person? Is this the culture of Bengal or our country? I would have had no problem if slogans hailing Netaji were raised.

"But they didn't do that. To taunt me, they shouted slogans which had no relation to the programme. I was insulted in front of the prime minister of the country. This is their (BJP) culture," the Trinamool Congress boss told a rally here.

Banerjee had on Saturday refused to speak at an official event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary, after 'Jai Shri Ram' chants greeted her.

Dubbing turncoats in her party as "betrayers", she said those who have deserted the TMC in the run-up to the assembly polls will never be welcomed back.

"The ones who left knew they would not be getting tickets in the coming elections. It is good they exited, or else we would have thrown them out... Those who want to leave the party should do that as early as possible," Banerjee added.
Merck Stops Development of COVID-19 Vaccines

Merck said its stopping development of both of its COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

The candidates in studies were generally well tolerated, but the immune responses were inferior to those seen following natural infection and those reported for other SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccines, the New Jersey-based company said in a statement on Jan. 25.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. The CCP virus is also known as SARS-CoV-2.

Mercks studies were in phase 1, meaning the vaccines werent close to being fully developed. Merck signed a deal with the U.S. government last year to supply up to 100,000 vaccine doses.

The company is now focusing on two therapeutic candidates for the virus.

We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to the volunteers in the trials, Dr. Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement. We are resolute in our commitment to contribute to the global effort to relieve the burden of this pandemic on patients, health care systems and communities.

Two COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized for emergency use in the United States. One is made by Moderna; the other is from Pfizer and BioNTech.

A slew of other companies are still developing or testing vaccines. AstraZenecas vaccine has been authorized or approved for use in nearly a dozen countries, while several Chinese and Russian vaccines have received approval in the countries of development and other nations. India recently approved its own vaccine, Covaxin.

A candidate from Johnson & Johnson is believed to be close to authorization in the United States and could be the next vaccine authorized.

I would be surprised if it was any more than two weeks from now that the data will be analyzed and decisions would be made, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top health adviser to President Joe Biden, said on MSNBC on Jan. 22.
Research

Report: It's Time for 4-Year Schools to Welcome Adult Learners

The public mission of four-year colleges and universities needs to adapt to encompass adult learners, according to a new report. That's the population that may be most affected by the changes in education introduced during the pandemic  more so even than K-12 and college students, the report suggested. Not only did the pandemic expedite the "already rising need for adult educational programming," the report stated, but it "also opened the eyes of many adults to the opportunities afforded by digital learning platforms."

By committing to this segment of learners, the authors added, schools could alleviate some of the "financial pressures" they're currently experiencing as a result of "changing demographics and shifting public support." Simultaneously, they would open up greater opportunities for people of color and help reduce the achievement gap, since higher education has proven to be a "key pathway for social and economic mobility."

"New Horizons: American Universities and the Case for Lifelong Learning" was produced by the Longevity Project, whose lead content collaborator is the Stanford Center on Longevity, among other nonprofits, think tanks and media organizations.

The case for investing in adult learning has to do as much with the changing nature of work as it does with the shrinking population of traditional students. For example, the report stated, the share of jobs that require "a high level of digital skills" tripled between 2002 and 2016. About two-thirds of workers in 2016 said the need to improve their skills has never been greater, and seven in 10 noted that the need to grow their skills would continue for the next 20 to 30 years.

Helping the workforce skill and reskill for an uncertain future, the report asserted, is as big a job now as it was post-World War II, when institutions of higher education prepared themselves to work with veterans taking advantage of the GI Bill. One advantage of the pandemic is that adult learners have gained more confidence in using digital platforms, which could play a big role in addressing the learning needs of this segment of students.

The big challenges schools will have to tackle in pursuit of this goal are twofold:

Faculty "intransigence" for adopting new methods of teaching and learning; and

The need to sort out how to make various credentials "portable and 'stackable.'"

Currently, the institutional players addressing the needs of the adult learner are "more a patchwork of community colleges, for-profit universities, associations and companies." The credentials picked up at one school don't always transfer to another; and the lack of standardization among schools leaves credentials on the table, unusable in helping those students earn "more valuable academic certificates or degrees."

What's needed, the report concluded, is "greater involvement of four-year degree institutions." While that won't by itself be a "panacea," these colleges and universities have the "greater resources, teaching skills and program credibility" to help "transform adult learning and advance the critical cause of improving opportunity for tens of millions of American adults."

The report is openly available online. Its content production was supported by Instructure.
I f ever Covid is tamed, Boris Johnsons government will presumably refocus its attention on the huge differences in living standards across the UK. The levelling up agenda is ultimately a story about the geographically left behind. The Prime Minister hopes that, having escaped from the European Union, he will have the legislative freedom to narrow the gap between those regions populated by the haves and those inhabited by the have nots.

Its no surprise, then, that Cornwall has been singled out for special G7 treatment this year. Alongside the Tees Valley, outer east London, west Wales and southern Scotland, its one of the poorest parts of the UK. By hosting the G7 Summit in Carbis Bay, Johnson thinks hell be able to attract investment to Britains south western extremity.

Its a laudable ambition. A visitor from Mars would be tempted to think that Cornwall had once been part of Eastern Europe, held back from economic opportunity thanks to the negative impact of the Iron Curtain all those years ago. Yet whereas some parts of Eastern Europe have made astounding progress, Cornwall has not. Latest data suggest that Cornwalls incomes per capita are only 71 per cent of the European average, down from 76 per cent a decade earlier. This is not a region merely poorer than others. Its a region in danger of being left behind.

It turns out that Cornwalls economy has quite a lot in common with Europes other geographical extremities: its living standards are on a par with Sicily, Puglia and Calabria (southern Italy), the Peloponnese (southern Greece) and Andalucia (southern Spain), all regions that have lost ground economically. Like the others, Cornwall is a major tourist destination and tourism is  almost by definition  seasonal. Meanwhile, compared with the rest of the UK, Cornwall is unusually dependent on agriculture and food production, two areas which, on the whole, have never offered an easy path to riches.

Cornwall is also rather disconnected logistically. A train from London to Penzance will take around two and a half hours to travel the 178 miles to Exeter but a further two and a half to three hours to travel the 109 miles from Exeter to Penzance. Its a long way from the nearest major international airport. And, if you happen to be caught in the summer traffic on the A30 between Carland Cross and Chiverton Cross, you might think Cornwall is further away than you had imagined: that particular part of Cornwalls motoring spine still lacks a dual carriageway.

Admittedly, comparisons involving income per head may not be the best way to illustrate differences in living standards. Londons West End may have riches galore but it doesnt have, for example, Cornwalls stunning coastline. The plan to level up hopefully wont involve Canary Wharf-style high rises or vast Japanese car factories on Bodmin Moor. Cornwalls residents, meanwhile, are not exactly geared up for shovel-ready infrastructure projects: over 31 per cent of its citizens are over the age of 65 compared with fewer than 20 per cent in Westminster.

Put another way, Cornwall may be relatively poor but it is also a haven for those who prioritise natural beauty over material comfort. Those looking for work opportunities can flock to the bright lights further east. And efforts to make Cornwall richer may only create wealthy enclaves (Rock, for example) without much of a trickle down effect across the county as a whole.

Even a G7 Summit may make little difference. The first such gathering took place in 1975 (to be precise, it was a G6 summit because Canada was overlooked). Since then, summits have often been held in rather predictable locations: London, Paris, Venice, Toronto, Munich. Sometimes, however, nations decide to do a Cornwall, with summits held in locations that could do with a bit of extra investment. Did the summits make any difference? Campania, Liguria, Abruzzo and Sicily are four Italian-hosted G7 locations. Relative to Europe as a whole, theyre all poorer than they once were.

From Cornwalls perspective, at least theres a complete A30 dual carriageway in the offing, finally removing the Carland to Chiverton bottleneck. Whether the 56 per cent of Cornish voters who opted for Brexit knew that it would be partly funded by the European Commissions Regional Development Fund is another matter altogether.
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NASA's Perseverance rover will be carrying an extra passenger on its Feb. 18 scheduled landing to Mars.

The Mars Helicopter, named Ingenuity, weighs about four pounds and is being described as a "small, but mighty passenger." Its mission will be the first attempt at a "powered, controlled flight on the Red Planet," according to NASA.

PRESIDENTIAL STONES: A look at the moon rock in Joe Biden's Oval Office

With a fuselage the size of a tissue box, the helicopter's construction began about six years ago with the Engineers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. According to MiMi Aung, the Ingenuity project manager at JPL, it's a new concept.

Our Mars Helicopter team has been doing things that have never been done before  that no one at the outset could be sure could even be done. We faced many challenges along the way that could have stopped us in our tracks. We are thrilled that we are now so close to demonstrating  on Mars  what Ingenuity can really do.

Here are a few more fun facts about Ingenuity:

1. Ingenuity is an experimental flight test. It won't carry science experiments and its sole objective is to demonstrate "rotorcraft flight in Mars' extremely thin atmosphere, which has just around 1% of the density of our atmosphere on Earth," according to the press release.

2. Mars won't be an easy feat for Ingenuity. One of the first things Ingenuity has to do when it gets to Mars is just survive its first night," Tim Canham, Ingenuitys operations lead, said in a statement.

3. Ingenuity will be relying on the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission for safe passage to the Red Planet. The Mars Helicopter will be tucked "sideways" underneath the belly of the Perseverance.

4. Ingenuity is smart. Engineers at JPL won't be controlling the helicopter and won't be able to even see data or images until after the flight takes place, according to NASA. Ingenuity is equipped to make its own decisions such as keep itself warm on Mars with advanced parameters installed by NASA engineers.

5. The Ingenuity team has a set of milestones the helicopter must reach, the first being surviving the trip to Mars. It must also safely detach from the belly of the Perseverance and successfully communicate with a subsystem known as "the Mars Helicopter Base Station on the rover," according to NASA.

6. Ingenuity will lay the groundwork for future Mars exploration. If successful, the experiment will enable more "advanced robotic flying vehicles" to be part of future missions to the Red Planet.

We're only in January and already its been a busy time for breaking space news, including scientists training a four-legged robot dog to explore caves on the Red Planet and SpaceX's Cargo Dragon making a historic undocking from the International Space Station.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 23, 2020, approved Keith Dayton as a nominee for the ambassador's post.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is looking for a new ambassadorial nominee for Ukraine.

"There was General [Keith] Dayton, the procedure has almost been completed, but for now we proceed from the fact that the issue has been put on pause and that the new, Biden administration will look for a new candidate for this position," he told Ukraina 24 TV channel.

Kuleba stressed the new U.S. administration had not picked the ambassador yet .

"I'd like everyone to understand one thing: Biden doesn't wake up and neither does he go to bed with the thought of what he could do for Ukraine and which ambassador to appoint. I'll tell you more: even Russia, of which we talk a lot now, won't be the main issue on the Biden administration's foreign policy agenda," the minister said.

Kuleba also expressed confidence that the presidents of Ukraine and U.S., Volodymyr Zelensky and Joe Biden, would easily find common language when the two meet.

Read alsoU.S. Senate committee approves Dayton as ambassadorial nominee for UkraineBackground

On September 23, 2020, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Keith Dayton as an ambassadorial nominee for Ukraine.

Last week, Biden's candidate for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the administration would carefully consider Dayton's candidacy.

Former ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, completed her mission early, late May 2019, having been dismissed from her post by then-president Donald Trump.

Reporting by UNIAN
Dialogue with Egypt not to detriment of human rights,Di Maio 'We have been demanding justice for Regeni for five years'

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, JANUARY 25 - Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday said that the family of slain Cambridge University research student Giulio Regeni and Italy have been demanding justice in vain for five years. "For five years, Giulio's family and all of us have been demanding justice, but it hasn't arrived yet", Di Maio said. "Recently, the State attorney's office in Rome has concluded investigations that outlined grave responsibilities that will soon be examined in a trial. Let it be clear, Italy deems Egypt a crucial interlocutor in the Mediterranean, and deems that our task in Europe is to start a frank, constructive and transparent dialogue with Cairo, but it cannot happen to the detriment of human rights", Di Maio told the EU Council.



"The respect for human rights is a central theme, which concerns many other countries as you know, on which the EU has always know how to be reactive", added Di Maio, speaking to his counterparts. According to Di Maio, the "barbaric murder" of Regeni "is still an open wound in Italy, but I am here today to talk with you because this same wound is inevitably also European".



Monday marked the fifth anniversary of the Italian student's disappearance in Cairo. The Cambridge University research student's brutalized body was found a week later. Rome prosecutors have requested that four members of Egypt's security services face trial in relation to the case.




The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
As Australia prepares to celebrate its national day on Tuesday (January 26) indigenous woman Rita Wright will be marching with others in Sydney, at a protest to change the date.

Australia Day on January 26 marks when the British fleet first arrived in Australia in 1788, led by Captain Cook, viewing the land as unoccupied despite encounters with settlements.

For Wright, the day reinforces a legacy of mistreatment toward Indigenous people.

"I always thought Captain Cook owned this land and not the Aboriginal people."

Wright, a Muruwari woman, was snatched off the street at age two and taken to a church mission, a dark era in Australia's history known as the 'Stolen Generation'.

There - she was forced to sleep in a chicken coop.

She's now no longer silent about what she's been through.

"As I got older and stronger I was so proud that I'm Aboriginal. And being a full blood Aboriginal woman, and I was allowed to speak, allowed to speak my mind."

Every year voices grow louder calling for Australia Day to change.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison hasn't bowed to that pressure.

He told journalists last week that the day represents how far the country has come since colonization:

Morrison also criticized the decision by sport authorities to no longer refer to January 26 as "Australia Day" when promoting cricket games played on the national holiday.

Jasmine Seymour, an award-winning author who belongs to the Burubiranggal clan, believes the matter should go to a vote.

"We are a country that is multilingual now, multinational. We have many people from all over the world who live here now. And it is the great generosity of Aboriginal people when we do welcome to countries and we say 'care for our country, you belong here, we all belong here'. So I do think there is room for a day for us all but it has to not be that day."

Morrison last month did change Australia's national anthem, taking out a reference to the country being "young and free."

That's after calls to recognise that Australia's Indigenous people are the oldest continued civilization in the world.

Story continues

Video Transcript

[CHANTING]

- As Australia prepares to celebrate its national day on Tuesday, indigenous woman Rita Wright will be marching with others in Sydney at a protest to change the date. Australia Day on January 26 marks when the British fleet first arrived in Australia in 1788, led by Captain Cook, viewing the land as unoccupied despite encounters with settlements.

For Wright, the day reinforces a legacy of mistreatment toward indigenous people.

RITA WRIGHT: I always thought Captain Cook owned this land and not the Aboriginal people.

- Wright, a Muruwari woman, was snatched off the street at age two and taken to a church mission, a dark era in Australia's history known as the "Stolen Generation." There she was forced to sleep in a chicken coupe. As she's grown older, she's no longer silent about what she's been through.

RITA WRIGHT: As I got older and stronger, I was so proud that I'm Aboriginal. And being a full-blood Aboriginal woman, and I was allowed to speak, allowed to speak my mind what I thought about it.

- Every year voices grow louder, calling for the date to change for Australia Day. Prime Minister Scott Morrison hasn't bowed to that pressure. He told journalists last week that the day represents how far the country has come since colonization. Morrison also criticized the decision by sport authorities to no longer refer to January 26 as Australia Day when promoting cricket games played on the national holiday.

Jasmine Seymour, an award-winning author who belongs to the Burubiranggal clan believes the matter should go to a vote.

JASMINE SEYMOUR: I definitely think that we need to have a day for Australians, because we are a country that is multilingual now, multinational. We have many people from all over the world who live here now. And it is the great generosity of Aboriginal people when we do welcome to countries and we say, you know, care for our country, you belong here. We all belong here. So I do think there is room for a day for us all, but it has to not be that day.

- Morrison last month did change Australia's national anthem, taking out a reference to the country being, quote, "young and free." That's after calls to recognize that Australia's indigenous people are the oldest continued civilization in the world.


WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Katten announced today that Daniel J. Davis, formerly general counsel for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has joined the firm's Financial Markets and Funds group as a partner in its Washington, DC office, expanding Katten's industry-leading proficiency in derivatives regulation and raising the award-winning group's global profile.

"Dan clearly is an exceptional attorney who brings important skills and substantial experience that will benefit our worldwide client base," said Lance Zinman, Global Chair of the Financial Markets and Funds group.

"With the always changing regulatory landscape, we must be ever prepared to offer pragmatic advice and effective strategies that will help attain business objectives," Zinman said. "Dan's presence on our team furthers our already expansive abilities in this regard. We are very glad to have him."

Davis was the CFTC's general counsel for nearly four years before joining Katten. He led and managed its 65-person Legal Division, handling all aspects of the agency's legal operations, including litigation, rulemakings, enforcement actions, financial agency negotiations and internal agency operations, among other areas.

At the CFTC, his group reviewed all proposed and final rules and other recommended agency and staff actions; oversaw all appellate litigation; reviewed all enforcement actions; and addressed a wide range of legal questions related to labor and employment, congressional inquiries and many others. Davis served with distinction and received the agency's highest honor, the Chairman's Award for Excellence, given annually to one employee for extraordinary accomplishments and superior service dedicated to realizing the CFTC's vision, mission, and values.

"Dan's extraordinary grasp of regulatory issues involving derivatives as well as virtual currencies, and his extensive litigation experience make him a valuable asset for our clients," said Gary DeWaal, who heads Katten's Financial Markets and Regulation practice, of which Davis is a member. Early in his career, prior to joining Katten, DeWaal was a senior trial attorney in the CFTC's Division of Enforcement.

Davis clerked for The Honorable Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked at the Department of Justice in both the Civil Division and the Office of Legal Counsel. In private practice, he has focused on administrative law and complex civil litigation.

Davis graduated with high honors from The University of Chicago Law School, where he served as executive editor of the Law Review.

Katten is a full-service law firm with nearly 700 attorneys in locations across the United States and in London and Shanghai. Clients seeking sophisticated, high-value legal services turn to Katten for counsel locally, nationally and internationally. The firm's core areas of practice include commercial finance, corporate, financial markets and funds, insolvency and restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, structured finance and securitization, transactional tax planning, and trusts and estates. Katten represents public and private companies in numerous industries, as well as a number of government and nonprofit organizations and individuals. For more information, visit katten.com .

Contact:

Jackie Heard

+1.312.902.5450

[email protected]

Kate Shenk

+1.312.577.8415

[email protected]

SOURCE Katten
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan sent a congratulatory letter to Jake Sullivan on his appointment as National Security Advisor to the President of the United States of America, Mr. Grigoryans Office told Armenpress.

The letter reads as follows:



Dear Mr. Sullivan,

Please accept my warmest congratulations on your appointment as National Security Advisor to the President of the United States.

I am confident that your knowledge and experience will significantly contribute to the promotion of the US national security and foreign policy agenda.

Armenia attaches great importance to its bilateral relations with the United States of America based on the shared values of democracy, protection of human rights and the rule of law. We also attach great importance, to the role of the United States as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the final resolution of the status of Nagorno Karabakh. I am confident that the United States' efforts will be instrumental in ensuring comprehensive stability and security in our region.

I hope to meet with you soon to discuss the Armenian-American partnership to make it more inclusive and comprehensive.
U.S. President Joe Biden waves as he departs after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, on Jan. 24, 2021, in the Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington. (The Canadian Press/Patrick Semansky/AP)

Canada Braces for Bidens Executive Orders Enacting Stringent New Buy American Regimen

WASHINGTONLess than a week after the economic gut punch of Keystone XL, Canada is bracing for more bad news from the White House.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that would establish a new Buy American regime to ensure U.S. workers and companies reap the benefits of government spending.

Federal law requires government agencies to give preferences to American firms; however, these preferences have not always been implemented consistently or effectively, the White House said in a release detailing the measures.

It is long overdue that the U.S. government utilizes the full force of current domestic preferences to support Americas workers and businesses, strengthening our economy, workers, and communities across the country.

The plan promises to increase the amount of U.S. content a project would need to qualify as being made in America, and to apply more stringent standards to the sort of hard-won exceptions Canada secured to similar rules imposed in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

It would establish a central review of agency waivers of Buy American requirements, fulfilling Bidens campaign promise to crack down on unnecessary waivers.

Such exceptions to the rules would be made available for public scrutiny on a website established by the General Services Administration.

The order would also establish a new Made-in-America office in the White House to oversee the new rules and ensure they are properly enforced.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the replacement trade deal for NAFTA negotiated under Donald Trump, does not include specific government procurement provisions between the U.S. and Canada.

The deal envisioned relying instead on the terms of the World Trade Organizations general procurement agreement, to which both Canada and the U.S. are signatories.

Biden remains committed to working with partners and allies to modernize international trade rulesincluding those related to government procurement, the White House says.

Todays executive order comes less than a week after Biden disappointed the Canadian government and enraged Alberta Premier Jason Kenney by rescinding a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline expansion.

Critics of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say that decision, which effectively killed the US$8-billion plan to export Canadian oilsands bitumen to the U.S. Gulf Coast, may be just the beginning.

Conservative Leader Erin OToole said Canada missed a golden opportunity to more closely align itself with the U.S. by taking a harder line on Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that American lawmakers see as an ever-present threat to national security.

Canada is the only member of the Five Eyes intelligence bloc that has not banned the companys equipment from its next-generation 5G mobile telecom network.

That could be making it more difficult for the U.S. to treat Canada as a trusted ally, OToole said Friday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

In the United States, you never have a conversation about trade without a conversation on security, he said.

We have to have a much smarter approach. I think theres more opportunity with a Biden administration. But there needs to be a far more serious and strategic approach from the government.

With files from Stephanie Levitz in Ottawa
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Related US carrier group enters South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions

The United States often sends ships and aircraft into the South China Sea to "flex its muscles" and this is not good for peace, China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday, after a US aircraft carrier group sailed into the disputed waterway.

The strategic South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade flows each year, has long been a focus of contention between Beijing and Washington, with China particularly angered by US military activity there.

The US carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt and accompanied by three warships, entered the waterway on Saturday to promote "freedom of the seas", the US military said, just days after Joe Biden became US president..

"The United States frequently sends aircraft and vessels into the South China Sea to flex its muscles," the foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told reporters, responding to the US mission.

"This is not conducive to peace and stability in the region."

China has repeatedly complained about US Navy ships getting close to islands it occupies in the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan all have competing claims.

The carrier group entered the South China Sea at the same time as Chinese-claimed Taiwan reported incursions by Chinese air force jets into the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone, prompting concern from Washington.

China has not commented on what its air force was doing, and Zhao referred questions to the defence ministry.

He reiterated China's position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that the United States should abide by the "one China" principle.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited a radar base in the north of the island on Monday, and praised its ability to track Chinese forces, her office said.

"From last year until now, our radar station has detected nearly 2,000 communist aircraft and more than 400 communist ships, allowing us to quickly monitor and drive them away, and fully guard the sea and airspace," she told officers.

Taiwan's defence ministry added that just a single Chinese aircraft flew into its defence zone on Monday, an anti-submarine Y-8 aircraft.

Biden's new administration says the US commitment to Taiwan is "rock-solid".

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is the democratic island's most important international backer and main arms supplier, to China's anger.

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The global Clostridium Butyricum Market report offers a comprehensive analysis of current trends and future opportunities. This report is responsible for quantitative estimation and foreseen future for upcoming years based on the recent companies strategic moves and historical data. Further, the market report is categorized into different segments, regions, and countries level. This report also provides competitor analysis with its market share and developments.

The final report will cover the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

The global Clostridium Butyricum market report presents a complete research-based study of the industry including details such as company shares, forecast data, in-depth analysis and an outlook of the market on a worldwide platform. The report further highlights the market drivers, restraints and the top manufacturers at the global and regional levels. For a thorough understanding, the report also offers market segmentation and regional analysis for the forecast period from 2020 to 2025.

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According to this study, over the next five years, the Clostridium Butyricum market will register an xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach $ xx million by 2025, from $ xx million in 2020. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in the Clostridium Butyricum business, shared in Chapter 3.

This Clostridium Butyricum market report also splits the market by regions: Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil), APAC (China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Australia), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain), Middle East & Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, GCC Countries).

This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of the Clostridium Butyricum market by type, application, key manufacturers, key regions, and countries.

The key manufacturers covered in this report: Breakdown data in Chapter 3.

AOR Canada

Miyarisan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd

Hangzhou Vega Co., Ltd

MITUSHI BIO PHARMA

Others

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This study considers the Clostridium Butyricum value and volume generated from the sales of the following segments:

Segmentation by type: breakdown data from 2015 to 2020, in Section 2.3; and forecast to 2025 in section 11.7.

Plant-based

Animal-based

Segmentation by application: breakdown data from 2015 to 2020, in Section 2.4; and forecast to 2025 in section 11.8.

Pharmaceuticals

Biotech

Food & Beverages

Ntraceuticals

Animal Feed

Cosmetics & Personal Care

In addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, challenges, and the risks faced by key manufacturers and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development.

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Research Objectives

To study and analyze the global Clostridium Butyricum consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, type and application, history data from 2015 to 2019, and forecast to 2025.

To understand the structure of the Clostridium Butyricum market by identifying its various subsegments.

Focuses on the key global Clostridium Butyricum manufacturers, to define, describe, and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in the next few years.

To analyze the Clostridium Butyricum with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

To project the consumption of Clostridium Butyricum submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).

To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.

To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.

About Us:

DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research report provider, enriching decision-makers, and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research reports, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.

Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

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At first, I fell in love with the pool itself. What it lacked in size and fancy amenities, it made up for in charm. It let sun and sky in on three sides. It had a ledge on the deep end for standing on when I needed to fix my goggles. As time went on, however, it was my fellow swimmers who stole my heart and kept it for themselves.
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.
Through the lens of social media, Patrick McKenzie read the news that California had given counties the green light on Jan. 13 to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to individuals 65 and over  and then he saw the stories unfolding about seniors scrambling to find places to get inoculated.

McKenzie, who lives in Japan, tweeted the idea of starting a website providing California residents with info on where to get vaccinated, and by the next day, VaccinateCA was born. It has gone on to become a trusted source for critical information in the state's inoculation effort.

"I thought if any state is likely to have a group of people who could drop in on a project like this, it would be the California tech industry," said McKenzie, who is originally from Chicago and has never lived in California.

McKenzie was right, and within minutes, fellow Twitter user and California resident Karl Yang took the idea and posted it on Discord, an instant message platform in the video gaming community. Within an hour, Yang had a team of 10 people to launch the site and started work on it that night.

"I joined a few hours later," McKenzie said. "The site went live Thursday morning. We started calling to find the vaccine as soon as hospitals, pharmacies, etc., opened on Thursday."

McKenzie, who paid his way through college by working at a call center, offered up advice on how to expedite the effort and went on to become CEO of VaccinateCA.

Now the site has more than 300 volunteers who have made more than 1,600 calls to 1,400 providers identifying more than 100 locations, including pharmacies and hospitals, that have the vaccine available in California.

"We collect whether or not vaccines are available at their location, as well as if there are any requirements, such as an appointment, to receive a vaccine," McKenzie said. "We also ask how specifically to make that appointment, to make it as fast as possible for our visitors.

"We gather contact information and county policies via publicly available digital sources such as provider and government websites. Availability information is confirmed by a real human talking to a medical professional, ideally, the one who physically administers the vaccine, because they always know exactly if and to whom they could administer the vaccine."

Through all the calls, McKenzie said the main trend they're noticing is lack of availability.

"We're hoping to see that change, and to help keep the public informed as it does," he wrote in an email. "Were finding a trend of surprises rather than a surprising trend. This county has vaccines available to anyone eligible with no appointment required, at one specific firehouse until they run out. That pharmacy has no vaccines but the pharmacist knows the county is administering it 'at the building across from the graveyard' (we got out Google Maps and looked for graveyards in their town, trying to guess which building and what phone number; we didnt succeed that time but well chase every dose)."

The response to the site from California residents has been tremendous, and over the weekend, McKenzie received a message from one user of the site: "A week ago, I saw VaccinateCA that 75+ senior appointments were available through Sutter. Today I took my dad to get his first dose and we are going to spend the afternoon phone banking."

"I think this sort of thing extremely heartening," McKenzie shared.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the symptoms are mild.

Mexico's president, who has been criticized for his handling of his country's pandemic and for not setting an example of prevention in public, said on his official Twitter account that he is under medical treatment.

'I regret to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19,' he tweeted. 'The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward.'

Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra, Mexico's director of epidemiology, said Lopez Obrador had a 'light' case of COVID-19 and was 'isolating at home.'

Mexico's president wrote that while he recovered Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero would be taking over for him in his daily news conferences, at which he usually speaks for two hours without breaks each weekday.

Lopez Obrador, 67, has rarely been seen wearing a mask and continued to keep up a busy travel schedule taking commercial flights.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the symptoms are mild

He has been criticized for his handling of his country's pandemic and for not setting an example of prevention in public by not wearing a face mask

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted on Sunday that he had mild symptoms, and is optimistic about his treatment

He has also resisted locking down the economy, noting the devastating effect it would have on so many Mexicans who live day to day, despite that the country has registered nearly 150,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 1.7 million infections. Last week, the country registered its highest levels of infections and deaths to date.

Early in the pandemic, asked how he was protecting Mexico, Lopez Obrador removed two religious amulets from his wallet and proudly showed them off.

'The protective shield is the `Get thee behind me, Satan,' Lopez Obrador said, reading off the inscription on the amulet, 'Stop, enemy, for the Heart of Jesus is with me.

In November, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, urged Mexico's leaders be serious about the coronavirus and set examples for its citizens, saying that 'Mexico is in bad shape' with the pandemic.

He didnt name Lopez Obrador, but said: 'We would like to ask Mexico to be very serious.'

'We have said it in general, wearing a mask is important, hygiene is important and physical distancing is important and we expect leaders to be examples,' he added.

At the start of the pandemic Lopez Obrador was criticized for still leaning into crowds and giving hugs. The eternal campaigner, Lopez Obradors style of politics has always been very hands on and personal. As the pandemic grew he began limiting attendance to his events and maintaining his distance from supporters.

The president also resisted locking down the economy, noting the devastating effect it would have on so many Mexicans who live day to day, despite that the country has registered nearly 150,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 1.7 million infections

Last week, Mexico registered its highest levels of infections and deaths to date. Pictured: A patient is transported to a hospital in Naucalpan

Despite his age and high blood pressure, as well as undergoing surgery after a heart attack, Lopez Obrador has said he wont jump the line for a vaccination. But he was getting tested for the coronavirus once a week.

At his age and with his existing health conditions Lopez Obradors turn for a vaccine could still be weeks away as the country still works to vaccinate front line health workers.

As of Sunday night, Mexico had given nearly 630,000 doses of vaccine.

Lopez Obrador's announcement came shortly after news emerged that he would speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday about obtaining doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said via Twitter the two leaders would speak about the bilateral relationship and supplying doses of the vaccine.

The vaccine has not been approved for use in Mexico, but the government is desperate to fill supply gaps for the Pfizer vaccine.

Besides Lopez Obrador, other Latin American leaders who have tested positive for the coronavirus are Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro, Guatemalas Alejandro Giammattei, Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez and Bolivias then-interim President Jeanine Anez. All have recovered.
From 5 to 12 January 2021, North Korea held its 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea, the second time such a meeting has been held under Kim Jong Uns leadership and only the third time since 1980.

At the Congress, Jon Un called the US his country's "biggest enemy," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, according to Reuters.

What did Kim Jong Un say about Joe Biden?

Speaking at the party congress, North Korea's Supreme Leader laid out a new five-year policy plan, in part addressing relations with the US. Our foreign political activities should be focused and redirected on subduing the US, our biggest enemy and main obstacle to our innovated development, Kim said at the meeting.

Adding, in a reference to Biden, "No matter who is in power in the US, the true nature of the US and its fundamental policies towards North Korea never change."

Kim also said the "key to establishing new relations between [North Korea] and the United States is whether the United States withdraws its hostile policy" from North Korea, adding that "the reality is that we can achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula when we constantly build up our national defence and suppress US military threats."

Joe Biden called Kim Jong Un a thug during the election campaign. In 2019 North Korea called Biden a rabid dog who needed to be beaten to death with a stick, and said that he was showing signs of "the final stage of dementia."

North Korea is declaring the window for cooperation is much, much smaller for the Biden administration, Yoo Ho-yeol, professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul told Reuters.

The South Korean Unification Ministry released a statement after Jong Uns comments became public saying, "The inauguration of the new US administration can be a good opportunity to improve US - North Korea relations, and we expect relations to swiftly resume."

What is Joe Bidens position on North Korea?

Hes only been in office a matter of days and no official policy has been laid out yet, but Joe Biden vowed in October that he would only meet with Kim if North Korea agreed to scale down its nuclear capacity.

Last month Kurt Campbell, the top diplomat for East Asia under Obama and considered a contender for a top Asia policy position under Biden, said the incoming administration would have to make an early decision on what approach it will take with North Korea and not repeat the delay of the Obama era, according to Reuters.

Whats more, with multiple urgent domestic and environmental crises to contend with, North Korea is unlikely to be the top priority for Biden, who is also going to push to get back into a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Trump decimated in favour of what he named maximum pressure against Iran.

The Biden administrations sequence of policy attention will likely be: get Americas own house in order, strengthen US alliances and align strategies toward China and Russia, and then address Iran and North Korea, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul talking to AP.

Jong Un previously met with Donald Trump on three occasions and they had maintained contact by letters, but the efforts did not result in a denuclearisation deal nor improve relations between the two countries.
[January 25, 2021] The CyberMAK Formula to Success: Social Listening + Bots = The Ultimate Customer Experience

KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Social media is consumed with posts of people complaining about bad customer experiences, services not meeting their expectations and being letdown. The customers network and out-reach invariable become ambassadors of negative publicity for a company's brand. Social media has given common man the power to act as a journalist and share real-time feeds of poor customer experiences. If organizations don't act fast, it leaves them open to the dreaded trial by social media, invites competitors to exploit benefits and has a direct impact on other loyal customers and the company's bottom-line. Warren Buffet once said, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." Over the past few years there has been a major shift in the wy the world communicates. From newspapers, TV, magazines and radio to over 20 social media platforms, 10+ messaging platforms and other real-time mediums to send across a message to millions of people at a time. With more than half the world population using modern channels to share their views and concerns, organizations need to have the capabilities to capture this real-time incoming data and act fast.



How can companies track massive amounts of data and use it to improve customer experience? With the recent upgrades in the technology and the introduction of Automation, Data Science, AI and Machine Learning, it has become possible to track customer digital activities that are related and relevant to your company, brand, products, solutions and more. A combination of Social Listening, Conversational AI Chatbots and Digital Workforce (RPA) brings about the ultimate customer experience. Leveraging these can enable organizations to capture data in real-time, act fast and take measures to offset or minimize damage to the reputation, credibility and public image of the brand.

There are various social listening tools available in the market today. Social listening can help you track social media platforms for any posts, trends, conversations or mentions related to your brand and provides you the right insights to discover opportunities to act upon. When combined with conversational AI chatbot, the chatbot picks up the conversation on behalf of the organization and responds in a natural way using advance natural language processing (NLP), natural language understanding (NLU), and dialog management techniques. The chatbot then raises the ticket and passes on the information to the relevant department. At this point the digital workforce, a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation takes over and provides a solution to the problem. However complex or time consuming it may be, the digital workforce will automatically find the right solution fast and efficiently, eventually closing the ticket and the chatbot then delivers the message to the customer ensuring satisfaction. With almost no human intervention, bots automate every step in the process with speed and accuracy, eliminating human error. Although companies may know about their customer's income, likes, dislikes, preferences and habits, they know very little about customer's emotions and their state of mind. This is why it is crucial to have social listening to understand the customer emotion in the form of a post, be it positive or negative and act upon it with the help of chatbots and RPA seizing every opportunity to interact with the customer, recovering service, increasing loyalty and overall brand reputation and equity.

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Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/25/2021 -- Employee Monitoring Software Market Comprehensive Study is an expert and top to bottom investigation on the momentum condition of the worldwide Employee Monitoring Software industry with an attention on the Global market. The report gives key insights available status of the Employee Monitoring Software producers and is an important wellspring of direction and course for organizations and people keen on the business. By and large, the report gives an inside and out understanding of 2020-2025 worldwide Employee Monitoring Software Market covering extremely significant parameters.



Key Players in This Report Include,

Teramind (United States), Veriato (SpectorSoft) (United States), SentryPC (United States), InterGuard (United States), Work Examiner (United States), StaffCop (United States), OsMonitor (United States), iMonitor EAM (United States), Pearl Echo.Suite (United States) and WorkTime (Canada) are some of the key players that are part of study coverage. Additionally, the Players which are also part of the research are Symantec (United States), BetterWorks (United States) and Monitis (United States).



Free Sample Report + All Related Graphs & Charts @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/1827-global-employee-monitoring-software-market-2



Brief Summary of Employee Monitoring Software:

Employee Monitoring Software is majorly used by the organizations which have a business to run, they use monitoring software to keep track and records of an employee's computer from a central location. This software helps in improving the efficiency and productivity of an employee. Moreover, it provides real-time information about the employees to the manager which in turns help in evaluating the performance of employees so that they can plan their strategies accordingly to improve the productivity pf an organization.



Market Trend

- Adoption of Making Work More Dynamic and Digitalized By Means Of Software's

- Rising Adoption of Cloud-Based Technologies Globally



Market Drivers

- Increasing Organizations Rates Globally

- Rising Counter-Productive Behavior on an Industry level



Opportunities

- Growing Trend of Keeping a Track of Employee Activities Will Boost the Market

- Rising Large and Small Scale Enterprises Coupled with Huge Number of Workforce's World Widely



Restraints

- Stringent Legal Rule and Regulations towards Concerning Privacy and Security of Employee

- High Cost of These Software's



Challenges

- Lack of Consumer Awareness Regarding the Functioning of Employee Monitoring Solutions

- Rapid Shift in Technology Advancements Can be a Bit Challenging in Forecasting Years



The Global Employee Monitoring Software Market segments and Market Data Break Down are illuminated below: by Type (Web-based, Cloud-based), Application (Small and Medium Enterprise, Large Enterprise), Solution Type (Direct Monitoring, Network Monitoring, Email Monitoring, Virtua Private Network, Software Monitoring)



This research report represents a 360-degree overview of the competitive landscape of the Global Employee Monitoring Software Market. Furthermore, it offers massive data relating to recent trends, technological, advancements, tools, and methodologies. The research report analyzes the Global Employee Monitoring Software Market in a detailed and concise manner for better insights into the businesses.



Regions Covered in the Employee Monitoring Software Market:

- The Middle East and Africa (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Egypt, etc.)

- North America (United States, Mexico & Canada)

- South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, etc.)

- Europe (Turkey, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia).



Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/1827-global-employee-monitoring-software-market-2



The research study has taken the help of graphical presentation techniques such as infographics, charts, tables, and pictures. It provides guidelines for both established players and new entrants in the Global Employee Monitoring Software Market.



The detailed elaboration of the Global Employee Monitoring Software Market has been provided by applying industry analysis techniques such as SWOT and Porter's five-technique. Collectively, this research report offers a reliable evaluation of the global market to present the overall framework of businesses.



Attractions of the Employee Monitoring Software Market Report:

- The report provides granular level information about the market size, regional market share, historic market (2015-2019) and forecast (2020-2026)

- The report covers in-detail insights about the competitor's overview, company share analysis, key market developments, and their key strategies

- The report outlines drivers, restraints, unmet needs, and trends that are currently affecting the market

- The report tracks recent innovations, key developments and start-up's details that are actively working in the market

- The report provides plethora of information about market entry strategies, regulatory framework and reimbursement scenario



Get 10%  25% Discount on The Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/request-discount/1827-global-employee-monitoring-software-market-2



Key Points Covered in the Table of Content:

Chapter 1 to explain Introduction, market review, market risk and opportunities, market driving force, product scope of Employee Monitoring Software Market;

Chapter 2 to inspect the leading manufacturers (Cost Structure, Raw Material) with sales Analysis, revenue Analysis, and price Analysis of Employee Monitoring Software Market;

Chapter 3 to show the focused circumstance among the best producers, with deals, income, and Employee Monitoring Software market share 2020;

Chapter 4 to display the regional analysis of Global Employee Monitoring Software Market with revenue and sales of an industry, from 2020 to 2022;

Chapter 5, 6, 7 to analyze the key countries (United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan), with sales, revenue and market share in key regions;

Chapter 8 and 9 to exhibit International and Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis, Trade Type Analysis;

Chapter 10 and 11 to analyze the market by product type and application/end users (industry sales, share, and growth rate) from 2020 to 2026

Chapter 12 to show Employee Monitoring Software Market forecast by regions, forecast by type and forecast by application with revenue and sales, from 2021 to 2026;

Chapter 13, 14 & 15 to specify Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source of Employee Monitoring Software market buyers, merchants, dealers, sales channel.



Browse for Full Report at @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/1827-global-employee-monitoring-software-market-2



Employee Monitoring Software Market research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the expected growth rate of the Employee Monitoring Software Market?

- What will be the Employee Monitoring Software Market size for the forecast period, 2021  2026?

- What are the main driving forces responsible for changing the Employee Monitoring Software Market trajectory?

- Who are the big suppliers that dominate the Employee Monitoring Software Market across different regions? Which are their wins to stay ahead in the competition?

- What are the Employee Monitoring Software Market trends business owners can rely upon in the coming years?

- What are the threats and challenges expected to restrict the progress of the Employee Monitoring Software Market across different countries?



About Advance Market Analytics

Advance Market Analytics is Global leaders of Market Research Industry provides the quantified B2B research to Fortune 500 companies on high growth emerging opportunities which will impact more than 80% of worldwide companies' revenues.



Our Analyst is tracking high growth study with detailed statistical and in-depth analysis of market trends & dynamics that provide a complete overview of the industry. We follow an extensive research methodology coupled with critical insights related industry factors and market forces to generate the best value for our clients. We Provides reliable primary and secondary data sources, our analysts and consultants derive informative and usable data suited for our clients business needs. The research study enable clients to meet varied market objectives a from global footprint expansion to supply chain optimization and from competitor profiling to M&As.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Hefei municipal government intends to invest around 2 billion yuan ($308.2 million) in Leapmotor, a Hangzhou-headquartered Chinese EV startup, according to a local media outlet, quoting a person close to the startup's senior management.

Hefei's investment in Leapmotor will be carried out in two installments with 200 million yuan ($30.82 million) having been plowed to the EV makers Series B financing round, according to the person briefed on the matter. The other 1.8 billion yuan ($277.38 million) will be pumped into the Pre-IPO funding round Leapmotor has launched at a valuation of 22 billion yuan ($3.39 billion).

After being reached for a comment, Leapmotor said the result should be subject to its announcement.

Leapmotor C11; photo credit: Leapmotor



Leapmotor entered into a strategic partnership with Hefei earlier this month for an all-round in-depth cooperation on new energy vehicle (NEV) business. The agreement made the company the second Chinese EV startup supported by the capital of Anhui province following NIO.

Founded in 2015, Leapmotor owns many core technologies developed in-house, which are related to battery, electric motor, electrical control unit, intelligent connectivity as well as autonomous driving.

Leapmotor has to-date had three mass-produced models for sale, namely the S01, the T03 and the C11. Unlike most startups who choose SUV as their first mass-produced model, Leapmotor's first production vehicle, the S01, is positioned as a small-sized all-electric coupe.

The startup announced the presale of the C11, its third production model, began on Jan. 1, 2021, coming with three trim levels. Guiding prices range from 159,800 yuan ($24,625) to 199,800 yuan ($30,790) after subsidies.

Leapmotor sold 11,391 new vehicles through 2020, including 1,125 S01s and 10,266 T03s. For the month of December 2020, its auto sales leapt 49% month on month to 3,024 units.
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A prominent vegan activist has come under fire for rejecting a rescue centre's offer to care for an abandoned puppy he found on the streets of Bali.

James Aspey first rose to prominence after refusing to speak for a year to raise awareness about animal rights. He now travels the world preaching about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle and raising awareness about animal rights.

But now the social media influencer has been accused of putting a newborn puppy's life at risk to boost his popularity online.

Mr Aspey, who is currently based in Bali with his wife Nicky, posted a photo to his 261,000 Instagram followers showing him nursing the female puppy he'd found on the streets of popular tourist destination of Canggu in early January.

Vegan activist James Aspey (pictured with his wife Nicky) has come under fire for rejecting a rescue centre's offer to take in an abandoned puppy

He asked if anyone living in Bali had access to a lactating mother who could help feed the puppy, as the first few days of the mother's colostrom, is vital in building a newborns' immune system.

'We just found this one day old puppy and we cant find the mother,' he wrote.

'Apparently there were four other puppies, but it was a huge rain today and the mother only saved one. She hasnt been seen since.'

Many of his followers called on him to take the pup to a vet or go back to where he found the location to see if the mother had returned - with rescue organisation 'ACT 4 Bali' offering to take the pup from him and ensure she received adequate care.

But the rehabilitation centre later claimed Mr Aspey had decided to care for the pup himself.

'I guess he is going to do it himself instead with formula,' ACT 4 Bali dogs wrote.

Mr Aspey shared a photo of the newborn pup to Instagram early this month after finding it alone in Canggu, Bali

After seeing the exchange, a woman took to a vegan Facebook page and claimed Mr Aspey was 'putting a newborn animal's life at risk for likes'.

'Some pretty disturbing stuff happens these days with social media 'influencers'. It's not something we talk about a lot, but this latest incident is literally life and death,' she wrote.

'Please, please do not follow the lead of people who are interested in self promotion and self gain.'

'If you find a vulnerable animals in need, please send them to someone who can actually care for them. Keeping them to take promotional pictures and quite literally risking their life does not make you a saviour.'

The post quickly went viral, with many vegans slamming Mr Aspey for not handing over the puppy to the animal shelter.

Rescue centre ACT4 Bali Dogs offered to take in the puppy (pictured) but claimed Mr Aspey told them he planned to look after the dog overnight

'He is like a kid with a new toy. Unfortunately, by the time he realises how selfish and wrong it is to deprive the little newborn puppy from experienced critical care, it's going to be too late,' one person wrote.

Another added: 'I'm so angry at him right now. He is ignoring help for attention.'

'[He is an] attention seeker and he is definitely getting a lot of it. The poor puppy will pay the price of his stupidity,' a third wrote.

However, others defended Mr Aspey, saying the puppy was in safe hands.

'I dont get this post at all. I see a guy caring for an abandoned puppy to the best of his ability. Talk about judgmental,' someone else's comment read.

'Maybe hes found someone else? We shouldnt jump on the negatives,' another wrote.

'If he is being guided by a professional then there's no reason why he can't raise the pup? We all started like that?' a third said.

The following day the activist posted a video showing the puppy reunited with its mother, explaining she had been found and led him to another three puppies trapped down a sewer.

After climbing down the drain, Mr Aspey was able to winch them to safety, but unfortunately two were already dead.

On Monday, he uploaded a video of the puppy rescue mission to Instagram after members of the vegan community continued to express doubt over his story.

A dog rescue organisation offered to care for the puppy, but later wrote their proposition was rejected

Members of the vegan community slammed his decision after his exchange with the rescue centre was shared in a Facebook group

Mr Aspey told Daily Mail Australia he was following veterinary advice while looking after the puppy before locating its mother.

'I didnt trust them as they were spreading lies about me. I was following advice from a vet who advised me on everything necessary to take the best care of the dogs,' he said.

He added that while many members of the vegan community supported him, a few 'are obsessed with tearing other people down' and 'set a terrible example for the community, which is about justice, peace and respect for life'.

'Most of the vegan community behaved like rational people and applauded my efforts to risk my safety and save animals,' he said.

'Some of the vegan community, and often the most vocal section, like to view me as a monster and twist my words and actions to suit their narrative.

'[But] some of them said I stole the puppies, some said I staged the whole thing and it was a publicity stunt. I couldnt care less about these people.'

Mr Aspey made headlines in 2015 when he spoke for the first time in 365 day after a year-long vow of silence to raise awareness about animal cruelty.

He has since dedicated his life to activism and launched numerous campaigns, with supporters funding his pursuit by subscribing to his web page.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted ACT 4 Bali Dogs for comment.
A 'woke' travel guide on Edinburgh's links with the slave trade calls for the removal of the statue of 18th-century MP Henry Dundas.

Exploring Edinburgh examines how much of the city's wealth was built on its involvement in the Caribbean slave trade between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Compiled by Glaswegian writer Robin Ward, the book says that Tory politician Dundas is the 'least deserving' of the honour of having a statue, which rests on top of Melville Monument in St Andrews Square.

According to his critics, Dundas, a lawyer and politician, delayed the abolition of slavery in British colonies for 15 years.

The Scottish advocate gained the nickname of 'The Uncrowned King of Scotland' and 'The Great Tyrant' which he lived up to when he was caught misusing public money in 1806 and impeached.

The top of the Melville Monument in Edinburgh, pictured. It was re-dedicated to 'more than half a million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundas's actions'

Henry Dundas, the 1st Viscount Melville, is commemorated at the Melville Monument

The book, published by Edinburgh-based Luath Press, looks at the bitter debates over the renaming of more than 300 buildings, monuments and streets, and whether centuries-old statues should be removed.

It also reflects on the impact of the Black Lives Matter campaign in Edinburgh last summer as campaigners urge the city to do more to recognise its role in slavery,

Lesser-known buildings highlighted include Spylaw House, which was owned by the tobacco tycoon James Gillespie, who made his fortune from the slave trade.

Mr Ward describes Bute House as 'inhabited by the ghosts of slavery'.

He tells how the address was associated with claimants of compensation following the abolition of ownership of slaves in British colonies in the 19th century.

And the author describes Sugarhouse Close, off the Royal Mile, as 'sounding sweet but hides the bitter taste of the slave trade'.

The Edinburgh Sugar House Company which was based there from 1752 brought in its raw material from plantations worked by African slaves in the West Indies.

Exploring Edinburgh examines how much of the city's wealth was built on its involvement in the Caribbean slave trade between the 17th and 19th centuries

Black Lives Matter activists gather in St Andrews Square on June 20, 2020, in Edinburgh

Writing in the book, Mr Ward says: 'Edinburgh's narrative of enlightenment and cultural heritage ignores many ghosts.

'Those at Sugarhouse Close are from the slave trade - sugar produced by African slaves on colonial plantations in the West Indies was processed at a refinery in the close. Many of the plantations were owned by Scottish merchants.

'Glasgow's complicity in transatlantic slavery is acknowledged. Edinburgh has recently been forced to face up to its involvement.

'Slavery in English (later British) colonies gained royal patronage in the 1660s when Charles II granted a charter to (and invested in) what became the Royal African Company.

'The trade continued until 1807 when the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed.

'Ownership of slaves was not abolished until 1833, and then only because the British Government agreed to compensate not the slaves but their owners.

'The payout was 20 million (40 percent of the Treasury's annual budget at the time). Around half of the claimants in Edinburgh gave addresses in the New Town.

'Profits from plantations and participation in British imperialism bankrolled modern Scotland, but the stain of slavery and its architectural legacy, unlike the medieval fabric of St. Giles' Cathedral, cannot be easily scrubbed away.'
Jailed terrorists are not being properly punished for radicalising other inmates and extremism may be being encouraged in prisons, the terror watchdog has warned.

As a result an inquiry is being launched into how prisons deal with terror convicts. Jonathan Hall QC, the Governments independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said there had been a steady drumbeat of terror attacks on prison officers and some inmates were coming under the influence of high status terrorist prisoners.

He told The Times: We need scrutiny of how prisons operate to either contain, or worse encourage, terrorism. Mr Hall added that on entering jail terrorists automatically achieve a sort of status.

His comments follow a series of high-profile cases, including the 2019 London Bridge attack when Usman Khan, a terrorist prisoner out on licence, stabbed two people to death.

Khairi Saadallah, 26, befriended by a radical preacher while serving an earlier prison term

John Hall's comments follow a series of high-profile cases, including the 2019 London Bridge attack

Khairi Saadallah, 26, who was given a whole life sentence earlier this month for murdering three men in a terror attack in a Reading park, had been befriended by a radical preacher while serving an earlier prison term.

Last year Brusthom Ziamani, who was serving a 19-year sentence for plotting to behead a soldier, was convicted of attempted murder for trying to hack an officer to death in the maximum security Whitemoor jail.

Mr Hall said that he had been amazed at the way terrorist prisoners were looked up to by other inmates.

I find it astonishing that someone should go to prison for plotting a terrorist atrocity and the concern is not that they themselves are at risk of attack, like a paedophile is often at risk of attack because prisoners generally say what theyve done is terrible, he said.

Terrorists automatically achieve a sort of status.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it had trained more than 29,000 prison officers to better spot signs of extremism, increased the number of specialist counter-terrorism staff and would separate the most subversive prisoners where necessary.

Our tough measures to stop extremists spreading their poisonous ideologies in prison have been stepped up, the spokesman said.

We ended the automatic early release of terrorists and our new legislation means they will also face tougher sentences and monitoring on release.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Centre, Press Council of India and other respondents on a PIL seeking establishment of an independent media tribunal for complaints regarding the media houses filed by viewers.

The PIL has argued that self-regulation cannot solve the present situation and, therefore, an independent tribunal is needed.

After a brief hearing in the matter, a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde issued notice on the plea.

The plea filed by Nilesh Navalakha and Nitin Memane contends that the government is not able to handle the violation of program code and thus authority to check such violations should be handed over to an independent body.

The petitioner urged the top court to lay down and issue appropriate guidelines outlining the broad regulatory paradigm within which media houses, i.e., broadcasters and electronic media, can exercise their rights under Article 19(1), so as to judicially regulate the same.

"The instant petition also prays for the establishment of an independent, regulatory Tribunal/judicial-body, known as 'Media Tribunal', to hear and expeditiously adjudicate upon complaint petitions against the Media-Businesses filed by the viewers/citizens", said the plea.
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Words of an old air have been flitting around my head for weeks now. The sea, oh the sea, is gra geal mo chroi. This anthem to the briny foam speaks much to the spirit of our island nation, and the maritime link to the danger and daring of life before the mast.

In the tumult of Christmas week, it almost passed unnoticed that one of Irelands greatest seafarers, Tim Severin, had trimmed the sails for his final voyage upon uncharted waters. An adventurer like they dont make any more, he cut his youthful teeth following Marco Polos overland route on a motorbike, and saddling up with Mongol horsemen in the footsteps of Genghis Khan.

These were but the appetisers of the nautical feast that would define his life. Using an 8th century text, Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis, as his template, Severin proved the myth that an Irish monk might well have discovered North America a thousand years before Columbus. His account of The Brendan Voyage became required reading for armchair travellers everywhere. One starts from a grand level of ignorance and accepts that we dont know everything that were doing, but we learn, was his description of the epic endeavour  an apt mantra worthy of the life path we all wander.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy. Periods of light rain early. Thunder possible. Low 44F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Cloudy. Periods of light rain early. Thunder possible. Low 44F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
BALTIMORE - President Joe Biden plans to sign on Monday an executive order that aims to boost government purchases from U.S. manufacturers, according to administration officials.

President Joe Biden waves as he departs after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington. Biden plans to sign an executive order Monday, Jan. 25 that aims to boost government purchases from U.S. manufacturers. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

BALTIMORE - President Joe Biden plans to sign on Monday an executive order that aims to boost government purchases from U.S. manufacturers, according to administration officials.

The United States has shed roughly 540,000 factory jobs since last February as the coronavirus pandemic hurled the world's largest economy into recession. The goal of the order would be to use the $600 billion the federal government spends on procurement to boost domestic factories and hiring, said officials who insisted on anonymity to discuss the forthcoming announcement.

Biden's order would modify the rules for the Buy American program, making it harder for contractors to qualify for a waiver and sell foreign-made goods to federal agencies. It also changes rules so that more of a manufactured good's components must originate from U.S. factories. American-made goods would also be protected by an increase in the government's threshold and price preferences, the difference in price over which the government can buy a foreign product.

The order also has elements that apply to the separate Buy America program, which applies separately to highways and bridges. It seeks to open up government procurement contracts to new companies by scouting potential contractors. The order would create a public website for companies that received waivers to sell foreign goods to the government, so that U.S. manufacturers can have more information and be in a more competitive position.

To help enforce these goals, the order establishes a job at the White House Office of Management and Budget to monitor the initiative and focus on ensuring the government buys more domestically made goods. It also requires federal agencies to report on their progress in purchasing American goods, as well as emphasizing Biden's support for the Jones Act, which mandates that only U.S.-flag vessels carry cargo between U.S. ports.

Past presidents have promised to revitalize manufacturing as a source of job growth and achieved mixed results. The government helped save the automotive sector after the 2008 financial crisis, but the number of factory jobs has been steadily shrinking over the course of four decades.

The number of U.S. manufacturing jobs peaked in 1979 at 19.5 million and now totals 12.3 million, according to the Labor Department. Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, famously promised a factory renaissance, yet manufacturing employment never returned to its pre-Great Recession levels before the coronavirus struck.
Having very good relationship with DMK, says Rahul Gandhi amid cracks in alliance in Puducherry

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Karur (TN), Jan 25: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday affirmed his party''s alliance with the M K Stalin-led DMK in Tamil Nadu, saying "we are having a very good relationship" with the Dravidian party.

The former Congress President''s assertion comes amid strains in the parties'' alliance in neighbouring Puducherry and whether it would have a bearing on their electoral tie up in Tamil Nadu.

"We are having a very good relationship with DMK. We have full respect for (late DMK chief M) Karunanidhi, full respect for Stalin ji and we have full faith in the alliance," he told reporters. Gandhi was responding to queries over ''issues'' in the alliance between the two parties in Puducherry.

Modi the person through which Balakot information went to Arnab: Rahul Gandhi

Last week, cracks appeared to have developed in the decade-old alliance between the ruling Congress and DMK in the union territory just months ahead of the assembly polls, with senior leader S Jagathratchagan of the Dravidian party pitching for contesting all 30 seats.

The DMK has also been of late distancing itself from the Congress in the UT, leading to speculations that all is not well between the two. However, Gandhi on Monday said that "the aim of the (DMK-Congress) alliance is to stop the RSS ideology from coming into Tamil Nadu."

He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was controlling the Tamil Nadu government by remote and "we are going to take away its batteries" in the coming elections, likely in April-May.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 20:26 [IST]
The interesting question about the constitutionality vel non of impeaching a president who is no longer in office is obscuring a matter of more practical relevance: What will the impeachment trial look like?

Media coverage has centered on the divide in the Senate over the constitutional question, particularly Utah Republican senator Mitt Romneys assertion in a weekend CNN interview that the impeachment is valid. The New York Times portrays Romney as breaking Republican ranks. He may be, but the Republican position is not black and white.

Whether an impeachment trial for a non-incumbent is constitutional is a separate question from whether conducting one is a good idea. The two are melded, though, by what appears to be the majority GOP position in opposition to an impeachment trial for former president Trump. Some Republicans will try to dismiss the case on constitutional grounds after House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) sends the incitement to insurrection article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday. Other Republicans, such as Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), argue that an impeachment trial will further divide the country, and are poised to avert it, or shut it down as early as possible, on whatever grounds are available. The constitutional niceties seem beside the point.

I say this core constitutional question is less practically significant than it should, perhaps, be because it is a foregone conclusion. The Democrats are in the (narrow) majority, they will unify in favor of conducting the trial, and there will be enough Republicans who conclude that such a trial is constitutional that the full Senate will approve it.

Those who think the Supreme Court will ultimately have to resolve the constitutional question are, I believe, mistaken. The Constitution gives the Senate plenary authority over the trial of impeachments. History and precedent are on the side of those who argue that impeachment trials of non-incumbents are constitutional, but that is beside the point. The Supreme Court surely wants no part of this hot political dispute, and the Constitutions commitment of impeachment trials to Senate control gives the justices a good reason to stay out of it.

Story continues

Although I think a censure would be better, if the Democrats want a trial, then there is going to be a trial. Practically speaking, then, the pertinent issue is what the trial will look like. I do not think it will much resemble the impeachment trial of then-president Trump that took place a year ago.

For the reasons I posited on Friday, this is not going to be a presidential impeachment as that scenario is commonly understood. Trump is no longer president. The constitutional mandate that the chief justice of the Supreme Court preside over an impeachment of the president therefore does not obtain. Trumps impeachment, then, will be akin to the impeachment of other impeached officials who are not the sitting president.

For all impeachments other than that of the president, the presiding officer in the Senate is, as usual, the vice president of the United States or, in the vice presidents absence, the president pro tempore of the Senate. For present purposes, that means Vice President Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.). [Authors note: After this column was written, sources indicated to various media outlets that Senator Leahy is expected to preside over the Trump impeachment trial.]

Some commentators on the right grouse that this is inherently unfair to former president Trump, but this misses the point. Impeachment is a political process, not a legal one; there is no entitlement to the kind of due process required in judicial proceedings, where a presumptively impartial judge and counsel for the parties select a jury of the defendants peers, which has been vetted to ensure its objectivity.

To repeat my point from Friday, the reason the Constitution requires the chief justice to preside over presidential impeachments is not to transcend politics  the Senate partisans are still ultimately in charge. The chief justice is installed in this largely ceremonial post to avoid the unseemliness of having the Senates usual presiding officer, the vice president, preside over a trial in which he or she has a vital personal interest in the outcome (viz., accession to the presidency if the incumbent is convicted and removed).

The Democrats will have a problem in that the impeachment trial they will run, rather than one over which Chief Justice Roberts might preside, will look more blatantly like a partisan show trial. That will rub much of the public the wrong way. But that is a political problem, not a constitutional concern.

When an impeachment trial takes place under the supervision of the Senates presiding officer, Rule XI of the Senate impeachment rules empowers the Senate and the presiding officer to appoint a committee of Senators to receive evidence and take testimony at such times and places as the committee may determine.

That is, there need not be a full-blown trial before the entire Senate sitting as an impeachment court. The Senate may refer the matter to an ad hoc impeachment trial committee. Or, to avoid having to assemble such a committee from scratch, it could refer the matter to an existing committee  most likely the Judiciary Committee, which, under the chambers new Democratic majority, is now chaired by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, who remains the Senates No. 2 Democrat.

While the impeachment committee would be governed by Senate impeachment rules and practices, the Senate and the committee have leeway to vary those as they see fit. The committee would conduct the trial, generating a transcript of all proceedings (including witness testimony, if there is any), which would eventually be certified to the full Senate. The full Senate could conduct additional proceedings to supplement that record. But the full Senate could also base its verdict  and, if the verdict is guilty, its disposition on the issue of disqualification from holding office in the future  on the committees work.

I continue to think there is scant chance that the former president will be convicted and disqualified. Nevertheless, this Trump impeachment trial is likely to be a lower-key affair than the one in early 2020, when President Trump was in office. The trial will be significant, but its interference in the confirmation of Biden administration officials is likely to be minimal, and its domination of the full Senates time greatly diminished.

More from National Review
Soumya Swaminathan hailed the incredible progress made by scientists who managed the unthinkable of developing not one but several safe and effective vaccines against a brand new virus in under a year. (Photo:AFP)

GENEVA: Despite vaccines against Covid-19 being rolled out in a number of countries, the World Health Organization warned Monday that herd immunity would not be achieved this year.

Countries across the globe are looking forward to vaccines finally allowing a return to normality in the months ahead.

But the WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned that it will take time to produce and administer enough doses to halt the spread of the virus.

"We are not going to achieve any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021," she told a virtual press briefing from WHO's headquarters in Geneva, stressing the need to continue measures like physical distancing, hand washing and mask-wearing to rein in the pandemic.

She hailed the "incredible progress" made by scientists who managed the unthinkable of developing not one but several safe and effective vaccines against a brand new virus in under a year.

But, she stressed, the rollout "does take time."

"It takes time to scale the production of doses, not just in the millions, but here we are talking about in the billions," she pointed out, calling on people to "be a little bit patient."

Swaminathan stressed that eventually, "the vaccines are going to come. They are going to go to all countries."

"But meanwhile we mustn't forget that there are measures that work," she said.

There would be a need to continue taking the public health and social measures aimed at halting transmission for "the rest of this year at least."

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Iran's Foreign Minister voiced the readiness of the country's economic sectors to take an active part in the economic projects of Azerbaijan, stressing that Tehran does not consider any limits for cooperation with Baku, Mehr reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in his meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov on Monday. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the cooperation of the two countries in various fields, as well as regional issues.

Zarif expressed satisfaction with his presence in the Republic of Azerbaijan after the liberation of the occupied territories and paid tribute to the victims of the war, calling the new stage an important moment to help establish peace and stability in the region and for the benefit of all parties.

Describing the purpose of his visit to the region as an effort to establish peace and tranquillity, he expressed satisfaction with the increase of meetings between the officials of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran in recent months. Zarif announced Iran's readiness for an active and extensive presence in the reconstruction of the liberated areas, which are located on the common borders of the two countries. He pointed to the fruitful talks between the two countries at the recent meeting of the Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation, saying that the views expressed by the President of Azerbaijan during today's meeting indicate the serious determination of the two countries for cooperation.

Stating that Iran does not consider any limits for cooperation between the two countries, Zarif announced the comprehensive readiness of various economic sectors in Iran to take an active part in the economic projects of the Republic of Azerbaijan

The Iranian foreign minister also described the establishment of calm and peace in the region as a great opportunity for cooperation between the two countries in the field of transit and activation of the East-West and North-South corridors.

Cooperation between the two countries in the Caspian region, cultural issues, cooperation in the field of water, transportation and international affairs, and trilateral cooperation with Turkey were among the topics discussed by two foreign ministers.

Iranian foreign minister also met and held talks with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Monday. Aliyev welcomed the presence of Iranian companies in the reconstruction of the freed regions of Karabakh.
Most COVID-19 maps, such as this bubble map, fail to improve public understanding of the pandemic and its risks. Credit: University of Utah Health Sciences

Since COVID-19 first arose as a worldwide health threat, millions of websites with maps charting the spread and prevalence of the virus have appeared on the internet. However, most of these maps do not improve public understanding of the potential risk of contracting COVID-19 or promote compliance with health guidelines meant to slow its spread, according to a new study led by University of Utah Health scientists in collaboration with other institutions.

In fact, the researchers found that study participants who didn't see a map were more knowledgeable about the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States than those who viewed one. They also found that maps did not influence a person's perception of their own risk of contracting the disease.

"We know that people's behavior and intentions are influenced by how well informed they are and how they perceive risk," says Alistair Thorpe, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a U of U Health postdoctoral research fellow. "Prevalence maps are designed to help with that and so many have appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we found that simply presenting COVID-19 information in a map doesn't necessarily have the intended influence on knowledge, perception, or behavior."

The study appears in JAMA Network Open.

In a May 2020 online survey, the researchers asked 2,676 people, aged 18 to 91, to view one of six randomly selected maps of COVID-19 prevalence in the United States. Then, they were questioned about their knowledge of confirmed COVID-19 cases, their perceived risk of getting the disease, and whether they intended to adhere to COVID-19 prevention guidelines. A control group was not shown any of the maps and was simply asked to answer the questions based on their own knowledge without visual aids.

"The goal of this study was to try to find the best method for having people understand how common COVID-19 is nationwide as well as where they live," says Angela Fagerlin, Ph.D., senior author of the paper, a U of U Health professor of population health sciences, and a research scientist at the Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Health Care System. "We were hoping that understanding the prevalence of this disease would inspire them to take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19."

Heat maps, such as this one, that display COVID-19 cases per capita by state appear to be more effective than others. Credit: University of Utah Health Sciences

Overall, those who saw maps were no more knowledgeable about the COVID-19 pandemic than those who didn't see them. Participants who saw a map had lower perceptions of the risk to society; they were also more optimistic that the pandemic would be better in two weeks compared to those who didn't see a map. None of the maps appeared to influence how participants perceived their personal susceptibility to the virus or whether they intended to follow public health guidelines.

However, heat maps that depicted per capita cases by state in varying hues and intensities depending on localized prevalence appeared to be more effective than others.

"The features of these maps appear to be the most effective for improving or at least maintaining public knowledge of COVID-19 cases," Thorpe says.

Among the study's limitations are its reliance on self-reported information and potential barriers to participation, including lower English proficiency and limited or no internet access.

Moving forward, the researchers believe this finding could have significant long-term implications.

"There's a lot of data coming out during this outbreak about how to effectively communicate health information that will help us in the next pandemic," Fagerlin says. "I hope we can learn from this experience so we don't have to recreate the wheel every time we experience a pandemic."

The study, "Exposure to Common Geographic COVID-19 Prevalence Maps and Public Knowledge, Risk Perceptions, and Behavioral Intentions," was published in JAMA Network Open.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

More information: Alistair Thorpe et al. Exposure to Common Geographic COVID-19 Prevalence Maps and Public Knowledge, Risk Perceptions, and Behavioral Intentions, JAMA Network Open (2021). Journal information: JAMA Network Open Alistair Thorpe et al. Exposure to Common Geographic COVID-19 Prevalence Maps and Public Knowledge, Risk Perceptions, and Behavioral Intentions,(2021). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.33538

Galwan Valley brave hearts to get gallantry awards on Republic Day

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: Colonel Santosh Babu who was martyred while fighting the Chinese PLA at Galwan Valley will be awarded the Maha Vir Chakra posthumously on Republic Day. All the other brave hearts who were martyred in action will also be get gallantry awards.

The names of 20 Indian Army personnel, who were killed while valiantly fighting Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June last year, were inscribed on the National War Memorial ahead of the Republic Day, official sources said.

Col B Santosh Babu, the commanding officer of the 16 Bihar regiment, was among the Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the fierce hand-to-hand combat on June 15, an incident that marked one of the most serious military conflicts between the two sides in decades.

China is yet to disclose the number of its soldiers killed and injured in the clash though it officially admitted to having suffered casualties. According to an American intelligence report, the number of casualties on the Chinese side was 35

The Galwan Valley clash had escalated the border row in eastern Ladakh and resulted in a large deployment of troops and heavy weaponry by both the armies at the friction points.

"The names of the Galwan heroes have been inscribed at the National War Memorial," said a source.

Some of these soldiers are also likely to be honoured with gallantry awards on the Republic Day.

The Chinese soldiers used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China around patrolling point 14 in Galwan Valley.

The Indian Army has already built a memorial for the ''Gallants of Galwan'' at Post 120 in eastern Ladakh.

The memorial mentioned their heroics under operation ''Snow Leopard'' and the way they evicted the Chinese People''s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the area while inflicting "heavy casualties" on them.

During a visit to Lukung forward post in eastern Ladakh on July 17 last year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had personally conveyed his appreciation and compliments to the troops from the Bihar regiment for displaying exemplary grit and courage in fighting the Chinese troops.

India and China are locked in a bitter military standoff in eastern Ladakh for over eight months.

Nearly 50,000 troops of the Indian Army are currently deployed in a high state of combat readiness in the mountainous region in sub-zero temperatures as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded concrete outcome to resolve the standoff.

China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials.

Last month, India and China had held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs.

The eighth and last round of military talks between the two sides had taken place on November 6 last year during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

India has all along been maintaining that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the mountainous region.
Newly confirmed U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faces a world of security threats and a large military bureaucracy. The first Black defense leader also faces another problem in the military: removing racism and extremism among soldiers.

Austin takes office as Americans are starting to understand that some of the people who took part in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol were current or former members of the military.

The retired four-star general recently told senators that the Pentagons job is to keep America safe from our enemies. But we cant do that if some of those enemies lie within our own ranks.

Removing racists from the military is not his only immediate goal. Austins military will also play an important part in making sure all Americans get the coronavirus vaccine.

But the racism issue is personal for Austin. Before the 93-2 vote that confirmed him in the Senate on Tuesday, he explained why.

In 1995, while Austin was serving at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, three white soldiers were arrested in the murder of a Black man and woman who were walking down the street. Investigators said the two were killed because of their race.

The killing forced an investigation, and 22 soldiers were linked to skinhead groups or others holding extremist beliefs. Skinhead is a term used to describe neo-Nazis or others with extreme racist opinions. Of the 22 soldiers, 17 were considered white supremacists or separatists.

We woke up one day and discovered we had extremist elements in our ranks, Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

We discovered that the signs for the activity were there all along. We just didnt know what to look for or what to pay attention to, he added.





Austin is not the first secretary to see this problem. Racism has long been an issue in the military. Leaders say only a small number of soldiers hold extremist views. However, there have been several acts of racial hatred.

A recent Air Force report found that Black service members in the Air Force were far more likely to be investigated, arrested, face disciplinary actions and be asked to leave the military.

Based on 2018 information, about 66 percent of the militarys members are white and about 17 percent are Black in the lower ranks. In the higher ranks, the percentage of Black members decreases. The American population is about 75 percent white and 13 percent Black.

Over the past year, military leaders have tried to make changes. But change came slowly during the administration of President Donald Trump. For example, it took many months for the Pentagon to ban the Confederate flag last year. The flag has long been a symbol of racism, because it was the flag of the slave-holding South during the American Civil War.

Senators asked Austin many questions about extremism in the military and about his plans to remove it. The hearing was held two weeks after lawmakers fled the deadly attack at the Capitol. Many of the attackers held racist or extremist views.

Senator Tim Kaine asked Austin about the steps he will take, adding that if were divided against one another, how can we defend the nation?

Austin -- who broke racial barriers throughout his 40-year Army career -- said military leaders must send a clear message that extremist behavior is unacceptable.



Austin was the first Black man to serve as head of U.S. Central Command and the first to be the Armys vice chief of staff. He said solutions must come from within the military services and lower-ranking leaders. They must make sure that their soldiers are trained and know what behaviors are not permitted.

Austin said it will not be an easy problem to fix. He also said training is necessary and must continue throughout a soldiers time in the military.

Austin was approved after legislators gave him a waiver to overcome a law that bans anyone from serving as defense chief until they have been retired for more than seven years. Austin has been retired for five years.

After President Joe Biden signed the waiver, Austin walked into the Pentagon to begin his job. His first international phone call was to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The 67-year-old Austin is a 1975 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Im Susan Shand.

The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Bryan Lynn was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

bureaucracy  n. a large group of people who are involved in running a government, but who are not elected

rank  n. ones position in an organization, such as the military

white supremacist  n. one who believes white people are superior to others of different races

disciplinary  adj. intended to correct or punish bad behavior

symbol  n. a sign or object used to represent something

waiver  n. a paper that allows a person not to use or require something

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MIDDLETOWN  The first month of the new year is winding down, and the chamber is off to a really fast start.

On the chamber calendar front, this week features important meetings of our Westbrook Division, Womens Leadership Collaborative, East Haddam and Haddam Division, and a virtual gathering of key members that make up our Ad Hoc Finance Committee, which has been extremely helpful as we have steered the chamber through the COVID crisis.

This week also features meetings of the Connecticut Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives Tuesday, and the Workforce Alliance Board of Directors Thursday.

We look forward to all of these virtual meetings, which will, as always, feature productive conversations between chamber members from a wide variety of industry sectors.

The major event of the week is Friday morning, as the chamber will host its annual legislative breakfast at 8 a.m. It will be held virtually for the first time, and is sponsored by Comcast. The format is mainly question-and-answer, and at the event, the chambers 2021 Public Policy Agenda will be formally presented to the Middlesex County Legislative Delegation.

We hope that this virtual event will be a great opportunity for our members to connect with their elected representatives in the General Assembly. We look forward to a productive discussion, and thank our legislators for joining us for this important event, and Comcast for sponsoring.

All 16 members of the General Assembly that represent Middlesex County have been invited to attend.

This event is free to attend for members of the chamber. I also ask that members and other interested parties save Feb. 16 for the first installment of our 2021 Legislative Leadership Series featuring new Speaker of the House Matt Ritter. More information, including details on registration, can be found at middlesexchamber.com.

On the business development front, I look forward to joining Mayor Ben Florsheim, chamber Chairman Tom Byrne, Central Business Bureau Chairwoman Pam Steele, and other community leaders on Friday morning for the grand opening celebration for Cake, Batter and Roll on College Street.

Cake, Batter and Roll offers a delicious menu for breakfast and lunch, including sandwiches, salads, sides, breads, waffles and even dog treats. We wish owner and chief waffle slayer Lindsey Chartrand all the best, and we look forward to supporting her efforts moving forward.

Before closing, I want to take a moment to preview this years Taste of Middlesex County, which is once again brought to you by Comcast Business. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the chamber team has reinvented Taste of Middlesex County to comply with all safety guidelines and keep all of its participants safe.

We understand that this has been a tough stretch for the restaurant community, so we are running two tasty restaurant weeks this year, Feb. 15 to 21 and June 21to 27. Our restaurant partners are busy developing menus and other creative options, and I will be sure to share more information in upcoming columns. Please keep an eye on the Taste of Middlesex County tab on the chamber website for information as we move forward.

Unfortunately, I must once again close this weeks chamber column on a sad note after the recent passing of Thomas E. Tom Coughlin, a longtime Middletown businessman and chamber supporter.

Tom Coughlin was a good and decent man. I will always be grateful for the support that he and his family provided to me as we worked together to grow our chamber and support the local business community. Tom enjoyed a long and successful career in the real estate and property management business in Middletown.

Throughout this almost 60-year run, he supported a variety of his fellow business people, many community organizations, Mercy and Xavier High Schools, and countless employees and friends. He also served our country as a member of the U.S. Air National Guard.

In addition to his work in Middletown, Tom loved his hometown of Portland, and he also supported that community in a variety of important ways.

Tom Coughlin will be missed by all those who knew him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Stella, his children, grandchildren, and vast network of extended family and friends.

Toms son Ted is now a member of our chamber through his business, Coughlin Service Corp., which we also appreciate very much. I am grateful for Tom Coughlins longtime friendship and support, and will certainly remember him fondly.

Our chamber also shares in the grief and sorrow that this community is feeling after the recent passing of Tawana Bourne, a young entrepreneur who owned and operated Trinity Realty. She was just beginning to make her mark in the real estate business and she cared deeply about revitalizing the blighted areas of Middletown and other communities.

Tawana also served on the city of Middletowns Charter Revision Commission, and supported a number of community organizations and faith-based initiatives. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tawanas family and friends at this very difficult time. She will be missed by many.

Larry McHugh is president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce in Middletown.
Former Bond girl Valerie Leon has insisted No Time To Die should not be streamed online after the film was delayed yet again by another six months.

The upcoming James Bond blockbuster was previously slated to be released on April 2 after already being hit by several changes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Valerie, 77, took part in a debate on whether the film should be streamed and insisted cinemas will 'die' without major films.

She said: 'I disagree totally that they should be streamed. The franchise is so special, so special. The anticipation of waiting for it to be released in the cinemas.'

Opinion: Former Bond girl Valerie Leon has insisted No Time To Die should not be streamed online after the film was delayed yet again by another six months

Fellow actor Mark Ebulue who also took part in the debate and disagreed, saying: 'I think we need it now, the demand for these movies to be seen and consumed are higher than where or how we see them.'

But Valerie, who appeared in Never Say Never Again in 1983 alongside Sean Connery, believes cinemas could 'die' if blockbusters are simply given to streaming services.

Asked if she misses going to the cinema amid the pandemic, she said: 'Yes, enormously.

New date: The upcoming James Bond blockbuster was previously slated to be released on April 2 after already being hit by several changes due to the coronavirus pandemic

'The cinemas will die if they dont have major films in them. This pandemic will end at some point.'

Valerie played the unnamed Lady in the Bahamas in Never Say Never Again where she flirted with Bond, with the pair ending up in bed together.

It comes after the news that No Time To Die is delayed again, meaning fans will have to wait another six months to see the latest movie in the spy franchise.

A new date for the movie was shared on the film's official Twitter account, revealing the latest expected date is October 8, 2021.

Valerie said: 'I disagree totally that they should be streamed. The franchise is so special, so special. The anticipation of waiting for it to be released in the cinemas'

The film, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, was originally scheduled for release in April 2020, but was pushed back to November before the release was changed once again to April 2021 in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

It had already been speculated that the film would be pushed back again when Dutch publication BN DeStem recently claimed that, according to cinema owner Carlo Lambregts, the movie would be delayed to November.

Deadline also reported that promotional partners had already been informed that Daniel Craig's final outing as 007 is poised to change release dates.

Role: Valerie played the unnamed Lady in the Bahamas in Never Say Never Again where she flirted with Bond, with the pair ending up in bed together

No Time To Die is the 25th film in the franchise, and finds Bond after he has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica when his old friend Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright, from the CIA turns up asking for help.

Leaving his seemingly happy life with Madeleine (Lea Seydoux), Bond returns to the field to face Safin (Rami Malek) who is armed with a new dangerous technology that could impact the world.

Producer Barbara Broccoli has already teased what fans can expect and said that the movie will deliver a satisfying ending for Daniel's Bond.

Changes: The movie was previously supposed to come out on April 2, however its original release was supposed to be in April 2020 (pictured Daniel Craig)

Speaking on the official James Bond podcast, she said: 'It's a culmination of everything that his portrayal of the character has been through and it ties up all the storylines. It's a pretty epic film, I have to say.'

After pushing the film's release back to April 2021 in October, MGM quashed rumours about whether it was thinking of offering the film to streaming services for a $600 million one-year licensing deal.

'We do not comment on rumors. The film is not for sale. The film's release has been postponed until April 2021 in order to preserve the theatrical experience for moviegoers,' an MGM spokesperson told Variety.

Delays: Deadline reported promotional partners have already been informed the film is poised to change release dates (pictured Lea Seydoux)

Not coming soon: MGM quashed rumours in October last year about whether it was thinking of offering the film to streaming services for a $600 million one-year licensing deal

Bloomberg had reported that Netflix, Amazon and Apple had all been approached about the possibility of the movie being offered up for Premium VOD.

However, according to Deadline.com, none of the streaming services were willing to put up more than half the amount the studio was seeking.

Lead actor Craig did defend James Bond producers' decision to delay the premiere of the new film in October last year.

Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Craig said: 'This thing is just bigger than all of us. We want to release the movie at the same time all around the world and this isn't the right time. So fingers cross April 2 is going to be our date.'

The new release will be Craig's final outing as the spy after landing the role for 2006's Casino Royale. He has also starred in Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre.

During his last ever Bond interview for GQ magazine in March 2020, the actor candidly discussed his anxieties over the script and admitted feeling 'physically very low' was the reason behind the upcoming film's five year delay since Spectre.

Newbie? Lashana Lynch, who plays Nomi, joins new Bond Girl Ana De Armas as Paloma (R)

He told GQ magazine: 'I was never going to do one again. I was like, "Is this work really genuinely worth this, to go through this, this whole thing?"

'And I didn't feel... I felt physically really low. So the prospect of doing another movie was just, like, off the cards. And that's why it has been five years.'

Craig said that the 'physicality' of Bond is "a preparation, in a way", because he would not get the script beforehand.

'It's making my head go, "This is what it's going to be".'

Trying to prepare for a role in one of the most popular film franchises in modern cinema without a script also caused him to have anxiety.

The man in the white mask: Rami's Safin seems to be heavily scarred and covering much of his face in a scene from the hotly anticipated release

He said: 'I have suffered from it in the past. I have suffered because it's been like, "I can't cope. I can't deal with this".

Looking ahead to life after Bond, Craig - who is married to actress Rachel Weisz - said that his future may involve 'having another kid, maybe just being older'.

Meanwhile, last year, actress Lea Seydoux gave fans an idea of what to expect in No Time To Die ahead of its release.

She described her character's relationship with Bond as 'a modern love story', explaining fans will see a completely new side to the agent, as Bond settles down with Dr. Madeleine Swann after retiring from active service.

Speaking on the Official James Bond Podcast, Lea explained why it was so important to see Bond fall in love again after having his heart broken by Vespa (played by Eva Green) in 2005's Casino Royale.

What to expect: Actress Lea Seydoux teased that No Time To Die will show a new side to Bond after he settles down with Dr. Madeleine Swann after retiring from active service

She said: 'I think that it's also because of Bond and we needed Madeline to tell Bond's story I mean it was important to see Bond in love again because he had this relationship with Vespa but she betrayed him.

'But this time I think she's the real love in a way, I think it's really the film is a love story it's a story between the two of them so it's very unusual for a Bond film to see James Bond in love right? And I think it's quite modern in a way.

'In this film it's even more psychological and more emotional and I think that it's something that Daniel as James Bond created with this character.

'He created a character that is more vulnerable and who has flaws and I think that's what we like as an audience and it's true that James Bond is like a... it's not a real world right? But what we like is that in this world we can relate to the characters.'



A woman has praised her TikTok followers for 'saving her life' after they warned her that a strange symbol she found in the snow outside her home could mean that she was being targeted by a gang as a kidnapping or sex trafficking victim.

Jade Jules, from St. John's, Newfoundland in Canada, was confused to discover a strange marker - '1F' - had been drawn into the snow on the top of the garbage bin outside her home, and she posted a video of the symbol to TiKTok, asking her 53,000 followers to help her identify it.

She was quickly inundated with alarming messages from fellow users who warned that the symbol suggested she had been targeted by a gang.

According to hundreds of her followers, the symbol '1F', which stands for one female, is drawn by gang members outside of the homes of single women living alone to indicate that they are vulnerable to intruders.

Jade Jules praised her TikTok followers for saving her life after they identified she was in danger when a strange symbol appeared outside her home in Newfoundland, Canada

Warning? Jade revealed she found '1F' written in the snow on her garbage bin - and was quickly warned by followers that it is a symbol used by gangs to target single females living alone

The symbol is supposedly drawn outside the homes of single women so that other gang members working in the area know that the person living there is an easy target for crime such as robberies, sex trafficking and rape.

After sharing her first video of the symbol, Jade praised her followers for alerting her to its potentially dangerous meaning, saying: 'My followers definitely saved my life. I was going out to put the trash out and that's when I saw it.

'I took out my phone, recorded it and posted it on TikTok because I had zero clue on what it meant.

'I thought people on TikTok would know and help me, which they did. I'm very thankful for everyone who helped me.'

She also reassured worried users that she was completely safe, explaining that she went to stay with her mother after being left 'terrified' by the symbol and its allegedly sinister meaning.

'I was terrified,' she said. 'I thought someone did it as a joke or something, but then all the comments and messages came in so my mom came and got me. I packed some stuff and haven't been home since.

'She's actually going to move in with me at that house, so we are planning to go back sometime this week.

'It's been very scary, I have not been home since as I am terrified. I have no idea who did it or why they did it but I've done everything I can.'

The following day, Jade posted another video informing her followers that she had called the police but 'they didn't do anything'

Gang symbols used to target homes: Fact or fiction? There has been lengthy debate over the legitimacy of symbols used by gangs and crime rings to mark houses, with some police departments issuing official warnings about the code, while others have shut down any claim that the markings are real. In 2013, German police reportedly warned their US counterparts to watch out for symbols being used by criminals to mark homes after a gang broke into a woman's home after seemingly targeting the property by drawing symbols outside it in the snow. Two years later, a police department in Scotland shared images of similar symbols on social media, along with their suspected meanings, from a cross to indicate a 'good target' to a flower shape that highlights a 'wealthy' resident. Warning: Several police departments on both sides of the Atlantic have warned about the use of gang symbols to mark homes, with several releasing guides like this one While some have expressed doubts over the symbols' legitimacy, dubbing the codes a 'known hoax', police officers have continued to warn home owners to keep an eye out for such markings outside their properties as an additional safety measure. In 2019, security experts at The Safeguarding Hub doubled down on warnings about the symbols, insisting that they are legitimate, although noting that their use is 'very rare'. 'We have actually seen and experienced these symbols being used by criminals,' the company said. 'This is not to say that this is a common practice between bands of thieves, for most burglars work alone. We do not want to scaremonger and we can say confidentially that the use of these symbols is very rare. 'But, if you are a caregiver to an elderly or vulnerable person and spot strange marks outside their home, do you really want to dismiss it out of hand without just ensuring that the symbol is legitimate?' Advertisement

Jade explained that she phoned the police after being warned about the symbol's meaning - and revealed that, while cops seemed to support the theory about the code - there was little they could do to help her.

'I called the cops, took off the writing and left home,' she said. 'I've bought cameras for the house, I don't know what else to do.

'The police couldn't do anything because there were no suspects and I had no clue who or what it was. So they just wiped off the bin and told me to stay safe and if I can leave for a few days to do that, so that's what I did.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to local authorities for a statement.

Jade continued to state that she is still not sure why the symbol was left outside her home, or whether she was in fact a target of kidnapping and sex trafficking, as some TikTok users suggested.

'People in the comments of my videos are saying it means one female. Apparently it's used for kidnapping and sex trafficking and break ins,' she said. 'I'm not sure what it meant in my situation, but if all that is true, then I'm scared about what could have happened.

'I'm beyond grateful for everyone that commented and messaged me telling me to stay safe and be careful and to not post my whereabouts. My followers really saved me.'

In the first clip, posted on January 12, Jade filmed herself walking down the steps of her home and explaining that she'd seen the message when she'd taken the garbage out.

She then asked: 'What the f*** does this mean?'

The clip has been viewed 12.6 million times and has racked up more than 40,000 comments.

One user explained: 'It means: 1 female. They are telling the people who are supposed to rob you or whatever, that you live alone' [sic].

The following day, Jade posted another video informing her followers that she had called the police but 'they didn't do anything'.

Jade posted another video to her TikTok two days later on January 15, explaining that she was alright and staying at her mother's house

She said: 'They just came and wiped it off. You can still faintly see it. But they pretty much just told me like pretty much what everybody said in the comments - was just to make sure that you're safe and if you have anywhere else to stay, just stay there. But I don't so... yeah.'

Jade posted another video to her TikTok two days later on January 15, explaining that she was alright and staying at her mother's house.

She said: 'I'm alright guys. I'm at my moms place for a while. Thank y'all so much for everything y'all mean the world!'

Gang codes or symbols have long been a source of great debate among law enforcement officials, with some police departments issuing official warnings about the markings, while others have written them off as hoaxes.

In 2015, local police in Lanarkshire, Scotland shared images of what they believed to be gang symbols being used to target houses on social media, along with their suspected meanings, from a cross to indicate a 'good target' to a flower shape that highlights a 'wealthy' resident.

Despite many expressing doubt that the symbols were in fact real - with some even suggesting that they were actually used for maintenance and construction - warnings about the 'gang code' have continued to surface over the years.

In 2019, security experts at The Safeguarding Hub doubled down on warnings about the symbols, insisting that they are legitimate, although noting that their use is 'very rare'.

'We have actually seen and experienced these symbols being used by criminals,' the company said. 'This is not to say that this is a common practice between bands of thieves, for most burglars work alone. We do not want to scaremonger and we can say confidentially that the use of these symbols is very rare.'

The company warned that anyone who lives with or cares for an elderly or vulnerable person would be well advised to take extra precautions if they spot any kind of strange symbol outside their property.

'If you are a caregiver to an elderly or vulnerable person and spot strange marks outside their home, do you really want to dismiss it out of hand without just ensuring that the symbol is legitimate?' they asked.
Michael Rubin wrote the following in his article about US-Turkey relations for Kathimerini:

Americans may identify China, Russia, North Korea and Iran as their top foreign challenges, but the test Biden most likely will have to confront early in his term is the growing challenge Turkey poses to international law, security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean. Indulgence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by both Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the former because of ignorance and the latter out of fear, has only emboldened Erdogan to see his adversaries as weak, stake out more extreme positions, and increase aggression throughout the region.

Four years ago, Turkey only occupied northern Cyprus. Erdogan and aides like Egemin Bags (now Turkeys ambassador to the Czech Republic) threatened the Cypriot governments efforts to tap its offshore gas reserves but in practice did little. Now Turkish naval vessels regularly harass Cypriot and international shipping in Cypriot waters, Turkish seismic exploration ships violate Cypriot and Greek waters, and Turks have moved into Varosha, a resort town from which they expelled Greek owners decades ago.

That is only the tip of the iceberg. Turkish warplanes and naval vessels threaten Kastellorizo, and Turkey now lays claim to Cretes waters. Turkish and Turkish-backed forces also invaded and have ethnically cleansed Syrias Afrin district, and they have effectively annexed other towns in northern Syria.

In Iraq, Turkish warplanes bomb Yezidi villagers in the Sinjar district, a region already traumatized by the Islamic State.

Turkey has also sent Syrian mercenaries, including some associated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, into Libya and Azerbaijan, and has used its own special forces to fight Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Erdogan openly questions the legitimacy of the Lausanne Treaty. Simply put, Erdogans hostility to his neighbors sovereignty and the post-World War II liberal order puts him in the company of Vladimir Putin and Slobodan Milosevic rather than any European democratic leader. As Turkeys economy flounders, Erdogan will likely only ratchet up both his polemics and aggression to distract Turks from the disaster that has been his economic stewardship.

It is this dynamic that will likely force Biden to focus more directly on the Eastern Mediterranean. It is here that, beyond the partisan discord that today marks Washington, DC, Biden can build on the legacy left behind by Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The strategic dialogue with Greece and Cyprus will continue under Biden. Pompeos partial lifting of the military embargo on Cyprus made headlines but, in practice, it was more symbolic than substantive. Biden, however, can give it substance and provide the equipment and technology Cyprus needs to defend itself. Expect Souda Bay to become a well-known name in the United States, as familiar to Americans as Ramstein Air Base or Okinawa is.

Trumps indulgence of Erdogan allowed the Turkish leader to escape accountability for his actions. Erdogan believed that Congress and the US judiciary did not matter. He counted on Trump to block sanctions or cut deals to short-circuit court cases. Bidens team will have no tolerance for such actions. Turkey or Turkish institutions will face sanctions for Erdogans dealings with Russia and Turkish banks financial irregularities. Ironically, while Turkey might have more easily absorbed these under Trump, the fragility of Turkeys economy today will amplify their impact. Erdogan might complain, but only a dwindling number of congressmen will listen. Twenty years ago, the Turkish Embassy was almost as influential as Germanys or Frances; today, it is about as influential as Malawis or Mauritanias.

A diplomatic and economic collision is nearing. Erdogan will test Biden in the Eastern Mediterranean. He may see in Biden an old man past his prime, but he should not underestimate the determination of the new president and his broader team to hold firm. If only Trump or Obama had acted similarly, the danger in the Eastern Mediterranean might never have gotten so severe."
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

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We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

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(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Joe Biden's dogs Champ and Major have moved into the White House, reviving a long-standing tradition of presidential pets that was broken under Donald Trump

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2021 ) :Joe Biden's dogs Champ and Major have moved into the White House, reviving a long-standing tradition of presidential pets that was broken under Donald Trump.

The pooches can be seen trotting on the White House grounds in pictures retweeted by First Lady Jill Biden's spokesman Michael LaRosa, with the pointed obelisk of the Washington Monument in the background.

"Champ is enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace, and Major loved running around on the South Lawn," LaRosa told CNN in a statement Monday.

The Biden's dogs, both German shepherds, follow the pawprints of presidential pets that included Barack Obama's Bo, a black Portuguese water dog and George W. Bush's Scottish terrier, Barney.

Trump, a famously finicky germophobe, broke with that convention -- as he did with many presidential traditions -- and never had a pet in his White House.

"How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn," Trump asked, with a grimace, in a video included in a Biden campaign ad.
U.S. taxpayers have spent at least $12.4 billion for private companies to develop covid-19 vaccines. Now they're turning to an army of hypodermic-wielding volunteers, some with little practical experience, to help immunize 330 million Americans.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is relaxing rules to allow podiatrists, dentists and pharmacy students to give shots. In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis is asking for help from chiropractors and optometrists. Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey are recruiting health-care retirees to fill shifts at stadiums, vacant department stores and other spaces repurposed as government-run vaccination megasites.

"This is about saving lives," said Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., the head of Essex County, New Jersey, government. "These people are coming out and being part of history." He said at least 1,500 people have signed up for vaccination duty via his county's Medical Reserve Corps, part of a network of about 800 U.S. volunteer call-up groups established after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Record numbers of coronavirus patients are overwhelming the U.S. medical system, leaving few vaccination-certified doctors, nurses and others available for extra duty. At the same time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's public-health preparedness and response funding in 2020 was $850 million, a 50% drop from a decade earlier, according to the Trust for America's Health, a Washington-based nonpartisan research group.

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"Now we see what happens when an infectious disease crashes your economy and runs up trillions of dollars in costs because we try to do public health on the cheap," Georges Benjamin, a physician and executive director of the American Public Health Association, a Washington-based nonprofit research and advocacy group.

Benjamin and other health experts say trained volunteers are crucial to the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history. But some worry about weaknesses in an approach that relies so heavily on unpaid labor.

The process is intricate. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two doses, 21 to 28 days apart, via an injection to the deltoid muscle of the arm. On site, recipients are screened for any history of vaccination reactions and counseled on potential risks if they have weak immunity. Administrators draw the substance from a vial, mix with saline, transfer to a syringe and select a needle with length and gauge appropriate for age and weight.

In a 25-page guide distributed by Minnesota health officials, injectors are instructed to sanitize the skin and insert the needle smoothly and quickly at a 90-degree angle. "Hold the syringe steady once the needle is in the tissue; moving it around the tissue may cause cause damage," it warns. "Apply a bandage at the site if bleeding occurs."

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In the event of a severe reaction, vaccinators should be prepared to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, give an epinephrine shot and maintain an open airway.

Federal health-emergency training in recent years has centered not on vaccinations, but on fast distribution of oral medicine in the event of bioterrorism, according to Bob England, a physician who retired in 2018 as health director in Maricopa County, Arizona, which encompasses Phoenix.

"The problem with this is it's been so long, and it will be so enduring, that I can see the pool of volunteers getting worn out," England said by telephone.

States vary on certification requirements for intramuscular injections, but the vast majority of those permitted are doctors, nurses and pharmacists. In some states, medical assistants can give doses, but only under a physician's supervision and in a clinical setting. Connecticut, Colorado and Nevada in recent weeks permitted veterinarians to volunteer.

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Some state officials are dangling rewards as incentives to volunteer. The University of Wisconsin is offering $500 tuition credits to 4,000 nursing students. In Orange County, California, volunteers who work at least 40 hours can get early access to shots for themselves.

In November, more than two weeks before the vaccine was available, Indiana health officials turned to the state university's medical school for volunteer shot-givers. About 430 students signed on for 90-minute programs that included a video and lessons with fake arms at the school's technology-driven Simulation Center.

"The medical students have all gone through anatomy class -- that gives them a big step up," Dylan Cooper, a physician and clinical emergency medicine professor who led the training. "Both my vaccinations came from medical students I had trained."

In New York City, 13,000 Medical Reserve Corps volunteers are covering more than 1,000 shifts, according to Julia Morrill, a health department spokesperson. Their duties include vaccinating, directing crowd flow and providing mental-health support, she said in an email. Volunteers are offered the vaccine.

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Formulas by Pfizer and Moderna were approved in December, and to date more than 17.2 million doses have been administered in the U.S. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. infectious-disease chief, on Sunday said approval is imminent for vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.

President Joe Biden has proposed nearly doubling vaccination-distribution funding to $20 billion, and administering 100 million doses of covid-19 vaccine in his first 100 days in office. Aftab Khan, an internal medicine physician in Davenport, Florida, said the effort should include doctors' offices and the National Guard, in addition to the Medical Reserve Corps.

"We need more trained vaccinators -- not willy-nilly, anybody from the street," Khan said in an interview. "People have to be trained for the unexpected adverse reactions."

California on Sunday suspended the use of 330,000 doses from a Moderna batch after about 10 reports of severe allergic reactions at a San Diego vaccination site. On Wednesday, Erica Pan, a physician and state epidemiologist, said a review "found no scientific basis to continue the pause" and said the doses could be used.

Beyond reactions, people receiving shots also risk what medical professionals call SIRVA, or "shoulder injury related to vaccine administration," caused usually by improper needle placement. The complication is rare, but the most serious cases can qualify for compensation from a $4 billion government vaccine-injury fund.

"The deltoid is a tricky muscle," said Litjen Tan, a physician and chief strategy officer for the Immunization Action Coalition, a Saint Paul, Minnesota-based nonprofit group that works to increase vaccination rates. Pharmacists, who administer about one-third of the nation's annual flu shots, typically get three days of training before they're vaccine-certified, he said.

England, the former Arizona health official, has taken on vaccination shifts himself, surrounded mostly by other retirees who had administered shots for decades. The volunteers are getting the job done safely, he said, but their ranks are vulnerable, particularly as health-care workers are among the first to get the shots.

"You're asking people -- who you've told to stay home and shelter in place and get your groceries delivered and don't go anywhere -- to now step up and put shots in the arms of people who are actively caring for covid patients," England said. "It's inevitable that some of them are coming through infected."
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Cross River State on Sunday recorded 20 cases of COVID-19 infection, the highest so far in the state.

Prior to this, the state has remained at the bottom of the table since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Nigeria.

The total number of confirmed cases in the state is now 189 as of January 24, according to data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The Commissioner for Health in Cross River State, Betta Edu, said the recent high cases in the state was because of corps members who came in for their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.

We had people who came in from the NYSC, about 13 of them were positive cases. So, these are people who moved into our state from other states.

The other ones are people who are residents in the state, Mrs Edu told PREMIUM TIMES, Monday.

However, it clearly shows that the second wave of the COVID-19 is here on us, so people need to improve on their level of adherence to all the COVID-19 protocols.

It is also a call for the federal government to see that they can immediately come in and help Cross River State fix their lab so that we can do community sampling and testing and really have a true picture of what might be going on in communities, as we already do know that community spread is taking place, she added.

Cross River, before now, had two laboratories for COVID-19 testing  Lawrence Henshaw Memorial Reference Lab and another one at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).

Mrs Edu said the Lawrence Henshaw lab, which had the capacity to test large samples, was vandalised and looted in October by hoodlums, as a fallout of the #EndSARS protest.

She said this has consequently slowed down testing in the state.

The COVID-19 testing is almost coming to a halt (in Cross River), the health commissioner said.

The only place we have now is the little lab in the UCTH that can just do only about four samples in hours. They dont work 24 hours shift and they dont work during the weekends. So when we have that kind of situation, it (testing) is almost coming to a halt, she said.

Cross River State, she said, may not be able to meet a new national target that would be rolled out by February where each state is expected to bring in 550 samples per local government area in two weeks for COVID-19 testing.

She appealed to the federal government, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the NCDC, and the Coalition Against COVID-19 to support the state in fixing the vandalised isolation centres and laboratory.

We had to quickly create a new isolation centre at Obubra General Hospital that can take at least 15 people in there because of the 13 corps members who have tested positive.

The one that can take up to 10 persons in Okoja is still there and the UCTH that has just four rooms, the commissioner said.
Ships are loaded with cargo at the Port of Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Costs Rise as Cargo Ships Backlogged at LA Ports

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are facing one of the worst backlogs theyve ever seen, as dozens of cargo ships wait at anchor in San Pedro Bay. Together, they handle as much as 40 percent of the nations imports.

A combination of trade wars, tariffs, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a shift in spending habits of Americans have all played a part in creating the logjam, says Phillip Sanfield, a spokesperson for the Port of Los Angeles.

This has been brewing for months, Sanfield told The Epoch Times.

He said the port has been slammed with waves of container ships carrying freight from Asia since mid-summer. The surge began in July and has not let up, and the volume of cargo in the last six months is double the amount received in the first half of 2020.

Thats because Asia had slowed its production early in the year with factories closing due to COVID-19. But when factories resumed operations there, and Americans started buying more, the goods started flowing in.

While business is booming for the ports, some business owners say they are facing increased costs due to the slowdownincluding tariffs that went into effect Jan. 1, adding charges to items waiting to be off-loaded from ships already in the harbor.

Don DiCostanzo, co-founder and CEO of Pedego Electric Bicycles, told The Epoch Times his Orange County-based business now pays 25 percent more on getting a shipping container from China due to the tariffs, on top of other increased costs.

Thats the idea though. Tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump were meant to dissuade shipping from China.

Trumpalong with others, including Janet Yellen, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Treasury Secretaryhas accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of devaluing Chinas currency, unfair trading practices, and widespread theft of intellectual property.

The Trump Administration imposed the tariffs after trade negotiations with the CCP failed. He has said he is looking to rectify a trade imbalance that has cost Americans manufacturing jobs.

Anchored ships wait to have their cargo unloaded at the Port of Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Surfers walk on the beach as a cargo ship waits in the bay in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Ships are loaded with cargo at the Port of Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Spending Trends Shift

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, worldwide manufacturing slowed and imports to the United States dropped by more than 20 percent in the first five months compared to the previous year, Sanfield said.

But by Marchwhen California and other states imposed stay-at-home ordersChina had begun to reopen its manufacturing facilities, and by July ships began to clog Los Angeles harbors as U.S. retailers restocked their shelves.

During the stay-at-home orders, there was an inordinate amount of purchasing from Amazon, drop-off delivery companies, and individual retailers, Sanfield said, as Americans spent their money on tangible goods.

Home goods and gym equipment, and almost all of those kinds of products, began to have an incredible surge. We started to see record volumes of imports  this wave after wave of imports of goods coming into the United States, mostly from Asia, he said.

During Christmas, the last couple of weeks before the end of the year, we saw 90 to 95 percent more cargo coming in than in 2019. So theres been this enormous surge of cargo.

Don DiCostanzo stands in the Pedego electric bicycle warehouse in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Jan. 14, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Don DiCostanzo stands in his stocked warehouse in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Jan. 14, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Increased Shipping Costs

Don DiCostanzo is co-founder and CEO of Pedego Electric Bicycles, based in Orange Countys Fountain Valley. He says the combination of tariffs, shipping delays, increased shipping costs, and port fees is seriously affecting his business.

DiCostanzos company designs, manufactures, and sells electric bicycles worldwide. The parts are manufactured in Asia, where the bikes are also assembled, then shipped as imports to the United States, where they are distributed and sold to customers.

We get all of our products from China, Vietnam, and Taiwan, DiCostanzo said. And so our business model is that we design them  here, and then we have them pre-assembled in those countries, and they come on a container ship because all the components come from there.

He said it used to take two weeks to get a container shipped from Asia to L.A. Now it can take more than twice that long, because of a boomerang effect caused by a shortage of containers due to the port delays.

It used to cost us about $3,000 to get a container ship from China or Vietnam here. Now, its closer to $5,000 because of all the different increased shipping costs. The container costs, port fees, and all that take it from $3,000 to $5,000 per container, DiCostanzo said. Those costs are in addition to the new tariffs, he said.

The only silver lining is that electric bike sales are seasonal, so there is still time for the company to get its inventory restocked for spring and summer, he added.

Tariffs Take Effect

Recently, three delayed containers sitting on ships anchored in the harbor cost him $200,000 more than he expectednearly $67,000 eachbecause of tariffs that took effect on New Years Day, DiCostanzo said. He figures the tariffs will cost his company about $7.5 million this year.

So if we do $30 million worth of imports, it will cost us $7.5 million extra, he said. We bring in accessories, too, and they are about the same. Batteries are 17 percent, and accessories are anywhere from 10 to 25 percent.

Though he has faced the challenge of increased shipping costs, DiCostanzo is still expecting higher sales revenue this year than last. The company imported about 20,000 Pedego bikes last year, which generated about $70 million in retail sales. Pedego is expecting sales revenue to be $100 million in 2021.

DiCostanzo was one of more than 90 merchants who testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission in July 2018 against the tariffs, which apply to a wide range of items including semiconductors, tractors, medical equipment, vaping devices, and electric bikes. Representatives of the National Retail Federation, the Steel Manufacturers Association, and the American Petroleum Institute also testified.

DiCostanzo testified again in August 2019. We got those tariffs to be stayed  until Sept. 20, 2020, and then they delayed it until Dec. 31, 2020, he said. But as of Jan. 1, everything we import now from China gets a 25 percent additional tariff on it.

Others strongly support the tariffs. On Jan. 21, when Janet Yellen testified before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss her nomination for U.S. Treasury Secretary, she noted Chinas challenges to Americas security, prosperity, and values, and said the United States should be willing to make use of the full array of tools to counter Chinas abusive economic practices and hold Beijing accountable.

We will take on the challenge of Chinas abusive, unfair, and illegal practices. China is undercutting American companies by dumping products, erecting barriers, and giving illegal subsidies to corporations, Yellen said.

China is engaged in conduct that hurts American workers, blunts our technological edge, and threatens our alliances and our influence in international organizations. Winning the economic competition with China requires us to make transformative investments at home in American workers, infrastructure, education, and innovation.

In 2000, former President Bill Clinton eased trade relations with China after decades of political and military tensions and helped China join the World Trade Organization. Since then, U.S. trade with China has boomed, but it hasnt been an even trade.

By 2012, the U.S. trade deficit with China was $315.1 billion; in 2018, it had risen to $418.9 billion, according to TheBalance.com. In 2019, the deficit was just over $345 billion.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the U.S. trade deficit with China increased $3.5 billion in November to $30 billion for the month. Exports decreased $500 million to $12.6 billion, while imports increased $3 billion to $42.6 billion.

Shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Shipping containers are stacked below a crane at the Port of Los Angeles on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Surge in Shipping

On Jan. 11, there were 17 ships at anchor waiting to get into the Port of Los Angeles, and another 16 waiting for the Port of Long Beach, the nations two busiest ports.

Theyre averaging anywhere from four- to eight-day wait times to get in to unload their cargo, Sanfield said.

The same day, there were 12 ships already docked at the L.A. port; Sanfield wasnt sure how many were at Long Beach. Its about evenly split waiting to get into L.A. and Long Beach, he said.

By Jan. 14, not much had changed. There were 13 container ships in port, and another 16 at anchor in the Port of Los Angeles alone, Sanfield said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Sanfield said that January and February are typically the slowest months at the portsbut not this year.

In terms of moving cargo that doesnt appear to be the case, based on reports from the National Retail Federation, which is saying that they see strong consumer buying through spring at least, Sanfield said. Were doing our best to work through a backlog of significant proportions.

Sanfield said there is no sign of relief on the horizon.

We thought there might be a bit of an ease after the first of the year, but so far, there has not been. Were hearing that they may not shut down this year because of the incredible demand for product, he said.

Trade Deficit

In recent months, as many as three-quarters of the containers have been shipped back empty to Asia, illustrating the massive trade imbalance between the United States and China.

Our container business in 2020 was the most erratic we have ever seen, with volumes plunging nearly 19 percent in the first five months of the year, followed by an unprecedented second-half surge, said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, who delivered his annual State of the Port address on Jan. 14.

Hardest hit of all were our exports. Rarely have we seen a time when only one in four containers returning to Asia was loaded with cargo.

Seroka, who was appointed to the ports helm by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014, is against the new tariffs, especially at the height of mandatory shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The present import tariffs are nothing more than taxes on American companies and consumers at a time when we need to put Americans back to work, he said.

But looking ahead, the port chief forecast a significant rebound for American business.

In the depths of our challenges this past year, we were resilient. Because of this, theres one more R word we can take from 2020. That word is resurgence, said Seroka.

We have endured crises in the past, like the Great Recession, from which we took more than a decade to recover. It wont be like that this time. Were positioning ourselves to bounce back faster. We will bounce back better. We already are.
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BOISE, Idaho (AP)  State environmental officials on Friday asked lawmakers to approve just over $3 million to deal with toxic discharge and a collapsing tunnel at an abandoned silver and lead mine in central Idaho.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality made the request to the Legislature's powerful budget-setting committee. Lawmakers will make budget decisions in the coming months.





. . .
Erika Jayne has recently found herself in a dramatic divorce with uber wealthy husband Tom Girardi.

And the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star appears to be adapting a thriftier lifestyle during her separation.

She kept it cozy Sunday in a black Adidas tracksuit as she picked up some lunch at a KFC drive-thru in Burbank, after downsizing to a $1.5million Los Angeles home.

Finger-licking good: Erika Jayne kept it cozy Sunday in a black Adidas tracksuit as she picked up some lunch at a KFC drive-thru in Burbank, after downsizing to a $1.5million Los Angeles home amid her divorce from Tom Girardi

The 49-year-old accessorized the look with some matching black and white trainers and a pair of black cat-eye sunglasses on her head.

She carried a brown monogrammed bag by Coach, with her initials in red, along with a bottle of water and her to-go bag.

Jayne went maskless as she greeted her friends with a hug, after arriving at a studio for some weekend work.

She sported a makeup-free look with her hair in a ponytail, as she prepared to get painted up by a glam team.

Cozy display: The 49-year-old accessorized the look with some matching black and white trainers and a pair of black cat-eye sunglasses on her head

Makeup free: She carried a brown handbag monogrammed with her initials in red, along with a bottle of water and her to-go bag. She sported a makeup-free look with her hair in a ponytail, as she prepared to get painted up by a glam team

No mask: Jayne went maskless as she greeted her friends with a hug, after arriving at a studio for some weekend work

Fast food: The Atlanta native was met with her own parking space, after taking her white BMW through the drive-thru

The Atlanta native was met with her own parking space, after taking her white BMW through the drive-thru.

It comes after she moved into a $1.5million house, a major downsize to the $15million Pasadena mansion she shared with her husband of 22 years.

A source told People: 'Erika has been living in the house for a while. She's made it her own space and loves it. She's doing well and is happy.'

Jayne's new digs is a 2,000-square-foot 1920s Spanish style dwelling with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a black bottom pool.

She previously filed for divorce from Girardi, 81, in November, seeking spousal support and requesting the court terminate its ability to award spousal support to Tom.

The co-founding attorney of Girardi & Keese in DTLA responded by asking the court to terminate the ability to award spousal support to Jayne, requesting she pay attorney fees and costs.

Downsizing: It comes after she moved into a $1.5million house, a major downsize to the $15million Pasadena mansion she shared with her husband of 22 years (pictured in October, 2020)

Making it her own: A source told People: 'Erika has been living in the house for a while. She's made it her own space and loves it. She's doing well and is happy' (pictured in April, 2019)

New crib: Jayne's new digs is a 2,000-square-foot 1920s Spanish style dwelling with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a black bottom pool

Calling it quits: She previously filed for divorce from Girardi, 81, in November, seeking spousal support and requesting the court terminate its ability to award spousal support to Tom

Tom's brother Robert Girardi has since filed a citation for conservatorship, claiming that Tom is unable to provide for his personal needs or manage his financial resources.

A court hearing has been set for June 9 to determine if Robert will be appointed as Tom's conservator, making him responsible for deciding where Tom will live, arranging appropriate care for him, and giving him control of Tom's property and estate.

The petition for appointment of conservator describes Tom's current condition as 'sadly deteriorated to the point where he cannot care for himself without assistance.'

It adds: 'His short-term memory is severely compromised and, on information and belief, he is often not oriented as to date, time or place.'

The document also explains: 'While Tom does have family members, such as Petitioner [Robert], and certain friends looking out for him to make sure he has sufficient food and that he makes it to a given appointment on time, left to his own devices, it is highly doubtful that Tom could manage most of the activities of daily living for any significant period of time without assistance.'

Shots fired: The co-founding attorney of Girardi & Keese in DTLA responded by asking the court to terminate the ability to award spousal support to Jayne, requesting she pay attorney fees and costs (pictured in April, 2018)

Conservatorship: Tom's brother Robert Girardi has since filed a citation for conservatorship, claiming that Tom is unable to provide for his personal needs or manage his financial resources

Cheating scandal: It comes after Jayne accused him of having an affair with a California judge, a source telling Us Weekly: 'She's still in disbelief that Tom would cheat'

Tom was held in contempt of court last month in an unrelated civil lawsuit accusing him of embezzlement, during which the judge froze his assets.

He was accused of stealing money from a settlement fund for his clients after their family members died in an Indonesian plane crash, as the lawsuit stated: 'Girardi keeps engaging in fraud and deception in order to support a never-ending spending spree by himself and Jayne.'

According to E! News, his lawyer stated he 'not have the ability to pay' the $2million he owes the families, due to the divorce proceedings and his law firm's substantial debts.

It comes after Jayne accused him of having an affair with a California judge, a source telling Us Weekly: 'She's still in disbelief that Tom would cheat. She's also in disbelief with all these lawsuits that are coming that no one was aware of.

'The legal issues are unfolding one after another and she's learning as everyone's filing. As the whole world is finding out about it, she's finding out about it. She's reading about it in the press before she even sees it [from her lawyers].'

The Savage X Fenty ambassador has not let the messy divorce stop her from living her usual glam life, joking earlier this month with a sexy snap on Instagram: 'Thinking of making this my online dating profile pic. Thoughts??'
St George Illawarra star Corey Norman is being investigated by the NRL's integrity unit for his alleged involvement in a street brawl in Cronulla on Friday night.

Former Brisbane Broncos player James 'Chicko' Segeyaro, 30, was also involved in the incident, which he said was caused by a man calling him the N-word.

The incident was filmed by a bystander and aired by Channel 7 on Sunday showing a group of men pushing and shoving in an alley before punches are thrown.

An NRL spokesperson said: 'the NRL Integrity Unit is aware of the video and investigating the matter.'

St George star Corey Norman (left), former NRL player James Segeyaro (centre) and his partner. Norman and Segeyaro were allegedly involved in a street brawl in Cronulla in Sydney's South on Friday night

Segeyaro said he and Norman were walking down the street with two women when he was racially abused by a stranger from a group of four men.

'One of whom began racially abuse Chicko (Segeyaro), calling him the N-word,' he wrote on Instagram on Monday.

'An argument ensued and Corey (Norman) came in to defuse the situation. He was then blinded-sided and a fight broke out.

'It had all but broken up, when one of them threatened to pull out a knife.'

Segeyaro said 'we will always stand up against racism'.

'Although we don't condone violence, if there is a time to fight, then let it be against racism, protecting company and having your friends back,' he wrote.

'Corey let his club know the next morning and we have been in touch with the Rugby League Players Association regarding the incident.'

No arrests were made and NSW Police had not received a complaint as of Monday morning.

Footage of the brawl emerged on Sunday night. Norman is now being investigated by the NRL's integrity unit for his alleged involvement in the fight

The alleged fight took place in Cronulla, which was the site of the infamous 2005 race riots between Anglo-Australians and men of Middle Eastern appearance.

Norman is in the final year of a lucrative three-year contract with the Dragons, where he has played 37 games since the start of 2019.

The Dragons have been contacted for comment but are yet to release a statement.

Meanwhile, Segeyaro was stood down from the Brisbane Broncos in October, 2019 after returning a positive A-sample for banned muscle-enhancing drugs.

He returned a positive to LGD-4033, known as Ligandrol, which is a non-steroid anabolic agent that is common in bodybuilding.
[January 25, 2021] Praesidian Capital Acquires Collectibles Business

Praesidian Capital, a leading private investment firm, announced today that it acquired a controlling interest in Round 2 ("Company"). Headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, Round 2 is an innovative collectibles company that produces model kits, including classic cars and spaceships, die cast cars, slot cars and other hobby products. The Company has dozens of license agreements with well known brands such as General Motors, Ford (News - Alert) , Star Trek and Star Wars and sells through major retailers including Walmart, Target, and Hobby Lobby. Round 2 also sells through its e-commerce platform - www.autoworldstore.com. This is the second platform company closed by Praesidian Capital under its recently launched private equity strategy. "We are excited to partner with Tom Lowe, founder and CEO of Round 2," stated Jason Drattell, Praesidian Founder. "Round 2 has emerged as a market leader in the collectibles space and we look forward to supporting the management team as the Company continues to expand its product offerings." Glenn Harrison, Praesidian Capital Partner said: "Product design and innovation will always be at the core of Round 2's growth strategy but we also believe there is significant consolidation opportunity within the highly fragmented collectibles space. We will be working closely with the Round 2 team to continue to build on its already impessive list of brands."



"I'm thrilled to be partnering with the Praesidian team as they will bring significant resources as we continue to scale the business, both organically and through acquisitions," added Tom Lowe. Tom Duffy, Managing Director at Praesidian added: "We are pleased to have closed on another platform company. Round 2's brands are well-known within the collectibles industry and the Company has an impressive track record of growth."

About Round 2 Headquartered in South Bend, Indiana and founded in 2007, Round 2 designs and produces model kits, diecast models, slot cars and other hobby products. The Company owns several well-known brands many of which date back to the 1960s. A few of the long-running model kit and diecast brands, include AMT (News - Alert) , Hawk, Johnny Lightning, MPC, Lindberg, Auto World and Racing Champions. For more information, visit www.round2corp.com or www.autoworldstore.com. About Praesidian Capital Praesidian Capital is an innovative private investment firm focused on providing senior and subordinated debt along with growth capital to private lower middle market businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and selectively in Northern Europe. Praesidian also recently launched a private equity strategy focused on control positions in lower middle market businesses. For more information, visit www.praesidian.com. To discuss prospective investment opportunities please contact: Jason Drattell, Founder - jdrattell@praesidian.com (212) 520-2620

Glenn Harrison, Partner - gharrison@praesidian.com (212) 520-2612

Tom Duffy, Managing Director - tduffy@praesidian.com (212) 520-2617 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005285/en/

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DUBLIN, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "WebRTC Software, Applications, Services, Solutions and Devices Market with Global and Regional Forecasts 2021 - 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Our research indicates that WebRTC supported services will usher into the ICT ecosystem a next-generation services ecosystem of communications, applications, content, and commerce. This study evaluates WebRTC technology, evolving ecosystems, solutions, and applications. It also addresses the role of value chain partners, WebRTC APIs, enterprise applications, telecom operators, and other CSPs within the evolving ecosystem.

This report also assesses WebRTC features/functionality, use cases, and adoption expectations for enterprise and consumers. The report covers the WebRTC solution landscape with vendor analysis focused on business models for each company/solution. Forecasting provides revenue by categories including solution, service (Implementation, Integration, Consulting, and Maintenance), industry verticals, deployment models, and application. In addition, the report contains forecasts for WebRTC devices and users globally and regionally from 2021 to 2026.



Select Report Findings:

WebRTC will be the RTC platform of choice with the introduction of 5G and the expansion of OTT offerings

Cloud-based Communications, Applications, Content, and Commerce (CACC) will benefit greatly from WebRTC

WebRTC is a key component of an overall CACC strategy for CSPs as they seek to retain customers and grow revenues

CSPs are stumbling with the implementation of RCS, making WebRTC deployment critical as well as partnering with various third parties

While WebRTC is table-stakes for CSPs, they also have revenue potential from back-end integration with their most important customers: enterprise

Telecom APIs are a key component to overall WebRTC success for the entire value chain as well as leveraging telecom data in a cloud-based DaaS business model

Web Real-time Communications (WebRTC) provides a framework, protocols, and API that facilitates real-time interactive voice, video, and data via a Web browser. The requirement is only a WebRTC-enabled browser (HTML5). Because WebRTC requires no plug-ins and works natively, it can be implemented and operated very easily on PC's, laptops, TVs, tablets, smartphones, and wearable devices. The business drivers for WebRTC are many and varied as there are benefits for all industry constituents.

WebRTC is being applied to all modern and native browsers for virtually all major platforms to support sharing of voice, video, and generic data between peers, allowing developers to create compelling video-and-voice communication solutions. There are numerous use cases of WebRTC, the technology behind certain industry-leading communications and collaboration solutions including Discord, Facebook Messenger, and Google Meet/Hangout.



Use cases range from advanced video calling apps (such as Skype, Duo, and WhatsApp) and screen sharing to the more basic web apps that can use your microphone or camera. Major drivers for vendor, service provider, and developer adoption are ease of implementation, compatibility with browsers and OS, and free open-source with no need for third-party applications.



Target Audience:

Communication Service Providers: CSPs will learn about the strategies and gain recommendations to capitalize upon WebRTC

Social Media Companies: Large integrated companies such as Facebook as those integrating social need to prepare for WebRTC

Content Providers: Media companies, broadcasters, and content providers of all types need to understand the impact of WebRTC

Application Developers: OTT app and service providers will understand the benefits, challenges, and key issues surrounding WebTRC

Commerce (online and mobile) Providers: WebRTC will provide a new and dynamic way to advertise and engage way beyond self-help CRM

Infrastructure Providers: Wireless, Internet, and next-generation infrastructure companies need to position themselves to benefit from WebRTC

Device Manufacturers: Wireless device (smartphones, tablets, wearable technology) will find WebRTC a new driver for device design and usability

Government and Enterprise: All Industry Verticals including healthcare, finance, energy, retail, manufacturing, education, and eLearning in particular

Key Topics Covered:



1.0 Executive Summary



2.0 WebRTC Technology and Market Overview

2.1 Understanding WebRTC

2.1.1 WebRTC Features

2.1.2 WebRTC Advantages

2.1.3 Peer to Peer vs. Browser to Browser Communication

2.1.4 Click to Call

2.2 Evolution of WebRTC

2.3 WebRTC Solution Market

2.4 WebRTC Market Factors

2.4.1 Growth Drivers

2.4.2 Market Limitations

2.4.3 Market Opportunities

2.5 WebRTC Ecosystem / Value Chain

2.5.1 Vendors

2.5.2 Products

2.5.3 Solutions and Services

2.5.4 Applications

2.5.5 Delivery Platforms

2.5.6 End Users



3.0 WebRTC Taxonomy

3.1 WebRTC Technology

3.1.1 Native Apps vs. WebRTC

3.1.2 HTML5

3.1.3 WebRTC and Expansion of Media/Data usage via 4G/LTE

3.1.4 LTE/4G, RCS, and WebRTC

3.1.5 Carrier WiFi and WebRTC

3.1.6 Cloud Communication and WebRTC

3.1.7 Open Source API and WebRTC

3.2 WebRTC Architecture

3.3 WebRTC Functionality

3.3.1 Voice Calling

3.3.2 Real Time Messaging

3.4 WebRTC Enterprise Application

3.4.1 Customer Facing Enterprise

3.4.2 In-House Licenses Development

3.4.3 Application and Security

3.5 WebRTC API

3.5.1 Session Description Protocol (SDP)

3.5.2 Open Real-time Communications API (ORCA)

3.5.3 WebRTC Security

3.5.4 Chrome

3.5.5 Firefox

3.5.6 Media Stream (getUserData)

3.5.7 Hookflash

3.5.8 MediaStream API

3.5.9 RTCDataChannel API

3.6 Cloud RTC Platform



4.0 WebRTC Application Cases

4.1 Stages of Creation of WebRTC Application

4.1.1 Getting Started

4.1.2 Creating Video Audio Calling

4.1.3 Using Text

4.1.4 File Sharing

4.2 WebRTC Applications

4.2.1 Use of WebRTC in E-learning

4.2.2 WebRTC in Corporate Meetings

4.2.3 WebRTC and HTML5 Developments

4.2.3.1 Web Applications

4.2.3.2 Off-line Applications

4.2.4 WebRTC for the Mobile Applications

4.3 WebRTC Use Cases

4.3.1 Customer Care

4.3.2 Premium Customer Services

4.3.3 Customer Willingness to Pay for such Premium Services

4.4 Economics of WebRTC



5.0 WebRTC Vendor Landscape

5.1 Overall Competitive Landscape

5.1.1 Platform Vendors

5.1.2 Voice Solution Vendors

5.1.3 Video Solution Vendors

5.1.4 Conference Solution Providers

5.1.5 Telecom WebRTC Carrier

5.1.6 On-Premise Vendors

5.1.7 OTT Communication Providers

5.1.8 Bulk SMS Vendors

5.1.9 Learning and Development Vendors

5.2 Nokia

5.2.1 Overview

5.2.2 Analysis

5.3 AT&T

5.3.1 Overview

5.3.2 Analysis

5.4 Avaya

5.4.1 Overview

5.4.2 Analysis

5.5 CafeX

5.5.1 Overview

5.5.2 Analysis

5.6 Cisco Systems

5.6.1 Overview

5.6.2 Analysis

5.7 Dialogic

5.7.1 Overview

5.7.2 SWOT Analysis

5.8 Ericsson

5.8.1 Overview

5.8.2 Analysis

5.9 Ribbon Communications

5.9.1 Overview

5.9.2 Analysis

5.10 Google

5.10.1 Overview

5.10.2 Analysis

5.11 Huawei Technologies

5.11.1 Overview

5.11.2 Analysis

5.12 IBM Corporation

5.12.1 Overview

5.12.2 SWOT Analysis

5.13 Mitel Networks

5.13.1 Overview

5.13.2 Analysis

5.14 Oracle

5.14.1 Overview

5.14.2 Analysis

5.15 Plivo

5.15.1 Overview

5.15.2 Analysis

5.16 QUOBIS

5.16.1 Overview

5.16.2 SWOT Analysis

5.17 Sonus (Ribbon Communications)

5.17.1 Overview

5.17.2 Analysis

5.18 Temasys

5.18.1 Overview

5.18.2 Analysis

5.19 TokBox Telefonica

5.19.1 Overview

5.19.2 Analysis

5.20 Twilio

5.20.1 Overview

5.20.2 Analysis



6.0 Future of WebRTC

6.1 Beyond Voice/Video and Browsers

6.2 Hybrid P2P and Server-based CDN

6.3 Emerging WebRTC Issues and Opportunities

6.4 WebRTC Implementation Status

6.5 WebRTC Applications in Machine Learning and 5G

6.6 WebRTC vs. RCS



7.0 WEBRTC Market Analysis and Forecasts 2021 to 2028

7.1 Global WEBRTC Markets 2021 - 2026

7.2 Web Real-time Communications Components 2021 - 2026

7.3 Web Real-time Communications Software Applications 2021 - 2026

7.4 Web Real-time Communications Software Enterprise Applications 2021 - 2026

7.5 Web Real-time Communications Software IoT Applications 2021 - 2026

7.5.1 Web Real-time Communications Software Smart Home Applications 2021 - 2026

7.5.2 Web Real-time Communications Software Smart Healthcare Applications 2021 - 2026

7.5.3 Web Real-time Communications Software Smart Industry Applications 2021 - 2026

7.6 Web Real-time Communication Software for Social Media Applications 2021 - 2026

7.7 Web Real-time Communication Software Deployment 2021 - 2026

7.8 Web Real-time Communication Software by Devices 2021 - 2026

7.9 Web Real-time Communication Software by Services 2021 - 2026

7.9.1 Web Real-time Communication Software by Professional Services 2021 - 2026

7.9.2 Web Real-time Communication Software by Managed Services 2021 - 2026

7.10 Web Real-time Communication Software by Industry 2021 - 2026

7.11 Web Real-time Communication Software by Region 2021 - 2026



8.0 Summary and Recommendations

8.1 Communication Service Providers

8.2 Social Media Companies

8.3 Content Providers

8.4 Application Developers

8.5 Commerce Providers

8.6 Infrastructure Providers

8.7 Device Manufacturers



9.0 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/orr49i

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


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  One of the words that has come to define the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout is this one:

Virtual.

This applies as much to the world of fitness and corporate wellness as it does most any other venture. As the phrase working from home became common parlance, local companies and businesses had to adapt on the fly once the pandemic gained traction in New Mexico.

Its been quite a whirlwind with changing corporate wellness to a virtual study, said Sarita Loehr, director of health and wellness for Presbyterian Heath Care Services. Everybody has had to ramp up.

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Presbyterian is one of the largest employers in the state, with about 14,000 employees. Among its list of 40 or so clients are the City of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico. And there are, Loehr said, tens of thouands of New Mexicans whose wellness needs are handled through Presbyterian.

So the transition to virtual wellness was a significant undertaking.

We were sent home mid-March; two weeks later, we had to very quickly start creating programs virtually, Loehr said. It was immediate. I dont think we hardly blinked an eye before we had to get on it.

Maybe 20% of Presbyterians health care program was virtual in nature prior to the pandemic, Loehr said. It is now 100%.

We had to convert everything to a virtual offering, said Loehr. We had to pivot quickly. Many things we had to create from scratch. We had to be adaptable and creative in everything we did, in a meaningful and purposeful way.

Loehr said employees or clients can find links to things like virtual dance classes or stretch vidoes and sign up at their convenience. Sometimes they are live, sometimes they are recorded.

One size does not fit all, she said. We help create programs that fit their need.  Our clients have really loved it. The participation rate has increased because the need is there.

Not every company has been able to sustain its pre-pandemic business model as it relates to corporate wellness programs.

As its accomplished so grimly with thousands of businesses and industries, the pandemic has managed to handcuff some companies blueprints to diversify.

Consider the Eye Associates of New Mexico, which budgets for its wellness program for its approximately 550 employees.

There were certain plans to expand their offerings in 2021, but those had to be delayed for obvious reasons.

Most of the initiatives set to launch this year were derailed, unfortunately, said Cris Todd, director of human resources. We were really excited to do some of the things we had planned.

U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union employs about 250 people in Albuquerque, Farmington and Santa Fe. By the middle of March, they were sending employees home to work virtually.

But, said Nadine Buerger, the public relations and community engagement manager for U.S. Eagle, the company continues to emphasize what it can do for both its employees and for the community despite limitations presented by the fallout of COVID-19.

U.S. Eagle gives its employees a $180 yearly stipend to meet their health and wellness needs, whether that involves an active gym membership or facilitating the use of apps for options like dance classes, yoga or meditation. Also, annual weight loss and fitness challenges continue.

One of the credit unions core principles, Buerger said, are walks that U.S. Eagle not only participates in but sponsors  such as walks for breast cancer awareness or Hike for Hunger. There are a small handful of them every year, contributing to various vital causes.

The walks continue  just not en masse.

Everything is virtual, Buerger said. Our employees are incredibly passionate about these walks and supporting each other.
Analysis Myanmar Military Rolls Out Red Carpet for Russian Defense Minister

Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoigu signs a guest book during his meeting with Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (left) in Naypyitaw on Jan. 22, 2021 / Military Information Team

Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoigus visit to Naypyitaw last week sends a signal that Myanmar and Russia intend to expand their defense cooperation. Myanmars generals have a long-term plan to modernize the military, and Russia is expected be a major partner in this process.

During the visit, Myanmar and Russia agreed that Russia will supply Myanmar with Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, Orlan-10E surveillance drones, and radar equipment.

Myanmar military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing thanked Russias long-serving defense minister for the visit. Just like a loyal friend, Russia has always supported Myanmar in difficult moments, especially in the last four years, the general was quoted as saying by Russian media.

In Naypyitaw, security was tight during the visit. The Russian delegation arrived in two planes and occupied the opulent five-star Kempinski Hotel.

Shoigu enjoys a close relationship with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who has visited Russia six times. During his last visit to Moscow in June last year, the senior general attended the 75th annual Russian Victory Day, which commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 at the end of World War II.

During his recent visit to Naypyitaw, Shoigu laid a wreath at the Military Mausoleum for fallen heroes.

Military sources said that military leaders in Myanmar made a special effort to receive Shoigu with full honors.

Along with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, who is a former deputy prime minister, 64-year-old Shoigu is one of the top contenders to eventually succeed President Vladimir Putin, according to Western media.

Shoigu took over the Defense Ministry in 2012, overseeing the overhaul and modernization of Russias vast military.

We view todays talks as an opportunity to further our cooperation, especially in the military field, Shoigu said as he met with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

Before leaving Moscow, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told media there that Myanmar, as a member of ASEAN, plays a key role in maintaining peace and security in the region. He said the countries militaries were continuing to work together despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the meeting with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the Russian defense minister said Moscow is ready to further deepen relations between the defense departments of the two countries and to develop cooperation in the military-technical sphere.

Myanmar is a long-time buyer of Russian arms, and participated in a joint drill with the country last year. Since the early 2000s, Myanmar has bought 30 Russian-made MiG-29 jet fighters, 12 Yak-130 jet trainers, 10 Mi-24 and Mi-35P helicopters, and eight Pechora-2M anti-aircraft missile systems. Myanmar has also signed a contract to purchase six Su-30 warplanes. Maintenance of the Russian-made equipment is carried out at a joint service center in Myanmar.

Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India have purchased Su-30s, and Myanmar is expected to take delivery of its first batch of the multirole combat aircraft soon.

Myanmars agreement to acquire the Pantsir-S1 follows protracted negotiations. This anti-aircraft missile and gun system is designed for air defense of small military and administrative-industrial facilities and areas, including mobile ones, against fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft, cruise missiles and precision munitions, as well as for strengthening air defense units against massive air strikes.

It is not yet known where Myanmars military (or Tatmadaw) plans to deploy the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile system, but military analysts suspect it will be positioned along the border with Bangladesh.

The Irrawaddy has learned that the anti-aircraft missile system could also be deployed in Shan State, close to the Wa Self-Administered Zone controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Myanmars largest ethnic armed organization. In February last year, China provided military hardware, drones and training to the UWSA. The organization confirmed it had acquired a helicopter, making the northeast-based rebel group the nations first to possess such an aircraft. The helicopter was reportedly ordered and delivered from China. Wa leaders insist it is solely for personal and leisure use.

It has been reported that Shoigu has a particular interest in establishing Russian naval visits to Myanmar. This would be in line with his stated view that Russia considers Myanmar a reliable ally and strategic partner in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific.

Russia and Myanmar established ties in 1948, and three years later opened embassies in each others countries. Along with China, Russia voted to block a UN Security Council resolution criticizing Myanmar over the Rohingya crisis.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Myanmar was the fifth-biggest importer of Russian weapons and aircraft in 2014, spending US$20.4 million (27.2 billion kyats) on Russian weapons in that year. Additionally, Myanmar sends officers to Russian military academies for training. The Tatmadaw also sends officers to China, India, Japan and Israel.

Myanmar sees Russia as a helpful big brother to counterbalance the influence of China, India and Western powers. Some observers see Myanmar as a strategic market for Russia, which is eyeing increased arms sales in the region.

Myanmar, a former British colony, once used mostly European and US jet fighters and helicopters for its air force. After the military brutally crushed a pro-democracy uprising and staged a coup in 1988, however, Western countries imposed a ban on military sales, prompting the military to turn to China and Russia. In recent years Russia has gained favor over China as a source of military hardware for the Tatmadaw.

Hundreds of Myanmar military personnel are currently studying at Russias military higher education institutions.

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A New South Wales (NSW) parliamentary inquiry report released at the end of last year has revealed that health services in the working class suburbs of South-West Sydney have experienced historic under funding by successive governments, with lower overall funding and numbers of health workers per capita than most areas of Sydney. This has resulted in wait times of over 500 days for some procedures.

South-West Sydney is one of the largest local health districts (LHD) in NSW, with an estimated population of over one million residentsaround 12 percent of the NSW population. The district includes the suburbs of Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield, Campbelltown, Camden and Wollondilly, which have high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and low rates of private health insurance.

Associate Professor Richard Cracknell told the parliamentary committee that the South-West Sydney LHD has the highest ED [emergency department] presentations of any [LHD] yet we have the lowest number of specialists. We are the second most populous LHD yet we have the lowest annualised budget. We have the highest growth rate and the highest birth rate but the lowest number of GPs per population.

Liverpool Hospital [Photo credit: Sydney South West Area Health Service]

Using figures published by NSW Health, one submission reported that between 2012 and 2018 the total annualised expense budget per resident for South Western Sydney LHD has been one of the lowest in Sydney.

In 201718, the annualised expense budget per resident in the area was $1,714, compared with other LHDs, including Nepean Blue Mountains ($1,967), Central Coast ($2,323) and Sydney ($2,497).

Paediatrician Dr. Setthy Ung told the committee that patients at Campbelltown Hospital had to wait over 500 days for elective surgery and procedures including screenings for colon cancer, the second most common cancer in Australia. Medical guidelines recommend that patients be referred for colonoscopy as soon as possible and within a maximum 120-day threshold.

Waiting times for other elective surgeries, including for cancer, have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. In NSW alone there were over 95,000 people on the elective surgery list for the September quarter last year.

Dr Ung said that he now advises patients to ask their families for financial assistance so they can enter the private system to receive the care they need.

Long wait times were also prevalent for mental health patients. Insufficient bed numbers and growing demand for these services has led to longer wait times for patients to be admitted to a mental health unit.

Associate Professor Cracknell told the committee that, on average, there were some 54 mental health patients per month who spend greater than 24 hours in emergency departments with illnesses such as schizophrenia, severe depression or suicidality.

Our record is 100 hours for a patient from time of admission in emergency before they left emergency. Greater than 50 percent of patients admitted to the mental health services at Campbelltown Hospital will go home from the emergency department having never seen the inside of the mental health unit, he said.

A submission to the inquiry from the Liverpool Medical Staff Council stated:

The stress of a prolonged stay in an Emergency Department exacerbates a patients mental health crisis and this may precipitate behavioural problems such as verbal or physical aggression because of the confined, noisy, brightly-lit environment not appropriate for the purpose of managing a mental health crisis.

The trauma of this experience may even result in a prolongation of the mental health problem that brought the patient to the Emergency Department. We have insufficient funds to rectify this significant mental health bed problem.

Shortages of beds and a lack of services for mental health patients is commonplace across Australia.

In Victoria, wait times of up to 48 hours for acute mental health beds have been recorded and a recent Victorian Royal Commission found that 80 percent of those who waited more than 24 hours in emergency departments in 201718 had mental health-related needs.

In 2016, South Australia Health revealed that almost 800 mental health patients had to wait more than 24 hours in emergency departments that year. The Australian Broadcasting Commission recently reported that in Western Australia a 17-year-old high school student who had seriously self-harmed spent four days in Rockingham Hospitals emergency department because there were no mental health beds available.

Mental health services demand has increased during the coronavirus pandemic. According to a recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, contacts by crisis support services in September 2020 increased between 14.3 percent and 21.3 percent from the same period in 2019.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, millions of workers have been laid off or had their hours and income reduced. This has disproportionately impacted young people in casual and contract employment.

Instead of providing money for health services, Australian governments, with the full support of the trade unions, have transferred hundreds of billions in public funds into the hands of big business and wealthy individuals.

The NSW parliamentary committee heard of long travel times for patients in South-West Sydney. For example, 40 percent of the inpatient bed days provided to patients in the Macarthur region had to be provided outside of South-West Sydney due to capacity and speciality. Children often have to travel over 55 kilometres to Randwick for treatment for conditions like acute appendicitis because there is no childrens hospital in the area.

At Fairfield hospital, patients with end-stage kidney disease had their dialysis treatments cut back from the standard three times a week to twice a week, due to inadequate resources.

The committee also heard that at Campbelltown Hospital there is one of the highest numbers of childbirth of any hospital, but the capacity of the maternity services is pushed beyond its ability to manage the number of beds and midwives for the births is not keeping up.

The same conditions face health workers across Sydney. In November last year, some 20 obstetricians threatened to resign from Blacktown hospital, in the Western Sydney LHD, if their concerns about under staffing werent met. This was followed by 150 nurses and midwives walking out for a 24-hour strike in response to the deaths of five babies at the hospital in under two years, ongoing staffing shortages and concerns about patient safety.

The strike was halted by the nurses union, the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA), who acted on the orders of the Industrial Relations Commission and forced workers back to work without their demands for safe staffing levels being met.

The worsening healthcare crisis is a direct result of the decimation of public health services by consecutive state and federal government, Labor and Liberal-National alike, with union support.

Above all, the health unions have agreed to, and implemented, these attacks on the working class over decades. The NSWNMA and the Health Services Unions (HSU) made submissions to the inquiry, with the NSWNMA stating the need for nurse-to-patient ratios and the HSU concluding that deficiencies of staffing, facilities and resources demand urgent remedial action.

The unions are directly responsible for these conditions, through their enforcement of regressive enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) and the suppression of workers opposition to the slashing of conditions, wages and jobs.

The parliamentary inquiry made 17 recommendations, most of them calling for NSW Health to undertake immediate reviews into the funding of maternity and paediatric services, mental health beds and staffing levels. No specific time limits are provided and none of the recommendations are binding on parliament.
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A row has broken out over the Treasury's plan to set up a Northern base after top civil servants were accused of a 'Yes, Minister' style stitch-up.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, has proposed moving 800 officials to the hub  dubbed Treasury North  with locations thought to include Leeds, Teesside and Newcastle.

It is part of a Whitehall shake-up that will see thousands of jobs moved from London. A decision could be announced with the Budget.

Plans: Chancellor Rishi Sunak has proposed moving 800 officials to a northern base  dubbed Treasury North

But top civil servants have been accused of trying to engineer the selection of Newcastle, angering leaders in Teesside who say their area is well-suited to the hub and has most to gain economically.

There have also been cries of foul play after it emerged that the government agency in charge of finding buildings for the hubs is chaired by a top council official from Newcastle. Mr Sunak is said to have been interested in Teesside, which neighbours his Richmond constituency.

Locals argue it is the kind of place Tory ministers promised to level up in the last election.

But there is dismay in Teesside following reports that civil servants favour Newcastle because of its 'better cultural life' and visited last week to scout out locations, signalling it could be the frontrunner.

The involvement of a Newcastle City Council official at the Government Property Agency (GPA), which is advising the Treasury, has also raised eyebrows. Pat Ritchie, 61, is the local authority's chief executive but she has also served as chairman of the GPA since January last year.

Ben Houchen, the Tory metro mayor for the Tees Valley, said: 'I have a very real fear that certain Treasury officials still believe the area is 'all flat caps and steel works' and that this outdated view will undermine the case for the area.

'This could end as a 'Yes, Minister' situation, where civil servants in the Treasury and the GPA try to stitch this up.' Andy Preston, the independent elected mayor of Middlesbrough, added: 'We deserve a fair chance and cast-iron guarantee that there is going to be no stitch up. Newcastle is booming. But in Middlesbrough we have been overlooked for so long.'

A Treasury spokesman insisted that the GPA 'does not have a role in the location decision' and that this would ultimately fall to Sunak.
For our free coronavirus pandemic coverage, learn more here.

Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Measured against the towering marble columns of Salisbury Cathedral - an 800-year-old architectural wonder in Englands south - the 1000 elderly locals who have been asked to gather inside look alarmingly small and vulnerable. But after their visit they are, at least, a little more hopeful. In a rare fusion of church and clinic, the cathedral has been turned into a mass vaccination centre under Britains war-like effort to crush its disastrous coronavirus outbreak. This building has been here for eight centuries to give glory to God and serve Gods people, says the Dean of Salisbury, Nicholas Papadopulos. Right now, the best way we can serve Gods people is by getting jabs into their arms. Twelve vaccination booths have been set up in the cathedrals transept. Credit:Getty Images Of all the town halls, stadiums, conference centres and other venues commandeered for the rollout, Salisbury Cathedral is unique. Its two organists, David Halls and John Challenger, play soothing hymns for 12 hours a day as residents aged 70 years and older shuffle in and roll up their sleeves. You want to get the tone right, says Challenger, the cathedrals assistant director of music. Were aiming for music which is calming, recognisable and going to put people at ease. Many of the people here are vulnerable and havent left their home for a long time. This is an amazing thing to see and its an absolute privilege to be part of it.

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Salisbury Cathedral boasts the UKs tallest spire and best preserved original version of the Magna Carta but is perhaps best known for being dragged into the 2018 nerve agent attack against ex-Russian military officer-turned British spy Sergei Skripal. In a Monty Python-esque television interview, the two Russians accused of carrying out the attempted assassination - Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - claimed they were only in Salisbury to admire the cathedrals splendid architecture. Patients receive doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Credit:AP A little over two years later, pews have been replaced by a demonstration of conveyor belt-like efficiency. The Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel has been cleared out to make room for refrigerators and trestle tables where medicos carefully prepare the vials. The magnificent Gothic cloisters are the perfect space for people to queue before entering. And in the cavernous nave, people sit and wait for 15 minutes to be monitored for any serious adverse side effects. I just feel very relieved, says Lilian Jackson, 88, who with husband David, 90, was vaccinated over the weekend. We have been isolated for a year. We wont rush back to normal any time soon but it is nice to know we might be a little more protected. A vaccinator calls for the next patient inside the cathedrals transept. Credit:Getty Images Papadopulos first offered to turn over the cathedral back in December when regulators granted emergency approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

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In the nine weeks since, 6.6 million people in the United Kingdom have been given their first dose - the third highest rate per capita in the world. Thats more than one in 9 of the adult population, or 79 per cent of all people aged over 80. The medical miracle couldnt come soon enough, though: Britains official death toll is expected to top 100,000 on Tuesday and the virus is still raging out of control. There is no shrink-wrapped, safe, clinically-tested way of being a human being, says Papadopulos. We are constantly exposed to danger and peril. Here, we proclaim a faith which is grounded in the experience of real life and in real life plagues happen, earthquakes happen and people do terrible things to one another. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video I have been praying that we might learn from this experience about what really matters. What really matters is each other - how we relate to each other, how we look after each other, and what unites us. After getting a call, letter or text from a GP advising they are eligible for the vaccine, people arrive at the cathedral with a form and are assigned one of 12 booths in the transept. They hand over the form and an administrative assistant assigned to each booth enters the patients details into a central database which also registers whether they will be given the Pfizer vaccine or another developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. The vaccinator talks about the jab, obtains various verbal consents and then puts the syringe in an arm.

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

French efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine suffered a fresh blow on Monday when the renowned Pasteur Institute in Paris abandoned its best hope for an effective jab following disappointing trial results.

The Paris-based research facility, named after 19th-century pioneer Louis Pasteur, had teamed up with US pharmaceutical giant Merck in May last year to develop a jab based on an existing measles vaccine.

Pasteur and Merck jointly announced that they were stopping further development together "following an analysis of the intermediate results obtained from phase I trials, which began in August 2020."

Merck said it had abandoned research on a second coronavirus vaccine as well.

The news was a setback to global efforts to end the global pandemic, but was a particular disappointment in France where complaints about the lack of a home-made vaccine have been heard in recent weeks.

The country's leading pharmaceutical company, Sanofi announced in late December that its jab would only be ready by the end of 2021 at best.

The group is now being encouraged by the government to help produce rival vaccines that have already been authorized for use in Europe or are in the latter stages of the testing pipeline.

Lost pride?

The global race for a COVID-19 vaccine has seen scientists and countries compete with each other to bring a product to market, with governments pouring billions into research.

Authorized vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech (US-German) and Moderna (US) are dominant in North America, Europe, Israel and the Gulf.

Britain's AstraZeneca-Oxford is used in much of the UK and India, with the latter also using a domestic vaccine by Bharat Biotech.

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and two vaccines from China, Sinopharm and Sinovac, are being used across a dozen countries, but they have yet to be fully approved.

In France, which takes pride in Pasteur's world-leading 19th century vaccine research, some politicians have highlighted the failure of the country and the European Union to produce their own vaccine.

BioNtech is a German firm, founded by two researchers of Turkish origin, but it partnered with American giant Pfizer to commercialize and produce its innovative inoculation.

"The problem is that we don't have a European vaccine. I think that Europe should have had this same ambition," former French health minister and right-wing opposition politician Xavier Bertrand told the France Inter radio station recently.

Francois Ruffin from the left-wing France Unbowed party has pointed fingers at Sanofi and successive governments, accusing them of "smashing a technological and healthcare asset"

"I want a French vaccine, with French technology," he told the BFM news channel in mid-January.

"Why haven't we got one? We need to explain it to the French people."

A report by the French think-tank Terra Nova last week said public financial support for vaccine research and development was one of the crucial factors.

The US government under ex-president Donald Trump mobilized 10 billion dollars for its Operation Warp Speed initiative to support vaccine research, while the European Union put together three billion dollars.

"The EU was not able to put as much money on the table as the United States," said the report entitled "Vaccine Production: What are the lessons of the COVID-19 experience?"

Furthermore, US funding for vaccine research had increased dramatically this century, while European investment has fallen, author Anne Bucher wrote.

Future hopes

Both the Pasteur Institute and Merck said they were working on other COVID-19 vaccines which are in preliminary stages and not yet ready for clinical trials.

The decision to abandon its COVID vaccine based on a measles jab "does not have any impact on the continuation of research by the Pasteur Institute into two other vaccine candidates which use different methodologies", it said.

The private, non-profit foundation, which has about 2,000 researchers, has two other candidates.

One is being developed in partnership with French biotech firm TheraVectys that can be administered nasally, and a second in-house effort using the same novel RNA technology developed by BioNTech and Moderna.

Merck said it would focus its efforts on treatments for the virus.

One of these therapeutics, MK-7110, helps reduce inflammation caused by the virus and interim clinical results showed a more than 50 percent reduction in the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients with severe COVID-19, Merck said.

Merck expects initial clinical data in the first quarter of 2021 on the other therapeutic, an antiviral agent, the company said.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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President on Monday asserted that the country's armed forces are "adequately mobilised" in a "well-coordinated" move to thwart any attempt to undermine national security, and recalled how its valiant soldiers foiled the "expansionist" plans by China in Ladakh last year.

"Our national interest will be protected at all costs," the President declared in his address to the nation on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day during which he also said every Indian saluted the farmers and sought to allay their fears over the three contentious farm laws.

Kovind's remarks came amid the nearly nine-month-long military standoff with China in eastern Ladakh and the deadlock between the Centre and the farmer unions over the farm laws enacted in September.

"The path of reform at the initial stages may cause misapprehensions but the government is singularly devoted to the farmers' welfare," he said, as the protests by the farmer unions demanding repeal of the three laws continues at border points in Delhi.

On the country's efforts to fight COVID-19, the President said an effective response to the pandemic would not have been possible without the Constitutional value of 'Fraternity' among the people of the country. He also took pride in the fact that India was called as "pharmacy of the world" for supplying medicines to several countries to alleviate the sufferings across the globe.

He felt that after about a year of this "unforeseen ordeal", India today stands "not despondent but confident." Also, he said the slowdown has turned out to be transitory as the economy has regained its dynamism.

Kovind urged people to utilise the "lifeline" provided by the COVID-19 vaccine and get inoculated as per guidelines. "Your health opens the way for your advancement." Paying tributes to the 20 Indian soldiers who laid down their lives at Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh last June during clashes with the Chinese troops, the President said the past year "was a time of adversity, and it came from many fronts." "We faced an expansionist move on our borders, but our valiant soldiers foiled it. To achieve this objective, 20 of them had to lay down their lives." Kovind said the nation shall remain grateful to those brave soldiers.

"Though we reiterate our commitment to peace, our defence forces - Army, Air Force and Navy - are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine our security. Our national interest will be protected at all costs. We have also ensured a widespread understanding in the international community of India's firm and principled stand," the President said.

He said adversity often plays the role of a great teacher and makes people stronger and more confident. With that confidence, India has taken great strides in several sectors.

"Economic reforms have continued apace and have been supplemented by long-pending reforms in the areas of labour and agriculture through legislation," he added.

Paying tributes to the farmers, the President said every Indian salutes our farmers who have made our vast and populous country self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products.

He said that despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic the farmers sustained the agricultural production.

"A grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers." The President said that like hardworking farmers ensure food security for the country, the brave soldiers of the armed forces ensure security of our national boundaries amid severest conditions.

"From the freezing cold at Siachen and Galwan valley in Ladakh with temperatures as low as minus 50 to 60 degree Celsius to the scorching heat in Jaisalmer with temperatures as high as 50 degree Celsius - on land, in the skies and at the vast coastal areas - our warriors are vigilant every moment. Every citizen feels proud about the bravery, patriotism and the spirit of sacrifice among our soldiers," he said.

He also spoke about the scientist community saying that by their contribution to food security, national security, protection against disease and disasters and to different areas of development they have strengthened the national endeavours.

"From space to the farms, from educational institutions to hospitals, the community of scientists has enriched our life and work. Our scientists have been working day and night for decoding the Coronavirus and they have succeeded in developing the vaccine in record time. With this accomplishment, our scientists have added a glorious chapter of contribution to the well-being of humanity." He said that the scientists, along with doctors, administrators and people from other walks of life, have made major contribution in containing the virus and keeping the fatality rate lower in our country, compared to that in developed countries.

"The net outcome of all these efforts is before us." The President said a self-reliant India has manufactured its own vaccine for COVID-19, and is now undertaking a mass vaccination drive, which will be the largest exercise of its kind in history.

He said the administration and health services are working with full readiness to make this exercise a success.

"I am sure that this love for humanity and the spirit of sacrifice will take us to great heights. He said let us look at 2020 as a year of learning." Kovind also said India is moving ahead and taking its rightful place in the world.

"During the recent years, its arc of influence has been expanding and encompassing the larger part of the world. The manner in which India got overwhelming support of the international community for its entry as non-permanent member in the Security Council this year is indicative of that influence." He said the engagement with world leaders has enhanced manifold and India, with its vibrant democracy, has rightfully earned its respect as a responsible and trustworthy nation.

He said the call of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan', or Self-reliant India Mission' given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was for converting a crisis into an opportunity and is in line with the aspiration to shape a new India by the year 2022 when our country turns 75.

"This will be a significant milestone in the journey of the nation as we are determined to achieve major goals: from providing pucca houses with basic facilities for every family to doubling the income of farmers. In order to build an inclusive society of new India, we are giving special emphasis on education, health, nutrition, upliftment of the under-privileged and welfare of women," he added.

Recalling the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi for making all efforts to wipe tears from every eye, the President asked people to remember Constitutional mantras -- Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity -- and added that equality is the watchword for the great project of the Republic.

"Social equality warrants dignity for each one of us, villagers, women, weaker sections of our society, namely, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Divyang-jan and the elderly people. Economic equality entails equal opportunity for all and handholding for the downtrodden."
The music manager who discovered singer Lorde and helped make her an international star has been sacked from his role at Warner Music New Zealand after admitting years of harassing behaviour.

The dismissal of Scott Maclachlan on Sunday came after a Stuff #MeTooNZ investigation prompted him to publicly admit years of harmful actions towards staff and colleagues. He told Stuff on Friday he was in intensive psychotherapy and was trying to live a simpler, less egotistical life.

Maclachlan said he had been guilty of stupid, insensitive and ignorant comments to women in the industry, including asking them if they wanted sexual contact with him, and making comments about their bodies.

Theres not a day goes by that I dont regret the harm I have caused people around me and most importantly the pain and embarrassment I have caused my wife and children. I have to live with that guilt, knowing that people I worked with have also endured pain and stress because of my actions, Maclachlan told Stuff.
Google Duo app will soon stop working on uncertified Android smartphones, reports 9to5Google.

According to the report, users with uncertified Android smartphones will receive a warning, Duo is going away soon or Because you're using an unsupported device, Duo will unregister your account on this device soon. Download your Clips and call history to avoid losing them.

A certified smartphone is the one approved by Google. According to the company, certified phones are secure and can run apps from Google Play Store.

Most of the smartphones come with the requisite certification. Smartphones from brands such as Huawei, which is barred from using Google services, may lose access to the app.

The report further says that if users are accessing Google Duo on an uncertified phone will get a 14-day grace period as the support ends on March 31.

It is worth noting that Google has not officially announced the move.

Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect, according to the report.
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The Alabama Department of Public Health is looking for volunteers to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Whether nurses or physicians, the volunteers would primarily be used in vaccine clinics across the state, according to ADPHs Dr. Karen Landers.

Volunteers would be vetted to ensure they have the appropriate licenses and credentials, along with any information regarding where they can work. Volunteers would also receive training on information such as confidentiality and HIPAA regulations as they relate to working in public health clinics.

Those interested in volunteering can contact thresa.dix@adph.state.al.us.

Alabama is currently vaccinating medical personnel, residents and staff in long-term care facilities, first responders and those ages 75 and older.

Alabama isnt the only state turning to volunteers to help administer the vaccine. Some states, such as Colorado, have even expanded the criteria to allow dentists, veterinarians and chiropractors to give the vaccine as long as it is done in a hospital setting.
They spent five years poking fun of celebrities and reality TV stars as couch commentators on Gogglebox Australia.

But Adam Densten and Symon Lovett never once feared their past comments would come back to bite them on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the duo said that their co-stars were the least of their concerns when signing up for the show.

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EXCLUSIVE: Why I'm A Celeb stars Adam Densten (left) and Symon Lovett (right) never feared repercussions from their comments on Gogglebox coming back to bite them in the jungle

Physiotherapists Symon and Adam made their Gogglebox debut during the show's first season on Channel 10 and Foxtel in 2015, but announced their departure in November 2019 after five years and 10 seasons.

Symon said: 'We were lucky because we were on Gogglebox for such a long time, we had forgotten everything that we'd said about everybody.'

'We generally go for the volume approach; saying a lot of thing about a lot of people. There wasn't any a particular standouts, which was nice. It was comforting, almost like ignorance is bliss,' he joked.

'Also, I think it's all pretty good-natured stuff [on Gogglebox]. We're not the most offensive guys getting around - or we at least try not to be,' Adam added.

'It was comforting, almost like ignorance is bliss': The duo said they believed all their Gogglebox comments were 'pretty good-natured' and joked they had forgotten about any 'particular standout' comments to worry about

'We think we were kind': The Bachelor's Abbie Chatfield joked on the I'm A Celeb page when the boys' arrival in the jungle was teased with: '*googles Adam and Symon bachelor 2019*'

The Bachelor's Abbie Chatfield even joked on the I'm A Celebrity page when the boys' arrival in the jungle was teased, commenting: '*googles Adam and Symon bachelor 2019*'

Adam chose to respond, even though filming had well and truly wrapped, writing: 'we think we were kind? We hope...'

Instead, Adam said the biggest concern for the pair was that they were literally trading in the creature comforts of Gogglebox for creepy crawlies, cold showers, camp beds and much less food than they'd have available at home.

Giving back: The pair, who have been friends since 2013, have teamed up with Canadian Club and Empty Esky to promote local road trips to much-needed regional communities affected by the devastating bushfires and coronavirus pandemic

Meanwhile, Adam and Symon are on a road trip across regional Australia to support towns affected by the devastating bushfires and coronavirus pandemic.

The pair, who have been friends since 2013, have teamed up with Canadian Club and Empty Esky to promote much-needed local travel to local communities.

'If you get the change to go on holidays, try go regional, because the people need you to support those towns,' Adam said.

Summer checklist: Adam and Symon encourage fans to follow their journey as they uncover some of the best people, places, pubs and pies in the country

Symon added: 'Travelling regionally is the ultimate guilt-free, because you feel good for spending your money there and you also get all this stuff back in return and support regional communities.'

Throughout summer, Adam and Symon encourage fans to follow their journey as they uncover some of the best people, places, activities, and pubs in the country.

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! continues Monday from 7.30pm on 10

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global biopharmaceuticals contract manufacturing market size is expected to reach USD 25.1 billion by 2028 registering a CAGR of 5.7% from 2021 to 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing biopharmaceutical pipeline and lack of adequate manufacturing capabilities are two key factors that are driving partnership between large molecule manufacturers and Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs). Contract manufacturers are engaged in broadening their service portfolio to meet the company demands with respect to regulatory standards and new services.

Key suggestions from the report:

Mammalian-based biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing captured the largest market share of over 59% in 2020 owing to the high penetration of mammalian expression system for biologics development

Out of all the services offered in this market, process development contributed to the largest share in 2020 owing to high capital investment, especially in the downstream process

The complexities associated with regulatory approval and good manufacturing practice pronounces the demand for the established contract manufacturers to ensure compliance with regulatory standards

The biologics contract manufacturing segment dominated the global market in 2020 owing to higher demand for biologics production

However, the biosimilar segment is estimated to register the fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028 due to cost-saving advantages associated with biosimilars development

North America was the dominant regional market in 2020 due to the presence of an effective regulatory framework for biologics development in the U.S.

However, Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the fastest-growing regional market from 2021 to 2028 owing to emerging countries, such as India and China , incorporating developments to sustain the competition

Several international companies are seeking outsourcing of biopharmaceutical production to Asian countries owing to the continuous expansion of Asian CMOs that offer services at a less price, as compared to the service providers based in western countries

Read 139 page research report with ToC on "Biopharmaceuticals Contract Manufacturing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Source (Mammalian, Non-mammalian), By Product (Biologics, Biosimilars), By Service (Process Development), And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/biopharmaceuticals-contract-manufacturing-market

The reliance of companies on CMOs for the production of biologics and biosimilars is expected to rise over the forecast period as a consequence of changes adopted by the CMOs. This is evident through growing investment in collaborations of companies with CMOs as well as continuous efforts taken up for expanding the service portfolio.

The supply chain of biopharmaceuticals remained robust and was largely unaffected worldwide during the coronavirus outburst. Also, biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers are observing increased demand related to the Covid-19 vaccine and therapeutics. Thus, the future holds numerous opportunities for the global market. For instance, in 2020, AstraZeneca and Oxford Biomedica signed a one-year clinical and commercial supply agreement for the manufacturing of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222.

The future growth of CMOs is highly dependent on the promising opportunities offered by the biopharmaceutical industry, the bioprocessing industry, and the contract service industry. Expansion of fill-and-finish services and increasing robustness of venture capital investments for the life science sector are two important opportunities that are anticipated to drive the market. For instance, in 2019, Shanghai HaiHe Biopharma Co. Ltd. raised USD 146.6 million as venture capital for its large cancer drug portfolio, which they shall utilize along with their outsourcing partner Zhejiang Jiuzhou Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Grand View Research has segmented the global biopharmaceuticals contract manufacturing market on the basis of source, service, product, and region:

Biopharmaceuticals Contract Manufacturing Source Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Mammalian



Non-mammalian

Biopharmaceuticals Contract Manufacturing Service Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Process Development



Downstream





Upstream



Fill & Finish Operations



Analytical & QC Studies



Packaging

Biopharmaceuticals Contract Manufacturing Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Biologics



Monoclonal Antibodies (MABs)





Recombinant Proteins





Vaccines





Antisense, RNAi, & Molecular Therapy





Others



Biosimilars

Biopharmaceuticals Contract Manufacturing Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



Germany





France



Asia Pacific



China





India



Latin America



Brazil



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa

List of Key Players of Biopharmaceuticals Contract Manufacturing Market

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH

Lonza

Inno Biologics Sdn Bhd

Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH

JRS Pharma

AGC Biologics

ProBioGen

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies U.S.A. , Inc.

, Inc. Toyobo Co., Ltd.

Samsung BioLogics

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Binex Co., Ltd.

WuXi Biologics

AbbVie, Inc.

Find more research reports on Biotechnology Industry, by Grand View Research:

Biopharmaceutical CMO And CRO Market  The global biopharmaceutical CMO and CRO market size was valued at 27.20 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6% from 2021 to 2028.

Downstream Processing Market  The global downstream processing market size was estimated at USD 18.61 billion in 2019, estimated to witness a CAGR of 13.1% over the analysis period.

in 2019, estimated to witness a CAGR of 13.1% over the analysis period. Antisense & RNAi Therapeutics Market  The global antisense & RNAi therapeutics market size was estimated at USD 1.09 billion in 2018 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period.

Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

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Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: +1-415-349-0058

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
Brazilian miner Vale SA and state authorities narrowed their gap in a potential settlement deal over the Brumadinho mining disaster to 11 billion reais ($2 billion) before talks fell apart, a person close to the negotiations told Reuters on Friday.

The 2019 disaster in the town of Brumadinho in Minas Gerais state killed some 270 people when a dam ruptured at a Vale facility and unleashed a torrent of mining waste.

The Minas Gerais state government lowered its demands for a settlement to 40 billion reais in a meeting with Vale on Thursday, down from the 54 billion reais in damages it previously sought, the source said, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the negotiations were closed.

Vale offered 29 billion reais, the person said, with the talks breaking down over the difference.

Vale in an emailed statement did not comment on specific settlement figures.

Although the parties have not reached consensus, the divergence centers on aspects related to amounts to be paid and their destination, the company said.

Following the failed talks on Thursday, Minas Gerais Secretary General Mateus Simoes delivered an ultimatum, saying that a lawsuit would proceed on Feb. 1 if Vale does not make a new offer.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira Writing by Jake Spring Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy)

Topics Mining
University analysis helps shed further light on significant Roman object found in Wrexham

This article is old - Published: Monday, Jan 25th, 2021

A university analysis of one of the most significant Roman objects found in Wales in recent years has provided more insight into Wrexhams history.

Last September a Roman lead ingot also known as a pig went on display at the museum.

The pig was found near Rossett by detectorist Rob Jones, who immediately notified the local finds officer, allowing the object to be examined whilst still in the ground.

It bears the name of Marcus Trebellius Maximus, the governor of the province of Britannia between 63 and 69CE, during the reign of the Emperor Nero.





An ingot (or pig) is formed when a molten metal, in this case lead, is cast into a shape ready for further processing. The Rossett lead ingot is only half a metre long but weighs 63 kilograms.

Less than a hundred lead ingots of this type are known from the mines of Roman Britain. This rare find is particularly significant for archaeologists and historians because of its potentially early date, the location of the find spot, and because of its unique inscription.

Wrexham is the only part of the UK where an inscription bearing Marcus Trebellius Maximus name has been found.

The extraction of lead and silver was a significant reason for the invasion of Britain under the Emperor Claudius in 43CE.

A spokesperson for Wrexham Council, said: The University of Liverpool analysis of the pig appears to show that it comes from a local north east Wales source.

This means that the Roman place name mentioned on the inscription Magul is a local mining site, perhaps either Ffrith or Minera.

It also proves that the Roman authorities were mining and processing lead, and possibly silver, in this area in the pre Flavian period (before AD 69), much earlier than previously thought.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday the government aimed to compensate for a reduction in deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer Inc with those from other providers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday it was in advanced talks with Pfizer about including its vaccine in the agency's portfolio of shots to be shared with poorer countries.

Mexico had been expecting weekly deliveries of some 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine developed with Germany's BioNTech SE. As a result of the U.S. drugmaker's WHO agreements, Mexico would for now only be receiving half that total, Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference.

It was not clear how long the reduction would last. Pfizer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is currently the only one being administered in Mexico, which has reported the fourth-highest death toll from the pandemic worldwide.

Mexico has also signed deals to acquire vaccines from Britain's AstraZeneca Plc and China's CanSino Biologics. Mexico has approved the AstraZeneca shot and expects to have it by March. It is still reviewing the CanSino vaccine.

Mexico is due to make the AstraZeneca vaccine, and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that the active ingredient would on Monday be sent to Mexico from Argentina, allowing manufacturers to start the final packaging process.

Mexico said it also expects to approve the Sputnik V vaccine for use soon, though it is likely to acquire fewer doses than it had previously suggested.

Mexico suffered a setback to its drive to inoculate the public with the news over the weekend that the official in charge of the program, Miriam Veras Godoy, had stepped down for personal reasons, according to the health ministry.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Nick Zieminski)
Desperate gambles must be taken in any war. And the Government is taking a titanic risk in the fight against Covid-19 by leaving a three-month gap between people getting their first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The manufacturers recommendation is that the second jab should be given within three weeks of the first one.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock hopes that by using all available supplies to give as many Britons as possible their first jab  rather than expending half on prompt follow-up vaccinations  he can land the pandemic a knock-out blow. If his gamble is wrong, it could spell disaster.

And no less a body than the British Medical Association is convinced it is. The doctors trade union has written to Mr Hancock urging him to cut the gap to six weeks on the grounds that there are growing concerns that the vaccine could become less effective if doses are spaced 12 weeks apart.

It argues that the UKs strategy has become increasingly isolated internationally and is proving ever more difficult to justify.

The Government is taking a titanic risk in the fight against Covid-19 by leaving a three-month gap between people getting their first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Pictured: Doctor draws BioNTech vaccine before administering

But Mr Hancock was unmoved: You want as many people to have as much protection as possible as quickly as possible.

The Governments strategy is backed by the UKs four chief medical officers who say the great majority of initial protection comes from the first jab, while the second dose is likely to help protection last longer.

This approach is also backed by Public Health England, an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Its medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle says the current strategy is about bearing down on transmission to reduce deaths.

The more people that are protected against this virus, the less opportunity it has to get the upper hand, she said.

But if the experts cant agree, where does that leave the average citizen?

The problem is that in the depths of this pandemic crisis, there isnt the time to test the various scenarios by running intricate clinical trials lasting many months or years.

And what little clinical evidence is emerging appears to be only adding to the confusion.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured) hopes that by using all available supplies to give as many Britons as possible their first jab he can land the pandemic a knock-out blow

Last week for example, Nachman Ash, who leads Israels vaccination programme, caused a global scare by declaring that single doses of the Pfizer vaccine were proving less effective than we thought.

This was then rubbished by Israels ministry of health, which called Ashs comments out of context and therefore inaccurate.

Morally, our health leaders are in a cleft stick. Englands deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam responded to calls for the vaccine gap to be halved, asking: Who on the at-risk list should suffer slower access to their first dose so that someone else whos already had one dose (and therefore most of the protection) can get a second?

There is a pragmatic point too. Dr Doyle says that widespread first-jabbing may cut the risk of more dangerous variants of the virus emerging.

The more people that are protected against this virus, the less opportunity it has to get the upper hand, she argues.

Indeed, the fewer people who develop Covid-19, the less chance the virus has to mutate inside them to produce more deadly forms that require new vaccinations.

But another fundamental medical ethic may clash with all of this  the duty to do the least harm.

The vaccine manufacturers recommendation is that the second jab should be given within three weeks of the first one

As Herb Sewell, emeritus professor of immunology at Nottingham University, warned in the Mail last week, people given only one jab for three months may develop an immune defence that is too weak to kill the coronavirus, and instead only teach it how to beat the vaccine.

This is particularly worrying in older people  the first targets for inoculation  who generally have weaker immune systems.

On top of this, many people given only a first jab may mistakenly believe themselves immune to Covid-19, but could still catch it and spread it widely.

Whose strategy is right, whose is wrong? Seeking a definitive answer right now is like searching for a hypodermic needle in a haystack.

A total of 6.3million people have now received their first coronavirus vaccine in the UK, government figures show. Only 469,660  or 7.5 per cent  have had their second dose.

The good news is that the Pfizer vaccine is the chief concern here. The Governments Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation says that unpublished data indicates the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is still effective with doses 12 weeks apart.

Only events will judge whether our health bosses become hailed as innovative heroes or lambasted as fools and villains. Who can envy them their task?
The Election Commission of India (ECI) will launch the e-EPIC (Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Card) today, which is the National Voter's Day. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will launch the e-EPIC programme and distribute digital voter ID cards to five new voters. This will be the first time that the government will issue voter identity cards in digital formats. Other identity proofs like the Aadhaar card, PAN card, driving licence are already available in the digital format.

Here is all you need to know about the Digital voter ID cards

1) The e-EPIC will be a non-editable secure PDF version

2) In the first phase between 25 January and 31 January, only new voters who have applied for their voter cards and have registered their mobile numbers with the Election Commission will be able to download their digital voter ID cards.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

3) From next month, all voters will be able to download their digital copies, if their phone numbers are linked with the Election Commission.

4) Voters who do not have their phone numbers linked will have to get it done to avail of the download feature.

6) Digital voter identity cards will be in PDF formats.

6) New voters will also get hard copies of their voter ID cards.

7) The digitisation is to ensure there is no delay in getting voter ID cards as the physical card takes time to print and reach the voter, and the idea is to provide faster delivery and easy accessibility to the document

8) Digital voter ID cards can be stored on Digilocker.

9) The digital cards will carry a secured QR code

10) The e-version of the voter card is being launched to mark the anniversary of the Election Commission.

How to download digital voter ID cards:

1) Log on to https://voterportal.eci.gov.in/

2) Click on the option of download E-EPIC.

3) The download facility will be available from 11.14 am onwards today

The Election Commission is celebrating 11th National Voters' Day (NVD) today and the theme this year is 'Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed'. President Ram Nath Kovind will be the Chief Guest at the national function being organised in New Delhi by ECI. The National Voters' Day is celebrated on 25 January every year since 2011, all across the country. The main purpose of the NVD celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximize enrolment, especially for the new voters. Dedicated to the voters of the country, the day is utilized to spread awareness among voters and for promoting informed participation in the electoral process. During the event, the President will confer the National Awards for the year 2020-21 and launch ECI's Web Radio:'Hello Voters'.

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A former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Founder of the Atta Mills Institute (AMI), Koku Anyidoho has disclosed former President Jerry Rawlings was about releasing two books before his demise.



The former President passed away on Thursday, November 12, 2020, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.



Speaking in a one-on-one interview on Neat FM's Me Man Nti programme, Koku Anyidoho said: "President Rawlings is gone; he was in the process of going to release two books as far as I am concerned. will the books come out; I don't know. What happens to the Rawlings legacy?"



Listen to him in the video below





Meanwhile, all is set for the final funeral rites of former President Jerry John Rawlings. The funeral will commence on 24th January 2020 with the main funeral event taking place on Wednesday, January 27, at the Independence Square, Accra, from 9am to 11am.The national activities will start with a Catholic Requiem Mass on Sunday, January 24 at the Holy Spirit Cathedral and a vigil at the Air Force Officers Mess in Accra.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Anti-abortion leaders across America were elated a year ago when Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to appear in person at their highest-profile annual event, the March for Life held every January.

The mood is more sober now  a mix of disappointment over Trumps defeat and hope that his legacy of judicial appointments will lead to future court victories limiting abortion rights.

Organizers of this years March for Life in Washington, scheduled for next Friday, have asked their far-flung supporters to stay home, due to political tensions in the city and the coronavirus pandemic. They plan instead to livestream the activities of a few invited participants, a sharp contrast to the tens of thousands of people who usually attend.

Meanwhile, Trump, whose administration took numerous steps to curtail abortion access, has been replaced as president by Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of abortion rights. Bidens fellow Democrats now control both chambers of Congress, thanks to victories in two Senate runoff elections in Georgia where anti-abortion groups campaigned vigorously for the Republican candidates who lost.

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................................................................

On Friday, the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade decision establishing a nationwide right to abortion, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they would seek to enshrine that right into federal law to protect it from court challenges.

In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack. their statement said. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care  including reproductive health care.

The president of the March for Life, Jeanne Mancini, said she and her allies worry the Biden administration will pursue radical pro-abortion extremism. At the same time, anti-abortion activists are buoyed by Trumps appointment of scores of federal judges  including three Supreme Court justices  who are viewed as open to repealing or weakening Roe v. Wade.

In Republican-governed states, scores of tough anti-abortion bills have been enacted in recent years, and more are surfacing this year from GOP lawmakers eager to see if any of these measures might reach the Supreme Court as a challenge to Roe v. Wade.

I am very optimistic. said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. Well see a lot of new pro-life bills and we are going to see judges who are open to them.

In Arkansas, a new bill would criminalize abortions except to save a pregnant womans life. The measure declares: It is time for the United States Supreme Court to redress and correct the grave injustice and the crime against humanity which is being perpetuated by its decisions in Roe v. Wade and other cases.

The Texas legislature also will consider several sweeping abortion bans. In Montana, anti-abortion bills are expected to advance now that Republican Greg Gianforte has replaced Democrat Steve Bullock as governor. Bullock supported abortion rights during eight years in office.

South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks after conception. Similar bills have passed in several other states, but courts have blocked their implementation.

Elizabeth Nash, who tracks state government issues for the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, says anti-abortion legislation may get top priority even in states where lawmakers confront multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and severe budgetary woes.

Referring to anti-abortion lawmakers, Nash said, They see the Supreme Court as being in their corner, and its their job to continue to pass restrictions and bans.

Among abortion-rights activists, theres relief and optimism as the Biden administration takes power Biden is expected to soon issue executive orders reversing anti-abortion actions taken by Trump.

One such order would rescind the so-called global gag rule that prohibits the use of U.S. foreign assistance for abortion-related services. Another order would rescind what abortion-rights supporters called the domestic gag rule, barring Title X family planning funds from going to any health care providers who perform abortions or make referrals for them. The ban prompted Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the U.S., to quit the program rather than comply.

Abortion-rights supporters also hope that Congress, under Democratic control, will repeal the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions unless a womans life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.

Biden, a longtime supporter of the amendment, reversed himself in 2019 and now favors its repeal. But prospects for repeal are uncertain, given that Democrats would need some Republican votes in the Senate to overcome a potential filibuster.

However, the Democrats narrow Senate majority is expected to be sufficient to confirm Bidens nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra  a strong supporter of abortion rights  to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Major anti-abortion groups invested large sums and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to back the losing GOP Senate candidates in Georgia, hoping to retain Republican control so Becerra could be rejected.

Becerra and Biden are Roman Catholic, and the new administrations support for abortion rights poses a dilemma for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its president, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, congratulated Biden on his inauguration Wednesday, yet warned that his policies on abortion and contraception advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity.

Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood, said the worries that plagued her throughout 2020 gave way to joy with the Democrats Senate victories in Georgia.

I was actually able to breathe in hope and possibility, she said. But we recognize the fact that the fight is ongoing  the courts and many of our state legislatures are going to be very difficult for us.

While not enough data exists yet to show whether abortions have increased or decreased during the pandemic, theres some evidence that more women induced their own abortions, using abortion pills they were able to purchase or receive by mail from a foreign source. Its become increasingly easy for women to circumvent the U.S. law requiring the pill to be dispensed by a health care professional.

Abigail Aiken, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas, said the online abortion pill provider Aid Access received a surge of requests early in the pandemic, when some states cited the outbreak as a reason to limit abortion access at clinics.

Requests nearly doubled in Texas, which had the most severe pandemic-related restrictions on clinics, said Aiken, whose research was published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Elisa Wells, co-director of another online organization called Plan C, estimates that tens of thousands of American women annually are now seeking abortion pills for self-managed abortions  based on the number of clicks on Plan Cs website that lists overseas pharmacies offering to ship the pills.
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Researchers say the actual number of Americans infected with coronavirus is more than double the official case count as a viral outbreak has been reported among Capitol Police and National Guard personnel in Washington, DC.

According to a new model by the University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, approximately 17 per cent of the population in the United States has been infected with COVID-19.

That estimate is significantly higher than official government data which indicates that just 7 per cent of Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

According to a new model by the University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, approximately 17 per cent of the population in the United States - which amounts to more than 55 million people - has been infected with COVID-19

The IHME estimates that by May 1 the cumulative death count in the United States will reach nearly 569,000 people

But the IHME also estimates that the daily death toll will drop due to the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine

IHME researchers say that the daily infection rate will also fall significantly by the springtime if current vaccine rollout projections hold

As of Sunday, nearly 25.1 million Americans have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.

Of those, more than 418,000 have died.

If the IHME estimates are accurate, the actual number of Americans who have been infected with the coronavirus is more than 55 million.

The IHME model assumes that the current testing fails to detect all COVID-19 cases present in the population.

The latest data also indicates a drop in the number of daily reported cases. In the last week, there were 211,600 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 per day - a drop from 243,500 from the week before.

But the number of daily deaths in the last week has climbed - from 3,160 per day two weeks ago to 3,240 per day last week.

Meanwhile, the union representing Capitol Police officers says that at least 38 officers have tested positive for COVID-19 since the January 6 MAGA riot. Capitol Police officers are seen above at the Capitol on January 8

Troops are seen above outside the Capitol on Monday. Up to 200 National Guard members deployed to Washington DC have tested positive for COVID-19, sparking fears that the protection put in place after the Capitol riot led to a 'superspreader' event

National Guard troops sleep on the grass on the eastern front of the US Capitol Thursday

Members of the National Guard rest in the Capitol Visitors Center. Nearly 26,000 troops were sent to the Capitol from all 50 states following the January 6 insurrection

IHME researchers are predicting that the total death count in the US will reach 569,000 on May 1 - or about 151,000 more cumulative deaths from January 19 until May 1.

The model predicts that daily deaths will likely stay relatively stable at around 3,250 per day on average until early February.

Estimates als find that 42,800 lives will be saved by the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. A rapid rollout would save 52,400 lives that would otherwise be lost if there were no vaccine.

A rapid rollout targeting high-risk populations would result in the saving of 59,800 lives, according to IHME researchers.

Meanwhile, more than three dozen Capitol Police officers have tested positive for coronavirus since the January 6 MAGA riot.

A police union representative told CNN on Sunday that 38 officers have been infected with COVID-19, though it is unclear how many of them were on duty during the assault.

At least four Democratic lawmakers said they tested positive for COVID-19 after the mob attack.

Democrats blamed Republicans for not wearing masks while sheltering in secure areas on January 6, as violent supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building.

But only Democrats have reported testing positive as a result of the emergency so far.

Meanwhile, up to 200 National Guard members deployed to the nation's capital have also tested positive for COVID-19, sparking fears that the protection put in place after the Capitol riot led to a 'superspreader' event.

Three National Guard sources told Politico that over 100 troops have tested positive while several hundred more are currently in quarantine in hotels after showing symptoms or being exposed to the virus.

Reuters then reported between 150 and 200 had tested positive, according to an anonymous US official.

The insiders have described a failure by the National Guard to implement coronavirus testing and social distancing protocols evenly across the board, with some troops not being tested on arrival, some receiving only temperature checks and some told to cut short quarantine or skip it entirely in order to report for duty.

The full scale of the problem is not yet known as the Guard has not confirmed the number of infections or which states' troops have been struck by outbreaks.

But it comes after shocking pictures showed up to 5,000 Guardsmen sleeping on the floor of a packed parking garage Thursday night.

Nearly 26,000 troops were sent to the Capitol from all 50 states following the January 6 insurrection to support Capitol police in guarding the seat of American democracy and President Joe Biden's inauguration from attack.

Thousands of troops have already started returning to their home states with just 10,600 troops still on duty in the Capitol.

It is also not clear how many troops have already left DC or whether they were tested before their departure, amid concerns that - if infected - the virus could spread like wildfire nationwide as the troops return to their home states.

One Guard member told Politico most of the infections came from the units' home stations and have been recorded among asymptomatic people.

They said leadership had tried to set up a comprehensive plan to test all troops on arrival and before they return home.

But several members said units were provided with no clear guidance on testing before coming to DC, on arrival or for when they return to their home states.

One National Guard member told Politico they were not tested for COVID-19 when they arrived at the Capitol and were straight away packed in 'like sardines' altogether.

'Right after the holidays they packed us together like sardines in buses and rooms for this,' the Guard member said.

Two members of the Guard also said several units were not offered testing.

They said they only underwent temperature checks and were asked questions about whether they had been exposed to the virus.

Others were forced to go out to try to find their own tests, one Washington DC member told the outlet.

As well as a lack of testing, sources spoke of an inability to social distance and poor compliance with CDC quarantine rules.

One guardsman told the outlet troops who were exposed to the virus through their colleagues were told not to bother quarantining or to cut it short because they were needed on duty.

The CDC recommends people exposed to the virus quarantine even after a negative test because tests may not detect the virus in the first few days of infection.

This guidance was 'completely disregarded,' the Guard member said.

Another guard member said it was 'almost impossible' for troops to practice social distancing while on duty in the halls of Congress, the DC armory and the parking garages.

Another described the scenes like a 'sitcom' with so little space that they were forced to 'scavenge' for space in hallways.

'You should have seen late-coming states scavenge for space,' they said.

'It would have made a great sitcom: people literally making offices out of hallways and any unoccupied space.'
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Can the Army justify a 10-year sole-source contract? Maybe.

Accenture is pushing back on the Armys plan to award CACI International a sole-source contract that could be worth $500 million contract.

CACI won the Integrated Personnel and Pay System Army Increment II contract in 2015. As the contract is set to expire, the Army has proposed to award CACI a 10-year sole source contract to complete release three, then develop and deploy release four of the software it is developing.

IPPS-A is used for functions such as pay, allowances for housing, bonuses, leave and earnings, thrift savings and disability and incapacitation pay, among other pay and personnel functions.

In a justification document, the Army explains why it needs to continue the work without a competition. The main reason is that a switch to another contractor would delay the roll out of the new functions by at least a year.

This claim is despite what respondents to an Army request for information said. They all claimed the transition could happen in less than a year.

However, secondary market research, which analyzed actual transition timelines of some of these same vendors on actual contracts revealed that their responses were overly optimistic, the Army said in the document.

Release two of the software was deployed in March 2020 to all 50 states. Release three is expected to be deployed by December 2021.

The Army wants release four to be deployed by May 2025, but shifting to a new contractor would push that to May 2026.

The Army said delays would be caused by on-boarding new personnel, training new personnel on the software and sustainment processes and then transitioning to the design of release four.

The process of transitioning from an incumbent to a new vendor is a complex one and requires any new vendor to have a thorough understanding of the existing deployed IPPS-A solution before beginning design of new capabilities that must be integrated into the deployed solution, the Army said.

If the Army had to take an extra year to transition to a new contractor, it would negate much of the return on investment the service is planning on. The delay would increase total lifecycle costs, according to the document.

Justification documents generally include a section where the government explains actions it plans to increase competition in the future. Usually they say the next contract will be competed. In this case, the Army says that no future contracts are planned.

The work will instead transition to the Army Shared Services Center in fiscal years 2030 and 2031 under the Army Communications-Electronics Command.

At that point, CECOM will provide the systems integration expertise for any future IPPS-A requirements, the Army said.

If there are requirements before then, the Army will competed those, they said. But it sounds like those would have to be requirements outside of the scope of what they want from release four.

Granted Im just reading the Armys side the story here, so I dont know what Accentures argument is, but the Army document seems pretty solid, even if your default is to always compete the work.

However, I would be curious to see what the Armys secondary research is. Id also like to know more about the Armys calculations around the lost return on investment from a one-year delay. It seems that Accenture or another bidder might have some ideas on how to mitigate that problem.

That also might put some pressure on CACI to increase the return on investment the Army is currently expecting. Thats what competition should do.

I expect the Army to prevail in this protest, but another question that I have is why didnt the Army plan a longer contract to start with? Surely, they knew it would take longer than five or six years.

CACI has obviously performed well, or the Army wouldnt be looking to keep them on for another 10 years.

Itll be interesting to see what happens from here. Given the detail in the Army justification document, Im not sure well see a corrective action. If it goes to a full Government Accountability Office decision (due April 29) then well get more insights.

Well have to wait and see.
ROCKLAND, Mass. and NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EMD Serono, the Healthcare business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in the US and Canada, and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved BAVENCIO (avelumab) as monotherapy for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) who are progression-free following platinum-based chemotherapy.

"Avelumab is the only immunotherapy to demonstrate a significant improvement in overall survival in the first-line setting in a Phase III study in advanced or metastatic bladder cancer. With this approval by the European Commission, we can now offer patients a potential new first-line maintenance standard of care that may help them live longer," said Professor Thomas Powles, MD, Director of Barts Cancer Centre, London, UK.

In the pivotal JAVELIN Bladder 100 trial, BAVENCIO plus best supportive care (BSC) as first-line maintenance demonstrated a significant improvement in median overall survival (OS) vs BSC alone at the prespecified interim analysis (data cut-off date Oct. 21, 2019): 21.4 months (95% CI: 18.9 to 26.1) vs 14.3 months (95% CI: 12.9 to 17.8) in the coprimary population of all randomized patients (HR 0.69; 95% CI: 0.56 to 0.86).1 In the coprimary population of patients with PD-L1+ tumors (n=358), OS was also significantly longer with BAVENCIO plus BSC (median not reached; 95% CI: 20.3, not reached) vs BSC alone (17.1 months; 95% CI: 13.5, 23.7; HR 0.56; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.79).1,2 Based on these data, the BAVENCIO first-line maintenance regimen was added to the recently updated ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for bladder cancer.3

Updated OS results with a data cut-off of Jan. 19, 2020 also showed BAVENCIO significantly extended OS among all randomized patients vs BSC alone (HR 0.70; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.86; two-sided P=0.0008), with median OS of 22.1 months (95% CI, 19.0 to 26.1) vs 14.6 months (95% CI, 12.8 to 17.8), respectively.1

"Today's announcement is the latest example of our decades-long commitment to developing new treatments for people with genitourinary cancers," said Andy Schmeltz, Global President, Pfizer Oncology. "This approval by the EC addresses an urgent unmet need, and we look forward to providing a new treatment option for people in Europe with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma."

"This approval allows us to extend the reach of BAVENCIO to even more patients with bladder cancer and offer the hope of extended survival," said Rehan Verjee, President of EMD Serono and Global Head of Innovative Medicine Franchises for the Healthcare business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "This is a clear demonstration of our commitment to transform standards of care in cancer."

BAVENCIO was first approved in the US as a first-line maintenance treatment for advanced UC by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2020 and is now approved for this indication in 38 countries. Additional regulatory applications are under review in 13 countries, including in Japan, where approval is expected in H1 2021.

About Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma

Bladder cancer is the tenth most common cancer worldwide.4 Nearly 204,000 people in Europe were diagnosed with bladder cancer across all stages in 2020, and more than 67,000 patients died from the disease, despite available treatments.4 UC is the most common form of bladder cancer, accounting for about 90% of cases.5 UC becomes harder to treat as it advances.6 For patients diagnosed with metastatic UC, the five-year survival rate is 5%.7

About JAVELIN Bladder 100

JAVELIN Bladder 100 (NCT02603432) is a Phase III, multicenter, multinational, randomized, open-label, parallel-arm study investigating first-line maintenance treatment with BAVENCIO plus best supportive care (BSC) versus BSC alone in patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC. A total of 700 patients whose disease had not progressed after platinum-based induction chemotherapy as per RECIST v1.1 were randomly assigned to receive either BAVENCIO plus BSC or BSC alone. The primary endpoint was OS in the two primary populations of all patients and patients with PD-L1+ tumors.

About BAVENCIO (avelumab)

BAVENCIO is a human anti-programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibody. BAVENCIO has been shown in preclinical models to engage both the adaptive and innate immune functions. By blocking the interaction of PD-L1 with PD-1 receptors, BAVENCIO has been shown to release the suppression of the T cell-mediated antitumor immune response in preclinical models.8-10 In November 2014, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize BAVENCIO.

BAVENCIO Approved Indications

BAVENCIO (avelumab) is indicated in the US for the maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) that has not progressed with first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy. BAVENCIO is also indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy.

BAVENCIO in combination with axitinib is indicated in the US for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

In the US, the FDA granted accelerated approval for BAVENCIO for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and duration of response. Continued approval may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.

BAVENCIO is currently approved for patients in 50 countries for at least one use.

BAVENCIO Important Safety Information from the US FDA-Approved Label

BAVENCIO can cause severe and fatal immune-mediated adverse reactions in any organ system or tissue and at any time after starting treatment with a PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibody, including after discontinuation of treatment.

Early identification and management of immune-mediated adverse reactions are essential to ensure safe use of PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies. Monitor patients closely for symptoms and signs that may be clinical manifestations of underlying immune-mediated adverse reactions. Evaluate liver enzymes, creatinine, and thyroid function at baseline and periodically during treatment. In cases of suspected immune-mediated adverse reactions, initiate appropriate workup to exclude alternative etiologies, including infection. Institute medical management promptly, including specialty consultation as appropriate.

No dose reduction for BAVENCIO is recommended. For immune-mediated adverse reactions, withhold or permanently discontinue BAVENCIO depending on severity. In general, withhold BAVENCIO for severe (Grade 3) immune-mediated adverse reactions. Permanently discontinue BAVENCIO for life-threatening (Grade 4) immune-mediated adverse reactions, recurrent severe (Grade 3) immune-mediated reactions that require systemic immunosuppressive treatment, or an inability to reduce corticosteroid dose to 10 mg or less of prednisone or equivalent per day within 12 weeks of initiating corticosteroids. In general, if BAVENCIO requires interruption or discontinuation, administer systemic corticosteroid therapy (1 to 2 mg/kg/day prednisone or equivalent) until improvement to Grade 1 or less. Upon improvement to Grade 1 or less, initiate corticosteroid taper and continue to taper over at least 1 month. Consider administration of other systemic immunosuppressants in patients whose immune-mediated adverse reactions are not controlled with corticosteroid therapy. Toxicity management guidelines for adverse reactions that do not necessarily require systemic corticosteroids (eg, endocrinopathies and dermatologic reactions) are discussed in subsequent sections.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated pneumonitis, including fatal cases. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of pneumonitis and evaluate suspected cases with radiographic imaging. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater pneumonitis. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or Grade 4 pneumonitis. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 1.2% (21/1738) of patients, including fatal (0.1%), Grade 4 (0.1%), Grade 3 (0.3%) and Grade 2 (0.6%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in all (21/21) patients with pneumonitis.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated colitis. The primary component of immune-mediated colitis consisted of diarrhea. Cytomegalovirus infection/reactivation has been reported in patients with corticosteroid-refractory immune-mediated colitis. In cases of corticosteroid-refractory colitis, consider repeating infectious workup to exclude alternative etiologies. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 2 or Grade 3, and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 colitis. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 1.5% (26/1738) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.4%) and Grade 2 (0.7%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in all (26/26) patients with colitis.

BAVENCIO can cause hepatotoxicity and immune-mediated hepatitis. Withhold or permanently discontinue BAVENCIO based on tumor involvement of the liver and severity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), or total bilirubin elevation. Immune-mediated hepatitis occurred with BAVENCIO as a single agent in 0.9% (16/1738) of patients, including fatal (0.1%), Grade 3 (0.6%), and Grade 2 (0.1%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in all (16/16) patients with hepatitis.

BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA can cause hepatotoxicity with higher than expected frequencies of Grade 3 and 4 ALT and AST elevation compared to BAVENCIO alone. Consider more frequent monitoring of liver enzymes as compared to when the drugs are used as monotherapy. Withhold or permanently discontinue both BAVENCIO and INLYTA based on severity of AST, ALT, or total bilirubin elevation, and consider administering corticosteroids as needed. Consider rechallenge with BAVENCIO or INLYTA, or sequential rechallenge with both BAVENCIO and INLYTA, after recovery. In patients treated with BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA in the advanced RCC trials, increased ALT and increased AST were reported in 9% (Grade 3) and 7% (Grade 4) of patients. Immune-mediated hepatitis was reported in 7% of patients including 4.9% with Grade 3 or 4 immune-mediated hepatitis. Thirty-four patients were treated with corticosteroids and one patient was treated with a non-steroidal immunosuppressant.

BAVENCIO can cause primary or secondary immune-mediated adrenal insufficiency. For Grade 2 or higher adrenal insufficiency, initiate symptomatic treatment, including hormone replacement, as clinically indicated. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 3 or Grade 4 endocrinopathies until clinically stable or permanently discontinue depending on severity. Immune-mediated adrenal insufficiency occurred in 0.5% (8/1738) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.1%) and Grade 2 (0.3%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in all (8/8) patients with adrenal insufficiency.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated hypophysitis. Hypophysitis can present with acute symptoms associated with mass effect such as headache, photophobia, or visual field defects. Hypophysitis can cause hypopituitarism. Initiate hormone replacement, as clinically indicated. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 3 or Grade 4 endocrinopathies until clinically stable or permanently discontinue depending on severity. Immune-mediated pituitary disorders occurred in 0.1% (1/1738) of patients, which was a Grade 2 (0.1%) adverse reaction.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated thyroid disorders. Thyroiditis can present with or without endocrinopathy. Hypothyroidism can follow hyperthyroidism. Initiate hormone replacement for hypothyroidism or institute medical management of hyperthyroidism, as clinically indicated. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 3 or Grade 4 endocrinopathies until clinically stable or permanently discontinue depending on severity. Thyroiditis occurred in 0.2% (4/1738) of patients, including Grade 2 (0.1%) adverse reactions. Hyperthyroidism occurred in 0.4% (7/1738) of patients, including Grade 2 (0.3%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in 29% (2/7) of patients with hyperthyroidism. Hypothyroidism occurred in 5% (90/1738) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.2%) and Grade 2 (3.7%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in 7% (6/90) of patients with hypothyroidism.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated type I diabetes mellitus, which can present with diabetic ketoacidosis. Monitor patients for hyperglycemia or other signs and symptoms of diabetes. Initiate treatment with insulin as clinically indicated. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 3 or Grade 4 endocrinopathies until clinically stable or permanently discontinue depending on severity. Immune-mediated type I diabetes mellitus occurred in 0.1% (2/1738) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.1%) adverse reactions.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated nephritis with renal dysfunction. Withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 2 or Grade 3, and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 increased blood creatinine. Immune-mediated nephritis with renal dysfunction occurred in 0.1% (1/1738) of patients, which was a Grade 2 (0.1%) adverse reaction. Systemic corticosteroids were required in this patient.

BAVENCIO can cause immune-mediated dermatologic adverse reactions, including rash or dermatitis. Exfoliative dermatitis including Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), has occurred with PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies. Topical emollients and/or topical corticosteroids may be adequate to treat mild to moderate non-exfoliative rashes. Withhold BAVENCIO for suspected and permanently discontinue for confirmed SJS, TEN, or DRESS. Immune-mediated dermatologic adverse reactions occurred in 5% (90/1738) of patients, including Grade 3 (0.1%) and Grade 2 (2.0%) adverse reactions. Systemic corticosteroids were required in 29% (26/90) of patients with dermatologic adverse reactions.

BAVENCIO can result in other immune-mediated adverse reactions. Other clinically significant immune-mediated adverse reactions occurred at an incidence of <1% in patients who received BAVENCIO or were reported with the use of other PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibodies. For myocarditis, permanently discontinue BAVENCIO for Grade 2, Grade 3, or Grade 4. For neurological toxicities, withhold BAVENCIO for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or Grade 4.

BAVENCIO can cause severe or life-threatening infusion-related reactions. Premedicate patients with an antihistamine and acetaminophen prior to the first 4 infusions and for subsequent infusions based upon clinical judgment and presence/severity of prior infusion reactions. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of infusion-related reactions, including pyrexia, chills, flushing, hypotension, dyspnea, wheezing, back pain, abdominal pain, and urticaria. Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion for Grade 1 or Grade 2 infusion-related reactions. Permanently discontinue BAVENCIO for Grade 3 or Grade 4 infusion-related reactions. Infusion-related reactions occurred in 25% of patients, including three (0.2%) Grade 4 and nine (0.5%) Grade 3 infusion-related reactions. Eleven (92%) of the 12 patients with Grade 3 reactions were treated with intravenous corticosteroids.

Fatal and other serious complications of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can occur in patients who receive HSCT before or after being treated with a PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibody. Follow patients closely for evidence of transplant-related complications and intervene promptly. Consider the benefit versus risks of treatment with a PD-1/PD-L1 blocking antibody prior to or after an allogeneic HSCT.

BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA can cause major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including severe and fatal events. Consider baseline and periodic evaluations of left ventricular ejection fraction. Monitor for signs and symptoms of cardiovascular events. Optimize management of cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidemia. Permanently discontinue BAVENCIO and INLYTA for Grade 3-4 cardiovascular events. MACE occurred in 7% of patients with advanced RCC treated with BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA compared to 3.4% treated with sunitinib in a randomized trial. These events included death due to cardiac events (1.4%), Grade 3-4 myocardial infarction (2.8%), and Grade 3-4 congestive heart failure (1.8%).

BAVENCIO can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise patients of the potential risk to a fetus including the risk of fetal death. Advise females of childbearing potential to use effective contraception during treatment with BAVENCIO and for at least 1 month after the last dose of BAVENCIO. It is not known whether BAVENCIO is excreted in human milk. Advise a lactating woman not to breastfeed during treatment and for at least 1 month after the last dose of BAVENCIO due to the potential for serious adverse reactions in breastfed infants.

The most common adverse reactions (all grades, 20%) in patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) were fatigue (50%), musculoskeletal pain (32%), diarrhea (23%), nausea (22%), infusion-related reaction (22%), rash (22%), decreased appetite (20%), and peripheral edema (20%).

Selected treatment-emergent laboratory abnormalities (all grades, 20%) in patients with metastatic MCC were lymphopenia (49%), anemia (35%), increased aspartate aminotransferase (34%), thrombocytopenia (27%), and increased alanine aminotransferase (20%).

A fatal adverse reaction (sepsis) occurred in one (0.3%) patient with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) receiving BAVENCIO + best supportive care (BSC) as first-line maintenance treatment. In patients with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic UC, fourteen patients (6%) who were treated with BAVENCIO experienced either pneumonitis, respiratory failure, sepsis/urosepsis, cerebrovascular accident, or gastrointestinal adverse events, which led to death.

The most common adverse reactions (all grades, 20%) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC receiving BAVENCIO + BSC (vs BSC alone) as first-line maintenance treatment were fatigue (35% vs 13%), musculoskeletal pain (24% vs 15%), urinary tract infection (20% vs 11%), and rash (20% vs 2.3%). In patients with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic UC receiving BAVENCIO, the most common adverse reactions (all grades, 20%) were fatigue, infusion-related reaction, musculoskeletal pain, nausea, decreased appetite, and urinary tract infection.

Selected laboratory abnormalities (all grades, 20%) in patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC receiving BAVENCIO + BSC (vs BSC alone) as first-line maintenance treatment were blood triglycerides increased (34% vs 28%), alkaline phosphatase increased (30% vs 20%), blood sodium decreased (28% vs 20%), lipase increased (25% vs 16%), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) increased (24% vs 12%), blood potassium increased (24% vs 16%), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) increased (24% vs 12%), blood cholesterol increased (22% vs 16%), serum amylase increased (21% vs 12%), hemoglobin decreased (28% vs 18%), and white blood cell decreased (20% vs 10%).

Fatal adverse reactions occurred in 1.8% of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) receiving BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA. These included sudden cardiac death (1.2%), stroke (0.2%), myocarditis (0.2%), and necrotizing pancreatitis (0.2%).

The most common adverse reactions (all grades, 20%) in patients with advanced RCC receiving BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA (vs sunitinib) were diarrhea (62% vs 48%), fatigue (53% vs 54%), hypertension (50% vs 36%), musculoskeletal pain (40% vs 33%), nausea (34% vs 39%), mucositis (34% vs 35%), palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (33% vs 34%), dysphonia (31% vs 3.2%), decreased appetite (26% vs 29%), hypothyroidism (25% vs 14%), rash (25% vs 16%), hepatotoxicity (24% vs 18%), cough (23% vs 19%), dyspnea (23% vs 16%), abdominal pain (22% vs 19%), and headache (21% vs 16%).

Selected laboratory abnormalities (all grades, 20%) worsening from baseline in patients with advanced RCC receiving BAVENCIO in combination with INLYTA (vs sunitinib) were blood triglycerides increased (71% vs 48%), blood creatinine increased (62% vs 68%), blood cholesterol increased (57% vs 22%), alanine aminotransferase increased (ALT) (50% vs 46%), aspartate aminotransferase increased (AST) (47% vs 57%), blood sodium decreased (38% vs 37%), lipase increased (37% vs 25%), blood potassium increased (35% vs 28%), platelet count decreased (27% vs 80%), blood bilirubin increased (21% vs 23%), and hemoglobin decreased (21% vs 65%).

Please see full US Prescribing Information and Medication Guide available at http://www.BAVENCIO.com.

About EMD Serono, Inc.

EMD Serono - the Healthcare business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in the U.S. and Canada - is engaged in the discovery, research and development of medicines for patients with difficult to treat diseases. The business is committed to transforming lives by developing and delivering meaningful solutions that help address the therapeutic and support needs of individual patients. Building on a proven legacy and deep expertise in neurology, fertility and endocrinology, EMD Serono is developing potential new oncology and immuno-oncology medicines while continuing to explore potential therapeutic options for diseases such as psoriasis, lupus and MS. Today, the business has approximately 1,500 employees around the country with commercial, clinical and research operations based in the company's home state of Massachusetts. www.emdserono.com .

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany-Pfizer Alliance

Immuno-oncology is a top priority for Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer. The global strategic alliance between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer enables the companies to benefit from each other's strengths and capabilities and further explore the therapeutic potential of BAVENCIO, an anti-PD-L1 antibody initially discovered and developed by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The immuno-oncology alliance is jointly developing and commercializing BAVENCIO. The alliance is focused on developing high-priority international clinical programs to investigate BAVENCIO as a monotherapy as well as combination regimens, and is striving to find new ways to treat cancer.

All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the EMD Group Website. In case you are a resident of the USA or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register again for your online subscription of this service as our newly introduced geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 57,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices  the company is everywhere. In 2019, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of  16.2 billion in 66 countries.

The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Performance Materials. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company.

Pfizer Inc.: Breakthroughs that change patients' lives

At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products, including innovative medicines and vaccines. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 150 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.pfizer.com. In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.pfizer.com and follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer_News, LinkedIn, YouTube and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.

Pfizer Disclosure Notice

The information contained in this release is as of January 25, 2021. Pfizer assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this release as the result of new information or future events or developments.

This release contains forward-looking information about BAVENCIO (avelumab), including a new indication in the EU for BAVENCIO as monotherapy for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) who are progression-free following platinum-based chemotherapy, the alliance between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer involving BAVENCIO and clinical development plans, including their potential benefits, that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other things, uncertainties regarding the commercial success of BAVENCIO; the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including the ability to meet anticipated clinical endpoints, commencement and/or completion dates for our clinical trials, regulatory submission dates, regulatory approval dates and/or launch dates, as well as the possibility of unfavorable new clinical data and further analyses of existing clinical data; risks associated with interim data; the risk that clinical trial data are subject to differing interpretations and assessments by regulatory authorities; whether regulatory authorities will be satisfied with the design of and results from our clinical studies; whether and when any drug applications may be filed for BAVENCIO for first-line maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma in any additional jurisdictions or in any jurisdictions for any other potential indications for BAVENCIO or combination therapies; whether and when regulatory authorities in any jurisdictions where any other applications are pending or may be submitted for BAVENCIO or combination therapies, including BAVENCIO for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma may approve any such applications, which will depend on myriad factors, including making a determination as to whether the product's benefits outweigh its known risks and determination of the product's efficacy, and, if approved, whether they will be commercially successful; decisions by regulatory authorities impacting labeling, manufacturing processes, safety and/or other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of BAVENCIO, including BAVENCIO for locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma; uncertainties regarding the impact of COVID-19 on Pfizer's business, operations and financial results; and competitive developments.

A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in Pfizer's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Information and Factors That May Affect Future Results", as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov and www.pfizer.com.

References

BAVENCIO (avelumab) EU SmPC. http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/. Accessed February 2021 . Powles T, Park SH, Voog E, et al. Avelumab maintenance therapy for advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:1218-1230. ESMO.org. eUpdate- Bladder cancer treatment recommendations. https://www.esmo.org/guidelines/genitourinary-cancers/bladder-cancer/eupdate-bladder-cancer-treatment-recommendations4. Accessed January 2021. IARC. Bladder Fact Sheet: GLOBOCAN. https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/cancers/30-Bladder-fact-sheet.pdf. Accessed January 2021 . Cancer.net. Bladder cancer: introduction. https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/bladder-cancer/introduction. Accessed January 2021 . American Cancer Society. What is bladder cancer? https://www.cancer.org/cancer/bladder-cancer/about/what-is-bladder-cancer.html. Accessed January 2021 . SEER. Cancer stat facts: bladder cancer. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/urinb.html. Accessed January 2021 . Dolan DE, Gupta S. PD-1 pathway inhibitors: changing the landscape of cancer immunotherapy. Cancer Control. 2014;21(3):231-237. Dahan R, Sega E, Engelhardt J, et al. FcRs modulate the anti-tumor activity of antibodies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis. Cancer Cell. 2015;28(3):285-295. Boyerinas B, Jochems C, Fantini M, et al. Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity activity of a novel anti-PD-L1 antibody avelumab (MSB0010718C) on human tumor cells. Cancer Immunol Res. 2015;3(10):1148-1157

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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will hand in his resignation to the head of state on Tuesday after convening the cabinet to inform ministers of his decision, the cabinet office said.

Conte, 56, hopes President Sergio Mattarella will give him a mandate to form a new government with broader backing in parliament, political sources said.

Failure to form a new government could lead to Italy calling new elections two years early.

According to a cabinet office statement, in a meeting scheduled for 9am local time (08:00 GMT), Conte 'will inform his ministers of his intention to resign'.

The statement added that Conte will then visit Mattarella.

Conte's government was thrown into turmoil earlier this month when a junior partner, the Italia Viva party headed by former premier Matteo Renzi, pulled out of the cabinet in a row over its handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will hand in his resignation to the head of state on Tuesday after convening the cabinet to inform ministers of his decision, the cabinet office said [File photo]

Although Conte survived a subsequent confidence vote in parliament last week, he failed to secure an absolute majority in the Senate, meaning he will struggle to enact any policy agenda unless he can draw on new support.

The prime minister has appealed to centrist and unaligned Senate lawmakers to join government ranks, but few have responded so far, Reuters news agency reported earlier on Monday.

The anti-establishment Five Star Movement - parliament's largest party - has since pledged to 'remain at Conte's side', according to the BBC.

Looking to put pressure on lawmakers, the main ruling parties have said snap elections, two years ahead of schedule, will be the only way out of the political impasse unless a solution is rapidly found.

Conte has been sharply criticised for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic which saw Italy particularly hard-hit.

Conte has been sharply criticised for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic which saw Italy particularly hard-hit. Strict regulations intended to prevent the spread have led to anti-lockdown protests. Pictured: A demonstrator holds Italian flags during a protest held by business owners against the measures put in place to fight Covid-19 in Rome, Italy on January 25

At least 85,461 Italians have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, and some 2.47 infections have been recorded.

Strict regulations intended to prevent the spread have led to anti-lockdown protests.

On Monday, the Italian government wrote to drugs marker Pfizer, calling delays in vaccine delivery 'unacceptable' and demanding it fulfil Italy's orders of the drug as agreed amid warnings from the company that it will not be able to deliver some vaccines on time due to production issues.

Conte has led Italy as the head of a divided centre-left coalition for 16 months.

Prior to that, he was the independent leader of the ruling coalition between the Five Star Movement and former deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini's right-wing League party.
Migrants Increasing at Concerning Rate on Southern Border, Says CBP Agent

As caravans build up in Honduras, migrants are increasing at a concerning rate at the United States southern border, according to Matthew Hudak, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) chief patrol agent of the Laredo sector in Texas. He warns that immigration is just a piece of the threat coupled with the pandemic health risk and other crimes along the border.

Like everybody, were tracking the formation of these caravans in Central America, said Hudak. The Laredo Sector is one of nine CBP sectors along the southern border. It contains about 135 miles of the international border with Mexico.

On Jan. 8, CBP Acting Commissioner Mark A. Morgan issued a statement on potential migrant caravans: Do not waste your time and money, and do not risk your safety and health. According to Hudak, the Laredo Sector hasnt seen a reduction of migrants in response to the statement. It has made over 30,000 arrests in this fiscal year, a 50 percent increase over the same period last year. Hudak added that similar trends are identified by other sectors on the southern border. The U.S. government fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. Hudak called the 50 percent increase a pretty concerning rate.

Matthew J. Hudak, Chief Patrol Agent of Laredo Sector of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the video interview on Jan. 21, 2021. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

He told The Epoch Times that some portions of the caravan of 9,000 migrants will make their way to the southern border. Part of the group was stopped in Guatemala on Jan. 16. Depending on the pace and the means with which these migrants travel, the arrival time at the U.S.-Mexico border may be between a few days and a few weeks. As of Jan. 21, he hasnt yet seen a dramatic increase of migrants indicative of caravans arriving at the southern border.

Hudak said that human smuggling is usually achieved with systems shared with drug and firearm smuggling, and the fees migrants are charged feed larger criminal organizations. Therefore, he sees a more significant threat: We may be talking about one piece of it, which is immigration, but its part of a much larger criminal enterprise.

The Laredo Sector is one of nine CBP sectors along the southern border of the United States. It contains about 135 miles of the international border with Mexico. (Americanpatrol.com)

He attributed the trend of migrant increase to the U.S. economy and better healthcare systems, especially during the pandemic. Timing also plays a role. Weve seen the economy in this country get back on track and continue to expand. Thats always a driving force of people coming this way looking for jobs and work. We have done interviews where we do get that information that there is a sense of timing, that now is the time to try to make that journey here to the U.S.

Teresa De la Garza, Department of Justice (DOJ) accredited immigration representative at Catholic Social Services in Laredo, Texas, went through an 11-year process to become an American. Growing up at the border, she used to go to an international school in Texas and go back home to Mexico every day. She said part of the migrant enthusiasm is fueled by more of a change of president than shifts in immigration policies.

Teresa De la Garza (center), immigration representative at Catholic Social Services in Laredo, TX, with her colleagues (from left to right) Angeles Palacios, Vanessa Guerrero, Sandra Gutierrez, and Edgar Martinez. (Courtesy of Teresa De la Garza)

She considered the enthusiasm unrealistic. Some of the policies that have changed in these past four years cant be reversed as soon as another president comes in. It will take time. In her view, the new administration will need beyond four years to make significant immigration policy changes.

De la Garza is currently busy with many appointments through March for consulting applicants of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The program is for illegal immigrants who were brought into the States before their 16th birthday. A Jan. 20 presidential memorandum has reinstated the program after the Department of Homeland Security put the program on hold for review last year.

The local communities dont want migrants arriving due to pandemic-related health concerns, according to De la Garza. Just a week ago, CBP intercepted 114 migrants in a box truck. Most of them werent wearing personal protection equipment.

On Jan. 14, 2021, U.S. Border Patrol agents from Laredo Sector stopped a human smuggling attempt involving a U-Haul rental box truck in south Laredo and arrested 114 illegal migrants. (Courtesy of CBP)

According to Hudak, the top near-term challenges are protecting national security and the workforce during the pandemic and keeping up with the evolution of tactics of the cartels and the smuggling organizations, including using more moving vehicles than large trailer trucks.
In a bid to reduce Covid-19 death rates, Oxford University researchers are planning a large-scale trial of an inexpensive drug that could drastically reduce global death rates.

The Times said in a report while the drug has been hailed by many as the 'wonder drug', others have said it has not been properly evaluated yet.

The report said that this batch of medicines will include ivermectin, used primarily to treat livestock and people infested with parasitic worms.

The trial seeks is to find at-home treatments to catch the disease early and prevent serious illness soon after the symptoms appear.

Also read: Delhi Govt Hopeful About Plasma Therapy As It Helps Streamline Recovery of Critical Patients, Over 700 Units Plasma Provided

Shedding light on the properties of the new drug, Chris Butler, professor of primary care at the University of Oxford said that while the drug has potent antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, theres a gap in the data. He also emphasised that the drug has not undergone a rigorous trial.

However, contrary to Butler's take, the World Health Organization suggested that the drug has encouraging effects.

The medicine works by blocking the entry of a protein into a cells nuclei, limiting the replication capacity of the virus.

It could save thousands of lives a day, said Paul Marik, from the Eastern Virginia Medical School. The data is compelling: across Mexico, India, and South America, mortality has fallen.

The drug is approved in the U.K. as a topical agent for skin infections and inflammation.

The trial is looking for people aged 65 and over, or those aged over 50 who have underlying health conditions, through general practitioners, online, and through the UKs NHS Test and Trace system, Arab News Reported.
Addis Ababa, Jan 25 : The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that desert locust swarms are expected to descend on large parts of Ethiopia and Kenya in the coming weeks.

In its latest situation update issued on Sunday, the FAO disclosed dry weather conditions across the Horn of Africa region is expected to facilitate desert locust swarms in large parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, reports Xinhua news agency.

"As conditions remain dry in some areas, the swarms are expected to disperse throughout southern and northern Ethiopia as well as north-central Kenya," said the update.

"Any rainfall that occurs in the coming weeks will cause swarms to mature and lay eggs that will hatch and give rise to hopper bands during February and March," the FAO report said.

Intense ground and aerial control operations are in progress in both countries to reduce current locust swarm populations so that the scale of the upcoming breeding may be lower, it added.

Earlier this month, the Ethiopian government announced it had dispatched airplanes and helicopters in its fight against desert locust invasion.

The aircraft are being used to assess the extent of desert locust invasion as well as to spray chemicals on desert locust affected areas.

Since June 2019, Ethiopia has been suffering from the worst desert locust invasion in about 25 years, affecting major crop-producing parts of the country.

The desert locust, which is considered as the "most dangerous of the nearly one dozen species of locusts", is a major food security peril in desert areas across 20 countries, stretching from west Africa all the way to India, covering nearly 16 million square km, according to the UN.

Each square kilometre of a swarm can have from 40 million-80 million locusts.

An adult desert locust consumes food equaling roughly to its weight -- about two grams every day, which means that even a small swarm of insects will eat food consumed by six elephants, 20 camels, or 35,000 people every day, the FAO said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
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More than one million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been handed out daily across the United States since President Joe Biden's inauguration last week - as data shows the vaccination rollout was starting to increase in the weeks before he took office.

The seven-day rolling average for daily vaccinations nationwide is currently at 1.2 million and a record 1.6 million doses were distributed on Biden's inauguration.

So far the US has administered 22.4 million vaccine doses, which is 54 percent of the 41.4 million shots distributed to states by the federal government. Currently 6.8 percent of the US population has been vaccinated.

Despite the sluggish start, the number of shots being handed out nationwide has only been increasing since the rollout began in mid-December under Trump's administration.

Since January 1, the rolling average of vaccine doses per day has quadrupled.

It comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations fell to the lowest levels since mid-December and states reported a sharp drop in new cases and deaths. On Sunday, there were 1,769 deaths and 130,485 new cases recorded. Just over 110,000 people were hospitalized with the virus.

The seven-day rolling average for daily vaccinations nationwide is currently at 1.2 million. More than 1 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been handed out daily in US since Biden's inauguration

COVID-19 hospitalizations have now fallen to the lowest levels since mid-December and states have reported a sharp drop in new cases and deaths

So far the US has administered 22.4 million vaccine doses. Pictured is a vaccine clinic in Seattle, Washington on Sunday at the Amazon Meeting Center

After facing criticism that the plan to vaccinate one million Americans per day for the next 100 days wasn't ambitious enough, the Biden administration has now said it is just the start.

Dr Anthony Fauci, who is Biden's top COVID-19 adviser, has also said it was 'floor not ceiling' goal.

To assist with the rollout, Google has just announced that it will offer up some of its US offices, car parks and open spaces as vaccination centers.

Google will also add COVID-19 vaccine location information to both Maps and Search to help people find more information on where and when they can get a jab.

The tech giant's four main offices in the US - in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kirkland, Washington and New York City - will be turned into vaccine hubs in collaboration with healthcare provider One Medical.

The office spaces are currently empty given Google's employees are working remotely until at least July.

'Today we're announcing that we're providing more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution and making it easier to find locally relevant information, including when and where to get the vaccine,' Google CEO Sundar Pichai said.

'We'll also be opening up Google spaces to serve as vaccination sites as needed.'

He said searches for 'vaccines near me' has increased five-fold since the start of the year. As a result the tech giant is adding COVID-19 vaccine locations to both its traditional Search feature and Maps.

'We'll include details like whether an appointment or referral is required, if access is limited to specific groups, or if it has a drive-through,' Pichai said.

So far the US has administered 22.4 million vaccine doses, which is 54 percent of the 41.4 million shots distributed to states by the federal government. Currently 6.8 percent of the population has been vaccinated

Google will start immediately showing vaccine hub locations in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and will gradually expand to include more states and countries.

'We'll begin showing state and regional distribution information on Search so people can easily find when they are eligible to receive a vaccine,' he said.

It comes after Biden signed a series of executive orders last week, including some that target vaccine distribution.

He plans to partner with state and local governments to establish vaccination spots in conference centers, stadiums and gymnasiums.

The new administration will also deploy thousands of clinical staff from federal agencies, military medical personnel and pharmacy chains to increase vaccinations, and make teachers and grocery clerks eligible.

Speaking of Biden's goal to hand out 100 million doses, Fauci told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday: 'I think it was a reasonable goal that was set, we always want to do better than the goal you set, but it is really a floor and not a ceiling.'

Fauci did, however, admit that it could be a challenge given the logistical hurdles that have already been encountered with the rocky vaccine rollout.

'If you look forward with the challenges that we will be having, getting it out into the community that is not easily accessible, getting it to people that are not uniform in the sense of being health care providers or people in nursing home, I still think that challenge is really - it's going to be a floor, not a ceiling. It's not going to be easy to do that,' he said.

'We've got to vaccinate as many people as we possibly can as quickly as we possibly can.'

The data shows that no state has over 600 people per million hospitalized with COVID-19 - the first time this has happened since November 3rd

Meanwhile, White House chief of staff Ron Klain said the 100 day goal was just the first step in Biden's vaccine rollout plan.

'One-hundred million shots is a bold, ambitious goal, but we need to keep going after that. That is our first goal, it's not our final goal, it's not the endpoint, it's just a metric the American people can watch and measure how we are doing,' Klain said.

He also claimed there was no vaccine distribution plan set up by the Trump administration in his final months of office.

'The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House,' Klain said.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, the new CDC director, admitted on Sunday that the US doesn't have enough COVID-19 vaccines to meet states' needs, even as New York and Georgia desperately plead for more doses to inoculate their populations.

'We don't have as many doses as we would like now for states like New York, for other states claiming to have run out of the vaccine,' Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Fox News Sunday.

'Right now, that is the pressure point that I am feeling and by the end of March or so I really do hope our production scale has scaled up dramatically and that we actually have way more than we have right now.'

It came after Gov. Andrew Cuomo said over the weekend that New York was running out of vaccines and Georgia's Gov. Brian Kemp asked for more shots to keep up with the demand.

Google will add COVID-19 vaccine location information to both Maps and Search to help people find more information on where and when they can get a jab

Patients wait and are observed for an adverse reactions following their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Amazon Meeting Center in downtown Seattle on Sunday

West Texans line up outside of Ratliff Stadium as they wait to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as part of a mass vaccination clinic put on by the City of Odessa on Sunday

People in their cars line up to wait for a free drive-through vaccine site in Sequim, Washington over the weekend

The vaccine rollout has different from state to state since it began in mid-December.

From California, where distribution has varied from county to county, to New York where the largest city in the nation is running low on supply, states and healthcare providers have struggled to acquire, store and distribute vaccines.

In Florida, thousands of elderly residents have lined for hours given it is a first-come-first served basis in the state.

Shirley Green, 69, reported waiting for 19 hours in her car overnight in order to receive her first dose back on January 4.

'(It) would have been my brother's birthday. And he died of COVID in October,' she told WFTV.

'And to me, it was my - I don't know tribute is the right word, or honor to him, (to) try and keep myself safe from all of this ugliness that's going on.'

Meanwhile in California, Jerry Shapiro, a 78-year-old pharmacist from Los Angeles, has yet to receive his first shot despite being at the top of the list of people now eligible in the state.

Shapiro told Reuters he has spent hours calling multiple health agencies and making fruitless computer searches, an experience familiar to many people across the US.

In Florida, thousands of elderly residents have lined for hours given it is a first-come-first served basis in the state. Shirley Green, 69, reported waiting for 19 hours in her car overnight in order to receive her first dose back on January 4

'Why not make it easy?' asked Shapiro, who is also concerned about his wife because of medical conditions that would make her particularly vulnerable to the virus.

'Have it in your neighborhood. Set up an appointment, get your shot and be done.'

A key problem is organizing the distribution of vaccines to smaller clinics and pharmacies - rather than just to large medical centers and retail pharmaceutical chains.

In California, only a handful of independent pharmacies have been able to acquire vaccines for their customers - generally only in rural areas where the big chain stores are not present, said Sonya Frausto, a pharmacist in the state capital of Sacramento.

Shapiro, who owns an independent pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles, said customers have been calling daily seeking vaccines, but he has to tell them he has no supply.

He and his wife finally made appointments to receive a vaccine on Saturday, after repeated phone calls and hours on hold led them to healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente. The Shapiros are not Kaiser members, but the nonprofit is offering them shots nonetheless, Jerry Shapiro said.

In Sacramento, 65-year-old restaurateur Jami Goldstene would feel a lot safer at her public-facing job if she could get a vaccine. She is technically eligible because of her age, but has yet to be offered an appointment - or even find a way to make one - despite hours on the phone and the internet.

'It's very frustrating,' she said. 'I want to be over with it. I want to feel safe again.'


Seattle's 2021 mayoral race got a new candidate Monday morning.

Chief Seattle Club Executive Director Colleen Echohawk launched her campaign for mayor, calling herself a "new face" in local politics.

"Im running for Mayor of Seattle because I love this city, and we have a once-in-a-generation chance to rethink how it works, and who it works for. If we take a people-first approach to renewal then we can become as transformative as our communities demand us to be," wrote Echohawk on her new campaign website.

A member of the Kithehaki Band of the Pawnee Nation and a member of the Upper Athabascan people of Mentasta Lake, Echohawk hinted at a possible run after incumbent mayor Jenny Durkan said she would not seek reelection and instead focus on the city's recovery to COVID-19.

"People of color are suffering and we need a new way," Echohawk told The Seattle Times. "I'm hoping we see as many people of color run (for mayor) as possible."

Echohawk's resume proves she has both strong community and business ties and can juggle a variety of interests: she is the founder the Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness, serves on the Community Police Commission and has previously served on the board of the Downtown Seattle Association.

Her work in homeless advocacy informs her campaign's "people-first" approach to increasing affordable housing in the region.

"We do not have enough affordable housing for our community. We also know that with COVID, and with the impact of COVID, we have more and more people who have fallen into homelessness, or are at risk of homelessness because of COVID," Echohawk told KING5. "So we do have to have someone at the helm who understands these issues, and I have a very good track record of serving our homeless community."

She also expressed support for reducing the Seattle Police Department's budget and reinvesting in community, but said it would be a gradual process.

"Do I think that we need to move some resources out of police department? Yes. I would like to see those resources be put into supporting mental health like we have a crisis of mental health in our city," Echohawk said. "I want to bring everyone to the table and talk about what is going to truly work and can get done, we have to remember that we're looking at a huge system. And it takes time to figure out how to get the systems to change."

Former Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw endorsed Echohawk for the role, saying that she can align broad interests and help reimagine the city's economy post-COVID-19.

"I have seen her in action: she is passionate about service to this city and encourages those who have been left out while listening to those who have been all-in," Bagshaw said. "She is a respected leader who will help us solve critical issues including homelessness while rebuilding safe and healthy neighborhoods.

Echohawk is only the third candidate to launch a formal campaign. Architect Andrew Grant Houston launched a campaign earlier in January, and SEED Interim Executive Director Lance Randall has also declared he will run.

While the filing deadline for candidates isn't until the end of May, there is plenty of speculation of who will run.

Here's a Seattle P-I analysis of some names to watch in the 2021 race as candidates begin launching their campaigns.

James Cracknell has revealed he's engaged to his girlfriend of 17 months, Jordan Connell.

The rowing champion, 48 - who met the American financier, 35 - when he studied at Cambridge University in 2018, confirmed the couple are set to wed in an announcement in The Times on Monday.

Father-of-three James' exciting news comes nearly two years after he split from presenter Beverley Turner following 17 years of marriage.

The former couple broke up after a nine-year struggle following a crippling brain injury, which the TV host, 47, nursed him back to health from.

Wedding bells: James Cracknell has revealed he's engaged to his girlfriend of 17 months, Jordan Connell (pictured in 2019)

Special announcement: The sportsman confirmed the couple are set to wed in an announcement in The Times on Monday

The Olympian's new fiancee, who is believed to divide her time between London and the US, spent 12 months training for an MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School while James studied for a masters in human evolution at Peterhouse College.

At 46, the former Strictly star became the oldest student to compete in the Boat Race at the prestigious university.

The pair started dating after finishing their degrees and have been living together in west London throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

James previously credited Jordan for his newfound confidence after his terrifying accident, and the former student cheerleader enthused she's 'ridiculously happy' to have met her partner.

Former spouse: The 38-year-old rowing champion's news comes nearly two years after he split from presenter Beverley Turner following 17 years of marriage (pictured in 2016)

Exciting times ahead: The father-of-three met the financier, 35, when he studied at Cambridge in 2018 (pictured in 2019)

In an interview with Daily Mail in 2019, the blonde gushed: 'I like to think I make him happy, too.

'When internet trolls were making cruel comments about his dancing and 'wooden personality' on Strictly I thought, ''How can you put that? You don't know him.'' I know he feels things very deeply.

'I feel so strongly about bullying online. Try sitting down with the person you love when they're upset by what's being said because their children will read it. James does have an amazing personality. He's funny and kind.

'It's the little things he does like going out to track down a bar of Hershey's chocolate for me, which is special because it's so hard to find in the UK.'

Love story: The financial consultant spent a year training for an MBA while the Olympian studied for a masters in human evolution (pictured in 2019)

Going strong: The pair started dating after finishing their degrees and have been living together in west London throughout the coronavirus pandemic (pictured last July)

James added: 'One of the best things about going to Cambridge was, let's face it, a lot of the students weren't born when I won the Olympics. I really enjoyed meeting people who took me as I am.

'To be honest, with Jordan the conversation was so easy and it was so nice to hang out with someone who had no preconceptions of who you were before.'

A source previously told MailOnline of their relationship: 'They have become very close and since his marriage break up there are few people who would deny him the support of an attractive young woman.

'The end of James' marriage to Bev has been amicable and friendly but there's always going to be regret and maybe loneliness when something like that happens so it's great he's going his own way.'

Trauma: The former couple split after a nine-year struggle following a crippling brain injury (pictured), which the TV host, 47, nursed him back to health from

The sportsman was left in a coma and sustained damage to the part of the brain that governs memory, personality, and speech after he was knocked off his bike by the wing mirror of a petrol tanker in Arizona.

Following his separation, Beverley reflected on how she helped him recover in an interview with The Times.

The Happy Birth Book author said at the time: 'A formerly quiet man, he couldn't stop talking, but certainly stopped listening. I had my silent screams in the shower so the children wouldn't hear.

'Acquired brain injury is contagious  the whole family catches it and soon everyone is snapping, sighing, arguing and slamming doors. After a brain injury a couple's dynamic typically becomes one of parent and child, complete with nagging, resistance, resentment and sulking.

'The 'adult' wants to nurture and protect the 'child' who they have almost lost once. Yet it's crushing and stultifying for the survivor who just wants their independence.'

James also expressed his gratitude towards his first spouse for her help as he said: 'I wouldn't have made the recovery I have without her fire.

'It's not so nice when it's not in your corner, but you can't fall in love with an opinionated woman and then moan when she has an opinion. It hurts but it's on me as well.

'I wasn't the best husband in the world. I wanted to go to Cambridge to get academic credibility for the work I was doing in public health. Beverley didn't share my desire for me to go into politics. I don't think she liked the idea of being a politician's wife.'

Family first: Beverley and James are parents to three children; Croyde, 15, Kiki, 11, and Trixie, nine (pictured)

This Morning star Beverley petitioned for a divorce in March 2019 on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour, which he did not oppose.

They went their separate ways eight months after James moved to Cambridge and Beverley felt he was abandoning the family.

The athlete later claimed the 'complex' separation was 'a long time coming' and was nothing to do with the Boat Race or the 2010 brain injury that almost killed him.

The media personality told the Daily Telegraph at the time: 'It wasn't going to university or competing in the Boat Race that ended the marriage. And it wasn't even the accident, although our marriage was dealt a bad hand with that.

'As anybody who is married or has been married will know, break-ups are far more complex than anybody else [outside the marriage] really knows.

'There's this perception that I've left my family to go off to Cambridge, selfishly, but that's a little exaggerated. And while, yes, it may seem selfish, it also pays the bills.'

Beverley recently admitted she would have 'resented' James if she had taken his surname when when they got married in 2002.

The mother-of three said it was 'really important' to her not to take his name after first deciding her 'feminist' principles when she was studying English and the 'stigma of language' at university.

Her happy place: The TV and radio star has been dating eco-property developer James Pritchett, 32, for nearly a year (pictured last year)

In a new podcast with Ben Fogle's wife Marina, called As Good As It Gets, Beverley, said: 'I didn't [change my name]. It was really important to me.

'I probably cemented the idea [that I was going to stay Turner] when I was doing English at uni and talking about the stigma of language.

'And over the years, if we raided a country, in terms of colonialism, the first thing we do is try to take someone's language and disempower them by taking it away.

'For me, I was always conscious of words and the importance of words and what that means to you.

Sweet: 'I had such judgment about age-gap relationships before this, but I cannot see any disadvantage to it', the loved-up star previously shared (pictured last year)

'I felt like I was a Turner. I am a Turner and I will always be a Turner. I think it was also a feminist thing.

'I felt like it was in the Victorian era that you should change your name. In fact, when I got married, 20 years ago, James said, 'I wouldn't change my name for Bev, so why should she change her name for me?''

The TV and radio star has been dating eco-property developer James Pritchett, 32, for nearly a year.

Beverley previously said of her romance: 'I had such judgment about age-gap relationships before this.'

The writer added to the Daily Mail: 'I would look at an older man with a younger woman and roll my eyes, but now I can completely see what they were doing. I cannot see any disadvantage to it.'

A group of five teenagers have been rushed to hospital after the car they were in smashed into a tree on Sunday night.

The four 16-year-old girls and the 18-year-old driver were treated by paramedics after the Ford Focus they were travelling in went off the road just after 11pm in Brisbane's north.

The male driver and one of the girls remain in hospital in critical conditions after the crash on a corner of Old North Road, Brendale, Queensland police said.

A Ford Focus with a male driver, 18, and four teenage girl passengers went off the road at a corner of Old North Road in Brendale (pictured) about 11pm on Sunday

The other three teenagers were treated in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Officers investigating the accident said no other vehicles were involved in the crash though inquiries are ongoing.

Police are asking anyone who witnessed the crash or who might have dashcam footage to contact them.
An innocent man wrongly accused of attacking the home of a UDA drug baron has been told he has 24 hours to leave the country or risk being shot.

The threat from "criminal elements" was passed to Wayne Hill and his older sister Martine last Tuesday.

It came after he was falsely blamed by convicted extortionist Dee Coleman of throwing a paintbomb at his house on Hopewell Crescent in the Shankill area of Belfast.

The attack which was captured on CCTV cameras positioned around the property was, in fact, sanctioned by UVF leaders who are angry that Coleman was given one of its guns as payment for drugs.

The weapon was handed to him by a cocaine addict UVF member who had run up a 2,000 debt to the 35-year-old.

The terror gang has since told Coleman that he will be shot if the gun is not returned, with the attack on his home and graffiti to that effect serving as a warning.

But rather than take on the UVF, Coleman preferred to blame innocent Wayne Hill on throwing paint at his house. This drew a furious response from the 21-year-old's sister Martine who branded Coleman an "evil, sick, twisted man".

She also accused him of using his convicted cocaine dealer brother Gary 'Goof' Coleman to pass on threats to her family, which included cutting Wayne's tongue out. Within days of this the PSNI were at Martine and Wayne's door to warn them they are under threat.

An official TM1 message the family shared on social media states: "Criminal elements have given Wayne Hill and Martine Hill of Shankill Road 24 hours to leave the country orthey will be shot."

Fearing violence, heavily-armed officers from the Paramilitary Crime Taskforce raided Dee Coleman's home last Wednesday.

He appeared in court the following day charged with a raft of offences including breaching a terrorism notification order, dealing cocaine and cannabis, possessing criminal property, and assaulting police. Coleman was bailed on condition he does not enter the greater Belfast area.

While he was in court Wayne and Martine Hill's mum Liz Ashe warned the UDA man to leave her family alone.

In a video widely shared on social media, she said: "Dee Coleman and his skinny rat of a brother stopped my son on the street and went through his phone.

"Who do you think you are bully-boys? Cause you wouldn't bully (name withheld) you cowardly b******s."

Loyalist sources say Coleman's targeting of the Hills has backfired spectacularly as the family has strong support on the Shankill. It also led directly to his arrest last Wednesday and appearance in court the following day on drug dealing charges.

A prosecutor alleged that a phone found in Coleman's possession contained videos showing kilos of cocaine for sale under the title 'Dee's Labs'.

Sunday Life understands he told detectives that the 'Dee' referred to in the recording is David 'Dee' Jenkins, another convicted dealer who is facing new drug charges having been arrested in an earlier Paramilitary Crime Taskforce raid.

Having Coleman off the streets comes as a huge relief to the West Belfast UDA who have long viewed him as violent and unpredictable.

Knowing that he is in possession of a UVF handgun, its Shankill leaders were worried he could turn the weapon on them.

UDA bosses are right to be worried as Coleman has a long history of violence and in 2000, aged just 14, was jailed for his role in a UDA gun attack on UVF supporters in the Rex Bar.

He is not long out of prison after serving an 18-month sentence for UDA membership, and was previously behind bars for extortion.

At one stage Coleman was second-in-command of the terror gang's 'C Company' Lower Shankill unit, but lost that position while behind bars.

Since being freed last October, and paying a 10,000 'fine' to the UDA, he has concentrated solely on drugs.

Coleman supplies dozens of dealers across Belfast including several in nationalist areas like Ardoyne and Divis.

cbarnes@sundaylife.co.uk
As the credit union system continues to manage the challenges of COVID-19, Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is pleased to welcome Scott Gottlieb, M.D., former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, to its annual CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC), March 2-4. This session is sponsored by Podium.

Dr. Gottlieb, who led the FDA from 2017-2019, has helped create a phased roadmap for navigating COVID-19 and has been a frequent media resource on pandemic-related topics. His presentation will include his insights on how healthcare policies drive innovation, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, and the impact of vaccine access on credit unions frontline staff.

During Dr. Gottliebs tenure with the FDA, the agency made critical strides in a variety of areas including gene therapies, cell-based regenerative medicine and digital health devices. His policy priorities included reducing tobacco-related deaths and disease, improving food safety and confronting the addiction crisis.

Before heading the FDA, Dr. Gottlieb was the agencys Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and previously served as Senior Advisor to the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He is widely published in medical journals and has been honored by Fortune Magazine, Modern Healthcare, and Time magazine for his leadership in healthcare.
Two foreign old monarchs in battle did join/ Each wanted their head on the back of a coin/ If the Irish had sense theyd drown both in the Boyne/ And Partition throw into the ocean.

If youre old enough to remember the Ludlows belting version of The Sea Around Us being number one in the hit parade in 1966, then youre old enough to also remember it ceased to be a bit of fun just two years later when the North just exploded into a sea of violence.

The writer Dominic Behan, younger brother of the much-loved and dreaded Brendan, penned it and literally hundreds of other popular ballads like McAlpines Fusiliers, without which so many late-night sing-songs would be vastly duller. But then theres the craic and theres also political reality  and if only we could throw partition into the ocean.

If we have learned anything from the Centenary of Commemorations, we have certainly learned the years 1913-1923 were years of profound change happening at a hurtling pace. By comparison very little happened in the years of atrophy from the late 1920s until the 1960s.

But commemorating that hurtling decade of change has so far been easy with 2020 throwing up some popular history dream episodes like the murder of Kevin Barry, the tragedies of Lord Mayors of Cork MacCurtain and MacSwiney, the great atrocity of the burning of Cork city, the killings of British intelligence agents in Dublin and the follow-on massacre of Bloody Sunday at Croke Park, along with the heroism at the Kilmichael Ambush.

Granted, 1921 was also packed with action and IRA derring-do. There was the Dromkeen ambush in February 1921, close to where this writer grew up and which gave a much-needed morale booster to the Limerick rebels, who are always the best. There was military success at the Crossbarry ambush, between Bandon and Cork city in March 1921, in what was rated the nearest thing to conventional war in a definitive guerrilla conflict which was studied for decades after internationally.

But these and other bloody encounters had far more to do with psychological and propaganda wars. Big picture, this centenary year 2021 is really about recalling Truce, Treaty and Split, giving us a prelude to Civil War, along with the reality of the creation of Northern Ireland and partition which has dogged this island.

If anyone wants to contest that pop history view of things, we can give you the name of Frank Flood. The 19-year-old UCD engineering student was hanged in Mountjoy Jail in March 1921.

He was a great friend of Kevin Barry. But you never hear anyone murdering The Ballad of Frank Flood after closing time. In fact his remains and those of another nine other IRA rebels remained buried in Mountjoy until 2001.

It poses that great recurring question: Why do we remember and give retrospective stardom to some who have fallen while others rate, at best a footnote, in spite of heroism which was at least comparable to those who were iconised?

But all of that is for another day. Key point here is that 1921-2021 commemorations bring pretty ropey stuff with loads of potential for divisiveness and acrimony. It will test our collective capacity for stand-back reflection and call for a deal of generosity in our thinking.

Can we do this? Yes, certainly we can  provided we want to do such things.

Lets recall that this very time last year, we were delivered the botch which was an attempt to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police.

Granted, the planning of this commemoration was flawed and poorly thought-out. But this writer has sat side by side in debate with opponents of this commemoration who have frankly confessed they would not have it any way it was to be done. They want a selective view of history in public discourse and commemorations where history fuses with politics.

These opponents evoked rhetoric about the DMPs actions in the 1913 Dublin Lockout and the RICs role in backing up evictions in the Land War. These are valid arguments in themselves.

But the story of our first legitimate police forces is more complex and nuanced and they formed a template for An Garda Siochana which became a cornerstone of the new independent state. That response to a proposed commemoration lacked generosity of spirit and was of itself poorly thought-out. The noise that followed meant the commemoration was abandoned rather peremptorily. It all reeked of the bad history which has held us back for too long.

That episode does not bode well for how we are going in this centenary year 2021 to engage with recalling the prelude to a bitter Civil War, which killed far more people than the War of Independence, and the foundation of Northern Ireland.

This has an every-day importance far from the halls of academe or the middle-brow history buffs like this one. Soon our politics are very likely to intersect with our century of history.

Brexit has opened many new options  including the prospect of partition not exactly being thrown into the ocean but perhaps being realigned into the middle of the Irish Sea. Watch Scotlands home-rule parliament elections next May because another victory for Nicola Sturgeons party may well increase the prospect of the country ending its 300-year-plus alignment with England and Wales. That would have a huge impact on Northern Ireland.

But people who claim Irish unity is the centrepiece of their political world have to think more seriously. This is not about the colour of the pillar boxes be they red or green. It is about people finding a way of living together.

In Covid times this is all a chance to reflect with greater generosity on our past in a way which can help craft a far better future together.
White House chief of staff said on Sunday that President Joe Biden's plan for 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days is 'ambitious', and Dr Anthony Fauci agreed that it's a 'reasonable' but 'challenging' goal.

During an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Ron Klain said Biden's goal is only his first and not his final one as it relates to getting doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to into the arms of Americans.

'One-hundred million shots is a bold, ambitious goal, but we need to keep going after that. That is our first goal, it's not our final goal, it's not the endpoint, it's just a metric the American people can watch and measure how we are doing,' Klain said.

So far, more than 22.4 million shots have been administered across the US. *Over the last week, daily doses averaged about 1.1 million per day.

Klain revealed in the interview that a plan for distributing the vaccine, particularly beyond nursing homes and hospitals, 'did not really exist when we came into the White House'.

White House chief of staff, Ron Klain (pictured), said President Joe Biden's plan for 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days is 'ambitious', but it's not the final goal

He also said that the Biden administration will be tackling three major needs: 'We need more vaccine, we need more vaccinators, we need more vaccination sites.'

'We are going to set up these federal vaccination centers to make sure that in states that don't have enough vaccination sites, we fill those gaps. We're going to work closely with the manufacturers to ramp up production.'

'We're going to use all the powers we have in the White House,' Klain added. 'We are going to work with Congress to get more funding to also accelerate this, so we can improve the rate at which we are vaccinating people.'

Meanwhile, Dr Fauci was also interviews on Sunday when he appeared on Face the Nation.

During the interview, Fauci agreed that administering 100 million doses in the first 100 days is 'going to be a challenge'.

'I think it was a reasonable goal that was set, we always want to do better than the goal you set, but it is really a floor and not a ceiling,' he said.

Fauci then broke that down a bit further, saying that the 100 million comes down to the people 'who will have gotten two doses and then some that are still on their first dose'.

'When you add them all up and you look at shots, it's 100 million shots in the arms of people within the first 100 days,' he added.

Fauci continued: 'If you look forward with the challenges that we will be having, getting it out into the community that is not easily accessible, getting it to people that are not uniform in the sense of being health care providers or people in nursing home, I still think that challenge is really  it's going to be a floor, not a ceiling. It's not going to be easy to do that.'

'We've got to vaccinate as many people as we possibly can as quickly as we possibly can,' he said on Face the Nation.

Meanwhile, Dr Fauci (pictured) agreed that administering 100 million doses in the first 100 days is 'going to be a challenge'. 'I think it was a reasonable goal that was set, we always want to do better than the goal you set, but it is really a floor and not a ceiling,' he said

Their remarks came on the same day that the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the agency is stepping up its efforts to track coronavirus mutations to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines and treatments stay ahead of new variants of the disease until collective immunity is achieved.

Dr Rochelle Walensky spoke about implications posed by the rapidly evolving virus during a Fox News Sunday interview as the number of Americans known to have been infected surpassed 25 million, with more than 418,000 dead, just over a year after the first US case of COVID-19 was documented.

Walensky, who took over as CDC director last Wednesday, the day Biden was sworn in, also said the greatest immediate culprit for sluggish vaccine distribution is a supply crunch worsened by inventory confusion inherited from the Trump administration.

'The fact that we don't know today, five days into this administration, and weeks into planning, how much vaccine we have just gives you a sense of the challenges we've been left with,' she told Fox News Sunday.

Biden's transition team was largely excluded from the government's vaccine rollout deliberations for weeks after his election as then-President Donald Trump refused to concede defeat and allow the incoming administration access to information needed to prepare to govern.

Walensky said she was confident the government would soon resolve supply questions, and go on to dramatically expand vaccine production and distribution by late March.

There have been more than 25 million cases of the virus reported in the US since the start of the pandemic last year

Uncertainty over immediate supplies, however, will hinder efforts at the state and local levels to plan ahead for how many vaccination sites, personnel and appointments to set up in the meantime, exacerbating shortages in the short term, she said.

Vaccination has become ever more critical with the recent emergence of several coronavirus variants believed to be more transmissible, and in the case of one strain first detected in Britain, possibly more lethal.

'We are now scaling up both our surveillance of these and our study of these,' Walensky said, adding that the CDC was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and even the Pentagon.

The object, she said, is to monitor 'the impact of these variants on vaccines, as well as on our therapeutics,' as the virus continues to mutate while it spreads.

Until vaccines can provide 'herd' immunity in the population, mask-wearing and social distancing remain vital to 'decrease the amount of virus that is circulating, and therefore, decrease the amount of variants that are out there,' Walensky said.

Although British officials on Friday warned that the so-called UK variant of the coronavirus, already detected in at least 20 US states, was associated with a higher level of mortality, scientists have said existing vaccines still appeared to be effective against it.

They worry, however, that a more contagious South African variant may reduce the efficacy of current vaccines and shows resistance to three antibody therapeutics developed for treating COVID-19 patients.

Similarities between the South African variant and another identified in Brazil suggest the Brazilian variety may likewise resist antibody treatment.

'We're in a race against these variants,' said Vivek Murthy, nominated by Biden to become the next U.S. surgeon general, on ABC's 'This Week' program on Sunday.

Fauci said in late December he was optimistic the US could achieve enough collective immunity to COVID to regain 'some semblance of normality' by the fall of 2021.

But Murthy said getting to herd immunity before a new school year begins in September was 'an ambitious goal'.

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is in early-stage talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, a move that could see the company eventually exit from the high-end smartphone-making business. The talks between the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker and a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms have been going on for months, the people said, declining to be identified as the discussions were confidential. Huawei started to internally explore the possibility of selling the ...
LISBON, Portugal - Portugals president was returned to office for a second term with a resounding victory Sunday in an election held amid a devastating COVID-19 surge that has made the European country the worst in the world for cases and deaths.

A woman walks past a poster with the message "It's safe to vote" at a subway station in Lisbon, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. Portugal holds a presidential election on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 and the moderate incumbent candidate is widely seen as the sure winner. But an intriguing question for many Portuguese is how well a brash new populist challenger fares in the ballot. Mainstream populism is a novelty in Portugal. . (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

LISBON, Portugal - Portugals president was returned to office for a second term with a resounding victory Sunday in an election held amid a devastating COVID-19 surge that has made the European country the worst in the world for cases and deaths.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who had been widely expected to win, captured 61% of the vote.

Rebelo de Sousa, a centre-right moderate and former leader of Portugals Social Democratic Party, will serve a 5-year term that will be his last due to term limits.

He devoted most of his victory speech to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying his first thoughts went to its victims and promising to work for an economic recovery once it was over.

Portugal has the worlds highest rates of new daily infections and deaths per 100,000 population, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, and its public health system is being engulfed.

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Lisbon, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. Portugal holds a presidential election Sunday, choosing a head of state to serve a five-year term. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Everything starts with the battle against the pandemic," Rebelo de Sousa said.

Socialist candidate Ana Gomes came second with 13% but close behind in third was Andre Ventura, a newly arrived right-wing populist whose 12% was a stunning development. Such a showing for Ventura would have been unthinkable until recently and will send a shudder through Portuguese politics.

Four other candidates ran for head of state.

A woman walks past election campaign posters for presidential candidate Ana Gomes, in Lisbon, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021.Portugal holds a presidential election on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 and the moderate incumbent candidate is widely seen as the sure winner. But an intriguing question for many Portuguese is how well a brash new populist challenger fares in the ballot. Mainstream populism is a novelty in Portugal. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

One of the reelected presidents first tasks will be to decide next month whether to approve a new law allowing euthanasia. Parliament has passed the bill, but the head of state could try to block it or send it to the constitutional Court for vetting.

The turnout was just shy of 40%  significantly lower than in recent elections and apparently confirming concerns that some people would stay away for fear of becoming infected with COVID-19. Political leaders said that when the pandemic began to worsen there was no longer enough time to change the Portuguese Constitution to allow the elections postponement.

Rebelo de Sousa, 72, was long viewed as the front-runner. He is an affable law professor and former television personality who as president has consistently had an approval rating of 60% or more. He collected more votes Sunday than in his 2016 victory.

Portuguese President, and candidate for reelection, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, center left, talks with a local councilman outside a polling station after voting in Celorico de Basto, northern Portugal, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. Portugal holds a presidential election Sunday, choosing a head of state to serve a five-year term. (AP Photo/Luis Vieira)

Rebelo de Sousa has worked closely with the centre-left minority Socialist government, supporting its pandemic efforts.

He also has endeared himself to the Portuguese with his easygoing style. Photographs taken by passers-by of him in public places, such as one last year of him standing in line at a supermarket wearing sneakers and shorts, routinely go viral.

With the country in lockdown, the election campaign featured none of the usual flag-waving rallies but restrictions on movement were lifted for polling day.

Authorities increased the number of polling stations and allowed for early voting to reduce crowding on election day. In other precautions, voters were asked to bring their own pens and disinfectant to polling stations. Everyone voting wore a mask and kept a safe distance from each other.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa, in a tweet, urged people to turn out for the ballot, saying that unprecedented planning had gone into ensuring that the vote could take place safely.

Portugal has 10.8 million registered voters, around 1.5 million of them living abroad.

Every Portuguese president since 1976, when universal suffrage was introduced following the departure of a dictatorship, has been returned for a second term. No woman or member of an ethnic minority has ever held the post.
Main opposition People Power Party Rep. Cho Tae-yong speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office at the National Assembly, Seoul, Jan. 18. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Seoul, Washington urged to strengthen military alliance, strategic partnership to deal with security threats in region



By Jung Da-min



Many experts say that U.S. President Joe Biden, who took office Jan. 20 (local time), will want to focus on domestic issues such as overcoming divisions among the American people or fighting the COVID-19 pandemic before paying attention to diplomatic tasks.



But the new president will immediately face diplomatic tasks considering the U.S.' position on the international stage as a leading democratic country with multiple ties to other nations, according to Rep. Cho Tae-yong of the main opposition People Power Party. Cho previously served as vice foreign minister and deputy national security adviser for former President Park Geun-hye and is now a member of both the National Assembly's foreign affairs and unification, and intelligence committees.



According to Cho, the diplomatic tasks facing Biden include dealing with conflict with Iran over financial sanctions, clarifying its stance in mediating conflicts among Middle Eastern countries and coping with the intensifying rivalry with China.



Cho said the North Korea issue may be pushed down Biden's priority list, but there is still a positive side for the South Korean government in that working-level officials with the new administration are diplomatic veterans with experience in handling the North Korea issue.



"Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has knowledge of both Iran and North Korea. And Kurt Campbell, Biden's nominee for a newly created position as senior official for Asia policy, dubbed the Asia Czar, is a veteran diplomat whose interests include not only U.S.-China relations but also North Korea related issues," Cho said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office, Jan. 18. "With such a lineup of veteran diplomats, I expect it will not take long for the Biden administration to establish a North Korea policy."





U.S. President Joe Biden, right, speaks about the COVID-19 response as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris looks on before signing executive orders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 21 (local time). AFP-Yonhap

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FARMINGTON  Khaled Assi wanted to provide a healthier food option for those tired of the monotony of eating cheeseburgers and other fast food items, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thats why hes launching his new Mediterranean restaurant, Olive Tree, in downtown Farmington  featuring popular Middle Eastern dishes like hummus, shawarma beef, shish kabobs, a spiced chickpea light meal called falafel and a sweet cheese dessert called kunafa.

A lot of people, theyre excited to have Mediterranean food here in town, Assi said. The taste is the most important thing. The taste of the Mediterranean food, thats different.

Assi also said his research suggested there are people in town who describe themselves as vegetarians, and that having vegetarian items as well as grilled meats will further accommodate that crowd.

Assi, whos originally from Jerusalem and previously owned a similar Mediterranean restaurant in Gallup, said he first planned to open Olive Tree last February, but had to postpone those plans because of the pandemic.

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Olive Tree is located directly across from Artifacts Gallery.

For the time being, Assi said his establishment will offer carryout services, including on DoorDash, due to the states indoor dining restrictions. For more information, call 505-278-8520.
A mechanic who behaved like the 'Incredible Hulk' after taking turbo-charged LSD nicknamed the 'N-Bomb' was jailed for life today after beating his wife and a pensioner to death with a walking stick while believing he was God and wearing only his pants.

Daniel Appleton, 38, was convicted of murdering Amy Appleton, 32, and passer-by Sandra Seagrave, 76, on the driveway outside his home in Crawley Down, West Sussex, and was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years in prison at Lewes Crown Court.

Appleton had denied murder claiming he had suffered a psychotic episode and insisted he had only ever taken drugs on his stag do years earlier. But the jury agreed he was lying after traces of N-Bomb, a highly potent and toxic synthetic version of LSD, were found on his hair and nails.

Sentencing Appleton this morning, judge Mr Justice Nicholas Hilliard QC told him that this was 'not a case of insanity'. He added: 'I sentence you on the basis that you took a new psychoactive substance and under the influence of this committed these murders'.

On December 22 2019 Appleton was seen dragging his wife Amy, who he had married a year earlier, out of their home while screaming: 'I could murder you'. Witnesses said he was 'puffed up' and looked 'like the Incredible Hulk' as he attacked his spouse wearing only his underwear and ranting about being God.

He then bludgeoned Ms Seagrave to death with her own walking stick after she confronted him, before turning on his terrified wife and killing her with the same metal pole just days before Christmas.

Appleton then threw the crutch down before lifting his arms and shouting at the house saying: 'You all think I'm a f***ing nutcase, you all think I'm crazy, well I am going to show you, this is what I am.' One neighbour said it sounded like a 'victory speech'.

Daniel Appleton (pictured today) has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 26-and-a-half years for the murders of his wife and a pensioner days before Christmas 2019

Daniel Appleton, 38, had admitted killing but denied the murder in February. Pictured with his wife Amy Appleton on their wedding day in 2018. The court heard they were happily married

The loss of beloved schoolteacher Amy Appleton, 32, and brave passer-by Sandra Seagrave, 76, who rushed to her aid, shocked the small village of Crawley Down, West Sussex

Last December a jury at Lewes Crown Court in Hove convicted Appleton of murder after deciding he was in the grip of a psychotic episode after taking LSD, a hallucinogenic drug

His 365 days spent on remand will be deducted from the minimum term of 26 years, the court was told

The incident took place outside the couple's 370,000 suburban home in Crawley, West Sussex

What turned suburban Mr Sensible into a murderous Incredible Hulk? Appleton denied murder, claiming he had suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown, which triggered a psychotic episode. But the prosecution insisted that he was high on drugs. After tests for commonly abused narcotics came back negative, hair and nail samples were sent to a laboratory in France. Traces of a substance called 25i-NBOMe were found. Known as N-Bomb, the drug is a highly potent synthetic version of LSD, so toxic that it requires a filter mask, gloves and glasses to even handle it. It can cause hallucinations, unpredictable distortions of the senses and feelings of paranoia  and has been linked to a number of deaths. Appleton denied taking any drugs, saying he had only done so on a stag do years before. When he came round after two weeks in intensive care, police were hoping he would at least be able to offer some explanation for his appalling actions. A happily married 'Mr Sensible', he ran a successful garage business with his best man. On the night prior to the incident he had been out in London with friends but stuck to soft drinks. Even for members of the emergency services, the scene confronting them as they arrived at the Appletons' house a year ago was almost impossible to process. As Sgt Christopher Brakell observed what struck him on entering their clean and tidy semi-detached house on the day of the killings was how outwardly 'normal' everything appeared. Advertisement

He then went back into his house and tried to kill himself, stabbing himself at least five times in the chest with a large kitchen knife, cutting his neck and slashing his thighs in an attempt to cut the femoral arteries. But he was saved my paramedics.

After waking from a coma two weeks later Appleton admitted killing the two women but denied murder or consuming mind-altering drugs. He claimed instead he had suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown.

But traces of the drug were found in samples of his hair and nails with police believing he took it on a night out with his friends before the murders.

It appears he took a type of synthetic LSD called 25i-NBOMe. It can cause hallucinations, unpredictable distortions of the senses and feelings of paranoia  and has been linked to a number of deaths.

Known as N-Bomb, the drug is so toxic that it requires a filter mask, gloves and safety glasses to even handle it.

Following a seven-week trial, a jury at Lewes Crown Court in Hove convicted Appleton of murder last December after deciding he was in the grip of a psychotic episode after taking LSD, a powerful hallucinogenic drug.

A happily married 'Mr Sensible', Appleton ran a successful garage business and had no criminal record, nor a history of mental illness or substance abuse, before turning into the 'Incredible Hulk' on December 22, 2019.

Lewes Crown Court today heard the murders had 'devastated' the families of Ms Appleton and Ms Seagrave and had caused huge grief.

Appleton bowed his head in the dock and wept as his wife's mother Linda Remon described the 'uncontrollable distress and despair' her family have experienced.

In a statement read out in court, she said: 'One moment we were looking forward to a special Christmas and new year and the next our world came crashing down around us.

'Our lives were turned catastrophically upside down in the most dreadful way possible. Not only has this devastated family and friends but the lives of 30 children she was teaching at the time.

'Our initial response was one of total disbelief turning into uncontrollable distress and despair when reality set in.

'You can never imagine your whole life will change in such a way in a matter of seconds. One moment we were all looking forward to a special Christmas and New Year, the next our world came crashing down.'

Sentencing Appleton, Mr Justice Nicholas Hilliard QC told him that this was 'not a case of insanity'. He added: 'I sentence you on the basis that you took a new psychoactive substance and under the influence of this committed these murders.

'Anyone who takes new psychoactive substances, which are Class A drugs, is interfering with their own mental processes and responsible for the consequences.'

Appleton admitted killing both women but denied murder claiming it was the result of a psychotic episode.

He told the court he loved his wife 'more than she will ever know' and she loved him and the couple, who had recently returned from honeymoon, were planning on starting a family. He claimed he had no memory of horrific killings.

However the jury of seven men and five women rejected his claims and found him guilty of both murders.

Three psychiatric assessments considered Appleton to have experienced a brief psychotic episode with hypomanic symptoms at the time of the killings. Samples of his hair and nail clippings later revealed minute traces of a psychoactive substance similar to LSD.

An eyewitness said Appleton enjoyed what he had done, waving the crutch above his head as he stood over her lifeless body before shouting a victory speech to his neighbours.

He turned the same metal stick on his wife and bludgeoned her to death before trying to kill himself.

Appleton (pictured after his arrest) has admitted killing the two women but denied murder

Members of the public rushed to the aid of the two women but despite their best efforts, and those of emergency services attending the scene, both were pronounced dead.

Appleton told a jury his memory of the savage killings was like a videotape on fast forward.

Police found him naked in a pool of his own blood in the family kitchen.

The jury at Hove Trial Centre took two days to reach unanimous guilty verdicts on both murders.

Appleton blamed anxiety over starting a family and stress at work for the tragic events outside his home at Crawley Down near Gatwick just before Christmas last year.

Police investigating the matter spoke to a number of Mr Appleton's friends and family who said he had been acting strangely in the period leading up to the incident.

Witnesses at the scene described Mr Appleton's behaviour as agitated, angry and like he was possessed.

'You all think I'm crazy - well I am going to show you, this is what I am!' Witnesses described to the jury the moments surrounding the horrific murders. Neighbour, Ivonne Greenwell, was in her bedroom at around 10.15am on Saturday December 22 when she heard shouting. She could hear the defendant shouting: 'I've had f***ing enough of this! 'I'm f***ing done with this!' Ms Greenwell decided to dial 999 when she heard Appleton shout: 'I could murder you!' Neighbour Susan Kipps said she saw Appleton pacing the driveway naked, at around 1030am. She told police: 'I realised it was Daniel. 'He seemed very agitated and angry. 'He was sort of puffed up and behaving totally differently. His eyes weren't right. 'It was as though he had turned into the Incredible Hulk. 'He looked like he was on another planet, like he had lost the plot. 'He looked big, bold and scary.' Janet Spragg was out running with her dog when she saw Appleton beat Ms Seagrave with her walking stick. He grabbed the walking stick and jabbed the pensioner very forcefully into the very centre of her stomach with it, she said. Ms Spragg said: 'He knew I was there but it was almost like there was not a lot going on facially with him, his face was set. 'There was something almost possessed. 'I think he enjoyed it because he did it with such force and, it wasn't even anger, it wasn't a release but the way he did it you could see it made him feel good,' she said. Appleton threw the crutch down before lifting his arms and shouting at the house saying: 'You all think I'm a f***ing nutcase, you all think I'm crazy, well I am going to show you, this is what I am.' After brutally beating his wife to death, Appleton told neighbours who gathered outside his house: 'I know I've killed my wife and I know I am going to prison.' Advertisement

A forensic pharmacologist said Appleton's behaviour was likely to be as a result of (251) NBOMe - a highly potent synthetic version of LSD.

The jury determined that drug use was a factor in causing the psychotic episode which led to the deaths of the two victims.

Appleton, who had admitted taking drugs on a trip to Amsterdam in his 20s, told the jury his mental health started to collapse in the days leading up to his brutal assaults.

Phone records showed Appleton searched for information about magic mushrooms 11 days before the killings and traces of powerful synthetic hallucinogens were found in samples taken from him during his treatment and while he waited for trial in prison.

Nicholas Corsellis QC for the Crown asked him: 'Do you see the overall picture? The fact is there was drugs in your blood and you were searching on December 11 and you had taken them before?

'It's therefore a coincidence because you say your psychotic episode was brought on by stress at work.

'You say you are a self-absorbed person who overthinks things and this led you to commit such horrific, violent acts?'

Appleton said: 'Yes.'

During the second day of his evidence, Appleton offered an emotional apology to the families of the women he killed from the witness box.

Asked by his counsel, Lewis Power QC, how he felt about the deaths he said: 'I'm, I'm devastated. Absolutely devastated by what has happened.

'I don' know where, if they are here, or where they are, but I just want Amy's family to know that I'm devastated by what has happened and that I didn't mean to hurt anyone.

'Amy was very special to us all. She was loving and caring and she was just always so happy.

'Devastated for the loss of Mrs Seagrave and I can't bring myself to imagine the trauma that they have gone through and I'm so very sorry.

'I know sorry's not good enough but I haven't got words for any of this. It's so very tragic.'

A jury at Lewes Crown Court in Hove heard Appleton describe how he felt a deep attachment to his friends on a night out before he killed his wife and Mrs Seagrave.

He told the court he believed his friends were his guardian angels on the trip to London.

Appleton said he remembered his wife making a hysterical phone call to his parents as he lay silent and motionless on their sofa the night before he killed her.

The following morning he brought her a cup of tea in bed before his mood changed.

'I seem to remember being in the bedroom,' Appleton said. Amy was in bed and I said to her, 'tell me you love me and you wanna have kids with me' and I said that loud.'

He told his wife she had to go out into the street and tell the world she wanted to have his children.

Appleton said he believed he was being watched as he stood at his bedroom window. The couple went downstairs and Amy went outside, he said.

'I seem to remember going downstairs and her sort of slipping on her slippers. I was following her down the stairs.

'I believe she went to the front door and opened the door and going outside and shouting I love Daniel and I want to have kids with him.

Teacher Amy Appleton pictured at her graduation in 2010 with her husband Daniel Appleton

'A true character': Sandy Seagrave's family pay tribute after her killer is convicted A statement released by Sandy's family following the verdict said: 'Sandy was a lady of old-fashioned values who was a true character. 'She could be intensely private but would happily talk to anyone, and she would not turn away from a situation. 'She was very well known around Crawley Down walking her dog around the village. 'Even if people didn't know her name they still knew her by sight. She had many friends among her lovely neighbours who were always willing to lend her a helping hand if it was needed. 'We, her family, miss her so much and find it so hard to understand how this tragic event occurred. 'It has left a hole in our lives as big as her personality, as I am sure it has the community of Crawley Down. 'It may be a year since she was killed but the memory and pain we all felt then is still just as fresh today. 'Her tragic death is something that is almost impossible to come to terms with.' Advertisement

'I think I remember her shouting that. I shut the door and Amy tried to get back in.

'We were just to-ing and fro-wing at the front door and she said 'Why won't you let me in?'

'I remember her saying that. We were just pushing the door to and from each other.

'I remember going outside.

'I remember seeing Amy on the floor and thinking she was hurt.

'I don't remember going over to her. I just remember being outside and the car and Amy was there.

'I just remember being outside and I seem to remember people but I can't remember where.'

Appleton said he has no memory of Mrs Seagrave or her stick.

Following his merciless attack, Appleton tried to take his own life. He jumped out of the loft at before throwing himself down the stairs.

He used a large kitchen knife to stab himself five times in the chest, slashing both of his upper thighs attempting to cut arteries and cut his neck, head, calf muscle and forearm in what was described by the prosecution as the most determined suicide attempt.

During his arrest, Appleton continued ranting saying: 'I wanna f*** you so hard, you better get my wife here,

'I know I've only got a small willy.

'Amy get my car. Got to start my car. Make me hard, I wanna get out and f*** my wife.

'Fire up the Quattro!'

Appleton and his wife met when Ms she was 10 - she was best friends with Appleton's younger sister Kirsty - and they started dating when she was 16.

Having graduated from Brighton university, Ms Appleton studied to become a teacher and, in 2011, joined Copthorne Junior School in Crawley.

In 2008, Appleton, a skilled mechanic, launched a car repair business, AD Autotecnik, with his best friend Simon Davidson. The garage was doing well and making money.

'Never a day goes by that we don't miss and think of our beautiful, kind, caring daughter' Amy's family described her as a 'strong, positive person who always smiled'. In a statement issued after the verdict, they said: ' It has now been a year since we lost our wonderful Amy. 'Never a day goes by that we don't miss and think of our beautiful, kind, caring daughter, sister and step-sister. 'As time goes by it seems to get harder to understand how we lost her in such tragic circumstances and our family will struggle to move on. 'Amy will live on in our minds and in our hearts, and will always be missed by the many people, colleagues and school children that she knew and who loved her. 'We would like to take this opportunity to thank the police investigation team for their perseverance and hard work, together with Nicholas Corsellis and Kerry Broome, to get the justice that our Amy deserved.' Advertisement

In 2017, the couple bought a smart semi-detached home in Crawley Down for 370,000 and the following year married at a country house south of London.

Sandra Seagrave, 76, maintained an active lifestyle despite needing a stick after injuring her leg in 2018.

She was well known in the community and was often seen walking her dog.

Amy was found lying on the driveway. Mrs Seagrave was left lying in the street.

Appleton's father Gary said he was concerned about the behaviour of his son in the days leading up to the deaths, the court heard.

In a conversation with his mother, Marilyn Appleton, on December 22, Appleton said something amazing had happened.

He told his mother: 'I feel like I'm going to live forever. I feel like Jesus. I feel like God.'

Speaking after the verdict, Det Ch Insp Chris Friday of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, who led the investigation, said: 'This was a violent and unprovoked attack which claimed the lives of two well-loved women, and our thoughts at this time are with the families of both Amy Appleton and Sandy Seagrave.

'This has been a highly emotive and difficult case, but they have conducted themselves with bravery and dignity throughout.

'Mr Appleton turned on his wife that morning with no warning or cause, and attacked her on the driveway of their home. When Sandy confronted Mr Appleton in a bid to get him to stop, she too became a victim.

'I would like to thank everyone who supported the police investigation, including the witnesses who showed incredible bravery to help Amy and Sandy at the scene before emergency services arrived.

'Also to all the paramedics and police officers who attended and managed what was an extremely distressing scene.'
UK, Africa COVID-19 variants may be more deadly, officials warn

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Even as 195 cases of a variant of the coronavirus, which first emerged in Britain and is more lethal and contagious, have been found in 22 U.S. states, a separate variant from South Africa, though not identified in the United States yet, is causing more concerns among health officials, according to reports.

As of early Sunday, at least 72 cases of the U.K. variant had been detected in California; 50 in Florida; 22 in New York; six each in Colorado and Georgia; five in Minnesota; four each in Connecticut, Indiana and Maryland; three each in Michigan and Texas; two each in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Tennessee; and one each in Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming, a CDC map shows.

The actual number is likely to be higher, as the Washington Department of Health also announced Saturday that the U.K. variant, known as B.1.1.7, had been confirmed by DNA sequencing in two cases in Snohomish County, according to The Epoch Times, which added that the Oregon Health Authority has also confirmed two cases.

Some preliminary studies in the U.K. show the new variant may be between 30% to 40% deadlier than previous variants, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

We have been informed today that, in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variantthe variant that was first identified in London and the southeastmay be associated with a higher degree of mortality, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a televised news conference Friday.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said Saturday they are closely watching the U.K. variant. Federal authorities have warned it may become the dominant variant in the United States by as early as March, according to WSJ.

At the moment we are not alarmed about that, Collins said, according to Reuters. We are somewhat more concerned about a South African variant.

A study by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. showed that their vaccine successfully neutralized the U.K. variant. On Monday, Moderna said its vaccine appears to work against the South African strain but may be less effective. It is currently working on a booster shot against the African variant.

"As we seek to defeat the COVID-19 virus, which has created a worldwide pandemic, we believe it is imperative to be proactive as the virus evolves. We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine should be protective against these newly detected variants, Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement.

The South African variant has been found in 22 other countries, including Canada, China and Germany.

Data that is more conclusive on how vaccines perform against the new strains is awaited as human trials of COVID-19 vaccines are underway in South Africa and the U.K.

The United States has been hit the hardest by COVID-19, with nearly 25 million cases and 417,441 deaths by early Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Bancel, whose company's vaccine is one of two approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, said recently he believes the virus could be around forever.

We are going to live with this virus, we think, forever, he said during a panel discussion at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.
How do you kickstart a historically ambitious, multibillion-dollar housing development while the worlds economies remain paralyzed?

Thats the dilemma facing Concord after 2020, a year that not only dashed financial markets and upended everyday life across the Bay Area, but also wrecked this citys critical redevelopment project at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, a huge disused military facility that could be its only means of significantly expanding housing stock.

Concord is effectively built out, says Guy Bjerke, Concords director of community reuse planning. We're fooling around with some parcels downtown, and there is some ability to redevelop, but there isn't a lot of green field development going on. This base provides the best opportunity [to hit major housing goals].

Its perhaps the only opportunity.

Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images

The weapons station is a Superfund site, and efforts to clean up toxic leftovers from its decades of service as a munitions depot have lasted nearly 40 years. Even so, the city hopes to eventually create 13,000 new homes here (equivalent to 28% of the 46,500 homes Concord had in 2019), with a quarter of them priced as below-market-rate housing, plus 2,700 acres of parkland and 6 million square feet of commercial space.

Thats bigger than any other single Bay Area development  so big that its gravity would affect housing pressures across the entire region. And Concord needs those homes; the Association of Bay Area Governments estimates that in 2017 (still the latest year for which estimates are available) the city had met just 4% of its 2023 regional housing needs.

Omnipresent Miami-based developer Lennar, the same company overseeing San Franciscos Treasure Island and Hunters Point redevelopments, was supposed to build phase one of the project, a 500-acre proposal for 4,400 homes.

It was a deal years in the making  and months in unmaking, as last-minute negotiations between the developer and labor unions scuttled the whole thing. In March of 2020, days before life as we know it in the Bay Area froze over, the Concord City Council effectively voted to kibosh the Lennar agreement. It felt kind of like we were dating, and [going ahead] would have meant marriage, and the majority of the council felt like it wasnt working out, Concords Vice Mayor Dominic Aliano says.

The vote yielded outrage from housing hawks, but councilmembers felt the developer didnt care enough. Bill Whitney, CEO of the Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council, the union league negotiating with Lennar at the time, dismisses the company as a bunch of Miami suits. A Lennar spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images

This would have been controversial at the best of times, but 2020 turned out to be hardly the best of times. Although this puts Concord in a singular position right now, the larger problems the city faces are not necessarily unique. Lots of Bay Area cities, San Francisco included, are balancing their housing goals on a handful of megadevelopments. Just in San Francisco, major multi-phase projects amount to more than 30,000 planned homes.

But megadevelopments are an exercise in competing priorities. There is a real mismatch between what a local jurisdiction wants and what a developer wants, says Debra Ballinger, director of the East Bay housing advocacy group Monument Impact.

Cities look at massive projects like pinatas full of affordable housing and amenities; developers, on the other hand, are in it for market-rate homes and commercial spaces that pad their profits. When these goals conflict, the strain can sink a development  and a citys housing futures.

So if Concord in 2020 served as a regional example of how megadevelopment goes wrong, what can the city do in 2021 to right the ship again? In a November memo to the city, Bjerke noted that the financial risk is too great for the city to act as its own master developer. After consulting 15 different companies, Bjerke noted that many showed interest in the site and most viewed the pandemic as having a temporary impact on the market, but also that access to the scale of capital required [...] is somewhat limited right now and uncertainties can throw a scare into developer ambitions.

Housing advocates, still stung from last years breakdown, sound despondent about the future. My husband and I joke that we wont see anything in our lifetime, says Ballinger.

I don't think they would have walked away if theyd known the scale of the crisis brewing, says William Goodman, an organizer with the housing group Hope Solutions. There were jobs, there was housing, there was a lot of land; we had a pot of gold.

And some are still angry. It's inconceivable to me that a group of five council people can kill a project of regional significance with one vote, says an East Bay housing advocate who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of jeopardizing future work. (Granted in accordance with our ethics policy.) Now we have a soft market, and who would trust the city after this?

But the city and labor interests sound bullish, insisting that they can still deliver on the promise of 12,000-13,000 units, 25 percent affordable housing, and 100 percent union labor, even despite the downturn.

This is a 30-plus year project; time is on our side, says Whitney. What the economy is like right now matters relatively little for a decadeslong plan that assumed a recession would come along eventually, he argues. Even now he says he wouldnt go back to the Lennar deal.

Concord Mayor Tim McGallian calls the recession a stress test for potential new developers, and says that anyone scared off might not have been qualified to be master developer.

He remains confident on the housing numbers but does hedge that not everything from past plans may appear again down the line. We all went into this blind, he says. We asked for this huge laundry list of things, but nobody added column A to column B.

The recession has eased some of the pressures of the housing crisis this year, but if economies bounce back that letup wont last forever.
A medical worker in a booth takes nasal samples from a man at a coronavirus testing site in Seoul, Jan. 19, 2021. AP



South Korea confirmed nine more cases of contagious variants of the new coronavirus on Monday, bringing the variants' total caseload to 27, as health authorities remain vigilant against the possibility that highly transmissible new variants could spark another uptick in virus cases here.



The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the nine people were confirmed to have been inflected with the virus variants over the past week. Of them, four arrived in South Korea from Britain, three were from South Africa and two from Brazil.



Health authorities tracked people who came into contact with the patients, but there have been no more confirmed cases of the variants, the KDCA said.



The recent emergence of several COVID-19 mutations has complicated the global fight against the pandemic because they are more transmissible than the original one.






Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, the eldest child of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings has described him as a perfectionist In many ways, I think I experienced some dimensions of him by observing him in the public domain, but privately he was passionate about things he was a perfectionist, she stated.



Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, the eldest child of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings has described him as a perfectionist



In many ways, I think I experienced some dimensions of him by observing him in the public domain, but privately he was passionate about things he was a perfectionist, she stated.

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings, who was interacting with the Ghana News Agency during a vigil in honour of the late First President of the Fourth Republic, said her father was a perfectionist, who would pick on the strangest thing he observes so much.



I remember when he was at the Castle, he walked up the stairs, he just turned and asked me how many steps did you count? I didnt have an answer, but he had a way of bringing your attention to little details



She said the late former President had a sense of humour and that he was always cracking jokes, and, was purpose driven, practical and honest.



Dr Agyeman-Rawlings, also described her mother as a disciplinary, who always ensured the right thing was done.



The state vigil, held on Sunday at the Air Force Officers Mess in Accra, formed part of a four-day state funeral, which started on Sunday with a Requiem Mass at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in honour of the late former President.



In attendance at the vigil were; Mrs Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the wife of the late former President and their children, and Colonel Joshua Agbotui (retired), the Head of the late former Presidents family.



Dignitaries at vigil include; Air Marshall Michael Sampson-Oje, a former Chief of the Defence Staff; Air Vice Marshall (AVM) Issifu Sakib Kadri, a former Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) and AVM Frederick Bekoe, Air Officer, Special Duties, Jubilee House.



Others were; AVM Christian, Edem Kobla Dovlo, former Commandant, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC); Major General Francis Ofori, the Commandant of KAIPTC, Rear Admiral Moses Beik-Baffour, Commandant, GAFCSC, Dr Evans Agbeme Dzikum, Chief Director, Ministry of Defence; and Commission of Police (COP) Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the Director-General in-charge of Welfare at the Ghana Police Service, represented the Inspector General of Police (IGP).



The rest were; Mr Victor Gbeho, a former Ambassador, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC); Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, a former Minister of Defence; and Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, a former Minister of Defence.



Mr Fritz Baffour, a former Information Minister, who hosted the vigil described the late former President as a very good man.

Source: GNA









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2021-01-25

Maeci

The Foreign Ministry informs that, this morning, a vehicle of the Italian Embassy in Afghanistan was involved in an explosion caused by a makeshift bomb in Police District 4 of the capital Kabul.

No casualties have been reported and no Italian nationals were involved in the incident.
File image: CEC Sunil Arora

Indias Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said on January 24 that trials of the Election Commissions remote voting project would be conducted soon.

In a televised address on the eve of the National Voters Day, Arora chalked out ECs vision going forward.

Remote voting refers to enabling a voter to cast his or her franchise from any polling station in the country, not just the station or constituency the person is registered in. This is seen as an important programme as it would help lakhs of voters who live outside their home constituencies for work or education to vote.

Arora said that the Commission had already started a research project on remote voting using technology along with the Indian Institute of Technology  Madras, and other institutions and it has made good progress. He added that mock trials of this project would begin soon.

The chief election commissioner also said that another significant change was granting postal ballot facilities to overseas electors. The proposal is under active consideration of the Union Law Ministry, he added.

During the address, Arora also urged voters in poll-bound states of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to participate in the election exercise in large numbers. Assembly elections in these states and Union Territory are likely to happen in April-May.
The South Shore had budgeted $8 million a year, through 2026, to buy new rail cars. Cutting that to $3.5 million during that time will allow the South Shore to make improvements in other aspects of the railroad, Noland said.
A school principal accused of abusing girls at a Jewish school was extradited from Israel to Australia on Monday, ending a six-year legal battle to have her face justice.

Malka Leifer, now aged in her 50s, was flown out of Israel's Ben Gurion airport early Monday, hours before the transit hub shut due to coronavirus lockdowns.

She will go to Frankfurt and then on to Australia, Israeli media reported, where she will face 74 charges of child sex abuse relating to her time in charge of an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne.

Malka Leifer, a school principal wanted in Australia on 74 counts of child sex abuse, was extradited from Israel on Monday - ending a six-year legal battle

Leifer is accused of sexually assaulting several female pupils of the school during private religious lessons in the early-2000s.

Allegations against her first surfaced in 2008 when a former pupil confessed the abuse to her therapist, prompting other pupils to come forward.

Leifer was summoned to a meeting to discuss allegations made by eight separate girls at the school, which she denied.

But she fled the country just hours later, catching a late-night flight back to Israel where she settled with her husband and their eight children in the West Bank.

Australia filed an extradition request for Leifer in 2014, prompting authorities in the country to arrest her.

But she was released in 2016 after doctors ruled she was suffering panic attacks and was unfit to stand trial.

Leifer was then re-arrested in 2018 after images showed she was living a normal life - shopping and depositing a cheque at a bank - despite the official diagnosis.

Last May, Jerusalem district court justice Chana Lomp ruled that while Leifer had 'mental problems', they were 'not psychotic problems of mental illness as in its legal definition' and she was fit to stand trial.

Eight former pupils of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne accuse Leifer of abusing them during private religious lessons in the early 2000s

In December, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected her lawyers' final appeal against extradition in a strongly-worded judgement.

'More than six years have passed since a request was filed in the Jerusalem district court to declare the appellant extradited to Australia,' it wrote.

Since then, it said, 'there is no proceeding that the appellant has not taken' to prevent her extradition, including on grounds of mental illness.

Israeli daily Haaretz on Monday quoted the Zionist Federation of Australia's Jeremy Leibler as criticising the delay.

'That Leifer was allowed to escape justice for so long was a travesty', he said.

'While it's a relief that Israel's justice system has finally prevailed, the time and process that resulted in these delays are completely unacceptable.'

The legal wrangling caused some tensions between allies Israel and Australia, with Leifer's extradition being a central issue raised with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin during a visit to Australia last February.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / Sky Gold Corp. (TSX-V:SKYG)(OTC PINK:SRKZF) ("Sky Gold Corp." or the "Company") is pleased to report surface rock samples assay results from the prospecting and geological mapping activities on the Company's Mustang Property contiguous to the Queensway Gold Project, owned by New Found Gold Corp. ("New Found Gold").

In total 296 samples were taken over several targets on the Property. Sampling presented in this press release was conducted over approximately 1.25 kilometers of the Mustang (and parallel) zones with encouraging gold values over three prospective areas. Most samples comprised quartz veining, brecciation and silicification material, and quartz stockwork, with associated sulphides (pyrite, arsenopyrite, and sphalerite). Samples from other targets areas are being reviewed and the data compiled.

Mustang South

A total of 24 rock samples were collected across roughly northwest-southeast trending lines while prospecting and geologic mapping over the Mustang South portion of the Mustang Zone, with 16 samples averaging 2.68 grams gold per tonne (Au g/t) with a peak value of 12.14 Au g/t, with a range from 0.10 Au g/t to 12.14 Au g/t. Eight samples were collected east of the Mustang zone suggesting the presence of parallel mineralized zones. These samples averaged 1.05 Au g/t with a range from 0.44 Au g/t to 2.98 Au g/t.

Mustang South Target

Mustang South Target - Eastern Portion

Mustang Central

A total of 18 samples were taken over the Mustang Central portion of the Mustang Zone, averaging 1.31 Au g/t, with a range from 0.17 Au g/t to 3.42 Au g/t. Samples were taken across the width of the projected target zone, over a strike length of approximately 260 meters from the northeast to southwest extent.

Mustang and Piper North Zone

The northern portion of the Mustang and Piper zones were sampled with 16 on the Piper North Zone averaging 1.31 Au g/t, and six samples on the Mustang North Zone averaging 3.58 Au g/t, with range from 0.84 Au g/t to 10.30 Au g/t. Only one historic drill hole has been completed on the Piper North Zone and the recent sampling suggests continuity to the north-east.

Company President and CEO Mike England commented "These surface results confirm the significant gold values at surface and assist in designing the drill program to test the Mustang Zone at depth and along strike."

All of the Company's field activities are conducted under Federal and Provincial COVID-19 operating protocols and safety measures as required. Planet X Exploration Services Ltd.'s field crews, retained through Grassroots Prospecting, a local, Newfoundland-based prospect generation company, are undertaking all field and drill activities on the Company's Newfoundland properties.

All rock samples were secured delivered to Eastern Analytical Laboratory in Springdale, Newfoundland, for analysis, an ISO/IEC17025 accredited laboratory. QA/QC included the systematic insertion of certified standards and blanks. Samples were analyzed for the ICP-34 package (34 element 4 acid leach, ICP-OES finish) and the Fire Assay (30g) with AA finish. Eastern Analytical also provides its own internal QA/QC protocol of blanks, duplicates and standards in each work order, which is supplied to the Company.

SKY GOLD'S NEWFOUNDLAND PROJECTS

Virginia Property

The Virginia property comprises 100 hectares and is approximately 5.7 kilometres northeast of New Found Gold's drill hole NFGC-19-01 which intersected 92.86 Au g/t over 19 metres (see New Found Gold Corp. press release dated August 12, 2020). Historic results completed in the early 1990s by Manor Resources Ltd., reports two areas of mineralization (Zone A-2). One showing comprised quartz veining developed over a 35-metre-wide zone within sheared gabbro and graphitic shale (main shear) returning up to 8.7 Au g/t, and a second showing comprised a sheared gabbro returned a grab sample up to 109.6 Au g/t*.

Mustang Property

The recently expanded Mustang property comprises 1,625 hectares and is contiguous to New Found Gold's Queensway project and approximately five kilometres southwest of their discovery hole. The Mustang property hosts numerous gold prospects including the Mustang and Piper zones, on trend with New Found Gold Corp's current drill program, and the Road Breccia, Jasperoid, and Barite showings on the western portion of the property.

Gold mineralization was discovered at the Mustang zone in 1987 by Noranda Exploration Company Ltd., who completed geologic mapping, trenching and shallow (average 84 metres) diamond drilling (12 holes totaling 1,007.6 metres). Altius Resources Inc. ("Altius") completed diamond drilling over the Mustang zone in 1998 (10 holes, 1,197.6 meters). In late 2001 Altius held the current claim area, with the Mustang zone anchoring a major northeast-southwest structural feature of prospective geology covered by a larger property project known as the Mustang trend. Altius optioned the property to Barrick Gold Corp. who undertook reconnaissance exploration in 2002, resulting in the discovery of several new gold showings on the western portion of the property including the Road Breccia, Barite, and Jasperoid showings.

Highest surface gold values from the Mustang zone include up to 28 Au g/t over 0.8 metres, occur in dark grey hydrobreccia units, associated with higher arsenopyrite concentrations*. Selected diamond drill assay results from Noranda's drill program include 1.27 Au g/t over 11.3 metres, 0.67 Au g/t over 18.3 metres and 0.92 Au g/t over 9.0 metres*. The company is focused on confirming and extending these known mineral showings with the proposed diamond drill program.

*Gold values on adjacent properties in similar rocks, and assays based on historical work in surface sampling and drilling, are not representative of the mineralization on the property, and have not been verified and should not be relied upon.

Qualified Person

Catherine Fitzgerald, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, and Independent Director of Sky Gold, is the Qualified Person responsible for reviewing and approving the technical contents of this news release as they pertain to the Mustang and Virginia properties.

About Sky Gold Corp.

Sky Gold Corp. is a junior mineral exploration company engaged in acquiring and advancing mineral properties in Canada and the USA. In addition to the Company's Newfoundland properties, the Company also owns the Evening Star property, located 12 km southeast of Hawthorne, NV, which is prospective for gold mineralization and CRD (Carbonate Replacement Deposit) base and precious (silver and gold) mineralization.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Mike England"

Mike England, CEO & Director

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Tel. 1-604-683-3995

Toll Free. 1-888-845-4770

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward -looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at WWW.SEDAR.COM).

SOURCE: Sky Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/625670/Sky-Gold-Reports-Surface-Rock-Grab-Samples-Up-To-1214-Au-GT-From-The-Mustang-Project-Newfoundland
Untangling the vast global derivatives industry from Libor just got a bit easier.

The London interbank offered rate is hardwired into swaps and other contracts worth hundreds of trillions of dollars, but its slated to disappear in the not-too-distant future. If the move to replacement rates doesnt go smoothly, that could cause major discord in markets.

A fix that takes effect Monday eases that risk for a large swath of the market, although there are still many hurdles to overcome in the benchmark transition. A new protocol has been put into place that allows Libor to be yanked out automatically and another rate swapped into its place  provided counterparties accept legal terms governing the industry. And while it doesnt cover everyone, nearly 12,000 entities  including big banks like Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co.  have adopted this new method to obviate complicated negotiations with many trading partners.

For the health and safety of the market, its an important day, said Jason Granet, chief Libor transition officer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Every new derivative trade will have the appropriate Libor fallbacks. This is going to update the fallback language in millions and millions and millions of trades. The more information that comes into the market and the more clarity thats given, the better that is for a smoother overall transition.

Pivotal dollar Libor rates will likely live on until mid-2023, yet other Libors around the world may well expire at year-end.

Thats not the only Libor milestone set to be passed on Monday. At 5 p.m. London time, the benchmarks administrator will stop accepting feedback on its plan to extinguish the rate, setting the stage for an announcement, possibly within days, on when Libors around the world will end.

Analysts hope Mondays events collectively will help address one of the greatest challenges of the Libor transition: how to get something like $200 trillion of derivatives shifted over to replacement rates in time, when obvious catalysts to get things moving run in ever shorter supply.

The new International Swaps and Derivatives Association protocol will help firms that havent made arrangements for exiting Libor do so without much additional effort.

Having a fallback based on a clear, consistent and transparent methodology will significantly reduce the risk of market disruption if a key Ibor ceases to exist or Libor is deemed to be non-representative before transition efforts are complete, Scott OMalia, ISDAs chief executive officer, said in a press release.

Its a really efficient and sound way for counterparties to address the legacy population, said Tyler Wellensiek, a managing director in rates sales at Barclays. However, its very much a safety net, and its not the only piece of the puzzle by any means.

Complications

One of those other pieces is what to do about loans tied to Libor, since those arent covered by the ISDA framework. Parties to those deals will still have to manually hash out what to do when the rate expires.

There are still many unresolved complications in this space, and certainly plenty of open questions, said Padhraic Garvey, head of global debt and rates strategy at ING Groep NV. That includes how derivatives that have transitioned to fallback rates would behave relative to underlying loans, he added.

Help may be on the way to resolve some of these other issues. For instance, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo this month proposed legislation that would make it easier for Libor-linked contracts to move to another rate. A big section of the Libor market is governed by New York law.

Additionally, major derivatives clearinghouses LCH Ltd. and CME Group Inc. are floating plans to shift swaps worth more than $150 trillion off Libor in the weeks before the benchmark ends.

Libor Death

Focus is zeroing in when various Libor rates will expire, something ICE Benchmark Administration Ltd. is expected to clarify in the weeks ahead. Pivotal dollar Libor rates will likely live on until mid-2023, yet other Libors around the world may well expire at year-end.

This announcement would be the biggest deal in the Libor transition since 2017 and could result in huge moves in eurodollars, a key derivatives market thats tethered to the rate, said Priya Misra, head of global rates strategy at TD Securities in New York.

Thats because the news would trigger Libors fallback spread calculations  essentially a math equation that determines the rate on Libors replacement. Speculation on the timing of the announcement jolted the eurodollar market in December, as even a minor shift in the spread calculations could ripple across portfolios.

On the announcement itself, eurodollars expiring in September 2023 or beyond could move as much as five basis points, Misra said.

However the market responds, regulators may strengthen their resolve if another watershed transition moment passes with little change. While some headway has been made, average open interest in three-month futures on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate  the heir apparent for Libor in the U.S.  barely topped 5% that of eurodollar contracts last month.

For the last few years there was always this question, Will it be carrot or stick?' said Marcus Burnett, director of SOFR Academy, an education technology firm whose clients include banks, asset managers and law firms. We now know. The supervisory sector will start applying more pressure on the banks. Central banks in a number of markets around the world are also thinking about what penalties they could implement.

With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke, Stephen Spratt and Liz Capo McCormick.

Top Photo: Commuters cross London Bridge in view of skyscrapers in the City of London skyline in London, U.K., on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg.
NEW DELHI: The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has issued fresh notices to TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps to impose a permanent ban on these apps in India, a person aware of the development said.

The government is not satisfied with the response/explanation given by these companies. Hence, the ban for these 59 apps is permanent now," the person cited above said, adding that the noticed was issued last week.

In June, MeitY had banned 59 apps, including Bytedances TikTok, Alibabas UC Browser and Tencents WeChat, citing that they are engaged in activities, which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.

Thereafter, the government gave these companies an opportunity to explain their case regarding compliance to privacy and security requirements, before imposing a permanent ban. They were also asked to respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by the ministry. The apps were banned under section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

Over the last six months, the government banned another 208 Chinese apps. The ban was announced amid border tensions between India and China has refused to die down over the despite several rounds of negotiations at the diplomatic and military levels.

We are evaluating the notice and will respond to it as appropriate. TikTok was among the first companies to comply with the government of India directive issued on June 29, 2020. We continually strive to comply with local laws and regulations and do our best to address any concerns the government may have. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users remains to be our topmost priority," a TikTok spokesperson said.

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Political decisions in a global virus pandemic are all about the thing that didnt happen. This is a nightmare for professional politicians. No road to tarmac. No manhole to cover. No planning application to boost or support. No grant to announce in the local papers with a grand big cardboard cheque. Just Hobsons choice between bad and worse, left and right.

You closed my hotel. Johnny and Mary lost their jobs. This has happened. All over the country. Youre going to implement airport quarantine, my sister wont get back for my fathers funeral. This will happen, all over the country.

Every time our Government implements Covid suppression and containment measures we feel it and see it. And we only point to the thing that is happening. But we are not good at identifying the thing that didnt happen. Thats not half good enough. Our politicians arent parents. We arent children. Its time we all grew up and buckle down. Its time we appreciated the fact that our political system isnt plagued by populists and its time we stopped being hypocrites.

Michael Deasy

Carrigart

Co Donegal

Government messing with tactics

Belatedly and bewilderingly, the Government is just now beginning to take a serious look at incoming visitors in terms of authentic anti-virus safety measures. Its only taken over 10 months to try to address the screamingly obvious.

The Government is only now beginning to take a serious look at incoming visitors.

What were they thinking about, with the almost voluntary approach to incomers doing the right thing by self-isolating, etc?

They insult us all by blithely quoting the alternative Belfast conduit for entry to the Republic, so therefore whats the point in trying to implement an enforceable quarantine process. Bah and duh! The logic of that defeatist camouflage is both sham and shoddy. Given the wonderful success of New Zealands diligent approach to matters quarantine, it was there for all to see the benefits. A minute fraction of cases and deaths, and now life there is back as near-normal.

Of course in this zone, the Government has some crazy form. They cancelled the rugby international with Italy last February, then proceeded to allow a couple of thousand Italian fans, direct from the Covid hotspot in the Lombardy region to arrive into swarm all over Dublin, ensuring we well and truly got a good virus load to start us off here. And of course, Cheltenham was another grotesque own-goal, that doesnt bear recalling.

Now with the virus 10 times more prevalent than early last month, and with a much more transmissible variant, theyre still messing about with all sorts of variations of their own for instance core challenges such as school re-openings. How could the schools possibly go back while the healthcare figures are so catastrophic?

Jim Cosgrove

Lismore

Co Waterford

Read More No transparency on who has been vaccinated, consultant warns

Work and the right to disconnect

Lockdowns have compelled a large number of people to work from home. That this arrangement may continue indefinitely is worrying. While it provides a false sense of freedom, home-working can also be isolating and stressful.

While it provides a false sense of freedom, home-working can also be isolating and stressful.

Human interaction has been shown, after all, to be satisfying from a social and business perspective. Consultations and chats with a colleague in the office, or over a cuppa, can often help solve problems that otherwise would take much longer to resolve via email or Zoom.

The widespread embrace of home-working may also prove to be imprudent, as it invariably involves some degree of remote employee surveillance. These ultra-modern facilities, already in use by many companies, are super-efficient. However, further types of monitoring apps are being perfected. It seems that transparency, freedom, and job satisfaction are in danger of being sacrificed at the altar of employers expectations, if common sense doesnt prevail. Workers are, after all, human beings not bots. Utilitarian-type supervision, in which work and results are evaluated in graphs and performance-charts, is menacing and distasteful. What is needed is some hybrid form of this home-working arrangement, one that would be more acceptable to many once the Covid-19 restrictions are eased, allowing employees extra freedom, satisfying employers with increased productivity but, most importantly, ensuring that both employers and employees enjoy the right to disconnect.

Margaret Humphreys

Blarney

Co Cork

Read More Calls for government to clarify what form Leaving Cert will take this year

Time to return a mediator favour

Maybe the time has come for Ireland to thank America for Senator George Mitchells efforts in Northern Ireland by helping to broker the Good Friday Agreement and offer to send a mediator over there. Who would we send?

Paul Power

Sutton Castle

Dublin 13

Businesses backed for right reasons

Baker Tilly ( Irish Examiner, January 21, 2021) suggests that the number of business failures has been kept artificially low by government Covid supports. Clearly, Baker Tilly believes the natural order is to let businesses fail without support.

Even in normal times that would be an excellent example of the ideological assumptions that lie behind much business analysis which likes to pretend its objective and even scientific. In these Covid crisis times, it is nothing less than nonsense. Businesses that are affected by Covid restrictions are being supported because they were viable before Covid and because they will be viable again post-Covid. There would nothing natural in allowing them to fail, just ideologically driven folly dressed up as natural law.

Brendan Ryan

Montenotte

Cork

Why no apology from archbishop?

On Wednesday, January 13, last the Taoiseach Micheal Martin apologised on behalf of the Irish State for the harm it did to the survivors of mother and baby homes. But the Taoiseach in his same address also stated most properly that these same survivors had done nothing wrong.

Archbishop Eamon Martin.

But on RTE Radio 1s This Week programme on January 17, the Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, failed to follow the good example that the Taoiseach set by also simply stating that these survivors had done nothing wrong. One wonders why?

Sean OBrien

Kilrush

Co Clare

Read More Letters to the editor: Abuse not exclusive to Catholic institutions

Time to ground Shannon stopover

Irish people scattered around the world welcome the transition in the USA to Irish-American President Joe Biden. However, Ireland is not the 51st state of the USA, or another one of its occupied territories. We are an independent sovereign country.

We represent just 0.07% of the population of Planet Earth. We can never be a military power, and if we align ourselves with foreign military powers, all our soldiers will ever be is cannon fodder or mercenaries, War dogs hungry and grey, Gnawing a naked bone, Fighters in every clime, For every cause but our own. These are the words of Emily Lawless in her poem Clare Coast 1710.

If President Joe Biden wishes to show his love and respect for the country of his forebearers, he will direct the US military to cease using Shannon airport.

That same Clare coast at Shannon airport has seen Irish sovereignty, independence and neutrality compromised severely since 2001 by the wholly unnecessary transit of over 1m armed US soldiers on their way to and from US wars in the Middle East. If President Joe Biden wishes to show his love and respect for the country of his forebearers, he will direct the US military to cease using Shannon airport. Irish American ties and friendship are as deep as the Atlantic that separates us. Now is the time to repair and restore that friendship and kinship.

Edward Horgan

Castletroy

Limerick

Read More Almost 66,000 US troops pass through Shannon Airport in 2020

Lockdowns: Lets talk about strategy

Much has been written about The Emergency in Ireland where a somewhat unneutral neutral Free State isolated itself from a world war. Censorship was the order of the day.

Fast forward 80 years and while the Ireland of today is far more globally connected, its media and press are rather homogeneous to the point of practically being self-censored. Eamon de Valera would be proud.

Where are the dissenting voices questioning the efficacy of coronavirus-containment lockdowns?

The current measures may indeed be the best way forward  history will probably be a better judge of that  but at least we should be having open discussions about alternatives, not ignoring those who espouse a different strategy. To borrow from the rebel song, Irelands on the one road, it may the wrong road (and perhaps is), but were together now who cares.

Who cares indeed? Not many it appears.

Brendan Corrigan

Bogota, Colombia
The processes that have recently been taking place worldwide indicate the beginning of a radical transformation of the global security environment, Zelensky said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the country has learned how to contain and resist external threats.

The president made the statement during a meeting with officers of the Foreign Intelligence Service to mark their professional holiday, according to the president's press service.

Zelensky congratulated officers on their professional holiday.

The first foreign intelligence unit of the Ukrainian People's Republic was created on January 24, 1919. Zelensky noted today, like 100 years ago, the work of foreign intelligence is extremely important for the national security of the state, its unity and independence.

"Today we have no right to repeat the mistakes of a century ago. This means we must work beyond our capabilities," the president said.

The processes that have recently been taking place around the globe indicate the beginning of a radical transformation of the global security environment, he said.

"We have learned how to contain and resist external threats. It's time to move on to more ambitious actions and be more proactive, defending the national interests of our state," Zelensky said.

Read alsoRussia turning Crimea into nuclear military base: Intelligence "White Paper"According to him, one of the first steps on this path may be the formation of a "security alliance" among partner countries.

"You have the experience and the capacity to make it happen. Moreover, 'influence operations' are one of the key forms of intelligence work," the president said.

Zelensky stressed the Foreign Intelligence Service should on a daily basis strengthen its strategic and operational components, analytical activities, and quality of intelligence, introduce new approaches and practices of the world's leading intelligence agencies.

"I appreciate your dedication to your duty and dedication to your oath, perseverance and patriotism in performing your tasks. And I am sure you can bring our intelligence to a new, higher level," Zelensky said.

The president presented the officers of the Foreign Intelligence Service with state awards and housing certificates.

Reporting by UNIAN
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Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, on Monday, reacted to the clash between soldiers and operatives of the Eastern Security Networ...

Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, on Monday, reacted to the clash between soldiers and operatives of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, in Orlu area of Imo State.

Fani-Kayode said soldiers should be deployed against killer herdsmen and not ESN operatives.

A clash between ESN and soldiers had allegedly led to the death of one person while sours were wounded in Okporo, Orlu area of Imo State.

The clash was said to have occurred during a military operation in the community suspected to be the operational base of ESN.

ESN is a regional security outfit recently launched by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Reacting to the development, Fani-Kayode described the clash as unfortunate.

In a tweet, the former minister wrote: The clash between soldiers and members of ESN in Orlu, Imo State today has resulted in some deaths and this is unfortunate.

I call for restraint on both sides. The soldiers ought to be deployed against killer herdsmen and not ESN. When will Buhari learn? Chidera Agu, please stay safe.
Arkansas Bills Target 1619 Curriculum, Critical Race Theory in Public Schools

A pair of bills introduced in the Arkansas legislature last week would prohibit the use of public school funds to teach certain race-centered curricula.

The House Bill 1231 would restrict state funding from going to public schools that teach a curriculum based on the New York Times 1619 Project, which portrays the United States as an inherently racist nation founded upon slavery.

The 1619 curriculum, developed by Pulitzer Center, was embraced by many public school districts across the nation, notably in Chicago, Illinois; Buffalo, New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington.

Republican state Rep. Mark Lowery, who sponsored HB 1231, told Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that his bill is modeled after a U.S. Senate bill proposed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), which would prohibit the use of federal money to fund the teaching of the 1619 curriculum.

I think its appropriate and correct to present that information to students. What is not appropriate is being able to theorize, use, specifically, critical race theory, Lowery said.

Lowery also co-sponsored the House Bill 1218, which prohibits public schools and colleges from offering courses, events, and activities that promotes the division or resentment between groups of people based on race, gender, political affiliation, and social class. He said the bill is intended to free students from humiliating school programs that use critical race theory.

One of the specific examples is what is called the privilege walkwhere all the students start in one line and a number of questions are asked, Lowery told KATV, a local ABC affiliate. Do you have two parents, do you parents own their home, take steps forward and what it does thenit gives this definition of showing which students are supposedly privileged and which ones are not.

The bills comes amid a series of reversals of Trump-era policies, as part of President Joe Biden administrations effort to embrace racial equality.

In one of his first actions as president, Biden dissolved the advisory 1776 Commission, which is commonly seen as a counter to the 1619 Project. The Biden administration claimed in a press release last week that the commission has sought to erase Americas history of racial injustice.

Also abolished was a September 2020 executive order of then-President Donald Trump that banned federal agencies, contractors, subcontractors, and grantees from instructing their employees to follow the tenets of the critical theories. Trumps order said the concepts of the theory are divisive and lead to race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.

The Biden administration said such training is important and needed, adding that federal agencies shall consider reinstating any contracts that were canceled or restricted under Trumps order.
[January 25, 2021] Golden Leaf Receives Approval to Extend Maturity of Convertible Debentures

TORONTO, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. (CSE: GLH) (OTCQB: GLDFF) (Golden Leaf, GLH, or the Company), a premier, consumer-driven cannabis company specializing in production, processing, wholesale, distribution and retail, announced that it has received unanimous approval of holders of Convertible Debentures (the Debentureholders) that voted to amend certain terms of the Convertible Debentures due November 16, 2021 (the Convertible Debentures) at an extraordinary meeting held on January 21, 2021 (the Meeting).

The amendments (the Amendments) include extending the maturity date of the Convertible Debentures from November 16, 2021 to November 16, 2022, providing immediate relief to the Company and its current liabilities. As consideration for this extension, the conversion price of the principal will change from C$0.30 to US$0.06 per common share. The Debentureholders will also receive a one-time restructuring fee of 2% of the principal amount to be paid in common shares equal to US$0.06 per share. Currently the outstanding balance of Convertible Debentures is C$8,039,000. At the original conversion price, these could have been converted into approximately 26,796,6667 common shares. With the Amendments approved, at the current C$:US$ exchange rate, the Convertible Debentures could be convertible into approximately 105,000,000 common shares. These Amendments are also subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. Management believes that the uncertainty as to the Companys ability to repay this debenture upon maturity has had a negative impact on the value of Golden Leaf. The support from our debenture holders is another vote of confidence in current managements progress over the last 18 months, stated John Varghese, Executive Chairman. Our balance sheet restructuring is now complete, leaving us with one of the cleanest balance sheets in the industry. Equally as important, it also allowed us to successfully raise equity this month providing much needed flexibility for Golden Leaf. As we near profitability, we will continue to execute our business plan and look for accretive acquisitions to grow our footprint. In November 2020, we were able to reach an agreemet with the Chalice group to restructure long term liabilities for up to 60 months. By agreeing to a conversion price of USD$0.06 that was 200% greater than current market value, both independent groups of debt holders have endorsed our belief that GLH has been undervalued.



Details regarding the Amendments and the Meeting were mailed to the Convertible Debentureholders in advance of the Meeting. Certain of the Companys directors and executive officers who own in the aggregate C$149,000 principal amount (or 1.9%) of the outstanding Convertible Debentures are considered related parties to the Company for the purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101), and accordingly, the Amendments are considered related party transactions within the meaning of MI 61-101. The Company is relying on exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements in Sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, in respect of the Amendments as neither the fair market value of the Convertible Debentures held by interested parties (as such term is defined in MI 61-101) nor any consideration for the transaction insofar as it involves interested parties exceeds 25% of the market capitalization of the Company. In addition, as the Company is listed only on the CSE, the Amendments are exempt from the formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101.

Retention of Investor Relations Firm The Company is also pleased to announce that it has retained RBMG (RB Milestone Group, LLC) to provide investor relations, marketing communications and educational support services to the Company. RBMG* is a leading U.S. corporate communications firm that specializes in investor relations advisory. With corporate offices in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, RBMG helps clients build relationships with niche U.S. stakeholders utilizing digital techniques, AI and machine learning to improve traditional client IR initiatives and penetrate new markets. John Varghese, Executive Chairman of GLH, commented, We are pleased to announce that we have selected RBMG to help build and expand the profile of GLH in the financial community. We look forward to working with the RBMG team to enhance the communication of our growing business with a wider shareholder base throughout the United States. *RBMG has been engaged for services paid in cash and has not been granted any equity by GLH as compensation. About Golden Leaf Holdings Golden Leaf Holdings is a premiere consumer-driven cannabis company specializing in production, processing, wholesale, distribution and retail, with 7 dispensaries in Portland, Oregon. The company is committed to developing a dynamic portfolio built around the recognized brands of Chalice Farms, with a focus on health and wellness. Markets served include Oregon, California, Nevada and Washington. Visit glhmonthly.com for regular updates. Investor Relations: John Varghese

Executive Chairman

Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd.

971-371-2685

ir@goldenleafholdings.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



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Josh Hawley complained Monday he is being 'canceled' by the 'woke left' after objecting to the Electoral College results on January 6 even after a violent mob stormed the Capitol  which Democrats are blaming on Donald Trump and his allies for 'incitement for insurrection.'

'The cancel culture agenda will only succeed if we let it,' Hawley penned in an op/ed published in the New York Post Sunday evening as he said the 'woke left' is trying to 'cancel' him.

'It's time to stand up against the muzzling of America,' his opinion article is titled.

The Missouri Republican, who during Trump's presidency was one of his most staunch allies in the Senate, has faced calls for resignation from his colleagues in Congress after going forward with voting against Joe Biden's win in Pennsylvania.

Also on Monday, Hawley lashed out in a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee, lodging a complaint against his Democratic colleagues after they filed an ethics complaint against him.

'Most astonishingly, the Democrats who filed the complaint against me insinuate  without any evidence whatsoever  that I or my staff may have conspired with the criminals who stormed the Capitol,' Hawley wrote in his letter. 'In most jurisdictions, such statements would constitute defamation.'

The New York Post published Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's op/ed in their Monday paper where the Republican demanded: 'It's time to stand up against the muzzling of America'

Hawley faced backlash after objecting to the Electoral College results on January 6 and as an image went viral of him holding up a fist  appearing to encourage the pro-Trump mob as they descended on Capitol Hill

Hawley sent a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee lodging a complaint against his Democratic colleagues for them filing an ethics complaint against him for allegedly conspiring with those who stormed the Capitol

Outrage against Hawley specifically ensued after an image went viral of the 41-year-old senator holding up a fist at pro-Trump protesters who descended on the Capitol  with critics suggested the senator was encouraging the violent demonstration meant to prevent Congress from holding a vote on certifying the election for Biden.

'They tried to reprimand me this month because I didn't [conform],' Hawley said of Democrats, corporate America and Big Tech in his op/ed.

'In my case, it started with leftist politicians demanding I resign from office for representing the views of my constituents and leading a democratic debate on the floor of the Senate,' he continued.

Hawley won't face reelection until 2024, prompting many lawmakers to call for him to either resign or be removed now.

'Taking that cue, a corporate publishing house then canceled a book it had asked me to write,' Hawley bemoaned. 'Ironically enough, the book is about political censorship by the most powerful corporations in America.'

He added: 'Now corporate America is cancelling my political events, because two parties are apparently one too many for their taste.'

Just one day after the Capitol riot, which left five dead, publishing house Simon & Schuster ended its contract with Hawley to publish his book.

The conservative lawmaker, however, reassured his book would still be published by an independent company.

Hawley claimed in his Sunday op/ed that corporate America, Big Tech and the 'woke left' are trying to 'cancel' him because he would not 'conform' to their agenda

Also in the fallout of the January 6 events, Hawley has seen a huge dip in his donations and has had several fundraising events canceled.

A hotel in Florida canceled Hawley's $5,000 per-ticket 'family fun' fundraiser, which was set to take place in February. Loews Hotel and Universal Orlando only canceled the event after liberal lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder tweeted a photo of a flyer for the event demanding the chain explain why it was hosting an event for a 'traitor.'

Fighting for Missouri was the host of the would-be event. The Hawley-affiliated political action committee raised more than $272,000 for him in the 2020 election cycle.

Hallmark's PAC said it requested a $3,000 donation to Hawley be given back less than a week after the violent protest. The company is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Hawley insisted that he only raised an objection to the results of the presidential election on January 6 because he was representing 'voters of my state', who he claims were concerned about the election outcome and how it was reached.

'Maybe you agree with me. Maybe you don't,' Hawley wrote in his op/ed. 'But whatever your view, corporate America's rush to cancel those it dislikes should trouble you.'

The senator announced before the vote was held  and interrupted by protesters  that he would object to the results.

While several Republican lawmakers who initially planned to object to the election changed their mind after the violent display on Capitol Hill, Hawley, along with dozens of other GOP representatives and senators, went forward with their plans.

The day after the riot, Simon & Schuster canceled its contract with Hawley to publish his book. The GOP lawmaker called them the 'woke mob' and assured Sunday his book on political censorship would still be published by an independent company

Exactly a week after the Capitol storming, the House voted to impeach Trump for 'incitement of insurrection,' claiming he was to blame for riling up his supporters before they marched from a rally at the Ellipse in front of the White House to the Capitol.

There are also several open and pending investigations into the events, including a probe into lawmakers who may have conspired or helped organizers and activists get familiar with the Capitol before they descended on it earlier this month.

Hawley defended objecting to Pennsylvania's election results in his letter to Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford and Vice Chairman Chris Coons on Monday.

'[T]here is a strong legal basis to believe that Pennsylvania's electoral votes were not regularly given. Indeed, it appears that Pennsylvania conducted the 2020 general election using a mail voting scheme that violated the Commonwealth's Constitution,' Hawley asserted.

'That's not just my opinion: while no judge has concluded that the mail-voting system was valid, multiple members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court expressed substantial doubt about the validity of the statute,' he added.

Hawley insisted his objection was part of him representing his constituents and his effort to lead a 'Democratic debate' as a growing number of Republicans and Trump allies, advisers and supporters voiced concerns over the 2020 election process.

The Missouri senator was elected in the 2018 election, beating out incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill by 5.8 per cent  a feat the former lawmaker blames on her own party for failing to reach rural voters.

McCaskill represented the state in the Senate for two terms before being ousted by Hawley.

In the 2020 presidential election, Missouri's 10 Electoral College votes went for Trump after he beat Biden there 56.8 per cent to 41.1 per cent.
In 2020, Ukrainian exports to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) increased by 92%, to USD 184.5 million. The countries agreed to resume work on a free trade agreement (FTA).

Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture - Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka wrote about this on his Facebook page following a meeting of the Ukrainian-Vietnamese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation on January 25.

Last year, the trade turnover between Ukraine and Vietnam increased by 22.5% and amounted to USD 644.65 million. Our exports grew by 92% - up to USD 184.5 million, Kachka wrote.

He noted that the lion's share of Ukrainian exports to Vietnam accounts for grain crops.

In addition, according to the official, interdepartmental agreements on veterinary medicine and plant quarantine are nearing conclusion. These agreements "will help increase the export of plant and animal products to Vietnam."

Kachka added that an agreement was reached to resume work on an FTA with Vietnam. Ideally, we will enter the formal negotiation process this year, he summed up.

As Ukrinform reported, since the beginning of 2021, two free trade agreements concluded by Ukraine with the United Kingdom and Israel have come into force.

ish
A woman stabbed her husband repeatedly after she thought that her husband was cheating on her with a younger woman.

This was after she found photos of him with a younger woman, according to a Yucatan Magazine report.

However, it turns out the other woman in the photos was she herself. The photo of the couple was taken years ago, when they were dating, according to police in Sonora, Mexico.

Officials from the municipality of Cajeme reported that a suspect identified only as Leonora N was arrested for wounding her husband Juan N with a knife.

This occurred after finding several photos on his cellphone.

The husband managed to take the knife away from her and explained that the photos were them back when they were more youthful and slimmer.

Juan apparently explained that he had digitized the old photos to store on his cellphone.

Police arrived at the scene after neighbors heard screaming and sounds of a fight, according to a Daily Star report.

Local media reported that the woman was being detained by authorities and is awaiting charges against her.

Related story: Murder Rate Rises in Mexico- Criminal Groups Are Gaining Leverage Amid Pandemic

Crimes in Mexico

Meanwhile, murders in Mexico has inched up to a new record for the first half of 2020, despite the slight decrease in last few month, according to a Reuters report.

Mexico has been plagued by gang violence for years, with officials failing to tackle the problem.

More than 34,600 murders were registered last year, according to the latest data available.

Meanwhile, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promised to reduce the violence with a new strategy after seating in the office in December 2018.

However, homicide rates continue to increase.

There were 17, 439 murders in the first six months of 2020, which is a 1.7 percent increase on the same period the previous year.

This was according to figures presented by Security Minister Alfonso Duranzo at a regular news conference with the president.

In June, murder rates fell by 2.2 percent.

Duranzo said that a lasting reduction in Mexico's murder rate would take time as the government works to tackle poverty and other root causes of the crime.

"If (the) increase (in murders) was the product of a long social process, its decrease will also be the product of a long social process," Duranzo was quoted on a report.

Other crimes such as kidnappings and robbery have plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, criminal gangs have targeted low-level cartel foot soldier and high-profile political figures with both mass killings and carefully planned assassinations being reported.

Falko Ernst, a senior analysts at Crisis Group, said that this is a cost that they are now paying for years and years of continued, almost perfect impunity in Mexico, according to a BBC report.

Ernst commented on the events that took place on June 7, with 117 murders that were recorded in 24 hours.

This makes the country's most violent day of the year so far, surpassing the events on Apr. 20, with 114 homicides that were reported.

Related story: Mexico's President Condemns LGBT+ Hate Crimes After Emilio Zapanta Painting Outrage




ORANGE, Ohio -- Village police and agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation continue their probe into a weekend shooting that left at least one man wounded.

The known victim, 24, was taken by friends to Ahuja Medical Center after shots were fired at the Extended Stay America North on Orange Place Drive around 1:30 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 23).

Although he reportedly walked into the emergency room, the victim was transferred, after slipping in and out of consciousness, about an hour later to University Hospitals main campus, where a condition report was unavailable.

Early investigation suggests this was an isolated incident between acquaintances, an Orange police press release stated, adding that the department was following up on multiple leads.

The threat to the general public has passed, the release noted.

Numerous witnesses and callers reported shots fired, possibly starting with the glass on a front door at the hotel. Police were looking for a Black man with dreadlocks wearing a brown puffer or bubble coat, last seen running toward Chagrin Boulevard.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a front desk clerk at the hotel reported that she thought she had heard someone kick in the front door.

She was able to run and hide in the laundry room, reporting that she did not see the suspect with the weapon, but did hear multiple shots fired.

Several hours later, around 5 a.m. Saturday, dispatchers reported that a second victim may have been transported to a hospital on the west side of Cleveland, with one vehicle of interest being a gray or silver 2005 Nissan Murano with Arkansas plates.

Police also checked on an SUV with a similar description but with Ohio temporary tags, later located in Lorain County.

Then, around 1 p.m., after conferring with another person of interest believed to have been among those dropping the victim off at Ahuja, Moreland Hills police were contacted to assist in recovering a gun possibly used in the incident.

The gun was found in front of Hiram House Camp on Hiram Trail.

In gathering evidence at the scene on the third floor of the Extended Stay North, police noted that bullets of different calibers appeared to have been fired.

This could indicate a possible exchange of gunfire occurring, partially based on evidence of shots that appeared to have been fired downward in a stairwell from the third floor -- where the initial victim was shot -- toward the second floor, along with some blood on the stairs.

In the Extended Stay parking lot, police found fresh tire tracks leaving an empty space, with evidence possibly discarded that included sanitary wipes with blood on them and a half-full beer.

Police were also looking into a possible connection with an earlier robbery that occurred in South Euclid.

Emergency room staff later turned over an unspent shell casing found on the victim after his arrival there.

The Orange Police Department is following up on multiple leads at this time, the press release concluded. Anyone who has information about this incident should call 440-247-7321.

Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.
Ex Love Island star Georgia Steel was accused of flouting Muslim law in the Maldives after posing topless for social media snaps over the weekend.

But this didn't stop the reality personality-turned-influencer, 22, from promoting her latest collaboration with racy underwear brand Boux Avenue.

She snapped shots of herself on her bathroom floor as she continues her stay in the tropics, wearing a skimpy lace pink long-line bra, knickers, stockings and suspenders.

Racy lacy: Love Island's Georgia Steel posed in skimpy pink lace underwear complete with suspenders on Monday... after being accused of 'breaking the law' in the Maldives with topless snaps

Showing off her lithe frame and bronzed limbs, she captioned the snap: 'One thing Ive learnt is that its very important to be your own valentine before anyone elses.'

Georgia is apparently abroad 'for work', clearly unable to model the underwear from her bathroom floor in the UK.

Her antics abroad have outraged locals as she has hopped from Dubai to the Maldives, despite COVID-19 killing over 2 million people globally, with the UK in a strict lockdown.

According to The Sun, her latest topless snap particularly riled up the locals.

Up close: She snapped shots of herself on her bathroom floor as she continues her stay in the tropics, wearing a skimpy lace pink long-line bra, knickers, stockings and suspenders

Top(less) to bottom: She has been slammed by Maldives residents for posing topless for Instagram snaps, according to The Sun

The Sun reports that a local source said: 'It may seem strange to Westerners, but coming here and failing to observe our laws and customs is incredibly insulting.

'Influencers who think the Maldives is just a great backdrop for their Instagram should stop and think before one ends up in jail.

'The resorts could also be in serious trouble if guests like Georgia are found to be generating [nude] images on the premises'.

Still abroad hun? Ellie Brown is another Love Islander who has opted to travel abroad for 'work'

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office states, of the Maldives: 'Local laws reflect the fact that Maldives is an Islamic country. Violations of local laws may lead to a prison sentence.

'Nudism and topless sunbathing are not allowed anywhere, including on resort islands.

'Public observance of any religion other than Islam is prohibited. You should respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times and be aware of your actions to ensure that they dont offend, especially during the holy month of Ramadan or if you intend to visit religious areas.'

Oh! The reality personality-turned-influencer, 22, has been abroad for weeks, claiming to be there 'for work'm posting sultry snaps to social media to advertise brands

There are still laws that can lead to public floggings or death should they be broken.

MailOnline has approached Georgia's reps for comment.

Georgia posed for her latest topless snap while soaking up the sun on the beach on Thursday.

She wore just a blue patterned bikini bottom and a sun hat in the snap.

Georgia styled her brunette locks into plaits as she posed next to a tree while fixing the camera with a sultry stare.

The Sun reports that a local source said: 'It may seem strange to Westerners, but coming here and failing to observe our laws and customs is incredibly insulting'

In another snap, the reality star looked away from the camera as she fixed her hair.

Georgia, who appeared on Love Island in 2018, has been documenting her sun-soaked Maldives getaway in detail for her 1.6million Instagram followers.

She is holidaying currently with another former Love Islander Joanna Chimonides.

Despite the UK being in national lockdown, Georgia and Joanna flew from Dubai to the Maldives.

Georgia previously told her Instagram followers the 'work' trip had been planned for a long time and she was thankful it could go ahead despite the pandemic.

Fun in the sun: Georgia recently jetted to the Maldives for 'work purposes' with her friend Joanna Chimonides

She captioned one snap: 'I feel so lucky to be able to travel with my job at the moment.

'I'm so grateful that I've been given the opportunity to work with @velassarumaldives for the next week and make memories that are going to last me a lifetime. I thank the universe every day.'

However, their fun-filled getaway might be overshadowed on their return as travellers returning to the UK need to present proof of a negative Covid test result.

New arrivals who flout the rules will face a minimum 500 fine, while the operator who transported them will also be fined.

Passengers will still have to quarantine for 10 days regardless of their test results, transport minister Robert Courts said in a statement.
President Joe Biden has reportedly selected his longtime doctor to serve as the White House physician, replacing the controversial official accused of misleading the American public about Donald Trumps condition after the former president contracted Covid-19.

Dr Kevin OConnor, the retired US Army colonel who served as Mr Bidens physician during his tenure as vice president, has been tasked with the new presidents medical care, according to CNN.

The appointment would force Dr Sean Conleys removal from the position. The doctor, a Trump appointee, received criticism last year for suggesting the former president was doing very well after he was diagnosed with Covid-19, when in fact reports indicated he had received supplemental oxygen and was experiencing side effects associated with the disease caused by the novel virus.

While it is not uncommon for new presidents to replace former White House physicians shortly after their inaugurations, as CNN reported on Monday, many incumbent doctors have also stayed on the job through the transition of power and into the following administration.

However, the writing was on the wall for Dr Conley after he received a wave of backlash for misleading comments he made at a press briefing outside of the Walter Reed Medical Center in October, when he skirted around questions about reports suggesting Mr Trump was receiving oxygen.

Trumps doctors dodge questions about supplemental oxygen and say hes doing very well This morning, the president is doing very well says his physician Dr Sean Conley on Saturday

He said the former president was not on oxygen right now while repeatedly avoiding questions as to whether or not Mr Trump had received oxygen at any point  a clear discrepancy that he was forced to acknowledge the very next day, after it became clear Mr Trump suffered more intense conditions due to the virus.

I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had, he said at the time. I didnt want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.

According to CNN, Dr Conley was seen departing the White House with Mr Trump on his final day as president.

The White House has not yet provided a statement about the appointment of Dr OConnor, and did not respond to a request for comment. However, the doctor has recently presided over the presidents health and gave him a full exam as he was running for office.

Dr OConnor described Mr Biden  the oldest president ever inaugurated  as "a healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency" in a 2019 physical.

Mr Biden addressed his age and health along the campaign trail, telling supporters at a 2019 event in Iowa: Look, its a legitimate thing to be concerned about my age. Just like it was a legitimate concern when I was 29 whether I had the judgment to be a US Senator. I think its totally legitimate. The only thing I can say is watch, watch. Check my energy level, determine whether I know what Im talking about.

Dr OConnor will travel with Mr Biden and oversee the first familys health, along with the White House Medical Unit staff.
HMAS Hobart fires its 5-inch gun in the southern waters of Hawaii during Exercise RIMPAC 2020 on Aug. 17, 2020. (Australian Department of Defence)

Australia to Create Lethal and Highly Responsive Navy With Missile Purchase

The seas around Australia will now be more secure after the Morrison government declared it would invest $1 billion into guided missile capabilities for the Royal Australian Navy.

The move is part of the governments $183 billion investment in creating a lethal and highly responsive navy.

Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds said on Monday that the investment would provide Australias defence forces with more options when protecting the countrys interests.

These new capabilities will provide a strong, credible deterrent that will ensure stability and security in the region, Reynolds said.

The new long-range missiles are designed to hold off enemy combatants at a distance of 370 kilometres (233 miles) at sea or in the air, and strike land targets 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) away.

According to the minister, all Royal Australian Navy vessels will be equipped with the long-range anti-ship missiles, the extended range surface-to-air missiles, advanced lightweight torpedoes, and land strike capabilities.

The Royal Australian Navy guided-missile frigate HMAS Parramatta (L) is underway with the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS America, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill and the Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry on the South China Sea on April 18, 2020. (U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nicholas Huynh)

The purchase forms part of the Morrison governments CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus (novel coronavirus) economic recovery plan, and will help arm the 23 classes of vessels built in Australia, creating thousands of jobs and significant opportunities, Reynolds said.

The project also seeks opportunities to broaden Australias weapons manufacturing base, reinforcing this governments long-term commitment to Australian industry and delivering sovereign industrial capabilities, she said.

The ministers announcement comes 11 months after the U.S State Department approved Australias request to purchase two hundred (200) AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs) related equipment and service for an estimated cost of $990 million.

At the time the state department said that the sale would support Australias potential maritime partnership with the United States and align its capabilities with existing regional baselines.

The state department noted that Australia was one of Americas most important allies in the Western Pacific, and the proposed sale would support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States.

The strategic location of this political and economic power contributes significantly to ensuring peace and economic stability in the region, the department said.

The move from Australia echoes Japans recent update of its missile defences, with both countries seeking to purchase the U.S. anti-ship missiles as a deterrent to the growing threats in the Asia-Pacific region, most notably China.

In February 2020, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Budget Rear Admiral Randy B. Crites said that China had grown its battle fleet to about 335 surface ships and was becoming more aggressive in its expansionist moves globally.
Authorities in northwestern Chinas Gansu province are imposing restrictions on travel to and from an important Tibetan monastery ahead of a major annual religious festival, requiring the wearing of masks by those attending and forbidding entry even to private vehicles, Tibetan sources say.

Announced in a joint notice issued by the management committee of Sangchu (Chinese, Xiahe) countys Labrang Tashi Kyil monastery and local police, visitors to the monastery are barred from the monastery unless they can show proof of good health, including a certificate showing they have been tested for COVID-19.

Secondly, during this period of [coronavirus] prevention, all devotees and tourists must cover their face with masks. And thirdly, no vehicles coming from outside the monastery will be allowed onto the monastery grounds, the notice says.

The announced restrictions come in advance of the start of a major annual prayer festival, the Monlam Chenmo, that typically draws large numbers of participants, a former Tibetan political prisoner now living in Switzerland named Golog Jigme told RFAs Tibetan Service on Monday.

In the name of the monasterys abbot, Chinese authorities are using the excuse of averting a spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to crack down on the freedom of movement of monks and laypeople wanting to make religious visits to Labrang Tashi Kyil, Jigme said.

Everyones movements are frozen unless one can show evidence of having taken a coronavirus test. But in reality, the crackdown is aimed at the soon-to-be-observed great Monlam Chenmo religious festival itself Jigme said.

This years Monlam Chenmowhich often draws thousands of attendees from across the regionwill begin on February 15, the third day of the new Lunar Years Losar celebrations, Jigme said.

Buddhist monasteries in Tibet and Tibetan-populated provinces of western China have frequently become the focus of efforts to promote not just religion but Tibetan cultural values, and Chinese security forces often monitor and sometimes close down events involving large crowds.

Annual public assemblies at the monasteries have greatly increased in size in recent years, as thousands of Tibetans gather to assert their national identity in the face of Beijings cultural and political domination.

Reported by Lobe Socktsang for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul and Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed last week along the countries disputed border, officials in India have said.

The clash in the Naku La area of Sikkim came four days before the countries held a ninth round of talks on ending tensions in another disputed border area in the remote Ladakh region.

The Indian army described the clash at Naku La as a minor face off and said it was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols.

An army statement did not provide any other details, but asked media to refrain from overplaying or exaggerating the incident.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said he did not have information to provide on the incident but urged India not to take any unilateral action that may further complicate or exacerbate the border tension.

Since a deadly clash last year, soldiers from the two sides have clashed occasionally and fired shots for the first time in decades, breaking a long-standing agreement not to use firearms during border confrontations.

Two Indian security officials said at least 18 Chinese soldiers tried to cross into Indian-claimed territory at Naku La last Wednesday night and were blocked by Indian soldiers, leading to clashes with sticks and stones. The officials said soldiers on both sides were carrying firearms but did not use them.

The two officials said more than a dozen Indian soldiers and at least eight Chinese soldiers received minor injuries.

There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

Both sides rushed more soldiers to the area in an aggressive deployment that swelled the number of personnel to hundreds, the officials said.

The leader of Indias main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, accused China of expanding its occupation into Indian territory and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence.

Expand Close Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire for his silence (AP/Anupam Nath) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire for his silence (AP/Anupam Nath)

Mr Modi hasnt said the word China for months, Mr Gandhi said in a tweet Monday. Maybe he can start by saying the word China.

India and China have been locked in a tense military stand-off since May high in the Karakoram mountains, with troops settling in for the harsh winter. Both sides have mobilised tens of thousands of soldiers, artillery and fighter aircraft along the fiercely contested border known as the Line of Actual Control, or LAC, that separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to Indias eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety.

The frontier is broken in parts where the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan border China, and where Sikkim, the site of the latest clash, is sandwiched.

The LAC divides areas of physical control rather than territorial claims. Despite more than three dozen rounds of talks over the years and multiple meetings between Mr Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, they are nowhere near settling the dispute.

The stand-off began last May with a fierce clash, and exploded into hand-to-hand combat with clubs, stones and fists on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. China is believed to also have had casualties, but has not given any details.

Indian and Chinese army commanders met for the ninth round of talks after a gap of two-and-a-half months in Ladakh on Sunday but neither side released any details of the outcome.
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low 63F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low 63F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces run for governor of Arkansas in 2022

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Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was the first mother to hold the position, is running for governor of Arkansas in 2022.

Huckabee Sanders, 38, who served for nearly two years as President Donald Trump's press secretary, announced her plans to join the gubernatorial race in the southern state Sunday in an online video that begins with a tribute to the armed forces.

She is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a conservative Baptist pastor and television personality who served in office from 1996 to 2007. He also ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency in 2008 and 2016. He is now the host of a weekly, eponymous television program that airs on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Huckabee Sanders enters a field of current Arkansas officials vying for the top political job in the state. Those include Republicans Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Outgoing Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election.

"I've been tested under fire, successfully managing one crisis after another, in one of the most difficult, high-pressure jobs in all of government," the mother of three said in the approximately eight-minute video announcement.

"At the table with President Trump, confronting our most dangerous adversaries like China and North Korea."

In the 2020 presidential election, Trump won 62% of the vote in the Natural State.

"Everything we love about America is at stake. With the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense," Huckabee Sanders argued.

"As governor, I will defend your right to be free of socialism and tyranny. Your Second Amendment right to keep your family safe and your freedom of speech and religious liberty. Our state needs a leader with the courage to do what's right, not what's politically correct or convenient."

If elected, Sanders will be the first woman to be the governor of Arkansas. The same goes for Rutledge, who became the first woman attorney general of Arkansas in 2015.

Sanders, who often sparred with the media during press briefings, spoke of her faith in the context of opponents coming after her.

"As White House press secretary, I never had to worry about the far-left and their allies at CNN or the New York Times defining me because I have a Creator who has already done that," she asserted.

"I'm a Christian, a wife, a mom, a proud Arkansan. ... As governor, I will defend our freedom and lead with heart."

Thus far, no Democrat has announced their intention to run for governor in the 2022 cycle.

excellent, the less male directors behind gratuitous male-gazey sex scenes the better



*i'm looking at you 365 days*

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I agree and also, I love your icon <3

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That was co-directed by a woman... I don't know the extent of her input into the sex scenes, though.



(and of course women can still shoot male gaze).



Edited at 2021-01-25 07:08 pm (UTC)

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Good for her

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I still dont know why actresses like Keira were allowed to be nude in a movie before they were 18.

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Was she? Jeez I didn't know and I hate that any parent could rationalize that as an option.

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Ironically, it was in a film with Thora Birch, who also did a nude scene when she was like 15.



I dont get it. It shouldnt be allowed.

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i feel like keira's experienced so much in this industry, she did her first nude scene when she was 15? which feels beyond fucking creepy? so i'm glad for her that she can take this stand now

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wait, what? how was that legal?

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Good for her!



Was it her who said a male costar told her he could do anything he wanted to her while she was tied up on set? I don't blame her for fucking off sex scenes by men.

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WTF I had no idea about it. Whether it was her or another actress, imagine how awful and unsafe she felt sharing a scene with that asshole.

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Yup I believe Michael Fassbender said that to her.

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Why am I not surprised he would say something like that...

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Of course he did.

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Ofc it was him.

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I am Jacqueline's complete lack of surprise.

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Thats just awful

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Actress Keira Knightley revealed she issued co-star Michael Fassbender with strict instructions not to touch her while filming kinky scenes in A Dangerous Method.



The Pirates Of The Caribbean actress plays real-life psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein in the David Cronenberg film about the birth of psychoanalysis, and had to film several sex scenes with Irish actor Fassbender, who plays Carl Jung.



One particularly risque scene sees Jung spanking Spielrein - but, speaking at the UK premiere of the film at London Film Festival, Knightly said it was all just pretend.



"I actually said to him before we shot the spanking scenes, 'If you touch me I will kill you' and he did remind me that I was tied to a bed at the time and really I shouldn't be making any threats," she said.



"The film is about so much more than S&M but [those scenes] weren't particularly easy," Knightly added. (src)



sounds like he was ~joking~ but trust no man i'd never heard this before so i looked up the full quote:sounds like he was ~joking~ but trust no man

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I'm really glad she is speaking out about this and don't blame her one bit and hope it changes things, but on the flip side she has been in the industry for so long that she has the privilege of being able to do this and probably not feel much impact, re: her money and success.



I just hope her activism changes the system because unfortunately if struggling actresses only chose to do intimate scenes under male directors, they'd be looking for work for the rest of their lives. :[



Edited at 2021-01-25 02:19 pm (UTC)

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Don't blame her and no matter how professional everyone's on set, once we're out to get drinks & the actors aren't around, crew guys most definitely talk about the hotter scenes and the actresses' bodies. With bigger actors, usually the crew is much smaller during those scenes but when it's an unknown it's basically a shitload of men with equipament or pretending to be needed so they can watch. There should be regulations about cutting the crew short (especially the men) during the filming of naked scenes, since most often than not there are more people around than there has to be & unknown actors don't have the clout to demand anything.

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"it's basically a shitload of men with equipament or pretending to be needed so they can watch."



Shouldn't the directors know who's needed on set? Why am I even asking, it's not like they care

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They know but most of the time it doesn't really matter as long as everyone stays in their lane, so they assume a sex(y) scene is no different. If it's a non-famous actress they don't normally care to ask if she's uncomfortable. It's really up to the director to have the common sense to cut the crew short regardless of whether the actors say they're fine or not bc most, especially the women, will pretend they're ok just so they won't be labeled a prude or difficult to work. Since I usually produce the actors, I stand my ground and demand for the crew to be smaller, but it's not something I'm always allowed to do.

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Lbr, stuff like this is probably treated like currency to boost workplace likeability when it comes to scoring contracts. After all, there's only so many directors in a film and the crew always outnumber the cast.

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Look at what happened with Jennifer Aniston's nude scene in The Break-Up. She had a closed set, yet someone leaked the uncropped version :/

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Why on earth would you need Rob Reiner, Scorsese, McConaughey, Dicaprio, and Hill just to cast someone as background for a sex scene?



https://nypost.com/2013/12/23/my-orgy-with-leonardo-dicaprio/ This reminds me of the casting and shooting for The Wolf of Wall Street sex/orgy scenes.Why on earth would you need Rob Reiner, Scorsese, McConaughey, Dicaprio, and Hill just to cast someone as background for a sex scene?

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Good for her and good for this getting publicity



I hate it when female characters are dressed up wrong, like their bras don't fit on purpose to make their boobs look bigger, it takes me straight out of the scene and ruins it. You think I don't notice? Because I notice. But I suppose it doesn't matter as long as male viewers don't notice.

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I worked a short stint in a lingerie store and now I definitely can't look past an ill-fitted bra. Women accept a lot, but the quadroboob often happening isn't one of them.

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Good for her. The industry still has a long way to go when it comes to male gaze and sex scenes. She seems like a very nice person but I just cant stand her acting.

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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Shes literally been doing nude scenes since she was 15/16, I absolutely dont blame her for being over it (but I do blame her parents for letting her do those scenes in The Hole because wtf).

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Adding another "good for her!" comment in here. Also, sex scenes that aren't under the male gaze are just better IMO.

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mte. in general female gaze just makes everyone look better imo. it's so much more sensory and intimate and innovative in displaying sexiness/sensuality

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Nudity and sex scenes are absolutely unnecessary in storytelling. You wont convince me otherwise, tbh.

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At this point, call me a prude, but nowadays I appreciate a good fade to black or heavy make out scene if their chemistry is A+

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Ill join you.

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That's a good point - if the chemistry between the actors is good enough, you don't need anything gratuitous.

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I remember a post here awhile back and I don't even remember what it was about but there was a few users who kept trying to claim sometimes it is necessary for the story to show ~intimacy and its like if a movie can't show that WITHOUT a woman's boobs then its shitty storytelling.

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The exact comment I came here to make. Now that Im older and understand how much coercion and exploitation goes in Hollywood, during a sex scene now all I can think about is how uncomfortable the actor must be and how much did they actually want to film it 









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I enjoyed all the Simon/whatshername-fun in Bridgerton, but one fade-to-black and a comment about the staff being appalled would have been enough. It's always a show case of the hot people cast opposed to being essential to any kind of plot.

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it's only necessary in one film: Lust, Caution



other than that, it's always yes its terrible and there's no need for gratuitous women nudity

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Same. Sometimes they don't fit in the overall flow of the movie so much it becomes obvious why they are there.

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agreed, especislly in horror movies.

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i agree that nudity is unnecessary but i do think some sex scenes are essential to storytelling



they're just not usually done well thanks to pervasive sexism and misogyny

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good for her. i dont think there is anything inherently wrong with being nude on film, but i've never seen a man portray female nudity in a way that wasn't demeaning and purposefully meant to titillate the male gaze so i'd say she made the right call.

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good for her. honestly i'm pretty much against sex scenes in general these days. i don't think i've ever seen a sex scene and thought 'yup, that was really necessary to the story'.

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Blended learning is the future in a post-Covid world: Experts According to experts, schools and colleges will have to adapt to the latest learning reforms implemented in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and follow a blended approach, and teachers will not be the only source of knowledge in the future, a report in ThePrint said. Human teachers and social robots will create a co-bot type of situation together, and co-learning will take place.

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YEREVAN.  I have already learned not to look for any logic in any step taken by the government, not to look for a connection with the realities, the existing problems, and the steps taken by them because they are not connected with each other again. Gevorg Gorgisyan, an MP of the opposition Bright Armenia Party, told this to reporters on Monday, reflecting on the reports that the parliament majority leader, Lilit Makunts, will be appointment as ambassador to US.

"Sadly, we are witnessing the same old and good traditions that [PM Nikol] Pashinyan had promised to change, who [Pashinyan] once again deceived. When such a thing is discussed, first of all the issues that shall be resolved by our ambassador in that country must be discussed, and then arising from these issueswho can resolve these issues. When the person is discussed, it is assumed that no issue, no change in relations was discussed. In their [the Armenian authorities] opinion, they just want to send a person close to them," he said.

Asked why is the Armenian opposition inclined that Makunts cannot carry out this mission well, Gorgisyan said. "I challenge the principle. There is no issue that Mrs. Makunts was needed to resolve. Given that she does not have a diplomatic job, I doubt that she will be able to perform diplomatic tasks in the best way; but I do not know what task they [the authorities] have set before her."

Referring to analysts' views that by appointing Makunts ambassador, Yerevan makes it understood to Washington that Armenian-American relations are all the same for Armenia, Gorgisyan said: "Armenia has a foreign departmentthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If we do not have a change here, if we have not become proactive from reactive, not started active actions, if the vision has not changed, take whomever you want anywhere; its all the same" the opposition MP added.

Where to go when overseas travel resumes: The storybook English village

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In a country full of charming destinations this hotel in a remarkably well-preserved village is the perfect place to visit once international travel becomes easier.

The Swans timber-framed building from the 15th century  complete with creaky floors and exposed wood beams  is exactly what many Americans envision when they think of merrie olde England. Then there are the four-star hotels amenities, which separate it from the bland, transactional experience of the established chains. Here, the little things eliminated by corporate bean counters  slippers, bathrobes, morning newspapers  come standard.

More charm awaits along the streets of Lavenham, a small village (population 1,750) in Suffolk, a county in eastern England. Think timber-framed buildings painted in shades of pink, yellow, orange and red. Pretty much everything feels unchanged in 500 years.

Facing the old market square is the Guildhall or, more formally, the Guildhall of Corpus Christi with its jettying and gabled front porch. Built in the early 16th century, it has been called one of Englands most spectacular buildings. Around the corner stands Little Hall, the local museum.

Another landmark is St. Peter and St. Pauls Church, a notable example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and one of the last great pre-English Reformation parish churches. It was built between 1486 and 1525, when the medieval wool trade prospered here.

If you go

Many Americans are drawn here by connections to family stationed nearby during the Second World War. This history is recognized in the hotel bar, which was frequented by American and British servicemen and is quite fittingly named Airmens Bar.

Unfortunately, the hotel is temporarily closed, a victim to Englands ongoing coronavirus restrictions and lockdowns. As of this writing, it is scheduled to reopen in mid-February.

Most visitors come for the weekend, but Lavenhams location makes it a perfect base for day trips to nearby villages and towns with quintessential names like Woolpit, Saffron Walden and Steeple Bumpstead. Cambridge of university fame and Ely with its somewhat underappreciated cathedral  both destinations in their own right  are about an hour away by car.

The drive from Londons Heathrow Airport, the closest major airport, is an easy two hours. It should go without saying, but a rental car with GPS navigation is a must.

Spires and Crosses is a weekly travel column. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter and Instagram.
President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, is known for his visionary leadership. His approach to building a community with a shared future for mankind has received appreciation globally.

As a matter of fact, today the world has become so complicated and complex that no single nation or a country can face all of the challenges. It is desired that all nations should work collectively to overcome challenges. As the outbreak of COVID-19, humankind's huge challenge is that almost all countries and nations became its victim. It is time to fight against COVID-19 unitedly. All nations and countries should extend all possible cooperation to address this severe challenge. Significantly, the advanced and developed countries should contribute more.

There are many other equally important issues that we need to address collectively, such as poverty, natural disasters, terrorism, environment, drugs, and etc.

President Xi Jinping has been directing the CPC to increase friendship, promote exchanges with foreign political parties, and work with political parties worldwide for the global good. With its history of problem-solving and being people-centered, the CPC is the largest political party globally, with over 90 million members and one of the most organized and disciplined ones. With a track record of achievement, China's rapid development is the most significant proof of its accomplishments; eradicating poverty and establishing a moderately prosperous society in all respects is a well-recognized fact.

The CPC has maintained consistent contact with more than 600 political parties and political organizations from over 160 countries and regions worldwide.

As China boasts a development track that suits the country's actual conditions under the CPC leadership, more political parties worldwide are keen to acquire from China's success to contribute to the progress of their own respective countries.

The CPC has been involved in exchanges of various methods with foreign political parties over governance and reforms. In one such discussion, Bounnhang Vorachith, former General-secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, visited villages in China's Hunan and Fujian provinces to study targeted poverty alleviation, in considering implementing similar practices back in Laos.

Drawing from the CPC's experience, Raphael Tuju, secretary-general of Kenya's ruling Jubilee Party, said the party is studying the possibility of launching a party school to inculcate a culture of discipline among party members. Six parties in southern Africa co-founded the Julius Nyerere Leadership School in 2018 to reinforce self-construction and improve their governing ability.

The Chinese success story is a role model and guideline for many other countries, as its decision to enhance mutual exchanges with other political parties worldwide is a positive step at the right time.

The author is a senior fellow with the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and a sinologist at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected]

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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 first conviction as part of the Adrian Donohoe murder investigation has brought some closure for the detectives loved ones but will never make up for their loss, his close friend has said.

Garda Inspector Darren Kirwan, speaking to the Irish Independent ahead of todays eight-year anniversary of his colleagues murder, also said that the conviction of gunman Aaron Brady has reinvigorated the investigation.

It made Christmas a little easier but it doesnt make up for Adrian not being here. Nothing will ever make up for that and wed give anything to have him back, he said.

But the conviction definitely helped. For the people who worked with him especially you could see the lift in their faces when the conviction came in.

It also meant an awful lot for the local community where he was held in very high esteem as well.

The two gardai became good friends while stationed together in Dundalk, having attested from the Garda college six months just apart in the mid-1990s, before joining the same local

GAA club. Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe (41) was described by his close friend as an all-rounder who was devoted to his family, his work and his community in Lordship, Co Louth, where he was held in the highest regard.

He was a great community man, a great family man and a great detective. A real all-rounder. He always had a happy attitude and was very outgoing, said Insp Kirwan.

Adrian went to Dundalk Garda station in September 95 after coming out of Templemore, I went to Dundalk in March 96 after leaving the college and was on Adrians unit.

Thats how we became friends, we both also had an interest in GAA and joined the same club.

Myself and Adrian started at St Patricks GAA club in 1997 his club Crosserlough was an hour and a half away and my club Ballivor was much the same. It meant we had to look for a club and we ended up

at Pats.

Originally from Kilnaleck in Cavan, Det-Gda Donohoe later lived in Lordship with his wife Caroline and their two children. By 2013 he was a 17-year veteran of the force when he became the 87th member of An Garda Siochana to die in the line of duty.

Shortly before 9.30pm, on the evening of January 25 that year, he was on an armed cash escort at Lordship credit union when he was ambushed by a five-man gang and, without warning, was shot dead.

Last October, Armagh man Aaron Brady (29) was sentenced to a minimum term of 40 years imprisonment after being convicted of robbery and the capital murder of Det-Gda Donohoe.

The jury had earlier found that he was the masked raider who fired the fatal shot that killed Det-Gda Donohoe that night.

Insp Kirwan said the Garda investigation is still very much alive and has been given renewed energy following the prosecution of Brady.

Theres no doubt about it that its some closure, not that the investigation is in anyway finished, he said.

Theres at least four out there were going after and its reinvigorated the investigation.

Some members of the suspected murder gang remain in the North while others are based in the US. While Brady is the first person to be convicted in relation to the murder of Det-Gda Donohoe, gardai are hoping he wont be the last person to face justice.
The former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has defended Pfizer Inc for shipping fewer doses of its coronavirus vaccine

Last month, pharmacists told the company that each vial of the shot - which was supposed to contain five doses - could be squeezed to extract an extra sixth dose.

In response, the firm successfully persuaded the FDA to amend the vaccine's formal authorization language.

This means Pfizer, which was guaranteed to ship 40 million vials by July, could now ship up to seven million fewer vials to account for the 'extra' doses.

Dr Scott Gottlieb, who is a member of Pfizer's board, said the company's decision ensures that each vaccination site uses the extra sixth dose so none gets wasted.

Former FDA Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb defended Pfizer on CNBC on Monday (pictured) sending out fewer of its doses upon the news that an extra sixth dose can be extracted from each vial

By petitioning the FDA to change the emergency use authorization language to formally recognize the sixth dose, this allows Pfizer to send between 33 and 35 million vials across the US instead of about 40 million vials. Pictured: A nurse opens a tray of frozen Pfizer vaccines in Ohio, January 19

'The bottom line here is that this is a very scarce resource.' Gottlieb told CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday.

'We need to make sure every dose gets used. The only way to do that is to market this as a vial that has six doses and provide the proper equipment to extract that sixth dose, which in fact Pfizer is doing.'

When Pfizer executives learned that each vial might contain an extra sixth dose, they pushed the FDA to change wording in the emergency use authorization of the firm's vaccine, reported The New York Times.

The formal recognition was important for two reasons.

The first is because Pfizer gets paid for every dose they deliver. The second is because this could speed up the vaccination rollout.

'During this pandemic, with the number of people dying across the globe, it is critical that we utilize all available vaccine supply and vaccinate as many people as possible,' Pfizer spokeswoman Amy Rose.

'To leave an additional dose in each vial, that could be used to vaccinate additional people, would be a tragedy.'

Gottlieb told CNBC this change in the authorization language means Pfizer is actually able to supply 120 million doses of the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021 instead of the originally promised 100 million.

However, it also means fewer vials will be sent out. Instead of the 40 million vials that would have been sent out by July to fulfill its goal of supplying 200 million does by the summer, the company will likely be sending out around 33 to 35 million.

Some pharmacists say they do not have the right syringes necessary to extract the extra dose and have had to throw the vials away.

Gottlieb says sending fewer vial is the only way to ensure that each extra dose get uses so vaccination rates can keep increasing (above)

'Now there's more pressure to make sure that you get that sixth dose out,' Michael Ganio, the senior director for pharmacy practice and quality at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, told The Times.

Gottlieb told CNBC that when Pfizer applied for emergency use authorization with the FDA, the firm knew six doses could be extracted from its vials.

However, he says changing the wording of the authorization would have slowed the process so the firm decided to change the wording after the fact.

'The studies were done using these vials as five-dose vials. To actually market them as a six-dose vial, you would have to go back and do studies to demonstrate that physicians can reliably extract that sixth dose. That would have taken time,' he said.

Gottlieb explained that the changing to the language will only be applied for vials that have yet to be sent out, not ones that have been sent out already, and will only be counted in places where special syringes are sent to extract the extra dose.
Ten employers cited in latest round of COVID-19 workplace safety violations

Ten employers cited in latest round of COVID-19 workplace safety violations

MIOSHA encourages employers to take advantage of education and consultation services to prevent citations and assure workplace safety

January 22, 2021

Contact: Erica Quealy, 517-582-2961

As the state continues to prioritize worker safety and health, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) inspected and issued COVID-19 emergency rule or general duty citations to ten different workplaces with violations for failing to protect workers and take safety precautions.

Under MIOSHAs Emergency Rules, businesses that resume in-person work must, among other things, have a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan and provide thorough training to their employees that covers, at a minimum, workplace infection-control practices, the proper use of personal protection equipment (PPE), and steps workers must take to notify the business or operation of any symptoms of COVID-19 or a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. An emergency rule citation carries a fine of up to $7,000.

The MIOSHA general duty clause requires an employer to provide a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to the employee. A general duty clause citation carries a fine of up to $7,000.

On-site inspections conducted by MIOSHAs general industry and construction industry enforcement divisions determined ten employers allegedly committed violations by failing to implement necessary precautions to protect employees from contracting COVID-19. Deficiencies included a lack of health screenings, face coverings, employee training, and overall preparedness plans.

The cited employers have 15 working days from receipt of the MIOSHA citations to contest the violations and penalties. Employers must provide proof to MIOSHA that abatement has been completed.

A cited employer may choose to enter into a Penalty Reduction Agreement with MIOSHA and agree to abate noted hazards by the abatement date provided within the citation and will receive a 50% reduction in penalties. By entering into the Agreement an employer must also agree to not seek an appeal.

The latest MIOSHA citations were issued to the below companies for the following issues:

COVID-19 Emergency Rules Citations

Tri-Unity Christian School of Wyoming, MI, was cited for two serious violations and two other-than-serious violations, specifically failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire, failure to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained, failure to place posters in the workplace that encourages staying away from work when sick, and failing to maintain or retain documentation for training and entry screening. Total penalties are $2,000. The inspection was initiated based on an employee representative complaint, view full citation document.



of Wyoming, MI, was cited for two serious violations and two other-than-serious violations, specifically failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire, failure to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained, failure to place posters in the workplace that encourages staying away from work when sick, and failing to maintain or retain documentation for training and entry screening. Total penalties are $2,000. The inspection was initiated based on an employee representative complaint, view full citation document. BC&F Tool Company Inc. in Oak Park, MI, was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view full citation document.

in Oak Park, MI, was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view full citation document. United Resin Corporation in Royal Oak, MI, was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view the full citation document.



in Royal Oak, MI, was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view the full citation document. Commercial Fabricating & Engineering in Highland, MI was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The employer was found in violation of other non-COVID-19 workplace safety regulations which resulted in $14,700 in total penalties. The inspection was initiated as a reinspection assignment, view the full citation document.



in Highland, MI was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The employer was found in violation of other non-COVID-19 workplace safety regulations which resulted in $14,700 in total penalties. The inspection was initiated as a reinspection assignment, view the full citation document. AIS Automation Systems Inc. in Rockwood, MI was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view the full citation document.



in Rockwood, MI was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view the full citation document. Michigan Die Casting in Dowagiac, MI, was cited for violations including a lack of a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan, failure to train employees on the workplace controls for COVID-19, failure to implement a self-screening protocol for COVID-19, a lack of increased cleaning or disinfecting of the facility, not providing face coverings, and not enforcing the use of face coverings. Total penalties are $16,800 The inspection was initiated from an employee complaint, view the full citation document.



in Dowagiac, MI, was cited for violations including a lack of a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan, failure to train employees on the workplace controls for COVID-19, failure to implement a self-screening protocol for COVID-19, a lack of increased cleaning or disinfecting of the facility, not providing face coverings, and not enforcing the use of face coverings. Total penalties are $16,800 The inspection was initiated from an employee complaint, view the full citation document. F.J. Manufacturing Co., Inc. in Madison Heights, MI was cited but not fined for not developing a written COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. The inspection was initiated as a programmed inspection assignment, view the full citation document.

General Duty Citations

Powerhouse Gym Troy Inc. in Troy, MI, was cited for the lack of a preparedness and response plan, failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire and failure to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained. Total penalties are $700. The inspection was initiated in response to a referral, view full citation document.



in Troy, MI, was cited for the lack of a preparedness and response plan, failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire and failure to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained. Total penalties are $700. The inspection was initiated in response to a referral, view full citation document. K2 Holdings LLC in Fenton, MI, was cited for violations including failing to train employees on COVID-19, failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire, failing to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained and failure to use signs, tape marks, or other visual cues where people (workers, customers, and visitors) are to stand. Total penalties are $2,100. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view full citation document.



in Fenton, MI, was cited for violations including failing to train employees on COVID-19, failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire, failing to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained and failure to use signs, tape marks, or other visual cues where people (workers, customers, and visitors) are to stand. Total penalties are $2,100. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view full citation document. Plastic Development Group LLC in Southfield, MI, was fined $2,100 for violations including the lack of a preparedness and response plan, failing to conduct the daily health screening including a questionnaire and failure to require face coverings when social distancing could not be maintained. The inspection was initiated in response to an employee complaint, view full citation document.



A complete list of MIOSHA COVID-19 workplace safety citations is available online.

Visit Michigan.gov/COVIDWorkplaceSafety for employee and customer factsheets, educational videos, a sample COVID-19 preparedness and response plan, best practices that employees need to follow and a reopening checklist to help businesses put safeguards in place.

To request free consultation assistance from MIOSHAs Consultation Education and Training Division, go to MIOSHA Request for Consultative Assistance

For more information about MIOSHAs safety and health guidelines to protect Michigans workforce during the pandemic, employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health may contact MIOSHA using the new hotline at 855-SAFE-C19 (855-723-3219).

To report health and safety concerns in the workplace, go to Michigan.gov/MIOSHAcomplaint.

Information around COVID-19 is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.
Ireland's tortured tourism industry had hoped January might signal the start of a recovery. Instead, it's brought tougher travel restrictions than ever.

Already this month, thanks to a Christmas surge of Covid-19 and its new variants, we've seen travel banned from the UK and South Africa, a blanket requirement for all arrivals to show negative PCR test results, and Garda checkpoints on airport roads.

This week, the screw looks like tightening even further, with plans under discussion including self-paid quarantine hotel stays for those failing to present negative test results, and 14 days of home quarantine for all other arrivals.

This sounds like dystopian stuff. But Irelands travel clampdown is not unusual, and restrictions are likely to tighten all over the EU (Belgium has already banned all non-essential travel in and out of the country), leaving the traffic light system blinking forlornly.

Quarantine hotels? The UK is considering them. Norway already has them  travellers from high-transmission areas who do not have a place of residence must quarantine for 10 days in a designated hotel there.

The bill? 500NOK (48) a night is a bargain in Scandinavian terms. Oh, and you must also take a mandatory Covid-19 test, or be refused entry.

New Zealand takes things to another level. Only residents and citizens are allowed to enter (with few exceptions, such as for critical workers, or dependents). All must undertake 14 days of mandatory quarantine, booking their place at a facility before travel and showing proof of same before boarding the plane. After two weeks, if you test negative, you can enter the community.

Then there's Israel. Its government has just banned almost all international air travel for a week from tomorrow, in a bid to curb the spread of variants.

Like Ireland, a growing number of countries are requiring all passengers to present negative test results  from tomorrow, for example, the US joins the club with a testing requirement for anyone aged two and up.

Not that it matters for us. Entry is currently being denied to non-US nationals from Ireland, the UK and Schengen Area countries, among others, due to soaring Covid rates and the spread of new variants.

The window period during which a travel test must be taken can also vary widely. Ireland limits this to the 72 hours before arrival. Others draw the line at 48 hours, 24 hours, or require  like Iceland  tests on arrival.

St Lucia, on the other hand, allows seven days.

Nor has Ireland been alone in allowing people from high-risk or red' areas to shorten their quarantines by taking a second test after a period of time - five days, as it is in our case.

Germany, Finland and Iceland have similar rules (you can browse the entry requirements of different EU countries on the reopen.europe.eu/en website).

Theres another question. What about vaccinated travellers?

In recent days, weve seen the Seychelles and Iceland exempt passengers that carry vaccination certificates from their quarantine rules. You still need to test negative, but the steps provide tantalising clues as to the future of travel.

Will we carry vaccine passports? What would that mean for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, or who choose not to, or for citizens of developing countries whose vaccination programmes will be much slower?

The Irish Government hasn't taken a stance on this yet, though it is likely to have to. A key piece of the puzzle is whether or not vaccinated people can still transmit the virus.

Confused? Aren't we all.

The chaotic jumble of rules has made it virtually impossible to plan travel, and you could see that as exactly the point  where coronavirus is surging, non-essential trips are being cut-off more comprehensively than ever.

Our travel and tourism industries of course put public health first, and understand that these are emergency actions. But locking down, as we've seen, is the easy part. What they'd also like to see is an exit plan.

Right now, that's non-existent. Beyond vague talk of light at the end of the tunnel', there's little indication as to how travel may recover, and the growing threat that 2021 will leave another 6 billion hole where overseas tourism used to be.

We can tie the knot. But let's plan for loosening it, too.

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
They went Instagram official with their relationship earlier this month while on vacation in Hawaii.

And back in Los Angeles over the weekend, Brian Austin Green and girlfriend Sharna Burgess were enjoying a leisurely Sunday together as they stepped out in Calabasas.

The couple headed out for coffee at 10 Speed Coffee, with the father-of-three toting a hot beverage as they returned to their car.

Casual outing: Brian Austin Green and Sharna Burgess went for coffee in Calabasas on Sunday after making their relationship Instagram official

Sharna showed off her dancer's figure in mauve leggings and a button up sweater while Brian wore dark sweatpants and a navy hoodie.

Brian is said to be 'super serious' about Sharna.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star and the Dancing with the Stars professional made their romance Instagram official earlier this month, and sources have now said their relationship is going from strength to strength, with friends of the pair convinced they're in it for 'the long haul'.

One source said: 'Their vacation to Hawaii has brought them closer. While they've become Instagram official, people don't see how close they've actually become since their meeting.

Getting serious: The Beverly Hills, 90210 star and the Dancing with the Stars professional made their romance Instagram official earlier this month, and sources have now said their relationship is going from strength to strength

Sharna, 35, shared this photo from the couple's Hawaii vacation as they made their romance official on January 11. Brian followed up with a similar photo on January 17

'Those who know them can see them being together for the long haul and getting super serious.'

Brian, 47, and the 35-year-old dancer were first spotted together before Christmas, and Sharna confirmed their romance on January 11 when she posted a picture of them kissing on Instagram.

And sources have said the couple are currently discussing how much of their relationship to air to the public, as they have differing views on privacy.

DWTS pro Sharna has reportedly been hesitant about being in the limelight with her new relationship

The insider added to Us Weekly magazine: 'Brian is more open to the public about their relationship while Sharna is still holding back. It's a bit complicated for her because she doesn't want to be in that type of limelight.'

Sharna is reportedly concerned about getting involved in 'unnecessary drama', especially the 'sensitive situation' regarding Brian and her estranged wife, Megan Fox, whom he split from in early 2020.

The former couple were recently at loggerheads on social media after Megan  who is now dating Machine Gun Kelly  accused Brian of painting her as an 'absent mother' on social media.

Loved up: Brian was all smiles as he shared this snap in the new year from his tropical vacation

The Jennifer's Body star - who has sons Noah, eight, Bodhi, six, and Journey, four, with her ex - fumed after Brian marked Halloween with a picture of Journey, as she accused him of using Instagram to make himself seem like 'dad of the year'.

She commented on his photo: 'Why does Journey have to be in this picture? It's not hard to crop them out. Or choose photos that they aren't in.

'I had a great Halloween with them yesterday, and yet notice how absent they are from my social media. I know you love your kids. But I don't know why you can't stop using them to posture via Instagram.

'You're so intoxicated with feeding the pervasive narrative that I'm an absent mother, and you are the perennial, eternally dedicated dad of the year. You have them half of the time.

'Congratulations you truly are a remarkable human! Why do you need the internet to echo back to you what should be inexhaustibly evident in the way your children love you? (sic)'

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.
As the city of Manvel enters its 60th year since incorporation, it is at a crossroads, but thats not too surprising since the community has been at crossroads  either literally or figuratively  since its beginning.

After incorporating in 1961, Manvel has seen periods of explosive growth and is amid another surge as massive master-planned communities such as Pomona and Meridiana add homes and as residential growth continues to move south from Houston on Texas 288.

Manvel had 106 residents in 1970. Although the numbers of the 2020 U.S. Census are not out yet, the citys population now is anticipated to be well above 13,000. In 2018, Mayor Debra Davison predicted that number could rise to 35,000 by 2028.

So, the crossroads the city faces today is the intersection Old Manvel and New Manvel.

Community once called Pomona

In Manvel, we have those that moved in recently (who really) dont know the (citys) history, local historian Lora-Marie Bernard said. There are people living in (the Pomona subdivision) that dont know that Manvel used to be called Pomona. Then you have old Manvel families that have deep, deep roots, and they remember the 1980s, they remember it being an agricultural community.

You basically have two different communities living together, and the challenge that we have moving forward is how do we bridge those two? How do we address the different frames of reference they have of who they are as residents in the community?

At Davisons behest, Bernard put together a video that details the citys history. It is available on Manvels website. at www.cityofmanvel.com.

Manvel got its start in 1857 when William Rufus Booth and his wife Elizabeth Turnsey Rawls Booth settled at the head of Chocolate Bayou. Not far away was the Brazos River.

Those two waterways were important to early settlers, and Manvel was in the thick of it.

Around this time, the rivers and the bayous were the highways, Bernard said. There were no paths. There were no real roads at that time; so everyone was using the river and Chocolate Bayou and the other bayous as a way to get around.

After the Civil War, traveling by river or bayou was largely supplanted by railroads.

The railroad was very important to Manvel because that is where the economic center was, Bernard said. Today we dont think about railroads as being economic centers of our communities. We think of our downtowns and our high-rises because our economy has changed so much.

Thats when Pomona really began to grow. By 1890, there were no less than seven grocery stores, a drug store, a meat market and a hotel.

The Packingham Hotel, with its 14 rooms, became a destination spot, Bernard said.

A hot spot for honeymooners

Manvel used to be a place for honeymooners, she said. It used to be a place where people would get on the railroad and either stop in Manvel on their way to Galveston or stop on their way back.

Aside from newlyweds, Pomona was visited by other travelers as well.

The culture at the time was (on weekends) to get on the train in Galveston and then go visit family in Rosenberg and vice versa, Bernard said. So, you had this really vibrant community that we would have never thought about.

Theres a deep history between Brazoria, Fort Bend and Galveston (counties.) Its not just the tri-county area, as we call it today. There is a historic bond between the three counties, and Manvel was an important part of that for a very long time.

Eventually it was discovered that there was a West Texas town also named Pomona and a decision was made to redub the community Manvel as the president of the local railroad.

For the next 60-plus years, the community chugged along, maintaining its agrarian economy and small-town nature. The city formally incorporated in 1961.

But things were starting to change.

The agrarian economy that Manvel was built on was starting to shrink and landowners found themselves at another crossroads.

Eventually, we come up to today and we find that because of the decline of agricultural economy, many of the people who have large farms or ranches want to move on, Bernard said.

Those large farms and ranches are rapidly becoming sizable subdivisions, bringing thousands of modern-day settlers to Manvel and other communities throughout the state.

That type of development is indicative of what is happening in small towns throughout Texas, Bernard said.

The city has a vision to create a town center complex on last east of Texas 288 that could serve as a central focal point and include government, commercial and community destinations.

Bernard said the city recognizes the importance of keeping touch with its past amid rapid changes.

The idea of preserving your history has become more and more important to these smaller towns, and Manvel is an example of that, she said.

John DeLapp is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at texdelapp@gmail.com.

China flies a complex array of aircraft in a record number of sorties, sending both a political and a military message.

A RF-16 fighter jet drops flares during the live fire Han Kuang military exercise, which simulates Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) invading the island, in Pingtung, Taiwan, May 30, 2019.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) flew multiple aircraft into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) at the weekend, in a move analysts said was flexing military muscle at the start of the Biden administration.

The democratic island's defense ministry said 13 Chinese warplanesincluding a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, eight Xian H-6K bombers capable of carrying anti-ship cruise missiles and four Shenyang J-16 fighter jetsmade incursions into the southwestern part of Taiwan's ADIZ on alone, the largest number observed in a single day.

Unlike previous incursions, 's operation included bombers and fast-moving fighter jets usually used for offensive purposes, linking it to the reported presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier group in the vicinity, the island's Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

The U.S. State Department hit out at "the pattern of ongoing ... attempts [by China] to intimidate its neighbors, including Taiwan."

"We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwans democratically elected representatives," the department said in a statement.

It said the Biden administration would support a resolution of tension with China that was "consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan."

"We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability," it said. "Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid."

You Si-kun, president of Taiwan's democratically elected parliament, the Legislative Yuan, said the timing was clearly linked to the new administration in the U.S.

"The Biden administration is very concerned that [China] is stepping up its provocative activities," You told RFA. "It's fairly clear that they are testing the U.S.' attitude."

"I thank the United States for its response, and ... think they should take further action to prevent this kind of provocation from China in future," he said.

'Testing the waters'

Taiwan defense spokesman Shih Shun-wen said the island's forces had handled the situation well.

"The national army carried out close reconnaissance and surveillance between the joint services, and handled its state of combat readiness appropriately," Shih told RFA. "[Taiwan's] national security was protected."

Taiwanese military analyst Cheng Chi-wen said the incursions carried both political and military significance.

"It shows that [Beijing is taking] a hard line ... meaning that a military response can't be ruled out, if the U.S. doesn't act in China's interests on Taiwan," Cheng told RFA.

He said 's operation was far more complex than previous incursions, with the number of sorties far exceeding previous levels.

Former Taiwanese fighter pilot Chang Yen-ting said he expects more of the same in the year to come.

"They are testing the waters, and finding out which way the wind lies," Chang told RFA. "They want to see how the new president and Secretary of State react on issues like ... Taiwan."

"Basically, the CCP will step up the pressure on Taiwan through the use of military force," he said.

China's state-run Global Times newspaper said the incursions were a "routine military exercise."

Chieh Chung, a research fellow at the National Policy Foundation on the democratic island of Taiwan, said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is clearly trying to draw attention to its actions.

"They have stepped up the intensity and crossed into the southwestern ADIZ, which sends a message, without excessively raising tensions with the Biden administration," Chung told RFA.

He said the operation had been carefully planned to shore up Beijing's negotiating position with the new administration in Washington.

He said the operation could be a precursor to a large-scale sea-air joint exercise in future.

"The imaginary enemy of these [recent] exercises I think is the United States Navy," he said.

No more appeasement

In 2018, the Pentagon warned that the PLA is gradually preparing for a possible invasion of Taiwan, as the CCP "continued to develop and deploy increasingly advanced military capabilities intended to coerce Taiwan, signal Chinese resolve, and gradually improve capabilities for an invasion."

Taiwan has never been ruled by Beijing nor formed part of the People's Republic of China, but has been locked out of international diplomacy and agencies at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s insistence.

Washington has said it will no longer seek to "appease" China on Taiwan, as the State Department announced an end to a ban on high-level official and diplomatic contact with Taiwanese officials on Jan. 9, at the tail end of the Trump administration.

Under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, China has stepped up its rhetoric claiming the island as part of its territory, and has refused to rule out a military invasion.

But Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly said that the country's 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty or their democratic way of life.

Taiwan's ADIZ was created by the United States Armed Forces after World War II, and covers most of Taiwan Strait, part of East China Sea and adjacent airspace, The Aviationist magazine said in a Jan. 24 article on its website.

The zone isn't defined in any international treaty nor is it regulated by any international body. It extends over what is mostly international airspace, far beyond territorial airspace, which extends only 12 miles from a country's coastline.

The zones are primarily designed to give a country more time to respond to potentially hostile aircraft, the report said.

Reported by Hsia Hsiao-hwa for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Raymond Chung for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
SEAT got off to a great start to the New Year when this weeks drive, the Leon, won one of the most prestigious European car manufacturing prizes.

The new Seat Leon was voted Autobest 2021, the European accolade for the Best Buy Car of Europe 2021. The award has been running since 2001.

In December, my drive this week  the estate version  was named one of the UKs best cars for towing at the Caravan and Motorhome Club Towcar of the Year Awards.

This should be good news for motorists in 2021 who fancy caravanning but do not want to buy a big towing vehicle, such as a 4x4 or sport utility vehicle.

The Autobest jury, made up of a panel of 31 motoring journalists, praised Leons blend of driving dynamics, availability of powertrains including plug-in hybrid

(e-Hybrid), and advanced connectivity.

On top of that the new Leons safety equipment, including a new centre airbag, netted it a maximum five-star rating from Euro NCAP under new, more rigorous testing standards.

This is the second time in Seats 70-year history that the carmaker has taken the top honour, following Atecas win in 2017. Since its introduction in 1998, Seat has sold 2.3 million Leon vehicles worldwide. Certainly I found the estate version of the Leon I have been driving an excellent all-rounder and a very handy size of car.

Often estates can be plain cumbersome, generally because they are too large and airy.

The Leon estate SE Dynamic 1.5 TSI was compact enough to be handy for transporting people and luggage yet swift to drive.

I was not able to tow a caravan with this car but I have no doubt it would have proved willing if asked. One thing common to all Seat cars I have found is an innate willingness to perform.

However, power-wise the test car was equipped with the 130PS engine while the Leon Estate FR manual that won the Caravan Weight 1100-1200kg class had a 1.5 TSI 150PS engine. That extra power must have made a difference.

Seat is proud of its award-winning model. Cupra chief executive Wayne Griffiths said: The Seat Leon has been improving generation after generation. In 2019, the Leon was the best-selling car for Seat with more than 150,900 vehicles delivered, as well as being the best-selling car in Spain during the past five years.

He said the new Leon was the safest, most connected and with the widest range of engines the brand has ever seen.

In the sense of connectivity, which after all is increasingly important to motorists, Seat says the new Leon is the brands first fully connected vehicle.

In the car, Full Link offers Android Auto and wireless Apple CarPlay connections. Away from the vehicle, users can access their vehicles data remotely via Seat Connect as well as manage the battery charging and control the electronic air conditioning (plug-in hybrid models only).

The new Leon also features Car2X connectivity. This is a cloud-based technology that enables drivers to receive advanced road warnings.

This includes the status of upcoming traffic lights or an incident on a nearby motorway, or whether traffic lights are about to turn from green to red, with traffic information appearing in real time on screen.

There are new powertrains  petrol (TSI), diesel (TDI), mild-hybrid (eTSI), and plug-in hybrid (eHybrid). Safety is an important factor on the new Leon. The MQB (Modular Quer Baukasten) Evo architecture provides a strong and stiff safety cell.

This allows the integration of some of advanced driver assistance systems, including Predictive Adaptive Cruise Control and Emergency Assist 3.0. Seat says this makes the Leon the safest car it has produced to date.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, has asked Gov. Greg Abbott to rescind the executive order he issued in response to COVID-19, saying that the recent closure of the Heights Hospital shows that local officials need more decision-making power to adequately respond to the pandemic.

In letters sent Friday to Abbott, Jackson Lee said that Abbotts March executive order poses an imminent threat of disaster for all the counties in the state because it limits the ability of local officials to implement rules and closures.

While some can appreciate your singular interest and intent in opening Texas up for business, Executive Order GA-32 is having the precise opposite effect in the part of Houston known as The Heights, the Houston congresswoman wrote.

In her letter, Jackson Lee urged Abbott to rescind all restrictions on local jurisdictions that prohibit them from taking the necessary actions to protect their citizens, or for Abbott to issue another executive order prohibiting the closure of any community medical facility for a non-medical or public health or public health safety reason.

She sent a similar letter to Jeffrey Zients, who is leading President Joe Bidens COVID-19 response team, and asked that he intervene and prevail upon Abbott.

Last week, the doors of the Heights Hospital, a multi-care facility that has many low-income patients and does COVID-19 testing, were locked, forcing doctors to treat patients in the parking lot.

The owners of the hospital said that a third-party management company, hired by a the facilitys creditor, was responsible for the lockout.

Last week, the Chronicle reported that 1917 Heights Hospital, a subsidiary of the Houston real estate company AMD Global, defaulted on a $28 million construction loan for the building. AMD purchased the building in 2017.

AMD Global CEO Dharmesh Patel said that the loan was due at the end of 2020, and they were in the process of negotiating an extension when its lendor sold the loan note to another company, Arbitra.

On Jan. 8, Arbitra filed suit in Harris County demanding that the hospitals owners pay more than $3 million in accrued interest, and alleged that they have not paid for crucial management and maintenance expenses.

Patel said last week that his company did not give Arbitra permission to bar tenants from their offices and clinics.

robert.downen@chron.com
[January 25, 2021] ServiceNow Helps Solve Challenges to Quickly Vaccinate People Against COVID-19

ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW), the leading digital workflow company that makes work, work better for people, today announced new workflow solutions to help organizations get people vaccinated quickly. These solutions address vaccine management challenges at scale by removing logistical barriers to speed up the immunization process. The State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and NHS Scotland are among the more than 100 organizations currently working with ServiceNow (News - Alert) on their vaccine management efforts. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005198/en/ ServiceNow Vaccine Administration Management Solution (Photo: Business Wire) "Quickly developing effective vaccines was the world's first challenge, and the scientific achievements have been outstanding," said Bill McDermott, president and CEO of ServiceNow. "The world must now rise to the second challenge, getting people vaccinated quickly. "Distributing, administering, and monitoring vaccinations is the greatest workflow challenge of our time," McDermott said. "ServiceNow is proud to help solve the complex logistics, coordination, and effective delivery to people that is required. We are harnessing the power of our Now Platform to provide government agencies and others worldwide the scale, speed, and flexibility needed. ServiceNow's Vaccine Administration Management solves the last-mile challenges of keeping people healthy and safe." Despite heroic scientific achievements in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, organizations are trapped in the "last mile" of vaccine management as they lack the processes and infrastructure needed to vaccinate people quickly. The characteristics of the vaccine - limited supply, precise storage conditions, and two-part injection requirements - make its urgent distribution a complex workflow problem. ServiceNow's Vaccine Administration Management solution supports President Biden's goal to deliver 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, with immediate actions under way by the Biden-Harris administration to "convert vaccines into vaccinations." For example, in addition to already helping the State of North Carolina, ServiceNow also is working with NHS Scotland, which has developed custom workflow solutions on the Now Platform to support their goal of vaccinating 5.5 million citizens within three months. Introducing new vaccine management solutions Disconnected, manual, legacy systems are among the biggest challenges to getting the world vaccinated. To address these problems, organizations are using ServiceNow's Now Platform as their vaccine management command center. Available today, ServiceNow's new Vaccine Administration Management solution gives organizations out-of-the box capabilities that allow people to access critical vaccine information, schedule appointments, and receive appointment notifications from vaccine providers. Vaccine Administration Management is built on ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM) and delivers a modern, self-service experience across desktop and mobile devices. The solution connects patient communication with vaccine inventory systems so organizations can easily notify patients when more vaccines are available, schedule appointments, and send reminders. The State of North Carolina Departmen of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is relying on ServiceNow's technology as the foundation for its command center for healthcare providers, clinicians administering the vaccine, and supporting NCDHHS staff to access the latest information related to state vaccine requirements and to get their vaccine-related questions answered.



"To help get our more than 10 million North Carolinians vaccinated quickly and efficiently, the State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is using the ServiceNow platform to power our COVID Vaccine Management System (CVMS) Help Desk Portal," said Thomas Parrish, Acting Secretary and State Chief Information Officer for the North Carolina Department of Information Technology. "Leveraging ServiceNow, we also were able to assist NCDHHS in developing a workflow on the CVMS Help Desk Portal that digitizes the process of requesting and securing state approval to transfer vaccines to different locations. What was previously a manual, time-intensive process can now be completed through the portal with a few clicks - ultimately accelerating the immunization process." Accelerating the last mile of vaccine management

As millions of people seek vaccinations, organizations are reliant on legacy systems and processes that are not optimized to support massive spikes in usage. Meanwhile, organizations do not have established processes in place to offer self-service capabilities and proactively schedule appointments that follow the requirements for effectively administering the vaccine. Using ServiceNow as their vaccine management command center, organizations can connect all of their data and make work flow across their siloed legacy systems, including scheduling, prioritization, and communication. ServiceNow's digital workflows connect an organizations' existing technology infrastructure and provide a dashboard to orchestrate the critical elements of the vaccine management process including: Distributing vaccines: Track vaccine delivery, manage inventory, and monitor stock levels to support population prioritization.

Track vaccine delivery, manage inventory, and monitor stock levels to support population prioritization. Administering vaccines: Schedule vaccine administrators and support staff, track personal protective equipment (PPE), monitor no-shows, and capture feedback. People can communicate with their vaccine provider on the channel of their choice.

Schedule vaccine administrators and support staff, track personal protective equipment (PPE), monitor no-shows, and capture feedback. People can communicate with their vaccine provider on the channel of their choice. Monitoring vaccine outcomes: Monitor recipient safety, report adverse events, and support safe return to workplace efforts and ongoing public health monitoring. "What the world needs now is help overcoming unprecedented logistical challenges to get billions of people vaccinated as quickly as possible, which is the goal of this solution," said Stephen Elliot, Program Vice President, Management Software and DevOps at IDC (News - Alert) . "Organizations urgently need workflows that connect siloed legacy systems to speed the immunization process and get the world back to normal." Workflowing a healthier future ServiceNow's vaccine management solutions are a part of the company's broader innovation effort to support customers and organizations as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. ServiceNow's Emergency Response Apps help organizations navigate COVID-19 crisis management and have been downloaded by more than 1,800 customers worldwide. ServiceNow's Safe Workplace suite helps organizations gauge workforce and workplace readiness as they look to safely return employees to the workplace in the new normal. The Safe Workplace suite of apps continue to be innovated bi-monthly; to date, more than 900 organizations globally have downloaded the apps with close to 10,000 unique installations. The company will introduce additional solutions to support organizations' last mile vaccination efforts in the coming weeks. Availability and more information Vaccine Administration Management is available today on the ServiceNow Store for organizations to begin coordinating vaccination appointments. The company will introduce additional solutions to support organizations' last mile vaccination efforts in the coming weeks. Additional resources: Watch a demo of the Vaccine Administration Management solution

Chief Product Officer Perspective: How to meet the biggest workflow challenge ever

Workflow article: There's a better, faster way to distribute vaccines

ServiceNow blog: ServiceNow addresses vaccine management challenges Use of Forward-Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" about the expectations, beliefs, plans, and intentions relating to new solutions. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding expected performance and benefits of such solutions. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements include, without limitation: (i) delays and unexpected difficulties and expenses in making available additional solutions; (ii) changes in the regulatory landscape related to vaccine development and distribution and the availability of vaccines; and (iii) changes in the duration or severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further information on factors that could affect our financial and other results is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. About ServiceNow ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is making the world of work, work better for people. Our cloud-based platform and solutions deliver digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity for employees and the enterprise. For more information, visit: www.servicenow.com.  2021 ServiceNow, Inc. All rights reserved. ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo, Now, and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005198/en/

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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on AIM in London on Monday.







AIM - WINNERS







Journeo, up 27% at 72.30 pence, 12-month range 43.4p-75p. The transport technical services firm said it has secured a one-year extension to a framework agreement with First Bus UK. The extension will continue to March 2022, unless further extended, and is expected to generate GBP1.8 million in revenue.







Proton Motor Power Systems, up 25% at 117.48p, 12-month range 23p-122.97p. The fuel cells company said it has received a third order from an unnamed "large international engineering and aerospace group" for four Proton Motor S8 fuel cell systems for the autonomous provision of energy and heat. The customer has indicated that there may be "further follow up orders" to come.







Bowleven, up 22% at 4.95p, 12-month range 1.65p-6.68p. The Africa-focused oil and gas group said the operator of the Etinde licence, New Age, has received formal approval to apply for a new Etinde exploitation agreement. Bowleven holds a strategic equity interest in the offshore, shallow water Etinde permit in Cameroon. "This is very positive news for the Etinde development, as it essentially eliminates the possibility of the Government of Cameroon removing the Etinde licence from the JV partners, following the end of the initial six year development implementation period in January 2021," said Bowleven Chief Executive Eli Chahin.







AFH Financial, up 14% at 455.00p, 12-month range 190p-455p. Cortina Bidco - a company indirectly controlled by funds managed by US-based investment firm Flexpoint Ford - has agreed to buy AFH for 463p per share. This is a premium of 40% to AFH's closing price on December 1, being the day before Flexpoint entered into a confidentiality agreement with AFH. The deal values AFH as a whole at GBP224.5 million. "The independent directors believe that the terms of the acquisition are compelling, acknowledge the quality and strong prospects of AFH's business and deliver attractive value to AFH Shareholders in cash, allowing them to crystallise the value of their holdings," said AFH Chair John Wheatley.







ASOS, up 5.4% at 5,047.74p, 12-month range 975.2p-5,548p. The online fashion retailer confirmed it is in exclusive discussions with Arcadia's administrators over the acquisition of the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands. "The board believes this would represent a compelling opportunity to acquire strong brands that resonate well with its customer base. However, at this stage, there can be no certainty of a transaction and ASOS will keep shareholders updated as appropriate," the company said.







boohoo, up 4.2% at 346.88, 12-month range 133.1p-433.5p. The online fast fashion firm said it is has acquired all of the intellectual property assets of department store Debenhams Retail for GBP55 million in cash. The company will only be acquiring brands and associated intellectual property rights, and the deal does not include Debenhams retail stores, stock, or any financial services. boohoo said it will use the transaction to move into new categories including beauty, sport and homeware.







AIM - LOSERS







Asiamet Resources, down 33% at 2.4p, 12-month range 0.73p-6.7p. The Indonesia-focused copper and gold miner said the binding sale and purchase agreement entered into with PT WIN to sell subsidiary Indokal has been terminated. The first tranche payment of USD2.5 million was not transacted by PT WIN within the agreed timeframe of 10 business days following the signing of the deal and a subsequent extension period. "The company used best endeavours to ensure this payment was made, however this was not complied with and no reasonable explanation was provided other than a request for further changes to the terms of the binding SPA which were considered to be unacceptable and detrimental to the best interests of the company," said Asiamet.







By Lucy Heming;A lucyheming@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Preparation on for the Farmer's rally at Azad Maidan this afternoon.(Photo: IANS/QNajmi) Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Jan 25 : The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi allies Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress will join the Samyukt Shetkari Kamgar Morcha (SSKM) Mumbai rally on Monday to oppose the three new farm laws, top organisers said here on Monday.

NCP President Sharad Pawar, Congress state President and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, and Sena's Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray shall participate at the rally in Azad Maidan where over 15,000 farmers reached late on Sunday in a 'Vehicle Morcha' from Nashik.

After the rally, the farmers and leaders shall take out a procession to Raj Bhavan and submit a memorandum to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari with their list of demands pertaining to farmers and workers, said All India Kisan Sabha President Dr. Ashok Dhawale.

The agitation is part of the all-India 3-day action launched since Sunday in all states to express solidarity with the farmers in Delhi demanding a complete repeal of the 3 farm laws, terming them as 'anti-farmer', said AIKS General Secretary Dr. Ajit Nawale.

On Tuesday, the farmers will assemble at Azad Maidan and solemnly unfurl the National Tricolour and take a pledge to continue the struggle of peasants-farmers till they get justice, the leaders added.

The Mumbai Police have made elaborate security arrangements at the Azad Maidan with police personnel assisted by 9 platoons of the SRPF, drones and other agencies deployed.

The January 26 action will coincide with the proposed 'Farmers Republic Day Parade' in the national capital in which an estimated 100,000 tractors have reached the Delhi borders.

"The programme here is to support of the historic two-month long farmers agitation in Delhi, and we also demand a total repeal of the 3 draconian farm laws imposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, and other related issues," Dhawale said.

The other demands include enacting a central law guaranteeing MSP and procurement, withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill, repealing the four Labour Codes, vesting all forest, pasture and temple lands in the names of the tillers and resuming implementation of the loan waiver scheme in Maharashtra suspended duo to the Corona pandemic.

The farmers 100-plus groups under the SSKM banner are led by Dhawale, AIKS vice-president D.L. Karad, AIDWA general secretary Mariam Dhawale, AIKS state chief Kisan Gujar and general secretary Ajit Nawale, besides other leaders like CPI(M) MLA Vinod Nikole, Sunil Malusare, Preethy Sekhar and Kavita Vare.

Among those slated to address the rally this afternoon includes Dhawale, SSKM's Hannan Mollah, Pawar, Thorat, Aditya Thackeray, and other political leaders.

Hebei Virus Outbreak Underscores the CCPs Lies About an Affluent China

Commentary

The surge of COVID-19 cases in Hebei Province since the year began has now become a new focal point of Chinas epidemic.

Up to now, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, and Langfangthe cities with the most CCP virus infectionshave implemented sealed off management. Thousands of villagers have been taken away for centralized isolation. It appears the Chinese regime is avoiding the term lockdown in an attempt to downplay the severity of the outbreak.

A major feature of this outbreak in Hebei is that it is concentrated in rural areas. This goes against experts previous hypothesis that the risk of transmission in rural areas is less than in urban cities.

What is the reason that rural areas have become the hardest-hit regions? And why are authorities taking away villagers to be isolated in other places?

According to Qi Shunxiang, director of the virology institute at the Hebei Center for Disease Control and Prevention, villagers being isolated at home is likely to cause transmission between family members and neighbors. In addition, sanitary conditions in villages are relatively poor. In villages, it is also difficult to isolate sick family members from those who are healthyhence the need for villagers to be taken to centralized isolation centers.

In an interview with state broadcaster CCTV, Qi also mentioned that to build a centralized isolation facility in Shijiazhuang, a power company had to set up electricity. This clearly shows that the area lacked electricity.

CCTV did not mention this, but based on Epoch Times interviews with locals, many of the infected patients were farmers. When they experienced symptoms, they were initially treated as the common cold. Suddenly so many villagers caught a cold, and local medical facilities were not alert.

Due to the lack of heating in rural housing, it is common for villagers to catch colds during the winter. Regarding the lack of sufficient heating in northern counties, villages, and towns, the following are some of the opinions expressed by local netizens:

Its been the third year since coal-to-gas conversion was set up in Yongnian district, Handan city, Hebei Province. The gas supply is insufficient this year. We have been freezing! The gas stopped in the middle of the night! I woke up and found that the room was 2 degrees [Celsius, about 35 degrees Fahrenheit]!

This year we changed coal to gas in Qinghe county, Xingtai city, Hebei Province. We often had the gas cut off during the deep winter [The conversion] met the needs of environmental protection, but who will solve the heating problem? How can the elderly and children in the family withstand the cold? Not to mention heating, even cooking cannot be done.

The gas work in rural areas of Handan, Hebei is being carried out and now, its basically fully covered, but serious problems arose in the gas supply and maintenance during winter  No one will take care of the problem. This is now a common phenomenon at the grassroots level.

The epidemic situation in Shijiazhuang reflects the reality of how people in the countryside live: heating supply is insufficient, medical facilities are still very backward, and authorities were not transparent about the outbreak.

According to official sources, on Jan. 2, a 61-year-old female living in Xiaoguozhuang village, Zengcun town, Chaocheng district, felt chills and chest tightness, accompanied by coughing of phlegm. Her body temperature was 38.7 degrees Celsius (about 101.6 degrees Fahrenheit) when she took the temperature at 4 a.m. Accompanied by her family, she took a rental car to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University for treatment. She tested positive for COVID-19 and became the first case confirmed by authorities in the latest virus resurgence in Hebei.

State media outlets praised the woman for thinking of going to the hospital and getting treatment before she could have spread the virus further. But they failed to note that it wasnt until she went to the hospital that she got tested for COVID-19. Think about it. How many similar situations have occurred in rural areas of China? How many people could have spread the disease unknowingly? Could the virus have spread quietly in rural areas for the past year?

A netizen in Guangzhou city, Guangdong Province revealed that his colleague recently went back to his hometown in Hebei. The colleague wanted to pay for a nucleic acid test upon arriving in Guangzhou. After running around several local hospitals, he was kicked out. Staff told him he needed to schedule an appointment. The netizen worried that a virus outbreak could spread in Guangzhou if recent travelers from Hebei were not screened.

This outbreak in Hebei has severely affected not only villages, but also neighborhoods surrounding Beijing.

Currently, outsiders are not allowed to enter Beijing. Those who commute to work in Beijing have been cut off from their jobs. After the pandemic, I wonder if the work will still be waiting for them. For these commuters, the path to a comfortable life will be extremely difficult.

It can be seen from the above that the Chinese regimes claim that the country has fully realized the dream of becoming an affluent society, or that suspected virus patients are reported in a timely manner, are simply lies. The outbreak in Hebei has also severely disrupted the livelihoods of local farmers and Beijing commuters. The CCPs mouthpieces should stop bragging about rural areas being lifted out of poverty, or that a moderately prosperous society has been built.

Chen Simin is a freelance writer who often analyzes Chinas current affairs. She has contributed to The Epoch Times since 2011.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Three students in senior high schools in Upper West and Western regions respectively, have contracted Coronavirus disease since schools re-opened a week ago.



Dr Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, announced this in Accra on Monday, during COVID-19 media briefing.



He said the affected students were being managed in their respective schools.



He said before schools were opened on January 15, this year, the GHS made arrangements for schools to be mapped to health facilities near them.



That, he said, was intended to ensure quick response to COVID-19 infections or outbreaks in any school.



Meanwhile, more than 32 persons have died from COVID-19 related diseases between January 1 and 24, this year.



The GHS Boss said the third phase of COVID-19 surge in the country was very severe and deadly than the surges in July and September last year.



Currently, he said, 372 persons have succumbed to the infectious disease since the nation recorded its first case in March 2020.



He said the active cases had increased from 800 to 3,613 as of January 22, 2021, with 62,135 cumulative cases, noting that the middle and upper classes of the population were most affected.



Dr Kumah-Aboagye said due to the severity of the new wave of infections, the GHS will soon begin Antigen testing in suspected outbreaks in schools and workplaces.



Additionally, Antigen test would be used in hospitals when health workers there had been exposed to the virus, and also use it in selected health facilities.



At the moment, Antigen Test is used at the country's airport and produce Covid-19 test results within 30 minutes.



Dr Kumah-Aboagye said public health facilities would now offer 24-hour service and intensify Contact Tracing using public transport system like Bolt.



He advised the management of companies and organizations in the country to decongest staff at their workplaces and use virtual services instead.



Dr Kumah-Aboagye urged the public to comply with the preventive and safety protocols as well as the wearing of nose masks.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Inflectra - the maker of award-winning requirements, agile, and enterprise test management platforms, announced today that it added cloud hosting in Singapore to its portfolio of Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting options. To keep pace with the fast-growing demand on its SaaS systems: SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam, and SpiraTest and maintain the highest level of performance and reliability, the company moved to boost its cloud hosting infrastructure in Asia-Pacific.

"Beyond the reliability and performance enhancements offered by AWS local hosting in Singapore, we recognize that cybersecurity will remain front of mind everywhere for the foreseeable future. Thus Inflectra is proactively putting in place systems that strengthen our customer's cybersecurity posture. A great deal of care being taken to provide adequate privacy protections to our clients as mandated by local laws and regulations," said Adam Sandman, Director of Technology at Inflectra.

"We have recently opened up cloud hosting for our India customers and are making the same provisions for our clients in the Asian-Pacific region more broadly. Inflectra's customers wishing to move to our new hosting site in Singapore will do so easily. Moreover, they will not incur additional costs beyond the standard service fees," said Thea Maisuradze, Head of Business Development at Inflectra.

Inflectra's new cloud hosting site in Singapore will give its global customer base reliable coverage in the world's six regions: USA, Canada, Europe, India, Australia, and now Singapore.

For more information on Inflectra's Cloud Services, please refer to the Cloud Services section on our website.

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Founded in 2006, Inflectra is a market leader in software test management, test automation, application lifecycle management, and enterprise portfolio management space. The company is headquartered in the USA but has offices in over ten countries. Known globally for its legendary customer support, Inflectra makes turn-key solutions that address many challenges in software testing and QA, test automation, and product lifecycle management. Its methodology agnostic software tools are used in regulated industries where portfolio management, requirements traceability, release planning, resource management, document workflow, baselining, and enterprise risk analysis are required. The company uses a concurrent pricing model for all its tools with unlimited products, projects, sprints, tests, API calls, included in a single price. All Inflectra products have a 30-day free trial.

Contact Person: Thea Maisuradze

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SOURCE Inflectra Corp
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The powers of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe were challenged. The issue was submitted for further consideration to the relevant PACE committees.

Such an initiative was put forward at the beginning of PACE winter session by Maria Mezentseva, the head of the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the PACE, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The initiative was supported by 38 PACE members.

"On behalf of my colleagues, I challenge the powers of the Russian delegation on the merits in connection with serious violations of the Council of Europe's charter and Russia's failure to fulfill its obligations," said the head of the Ukrainian delegation.

She reminded that in 2019 the Assembly restored the powers of the Russian delegation, aiming to resume political dialogue and enhance protection of Russians.

"But despite this, the Russian authorities continue to restrict political and civil freedoms Russia continues to repress and violate human rights in the occupied territories, violating many PACE resolutions which condemn Russia's violation of international law, illegal annexation of Crimea, military occupation of Donbas," Mezentseva said.

She also reminded that the adopted amendments to Russias Constitution allow Russia not to comply with international treaties and provisions of international law.

"To date, we have seen Russia's complete disregard for the Assembly's requests," the head of the Ukrainian delegation added.

Next, according to the procedure, a draft resolution on challenging the powers should be prepared by the PACE regulatory and monitoring committees. After that, the draft resolution must be voted on by the Assembly.

In June 2019, France and Germany insisted on the restoration of powers of the Russian delegation to the PACE despite the fact that Russia failed to fulfill any of its obligations in the Council of Europe, continued armed aggression against Ukraine, occupation of Crimea, human rights violations.

The PACE winter session is being held in Strasbourg on January 25-29.

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Please, people of Trinidad and Tobago, I beg you to take Covid-19 very seriously. I dont want anyone of you to feel the pain I feel.

The weight of that tearful plea from Indian restaurateur Gautam Khanna ripped the heartstrings from the body in one forceful pull, on a quiet Wednesday morning in Arima.
This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.

Back in 2017, I was a new parent who had read plenty of Lenore Skenazy and had every intention of defying what I thought was the dominant culture of hover parenting. If you had asked me then whether American society is generally too safe, I would probably have said Yes! I wanted to be a parent who let my child find her own footing. Head shaking at our safe society was something we all did in my very liberal familymy mother, reading a long warning label on a stepstool and laughing at all the cautions the manufacturers had to include to avoid a lawsuit; my older relatives, reminiscing about the years when kids used to tumble out the door at dawn and return by last light. The idea that our culture had gone a little too far over to the cautious side seemed like a simple bit of conventional wisdom.

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Now, after four exhausting years of conservative sneers about snowflakes, safe spaces, and soy boys, I dont think Ill ever again perceive conversations about American safety as politically neutral. These were the years when I realized that the commonly held belief that American kids and teenagers are overprotectedarticulated over the years in Atlantic cover stories and bestselling booksis a cousin to the Trump-y argument that American life itself has been weakened by safety. Its with this argument as ideological fuel that his administration stripped away occupational safety protections for workers, rolled back environmental regulations, even lowered standards for the inspection of meat.

Head shaking at our safe society was something we all used to do in my very liberal family.

But all the rollbacks, rule changes, and cruel comments minimizing the trauma of children separated at the border (do not forget this) look, in hindsight, like a prelude to the way the right used anti-safety-ism to dismiss the COVID-19 threat. As Donald Trump bungled his way through the pandemic, there was a stretch where the message from the right was: Stop being so scared of a little virus; your ancestors would be ashamed of you. Or, as Trump himself said in October, after he left Walter Reed pumped full of the best COVID drugs American medicine has to offer: Dont let it dominate your life.

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This buck up and take it argument became a persistent theme last summer. Foxs Brian Kilmeade said in early July that schools should reopen because life is full of risks; kids should learn early on that life is full of hurdles; youve got to find a way to overcome. Rush Limbaugh, around the same time, said on his radio show that Americans needed to do what their forebearers had done and get on with life. In the course of the 1918 flu, he said, There was no, Woe is us. It was just the next in a long line of things that happened with people that they dealt with. Limbaugh went on to talk about the Donner Party and how, though they had to turn to cannibalism, they didnt complain about it, because there was nothing they could do. They had to adapt.

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Limbaughs Donner Party bit got more pressof course; its hilariousbut the 1918 comment is almost more chilling. If our great-grands didnt say woe is us about the flu, its because they had no recourse for dealing with it. At that time, they didnt even really know that influenza was a virus! And the mental damage from the flu pandemicthe grief, the neurological effects on survivorswas huge. Reading these arguments, thinking about their usefulness to Trump, I came to see how the idea that history is a series of inevitable tragedies, and that human effort to avert them is futile, can do a great deal to cover for governments failures to protect.

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The anti-vaxxers who have found common cause with Trump also draw rhetorical fuel from this reactionary anti-safety-ism. This took me a while to understand, because anti-vaxxers are also motivated by misplaced fear of the possible effects of vaccines. But the Trump years have shown me that anti-vaxxers think we who vaccinate are the ones who have let an obsession with safety govern our lives. In 2019, Darla Shine, wife of thenWhite House deputy chief of staff Bill Shine, hopped on Twitter to argue against the use of the measles, mumps, and rubella shot after news of a measles outbreak in Washington state. Bring back our #ChildhoodDiseases, Shine wrote. They keep you healthy and fight cancer. Kids and parents should be brave enough to let kids have these diseases, goes the logic, because then they will have life long natural immunity.

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Later on in 2019, a study came out showing that having measles actually wipes out a bunch of a bodys accumulated immunity to other viruses and bacteriaa phenomenon called immune amnesia that does not occur when you get the MMR shotso this belief now looks even more misguided. But scientific information has turned out to be a poor counter for the rights deeply held belief that liberals are just babies who need to grow up.

Its no mistake that the right hates the reformers of the Progressive Era, who best articulated the idea that a rich society like ours should extend the means of safety to as many as possible, through benefits like sanitation, occupational protections, and health care. Is American society too safe in 2021? Ive never seen more clearly that for most people, in most places, its not safe enough.

This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.
The benchmark indices were trading near the flat line in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 43.32 points or 0.09% at 48,835.22. The Nifty 50 index slipped 8.30 points or 0.06% at 14,363.60.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index skid 0.51% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.77%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 921 shares rose and 1,844 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 4.11% to 23.3450. The Nifty 28 January 2021 futures were trading at 14,371.40, at a premium of 7.80 as compared with the spot at 14,363.60.

The Nifty option chain for 28 January 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 52.40 lakh contracts at the 15,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 36.30 lakh contracts was seen at 14,000 strike price.

India-China Standoff:

The media reported that the Indian and the Chinese troops had brawled again on their contested border, leaving injuries on both sides. The incident happened last week at the Naku La pass in Sikkim state, the reports added.

India and China on Sunday reportedly held the ninth round of senior commanders' talks in a fresh bid to resolve the military standoff at eastern Ladakh.

As per reports, India has insisted on setting in motion at the earliest the process of disengagement and de-escalation of troops by the two countries to restore peace and tranquility in border areas.

The last round of talks between the military commanders was held in November last year while senior diplomats of the two countries met on 18 December under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Coordination and Consultation (WMCC) in border areas.

Coronavirus Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 9,91,92,353 with 21,29,403 deaths. India reported 1,84,182 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,53,470 deaths while 1,03,30,084 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Reports suggest Tata Group's healthcare venture is said to have started initial discussions with Moderna Inc for a partnership to launch its COVID-19 vaccine in India. Tata Medical & Diagnostics could team up with the India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to carry out clinical trials of Moderna's vaccine candidate in India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index rose 1.24% to 12,697.95. The index fell 2.63% in the past two days.

Aurobindo Pharma (up 6.81%), Cipla (up 3.85%), Lupin (up 1.97%), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.62%) and Cadila Healthcare (up 1.11%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Tata Motors fell 2.45%. The car major will hike prices of its passenger vehicle range, effective 22 January 2021. Rising input costs and material costs of steel, precious metals and semiconductors have compelled the company to pass on a part of the cost to customers. Tata Motors has marginally increased prices from 0 to Rs 26,000, depending on the variant. Continuing its commitment towards customers, the company will also offer protection from the price increase to customers who have booked Tata passenger vehicles on or before 21 January 2021.

Cadila Healthcare gained 1.34% after the company received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) to market Liothyronine Sodium tablets USP, 5 mcg, 25 mcg, and 50 mcg. Liothyronine is a man-made form of thyroid hormone which is used to treat an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). It replaces or provides more thyroid hormone, which is normally made by the thyroid gland. The drug will be manufactured at the group's formulation manufacturing facility at the SEZ, Ahmedabad.

Tata Power fell 1.32%. Tata Power Solar Systems has received a letter of award (LoA) to build 320 MW of ground mounted Solar PV project for NTPC. The order value of the project is approximately Rs 1,200 crore. The commercial operation date for this project is set for May 2022. With this addition, the order pipeline of Tata Power Solar stands at approximately 4GWp with approx. value of Rs 12,000 crore.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The Ghana Medical Association GMA has warned of dire consequences if nothing is done to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the country.



Ghana keeps recording over 500 cases continuously as active cases keep skyrocketing.



Currently, the active cases stand at 3,286 as of 20th January 2021 with 679 and 367 deaths.



Speaking in an interview on Peace FM morning show 'Kokrokoo', Dr Justice Yankson, General Secretary, GMA) said looking at how the virus is spreading fast, a 'hard decision' needs to be taken to stop it.



According to him, "if there is no intervention to break the mode of transmission...unless God intervenes. We need to break the spread and change our lifestyle otherwise we will leave to regret it".



"It got to a time when the state placed coronavirus backstage and even though there is currently some form of enforcement, it's on the low side especially in Accra," he added.



Care Centres Overstretched



Dr Yankson says care centres are currently overstretched and has urged government to implement an 'enhanced restriction' to stop the spread of infection.



Otherwise, people who are critically ill and needs medical attention might not get it and that will lead to more people dying.



"We've moved from 200 cases a day to averagely almost 700 a day, ...the care centres are overstretched and those critically ill can't get access. what it means is that very soon people will be dying at home because they can't get care at the centres...the situation is very alarming and dire..."



Partial lockdown



He said even though partial lockdown will be helpful, it should be the last resort. For now, government should ban mass gatherings like funerals and parties.



"We should consider the hard decision now and break the chain of transmission and save all of us...we need strict adherence, the rate of non-adherence to the protocol is worrying."







Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/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
Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended Police Day celebrations on Monday at the Police Academy in New Cairo.

The ceremony was attended by state officials and ministers, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, and Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb.

Accompanied by Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik, El-Sisi laid a wreath at the memorial of police martyrs.

Police Day commemorates resistance by Egyptian police to British occupation forces in Ismailia in 1952, which resulted in the death of dozens of police officers.

The president honoured the memory of a number of police victims who died on duty, presenting the national order to their families.

The honoured victims include police officer Mohamed El-Houfi, who was killed by terrorists during a police raid in Cairos Al-Amiriya district.

El-Sisi said at the ceremony that the 1952 Ismailia battle has drawn an immortal painting in which the heroics of police and people were intertwined.

He referred to the challenge of terrorism, saying it has become an explicit tool to manage conflicts and execute schemes and conspiracies.

The president thanked policemen for their ongoing efforts amid regional developments that destabilise nations and endanger national security.

He referred to the 25 January 2011 Revolution, which coincides with Egypt's Police Day, saying it was led by faithful youth who have looked forward to a better future."

In January 2011, millions of Egyptian demonstrations flooded the streets to oust late president Hosni Mubarak, forcing him to step down on 11 February.

I say to Egypts youth that your homeland is in need of your vigorous arms and sincere efforts to proceed in the path of reform, construction, and development, El-Sisi said.

He urged Egyptian youth to contribute to achieving the aspirations of all Egyptians for a bright future that secures for all citizens equal chances of a decent life.

Concluding his speech, El-Sisi referred to the government's programme to develop 4,500 villages nationwide, saying the project will change the lives of 55 million people.

He affirmed the states commitment to work on finishing the project in three years.

At the ceremony, the interior minister stressed the ministrys focus on facing terrorism in cooperation with the Armed Forces.

Despite the success (in combating terrorism) that reflected on more security and stability in the region, the ministry is aware of the importance of continued security vigilance and the monitoring of terrorist organisations movements, Tawfik said.

He added that terrorist groups exploit tensions and violence in the region to destabilise other African nations.

This is El-Sisis second visit to the Police Academy in a week. On Friday dawn, he inspected the academy's facilities and was briefed on cadets' training systems.

Egypt's Police Day is celebrated on 25 January and is a paid holiday for employees in the public and private sectors.

This year, employees will take Thursday 28 January off instead, following a decision by the premier to make Thursday a day off instead of any week-day holiday to "give citizens a chance to have a long weekend."

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Ava Martinez used to enjoy going to school. She was excited to dissect frogs and was an avid reader, a straight-A student enrolled in her schools gifted and talented program and several Pre-AP classes.

Before the pandemic, Ava had a vibrant social life but never let it interfere with grades. Now, the 13-year-old stays home and takes classes virtually. Her workload at Rudder Middle School in the Northside Independent School District seems heavier, but classes seem shorter. She cant simply raise her hand to ask a question or turn to the student next to her.

Before, I didnt think of school as work, but now its like a hassle, Ava said.

EXPRESS-NEWS APP: Breaking news, Spurs scores, COVID updates and more  at your fingertips.

Some of her high grades have slipped to Bs and Cs, and she withdrew from Pre-AP classes and the gifted and talented program, said her mother, Alejandra Crawford.

Education leaders across the country predicted massive learning loss would result when schools were shuttered last March by the coronavirus pandemic. Studies are beginning to show just how severe the COVID slide has been. And parents are crying out for help.

Photos by Jerry Lara /Staff photographer

One of the reasons state education officials decided not to cancel the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, in the spring is to gauge the dimensions of the learning loss, though the tests value there will be limited because it wont be mandatory.

But locally, some school districts have already given other tests to students. Northside ISD leaders will present results to their board of trustees, likely in February, Superintendent Brian Woods said.

Theres clearly learning loss, and learning loss in mathematics is more dramatic than it seems to be in reading, Woods said.

That aligns with state and national trends.

The Northwest Evaluation Association, a research organization that creates assessments for grades prekindergarten through 12, has found test scores for math were between 5 and 10 percentage points lower for students nationally last year when compared with same-grade students in 2019. The studys authors caution that many children were missing from last years data, but some of Texas largest districts have found the same picture in their assessments.

San Antonio ISD gave two types of tests, the Measure of Academic Progress and Circle Progress Monitoring, and found its students were, for the most part, maintaining their reading skills. But students were falling behind in math, district leaders told trustees during a November board meeting.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio school districts see remote learning stretching way into next year

For example, data showed students had similar gains in reading from third grade to fourth. But in the same cohort, the district saw a 13-point decline in math test scores.

Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

We have more students scoring low and average (in math) compared to reading, where we have less students scoring low and low average, Theresa Urrabazo, the districts senior executive director of accountability, research, evaluation and testing, told trustees.

What youre going to notice throughout the presentation is that math took a much bigger hit than reading. And this is also consistent with what were seeing across the state and with other districts.

Parents who saw their kids struggling went into search mode to get help, according to the nonprofit organization Families Empowered, which helps families navigate school choice. The organization said it surveyed 208 San Antonio parents and that 70 percent said their kids needed help catching up when they went back to school after the shutdown in March.

The immediate switch to distance learning was really hard on five of Sheila and Paul Ryans six school-age children. They were in elementary and high school grades at Great Hearts Monte Vista.

Only 14-year-old Emma was thriving, her mother said.

The familys two other daughters and their three sons showed behavioral changes and complained that being on camera all day was anxiety-inducing.

One of the Ryan girls has autism, and a son has attention deficit disorder. Virtual learning was not a good fit for either.

Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

The challenges were compounded by the familys internet bottleneck. The parents work from home and have three older children  for a grand total of nine kids  who are in college. At one point, the household juggled 29 Zoom sessions in one day, Sheila Ryan said. They called Spectrum to increase their bandwidth and were told they were already getting the maximum.

Grades started slipping for most of the Ryan children. The parents began to worry less about their report cards and more about their social and emotional well-being. Still, they didnt want the children to fall so far behind that they would be unprepared for the world after school.

Weve kind of shifted our whole perspective of what making it looks like, Sheila Ryan said.

During the fall semester, the family started exploring other options. They briefly considered home schooling full time but abandoned the idea. Their oldest daughter, Abigail, 16, agreed to wear her mask all day and maintain social distancing so she could go back to her Great Hearts campus in person.

The parents changed schools for their other two daughters, who are also back in classrooms: Emma, 14, at Roosevelt High School, and Molly, 13, at Ed White Middle School, both in North East ISD.

The boys  Judah, 11, Benjamin, 9, and Simon, 7  are still at home attending the Great Hearts Online virtual academy.

Most of the kids had to take tests at the start of the spring semester this month. That encouraged Ryan, who wants to know how far behind they are and in which subjects.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

Im really excited about that. I think its really thoughtful, Ryan said.

One of the keys to tackling learning loss is collecting data, and that has to be done through testing, said Colleen Dippel, founder and CEO of Families Empowered.

I really dont see any way out of this for families without having more data, not less, Dippel said. We really have to understand the magnitude of the problem if were going to provide interventions for kids.

The states STAAR results, which come later in the year, will be too late, Dippel said. Districts that are testing students now will be ahead in the effort to make up for lost learning.

If we are learning that some kids are a year behind or 18 months behind, thats a really difficult dilemma that should not be put off to next August, Dippel said. Its not a summer slide, its not even a COVID slide. Its a COVID avalanche.

Schools and learning centers provided by organizations such as the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club should offer one-on-one tutoring, Dippel said. School districts should plan to have either more teachers available over the summer or utilize student teachers and tutors for both in-person and online assistance.

A glimmer of hope for Alejandra Crawford is that daughter Ava wants to return to school. She frequently asks her mom when she can go back, and Crawford asks for a little more time. That tells Crawford that Ava hasnt lost her love of learning.

I always tell her, This is not going to be forever, and I guarantee all the things you want to do, I will repay it, Crawford said.

krista.torralva@express-news.net
Each year, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate recognizes agents that have demonstrated outstanding listing and sales performance, a positive attitude, devoted work ethic and a positive impact on the community. The following agents were recently awarded for their accomplishments in 2020:

George Skarpalezos  Top Producing Agent of the Year

George Skarpalezos was honored with the Top Producing Agent of the Year Award. This award recognizes the exceptional level of accomplishment for the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper agent with the highest sales volume for the year.

George finished 2020 with over $26 million in total sales volume and over 60 transaction sides.

Pat Cooper, President and Broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate stated, George continues to impress me, year after year. He is consistently a top producer with our company, and we are so proud of him. His drive to be the best and provide the best service to his clients is unmatched.

Jedon Lilliston  Open Heart & Hands Award

Jedon Lilliston was the recipient of the Open Heart & Hands Award for 2020. She was nominated by her peers for her numerous charitable efforts and positive community impact.

Jedon donates her time and talents to several organizations in the Golden Isles. She is an active member of Nativity of Our Lady Church in Darien, GA and was recently recognized as a recipient of the Bishop Gartland Service Award for her contributions and service in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah.

Jedon is also an active member of the Camden County Rotary Club, previously serving as a president of the organization. In addition, she strives to make an impact through her service to the Coastal Georgia Boy Scouts of America, where she has also been recognized for her contributions.

Jedon is always volunteering for something, always on the goand thats exactly how she likes to be. You can tell that she puts her heart into everything that she does. She just loves helping people. Its such an honor to have her as part of our real estate family.

Melanie Barger  Rising Star Award

The Rising Star Award recognizes an agent that has joined the real estate industry within the last 24 months who has demonstrated dedication, a positive attitude and has had an exceptionally outstanding listing and sales performance. REALTOR, Melanie Barger was the recipient of this award.

Melanie achieved $4.8 million in total sales volume and 9 transaction sides in 2020. She has also earned her ABR - Accredited Buyer's Representative designation. She is active in the local community and is enthusiastically engaged in the real estate industry.

Pat Cooper shared, I am so excited to present this award to Melanie. It has been a pleasure to watch her grow her real estate career with our company. She has incredible attention to detail and enthusiastically serves the needs of her clients.

We are incredibly proud of these agents for their outstanding achievements this year. I cant wait to see what 2021 holds for them. says Pat Cooper.

About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate

Hodnett Cooper Real Estate is a family-owned and operated company with four offices throughout the Golden Isles offering a full range of real estate services including real estate sales, residential rentals, property management and commercial sales. The brokerage is the premier real estate company in southeast coastal Georgia with a professional and diverse team of agents. Visit http://www.BHHSHodnettCooper.com.

About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, based in Irvine, CA, is a brand-new real estate brokerage network built for a new era in residential real estate. The network, among the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name, brings to the real estate market a definitive mark of trust, integrity, stability and longevity.

About HSF Affiliates LLC

Irvine, CA-based HSF Affiliates LLC operates Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Prudential Real Estate and Real Living Real Estate franchise networks. The company is a joint venture of which HomeServices of America, Inc., the nations second-largest, full-service residential brokerage firm, is a majority owner. HomeServices of America is an affiliate of world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Contact:

Catherine Maybank

(912) 638-5450

catherine@hcrega.com
DOJ Watchdog to Probe If Department Officials Sought to Alter Election Results

The Justice Departments watchdog will investigate whether any department officials tried to improperly influence the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said in a statement on Jan. 25 that the investigation will look into allegations concerning the conduct of current and former Justice Department (DOJ) officials but wont extend to other government officials.

The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is initiating an investigation into whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election, Horowitz said.

Horowitz didnt provide any specifics regarding the probe, noting that the purpose of the announcement is to reassure the public that an appropriate agency is investigating the allegations. He said the DOJ wont comment further until the investigation is completed.

While its unclear what the probe is in reference to, the announcement comes days after The New York Times reported on Jan. 22 that a former assistant attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, had talked with then-President Donald Trump about ousting Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and bolstering Trumps challenges to the results of the 2020 presidential election by having the DOJ begin a probe into allegations of voter fraud.

The Epoch Times has been unable to corroborate the claims made in the NY Times report.

Clark told the NY Times that its report contained unspecified inaccuracies and that he couldnt speak to his conversations with Trump or department lawyers, adding that all his official communications were consistent with law.

A Trump adviser told the NY Times that the former president had pushed for investigating rampant election fraud that has plagued our system for years and any assertion to the contrary is false and being driven by those who wish to keep the system broken.

Rosen, a former deputy transportation secretary under Trump who was sworn in as deputy attorney general in May 2019, took the reins of the DOJ after then-Attorney General William Barr announced he would step down on Dec. 23.

In December, media reports suggested that Trump would push Rosen to name a special counsel to investigate Trumps claims of election fraud.

A DOJ spokesman told Reuters earlier in January that Rosen had made no such special counsel appointments during his tenure. Rosen stepped down after the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Joe Biden.

While Barr in November authorized federal prosecutors to investigate substantial allegations of voting irregularities in the presidential election, he told The Associated Press in a Dec. 1, 2020, interview that the department hadnt found any evidence of voter fraud that was widespread enough to affect the results of the election.

Barr later said he saw no basis for the federal government to seize voting machines used in the election and affirmed earlier comments that he saw no evidence of systemic fraud.

I stand by that statement, Barr said on Dec. 21, 2020, referring to comments made in the AP interview.

Barr also declined to appoint a special counsel to probe Trumps claims of widespread voter fraud.

Trumps legal team and supporters filed dozens of contest-of-election lawsuits, most of which were dismissed on procedural grounds, with just one netting a win, striking down a deadline extension to correct mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania that were missing proof of identification.

Reuters contributed to this report.
PHILIPSBURG:---NV GEBE announced the launch of its yearly Senior Citizens temporarily relief 62+ program to assist seniors with their monthly utility bills. Registration will commence on February 1, 2021. This program which started in 2014 is geared towards certain eligible Senior Citizens and its aim is to reduce the electricity costs for those individuals that qualify for this program. "A lot of people are struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Sharine Daniel, Interim Manager of NV GEBE, "and our seniors are an especially vulnerable group we are pleased to at least be able to provide some financial relief.

NV GEBE stated that senior citizens eligible for this program must apply and meet certain criteria in order to qualify, NV GEBE added that even the seniors who were previously apart of the program must reapply and meet the criteria.

The relief granted will be in the form of a monthly fixed amount to be deducted from the electricity invoice. Applications will be available as of Tuesday, January 26, 2021, and will only be available for three weeks. The deadline for registering is set for February 19, 2021, application received after this date will not be accepted. The program will run for a year after which reapplication and/ or re-assessment will be necessary. Applicants must be 62 years of age or older at the time of applying, legally residing on the Dutch side of the island and, must be a GEBE client with a contract in his or her name.

The registration form for the senior citizen relief program can be picked up at the receptionist desk in Philipsburg at the Main office or at the Simpson Bay Branch office. After the form has been completed together with the necessary original documents, said documentation can be submitted at the Customer Care located at the Main office building in Philipsburg and Branch Office in Simpson Bay.

Please bear in mind in order to qualify for the relief program, all documents must be submitted and the client must be in good standing with N.V GEBE. Management of N.V GEBE reserves the right to accept or decline any relief request at their discretion. This Senior Relief program will be transparent and everyone will be treated in a fair manner, once they are able to prove compliance with the mentioned criteria.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2021 ) :Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan Monday said that India's Republic Day being celebrated on Tuesday is the blackest day for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and all nations including Pakistan who believe in freedom and the human values.

"India is celebrating its Republic Day on Tuesday and projects its state as the largest democracy in the world. But, most tragically, the edifice of this state is founded on grave crimes against humanity in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir  land and people that do not belong to India." In a special message on the eve of India's Republic Day, which is being observed as the black day by the Kashmiri people, the state president said that a few months after its independence, India had militarily invaded Jammu and Kashmir state and deprived the Kashmiri people of their freedom in October 1947.

"After unleashing a reign of terror for 73 years against the Kashmiri people, India had proved that neither it is a democratic country nor does it believe in freedom, justice, equality and universally recognized human rights," the president said.

He maintained that India invaded and usurped the territory seven decades ago. State terrorism and ruthless oppression have been used by successive Indian governments to subjugate the people of Kashmir. But it is the BJP-RSS regime that has broken all records of the use of brute force against Kashmiris.

"India reinvaded, reoccupied the territory and laid siege to the occupied land on August 5,2019. Since then, the violent extremist regime has been busy stealing Kashmiris' homeland, jobs and businesses," he added.

The AJK president while strongly condemning the Indian repression said: "We strongly denounce the occupation authorities' killing spree in Kashmir, attempted annexation of the territory to the Indian federation, illegal settlements, and transfer of Hindus from India to the occupied territory to change its demography.

"This constitutes genocide and war crimes. Make no mistake; the people of Jammu and Kashmir and the world will hold India accountable. It is only a matter of time," he warned.

On the occasion of black day, he called upon the United Nation and the influential states to intervene and save the people of the IIOJK from unbridled tyranny, torture and repression.

"It is the responsibility of multilateral institutions dealing with international law, human rights and humanitarian law to come forward and rescue the besieged, unarmed people of the IIOJK. Otherwise, the UN Charter would be seen as no more than a scrap of paper," he asserted.

The AJK president said that India is celebrating its Republic Day, but this republic's rulers are bleeding the people of Kashmir to death. Now the question is: what are they celebrating?"We, the people of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan reiterate our vow that we will fulfill our historic obligation to dismantle the evil apparatus that kills, maims and blinds Kashmiris. We will continue to burn the flame of liberty bright until the people of Jammu and Kashmir attain their right to self-determination," the president concluded.
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Oscar, the first health insurance company built around a full stack technology platform and a relentless focus on serving our members, announced today that it has made two strategic hires to deepen its leadership bench in the insurance and clinical space.

Alessa Quane joins Oscar as its Executive Vice President and Chief Insurance Officer, effective March 1, 2021. In this newly created position, Alessa will serve on Oscar's leadership team and will report to Chief Executive Officer Mario Schlosser. Alessa joins Oscar from AIG, where she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, overseeing the management of risk on an enterprise-wide basis and value-based performance metrics.

Sameer Amin joins the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, also effective March 15, 2021. Sameer will be responsible for implementing Oscar's clinical capabilities and enhancing the quality of care and outcomes for its members. Sameer joins Oscar from CareMore Health, where he most recently served as the Regional Chief Medical Officer for the Western US. Prior to that, he held multiple national roles for the Anthem subsidiary, including National Director of Specialty Medicine.

"Alessa and Sameer are joining Oscar at an exciting time as we continue to expand our footprint and product offerings, including the launch of Oscar's Virtual Primary Care in 2021," said Mario Schlosser, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Their expertise will help us build upon the strength of our existing insurance and clinical experiences and further our ambition of making our members feel like having Oscar is like having a doctor in the family."

About Oscar

Oscar is the first health insurance company built around a full stack technology platform and a relentless focus on serving its members. At Oscar, our mission is to make a healthier life accessible and affordable for all.

Headquartered in New York City, Oscar has been challenging the health care system's status quo since our founding in 2012. The company's member-first philosophy and innovative approach to care has earned us the trust of approximately 420,000 Americans across 211 counties, as of March 31, 2020. We offer Individual & Family, Small Group and Medicare Advantage plans. Our members benefit from 24/7 telemedicine visits at no additional cost, integrated direct scheduling with providers through our innovative app, a network of physicians and hospitals, as well as a personalized Care Team that supports members every step of the way, from finding a doctor to navigating costs. We create experiences that reflect the kind of health care company we would want for ourselvesone that behaves like a doctor in the family, helping us navigate the health care system in our moments of greatest need.

All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Oscar Health, Inc., including Oscar Insurance Company and its affiliates. Say hi or learn more at www.hioscar.com or follow us at twitter.com/OscarHealth.

SOURCE Oscar Health

Related Links

https://www.hioscar.com


Developing countries must be helped to better recover from the pandemic as developed nations have, taking bold action to rebuild their economies and to achieve global recovery in 2021, said Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the senior minister in the government of Singapore.

Shanmugaratnam made his comments during the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which kicked off virtually on Monday and was attended by Ahram Online.

Shanmugaratnam underscored that this need stems from the fact that developing countries accounted for one-third of global economic growth pre-pandemic.

During the first day, economic leaders, government representatives and experts drew the map for the world to manage the COVID-19 crisis and to build resilient economies.

They were unanimous on key drivers that will help countries to better rebuild, including expanding in adopting digitalisation, especially in financial transactions and government services, investing more in infrastructure, education, and the green economy, as well as expanding in public-private partnerships as a key driver of global economic growth, especially in developing countries.

They also urged for vaccines to be distributed equality, which will contribute to boosting global economic growth in the years to come.

Andrey L. Kostin, a representative of the Russian Federation, warned of risks that countries are likely to experience during the recovery phase and post-pandemic.

Small businesses are likely to face financial bubbles, especially since a huge number of them have not achieved any positive results in 2020 due to the pandemic. Moreover, stock markets and financial markets are expected to face speculations in prices amid the ongoing crisis. These are serious side effects of the pandemic that all countries need to work on preventing, Kostin illustrated.

Robert E. Moritz, global chairman for PwC and USA at the International Business Council, noted that countries need to shift from centring on GDP as a main target for their economic activities and their countries growth to a broader perspective that focuses on the climate, the planet, wealth distribution, and investing in human capital to attain a real growth going forward.

In his opening address, Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted the need to balance COVID-19 responses with economic development.

We need to shift the driving forces and growth models of the global economy and improve its structure, he said.

He also called for eliminating ideological prejudice in order to jointly follow a path of peaceful coexistence, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, emphasising the need to close the divide between developed and developing countries by providing equal rights, opportunities and rules for the benefit of all countries.

Meanwhile, Rajiv Shah, president of Rockefeller Foundation, said that while emerging markets are likely to continue to face the threat of COVID and its associated severe repercussions, the stimulus packages that governments have introduced in these economies are inadequate.

WEF in its 2021 round focuses on seven key themes, including how to save the planet, fairer economies, tech for good, society and future of work, better business, healthy futures, and geopolitics.

Short link:


BBC presenting duo Holly Hamilton and Connor Phillips have announced the birth of a baby boy.

Baby boy Fionn was born on Thursday - or 21/1/21 - Radio Ulster presenter Connor announced as he popped onto his mid-morning show on Monday.

The newest addition to our bubble... Welcome to the world Fionn Phillips! Born 21/1/21 - and already has us wrapped around his tiny little finger... Thanks to the amazing staff at the Ulster Hospital who helped bring this little dude into our lives. Iam obsessed.  pic.twitter.com/t7tYvMbhp9  Holly Hamilton (@HollyHNews) January 25, 2021

Connor said mum and baby were doing very well.

"He's loving life," Connor told his listeners.

Later Holly posted a picture of a tiny hand gripping her finger.

"The newest addition to our bubble," she tweeted. "Welcome to the world Fionn Phillips! Born 21/1/21 - and already has us wrapped around his tiny little finger.

"Thanks to the amazing staff at the Ulster Hospital who helped bring this little dude into our lives. Im obsessed."

Connor said the birthing plan basically "went in the bin" as they arrived at the hospital. He praised all the staff at the Ulster Hospital for their efforts on making the couple comfortable.

"It's the weirdest thing, the scariest thing you'll ever do, but they made it.. they just sat there and had the craic with us. And we were cacking ourselves," he said.

"It is not really well done to me.

"I just sat there, cut the cord, 'grab that wee man go out there and sit down ... your wife is amazing'.

"This is one of the times. Men - sorry I don't want to talk men down - but men we are nothing compared to our female counterparts when it comes to child birth.

"It is just incredible."

Connor joked he had not been fired as some had suggested was the reason for his absence from the airwaves.

"Fionn Phillips," he added, "you can tell his mother is Holly Hamilton."

He said the last few days had been a "whirlwind".

"Nothing can prepare you for that first night," he said, "as you don't really understand."

"And the new human does not understand as well. So you have two sets of humans who do not understand and then you try and do something different the second night, you read all the books and you listen to all the experts and you go ... 'screw you we'll do it our way'."

He said they were managing to grab two or three hours sleep, "but you know what it is worth it".

Stand-in presenter Phil Taggart played some messages from listeners welcoming the birth.

He added: "I'm in bits here, that is amazing. Thanks to everyone that says I now have the duty of being the least immature in the house.

"We know that is not going to happen, I'm going to be the biggest child in this house well into this young man's years.

"Holly has now two kids. One semi-fully grown, and one three days old," he joked.

Expand Close Holly Hamilton and Connor Phillips on their wedding day in 2018 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Holly Hamilton and Connor Phillips on their wedding day in 2018

Holly, who's originally from Greyabbey in Co Down, and the Jonesborough man met when they were both together at Downtown Radio and Cool FM before landing jobs with the BBC.

Connor proposed at Edinburgh Castle four years ago and they were married in a ceremony in the Algarve in June 2018.

The couple revealed they were expecting last year, announcing the news on the BBC's Children in Need.

In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph last year, Holly, who went to Regent House in Newtownards, while Connor attended Abbey Grammar School in Newry, said they were not finding out what they were having, instead waiting on a "little New Year's surprise" and their family was "over the moon" at the news.

Holly also told how she broke the news of their pregnancy to her other half over Zoom during lockdown, as she was in Manchester and Connor was in Newry.

"It wasn't how I planned to tell him of course... his face was a picture. I was able to screen record his reaction, which was funny."

Holly added: "We'd always talked about having children and said if it was meant to be it was meant to be... although we hadn't planned a whole pandemic in the middle of it."


Srinagar: Stranded vehicles being allowed to move after the strategic Jammu-Srinagar highway was restored for traffic, on Jan 8, 2021. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Jammu, Jan 25 : The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway will be opened on Tuesday just to facilitate the movement of vehicles stranded between Ramban and Jawahar Tunnel towards Kashmir, officials said on Monday.

"Tomorrow, subject to fair weather and better road conditions, only the vehicles stranded between Ramban and Jawahar Tunnel will be allowed to move towards Srinagar, including on the Ramban-Banihal (local traffic) stretch," traffic police said. "No vehicle would be allowed to move from Jammu or Udhampur towards Srinagar." The road was thrown open for one-way traffic with the installation of a bailey bridge on January 16 after it remaining closed for a week due to the collapse of a bridge at Kela Morh near Ramban, 150 km from Jammu.

The traffic police said that the weight-bearing capacity of the bailey bridge is less than 40 metric tonnes.

"Security forces are advised/requested not to ply against advisory/traffic plan in view of traffic congestion on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and narrowness of te bailey bridge. They may ply from Jammu towards Srinagar after confirming the status of the National Highway. No vehicle shall be allowed in the opposite direction," traffic police said.

The highway is the main road link of the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country. It is the lifeline of Kashmir as trucks laden with essential supplies for the Valley move through the highway.

The Mughal Road, which is the second road link connecting the Kashmir Valley with the Jammu region, is closed due to accumulation of snow.

By Kate Sullivan, CNN

(CNN) -- President Joe Biden signed an executive order to repeal a Trump-era ban on most transgender Americans joining the military on Monday alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

President Biden fulfilled another crucial pledge, repealing the transgender military ban to ensure everyone whos qualified to serve in the military can do so openly and free from discrimination. pic.twitter.com/b24PHI9OII  The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 25, 2021

"This is reinstating a position that the previous commanders and, as well as the secretaries, have supported. And what I'm doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform," Biden said, speaking from the Oval Office just before signing the executive order.

President Donald Trump's ban has been rebuked by the Democrat-led House of Representatives and condemned by LGBTQ activists as discriminatory. Austin voiced his support for overturning the ban in his Senate confirmation hearing last week.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that cases in which transgender service members were discharged from the military because of their gender identity would be reexamined.

"No one will be separated or discharged from the military or denied reenlistment on the basis of gender identity, and for those transgender service members who were discharged or separated because of gender identity, their cases will be reexamined," Psaki said during a White House briefing.

"President Biden believes gender identity should not be a bar to military service and that America's strength is found in its diversity," Psaki said. "America is stronger around the world when it is inclusive."

Biden had a meeting late Monday morning with Austin, Vice President Kamala Harris and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, according to the White House. Later on Monday, Harris ceremonially swore in Austin as Defense secretary in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

Harris and Austin are the first two Black people to hold their respective positions, and their joint appearance underscores the record diversity of Biden's administration. Austin is the first Black secretary of defense, and Harris is the first Black vice president, as well as the first woman and first South Asian to hold the position.

Austin addressed the ban in his confirmation hearing on Friday and told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "I truly believe, senator, that as I said in my opening statement, that if you're fit and you're qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve."

He was confirmed by the Senate later that day, after being granted a congressional waiver to serve in his post because he was assuming the post before waiting seven years after active-duty service. Austin was the second member of Biden's Cabinet to be confirmed by the Senate, following Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

Trump first announced the ban on Twitter in July 2017, arguing transgender people in the military would lead to "tremendous medical costs and disruption."

The policy, later officially released by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis in 2018, blocks individuals who have been diagnosed with a condition known as gender dysphoria from serving with limited exceptions. The policy specifies individuals without the condition can serve, but only if they do so according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

Trump's ban reversed a policy initially approved by the Defense Department under former President Barack Obama, which was still under final review, that would have allowed transgender individuals to openly serve in the military.

The Supreme Court allowed Trump's transgender military ban to go into effect in January 2019. The House of Representatives passed a resolution in March of that year expressing opposition to Trump's ban, describing it as discriminatory and saying it was based on "flawed scientific and medical claims."

Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David praised Biden's move.

"The greatest military in the world will again value readiness over bias, and qualifications over discrimination," he said in a statement.
After selling Honor last year, Huawei may spin off its premium Mate and P smartphone brands next to get around crippling sanctions, according to Reuters. The company has reportedly been talking to a consortium led by investment firms backed by the Shanghai government as far back as last September.

Huawei flatly denied the news, though it did the same when rumors it would sell the Honor brand cropped up. There is no merit to these rumors whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan, a spokesperson told Reuters. The Shanghai government also declined to comment.

Obviously, the price of any deal is still unknown. Last summer, however, Huawei topped the smartphone sales charts with 55.1 million units shipped. Sales of the Mate and P Series phones (the latest models are the P40 Pro and Mate 40) were reportedly $39.7 billion between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, according to IDC.

Engadget

The Mate 40 will be Huaweis last chip with its high-end Kirin processors, though. Thats because its primary chip manufacturer, TSMC, said it wont build chips for Huawei anymore  because TSMC sources some components from the US, which has banned US companies from selling to Huawei. Samsung also recently announced that it will stop supplying Huawei with phone chips amid US sanctions.

On the other hand, ARM  the company that makes the chip designs used by all major smartphone makers  has said that it would continue working with Huawei. To that end, Huawei has reportedly been working on a way to manufacture Kirin chips itself using ARM designs. It may decide not to sell the Mate and P brands based on how that goes, according to Reuters.

Shortly after Huawei sold it off, Honor unveiled the View40 5G smartphone powered by a MediaTek processor. That model in theory can now be sold in Europe and the US with Googles apps, as its no longer on the US entity list. If Huawei spun off its premium brands, they could also possibly go on sale again in the west  a nice thing for consumers, as they P40 and Mate 40 are powerful phones.
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A LABORATORY reportedly linked to former Health minister Obadiah Moyo, Klosad Clinical Diagnostics Laboratory, yesterday hit back at orders by the Health Professions Authority of Zimbabwe (HPAZ) to close down, saying there was no legal basis to do so.

The HPAZ had ordered its closure after allegations that one of the firms employees, Anesu Nyamugama had fraudulently issued fake COVID-19 certificates to clients. Nyamugama has since been suspended by the company.

In a letter to HPAZ dated January 22, Klosad, through its lawyers from Chihambakwe, Mutizwa and Partners, said the purported shut down of the facility was illegal.

We are advised that our clients have not received any communication from the practice control committee. Your action was taken in violation of the rules of natural justice as well as the Administrative Justice Act which requires that a person cannot be con demned before they are heard, the lawyers said.

Our clients, on our advice will continue to operate, and any interference with its operations will be resisted with vigour. On an in need basis, we will apply for an interdict on an urgent basis.

We are also copying this letter to the police so that they ignore your illegal request for their assistance, the letter by the lawyers read in part.

The lawyers said the letter and purported action on Klosad were not in accordance with the law, hence had no force or effect.

We have accordingly advised our client not to give effect to your directive to cease operation because in terms of section 105 which you purportedly acted on, the practice committee should have reasonable grounds to believe that something untoward was, or is happening at our clients operations. It would then have communicated its concerns to our client and or to the registered person.

In the notification referred to, it was obliged to invite our client or the registered person to make representations to it within 30 days. If our client or the registered person either fails to make representations, or having made recommendations they do not find favour with the practice control committee would then take appropriate action. Newsday
JINAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Eleven miners were rescued on Sunday after being trapped underground for two weeks due to a blast in a gold mine in east China's Shandong Province.

Rescuers lifted two workers at around 3:18 p.m., bringing the number of rescued workers to 11. People on the ground greeted the miners with loud applause.

One of the rescued workers put his palms together in a show of gratitude to the applauding people.

The first rescued miner was lifted from the mine at 11:13 a.m. Sunday. The worker, said to be in extremely weak condition, was rushed to a hospital for treatment.

"For days we took turns to clear the debris in the shaft. Today, we finally got the result we had hoped for," said one of the rescuers.

Experts said the rescue of the 11 miners on Sunday was beyond their expectations, as only three days ago they had estimated that it would take rescuers at least 15 days to dig through the block to reach the trapped workers.

In the early hours of Sunday, after clearing small pieces of debris, rescuers found an empty space down under that was only blocked by large pieces, said Xiao Wenru, chief engineer of the mine rescue center of the Ministry of Emergency Management. "The discovery greatly expedited the rescue process."

Twenty-two miners were trapped underground due to the mine blast on Jan. 10 in Qixia, under the city of Yantai, Shandong Province.

Before Sunday, rescuers had established contact with only 10 of the miners, who are in good physical and psychological conditions. Another is believed to have been dead.

Rescuers are still racing against the clock to dig into the blocked mine shaft to save the remaining 10 miners who are unaccounted for.
President Joe Biden has replaced Donald Trump's controversial White House physician with his own doctor.

Biden has brought his longtime doctor, Kevin O'Connor, on board as the new White House physician.

O'Connor, who has served as Biden's doctor for more than a decade, replaces Dr. Sean Conley, who was criticized for giving conflicting information about Trump's condition when the former president was battling COVID-19.

Conley admitted to giving an uplifting assessment of Trump's condition because the White House wanted to project optimism. In reality, the president's COVID case was more dire and he was, at times, on supplemental oxygen and had a high fever.

'I didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction, and in doing so, you know, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true,' Dr. Conley said at the time. 'The fact of the matter is that he's doing really well.'

President Joe Biden has replaced Donald Trump's controversial White House physician with his own doctor, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who started treating him when he was vice president

Dr. Kevin O'Connor is a retired US Army colonel and has been Biden's doctor since 2009

It's not uncommon for a president to name his own physician when taking office.

O'Connor is a retired US Army colonel who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, the 75th Ranger Regiment, and the United States Army Special Operations Command.

He began serving as Biden's physician in 2009 when he was appointed physician to the then-vice president.

He previously spent more than two decades in the Army, where traveled to over 70 countries.

He was the doctor who gave Biden a pre-presidential physical, writing that Biden is 'a healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.'

O'Connor also examined Biden in December when the then-president elect fractured his foot.

At 78, Biden is the oldest inaugurated president in American history.

The physician to the president also serves as director of the White House Medical Unit, a unit of the White House Military Office responsible for the medical needs of the President of the United States, Vice President, White House staff, and visitors. The Physician to the President is also the Chief White House Physician.

The unit is headquartered in the ground level of the White House.

The physician to the president also travels with the president and gives the results of his yearly physical.

On Wednesday, Conley was seen departing the White House with Trump, who was returning to his Florida home.

Both O'Connor and Conley hold degrees in osteopathic medicine, one of the two degrees in the United States with which physicians can practice medicine.

OConnor completed his Medical Degree at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1992 and residency training at The Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey.

Biden's doctor replaces Dr. Sean Conley, who was criticized for giving conflicting information about Trump's condition when Trump was battling COVID-19

The White House physician travels with the president as Dr. Sean Conley is seen doing in October 2020 during the presidential campaign

President Trump named Dr. Sean Conley White House physician in 2018

Conley took on the role of White House physician in 2018 after the-then physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, was nominated to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jackson had to withdraw from consideration over concerns about his workplace behavior. He is now a congressman from Texas.

The White House has employed regular physicians since at least 1898, when President William McKinley hired a Navy physician, Presley Rixey.

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Passengers arriving into Ireland without negative Covid-19 tests will be held in quarantine for up to two weeks under plans agreed by the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19.

It comes as an extension of the Level 5 restrictions, including the ban on non-essential construction work, until March 5 was also agreed by the committee.

The Taoiseach and ministers agreed to extend the current lockdown by another five weeks due to the high number of coronavirus patients in hospitals and the pressure on ICU capacity.

A memo going to Cabinet tomorrow says consideration will be given to getting Leaving Cert students and children with special educational needs back to classes, but talks are on-going with the unions.

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However, construction is to remain closed until March.

Meanwhile anyone travelling from Brazil or South Africa will also be held in State-run quarantine hotels for up to a fortnight.

The Cabinet Committee also agreed to temporarily suspend all visa-free short-term travel from South Africa and Brazil.

Apart from facing up to two weeks in quarantine, anyone arriving without a negative PCR test will also face a fine up to 2,500 and/or up to six months imprisonment.

New laws will be introduced to make it a legal requirement for all passengers to restrict their movements for 14 days on arrival into the country. At present, the requirement is only guidance rather than a law.

The new laws will also apply to any passenger arriving in the North but travelling into the Republic. However, there are concerns about how to police these situations.

At last nights meeting, ministers heard the National Public Health Emergency Team proposed testing all passengers on arrival and testing them again five days later.

A source at the meeting said quarantine for all travellers was deemed too excessive.

Most of the measures around quarantining were agreed in principle by ministers and it is expected more legislative work and public health advice will be needed before the new rules are introduced.

There is some debate over when people can leave quarantine when they receive a negative test.

The committee also agreed to increase garda checkpoints near all ports and airports.

Gardai will check travellers to see if they are returning from abroad without an essential reason for travelling. If this is the case they will be fined for breaching the 5km travel restriction.

The current fine of 100 for breaching travel restrictions will be increased.

A source said all the new measures will take time to legislate for if agreed by Cabinet.

Meanwhile the EU has threatened to impose tight export controls within days on Covid-19 vaccines made in the bloc after drug company AstraZeneca said it was cutting the first contingent of its vaccine to the EU.

The EU has committed to buying 300 million AstraZeneca doses with option on 100 million extra shots. Late last week, the company said it was planning to reduce a first contingent of 80 million to 31 million.

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the EU will take any action required to protect its citizens and its rights.

EU member states are united: vaccine developers have societal and contractual responsibilities they need to uphold, Ms Kyriakides said after two tense negotiating sessions with AstraZeneca that ended late tonight.

Separately AstraZeneca last night described German media reports saying its Covid-19 vaccine was shown to have a very low efficacy in the elderly as completely incorrect.

German daily papers Handelsblatt and Bild said in separate reports the vaccine  co-developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University  had an efficacy of 8pc or less than 10pc, respectively, in those over 65 and the German government did not expect the European regulator to approve the product for that age group.

Speaking on RTE'S Claire Byrne Live tonight, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government is hoping to open schools on a phased basis across February and early March.

The staggered reopening would start with the return of children with special needs, followed by primary schools and exam years, he said.

But he said it had to be done by agreement and would be subject to discussions with principals, unions and other representative groups.

Mr Varadkar said that because the new Covid-19 variant is more transmissible we want to open schools not with one big bang but on a phased basis".

He would not put a figure on what the daily Covid case numbers would have to be to allow for schools to re-open, but said: We are reasonably confident now that by the middle of February we will be down to daily case rates that were there when schools were fully open.

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AFTER 65 years in Henley, family-run bakery Lawlors produced its last loaves on Saturday.

John Lawlor & Son Ltd was started in Hampstead, London, in 1948 before moving to Henley in 1956 and has supplied the town with bread and cakes ever since.

The bakery, which was based at Henley Enterprise Park, off Greys Road, has been closed because of the impact of the coronavirus

pandemic.

The lockdown of pubs, which were its main source of business, meant it was no longer practical to continue.

Business partners Mike Lawlor, John Lawlors son, and Anne Baker said they were very upset at having to close the business but being aged 84 and 77 respectively they felt it was time to step down.

Mr Lawlor has been involved in the bakery since the very beginning when his family lived in Cricklewood in north London.

He credits his fathers skill as a baker in making it a success. Mr Lawlor Snr worked as a pastry chef at the Savoy Hotel in London for 15 years before the Second World War, during which he served in the army.

After the war, he was a pastry chef in the House of Commons and he once carved a horse out of ice for a visit from King Faisal II of Iraq.

He decided to set up a bakery after hearing from an army friend how successful his bakery in Finchley had been.

His son says: He was persuaded that it might be a move for him and when the Harry Tomkins bakery in Henley came on the market my dad decided to take the plunge, sell his house and pack up his work and risk everything.

The gamble worked and Mike joined the business when he was in his early twenties after completing his National Service in 1956, the same year the business moved to Henley.

Mr Lawlor recalls: We came down White Hill in an open lorry with all the furniture, me sitting in the back and my mum and dad in the front with the driver.

They had acquired the bakery at No 14 Reading Road and the premises doubled as a retail outlet. Later, the family acquired a second shop in Duke Street.

Mr Lawlor says: I started by driving the bread van that we had at the time  a Morris J2. It had three forward gears and one reverse.

I was doing the rounds and delivering to some private individuals in their houses and all the hotels and pubs like the Red Lion, the Angel on the Bridge, Leander Club, Phyllis Court Club and the Little Angel.

It was a good business  there was a lot of wholesale activity and we had the shops as well.

He also learned how to bake.

Before we came to Henley, I was a fireman on the railways at Cricklewood for the steam engines so I was used to the heat, he laughs. When we came to Henley we had coal-fired ovens so it was good to use my experience with British Railways.

His mother Kathleen ran the shops and his then wife Margaret also helped. The business employed bakers Reg Gosby, Horace Lloyd and Ken King over the years.

It also recruited a former German prisoner of war, who Mr Lawlor said made a tasty black forest gateau.

In the early Sixties, W H Smith bought the Duke Street premises, so the Lawlors shop moved to what is now Crockers restaurant in Market Place and stayed 10 years.

Mr Lawlor says It was very central. We just had the one shop and it turned out to be a very good move and the rent was right.

In 1969 Anne came along. She was very capable and quickly got in the swing of things.

Mrs Baker started working for the company as a van driver. When John Lawlor retired in 1972 his son took over and a few years later he made her his business partner.

The same year, Lawlors left Market Place and for about the next 10 years operated from only the Reading Road site. Mr Lawlor recalls: When it was my fathers time to step down hed had enough and it was getting a bit much for him.

I was still reasonably young and ambitious. The time was right for me to have a partner in the business and Anne made a terrific contribution to the new management.

I knew if we worked together we could turn it into quite something, which we proceeded to do.

We came with renewed energy, if you like, and we never looked back. We did really well and our customers were so happy with us.

Mrs Baker said she took the job for something to do. She used to make deliveries with her son Chris and daughter Nicola in the back of the van with the bread.

Chris was 11 when he started helping out on Friday nights for an hour or so. When Nicola started she couldnt see over the counter.

Mrs Baker ended up helping in the shop and working in the office but only started baking bread about 10 years ago as there hadnt been any need for her to do so previously.

Theres nothing like getting a loaf of bread out of the oven  its very satisfying, said Mrs Baker.

Every baker makes their bread differently. Its not the recipe, its what you do with it.

The shop and bakery in Reading Road were closed in the early Eighties.

The business later acquired a property in Market Place Mews, where it stayed until 2003.

The business was then based at the Henley Enterprise Park, the former Empstead Works, off Greys Road, and remained mainly wholesale after that.

Sometimes the business seemed to run itself, says Mr Lawlor. Other times it was hectic, especially around regatta time, for example, when we were supplying caterers and we were working 24 hours a day in shifts for long periods.

The ovens would be going all the time. I can remember nights where we would work until about midnight, have a sleep on the floor for a couple of hours and then get up and start work again.

Coming up to Christmas and Easter were big moments in the bakery. Back in the late Sixties and early Seventies people used to bring their turkeys to the bakery to be cooked for Christmas dinner as we had the ovens. The odd pig used to be stuffed in the oven as well.

We had to be careful  we didnt want to burn their Christmas dinners.

The business also made and baked thousands of mince pies as well as hot cross buns at Easter, including one year when they made a total of 17,000.

Chris and Nicola later joined the bakery full time along with Mrs Bakers husband Nick and David Evans and Gilly Crook.

Mr Lawlor says Mr Baker is the finest baker he has ever seen.

Asked the secret of the firms success, he says: Its a combination of lots of energy, plus fairness.

It was an absolutely beautiful life because Ive really enjoyed almost every minute of it. I feel very lucky to have had a long life in the bakery in Henley. It was perfect really.

Mr Lawlor says he and Mrs Baker were grateful for all the support they received from their customers and staff.

He says: Without our customers we would have been nowhere. Over the years we have supplied everyone.

The greatest pleasure for me has been the happiness we brought to our customers and how much they enjoyed the products. That is actually the highlight of my life, making people happy.

Annes contribution was invaluable. Without her, we wouldnt have carried on.

Mrs Baker says: When we had the shop in the mews, there was nothing like going in and you got the hum of people in there or sitting outside.

We have enjoyed our life and it has been very interesting. Im very sad to stop. The customers are devastated, to be honest.

It will be a great gap in Henley. It will be odd to wake up and not start work.
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California lifted the stay-at-home orders for all regions across California Monday, a turn of good news as the surge shows signs of improvement with new cases and hospitalizations on the decline.

"Four-week ICU capacity projections for these three regions are above 15%, the threshold that allows regions to exit the order," according to a statement from the California Department of Public Health.

Now, all counties are reverting back to following the color-coded tier system that was in place before the more restrictive lockdown. Most counties are in the strictest purple tier, according to the health department.

Californians heard the urgent message to stay home as much as possible and accepted that challenge to slow the surge and save lives, said Dr. Tomas Aragon, the state public health officer, said. Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but its important to recognize our collective actions saved lives and we are turning a critical corner.

The order imposed on Dec. 10 banned gatherings outside a household and shuttered or restricted many businesses. With virus cases and hospitalizations more stable now, the state allows counties to resume outdoor dining and worship services, reopen hair and nail salons and other businesses, and increase capacity at retailers. Gatherings of up to three households are allowed.

The new development Monday impacts the Bay Area, Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions where the order remained in place. The order was already lifted in Sacramento, and Northern California never reached the threshold of intensive care unit capacity falling under 15%.

Counties can opt to be more restrictive than the state and it's unknown at this point which counties will decide to fall in line with the state's guidelines and which ones will implement more restrictive rules. On Monday morning, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said via Twitter that "we expect San Francisco to return to the purple tier. We will be moving forward with some limited re-openings, including outdoor dining and personal services."

The San Francisco Department of Public Health wasn't immediately available for comment.

This is a developing story.
Law enforcement officers clash with participants during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia January 23, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov.

The European Union will hold off from imposing fresh sanctions on Russian individuals on Monday, EU diplomats said, despite the arrest of more than 3,000 people across Russia on Saturday to demand the release of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Lithuania's foreign minister, arriving in Brussels for a meeting of the bloc's 27 top diplomats, said "a change is in the air in Russia" that the bloc must support, especially after Navalny's detention as he returned to Russia from Germany.

"The EU needs to send a very clear and decisive message that this is not acceptable," Gabrielius Landsbergis said in a video statement, calling for more sanctions on Russian individuals.

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However, the EU will for now go for a step-by-step approach with the Kremlin, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to first go to Moscow to make clear the bloc's anger at Navalny's arrest, two diplomats said. EU states will also press for the release of pro-democracy demonstrators.

The EU already has economic sanctions on the Russian energy, financial and arms sectors over its 2014 annexation of the Crimea peninsula and has imposed sanctions on Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin in response to Navalny's poisoning in August.

Fellow Baltic countries Latvia and Estonia support more EU sanctions on Russian individuals, and Italy's foreign minister said on Sunday that Rome was ready to support more travel bans and asset freezes. Romania publicly backed sanctions on Monday.

However, Berlin is cautious. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has so far held back from further comment after demanding the immediate release of protesters who braved extreme cold to call for Navalny's release.

In central Moscow on Saturday, where Reuters reporters estimated up to 40,000 people had gathered in one of the biggest unauthorised rallies for years, police were seen roughly detaining people, bundling them into nearby vans.

Germany and France, the EU's main powers, will be central to deciding if the bloc goes ahead with punitive measures on Russia, a big oil and gas exporter to the bloc.

Navalny says Putin was behind his poisoning last August, an accusation the Kremlin rejects. The Kremlin says Navalny's case is a domestic matter and it has seen no evidence that he was poisoned.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said he wanted a "proper legal investigation" into the poisoning.
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Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, one of the UAEs leading financial entities, continued to advance its sustainable development agenda within the country and abroad through clean-energy initiatives, in 2020 with its total project allocations surging to AED622 million ($169 million).

Notwithstanding challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fund completed five crucial renewable energy projects in five partner countries, including Cuba, Somaliland, the Bahamas, Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The projects worth AED117.3 million not just enabled the countries to reduce their carbon footprint by infusing a total of 14.38MW into the energy mix, but they also brought about a host of economic benefits.

ADFD Director General Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi said these projects highlighted the funds strong commitment towards fostering socioeconomic growth in the developing world through sustainable initiatives.

"We doubled our effort to ensure that we delivered the projects to our partner countries, especially during such a time of crisis. The aim was to help them maintain their economic and social-development trajectories by enabling them to meet developmental challenges during the pandemic," he noted.

"These projects also underscored the Funds preparedness and ability to deal with any difficulties," he said.

"Renewable projects remain high on our agenda as their impact is felt on multiple levels, from commerce to the environment. Moreover, the turbulence in 2020 forced us to focus on what really matters, while it made all of us realise the value of partnership and cooperation," he added.

In January last year, ADFD announced an allocation of AED384 million ($104.5 million) to eight renewable-energy initiatives under the seventh cycle of its partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).

It signed three loan agreements worth AED121 million (US$33 million) with the West African nations of Togo, Niger and Liberia. In July, it financed a waste-to-energy project in the Maldives, which earned a certification from Global Innovation Institute (GINI), a leading international professional certification, accreditation and membership association in the field of innovation.

Under the facility, eight projects were to be funded in Antigua and Barbuda, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cuba, the Maldives, Nepal, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The announcement brought cumulative funding to AED1.28 billion ($350 million), in line with the commitment made by ADFD across seven funding cycles to Irena recommended projects.

The Fund also delivers its impact through the AED183.65 million (US$50 million) UAE-Caribbean Renewable Energy Fund (UAE-CREF) that it finances with an aim to deliver renewable energy projects across 16 Caribbean Island nations to help reduce reliance on fossil-fuel imports, increase energy access and enhance climate change resilience. Launched in 2017, the UAE-CREF is the largest renewable energy initiative of its kind in the Caribbean region.-TradeArabia News Service
President Biden will ban travel by noncitizens into the United States from South Africa because of concern about a coronavirus variant spreading in that country, and will extend similar bans imposed by his predecessor on travel from Brazil, 27 European countries and Britain, his press secretary said on Monday.

The move comes as officials in the new Biden administration are trying to get their hands around a fast-changing pandemic, with public health officials racing to vaccinate the public  and to expand the supply of vaccine  as more contagious variants of the coronavirus spread.

Mr. Bidens travel ban is a presidential proclamation, not an executive order; typically, proclamations govern the acts of individuals, while executive orders are directives to federal agencies. It will go into effect Saturday and apply to non-U.S. citizens who have spent time in South Africa in the last 14 days. The new policy, which was earlier reported by Reuters, will not affect U.S. citizens or permanent residents, officials said.

On his last full day in office, President Donald Trump tried to eliminate the Covid-19-related ban on travel from Brazil, Britain and much of Europe, saying it was no longer necessary. Jen Psaki, now the White House press secretary, said at the time that ending the ban was the wrong thing to do; on Monday, she announced during her regular briefing that it would remain intact.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, California (AP)

California governor Gavin Newsom looks set to face a recall as a campaign to oust him gains traction following disapproval over his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Campaigners lobbying for the recall have reportedly said they have gathered 1.2 million of the around 1.5 million signatures required to have a recall placed on the ballot per state law, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The proponents have reportedly raised more than $1.7 million and have until 17 March to gain the signatures, 84 per cent of which have been confirmed by the Secretary as State as valid, KUSI reported.

If a recall qualifies for the ballot, voters would decide whether to recall Democratic Gov Newsom and remove him from his position and would also vote for who should replace him.

While this is said to be the sixth recall effort the Democratic governor has faced in two years, this particular campaign has gained traction following growing criticism of his handling of the pandemic and its economic impact.

Rescue California, one of the two lead groups organising the effort, is seeking to collect two million signatures in the campaign, Fox News said.

Gov Newsom faced fierce backlash in November after he was caught flouting his own guidance not to mix with other households by attending a birthday celebration of more than 12 people at the lavish French Laundry in Napa Valley.

The governor later apologised for the bad mistake saying: The spirit of what I'm preaching all the time was contradicted and I got to own that.

Gov Newsoms office referred questions to political adviser Dan Newman, when contacted by The Journal, who told the newspaper the governor had taken bold steps to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

The governors office did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by The Independent.

Californians are hurting, and weve had a dramatic failure of leadership from the governor, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a Republican who expressed a desire to run in the recall, told The Journal.

Story continues

The governors actions are harming lives and livelihoods, people are at their wits end and they want to do something about it.

The reports come on the same day that Gov Newsom lifted strict stay-at-home orders in all regions of the state, which were placed on the are during December in a bid to combat rising cases.

According to ABC7, non-essential businesses will still be forced to close and restaurants will be permitted to serve outdoors only.

California has recorded more than 3.19 million cases of the novel coronavirus disease since the pandemic gripped the country last March, leading to the deaths of more than 37,000 people.

A successful recall effort has only ever come to fruition in the state in 2003 when Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced Democrat Gray Davis.

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The National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA) says it has received approval from the federal government to employ 30,000 agricultural and other science graduates into the agency.

The recruitment is necessary to train graduates who will be in charge of soil sample collection and soil tests, and will also render extension services to farmers under the National Young Farmers Scheme launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2020.

The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Paul Ikonne, announced this on Monday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the activities of the agency, Daily Trust reported.

Mr Paul Ikonne explained that it is essential to understand soil requirements as this is important in achieving food security in the country.

We cannot achieve food security without understanding our soil, without getting our farmers to know what the soil requires. Based on that, Mr President has directed and given the approval, under the National Young Farmers Scheme to engage over 30,000 young Nigerians who are graduates and have a background in agriculture or sciences, Daily Trust quoted Mr Ikonne as saying.

The National Agricultural and Land Development Agency (NALDA) is one of the federal government agencies saddled with the responsibility of harnessing the full potential of the vast arable land in Nigeria, empowering smallholder and large-scale farmers, as well as supporting the drive of food security.

The agency recently launched an initiative called National Young Farmers Scheme to engage 1,000 youth in each of the 774 local councils in agriculture.

Mr Ikonne said the agency will train the graduates intensively for two weeks on soil sampling and soil testing after which the employees will be engaged full time.

Mr Ikonne said the process of employment which has commenced, will be done in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Soil Science, and state governments.

He said farmers will per N500 per soil sample collected and analysed.
The Crohns and Colitis Foundations Winter Ball was interrupted by a racially charged incident Saturday evening. One or more intruders infiltrated an externally hosted chat platform and used racial slurs and other inappropriate language during the live-streamed, virtual event, organizers confirmed.

The incident occurred as Roslyn Bazzelle Mitchell, a Black honoree, appeared onscreen. She is one of this years 10 Women of Distinction.

Screenshots from the live event on Vimeo show one user post congrats (racial slur) repeatedly in the chat feature during Mitchells video presentation.

It happened within a matter of seconds, said Leigh Ellen Key, executive director of the foundations South Texas Chapter. Essentially there would be a quick series of the word before the users were cut off. Unfortunately, they were able to pop back in again.

In August, hackers disrupted S.A.F.E. Diversity Communities virtual gala with racial slurs and sex sounds. The Harris County non-profit advocates for students with disabilities. The FBI and the Harris County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

The Crohns and Colitis Foundation on Monday had not yet filed a police report of the incident.

Sharon Saias, vice president of marketing and communications for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation, confirmed that the organization has a transcript of the exchange, and that an investigation is underway. The foundations chief technology officer, CEO and senior leaders have asked the hosting partner to determine how the security breach took place, she said.

We think it was a professional, not an attendee, Saias said. They were able to get back on, so the chat function was shut down.

Karana Audiovisual Services LLC handled pre-recorded video and streaming.

On Saturday night, Mitchell hosted a small group of women in her home for a watch party. The plan had been to celebrate the friends who have inspired her. When Mitchell received text messages with screenshots of the racial slurs in the chat box, she excused herself to process what she saw.

I took about 10 minutes and decided to keep on moving forward, she said. I cannot go back downstairs with my guests and be crying. So we still enjoyed each other, and it was fabulous.

Mitchell said that she slept on it and let the foundations president and CEO, Michael Osso, know on Sunday that she was unhappy about what happened. Mitchell  an attorney, accessories designer, fitness expert and the mother of a 10-year-old son with husband Derrick Mitchell  hopes that the organization takes the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again.

This is one of those things where Im trying not to take it personally. But the fact that someone saw an African-American woman being celebrated, and had the angst to want to tear that down and put me in my place ... Im just trying to channel that into action, Mitchell said. I dont want anyone who acts like that to feel like theyve succeeded. I want to focus on the fact that despite this, we had a fantastic event.

Over the weekend, Houston Ballet Ball host committee members re-evaluated next months virtual Ballet Ball format in light of Saturdays incident.

It is such a shame that this spectacular event and the incredible women it honors were overshadowed by this appalling behavior, said Angela Lane, chief development officer of Houston Ballet. The Ballet Ball, set for Feb. 20, will also be virtually hosted on Vimeo. We do not plan to enable the chat feature, as our event is structured around an at-home dinner experience in addition to the presentation.

The 2021 class of Women of Distinction also includes Robin Angly, Lara Bell, Donae Chramosta, Tracy Faulkner, Leila Perrin, Pat Mann Phillips, Christie Sullivan, Beth Zdeblick, Sherri Zucker and this years ambassador, Beth Wolff. Joanne King Herring received the inaugural Paul Somerville Legacy Award.

The events honored hero, Wendy Kovich, shared her experiences with Crohns disease on the live stream. Kovich and Johnny Bravo Holloway shared hosting duties with co-chairs Amy Pierce, Kristina Somerville and Stephanie Tsuru.

The event raised $400,000 to fund inflammatory bowel disease research.

On Sunday, the foundation sent emails to supporters expressing deep regret that our participants had to see such terrible language in what we had intended to be a safe place where we could celebrate our community and our honorees. As an organization that is deeply committed to anti-racism, we have been actively expanding our diversity and inclusion efforts in our research, patient engagement, staffing and more.

The foundation is actively investigating this incident with our technology vendors to ascertain exactly how the hackers were able to infiltrate our event and to try to prevent anything like this from happening again. We are saddened that this incident marred an otherwise wonderful celebration of our inflammatory bowel disease community and our amazing honorees.

Were taking this extremely seriously, Saias said. Im confident we will get to the bottom of this.

amber.elliott@chron.com
Dr Anthony Fauci has said he thought he might die when he was covered in white powder from a letter sent in the wake of death threats against him and his family.

The infectious diseases expert, 80, detailed how he opened the note received in the mail to be covered in what turned out to be 'a benign nothing'.

He told The New York Times in an interview published Sunday: 'But it was frightening...I looked at it somewhat fatalistically.

'It had to be one of three things: A hoax. Or anthrax, which meant Id have to go on Cipro for a month. Or if it was ricin, I was dead, so bye-bye.'

Dr Fauci called it 'liberating' Thursday to be backed by a science-friendly administration since the inauguration of Joe Biden. More than 25 million Americans have been infected by the coronavirus and at least 417,000 have died since March 2020, when the pandemic began.

Reflecting on his time working with the Trump administration, he said the former president would listen to his business friends over science and the experts.

Fauci, who has now served under seven presidents, said: 'He would take just as seriously their opinion  based on no data, just anecdote  that something might really be important.

'It wasnt just hydroxychloroquine, it was a variety of alternative-medicine-type approaches. It was always, A guy called me up, a friend of mine from blah, blah, blah. Thats when my anxiety started to escalate.'

'There were a couple of times where I would make a statement that was a pessimistic viewpoint about what direction we were going, and the president would call me up and say, Hey, why arent you more positive? Youve got to take a positive attitude. Why are you so negativistic? Be more positive.'

Anthony Fauci has said he thought he might die when he was covered in white powder from a letter sent in the wake of death threats against him and his family. Fauci, right, Dr. Deborah Birx, left, listen as President Donald Trump speaks on March 20 last year

Fauci said he received his first death threat on March 28, adding: 'They knew where my kids work, where they live.

'The threats would come directly to my childrens phones, directly to my childrens homes. How the hell did whoever these assholes were get that information?'

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had to have a security detail due to the threats.

He has already said he was muzzled by the Trump administration which 'blocked' him from appearing on the left-leaning MSNBC cable news channel and its marquee primetime star Rachel Maddow.

Fauci's highly visible schedule on Thursday, the first full day of President Joe Bidens term, underscored the new administration's confidence in the doctor but also the urgency of the moment.

'One of the new things in this administration is, If you dont know the answer, dont guess,' Fauci said in one pointed observation during a White House briefing. 'Just say you dont know the answer.'

Fauci has already made clear that he believes the new administration would not trade in the mixed messages that so often came from the Trump White House, where scientific fact was often obscured by the presidents political agenda.

In March, as Fauci stood behind Trump at the podium in the briefing room, the doctor appeared to chuckle to himself before covering his face with his palm as Trump railed against 'the Deep State Department.'

He said Sunday: 'The people around him, his inner circle, were quite upset that I would dare publicly contradict the president.'

But asked if he ever considered resigning Fauci said: 'Never. Never. Nope.'

Dr Fauci said Trump did not consult him when he fell ill with COVID-19.

Speaking Thursday, Fauci acknowledged that it had been difficult at times to work for Trump, who repeatedly played down the severity of the pandemic, refused to consistently promote mask-wearing and often touted unproven scientific remedies, including a malaria drug and even injecting disinfectant.

'It was very clear that there were things that were said, be it regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things, that really was uncomfortable because they were not based in scientific fact,' Fauci said.

He added that he took 'no pleasure' in having to contradict the president, a move that often drew Trumps wrath.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks with Dr. Anthony Fauci during a press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday

Dr Fauci, right, called it 'liberating' Thursday to be backed by a science-friendly administration since the inauguration of Joe Biden, center. The two men are pictured with VP Kamala Harris

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, with (L-R) US Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump and Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx pictured in April last year

Biden, during his presidential campaign, pledged to making Fauci his chief medical adviser when he took office, and the 80-year-old scientist was immediately in motion.

The doctor went from being a constant presence in the briefing room during the first weeks of the pandemic to largely being banished. Moreover, Trump frequently undermined Faucis credibility, falsely insisting that the pandemic was nearly over.

Fauci said Friday that the Trump administration likely cost American lives during the coronavirus pandemic with its false facts and messages.

In a candid interview with CNN's John Berman, Fauci said trust had to be restored with the American people now that President Donald Trump has left office.

'People were not trusting what health officials were saying. There was great divisiveness. Masking became a political issue,' Fauci said on CNN's 'New Day.

When Berman asked him if the lack of candor during the Trump administration cost lives, Fauci said yes.

'You know, it very likely did. I don't want that, John, to be a sound bite, but if you just look at that, you can see that when you're starting to go down paths not based on any science at all -- and we've been there before. I don't want to rehash it. That is not helpful at all. Particularly when you're in the situation of almost being in a crisis with the number of cases and hospitalizations and deaths we have,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.

But asked if Trump cost lives he added Sunday: 'I cant comment on that. People always ask that and  making the direct connection that way, it becomes very damning. I just want to stay away from that. Sorry.'

Dr. Deborah Birx has also claimed she was 'censored' by the White House and 'always' considered quitting Donald Trump's coronavirus taskforce

Birx said the former president was being fed parallel data sets on the pandemic from another source inside the White House and presented graphs she never made.

She added that there were people inside the Trump administration who definitely believed the virus was a hoax.

Fauci made his first appearance at Biden's side on Thursday, when the president called for the nation to summon a 'full scale war-time effort' to beat back the coronavirus.

Biden also signed new executive orders to speed vaccine delivery and called wearing a mask a patriotic duty.
A number of Covid-19 outbreaks have been confirmed in meat plants nationally.

Some 66 cases of Covid-19 have been identified at the ABP plant in Bandon.

The plant is now running at a reduced capacity.

A spokesperson said: "Following the screening of staff at ABP Bandon last week, the company has been notified of 66 positive Covid -19 cases. In line with Covid-19 protocols all close contacts of those impacted are currently self-isolating. The site is also operating at a significantly reduced capacity."

Separately, a total of 42 cases of Covid-19 have been found at a meat plant in Wexford.

Slaney Foods meat processing plant in Bunclody found the cases during screening tests last Friday.

The plant will continue to operate at a reduced capacity.

A spokesperson said that those affected were isolating and that all safety precautions had been taken.

"Following the screening of staff at Slaney Foods on Friday, the company has been notified of 42 positive Covid -19 cases. In line with Covid-19 protocols all close contacts of those impacted are currently self-isolating. The site is also operating at a significantly reduced capacity.

"Staff safety and public health is our priority and Slaney Foods will continue to work with the HSE in relation to the matter.

"Since the advent of Covid-19 Slaney Foods has introduced a range of industry leading protection measures as part of an industry-wide initiative. These include limiting site access to essential personnel, temperature checks at the entry to the site, staggered break times, perspex partitions where appropriate, social distancing measures in canteens and all other communal spaces as well as detailed protocols for colleagues who display any symptoms. We are continually evolving and improving the measures to ensure safety at all our sites."

Wexford today recorded 77 new cases of the virus and has 905 cases per 100,000 of population in the last fortnight, the sixth highest in Ireland.
Theater chain AMC has raised $917 million in new equity and debt capital in the past month to avoid going bankrupt amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The worlds largest theater chain has secured enough financing to remain open into late 2021, according to a public filing released Monday.

This means that any talk of an imminent bankruptcy for AMC is completely off the table, said CEO Adam Aron said in a statement to investors. Looking ahead, for AMC to succeed over the medium term, we are going to need for much of the general public in the U.S. and abroad to be vaccinated. We welcome the commitment by the new Biden administration and of other governments domestically and internationally to a broad-based vaccination program.

Vaccinations in the U.S. began Dec. 14 with health-care workers, and so far 22.4 million shots have been given, according to a state-by-state tally by Bloomberg and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hollywood studios have delayed many major releases including the latest James Bond film from MGM, No Time to Die; Marvel Studios Black Widow; and Sony Pictures Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

With more than 900 cinema complexes in the U.S. and Europe, AMC is the worlds largest film exhibitor.

In Massachusetts, AMC operates cinemas in Boston, Danvers, Somerville, Dorchester, Framingham, Tyngboro, Braintree, Burlington, North Dartmouth and Methuen.

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Renowned Jordanian painter Muhanna Durra died on Sunday at the age of 83, the Jordanian Plastic Artists Association reported.

Regarded as the pioneer of the Jordanian artistic movement, Durra was the first artist to introduce expressionism, cubism, and abstract art into the Jordanian visual arts scene, boosting the development of the local creative community.

Born in Amman in 1938 to a Lebanese father and a Turkish mother, Durra studied arts under Dutch artist William Hallowin, who at the time was residing in Amman, before moving to study at the Royal Academy in Rome.

Durra returned to Amman in 1958 where he taught art and became particularly interested in music, hence his strong connections between music and abstract art.

He received a job offer at the Jordanian Embassy in Rome in 1961, so he moved again to Italy.

Upon his second return to Amman, he taught at the Faculty of Fine Art and Design at the University of Jordan. In 1975, he was appointed as general director of the Jordanian Department of Culture and Arts. Later on, he headed the Jordan Association of Fine Arts.

Throughout his life, Durra received numerous honours and recognitions, including the Jordanian State Appreciation Award in 1977, the Golden Star Medal from the Italian Ministry of Culture in 1978, and the Medal of Honour from the Union of Arab Artists in 1980.

In 2006, he was granted the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, and in 2008 he recieved Al-Hussein Decoration from King Abdullah II of Jordan.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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The European Union will fully support judicial reforms that are important for Ukraine's European integration and its investment climate, EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said.

"EU will fully support judicial reforms, crucial on Ukraine's European path and for its investment climate. Key elements of success: integrity vetting of the High Council of Justice; transparent selection system for the Constitutional Court," Maasikas wrote on Twitter on Monday.

As reported, the G7 Ambassadors presented a roadmap for judicial and anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine.
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Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

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104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

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The United States on Sunday strongly condemned the latest attack on Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, stating that such attacks contravene international law and undermine all efforts to promote peace and stability. The United States strongly condemns the latest attack on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We are gathering more information, but it appears to have been an attempt to target civilians, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said.

Such attacks contravene international law and undermine all efforts to promote peace and stability, he said.

As we work to de-escalate tensions in the region through principled diplomacy, including by bringing an end to the war in Yemen, we will also help our partner Saudi Arabia defend against attacks on its territory and hold those who attempt to undermine stability to account, Price said. According to media reports, Saudi Arabia intercepted an apparent missile or drone attack over Riyadh on Saturday.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday lifting a Trump administration policy that largely banned transgender individuals from joining the U.S. military and prevented service members from transitioning while in uniform.

The executive order overturns a March 2018 memorandum issued by President Donald Trump that restricted military service for transgender individuals, and immediately halts any current involuntary separations, discharges or denials of reenlistment over gender identity concerns.

In signing the order, Biden said, "All Americans who are qualified to serve in the armed forces of the United States should be able to serve."

Read Next: Biden Signs Executive Order Delaying VA Debt Collections

"The All-Volunteer Force thrives when it is composed of diverse Americans who can meet the rigorous standards for military service, and an inclusive military strengthens our national security," Biden noted in a White House fact sheet on the order.

In July 2017, Trump announced via Twitter that the U.S. government would no longer allow "transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military."

That announcement overturned a decision in 2016 by President Barack Obama and then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter to allow transgender personnel to serve openly in their preferred gender.

In 2018, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis published a policy that allowed currently serving transgender individuals to remain in the military but barred those who had not transitioned from changing gender. The policy also prevented those diagnosed with gender dysphoria -- a mental health condition diagnosed in some transgender individuals that is characterized by acute stress and anxiety over their gender identity -- from serving or joining the military.

At the time, Defense Department officials cited the medical costs of treating transgender individuals and the impact they might have on unit cohesion.

In his order, Biden cited a 2016 study that found allowing transgender individuals to serve openly would have a "minimal impact on military readiness and health care costs."

In 2018, the service chiefs testified that they were not aware of any problems in the ranks with openly serving transgender personnel. That sentiment was reiterated in 2019 by Army Gen. Mark Milley during his confirmation hearing to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"I don't believe there's anything inherent in anyone's identity to prevent them from serving in the military," he said. "It's about standards, not an identity."

And last week, during his confirmation hearing to become defense secretary, Lloyd Austin agreed.

"I truly believe ... that if you're fit and you're qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve," Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

On Monday, Austin pledged to implement the changes within the next 60 days, as required by the order.

"The United States Armed Forces are in the business of defending our fellow citizens from our enemies, foreign and domestic. I believe we accomplish that mission more effectively when we represent all our fellow citizens. I also believe we should avail ourselves of the best possible talent in our population, regardless of gender identity," Austin said. "This is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do."

As a candidate, Biden had promised to reverse the policy; on Monday, advocates for the LGBTQ community praised the move.

"I am elated that the approximately 15,000 transgender service members proudly serving across the globe can rest easier knowing that their service to our nation is seen, valued and that they can continue to serve as their authentic selves," said Emma Shinn, a Marine Corps captain who serves as president of Service Members, Partners, Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All, or SPARTA.

The Trevor Project, an organization that focuses on suicide prevention and support for LGBTQ youth, said the new policy will have a huge impact on young people who are gender fluid.

"This discriminatory ban was cruel and unnecessary from its inception, and we hope that its reversal sends a clear message to transgender and nonbinary youth everywhere that they should be proud of who they are, that they are deserving of our country's respect, and that they have the right to serve with honor," said Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of The Trevor Project.

Conservative groups said they will continue to object to a policy that allows those with gender dysphoria to serve.

"By overturning the current policy on service by transgender individuals with gender dysphoria, the administration is signaling it favors political correctness over military readiness. It is unfortunate that the commander in chief is signaling that he is more interested in social-engineering than safeguarding the health and well-being of American service members," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Tom Spoehr, director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense.

"Military service is inherently stressful," Spoehr added. "The suicide rate in the military exceeds the general population's. It would be immoral to place individuals at higher risk from mental injury -- such as those suffering from gender dysphoria -- in a situation where they are likely to experience extraordinary stress. This decision will contribute to a reduced level of military readiness in our armed forces, which are already hard-pressed to defend American interests around the globe."

Under the new order, the DoD and Department of Homeland Security must review all directives, orders and policies to ensure that they align with the mandate, and they must identify and review the records of service members who have been involuntarily separated, discharged or denied reenlistment.

Nicolas Talbott, a plaintiff and transgender male who is party to one of several lawsuits that were filed against the Trump administration over the 2018 policy, told Military.com he plans to reenroll in the Army ROTC while pursuing a doctoral degree, adding that he would like to enter the military intelligence field.

With the pending reversal of the policy, Talbott is again considering the U.S. Army as a career.

"I don't want to say [serving in the military as a transgender person is] not a big deal, because for people like me, it's our entire lives. But it's just not going to be a huge issue like the ban implied it is," Talbott said.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: Troops Still Await Action on Military Transgender Policy After Flurry of Executive Orders
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden is trying to shake a Trump hangover in the federal government by acting to remove some holdovers and install his own appointees, but a quiet push to salt federal agencies with Trump loyalists is complicating the new president's effort to turn the page.

The Biden team, showing a willingness to cut tenures short, moved quickly last week to dump several high-profile, Senate-confirmed Trump appointees whose terms extended beyond Inauguration Day - in some cases by several years.

They include the surgeon general, the National Labor Relations Board's powerful general counsel, and the heads of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

But other, lower-profile Trump loyalists, some of whom helped carry out his administration's most controversial policies, are scattered throughout Biden's government in permanent, senior positions. And identifying them, let alone dislodging them, could be difficult for the new leadership.

The Jan. 16 appointment of Michael Ellis, a former GOP operative who served in the Trump White House, as the National Security Agency's top lawyer caused such a furor that he was placed on paid leave within hours of taking office.

And in the former president's final months and weeks, dozens of other political appointees had their status similarly converted to permanent civil service roles that will allow them to stay in government for years to come. These new career officials are protected from partisan removal unless the new administration discovers that they got their jobs illegally - without competition and because of their political affiliation.

As Biden tries to reset the government to match his priorities, Democrats fear the Trump holdovers, who served in partisan roles, could undermine the new administration as they move into the civil service, which is supposed to operate free of partisanship.

The practice of shifting employees from appointee to career status, informally called burrowing, occurs at the end of every presidency - and it is controversial. Trump aides and their GOP allies in Congress, for example, threatened at the start of Trump's term to remove any Obama-era political appointees who had been replanted in the civil service, and dozens were, records show.

But the just-departed president is on track to exceed the number of Democrats the Obama administration rewarded with permanent roles. In his final year, President Barack Obama moved 29 political appointees into career jobs. As of November, Trump had installed almost that many, 26, in the first 10 months of 2020, according to data provided to Congress by the Office of Personnel Management.

Nine more requests await review by personnel officials. More are expected. Congress has not received data covering December and the first 20 days of January, when outgoing administrations tend to move quickly to reward appointees who want to stay in government.

Burrowing is frowned upon by good-government groups - and by members of the party that is out of power - even when it is carried out legally, which means the appointee competed for the position and was the top candidate on the basis of merit and work experience, with no nod to political affiliation or loyalty.

The hiring of a political appointee for a career job must be scrutinized by the federal personnel office for five years after the person left the partisan job.

Such conversions also can violate civil service laws, as occurred during the George W. Bush administration, when a young Justice Department lawyer from the Republican National Committee, Monica Goodling, was found to have broken the law by using politics to guide hiring decisions for a range of critical jobs.

Goodling was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony, and was reprimanded by the Virginia Bar. She acknowledged during a House hearing that she "crossed the line" and broke civil service hiring rules.

"There's a great irony here," said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., who leads a House oversight panel on federal government operations, referring to Trump's efforts to place his appointees in government. "The crowd that didn't believe in government and called its agencies the deep state now wants to work for them."

Connolly has asked the Government Accountability Office, Congress's research arm, to tally all of Trump's conversions over four years.

Many of the new hires were not announced by their agencies, which may have presented a challenge for Biden's transition teams to discover them.

"The incoming Biden-Harris administration is keenly aware of last minute efforts by the outgoing administration to convert political appointees into civil service positions," a transition official said in a statement.

"We anticipate learning more in the weeks ahead as our work to restore trust and accountability across the federal government begins, including reviewing personnel actions during the Trump administration," the official said.

Trump partisans work in Biden's government at a range of agencies, including the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Many are serving in senior executive roles, the highest echelon of career leaders. They work as assistant U.S. attorneys, general counsel, intelligence leaders, immigration judges.

Some got significant raises when they joined the permanent bureaucracy. Jordan Von Bokern, who clerked for Amy Coney Barrett when she was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, went in April from counsel in Justice's Office of Legal Policy, making $93,642, to a career trial attorney in the agency's civil division making $109,366, records show. Von Bokern did not return a call seeking comment.

At the Energy Department, there's Brandon Middleton, a lawyer who fought the Endangered Species Act for the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation before joining the staff of then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. When he was Trump's first attorney general, Sessions hired Middleton to work in the Justice Department's environmental division. Then Middleton held a deputy solicitor job at the Interior Department before his permanent appointment as Energy's chief counsel in the office that manages contracts for cleaning up toxic waste. He got a $10,000 raise to $172,508, records show.

"If I was at Energy, I would be looking at Mr. Middleton very warily," said Nick Schwellenbach, a senior investigator at the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.

Middleton declined to comment.

In June, then-Attorney General William Barr hired Tracy Short as the chief immigration judge at Justice, after he served three years in a political role as senior adviser and legal adviser to the leadership at Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Homeland Security. ICE was responsible for carrying out Trump's hard-line immigration policies, which Biden is moving to reverse. Short also got a $10,000 raise, to $185,368.

Short did not return a call seeking comment.

About that time, Lawrence Connell, a senior executive who was chief of staff in the Veterans Health Administration, a political appointment with a $179,700 salary, was hired to a permanent job leading the Department of Veterans Affairs' health-care system in Rhode Island, which provides care to more than 35,000 veterans. His new salary is $190,400. Connell did not respond to an email seeking comment.

These hires were approved by the Office of Personnel Management, which reviews requests from federal agencies. Some requests are rejected, when personnel experts conclude that political considerations played a role. The OPM declined 14 of the Trump administration's requests during the first 11 months of 2020, compared with 10 during the final year of Obama's second term, data shows.

Recently denied conversions include Charles Cowan, an appointee in the Office of Administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, hired in 2017 as a senior executive. Cowan applied to be senior adviser for public affairs.

"We could not conclude appointment was free of political influence and complied with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws and regulations," the reviewing official wrote.

"I was disappointed in OPM's decision, as I could have had a positive impact at HUD, but they made their decision and HUD complied with it," Cowan said in an email. He said he was well qualified for the job, with a long career in public affairs, including a decade in the housing sector.

"I wanted to continue my service to this country as a career employee while continuing to support HUD's important mission," he said.

Ellis's hiring at the NSA was not made available to the personnel agency, which recently told Democrats in Congress that it does not review requests from the intelligence community, sealing those decisions off from the public and Congress.

Ellis is on leave pending an inquiry by the Pentagon inspector general into the circumstances of his selection. NSA Director Paul Nakasone put Ellis on paid administrative leave four days after then-acting defense secretary Christopher Miller was ordered by the outgoing administration to install Ellis in the job.

But if Ellis and the others who burrowed were hired properly, firing them outright will be hard for Biden to accomplish. At most agencies, career officials serve a year on probation - that period is two years at the Defense Department - during which they can be fired without cause. If some of the Trump loyalists already have made it through probation, they can be reassigned to other roles or given little to do. Like all career employees, they have rights to due process, experts said.

Incoming officials at the Energy Department are weighing whether they can remove at least two Trump appointees who just landed postings as foreign attaches to support international energy cooperation, according to people familiar with the appointments who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Michael Brown, a former coal executive who was national political director for Republican Ben Carson's campaign in 2016 for president, had been deputy general counsel at Energy. Brown was recently approved for a job representing the agency in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Kyle Nicholas, a political appointee with a health-care background who served as an adviser in Energy's international affairs offices under Trump, was just posted to a similar job in Brussels. The appointments were first reported by E&E News.

The moves were made possible after the Trump administration stacked a little-known panel called the Overseas Presence Advisory Board with political officials, removing some career appointees. The board then facilitated the appointments, which last up to three years and do not have to be reported to the Office of Personnel Management.

Obama's Energy Department prohibited political appointees from taking overseas posts. The Biden Energy Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Biden has more control over political appointees. He has asked for the resignation of Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who had been nominated by Trump in 2017 to a four-year term set to expire in September. The new president has moved to install new leadership at health agencies that will be crucial to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, after accusing the Trump team of muzzling federal scientists and pursuing a political agenda at the cost of public health and lives.

In other cases, Biden has sought to get rid of people installed by Trump in what the new president considers bad faith.

For example, Biden quickly forced out Michael Pack, the controversial head of the agency that oversees the Voice of America and four other networks that broadcast news to millions of people abroad, amid complaints of censorship and political interference by Pack. Biden also removed the VOA's director and deputy director after they had been on the job only a few weeks, and the head of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting resigned.

Andrew Saul, a Trump appointee whose six-year term as Social Security commissioner officially ends in 2025, had a curious new "acting" title on a list of temporary government leaders distributed by the new White House last week. Saul announced Thursday that several high-ranking deputies on his team, who had pushed for stricter eligibility for benefits, had been replaced - with labor-friendly Democrats. The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment about the acting title.

In firing the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel, Peter Robb, Biden broke with precedent to end the tenure of a figure seen as a foe by worker advocates and labor unions.

Robb had refused to resign when asked to do so just hours into the new presidency. The request was a departure from the norm that presidents of both parties have followed to allow the general counsel to serve out their term. Robb's term was scheduled to run another 10 months.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked last week whether Biden is pursuing a political purge.

"That's an individual who was not carrying out ... the objectives of the NLRB, and so they were, they are, no longer in their position," she said. "We'll make those decisions as needed."

- - -

The Washington Post's Erica Werner, Ellen Nakashima, Jeff Stein and Alice Crites contributed to this report.
Former Minister of Defense of Armenia David Tonoyan gave an interview to Mediamax, and reflected on his statements before the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war, the course of the war, and the reasons for the defeat of the Armenian side.

Your famous statement New war, new territories has been discussed in and outside Armenia since the end of the war. In particular, the Russian Foreign Minister also mentioned it at a press conference on January 18. Do you have regrets about it?

The statement made during a meeting with the U.S. Armenian community about a year and a half ago was a response to the statements of Azerbaijani military-political leadership to resolve the Artsakh issue through war, which were substantiated by the futility of negotiations. Yes, the statement was emotional, but I dont regret it.

No matter how much Aliyev and some Armenian politicians insist, that statement could not be a reason for the failure of the negotiations and resumption of the war. By the same logic, the war could have started every day, since the leaders of Azerbaijan were always talking about the military solution of the issue. Moreover, for decades the world has failed to notice Aliyevs statements that Yerevan was the historical territory of Azerbaijani.

It should be clearly stated that Azerbaijan rejected the peaceful political settlement of the conflict. The initiator of the war and the disruption of the negotiation process were Ilham Aliyev and Turkey that had provoked and supported him in many ways.

I strongly believe that in conditions of geographical boundaries occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces after 1994, the reinforcement of military positions, the organization of combat duty and the armament of troops with modern weaponry did not solve the main task of ensuring the security and the economic development of Armenians of Artsakh.

What was the ultimate goal of retention of the territories delimited by above-mentioned boundaries? The restoration of historical justice, provision of long-term and sustainable security of Armenians of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia, economic development, or creation of favorable conditions for negotiations on the return of territories in exchange for the internationally recognized status of Artsakh?

Certainly, neither the first, nor the second, nor the third. In todays geo-political conditions with current boundaries and defensive posture existing, issues of long-term and sustainable security and economic development would not have been resolved, and the failure of the negotiation process would have sooner or later led to war.

Therefore, within the framework of defense and foreign policy pursued over the last 26 years, within the limits of existing social and demographic-economic capabilities, the fourth has been ensured in non-war conditions - the continuity of the beneficial settlement process for the Armenian side.

You have stated that in case of war the Armenian side should move hostilities to the adversarys territory. In particular, you have stated that in case of necessity our attack groups may create a chaos in the back of the adversary. Why did this not happen?

Yes, the formation of these assault units and their training to operate in enemy territory, the equipment of Armenian Armed Forces with multifunctional fighter jets, various UAVs and high-precision missile systems, as well as the development of intelligence and special forces capabilities would have eventually led to conceptual changes.

However, the 2018-2024 Modernization Program for the Armenian Armed Forces approved by the Armenian Presidents decree of February 17, 2018, Armed Forces Development Plan edited and adopted by the Security Council in 2019, initiated Strategic Defense Review had not yet been fully implemented. We didnt have time to prepare for a contactless was with the use of 5th generation weapons.

In the Vision on the priorities for the development of the defense sector and the Armed Forces published on June 9, 2020, I mentioned that a large-scale rearmament of the Armed Forces had begun, ranging from small arms to long-range missile systems and multi-functional fighter jets. However, we were at the beginning of the road.

The rearmament was aimed at recruiting the subdivisions of the Armed Forces with such mobile, modern and high-precision weapons that would operate in the field of the automatic command and control and would ensure the decentralized independent actions of subdivisions. I am convinced that we had no alternative but to go to war in this format.

All the statements were made taking into consideration the predictability of regional developments and possible actions of the enemy, but with an inadequate assessment of the risks of direct involvement of Turkey, mass involvement of mercenaries, and complete blockade of supply routes.

If my conceptual and program approaches are assessed as pompous and arrogant, then the incompetent, spinelessness and melancholic manifestations of some Armenian politicians are a security threat to our people. We have lost an unequal battle in all respects, but that does not entitle anyone to play with the national dignity of our people. This political nightmare that psychologically exhausts people needs to stop, and instead of injecting a complex of inferiority, we have to analyze the mistakes, learn the lessons and work. We have paid an extremely high price. Thousands of young people have given their lives for the sake of our Homeland and protection of our national interests, and defeatist speeches disrespect their memory.
A 10-man gang of suspected illegal refiners of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) have been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (...





A 10-man gang of suspected illegal refiners of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) have been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in Lagos State.

Mr Paul Ayeni, the state NSCDC Commandant, while parading the suspects on Monday in Lagos, said the NSCDC collaborated with the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) to arrest the suspects on Jan. 23.

He identified the suspects as; Okriko Ebi, 45- yr-old, Monday Otuagomah, 44 years, Olumide Ikuyiminy, 53 years, Binabi Males, 40 years and Pius Ayeni, 45 years.

Others are; Moses Ajimisan, 33 years, Maurice Blessing, 30 years, Barry Omoseye, 49 years, Idowu Ekundayo, 37 years and Wisdom Blessing, 30 years old.

Ayeni who explained that the suspects were intercepted in a wooden boat in Badagry area of Lagos State, added that three of them are from Awoye Community, Ilaje, Local Government Area, Ondo State while seven others hail from Isoko North Region of Delta.

Exhibits recovered from the boat included; 20 GeePee tanks of 1,500 litres each and 16 drums suspected to be Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).

The Commandant said the suspects would be charged to court when all investigations are concluded.
OTSEGO COUNTY, MI  Three relatives have been charged in what DNR conservation officers are calling a historic elk poaching case in Northern Michigan.

Christian White, 29, of Gaylord, and Harry White, 70, and Ronald White, 56, both of West Branch, pleaded not guilty to a total of eight wildlife crimes after admitting to poaching three cow elk in Pigeon River Country in December 2019.

All three men were arraigned in the Otsego County 87A District Court on Monday. They are charged with several crimes:

Christian White was arraigned on four charges: hunting deer without a license, taking an over-limit of elk, failing to make a reasonable effort to retrieve the elk and taking elk in the wrong hunting unit.

Harry White was arraigned on three charges: taking an over-limit of elk, failing to make a reasonable effort to retrieve elk and taking elk in the wrong hunting unit.

Ronald White faces one charge: taking an over-limit of elk.

Conservation officers began investigating the three relatives more than a year ago after receiving anonymous tips from the public eventually connected and confirmed the suspects were north of Hardwood Lake Road near Bobcat Trail, east of Vanderbilt, on the day the three elk were found lying together.

This case can be summed up with one word  diligence, said Sgt. Mark DePew, who supervised the case. Without our officers professional commitment to pursuit of the facts, these suspects would have gotten away with one of the worst elk poaching incidents I have ever seen. By utilizing teamwork, technology and good old-fashioned police work, this case could not have come to a better conclusion.

During the investigation, the Whites confessed to conservation officers that they poached the three elk, according to a news release.

If found guilty, the Whites will serve a mandatory 30 days in jail, with a maximum stay of 180 days. The misdemeanor charges include a 15-year revocation of hunting privileges and reimbursement up to $5,000 per elk in addition to other costs.

The Whites and their hired attorney are scheduled for a jury status conference Feb. 11.

This was the third elk poaching case within a 30-day period in late 2019. Conservation officers are actively investigating the two preceding elk poaching crimes.

Anyone who witnesses or suspects a natural resource violation should immediately call or text the Report All Poaching hotline line at 800-292-7800.


CLEVELAND, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Homebuilding activity in the Africa/Mideast region will continue to be driven by urban population growth, increased standards of living, and  aside from 2020, when the region will see a recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic  healthy economic expansion. Nigeria will continue to account for the largest share of new housing units in the region, due primarily to its large population and fast urbanization rate. The fastest gains are projected for Nigeria, South Africa, and Iraq, as these markets rebound from weak performances posted during the 2014-2019 period.

The number of existing dwellings in the Africa/Mideast region totaled 398 million units in 2019, accounting for 18% of the global housing stock. The following trends are common among national housing sectors throughout the region:

Over 72% of the regional housing stock consists of single-family dwellings, reflecting the large rural population, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

In spite of the high percentage of single-family dwellings, the average unit size was only 69 square meters in 2019  among the lowest in the world  due to low average incomes in many of the region's populous countries.

The share of multifamily housing has continued to increase due to ongoing rural-to-urban migration throughout the region.

Much of the population lives in poor quality, informal housing lacking basic amenities, and there is a significant housing deficit in the region.

While most countries are economically developing, standards of living  and quality of housing  are relatively high in a few of the region's more

New housing construction activity in the Africa/Mideast region is forecast to increase an average of 2.3% per year to 14.3 million units in 2024, the fastest pace of any world region and representing an acceleration from the pace of the 2014-2019 period, as several key markets begin to rebound.

Global Housing, published in January 2021, examines the global housing market in terms of both the global housing stock and the construction of new housing units. Historical data for 2008, 2013, and 2018 and forecasts for 2023 and 2028 are presented in units by country.

About The Freedonia Group  The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, and market share information. Studies can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Press Contact:

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+1 440.842.2400

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Over 100,000 Ontario Students Return to In-person Learning

Over 100,000 students from several regions across southern Ontario returned to school on Monday for the first time since winter break. But they will have to follow stricter COVID-19 measures to keep themselves and school staff safe, according to the provinces education minister, Stephen Lecce.

In a statement released on Sunday, Lecce told schools in seven public health units that will reopen for in-person classes on Jan. 25, that the province has introduced additional and tougher layers of protection in its safety measures and protocols to keep students and staff safe, as advised by the provinces chief medical officer, Dr. David Williams.

These will include enhanced screening protocols, mandatory masking for students in first through third grades and outdoors where physical distancing cannot be maintained, and province-wide targeted asymptomatic testing. The minister also said they have invested to improve the ventilation in schools.

We have stricter active screening, specifically for the older students, both in elementary, high schools, as well as for staff. An active screening process, making sure no one is coming in with any symptoms at all, Lecce said in a video posted on Twitter Sunday, adding that these tougher measures will by extension keep the parents safe.

We also ensure that our testing capacity is ramped up dramatically with province-wide access to targeted surveillance testing so public health units in every region of Ontario can deploy the test that they need.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce makes an announcement regarding the governments plan for a safe reopening of schools in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic at Father Leo J Austin Catholic Secondary School in Whitby, Ont., Canada on July 30, 2020. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

But the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) criticised the Ford government for not having the concrete plans in place in advance of reopening schools on Monday.

There is no real plan for schools. And enhanced safety measures are still lacking, ETFO wrote on Twitter.

On top of that, the ETFO released a statement on Jan. 22 claiming that the Ford government failed to keep Ontarios students, educators and education workers safe. It cited an article from Toronto Star, reporting that the provincial government has dialed back or abandoned entirely its own safety proposals for school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to save money, based on internal documents from the Ministry of Education obtained by the Star.

How are Ontarians to trust a government that disregards the advice of medical and health experts, and their own staff to save money? ETFO President Sam Hammond said.

Besides ETFO, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, a union, has echoed a similar stance against the provincial government.

The public health units where schools are reopening today are the Grey Bruce Health Unit; the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit; the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit; the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Health Unit; the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit; Peterborough Public Health, and Renfrew County and District Health Unit.

But the province has said that in five hot spot regionsWindsor-Essex, Peel, York, Toronto, and Hamiltonschools will remain closed for in-person learning until at least Feb. 10.

On Jan. 21, the Toronto-based Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) released a guidance document recommending Ontario reopen schools for in-person learning as soon as possible. The hospital reasoned that the harms of school closures outweigh the likelihood of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus spreading among children. The CCP virus causes the COVID-19 disease.

However, SickKids also included recommendations on how schools should operate in a pandemic environmentincluding access to non-invasive testing for all staff and students exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 patient.

For younger students, it suggests cohorting classes as a primary strategy, rather than strict physical distancing, because of the centrality of play and socialization to their development and learning. More robust physical distancing and the use of non-medical masks are suggested for high school and middle school students, particularly in the highest risk/epidemiology regions.

Andrew Chen and files from The Canadian Press contributed to this article.
The American Heart Association makes unprecedented pledge to aggressively address social determinants while working to improve the health of all communities - urban, suburban and rural

DALLAS, January 25, 2021 -- The American Heart Association, the leading global voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, is making an unprecedented series of investments focused on enhancing its historic commitment to addressing the social determinants of health and the barriers to achieving health equity for all communities - urban, suburban and rural. The Association will raise and invest more than $230 million of its own funds over the next four years to support targeted initiatives and programs, while leading additional efforts to drive systemic public health change focused on removing barriers to equitable health for everyone, everywhere.

"In order to ensure every person has the same opportunity for a full, healthy life, the barriers that worsen the economic, social and health inequities of vulnerable communities must be dismantled," said American Heart Association Chief Executive Officer Nancy Brown. "It is the right thing to do, the just thing to do and the only way to improve overall health in this country. We look forward to working with like-minded organizations and supporters to be a relentless force for change that will result in longer, healthier lives for all."

Specifically, the American Heart Association has comprehensively committed to:

Investing $100 million in new scientific research programs and grants focused on evidence-based solutions to health inequities and structural racism. The Association also will expand diversity-research opportunities for underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in science and medicine through grant funding, STEM programs and its established historical black colleges and universities (HBCU) and EmPOWERED to Serve Scholars programs.

Investing in hyper local, community-led solutions to address health inequity and structural racism. Specifically, the organization will dedicate at least $100 million more to address targeted, community-level health equity barriers through its Social Impact Fund, the Bernard J. Tyson Social Impact Fund, as well as its community-based issues campaigns, including those of its Voices for Healthy Kids initiative. Earlier this month, the Association announced its latest gift - a $1 million gift to the Bernard J. Tyson Social Impact Fund from the Andrea W. and Kenneth C. Frazier Family Foundation. That contribution will be directed to local nonprofits and social entrepreneurs working to improve access to healthcare, food and housing, and economic empowerment in North Philadelphia. And, last month, Voices for Healthy Kids awarded $2.6 million in campaign grants to improve health equity.

Launching, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a $121 nationwide hypertension initiative to address a main source of poor cardiovascular health in Black, Hispanic and Indigenous communities, funded by the federal government. Under the partnership, the American Heart Association will team with HHS to support select Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded health centers and associated communities. The collective aim is to elevate the quality of care delivered in these centers, provide evidence-based education to providers and clinicians and engage patients with training to effectively control hypertension. The Association will also leverage and expand its existing hypertension programs in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).

Additionally, as part of this sweeping series of actions, the Association will elevate scientific discourse around health equity by publishing more science focused on disparities, anti-racism, health equity and community-based participation in its suite of peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Circulation and Stroke. The American Heart Association also will leverage its extensive hospital-based clinical registry programs and networks to capture data to advance scientific discovery and understanding of the negative effects of the social determinants of health and healthcare quality variances among racial and ethnic groups. The organization will further focus its continuing efforts in public policymaking to ensure access to health care in under-resourced communities of color and rural areas while fighting to reduce access to tobacco products and sugary beverages - products historically heavily marketed to communities of color.

Structural racism is a major cause of poor health and premature death from heart disease and stroke, according to a new American Heart Association Presidential Advisory, "Call to Action: Structural Racism as a Fundamental Driver of Health Disparities," published in November 2020 in the Association's flagship journal Circulation. The advisory reviews the historical context, current state and potential solutions to address structural racism in the U.S., and outlines steps the Association is taking to address the root causes of health care disparities.

"Our financial commitments build on the presidential advisory and add to our pledge to take immediate and ongoing action to accelerate social equity and improve health for everyone," said Mitchell S. V. Elkind, M.D., M.S., FAHA, FAAN, president of the American Heart Association, professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and attending neurologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. "The American Heart Association looks forward to working with allies across the country on the national, state and local level to break down barriers impeding the health of rural communities and communities of color who have been historically and systematically marginalized."

"The American Heart Association is responding boldly to addressing health inequity as it is imperative to the overall health and well-being of the nation that this issue be addressed head on," said Bertram L. Scott, chairman of the Association's Board of Directors. "We are putting actions behind our words because barriers to equity in housing, education, healthcare and elsewhere are not only wrong - they impede the American Heart Association from achieving its goal of equitable cardiovascular health for all people."

As part of a new 2024 health equity impact goal, the Association is focusing its own operations more aggressively on addressing societal barriers because they contribute significantly to the disproportionate burden of cardiovascular risk factors (including high blood pressure, obesity and Type 2 diabetes) in Black, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino people compared with white people in the U.S. Additionally, rural populations have significantly higher rates of uncontrolled traditional cardiovascular risk factors compared with urban areas in part due to older average age, inadequate and unaffordable health care and other systemic barriers that contribute to worse health outcomes.

Several targeted initiatives are underway in advance of American Heart Month and Black History Month, including:

A discussion with leading corporate CEOs on major barriers to health equity including structural racism and racial inequity, and how to positively impact employee and community health was held earlier this month. A complete replay of the virtual roundtable, presented jointly on January 15th by the American Heart Association and Business Roundtable, can be viewed here. Visit the AHA CEO Roundtable for more information.

The Empowered to Serve Business Accelerator Finale. Join the American Heart Association as eight extraordinary social innovators present their business models - all designed to drive health equity, sustainability and community transformation. The candidates will highlight their work and impact to a panel of expert judges in the business, entrepreneurial and health sectors during the event on January 26 at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT/4 p.m. PT. Register to watch the live event where the top finalist will be awarded a $40,000 grant, the runner-up a $15,000 grant and the "fan favorite" a $5,000 grant.

While overall death rates from heart disease and stroke declined over the past two decades until a recent plateau, these gains were not equitably shared among all people. For example[1],

Black Americans continue to experience the highest death rates due to heart disease and stroke. Black Americans experience a nearly 30% higher death rate from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a 45% higher death rate from stroke compared with non-Hispanic white Americans. Black and Hispanic/Latino patients experience significantly lower survival to hospital discharge than white patients even when controlling for socioeconomic status.

In regard to rural health[2],

There is a three-year life expectancy gap between rural and urban populations. Rural areas see higher rates of tobacco use, physical inactivity and obesity, which have given rise to higher rates of diabetes and hypertension. In turn, rural communities have higher death rates from cardiovascular disease and stroke and higher maternal mortality rates due in part to cardiovascular deaths.

Rural areas have higher death rates for CVD and stroke than urban areas, and the gaps are widening. One study found that heart disease-attributable mortality declined 42% in urban areas between 1999 and 2009 but only 35% in rural areas.

In rural areas, people may face geographic and other transportation barriers to reaching emergency care expediently.

###

Additional Resources:

Presidential Advisory: Structural racism causes poor health, premature death from heart disease and stroke

African American celebrities and influencers to amplify national conversation on health justice and equity

Voices for Healthy Kids: $2.5 million granted to 16 community organizations committed to racial health equity

AHA 2024 Health Equity Impact Goal

AHA Presidential Advisory on rural health inequities

Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public's health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.
Source: Reuters

New Zealand on Monday confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in the community in months in a 56-year-old woman, but said close contacts of the recently returned traveller had so far tested negative.

The woman, who returned to New Zealand on December 30, had tested positive for the South African strain of the virus after leaving a two-week mandatory quarantine where she had twice tested negative, COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said.

No other community cases had been reported since the woman's case was disclosed on Sunday and authorities said the source of the infection was probably a fellow returnee at the quarantine facility.

Follow our LIVE blog for latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic

Authorities were looking at whether the virus was spreading through the ventilation and air conditioning systems in these facilities, Hipkins said.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine  one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show

New Zealand Health Chief Ashley Bloomfield said 15 people had been identified as close contacts of the woman and were being contacted.

However, her closest contacts, her husband and hairdresser, had tested negative, which was encouraging.

Confirmation of the case led Australia to immediately suspend a travel bubble with New Zealand for 72 hours.

Anyone arriving from New Zealand since Jan. 14 will need to isolate and stay home until they test negative for COVID-19. Anyone arriving in the next 72 hours will have to go straight into hotel quarantine.

"This will be done out of an abundance of caution whilst more is learned about the event and the case," Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said late on Monday.

He said the case was of concern because of the transmissibility of the South African variant and because the woman had been in the community.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, informed her of the move on Monday afternoon.

"I advised him that we have confidence in our systems and processes, but it is Australias decision as to how they manage their borders," Ardern told TVNZ.

New Zealand, one of the most successful developed nations in controlling the spread of the pandemic, last recorded a community coronavirus transmission in November, according to the Health Ministry website.

A tough lockdown and geographical isolation helped the country of 5 million virtually eliminate the novel coronavirus within its borders.

New Zealand has had only 1,927 confirmed cases. But with the pandemic raging globally, more people are returning with infections, including the new variants, raising concerns the virus may spread in the community again.

The woman, who lives in Northland on New Zealand's North Island, quarantined on arrival in a managed isolation facility in Auckland where several highly virulent COVID-19 cases have been recorded in quarantine facilities in recent weeks.

Bloomfield said the South African variant may be more transmissible but there was not yet enough research available.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here
Virgin Media mobile customers can now get access to ultra-fast 5G internet as the operator finally launches its network in more than 100 places across the UK.

The system piggybacks on the infrastructure built by Vodafone, as part of a growing partnership between the two companies.

More than three million Virgin mobile customers will now automatically be able to access 5G at no extra cost if they have a suitable plan and device.

New locations with Virgin-powered 5G include London, Birmingham, Belfast and Glasgow, and it goes live today.

EE was the first internet provider to go live with a 5G network in the UK in May 2019, soon followed by Vodafone. Now, O2, Three, Sky and Virgin also have 5G compatibility.

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Virgin Media customers will now be able to get access to ultra-fast 5G internet as the operator finally sets its network live in more than 100 places across the UK

5G is the newest generation of mobile communication technology, offering data speeds several times faster than 4G.

The network also allows for larger amounts of data to be transferred at once, which could one day help power technologies such as fully-autonomous cars.

Virgin Media said it would begin offering 5G plans at no extra cost to existing deals and would automatically boost those with a 5G-enabled device to the new network if it had been purchased through Virgin Media since April last year.

Jeff Dodds, the chief operating officer for Virgin Media, said the 5G launch was a 'milestone moment' for the company.

'As the world's first virtual mobile operator, our offering has long been about breaking boundaries and offering our customers a premium service without the price tag,' he said.

'That's why we're launching fast, reliable 5G connectivity at no extra cost while keeping the added extras of our existing mobile plans in place.

'By offering 5G and gigabit broadband all under one roof, Virgin Media customers can experience next-generation connectivity both in and out of the home, putting them in a great place to take advantage of the latest technology.'

Mobile rival O2 earlier this month rolled out its 5G network in 53 new towns and cities across the UK, pulling ahead of its rival EE to become the nation's biggest provider of ultra-fast mobile internet.

More than three million Virgin mobile customers will now automatically be able to access 5G at no extra cost if they have a suitable plan and device. New locations with Virgin-powered 5G include London, Birmingham, Belfast and Glasgow, and it goes live today

However, a leading expert said last week that the rollout of 5G networks should be halted until the safety of the technology has been tested and its safety proven.

Professor John William Frank, a physician and epidemiologist from the University of Edinburgh, says we should 'err on the side of caution' by delaying any further roll-out of 5G globally, 'pending more conclusive research' on its safety.

5G requires more transmitter masts in a given stretch of land than previous generations of broadband cellular networks, like 4G.

Because of this, he believes more people will be exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) at levels 'potentially harmful to health'.

Scientists and experts have challenged Professor Frank's suggestion, with one saying his 'opinion is not supported by health authorities worldwide'.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also says 'no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies' after much research.

Professor Frank does, however, stress the ridiculousness of linking 5G exposures to Covid-19, as suggested by some conspiracy theorists.

He also condemns the numerous violent attacks on 5G masts, which are providing essential communications technology during the pandemic, in the UK last year.
Human remains found inside a wheelie bin floating in a dam in Perths hills have been identified by police.

The 51-year-old Perth man had been missing for more than a week but police never issued a public plea for his whereabouts.

The mans body was discovered on Monday afternoon by a group of people on a picnic at John Forrest National Park who noticed an awful smell coming from Glen Brook Dam.

Police were called and found the remains wrapped in plastic inside the bin.
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It was in 2009. The Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin ordered a rerun in a number of polling units in the election between Segun Oni of PDP and Dr Kayode Fayemi of ACN.

Oni had in the main election and the election petition tribunal that followed been declared winner of the gubernatorial contest. Our party , ACN contested this , hence the declaration of a rerun.

The election which came three months after the Appeal Court judgement was like war. The PDP ruling at the Federal level did not want to lose Ekiti while the opposition ACN led and financed by Bola Ahmed Tinubu wanted to take Ekiti by all means.

A few days to the election, we got an intelligence report that the PDP big wigs had perfected a plan to unleash thugs recruited from across Yoruba land on Ekiti. The plan was to kill and maim as many as possible, snatch ballot boxes and win by any means possible.

Tinubu summoned me to Lagos and said Femi, I have conducted a scientific opinion poll. You people can win this election. The only snag however is they are deploying state security as well as thugs against you. State security men we can handle ( and he did creatively handled them ) but how do you handle thugs?

I then suggested we dissuade them by engagement and inducements. After all they are in the business only for the money and not for ideological reasons.

We reached out to both Ade Basket in Akure and Fada Geri in Ondo. Both were dreaded in political circles. We had a series of meetings with them and were able to squeeze an agreement with them that they will not make themselves available to PDP for hire. I got them to even sign documents for me that they were going to stay off Ekiti elections.

The biggest headache for us then was Sunday Igboho who we learnt has been hired and paid by a Senator from Osun to come and cause mayhem in Ekiti. Tinubu instructed we must get him at all cost.

Six days to the election we began our search for him. Eventually we met someone who had his number. I put a call through to him and he agreed to meet with me in Ibadan. We scheduled an appointment and had a meeting at a small hotel not far from Premier Hotel.

Tinubu , I told him , has sent me to him that he will like to have a meeting with him. He said he will love to meet him as he has heard a lot of good things about him too. The problem he said is he is PDP and not ACN. I said that precisely is the reason why he wanted to meet with him. He asked if I could keep this a secret, I said why not. Papa Adedibu, and our Osun Senator , he said must not learn about his meeting Tinubu. I told him there is no way they will know except it leaks from his side.

He agreed to a meeting on Thursday preceding the election. I reported back to Tinubu who then relocated from his base in Lagos to Sunview Hotel in Akure. Igboho drove down alone at about 10.00 pm. I and Tinubu had a dialogue with him.

Igboho,!Tinubu said,  I have heard a lot about your bravery . The Ekiti people have suffered too long under the rule of PDP. They are looking for change. I learnt you have been hired to make this impossible. I have invited you to plead with you to allow the poll to be conducted peacefully. If after that the PDP wins fine. If the ACN wins, all well and good.

Tinubu went on and on lecturing him on the beauty of democracy and unencumbered electoral process. By the time Tinubu finished with him, he became sober and contrite.  Baba, he said,  I have heard you and I am pleased with what you have said. Whatever you want me to do I will do even though I have collected money from the other side .

This was the extent Tinubu went to secure Ekiti for his party, ACN. Most of this the candidate, Fayemi , himself was not even aware of.

Tinubu then beckoned me to follow him to the bedroom of the suit he occupied in the hotel.  Femi this guy appear sincere. It does appear we have dissuaded him.

Thank you Baba Igboho said with a smile across his face as soon as he received a golden handshake for agreeing not to destroy in Ekiti as they had planned.

He then said that he will be in Ekiti on the eve of the election but when it is 2.00 am I should put a call through to him. He will put his phone on speaker and I should tell him I am a police AIG and that the police has discovered his presence in Ekiti and will be raiding in 30 minutes time. With that call he will tell his minders he can no longer stay. He will pack his boys and their lethal weapons and leave town.

Tinubu ordered food and drink for him. He will touch neither. He however overtime became comfortable in our midst and regaled us with several anecdotes from his career as a political enforcer. One particular anecdote stayed locked up in my memory till today because it was so funny.

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According to Igboho he went through the tutelage of Chief Adedibu, the strong man of Ibadan politics. He said he was one of his most reliable and trusted thugs. At a point in their relationship, Adedibu , he said began to suspect he was getting too powerful and independent. Adedibu , he narrated, then invited him to a meeting and told him he will like him to run for the chairmanship of a local government.

He said he knew this was an attempt by Adedibu to bench him and he therefore told Adedibu that he was not educated , not able to speak English and could therefore not be chairman of a local government.

Adedibu , he said , looked at him and barked an order STAND UP! He stood up. SIT DOWN! He sat down. Adedibu then said and you claim not to be educated. Whatever is left we shall add it unto you.

A week before the election, we had reserved and paid for all the rooms in all the hotels in Ekiti. The money ran into several millions. Tinubu, as usual, paid for this. The strategy was to ensure no thug or any undesirable element had a place to stay in the state. Security men and INEC officials had to appeal to me, sometimes through Tinubu, to release some rooms to them to stay. With this we knew who was staying where. And we closely monitored them and their activities.

Thus, when Igboho and his band of 50 thugs arrived Ado Ekiti that Friday we were able to monitor them till they were taken to be accommodated over night in government house due to lack of hotel accommodation in the state.

This was the situation when at 2:00 am I did exactly what Igboho instructed me to do and he and his men fled town. Two hours after leaving I got a call from him. They did a head count and found out two of their men were missing. Interestingly, they found out the two had gone to town in search of women. Igboho pleaded with me to help retrieve them and get them out of town the following morning.

At about 5.00 am that morning I picked them up in front of the Fire Station at Fajuyi Park , took them to my house and by 6.00 am got a driver to take them out of town.

We had the re-run elections. It wasnt entirely peaceful. But thuggery and violence was largely reduced.

This was my encounter with Sunday Adeyemo alias Sunday Igboho , lately crowned a hero in Yoruba land , by the reign of terror by herders and bandits.

He has that occasional conscience you can appeal to. Let those who can rein in the herders do so and make the forests and highways safe again. Let farmers be able to carry out their occupation without fear of kidnap , murder and rape. Let us find a modern and permanent solution to this issue of itinerant herding that pitches a group of Nigerians against the other. Let us not ethnicize criminality. A criminal is a criminal and a crime is a crime whether perpetrated by Fulani, Yoruba , Igbo, Ijaw , Junkun, Bachama or Ibariba.

We should do everything possible to stave off this crisis and stop beating the drums of war before it reaches a crescendo.
This is sad news for Yeo Jin Goo fans. The actor will no longer join the second season of tvN's 'House on Wheels'.

With regards to reports circulating that Yeo Jin Goo will be leaving the variety show, tvN issued a statement explaining that the actor had to step down from 'House on Wheels 2' because of conflict from his drama filming schedule. Currently, the production is discussing about his replacement as cast of the show.

South Korean variety show House on Wheels premiered on tvN on June 11, 2020 and it features Sung Dong Il, Kim Hee Won and Yeo Jin Goo as their casts in the show. On January 25, 2021 the show confirmed that they will be having a second season and is scheduled to broadcast on mid March. Though Yeo Jin Goo is confirmed to step down, his co-stars Sung Dong Il and Kim Hee Won would still remain as casts of the show's second season.

tvN's variety show 'House on Wheels features' its cast member spending a day with people they encounter while driving all over the country with a house attached at the back. The show has gained popularity by inviting different guests on each exciting episode. 'House on Wheels' has brought joy and laughter to the viewers with their extraordinary contents.

Moving forward, Yeo Jin Goo is currently busy with his upcoming JTBC drama 'Beyond Evil'. It is a psychological thriller drama about two men who who will do whatever it takes, even breaking the rules and the law in their pursuit of a serial killer.

Also Read: Yeo Jin Goo Receives a Sweet Gift From IU

Meet these two men who are going into extreme lengths in their pursuit of a serial killer that has created a havoc in their peaceful city: Lee Dong Sik starred by Shin Ha Kyun, he was once a reliable detective who was demoted to performing menial tasks at the Manyang Police Substation.

Lee Dong Sik was starting to live his peaceful life when his new senior, Detective Han Joo Won (Yeo Jin Goo) takes charge of their department. Joo Won is also an elite detective. He's the son of a star candidate for the National Police Agency's next chief. Although he has his fair share of admirable qualities, he keeps a deep secret from everyone.

Then a series of gruesome murder takes place in their peaceful and quiet city, and it is the same serial murder case that took place 20 years ago. Dong Sik and Joo Won work together vowing to to put an end to this vicious culprit in his tracks.

As their investigation goes deeper and deeper they have no choice but to examine even more which eventually made them question the accountability of people involved in the case which includes themselves.

"Beyond Evil" is scheduled to broadcast on February 19, 2021 and will take over the JTBC's Friday & Saturday 23:00 time slot previously occupied by "Hush."

Though we are sad to hear that Yeo Jin Goo will leave 'House on Wheels', we are still excited that we will be seeing in a new drama soon!

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written By Liza Parker


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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Energy holding company Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) announced Monday it has reached an agreement with Attorney General, Public Staff and Sierra Club on North Carolina coal ash costs. The settlement resolves the last remaining major issues on coal ash management in North Carolina. The settlement provides immediate and long-term savings for North Carolina customers and certainty to Duke Energy. It resolves all pending issues in North Carolina related to basin closure cost recovery. The proposed settlement, to be filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) today, details a plan for coal ash management cost allocation between 2015 and 2030. Over this time frame, Duke Energy will reduce North Carolina customers' costs by approximately $1.1 billion. This settlement would reduce coal ash costs included in the pending rate requests by 60%, which would provide immediate customer savings, if approved. The company will also maintain its ability to earn a return on the remaining balance, providing greater confidence in achieving its long-term financial goals and its transition to cleaner energy sources. Duke Energy is in the process of permanently closing the remaining coal ash basins in the state, with support from the public, regulators, the environmental community and elected officials. 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.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) -- Health care has been at the forefront of this entire pandemic. According to Indiana educators, the health care industry needs more workers. Students see this and are now rising up to help fill in the gaps.

Elizabeth Sliger is a school administrator at Indiana Digital Learning School.

The online K-12 school has seen a 40% enrollment increase this year. Sliger said this is due to COVID-19.

She said the enrollment increase was seen overall, but it was concentrated in health-care studies.

Sliger told News 10 that many hospitals are feeling overwhelmed due to the pandemic. She said her students recognize this impact and have a stronger desire to help.

That help is in the form of more students wanting to go into health care.

Sliger said, "And I think so many students have seen the kind of help that nursing does in the front lines, and the kind of difference it can make in somebody's lives. And they just want to be a part of it."

Many students have been seeing doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals risk everything in order to keep us all healthy.

Sliger said seeing real-life examples of healthcare workers and the difference they make on a daily basis has made her students want to help even more.

She said, "Plus it's very purpose-driven. I mean the nurses on the frontlines right now are meaningfully helping people, and helping families."

Sliger said many of her students are also working on the frontlines right now. She told News 10 that's helped further their education.

She said her students are able to step up and do more because their school is all online. Sliger said, "I know we have a student working in a nursing home right now, and through all of this she has been able to make a real difference but maintain her studies, and get closer to her dream."

Sliger said seeing her students step up to help has been amazing.

She told News 10 watching her students navigate their learning experience this year has helped her become a better educator and has taught her valuable lessons along the way.

Sliger said, "When times get the hardest we have to remember that we learn the most from our kids. They have so much to teach us about resilience and growth, and the ability to learn and adapt. We need to take a minute to learn from them."

Sliger said she's proud of all of her students and can't wait to see what difference they'll make.
Anti-poverty campaigner warned Monday that the fallout of the pandemic will lead to the biggest increase in global inequality on record unless governments radically rejig their economies.

In a report geared to inform discussions at the World Economic Forum's online panels of political and business leaders this week, said the richest 1,000 people have already managed to recoup the losses they recorded in the early days of the pandemic because of the bounce back in stock markets.

By contrast, said it could take more than a decade for the world's poorest to recover their losses.

Rigged economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite who are riding out the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic shop assistants, healthcare workers, and market vendors are struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table," said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam

Using figures from Forbes' 2020 Billionaire List, Oxfam said the world's 10 richest people, including the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett, saw their fortunes increase by half a trillion dollars since the crisis began even though the global remains smaller than when the pandemic started a year ago.

Meanwhile, using data specially provided by the World Bank, Oxfam said that in a worst-case scenario global poverty levels would be higher in 2030 than they were before the pandemic struck, with 3.4 billion people still living on less than $5.50 a day.

Bucher said women and marginalised racial and ethnic groups are bearing the brunt of this crisis and are more likely to be pushed into poverty, more likely to go hungry, and more likely to be excluded from healthcare.

While urging governments to ensure that everyone has access to a vaccine and financial support if they lose their job, Bucher said policies in a post- world should focus on ending poverty and protecting the planet.

They must invest in public services and low carbon sectors to create millions of new jobs and ensure everyone has access to a decent education, health, and social care, and they must ensure the richest individuals and corporations contribute their fair share of tax to pay for it, she said.

These measures must not be band-aid solutions for desperate times but a 'new normal' in economies that work for the benefit of all people, not just the privileged few, she added.

Oxfam has traditionally sought to inspire debate at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering of business and political elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Though the pandemic means there won't be any trek up the mountains this week, organisers are putting on a virtual gathering. Leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are all set to take part in the meetings from Jan. 25-29.

Joining them will be a host of chief executives and campaigning organisations, including Oxfam and the likes of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

(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.)
Several reports are doing rounds that the old banknotes of 100, 10 and 5 would be demonetised by March-April. The government's fact-checking unit has termed has debunked the report and said the central bank has not made any such announcements. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) conducted a fact check and termed the report as FAKE. It is being claimed that hundred, ten and 5 rupee notes will no longer be legal tender from March 21, as per the information given by RBI. This claim is false", the PIB tweeted.

In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued new look currency notes in the denominations of 10, 50, and 200.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

New currency notes of 100 rupees were released by the central bank in 2019. The RBI had issued new 100 notes in lavender colour. The new denomination prominently carries the motif of Rani-Ki-Vav (The Queens Stepwell), a UNESCO World Heritage site in Gujarat. Located in Gujarats Patan, the 900-year-old architectural wonder highlights the sanctity of water as it is designed as an inverted temple under the earths surface.

"All banknotes in the denomination of  100 issued by the RBI in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender," RBI had said.

On 8 November 2016, in a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that all 500 and 1,000 notes would no longer be legal tender. The RBI issued new 2,000 and 500 currency notes after the 8 November announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which Rs500 and Rs1,000 banknotes were stripped of their status as legal tender. After the demonetisation announcement, 500 and 1,000 currency notes were withdrawn from circulation by RBI.

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Keeping up the attack on the NDA government at the Centre over the new farm laws, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said they were "criminal" and vowed to oppose them in the interest of the farmers. The laws were aimed at benefitting "5-6 people closest" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said at a farmers' convention at Vangal in this district, as part of his three-day election campaign in poll-bound Tamil Nadu which began on Saturday.

He alleged that Modi wanted the farmers to negotiate with "huge corporates" rather than the ryots going to mandis or negotiating with small traders. "The result is going to be that millions of people who are employed by this agriculture system-- farmers, labourers, loaders, small traders-- all these people are going to be unemployed," he claimed.

"...they are trying to help 5-6 people closest to the Prime Minister and they are hurting the interest of millions and millions of farmers," he said about the Centre. Referring to the protesting farmers from Punjab and Haryana, Gandhi said "the Prime Minister is calling them terrorists." "So we are stopping these laws and protecting your interests. These are criminal laws against the farmers of India...they are trying to replicate a failed model," Gandhi added.

When a participant at the interaction explained the farm laws, Gandhi quipped he would make a "better agiculture minister," taking an apparent dig at incumbent Narendra Singh Tomar. He alleged that farmers have no access to information "because information is purposely hidden from them." He charged the Central government with attacking the foundation of the country-- labourers, workers, farmers and fishermen.

"And it is our duty to protect the interest of workers, farmers, fishermmen and weavers," Gandhi, who rode a bullock cart to arrive here, said. While there was no shortage of money in the country, it was not being given to the poor, he added.

He also flayed the Centre's earlier demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), wanting to know how many from the crowd benefitted from them. Earlier, at a roadshow in the district, Gandhi questioned Centre's "one language, one culture, one history" concept.

"So when Prime Minister Modi says one language, one culture, one history, who is he insulting. What does he mean by one language, one culture, one history." "Is Tamil not a language, do Tamil people don't have a history, culture. Who does he think he is to come and tell Tamil people one language, one culture, one history. Who has given him that right," Gandhi said. Saying he was reading the Tamil classic Tirukkural, Gandhi said it mentioned about the Tamil spirit a 1000 years ago.

"This positive attitude, self respect--I realised is not something new..it is wedded in your history, language, food, everywhere and then I noticed that the Prime Minister of this country does not respect this spirit." "I do not think that the PM of this country has even opened this book because if he had opened this book, he would understand that the only way to work with the Tamil people is to respect them, to love their language, to love their culture. There is no other way to work with the Tamil spirit and Tamil culture than respecting it," he said. Charging Modi with "remote controlling" the Tamil Nadu government, Gandhi asked why central agencies were not probing corruption in the state.

"In every opposition (ruled)state, Prime Minister Modi uses the CBI and ED to attack the opposition. Why is the investigation into corruption in Tamil Nadu stopped." "Why are the ED and CBI not investigating the Chief Minister and government of Tamil Nadu. What has the Chief Minister( K Palaniswami) of Tamil Nadu given Narendra Modi in exchange for this favour. That is the central question," he said. Gandhi said that in the coming election the people of Tamil Nadu "are going to take the battery out of the remote control and throw it away," implying a new government will be in place.

"I am here to help you get a government that listens to the Tamil spirit, listens to poor people," Gandhi, whose Congress is an ally of the MK Stalin-led DMK in the state, said. Assembly elections are likely in Tamil Nadu by April-May.

Gandhi further charged Modi with working for a select few industrialists. "Narendra Modi works for five or six big industrialists.

Every thing he does is to help these five people improve their financial position. Demonesisation, GST, the way he behaved during corona--everything is designed to help those five people," he alleged. "The idea is to break the backbone of small and medium businesses, break the backbone of Indian farmers and to make Indian labourers slaves-- all to make these five or six people happy," he claimed.

Lashing out at the RSS, he said its ideology was "anti-Tamil" which is "aimed at weakening the spirit of Tamil people." "We will never allow it," he asserted. Earlier, the Congress MP was accorded a rousing reception and he shook hands with many people who had turned up to have a gimpse of him and also posed for pictures with some.
'The poll found that 51% of people here want a poll on Irish unity within the next five years, but that 47% still want to remain in the UK, with 42% in favour of a united Ireland and 11% don't-knows.'

If one thing is clear from the Sunday Times/LucidTalk poll on a border referendum it is that the issue hasn't gone away, you know. The poll found that 51% of people here want a poll on Irish unity within the next five years, but that 47% still want to remain in the UK, with 42% in favour of a united Ireland and 11% don't-knows.

Respondents also said they believed there would be a united Ireland within 10 years, by a margin of 48% to 44%.

Clearly, the question of reunification stirs strong passions, as it has done since partition and will continue to do.

This sense of unfinished business was behind Taoiseach Micheal Martin's outreach to northern unionists, except with the timescale for a future poll deliberately left vague, but certainly not within the next decade.

What has changed the terms of engagement has been Brexit.

The 2016 referendum found for Brexit by 52% to 48% and there is every likelihood that a poll on Irish unity could be decided by a similarly tight margin.

While Leave supporters are right when they say they have a mandate for Brexit, mandates can - and do - change. The four-and-a-half-year delay in implementing the popular will can give no one any certainty that, were the referendum to be re-run tomorrow, the outcome would stand.

The well-documented problems encountered since the end of the transition period on December 30 can only lend weight to that impression.

It was John Adams, Joe Biden's predecessor as President of the United States by 224 years, who first warned against the "tyranny of the majority"; where the majority of an electorate pursues exclusively its own objectives at the expense of the minority's interests.

Simple majoritarianism is, therefore, as much a weakness in a democracy as weighted majorities (why should your vote carry more weight than mine?).

It is, moreover, hopelessly optimistic, if not psychologically impossible, to expect people to change their deeply held beliefs on the basis of fractional mathematics.

On an issue as divisive as reunification, that is as likely to further entrench both sides as it is to bring about closure. And we in Northern Ireland don't need reminding of the perils of rule by a simple majority.

First Minister Arlene Foster said yesterday that a border poll at this time would be "absolutely reckless". She said people in Northern Ireland need to "come together to fight against Covid".

She might have added that the demand for a poll is largely driven by northern nationalists, with little sense of it being a priority to the southern electorate.

These demands are purposefully vague on what a united Ireland would look like. Is the Republic in any sense equipped to assume responsibility for 1.8 million people?

Yes, some issues could undoubtedly benefit from being tackled on a one-island basis: controlling Covid-19, food and agriculture being just the three most obvious.

A unitary economy could arguably be an easier sell for inward investment post-Brexit, as we set our stall out for the world. Truth be told, the brittle pieties of our contested past will matter less than those hardy reliables health and wealth.

A Northern Ireland with a functioning health service and better life outcomes for its citizens will go a long way to resist any movement towards 'a nation once again'. Brexit has shown us all the danger of leaping into the dark. It's implementation over the four-year lifetime of the Northern Ireland Protocol could be the best indicator yet of a demand for constitutional change in Ireland.

The 2021 census, which will go ahead on March 21 in spite of coronavirus, will add the sort of 'head-count' data which sectarian proponents of reunification or the status quo have relied on to prop up their arguments.

But whether a border poll is called for, let alone held, depends more on the biddable middle ground than the extremes. Who wins and who loses will depend on how attractive Northern Ireland, as currently constituted, can be made to the greatest number of people. And it's all to play for.
Chinese soldiers at the Nathu La Pass area at the IndiaChina border in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim in August 2003. The two sides had a minor face-off at another pass called Naku La on Jan. 20, 2021, according to the Indian army. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Indian, Chinese Troops Clash in Sikkim, With Injuries on Both Sides, Indian Media Says

Expert explains link of these IndoChina skirmishes with US politics

NEW DELHIIndian and Chinese troops clashed on the disputed border of northern Sikkim in the Himalayas on Jan. 20, resulting in several injuries on both sides, according to the Indian media.

The skirmish occurred after the Chinese soldiers tried to intrude into the Indian side at Naku La, and the Indian side pushed the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) back despite bad weather, according to India Today, a leading Indian media outlet that cited sources saying the injured include 20 PLA and four Indian soldiers.

The reports of injured, however, vary in other media, and theres no official confirmation of the numbers.

Its clarified that there was a minor face-off between the Indian Army & Chinese PLA troops at Naku La, Sikkim on 20th January. It was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols, the Indian army said in a Jan. 25 statement released by Asian News International, an Indian news agency.

Satoru Nagao, a nonresident fellow at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, told The Epoch Times that the intention behind the minor skirmish at Sikkim isnt clear, and it shows that India was well prepared this time.

While the Chinese side didnt confirm the clash, the Chinese foreign ministry said the regime in Beijing is committed to maintaining peace on the border and that India should take practical actions to ensure the peace.

Chinese state-run media Global Times called the news of last weeks clash fake, citing its own source.

There is no record of this incident in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) front line patrol logs, the Global Times said in a report on Jan. 25.

The news of the minor face-off poured in after recent reports of the Chinese having built 101 houses inside the Indian territory in the disputed border region of Arunachal Pradesh and also after military commanders on both sides engaged in the ninth round of corps commander-level talks on Jan. 24.

The Indian army also asked the media to refrain from overplaying or exaggerating reports which are factually incorrect.

India and China have a history of clashes in Ladakh, where a bloody conflict occurred last year, and also along the borders in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, with Sikkim between Bhutan and Nepal, and Arunachal Pradesh east of Bhutan.

Indian military veteran retired Lt. Gen. Kamal Davar, who founded Indias Defense Intelligence Agency, told The Epoch Times that the PLA is trying to keep all the sectors live where they face Indian troops, and he mentioned that the Sikkim skirmish happened just a few days before the 9th round of corps commander-level talks.

In 1967, too, in the same area, we had a firefight where the Chinese suffered many casualties and the Indian troops held their ground. Chinese bullying tactics will be firmly dealt with, Davar said.

Tejendra Khanna, a former senior Indian civil servant who has an interest in geopolitical affairs affecting India, told The Epoch Times that the Chinese side has deliberately held back from settling the border demarcation issue.

This leads to avoidable clashes. It is high time that there should be a genuine effort to end the ambiguities, on the basis of already agreed principles. Chinas provocative and strong-arm tactics will not yield any durable solution, he said.

Nagao said that the timing of the major and minor IndiaChina border incidents in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have international ramifications because they happened around the time of the swearing-in of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Therefore, China can check what kind of reaction the U.S. will show. Will the new U.S. administration support India clearly as Trump did in the past? he said.

Traditional American diplomacy was not choosing a side in the border issue [between India and China]. But Trump chose India relatively clearly. If Biden returns to the past, China can move more easily, and thats what China is trying to know by such skirmishes, Nagao said.

A man walks past a poster depicting portraits of Indian soldiers killed in a hand-to-hand fight with their Chinese counterparts on June 15, 2020, in a market area in New Delhi, on Aug. 31, 2020. (Jewel Samad/ AFP via Getty Images)

9th Round of Commander-Level Talks

India and China met on Jan. 24 for their 9th corps commander-level meeting on the Chinese side of the Moldo-Chushul border meeting point and described the meeting as positive, practical, and constructive in a joint statement.

The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control [LAC] in the Western Sector of China-India border areas, the public relations officer of the Indian army, Col. Aman Anand, said in the release.

Anand said the two sides have agreed to an early disengagement of the front line troops during the 15-hour-long talks. After the bloody June 15, 2020, incident in the Galwan Valley, India and China stationed a total of more than 100,000 troops on both sides in a high state of combat preparedness.

The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility, Anand said.

Nagao said the border incidents and the resulting diplomacy are about which country will lead the region.

From International situational [perspective], this issue is beyond India-China. This is the issue of U.S.-China. U.S. or China, which country will lead the world? Nagao said, adding that similar Chinese activities need to be seen around Japan and Vietnam as well in order to comprehend the wider Chinese strategy.

China wants to know Bidens diplomatic skill. If hes a weak man, China can be bold in many areas in the world in the next four years: East China Sea, South China Sea, South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Arctic, space, cyber.  China wants to know the skill of the Biden administration. To know this skill, small confrontation is useful, Nagao said.

He said if the reaction of the Biden administration to whats transpiring between India and China is slow and weak, China will understand that itll be the same in the South China Sea and elsewhere, and China will be bold.

As the world continues to deal with the pandemic, and in the aftermath of the U.S. elections, Khanna reminds the emerging world of Indias core perspective of Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which are Sanskrit adages that mean We seek the well being of all and The whole world is one family.

Thus, the fruits of development and progress can only be enjoyed by nations in a stable environment of peace and mutual goodwill rather than that of aggression and dominance, he said.
Right from the beginning when Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar took charge as state BJP chief, he raised the political heat and started targeting Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.  By arrangement

Karimnagar: A surcharged atmosphere prevailed here after activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti Vidhyarthi (TRSV), the students wing of the TRS, and BJP Yuva Morcha (BJYM) clashed at Telangana Chowk on Sunday.

Tension was prevailing in the district for the past few days as leaders of TRS and BJP were on a confrontation course and the two parties aiming to establish supremacy over each other. Notably, right from the beginning when Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar took charge as state BJP chief, he raised the political heat and started targeting Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

Senior leaders of the TRS hit back at the BJP leadership in the same manner. A few days ago, TRS and BJP leaders clashed with each other in Metpally and Korutla in Jagtial district over sharply critical comments made by TRS Korutla MLA K. Vidyasagar Rao, against the BJP and questioned the need to donate to the Ram mandir in Ayodhya.

Activists of both the parties came out onto the roads, staged dharnas, burned effigies and took out rallies across the united Karimnagar district in support of their leaders. On Sunday, when the TRSV leaders tried to burn an effigy of Sanjay, BJYM leaders confronted them. This led to a clash.

Police intervened and sought to restore calm. Two Town circle inspector Laxman Babu fell down while in action and TRSV leaders Ponnam Anil Kumar and Naradasu Vasanth Rao were injured. Activists of both sides were arrested and taken to the police station.

TRSV district unit president Ponnam Anil Kumar alleged that when students tried to burn the effigy in a peaceful manner, BJYM men attacked them from behind, and right in front of the cops. We only acted in self-defence. He said the unparliamentary language used by state BJP chief against the CM provoked them.

BJYM district unit president Boinapally Praveen alleged that when they were staging a protest against the TRS government, TRSV men tried to burn the effigy of BJP state chief. We tried to stop it and they attacked us. Instead of taking action against the TRSV leaders, the police arrested the BJYM leaders, he said.

Thousands of people in Brazil took to the streets Sunday to call for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro over his administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bolsonaro had been under fire for his administration's handling of vaccination roll-out and the surging death toll from the pandemic, things that many Brazilians believe is enough for an impeachment.

According to Bloomberg, motorcades calling for Bolsonaro's impeachment clogged some of the main avenues in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. People honked their horns and held signs calling for the president's ouster.

This scene can be witnessed in several other areas in Brazil as more protesters also marched on foot, some calling "Get out Bolsonaro," reported ABC News.

Impeachment-related Protests Backed by Conservative Groups

The demonstration held on Sunday were supported by conservative groups, and the Saturday protest was organized by left-wing political parties and labor unions.

Even though the protests were smaller compared to those held in recent years, the weekend's events still point to a growing sense of discontent in Bolsonaro's leadership amid the pandemic.

One of the protesters was Meg Fernandes, a 66-year-old engineer. She was in the Rio protest on Sunday.

"When Bolsonaro arrived, we voted for him for his proposals that we found interesting, but the situation now with the pandemic is terrible," she said.

What alarmed Fernandes more was the COVID-19 situation in the city of Manaus where there was an oxygen shortage and patients were put on wait lists to get hospital intensive-care beds.

Related story: Oxygen Shortage in Second Virus Wave Overwhelms Health Care in Brazil's Manaus

"I had already been disappointed last year, but now with the situation in Manaus, I think (this government) has to stop," she told ABC News.

The situation in Manaus renewed criticism for Bolsonaro who in recent weeks also faced delays in launching the country's immunization campaign against the coronavirus.

He was also against lockdown measures that could prevent the spread of the coronavirus, arguing that putting the country on lockdown would cause economic damage that would be worse than the disease.

He is halfway through his four-year term.

Bolsonaro Faces Little Risk of Impeachment

Bolsonaro is facing sharp declines when it comes to support as the brutal second wave of the virus hits Brazil.

In a Datafolha poll, it was found that Bolsonaro's administration was rated bad or terrible by 40% of respondents, compared to the 32% in early December. On the other hand, about a third of respondents believe the government was good or excellent, compared to the 37% in the previous survey.

It was his biggest drop since he started his term in 2019.

Despite this, more than half of respondents in another Datafolha poll said they were against Congress opening impeachment against Bolsonaro, reported Reuters.

Fifty-three percent were against the proceedings compared to 50% in the previous survey.

Both polls were conducted from January 20 to 21. It involved interviews for 2,030 Brazilians at a 2 % margin of error.

Read also: Brazil's Fiocruz to Seek Regulatory Approval for Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine

Thomaz Favaro, a political analyst at consultancy Control Risks, also believes there will be less risks of Bolsonaro's impeachment taking off.

However, he added that the chances are dependent on his allies in Congress. They are awaiting a February vote for leadership of the lower house.

"Bolsonaro's base in congress is unstable, but it is robust," Favaro said.

If Bolsonaro were to be impeached, it "changes the country's political trajectory," added Favaro.
MOSCOW  The Kremlin on Friday welcomed U.S. President Joe Bidens proposal to extend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries, which is set to expire in less than two weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia stands for extending the pact and is waiting to see the details of the U.S. proposal.

The White House said Thursday that Biden has proposed to Russia a five-year extension of the New START treaty.

We can only welcome political will to extend the document, Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. But all will depend on the details of the proposal.

The treaty, signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. It expires on Feb. 5.

Russia has long proposed to prolong the pact without any conditions or changes, but former President Donald Trumps administration waited until last year to start talks and made the extension contingent on a set of demands. The talks stalled, and months of bargaining have failed to narrow differences.

Certain conditions for the extension have been put forward, and some of them have been absolutely unacceptable for us, so let's see first what the U.S. is offering, Peskov said.

Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador at the international organizations in Vienna, also hailed Bidens proposal as an encouraging step.

The extension will give the two sides more time to consider possible additional measures aimed at strengthening strategic stability and global security, he tweeted.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, noted in a statement that Russia always has called for maintaining the treaty and said Russian diplomats are ready to quickly engage in contacts with the U.S. to formalize its extension for five years without any delay.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the U.S. decision and Russia's reiteration. He encouraged both countries to work quickly to complete the necessary procedure for the New STARTs extension before the Feb. 5 expiration and move as soon as possible to negotiations on new arms control measures," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

A five-year extension would not only maintain verifiable caps on the worlds two largest nuclear arsenals but will also provide time to negotiate new nuclear arms control agreements to grapple with our increasingly complex international environment," Dujarric said.

Biden indicated during the campaign that he favored the preservation of the New START treaty, which was negotiated during his tenure as U.S. vice president.

The talks on the treatys extension also were clouded by tensions between Russia and the United States, which have been fueled by the Ukrainian crisis, Moscows meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other irritants.

Despite the extension proposal, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden remains committed to holding Russia to account for its reckless and adversarial actions, such as its alleged involvement in the Solar Winds hacking event, 2020 election interference, the chemical poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny and the widely reported allegations that Russia may have offered bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Asked to comment on Psakis statement, Peskov has reaffirmed Russias denial of involvement in any such activities.

After both Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, New START is the only remaining nuclear arms control deal between the two countries.

Arms control advocates have strongly called for New STARTs preservation, warning that its lapse would remove any checks on U.S. and Russian nuclear forces.

Last week, Russia also declared that it would follow the U.S. to pull out of the Open Skies Treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities to help build trust and transparency between Russia and the West.

While Russia always offered to extend New START for five years  a possibility envisaged by the pact  Trump asserted that it put the U.S. at a disadvantage and initially insisted that China be added to the treaty, an idea that Beijing flatly rejected. Trump's administration then proposed to extend New START for just one year and also sought to expand it to include limits on battlefield nuclear weapons.

Moscow has said it remains open for new nuclear arms talks with the U.S. to negotiate future limits on prospective weapons, but emphasized that preserving New START is essential for global stability.

Russian diplomats have said that Russias prospective Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile and the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle could be counted along with other Russian nuclear weapons under the treaty.

The Sarmat is still under development, while the first missile unit armed with the Avangard became operational in December 2019.

The Russian military has said the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound and could make sharp maneuvers on its way to a target to bypass missile defense systems. It has been fitted to the existing Soviet-built intercontinental ballistic missiles instead of older type warheads, and in the future could be fitted to the more powerful Sarmat.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry plans to complete in 2021the digitization of all consular services provided to foreign citizens and Ukrainians, Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik has said in an interview with Ukrinform.

The diplomat said that last year the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry completed the introduction of electronic document management within the system of diplomatic service bodies - with control, monitoring of implementation and operational exchange of information - and made significant progress in digitizing personnel data.

The second area of the digital transformation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the digitalization of the ministry's services, primarily consular services.

"Everyone knows about electronic visas - this tool helps foreigners to obtain visas to enter Ukraine under a simplified procedure. But we want to expand the range of digital services for our compatriots. Currently, we are developing a special chatbot with partners with the subsequent introduction of elements of artificial intelligence, which will provide advice on consular issues to our citizens. That is, if citizens of Ukraine have any questions on this issue, they will be able to contact the chatbot via any popular messenger to get an answer. If the answer does not suit them, the chatbot will switch the applicant to the Ukrainian consul in the country where he or she stays," Senik said.

He also recalled that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had introduced an electronic queue in all diplomatic missions of Ukraine, which is currently being tested for improvement.

"[Ukrainian Foreign] Minister [Dmytro] Kuleba's task is to complete the digitization of all consular services within a year. We have our own digital tool - the DRUH [FRIEND] system (voluntary registration of Ukrainian citizens), which passed a crash test during the spring lockdown, when our citizens in many countries did not know who they could contact to get at least some advice or assistance on how to return to Ukraine. DRUH helped them a lot. We plan to integrate the DRUH system into the software product 'Diia,' which is being developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation. It will be a so-called 'friend' in 'Diia' for our citizens abroad in addition to what we are doing in terms of digitalization of services," the diplomat said.

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Digital Editor

Well, did you manage to get it yet? is a question we are all going to be increasingly asked in the coming months about the Covid 19 vaccine.

Unfortunately, its not quite as easy as vax and go, as the Ryanair ad would like us to believe (much to the horror of NPHET which is still recommending against all non-essential travel).

While recent weeks have seen the extremely welcome launch of Irelands Covid 19 vaccination programme, demand will far outstrip supply for many months to come.

So how is the biggest mass vaccination programme in the history of the State being rolled out and when are you likely to be able to get vaccinated?

In December, the Government published the national Covid 19 vaccination strategy for access to vaccines, which lays out the order in which everyone in the country will be offered a vaccine free of charge.

At the top of the list is frontline healthcare workers, people over the age of 65 who are resident in long-term care, followed by those aged over 70 years.

Who is in charge of the vaccine rollout.

However, since the publication of the priority list, there have been calls from various groups to speed up their access to the vaccine. There were suggestions that teachers and childcare workers should have earlier access to the vaccines, but this has been dismissed, while some aged under 65 years with serious medical conditions feel they should be entitled to quicker access than their current place on the list.

There is potential for some tweaking of groups further down the priority list in the coming weeks according to Government sources, but it will depend on supply and what the science says in relation to who is most at risk/would benefit most.

So how many vaccines have we got?

In line with most of the world, the biggest current challenge for our Covid 19 vaccination programme is supply.

Ireland signed up to the European Commissions (EC) Covid 19 vaccine arrangements, whereby we can access vaccines that have been granted conditional approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). We have also been included in the EC advance purchase deals for over 2.3 billion doses.

Under this arrangement, participating countries are allocated Covid 19 vaccine supply equally according to their population size, thus we can access about 1.1% of the total pot which will be more than enough to vaccinate everyone who wants to be vaccinated, before the end of the year.

So when we hear negative comparisons of Irelands Covid 19 vaccination programme with countries like the UK, the US, and Israel who have already vaccinated far more people than we have, it should be noted that they have their own medicines regulatory authorities who have licensed Covid 19 vaccines ahead of the EMA and have negotiated their own supply arrangements.

However, one thing we can learn from other countries that are ahead with Covid 19 vaccination is that we need to be able to rapidly and sustainably scale-up our vaccination capability when vaccine supply increases, which happens quite quickly when additional vaccines are licenced.

In late December, the EMA licenced the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA Covid 19 vaccine, followed by the Moderna vaccine in early January, and we are receiving supply of both of these currently.

Around 40,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech is being delivered weekly and smaller amounts of the Moderna vaccine, with the HSE declining to provide any further delivery schedule when queried by the Irish Examiner.

There has been some criticism both nationally and internationally that the EMA has been slower than other regulators in licensing the Covid 19 vaccines which have completed the necessary trials processes and didnt purchase enough of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Staff Nurse Ciara McGlynn from St Phils ward receives her vaccination from Dr Melanie Cotter, Consultant in Haematology Department, at Temple Street becoming one of the first to receive their vaccinatioin in the Childrens Health Ireland group. Picture: Mark Stedman

But it has since increased its order for this vaccine, started a review of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine candidate, and is expected to licence a third Covid-19 vaccine, the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine, before the end of this month

This is seen as the game-changer vaccine as it can be stored at regular fridge temperatures and is thus well suited for roll out in the community by GPs, general practice nurses, and pharmacists, and Ireland has ordered 3.3 million doses of it.

However, we wont be getting advance deliveries of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine this month, before it is approved by the EMA and EC, despite Minister for Health Stephen Donnellys statements to that effect.

Last Tuesday, the Dail signed off on an agreement of 91 million for GPs and pharmacists to administer Covid 19 vaccines to approximately 1.5 million people, starting with the over-70s, with those in the oldest age groups to be invited for vaccination when supply allows, likely to commence sometime in February when stocks of the Astra/Zeneca vaccine arrive.

A number of mass Covid 19 vaccination centres are also in the process of being set up, the first three of which were used to vaccine a large number of GPs, practice nurses and other frontline staff last weekend, and these will open to the public on a priority list basis when our supply of Covid 19 vaccines increase.

So how many people have we vaccinated to date?

Minister Donnelly said on Wednesday that everyone in the country will be offered a vaccine by September.

As of Wednesday night, 121,900 vaccines have been given to frontline healthcare workers, as well as residents and staff in nursing homes.

The latest figures show that 73,100 vaccinations have been given to frontline health workers and 48,800 to staff and residents of long-term care facilities.

This includes 3,900 people due to receive their second dose of vaccines this week.

Dr Mark Barrett, CEO, (right) of Irish pharmaceutical research and development company APC, with An Taoiseach Micheal Martin who reviewed APCs plans to expedite the development and manufacture of a coronavirus vaccine (COVID-19) in Ireland, in partnership with Australian biotechnology firm Vaxine Pty. Picture Andres Poveda

This puts Ireland close to the top of the European league table currently in terms of the Covid 19 vaccination rate per head of population.

So we are catching up after a sluggish start  our first supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived in the country on Stephens Day, December 26, but we only started vaccinating a very small number of people on the 29th of December, slowly increasing the numbers vaccinated, mostly frontline health staff initially.

Special vaccination teams were assembled to vaccinate residents in older care long-term facilities in early January with some criticism that the rollout in nursing homes should have commenced quicker given their risk profile and the fact that Covid 19 outbreaks in these settings have been rapidly increasing again since late December.

The vaccination plan for nursing homes has since been accelerated and all staff and residents should be fully vaccinated with two doses by mid-February, though nursing homes impacted by Covid 19 outbreaks will have some staff and residents who have to wait longer.

Weve also reduced our buffer supplies of second doses as confidence in the supply chain has increased, and the HSE is also extending the dosing interval between getting the second dose by a week for the Pfizer/BioNTech, so we are using up more of our stock as it comes in instead of letting it sit and wait, and are thus aiming to vaccinate between 40,000-50,000 people a week based on current supply.

So when will I get my dose?

There has been much media coverage of various Covid 19 vaccination coverage proclamations in the Dail by the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Minister for Health such as that 700,000 people in Ireland could be vaccinated by the end of March, 1.5 million could be vaccinated by June and the vast majority of the country vaccinated by September.

These are guesstimates and depend on the aforementioned licensing and supply agreements we are party to, which are fluid and open to change, such as the fact that Pfizer is reducing planned Covid-19 vaccine stock delivery temporarily while it upgrades its factories to increase production.

However, there is much to be hopeful about; on Tuesday, following increased pressure to accelerate Europes Covid-19 vaccination programmes, the EC said that by this summer member states should have vaccinated a minimum of 70% of the adult population, with increased orders for the Covid-19 vaccines already licenced.

So thats all good yes?

Yes, but there have been some teething issues with our programme rollout, however, that need to be acknowledged and learned from.

Our lack of a national healthcare ICT system, electronic healthcare record, and unique health identifiers for the entire population is making planning and tracking vaccination rates a challenge, with a lack of real-time data on the numbers vaccinated. Last week finally saw the HSEs national online Covid-19 vaccination booking portal go live after a number of delays though it is currently just available to GPs and their staff to book their own vaccines. It is planned that the public can use this booking system as vaccine supply increases and we move through the priority list but will it be robust and accurate enough to keep up with the numbers that will need to use it in the coming months?

Read More Level 5 restrictions to remain into February, Taoiseach confirms

In addition, it emerged in recent days that some leftover Covid-19 vaccines were given to family members of staff in the Coombe and Rotunda maternity hospitals, and that construction workers in University Hospital Kerry also received spare doses ahead of local community-based healthcare workers, with similar tales from some other hospitals and nursing homes.

This news raised caused understandable anger among some of the public, particularly people more vulnerable to Covid-19 who face waiting weeks or months before they can access the vaccine.

While acknowledging these cases should not have happened, the HSE has pointed out that they occurred in the first 10 days of the vaccine rollout when it was originally believed that just five doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could be extracted from each vial but actually more doses than planned for were able to be reconstituted (it is now accepted that six doses can be extracted from each vial, and seven in some cases).

This vaccine in particular comes with significant logistical challenges, needing to be stored at -70C, and once thawed has to be used within five days of refrigeration, and once the vials are open the doses must be administered within six hours or dumped.

Annie Lynch, the first person to receive the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Ireland after receiving her second Covid vaccine at St Jamess Hospital in Dublin. Pic: Marc O'Sullivan

In addition, some frontline staff eligible for vaccination were unavailable due to having Covid 19 or having to isolate, etc, and clearly, no one wants any of these precious vaccines to go to waste.

The HSE has since issued guidance (January 12), on the sequencing of vaccinations of frontline healthcare staff and what to do if there are spare vaccines that might expire, which include establishing standby lists of frontline healthcare workers later in the sequence order who can be vaccinated at short notice.

There are still some questions to be answered around these cases, however, and also about why some hospitals and private healthcare facilities that are not treating or admitting Covid 19 patients have received vaccines for their frontline staff ahead of hospitals like Nenagh which have had to wait despite having a significant number of patients and staff affected by the virus, with pharmacists and dentists still awaiting dates for when they will be vaccinated despite also being key frontline healthcare workers.

There is also a lack of public clarity on who exactly is in overall charge of the national Covid 19 vaccination programme and responsible for making the key decisions.

Is it the Department of Health, Minister for Health, HSE, NPHET, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC), the special Covid 19 vaccine taskforce who signed off the priority lists, or the Cabinet?

In response to queries from the Examiner on this, the HSE merely replied: Vaccine allocation is a matter for the Department of Health. The HSE is responsible for operational matters such as purchase and rollout/implementation of the vaccine programme.

So what now?

Yes, there have been some teething issues with the rollout of the Covid 19 vaccination programme and more are inevitable but we are currently making good progress within the supply confines.

It is imperative that the rollout continues to proceed in a transparent and equitable way to try to avoid further inevitable attempts at queue jumping and to ensure public confidence and maximum uptake because we will need vaccine coverage of the majority of the population, at least 70% and probably higher, to achieve herd immunity.

Misinformation and vaccine hesitancy has negatively impacted previous vaccination programmes like the HPV and MMR ones, so public messaging around the Covid 19 vaccine programme needs to be clear, comprehensive, honest, and responsive so people know exactly what is happening with the rollout and when they can book their vaccines, to try to reduce the current misinformation and confusion among many of the public, and indeed some of our public representatives.

And while social distancing and other restrictions are likely to remain with us for some time to come, and there are growing calls for Ireland to adopt a Zero Covid approach to reducing cases and to try to avoid further lockdowns, the Covid 19 vaccination programme is currently our best hope of life returning to some semblance of normality this year.

As the COVID-19 vaccine distribution continues, the number of cases nationwide is steadily climbing. On Jan. 20, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted that by Feb.13, between 1.1 million and 2 million new cases could be reported in the United States. CDC also stated that the coronavirus death toll could reach between 465,000 and 508,00 by the same date.

These predictions have led to a new national air travel requirement and other recommendations within states. The highly contagious COVID-19 variants are appearing throughout the U.S. and the first case of one new strain was recently reported in Michigan.

New air travel restrictions

CDC has mandated the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test to all air passengers entering the United States. They will be tested before departing for the U.S. As variants of the virus continue to emerge in more countries, the testing requirement for air passengers was established to help slow the spread of the virus. Those who fly to the U.S. will be required to be tested within three days prior to their departure. If proof of a negative test or COVID-19 recovery is not provided, airlines are now required to deny boarding to that passenger. After arrival, CDC recommends another test within three to five days and that the traveler stay at home for seven days.

COVID-19 variant cases in states including Michigan

The air travel requirement comes as the first Michigan case of new COVID-19 variant was identified in an adult female living in Washtenaw County. The person recently traveled to the United Kingdom, where this variant originated. When the case was first reported, the COVID-19 variant had been confirmed in 16 other states. Although the new strain is more contagious than the original virus, there is no evidence that the vaccines being distributed will be less effective in preventing it.

State recommends testing of college students

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has issued new guidance to colleges and universities recommending that all students be tested for COVID-19 whether they live on campus or not. Recognizing the effectiveness of social distancing and other measures in place on college campuses, MDHHS cited CDC information that most transmission among college age students takes place outside the classroom in social settings. The department illustrated that fact by stating that an East Lansing nightclub was identified as the source for 180 cases.

Higher learning institutions were consulted as testing approaches were formulated. Among the suggested testing strategies are requiring weekly tests of students who live on or near the campus, regular but random testing and if resources are limited, targeting those testing resources based on community spread. If positive results appear, isolation and identification of others with whom contact has been made are specific actions that should be taken.

Vaccination information

To date, there have been over 540,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan including about 14,000 deaths. As of Jan. 19, MDHHS reported that 1,049,575 people had been vaccinated. In addition to the eligibility of those over age 65, frontline and essential workers and others, employers of those who become eligible are encouraged to check when their industries may be included.

The State of Michigan has established a web page for employers in the state to access with information regarding expanding eligibility categories. It is part of the internet site devoted to coronavirus updates at Michigan.gov/COVIDVaccine. Other information is available for all citizens at the cite, including how to get a vaccine, descriptions of the available vaccines and how the vaccines work.

Locations of county and city health departments are also listed. However, citizens should check the website for the most accurate information on their eligibility and which departments have the vaccine.

As of Jan. 20, over 600,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been given in the state and about 485,000 people had received the Moderna vaccine. The safety measures regarding the vaccines are stringent. They were tested when it was discovered that inconsistent temperatures had occurred with a shipment of the Moderna vaccine. The vaccines are shipped with a temperature monitoring device and the effected shipment was detected, preventing any of the enclosed vaccines from being administered.

Ask Dr. Haqqani

If you have questions about your cardiovascular health, including heart, blood pressure, stroke lifestyle and other issues, we want to answer them. Please submit your questions to Dr. Haqqani by e-mail at questions@vascularhealthclinics.org.

Dr. Omar P. Haqqani is the chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Vascular Health Clinics in Midland: www.vascularhealthclinics.org

UK Labour Leader Keir Starmer Self-Isolates Again After CCP Virus Contact

The leader of Britains main opposition Labour Party said he is self-isolating for the third time after coming into contact with someone who later tested positive for the CCP virus.

Keir Starmer said on Monday he had been notified that he had to self-isolate as a result of the contact.

This morning I was notified that I must self isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. I have no symptoms and will be working from home until next Monday.  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 25, 2021

I have no symptoms and will be working from home until next Monday, he wrote on Twitter.

This is the third time Starmer has been forced into self-isolation.

In December, he self-isolated after one of his staff members tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

On Sept. 14, the Labour Party said Starmer was self-isolating after one of his family members showed possible symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus. But he came out of self-isolation just two days later after the family member with the symptoms tested negative.

Last week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock also had to self-isolate after he received a warning from the National Health Services (NHS) official COVID-19 tracing app that he might have been in contact with someone who tested positive.

Matt Hancock, Britains Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, arrives at Downing Street in central London, on Dec. 10, 2020. (Simon Dawson/Reuters)

Hancock tested positive for the virus last March at the beginning of the pandemic and developed mild symptoms at the time.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also forced to self-isolate in November after attending a 35-minute meeting that was also attended by Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, who later tested positive.

Johnson later tested negative for the virus, but finished the two-week self-isolation according to government guidance.

That was Johnsons second brush with the virus. He tested positive for the virus last April and was taken to St Thomass Hospital in central London, where he spent three days in intensive care.

Three members of Parliament from the Labour Party are also known to have received hospital treatment for the CCP virus.

Last week, the House of Commons Commission strongly encouraged lawmakers and parliamentary staff to wear face coverings inside the House of Commons chamber to reduce the chance of infections.

Mary Clark contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 00:17:56|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Recent conflict, coupled with the pre-existing humanitarian needs and the COVID-19 pandemic in northern Ethiopia, has created a concerning and volatile humanitarian situation in the country's northernmost Tigray regional state, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Migration Agency, said on Monday.

Numerous civilians have been displaced within Tigray into other Ethiopian Regional States, and into neighboring states of Sudan, the agency said in its latest situation update.

Amid the ongoing situation, some 22 million U.S. dollars had been requested under IOM Ethiopia's Flash Appeal for the Northern Ethiopia Crisis.

About 10.8 million U.S. dollars was also requested in Sudan under IOM Sudan's Flash Appeal for the Northern Ethiopia Crisis, as more than 58,045 individuals fled northern Ethiopia into eastern Sudan, according to the latest figures from the IOM.

After conflict broke out in Ethiopia's Tigray regional state between the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in early November last year, fighting had escalated throughout Tigray and beyond.

According to the IOM, telecommunications, electricity, airspace, and services have slowly been opening up since the Ethiopian government declared the end of military operations on Nov. 28, 2020 in the regional state.

"The situation is gradually improving in the city of Mekelle, where electricity, phone, and some services are partially restored," the IOM said.

Banks have begun to reopen, although with long lines and withdrawal restrictions. Shortages of fuel, food, and other key goods continue, along with inflated market prices due to limited and slow resupply.

The IOM, however, indicated that "insecurity concerns continue in Tigray and humanitarian access to the region remains constrained, particularly in and around the city of Shire."

"As a result, although some humanitarian operations have begun, a comprehensive response in the region has not yet been possible," IOM's situation update said.

It also noted that displaced populations continue to arrive in neighboring Amhara and Afar regions from Tigray, although arrival rates have slowed since the beginning of the conflict.

According to the IOM, IDP sites are becoming overcrowded and sporadic population movements across regional borders are expected to continue.

Over 58,000 individuals have fled Tigray and entered the Sudanese states of Kassala, Gedaref, and Blue Nile as of January 13, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

About 31 percent of these refugees are children under the age of 18 and 43 percent overall are women, it was noted.

The largest camp, Um Rakouba, has reached capacity and a second camp, Tunaydbah, was opened on December 31, as Ethiopians fleeing the conflict continue to arrive in Sudan daily.

Last week, the Ethiopian government disclosed that humanitarian assistance has been provided to more than 1.8 million people in the conflict-hit Tigray region.

"Humanitarian response in the Tigray region is underway. Since the law enforcement operation in the Northern part of Ethiopia was completed, humanitarian assistance containing food and non-food items and medical supplies have been delivered for more than 1.8 million beneficiaries," Ethiopia's Ministry of Peace said last week.

The ministry further emphasized that preparations have been finalized to address over 2.5 million beneficiaries across the region. Enditem
 Flash

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 25 million on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

U.S. COVID-19 case count rose to 25,003,695, with a total of 417,538 deaths, as of 10:22 a.m. local time (1522 GMT), according to the CSSE tally.

California reported the largest number of cases among the states, standing at 3,147,735. Texas confirmed 2,243,009 cases, followed by Florida with 1,639,914 cases, New York with 1,323,312 cases, and Illinois with more than 1 million cases.

Other states with over 600,000 cases include Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey and Indiana, the CSSE data showed.

The United States remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, making up more than 25 percent of the global caseload and nearly 20 percent of the global deaths.

U.S. COVID-19 cases reached 10 million on Nov. 9, 2020, and the number doubled on Jan. 1, 2021. Since the beginning of 2021, U.S. caseload has increased by 5 million in just 23 days.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 195 cases caused by variants from more than 20 states as of Friday. The agency warned the cases identified do not represent the total number of cases associated with the variants that may be circulating in the United States.

A national ensemble forecast updated Wednesday by the CDC predicted a total of 465,000 to 508,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Feb. 13.
There were 416 natural catastrophe events globally in 2020 that resulted in economic losses of $268 billion  8% above the average annual losses for this century, according to insurance broker Aons latest catastrophe loss report. Of this total, private sector and government-sponsored insurance programs covered $97 billion, leaving a protection gap of 64%, which is the portion of economic losses not covered by insurance.

The report notes that costs from catastrophes continue to rise due to a changing climate, more people moving into hazard-prone areas and an increase in global wealth.

Aons report, Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report, evaluates the impact of global natural disaster events to identify trends, manage volatility and enhance resilience.

During the year, more than 8,000 people lost their lives due to natural catastrophes. Tropical cyclone was the costliest peril, causing more than $78 billion in direct economic damage. It was closely followed by flooding ($76 billion) and severe convective storm ($63 billion).

From a climate perspective, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cited 2020 as the worlds second-warmest since 1880 for land and ocean temperatures at +0.98C (+1.76F) above the 20th-century average.

Greg Case, chief executive officer of Aon, said future organizations will need to deal with more than one catastrophe at a time.

The global response to the socioeconomic volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has increased focus on other systemic risks  particularly climate change  and is causing a fundamental reordering of business priorities. This report highlights the increasing likelihood of connected extremes and reinforces that leading organizations of the future will be defined by their ability to manage the global implications of concurrent catastrophic events, Case said.

He said that in a highly volatile world, risk remains ever present, is more connected and, as a result, is also more severe  and 2020 has underscored this reality.

He added that the experiences of 2020 have also emphasized the need for more collaboration between the public and private sectors  calling this essential to closing the rising protection gap and building resilience against natural catastrophes.

According to the report, catastrophic events will increase in frequency and intensity and in ways that are impossible to predict using conventional risk assessment methods.

The authors contend that while catastrophe modeling has been conducted primarily in the private sector, while academia and government scientists have taken the lead on the science of climate change. Now it is time to fix the blind spots, the report concludes.

The report also advises the insurance industry to develop more of a bespoke view of risk, which will in turn allow the to reduce their dependence on model vendors to measure their catastrophic risk and gain greater confidence in their risk tolerance thresholds.

Steve Bowen, director and Meteorologist for Aons Impact Forecasting team, agreed that the world will be faced with new challenges around natural perils.

While many private and public sector entities primarily focus on physical and human hazard risks, an increasing number of global regulative bodies are further pivoting towards how to handle emerging transitional and subsequent reputational risks, Bowen said. This is especially true as the financial and humanitarian risks surrounding climate-enhanced events become more evident on a daily basis. Focus at the corporate and federal levels will be critical around investments in risk mitigation, resilience, and sustainability as the landscape around climate change solutions continues to accelerate with renewed urgency.

Significant regional events during 2020 included:

Costliest year on record for global severe convective storms led by historic U.S. derecho

U.S. mainland endured a record-breaking 12 named storm landfalls, including six hurricanes

Super Typhoon Goni struck the Philippines as the strongest landfalling storm ever recorded globally at 195 mph

Ciara became Europes costliest windstorm since Xynthia in 2010

Drought conditions reduced agricultural crop yields in Brazil and Argentina, burning 30% of the Pantanal Region

The most widespread Yangtze River Basin floods since 1998 caused USD35 billion of economic damage in Chinas monsoon season

Exhibit 1: Top 10 Global Economic Loss Events1,2 Date(s) Event Location Deaths Economic

Loss (USD

billion) Insured Loss (USD billion) June  September Seasonal Floods China 280 35.0 2.0 August 21  29 Hurricane Laura U.S., Caribbean 68 18.2 10.0 May 15  21 Cyclone Amphan South Asia 133 15.0 0.5 August 8  12 SCS (incl. Midwest Derecho) United States 4 12.6 8.3 July 3  15 Kyushu Floods Japan 82 8.5 2.0 November 2  13 Hurricane Eta Caribbean, U.S. 309 8.3 0.7 June  September Seasonal Floods India 1,922 7.5 0.8 September 14  18 Hurricane Sally United States 0 7.0 3.5 March 22 Zagreb Earthquake Croatia 2 6.1 0.1 July 30  August 5 Hurricane Isaias U.S., Caribbean, Canada 18 5.0 2.7 All other events 145 billion 66 billion TOTAL 268 billion 97 billion 1 Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed 2 Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs

The full report is available on Aons interactive microsite at https://aon.io/3nsM7cu. To access current and historical natural catastrophe data, as well as event analysis, visit catastropheinsight.aon.com.

Top Photo: In this Aug. 27, 2020 file photo, buildings and homes are flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura near Lake Charles, La. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Topics Catastrophe Profit Loss
A gay New York City couple say they were harassed and asked to leave a restaurant this month because of their sexuality.

Nelson Ayala and Jamel Brown Jr., who live in the Bronx, say the incident happened at the nearby Puerto Rican restaurant La Isla Cuchifrito. They say a woman who worked behind the counter made homophobic remarks after they had ordered.

Image: Nelson Ayala, Jamel Brown Jr. (Courtesy Nelson Ayala)

In a video taken by Ayala and shared with NBC News, the employee can be heard saying hombre, mujer repeatedly, which translates into man, woman. She then says, in a mix of English and Spanish, Everything correct my family: hombre, mujer, nino y nina, adding the Spanish words for boy and girl. In a separate video shot by Ayala, the woman can be heard repeatedly apologizing.

The restaurant has since fired the employee, and Boyd Cole, a relative of the owner, said, In no way do they condone the comments made by their former employee.

Ayala, however, said that he and Brown dont accept the apology.

They apologized, and they offered us a meal, but this is not something that should just go away, he said.

Because the incident happened in New York City, the men have legal recourse.

New York state law and New York City law prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations such as restaurants, Richard Saenz, an attorney at the LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal, told NBC News. In NYC, if you experience discrimination, you have a right to file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights.

Ayala and Brown said they plan to file such a complaint.

While those who are discriminated against in businesses and other public accommodations have recourse in New York City and New York state, thats not the case across the country.

There are currently 21 states, including New York, that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in state law, with five more that interpret their existing sex discrimination prohibitions in public accommodations to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. The project also notes that in states without state-level protections, municipalities may provide nondiscrimination protections at a local level.

Story continues

Last month, for example, NBC News reported on a same-sex couple in North Carolina who were told by an employee of a wedding venue in Winston-Salem that the business does not host same-sex marriage ceremonies. Rick Su, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the couple had little hope of legal recourse.

North Carolina has no state law on public accommodations not related to disabilities and no anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT identity, Su told NBC News at the time. Given there is no federal law protecting LGBT [people] either, this would mean that the wedding venue is free to discriminate.

And until this month, North Carolina municipalities were unable to pass local ordinances banning such discrimination, though that has recently changed. Following the expiration earlier this month of a yearslong moratorium, several North Carolina cities and towns passed their own LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances.

While advocates are hopeful the Biden administration will pass additional nondiscrimination protections, until that happens there will continue be a patchwork of laws across the U.S. when it comes to anti-LGBTQ discrimination protections in public accommodations. To help LGBTQ Americans navigate this patchwork, several advocacy groups offer free resources: Lambda Legal has a legal help desk, while Movement Advancement Project has a detailed policy map.

As for Ayala and Brown, they said there have been rallies with LGBTQ activists outside La Isla Cuchifrito, and they hope the protests will encourage businesses owners and managers to provide better training for employees and let the community know that if someone else is discriminated against, this will be the outcome.

We will all come together as one, and will let people hear our voices, Ayala said.

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The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a Nevada church fighting against local coronavirus restrictions on Monday, after lawyers for the state argued against claims that the safety measures were examples of religious discrimination.

Nevada attorneys noted in their argument to the high court that capacity limits enacted by the states Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak pertained not just to religious institutions, but a variety of businesses as well, ranging from theaters and casinos to restaurants and bars, according to NBC.

The court declined to hear the appeal in a one-line ruling on Monday, the news outlet reported, a noteworthy move after previously blocking similar coronavirus restrictions in New York last year, saying in a decision the 10-person cap on attendance singled out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment.

The Supreme Court previously refused the churchs request to step in via emergency injunction when the restrictions were first announced in June.

Nevadas current restrictions limit capacity to 25 percent for most businesses and religious institutions. There have been more than 270,000 infections across the state since the outbreak began in the US last year, and at least 4,000 deaths, according to the latest tracking data.

Still, the Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in western Nevada has continued to reject the safety measures, with attorneys for the church writing in a court document filed last week: The First Amendment does not allow government officials to use COVID-19 as an excuse to treat churches and their worshippers worse than secular establishments and their patrons.

Lawyers for the church told the Associated Press on Monday they plan to prepare a response to the Supreme Courts refusal to take up their appeal.

Nationwide, there have been at least 420,000 deaths associated with the coronavirus pandemic, as well as more than 25 million infections. Some epidemiologists say more accurate estimates are likely far higher, with many infections  and even some deaths  going unreported throughout the crisis due to a lack of expansive testing.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 23:56:33|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China will continue supporting developing countries in their fights against COVID-19 and contribute to making vaccines public goods that are accessible and affordable to all.

Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

Though geographically far apart, China and Dominica are good friends enjoying mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits, Xi said.

In the past almost 17 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, they have made substantial progress in bilateral ties, supported each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns, and maintained sound cooperation in such fields as infrastructure construction, agriculture, health and education, which have deepened the bond of friendship between the people of the two sides, Xi noted.

China appreciates that Dominica has made developing relations with China a diplomatic priority, and is ready to continue providing help within its capacity for Dominica's social and economic development, Xi said.

The Chinese president expressed belief that with joint efforts, China-Dominica friendly cooperative relations will certainly develop better.

Xi stressed that in the face of the sudden coronavirus outbreak, China and Dominica have joined hands to fight the pandemic, demonstrating a profound friendship of mutual help.

China, he added, will continue strongly supporting Dominica in its fight against COVID-19, providing assistance and support for developing countries, and striving to make vaccines public goods that are accessible and affordable to people in all countries.

The Chinese president also said the two countries should firmly support the World Health Organization in playing its due role, and work together to promote the building of a global community of health for all. Enditem
London: Scotlands leader says she intends to hold a legal referendum on independence from the UK if she wins Scottish elections scheduled for May.

Such a move would put First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on a constitutional collision course with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who opposes another secession vote.

Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has laid out a plan to push for Scottish independence. Credit:Getty Images

Scotland voted to remain in the UK by a margin of 55 per cent-45 per cent in a 2014 referendum that was billed as a once-in-a-generation event. A new binding referendum requires the UK governments approval, and Johnson insists hell say no.

Sturgeon argues that Brexit has transformed the situation by dragging Scotland out of the European Union against its will. A narrow majority of UK voters opted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, but a large majority in Scotland voted to stay.
The International Space Station can be seen with the naked eye from Bucharest, on Monday evening between 19:00 and 19:04, informs the "Admiral Vasile Urseanu" Astronomical Observatory, in a post on Facebook.

The quoted source reminds that the International Space Station is the only satellite that has people on board.

"On the evening of January 25, at 7 pm, not earlier, not later, look with the naked eye to the north, not very high above the horizon. You will see how from the left (north-west) a star moves slowly to the right and its brightness increases. This is the International Space Station, the only manned satellite, which can be seen for four minutes. It rises to the north, increases its brightness, then disappears abruptly (at 19:04) when it enters the shadow of the Earth. Watch the appearance of the Station only if the sky is clear. If it is not clear, we will have other opportunities," the representatives of the Astronomical Observatory informs.
DETROIT, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Henry Ford Health System and Michigan State University (MSU), two of the state's leading education, research and health care institutions, are partnering to make Michigan a national leader in providing access to exceptional health care for all residents, scientific discovery and education for providers, patients and families.

In a landmark partnership that will last for at least 30 years, both institutions are committed to aligning efforts across key departments and programs to achieve critical health care and educational goals, while addressing social issues that impact health outcomes for patients in Michigan and beyond.

The signing of this agreement comes just seven months after Henry Ford and MSU signed a letter of intent to significantly expand their long-term partnership, among the first of its kind for the region between a fully integrated academic health system and major state university.

Key features of the agreement include fostering innovative, groundbreaking research; providing best-in-class cancer care; interprofessional training; increasing diversity among the next generation of health care professionals; and addressing the needs of traditionally underserved communities. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are core components of the partnership and are embedded throughout the agreement in a commitment to addressing access to health care and health disparities in both urban and rural communities. For more information about the partnership, visit www.henryford.com/msuhealthsciences.

"Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Henry Ford Health System and Michigan State University recognized that collaboration could make a critical impact on health care in our state and across the country," said Wright L. Lassiter, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System. "Our two institutions have a shared commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, which means addressing and eliminating historic inequities in health care across our state. If we bring additional focus to traditionally marginalized communities, we believe that will lead to improved clinical outcomes for all."

"We believe there is an opportunity to create progressive education models rooted in early collaboration across disciplines, such as primary care, nursing and public health, that will prepare students for the integrated care models demanded in practice today and in the future," said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., president, Michigan State University. "These new approaches will support academic and clinical partnerships and will serve as a model for academic training and research across the nation. Moreover, this collaboration vastly expands opportunities for students beyond those seeking careers in health professions. Specifically, MSU attracts top students pursuing degrees in business, agriculture, social sciences, humanities, physics, computer sciences and beyond, committed to improving the human condition. Moving the dial on society's most intractable health challenges requires the broadest of expertise, the education of whom is the purpose for a land grant institution like MSU. The scale of Henry Ford Health System provides innumerable venues for collaboration and innovation."

MSU will expand its presence in Detroit through the development of a regional campus, located within the existing Henry Ford Detroit Campus footprint. The institutions will create a new Health Sciences Center (HSC) that tightly aligns basic and translational research, fueling innovation and discovery through an academically and clinically integrated network of health care providers, scientists, academicians and public health practitioners.

A new urban-based public health program is planned to focus on education and research, as well as provide a platform to collaborate with other institutions. With the planned expansion of their combined research enterprise, Henry Ford and MSU are developing a joint research institute, the Health Sciences Center, dedicated to research and academic activities.

"Our research programs will seek to engage underrepresented communities in meaningful ways to identify potential interventions and reduce or eliminate health care disparities," said Dr. Steven Kalkanis, M.D., chief executive officer and senior vice president and chief academic officer of Henry Ford Health System.

Alignment between a top academic institution and a leading integrated health system will accelerate the recruitment and retention of top clinical and academic talent, which is essential for advancing research, providing superior patient care and educating the next generation of premier health care professionals.

"It is in the full integration of research, education, health and health care that the necessary transformation of care can happen. Intolerable struggle persists, and we can, and must, respond with a sense of urgency," added Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., M.D., executive vice president for Health Sciences at Michigan State University. "Aligned and accessible, we provide an environment that will attract and enable all those seeking to educate, discover or practice in ways that maximize their ability, individually and as a part of a team, to bring hope, health and healing to all. The resultant diversity of thought and inclusivity of individuals will lead to solutions that are responsive and enduring."

With the MSU partnership, the Henry Ford Cancer Institute will expand research and clinical applications to create an international destination for access to the most advanced cancer therapies and research. With its focus on innovative cancer treatments, prevention and screening protocols, the institute will offer vast improvements in population health, fuel discovery in basic sciences, support translational research aimed at curing cancer and close the gap in health care outcomes for cancer patients based on race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status.

"Our goal is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation within five to seven years, making us one of three institutions in Michigan recognized by the federal government for cutting-edge research and innovative cancer treatments," said Dr. Adnan Munkarah, M.D., executive vice president and chief clinical officer of Henry Ford Health System. "We are coordinating our clinical activities so that we can expand our scope of services and access to care while improving the quality and efficiency of the patient experience across specialties and geography."

Diversity, equity and inclusion are foundational to Henry Ford and MSU's partnership and are articulated in key goals and deliverables that seek to eliminate health disparities, address the social determinants of health, and remove barriers to care and opportunity for medical education. This includes a commitment to educate diverse health care providers and ensure equitable access to quality health care for historically disenfranchised and marginalized populations.

"Since the beginning of this pandemic, COVID-19 has shined a light on the health, economic, and educational challenges that Black communities, and most communities of color, face daily. While the state has made significant progress toward our goal of reducing COVID-19 disparities for communities of color, we have more work to do. We are thrilled to have partners like Michigan State University and Henry Ford Health System that share our goals," said Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II. "We must support and elevate health care systems and organizations that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. This agreement prioritizes addressing social and societal issues that impact patients' health outcomes in our state and is a positive step toward addressing biases and obstacles that Michiganders face when interacting with our health care systems."

"Henry Ford Health System and Michigan State University are partnering at a critical time," said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. "Both institutions are at the forefront of cutting-edge medical research, education and patient care. I am confident that this partnership will mean even greater innovation and access to quality health care for Michigan residents."

This partnership is not an acquisition or merger. The Henry Ford and MSU names will not change, and both organizations will maintain their respective autonomies. The goal is to combine the strength of both institutions' legacies and storied brands toward their shared goals. By mid-2021, there will be co-branding within some areas, including joint research efforts, and the Center will establish an umbrella entity for its activities and a joint identity. Several of the partnership's advancements will result from the integration of both institutions around key research and program elements, while others, such as capital projects, are dependent upon securing private and philanthropic funding.

Dr. Steven Kalkanis, Henry Ford Health System Chief Academic Officer and Henry Ford Medical Group CEO, will be the inaugural president of the Health Sciences Center. Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., Executive Vice President of Health Sciences for MSU, will chair the board selected from leaders of both institutions. Each institution will maintain the vital partnerships developed with other organizations, including health care systems and academic institutions, strengthening the effort further.

"The benefits for our patients will grow as the partnership grows. With a bench to bedside approach, our patients benefit from discoveries in real time," Lassiter said. "Patients affiliated with either institution will have access to new treatment options and clinical trials informed by the current research, as well as increased access to clinicians and premier specialists."

"Strategic partnerships are more important now than ever before," added Stanley. "We are doing this because we believe every individual deserves access to affordable, compassionate quality care. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the urgency and importance of innovation and discovery in patient care and public health for all of the communities we serve. MSU also sees itself as a strategic partner in economic development. This partnership will create jobs through expansion of current programs, creation of new initiatives and attracting health-related companies to Michigan  specifically to Southeast Michigan. We will bring new revenue streams through attracting research funding, generating intellectual property and inviting partners to join us in public-private partnerships. Ultimately, poverty is a powerful predictor of poor health outcomes, and with increasing job opportunities and funding, we also improve health."

At the core of the partnership is a unique primary academic affiliation. As the partnership evolves and expands, Michigan will be established as a destination for exceptional clinical care, advanced research and innovative medical education. The partnership will chart definitive progress in eliminating health disparities and addressing the needs of marginalized communities, improving health care for everyone. Most important of all, this partnership will provide improved care options and increased hope to patients and families facing disparate medical challenges, including cancer.

About Henry Ford Health System

Founded in 1915 by Henry Ford himself, Henry Ford Health System is a nonprofit, academic and integrated health system comprising five acute-care hospitals, three behavioral health facilities, a health plan and more than 250 care sites, including medical centers, walk-in and urgent care clinics, pharmacies, eye care facilities and other health care operations. The health system has more than 33,000 employees and is home to the 1,900-member Henry Ford Medical Group, one of the nation's oldest physician groups. More than 2,500 physicians are also affiliated with the health system through the Henry Ford Physician Network and Jackson Health Network. Henry Ford Health System is also one of the nation's major academic medical centers, receiving nearly $100 million in annual research funding, among Michigan's largest NIH-funded institutions. Also, an active participant in medical education and training, the health system has trained nearly 40% of physicians currently practicing in Michigan and provides education and training for other health professionals including nurses, pharmacists, radiology and respiratory technicians.

About MSU

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 160 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges. MSU has offered health care education for more than a century. Combined, the human health colleges  the College of Human Medicine, the College of Nursing and the College of Osteopathic Medicine  have nearly 2,000 medical students, 2,500 residents and fellows, more than 500 nursing students and 20,000 alumni, most of whom practice in Michigan. It is the only university in the country with on-campus schools graduating allopathic and osteopathic physicians, as well as nurses and veterinarians.

SOURCE Henry Ford Health System
A Victorian police officer has been charged with firearm offences and reckless conduct endangering life relating to an incident on Christmas Eve in 2019.

The first constable, who is from the eastern region, was on duty at the time of the alleged incident, which occurred at Rowville, in Melbournes south-east.

Officers were called to Kelletts Road shortly after 7am after reports a stolen vehicle had rolled into a tree.

When police arrived they found a man who they believed was asleep inside the vehicle. The man, a 21-year-old from Surrey Hills, then allegedly attempted to ram police.

A single shot was fired at the vehicle as the man continued driving away. He was arrested a short time later by police. No one was injured.

January 25, 2021

Two major randomized controlled trials (RCTs) show no difference in mortality between patients treated with the Philips Stellarex drug-coated balloon (DCB) and those treated with percutaneous angioplasty (PTA), the current standard of care

Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Royal Philips ).

The ILLUMENATE EU RCT and ILLUMENATE Pivotal RCT together comprised approximately 600 patients in Europe and the U.S. After five years, the ILLUMENATE EU RCT showed 19.3% mortality among patients treated with the Stellarex DCB compared to 19.4% mortality for those treated with PTA. The five-year results for the ILLUMENATE Pivotal study also show no statistically significant difference among patients treated with the Stellarex DCB (21.2%) compared to those treated with PTA (20.2%). Both studies had a high vital status follow-up compliance, with the status of over 90% of patients known.

"The five-year final results show favourable overall safety of the Stellarex low-dose paclitaxel DCB, and are applicable within an extensive patient cohort," said Marianne Brodmann, MD, Professor, vascular specialist at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, primary investigator for both trials and a paid consultant to Philips. "Every year, the Stellarex program has demonstrated low mortality rates with no difference in rates between the two patient cohorts."

"These study results build on the robust, consistent long-term data of the Stellarex program and confirm the safety and performance of our unique DCB," said Chris Landon, Senior Vice President and General Manager Image Guided Therapy Devices at Philips. "The Stellarex DCB, with its low drug dose and unique drug coating composition, continues to be an important treatment choice for healthcare providers treating patients with peripheral arterial disease."

Featuring Philips EnduraCoat technology, a unique coating consisting of a polyethylene glycol excipient with amorphous and crystalline paclitaxel particles dispersed in it, Stellarex .035" DCB is unlike any other drug-coated balloon for the treatment of peripheral artery disease. EnduraCoat technology provides efficient drug transfer and effective drug residency coupled with high coating durability and minimal particulate loss, thereby enabling a low therapeutic drug dose.

Philips' Image Guided Therapy business provides complete procedural solutions of systems, smart devices, disease-specific software and services for minimally invasive procedures, helping caregivers decide, guide, treat and confirm the right therapy for each patient during their procedure.

For further information, please contact:

Mark Groves

Philips Global Press Office

Tel.: +31 631 639 916

E-mail: mark.groves@philips.com

Fabienne van der Feer

Philips Image Guided Therapy

Tel: + 31 622 698 001

E-mail: fabienne.van.der.feer@philips.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips.





Attachment
By Pete Fairbairn

The Bowling Green State University Career Center anticipated that some employers may not be able to offer immediate career opportunities due to budget cuts, layoffs, and other factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, the team came up with a new way to more fully leverage the capabilities of Handshake  the Universitys recruitment platform.

Always striving to engage, educate and empower students and alumni to achieve their individual career and life goals, beginning in March 2020, the Career Center decided to follow a new and more proactive approach. This not only pushed back negative expectations within the pandemic economy but managed to achieve record levels of employer engagement and job opportunities.

How Handshake works

In 2018, BGSU switched from the previous CRM to Handshake  the nations preeminent job recruitment platform. At that time, most of the Universitys employer partners migrated over to Handshake, and the center has continued to add new employers by the thousands each year, thus expanding the platforms reach for our community.

Handshake provides opportunities for BGSU students and alumni to complete a profile, upload their resume, register to attend internship and job fairs, connect with employers and apply for positions. These experiential learning, part-time and full-time positions are posted by companies seeking to hire our Falcons, who in turn find an ever-growing list of exciting options.

The Handshake platform has been invaluable in helping me find opportunities that I didnt know existed, BGSU junior finance major Giovonni Colantonio said. I secured several interviews at major companies such as Nationwide and Honda by searching through the large database of opportunities on Handshake.

In the past, the process most typically involved companies requesting to be added to the BGSU database, and that approach yielded well over 5,000 new companies in the 2018-19 academic year. But, according to Career Center Director Danielle Dimoff, it soon became clear as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold that companies werent going to spend their time trying to connect with new schools.

Flipping the script

Dimoff and her team decided to reverse the usual process by identifying and reaching out to desirable employers from among the hundreds of thousands that participate in Handshake.

So, we flipped the script and reversed the process, Dimoff said. Instead of waiting for the companies to find us on the platform, we sought them out after carefully vetting each prospective new employer.

While it is pretty much an automatic approval process when a school requests to connect with an employer, it is another matter when a company submits the request. BGSU always researches any company seeking to recruit students and alumni through Handshake to ensure they meet the Universitys recruiting criteria.

When we are seeking out new employer partnerships, it is important to make sure the company has a high trust score and no flags in the system, said Andrea Gutierrez, assistant director. We follow a process to confirm they are a reputable company before connecting in Handshake. This includes reviewing their mission and opportunities, as well as verifying profile information such as contacts, location, social media and website address.

So, flipping the script wasnt just a matter of inviting any and all companies to connect  it involved the same rigorous vetting process. While many schools have tried, BGSU stands as one of the few to do so successfully in a sustained and organized manner. The primary reason is the sheer volume of work involved in researching thousands of potential partners.

Where to begin

With hundreds of thousands of companies spread across the country and the globe within the Handshake employer database, the Career Center team faced the question of where to start its new outreach process. Their solution was to leverage the Universitys alumni heatmap to target locations where higher concentrations of Falcons have chosen to live and work.

The alumni heatmap allowed us to identify areas with a sizable number of Falcons, including higher numbers of alumni employers, Dimoff said. We started with Ohio since there are over 100,000 alumni located across the state. Based on the mile radius filters we set, we also pulled some companies from surrounding states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. We then focused on Illinois and New York as well.

The campaign has involved all hands on deck as the entire center staff has worked to review the long list of companies not currently in the BGSU employer database. In addition, University Advancement was able to pitch in to jump-start the process.

Each day, staff members review an assigned list of companies in Handshake, and when a company meets our criteria, it is approved by the staff member. At that point, BGSU has access to the employers future position postings, and students and alumni have all the information needed to make a connection. Approved companies also have access to student and alumni profiles if they opted to make them public, and are invited to register to attend our virtual events.

Record-breaking success during unprecedented times

The Career Centers campaign to increase job opportunities for students and alumni has achieved record-breaking levels of success, which is especially remarkable in the face of the daunting headwinds of a global pandemic. For the 201920 academic year, BGSU connected with 19,244 new companies, nearly quadrupling the prior-years performance.

At the same time, the center reviewed 42,265 new position postings, for an average of an additional 163 each workday. This is by far the highest number of new position postings on record for the University in a single academic year. And it would be hard to overstate the benefits that our students and alumni are reaping at a particularly difficult time.

This initiative has had a tremendous impact on our work, said Dakel Patterson, assistant director. We are able to be more intentional about seeking new employers across all majors to ensure there are a high number of position postings to apply to in Handshake. At the same time, this has helped to increase and diversify the types of employers in attendance at our career-related events.

The center in not letting up and is on pace to shatter last years record. While 74 new companies were added on average each workday for 2019-20, the average between Aug. 1 and Dec. 25 came in at 126  a 70% increase. During the same five-month period, more than 24,000 new position postings were added, representing a 40% increase in the teams daily pace.

According to Dimoff, the center will continue to focus on growing BGSUs employer database to increase the number of experiential learning, part-time, and full-time positions for every career. The Handshake initiative is just the latest in a series of innovations that continue to give the center a pivotal role in the Universitys outstanding career placement record: 97% of BGSUs graduates report they're employed, in graduate school or starting a business within six months of graduation.

Dimoff encourages students and alumni to make sure their Handshake profile information is up-to-date and to take full advantage of the many resources available on the platform to support their searches.

Our employer portfolio expansion initiative demonstrates to students and alumni that opportunities, especially internships and full-time positions, are still available during this unprecedented time, Dimoff said. The Career Center team is committed to helping them connect with employers in their field of interest and achieve the kind of career success that is a BGSU hallmark."
Justice Minister Stelian Ion discussed on Monday with specialists in the field about the stage of fulfillment by the Romanian authorities of the recommendations formulated in the reports of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).

"Further to the dialogue with the European Commission in the context of CVM, on Monday Stelian Ion discussed at technical level with the team responsible for managing this file, at the level of the European institution. The discussions focused on the stage of fulfillment by the Romanian authorities of the recommendations in the CVM reports," reads a Ministry of Justice's release sent to AGERPRES.

According to the quoted source, the justice minister presented the objectives for this year: the transmission to the Government, for adoption, of the draft law on the abolition of the Section for Investigation of Judicial Crimes, by the end of February 2021, the completion and transmission for adoption by the Government of the three draft laws of justice, until the end of April 2021, the drawing up of the draft amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, in order to bring them in line with the decisions of the Constitutional Court, during this year."The CVM was very important to us and helped us. It is essential that all actors involved understand the need to meet the CVM recommendations and to continue Romania's assessment in the context of the new Rule of Law Mechanism," the justice minister was quoted as saying.The Commission has indicated the elements that should characterize the actions in the next period: coherence of the new regulations, avoidance of contradictions and taking into account the recommendations of foreign partners, the context in which they are to be developed and approved, with the aim being to ensure stability and irreversibility of progress and also the consultation of the judiciary, civil society and foreign partners (European Commission, Venice Commission and GRECO) the Ministry of Justice also mentions.
Kim Kardashian appeared to snub Donald Trump from a thank you message after he commuted the life sentence of an inmate she had campaigned on behalf of.

In 2014, Chris Young was found guilty of marijuana and cocaine possession and sentenced to life in prison following the federal three-strikes law, which sees offenders given a mandatory life sentence if they have two or more previous convictions.

Recommended Kim Kardashian urges Donald Trump to pardon death row inmate

The US citizen already had two charges against his name and presiding judge Kevin Sharp disagreed with the heavy sentencing so strongly that he resigned from his post shortly after handing Young the sentence.

However in Trumps final act as US president before leaving the White House he granted Young - and several other high profile names - clemency, and Young was released from prison.

Following Trumps decision Kardashian, 40, posted a heartfelt message on Instagram, writing: "It brings tears to my eyes to see Judge Sharp welcome him home. He was forced to sentence him to a life sentence based on mandatory minimums and ended up resigning due to these injustices.

Chris Young was granted clemency by former US president Donald Trump (Kimkardashian/Instagram)

"Judge Sharp and I went to the White House a few years ago asking for clemency for @thechrisyoung_2021. Hes so deserving and smart and I cant wait to see all he accomplishes in this life! I worked on this case with Barnett for years so this victory is so sweet!"

The reality star went on to thank Reform Alliance CAO Jessica Jackson and Alice Marie Johnson, the woman whom Kardashian fought to be freed from prison three years ago.

However Trump, 74, was notably absent from the message, despite he and Kardashian having built a working relationship in recent years as she campaigned for prison reform.

Kardashian opened up about her controversial decision to work with Trump during an interview with Netflixs My Next Guest With David Letterman last year.

I understand that and there are frustrations. Trust me, everyone called me and said dont you dare step foot in that White House or your reputation is done.

I said, I have to step foot in there or these people dont have a chance. So its a life or my reputation, she added.
Google is pledging to use its resources to help more people get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The company said Monday that it will convert some of its facilities into vaccination sites, starting in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City and Kirkland, Wash. Google intends to expand the program nationally and is partnering with One Medical in the effort.

Additionally, Google is taking steps to promote accurate vaccine information on its search pages and spending $150 million to support groups that are helping to inoculate people from COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected every community all over the world, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a company blog post. Its also inspired coordination between public and private sectors, and across international borders, on a remarkable scale. We cant slow down now. Getting vaccines to billions of people wont be easy, but its one of the most important problems well solve in our lifetimes.

Pichai said the companys mass vaccination sites will be located at Google-owned buildings, parking lots and open spaces. The sites will be available to anyone whos eligible for the inoculation, and Google is working with local officials to determine when they can open, Pichai said.

Beyond the in-person assistance, Google will put state- and region-specific information about COVID-19 vaccines on its search pages. Vaccine sites in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas will be listed in Google Search and Maps over the coming weeks, Pichai wrote, with more states and counties to follow.

Well include details like whether an appointment or referral is required, if access is limited to specific groups, or if it has a drive-through, he said.

Google has already helped more than 100 public agencies and non-governmental organizations make health announcements through its Ad Grants Crisis Relief program. Now the company is spending another $100 million on ad grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organization and various nonprofits, Pichai said. The company will spend another $50 million to target underserved communities with information about vaccines.

Our efforts will focus heavily on equitable access to vaccines, Pichai said.

Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available.

Google is also helping with the complex system for distributing vaccines.

The companys Google Cloud service has provided technology that logistics companies use to coordinate trucking operations. Google technology is also being used to help with pre-screening, scheduling and follow-ups for COVID-19 vaccines.

Google has developed what it calls an Intelligent Vaccine Impact Platform that states such as New York and North Carolina are using to distribute shots and forecast where more of them are needed, Pichai said.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
Editors note: Marrian Ching is a writer and editor based in the Bangsamoro. With a feminist lens, she interrogates notions of identity while navigating histories that are either affirmed or erased in the process of nation-building. The opinions in this essay are the authors.

Cotabato City (CNN Philippines Life, January 25)  A few days after the first ceremonial flag-raising featuring the Bangsamoro flag alongside the Philippine flag, both flags were lowered to the half-mast position in honor of Interim Deputy Chief Minister Abdul Raji Sahrin, who also served as the secretary-general of the Moro National Liberation Front. It has been two years since the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was established, and the people of the Bangsamoro have lost as much as they have won in the process of asserting their rights, if not more.

And what the news hardly ever mentions as it reports milestones in the peace process and the establishment of the Bangsamoro is the process of mourning, the heaviness of grief.

Having worked as a nurse, a womens rights advocate in civil society, and a human rights lawyer, Laisa Masuhud Alamia knows the weight of this struggle. She grew up amid armed violence and conflict in the region, and she understands the burdens her people have had to carry.

In a speaking engagement with youth leaders last December, she was asked to share her thoughts on the Bangsamoro peace process and she said that it is hard to find a place where people share a collective grief in the same way people in Bangsamoro do.

Alamia is currently a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) with 79 other presidential appointees, all of whom were selected from nominees submitted by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The president also appointed MILF Chairman Ahod Al-haj Murad B. Ebrahim as the Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro regional government.

The BTA serves as the interim Bangsamoro Parliament and legislative arm of the regional government, where Alamia is committed to do everything she can to help make sure the political transition of the BARMM goes smoothly.

***

The establishment of a new autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao is anchored on the Bangsamoro peoples right to self-determination. That news coverage and public discourse related to the Bangsamoro no longer dismiss the term right to self-determination is a small victory in itself, especially after decades of pushing for the recognition of said right. The plebiscite held to ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law in January 2019 affirms this, as the people registered their collective desire to establish a new Bangsamoro region  one that enjoys greater autonomy than the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

This is something Alamia knows must not be taken for granted. In her message to the Bangsamoro people on Independence Day last year, she said that the freedoms we now enjoy are freedoms that our people fought for, and these are the same freedoms we must continue to fight for as we continue to assert our right to self-determination.

In the past two years, the Bangsamoro Parliament has been working to pass legislation that responds to the peoples needs. While the Bangsamoro Parliament crafts regional legislation that is only applicable to the BARMM territories, said legislation must still be compatible with the Philippine Constitution and national legislation passed by the Philippine Congress still apply to the Bangsamoro region.

Laws establishing the Bangsamoro Human Rights Commission, the Bangsamoro Womens Commission, and the Bangsamoro Youth Commission were among the first ten that were passed by the parliament, in hopes of institutionalizing initiatives that address concerns related to human rights, especially of marginalized sectors.

However, working within the transition timeline of three years has had its fair share of challenges. As an unforeseen pandemic hit countries around the world, the Bangsamoro government had to allocate time and resources in response to the public health crisis while dealing with already existing problems of recurring displacement due to disaster and conflict across the region.

The Bangsamoro regional government is now in its second year of a three-year transition which, if not extended, will then be followed by the election of new BARMM officials in 2022. Out of six priority codes that it has been tasked to legislate, the parliament has passed one  the Bangsamoro Administrative Code. The Education Code, Local Government Code, Civil Service Code, and Electoral Code await further deliberations in the parliament and are at the committee level, according to the Chief Minister.

***

Alamia acknowledges that three years may not be enough to do everything that needs to be done for the transition, but this is also why she has been working hard to push for legislation that she feels are urgently needed by the Bangsamoro people. Among these is the Internally Displaced Peoples Rights Bill, which she filed on October 23, 2019, but has not moved forward since it was passed in the first reading.

There is no national legislation that affirms the rights of internally displaced people, though Congress passed a similar measure in 2013 and was then vetoed by then-President Noynoy Aquino due to concerns regarding constitutionality.

More than four million Filipinos in Mindanao have been displaced at least once in the last 20 years, Alamia said. Our response to displacement must not only cover relief goods and immediate aid, but must also involve plans towards long-term rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery to ensure secure and stable lives for the IDPs once they return to their homes or decide to resettle elsewhere.

Alamia is passionate about the measure not only as an advocate, but as someone whose family lost loved ones and livelihoods to conflict and was displaced from their home. Many members of the Bangsamoro parliament, if not all of them, have had the same experience. Some of them have even taken up arms as freedom fighters or mujahideen in the Bangsamoro struggle.

We need to commit these serious human rights abuses to memory and document them, if we are to do something about them.

***

More than 400 men, women, and children were massacred in Tictapul, Zamboanga City in 1977, but listening to Alamia tell the story makes it seem like it happened only yesterday. She was only a child and hardly has any memory of the incident, but the look in the eyes of her mother as something dimmed within her is something Alamia can never forget.

By sheer luck, my family and I were not in Tictapul when the massacre happened, Alamia said, but we lost almost everything. Armed men believed to be part of the Philippine Army were said to have looted our house before it was razed to the ground. Some of our relatives were among those who were killed that day.

The story may be an unfamiliar one to most Filipinos, but many of the Bangsamoro and indigenous peoples in Mindanao know this story very well. The names and places may vary, but the abuse and indiscriminate killings committed against the people remains the same. In most cases no one is ever held accountable as the rest of the country forgets about it, leaving communities to deal with grief and loss without any form of state support.

A direct response to this concern is institutionalizing transitional justice and reconciliation (TJR) mechanisms, which Alamia highlights in a legislative package that seeks to operationalize a regional TJR program that focuses on social protections. We need to commit these serious human rights abuses to memory and document them, if we are to do something about them, she said.

She also noted the need to provide pensions for ex-combatants and veterans, establish a health program for war survivors and indigents, and secure socio-economic support for war survivors, especially widows and orphans.

***

The Bangsamoro regional government is in a unique position to help the people, as a number of its highest ranking officials are not from dynasties nor powerful political families, but are from the revolutionary movements that waged an armed struggle for the right to self-determination. Many of them also come from civil society organizations that have bridged the gap in social services as the region was at the receiving end of state violence and neglect. With this comes a valuable perspective that allows leaders to center the peoples experiences instead of political ambition and desire for power.

Alamia, for one, derives her proposal for the establishment of a womens caucus in the parliament from her experience both as a government official and a member of civil society. She recognizes the strong relationships that are based on shared struggles between a regional government that hopes to enact meaningful reforms and advocates pushing for more progressive legislation in the Bangsamoro.

And she knows the ways through which a patriarchal society silences and marginalizes women.

There is a need for a more equitable representation for women in [Bangsamoro] Parliament, where there are only 13 women out of 80 members, and there is a need to nurture and encourage the presence of women in key decision-making spaces, she said. Through the womens caucus, she hopes to open up a platform where women can consolidate ideas in response to womens concerns, and where womens rights advocates can directly communicate their proposals with the knowledge that their issues are front and center in the agenda.

The measure is supported by the majority of women in parliament and has just passed the first reading. Alamia hopes it will be passed before the years end.

Our response to displacement must not only cover relief goods and immediate aid, but must also involve plans towards long-term rehabilitation, reconstruction, and recovery to ensure secure and stable lives for the IDPs once they return to their homes or decide to resettle elsewhere.

***

In 2012, leaders of the MILF entered Malacanang Palace for the first time for the ceremonial signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which marks the commitment of both the Philippine government and the MILF to establish a new autonomous Bangsamoro region. More than a thousand kilometers south of the capital, members of the MILFs armed wing  the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF)  waited for the program in Malacanang to begin as they stood under the heat of the sun in Camp Darapanan, the MILFs stronghold located in Sultan Kudarat.

There was a delay in the ceremonies, but the mujahideen were quickly reminded of its relative insignificance. One of the elders went up to the stage as the radio broadcast was being set up in the camp. Weve been waiting for so many years, he said. What does it matter if we wait an hour and a half more?

Now the Bangsamoro finds itself waiting yet again as it awaits the decision on its appeal for a three-year extension of the BARMM transition period, with less than 30 days left for Congress to amend the Bangsamoro Organic Law in order to accommodate the appeal. The extension is not about power. It is also not about trying to extend our presence in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Mohagher Iqbal, former chairperson of the MILF peace negotiation panel and now education minister of the BARMM said in a press conference last Monday.

If the extension is not approved, regional elections will be held simultaneously with the national elections in 2022. All positions previously appointed by the president such as that of the members of parliament and the Chief Minister will then be subject to a region-wide election.

With or without the extension, however, the regional government has a lot on its proverbial plate. The pandemic still continues with a recent virus mutation, the rehabilitation of Marawi City has encountered numerous delays, while the normalization and decommissioning process is still only in its second phase with 12,145 out of 40,000 combatants and 2,500 out of 7,500 weapons out of commission as of November 2020. The said process includes not only the disbandment of the MILFs armed forces, but also making sure that socioeconomic assistance is available to ensure their transition into civilian life.

Alamia acknowledges the limited timeframe they have to work with, which is why she, together with the rest of the Bangsamoro Parliament, have been putting in their best efforts to accomplish as much as they can before their time is up.

It will take more than legislation and an extension to get the Bangsamoro to where we want it to be, she admitted. So many came before us and gave their lives to the cause, knowing that the change they were hoping for might happen way beyond their lifetimes. We are building a future here, Alamia said, and we have had to mourn the lives and opportunities that have been lost to the struggle. The best thing we can do at this present moment is to honor their legacy and the people we have sworn to serve.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : On the eve of Republic Day, President Ram Nath Kovind said justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, outlined in the Preamble of the Constitution, are sacred to everybody in the nation.

The President said in his speech: "These values - justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity - outlined in the preamble of our Constitution are sacred to all of us. Its abiding adherence is meant not only for those who are mandated to govern but for the people at large.

"Justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity are perennial principles of our philosophy of life. They come to us from the dawn of this civilisation through an unbroken chain," the President said.

He said the task of every generation to seek out the meaning of these values for its times. As the freedom fighters did in their day, these key principles should light our path to development.

President Ram Nath Kovind hailed farmers, scientists and soldiers for working to serve the country at an adverse time during the pandemic. "All our farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and a grateful nation greets them on this auspicious occasion of Republic Day." The President in his address said: "Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the Covid-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained the agricultural production. From space to the farms, from educational institutions to hospitals, the community of scientists has enriched our life and work." Hailing the scientific community, the President said, "Our scientists have been working day and night for decoding the Coronavirus and they have succeeded in developing the vaccine in record time. With this accomplishment, our scientists have added a glorious chapter of contribution to the well-being of humanity." "From the freezing cold at Siachen and Galwan valley in Ladakh with temperatures as low as minus 50 to 60 AC to the scorching heat in Jaisalmer with temperatures as high as 50 AC, on land, in the skies and at the vast coastal areas, our warriors are vigilant every moment," he said

"Though we reiterate our commitment to peace, our defence forces - Army, Air Force and Navy - are adequately mobilised in a well-coordinated move to thwart any attempt to undermine our security. Our national interest will be protected at all costs," the President further said.

He paid tributes to those who have lost their lives in the pandemic.

He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for converting a crisis into an opportunity, "The Prime Minister gave a call of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan...Our vibrant democracy, our enterprising and talented fellow citizens - specially the youth - energise our efforts in shaping a self-reliant India," he said.

The President also praised the Election Commission for conducting free and fair elections in Bihar and in UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, despite the pandemic threat.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a plea which sought a direction to the West Bengal government to provide protection to opposition leaders to ensure a free and fair Assembly election in 2021. This came in view of killings of 300 BJP workers and the recent attack on party president J P Nadda.

A bench presided over by Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and R Subhash Reddy refused to entertain the matter and asked advocate Puneet Kaur Dhanda to pursue other remedies.

The petitioner claimed that the continuous violation of fundamental rights, statutory rights and human rights in West Bengal has reached its zenith with "active involvement" of police machinery.

The plea sought a status report into the killing of activists and BJP leaders after the ruling TMC came to power.

The plea alleged that the law and order situation in West Bengal has collapsed beyond repair and the political leaders other than the ruling party were being systematically killed for vested interests.

"It is a serious issue in a democracy wherein a particular community i.e. Hindus are not allowed to vote and the votes are cast on their behalf by bogus voters. The problem of bogus voting needs to be solved in the state of West Bengal as soon as possible by the Election Commission of India," the plea emphasised.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) recently named EPRI Vice President of Technology Innovation Mark McGranaghan as an EPRI Fellow with EPRI Europe, honoring his more than 30 years of contributions to the electric sector and to the Institute.

McGranaghan, who has been with EPRI since 2003, led cross-functional activities evaluating new and evolving opportunities applicable to all areas of the electricity sector in his VP role. He previously served as the Vice President of Integrated Grid research for EPRI's Power Delivery and Utilization sector. McGranaghan has led EPRI research in the smart grid and grid modernization area for years, and he has helped define research on existing power quality levels in the U.S.

McGranaghan has authored more than 70 technical papers and articles on topics ranging from power quality to insulation coordination of extra high-voltage (EHV) systems. He received the coveted Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award in 2014 for his expertise and dedication to power engineering standards development.

"Mark McGranaghan's contributions have established the foundation for several advancements in the improvement of electric power delivery quality and reliability over the last 25 years," EPRI Board Chairman Pedro Pizarro said. "The Board of Directors is honored to recognize Mark as an EPRI Fellow for all of his efforts."

Prior to joining EPRI, McGranaghan was Vice President at Electrotek Concepts (1988-2003) and a Manager at McGraw-Edison/Cooper Power in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (1978-1988). In both of those roles, McGranaghan worked closely with EPRI on numerous research projects.

EPRI Fellows are recognized for their outstanding proficiency and unique distinction in engineering and science. EPRI Fellows advise EPRI senior management and industry leaders on key issues in the field. Previous EPRI executives honored as EPRI fellows have included Clark Gellings and Rosa Yang.

"We're thrilled to have Mark continue with EPRI as a distinguished Fellow," EPRI President and CEO Arshad Mansoor said. "His guidance will help us continue to develop new thinking and insights, and he will be a great mentor to help develop technical talent within EPRI and the industry."

About EPRI

The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI, www.epri.com) conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery, and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers and experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, affordability, health, safety, and the environment. EPRI members represent 90% of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States with international participation extending to 40 countries. EPRI's principal offices and laboratories are in Palo Alto, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Dallas, Texas; Lenox, Mass.; and Washington, D.C.

Follow Us on Twitter @EPRINews

Contact:

Dipka Bhambhani

Director, External Relations

202-293-7512

[email protected]

SOURCE Electric Power Research Institute

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Dana Ripley

American International Group hires Dana Ripley as vice president, global head of media & external communications, a newly created role. Ripley joins AIG from 12A Consulting, where he was founder and chief communications officer. He was previously chief communications officer at U.S. Bank; senior vice president, corporate communications at Voya Financial; and director of media relations at Jackson National Life Distributors. In his new post, Ripley will be focused on articulating and communicating AIGs strategy and value proposition to its external stakeholders. Dana is a seasoned professional with significant industry experience and communications expertise. He will play a critical role in all aspects of our strategic communications efforts, said AIG executive vice president, general counsel & global head of communications and government affairs Lucy Fato.

Elysa Nelson

Pierpont Communications promotes Elysa Nelson to senior vice president and Dave Stump to senior vice president, business development. Nelson joined Pierpont in Houston in 2015 and has helped build the agencys San Antonio presence. Before coming to Pierpont, she was manager, corporate services communications at Fidelity Investments. Stump joined the agency in 2014 as vice president, business development. He was previously executive vice president, sales at information tech company Content Active and held senior marketing positions at 4 Guys Interactive and NGC.

Abbas Merchant

Regions Bank names Abbas Merchant chief marketing officer. Merchant joins Regions from M&T Bank, where he was group vice president of consumer and business marketing and customer analytics and sciences. He previously led analytics and other marketing operations at U.S. Bancorp and the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Merchant succeeds Michele Elrod, who is retiring. We are focused on providing personalized experiences and solutions for our customers, and the experience and insights Abbas brings to Regions will help us advance this priority, said Regions Financial Corp. president and CEO John Turner.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that indoor dining will remain closed in New York City, but that he expects to lift other coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in micro-cluster zones sometime this week.

As of Monday, there are 28 micro-cluster zones across New York with varying severity in their restrictions. State officials designated Staten Islands North Shore a Yellow Zone and its South Shore an Orange Zone on Nov. 23. No part of the state is under a red zone  the most severe in the states three-tier system.

Cuomo didnt offer specifics on what restrictions will be lifted, so it was unclear whether some or all will be removed, but he said the decision was due to declining coronavirus metrics across the state that had seen an increase following the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Were seeing that spike come down, so now we can start making adjustments, he said during his Monday press briefing. I think were at a place where we can adjust that valve and start to open up more economic activity, and reduce some of the restrictions.

The micro-cluster strategy restricts things like business activities and religious gatherings. Among the ongoing restrictions in the South Shore Orange Zone have been a limit of 25 people or 33% of maximum capacity for houses of worship, whichever is less, and a 25% capacity limit for gyms.

State officials last updated the micro-cluster strategy on Dec. 14, the same day Cuomo shuttered indoor dining in the five boroughs.

Chart shows micro-cluster strategy shutdowns in New York. (Courtesy: New York State)

A similar restriction on dining was in place for Orange Zones across the state, but a Jan. 13 court order lifting the indoor ban in an Eerie County Orange Zone prompted the state to allow indoor dining across New York excluding New York City. Cuomo put the five-borough ban in place through an executive order separate from the micro-cluster strategy.

Since then, elected officials on Staten Island have made repeated calls for the state to lift that restriction while the city sees some of the lowest COVID-19 infection metrics in the state. The neighboring region of Long Island had an infection rate near 7% on Monday while the city was a little over 5.5%.

City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-South Shore) sent a letter to Cuomo Wednesday asking about the status of indoor dining in New York City. Matteo said he has yet to receive a response from the governors office, and that communication has been difficult regarding closures.

Indoor Dining needs to be reopened...



Its absolutely wrong that Staten Island and city restaurants arent allowed to have indoor dining while surrounding areas are allowed to be open. pic.twitter.com/zNBkpw3k5z  Steven Matteo (@StevenMatteo) January 23, 2021

I have reached out on numerous occasions over the last few months and they either have not responded to my requests, or they have just told me they dont have an update, he said ahead of Cuomos conference Monday.

It is beyond frustrating that indoor dining is still closed and Staten Islanders are driving over the Goethals, Bayonne and Outerbridge to dine indoors in New Jersey, Matteo continued. They can also drive to nearby New York counties to dine indoors, despite the fact that the COVID infection rates and conditions are similar, and in some cases worse, than Staten Island.
Suspicion is warranted when we are treated as a minority, but in the case of a pandemic, the good news is that we are all in this together. In this case, we are not a minority, Jones said. This one is affecting people all over the world, which means we are not a minority. Most people in this world are people of color. We are a majority. If we get vaccinated, the majority of us, the world, is literally being saved.
Its been more than six months since the city pledged to clean up the homeless camps and open drug dealing that were holding residents of San Franciscos Tenderloin hostage. And while tremendous progress was made initially, the tents are creeping back in and the drug dealing remains in full swing.

On Friday, there were 38 tents and 26 makeshift structures on the sidewalks.

Thats way down from the 448 we had in May, but it is also a big increase from the daily count of 20 or so tents that we had in the fall, said Rhiannon Bailard, chief operating officer for UC Hastings College of the Law, which is located in the Tenderloin.

The Tenderloin tent counts are done by Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit that works with the city helping the homeless.

In an unprecedented move that embarrassed City Hall, UC Hastings joined with neighborhood residents and business owners to file suit in federal court in May, seeking to force the city to get the tents off the sidewalks, find housing for the homeless and stop the brazen, open-air drug dealing.

The two sides reached an out-of-court settlement, and in no time the city moved aggressively to get homeless people into hotels or designated sleeping sites that have been set up in the neighborhood and include toilets and other services. Public Works also stepped up its street and sidewalk cleaning.

In recent weeks, however, the number of people sleeping rough has begun rising again, and so have the tents, Bailard said.

Rene Colorado, executive director of the Tenderloin Merchants and Property Owners Association, agreed.

There have been improvements. Larkin Street and Golden Gate Avenue were riddled with tents and drug dealers, he said. Right now, they look like streets from any other American city. But then you turn the corner and you cant walk down the sidewalk because five, six or more drug dealers are blocking the way.

Its not for lack of policing.

According to the Tenderloin Police Stations Twitter feed, on Jan. 17, Operations by Officers from TL, Southern, Northern, & Narcotics have resulted in 5 dealers in custody over last 2 days. 4 of 5 booked are known/repeat dealers. One has been booked 5x in 7 months. 4 of 5 are violating SA (stay away orders), (are) fugitives, (or) have open cases and/or on probation.

And on Jan 19: 44 felony bookings in the Tenderloin in the last week including 18 drug dealers.

Yet even after Tenderloin police officers made a record 600 drug arrests in 2020 and took 18.1 kilos of meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl off the streets, dealers routinely return to their corners while awaiting trial, or after having been convicted and put on probation.

And fatal drug overdoses continue to outpace COVID-19 deaths in the city.

Drug dealing, drug use and the associated large groups gathering is as bad or worse, which continues to be awful, dangerous and entirely unacceptable, said Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the neighborhood.

In his search for solutions, Haney set up the Street Level Drug Dealing Task Force. In December, the task force released a preliminary list of recommendations, which included conventional ideas such as making drug treatment on demand more readily available and targeting upper-level suppliers.

Other, less conventional ideas likely to inspire debate included trying to get people who come to the Tenderloin to buy drugs to make purchases elsewhere or via delivery  in other words, DoorDash for fentanyl. Another idea is to create a special court and jobs programs for undocumented dealers who have been trafficked to San Francisco to sell drugs.

Task force member Tom Wolf, himself a recovering addict, said the recommendations are still under discussion but underscore the fundamental philosophical rift both within the task force and throughout the city.

People on the task force come from all kinds of different places, he said. You have those who favor no incarcerations and the total decriminalization of all drugs and people like Tenderloin Capt. Carl Fabbri who have a different take, and they clash.

Jeff Cretan, spokesman for Mayor London Breed, said the city is absolutely still focused on the Tenderloin, including getting there this week to address re-encampments on Willow Street and Ellis Street. But city workers have also been all over the city, resolving 126 large encampments between June and December that resulted in over 1,400 people from those encampments moving to shelter.

The mayor has been clear: Do the work to get people into shelter or housing and into treatment if necessary, and arrest the dealers who are tormenting the community, Cretan said.

Meanwhile, Colorados patience is wearing thin.

The tents are coming back, and the dealers just get shuffled from corner to corner, he said. The city needs to re-address the situation.

Quote of the week: Sometimes when youve made everybody mad it means youve found the sweet spot of compromise, sometimes it means youve got a mess on your hands, and I think our situation is more the latter, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency director Steve Heminger, on Tuesdays vote to cut by half the proposed five-year, $600 million Market Street makeover between the Embarcadero and Octavia Boulevard.

The vote to scale back the 2.2-mile project comes as the agency faces a $140 million deficit next fiscal year.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGO-TV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier
Misses the Mark: McConnell Says Several Democratic Senators Dont Support Biden Stimulus Plan

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday said President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion stimulus plan misses the mark, while stating that several Democratic senators have told him they dont support the measure.

Experts and economists from the left to the right agree any further action should be smart and targeted, not just an imprecise deluge of borrowed money that would direct huge sums to those who dont need it, McConnell said on the floor. Thats why the administrations first draft of their sprawling proposal misses the mark, and press reports make clear this is not just a Republican view.

The Kentucky Republican then went on to say that multiple Democratic senators agree that the bill shouldnt be passed. He did not name them.

Bipartisan action helped our nation endure the last year. Bipartisan action helped us turn the corner. And it will be smart bipartisan actions that help us finish the fight, he said, while adding that he will vote in favor of Bidens Treasury Secretary pick Janet Yellen on Monday.

It came after a bipartisan group of senators, including Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), told White House officials Sunday that direct stimulus should only go to those who need it most.

If were looking at a family of five that could have literally $300,000 of income and if that family of five has not lost a job or had any economic hardship and were saying we want to give checks to that family, but then cut back on unemployment for people who are in great need, that does not seem to me to be a very progressive outcome, Warner said, according to WVIR. Another Democrat who has publicly balked at the stimulus package is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

I was the first to raise that issue, but there seemed to be a lot of agreement  that those payments need to be more targeted, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told Politico, referring to the $1,400 stimulus checks that were proposed in the bill. I would say that it was not clear to me how the administration came up with its $1.9trn figure for the package.

However, the Democratic senators rejections of the stimulus package run counter to statements made by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said swift action is required.

The Senate must advance all three in the next few weeks, and we will, Schumer said in Manhattan on Sunday. In the next three weeks, we will be doing three things, all of which are very much needed, the Democrat said, noting that the stakes are too high to delay any of them.

Separately, on Sunday, White House economic adviser Brian Deese said the administration will push Congress to pass the $1.9 trillion package, saying its needed to avert the COVID-19-triggered economic crisis.

We cant wait, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre also told Reuters on Sunday. Just because Washington has been gridlocked before doesnt mean it needs to continue to be gridlocked.

China triples purchases of Ukrainian corn in Oct-Dec of MY 2020/21

Experts estimate Ukraine's corn export potential at 22 million tonnes in the current marketing year.

Reporting by UNIAN

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An oral contraceptive pill for grey squirrels is being created by scientists in a desperate bid to help control the population numbers of the pest.

Grey squirrels and other non-native invasive species are costing the UK economy about 1.8 billion a year.

Originally from North America, the squirrel species was first released in Britain by 19th century landowners and rapidly spread.

They continue to displace the native, and much smaller, red squirrel, as they share the same ecological niche, food and habitat.

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An oral contraceptive pill for grey squirrels is being created by scientists in a bid to help control the population numbers of the pest (stock)

WHY ARE SQUIRRELS CONSIDERED PESTS? While grey squirrels are widely known for their 'cuteness', in Britain and Europe, they're actually classed as an Invasive Alien Species (IAS) which is any animal that is not native to the UK. There are three reasons we control grey squirrels: 1. Their potential to damage to your home, business and health 2. The destruction of UK forests 3. The impact on our native wildlife, in particular the red squirrel Source: British Pest Control Association Advertisement

Tory frontbencher Lord Goldsmith of Richmond was discussing the Government's plan to plant 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) of new woodland a year across the UK by 2025 in the House of Lords.

This goal is part of the UK's hopes of combatting the ongoing climate crisis and Lord Goldsmith outlined the impact of the vermin as he was pressed by his colleagues.

As well as displacing the native red squirrel, the greys also pose a threat to woodlands through the damage they cause to trees by bark stripping.

Raising this at Westminster, Tory hereditary peer Lord Astor of Hever, who declared an interest as the owner of woodlands, said: 'What effective guidance will the Government give to ensure that these trees are not subsequently destroyed by grey squirrels?'

Lord Goldsmith replied: 'Invasive non-native species like grey squirrels and others like muntjac deer clearly do threaten our native biodiversity.

'They cost the economy about 1.8 billion a year, they negatively impact on our trees and woodlands.

'The Forestry Commission provides advice on maintaining red squirrel habitat and managing grey squirrels.

Originally from North America, grey squirrels were first released in Britain by 19th century landowners and rapidly spread. They continue to displace the native, and much smaller, red squirrel, as they share the same ecological niche, food and habitat (stock)

'But, longer term, the Roslin Institute is researching ways to breed infertility into female grey squirrels, which would provide a more humane way of reducing their numbers.

'In addition we support work by the UK Squirrel Accord (UKSA) to develop an oral contraceptive to reduce the grey squirrel population.'

The research from the UKSA is being carried out by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) which will convert a proved injectable formula into an oral pill.

The project is currently two years into a five-year study term.

According to the UKSA, three different methods are currently being tested.

It explained: 'The Animal Plant Health Health Agency (APHA) is currently trialling three different methods of reducing fertility and creating an effective product that can be taken orally.

'The best of those being tested will be taken forward for further development in years four and five.'

The plan is to deliver the pill to squirrels via food in a species-specific feeding hopper.

The UKSA added: 'Tests on a hopper to deliver the oral contraceptive to grey squirrels only are going well.

'The test bait, without contraceptives, is attractive to grey squirrels and the hopper currently prevents almost all but the very largest red squirrels from accessing it.'
The HSE has confirmed that the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine has been offered to residents and staff at more than 90 nursing homes and community hospitals, with more than 10,000 vaccine doses administered across Cork and Kerry.

The rollout will now move to residents aged over 65 in other long-term residential facilities, including disability and mental health facilities, with supply of the vaccine the only limiting factor.

Priscilla Lynch, Covid-19 lead for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare said:

A huge thank-you is due to everyone involved in the vaccination programme. As well as our teams of vaccinators, so many others have worked tirelessly behind the scenes on this roll-out so that we can get the vaccine delivered quickly and safely.

Blackpool GP Dr John Sheehan welcomed the news saying that it is right, proper, and fair that nursing home staff and residents were among the first to be vaccinated.

He said that there was a sense of relief among staff at Farranlea Road Community Nursing Unit, which he attends to, upon receiving their first dose of the vaccine.

The sense of relief when they got the vaccine, I know it's only the beginning and it's the first dose, but that sense that things are improving and moving forward is so important right now, he said.
Storm Gifford New York Daily News (TNS)

Gregory Sierra, the comic actor who entertained the masses on Sanford and Son and Barney Miller, is dead at the age of 83.

The Spanish Harlem-raised entertainer passed away Jan. 4 from cancer, his spokesman, Rick Voll, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

After one-off episodic TV appearances during the late 1960s and early 70s  including an All in the Family episode with a chilling ending when Sierras character was blown up in his car offscreen  Sierra was cast as recurring character Julio Fuentes on Sanford and Son.

He played the foil to Redd Foxxs hardheaded Fred Sanford, who was often appalled by Julios Puerto Rican customs, which included owning a goat.

I only like American cheese, huffed Sanford during one episode in which Julio offers him fresh goat cheese. And you cant get American cheese from a Puerto Rican goat.

Sierra departed the series in 1975 to star on Barney Miller as beleaguered sergeant Chano Amanguale.

I think Barney Miller is much more real than any other cop show, said Sierra during a 1976 interview, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The people in the show have real problems.

Kojak never worries. He knows hes got it made. Everything is always under control on that show. You never see the frustrations of police work or the kind of joking that goes on among real policemen. Those are the kinds of things we show on Barney Miller.

But he would exit after two seasons to star in the new comedy A.E.S. Hudson Street, which lasted just five episodes.

Throughout the 1970s, Sierra appeared in high-profile films, including the Steve McQueen drama Papillon, The Towering Inferno and The Prisoner of Zenda.

Beginning in 1980, Sierra appeared in a dozen episodes of Soap as revolutionary Carlos El Puerco Valdez, Katherine Helmonds kidnapper, and later, love interest.

He later appeared sporadically as an assistant district attorney on Hill Street Blues and a cop on Miami Vice.

During the late 1980s, he starred on the short-lived horror series Something Is Out There and later played New York City police lieutenant Gabriel Caceras on Murder, She Wrote, where well-meaning Jessica Fletcher would flummox him with her crime theories.

Sierras final screen credit was the 2018 movie The Other Side of the Wind, according to IMDb.

He is survived by his wife, Helene.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, speaks during a welcoming powhiri for APEC 2021 on 1 December in Wellington, New Zealand. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand just recorded its first coronavirus case since 18 November last year after a 56-year-old woman, who recently returned from Europe, had tested positive.

While the countrys minister of foreign affairs and trade Nanaia Mahuta told delegates at the World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual gathering  The Davos Agenda  on Monday that she couldnt comment further, she did lay out exactly why New Zealand has been one of the most successful countries in the world in tackling COVID-19.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to nearly 100 million COVID-19 cases and out of those, over 2 million have died.

In New Zealand, with a population of around 5 million, there have been just over 2,200 coronavirus cases of which only 25 people have died. To put into perspective, the US, with a population of about 330 million, has had over 25 million cases of which half a million people have died of COVID-19. The UK, with a population of over 66 million people, has had over 3.6 million cases and over 90,000 deaths.

WATCH: New Zealand probes likely local COVID-19 case

Why are New Zealand cases so low?

New Zealand said that newly recorded case was from a 56-year-old woman, who recently returned from Europe. She, like all travellers, spent 14 days in quarantine and twice tested negative before returning home on 13 January. However, she later developed symptoms.

The government said there was no immediate evidence the virus was spreading in the community

Foreign minister Mahuta was on a leadership panel on The Davos Agenda, the virtual version of the famous annual gathering of the worlds most powerful people in politics, finance, tech and society.

Alongside three other panelists, she examined the most effective response and recovery efforts, with recommendations on how businesses and governments can improve and increase their collaboration  with New Zealand being a key case study.

We are all in the same storm but the way we have navigated through [it] has been different, said Mahuta.

Story continues

Our prime minister [Jacinda Ardern] said very early on that the best economic response is a health response  go hard and go early  and we took strong steps towards a lockdown because that was part of our elimination strategy. As a government, we take a science-based informed approach and we dont just respond  we educate the public to get them to understand the global pandemic and the tools of our continued response.

Our response has three parts  test, trace, isolate.

READ MORE: Increase in world's 10 richest men's wealth during pandemic could pay for globe's COVID-19 vaccine

While the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the world in over just one year, New Zealand has proven that it has been able to keep cases low, or at zero for periods of time, and respond swiftly to the emergence of any new cases.

On 11 August last year, it recorded four new cases of community transmission for the first time in more than 100 days. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern immediately put the city of Auckland into lockdown for three days. From 18 November, no new cases were recorded until now.

Mahuta told Davos delegates on Monday that the government will continue to be vigilant in isolating any outbreak and educating the public. She also repeatedly called the New Zealand population the team of 5 million.

We will also rebuild and regenerate our workforce capabilities and educate the public and team of 5 million on the vaccination. We are all learning as we go and I dont believe we have all the answers but we go on a science-based approach and we will continue to refine and learn.

WATCH: What is World Economic Forum's plan for societal 'great reset?'
Our partnership with Zonar is a major advancement for the school transportation industry. With the development of our latest solutions, combined with Zonars long-standing history in the industry, together we make it easier for school districts to deploy smart technologies.

Zonar, the leader in smart fleet technology, and Transfinder, the national leader in intelligent transportation systems, have entered into a strategic partnership to equip school district bus fleets with smart fleet management and routing solutions. As a Zonar reseller in the United States and Canada under a new reseller agreement, Transfinder will sell Zonar solutions along with its school bus routing and transportation management technologies.

This partnership integrates Transfinder technologies seamlessly with Zonar APIs, leveraging its GPS data and EVIR and for Transfinders Routefinder and Servicefinder solutions. The compatibility will ensure school and district transportation fleets benefit from more accurate and efficient route optimization, increased fleet safety and ridership visibility, and improved maintenance shop productivity.

It is our top priority to ensure the safety of students and productivity of our transportation customers through the use of innovative technology, said Ian McKerlich, president and CEO at Zonar. Our partnership with Transfinder is allowing Zonar to further equip school districts across the country with intuitive tools for coordinating fleet management with transportation logistics.

For Transfinder, the partnership with Zonar marks a technical and corporate evolution  moving beyond being a routing company and to becoming an all-in-one solution for school transportation departments. Zonars GPS technology is a key component that works seamlessly with Transfinder solutions, including Routefinder, Transfinders award-winning routing software, and the Transfinder driver app Wayfinder.

Our partnership with Zonar is a major advancement for the school transportation industry. With the development of our latest solutions, combined with Zonars long-standing history in the industry, together we make it easier for school districts to deploy smart technologies, said Antonio Civitella, president and CEO of Transfinder. We are proud to partner with the most proven and used hardware and software on the market and continue to make the roads safer for all.

One of the largest school districts in the U.S. uses both Zonar and Transfinder technologies to keep students safe, easily manage bus routes, students and drivers as well as ensure its bus fleets are efficiently maintained. The successful collaboration of Zonars technology with Transfinders solutions ensure districts and families nationwide can depend on safe, reliable and efficient transportation for drivers and passengers.

The announcement was made today at the STN Expo Virtual Conference put on by School Transportation News, January 25-27, 2021, where Zonars Chief Operating Officer, Mike Gould, gave the keynote address on 3 Key Opportunities For 2021.

About Zonar

Founded in 2001, Zonar has pioneered smart fleet management solutions throughout vocational, pupil, mass transit and commercial trucking industries. Zonars mission is to enhance the safety, performance and success of our customers by transforming the delivery of innovative insights for commercial fleets around the world. Zonar achieves this by helping fleets of all sizes maximize the use of their assets with solutions dedicated to improving compliance, efficiency, maintenance, ridership visibility, safety and tracking. Cloud-based services with open APIs drive Zonar's smart fleet solutions by making it easy for fleet owners and managers to stay connected to their fleets and drivers and operators to dispatch. Headquartered in Seattle and part of the Continental family, Zonar also has a Technology Development Center in downtown Seattle, a regional office in Cincinnati, and a distribution center outside of Atlanta. For more information about Zonar, go to http://www.zonarsystems.com

About Transfinder

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Schenectady, New York, Transfinder is a national leader in intelligent transportation systems, providing transportation management systems and services to municipalities, school districts and adult care facilities. Transfinder, an Inc. magazine fastest-growing company for 11 consecutive years, has offices in Austin, Texas, and Shanghai, China. The software company, named a Best Place to Work and Top Workplace, develops and supports routing and scheduling solutions for optimal transportation logistics. For more information about Transfinder, go to http://www.transfinder.com.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki participates in a press briefing at the White House, in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Biden Condemns Recent Riots: Press Secretary

Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki briefed White House reporters on Monday on the issue of the recent riots in the Pacific Northwest.

She was questioned on why Joe Biden criticized riots before becoming president, but hasnt said anything since. The far-left Antifa group vandalized buildings and clashed with police in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington on Jan. 20. They also set fire and smashed windows at businesses in Tacoma, Washington, on Sunday night.

President Biden condemns violence and any violence in the strongest possible terms. Peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our democracy, but smashing windows is not protesting, and neither is looting, Psaki answered.

Actions like these are totally unacceptable and anyone who committed a crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Our team is, of course, monitoring it very closely, Psaki added.

Some Republicans have denounced the fact that their Democratic counterparts havent condemned the riots in Portland and Seattle.

Mugshots of protesters arrested by Portland police in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 20, 2021. (Portland Police Department)

Im waiting for Pres Biden to condemn violence/looting/arson last two days in Oregon & Washington state, wrote Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday.

Antifa members broke the glass door and windows at the Democratic Party business office in Portland, spray-painting an anarchist symbol over the party sign. Garbage cans around were toppled and lit on fire, according to reports. Antifa activists marched along banners that read, We dont want Biden. We want revenge for police murders, imperialist wars, and fascist massacres, and We are not governable, along with numerous anarchy symbols.

The Democratic Party of Oregon released a statement following the violence.

Were frustrated and disappointed about the damage done to our Democratic Party of Oregon Headquarters in Portland this afternoon. Were thankful that none of our staff were in the building at the time. This is not the first time our building has been vandalized during the past yearnone of the prior incidents have deterred us from our important work to elect Democrats up and down the ballot, and this one will be no different.

Multiple windows were shattered at the William Kenzo Nakamura Courthouse in Seattle, Wash., on Jan. 20, 2021. (Seattle Police Department)
Huawei sold its Honor sub-brand in November last year citing sanctions imposed by the US government. Well now, it looks like Huawei is going to sell some of its popular series too. We're talking about the popular Huawei P and Mate series, both of which have some of the most popular Huawei flagship phones.

According to a new Reuters report, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has been in talks to sell its P and Mate series brands to a consortium of buyers. If the deal goes through and someone ends up buying these brand names, then that'll leave Huawei with no premium phones. This means that the company will exit from the flagship smartphone segment.

 Reuters

Here's what the report says -



It remains to be seen exactly how this will work out. We really hope Huawei manages to somehow retain these brands. Both P and the Mate series have some of the best smartphones on the market. Not only are they very popular in Huawei's home country, but these phones also tend to have a lot of influence on phones that come out.

The talks between the worlds largest telecommunications equipment maker and a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms have been going on for months, the people said, declining to be identified as the discussions were confidential. Huawei started to internally explore the possibility of selling the brands as early as last September, according to one of the sources."

The company has, however, refuted any such deal. So there's a good chance that it's not happening. In fact, we also know that the company is still trying to manufacture its in-house Kirin chips that power both HUAWEI and Honor-branded phones. Huawei has learned there are unsubstantiated rumours circulating regarding the possible sale of our flagship smartphone brands. There is no merit to these rumours whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan, a HUWEI spokesperson was quoted as saying.

 Reuters

That being said we understand how it's getting increasingly difficult for Huawei to sell its phones outside the Chinese market without any Google services pre-installed. They're indeed having a hard time and it's quite evident by the shrinking international market share.



Source: Reuters
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock today announced that 78.7 per cent of Britons over the age of 80 have had a Covid vaccine as he confirmed 6.6million people have received their first dose.

That means nearly one in 10 people across the country has had at least one dose that could protect them against deadly Covid-19, and the Government is nearly halfway through its drive to hit 15million by mid-February.

Britain is ahead of all other countries in Europe in its vaccine drive and has one of the highest per-person rates in the world. But a Sunday slowdown yesterday meant that only 221,067 people received vaccines, down from a record high of 493,013 people on Saturday.

Department of Health figures showed 220,249 first doses and 818 second doses were administered across the country on January 24.

The Sunday slowdown is thought to have been triggered by fewer doctors and nurses being on shift on the last day of the working week, meaning fewer Britons could receive their jabs. The smallest number of cases and deaths is also generally recorded on Sundays, when more staff are off work and unavailable to tick off reports.

It comes as ministers battle to vaccinate the most vulnerable to the virus by mid-February. This includes the over-70s, vulnerable, care home residents and NHS frontline staff.

But the NHS appears to have already missed its internal target of reaching all care home residents by January 24.

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last Thursday they had already vaccinated 63 per cent of care home residents - leaving another 154,660 out of an estimated 420,000 residents waiting for their jabs. But ministers are yet to say whether the NHS target has been hit.

Britain today recorded another 22,195 infections with the virus, a 41 per cent drop on last week, and a further 592 deaths, down one per cent on the same time last week.

Early figures show there were 220,000 vaccinations in the UK yesterday. The number will be updated later today by the Department of Health to include jabs in all settings

Health Secretary Matt Hancock today announced that 78.7 per cent of people over the age of 80 in the UK have had a Covid vaccine

Boris Johnson pictured visiting a vaccination centre in The Hive, north London, today. Ministers are aiming to get jabs to 15million of the most vulnerable by mid-February

GRANDMOTHER, 92, DIES WITH COVID-19 FIVE DAYS AFTER HER FIRST VACCINATION Mary Green, 92, from North Tyneside A great-grandmother who caught coronavirus five days after getting vaccinated against the disease has died. Mary Green, 92, received her first dose at a care home in North Tyneside on New Year's Eve, giving her family hope she would not face an infection. But less than a week later the dementia sufferer tested positive for the virus. Doctors said she couldn't be moved to hospital because she was too frail to undergo invasive treatment and would find the change of scene confusing, meaning she had to receive care at the home. She died 12 days later of suspected sepsis, which they said was likely triggered by the virus. Scientists say it takes around two weeks for the vaccines to spark immunity, suggesting Mary's first dose came too late to protect her from the disease. Mary's heartbroken son Chris, 52, said the family had a visit to see Mary at Charlton Court care home cancelled on January 2 due to lockdown, reports ChronicleLive. A family member - who asked not to be named - said they thought Mary had received the vaccine either just before or just after she was infected. 'You do wonder if they've let their guard down once they've had the vaccine,' they said. Charlton Court care home said in a statement: 'Our staff started to receive their Covid vaccinations from mid-December and we were delighted when our residents began to receive their Covid vaccinations later in December 2020 as part of the first roll out of the vaccination to homes in North Tyneside. 'Our staff team continue to adhere to strict Covid-19 preventative measures, including the use of PPE and regular testing in line with government guidelines, as they have done since the outbreak of the pandemic. We are grateful to our staff team who continue to care for all of our residents at this time.' Advertisement

Mr Hancock sounded a positive note at a Downing Street press briefing, saying four fifths of over-80s have been already been against the virus, as the Government speeds towards its target.

'It's a really emotional moment when people get vaccinated, it means so much to people because the vaccine brings safety to them,' he said.

'And Im very proud to be able to tell you that as of last night we have been able to vaccinate 78.7 per cent of all over-80s, thats almost four in five of everyone aged over-80.'

He added: 'Im delighted that you can see from these figures that there's so much enthusiasm for vaccination among the over-80s because octogenarians know what scientists know which is that the vaccine saves lives.'

The Health Secretary also praised the NHS for its 'very strong performance' last week rolling out the vaccine, and said he was 'confident' it would administer every jab that was available.

But he warned the drive could still hit bumps in the road, as supplies of the vaccine are 'tight'.

An early count published by NHS England, Public Health Scotland and Public Health Wales revealed a breakdown of the pace of the vaccination drive by region.

The figures are updated each day by the Department of Health to include vaccinations from all settings, but the early numbers show those carried out at NHS-run sites - which are always very close to the total.

They showed the Midlands - which is already leading the vaccination drive - gave out almost 40,000 doses on Saturday, the highest in the country.

The region has the country's two trial 24/7 vaccination centres and has also started administering jabs in a mosque as it ramps up the local rollout.

It was followed by the East of England, where 31,699 jabs were dished out, and the North West, where 30,442 doses were got into people's arms.

Wales gave out the lowest number of doses in the country on Sunday, at 6,838, followed by Scotland, at 11,519.

The figures are not broken down beyond regions, but it is thought the NHS has missed its target of vaccinating all care home residents by January 24.

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Commons on January 21 that 63 per cent of all care home residents had received the vaccine - leaving another 154,660 out of an estimated 420,000 residents waiting for their jabs.

'I'm delighted to say 63 per cent of residents in elderly care homes have now received a vaccination, that is a really significant increase over the last week,' Mr Hancock said.

'And we're on track to deliver on our goal of vaccinating elderly care home residents by the end of this month, and I hope sooner than that.'

NHS England had instructed all GPs to complete vaccinating care home residents by January 17, with an absolute deadline of January 24.

'With the increased rate and spread of infections, the need to ensure that these cohorts are vaccinated as the top priority is higher than ever,' the NHS's medical director of primary care Nikita Kanani told GPs in a letter seen by Pulse magazine.

The health service suggested doctors consider working 12-hour days seven days a week to hit the target, adding any delay puts the most vulnerable at risk.

Almost half a million Britons were vaccinated against the virus on Saturday, official figures show, as the rollout gathered steam for the fifth day in a row.

Department of Health data showed a record 493,013 jabs were administered.

And three quarters of Britain's over-80s have now received their first dose, according to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, in another promising sign that the country could be on course to hit its ambitious target.

There have also been concerns the drive could be held up by supply of the vaccine, which has been described as 'lumpy' and could yet threaten to derail the plans.

Ministers have refused to reveal how much is already in the country, citing a security risk, but there have been reports of deliveries to centres being scaled down.

Confusion has also been sparked over whether supplies are being diverted to areas lagging behind in the rollout, with the vaccines minister denying this after Mr Hancock said the Government would be redirecting stocks last week.

British soldiers set up the Covid-19 vaccination centre in Aberdeen, Scotland, yesterday as ministers seek to turbo-charge the rollout

And both Pfizer and AstraZeneca  suppliers of the only two vaccines being used in the UK  have faced disruption to their shipments as they have scaled up manufacturing.

It comes after EU leaders arranged an urgent meeting with AstraZeneca executives after the company unexpectedly slashed its supply of vaccines to the bloc.

The jab-makers have blamed the EU's supply chain for their failure to deliver the promised 80million vaccines by the end of March as part of a 300million deal.

AstraZeneca, which developed its shot with Oxford University, said on Friday they could only offer 31million vaccines in the first quarter, a cut of 60 per cent.

Furious EU officials said they will investigate their claims and have questioned why Britain is not suffering from similar delays in the rollout.

Peter Liese, an EU lawmaker from the same party as Angela Merkel, said: 'The flimsy justification that there are difficulties in the EU supply chain but not elsewhere does not hold water, as it is of course no problem to get the vaccine from the UK to the continent.

'AstraZeneca has been contractually obligated to produce since as early as October and they are apparently delivering to other parts of the world, including the UK without delay.'

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had received an up-front payment of 336 million euros (298million) from the EU when they struck a deal in August, an EU official told Reuters.

78.7 per cent of all over 80s, almsot four in five.
OTTAWA - The seats were nearly empty Monday as the House of Commons returned in hybrid form, but the opposition was full of fighting spirit over the Liberal government's handling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in the in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA - The seats were nearly empty Monday as the House of Commons returned in hybrid form, but the opposition was full of fighting spirit over the Liberal government's handling of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

A new sitting convened after an extended winter break for MPs, though many remained in their ridings Monday after reaching an agreement to resume sitting in a format that allows them to either log in virtually or attend in person.

While a smattering of Conservatives, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois MPs took up their seats, Liberal cabinet ministers  including the prime minister  appeared from their homes or offices to fend off criticisms from their rivals about their COVID-19 response.

The fury emanating from the Opposition was such that Speaker Anthony Rota was forced to remind them several times to watch their language, even as he also had to remind MPs to unmute their devices.The sitting began as the country continues to reel from the COVID-19 pandemic: over 19,000 people are dead, there are new outbreaks of a highly contagious variant ripping through long-term care homes, curfews, stay-at-home orders and a vaccine rollout that started with promise now being compromised by manufacturing delays.

The Liberals insist their goal of getting a shot in the arm of every Canadian who wants one by September remains feasible even as Canada was set to receive no doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week, and sharply curtailed deliveries next week.

Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel Garner challenged the math, noting the time in between the required two doses of vaccine means September seems impossible.

"This means that Canada, on average, needs to be administering roughly two million doses per week to meet this goal. This week's total is zero," she said.

"How the hell did this happen, and what are the Liberals doing to fix it?"Though she was rapped on the knuckles by Rota for her language, Rempel Garner continued her pressure unabated, a theme picked up by MPs from all opposition parties as they castigated the government for appearing to fail Canadians.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen as he speaks via video conference during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Procurement Minister Anita Anand insisted again and again that was not the case.

The delays  due to Pfizer needing to retool a factory in Belgium  won't compromise the ultimate goal, she said.

Claims from Ontario that it has run out of vaccines are untrue, she said, as there are thousands of doses yet to be used.

Anand invoked the fact her own 90-year-old father is waiting for his vaccine as proof she understands the pressure to get the rollout right.

"We are on track to have vaccines for all Canadians before the end of September because we will stop at nothing to ensure that all Canadians have access to a vaccine this year," she said.

The political scandal that broke last week  the resignation of Julie Payette as governor general ahead of a damning report into working conditions at Rideau Hall  barely made the cut in question period.

Ahead of time, opposition leaders had demanded the prime minister provide more transparency around the terms of her departure.

Both Conservative and NDP leaders said given the circumstances around her departure, Payette should not receive the customary lifetime salary afforded to outgoing governor generals, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ought to disclose whether he offered one.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the scandal created by Payette's departure was one of the Liberals' own making and also serves as a distraction from the goal at hand: managing through the pandemic.

But even as he pushed on the vaccine rollout, Singh also sought  and won  a symbolic victory on another subject: all-party consent on a motion condemning white supremacy and asking for the group Proud Boys to be listed as a terrorist entity.

The group has ties to Canada and was involved in the deadly riots in the U.S. earlier this month.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole was also successful in his efforts to get emergency debates on vaccines, and also on the implications of a decision by the new U.S. president to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, which will kill thousands of jobs in Tory-held ridings in the prairies.

Such a show of unity was not in place for efforts by the Liberals to fast-track their first piece of legislation for the sitting, a bill that would close a loophole allowing anyone forced into quarantine for COVID-19 to access government benefits.

The bill, which was in response to people returning from vacations abroad accessing the benefit, will now move through the legislative process.

The key piece of legislation up ahead for the government, however, is the next federal budget, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday is one of the most significant of a generation.

It could also send Canadians to the polls, as any vote on its contents will be a confidence motion.

The NDP and Conservatives suggested the Liberals are too focused on pre-positioning for an election than on pandemic response, a charge Trudeau denied Monday.

"Our focus is on delivering for Canadians and supporting Canadians through the tragedies and the incredible heroics we're seeing on display right across the country from our front-line workers," he said.

"There are far too many tragedies but we know that Canadians are continuing to be there for each other and this government will continue to be there for them."This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.
Mexican media has been reporting the bizarre case of a jealous and confused wife who allegedly attacked her husband with a knife after finding compromising photos of him with a younger woman in his phone. Only that woman turned out to be her.

A couple of weeks ago, several residents of the Urbi Villa neighborhood in Cajeme, Mexicos Sonora state, called the emergency number to report a domestic disturbance involving their neighbors. Apparently, a middle-aged woman identified only as Leonora R. had attacked her husband, Juan R., with a knife, during a jealous feat over photos of him with a younger woman being intimate. The attacker had reportedly found the compromising photos while looking through the husbands phone, and didnt even give him a chance to explain, instead lunging at him with a knife and hurling insults.

Photo: Enrique Meseguer/Pixabay

According to the husbands testimony, he managed to avoid serious injuries and subdue his wifes rage enough to find out what she was attacking him for. Lenora showed him the photos of him with the younger woman on his phone, only to find out that his mistress was actually her.

Juan told his wife, and later the police, that he had found some old photos of him and his wife in bed together in an old email he had saved years ago. He had transferred them to his smartphone, not knowing that they would end up causing him bodily harm.

Photo: ThomasWolter/Pixabay

The husband explained that the photos were from back when they were dating, and she was slimmer, and liked to put on makeup and take care of herself. Apparently, she had changed to the point where she didnt even recognize herself.

Lenora R. was taken custody by police and will await her verdict behind bars. She is facing charges of domestic violence, and, if convicted, she could spend time in prison.

If you think that this sounds too crazy to be true, youre not the only one. Ive been checking various sources, and while the news has spread beyond Mexican borders, its still very suspicious. For one, the photo of the woman flanked by two female police officers has nothing to do with this story. Its actually of Patricia Mabel Lopez Argentinas most wanted woman. Still, the news was broken by La Prensa, Mexicos largest newspaper, not some obscure blog, so theres that
Representative image

The wait for non-essential workers to commute via Mumbai local trains may get longer, as the Central Railway said it was yet to receive the state government's proposal for unrestricted resumption of services.

Sanjeev Mittal, General Manager of Central Railway, said mass travel in Mumbai local could be facilitated only after a proposal is received from the Maharashtra government.

The proposal, after being received from the state, would be forwarded to the Railway Board for approval, Mittal told reporters at a press meet after inspecting work on the Kolhapur-Satara route of the Railways.

"If the general public were to be permitted to travel, a proposal is expected from the state government," Mumbai Mirror quoted Mittal as saying on January 25.

Also Read: Fadnavis writes to Maharashtra CM to relocate Metro car shed to Aarey

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

Mumbai local trains had last plied for the general populace on March 21, 2020, two days before a nationwide lockdown came into effect to curb the transmission of COVID-19.

From May onwards, the services were resumed for essential workers. Curbs were relaxed later in the year to allow bank employees, lawyers and registered clerks to travel in allotted time slots. Women commuters were also permitted to use the trains in non-peak hours.

On January 24, the Federation of Retail Welfare Association urged the Maharashtra government to allow the mass resumption of train services in Mumbai.

In the past week, the Kalyan-Kasara Railway Passengers Welfare Association appealed to the government to lift the curbs for students.

With the daily case count sliding in Mumbai to its lowest in the last six months, speculations were rife that the government may take a favourable decision.

Earlier this month, State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said a decision on trains' resumption would be in accordance to the trend of coronavirus cases in the New Year.
One of Canadas most prominent owners in the sport, Brad Grant enjoyed success that transcended the 49th parallel in 2020 with his talented trotting filly Ramona Hill among the standouts honoured at the annual Dan Patch Awards.

Co-owned by the resident of Milton, Ont., Ramona Hill was voted Three-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year in the U.S. earlier this month after winning six stakes in a row on the Grand Circuit last summer and earning $968,282 from 10 sophomore starts.

Trained by Tony Alagna, the Muscle Hill filly took her mark of 1:50.1 while defeating the boys in the $1 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands for Grant and partners Crawford Farms Racing, Robert LeBlanc and In The Gym Partners.

Her stakes streak also included victories in the $350,000 Elegantimage and $88,894 Simcoe at Grants home track, Woodbine Mohawk Park, along with the $253,500 Del Miller Memorial and $160,140 Harry M. Zweig Memorial stateside.

She had a little bit of an issue at the end of the year that we found out afterwards, but I still think she was the deserving winner, said Grant of his fillys U.S. divisional honours. Good for her.

While she missed the Breeders Crown and closed out the year with a couple of uncharacteristic starts, Grant said the trotting miss has had time to recover from the unbeknownst injury and will return to the races this year.

Once we shut her down, Tony had them go over her from top to bottom and it took a nuclear scan to find the problem, Grant told Trot Insider. We found that there was a tear in the muscle over her back so we worked at that and everything is good, with a green light to go ahead. Shes back in training and she looks absolutely outstanding. She was out at Crawford Farms for a rest and Michelle and Heather [Reese] and their team looked after her very, very well.

It was something hard to find and luckily weve been able to find it and move forward, said Grant, noting that the connections hadnt discussed shutting her down at four. We really believe theres more to her and, if shes sound, maybe we havent seen the bottom of her tank yet. If she comes back well and races well then well put another year under her belt and revisit from there.



Connections of Ramona Hill celebrate her 2019 Breeders Crown win at Woodbine Mohawk Park Connections of Ramona Hill celebrate her 2019 Breeders Crown win at Woodbine Mohawk Park

Ramona Hill will join Atlanta in what has developed into a deep division of older trotting mares in recent years, meaning Grant will find himself in the unprecedented position of having two Hambletonian champion fillies on track in 2021.

While their paths might cross at some point, Grants not getting ahead of himself.

Were going to look at their schedules and Im not sure how often theyll race against each other. There are some four-year-old races for Ramona. I guess if youve got to have a problem, thats not a bad one to have, said Grant. Well talk with Tony and theres other partners on her and well sort it out from there, but shell tell us what she wants to do.

At this point, Im just kind of thinking of next week, never mind three or four months down the road. For her to have to step up and race against Manchego and Atlanta and a number of the other great older trotting horses and mares, thats a big, big ask, and again, I think she will tell us how good shes going to be. Were not looking to over-race her by any means.

Developing into one of harness racings all-time greatest rivalries, six-year-old trotting mares Atlanta and Manchego have been knocking heads throughout most of their careers with their latest match-up being a battle for year-end honours in the U.S. at the Dan Patch Awards. The closest vote was among the older female trotters, with Black Horse Racings Manchego taking top honours over Atlanta (72-58).

Im disappointed, I thought Atlanta should have got the nod, but at the same time I cant take anything away from Manchego, said Grant, who co-owns Atlanta with Crawford Farms and Howard Taylor. It is what it is, we move on. I was disappointed to hear theyre bringing her back because it just makes it that much tougher again this year. Shes a hell of a mare and no doubt shell come out guns-ablazing, but it makes for a great rivalry between the two of them.

The pair met in seven races last year, with each mare winning three times. Among those match-ups, Atlanta ruled in the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial, Maple Leaf Trot and Dayton Trotting Derby. Manchego was victorious in a leg of the Miss Versatility Series, the Spirit of Massachusetts and year-end TVG Open, which followed up her Breeders Crown triumph.

I really thought Atlanta should have got the nod, but at the end of the year Manchego was racing really, really well and Nancy [Takter] was having a year to die for.

It was probably the toughest division to decide...and the last two times around, Manchego stepped up and handed us our lunch, and maybe that was the difference.

But Grant recalls Atlantas 1:50.4 late-summer score in the $560,000 Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk as a knockout performance.

Atlanta came off the turn for home like Ive never seen a trotter come with that kind of speed. You watch her and you go how did she not go off stride? She was just trotting up a storm and closed it out and drove away. Manchego was tired at the end, but the way we won it and how resounding we won it, thats the race I remember. We put her away, we put Gimpanzee away, we put [Crystal] Fashion away, there was a bunch of them that day. But you know what? Next year Ive gotta do it again, thats all.

Trained by Ron Burke, the double millionaire daughter of Chapter Seven is now back in training after a break at Crawford Farms.

He put her away in great shape and is just as confident about next year. I watched an interview not too long ago, I think it was on COSA, and Ron was talking about her and shes just a smart, smart animal that just wants to please you and she loves what she does. Hopefully shell come back again and it will be a great rivalry again this year.

And you know, there are the ones coming back that we know should come back, but theres going to be somebody else that will step up, he added. Its just the nature of our beast. There should be somebody else out there that will kick it into another gear or mature to the point that theyll be another contender in the group so it will be great racing. It will be great racing for the fans  hopefully theyll get to see it this year.

Grant is looking forward to the resumption of racing post-pandemic shutdowns although his stable will be operating on a smaller scale. One of his recent standouts, 2020 O'Brien Award finalist Warrawee Vicky, was among those Grant sold in the 2020 Tattersalls Winter Mixed Sale last Monday (Jan. 18).

I just decided its getting too expensive to win Owner of the Year, quipped Grant, so I decided to put a bunch of my overnighters in the sale this year. I think Ive got eight or nine Ontario-sired two-year-olds, so Im concentrating on that a bit more this year. Ill have eight or nine overnighters racing, but Im not going to have as many. I really want to concentrate on trying to get more quality and less quantity, I guess.

It is a great program up here and I think the last couple of years I kind of really concentrated more on the Grand Circuit, but this is where my roots are and theres great money to be made and so Ive just decided that this year well maybe just pay a little more attention to whats going on at home and hopefully have some luck. Ive got some partners on some of them and hopefully we can have some fun.
Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, has been in the spotlight lately over his eviction notice to herders in Oke Ogun area of Oy...

Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, has been in the spotlight lately over his eviction notice to herders in Oke Ogun area of Oyo state.





Blaming herders for the high level of insecurity in towns and villages in Ibarapa local government area of the state, Igboho gave them seven days to vacate the area.

In an interview with TheCable, Oye Adetunji (not real names), who grew up with Sunday Igboho, said his kinsman regularly entertained people while growing up.

I have known Sunday Igboho since he was a child. We grew up on the same street in Igboho. We are both from Modeke area of the town. Our family houses are not far from each other, he said.





While we were growing up, he would assemble us and we would follow him to play around the town. From childhood when he was attending Community Primary School, Modeke, he cultivated the idea of leading a group of people.

He was a comedian. I remember that regularly, he did things that made people laugh. Back then, during weekends, he would dress like a pregnant woman and then instruct one of us to beat a drum while he danced around the town. Wherever people gathered to relax, he would go there to dance and make them laugh. He was a restless and lively person as a young boy.

Adetunji, who is now living and working in Okeho town in Oyo state, said Igboho was a regular host to pupils who were sent away from school in those days.





He said his childhood friend eventually left the sleepy town to realise his desire to be a leader.

I also remembered that in those days, when pupils were sent home from school for one reason or the other, they would head to Sunday Igboho house instead of going to their different homes, he said.

He eventually left Igboho at a time in his life. But he is visiting the town regularly. Whenever he comes home till date, its always like carnival; everyone will know that Sunday is around because he enters the town like a king. Many people will pay him visit. In turn, he will also pay visits to his friends, the towns traditional rulers and other leaders.

He also pays visit to leaders of all religions in the town. That is why it is difficult to know his religion because he identifies with all religious groups and contributes to all their activities.

When asked if indeed Igboho posses metaphysical powers, Adetunji said it is true, adding that Igbohos grandfather, who had some forms of power, might have transferred it to his grandson.

The metaphysical power he has is beyond imagination his grandfather was known to possess some powers. Everyone who lived in the town before his death would know of the power of Sundays grandfather, he said.

I knew the man well because we usually passed the front of his house everyday. He was around 95 years old at the time. From stories we heard, many people visited him to seek his blessings. What I also heard from elders of the town is that if he cursed anyone, it would come to pass.

Igboho is well known in Oke Ogun area of Oyo state because it is an ancient town and because we have scholars from the town, but lately, Sunday has added to its popularity.

(Image: Pixabay)

The government might shelve a plan to merge state-run telecom players BSNL and MTNL after a group of ministers (GoM) said it would be neither feasible nor beneficial.

The Union Cabinet might meet soon and formally decide on the merger of Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), Business Standard reported.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is also in favour of scrapping the merger, government officials told Business Standard.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had chaired a meeting of the six-member GoM last week, Business Standard reported.

The GoM also comprised of Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Home Minister Amit Shah, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

According to the report, the GoM decided against combining the two entities in order to prevent further erosion of BSNL's value.

In October 2019, the Cabinet had approved a Rs 70,000 crore package to revive BSNL and MTNL.

BSNL and MTNL turned EBITDA positive in the first half of FY21, the telecom regulator said on January 11.
EU high representative for the foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said Monday he told the EU foreign ministers of his intention to accept Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's invitation to visit Moscow in the first week of February

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) EU high representative for the foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said Monday he told the EU foreign ministers of his intention to accept Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's invitation to visit Moscow in the first week of February.

"I informed the council about my intention of visiting Moscow, attending a long-lasting invitation from minister Lavrov. It is going to take place in the first week of February. It will be a good opportunity to discuss with my Russian counterpart all relevant issues," Borrell said at a press briefing.

Meanwhile, in March, "the European Council is going to have a session devoted to this relationship with Russia," the EU top diplomat said.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...
We immediately realized that we needed to get Wi-Fi in our buildings, said Scott Auwarter, the assistant executive director of Bronxworks.

Bronxworks contacted a cable company but determined it would take too long and charge too much. So Bronxworks had its security-camera contractor piggyback Wi-Fi for residents onto the existing network. By mid-May, the vendor had installed one hallway hot spot for every three apartments. It cost about $300, plus about $2 per month for service, per apartment.

Our approach was more of the Starbucks coffee approach, Mr. Auwarter said: Its just cheaper, easier, faster, nobody can tamper with it, and its been maintenance-free.

The citys effort, meanwhile, was floundering. The school year ended with many homeless students having missed most or all of the final three months.

Over the summer, another shelter provider, HELP USA, which houses over 600 families in seven shelters in the city, raced to get its buildings wired. We had one site that took like two months to install  there was a lot of conduit that had to be laid and holes drilled in walls, said Stephen Mott, HELP USAs chief of staff.

Still, he said, the project was completed in August, for about $400 per apartment, plus about $3 per month for service. Ms. Trapani of Homeless Services United said she knew of two other operators who wired their buildings.

After the new school year began in September, the city switched more than a thousand students iPads from T-Mobile to Verizon, but many still had problems.
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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - Lendified Holdings Inc. (TSXV: LHI) (formerly, Hampton Bay Capital Inc.) (the "Company" or "Lendified") is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a strategic consulting agreement with Laurent Mareschal, who has agreed to provide financial and business advisory services to the Company. Mr. Mareschal has more than 25 years of financial services experience, including financial reporting and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and small business banking. Mr. Mareschal was recently the Senior Vice President and Head of Small Business Banking at one of Canada's five major banking institutions, and prior to that held progressively senior roles in finance with the same bank, including Chief Financial Officer of the Canadian Retail and Commercial Banking business, as well as Chief Financial Officer of the Wholesale Banking and Capital Markets business. Mr. Mareschal commented, "the market for small business loans is under served in Canada and Lendified is extremely well positioned to take a leadership role in this sector. The Canadian economy will have a significant need for the products and services Lendified provides as we emerge and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic."

Regarding the engagement of Mr. Mareschal, John Gillberry, the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Lendified commented, "Mr. Mareschal is a seasoned veteran of small business lending and the Company will benefit significantly from his experience and network within this industry. We are very pleased to have Mr. Mareschal join Lendified in this capacity and look forward to working with him as we continue to grow and strengthen the business."

ABOUT LENDIFIED HOLDINGS INC.

Lendified, a company located in Ontario, Canada, is a Canadian FinTech company operating a lending platform which provides working capital loans to small businesses across Canada through a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Further Information

For further information regarding Lendified, please contact:

John Gillberry, Chief Executive Officer and Director

1-844-451-3594

john.gillberry@lendified.com

Neither the TSXVE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXVE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan, "estimate", "expect", "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including whether the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be even more severe than it has been to date, any of which could cause results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Many risks are inherent in the industries in which the Company participates; others are more specific to the Company. The Company's ongoing quarterly filings should be consulted for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Management assumes no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, further events or otherwise.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72785
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nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Strides Pharma Science on Monday said it has received approval from the US health regulator to market generic Ursodiol capsules, used in the treatment of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC), in the American market.

The company's step-down wholly owned subsidiary, Strides Pharma Global Pte Ltd, Singapore, has received approval for Ursodiol capsules in 300 mg strength from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA), the drugmaker said in a statement.

The company's product is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to Allergan Sales' Actigall capsules, it added.

According to IQVIA MAT November 2020 data, the US market for Ursodiol Capsules USP 300 mg is around USD 45 million.

"The product will be manufactured at the company's facility at Bengaluru and will be marketed by Strides Pharma Inc in the US market," the company said.

Bengaluru-based Strides Pharma has 127 cumulative abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA) filings with USFDA of which 96 have been approved and 31 are pending approval.
Health trusts in Northern Ireland are dealing with medical negligence claims over treatment carried out as far back as the 1960s, it can be revealed.

The cost of claims in the health service is running at almost 30m a year.

Cases can take several years to settle. However, concerns have been raised around the number of historic claims.

The claims for the oldest cases of alleged negligence have been made in more recent years, as some patients may not have been aware they could take action.

Patients may also only discover alleged negligence several years after the treatment is carried out; this is known as the date of knowledge.

Clinical negligence is defined as when a patient receives substandard care from a medical professional with directly causes injury or leads to an existing condition to get worse.

Cases are brought against individual health trusts and compensation is paid out from a central fund overseen by the Department of Health.

According to the latest Department of Health statistics, a total of 21.2m was paid out in compensation to patients during the 2018/19 year, with an additional 5.8m going towards victims legal teams and a further 2.1m paid to health service lawyers.

Read More

Figures released to the Belfast Telegraph following a Freedom of Information request detail 10 of the longest-running negligence claims cases, based on the date the treatment in question was carried out.

The data also shows when the HSC Business Service Organisations Directorate of Legal Services (DLS) was notified of the claim. The DLS is the sole provider of legal services for the Health and Social Care sector here.

In one case the date of treatment was in October 1964  more than 55 years ago. However, the DLS was not notified until August 2014. The DLS notes that no court proceedings have been issued and it is awaiting contact from the claimants solicitor.

It is understood that claims were not made for many years because the patients only discovered they were able to take a case decades after they received their treatment.

Another claim relates to treatment carried out in January 1974, with the DLS notified in July 2016. The DLS notes it is awaiting contact from the claimants solicitor. In November 2011 the DLS was notified of a claim relating to treatment provided to a patient in January 1976 and the DLS notes no proceedings have been issued, so therefore the DLS cannot close the file.

SDLP health spokeswoman Cara Hunter said it is distressing that some negligence cases involve treatment dating back more than five decades.

I cannot begin to imagine the impact that something like this can have on a patient who may only have discovered they may have a claim decades after treatment and has been living with the impact for that time, she said. I am pleased that new pre-action protocols have cut the amount of time taken to resolve a case, but for too many people this is an agonising wait that is compounding their pain. I intend to raise the issue with the Health Minister at the earliest opportunity.

Jonathan Jackson, associate director at MKB Law, said cases involving treatment going back five or 10 years are fairly common. However, those stretching back decades can be difficult to prove as the claimant has to prove that the standard of care at the time of treatment was substandard for the period it was carried out, not just considered to be below standard today. Medical professionals involved may also no longer be practising, or have passed away.

The Business Services Organisation said that, in general, clinical negligence cases now progress much more quickly than even relatively recently.

For example, there is now a pre-action protocol which imposes time limits for investigating and responding to claims, and there is much greater case management from the courts, including regular reviews before the judges who issue directions and timetables to progress the claims, it said.

The Health and Social Care Board said that such long-running cases are very few, so there is no additional pressure on health service resources as a result. Whilst resolution of cases can be more difficult with the passing of time, the outcome of any case is dependent on legal processes, it added.

The department does not have any active involvement in managing such claims, other than to provide authority for some cases over certain designated financial limits set for trusts.

Legal proceedings can be brought by children when they turn 18, even though the treatment in question relates to their birth. There is also no limit on when a person suffering from a disability can file a claim.
Frances well-known fan-making museum could soon disappear. The Musee de lEventail may soon be the cultural worlds latest coronavirus victim.

The museum is in Paris. It has until January 23 to pay over $142,000. The organization could not make enough money while shut down because of coronavirus restrictions. It has been unable to pay the money necessary for the use of its building.

If the museum closes, the knowledge of its workshop will be lost. The workshop teaches people how to make and repair hand-held fans.

Anne Hoguet, age 74, is the museums director. She recently spoke to the Associated Press (AP), describing the news as a tragedy. A tragedy is a very bad event that causes great sadness.

Hoguet said, I cant believe Parisians will let a part of their heritage die. I have a problem, because I always believed there would be a miracle.

Hoguet said she was exhausted, or very tired, by the fight for survival that has hit smaller museums.

Like all small museums, we had troubles before she said, but the health crisis has been a disaster. Hoguet said her museum was forced to close for most of 2020 because of government restrictions.

On top of that, money coming from the workshops fan repairs also disappeared because of reduced spending during the pandemic. Even when the museum opened for a short time in September, Hoguet had trouble getting the same numbers of visitors as before.

Because people were preoccupied with the virus, culture and heritage got forgotten  and dangerously, she said.

Hoguet is the fourth generation in charge of what is the last original fan-making workshop in Paris. Hoguets father bought the museums collection of fans in 1960.

She has trained five young fan-makers, whom she hopes will continue the tradition. Fan making, traditionally with wooden sticks and painted paper, has been considered important in many cultures. But in France, its golden age was more than 200 years ago.

At the time, women used fans as a kind of communication. The pictures painted on the fans would often show the current events of the world. To this day, fans remain part of Frances clothing culture. Fans often appear in collections by design companies Chanel, Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Hoguet works alone and does not have financing tools to raise money except for email. She said French officials have failed to help her and she now has trouble sleeping.

The French Culture Ministry and Paris City Hall are the agencies she has been in touch with, but those efforts, she said, made no difference. Paris City Hall did not immediately answer when contacted by the AP.

Hoguet suggested that the problem with very special knowledge is that it can very quickly die, meaning it can disappear forever.

Im John Russell.

Thomas Adamson and Michel Euler reported this story for the Associated Press. John Reynolds adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. _____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

museum  n. a building in which interesting and valuable things (such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects) are collected and shown to the public

heritage  n. the traditions, achievements, beliefs, etc., that are part of the history of a group or nation  usually singular

miracle  n. a very amazing or unusual event, thing, or achievement

preoccupy  v. to be thought about or worried about by (someone) very often or constantly

golden age  n. a time of great happiness, success; a time of highest success
The number of COVID hospitalizations in Pennsylvania fell to 3,887 on Monday, a continued decline from the peak of about 6,300 in December, when there was concern hospitals might become overwhelmed.

Fewer than 800 were in intensive care, leaving about 3,660 intensive care beds available around the state.

New infections also are falling, with 3,934 new infections reported Monday. The recent levels of new infections mean Pennsylvania has likely avoided a repeat of the surge that came a few weeks after Thanksgiving, when daily new infections surpassed 12,000.

The state also reported 138 new deaths on Monday, bringing Pennsylvanias total to 20,664 since the start of the pandemic about a year ago. The new infections bring the states total to 807,867.

As of Monday morning, Pennsylvania had received about 1.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and had administered about 755,000 doses, or 5,816 doses per 100,000 residents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RELATED: Rush on COVID-19 vaccine leads to dead ends, few shots, frustration across Pa.
SUV

4WD

Speaking to Automotive News , dealers understand that nothings been decided so far, even though potential sales are estimated at 80k units each year. The reason U.S. dealerships want the Xterra back in the lineup is best explained by the dazzling success of the pickup truck-based Ford Bronco.The Blue Oval has more than 200,000 reservations for the Rangers off-road sibling, and the Jeep Wrangler isnt doing too bad either. Last year, for example, the two-door JL and four-door JLU sold 201,311 units in the United States compared to 209,786 for the ever-popular Grand Cherokee.As the headline implies, the X-Terra also shares its underpinnings with a workhorse. The Navara mid-size pickup truck, to be more precise, which has been recently redesigned alongside the South American version of the Frontier. If you were wondering, the Frontier for the U.S. market features the F-Alpha vehicle architecture of the Titan full-size truck and Armada.Essentially a facelifted Terra, the X-Terra with a hyphen is a three-rowwith a 60/40 second row and a 50/50 third row. Both fold flat into the floor to increase cargo capacity, and a digital rearview mirror is also available. Care to guess which is the only engine-transmission combo available?That would be the 2.5-liter plant from the QR family, a very old design that isnt helped by natural aspiration. For the 2021 model year, the X-Terra develops 165 horsepower and 177 pound-feet (240 Nm) of torque that are channeled to the rear or all wheels by a seven-speed automatic transmission sourced from the Navara.versions are treated to 4 Low, an electronic locking rear diff, a brake limited-slip diff, and Hill Descent Control.The question is, do you think the X-Terra should return to the U.S. lineup to capitalize on the body-on-frame SUV trend made obvious by the Bronco?
German party leader calls for moratorium on Nord Stream 2

As long as Russia is violating human and civil rights, FDP leader Christian Lindner is calling for construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to be suspended.

Reporting by UNIAN

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Actress Yoo Da-in / Courtesy of Prain TPC





By Kwak Yeon-soo







Yoo Da-in believes her life experiences and attention to social issues have improved her acting abilities, which she demonstrated in drama movie "I Don't Fire Myself."







Performing with considerable passion, empathy and integrity, she has clearly acted in part on the basis of social conscience.







"I feel like I've become capable of playing a wider range of roles after gaining more life experience and taking an interest in social issues. I believe that my role as an actor is to give audiences an opportunity to start different dialogues," she said during a recent interview with The Korea Times.







Yoo stars in the movie as Jeong-eun who suffers gender discrimination at work and is dispatched to work for a subcontractor for one year. Despite the management's attempt to fire her, Jeong-eun intends to hold on to her job in hopes of returning to the head office a year later.







"This film is inspired by real events and represents things that happened years ago, so I wanted to portray the character as realistically as possible. At its heart, the film is about never giving up. No matter where you are or what you do, don't ever give up on yourself," she said.







When asked if she has faced similar workplace discrimination, Yoo said, "I don't think I've ever experienced injustice for being a woman. But I remember being called a 'fool' and 'stupid' on a filming set when I was a newcomer because I couldn't understand the director's instructions."







The 37-year-old actress revealed that she suffered a painful back injury while filming "I Don't Fire Myself."







"I was in pain for most of the film. I went to see my physical therapist more than ever. In the ending scene, I had to hang upside down on an electrical cord for quite a long time. As a result, I received lumbar herniated disc treatment. It was physically exhausting," she said.







Despite the painstaking struggles, Yoo said she has learned to express a wider range of emotions. "I was able to show off my obstinate, callous behaviors through this film. That being said, I'd like to star in a thriller movie," she said.







She will begin shooting mystery thriller "Night Trip" alongside Ha Jung-woo in February.







"I'll be reuniting with Ha after The Client (2011) and with Jung Man-sik for the first time since Over My Dead Body (2012). I'm personally looking forward to working alongside them," she said.







Confessing that her latest film changed her criteria in selecting projects, Yoo said, "I've kind of changed as an actor, my approach, from before and after turning 30. In the past, I only thought about myself, my role, but now I want to be helpful to the people who choose me."







She added, "If I could turn back time, I'd choose another profession. However, the best thing about being an actor is that I can express whatever I feel. I have fears and vulnerabilities, but there are people who constantly assure me that 'you can do it' and 'you're doing an amazing job.' Those words keep me going."


A Limerick truck driver who imported over 1.6 million of ketamine, MDMA and cocaine has been jailed for three and a half years.

Alyvydus Simkus (48), who has no other serious criminal convictions, told gardai that he was paid 50 to take the drugs into the country.

Detective Garda Ronan Doolin told Garret Baker BL, prosecuting, that gardai received confidential information that drugs would be imported into the State on the date in question.

Det Gda Doolin said the truck Simkus was driving was stopped in Dublin Port having arrived in a ferry from the UK. He was directed to go New Customs House where his truck was searched.

A white box was found in the side compartment of the cab unit which contained 10 packages wrapped in black tape. After this box was discovered Simkus told officials that two further white boxes could be found inside the cab unit.

Inside the three white boxes was large amounts of ketamine, MDMA and cocaine with a combined total value of 1,612.129.

Simkus of Smith's Lane, Cathedral Place, Limerick city initially denied the offence but told gardai he was the only person who had the key to the cab unit. He is originally from Lithuania but had been living in the country for over 15 years.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawfully importing controlled drugs at Dublin port on March 31, 2018. His eight previous convictions are all for road traffic offences.

Det Gda Doolin agreed with Dean Kelly SC, defending, that his client had not been on garda radar prior to the offence and has not come to adverse attention since.

Mr Kelly said that his client was presented with the opportunity to bring the boxes into the State and he did not know what was in them. He said his client received around 50 initially with the understanding being he would receive more money after transporting the boxes.

Counsel said his client was a married man with three adult children who has lived an otherwise decent and hard-working life. He said Simkus feels regret and shame for committing the offence.

Judge Elma Sheahan said she accepted as genuine Simkus' expressions of remorse and shame for his actions. She also noted testimonials which describe him as a kind and compassionate family man.

But she said his role was significant in facilitating the drugs trade and she said the court must take into consideration the harm and potential harm caused to society by the scourge of drugs.

She noted the evidence from Det Gda Doolin that he believed this offence was a one off and suspended the final 18 months of a five year prison term on condition he be of good behaviour.
The U.K.s health minister warned that coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease, such as those found in South Africa and Brazil, and that stricter border controls are justified.

We dont know the degree of that," Matt Hancock said in an interview on Sky News on Sunday, commenting on the extent of any potential reduced efficacy of the vaccines. In the meantime, weve got to have a precautionary principle that says lets not bring these new variants back to the U.K."

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Hancocks warning came as the U.K. reported it had vaccinated more than 5 million people, including three-quarters of those over 80. Hancock said the government is conducting a vaccine trial on the South African variant to study its response to the inoculation, and that hes concerned about new variants developing elsewhere.

The new variant I really worry about is the one thats out there but hasnt been spotted," he said, adding that the U.K. is offering its genome-sequencing capability to other countries to help them identify new strains. There are 77 known cases of the South African variant in Britain, and at least 9 cases of the Brazilian variant, Hancock said on the BBCs The Andrew Marr Show."

The U.K. has already banned flights from South Africa and neighboring countries, plus all of South America, in a bid to stop the spread of the new variants. Hancock said the government didnt rule out introducing even stricter international travel measures in the days ahead.

Britain is grappling with the highest death toll in Europe from the disease and battling to recover from its deepest recession in more than 300 years. The latest data published Sunday reported another 610 deaths, taking the U.K.s total to 97,939. The government is also on alert over signs that a local variant of the virus, which is as much as 70% more transmissible, may be more deadly than the original strain.

The supply of vaccines -- not distribution by the National Health Service -- is the rate-limiting factor in the U.K.s vaccination effort, Hancock said. Some 6.35 million people have now received their first dose, the latest figures showed, with Britain well ahead of other European countries.

Hancock couldnt confirm that schools would be open again by Easter, saying that the government would have to look at the data around the pandemic at the time. While the government also wants to lift social restrictions as soon as possible, Hancock added that its too early to give any more details on potential easing.

There is early evidence that the lockdown is starting to bring cases down but we are a long, long, long way from being low enough," Hancock said on Sky. You can see the pressure on the NHS, you can see it every day."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA  The Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce recently named Adam Smith, senior vice president and commercial banker with Synovus, as the organizations 2021 board chair. Smith, who follows 2020 Board Chair David Simmons, Chattahoochee Technical College Vice President for Facilities, has been actively involved with the chamber for the past nine years. He and his wife, Laura, live in Canton with their two children

Pre-COVID-19, the chamber year would officially begin with an annual meeting where the accomplishments of the past year are highlighted, various awards are presented, outgoing and

incoming board members are recognized and in Smiths case, a new board chair takes the helm. In December 2020, chamber leadership determined that in anticipation of celebrating 2020 successes in the most traditional format possible, the chambers annual meeting would be delayed from the typical January timeframe until later in the spring when optimistically larger groups can gather. Chamber members are encouraged to watch their email for the date and event details.

Those volunteers who will be recognized during the delayed celebration for completing a three-

year term on the chamber board include Heather Blevins, The Pampered Chef; Phil Eberly, Lead Edge Design Group; Tom Heard, Cherokee County Water & Sewerage Authority and Deidre Hollands. Additionally, Tracey Satterfield Martin, Live Clean, Inc., served in an unexpired term since April 2019, and Immediate Past Chair John Barker, Delphi Global Technology, has completed seven years of service.

The newly elected board members will serve through December 2023, include Dedre Brown, Georgia Department of Labor; Jeff Butterworth, Georgia Power Company; Sarah Gaither, iBeria Bank  a division of First Horizon Bank; Scott Gordon, CPL; Jennifer Puckett, In Harmony Pediatric Therapy; Janet Read Welch, Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, and Mark Roberts, Reinhardt University.

Story continues

The chamber owes a debt of gratitude to outgoing Board Chair David Simmons for his

leadership during 2020," Smith said. "I look forward to working with him in his role as immediate past chair and appreciate his support of me as I begin my term. The opportunity to work alongside the new board members, as well as those whose Board terms are continuing, is exciting as well. In our volunteer role, we will work collaboratively with the organizations outstanding staff to support the chambers mission."

Among the awards to be presented during the anticipated annual meeting is the coveted First

Citizen of Cherokee County recognition. The title of First Citizen of Cherokee County is bestowed upon a resident of Cherokee County who has resided in the county for a minimum of five years and has shown significant meritorious service to his/her community through family, civic and/or religious involvement. A panel of out-of-town judges reviews the accomplishments of each applicant with the winner being chosen based upon merit. Additional accolades to be announced during the annual meeting include Small Business of the Year, Excellence in Customer Service Award, Green Business of the Year, and Non-Profit of the Year. The 2020 Chairmans Council Joan McFather Volunteer of the Year Award will be presented as well.

This article originally appeared on the Canton-Sixes Patch
How long will you go for the love of your pet? Whatever you say, you won't be able to match New York-based Barry Myrick's love and dedication for his dog. Myrick is ready to go to jail rather than than giving the custody of his pet Roxy to his former employer M&M Environmental in Queens.

Myrick calls Roxy his best friend and even has its tattoo on his leg. I committed to her long ago, and nothings going to come between me and her," he was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

Myrick, formerly a pest control employee, worked with Roxy for four years before he was laid off by the company in March. The dog was provided by the company M&M, covering its food and medical bills, but the two grew fond of each other over time. Roxy lived with Myrick and his wife Joana. Roxy and Myrick have some fond memories like that of going to enjoying hiking trips together.

The bond is such that Roxy is family to the couple now. "This is the closest to kids well have," Myrick was quoted as saying.

But when pandemic wretched the economies across the world and companies started firing people, things started going downhill for Myrick. He chose to be laid off rather than pivot and work for M&M as a COVID cleaner without Roxy. He returned his company's vehicle, credit cards and equipment, but held on to Roxy closely.

In June, Myrick received a letter from the company saying that the dog was company's property and that he must return it at the soonest. But Myrick refused and M&M initiated legal action against him accusing him of stealing the dog.

In August, Myrick spent 15 hours in jail. The company says that it planned to rehire Myrick by June, but he had moved to Philadelphia from Brooklyn.

His lawyer says that when the company left the dog with him in March, no agreement was signed over the custody of the dog. Myrick believes that Roxy's troubled background makes it difficult for her to develop an affectionate bond with another trainer.
WEST SPRINGFIELD  While the biggest spotlight was on President Joe Biden during his inauguration, a West Springfield teenagers artwork also shone brightly in Washington, D.C., last week.

Eduardo Miranda, 17, was one of 34 teen artists who had their work projected nightly, Jan. 15-19, on the facade of the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the inauguration stage at the U.S. Capitol.

So much history has been made in this inauguration, Miranda said on Thursday. Its something special. Your work has in some way sent some important message out there for everyone to look at.

Miranda designed a political poster that was chosen for In Pursuit Of, a nationwide contest run by Amplifier, a nonprofit design lab, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. His winning entry is a photo of a barbed wire-topped fence against a blue sky, under the words No Boundaries. The underlying message, he said, is there should be no limitations for anyone whos just trying to do some good in the world  people should have freedom.

As a senior in Rachel Lepines Photography II class at West Springfield High School, Miranda entered the contest as a class assignment. Miranda said he took the photo in West Springfield using his iPhone XR  the only camera he owns.

He said he loves to take photos around town, particularly images of animals, nature and buildings. Lepine said its common for her students to use their smartphones for class assignments, as the cameras are just as good as the entry-level film models that students used decades ago.

In addition to two photography classes, Miranda has also taken a graphic design class at West Springfield High School, learning the digital composition skills he needed to turn his photo into a digital poster with the No Boundaries text.

Lepine called Miranda a standout student in the art department. Hes been the West Springfield High School artist of the week, and was recently chosen to participate in the Massachusetts Art Education Association Youth Art Month exhibit.

Lepine said she asked all of her photography students to enter the In Pursuit Of contest. She said she was impressed with their submissions.

Young adults ... I think they sometimes feel that their opinion might not matter, and adults are making all the decisions, Lepine said. Its nice they are able to express themselves through their artwork, and now with social media, it can be seen across the world.

Miranda said he doesnt think of himself as a particularly political person. Although he is interested in a career in law, he wasnt thinking of any particular cause or policy when he conceived of No Boundaries.

I just wanted to do something important, capture something important, he said.

The contest winners were chosen by Amplifier and the J. Paul Getty Museum. There were 34 winning works chosen from more than 1,500 submissions. The name of the exhibit is a reference to the Declaration of Independence phrase life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Teens from across the United States were invited to submit creative images sharing their hopes and beliefs on a social justice issue. Some of the other topics addressed in winning entries included immigration, environmental preservation, education and the need for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Spokesperson Valerie Tate said the Getty Museum also plans to share the In Pursuit Of images through social media. The Los Angeles museum is unable to host in-person exhibits because of COVID-19 restrictions.

In addition to the projection in Washington, D.C., the images were also shown outdoors in Los Angeles. Amplifier had planned to project the images in New York City, but had to postpone that event, Tate said. No makeup date has been set.
Tamil Nadu: Lankan Navy attack: Nagai fishermen demand a permanent solution

by Antony Fernando

January 25,2021 | Source: The New Indian Express

Prosecute the killers and find a permanent solution was the common refrain among fishermen in Nagapattinam after an alleged attack by Sri Lankan Navy personnel left four fishers dead. In the wee hours of Monday, four Ramanathapuram fishermen were killed after their trawler, which left Pudukottai district, was allegedly rammed by a Sri Lankan Navy vessel in the Palk Strait. Their bodies were retrieved by Lankan armed forces on Wednesday. The incident has left the Nagai fishing community in shock. Fishers here are no strangers to harassment by the Lankan Navy. Condemning the incidents, providing solatium and assurances to speak to the Centre will not resolve the issue. Such incidents keep happening, although we have a Defence force and units. Even Gujarati fishers do not face such hostility from Pakistani armed forces, said RMP Rajendra Nattar, fisher representative from Nagapattinam.



Our men face threats, intimidation, bullying and assaults from Sri Lankan armed forces. The Centre and the State have not taken up the issue with Sri Lanka. Those who killed our men should be prosecuted and punished, said RV Kumaravel, vice-president of National Fishworkers Forum said. Fibreglass fishers from villages in Vedaranyam taluk in Nagapattinam district still go for fishing in the Palk Strait. The passage is calmer from November to February, compared to Coromandel waters and fish is available in abundance too. However, the attack on Monday has left Vedaranyam fisherfolk fearful. We routinely face the issue in Palk Strait. Trawlers which go to Palk Strait should be regulated. The mistakes committed by trawler fishers also put fibreglass fishermen in danger. We need the Coast Guard to intensify patrols in Palk Strait, said M Durgeswaran, a fisher-representative from Kodiyakarai. Officials have issued an advisory in the wake of the incident. We have advised fishers to carry life-saving equipment such as jackets and buoys, said G Jayaraj, assistant director of fisheries department.



Punish Navy personnel



Opposition parties urged Centre to ensure Lankan Navy personnel involved in the incident are punished. Condemnation by the External Affairs Ministry is not enough as SL action is against Sovereignty of India, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss said. TVK chief T Velmurugan urged Centre to get `10 crore solatium for the victims kin from Sri Lanka. VCK president Thirumavalavan urged State police to ensure protection of fishermen. MDMK leader Vaiko said a demonstration would be staged at Valluvar Kottam.

 newindianexpress.com 2021
A kitten has become the first animal to be infected by Covid-19 in South Korea after catching the virus from its owners.

The kitten was infected at the International Prayer Centre, a missionary school in the southern city of Jinju where more than 100 people have been infected.

The pet kitten was tested along with its mother and sibling when the cats were being transferred to an animal shelter.

Cats with Covid have been reported in Britain, Brazil and Japan, while a dog died in Hong Kong last year after testing positive for the virus.

The pet kitten was tested along with its mother and sibling when the cats were being transferred to an animal shelter (stock image)

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (pictured during a press conference last week) on Sunday ordered health officials to 'scientifically evaluate the possibility of transmission of COVID-19 between humans and animals and keep the public well informed.'

Cats and COVID-19: Q&A How do cats catch coronavirus? Cats become infected in the same way as humans do, by inhaling infected droplets after an infected person coughs or sneezes. There have been a handful of cases around the world and almost all appear to have caught it off their owners. Luckily, animals are far less susceptible to infection. The biggest cat to fall victim is Nadia, a four-year-old Malayan tiger at New York's Bronx Zoo. She made a full recovery. Could dogs and other animals get it too? Yes, there have been cases in dogs and other pets around the world. Some animals are particularly susceptible. Hundreds of thousands of minks have been slaughtered on farms in Spain and the Netherlands following outbreaks. Can humans catch Covid from infected pets? There is no evidence that animals transmit it to humans, with research suggesting they do not 'shed' enough virus to be infectious. However, Government scientists have warned that animals could act as 'fomites', in the same way as surfaces such as door handles do. For example, if an infected person coughed on their dog, the virus could survive on its fur and be passed to another person when they stroke it. What about animals spreading it to each other? There is evidence that cats can spread coronavirus to other cats. In May, researchers at the University of Wisconsin conducted an experiment when they infected three cats with the virus, then put three Covid-free felines in with them. The three newcomers went on to test positive after catching it from the infected animals. How bad are the symptoms of the virus in cats? Covid-19 seems to be far less deadly in animals than in humans. The British cat who tested positive showed mild clinical symptoms, but made a full recovery. Many other felines which have tested positive displayed no symptoms at all. I have tested positive  how can I protect my pet? Public Health England has urged pet owners to wash their hands before and after contact with animals. The British Veterinary Association advises infected people to restrict contact with animals. Owners who test positive should also keep cats indoors if possible. Should I put a mask on my cat or dog? No! Dr Jenny Stavisky, of the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine, explains: 'They are likely to find it scary. It may, however, be a good idea to try to acclimatise your pet gently to seeing people wearing masks so they don't get frightened.' Advertisement

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Sunday ordered health officials to 'scientifically evaluate the possibility of transmission of COVID-19 between humans and animals and keep the public well informed.'

South Korea is a pet-loving nation with around a third of its 50 million people keeping animals in their homes.

In July, health officials in England revealed that a cat and its owners had tested positive for coronavirus.

The animal suffered from a runny nose and shortness of breath but made a full recovery along with the owners, Downing Street said.

At the time experts warned against cuddling pets and last night a group of scientists in Britain and the United States argued that cats and dogs could require vaccines.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia, the Earlham Institute in Norwich and the University of Minnesota said that transmission from animals to humans poses a 'significant long-term risk.'

'It is not unthinkable that vaccination of some domesticated animal species might ... be necessary to curb the spread of the infection,' they wrote.

In Denmark last year, hundreds of Covid-19 cases were caused by variants associated with farmed mink, leading to millions of the animals being culled.

One of the authors, Cock van Oosterhout, professor of evolutionary genetics at UEA, said: 'It makes sense to develop vaccines for pets ... We really need to be prepared for any eventuality.'

He pointed out that Russia has started to develop a vaccine for pets.

Kevin Tyler, editor-in-chief of Virulence, said: 'Cats are asymptomatic but they are infected by it and they can infect humans with it.

'The risk is that, as long as there are these reservoirs, that it starts to pass as it did in the mink from animal to animal, and then starts to evolve animal-specific strains, but then they spill back into the human population and you end up essentially with a new virus which is related which causes the whole thing all over again.'

He said that while mink were culled in Denmark, 'if you were thinking about domestic animals, companion animals, then you might think about whether you could vaccinate to stop that from happening'.

He added: 'It's not an obvious risk yet.'

In their editorial, the scientists wrote: 'Continued virus evolution in reservoir animal hosts, followed by spillback events into susceptible human hosts, poses a significant long-term risk to public health.

'SARS-CoV-2 can infect a wide range of host species, including cats, dogs, mink and other wild and domesticated species and, hence, the vaccination of domesticated animals might be required to halt further virus evolution and spillback events.

'Whilst the vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2/ Covid-19 are being rolled out worldwide, new virus variants are likely to continue to evolve that have the potential to sweep through the human population.'

They said that more transmissible virus strains, such as the UK variant, require more people to be vaccinated to keep coronavirus under control.

'Vaccination against a viral pathogen with such high prevalence globally is without precedent and we, therefore, have found ourselves in uncharted waters,' they wrote.

The scientists have called on governments to consider the continued use of strict control measures such as masks and social distancing as the only way to reduce the evolution and spread of new Covid-19 variants.
Eden Mill Hip Flask Series #16 & #17

Eden Mill's #16 & #17 Hip Flask variants come in time for Burns Night

Category - Spirits, whisky, Scotch, single malt, 47% abv

Available - From today

Location - Available in the UK, online

Price - SRP of GBP30 (US$41.06) per 20cl bottle

Scotch whisky distiller Eden Mill has released two new expressions in its Hip Flask miniatures range.

The #16 and #17 iterations, which have been aged in ex-Islay whisky refill and Bourbon refill casks, respectively, are the first peated expressions in the Hip Flask line-up. The pair are available on Eden Mill's website from today to celebrate Burns Night.

"We wanted to create these peated expressions for The Hip Flask series for a long time," said head distiller Scott Ferguson. "It demonstrates the creative potential in small-batch whisky when we work with different mashbills, processes and maturation techniques as well as different wood types."

In September, Eden Mill founder Paul Miller spoke to just-drinks about his company's planned move to its new carbon-neutral distillery by the end of 2021.

How to tailor your spirits marketing to the consumer of today - and tomorrow - click here for a just-drinks comment
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Middle and high school students may not be able to return to their school buildings because New York City lacks the sufficient ability to test students and staff for the coronavirus (COVID-19), according to a recent report from the New York Post.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said in a statement to the Post that the city is barely managing all the aspects of the current random testing program and tracing requirements.

They are not prepared to handle any additional schools, he added.

Only preschool, elementary and District 75 school students have returned for in-person learning under the mayors phased-in approach to reopen schools. All New York City schools were shuttered in mid-November amid rising coronavirus cases.

After closing all schools for three weeks, the city Department of Education (DOE) in December reopened only elementary schools for grades K to 5 and District 75 schools for children with disabilities, offering in-person classes up to five days a week.

In order to reopen the schools, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced stricter testing measures, testing 20% of each schools population weekly. Middle and high schools remain closed with all students learning remotely, and its unclear when students could return to their buildings. The mayor has indicated it could be before the end of the school year.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

But Mulgrews comments to the New York Post indicate middle and high schools may not reopen in the 2020-2021 school year unless testing can be ramped up significantly.

Nathaniel Styer, spokesman for the DOE, told the Post that it is consistently testing beyond the 20% threshold each week.

By every measure, our approach is working, as New York City remains the only major school system to offer in-person instruction to hundreds of thousands of children, he told the media outlet. We look forward to adapting our successful testing model to serve our middle and high school students as quickly as possible.

The DOE wouldnt provide a date for further reopening of middle and high schools, the Post reported.
Oil gained the most in about a week with expectations for tighter global supply offsetting concerns that a bumpy Covid-19 vaccine rollout will further blunt demand.

Futures closed nearly 1% higher after fluctuating between gains and losses in Mondays session. Key timespreads for both U.S. and global benchmark crude futures are in a structure indicating shrinking supplies. Iraq pledged to cut output in January and February to compensate for pumping more than its OPEC+ quota last year, and Libyan guards halted some crude exports after a pay dispute. At the same time, Russian seaborne exports of its flagship Urals grade will fall by about 20% in February.

The supply signals from OPEC+ producers is very important for providing the belief that were going to see much higher prices,said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp.

Despite expectations for crude supply reductions to spur declines in global inventories, the demand outlook remains precarious as governments toughen lockdown restrictions and vaccine distribution efforts face logistical obstacles. U.S. infectious-disease chief Anthony Fauci said hes worried about delays to the second dose of Covid-19 vaccinations as governments stretch intervals to speed immunizations. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers still have yet to agree on an additional fiscal stimulus package, which could provide a boost to oil demand.

People are worried about the pandemic and potentially risks associated with fiscal stimulus, said Bart Melek, head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities. Increasingly, were hesitant to say that Bidens going to pass a $1.9 trillion expenditure plan. Clearly, that doesnt bode well for getting unusually strong demand for oil.

Oil prices will likely face a slow grind higher rather than a sharp jump in the near term as physical oil markets in the Atlantic Basin are softer than last month, RBC analysts including Michael Tran and Helima Croft wrote in a report.

The physical market appears to be absorbing any material demand softness from lockdowns in stride, for now, the report said. However, the physical market is far from tight and additional barrels are not being bid in size, even as the Saudi cut propagates to the consumer base for next month.

See also: Iran Oil Exports Creep Up as Trumps Maximum Pressure Fades

Supply curtailments are strengthening the markets structure, with Iraq set to pump 3.6 million barrels a day in January and February, the lowest level since early 2015. Brents prompt timespread was 20 cents a barrel in backwardation -- a bullish market formation where near-dated contracts are more expensive than later-dated ones. Thats the strongest the spread has been since February. WTIs prompt spread is at the strongest since May.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on his re-election as head of state.

"I sincerely congratulate Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on his re-election as President of Portugal. In development of our recent telephone conversation, I am primed to further deepen cooperation between Ukraine and Portugal. I look forward to our future meeting," Zelensky wrote on his Twitter page.

As reported, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, according to preliminary data, won a landslide victory in the first round of elections and achieved re-election, according to the Diario de Noticias newspaper.

According to forecasts of the Portuguese media, released after the closure of polling stations, from 55% to 62% of voters supported the incumbent president.

His closest rival, Ana Gomes from the Socialist Party, can count on 13% to 17% of the vote.
The Crohns and Colitis Foundations Winter Ball was interrupted by a racially charged incident Saturday evening. One or more intruders infiltrated an externally hosted chat platform and used racial slurs and other inappropriate language during the live-streamed, virtual event, organizers confirmed.

The incident occurred as Roslyn Bazzelle Mitchell, a Black honoree, appeared onscreen. She is one of this years 10 Women of Distinction.

Screenshots from the live event on Vimeo show one user post congrats (racial slur) repeatedly in the chat feature during Mitchells video presentation.

It happened within a matter of seconds, said Leigh Ellen Key, executive director of the foundations South Texas Chapter. Essentially there would be a quick series of the word before the users were cut off. Unfortunately, they were able to pop back in again.

In August, hackers disrupted S.A.F.E. Diversity Communities virtual gala with racial slurs and sex sounds. The Harris County non-profit advocates for students with disabilities. The FBI and the Harris County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

The Crohns and Colitis Foundation on Monday had not yet filed a police report of the incident.

Sharon Saias, vice president of marketing and communications for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation, confirmed that the organization has a transcript of the exchange, and that an investigation is underway. The foundations chief technology officer, CEO and senior leaders have asked the hosting partner to determine how the security breach took place, she said.

We think it was a professional, not an attendee, Saias said. They were able to get back on, so the chat function was shut down.

Karana Audiovisual Services LLC handled pre-recorded video and streaming.

On Saturday night, Mitchell hosted a small group of women in her home for a watch party. The plan had been to celebrate the friends who have inspired her. When Mitchell received text messages with screenshots of the racial slurs in the chat box, she excused herself to process what she saw.

I took about 10 minutes and decided to keep on moving forward, she said. I cannot go back downstairs with my guests and be crying. So we still enjoyed each other, and it was fabulous.

Mitchell said that she slept on it and let the foundations president and CEO, Michael Osso, know on Sunday that she was unhappy about what happened. Mitchell  an attorney, accessories designer, fitness expert and the mother of a 10-year-old son with husband Derrick Mitchell  hopes that the organization takes the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again.

This is one of those things where Im trying not to take it personally. But the fact that someone saw an African-American woman being celebrated, and had the angst to want to tear that down and put me in my place ... Im just trying to channel that into action, Mitchell said. I dont want anyone who acts like that to feel like theyve succeeded. I want to focus on the fact that despite this, we had a fantastic event.

Over the weekend, Houston Ballet Ball host committee members re-evaluated next months virtual Ballet Ball format in light of Saturdays incident.

It is such a shame that this spectacular event and the incredible women it honors were overshadowed by this appalling behavior, said Angela Lane, chief development officer of Houston Ballet. The Ballet Ball, set for Feb. 20, will also be virtually hosted on Vimeo. We do not plan to enable the chat feature, as our event is structured around an at-home dinner experience in addition to the presentation.

The 2021 class of Women of Distinction also includes Robin Angly, Lara Bell, Donae Chramosta, Tracy Faulkner, Leila Perrin, Pat Mann Phillips, Christie Sullivan, Beth Zdeblick, Sherri Zucker and this years ambassador, Beth Wolff. Joanne King Herring received the inaugural Paul Somerville Legacy Award.

The events honored hero, Wendy Kovich, shared her experiences with Crohns disease on the live stream. Kovich and Johnny Bravo Holloway shared hosting duties with co-chairs Amy Pierce, Kristina Somerville and Stephanie Tsuru.

The event raised $400,000 to fund inflammatory bowel disease research.

On Sunday, the foundation sent emails to supporters expressing deep regret that our participants had to see such terrible language in what we had intended to be a safe place where we could celebrate our community and our honorees. As an organization that is deeply committed to anti-racism, we have been actively expanding our diversity and inclusion efforts in our research, patient engagement, staffing and more.

The foundation is actively investigating this incident with our technology vendors to ascertain exactly how the hackers were able to infiltrate our event and to try to prevent anything like this from happening again. We are saddened that this incident marred an otherwise wonderful celebration of our inflammatory bowel disease community and our amazing honorees.

Were taking this extremely seriously, Saias said. Im confident we will get to the bottom of this.

amber.elliott@chron.com
A Harris County judge on Monday dismissed a theft charge against a doctor accused of stealing nine doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine he said would otherwise go to waste.

County Court-At-Law Judge Franklin Bynum criticized Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg for attempting to prosecute Dr. Hasan Gokal and said the single misdemeanor charge of theft by a public servant lacked probable cause.

In the number of words usually taken to describe an allegation of retail shoplifting, the State attempts, for the first time, to criminalize a doctors documented administration of vaccine doses during a public health emergency, Bynum wrote in his order, adding the prosecutors affidavit was riddled with sloppiness and errors.

Ogg spokesman Dane Schiller said prosecutors will still pursue the case.

Judge Bynums gratuitous observations call into question his fairness and impartiality; we anticipate presenting all the evidence in the matter to a grand jury, Schiller said.

Gokal, who worked for Harris County Public Health, was supervising a vaccine distribution site on Dec. 29, when an opened vial of Moderna doses was left over at the end of the day, around 6:30 p.m. Since the doses would expire within six hours, Gokal through his attorney said that he offered the vaccine to health workers and police on site, but they declined or already had been inoculated.

Gokal said he called a supervisor at the health department, who knew of no available patients. He then used contacts in his cellphone and administered about nine doses off-site to eligible recipients: elderly residents or those with certain medical conditions. Unable to find any other recipient, Gokal said he gave the final dose to his chronically ill wife after 11 p.m.

Gokal said he entered all of the recipients into the states database the following day, as required. He was fired Jan. 8 when Harris County Public Health leaders determined he had violated policy by taking doses away from a vaccination site.

In a news release last week, Ogg accused Gokal of stealing doses to give to his family and friends. Gokals lawyer, Paul Doyle, alleged the health department fired the doctor to deflect attention away from a mismanaged vaccine rollout.

The government has an interest in ensuring doctors follow procedures in distributing vaccines, said Valerie Gutmann Koch, co-director of the University of Houston Law Centers Health Law and Policy Institue. Those rules, however, must be clear and transparent.

Its very difficult not to feel sympathetic to the physician, and all the various steps he took in order to ensure the vaccine got into as many arms as possible, Koch said.

The health department has yet to respond to a Chronicle request for its vaccine distribution protocols. A spokeswoman did not respond to a request Monday for comment on the dismissal of the case.

Doyle said Gokal is preparing to sue Harris County for wrongful termination.

An apology by Harris County Public Health and the Harris County District Attorneys Office toward Dr. Gokal and his family will not be enough, Doyle said. The agency disparaged this good public servants name and took away his employment without cause.

Gokal, an emergency room physician, began working for Harris County last April.

zach.despart@chron.com
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Albuquerque police are investigating separate shootings that left two dead, one that occurred late Sunday night in the Northeast Heights and another that occurred Monday morning in southeast Albuquerque.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said homicide detectives were sent to a residence in the 6700 block of Ranchitos Road NE on Sunday night where an individual was found dead. Gallegos said police were sent to the home after a caller reported that someone had been shot.

Officers responded to the call and provided first aid, he added in an email. The individual was taken to the hospital for treatment, however, they did not survive their injuries. Gallegos did not say whether the person killed was a man or woman.

The second homicide occurred on the 5500 block of Silver SE. Officers responded to a shooting near the intersection of Madeira and Central SE.

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A caller advised that one male was on the ground with injuries, Gallegos said. Officers arrived on scene and located one male subject on the ground with trauma to his chest.

He added that the victim was transported to University of New Mexico Hospital where he died from his injuries.
Israel has extradited an Australian educator accused of sexually abusing her former students.

Malka Leifer was extradited on Monday morning shortly before Israel closed its international airport. She is facing 74 child sex abuse charges, the Associated Press reported.

Leifer was the principal of the Jewish school Adass Israel in Melbourne. The charges pertain to the alleged abuse of three children between 2001 and 2008, according to The Australian news outlet the Sydney Morning Herald.

In 2008, she fled to Israel, where Jews from around the world have a right to immigrate and obtain citizenship under the Law of Return.

The extradition culminates years of legal battles surrounding Leifers alleged abuses. Australia has been seeking her extradition from Israel for years. In 2015, the school was ordered to pay $1.1 million in damages to the victims. In 2016, an Israeli judge deemed her mentally unfit to face extradition. She was then arrested in 2018 after police found her living in the West Bank settlement Immanuel, according to the Herald.

Leifers lawyer Nick Kaufman has said she suffers from psychological issues, the outlet reported.

Leifer first flew to Frankfurt, where she had a connecting flight to Australia, according to the Israeli news outlet Ynet. People arriving to Australia must undergo a strict two-week quarantine under guard.

Her lawyers will request she serve any sentence in Israel, according to the AP.

Israel has extradited criminal suspects who fled there under the Law of Return in the past.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 20:09:22|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that Iran welcomes Azerbaijan's six-nation cooperation initiative aimed at regional peace and stability, Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran is ready for help and cooperation in any field contributing to regional peace and stability, Zarif said in his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan's capital Baku.

The six-nation initiative, put forward recently by the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan, would include Iran, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia for regional peace and development cooperation.

He announced Iran's interest in the exports of technical and engineering services to Azerbaijan, as well as their cooperation in electricity and energy industries, agriculture, extra-territorial cultivation, mine-sweeping, and reconstruction of mosques and historical sites.

Zarif arrived in Baku on Monday on the first leg of his tour to the Caucasus countries and Turkey. Enditem

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Samsung could be working on a new chipset that could beat Apple's current A14 Bionic processor. If this is true, could the new chip beat iPhone 12's latest processor?

According to Gizmo China's latest report, Samsung previously released its new smartphones in the Galaxy S-Series. These include the latest Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, and Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The company's latest Exynos 2100 chipset or Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor are currently the ones that power all these devices. But, the chipset may depend on the device's region of availability.

However, even if Samsung's Exynos 2100 showed better results compared to the tech giant manufacturer's Exynos 990, the processor is still lacking the power that can beat Apple's latest A14 Bionic chipset, which is currently used in its latest iPhone flagships.

Samsung's upcoming Exynos processor: release date

Many rumors claimed that Apple's rival is currently focusing on developing a new Exynos chipset that could beat A14 Bionic chip. Speculations suggested that the alleged processor could be launched in the first half of this year, 2021.

On the other hand, it is important to remember that Samsung's current Exynos 2100 SoC is comparable to the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. Why? Because they seem to perform the same when it comes to CPU Tests. Although this is the case, the processor still lags in terms of GPU performance.

Also Read: Raspberry Pi Pico Projects, Tutorials and Specs: How to Use for Coding, MicroPython and C/C++

Previously, Samsung was reportedly working with AMD to enhance the graphics performance on its upcoming Exynos processors. Early results of the alleged chips revealed that it has beaten Apple's latest A14 Bionic chipset by a significant margin.

However, Samsung could still change its planned launch for its upcoming Exynos chipsets. The best thing to do for now is to wait for the company's announcements about its upcoming processors.

List of Exynos chipsets in development

If Samsung will delay its planned launch for its upcoming Exynos chipsets, many users could be disappointed. However, WCCFTech reported that the delay could further improve the company's upcoming processors.

If Samsung decided to launch the alleged Exynos chipsets, it would have enough time to work with AMD to optimize the chipset's power consumption and thermals. Here is the list of the possible Exynos chipsets that could arrive;

Aztec High - 58FPS

Manhattan 3.1 - 181.8FPS

Aztec normal - 138.25FPS

For more news updates about Samsung and its upcoming products, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: AMD Ryzen 'Cezanne' Benchmarks Reveal Promising Performance; Can it Defeat Apple M1 Chipset?

This article is owned by TechTimes.

Written by: Giuliano de Leon.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Marine Bands mission is to perform for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. It was founded in 1798 by an Act of Congress, and the band is Americas oldest continuously active, professional musical organization.

The Marine Band has provided the soundtrack for the inauguration, Nowlin said. We've become a sort of living history, and the people in the organization now have played with people who have played with people who have played with people that have played for (John Philip) Sousa. It goes all the way back to before the White House was built, and the way that our organization continues to recruit and enlist members from that world's greatest conservatories means that this lineage is unbroken from the beginning of the band, which means those traditions, musical styles and interpretations are passed down in an almost folk song kind of way. It really is a unifying musical unit for America at large.

Nowlin has a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in music education from BGSUs College of Musical Arts. He last visited the Bowling Green campus when he conducted the band during a memorial performance for the late Mark Kelly in June 2018.

That was a remarkable experience and memorial talk about music bringing people together and helping people heal, Nowlin said. It was really a special day at the University.

Nowlin said he is proud to be able to perform and represent BGSU in the public eye.

It's amazing as I continue to work in the profession during my career how many Bowling Green alumni I intersect with, he said. Bowling Green alumnus David Conte (78) was a guest composer we had, and I transcribed some of his work for the Marine Band. And then, of course, Jennifer Higdon (86) has become a just a dear friend of mine, and our paths have intersected a few times. Just recently, I transcribed her Blue Cathedral for the Marine Band, and that was one of the last concerts we did before COVID shutdown during Presidents Day weekend in February.

A man is in custody after allegedly shooting another car while stopping at traffic lights on Brisbanes north, before again firing at police during an hours-long chase across the south-east overnight.

The 31-year-old from Morayfield is expected to face further charges after being taken to the Ipswich Hospital for minor injuries sustained during his Sunday night arrest, police said in a statement.

Mr Lawson said the man was "accompanied by a number of people" when he walked into the police station about 9am on Thursday. Credit:Queensland Police Service

He had earlier pulled up in a silver BMW at the intersection of Dances and Pumicestone roads in Caboolture about 7pm and allegedly threatened two people in the car beside his.

The man allegedly fired a shot at the car as it drove off, hitting the rear passenger side door, the police statement said. The occupants of the vehicle were not physically injured.
Commemorating Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary on January 23, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind unveiled his portrait at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Little did he know that this would lead to an outrageous social media reaction with claims that the portrait isn't Netaji's but actor Prosenjit Chatterjee's who has played the role of Netaji in a movie.

The government, however, has refuted all such claims on Monday calling the debate fake. The Centre has clarified that the portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Rashtrapati Bhavan is based on an original photo of the freedom fighter.

The President's official handle tweeted the pictures from the portrait unveiling ceremony on Saturday. Since then the social media is fired up with many users posting memes and calling out the alleged blunder of the government.

Many, including Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra pointed out the 'mix-up' and said in a tweet, "God Save India (because this government certainly can't)" in reaction to the incident. However, Moitra's tweet cannot be found anymore as she has deleted it.

Post the clarifications, many including actor Richa Chadha and INC West Bengal have deleted their tweets. Here are some reactions to this apparent goof-up. Also see what what people said post the government's clarifications.





Gandhiji of our future currency notes pic.twitter.com/2qFgACZ2mp  Hussain Haidry (@hussainhaidry) January 25, 2021

This is unbelievably hilarious. The Portrait that President of India Unveiled, it is is of Actor Prosenjit who played role of Netaji (Look at Eyes). Thats like unveiling Portrait of Ajay Devgan as Bhagat Singh https://t.co/voRxerFmoU  Joy (@Joydas) January 25, 2021

#Parodyportraits



President of India unveiling the portrait of Bhagat Singh pic.twitter.com/eS2mdiu5L2  Bakasur Goya (@Bahut_Scope_Hai) January 25, 2021

Poor Sachin Khedekar must be wondering why he wasn't considered for the #Netaji portrait... pic.twitter.com/pW1J9vECqP  Bobby Ghosh (@ghoshworld) January 25, 2021

As per media reports this is the photo on which the portrait of Netaji has been unveiled by @rashtrapatibhvn.

I am deleting my earlier tweet but I must say the portrait is not an accurate job.

Anyway the controversy should be put to rest . Jai Hind Jai Bharat pic.twitter.com/bcMsNunjKL  Tehseen Poonawalla Official (@tehseenp) January 25, 2021

Those left wingers like @sagarikaghose ,@bainjal who never spoke about Netaji till now or remembered him are busy creating a storm in a tea cup without differentiating between a portrait and a movie still!!!

Real Netaji on left, Prosenajit Chatterjee on the right!!! pic.twitter.com/1PEsNGAsmJ  Aaditya Sreenath (@AadityaSreenath) January 25, 2021

All those IYI (intellects yet idiots) could manage is a storm

in a teacup. https://t.co/0J2GBFyhuy  Hrushikesh Swain (@RishiHks) January 25, 2021

Ever since our President Shri Ramnath Kovind @rashtrapatibhvn has donated  5 lakhs in his personal capacity for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, our chrislamic commie ecosystem has started targeting him. Todays propaganda on Netaji's portrait was one such attempt.  Tejash M   (@tejash_m) January 25, 2021

Conspiracy theorists just go to another level to peddle whatever they can get their hands on...and then just blame it at 'state of affairs' in the country. 



Case at hand, unveiling of Netaji's portrait at Rashtrapati Bhavan.



L: Original Portrait

R: Photograph unveiled. (1.) pic.twitter.com/lG5m55GnfH  Aditya Kashyap (@adityak_think) January 25, 2021

Portrait of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. pic.twitter.com/gjqltdUgVG  Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) January 25, 2021

Also read: 'Don't walk on road where there's cow': This leaf bag is bit too eco-friendly, but worth praising!
Orthodox diocese denies that priest was suspended for attending DC pro-Trump protest

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A diocese of the Orthodox Church in America is denying reports that one of their priests has been suspended due to his attending the Jan. 6 pro-Trump protests in Washington, D.C.

Father Alexander Koranda, director of Communications for the Diocese of the Midwest, told The Christian Post in an emailed statement that the Rev. Mark Hodges was suspended for other reasons.

Fr. Mark was not suspended for his presence at the rally. This suspension is a result of various circumstances that is currently part of an internal process, explained Koranda.

All of the facts can not be disclosed at this current time. The suspension is not due to one event, but also involves other matters.

The Dayton Daily News reported last week that Hodges was suspended on Jan. 12, with the priest telling the outlet that it was connected to his attendance of the D.C. rally.

My beloved bishop had questioned the wisdom of a priest attending, Hodges told DDN. I think part of the problem is I viewed that Stop the Steal rally as expressing extreme concern over voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election.

Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America and archbishop of Washington, issued a public letter on Jan. 20 congratulating Joe Biden on being inaugurated.

Following the command of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles, we Orthodox Christians pray for the governing authorities in all of our worship services, wrote Tikhon to Biden.

Thus, the clergy and faithful of the Orthodox Church in America will keep you in our prayers, praying for your good health, sound judgment, and wise governance, as you faithfully serve the American people as our President.

On Jan. 6, the day that Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, hundreds of Trump supporters and others stormed the Capitol Building.

The riot began while a rally was held at the Ellipse near the White House featuring thousands of Trump supporters with President Donald Trump being the main speaker.

For several hours, protesters confronted and fought with security, resulting in dozens of injuries and at least five deaths, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

Earlier this month, a Florida-based nondenominational church garnered attention when the wife of one of its pastors and her mother were found to have been involved in the demonstrations.

Bayside Community Church posted a statement to Facebook on Jan. 8 addressing the issue, saying they were heartbroken and saddened by the events and that any member of their church who attended the protests did so as a private individual, for their own purposes and not as a representative of Bayside Community Church.

We want to make it clear that Bayside Community Church does not support, agree with, or condone violence, lawlessness, riots, or terrorism of any kind, stated the church.

No pastor or staff member of Bayside Community Church attended or participated in any of the events which occurred in our Nations Capitol this past week.
Sen. Leahy to Preside Over Trumps Impeachment Trial

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), president pro tempore of the Senate, will preside over next months impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, Leahy said on Jan. 25.

Leahy is 80. Both parties traditionally choose their eldest member to serve in the pro tempore role, which is essentially a backup for the president of the Senate, whenever they gain a majority in the body.

The president pro tempore has historically presided over Senate impeachment trials of non-presidents, Leahy said in a statement. When presiding over an impeachment trial, the president pro tempore takes an additional special oath to do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws. It is an oath that I take extraordinarily seriously.

I consider holding the office of the president pro tempore and the responsibilities that come with it to be one of the highest honors and most serious responsibilities of my career, he said. When I preside over the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, I will not waver from my constitutional and sworn obligations to administer the trial with fairness, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.

The U.S. Constitution states that the Supreme Courts chief justice shall preside when the president of the United States is tried in an impeachment trial. But once Trump left office last week, that threw Chief Justice John Robertss role into question; Roberts had presided over the first impeachment trial.

Chief Justice John Roberts announces the results of the vote on the second article of impeachment during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in Washington on Feb. 5, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

Reports suggested that Roberts didnt want to preside over a trial of the former president. Supreme Court spokespersons didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment, nor did spokespersons for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Dozens of Republicans have voiced opposition to holding an impeachment trial for a former president; some have said that Robertss apparent reluctance to act as presiding judge is significant.

If Justice Roberts wont preside over this sham impeachment, then why would it ever be considered legitimate? Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a tweet last week.

The House alleges in its single article of impeachment that Trump incited the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol. The Senate expects to start the trial during the week of Feb. 8.
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China's top disciplinary body on Sunday adopted a communique, vowing unremitting efforts to improve Party conduct, build a clean government and fight corruption to ensure the implementation of the targets and tasks set for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

The communique was adopted at the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which was held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended and addressed the session. Other Party and state leaders, including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng, also attended the meeting.

The session reviewed the CCDI's progress in 2020, laid out its tasks for 2021 and passed a work report delivered by Zhao on behalf of the Standing Committee of the CCDI, according to the communique.

A speech made by Xi at the session was studied, and it was agreed that the speech provides important guidance to further enforce full, rigorous self-discipline within the Party.

In 2020, new major achievements have been made in various areas of the Party and state's cause under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, fully demonstrating the notable strengths of the Party leadership and the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, according to the communique.

The CCDI, the National Supervisory Commission, and local discipline inspection commissions and supervisory agencies at all levels have faithfully performed their duties in fighting against COVID-19, securing a decisive victory in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and shaking off poverty while promoting high-quality development of the disciplinary inspection and supervision work, it noted.

For 2021, efforts should be made to ensure that officials "don't dare to, are unable to and have no desire to commit acts of corruption," and to deepen the reform of discipline inspection and supervision systems, according to the communique.

An eight-point list of requirements was put forward by the session:

-- Uphold Xi's position as the core of the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party, as well as the authority of the CPC Central Committee and its centralized, unified leadership to ensure the smooth implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan with strong political oversight;

-- Deepen the anti-corruption campaign and advance the system under which officials "don't dare to, are unable to and have no desire to commit acts of corruption" as a whole; investigate corruption cases in which political and economic issues are intertwined;

-- Beef up the fight against deep-rooted practices of formalities for formalities' sake and bureaucratism; curb behaviors related to hedonism and extravagance; supervise the implementation of regulations related to doing business by leading officials' spouses, children, and their children's spouses;

-- Address corruption and misconduct that occur on the people's doorsteps to promote social fairness and justice as well as safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the people;

-- Improve coordination in disciplinary inspections at different levels, giving full play to intraparty supervision and public oversight;

-- Integrate various forms of supervision and improve the effectiveness of supervision and governance, including strengthening oversight on leading bodies and their heads;

-- Deepen the reform of discipline inspection and supervision systems and promote intraparty and state supervision across the board;

-- Conduct strict self-supervision and self-discipline and build an iron anti-graft team that is loyal, clean, professional and with a strong sense of political integrity and responsibility.
ROME, N.Y. -- Rome Superintendent Peter Blake issued a statement earlier this week regarding a social media post by one of the teachers. The Facebook post by Brandon Mendoza called on "White privileged Trump supporters" to go away calling them "scum and a plague upon this world."

The profanity-filled social media post has been widely shared and many parents called on the district to take action. In a statement, Peter Blake said,

"Thank you to everyone who reached out to express their concern and disappointment caused by the comments of a Rome City School District staff member. Our district believes in equity & tolerance and the individual's comments do not reflect those values. While we cannot speak publicly about personnel-related issues, I can assure you that we are addressing the situation with our legal counsel and the State Education Department. On behalf of all Rome City School District employees, I am sorry that our school community was represented in such a negative light."
South Africa: Vaccination campaign to prioritise most in need, says President

With South Africa gearing to receive its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines, President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that governments mass vaccination campaign strategy would reach all corners of the country, prioritising those most in need.

The President emphasised the commitment in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter on Monday.

In coming weeks, the country will receive a batch of 1.5 million Astrazeneca vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India, the worlds largest vaccine producer.

This, wrote the President, will signal the start of a mass vaccination campaign that will be the most ambitious and extensive in the countrys history.

It will reach all parts of the country and will be phased to ensure that those most in need are prioritised. The first vaccines to arrive will be provided to health care workers, who will be targeted in the first phase.

The second phase will include essential workers, teachers, the elderly and those with co-morbidities. The third phase will include other adults in the population, President Ramaphosa said.

The comprehensive rollout strategy and an accompanying logistical framework will be implemented in partnership with the private sector, civil society, traditional leadership, the religious sector and others.

It is vital that this is a society-wide campaign, in which everyone is involved and no-one is left behind, he wrote.

A year after the novel coronavirus started spreading around the world, the arrival of the vaccine gives great hope for our countrys social and economic recovery  and, most importantly, for the health of our people.

The President said given the unprecedented global demand for vaccine doses, combined with the far greater buying power of wealthier countries, South Africa had to engage in extensive and protracted negotiations with manufacturers to secure enough vaccines to reach the countrys adult population.

South Africa has engaged closely with the global COVAX facility and the African Unions Vaccine Acquisition Task Team as part of the collective effort to secure vaccines for the worlds low- and middle-income countries. The doses that South Africa will receive through its participation in these initiatives, together with the agreements being made directly with manufacturers, are expected to ensure that the country has sufficient vaccines to contain the spread of the virus, he said.



From the moment the Coronavirus first reached our shores in March last year, we have acted swiftly and decisively, and informed by the best available scientific evidence, to save lives and protect livelihoods. Through the measures we have taken, we have been able to contain infections, protect our health system and prevent an even greater loss of life, said the President.

He said: Understanding that vaccines are essential if we are to overcome the pandemic, government has been working, both through multilateral initiatives and direct negotiations with manufacturers, to ensure South Africa can make the best use of vaccines when they become available.

Regarding concern that government has not been sufficiently transparent about these efforts, President Ramaphosa said as government did with the announcement on the Serum Institute, the details of deals with manufacturers will be released as and when negotiations are concluded and we are released from the communications terms of the non-disclosure agreements.

This is commonplace in such circumstances, and most governments have had to comply with similar restrictions, he said.

We recognise that it is important that the public must be kept abreast of developments on vaccine acquisition at all times. And government must be held to account for all the decisions it makes in this regard.

Throughout the pandemic, he said, government has been open and transparent with the South African people on the health measures it is taking to secure the safety of people.

We have sought to explain all our decisions, to listen to peoples concerns and to continuously update the country on the state of the disease, he said.

He added: All of us need to be part of this national effort and not allow the spread of rumours, fear and mistrust. False information and fake news can and does put lives at risk. We all need to work together to build confidence in the vaccine, to demonstrate its effectiveness and its safety  and to emphasise its vital importance in overcoming this deadly disease.

For its part, he wrote, government will work to improve all its channels of communication, to keep the public regularly informed on the development of the vaccination programme, to provide information that is accurate and factual, and to continue to engage with and listen to the broad range of voices in society.

We have a massive task ahead of us, probably far greater than any of us has ever undertaken before. But if we work together, if we support and trust each other and if we keep the lines of communication open, we will certainly succeed, said the President.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
This is the dramatic moment a teenage boy is tackled to the ground by two cops in front of commuters at a busy train station in Sydney's south.

Video footage of the incident at Cronulla was posted to social media where police are seen wrestling the teen to the ground, before placing him in a headlock.

Officers repeatedly tell him to 'put your hands behind your back' and 'put your legs back, get on the ground' as the incident unfolded on Saturday evening.

Footage has been posted to social media showing the dramatic moment a male was wrestled to the ground at Cronulla train station in Sydney

The male was placed in a headlock after being brought to the ground and told to 'put your hands behind your back'

A plain-clothed officer assisted the two cops, before several other police arrived on scene.

At one stage four officers could be seen on top of the male as he was held against the ground.

He can be heard at one point claiming 'you're f**king choking me' and 'you'll break my f**king legs'.

NSW Police said in a statement: 'About 5:45pm on Saturday, officers spoke to a 16-year-old boy at Cronulla Railway Station.

'He refused a police direction and became confrontational towards officers. More police were called to the area due to large crowds.

'Another 16-year-old boy attempted to intervene, before both were arrested. While being arrested one of the teens allegedly spat at police.

The dramatic scenes unfolded at Cronulla train station in Sydney's south on Saturday afternoon

Both uniformed and plain clothed officers were involved in bringing the male to the ground

'They were taken to Sutherland Police Station. One was charged with two counts of assault police, refuse police direction, resist police and a transport offence.

'The other was charged with possess prohibited weapon, resist police and a transport offence.'

Both teenagers were given bail and will appear in a children's court on February 3.
[January 25, 2021] Moldintel specializes in smart injection manufacturing solution

TAOYUAN, Taiwan, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Moldintel is currently an incubatee of Industry Accelerator & Incubation Center of Chung Yuan University (IAIC), which is dedicated to industry-academia collaboration and professional counseling and awarded the UBI Global Enterprise Incubator & Accelerator Best Challenge Award (2019). IAIC provides incubatees with international links and entrepreneurial resources, and all the incubatees have high potential, one example being Moldintel, which specializes in smart injection manufacturing solution. Moldintel is a smart manufacturing solution provider for the injection molding industry which is a solution platform with multiple easy-subscription manufacturing service modules for different processing demands. Smart injection molding solution is a cloud-based molding condition guidance and optimizer which serves as a virtual master operator to empower the factory productability and systemtically digitize production know-how.



In tradition, the highly labor-based processing relies on the master operator to execute factory production and even molding experience preservation. However, the retirement of the master operator and the long training process for a young operator are serious risk for not only a factory, but the whole industry. To free from the issue of talent shortage and know-how losing, the rule-based smart injection molding solution initiated by theoretical algorism with scientific molding experience to be a molding process expert system. The solution platform, which covers the whole molding process, features the cost-saving from mold trial to the stability of mass production, and further connecting with injection molding machine as a machine brain by IoT technology to achieve the fully smart automatic injection molding process.

About Moldintel "Moldintel" is a start-up company located in Taiwan. It is a group of R&D teams focused on advanced manufacturing technologies for injection molding. In response to the new generation of Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing wave, Moldintel have created the world's leading cloud injection molding solution with innovative thinking. Moldintel is one of the few global suppliers dedicated to cross-brand injection molding intelligent solutions and won 2020 IAIC Best Startup Company. For Further Information Official Website: https://www.moldintel.com/#/ Services Smart Injection Molding Solution Injection Molding Training Program Consulting Service Injection Machine IoT Upgrade Service Cavity Pressure Sensor/Temperature Sensor View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moldintel-specializes-in-smart-injection-manufacturing-solution-301213773.html SOURCE Moldintel Co., Ltd.

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Covid-19 Live Updates: First Case of Brazil-Based Virus Variant Found in U.S. California has lifted stay-at-home orders in much of the state. Moderna said its vaccine was effective against new variants but may be less protective against the variant that emerged in South Africa.

The first confirmed U.S. case of a variant discovered in Brazil is found in Minnesota. The Brazil P.1 variant is thought to be more contagious but it is unclear if it causes more severe illness. Credit... Jim Mone/Associated Press A case of a more contagious coronavirus variant first found in Brazil has been confirmed in Minnesota, the states department of health said in a statement on Monday. It is the first confirmed case of the variant in the United States. The case was identified in a Minnesota resident who had recently traveled to Brazil, the department said, which could suggest that the variant may not yet be widely circulating. It was only a matter of time before the variant was detected in the United States, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a Covid adviser to President Biden. With the world travel that you have, and the degree of transmissibility efficiency, its not surprising, he said. The variant, known as B.1.1.28.1 or P.1, shares many mutations with one first identified in South Africa. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines still protect from the variant circulating in South Africa, the companies have said, but they are slightly less effective. They are expected to perform similarly against the variant identified in Brazil. The variant identified in Britain is more transmissible, but just as susceptible to vaccines as the original form of the virus. But the variants in Brazil and South Africa have additional mutations that may help elude the vaccines. The amount of concern that I have between the U.K. variant, and the South African/Brazilian is much, much different, Dr. Fauci said. The variant identified in Britain has been confirmed in 22 states, and the variant found in South Africa has not yet been confirmed in the United States. The P.1 variant is also thought to be more contagious but it is unclear if it causes more severe illness. The Minnesota Department of Health identified it through its variant surveillance program, which collects 50 random samples from laboratories in the state each week. Minnesota has one of the lowest daily caseloads relative to its population in the country, following a surge in the fall. The person with the confirmed case is a resident of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, the department said. The patient became ill during the first week of January and the specimen was collected Jan. 9, it said. Investigators from the health department had spoken with the person after the test was positive for the coronavirus, and the person had traveled to Brazil before becoming ill. The person was told to isolate and have household members quarantine. Health officials are conducting additional interviews with the person to learn more about the illness, travel and close contacts. The United States is flying blind, scientists have warned, as the country navigates the spread of the new variants without a large-scale, nationwide system for checking virus genomes for new mutations. Instead, the work of discovering the variants has fallen to a patchwork of academic, state and commercial laboratories. Scientists say that a national surveillance program would be able to determine just how widespread the new variant is and help contain emerging hot spots, extending the crucial window of time in which vulnerable people across the country could get vaccinated. The daily U.S. coronavirus caseload and number of hospitalized patients have fallen recent days, but the introduction of the variants into the country threatens to undermine that progress. The weekly average of new cases per day in the United States was down 33 percent on Sunday since two weeks prior, as states like California start to get a hold on their outbreaks. California officials on Monday announced that they were lifting severe coronavirus restrictions on large portions of the state, allowing outdoor dining and personal care businesses to resume limited operations. But the virus has for weeks been raging in Arizona, as well as South Carolina and Rhode Island. New York now has the fifth-worst outbreak in the country, though daily deaths from the virus are far from the levels seen there in the spring. President Bidens press secretary said on Monday that he would extend the Trump administrations ban on travel by noncitizens into the United States from Brazil, along with similar restrictions on Britain and 27 other European countries, where other variants have been identified. It also added South Africa to the list. Concern over the variants spread led to discussions in Europe of restricting nonessential travel. Proposing the new restrictions, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, tweeted that the new variants had led us to take difficult but necessary decisions. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to announce an extension and tightening of lockdown rules in England this week amid growing concern. Experts point to Britain as a model for what the U.S. could do to monitor the variants. British researchers sequence the genome  that is, the complete genetic material in a coronavirus  from up to 10 percent of new positive samples. Even if the U.S. sequenced just 1 percent of genomes from across the country, or about 2,000 new samples a day, that would shine a bright light on the new variant, as well as other variants that may emerge. Bryan Pietsch and

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Biden, upping vaccine goal, aims to administer 1.5 million doses per day. Federal health officials and corporate executives said last week that it would be impossible to increase the immediate supply of vaccines before April because there is a lack of manufacturing capacity in the United States. Credit... Alex Welsh for The New York Times President Biden, under pressure from an anxious public to speed up the pace of Covid-19 vaccinations, said Monday that he is now aiming for the United States to administer 1.5 million doses a day  a goal that the nation already appears on track to meet. The president made his comments just hours after he banned travel by noncitizens into the United States from South Africa because of concern about a coronavirus variant spreading in that country, and moved to extend similar bans imposed by his predecessor on travel from Brazil, Britain and 27 European countries. Those bans had been set to expire on Tuesday. Mr. Biden has vowed to get 100 million Covid-19 shots in the arms of the American people by his 100th day in office. Because two doses are required, and some Americans have already been vaccinated, his promise would cover about 67 million Americans. To realize it, the United States would have to administer one million shots a day. The pace of vaccinations is already picking up, and the United States already seems to be vaccinating well over a million people per day, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The current average is about 1.2 million over the past six days. With frustration rising across the country over vaccine supply shortages and canceled appointments, Mr. Biden has drawn criticism for not setting his sights higher. Last week, he expressed exasperation  Cmon, man!  at a reporter who suggested his 100 million shot promise was not ambitious enough. On Monday, he appeared to revise it. I think that with the grace of God and good will of a neighbor and creek not rising, we may get it to 1.5 million a day rather than one million a day, the president said. But we have to meet that goal of one million a day. Mr. Bidens comments came as the United States has recorded 25 million coronavirus cases  a staggering tally that the nation reached Saturday afternoon, according to a New York Times database. That works out to about one in every 13 people in the country, or about 7.6 percent of the population  a number that experts say is almost surely lower than the true number of infections. The move comes as officials in the new Biden administration are trying to get their hands around a fast-changing pandemic, with public health officials racing to vaccinate the public  and to expand the supply of vaccine  as more contagious variants of the coronavirus spread. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the governments leading infectious disease specialist, said at the White House last week that were following very carefully the variant of the virus in South Africa because it appears to be more highly contagious. The variant first discovered in South Africa has not yet reached the United States, but it has been reported in more than two dozen countries. The first U.S. case of the variant found in Brazil was confirmed in Minnesota, health officials there said on Monday. The variant, known as B.1.1.28.1 or P.1, shares many mutations with the one first identified in South Africa. On Monday, Moderna said its vaccine was effective against new variants of the coronavirus that have emerged in Britain and South Africa. But the immune response is slightly weaker against the variant discovered in South Africa, and so the company is developing a new form of the vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against it. And Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offered a blunt assessment of the vaccination campaign on Sunday, predicting that supply would not increase until late March. Federal health officials and corporate executives agree that it will be impossible to increase the immediate supply of vaccines before April because of a lack of manufacturing capacity. A third vaccine maker, Johnson & Johnson, is expected to report the results of its clinical trial soon; if approved, that vaccine would also help shore up production.

Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech reconsider their battle plans after a variant proves more challenging. A dose of the Moderna vaccine being filled into a syringe in Mountain View, Calif., on Friday. Credit... Jim Wilson/The New York Times As the coronavirus assumes contagious new forms around the world, two drug makers reported on Monday that their vaccines, while still effective, offer less protection against one variant. That new information is causing the drug makers to begin revising plans to turn back an evolving pathogen that has killed more than two million people. The news from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech underscored a realization by scientists that the virus is changing more quickly than once thought, and may well continue to develop in ways that help it elude the vaccines being deployed worldwide. The announcements arrived even as President Biden is banning travel to the United States from South Africa, in hopes of stanching the spread of one variant. And Merck, a leading drug company, on Monday abandoned two experimental coronavirus vaccines altogether, saying they did not produce a strong enough immune response against the original version of the virus. Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech both said their vaccines were effective against new variants of the coronavirus discovered in Britain and South Africa. But they are slightly less protective against the variant in South Africa, which may be more adept at dodging antibodies in the bloodstream. The vaccines are the only ones authorized for emergency use in the United States. As a precaution, Moderna has begun developing a new form of its vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against the variant in South Africa. Were doing it today to be ahead of the curve, should we need to, Dr. Tal Zaks, Modernas chief medical officer, said in an interview. I think of it as an insurance policy. Moderna said it also planned to begin testing whether giving patients a third shot of its original vaccine as a booster could help fend off newly emerging forms of the virus. Dr. Ugur Sahin, the chief executive of BioNTech, said in an interview on Monday that his company was talking to regulators around the world about what types of clinical trials and safety reviews would be required to authorize a new version of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that would be better able to head off the variant in South Africa. Studies showing decreased levels of antibodies against a new variant do not mean a vaccine is proportionately less effective, Dr. Sahin said. BioNTech could develop an adjusted vaccine against the variants in about six weeks, he said. The Food and Drug Administration has not commented on what its policy will be for authorizing vaccines that have been updated to work better against new variants. But some scientists said that the adjusted vaccines should not have to go through the same level of scrutiny, including extensive clinical trials, that the original versions did. The influenza vaccine is updated each year to account for new strains without an extensive approval process. The whole point of this is a rapid response to an emerging situation, said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Dr. Sahin said a similar booster shot eventually might be necessary to stop Covid-19. The vaccines reduced efficacy may also mean that more people would need to get the shots before the population achieves herd immunity. Scientists had predicted that the coronavirus would evolve and might acquire new mutations that would thwart vaccines, but few researchers expected it to happen so soon. Part of the problem is the sheer ubiquity of the pathogen.

Merck abandons two vaccines in clinical trials. Merck was slower than other companies to get into the Covid-19 vaccine race. Credit... Tom Mihalek/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images Merck announced on Monday that it was abandoning a pair of Covid-19 vaccines in clinical trials. The news came as a disappointment at a time when the United States and other countries are struggling to accelerate their sluggish vaccination campaigns and new coronavirus variants threaten to bring surges over the next few months. The two projects are the second and third vaccines to be abandoned in clinical trials. The University of Queensland in Australia abandoned its own effort in December. Sanofi and other vaccine makers have paused some projects after getting disappointing initial results but are now regrouping to move forward. Merck was slower than other companies to get into the Covid-19 vaccine race. In June, it acquired the Austrian firm Themis Bioscience to develop a vaccine originally designed at Institut Pasteur, based on a weakened measles virus. Researchers began a Phase 1 trial in August. In a second effort, Merck partnered with IAVI, a nonprofit scientific organization that develops vaccines and treatments, on another vaccine. For that one, they used the same design that they successfully employed to make a vaccine for Ebola. Merck and IAVI were awarded $38 million for their vaccine research, but neither of Mercks projects earned the lavish support that Operation Warp Speed showered on other efforts from companies such as Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. In its announcement, Merck said that both vaccines looked safe in early clinical trials. But neither produced a strong response from the immune system. They decided that it was not worth going forward with large-scale trials that would demonstrate whether the vaccines protected people from Covid-19. We are grateful to our collaborators who worked with us on these vaccine candidates and to the volunteers in the trials, Dr. Dean Y. Li, the president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement. Merck will instead focus its Covid-19 efforts on an experimental antiviral drug known as molnupiravir, in partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Originally designed for influenza, it has shown promising effects in studies on animals and in early clinical trials. The trial is set to finish by May, although preliminary results could come out as early as March. IAVI said it would continue searching for Covid-19 vaccines. Our scientists will continue to evaluate other candidates to see if other routes of administration or changes to the construct could lead to improved immune response, said Karie Youngdahl, senior director and head of global communications at IAVI.

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The White House is extending travel bans on Brazil and much of Europe, and adding South Africa, because of the virus. A health care worker tending to a patient at a temporary ward set up during the coronavirus outbreak at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, last week. Credit... Pool photo by Phill Magakoe President Biden will ban travel by noncitizens into the United States from South Africa because of concern about a coronavirus variant spreading in that country, and will extend similar bans imposed by his predecessor on travel from Brazil, 27 European countries and Britain, his press secretary said on Monday. The move comes as officials in the new Biden administration are trying to get their hands around a fast-changing pandemic, with public health officials racing to vaccinate the public  and to expand the supply of vaccine  as more contagious variants of the coronavirus spread. Mr. Bidens travel ban is a presidential proclamation, not an executive order; typically, proclamations govern the acts of individuals, while executive orders are directives to federal agencies. It will go into effect Saturday and apply to non-U.S. citizens who have spent time in South Africa in the last 14 days. The new policy, which was earlier reported by Reuters, will not affect U.S. citizens or permanent residents, officials said. On his last full day in office, President Donald Trump tried to eliminate the Covid-19-related ban on travel from Brazil, Britain and much of Europe, saying it was no longer necessary. Jen Psaki, now the White House press secretary, said at the time that ending the ban was the wrong thing to do; on Monday, she announced during her regular briefing that it would remain intact. With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants spreading, this isnt the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel, she said. Ms. Psaki also said the Biden administration intended to hold regular public health briefings three times a week, beginning on Wednesday. She said Mr. Biden would be briefed regularly on the pandemic, adding, I suspect far more regularly than the past president. The first confirmed case of the Brazilian variant in the United States has been identified in Minnesota, the states health department said on Monday. It was found in a Minnesota resident who had recently traveled to Brazil. The variant now spreading in South Africa has not yet reached the United States, but it has been reported in more than two dozen countries. In addition to the travel bans, Mr. Biden issued an executive order last week requiring that all international travelers present negative coronavirus tests before leaving for the United States. The move extended a requirement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was issued by the Trump administration but set to expire on Tuesday. A White House official said Sunday that the C.D.C. would not issue waivers from that policy as some airlines had requested. Michael D. Shear and

N.Y.C. will delay opening some mass vaccination sites as supply remains low, the mayor says. A mass coronavirus vaccination site had been set to open this week at Citi Field in Queens. Credit... Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City announced on Monday that the openings of planned mass coronavirus vaccination sites at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field would be postponed because of the low supply of doses available. We want to get those to be full-blown, 24-hour operations, Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference, but we dont have the vaccine. The site at Citi Field had been set to open this week, while plans for the one in the Bronx were still being developed. Another site at the Empire Outlets on Staten Island was initially scheduled to open last week, but will also be postponed, the mayor said. The city had a total of 19,032 first doses in inventory on Monday morning, Mr. de Blasio said, and expected to receive just under 108,000 doses this week. But he continued to warn that figure was not nearly enough to keep up with the pace at which New Yorkers were being inoculated: If the supply was greater, the mayor said, New York City would be on pace to administer roughly 500,000 doses per week. Instead, he said many inoculation appointments would continue to be canceled or rescheduled as they were last week. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the Biden administration was reviewing state and local officials capacity to administer vaccines as it considered how to bolster the vaccination effort. She noted that mass vaccination sites, like football fields, could be quite efficient. Infrastructure is pivotal, she said. Its not just about the science. Some public health experts have worried that the limited supply could undermine goals of state and city officials to prioritize communities hard hit by the virus  Black and Latino people and low-income New Yorkers  in the vaccine rollout. The state has not released demographic information on the distribution, but Mr. de Blasio said on Monday that data would come this week, adding that its part of making sure that we act to address the disparities that have pervaded the Covid experience. The crunch in supply came as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that a statewide spike in cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks, fueled by holiday gatherings, appeared to be ebbing. While 46 ZIP codes in New York City have seven-day average positive test rates of over 10 percent, according to city data on Monday, and other areas like Long Island are still struggling with higher hospitalization rates, Mr. Cuomo said there was a downward trend in cases statewide. He said on Monday there were 8,730 hospitalizations in New York, down from more than 9,000 more than a week ago. Mr. Cuomo said the state was considering easing restrictions in specific areas that had previously seen high rates of positive test results. He said that elective surgeries in Erie County, for example, could start again, as worries about hospital capacity have decreased. We are seeing that spike come down, he said. Now we can start making adjustments. He said other restrictions could be eased on Wednesday, though he said the changes would probably not include the resumption of indoor dining in New York City, which he barred in December. Mr. Cuomo also acknowledged, however, that the supply of vaccinations was far lower than the demand and the states capacity to administer doses. He warned vaccine distributors not to schedule appointments for more vaccinations than the state had allotted. Its a national supply issue; its not a New York issue, he said. Its a problem across the globe. Every country is trying to get more vaccine. Mr. de Blasio also sent a letter to President Biden last week requesting more doses, along with the flexibility to use second doses to increase the pace of vaccinations. He did not discuss any specific progress made on Monday, but appeared hopeful that an update could come soon. What is so clear now is the commitment of the Biden administration, Mr. de Blasio said, to finding every conceivable way to get us more vaccine quickly. We are waiting in the course of this week for more detailed information. Mr. Cuomo said on Monday that he thought that second doses should not be used as first doses, and he reassured people who had received their first dose that a second dose would be available to them. That appointment will be fulfilled, he said. Troy Closson and

The E.U. escalates a fight with AstraZeneca over botched vaccine deliveries. The European health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, speaking at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Monday. Credit... Pool photo by John Thys The European Union escalated a war of words with AstraZeneca on Monday over the companys sudden announcement on Friday that it would have to drastically cut the number of vaccine doses delivered to the bloc and its 27 members. The European health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, said a call with the companys leadership on Monday had not yielded sufficient answers as to why the company was breaking its contractual obligation and said another call would be held on Monday evening. A spokesperson for AstraZeneca, said: Our C.E.O. Pascal Soriot was pleased to speak with the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier today. He stressed the importance of working in partnership and how AstraZeneca is doing everything it can to bring its vaccine to millions of Europeans as soon as possible. The AstraZeneca debacle delivers a serious blow to the blocs sluggish vaccination rollout, and comes days after Pfizer notified E.U. members and several other countries that it would slow down deliveries until mid-February as it upgraded its Belgium factory to increase production. The twin disappointments have left several E.U. countries hamstrung, and have thwarted the blocs collective effort to vaccinate 70 percent of its population by this summer, as Britain and the United States are making better progress with their inoculation programs. The European Union has pre-financed the development of the vaccine and its production, and wants to see the return, Ms. Kyriakides said, implying that the E.U. was concerned the company had sold the vaccines the bloc had funded to other countries. The European Union wants to know exactly which doses have been produced, where by AstraZeneca so far, and if, or to whom, they have been delivered, she added. Ms. Kyriakides also said that the European Commission, the executive branch of the E.U., was proposing its members approve a system in which pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca that produce vaccines in plants in E.U. territory would need to register any intention to export part of that production outside the bloc.

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The E.U. recommends restricting nonessential travel as virus variants boost the case for stricter rules. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:06 - 0:00 transcript E.U. Recommends Travel Restrictions to Curb Virus Cases The European Commission proposed on Monday to restrict nonessential travel to slow the spread of the new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus. The new, more transmissible variants of the virus have surfaced. There is currently a very high number of new infections across many member states, and there is an urgent need to reduce the risk of travel-related infections to lessen the burden on overstretched health care systems. First, the commission proposes that all non-essential travel to and from high-risk areas, is strongly discouraged. In this context, we also invite member states to ensure consistency between the measures they take regarding cross-border travel and travel within their territories. We are suggesting stricter measures for dark-red areas because we must recognize the high level of cases. It is why member states should require individuals coming from these areas to do a test prior to arrival and quarantine after arrival if needed. The European Commission proposed on Monday to restrict nonessential travel to slow the spread of the new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus. Credit Credit... Yoan Valat/EPA, via Shutterstock The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, recommended on Monday restricting nonessential travel in a bid to curb the spread of new more contagious variants of the coronavirus. At the same time, the commissions proposal aims to prevent blanket border closures, which would obstruct trade and the movement of cross-border workers. Traveling without restrictions would still be possible for family, work and health reasons, which are deemed essential. The situation in Europe with the new variants have led us to take difficult but necessary decisions, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the commission, wrote on Twitter. We need to keep safe and discourage nonessential travel. Also on Monday, Moderna announced that while its vaccine is effective against new variants, it appears to be less protective against the one that emerged in South Africa, raising further concern. President Bidens press secretary said Monday that he would ban travel by noncitizens into the United States from South Africa because of concern about a coronavirus variant spreading in that country, and will extend similar bans imposed by his predecessor on travel from Brazil, 27 European countries and the United Kingdom. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to announce an extension and tightening of lockdown rules in England this week amid growing concern. In the E.U. plan, countries and regions where the 14-day infection rate is more than 500 per 100,000 inhabitants would qualify as dark red, or high-risk zones, and moving between them should be limited to essential reasons, the commission said. At the same time, those coming in from outside the bloc, even for essential reasons, would have to undergo testing and quarantines. The first recommendation is: dont travel, said Ylva Johansson, the blocs commissioner for home affairs. The commissions proposal is nonbinding and needs to be endorsed by national governments, who will discuss it Monday afternoon. It comes after last weeks meeting of the leaders of 27 European Union nations, who agreed in principle to selectively restrict nonessential travel, but did not decide on the details. There is currently a very high number of new infections across many member states, said Didier Reynders, the blocs commissioner for justice. There is an urgent need to reduce the risk of travel-related infections, to lessen the burden on overstretched health care systems. Freedom of movement is the cornerstone of the bloc, but travel restrictions remain the province of national governments and vary from country to country, creating a chaotic patchwork of measures. Belgium, for example, has announced a ban on nonessential travel coming into force this Wednesday, with fines for those who dont comply.

More students are applying to elite universities after test scores became optional. Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Credit... Jessica Hill for The New York Times Students flooded the nations most competitive colleges with a record number of applications to be part of the Class of 2025  so many, in fact, that all eight Ivy League universities have agreed to delay their decision date by about a week, until April 6, so admissions officers will have time to review them all. Harvard said more than 57,000 students had applied by the January deadline, an increase of about 42 percent over last year, according to The Crimson, the student newspaper. Rachael Dane, a spokeswoman for Harvard, said the decision date was being postponed to give full and fair review to everyone who applied. The surge was attributed in large part to the decision by Ivy League schools  along with nearly 1,700 other colleges and universities nationwide  to make it optional for students to submit SAT and ACT scores with their applications for fall 2021 admissions. Standardized dates had to be canceled last year for thousands of students because of the pandemic, making it hard for many to even get a test score. Experts said students who in the past might not have dared to apply to elite schools, assuming they would be automatically screened out by their performance on the tests, are now applying. Theyre saying, let me put my name in the hat, said Hafeez Lakhani, a college consultant. Over all, the volume of college applications submitted by January deadlines was 10 percent higher than last year, amounting to almost 5.6 million applications through Jan. 18, the Common Application, which is used by most American colleges, reported Monday. The increase was driven largely by an increase in applications to the most selective universities, which rose 17 percent, and to the largest universities, which rose 16 percent, the Common App reported. Based on my long career in college admissions, I know that students often dont apply to certain selective schools because they think a test score might keep them out, said Jenny Rickard, the president and chief executive of the Common App. She added: Hopefully those colleges will use it as an opportunity to increase equity and expand the diversity of their incoming classes.

The Chicago school district and teachers union are deadlocked on returning to classes. Meghan Hayes, a teacher at John Hay Community Academy, teaching her class outside the school board presidents home earlier this month. Credit... Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times, via Associated Press With roughly 70,000 kindergarten through eighth grade students scheduled to return to public school classrooms in Chicago next week, the district and the teachers union remain locked in a battle over the reopening plan, with the union saying that a majority of its members voted to authorize a strike if the district seeks to force teachers back into buildings. All staff working in kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms were originally supposed to report to buildings on Monday to prepare for students return next week. But late last week, the union asked its members to vote on a resolution calling on them to refuse to report in-person and to authorize a strike if the district locked them out of its electronic systems. Over the weekend, the two sides jockeyed for leverage. The district sent a message to families and staff saying that it had agreed to a request from the union to postpone the date for staff to return to Wednesday. Shortly after, the union sent its own message denying that there had been any agreement and saying that its members had voted to continue working remotely indefinitely. The district said that the union was making several requests that it disagreed with, including delaying reopening until all staff members had been able to receive at least one dose of the vaccine or until the citywide positivity rate fell below 3 percent. Over the last week, the citywide positivity rate has been 7.2 percent. The district has said it will begin vaccinating teachers in mid-February and that it hopes to vaccinate all employees in the coming months. According to the district, the union was also requesting weekly surveillance testing of staff as well as regular testing of students in parts of the city with high positivity rates. Currently, the district is planning to test up to a quarter of staff each week and is not planning to do surveillance testing of students. Prekindergarten students and some special education students returned to school buildings on Jan. 11, in the first wave of the districts reopening. The district said on Friday that roughly 60 percent of the 5,352 students who were expected to attend in person actually did in the first week. Overall about a third of families in the district who have been given the option to have their students return in person have signed up to do so. Chicago is not the only district where opposition from teachers unions is threatening reopening plans: Over the weekend, plans to reopen schools in Montclair, New Jersey, were postponed indefinitely after the superintendent said he did not have enough teachers to properly staff the schools. The decision capped a tense week in a community known for its liberal politics: Elementary teachers, citing coronavirus safety concerns, boycotted in-school prep sessions in defiance of the superintendent, and a heated board of education meeting on Wednesday lasted until nearly midnight. The decision to return to in-person learning is made more complex in New Jersey, where coronavirus infections have been surging and teachers are not among the first groups prioritized for vaccines  a policy that the statewide teachers union, a close ally of Gov. Philip D. Murphy, has refrained from strenuously criticizing. Yet over the last week, some union leaders and superintendents have cited the policy to justify efforts to keep schools closed. Kate Taylor and

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Google to lend its facilities for use as vaccine clinics. The company announced a series of measures to help accelerate vaccination efforts. Credit... Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Google said it will make company buildings, parking lots and open spaces available to serve as temporary vaccination clinics in partnership with health care providers and public health officials. In a blog post on Monday, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Googles parent company, Alphabet, said the company will start by opening sites in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, with plans to expand to other sites nationwide. The move is part of a series of measures to help accelerate vaccination efforts. Google also said it plans to contribute $100 million in ad credits to health organizations to educate people about the vaccine and $50 million for groups working on fair access to the vaccine. It will also include more information in search results and maps to help people find vaccination locations with details about who is eligible and whether appointments are necessary. Google said it will provide local distribution information in search results in the coming week so people can determine whether they are eligible to receive a vaccine.

The Flaming Lips performed to people in literal bubbles. But is it safer? The Flaming Lips have used plastic bubbles at concerts to protect against the transmission of the coronavirus, but some experts were unsure about the effectiveness of those measures. Credit... Scott Booker There are Covid-19 bubbles  small clusters of friends or family who agree to socialize exclusively with each other during the pandemic  and then there are the kinds of bubbles the Flaming Lips used at recent concerts. Band members and concertgoers alike rocked out and bounced while encased in large individual plastic bubbles amid bright swirling lights in trippy scenes at concerts on Friday and Saturday in Oklahoma City. The band has taken the elaborate precautions at its live performances to protect against the transmission of the coronavirus, but some health experts were unsure about the effectiveness of those measures. Id need to see how the air exchange was occurring between the outside and the inside of the bubbles to be able to say if it were safe over all or reduced risk of transmission, said Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena, the director of global health at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y. The Flaming Lips, an indie rock band founded in the early 1980s, who are known for their exuberant live shows and recording experiments, performed a similar concert in October. They also performed their song Race for the Prize in June using the spheres on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The concerts on Friday and Saturday were originally scheduled for December, but the band postponed them because of rising Covid-19 cases in the Oklahoma City metro area. Its a very restricted, weird event, the bands frontman, Wayne Coyne, told Rolling Stone last month. But the weirdness is so we can enjoy a concert before putting our families and everybody at risk.

California may have lost as much as $30 billion to unemployment insurance fraud. A woman in Oakland, Calif., holds mail that was received at her home addressed to people who presumably tried to defraud the California Employment Development Department. Credit... Jim Wilson/The New York Times As much as $30 billion of the unemployment claims paid last year in California during the pandemic may have gone to swindlers, state officials said Monday, reporting that at least one-tenth of benefits were fraudulently collected by organized crime rings, prison inmates and identity thieves. The breathtaking losses are far more than initially estimated in November, when a task force of district attorneys made the situation public in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, calling it the most significant fraud on taxpayer funds in California history. Focused mostly on the pandemic unemployment insurance program initiated in spring, when layoffs soared early in the pandemic, the frauds were confirmed to have siphoned off at least 9.7 percent of the record $114 billion in benefits paid out between March 2020 and the middle of this month, said Julie Su, Californias labor secretary. Another 17 percent of payments remain under investigation, even as existing and new screening measures have blocked some $60 billion in bogus claims. By comparison, in 2019, fraud accounted for about 6 percent of Californias total unemployment insurance payments. Most of the fraud occurred in the federally funded pandemic assistance program, which expedited benefits for independent contractors, gig workers, self-employed people and others who did not qualify for traditional unemployment insurance, according to state officials. Because of the hasty rollout of the program, they said, benefits were less secure. But Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento County district attorney leading the prosecutors task force, said the systems security also has suffered from the lack of a way to cross-index, say, its roster of jail inmates with unemployment claimants. While I appreciate the great strides we are now taking, she said, the fact is that California had no cross-match system, despite 35 other states having one. Its bad enough that California state prison and jail inmates ripped off the state, but even out-of-state inmates were able to target California because the system failed to stop this. A spokeswoman for the governors office said cross-checking is now possible for prison inmates. But Ms. Su said, There is no sugarcoating the reality. California did not have enough security measures in place. The scandal has thrown the states unemployment program into turmoil, forcing the state to suspend benefits in December for some 1.4 million Californians while investigators confirmed the identities of the claimants. State lawmakers have lashed out at the Employment Development Department, which oversees claims, as constituents have complained about backlogged benefits. News accounts since November have reported one outrage after another, with death row inmates, year-old toddlers, a rapper and someone impersonating Senator Dianne Feinstein, among others, fraudulently collecting unemployment checks. Blake Hall, the chief executive of ID.me, a security firm hired to do fraud prevention for the Employment Development Department, said California is just one of the largest and earliest states to address pandemic aid frauds, which have eviscerated benefits programs across the nation. North Dakota, for example, has about 500,000 workers and yet received 400,000 claims for unemployment benefits during the pandemic, he said. Mr. Hall said most of the fraud in the state appears to have been run by crime syndicates in Nigeria, Russia and Hong Kong. But much of it was also communicated on the dark web, he said, where fraudsters posted open-source playbooks with detailed instructions on how to game the states system with identity theft. E.D.D. was clearly underprepared for the type and magnitude of criminal attacks and the sheer quantity of claims, Rita Saenz, the departments new director, said in a statement. We are focused on making the changes necessary to provide benefits to eligible Californians as quickly as possible and stopping fraud before it enters the system. Mr. Hall commended California for moving quickly. There will be many states that will be far worse off, he said.

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Ukraine reopens schools and restaurants after a week of strict lockdown. Outside a cafe in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday, the first day after lockdown restrictions were lifted. Credit... Gleb Garanich/Reuters Ukraine reopened schools, restaurants and movie theaters on Monday after testing showed the coronavirus was spreading less rapidly after just one week of a strict lockdown. The health minister, Maksym Stepanov, pointed to the improving statistics as a clear indication that a strict lockdown, even if brief, can tamp down numbers. The rate of new infections declined about a third after the first seven days of closures, he said. The cumulative number of infections nationwide last week was just over 30,000, nearly 14,000 less than the week before, Mr. Stepanov said. The statistics are relatively optimistic and point to an improvement in the situation, he said, local media reported. Mr. Stepanov also pointed to a decline in hospitalizations, which typically trail infections by several weeks, suggesting that the downward trend had begun before the lockdowns and that New Year celebrations had not shifted the dynamic. President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly imposed lockdowns last spring before easing them over the summer. The country retained a system that can close businesses in cities or regions with flare-ups. Though the government lifted some restrictions on Monday, not all businesses can open. Nightclubs and sports stadiums remain closed. Schools are not allowed convene large gatherings of students, such as for performances or schoolwide meetings. Ukraine, which aspires to join the European Union but is not in the bloc, has struggled to find vaccines and may not be able to inoculate its population until well into the year, forcing it to rely on quarantines, lockdowns and other restrictions until then.

Dutch prime minister condemns lockdown riots as criminal violence. Protesters clashed with the police during a demonstration against coronavirus restrictions in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on Sunday. Credit... Rob Engelaar/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands said on Monday that anyone involved in riots over the weekend protesting the countrys coronavirus measures had engaged in criminal violence and warned that perpetrators would be treated accordingly. Hundreds of people were detained during unrest in Amsterdam, Eindhoven and at least eight other cities after the start of a 9 p.m. curfew on Saturday, the police said. Officers used tear gas, attack dogs and water cannons to disperse crowds in the southern city of Eindhoven, where shops were looted and cars set on fire. In Urk, a staunchly protestant fishing village young people burned down a Covid test facility. The riots repeated for a third night on Monday evening in the Dutch cities of Rotterdam and Geleen, Reuters reported. This has nothing to do with protest or fighting for freedom, Mr. Rutte, told reporters on Monday. This is criminal violence, and we will treat it as such. His caretaker government implemented harsh new lockdown measures last week, vetted by Parliament, to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Flights to Britain, South Africa and most of South America were halted on Saturday. It also implemented a nationwide curfew, the first since World War II. The mayor of Eindhoven, John Jorritsma, was visibly upset when he spoke to reporters about the violence in the city. He called the rioters scum of the earth and said he feared the Netherlands, normally one of the quietest countries in the European Union, was on a path of civil war. A spokesman for the Dutch police union said the group feared that the illegal protests and riots were just the start of the curfew-related unrest. I hope it was a one-off, but Im afraid it was a harbinger for the coming days and weeks, the spokesman, Koen Simmers, said, according to the public broadcaster NOS. We havent seen so much violence in 40 years, he added. The protesters also gathered last week in Amsterdam after calls on social media to resist the lockdown rules and the governments policies overall. Mr. Rutte is one of the longest-serving European leaders. Elections in the Netherlands are scheduled for March. Protests also erupted over the weekend in Denmark. Five people were arrested on Saturday during an anti-lockdown demonstration in Copenhagen, local news outlets reported. Around 1,000 protesters gathered to demonstrate against what they said were limitations of their freedoms, after a call for protest by a Facebook group. Protesters tied an effigy of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to a pole and burned it, Danish channel TV2 reported. A sign was hung around the effigys neck saying, She must and should be killed.

Arizonans seeking vaccination are mistakenly calling an 8-year-old girl in Missouri. A parking lot of the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., which has been turned into a mass vaccination site. Credit... Juan Arredondo for The New York Times An 8-year-old girl in Missouri is getting an earful from frustrated Arizonans who are trying to get inoculated against Covid-19 and mistakenly calling her instead. Sophia Garcia of Sullivan, Mo., who used to live in Arizona, has been receiving dozens of calls from people in the state on her hand-me-down phone, whose Phoenix number is just one digit different from the Arizona health departments vaccine help line. Every five minutes my phone keeps ringing, she told Phoenixs CBS affiliate, KPHO/KTVK. Callers have been complaining about scheduling difficulties and asking how to book an appointment, her family said. In response, Sophia has recorded a voice mail message directing callers to the appropriate number. Her story offers a glimpse of the struggles and at times desperation of people seeking vaccination in Arizona and elsewhere. People across the United States have complained of their second dose appointments being canceled after vaccination sites ran out of supplies. And there are concerns that President Bidens goal of 100 million shots in 100 days may not be ambitious enough. Arizona, which has the worst infection rate in the country, is speeding up vaccinations after a slow start, with the Department of Health Services announcing on Sunday that more than 400,000 doses had been administered. Over 61,000 people have received both doses, the health department said. A New York Times tracker monitoring the vaccine rollout in each state places Arizona in the top 20 for doses administered. After earlier glitches and staff shortages, the state attributes the turnaround partly to round-the-clock use of the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, as a site for inoculations in the past few weeks. The success of our State Farm Stadium vaccination site has made it clear that Arizona can efficiently and effectively administer vaccine to large numbers, Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, said in a statement. Another vaccination site at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium is set to open next week. State officials said the federal government had denied a request for an additional 300,000 doses each week. Now the federal government has to step up its game and provide additional vaccine to support Arizonas proven momentum, Dr. Christ said. In the meantime, Arizonans who inadvertently call Sophia in Missouri will get this firm but encouraging message: Hopefully, if you try carefully, you could get the right number.

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NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio  A sure sign of the coming of spring is the gearing up of city construction projects. In North Ridgeville, a major sanitary sewer extension is already beginning.

The city will be extending the sanitary sewer along Center Ridge Road from Barton Road east to the city limits, for approximately 3,200 feet. The project is expected to aid in eliminating failing septic systems and provide opportunities for undeveloped lands, according to the citys engineering department.

Total estimated cost for the project is $3 million.

Surveyors are already conducting field investigations and collecting survey information for the sewer design. The crews are out doing ground sampling and gathering data on the land within and next to the rights-of-way.

The engineering department notes that survey crews will also be seen obtaining elevations from the front-door threshold of each structure, as well as grade shots from the front two corners of each structure, but they are assuring homeowners that they will not have to access the interiors of homes or businesses.

This information will help us determine if the sewer design will be able to collect sanitary flow by gravity for the living areas and the basements, according to City Engineer Daniel Rodriguez.

But, he warned, Depending on the existing conditions, it may not be possible to accept sanitary flow by gravity for every structure. In those instances, grinder pumps may need to be installed in order to connect to the sanitary sewer.

During the second phase of design, the city will be reaching out to each property owner to discuss the accommodations available and to determine the best location for your service lateral.

He also said residents may be asked for some help during the project.

Depending on the final location of the sanitary sewer, he said, work may include the replacement of drive(way) aprons and clearing the tree lawn in the right-of-way. Once the design is finalized, you may be asked to remove personal items in the right-of-way that interfere with the construction of the project. such as trees, landscaping beds, irrigation systems, landscaping pavers, etc.

Property owners with these types of obstructions will be notified during the final design phase, he said. If you are unable to remove these items, they will be removed for you during construction.

Rodriguez noted that the design for the sewer extension should be completed by June, with construction beginning right after that. The connections transitioning from septic systems to the public sewer system may be available by the end of this year.

Property owners will be contacted by the Lorain County Public Health Department with the steps required to transition from an individual sewage system to the public sanitary sewer, he said.

For other questions on the sewer project, Rodriguez said to call the North Ridgeville Engineering Department at 440-353-0842.

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Lady Eliza Spencer has told how her 'loving' aunt Princess Diana had a 'talent for reading children's hearts' in her first ever joint interview with sister Lady Amelia.

The glamorous twins, both 28, are the daughters of Charles Spencer and British model Victoria Aitken, and star on the cover of Tatler's March 2021 issue.

Dazzling in crystal-encrusted Miu Miu gowns, the first cousins of Princes William and Harry open up about their upbringing in South Africa, their love for the family seat of Althorp and Lady Amelia's upcoming wedding to Greg Mallett.

They also discuss the legacy of their late aunt, the Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris when they were five.

Lady Eliza Spencer (right) has told how her 'loving' aunt Princess Diana had a 'talent for reading children's hearts' in her first ever joint interview with sister Lady Amelia, left, given to Tatler

Lady Eliza admitted neither of them had any idea of Diana's impact on the world until years after her death.

'We always just knew her as our aunt,' she explained, adding that she remembers her as 'incredibly warm, maternal and loving'.

'Growing up in South Africa, I really had very little idea of how significant she was in the world until I was much older... She always made an effort to connect with us as children and had a talent for reading children's hearts.'

Eliza recalled how on one occasion, the twins went with their aunt to Noordhoek, a beach known for its freezing water, and were approached by a photographer.

'Obviously it could have been quite terrifying for us, being so young and not understanding what was happening,' she said.

The glamorous twins, both 28, are the daughters of Charles Spencer and Victoria Aitken, and star on the cover of Tatler's March 2021 issue

'But she turned it into a game of who could get back to the car first. It was amazing how she protected us in a way that made us feel safe and not frightened.

'We had no idea what she was doing at the time. As a child, I realised the enormity of the loss for my father and family. It was only later that I came to understand the significance of the loss of her as a figure in the world.'

The society beauties told how they have very fond memories of Althorp, the Spencer family seat, where they'd stay with their father during the school holidays.

Poignantly, many of the staff at Althorp worked there when Lady Diana was a child and would regale the twins with stories about her.

'It is a truly special and beautiful place. Having spent the first three years of our lives at Althorp, exploring and discovering it as children, and being part of a long heritage of Spencers that have lived there, it has always felt like another home,' Lady Eliza said.

'And of course it conjures up memories of family Christmases as children, with our extended family all together.'

Lady Amelia, who got engaged to her university beau Greg Mallett in July last year after 11 years of dating, hasn't ruled out holding the wedding at Althorp, after her father suggested it as a venue.

Society beauty Lady Amelia met her real estate beau Greg Mallett while they were both studying at the University of Cape Town. Pictured after getting engaged

'It's our family home, it's beautiful,' she said. 'We would be very lucky to get married there, but Cape Town is where we grew up and there is a possibility that we might do it here, too.'

Lady Amelia said she and Lady Eliza - the younger sisters of Lady Kitty, 30, and older siblings of Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, 26 - have always been close and are 'very similar'.

'We love doing the same things and share the same friends,' she said. 'You're guaranteed to have a best friend there always  you can't really compare it to anything else.'

She added that they are a 'very open family' and value the importance of talking about mental health.

'We have come a long way in terms of the conversations, and I hope there will come a time when the stigma is completely removed and that people will be able to ask for help and not feel judged for having mental health issues or struggling emotionally,' Lady Amelia said.

'It was never something that we felt afraid to talk about when we had our own struggles,' Lady Eliza added.

The March issue of Tatler is available on newsstands and via digital download on Monday 1 February. Visit https://www.tatler.com/
Mumbai, Jan 25 : The Maharashtra Governor has time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, but not the thousands of "kisan brothers" who have assembled in Mumbai in huge numbers from all over the state, Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar said here on Monday.

Slamming Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari - without taking his name - Pawar said that the farmers were planning to go to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to him after today's rally at Azad Maidan.

"However, now I am told he (Governor) has gone away to Goa... We have never had such a Governor in the state's entire history... He has time to meet Kangana, but our Kisan brothers who have come here from all over the state..." Pawar said sharply while addressing a huge farmers' rally at Azad Maidan.

The NCP strongman said it was the "moral duty" of the Governor to at least remain and receive the people of the state who are the 'annadaata' (food-givers), but he did even show the courtesy to remain in Raj Bhavan to accept their memorandum.

Pawar's acidic remarks came after he was informed that the Governor is not in the state and has reportedly gone to Goa, putting a question mark on the plans of the Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha leaders to submit the memorandum.

Lehigh County needs to take greater action on bail reform, so those accused of a crime can pay their debt to society without a lifelong price tag, the county controller said Monday.

A year ago, Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley began collecting bail information on Lehigh County cases, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

On Monday, his office released its Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Court Bail Report, based on AOPC bail data from cases filed in 2019 in Lehigh County.

Pinsleys report says about 49% of the defendants in the 5,230 criminal cases in the county did not post bail, and were held in jail.

That is a stark difference to a Lehigh County Criminal Justice Advisory Board report. The Morning Call said the the boards report found 17% of the 5,250 inmates in 2019 were eligible to post bail but did not.

The controllers report clarifies there may be other reasons aside from ability to pay that led defendants to stay in jail, but the report assumes if someone did not post bail, they were unable to do so.

The conclusions are ridiculous, District Attorney Jim Martin said of the controllers report. Martin declined to comment further.

Martin and Pinsley scrapped early on when the controller was gathering data and information for the report. Pinsley said when he tried to get the data from Pre-trial Services, Martin interceded and stopped his office from obtaining the information.

By June, Martin called Pinsley a political opportunist and a demagogue for his efforts to audit the bail system, according to a Morning Call article.

In addition to Martin, Pinsley said he and his office faced resistance from Pre-trial Services, then-President Judge Edward Reibman and the AOPC. The report is based on data compiled by Know Your Knowledge, a market research and polling firm in Easton.

Given the refusal to cooperate with a constitutionally elected row officer and fiscal watchdog, the process was far from transparent. It remains my belief that this information is crucial to the public as a body of concerned citizens and thus my office should have been permitted to audit the information, Pinsley said.

The AOPC said it provided all the data requested by Pinsley related to his fiscal audit authority for free, since it was a government access request. But other data Pinsley requested was determined to be a public access request, and he, like other members of the public, would have had to pay AOPCs costs to retrieve and produce the data.

Pinsley chose not to pursue that option, the AOPC said.

Pinsely said he does not understand why he was blocked from receiving the information.

I dont feel like theres anything in there that is surprising, he said. If you went to any other county in Pennsylvania, these issues would still be issues. I think as long as we recognize that theyre problem, then we can start to go after the problem.

Bail reform, often part of criminal justice reform, seeks to decrease the number of people held in lieu of bail in jails and prisons as they seek to resolve criminal cases.

Pinsley started looking at bail in Lehigh County cases in part to reduce the jails population as a way to reduce costs. The county jail was housing a large population of inmates awaiting trial who could not be released because they couldnt afford their bail, he said.

Pinsleys report found that in 2019, a little more than 49% of the defendants they reviewed were unable to post bail, 2,579 out of the 5,230 criminal cases filed.

For defendants who could not post bail, those charged with summary offenses were held for an average of eight days, according to the report.

Defendants charged with misdemeanors spent an average of 43 days behind bars, and those facing felonies were held for an average of 90 days, the report says.

In 2019, more white defendants were able to post bail, the report says, 51% compared to 41% of black defendants.

Pinsley said one of his concerns is Pre-Trial Services, and what recommendations they are making to district judges.

Perhaps the recommendations are too high, he said. It could be the judges need to push back on that.

Reibman previously said that in 2019 he and other stakeholders began looking at unnecessary incarceration, including bail reform. Last year, that work was rolled into efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the jail population.

While the work dropped the jails census to abut 500 inmates, officials have said the jails population began steadily increasing into last fall.

Last month, Pinsely again raised the call for bail reform after the jails population increased to more than 700 and an inmate died from COVID-19. Since then, a Lehigh County corrections officer has died from virus complications.

The report is a first step, and Pinsely said the county should hire a third party to do a more in-depth investigation.

The report found bail amounts vary widely among the countys district judges.

This isnt to suggest any impropriety or unfairness, but certainly warrants additional research, the report says.

Lehigh County should also look at how data is compiled for Hispanic or Latino defendants.

Hispanics were included both in the Black and white categories, according to Pinsley. Lehigh County should create a more detailed and specific database of the racial make-up of its jail, he said.

The staggering amount of bail and the intensive poverty that grips most of those who encounter our criminal justice system is reason enough to investigate deeper, the report says. Lehigh County might also consider looking at alternatives to a money bail system that prioritizes community support and reintegration.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.
The Spanish Film Academy has postponed a Goya Awards press conference with Antonio Banderas, Maria Casado and Mariano Barroso scheduled for this Tuesday, 26 January, after the Malaga actor went down with flu.

Now the press event will move to next Tuesday, 2 February, if Banderas is fully recovered.

The 35th edition of the Goya Awards will be held on 6 March in Malaga and will feature the actor and the journalist Maria Casado as masters of ceremony.

This is the second consecutive year that Malaga will host the awards.

Last week the president of the Film Academy, Mariano Barroso, said, "The Goya Awards are going to be celebrated if nothing prevents it, but in an extremely restrained and extremely responsible manner."

Because of the pandemic only the nominees and those in charge of delivering the awards will attend the awards gala.

"We are going to minimise the risk, it is our obligation," declared the president of the institution.

Likewise, all those attending the gala - the nominees and production team - will undergo a coronavirus PCR test in the days before the event.
EACH AND EVERY DAY, my colleagues and I hear about how New Hampshires high property taxes are an unsustainable burden on hardworking Granite Staters. According to a recent report from US News and WalletHub, New Hampshire has the third-highest property tax rates in the country. For young wor
The UK government faced growing pressure on Monday to detail a strategy to reopen schools in England, following a backlash from lawmakers about reports they could remain closed for months.

A dozen MPs from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling Conservatives have warned publicly that pupils risk becoming the pandemic's "forgotten victims" and demanded schools fully reopen sooner.

The group -- which includes former minister Esther McVey and Graham Brady, head of an influential committee of Conservative lawmakers -- backed a parents' pressure group campaign on the issue.

"We need to get our children learning again - with clarity from @educationgovuk and an education routemap out of the coronavirus," Conservative MP Rob Halfon, chairman of parliament's watchdog education committee, said on Twitter.

"The engine of government should be directed towards opening our schools. We face an epidemic of educational poverty and mental health otherwise."

However, Halfon's bid to force a government statement on the issue in parliament Monday failed after House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle opted against selecting his urgent question on the issue.

During a visit to a vaccination site in northwest London, Johnson said officials were reviewing key data daily and that teachers and parents would be told "as much as we can, as soon as we can".

"Schools, obviously, will be a priority but I don't think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high so as to lead to another great spread of infection," he added.

Johnson closed English schools to all but the children of key workers this month as he ordered a third national lockdown after Covid-19 infections spiked.

The surge has been blamed on the emergence of a more contagious virus variant first identified in southeast England in September.

- Quarantine hotels -

Ministers had hoped schools might reopen in February but Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined on Sunday to guarantee that it would happen even by early April.

Story continues

The UK government sets education policy in England. The sector is handled by the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where schools have also been shut.

The dramatic spike in cases through December has led to unprecedented levels of hospitalisations and fatalities, with Britain now approaching 100,000 deaths.

The number of new cases has now begun to fall and the country appears on course to meet a target of vaccinating nearly 15 million by the middle of next month.

Johnson said on Monday that it could mean "looking at the potential of relaxing some measures" but did not offer details.

Downing Street aides later insisted that would not happen before February 15.

Meanwhile, the government is also being urged to beef up its borders policy as several countries around the world tighten travel rules over fears of new virus strains.

Ministers have for weeks been mulling whether to require all incoming travellers to isolate in hotels, and a decision is expected within days.

Earlier this month, the UK scrapped its "travel corridors" from countries with lower caseloads following the emergence of new variants, and now asks arrivals to show negative Covid-19 tests and then self-isolate.

But following calls for even stricter curbs, senior ministers are due to discuss on Tuesday introducing an obligation on arriving travellers to pay to quarantine at a designated hotel.

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Jenna Dewan was spotted going for a leisurely stroll with her daughter Everly, aged seven, and her baby son Callum, aged 10 months, over the weekend.

The 40-year-old actress appeared to be enjoying the fresh air as she walked with her children near their Los Angeles home.

For a portion of the walk, the actress allowed her daughter to push her baby brother's stroller down the sidewalk.

Taking it easy: On Sunday afternoon, Jenna Dewan was spotted taking her two children for a walk near their home in Los Angeles

The American Horror Story: Asylum actress was seen wearing a cropped long sleeve green-and-white sweatshirt, which she paired with a set of blue jeans; she also wore white strapped Birkenstock sandals during the shared outing.

Dewan kept her normally flowing brunette hair tied back in a loose ponytail and wore no makeup for the walk.

The actress carried a grey face mask with a number of flowers attached to its front.

She can do it too! At a certain point during the outing, Dewan allowed her daughter Everly to push a stroller carrying her baby brother Callum

Comfy clothing: The actress wore a pair of blue jeans and sandals underneath a multicolored crewneck sweater during the walk

Everly was spotted dressed in a white graphic printed sweater on top of a polka dot skirt and avocado-patterned leggings; she also wore a small pair of light purple Crocs.

The doting mom made sure Callum stayed comfortable during the outing, as he wore a large white beanie to keep his head warm in the brisk California winter weather.

During the walk, Dewan posted a photo to her Instagram story showing her daughter pushing the stroller; she added a heart icon to the middle of the shot.

She then shared a video of the same subject from a different angle immediately afterwards.

Point of view: The actress later posted a video and a photo to her Instagram story showing her daughter's enthusiasm for stroller-pushing

Making sure he's comfy: The actress placed a beanie on her youngest child's head to keep him warm in the cool California winter weather

Dewan welcomed her eldest child in 2013 with her former husband Channing Tatum, whom she met while they were filming the 2006 dance movie Step Up.

The two tied the knot in 2009, only to separate nine years later; their divorce was finalized in 2019.

The former couple have agreed to co-parent their daughter and remain executive producers on the series Step Up: High Water.

She has since entered a relationship with actor Steve Kazee, and the two became engaged in February of 2020.

The new couple then expanded their family with the birth of Callum in March of last year.

Former couple: The actress welcomed her first child with her ex-husband Channing Tatum, whom she was married to from 2009 until 2019; the two are seen at the London premiere of Kingsman: The Golden Circle in 2017

Where they met: The former pair first got to know each other while costarring in the 2006 dance movie Step Up

In 2019, Dewan spoke to Romper about how her goals regarding her career and family life completely changed after her divorce from the Magic Mike star.

The actress remarked that after everything between the former couple had ended, 'Everly became my number one priority. And so job opportunities that would come had to sort of fit into my new priority list.'

The actress also elaborated on how she tries to maintain a good level of contact with her former husband and why she feels that her efforts show her daughter that she is cared for no matter the circumstances.

'I think that communication is key, always. Keeping all your communications elevated and in a place of goodwill, and knowing that situations might change, but making sure the love for your child stays there,' she noted.
In March 2010, the United States Tax Court ordered Gupta to pay the IRS more than $116,000, including penalties and interest, for tax years 2002 and 2003, according to the indictment. Gupta refused to pay and by the end of 2018 he owed close to $260,000 for tax years 2002 and 2003, according to the indictment.

Varun Dhawan And Wife Natasha Dalal Make Their First Appearance After Tying The Knot

Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan and his wife Natasha Dalal made their first appearance in front of the media post their marriage on Sunday. After the newly-wedded couple's marriage ceremony, Varun and Natasha came outside their wedding venue and posed in front of the cameras. The duo complimented each other's look in sparkly wedding attires. While Varun wore a blue-tinted white sparkly Sherwani, Natasha looked beautiful in her sparkling white Lehenga.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Desimartini Movies (@desimartinimovies)

The private wedding which took place at Alibaug's Mansion House Resort included the couple's close family and friends along with several big names of the Indian film industry like Manish Malhotra, Kunal Kohli, Karan Johar, among several others.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

Varun and Natasha, have reportedly known each other since their school days. The two fell in love when they met at a music concert years later. However, the duo has always kept their relationship low-key. Varun publicly acknowledged that he is dating Natasha when he posted a photo featuring himself with his girlfriend on her birthday in 2019.
[January 25, 2021] Spaceflight Inc. Successfully Deploys 16 Payloads on SpaceX Transporter-1 Mission

Spaceflight Inc., the global launch services provider, successfully launched and deployed 16 payloads, including 15 from its next-generation orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), Sherpa-FX1, aboard the SpaceX (News - Alert) Transporter-1 mission. Dubbed SXRS-3 by Spaceflight, the mission launched January 24 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It delivered Spaceflight's Sherpa-FX1 to Sun Synchronous Low Earth Orbit (525 km alt), where it deployed payloads for more than 10 organizations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005248/en/ Transporter-1 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Sunday, January 24 carrying 143 smallsats, 16 from Spaceflight Inc. customers. (Photo: John Kraus) Spaceflight managed the end-to-end launch experience for 10 cubesats, four microsats and two hosted payloads. Customers onboard the launch represented both commercial and government entities from four countries, and included organizations such as HawkEye 360, iQPS, Astrocast, Celestis, and the University of South Florida Institute of Applied Engineering. "This successful launch and deployment of spacecraft from the Sherpa-FX vehicle is a significant milestone in delivering flexible launch options for customers," said Grant Bonin, SVP of business development at Spaceflight. "Our Sherpa vehicles, coupled with the large variety of launches available to us through our global network of partners, enable us to offer a more customized launch experience to smallsat companies and get customer spacecraft on orbit exactly where they need to be, when they need to be there. We're excited to kick off the year with this SpaceX launch, and are well positioned to execute several more Sherpa missions in the coming months." Spaceflight's years of experience providing mission management and integration services gives cmpanies a low-risk option to remanifest to another launch quickly if delays occur - which is rapidly becoming a must-have for smallsat developers. Further, Spaceflight ensures all complex details and requirements, from planning to licensing and up to lift off, are taken care of by an experienced and knowledgeable team to successfully support a mission from beginning to end.



"This is our third launch with Spaceflight and the most critical to date," added Kjell Karlsen, CFO of Astrocast. "With this launch, our Nanosatellite IoT Network goes live. Spaceflight's reliable rideshare service has made the team a trusted partner as we strive to accomplish our mission. Additionally, the flexibility the company provides has been incredibly valuable as we plan for the many launches required to build an operational constellation." The successful Transporter-1 mission was Spaceflight's first mission of 2021 as well as the debut flight of the Sherpa-FX vehicle. Building on the success of its SSO-A mission, which delivered 64 spacecraft to orbit from a free-flyer vehicle, Spaceflight pioneered a new Sherpa-NG program in mid-2020. The Sherpa-NG (next generation) program is a family of ESPA-class space vehicles designed to minimize development timelines while maximizing flight and schedule reliability and mission assurance. Sherpa vehicles provide more orbital diversification, including flexible manifest changes, deployment to multiple altitudes and orbital planes, and rapid launch solutions.

While Sherpa-FX is the first vehicle in the program to launch, two additional versions, Sherpa-LTC and Sherpa- LTE (News - Alert) with gas propellant and electrical propulsion respectively, are preparing to launch later this year. The vehicles will all offer quickly configurable systems, multiple deployment capabilities, and tracking and identification abilities. With propulsive systems and in-space transportation capabilities, Sherpa-LTC and Sherpa-LTE vehicles will enable delivery of spacecraft to orbit faster and beyond LEO. "It's been exciting and gratifying to see the evolution of our Sherpa vehicle from a free-flyer on SSO-A to a strategic and diverse program designed to meet the various needs of smallsat customers," said Curt Blake (News - Alert) , CEO and president of Spaceflight. "Our goal is to make the process of getting to space easier, more efficient and more accessible and the next-gen Sherpa vehicles will enable us to deliver this in a new, innovative manner. After 10 years of business, we have extensive experience, partner relationships, and a variety of learnings that we were able to leverage as we expand our offering to now include in-space transportation services." In 2021, Spaceflight is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Over the last 10 years, the company has launched more than 30 missions and 300 satellites. Spaceflight works with a portfolio of global launch vehicles, including Falcon 9, Antares, Electron, Vega, and PSLV, to provide a variety of launch options to its customers. Finally, the company has executed noteworthy and industry-defining launches over the last 10 years, including its first dedicated rideshare mission, SSO-A, which launched the largest number of satellites from a U.S.-based rocket, and the first-ever rideshare mission to GTO, which carried the first privately funded lunar lander. This year, Spaceflight plans to launch multiple Sherpa vehicles in addition to many other rideshare missions, totaling more than 10 missions across its global launch vehicle portfolio. About Spaceflight Inc. As the premier global launch services provider, Spaceflight is revolutionizing the business of space transportation through its comprehensive suite of launch services and Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles. The company provides unprecedented launch flexibility to ensure customers' smallsats get to orbit exactly when and where they want through a combination of long-standing relationships with a diverse portfolio of launch partners, innovative satellite integration capabilities, including flight and ground support hardware, licensing and logistics management, and extensive mission management expertise. Based in Seattle, Spaceflight has successfully launched hundreds of satellites and is a part of the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. portfolio, operating as an independent, U.S.-based company. For more information, visit http://www.spaceflight.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005248/en/

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Boston can reject Christian flag at City Hall, 1st Circuit rules

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The city of Boston, Massachusetts, can stop a citizen from flying a Christian flag over City Hall, the First Circuit ruled on Friday. The petitioners say they will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that censoring a private flag because it contains a cross amounts to violation of the First Amendment.

Boston is entitled to select the views that it wants to express, U.S. Circuit Judge Bruce Selya, a Reagan appointee, wrote for a three-judge panel, according to Courthouse News.

The refusal to fly the flag, the judge added, simply cannot be construed to suggest the disparagement of the plaintiffs religion.

The conservative law firm Liberty Counsel pointed out, Never has Boston censored any flag until the Christian flag, which is white with a blue square in the upper corner and a red cross. The flag contains no writing.

Two of the three 83-foot-tall flagpoles outside City Hall always fly the U.S. flag and the state flag. While the third usually flies the city flag, citizens can petition to temporarily raise another flag. Between 2005 and 2017, Boston approved all of the 284 requests it received to fly other flags.

The law firm, which is representing Boston resident Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization Camp Constitution, said, Under oath, the city official testified the flag would have been approved if the application did not refer to it as a Christian flag. The word Christian on the application alone triggered the censorship.

The official said he had never heard of a Christian flag until Camp Constitutions application, Liberty Counsel added.

The flag was to be part of a ceremony to honor the Constitution and recognize the Christian Founders on Sept. 17, 2017, in observance of Constitution Day.

The court said the City Halls display of three flags flying in close proximity communicates the symbolic unity of the three flags.

It therefore strains credulity to believe that an observer would partition such a coordinated three-flag display  into a series of separate yet simultaneous messages (two that the government endorses and another as to which the government disclaims any relation), the court continued.

Although the plaintiffs might perhaps make the case that a lone Christian flag, nowhere near City Hall, would be seen as devoid of any connection to a government entity, a City Hall display that places such a flag next to the flag of the United States and the flag of the commonwealth of Massachusetts communicates a far different message.

Liberty Counsel founder and Chairman Mat Staver said the refusal was discrimination.

The citys discrimination against Camp Constitutions Christian viewpoint is both obvious and unconstitutional, Staver said. There is a crucial difference between government endorsement of religion and private speech, which government is bound to respect. Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted is unconstitutional. We look forward to the next step in our journey to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ukraine has protested against the BBC's inclusion of Moscow-annexed Crimean cities on a list of Russian cities where demonstrators rallied to support jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

The British broadcaster's Russian service published the map on January 23 as tens of thousands of people rallied across Russia, saying the demonstrations were held in 122 "Russian cities" including two major Crimean cities, Simferopol and Sevastopol.

The BBC marked the map with an explanation saying that "Russia annexed Crimea in 2014."

Despite the explanation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko called on the BBC's Russian service not to "promote Russian narratives."

"Sevastopol and Simferopol have never been Russian cities...International law matters," Nikolenko wrote on Twitter on January 24.

Moscow illegally annexed Crimea in early 2014 and weeks later threw its support behind pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east, where some 13,200 people have been killed in an ongoing conflict.

Others also criticized the BBC for adding the two Crimean cities to the list of "Russian cities."

Refat Chubarov, the leader of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, challenged the BBC on Facebook, asking whether its Russian service "wants to help Russia to annex Crimea."

A BBC representative did not comment on the map controversy.

Tens of thousands of protesters across Russia on January 23 demanded the release of Navalny, who was arrested six days earlier and sent to pretrial detention after returning to Russia following his recovery in Germany from poisoning by a military-grade nerve agent.

Police dispersed the protests, sometimes violently, detaining more than 3,700 people.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- U.S. counties with higher income inequality faced higher rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the first 200 days of the pandemic, according to a new study. Counties with higher proportions of Black or Hispanic residents also had higher rates, the study found, reinforcing earlier research showing the disparate effects of the virus on those communities.

The findings, published last week by JAMA Network Open, were based on county-level data for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Data sources included the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USAFacts and the U.S. Census Bureau.

The lead author of the study, Tim Liao, head of the sociology department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, initiated the study last summer after noticing that economic inequality - a focus of his research for more than 15 years - was getting little attention as a potential factor in how the virus was being experienced.

"We needed actual data to really fully understand the social dimensions of the pandemic," he said. "We knew all along that racial inequality was important, but most of the time people were missing the more complete picture, which includes economic inequality."

Fernando De Maio, a DePaul University sociology professor and the director of research and data use at the American Medical Association's Center for Health Equity, was a co-author of the study.

The researchers' analysis included 3,141 of 3,142 counties in the U.S. with available data, with the remaining county excluded due to incomplete information. The 200 days for which they collected data spanned Jan. 22, 2020, when the first U.S. case was confirmed, to Aug. 8.

Controlling for other variables, the researchers found that a 1.0% increase in a county's Black population corresponded to an average 1.9% increase in infections and a 2.6% increase in mortality due to COVID-19. A 1.0% increase in a county's Hispanic population corresponded to an average 2.4% increase in incidence and a 1.9% increase in mortality.

A 1.0% rise in a county's income inequality, as determined by a research measure called the Gini index, corresponded to an average 2.0% rise in COVID-19 incidence and a 3.0% rise in mortality. The researchers noted that the average Gini index in U.S. counties was 44.5 and ranged from 25.7 to 66.5, based on a 100-point scale.

Among other study results, the researchers found that the rate of virus infection was lower by an average of 32% in counties that were part of states covered by the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, though they found no association with mortality rates.

The findings suggested, according to the researchers, that "High levels of income inequality harm population health ... irrespective of racial/ethnic composition."

No matter how they analyzed the data, Liao said, "two things emerged. One is the racial and ethnic dimension, the other is the income inequality dimension. They're always there, always strong."

"Many studies have concluded that COVID-19 has revealed the fault lines of inequality in the United States," the researchers wrote. "This study expands that picture by illustrating how county-level income inequality matters, in itself and through its interaction with racial/ethnic composition, to systematically disadvantage Black and Hispanic communities."

They suggested that income inequality, a measure not typically included in county-level public health surveillance, may need to be considered in identifying the places most affected by the virus.

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A mum has inspired hundreds after sharing the results of her incredibly organised back-to-school meal prep.

The Australian woman, called Shannon, made bulk snacks of pizza scrolls, cheesymite scrolls, homemade sausage rolls, cheesy corn muffins and pineapple lump and Weetbix slices ahead of her kids heading back to school this week.

'Looking forward to being organised with yummy homemade snacks,' Shannon wrote on Facebook.

'I still have a few more things I might make as well but it all depends on my freezer space.'

A mum has inspired hundreds after sharing the results of her incredibly organised back-to-school meal prep (her cooking pictured)

Shannon enjoys bulk cooking and then freezing as many items as possible; she then freezes the snacks and pulls them out one by one the night before (pineapple lump slice pictured)

Shannon revealed the she enjoys bulk cooking and then freezing as many items as possible.

That way, when it comes to making the school lunchboxes, she always has something to pull out and is never caught un-prepared.

'I wing it a lot and make up recipes as I go along, but mostly I freeze everything and just pull it out the night before,' Shannon said.

'This is my back-to-school bake off.'

How to make Shannon's pineapple lump slice INGREDIENTS Shannon shared her pineapple lump slice recipe (pictured) One packet of arrowroot biscuits One can of sweetened condensed milk One packet of pineapple lumps 50g melted butter 2-3 teaspoons desiccated coconut Dark cooking chocolate METHOD 1. Roughly chop the pineapple lumps. Crush up the arrowroot biscuits by pulsing in a blender or by hand in a ziplock bag and a rolling pin. 2. Combine the pineapple lumps, biscuit crumb, coconut, condensed milk and melted butter in large bowl. 3. Press the slice mixture into a lined slice tin and place in the fridge. While the slice is setting in the fridge melt some dark chocolate to pour over the top of the slice. 4. Simply slice when fully set and store in the fridge or freezer. Source: Facebook Advertisement

Hundreds who saw the post were impressed with it, and said they should do the same before the start of term.

'Fantastic effort, well done,' one woman posted.

'Wow you must have good eaters on your hands. No matter what I send most still comes back,' another added.

A third posted: 'How awesome you are. Thanks so much for the ideas.'

A mum-of-five who lost 20 kilograms after giving birth has shown off the results of her incredible 'back-to-school' snack batch cook, which includes 40 Vegemite scrolls (pictured)

Australian mum Jessica May Magill spent hours in the kitchen in order to get organised in a healthy way for the busy term ahead (pictured before and after)

Last week, a mum-of-five who lost 20 kilograms after giving birth showed off the results of her incredible 'back-to-school' snack batch cook, which includes Vegemite scrolls, chocolate chip banana muffins and salted caramel bliss balls.

Australian mum Jessica May Magill spent hours in the kitchen in order to get organised in a healthy way for the busy term ahead.

In total, Jess made 40 wholemeal Vegemite scrolls, a batch of choc chip banana bread (in muffins), a batch of wholemeal choc chip muffins and some nut-free salted caramel bliss balls.

She intends to keep all of these in airtight containers in the fridge and freezer so there is always something healthy on hand when she or her kids needs a sweet hit.

When she needed to lose weight five years ago after the birth of her second child, Jess turned to the leading Australian weight loss program The Healthy Mummy (pictured before and after)
MILAN, JAN 25 - Italy's first suspected case of the Brazilian variant of the COVID-19 virus is being assessed at Varese hospital north of Milan, the local health agency said Monday. The case is an Italian man who flew back from Brazil to Milan's Malpensa Airport via Madrid at the weekend and tested positive. "The subject is in good conditions of health but as a precautionary measure he has been hospitalised for tests", said the agency. (ANSA).
Fans of the movie "Top Gun" won't find Tom Cruise mentioned in "TOPGUN's Top 10: Leadership Lessons from the Cockpit," but they will find authoritative and practical lessons in leadership that can be applied in everyday life.

Retired Navy Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass, a former TOPGUN student and instructor, wrote his book because he knew the excitement surrounding the forthcoming "Top Gun" movie sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick," would captivate audiences. But the book is more about learning from his life of service and the extraordinary training he received in the Navy.

"There's plenty of great leadership books out there, but I hadn't run across one from the vantage point of a U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School Instructor," Snodgrass says. "I felt this would give the book a truly unique vantage point from which to share leadership lessons that we can all relate to."

It's important to remember that TOPGUN, the popular shorthand for the U.S. Navy's Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, isn't just a feather in the cap of a lucky naval aviator. It's a difficult, disciplined training regimen born out of necessity.

"Some lessons are learned from a single instance of incredible failure or heartbreak," says the former naval aviator. "In the aviation community, we refer to these as 'lessons written in blood.' You never forget them because, typically, failure to learn them could result in loss of life or severe injury."

Snodgrass' first book is called "Holding the Line: Inside Trump's Pentagon with Secretary Mattis." (Courtesy of Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass)

During the Vietnam War, American pilots didn't have the air supremacy they once enjoyed in the skies over Germany, Japan and Korea. American pilots were not only downed by skilled North Vietnamese pilots flying the latest Soviet aircraft, but also took fire from anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles.

The Navy alone lost 532 aircraft and 401 naval aviators. In previous wars, skilled aviators maintained a kill ratio of 10 enemy aircraft for every Navy plane shot down. Over Vietnam, that number dwindled to 2 to 1.

To find out what was going wrong, Capt. Frank W. Ault was tasked with reviewing the Navy's dogfighting plans for the war. The result was the 1968 Ault Report, which ultimately recommended a fighter weapons school that would teach Navy pilots to fight and win in the skies -- soon to be known as TOPGUN.

By 1973, when the North Vietnamese Army rolled into the South in the largest invasion since the 1950 Chinese intervention in Korea, U.S. Navy and Air Force fighters hit back. The Air Force barely managed a 1.78 kill ratio. But the Navy's kill ratio was a much more impressive 13-to-1, and TOPGUN was the key.

Part of TOPGUN's success is its training in critical leadership, which starts from day one. Snodgrass' new book talks about that leadership training in detail. He shares lessons learned from his victories and his successes.

"Other lessons come about from experience and repetition," he says. "That's the critical importance of reading a wide variety of books and developing a diverse network of friends -- you have a broader vantage point from which to learn lessons and plenty of resources to reach back to when you face adversity or new challenges. That's where this book fits in."

Though he admits he doesn't have all the answers, Snodgrass believes learning from one's mistakes and failures can add new skills to your repertoire and can make anyone stronger. The biggest obstacle keeping people from a world of future success is their own arrogance.

"Arrogance can be as insidious as believing you're the smartest person in the room, that your own judgment and decision making supersedes those with more experience or insight than your own," he says. "We find this in a great number of large organizations, and especially in the military, where 'rank makes right.'"

Everything you've ever wanted to know about TOPGUN (short of flying aircraft) is in this book, from the "Rush Ride" -- an initial dogfight with an instructor -- to handling an overwhelming amount of information as an instructor. More than learning about the career progression of naval aviators, however, it offers some sincere thoughts on how to handle the failures and successes of one of the Navy's most critical jobs.

"We can all use a healthy dose of humility," Snodgrass says. "And a constant reminder that there is always something new to learn each and every day."

In 10 chapters, each one based on the lessons learned by Snodgrass as both TOPGUN student and instructor, he describes eminently useful and tangible tips for life and leadership that are applicable to any would-be leader. The lessons Snodgrass writes about are ones we could all -- military or civilian -- learn the hard way.

But now we don't have to.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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The statue of 17th century merchant, Edward Colston, falls into the water after protesters pulled it down during a protest following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Bristol, England, on June 7, 2020. (Keir Gravil via Reuters)

Four Protesters Arrested as Suspects Appear in UK Court Over Statue Toppling

British police arrested four protesters for breaching CCP virus restrictions on Monday outside a court in Bristol where suspects were attending a hearing in relation to the toppling of a statue during a Black Lives Matter protest last June.

Two men aged 43 and 68 and two women aged 59 and 60 were detained for attending an unlawful protest outside Bristol Magistrates Court after refusing to disperse, Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement.

Formal warnings were also given to four other people who subsequently left the area, the police said. Police had previously warned people not to attend any protests. An online event was organised instead.

We fully recognise the important right to freedom of expression and right to assemble but there is a deadly virus which has killed more than 90,000 people in the UK which simply cannot be ignored, Inspector Rob Cheeseman said in a statement.

The protesters were there to show support for four people who were in court accused of damaging the statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century merchant, which was toppled during a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest in Bristol in June 2020, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

The four defendantsRhian Graham, 29, Milo Ponsford, 25, Jake Skuse, 32, and Sage Willoughby, 21were charged in December with causing criminal damage and made their first appearance in court earlier on Monday.

They pleaded not guilty and asked for a trial before a judge and jury in a crown court, according to the solicitors for three of the defendants.

Impacts of Protests

During last summers BLM riots, protesters in the UK defaced a statue of Winston Churchill in Londons Parliament Square, taping a Black Lives Matter sign to it and spraying it with graffiti.

A worker cleans the statue of former prime minister Winston Churchill in Londons Parliament Square that had been spray painted with graffiti during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 8, 2020. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The protests triggered a series of acts of cultural revision in the UK, including the renaming of Gunga Din House, a senior boys boarding house at an independent Oxford school over perceived racist connotations; and the renaming by the University of Edinburgh of a campus building over 18th-century philosopher David Humes 260-year-old comments on race.

The British Museum reorganized displays to reflect the exploitative context of the British Empire, prior to its reopening in August.

In September 2020, the British government wrote to several museums and cultural institutions warning that their public funding could be called into question should they remove statues or other historical objects that have become the focus of protests or complaints.

On Jan. 17, Britains Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced new laws to protect Englands cultural and historic heritage, which said historic statues should not be destroyed but should be retained and explained for future generations.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Jenrick said, Any decisions to remove these heritage assets will require planning permission and councils will need to do so in accordance with their constitution, after consultation with the local community.

Mary Clark and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today announced that it has signed an agreement to sell its performance and lifestyle footwear business to Rocky Brands, a leading manufacturer of premium footwear and apparel, for approximately $230 million. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

Under the agreement, Honeywell will divest five brands it deems non-core to its business: The Original Muck Boot Company, XTRATUF fishing boots and deck shoes, Ranger, NEOS overshoes and Servus protective rubber boots.

"These are well-respected brands beloved by professionals and outdoor enthusiasts for work and play, and we're proud of our team that has grown this business in recent years," said John Waldron, president and CEO, Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions. "We're excited for them to join Rocky Brands, who will continue to accelerate growth by leveraging its significant industry knowledge and expertise."

Rocky Brands, Inc. is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of premium quality footwear and apparel marketed under a portfolio of well recognized brand names including Rocky, Georgia Boot, Durango, Lehigh, and the licensed brand Michelin.

"With the acquisition of The Original Muck Boot Company along with XTRATUF, Servus, NEOS and Ranger brands, we will greatly enhance our powerful portfolio of footwear brands and significantly increase our sales and profitability," said Jason Brooks, president and CEO, Rocky Brands, Inc. "We're acquiring a well-run business with a corporate culture and a customer base similar to ours, which provides meaningful growth opportunities within our existing categories as well as entree into new market segments. Its innovative and authentic product collections complement our existing offering with minimal overlap, which will allow us to strengthen our wholesale relationships and serve a wider consumer audience. At the same time, we plan to leverage Rocky's advanced fulfillment capabilities to accelerate these brands' direct-to-consumer penetration. I am incredibly proud of the success our organization has achieved over the past several years and I am excited to build on our momentum as we begin this exciting new chapter for the Company."

Honeywell will continue to manufacture industrial safety footwear for workers under brands such as Oliver, MTS, Honeywell Bacou and others.

Honeywell is a leading provider of head-to-toe personal protective equipment to help protect workers on the job. The company's safety offerings include respiratory, hearing, eye and fall protection solutions as well as advanced gas detectors for industrial applications.

There is no impact to Honeywell's financial guidance as the result of this transaction.

Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions (SPS) provides products, software and connected solutions that improve productivity, workplace safety and asset performance for our customers across the globe. We deliver on this promise through industry-leading mobile devices, software, cloud technology and automation solutions, the broadest range of personal protective equipment and gas detection technology, and custom-engineered sensors, switches and controls. For more information, please visit sps.honeywell.com.

Honeywell (http://www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 technology company that delivers industry-specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.

This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements. We identify the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our performance in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contacts:





Media Investor Relations Eric Krantz Mark Bendza (803) 835-8230 (704) 627-6200 [email protected] [email protected]

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For proud Scots, haggis is a hallowed national symbol which on Monday was the centrepiece at suppers along with neeps and tatties to mark poet Robert Burns's birthday.

But now  whisper it quietly  it has been claimed Scotland's national dish was invented by 'the auld enemy', the English.

The claim about the meat pudding  a blend of sheep lungs, oats and spices  was made by Scottish writer Emma Irving in The Economist's magazine, 1843.

The haggis was famously described by Burns as 'Great chieftain o' the pudding-race' in 1787.

But it is said to have been first mentioned in English literature in the 13th century, described as 'hagwys' in a recipe.

It is claimed the first recipe for haggis was actually found in Lancashire in 1430. No mention of it appears in any Scottish text until 1513.

For proud Scots, haggis is a hallowed national symbol which last night was the centrepiece at suppers along with neeps and tatties to mark poet Robert Burns's birthday. But now  whisper it quietly  it has been claimed Scotland's national dish was invented by 'the auld enemy', the English [Stock photo]

Miss Irving said haggis became linked with Scotland after the Highland Clearances, when many tenant farmers were evicted to make way for sheep.

She told BBC Radio 4: 'Haggis, because it was so economical and also nutritious...became really popular north of the border.'

The haggis was famously described by Scottish poet Robert Burns as 'Great chieftain o' the pudding-race' in 1787. Pictured: A statue of Burns in Edinburgh

She said the stereotype of a poor peasant eating offal 'was used to put successful Scottish people in their place'.

Miss Irving added: 'Burns saw this slight and he turned it into an accolade.

'He saw the poetry in haggis, for him it became an emblem of Scottish character, sort of resourceful and hearty and unassuming and you know everything that the decadent English weren't.'

She added that it became central to the Scottish 'culinary national identity'.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, 'haggis pudding' was delicacy in many upper-crust English households.

Gervase Markham, an English writer wrote in 1615 of 'Haggas or Haggis, of whose goodness it is vain to boast, because there is hardly to be found a man that doth not affect [like] them.'

But after four centuries of popularity south of the border, it fell from favour as the dish became increasingly eaten by poor Scottish people.

After the Highland Clearances, when many Scottish tenant farmers were evicted to make way for sheep, they began to eat haggis and it was only then that it became associated with all things Caledonian.
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The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Yobe State has suspended Uche Friday Uche of the Peoples Daily newspaper accused of raping a four-year old girl.

The police took Mr Uche into custody last Friday after his neighbour, a soldier, alleged that he raped his infant daughter.

Addressing an emergency meeting of the union in Damaturu on Saturday, the Yobe State chairperson of the NUJ, Rajab Mohammed, said Mr Uche is suspended from the union until he is cleared by the courts of the allegation.

Mr Mohammed said the police had arraigned the journalist before a magistrates court after five days in police custody.

Following his failure to meet his bail conditions, he was taken to the Potiskum Medium Correctional Facility pending further police investigations.

Mr Mohammed said NUJ officials had initially waded into the matter after being informed of Mr Uches arrest until the medical report of an hospital which examined the girl confirmed bruises on her genitals.

He said the NUJ as a critical stakeholder in the fight against gender-based violence, rape and other related offences, decided to allow the law to take its course on the matter.

The Union wishes to categorically state that, henceforth, acts of indiscipline, extortion, intimidation and other forms of unethical conducts will not be tolerated. Anyone found guilty will be dealt with accordingly, Mr Mohammed said.

He said while the NUJ would always stand by its members unjustly intimidated, molested, manhandled or abused in the course of discharging their professional duties, members should not take this protection for granted to look for trouble, especially in their personal lives.

The NUJ wishes to let the public know that we are a disciplined organisation, law-abiding and critical stakeholders in transparency and accountability at all levels.

Therefore, the NUJ disassociates itself from unlawful acts and would continue to fight injustice no matter who is involved to secure justice for everyone.

Finally, I wish to officially announce the indefinite suspension of Uche Friday Uche from NUJ until the determination of the case and he is cleared by the court, Mr Mohammed said.
Minister of Education Sorin Cimpeanu on Monday reported that 80,000 employees in the education system have been scheduled for anti-COVID vaccination, and 6,000 of them have already been immunized.

"We have a number of 80,000 employees in the education system, who, not only have declared their vaccination availability, but they have also been scheduled for vaccination. Of the 80,000 scheduled for vaccination, I want to tell you that 6,000 have already been vaccinated at this hour. We are talking about teaching staff, auxiliary teaching staff, non-teaching staff," the Minister told Digi FM private television broadcaster.

According to him, before February 8, a "systemic priority" will be given for the vaccination of the teaching staff and the other employees in the education system, which, however, will not affect the plans already made.
The Minister for Transport, Hon. Kweku Ofori Asiamah, has been adjudged the overall best minister among all the ministers appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to help him run his administration, according to a survey conducted by FAKS Investigative Services.



Out of the 4,327 who responded to the survey, an overwhelming 3,956, representing 91.42% ranked Mr. Ofori Asiamah number one to emerge winner among the group of ministers who were put on the spotlight for assessment of their performance during the period under review.



The survey took place between the months of October and December 2020 and it was the 9th Edition since FAKS started this project.



The 2020 survey focused on opinions from the public, some assessment from the ministries and agencies as well as the regions.



Respondents for the survey were, journalists, students, petty traders, traditional rulers, business owners, civil society organizations (CSOs), commercial drivers, traders in general, and academia among others.



About 74% of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 55 while the remaining 26% were between the ages of 56 and 75.



The annual survey also included the performance of Members of Parliament (MPs), deputy Ministers and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the country.



The Ghanaian research and investigative firm headed by Fred Yaw Sarpong, said despite the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the exercises were successful.



Achievements of Mr. Ofori Asiamah



During the four-year period under which Mr. Ofori Asiamah has been the Minister for Transport, he has spearheaded the expansion and modernization of the Takoradi Port, a very huge project which was executed by a wholly Ghanaian owned firm, Ibistek.



He has also revived the age-long Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal (BILT), also known as the Boankra Inland Port Project in the Ashanti Region. The project worth US$330million is being executed by a Concessionaire, Ashanti Ports Services Limited, a joint venture of Afum Quality Limited and DSS Associates of the Republic of Korea.



Mr. Ofori Asiamah, has also ensured the deepening of the decentralization of DVLA services across the country.



He has also ensured to revamp the service of Metro Mass Transit as well as Intercity STC, thereby, making them the one choice of transport services for commuters.



One other key achievement of Mr. Ofori Asiamah, is how he has been able to manage the various transport operating unions to the admiration of all. That notwithstanding, the Transport Minister ensured that the National Road Safety Authority received the best funding ever to ensure that road users and commuters comply with road safety regulations.



GPHA Board eulogizes Mr. Ofori Asiamah



Board Members of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) recently, in unison, extoled the leadership qualities of the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, which has brought about massive transformation to the transport sector.



The Board, having thoroughly assessed the Minister, gave him a thumbs up for the smooth manner he has handled the Ministry under which the GPHA operates as an agency.



His unifying skills, coupled with him being a team player, was highlighted as his trump card, with the Board Members expressing their appreciation to the Minister for the way and manner he handled issues that were brought to his attention, especially, agitations from the workers front among others.



Hon. Ofori Asiamah had gone to the Board of the GPHA during their last meeting held in Accra to express his gratitude to them for cooperating with and supporting him during the last four years of which he had oversight responsibility over the Authority.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/GHANA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The New Jersey State Police charged a California man with murder after he allegedly shot a Florida man at a truck stop in Union Township, Hunterdon County Saturday.

David Rodriguez, 44, of Rialto, California was arrested and charged with murder, following an argument with Ricardo De Castro, 43, of Deerfield Beach, Florida outside in the Pilot truck stop parking lot, the State Police announced Sunday evening.

During the altercation, Rodriguez allegedly shot De Castro with a .40 caliber handgun, police said.

Rodriguez was also charged with firearm possession charges and was taken to the Warren County Jail, pending a detention hearing.

Rodriguez surrendered to troopers at scene and was arrested without incident, police said. The handgun was recovered by responding troopers.

De Castro was treated on scene by troopers and first responders from the Pattenburg Rescue Squad, based in Asbury. He was taken to Hunterdon Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead from his injuries.

The incident is being investigated by the State Police Major Crime Unit. Anyone with information, including anonymous tips, should contact State Police Perryville Station at 908-730-7042. The case is being prosecuted by the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office.

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.
Greenwich Police / Contributed Photo

GREENWICH  Police are asking for the publics help to report any sightings of a missing teen who was last seen Sunday.

Sydney Renee Roswess, 15, was last seen at Kids in Crisis on Sunday, police said Monday.
Chinas Ministry of Justice has notified the Plaintiffs that it is refusing to serve any of the defendants in the countrys first-filed class action related to Chinas role in the COVID pandemic. The lawsuit is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Ministry claims that serving the lawsuit on the defendants, including the Communist Party of China and the lab allegedly responsible for harboring the virus, would infringe Chinas sovereign immunity and security.

The fact that China cites their security as a reason for denying that U.S. courts have jurisdiction for this lawsuit is particularly rich considering the abhorrent acts alleged in the complaint, said Matthew Moore, lead attorney for Berman Law Group.

The First Amended Complaint, filed in May 2020, alleges that Chinas Communist Party, through its various ministries, silenced those who tried to warn the world of the virus outbreak that became known as COVID-19 before it became a pandemic. It further alleges that these efforts resulted in a failure to warn and contain that caused COVID-19s unprecedented, direct impacts on U.S. citizens and businesses, and therefore sovereign immunity does not apply.

Berman Law Group remains committed to the lawsuit and proving Chinas responsibility. Under the international Hague Convention and established U.S. law, Plaintiffs may now seek a default judgment against the defendants. In December, the lawsuit was transferred to newly appointed federal judge, the Honorable Aileen M. Cannon, and Plaintiffs look forward to demonstrating that sovereign immunity does not apply here.

The lawsuit demands that China be accountable and pay for what they have done, and that China can afford to pay, said Moore. It is well settled that U.S. federal courts can establish jurisdiction over foreign assets held in the United States.

The lawsuit is Alters v. The Peoples Republic of China, case number 20-cv-21108-AMC.

Learn more about the lawsuit at demandchinapay.org.

# # #

About Berman Law Group

Established in 2008, Berman Law Group has expanded to become a national law firm with numerous offices in Florida and across the U.S., after quickly garnering a well-deserved reputation as an indefatigable and fearless defender of its clients rights and social justice. The firm is headquartered in Boca Raton and has four other offices in Florida, as well as offices in New York City, Atlanta, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. For additional information see: https://www.bermanlawgroup.com/.

Media Contact

Evan Golden

egolden@thebermanlawgroup.com

800-375-5555
Alibaba-backed community group buying platform gets fined for uncompetitive practices; U.S. and China trade officials hold their first phone call under the Biden presidency; and the yuan surges to a three-year high against the dollar

May 28, 2021 05:54 PM
U.S. sea-level report cards: 2020 again trends toward acceleration

Rising waters: Coastal flooding is of growing concern across Tidewater Virginia and in other coastal areas worldwide. Photo by J.D. Loftis/VIMS Photo - of - Hide Caption

The annual update of their sea level report cards by researchers at William & Marys Virginia Institute of Marine Science adds further evidence of an accelerating rate of sea-level rise at nearly all tidal stations along the U.S. coastline.

The teams web-based report cards project sea level to the year 2050 based on an ongoing analysis of tide-gauge records for 32 localities along the U.S. coast from Maine to Alaska. The analysis now includes 52 years of water-level observations, from January 1969 through December 2020. The interactive charts are available online at www.vims.edu/sealevelreportcards.

The projects founder, VIMS emeritus professor John Boon, says The year-to-year trends are becoming very informative. The 2020 report cards continue a clear trend toward acceleration in rates of sea-level rise at 27 of our 28 tide-gauge stations along the continental U.S. coastline. The one continental outlierin Crescent City, Californiajoins four Alaskan stations as sites where coastal uplift makes it appear sea level is falling relative to land.

VIMS marine scientist Molly Mitchell says Seeing acceleration at so many of our stations suggests thatwhen we look at the multiple sea-level scenarios that NOAA puts out based on global modelswe may be moving towards the higher projections. Mitchell has partnered with Boon to generate the report cards each year since 2017.

Acceleration can be a game changer in terms of impacts and planning, so we really need to pay heed to these patterns, says Boon. We have increasing evidence from the tide-gauge records that these higher sea-level curves need to be seriously considered in resilience-planning efforts, adds Mitchell.

Boon says the report cards add value by providing sea-level projections that are updated more frequently than those issued by NOAA or other agencies. Boon and colleagues also use a statistical approach that includes evidence for the recent acceleration in the rate of sea-level change at many U.S. tide-gauge stations, and stress their use of relative sea-level measurementschanges in water level relative to the land surface on which people live and work. The relative sea-level rise in Virginia and other East and Gulf coast areas is due to both rising water and sinking land.

East Coast Trends

Sea-level rise has now been accelerating at all U.S. East Coast stations since 2014. Prior to that year, stations south of Cape Hatteras had recorded little or no acceleration. Today, says Boon, sea level is accelerating faster at many of these southern stations than at some stations further north considered to be sea level rise hot spots not long ago.

Rates of sea-level rise in Norfolk, Virginia are still the highest along the Atlantic Coast at 5.4 millimeters per year, says Mitchell. However, acceleration at stations in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia indicate that we should be watching sea-level patterns in those states very closely. Some studies indicate that the hot spot of sea-level rise in the mid-Atlantic is moving southward, and that stations south of Cape Hatteras will see greater sea-level rise by 2050 than their histories suggest.

Gulf Coast Trends

Most Gulf Coast stations witnessed an upturn in acceleration rates beginning around 2014, and all nine of them have experienced increased acceleration during the last three years. At Grand Isle, Louisiana and Galveston, Texas, these trends marked a transition from deceleration to acceleration. At others, including Pensacola, Florida and Rockport, Texas, sea level has been accelerating since 2004 but trending faster in recent years.

Texas and Louisiana stations continue to show the highest rates of rise in the country. Rockport has the second highest annual rise rate (7.1 mm/year in 2020), and the highest projected sea-level rise for 2050 at 0.82 meters (2.69 ft) above mean sea level in 1992, the midpoint of the most recent National Tidal Datum Epoch. Grand Isle flips the tables, with the highest annual rise rate (8.1 mm/year in 2020), and the second highest projected sea-level rise for 2050 at 0.58 meters (1.9 ft) above 1992 levels. Galveston places third in both measures, with an annual rise rate of 6.6 mm/year in 2020, and a projected rise in 2050 sea level of 0.57 meters (1.87 ft).

Mitchell and Boon attribute the extreme rise rates and sharp contrast in acceleration among the Gulf Coast stations in part to their location within a sedimentary basin with a complex history of water and mineral extraction. Pumping of groundwater and oil can cause land subsidence, which contributes to relative sea-level rise.

West Coast Trends

With the exception of Alaska and Crescent City, Californiawhere plate movements and post-glacial rebound generate pronounced coastal upliftU.S. West Coast stations had been essentially neutral since at least 2004, with relative sea level neither rising nor falling at significant rates. That is no longer the case, as most stations have experienced acceleration since 2017. Upward trends in acceleration presage positive and increasing sea-level rise rates at most stations along the continental west coast, says Boon. Rise rates had been near zero for some time, but nascent acceleration is beginning to cause them to pop.

Although sea level has been rising very slowly along the West Coast, adds Mitchell, models have been predicting that it will start to rise faster. The report cards from the past five years support this idea. Scientists suggest that the speed-up is due to a shift in wind patterns associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, an El Nino-like pattern of climate variability.

Overall Trends

Previous work by Boon, Mitchell, and VIMS colleague Derek Loftis suggests the current acceleration in rates of sea-level rise began around 2013 or 2014, likely associated with ocean dynamics and ice-sheet loss. In 2020, rates of sea-level rise accelerated at all 21 of the report-card stations along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts, and at 7 of the 8 monitored stations along the U.S. West Coast excluding Alaska. All four stations monitored in Alaska show relative sea level falling at increasingly rapid rates. This is due to various processes causing rapid uplift of the coast, tide gauges rising along with the land they rest on.

Notable 2020 findings

The 2020 report cards show an accelerating rate of sea-level rise at 27 of the 32 monitored stations. Rockport, Texas recorded the highest acceleration rate in 2020, with a value of 0.262 mm/y2. The next highest rates of acceleration were observed at Pensacola, FL (0.24 mm/yr2); Wilmington, NC (0.238 mm/yr2); Cedar Key, FL (0.21 mm/yr2); Naples, FL (0.199 mm/yr2); Eastport, ME (0.195 mm/yr2); Charleston, SC (0.181 mm/yr2); Portland, ME (0.166 mm/yr2); Boston, MA (0.165 mm/yr2); and Port Isabel, TX (0.16 mm/yr2). Significant acceleration in rates of sea-level rise at these widely distributed localities hints at global drivers, with climate change the obvious suspect. NOAA recently reported that 2020 was tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record.

Boon and Mitchell note that acceleration at these and other locations sharply increases their quadratic, best-estimate sea-level projections for 2050, despite in several cases a relatively low 2020 rise rate. For instance, Eastport, Maine had a rise rate of only 2.02 mm in 2020, but sea level there is projected to rise 0.41 m (1.3 feet) above 1992 levels by 2050. That 2050 projection is on par with the 0.51-m projection for Norfolk, Virginia (1.67 ft), even though the latters 2020 rise rate was 5.39 mm/yr, almost three times higher than in Eastport.

The VIMS team stresses that sea level will also experience short-term variations in the future just as it does today. Thus, coastal residents and planners in Virginia and other areas likely to experience significant sea-level increases by 2050 must also account for storm surges and other transient forces raising sea level even higher than the projected mean rise value. The 95% confidence bands placed about the projected quadratic curve in VIMS sea-level report cards are a further reminder that average sea level in any given month can deviate from the projected annual mean by as much as 20 centimeters (8 inches).

The value of an annual, localized report card

Because long-term changes in sea level are typically on the order of a few millimeters per year, researchers have traditionally felt little need to issue frequent forecasts of sea-level changes. Moreover, many sea-level projections are global in scope, with a forecast horizon of 2100far enough off to allow for readily discernible linear change. An example is the United Nations oft-reported projection of 65 centimeters (2.1 feet) of absolute sea-level rise by the end of this century.

The VIMS team has purposefully taken a more localized and timely approach, one designed to add maximum value for coastal residents, businesses, and governments.

Says Boon, Our report cards show what sea level has been doing recently, whats happening now at your locality. Numerous studies show that local rates of sea-level rise and acceleration differ substantially from the global rates published by the IPCC and NOAAa key result because local rates of relative sea-level rise give a direct indication of the extent to which homes, buildings, and roads are at risk of flooding.

The teams decision to use a subset of available tide-gauge data runs counter to the traditional approach taken by NOAA, the agency that operates the nations official network of tidal stations. NOAA should be commended for their care in ensuring the continuity, consistency, and availability of the nations long-term tidal datasets, says Boon. But at the same time, a longer record isnt always better, especially when theres evidence of recent non-linear changes in the rate of sea-level rise like we see along the U.S. East Coast.

An earlier analysis by Boon showed that this acceleration began in 1987, at the center of a 36-year sliding window beginning in 1969thus setting the start date for the VIMS report cards. This is decades after many U.S. tide-gauge stations began operation but within a span where many more stations now have complete or nearly complete records. Given recent evidence of ongoing warming, it makes sense in a nation-wide, comparative study of sea-level change to analyze only those observations made over the same period of time.

Mitchell explains further, If you cross a threshold in terms of something like sea-level rise, what came beforesay a tide-gauge record that began in 1900is biased in terms of seeing where youre going. We think ice sheets are melting faster today, and if that's true then the previous 90 years of data wont accurately predict the future.

The difference between the linear rates used in NOAAs sea-level forecasts and the non-linear, accelerating rates used in VIMS report cards can lead to sharply different forecasts of our sea-level future. Extending NOAAs linear sea-level projections to mid-century for the tide gauge in Norfolk, Virginia indicates that sea level here will be 0.3 meters (11.4 inches) higher by 2050, while the VIMS forecastusing a non-linear, accelerating rateis 0.51 meters, or 20.1 inches. That extra 21 centimeters (8.6 inches) of sea-level rise would have major implications for the low-lying region.

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The Office fans still get their fix of the legendary sitcom thanks to streaming services and syndication. Also keeping sitcom memories of the show alive on her podcast Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly Halpert) often shares behind-the-scenes secrets from the series with her BFF and former co-star Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin).

Fischer often uses scenes from The Office for posts on social media. After the inaugural photo of Bernie Sanders went viral, Fischer seized the opportunity to recall a fan favorite moment.

Jenna Fischer of The Office | Byron Cohen/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

Diversity Day on season 1 of The Office

Viewers of The Office still consider the romance of Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam to be one of televisions greatest love stories. The two went from flirtation to marriage over the course of nine seasons, although early on their relationship was often a will-they-or-wont-they situation. It wasnt until season 4 that the two officially became a couple.

In the episode Diversity Day in season 1, Jim spends the day trying to close a very profitable sale only to have it stolen from him by Dwight (Rainn Wilson. Toward the end of the episode, Jim and Pam are sitting next to each other in the conference room after a stressful day. Pam ends up falling asleep on Jims shoulder, showing the couple in a semi-intimate moment and giving viewers a taste of their affection for each other. Not a bad day, Jim tells the unseen camera crew.

According to Mashable, the scene with Krasinski and Fischer was filmed 15 times. Writer/producer and co-star BJ Novak (Ryan Howard) told Krasinski how the scene should play out, suggesting, Jim reacts to Pam falling asleep on him like a butterfly has landed on his shoulder.

RELATED: The Office: Jenna Fischer Wasnt the Only Emotional One in the Season Three Finale

Pam and Bernie = BAM?

At the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, Bernie Sanders possibly got more attention than incoming President Joe Biden in a now-famous photo. Clearly opting to keep warm on the especially chilly day in Washington, D.C., Sanders was photographed in a puffy wintry parka and woolen mittens.

Sanders kept socially distanced from the crowd, and remained seated in a folding chair throughout the ceremony. With the picture of the Vermont Senator sitting by himself in the cold now a viral meme, Fischer posted a re-creation of the famous Diversity Day scene.

What do we call this? BAM? The Office alum wrote in the Instagram post of Sanders in Jims place from the conference room. Whatever we call it, I love it!

Fischers followers applauded the image. These edits are just making my life better, one fan commented. Pams smitten by the mittens, another wrote. Ooh Jims not gonna be happy about this one! a follower noted.

Another fan reiterated Jims famous line, posting, Not a bad day.

Some backstory on the Diversity Day scene

Director Ken Kwapis recalled filming Diversity Day, and how the one small moment between Jim and Pam made an impact in the episode.

That more than makes up for everything else that went wrong in Jims day, Kwapis told Andy Greene in his book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s. It took a lot of takes because [executive producer] Greg [Daniels] and the writers had so many thoughts about this small moment. I think we mustve done it a dozen times.

Though the interaction between Jim and Pam was subtle, how Krasinski chose to play out his reaction was critical to the scene.

RELATED: The Office: Why Jenna Fischer Became A Very Good Liar When She was a Struggling Actor

It wasnt so much Jenna leaning her head as it was how John reacted, Kwapis explained. How surprised should Jim be? How happy or how obviously happy should he seem?  Sometimes romances proceed at a glacial pace. But what was wonderful about this is it sort of made a big leap forward in the form of a tiny moment.
BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rudi's Organic Bakery and Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery, bread pioneers and leaders in traditional bread making, embark on the New Year with the brand's sights towards continued momentum and exponential growth in 2021. The past year was a landmark year for the company as Rudi's Organic Bakery and Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery were purchased by Promise Gluten-Free in May 2020 and brought on CEO, Brian McGuire, to lead the company's next chapter. With beginnings as a small, local Boulder bakery, the company has grown to over 86 employees, including many new hires. Rudi's has recently brought industry veterans into the fold to guide the brand in 2021 including new heads of Finance, Operations, Marketing, Food Safety and Compliance, Procurement, Sales and Engineering. Under this new leadership team, and utilizing the vast expertise of Promise Gluten-Free, Rudi's is poised to drive disruptive innovation in both the bakery and frozen food aisles in the months ahead with the unveiling of new packaging, brand identity, and modernization within the product lineup.

Rudi's is the original, Rocky Mountain bakery that utilizes small batch baking techniques to deliver organic and gluten-free products that encourage a healthy and delicious life. For over 40 years, Rudi's has spearheaded a mission to make artisanal and gourmet packaged baked goods more accessible to consumers by bringing wholesome products, expertly-crafted in the heart of Colorado, to kitchen pantries nationwide. Both Rudi's Organic Bakery and Rudi's Gluten-Free have cultivated a devoted brand following amongst consumers who are actively seeking to enjoy bread without compromises, marked by historic strength in the natural channel. The company has maintained a steady growth pace in the natural channel and will fast-track innovation in the commercial bread space in 2021 with a total of 55 SKUs across the organic and gluten-free profiles by the year's end.

"This is an exciting time for Rudi's Bakery, as we have enlisted new hires across the company that are actively advancing our reach and innovation pipeline," said Brian McGuire, CEO of Rudi's Bakery. "We are confident in the upcoming growth opportunities for the brand and look forward to delivering simple, better, healthier bread to more families in the months and years ahead as we address gaps in the market and reach more consumers."

For more information, visit www.rudisbakery.com or follow Rudi's Organic Bakery on Facebook, and Instagram and Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery on Facebook and Instagram.

About Rudi's Organic Bakery and Rudi's Gluten-Free Bakery

Rudi's Organic Bakery, Inc., founded and headquartered in Boulder, CO, is a leading brand of USDA certified organic breads. Rudi's Organic Bakery has a long history of baking bread a better and brighter way, by using simple, organic ingredients that contain no artificial ingredients, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup or trans-fat. Founded in 1976, Rudi's offers small batch organic artisan breads, English muffins, Bagels, Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns, and Wraps. In 2010, Rudi's launched Rudi's Gluten-Free which has quickly become a leader in the gluten-free category.

Media Contact:

Laura Saldarriaga

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646-661-1594

SOURCE Rudi's Bakery

Related Links

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A 41-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a serious assault in Belfast left another man in a critical condition in hospital.

Police described it as "vicious" and said a number of people witnessed the attack.

It happened in the Antrim Street area of Belfast on Sunday shortly after 9pm.

The man has been taken to Musgrave Custody Suite where he is helping officers with their enquiries.

Two women, aged 63 and 49 years old were also arrested on suspicion of offences relating to the investigation.

Both are currently assisting police with their enquiries.

A number of searches are being carried out in the area of Antrim Street by officers as part of their investigation.

Police and the Ambulance Service received a report of an injured man found in the area.

Detective Inspector Tom Phillips said: Colleagues from Northern Ireland Ambulance Service located the man, who had sustained serious injuries to his face and head, and transported him to hospital. There were a number of people present at the scene.

This was a particularly vicious attack, which has left the victim  a man aged in his early 20s  in a critical condition in hospital.

Enquiries are underway and we are working to establish a motive. We are appealing to witnesses to come forward and would ask anyone with information to contact us on 101 quoting reference 1789 of 24/01/21.

A report can also be made using the online reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport. Alternatively, information can be provided to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org
WASHINGTON, D. C - The Jan. 6 riot where hundreds of Donald Trumps supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the count of electoral votes that determined Joe Bidens presidential victory made Lima warehouse manager Jeffrey Sites decide to make his second run for Congress against Champaign County Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.

Sites, who came in second in last years Democratic congressional primary with 29% of the vote, said he believes Jordan bears a measure of responsibility for the insurrection where four rioters and a police officer died because hes done nothing but parroted everything that Trump has had to say for the better part of four years, and led other Republicans on the House of Representatives floor in questioning election results that were upheld in court.

Jordans district extends from Lorain County south to just outside Columbus and west to near the Indiana border, covering all or parts of 14 counties.

Sites argues Jordan was a divisive figure even before Trump was elected, citing Jordans repeated efforts to blast the Obama administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.

Were supposed to be for the people, not dividing the people, says Sites. We have to get back to agreeing to disagree with one another. Ronald Reagan and Tip ONeill didnt agree on a lot of things but they could come together and talk, and thats the kind of America we need to get back to.

Jordans campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Sites run.

Ohio's 4th congressional district extends from Lorain County south to just outside Columbus and west to near the Indiana border, covering all or parts of 14 counties.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

In November, Jordan got 68% of the vote against the Democrat who bested Sites in last years primary - Shannon Freshour. Jordan raised more than $18 million for his 2020 campaign, and had in excess of $5 million left over when it ended. He remains popular with voters who admire Trump, and frequently defends Trump in television interviews.

Jordan has also been skeptical of Bidens calls for unity, last week telling FoxNews: Its tough to unify when youre trying to impeach a President who has already left. It is tough to unify when the cancel culture is telling half the population youre not allowed to speak. Its tough to unify when theres a double standard. One set of rules for President Trump and his family and one set of rules for Joe Biden and his family.

He has also said that the people who stormed the Capitol must held accountable and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, telling FoxNews that Republicans have been consistent in calling for prosecuting people who destroyed property and attacked police officers and private citizens during riots over the summer to protest the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, as well as those who rioted at the Capitol.

Democrats, on the other hand, this summer they said the cause justified the action, said Jordan. They even raised money to bail these rioters and looters out of jail. They named streets after the organizations who were pushing for these events. All the while, they were talking about defunding the police. So, lets be consistent. Lets be consistent and lets calm everything down and focus on unifying the country as we move forward.

Since posting a Jan. 13 statement on Twitter that said hes gearing up to run against Jordan, Sites has raised $140,000 from nearly 3,000 different contributors, a campaign spokesman said. During his last run, Sites campaign collected more than $400,000.

If elected, the U.S. Army veteran pledges to be a voice for the middle class in a Congress that works for the wealthy and powerful. He says he believes in LGBTQ rights, that climate change needs to be addressed, and that a single payer health care system would help address coverage and cost issues. He says he also is concerned about the deficit, and supports the Second Amendment while believing the nation needs to have a conversation about gun violence.

He says hes lived through challenges that average Americans face, such as being unable to find a decently paid job after being laid off. He says hes been unable to afford to see doctors, and skipped medication to make ends meet. He says Jordan has championed tax giveaways to the wealthy, cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for them, and stripping health care away from millions of Americans.

I was out of work for 22 months during the Great Recession, and it took me years to get back everything I lost, said a statement from Sites. The billionaires and the big businesses were back on their feet a lot faster than ordinary people because the politicians werent there for us.

Were in tough times yet again, and we could use leaders who will look out for regular working folks, Sites continued. Instead we get empty promises and pandering from professional politicians. Its time we had someone in Washington who gets what our lives are like and is willing to stand up for us.

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The government has recently launched a mobile app named Nagarik in its bid to digitise the government services.

Launching the app on January 15, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli stated that the app was developed to facilitate an easier and systematic delivery of all government services digitally.

On the app, the government wants to reduce the queues outside the offices and encourage digital transactions. One can get services online round-the-clock and even on public holidays. As of now, nine services are included in the app.

Prime Minister Olis IT advisor Asgar Ali had proposed this idea, reportedly.

In just 10 days of its launch, the app has managed to get over 100k downloads with an average of 3.2 ratings.

Here is everything you need to know to use this app.

Who can use the Nagarik app?

The app is available to all Nepali citizens who are in possession of

A mobile number registered under your name

And,

Citizenship details, or,

Passport details, or,

Details of voter ID card.

How to register?

Once you download the app, you can follow these easy steps to register yourself:

First, select the language you are comfortable with Nepali or English.

Mention your registered mobile number.

Enter the verification code sent to your phone.

Next, select the document type (passport, voter ID, or citizenship) you wish to proceed with.

Enter its details correctly.

Lastly, choose the option to verify and make any necessary corrections.

When you are done with your registration, you will get the option to set pin code on the app for security.

Note: Currently, many people have been facing issues while registering themselves. Your verification might not go through even after you have stated the correct details. Only one-third of the registration attempts have been successful so far. The most commonly reported problem is the SIM cards used by the users are not registered under their names.

But, here is a solution too.

How to correct SIM card registration?

NTC users

You can dial *922# on your phone. A message will pop out stating the name the SIM card is registered in.

Or, you can send a message scode to 1415 and know the name of the person that has been registered with the SIM.

Ncell users

You can dial *9966# to see the name of the sim registered on.

Or, you can download the Ncell app. Add your mobile number to see the registered name on the screen.

Or, you can call 9005 and ask the customer care the name of the person that has been registered with the SIM.

If the SIM is not under your name, you will have to go through the process to transfer the SIM under your name or get a new one. You can contact your telephone service provider to change the registration name.

If it is registered with your name and you are still facing problems, you can contact the District Administration Office and inform them of your problem.

What services are available?

Through the app, one can use hassle-free government services such as applying for a PAN registration, getting local government information, viewing details of the taxes submitted, services related to Citizen Investment Trust, saving funds, and educational details among others. The app can also be an alternative to carrying all official papers separately.

The government services integrated with the Nagarik app for the use of the public are:

1. PAN registration

The PAN (permanent account number) is a unique 10-digit identity number allotted to each taxpayer by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). It is an identity which is mandatory for financial transactions such as receiving taxable salary or professional fees, sale or purchase of assets above specified limits, buying mutual funds, and so on.

One who has a PAN can check their tax details on the app itself. For anyone looking for PAN registration, one can do it on the app as well by following these steps:

On the app, go to PAN.

Click Register PAN.

Choose the nearby revenue office.

Click Proceed.

Fill out the form and add a photo of you.

Confirm all details are correct and submit the form for further processing.

2. Educational documents

You can also upload all the documents related to education and use them for other official work on the app itself as proof. One can upload educational documents of two levels: SEE/SLC and +2.

On the app, you will find the icon of Education Certificate. There will be two options to link education certificates.

For +2, you can fill your result type and registration number whereas, for the SLC, you will have to fill the symbol number and the year of the exam.

Click proceed to finish linking.

3. Citizen Investment Trust

The Citizen Investment Trust (the CIT or Nagarik Lagani Kosh) works and oversees different kinds of retirement plans, different unit plans, and mutual fund programmes. It is to energise the individuals for saving to grow investment alongside the dynamic advancement of the capital market of the country. If you want to take advantage of the Nagarik Lagani Kosh, you can link your account on the app.

Just choose the CIT icon and fill out your CIT number to link your account.

4. Provident Fund

It is a plan to give a financial advantage to all salaried people after their retirement. Any organisation with more than 10 workers can enrol them for the fund. In the process, a sum is deducted from their monthly salary whereas the employer puts the same amount, which is later placed into the PF account. The sum gathered in the PF account is given to the representatives after they resign/retire.

You can now link your PF account by entering your 15-digit UCIN (unique client identification number), which you will receive after the KYC (know your customer) verification, and clicking proceed.

5. Social Security Fund

It is a social insurance programme for old-age, disability, dependent families and the medical operated by the government. The purpose of this fund (Samajik Suraksha Kosh) is to ensure that the contributors get social security based on their contribution as mentioned in the preamble of the Social Security Act. It aims at reducing the economic and social risks of all workers.

One can link their social security fund simply by inserting their SSF number and clicking proceed.

6. My complain

On the app, you also see an icon where it is written My Complain. In this section, you can state your complaints and see your activity or also view the publics complaints. You can also see the date and time of the registered complaints. The section has been created so that the public can mention their difficulties while facing this app or otherwise.

7. Citizenship certificate

The citizenship certificate is your primary identification. It is needed everywhere and is essential in any kind of documentation or official paperwork. With the Nagrik app, citizenship can be linked and used digitally.

If you register yourself on the app with citizenship as your primary identification, you do not need to link it again. But, if you have not, just open the icon in the dashboard and enter your citizenship details. Once processed, fill the missing boxes and verify the document.

8. Passport

Passports are essential for international travel, but they can also act as your primary identification method. You can link your machine-readable passport to your app and get the luxury of not carrying your valuable document with you everywhere. You can do this by simply entering your passport number to link it to the app.

9. Voter ID card

This may be your least used identification card. Its primary use is during the elections. However, it is as valid and strong proof of your identification as your citizenship or passport. On the app, you can link your voter ID and avoid the risk of losing it. For this, just tap on the icon and enter your voter ID number. Proceed for verification and keep it handy.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons refusal to grant full diplomatic status to a new EU embassy in London risks harming Irelands Brexit monitoring.

Irish diplomat Nicole Mannion is the legations deputy ambassador  an appointment deemed a quite diplomatic coup by Dublin ahead of Brexit.

The embassy was opened in the wake of Brexit and is aimed at helping to frame a new relationship between the UK and the EU.

Ms Mannion last autumn moved from her previous job in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs where she had worked at Irelands London embassy monitoring the impact of Brexit.

The appointment was aimed at maximising information flows on the detailed impact of the Brexit small print on Irish trade and other interests.

The refusal to grant it full embassy status has been criticised as petty and vindictive by many Brussels officials.

But the UK appears to be digging in on its decision and the British government argues that the EU is more like an international organisation rather than a sovereign nation.

This view has been rejected EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier among others. London has appointed Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby, previously its deputy chief negotiator in Brexit trade talks, to head of its new diplomatic mission in Brussels.

The EU diplomatic delegation is based at 32 Smith Square in the heart of Londons political and administrative area of Westminster.

The building was previously the headquarters of the British Conservative Party and long-time Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher often waved at crowds of supporters from its windows after her election wins.

In an another ironic footnote, Ms Mannions new boss, EU Ambassador to London, Joao Vale de Almeida, was previously a Commission press spokesman in Brussels. In that job he dealt directly with Mr Johnson when he was a journalist in Brussels in the early 1990s.

Brussels diplomats argue that the British decision contrasts with 142 other countries around the world where the EU has delegations and where its ambassadors are all granted the same diplomatic status.

It is also a change from UK policy from 2010, when they agreed the EU foreign service should have "privileges and immunities equivalent to those referred to in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 18 April 1961".

The EU fears that hostile states might copy the UK and downgrade the protections granted to EU diplomats..

This could open EU diplomats up to being more easily harassed and expelled.

Former US president Donald Trump also downgraded the EU's Ambassador to the US, Irishman David O'Sullivan, in this way, although that decision was quietly reversed last year.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Health officials have traced the close contacts of the 12 patients in Bontoc, Mt. Province found to be carrying the more transmissible COVID-19 variant first found in the United Kingdom.

Health Department spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday said they have located 144 close contacts of the cases. Of this number, 34 people tested positive for COVID-19 -- six of whom were negative for the UK variant called B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2, while 28 samples have yet to be submitted to the Philippine Genome Center for genome sequencing.

Vergeire added they have also monitored three clusters of the coronavirus infection in Bontoc.

"Sa contact tracing na ito, mayroon tayong nakita na additional na 34 na positive pa... Itong tatlong cluster ng infection na nakikita na natin ang paghahawa-hawa na nangyari. Nakita natin ang pinagmulan pero hindi pa siya definite," she said in a media briefing.

[Translation: In our contact tracing, we found an additional 34 COVID-19 positive cases. We saw three clusters of infection and we're already seeing the spread. We have found its source but it's not yet definite.]

The DOH said the index case arrived in the country from UK on Dec. 13. The person reached Bontoc the next day with a negative swab test. The person attended a Christmas celebration and a ritual on the 26th, then started having abdominal pain  a COVID-19 symptom  on Dec. 29.

The mountainous province of Bontoc accounts for the majority of cases of the UK variant in the country. Of the 12 residents found with the B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant, three are minors. Vergeire said 11 people found with the UK variant in the province were all contacts of the case who arrived from UK. Five villages in Bontoc were placed under enhanced community quarantine until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the DOH said four household members of the UK variant case in La Trinidad, Benguet also contracted the virus. It was not immediately clear if their samples underwent genome sequencing. Authorities have traced 97 contacts.

The country has recorded at least 17 cases of the variant. The first case announced on Jan. 13 was a Filipino who traveled to Dubai.

During the San Antonio District 5 City Council race in 2019, more than 61,000 residents were registered voters. Unfortunately, only 5,100 people voted. The 2020 general election drew a higher percentage of voters from District 5  but for the 2019 City Council race, which affects them more, the majority stay stayed home.

District 5 is the poorest and most underserved of all 10 districts in San Antonio. Besides high crime, homelessness and bad infrastructure, District 5 has the lowest income average in the city and the highest dropout rate. Less than 34 percent of the districts residents have a high school diploma and only 10 percent have a college degree, according to statistics from SA2020.

Data also show wide disparities across various needs within the district, such as the digital divide. During the pandemic, students were forced to study via the internet at home, putting those in District 5 at a disadvantage.

An analysis conducted by Jordana Barton, at the time a senior adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, indicates many students in District 5 experience a homework gap due to lack of internet services.

San Antonio Independent School District reported that at Lanier High School, 75 percent of the student body lives in households with no internet access. This affects the entire household. Senior Planet, an organization that helps older adults with technology service training, reports only 17 percent of seniors are comfortable working with technology.

In these crucial times, resources primarily have been accessed online. As a candidate for City Council District 5, I will work to assure that technology training and internet access go hand in hand.

Top hits: Get San Antonio Express-News stories sent directly to your inbox

My familys community involvement goes back to the 1980s, starting with my dad, Charlie Mata, who organized many anti-poverty events, including the federal cheese surplus distribution. The food distributions helped thousands of San Antonians. He also worked with the city of San Antonio to develop other comprehensive programs, including family stabilization programs that provided aid for medical expenses. It was through his work that I learned many valuable lessons.

I have more than 20 years experience in working with youth and families. Through the nonprofit sector and on my own initiatives, I have worked with low-income families and at-risk youth in the areas of housing, family stabilization, juvenile delinquency, physical and mental wellness, and mentoring.

Other urgent matters, such as child abuse, bullying, and adequate police presence in high crime areas throughout District 5, have been addressed by organized awareness events.

The global pandemic has dominated our daily lives, but we shouldnt ignore local epidemics like diabetes and childhood obesity. If elected, I would diligently address these problems.

By working together, finding common ground and staying engaged, we can resolve many of the needs of the district.

Accountability at City Hall needs improvement. I will ensure there is transparency and information available to the District 5 constituency.

Most will agree education is the key to ending generational poverty. I will support ongoing youth and academic programs and work closely with the San Antonio and Edgewood school districts.

In these perilous times when COVID-19 doesnt seem to be slowing, proven and experienced leadership is needed at City Hall.

I ask that you participate in the voting process and let your voice be heard. Together we can revive District 5.

Jason Mata grew up in San Antonio.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi on Monday received his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Hanif Atmar in the capital Amman.

Atmar and al-Safadi discussed ways to develop bilateral relations between the two countries, including efforts to achieve peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, said a foreign ministry statement.

Safadi affirmed the Kingdom's support for the efforts made by the Afghan government to establish peace and eliminate terrorism, the statement added.

Atmar appreciated the Kingdom's support of Afghanistan and emphasized the role of the Hashemite guardianship in protecting the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

(Image Credit: AP)

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Residents who are in priority groups and searching for a coronavirus vaccination could soon have 12 Walmart and Sams Club stores to choose from in New Jersey when the doses become more widely available, the company says.

When the company gets the vaccine, in conjunction with New Jersey health authorities, the retail giant will join six mega centers and 200 other locations in the state.

The Walmart sites could help, after New Jersey has faced criticism for having a slower rollout than dozens of other states as it continues to deal with a second wave of the pandemic, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The announcement is part of Walmarts expanding efforts at the states request in administering the COVID-19 vaccine to state-designated priority groups, Alexa Cangialosi, a Walmart spokeswoman, said in a statement. None of the New Jersey stores are currently providing vaccines.

So far, we have an estimated 100 stores and Sams Clubs across more than half a dozen states administering vaccines to those the state has deemed eligible, including here in New Jersey, she said.

Stores and clubs in the following locations are preparing to administer vaccinations to priority populations when doses are available: Pleasantville, Toms River, North Brunswick, Burlington Township, Pennsville, Franklin, Garfield, Hamilton, Vineland, Linden, North Bergen and Boonton.

In New Jersey, shots are currently available for health care workers, long-term care residents and others in congregant living, and police and firefighters. Also included are anyone 65 or older and those between 16 and 64 with specific medical conditions - including smokers.

Some sites in the state has asked people to pre-register through the states website. Many have reported getting appointment times several weeks away.

The announcement comes as the state reported 4.613 more coronavirus cases and 17 deaths on Sunday. It was the same day the state Department of Health issued new predictive models that showed Sunday could be the peak of the states second wave of the pandemic.

Whether that bump happens could depend on how quickly New Jersey receives and distributes vaccine doses. Gov. Phil Murphy has said he wants to have 70% of the states eligible population  nearly 5 million people  vaccinated by May.

Walmart also has a website and a store locator dedicated to the vaccine, though no appointments are currently listed in New Jersey.

At full capacity, the company expects to be able to deliver 10 to 13 million doses per month nationally when supply and allocations allow, Walmart officials said in a statement.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.

Sasikala released from jail after serving 4 years imprisonment in DA case

Will Sasikalas release change TNs political spectrum: Wait and see says TTV

VK Sasikala to be discharged from hospital on Sunday

TN elections 2021: Get ready for the political battle, hints Sasikala

Sasikala to return on Feb 7, Dhinakaran sees changes in TN ahead of arrival

AIADMK goes to police again against Sasikala, alleges conspiracy to unleash violence in TN

V K Sasikala moved out of ICU

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, Jan 25: Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, who is serving a jail term in Bengaluru in a corruption case, has been moved out of the ICU after her coronavirus symptoms reduced, the Victoria Hospital authorities said in a statement.

The former aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, who is set to be released from prison on January 27, contracted coronavirus on January 20 and was later admitted to the Bowring Hospital.

Tamil Nadu Elections 2021: EPS rules out truce with Sasikala

In view of her critical condition, she was shifted to the ICU ward of Victoria Hospital.

Now that the symptoms have reduced substantially and her condition has become normal, she has been taken out of the ICU.

However, the hospital authorities have been monitoring her.

Meanwhile, her sister-in-law J Ilavarasi, who too is serving a jail term in the corruption case and was found COVID-19 positive, was keeping well, the authorities said.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Sasikala was sentenced to four years imprisonment in February 2017 in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 15:57 [IST]
This is the moment a maskless conspiracy theorist tries to take a dying elderly Covid patient home from a hospital ward against doctors' orders, before he is dragged out by security guards.

Tobe Hayden Leigh launched a tirade of foul-mouthed abuse as he was frogmarched from the acute respiratory care unit at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, after apparently sneaking in to collect a loved one who wanted to leave.

Joined by others close to the patient, the intruder filmed a team of medics - who were working tirelessly to save the pensioner's life - and insisted he be discharged, despite a doctor warning he could 'drop dead at any minute'.

Insisting he was the patient's 'McKenzie friend' - an untrained legal helper - he asks for the patient to be taken off oxygen, despite his seriously low levels, and ignored repeated requests to leave during the fiery 20-minute row.

When Mr Leigh and the others with the patient were told they were putting themselves and others in grave danger by being there, and in his case not wearing a mask, they simply replied: 'It's our own risk.'

The patient - who was seen coughing and struggling for breath throughout - removed his oxygen tube and demanded to go home, but was told by staff he would not survive the journey.

Joined by others close to the patient, the intruder filmed a team of medics - who were working tirelessly to save the pensioner's life - and insisted he be discharged, despite a doctor warning he could 'drop dead at any minute'

The ringleader of the group, who insisted he was exempt from wearing a mask, added insult to injury by asking staff whether Covid was even 'proven to exist', before finally being booted out by security.

Footage of the disturbing incident has already been viewed thousands of times.

It shows the patient and his loved ones arguing with a young male doctor - as he desperately battles to save the man from the virus.

The doctor warns the patient if he removes his oxygen tube he will die, to which he replies: 'Yeah, so you keep saying. Let's go.'

Mr Leigh steps in and accuses the hospital of 'lying' about the patient's condition and keeping his family in the dark.

The doctor responds: 'My main concern is his safety and at the moment you are making him unsafe. He's taken his oxygen off, he's going to die if we don't put it back on.'

The patient defiantly replies: 'No, I'm not.'

The doctor refuses to discuss the matter further until the oxygen pipe is put back in - and the patient reluctantly agrees.

Appealing to his family, the doctor says: 'You're not respecting our wishes by coming inside. You're going to spread Covid around.'

Mr Leigh insists 'we're fine', and the patient - clearly struggling for air - asks: 'What about my wishes?'

The incident was filmed by Tobe Hayden Leigh, pictured, a conspiracy theorist

The doctor then points at the patient's oxygen levels on a monitor and says: 'Seventy-three per cent. He's at risk of dropping dead at any minute.'

The seriously ill man says 'I want to go home' but is told: 'You will die.' Again, he dismisses the medical advice.

The man's loved ones continue to challenge the doctor but he stands firm and insists the patient will not survive without a constant supply of oxygen.

He says: 'He has coronavirus pneumonia affecting both of his lungs. He's on steroids called dexamethasone. He's on antibiotics to treat concurrent bacterial infections.'

Mr Leigh says his treatment should be replaced with vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc but is flatly told: 'None of those are proven treatments for coronavirus.'

Security guards then arrive and order him to leave, but he refuses to comply, saying the patient is being held 'hostage'.

He blasts: 'I'm an officer of the court. I'm putting you on notice, if you put one hand on me and touch me I'll be doing you for assault.'

The doctor tells the patient he needs to be put on a ventilator, but he shakes his head and says: 'No way. Hurry up and get me out of here.'

Mr Leigh then rants about Covid conspiracy theories, at which point the doctor ends the conversation and tells security to throw him out.

As he is hauled away, he shouts 'get off me, ya p****' and threatens to have the men prosecuted for assault.

Security had to intervene, right, after Mr Leigh, who was filming the incident, refused to listen to doctors, left

A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: 'Officers were called by East Surrey Hospital on Saturday, January 23, reporting concerning social media posts which included videos and abusive comments towards hospital staff made over the course of two days which appeared to be escalating.

'On investigation, this related to an earlier incident where police were called to the hospital on Thursday, January 21, around 1.55pm following reports that a number of people had gained access to the critical care ward to visit a family member and were not wearing masks.

'They were reported to be abusive towards hospital staff when they were asked to comply with the instruction to wear a face covering. They also refused to leave when asked to do so.

'Officers issued fines to two individuals involved for breaching Covid restrictions and issued a breach of the peace warning which resulted in the group leaving the location.

'An investigation is under way into the videos and comments which are being posted on social media, and enquiries remain ongoing.'

East Surrey Chief Inspector Kimball Edey added: 'The escalation of this incident, with the abusive comments being directed at the hospital on social media, is extremely concerning, and further enquiries into this matter are ongoing.

'These comments are obviously causing considerable distress for the staff at the hospital and we are doing everything we can to ensure that those responsible are identified and located.

'When we attended the hospital last week, it transpired that a number of people visiting a patient were not wearing face masks, and fines were issued to two of them.

'We have continued to maintain our 4Es approach towards any breaches of current covid regulations - explaining, encouraging and educating and only enforcing when we are faced with a flagrant breach of the rules as a last resort - since the start of the first lockdown.

'Unfortunately, there is a small minority of people who do not understand or refuse to appreciate the seriousness of the impact of the pandemic.

'To gain access to a critical care ward without taking the proper precautions not only puts themselves at risk, but also the lives of other people and the hospital staff who are trying to care for seriously ill patients, at risk as well.

'To then become abusive and threatening towards the staff who are trying to treat these vulnerable patients under extremely challenging conditions defies belief and is simply reprehensible.

'Thankfully, the vast majority of Surrey residents are complying with the lockdown regulations, and we thank them for that, but we will not hesitate to take action when we are faced with such an extreme and blatant disregard for these rules.'
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Russias AVG Capital will develop a complex of pig farms in Thanh Hoa

Covering an area of 1,000 hectares, the complex is designed to produce five million pigs a year. The complex will boast 43 commercial pig farms and three hybrid pig farms, a mixed feed factory with a capacity of two million tonnes per year, as well as a slaughterhouse and processing plant with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes a year.

The representative of AVG Capital is committed to complying with local regulations, especially environmental protection standards. Once completed, the project will bring benefits to Thanh Hoa, creating jobs for the locals and contributing to the provinces economic development.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Thi, Deputy Chairman of Thanh Hoa Peoples Committee, highly appreciated the investment of AVG Capital to implement the project. Thanh Hoa always welcomes investors to the locality. The province is committed to accompanying investors and creating the most favourable conditions for investors to research and implement projects here.

AVG Capital Partners is a private equity firm that is based in Moscow, Russia. The firm primarily seeks to invest in the agribusiness, technologies, real estate, and energy sectors. It invests in the latest technologies to substantially improve farming efficiency.

Farmers refusal of the Supreme Court committee marks an astute recognition of democratic values.

The art of evasion, in the hands of the ruling dispensation, appears to find new lease each time it confronts opposition. After the 10th round of talks with farmers organisations, reports suggest that the union government is willing to delay the implementation of the three controversial farm acts by 18 months. This delayed implementation will, according to the government, allow for an amicable solution. The farmers organisations have rejected this offer.

As these talks take place, another arena of engagement is being paved, with the Supreme Courts proposed four-member committee, which initially included Bhupinder Singh Mann (leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union [Mann], Punjab), who later opted out of the committee, Pramod Kumar Joshi (International Food Policy Research Institute), Ashok Gulati (agricultural economist) and Anil Ghanwat (Shetkari Sanghatana, Maharashtra). All of them have publicly supported these acts and, not surprisingly, the proposed committee met with instant criticism from the farmers organisations. The farmers have clearly stated that they will not appear before any such committee. The farmers contend that the committee proposed by the Supreme Court, apart from failing the test of impartiality, also distracts from the clear constitutional concern that is being raised. In fact, as the farmers have pointed out, none of the members are lawyers or legal experts. In a petition to the Supreme Court, the farmers have requested that the committee must be reconstituted to include former judges and individuals without any outright bias. In the interim, one of the members, Manna farmer leaderopted out saying that he did not want to be part of something that went against the popular sentiment among farmers. Meanwhile, in response to the claim for reconstitution by members of eight major farmer organisations, the Chief Justice of India remarked that the committee does not have adjudicating powers. While the formation of the committee could allow the government some room for negotiation, the farmers refuse to allow their engagement with the government to be reduced to the customary proceedings of a committee.

Apple Inc. faces an Italian class-action lawsuit seeking compensation over misleading claims about the battery life of older iPhones.

Euroconsumers, an international consumer organization, said on Monday it filed the suit in Italy. The move follows similar cases filed last month in Belgium and Spain concerning users of various iPhone 6 devices.

Owners expect sustainable quality products, Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, said in a statement. Unfortunately, that is not what happened with the iPhone 6 series.

Not only were consumers defrauded, and did they have to face frustration and financial harm, from an environmental point of view, it is also utterly irresponsible. The group said its also planning a class action suit in Portugal in the coming weeks.

The lawsuits mirror U.S. cases over claims that the company misled consumers about iPhone battery power and software updates that slowed the performance of the devices.

The California-based company in November agreed to pay $113 million to settle a case with multiple U.S. regulators while customers are seeking approval from a U.S. court for a class-action settlement that could be worth as much as $500 million.

Now read: Apple Pay could launch in South Africa soon

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Nerang, Australia -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/25/2021 -- With changes in various industries worldwide, the book printing industry has also changed a lot. From types of paper to cover designs, changes have taken place in every aspect related to the book printing. The advent of online publishing and self-publishing has also made a significant impact on the book printing industry.



Printing firms operate at small, medium, and large scale depending on their capabilities and customer base. Printing firms play a significant role in the whole cycle of imparting knowledge. Therefore, independent authors, educational institutions, companies, and other entities that need to get the books printed don't have to worry about anything.



For receiving book printing services in Brisbane or any other region of Australia, one should find out the printing companies like Fast Proof Press that provide services in that region. They are a renowned premier printing company in Brisbane and Broader Australia. Their highly-skilled team of experts can bring designs to life via their custom printing service.



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Established authors have sufficient information about all the printing companies. But those authors who have written a book for the first time, or are relatively new in the industry might not know about every company. As a result, they invest a lot of time and effort searching for book printing companies. Unfortunately, many of them end up choosing the wrong company.



To avoid this, one must show due diligence at every step. Discussions should be carried out with all the printing companies. Though a writer might have put his best foot forward for writing his book's content, it might not reach the desired level of success in the absence of other essential factors. These factors are the visual appeal and promotion, and a book should score high in terms of appearance and readability.



While the readability depends on the font's size and type, appearance depends on the design of the cover. The content of a book should be presented well. An excellent printing company has in-house designers who can help in making a book attractive. They are adept in using modern software to choose the fonts and create designs that suit your book's topic.



Also, there has been a growth in demand for physical book printing and binding in Gold Coast despite alternative options. The business firms that offer printing and binding books in the city of Gold Coast pay utmost attention to quality and customer service. These firms have increased in number for fulfilling the requirements of people. The competition between these firms raises the bar of quality.



Authors don't necessarily know related to marketing. Book printing companies might be able to guide the writer on how to promote his book. Fast Proof Press provides the necessary guidance to every client.



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Fast Proof Press is a highly renowned firm engaged in printing a wide range of books and other forms of content. From school magazines and annual reports to brochures and novels, they can print various items. They offer services in Brisbane, Gold Coast, and many other areas. Feel free to visit the website to learn more about them.



Media Contact



Company's Name: Fast Proof Press

Contact: Steve Douglas

Email Address: info@fastproofpress.com.au

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Website Address: https://www.fastproofpress.com.au

Samsung is reportedly looking to compete more directly with long-time global leader TSMC in the chip space, starting with a new $10 billion fab plant in the US. Thats based on a recent report from Bloomberg, detailing information shared by unnamed insider sources.

According to the source, Samsung plans to make its $10 billion investment in Austin, Texas. And the plant would focus primarily on producing smaller chip sizes, specifically the 3nm process node. Current chipsets leading the charge on the flagship smartphone front are utilizing the 5nm process.

If the source is accurate, Samsung plans to start construction on the plant this year and will start operating by 2023.

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What does this $12 billion Samsung fab plan have to do with TSMC?

Now, if Samsung does move forward with plans to expand on its existing US fab presence, it could potentially use the new facility as a stepping stone toward competing more directly with TSMC. TSMC, conversely, currently serves as the worlds leading foundry for outsourced chip fabrication. And its recently started work on its own factory in the US, expected to cost $12 billion and to open by 2024.

The primary production at the US TSMC plant, however, would still reportedly be in 5nm chipsets. That could potentially pave the way for Samsung to swoop in and take some of its US business. TSMC will, if all goes according to plan, be pushing out 3nm chips from its Taiwan foundry by that point. But it wouldnt have any 3nm production in the US to compete directly with Samsung. Thats if the rumors surrounding Samsungs plans are accurate.

So Samsung could potentially pick up market share from companies such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Apple more readily.

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What else would the new plant do for Samsung?

Aside from potentially helping Samsung further its foundry goals, overall, the new plant would be useful in helping the Korean tech giant hold onto its current position in the market. As noted by the source, Samsung already has purchased land in Austin, Texas, next to its existing fab. But not only can that current fab only produce older process nodes. The plant isnt necessarily going to be able to keep up with the volume of production Samsung needs.

So a new facility would help bolster its productivity both in terms of competitiveness and in terms of meeting the demand for new chips.
One third of families are struggling with home schooling because they simply do not have enough computers for their children, an exclusive poll for the Daily Mail today reveals.

Four in ten parents say the cost of computers and other items they need is too high, according to the survey.

More than a quarter cite the high cost of internet access as a problem.

And families worst hit by the Covid schools shutdown are the poorest and those in the North.

The Daily Mail poll illustrates the devastating effect of school closures on children  and their mums and dads.

The Daily Mail poll illustrates the effect of school closures on children and shows four in ten parents say the cost of computers and other items they need is too high

HOW TO DONATE TO COMPUTERS FOR KIDS CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO YOU, THE READER: How to send us donations The Daily Mail has launched a brand new campaign, Computers For Kids, to raise money for Mail Force  a charity which aims to provide much needed school equipment and resources for pupils across the UK learning from home. With schools closed, we are left with the dilemma of hundreds of thousands of pupils in the UK having no access to a computer in their home. As part of this campaign, companies are donating their old laptops which, for around 15, can be wiped, professionally refurbished and made safe and fit for home schooling. They can then be delivered to a child or young person who needs one. In addition, the campaign is looking to support childrens needs in other ways such as funding brand new laptops and tablets, and assisting with data access and connectivity for online learning. Any surplus funds will be used to support of the work of UK schools via other means. TO MAKE A DONATION ONLINE Visit mailforcecharity.co.uk/donate and follow the steps to complete your donation. Please don't send us your old device. TO MAKE A DONATION VIA YOUR PHONE To donate 10 - text KIDS10 to 70115 To donate 20 - text KIDS20 to 70115 TO COMPANIES: Could you give your old laptops? Upgrading office computers is something all companies do from time to time  and there has never been a better time to donate old laptops. If you are a company with 50 laptops or more that you could give, please visit www.computacenter.com/daily-mail to check they are suitable and register your donation. We will arrange for collection by our specialist partners Computacenter. Please note: we cannot accept donated laptops from individuals. COMPANIES SHOULD GO TO: computacenter.com/daily-mail TO SCHOOLS: Where to apply for the computers Schools must apply to the Department for Education, which is managing the demand and prioritising the schools most in need. The Mail Force initiative means more laptops will become available more quickly. SCHOOLS CAN APPLY HERE: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk Advertisement

The survey by JL Partners shows that nearly one in five children (18 per cent) learning from home gets no 'live' schooling via a computer screen from their teacher per day whatsoever.

Significant numbers of parents say their children's hopes of getting a good education, a university place or a career have been severely damaged by nearly a year of Covid disrupted education.

Even their social skills have been damaged by being denied face to face contact with their friends.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who came to power on a pledge to 'level up' Britain, will be concerned that the impact on poorer children is greater in all these categories.

Nor is it only the young who are suffering: a staggering one in two parents says their own mental health has deteriorated.

Mothers have borne the brunt: 55 per cent say their mental health has got worse  nine per cent higher than fathers (46 per cent).

Parents' concern is shared by the wider public: 49 per cent of all adults say coronavirus has caused long-term damage to children's life chances; 20 per cent disagree.

According to the poll, 82 per cent of children in England, Scotland and Wales are learning from home.A total of 32 per cent of parents say they do not have enough computers for their studies. Nearly one in five (19 per cent) has more than one child  but only one laptop.

Six per cent who do not have a computer are forced to use a mobile phone instead.

But  while there are clearly difficulties  two thirds of parents say they do have enough laptops to cope.

An overwhelming 72 per cent believe it is the Government's responsibility to provide computers to make home learning easier; only seven per cent disagree.

Four in ten parents say the cost of 'remote learning materials' such as computers, software and exercise books, is too high.

While parents are largely supportive of teachers, 41 per cent want more help from schools for children forced to learn in their front room or kitchen; 29 per cent say they have enough support.

Twenty-seven per cent believe internet access costs too much, with 23 per cent saying they grin and bear it and pay up to stop their children falling behind.

Sixteen per cent of parents pay between 10 and 30 per week for internet access.

Most parents are doing their best to take the place of teachers: 44 per cent spend between one and three hours per day helping their children learn at home. An impressive additional 27 per cent devote more than three hours a day.

While 43 per cent of parents say they have taken over teaching duties because the school had 'fallen short' in its obligations; 30 per cent did not blame the school.

Remarkably, the survey suggests parents now do more 'live lesson' teaching than teachers.

Children unable to go to school are getting an average of two hours and six minutes of 'live' remote lessons from their school teacher a day  two minutes less than the average time parents spend teaching their offspring.

Seventeen per cent of parents in the South are paying for private tuition to help children learn at home  more than three times more than in the less prosperous North where 5 per cent do this.

Nowhere is the class divide on the effect of the stress and strain on parents during the Covid crisis illustrated more vividly than the mental health impact.

Among affluent families, 39 per cent say their mental health has suffered; 20 per cent say it has improved.

However, among the poorest families, these figures are 61 per cent and five per cent respectively. The public agree that today's young generation will feel the effects of the pandemic for decades.

Almost one in two (49 per cent) say it will inflict long-term damage to their children's life chances; 20 per cent say it will not have this effect.

Children who are not able to go to school are getting an average of two hours and six minutes of 'live' remote lessons [Stock image]

James Johnson of JL Partners said: 'This poll lays bare the stark inequality of the Covid pandemic, and months of remote learning.

'Middle-class parents say there has been no real impact on their children's life chances, but children of working-class parents and the unemployed are short of laptops, their parents have seen their physical and mental health worsen, and they are the least likely to have remote lessons provided for by their school.

'While some enjoy the comforts of being at home, this data shows that less affluent children are truly being left behind.'
Former lawmaker and pro-democracy activist Martin Lee (C) gestures as he leaves the Central District police station in Hong Kong on April 18, 2020, after being arrested and accused of organizing and taking part in an unlawful assembly in August last year.

Much has been written about the arrest of the Hong Kong politician and barrister Martin Lee in the spring of last year.

But what appears to be missing from most accounts is the question of what keeps Lee, now 82 years old, going.

I first met Lee in the mid-1980s in Hong Kong, where he worked out of a small, unpretentious office.

I met him again more than three decades ago in Washington, D.C., when he visited members of Congress and then stopped by Radio Free Asia.

Some of his colleagues had warned him that giving an interview to RFA might provoke the Chinese authorities in Hong Kong now that the United Kingdom had transferred power in the former British colony to China, albeit with a promise of autonomy for Hong Kong.

As a colleague and I walked with Lee from my office at RFA over to the Cantonese Language Service, where he gave an interview, he joked about possibly going to prison in Hong Kong because of the interview.

As I recall it, he said that if we wanted to send him food while he was in prison, we should remember that he didn't like red meat.

I think that what keeps Lee going is his religion, which is Roman Catholic, his love of Hong Kong, and his deep devotion to the British-style of law as the best way for a society to rule itself. I should add to the list his sense of humor, which I experienced first-hand during his visit to D.C.

Lee's bail condition doesn't stop him from talking with foreign media, but my attempt to reach him for this commentary via his website failed.

Lee's High Hopes for Hong Kong

In a commentary written for The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 15, 2020, the writer John Lyons described Lee's hopes for Hong Kong on the day in 1997 when the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty in Hong Kong over to China.

"On that rainy day in 1997 when the UK transferred Hong Kong to China, democracy leader Martin Lee stood on the balcony of the city's legislature vowing to hold China to its promises," Lyons wrote.

China had pledged that it would allow the former colony to govern itself under Western-style rule of law, including eventually electing its own leaders.

The flame of democracy has been ignited and is burning in the hearts of our people, Lee said in a speech to supporters and journalists shortly after Chinas flag was raised over Hong Kong.

It will not be extinguished, he said.

The British writer Jan Morris described the optimism that prevailed at that moment in a book titled Hong Kong.

One now saw something new in Hong Kong: a community racked by political argument, she said.

Scores of political groups came into being, from harmless debating societies to cells of activists eager for power.

According to Morris, these groups included some who wanted immediate universal elections, those who appeared ready to defy China, and those who preferred to be well regarded by Beijing.

For the first time, savagely perceptive political cartoons appeared in the Hong Kong press and political debates began to take place in the Legislative Council.

Mark Simon, is the senior editor at Apple Daily, the most popular daily tabloid newspaper in Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai, the papers founder, was like Martin Lee arrested during the Communist authorities crackdown on its critics.

Simon said that Martin Lee is "seen by many in Hong Kong's democratic movement as a bit out of touch in the last several years, and even he will tell you that sometimes he has missed the signals from young people, as have many of us."

"He's not a leader anymore in the movement but a respected elder statesman who's seen as valuable on the legal front," said Simon, who considers Martin Lee a friend.

"That he gets up every morning and fights with the communists is a testimony to him," Simon said, "But the movement has continued on with others in the lead now."

Dan Southerland is RFA's founding executive editor.
Either its nothing, or its the New World Order, said a lecturer at Harvard Law School who studies content moderation, Evelyn Douek, who pushed Facebook to send the Trump case to the Oversight Board.

It might surprise you to know that such a board exists  that one of the worlds most powerful executives would go to such lengths to give up control of a key tool, the delete key. But after four years of unending criticism for being too slow to act on the rise of right-wing populism on the platform, and parallel complaints from the right over alleged censorship, you can see why Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, was drawn to the idea of handing the thorniest calls off to experts, and washing his hands of the decisions.

Mr. Zuckerberg floated the notion of an independent content moderation body back in 2018, and Facebook finally appointed its members last May. The company put $130 million into a legally independent trust with a staff of 30, which two people involved said paid six figures annually to each board member for what has become a commitment of roughly 15 hours a week. The board is structurally independent, and Mr. Zuckerberg has promised its decisions will be binding. The members I spoke to said they felt no particular obligation to Facebooks shareholders. The company, meanwhile, has pledged to abide by decisions on topics as varied as nudity and hate speech, in hopes that it will ultimately shield Mr. Zuckerberg from making endless, impossibly controversial public choices.

But the board has been handling pretty humdrum stuff so far. It has spent a lot of time, two people involved told me, discussing nipples, and how artificial intelligence can identify different nipples in different contexts. Board members have also begun pushing to have more power over the crucial question of how Facebook amplifies content, rather than just deciding on taking posts down and putting them up, those people said. In October, it took on a half-dozen cases, about posts by random users, not world leaders: Can Facebook users in Brazil post images of womens nipples to educate their followers about breast cancer? Should the platform allow users to repost a Muslim leaders angry tweet about France? It is expected to finally issue rulings at the end of this week, after what participants described as a long training followed by slow and intense deliberations.

And it has faced questions about whether it would ever be more than a public relations gesture, including from critics who started an alternate Real Facebook Oversight Board to call for a sweeping crackdown on the platform. So when Facebook suspended Mr. Trumps account indefinitely after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, the Oversight Boards leaders didnt disguise their eagerness to take on a big and meaty question.
Bilia, being one of Europe's largest car dealership chains, now continues its investment in sustainability and complements the car dismantling operation within Bilia Reuse with rim repair. Rim repair is a new service which will be offered our customers as a part of Bilia's business model to be a One Stop Shop, that provides the car owner with everything the car needs. For those customers that today store their wheels at Bilia's tyre hotels, this is a service which will be of great interest, and we believe that it will be of interest also for new customers.

As a first step in the investment in rim repair Bilia has entered an acquisition agreement of 80 per cent of the shares in Felgteknikk Norge AS. The company is a smaller family business, which recently moved into a new facility with modern production equipment. As a next step Bilia intends to expand the rim repair business to Sweden.

Bilia's target for 2025 is to store 600,000 wheels for customers at Bilia's tyre hotels. Today about 375,000 wheels are stored on behalf of customers. Bilia's target for 2025 is to repair 100,000 rims per year. The investment is expted to contribute to Bilia's turnover in 2025 by about SEK 250 M.

"Rim repair contributes to a more sustainable society through the reuse of materials. It will be an important part of our business offer to Bilia's customers. I am happy that we through the acquisition of Felgteknikk Norge AS get access to the skills and production capacity built up by this company", says Per Avander, Managing Director and CEO at Bilia.

Gothenburg, January 25, 2021

Bilia AB (publ)

For information please contact:

Per Avander, Managing Director and CEO, +46

Kristina Franzen, CFO, +46

Facts about the Bilia Group

Bilia is one of Europe's largest car dealership chains with a leading position within service and sales of cars and transport vehicles. Bilia has about 140 facilities in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. Bilia sells cars of the brand Volvo, BMW, Toyota, Renault, Lexus, MINI, Dacia, Alpine and transport vehicles of the brand Renault, Toyota and Dacia.

Bilia has today a fully expanded business with sales of new cars, e-commerce, spare parts and store sales, service and repair workshops, tyres and car glass and financing, insurance, car washes, fuel stations and auto salvage under the same roof, which gives a unique offer.

Bilia reported a turnover of about SEK 30 bn in 2019 and had about 5,000 employees.

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San Francisco, Jan 25 : Much like ridesharing via Uber on Earth, Elon Musk-run SpaceX has successfully launched its new cost-cutting rideshare mission with 143 small satellites -- a new record for a single rocket -- into space.

Called the Transporter-1 mission, the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on Sunday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

"Falcon 9 launches 143 spacecraft to orbit - the most ever deployed on a single mission -- completing SpaceX's first dedicated SmallSat Rideshare Programme mission," SpaceX said in a tweet.

According to SpaceX, the rideshare programme offers cheap access to space for small satellite companies, starting at $1 million for a 200-kg satellite.

Much like a "rideshare Uber", a company's small satellite can hitch a ride to space with this new mision.

The SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket sent a mix of shoebox-sized CubeSats and much heavier micro-satellites to a 326-mile-high polar orbit.

The 143 satellites include 48 Earth imaging satellites, 17 tiny communications satellites, and 30 small satellites for the US and Europe by Germany-based Exolaunch.

"The sheer number of payloads/satellites was well above the limit needed to break both the U.S. and world records for most satellites launched on a single mission," NASa said in a statement.

Both records were previously held by Northrop Grumman with 108 satellites launched on the NG-10 Cygnus mission in November 2018.

SpaceX's previous record is 64 satellites on the SSO-A mission in December 2018, a flight that featured Spaceflight Industries' Sherpa satellite dispenser.

Transporter-1 was the second mission since 1969 to use the polar corridor route from Florida.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
I am a 33-year-old Aboriginal woman, I live in Melbourne and for the past five years I have organised Indigenous rights rallies, including Invasion Day.

Im also a university student who enjoys drinking soy lattes and eating avocado on sourdough toast with vegan feta.

Thousands marched through the streets of Melbourne to protest against Australia Day last year. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Most people at this point in the article would readily dismiss my voice as they have been told for many years now that mine is a voice that is not worth listening to. That my voice is not a real Indigenous perspective.

While this may be a convenient view, it is not reality. My voice matters, as do all Indigenous voices.

The Syrian opposition is fracturing, amid reports that a new political body will be formed reports North Press.

The Syrian opposition has been unstable lately, with the Negotiation Commission failing to hold any meeting for more than a year, amid talks about the founding of a new platform for the opposition, in which the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) may participate.

Despite what the negotiating body has been witnessing, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the representative of the military groups, and the independents affiliated with them held several meetings in which they elected Anas al-Abdah to replace Naser al-Hariri as the head of the Negotiations Commission.

Meanwhile, they elected Hariri to replace Abdah as the head of the Syrian National Coalition itself, a move that was described as game of exchanging positions, which causes the condition of the Syrian opposition to worsen.

The Cairo platform recently replaced its member of the Syrian Constitutional Committee for the opposition, Qassem al-Khatib, with Nidal Hassan and Talid Saib.

The SNC dismissed the representative of Moscows platform to the Constitutional Committee Muhannad Dileqan following his public call to transfer meetings of the Constitutional Committee from Geneva to Damascus.

Interfering calls

These events pushed the National Coordination Commission for Democratic Change (NCC) and both the Cairo and Moscow platforms to send a memorandum to the UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen and letters to the Russian, Saudi, and Egyptian foreign ministries.

In the letters, they demanded the halt of the disintegration of the Negotiations Committee, fearing that this would affect the opposition bloc in the Constitutional Committee, which might necessitate stopping its meetings.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has suspended the monthly payment that it used to grant to the discharged who worked in the Negotiations Committee until they return to work and meetings.

New platform

This took place concurrent with political activity by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which officials saw as aiming to found a new political platform for the Syrian opposition thats able to express the real demands of Syrians and their basic needs regardless of their class, sectarian, clan, or national affiliation.

Last week, the President of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmad, said that they were planning to hold national conferences for all Syrian opposition powers this year.

We are communicating with all political powers in the Syrian interior and with different powers of the Syrian opposition outside Syria in order to hold this conference, she added.

The continued obstruction of the Syrian Negotiations Committee is caused by the obstinacy of the SNC and those affiliated with it from the military groups and old independents, a knowledgeable source of the interior opposition told North Press.

They want to continue to control and dominate all decisions of the Negotiations Committee, according to the source.

The acquisition of political and administrative decisions by the SNC does not serve the Negotiations Committee, and may curb any progress in the work by the Constitutional Committee in the coming phases, the source added.

It may serve the Syrian government; especially as the Syrian President is on his way to new presidential elections which will give Assad a new period of time to secure new control for a new phase, according to the source.

Alternatives

These decisions will lead the Negotiations Committee to the edge of the abyss, and may push the international community and the Security Council to search for an alternative that may have been arranged behind the scenes, the member of the executive office of the NCC, Abdulqahhar Saud, told North Press.

The meeting of the Gulf States in al-Ula was supposed to calm things down between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and reach understandings that might take place regarding the Syrian issue, he stressed.

It seemed that, the Turkish insistence through the SNC, of making no concessions, or responding to what was provided by the Coordination Committee and other platforms, prevented this, according to Saud.

The continuation of the Negotiation Committee meetings and issuance of some decisions regarding the replacement of Qassem al-Khatib, and the acceptance of new names and the failure to respond to the settlement of the dispute regarding the new and old independents, reflects a Turkish desire to continue controlling the negotiation commission, he pointed out.

What Turkey wants is to continue ruling the Syrian issue, and that contradicts what the West and America want in Syria, he added.

What is said, about founding a new platform with some members of the Cairo platform, some defectors from the SNC, and maybe some members from the National Coordination Committee and SDC in order to enter the Negotiations Committee indicates a ready-made issue prepared by some regional and international countries regarding a new negotiation commission, Saud said.

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.
Reena Jani rose early, finished her chores in the crisp January cold and walked uphill to the road skirting her remote tribal hamlet of Pendajam in eastern India.

Riding pillion on a neighbour's motorcycle for 40 minutes through hillsides dotted with paddy fields, the 34-year-old health worker headed for the Mathalput Community Health Centre.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Jani's name was on a list of 100 health workers at the centre, making her one of the first Indians to be inoculated against COVID-19 earlier this month, as the country rolls out a vaccination programme the government calls the world's biggest.

But she had heard rumours of serious side effects and worried about what would happen were she to get ill.

"I was frightened because of my son and daughters. If something happens to me, what will they do?" Jani told Reuters, visibly relieved after the injection produced no immediate side effects.

The vaccine she received had travelled much further. It was taken by plane, truck and van some 1,700 km from the factory to the clinic where Jani waited, and it had to be kept cold the whole way.

Its safe arrival in Koraput district, where leftist guerrillas wage a low-level insurgency amid rolling hills and thick forests, was testament to detailed planning and groundwork by authorities in the state of Odisha.

But officials acknowledge this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The 1.5 million vaccinated so far, mainly targeting key workers like Jani, are a tiny first phase of a vaccine programme that India hopes will eventually protect its 1.4 billion people from the coronavirus.

Only when the much larger third phase is launched, aimed at 270 million people deemed vulnerable, will the government know if its plan to distribute shots across sometimes hostile terrain and amid high temperatures will succeed.

"The problem will start from the third phase when the public will start coming," said Madhusudan Mishra, Koraput's district collector. "That will be a real challenge."

Supplying vaccines is one thing. Convincing people to take them is another.

Scepticism about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 shots is high in India, particularly in rural areas, officials say, and misinformation via social media platforms and word-of-mouth could undermine the effort.

The COVID-19 vaccine Jani took was developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. India is also using another developed by Bharat Biotech.

The deployment comes as the number of coronavirus cases in India approached 11 million and deaths exceeded 150,000.

'MOST AWAITED VACCINE'

Manufactured in the western city of Pune by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by volume, some 40,800 vials of the AstraZeneca shot were flown on a commercial airline into Odisha's capital city on Jan. 12.

A fire last week at the Pune plant killed five people but officials said vaccine production would not be affected.

India has distributed 16.5 million doses of the two approved vaccines to its states and territories, which dispersed them using an army of drivers and an infrastructure established for existing vaccination programmes but bolstered for the pandemic.

In Odisha, after a delayed start on Jan. 13, government staff at the vaccine centre pulled out vials from a cavernous refrigerator and carefully counted them, before packing them into insulated boxes with ice packs to keep them at between 2-8 degrees Celsius for up to three days.

Then it was over to veteran health department driver Lalu Porija. He drove his delivery van all night to reach the site, and now had to truck the vaccines 500 km (310 miles) back to Koraput with an armed policeman in plain clothes for company.

"I am feeling a little tired," said Porija, as he stopped to sip tea late that evening after a traffic jam delayed the trip by several hours.

Negotiating cows, debris, thick fog and hairpin bends, and fighting fatigue, Porija drove nearly 24 hours within three days to collect and deliver the vaccine shots to Koraput town.

On Jan. 15, at Koraput's main vaccine store, healthcare workers counted, packed and loaded smaller quantities for the district's five vaccination sites, including the Mathalput Community Health Centre some 30 km away.

A small white van drove out at noon, kicking up dust on narrow countryside roads, for a delivery run to multiple sites. Again, an armed policeman sat inside.

"The most awaited vaccine," a healthcare worker at Mathalput said to colleagues, as a box of shots was unloaded.

CHALLENGES LOOM

India has mapped out a plan to vaccinate around 300 million people by July-August.

In the first phase, which got underway earlier this month, the target is 10 million healthcare workers, including Jani. Next are 20 million essential services workers, followed by 270 million people deemed susceptible to the coronavirus.

Beyond that there is no clear road map, although the government has said every Indian who wants or needs the vaccine will get it.

In Koraput, a team of officials spent months putting together a local COVID-19 vaccination plan, officials said.

With much of the district lacking internet access, they chose vaccination sites with good connectivity and conducted dry runs, said Koraput's top health official Dr Makaranda Beura.

And where mobile coverage was patchy, like Jani's Pendajam village, health workers were called to meetings to inform them of vaccination plans, followed by visits from supervisors to people registered to be inoculated.

Despite initial glitches, particularly with CO-WIN - a centralised digital platform to roll out and track India's mammoth vaccination programme - officials in Koraput said the system would suffice for the first two phases.

For the much bigger third phase, district collector Mishra said he anticipated deploying the entire local police force to manage crowds as well as acquiring additional vehicles to support staff working in far-flung areas.

But moving the vaccine deep into the interiors, where Maoist insurgents are known to operate, also requires police to work with paramilitary troops and special forces, said southwest Odisha's police chief Rajesh Pandit.

"We have to take extra care," Pandit said.

RUMOURS AND HESITANCY

Jani became an accredited social health activist (ASHA) community health worker, a lynchpin of India's rural healthcare system, around seven years ago.

She monitors pregnant women in her village of 500 people, helps with malaria tests and doles out basic medication for fever and diarrhoea.

The main breadwinner for her family of five, Jani draws a monthly salary of 3,000 rupees ($41), helping put her two daughters and one son through school.

When she first learned she was to be vaccinated, Jani said she wasn't worried. Then she heard a rumour.

"Someone told me that people are fainting, they are developing fever and some are dying after taking the injection," she said. "That is why I was frightened."

In a survey conducted by New Delhi-based online platform LocalCircles, 62% of 17,000 respondents were hesitant to get vaccinated immediately, mainly due to worries over possible adverse reactions.

The fears are rife among health workers too, prompting India to appeal to frontline workers not to refuse vaccines after many states failed to meet initial vaccination targets.

Dr Tapas Rajan Behera, the medical officer in charge of the Mathalput Community Health Centre, said authorities were aware of possible reluctance to take the vaccine and had instructed health workers to allay fears over safety.

A jittery Jani eventually received her shot, partly vaccinating her against COVID-19: one tiny step in India's mission to beat the pandemic.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 41F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 41F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

Importantly, scientists say these side-effects are evidence the vaccine is working, generating a powerful immune response to an invader, just like a cold or the flu. Two people in Britain suffered anaphylactic shock after the vaccine but both had a history of severe allergic reactions, and both have since recovered. Data from the vaccine rollout suggests about 11.1 people in every million given the vaccine will experience anaphylaxis. In light of that, the TGA is asking health professionals to closely watch people for at least 15 minutes after injection. So far, the vaccine trials have tracked participants for only two months. However, the TGA believes nearly all serious vaccine side-effects should show up after four weeks, so they are confident the vaccine has an acceptable level of safety. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday morning that the green light was a formal approval under the normal processes of the TGA and not an emergency measure, but warned that the coronavirus crisis was far from over.

I have a simple message to Australia, thank you Australia, he said. Thank you that you have put us in a situation that is the envy of most countries in the world today. We intend to keep it that way. We intend to remain vigilant. Once the vaccines start, that doesnt mean you can jump on a plane to Bali the next day, that the masks or the quarantine arrangements disappear ... this will build, it will start at a small scale but it is not a silver bullet. The provisional approval is for individuals over 16 years of age, with two doses required at least 21 days apart. It is a temporary approval to meet public need, where the benefits of early approval outweigh the risks. For the very frail  people aged over 85  the TGA recommends doctors and nurses vaccinate on a case-by-case basis, as the potential benefits of the vaccine must be weighed against the risks of exposing a very frail person to the vaccines side-effects. About 80,000 doses will be administered every week from late February and the rate will increase once the doses of AstraZenecas vaccine to be manufactured in Australia  which will peak at 1 million doses a week  can be distributed. The rollout is expected to be completed by October.

Around August last year we took the decision that we didnt want to be in a situation where we were completely reliant on the production of vaccines overseas, Mr Morrison said. We put the arrangements in place to ensure we would be able to produce our own vaccine here in Australia and that is happening now. He said Australia paid a premium for the capabilities and that the federal government was involved more broadly in the development of vaccine production facilities in Melbourne. That was the right decision for Australia because, as much as you can, you want to be able to control as many things as you can in this country when dealing with COVID-19. Mr Morrison said the logistical challenge of distributing the vaccine in a country as large as Australia would be significant. There will be swings and roundabouts in the process, he said. You can also expect for us to explain those as they occur.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has started working with Australias Pacific island neighbours on preparations to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in the region. I have had some fantastic messages back from Pacific leaders over the course of the last week, Mr Morrison said. They are appreciative of the proactive role that Australia has taken to ensure that they will be in a position to administer that vaccine. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the regulators at the TGA had been working tirelessly to introduce a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in Australia. The TGAs processes are, I believe, the best in the world and we have ensured that they are thorough, Mr Hunt said. The TGA has placed safety above all else.

The head of the TGA, Adjunct Professor John Skerritt, thanked the clinical and medical officers, scientists, pharmacists and experts in statistics, laboratory analysis and manufacturing assessment who have worked tirelessly on assessing the vaccine. The vaccine was approved after a phase three trial in which 43,651 people aged over 16 were enrolled. Of the 36,523 people eligible for the interim analysis, there were 170 confirmed cases of COVID-19  162 of them in people given the placebo. These large numbers allow scientists to be confident in their findings. The TGAs analyses puts the vaccines effectiveness at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 at 95 per cent  or, to put that another way, there is a 97.5 per cent chance the vaccines efficacy is at least 90.3 per cent.

Loading Many unknowns However, there are some unknowns. It remains unclear if the vaccine will have any effect on reducing the transmission of the virus. It also remains unclear what effect the vaccine has on asymptomatic COVID-19, as people in the trial were only tested for COVID-19 if they had symptoms. It also remains unclear just how long the vaccine will be effective. In monkeys, declining antibody and immune-cell levels over five weeks were noted.

Health professionals will also need to decide whether to inoculate pregnant women, people with autoimmune disorders and those with compromised immune systems, as the TGA said there is limited human data to guide advice. What side effects can I expect from Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine? Pfizers vaccine is more reactogenic  it will cause a variety of short-term side-effects. Scientists say these side-effects are evidence the vaccine is working, generating a powerful immune response to an invader. According to data published by the Therapeutic Goods Administration on Tuesday, more than 60 per cent of those who get a jab will experience fatigue, more than 50 per cent will get a headache, more than 30 per cent will get muscle pain or chills and more than 20 per cent will have joint pain. Young people seem slightly more likely to have side-effects than the elderly.

Loading How long do they last? Most side effects arise two or three days after vaccination, and on average last a single day. How does that compare with the flu vaccine? Sequiriss seasonal flu vaccine is substantially less likely to cause side effects. Its most common side effects are muscle pain and headache, reported by about 20 per cent of people who have the vaccine. But the pain means the COVID-19 jab is working.

Youre getting the immune system to do something, said Professor Bruce Thompson, dean of the School of Health Sciences at Swinburne University. Thats the whole point of the vaccine. Are there any serious or long-term side effects? Among 37,586 study participants with an average of two months of follow-up data, only three people had serious adverse events linked the vaccine. One person suffered a shoulder injury, another an abnormal heartbeat, and a third had swollen lymph nodes.

Since the vaccine started rolling out, another rare but serious side effect has been spotted: anaphylactic shock. Two people in Britain suffered anaphylactic shock after the vaccine; both had a history of severe allergic reactions, and both have since recovered. Data from the vaccine rollout suggests about 11.1 people in every million given the vaccine will experience anaphylaxis. In light of that, the TGA is asking health professionals to closely watch people for at least 15 minutes after injection. What about the people who died in Norway? Concerns were raised earlier this month after 33 Norwegians aged over 75 died after receiving the vaccine. Health authorities there have not drawn a direct link between the vaccine and the deaths. While the vaccine has been trialled on people over 65, there is only limited data available on its effect on people who are over 85. For this reason, the TGA has recommended they be vaccinated on a case-by-case basis, if health professionals feel the risk outwights the benefits.
A Sydney woman who carried out a lengthy and intense campaign of harassment against an ex-lover has successfully appealed her sentence on mental health grounds and the appeal judge has delivered a scathing rebuke of the sentencing magistrate and media reporting of the case.

Denise Lee, a radiologist from Sydneys eastern suburbs, was in the grips of a major mood disorder and suffering both depression and paranoia when she engaged in a six-month campaign of text messages and emails targeting Matthew Holberton, the District Court found on appeal.

Radiologist Denise Lee appears at Downing Centre court in 2019. Credit:Nick Moir

In addition to harassing Mr Holberton, a man with whom she had a brief relationship after meeting him on Tinder in 2015, Dr Lee also harassed a woman hed begun dating in 2016, Georgia Dempster, along with Ms Dempsters mother.

At Downing Centre Local Court in March last year, Magistrate Michael Barko hit Dr Lee with a nine-month jail term, along with a two-year community corrections order and 200 hours of community service, after she pleaded guilty to three counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, and one count of intimidation with intent to cause fear of mental harm.
Beaver Dam, WI (53916)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. Scattered frost possible. Low around 35F. NE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies. Scattered frost possible. Low around 35F. NE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
Domestic credit chip cards with unified standards were expected to be introduced this week. - File Photo

The domestic credit chip cards are expected to be officially launched this week. The seven banks include Viet Nam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), Ban Viet Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VCCB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), HCM City Housing Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HDB), Bao Viet Bank (BVB), Sai Gon Thuong Tin (Sacombank) and Viet Nam Thuong Tin (Vietbank).

Previously, four State-owned commercial banks issued domestic credit cards but the issuance was temporarily halted due to inefficient operation. Some joint-stock banks already issued this type of card but without unified technical standards.

Nguyen Quang Minh, Napas deputy director, said the new domestic credit cards would be accepted throughout the networks of all banks while the previously-issued ones had limited acceptance.

In developed countries, domestic credit cards are very common, Minh said. That banks will join with Napas to issue domestic credit cards will significantly contribute to limiting cash payments and provide more options for consumer credit to prevent black credit.

The domestic credit chip cards had high security in accordance with the State Bank of Viet Nams standards and EMV standards  a security technology used worldwide for chip card payments and acceptance devices  originally developed by Europay, MasterCard and Visa, he said.

Cardholders would not have to pay fees for transactions with an interest-free period of up to 55 days compared to the typical 45 days. The acceptance points would have to pay fees of about 1.1-1.3 per cent of the transaction values, lower than other credit cards.

The fees for cash withdrawal would be about 1-2 per cent of the transaction value (a minimum of VND10,000-20,000 per transaction) also much lower than the fee of about 4 per cent of other international credit cards.

Statistics from the Viet Nam Bank Card Association showed that operating domestic credit cards saw a decrease of 10 per cent in 2017-20 and new issuances fell by 36 per cent.

However, the total transaction value of existing domestic cards increased by 25 per cent in the period.

A Maryland mom whose five-year-old son was allegedly assaulted by cops after walking out of his kindergarten class is suing the officers, the county and school district for $1million in damages.

Shanta Grant has accused Montgomery County Police Department cops of 'terrorizing' her son, who wandered away from his East Silver Spring Elementary School classroom around 1.30pm on January 14, 2020.

Matthew Bennett and James Papirmeister, lawyers for Grant, told Bethesda Magazine that the suit was written based on body camera footage from one of the officers.

'I've been doing police misconduct cases for 25 years and every case is different, but I don't recall ever having a case with a 5-year-old who was treated like this,' Bennett told the outlet.

A Maryland mom says her young son was handcuffed and harassed when he walked out of his kindergarten class at East Silver Spring Elementary School

'It's 50 minutes of trauma to a little kid. That's what it boils down to.'

DailyMail.com has filed a Maryland Public Information Act request to obtain that body camera footage.

The lawsuit, obtained by DailyMail.com, alleges two counts of assault and battery, one count of false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and two counts of false imprisonment against the police officers.

On the day of the incident, school workers called cops to help search for Grant's son after he left his kindergarten class. He was found about 1,000 feet away.

Shanta Grant has sued Officers Kevin Christmon and Dionne Holliday with the Montgomery County Police Department

Grant also named the school district in the lawsuit, accusing officials of negligence

Officers Kevin Christmon and Dionne Holliday, who are named as defendants on the lawsuit, started yelling at the boy and 'forcefully grabbing' his arm when they found him, according to the lawsuit.

The 'scared' boy started to cry but was told to 'cut it out' as cops demanded he sit inside the squad car, according to the lawsuit.

Christmon then grabbed the child and put him into the cop car when the boy hesitated, thinking he was going to be taken to jail.

'They all completely disregarded the potential trauma that could arise from yelling at a five-year-old child and placing him in a squad car,' the lawsuit reads.

The young child started to cry harder in the police car while cops allegedly chastised him to 'cut it out' throughout the one-minute ride and upon returning to the school.

'Does your Mama spank you? She's going to spank you today,' Holliday allegedly asked the boy, the outlet reported.

Officers allegedly told the 'bad' child that they 'would have been beaten nine times' if they had left school, according to the lawsuit.

'This is why people need to beat their kids,' one of the cops allegedly told the boy.

Grant's lawyers Matthew E Bennett, left, and James Papirmeister said the lawsuit narrative was written off of body camera footage from one of the officers

The lawsuit claims that Christmon should have released the boy into the custody of Assistant Principal Justine B. Pfeiffer to walk back to the school, instead of 'being placed in a police car like a criminal.'

School officials also reportedly shared private information about the student's disciplinary and academic history with cops during the encounter, the lawsuit reads.

Cops also discussed whether the boy was special needs with Pfeiffer, who allegedly said 'mom loves him very much and is trying to figure out how to help him.'

When they arrived back at the school with the boy, the officers allegedly 'forced him into a chair' as Holliday 'let out five primal screams' in the boy's face,' terrorizing an already traumatized and upset child.'

The lawsuit alleges that Pfeiffer and other school officials were present during the encounter but 'no one from the school tried to protect' him.

Pfeiffer eventually reached Grant by phone and allegedly tried to hand it over to the boy so he could speak with his mother.

The boy waved it away and 'squirmed in his char' as he was called 'mad rude' by cops who told him to listen to his mother.

'You better open your mouth and say something back,' Christmom allegedly told the boy, before leaving the room.

Holliday then allegedly said school officials should 'crate students if they are going to act like a little beast.'

Grant arrived at the school soon after and the adults talked in a conference room, where Holliday allegedly told the mom to beat her child.

Officers then allegedly placed one handcuff around the wrist of the 'violent little thing' and put both hands behind his back.

'These are for people who don't want to listen,' cops said, according to the lawsuit.

Christmom then allegedly removed the handcuffs as the cops and Pfeiffer continued the discussion with Grant.

A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Police Department said complaints against officers are investigated by the Internal Affairs Division, per department policy.

'Specific investigations and findings are confidential under the Maryland law,' said Sgt. Rebecca Innocenti.

'Both officers remain employed by the Montgomery County Department of Police.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to lawyers for Grant for additional information and comment.
CHICAGO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- National plaintiffs' law firm Keller Lenkner LLC announced today that Jason Zweig has joined the firm as Partner. Zweig is a seasoned class-action lawyer with a breadth of experience representing plaintiffs in antitrust, consumer, product-liability and securities matters. In his new role, Zweig will contribute to the growth of Keller Lenkner's antitrust and class-action practices.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jason to the Keller Lenkner team," Managing Partner Travis Lenkner said. "Jason's expertise will be an asset as we continue to advance our complex litigation practice. He is an exceptional attorney and the latest example of the unparalleled team we continue to build."

Zweig joins Keller Lenkner from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, where he was Managing Partner of the Chicago office. Before relocating to Chicago in 2015, Zweig opened Hagens Berman's New York office when he joined the firm in 2011.

Zweig said he is eager to apply his legal experience and entrepreneurial drive to his new role.

"Keller Lenkner has an energy that one would expect in a startup enterprise. Everyone here is teeming with passion for the law and growing this firm," Zweig said. "I'm excited to contribute to that growth and to help continue to establish Keller Lenkner as a major player in the antitrust class-action arena and the broader plaintiffs' bar."

Among other notable matters, Zweig led Hagens Berman's representation of companies that opted out of the class in In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Litigation, including FedEx, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, British Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, DSW, and The Minnesota Twins.

Prior to joining Hagens Berman, Zweig was a Partner at Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP. At Kaplan Fox, he played significant roles in some of the largest antitrust class actions in history, including the High Fructose Corn Syrup Antitrust Litigation, Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litigation, and the Plastics Additives Antitrust Litigation.

Zweig earned his law degree from Columbia Law School, where he was Executive Editor of the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law. During law school, Zweig served as a judicial intern to Judge Jed S. Rakoff on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He earned his undergraduate degree from Indiana University.

ABOUT KELLER LENKNER

Keller Lenkner LLC represents plaintiffs in complex litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout the nation. The firm acts for clients in class and mass actions, individual arbitrations, and multi-district litigation matters. Its team includes three former law clerks at the Supreme Court of the United States and former partners and associates from the country's leading law firms. Since its founding in 2018, the firm has secured results for more than 100,000 clients.

Media Contact: Travis Lenkner, Managing Partner  312.741.5223  [email protected]

Related Links: www.kellerlenkner.com

SOURCE Keller Lenkner LLC

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http://www.kellerlenkner.com/


A Vineland teen charged last year with the stabbing death of his neighbor  a New Jersey state corrections officer  was arrested early Sunday in Florida on aggravated assault charges, records show.

Zachary T. Latham, 18, is charged with aggravated assault with the intent to commit a felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, in Lee County, Florida, on the southern Gulf Coast.

He was arrested and charged by the Florida Highway Patrol. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In May 2020, Latham was charged with aggravated manslaughter in the stabbing death of William T. Durham Sr., his neighbor in Vineland. The 51-year-old Durham worked at South Woods State Prison.

The Durham family and Latham had a simmering dispute for weeks, and it culminated in a violent brawl in front of Lathams house. Authorities say members of the Durham family arrived at Lathams home but were unarmed.

Lathem emerged from the home and fought them with a stun gun and two knives. The senior Durham was mortally wounded in the fight. Three members of the Dunham family were also charged with assault.

The Durham family said through lawyers that Latham was the main aggressor during weeks of feuding, and further harassed them by posting about the incident on the social media app Tik Tok  even alleging Latham instigated the fatal confrontation for Tik Tok fame.

The Cumberland County Prosecutors Office was unaware Sunday of Lathams Florida arrest.

Its unclear where exactly Latham was arrested, but his booking information in Lee County, Florida lists his address as Naples, Florida.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com
A video of Kanye West screaming at frequent collaborator Chance The Rapper has surfaced.

A one-minute clip - which seems to be leaked footage reportedly from the upcoming YZY TV documentary of the making of the still-to-be-released DONDA album - was posted on YouTube Saturday and has created quite a buzz on social media.

The video is also the first new footage, music, and even image of the 43-year-old rapper since reports that his divorce from wife Kim Kardashian is 'imminent'.

Scroll down for video

Interesting: A video of Kanye West screaming at frequent collaborator Chance The Rapper has surfaced

Tough times: The video is also the first new footage, music, and even image of the 43-year-old rapper since reports that his divorce from wife Kim Kardashian is 'imminent,' as the pair are seen in Paris back in June 2018

The footage was shot over the summer of 2020 at his YEEZY compound in Wyoming as Kanye was joined by several members of his team along with the 27-year-old rapper.

Record executive and longtime business partner of Kanye, Damon Dash, is then shown explaining what was about to be shown in an interview.

The 49-year-old entrepreneur said: 'You know my thing is just get rid of the people that are triggering, get them out of here and let's just have fun being creative. So, you know, Kanye is finishing his album and theres people around.

Squad: A one-minute clip - which seems to be leaked footage reportedly from the upcoming YZY TV documentary of the making of the still-to-be-released DONDA album - was posted on YouTube Saturday and has created quite a buzz on social media

Hanging out: The footage was shot over the summer of 2020 at his YEEZY compound in Wyoming as Kanye was joined by several members of his team along with the 27-year-old rapper

Speaking out: Record executive and longtime business partner of Kanye, Damon Dash, is then shown explaining what was about to be shown in an interview

Beef: The 49-year-old entrepreneur said: 'Chance, honestly, because of what he was reading, he came through just to check Kanye. You know, again, Kanye deals with his issues at all times. They got into it, but they worked it out. At the end of the day, Chance was there just to be a friend'

'Chance, honestly, because of what he was reading, he came through just to check Kanye. You know, again, Kanye deals with his issues at all times. They got into it, but they worked it out. At the end of the day, Chance was there just to be a friend.'

Kanye is then shown having an animated conversation with Chance as they stood next to each other.

It then cuts to Kanye sitting down on a couch with Chance hunched over talking to him when the father of four stood up and began to yell.

Heated: Kanye is then shown having an animated conversation with Chance as they stood next to each other

Talking it out: It then cuts to Kanye sitting down on a couch with Chance hunched over talking to him

Taking a stand: The father of four stood up and began to yell

A lot of the clip had distorted audio but Kanye could be heard saying: 'Sit your a** down and listen to the album or leave'

A lot of the clip had distorted audio but Kanye could be heard saying: 'Sit your a** down and listen to the album or leave.'

The two seemingly worked out their differences as they were seen outside with some of the team and Chance told a joke that Kanye laughed boisterously at.

The two talented rappers from Chicago first worked together when Chance had a featured verse on Kanye's 2016 song Ultralight Beam from his seventh studio album The Life Of Pablo.

The release of the clip comes at an interesting time as there have been multiple reports of an impending divorce from 40-year-old wife Kim in recent weeks.

Moving on: The two seemingly worked out their differences as they were seen outside with some of the team

Chill: Chance told a joke as the audio to the punchline was distorted

Pleased: Kanye laughed boisterously at the joke

It's understood that Kim will reportedly discuss the end of her marriage to Kanye during the final series of the family's E! reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, much to the horror of the Bound 2 rapper, a source told UsWeekly.

'He is less than thrilled,' a source said as he continues to stay in Wyoming on his ranch while Kim remains with all four of their children at their Hidden Hills, California mansion.

The source added: 'She will continue to focus on her business empire. Kim has been in individual counselling and is at peace with where her life is headed.'

Candid: It's understood that Kim will reportedly discuss the end of her marriage to Kanye during the final series of the family's E! reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Kim and Kanye - who share North, seven, Saint, five, Chicago, two, and Psalm, 19 months, together - had been in marriage counselling as they 'tried to work through things.'

A source said of their counselling sessions: 'Divorce has been discussed, but Kim wants more than anything for their relationship to work.

'There wasn't anything specific that happened that led them to this point ... They are 100 percent aligned when it comes to the kids.'

However, another insider insists the couple are just dealing with 'regular relationship issues.'

Fractured family: Kim and Kanye - who share North, seven, Saint, five, Chicago, two, and Psalm, 19 months, together - had been in marriage counselling as they 'tried to work through things'

They added of the couple's struggles: 'It's just regular relationship issues. There is no one else involved. Divorce talks have been on and off with them since the spring.'

Page Six has since reported that Kim is keen for her long-running show to end in explosive fashion by candidly discussing the breakdown of her relationship to Kanye.

A source explained: 'The Kardashians intend to go out with a bang. Theyve filmed Kim discussing her marriage problems.

'But everybody involved is on a nondisclosure agreement, because the finale wont screen until later in 2021.'
 Flash

Another 30,004 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,647,463, according to official figures released Sunday.

Another 610 people have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. The total number of the coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 97,939, the data showed.

Earlier Sunday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said "early evidence" shows the lockdown restrictions in Britain are starting to bring the number of new infections down.

However, it is still a "long, long, long way" before coronavirus cases are low enough for lockdown to be lifted, he told Sky News, adding that the National Health Service (NHS) remains under "enormous" strain.

"We should be worried enough, all of us, about this pandemic to follow the rules and it is just so important that people do," he said.

Meanwhile, Hancock expressed his concerns over the new COVID-19 variants not yet discovered.

"The new variant I really worry about is the one that is out there that hasn't been spotted," he said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the coronavirus variant first identified in Britain may be more deadly than the older variant.

The British government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said "a lot of uncertainty around these numbers" remains but early evidence suggests the variant could be about 30 percent more deadly.

The new strain of coronavirus first identified in Kent, England, is thought to be up to 70 percent more transmissible. However, Johnson said that the current vaccines are still effective against the new variant.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
Russia, however, is likely to turn down the proposal, Kuleba suggests.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has confirmed the Ukrainian authorities' intention to invite the Russian Federation to join the Crimean Platform on efforts to end Russia's occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula

Kuleba made the comment on the air of TV Channel Ukraine 24 on January 24.

"We are planning to send an invitation [letter], that is, an invitation to the Russian Federation to join the Crimean Platform and engage in talks on the end of Crimea occupation," the minister said.

At the same time, Ukraine's top diplomat says he has no illusions about Russia's response to the invitation.

"It will be negative, but we'll send such an invitation anyway," he added.

Read also Ukraine's Foreign Ministry asks BBC News not to promote Russian false narratives Crimean Platform to end Russian occupation of the peninsula

On September 23, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who participated in the general debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, called on partners to join an international platform for the end of the Russian occupation of Crimea.

In December, Zelensky announced that the creation of the Crimean platform had already been backed by Europe and North America.

The platform will operate at several levels. The first, the highest one, is the political level, which will involve heads of state and government. The second level is that of top diplomats and defense chiefs, the third is the inter-parliamentary level, and the fourth will involve non-governmental experts. An expert network will be created to enhance the effectiveness of government action, as well as engaging additional intellectual resources in the platform's work.

Read alsoRussia turning Crimea into nuclear military base: Intelligence "White Paper"The Crimean Platform Summit is scheduled for August 23, 2021.

Russian occupation of Crimea

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia.

On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin.

The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced.

Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.

Reporting by UNIAN

Two San Antonio teenagers were among six people killed in a wrong-way crash Saturday on Interstate 37 in South Texas.

Helena Dumas, 18, and Trent Edge, 19, were passengers in a Dodge Grand Caravan returning from a Corpus Christi beach. The van was struck head-on by a Toyota Camry driving south in the northbound left lane, according to Sgt. Nathan Brandley of Texas Highway Patrol.

The fatal collision occurred at approximately 3:33 a.m. on Interstate 37 east of Mathis in San Patricio County.

READ ALSO: South Bexar County neighborhood says theyre in 'danger' as gun range operates nearby

The driver and all three passengers of the Camry were pronounced dead at the scene. Officials identified the four men as Alice residents Noam Ortiz, 19, Ruben Gonzalez Jr., 24, Julian Reyna, 18, and Kanyon Alegra, 18. Ortiz was driving the car.

Edge was pronounced dead at the scene, while Dumas died Saturday evening at Spohn Shoreline Hospital in Corpus Christi. The male driver of the Grand Caravan, a male passenger, and a female passenger are in stable condition as of Monday.

Investigators are trying to determine why the Camry was driving in the wrong direction. Alcohol did not appear to be a factor at the scene, Brandley said, but a toxicology report will be conducted on the driver.

The Camry may have entered the highway at a nearby exit ramp, Brandley said. Police received one call for a wrong-way driver two minutes prior to the crash.

Dumas and Edge had traveled to Corpus Christi for the day with a group of friends to visit the beach. They were on the way home when the collision occurred.

"The people in the van, they were just minding their business going home," Brandley said.

San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera offered condolences to the families involved and the first responders who "endured an image that will forever be engraved in their minds."

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are investigating the crash.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has said anyone arriving into Ireland should face a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Ms McDonald said nothing will act as a more effective pushback on travel that isnt essential than a mandatory quarantine for 14 days, the Sinn Fein leader said.

Deputy McDonald said it is insufficient if the government only quarantines people who arrive without a negative test. Im very surprised at this stage that they dont realise this, especially with Nphet and other public health experts saying this. We have to grasp this nettle now, she said while speaking on Morning Ireland.

Ms McDonald said it was absolutely proportionate given the epidemiological scenario that people coming onto the island are tested pre and post arrival, and that the quarantine isnt hit and miss.

It is expected that cabinet will move tomorrow to bring in mandatory quarantine for arrivals without a negative test, but the Sinn Fein leader insists this does not go far enough.

Nobody should be coming onto the island of Ireland unless essential and when they come onto the island they should have a negative PCR test. If they dont have a negative test, they should be sent back from whence they came. We should also have a second mandatory test after five days of being on the island, Ms McDonald told RTEs Morning Ireland.

This comes as DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson, speaking on the same programme, said it is not tenable to close air and ferry routes between mainland UK and Northern Ireland.

Deputy McDonald said it is belatedly time for the government in Dublin to use its influence to ensure that arrivals into Northern Ireland are subject to the same protocols as those in the south.

The Taoiseach needs to go beyond making a couple of phone calls and it has to be the decided objective of all of us... to adopt the stringent measures and that they will apply irrespective of where you land on the island.

If there is a reservoir of the virus on this island, it places all of us in danger. The real issue we are facing now is travel onto the island. To keep people safe on this island, you have to adopt an all-island approach, the Sinn Fein leader said.

Deputy McDonald said the memo of understanding between north and south health departments has only been minimally applied and that there was no ambition demonstrated, particularly from the government in Dublin to press ahead with it.

Mr Donaldson said there was likely no appetite to further restrict movement across the border, due to the amount of people that move back and forward seamlessly for work each day.

I dont think the numbers are really that high, Mr Donaldson said, adding that the idea to close off Northern Ireland to flights and ferries from the UK just isnt tenable.

We are linked into the UK commonly - for instance I have to travel to the UK regularly to attend the parliament. Youd have to shut down the entire public sector and infrastructure between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to completely prevent travel.

Mr Donaldson said the ferries from the UK and air links from the UKs major cities are vital to the Norths economy.

People still need to make these essential journeys and we are not in a position to ban essential travel within the United Kingdom, just like the Irish government would not want to ban essential travel within Ireland.

We have already said people should not journey across the Irish Sea if it is non essential, he pointed out.

Speaking on the issue of a Sunday Times poll that showed 50.7pc in favour of a border poll in the north in the next five year, the MP said: We believe that there isnt a consensus in Northern Ireland.

If you take the margin of error for the poll, it may well be that there may not even be a majority in that poll supporting the idea of a referendum on a border poll.

"When you break it down into the various sectors, some of the claims that a majority favour a border poll is only when you take out the people who dont know.

We believe that there isnt a consensus in Northern Ireland for a border poll and when you consider that we are in the middle of a pandemic, that our economy is under pressure, we have many priorities within the Northern Ireland Executive that primarily are about saving lives and saving jobs. I dont think anyone is going to push forward a border poll in the midst of this kind of situation, Mr Donaldson said.
The African Youth Climate Hub (AYCH), an African Youth climate platform, today formally called for application to its Climate Start-up Incubation Program promoting sustainable development. AYCH as a partnership between the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, OCP Group and YOUNGO (Children and Youth Constituency to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) was launched by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, at the Climate Action Summit chaired by the United Nations Secretary-General in New York in September 2019.



This new Hub brings the voice and actions of young Africans to the forefront, boosting their leadership for climate protection and sustainable development. Based at the Hassan II International Center for Environmental Training, the academic arm of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection the African Youth Climate Hub connects young people on a digital platform and supports their initiatives.



The incubation program, an essential priority of the African Youth Climate Hub, is to be run jointly by Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and the Hassan II International Center for Environmental Training to spur entrepreneurship and foster the emergence of new talent. This program aims at facilitating the development of innovative green businesses in Africa, combating climate change and promoting sustainable development. Businesses to emerge from the Hub shall place social and environmental considerations on an equal footing to economic drivers.



This program will offer the start-ups a customized six-month program during which they will benefit from practical and tailored support as well as workshops empowering them with the means to successfully execute projects and convert ideas into viable technological prototypes. A training program will enable young entrepreneurs to absorb key aspects of law, strategy, marketing and communication, psychology, technology and climate knowledge, among others, essential to their success.



AYCH will incubate 10 projects driven by young Africans in this first edition. To apply, candidates are invited to connect to youthclimatehub.org, download the incubation offer, create an account and submit their projects directly online. The deadline to apply is February 5th.









Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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A resourceful feline has surprised the workers of a shipping company when it emerged from a locked container after spending three weeks at sea with no food or water.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian logistics company Star Shine Shipping LTD took to Facebook to report a rather unusual tale of survival involving a curious feline. When opening a sealed container that had traveled over two thousand kilometers from Ukraine to Israel, over a period of three weeks, the companys staff found a grey cat inside. The animal looked a bit scared, but was otherwise in good condition, despite having endured a long journey without any food or water.

Photos posted on the Star Shine Shipping LTD Facebook page show the clandestine passenger sitting atop a stack of boxes inside the shipping container, and later stretching its legs in an unspecified Israeli port. One of the photos also shows a couple of chewed up cardboard boxes, which were filled with Ukrainian candy.

Although one can only speculate on how the feline survived for three weeks inside the sealed container, it is believed it feasted on sugary treats for nutrients, and licked the condensation that must have formed on the inside of the metal container for water.

Upon discovering the purring stowaway, Star Shine Shipping checked the video tapes to find out how it had wound up in the container. Apparently, the curious feline snuck inside the metallic container as it was being loaded in the port of Odessa, and got locked inside.

While some questions about the cats survival during the three-week journey remain unanswered, the important thing is that the animal has made a full recovery, in the care of the logistics companys director, Alexander Vinnik.

Interestingly, this isnt the first epic tale of animal survival weve ever featured on Oddity Central. Back in 2016, we wrote about a pair of miracle puppies that survived a 25-day journey in a shipping container with no food or water.
The Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force four-day-long mega drill concluded on January 23 which was held at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur. Both Air Forces exercised in realistic settings with an aim to enhance operational capabilities and interoperability. The exercise provided an opportunity to share best practices and evolve operational concepts; particularly for effective combat employment of the Rafale fleet, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a release. Here're some highlights of the four-day-long mega drill joint military exercise Ex Desert Knight 2021:
The 'E3' group of European powers - France, the United Kingdom and Germany - said in a joint statement on Monday that they condemned an attack at the weekend on the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting against Yemen's Houthi movement said on Jan. 23 that it had thwarted an attack by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital Riyadh, the kingdom's state-owned broadcaster Al-Hadath TV reported on its Twitter page.

Since 2015 the Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which has launched cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities.

Short link:


MEDINA, Ohio -- Over the years, the Medina County Historical Society (soon to reach its 100th birthday) has been fortunate to receive many wonderful items relating to the countys history.

One such item, which the society calls The Lincoln Banner, was hanging on a wall in the Munson House in 1976 when local author and historian Joann King began her job as curator of the societys museum.

Its a miracle it wasnt in shreds, she said.

She was never able to discover where the banner had come from or who had donated it to the museum.

The Wide Awakes were an anti-slavery youth organization and paramilitary group organized by the Republican Party in 1860 to support Lincolns presidential candidacy. (Photo Courtesy of Joann King)

The banner is painted silk, with Abraham Lincolns beardless face on one side and the words Presented by the Ladies of Medina to the WIDE AWAKES 1860 on the other.

Research determined that the banner had been presented in late October 1860 to a group of young political activists in Medina during a political rally for Lincolns first presidential campaign.

King appreciated the banners rarity and value, and feared for its survival. When the societys collection moved from the Munson House to the John Smart House in 1984, King wrapped a sheet around the banner and took it to the Western Reserve Historical Society to inquire about restoring it.

The price of restoration was $4,900 at that time -- too much for the Medina society to cover.

The banner was brought back to Medina, carefully placed in an acid-free archival box and stored in the museums attic. There were occasional brief viewings when the Board of trustees discussed funding its restoration. Each time, the board determined that the funds were not available.

But seven months ago, the current trustees decided it was time to stabilize the banner, to repair broken fibers and to restore the bedraggled fringe.

Textile restoration artist Sue Berry not only made those repairs, but even replaced Lincolns missing eyes, which had made the picture a bit eerie. She also built a sturdy case to hold the banner securely between two sheets of Plexiglas so that it can be viewed from both sides.

While researching Medina County history for her book Medina County: Coming of Age 1810-1900, King found a diary written by Nancie Swan, a detailed account of a young life in the 1850s in Medina County.

On Oct. 28, 1860, Swan wrote, Met with 40 ladies to practice performance -- will present a banner to the Wide Awakes -- Mrs. Bostwick arranged a program -- mass meeting on Thurs. -- groups of ladies led to the stand by the band -- everything went off well and they were heavily cheered -- fireworks and balloon ascension -- large group at her house after dinner.

Those notes led to research in the Medina Gazette of Nov. 1, 1860: After stirring songs by the Seville and Medina Glee Clubs, the Wide Awake delegation repaired to the tables, which the ladies of Medina and vicinity had loaded with a handsome and sumptuous repast.

The hour having arrived for the Medina Ladies Banner Presentation to the Medina Wide Awakes, the ladies were escorted by the Wide Awakes to the grounds.

Swan represented one of the Thirteen Colonies.

The State of Illinois was represented by Miss Helen Blake (daughter of H.G. Blake, U.S. Congressman from Medina,) bearing a banner inscribed Abraham Lincoln, the Gazette article noted.

The Wide Awakes were an anti-slavery youth organization and paramilitary group organized by the Republican Party in 1860 to support Lincolns presidential candidacy. They held a series of political rallies in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Boston, as well as in Medina in October of that year.

The young men and boys who joined the group wore inexpensive ($1.33) uniforms and were taught march maneuvers. The Wide Awakes wore an oilcloth cape and cap and a red sash. They carried a lamp or torch and marched at night, many times to escort prominent Republican speakers to rallies.

That a piece of painted fabric has survived fairly intact for 160 years is a testament to Kings love of history and to the dedication of the Medina County Historical Society.

The society owns at least two more political banners that need to be restored and preserved before they can be safely displayed. Hopefully, donors or foundations can be found to help fund the projects.

The newly restored Lincoln Banner will be on display at the McDowell-Phillips House when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and the museum opens for tours. Learn more about the society on www.medinahistorical.com.

Read more from the Medina Sun.
(Newser)  After a 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death in a Walmart in Louisiana Saturday night, the local sheriff issued a heartfelt plea for parents to help stop the frightening rise in youth violence. "This is not something we can police our way out of," said Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso, who urged parents to "take control." Police say the teen was stabbed to death in the Lake Charles Walmart by four girls who are now in juvenile detention. A 13-year-old is accused of murder and three others, ages 12, 13, and 14, also face charges, KATC reports. After a fight inside the Walmart, the girls allegedly stabbed the victim with knives stolen from the store. "Its really heartbreaking when we have to come in and pick up the pieces, because so many families were damaged after this," Mancuso said Sunday.

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"Its just a cycle that we have to stop, and were just fed up with it," the sheriff said. He said this is the third homicide in six months involving minors between 11 and 16, the Charlotte Observer reports. He said a curfew of 11pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends will be strictly enforced, but police can't solve the problem on their own. "This is a parenting issue," Mancuso said. "People need to know where their kids are. They need to know what's going on in their lives." He said the whole community needs to "step up and get involved," and urged parents to keep track of their children's social media accounts. "The whole murder played out on there," the sheriff said. (Read more Louisiana stories.)


Burma Chinese Firm Opens Assessment Tender for Strategic Deep-Sea Port in Western Myanmar

A crude oil tanker docks at Maday Island in Kyaukphyu Township in 2019. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  A Chinese company has invited proposals by Feb. 8 to provide consultancy services and field investigations environmental and social impact assessments of its ambitious Kyaukphyu deep-sea port project in Rakhine State.

The move brings the Belt and Road Initiative project  which would open Chinese access to the Indian Ocean  one step closer to implementation.

The project is a crucial aspect of the China-backed Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Deep Sea Port Project, which is part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

The SEZ is expected to allow Chinese trade to bypass the congested Strait of Malacca near Singapore while boosting development in landlocked Yunnan Province.

Chinese consortium CITIC Myanmar Port Investment Limited announced on Monday that it would hire a third party to provide scoping, investigation and reporting of the projects assessment process. The move aims to obtain environmental compliance certificates for the project.

The company said it would follow Myanmars environmental procedures and other laws.

In August, Myanmar approved the registration of Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone Deep Seaport Co. Ltd, a joint venture between CITIC and Myanmars government-backed SEZ Management Committee, to develop the project.

The parties have reportedly already entered a concession agreement to design, build, finance, operate, maintain and transfer the port. It will also include construction of terminals on the islands of Yanbye and Mede, a bridge connecting the islands and a 15km road to the SEZ industrial park.

In 2019, CITIC hired the Canadian firm, Hatch, to supervise and recruit consultants to environmentally assess the port project. It has also submitted a project proposal to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection which early last year said the project required environmental and social assessments under Myanmars law.

A framework agreement for the long-delayed project was signed between the management committee and the CITIC in November 2018. The project was delayed due to a shareholder agreement under President Thein Sein which gave the Chinese developer an 85-percent stake.

The National League for Democracy renegotiated the agreement to increase Myanmars stake to 30 percent. The initial agreement estimated the project to be worth US$9-10 billion. However, both sides agreed to begin the project on a smaller scale after Myanmar raised concerns about debt traps. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the first phase of the port will cost around $1.5 billion (2 trillion kyats).

Concession and shareholders agreements for the project were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinpings trip to Myanmar early last year.

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ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Jan, 2021 ) :The Sindh government on Monday submitted its response to the Presidential reference seeking an opinion on open ballot for the upcoming Senate elections before the Supreme Court.

The Chief Secretary Sindh submitted the 18-page response on behalf of the Sindh government through the Advocate General Sindh.

The response stated that the Written Synopsis had shown that the Reference has been filed on the ground of political expediency and the Question can therefore not be termed a "question of law". In the circumstances, the moral suitability of the Question for an opinion under the advisory jurisdiction of Article 186 of the Constitution was questionable and it was the Government's position that for reasons of judicial propriety, the court should decline to offer the opinion, it added.

"Without prejudice to the foregoing, it can safely be discerned from the discussion on the various provisions of the Constitution above that elections to the Senate are elections 'under the Constitution' as expressed by a plain and ordinary reading of Article 226 of the Constitution. The insertion of the word "held" in Article 226 would lead to an absurd and illogical conclusion, which is beyond the intention of the Legislature and in conflict with the democratic values of free and fair elections encoded in the Constitution.

Undoubtedly, the Senate is elected under the Constitution and the Elections Act merely provides the procedure for holding the election, as mandated by Article 218 of the Constitution. Therefore, any provisions of the Elections Act which regulate the conduct and manner of the Senate election must comply with the constitutional requirement of voting by secret ballots prescribed by Article 226 of the Constitution," it concluded.

It is noteworthy that the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Chairman Senate and the Speaker National Assembly had supported the reference.

"It is the considered view of the Punjab that the reference in question may kindly be answered in the affirmative so that by undertaking necessary remedial statutory action, the Election Act 2017 is amended and enable the elections to the Senate to be held through open ballot," Advocate General of Punjab Ahmad Awais said in a reply.

Whereas, the KP advocate general said: "This provincial government supports the reference No. 01, 2020, sent by the President to this Honourable Court."
20 January 2021 New Delhi,

To

The Honourable Chief Justice of India,

Supreme Court of India

New Delhi,

Sub: Citizens open letter to the Chief Justice regarding delay in listing/hearing important and urgent matters affecting lives of millions of people  denial of justice through delay.

Your Honour,

At the outset, let us point out why common citizens do not talk about the Courts conduct. Because they fear attracting contempt of court. However, some of us believe that we will be failing in our constitutional duty, if we do not stand up and give expression to what has been troubling millions of people in the country over the last two years, particularly the response of Indian judiciary to the abrogation of Article 370, the annihilation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.

Abrogation of Article 370

As we may recall, the abrogation of Article 370 was followed by en masse detentions of opposition politicians, activists, and lawyers in the region. Further, a strict lockdown and communications blackout were imposed, keeping the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir in the dark over developments taking place in Delhi. The first challenge to the Presidential order was filed on August 9 before the Supreme Court. Following which, there were many petitioners from all over the country before the Supreme Court, including several MPs from the National Conference, Kashmiri citizens, including former bureaucrats, and various organizations. A five-judge Constitution Bench was set up on September 29, 2019 to hear the challenges to the abrogation of Article 370 and the States bifurcation into two Union Territories. This Bench is headed by Justices NV Ramana and comprises of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant. Since then and now, the Central government has taken many steps to further remove all features of Article 370 and to concretise the bifurcation, despite calls for the reinstatement of Jammu & Kashmirs statehood getting louder. Though it was said that, The Supreme Court can always turn the clock back, (Justice Kaul, October 1, 2019) the petitions were relegated to cold storage.

In the meanwhile, the central government has been left free to carry out its programme of dismantling all the protective measures for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and change domicile law and property ownership law and reservations for the state subjects in state government jobs. Such major changes have been made that it will be virtually impossible to reverse these - putting the clock back will remain, like many other promises of Supreme Court, a mere chimera.

Let us also look at the outcome of Kashmir Times Editor Anuradha Bhasins petition questioning the restrictions that were imposed not only on the media, but also on movement and general communication in the region. After nearly four months, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment, recognising the Constitutional protection granted to freedom of expression and profession through the internet as a medium. However, precious little happened on the ground. The judgment empowered the same review committee set up by the same government which was imposing the curbs in the first place. It was like asking the executioner to protect the life of the person he wants to slay.

The Supreme Court it seems is unaware of the fact that a large part of the Jammu & Kashmir region is still facing internet restrictions, causing serious medical crisis at a time when the country is reeling under a pandemic.

Challenges to CAA

Turning to the CAA, in spite of the nationwide peaceful democratic protest and the global attention that protests against the Law garnered, the Supreme Court seemed to turn a blind to nearly 140 petitions challenging the legality of the CAA. These petitions are still pending before the Supreme Court.

Thousands of people were looking up to the Supreme Court for a swift and decisive pronouncement on the matter relating to citizenship. However, Mr Chief Justice, it seems you did not think the issue of CAA was an urgent matter. You chose to give priority to questions such as those of religious practices raised in the Sabarimala review. Later you ordered the removal of the peaceful camp of protesters. The most interesting part of this was that police came to you seeking the Courts approval for the removal of the protesters from Shaheen Bagh, though the police had the power to so. In that case, had the police removed the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, the protesters could have approached the Court for protection of their right to dissent and peaceful agitation. By giving the police the uncalled-for sanction, you ensured that aggrieved citizens had no recourse to justice. The real fact is that it was not the protesting crowd, who had blocked the entire road. They had left half the road open. Yes, movement of traffic was slow, but it was never held up. Actually, it was Delhi police which had blocked the road from all sides.

Habeas Corpus

Let us now look into how the Court has responded to the critical issue of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is an important instrument that acts as a check on government powers to restrict liberty of citizens. The fundamental purpose of the writ is to ensure swift review of illegal detentions. The key aspect of the habeas corpus writ is the urgency that is attached to it. This is because along with right to life, liberty is considered the most precious of all fundamental rights.

In August 2019, in two habeas corpus petitions related to Jammu and Kashmir your orders defeated the very spirit of the writ instrument, which has been described as first security of civil liberty.

On August 19, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury moved such a petition seeking the production before the Supreme Court of former party MLA from Kashmir, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, informing you that when he had tried to visit the party leader, he was stopped by the authorities from entering Srinagar. Yechury had requested the court to direct the authorities to produce the former MLA before it and have the ailing politician admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Science in New Delhi.

Similarly, Mohammad Aleem Sayed, a law student from Kashmir, had moved the court against what he feared was the illegal detention of his parents in Anantnag in Kashmir. His petition too wanted a direction to the authorities to produce the family before the Supreme Court.

However, the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday did not consider the question of whether the detentions were legal. Instead, it allowed both Yechury and Syed to visit Kashmir to meet their friends and family. The government was asked to facilitate Syeds travel. Both Syed and Yechury have been asked to file reports to the court after their visits.

In Yechurys case, the Court dismissed opposition from the Centre, which cited the sensitive situation in the Valley and allowed the communist leader to travel to Kashmir. While this was a positive intervention to which Yechurys lawyers agreed, it is also a fact that the court has not, for the moment, moved to determine the validity of Tarigamis detention. In fact, the order did not even issue notices to the Centre about it. Technically, the petition is still pending for admission.

Similarly, in the case of Mohammad Aleem Sayed, while facilitating his journey to the Valley, the court did not issue notices to the Centre. Allowing the petitioners to meet their friends and families in Kashmir does not in any way remedy the alleged violation of right to liberty. If anything, the delay in ordering notices to the government seeking explanation on the detentions indirectly allows the authorities to sustain the illegal detention, even if it is only for a few days.

Let us look at the case of Siddique Kappan, who has been under detention since October 5. The matter has been going on going since November 20. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) had filed a habeas corpus petition before the Supreme Court challenging the detention of Kappan, who was arrested on his way to Hathras by the UP police days in relation to the death of a Dalit teenager from Hathras which had whipped up a storm across the country. He was arrested along with three other persons and has been charged with sedition and several sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Senior Advocate, Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the petitioner KUWJ, told the court that Kappan was not being allowed to meet his lawyer.

Instead of addressing the issue raised by Kapil Sibal, particularly as under Article 32 of the Constitution, you have the primary jurisdiction in matters of habeas corpus, the Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde asked Sibal why he had not approached the Allahabad high court instead of moving the Supreme Court. During that hearing, the apex court has also expressed its disinclination to admit the habeas corpus petition and instead asked the petitioners to move the high court.

But not all are unlucky as Siddique Kappan. Among those who were allowed to approach the Supreme Court directly under Article 32 petition in the apex court was the Republic TV owner-editor Arnab Goswami, who sought quashing of various charges filed against him by Mumbai police. These included a 2018 abetment to suicide case and a batch of multiple FIRs in different states stemming from a controversial programme on the Palghar mob lynching as well as one on Republic TVs coverage of the crowds that had gathered outside Bandra railway station in Mumbai during the lockdown in which the channel had insinuated that the mosque had played a role in the gathering.

Strange is not, that it was only in the case of Arnab Goswami that the Court found it appropriate to say, states must realise theres an apex court to protect the liberty of citizens. Obviously Siddique Kappan did not merit such indulgence. The question is, should the SC show to the country that there are two sets of people, one more privileged than the other? If the erratic habeas corpus orders are anything to go by, the Supreme Court has uncritically accepted the governments disproportionate claims about national security and given it precedence over the ideals of civil liberties.

The Indian Constitution created the Supreme Court at the apex of the Indian judiciary. It is the highest authority to uphold the Constitution of India, to protect the rights and liberties of the citizens, and to uphold the values of rule of law. Hence, it is known as the Guardian of our Constitution. When we look at the history of Supreme Courts interventions in the past on issues of liberty we do feel proud. Let me recall a few instances.

In the case of State of Maharashtra vs. Bhaurao Punjabrao Gawande, the Supreme Court had made the following comments on the nature of habeas corpus:

The celebrated writ of habeas corpus has been described as a great constitutional privilege or the first security of civil liberty. The writ provides a prompt and effective remedy against illegal detention. By this writ, the Court directs the person or authority who has detained another person to bring the body of the prisoner before the Court so as to enable the Court to decide the validity, jurisdiction or justification for such detention. The principal aim of the writ is to ensure swift judicial review of alleged unlawful detention on liberty or freedom of the prisoner or detainee.

Earlier, in Romesh Thapar vs. The state of Madras, (May 1950) Supreme Court had stated that, Criticism of government exciting disaffection or bad feelings towards it, is not to be regarded as a justifying ground for restricting the freedom of expression, or of the press.

In the writ petition No.5129 of 2012 N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, Printer & Publisher The Hindu vs. the Union of India, Justice Abdul Quddhose said A very important aspect of democracy is that citizens should have no fear of the government. They should not be scared of expressing views which may not be liked by those in power. He went on to say, Criticism of policies of the government is not sedition unless there is a call for public disorder or incitement to violence.

The actions alluded to above, we are sorry to say, raise serious questions about commitment to constitutional obligations and the undermining of the independence and impartiality of the apex court. When the judiciary which is supposed to oversee all activities to be conducted within the framework of the constitution, itself violates its constitutional duties, then there is no remedy in law and the court becomes the first to be held in contempt of court as a constitutional body. In this situation, we feel it is appropriate to remember what CJI, Justice J. Varma had said, The powers which are given to us are not provisions meant for personal aggrandisement. They are meant to sub serve the constitutional purpose and they are meant for upholding the majesty of the law. (R.C. Ghiya Memorial Lecture, The Constitutional Obligation of the Judiciary, Delivered by Honble Shri J.S. Verma, Chief Justice of India in 1997)

After all that has been said above, one wonders how the Supreme Court still believed that the people of India would find its independent and impartial intervention in the farmers agitation as just and legitimate?

In the end we submit that the Supreme Court needs to show that it is neutral and works under public transparency and that cases concerning the fundamental rights of a person are dealt without any biases.

Yours sincerely

Tapan Kumar Bose

Sumanta Bannerjee

A. K. (Dunu) Roy

Imrana Qadeer

Rita Manchanda

Endorsed by

A.K.Samanta

Admiral (Retd) Laxminarayan Ramdas

Advocate Flavia Agnes

Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak

Alok Perti

Amitabh Pande

Anand Karandikar

Anna Dani

Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal

Ashok Choudhary

Ashok Sharma

Aswathi Nair

B.B.Mahajan

Badri Raina

Bharat Bhushan

Capt. Ashok Khanna

Capt. Ashok Khanna

Dr Asha Achy Joseph

Dr Atul Gurtu

Dr Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay

Dr Sanjay Kumar

Evita Das

Gopalan Balagopal

Gurjit Singh Cheema

Harry Gujral

Harsh Kapoor

Harsh Mandar

Hindal Tyabji

Joe Athialy

K.P Sasi

Kalyani Menon Sen

Leo Saldhana

Madhu Bhaduri

Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay

Meena Gupta

Meera Sanghamitra

Mritiunjoy Mohanty

Ms Kabita Lindenmeyer

Nagalsamy IAAS (retd.)

Nalini Misra Tyabji

Nandini Sundar

Navrekha Sharma

Nityanand Jayaraman

P Joy Oommen

Pamela Phillipose

Prafulla Samantara

Pranab Mukhopadhayay

Priya Dharshini

Prof Achin Vinaik

Prof Anand Chakravarti

Prof Pradip Kumar Bose

Prof Uma Chakravarti

Prof Dinesh Mohan

Rajashri Dasgupta

Ranabir Saaddar

Ritu Dewan

Roshmi Goswami

Sadanand Menon

Dimple Oberoi Vahali

Sandeep Pandey

Shekhar Sonalkar

Sadiq Wahid

Souparna Lahiri

Sumit Chakravartty

Sushil Khanna

Tani Alex

Vahida Nainar

Vijaya Chauhan

Vijayan MJ

Wajahat Habibullah

Xavier Dias

Address: Tapan Kumar Bose

H-31/A Jangpura Extension (Ground Floor),

New Delhi 110014
New Delhi, Jan. Jan 25 : In the run-up to the upcoming Union Budget, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has sought creation of 'Broadband Infrastructure Fund' towards building digital infrastructure.

The industry body has suggested that the Government make a token budgetary allocation of Rs 5,000 crore in the upcoming Budget 2021-22 towards building the Broadband Infrastructure Fund.

It has highlighted that a rapid acceleration in the creation of digital infrastructure will be an effective tool for inclusive digitalisation which will help add to economic growth and employment.

CII had constituted a Task Force on Digital Infra, chaired by J.S. Deepak, Former Telecom Secretary. The task force consists of leaders from network & passive infrastructure providers, telecom service providers, tech equipment manufacturers, academic institutions and think tanks.

Regarding the pre-budget recommendations for the digital infrastructure sector, Deepak said, "To achieve the dream of Digital India and the goals of NDCP-2018, major investments are required. Considering the financial stress that the sector is going through and the growing digital divide in urban and rural areas, it is important for the Government to allocate specific funds towards building nationwide digital infrastructure".

The industry body said that in line with some of the global peers, the Government should consider increasing government funding for broadband infrastructure, especially where private investment is not adequate.

Further, CII proposed to the government to allow access to alternative and cheap sources of capital for the digital communications sector to scale up the necessary infrastructure for the rapid data demand and 5G rollout. The Task Force suggested to include Hi-Tech in Priority Sector Lending for public sector banks and permit digital communications sector to access long-term low-cost capital through issuing infrastructure debt bonds.

Additionally, in order to ensure financial stability for the sector, the Task Force suggested to reduce the spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) to 1 per cent. The recommendations also included extension of investment linked incentives under Section 35AD of the Income Tax Act to telecom infrastructure service providers for equipment manufactured in India.

In order to boost domestic manufacturing, CII suggested to extend Export Credit scheme for another one year and provide the higher rate benefit of 5 per cent. CII recommended various measures for indigenisation of digital infrastructure and encouraging domestic manufacturers as key for Atmanirbhar and Surakshit Bharat.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
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Q. Im now almost 68, and based on my retirement savings in IRAs and 403(b) accounts, I think my Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) will be almost $100,000 per year once they start. I intend to keep working part-time so my income will exceed this, plus I have Social Security. Eligibility for benefits like the Senior Freeze and pension exclusion, plus the cost of Medicare, would be affected by this. Does it make sense for me to convert a large amount to a Roth IRA now? In this year, I would lose eligibility for those benefits but then once the RMDs kick in, I would stay under the income threshold. Or is it crazy to incur a huge tax bill now?

 Planning ahead

A. Your question is a very good one and has many moving parts.

Before addressing your Roth IRA conversion question, lets look at eligibility of the benefits available to New Jersey taxpayers if their income is below certain thresholds.

First, there is the New Jersey pension exclusion, under which certain taxpayers dont have to pay taxes on retirement and pension income.

You qualify for the pension exclusion if you  and/or your spouse if you are filing jointly  are 62 or older or those who, because of a disability, are eligible for Social Security benefits, and you have $100,000 or less of gross income, said Gerard Papetti, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with U.S. Financial Services in Fairfield.

He said for 2021, the exclusion for a married couple filing jointly is $100,000, its $50,000 for those married filing separately and its $75,000 for single filers.

Papetti said the income you must consider includes:

Wages

Taxable interest

Dividends

Net profits from business

Net gains from the disposition of property

Pensions, annuities, and IRA withdrawals

Partnership income

S-Corporation income

Net income from rents, royalties, patents, copyrights

Net gambling winnings

Alimony

Any other taxable income subject to New Jersey tax

Papetti said you do not have to include, for pension exclusion purposes:

Social Security income you receive

Pension income from private or public sector as a result of permanent or total disability received prior to age 65. Once the disabled taxpayer attains age 65 the pension income is no longer exempt and is included.

U.S. Military or Survivors pension benefits

Tax-Exempt interest from obligations of the State of New Jersey or any of its political subdivisions or interest from direct federal obligations, such as U.S. Savings Bonds and US Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Notes.

Then theres the New Jersey Senior Freeze program.

This reimburses eligible senior citizens and disabled persons for property tax or mobile home park site fee increases on their principal residence, Papetti said. To qualify, you must meet all the eligibility requirements for each year from the base year through the application year.

The current application year is 2019.

To be eligible for the Senior Freeze, you or your spouse/civil union partners must be age 65 or older on Dec. 31, 2018, or receiving federal Social Security disability benefits on or before Dec. 31, 2018. You must have lived continuously in New Jersey since Dec. 31, 2008 or earlier as a homeowner or renter.

Your property taxes must be paid in full, and your total income, if married, must be $89,013 in 2018 and $91,505 in 2019.

The Senior Freeze program reimburses homeowners for any property tax increases you have once you are in the program, Papetti said. Each year you are eligible you will receive the difference between your base year  the first year of eligibility  property tax amount and the current year property tax amount as long as the current year property tax is higher than the base year.

Then, as you mentioned, you could be subject to the Medicare Part B High Income Surcharge.

The standard Part B premium amount in 2021 is $148.50, Papetti said.

But if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) as reported on your IRS tax return from two years ago is above a certain amount, youll pay the standard premium amount and an Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA), he said. IRMAA is an extra charge added to your premium.

The IRMAA, based on your 2019 MAGI, is as follows:

These are the rates for the Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA).

Now to your question.

As you noted, converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA will subject the conversion amount to income taxation.

Typically timing and tax rates are crucial factors when making a decision, however the benefits you receive from the items noted above may provide more of a reason to convert that purely tax rates and timing, Papetti said.

So you have several items to consider when making this decision.

First, your time frame.

In general, the longer you have before you need the money, the more sense it makes to convert your IRA to a Roth IRA, Papetti said. Once you convert to a Roth, qualified withdrawals including your conversion amount will never be taxed.

Leaving those assets untouched to grow tax-free for as long as possible allows you to maximize the benefit of the conversion, Papetti said.

Then you should consider your tax rate. Papetti said when you convert, you want to do it at the lowest possible tax rate.

In your situation you should review your current marginal tax brackets and try to convert an amount that will not place you in the next highest marginal tax rate, he said.

Next, you have to decide how you will pay for the conversion.

If taxes on the conversion are paid from IRA money, less is left in the Roth to grow, eroding the benefit of the conversion, Papetti said. The best practice is to pay the taxes due on conversion from cash on hand or taxable investments.

If tapping your current IRA assets to pay the taxes is your only option, converting might be unwise, he said.

Then there are the Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

As you noted you are required to withdraw money from traditional IRA accounts starting at age 72, but you are not required to take money out of a Roth, Papetti said. If you dont need to tap into IRA funds to cover living expenses, a Roth IRA gives you the freedom to choose when or if you take withdrawals over your lifetime.

The conversion will also have an impact on your estate plan.

Roth IRAs are a better asset to pass on to your heirs than traditional IRAs, he said. Where traditional IRAs create taxable income, heirs dont have to pay taxes on Roth IRAs, and they have more flexibility in drawing down the account.

You should also consider where you plan to live in retirement, Papetti said. If you planned to live in a state that doesnt have an income tax, like in Florida, a conversion may not be something youd have to worry about.

Finally, think about whether you need all of the IRA funds to meet your income needs through retirement because losing capital when you are retired to pay taxes is not recommended, he said.

Given all these moving parts, you should speak to a qualified tax professional who can calculate the exact benefits you would receive from converting all or a part of your IRA to a Roth IRA, and compare it to the projected accumulation of your IRA if you did not convert and you receive RMDs instead.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.
Social media giants could be forced to keep a 'live list' of the most popular Covid-19 material being shared online in a push to stamp out misinformation about vaccines.

Immunisation and technology experts penned an open letter to the Federal Government urging it to introduce new laws on Monday.

They explained forcing online platforms such as Facebook and Google to keep an up-to-date list of the most viral content would allow experts to better understand the type of misinformation that was being spread about Covid-19 vaccines.

The list would also provide demographic information so experts could target specific groups and relieve any false concerns.

Social media giants could be forced to keep a 'live list' of the most popular Covid-19 material being shared online in a push to stamp out misinformation about vaccines (stock image)

Immunisation and technology experts penned an open letter to the Federal Government urging it to introduce the new law on Monday (pictured, nurse administers Pfizer vaccine)

'A "live list" of the most popular Covid-related material being shared on social media can and should be generated  and updated in real time  by the major big tech platforms,' the letter said.

'Such a live list would help Australian medical experts identify and understand misinformation and to create community engagement responses.'

The letter goes on to say that 'misinformation is hampering the efforts of Australian medical authorities'.

'As things stand, we are playing catch-up with a misinformation machine that is two steps ahead of us.'

The campaign is spearheaded by technology advocacy group Reset Australia and has collected the support from Immunisation Coalition and the Immunisation Foundation of Australia.

Immunisation Coalition chief executive Kim Sampson said misinformation was a 'real threat to Australia and the world's ability to return to some semblance of normalcy'.

Facebook has defended its strategy to combat misinformation revealing it scrubbed 12 million posts that falsely claimed to help social media users combat or 'cure' themselves of the virus.

The social media giant also has a dashboard that already provides a list of the most popular content circulating online.

Google also said it was working closely with health authorities and disease experts.
New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday (January 25, 2021) conducted the successful maiden launch of the Akash-NG (New Generation) Missile from Integrated Test Range off the coast of Odisha. The Akash-NG is a new generation Surface to Air Missile meant for use by Indian Air Force with an aim of intercepting high maneuvering low RCS aerial threats.

"The missile intercepted the target with textbook precision. The launch met all the test objectives by performing high manoeuvres during the trajectory," said the Ministry of Defence.

They added that the performance of the Command and Control system, onboard avionics and aerodynamic configuration of the missile was successfully validated during the trial.

"During the test launch, the entire flight path of the missile was monitored and the flight data was captured by various Range instruments such as Radar, EOTS and Telemetry systems deployed by ITR, Chandipur. The Multi Function Radar was tested for its capability of integration with the system," said MoD.

The test launch was carried out by a combined team of DRDO, BDL & BEL in the presence of the representatives of Indian Air Force.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the scientists from DRDO, BEL and team from Indian Air Force for this achievement.



Live TV
Straining to handle record numbers of COVID-19 patients, hundreds of the nation's intensive care units are running out of space and supplies and competing to hire temporary traveling nurses at soaring rates. Many of the facilities are clustered in the South and West.

An Associated Press analysis of federal hospital data shows that since November, the share of U.S. hospitals nearing the breaking point has doubled. More than 40% of Americans now live in areas running out of ICU space, with only 15% of beds still available.

Intensive care units are the final defense for the sickest of the sick, patients who are nearly suffocating or facing organ failure. Nurses who work in the most stressed ICUs, changing IV bags and monitoring patients on breathing machines, are exhausted.

You cant push great people forever. Right? I mean, it just isnt possible, said Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom, who is among many hospital leaders hoping that the numbers of critically ill COVID-19 patients have begun to plateau. Worryingly, theres an average of 20,000 new cases a day in Texas, which has the third-highest death count in the country and more than 13,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms.

According to data through Thursday from the COVID Tracking Project, hospitalizations are still high in the West and the South, with over 80,000 current COVID-19 hospital patients in those regions. The number of cases reported in the U.S. since the pandemic's start surpassed 25 million on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Encouragingly, hospitalizations appear to have either plateaued or are trending downward across all regions. It's unclear whether the easing will continue with more contagious versions of the virus arising and snags in the rollout of vaccines.

In New Mexico, one surging hospital system brought in 300 temporary nurses from outside the state, at a cost of millions of dollars, to deal with overflowing ICU patients, who were treated in converted procedure rooms and surgery suites.

Its been horrid, said Dr. Jason Mitchell, chief medical officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque. Hes comforted that the hospital never activated its plan for rationing lifesaving care, which would have required a triage team to rank patients with numerical scores based on who was least likely to survive.

Its a relief that we never had to actually do it, Mitchell said. It sounds scary because it is scary.

In Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ran into shortages of take-home oxygen tanks, which meant some patients who could otherwise go home were kept longer, taking up needed beds. But the biggest problem is competing with other hospitals for traveling nurses.

Initially, when the COVID surges were hitting one part of the country at a time, traveling nurses were able to go to areas more severely affected. Now with almost the entire country surging at the same time, hospitals are paying twice and three times what they would normally pay for temporary, traveling nurses, said Dr. Jeff Smith, the hospitals chief operating officer.

Houston Methodist Hospital recently paid $8,000 retention bonuses to keep staff nurses from signing up with agencies that would send them to other hot spots. Pay for traveling nurses can reach $6,000 per week, an enticement that can benefit a nurse but can seem like poaching to the hospital executives who watch nurses leave.

Theres a lot of these agencies that are out there charging absolutely ridiculous sums of money to get ICU nurses in, Boom said. They go to California, which is in the midst of a surge, but they poach some ICU nurses there, send them to Texas, where they charge inordinate amounts to fill in gaps in Texas, many of which are created because nurses in Texas went to Florida or back to California.

Space is another problem. Augusta University Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, is treating adult ICU patients, under age 30, in the childrens hospital. Recovery rooms now have ICU patients, and, if things get worse, other areas  operating rooms and endoscopy centers  will be the next areas converted for critical care.

To prevent rural hospitals from sending more patients to Augusta, the hospital is using telemedicine to help manage those patients for as long as possible in their local hospitals.

It is a model I believe will not only survive the pandemic but will flourish post pandemic, said Dr. Phillip Coule, the Augusta hospitals chief medical officer.

Hospitals are pleading with their communities to wear masks and limit gatherings.

There just hasnt been a lot of respect for the illness, which is disappointing, said Dr. William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional Medical Center in Cullman, Alabama. He sees that changing now with more people personally knowing someone who has died.

It has taken a lot of people, he said of the virus, adding that the death toll  144 people in six months in a county of 84,000  has opened their eyes to the randomness of this.

The Alabama hospitals ICU has been overflowing for six weeks, with 16 virus patients on ventilators in a hospital that a year ago had only 10 of the breathing machines. You can see the stress in peoples faces and in their body language. Its just a lot for people to carry around, Smith said.

Just the fatigue of our staff can affect quality of care. Ive been encouraged weve been able to keep the quality of care high, Smith said. You feel like you are in a very precarious situation where errors could occur, but thankfully weve managed to stay on top of things.

Hospitals say they are upholding high standards for patient care, but experts say surges compromise many normal medical practices. Overwhelmed hospitals might be forced to mobilize makeshift ICUs and staff them with personnel without any experience in critical care. They might run out of sedatives, antibiotics, IVs or other supplies they rely on to keep patients calm and comfortable while on ventilators.

Its really daunting and mentally taxing. Youre doing what you believe to be best practice, said Kiersten Henry, a nurse at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, Maryland, and a board director for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

In Oklahoma City, OU Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. Cameron Mantor said while the vaccines hold promise, hope still seems dim as ICU cases keep mounting. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at OU Medicine has declined from more than 100 daily in recent weeks to 98 on Wednesday, Mantor said.

What is stressing everybody out," Mantor said, is looking at week after week after week, the spigot is not being turned off, not knowing there is a break, not seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel."

-

Associated Press writers Marion Renault in Rochester, Minnesota, Nomaan Merchant in Houston and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed.

-

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
AIB branches across Kilkenny have donated over 2,500 to local causes last year as part of AIB Together, the banks community investment programme.

In total, money was raised for six local causes including Amber Kilkenny Womens Refuge and St Joseph's Supported Care Home. In addition to the money raised for local causes, on a national level AIB committed 2.4 million to Trinity College Dublin's dedicated Covid-19 Research Hub to urgently accelerate the colleges immunology project.

The bank also launched the AIB Together Fund to further support communities impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. This allowed staff to donate directly into a dedicated fund which the bank then matched, helping raise over 422,000 for the banks long-standing community partners FoodCloud and Soar, as well as Alone, and Pieta House. The bank also established a fund of 200,000 which allowed branches to donate directly to vulnerable groups in the community which were impacted by the pandemic.

This has brought the total amount donated by the bank and its staff to causes in support of Covid-19 to over 3 million. This money helped support the vital work these charities and organisations do and the vulnerable groups they support in the community.

"As an AIB Team we have been delighted to support our local communities through the AIB Branch Charity Donation initiative," said Michael ODwyer, Head of AIB, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford.

"To date our teams have donated 21,000 to 54 charities, across a wide spectrum of community and charitable organisations in Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford, providing much needed funding locally at a time when charities were significantly impacted in their ability to fundraise due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At AIB we are proud to be part of our community."

Founded in 2018, AIB Together provides a platform for staff to support charities and causes across Ireland. Each AIB employee is entitled to two volunteering days per year to support their chosen cause as part of the programme and can volunteer or fundraise for a charity of their choice or one of AIBs core community partners.
The Russian vessel tapped to finish the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has begun work in Danish waters just days after the United States sanctioned its parent company.

"The lay barge Fortuna has started works in the construction corridor in the Danish [Exclusive Economic Zone], ahead of the resumption of the Nord Stream 2 construction. All works are performed in line with relevant permits," Nord Stream 2 said in a statement on January 24.

Fortuna will seek to build the remaining 150 kilometers of pipeline, including 120 kilometers in Danish waters and 30 kilometers in German waters, needed to complete the project. Nord Stream 2 is controlled by the Russian state-owned natural-gas company Gazprom.

The United States on January 19 sanctioned KVT-RUS, the owner of the Fortuna, in its latest move to stop the completion of the pipeline. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. government and several EU members say the project, which will carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, will strengthen Moscows energy hold on Europe and undercut Ukraines role as a transit country.

The pipeline, designed to double capacity of the existing undersea Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, has been a point of contention between Berlin and Washington.

Germany and Russia say the U.S. measures amount to illegal extraterritorial sanctions on commercial activity.

Germany wants to secure natural gas as it ends reliance on nuclear and coal-fired power plants during its buildup of green energy infrastructure.



Even if Fortuna completes the pipeline, hurdles still remain before gas can start flowing to Germany. The United States in December 2020 passed legislation sanctioning any company that certifies or insures the pipeline.

Russia will need third-party certification of the pipeline before it can begin pumping gas.

Last week, the Norwegian certification company DNV GL confirmed it was withdrawing from the project due to the threat of U.S. sanctions.

U.S. sanctions have already delayed completion of the project by a year. The United States in December 2019 sanctioned vessels building the pipeline, forcing Swiss-based company AllSeas to drop out.

Fortuna is picking up where Fortuna left off. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year he hoped the project would be completed by the end of March 2021.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters
Googles Sundar Pichai has announced that it will open its office spaces in the US to serve as mass COVID-19 vaccination sites while also committing over $150 million to promote vaccine education.

Reuters

For vaccination sites, Pichai has revealed that the company will make select Google facilities like buildings, parking lots and open spaces available as needed, in the US as of now. Pichai has stated that the aforementioned sites will be open to anyone eligible for the vaccine based on local guidelines.

Pichai added, Well start by partnering with health care provider One Medical and public health authorities to open sites in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in California; Kirkland, Washington; and New York City, with plans to expand nationally. Were working with local officials to determine when sites can open based on local vaccine availability.

Even though this lists just the US offices, for now, Pichai has revealed that its global offices around the world will soon be available in a similar way to authorities for conducting vaccination drives.

Apart from providing its offices, Pichai has also announced that itll donate around $150 million to promote vaccine education, "Today, we're announcing an additional $100 million (roughly Rs. 730 crores) in advertisement grants for the CDC Foundation, the World Health Organisation, and nonprofits around the globe. We'll invest another $50 million (roughly Rs. 360 crores) in partnership with public health agencies to reach underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information.

Reuters

Pichai has revealed that it will also be working to make sure that everyone has equal access to the vaccine. Pichai stated, Early data in the U.S. shows that disproportionately affected populations, especially people of colour and those in rural communities, arent getting access to the vaccine at the same rates as other groups. To help, Google.org has committed $5 million in grants to organizations addressing racial and geographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations, including Morehouse School of Medicines Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the CDC Foundation.
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Supreme Court allows PrivatBank to claim 247 filling stations belonging to it from companies of its ex-owners

The Supreme Court upheld the cassation appeal of the state-owned PrivatBank on January 21, overturning the decisions of the courts of lower instances, which, to secure the claim of 38 companies associated with its ex-owners Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, prohibited the return or reclaiming of the bank's network of 247 filling stations from the respective companies.

According to the unified public register of court decisions, the court ruling is final and not subject to appeal.

As the press service of PrivatBank told Interfax-Ukraine, the bank also filed five lawsuits against third parties refusing to clear, at the request of PrivatBank, premises of 19 filling stations in Lviv, Volyn and Rivne regions.

"The property was returned to the bank forcibly within the framework of enforcement proceedings. As a result of the termination of the lease agreements and the return of the leased facilities to the bank, third parties who were in these premises on the basis of lease contracts with the lessee lost their right to own and use these premises (leased facilities)," the press service said.

As reported, the Pivnichny (Northern) economic court of appeal on June 23 refused to satisfy an appeal of PrivatBank, upholding the decision of the Kyiv economic court made on March 10, which, as part of securing the claim of 38 companies associated with Kolomoisky and Boholiubov, prohibited the return or reclaiming the bank's network of 247 filling stations from the relevant companies.

Previously, the 38 companies also filed similar applications for securing their lawsuits in 16 cases with business courts in Kirovohrad, Lviv, Cherkasy and Volyn regions. However, they were dismissed, because the stated measures to secure the lawsuits are identical with covering of claims in the lawsuits.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  Groups of youths confronted police in Dutch towns and cities Monday night, defying the country's coronavirus curfew and throwing fireworks. Police in the port city of Rotterdam used a water cannon and tear gas in an attempt to disperse a crowd of rioters who also looted shops.

Police and local media reported trouble in the capital, Amsterdam, where at least eight people were arrested, Haarlem, where vandals set a large fire in a street, The Hague and other towns before and after the 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. curfew began.

It was the second night of unrest in towns and cities across the Netherlands that initially grew out of calls to protest against the country's tough lockdown, but degenerated into vandalism by crowds whipped up by messages swirling on social media.

Unfortunately, were seeing the same things as last night, police chief Willem Woelders told Dutch current affairs show Nieuwsuur. He said around 70 rioters had been arrested and police had used tear gas in the western city of Haarlem as well as Rotterdam.

Rotterdam police said youths took to the streets seeking a confrontation with police. Riot officers attempted to break up the violence and made a number of arrests, before firing tear gas. Police warned people to stay away from the area. National broadcaster NOS showed video of police using a water cannon and reported that some shops had been looted.

Police in the southern city of Den Bosch said that a shop was looted there and riot police were attempting to restore order.

By late Monday night, police in Rotterdam were left sweeping up shattered glass littering the street next to a vandalized bus stop. The force tweeted that calm is slowly returning, but the atmosphere is still grim.

In the southern town of Geleen, police tweeted that youths in the downtown area were throwing fireworks. Riot police charged at protesters in The Hague.

Dutch media reported calls on social media for further violent protests even as the country struggles to contain new coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

Story continues

Police in the southern town of Goes and the North Holland province said they detained people on suspicion of using social media to call for rioting.

It is unacceptable, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said earlier Monday of rioting Sunday. This has nothing to do with protesting, this is criminal violence and that's how we'll treat it.

Worst hit Sunday was the southern city of Eindhoven, where police clashed with hundreds of rioters who torched a car, threw rocks and fireworks at officers, smashed windows and looted a supermarket at its railway station.

My city is crying, and so am I, Eindhoven Mayor John Jorritsma told reporters Sunday night in an emotional impromptu news conference. He called the rioters the scum of the earth and added I am afraid that if we continue down this path, were on our way to civil war."

Amsterdam police arrested 190 people amid rioting at a banned demonstration Sunday.

The rioting coincided with the first weekend of a new national coronavirus curfew, but mayors stressed that the violence wasn't the work of citizens concerned about their civil liberties.

These demonstrations are being hijacked by people who only want one thing and that is to riot, Hubert Bruls, mayor of the city of Nijmegen and leader of a group of local security organizations, told news talk show Op1.

Nijmegen was one of a number of towns and cities that issued emergency decrees giving police extra powers to keep people away from certain locations amid reports of possible riots there. At least one store in Nijmegen was shown on Dutch television being boarded up as a precaution.

Bruls, who chaired a meeting of security officials Monday, said despite the violence, he didn't advocate further limiting demonstrations.

You should be very reluctant to limit the right to demonstrate, he said, noting that the rioting Sunday happened at protests that already had been banned by local authorities.

Police in Eindhoven said Monday they have detained 62 suspects and have launched a large-scale investigation to identify and arrest more. One woman not involved in the rioting in Eindhoven was injured by a police horse.

Local residents went to the scene of the rioting Monday morning to help in the cleanup operation.

On Sunday, rioters threw rocks at the windows of a hospital in the eastern city of Enschede. On Saturday night, youths in the fishing village of Urk torched a coronavirus testing facility. Police in the southern province of Limburg said military police were sent as reinforcements to two cities.

The Netherlands has seen over 13,600 confirmed virus deaths in the pandemic.

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Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at:

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A six-year-old boy cried with joy as he 'rang the bell' outside his home to signal a successful end to his three-year battle with cancer.

Henry Fethon, from West Hull, was overcome with emotion as he celebrated with his family, more than three years after he was first diagnosed with leukaemia when he was just three-years-old.

He was diagnosed with the disease in September 2017, when he was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary to immediately start his first course of chemotherapy.

With his end-of-treatment appointment due in early February, he has now signalled the milestone with the traditional ringing of the bell at his home.

Henry Fethin, six, pictured, from Hull, rang the bell to mark the end of his three-year-long chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with leukaemia in 2017 when he was three

Henry rang the bell if front of his house with his mother Alex Gladstone, father John Fethon and big brother Harry

It came on the day he was supposed to have one final dose of chemotherapy, but his treatment had to be cut short after it 'became too much for him.'

In the video, an emotional Henry teared up as his family and friends cheer him on to see him ring the bell in front of his house.

After the intense moment, the six-year-old let go of a golden balloon he had been holding on to.

Henry's mother Alex Gladstone said: 'It's been a great struggle, we've been in and out of hospital throughout for treatment.

Henry and his big brother Henry shortly after he was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 2017. Mother Alex said she owed her life to the doctor who requested blood tests for Henry after noticing his blood pallets were low

The bell afixed to Henry's house, which he rang with his family and friends at the weekend to mark the end of his treatment

'But we had the plans done and the banners ready for today, so we just thought, why not?

'Hopefully it's onwards and upwards from here. He used to feel terrible, ever so weak. But hopefully from here he will just start to feel better and better.'

His mother had taken Henry to the GP on numerous occasions months before his diagnosis when she noticed he was short of breath, complaining of stomach ache and consistently under the weather. But at the time she said she was told he had a viral infection.

It was only when she rang Doctor Mary Barraclough at Hull Royal Infirmary, who Henry saw for his treatment of tracheomalacia, a condition causing the narrowing of his windpipe, that she discovered his platelet count was very low and carried out immediate blood tests before confirming the worrying news.

At the time, Miss Gladstone said: 'I owe that woman my life.'

Now, she remains immensely grateful to all the staff of Leeds General Infirmary and Hull Royal Infirmary, where Henry received his treatment - especially for continuing his course of treatment throughout lockdown.

'Everything still went ahead, they were absolutely amazing,' she said.

'I just want to say a huge thank you to all the oncology staff, all the nurses and all the doctors at Leeds General and Hull Royal, they were all amazing.'

But while treatment was allowed to continue, she said it had been a struggle for the family - including dad John Fethon and older brother Harry, 12 - not to be allowed out of their home.

The family - and friends who had come to celebrate Henry's milestone - looked on as the six-year-old released a balloon into the air

Henry's mother Alex said she hoped it'd be 'onwards and upwards' for her son following the end of his treatment

Because of Henry's vulnerability, he and his family have been confined to their home to shield throughout lockdown to protect him from the risk of coronavirus, relying on friends and family to drop off essentials at their door.

'We're so, so grateful for them, all those people that have supported us through this,' Miss Gladstone said.

And on Sunday, the family's three years of struggle culminated in the ringing of the bell, an emotional moment for young Henry.

'He was really overwhelmed with it all. He had been so excited to ring the bell and he did get a little bit emotional bless him,' Miss Gladstone said.

'I can't even put it into words what this means, we're just over the moon.'
Foreign Direct Investment into India rose by 13 per cent in 2020, boosted by interest in the digital sector, and while fund flows "declined most strongly" in major economies such as the UK, the US and Russia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, India and China bucked the trend, the UN has said.

An 'investment trends monitor' issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Sunday said that global foreign direct investment (FDI) collapsed in 2020 by 42 percent to an estimated $859 billion from $1.5 trillion in 2019.

Such a low level was last seen in the 1990s and is more than 30 per cent below the investment trough that followed the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

The decline in FDI inflows was concentrated in developed countries, where fund flows fell by 69 percent to an estimated $229 billion.

However, FDI in India rose by 13 percent, boosted by investments in the digital sector.

"China was the worlds largest FDI recipient, with flows to the Asian giant rising by 4 percent to $163 billion. India, another major emerging economy, also recorded positive growth (13 percent), boosted by investments in the digital sector, the report said.

It added that "in relative terms, FDI flows declined most strongly in the UK, Italy, Russia, Germany, Brazil and the US due to the dramatic impact of COVID-19. India and China bucked the trend.

FDI in South Asia rose by 10 per cent to $65 billion.

Indias 13 percent rise in FDI saw the total foreign investments for 2020 touching $57 billion.

The report noted that acquisitions in Indias digital economy was the largest contributor to this rise.

Cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) sales grew 83 percent to $27 billion, the report said, citing social networking giant Facebooks acquisition of 9.9 percent stake in Reliance Jio platforms, via a new entity, Jaadhu Holdings LLC.

Similarly deals in the energy sector propped up M&A values in India, it said.

Further, India and Turkey are attracting record numbers of deals in information consulting and digital sectors, including e-commerce platforms, data processing services and digital payments.

Despite projections for the global economy to recover in 2021, the UNCTAD expects FDI flows to remain weak due to uncertainty over the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organisation has projected a 5 percent to 10 percent FDI slide in 2021 in last years World Investment Report.

The effects of the pandemic on investment will linger, said James Zhan, Director of UNCTAD, investment division.

"Investors are likely to remain cautious in committing capital to new overseas productive assets, Zhan said.

According to the report, the decline in FDI in 2020 was concentrated in developed countries, where flows plummeted by 69 percent to an estimated $229 billion.

Flows to North America declined by 46 percent to $166 billion, with cross-border mergers and acquisitions dropping by 43 percent.

Announced greenfield investment projects also fell by 29 percent and project finance deals tumbled by 2 percent.

Greenfield investment is a kind of FDI, in which the parent company creates a subsidiary in the host country and builds its operations from the ground up.

The United States recorded a 49 percent drop in FDI, falling to an estimated $134 billion.

The decline took place in wholesale trade, financial services and manufacturing.

Cross-border M&A sales of US assets to foreign investors fell by 41 per cent, mostly in the primary sector.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, investment in Europe dried up as well.

In the United Kingdom, FDI fell to zero, and declines were recorded in other major recipients.

Looking ahead, the FDI trend is expected to remain weak in 2021.

Data on an announcement basis, an indicator of forward trends, provides a mixed picture and point at continued downward pressure.

Sharply lower greenfield project announcements (-35 percent in 2020) suggest a turnaround in industrial sectors.

Similarly, the 2020 decline in cross-border M&As (-10 per cent) was cushioned by higher values in the last part of the year.

Looking at M&A announcements, strong deal activity in technology and pharmaceutical industries is expected to push M&A-driven FDI flows higher.

For developing countries, the trends in greenfield and project finance announcements are a major concern, the report said.

Although overall FDI flows in developing economies appear relatively resilient, greenfield announcements fell by 46 percent and international project finance by 7 percent.

These investment types are crucial for productive capacity and infrastructure development and thus for sustainable recovery prospects.

"Risks related to the latest wave of the pandemic, the pace of the roll-out of vaccination programmes and economic support packages, fragile macroeconomic situations in major emerging markets, and uncertainty about the global policy environment for investment will all continue to affect FDI in 2021," the report said.

The coronavirus has killed over 2.1 million people, along with over 99 million confirmed cases, across the world so far.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Roughly 50 billion water bottles are purchased each year ...in the United States alone. This shouldn't come as a surprise. As information has become more readily available, consumers everywhere have made an increasingly concerted effort to ditch sugary beverages in favor of good, clean H2O. It's a trend that, as far as the health and wellness industry is concerned, is as good as it gets. It's also one that New Zealand brand Pure NZ heartily approves of.

However, the Kiwi water bottle manufacturer is also aware of one of the biggest negative reverberations associated with the "drink more water" movement: the consumption of water provided in disposable plastic bottles. While people drinking more water is a wonderful thing, the way that they are currently doing so is certainly not doing the planet any favors.

The problem is, water bottles are convenient. If you're trying to stay hydrated and you leave the house without a drink, nabbing a water bottle at the gas station or in a vending machine can alleviate the problem. On top of that, in many areas of the world, drinking out of the tap is considered unsafe, leading many to consistently seek clean water in bottled form.

With this catch-22 in mind, Pure NZ made it their mission to provide a solution that simultaneously answered the problems of hydration, sustainability, and convenience. They addressed hydration by sourcing pure water from an aquifer in their home nation. They maintained convenience by bottling it in easy-to-use pre-packaged bottles. But it's the sustainability bit that makes Pure NZ truly stands apart. Every one of the brand's water bottles is made with 100% rPET materials. In other words, each bottle is solely made from recycled plastic. Rather than introducing new pollution, Pure NZ is ensuring that every bottle it creates comes from existing waste.

For years this has been great news for folks living south of the equator in the Land of the Long White Cloud. However, recently the brand has begun to ambitiously seek to create inroads into the international market, as well. Along with finding new customers in the U.S., Pure NZ also bolstered its online presence just in time for the pandemic to make brick-and-mortar distribution anything but certain. It doesn't matter if your preference is ordering online or curbside pick-up from a retailer, though, it seems that it won't be long before Pure NZ is making bottled water consumption a sustainable activity across the globe.

About Pure NZ: Pure NZ is a New Zealand bottled water brand that was launched ten years ago. Over the intervening decade, the company has built its operation into one of the most trusted labels in the two-island nation and is already rapidly expanding across international borders.

Please direct inquiries to:

Isaiah Romero

(954) 968-4389

[email protected]

SOURCE Pure NZ
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 20:51:09|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda and delivers a special address via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday delivered a special address via video link at the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda.

Please see the attachment for the translation of the full text of the speech. Enditem

Full Text: Special Address by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda

(Translation)

Let the Torch of Multilateralism Light up Humanitys Way Forward

Special Address by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the Peoples Republic of China

At the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda

25 January 2021

Professor Klaus Schwab,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

The past year was marked by the sudden onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global public health faced severe threat and the world economy was mired in deep recession. Humanity encountered multiple crises rarely seen in human history.

The past year also bore witness to the enormous resolve and courage of people around the world in battling the deadly coronavirus. Guided by science, reason and a humanitarian spirit, the world has achieved initial progress in fighting COVID-19. That said, the pandemic is far from over. The recent resurgence in COVID cases reminds us that we must carry on the fight. Yet we remain convinced that winter cannot stop the arrival of spring and darkness can never shroud the light of dawn. There is no doubt that humanity will prevail over the virus and emerge even stronger from this disaster.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

History is moving forward and the world will not go back to what it was in the past. Every choice and move we make today will shape the world of the future. It is important that we properly address the four major tasks facing people of our times.

The first is to step up macroeconomic policy coordination and jointly promote strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the world economy. We are going through the worst recession since the end of World War II. For the first time in history, the economies of all regions have been hit hard at the same time, with global industrial and supply chains clogged and trade and investment down in the doldrums. Despite the trillions of dollars in relief packages worldwide, global recovery is rather shaky and the outlook remains uncertain. We need to focus on current priorities, and balance COVID response and economic development. Macroeconomic policy support should be stepped up to bring the world economy out of the woods as early as possible. More importantly, we need to look beyond the horizon and strengthen our will and resolve for change. We need to shift the driving forces and growth models of the global economy and improve its structure, so as to set the course for long-term, sound and steady development of the world economy.

The second is to abandon ideological prejudice and jointly follow a path of peaceful coexistence, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. No two leaves in the world are identical, and no histories, cultures or social systems are the same. Each country is unique with its own history, culture and social system, and none is superior to the other. The best criteria are whether a countrys history, culture and social system fit its particular situation, enjoy peoples support, serve to deliver political stability, social progress and better lives, and contribute to human progress. The different histories, cultures and social systems are as old as human societies, and they are the inherent features of human civilization. There will be no human civilization without diversity, and such diversity will continue to exist for as long as we can imagine. Difference in itself is no cause for alarm. What does ring the alarm is arrogance, prejudice and hatred; it is the attempt to impose hierarchy on human civilization or to force ones own history, culture and social system upon others. The right choice is for countries to pursue peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and on expanding common ground while shelving differences, and to promote exchanges and mutual learning. This is the way to add impetus to the progress of human civilization.

The third is to close the divide between developed and developing countries and jointly bring about growth and prosperity for all. Today, inequality continues to grow, the North-South gap remains to be bridged, and sustainable development faces severe challenges. As countries grapple with the pandemic, their economic recoveries are following divergent trajectories, and the North-South gap risks further widening and even perpetuation. For developing countries, they are aspiring for more resources and space for development, and they are calling for stronger representation and voice in global economic governance. We should recognize that with the growth of developing countries, global prosperity and stability will be put on a more solid footing, and developed countries will stand to benefit from such growth. The international community should keep its eyes on the long run, honor its commitment, and provide necessary support to developing countries and safeguard their legitimate development interests. Equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules should be strengthened, so that all countries will benefit from the opportunities and fruits of development.

The fourth is to come together against global challenges and jointly create a better future for humanity. In the era of economic globalization, public health emergencies like COVID-19 may very well recur, and global public health governance needs to be enhanced. The Earth is our one and only home. To scale up efforts to address climate change and promote sustainable development bears on the future of humanity. No global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, global response and global cooperation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

The problems facing the world are intricate and complex. The way out of them is through upholding multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

First, we should stay committed to openness and inclusiveness instead of closeness and exclusion. Multilateralism is about having international affairs addressed through consultation and the future of the world decided by everyone working together. To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to willfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation. We cannot tackle common challenges in a divided world, and confrontation will lead us to a dead end. Humanity has learned lessons the hard way, and that history is not long gone. We must not return to the path of the past.

The right approach is to act on the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind. We should uphold the common values of humanity, i.e. peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, rise above ideological prejudice, make the mechanisms, principles and policies of our cooperation as open and inclusive as possible, and jointly safeguard world peace and stability. We should build an open world economy, uphold the multilateral trading regime, discard discriminatory and exclusionary standards, rules and systems, and take down barriers to trade, investment and technological exchanges. We should strengthen the G20 as the premier forum for global economic governance, engage in closer macroeconomic policy coordination, and keep the global industrial and supply chains stable and open. We should ensure the sound operation of the global financial system, promote structural reform and expand global aggregate demand in an effort to strive for higher quality and stronger resilience in global economic development.

Second, we should stay committed to international law and international rules instead of seeking ones own supremacy. Ancient Chinese believed that the law is the very foundation of governance. International governance should be based on the rules and consensus reached among us, not on the order given by one or the few. The Charter of the United Nations is the basic and universally recognized norms governing state-to-state relations. Without international law and international rules that are formed and recognized by the global community, the world may fall back to the law of the jungle, and the consequence would be devastating for humanity.

We need to be resolute in championing the international rule of law, and steadfast in our resolve to safeguard the international system centered around the UN and the international order based on international law. Multilateral institutions, which provide the platforms for putting multilateralism into action and which are the basic architecture underpinning multilateralism, should have their authority and effectiveness safeguarded. State-to-state relations should be coordinated and regulated through proper institutions and rules. The strong should not bully the weak. Decision should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist. Multilateralism should not be used as pretext for acts of unilateralism. Principles should be preserved and rules, once made, should be followed by all. Selective multilateralism should not be our option.

Third, we should stay committed to consultation and cooperation instead of conflict and confrontation. Differences in history, culture and social system should not be an excuse for antagonism or confrontation, but rather an incentive for cooperation. We should respect and accommodate differences, avoid meddling in other countries internal affairs, and resolve disagreements through consultation and dialogue. History and reality have made it clear, time and again, that the misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of cold war, hot war, trade war or tech war, would eventually hurt all countries interests and undermine everyones well-being.

We should reject the outdated Cold War and zero-sum game mentality, adhere to mutual respect and accommodation, and enhance political trust through strategic communication. It is important that we stick to the cooperation concept based on mutual benefit, say no to narrow-minded, selfish beggar-thy-neighbor policies, and stop unilateral practice of keeping advantages in development all to oneself. Equal rights to development should be guaranteed for all countries to promote common development and prosperity. We should advocate fair competition, like competing with each other for excellence in a racing field, not beating each other on a wrestling arena.

Fourth, we should stay committed to keeping up with the times instead of rejecting change. The world is undergoing changes unseen in a century, and now is the time for major development and major transformation. To uphold multilateralism in the 21st century, we should promote its fine tradition, take on new perspectives and look to the future. We need to stand by the core values and basic principles of multilateralism. We also need to adapt to the changing international landscape and respond to global challenges as they arise. We need to reform and improve the global governance system on the basis of extensive consultation and consensus-building.

We need to give full play to the role of the World Health Organization in building a global community of health for all. We need to advance reform of the World Trade Organization and the international financial and monetary system in a way that boosts global economic growth and protects the development rights, interests and opportunities of developing countries. We need to follow a people-centered and fact-based policy orientation in exploring and formulating rules on global digital governance. We need to deliver on the Paris Agreement on climate change and promote green development. We need to give continued priority to development, implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and make sure that all countries, especially developing ones, share in the fruits of global development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

After decades of strenuous efforts by the Chinese people, China is on course to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We have made historic gains in ending extreme poverty, and have embarked on a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. As China enters a new development stage, we will follow a new development philosophy and foster a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. China will work with other countries to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

 China will continue to take an active part in international cooperation on COVID-19. Containing the coronavirus is the most pressing task for the international community. This is because people and their lives must always be put before anything else. It is also what it takes to stabilize and revive the economy. Closer solidarity and cooperation, more information sharing, and a stronger global response are what we need to defeat COVID-19 across the world. It is especially important to scale up cooperation on the R&D, production and distribution of vaccines and make them public goods that are truly accessible and affordable to people in all countries. By now, China has provided assistance to over 150 countries and 13 international organizations, sent 36 medical expert teams to countries in need, and stayed strongly supportive and actively engaged in international cooperation on COVID vaccines. China will continue to share its experience with other countries, do its best to assist countries and regions that are less prepared for the pandemic, and work for greater accessibility and affordability of COVID vaccines in developing countries. We hope these efforts will contribute to an early and complete victory over the coronavirus throughout the world.

 China will continue to implement a win-win strategy of opening-up. Economic globalization meets the need of growing social productivity and is a natural outcome of scientific and technological advancement. It serves no ones interest to use the pandemic as an excuse to reverse globalization and go for seclusion and decoupling. As a longstanding supporter of economic globalization, China is committed to following through on its fundamental policy of opening-up. China will continue to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, help keep the global industrial and supply chains smooth and stable, and advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. China will promote institutional opening-up that covers rules, regulations, management and standards. We will foster a business environment that is based on market principles, governed by law and up to international standards, and unleash the potential of the huge China market and enormous domestic demand. We hope these efforts will bring more cooperation opportunities to other countries and give further impetus to global economic recovery and growth.

 China will continue to promote sustainable development. China will fully implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It will do more on the ecological front, by transforming and improving its industrial structure and energy mix at a faster pace and promoting a green, low-carbon way of life and production. I have announced Chinas goal of striving to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Meeting these targets will require tremendous hard work from China. Yet we believe that when the interests of the entire humanity are at stake, China must step forward, take action, and get the job done. China is drawing up action plans and taking specific measures already to make sure we meet the set targets. We are doing this as a concrete action to uphold multilateralism and as a contribution to protecting our shared home and realizing sustainable development of humanity.

 China will continue to advance science, technology and innovation. Science, technology and innovation is a key engine for human progress, a powerful weapon in tackling many global challenges, and the only way for China to foster a new development paradigm and achieve high-quality development. China will invest more in science and technology, develop an enabling system for innovation as a priority, turn breakthroughs in science and technology into actual productivity at a faster pace, and enhance intellectual property protection, all for the purpose of fostering innovation-driven, higher-quality growth. Scientific and technological advances should benefit all humanity rather than be used to curb and contain other countries development. China will think and act with more openness with regard to international exchange and cooperation on science and technology. We will work with other countries to create an open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological advancement that is beneficial to all and shared by all.

 China will continue to promote a new type of international relations. Zero-sum game or winner-takes-all is not the guiding philosophy of the Chinese people. As a staunch follower of an independent foreign policy of peace, China is working hard to bridge differences through dialogue and resolve disputes through negotiation and to pursue friendly and cooperative relations with other countries on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. As a steadfast member of developing countries, China will further deepen South-South cooperation, and contribute to the endeavor of developing countries to eradicate poverty, ease debt burden, and achieve more growth. China will get more actively engaged in global economic governance and push for an economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

There is only one Earth and one shared future for humanity. As we cope with the current crisis and endeavor to make a better day for everyone, we need to stand united and work together. We have been shown time and again that to beggar thy neighbor, to go it alone, and to slip into arrogant isolation will always fail. Let us all join hands and let multilateralism light our way toward a community with a shared future for mankind.

Thank you.
The headquarters of Santa Barbara, California, software company Invoca have been empty since March. But unbeknownst to the staff, the office was buzzing with activity. Specifically, with bees.

While Invoca's 210 employees were working from home amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a colony of honey bees was busy building a nest inside the walls of the three-story building the company rents on State Street in Santa Barbara. By the time the bees were discovered this month, they numbered 20,000. "We've talked a lot about the challenges of coming back to the office," says Gregg Johnson, the company's CEO. "We have not thought about this one." Founded in 2008, Invoca is a four-time Inc. 5000 honoree and a three-timeInc. Best Workplaces honoree. "I would have never in a million years, in my wildest dreams, imagined this would be a facilities problem we would run into," Johnson says.

Susan Arango, an Invoca workplace experience manager, had first noticed the critters when she went to the office in late April to check up after a windstorm. She saw dead bees in a hallway near the rear entrance and assumed they'd been blown inside somehow. But when she returned about a week later, there were more bees. It seemed odd, yet with no live bees in sight and with all the employees in Invoca's Santa Barbara, Denver, and Bay Area offices working remotely, Arango didn't worry too much about it. Then months passed, and she kept seeing more dead bees near the entrance. Eventually she searched the building trying to find evidence of a nest, and in January she finally gave up.

Unable to find the source of the bees in the building, Arango did some online research and called a local company, Super Bee Rescue and Removal, which specializes in removing and relocating honey bees without killing them.

Super Bee sent a technician, who spotted bees flying into the building from outside. Using thermal imaging, the technician tracked down the nest within five minutes, Arango says. It held 10 gallons of beeswax, honey, and pollen. The insects had found their way in through a hole in the building's exterior brick wall and took up residence in a crawl space between the second and third floors. (See video below.) The technician estimated they had been there at least six months. There was also an older honeycomb, indicating that a smaller number of bees had previously lived in the space for several years. (Invoca has been renting the building for about two years.) The bees were apparently dying because after being attracted to the entrance lights, they became trapped in the hallway, Arango says.

The following week, the technician cut a hole in the ceiling of a second-floor bathroom and spent all day luring the bees into a container. "She literally had to lift herself up into this hole she had to make in the ceiling and wiggle through the rafters in order to reach them," says Arango, who watched the work. The nest and the bees, including the queen, were extracted safely and moved to a natural environment.

Arango even got a bonus out of the deal: a piece of raw honeycomb the size of a dinner plate, which she gave to a colleague. "I asked him how the honey was," she says, "and his response was, 'Well, it tastes like honey!' " Super Bee took the rest of the honeycomb away to rebuild the hive in the wild.

Johnson--who is allergic to bee stings--says he was "flabbergasted" to learn of the incident, but relieved that it happened while the office was empty. The company doesn't have an urgent need to return to the office and likely won't do so until the late spring or summer, he adds. "Of all the Covid-19 pandemic challenges we expected to deal with," he says, "this was not on our list."

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LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana  A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death in a Walmart store and a 13-year-old girl is now accused of her murder, reports say.

Three other girls, ages 12, 13, and 14, also have been arrested in connection with the teens death, KATC Channel 3 reports. Calcasieu Sheriff Tony Mancuso says the girls stole knives while in the store to stab the victim, KATC reports.

A news release from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office says the 15-year-old was stabbed during a fight with the other girls. The victim was taken to a hospital but she died of her wounds.

One of the 13-year-old girls has been charged with second-degree murder, while the other three are charged with principal to second-degree murder, the news release says.

In a news conference Sunday, Mancuso said the incident had been recorded on social media.

We have a problem in our community were going to have to address, Mancuso said, according to KATC. They come from all backgrounds, all races, this is just a problem we are having with children having access to weapons, or stealing weapons.

Its just heartbreaking when we have to come in and pick up the pieces because so many families are damaged. ... This is a cycle that we have to stop and were just fed up with it.
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GREENWICH  Three new clinics opening in town Monday will help combat the spread of COVID-19 and meet the heavy demand for the vaccine as Phase 1B of the states vaccination plan rolls out to include seniors over 75.

The town will operate a clinic at Town Hall three days a week, and Greenwich Hospital will hold a clinic at Brunswick Schools King Street campus while Family Centers Inc. operates out of the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center five days a week. Greenwich Hospital is also giving vaccinations at its office at 500 W. Putnam Ave.

All of these clinics are run by appointment only.

Demand is already so high that Greenwich Hospital has suspended taking appointments because of its limited supply of the vaccine, First Selectman Fred Camillo said late Friday.

This week, President Joe Biden authorized use of the Defense Production Act to accelerate production of the vaccine to be distributed nationwide.

Residents can make appointments at the state website, and Camillo reminded eligible residents that they can go anywhere in the state to get the vaccine.

To make an appointment through the state, visit dphsubmissions.ct.gov/onlinevaccine or to go through Greenwich Hospital, visit www.ynhs.org/covidvaccine.

If you do not have Internet access, make an appointment by calling the towns Health Department at one of its several numbers: 203-622-7703, 203-622-7842, 203-622-7836, 203-622-7865 or 203-622-7614.

Residents can also call the towns Commission on Aging at 203-862-6710 or the Yale New Haven Health System, of which Greenwich Hospital is a part, at 1-833-275-9644.

Camillo urged callers to be patient and be prepared for a log wait because of an expected high call volume.

Residents who need rides to the clinics should contact the Transportation Association of Greenwich, Camillo said. The cost is $6 for a round trip, and reservations can be made by calling 203-637-4345 or sending an email to debbie@ridetag.org.

TAG takes the temperatures of riders and masks are required.

The clinics are opening as Camillo reported some positive trends in the number of cases in town.

We are continuing the downward trend in the number of new cases being diagnosed each day, Camillo said in his weekly e-blast Friday.

Since mid-March, 3,121 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 148 active cases this week, down from 185 active cases last week, he said. Greenwich Public Schools reports there are 24 active cases among students and staff, one of which can be traced to in-school transmission.

The number of deaths of town residents increased by four this week, to 79 total since March, he said.

On Friday, Greenwich Hospital was treating 34 patients diagnosed with the coronavirus, down from 35 on Wednesday. Of those 34, three were in the intensive care unit and two needed a ventilator.

Since the pandemic began, Greenwich Hospital has discharged 1,051 coronavirus patients to continue their recovery at home or at a rehabilitation center.

As part of Phase 1A of the state vaccination program, which covered front line medical workers, the hospital said it has administered 2,580 vaccinations to hospital employees and doctors.

Under Phase 1B, residents over the age of 75 can make appointments for the vaccine, which is administered through two shots within 21 days. Eligibility will be expanded in the coming weeks to include residents over the age of 65, residents who are classified as essential workers and residents under the age of 65 who have comorbidities.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Why North Star felt it was key to keep in-person education amid COVID

RYE BROOK, N.Y., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffe North America today announced a new partnership with top specialty coffee importer and distributor Ammirati Coffee, Inc., who will distribute illy's renowned high-quality premium coffee products to cafes, restaurants and hotels throughout the New York metropolitan region. Ammirati Coffee will also manage and provide its superior service and technical support to illy customers throughout the region.

Pelham, New York-based Ammirati Coffee maintains a commitment to quality backed by nearly 60 years of premium coffee experience and historical knowledge operating in the ultra-competitive New York tri-state market, one of the country's largest and a priority for illy. That depth of expertise and attention to quality were critical in Ammirati Coffee's selection by illy.

Founded by Francesco Illy over 85 years ago in Trieste, Italy, illycaffe began distributing its renowned 100% Arabica blend in New York City since 1984. With a deep commitment to sustainability and a vast portfolio of products, illy is well positioned to meet the needs of customers across the hospitality sector.

"We chose to partner with Ammirati Coffee not just for its distribution strength but also its commitment to illy's high standards," said Barry Sheldon, President and COO, illycaffe North America. "illy has a long- and well-established business in the New York region, which continues to be a long-term strategic market for our brand. Our relationship with Ammirati will support our growth objectives by bringing exceptional service to current and future cafe, restaurant and hotel customers."

In addition to providing product delivery, and comprehensive technical and service support, Ammirati Coffee will offer the entire illy catalogue of premium products including a range of illy roast and ground beans, cold brew and accessories for coffee service.

For more information about how illy can meet your interests and business needs, visit illy.com.

About illycaffe

illycaffe is an Italian family business, founded in Trieste in 1933 and committed to offering the greatest coffee to the world. illy is the world's most global coffee brand, producing the unique illy 100% Arabica blend made of 9 of the world's best selections of Arabica; each day more than 8 million cups are consumed in over 140 countries in the finest cafes, restaurants, hotels and in offices and homes. illy has become the standard forerunner of espresso, and thanks to three critical innovations, is considered the leader in the science and technology of coffee. With the bestowing of the first "Ernesto Illy Award for quality espresso coffee" in 1991 in Brazil, illy also pioneered direct sourcing, sharing know-how and paying a premium price for the best quality, based on partnerships underwritten by the principles of sustainable development. The company also founded its University of Coffee with the aim of fostering and spreading its culture, providing comprehensive academic and hands-on training for coffee growers, baristas and coffee lovers in order to cover every aspect of the product. Everything 'made in illy' is enhanced by beauty & art, which represent founding values of the brand, starting from its logo  designed by an artist, James Rosenquist  and including the renowned illy Art Collection, comprised of over 100 cups designed by international artists. In 2019 the company was employing 1,405 people and posted consolidated revenues of 520,5 million. There are 269 stores and mono-brand illy shops in more than 40 countries.

About Ammirati Coffee, Inc.

Ammirati Imports has proudly been in business for 57 years. Beginning at a time when coffee was something simple, dark and thick served in bottomless cups at all-night diners and espresso was a brew found only in hidden Italian Cafes on Mulberry Street, Dominic P. Ammirati Sr. began importing commercial espresso machines directly from Italy with the hopes of creating an industry around premium Italian Specialty Coffee. Today, a third generation of the Ammirati family, raised amid the scent of freshly roasted coffee and the whirring of grinders, continues to import the most highly regarded Italian coffees, Italian coffee equipment and gourmet food products -- including La Cimbali and Faema espresso machines, illycaffe premium coffees, Dammann Freres tea, Urbani Truffles, Toschi Vignola syrups and gelato mixes, DiMartino Pasta of Gragnano Italy and many more world class food products through an exclusive partnership with Longino & Cardenal  to some of the most well-known cafes and restaurants across the United States. Every member of the Ammirati team is considered an expert in the entire process of specialty coffee from harvesting to sourcing to roasting to distribution to excellence in the cup. Dominic Ammirati Sr. felt blessed in the success he left behind for his family and employees. Today, Dominic's family, including grandsons Dominic Ammirati Jr., T.J. Tarateta, Michael Ammirati and Joseph Ammirati, build upon the success that Dominic Sr. and his son Tommy created in the family's long history of importing and distributing coffee, espresso machines, and gourmet food products. With a new showroom, cafe and warehouse in Westchester, the next generation continues to bring the best in espresso to an American marketplace that continues to embrace coffee and gourmet foods with enthusiasm.

SOURCE illy

Related Links

https://www.illy.com/en-us/professional-partners


ST. LOUIS, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hungry Planet Inc., a plant-based meat company, today announced a partnership with Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST), a consumer packaged goods holding company. In this new partnership, Hungry Planet will work closely with Post's Foodservice and Retail units to expand the distribution of Hungry Planet's industry-leading range of plant-based meats to address the rapidly growing demand for alternative protein solutions across all meal occasions.

Hungry Planet produces a full range of chef-crafted plant-based meats that match the taste and texture of conventional meat, and are the first to offer a superior nutritional profile. These proteins provide a sustainable alternative to traditional meat products. Based in St. Louis, Hungry Planet meats are distributed throughout the United States via foodservice, restaurants, grocery stores and ecommerce.

"By delivering on taste, health, and variety we have seen tremendous success in foodservice and developed a very loyal following. This strategic collaboration with Post increases points of distribution and accelerates delivery of our plant-based meats in order to keep up with demand and reach millions more consumers," said Todd Boyman, CEO and co-founder of Hungry Planet.

"Demand for plant-based meats is growing. We are excited to announce this partnership with Hungry Planet and to continue to offer more innovative product options to our customers," said Mark Westphal, President of Post subsidiary, Michael Foods.

"Our broad range makes it easy to swap plant-based meat for conventional meat in any cuisine, with any flavor, across all proteins - without compromise," said Jody Boyman, Chief Purpose Officer and co-founder of Hungry Planet. "With Post, we can rapidly reach the growing number of consumers who have been clamoring for our delicious meats."

In parallel with the partnership, Post Holdings is also making a financial investment in Hungry Planet to support the company's rapid growth. The Hungry Planet partnership is Post's second announcement in the sustainable food product category. In May 2020 Michael Foods, Post's Foodservice organization, announced an agreement to manufacture and distribute JUST Egg to foodservice and food ingredient customers.

About Hungry Planet

Hungry Planet, Inc. makes chef-crafted plant-based meats that are a delicious and simple switch for conventional meats. Headquartered in St Louis MO, the company's mission is to match traditional meat textures and tastes with healthy plant-based ingredients, and to make them accessible to everyone. Well known to those in the plant-based meat category for their variety and superior nutrition, they develop meats to delight the demanding tastes of meat lovers and chefs. With a full range of naturally flavored proteins, their meats can be used in any cuisine without compromise and use fewer resources from planet to plate while being superior for consumers and the environment. Their meats are packed with protein and fiber, featuring fewer calories and less fat (no saturated) than conventional meat and other plant-based meats. Sibling founders, Todd and Jody Boyman, founded Hungry Planet because they recognize that even though our planet is abundant, it is not without limit. While food is the most basic human requirement, we owe it to ourselves, and our community, to eat more sustainably. The company is hungry to transform our food system to be healthier, more sustainable and just. Join us at HungryPlanetFoods.com or on social media @HungryPlanetFoods

About Post Holdings, Inc.

Post Holdings, Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is a consumer packaged goods holding company operating in the center-of-the-store, refrigerated, foodservice, food ingredient and convenient nutrition food categories. Its businesses include Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Michael Foods, Bob Evans Farms and BellRing Brands. Post Consumer Brands is a leader in the North American ready-to-eat cereal category and also markets Peter Pan peanut butter. Weetabix is home to the United Kingdom's number one selling ready-to-eat cereal brand, Weetabix. Michael Foods and Bob Evans Farms are leaders in refrigerated foods, delivering innovative, value-added egg and refrigerated potato side dish products to the foodservice and retail channels. Post's publicly-traded subsidiary BellRing Brands, Inc. is a holding company operating in the global convenient nutrition category through its primary brands of Premier Protein and Dymatize. Post participates in the private brand food category through its investment with third parties in 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, Inc., a leading, private brand centric, consumer products holding company. For more information, visit postholdings.com.

Media Contact:

Bill Raack

314.602.0696

[email protected]

SOURCE Hungry Planet

Related Links

https://www.hungryplanetfoods.com


Something must be in Ohios air. Another Ohio court recorded a pro-insured COVID decision on January 19, 2021.

In Henderson Road Restaurant Systems, Inc v. Zurich American Insurance Company, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division decided that the business income policy may provide coverage for the restaurant chains business income losses for two key reasons:

The policy requirement that the suspension of business must be caused by  direct physical loss of or damage to property  is potentially ambiguous; and

 is potentially ambiguous; and The Loss of Use exclusion does not apply because loss of income naturally flows from loss of use, and if loss of use is excluded, business income coverage would essentially be illusory.

The Ambiguity of Direct Physical Loss of or Damage to Property

Is the business income policy requirement that the loss of income result from direct physical loss of or damage to property ambiguous? Ambiguity requires more than simply a difference of opinion. To properly debate ambiguities in policy language generally requires answering four questions:

Is the term or provision subject to two or more reasonable interpretations? Could or would an objective reader arrive at the same or a similar conclusion? Do the parties simply disagree on the meaning? Would either partys interpretation strain or torture the policy and result in an illogical or absurd application of coverage?

Yes answers to questions 1. and 2. point to the possibility of ambiguity. Yes answers to questions 3. and/or 4. hint that ambiguity likely does not exist.

If ambiguity is possible, courts often make the final decision by:

Reading and applying the contract as a whole; Applying the concept of Ejusdem Generis and/or Noscitur A Sociis to the specific word or phrase; Giving greater weight to specific language than is granted to general language; Applying the same meaning to terms throughout the contract; Ignoring punctuation relative to the weight of the policy language; and Applying Contra Proferentem.

In insurance contracts, every word matters. To decide whether the direct physical loss of or damage to property requirement is ambiguous, lets review and define four undefined terms direct, physical, loss and damage:

Direct : Characterized by close logical, causal, or consequential relationship. Synonyms: firsthand, immediate, primary, unmediated. Antonym: indirect (from Websters);

: Characterized by close logical, causal, or consequential relationship. Synonyms: firsthand, immediate, primary, unmediated. Antonym: indirect (from Websters); Physical : Having material existence; perceptible especially through the senses and subject to the laws of nature. Basically, something physical is measurable by weight, motion and resistance. Blacks Law: Pertaining to real, tangible objects. Synonym: material. Antonym: nonmaterial, nonphysical;

: Having material existence; perceptible especially through the senses and subject to the laws of nature. Basically, something physical is measurable by weight, motion and resistance. Blacks Law: Pertaining to real, tangible objects. Synonym: material. Antonym: nonmaterial, nonphysical; Loss : Blacks Law: The financial detrimentcaused by an insured propertys damage. The amount of an insureds financial detriment bydamage that the insurer is liable for;

: Blacks Law: The financial detrimentcaused by an insured propertys damage. The amount of an insureds financial detriment bydamage that the insurer is liable for; Damage: Blacks Law: Losstoproperty especially physical harm that is done to something. By extension, any bad effect on something. Loss or harm resulting from injury to person, property, or reputation.

Is the governmental order the direct or causally connected to the insureds loss of income? Yes, it is. Minus the order, the insured would not have lost income.

Does the governmental order cause a loss? Yes, it does. The order was financially detrimental.

Can the governmental order be considered damage? No, unless the second part of the definition found in Blacks Law, any bad effect on something is applied very broadly. But this is almost and unreasonable stretch.

This leaves physical. Is a governmental order physical? The paper on which the order is written may be physical (if its even in hard copy form), but the order itself is not physical. An edict does not have physical properties. The effect of the order is not something that has physical properties and is not subject to the laws of nature  like a fire or windstorm is.

Read the supposed ambiguous phrase in context of its construction, paying attention to the conjunction or and there is no ambiguity. The policy responds when there is either direct physical loss of or direct physical damage to the insured locations. The insured suffered neither direct physical loss nor direct physical damage to the property.

In its attempt to support its reasoning for considering the phrase direct physical loss of or damage to property ambiguous, the court agreed with the plaintiffs argument that, physical loss of the real property means something different than damage to the real property. (see Henderson Road Restaurant Systems, Inc v. Zurich American Insurance Company pg. 18).

Simply, loss of and damage to are different degrees of physical destruction. Loss of means the building cannot be used in whole or in part and must essentially be rebuilt. Damage to potentially allows for the continued use of at least part of the building (one section of the building was damaged by fire, but the remainder of the building can potentially still be used). Essentially, loss of is a level of destruction that requires more than just repair while damage to allows for repair.

Either way, the loss of or damage to the building must result from a direct and physical event  a peril.

Because there is not physical loss of or physical damage to the building, there is no coverage. But even if, by some weird incantation, as in the subject case, a court concludes that an order constitutes physical damage, there is still one key fact  the business income policy is subject to the cause of loss form attached to the policy.

Although Zurichs form is not available to review, ISOs Causes of Loss  Special Form (CP 10 30) can be analyzed as an example. The CP 10 30 specifically states:

Covered Causes Of Loss

When Special is shown in the Declarations, Covered Causes of Loss means direct physical loss unless the loss is excluded or limited in this policy.

Notice how the form defines what qualifies as a covered cause of loss, direct physical loss unless the loss is excluded or limited in this policy. This same requirement applies to the business income policy, there is no exception for the business income policy to which this form is attached. The loss must be caused by direct physical loss. Thus, coverage applies only when there is direct physical loss; the loss of versus damage to debate is somewhat nullified by the cause of loss form language.

One other fact to consider, the CP 10 30 contains additional exclusions applicable to only the business income form. An exclusion specifically relevant to this case (and others) is:

We will not pay for:

(5) Any other consequential loss.

Consequential means following as a result or effect. Blacks Law defines it in context as, Flowing from a cause; resulting from a particular even or situation. This seems to additionally intimate that there must be actual physical damage TO the building, not simply the inability to use the building because of a government order.

The loss of income is a consequence of the government order, not the required direct physical loss. More proof there is no coverage. (Again, this is ISO language; Zurichs language is currently unavailable for review.)

Loss of Use Exclusion

Insurance Services Offices (ISOs) Causes of Loss  Special Form (CP 10 30) and the applicable Zurich policy contain essentially the same loss of use exclusionary wording.

ISOs CP 10 30 specifically reads:

We will not pay for loss or damage caused by or resulting from any of the following: Delay, loss of use or loss of market.

Zurichs form is a bit more verbose, reading:

EXCLUDED CAUSES OF LOSS Loss of Market or Delay

We will not pay for loss or damage caused by or resulting from loss of market, loss of use, or delay. This exclusion applies even if one of these excluded causes of loss was caused by or resulted from a mistake or malfunction.

Clearly neither form is designed or intended to cover a loss which has as its efficient proximate cause the loss of use. This is a market condition or business risk exclusion  a speculative risk exclusion. A speculative risk has three possible outcomes: 1) nothing, 2) something bad, or 3) something good.

Traditionally, insurance covers only Pure risk (meaning there are only two possible outcomes, something bad or nothing). The inability to use a property is a speculative risk unless the inability to use the property arises from a pure risk loss.

Given the facts of insurable risks, the courts opinion of the loss of use exclusion is puzzling. In its ruling, the court states:

Zurich argues that this provision [loss of use] would not bar coverage when there is physical damage caused by a covered peril, such as a fire, that closes a restaurant while it is being repaired. But that is not at all clear from a plain reading of the Loss of Market or Delay exclusion. In fact, this exclusion could be argued to exclude coverage if an insured lost the use of property. The Business Income Coverage provides that Zurich will pay for loss of business income sustained due to the necessary suspension of operations caused by direct physical loss of or damage to property. Here, the Loss of Use exclusion would vitiate the Loss of Business Income coverage. Because the Policy must be read in its entirety and disputed terms interpreted in a manner calculated to give the agreement its intended effect, the Loss of Use exclusion does not exclude coverage under the Business Income coverage of the Policy.

Three reasons the courts logic is  illogical:

Efficient proximate cause . Both ISOs a Zurichs exclusionary wording excludes coverage when loss of use is the efficient proximate cause of the loss  caused by or resulting from. If the cause of income loss is solely the loss of use of the property, there is no coverage. When the efficient proximate cause of income loss is direct loss or direct damage from a covered cause of loss, the business income policy is triggered. Remember, insurance is for the results of a Pure Risk, including the loss of use from such pure risk loss (fire, wind lightning, etc.).

. Both ISOs a Zurichs exclusionary wording excludes coverage when is the efficient proximate cause of the loss  caused by or resulting from. If the cause of income loss is the loss of use of the property, there is no coverage. When the efficient proximate cause of income loss is direct loss or direct damage from a covered cause of loss, the business income policy is triggered. Remember, insurance is for the results of a Pure Risk, including the loss of use from such pure risk loss (fire, wind lightning, etc.). Business income coverage is NOT a stand-alone coverage . Business income pays for the indirect loss (income) arising from a direct loss. Business income payments are not triggered until there is property damage (pointing back to the first misstep in the courts decision regarding what constitutes property damage). Unless a property claim is made, a business income claim cannot be made. And if there is no direct loss claim paid (or payable), there can be no indirect loss.

. Business income pays for the loss (income) arising from a direct loss. Business income payments are not triggered until there is property damage (pointing back to the first misstep in the courts decision regarding what constitutes property damage). Unless a property claim is made, a business income claim cannot be made. And if there is no direct loss claim paid (or payable), there can be no indirect loss. The breadth of coverage arising from the courts interpretation is antithetical. If the court holds that the loss of use exclusion does not apply to business income claims, and that direct damage to the building (other than a closure or taking order) is not required, then payment for income loss would be owed if the bank foreclosed on the building. Coverage would be owed if the government condemned it. (Both of these arguments could also apply to the courts interpretation of direct physical loss of or damage to property.)

If the courts belief that the loss of use exclusion does not apply stands, the ramifications are significant. This coverage interpretation may lead to unimaginable unintended consequences. Appling this standard expands the breadth of coverage beyond traditional insurance to include speculative risks.

The Great Unknown  The Governmental Acts Exclusion

Not addressed in the courts finding is whether Zurichs policy contained the largely ubiquitous governmental acts exclusion. ISOs property policy specifically excludes governmental actions or decisions:

We will not pay for loss or damage caused by or resulting from any of the following, 3.a. through 3.c. But if an excluded cause of loss that is listed in 3.a. through 3.c. results in a Covered Cause of Loss, we will pay for the loss or damage caused by that Covered Cause of Loss. Acts or decisions, including the failure to act or decide, of any person, group, organization or governmental body.

Actions of a governmental body are specifically excluded. Any closure order is excluded. Further, the order does not create a direct physical loss as required by paragraph A in ISOs Causes of Loss  Special Form (CP 10 30).

Defense attorneys should pay special attention to this exclusionary wording.

Microorganism Exclusion

Zurichs policy contained a microorganism exclusion proprietary to their policy. Because this is largely proprietary, the courts reasoning for denying the viability of this exclusion is not detailed in this whitepaper.

Primarily the court disallowed the application of the microorganism exclusion because the insured did not claim that the virus or any other organism caused the loss. It was a moot point in the mind of the plaintiff, and the court agreed.

The Fight Goes On

Finding for the plaintiff in this case strains or tortures the policy language, resulting in an expansion of coverage that a reasonable person would not and should not expect. When the subject policy provisions are considered in context of the policy as a whole, the only reasonable conclusion is no coverage exists for losses caused government shutdown orders for COVID.

Reports are that the number of newly filed COVID-based business income cases is falling. Additionally, some plaintiffs have dropped their cases for various reasons. But the fight continues. Findings such as this do still make news. When they do, the industry perks up.

So far there does not appear to be a cornerstone insureds win with the possibility to change the COVID coverage landscape moving forward. This ruling certainly does not qualify as such an event. But this finding does remind every insurance professional of one key fact, NOT EVERY INSURANCE POLICY IS THE SAME. It is about coverage; its about policy wording.

Topics COVID-19 Ohio
The Custodian of the Romanian Crown, Margareta, and Prince Radu were vaccinated, on Monday, against COVID-19, informs the Royal House.

"On Monday, January 25, 2021, Her Majesty Margareta and Her Royal Highness Prince Radu received the vaccine against COVID-19. (...). The Royal Family is currently located at the Royal Castle in Savarsin," according to a post on the Royal Family's Facebook page.

According to the same source, the two were vaccinated at a private hospital in Cluj-Napoca.
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Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has said that the reimplementation of the movement control order (MCO 2.0) will cause the country to lose an estimated RM600 million each day.

In comparison, Malaysias first MCO  which was implemented in mid-March 2020  saw a loss of RM2.4 billion on a daily basis. By May 2020, the country had incurred an estimated loss of RM63 billion.

This MCO is unlike the one in March last year as five essential sectors are still open; small and medium enterprises (SMEs) such as stalls and stores can still be opened, explained Tengku Zafrul. The five essential sectors that he referred to include manufacturing, construction, services, trade and distribution, as well as plantations and commodities.

Tengku Zafrul also emphasised that even though the five sectors are still operating, the government cannot leave things to chance as the duration of the second MCO is dependent on the control of Covid-19 case transmissions. This has prompted the government to reveal the PERMAI assistance package.

The finance minister said that the latest assistance package is an improvement of the initiatives already announced in Budget 2021, as well as ongoing initiatives in the PRIHATIN and PENJANA packages introduced last year. He added that the package was also prepared particularly for businesses that were unable to operate normally. For now, we are maintaining our gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection. This is also one of the reasons for PERMAI to be implemented, he said.

Tengku Zafrul further highlighted that despite seeing a contraction of 2.7% in the third quarter of 2020, Malaysias GDP was still one of the best-performing in the ASEAN region. He was comparing it to the performance of countries such as Indonesia (-3.5%), Singapore (-7%), Philippines (-11.5%), and even the US (-2.9%).

Aside from that, Tengku Zafrul said that although the government had allocated RM15 billion with an additional fiscal injection of RM6.6 billion through the PERMAI package, Malaysias fiscal deficit projection remained unchanged from 5.4% thus far. The people need to understand that the government has done its best and regularly deliberates with the Ministry of Health on the economic aspect to ensure that efforts are balanced, he said.

(Source: The Edge Markets)

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A bizarre theory has emerged about the unfortunate disappearance of Fungie the dolphin - with fears Russian sonar may have fin-ished him.

A few months ago, the iconic Kerry dolphin went missing and hasnt been spotted since.

While there might be a simpler explanation as to what happened to the Dingle mammal, his fate could have been sealed by more sinister forces.

Kerry Fianna Fail Senator Ned OSullivan recently discussed the local suspicion that the Russian government has been using location technology in Irish seas, which has affected whales and dolphins.

The topic was first brought up by Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin, who asked in the Dail about current requirements for use of sonar in Irish water.

He wanted to know about the effect of sonar on certain cetaceans in particular and the protection Ireland is obliged to provide for such species under EU directives."

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Mr O Broin went to ask about: The steps taken, and considerations made, in respect of limiting the impact on cetaceans in Irish waters from Nato exercises such as Operation Dynamic Mongoose in the past three years.

Cetaceans is a scientific term used to describe a family of animals of which both dolphins and whales belong - which is exactly where Fungie comes in.

Operation Dynamic Mongoose is a yearly exercise in the Atlantic Ocean which deals with anti-surface warfare training as well as anti-submarine warfare.

Government minister Malcom Noonan of the Green Party also expressed his concern over the effect sonar was having on local wildlife.

[I share] the deputys concerns around the impact on cetaceans in Irish waters from underwater noises and acoustic disturbance, including sonar, he said.

The use of sonar technology by naval vessels has the potential to disturb, displace and even kill cetaceans.

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Senator OSullivan has since discussed this issue - admitting that he was no expert on the topic. However, he did note that: Fungie has been a huge loss to Kerry and to Kerry tourism.

Things will not fully get back to normal in Kerry until he is back, he said

He went on to discuss possible sonar suspects in Dingle, saying: It could be the Russians. It could be Putin.

Finally, he added that: Like the Skibbereen Eagle, I am keeping a watchful eye on Russia.

In years past, the minister discussed how much of a nuisance seagulls in Dublin are, saying in 2015 that: I saw that theyre getting so cheeky now that they attack young children and dispossess them of their lollipops and stuff like that.

If you try and come between a seagull and a stolen sliced pan youre likely to come off second best.
Mumbai: Indian markets fell for the third straight session with the benchmark indices losing nearly 1% on Monday as global pressures and reports of India- China border tension dented investor sentiment. In the last three sessions, the Sensex has fallen 3% after hitting 50,000 intraday on Thursday.

The BSE Sensex lost 530.95 points or 1.09% to end at 48,347.59. The Nifty slipped 133 points or 0.93% before closing at14,238.90.

"Indian markets witnessed a highly volatile trade and closed in red due to weak global markets and reports of Indo-China border tension. Policy decisions of the US Fed meeting which will commence tomorrow will drive the global market in the coming days. We have seen Indian markets being highly volatile these days and this trend is expected to continue this week as we inch closer to the Union budget," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a face-off at Naku La area in north Sikkim last week, with the Indian Army on Monday describing the incident as "minor" which was resolved by local commanders according to Mint.

Stocks in other Asia-Pacific markets were mixed as investor focus remained on the covid-19 pandemic. Hong Kongs Hang Seng index led gains among the regions major markets as it rose 2.41%, South Koreas Kospi was 2.18% higher, Chinas Shanghai composite was 0.48% higher while Japans Nikkei 225 was up 0.67%. European markets were mostly lower.

US President Joe Biden will impose a ban on most non-US citizens entering the country who have recently been in South Africa starting Saturday in a bid to contain the spread of a new variant of Covid-19, a senior U.S. public health official told Reuters. Biden on Monday is also reimposing an entry ban on nearly all non-US travelers who have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 countries in Europe that allow travel across open borders.

Technically, Nifty has started to form lower top - lower bottom and is witnessing profit booking declines from three sessions. Going ahead, markets may continue to remain highly volatile ahead of Monthly expiry and Union Budget 2021. The ongoing earning season further adds to the volatility. The Fed monetary policy is also due this week which would be the first one post newly inaugurated US President and thus would hold lot more significance," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.

India volatility index or VIX jumped 4% on Monday indicating there could be some corrections in near-term. Analysts said that the volatility in markets is likely to continue before the Union budget is presented on 1 February.

As covid led disruptions continue, the government's focus in the Union Budget is likely to remain on growth with clear focus on capex revival and manufacturing, boosting healthcare and sanitisation, said analysts. While FY22 real and nominal GDP is likely to bounce back at 10% and 15%, respectively, it will have an advantage of low base of FY21. Hence, for sustained long-term growth, we expect the government to push for bigger reforms like PLI schemes to make India a preferred destination for manufacturing," said ICICI Direct in a report on 25 January.

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Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
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A federal appeals court says Gov. Gavin Newsoms ban on indoor worship services in virtually all of California does not discriminate against religion and is justified by the need to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Newsom went too far in numerical limits on indoor services in a few smaller counties with lower rates of the virus and more space available in hospital emergency rooms, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Friday. But the court said the states evidence showed that indoor worship services, with large groups gathered together for extended periods that include singing and chanting, pose risks that warrant a near-statewide ban to protect the public during serious outbreaks of coronavirus infections.

It is difficult to see how allowing more people to congregate indoors will do anything other than lead to more cases, more deaths, and more strains on Californias already overburdened health-care system, Judge Kim Wardlaw said in the 3-0 ruling.

Newsoms orders met the standards that the U.S. Supreme Court set in November when it struck down New York states limits on religious services, Wardlaw said. The high court said New York had set tighter restrictions on indoor worship than on grocery stores and other retail outlets, and it required states to show that any such discrepancies were the only means available to protect public health.

California places no restrictions on attendance at outdoor religious services, and applies similar or lesser restrictions to indoor services than it does to weddings, funerals, college lectures and political gatherings, Wardlaw said.

The court indicated that religious organizations in a few rural counties could seek to ease the states limits on indoor services to match lesser restrictions on retail businesses.

Newsoms orders have allowed houses of worship in Trinity, Mariposa and Alpine counties to hold services for up to 25% of their capacity, to a maximum of 100 people, and in Sierra County for up to 50% of capacity or 200 people. Groceries and other retailers have similar percentage limits but no maximum numbers for attendance, and religious services are entitled to equal treatment, Wardlaw said.

But the court issued no such immediate orders Friday because the lawsuit was filed by a single church, South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista (San Diego County), where religious services face the same indoor bans as comparable secular activities.

On Monday, another panel of the court said the same rules would apply to 162 churches throughout the state affiliated with Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, which had filed a separate suit against Newsom. In a separate opinion, Judge Diarmuid OScannlain said he would have struck down the ban on indoor services because of Californias discriminatory treatment of houses of worship but he was required to follow the earlier panels standards under the courts rules.

South Bay United had sought to remove all limits on indoor attendance as well as the states separate ban on singing and chanting during indoor worship. Wardlaw said the state currently prohibits singing and chanting during all indoor gatherings, religious or secular, because when a person sings or otherwise loudly vocalizes, droplets are expelled with greater force, travel farther, and thus present a greater danger of transmitting the virus.

Daniel Lopez, a spokesman for Newsom, said the court had upheld important health protections.

These measures, and the sacrifices made by those observing them, have helped to reduce the current surge and to preserve our health care systems ability to treat seriously ill patients, he said.

Harvest Rock Church and its affiliated congregations in Harvest International Ministry will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, their lawyer said.

The high court has already issued a clear road map that leads to the ultimate conclusion that Gov. Gavin Newsoms ban of worship is unconstitutional, said Mat Staver, chairman of the religious conservative legal organization Liberty Counsel.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
The government has attempted to boost participation, adapting a classic Bollywood song with lyrics telling people not to believe false rumours.

India's huge coronavirus vaccination drive is behind schedule, with a third of recipients not showing up for appointments because of safety fears, technical glitches and a belief that the pandemic is ending. After one week, India has vaccinated 1.4 million people or 200,000 people per day. It had initially hoped to process 300,000 per day before ramping up the rollout and inoculating 300 million by July. At the Sharda Hospital in Greater Noida near New Delhi, pharma student Khushi Dhingra, 17, hugged a friend and wept as she waited to get her shot.

"I am very afraid. I hate needles and I am worried about side effects," she told AFP. "My papa is very worried too. He is calling me, again and again, to make sure I am okay."

"There are about 80 students in my batch but only two have opted to get the shot," said nursing student Sakshi Sharma, 21, in Greater Noida. "My friends are saying there will be side effects, that you can even get paralysis."

India is using two shots for its drive.

One is Covishield, a locally produced version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been approved and safely used in a number of other countries after completing Phase 3 human trials. The other  Covaxin  was developed locally by Bharat Biotech and has not yet completed Phase 3 trials, though the government has insisted it is "110 percent safe".

WhatsApp worries

Side effects are a common fear, with a few cases of severe reactions  and even deaths  reported widely in the media and circulating wildly on Facebook and WhatsApp.

In the eastern state of West Bengal, health chief Ajoy Chakraborty said that turnout was just under 70 percent, calling it "not encouraging".

"We could have achieved our target if some hadn't backed out after seeing television reports of adverse effects following immunisation," Chakraborty said.

But Alisha Khan, 20, a nursing student in Greater Noida, said people were also hesitant because of the "rushed" approval of Covaxin.

"Why are they trying to experiment on us? First, they should have completed trials in a proper way," Khan told AFP. "I am shivering already out of fear."

Dhingra, in the end, did not get a shot after staff realised she was under 18. She had, however, received a text telling her to come for the vaccination from the IT system managing the mammoth process. The government says that this and other glitches are being ironed out.

One was that if a person did not show up for vaccination, someone else could not simply take their place.

This led to unfinished vaccine vials  which contain a certain number of doses and have to be used that day  being thrown away.

Also hurting the effort is complacency with the number of coronavirus infections and deaths in India falling sharply in recent months.

"In the beginning when there was lockdown, (villagers) were very scared of the coronavirus ," said Asha Chauhan, 30, who is part of vaccination efforts in rural areas.

"Now that fear has gone because cases have come down. They feel corona has gone from our country now," she said. "They fear they will die if they take the vaccine."

Selfie zones

Many of the 30 million people due for jabs in the first phase are health workers who have seen the deadly pandemic close up  yet many of them are hesitant. This needs to addressed before the vaccine is rolled out to the wider Indian population, experts say, where vaccine scepticism is already rife.

"They must launch awareness campaigns in every nook and corner of the country," said Anita Yadav, 25, an auxiliary nurse and midwife, told AFP.

The government has attempted to boost participation, even adapting a classic Bollywood song with lyrics telling people not to believe false rumours.

One Delhi hospital has set up a "selfie zone" for satisfied recipients to take photos. And vaccination centres have started playing light, soothing music in waiting rooms.

"All the top clinicians and doctors have taken the jab and we're pushing the videos of them taking the shot for circulation and it has been helping in overcoming any hesitancy," said Dr Qazi Haroon, an immunisation officer in Kashmir. "Now (inoculations) are picking up satisfactorily... Yesterday (Friday), we met 80-90 percent of our targets across vaccination stations."

Shahid Jameel, a virologist and academic, said that a country like India was bound to have teething problems.

"Once the frontline workers are given the jabs," Jameel told AFP, "confidence will slowly build up."
Workers have escaped injury after being evacuated from a commercial building in Sydneys north shortly before a large part of it came crumbling down on Monday afternoon.

People inside the four-storey building on the corner of Alexander and Devonshire streets in Crows Nest raised the alarm with emergency services after seeing large cracks appear in the walls about 3.25pm, shortly before the collapse.

Workers were evacuated before a large part of a commercial building in Crows Nest collapsed on Monday afternoon. Credit:Nine News

Building manager Penny Flanagan told Nine News she rushed through all four storeys urging people to evacuate.

Windows started giving way so it was pretty clear it was a big problem, she said.
The brother of missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh has launched a fresh appeal for information and admitted, 'the trail is starting to get cold'.

Suzy was last seen on July 28, 1986, when she left the Fulham office of the Sturgis estate agency in her company Ford Fiesta.

Her diary said she had an appointment at 12.45pm to meet a prospective buyer called Mr Kipper.

The car was later found abandoned outside another house on the Sturgis books. The ignition key was missing and her purse was in the glove box. No further trace of her was ever found.

Speaking on the Missing Podcast, which is bringing unsolved cases back into the public spotlight, Richard Lamplugh said he accepts his sister is dead but still lives in hope of burying her body.

Suzy Lamplugh was last seen on July 28, 1986, when she left the Fulham office of the Sturgis estate agency in her company Ford Fiesta. The car was later found abandoned outside another house on the Sturgis books. No further trace of her was ever found

Fresh appeal: Speaking on the Missing Podcast, Richard Lamplugh (pictured with a photo of his sister) said he accepts his sister is dead but still lives in hope of burying her body

He said: 'All we want is to bury Suze where we want to bury her. And that's as far as we're concerned is the most important thing.'

He continued: 'The trail is starting to get cold because it was 35 years ago and those people [involved in the case] are getting quite old.

'But it's never too late. I'm sure the police will always be willing and the case is kept open. Hopefully, one day we will be able to do that, bury her where we want to bury her.'

Suzy was last seen on Shorralds Road, Fulham, where one witness reported seeing her show a man with dark hair into the property.

Another said they had seen a woman matching Suzy's description with a man in a suit and tie who was carrying a bottle of Champagne.

A third said they had seen Suzy arguing with a man in front of a dark BMW.

The prime suspect in the case is John Cannan (right), who is serving a life sentence for the 1987 murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol and the attempted kidnapping of Julia Holman, as well as the rape of an unnamed woman in Reading in 1986. Left, an e-fit of the man Suzy was seen with

The prime suspect in the case is John Cannan, who is serving a life sentence for the 1987 murder of Shirley Banks in Bristol along with an attempted kidnapping and the rape of a woman in Reading the previous year.

One of the most dangerous men in Britain, Cannan had been living at a West London bail hostel around the time of Suzy's disappearance after serving five years of an eight-year sentence for rape at knifepoint.

Can YOU help with information on Suzy Lamplugh? The Missing Podcast is looking to speak to anyone with information on the following:

Anyone who saw Suzy on the day she disappeared - particularly in Shorralds Road, Fulham

Anyone who can shed light on Mr Kipper'

Anyone with any information about John Cannan, and his movements in July 1986 Advertisement

He bears a striking similarity to the e-fit image produced from the witness descriptions at the time. There is other circumstantial evidence that appears to connect Cannan to Suzy's murder.

However he has always denied any involvement in the case and the absence of a body or forensic evidence means there has been little chance of linking him to Suzy.

Speaking on the podcast, Mr Lamplugh said he does believe Cannan was responsible for the crime, saying 'all the evidence points that way.'

In 1986, Suzy's parents Paul and Diana established the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which aims to raise awareness of personal safety and training to help people avoiding being assaulted.

The Trust also offered support and guidance for the loved ones of missing people.

Diana died in August 2011, aged 75, and Paul died aged 87 in June 2018, both without answers regarding their daughter's disappearance.

Suzy was declared legally dead in 1994, eight years after her disappearance, and presumed murdered.

In 2002 Scotland Yard declared that Cannan was their prime suspect for her murder.

The Missing Podcast has appealed to anyone with information on Suzy, or Cannan at the time of Suzy's disappearance to come forward. More information can be found on the podcast website here.
Las Vegas schools will reopen for vulnerable students after 18 students killed themselves during the nine months schools have been closed during lockdown.

The surge in student suicides during the final nine months of 2020 has led to the Clark County School District Board to vote unanimously to approve returning some elementary school grades and struggling students for in-person learning.

The youngest student to kill themselves in the county was nine years old, according to Clark County superintendent Jesus Jara.

'When we started to see the uptick in children taking their lives, we knew it wasn't just the Covid numbers we need to look at anymore,' he told The New York Times.

Schools in Las Vegas are to reopen for vulnerable students after 18 students committed suicide during the final nine months of 2020. Pictured: Clark County School District Superintendent Jesus Jara (right) visits teacher Dana Dyer during a Zoom lesson at Walter Johnson Junior High School in Las Vegas

'We have to find a way to put our hands on our kids, to see them, to look at them. Theyve got to start seeing some movement, some hope.'

Jara says the 18 student suicides recorded in the nine months during which schools were closed amid rising coronavirus cases is double the number recorded in the school district in 2019.

In response, the Clark County School Board has approved voluntary, small-group learning which will allow schools to start providing in-person instruction for students who need more support.

But the board did not provide a timeline for implementation, including when principals might be expected to submit their site-specific plans for a limited return.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on students' mental health, with many feeling socially isolated as they attend classes remotely.

The youngest student to kill themselves in the county was nine years old, according to Clark County superintendent Jesus Jara. Pictured: Teacher Kellie Goodall teaches an online eighth grade English class from her empty classroom in Las Vegas

Clark County, which includes the city of Las Vegas, has invested in the GoGuardian Beacon alert suicide following the sixth student suicide last year, reports the newspaper. More than 3,100 alerts were made between June and October.

'I can't get these alerts anymore,' said Jara. 'I have no words to say to these families anymore. I believe in God, but I cant help but wonder: Am I doing everything possible to open our schools?'

'I feel responsible,' Jara said. 'Theyre all my kids.'

In response to the high number of student suicides and the mental health challenges of young people in Nevada, charity Hope Means Nevada held a webinar Sunday with students across the state, reports 8 News Now.

'Just not having that physical contact with people is difficult,' said teenager Lauren Edgeworth.

'I know as of two days ago that CCSD cancelled all of its sports, so not being able to have our season is really affecting us negatively. I think a lot of the escapes that we use to have are just being taken away from us.'

'We are not having social interaction and feel like we are missing out on rites of passage  things like prom and homecoming,' said another teenager.

Nevada Senator Marilyn Dondero Loop joined the conversation and announced a mental health bill.

Clark County, which includes the city of Las Vegas, has invested in the GoGuardian Beacon alert suicide following the sixth student suicide last year. Pictured: Teacher Kellie Goodhall (left) introduces Jesus Jara (centre) and CCSD School Board Trustee Lola Brooks (right) to students on Zoom in Las Vegas

The legislation would allow students to take time off school if they were struggling with their mental health.

The percentage of children aged below 18 years old visiting emergency rooms for mental heath issues has risen during the pandemic, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As schools are moving towards reopening amid rising coronavirus cases, Jara maintained that the health and safety of students and staff are a 'top priority' as the district continues to face challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Clark County School board also approved an agreement with the Clark County Education Association that lays out health and safety guidelines for teachers returning to schools under the hybrid learning model.

The agreement states that teachers will participate in mandatory monthly COVID-19 testing, symptom screening and contact tracing, while the district will provide personal protective equipment.

Nevada is still facing high numbers of coronavirus cases and related deaths. The reported 1,101 new cases and ten deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday. The latest numbers from Nevada health officials bring the state to 271,000 confirmed cases and 4,027 deaths since the pandemic began.

People experiencing suicidal thoughts or urges can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resourcesfor additional resources.
US Ambassador to Randy Berry on Monday met Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', the chairperson of the splinter faction of the ruling Communist Party (NCP), to discuss the priorities of the new Biden administration, including strengthening of democracies and combating climate change.

The meeting between Prachanda and Berry at the time of a major political crisis in is being regarded here as significant.

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and former premier Prachanda are currently engaged in a tussle for power within the NCP.

During the meeting, the US ambassador discussed the new US presidential administration's priorities with Prachanda.

"In my series of meetings to discuss the new US presidential administration's priorities, I met with @cmprachanda," Berry tweeted after the meeting.

"I reiterated the US commitment to strengthening democracies, combating climate change, and uplifting women and girl's rights around the world, Berry said.

Earlier on January 22, Ambassador Berry called on Prime Minister Oli to share priorities set by the new Biden administration.

The meeting comes at a time when the Himalayan nation is facing political turmoil following a rift in the ruling NCP.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 after Prime Minister Oli in a surprise move dissolved Parliament, amidst serious differences with Prachanda. His move to dissolve the 275-member House of Representatives sparked protests from a large section of the NCP led by Prachanda, also a co-chair of the ruling party.

Oli, who is the chairperson of a faction of the NCP, has said he was forced to dissolve the House after knowing that the Prachanda-led faction was planning to file a no-confidence motion against him and introduce an impeachment motion against President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Oli was expelled from the primary membership of the Nepal Communist Party by the splinter faction led by 'Prachanda' on Sunday for alleged anti-party activities, further intensifying the infighting within the ruling party.

After a vertical split in the ruling party following the dissolution of the House, both the factions, one led by Oli and another led by Prachanda, have submitted separate applications at the Election Commission claiming that their faction is the genuine party and asked to provide them the election symbol of the party. However, the Election Commission is yet to decide the matter.

(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.)
Vietnam's economy has gained many important and comprehensive achievements in the 2016-20 period, helping highlight the countrys success in 35 years of Doi moi (Renewal) process.

From a country with a trade deficit, Viet Nam has successfully balanced imports and exports, even gaining a trade surplus.  Photo bnews.vn

Assessing the Vietnamese economic achievements, many international organisations have recently noted Viet Nam as "a legendary story", "a rising star", or "the brightest economy in Asia.

The country is considered the world's success story as its economic growth has been among the world's strongest over the past decade.

After 5 years of implementing the Resolution of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the country's economy has gained many important achievements and outstanding breakthroughs.

Restructuring the economy and renewing the growth model of Viet Nam in the direction of increasing the efficient use of all resources and based on quality in the 2016-19 period was one of the major policies of the Party and the State. The process took place and created more positive and substantial changes.

In four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019, Viet Nam completed and exceeded the set plans, which created momentum for the country to stand firm in hard times. The country is ranked in the group of countries with the highest economic growth in the world. Its macro economy has remained stable while institutional reforms have been accelerated. These achievements are thanks to the participation and actions of the business community and people, under the comprehensive leadership of the Party.

According to the Government's report on the countrys socio-economic growth in 2020 and the five years from 2016 to 2020, the economic growth rate in the 2016-19 period was quite high, averaging 6.8 per cent per year.

In 2020, although heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth rate still reached 2.91 per cent, helping Viet Nam be one of the fastest growing countries in the region and the world.

The countrys labour productivity in the 2016-20 period increased by 5.8 per cent, exceeding the set target, while the consumer price index decreased from 18.6 per cent in 2011 to below 4 per cent in the 2016-20 period. Its import and export increased 1.7 times, with a trade surplus posted for five consecutive years. E-commerce became an important distribution channel of the economy with an increase of 25 per cent. The country also saw its tourism sector grow nearly 30 per cent per year on average, reaching 18 million international visitors in 2019, an increase of more than 10 million compared to 2015.

Assessing the results of the countrys socio-economic development for the 2016-20 period, Assoc. Prof. Dinh Trong Thinh said though there were still shortcomings, the past five years saw Viet Nam succeed significantly in economic development.

Infographic Doan Tung

Viet Nam's economic structure transformed strongly in the past 5 years, with the private sector gradually becoming a driver to promote economic growth and contribute up to 40 per cent of the countrys GDP. The development is in the right direction, creating momentum for the economy to enter a growth trajectory.

In the past 5 years, especially in 2020, the implementation of digital transformation and the application of digital technology in the economy has grown strongly. This is considered the driving force to help the economy grow and increase labour productivity.

Not only gaining economic growth achievements, the country has also seen positive results in socio-cultural development. While social security has basically been ensured, people's lives have been continually improved with average income per capita reaching US$2,750.

Viet Nams GDP size last year increased by about 1.4 times compared to 2015. The country completed the national target programme on new-style rural area building nearly 2 years ahead of the roadmap, with about 63 per cent of communes nationwide meeting the programmes standard by the end of 2020, against the set target of 50 per cent.

Notably, Viet Nam has gained outstanding achievements in the international integration process. According to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, by 2020, Viet Nam has signed 15 free trade agreements and is negotiating two others. The country has 16 strategic partners, 11 comprehensive strategic partners and joined more than 500 bilateral and multilateral agreements in many fields. A total of 71 countries have so far recognised Viet Nam as a market economy.

Dr. Nguyen Duc Kien, Head of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group, said with the spirit that Viet Nam was a friend and partner to all countries in the world, the nation has actively negotiated and signed many bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements.

International economic integration has boosted Viet Nam's international trade with rising import and export turnover. From a country with a trade deficit, Viet Nam has successfully balanced imports and exports, even gaining a trade surplus.

FTAs with major and developed economies in different geographical areas has helped Viet Nam diversify its external economic relations and have a more reasonable market structure, which is not too dependent on a certain market area.

Thanks to the achievements, Viet Nam has become an attractive destination for foreign investors as they saw the stability as well as the development potential of the countrys economy.

The prestige, role and position of Viet Nam have therefore also increased significantly in the international arena.

These achievements have been recognised and appreciated by the international community. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Viet Nam has created a "legendary story" in poverty reduction with its human development index (HDI) of 0.63 in 2019, ranked 118 out of 189 countries and in the group of countries with the highest HDI growth rate in the world.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessed that by 2020, Viet Nam could be ranked the fourth largest economy in ASEAN.

The country was ranked eighth in the list of the world's best economies to invest in 2019, up 15 places compared to 2018, and its competitiveness was ranked 67 out of 141 countries and territories by the World Economic Forum, up 10 places compared to 2018.

According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Report 2020, Viet Nam is the only Southeast Asian country to achieve five UN action targets, including measures to reduce CO2 emissions, promote renewable power and improve resilience to climate change.

The World Bank (WB) also reported from 2010 to 2020, the human capital index of Viet Nam increased from 0.66 to 0.69. The index continues to be higher than the average rate of countries with the same income level.

Thanks to the achievements, Viet Nam has still emerged as a remarkably bright spot in the context of the world economic slowdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  VNS

Notable achievements during Vietnams 75 years This September marks 75 years since the Vietnamese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), overthrew 80 years of French colonial rule.
JSW Steel plans to complete construction of its new plants - 5 million tonne (MT) in Dolvi, Maharashtra and 1 MT in Vijayanagar, Karnataka, which was dealyed due to shortage of workers during the lockdown, in the first half of 2022, the company's joint managing director and group chief financial officer Seshagiri Rao said.

JSW Steel is targeting to achieve 29 MT production capacity with the completion of the greenfield capacities and acquisition of Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL).

The company had offered about Rs 19,700 crore for the acquisition of BPSL, but the matter is before the Supreme Court as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wanted to attach the assets of bankrupt firm in an alleged money laundering case against the old management.

The steelmaker is also planning to complete the downstream capacity expansion to 11 MT from 5 MT along with the Dolvi and Vijayanagar capacity construction. The company has 12 MT and 5 MT capacity in Vijayanagar and Dolvi, respectively. It also has a 1 MT plant in Salem.

"We are also continuing captive iron ore integration with the steel plants as it will reduce costs of production. The other cost reduction projects like pallet plant, coke oven batteries, power plants will be commissioned in this year," said Rao.

JSW Steel will commence brown field expansion of JSW Ispat and BPSL once these projects are completed. Ispat, which JSW acquired through bankruptcy proceedings, has turned around with net profit of Rs 29 crore in third quarter. With the completion of acquisition of BPSL, JSW will have 28-29 MT capacity in India, said Rao.

The acquisition of BPSL will increase the debt of JSW Steel which stood at Rs 51,793 crore as on December 31. "However, once the acquisition is done, there will be incremental EBITDA from the company. The 6 MT capacity expansion at Dolvi and Vijayanagar will also increase the EBITDA. Of the Rs 52,000 crore debt of JSW Steel, Rs 16,000 crore was spent for expansion, which are yet to come on stream. The new capacities will start generating EBITDA from first half of 2022," said Rao.

The larger product mix, lower cost of production and higher volume are expected to give upside for JSW Steel in the next year.

The company has been investing in carbon neutrality projects at its plants. It has planted 2 million trees for forest cover. Reduced fossil fuel dependency, lower carbon emission, emphasis on renewable power and reduced fresh water consumption are the major sustainability targets of the company.

JSW Steel reported a manifold jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,669 crore for the December 2020 quarter. The private sector steel maker had clocked a net profit of Rs 187 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Consolidated income rose to Rs 22,006 crore as compared with Rs 18,182 crore in the year-ago period. Total expenses stood at Rs 18,120 crore as against Rs 17,719 crore a year ago.

Rao said iron ore supply from captive sources has improved in the third quarter. "Capacity utilisation improved, fixed costs came down, export has reduced to 12 per cent of overall sales from 28 per cent...Moreover, the domestic steel demand picked to 10.28 MT in December from 1 MT in April," he added.

The demand from auto sector was robust. JSW Steel's sales in the auto sector went up by 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Retail steel sales rose by 14 per cent YoY, 35 per cent QoQ because of rural demand.

According to Rao, there is enough liquidity in the system to boost infrastructure activities in the coming days. "Globally, there is steel demand because of liquidity and government expenditure. The global steel demand is expected to go up by 4 per cent in this calendar year. The domestic steel demand will be at least 10 per cent up for the next financial year. In this year, it is expected to be 7-8 per cent negative growth," he said.

Also Read: JSW Steel's Q3 net profit rises multi-fold to Rs 2,669 crore
Gov. Gen. Julie Payette delivers the throne speech in the Senate chamber in Ottawa on Sept. 23, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Choosing Canadas Next Governor General

Following the resignation of Julie Payette, attention has turned to how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should go about choosing Canadas next viceregal.

Payette, who has had a turbulent tenure since her appointment in 2017, resigned on Jan. 21 after an independent review found that she bullied and verbally abused staff at Rideau Hall.

David E. Smith, a political studies professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan, said the office of the governor general serves an important role in Canadian parliamentary democracy.

Its quite remarkable all that they do. I think that people dont appreciate what theyre doing, but theyre quite active, Smith said in an interview.

Its probably more demanding than most of us realize. Theres a lot of public activities that one does, and youre in the public eye quite a bit.  Its not just some formality without any purpose.

Governors general summon, prorogue, and dissolve Parliament. They set out the governments program by reading the speech from the throne and give royal assent, which makes acts of Parliament into law, among other duties.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, says viceregal candidates shouldnt be selected based on celebrity, but rather on whether theyre a good fit for the position.

What you want is a boring, dull, fuddy duddy. You want someone who is suited for the job and isnt getting the job just because theyre a celebrity, Wiseman told The Epoch Times.

Payette, 57, became the first Canadian to board the International Space Station during her career as an astronaut between 1992 and 2013. She was appointed governor general in 2017 at the suggestion of former prime minister Jean Chretien.

When Stephen Harper was prime minister, in 2012 he established a non-partisan advisory committee to provide recommendations on the selection of the governor general, an approach Trudeau rejected but which Wiseman says worked well.

I thought the procedure Stephen Harper established was excellent. He established a committee that included constitutional experts that recommended some names. The result was David Johnston, who himself was a constitutional expert, was selected.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said that Payettes resignation shows a need to strengthen the process for vetting governor general appointments.

In 2016, Payette resigned from her previous position as head of the Montreal Science Centre after complaints of her treatment of employees.

After her appointment as viceregal, media reports revealed that Payette had been charged in the United States in 2011 with assault against her then-husband. (The charges were dropped.)

More unfavourable press followed, including that over $250,000 was spent on redesigns and renovations at Rideau Hall to ensure Payettes privacy, and that she was often at odds with the RCMP over security issues.

In July 2020, it was reported that since the start of the pandemic, four members of Payettes communications team had departed. In addition, a fifth person was leaving that week, and two had taken leaves of absence. Payette and her deputyher longtime friend Assunta Di Lorenzo, who has also resignedhave both been accused of harassing and verbally abusing employees.

Trudeau has insisted that Payette was properly vetted.

For all high-level appointments, there is a rigorous vetting process that was followed in this case, he told reporters on Jan. 22. Obviously, we will continue to look at that vetting process to ensure that it is the best possible process as we move forward.

Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, said the governor general should be fully independent and impartial and not handpicked by the prime minister, as that taints the position with partisanship.

A campaign launched by Democracy Watch proposes that an independent committee conduct a public, merit-based search for a shortlist of three nominees for the position, with the final choice being approved all federal party leaders.

Given how important it is for the Governor General to be independent of the Prime Minister and impartial, especially in a minority government situation, Prime Minister Trudeau must involve opposition parties in choosing the Governor General, and it would be even better to involve party leaders from across Canada given that the Governor General appoints the Lieutenant Governors in each province, Conacher said in a news release.

John Fraser, founding president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada at Massey College, said that there is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to reforming viceregal appointments, as the process devised by the Harper government worked well.

He said the current spotlight on the viceregal office could provide the necessary impetus for reform of the method of viceregal appointmentsnot just of governors-general, but of their provincial counterparts, too, where prime ministerial patronage is often unfettered.

These important positionsand the Canadians they servewarrant a selection process that is above reproach. The imminent replacement of lieutenant-governors in Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec offers an early opportunity for reformnot to mention the choice of the next governor-general, Fraser co-wrote in a Globe and Mail op-ed.

Trudeau asked Payette to resign after receiving an independent report commissioned by the governmentwhich will soon be made publicto look into allegations of a toxic work environment at Rideau Hall.

Tensions have arisen at Rideau Hall over the past few months, and for that, I am sorry, Payette said in her resignation statement. We all experience things differently, but we should always strive to do better, and be attentive to one anothers perceptions.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner will perform Payettes former duties until Trudeau can fill the governor general vacancy, the first ever made by a resignation.

Getting to a post-COVID environment requires people getting vaccinated, Wallace said. Thats really the only scientific way to get any semblance of herd immunity, so vaccines are crucial. And to get schools open fully and in-person, having the vaccine administered on a large scale is essential. We cant do it without that.
Alibaba-backed community group buying platform gets fined for uncompetitive practices; U.S. and China trade officials hold their first phone call under the Biden presidency; and the yuan surges to a three-year high against the dollar

May 28, 2021 05:54 PM
Elizabeth Hurley showcased her sensational figure in a white bikini and lace mini dress which acted as a cover up in a throwback picture.

The actress, 55, looked radiant as she posed in the picture, taken early last year in the Maldives, which she shared on Instagram on Monday.

She covered her svelte figure in a white crochet beach cover up which she wore over a matching white bikini as she posed up a storm.

Gorgeous: Elizabeth Hurley, 55, showcased her sensational figure in a white bikini in a Maldives throwback picture she shared on her Instagram on Monday

The Bedazzled star kept her accessories minimal, only carrying a gold bag and a pair of sunglasses.

Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, Elizabeth opted for a fresh-faced look.

On her Instagram Stories, the Austin Powers actress also showed off her incredible physique in a snap of her in a bikini.

She posed in front of a tree and reached up to hold one of the branches to accentuate her toned body.

Stunning: She showed off her incredible physique in a snap of her in a bikini and white croquet cover up which she shared with fans on social media

Elizabeth has been keeping her legions of fans entertained by posting more sultry pictures of herself during lockdown.

She looked radiant as she put on a playful display in a series of stunning Instagram snaps recently.

The star showcased her assets in a low-cut fuchsia mini dress while relaxing on a matching pink couch.

Beauty: Elizabeth looked radiant as she put on a playful display in a series of stunning Instagram snaps recently

Referencing the UK's ongoing lockdown, she captioned the post: 'Still at home! #makingthemostofit #stayhomestaysafe'.



It comes after Elizabeth's ex Hugh Grant recently said she deserves a role in the next Paddington movie after she shared a stunning snap of herself posing with marmalade.

The star looked incredible in a white cardigan as she held up two jars of marmalade while joking lockdown had turned her into a 'demented housewife'.

Joke: It comes after Elizabeth's ex Hugh Grant said she deserves a role in the next Paddington movie after she shared a stunning snap of herself posing with marmalade

Alongside the snap, she wrote on Twitter: 'Lockdown has turned me into a demented housewife: 47 jars of marmalade are nestling in my larder and another sack of Seville oranges await me'.

Hugh, who starred as actor Phoenix Buchanan in Padding 2, joked Elizabeth has what it takes to star in the sequel.

Retweeting her post, he simply wrote: 'Paddington 3'.

Hugh and Elizabeth were one of the most famous couples of the nineties, dating from 1987 to 2000.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Over 350 objects from the 18th century home of the late Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten -- the eldest daughter of Britain's last Viceroy of India -- would go under the hammer at a Sotheby's auction on March 24. The objects span jewellery, furniture, paintings, sculpture, books, silver and ceramics, said the auction house.

Born in 1924, Patricia known as the second Countess Mountbatten of Burma, was the great granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She lived in Newhouse with her husband John Knatchbull, seventh Baron Brabourne.

According to Sotheby's, "The sale will open to door on the history of the family through the art and objects that they lived with, crossing the paths of the twentieth century's leading figures along the way. Many items were inherited from her ancestors and share connections with India, a place that was very special to the family." Some of the objects on auction in London include a pair of gold and enamel elephants, made in Jaipur and given by Louis Mountbatten to his wife as a present to mark their 24th wedding anniversary in 1946. The pair had become engaged at Viceroy's House in Delhi in 1922.

A diamond set and enamelled gold bracelet made in India, that once belonged to Queen Victoria herself and was passed down the family, is also part of the sale, so is an India-inspired set of jewels belonging to the last Viceroy's wife.

Among the auction highlights is the "The Imperial Order of the Crown of India". "Given to Patricia's mother-in-law Doreen, wife of one-time Viceroy Michael Knatchbull. The only living wearer is Queen Elizabeth II," said Sotheby's.

Harry Dalmeny, Sotheby's Chairman, UK & Ireland, said in a statement: "Lady Mountbatten's residence, Newhouse, was a private place for entertaining only the closest of family and friends, capturing all the magic of a stately home on an intimate scale. Through her belongings, many passed down from members of the extended family over the years, collectors have the chance to see the story of the 20th century unfold and acquire evocative vestiges of a glittering way of life." Lady Mountbatten's family said in a statement issued by the auction house: "Our overriding desire when organising our mother's affairs is to honour her wishes and celebrate the memory of both our mother and our father. They had discussed these arrangements with us, and we are simply putting their plans into effect. We are of course keeping many things and importantly among these are objects which are of sentimental value and are much loved." Patricia was also connected to India through her husband John's side of the family. "John's father (Michael Knatchbull) spent four months as India's youngest Viceroy in 1938, and John himself worked for Louis Mountbatten in India, before later becoming an Academy Award nominated Film Producer (behind titles such as "A Passage to India"). When Patricia and John married, the newlyweds chose to spend several months in India as part of their honeymoon. A young Princess Elizabeth (who would later become Queen Elizabeth II) had been a bridesmaid at their wedding," said the auction house.
Raipur:

A police jawan injured in an encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarhs Sukma district succumbed to injuries on Sunday, taking the death toll of security personnel killed in the operation to three.



Two district reserve guard (DRG) jawans were earlier killed and as many others sustained injuries in the gun-battle in Sukmas Chintagufa area.



Four separate encounters between Naxalites and police have been reported in the state since yesterday, in which three security men have been killed and seven injured, including a sub-inspector.



Two Naxals were also gunned down in these face-offs. While two encounters took place in Sukma yesterday, as many others occurred in Bijapur, including one this morning.

ALSO READ | Sukma attack: Five STF jawans get injured in gun battle with Maoists



A composite squad of the Special Task Force (STF), the DRG, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit-CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) was yesterday out on the operation based on inputs about the location of Maoist hideouts in the interiors of Chintagufa, around 500 kms away from here.



When the security men were advancing through the forest of Dondamarka, a Maoist den, armed Naxalites opened fire on them, leading to a gun-battle. Five STF personnel sustained bullet injuries, three of them critically, in the face-off.



Some personnel of the patrolling team were on their way back to the base when they again came under heavy fire from the ultras near Durma village, around 17 kms deep inside forest from Chintagufa.



Two DRG jawans were killed and as many others sustained injuries in the gun-battle. Two DRG jawans were initially killed and as many others injured in the incident. Later, one of the injured succumbed while being retrieved from the forest, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Dantewada range) Sundarraj P told PTI.



The team engaged in the fierce gunbattle with Maoists since yesterday reached its camp this morning, he said. Three DRG jawans have been martyred and another injured in the face-off. The body of a Naxalite was also recovered from the spot along with an SLR weapon, he said.



The intermittent exchange of fire lasted for several hours following which the security men cautiously stepped out of the forest, he said, adding that bad weather and rainfall disrupted the evacuation operation.



The slain DRG jawans have been identified as constable Kattam Rajkumar, assistant constable Sunam Manish, both natives of Sukma, and assistant constable Rajesh Komra of Kanker district, the DIG said.



The injured assistant constable has been admitted to a local hospital and efforts are on to airlift him to Raipur for further medication, he said. The DIG claimed that nearly 12 Maoists were killed during the operation. However, the body of only one Maoist was recovered along with a SLR weapon from Durma.



He said a major offensive action was undertaken in Chintagufa, considered as the military battalion station of the Maoists. Earlier yesterday, the same team of security forces had an exchange of fire with ultras in which five STF jawans were injured. They are undergoing treatment here at a private hospital.



Besides, a Naxal was yesterday killed in an exchange of fire with police in Bijapur district. Also, a sub-inspector was today injured in an exchange of fire with Naxals in a forest under Bijapurs Gangaloor police station limits, police said.



On April 24 this year, 25 CRPF personnel were killed in a Naxal ambush?in Burkapal area under Sukmas Chintagufa police station of limits.

ALSO READ: Two security personnel die in exchange of fire with Naxals in Sukma; 3 suffer injuries

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Highlights Nokia 1.4 might launch sometime in February as per a report.

The Nokia 6.4 could launch towards the end of Q1 2021.

And finally, the Nokia 7.4 may debut in February or March.

Nokia's caretaker HMD Global is recklessly moving ahead to be one of the mysterious brands. And I say that because it has been over two years since the rumours around Nokia's flagship 9.3 PureView began to float. Besides that, there seem to be Nokia 7.3 (or Nokia 7.4) and Nokia 6.3 (or Nokia 6.4) and now the Nokia 1.4 in the pipeline. A fresh report now suggests these three phones might arrive as early as the first quarter of 2021. A second timeline may be towards the beginning of the second quarter.

As reported by Nokiapoweruser, the Nokia 1.4 budget smartphone may go official sometime in February, the Nokia 6.4 may be released in late Q1 or early Q2 of 2021, and finally, the Nokia 7.4 could be unveiled in February or March this year. The launches are spread over a span of six months, according to the report but HMD Global may as well combine the launch of at least two smartphones into a single event. I am guessing it would be Nokia 6.4 and Nokia 7.4 that would be released together.

These are just rumours and HMD Global is yet to provide an official statement on this. The Finnish company has not confirmed the existence of Nokia 1.4, Nokia 6.4, or Nokia 7.4 but there have been multiple instances where each of these handsets has been spotted on either a benchmarking site or a certification website. Which is also why most of the specifications of these smartphones are out there. The Nokia 7.4 and Nokia 6.4 could be 5G smartphones while the Nokia 1.4 will belong to the budget category.

Nokia 1.4 specifications

Nokia 1.4 will come with a large 6.51-inch LCD with 720p resolution. The Nokia 1.4 will be powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. Now, the name of the processor is unclear. The report further mentions that Nokia 1.4 will have 1GB of RAM, which means it will have Android Go. There will be Android 10 on this phone, so guess it is going to be Android 10 (Go edition) on the Nokia 1.4. There will be 16GB internal storage, which seems so less for a 2021 phone but HMD is giving microSD card support for up to 128GB storage.

The Nokia 1.4 will come with a 4000mAh battery. The optics on the Nokia 1.4 are also going to be essentially basic. There will be a dual-camera setup on the back, consisting of an 8MP main sensor and a 2MP secondary sensor. These sensors will be assisted by an LED flash module. For selfies, there will be a 5MP camera on the front. The Nokia 1.4 will have a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroUSB 2.0 port but their location is not confirmed. There could also be a fingerprint sensor on the Nokia 1.4.

Nokia 6.4 specifications

The Nokia 6.4 may have appeared in the latest leak where it is codenamed Quicksilver. It may pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 or a 690 processor inside that brings 5G connectivity. Reports also suggest there could be a 48MP quad-camera setup on the Nokia 6.4. There could be a 1080p display on the Nokia 6.4, as well as a 4500mAh battery with fast charging support.

Nokia 7.4 specifications

The Nokia 7.4 will be a mid-premium-range phone with support for 5G connectivity. It may have a 6.39-inch 1080p display with PureDisplay branding and maybe the 90Hz refresh rate. There could be a punch-hole for the selfie camera of 24MP. The smartphone could run the Snapdragon 690 processor inside. There could be a 64MP main camera on the phone but some reports have said HMD might keep the specifications low with the 48MP sensor.
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South Korea aims to get 70 percent of its population inoculated by September and start the first vaccination next month, with so-called "herd immunity" here predicted to be created by November, health authorities said Monday.



The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced a set of core tasks for this year, which includes providing free COVID-19 vaccines to all nationals to form herd immunity by November.



The government has already secured COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate 56 million people under the World Health Organization's global vaccine COVAX Facility project and separate contracts with four foreign drug firms.



Also, the government is close to signing a contract to secure additional new coronavirus vaccines for 20 million people from U.S. drug manufacturer Novavax Inc.



The vaccine program will be more than enough to vaccinate the country's population of 52 million, the KDCA said.



High-risk health care workers at hospitals, sanatoriums and elderly care facilities will get the first vaccines during the first quarter, the KDCA said.



The authorities said people aged 65 or older, and those working at other medical facilities will get the shots in the second quarter, the KDCA said.



The vaccines will be provided to those suffering from chronic diseases and adults aged between 19 and 64 in the third quarter, they said.













The agency also noted that authorities are working to prepare different cold chains as each vaccine must be stored at different temperatures depending on the manufacturer.



AstraZeneca Plc.'s vaccines and those provided under COVAX will be first shipped around February, followed by Johnson Johnson's, Janssen's and Moderna's in the second quarter and Pfizer Inc.'s in the third quarter, according to authorities.



The inoculation program will be carried out at 250 different sites, in addition to some 10,000 medical facilities across the country, the KDCA said.



The KDCA also said it will continue virus infection preventive measures and increase the number of PCR tests by up to 240,000 cases a day.



The number of officers conducting an epidemiological investigation will also be increased form the current 325 to 385, the KDCA said.



The country's drug safety agency, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, also said COVID-19 vaccines and treatments currently under review will receive conditional approval for use next month.



Experimental drugs under clinical trial are sometimes granted approval for emergency usage from the ministry in cases where diseases are life-threatening and there is no other treatment option.



The ministry said it usually takes between two and three months to test the vaccine, while the process will be shortened to 20 days this time.



The ministry also announced that it has begun reviewing the approval of Pfizer's vaccines.



Earlier, the government signed a COVID-19 vaccine procurement contract with Pfizer for 10 million people. (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON - Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, announced Monday that he will not seek reelection to a third term in 2022, ensuring a fierce and costly campaign for the open seat in a state Democrats are eager to wrest out of Republican control.

Portman, 65, cited his frustration with "partisan gridlock" as the impetus for his retirement. The decision comes two weeks before the Senate chamber is due to be convulsed by a second impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump.

"We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground," Portman said in a statement announcing his retirement. "This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but a problem that has gotten worse over the past few decades."

"This is a tough time to be in public service," he added.

The surprise announcement by Portman, who first came to Congress as a House member in 1993 and later served as President George W. Bush's budget director, follows the similar decision by Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from neighboring Pennsylvania, to decline to seek a third term in 2022.

Portman's decision set off a flurry of public consideration on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Tim Ryan, who is the best-known among potential Democratic candidates, tweeted that he was "looking seriously" at running and included a donation link. He made a brief and unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

The prohibitive favorite on the Republican side, if he chooses to run, is Rep. Jim Jordan, a Trump devotee who is well-liked by the GOP base and is a known commodity for his near-daily appearances on Fox News. Jordan had no immediate comment on whether he would consider running.

Jordan, whose support of Trump was so fierce and provocative that he received the Medal of Freedom in the waning days of the administration, would be a departure from the more mild-mannered Portman.

Elected to the Senate in the 2010 tea party wave, Portman is a staunch fiscal conservative, but his genial demeanor has long made him appear more moderate compared with some of his fiery GOP colleagues. Even as he distanced himself from Trump's more incendiary rhetoric, he was a dependable vote for Trump during the former president's single term.

For Democrats, the vacancy will serve as an opportunity to bolster their razor-thin majority in the 2022 midterm election. And for Republicans, the election could be an early test of whether the party's now-dominant Trumpian wing can defeat the establishment Republicans who represented the state before the former president's candidacy.

With its aging, mostly White population, Ohio has trended more conservative in recent years and has become a steeper climb for Democrats who in the 1980s and 1990s fared well in the state.

Ohio had long been a bellwether in presidential elections, siding with every presidential winner after 1960 until last year, when Trump defeated Biden by 8 points while Biden won the popular vote nationally.

Republicans also have won the past three statewide races for governor. The sole successful statewide Democrat in recent years has been the state's senior senator, Sherrod Brown, a liberal who in 2018 won his third term.

Jeff Rusnak, a Democratic consultant in the state, called Portman's exit "a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Ohio."

"I think it's a new day in Ohio, I think it's wide open and it's game-changing in a lot of ways and there's a huge opportunity here for someone to emerge," he said of Democrats' chances.

But Corry Bliss, who ran Portman's successful reelection campaign in 2016, laughed off the opposing party's odds of taking the seat.

"The Ohio Democratic Party is dead, they're inept, incompetent, they cannot and do not win races," Bliss said.

As Portman lamented divisions in the Senate, former Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper called him out for not doing more during his time in the Senate to fight back against the vitriol.

"Those who could have made it a better environment, like Senator Portman, spent 10 years cowering and allowing it to become what it is now," Pepper tweeted. But he also warned that Democrats "will need a strong candidate to keep the far right from winning this."

Portman's withdrawal means two perennial swing-state targets, Ohio and Pennsylvania, will have high-profile Senate races in 2022. Wisconsin also may host a nationally watched race as Democrats angle to unseat incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican.

In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, has kicked off a formidable exploratory Senate campaign, raising more than $1 million in two weeks.

Without the risk of a primary challenge, Portman and Toomey face less pressure as they consider a possible vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial next month. Toomey has signaled a willingness to hold Trump accountable for his role in inciting the violent mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, but Portman has expressed concern that doing so would deepen the nation's polarization.
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Heather Locklear looked happy as she enjoyed a lazy Sunday with her family.

The 59-year-old Melrose Place alum posted a snap to her Instagram showing her watching television while cuddled up to fiance Chris Heisser, also 59.

'Enjoying my family! Including the photographer' Locklear captioned the cozy snap, presumably referring to her daughter Ava Sambora, 23, being behind the lens.

Family time: Heather Locklear shared a cozy snap as she enjoyed a lazy Sunday with her fiance Chris Heissner

It's the first time she's shared a photo of her husband-to-be since his birthday in September.

The actress could be seen wearing her impressive diamond ring on her left hand as she reclined against Heisser, with her dog Mister on her lap.

In June, the exciting news broke that three years after rekindling her relationship with her high school sweetheart, she accepted his proposal.

The pair dated in the late 1970's at Newbury Park High School, went through multiple marriages and have had their share of ups and downs since getting back together in the fall of 2017.

The couple were once a item before Locklear went on to marry rockers Tommy Lee from 1986-1993 and Richie Sambora from 1994-2007, with whom she has a daughter, Ava, 23.

Going strong: The Melrose Place star flashed the diamond ring that Heisser gave her in June

Birthday boy: The last time Locklear shared a photos of Heisser was for his 59th birthday in late September

In April 2020, she celebrated one year of sobriety and a friend told People that Locklear 'is in a great place.'

'She is doing great and looks great,' her pal said. 'Whats most important is today and the next day and the future and shes in a great place.'

Locklear marked the occasion with a thoughtful post to Instagram, in which she shared a long quote from Maya Angelou, presumably in reference to some of the things she has learned over the past 12 months.

Longtime love: In June, the exciting news broke that three years after rekindling her relationship with her high school sweetheart, she accepted his proposal (seen in 2017)

Inseparable: The pair dated in the late 1970's at Newbury Park High School, went through multiple marriages and have had their share of ups and downs since getting back together in the fall of 2017

Doing well: Locklear celebrated one year of sobriety in April 2020

Reflecting: Locklear marked the sobriety anniversary by sharing a long quote from Maya Angelou

In February 2018 she was arrested for domestic violence and for battery against a police officer who attended the incident at her mansion in Thousand Oaks, California.

That June, she was arrested again for allegedly verbally and physically abusing an ambulance EMT who responded to her home following a call for help.

Then in November 2018, she was placed on a 5150 hold after her therapist determined that she was experiencing a mental breakdown. She entered rehab the following month.

In May 2019 she entered that same facility for substance abuse treatment.

In August 2019, Locklear pleaded no contest to eight misdemeanor counts: five counts of battery on a peace officer, one count of battery on an emergency medical personnel, and two counts of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer.

She was ordered to complete a 30-day residential rehab stay in a mental health facility with a 120-day jail sentence suspended.

Staying strong: Locklear shares her home with her elderly parents and her daughter Ava, 23, from her marriage to Richie Sambora as well as her beloved pup Mister

The actress first found fame as Sammy Jo Carrington on the 1980s hit primetime soap Dynasty and also starred opposite William Shatner on the 1980s TV series T.J. Hooker.

In 1993 she was cast as Amanda on Melrose Place that ran for seven seasons, ending in 1999.

The show was revived by The CW in 2009 but the reboot was canceled after one season.
Ryan Reynolds has long endeared himself to fans all over the world, in part, with his self-deprecating sense of humor.

And that brand of comedy, oftentimes directed at himself, was again on display when the Deadpool star poked fun at his appearance on Sesame Street back in November 2010.

He was reminded of his episode when a fan stumbled upon a recent re-broadcast of it and then posted about it on Twitter.

Butt of the joke: Ryan Reynolds took a jab at his appearance on Sesame Street in November 2010 after clip was posted on Twitter

'Watching a little @sesamestreet with the kiddo, and its an episode with @VancityReynolds [Ryan Reynolds] and the gang doing an A-Team gag. Its a delight, for both me and the kiddo,' the fan wrote.

Straight off the top of the episode, Reynolds could barely keep a straight face when he delivered his first lines and sang about The A Team, which was a word play on the letter A and the 1980s action-adventure series.

After being tagged in the tweet, the Canadian actor read the comment and watched the video, then re-posted it with a comment where he takes a jab at himself.

Jokester: The Deadpool star, 44, joked about having his head in the A-hole

'I remember how challenging it was to sing because the A-hole was so tight,' Reynolds joked in reference to the large letter A he had to put his head in to.

'But I pushed through because kids all over the country were counting on me,' he added which also had another dose of humor at his own expense.

A number of people who read the tweet and watched the video were amused enough to share such simple compliments like: 'Amazing' and 'so adorable.'

One person asked one of the most obvious questions: 'Like why didnt they put your face in the triangle?'

Self-deprecating: The Canadian native has long endeared himself to fans all over the world, in part, with his self-deprecating sense of humor

Hilarious: Reynolds could barely keep a straight face when he delivered some of his lines

But, of course, there were a slew of fans and followers who joked about Reynolds being their 'favorite A-hole' and that he 'has his face in the A Hole.'

Reynolds is currently shooting the Netflix science fiction film The Adam Project in Vancouver, Canada, alongside Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Catherine Keener, Walker Scobell and Alex Mallari Jr.

In the movie Reynolds plays a man who travels back in time to get help from his 13-year-old self.

Learning tool for kids: The A Team segment on Sesame Street was a word play on the letter A and the 1980s action-adventure series
[January 25, 2021] Schneider Electric accelerates its sustainability strategy, comes top in Corporate Knights ranking of world's most sustainable corporations

Company announces six long-term commitments, with aim to reach eleven concrete sustainability goals by 2025

Becomes world's most sustainable corporate, according to Corporate Knights 2021 Global 100 ranking MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 25, 2021 /CNW/ - Schneider Electric the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today doubled down on its long-standing strategy to embed environmental, social and governance considerations into every facet of its activities  and to assist its customers and business partners in achieving their own sustainability objectives. The announcement coincided with the news that Corporate Knights, a Canadian media and research company producing rankings and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance, has for the first time recognized Schneider Electric number one of its annual index of "the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world." A jump from 29th position the previous year, the top ranking for 2021 represents an important external recognition of Schneider Electric's early and sustained commitment to ESG issues. It also highlights the company's transformation into a leading provider of digital solutions that facilitate energy efficiency and sustainability. "The core of our strategy is to build a sustainable business and company. Customers, employees, partners and investors have never been more focused on ESG considerations than they are now. Schneider has long embraced those issues, and we keep raising the bar for ourselves, and for our customers and partners," says Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "When we introduced our first sustainability barometer in 2005, we were an early adopter of ESG matters. But ESG commitments cannot just be a one-off, and we have reinforced ours every three years. All of us  companies, governments, individuals  can contribute to make the world greener and more inclusive. Our new commitments define the next steps of our contribution." The new Schneider Sustainability Impact (SSI) program will span 2021-2025 and amounts to a significant acceleration of previous targets. It is built on six long-term commitments, which are set to deliver on each of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. These commitments are: to act for a climate-positive world; to be efficient with resources; to live up to its principles of trust; to create equal opportunities; to harness the power of all generations; and to empower local communities.



"The ability and willingness to make the world greener and more equitable is not just a moral responsibility  it makes good business sense too," said Olivier Blum, Schneider's Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer. "The year 2020, marked by COVID-19, a string of climate-linked disasters, and the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement on climate change, reinforced the urgency for action. It has also intensified the appetite from our customers to accelerate their own transitions towards a lower-carbon world. Our solutions can help them achieve their goals, too." Eleven concrete targets, deliverable by 2025, underpin these commitments. And, for the first time, leaders of the more than 100 markets in which Schneider operates will set local targets to address grassroots-level needs in their communities.

Schneider Sustainability Impact program 2021- 2025: Repeatedly recognized in key rankings for its sustainability achievements, Schneider will continue to report on its extra-financial performance on a quarterly basis, as it has done since launching the world's first corporate sustainability barometer in 2005. In just the past year, Schneider already stepped up on its own decarbonization roadmap and became a signatory of the Climate Pledge; was the first company to issue an ESG-linked convertible bond; was also ranked Corporate Disclosure Project (CDP) A-List for environmental transparency and action for the 10th year in a row; and was included in the Financial Times' Top 50 Diversity Leaders ranking. Click through for more on Schneider's sustainability strategy and its number 1 ranking in Corporate Knights' Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world index. About Schneider Electric Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On. Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries. We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. SOURCE Schneider Electric Canada Inc.

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President Joe Biden signed an order Monday allowing transgender people to again openly serve in the military, reversing the transgender ban imposed by the Trump administration four years ago.

Biden said at a White House signing ceremony that he was reverting to a position that previous commanders as well as (defense) secretaries have supported.

It is my conviction as commander in chief of the armed forces that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, the order says, noting that national security is strengthened when the military is composed of diverse Americans who can meet the rigorous standards for military service and is inclusive.

Troops for years could be discharged for being transgender. But the Pentagon reversed that policy in 2016 and said transgender people could serve openly. The decision was part of a series of changes under President Barack Obama starting in 2010 that protected servicemen and servicewomen from being kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

President Donald Trump imposed the ban after he took office in January 2017. After several court challenges, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the prohibition in January 2019.

San Antonio native Map Pesqueira, who lost a coveted ROTC scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin because hes a transgender student, said he wants to re-enter ROTC as early as this fall and get his scholarship back. He was awarded the grant from the North East School of the Arts, where he was in the National Honor Society.

Pesqueira, 20, said he dashed out for a 2-mile run when he heard the news Monday, to sort of exert my happiness and physically express my happiness and overjoyedness.

Biden has vowed to fight discrimination at all levels of American society. Mondays executive order comes less than a week after he signed a decree the day he was inaugurated to reinforce laws that forbid federal agencies from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Monday that the Pentagon would re-examine all cases of transgender service members that may be in some form of adverse administrative proceedings.

On ExpressNews.com: As high court backs restrictions, transgender man still hopes to come to San Antonio for Air Force basic training

The number of transgender troops isnt clear, but its a fraction of the total armed forces. A Rand study found that the Pentagons 2016 decision affected up to 7,000 active-duty and 4,000 Reserve troops.

Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, which focuses on sexuality in the military, said Monday that there are 14,700 transgender troops in the armed forces.

The Biden administration has made good on its pledge to put military readiness above political expediency by restoring inclusive policy for transgender troops, Belkin said. The ban will now be replaced with a single standard for everyone that, as in the successful previous policy, will apply equally to all service members.

Just how the order would affect the Air Force Recruiting Service in San Antonio wasnt immediately clear. Up to 60 days may pass before officials here get guidance on how they can proceed with recruiting transgender airmen.

As far as the Air Force goes, we will follow the DOD policy, recruiting service spokeswoman Leslie Brown said. We would be getting out ahead of (Pentagon) and (Air Force) leadership if we commented further.

The recruiting service at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland said at least one applicant who identified as transgender entered basic training there in March 2009. It wasnt clear if any others had been through basic training since.

Ash Carter, who served as defense secretary under Obama, said the 2016 decision to let transgender troops serve openly was made in part to allow them to obtain medical care through the military, including surgeries.

Previously, transgender troops had to go to private care providers at their own expense. A Rand estimate put the increased cost at between $2.4 million and $8.4 million a year.

Under Trumps policy, transgender people with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria, the medical diagnosis associated with being transgender, could not join the military if they had tried to transition in the preceding 36 consecutive months.

Those diagnosed with gender dysphoria after joining the military could remain, as long as they did not take steps to medically transition and were physically and mentally able to do their jobs.

Austin said Monday that this revised policy will also ensure all medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law is available to all service members.

On ExpressNews.com: Militarys transgender policy costs San Antonio ROTC student his scholarship

Bidens order prohibits involuntary separations, discharges and denials of re-enlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity.

The president also is instructing the military branches to review records of transgender troops who were kicked out and correct the documents to remove an injustice.

The Pentagon also must offer transgender troops who were involuntarily discharged an opportunity to rejoin the military if they meet the current entry standards.

Reaction to the executive order was swift.

All Americans who are willing and able to serve in the U.S. military should have the opportunity  openly and free from discrimination, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said on Twitter. Inclusion makes America stronger.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, whose district includes part of San Antonio, cited Pesqueiras case in celebrating the presidents action.

This policy will encourage young people like Map Pesqueira  a native of Military City, USA, whose military scholarship was revoked  and my former intern Tegan Debrock, who was kicked out of ROTC at Texas State at the stroke of Trumps pen, Doggett said.

Pesqueira, who two years ago was a University of Texas freshman, was born female but began the transition in 2018 to become male, hoping the courts would strike down Trumps transgender ban.

The Pentagon later stripped him of the scholarship, which had been worth more than $10,000 a year to help defray his expected annual cost of $26,000 to attend UT.

Pesqueira scrambled to pay tuition and expenses in 2019, using loans and creating a GoFundMe account that raised $26,193 in 13 days.

Pesqueira said that if he can get the scholarship back and return to ROTC this fall, he could finish the dream hes had since childhood, even before he knew his true gender.

I see it as a victory to celebrate for this community, he said. President Biden told us on the campaign trail that this was something that he was going to make sure that he would do immediately once he gets into office. He kept that promise, and so Im grateful. Im celebrating.

sigc@express-news.net

(Newser)  Michigan couple Jordan and Tammy Myers are being forced to adopt their own biological children, and they say they want state law to change so that no other couple has to go through the same "demoralizing" ordeal. After breast cancer left Tammy Myers unable to have children, surrogate Lauren Vermilye gave birth to twins Eames and Ellison Myers earlier this month. But because of a strict 1988 anti-surrogacy law, the state has refused to recognize the Myers as the twins' parents, WOOD-TV reports. Vermilye fully supports giving the couple parental rights, but when the Myers tried to get legal parental rights months before the birth, judges rejected the surrogacy agreement as "void and unenforceable." Only two other states, Nebraska and Louisiana, have similar laws.

story continues below

Vermilye, who has two children of her own, volunteered to carry the Myers' child for free. "I know what cancer can take away from you," she says. "And just to be able to help bring that hope back to somebody just really, really appealed to me and my husband." The Myers will now have to go through months of home inspections, as well as an FBI background check. The twins, who were born six weeks prematurely on Jan. 11, are still in the newborn ICU, but they are not covered by the Myers' insurance. Their attorney, Melissa Neckers, tells CBS that state judges have granted parental rights pre-birth in at least 72 similar cases since 2005. "They knew that there was risk," she says. "But they really believed that no judge would actually hear their story, which had so many additional layers of heartache and trauma, that a judge wouldn't just want to do the right thing." (Read more surrogacy stories.)
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

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"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

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Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

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Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

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Actor Varun Dhawan and long-time girlfriend Natasha Dalal have been the news of 2021, with their wedding speculations taking rounds for a long time now. After keeping their relationship and wedding plans undercover, actor Varun Dhawan shared pictures on his Instagram handle from his big fat Punjabi wedding. The wedding took place at The Mansion House, a luxurious beach resort in Alibaug on 24th January 2021. Keeping the guest list small, the couple followed all necessary precautions for COVID-19.

After dating each other for many years, now that the couple has finally tied the knot, here are some unknown facts about the newest bride in Bollywood, Natasha Dalal-Dhawan who has kept her distance from the limelight until now.

Natasha is the daughter of businessman Rajesh Dalal and Gauri Dalal. She was born and brought up in Mumbai. She did her schooling from Bombay Scottish School, Mumbai. She has a renowned fashion degree from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York. She returned to India in 2013 and started her own clothing line by the name Natasha Dalal Label, which specializes in Wedding and Bridal Couture.

Varun Dhawan and Natasha were from the same school. They met for the first time when they were in the sixth grade. She loves sketching in her free time. She is an avid dog lover She has styled many B-town celebrities like Alia Bhat, Soha Ali Khan and more.

Natasha took almost nine months to accept actor Varun Dhawan's proposal before which they were really close friends. Being a designer herself, Natasha designed her own wedding dress. Her silver lehenga that she wore to greet the media post wedding was designed by Manish Malhotra.



Also Read: Varun Dhawan Marriage: All The Deets On The Event
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In July, Erica Rodriguez, 20, checked herself into the Renfrew Center, a residential center for eating-disorder treatment in the Philadelphia area. Rodriguez, who has been struggling with disordered eating since she was 12, had relapsed in quarantine.

"It had gotten to the point that I was feeling a bad physical toll," she said. "The day before I decided to go, it was getting hard to breathe. I would stand up and feel super dizzy and faint. It felt like I was having a panic attack because my heart was beating so fast all the time."

After five days at the Renfrew Center, staff members recommended she complete eight weeks of inpatient treatment.

But that changed the very next day. Rodriguez was told that she had to leave the center immediately because a staff member she had been in contact with had tested positive for COVID-19. She was told that she could come back in two weeks if she tested negative but that the facility could not guarantee her a bed.

"They discharged me with a new medication," Rodriguez said. "I was left with no help."

The many stressors brought on by the coronavirus pandemic have led to increased substance use, mental health issues, and disordered eating behaviors. Experts predict that the pandemic may lead to an increase in deaths of despair, a term for early deaths among young and midlife Americans, from suicide, drug overdoses and alcoholism. Overdoses in Philadelphia are expected to hit an all-time high in 2020; nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported the highest-ever number of fatal overdoses nationally in a 12-month period.

Many residential treatment centers around the country have experienced more demand for their services during the pandemicand serious struggles with containing the virus.

In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a detox center weathered criticisms for having lax COVID-19 policies after seven patients and six staff members tested positive this month. In New Hampshire, patients complained about a lack of social distancing and mask-wearing at one of the state's biggest residential substance-use disorder treatment facilities, which battled an outbreak that affected at least 50 people.

In October, about 80 patients at the 270-bed Kirkbride Center in West Philadelphia tested positive for coronavirusthe addiction treatment center's second outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic. Public health experts who worked with the facility to contain the spread said they "did everything right," taking dramatic measures to contain itbut because the virus can often spread without symptoms, it was difficult to detect early.

Residential treatment centers have long included in-person therapy sessions, support groups, and family visits in their programs. Part of the challenge now is delivering those treatments virtually, said Gina Marchando, CEO of Seabrook House, an addiction treatment facility in New Jersey owned by Summit BHC.

"Research shows addiction is a family disease to some degree," Marchando said. "So although we've been able to include family virtually, you still miss out on that family dynamic. There's something so critical about getting that family system together in one room with a skilled clinician to be able to really understand, gauge and assess those dynamics."

Marchando said the facility requires all residents to be tested for COVID-19, and quarantines those waiting for results.

A former employee, though, said staff and residents who had come into contact with people who tested positive for COVID hadn't been notified of their exposure, even though some had shared rooms.

The former employee, who asked that their name be withheld for fear of reprisals, also noted that a nurse manager at the facility told staffers that even if they were exposed to the virus, they weren't required to quarantine while they awaited COVID-19 test results. The manager encouraged staff to take vitamins to boost their immune systems, and said that testing had to be approved by the facility's human resources division and would be provided only for staffers who had a "true exposure" to the virus.

Seabrook did not respond to a follow-up request to comment on the employee's claims.

Renfrew requires patients to submit a negative COVID-19 test result that is not older than 14 days before they are admitted. After taking the test, Renfrew expects patients to self-quarantine until they enter the treatment center. Patients who are at higher risk, such as those who live on college campuses or have been in large gatherings, are required to provide two negative results. At the facility, all staff and patients are required to wear face masks and no visitors are allowed inside, said Franci Kraman, a physician at Renfrew, in a written statement.

"Any patient who tests positive for COVID is immediately discharged and supported through our virtual programming," Kraman said. "Out of an abundance of caution, we also discharge patients who are defined as close contact. During the quarantine period, the discharged individuals are able to attend our virtual services. After the quarantine period, our admissions department works closely with the patient to ensure a seamless transition back to campus."

Rodriguez opted not to participate in virtual programming and hasn't returned to Renfrew to continue her treatment, partially because she needed to return to work.

Any interruption to inpatient treatment can be detrimental to a patient's overall recovery, said Bruce Zahn, a professor in the department of clinical psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

"The general principle is that the longer one stays engaged in treatment, the better the outcome," he said. "One of the main things with COVID is that there's increased stress. If a patient is in treatment for mental illness and substance misuse, they are already not doing so well to begin with. You're taking vulnerable people and taking away their treatment, which makes them even more vulnerable."

At Eagleville Hospital, a large treatment center in Montgomery County that takes some of the region's most vulnerable addicted patients, staff have been on edge as COVID-19 cases spiked last monthfrom one to 30 in a single week, one nurse said. The facility was not testing patients at admissionjust requiring them to present a negative COVID test. Some patients would show up with test results from some time ago and get admitted anyway, said the nurse, who also asked that her name be withheld for fear of reprisals.

Management at the hospital told staff there aren't enough tests for the patient populationbut the nurse said she's unsure why Eagleville doesn't have enough tests when other rehabs have instituted universal testing programs.

"We were told we weren't able to get tests, period, back in the spring," the nurse said. "Now, my facility is acting like we haven't been going through a pandemic."

Eagleville officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Social distancing was difficult to practice, with four patients to a room, the nurse said, and staffing was at an "all-time low." In some units, 40 patients were assigned to a single nurse and a technician.

At Brookdale Premier Addiction Recovery in Scotrun, Monroe County, COVID-19 protocols have evolved as the CDC has released more detailed information on containing the virus. Temperature checks were implemented in March for staff members and patients, said Joe Mattioli IV, chief operating officer and executive director at the center. Social distancing measures were also implemented for patients.

"We still maintained the ability for them to have interaction," Mattioli said. "Keeping everybody separated worked very well for close to seven, eight months. We had only one patient case and two staff cases."

But those cases were enough for the center to take a closer look at its own protocols, Mattioli said. They moved all group activities to open-air spaces. Staff members, who are tested if they are exposed or show symptoms, have their temperatures taken every day when they report to work. Every patient admitted to Brookdale is tested for the virus before entering the facility, and even if they test negative, they must be isolated for 72 hours and present another negative test before they're allowed to participate in group activities. While patients are isolated, they're treated via telehealth, said Mattioli.

When a patient or staff member tests positive, other patients and staff members are notified and the treatment center conducts comprehensive contact tracing, Mattioli said. Staff members have also begun their vaccinationsas of mid-January, 72% of the facility's staff has received their first round.

"I'm always very sensitive to the mortality rate of COVID," Mattioli said. "It's nothing to scoff at and it's terrible. This is killing people. But the disease of addiction has been killing much greater numbers of people for a much greater period of time, and we've got to make sure our quality of care isn't compromised by one disease."

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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Throughout history, pandemics have forced us to see what and who really matter most.

Think of the care-workers and nurses who have kept us alive over the last year. The farmers whove fed us. The scientists who will save us. Or the clean air which means our children can breathe easily for the first time.

But even as our sense of community is renewed, it feels like forces beyond our control are tearing us apart.

Around the world, demagogues have found space to unleash their most dangerous impulses.

The great divide is everywhere, including deep within our economies. Today Oxfam publishes new research that goes to the heart of the challenges before us. It reveals:

We could face the greatest rise in inequality since records began, with the pandemic increasing economic inequality in almost every country at once.

It could take more than a decade for billions of the worlds poorest people to recover from the economic hit of the pandemic  while the 1,000 richest people recouped their COVID19 losses within just nine months.

Just ten people  the worlds richest billionaires, all men  have seen their combined wealth skyrocket by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began. Thats more than enough to pay for a COVID19 vaccine for everyone and to prevent the pandemic from pushing anyone into poverty.

Our economies and societies are infected with an Inequality Virus that is just as deadly as COVID-19.

Ours is a world in which a tiny minority at the top are almost living on a different planet while billions of people in the real world are struggling to survive.

If youre poor, a woman or from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, youre more likely to have lost your income or be pushed into poverty. Around the world the virus is disproportionately killing poor people, and those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups.

Consider women who are much more likely to work in low-pay sectors such as tourism and retail that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. If men and women were equally represented in these sectors, over 100 million women would not be at risk of losing their jobs. Ask any woman. That will come as no surprise.

Or consider the 20 million secondary school-aged girls who may never return to the classroom  compounding inequalities and heartbreaking for those girls and painful for all of us in the girls rights movement after the progress we made in recent years.

Consider Afro-descendants in Brazil. They are 40 percent more likely to die of COVID-19 than white people.

Or that nearly 22,000 black and Hispanic people in the United States would still be alive today if they experienced the same COVID-19 mortality rates as their white counterparts.

Just think of how so many families will never hold their loved ones again  because we failed to tackle the elitism, white supremacy, racism and patriarchy rooted in our economies.

And yet the most scandalous point is that this too comes as no surprise to you, does it?

That is why the economic project for equality and sustainability  ending the extreme gap between rich and poor, together with ending gender and racial inequality  must be our way out of this crisis.

Oxfam urges every government on the planet to explicitly commit to ending extreme inequality.

That is what I will call on leaders attending the Davos Agenda to do. I echo the calls of people across the globe from young climate strikers, BlackLivesMatter protesters, and the activists of the Fight Inequality Alliance.

Leaders can learn from countries like New Zealand, which is centering its budget on the well-being of its people, and Sierra Leone and South Korea, which are taking ambitious inequality-busting action.

We urge leaders to back a Peoples Vaccine so everyone can get a jab, not just the richest countries and people. Leaders must face down pharmaceutical companies and insist vaccine technology and knowhow are shared, so we can make enough doses for the world.

We urge them to guarantee universal, quality public services and ensure that everyone, no matter the color of your skin or the size of your pay packet, gets quality healthcare  something many countries have been able to achieve; with Costa Rica showing it can be achieved within a decade. It means ensuring universal education  so no girl is forced out of school for lack of money  and universal social protection so no one is forced into poverty when they lose their job.

Real action, too, means investing in low-carbon sectors to create millions of new jobs, and truly valuing the billions of hours done daily by women, especially racialized women, in underpaid and unpaid care work as real work.

It means being unafraid to tax the rich so we can invest in a green, fairer future for our children and grandchildren. See how Argentina recently adopted a tax on extreme wealth that could generate billions to beat the virus.

It means rising to avert climate breakdown  which harms the poorest and historically marginalized communities most. And safeguarding our democracies from the extreme power of extreme wealth.

Its the job of governments to legislate to reduce inequality but business must also play its part. We need fairer business models, and for big business  at a minimum  to do no harm.

Some are taking the right steps, as the consumer products giant Unilever has just done in committing to a living wage and income for everyone who directly provides goods and services to it. This is a breakthrough commitment, and every company at Davos should follow.

2021 is like no other year. We must seize the opportunity, before its too late, to ensure our economies work for all of us, not just a privileged few.
Chief executive Bernard Looney has set BP on a path to increase renewables, and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels (Aaron Chown/PA)

Hundreds of staff have left BPs arm which hunts for new oil and gas around the world, according to reports, as the company pushes towards a more renewable and green future.

The UK-listed oil giant has cut its team of geologists, engineers and scientists to fewer than 100, down from over 700 just a few years ago, Reuters reported.

It comes around a year after Bernard Looney took the top job at the oil producer, which started off digging for oil in the Middle East more than 100 years ago.

But Mr Looney has set out a transformation plan which, if achieved, would turn BP into something unrecognisable to its first engineers.

The plans, which aim to slash BPs net emissions to zero by the middle of the century, include a pledge to cut the amount of oil and gas the company produces by 40% by 2030.

The announcement, which was called encouraging by long-time B critics at Greenpeace, will require major change at the company.

Expand Close A view of part of the BP Etap platform (Eastern Trough Area Project) in the North Sea (Andy Buchanan/PA) / Facebook

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The winds have turned very chilly in the exploration team since Looneys arrival.

This is happening incredibly fast, an unnamed senior BP staff member told Reuters.

But the change that is sweeping the company has also come at a moment when oil majors around the world were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March the price of one type of oil briefly dipped into negative territory for the first time in history, in part because of reduced demand owing to Covid.

The company has also written down the value of the oil in its fields, suggesting that some of it will not be worthwhile to extract, and announced a major plan to slash 10,000 jobs.

BPs share price has felt the weight of the pandemic, and the other measures, dropping around 40% in the last 12 months.

It is a similar fall to its closest rival Shell, whose shares are 36% lower now then they were towards the end of January last year.
As a small business owner, you have to be equally mindful of upside and downside risk. And as important as it is to focus on growth, there's something to be said for protecting the downside with simple strategies and investments.

How to Protect Your Liability (and Keep Growing)

One of your primary responsibilities as a business owner is to put your organization in a strong and stable position to grow. Part of this requires you to keep a keen eye on certain risks and threats (many of which are outside of your control). And though there are no foolproof solutions, the following tips will prove to be beneficial:

1. Form the Appropriate Legal Entity

The very first step is to choose the proper legal entity or business structure for your company. Ideally, this is something that's done from the very start. However, you may need to go back and revisit your options if significant factors have changed in recent years.

"The business structure you choose influences everything from day-to-day operations, to taxes, to how much of your personal assets are at risk," the Small Business Administration explains. "You should choose a business structure that gives you the right balance of legal protections and benefits."

By default, your business is a sole proprietorship until you take definitive action and pursue another structure. The problem with this setup is that there's no separation between you and your business, legally speaking. You're held personally liable for all obligations and debts of the business. Better options include partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and corporations (C corps and S corps are both popular among small businesses).

2. Get the Right Policies

When you're running a small business with tight margins and are trying to keep overhead low, insurance can seem like a waste of resources. But in reality, it's one of the best investments you can make in the long-term health and stability of your company.

In particular, you'll want to focus on a business owners policy (BOP), which is able to cover a variety of different forms of liability and property damages for businesses, including buildings and structures, personal property, income, etc. Other policies worth considering are general liability insurance, product liability insurance, professional liability insurance, and commercial property insurance.

3. Secure Your Intellectual Property

Don't underestimate the importance of protecting your intellectual property from ill-willed entrepreneurs and competitors. From your business name and logos to proprietary processes and products, getting copyrights, trademarks, and patents will help you keep outsiders at arm's length.

4. Write Thorough Contracts

As any business owner knows, it doesn't exist until it's in writing. The problem is that many small businesses fail to draft adequate legal agreements. (Which means they have a false sense of security.)

Small business owners often pull contracts or agreements from the internet - or source them from other businesses that are outside of their industry - and fail to consider the need for custom contracts that are specific to their company size, location, or application. Don't make this mistake! If you're going to take the time to sign a contract, it should be handled by an attorney.

5. Train Your Employees

You can avoid a whole host of problems if you simply invest in the proper training of your employees on the front end. From how to use equipment to how to speak with customers, adequate training empowers your team to make safe and legal decisions that protect you from legal issues like liabilities and broken regulations.

Training is something that should be seen as more than just a one-time event when you onboard a new employee. Make it a regular and recurring investment so that you can stay on top of the latest developments and keep important issues fresh on your employees' minds.

Don't Let Risk Come to Fruition

We face risks in every area of our lives. From the moment our feet hit the floor in the morning until we slip back in bed in the evening, risk is all around us. But risk, on its own, has no ill-effect. It's when risk is realized that it becomes hazardous to our lives.

You can't stop risk from becoming a reality, but you can insulate yourself and your business from many of the negatives that crop up in its wake. Look for ways to implement the tips and strategies outlined in this article and be as productive and profitable as possible.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A labourer has been banned from any unnecessary contact with women despite having no convictions for sex crimes - and must give police 24 hours' notice if he wants to have sex with a woman.

Dean Dyer, 39, was handed the Sexual Risk Order by a court that heard a list of accusations against him - including a series of sex attacks, attempting to have sex with a 14-year-old and telling a policewoman he abused her daughter.

The construction worker, of Notting Hill, London is only allowed to speak to women who are not 'necessarily avoidable in the course of daily life', such as bus conductors and policewomen - and must give any woman he wants to have sex with, as well as Charing Cross police station, 24 hours' notice.

Wearing a purple t-shirt, blue jeans and brown leather jacket to Westminster Magistrates Court last week, he yawned loudly and repeatedly as District Judge Michael Snow listed seven allegations against made by different women.

The judge granted the order against Dyer, having been satisfied that he 'has done an act of a sexual nature'. However, the labourer has no convictions for sex crimes and the allegations remain unproven.

A Sexual Restraint Order is a civil order generally made against an individual who has not been convicted or cautioned for the offence but who nevertheless is thought to pose a risk of harm to the public in the UK and/or children or vulnerable adults abroad.

Dyer's only criminal conviction came in 2019, after he was filmed shouting anti-Muslim abuse on a TfL train just days after the horrific Christchurch mosque shooting.

Dean Dyer, 39, was handed the Sexual Risk Order by a court last week that heard a list of accusations against him. He was fined 400 for racially aggravated harassment in 2019 after spouting anti-Muslim abuse on a TfL train (pictured) days after the Christchurch shooting

He was fined 400 for racially aggravated harassment for the offence on the train between West Croydon and Canada Water on March 19 of that year.

Judge Snow told Westminster Magistrates' Court: 'On 2 June 2005 a woman made an allegation he raped her at her home address.

'On 21 December 2011 Mr Dyer asked a 14-year-old girl for her telephone number for babysitting and later messaged her in a sexualised way.

Terms of Dean Dyer's Sexual Risk Order Dyer was ordered to have no contact with any female or child under the age of 18 which is not 'necessarily avoidable in the course of daily life'. Dyer will only be allowed to be with women or children after they or their guardians have been informed of the order. He is also barred from having sex with a woman unless he has notified her of the order and Charing Cross police station of his intentions 24 hours ahead of the event. The judge banned Dyer from having any contact with a woman unless it is unavoidable, and gave the example of a bus conductor. Advertisement

'She told him of her age he said he wanted to have sex with her. No action was taken because the complainant had deleted the messages.

'On 28 September 2012 a woman alleged she met the complainant at a party, he sexually touched her and when she resisted he made threats to rape her.'

Expanding on this incident, PC James Drummond said: 'She invited him to stay but she was adamant there would be no sexual contact.

'Mr Dyer allegedly attempted to strip down naked which she refused to allow..

'The pair shared a bed and the complainant fell asleep to find Mr Dyer grabbing hold of touching her breasts which led to verbal redress by the complainant and then led to Mr Dyer making threats to raping her and general verbal abuse.

'There was an allegation he offered her money to 'go down on her' and she told him to shut the f*** up. He said I'll f****** rape you then, b****, called her a dirty f****** sl*g..

'She ejected him from the premises and he told her 'you f****** b**** I've got nowhere to f****** go I'm down from London. When he was arrested he told the policewoman he would rape her daughter.

'On 27 October 2016 the defendant squeezed the buttocks of a complainant. He was acquitted at a Crown court but this forms part of a pattern of behaviour.

'On 8 March 2017 a woman alleged she went to Mr Dyer's address to buy drugs and he attempted to rape her. She had bruising on her neck.

'On 26 October 2017 a woman said she had gone to Mr Dyer's flat, he punched her and grabbed her hair and he then vaginally and orally raped her. She refused to engage in the proceedings.

'On 3 December 2020 a woman alleged Mr Dyer had tried to rape her inside his address. He attempted it but did not succeed because he was unable to obtain an erection.'

Prosecutor Jennie Oborne said while it was possible Dyer had been 'extraordinarily unlucky', he had had frequent sexual abuse allegations levelled against him since he was 21 and said 'any woman who enters into a relationship with him should be aware' of them.

The judge granted the order against Dyer, having been satisfied he 'has done an act of a sexual nature'. The labourer has no convictions for sex crimes and the allegations remain unproven

The judge said Dyer should have 'no contact with any child under the age of 18 or any adult woman which is not necessarily avoidable in the court of daily life or without the express consent of the child's guardian or the woman in question after having been informed of the terms of this order and consent can only be given after they have been made aware of this order'.

Judge Snow added: 'The exemptions are in a case of emergency of if the female is working as a public servant and in the course of her duties, for example a bus conductor or working on a train.

'Mr Dyer is prohibited from engaging in any sexual activity with a female person unless he has notified the person and police in the area in which Mr Dyer resides 24 hours in advance or within 24 hours of the activity.'

The judge noted Dyer would be able to have sex with men without notifying them of the order or alerting Charing Cross police station because 'the allegations only refer to women'.

If he fails to comply he could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
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Mandatory quarantine for people travelling into Ireland without proof of being Covid-free and tighter north-south Border Covid checks are to be considered by Government ministers meeting today.

The Government is likely to bow to pressure for new rules on quarantine.

The Covid-19 ministers sub-committee will try to recommend a strategy to boost the trend of lowering virus cases and ease near-breakpoint pressure on hospital services.

But one Government source has conceded there are still more questions than answers about the detail of new regulations to be adopted.

The major stumbling block remains how to deal with people travelling in from Northern Ireland, who could seriously undermine a Dublin government plan to oblige people landing here to have a certificate issued within the previous 72 hours showing themselves to be Covid-free.

Read More

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has spoken with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the weekend about a two islands joint approach to the issue of people travelling in from overseas.

But anything which might come of that remains to be seen, one government source told the Irish Independent.

Mr Martin told this newspaper mandatory quarantine of up to five days may be considered for people travelling into Ireland without proof of a so-called PCR test delivered within the previous 72 hours.

But others in the Government point out medical experts rarely view a five-day quarantine sufficient and more usually insist on 14 days.

Last night, officials said there was clear pressure on the Government to act.

But three practical obstacles remain in the way. These are questions of accommodation, transport and how to enforce any such quarantine, said one source.

Officials in all three Coalition parties  Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party  insisted their leaders are united on the need for action but are still undecided on the practical implications of whatever extra restrictions they invoke.

They expect some proposals will emerge later today to be put before the full Cabinet tomorrow.

Labour Party leader Alan Kelly has said a longer lockdown should be implemented to suppress Covid-19 along with a national aggressive suppression strategy.

Speaking on RTE radios This Week, he said the Border should be better policed to stop non-essential travel and that mandatory quarantine should be introduced for all visitors arriving here.

He added that it was inevitable that the Leaving Cert would be cancelled.
Australians can now buy pre-made Aperol Spritz in ready-to-drink bottles - and the refreshing beverage has come just in time for this summer's strongest heat wave.

The pre-made drink comes in a pack of three, with each bottle containing approximately 1.3 standard drinks.

It is best served cold with a slice of orange, according to the pack.

Australians can now buy pre-made Aperol Spritz in ready-to-drink bottles - and the refreshing beverage has come just in time for this summer's strongest heat wave

The Italian drink has soared in popularity in Australia over recent years because of its refreshing qualities

The Italian drink has soared in popularity in Australia over recent years because of its refreshing qualities.

The three-pack can be purchased from Dan Murphy's for just $17.50 - and according to customers the Aperol, prosecco and soda ratio is 'perfect'.

The concept appears popular with Aperol lovers online.

On Instagram one woman said the drinks are 'the only way to kick off the weekend.'

The three-pack can be purchased from Dan Murphy's for just $17.50 - and according to customers the Aperol, prosecco and soda ratio is 'perfect'

The beverage is popular in Australia - after being a staple in bars in Venice, Italy for years

'This is the best news ever,' another said.

Others simply tagged their friends and promised to share one of the drinks 'soon'.

'We are sorted for the next picnic in the park,' said another.

Even Bachelor in Paradise star Keira Maguire commented on a video of the drink in keen anticipation. 'My faves,' she said.

The drinks are available to people over 18 at bottle shops across Australia.
ZANU PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda, says the lethal Covid-19 pandemic will not destroy the ruling party as yearned for by its detractors, but will emerge stronger.

The killer virus last week claimed the lives of senior Zanu PF and government officials who include Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Busi Moyo and Transport minister and Zanu PF Mashonaland East chairperson Joel Biggie Matiza.

Former Education minister and Mashonaland East governor Aneas Chigwedere, former Zanu PF Chitungwiza legislator Christopher Chigumba and former Zimbabwe Correctional Services Commissioner General Paradzai Zimhondi also succumbed to the virus.

A week earlier, Covid-19 had claimed the lives of Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimba and party central committee member Morton Malianga.

In an interview with the Daily News, Matemadanda said while coronavirus had robbed Zanu PF and the government of dedicated cadres, the party would soldier on.

It is delusional for some to think that Covid-19 is killing Zanu PF members only. This is a global pandemic that has affected even the biggest economies. People are perishing and this is not only in Zanu PF. This is just a matter of numbers. Zanu PF, as the biggest party in the country, has more people who are likely to be affected. This is a reflection of the numbers of people in Zanu PF and you cannot talk of that in small parties with smaller membership, Matemadanda said.

He said the country was not severely affected by the first wave of Covid-19 as other countries, adding the second wave was proving to be more severe.

This is what has been happening daily across the world, only that the first wave was not severe as this. What we are witnessing now is what has been happening in other countries. We are actually better than what is happening elsewhere, he said.

Matemadenda said Zanu PF was not a party of individuals, saying it has stood the test of time and will not collapse because of the pandemic.

With some people on social media seemingly celebrating the fall of Zanu PF figures, Matemadanda said the party would not wish anyone dead.

We actually wish everyone good health and want them to live long so that when we meet at elections we compete fairly and be victors over them.

We also have relatives who are in MDC, but we cannot wish them dead. This is a pandemic and no one knows who will be the next victim, he said.

Matemadanda said it is time for the nation to look up to God for salvation and protection from the lethal virus. Daily News
President Joe Biden signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)

Biden Reverses Transgender Ban in Military With Executive Order

The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden has reversed a Trump executive order which barred transgender people from serving in the military.

The White House press announcement states: President Biden signed today an Executive Order that sets the policy that all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve.

Trump announced the ban in a series of 2017 tweets that reversed previous Obama administration policies on transgenders serving in the military, citing the cost of having transgender in the military.

Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail, he wrote in a Twitter post.

During his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he supports allowing transgender people to serve in the military.

In a Monday press statement, Lloyd said the department will take immediate policy actions to ensure that transgender can serve based on their self-identified gender.

Lloyd said that the military will authorize all transition-related care under pre-existing laws for transgender service people.
The network has boosted its online presence along with the start of rallies against higher utility bills.

Cyber officers of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine have busted the activity of a Russian-controlled propagandist network operating in Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Poltava, Zakarpattia regions.

According to the SBU, on the instructions of Russia-based handlers, propagandists circulated across social networks calls for the violation of territorial integrity and constitutional order, as well as incited interethnic hatred.

For example, in Dnipropetrovsk region, operatives identified a native of the occupied city of Donetsk who had been posting propaganda in support of Crimea annexation attempt and the occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, called for the physical destruction of the alleged "Ukrainian fascists," and promoted the ideas of the "Russian world." During a raid at the suspect's home, the computer equipment and means of communication were seized with evidence of his unlawful activity.

In Kherson region, operatives exposed a resident of the town of Oleshky who had been spreading anti-Ukrainian posts in one of the government-banned social networks, where he justified the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine and called for the secession of central, southern, and eastern regions with their further accession to Russia.

Read also"Elves" fighting pro-Kremlin trolls now in Ukraine  mediaAn agitator from the town of Berehove in Zakarpattia region had created a number of accounts on social networks where he disseminated calls for violations of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. In particular, he called on citizens to support the secession of Zakarpattia region.

In Poltava region, cybersecurity officers exposed a propagandist who had been posting publications in one of the banned social networks with calls for separatism and border altering. A resident of the town of Horishni Plavni had been an active member of over 20 anti-Ukrainian online communities covering an audience of more than 100,000 users.

The network has boosted its online presence along with the start of rallies against higher utility bills, cybersecurity agents note. It was established that upon their handlers' instructions, the culprits incited netizens to disrupt public order.

The intruders have been served with charge papers under Article 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The investigation is underway.

Reporting by UNIAN
America's fleet of B-52 bombers is expected to keep flying into the 2050s because the long-range jets are seen as essential to keeping China and Russia in check and revamping the decades-old planes is cheaper than replacing them.

The Boeing-made US Air Force workhorse first took to the skies in 1954 - meaning the 76 jets due to stay in service until the middle of the 21st century will be nearly 100 years old by then.

The Air Force last year invited bids to supply 608 new engines to revamp the B-52 fleet, which can carry nuclear weapons, fly at 650mph and cost only around $6million per plane at the time they were built.

The decision came after Pentagon chiefs concluded the threat from beefed-up militaries in China and Russia meant long-range bombers were back in demand as a way of displaying America's military reach, the Wall Street Journal reports.

While the bomber fleet will also be expanded with new B-21 bombers, other alternatives 'did not work out' and prolonging the life of the B-52 became the most attractive option.

2020: A B-52H bomber is seen during its refueling by a KC-135 'Stratotanker' las month as the Pentagon flew strategic bombers over the Persian Gulf in a show of force to Iran

1965: A B-52 drops a load of 750lb bombs over a coastal area of Vietnam, when the US dropped more ammunition than during World War II

Timeline: America's B-52 bombers 1954: The B-52A, the first production model, makes its maiden flight from Boeing Field, Washington 1962: Last of the 744 Boeing-manufactured aircraft rolls off the production line 1965: Beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder bombing effort in Vietnam, led by B-52s, as US involvement escalated 1990: B-52s delivered 40 per cent of all weapons dropped by Gulf War coalition in war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq 2001-03: Took part in the war on terror, including dropping cruise missiles on Iraq and providing air support during Afghanistan invasion 2016: B-52s flew hundreds of combat sorties against ISIS in Iraq and Syria 2020: Air Force invites bids for 608 new B-52 engines 2050: The remaining 76 aircraft are expected to remain in service until at least this date Advertisement

Within the last year, B-52s have flown on long-range missions in shows of force to China, Russia and Iran, including a trip to the Persian Gulf earlier this month.

The bombers have been a key part of the rival shows of power in the South China Sea, where the US has long tried to prevent China asserting military dominance.

On one occasion, a B-52 flew over airspace claimed by China and received a message warning it would be intercepted if it failed to turn around.

But the aircraft, which had flown out of a US military base in Guam, continued over the Chinese 'air identification zone' which is not recognised by Washington.

With tensions rising between the US and China on a whole range of issues, the durable B-52 has been seen as a key tool for the Pentagon to project its power.

A 2020 Pentagon report noted that the Beijing-controlled People's Liberation Army was developing a new long-range bomber likely to surface in the next decade.

While China's bomber force is also relatively old, having been based on Soviet jets, military chiefs have revamped their aircraft in recent years, the report said.

It also warned that China's construction of new military outposts on islands in the South China Sea gave its bombers a greater range and 'loiter time'.

In the meantime, the Pentagon has drawn up plans to buy hundreds of new B-52 engines over a 17-year period to keep the ageing aircraft in its arsenal.

Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce and General Electric were among those expected to bid for the Air Force contract.

2003: A US B-52 bomber lands at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the UK weeks before the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq

A B-52H based at Barksdale Air Force base in Louisiana is seen in the skies one one of its 20th-century missions, after the long-range bombers first took to the skies in 1954

The revamp means that the aircraft are expected to remain in service until at least 2050, some 98 years after they first took to the skies.

'It is like an old truck that was built when they actually built them tough,' air force chief of staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown told the WSJ.

'The challenge you have with a platform like that now is how to bring in new technology and capability.'

The Pentagon is separately expanding its bomber fleet by developing a new aircraft called the B-21 or 'Raider' in an estimated $80billion programme.

But various other efforts to develop a new bomber have run into difficulties, leaving a renovation of the -52s as the best way to maintain a large fleet.

'Part of the reason the Air Force is so dependent on B-52 modernization is that other proposed successors did not work out along the way,' said Jeremiah Gertler of the Congressional Research Service.

The B-1B long-range bomber, in service since 1985, is no longer nuclear-capable and is being phased out with the fleet due to be slashed from 62 to 45 by this summer.

The Air Force had separately planned to keep its B-2s flying until 2058, but will instead retire them as the B-21 Raider arrives before the end of the 2020s.

An artist's impression of a B-21 Raider, a new bomber capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons which will join the B-52 in the Air Force fleet in the coming years

By contrast, the storied B-52s have proved so durable that the Air Force has twice in recent years brought one back from a desert 'boneyard' in Arizona.

Known to crews as the Big Ugly Fat Fellow, the B-52 is equipped to drop or launch the widest array of weapons in the entire Air Force inventory.

Although less nimble than the B-21, it will remain in service as a 'stand off' platform from which to launch cruise missiles and other weapons from beyond the reach of hostile air defences.

It means the B-52 will continue a long history which saw it used to carpet-bomb the countryside in Vietnam and pound Saddam Hussein's forces during the Gulf War.

A total of 744 B-52s were built from their 1954 launch until 1962, and some of them were also used in the early-2000s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the 1960s it even lent its name to a beehive hairstyle that resembled the plane's distinctive nose, and featured in the 1964 Stanley Kubrick movie Dr Strangelove.

'There is an old joke that runs through the bomber fleet that when the B-1 and B-2 bombers are retired, the pilots will be flown home from the boneyard in the B-52,' said a Pentagon paper last year.
Days after a physical brawl between the Chinese and the Indian Army took place on January 20 along the Line of Actual Control in Sikkim, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday "urged" India to "refrain from actions that might complicate the situation along the border".

Speaking at a press briefing, Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, also claimed that the Chinese border troops are "committed to upholding peace and tranquillity along the border with India".

"I would like to stress though that China's border troops are committed to upholding peace and tranquillity along the border with India," he was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.

"We urge the Indian side to work in the same direction as us and refrain from actions that might escalate or complicate the situation along the border," he said while adding that both countries will take "proper actions to manage their differences and take concrete actions to safeguard peace and stability along the border".

This comes after the Indian Army had confirmed that a physical brawl between the Indian and Chinese soldiers took place on January 20.

"It is clarified that there was a minor face-off between Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops at Naku La, Sikkim on January 20. It was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols," the Indian Army said.

According to earlier sources, soldiers from both sides were injured during the brawl.

This comes amid the ongoing standoff between India and

In June last year, 20 Indian soldiers, including a Colonel, lost their lives in the face-off in clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley.

The ninth round of Corps Commander Level talks between India and to address the ongoing military standoff in Ladakh ended at 2:30 am on Monday.

The meeting lasted for more than 15 hours after starting at 11 am on Sunday at Moldo opposite Chushul in the Eastern Ladakh sector.

The two countries have been engaged in a stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since April-May last year. While began amassing massive military strength along the LAC, India responded with a befitting build-up.

Multiple rounds of talks have failed to yield any significant result in defusing border tensions.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:55:49|Editor: huaxia

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Spokesperson Zhao Lijian speaks at a regular press conference of Foreign Ministry on Jan. 25, 2021. (Photo from the Foreign Ministry website)

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China urges the United States to prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues and refrain from sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing in response to a statement issued by the U.S. State Department saying that China should stop pressuring Taiwan and engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.

Zhao said China's position on the Taiwan question is consistent and clear. There is but one China in the world, and the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory.

China is determined in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposing "Taiwan independence" and interference by external forces, the spokesperson said.

The root cause of the current tension and disturbance in cross-Strait relations lies in the Democratic Progressive Party authority refusing to recognize the 1992 Consensus which embodies the one-China principle, strengthening contacts with external forces and making provocations in pursuit of "Taiwan independence," he said.

"On the political basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing 'Taiwan independence,' we stand ready to conduct dialogue and consultation with all political parties, groups and personages in the Taiwan region, so that we can resolve differences and build up consensus on political issues across the Strait and on issues related to promoting the peaceful reunification of China," Zhao said.

"We urge the U.S. side to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from sending any wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' forces so as to avoid damaging China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Zhao added. 


Gustavo Huerta, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The Texas GOP drew attention over the weekend for using its slogan, "We are the storm," on publicity materials and its Twitter account, which critics say links the party to QAnon.

"The Storm" is a phrase widely visible within the QAnon movement, a web of baseless conspiracy theories that claim a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles run the world and were plotting against former President Donald Trump. Origins of the movement are linked to an anonymous 4chan account calling itself "Q Clearance Patriot," who claimed "The Storm" was when Trump would expose those plotting against him. Many believed Inauguration Day would start "The Storm."
If the past year has taught us anything, its that experience matters.

The previous presidential administration promised leadership without Washington insiders, and packed a Cabinet with friends and loyal followers who had little experience with  or even open hostility toward  the sectors that they were supposed to be overseeing.

That all caught up with the administration when the coronavirus arrived in America. A White House with no regard for expertise ignored prominent scientists and public health officials and was ill-equipped to handle what came next. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died, and the number is still climbing. The new Biden administration has vowed to do better  by listening to those whove spent years studying infectious diseases.

Its crucial to welcome new kids on the block, and incorporate their fresh perspectives and big ideas. But its equally important to recognize expertise, and to respect those who have made their mistakes, and learned from them. If not, the results could be disastrous.

This week, we salute some of the most experienced leaders in New York politics  City & States annual 50 Over 50.

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Gregory Meeks

Member of Congress

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Rep. Gregory Meeks refers to himself as an elected official by accident, though hes been a public servant from a young age.

Growing up in East Harlem, Meeks says he was inspired by the civil rights movement and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to attend Howard University School of Law and eventually become an attorney.

Prior to running for public office, Meeks worked as a Queens County assistant district attorney, a prosecutor for a special anti-narcotics task force, and a chief administrative judge for New York states worker compensation system.

In 1992, he was elected to the state Assembly, and in 1998 he won a special election to represent New Yorks Fifth Congressional District. While in office, Meeks has co-chaired the National Democratic Congressional Committee Trade Task Force and has chaired the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions. In the upcoming session, Meeks will become the first African American to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

What we do and how we act internationally will affect the future of this world. This is something that I dont take lightly, says Meeks, who plans to work with President Joe Biden to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organization, and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Post-pandemic, Meeks wants to revive the community he represents by tackling income disparities and racial inequities, including in health care. Weve got to get better than what we were so that every person has an opportunity to get and have access to health care, he says.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins

State Senate Majority Leader

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Throughout her career, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has broken innumerable barriers.

Prior to running for public office, Stewart-Cousins first public service experience was when she volunteered for Terry Zaleski, a Yonkers mayoral candidate who supported a court ruling to desegregate the city. After he won, she joined his administration as the citys first African American woman director of community affairs.

In 1995, after defeating the Democratic incumbent in a primary, she served as a Westchester County legislator. While in office, Stewart-Cousins was elected as majority whip and vice chair, and passed influential human rights laws in the county.

Beginning in 2004, Stewart-Cousins fought for a seat in the state Senate through a series of close electoral battles and lengthy legal challenges. In 2006, she won her districts seat by more than 1,800 votes.

Racism, sexism, being an outsider, being underestimated or being outspent impacted me for years, Stewart-Cousins wrote to City & State last month.

In 2012, Stewart-Cousins became both the first woman and first African American woman to lead a New York state legislative conference, and in 2019, she was elected as temporary president and majority leader of the state Senate. As majority leader, Stewart-Cousins has passed aggressive climate change legislation and has strengthened tenant protections for New Yorkers.

Liz Krueger

Chair, State Senate Finance Committee

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In March of 2000, two state senators reached out to Liz Krueger to outline their plan for achieving a Democratic majority in the chamber  which included Krueger challenging a 32-year Republican incumbent. Although always drawn to public policy work, she hadnt considered running for office.

I just started to laugh and I said, What have you two been smoking? Krueger recalls. But after a narrow loss in 2000, she won her districts seat in a February 2002 special election.

Prior to running for public office, Krueger dedicated herself to distributing food to people in need, helping to start the New York City Food Bank.

She later joined the Community Food Resource Center as associate director, focusing on emergency food programs, eviction prevention programs, food kitchens and access to benefit programs.

Upon entering the state Senate, Krueger focused on joining the Senate Finance Committee, which she now chairs, recognizing the committees potential for providing money for low-income New Yorkers and programs to support them.

It was crucial to try to be at that table and say, We cant forget about these folks, she says.

While in office, Krueger has passed vaccine requirement bills, the Reproductive Health Act, and was an ardent advocate for the same-sex marriage bill. Krueger is also a founding co-chair of the states Bipartisan Legislative Pro-Choice Caucus and has chaired the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Giorgio DeRosa

Partner, Bolton-St. Johns

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As one of Albanys top lobbyists, Giorgio DeRosa has a client list full of key players across a myriad of industries.

I personally represent over 65 clients at this point and they cover every area of the economy that you could think of, says DeRosa, who has represented Verizon Wireless, the immigrants rights group fwd.US, and energy company Equinor. I never wanted to be pigeonholed in working in one specific area.

Prior to opening Bolton-St. Johns Albany office in 1996, DeRosa began his career with the United Auto Workers as a political and union organizer. On behalf of the union, he worked to elect U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter and joined her team as district director.

DeRosa later accepted a position as legislative and political director with the Public Employees Federation. During his time with that union, DeRosa successfully lobbied for the passage of a pension bill and legislation impacting cost-of-living adjustments for retirees.

In 1996, DeRosa was chosen by Bolton-St. Johns co-founders Norman Adler and Mel Miller to open the firms Albany office, overseeing its growth from four to over 40 employees and leading it to become one of New Yorks top three lobbying firms.

I remember Mel, in particular, saying if you hire smart people, it doesnt matter whether the Democrats are in control or the Republicans  just hire smart people. says DeRosa.

In the upcoming legislative session, DeRosa hopes to see the legalization of recreational marijuana, as well as continued changes in the renewable energy space.

Patrick Foye

Chair and CEO, Metropolitan Transportation Authority

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The MTAs Patrick Foye has a long road ahead of him to revive New York Citys public transportation system.

The pandemic is orders of magnitude worse in its effect on ridership and revenues than the Great Depression, says Foye, adding that during the pandemics worst days last year, subway ridership was down 95%.

To ensure the systems viability, Foye worked with union partners and community advocates to secure $4 billion in federal funding from the most recent congressional COVID-19 stimulus deal.

Foye, a lawyer who has been with the MTA since 2017, previously led the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as executive director, where he oversaw the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport.

Prior to his career in public transportation, Foye served as deputy secretary for economic development under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as well as downstate chair of the Empire State Development Corporation, and vice chair and board member of the Long Island Power Authority.

Post-pandemic, Foye will unpause the agencys $51.5 billion capital plan, including the expansion of the 2nd Avenue subway line into East Harlem and bringing Metro-North to Penn Station.

In the meantime, he is emphasizing the agencys ongoing responsibility to continue to disinfect subways, buses and railways, in addition to monitoring mask compliance, distributing masks and researching new methods for ensuring rider health.

The MTA always rallies to the cause and to the mission, says Foye.

Havidan Rodriguez

President, University at Albany

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Originally told by his high school counselors that he was not college material, Havidan Rodriguez became an auto mechanic for a couple of months after graduation  but his desire for education never abated.

Encouraged by a mentor during a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Rodriguez went back to school to embark on a 30-year  and counting  career in the educational field. Among his accomplishments: becoming the first Latino president of any SUNY four-year learning institution in 2017 when he assumed the top spot at the University at Albany.

My general goal is to have students have a more direct path to success than what I have  there were a lot of twists and turns along the way, Rodriguez says. Even today, I sort of pinch myself once in a while  I cant believe that back in the late 1970s, I was an auto mechanic.

Serving several institutions throughout his career, Rodriguez says helping students of impoverished backgrounds obtain a degree is one of his proudest achievements.

To see students who have struggled throughout their lives, from very poor backgrounds, our first-generation students come to college and obtain a wonderful degree  this is one of the things that you can do as a president of an institution  award degrees, Rodriguez says.

Marisa Lago

Director, New York City Department of City Planning; Chair, City Planning Commission

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Growing up in Brooklyn Heights in the 1950s, Marisa Lago witnessed rundown tenements and slums filled with immigrants  like her family  who worked in factories along the Brooklyn waterfront. Lago, who spoke no English when she started kindergarten, became the first in her family to graduate college. Growing up in the era of slum clearance was the catalyst for her entry into the world of urban planning and government work.

Lago was further inspired by a property law professor she encountered during law school. That just cemented this love of being able to meld the tools of government  including land use and economic development  to make our city, make our nation, a better place, Lago says.

Thanks to her economic development work for, among others, New York Gov. David Paterson, New York City Mayor David Dinkins and President Barack Obama, Lago has no shortage of highlights, including working with the World Bank while serving in the Treasury Department, when she visited a rural farming project in Rwanda where women are the predominant farmers.

Im seeing women, proudly working, some with children strapped to their backs, proud of the fact that they were making the world a better place, they were investing in their children, Lago says. To me, being part of projects like that just speaks to universality. We didnt speak the same language. We came from very, very different backgrounds, but we all care about the generations to come.

Inez Barron

New York City Council Member

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Inspired by her mother, Inez Barron protested for civil justice issues in the 1960s as a teen in New York City, which led to a 36-year career in education, serving as a teacher, a member of the Board of Education and the principal of an elementary school. Nearly 30 years after first becoming a teacher, one particular student, who had a very troubled childhood, approached her, saying she had saved his life by giving him The Autobiography of Malcolm X when she was his teacher.

That just gave him such a sense of pride and hope  realizing that its not the end when you face these really difficult challenges  that you just push on, Barron says.

As she was enjoying her retirement from education, she was asked by members of her community to run for the Assembly, where she served for five years before becoming a member of New York City Council representing the 42nd District, where she has delivered on affordable housing projects along with social justice. As she approaches her final year as a council member, Barron is looking to introduce a new elected civilian review board to replace the existing Civilian Complaint Review Board tasked with holding the NYPD accountable.

If that would happen during my tenure, that would be great, Barron says. If it happened afterward, that would still be great, because its not always the individual people who should be put in any kind of spotlight, but its a collective. Its a continuum, its a battle that has to be waged consistently, because its the right thing to do for those who are marginalized and those who are oppressed.

LaRay Brown

President and CEO, One Brooklyn Health System

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LaRay Brown is a pioneer in the medical field who has logged more than three decades in New York City hospitals and health care. As the president and CEO of the One Brooklyn Health System, which includes the Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brown has played a pivotal role in developing the billion-dollar organization.

Before taking on her current role, Brown led legislation and policy development at New York City Health + Hospitals. She helped expand affordable, long-term apartments for public hospitals, aided in developing ambulatory care centers and cultivated emergency psychiatric programs for various city hospitals, among other efforts.

Brown also served as chair of Americas Essential Hospitals, then known as the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, on the board of the New York State Health Foundation, and on Gov. Andrew Cuomos transition team on health.

In 2020, like so many Americans, Brown faced considerable challenges from the onslaught of COVID-19 as she sought to protect One Brooklyn Health System via stringent guidelines, protocols and a keen understanding of the operations of the Department of Health and inner workings of the New York public health system.

Jerry Nadler

Member of Congress

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JN & Michael - Assembly 1978 (1).jpg Jerry Nadler as an Assembly member in 1978 Office of Rep. Jerry Nadler

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Rep. Jerry Nadler has lived and breathed politics since 1976, when he was first elected to the state Assembly. For 16 years, Nadler represented the Upper West Side, focusing on legislation regarding domestic violence and child support.

Nadler has represented New Yorks 10th Congressional District since 1992. In the 1990s, Nadler made a name for himself through his handling of controversies within the Democratic Party and his ability to enact legislation.

Currently the chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, Nadler has served on several House committees related to civil rights, transportation and cybersecurity, and in 2008, he cofounded and was vice-chair of the House Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality Caucus. In 2010, Nadler was one of the authors of the USA Freedom Act, which reformed government surveillance on U.S. citizens by the National Security Administration.

Nadler strongly opposed President Trump and his policies throughout Trump's time in office, particularly regarding immigration. In 2017, he fought to repeal the Trump administrations attempted travel ban enacted against primarily Muslim countries, and was instrumental in passing the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act. Among Nadlers legislative high points in 2020 was the successful passage of criminal justice reform bills.

Sylvan Beach, N.Y.  A man was injured Saturday afternoon when he crashed his snowmobile into an SUV in Sylvan Beach, troopers said.

The snowmobiler  Brian A. Hatton, 30, of Sylvan Beach  was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident near 1804 Vienna Road, the New York State Police said in a news release Monday.

Hatton hit his head, troopers said, and was taken to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse for treatment.

The accident happened at 5:41 p.m. on Vienna Road near 18th Avenue.

Hatton missed a stop sign and drove onto Vienna Road, crashing into the passenger side of a southbound 2009 Subaru Forester, troopers said. He was rushed by Vineall Ambulance to Upstate, where he is listed in stable condition, troopers said.

The driver of the Forester  James D. Tyler, 35, of Blossvale  was not injured. Tests showed he was not impaired by drugs or alcohol, troopers said.

Staff writer Samantha House covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at shouse@syracuse.com.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Teenagers with happy childhood memories are likely to drink less, take fewer drugs and enjoy learning, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction Research & Theory.

The findings, based on data from nearly 2,000 US high school students, show a link between how pupils feel about the past, present and future and their classroom behavior. This in turn influences their grades and risk of substance misuse, according to the study.

The authors say action is needed now because Covid-19 has left many teenagers struggling with online study, suffering mentally and turning to drink and drugs.

They are calling on teachersand parentsto help students develop more positive mindsets and become motivated to learn so they are less likely to binge drink or use marijuana.

"School often seems a source of stress and anxiety to students," says John Mark Froiland from Purdue University in Indiana, US.

"This puts them at greater risk of not participating in lessons, getting lower grades and of substance misuse.

"Many teenagers also aren't engaging with online learning during Covid or have lower engagement levels.

"But they're more likely to be enthusiastic learners and not use drink and drugs if teachers take time to build more positive relationships with them. They can help students see that everything they're learning is truly valuable. Parents have a role to play too."

Teenagers with a balanced attitude towards their childhoods and other time periods have already been shown by studies to be more likely to abstain from drink and drugs and achieve academically. This is compared to those with a pessimistic outlook.

The aim of this study was to establish how substance misuse and behaviors towards learning are affected by students' feelings about the past, present and future.

The data was based on assessments and questionnaires completed by 1,961 students at a high school in the San Francisco Bay Area. More than half (53%) of the pupils included in the study were female.

The study authors looked at responses from pupils where they rated how nostalgic they were towards their childhood, current happiness levels in life and how much they look forward to future happiness.

They also analyzed marijuana and alcohol habits over the past 30 days including binge drinking, and average academic grades. They analyzed motivation levels, and behavior in lessons such as how much teenagers paid attention and listened.

Statistical techniques were used by the researchers to assess the associations between all these different factors and establish the key predictors for alcohol and marijuana misuse.

In general, the study found that positive attitudes towards the past, present and future put adolescents at lower risk for alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana.

The opposite was true for those displaying pessimistic or negative ways of thinking or feeling about their life in the past, now or ahead of them.

The reason for this was that a content and optimistic outlook increased the likelihood they would be motivated and behave in a focused way on the chance to learn.

Other findings include girls having stronger levels of behavioral engagement than boys, and students who drank being most likely to use cannabis.

The study did not examine the long term relationship between positive attitudes, levels of student engagement and their substance misuse. The authors say this is an area for future research.

More information: John Mark Froiland et al, Positive and negative time attitudes, intrinsic motivation, behavioral engagement and substance use among urban adolescents, Addiction Research & Theory (2020). John Mark Froiland et al, Positive and negative time attitudes, intrinsic motivation, behavioral engagement and substance use among urban adolescents,(2020). DOI: 10.1080/16066359.2020.1857740
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
[January 25, 2021] Northeast Endoscopy Selects Medicus IT for IT Implementation and Management

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicus IT, a leading, healthcare-focused managed services provider (MSP), announces that Northeast Endoscopy has selected Medicus IT for information technology (IT) implementation and management. Northeast Endoscopy is a new, state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery center (ASC) located in East Setauket, N.Y., on Long Island. Scheduled to open by the summer of 2021, the more than 9,000-square-foot ASC features four procedure rooms that will be outfitted with cutting-edge clinical technology. The ASC's physicians will provide services in gastroenterology and endoscopy, specifically colonoscopies, upper endoscopies, and hemorrhoid treatments. The building that houses the ASC will also include clinical practice space with seven exam rooms, a chemistry lab, and pathology lab. Medicus IT was selected as the project's solutions integrator at the beginning of the development process. Medicus IT is managing and coordinating virtually every aspect of the customized IT implementation for the ASC and clinical practice. Services provided by the Medicus IT team during the project includes cabling; audio/video; security; network design; IT hardware procurement and configuration; and configuration and deployment of the practice management, electronic medical records, and patient tracking systems, among others. Northeast Endoscopy represents Medicus IT's 24th de novo project in the New York metropolitan area. The new facility is being developed by a pair of gastroenterologists who also own and operate New Hyde Park Endoscopy in North New Hyde Park, N.Y. Medicus IT provides IT management for this facility as well. For the IT implementation at Northeast Endoscopy, Medicus IT is working closely with these gastroenterologists as well as the facility's management team, architects, general cntractors, and third-party vendors to complete projects on time and within budget.



When Northeast Endoscopy opens, patients on Eastern Long Island will have easier access to the same high-quality digestive disease care patients in Nassau County have benefitted from at New Hyde Park Endoscopy. Northeast Endoscopy will offer the convenience of expanded evening and weekend hours to help ensure patients can receive the care they need on their schedules. "We knew from our past experience working with Medicus IT that they understood our needs and we could rely upon them to get us up and running," said Salima Kamadoli, Director of Operations for Northeast Endoscopy. "As a paperless facility leveraging many different systems, including patient trackers in every room, technology will be essential to delivering the care our patients deserve and maintaining operational efficiency. Medicus IT has demonstrated that it understands how to effectively align clinical workflow with IT to help maximize productivity and support our efforts to achieve consistent, positive outcomes. We know the company is committed to the short- and long-term success of our new facility."

"Considering New Hyde Park Endoscopy's reputation for providing exceptional endoscopy services, we know that patients who go to Northeast Endoscopy will receive that same level of personalized, attentive care," said Nelson Gomes, Senior Vice President of Business Development for Medicus IT. "We are pleased Medicus IT was chosen as the IT partner for this modern, technologically advanced facility because of our ASC expertise and many years of experience working with de novo and existing endoscopy centers and other healthcare providers. We look forward to focusing on the technology requirements for this new facility and delivering the solutions and smart, preventive strategies that will help IT work for, not against, them." About Medicus IT, LLC

In a world of IT generalists, Medicus IT is the healthcare IT specialist. We practice preventive IT: high-level, strategic consultation and practice-specific intervention that shifts technology from a burden into a benefit for medical offices, ambulatory surgery centers, and other types of healthcare facilities. One of the largest managed IT service providers in the nation, Medicus IT is privately held and headquartered out of Alpharetta, Ga., with offices in Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio. Preventive. Strategic. Deeply experienced. We are Medicus IT. www.MedicusIT.com Media Contact:

Ashley Linton

Marketing Manager - Medicus IT

P: 678-992-0839

E: 289646@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/northeast-endoscopy-selects-medicus-it-for-it-implementation-and-management-301213834.html SOURCE Medicus IT

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Houstonians now can get their COVID-19 vaccines in their cars at a new drive-thru site set up by the city and United Memorial Medical Center.

The groups launched the site Monday at Delmar Stadium for people who have appointments. People who show up without appointments will be turned away, and none currently are available. The city sends out notifications for new appointments via AlertHouston, often on Fridays.

Some people who booked appointments last Friday received confirmations without a date or time for their shots. The city said health workers are reaching out to them to schedule their vaccinations, and they should not show up at Delmar on Monday.

Mayor Sylvester Turner is touring the site Monday afternoon and expects to elaborate on the citys plans.

The drive-thru marks the citys latest effort to get its supply of Moderna shots into residents arms as quickly as possible. The city had launched a mega site at Minute Maid Park twice earlier this month, inoculating more than 6,100 people on its busiest day Jan. 16, which officials said was the largest one-day total in the region.

Workers ran into some administrative hurdles operating that site, though. Some people did not receive confirmation emails, there were long lines at the site and many people with appointments were left waiting in line at the end of the day when the city ran out of shots.

Scott Packard, a spokesman for the Health Department, said the primary reason for that appeared to be people showing up who thought they had booked appointments but actually had not. They reached the confirmation screen but did not scroll to the bottom and click confirm. He said the department changed the system so people would not see a confirmation number until they had done so.

Health workers took the names and numbers of people who were left waiting in line Jan. 16, and began giving them their shots last week. Two people told the Chronicle the process was much smoother on the second try.

They seem to be getting the process debugged, said Joe Dellinger.

The city did not set up a mega site last weekend.

The Washington Post reported last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency could set up mega sites in coordination with local officials at up to 100 sites across the country under a plan from the Biden administration.

We look forward to continuing discussions with FEMA about its resources to help local jurisdictions, Packard said.

dylan.mcguinness@chron.com
A further seven people who contracted Covid-19 have died while a further 1,372 new cases of Covid-19 were announced this evening.

It's the third day in a row that the number of newly confirmed cases has been under 2,000.

All of the deaths occurred in January.

The median age of those who died is 77 years and the age range is 43-94 years.

It brings the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland to 2,977.

The announcement comes as the Department of Health revealed this evening that community vaccination is set to begin by the middle of February.

A total of 143,000 vaccine doses were administered by January 24.

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Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD has confirmed that the vaccination of the third group in the Governments Vaccine Allocation Strategy will begin in February.

Under the Vaccine Allocation Strategy, people aged 70 and older will be vaccinated in the following order: 85 and older, 80-84, 75-79, 70-74.

Minister Donnelly confirmed Ireland is set to receive supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine to enable community vaccination in February, subject to regulatory approval.

However, he noted that the supplies would be less than anticipated.

He revealed: "Ireland will receive a delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine within the expected range for February, although at the lower end of that range. Delivery in March is likely to be more impacted and considerably lower than what was originally stated by the company. We continue to prioritise those most vulnerable to COVID-19 in our society against the backdrop of limited supply of vaccines."

Minister Donnelly added: "The next stage of our vaccine programme will begin with those aged 85 years and older and will be administered initially through GPs in their surgeries. The HSE is preparing a public information campaign that will provide all necessary details in advance and ensure that everyone knows when, where and how to access their vaccine."

Today senior Government ministers are meeting to discuss mandatory quarantines for people travelling into Ireland without proof of being Covid-free and tighter north-south border Covid checks.

The Government is likely to bow to pressure for new rules on quarantine.

The Covid-19 ministers' sub-committee will try to recommend a strategy to boost the trend of lowering virus cases and ease near-breakpoint pressure on hospital services.

The major stumbling block remains how to deal with people travelling in from Northern Ireland, who could seriously undermine a Dublin government plan to oblige people landing here to have a certificate issued within the previous 72 hours showing themselves to be Covid-free.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has spoken with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the weekend about a "two islands" joint approach to the issue of people travelling in from overseas.

"But anything which might come of that remains to be seen," one government source said.

More to follow.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 02:41:41|Editor: huaxia

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A passenger wearing a mask walks at the departure hall of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 24, 2021. Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a ban on incoming and outgoing passenger flights to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants. The shutdown will come into effect at midnight (2200 GMT) between Monday and Tuesday and will last until Jan. 31, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a ban on incoming and outgoing passenger flights to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants.

The shutdown will come into effect at midnight (2200 GMT) between Monday and Tuesday and will last until Jan. 31, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

Arrivals will be banned and landings will be permitted only in a few exceptions including cargo flights, medical emergencies, and fire service flights.

Departures will also be banned except for medical emergencies, legal procedures and attending a funeral of a relative.

"We are closing today the (international) Ben Gurion Airport," Netanyahu said at the beginning of the cabinet meeting.

"We are closing the skies hermetically," Netanyahu said, adding that the measure was taken to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants.

He said that move is needed also to "ensure the fast advancement" of Israel's large-scale vaccination drive.

Israel has been in a third nationwide lockdown since Dec. 19, which is expected to be lifted on Jan. 31.

With a population of about 9 million people, Israel reported on Sunday morning a total of 595,097 COVID-19 cases and 4,361 deaths from the virus. Enditem
Hyderabad, Jan 25 : Vice-President M.Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the Integrated Weapons System Design Centre at DRDO's APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex here on Monday.

The facility would enhance the capability in design and development of command and control systems for surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems and ballistic missile defence (BMD) systems, said Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The DRDO officials explained that the centre would give thrust to the overall system design and evaluation methodology for state-of-the-art missile systems and would help in improving the performance of missiles. This would play a major role in the realisation of highly complex futuristic aerospace and defence systems.

The DRDO officials briefed Naidu on the various ongoing projects and technological developments of missile complex laboratories -- Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI).

He also showcased a range of indigenously developed missile systems and avionics technologies. The Vice-President evinced keen interest in DRDO technologies and various test facilities being used for advanced technology developments.

Addressing the DRDO fraternity, he complimented the scientists for their hard work and dedication even during the nationwide lockdown and said the efforts by DRDO have led to the phenomenal technological advancements in the form of a series of successful missions such as HSTDV, SMART, ATGM, NGARM, HELINA, NAG, BRAHMOS etc.

He mentioned that the DRDO is an epitome and torchbearer of scientific social responsibility and is a place of eternal learning. The role played by the DRDO during the pandemic has set an example for others to emulate.

He said that the development of a range of indigenous defence systems by DRDO has given confidence to the Indian government for banning import of 101 items.

Remembering former President Kalam, Naidu said the scientific institutions of the country should never work in the incremental mode. He praised the scientists for maintaining the legacy of Kalam and encouraged the scientific community to continuously attempt to leapfrog in scientific endeavours.

He said Kalam wanted India to become a superpower and mentioned that the scientists have the calibre to make "Atmanirbhar Bharat". He said it is important to hold hands of young techno-preneurs, industries, academia, guide them and move together to build a strong and technologically superior country. We have made commendable achievements in missiles and hoped that by doing so we might become top exporter in the field of missiles, he added.

Naidu also inaugurated a new missile technology exposition and seminar hall in the same campus. The exposition would display missile technologies and weapon systems and the centre would be the backbone for outreach activities. This hall is a part of knowledge management initiatives taken up by the Missile Complex to provide an interactive platform for continuous learning and fostering technical excellence among the missile community. It would be a hub for organising scientific expositions, structured training programmes on virtual platforms and technical lectures for the benefit of DRDO community.

The Vice-President commended the work being done by DRDO under the dynamic leadership of G. Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, and Chairman DRDO. M.S.R. Prasad, Director General, Missiles and Strategic Systems, was also present during the visit and explained about the various missile technologies.
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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty ImagesBy JACQUELINE LAUREAN YATES, ABC News



(NEW YORK) -- Bernie Sanders' mittens were undeniably one of the most talked about fashion statements during and after the 2021 presidential inauguration.



The senator's hard-to-miss handwear featured a brown, white and black pattern and looked cold-weather appropriate for the brisk 42-degree day. They were sustainably created by Vermont-based second grade teacher Jen Ellis.



Photos of Sanders wearing the now-famous accessory while sitting with crossed hands and legs during last week's historic occasion, became an instant meme sensation that continues to sweep the internet.



Now, fans of the unforgettable mitten meme moment have kept their excitement going with official merchandise from Sanders' campaign store.



The hot-ticket item is called the Chairman Sanders Crewneck and retails for $45.



The meme-printed sweatshirt is 100% combed ring-spun organic cotton fleece, made in the USA and union printed.



It is currently sold out, and due to high demand, the website advises that it will be four to eight weeks until buyers receive their sweatshirts.



All proceeds from the sweatshirt will go toward Meals on Wheels Vermont, according to the website.



In case you missed out on purchasing this time around, the Bernie Campaign Store features several other tops that allow you to show your support.



Or in the meantime, you can continue to enjoy more mitten memes.

 Top 100 memes of BernieSanders#BernieSanders thread  rT pic.twitter.com/5WSdnH2Bwh  Njiwa FLow (@JemsiMunisi) January 23, 2021

Copyright  2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Video has surfaced of Kanye West going off on Chance the Rapper in Wyoming last summer https://t.co/G8w8cy4esW pic.twitter.com/7JmgZgBd8k  Rap-Up (@RapUp) January 24, 2021

kanye screaming at chance like that his son  pic.twitter.com/SkcLj7YGhh  Young Black Jesus (@Zeekncashe) January 24, 2021

INFO ABOUT VIDEO: This is a clip of a documentary that Kanye West was filming for an album of his. There hasnt been any context given to why Kanye is yelling at Chance. This is still hilarious and thats what the caption is referring to .  Dedee  (@thoughtfulbae) January 23, 2021

UPDATE: Chance liked some tweets confirming the context of the video. pic.twitter.com/kK5RgtJgIj  Dedee  (@thoughtfulbae) January 23, 2021

Damon Dash has shared never-before-seen footage of Chance the Rappers visit to Kanye West in Wyoming last July. Kanye was finishing his album last. In the 30-second clip, Chance can be seen approaching Kanye and Kanye yelling at Chance.Dash uploaded a documentary to Youtube and explained that Chance was there to check on Kanyes well-being. The documentary has since been deleted. Dash said: Chance, because of what he was reading, he came through just to check Kanye, he said. They got into it but they worked it out. At the end of the day, Chance is there just to be a friend.Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
The Indian Army has issued an official statement on the face-off reported between Indian and Chinese soldiers at the Sikkim border three days ago and said that it was a minor clash between the Indian Army and the PLA troops. As per sources, Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in a physical clash at Naku La near the Sikkim border three days ago after a Chinese troop patrol attempted to intrude into Indian territory. Following the report of clashes, the Indian Army categorically stated that the issue was resolved by the local commanders on the same day as per the established protocols. Further, it also asked the media to refrain from exaggerating 'factually incorrect' reports.

"We have received several queries regarding a face-off between Indian Army and PLA troops in Sikkim sector. It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Nakula area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols. Media is requested to refrain from overplaying or exaggerating reports which are factually incorrect", the Indian Army's statement reads.

READ | BJP's Ram Madhav Mocks Rahul Gandhi's 'don't Need Army' Idea; Raises Nehru's 'romanticism'

Sources had said that a brawl ensued at the Indo-China border in Sikkim and that the Chinese PLA incursion was thwarted. Several Chinese PLA soldiers were injured while some Indian soldiers were also injured. The attempt of the Chinese PLA's intrusion comes even as the ninth round of Corps Commander-level talks lasting for over 16 hours were held at distant Moldo between representatives of India and China on Sunday. This is the first account of a physical escalation between personnel of the two powerful armies since the Galwan valley clash on June 15/16 when there were casualties on both sides, with 20 Indian Jawans being martyred. The situation at Sikkim was said to be tense but calm now, before the Army's statement came out.

READ | Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose A National Icon; Beyond Petty Politics: Maj Gen GD Bakshi

9th round of India-China talks

After a gap of over two-and-half months, India and China on Sunday held the ninth round of military talks specifically focusing on ways to move forward on the long-negotiated disengagement process in eastern Ladakh as thousands of their troops remained deployed at friction points under freezing conditions. The Corps Commander-level meeting began at around 11 AM at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and was continuing till after 9 PM, sources said. People familiar with the negotiations said India insisted that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the region.

READ | Ladakh Standoff: Indian And Chinese Armies Hold Over 16-hour-long Military Talks

India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points and no selective approach was acceptable to it. Close to 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh as both sides have been holding on to their ground and showing readiness for a long-haul, amid continuing diplomatic and military talks to find an amicable solution. The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps. In the military talks, India has all along been demanding restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to April. The face-off had begun on May 5.

The eighth and last round of the talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points. The seventh round of Corps Commander-level talks had taken place on October 12 where China had pressed for the withdrawal of Indian troops from a number of strategic heights around the southern bank of Pangong lake. The location of the latest flashpoint, however, is far away from Ladakh, all the way across the length of Nepal in Sikkim.

READ | Indian & Chinese Soldiers Clash At Sikkim Border; Brawl & Injuries Amid Foiled Intrusion

People, some wearing masks to help protect from the spread of the coronavirus sit on a square in Eminonu market in Istanbul, Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, hours before the start of a two-day weekend curfew. The country of 83 million rolled out its vaccination drive a week ago, starting with health care workers as well as nursing home residents and their care-givers. More than 1 million people received the first of two doses of the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac pharmaceutical company in the first week. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkey on Sunday passed 25,000 COVID-19-related deaths since the start of the outbreak in March, the health ministry said.

A toll of 140 new fatalities saw the total figure rise to 25,073. Turkey has recorded more than 2.4 million infections since the first case was recorded on March 11.

The government reintroduced restrictions at the start of December, including weekday evening curfews and weekend lockdowns, to stem another surge of infections.

Restaurants and cafes have been restricted to takeout services, weddings and funerals are limited to 30 people and people over age 65 and under 20 are banned from using public transport.

"We all observe that the street restrictions are having a great impact on both the number of cases and the decrease in the number of patients," Mustafa Necmi Ilhan, a member of the government's scientific advisory committee, said Saturday.

"It's necessary not to rush lifting the restrictions but when the number of cases and patients drops, of course they can be lifted."

The number of daily cases has fallen to around 6,000 in recent days from a high of more than 33,000 in December.

Turkey began its vaccination program on Jan. 14, initially focusing on health workers and the elderly. More than 1.2 million people had been given a first dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine as of Saturday night, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

About 6.5 million doses were due to arrive from China on Monday, he added. Turkey earlier received an initial consignment of 3 million doses.

Turkey signed an agreement with Russia on Saturday to produce the Sputnik V vaccine.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

With Democrats holding a mjority in the House and Senate, one expert believes that it will energize the Biden administration to take bold action on student loan debt.

There are really three buckets of action we should expect, Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at Compass Point Research & Trading, told Yahoo Finance Live.

Boltansky expects the Biden administration to push for raising tuition funding, amend bankruptcy laws, and offer a low level of student loan cancellation through legislation passed in Congress.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden talks to graduating students Katherine Wu (C) and Victoria Jones (R) during Class Day Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 24, 2017. (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Three moves to expect

President-elect Joe Biden recently said that he wasnt intending to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt through executive order, a move repeatedly urged by many of his Democratic colleagues. Consequently, Boltanskys predictions are based on what could be done through legislation.

The first, he said, is a real, pronounced push to increase tuition relief for certain borrowers.

Biden promised to double the maximum value of the federal Pell Grant, which is the largest source of grants for low- and middle-income families to afford a college education.

(Graphic: David Foster)

The second move would be that theyre gonna revisit the dischargeability of student loan debt in bankruptcy, Boltansky said.

Noting the strict laws in place that present huge hurdles for borrowers who seek a bankruptcy discharge, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently introduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020 which proposes make the process easier for student debtors by amending the bankruptcy code and creating a new chapter for personal bankruptcy.

If the bill were to pass, both private and federal student loans would be eligible for discharge through bankruptcy, just like credit card debt. Boltansky added that it would be intriguing for a Biden administration to consider such a proposal, given his history with the bill when he was in the Senate.

(Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

And lastly, while Biden has said he wont do it via executive action, Boltansky expects some cancellation of student debt through legislation.

I dont think that its going to be a huge number because of the budgetary realities around it, he said, but I do think we can see a bill where we have [$5,000 to] $10,000 in cancellation for federal student loans.



Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

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Protesters have been detained outside the criminal damage court case against four people who have denied toppling a statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

Police stopped at least three people outside Bristol Magistrates Court ahead of the first appearance before JPs.

It included one man who arrived on a bicycle towing a big sound system which was blasting out reggae music.

Avon and Somerset Police thanked those who attended an online protest instead of turning up in person, adding: 'Officers are at the court and have been dealing with a small number of people who ignored warnings not to attend.'

Rhian Graham, 29, Milo Ponsford, 25, Jake Skuse, 32, and Sage Willoughby, 21, all pleaded not guilty over the statue topple inside the courtroom. They will next be up at Bristol Crown Court on February 8.

The bronze memorial to the 17th century slave merchant was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7 last year, before being dumped in the city's Harbour.

Sage Willoughby (centre), 21, and Milo Ponsford (green face mask), 25, arrive at the court

Milo Ponsford, 25, Rhian Graham, 29, Jake Skuse, 32, and Sage Willoughby, 21, outside court

This reggae-loving cyclist was detained by police outside of the magistrates court

Another supporter of the four accused was led away by officers at the first hearing by JPs

Four people are due in court charged with criminal damage over the toppling of the statue

It was later recovered from the water by Bristol City Council and assessed to have suffered 3,750 worth of damage.

No arrests were made at the time but Avon and Somerset Police launched an investigation and in December, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorised charges against four people.

Speaking ahead of the court hearing, a spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset Police said anyone planning to attend to protest against the case would be breaking the law.

Current coronavirus regulations prohibit gatherings of more than two people and while there are certain exemptions, protests are not permitted.

An event was originally due to take place outside the court on Monday but organisers are now asking people to join an online protest instead, the force said.

Anyone organising a gathering of more than 30 people is liable to a fixed penalty notice of 10,000, while those taking part in a gathering of more than two people can be fined 200.

This woman was accompanied away from Bristol Magistrates Court by officers at the scene

Police officers decked out in PPE tackled the small number of protesters outside the venue

Police officers formed a ring of protection around the court ahead of this morning's case

Controversial Colston statue that fell to earth Edward Colston was born to a wealthy merchant family in Bristol, 1636. After working as an apprentice at a livery company he began to explore the shipping industry and started up his own business. He later joined the Royal African Company and rose up the ranks to Deputy Governor. The Company had complete control of Britain's slave trade, as well as its gold and Ivory business, with Africa and the forts on the coast of west Africa. During his tenure at the Company his ships transported around 80,000 slaves from Africa to the Caribbean and America. Around 20,000 of them, including around 3,000 or more children, died during the journeys. Colston's brother Thomas supplied the glass beads that were used to buy the slaves. Colston became the Conservative MP for Bristol in 1710 but stood only for one term, due to old age and ill health. He used a lot of his wealth, accrued from his extensive slave trading, to build schools and almshouses in his home city. A statue was erected in his honour as well as other buildings named after him, including Colston Hall. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 sparked by the death of George Floyd in the US, the statue of Colston overlooking the harbour was torn down. Advertisement

Inspector Rob Cheeseman said: 'We fully recognise the important right to freedom of expression and right to assemble but there is a deadly virus which has killed more than 90,000 people in the UK which simply cannot be ignored.

'There are more people in hospital with the virus than at any time during this pandemic and the NHS is at risk of falling over if people don't follow the regulations.

'There is no excuse for not knowing the rules as they are very clear and have been very well publicised - people must stay home except for in a very limited set of circumstances.

'Unlike during the first lockdown protests aren't currently allowed and anyone thinking of flouting the rules and attending a protest is putting others at risk.

'We remain hopeful people will heed our warning and choose to express themselves online rather than in person but as with all events of this nature we have a comprehensive policing plan should people gather.'

Following the toppling of the statue, officers reviewed CCTV footage and other pictures and video to identify those believed to be involved.

One man was arrested, with seven men and one woman asked to attend a police station for a voluntary interview.

In September, Avon and Somerset Police said detectives would approach the CPS for a charging decision against four people - three men and a woman.

The five other people - men aged 18, 20, 29, 33 and 47 - were offered a conditional caution for the offence of causing criminal damage to property valued under 5,000.

Under the conditions of the caution, they had to complete a questionnaire from a history commission set up by Bristol City Council.

They had to pay a fine of 100, which would be sent to Bristol-based charity Nilaari, and take part in two hours of environmental improvement works arranged by Bristol City Council.

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Yac Inc ., an online voice message and asynchronous communications platform, today announced it has raised $7.5 million in venture funding led by GGV Capital with additional investment from the Slack Fund , who also invested in 2020. Yac is currently developing one of the most efficient audio communication platforms for remote teams.

Yac Inc. co-founders, Justin Mitchell, Hunter McKinley and Jordan Walker

Yac will use the investment for product development and growth. The company expects to continue scaling its distributed teams across go-to-market, product, engineering, and operations functions. During the COVID-19 pandemic Yac increased its user base by over 400%, saw a significant increase in daily traffic with those looking for voice messaging or asynchronous meeting solutions.

GGV Capital's investment provides Yac with access to the firm's large global network to support the company's continued growth at all stages as it goes after a massive global opportunity.

First developed in house by SoFriendly, Yac's audio-first voice messaging platform launched in 2018 by winning Product Hunt's Maker Festival startup competition and then received an initial investment from Boost VC and Adam Draper, all thanks to a single tweet by a Yac user who thought it deserved recognition.

"Audio has become the most powerful and least intrusive communication medium as we head into 2021. It's become clear that we need a workplace solution to the audio-first growth. We are thankful to partner with investors like GGV Capital and the Slack Fund who support our vision," said Justin Mitchell, Yac co-founder and CEO.

Yac's product now includes group messaging, a Slack integration and a web app, enabling Yac across many platforms, including Linux and Chromebooks.

"Yac is reinventing the way we communicate through asynchronous audio messages, allowing teams that cut across organizational boundaries to work better together. We're reinvesting in Yac because they align with our mission to make the future of work simpler, more pleasant, and more productive, something we've already seen through their powerful integrations with the Slack platform," said Jason Spinell, Director of the Slack Fund.

"Yac is the future of audio within enterprise. Yac's asynchronous audio-first platform has the powerful ability to transform the way you work and connect with others. At GGV we've seen audio-centric communication work globally, and we're excited about the opportunity Yac has to bring audio-first to the US and beyond," said Tiffany Luck, investor at GGV Capital.

For additional information about the funding announcement, please visit www.yac.com/press .

About Yac Inc.

Yac provides remote teams with a voice communication platform to connect instantly with each other whether or not they respond in real-time. Teams can send a message of a photo, video, or screen recording with annotations and their voices on top of it. This helps people working from home feel more connected to their team without the interruptions or distractions of traditional messenger platforms.

About GGV Capital

GGV Capital is a global venture capital firm that invests in seed-to-growth stage investments across Consumer/New Retail, Social/Internet, Enterprise/Cloud and Smart Tech sectors. The firm was established in 2000 in Singapore and Silicon Valley and manages $6.2 billion in capital across 13 funds.

About The Slack Fund

From Slack, The Slack Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in and collaborates with entrepreneurs creating the next great software companies.

Media Contact

Sarah Evans, Owner

Sevans Strategy

(224) 829-8820

[email protected]

SOURCE Yac
Nearly 5,000 cases of people leaving a filling station without paying were reported to the PSNI in the past three years.

The number of incidents has almost doubled in that period.

While many are down to human error, hours of police time are being used in dealing with the reports.

Retailers also say they have faced difficulties in pursuing some culprits.

A total of 4,622 forecourt drive-offs - an average of three a day - were reported between 2017 and 2019, with 22,942 worth of petrol and diesel taken.

But in that time only 246 successful prosecutions were made.

Belfast had most incidents, with 1,097 during the three-year period, but only 48 prosecutions.

Only the Derry City and Strabane, and Fermanagh and Omagh districts, had under 100 reported incidents in that time.

Police said most drive-offs are down to someone forgetting to pay rather than deliberate theft.

The figures emerged after a Freedom of Information request by this newspaper to the PSNI.

They show an 80% increase in reported drive-offs between 2017 and 2019, up from 1,059 to 1,807.

In terms of successful prosecutions, 60 were recorded in 2017, rising to 105 two years later.

In 2016 a PSNI scheme aimed at shifting the responsibility for tracing drive-offs from police to retailers was postponed after an outcry from business owners.

Under these plans the retailer would have had to pursue the case in the civil courts.

PSNI Chief Superintendent David Beck said: "The vast majority of drive-offs are due to human error, and people will pay when it has been pointed out to them.

"There have been instances where customers fill up at the pumps and then purchase other items inside. By the time they reach the checkout they may have forgotten about their fuel purchase.

"To help reduce this problem staff should ask customers who are at the checkout if they have purchased fuel. This could save embarrassment for the customer later on and also help reduce the loss of money for the business.

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"However, there are also some motorists who deliberately try to evade paying for fuel and, when you think of the cost of filling up your vehicle, if this happens on a regular basis it can prove costly to businesses. We encourage forecourt owners to take measures to help prevent the number of drive-offs occurring. This can include displaying clear signs around the pumps asking motorists to ensure they have the necessary funds to pay for their fuel, installing pre-pay technology on pumps and CCTV."

Belinda Law, who operates three petrol stations across Belfast, believes the long-term solution to drive-offs is pre-pay across the board.

She said: "Under the old system of pursuing a drive-off, the retailer would report the non-payment to the police, whether or not the customer had entered the shop, and the police would have pursued the drive-off on behalf of the retailer.

"Retailers must now pursue the non-payment through the DVLA, unless the assessment is made that the customer deliberately drove off without paying, in which case, it is reported to the police immediately."

Ms Law says the DVLA system involves additional time and cost to the retailer.

"The administration fee we charge is being met with objection from some customers and can be unpleasant to deal with at the counter. At times, the administration fee doesn't even cover our costs," she said.

"I do ask myself if it's worth the effort for a small amount of a drive-off, considering the time involved in capturing CCTV footage, application forms and fees for the DVLA, registration with data protection, cashiers' report and postage. But there is a principle involved here.

"In several cases, I have had to eventually refer a drive-off back to the PSNI, where I have reached a dead end trying to pursue the customer."
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called for global cooperation among countries and multilateralism to tackle the challenges faced by the world, including the coronavirus pandemic, and said the strong should not bully the weak.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum's virtual Davos Agenda Summit, Jinping warned against cold war and "misguided approach" of antagonism and confrontation.

The world is facing intricate and complex problems, which should be tackled by multilateralism and consultations. "To build small circles or start a new cold war, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to willfully enforce decoupling, supply disruptions or sanctions and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world to division and even confrontation," he said.

China was involved in trade war with the United States under the administration of Donald Trump. It remains to be seen as to what approach the new US administration under President Joe Biden adopts towards the country.

Jinping said the world should stay committed to international law and rules instead of any country seeking supremacy. "Strong should not bully the weak, decisions should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist. Multilateralism should not be used as pretext for acts of unilateralism... Rules once made should be followed by all."

He said the world has achieved initial progress against the COVID-19 pandemic, but the fight against the virus must continue as the recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases has proved.

"...the winter cannot stop the arrival of spring and darkness can never shroud the light of dawn. There is no doubt that humanity will prevail over the virus and emerge even stronger from this disaster," he said. China will continue to cooperate with other countries and share information on fighting the pandemic, Jinping added.

China had received a lot of flak from some quarters for its initial handling of COVID-19, which was first reported in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

China, Jinping said, is working to bridge differences with dialogue and resolve disputes through negotiations. The country is involved in border disputes with India and with other countries in the South China Sea.

On climate change, Jinping said, the world needs to deliver on the Paris Agreement, and China is working to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

He also called for reforms in the World Trade Organisation and international financial and money trail system in a way that boosts global economic growth and protects the development right and interests of developing countries.Also read: WEF 2021: India faced COVID-19 disruption 'very bravely', says Smriti Irani

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UPPER THUMB A roughly 75-year quest to restore the rank of late WWII veteran Edwin O. Pochert finally came to a conclusion last June as his headstone now bears his rank of sergeant.

On March 1, 1945, Edwin O. Pochert, sergeant, 4th Platoon, 60 mm. Mortar Section, of the 407th Infantry, Company F, 102 Division was informed by battalion commanders that the Germans were planning to drop parachutists behind their lines. In a written account of events, Edwin explained they were told to challenge any suspicious action or soldiers at that time and take severe precautions.

After being placed in charge of an observation post and informing the other men of the situation, one of them observed two suspicious soldiers. The soldier proceeded to fire shots over their heads and bring them closer to him, in an attempt to recognize them. The suspicious soldiers turned out to be two battalion officers.

When notified of the incident by Captain Earl W. Sockel, also of Company F of the 407th Infantry, Edwin was told he would have to surrender his stripes in order to appease the mistaken officers, with promise that they would be restored as soon as possible.

On March 31, 1945 Edwin was wounded by shrapnel from a shell burst and left the 407th Infantry. He would not return to that unit.

Leonard W. Ackers was given my stripes, Edwin wrote. Ackers was killed in action.

I felt sorry for my friend, Leonard, but thought how lucky I was that events happened as they did, he added.

Years later, Edwin began to wonder what his children would think when they saw stripes on his uniform in snap shots and pictures, only to discover his rank at the time of his discharge was Private.

It is embarrassing and insulting because two battalion officers were challenged to reveal their identity, that my sergeant stripes were removed, Edwin wrote. We were obeying battalion orders.

Edwin was born on June 22, 1922 in Kinde to Walter Paul and Bertha Pochert.

He joined the Army in 1942 at the age of 20. He was honorably discharged after suffering the shrapnel wounds to his leg in 1945. Those shrapnel pieces remained in his leg for the rest of his life, and he received the Purple Heart for Bravery for his service, the oldest Military award still given to U.S. military members.

Edwin married Arley Jean Wacker on June 22, 1946 in Detroit. According to his obituary, Edwin retired from the Detroit Post Office in 1980, where he worked as a postal clerk, and he and Arley moved to Kentucky. After eight years, the couple moved to Harbor Beach.

There, Edwin was a member of Zion Lutheran Church of Harbor Beach, a life member of the American Legion Post 197 of Harbor Beach, a member of the AmVets Post of Port Hope, and the Port Hope Retirees.

The story of his service, which has evolved for over 75 years, was continued by Edwins daughter Teresa Fritche.

It wasnt until years later, after being married and having children, and those children having children, that he realized his own legacy and military honor was not a tainted history, Teresa said. He passed away in April of 2012, six months after my mom.

I know he died of a broken heart, after being married for nearly 66 years, she added.

According to Teresa, being in charge of his estate meant going through tons of paperwork after Edwins passing, from bills to letters he had written home during boot camp.

She also came across documents regarding his military ranking. An informal letter from the Army National Personnel Records Center in 1991 stated that records to confirm his written account were not on file and any records prior to July 1973 would have been destroyed in a fire. This was followed by another letter, written by Edwin in 1999, restating the incident in Germany 1945 that cost him his stripes.

In 2004, Edwin had received a letter from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, restating the fire damage of 1973. The only information on file was the final payroll voucher, which showed Edwins rank of PFC. Later, in April 2005, the 102nd Infantry Division Association, The Ozarks, suggested he contact the Nation Archives and Records Administration in Maryland. That same year he obliged and resubmitted his 1945 incident to Maryland.

I realized that my dad had fought for 15 years to right a wrong, and that weighted heavy on my heart and mind, Teresa said. It wasnt until 2017 that I picked up the torch my dad had lit so many years earlier, fighting to restore is honor and legacy.

After applying for a military marker for her fathers headstone, Teresa was informed that because he was discharged as a private first class, that would be the only niche inscription allowed, despite her request of a bronze niche ranked sergeant. She then reached out to Stephen Young, director at Huron County Department of Veteran Affairs in Bad Axe.

He told me it was a long shot, but he would help in any way possible, Teresa said. He was my life-line.

He helped with filing out and submitting paperwork to the Army Review Board, she added. It took over two years to finally get a correspondence from them on my fathers rank change review.

In May 2019, Teresa received the official document that informed her that the Army had reinstated Edwins sergeant rank and changed the records to reflect it accurately. On Edwins 98th birthday, June 2, 2020, Teresa, along with her three daughters and grandson, visited his grave site at Marquardt Cemetery in Port Hope to view the newly added bronze niche.

His headstone now rightfully states: Edwin O. Pochert, Sgt. U.S. Army WWII, Beloved Husband, Father, and Grandfather.

(TNS) - Jan. 23After months as nurse manager in one of Regional Medical Center's COVID-19 units, Cindy Justice thought she understood the emotional impact of a serious case of coronavirus.Patients would enter the ward, typically short of breath and often fearful for their lives. For days or weeks, their only companions were nurses and the flat faces of loved ones on the screen of an iPad. Some said their final goodbyes that way.Most of those patients were strangers, though. Then came November, when familiar faces started showing up in the COVID ward."One lady that was a patient was my Sunday school teacher when I was a child," Justice said. "Another was a nurse friend that I have known 40 years that passed away."Attending dying patients wasn't originally in Justice's plan for 2020. A Childersburg resident, she commuted an hour every day to Anniston to oversee nurses in RMC's Pediatrics and Gynecology wing. It's one of three hallways that branch off the second floor lobby of the hospital's Women's and Children's Center, a place of gently curving walls and furniture in calming earth tones. When a child is born in Anniston, it's typically in this building.Now, though, the door marked "Pediatrics and Gynecology" leads to Covid Two, one of the hospital's wards for coronavirus patients. A hallway marked "Orthopedics" leads to Covid One, an intensive care ward for coronavirus patients. An unlabeled hallway is the path to Covid Three, created when the patient count grew enough to demand another ward.The lobby, the heart of the COVID wing, is empty and quiet. Sometimes a tired-looking nurse emerges to use a vending machine. Sometimes a nurse comes out to give an interview."The fear is very, very real," Justice said of her patients. "Some of them are extremely fearful when they come in the door."Patients are alone, at least in the sense that they can't bring in family or visitors, from the moment they come into the emergency room. FaceTime is the only contact with the outside world. If there is a hand for a dying patient to hold, it's the hand of a nurse.When patients hear that they're going to be intubated, with a tube inserted in their windpipe to help them breathe, many are aware that they might not wake up again."How they react has a lot to do with their personal religious beliefs," Justice said. "Some of them are more comfortable with the possibility that they might die."No nurse can stay constantly in the room with a patient. If nothing else, there's the crush of calls and emails from concerned family members, waiting for them every time they emerge.Justice is looking forward to the day when kids return to her wing for pediatric appointments. She's looking forward to the time when friends and family can sit with an injured person in the emergency room. Because of contagion concerns, even people with broken arms or twisted ankles can expect to wait for the doctor alone.Justice has yet to catch COVID, and perhaps she never will. On the day she spoke to The Star, she was scheduled for her second vaccine dose. She said it will be a relief to her husband, who has respiratory issues."That's the other side," Justice said. "The family members you go home to."His youngest patient was 19Rey Vargas did get the virus, on Oct. 21, 2020.He remembers the date, though he claims his case wasn't so bad."It was like a man-flu," he said. When he gets a fever, he said, he feels worse than most people would at the same temperature.He had a fever, on and off, for nine days.Vargas is a nurse and the clinical team leader for Covid One, where the sickest coronavirus patients go. He's among the staff who have been working on the coronavirus response since before Calhoun County had its first case."Everybody needs to work on their own health," he said. Wearing masks and keeping a distance is a must, but Vargas said it can't hurt to exercise, eat right and generally try to be in good shape when COVID hits. That's how he sees it: when."Contracting COVID is probably going to be an eventuality for everybody," he said.Youth and fitness aren't silver bullets, though. His youngest patient in Covid One was 19. That patient had to be intubated.In the early days of the pandemic, the hospital would invite reporters out to speak to some of the COVID patients as they left the hospital  typically in an ambulance on their way to a long recovery elsewhere. Doctors and nurses would line the halls and applaud.That doesn't happen so often these days, nurses say. Patients are coming at them too fast. In a Wednesday interview, nurses sounded relieved that the patient count was down into the 50s, a number that would have alarmed them over the summer.The peak, earlier this month, was 85.Nurses need 'prayers and patience'Sloan Bryan has worked as a nurse in RMC's intensive care unit since 1998. Ask him about feelings and he typically responds with facts.Fact: There are more deaths in Covid One, the ICU for coronavirus patients, than he saw in the regular ICU."As it started getting into the elderly population, we saw a lot more deaths," he said. "And, again, the sheer numbers of very sick people, that's something we hadn't seen."By the time a patient reaches Bryan, there isn't a lot of conversation  typically because they can't breathe well enough to talk at length."They present to us typically with a respiratory stress scenario," he said. "They're anxious. They can't breathe."Many of them wind up with a breathing tube. They're medicated and in a semi-conscious state much of the time. Occasionally doctors will turn down the meds so they can communicate with a patient, he says.Isn't it terrifying to wake up with a tube down your throat?"I'm sure it is," Bryan said. He doesn't hear that from patients, though."Most of the time, they don't remember," he said.FaceTime meetings with family members happen here. Even when the patient can't speak, family members want to see them. When they're dying, the one-sided conversations become especially important."They tell them they loved them," he said. "That they were a good parent or spouse. That sort of thing."This work used to be easier."When I was younger, I was kind of able to detach from it," he said of intensive care work. "As my parents get older, I'm more apt now to see these patients as like my parents."Asked if there's anything COVID nurses need from the public, he's quick to say they're well equipped and have a good team. He pauses to think of what else might be needed."Prayers and patience," he said. "And if you see a nurse going down the road and they're just crying, don't think anything of it."The ICU is 'on fire'Caleb Pope has had the virus, but he's sure he didn't catch it on Covid One, where he works. He got it in Kenosha, Wis., where he deployed in response to the protests over the summer.Pope was on a tank crew in the regular Army and is now a reservist in a military police unit. Nursing was a way to get as far as he could from his military jobs, he said. Working in Covid One has been tougher than anything he's seen before, as a nurse or a soldier, he said."In the old days, in the ICU, we'd have times when we'd say the ICU was just on fire," he said. "That might be two days a week. Here, we have two days a week when we don't get our butts kicked."Pope has a sister who is studying in Australia. That country has had 909 COVID deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Calhoun County alone has had 201."I don't know that, in this area, the discipline is there to do the things we need to do," he said.Australia puts in place varying degrees of lockdown based on how fast the virus is spreading, Pope said. In the strictest lockdown phase, people can leave their houses only on certain days, he said, depending on the first letter of their last name.In Alabama, there's a mask mandate, rarely enforced with arrests or fines. Pope describes it as "a piece of paper on the wall in most gas stations." Too many people are ignoring it, he said.He hopes warm weather in coming months will help slow the spread of the virus. But he's also aware that the virus arrived in Alabama in late spring, past the peak of the spring tornado season. If a Palm Sunday-style tornado hits in 2021, he said, alluding to a fatal event that struck Calhoun County in 1994, it's likely there isn't a hospital in the state that's in a good position to treat all the wounded."We are a mass casualty event away from being in a very dangerous situation," he said.Even now, some claim the virus is overblown. Asked what he'd say to those people, Pope first says he doesn't have anything to say that he can say in the newspaper. Then he thinks again."If you saw what we saw on a daily basis," he said. "It would change your mind."Capitol & statewide reporter Tim Lockette: 256-294-4193. On Twitter @TLockette_Star.___(c)2021 The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.)Visit The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.) at www.annistonstar.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


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A large-scale manhunt is under way in Arizona for two inmates who broke out of the state prison in Florence by cutting their way through a fence using tools stolen from a shed.

Arizona Department of Corrections officials said John Charpiot, a convicted child molester, and David Harmon, a convicted kidnapper, escaped on Saturday from the medium custody south unit.

They said the two werent accounted for during the 8.30pm inmate count after being there for the 4pm count.

Inmates David Harmon (left) and John Charpiot (right) are being sought after escaping from an Arizona State Prison on Saturday afternoon

The pair broke out of the prison from the medium custody south unit in Florence, Arizona

Corrections officials said they have dispatched chase teams, tracking dog teams and a fugitive apprehension unit

Charpiot and Harmon broke into a tool shed by knocking down an air conditioning unit and breaking through a wall, according to authorities.

The two inmates were able to obtain a bolt cutter, wire snips and other items and used them to cut a fence.

The items were recovered inside and outside the facility room.

At a news conference on Sunday at the Florence prison, Corrections officials said the department is offering rewards of $25,000 per inmate for information leading to their arrests.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the US Marshals Service has offered an additional $10,000 per inmate, bringing the total to $70,000.

A state trooper is seen at a checkpoint as part of the manhunt for the two inmates

A helicopter is seen in the sky searching for the two escapees in Arizona

Corrections officials said they have dispatched chase teams, tracking dog teams and a fugitive apprehension unit to find the escaped inmates along with help from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

'The department will not rest until these inmates have been apprehended,' the agency said in a press release.

DPS Col. Heston Silbert said the search includes roadblocks out of Florence, two different SWAT teams, air units and investigators contacting possible affiliates of the inmates.

Charpiot was sent to prison in 2011 on a 35-year sentence for molestation of a child and sexual abuse out of Maricopa County.

Harmon has been imprisoned since 2012 after being convicted out of Maricopa County and sentenced to 100 years for kidnapping and second-degree burglary charges, reported AZCentral.com.

Charpiot and Harmon broke into a tool shed, obtained a bolt cutter, wire snips and other items and used them to cut a fence

Arizona Gov Doug Ducey on Sunday tweeted about the prison break in Florence

His criminal record dates back to at least 1987 and includes multiple convictions, including on charges of attempted sexual assault and kidnapping, and second-degree escape.

'We're doing backgrounds to look for anybody who may be affiliated or know the suspects, or may want to assist the suspects,' said DPS Director Heston Silbert, according to Fox 10 Phoenix.

Silbert added the fugitives should be considered dangerous, having committed what he described as 'heinous crimes.'

'If the escaped inmates are watching this, please turn yourself in, it'd be the best thing both for you and the community,' said Frank Strada, deputy direction of the correction department.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call 911 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.
Portrait of female healthcare coworkers with face mask on operating room at hospital. Photo: Getty

Women, especially those from ethnic minorities and developing nations, are being disproportionately hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

It has just been over a year since the first COVID-19 case was reported in China and the statistics on how its affecting the global workforce are staggering. The World Economic Forum (WEF) said the pandemic has created a double-double shift of at least 20 hours per week of additional work for women at home and is potentially exacerbating existing gender gaps.

Meanwhile, on a personal level, domestic violence has increased over the period. For example, in England and Wales, police recorded and increase of 7% of domestic abuse cases. This is remembering that not all domestic abuse cases are reported. In the US, experts pointed out that calls about intimate partner violence (IPV) dropped during certain periods in the pandemic but they knew that rates of IPV had not decreased, but rather that victims were unable to safely connect with services, since people have been forced to stay at home more or encounter a lockdown.

READ MORE: DAVOS 2021: COVID crisis won't end until developing nations get vaccine

On a panel, entitled Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work, and Closing the Gender Gap Accelerators, at the World Economic Forums (WEF) digital annual gathering of the worlds most powerful people  dubbed The Davos Agenda, for this year  some of the globes most influential women discussed what policies, practices and partnerships are needed to shape an equal future of work for women and accelerate progress towards parity.

Ann Linde, minister of foreign affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden said on the panel that we have a recession for women and girls.

If people were hesitant from [acknowledging a gender inequality exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic] at the beginning, I dont think they have doubts anymore, said Linde.

The violence against women and girls has increased dramatically and economic downturn has specifically hit women hard because womens position in labour market is less secure and often in the informal sector, and they bear the most responsibility for unpaid care work and also do the greatest amount of homeschooling.

Story continues

Laura Liswood, secretary-general, Council of Women World Leaders said that a particular multi-stakeholder is needed to bring about gender parity.

A multi-stakeholder approach is essential for each sector. Governments has great influence, the private sector has resources, and civil society has the grassroots to enact. This is the foundation.

The staggering impact COVID-19 has had on women

Back in July 2020, global consultancy McKinsey said in a report, entitled, COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects, that we can already see that the pandemic and its economic fallout are having a regressive effect on gender equality.

By our calculation, womens jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to this crisis than mens jobs. Women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses.

One reason for this greater effect on women is that the virus is significantly increasing the burden of unpaid care, which is disproportionately carried by women. This, among other factors, means that womens employment is dropping faster than average, even accounting for the fact that women and men work in different sectors.

Fast forward to January 2021 and the latest data from the worlds biggest economy  the US  showed that its economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. 2020 and all of them were held by women.

WATCH: US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December

If you are a woman of colour, especially as a Black woman, you are even more vulnerable in society right now:

A United Nations (UN) report last year said that the pandemic will push 96 million people into extreme poverty by 2021, 47 million of whom are women and girls. This equates to the total number of women and girls living on $1.90 or less, to 435 million. The UN says that the reason for the disparity is clear:

Women tend to earn less and have fewer savings

Women are disproportionately more in the informal economy

Women are more likely to be burdened with unpaid care and domestic work, and therefore have to drop out of the labour force

Women make up the majority of single-parent households

READ MORE: DAVOS 2021: Biggest coronavirus vaccination rollout threat isn't about supply  it's conspiracy theories
Entrepreneurs can help bring about change by putting people ahead of profits

With the rise of non-humancentric business models, empathy-induced altruism can boost wellbeing of employees.

At the dawn of 2021 we face a world in a state of disarray and uncertainty. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and recent US Capitol Hill disaster have had a catastrophic effect on business around the globe. Governments and entrepreneurs are urgently seeking new solutions to the problems facing us in these explosive times.

After the Capitol Hill fiasco and the rapaciousness of Donald Trumps response to this disaster, not only has the US image as a democracy suffered a huge setback but Trumps association with entrepreneurship is demoralising.

This is a man who has been consistently connected with entrepreneurship in one form or another. He became a television celebrity for his role on The Apprentice and has written books such as Trump University Entrepreneurship 101. However, during his presidential tenure his behaviour has severely tarnished the image of entrepreneurship. In fact, Trumps interpretation and style of entrepreneurship should serve as warning of what entrepreneurship should not be about.

Entrepreneurship is not about greed, eliminating the competition and narrowly pursuing self-interest. Businesses organised on Darwinian principles are places of constant rivalry and pointless posturing, obsessed with political manoeuvring. However, as Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has observed: We act in business as though money is the only game in town. But there are other games in town.

The most meaningful thing we humans can do is have a positive impact on the lives of others.

Indeed, the majority of entrepreneurs are trying to create good businesses by integrating people and improve their lives while serving their customers. In other words, entrepreneurs do more than focus on financial returns but also enhance the social value of their activities by remaining flexible and remaining in close contact with the communities in which they serve. What is more, entrepreneurs have demonstrated that the economy can be disrupted, by creating new business models to tackle socio-economic and environmental challenges.

Another Nobel prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz, agrees: Development is about transforming the lives of people, not just transforming economies. The concept of purpose-driven entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship is a simple and powerful idea that is steadily gaining traction. Purpose-driven entrepreneurs are mission-based businesses rather than charities, and focus on systemic changes and sustainable improvements. Social entrepreneurs have the potential to stimulate global improvements in various fields, whether they be education, health care, the environment or the arts.

Notwithstanding such promise, the humane approach to entrepreneurship has been criticised as naive and inconsequential, particularly at a time when businesses are experiencing an accelerating speed of technology and we see a trend of non-humancentric business models that focus more and more on robots and artificial intelligence.

However, entrepreneurs must not forget to inject humanness into their business practices. Small businesses must prioritise the wellbeing of their employees and the sustainability of their business practices. It is imperative to understand the characteristics of humanistic entrepreneurship, with empathy acting as an essential driving factor for employee engagement. Research shows that empathy-induced altruism can be used to improve attitudes towards stigmatised groups, improve racial attitudes, foster actions towards people with Aids, the homeless and even convicts. Such empathy-induced altruism has also been found to increase co-operation in competitive situations.

Empathy is often thought of as the starting point of design thinking, and a more inclusive vision of entrepreneurship is critical action that can contribute towards equity. Entrepreneurs need to treat individuals in a fair and equal manner, specifically in the SA context where it is essential to understand that not all individuals are starting in the same place because of historical, embedded discrimination. The challenge for entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers and employees is to consider the purpose-driven entrepreneurship model carefully, specifically ensuring entrepreneurship is cultivated on the foundation of empathy.

Not all capitalism or profit is equal. Profits involving a social purpose represent a higher form of capitalism, one that will enable societies to advance more rapidly while simultaneously allowing business to prosper. According to Harvard professor Michael Porter, such shared value will unlock the next wave of business innovation and growth as it can connect business and society success in ways that have been lost through narrow management approaches.

Certainly, the Covid pandemic has highlighted the growing need for a more equitable model of balancing economic and social needs in societies. The problem in SA is not a lack of raw entrepreneurial energy but rather the ability to channel it into purpose-driven entrepreneurship. In business, government and education we need to change our mindsets regarding business and entrepreneurship and recognise that we need to build a system that brings out the best in people, not the worst in people.

Boris Urban is a Professor at the Wits Business School. This article was first published in Business Day.
KABUL -- Afghan officials say a vehicle carrying Afghan employees of the Italian Embassy in Kabul has been hit by a bomb blast in the capital.

Police officials told RFE/RL on January 25 that the driver of the vehicle was wounded in the morning explosion.

A source at the Kabul Police Command said the blast was caused by a magnetic "sticky" bomb attached to the vehicle.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Italian Embassy has not yet commented on the incident, which comes amid a string of targeted killings that have swept the country in recent months.

Many of those being targeted are civilians -- journalists, rights activists, cultural figures, moderate religious leaders, and women in public roles.

In early December, the Russian Foreign Ministry said several workers of its embassy staff in Kabul were wounded when a car belonging to the diplomatic mission was hit by a blast.

More than two weeks after Canada implemented a rule that incoming airline passengers must show a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding a plane, the country still appears to be seeing some travel-related cases and the federal government is exploring ways to make it harder to go on trips.

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A passenger makes her way through Montreal Trudeau Airport in Montreal, on Thursday, January 7, 2021. More than two weeks after Canada implemented a rule that incoming airline passengers must show a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding a plane, the country still appears to be seeing some travel-related cases. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

More than two weeks after Canada implemented a rule that incoming airline passengers must show a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding a plane, the country still appears to be seeing some travel-related cases and the federal government is exploring ways to make it harder to go on trips.

As more transmissible variants of the COVID virus emerge across the globe, experts say tightening the leaks around travel becomes even more important, and that the new testing requirements are not likely to catch all cases.

COVID projections from Caroline Colijn, a mathematician and epidemiologist with Simon Fraser University, show a potentially grim picture for the next few months, with a skyrocketing spring wave fuelled by community spread of a more contagious variant.

Colijn says clamping down on travel is her "top recommendation right now."

"There's still a good chance that we can prevent  or at least really delay  large numbers of this high-transmission variant coming into Canada," she said. "And if we can push that peak out to September, we may be able to avert it if most of us are vaccinated by then."

Colijn says essential travel needs to be more clearly defined by leaders, and quarantine rules more strongly enforced once people arrive. More stringent restrictions on land border crossings and further limitations on travel within the country will also help, she adds.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canadians should cancel all upcoming non-essential trips they may have planned, other options the government is looking at include implementing a mandatory quarantine in hotels for returning travellers.

On Jan. 7, the government implemented a requirement that airline passengers entering Canada must show proof of a negative PCR test that was taken within 72 hours before their flight.

Colijn and other experts are hopeful this rule is catching a large number of positive COVID cases, but the 72-hour window  necessary to ensure people have enough time to get results back  also allows the virus more chances to wiggle through.

In some cases, very small amounts of the virus, which could grow to infectious levels days later, aren't picked up in testing. Others cases could contract the virus between taking the test and boarding the plane.

Dr. Christopher Mody, the head of the microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases department at the University of Calgary, says PCR tests offer "a snapshot in time," meaning the result is only valid on the day the test is taken.

"A positive test means you're infected, but a negative test doesn't absolutely exclude infection," Mody said.

A Government of Canada online database that keeps track of possible exposure on domestic and international flights shows that since Jan. 7, hundreds of planes have had at least one passenger on board who tested positive for the virus days after landing, and may have been contagious on their flight.

Dr. Zain Chagla, an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University, says while the negative test requirement is likely helping on a large scale, "it's gonna miss a few people for sure."

"Clearly it isn't a perfect system, but there are also a number of people who have been rejected for flights based on their tests," he said. "This just isn't enough to say everyone coming into Canada is completely not infectious at the border."

Some experts have suggested the use of rapid antigen tests at airports, either right before boarding or right after landing, as a potential way to ensure positive cases aren't travelling between countries or regions.

Dr. Don Sin, a respirologist and UBC professor who's co-leading a rapid test pilot project with WestJet at Vancouver International Airport, says rapid testing could offer a measure of insurance  a second step to be used in addition to the PCR negative test requirement.

Rapid antigen tests, which turn results around in 15 minutes, aren't as sensitive as the PCR nasal swab, Sin says, but they work very well in catching positive cases.

"If you test positive on the antigen test, you'll test positive with a PCR," he said. "So I think the public can have confidence in the ability of these tests to accurately pick up those who are infectious."

Experts say testing can only be part of the strategy to contain the spread of new cases though. The mandatory 14-day quarantine period, which Canada is still implementing, needs to be followed properly.

Mody says people also need to understand that a negative test taken days before flying isn't a free pass to skip that isolation period.

"We are in a very tenuous time with these variants," Mody said. "If there is community transmission of the variants, we will be in a very serious situation."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version erroneously reported that travellers flying from city to city within Canada must show a negative COVID-19 test. In fact, the requirement is for air travellers coming from international destinations.
A recall petition to oust California governor Gavin Newsom has passed 1.2 million signatures amid growing frustration over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the devastating impact restrictions have had on the state's economy.

Only 300,000 more signatures are needed by March 17 to take the issue to voters in a ballot.

The recall effort gained traction after the first-term Democrat was pictured flouting his own Covid-19 rules by dining at a Michelin star restaurant without a mask - while telling state residents to spurn social gatherings and stay home.

A recall petition to oust California governor Gavin Newsom has passed 1.2 million signatures

California Governor Gavin Newsom is shown above, left, sitting with ten others in the indoor/outdoor dining room at The French Laundry on November 6, without a mask. The photos were obtained by Fox 11 LA via a Twitter user

Newsom is also facing criticism over California's slow vaccine rollout - the state's stumbling blocks include sites running out of doses and an advisor to pause the use of ten per cent of its shots due to concerns over allergic reactions. Pictured: People queue as they wait for the vaccine at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

Rescue California, one of the two main organizations behind the campaign, said they aim to reach two million signatures to mitigate against invalid signatures.

California's Secretary of State has confirmed 84 per cent of the 1.2 million signatures collected so far are valid, according to KUSI News.

Newsom had received high praise for his aggressive approach to the coronavirus last Spring, when he issued the nation's first statewide stay-at-home order.

But now there is growing public angst over subsequent health orders that have shuttered schools and businesses and a massive unemployment benefits fraud scandal.

'[The recall effort] is absolutely gaining traction,' Republican John Cox, Newsom's 2018 rival who has signaled his aspirations to challenge the governor again in 2022, told Fox News last week.

'This has gone on too long - the mismanagement that has accompanied this pandemic.'

Organizers behind the recall attempt said the news of the first-term Democrat dining in The French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley led to a surge in petition signatures.

After the dinner, Newsom and his wife spoke with some friends. Witnesses say that the doors were open to begin with, meaning the group were somewhat indoors, but that staff closed them because the group was too loud

The dinner was held to mark the 50th birthday of Jason Kinney (seen left with his wife, Mary Gonsalves Kinney), an adviser to Newsom

Photos of the dinner - a birthday party for Jason Konney, one of Newsom's political advisers - emerged showing the governor without a mask at a time when he was imploring people not to socialize with friends and wear a face covering when going out and around others.

Witnesses from the restaurant say that at one stage, the doors were closed so the group was completely inside.

Randy Economy, a senior adviser to the recall effort, said last month there was an outpouring of public anger after Newsom's restaurant debacle in November with several hundred thousand petition signatures being signed since.

'It has resonated,' he said at the time. 'It's about the arrogance of power.'

Newsom (pictured during a lockdown announcement) was sitting in a private room with a glass door which was closed at one point because the group was being loud, the witness said

Newsom apologized for the dinner and said at the time: 'I made a bad mistake. I should have stood up and  drove back to my house.

'The spirit of what I'm preaching all the time was contradicted. I need to preach and practice, not just preach.

'You have to own it, and you have to be forthright and I'm doing my best every single day in trying to model better behavior.'

Newsom is also facing criticism over California's slow vaccine rollout - the state's stumbling blocks include sites running out of doses and an advisor to pause the use of ten per cent of its shots due to concerns over allergic reactions.

The public shaming continues for his ill-advised dinner at the French Laundry, an establishment that features a white truffle and caviar dinner for $1,200 per person.

This is the dining room where Gavin Newsom ate on November 6 with at least ten others. None were wearing masks and witnesses say the restaurant shut french doors on the group because they were being so loud, turning it from a partially outdoor room into one that was completely indoors

Example of the menu at the 3-star Michelin restaurant where Gov. Newsom dined with his 11 friends. The hand rolled ricotta dish with truffles carries a $175 supplement

It's not uncommon in California for residents to seek recalls but they rarely get on the ballot - and even fewer succeed.

Several launched against Newsom faded but this attempt is drawing greater attention as it gains momentum while he enters a critical stretch in his governorship.

Recall organizer Orrin Heatlie, a retired county sheriffs sergeant, predicted they would gather the needed signatures, though added an infusion of cash would help.

Meanwhile, the effort has picked up endorsements from two prominent Republicans, former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

State records show just under 300,000 signatures have been filed, though Economy said another 500,000 are in the pipeline with county election officials.

The group began gathering signatures in June and have about three months to hit the required 1,495,709 signatures. They will need a surplus since some signatures are sure to be disqualified.

If the recall qualifies, Newsom would be forced to fend off rivals in the midst of a pandemic that has cost the state millions of jobs, cored government budgets and upended life for nearly 40 million residents.

The campaign could sap his focus just as the state manages the complex project of vaccinating millions of residents while rebuilding its virus-wounded economy. California continues to deal with other risks, from deadly wildfires to a homelessness crisis in big cities.

If the recall qualifies, Newsom would be forced to fend off rivals in the midst of a pandemic that has cost the state millions of jobs, cored government budgets and upended life for nearly 40 million residents (file photo)

'He's got a plate of Biblical plagues staring him in the face,' said Garry South, who was Davis chief political adviser.

Still, South sees Newsom in a far stronger position to survive a challenge compared to the political climate 17 years ago when Davis was pushed out.

A Republican hasnt won a statewide race in California in 14 years, and there is no Hollywood superstar emerging as a potential candidate.

'A recall (election) is never good, obviously,' South said. But 'the Republicans are in a far weaker position' than in 2003.

For the telegenic, 53-year-old Newsom, a recall election could unsettle a political ascendancy that many see aimed for the White House. If it qualifies, a closer-than-expected race could hurt the former San Francisco mayor's national profile as well as make him look vulnerable for 2022, when he is expected to seek a second term.

Newsom's challenging year already has encouraged Republicans who have signaled they are likely candidates, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Newsoms 2018 rival, businessman John Cox.

Newsom's challenging year already has encouraged Republicans who have signaled they are likely candidates, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Newsoms 2018 rival, businessman John Cox (pictured) (file photo)

The prospect of a recall election is reviving memories of Californias circus-like 2003 recall, in which voters installed Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor after deposing the unpopular Democrat Gray Davis. There were 135 candidates on the ballot, including Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and former child actor Gary Coleman.

The 2003 recall took off after Republican U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a car-alarm magnate, poured $1.7 million of his fortune into the campaign to get the proposal on the ballot.

Organizers this year estimate they would need $2.8 million to hire professionals to gather another 800,000 signatures, at a price of $3.50 each.

State records show Cox donated $50,000 to the recall campaign in October, but at this point he has no plans to invest more.

Newsom's challenging year already has encouraged Republicans who have signaled they are likely candidates, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulcone (pictured) (file photo)

'I'm not going to be Darrell Issa,' he said. 'If there were a whole bunch of other people that stepped up and helped, Id probably help some more.'

If he faces a recall, Newsom would have advantages. He would have no donation limits on his fundraising, opening the way for a record flood of cash to defend his seat. Democrats have a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in registered voters.

The potential election could also increase the chances he picks longtime friend and Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Facing uncertainty, Newsom needs a loyalist in Washington who will embrace his priorities, including securing federal funds for the virus and wildfires.

Newsoms advisers are carefully watching the signature count and depict the effort as a President Donald Trump-inspired tactic to alter the election calendar in hopes of gaining political advantage.

Voters, they say, want the governor to remain focused on the pandemic.

'There are a lot of ambitious Republicans who want to be governor but would rather not play by the rules,' Newsom political strategist Dan Newman said.

State Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks said in a statement that 'the California Republican Party continues to demonstrate how disconnected they are from the plight and pain of working families.'

If it qualifies, state rules are not specific on when the election would occur. Recall organizers hope the date would be scheduled in July or August.

Former top Davis aide Susan Kennedy warned that 'you just cant underestimate the depth of peoples anger' but added that Newsom has time to recast his legacy.

'He will be defined not by the shutdowns and not by the crisis, he will be defined by the vaccine distribution and the recovery,' she said.
In Moscow last week, President Vladimir Putin hosted the prime minister of Armenia and the president of Azerbaijan. It was the first meeting of the three leaders since the end of the six-week-long war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region last fall. They agreed to create a working group that will advise on how to reopen regional transport connections. It is to report back in March. A key task will be to propose how to open a new transportation corridor, one that will traverse an obscure stretch of land, but with long-range implications for some of the worlds great energy producing regions, Oil Price writes in the article The One Big Problem With A Central Asian Energy Corridor.

The tripartite ceasefire agreement that halted the war in November calls for restoring all economic and transport links through this contested part of the South Caucasus. It requires Armenia to guarantee the safety of transport links, to allow the free movement of people and goods between Azerbaijan and its southwestern exclave, known as the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

Azerbaijans exclave came about in an arrangement made by the Soviets following their occupation of the South Caucasus in 1920. It is a separate part of the country surrounded by Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. Currently, Nakhchivan has no direct road and railway connection with the main part of Azerbaijan. It is serviced by roads and pipeline in Iran. While it may seem an odd geographical feature in a remote part of the world, its of potentially great importance. Now, with an impending agreement to open a free flow of traffic through southern Armenia, a linking of the mainland of Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan and thence to Turkey appears possible. Getting this Nakhchivan Corridor through Armenia was a key part of Azerbaijans demands in the November agreement.

It is the latest move to more closely connect the two allies. In a Memorandum of Understanding signed last winter, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey agreed to build a railroad connecting Nakhchivan to the city of Kars in eastern Turkey. It will connect to the 500-mile-long Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, which opened in 2017 to carry cargo and passengers between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. A pipeline is also in the works, bringing natural gas from Turkey into Nakhchivan. This will supplement the current supply of natural gas from Iran and give Baku more negotiating leverage with Tehran in arrangements to supply the exclave with gas. The new pipeline could open next year.

Turkey would appear to be the big winner. So its reach will extend to the Caspian Sea and possibly to the countries of Central Asia beyond. Georgi Derluguian, Professor of Social Research at NYU Abu Dhabi and an expert on the politics of the South Caucasus, sees a resurgent Turkey wanting to move eastward. Derluguian notes that in recent years Turkey has been increasingly asserting power in the Middle East. Now it could begin to influence events in Central Asia. "Here Erdogan sees an opportunity to export Turkey's influence to Central Asia, where they speak Turkic languages, so there is a plausible claim that they're kindred co-ethnics," says Derluguian. This raises the prospect, and for some the specter, of a vast Turkic corridor reaching from the borders of China westward to the Mediterranean. It could become a major trade route carrying goods and possibly energy from Central Asia westward, skirting Iran to the south. It might also open new routes for Chinas Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Nothing will happen quickly, however, as means of transport across the Caspian will need to be enhanced. Moreover, the major infrastructure through the South Caucasus has been largely put into place. Azerbaijan and Turkey are well connected to the north of Armenia through Georgia, which plays a key role as transit country for rail and pipeline. Georgia is now a central part of the 2,200-mile Southern Gas Corridor, which brings gas from the Caspian to Europe, providing an important alternative to Russian gas and improving security of supply for Europe. This corridor is now complete. The South Caucasus Pipeline (also known as BakuTbilisiErzurum Pipeline), which runs parallel to the BakuTbilisiCeyhan oil pipeline, began delivering natural gas in 2006. It links to the Trans Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) through Turkey to Greece, which began operations in 2018. Now the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) from Greece to Italy is in place, beginning operation last fall with the first Azerbaijani gas delivered to Europe in December. This pipeline system conveying natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe is well below capacity and should see expanding volumes in future years. This, together with the BTK railway, are new pieces of infrastructure that will not be duplicated anytime soon, ensuring that for the foreseeable future Georgia will remain a key transit country between Turkey and its ally to the east.

The Nakhchivan corridor will likely be an object of increasing interest if significant agreements can be worked out. Many factors are at play. There is the actual infrastructure, which will require expensive upgrades through an area that is quite mountainous. A rail line that traverses the Zangezur region through Armenias southern Syunik province once connected southwestern Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan. It was an important freight line for Armenia, which suffered from its closing off by Azerbaijan and Turkey during the Karabakh war in the early 90s. There is also a road along the Aras River that borders Iran.

Last month the Russian government indicated that it would like to see the rail line restored. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has also recently stated his intention to have it rebuilt. It could connect to others in Nakhchivan, including the new line to Kars and the BTK railway in Turkey, and to another north-south line to Iran.

Another problem is politics. Under the terms of the tripartite agreement signed in November, the corridor through Armenia is to be secured by border agents of the Russian Federal Security Service. Nevertheless, Armenia could create difficulties for the transit route through its territory. Russia, for its part, might wish to slow the eastward progress of its rival Turkey. And Iran will have concerns, being weary of a new route that reduces its revenues and its influence in Baku. Last month President Aliyev said he wanted an inclusive approach, with Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Iran all welcome to access a new route from Nakhchivan. He emphasized that a shared approach will be important for future multilateral cooperation.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has also recently indicated general support, saying that the opening of transportation routes with Azerbaijan would be important for his countrys economic prosperity. Indeed, Armenia would likely be rewarded with upgraded infrastructure as well as transit fees. Iran, too, could benefit if intelligent agreements about the emerging corridor are put into place. The working groups report, to come later this winter, will bear watching. But there is no doubt that progress on the Nakhchivan Corridor will require delicate geopolitical balancing.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - A Clear Lake man was arrested over the weekend after an officer suffered injuries to their hands and knees during a struggle.

Gary Beach, 51, is facing charges of interference with official acts-serious injury- and public intoxication.

According to court documents, Beach was kicked out of two Clear Lake bars and refused arrest.

During the eventual arrest, an officer received injuries to their hands and knees from struggling with the defendant.
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Joe Biden is a man of many phoninesses, false achievements, and plagiarisms.

So when he bragged about achieving 1 million vaccines a day, a reporter at the New York Post thought it a good idea to look a little closer:

President Biden's "wartime effort" goal to vaccinate 100 million people against COVID-19 in 100 days relies on a daily average that was repeatedly bested under former President Donald Trump. Biden's first full day in office on Thursday saw 1.3 million Americans inoculated against the deadly coronavirus, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. But the same figures show that 1.3 million shots were administered on Jan. 11 and that 1.1 million were given both Jan. 14 and 16. Vaccinations also hit a record-high, 1.6 million on Wednesday, when Biden was sworn into office, according to the data.

So all this talk about Trump's vaccine distribution (which ends at every blue-state governor's door) being a "dismal failure" is actually more than what Biden is promising.

Even Bloomberg News noticed the discrepancy:

Wow. Almost like they inherited a pretty decent vaccine plan.



Almost like they totally lied about starting from scratch.



And the media helped them. https://t.co/HwI4D8UwMH  Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) January 23, 2021

Biden is actually setting the standard lower with his 1 million vaccines distributed per day plan, lowballing President Trump. After it's done, he plans to crow about it as a success that bests Trump.

The Washington Post even gives him Trump's credit:

100 million doses in 100 days: How Bidens coronavirus vaccine push compares with those of other countries https://t.co/GcsYv1BnNP  The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 23, 2021

This is pretty disgusting. The whole credit for 1 million vaccines a day belongs to President Trump, yet Joe Biden is out there, doing nothing that wasn't already being done, yet going out there with his media shills and claiming credit.

It's like plagiarism, is it not? Joe knows all about plagiarism. Plagiarism for him is a way of life.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay license.
[January 25, 2021] NASA Administrator Joins Acorn Growth Companies

Acorn Growth Companies ("Acorn"), a private equity firm investing exclusively in aerospace, defense and intelligence, today announced that Jim Bridenstine, former Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has joined the company as a dedicated full-time Senior Advisor. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005506/en/ Acorn Growth Companies adds Jim Bridenstine, former Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as Senior Advisor. (from left to right: Rick Nagel and Jim Bridenstine) (Photo: Business Wire) "Jim's wealth of knowledge in the space, military, aerospace and engineering sectors will be invaluable to Acorn and its portfolio companies as we continue our mission to invest in operating companies that strive to enhance global mobility, protect national interests and develop next-generation intelligence capability," said Rick Nagel, Managing Partner of Acorn. "He will play a key role in our efforts to deploy capital from our newest investment vehicle, Acorn Aerospace & Defense Fund V." "Administrator Bridenstine will be returning to Tulsa, Oklahoma, as we expand our footprint in one of the top seven aerospace regional super-clusters in the world," Nagel said. Bridenstine resigned his position as the 13th Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) effective Jan. 20, 2021. "I am excited about joining Acorn Growth Companies and starting a new chapter of service to the United States, while advancing our aerospace and defense industries," said Bridenstine. "I'm looking forward to re-entering the private sector and working with an established market leader such as Acorn." "Jim's skill set spans all aspects of Acorn's focus. With his knowledge and first-hand experience Jim will play a key role in enhancing the strategic and business development efforts of Acorn and our portfolio companies by helping qualify opportunities in future investments," Nagel said.



"Innovation is found in small and mid-market companies," said Bridenstine. "I'm excited to join this firm and work with disruptors that provide needed innovation to the aerospace and defense industries," Bridenstine said. As administrator, Bridenstine has led NASA in advancing America's aeronautics, science and space exploration objectives.

Under Bridenstine's leadership at NASA, America returned to once again launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, something not done since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. He did this while sustaining the commercial resupply of the International Space Station (ISS) and expanding ISS utilization. Bridenstine launched NASA's new human lunar exploration initiative named Artemis, which seeks to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon for the first time since 1972. This program utilizes the most powerful rocket ever built, the Space Launch System, as well as the Orion Crew Capsule, the Human Lander System and the Gateway (News - Alert) . The Gateway is a lunar orbiting space station that will give American astronauts more access to the surface of the Moon than ever before. Under Bridenstine, NASA also established the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program to partner with private enterprise in landing rovers on the lunar surface. The rovers will contain tools and science experiments in preparation for the arrival of American astronauts. Bridenstine focused Artemis on proving NASA's technology and perfecting NASA's capabilities to live and work on another world in preparation for a crewed mission to Mars. Bridenstine also reinforced NASA's development of the X-57 Maxwell, the agency's first all-electric aircraft and the X-59 Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, a quiet supersonic aircraft. He supported NASA's aeronautical innovators in integrating unmanned aircraft systems into the National Airspace System and developing Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) capabilities to help emerging aviation markets create air transportation systems that move people and cargo between underserved locations and areas with a high population density. The agency's dynamic science portfolio under Bridenstine included the Mars Perseverance Rover, scheduled to land on Mars in February 2021. He also focused on enhancing the nation's fleet of Earth-observing satellites and making final preparations of the James Webb Space Telescope. Prior to his time at NASA, Bridenstine was elected in 2012 to represent Oklahoma's First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. His career in federal service began in 1998 as a pilot in the U.S. Navy. He flew E-2C Hawkeyes off various aircraft carriers gathering 1900 flight hours, 333 aircraft carrier landings and dozens of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He later transitioned to the F-18 Hornet and flew at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center, the parent command to TOPGUN. After transitioning from active duty to the U.S. Navy Reserve, Bridenstine returned home to Tulsa to serve as the Executive Director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium. Bridenstine completed a triple major at Rice University and earned his MBA at Cornell University. About Acorn Growth Companies Acorn Growth Companies is a middle market private equity firm focused exclusively on Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence. Acorn invests solely in operating companies that strive to enhance global mobility and protect national interests. Acorn has a formidable reputation in the industry and is recognized for its deep understanding of the Aerospace, Defense and Intelligence markets, with proprietary access to the best companies within these sectors. With operational expertise and its ability to lead and manage investments through variable economic and industry cycles, Acorn works in tandem with management to build its portfolio companies into significant market leaders. More information can be found at AcornGrowthCompanies.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005506/en/

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If the producers of BBC2s Politics Live were looking to set up a bruising exchange over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party last week, they certainly chose the right protagonists.

Baroness Chakrabarti was given her peerage after her report cleared Labour of having a problem with antisemitism

In the red corner was Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, the author of a 2016 report which cleared the party of having any problem with anti-Semitism, a finding that was followed by an offer of a peerage from party leader Jeremy Corbyn just a month later.

And in the blue corner was Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee  and he was in lacerating form.

She only got the peerage because she covered up anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, he thundered, prompting heated denials from Chakrabarti.

These would have carried more weight if she had taken part in a Lords debate the next day on anti-Semitism in British universities.

Who knows why she wasnt there on that occasion? But we do know that she has an abysmal record when it comes to attending debates on anti-Semitism.

Of the four held by the Lords since her report appeared, she has attended precisely none.

How Maggie bowled Biden over

New US president Joe Biden is fond of telling the tale of when he saw Mrs Thatcher at her formidable best

The newly installed President Biden is fond of telling the tale of when he saw Mrs Thatcher at her formidable best in the run-up to the Falklands War in 1982.

The PM was in Washington to drum up international support for the taskforce and buttonholed leading Republican Senator Jesse Helms.

Biden recalls: She grabbed him by the jacket lapels and said: Jesse, Jesse. I cant believe you are sympathetic to the Argentinians. I cant believe youd do that to me. He ummed, he ahhed, and ended up changing his position.

I had never seen anything like it in 30 years. She melted Jesses heart.

Has milord gone ginger nuts?

Lord Fowler, the Speaker in the Lords, is irritated by the frivolity of a Freedom of Information request on how much public money is spent on biscuits in the Upper House.

Not just total expenditure but figures broken down into spending on different types of biscuits, from Jaffa cakes to custard creams, he complained exasperatedly. Newly ennobled former Spectator editor Charles Moore disagrees: I am strongly interested in who spends how much public money on what biscuits. I would much rather work with someone who ordered plain digestives or ginger nuts than with devotees of custard creams. Presumably he thinks the latter might be prone to hobnobbing for the sake of it.

Seventy years ago this month, the novel A Question Of Upbringing introduced readers to the monstrous figure of Kenneth Widmerpool.

He begins Anthony Powells 12-book series A Dance To The Music Of Time as an unpopular schoolboy but ends up in the House of Lords.

Who provided the inspiration for this gauche, charmless, self-centred, over-ambitious and sexually ambiguous figure? Labour chancellor Denis Healey was clear: former Tory Prime Minister Ted Heath. Unkind but probably true.

Grilling record label fat-cats at the Culture select committee, Tory MP Steve Brine disclosed a passion for the outlandish hair metal rock genre. As a lad, I would buy the latest Poison album in Guildford and listen to Every Rose Has Its Thorn over and over.

Warner Music CEO Tony Harlow sensed a chance to curry political favour: I worked in Guildford Our Price; it was probably me who sold you the record.

Theres an amusing comment below a post on Twitter about genial former MP Ed Vaizey: [He] was the only Tory culture minister who knew anything about culture. He voted against No Deal too, and lost the whip for it. But then he sucked up to old mates Bojo, Gove and Carrie, and was made a Lord.

A very succinct and accurate biography of yours truly, replied Lord Vaizey of Didcot.
A recent study by the Center for Responsive Politics, reported by the Guardian, reveals that 42 Republican lawmakers who voted to overturn the January 6 election results received a combined $20 million in funding from the Club for Growth (CFG). The CFG is a billionaire-backed conservative consortium dedicated to advancing the interests of the financial oligarchy by backing anti-tax, anti-regulation and pro-charter school politicians.

In his bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election and install himself as president-dictator, Donald Trump had the backing of substantial sections of the Republican Party, including many recipients of CFG donations over the years.

Within the last two weeks, two Republican representatives, freshman Colorado Congresswoman and QAnon adherent Lauren Boebert and Maryland Representative Andy Harris, were stopped by Capitol Police trying to enter the floor of the House, each with a gun on their person. Both voted to reject the Electoral College vote on January 6, hours after pro-Trump fascists had overrun the Capitol in a bid to stop the official counting of the votes, and both have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from the Club for Growth. Broebert set off a newly installed metal detector outside the House chamber on January 12, while Harris is under investigation by Capitol police after trying to enter the House floor with a pistol on January 21.

Andy Harris at a pair of campaign events in 2020. (Image credit Facebook/harrisforcongress)

The CFG has been the primary financial backer of Harris since his election in 2010, giving his campaign roughly $345,000 over that time. As of October 6, Federal Election Commission Reports revealed that Club for Growths Super PAC, Club for Growth Action, had spent $706,000 on ads and pamphlets attacking Boeberts opponent.

The current head of the CFG is former Indiana Republican Representative David McIntosh, who has led the organization since 2014. CFG money has been instrumental in electing leading Republican senators over the last decade, including Ted Cruz (Texas), Marco Rubio (Florida), Ben Sasse (Nebraska), Josh Hawley (Missouri), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) and Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania).

In 2018, the CFG spent millions on negative ads targeting the opponents of Cruz and Hawley while giving generously to their respective campaigns, with Cruz receiving $234,832 while Hawley received $299,301. The CFG spent $3 million on attack ads against Hawleys Democratic opponent, Claire McCaskill, while in Texas, it helped Cruz fend off a challenge by Beto O Rourke, spending $1.2 million on negative ads against the Democratic challenger. Cruz and Hawley led the Republican campaign in the Senate to reject the Electoral College vote as submitted by the various states, and both voted against accepting the results of the election in the hours following the attempted fascist takeover of Congress.

In the 2016 presidential campaign, the CFG initially opposed the candidacy of Trump, donating millions to his opponents, but after Trump bested Rubio, Cruz and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul in the primaries, the organization quickly shifted to supporting Trump. As McIntosh recalled in a 2019 interview with the Daily Beast, it was critical for the survival of the Club for Growth to pivot from having opposed Trump in the presidential primaries to being affirmatively supportive of Trump in the policy battles. McIntosh added, If theyre a Never Trumper, were not going to support them.

This pivot to Trump and the fascistic politics he embodies is representative not only of the fascistic turn of the Republican party, but of substantial sections of the ruling financial oligarchy, which are turning toward fascism to defend their wealth in the face of growing militancy and anti-capitalist sentiment in the working class.

The Club for Growth was founded in 1999 by Stephen Moore, former Wall Street Journal writer, Heritage Foundation economist and adviser to Trump. Moore founded the CFG along with Thomas Rhodes, Harlan Crow and Richard Gilder. Since its founding, the CFG has played an outsized role in US politics, donating millions of dollars primarily to Republican candidates, while running negative advertisements against their opponents.

As of 2018, the latest data available, the CFGs board of directors includes:

* Kenneth Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state and member of the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Center.

* Howard Rich, chairman and co-founder of Americans for Limited Government. Rich donated $225,000 to a super PAC that bought ads promoting the candidacy of another QAnon fascist, freshman Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

* Virginia James, the widow of Club for Growth co-founder Richard Gilder. James has donated millions of dollars to far-right causes, including $250,000 in 2020 to the Charles Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity.

Since 2005, the CFG has released an annual scorecard that ranks politicians on their adherence to the CFGs goals and announces a Defender of Economic Freedom award to those who score above 90 percent. For the 2018 congressional cycle, the CFG awarded 25 Republican politicians with scores above 90 percent, while four US senators and three representatives received perfect scores.

Those who received perfect scores from the CFG included two Arizona representatives, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, both of whom voted to overturn the election results and were instrumental in leading and organizing Stop the Steal rallies in Arizona following Trumps electoral defeat, as well as the rally outside the White House on January 6. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Biggs received over $55,000 from the CFG between 2015 and 2020.

The biggest donors to the CFG are billionaires Richard and Liz Uihlein, owners of Uline Packaging, and billionaire Jeffery Yass, who co-founded the Susquehanna International Group, an options trading company. The Center for Responsive Politics revealed that Richard Uihlein donated $27 million to the CFG in 2020 and $6.7 million in 2018, while Yass donated $20.7 million to the CFG in 2020 and $3.8 million in 2018.

The Uihleins have played a leading role in mobilizing and organizing politically disoriented and fascistic elements against coronavirus-induced lockdowns. In April, the Uihleins, along with Stephen Moore, secretly organized an unsuccessful recall campaign against Wisconsins Democratic Governor Tony Evers, along with multiple protests at the state Capitol against any restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.

WBEZ in Illinois revealed on January 12 that Richard Uihlein gave nearly $4.3 million to the political action committee of the Tea Party Patriots, including $800,000 this past October. The marchtosaveamerica.com website, before it was taken down after the January 6 coup attempt, listed the Tea Party Patriots as one of the 11 groups participating in the March to Save America, as part of the #StopTheSteal coalition.

The Uihleins also funneled $800,000 into two Midwest Senate races, supporting Republicans John James in Michigan and Joni Ernst in Iowa. Ernst has fought against any restrictions on business to halt the spread of the virus, labeling it a hoax. Salon reported last October that James, along with Vice President Mike Pence, was photographed with the head of the American Patriot Council, Grand Rapids resident Ryan D. Kelley.

Kelley, who gave thousands to Jamess 2018 and 2020 campaigns, organized the Well-Regulated Militia American Patriot Council rally on June 27 in Lansing to protest coronavirus restrictions and government tyranny. One of the attendees at the rally was Adam Fox, the alleged leader of the Wolverine Watchmen, which, according to the FBI, was planning to kidnap and assassinate Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. FBI affidavits allege that Fox used the rally to recruit accomplices.
Harvard Medical School physician Dr. Abraar Karan recently told CNN that if everyone used an N95 face mask, it would stop the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

CNN reported that N95 masks are considered the gold standard in personal protective equipment because they block 95% of large and small particles utilizing a unique electrostatic filter.

Karan told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta that if everyone used the N95 mask for four weeks in risky settings it would stop the pandemic.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week asking people to wear face masks and requiring the use of face masks on all federal property.

CNN wrote, The quality of protection a face mask can provide is crucial. A respiratory illness like the coronavirus is transmitted through aerosols, tiny particles that waft and hang in the air. Some virus-carrying particles are small enough to travel through or around lower-quality masks, making the wearer vulnerable to inhalation of viral particles.

President Biden also directed federal agencies to invoke the Defense Production Act to close shortages of syringes, N95 masks, gloves and other supplies needed for virus testing and vaccine administration, according to the Associated Press.

CNN reported that the biggest issue, however, with N95 masks is the supply is limited.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN, An N95 thats well-fitted clearly is the best that you can do. You could get production of that at a much higher rate now.

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Believing that they could be brought back from the dead, a couple in Andhra Pradeshs Chitoor district stabbed and bludgeoned their two daughters to death on Sunday.

The incident came to light on Sunday night when the father N Purushottam Naidu informed his colleague about the murders, who in turn contacted the police. The younger daughter Sayidivya (22) was first stabbed to death with a trishool (trident) while the older Alekhya (27) was clubbed with dumbbells.

The accused were found to be in a mentally disturbed state, Divisional Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ravi Manohara Chary said.

Neighbours informed the police that they would often perform pujas and one such ritual took place on the night of the murders as well. The DSP said that the family were very devout, adding, They killed their children so that they would live again. The mother beat the children to death and the father present at the time of the incident."

Naidu was the Vice Principal of Madanapalle Government Womens Degree College while his wife Padmaja was working as a correspondent and principal of a private educational institute, police said.

The elder daughter was enrolled in a post-graduate course in Bhopal and the younger one had studied BBA and was pursuing a course at the AR Rahman Music Academy.

The family had moved into their newly built house in the village of Sivanagar in August last year.
Public access to closed circuit surveillance television video records from daycare centers can be financially burdensome when they must be censored in accordance with the country's Privacy Act. Korea Times file



By Ko Dong-hwan



The decision by Busan police to charge over 100 million won ($95,000) to parents wanting to access CCTV footage from a daycare center  due to suspicions of child abuse  has raised questions as to whether the financially burdensome demand was appropriate.



The parents, who have been sending their child to a state-run daycare center, recently reported to Busan Gijang Police Station their concerns that the child might have been abused at the facility and requested access to two weeks of video recordings from a surveillance camera set up there.



However, officers at the station informed the parents, Jan. 20, that they would have to pay the extravagant fee.



The money, the police explained to the parents, was to cover the cost of editing the video to censor everyone other than the parents' child to protect their privacy in accordance with the country's Privacy Act. The video could only be released in its original state if both the parents and all the people in the video agreed to allow the parents access to the uncensored version.



"Upon receiving the parents' request, which involved the revealing of (confidential) information, we asked a video company for an estimate of the cost of censoring the video," an officer from the police said. "The company said that editing the video, large in size at 174 gigabytes, would cost more than 100 million won. That's what we told the parents."



According to the Kookmin Daily newspaper, the estimate would be around 120 million won based on the country's private video censoring business: with an average rate of 25,000 won per minute, a childcare center usually operates eight hours a day, five days a week.



The parents couldn't afford to pay. Instead, they watched a surveillance video provided by the daycare center but what they saw was heavily censored, with their child only discernible in the video and the rest was so blurred the only thing they could discern was people as vague shapes moving around. The video was useless to the parents looking for clues from the people around their child.





In this CCTV video footage from a daycare center in Ulsan's Dong District, an instructor in a red sweater appears to step on the leg of a child to force him to eat. Courtesy of JTBC
A prestigious high school has been rocked by the deaths of a student and a teacher just days apart from each other.

St Brendan's College Yeppoon, Queensland, took to Facebook on Sunday to inform the community one of its teachers passed away that morning from brain cancer.

The death of teacher Peter Bartlett came after Year 11 student Rhys Yore was killed in a traffic accident last Wednesday night.

The all-boys high school said 'the loss of these two lives will be greatly felt within the school and across the entire Capricorn Coast and beyond'.

Popular St Brendan's College Yeppoon teacher Peter Bartlett, pictured with wife Cara, passed away from brain cancer on Sunday

Rhys Yore (pictured), a Year 11 student at the school, died last Wednesday night in a traffic accident

'Rhys Yore, Year 11 student, was tragically killed in a traffic accident last Wednesday night and will be sadly missed by friends at the College and throughout the wider community,' the school posted on Facebook Sunday.

'Peter Bartlett, a long standing and much loved staff member finally succumbed to his illness and died peacefully surrounded by family this morning.

'Peter was a remarkable human being who positively influenced many lives, not only the students he taught but across many facets of life here in Central Queensland.'

The school said the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at the College will be open to all community members this week to support those grieving.

'Staff, students, family and friends are welcome to come along and take a moment to light a candle and say a prayer for Peter and Rhys,' the school said.

The St Brendan's Yeppoon Old Boys' Foundation said in a Facebook post Mr Bartlett 'will be remembered as a wonderful teacher and mentor to many past and present SBC men'.

St Brendan's College Yeppoon (pictured) said 'the loss of these two lives will be greatly felt within the school and across the entire Capricorn Coast and beyond'

Mr Bartlett (pictured) is being remembered 'as a remarkable human being who positively influenced many lives'

A Facebook post on behalf of the 2018 graduating class said Mr Bartlett was 'an amazing teacher, pushing everyone to do their best even when they didn't want to'.

'You were the meaning of inclusive, and you always had a talent of bringing people from different aspects of life together, didn't matter if you were a first thirteen superstar, or captain of the chess team,' the post said.

Mr Bartlett was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of cancer that affects the brain, in August 2019.

He was a teacher at the school for about 30 years.

Mr Yore's best friend described him as someone who 'lived his life to the fullest and everyone loved that about him'.
The much-awaited drama "Jiri Mountain" will finally resume filming after one month of break due to Covid-19.

Another tvN drama is about to conquer the year with its star-studded cast "Legend of the Blue Sea" star Jun Ji Hyun, "Kingdom" actor Jun Ji Hoon, Sung Dong il, and "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" actor Oh Jung Se. On Dec 8, 2020, it has been reported that the production team of the said series temporarily paused filming due to the fast growing cases of Covid-19 in South Korea.

Meanwhile, according to one of the representatives of the drama "Jiri Mountain", "We have completed the Covid-19 tests on Jan 21 and confirmed that all of our staff members tested negative."

They also shared exciting news that "Sweet Home" star Go Min Si will be joining the team for filming. The actors and all the cast will also be examined and inspected for the virus according to their schedules, they also added, "We are preparing for the resume of the shooting with safety as our priority following all the health and safety protocols."

"Jiri Mountain" immediately suspended filming on Dec 23 (2020) after a part-time staff who visited and worked on the set and was confirmed to have a close contact with a Covid-19 positive.

Now that the drama will finally start its production, fans are already looking forward to seeing again the cast and how the story will unfold. tvN's mystery drama "Jiri Mountain" is about rangers who works at Jiri Mountain to save people.

Jun Ji Hyun will be portraying the character of Seo Yi Kang, she is said to be the best rangers among the group. She is already familiar with the area and almost knows everything about Jiri Mountain. Actor Jun Ji Hoon is Kang Hyun Jo, who is a new ranger at Jiri Mountain. He was once an army captain and also graduated from the military academy. But behind his almost perfect personality, is a mysterious story about him that he does not tell anybody.

This will also be the second project for actors Jun Ji Hyun and Jun Ji Hoon, they were also expected to work together in the upcoming season three of Netflix's original series "Kingdom".

tvN's new drama will be helmed by director Lee Eung Bok, who also directed the most watched dramas "Goblin" and "Mr.Sunshine". It is penned by writer Kim Eun Hye, who is also behind the script of "Kingdom." The series will also help boost South Korea's tourism.

International viewers are expected to see the drama in the first half of 2021. Further details about the drama is yet to be announced.

Are you also excited to watch the star-studded drama "Jiri Mountain"? Share your comments with us!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.





Written by Shai Collins.
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DALLAS  Authorities have arrested a 22-year-old Texas man who investigators say posted videos on social media that showed him taking part in the U.S. Capitol riots earlier this month.

Nolan Bernard Cooke was arrested Thursday after investigators executed a search warrant at his Savoy home, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Cooke posted pictures and video to multiple social media accounts, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. Investigators received several tips that Cooke used a GoPro camera he was wearing around his neck during the insurrection.

The FBI agent said a video posted to Cookes TikTok account showed people pushing through police outside the Capitol. Two other pictures on Instagram showed a man matching his description standing outside the Capitol. Authorities say Cooke admitted pushing past police and that he was the person in the social media images. But he denied going inside the Capitol building.

Cook is at least the fifth North Texan arrested in connection with the riot, the newspaper reported. He faces charges of acts during civil disorder, unlawful activities on Capitol grounds and entering or remaining on restricted buildings or grounds and disorderly or disruptive conduct in or near restricted buildings or grounds.

It was unclear whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

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New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company Merck is giving up on two potential COVID-19 vaccines following poor results in early-stage studies.

The drugmaker, which has its U.S. corporate headquarters in Kenilworth, said Monday that it will focus instead on studying two possible treatments for the virus that also have yet to be approved by regulators. The company said its potential vaccines were well tolerated by patients, but they generated an inferior immune system response compared with other vaccines.

Merck entered the race to fight COVID-19 later than other top drugmakers.

It said last fall that it had started early-stage research in volunteers on potential vaccines that require only one dose. Vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna were already in late-stage research at that point.

The Food and Drug Administration allowed emergency use of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines late last year. Each requires two shots.

Five potential vaccines have reached late-stage testing in the United States, the final phase before a drugmaker seeks approval from regulators. Results from a single-dose candidate developed by Johnson & Johnson are expected soon.

Since vaccinations began in December, nearly 22 million doses have been delivered to people nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 6% of the population has received at least one dose.

A total of 3.2 million people, or 1% of the population, have received both doses required for those vaccines.

More than 419,000 people have died in the United States due to the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The government is paying Merck about $356 million to fast-track production of one of its potential treatments under Operation Warp Speed, a push to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. The money will allow Kenilworth, New Jersey, company to deliver up to 100,000 doses by June 30, if the FDA clears the treatment for emergency use.

The treatment, known as MK-7110, has the potential to minimize the damaging effects of an overactive immune response to COVID-19. This immune response can complicate the life-saving efforts of doctors and nurses.

The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
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President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 response as Vice President Kamala Harris (L) looks on before signing executive orders in the State Dining Room of the White House on Jan. 21, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Reimposes Travel Ban on European Countries Over CCP Virus, Adds South Africa: White House

The Biden administration will reimpose a travel ban on most non-U.S. citizens entering the country from the United Kingdom, most other European countries, and Brazil, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

The move is designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through travel, especially as we see faster-spreading variants emerging across the world, said Psaki, who noted that South Africa will be added to the list.

Last year, scientists in the UK discovered a new variant of CCP virus, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, thats believed to spread faster than the original one that emerged in 2019 in mainland China. Officials have also sounded the alarm about a strain of the CCP virus that emerged recently in South Africa.

We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) principal deputy director, in a Reuters interview on Jan. 25.

The CDC is putting in place this suite of measures to protect Americans and also to reduce the risk of these variants spreading and worsening the current pandemic, Schuchat said.

Recently, the CDC determined that South Africa is experiencing widespread, ongoing person-to-person transmission of the B.1.351 strain of the virus, while Brazil has its own variant known as B.1.1.28.1, according to a proclamation from Biden on the White House website, which listed exemptions to the travel rule.

President Donald Trump had rescinded travel restrictions on Brazil and Europe on Jan. 18; Bidens proclamation will effectively undo Trumps executive order.

All passengers entering the United States will have to clear a CCP virus test that must be administered no more than 72 hours prior to the scheduled departure time to the United States, according to Psaki.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki participates in a press briefing at the White House on Jan. 22, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In addition to most of Europe, Brazil, and South Africa, the U.S. is also restricting travel from China and Iran.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Jan. 22 said theres evidence that the B.1.1.7 variant found last year in England is associated with a higher mortality rate.

Weve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variantthe variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast [in England]may be associated with a higher degree of mortality, he said in a news conference on Jan. 22. The variant, he said, could be up to 30 percent more deadly than the original CCP virus.

With the original COVID-19, out of 1,000 people aged 60 or older, about 10 might be at risk of death. But with the new B.1.1.7 variant, 13 or 14 people out of 1,000 who are 60 or older might die, Johnson said.

The UK variant has been discovered in about a dozen U.S. states so far, including New York, Illinois, and California.

Earlier in January, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the variant found in South Africa may pose more of a problem.

Im incredibly worried about the South African variant, and thats why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa, he said. This is a very, very significant problem  and its even more of a problem than the UK new variant.
Day care shortage creates barriers for working parents

With a labor shortage plaguing the state, working parents are ready to fill these positions. The lack of childcare options creates barriers.
Bank of Baroda on Monday said the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has imposed a monetary sanction of over Rs 13 crore on the bank for violating anti-money laundering law. The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has imposed a financial sanction of AED 6,833,333 (amounting to Rs 13.56 crore) on Bank of Baroda, GCC Operations, Dubai for deficiencies in compliance of Federal Decree Law of 2018 on Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations, the bank said in a release.

"Bank of Baroda has been taking steps to ensure compliance with the Federal Decree Law no (20) of 2018 and has been communicating with the Central Bank," it added. Additionally, it has been undertaking measures to improve compliance, the bank said.

"Under these circumstances, it is informed to the public that the bank has engaged with the relevant stakeholders and is exploring all necessary options available with the bank, including the option to file an appeal against the financial sanctions that have been imposed," it added.
President Joe Biden took the oath of office on Wednesday with a slew of challenges and problems he will have to face head on as commander in chief. The most pressing problem many Laredoans hope the new president tackles directly is the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although a politician alone cannot bring an end to the global pandemic that has caused more than 400,000 deaths in the country and more than 560 deaths in Webb County, policies could be enacted to help mitigate the pandemic to some extent.

Many Laredoans shared their hopes for the presidents plans recently with LMT. And among the main responses is a faster distribution of vaccines.

I will look forward to major changes in the distribution of the vaccine and for a better, more thought out COVID recovery plan for small businesses and families, said Jessica Olivares, a local activist and creator of the COVID-19 LRD Support Facebook group. We need efficient and effective recovery plans to steer this country out of the current state we are in.

Along with vaccines, some would also like for the president to implement measures such as mandatory face masks nationwide or establishing regulations to help people stay at home.

To be more strict in carrying out protection measures against the pandemic and to regulate in a better way the distribution of vaccines so that most, if not all, of us can have access to them as soon as possible, Margarita Juarez said.

Other people simply expect quick action from Biden regardless of what it is.

Whatever plan he has, Im sure its better than the previous one, Carmen Luna Martinez said.

Webb County Democrat Party Chair Sylvia Bruni said the new presidents plan is already in place as he has proposed to distribute millions of vaccines in his first months in office.

His plan is already in place, Bruni said. What do I hope happens immediately: a nationally coordinated plan to not only distribute vaccines to the states but to also assure coordinated efforts and support. Laredos plight is a perfect example of what happens when there is no coordinated support.

Some Laredoans who have hope for Bidens efforts against the pandemic do not believe the president alone is responsible for whether his plans work or not. They said Laredoans and everyone else must also do their part.

Honestly, seeing how irresponsible people are out in public makes me super disappointed, Kayla Patlan said. Truly what Biden plans on doing is enough, but it is up to us to actually follow through and do our part in stopping all of this. What he needs to do is mandate wearing face masks. If you dont like wearing them, stay home or just put it on and dont complain and be selfish.

Webb County Republican Party Chairman Tyler Kraus spoke out against the idea of a nationwide mask mandate.

President Biden must find a way to control the pandemic without destroying our economy, he said. It is going to be hard because he has socialists advising him on how to control the pandemic. The cure cant be worse than the virus itself. A nationwide mask mandate would be a mistake and is an infringement of personal liberty. I dont have the answers, but I do know that if we lock down our country again, we will never recover from it.

Patlan is also hesitant toward the idea of a lockdown due to the economic impact.

I know a lot of people think a lockdown will solve all of this, but truly it wont, she said. I do believe we should have one, but again people do need to pay for bills, and unemployment can only go so far. If we were to go on lockdown, then the government should take charge and help us with bills and food. On top of this, during the lockdown have those who need the vaccine get it. But again, a lockdown can only go so far, and once its over everyone will be out and about again and it will only get worse.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com

Concerns over fraud with absentee ballots is not something limited to Republicans in the United States. Indeed, many European countries have voting rules stricter to prevent fraud than what we have in the United States. For example, 74% entirely ban absentee voting for citizens who live in their country. Another 6% allow it, but have very restrictive rules, such as limiting it to those in the military or are in a hospital, and they require evidence that those conditions are met. Another 15% allow absentee ballots but require that one has to present a photo voter ID to acquire it. Thirty-five percent of European countries completely ban absentee ballots for even those living outside their country. The pattern is similar for developed countries.

Many of these countries have learned the hard way about what happens when mail-in ballots arent secured. They have also discovered how hard it is to detect vote buying when both those buying and selling the votes have an incentive to hide the exchange.

France banned mail-in voting in 1975 because of massive fraud in Corsica, where postal ballots were stolen or bought and voters cast multiple votes. Mail-in ballots were used to cast the votes of dead people.
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, speaks at a National Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

MyPillow Creator Could Run for Governor of Minnesota, Claims Trump Endorsement

Mike Lindell, the inventor of My Pillow, said he might run for governor of Minnesota, adding that he was promised an endorsement by former President Donald Trump.

The former president had told him that he would back his bid for Minnesotas governor, Lindell told The Associated Press on Jan. 23.

Mike, if you did it, I would get behind you, Lindell said Trump told him.

Of course it would help, he said to the wire service, answering a question about whether it would help him if Trump endorsed his run. Why wouldnt it help? The guy was the best president in history.

He added a caveat to Axios in saying he is currently trying to prove his claims about alleged voter fraud during the Nov. 3 election and wont make a decision until the fight is finished.

Lindell in early January said he has so far poured more than $1 million into proving his claims and is working with former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn, according to the Star-Tribune.

I think I would bring common sense and unity, Lindell said of a possible GOP bid for the states highest office. Its a business, where you run things like a business. I look at problems and solutions and what its going to manifest into.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Trump team for comment.

Last week, Lindell told local news outlets that Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohls are among the retailers that dropped his products following his claims of election fraud.

I just got off the phone with Bed Bath & Beyond. Theyre dropping MyPillow. Just got off the phone not five minutes ago. Kohls, all these different places, Lindell said. These [companies], theyre scared, Bath & Beyond, theyre scared. They were good partners. In fact, I told them, You guys come back anytime you want.

Theyre succumbing to the pressure from these attacks, he added in an interview with the AP. Im one of their best-selling products ever. Theyre going to lose out. Its their loss if they want to succumb to the pressure.

Bed Bath & Beyond told The Epoch Times that its move to stop selling MyPillow is data-driven, customer-inspired and are delivering substantial growth in our key destination categories.

Separately, Lindell was spotted at the White House earlier this month leaving the West Wing carrying notes that appear to outline recommendations for the president. The words move Kash Patel to CIA acting were seen on the notes, referring to the former intelligence official.

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You can listen to the latest episode of Today in Pa at this link, or on any of your favorite app including Alexa, Apple, Google, Spotify and Stitcher. Episodes are available every weekday on PennLive. Feel free to subscribe, follow or rate Today in Pa. as you see fit!

Today in Pa. Daily Podcast | Jan. 25, 2021

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro warns Pennsylvania residents that their second stimulus checks may be delayed due to an IRS glitch. A man was arrested in Bucks County after posting threats against Democratic party leaders on Facebook. As a breakthrough in a cold case, the bodies of a man and a woman were at last identified after 44 years. Plus, one pooch in Cumberland County help to save his neighbors from an electrical fire.

Those are the stories we cover in the latest episode of Today in Pa, a daily weekday podcast from PennLive.com and hosted by Claudia Dimuro. Today in Pa is dedicated to sharing the most important and interesting stories pertaining to Pennsylvania that lets you know, indeed, whats happening today in Pa.

Todays episode refers to the following articles:

If you enjoy Today in Pa, consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on Amazon. Reviews help others find the show and, besides, wed like to know what you think about the program, too.
ALBANY  Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to convene a commission to study the crucial but oft-criticized role that mental health officials have in New Yorks Family Court system.

The planned blue-ribbon commission, announced in Cuomos budget briefing book released last week, will examine the role of the forensic evaluators, whose recommendations often determine which parent prevails in a child custody or visitation dispute.

There are few limits on who may act as a forensic evaluator or how the evaluations should be done, Cuomo's proposal states. Moreover, families of color are often harmed by racial and poverty biases in the child welfare system."

The governor's plan is for the commission to be composed of judges, court personnel, forensic evaluators, attorneys who represent parties in custody matters, attorneys who represent children, survivors of gender-based violence, domestic violence advocates, and others with knowledge and experience on the topic.

When parents are unable to reach a settlement in a custody dispute, and a trial appears inevitable, Family Court judges often appoint forensic evaluators. Evaluators then interview parents, children and other stakeholders and issue written reports, which often include recommendations about whether one or both parents should gain custody or visitation rights. Family Court judges often rely heavily on the evaluators recommendations in making their rulings at trial.

But as the Times Union reported last May, there are no state-issued criteria for writing forensic evaluation reports beyond considering a child's "best psychological interests and well-being."

In 2011, Dr. Daniel Saunders of the University of Michigan School of Social Work issued a much-cited study finding that evaluators estimated up to a third of child abuse allegations were false  when research showed false allegations in divorce cases at vastly lower rates.

In downstate New York courts, forensic evaluators are required to be a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. The courts maintain a list of those deemed qualified and require six hours of training. In the rest of the state, there is no public list and no required training. Critics of the system say that few evaluators in New York are trained to recognize the behaviors that stem from trauma, abuse and addiction.

There are also no enforceable standards by which evaluators must conduct interviews examining accusations, including any standard concerning whether an evaluator can interview a child with an allegedly abusive parent present.

The evaluators work producing the reports is expensive, at times costing parents ten-of-thousands of dollars. And the work is secretive: Because of a state law imposing strict confidentiality, litigants often cannot see copies of the reports produced for their own cases.

In recent years, the charge to reform evaluations has been led by Jacqueline Franchetti, a Long Island woman whose 2-year-old daughter Kyra was murdered in 2016 by her ex-boyfriend, who then committed suicide.

Before Kyras murder, a forensic evaluator recommended that the parents receive joint custody, despite Franchettis warnings that her ex-boyfriend was suicidal and stalking her. Franchetti has since successfully pressed several state legislators to introduce legislation reforming the process. She told the Times Union that she also welcomed Cuomos move to create the commission.

I am so thankful that Gov. Cuomo is focusing on forensic evaluators, Franchetti said via email. Now, both the legislative and executive branches recognize the dire need for changes in how forensic evaluators function in child custody cases. There is no accountability, no standards, no training requirements, and no transparency with forensic custody evaluators  its the wild wild west. And childrens lives  just like Kyra's  are in jeopardy each time.

Franchetti said she was excited that Cuomo is including "survivors of gender-based violence on the commission.

Its critical our voices are not only heard, but that stories  like Kyras  are taken into account and lead the way for reform of a completely dysfunctional court system, Franchetti said.

Queens Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi has been working on sweeping legislation, to be called Kyras Law, aimed at bolstering child safety in the Family Court system. Separately, Hevesi introduced a bill last year to eliminate forensic evaluations from the system altogether.

Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz reintroduced a bill this month that would create greater standards and training requirements for forensic evaluators. And Brooklyn Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein has a longstanding bill, which in 2019 passed in the Assembly but not the Senate, making the evaluations less secretive.

All the Assembly Democrats bills have faced opposition from the New York State Psychological Association, a trade group that represents the interests of psychologists that often serve as forensic evaluators.
[January 25, 2021] Bithumb Celebrates 7th Anniversary Aiming to Leap into Customer-oriented Virtual Asset Platform

Bithumb Korea (Bithumb, CEO: Heo Back Young), the top virtual asset exchanges in Korea, marked the 7th anniversary of its establishment. With the largest customer base and liquidity as well as expertise in blockchain and virtual assets in Korea, Bithumb is accelerating to leap into a digital financial platform. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005255/en/



The top virtual asset exchanges in Korea Bithumb Korea marked the 7th anniversary of its establishment. With the largest customer base and liquidity as well as expertise in blockchain and virtual assets in Korea, Bithumb is accelerating to leap into a digital financial platform. As a leader in the industry, Bithumb has been pioneering the promotion of transparent and safe trading environments by establishing an anti-money laundering center, developing an automatic tax filing system, and obtaining the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification. It will actively address new regulations and changes in the market this year. It aims to obtain the license for a virtual asset service provider (VASP) by intensifying compliance monitoring and advancing anti-money laundering systems while expanding the market base and transforming into a customer-oriented virtual asset platform. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Celebrating its 7th anniversary on January 5, Bithumb announced its achievements accomplished during the past 7 years. As of the third quarter last year, the number of subscribers of Bithumb exceeded 5 million in accumulation, the largest number of members among crypto exchanges in Korea. The number of customers who visited Bithumb reached 5.77 million in August 2020 alone (based on the 'Report on Traffics at Virtual Asset Exchanges' published by Etherlab). Its liquidity also appeared to be the strongest in Korea. Bithumb reported the largest daily trading amount of KRW 7.6 trillion (January 16, 2018) and the largest monthly trading amount of KRW 115 trillion (January 2018). As a leader in the industry, Bithumb has been pioneering the promotion of transparent and safe trading environments by establishing an anti-money laundering center, developing an automatic tax filing system, and obtaining the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification. The company will actively address new regulations and changes in the market this year. It aims to obtain the license for a virtual asset service provider (VASP) by intensifying compliance monitoring and advancing anti-money laundering systems while expanding the market base and transforming into a customer-oriented virtual asset platform. Starting with opening a bitcoin (BTC) market, it will introduce portfolio products to enhance customers' accessibility to the virtual asset market and to diversify options, while providing selected quality information on the market. In addition, it will develop the next-generation trading platform to improve customer experience. It will enhance the accessibility and convenience of customers by releasing more convenient and faster applications than existing ones. "As a leading company that grew into one of the top crypto exchanges, we will proactively cope with the new regulatory environment," said Heo Back Young, CEO of Bithumb. "We are committed to expanding the base of virtual asset market and promoting benefits of customers by placing the highest priority on customers." In commemoration of the anniversary of its foundation, Bithumb holds various events throughout the month of January. And it plans to provide presentations 'Noteworthy keywords in the virtual asset market in 2021' selected by industry experts. Justin Sun, CEO of Tron Foundation; IN Hoh, professor at Korea University; Kim Junwoo, Co-CEO of CrossAngle; and Kim Joon Young, attorney at Kim & Chang will predict this year under the theme of their respective selected keywords. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005255/en/

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New Delhi: India and China on Sunday held the ninth round of Corps Commanders level talks to resolve the nine-month-long military stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

The meeting started at around 11 am in Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control. The Indian delegation was led by 14 Corps Commander Lt-General P.G.K. Menon and included a joint secretary from the external affairs ministry.

Sunday's meeting between top Commanders in the sector from India and China to discuss disengagement and de-escalation was held after a gap of around two-and-a-half months.

The meeting was held when China is consolidating its position all along the LAC. India is expecting a hot summer in 2021 all along the LAC and is keeping a tight vigil.

India has maintained that it will only accept complete disengagement by the Chinese troops and restoration of the status quo ante of April 2020 at the LAC. India's position is that it was China which first moved its troops at the LAC and China will have to be the first to withdraw from these positions. India has told China that it will talk about all flash points and not just about the South bank of Pangong Tso where the Indian Army occupied strategic heights in August in a surprise move.

The military stand-off in eastern Ladakh is in the ninth month with both sides having deployed around 50,000 troops on each side of the LAC. Despite temperatures dipping to minus 30 degrees Celsius in the region, both India and China have maintained troops at forward posts this winter at LAC in Ladakh.
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden is trying to shake a Trump hangover in the federal government by acting to remove some holdovers and install his own appointees, but a quiet push to salt federal agencies with Trump loyalists is complicating the new presidents effort to turn the page.

The Biden team, showing a willingness to cut tenures short, moved quickly last week to dump several high-profile, Senate-confirmed Trump appointees whose terms extended beyond Inauguration Day - in some cases by several years.

They include the surgeon general, the National Labor Relations Board's powerful general counsel, and the heads of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

But other, lower-profile Trump loyalists, some of whom helped carry out his administration's most controversial policies, are scattered throughout Biden's government in permanent, senior positions. And identifying them, let alone dislodging them, could be difficult for the new leadership.

The Jan. 16 appointment of Michael Ellis, a former GOP operative who served in the Trump White House, as the National Security Agency's top lawyer caused such a furor that he was placed on paid leave within hours of taking office.

And in the former president's final months and weeks, dozens of other political appointees had their status similarly converted to permanent civil service roles that will allow them to stay in government for years to come. These new career officials are protected from partisan removal unless the new administration discovers that they got their jobs illegally - without competition and because of their political affiliation.

As Biden tries to reset the government to match his priorities, Democrats fear the Trump holdovers, who served in partisan roles, could undermine the new administration as they move into the civil service, which is supposed to operate free of partisanship.

The practice of shifting employees from appointee to career status, informally called burrowing, occurs at the end of every presidency - and it is controversial. Trump aides and their GOP allies in Congress, for example, threatened at the start of Trump's term to remove any Obama-era political appointees who had been replanted in the civil service, and dozens were, records show.

But the just-departed president is on track to exceed the number of Democrats the Obama administration rewarded with permanent roles. In his final year, President Barack Obama moved 29 political appointees into career jobs. As of November, Trump had installed almost that many, 26, in the first 10 months of 2020, according to data provided to Congress by the Office of Personnel Management.

Nine more requests await review by personnel officials. More are expected. Congress has not received data covering December and the first 20 days of January, when outgoing administrations tend to move quickly to reward appointees who want to stay in government.

Burrowing is frowned upon by good-government groups - and by members of the party that is out of power - even when it is carried out legally, which means the appointee competed for the position and was the top candidate on the basis of merit and work experience, with no nod to political affiliation or loyalty.

The hiring of a political appointee for a career job must be scrutinized by the federal personnel office for five years after the person left the partisan job.

Such conversions also can violate civil service laws, as occurred during the George W. Bush administration, when a young Justice Department lawyer from the Republican National Committee, Monica Goodling, was found to have broken the law by using politics to guide hiring decisions for a range of critical jobs.

Goodling was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony, and was reprimanded by the Virginia Bar. She acknowledged during a House hearing that she "crossed the line" and broke civil service hiring rules.

"There's a great irony here," said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., who leads a House oversight panel on federal government operations, referring to Trump's efforts to place his appointees in government. "The crowd that didn't believe in government and called its agencies the deep state now wants to work for them."

Connolly has asked the Government Accountability Office, Congress's research arm, to tally all of Trump's conversions over four years.

Many of the new hires were not announced by their agencies, which may have presented a challenge for Biden's transition teams to discover them.

"The incoming Biden-Harris administration is keenly aware of last minute efforts by the outgoing administration to convert political appointees into civil service positions," a transition official said in a statement.

"We anticipate learning more in the weeks ahead as our work to restore trust and accountability across the federal government begins, including reviewing personnel actions during the Trump administration," the official said.

Trump partisans work in Biden's government at a range of agencies, including the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Many are serving in senior executive roles, the highest echelon of career leaders. They work as assistant U.S. attorneys, general counsel, intelligence leaders, immigration judges.

Some got significant raises when they joined the permanent bureaucracy. Jordan Von Bokern, who clerked for Amy Coney Barrett when she was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, went in April from counsel in Justice's Office of Legal Policy, making $93,642, to a career trial attorney in the agency's civil division making $109,366, records show. Von Bokern did not return a call seeking comment.

At the Energy Department, theres Brandon Middleton, a lawyer who fought the Endangered Species Act for the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation before joining the staff of then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. When he was Trumps first attorney general, Sessions hired Middleton to work in the Justice Departments environmental division. Then Middleton held a deputy solicitor job at the Interior Department before his permanent appointment as Energys chief counsel in the office that manages contracts for cleaning up toxic waste. He got a $10,000 raise to $172,508, records show.

"If I was at Energy, I would be looking at Mr. Middleton very warily," said Nick Schwellenbach, a senior investigator at the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.

Middleton declined to comment.

In June, then-Attorney General William Barr hired Tracy Short as the chief immigration judge at Justice, after he served three years in a political role as senior adviser and legal adviser to the leadership at Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Homeland Security. ICE was responsible for carrying out Trump's hard-line immigration policies, which Biden is moving to reverse. Short also got a $10,000 raise, to $185,368.

Short did not return a call seeking comment.

About that time, Lawrence Connell, a senior executive who was chief of staff in the Veterans Health Administration, a political appointment with a $179,700 salary, was hired to a permanent job leading the Department of Veterans Affairs' health-care system in Rhode Island, which provides care to more than 35,000 veterans. His new salary is $190,400. Connell did not respond to an email seeking comment.

These hires were approved by the Office of Personnel Management, which reviews requests from federal agencies. Some requests are rejected, when personnel experts conclude that political considerations played a role. The OPM declined 14 of the Trump administration's requests during the first 11 months of 2020, compared with 10 during the final year of Obama's second term, data shows.

Recently denied conversions include an appointee in the Office of Administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, hired in 2017 as a senior executive. This person, whose name was withheld from the data, applied to be senior adviser for public affairs.

"We could not conclude appointment was free of political influence and complied with merit system principles and applicable civil service laws and regulations," the reviewing official wrote.

Ellis's hiring at the NSA was not made available to the personnel agency, which recently told Democrats in Congress that it does not review requests from the intelligence community, sealing those decisions off from the public and Congress.

Ellis is on leave pending an inquiry by the Pentagon inspector general into the circumstances of his selection. NSA Director Paul Nakasone put Ellis on paid administrative leave four days after then-acting defense secretary Christopher Miller was ordered by the outgoing administration to install Ellis in the job.

But if Ellis and the others who burrowed were hired properly, firing them outright will be hard for Biden to accomplish. At most agencies, career officials serve a year on probation - that period is two years at the Defense Department - during which they can be fired without cause. If some of the Trump loyalists already have made it through probation, they can be reassigned to other roles or given little to do. Like all career employees, they have rights to due process, experts said.

Incoming officials at the Energy Department are weighing whether they can remove at least two Trump appointees who just landed postings as foreign attaches to support international energy cooperation, according to people familiar with the appointments who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Michael Brown, a former coal executive who was national political director for Republican Ben Carson's campaign in 2016 for president, had been deputy general counsel at Energy. Brown was recently approved for a job representing the agency in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Kyle Nicholas, a political appointee with a health-care background who served as an adviser in Energy's international affairs offices under Trump, was just posted to a similar job in Brussels. The appointments were first reported by E&E News.

The moves were made possible after the Trump administration stacked a little-known panel called the Overseas Presence Advisory Board with political officials, removing some career appointees. The board then facilitated the appointments, which last up to three years and do not have to be reported to the Office of Personnel Management.

Obama's Energy Department prohibited political appointees from taking overseas posts. The Biden Energy Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Biden has more control over political appointees. He has asked for the resignation of Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who had been nominated by Trump in 2017 to a four-year term set to expire in September. The new president has moved to install new leadership at health agencies that will be crucial to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, after accusing the Trump team of muzzling federal scientists and pursuing a political agenda at the cost of public health and lives.

In other cases, Biden has sought to get rid of people installed by Trump in what the new president considers bad faith.

For example, Biden quickly forced out Michael Pack, the controversial head of the agency that oversees the Voice of America and four other networks that broadcast news to millions of people abroad, amid complaints of censorship and political interference by Pack. Biden also removed the VOA's director and deputy director after they had been on the job only a few weeks, and the head of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting resigned.

Andrew Saul, a Trump appointee whose six-year term as Social Security commissioner officially ends in 2025, had a curious new "acting" title on a list of temporary government leaders distributed by the new White House last week. Saul announced Thursday that several high-ranking deputies on his team, who had pushed for stricter eligibility for benefits, had been replaced - with labor-friendly Democrats. The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment about the acting title.

In firing the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel, Peter Robb, Biden broke with precedent to end the tenure of a figure seen as a foe by worker advocates and labor unions.

Robb had refused to resign when asked to do so just hours into the new presidency. The request was a departure from the norm that presidents of both parties have followed to allow the general counsel to serve out their term. Robb's term was scheduled to run another 10 months.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked last week whether Biden is pursuing a political purge.

"That's an individual who was not carrying out ... the objectives of the NLRB, and so they were, they are, no longer in their position," she said. "We'll make those decisions as needed."

- - -

The Washington Posts Erica Werner, Ellen Nakashima, Jeff Stein and Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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MASON CITY, Iowa - North Iowa Area Community College's annual Jazz Festival was held a bit differently for its 25th year. But it isn't stopping high school students from gaining valuable feedback and showcasing their talents.

Normally, students would be on the stage at NIACC performing in front of experienced judges. Due to the pandemic, however, band students from across North Iowa, including Mason City, performed via Zoom, with judges from the East Coast listening in. Mason City's jazz band performed two pieces virtually: "Shiny Stockings" from Count Basie, and Thad Jones' "Tow Away Zone."

Assistant band director Sam Bills says the school's bands have had to adapt to be able to perform this year, and credits the work of NIACC band director John Klemas to keep this year's festival going.

"It was really nice. It was fun for the kids, we talked about it for a few minutes afterward. they thought they got a lot out of it, it was fun. It was a good opportunity."

The festival is not a competitive event; rather, Bills says it's to provide students with feedback to improve technique.

"They talked about playing more aggressively, or listening to the lead players, or different techniques for our drummers and bassist to use. Those are things that are applicable to pieces across a whole variety of styles and publication."

In addition to Mason City, students from Clear Lake, GHV, Central Springs, Belmond-Klemme and Gilbert High Schools took part in this year's festival.
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Former Senate Chairman Calin Popescu Tariceanu has been indicted by prosecutors with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) in a case in which he is accused of taking bribes worth 800,000 US dollars.

Procedurally, the anti-corruption prosecutors have reached the stage where the former prime minister is to be sent to trial.

According to a DNA press statement released on Monday, prosecutors with its department dealing with corruption and related crimes ordered the initiation of the criminal action against Tariceanu, at the time of the commission Romanian Government, for bribery.

Investigators note in their ordinance that, in the pending case there are data and evidence from which it results that Tariceanu allegedly claimed and received, in 2007-2008, from the representatives of an Austrian company, material gains worth 800,000 US dollars in guise of payment for consultancy services in exchange for the exercise of its duties in such a way as to adopt a series of decisions favourable to the company.

On January 13, 2021, Justice Minister Stelian Ion sent to Attorney General Gabriela Scutea a request for criminal investigation approved by President Klaus Iohannis regarding the beginning of a criminal investigation of Tariceanu.
The Fourth Division has attacked the town of Tafas in Daraa, resulting in a call for a general mobilization by the Daraa Central Committee reports Baladi News.

On Sunday morning, the regimes Fourth Division militia, led by Maher al-Assad, launched a military operation on the town of Tafas in the western countryside of Daraa, southern Syria.

Baladi News correspondent in Daraa said that, since Sunday morning, the Iran-backed Fourth Division militia has been advancing towards the town of Tafas from the southern side, amid heavy artillery shelling on its southern outskirts.

The Daraa Central Committee, represented by former leaders of the opposition factions and dignitaries from the western region, issued a statement announcing a mobilization to repel the attack by the regime and its militias.

After the reinforcements brought in by the Fourth Division to the western region, and its movement and spread, besieging villages and cutting off livelihoods, a negotiation session was held between the leadership of the Fourth Division and the notables of the western region and the Central Committee, the Central Committee said in its statement.

It added that, several requests were discussed after the session, most of them were agreed upon. Some were impossible to implement though, which is the displacement of the people of Horan to the north, and it was agreed that a session would be held on Sunday morning.

The Central Committee elaborated in its statement that, this morning, the forces of the Fourth Division set fire to houses, stole peoples property, and fired tank shells on the outskirts of Tafas, targeting civilians and schools, and accordingly we announce a general mobilization for all free youth in the western region to stand as one against the policy of arrogance and the attempts to humiliate and subjugate Houran.

The committee concluded, Oh, people of Houran! The scheme is much bigger than the arguments they are using on us. Lets stand together as one and say no to humiliation.

Activists in southern Syria called for a general mobilization in the western countryside of Daraa, to stand against the campaign launched by the militias of the Fourth Division, calling on the people of the region to stand with each other to thwart the demographic change scheme that the regime is trying to carry out by displacing the people of Houran to northern Syria.

Daraa activists believe that Iran wants to return to Daraa by way of the Fourth Division militia, which it has supported for several years and gives direct instructions to.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
The Sand Box, a hangout on the North West Side, was issued two citations in a matter of two days for violating COVID-19 orders.

Proactive inspections on Thursday and Friday found the 7280 UTSA Blvd. spot to be in violation of the city's emergency declaration, according to enforcement of Public Health Emergency Declaration data.

RELATED: UPDATE: Cowboys Dancehall issued two citations after weekend concert videos surfaced

The business' social media promotions promise enforcement of social distancing and masks required for entry. However, the recent citations were issued for social distancing not being enforced and lack of mask-wearing.

"Social distancing features not enforced. Observed customers not wearing masks where required," the responding official reported on Friday.

"Observed multiple groups not wearing masks where required and not practicing social distancing," the report for the day before says.

The bar did have health and safety signage posted and sanitizer available, according to the report.

RELATED: Deco Pizzeria burglarized, suffered nearly $10,000 in damages

Representatives for the bar were not immediately available to respond to requests for comment.

The last time the bar was issued a citation was on Aug. 22. Social distancing was not being enforced during that observation, according to the data.

The city said the bar is not in danger of more serious consequences, like losing the certificate of occupancy, but the violations are something the code enforcement department is "tracking."

Madalyn Mendoza covers news and puro pop culture for MySA.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @maddyskye
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. The latter tried to bully Paul into accepting the Democrat narrative that Joe Biden, a corrupt, debauched old man who periodically emerged from the basement to "campaign" for president, won more votes than any candidate in presidential history, including Obama, the first sort of Black president, and Hillary, the first genetically female presidential candidate. Sen. Paul not only refused to be bullied, but he pushed back, exposing to viewers the fact that Stephanopoulos is not a journalist but is, instead, a Democrat party activist.

Stephanopoulos entered politics early, working for Michael Dukakis's 1988 presidential campaign when Stephanopoulos was in his mid-20s. In 1992, he was back again working for Bill Clinton's campaign, making his name as a spokesman for Clinton both during and after the election. Beginning in 1996, Stephanopoulos left the White House for ABC, and he's been there ever since.

Although technically a "journalist," Stephanopoulos is famously partisan, routinely serving as an attack dog for the Democrat party. He certainly showed that side of himself in the interview with Sen. Paul.

What Stephanopoulos hadn't counted on is that Paul has an advantage compared to many of the elected officials, bureaucrats, and assorted famous people whom Stephanopoulos bullies...er, interviews on his show. Paul is a principled man. His values do not change depending on where he sees an advantage to himself. That gives him a moral clarity that makes it impossible to bully him, as Stephanopoulos discovered to his cost.

In the clip that's making the rounds on the internet, Stephanopoulos opened by demanding that Paul recite the current leftist catechism, which is that Slow Joe, AKA Basement Biden, won the election fair and square: "Ah, Sen. Paul. Let me begin with a threshold question for you. This election was not stolen. Do you accept that fact?"

The message behind that aggressive question is clear: in Biden World, we must all accept the party line. Dissent will not be tolerated.

Paul was not intimidated. Instead, he said something important: there has never been an evidentiary hearing about fraud. Instead, the courts shut fraud claimants out on procedural grounds without addressing the merits. Moreover, we know there was fraud, and we know that several secretaries of state unconstitutionally and unilaterally amended voting laws, something the courts may still consider.

Stephanopoulos wasn't going to let it go. He interrupted Sen. Paul to say Trump and his allies lost all 86 challenges, completely ignoring what Sen. Paul had just said about the lack of any substantive judicial review. Stephanopoulos then went over the same old evidence  state certification (irrelevant if it was covering for fraud), recounts (irrelevant if fraudulent ballots were simply recounted), and Bill Barr's fact-free assurance that everything was fine, followed by his running away from Trump.

And then, again, the insistence that Sen. Paul parrot the official line: "Can't you just say the words that this election was not stolen?"

Sen. Paul pointed to something important, which is that we need greater confidence in our elections. He noted that 75% of Republicans agree with him, only to have Stephanopoulos interrupt to say that's only because Trump fed them a "Big Lie" (note, please, the subliminal Nazi allusion). In fact, Trump-supporters figured out on their own that crazy things happened before, during, and after the election, all of which were inconsistent with election integrity or the victory of a corrupt, debauched, increasingly demented old man who didn't campaign.

It was at this point that Sen. Paul called out the fact that Stephanopoulos is not a journalist  he's a political shill:

George, where you make a mistake is people coming from the liberal side like you, you immediately say everything's a lie instead of saying there's two sides to everything. Historically what would happen if I said I thought there were fraud, you would interview someone who said there wasn't. Now you insert yourself in the middle and say the absolute fact is everything I'm saying is a lie.

The debate between the two men continued in this vein for a few more minutes. Stephanopoulos manifestly couldn't grasp that there could be a viewpoint different from his. The only truth was his truth. His religion  not Greek Orthodoxy, but leftist orthodoxy  left him incapable of contemplating the possibility that he might be wrong.

To take the religious metaphor farther, for Stephanopoulos, there's an Inquisition going on, and heresy (in this case, the claim that there was election fraud sufficient to change the outcome) cannot be examined. Instead, it must be snuffed out as brutally and completely as possible. If he could have, Stephanopoulos would have gathered the branches and lit the matches for the most extreme form of auto-da-fe.

Please cheer Sen. Paul's valiant stand for truth and journalistic integrity, but understand that he's the heretic and that, for the time being, American power is lodged with the doctrinal purists who will brook no dissent.

Image: George Stephanopoulos and Rand Paul. Rumble screen grab.
Sarah Sanders, Former Trump Spokeswoman, Announces Run for Arkansas Governor

Former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Jan. 25 that shes formally launched her 2022 campaign for Arkansas governor.

America is great because we are free. But today, our freedom and the rule of law are under attack, Sanders said in her announcement video.

I was the first White House press secretary to require Secret Service protection because of a credible, violent threat against me. Weve seen violence in our streets at a congressional baseball practice. And at our Capitol. This is not who we are as Americans. To remain free, we must have law and order and resolve our differences peacefully. The radical left solution is to impose government control and censorship from the top down. But their socialism and canceled culture will not heal America. It will only further divide and destroy us.

Everything we love about America is at stake. With the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense. In fact, your governor must be on the front line. So today, I announced my candidacy for governor of Arkansas, and ask for your prayers and your support.

The gubernatorial race is wide open because Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, is unable to run next year due to term limits.

Sanders is the third candidate to officially declare, following state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Tim Griffin, the states lieutenant governor. Both are Republicans.

The governors mansion has alternated between Republicans and Democrats for years. Prior to Hutchinson, Democrat Mike Beebe was governor.

President Donald Trump speaks about White House press secretary Sarah Sanders during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 13, 2019. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Before that, Republican Mike Huckabee, also an ally of former President Donald Trump and Sanderss father, held the position.

Sanders, 38, spent several years as Trumps press secretary. She left in 2019, moving back to her home state to spend time with her family.

Trump repeatedly said Sanders should run for governor in Arkansas.

I think shell do very well. And Im trying to get her to do that, he said at one point. She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for governor of Arkansasshe would be fantastic, he said at another time.

After leaving the White House, Sanders joined Fox News as a contributor. She is no longer a contributor as of Sunday, Fox said.

Sanders said in November 2019 that she felt like she was being called to be governor.

Its the role Ive been pushed into, Sanders added. I wouldnt want to do that if I wasnt the right person to fit what the state needed at that time.
The emergence of new variants of the virus that causes Covid-19including one in the U.K. that British officials say could be more deadly than earlier versionssignals a future in which health authorities are locked in a cat-and-mouse battle with a shape-shifting pathogen.

Faster-spreading coronavirus strains that researchers fear could also make people sicker or render vaccines less effective threaten to extend lockdowns and lead to more hospitalizations and deaths, epidemiologists caution. But, they said, it doesnt mean the contagion cant be contained.

Were living in a world where coronavirus is so prevalent and rapidly mutating that there are going to be new variants that pop up," Anthony Harnden, a physician who advises the U.K. government, told Sky News. We may well be in a situation where we end up having to have an annual coronavirus vaccine" to cope with emerging strains.

As the new variant in the U.K. has spread across the country, hospitals have been under more strain than they were in the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, and the national Covid-19 death toll is expected to surpass 100,000 in coming days. But in the week ended Sunday, new daily cases were down 22% from the previous seven days.

Matt Hancock, the U.K.s health secretary, said that was because of national restrictions in place since the start of the year. But in a television interview, Mr. Hancock warned, We are a long, long, long way" before cases would be low enough for restrictions to be lifted.

The U.K. variant is one of several that have emerged in recent months to cause concern among researchers. Others have emerged in South Africa and Brazil.

Anthony Fauci, President Bidens chief medical adviser for the Covid-19 pandemic, said on CBS on Sunday that U.S. authorities need to expand genomic surveillance to identify variants of the virus.

Dr. Fauci said current vaccines remain effective. What we will do and are doing already is making preparations for the possibility that down the pipe, down the line, we may need to modify and upgrade the vaccines. We dont need to do that right now," he said. The best way to prevent the further evolution of these mutants is to vaccinate as many people as possible with the vaccines that we have currently available to us."

Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said the huge number of cases around the world has given the virus a lot of opportunities to evolve in ways not seen earlier in the pandemic.

Were going to have to really contend with these new variants in the virus in the next phase of the pandemic," he told an online seminar last week. Something happened that basically allowed a new constellation of mutations to arise," presenting scientists with new challenges.

The variants likely delay the day when life can get back closer to normal thanks to vaccines and raise the prospect of outbreaks of infections periodically even after large numbers of people are inoculated. And their emergence also suggests that international travel restrictionswhere governments impose bans on people coming from places where more troubling versions of the virus are prevalentcould be in place intermittently for years.

The likelihood that many people in poorer countries wont have access to vaccines for some time suggests that more new variants will be incubating around the world even if levels of immunity in the developed world are high enough to curb the viruss spread.

The U.K. announcement on Friday that the British variant that now dominates infections across the countryand is also well-entrenched in the U.S.could be more deadly than earlier versions of the virus is preliminary and could be unduly pessimistic.

It is based on the assessment of an expert advisory panel to the government that in turn used four separate academic studies of raw data to decide that there was a realistic possibility" that the variant was deadlier.

The studies suggested that a greater proportion of people with this variant were ending up in the hospital or dying. It didnt suggest that once in the hospital a patient was more likely to die than if he or she had been hospitalized with an earlier variant.

Faster-spreading variants imply that, for any given level of restrictions, cases will rise more rapidly or fall more slowly than with earlier versions. That suggests lockdowns, other things being equal, would have to last longer to bring cases down.

So far, scientists havent seen evidence the British variant, first identified in someone in the southeast of England in September, is more resistant to vaccines. But another variant first identified in South Africa has a mutation that could lower the effectiveness of vaccines.

As vaccination programs roll out across the world, they should start to reduce the numbers of people who are seriously ill. If vaccines also confer some immunity as well as prevent serious illnesssomething so far unknownthey will turn the case curve downward.

Vaccine-resistant variants would slow such downward momentum until scientists tweak vaccines to capture the new variants, too. Some new vaccine technologies, such as those used in the two mRNA vaccines now authorized in the U.S., could be adjusted relatively quickly to deal with new mutations.

Coronaviruses mutate less frequently than certain others, such as influenza viruses that demand an annual vaccination to cope with new variants. However, the virus responsible for Covid-19 appears to be mutating frequently enough to suggest that vaccinated people may need further shots periodically to keep up their protection from the virus.

The good news in the U.K. is that its vaccination program is moving ahead rapidly, faster than any of its European peers. Up to Saturday, nearly 6.4 million people have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, and Mr. Hancock said three-quarters of people over the age of 80, as well as people in three-quarters of nursing homes across the country, had received a shot.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text

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Press Release

January 25, 2021 Lacson: Prudent to Suspend UP-DND Accord Termination More at: https://pinglacson.net/2021/01/25/lacson-prudent-to-suspend-up-dnd-accord-termination/ Recent developments involving decisions based on "false" information may merit at least a suspension of the Department of National Defense's decision to end its agreement with the University of the Philippines, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said Monday. Lacson said this after DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana apologized for an "unpardonable gaffe" involving the military's list of UP students supposedly recruited by the New People's Army and killed or captured in clashes. "I think it is prudent now for Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to at least suspend the termination of the UP-DND accord and hold a dialogue as he already mentioned he would do," Lacson, who chairs the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, said in an interview on CNN Philippines. "They based their decision to terminate the UP-DND accord, signed way back, on what appears now to be false information. They included personalities that they said were captured or killed in action by the military, but turned out to be alive and not captured at all," he added. But Lacson added Lorenzana and the military establishment "should also be given credit for openly accepting the mistake they made," adding it "takes a lot of humility particularly for Sec. Lorenzana to publicly apologize for the AFP's blunder." On the other hand, he pointed out that it is basic in military tactics that the success or failure of the execution of a plan of action depends largely on the decision-making process - and the decision must be based on accurate and verified information. "At the very least, the one responsible for submitting that kind of information and the one who made the announcement should be sanctioned. They should be made to explain and they should really be sanctioned by the AFP leadership if not the DND - not only for putting the defense establishment in an awkward and embarrassing position but more so, the possible dire consequences that could occur because of such irresponsible and imprudent act," he said. Lacson also said the development has prompted his committee to review its initial findings on the red-tagging hearings held late last year. He said he has instructed the secretariat of the Committee on National Defense and Security "to revisit the final draft of the committee report." "We will have to ask the military to submit additional documents to validate reports on the personalities which they claimed during the committee hearings we conducted were killed, and if they were actually students of the universities mentioned by Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. and the other witnesses presented by the AFP," he said. "Naiba ang complexion based on these recent developments. Without these new developments, the committee would have relied on the testimonies and presentations made by the AFP which were not specifically rebutted by the other resource persons," he added. Lacson also said criminalizing red-tagging remains a serious consideration, given recent developments. "Possible consequences could have been disastrous on the part of these people and even the military for that matter, since the troops on the ground could rely solely on the decision being made in headquarters based on false intelligence information," he said.
Several distributors have hold discussions with a Vietnamese craft beer maker for the export of the beverages that carry the names of Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.

Seefahrer Premium Beer Co. Ltd., a local brewery, recently introduced two new products -- Truong Sa Special and Hoang Sa Special -- with the intention of promoting patriotism and asserting Vietnams sovereignty over the groups of islands.

Although the two craft beer products are new to the market, they have attracted huge interest from both domestic and foreign consumers, according to Seefahrer Premium Beers director Tran Song Hai.

In Vietnam, the beverages have been put up for sale at 10B Ton Duc Thang Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City and across the system of a Chinese restaurant chain.

At the same time, a number of overseas Vietnamese have offered to become the distributors of Truong Sa Special and Hoang Sa Special.

We have worked with a number of businessmen in Japan, France, and the U.S. to learn about the procedures and criteria for importing the Vietnamese craft beer into those countries," said Hai.

"After completing the necessary procedures, it is expected that the beers will be available overseas in two months.

However, Seefahrer Premium Beers production capacity still lags behind real demand while its beers fetch high prices.

Currently, the products are made using ingredients imported from Germany, including barley and hops from the state of Bavaria.

The craft beer producer estimates that orders, mainly from supermarkets, restaurants, and companies, have reached nearly 3,000 barrels, while with its available inventory of ingredients, it can only deliver 2,500 barrels for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.

Seefahrer Premium Beer said it is looking to promote the use of domestic ingredients at the ratio of up to 50 percent in order to increase the output while reducing the cost and thus lowering prices.

In addition, the company expects to promptly launch canned craft beer at a more reasonable price in the near future.

It is expected that all of Seefahrer Premium Beers products will be available at supermarkets and convenience stores in Ho Chi Minh City before the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

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Health officials in New Zealand say genome testing indicates a woman who got sick from the coronavirus at her home caught it from another returning traveler just before leaving quarantine. The case represents the first time the virus has breached a quarantine facility in more than two months after New Zealand eliminated the community spread of the virus. However, there was no evidence Monday that the virus has spread any further.

"The case has now been given 'confirmed' status. It was a probable case yesterday, it is now a confirmed case. We know that the person's husband, a hairdresser, has tested negative which, I outlined this morning, that's a very encouraging development. We can also confirm that the strain of infection is the South African variant and the source of infection is highly likely to be a fellow returnee during the person's stay at the Pullman hotel," said New Zealand COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins on Monday in Wellington.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the 56-year-old woman had recently returned from Europe. During her mandatory two weeks in quarantine, she tested negative twice before being returning home on Jan. 13. She later developed symptoms and tested positive.

"The two people occupied rooms in close proximity to each other on the same floor of the Pullman hotel and I'm advised by officials that they're confident that the infection was a direct one and that there's no other missing link in between those two people," said New Zealand COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins on Monday in Wellington. Officials say the woman appears to have caught the more infectious South African variant of the virus from another traveler on her second-to-last day in quarantine, and they're investigating how the health breach happened.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
(Newser)  President Biden on Monday will formally reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-US travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials. The officials, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation. Biden is reversing an order from former President Trump in his final days in office that called for the relaxation of the travel restrictions as of Tuesday. The decision to reverse the order is not surprising, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list highlights the new administrations concern about mutations in the virus.

story continues below

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDCs principal deputy director, tells Reuters that the agency is "putting in place this suite of measures to protect Americans and also to reduce the risk of these variants spreading and worsening the current pandemic." The South African variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variantoriginating in the United Kingdomhas been detected in several states. Biden last week issued an executive order directing federal agencies to require international air travelers to quarantine upon US arrival. The order also requires that all US-bound passengers ages 2 and above get negative COVID-19 test results within three days before traveling.

(Read more coronavirus stories.)
(CNN) -- Donald Trump spent his last moments as President sad and alone, according to Jim Acosta, who led CNN's coverage of Trump during his presidency.

In his farewell to Washington on Wednesday morning, Trump greeted a small crowd of about 200 at Joint Base Andrews before he boarded Air Force One with family and the press, including Acosta.

"It was sort of a sad and pathetic sight," Acosta told CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter on "Reliable Sources" on Sunday. "I've never seen him this alone the entire time he was at the level of presidential politics."

Acosta, now CNN's lead domestic reporter, said Trump may have had a different outcome at the end had he not instigated a riot that laid siege to the US Capitol on January 6 -- one of several attempts in the waning days of his presidency to overturn the election results. After the siege, Trump lost whatever remaining credibility he had with many of his supporters, according to Acosta.

"Essentially what we saw was the undoing of the Trump presidency," Acosta said of Trump's final days. "What we saw the President build over the course of four or five years out on the campaign trail and over at the White House just sort of of unraveled at the end."

After the Capitol riot, Trump was banned from Twitter, and he has largely remained out of public view save for a few short video messages and his last address to supporters at Joint Base Andrews. It's an unusual quiet period for Trump, who has relished the spotlight for decades.

Outside the White House, the daily media scrutiny of Trump will almost certainly fade. Stelter noted major media outlets, including Fox, are not stationing reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, to cover Trump.

Acosta expects Trump won't be able to remain silent for long.

"I think it is temporary," he told Stelter. The populist political forces that sent Trump to the White House "have the potential to come back in the days to come. I do think Trump is going to lead at least a fringe movement in this country."

But with record-low popularity in the last days of office, Trump probably doesn't have the ability to lead a major political party and win back the presidency, Acosta noted -- and that's if the Senate in its upcoming impeachment trial fails to convict Trump and prevent him from running for office again.

Trump likes to compare himself to Grover Cleveland, who remains the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms. But Grover Cleveland was more popular than Trump when he won his second term, Acosta noted.

"Trump isn't going to be able to do that right now," he predicted.

Acosta had a combative relationship with the Trump White House that at one point took away his credentials -- a decision that CNN successfully sued to overturn in court.

Although Trump is out of office, Acosta still calls him "lord of the lies" and believes he should not be ignored.

"While he's still licking his wounds down in Mar-a-Lago, he poses a threat to this country," Acosta said.

"This is not a time to put away our fact checkers in some sort of box on a shelf. They're going to be needed to fact-check this movement. Trump may be going away, but Trumpism is not."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Jim Acosta: I've never seen Trump this alone"
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The coronavirus has impacted everyday life for people here in North Alabama, especially when it comes to finances. But a new thrift store in Arab is opening in less than a week.

Its mission, to help those hit hardest by the pandemic and give back to the community. The sounds of a sale, means help for the local community at Caring Heart Thrift Store.

The store's manager, Felicia Jones said she wanted to do more, especially for people who have suffered during the pandemic.

"The pandemic has hit people hard, be it that they were unemployed and didn't have an income coming in," said Felicia Jones, Caring Heart Thrift Store.

Profits from the store in Arab will go to help local organizations such as Kelley's Rainbow Domestic Violence Center, Marshall County Homeless Ministry, and Lamplight Camp for teens of Marshall County.

"I lost one of my childhood friends to domestic violence. He just beat her so much and she just had no way out and she took her own life and that, it just really hit me and so when it all started to come about, I just felt lead, I was like ok one of the things we are going to help is domestic violence," said Felicia Jones, Caring Heart Thrift Store.

Your donations to Caring Heart Thrift Store will be helping people right here in the community and Jones says that she'll still need donations even after opening day to keep these racks stocked.

"It's been really overwhelming with the support that we've had from the community," said Felicia Jones, Caring Heart Thrift Store.

Jones hopes the new store will be more than just somewhere people go to shop.

"I want it to be a place where people say hey I get to go there and I'm going to go there and for it to be more of an outreach of if somebody knows there's a need, send me a message and we'll find a way to fill it," said Felicia Jones, Caring Heart Thrift Store.

Caring Heart Thrift Store will open this Saturday January 30th at 8 in the morning. It will be open 6 days a week and is always looking for donations and volunteers as well.
A lot of crazy things happened with Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States of America -- either from his supporters or himself.

But as Trump stepped down, handing over the reins to Joe Biden, the crazy is showing no signs of stopping.

Reuters

Reported first by Salon, one Trump supporter who goes by the name of Paul Davis has filed a preposterous lawsuit, based on baseless allegations of voter fraud. However, whats astonishing is that that 54-page document has made a set of really unusual demands with one of them being banning Facebooks founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg from engaging in politics.

Daviss request for this ban not just includes the social media platform chief, but also the House and the Senate. Whats truly baffling is that the lawsuit is citing the fictional Lord of The Rings as evidence. Davis has stated LOTR as a reference stating Gondor has no King and that the rightful king that abandoned its throne (the rightful king here being Donald Trump).

He explained the analogy stating, This analogy is applicable since there is now in Washington, DC, a group of individuals calling themselves the President, Vice President, and Congress who have no rightful claim to govern the American People.

The Texas-based attorney was actually one of the many who breached the United States Capitol, and for this, he was even fired from his job, after he was found boasting about his breach on social media.

He has even mentioned this in the aforementioned suit where he mentions that his job was terminated after peaceful protesting. The lawsuit also has a really long list of defendants including all members of the 117th U.S. Congress.

Paul Davis/ Instagram

He has also filed a memo requesting the court of law to issue some kind of restraining order against the current president of the United States of America, Joe Biden as well as all the members of the US Congress.

While we dont know if Zuckerberg had any plans to take his chance in American politics, but it looks like this lawsuit wont be something that would stand in his way.

WB assembly polls 2021: Cong, Left decide to contest 77 seats they won in 2016

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Kolkata, Jan 25: The Congress and the Left parties on Monday decided that in the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections, they will contest the seats they had won respectively in the 2016 polls while talks will continue for the remaining constituencies.

The Left-Congress alliance in 2016 had won 77 seats, out of which the Congress had emerged victorious in 44. "Today we have decided that we will keep the respective 44 and 33 seats that the Congress and the Left had won in 2016. On the remaining 217 seats, the talks are on," senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya said at a joint press conference. He expressed hope that the seat-sharing arrangement will be completed by the end of this month.

West Bengal Left Front Chairman and CPI(M) Politburo member Biman Bose, who was present at a meeting in which the decision was taken, said that discussions were also held on joint campaigning. According to sources in the Left parties and the Congress sources, the decision on 77 seats has come as a relief for both sides as discussions on certain constituencies are in a deadlock situation.

Cong forms 8 panels for Assam polls; Ripun Bora to head election committee

"Now the parleys on the remaining 217 seats will be based on who was in the second or third position and vote share the party had secured," a senior Left leader said. A senior Congress functionary said that the party, taking a cue from its performance in the recent Bihar polls where it bagged 18 out of the 70 seats it contested, has decided to focus on seats where it has good presence and a considerable vote-share.

"We won't go for number of seats. Rather we would go for winnability of seats" he said. In 2016, The Congress and Left Front had fought together and bagged 77 seats in the 294-member assembly.

The alliance broke after the CPI(M)-led Left Front walked away. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the proposed Congress-CPI(M) alliance fell apart after the parties were unable to reach an agreement on seat sharing.

After the dismal performance of the Congress, which bagged only two Lok Sabha seats and the CPI(M), which failed to open its account, the parties decided to come together to fight the 2021 assembly polls. Elections to the state assembly are likely to be held in April-May this year.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering mortgaging its F-9 park to secure a loan of PKR 500 billion. The F-9 park also known as Fatima Jinnah Park is one of the largest green areas in Pakistan which spans over 750 acres.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering mortgaging Islamabads largest park to secure a loan of PKR 500 billion. The F-9 park also known as Fatima Jinnah Park is one of the largest green areas in Pakistan which spans over 750 acres. It is named after Madar-e Millat Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the first Governor-General of Pakistan.

According to a report by Dawn, the proposal has been included in the agenda of the meeting of the federal cabinet scheduled and will be discussed on Tuesday. The meeting will be held through a video link conference system which has been arranged at the Prime Ministers House and a committee room of the Cabinet Division. The agenda item no. six, moved by the Finance Division, is Issuance of Domestic and International Ijara Sukuk Against Unencumbered Land of F-9 Park, Islamabad. A no-objection certificate has been issued by the Capital Development Authority regarding the proposal.

Also Read: Disagreement between China and Pakistan: Annual bilateral CPEC summit postponed

Also Read: Vaccine diplomacy: India pushes back against Chinas presence in South Asia

This move has been proposed as an attempt to bridle Pakistans deteriorating economic condition amidst degenerating relations with Pakistans biggest sources of international remittance i.e. Saudi Arabia and UAE. Last year, Saudi Arabia had asked Pakistan to repay its loan of $3 billion which it had extended in 2018. As per reports, UAE might also seek repayment of its $3 million loan from Pakistan.

It would not be the first time that Pakistan will be floating sovereign bonds to acquire loans from the international capital market as Pakistan has mortgaged its roads, buildings and institutions in the past. Recently, a Malaysian court had ordered the seizure of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft due to non-payment of lease. Malaysian authorities captured the aircraft at Kuala Lumpur Airport and reportedly passengers had already boarded the aircraft and had to face a lot of inconvenience.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 17:16:45|Editor: huaxia

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Six passengers were wounded as a roadside bomb hit a long-distance bus in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Monday, a provincial government spokesman said.

"The explosion occurred in Mirakhor Bazaar locality along a provincial highway in Maiwand district in the morning. The male passengers who (were) wounded by the shrapnel of the improvised explosive device (IED) were transported to a regional hospital in provincial capital Kandahar city," spokesman Baheer Ahmadi told Xinhua.

Militants in Afghanistan often use home-made IEDs to make roadside bombs and landmines to target security forces, but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.

More than 800 civilians were killed and over 2,330 others wounded in IED explosions in 2019 in Afghanistan, according to official data. Enditem
Research by an international team of medical experts has found cancer patients could be up to four times more likely to die following cancer surgery in low to lower-middle income countries than in high-income countries. It also revealed lower-income countries are less likely to have post-operative care infrastructure and oncology services.

The global observational study, published in The Lancet, explored global variation in post-operative complications and deaths following surgery for three common cancers. It was conducted by researchers from the GlobalSurg Collaborative and NIHR Global Health Unit on Global Surgery - led by the University of Edinburgh, with analysis and support from the University of Southampton.

Between April 2018 and January 2019, researchers enrolled 15,958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries undergoing surgery for breast, colorectal or gastric cancer. This included a mix of patients from high-income countries, upper middle-income countries and low/lower middle-income countries. 53 percent (8,406) of patients underwent surgery for breast cancer, 39 percent (6,215) for colorectal cancer, and 8 percent (1,337) for gastric cancer. The authors analysed how common death or major complications were within 30 days of surgery.

Deaths among gastric cancer patients were more than three times higher in low/lower middle-income countries (33 deaths among 326 patients, 3.72 odds of death) than high-income countries (27 deaths among 702 patients).

Patients with colorectal cancer in low/lower middle-income countries were also more than four times more likely to die (63 deaths among 905 patients, 4.59 odds of death), compared with those in high-income countries (94 deaths among 4,142 patients). Those in upper middle-income countries were two times as likely to die (47 deaths among 1,102 patients, 2.06 odds of death) as patients in high-income countries.

No difference in 30-day mortality was seen following breast cancer surgery.

Similar rates of complications following surgery were observed in patients across all income groups, however those in low/lower middle-income countries were six times more likely to die within 30 days of a major complication (96 deaths among 133 patients, 6.15 odds of death), compared with patients in high-income countries (121 deaths among 693 patients). Patients in upper middle-countries were almost four times as likely to die (58 deaths among 151 patients, 3.89 odds of death) as those in high-income countries.

Patients in upper middle-income and low/lower middle-income countries tended to present with more advanced disease compared with those in high-income countries, however researchers found that cancer stage alone explained little of the variation in mortality or post-operative complications.

Assessing hospital facilities and practices across the different income groups revealed that hospitals in upper middle-income and low/lower middle-income countries were less likely to have post-operative care infrastructure (such as designated post-operative recovery areas and consistently available critical care facilities) and cancer care pathways (such as oncology services).

Further analysis revealed that the absence of post-operative care infrastructure was associated with more deaths in low/lower middle-income countries (7 to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications) and upper middle-income countries (5 to 8 more deaths per 100 major complications).

Academic lead at the University of Southampton and member of GlobalSurg, Mr Malcolm West, commented: "It was a great privilege for me to contribute to this landmark study. Failure to rescue from death after post-operative complications is of global importance. As a colorectal surgeon, it is disconcerting to see that patients in LMIC present with more advanced cancers compared to high-income countries. Interestingly, advanced cancer rates alone did not fully explain the high death and complication rates we have seen.

"An urgent focus on improving global healthcare systems, especially in LMIC, to detect and intervene when complications occur would help save lives following cancer surgery."

Professor Ewen Harrison, of the University of Edinburgh, said: "Our study is the first to provide in-depth data globally on complications and deaths in patients within 30 days of cancer surgery. The association between having post-operative care and lower mortality rates following major complications indicates that improving care systems to detect and intervene when complications occur could help reduce deaths following cancer surgery."

The authors acknowledge some limitations to their study. Researchers only looked at early outcomes following surgery, but, in future, they will study longer-term outcomes and other cancers. Outcomes can be poorly captured and understood in settings with limited resources, which will have affected the team's findings on the effectiveness of surgery. Further detailed analysis is needed to provide more robust evidence regarding associations between patient outcomes and hospital facilities.

###

Notes to Editors

1) This paper is published in The Lancet (DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00001-5) and can be viewed here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00001-5/fulltext#%20

2) Mr Malcolm West is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded Clinical Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Southampton and a Royal College of Surgeons England Senior Fellow in Advanced and Robotic colorectal cancer surgery at St. Mark's Hospital, London. He is also a member of the GlobalSurg collaborative: https:/ / www. southampton. ac. uk/ medicine/ about/ staff/ mw5u13. page

3) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2021). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 22,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www. southampton. ac. uk

4) For more about the University of Edinburgh, visit: https:/ / www. ed. ac. uk/

For further information contact:

Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton. Tel: 07748321087 Email: p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk

http://www. southampton. ac. uk/ news/ contact-press-team. page

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter. com/ unisouthampton
A medical syringe is seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken Oct. 31, 2020. Reuters



Ecuador has approved the use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, the health ministry said on Sunday.



AstraZeneca's vaccine is the second that the National Agency for Health Regulation, Control and Surveillance has registered for use. A pilot program that provides the Pfizer Inc vaccine to medical personnel and in nursing homes began last week when the first doses arrived.



"The agency authorized imports of approximately five million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which will be applied to 2.5 million Ecuadoreans," the ministry added in a statement. "It will allow Ecuador to strengthen the process of containing the disease to achieve herd immunity."



The health ministry did not say when the AstraZeneca doses will arrive, but has said mass vaccination will start in March.






The relentless advance of the coronavirus in Spain is leading some regional governments to introduce even more severe restrictions on mobility. Madrid, the Basque Country and the Valencia region have all announced new measures that went into effect on Monday.

Valencia

On Sunday, Valencian authorities announced new measures to restrict social contacts in a region with the countrys third-highest coronavirus incidence rate  1,245 cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days  and where 59% of intensive care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Starting on Monday, there is a two-person limit on public gatherings of members of different households. Larger meetings in public spaces are only allowed if everyone is part of the same living unit.

In the private sphere, members of different households may no longer meet inside homes. This means that no social visits of any kind are allowed. Exceptions will be made in both public and private settings for work meetings, educational activities and caregiving for vulnerable people such as children, seniors or adults with need for daily assistance.

Additionally, cities with populations of over 50,000 will be under perimetral lockdown on weekends and public holidays. This affects the following municipalities: Valencia, Alicante, Elche, Castellon, Torrevieja, Torrent, Orihuela, Gandia, Paterna, Benidorm, Sagunt, Alcoi, Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Elda-Petrer and Vila-real. The city limits will be sealed from 3pm on Fridays to 6am on Mondays.

These new measures, as well as existing ones such as the complete closure of food and drink establishments, will be extended until February 15 at least. Regional borders will also remain sealed until that date.

Regional premier Ximo Puig said that these measures are being taken after the worst week for the Comunitat Valenciana since the beginning of the pandemic. Today we are going one step further, we are taking a decisive step in restrictions that also apply to the private sphere, and we are doing so to reduce social contacts as much as possible, both in public spaces and inside the homes, which is where the great hub of contagion is.

Galicia

Galician premier Alberto Nunez-Feijoo has asked people to self-confine from 8pm. OSCAR CORRAL / EL PAIS

On Monday afternoon, Galicia officials announced similar measures for the northwestern region. All municipalities are being sealed, food and drink establishments are closing down except for takeout and home deliveries, and non-essential retail stores must close by 6m. Additionally, people from different households are not allowed to meet. The restrictions go into effect on Wednesday and will be in place for the next three weeks at least.

Regional premier Alberto Nunez-Feijoo has also asked people to self-confine by 8pm each day, even though the official starting time of the overnight curfew is 10pm. Several regional leaders last week asked the central government for permission to introduce earlier curfews, but the request was denied on the grounds that it is not allowed under the current state of alarm, approved by Spanish parliament in October to provide a legal framework for coronavirus measures.

On Monday, Nunez-Feijoo insisted on the need for an earlier curfew, calling the request a clamor by the vast majority of regional governments, regardless of their political persuasion. It is not a whim, it is a necessary health decision.

Andalusia

In Andalusia, every city with a population of over 100,000 will now be under a perimetral lockdown starting on Wednesday, after Seville registered a 14-day incidence rate of over 500, the threshold established by the regional government. In locations with an incidence of over 1,000, there is an additional restriction: all non-essential businesses must close their doors. New additions to this list include Almeria, Marbella, Estepona and Jerez de la Frontera, among others.

Andalusias deputy premier, Juan Marin, on Monday said that the government is not ruling out more restrictive measures due to the continuing increase in coronavirus cases.

Madrid

Elena Andradas, the director general of Madrids Public Health agency on Friday. EUROPA PRESS/J. Hellin. POOL / Europa Press

In Madrid, deputy public health chief Antonio Zapatero announced more perimetral lockdowns, now affecting 56 basic health zones and 25 municipalities that are home to 24% of the regions residents but account for 30% of all coronavirus cases.

The director general of the Public Health agency, Elena Andradas, said that nine basic health zones  administrative areas that do not necessarily coincide with neighborhoods or districts  and six municipalities have a 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants above 1,000 and will be subject to special restrictions on mobility. The decision expands on the list of health zones and municipalities that came under mobility restrictions last week.

The new affected municipalities are Cercedilla, Navacerrada, Collado Villalba, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Los Molinos, Quijorna, Serranillos del Valle and Colmenar de Oreja. The new affected health zones are Las Ciudades, in Getafe; as well as La Rivota, Ramon y Cajal, Doctor Trueta and Pedro Lain Entralgo, in Alcorcon.

Additionally, the overnight curfew will begin at 10pm and businesses must close by 9pm, including food and drink establishments.

Authorities are also banning meetings inside homes with members of other households, while the upper limit on the number of people from different households who may gather outside the home in food or drink establishments is now four, down from six.

But there are exceptions to the ban on visiting other households. People who live by themselves may receive visits from another individual to check on them, or to provide assistance and company, said a spokesperson for the Madrid health department. A person living alone can form a support bubble with one other household and go visit its members, but it must always be the same household.

These measures went into effect on Monday and will last at least two weeks.

Basque Country

Basque regional police officers control the perimetral lockdown of Bilbao. H.Bilbao / Europa Press

Authorities in the Basque Country said they will seal off all of the regions 252 municipalities beginning on Monday. Social gatherings will be reduced to four people.

The 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the region was above 500 cases on Friday, twice the figure considered an extreme risk scenario (which also takes into account other variables such as pressure on hospitals). Right now over 70% of Spains territory is in the extreme risk category.

The Basque city of Bilbao and 50 other locations came under a perimetral lockdown in the early hours of Friday because of their high incidence rate. Starting on Monday, every other city, town and village in this region of 2.2 million people is sealed off as well. Only essential trips that can be justified will be allowed across municipal lines. This is on top of the provincial and regional lockdowns that are already in effect.

The Basque health chief, Gotzone Sagardui, said the decision was a response to the worsening epidemiological figures. This is not the time to relax, but to act with utmost anticipation on preventive action, she said.

The curfew starting time has not been altered, despite the Basque governments wishes to bring it forward to 8pm from the current 10pm. The move was debated on Wednesday at a meeting of central and regional health officials but did not gain support from the central government.

Food and drink establishments must close at 8pm except in locations with an incidence rate of over 500, where they must close altogether. This is currently the case in Bilbao.

The measures will be in effect for 20 days, subject to review.

A home confinement cannot be legally imposed in Spain under the current emergency state approved by parliament in late October and due to expire in May. But the string of increasingly strict restrictions imposed by regional governments is coming close to a de facto lockdown.

Murcia

Murcia is also limiting meetings of people from different households, now capped at two people. And in eight municipalities with a 14-day incidence rate of over 2,000 per 100,000, non-essential businesses must close their doors by 6pm. The affected locations are Yecla, Moratalla, Albudeite, Mula, Fortuna, Caravaca, Ricote and Jumilla.

English version by Susana Urra.
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British travellers arriving back from South Africa and Brazil will be the first forced to quarantine in airport hotels.

Boris Johnson will today sign off on plans to toughen border controls by putting new arrivals into isolation.

The Prime Minister last night said he wanted 'maximum possible protection against reinfection from abroad' to prevent new coronavirus variants jeopardising the vaccination programme.

At a meeting later, Cabinet ministers will consider making it compulsory for all travellers to quarantine at hotels, regardless of their nationality and where they come from.

Arrivals will be taken by bus to the accommodation where they stay at their own expense for ten days under the supervision of security guards.

Government sources last night said the enforced quarantine regime will be introduced for British nationals returning from high-risk countries where new strains of the virus have been detected, such as South Africa and Brazil. Foreign nationals are already barred from entering the UK from these countries.

Ministers will then look to widen the compulsory hotel quarantine requirement to cover more travellers.

Officials warned it will be 'logistically challenging' to put the system in place and it could take as long as three weeks to get it up and running. Concerns have been raised that there are only 10,000 hotel rooms close to London's Heathrow airport.

About 8,000 people are still arriving there every day, although this number would be expected to plummet once the new restrictions are introduced.

British travellers arriving back from South Africa and Brazil will be the first forced to quarantine in airport hotels. Boris Johnson (pictured) is due to sign off on plans to toughen border controls by putting new arrivals into isolation

The Prime Minister yesterday said he wanted 'maximum possible protection against reinfection from abroad' to prevent new coronavirus variants - such as those from Brazil (pictured: A beach in Rio de Janeiro) and South Africa) jeopardising the vaccination programme

Arrivals, such as those at Heathrow (pictured: Arrivals at Heathrow last week) will be taken by bus to the accommodation where they stay at their own expense for ten days under the supervision of security guards

The UK yesterday recorded another 30,004 Covid cases, down almost a quarter on last Sunday, and a further 610 deaths

Who could be exempt from hotel quarantine? Under the Government's current border rules some people do not have to adhere to self-isolation requirements. It is not yet clear if these exemptions would be carried over should ministers press ahead with hotel quarantine. The current exemptions include: Aerospace engineers who need to take a test but do not have to self-isolate. Aircraft pilots and crew who do not need to take a test and do not have to self-isolate. BBC broadcasters who do have to take a test but do not need to self-isolate. A blanket exemption for all journalists ceased on January 18. Medicine workers who do have to take a test but do not need to self-isolate. Crown servants or government contractors who do not need to self-isolate if they are travelling for essential work. Drivers of goods vehicles who do not need to present a negative test prior to departure and who do not need to self-isolate. Elite sportspersons who do have to have to take a test but do not need to self-isolate. None of the above exemptions are valid for travel from countries which are currently subject to a travel ban. Advertisement

The plan to require arrivals to go into isolation at airport hotels is modelled on Australia, where the cost of 14 days in quarantine is 1,692.

It is estimated that travellers entering the UK could be charged about 1,500 for a ten-night stay. The travel industry has warned that the added cost would destroy holiday plans.

Rob Paterson, chief executive of Best Western hotels group, said the hotel industry was ready to assist if the Government did opt for a policy of quarantining international arrivals.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, while he had not held conversations with ministers about the proposals, the sector was 'familiar and accustomed to managing Covid-positive customers in our hotels'.

Mr Paterson added: 'From the hotels' perspective, we would have to treat each of these customers as Covid-positive, so we would have to have strong infection control and protocols around security in the hotel to ensure we can deliver safely.'

Asked whether the protocols would see guests confined to their rooms, he replied: 'Yes, it does. And that is exactly how our protocols work today. We deliver three meals per day to the door which the occupant comes out and collects those meals and then cleaning is clean sheets and towels waiting outside the room for the person to safely dispose of their previous sheets and change their own to keep the safety and infection protocols high.

'Hotels stand ready to support the authorities on the strategy and I guess it is the authorities' responsibility and their burden to present the evidence and the practicalities behind the strategy.

'But from a practical point of view at the hotels, there are thousands of rooms across the United Kingdom at the moment with many empty beds - we would be prepared to support Government on that front.'

Heathrow said a blanket requirement for travellers to quarantine in hotels would effectively be 'the closure of our borders' and lead to 'huge ramifications for Britain and its aviation sector'.

A spokesman for the airport said the industry was 'already on its knees', adding: 'The Chancellor must finally deliver on his promise of a comprehensive financial support package for UK aviation, made some ten months ago.

'It is completely unacceptable that an industry worst hit has watched on as others, fortunate to experience a boom in profits and no restrictions, have been afforded unnecessary financial support as we remain ignored.'

Heathrow is calling for measures including business rates relief for airports.

The Airport Operators' Association and Airlines UK warned an enforced quarantine regime would be 'catastrophic' and demanded an exit strategy. Shares in airlines fell sharply yesterday.

In a joint statement, the industry bodies said: 'We have fully supported the Government to do what is right in the face of this pandemic, but policy should be based on evidence and there must be a roadmap out of these restrictions as soon as it is safe.'

What variants are causing panic around the world? Kent variant Real name: B.1.1.7 When was it discovered? The variant was first found in the South East of England and can be traced back to September 2020. What mutations does it have? It has a series of mutations that change the shape of the spike protein on its outside. The main one is known as N501Y. This appears to make it better able to stick to the cells inside the body and makes it more likely to cause infection and faster to spread. Why is it causing worry? UK studies have shown it is between 50 and 70 per cent more infectious than the regular strain, which has made it harder to control. Preliminary studies also show it is about 30 per cent more deadly than previous versions. How many people have caught it in the UK? It is the dominant strain in Britain and accounts for the majority of new cases. Brazil variant Real name: P.1 When was it discovered? In Tokyo, Japan, in four travellers arriving from Manaus, Brazil, on January 2. What mutations does it have? P.1 has 17 mutations, three of which are particularly concerning to scientists. Like the Kent variant, it also has the N501Y mutation which suggests it's more infectious and possibly more lethal. It also has a spike alteration named E484K, which scientists believe may be associated with an ability to evade parts of the immune system called antibodies. Researchers suspect this is the case because strains with this mutation have been shown to reinfect people who caught and beat older versions of Covid. Another key mutation in the variant, named K417T, has the potential to 'possibly escape some antibodies', according to British experts. This mutation is less well-studied and the ramifications of this are still being researched. Why is it causing worry? There have been a number of proven cases of people catching this variant after beating older versions of the virus. It strongly suggests the variant can evade natural immunity and possibly even vaccines. How many people have caught it in the UK? It's not known. Public health officials and scientists randomly sample around 1 in 10 coronavirus cases in the UK and they have not yet reported any cases of the variant, but this doesn't rule it out completely. South African variant Real name: B.1.351 When was it discovered? Nelson Mandela Bay, in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, in mid-December. What mutations does it have? The South African variant carries 21 mutations, including E484K and N501Y. Why is it causing worry? Those two mutations suggest it is more infectious than the older version of Covid and raise the possibility of antibody resistance. However, Sir Patrick Vallance has said there is no reason the South African or Brazilian strains would become dominant in the UK, because they don't have any evolutionary edge over the Kent strain currently plaguing the country, which is just as transmissible. How many people have caught it in the UK? At least 77 Brits have been infected with this variant, though the number is likely to be far higher because PHE is only testing random positive samples. Advertisement

Downing Street did not rule out further financial support for the aviation industry.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'It is obviously something we will continue to look at as we move through this current phase of the pandemic.'

Mr Johnson said extra border restrictions were needed to 'protect this country from reinfection from abroad'.

He added: 'We need a solution that gives us the maximum possible protection against reinfection from abroad.

'You can see the risk. We have to realise there is at least the theoretical risk of a new variant that is a vaccine-busting variant coming in. We've got to be able to keep that under control.'

Labour has accused ministers of 'dragging their feet on setting vital protections at our borders'. Home affairs spokesman Nick Thomas-Symonds said new restrictions must include 'using hotels to help prevent the importation of further strains of the virus'.

He added: 'The lack of strategy means the UK continually acts too slowly and without proper planning in place.' Australia's quarantine system is credited with limiting the spread of Covid-19 there. The country, with a population of 25 million, has had 28,777 cases since the start of the pandemic. The UK recorded 22,195 yesterday alone.

Australia's death toll stands at 909, with none reported yesterday. The UK's total has reached 98,531, with another 592 recorded tonight.

Mr Johnson had earlier hinted 'quarantine hotels' would be introduced for UK arrivals to stop mutant Covid strains coming in from abroad - with fears the country could be essentially cut off from the rest of the world for a year.

Stock in operators including British Airways' parent group IAG, EasyJet and Ryanair fell sharply as the PM revealed the Government is 'actively now working on' the Australia-style proposals, which would see thousands of people forced to stay in hotels for 10 days at their own expense.

Despite daily cases falling by 41 per cent week-on-week to 22,195 and 80 per cent of over-80s now having been vaccinated, Mr Johnson warned there is a 'theoretical risk' of a new variant coming in that could sidestep the jabs.

The Cabinet has been wrangling for days over the shape of the new restrictions, amid fears it will 'kill' aviation businesses and leave the UK isolated, while and airport hotels could be packed out within 24 hours if it is applied to all arrivals.

Very few Brits are believed to be on holiday abroad, with the Foreign Office advising against all-but essential travel during the lockdown, but it is a critical time for firms to take bookings.

The Times reported that the hotel quarantine scheme under consideration could cost each traveller arriving in the UK more than 1,000 while several ministers are said to be demanding a clear exit strategy.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, warned that unless it is targeted on hotspots the plan is a 'surefire way of destroying Britain's aviation and travel industries'.

He said ministers must guarantee the arrangements will end by April or the country could end up 'disconnected from the world for a year or more' as has happened with Australia.

'This is destroying confidence among holidaymakers. People are not booking summer holidays because they don't believe there is an end game which will see these blanket measures removed,' he said.

'This is a sure-fire way of destroying Britain's aviation and travel industries. The Government needs to signal that they will withdraw the hotel quarantine rules by the end of March and return to a system of quarantining arrivals from high-risk areas only.'

Australia has warned that its draconian border restrictions are likely to stay in place for most of this year. Sources told MailOnline that the Covid-O committee is increasingly likely to impose the rules for all travellers, not just those from coronavirus hotspots.

Crucially it is understood that Chancellor Rishi Sunak has signed up to the principle of a blanket system, while Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is resigned to the prospect.

However, there is still some resistance among senior ministers, who insist the 'science' backs a more targeted approach and blunt restrictions would be 'akin to a total travel ban'.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Michael Gove have been pushing for tougher controls, and Mr Johnson appears to have swung behind them rather than a targeted approach.

Mr Johnson is said to 'have the bit between his teeth' on the need for a blanket ban following a meeting with Ms Patel on Friday.

Mr Hancock told a Downing Street press conference this evening that the UK must be 'cautious at the border', adding: 'It is important that we protect from new variants should they have vaccine evasion and it is also reasonable to take a precautionary principle to protect this country whilst we work on the science and the analysis of the different variants that are discovered around the world.'

But there are concerns about logistical problems with just 10,000 hotel spaces at Heathrow. There are also questions over whether there will be exemptions for people such as elite footballers.

One Whitehall source said: 'You could get into bussing people to God knows where. All this kind of stuff needs to be sorted out... that's the thing with these kind of policies, they look superficially absolutely brilliant then you get into the nitty gritty.'

Another government source suggested the move might mean there has to be a bailout for the aviation industry. 'It will kill flying,' they said. 'It will be a major problem, another very big blow.'

Locals basking in the Spanish sunshine on the beach at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, yesterday

Shares in British Airways owner IAG were amongst those that tumbled today amid growing fears about restrictions on travel worldwide

Boris Johnson, pictured this morning at a vaccination centre in north London, said he is 'definitely looking at' introducing quarantine hotels for UK arrivals

Heathrow Airport (pictured today) still has a significant flow of passengers, although it has fallen dramatically during the pandemic

But with some 97,939 deaths now recorded, Britain is set to hit the grim milestone of 100,000 lives lost since the start of the pandemic. It will be the fifth country to do so after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.

Ministers are widely expected to roll out a new hotel quarantine scheme amid a Cabinet row over whether it should apply to all arrivals

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Downing Street press conference this evening that the UK must be 'cautious at the border'

How could ministers toughen up UK border rules? When the Government's Covid-O Committee meets tomorrow it will reportedly be presented with five border options to choose from. According to Politico the options are: A blanket ban on all flights to the UK: An approach recently taken by Israel, it is viewed as the nuclear option and would have a devastating impact on the aviation sector. Hotel quarantine: Viewed as the most likely option, this would see either some or all arrivals to the UK told to quarantine in Government-approved accommodation fo 10 days. Travel bans: Flights from countries where new variants of Covid-19 have been discovered could be stopped as has already happened with Brazil and South Africa. Scrap test and release: The scheme which allows arrivals to leave self-isolation after five days if they get a negative test was only rolled out recently but it could be ditched, with everyone facing 10 days in quarantine again. Tracking mobile phones: GPS tracking could be used to make sure arrivals to the UK are complying with quarantine rules. Such a move is not viewed as being imminent. Advertisement

Mr Johnson was asked this morning during a visit to a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London if the Government is planning to introduce quarantine hotels.

The PM replied: 'We are definitely looking at [it].

'But I have got to tell you at the moment the UK already has one of the tightest regimes in the world so don't forget everybody when you come into the UK you have to have a test 72 hours before you fly, you have to have a passenger locator form, the airline will kick you off if you don't produce either of those and then of course you have got to quarantine for 10 days or five days if you get another negative test.

'But with this vaccination programme, we've done I think 6.3, 6.4 million people now in the UK as a whole.

'We are on target just, just, we're on target to hit our ambition of vaccinating everybody in those vulnerable groups by the middle of February.

'It is an immense effort by the NHS. If we are going to make that effort, which we are, we want to make sure that we protect our population, protect this country against reinfection from abroad.

'That idea of looking at hotels is certainly one thing that we're actively now working on.'

Asked whether the policy would apply to all UK arrivals or just those from hotspot countries, Mr Johnson said: 'We need a solution that gives us the maximum possible protection against reinfection from abroad because you can see the risk which is that we can do an amazing job of vaccinating the population, we have to realise there is at least the theoretical risk of a new variant that is a vaccine-busting variant coming in, we've got to be able to keep that under control.'

Shares in major operators plunged by up to 8 per cent amid fears about coronavirus restrictions on travel around the world.

US president Joe Biden is expected to reimpose an entry ban on nearly all non-US travelers who have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and other European countries.

He is also set to bar most non-US citizens who have recently been in South Africa from Saturday.

The roll-out of hotel quarantine could pose a logistical nightmare for the Government because of the limited number of rooms close to UK airports.

Government sources said there are about 10,000 rooms close to Heathrow Airport, roughly the same as the number of people arriving via the hub every day.

The introduction of hotel quarantine would likely see the number of arrivals plummet but there are still questions over how ministers would accommodate everyone.

One outcome could be travellers being bussed from a UK airport to another part of the country to complete their 10 day stay in quarantine.

Hotel chains today suggested they are ready to take part in the scheme.

A spokeswoman for Accor in the UK, which operates Novotel and Ibis hotels, said: 'The spread of Covid-19 continues to be an unprecedented challenge for our industry.

'We have been working closely with the authorities since the very beginning of this pandemic, implementing all official requirements in our hotels and on top, we have created and implemented the ALLSAFE Covid safety standard across our hotel network.

'Our hotels at airports, international ports and international train stations stand ready to support the government's call for quarantine in order to enable safe travel for Brits and international tourists in these challenging Covid times.

'We remain available to help implement the need for safe travel just as we have done in other countries, particularly in Australia which followed a similar approach. Our priority remains the health and safety of our guests and hotel teams.'

A spokesman at IHG Hotels & Resorts told MailOnline: 'Throughout the pandemic, IHG and our partners have worked closely with national and local government and the relevant health bodies to support the recovery effort.

'For confidentiality reasons we wouldn't comment on individual bookings.'

There is said to be growing support in the Cabinet for a blanket ban, with one source telling The Times: 'The view at both the official and ministerial level is that there is no point doing it in half measures. You might as well do the blanket ban.'

One Cabinet source told MailOnline that the policy will be 'worthless' unless it applies to all arrivals.

The PM's spokesman today refused to rule out extra support for the aviation industry to go alongside the move.

He said: 'You are aware of the support we have already given to the airlines industry given the impact the pandemic has had on them.

'You have got what we have said previously and it is obviously something we will continue to look at as we move through this current phase of the pandemic.'

But the prospect sparked anger from the travel industry.

Mr Charles told The Sun: 'We need an end date and to know what the criteria is for ending the scheme, otherwise Britain could be disconnected from the world for a year or more, which is really what's happening in Australia.'

Ministers believe that Britons are generally obeying the edict only to travel when 'essential', with only a few suspected issues in places such as Dubai and Antigua.

There is some concern that celebrities are exploiting 'grey areas' around travel for work.

Irish family-run bar Dempseys harbour lights on Puerto Rico beach, Gran Canaria, said there were no tourists in the area.

A representative said online: 'There's not so many tourists at the moment...

'All we can hope is that the word gets out, people start making a fuss and the government act accordingly and start to remove these guys from our touristic areas and allow tourists to fly over safely with their PCR tests and we can then continue to give a friendly service with a bit of craic and we can start to begin to live our lives again with some normality.

'We need a bit of backing from our government but it should hopefully be addressed and resolved soon.'

Lana Bennett, chief executive of Tours International, which runs itineraries for incoming tourists to the UK, told the Financial Times: 'At the moment the government is just putting layer upon layer of blocks on people coming into the country.'

Ms Bennett said the company took 1.4million in revenues in 2019 but had no new bookings confirmed for this year.

A meeting of the Government's Covid-O committee will discuss the way forward tomorrow.

Ministers will be presented with five options to choose from, according to Politico.

One option will be a blanket ban on all flights to the UK, another is hotel quarantine, another is imposing travel bans on countries where new variants have been discovered, another is scrapping the test and release scheme and another is using GPS tracking of mobile phones to ensure people comply with quarantine rules.

Hotel quarantine is viewed as the option most likely to be selected although there remain major questions over how such a scheme would work.

For example, it is not yet clear who would pay for the cost of quarantine - the traveller or the Government.

If it is the former the cost of coming to the UK will soar amid fears that any version of the policy will decimate the travel and aviation sectors. Talks between the Government and hotel chains are said to be ongoing.

Mr Johnson said the Government is 'actively now working on' the proposals as he said the UK needs 'a solution that gives us the maximum possible protection against reinfection'

It is now a week since ministers suspended the travel corridors scheme and imposed new rules on all arrivals to require them to have a negative test before travelling and to quarantine for 10 days.

But Mr Johnson is facing increasing pressure to go further to prevent importing Covid variants and to give the vaccination programme time to reach the nation's most vulnerable people.

He has also been criticised over the Government's approach to the border.

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: 'The Conservative government are again dragging their feet on setting vital protections at our borders, which must involve using hotels to help prevent the importation of further strains of the virus.

Australia quarantine 'broke tourism industry' Britain could regret introducing Australian-style quarantine hotels which have bankrupted the tourism industry, seen the virus spreading inside the accommodation and sparked a tennis Open shambles. New analysis today projected that the country's tourism industry lost 5 billion from the lucrative summer period, December 24 to January 31. Thousands from across the world usually flock to Australia's beaches to enjoy sunny Christmas and New Year celebrations but that annual influx has been eradicated by swingeing border controls and expensive quarantine stays. Only citizens, residents or immediate family members can enter the country and they must stay at a hotel for 14 days on arrival and undergo covid tests. It means that many of the Australians who would usually return home to see family over Christmas haven't bothered because much of the trip would be in quarantine with guests forced to foot their own hotel bill - 1,700 on average. Advertisement

'Labour has been calling for a strategic approach to tackling this awful virus and the worrying strains that are now emerging. The lack of strategy means the UK continually acts too slowly and without proper planning in place.

'This continued failure is leaving the door open to new strains of Covid, putting people at risk and undermining the sacrifices everyone is making to address this virus.'

In Australia, quarantine hotels have been blamed for bankrupting the tourism industry, spreading the virus inside the accommodation, and turning the famous tennis Open into a shambles.

New analysis today projected that the country's tourism industry lost 5billion from the lucrative summer period, December 24 to January 31.

Thousands from across the world usually flock to Australia's beaches to enjoy sunny Christmas and New Year celebrations but that annual influx has been eradicated by swingeing border controls and expensive quarantine stays.

Only citizens, residents or immediate family members can enter the country and they must stay at a hotel for 14 days on arrival and undergo covid tests.

It means that many of the Australians who would usually return home to see family over Christmas haven't bothered because much of the trip would be in quarantine with guests forced to foot their own hotel bill - 1,700 on average.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson sowed confusion today as he hinted that 'some' lockdown curbs could be eased in mid-February - but defied a growing Tory mutiny by refusing to guarantee that schools will be open by Easter.

The PM said ministers will be 'looking at the potential of relaxing some measures' with the four most vulnerable groups on track to have been given vaccines by February 15.

But in comments that muddied the water even further, he stressed that infections are still 'very high' and only pledged that children will be back in the classroom 'as soon as possible' - despite demands for a firm timetable and accusations he is putting the economy above education.

The mixed signals left Downing Street scrambling to clarify that February 15 is merely the 'earliest point' that the rules will be reviewed, and the expectation is that they will remain the same.

On a visit to a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London this morning, Mr Johnson was asked whether he would give a schedule for getting schools back up and running. Children's commissioner Anne Longfield called for efforts to be stepped up to avert the 'enormous impact', but unions say it is not likely to be possible before May - and some scientists have warned the R rate could be driven above one again.

'We're looking at the data as it comes in, we're looking at the rates of infection, as you know the JCVI predicts (the four most vulnerable groups will be) vaccinated by February 15, but before then we'll be looking at the potential of relaxing some measures,' he replied.

'But don't forget this country has made huge progress in reducing infection, I don't think people want to see another big surge in infection.'

He said the government was taking a 'responsible and cautious' approach, and added on schools: 'Daily we're looking at the data and trying to work out when we're going to be able to lift restrictions.

'Schools obviously will be a priority but I don't think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high so as to lead to another great spread of infection.

'We've now got the R down below 1 across the whole of the country, that's a great achievement, we don't want to see a huge surge of infection just when we've got the vaccination programme going so well and people working so hard.

'I understand why people want to get a timetable from me today, what I can tell you is we'll tell you, tell parents, tell teachers as much as we can as soon as we can.'

Tory MPs and education experts have been escalating their demands for government to find a way to get more children back in classrooms. Ministers have admitted there is a strong case for teachers to be given priority in the next phase of vaccine rollout from mid-February.

However, others point to the lack of evidence that schools staff are at greater risk than any other frontline workers.

Two weeks of Australia-style hotel quarantine (and YOU pay): How could the new border system work?

Currently travellers arriving in the UK are allowed to disembark and quarantine at their own homes or their destination accommodation. The self-isolation lasts 10 days, cut to five if they receive a negative test result.

But this system relies on people following the rules and there are concerns over low levels of compliance that could allow the virus to spread.

Instead the Government is examining plans to place arrivals in a hotel to quarantine after arriving, to ensure the rules are not broken.

Arrivals would potentially have to pay for their stays while they self-isolate for 10 days, or even a fortnight.

The powerful Covid O Cabinet sub-committee is due to discuss the ideas tomorrow.

This has been attempted here but not since the early days of the pandemic and that was only on a small scale.

A group of more than 80 people evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan - believed to be the epicenter of the pandemic - were flown into the UK and taken to former nurses accommodation at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.

Their accommodation was kitted out with bedding, games consoles and Barbies ahead of their 14 days in quarantine.

But the scheme attracted negative headlines when the isolated Brits held staff to 'ransom', with one security guard alleging that the evacuees know they can threaten to leave the secure unit and 'get whatever they want'.

One person tried to leave before completing the 14-day stay after his return from China, breaking the contract they signed before they were rescued.

Photographs taken outside the hospital in Birkenhead appeared to show officials pulling up to the barrier outside the building with at least two crates of Budweiser beer in the boot of a car.

Photographs taken outside the quarantine hospital in Birkenhead last January appeared to show officials pulling up to the barrier outside the building with at least two crates of Budweiser in the boot of a car

A patient staying at the Arrowe Park Hospital tried to leave before completing the 14-day stay after his return from China, breaking the contract they signed before they were rescued

It forced Health Secretary Matt Hancock to hurry in a new law to give police officers draconian powers to seize suspected patients and force them into isolation in handcuffs.

The quarantine was not repeated in the UK, but it has been used more successfully abroad, including Australia and New Zealand.

Australia has been quarantining all new arrivals  both citizens and visitors  in hotels since March 29 last year in order to stop cases of coronavirus being imported from overseas.

Quarantine lasts for a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 24, with limited exemptions for transiting passengers, foreign diplomats, government officials, and oil and gas workers.

Individual states can also grant exemptions at their own discretion, as happened with some athletes arriving for the Australian Open who were allowed to quarantine at private residences instead of government-provided hotels  sparking public outcry.

Quarantine takes place in the city of arrival, regardless of the final destination within Australia, with travellers taken to a hotel directly from the airport.

The government chooses the hotel, passengers are not routinely advised of its location in advance and they are be billed for their stay afterwards.

Anyone arriving with symptoms will be tested at the airport and taken to the hotel to await the result, with their baggage brought separately. Those with no symptoms will be allowed to collect their bags before being put on a bus, which will then take them to the hotel.

Those in quarantine will be tested at least twice  on day 2 and day 12 of quarantine. Provided they test negative each time, they will be released after 14 days. Anyone who returns a positive test will be kept in quarantine until testing negative. Anyone who refuses a test may be kept in quarantine longer.

Guests in the hotels are not allowed to leave their rooms, and have all food brought to them. While the government says that dietary requirements will be taken into account, travellers have frequently complained about the state of the food.

The maximum penalty for breaching the rules is a 6,000 fine, six months in prison, or both  with a further 3,000 fine applied for each day a person continues to break the rules.

Australia has experienced two waves of Covid infections, but has kept both cases and deaths significantly lower than other westernised countries  its highest daily toll of the pandemic was 721 cases, reported on July 30 last year. By comparison, the UK's worst daily total was 68,053.

Currently, the country reports an average of 12 cases per day and has suffered just a handful of deaths since October last year. Its last death was on December 28.

As a result, there are few restrictions within the country. Bars, restaurants, gyms, shopping centres and other leisure facilities are all open in most states, but a few high-risk locations have mask-wearing rules and limits on group sizes.

The last wave of coronavirus infections the country suffered, between June and September, began in Melbourne amid 'security lapses' at the quarantine hotels. One whistleblower alleged that security guards were having sex with new arrivals quarantining at the hotel - infecting themselves with Covid which they then passed on to others.

An inquiry into the scandal found the failings were to blame for Australia's second wave, including 768 deaths suffered as a result.

Novak Djokovic, pictured on his hotel balcony in Adelaide, has reportedly issued a list of demands for stranded players including a shorter quarantine and access to tennis courts

Doctors and infectious diseases experts have slammed special Covid rules for celebrities like Matt Damon. The Good Will Hunting star is wife Luciana Barroso, 45, and their daughters, Isabella, 14, Gia, 12, and Stella, 10, are among an elite group who have qualified for an exemption

Tom Hanks (pictured with wife Rita Wilson) was given special permission to quarantine at a Gold Coast mansion so he could film a biopic in Australia about Elvis Presley, despite testing positive to Covid to Australia in March 2020 shortly after arriving from the United States

Last week Australian Open tennis stars were told that they would get no 'special treatment' after world number one Novak Djokovic demanded that the 72 players isolating in hotels be allowed to move to private homes with tennis courts.

The Serb's reported list of demands included a shorter quarantine period, permission for players to visit their coaches, and access to courts where they could train for the tournament in Melbourne.

But state premier Daniel Andrews said authorities would not bend the rules, telling the players that 'there's no special treatment here... because the virus doesn't treat you specially, so neither do we.'

However, other celebs have been given preferential treatment under the system.

Matt Damon has been allowed to quarantine for 14 days at a large house at Byron Bay in New South Wales instead of having to endure two weeks in a cramped hotel as he prepares to work on a new Thor film with Chris Hemsworth.

Damon, 50, his wife Luciana Barroso, 45, and their daughters, Isabella, 14, Gia, 12, and Stella, 10, are among an elite group who have qualified for an exemption.

Immigration lawyer Rebekah O'Sullivan said the Good Will Hunting actor had 'privately arranged and funded' his two-week isolation with his wife and children so as not to create 'any burden to the Australian taxpayer whatsoever'.

Singer Dannii Minogue in July last year was given special permission by Queensland Health to quarantine at a Gold Coast property with her son Ethan.

And Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks two months later was given special permission to also quarantine at a Gold Coast mansion so he could film a biopic in Australia about Elvis Presley, despite testing positive to Covid in March 2020, shortly after arriving from the United States.
Major Piyush Sharma, from Indian Army Bengal Sappers, gives a command to his contingent for marching during rehearsals for the upcoming Republic Day parade at the Raisina hills, the government seat of power, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country's constitution on Jan. 26, 1950. Thousands congregate on Rajpath, a ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi, to watch a flamboyant display of the countrys military power and cultural diversity. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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Revanth Reddysaid that he was ready to take political sanyas if Rama Rao can pinpoint any one developmental activity under him.  DC Image

HYDERABAD: TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will not make TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao the next Chief Minister.

He said that Chandrashekar Rao was aware of the efficiency and competence levels of his son and hence there was no possibility of Rama Rao being elevated to the top post.

Speaking to mediapersons at the CLP office here on Monday, he alleged that it is only those aspiring for Cabinet berths who wish to see Rama Rao as Chief Minister. He said that if the son is elevated, it will be problematic for K. Kavitha, T. Harish Rao and MP J. Santosh Kumar.

The former MLA of Kodangal challenged Rama Rao about developments after he adopted the constituency. He said that he was ready to take political sanyas if Rama Rao can pinpoint any one developmental activity under him. He said the minister should visit Polepalli Yellamma temple and swear about developments in Kodangal.

He said that people had voted for TRS but who would become the CM is now a family issue. Revanth demanded Chandrasekhar Rao to rectify his mistakes and make Rasamayi Balakishan as the Chief Minister if democracy has to prevail in the state.
A consultant in the Irish Medical Organisation has called for greater transparency about who has had the Covid-19 vaccine and how many frontline workers have yet to be vaccinated.

Speaking on RTE radios Morning Ireland, Dr Matthew Sadlier said the issue was about trying to protect patients and vaccinating frontline workers would mean that hospitals could stay open.

At present, there were 6,000 frontline workers off work because of Covid issues and it was not acceptable that there was not a plan for frontline workers to be vaccinated as soon as possible, he said.

With 2,000 Covid patients in hospitals at present, every ward was a Covid ward, he said.

The concept that some wards were not Covid wards was not accurate as everyone was at risk.

There should be a definitive list for every hospital for vaccinations for frontline staff, he said. Dr Sadlier said he had some sympathy for the HSE because it was obvious there was a shortfall.

Protecting staff was important as it meant protecting patients so there needed to be transparency about where the vaccine would be going now.

Who is left to be vaccinated and how they are going to manage it going forward.

When asked about the vaccination programme in the UK where the date for the second vaccine has been postponed for up to 12 weeks, Dr Sadlier said he thought it would be a very high-risk thing to do.

On the issue of PPE, he said high-grade masks needed to be guaranteed and available to all staff - not after risk assessment as was the situation at present.

All staff are at high risk.
From the University of Cape Town, Sudanese doctoral student Doaa Al-Amin, who specialises in pharmaceutical chemistry, won the annual prize granted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the French cosmetics company L'Oreal.

The prize is given each year as an award for research conducted by women in all fields.

Al-Amin won after competing with ten international researchers from all over the world.

In 1998, the International L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards were created to acknowledge 5 female researchers who contributed with their studies and work to science and humanity.

The selection of the laureates takes into consideration that they come from the world's five regions.

In an interview with Sudan News Agency, Al-Amin said that her domain of research was developing medicines used for the treatment of cancer, which are products derived from compounds found in garlic, and which were discovered during the synthesis process in the laboratory.

Her research and formula were published in an American scientific journal and through channels of the UNESCO.

She added that the second part of the project is a test of the compounds effectiveness in killing esophageal cancer cells, indicating that more than 300 researchers competed for the first stage of the screening process, while the selection for the award was made from among ten researchers in the final stage.

Short link:


Srinagar:

To express condolence and sympathies with the bereaved family, a two-member delegation of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led Hurriyat Conference on Saturday visited the house of lynched police officer in Srinagar.

A high-level delegation comprising of Mohammad Shafi Khan and Sheikh Yasir Rouf Dalal, on the direction of Mirwaiz, visited the Nowpora residence of slain DSP Mohammad Ayoub Pandith and expressed their condolences, sympathies and solidarity with the bereaved family, including his son, a spokesman of the moderate Hurriyat said in a statement here.

He said the delegation conveyed the condolence message of Mirwaiz to the bereaved family on the occasion and prayed for the departed soul.

The delegation informed the family that Mirwaiz and Hurriyat does not endorse the brutality of any sort or from any quarter, the spokesman said.

He said Mirwaiz and Pandit families have a long religious and social connection.

The police officer was on security duty at Jamia Masjid when he was lynched by a mob during shab-e-Qadr prayers, drawing strong criticism from different quarters, including Mirwaiz.

Also read: DSP's lynching outside Jama Masjid mosque in Srinagar: Three more arrested

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(Alliance News) - The EU issued an angry warning to pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca PLC on Monday over its unexpected delay in delivering millions of doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc.

The British-Swedish company's announcement "is not acceptable to the EU," EU Commissioner for health Stella Kyriakides said after a meeting of member state representatives and the firm.

"The EU will take any action required to protect its citizens and rights," she stressed.

Kyriakides did not elaborate on what action Brussels might take, but she said Brussels would propose a "transparency mechanism" to track shipments of vaccine exported from the EU to non-member countries.

The unusually blunt message underscored the threat facing the 27-nation EU as it tries to ramp up so far underpowered vaccination programmes as more contagious coronavirus variants threaten a looming third wave of the pandemic.

Last Friday, AstraZeneca said it would not meet its contractual delivery commitments to the EU because of unexplained "reduced yields" in its European supply chain.

That came a week after US group Pfizer Inc said it was also cutting early delivery volumes of its vaccine produced with German firm BioNTech SE.

Together, those announcements risk up-ending EU vaccination programmes that depend on people getting two jabs weeks apart.A

That would potentially trash European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's pledge made just a week ago to inoculate 70% of adults in the EU by the end of August.

The EU has currently authorised two vaccines for jabs: the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna Inc ones.A

By the end of this week it is poised to add the AstraZeneca vaccine, on the understanding that it would be already on hand and available for immediate roll-out.

Those vaccines, along with others also being vetted for marketing authorisation, were secured by the European Commission under advance purchase agreements on behalf of the EU and its 450 million residents.

Von der Leyen early Monday spoke with AstraZeneca's French CEO Pascal Soriot, and representatives EU member states held two meetings with the company to press for answers and a rapid solution meeting the contract terms.

"The answers of the company have not been satisfactory so far," Kyriakides said.

In a sign of distrust of the company she announced a move to have pharmaceutical companies notify EU authorities of vaccine exports out of the bloc, except for humanitarian deliveries.

"The Commission has today proposed to the 27 member states in the steering board that an export transparency mechanism will be put in place as soon as possible," she said.

She added: "The EU has pre-financed the development of the vaccine and its production and wants to see the return.A The EU wants to know exactly which doses have been produced where by AstraZeneca so far, and if or to whom they have been delivered."

The only public statement by AstraZeneca on Monday was that Soriot was "pleased" to speak with von der Leyen and it "is doing everything it can to bring its vaccine to millions of Europeans as soon as possible".

In an effort to create enough time for vaccinations to protect the most vulnerable, the EU and various member states have increasingly restricted travel into the bloc and, for non-essential trips, within it.

On Monday, the European Commission urged further tightening of those rules, calling on member states to impose pre-trip PCR tests for all travellers allowed into the EU and quarantine on arrival if they came from zones where more-contagious virus variants were spreading.

It also recommended a heightened testing and quarantine regime, where possible, for essential travellers between a or even within a EU countries with high-risk areas classed as "deep red" by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The EU Commissioner for justice, Didier Reynders, said the new variants with high infectivity a coming from former EU member Britain as well as South Africa and Brazil a meant "there is an urgent need to reduce the risk of travel-related infections to lessen the burden on overstretched healthcare systems".

source: AFP

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A bag of cement which usually costs approximately $50 has more than tripled in price at some places since Covid-19 invaded the country in March 2020.

Some people are paying as much as $150 and more for a bag of cement.
A new bill aimed at decriminalizing the act of selling sex in New York was introduced in state Senate Monday.

New York Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter announced Monday morning that they've introduced the Sex Trade Survivors Justice & Equality Act, which was created with the help of sex trade survivors and advocates.

While the bill - based on the so-called 'equality' or 'Nordic' model - would repeal the crime of selling sex, the act of buying sex, sex trafficking and brothel owning would continue to be illegal.

The Sex Trade Survivors Justice & Equality Act was introduced to New York State Senate Monday, aiming to help decriminalize sex workers (stock image)

'We must empower and support people currently or formerly in the sex trade, while addressing the violence, exploitation, and trauma inherent in the buying and selling of sex - by continuing to hold pimps, brothel owners, and sex buyers accountable for the harms that they cause,' Krueger said in a tweet about her support of the bill.

She added that discussions with survivors and examination of data surrounding the issue have led her to 'believe that this bill is the best way to achieve these goals.'

Hunter, meanwhile, tweeted: 'It is time that we put an end to the exploitation of the disadvantaged and confront these issues directly.'

The bill aims to give and get sex workers help, instead of jail sentences, in part by preventing the 'unlicensed practice of a profession' arrests of people working in illicit massage parlors when there's evidence of exploitation.

It also prevents people working in the sex trade from being charged with 'Promoting Prostitution' when they're helping others in the trade and aren't profiting from it.

Part of the bill involves extending the legal protections and services given to minors arrested for prostitution under New York's Safe Harbor law to cover people up to age 24.

It also calls for aligning New York's definition of human trafficking with the federal definition, which would broaden the pool of people allowed to access social services from organizations combating gender violence, as well as creating a regionally, racially, and sexually diverse State task force that would ensure access and administration of social services to people in prostitution across the state. 

The bill would also strengthen protections for children against exploitation by getting rid of the 'ignorance defense' currently able to be used by those who buy sex from children under the age of 15 or from those under 18 in a school zone.

In addition, the bill eliminates a state law loophole that stops sex buyers, like Jeffrey Epstein, from being charged with the promotion of prostitution when they traffic people to themselves.

The bill was introduced by New York Sen. Liz Krueger (left) and Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter (right). They created the bill with the help of sex trade survivors and advocates

The bill would also seek to prohibit the use of condoms as evidence in criminal trials for prostitution.

No laws punishing pimps, sex traffickers or other profiteers would be changed under the bill.

Krueger told the New York Post that she believes many of the people who enter the sex trade are young people of color, who are coerced into selling themselves or do it out of economic desperation.

She said that many of the young people she'd spoken with felt 'like theyve been thrown way and no one cares if they spend their life in a form of slavery.'

'We want to make sure that instead of criminal penalties and jail, we are providing health care, mental health care, services to get them out of the life and into better options for themselves,' she told the newspaper, adding that 'generations of young peoples lives are being destroyed when we could be helping them.'

In addition to providing sex workers with access to social services and legal protections, the bill would also clear the criminal records of crimes committed while trafficking survivors were still under the control of the people exploiting them.

It would also expunge all previous charges involving prostitution and loitering for the purpose of prostitution.

To address the issue of over-incarceration of people of color and implicit bias in law enforcement, the bill would seek to punish misdemeanor crimes of buying sex with a fines, instead of jail time.

The fines would be determined by an income-based scale, 'which would incentivize law enforcement to target buyers with disposable income,' according to the New Yorkers for the Equality Model website.

The fines could go up to $50,000, in lieu of jail time, the latter of which is currently rare since patronizing a prostitute is a misdemeanor offense, according to the New York Post.

A portion of the fines collected would be put towards a victims compensation fund.

'We absolutely know that sex buyers drive the demand for the industry and that if a sex buyer ceases to exist, you wouldnt have pimps, you wouldnt have exploitation because there wouldnt be a market,' Sanctuary for Families attorney Alexi Meyers told the newspaper. She was among those who helped write the bill.

The Sex Trade Survivors Justice & Equality Act bill is a controversial one because it goes up against the cry for prostitution to be completely decriminalized.

It also completes with 2019 legislation that Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried had introduced, which was aimed at legalizing sex work so that those participating in it can do so freely without fear of arrest, either for themselves or for those paying them for their services.

The concern about decriminalizing sex workers, but continuing to penalize those who purchase sex is that it could push the industry further underground and make it even less safe than it currently is.

'FULL decriminalization of sex work would still leave anti-trafficking laws in place,' tweeted @TopDomme. 'The equality model is hysteria and does not actually help anyone. What is the point of being a legal whore if I cant screen my clients to make sure they dont kill me??'

'The Nordic model has proven to cause more harm to sex workers, and not a single actual sex worker is for it. This also makes it more difficult to focus on actual trafficking victims by assuming all sex work is forced,' wrote Twitter user @weirdoqueen in response to Krueger's announcement of the bill.

'As a sex worker in a Nordic / Equality Model country, I can tell you it actively harms sex workers, regardless of our situation,' @Eleanor_Greet tweeted at Krueger, adding, 'Please do not promote this Model. It does not help us.'

'There is nothing inherently wrong with sex work. Conflating sex work and human trafficking is wrong. Seeing all forms of sex work as exploitation is wrong. Criminalizing the demand for sex is wrong. How about you consult with sex workers to get it right,' @theninjawitch wrote.

Of the competition with Salazar and Gottfried's 2019 bill, Krueger told the New York Post that she believed her 'approach is more realistic as an option.'
As we look at the impact COVID-19 has had on our country over the past year, one thing is stunningly clear: Women in the U.S. have taken an outsized hit.

Women are not only more likely to have lost their jobs, but also more likely to have stepped down from their jobs or reduced their hours to take on the daily teacher/childcare provider juggle that so many parents find themselves navigating. And even more concerning, theres evidence to suggest women who left the workforce during COVID will struggle to resume their careers when we finally make it to after.

We believe credit unions can make a difference for women in these turbulent timesand would even go so far as to say that the system is uniquely positioned to advocate for womens financial needs and goals.

While the feminist credit unions that sprouted up in the 1970s have since folded, they speak to the credit union movements unique history of ensuring that women, and especially women-owned businesses, were able to work toward financial independence. Thats not to mention that credit unions have a long history of employing women at every levelincluding the C-suite. As Jimese Harkley, VP of Membership at CUES, points out in The Remarkable Credit Union podcast, The achievements of women in leadership at credit unions over the last decade are among the most important things we have ever done as an industry, but we risk undoing that all because of the challenges caused by COVID.

Lastly, credit unions are mandated to create financial well-being for members. Given that women represent roughly half of all credit union membersor approximately 60 million consumerswell all benefit if credit unions work harder to support women during these challenging times. And this isnt just the right thing to do, its good business. Research has long found that women are the CFO of the house, and are typically responsible for 80% of a households consumer purchasing decisions. This means that women are among the most valuable members that a credit union can attract and retain.

Why has COVID been so hard on women?

A few reasons rise quickly to the top.

One comes from sociologist Jessica Calarco: Other countries have social safety nets. The US has women.

So, when family members got sick, childcare closed, and schools went online, women have been more likely to step in to close the gap. COVID has also more heavily affected the industries disproportionately staffed by women such as education, leisure, hospitality, domestic services and restaurants.

The loss of childcare and in-person school has hit particularly hard: As of July, one out of four women cited lack of childcare as the reason they were unemployed (nearly three times more than the rate of men). July data from the Census Bureau showed women were almost three times more likely than men not to be working due to COVID-related childcare issues. Women dropped out of the workforce at a rate quadruple that of men in September 2020 (approximately 865,000 women vs. 216,000 men).

Perhaps even more disturbing, in December, more jobs were lost by women than by the entire economy. Thats because U.S. women suffered a net loss of 156,000 jobs, while men gained 16,000 jobs, making the economys net loss 140,000.

Many believe these job losses will set womens progress in the workplace back decades, if not more. According to The Center for American Progress, one study found that being out of the workforce for just one year could decrease a womans annual earnings by 39% compared to a woman who had not left the workforce.

Consider the long-term impact on the unemployed woman: lower levels of wage growth and lifetime income, lower Social Security earnings and lower retirement assets. Plus, there is a ripple effect on the overall economy  the decrease in maternal work hours has meant billions in lost wages. Research from the Center for American Progress put this price tag at a potential $64.5 billion annually.

Why are credit unions uniquely positioned to help women?

When it comes to employment, females have a strong credit union presence both overall and at the executive level. A report from the Filene Research Institute found that 53% of credit union CEOs and 70% of credit union employees overall are female. Those numbers certainly top other industriesfor instance, as of September 2020, females represented just over 7% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies.

Its worth noting that there is still room for improvement in the credit union industry; the percentage of women-led credit unions drops as assets increase. Most female CEOs are at credit unions with assets below $50 million.

Of course, systemic change isnt something any individual credit union can accomplish with great loans or a smart marketing campaign. That kind of change will require big, national policy efforts around paid family leave, affordable childcare, universal preschool and better access to healthcare. The credit union system can play its part in helping make those things happen (consider attending the virtual Governmental Affairs Conference coming up in March to add your voice).

That said, every credit union can take steps now to enact meaningful change at the local level, too. Here are some places to start.

Check in with your female members. Your credit union has likely taken steps to help members address COVID challengeslike loan payment deferrals, special loan products, and waived and reduced fees. And while each of these has undoubtedly benefited female members, have you taken additional steps to understand and meet their specific needs? A simple online survey can be a good first step to learning more and letting women know you care.

Address the childcare struggle for your own employees. This might seem like an impossible ask, but two credit unions did just that. State Employees Credit Union in Santa Fe, New Mexico opened an education lab at each of its eight branches and hired a tutor or monitor to oversee employees kids. Roswell Community Federal Credit Union turned an outbuilding into a makeshift school for employees children.

Meet the needs of small businesses owned and staffed by women. Education, childcare, retail, beauty, and hospitality are industries that have been among the hardest hit during the pandemicand more likely to have a female owner and female staff. Reach out to local small business owners to see what they need most now and how your credit union can help. Working capital is a likely answer. Is it time to revisit your underwriting to meet their needs? Here are some other ideas for helping small businesses.

Keep connecting. Weve discussed the power of personalized digital tools in the past and this is something credit unions must continue to prioritize as members move their finances to digital channels. But dont overlook the power of traditional connections toopick up the phone, drop an email or even send out a good old-fashioned snail mail greeting. In these challenging times, especially when so much happens remotely, connections are more important than ever.

Reevaluate your product mix. Ellevest, an investing platform, positions itself as being built by women, for women. Because the financial industry wasnt. Ellevests tools and services reflect realities such as the gender pay gap, that women are more likely than men to take breaks in their career to have/raise childrenwhich can have an immense impact on their earning power and that women live longer than men.

It could be easy to assume its no longer necessary to cast a female-centric eye on your products and services  after all, things like the banking systems requirement (until 1974!) that women needed their father or husband to cosign a loan are, thankfully, a thing of the past. But theres plenty of ready evidence that women continue to face unequal access to credit, which we witnessed most dramatically in the rocky rollout to the Paycheck Protection Program.

As the she-cession only continues to worsen, now is the time to revisit how your credit union connects with and serves your female members. The credit union industry is uniquely positioned to offer women an inclusive, equitable financial home.
[January 25, 2021] Mark Peters Assumes Lab Operations Leadership Role for Battelle

Battelle announced today that Mark Peters has assumed the role of Executive Vice President of Laboratory Operations. Peters served as Laboratory Director at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) since October 2015. "We are very fortunate to have Mark join Battelle's senior leadership team," said Lou Von Thaer, President and CEO of Battelle. "Throughout his distinguished career, Mark has demonstrated exceptional skills as a strategic leader, team builder, and champion of a healthy safety and operations culture in complex research and development environments. He has extensive relationships throughout the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is widely recognized within the department as a trusted advocate for the relevant missions of the national laboratories." Prior to joining NL, Peters served as Argonne National Laboratory's Associate Laboratory Director for the Energy and Global Security directorate, which included Argonne's programs in energy research and national security. Mark also held leadership positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory earlier in his career. Additionally, Mark served two terms as Chair of the National Laboratory Directors Council, representing the interests of the 17 DOE national labs.



Peters succeeds Ron Townsend, who retired after 12 years at Battelle. Townsend's tenure was marked by the implementation of effective leadership development programs and strong performance in operations and safety, scientific discoveries, and positive impact to the communities that are home to Battelle managed laboratories. "Ron's legacy is one that has allowed us to continue fulfilling our responsibility to manage national laboratories with a culture of simultaneous operational excellence founded on the principles of Battelle's Safe Conduct of Research," said Von Thaer. Peters said he looks forward to the new challenge. "I am thrilled and humbled to join the Battelle leadership team and to take over an operation built over the past decade by Ron Townsend," said Peters. "I am looking forward to assuming a key role critical to sustaining Battelle's track record of excellence in managing national laboratories and delivering mission outcomes so important to our nation."

About Battelle Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit www.battelle.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005517/en/

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The Nifty50 traded lower for the major part of the session amid volatility and fell sharply for the third consecutive session on January 25. Weak global cues and reports of Indo-China border skirmish weighed on sentiment.

The Nifty50 opened higher at 14,477.80 and hit an intraday high of 14,491.10 but turned volatile with a negative bias for the remaining session. The index touched the day's low of 14,218.60 before signing off at 14,238.90, down 133 points.

The index formed a bearish candle on the daily charts as the closing was lower than the opening levels. Experts say the selling pressure can extend if the index breaks 14,218 in the coming sessions.

Traders should avoid long side bets, Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory at Chartviewindia.in, told Moneycontrol. Intraday traders with a high-risk appetite can consider shorting below 14,218 and look for a downside target placed in the 14,05013,090 zone, he said.

"The Nifty slipped below its recent low of 14,222 which is essential to complete one corrective structure, in the form of a FLAT, at a lower degree in Elliot Wave parlance," Mohammad said.

If the index sustains above 14,218 and manages a positive close in the next session, there will be a higher probability of the market witnessing consolidation for a couple of days with a pull back rally, he said. The Nifty will not gain strength until it closes above 14,650.

If its downward spiral goes beyond 14,218, the current leg of downswing shall extend into the 13,99013,950 zone, where a confluence of supports is placed based on conventional technical parameters, he said.

The index may continue to remain highly volatile ahead of the monthly expiry and the Budget 2021, Chandan Taparia, Vice President | Analyst-Derivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services said. India VIX moved up by 3.68 percent from 22.42 to 23.24 levels.

The options data suggests a wider trading range for the Nifty at 14,000 to 14,600 levels. Maximum Put open interest was seen at 14,000 followed by 14,200 strike, while maximum Call open interest was at 15,000 followed by 14,500 strike. Call writing was seen at 14,400 then 14,500 strike while Put writing was seen at 14,200 and 14,100 strike.

The Bank Nifty opened positive at 31,507.15 but failed to surpass its key hurdle of 31,750 levels and drifted to hit the day's low of 31,013.65. It outperformed the Nifty as it closed flat to positive even after a sharp decline in the broader market.

It was up 31.15 points at 31,198.40 and formed a large bearish candle on the daily charts.

"The Bank Nifty has been making lower top-lower bottom on the shorter time frame and bounces are being sold. Now till it remains below 31,750, the bounce could be sold for the downside move towards 30,750 and 30,500 while on the upside hurdles are seen at 31,750 and 32,000 levels," Taparia said.

A positive setup was seen in Grasim, Aurobindo Pharma, TVS Motor, Apollo Hospitals, UPL, Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Pidilite Industries, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. Weakness was seen in Reliance Industries, Escorts, Indiabulls Housing Finance, HCL Technologies, BHEL, IndusInd Bank, InterGlobe Aviation, Berger Paints, RBL Bank, Biocon, HPCL and BPCL, he added.

: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Moneycontrol.
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A heartbroken mother has shared a photo of the last moments she spent with her 15-year-old daughter before her life support was switched off after a sudden asthma attack left her brain dead.

Horrified mother Paula Thompson, 47, found Beccy unable to breathe or talk after she took a nap at home in from Burton, Staffordshire, to recover from an asthma attack.

Beccy was rushed to hospital and put in an induced coma, and her anxious family waited four days while the schoolgirl fought for her life.

But a scan revealed the GCSE student was brain dead and would not wake up.

The teenager's devastated family said doctors think her earlier asthma attack had been so severe her brain was deprived of oxygen and she had a cardiac arrest while napping.

Brave mother Paula Thompson, 47, chose to release a poignant last photo of her cuddling her daughter Beccy Smith, 15, in hospital to raise awareness of the dangers of asthma

Medics switched off her life support, and the aspiring social care worker died with her family around her.

Her brave mother chose to release a poignant last photo of her cuddling lifeless Beccy in hospital to raise awareness of the dangers of asthma.

Paula, also mother to Chan, 28, and Kayla, 26, said: 'Beccy was the most beautiful person. She was my world, and she was loved by everyone.

'I'm so proud of the person she became.

Beccy (pictured) was rushed to hospital and put in an induced coma, and her anxious family waited four days while the schoolgirl fought for her life

Beccy Smith (centre) who died aged 15 from an asthma attack pictured with mother Paula (right) and sister Shannon

'It hasn't hit me yet. It feels like she's just gone away for a while, and one day she'll walk back through the front door.

'The last thing she said to me was 'Mum, I think I'm dying', and that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

'I just want people to see how dangerous asthma can be. A lot of people think 'it's only asthma', but it can be fatal and should be taken seriously.'

Beccy's cousin Katie Costello, 30, added: 'Beccy was a wonderful person with a heart of gold. She would do anything for anyone.

'She had such a big, bubbly personality. She was always trying to make you laugh, telling jokes and busting out TikTok dances.

Beccy Smith (left) who died aged 15 from an asthma attack pictured with best friend Mia Doyle

The 15-year-old had suffered with asthma for years, which had got worse in the weeks before her death for reasons the family don't yet know

'Two weeks ago she was completely fine. I don't think any of us can get our heads around the fact she is actually gone.

'People should know how dangerous asthma can be.

'You can't take anything for granted, because you don't know what's around the corner.'

Beccy was home with mother Paula Thompson, 47, and best friend Mia Doyle, 14, when she suffered chest pains and began wheezing, on January 9.

She had suffered with asthma for years, but in recent weeks it had got worse for reasons the family don't yet know.

An ambulance was called to the scene, and she was treated with a nebuliser.

Asthma attacks kill three people in the UK each day and e very ten seconds someone has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack. Pictured: Beccy Smith as a child

Once her breathing stabilised she was left at home to rest.

Speaking on behalf of Paula, her cousin Katie, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, said: 'She seemed to be ok at that point. She looked a bit pale, but that was pretty normal.

'She said she was exhausted from the attack, and was going to have a nap. She told me she'd call me when she woke up, but she never got to.'

Paula later found her unable to breathe or talk - and within two hours, she was in an induced coma at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, on a ventilator.

An MRI scan on January 12 revealed Beccy was brain dead and would not wake up and the family were told to say their goodbyes.

Beccy Smith (right) pictured with cousin Katie. The aspiring social care worker died with her family around her

Katie recalled: 'That moment completely broke us. We just sobbed and sobbed..'

Beccy was pronounced dead at 1.20pm on January 13, surrounded by her mother, cousins and sister Chantell Read.

Paula told family that her 'heart has gone with Beccy'.

Katie said: 'Beccy was Paula's world, and they were best friends, as well as mother and daughter, so she is completely heartbroken; we all are.

'She was the most amazing person. She had a heart of gold and would have done anything for anyone.

'We just want people to know how dangerous asthma can be - and to never take life for granted.'

The family are fundraising via Go Fund Me to cover the costs of Beccy's funeral.

They want her coffin to be carried in a horse and carriage - because that's how Beccy wanted to travel to her prom next year.

Katie explained: 'We want Beccy to have the send-off she would have wanted, and leave the legacy she deserved.'
Cairn Energy has begun to take steps to identify Indian assets overseas against which it can enforce the $1.2 billion award it won last month in a treaty arbitration case against the South Asian nation, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Cairn was awarded damages of over $1.2 billion plus interest and costs in the long-drawn tussle over a tax dispute and the Indian government is now liable to make this payment. An Indian official, however, said at the time the government would likely challenge the order. If India does not comply with the order it would be a violation of ...
Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd, India's top newspaper publisher and television channel owner, on Monday said it is mulling legal action against over its alleged role in the manipulation of TV ratings.

In a statement, BCCL said it is contemplating legal action against Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) over alleged fraud in declaring rival Republic TV as leading in the English News Genre ahead of the group's Times Now news channel.

BARC's Forensic Audit of July 2020, as well as the multiple emails and WhatsApp chats of that period, which has been accessed by Mumbai Police, clearly shows that BCCL's Times Now's TRPs were indeed manually reduced by officials.

BCCL, a subscriber of viewership data from for its channels, including Times Now operating under Times Network, said the rating agency had "fraudulently declared Republic TV as No 1, even when Times Now was consistently higher" by a large margin.

"Due to this unacceptable and unpardonable act of BARC, Times Network has suffered huge financial losses and irreparable damage to its reputation/ goodwill. Times Network/ BCCL is contemplating all possible legal actions against BARC for non-redressal of its grievances, as available in law for wrongful loss caused," Times Network said in the statement.

It also intends to initiate appropriate proceedings against the individual perpetrators of the fraud as per provisions of Criminal and Civil laws, Times Network added.

Times Network had made multiple attempts to get an official statement of explanation from BARC in the last few weeks, which has been rebuffed.

Even after unearthing this gross misreporting of an entire genre for a protracted period vide the Forensic Audit Report of July 2020, BARC's present Management and Board kept this matter under wraps and took no action against any of the perpetrators other than asking some of the errant officials to silently resign, it added.

"The inaction as far as we can see is systemic and deliberate, as had it not been for the Mumbai Police investigators who stumbled upon this report in December 2020, BARC had no intention in the first place to either inform us as affected party or penalise the fraudulent broadcaster," it said.

This constitutes moral turpitude, breach of trust and puts a question on code of conduct and ethical standards of the present BARC Board and Management.

"It is worth pondering as to whether such a Board and Management can indeed preside over a system which puts out ratings that impact ad spends worth over Rs 30,000 crore per annum and impacts the livelihoods of thousands of employees engaged in the broadcast sector," the statement said.

According to BCCL, it had suspected manipulation of ratings after the launch of Republic TV.

"Since 2017 and especially after the launch of Republic TV in May 2017, BCCL/ Times Network suspected large scale manipulation of ratings pertaining to illegal usage of multiple LCNs and out of EPG placement by Republic TV," it said.

It had found significant abnormalities in market-wise ratings of Republic TV, which clearly indicates ground level tampering and deliberate intervention at the raw data level to favour them.

It has repeatedly complained about these irregularities to BARC for almost two years but got no resolution, said Times Network, part of country's largest media conglomerate, The

Now, the press statement by Mumbai Police on December 25, 2020, in the ongoing investigation into the BARC TRP Scam, has made it clear that proof had been unearthed exposing manipulation by BARC officials for the benefit of Republic TV in 2017/18, Times Network added.

"As per BARC's Forensic Audit of July 2020, as well as the multiple emails and WhatsApp chats of that period, which has been accessed by Mumbai Police, it is now clear that Times Now's TRPs were indeed manually reduced by BARC officials headed by Partho Dasgupta and Romil Ramgarhia before publishing, with the intention to give undue advantage to Republic TV in the English News Genre and thereby fraudulently declare Republic TV as No 1, even when Times Now was consistently higher by a large margin and was the undisputed leader of the Genre," it said.

Time Network broadcasts news channels - TIMES NOW, ET NOW and MIRROR NOW.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The World Economic Forum has today launched a coalition of organizations committed to improving racial and ethnic justice in the workplace

48 organizations representing 13 industries, with more than 5.5 million employees worldwide and with headquarters in three continents have committed to building more equitable and just workplaces

Companies must put racial and ethnic justice on their boards agendas, take at least one firm action and set a long-term strategy to become an anti-racist organization

Learn more here

Geneva, Switzerland, 25 January 2021  The World Economic Forum has today launched the Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative, which will see a coalition of organizations commit to building equitable and just workplaces for professionals with under-represented racial and ethnic identities.

The Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative has been designed to operationalize and coordinate commitments to eradicate racism in the workplace and set new global standards for racial equity in business. It also provides a platform for businesses to collectively advocate for inclusive policy change.



What action looks like

Three steps are required to join the initiative:

Racial and ethnic equity must be placed on the boards agenda

Companies must make at least one commitment towards racial and ethnic justice in their organizations

Companies must put a long-term strategy in place towards becoming an anti-racist organization

Examples of business commitments towards racial and ethnic justice range from allocating financial and human resources to racial justice work, setting representation goals for all seniority levels, and establishing mentorship programmes for racially and ethnically diverse employees.

One of the initiatives starting points will be Black inclusion and addressing anti-Blackness. A broad-brush approach to racism fails to grasp its effects on different under-represented groups. Anti-Black racism is historically one of the most pervasive forms of racism. As such, a targeted and specific approach to tackle it in the workplace is required. As the initiative evolves, it will seek to increase the visibility of racially and ethnically diverse leaders throughout industries, and expand its focus to include additional racial and ethnic groups.

With just 1% of Fortune 500 companies led by Black chief executives, the need to tackle racial under-representation in business is urgent and obvious. To design racially and ethnically just workplaces, companies must confront racism at a systemic level, addressing not just the structural and social mechanics of their own organizations, but also the role they play in their communities and the economy at large. The Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative provides an effective platform for businesses to take individual and collective action towards racially and ethnically just workplaces, said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the World Economic Forum.

The initiative originates from the World Economic Forums New Economy and Society Platform, which is focused on building prosperous, inclusive and just economies and societies. In addition to its work on economic growth, revival and transformation, work, wages and job creation, and education, skills and learning, the Platform takes an integrated and holistic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice, and aims to tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity. It produces data, standards and insights, such as the Global Gender Gap Report and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit, and drives or supports action initiatives, such as the Community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers, The Valuable 500  Closing the Disability Inclusion Gap, Hardwiring Gender Parity in the Future of Work, Closing the Gender Gap Country Accelerators, Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality and the Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice.



Founding members

The founding members of the initiative are: A.P. Mller-Maersk, AlixPartners, AstraZeneca, Bank of America, BlackRock, Bloomberg, Boston Consulting Group, Bridgewater Associates, Centene, Cisco Systems, Cognizant, Dentsu International, Deutsche Bank, EY, Facebook, Google, H&M Group, Henry Schein, HP, Infosys, Ingka Group (IKEA), Jacobs Engineering Group, Jefferson Health, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, Kearney, LinkedIn, ManpowerGroup, Mastercard, Mayo Clinic, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Nestle, PayPal, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Salesforce, SAP, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, The Coca-Cola Company, Depository Trust & Clearing (DTCC), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Uber Technologies, Unilever, UPS and Willis Towers Watson.

This initiative is an important step in helping accountable business leaders do more to change the foundational systems that interfere with achieving equity. Kaiser Permanente is taking bold actions within our organization to evolve and advance our equity, diversity and inclusion strategy, and we look forward to being part of this coalition, both to help its work and learn from others.  Greg A. Adams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Permanente

At IKEA, we side with the many, and we believe that a better every day is also an equal every day. We are committed to create a fair and equal workplace for everyone, no matter their ethnicity, race or nationality. We see three main reasons: It is about fairness, its about reflecting the diversity of our customer base to meet the dreams and needs of our customers in better ways. And finally, it opens up more and new opportunities to attract and recruit the best talents. By working together with the Forum and other businesses we hope to accelerate the pace and scale of change to create more fair and just workplaces and society.  Jesper Brodin, Chief Executive Officer, Ingka Group (IKEA)

The new global standards established by Partnering for Racial Justice in Business come at a time of heightened global focus on racial injustice, underscored by a pandemic that has disproportionately affected Black and Latino communities in the United States, along with other marginalized communities worldwide. We believe companies  critical enablers of wealth creation and professional mobility  must play a leading role in building a more equitable future for all. And as an organization that exists to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce, we are honoured to join this initiative.  Rosanna Durruthy, Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, LinkedIn

At P&G, we aspire to create a company and a world where equality and inclusion are achievable for all people. For us, this starts with ensuring equitable and inclusive workplaces, and drives the actions we take with our brands and business partners and throughout communities around the world. The Forums Partnering for Racial Justice in Business initiative will help foster cross-sector collaboration towards this aspiration and enable P&G and many companies to accelerate progress faster than any of us could do alone, and were proud to lend our support.  Shelly McNamara, Chief Equality and Inclusion Officer, Procter & Gamble

In order to have an economy that works for everyone, we all have an obligation to address the inequalities that have existed for too long; that includes systemic racism. At Mastercard, we believe that our success comes by ensuring decency, well-being and inclusion are part of everything we do. Bringing together groups like this creates the potential for greater impact, accelerating our ability to learn from one another and deliver action at scale.  Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard

As a global organization that runs with purpose, we will only have done our jobs if we create opportunities for every employee to flourish and for social justice to prevail. We must understand the role we play, the things we can do better, and the actions we can take to ensure equality for all. Let our work together be a shining example of the change we are advocating.  Judith Williams, Head of People Sustainability and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, SAP

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to widen inequalities, with disproportionate repercussions for disadvantaged groups and minorities. What policies, practices and partnerships are needed to embed equity and inclusion into our economic systems? The Davos Agenda is a pioneering mobilization of global leaders aimed at rebuilding trust to shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed in 2021. It features a full week (25-29 January) of global programming dedicated to helping leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the effects of the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year. Heads of state, chief executives, civil society leaders and the global media will actively participate in almost 100 sessions covering five themes. Media can register here.

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The European Union will wait to see if Russia releases jailed Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny before deciding to impose fresh sanctions, amid heightened calls for tough action after a brutal weekend police crackdown that saw thousands of Russians detained during protests in support the jailed opposition figure.

"We have agreed today to wait for the court's decision, to wait to see...whether Alexsei Navalny is set free after 30 days," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters following a January 25 meeting with his EU counterparts. "This is not over."

Navalny was detained a week ago upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning by a military-grade nerve agent in August he blames President Vladimir Putin of ordering. A court is expected to decide in early February whether to imprison Navalny for a suspended sentence in a case that is widely considered trumped up and politically motivated.

Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign policy chief, said he would go to Moscow next week to urge Moscow to free protesters and Navalny. EU leaders could discuss further action against Russia at a planned summit on March 25-26, he said.

The foreign ministers of former Soviet republics Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are among those demanding expanded sanctions against Russian officials responsible for arrests.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the 27-member bloc needs to send a very clear and decisive message that this is not acceptable."

Russia has rebuffed the global outrage and a chorus of international calls calling for Navalnys release.

Meanwhile, Navalny and his allies aren't backing down, seeking to build on momentum and international focus on the issue.

Leonid Volkov, a top ally of Navalny, praised the turnout in cities and towns across all of Russia's 11 time zones in bitterly cold temperatures as he called for fresh demonstrations on January 31.

"All cities of Russia. For freedom for Navalny. For freedom for everyone. For justice," he wrote on Twitter.

According to the independent political watchdog OVD-Info, more than 3,700 people were taken into custody during the nationwide protests on January 23, Russia's biggest anti-government demonstrations in years.

The figure includes over 1,400 detentions in Moscow, where several people were injured in clashes with police.

A court is expected to decide on February 2 whether to convert into prison time the suspended 3 1/2-year sentence that Navalny served in an embezzlement case that is widely considered trumped up and politically motivated. The suspended sentence ended on December 30.

Navalny says it is a trumped-up case designed to silence him and called for Russians to "take to the streets" in protest.

Police Beatings

Tens of thousands of people did just that in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major cities to protest against state corruption as well as Navalnys arrest. Numerous reports emerged from the demonstrations of police using excessive force, including beatings.

"Time and time again, Russian authorities have suppressed free speech and peaceful protest through police brutality, violence, and mass arrests and January 23 was no exception," Damelya Aitkhozhina, Russia researcher at HRW, said in a statement on January 25.

Aitkhozhina said the Russian authorities "understand their obligations to respect fundamental human rights and choose not just to ignore them but to trample all over them."

Authorities refused to sanction the protests called for by Navalny and his team, often citing restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 60 people, including members of Navalny's team and well-known activists, were detained ahead or on the day of the protest across the country.

Amid strong Western condemnation of the crackdown, Russia accused the United States and its allies of interfering in Russian domestic affairs.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for issuing a routine alert warning people to avoid the demonstrations and a statement denouncing the use of harsh tactics against protesters and journalists.

Continued efforts to suppress Russians rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, the arrest of opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, and the crackdown on protests that followed are troubling indications of further restrictions on civil society and fundamental freedoms, the embassy said.

Peskov called the U.S. statements "inappropriate," adding that "of course indirectly, they are absolutely an interference in our domestic affairs."

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in London accused Western countries of encouraging demonstrations.

"Hypocrites continue to inflate the fake #Navalny case to interfere into internal affairs of our country. This is a professionally prepared provocation, encouraged by embassies of Western countries, including US Embassy in Moscow," it tweeted.

There was no indication that the United States and other countries had any role in the protests.

In an interview broadcast on January 24, Peskov said that if the new administration of President Joe Biden would be open to dialogue, he had no doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin would reciprocate.

With reporting by AFP, Interfax, Financial Times, the BBC, Reuters, and TASS
Sir Patrick Stewart received his COVID-19 vaccine on Friday.

The Star Trek legend, 80, captured the moment he received the jab after waiting in a queue in his car for almost four hours at a drive-through vaccination clinic at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium.

He thanked the medic for 'doing a great job' after receiving the dose, and he encouraged others to get the vaccine as he posted the video to his Twitter account.

Prioritising safety: Sir Patrick Stewart received his Covid vaccine on Friday and he thanked the medic for 'doing a great job' while encouraging others to get the injection

The actor was seen wearing a face mask and a white tee rolled up to expose his arm for the injection.

A health professional, sporting a high-vis jacket and a black face mask, leant through the window of Sir Patrick's car as she seamlessly planted the needle in his arm.

'Thank you so much, you're doing a great job' he said as the medic responded: 'Thank you,' while prompting him to hold a cotton pad over the needle entry point to contain the bleeding.

Sir Patrick continued: 'That's almost four hours we've been queuing.'

'Receive the vaccine as soon as one can': The Star Trek legend, 80, posted the video of his vaccination to his Twitter account after waiting in a queue in his car for almost four hours

'But well worth it,' said his companion from behind the camera.

The Hollywood star advised his 3.6 million Twitter followers to get the vaccine as he wrote in the caption: 'How do we say thank you to the health workers and scientists for their sacrifice and service?

'Receive the vaccine as soon as one can to lessen their load and keep wearing a mask to protect fellow citizens. In my 80th year, I am grateful and hopeful for better days ahead.'

Treatment: A health professional, sporting a high-vis jacket and a black face mask, leant through the window of Sir Patrick's car as she seamlessly planted the needle in his arm

The Covid vaccine is injected into the upper arm and requires two doses. The second vaccine takes place between three to 12 weeks after the first dose.

It is unclear whether Sir Patrick was receiving his first or second injection.

Renowned broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, 94, received the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, earlier this month according to the Sun.

A source said to the newspaper: 'Sir David was always keen to get vaccinated, and support both the current programme and the NHS.

Wow: 'Thank you so much, you're doing a great job' he said as the medic responded: 'Thank you,' while prompting him to hold a cotton pad over the needle entry point to contain the bleeding

'Of course, as well as his family and loved ones, millions of animal fans across the globe will be delighted - this is brilliant news.'

The national treasure, who recently returned to our television screens with a new five-part BBC series of A Perfect Planet, earlier told the Telegraph he was keen to get the jab, saying: 'At 94, I think I'm entitled!'

However, the veteran natural historian previously admitted that the prospect of having a jab made him a little squeamish.

He added: 'I'm sufficient of a scientist still, I hope, to realise this is the thing to do.'

Meanwhile British actor, Brian Blessed OBE, 84, and his wife Hildegarde, were both pictured receiving the vaccine at the start of January.

NHS Surrey Heath CCG posted a picture of the Flash Gordon star with his thumbs up after receiving the Covid jab. It is not clear which make of vaccine he received.

The clinical commissioning group said in their tweet: 'Tonight Brian and Hildegarde Blessed joined the fight against Covid-19.

'After receiving his Covid vaccination, Brian Blessed OBE thanked the NHS for saving his and his wife's life.'
Ukraine and Vietnam will resume work on a free trade area agreement (FTA), Deputy Minister of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka has said.

"We have agreed to resume work on the FTA agreement with Vietnam. Under the best case scenario, this year we will enter a formal negotiation process," he wrote on Facebook on Monday following the first meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission with Vietnam in 2021.

He also said that Ukraine and Vietnam are completing the conclusion of interdepartmental agreements on veterinary medicine and plant quarantine.

"These contracts are at the final stage," Kachka said.

He said that by the end of 2020, the trade turnover between Ukraine and Vietnam grew by 22.5%, to $644.65 million, and Ukraine's export to this country over the past year rose by 92%, to $184.5 million.

"A large share of imports from Vietnam are electronics and mechanical equipment... The lion's share of Ukrainian exports to Vietnam are grains," the trade representative said.

Kachka also said that business surveys show the interest of business in the FTA with this country. As for Vietnam itself, it is interested in industrial and scientific cooperation: from technologies in leather processing, fertilizer production and titanium mining to cooperation in the field of space and aviation. In addition, this is about industrial cooperation and projects for the supply of railway equipment, trucks, compressor equipment, aircraft and aircraft equipment, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 04:44:24|Editor: huaxia

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Riot police arrest one of the protesters during a protest against the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in Tripoli, Lebanon on Jan. 25, 2021. Five protesters and three members of the Internal Security Forces were injured on Monday in Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, when protests triggered clashes. Protesters gathered near the headquarter of Tripoli government to demonstrate against the ongoing lockdown in the country, then started to throw stones at security forces, which caused the injury of three security officers. (Photo by Khaled/Xinhua)

BEIRUT, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Five protesters and three members of the Internal Security Forces were injured on Monday in Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, when protests triggered clashes.

Protesters gathered near the headquarter of Tripoli government to demonstrate against the ongoing lockdown in the country, then started to throw stones at security forces, which caused the injury of three security officers.

The riot police responded by firing tear gas and using batons to disperse the crowd. A dozens of the protesters were arrested on site.

Tripoli witnessed on Monday several protests against the a possible lockdown extension in the country as many people said the strict lockdown measures have crippled the economy and deteriorated their life.

Jalal Salma, one of the protesters, said that they march every day to demonstrate against the city's closure.

"Tripoli is a poor city and most of its residents rely on earning an income from their daily work; depriving people of work means they will likely starve to death," he said.

The Lebanese government has imposed a total lockdown until Feb. 8 to curb the pandemic. Doctors in the country called for an extension of the lockdown as the virus continues to spread quickly.

Lebanon registered on Monday 2,652 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the tally to 282,249. The death toll from the virus went up by 54 to 2,374 in the country, the health ministry reported. Enditem
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of students from Truman State University claimed victory at the Deloitte FanTAXtic national case study competition by presenting the best analysis on a complex, issues-driven business tax case. This year's case challenged teams to advise a new business venture on the best way to acquire the engineering expertise required to develop their product in the midst of the pandemic. Teams had to consider how tax and other business issues could impact the optimal strategy. The national finals were held virtually for the first time, on Jan. 15, 2021.

"Congratulations to all of the students that participated in this year's virtual competition for their creative thinking, collaboration and hard work to solve the complexities of the business case challenge," said Steve Kimble, chairman and CEO, Deloitte Tax LLP. "These students are truly gaining a real-world business experience and I commend them for skillfully addressing tax challenges that professionals are dealing with on a daily basis, especially in this new virtual format."

Competition results

First place team: Truman State University

Second place team: University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Third place team: Syracuse University

The other teams that participated were: DePaul University , Gonzaga University , University of Houston , University of Massachusetts, Amherst , and University of Missouri, Columbia , and North Carolina State University

"The Deloitte FanTAXtic case competition is a valuable opportunity for students to get a glimpse of life as a tax professional and how those professionals work with clients to help achieve their business goals," said Stacey Kaden, Associate Professor and Accounting Department Chair, Truman State University. "Students can improve their teamwork, communication, research, and problem-solving skills while getting to network with Deloitte professionals. We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this competition and Deloitte's sponsorship and commitment of the program."

"The FanTAXtic competition continues to offer students an interactive approach to learning that challenges students to apply the skills they have studied in the classroom to a practical tax issue," said Valerie Dickerson, partner, Deloitte Tax LLP and Deloitte Foundation board member. "I applaud all of the participating students who worked collaboratively  as this year's competition evolved to a virtual environment  to develop high quality, actionable solutions."

Each of the nine teams participating in the national competition won the Deloitte FanTAXtic contest in their respective U.S. regions. Before the final competition, nearly 55 teams representing over 40 colleges and universities participated in regional qualifier events virtually on Oct. 30, 2020.

Sponsored by Deloitte Tax LLP and supported by the Deloitte Foundation, FanTAXtic has engaged nearly 6,250 students since inception in 2002 and is designed to educate and prepare the next generation of tax talent for a career in business and tax. To learn more about Deloitte FanTAXtic, please email [email protected].

About Deloitte Foundation

The Deloitte Foundation, founded in 1928, is a not-for-profit organization that supports education in the U.S. through a variety of initiatives that help develop the next generation of diverse business leaders, and their influencers, and promote excellence in teaching, research and curriculum innovation. The Foundation sponsors an array of national programs relevant to a variety of professional services, benefiting high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and educators. Learn more about the Deloitte Foundation.

About Deloitte

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace  delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Now celebrating 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's more than 330,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com .

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Two of Indias biggest two-wheeler manufacturers, Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto, will up their ante this year with two launches planned every quarter by both companies.

Pune-based Bajaj Auto will launch at least two products every three months starting in the ongoing quarter as it looks to push up its domestic market share.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto, said: We have a nice and active (product) pipeline and within this quarter itself you will see us introducing new products. Almost every quarter there will be1-2 introductions. These will be both new models and upgrades.

While Sharma declined to provide details on product types lined up for launch, sources said Bajaj Auto will build its focus further on the premium segment where it sells the Pulsar, Avenger, Dominar, KTM and Husqvarna range. Bajaj Auto is also the market leader in the premium segment with a share of 38 percent, as of December end.

In response, Hero MotoCorp, Indias largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, has promised to have 10 launches every year for the next five years. Premium motorcycles and scooters will have an overarching share in Heros launches, accounting for about two-thirds of them.

Till date Hero has been criticised for being overdependent on its bread-and-butter, low-power, high-mileage bikes such as the Splendor, Passion and Dawn. The Delhi-based company commands 65 percent of the economy and executive domestic motorcycle segment.

Despite being one of the earliest to enter the premium segment with products such as Karizma and CBZ, Hero failed to attract buyers and build its presence in the premium segment. The companys share in the 150cc-250cc segment stood at 6 percent at the end of December 2020, as per data shared by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Even in the scooter segment, Hero failed to stop a rising TVS Motor Company which now occupies the second spot, behind Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India. Heros share in the scooter segment stood at 10 percent at the end of December 2020, while TVSs share was 21 percent and Hondas was 52 percent.

Other two-wheeler makers are also turning on the heat. Italian premium bike maker Ducati will launch 12 models in 2021 including new models and upgrades. Another Italian brand, Chinese-owned Benelli, intends to launch one new model every month till August.

New Capacity

To support their launch plans for this year and the next few years, both Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto are readying new production capacity.

Bajaj Auto has lined up Rs 650 crore capex to set up a 1-million-unit per annum facility in Chakan, Pune. This new plant, which will produce the KTM, Husqvarna and electric two-wheelers, will take Bajajs production capacity to 2.2 million units per annum.

We are very comfortable as far as capacity is concerned. The issues keep coming in from the vendor side. We have been facing shortages for higher-end bikes and electric. The production capacity of the new Chakan plant is going to be a million units but this is going to be modular, Sharma added.

Hero MotoCorp had earlier announced its intention of investing Rs 10,000 crore over the next few years, including investments on new manufacturing lines. Its current production capacity stands at 11.6 million units per annum.
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Employees pack surgical facemasks at a factory near Changodar, some 20 kms from Ahmedabad, India, on Nov. 8, 2020. (SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Global Foreign Direct Investment Fell 42 Percent in 2020

WASHINGTONForeign direct investment flows worldwide plunged last year due to the pandemic, which caused severe economic disruptions and forced companies to halt or delay investment decisions. United Nations data showed that developed countries including the United States saw the biggest decline in investment flows.

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 42 percent in 2020 to an estimated $859 billion, the lowest level since the 1990s, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The total investment flow last year was more than 30 percent below the trough seen after the 20082009 global financial crisis.

Developed countries accounted for almost 80 percent of the decline, with fund flows plummeting 69 percent. The FDI flows to the United States were halved last year, due to sharp declines in greenfield investment (in which an organization builds its operations from the ground up) as well as cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Investments dropped sharply or dried up in many European countries, including the UK, Italy, Germany, and France.

Global FDI is expected to remain weak in 2021, according to the UNCTAD report.

The effects of the pandemic on investment will linger, James Zhan, director of UNCTADs investment division, stated in a press release. Investors are likely to remain cautious in committing capital to new overseas productive assets.

The data showed that China became the largest recipient of FDI with a 4 percent increase last year, overtaking the United States as the worlds leading destination for investments. China attracted more than $160 billion, followed by the United States with $134 billion.

FDI flows to India rose by 13 percent to $57 billion, buoyed by M&A deals in technology, infrastructure, and energy sectors.

In addition to the health crisis, national security concerns in recent years have prompted tighter rules on foreign acquisitions, reducing FDI in many countries.

The United States has enhanced its investment screening process to tackle national security threats posed by Chinese investments in particular. The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act was passed by the U.S. Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2018. This is seen as one of the main reasons for the sharp drop in Chinese investments over the past few years.

Both developed and emerging countries have introduced measures to boost investment-screening mechanisms, in response to the rise in national security concerns. Countries want to ensure that cutting-edge technologies and know-how remain in domestic hands, as they are key to a nations competitiveness. In addition, theres also an increased crackdown on investments by foreign state-owned enterprises or sovereign wealth funds. All these trends are expected to cut global FDI in the coming years.

The recent health crisis has also served as a wake-up call to governments around the world on the need for self-sufficiency. Many countries have turned their attention to create resilient supply chains in key sectors, including health care, technology, food, energy, and manufacturing.

This push toward producing more goods at home, using domestic companies, will only increase in the next five years over the course of the great shakeout brought about by the pandemic, according to a report by management consulting firm Kearney.

The trend to improve domestic capabilities, which started with the Trump administration, will likely continue under the new administration. President Joe Biden on Jan. 25 signed a Buy American executive order that requires the federal government to purchase U.S.-made goods to boost domestic manufacturing.
POMPANO BEACH, Fla.M.D. Science Lab's Swiss Navy brand has received the 2021 O Award for Outstanding Supplement or Enhancement of the Year for its Sensual Arousal Lubricant.

The 12th annual O Awards took place virtually on Jan. 20 as part of AVN's Adult Novelty Expo, celebrating excellence in the adult novelty market.

Our entire M.D. Science Lab/Swiss Navy family would like to thank the O Awards for this prestigious honor, said Briana Watkins, vice president of sales and marketing. We realize its been a challenging year for us all and we are truly grateful to have our Sensual Arousal Lubricant recognized with this award. We appreciate the team at AVN for helping us get our year started in a wonderful way.

M.D. Science was established in 1998, then launching Swiss Navy in early 1999.

Our M.D. Science Lab family is incredibly thankful for this award," said Ralph Albrecht, M.D. Science Labs CEO. "Its an honor having the O Awards and our industry peers recognize our Swiss Navy Sensual Arousal Lubricant. We always strive to create the best products available and receiving this award means a lot to us all.

For more information, visit swissnavy.com.

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.
A body modification enthusiast has confessed that he now struggles to speak after having his nose and top lip removed in his latest shocking transformation.

Anthony Loffredo, 32, has already covered his body - including his eyeballs - in tattoos and had his tongue split in his bid to look like a 'black alien,' The Mirror reported.

The Frenchman, who documents his dramatic physical alterations for his 227,000 followers on Instagram, said he had had his nose removed in Spain as the procedure is illegal in France.

Other than piercing and tattooing, body modifications that result in injury are illegal in many European countries.

As such, Loffredo did not specify exactly where, when or by whom his nose and upper lip were removed, when speaking about the procedures in an Instagram live question and answer session.

A body modification enthusiast has confessed that he now struggles to speak after having his nose and top lip removed in his latest shocking transformation. Anthony Loffredo, 32, has already covered his body - including his eyeballs - in tattoos and had his tongue split in his bid to look like a 'black alien'

In a previous Instagram post discussing his nose removal, Loffredo thanked an account called @oscarmarquezbodymod for having 'marked' his life.

He wrote: 'Now I can walk with my head high thanks to you I am proud of what we did together.'

Loffredo did admit in the recent Instagram Q&A to struggling to speak since the removal of his top lip but this does not seem to have dampened his enthusiasm for body modification.

The Frenchman, who documents his dramatic physical alterations for his 227,000 followers on Instagram, said he had had his nose removed in Spain as the procedure is illegal in France. Other than piercing and tattooing, body modifications that result in injury are illegal in many European countries

He said he dreamed of removing his skin entirely and replacing it with metal and listed his arms, legs and fingers, along with the back of his head, as the next parts of his body he wants to have modified.

Speaking to French newspaper Midi Libre in 2017, Loffredo said he had been 'passionate about mutations and transformations of the human body' from a young age.

When he was working as a security guard in his twenties, he realised he was not living in the way that he wanted to.

Loffredo pictured before he began his dramatic 'black alien' body modification project

'I stopped everything at 24 and left for Australia', Loffredo, who according to his Instagram is now based in Montpellier, France, told the paper.

'It has become normal, even unconscious, to constantly think about my plans [for body modification] for the next few months,' The Mirror reported Loffredo as saying.

The striking-looking individual said he loved 'getting into the shoes of a scary character'.

'I often settle down somewhere and play a role, especially at night in the dark streets,' he said.

'I explore the contrast between the role I play and myself.'
The New Jersey City Universitys Center for Music, Dance and Theater and Guarini Performing Arts Center projects are $1 million closer to becoming reality.

Real estate developer Robert M. Kaye has donated $1 million toward the projects, which are seen as the pillars of the $400 million University Place, a redevelopment of the schools West Campus, NJCU President Sue Henderson announced. The gift is among the largest in the universitys history and is the second lead gift in NJCUs campaign for the performing arts projects.

Plans for the Center for Music Dance and Theater (CMDT) include a performing arts center and world-class, 25,437 square-foot theatrical showplace, highlighted by a 492-seat theater and a 100-seat recital hall.

It is my great honor to make this gift to New Jersey City University, said Kaye, founder, chairman, and CEO of The PRC Group of Companies, based in Red Bank. As a supporter of the arts, I look forward to the opening of the Center for Music, Dance and Theater and its performing arts center and how it will further revitalize Jersey Citys West Side.

The centers recital hall will be named the Robert M. Kaye Recital Hall. In May 2020, NJCU received the largest gift in its history  $10 million  from former Rep. Frank J. Guarini and the university said previously it will name the performing arts center as The Guarini Performing Arts Center.

Kayes PRC Group has previously worked with the NJCU Foundation for the development of its Fort Monmouth facility and CityLine West in a key public-private partnership in NJCUs University Place development.

He is recognized industry-wide for his leadership and entrepreneurial vision. He began his career in 1960 as a property manager, and gradually grew his young company into one of the most diversified and respected real estate entities in the Tri-State area. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Mr. Kaye is a licensed real estate broker and a certified property manager (CPM). He currently chairs legislative committees for community reinvestment as well as several philanthropic organizations.

I am so grateful to Bob Kaye for his thoughtful gift in support of our performing arts center, NJCU President Sue Henderson said. The naming of the recital hall in his honor is so fitting and is a testament to his lifes work and his remarkable generosity. In many ways, his lifes work is emblematic of our entire university community. He started from very modest means, developing one building at a time, and in time, created an amazing company.

Plans for the center have led to a partnership between NJCU and the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet School, which will move its operations from New York City to NJCU and, in partnership with the university, will offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, and a Joffrey certificate.

The plans for the Guarini Performing Arts Center include an orchestra pit and fly stage, two large dance studios for both rehearsal and performances with exterior glass walls looking out to a large public plaza, performers dressing rooms, scenery fabrication shop and storage, grand lobby and special event space.
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A recent research report added by Decisiondatabases on the Ultrasonic Skin Infusers Market provides a comprehensive view of this business sector by giving a detailed description of the global market shares, regional & country-level market size, growth, trends, and forecast analysis. This report also focuses on value chain optimization, recent developments, opportunities analysis, and industrial sector expansion.

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The global Ultrasonic Skin Infusers market report presents a complete research-based study of the industry including details such as company shares, forecast data, in-depth analysis and an outlook of the market on a worldwide platform. The report further highlights the market drivers, restraints and the top manufacturers at the global and regional levels. For a thorough understanding, the report also offers market segmentation and regional analysis for the forecast period from 2020 to 2025.

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According to this study, over the next five years, the Ultrasonic Skin Infusers market will register an xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach $ xx million by 2025, from $ xx million in 2020. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in the Ultrasonic Skin Infusers business, shared in Chapter 3.

This Ultrasonic Skin Infusers market report also splits the market by regions: Americas (United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil), APAC (China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Australia), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain), Middle East & Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, GCC Countries).

This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of the Ultrasonic Skin Infusers market by type, application, key manufacturers, key regions, and countries.

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To understand the structure of the Ultrasonic Skin Infusers market by identifying its various subsegments.

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Outdoor dining will soon be available again in San Francisco and is already starting in most of the Bay Area. Restaurants in nearly all Bay Area counties  Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin counties  can restart immediately, the counties announced. San Francisco restaurants can start offering outdoor dining on Thursday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the statewide stay-at-home order on Monday, Jan. 25, which means counties will return to the colored tier system that existed before Decembers order. A statement from the California Department of Public Health said that activities such as outdoor dining may resume immediately with required modifications, subject to any additional restrictions required by local jurisdictions.

All Bay Area counties are in the purple tier, though individual counties may implement stricter rules as they have in the past. Though purple is the most restrictive among the colored tiers, it allows restaurants, bars and breweries with meal service to open for outdoor dining. Wineries can also reopen for outdoor service under state rules.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced on Monday afternoon that restaurants in the city could restart their on-site, outdoor operations on Thursday, January 28. Tables are limited to six people from up to two households, and restaurants are required to be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Its cautiously good news, said Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, a local business group.

Whether restaurants are prepared to reopen outdoor immediately is another question. Many businesses went into hibernation mode over the winter instead of staying open for takeout and delivery, and it could take a week to rehire staff and do other preparation to reopen, Thomas said. Weather, too, is a factor. Rainy, windy forecasts may mean that some restaurants will opt to hold out a while before setting out tables again, Thomas added.

Dustin Sullivan, whose online petition to bring back outdoor dining drew more than 5,000 signatures, didnt expect the end of the stay-at-home order to come for another two or three weeks. So hes not ready to reopen his Kentfield restaurant, Guesthouse, for outdoor dining yet. In addition to bringing back employees, he wants to expand the restaurants limited menu, restock inventory, reorganize the kitchen and do a deep clean of the outdoor patio.

Theres so much work that has to be done to pivot back. It takes so much time and it steals so much money every time, he said, frustrated that Newsom didnt give the public more of a warning. If there was any desire to communicate  even estimations  itd be such a huge help for businesses like ours to have a general time frame.

Still, many restaurants have said they need the outdoor dining option to stay open and will likely restart service in earnest by Valentines Day if they can. A slew of businesses have sued the state over the ban on outdoor dining, arguing that the rules are unfair. A growing number of other restaurants have simply flouted the rules, serving people for on-site service despite warnings from health departments.

Cynthia Ariosta of St. Helenas Pizzeria Tra Vigne said she was shocked but excited to hear the news, and immediately started calling furloughed employees to prepare to reopen Monday. Ariosta was one of the founding members of the Wine Country Coalition for Safe Reopening, a group of more than 50 Napa and Sonoma business owners who sued Newsom in the hopes of overturning the outdoor dining ban.

This is what we wanted: We wanted to get our employees back to work and move forward, she said.

Ariosta is speaking to the coalitions legal team later on Monday to discuss possible next steps.

We have to make sure this doesnt happen to us again, she said. We cant continue to ride this roller coaster of shutdowns anymore.

At Sausalitos Fish restaurant, which has a large outdoor patio looking out at the bay, executive chef Douglas Bernstein opened for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Monday right after Marin County announced restaurants could do so, even though they didnt have a dishwasher or bussers scheduled. It went surprisingly well, he said.

Its so cool and windy we werent expecting to be as busy as we were, he said. People were excited to sit outside even in the cold.

Some Bay Area restaurant owners, however, dont think its safe yet to reopen for outdoor dining. Yuka Ioroi temporarily closed her Outer Richmond restaurant, Cassava, in early January because of soaring coronavirus cases and concerns about more contagious variants spreading around the world. She pointed to Californias slow vaccine rollout and lack of new guidance around masks. Multiple European countries now ban the use of cloth masks, requiring everyone to wear medical-grade masks instead. In the U.S. public health officials have begun recommending people wear two masks  yet some diners still refuse to wear any kind of mask.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

This is not the time, she said.

Ioroi plans to open Cassava again in February for takeout only, with no timeline to serve on the restaurants parklet again.

Theres also no guarantee that outdoor dining will stay for good until vaccinations are more widespread. Once dining returns, behavior such as wearing masks when servers approach will still be important, Thomas implored.

We all have to continue to be vigilant unfortunately and see what we can do, Thomas said.

Breed celebrated the development as a sign of hope but warned that more needs to be done.

We want to continue to make sure that we are being very careful because we dont want to go backwards, she said.

Tara Duggan contributed reporting.

This story is developing and will be updated with new details. A previous version misspelled Yuka Iorois name.

Serena Dai is a San Francisco Chronicle senior features editor. Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: serena.dai@sfchronicle.com, janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com

STORY LINK Pound to Japanese Yen Exchange Rate Steady on Hopes for Japanese Economic Recovery

GBP/JPY Exchange Rate Rangebound as Outlook Improves for Japanese Economy

Pound Steady as UK Prime Minister Hints at Easing Lockdowns in February

We have to realise there is at least the theoretical risk of a new variant that is a vaccine-busting variant coming in, weve got to be able to keep that under control.

GBP/JPY Outlook: Could an Improving Outlook for the Japanese Economy Boost the Yen?

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The Pound to Japanese Yen exchange rate held steady today, with the pairing currently fluctuating around 142.000.The Japanese Yen benefited from news that Japans economy could recover to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic as early as this March.Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda explains:Both fiscal and monetary policies have been successful in preventing corporate failures and unemployment.We expect, probably by the end of fiscal 2021 or early fiscal 2022, that Japan's economy would recover and come back to levels before the pandemic started.As a result, Japanese Yen investors are now more confident that Japan  the third-largest economy  could begin recover in the next few months.Today also saw reports that Japan could hit Covid-19 herd immunity as early as October this year.Analysts at Reuters said:Japan is likely to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19 through mass inoculations only months after the planned Tokyo Olympics, even though it has locked in the biggest quantity of vaccines in Asia.That would be a blow to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga who has pledged to have enough shots for the populace by the middle of 2021, as it trails most major economies in starting COVID-19 inoculations.Sterling held steady against the Japanese Yen despite promising comments from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said Downing Street would be looking at the potential of relaxing some lockdown measures in February.As a result, GBP investors are becoming more hopeful that the UK economy could begin to take steps toward reopening its economy after mid-February.However, Mr Johnson also warned:Meanwhile, GBP traders will be awaiting todays speech from Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England (BoE).Any downbeat comments about the future of the British economy, however, would be GBP-negative.Pound traders will be eyeing tomorrows release of Novembers UK ILO Unemployment Rate data.Any signs that the UKs labour sector is suffering from rising joblessness would be GBP-negative.However, UK markets will continue to monitor the UKs Covid-19 situation.If Downing Street looks set to meet its vaccination targets on 15th February, we will see Sterling rise.However, any indications that Downing Street could extend lockdowns further would drag down the GBP/JPY exchange rate.Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen will continue to be driven by Japanese economic news.If it looks like the Japanese economy could begin to recover in March, as reports suggest, then the JPY/GBP exchange rate could head higher.

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AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cosential, the leading project-based CRM platform for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries, has been recognized as the market leader once again by JBKnowledge. In its 9th Annual Construction Technology Report, the esteemed firm singled out Cosential as having the largest CRM market-share of any other software provider in the industry. This is the fourth year in a row Cosential has been named the leader, and its share has grown, demonstrating the value the software delivers.

Cosential has remained the CRM market-share leader through consistently delivering on specific customer needs. As an example, mobile integration was considered important or very important by 89% of respondents in the JBKnowledge report. Cosential recently launched Cosential for Mobile which enables business developers to access and manage their contacts from anywhere.

"We're grateful to our customers who have shared their experiences with us candidly and enabled us to tailor our solutions to meet their ever-evolving needs," said Akshay Mahajan, general manager of Cosential. "Because of this, we understand the AEC market better than any other CRM provider, and the challenges faced by business development teams who are often in multiple roles. Our goal has always been to simplify and improve the selling process for these busy, multi-tasking AEC professionals."

Cosential is poised to continue innovating new efficiencies for AEC customers since it joined forces with Unanet, the leading ERP provider for the AEC market. Together, Unanet and Cosential are uniquely positioned to integrate, streamline and provide value for these businesses.

To view the 9th Annual Construction Technology Report in its entirety, please click here. To learn more about Cosential's AEC CRM, please visit www.cosential.com.

About Cosential

The industry continues to see upward motions of digital transformations and Cosential has been leading the charge in that movement by being the only growth platform that goes beyond a CRM in owning the pre-sales process for market leaders winning business in the AEC industry.

Cosential has spent the last 20+ years tailoring their platform's robust CRM, and powerful proposal generation features to the construction and related industries- empowering Business Developers, Marketers, Executives, and select Project Teams to own, enrich, and leverage their firm-owned data.

SOURCE Cosential


PHOENIX, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Assisted Living Locators (ALL), a nationwide senior placement and referral service, is launching a card campaign, "Sending ALL Our Love To Seniors This Valentine's Day," collecting cards of love to make seniors feel special this Valentine's Day! Assisted Living Locators' 140 franchise locations are distributing the cards to residents at assisted living and skilled nursing communities throughout the U.S.

"Let's ALL get creative with handcrafted valentines and uplift our seniors during this ongoing pandemic," said Angela Olea, Assisted Living Locators CEO RN. "We're on a mission to make sure seniors, our most vulnerable population, are loved this Valentine's Day. We ask the community's help, from adults to young children, to participate in this card campaign and brighten a senior's day."

Participants can mail the cards to their local Assisted Living Locators office. To find out a local care advisor near you, call 1-877-226-7780 or enter your zipcode on the website, www.assistedlivinglocators.com.

Follow these simple guidelines:

Please WASH YOUR HANDS before writing cards and do not seal envelopes.

On front of envelope: To Someone Special

To Someone Special To sign the card for children: Name and age or grade

Name and age or grade To sign the card as an adult: Name and hometown

Name and hometown Include a Return Address on the envelope, if you wish, so seniors can write back.

Keep messages positive. ("You are being thought of today." "Hope this card makes you feel special today.")

"We all remember the warm glow a Valentine's Day card can bring," said Olea. "This campaign will most certainly lift the spirits of the seniors we serve."

Olea added that if you're a caregiver of a senior that is struggling with loneliness at home, now is the time to consider transitioning to an assisted living community. "Not only are residents and staff prioritized to receive the first round of coronavirus vaccine, but assisted living communities remain a safe and viable way to combat the isolation and loneliness that result from sheltering in place during the pandemic," she explained. "These communities offer technology connection options for families during social distancing, daily exercise, social activity, and a clean, safe environment."

For more information on Assisted Living Locators free senior placement and referral service or the "Sending ALL Our Love To Seniors This Valentine's Day" card campaign, visit www.assistedlivinglocators.com.

SOURCE Assisted Living Locators

Related Links

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The ABC has amended an online article after Communications Minister Paul Fletcher criticised a headline.

The article listed both celebratory and protest events being held on January 26.

The headline Australia Day / Invasion Day 2021 events for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin was amended to Australia Day is a contentious day for many. Here are the events being held on January 26.

Paul Fletcher said in a statement the ABC got this one wrong.

The name of our national day is well understood and supported, and for the ABC to suggest otherwise  that in some way Invasion Day is interchangeable with Australia Day  is clearly wrong, he said.

The name of Australia Day is reflected in legislation across Australia. More important, it is reflected in the usage of the overwhelming majority of Australians.

While the ABC has editorial independence, and I do not control what it says, I call on the ABC to correct this inaccurate article.

In a lengthy statement ABC said the default terminology for the ABC remains Australia Day.

We also recognise and respect that community members use other terms for the event, including 26 January, Invasion Day and Survival Day, so our reporting and coverage reflect that, it said in a statement.

In light of some misreporting on this issue, to be abundantly clear: The ABCs policy is to use the term Australia Day, as it always has. As the editorial advice states, other terms can be used when they are appropriate in certain contexts. This does not mean they are used interchangeably.

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Biden vows to codify Roe v. Wade on 48th anniversary of abortion ruling

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While more than 62 million lives have been lost to abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Biden administration announced on the judgments 48th anniversary Friday that it will back abortion with a codified federal law in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the ruling.

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to codifying Roe v. Wade and appointing judges that respect foundational precedents like Roe, the White House said in a statement Friday, the day after National Right to Life Committee said in its annual report that the total number of abortions since 1973 had exceeded 62 million.

In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack, added Biden in the White House statement. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care  including reproductive health care  regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reacted to Bidens support of abortion.

We strongly urge the president to reject abortion and promote life-affirming aid to women and communities in need, the U.S. bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities head Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, said, according to Catholic News Agency.

It is deeply disturbing and tragic that any president would praise and commit to codifying a Supreme Court ruling that denies unborn children their most basic human and civil right, the right to life under the euphemistic disguise of a health service, he said.

March for Life President Jeanne Mancini also responded. Abortion isnt healthcare, she tweeted. It is heartbreaking but not surprising that on the day we commemorate the loss of 60+ million Americans to abortion the new administration is already aggressively leaning into abortion extremism.

The Trump administration enacted many pro-life policies, including reinstituting and expanding the Mexico City Policy and implementing the Protect Life Rule, and was praised for nominating three judges to the Supreme Court.

However, on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Biden will be rescinding his predecessor's pro-life policies.

Fauci told board members of the World Health Organization that the administration will repeal the Mexico City Policy in the coming days.

It will be our policy to support womens and girls sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in the United States, as well as globally, Fauci said. To that end, President Biden will be revoking the Mexico City Policy in the coming days, as part of his broader commitment to protect womens health and advance gender equality at home and around the world, he added.

In response to the National Right to Life Committee's release of its annual report, The State of Abortion in the United States, President Carol Tobias said: The tragic legacy of Roe is more than 62 million lives lost to abortion. Every unborn child should be welcomed in life and protected in law. No mother should ever feel like abortion is her only option and no unborn child should ever be considered expendable.
A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday set a $550,000 bond for a Metairie man accused of impregnating an 11-year-old girl after repeatedly raping her.

Cleto Montoya Rodas, 41, has denied vaginally raping the girl but admitted to sexually abusing her with his mouth and hands -- including inappropriate contact in the parking lot of a Walmart at 8912 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Tonia William said during a bond hearing in Magistrate Court.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Montoya Jan. 19 and booked him with first-degree rape and sexual battery, said Capt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for the department.

The assaults were reported to investigators after the girl took a pregnancy test that was positive, authorities said.

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The girl's mother confronted Montoya, who is known to the victim's family, and he admitted to the inappropriate contact with the girl, Williams said.

+2 87-year-old Metairie woman in critical condition after son beats her with dumbbell, JPSO says An 87-year-old woman is in critical condition after authorities say her son beat her with a dumbbell Saturday night in Metairie.

But the victim told investigators Montoya raped her multiple times in December, authorities said.

Criminal Commissioner Paul Schneider set Montoya's bond at $550,000. Schneider also issued an order of protection barring him from contact with the victim until the case is adjudicated.

Montoya was being held Sunday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna.
Hong Kong, Jan 25 : Hong Kong has lifted restrictions from a coronavirus-stricken area in the Kowloon Peninsula after the mandatory Covid-19 screening for its residents was completed.

The Hong Kong Special government said in a statement that the seal was lifted from the area on Sunday midnight, Xinhua news agency.

Out of about 7,000 people who were tested, 13 were found to be infected by the virus.

The infected patients and their close contacts were sent to hospitals or quarantine centres.

The restrictions were imposed due to a severe outbreak in the district, with 162 confirmed cases, involving 56 buildings, were reported from January 1 to 20.

The government said it hopes the temporary inconvenience will cut the transmission chains in the district so that social and business activities in the area will be able to resume and lives will return to normal.

More than 3,000 government personnel were mobilised and 51 swab collection stations were set up for the operation.

The government strived to guarantee the daily necessities of local people, providing food packs, face masks and cleaning tools.

Some 50 working staff who can speak Nepali, Urdu and Hindi were also dispatched to assist ethnic minorities to take the tests.

Hong Kong has 10,009 confirmed coronavirus cases and 168 deaths.
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CannabizTeam , the world's largest cannabis-focused executive search and staffing firm, has launched a new service line for cannabis companies: CT Board Placement . CT Board Placement assists cannabis industry clients in identifying and recruiting candidates for Board of Director positions who have a diverse blend of skills and experience that match the strategic direction of each client.

"Appointing the right non-executive directors is a critically important decision for all cannabis companies in today's competitive marketplace," said Liesl Bernard, CEO of CannabizTeam. "Recruiting directors in the cannabis space is a more complex process due to the relative youth of the industry and the lingering legacy legal nuances. Our goal with CT Board Placement is to help our clients find a diverse blend of candidates with relevant experience, strong character and reputation, proven judgment and leadership skills that will set them up for future success."

Board of Director diversity reflects one of the core values of CT Board Placement, which is especially relevant as the cannabis industry has continued to lead corporate America in social equity and corporate social responsibility programs. CannabizTeam is committed to promoting fairness, justice and equity in the cannabis industry, and will work to fill Board of Director positions with individuals of all genders, religions and races.

CT Board Placement will also offer a Cannabis Director Development Program to help first-time directors learn the culture and nuances of the company they will serve as well as the broader cannabis industry. The Cannabis Director Development Program includes a detailed curriculum exploring the most relevant governance issues in North America, with a special focus on issues facing boards in the U.S., Canadian and Mexican cannabis markets.

CT Board Placement is a division of CannabizTeam Worldwide, which also operates CT Executive Search, CannabizTeam Direct Hire and CannabizTemp. Through its four staffing divisions, CannabizTeam fills more than 1,000 cannabis positions each year in all verticals of the industry across the globe. CannabizTeam's proprietary database includes more than 100,000 successful executives with experience in and beyond the cannabis industry  an excellent resource for cannabis companies searching to fill Board of Director positions.

To learn more about CT Board Placement, visit: https://cannabizteam.com/cannabis-board-of-directors-recruitment/ .

About CannabizTeam

CannabizTeam is the world's largest cannabis-focused executive search and staffing firm providing services for the top cannabis, CBD and hemp businesses in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Founded in 2016 by internationally acclaimed executive recruiter Liesl Bernard, CannabizTeam identifies and delivers superior talent that possesses the drive, skills and cultural fit unique to each client and company role. Headquartered in San Diego, CannabizTeam now has offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Orlando and Santa Rosa, with a Newark location coming soon. Through extensive global reach and unparalleled business relationships, CannabizTeam and its four staffing divisions (CT Executive Search, CannabizTeam Direct Hire, CannabizTemp and CT Board Placement) place over 1,000 candidates a year for clients. Sign up for the CannabizTeam newsletter to receive weekly updates on the top candidates in cannabis: www.cannabizteam.com .

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If you thought Fox News would dial down the highly charged rhetoric after Donald Trump left office, you'd be mistaken. It is not slowing down when it comes to bashing President Joe Biden.

The network, which has long attacked Democrats, has noticeably ramped up the war of words about Biden since Inauguration Day.

"These channels are more anti-Democrat than they are pro-Trump," said CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter on "Reliable Sources" Sunday. "The Biden bashing has been turned up to 11 ... and 12 and 13."

In addition to calling Biden weak, frail, senile and a radical, conservative media outlets, including Fox News, OAN and Newsmax, cynically argue that the mainstream media has been fawning over Biden, failing to cover him critically.

"Every hour, every day, that's the narrative," Stelter said. "And it's going to be like this for the next four years."

Conservative media had been pushing lies about the election for months, amplifying false information about election fraud, telling viewers the election was rigged and how Biden didn't rightfully win the presidency. Biden, in his inaugural address, plead with those outlets to take down the temperature and tell their viewers the truth: "We must reject the culture where facts themselves are manipulated  and even manufactured," he said.

Stelter argued that's an impossible task.

"Biden can talk about politics not needing to be a raging fire," said Stelter. "But it is. It was yesterday, it is today and will be tomorrow on these shows that millions of people watch."

That's not about to change, said Stuart Stevens, former top strategist for Mitt Romney and current senior advisor to the Lincoln Project on "Reliable Sources."

"Fox exists as an organ of the Republican Party," Stevens said. Now it's up to the "responsible people in the Republican Party" to speak the truth, he said.

While news networks including CNN, MSNBC, ABC and CBS reported on Biden's Inauguration Day Wednesday evening, Fox News hosts focused on Hunter Biden's laptop and mocked the president, calling him "weak."

That's why Australia's Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News Corp -- the parent company for outlets including Fox News and the New York Post -- is "the most dangerous immigrant in America," Stevens said.

He said that Murdoch is "a classic example of somebody who never assimilated American values."

Stevens said Fox and similar outlets have created a new identity for the Republican party: victimhood. He called it a "pathetic way to look at your role in the world and America's role in the world."

"When Ronald Reagan was president, to be born in America was to win life's lottery," he said. "Now, if you're a Republican, if you're a Trump voter, to be born an American is: you're a victim, you're a sucker."
The construction of a temporary memorial synagogue in Babyn Yar on the site of the Kyrylivsky Orthodox cemetery is another attempt by Russia to provoke a conflict between national minorities in Ukraine.

"We are dealing with a collision of not just two projects, albeit very large ones. We are dealing today with two conceptual different approaches. One Ukrainian approach is a derivative of Ukrainian culture [...] The Ukrainian view of history, both our own and that which was around Ukraine. The second approach of the Russian project, which does not pay attention to such 'trifles' as the traditions of different peoples [...] which goes very brutally towards its goal, and only confirms my idea that this is a 'Trojan horse' which [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is putting under Ukraine," co-chairman of the Vaad Association of Jewish Communities and Organizations of Ukraine Yosyf Zisels at a press briefing in honor of the 81st anniversary of Holocaust victims on Monday.

In particular, this about a project to construct a temporary memorial synagogue on the territory of the Babyn Yar National Historical Memorial Preserve with the support of Russian-Ukrainian businessmen Pavlo Fuks and Mykhailo Fridman, namely, on the territory of the former Kyrylivsky Orthodox cemetery, located behind the Menorah memorial.

At the same time, Oleksandr Lysenko, professor and deputy head of the working group on the creation of the Ukrainian concept for the comprehensive memorialization of Babyn Yar, noted the foundations of the Ukrainian concept of the Babyn Yar museum.

"The controlling stake in the memorialization of Babyn Yar should not belong to public associations or political players, but to the state of Ukraine. The memorialization of this place should be inclusive, contribute to the end of the wars of memory and the consolidation of the Ukrainian political nation, which does not mean diminishing the tragedy of the Holocaust. Capital structures can be built on the territory of the memorial," Lysenko said.

The professor also noted the ancient Jewish tradition, according to which construction in tragic burial places is prohibited.

"The concept of the memorial museum of Babyn Yar was finished at the beginning of 2018, and was supported by the museum council of the Culture Ministry of Ukraine on February 9, 2018, and approved by the academic council of the Institute of History on May 3, 2018. Work has also started on the preparation of the construction of a Jewish cemetery office, the only one where to make a temporary exposition of the Babyn Yar museum, and we were attached to this particular building. There are few opportunities [...] We cannot go over a meter out of respect for ancient Jewish traditions. And probably Orthodox traditions also prohibit construction in such tragic burial places," Lysenko said.

When asked by journalists about whether there is a scheme for selecting the project of the memorial complex, experts noted that at this stage such a scheme does not exist.

"Unfortunately, there is no concept for selecting projects for the memorial. We hope that by presenting the state concept that the working group has implemented, the government will pay attention to this, and we will conduct a dialogue on this very plane," Lysenko said.

Completed: The Glenheron development in Greystones, Co Wicklow by Cairn Homes

Listed housebuilder Cairn Homes has sold an 11.5 acre site in Greystones, Co Wicklow to the Department of Education.

The sale price was not disclosed.

The site is adjacent to Carins completed Glenheron residential development and the sale is subject to receipt of planning permission for a secondary school, which will be designed by Cairn.

The school is expected to comprise of 10,000 sq m of gross internal floor area, including 50 classrooms, a 1,000 sq m PE hall and gym and six outdoor hard court play areas.

The new secondary school will have the capacity to accommodate up to 1,000 students.

Once completed, this will be the fifth school built on Cairn sites in recent years.

The company has also identified up to six other sites in its landbank, which it feels are suitable for primary and secondary schools.

Meanwhile, Hawkins Wood, which is the next phase of Cairns development in Greystones, started construction in November 2020.

That scheme will be made up of 184 new houses and Cairn expects to launch the initial phase of these homes for sale during this year.

Earlier this month, Cairn sold 150 homes in Lucan, Co Dublin to Irish investment management firm Carysfort Capital and Wall Street financial giant Angelo Gordon for 48.6m.

This works out at 324,000 per unit for the mix of apartments and duplexes at the Shackleton Park development in Lucan.

The homes, which have yet to be completed, will be rented out once finished.

Cairn, headed by Michael Stanley, said earlier this month it expects to report operating profit of around 24m for 2020, down from 68m in 2019.

The company closed 743 new homes sales last year, including 536 closings in the second half of 2020.

It generated total revenues of around 260m in what the company said was a stop-start year.

Shares in Cairn were trading at 99c yesterday afternoon, down just under 2pc on Euronext Dublin.
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The Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office has put 17 Armenian mercenaries on the wanted fugitives list.

The statement was made at an expanded videoconference meeting of the General Prosecutor's Office with the participation of representatives of its Central Office, the management of the countrys Military Prosecutor's Office, the Prosecutor's Office, and the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as the Baku City Prosecutor's Office.

The meeting was dedicated to the work conducted in 2020 and the further challenges.

While speaking at the meeting, Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev said that the Prosecutor's Office has successfully fulfilled the duties assigned to it within its powers.

The prosecution bodies carried out the necessary investigative measures on each fact of crimes committed by illegal Armenian groups filed criminal cases upon the relevant articles of the Criminal Code in connection with the facts of Armenia's missile strikes on the Azerbaijani cities and villages, infrastructure facilities that were committed in gross violation of the rules of war, enshrined in international conventions, including on the facts of the use of prohibited ammunition, the murder of civilians.

Intensive investigative measures were taken.

The General Prosecutor's Office has filed 62 criminal cases since September 27, 2020, in connection with Armenias aggressive war and other crimes committed during the war.

Some 17 mercenaries from the Armenian side and four citizens of the Republic of Armenia have declared wanted. In total, 21 people were brought to the investigation as accused and put on the wanted fugitives list.
A pregnant Victorian woman accused of inciting others to protest against the coronavirus lockdown could finalise her case next month because she is stressed at facing a criminal charge while waiting to give birth.

Zoe Buhler was arrested at her Ballarat home on September 2 last year. Police allege she had incited others to breach the states public health laws by calling on social media for people to attend a freedom day protest, which was held three days later. Victoria was in lockdown at the time.

Zoe Buhler is charged with incitement. Credit:Nine News

Ms Buhlers arrest, in which she was handcuffed while in her pyjamas while at home with her partner and two young children, sparked concern among lawyers and civil liberty groups that the actions of police were heavy-handed.

Police command was satisfied that the way officers treated Ms Buhler was appropriate.
Nearly 140 Neglected Dogs Rescued From Residential Property, Given Second Chance at Life

Almost a year after a large-scale dog-hoarding intervention that shocked the animal rescuers to the core, the once-neglected dogs are now enjoying their second chance at life.

The rescued pups were put up for adoption into new forever homes; one has even been reunited with his original family, the Humane Society of the United States told The Epoch Times via email.

Laura Koivula, the manager of animal crimes for the Humane Society, said that when their staff and Floridas Dixie County Sheriffs Department visited a 5-acre residential property near Old Town on Feb. 25 last year, they encountered a horrific sight: approximately 140 caged dogs in a state of neglect, many without food or water.

The Humane Society assisted the Dixie County Sheriffs Office in rescuing nearly 140 dogs from a residential property near Old Town, Florida, on Feb. 25, 2020. (Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS)

Koivula said the team was struck by how tragic the scene was.

The rain really underscored how bleak an existence these dogs were living, she said.

Many of the dogs were living in filthy hutches which were caked with feces and leaking from the heavy rain.

Some of the dogs had missing fur, sores, and itchy skin. In spite of this, many of the dogs were eager for attention from the responders.

One room contained approximately 20 dogs (Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS)

A lot of the cages, enclosures, were wired shut, the Humane Societys Kiersten Anderson said in video shot during the rescue, so, we were wondering when the last time they had been out.

The team also found numerous skulls of deceased animals in a shallow trench among trees on the same property.

It took most of the day to remove the dogs from the property, Koivula told The Epoch Times. Working late into the night, the team ensured all dogs were settled into comfortable Humane Society partner shelters before thorough veterinary exams commenced the following day.

(Video by The HSUS)

The sheriffs department first caught wind of the case when a Dixie County residents dog went missing in January last year. A local offered a tip about the dogs possible whereabouts in response to a social media post, WCJB reported. When deputies arrived at the Old Town property, one of the suspects drove up with the missing dog in their vehicle.

Thats when deputies launched an investigation, inviting the Humane Society to attend a property inspection. Five suspects were arrested and held in jail on a $145,000 bond each, on 145 charges of animal cruelty, according to WCJB.

All but three of the dogs on the property were surrendered to the Humane Society, which, in collaboration with the sheriffs department, planned to rescue the remaining dogs inside the dilapidated home and trailer.

A Humane Society team member carries a dog for her first veterinary inspection (Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS)

After a couple of weeks of receiving expert care and TLC from our team, the animals were transported to rescue partners for placement, Koivula told The Epoch Times.

Its apparent that these dogs were suffering from severe neglect. We often cant be certain how the animals came to be in a neglect situation.

Koivula said the dogs were transferred to several shelter partners and absorbed into their populations for adoption, so the Humane Society does not know for sure exactly how many have been adopted.

As they were transferred to rescue and shelter partners back in March [last year], said Koivula, we have every reason to believe that many of them have been adopted by now and are well on their way to settling into their new lives!

The Humane Societys Laura Koivula comforts dogs upon releasing them from a filthy trailer (Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS)

All rescued dogs details were compared to Dixie Countys lost and stolen dogs reports at the time of the intervention, in hopes of reuniting some of the pups with their original owners. For one lucky pup, it worked.

A dog named Junior, previously presumed lost or stolen, was happily reunified with his family.

After being rescued, Junior shares a happy reunion with his original family. (Photo by Morgan Rivera/The HSUS)

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired Newsletter here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/newsletter
Relations between the United States and Iran are in a period of opportunity following the inauguration of President Joe Biden, the top US military commander in the Middle East said during his first swing into the region under the new administration, Defense One reported.

US Central Commands Gen. Frank McKenzie confirmed that there were heightened threat streams from Iran during the months leading up to Bidens election and inauguration, but said that the United States was able to maintain what he has long termed a contested deterrence during what has become increasingly clear was an unnerving and unpredictable moment.

Our goal was to deter a war, McKenzie told reporters traveling with him to the region.

Not only did Iran not strike any US targets directly, as some security and military analysts had worried it might do in the waning days of former President Donald Trumps tenure, but Iran was also largely able to manage its proxy actors in Iraq and elsewhere in the region, McKenzie said. Not all of those groups operate under direct command and control from Tehran.

Largely they have been able to tell them this is not the time to provoke a war, he said. Not all of that is probably the result of the military component. Im sure theres a political calculation in Iran to get to a new administration and see if things change.

Now, McKenzie said, You have a new administration thats going to revisit U.S. policy.

McKenzie enters the region in a moment of transition for US foreign policy, in particular toward Iran. Biden has vowed to redevelop some form of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, which Trump exited in 2018.
Google is offering some of its US offices, as well as its car parks and open spaces, as vaccination centres, it has announced.

The tech giant has contributed to combating Covid-19 in various ways throughout the pandemic, including working with Apple to create the blueprint for dozens of contact-tracing apps worldwide.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has today also revealed that Google is adding Covid vaccine location information to both Maps and Search, to help people find more information on where and when they can get a jab.

Google has previously said all staff will be working from home until at least July as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving their vast office spaces standing idle.

The US, which has supplies of both the Moderna and Pfizer jabs, has so far vaccinated six per cent of its population, around 20.5million doses, with 1.6 million administered on Friday already exceeding President Joe Biden's conservative pledge of one million doses a day.

The number of cases of coronavirus infection in the US appears to be dropping, with 142,949 confirmed cases on Sunday, down from 173,729 the day before.

Over the last seven days the average number of daily deaths is in excess of 3,000.

On Sunday the nation surpassed the grim milestone of more than 25million COVID infections and more than 417,900 deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic.

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Google is offering some of its US offices, as well as its car parks and open spaces, as vaccination centres, it has announced. Pictured, its New York office

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has today also revealed various Google is adding Covid vaccine location information to both Maps and Search to allow people to find more information on where and when they can get a jab (pictured)

America's rollout of the vaccine comes as cases of the so-called supercovid, known scientifically as variant B.1.1.7, which emerged in England, soar in the US.

A scientific study revealed the strain, which is thought to be around 50 per cent more infectious than previous variants, arrived in the US in November.

It has now infected at least 146 people in the US, with 46 people infected with it in Florida alone.

CDC Director: 'We don't have enough vaccine doses as we'd like' The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted Sunday that the US doesnt have enough COVID-19 vaccines to meet states' needs, even as New York and Georgia desperately plead for more doses to inoculate their populations. 'We don't have as many doses as we would like now for states like New York, for other states claiming to have run out of the vaccine,' Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Fox News Sunday. 'Right now, that is the pressure point that I am feeling and by the end of March or so I really do hope our production scale has scaled up dramatically and that we actually have way more than we have right now,' she added. Her message comes after Gov. Andrew Cuomo said over the weekend New York was running out of vaccines and as Georgia's Gov. Brian Kemp also asked for more shots to keep up with the demand. Advertisement

Google's four main offices in the US  in Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Kirkland, Washington and New York City  will be the company's sites turned into vaccine hubs in collaboration with healthcare provider One Medical.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, also said in a blog post: 'Today we're announcing that we're providing more than $150 million to promote vaccine education and equitable distribution and making it easier to find locally relevant information, including when and where to get the vaccine.

'We'll also be opening up Google spaces to serve as vaccination sites as needed.'

He explained that searches for 'vaccines near me' increased fivefold since the start of 2021 and adds 'we want to make sure we're providing locally relevant answers'.

As a result the tech giant is adding Covid-19 vaccine locations to both its traditional Search feature as well as Maps.

'We'll include details like whether an appointment or referral is required, if access is limited to specific groups, or if it has a drive-through,' Mr Pichai adds

Google will start immediately showing vaccine hub locations in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and Mr Pichai says it will expand this feature to 'more states and countries to come'.

'We'll begin showing state and regional distribution information on Search so people can easily find when they are eligible to receive a vaccine,' he says.

The US has vaccinated around six per cent of its population against Covid-19 (pictured), trailing behind the UK, which has reached more than one in ten. Israel has vaccinated more people per capita than anywhere else in the world, as it approaches immunity for half its population

The US, which has supplies of both the Moderna and Pfizer jabs, has so far vaccinated around 20.5million people, with 1.6 million doses administered on Friday alone  already far in excess of President Joe Biden's conservative one million a day pledge.

Google chief Sunda Pichai has also announced a $150 million commitment to promote vaccine education and equitable access to the lifesaving jabs. Pictured, Google's San Francisco office

Google will start immediately showing vaccine hub locations in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and Mr Pichai says it will expand this feature to 'more states and countries to come'. Pictured, Google's office in Washington which will be tuned into a vaccine centre

Apple donated more than 40 MILLION face masks and shields to healthcare workers during the pandemic Tech behemoth Apple has donated more than 30 million face masks and 10 million face shields to healthcare workers around the world during the pandemic, MailOnline understands. Exact breakdowns of where the PPE has been distributed remains unknown but it is believed frontline workers globally received items throughout 2020. The endeavour started in March and CEO Tim Cook announced on April 5 that Apple's vast resources and expertise would be repurposed to churn out one million masks a week. This target, set 36 weeks ago, has been exceeded by the company. Apple has also donated $5 million to various coronavirus-related causes this festive period, it revealed in December. Advertisement

The Google chief also announced a $150 million commitment to promote vaccine education and equitable access to the lifesaving jabs.

More than $100million is to be committed to ad grants for the CDC, WHO and other organisations to help get out key public health messages.

Google is also pledging $50million to public health agencies specifically with the intention of reaching 'underserved communities with vaccine-related content and information'.

'Our efforts will focus heavily on equitable access to vaccines,' Mr Pichai said.

'Early data in the U.S. shows that disproportionately affected populations, especially people of color and those in rural communities, arent getting access to the vaccine at the same rates as other groups.

'To help, Google.org has committed $5 million in grants to organizations addressing racial and geographic disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations.'

Google is not the only tech company to commit to trying to help with the Covid-19 relief effort, with Amazon and Apple among the companies also dedicating resources, expertise and funds.

Amazon last week said it was opening its own spaces for vaccinations while sourcing jabs for its own staff, including workers at warehouses, data centre employees and staff at Whole Foods, which is also owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Microsoft, founded by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates who helped fund some vaccines, also said it will open up its Redmond campus for vaccinations.

Apple, which worked with Google on building the contact tracing API, has also kept to its pledge of donating more than a million pieces of PPE to healthcare workers every week of the pandemic.

Strategy eyes pursuit of ideal digital advances (photo: Duc Thanh)

For the first time in the history of the National Party Congress, the words technology and innovation will take a more prominent role in the draft Political Report that is compiled for discussion by the Central Party Committee. The draft will be debated at the 13th National Party Congress, which will take place in Hanoi from January 25 until February 2.

Amid the ongoing health crisis, attraction and application of high technology and innovation in all sectors of the economy are more necessary than ever for Vietnam, which is striving to become a modern, industrialised developing nation by 2025 and a developing nation with modern industry by 2035. The draft Political Report sets the target of an average annual growth rate of 6.5-7 per cent in the 2021-2025 period. It is expected that the ratio of total factor productivity (TFP) in economic growth by 2025 will be 45 per cent. Increases in TFP usually come from technological innovation or improvements.

Fostering a digital economy

Under Vietnams Socioeconomic Development Strategy for 2021-2020 as pointed out by the draft Political Report, Vietnam will continue strengthening the renewal of economic growth model, strongly shifting the economy to a new growth model based on a rise in productivity, advanced science and technology, innovation, high-quality human resources, and effective usage of all resources in order to raise the quality, effectiveness, and competitiveness of the economy.

The country will also prioritise attraction of foreign-invested projects with high technology, an eco-friendly approach, and skilled labourers. Such ventures are required to have a connection and technology transfer with domestic enterprises and facilitate those enterprises to develop and effectively engage in global value chains.

In addition to further improving the domestic investment and business climate, the country will also improve human resources quality, attract and foster talented people, and boost the innovation and application of scientific and technological achievements, especially those from Industry 4.0. All of these will lay new momentum for national rapid and sustainable development.

Notably, Vietnam is aiming to strongly develop the service sector based on the application of state-of-the-art scientific and technological achievements, especially services with high added value.

Strong development is to be focused on a number of key services such as tourism, commerce, telecommunications, IT, transport, logistics, technical services, and legal consultancy, stated the draft Political Report. Modernisation and expansion will be applied to many services such as finance and banking, insurance, healthcare, education and training, science and technology, culture, and sports.

Last October, Party General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong on behalf of the Politburo signed Resolution No.52-NQ/TW on some guidelines and policies to actively partake in Industry 4.0.

Active participation in Industry 4.0 is an inevitable requirement of special significance for Vietnam to achieve breakthroughs in socioeconomic development, the resolution noted.

Under the resolution, Vietnam has set a goal to increase the GDP share of the digital economy to 20 per cent by 2025, and 30 per cent by 2030 when all people can access the 5G service. The country expects to become one of the leading hubs for startups and innovation in Asia by 2045. It also aims to increase the broadband internet coverage rate to 100 per cent (accessible by all communes) and labour productivity by 7 per cent annually from now to 2025.

To achieve these goals, Resolution 52 underlines a series of solutions such as the development of IT, electronics and telecommunications, cybersecurity, smart manufacturing, finance and banking, healthcare, education and training, digital agriculture, and especially e-commerce.

Promoting Industry 4.0

Rachel Barger, COO of SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan, cited a survey by PwC stating that Vietnam might become one of the 20 largest economies globally and one of 10 largest economies in Asia by 2050, with one of the biggest foundations being strong digital development. But Vietnam transforming its digital landscape for further development needs to be conducted at government and business levels, stated Barger.

Resolution 52 ordered the government to lead the construction and implementation of the national strategy on Industry 4.0, and other schemes on national digital transformation and participation in Industry 4.0. The strategy will help Vietnam improve its competitiveness, attract more high-quality foreign direct investment (FDI), and ensure sustainable growth, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the drafting agency.

Under the strategy, the sectors that will be improved with high technologies include public administration, electricity-water, healthcare, education, processing and manufacturing (especially footwear, textiles and garments, and foodstuffs), agriculture, logistics, commerce, ICT, and finance and banking.

In order to develop these sectors, the government will beef up revising laws and regulations, especially those regarding venture capital and angel investment, with the most favourable conditions to be created for investors to conduct mergers and acquisitions, capital contributions, and apply high technologies.

There will be special incentives for investment projects that create products and services using Industry 4.0 tech, especially joint ventures with domestic enterprises, stated the draft strategy.

According to the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), which examined the impact of the draft strategy, Industry 4.0 transformation will likely raise Vietnams GDP by $28.5 to $62.1 billion, equivalent to a rise of 7-16 per cent, from now to 2030.

Boosting tech transfer

Experts stated that one of the key solutions for Vietnam to successfully conduct digital transformation and improve labour productivity is to boost technological transfer from foreign firms to domestic ones. This has also been one of the major targets of Vietnam in its strategy to attract FDI over the past three decades.

However, the goal has not yet been reached, though over the past years leading global technology companies have selected Vietnam to develop major manufacturing facilities that supply equipment and products to the world.

Though Vietnam has attracted tens of thousands of foreign-invested projects over the past 30 years, foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) technological transfer to domestic enterprises has taken place only at a negligible level, said Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung.

The transfer has failed to meet our expectations, Tung stressed. The technological spillover effects remain very limited. Only domestic firms transfer tech to one another.

According to CIEM surveys, since Vietnam opened its doors to FDI, the prime goal of attracting high technology has not yet been achieved.

Specially, under a report on firm-level technology and competitiveness in Vietnam made from five major surveys involving over 38,700 local and foreign enterprises, technology advancements usually came from other domestic businesses. Over 80 per cent of technology transfers took place between Vietnamese enterprises, if both firms from the same and different sectors are taken into consideration.

According to the MPI, one of the key factors for the construction of a digital economy and successful implementation of Industry 4.0 is that the government will issue special incentives for FIEs to establish research and development centres in Vietnam. Currently, many foreign businesses have been operating such centres here, such as Singapores Grab, South Koreas Samsung, Swedens ABB, and Germanys Bosch. US telecoms giant Qualcomm is also considering founding such a centre in Vietnam.
The top ten richest have added billions to their fortune despite the global crisis

The world's ten richest people, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, have seen their collective wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the start of the Covid pandemic, according to a new report.

The business magnates could even pay to vaccinate the entire world with their profits from the last year, the Oxfam study claims.

The anti-poverty campaigners used figures from the Forbes 2020 Billionaire List and wealth data from Credit Suisse to investigate the financial impact of the pandemic on the world's wealthiest.

The world's ten richest people, including Jezz Bezos (pictured), Elon Musk and Bill Gates, have seen their collective wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the start of the Covid pandemic

Elon Musk's wealth has grown by $129billion according to the Oxfam report into global wealth inequality

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, has seen his fortune grow by $45billion, the report states

They found that the fallout from the virus will lead to the biggest increase in global inequality on record unless governments radically rejig their economies.

The report is geared to inform discussions at the World Economic Forum's online panels of political and business leaders this week.

Oxfam said the richest 1,000 people have already managed to recoup the losses they recorded in the early days of the pandemic because of the bounce back in stock markets.

By contrast, Oxfam said it could take more than a decade for the world's poorest to recover their losses.

Bernard Arnault, the billionaire CEO of LVMH, has added an extra $76billion to his fortune, Oxfam claim

Bill Gates, whose foundation has donated to research for the Covid vaccine, has seen a $22billion increase to his wealth this year

Covid's biggest winners Elon Musk: +$128.9billion ($153.5bn) Jeff Bezos: +$78.2billion ($191.2bn) Zhong Shanshan: +$76.6billion ($78.6bn) Bernard Arnault: +$75.9billion ($152bn) Mark Zuckerberg: +$45.2billion ($99.9bn) Mukesh Ambani: +$39.5billion ($76.3bn) Larry Ellison: +$28.7billion ($87.7bn) Larry Page: +$25.7billion ($76.6bn) Bill Gates: +$22billion ($120bn) Warren Buffett: +$19.3billion ($86.8bn) Advertisement

They said the wealthiest 1,000 lost 30 per cent of their wealth due to the pandemic, but within ten months it had already been recouped.

Among the biggest winners in the past year were Jeff Bezos, whose fortune grew by $78billion, Elon Musk, who is up $129billion, Mark Zuckerberg, whose wealth has doubled by $45billion, and Bill Gates who has added $22billion to his chest.

Oxfam claimed the wealthy ten could pay for everyone on earth to receive two doses of a Covid vaccine, at a cost of $141.2billion, working out at $9 a dose.

They could also hand over $80billion to keep millions of people above the poverty line for a year.

'Rigged economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite who are riding out the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic - shop assistants, healthcare workers, and market vendors - are struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table,' said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International.

Using data specially provided by the World Bank, Oxfam said that in a worst-case scenario global poverty levels would be higher in 2030 than they were before the pandemic struck, with 3.4billion people still living on less than $5.50 a day.

Bucher said women and marginalized racial and ethnic groups are bearing the brunt of this crisis and are 'more likely to be pushed into poverty, more likely to go hungry, and more likely to be excluded from healthcare'.

Larry Ellison, the co-founder and chairman of the tech company Oracle, has added $28.7billion to his total wealth

Warren Buffett, considered one of the savviest investors in the world, has seen his fortune grow by $19.2billion

While urging governments to ensure that everyone has access to a coronavirus vaccine and financial support if they lose their job, Bucher said policies in a post-coronavirus world should focus on ending poverty and protecting the planet.

'They must invest in public services and low carbon sectors to create millions of new jobs and ensure everyone has access to a decent education, health, and social care, and they must ensure the richest individuals and corporations contribute their fair share of tax to pay for it,' she said.

'These measures must not be band-aid solutions for desperate times but a `new normal in economies that work for the benefit of all people, not just the privileged few,' she added.

Larry Page, one of the co-founders of Google, has added $25.7billion to his now $76.6billion fortune

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, has added $39.5billion to his wealth since the start of the pandemic

Oxfam has traditionally sought to inspire debate at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering of business and political elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Though the pandemic means there won't be any trek up the mountains this week, organizers are putting on a virtual gathering.

Leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are all set to take part in the meetings from January 25-29.

Joining them will be a host of chief executives and campaigning organizations, including Oxfam and the likes of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The land rent in industrial zones has seen a year-on-year increase of 20-30 percent, according to CBRE Vietnam.

Reuters reported that the giant company Foxconn, which specializes in making parts for Apple, in late November announced it would relocate a part of the iPad and MacBook assembling line to Vietnam. It is expected that Foxconn will begin manufacturing iPads and MacBooks in Vietnam in H1 2021.

Luxshare, one of the big partners of Apple, which has an AirPod assembling plant in Vietnam, is expanding its 30 hectare plant in Bac Giang province this year.

Sources have said Taiwanese Pegatron is seeking permission to invest in two projects in Hai Phong City, totalling $500 million. Pegatron will manufacture electronic products, including household appliances, computers and computer peripheral devices, communication equipment, electronic components, and circuit boards for large electronic enterprises investing in Vietnam and for export.

In Q1 2020, Samsung Vietnam announced investment in an R&D project capitalized at $220 million.

Nikkei Asia noted that Vietnam is receiving great opportunities from the movement of foreign investors relocating their production bases, including the South Korean giant LG Group and German Tesa.

According to CBRE Vietnam, in the pandemic, IZ land is the only market segment witnessing growth in both rental and occupancy rates.

In Q4 2020, the average rent in IZs in five major industrial cities and provinces in the north (Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Hai Phong) increased by 2.1 percent year on year, while the occupancy rate was 89.7 percent.

The figures in the four major industrial cities and provinces in the south were 2.5 percent and 87 percent, respectively.

Because of the production relocation movement, the demand for land has been increasing throughout Vietnam.

CBRE Vietnam reported that the rent in some IZs in Hai Phong, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong in the north, and HCM City, Dong Nai and Long An in the south has increased by 20-30 percent.

The demand for land to develop logistics infrastructure has soared, with 20 percent of total inquiries for this. The strong growth of e-commerce and logistics firms since the Covid-19 outbreak has led to high demand for space to store goods and distribution facilities.

In order to keep pace with the Asian tigers, Vietnam is building more IZs, and at least 17 IZs will expand.

In 2020, despite the pandemic, GLP, LOGOS and JD.com, the big players in warehouse and logistics, made substantial investments in both the north and the south of Vietnam. Vingroup, a large Vietnamese real estate developer, also joined the market with two new IZs scheduled to become operational in 2021.

Bao Anh

Land price soars by 600%: advantages turn into barriers to development The sharp increase in the land price framework for the 2020-2024 period will have an adverse impact on the investment environment of many localities, experts have warned.
Bigg Boss 14: After Confessing His Love, Aly Goni Sends His Ring To Jasmin Bhasin; Watch

Aly Goni and Jasmin Bhasins dating rumors had been doing the rounds ever since they participated in Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi. But they always denied the reported and maintained that they are just best friends. However, during their stay in the Bigg Boss 14 house, they realized their true feelings for each other and came closer. Just before Jasmin left the show, Aly broke down and the lovebirds finally confessed their love for each other. Post her eviction, Jasmin also stated that she would like to tie the knot with the handsome hunk within this year and made it clear that her parents are happy for her.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by    ~   (@alygoni)

Well in last nights Weekend Ka Vaar episode, celebrity guest and Jasmin-Alys common friend Haarsh Limbachiyaa entered the house once again to entertain the housemates. Aly asked how Jasmin is doing and Haarsh told him that she wanted Alys ring size. Aly blushed and asked how he can send the ring size right now. When housemate Vikas Gupta suggested that Aly could send a ring that hes already wearing, the latter quickly took off his ring, ran towards the glass partition and threw his ring for Haarsh to catch.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by hi Jas ily (@jasminxstans_)

Jasmin has been supporting the love of her life on social media and has even requested her fans to show their support to Aly. During an interview post her eviction, Jasmin had also revealed that her parents will meet Alys family right after he comes out of the Bigg Boss 14 house. So, can we expect to hear wedding bells soon?
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.

Workers are seen near Qantas Airways, Australia's national carrier, Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the tarmac at Adelaide Airport, Australia, on Aug. 22, 2018. (Reuters/David Gray)

Australia Closes Bubble With New Zealand

Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced Australia will be closed to quarantine-free flights from New Zealand after a positive case was confirmed there.

Australia has put a stop to the New Zealand travel bubble for 72 hours after a South African variant of COVID-19 was detected in a woman after 14 days of isolation.

Since October, New Zealanders have been able to travel to Australia quarantine-free if they have been in New Zealand for 14 days or more and not been in a designated hotspot.

On Sunday, NZ health authorities revealed a 56-year-old Northland woman had tested positive for the virus after completing her 14-day isolation after arrival in New Zealand.

The woman returned two negative tests while in her compulsory hotel stay, and was released on Jan. 13 before travelling around the region with her husband.

Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Canberra on Monday all passengers from New Zealand with a flight scheduled in the next 72 hours should reconsider their need for travel.

They will, as a consequence, have to go into hotel quarantine, or such other arrangements as individual states may implement, for up to 14 days, but for a minimum of 72 hours and to have a test, Hunt said.

Anyone who has arrived in Australia on a flight from New Zealand on or since January 14 is asked to isolate and arrange to be tested and to remain in isolation until they have a negative test.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said the South African variant was more transmissible and presents a heightened level of risk.

It is understood there are two green zone flights due to come to Australia on Monday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken with his NZ counterpart Jacinda Ardern about the change and border authorities are seeking to communicate with passengers.

Ardern told Morrison New Zealand is confident in its virus response.

But it is Australias decision as to how they manage their borders.

Hunt said Australia had no criticism of the person concerned or New Zealands handling of the case.

We understand they behaved in a model way, he said.

They used QR codes, they checked in. That is precisely because they left a digital footprint in many places that theres a period of concern.

We have been very happy working with New Zealand, weve kept that green zone open.

There have been challenges. They are one of the worlds best contact tracing systems. They are doing outstandingly well.

By Paul Osborne in Canberra

HAMDEN  Officers broke up a fight involving dozens of teenagers at Funz Trampoline Park on Dixwell Avenue Saturday night and are investigating alleged pandemic safety violations, according to police.

Mayor Curt Leng said Monday he was disappointed to learn the trampoline park appeared to have violated sector rules.

Were at a time right now where its essential for everyone in the community, including the business community, to really do their part in helping us to combat this pandemic head-on, he said. Were not out of the woods yet by any means and really need to be more vigilant than ever while we make sure that the population gets vaccinated.

Leng later Monday via text said a $500 fine had been issued to the business for failure to follow State health and safety rules related to the pandemic.

Officers responded to the establishment around 9 p.m. Saturday for a fight in progress, finding 40 to 60 teenagers involved in a dispute outside of the business, Capt. Ronald Smith said in an email.

Many of the young people were involving in a physical altercation, he said.

Hamden Police requested mutual aid from the New Haven Police Department to quell the disturbance, Smith said. Officers estimated that there were an additional 150 patrons inside of the trampoline park. Officers reported that there did not appear to be social distancing. Furthermore, that a very few patrons were wearing masks.

Chief of Police John Sullivan had said earlier Monday that the fine, if there was one issued, would be for $500.

Police were taking the lead on the investigation, according to Sullivan.

A person who answered the phone at the business Monday and said he was the manager but would not give his name, said that COVID guidelines are followed there, including the requirement for wearing masks. He said the business also hires police officers to be on site for events.

Because the business does not have a food license, Sullivan said, he did not believe the Quinnipiack Valley Health District has jurisdiction over the matter. Smith said the department would inform the QVHD of the alleged COVID safety violations.

Leng complimented the Police Departments response to the incident.

QVHD Director Karen Wolujewicz said the department had been informed of the incident and directed further inquiries about infractions to police.

As of Monday afternoon, Sullivan was not aware of any arrests made or citations issued in connection with the event inside the trampoline park or the brawl outside. He did not know the cause of the fight, or whether those involved had attended the trampoline park event.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Episode 2 of American Gods focused on the Alison McGoverns disappearance in Lakeside and Shadows vivid visions of his ancestors. Bilquis seemed to be having a crisis and Wednesday was on to his next scheme.

Heading into episode 3, viewers are reminded that the last time anyone saw Laura Moon, she was a pile of dust in a mausoleum next to Mad Sweeney. That changes in this next installment where the afterlife teaches her a lesson.

[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for American Gods Season 3, Episode 3]

American Gods Season 3 with Emily Browning as Laura Moon | Courtesy of Starz

Demeter Summoned, Laura receives a crash course in death

Its the late 1800s and on a small Pennsylvania farm, a mother and her two daughters till the land. They struggle. That night, the mother performs a ritual using fire and the entrails of a freshly sacrificed pig. Demeter materializes from the flames and turns the barren soil into a field of lush green corn stalks.

The scene flips to modern day where Wednesday is prepping for a trip with Cordelia. They are hitting the road to visit Demeter. On their hotel TV, a news report announces the deaths of Blood Deaths metal band members. Wednesday says its a problem hell deal with later.

Laura is on frantic train ride to the underworld with other nervous and scared souls. They arrive at their cosmic stop and are given pamphlets with color-coded tickets. Shes angry and cursing because her ticket hasnt been called yet, and the info desk worker tells her the Acknowledge Reality group will be called when its their turn.

Back in Lakeside, Shadow and Marguerite are at the search party for the missing girl. While the sheriff gives instructions, Ms. Hinzelmann bogarts with her own directives for what to look for and how to use disposable cameras. People split up and search.

RELATED: American Gods Season 3: These Gods Were Just Added to the Cast

Wednesday is confused when he discovers Demeter is at a retreat, which is an assisted living/mental health facility. He ponders which gift to bring her and decides on calla lilies. Off to the florist first before heading inside.

Laura steals another womans afterlife ticket, switching it with her own. Using an orange ticket, she heads through a door and quickly learns the numbers move because shes doesnt belong in this hall of doors. Shes chased down by a dense, aggressive black fog and barely makes it through a different door into a screening room.

Shadow taps in, Wednesday finds lost love

The search party wraps up and the sheriff attempts to apologize to Shadow for questioning him. He shuffles away from the awkward chat when he receives a radio call.

Meanwhile, Wednesday waltzes into the facility and requests to see Demeter. The staff believes shes delusional patient who thinks shes an ancient goddess while Wednesday doesnt understand their satire. Hes escorted to her with his bouquet in tow, greets her, and Demeter swings around and smacks him.

Wednesday asks her to send her employees away and is stunned again when she throws back a cup of medicine. She goes back to teaching her friends how to make Demeter corn stalk dolls.

Shadow is at Marguerites house and they end up talking about literature. She offers up the stack of books she has about Lakesides history. Theyre thick city journals. Marguerites son walks in and is introduced to Shadow.

Bilquis is recounting the events of her last encounter and finds the mans phone is full of texts from his granddaughter. She feels guilty. Theres a sudden knock on her door and someone saws through it. She kicks the phone, grabs a large hat pin, and takes a defensive stance.

Wednesday learns from the facilitys staff that Demeter is under a court-appointed conservatorship. The guy in charge is Larry Hutchinson. He hatches a plan.

Shadow scans the books and discovers there was a missing child in Lakeside years ago. He dozes off and dreams of the convenience store again.

In his dream, Bilquis appears on magazine covers and drums play in the background. She tells Shadow to come find her. In this dream, three goddesses beckon him from behind a freezer door and he walks through.

You see the Orishas in a freezer at the grocery store. What's your next move? #AmericanGods pic.twitter.com/xFTpfvSRCL  American Gods US (@americangodsus) January 25, 2021

Laura cries, Wednesday tries to woo a goddess

Two people enter the screening room where Laura is napping. Shes in purgatory and learns theyre her facilitators. She curses them out about not wanting to read the pamphlet, and they let the film roll about her life. Shes surly and rude.

A memory of Laura and her father at a hotel plays on the screen, and hes shown flirting with another guest  with her help. Laura jumps into the screen to tell the story herself. He wound up having sex with the young woman after spending hours at the pool without Laura. One facilitator advises Laura its better if she just watches the video.

Wednesday shows off his fake marriage certificate to Cordelia when Shadow calls. He wants an address for Bilquis. After some smart-alecky banter, Wednesday provides the information. The All Father then meets with Hutchinson about Demeter.

He finds out she was dancing nude and declaring herself a goddess when the police picked her up. Wednesday argues in her favor and concocts a story about his absence as a husband so he can take her home.

In Lakeside, Shadow heads out for his trip to New York to see Bilquis and runs into Marguerite. He notices the headline on a newspaper about Alison, the missing girl. After Marguerite walks off, he closes his eyes and touches the paper to see if he senses anything. Nothing.

Purgatory is like school. Laura feels responsible for every bad thing that happened in her life. She arrogantly walks out of the room and drops into a deep pool of water and theres a small opening above her. The facilitators help pull her out.

Wednesday tries to convince Demeter to leave. Shes against it. She says the people at that place accept her and worship her. Wednesday reminds her shes a god and calls the other residents in the mental institution loons. Demeter thinks he has an agenda for his war and asks if hes being honest.

Wednesday insists hes there for love. Demeter tells him hes an old, desperate god and challenges him to reflect on what hes desperate for.

Wheres Bilquis?

Laura is forced to review her memory and she remembered things wrong. Her father manipulated her, and she has an epiphany. Everything in her life wasnt her fault. She leaves the room and retrieves her crumpled pamphlet from the floor.

Where is Bilquis? And whose blood is that?? Until next week, #GodSquad! #AmericanGods pic.twitter.com/lSheAwGWyT  American Gods US (@americangodsus) January 25, 2021

Shadow arrives and Bilquis place and finds it in disarray. Theres blood on the floor and Techboy is crouched on the floor, shaking.
ISIS and the Taliban use different strategies to appeal to women in English-language magazines, study shows

ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban use their English-language magazines to encourage women to support jihad in different ways, according to new research.

Experts hope highlighting these varying recruitment strategies will be of use for those trying to stop radicalisation and terrorism.

The Taliban-produced magazines encourage women to carry out a traditional role in the home and support men rather than to be violent and commit jihad themselves. Tahrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ISIS encourage women to be violent - to pick up arms and fight. The magazines encourage women to leave their husbands if they don't support jihad, even without permission.

Researchers from the University of Exeter analysed sixty-eight English language jihadi magazines by Islamic State (ISIS), TTP - the Pakistani Taliban group which operates on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan which pledge allegiance to ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban, coding data about the themes and messages they found manually to see how frequently they were found in the publication. Their research is published in the journal Small Wars & Insurgencies

Researchers examined at 68 magazines produced between 2013 and 2020. The Taliban haven't produced magazines in English since 2015. ISIS stopped producing magazines in 2017, but one was produced in 2020. Al Qaeda also stopped producing magazines in 2017, but started again in 2019 and 2020.

The magazines are made for Muslims living in the West, they are put online but are often taken down quickly by security services around the world.

Dr Weeda Mehran, who led the study, said: "Our research show the magazines are designed to recruit women by tapping into their role in the community and within their family. The Taliban magazines make women feel as if they have been victimised, and men should join jihad to protect them. ISIS depicts, women either as ideal role models who should be followed, or as the enemy. These strategies are tailored towards attracting women to join the group

"Both ISIS and TTP are more likely than the Taliban and Al Qaeda to encourage women to join jihad. ISIS even went to the extent to encourage married women to leave their husbands and join the Caliphate, if the husband refused to join jihad.

"These different strategies are explained by the fact that ISIS aim to bring women from abroad to establish the caliphate, so their focus is less on local values. This means they break with traditional values to encourage women to leave their homes, communities and families. The Taliban are more bound to local areas, so don't encourage women from abroad to join them. This needs to be built into de-radicalisation work, which must be as targeted as possible to be effective."

All the magazines pit jihadi women against 'othered' Muslim women and 'enemy' women - those who believe in gender equality, assume jobs within the security sector of governments, do not wear Islamic hijab and reject polygamy.

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in suicide bombings by women acting on behalf of violent jihadi organisations, notably the Chechen rebels, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, HAMAS, Al Qaeda, and ISIS.

Dr Mehran said: "These groups use a wide variety of themes to persuade women to undertake jihad. Sometimes this is injustice, where women are depicted as victims and in need of protection. This is less common in ISIS and TTP magazines than in those published by Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

"The Taliban and Al Qaeda less likely than ISIS and TTP to vilify women or depict them as role models. ISIS is less likely than Al Qaeda, the Taliban and TTP to portray women as victims. Al Qaeda, the Taliban and TTP show a higher tendency to portray women as in need of protection."

TTP magazines attacked gender equality policies of Pakistani states and Malala Yousafzai, while ISIS and Al Qaeda attacked women who do not adhere to sharia laws, while pious, modest, religious women were depicted as role models.

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After the conclusion of one of the most polarised elections in the history of the United States, supporters on both sides of the political spectrum have expressed strong opinions on the results. While some people buy the departed former President Donald Trump's allegations of a rigged election, others have hailed the results as the true will of the people and celebrated in a not so subtle manner.

Hollywood actor and comedian Jim Carrey falls in the latter category who has been very vocal against the Trump administration. His reaction after the results now has drawn mixed reactions from people.

The veteran actor on Saturday posted a caricature of departed First Lady Melania Trump on Twitter along with some harsh comments. While bidding goodbye to Melania, Carrey called her the worst First Lady. "Oh... And goodbye worst first lady. I hope the settlement can finance your life in the shallow end. Thx for nothing," wrote Carrey.

Carreys comment seems to be based on the assumption that the Trumps have not been on very good terms and might end up getting divorced. The Twitter post has been liked by more than 32,000 users. While some people found it funny, others thought it was just mean.

THAT WAS NOT FUNNY... JIM Sinai (@Sinai13032112) January 22, 2021

One user mocked Melania saying that with her settlement money, she will be able to buy more of former First Lady Michelle Obamas speeches to steal from. To those who are not in the know, there were allegations made against Melania by some quarters that her speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention resembled that of Mrs Obama's 2008 convention speech.

With her settlement she'll be able to purchase more Obama speeches to steal from. James (@BaghdadCocaCola) January 22, 2021

Another user found Carreys art "a pretty good likeness of the lady." "You have captured apathy and vapidity," he wrote.

That's actually a pretty good likeness. You've captured the apathy and vapidity. Steve Weintraub (@SteveWeintraub) January 22, 2021

"I'm glad you showed the scar on her forehead from the cranial evacuation surgery, it's usually hard to see under all the makeup and botox," read another comment.

i'm glad you showed the scar on her forehead from the cranial evacuation surgery, it's usually hard to see under all the makeup and botox Mike Evans | Not that Mike Evans, a different one (@MikeEvans13228) January 22, 2021

Some users said that the mockery was uncalled for and a bit too much.

This one user suggested Carrey let the matter go and focus on something positive.

Let it go Jim, you got your goal now. Can you focus on something more positive? Chris (@SnappingNeuron) January 22, 2021

Another user found Carreys comment disgraceful.

She's gone. You can eat you snickers now. How you fell from grace. Gabriel F. (@Gabriel_Eff) January 22, 2021

Yet another user asked Carrey to not target Melania.

Why this of you, Jim? why do you attack Melania? She did nothing bad. serenus zeitblom (@zeitblomserenus) January 22, 2021

Earlier this month after the Capitol Hill incident, Jim Carrey had posted a similar caricature of Donald Trump. He called Trump a killer clown, who "didnt just come to take lives" but to "murder the truth and weaponize ignorance".

Earlier in October, the Emmy-winning comedy show Saturday Night Live, known for their hilarious political satires, took on the US vice presidential debate between Democrat nominee Kamala Harris and current VP Mike Pence.

However, apart from the debate, it was the surprise appearance of the iconic fly on Pences hair played by Jim Carrey that stole the show.
On January 25-29 this year, instead of the traditional Davos Forum, the World Economic Forum will host the Davos Agenda online event dedicated to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery of economies.

According to a posting on the WEF website, the Davos Agenda is a pioneering mobilization of global leaders to shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed in this challenging new context.

"The pandemic has accelerated systemic changes that were apparent before its inception The time to rebuild trust and to make crucial choices is fast approaching as the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems grow stronger around the world," the WEF said.

Davos Agenda will address the impact of COVID-19 on the life of mankind, including the economic impact, the search for solutions to fight crisis, actions on climate change, the development of modern technologies, the future of the labor market.

The Davos Agenda will also mark the launch of the World Economic Forum's Great Reset Initiative and begin the preparation of the Special Annual Meeting in the spring.

According to the list of Davos Agenda participants at the disposal of Interfax-Ukraine, seven representatives from Ukraine have registered for the event, in particular, from DTEK  CEO Maksym Timchenko, Chairman of DTEK Advisory Council Johan Bastin, Chief Innovation Officer at DTEK Emanuele Volpe and Advisor to CEO on International Relations Yulia Burmistenko, from Smart Holding  its founder Vadim Novinsky and CEO Alexey Pertin. In addition, Olha Stoliarchuk, a representative of the Kyiv Hub educational project, plans to take part in the event.
ROME, JAN 25 - President Sergio Mattarella on Monday demanded a response from Egypt over the torture and murder of Giulio Regeni on the fifth anniversary of the Italian student's disappearance in Cairo. The Cambridge University research student's brutalized body was found a week later. Rome prosecutors have requested that four members of Egypt's security services face trial in relation to the case. "Among many difficulties, the work of the Rome prosecutors' department has led to the conclusion of investigations that have identified a picture of grave responsibility that will soon be subject to a trial for the consequent punishment for the guilty parties," wrote Mattarella in a statement. "We expect a full and adequate response from the Egyptian authorities, which have been relentlessly called on in this regard by the Italian diplomatic services". Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told his his EU counterparts in Brussels later Monday that Regeni's "barbaric murder is still an open wound in Italy, but I am here today to talk with you because that very same wound is inevitably also European". "Let it be clear, Italy deems Egypt a crucial interlocutor in the Mediterranean, and deems that our task in Europe is to start a frank, constructive and transparent dialogue with Cairo, but it cannot happen to the detriment of human rights". A hearing before a preliminary hearings judge for the four Egyptian intelligence service members has been set for April 29 in Rome. Egypt has rejected the charges against the four and made it clear it has no intention of handing them over. General Tariq Sabir and three subordinates, Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim, Uhsam Helmi, and Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif, are accused of crimes that range from aggravated involvement in homicide to kidnapping and grevious bodily harm. Rome prosecutors say that Regeni was tortured for days, resulting in "acute physical suffering" by being subjected to kicks, punches, beaten with sticks and bats and cut with sharp objects, and also being burned with red-hot objects and slammed into walls. The suspects are set to be tried in absentia in Italy despite Rome prosecutors' efforts to get them to attend. Egypt's prosecutor general, Hamada al Sawi, has said "there is insufficient evidence to prove the charges". Witnesses have told the Rome prosecutors that Regeni was picked up by members of the Egyptian security services. The witnesses, deemed reliable by the prosecutors, say the 28-year-old Cambridge doctoral researcher was abducted by agents of the Egyptian National Security Agency on January 25, 2016, the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak, and taken to at least two barracks in the subsequent hours. The young man from Friuli was seen in a barracks near the Dokki metro stop in Cairo, the witnesses said, and later at another barracks where young foreigners are usually taken. Regeni was found dead in a ditch on the Cairo-Alexandria highway on February 3, 2016, a week after disappearing. He had been tortured so badly that his mother said she only recognised him by the tip of his nose. At various times Egypt has advanced differing explanations for his death including a car accident, a gay lovers' tiff and abduction and murder by an alleged kidnapping gang that was wiped out after Regeni's documents were planted in their lair. The student was researching Cairo street sellers unions for the British university, a politically sensitive subject. The head of the street hawkers union had fingered Regeni as a possible spy. Lack of cooperation on the case by Egypt led to Rome's temporarily withdrawing its ambassador from Cairo. Rome recently drew condemnation from Regeni's parents by announcing the sale of two frigates to Egypt. (ANSA).
Two young men in Vietnam were arrested last week for using spy cameras to videotape sex acts of couples in a hotel room before threatening to release them on social media.

On Friday, police in northern Vinh Phuc Province confirmed the arrest of Tran Van Ninh, 23, and Nguyen The Duy, 19, from nearby Tuyen Quang Province, on charges of property extortion.

According to preliminary inspection, Ninh rented a hotel room at the end of November 2020 in Vinh Phuc Province, then sneaking into a nearby room to install spy cameras in a bid to capture private photos of couples' intimate acts there.

After the couples checked out, Ninh followed them home to collect more personal information.

After acquiring several sex tapes, Ninh recruited Duy to help him blackmail the victims.

The duo demanded ransom for the sex tapes; otherwise, they would get published on social media.

Ninh and Duy procured three burner SIM cards and created one account on Facebook and three others on messaging app Zalo for the blackmailing ploy, according to police officers.

Police also seized three phones, which contained 79 sex tapes, from the operation.

It is estimated that Ninh and Duy extorted VND42 million (US$1,820) from the victims.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Radio presenter Kyle Sandilands made headlines last week when he failed to show up to work on time after accidentally sleeping in.

And on Monday, KIIS FM's Kyle & Jackie O show host blasted a gossip journalist who called him 'unAustralian' for his history of arriving late or calling in sick to work.

Reading out a portion of the scathing column on air, titled 'The most UnAustralian Australians of the Year', Kyle bit back: 'How unAustralian is this list?!'

'That's so Australian!' Kyle Sandilands blasts gossip journalist who called him 'unAustralian' for calling in sick to work in scathing column that named other celebrities

While the column claimed the list was written with 'tongue firmly planted in cheek', Kyle, 49, slammed gossip journalist Andrew Hornery for being 'a hater'.

Among several other media personalities and politicians, Kyle was listed for his 'Services to Indolence'.

Kyle then read out the paragraph aimed at him to listeners: 'The radio star, who is almost as famous for the amount of days he has off work, became headline news again after he slept in and turned up to work an hour late last week.'

'That's so Australian!' Jackie reacted in disbelief, while Kyle added: 'that's what I think! How un-Australian is this list?!'

Not impressed: While the column claimed the list was written with 'tongue firmly planted in cheek', Kyle slammed gossip journalist Andrew Hornery for being 'a hater'

The radio hosts also took a dislike to the way in which Rebel Wilson and Jack Vidgen were written about.

'I think this is a contradictory list,' Jackie said, referring to the column insinuating Rebel was being un-Australian for no longer being 'bogan' or 'lazy'.

Rebel shed more than 30kg in 2020 as part of her 'Year Of Health'.

'You haven't missed a day of work for like six months': Jackie 'O' Henderson (left) fiercely defended her longtime co-host, who remain Sydney's number one breakfast radio program

'There is no sense here, this guy just makes lists of people he hates,' Kyle claimed.

'And, you haven't missed a day of work for like six months,' Jackie added.

The Kyle And Jackie O show airs weekdays from 6am on Sydney's KIIS 106.5FM
MBABANE  Ngiyafutselana (I am very angry).

These were the words of a member of the current and former politicians pension fund scheme after receiving news that he would receive what he termed a meagre E400 a month from the fund. The fund is known as the Members of Parliament and Designated Office Bearers Pension Fund (MOPADO) and its members include former politicians who are bucopho (constituency councillor) and tindvuna tetinkhundla (constituency headmen). In terms of the administration of the fund, government contributes 30 per cent while the members pay 15 per cent, which is deducted from their salaries. Following the passing of a Bill that removed accessing the money when a member reaches 55 years of age to five after his term has ended, government has decided to pay the tindvuna and bucopho members of the fund E400 monthly.

Saved

It has been alleged that after the review of the 55 years, government then paid members who are former and returning MPs 50 per cent of their money saved in the fund. However, tindvuna tetinkhundla and bucopho have allegedly not been given the 50 per cent. Instead, government has introduced the E400 monthly pay, which is the annuity for the five years.

The bone of contention now, it has been gathered, is how government arrived at the E400. A member of the fund, Thulani Shiba, who is a representative for members of the fund under the Shiselweni Region and a former indvuna yenkhundla, said he was shocked last Wednesday when he received the news of the E400 payment. We are shocked. They sent us messages last week inviting us to submit our email addresses. They told us that they would send us forms to fill in. We received the forms, but up until now, we are blank on what they are for. Sadly, we were told that no one was expected to go to the MOPADO offices for enquiries due to COVID-19, he alleged. He said the form was unclear as all it talked about was that they should make their contributions and then sign.

According to Shiba, he then engaged his colleagues under his region, who informed him that they would receive E400 per month from the fund.
In a letter sent out to residents across Sugar Land and Fort Bend County, Dr. Joe Anzaldua, MD, addresses numerous issues with regard to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

His first point was to point out how high the current risks are to COVID-19 in the region.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Fort Bend ISD moves several campuses to online-only

COVID-19 remains a threat to our community, as evidenced by the alarming increase in positivity rates we are now seeing, especially in certain areas of Fort Bend County, including Sugar Land, Anzaldua said. The county continues to remain at coronavirus threat level of RED, which is the highest level of community risk. We expected to see this surge during the winter flu season, mostly because of the recent holidays where more people were traveling and visiting relatives and friends, and because people are spending more time indoors due to the weather.

As of Monday afternoon, there have been 41,588 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fort Bend County. There have been 419 deaths due to the virus, according to Fort Bend Countys Health and Human Services Department. Of the total, 353 have been reported in residents 60 years old or older.

On HoustonChronicle.com: University of Houston nursing students get started with the basics in Sugar Land

Sugar Land has reported 4,774 cases, the most in the county, followed by Missouri City (3,490) and Rosenberg (3,121).

There is also B.1.1.7 variant strain that apparently started in the United Kingdom but has now found its way to the United States, including two cases in Houston, Anzaldua said. In fact, modeling data indicates the B.1.1.7 variant has the potential to increase our nations pandemic trajectory in the coming months. CDC projections indicate that the B.1.1.7 variant will probably become the dominate strain by March. How this will impact on vaccinations is less certain.

To date there have been 1,198 vaccinations administered in Fort Bend County.

Vaccine availability continues to be a concern locally, Anzaldua said. The Texas Department of State Health Services determines allocation throughout the state. The 1,000 vaccines allocated by the state on Jan. 4 have already been assigned to people who have pre-registered, but there is more coming according to Fort Bend County. They expect registration for future vaccines to be available soon. A HUB site is currently being organized here in Fort Bend County. Other Hub sites in Houston/Harris County may have vaccine availability.

The city of Sugar Land, Fort Bend County and various other municipalities in the county are working with regional health care authorities to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. However, Anzaldua stressed that it is important for all concerned to get vaccines when they become available.

As you know, the first FDA-approved vaccines are now being provided to first-responders, health care workers and long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, he said. In addition, people 65 years and older and those with medical conditions that can predispose them to COVID-19 are now eligible.

To ensure the effectiveness of these valuable resources and create the herd immunity that we hope will protect our families, we must get vaccinated unless you have severe allergies to injectable medications or your doctor tells you otherwise. I know many are asking if the vaccines are safe. I still believe the answer is a resounding yes.

While waiting for vaccines it is important to remain compliant with public health mitigation strategies, Anzaldua said while stressing the need to remember the three Ws:

Wear a properly fitted mask that covers your mouth and nose.

Wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.

Watch your distance by staying at least six feet away from non-household family members.

With regard to the COVID-19 vaccines currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Anzaldua stressed that they are free, safe and effective.

Currently, there is a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, but production and distribution should start to ramp up in the next few weeks and months, he said.

For those concerned with catching COVID-19 from the vaccine, Anzaldua said this is not the case.

Vaccination is still recommended even if you have already had COVID-19 and recovered from it, he said. Since the current vaccines do not use live virus, you cannot get COVID-19 from vaccination.

After COVID-19 vaccination, you may experience some mild side effects such as a sore arm, headache, fever or body aches. For most people, these side effects should not impact daily activities such as going to work or school. Symptoms should resolve in just a few days.

For more information and updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus and vaccination availability, visit the Texas Department of State Health Services: www.dshs.texas.gov.

For city updates go to www.sugarlandtx.gov/Coronavirus.

rkent@hcnonline.com
A teenager who alerted the FBI to his dad's alleged role in the Capitol riots has said he felt guilty for speaking with the authorities - but would 'do it all again'.

Jackson Reffitt, 18, told Fox4: 'I got in contact with the FBI after the Capitol riots about my dad. It was my moral compass, kind of, to do what I thought would protect not only my family, but my dad himself.'

His father, Guy Reffitt, 48, was arrested Friday at his home in Wylie, Texas, according to court records.

He is charged with obstruction of justice and unlawful entry. According to an affidavit, the 48-year-old was recorded on video outside the Capitol during the January 6 riot and later threatened his wife and children if they turned him in.

According to local news, Reffitt's wife told officials that he was arguing about the incident with his son and daughter when he told them: 'If you turn me in, you're a traitor and you know what happens to traitors. ... Traitors get shot.'

Reffitt Jr. said Saturday he had not spoken with his dad since his arrest but 'wished he could'. He told The New York Times he was no longer staying at the family home; he would not reveal his location for fear of his safety.

He added: 'I would say I'm sorry, because I don't feel like I put him in this situation, but I still feel guilty. I would do it again.'

Jackson Reffitt, pictured, alerted the FBI to his dad's alleged role in the Capitol riots

Guy Reffitt (pictured at the Capitol), 48, of Texas, who was arrested in connection to the riot at the Capitol earlier this month, allegedly threatened to shoot his children if they became 'traitors' and turned him in to the FBI

The teen is said to have contacted the authorities about his dad in the days before the siege, The New York Times reports.

He told the paper: 'He would always tell me that he's going to do something big. I didn't know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side.'

The FBI then spoke with Reffitt Jr. to follow up on his tip in the wake of the Capitol riots.

Reffitt Jr. said Saturday he had not spoken with his dad since his arrest but 'wished he could'. He told The New York Times he was no longer staying at the family home; he would not reveal his location for fear of his safety. He is pictured speaking with Chris Cuomo on CNN

Jackson said he is 'afraid' about what his dad 'might think' after he finds out he spoke with the FBI and said his mom and two sisters did not know about this contact with the authorities until they saw him being interviewed in the media.

Referring to Donald Trump he told CNN: 'Obviously the man in charge at the time, I feel like, just really manipulated him into thinking what he is thinking now.'

'I'm obviously not sure about that, but I can't know for sure. That's the only thing I can blame this  the politics he follows and idolizes.'

According to an affidavit obtained by Dallas News Reffitt Sr. told his family that he went to Washington, DC, to 'to protect the country,' that he brought a gun with him, and that he 'stormed the Capitol'.

When he returned home, he allegedly told his son not to report him to investigators or he would 'do what he had to do'.

In addition, Reffitt reportedly told his daughter that if she betrayed him and the family that he would 'put a bullet through' her phone.

Reffitt's wife told officials that Reffit (pictured in blue with a helmet at the Capitol) was arguing about the incident with his son and daughter when he told them: 'If you turn me in, you're a traitor and you know what happens to traitors. ... Traitors get shot'

While his wife said she didn't believe that Reffitt (pictured at the Capitol) act on his words, she said that their family felt 'disturbed' by his comments

While his wife said she didn't believe that Reffitt would act on his words, she said that their family felt 'disturbed' by his comments.

Images from that day show Reffitt wearing a helmet with a camera fastened to the front of it. He's also seen in the images wearing a blue jacket and what appears to be a bulletproof vest.

FBI agents found an AR-15 rifle and a pistol during their search of Reffitt's home, according to the affidavit. The court document states that Reffitts wife told agents he is a member of the anti-government Three Percenters movement.

Reffitt told agents he was at the Capitol but did not go inside, according to the affidavit.

Supporters loyal to President Donald Trump clash with authorities before successfully breaching the Capitol building during a riot on the grounds on January 6

Pro-Trump protesters storm into the U.S. Capitol during clashes with police, during a rally to contest the certification of presidential election results by on January 6

More than 125 people have been arrested so far on charges related to the violent insurrection led by supporters of President Donald Trump at the Capitol, where a Capitol police officer and four others were killed.

Far-right media personality Tim Gionet, who calls himself 'Baked Alaska,' was arrested in Houston Saturday.

A Dallas-area real estate agent, a retired Air Force officer and several other Texas residents have also been charged with crimes tied to the insurrection.

Charges from the riot range from curfew violations to serious federal felonies related to theft and weapons possession.
Mexico City, Jan 25 : Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Monday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the latest to join a long list of world leaders to be infected with the disease.

Taking to Twitter, the President said: "I regret to inform you that I am infected with Covid-19. The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward. Dr. Olga Sanchez Cordero (Secretary of the Interior) will represent me in the morning to report how we do it every day.

"I will be aware of public affairs from the National Palace. For example, tomorrow I will take a call with President Vladimir Putin because, regardless of friendly relations, there is a possibility that they will send us the Sputnik V vaccine." His announcement comes as Mexico, one of the hardest-hit Latin American country, is battling to contain the virus spread.

As of Monday morning, the country's overall caseload has increased to 1,752,347, while the death toll stood at 149,614, currently the fourth largest in the world.

Lopez Obrador's diagnosis came almost two weeks after it was announced that Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had tested positive for Covid-19.

Some of the other world leaders who have been infected since the onset of the pandemic early last year are French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Bolivia's former interim President Jeanine Anez, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and former US President Donald Trump.


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LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Sarah Sanders, Donald Trumps former chief spokeswoman, announced shes running for Arkansas governor at a time other Republicans are distancing themselves from the former president facing an impeachment charge that he incited the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol.

But the former White House press secretary, who left the job in 2019 to return to her home state, ran the other direction with an announcement Monday that embraced Trump as much as his rhetoric.

With the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense, Sanders said in a nearly eight-minute video announcing her 2022 bid that prominently featured pictures of the president as well as some of his favorite targets.

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Trump, who publicly encouraged Sanders to run, wasted no time putting his seal of approval on her bid. The former president on Monday night backed Sanders candidacy  his first official, public endorsement since leaving office  and called her a warrior who will always fight for the people of Arkansas and do what is right, not what is politically correct.

The daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders is the most high-profile Trump official to seek major office and is doing so less than a week after the tumultuous end of his presidency. Her candidacy could showcase just how much of a hold Trump still has on the GOP.

Trump is simply not a liability here, said Janine Parry, a political scientist at the University of Arkansas. At least for the time being, were in a state where he remains an asset.

Thats even as the Senate is preparing for an impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 insurrection by Trump supporters that was aimed at halting the certification of President Joe Bidens victory over Trump.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell rebuked the president last week, saying he provoked the siege. Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters days before Bidens inauguration he wanted Trumps administration to end, though he also opposed the presidents impeachment.

Sanders announcement makes a brief reference to the Capitol siege that left five dead, equating it with violence that occurred at some protests last year over racial injustice and the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice that injured U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and four others.

This is not who we are as Americans, Sanders said in the video, but not mentioning Trumps role in encouraging his supporters who stormed the Capitol.

She joins a Republican primary that already includes two statewide elected leaders, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. The three are running to succeed Hutchinson, who is unable to run next year due to term limits. No Democrats have announced a bid to run for the seat.

Griffin and Rutledge had already spent months positioning themselves ahead of Sanders entry by lining up endorsements, raising money and trying to stake their claims as the most conservative candidate. Griffin has called for the outright elimination of the states income tax, while Rutledge signed on to Texas ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit challenging the result of the presidential election.

Following the riot, Griffin and Rutledge issued statements condemning the storming of the Capitol but not addressing Trumps role in stirring up his backers. Combined, the two have raised more than $2.8 million for the race.

Griffin on Monday criticized Sanders for promising in her video to cut off funding to so-called sanctuary cities that violate immigration laws. He noted a 2019 measure Hutchinson signed into law already does just that by cutting off funding to cities that dont cooperate with immigration authorities.

It sounds like she needs to catch up on whats been going on in Arkansas, Griffin said in a statement.

Rutledge, meanwhile, said in a statement the race was about who has a proven record and not merely rhetoric.

The race could also get even more crowded. Republican State Sen. Jim Hendren, a nephew of Hutchinsons, is considering a run for the seat and said he hoped to make a decision within the next three weeks.

Right now we have three announced candidates but they all do represent the far right part of the Republican Party, said Hendren, who has been much more willing to criticize Trump and hasnt ruled out an independent bid. The question I have to decide is, is there room for a more pragmatic, centrist type of approach?

Sanders was already well known in Arkansas politics, going back to when she appeared in ads for her fathers campaign. She managed Sen. John Boozmans 2010 election and worked as an adviser to Sen. Tom Cottons in 2014.

During Sanders nearly two-year tenure at the White House, daily televised briefings led by the press secretary ended after Sanders repeatedly sparred with reporters who aggressively questioned her. She faced questions about her credibility, but she also earned reporters respect working behind the scenes to develop relationships with the media.

She remains an unknown on many issues and wasnt made available for interviews Monday, though she staked out some positions in her introductory video that include reducing the states income tax.

Her introductory video indicates shes leaning more on her time with Trump, with it featuring images of or calling out those who frequently drew his ire including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and CNN.

Republicans hold a firm grip on Arkansas, with the GOP holding all statewide and federal seats. They also hold a majority in both chambers of the Legislature. Trump in November won the state by nearly 28 percentage points, one of the biggest margins in his ultimate loss to Biden.

State Democratic Party Chairman Michael John Gray on Monday called the GOP primary a race to the bottom. But national party leaders indicated Sanders candidacy may draw more resources and attention to a long-shot race that will coincide with 2022 congressional midterm elections.

As we close the book on a dark chapter in our history, we must make sure Trumps brand of politics stays in the past, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison tweeted. Now, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is running on his record.

Hutchinson, who has remained generally popular since taking office in 2015, said he didnt plan on endorsing anyone at this time in the race.

I am a voter, so I will follow the campaign with interest, but I have a job to do for the next two years, and I will devote my energies to bring Arkansas out of the pandemic and to revitalize our economy, he said in a statement.

___

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo
The vaccination campaign in Ukraine will begin in February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that Ukraine will soon receive 1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from a leading international company.

He made this announcement during a video address posted on Telegram on January 25.

"We expect that soon Ukraine will receive 1 million doses of the vaccine, [this will be] the first million. From a leading international company," he said.

He said that the vaccination campaign in Ukraine would begin in February.

The president said more details regarding the vaccination would be announced in the near future.

"To sum up, I could say that the situation is stable, controllable and not as threatening as [last] spring. We were able to slash the number of cases by several times compared to the period of daily anti-records. But please, let's remain wary. The end of the lockdown does not mean the end of the war on COVID -19," he said.

Zelensky urged Ukrainians to continue to comply with the safety rules, namely wear face masks, use hand sanitizers, keep their social distance, and contact their family doctor in case of COVID-19 symptoms.

The president wished the Ukrainians good health and immunity.

Read alsoCOVID-19: Ukraine could receive vaccine from another producer: Minister

COVID-19 vaccine for Ukraine

In February-March 2021, Ukraine expects the delivery of a vaccine against COVID-19.

The first batch of a vaccine via the COVAX Facility will include 8 million doses, which will be enough to vaccinate 4 million people (two shots per person required). First to get vaccinated will be healthcare workers, the elderly, and seriously ill patients.

On December 24, 2020, Health Minister Stepanov said that his ministry was working out a plan to increase the COVAX vaccine quota from 8 million to 16 million doses.

On December 30, Ukraine signed a contract with China's Sinovac for the supply of 1.9 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine.

Reporting by UNIAN
Tata Group's healthcare venture is said to have started initial discussions with Moderna Inc for a partnership to launch its COVID-19 vaccine in India, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

Tata Medical & Diagnostics could team up with the India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to carry out clinical trials of Moderna's vaccine candidate in India, the report E2B said, citing officials familiar with the matter.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

Moderna did not respond to Reuters request for a comment outside business hours, while Tata Medical & Diagnostics did not immediately respond.

Unlike Pfizer's vaccine, which must be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius or below, Moderna's can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, making it more suited for poorer countries such as India where cold chains are limited.

Data released in November from Moderna's late-stage study showed it was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns. The shot was approved for use in the United States in December and in Europe earlier this month.

India mandates that any vaccine maker must conduct an additional local study if it has to be considered for what the country calls the world's biggest vaccination programme.

It gave emergency-use approval to a vaccine by Bharat Biotech and state-run Indian Council of Medical Research and another licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca that is being produced by the Serum Institute.

India has the world's second highest COVID-19 caseload after the United States, but daily cases have been declining since hitting a peak in September.

India's drugs controller has said the overall efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine, locally branded COVISHIELD, was 70.42% based on trials done overseas, but the approval for Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN has faced criticism due to the lack of efficacy data.

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The 'appalling' alleged rape of a 92-year-old Sydney woman during a home invasion ranks among the worst attacks a veteran police officer has seen.

The Concord woman was confronted about 4am on Saturday by a man who sexually assaulted her, took cash and fled.

The accused 28-year-old man was arrested on Sunday and will face court on Monday.

He is charged with aggravated break and enter, aggravated sexual assault, sexual touching and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

'It's probably one of the most appalling (incidents) I've seen in 30 years of policing,' NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Acting Commander Chris Goddard said on Monday.

The 28-year-old allegedly fled the scene with a stolen wallet and cash after physically and sexually assaulting the 92-year-old woman in her Concord home

"It's probably one of the most appalling (incidents) I've seen in 30 years of policing," NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Acting Commander Chris Goddard said on Monday.

"Some of the most heinous crimes in the Crimes Act have been committed against this poor, defensiveness vulnerable member of our community."

The woman activated her emergency medical alarm during the attack, which alerted her son, who contacted emergency services.

Treated for cuts and bruises in hospital, she had since been released into the care of family, Detective Acting Superintendent Goddard said.

"With a 92-year-old person - frail, of age - those injuries will take some time to heal," he told reporters.

"(But) she's very strong-willed and very positive about this whole thing.

"She's getting better with each day."

The 92-year-old victim was able to activate her emergency medical alarm to alert her son of the alleged attack and has been described by police as 'brave, positive and strong-willed'

Detective Goddard told 2GB radio the elderly woman was doing 'remarkably well, considering the circumstances'.

'It was a very confronting scene, when your dealing with some of the most vulnerable members of our community'.

The man charged over the attack was known to police and was spotted in Homebush by some "eagle-eyed" detectives.

Det Supt Goddard said it appeared "a purely opportunistic, random attack".

Detective Acting Superintendent Chris Goddard confirmed the attack was random, with police arresting the identified man when he was spotted on the side of the road

Mr Goddard said it was an outstanding team effort from all parts of the NSW Police force and 'good old fashioned police work' that led to the arrest of the man.

'The crime scene was processed meticulously by our forensics evidence command, which gave us some evidence to go with, with eagle eye detectives out and about patrolling once we'd identified a suspect'.

He was charged with aggravated break and enter, aggravated sex assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was refused bail and will appear at Burwood Local Court on Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden has directed law enforcement and intelligence officials in his administration to study the threat of domestic violent extremism in the United States, an undertaking being launched weeks after a mob of insurgents loyal to Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

The announcement Friday by White House press secretary Jen Psaki is a stark acknowledgment of the national security threat that officials see as posed by American extremists motivated to violence by radical ideology. The involvement of the national intelligence office, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with a goal of thwarting international terrorism, suggests U.S. authorities are examining how to pivot to a more concerted focus on violence from extremists at home.

The threat assessment is being coordinated by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, and will be used as a foundation to develop policy, the White House said. The National Security Council will do its own policy review to see how information about the problem can be better shared across the government.

The Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that occurred underscored what we all know: The rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing national security threat, Psaki said, adding that the administration will confront the problem with resources and policies but also respect for constitutionally protected free speech and political activities.

Asked whether new methods were needed, she said: More needs to be done. Thats why the president is tasking the national security team to do exactly this review on the second full day in office.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said it was critical that the Biden administration appeared to be prioritizing the threat of domestic extremism.

In particular, far-right, white supremacist extremism, nurtured on online platforms, has become one of the most dangerous threats to our nation, Schiff said.

The riot at the Capitol, which led last week to Trumps second impeachment, raised questions about whether a federal government national security apparatus that for decades has moved aggressively to combat threats from foreign terror groups and their followers in America is adequately equipped to address the threat of domestic extremism. Its an issue that has flared repeatedly over the years, with different attacks _ including a shooting rampage at a Pittsburgh synagogue _ periodically causing renewed debate over whether a law specific to domestic terrorism is needed.

It is unclear when the threat assessment will conclude or whether it will precipitate law enforcement and intelligence getting new tools or authorities to address a problem that officials say has proved challenging to combat, partly because of First Amendment protections.

FBI Director Chris Wray said last fall that, over the past year, the most lethal violence has come from antigovernment activists, such as anarchists and militia types.

Law enforcement agencies are under scrutiny for their preparations for Jan. 6, when a violent mob of Trump supporters overran the police and stormed into the Capitol. Scores of people are facing charges so far, including a man who was photographed wearing a Camp Auschwitz shirt, as well as people identified in court papers as QAnon conspiracy theorists and members of militia groups.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Supreme Court refuses to entertain PIL for free, fair assembly polls in West Bengal

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to the Centre, the West Bengal government and the Election Commission to ensure "free, peaceful, safe and fair" assembly polls scheduled this year in the state.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, while declining to entertain the PIL of one Puneet Kaur Dhanda, said it was open for her to take other remedy as permissible in law.

"You take other remedies available under the law," said the bench which also comprised justices Hemant Gupta and R Subhash Reddy in the proceedings conducted through video conferencing.

The plea, filed through lawyer Vineet Dhanda, had sought several reliefs including a direction to the CBI to probe alleged killings of political activists and adversaries of the ruling All India Trinamool Congress Party in the state.

During the brief hearing, the lawyer said Rohingya voters from Telengana have got themselves registered as voters in West Bengal and "Hindu voters are not allowed to go out to vote in places where Muslims are in majority".

West Bengal Election 2021: Take a pledge for fair polls says Dhankar

He also alleged BJP leaders, including its national President J P Nadda, were attacked in West Bengal.

"Free and fair elections is not possible in the state in such condition," Dhanda urged, adding, "free and fair election is possible under the watchful eyes on the apex court".

The public interest litigation (PIL) had made Union Ministry of Home Affairs, West Bengal government, the Election Commission, the state poll panel, the Director General of Police and CBI as parties.

"The petitioner is seeking indulgence of this court as the continuous violation of fundamental rights, statutory rights and human rights in the state of West Bengal has reached its zenith and the state government and its police machinery is involved in such violations.

"No steps to prevent such violation of fundamental, statutory and human rights is being taken by the state government rather it is the state government and its machinery which is responsible for such brutal violation of rights in the State of West Bengal," the plea said.

Referring to recent attack on the cavalcade of the BJP President n the state, the plea had also sought a direction to "Union Home Secretary and DGP, West Bengal to take strict action against errant senior officers involved in dereliction of duty in protection of the BJP''s National President".

The PIL had alleged the fundamental rights such as right to life and personal liberty and equality and the statutory right to vote under the Representation of the people Act, 1951 of the citizens are being violated in the state.

The plea alleged that in last few years, there have been incidents of "systematic killings of political leaders especially belonging to BJP".

The ruling party has not done anything to stop the brutal violence against leaders of the BJP and other parties which are not in power in the state, it said.

It had sought a direction to authorities to submit a detailed action taken report and the status in cases of killings of opposition party leaders especially before the top court.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

It had sought a direction to state police to ensure safety of party workers belonging to opposition parties in West Bengal during canvassing, casting of votes and counting of ballots in assembly elections next year.

The plea had sought deployment of paramilitary forces in the state to ensure free and fair elections.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 14:37 [IST]
Donald Trump's impeachment trial will be presided over by Patrick Leahy, the longest-serving Democratic senator, not the chief justice, it was revealed Monday.

House impeachment managers will carry out the symbolic act of formally walking an impeachment article of Trump to the Senate on Monday  officially beginning the first impeachment of a U.S. president who is out of office.

The moves sets up an impeachment trial to begin within weeks, with the Senate Republican conference already split  and GOP Sen. Rob Portman announcing his retirement Monday morning.

There is expected to be one marked change from Trump's first impeachment: Chief Justice John Roberts is almost certain not be in the chair for the trial.

The Constitution establishes that 'when the President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside.'

But it makes no specific mention of a former president. Roberts was reportedly anxious to avoid presiding over a second Trump impeachment: a role that would test his efforts to remain nonpartisan, while once again soaking up part of his workday.

CNN reported Monday that Leahy, the most senior Democrat in the Senate and the president pro tempore, would likely preside.

At one point there had been speculation it would be Kamala Harris presiding, because of the vice president's constitutional position as Senate president.

It was not immediately clear how having a senior Democrat presiding might affect the tenor of the proceedings.

Most likely to preside: Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is presidenr pro-tempore

Supreme Court Justice John Roberts is not expected to preside over the historic second impeachment of Donald Trump, following reports he didn't want the duty

MEET LEAHY, THE SENATOR DICK CHENEY TOLD: 'GO F*** YOURSELF' 80-year-old Leahy, the Vermont Democratic senator since January 1975, is the longest-serving - although not oldest - member of the Senate. He is broadly seen as a liberal, having been a critic of the Iraq war, staking out strong advocacy for same-sex marriage and is a long-time critic of government surveillance powers. Well-liked by colleagues of both parties, he has a long track record of bipartisan bills but presiding over a divisive inauguration may test a reputation for bonhomie. But even that was tested in 2004, when the Senate class photo was presided over by then Vice President Dick Cheney. Needled by his criticism over Iraq he turned to Leahy and said: 'Go f*** yourself, Leahy.' Married since 1962 and a father of two, he is a devout Catholic who attends the same church which Joe Biden went to on Sunday, Holy Trinity in Georgetown. Advertisement

A Leahy spokesman said the two Senate leaders were negotiating 'all process issues' regarding the trial and that Leahy would defer to them.

Neither side volunteered why Harris was not chosen to preside, but she would have wanted to avoid entirely the spectacle of the Senate trial defining the start of her time as vice president.

And Democrats would have been hit by worse accusations of partisanship with Harris presiding than Leahy.

But the Republican caucus was also hit by drama Monday with Portman saying he would not run.

Portman has called the MAGA riot 'an attack on democracy itself' and said days afterward that Trump 'bears some responsibility' for what happened.

He is a two-term senator who was previously a House member and U.S. Trade Representative under the George W. Bush White House.

His retirement sets off a key open-seat Senate race in a hotly contested state, as Republicans sort through whether to continue to embrace or reject Trump amid the intra-party clash over impeachment.

Transmitting the impeachment article  an act undertaken by managers selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a time she revealed to Senate on Friday  sets in motion procedures under the rules of the Senate for Trump's trial.

Only broad outlines of the time-frame are known, but it is now a certainty that the trial will go forward, with the trial itself set to begin in about two weeks.

The Senate is expected to receive the article around 7 pm tonight, after the managers physically bring a document charging Donald Trump with 'incitement of insurrection.'

On Tuesday, senators will be sworn in to hear the trial. The trial itself will begin on Feb. 9, under an agreement reached Friday between Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, although many details of how it will go have yet to be worked out.

It was still not clear who would preside over the trial and whether it will be Chief Justice John Roberts.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman announced his retirement in in 2022. The Republican is set to sit as a jury in the trial of Trump's second impeachment

TAKE 1: House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving and Clerk of the House Cheryl Johnson deliver the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. A new group of managers will transmit a different article on January 26

The Senate trial itself is set to begin January 9, under an agreement reached between Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Sen. Mitch McConnell

The trial will advance even as Senate Republicans have been expressing opposition to the impeachment  even after some of them denounced Trump in the immediate hours after a MAGA mob trashed the Capitol after attending a 'Stop the Steal' rally where Trump urged them to 'fight.'

Among the most emphatic is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is up for reelection in Trump's new home state. 'I think the trial is stupid, I think it's counterproductive. The first chance I get to vote to end this trial, I'll do it.'

He also said it was 'arrogant' for the Senate to vote to bar Trump from holding future office  in a procedure laid out in the Constitution.

'I think that's an arrogant statement for anyone to make. Voters get to decide that. Who are we to tell voters who they can vote for in the future,' Rubio told 'Fox News Sunday.'

But Rubio also said Trump 'bears responsibility for some of what happened' when a mob of MAGA supporters ransacked the Capitol during the counting of the electoral votes of Joe Biden's election victory.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who opposed an effort to overturn the election during the Electoral Vote count January 6, says he doesn't think the Senate has the authority under the Constitution to convict an ex-president.

'The more I talk to other Republican senators, the more they're beginning to line up' in agreement, he said, of a conference that stood by Trump throughout his presidency.

'I think a lot of Americans are going to think it's strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,' he said.

The GOP senators move toward Trump comes even amid a bombshell New York Times report that a top Justice Department official met with the president in his final weeks in office about an effort to announce a federal investigation into the Georgia election results  and a plan for Trump to fire the acting attorney general after he wouldn't go along with a probe into baseless allegations of election fraud. Trump reportedly backed down only after a team of top DOJ officials threatened to quit if he went ahead with the plan.

A group of legal scholars have pointed to past impeachments for lower offices even after the occupants had resigned or left office.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who voted for an impeachment article against Trump in January, is among a handle of Republican senators most likely to vote to convict.

'I believe that what is being alleged and what we saw, which is incitement to insurrection, is an impeachable offense. If not, what is?' he said.

The two-week pause negotiated by leaders allows for both sides to draft legal briefs.
IN the final episode of Its a Sin, a character on his deathbed says: I had so much fun. Thats what people will forget. How much fun it was.

Fun is not the first thing you might associate with a miniseries about the horrifying spread of AIDS in the 1980s. And yet, this is what Russell T Daviess terrific five-parter which started on Channel 4 on Friday and is available in full and for free on All 4  initially radiates.

Like Daviess once-controversial series from two decades ago, Queer as Folk (whose gay sex scenes provoked disgusted Daily Mail columnist Lynda Lee-Potter to demand television be censored), Its a Sin focuses on a group of young gay characters trying to carve out lives of their own, in London this time, rather than Manchester.

In most cases, theyre putting as much distance as possible between themselves and their stifling families.

Ritchie (Olly Alexander from the band Years & Years  which, coincidentally, was also the title of Daviess last series) leaves his conservative parents Valerie and Clive (Keeley Hawes and Shaun Dooley) on the Isle of Wight to study law in London, although his real dream is to become an actor.

Davies enjoys some mischievous, hindsight-based fun by having Valerie snort with derision at Clives suggestion that Barry Manilow might be queer.

Later, there are similarly cheeky quips about Derek Jacobi and Philip Schofield  in the case of the latter, presumably added late in the production process.

Ritchie quickly becomes friends with bubbly drama student Jill (Lydia West), whos straight, and even more quickly throws himself into the unfettered joy of sex with as many young men as possible, including Jills friend, the tall, movie-star handsome Ash (Nathaniel Curtis).

Roscoe (Omari Douglas), a building worker whos flamboyantly out and proud, flees his ultra-religious Nigerian family just as his parents have called in his uncle to pack him off to the rampantly homophobic mother country, where hell be tortured because of his sexuality.

Read More

Completing the group is shy, square, anorak-wearing Colin (Callum Scott-Howell), whos come from the Welsh Valleys to take up an apprenticeship with a Savile Row tailor.

Very much an innocent abroad, Colin is taken under the wing of senior staff member Henry (American actor Neil Patrick Harris, mastering a pitch-perfect English accent), a gentle, kindhearted gay man whos been in a 30-year-relationship.

Colin, Ritchie, Jill, Roscoe and Ash end up sharing the same ramshackle house, which they christen The Pink Palace.

At first the tone, buoyed along by a cracking soundtrack of 80s hits, is joyous and exuberant as these young people revel in their newfound freedom, sexual and otherwise, untroubled by thoughts of mortality.

Poignantly, they talk about where theyll be five years from now.

Ritchie  who pays no attention to early news from America of a mysterious gay cancer killing young men  wants to be in the West End and the movies. Roscoe yearns to be stinking rich.

The ever-modest Colin would be quite content to remain in his current job.

You know, long before the final episode rolls around, many of these dreams, these lives, will not be fulfilled.

Davies has said this is his most personal drama yet, and you can feel it in every frame.

At one and the same time its a celebration of life, love and youth, an intoxicating depiction of the carefree, hedonistic whirl of the gay scene in 80s London, and a howl of sadness, anger and rage.

For anyone too young to remember the global AIDS epidemic, Its a Sin will be a real eye-opener.

Those of us who do remember will still be jolted by reminder that, at least in the earliest, most ignorant and fear-ridden days, many patients were left to die alone.

Davies has written a lot of great TV drama.

This might well be his masterpiece.


During Mayawati's term as chief minister in 2011, the Assembly had passed a proposal for a four-way split into Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday virtually ruled out any plan for the division of the state, saying his government believes in uniting and not dividing.

During the BSP rule with Mayawati at the helm, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had in 2011 passed a proposal for a four-way split of the state.

The proposal was to divide Uttar Pradesh into Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh.

Adityanath on Monday said, "The people of Uttar Pradesh are proud of their history and the state has its own importance in the country. We believe in uniting not dividing."

He said the state government has given special attention on development of the state's eastern parts and the Bundelkhand region.

"With an aim to usher economic development in these two regions, the BJP government has been building Purvanchal expressway and Bundelkhand expressway. The two expressways will become the backbones of development in these areas," the chief minister told reporters at his residence.

Adityanath claimed that the state government has created an investor-friendly environment in Uttar Pradesh, which has yielded positive results for the state.

For ensuring inclusive development of the state, the BJP government has started one-district-one product scheme which is transforming the lives of the poor and the backward people in the state, he added.
At least 15,058 people were on waiting lists for a hospital or a designated accommodations after testing positive for the novel coronavirus earlier this month in the 11 prefectures covered by a state of emergency, a Kyodo News survey found, as public health centers have been swamped with a surge in cases cases.

A growing number of patients on waiting lists have died at home.

The number as of last Tuesday marks a sharp increase from a month earlier, including in Tokyo, where it almost quintupled. Local public health centers are tasked with arranging hospitalization or accommodation for people infected with the virus.

But as the number of newly infected people has been rising sharply since November, the arrangement has been taking longer, and more infected people have been forced to wait at home amid bed shortages  with some dying at home.

The survey showed that Tokyo had the most infected people waiting to be hospitalized or accommodated at other facilities among the 11 prefectures, jumping 4.8 times from 1,563 as of Dec. 19 to 7,539. Hyogo Prefecture has seen its number increase 5.8 times to 727 people.

Syngenta AG ("Syngenta") announced today that Syngenta Finance N.V. (the "Issuer"), its wholly owned subsidiary, has commenced a cash tender offer (the "Offer") for any and all of its outstanding 4.375% Notes due March 28, 2042 (CUSIP: 87164K AB0 ISIN: US87164KAB08) (the "2042 Notes") and 5.676% Senior Notes due April 24, 2048 (Rule 144A CUSIP/ ISIN: 87164K AJ3 US87164KAJ34 Regulation S CUSIP ISIN: N84413 CN6 USN84413CN61) (the "2048 Notes", and together with the 2042 Notes, the "Notes"). The Notes were issued by the Issuer and are guaranteed by Syngenta.

The Offer is being made on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, dated the date hereof (the "Offer to Purchase"). As of the date hereof, US$250,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 2042 Notes is outstanding and US$500,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 2048 Notes is outstanding.

The purpose of the Offer is to proactively manage Syngenta's debt portfolio, reduce its future interest expense and to provide liquidity to Holders.

The table below sets forth certain information regarding the Notes and the Offer.

Title of Security CUSIP ISIN Numbers Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Total Consideration(*) 4.375% Notes due March 28, 2042 87164K AB0/ US87164KAB08 US$250,000,000 US$980 5.676% Senior Notes due April 24, 2048 Rule 144A: 87164K AJ3 US87164KAJ34 Regulation S: N84413 CN6 USN84413CN61 US$500,000,000 US$1,052.50

(*) Per US $1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted for payment.

The consideration for each US$1,000 principal amount of each series of Notes validly tendered at or prior to 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, on January 29, 2021 (or for notes validly submitted pursuant to the Guaranteed Delivery Procedures stipulated in the Offer to Purchase) and not validly withdrawn will be an amount in U.S. dollars equal to the applicable Total Consideration specified in the table above (each, a "Total Consideration"). In addition to the applicable Total Consideration, holders whose Notes of a given series are accepted for purchase will be paid accrued and unpaid interest on such Notes to, but not including, February 3, 2021, which is expected to be the Settlement Date for the Offer.

The Offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, on January 29, 2021 (such time and date, as it may be extended, the "Expiration Time"), unless extended or earlier terminated by the Issuer. Any Notes tendered may be withdrawn at any time at or before the Expiration Time by following the procedures described in the Offer to Purchase. The results of the Offer are expected to be announced on February 1, 2021.

Holders are advised to check with any bank, securities broker or other intermediary through which they hold Notes as to when such intermediary needs to receive instructions from a holder in order for that holder to be able to participate in, or (in the circumstances in which revocation is permitted) revoke their instruction to participate in the Offer before the deadlines specified herein and in the Offer to Purchase. The deadlines set by each clearing system for the submission and withdrawal of tender instructions will also be earlier than the relevant deadlines specified herein and in the Offer to Purchase.

The Issuer's obligation to accept for purchase and to pay for Notes that have been validly tendered and not validly withdrawn pursuant to the Offer is subject to the satisfaction or waiver, in the Issuer's discretion, of certain conditions, which are more fully described in the Offer to Purchase. The complete terms and conditions of the Offer are set forth in the Offer to Purchase. Holders of the Notes are urged to read the Offer to Purchase carefully. Capitalized terms used here and not defined have the meanings ascribed to them in the Offer to Purchase.

The Issuer has retained D.F. King Co., Inc as the tender agent and information agent (the "Information Agent") for the Offer. The Issuer has retained HSBC Continental Europe as the dealer manager for the Offer.

Holders who would like additional copies of the Offer to Purchase may call or email the Information Agent at (212) 269-5550 (banks and brokers), (877) 283-0325 (all others) or syngenta@dfking.com. Copies of the Offer to Purchase are also available at the following website: https://sites.dfkingltd.com/syngenta. Questions regarding the terms of the Offer should be directed to HSBC Continental Europe at +44 20 7992 6237 (Europe), +1 888 HSBC 4LM (toll free), +1 212 525 5552 (collect) or liability.management@hsbcib.com.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to buy or a solicitation of an offer to sell any Notes. The Offer is being made solely pursuant to the Offer to Purchase. The Offer is not being made to holders of Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the securities laws or blue sky laws require the Offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Offer will be deemed to be made on behalf of the Issuer by one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as 'expect', 'would', 'will', 'potential', 'plans', 'prospects', 'estimated', 'aiming', 'on track' and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta, such risks and uncertainties include risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, compliance and remediation, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or commodity prices, single source supply arrangements, political uncertainty, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005515/en/

Contacts:

Media Relations

media.relations@syngenta.com

Head of Global Media Relations

Saswato Das

Saswato.das@syngenta.com
Generational Equity Advises Bell & Williams Associates in Its Sale to Envest Capital Partners

Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the sale of its client, Bell & Williams Associates to Envest Capital Partners. The acquisition closed December 31, 2020 and details were not disclosed.

Located in Windham, New Hampshire, Bell & Williams Associates (Bell & Williams) provides repossession, collection, remarketing, and skip tracing services to consumer and commercial clients nationwide. The Company's managed services are designed to handle their customers' asset-based receivables from the earliest stages of delinquency with a comprehensive collection effort. The collateral ranges from heavy equipment through all types of wheeled vehicles along with office and medical equipment.

Bell & Williams is a fully licensed, bonded, and insured collection agency that specializes in collections on commercial loans and leases. The Company is the leader in providing collateral collections, nationwide asset recovery, skip tracing, and remarketing services for the vehicle finance, equipment leasing and credit union industries.

Envest Capital Partners (Envest), located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is a private equity firm that invests in privately-held businesses through long-term ownership in a broad range of industry sectors, with a focus on industrial and consumer services, specialty contracting, manufacturing, franchising and healthcare services.

Envest is led by private equity professionals dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs and owners to provide both capital and operational expertise. Since Envest was founded, they have invested in over 40 privately held operating businesses in the United States. With their committed capital base, patient approach to growth, and deep operating and investing experience, Envest strives to be a flexible and compelling partner for owners seeking full or partial liquidity.

Generational Equity Executive Managing Director, M&A-Technoloy Practice Leader, David Fergusson, and his team led by Senior Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisition, Terry Mackin, with the support of Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions, Tristan Keefe, successfully closed the deal. Executive Managing Director Bill Kushnir established the initial relationship with Bell & Williams.







"Our clients come to Generational Equity with the express purpose of maximizing the value of their companies in the current market," said Mackin. "Not only were we able to do that in this transaction, but in Envest, Bell & Williams partners also found a team of M&A professionals that could help them take the Company to the next level."

About Generational Equity

Generational Equity, Generational Capital Markets (member FINRA/SIPC), Generational Wealth Advisors, Generational Consulting Group, and DealForce are part of the Generational Group, which is headquartered in Dallas and is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America.

With over 250 professionals located throughout North America, the companies help business owners release the wealth of their business by providing growth consulting, merger, acquisition, and wealth management services. Their six-step approach features strategic and tactical growth consulting, exit planning education, business valuation, value enhancement strategies, M&A transactional services, and wealth management.

The M&A Advisor named the company the 2017 and 2018 Investment Banking Firm of the Year and 2020 Valuation Firm of the Year. For more information, visit https://www.genequityco.com/ or the Generational Equity press room.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005092/en/

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Governors of the six South-west states and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) have agreed to ban night and underage grazing in the South-west.

This was contained in a communique sent to journalists at the end of their meeting in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

According to the communique, Night grazing should be banned henceforth.

Under age herding is Inimical to security and hence be banned

Occupation of State Forest Reserves illegally is condemned.

The meeting was held following the directive given by Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, that herders should vacate all forest reserves in the state within seven days.

Mondays meeting was also a fall out of an incident in Oyo State where a local warlord, Sunday Adeyemo, led residents to chase out members of a Fulani community in Igangan over allegations that they harbour criminals.

Details later
ISTANBUL  Turkey fired a missile as a test of its Russian-made air defense system on Friday, a United States official confirmed, a move that breaks an agreement with the Trump administration and risks the imposition of sanctions by Congress.

The Turkish military tested the air defense system, known as the S-400, in the Black Sea province of Sinop, A Haber television, a news outlet close to the government, first reported and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity later confirmed. Video obtained by Reuters showed a white smoke trail rising high in the sky.

There was no official confirmation from the Turkish government of the test launch, but also no denial of the news report. Turkey had been seen moving the missiles to Sinop and had issued several recent notices restricting air space and waters off the coastal area to allow for tests.

The test launch brings Turkey closer to activating the system, a step that would further strain relations with the United States.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has announced he has tested positive for Covid-19.



The 67-year-old said on Twitter that his symptoms were mild and that he was "optimistic" following the diagnosis.



The development comes as Mexico grapples with an upsurge in infections, with deaths nearing 150,000.



Mr Lopez Obrador says he will continue working from home, including speaking to President Vladimir Putin about acquiring a Russian-made vaccine.



It was announced earlier on Sunday that a call between the two leaders will take place on Monday to discuss their bilateral relationship and the possible supply of Sputnik V jabs.



The Mexican president said last year he would try and acquire 12 million doses of the Russian-made vaccine if it proved effective.



Mexico has not yet approved the jab for use, but officials want to expand the country's vaccination program for the population of 128 million people amid delivery delays from Pfizer-BioNTech.



Sputnik V has already received authorization in a number of other countries, including Brazil and Argentina. Hungary became the first in the EU to give it the green light this week.



Jose Luis Alomia Zegarra, a senior health official, described Mr Lopez Obrador's condition as stable and told a news briefing that "a team of medical specialists" was attending to the president.



Mexico has recorded more than 1.75m virus cases since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University tracking.



The nation's confirmed death toll of 149,614 is one of the highest in the world - behind only the US, Brazil and India.





Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Unflinching about relating his own faults, Ignatius encourages individuals to reflect on their desires, resources, and vulnerabilities as a way to grow. (Vasilii L/Shutterstock)

Ready to Try an Old Approach to a New Years Resolution?

Saint Ignatius offers guidance on holding to long-term goals for self growth

Making and breaking New Years resolutions is a familiar and discouraging annual ritual for many people.

Almost inevitably, in a few short weeks, maybe around now, many find they are unable to meet their goals of self-improvement, be it keeping a positive attitude, improving ones health, or looking for the best in people. Some might even feel diminished as a result of this failure.

The problem, I believe, is that most people set their resolutions without identifying a practical path for the journey.

As a scholar of systematic theology, I believe that Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish courtier, provides insightful guidance. He managed to reverse his lifes direction to pursue a spiritual path.

Who Was Ignatius?

Born in 1491, Inigo, later known as Ignatius, was the youngest son of a minor noble family in the Basque region of Spain who left home at the age of 18 to win his place at the royal court.

More than a decade later, as he lay confined to bed recuperating from injuries suffered in the Battle of Pamplona against the French, he daydreamed about potential future exploits at court or service to God and humanity.

It was at that time that he started to notice the subtle development of his feelings. When he dreamed about courtly heroism he later felt depleted, but when he reflected on serving God he felt a deep, lasting, and energizing peace.

Reflection about his growing self-awareness led him to make a radical change in the direction of his life. He chose to put aside his quest for glory to serve God and creation, especially his fellow humans, whether friends or strangers.

He met a group of university students who became his companions. In 1540, they together founded the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, a community of priests and brothers that became known throughout the world for spiritual development, preparatory and university education, and justice advocacy.

Challenges Before Ignatius

This path wasnt smooth for Ignatius. In the course of his work, he suffered many setbacks, such as suspicion and rejection by church authorities, but he came to a better understanding of himself and his path through those challenges.

As Ignatius narrates in an account of his life, which he related to a fellow Jesuit just before his death, the key isnt to become suddenly perfect but to learn how to walk patiently and deliberately to grow in love and service despite imperfection.

Ignatius relates his self-driven determination to preach to pilgrims in Jerusalem. His intention, however, wasnt well received by church authorities, who thought he was poorly prepared. This rejection led him to further his education and become more flexible about how he understood his role in serving God.

He writes about how he was easily provoked to self-righteous anger. Once he took offense when a fellow traveler made an insulting comment about the Virgin Mary. Only the stubborn donkey he was riding saved him from pursuing the other traveler and acting on a murderous rage.

In the sharing of his story, Ignatius doesnt want his biography to become the center of attention. He provides an example of moving beyond the isolated facts of his life journey to reflect on their interconnected meaning and a way of looking beyond.

As the scholar of renaissance rhetoric Marjorie ORourke Boyle suggests, Ignatius is using the story about himself to redirect his readers attention to God and a higher purpose. Unflinching about relating his own faults, Ignatius encourages individuals to reflect on their desires, resources, and vulnerabilities as a way to grow.

Practical Guidance from Ignatius

In the Spiritual Exercises, his manual for prayer guides, Ignatius suggests a five-step daily process, known as the Examen, as a way to tell and retell life-transforming stories. These, I believe, are practical recommendations that could help people realize their resolutions in the New Year.

Start with a realistic, accurate, and encouraging assessment of your current situation. Ignatius would always begin his moments of reflective self-assessment by reaffirming his gratitude for life and opportunities to serve in a project larger than himself. Acknowledge strengths, vulnerabilities, positive and negative feelings, and areas of encouragement and discouragement as gifts.

Be open to the light of a larger perspective. Call upon the assistance of a higher power to reveal the big picture that holds together the pieces of the journey through the day. Expect to be surprised by new insights.

Focus on the events of today. Create a story that links the episodes of the day and your goals together. Ignatius would move beyond just listing strengths, weakness, and feelings to discover how they advanced or impeded his goal to serve God and others.

Identify the moments of darkness and discouragement that resist being drawn into your story. Ask what episodes disrupt your understanding of yourself and the world. Find new perspective by deepening your commitment to a higher purpose.

Much like the beliefs in other religions, Ignatius turns to his faith to find a new perspective during difficult moments. Christianity and other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Judaism help find purpose in a compassionate and merciful love that inspires and guides day-to-day actions, each in their own way.

As a Christian, Ignatius looked especially to the example of compassionate self-sacrifice in Jesuss death on the cross to hold difficult moments in a higher faith perspective. By committing to accept the cost of positive action in the face of his own failings or opposition by others, Ignatius was able to move through obstacles and find encouragement and strength to advance his story.

Finally, reflect on how your story offers direction and energy to move forward to the next day. By incorporating discouraging moments into the flow of a larger story, Ignatius learned how to move beyond the shame and confusion caused by failure and misdeeds to a healthy sense of sorrow. It helped Ignatius find a higher purpose.

Like Ignatius, many of us may need to revise our resolutions and reflect on how we may proceed, even when we feel discouraged.

Gordon Rixon is an associate professor of systematic theology at Regis College in Massachusetts and the University of Toronto in Canada. This article was first published on The Conversation.
India recorded the lowest number of coronavirus fatalities in over eight months, with 131 deaths being reported on Monday, the health ministry said

The number of beneficiaries vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country crossed 19.5 lakh as of Monday evening, which was the 10th day of the nationwide immunisation drive, the health ministry said.

A total of 19,50,183 beneficiaries were inoculated in 35,785 sessions till 7.10 pm on Monday including 3,34,679 in 7,171 sessions during the day, the ministry said. It added that the final report will be compiled later on Monday night.

A total of 348 adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) were reported till 7.10 pm. "The countrywide COVID-19 vaccination programme was conducted successfully on the 10th day in the states and Union territories," the ministry said.

The total number of beneficiaries vaccinated till 7.10 pm on Monday since the drive was rolled out includes 2,30,119 in Karnataka, 1,55,453 in Andhra Pradesh, 1,21,615 in West Bengal, 91,110 in Gujarat, 88,200 in Bihar, 71,976 in Kerala, 68,916 in Tamil Nadu, 56,586 in Madhya Pradesh and 33,219 in Delhi, according to the provisional report.

This, as India recorded the lowest number of coronavirus fatalities in over eight months with 131 more deaths being recorded, the health ministry said on Monday.

The COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,06,67,736 with 13,203 more infections. There are 1,84,182 active cases, which is 1.73 percent of the caseload and it remained below 2 lakh for the sixth consecutive day, according to the ministry data.

'Check vaccine rumours'

Faced with the problem of rumours about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, the Centre has asked the states to check the spread of such misinformation and advised them to take penal action against those who are found to be involved in dissemination of wrong and ill-informed news.

In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla also emphasised that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found that the two vaccines  Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, developed and manufactured by the Bharat Biotech Limited  were safe and immunogenic.

The Centre, in close collaboration with the state governments and UT administrations, has launched the inoculation drive of COVID-19 vaccination from 16 January across the country with the two vaccines.

The Union home secretary said healthcare workers and frontline workers are being inoculated as per the priority decided by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), and subsequently the priority groups 2 and 3 will be vaccinated.

"I would like to strongly emphasise that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immunogenic. However, it has been reported that unfounded and misleading rumours are circulating on social and other media, creating doubt about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines.

"Such kind of rumour mongering, particularly by vested interests, can create unwarranted doubts among people at large, and there is, therefore, a need to check all such kinds of unfounded scare mongering relating to the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccines, the communication said.

Urging the states and UTs to put in place an appropriate mechanism to check the spread of such ill-informed rumours, Bhalla asked the chief secretaries to direct all the authorities concerned to take appropriate necessary measures to counter the spread of all "false information" about COVID-19 vaccines, and promptly disseminate factual messages.

"Further, penal action may be taken against the person/s or organisation/s who is/ are found to have indulged in such activities, under the relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act. 2005 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860," he said.

Delhi could be heading towards ''herd immunity'', indicates latest sero-survey

The outcome of the fifth round of sero-prevalence survey in the National Capital has indicated that Delhi population could be heading towards attaining herd immunity against coronavirus infection, PTI quoted sources as saying on Monday. The survey has found that in one district, 50-60 percent of the sampled population has developed antibodies to COVID-19 , they said.

For the survey, which ended a few days ago, samples of over 25,000 people from various districts across the city were collected, the sources said. Delhi's population is over two crore, spread across 11 districts.

"In one district, the sero-prevalence rate is between 50-60 percent, indicating a large number of people have developed antibodies, so we can say the city is moving towards attaining herd immunity," the PTI report added, without mentioning the name of the district.

Experts say herd immunity is said to have been developed in a population segment if 50-60 percent of those are found to have the presence of antibodies in a sero-prevalence survey.

Herd immunity implies that in any set of people in a community, after becoming affected by the virus, a lot many of them become immune to it, on account of antibodies developed in response to it. And, hence, such people become a protective layer between the infected person and unaffected people, thereby breaking the chain of viral transmission.

Negative RT-PCR report must to attend Haridwar's Kumbh Mela

Devotees who wish to attend the forthcoming Kumbh Mela must bring a COVID-19 negative RT-PCR test report, according to a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Centre for holding the religious congregation.

The RT-PCR test must be conducted within 72 hrs of the date of the visit, stated the document by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Uttarakhand government shall ensure that healthcare and other frontline workers engaged during Kumbh Mela medical and public health operations are vaccinated on priority. Only vaccinated healthcare and other frontline workers be deputed for Kumbh Mela duties, it said.

As far as possible, people must maintain a six-feet distance in public places and wear masks, the SOP stated, while the authorities have been directed to ensure the devotees adhere to COVID-appropriate behaviour during the Kumbh.

"Mask dispensing kiosks at government-approved rates may be set up at entry points and parking lots. Provision should be kept for distribution of free masks to those who cannot afford them, it said. Enforcement agencies should levy penalties on defaulters for not wearing masks or face covers or for not following physical distancing norms," the SOP stated.

Those aged more than 65 years, pregnant women, children below the age of 10, those with underlying comorbid conditions such should be discouraged to attend the Kumbh Mela, it said.

Devotees visiting the Kumbh Mela must register with the Uttarakhand government and obtain a compulsory medical certificate from the nearest community Health centre district hospital and medical college in their state.

The Kumbh Mela administration should identify spatial boundaries of the fair ground keeping in view the physical distancing requirements and prepare a detailed site plan which would facilitate compliance with thermal screening, physical distancing and sanitization. The Kumbh Mela administration should make arrangements for adequate ambulances and build a temporary hospital with 1,000 beds which can be being expanded to 2,000 beds, the statement said.

The likely dates for the event are from 27 February to 30 April. It is expected that about 10 lakh people will attend the fair on a normal day and about 50 lakh people will attend the mela on auspicious days.

Moderna will test booster dose for virus variant

Moderna on Monday said its COVID-19 vaccine protects against worrisome emerging variants of the coronavirus but it is taking the precaution of testing a possible booster dose against the strain discovered in South Africa.

In Monday's announcement, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said the move was out of an abundance of caution after preliminary lab tests suggested its shot produced a weaker immune response to that variant.

Vaccine manufacturers have been testing their shots against the mutated strains including two that first emerged in Britain and South Africa.

In a study conducted with the National Institutes of Health, Moderna used blood samples from eight vaccine recipients, and some immunized monkeys, in laboratory tests against the mutated viruses.

The vaccine was effective against both variants but researchers found a six-fold drop in levels of neutralizing antibodies against the strain from South Africa. Moderna said while the levels still were protective, it has begun developing a booster vaccine targeted to that new strain, called the B.1.351 variant. In addition, Moderna will test if simply giving an extra dose of the original vaccine could be helpful.

Pfizer, which makes a similar COVID-19 vaccine, has previously reported that its shot also appears effective against the strain from Britain. But other research has raised questions about the variant from South Africa.

COVID caseload rises

The COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,06,67,736 with 13,203 more infections. There are 1,84,182 active cases, which is 1.73 percent of the caseload and it remained below 2 lakh for the sixth consecutive day, according to the ministry data.

As many as 1,03,30,084 people have recuperated, taking the recovery rate to 96.83 percent.

The fatality rate rose to 1.4 percent and 131 more deaths include 45 from Maharashtra, 20 from Kerala, nine from Delhi and eight each from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 1,53,470 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 50,785 from Maharashtra, followed by 12,316 in Tamil Nadu, 12,197 in Karnataka, 10,808 in Delhi, 10,115 in West Bengal, 8,617 in Uttar Pradesh and 7,147 in Andhra Pradesh.

According to the ICMR, 19.23 crore tests have been conducted so far with 5,70,246 samples being tested on Sunday.

With inputs from PTI

Fifteen of 19 bodies that were found shot and burned in a Mexican border town are reportedly migrants from Guatemala who were expecting to be ferried to the United States.

Family members told Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre that their loved ones had left the town of San Marcos on January 11 before crossing into Mexico.

'Tuesday marks fifteen days since he traveled to the United States with 15 other people from here, from San Marcos,' a relative said, under the condition of anonymity.

A Mexican law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told DailyMail.com on Monday that '80% to 100%' of the victims' bodies were burned beyond recognition. Talks are already underway with Guatemala to obtain DNA samples.

Club Juventud Comiteca, a Guatemalan third division soccer team, confirmed on its social media platforms that one of its former players, Marvin Tomas, was one of the victims killed.

The 22-year-old intended to seek asylum and try out for a Major League Soccer club.

Guatemala congressman Mario Ernesto Galvez told Reuters that 13 of the victims were Guatemalan nationals.

Mexican security forces inspect a vehicle discovered Saturday night in the border town of Camargo with 15 burned bodies, reportedly all Guatemalan nationals who had entered the country January 11 in hopes of crossing the Mexico-United States border, according to family members who spoke to Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre under the condition of anonymity

Club Juventud Comiteca, a Guatemalan third division team, confirmed on its social media platforms that 22-year-old Marvin Tomas was one of the 19 victims shot dead and burned. He intended to seek asylum and try out for a Major League Soccer club.

Residents in Camargo, a city in the northeast Mexico state of Tamaulipas, said alleged members of the Cartel del Noreste (Northeast Cartel) entered a home Friday and shot dead 19 people before removing their bodies. The victims were all burned and abandoned in two vehicles in the Camargo town of Santa Anita

One of the two vehicles that were burned by alleged members of a Mexican cartel

Camargo residents told authorities that alleged members of the Cartel del Noreste [Northeast Cartel] on Friday raided a home where the Guatemalans were staying, as part of the human trafficking scheme to get them across the Mexico-United States, and shot all of them.

The victims were then placed in two vehicles and driven to the Camargo town of Santa Anita, where they were later found burned on a dirt road late Saturday, according to the Tamaulipas state prosecutors office.

Authorities located one of the victims on the side of the road and four others in a pickup truck. The 15 Guatemalans were located in the flatbed of another pickup truck.

According to newspaper Proceso, Saltillo bishop Raul Vera said during a Sunday mass that all of the 19 victims were Guatemala nationals and called on authorities to ramp up their efforts in the investigation.

'They are a business because [the cartel] helps them move to the United States and their families go into debt,' Vera said.

'The people in [Camargo] say that a cartel had people, a crime that is called trafficking, because they took money from them to pass them on, but the enemy group [Northeast Cartel] does not want their rivals to make money off of them ... they decided to kill and incinerate them.'

The Mexican government is in talks with Guatemalan officials to secure DNA to identify the bodies.

Pictured is one of the two charred vehicles that were discovered by Mexican authorities Saturday. A pickup truck had four bodies inside while another had 15 bodies in the flatbed, all burned beyond recognition

Burned parts of one of the two vehicles that were discovered on fire by Mexican security forces Saturday night in the Tamaulipas town of Santa Anita, some 249 miles away from the border with the United States

Remnants of one of two vehicles that were torched with the bodies of some of the 19 people who were reportedly executed at a home Friday in Tamaulipas, Mexico, before they were found next day on a dirt on road

The bodies were discovered around 249 miles from the Mexico-Texas border, in an area that has seen violent territorial disputes between organized crime groups in recent years.

A Camargo official, who requested anonymity due to security concerns, said the killings occurred Friday, but people had been afraid to report them.

Camargo is a major smuggling transit point for drugs and migrants.

Organized crime groups covet control of stretches of the border because they make money off everything that crosses the border.

Camargo is near the edge of territory historically controlled by the Gulf cartel and in recent years a remnant of the Zetas criminal organization, known as the Northeast Cartel, has tried to take over.

In January 2020, 21 bodies, most burned, were found in various vehicles near the neighboring town of Ciudad Mier.

Days later the Mexican army killed 11 alleged gunmen in the area.

In October last year, 59 bodies were found in a mass grave in Mexico's Guanajuato state, which is known for violence breaking out between two rival cartels.

In September 2019, 119 bags containing the parts of 44 bodies were discovered in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.


A mother has been forced to defend her stockpiling 'obsession' after she was branded as 'disgusting' by a troll.

Holly Smith, from Norfolk, who has Asperger's syndrome, and often shares her bargain finds to her blog Coupon Queen and TikTok, took to the social media platform to hit back at a critic, who slammed her stockpiling as 'disgusting' and 'greedy'.

In one clip, she showed off her shelves, which were jam-packed with rows of cleaning products, beauty products, tinned foods, teabags and children's toys, which she collect free or cheaply through couponing and giveaways.

The money-saving mother explained that some people call her stockpiling an 'obsession', adding that she strongly believes her hobby 'doesn't hurt anyone'.

Holly Smith, who shares her bargain finds and handy hacks to her TikTok, took to the social media platform to hit back at a troll who slammed her stockpiling (above) as 'disgusting'

She said: 'People think I'm obsessed with this, but I'm OK with it. I am obsessed with it and I think this is an obsession that doesn't hurt anyone.'

In another video, Holly hit back at a troll who commented on one of her videos, calling her stockpiling amid the coronavirus pandemic 'disgusting' and 'greedy'.

The user wrote: 'Absolutely disgusting! Stockpiling during a pandemic! People go without because you want to be greedy! #selfish'

But Holly was quick to hit back at the troll, pointing out that she has been stockpiling for more than 'seven years' and went on to explain what she does with her stockpiled products.

The blogger said: 'The video you left this comment on was filmed last year. I have been stockpiling for over seven years.

In one clip,he showed off her shelves, which were jam-packed with rows of cleaning products, beauty products and toys (above) saying her 'obsession' 'doesn't hurt anyone'

'But I'd like to to show you what my stockpile looks like now.'

Filming an empty space where her products used to sit, Holly revealed that she had given all the toiletries to a women's refuge while the food was given to the Salvation Army.

The bargain hunter went on to explain that the stash of children's toys had been donated to London's Brompton Hospital, who 'saved' her baby's life last year.

Holly continued: 'This is the area where my stockpile was, and you might be wondering where it's all gone.

'First up, all the toiletries, which you saw in the video, such as bath bombs and shower gels, went to a women's refuge.

'All the toys went to the Brompton Hospital in London because they had a toy appeal, and it was the least I could do because they saved my baby's life last year.

'And all the food went to the Salvation Army to support families over Christmas.

Responding to the troll, the money-saving mother pointed out that she has been stockpiling for more than 'seven years' and even revealed she donated her last stockpile to charity

'I'm not making this video to say "Look at me, I donate to charity", but I get so much hate on a daily basis when people see my stockpile.

'Will I stop stockpiling? No! Because I'm going to do it all over again.'

Holly's dedicated followers were quick to flock and show their support for the bargain-hunter, slamming people who 'jumped to conclusions'.

One TikToker wrote: 'There is a difference between panic buying and stockpiling. I have stockpiled slowly for several months. In these times it is essential and practical.'

Another fumed: 'People are so quick to jump to conclusions and cancel just what's wrong with people????'

And a third commented: 'Ignore them hun, you're incredible', while a fourth user described Holly as a 'true inspiration'.

Holly frequently gives other shopping helpful tips for finding bargain buys, getting freebies and coupons, and sourcing free tickets on her online blog Coupon Queen.
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NEW DELHI : Amazon.com Inc has requested an Indian court to block partner Future Group 's $3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries , in its latest attempt to derail the transaction, a court filing seen by Reuters showed.

Amazon has asked the High Court in New Delhi to enforce the decision of a Singapore arbitrator, which both sides had agreed to use in case of disputes, the filing showed. In October, the arbitrator issued an interim order saying the deal should be put on hold.

Amazon argues Future breached some pre-existing clauses by entering into a deal with Reliance, but the Indian group has maintained the arbitrator's order is not binding on it and needs to be ratified by an Indian court.

Future has "deliberately" disobeyed the arbitrators order, Amazon argued in its court filing, which is likely to be heard by the court in New Delhi later this week.

The US group's latest court move comes after Indian stock exchanges last week gave the go ahead to the Future deal, after communicating with India's markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

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Harris County on Tuesday will launch a COVID-19 vaccine wait list to ensure shots are fairly administered among eligible residents.

Instead of the first-come, first-served approach used by other distributors, including the city of Houston, the countys system will randomly choose recipients for appointments. Older residents will be made a priority, Harris County Public Health said.

Let me put it bluntly: Getting the COVID-19 vaccine shouldnt be like the Hunger Games, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said. It shouldnt be about who can hit refresh on a browser the fastest.

Only people who meet the criteria for phases 1A  first responders and health care workers  and 1B  residents at least 65 years old or those with certain medical conditions  will receive appointments.

Registration will be available at readyharris.org; residents also can call (832) 927-8787 to sign up. Operators are available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. All Texans are eligible.

The health department said its distribution plan complies with state guidelines. Dallas County backtracked on a plan to focus vaccination efforts in certain low-income ZIP codes after the state threatened to withhold supply of the vaccine.

Harris County has administered more than 27,000 vaccine doses to date, less than the capacity of Minute Maid Park. Hidalgo said the county has received about 9,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine each week.

People who are not eligible for the 1A or 1B categories still can sign up. Vaccines may not be available for most residents, however, until May or June.

zach.despart@chron.com
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Council of Representatives has approved an urgent proposal to establish a make-shift medical centre in Salman City in the Northern Governorate, one of the newest government housing projects in recent years.

The proposal was submitted by a group of MPs, who called for urgently establishing the centre, similarly to Budaiya Coastal Clinic, which serves the citizens and residents of Budaiya town.

Heading the MPs is Fatima Al Qatari, who said that Salman City is one of the new cities that house a growing number of population.

Launching a temporary medical centre that covers the main medical services is a necessity as people residing in this area need to travel to neighbouring villages to receive medical care.

Establishing a temporary health centre in Salman City responds to the urgent needs of the residents of the area, which is one of the biggest housing cities in Bahrain.

It is an appropriate solution for the government to carry out its responsibilities towards the citizens by providing healthcare to them and reducing the pressure on the nearby centres, she commented. Al Qatari, the parliamentary representative of the area, said that in some cases, urgent medical intervention is needed to avoid serious complications.

She called for a swift action to construct this centre in order to ensure the well-being of all people in Salman City.

There is increasing pressure on the medical centres near Salman City, and having a temporary one in this area to exclusively serve the people living there is an urgent matter that we hope it will be solved at the earliest, the MP added.

The closest medical facilities to the new city are located a few kilometres away, in Budaiya, Barbar and Bani Jamrah areas. Several emergency cases, especially fatal traffic accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists, were reported in Salman City recently.

The latest case was of a three-year-old Bahraini girl, who was run over by her family driver near her home two weeks ago.

The girl was rushed by ambulance to Salmaniya Medical Complex in the Capital, where she was pronounced dead. Following this mishap, residents of the area repeated their call for a medical facility to serve Salman City and the nearby towns and village
FCW Insider: Jan. 25

An executive order also called for feds and federal contractors to receive a $15 minimum wage.

A group of Democratic senators want detailed answers from the Justice Department and the judiciary branch by the end of the month about the impact of the SolarWinds breach.

The quasi-judicial Federal Labor Relations Authority was involved in some of the most contentious wrangling between the Trump administration and federal employee unions.

Army CIO plans to release new enterprise digital strategy and rein in $2 billion of bloated IT spending.

The task force, which is planned for March, is responsible for delivering recommendations that would become the Navy's enterprise-wide roadmap for implementing DevSecOps.

Quick Hits

*** Axios reported that President Joe Biden has selected his senior team at the Office of Personnel Management. There's no nominee for director, but key positions including chief of staff, general counsel, press secretary and more have been named. Picks include OPM veteran Chris Canning who served in the Obama administration and Lynn Eisenberg for general counsel  a senior attorney on the Biden-Harris campaign.

*** The State Department announced it was resuming diversity and inclusion training, in the wake of an executive order on the first day of the Biden administration that reversed a Trump policy that purged such training of certain concepts deemed "divisive".

*** In an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he never thought about quitting his job in the face of criticism from President Donald Trump, White House officials downplaying the pandemic and death threats aimed at himself and his family.

"When people just see you standing up there, they sometimes think youre being complicit in the distortions emanating from the stage," Fauci said. "But I felt that if I stepped down, that would leave a void. Someones got to not be afraid to speak out the truth."
After being left heartbroken and branded a 'gaslighter' on Married At First Sight, Mike Gunner has set his sights on a new bride.

The 45-year-old hunk has been getting rather friendly with fellow MAFS star Sarah Roza, 42, who appeared on the Channel Nine social experiment the year before him.

Daily Mail Australia understands that the unlikely duo have struck up a new friendship since filming the reunion.

Something to tell us? Mike Gunner, 45, [L] was 'constantly flirting' with co-star Sarah Roza, 42, [R] while filming Married At First Sight grand reunion in Sydney last month

'Mike was very protective of Sarah and didn't want her to feel uncomfortable on set,' a source revealed.

'Sarah loves a confident man, and was over the moon when he had her back and hit back at Nasser Sultan (who also appears in the reunion special) for all the vile things he said about her over the years.'

Mike and Sarah have been publicly displaying their new friendship on social media by liking and commenting each other's photos.

Since filming the two-part reunion special, Daily Mail Australia understands that the unlikely new pair have struck up an unlikely new friendship

Friends: Mike and Sarah have been publicly displaying their unlikely new friendship on social media by liking and commenting each other's photos

It comes as New Idea claimed the tattoo artist was 'like a kid in a candy shop' and was 'trying his luck with anyone he could' while filming the reunion special in Sydney last month.

According to the publication, Mike was 'seriously flirty on set' and seemed 'very starry-eyed for Sarah'.

'There was lots of chatter about his interest in her,' a source told the magazine.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Mike has rubbished the magazine's claims and says that the pair are just friends.

It comes as New Idea claimed the tattoo artist was 'like a kid in a candy shop' and was 'trying his luck with anyone he could' while filming the reunion special in Sydney last month

Back in 2019, Mike was accused of 'gaslighting' his 'wife' Heidi Latcham during the final reunion episode when he told her he was 'still in love with' her.

'Gaslighting' is the practice of emotionally abusing another person with such conviction and confidence that the victim starts to doubt their own sense of reality.

Married At First Sight Grand Reunion will air over two nights on Sunday, January 31, at 7pm and Monday, February 1, at 7.30pm on Nine and 9Now
Galway County Council said it would provide survivors of Tuam Mother and Baby Home with appropriate access to archives and records. Photo: Ray Ryan

Galway County Council has issued an apology for its failure concerning the operation and management of the mother and baby home in Tuam.

The home was run by the Bon Secours Sisters on behalf of the local authority, between 1925 and 1961.

The recent report into mother and baby homes laid bare the acutely brutal conditions and callous treatment suffered by the women and children forced to live at the home.

The report delivered a devastating portrait of inhumane conditions facilitated by Galway County Council.

A former workhouse, the mother and baby home saw 2,219 women and 3,251 children pass through its doors.

The report found that a horrifying toll of 978 children who were in Tuam or Glenamaddy, which pre-existed Tuam, died with 80pc aged under a year.

Read More

Three-quarters of the deaths happened in the 1930s and 1040s; the worst years were 1943-1947.

The report also acknowledges the horrific, illegal burial of children in a disused sewerage chamber on the home's grounds.

"No register of burials were kept, and it is likely that most of the children who died in Tuam are buried inappropriately in the grounds of the institution," it notes.

What marks Tuam apart from the other homes detailed in the report is the "dire" physical conditions that remained for its entire existence.

The report found: "Galway County Council failed to properly maintain, much less improve, the conditions.

"In 1959, Tuam's physical condition was much worse than the county home in Loughrea even though conditions in county homes were generally much worse than in mother and baby homes."

The home was owned and controlled by Galway County Council, which made all the major decisions, and ran on a day-to-day basis by the Sisters of the Bon Secours, who were not salaried employees. The local authority was responsible for maintenance and improvements.

The report found that women in Tuam "carried out a much heavier workload than in other mother and baby homes.

In a statement at today's council meeting, chief executive Kevin Kelly said the authority acknowledged its failures and was willing to hold itself to account for them.

The meeting heard that the council failed to offer "compassion, empathy, support and understanding" to women forced to enter the home.

Mr Kelly said it was a source of great hurt and sorrow that the women and children were not afforded respect and dignity in death.

Galway County Council accepted its role in failing to ensure that many individuals were not afforded "the dignity of an appropriate and respectful resting place".

Mr Kelly committed that the council would engage with those who have a connection to the burial site in Tuam and work towards "the Governments agreed course of action" in this regard.

Legislation allowing for the exhumation and DNA analysis of human remains at the Tuam site is expected before the Oireachtas by the end of the year.

Also, the council said it would provide survivors with appropriate access to archives and records.

Mr Kelly also acknowledged the relationship between former residents and the council had been broken, due to failings in the arrangements for their care.

He said the authority was determined to assist and support survivors and would work to rebuild that relationship.

Cathaoirleach of the council James Charity said the home cast a long and onerous shadow over the local authority.

He said it was important to acknowledge the work carried out by local historian Catherine Corless, describing her as a "heroine" for her efforts in shedding light on what went on.

Mr Charity said the apologies would be too late for some people who died waiting for an acknowledgement of their stories and their suffering.

After his statement, members observed a minute's silence to remember former residents and those who died at the Tuam home.
ChiragM Senior - BHPian



Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,341 Thanked: 14,187 Times

RSMspec garage - A tasteful collection of supercars in India (Bangalore) & Dubai



The cars aren't garage queens either. He regularly drives all his cars on the streets of Bangalore, and often gives young car enthusiasts the opportunity to ride along with him.



Although he has now moved from Bangalore to Dubai, some of his cars are still in India.



McLaren 720XS





One of the cars that shot him to car-spotter fame. This Dubai-registered 720S was the first McLaren to land in India and created havoc on Bangalore streets in 2017. The car is now wrapped in black and has been christened the 720XS.



Ferrari 488XX





Image Source

This has to be one of the most famous Ferrari 488s in India. It started out in life as a stock yellow 488, but was upgraded. It got carbon bits and a Capristo exhaust, along with a subtle rear wing. It's not all just cosmetic though, the power has been bumped up to an alleged 780 BHP as well.



Ferrari 458 Italia





Another one of his Ferraris in India, and what must be one of the oldest cars in the collection. It is said that RSM bought one of the first 458s in the country after it was launched, but sold it due to a spate of



Ferrari 458 Spider





Again, one of the best sounding 458s. This car has a Novitec Inconel F1 exhaust. RSM sure loves naturally-aspirated V8s.



Ferrari 488 Pista



The 488 Pista is the performance-oriented variant of the 488 GTB. The car has the 'French flag' livery on the sides. Despite so many cars in RSM's collection, they are all driven regularly. This Pista for example has covered 3,000 km in 3 months.



Ferrari 812 GTS



Nothing beats a convertible supercar with a screaming high-revving naturally-aspirated V12 engine. It is one of the most powerful production convertible supercars in the world. This GTS replaced a 812 Superfast.



Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster





Looks like RSM loves his V12 convertible supercars. Another V12 roadster occupies the garage. The Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster is limited to 500 units.



Rolls Royce Wraith Black Badge



The Wraith is one of the sportiest Rolls Royces built, and the Black Badge is one of the most exclusive and expensive variants. This black Wraith gets black and red interiors.



Rolls Royce Cullinan



One of the most luxurious SUVs built. This particular Cullinan is the Black Badge edition of the SUV.



BMW X7



One of BMW's latest and most expensive SUVs. This car was bought as a replacement to a Q7.



Porsche 911 Turbo S





An enthusiast's garage is incomplete without a Porsche. This was one of the fastest accelerating cars of its time. Just like RSM's other cars, it couldn't stay stock for long. This 991 Turbo S got fitted out with a Capristo exhaust system.



Mercedes G 63 AMG



This was one of the first performance SUVs in his garage. However, RSM felt that he did not like performance SUVs as they did not suit his style. So, the car was sold soon after.



Rolls Royce Ghost



One of my favourite luxury cars, and looks absolutely gangster here in its all-black avatar. This car was replaced by the Wraith.



Ferrari 812 Superfast





Who doesn't like a screaming high-revving Ferrari V12? The 812 Superfast succeeded the F12 in Ferrari's line up. The car was replaced with the 812 GTS in RSM's garage.



Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder



The best selling Lamborghini of all time, until it was overtaken by the Huracan in 2020. This is the pre-facelift version of the convertible V10-powered supercar.



Lamborghini Huracan





One of the most eye-catching Huracans in India, and the first one in Bangalore. Finished in black, the car first got black wheels and then a Novitec Torado rear wing. It later got a Fi exhaust, ADV wheels with RSM wheel caps, gold stripes and gold lettering. The car was eventually sold to Hyderabad.



Nissan GT-R



One of the first few GT-Rs in the country and was imported from Japan. RSM claims that at that time, many GT-Rs had gearbox failure issues and hardly anyone knew how to fix them as they were new. The gearbox in his car also failed, but the issue was diagnosed and fixed, something the owner claims was the first in the world.



Nissan 300ZX



The 300ZX was one of his first sports cars. This picture was taken in 1999.



Toyota Supra



RSM says that this is the car that ignited his passion to spec cars. His Supra was heavily modified and he says that he built the engine himself. It put out around 600 BHP.



Ferrari 430



His first Ferrari, and of course, it wasn't left stock. The car had a Capristo exhaust system and BMC air filters.



Porsche 911 Turbo



RSM also had a 997 Turbo wrapped in matte black. You can also see a Bentley Continental GT in the picture.



In addition to the cars shown above, RSM has also posted on social media that he will be getting a Ferrari SF90 Stradale and a McLaren 765LT soon. One of the most well-known car collectors in the country, Ranjith Sundaramurthy has some of the most tastefully-specced cars. In fact, any car that goes through his ownership (and the expected modifications) is commonly referred to as 'RSMspec' within the car community.The cars aren't garage queens either. He regularly drives all his cars on the streets of Bangalore, and often gives young car enthusiasts the opportunity to ride along with him.Although he has now moved from Bangalore to Dubai, some of his cars are still in India.One of the cars that shot him to car-spotter fame. This Dubai-registered 720S was the first McLaren to land in India and created havoc on Bangalore streets in 2017. The car is now wrapped in black and has been christened the 720XS.This has to be one of the most famous Ferrari 488s in India. It started out in life as a stock yellow 488, but was upgraded. It got carbon bits and a Capristo exhaust, along with a subtle rear wing. It's not all just cosmetic though, the power has been bumped up to an alleged 780 BHP as well.Another one of his Ferraris in India, and what must be one of the oldest cars in the collection. It is said that RSM bought one of the first 458s in the country after it was launched, but sold it due to a spate of Ferrari 458 fires across the world, and then bought another 458 after the issue was rectified. The car has an Innotech exhaust and is said to be one of India's loudest 458s.Again, one of the best sounding 458s. This car has a Novitec Inconel F1 exhaust. RSM sure loves naturally-aspirated V8s.The 488 Pista is the performance-oriented variant of the 488 GTB. The car has the 'French flag' livery on the sides. Despite so many cars in RSM's collection, they are all driven regularly. This Pista for example has covered 3,000 km in 3 months.Nothing beats a convertible supercar with a screaming high-revving naturally-aspirated V12 engine. It is one of the most powerful production convertible supercars in the world. This GTS replaced a 812 Superfast.Looks like RSM loves his V12 convertible supercars. Another V12 roadster occupies the garage. The Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster is limited to 500 units.The Wraith is one of the sportiest Rolls Royces built, and the Black Badge is one of the most exclusive and expensive variants. This black Wraith gets black and red interiors.One of the most luxurious SUVs built. This particular Cullinan is the Black Badge edition of the SUV.One of BMW's latest and most expensive SUVs. This car was bought as a replacement to a Q7.An enthusiast's garage is incomplete without a Porsche. This was one of the fastest accelerating cars of its time. Just like RSM's other cars, it couldn't stay stock for long. This 991 Turbo S got fitted out with a Capristo exhaust system.This was one of the first performance SUVs in his garage. However, RSM felt that he did not like performance SUVs as they did not suit his style. So, the car was sold soon after.One of my favourite luxury cars, and looks absolutely gangster here in its all-black avatar. This car was replaced by the Wraith.Who doesn't like a screaming high-revving Ferrari V12? The 812 Superfast succeeded the F12 in Ferrari's line up. The car was replaced with the 812 GTS in RSM's garage.The best selling Lamborghini of all time, until it was overtaken by the Huracan in 2020. This is the pre-facelift version of the convertible V10-powered supercar.One of the most eye-catching Huracans in India, and the first one in Bangalore. Finished in black, the car first got black wheels and then a Novitec Torado rear wing. It later got a Fi exhaust, ADV wheels with RSM wheel caps, gold stripes and gold lettering. The car was eventually sold to Hyderabad.One of the first few GT-Rs in the country and was imported from Japan. RSM claims that at that time, many GT-Rs had gearbox failure issues and hardly anyone knew how to fix them as they were new. The gearbox in his car also failed, but the issue was diagnosed and fixed, something the owner claims was the first in the world.The 300ZX was one of his first sports cars. This picture was taken in 1999.RSM says that this is the car that ignited his passion to spec cars. His Supra was heavily modified and he says that he built the engine himself. It put out around 600 BHP.His first Ferrari, and of course, it wasn't left stock. The car had a Capristo exhaust system and BMC air filters.RSM also had a 997 Turbo wrapped in matte black. You can also see a Bentley Continental GT in the picture.In addition to the cars shown above, RSM has also posted on social media that he will be getting a Ferrari SF90 Stradale and a McLaren 765LT soon. Last edited by Aditya : 22nd January 2021 at 12:40 .
Charity, not politics

Regarding Big Oil reassessing political donations, (B1, Jan. 12): It was a pleasure to read in the Houston Chronicle that major corporations are rethinking their corporate political donations. I would request the corporations to consider redirecting the political donation funds to charity for the next few years. States and charitable organizations are working extremely hard to feed and clothe people who have lost their jobs and property due to the pandemic and do not know where their next meal will come from. More funds and help are required now. So much can be done for people who cannot afford even a basic meal. Education, job training and more opportunities for jobs, to name a few. The corporations do their share in assisting people in need, but more is needed this year and the next few to get people back on their feet. My earnest request to the corporations is to please consider making the changes and start improving the living conditions of our countrymen. It will take a lot of time and money, but those who want to do it, can.

Mondira Tangri, Houston

Elected to govern, not fight

Regarding Texas GOP goes on the offensive, (A1, Jan. 21): Now that the transfer of power has gone to President Biden, the big question is what are the Republicans going to do? Will they work with the incoming administration or will they reprise the role they played during the Obama administration and become the party of no. No cooperation, no compromise, no agreement and shut the government down. Much has been said that the concerns of the 74 million voters who chose Trump need to be addressed. The same goes for the more than 81 million who voted for Biden. I fear that far too many Senators and Congressmen and women believe that they were elected to fight not to govern. The reason for this can be laid at the feet of the voters who elected them. We are after all a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and the people determine what kind of government we will have.

Gonzalo Martinez, La Porte

Protect our troops

Regarding Georgia on our minds, (A13, Jan. 18): Georgia is indeed in our minds. So is the Capitol, Congress and democracy. Last but never the least, those who give all for our freedom and our security: U.S. Capitol police officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood are also in our minds. God bless the men and women in uniform who keep us safe. God protect our troops!

Jose Carlos Gonzalez, Houston
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Yes, Theyre Open is a web series highlighting local bars and restaurants that are open for takeout, delivery, pickup or dining during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Live streams from the featured restaurants are broadcast on the Advance Facebook page every weekday around 3 p.m.

On Monday, the Advance highlighted Bubbakoos Burritos at 1650 Richmond Ave. for offering pickup and delivery during the pandemic. A second location is opening up at 1145 Bay St. in the coming months Visit Bubbakoos.com to order and find out more information on the chain restaurant.

Staten Island restaurant owners: If you would like your establishment featured for free as part of Yes, Theyre Open, email reporter Victoria Priola at vpriola@siadvance.com.

YES, THEYRE OPEN: Bubbakoos Burritos is open for pickup and delivery at 1650 Richmond Ave. hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. A second location is opening up at 1145 Bay St. soon. Visit Bubbakoos.com to order. Posted by Staten Island Advance on Monday, January 25, 2021

WANT MORE YES, THEYRE OPEN?

Check out the listings below or check out all of our previous coverage here.

In Fine Fettle, 961 Jewett Ave. and 20 Jefferson Blvd.

Domenicos Pizzeria & Pasta, 5838 Amboy Road.

Brunos Italian Bakery & Restaurant, 1650 Hylan Blvd
[January 25, 2021] Talkpool acquires Home Solutions

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Talkpool AG has today signed an agreement to acquire all shares in Nordic Proptech Investment Services AB, which owns 100% of the shares in Home Solutions www.homesolutions.se. The estimated consolidated acquired revenues amount to SEK 27 million (Eur 2.68 million) with a net loss of SEK 1.6 million (Eur 159'000) for the calendar year 2020. The transaction will be completed no later than March 1st, 2021, based on audited Home Solutions accounts. The total consideration, including down-payment, loan and interest, amounts to SEK 26.4 million (Eur 2.62 million) to the Scandinavian Credit Fund. The down-payment at closing amounts to SEK 8.5 million (Eur 843'000). Home Solutions is a Smart Building Company that measures electricity, water, and energy in apartment buildings covering over 50'000 individual homes in Sweden. To put this in perspective, there are today 2.5 million privately owned (BRF) or rented flats in Sweden. Less than 10% of them have individual metering of electricity water and/or energy (so called IMD measurements) in place. This makes Home Solutions one of the leading IMD companies in Sweden. The market is anticipated to growth fast, driven by several trends, including the increasing push for sustainability & energy efficiency, technical content, digitalization and requirements for convenience and fairness - "pay for what you use". In addition to this, governmental regulations from mid-2021 stipulate that all new buildings and ROT-renovations are obliged to get individual measurements installed. This will also open for more sophisticated measurements like CO 2 , radon etc., where Talkpool already has existing cutting-edge technology. "Home Solutions was one of the pioneers in building digitization in Sweden with a great reputation and a passionate team", says Erik Stromstedt, CEO Talkpool. "Together we will become one of the proptech business leaders with a vision to enable our customers to accelerate digitization and make smarter decisions." "Talkpool has a unique competence within LoRa and is making strong progress in digitization and IoT solutions. Home Solutions has long customer relationships and expertise in sales, marketing and execution and together with Talkpool's organization we will strengthen our product portfolio and market position. Residents and property owners will be the winners", says Mikael Wass, CEO Home Solutions. About Home Solutions Home Solutions is Sweden's largest supplier of individual metering and charging of electricity, water, heating, electric car chargers and temperature with tenant-owner associations. The company also has private property owners and the public utility as customers. Home Solutions was founded in 2001 by HSB and Vattenfall and now operates in partnership with Nordic PropTech Investment Services. Home Solutions' products are today installed all over Sweden, from Kiruna in the north to Malmo in the south. Home Solutions currently has over 50,000 apartments connected in its ecosystem and manages digital infrastructure and handles measurement and sensor data for customers throughout Sweden. For more information, please contact: Erik Stromstedt, CEO Talkpool

Tel: +41 81 250 2020

erik.stromstedt@talkpool.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/talkpool-ag/r/talkpool-acquires-home-solutions,c3273194 The following files are available for download:







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Spains chief of the defense staff, General Miguel Angel Villarroya, resigned on Saturday after news emerged that he and other military leaders under his command had received the Covid-19 vaccine ahead of their turn. The now-former head of the countrys military leadership sent a letter to the defense minister, Margarita Robles, in which he requested his own sacking (the equivalent of quitting for active members of the military) so as to avoid damaging the image of the armed forces. Robles accepted the request, which is due to be approved this week at a meeting of the Spanish Cabinet, sources from her department reported.

Also at the weekend, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska opted to sack a lieutenant colonel from the Civil Guard who served as a liaison for the Operational Command Headquarters (CEMOPS) in Madrid after he received the vaccine ahead of any other personnel from the law-enforcement agency.

Spains coronavirus vaccination campaign began at the end of December, and is currently focussing on residents of senior homes, their carers, frontline healthcare workers and all adults with need for daily assistance even if they are not in residential care. Last week, however, a number of irregularities emerged, involving regional health officials, mayors from various parts of the country and retired healthcare workers, among others, all of whom had jumped the line to get the first of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The controversy has sparked a debate as to whether these people should receive their second dose so as not to waste the first, or if they should now be made to wait their turn according to the national vaccine rollout plan.

The incident marks the first time that a Spanish chief of the defense staff has resigned since the role was created in 1984

In his letter, General Villaroya defended the decision for him and his subordinates to receive the vaccine, on the basis it would protect the integrity, continuity and efficiency of the armed forces chain of command. He claimed that he had never sought to take advantage of unjustifiable privileges.

The Defense Ministrys vaccination plan required vaccinations to be carried out first on military healthcare workers, followed by personnel who will be deployed on international missions. Only after that did the scheme include members of the military who occupy critical posts, ones that would be difficult to substitute.

Sources from the chief of the defense staff explained, however, that the military chiefs were vaccinated after the aforementioned groups, and that the generals had been given priority given that they are the oldest. General Villaroya is 63. The same sources argued that the vaccination process among the chiefs of the defense staff did not necessarily have to go at the same pace as in the rest of the armed forces or society as a whole.

But the news caused much unease among other members of the military and at the Defense Ministry itself, giving the impression that the generals were getting privileges and not the personnel who are the most exposed to contracting the virus.

The incident marks the first time that a Spanish chief of the defense staff has resigned since the role was created in 1984.

English version by Simon Hunter.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : With constrained revenue position running well into next financial year and country's fiscal position under strain, the government would have no option but to limit its expenditure to come back on path of fiscal consolidation and reduce its heavily enlarged deficit.

According to a report on the state of economy by Motilal Oswal Institutional Services, the government would be able to narrow fiscal deficit to 5.5 per cent of GDP in FY22 from expected level of over 7 per cent in FY21, but this would assume a 19 per cent growth in total receipts in FY22 and an increase of just 5.6 per cent in total spending by the Central government.

This indicates that primary spending (excluding interest payments) would grow just 4.6 per cent in FY22 (v/s 6 per cent growth in FY21), marking the second lowest growth in four decades, the brokerage said in its report.

The finance minister will present the Union Budget 2021-22 on February 1 in this contained environment. As always, expectations are running high. However, the government's fiscal response in 2020 indicates certain inflexibility and the lack of resources to stimulate the economy, the report said.

Although there was no massive fiscal stimulus in CY20-various estimates put it between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent of GDP, of which 0.7 per cent of GDP was on account of food subsidies, which is unlikely to affect the fiscal balance-a significant shortfall in receipts likely led to the doubling of the fiscal deficit to 7 per cent of GDP in FY21 (from the budgeted 3.5 per cent), Motilal Oswal said.

The assumption (based on actual data available up to Nov'20) is gross taxes would decline 5.3 per cent, total receipts would fall 12.4 per cent, and total expenditure would grow 7.2 per cent in FY21.

Besides these all important macro numbers,the brokerage said that this years budget would be tracked for announcement in three areas: The lack of receipts has led to debates related to one-off cess/surcharge. However, the government may consider keeping the taxation regime unchanged, helping to sustain and bolster the economic momentum.

The other area, the brokerage said, is that close monitoring would be done to see whether the Union Budget includes measures to revive residential real estate demand in the country. Also, It would be interesting to note whether the Government can continue to support the rural sector as much as it has in the past couple of years.

Lastly, the report said, while the government is expected -- as witnessed every year -- to grow its capital expenditure (capex) more than total spending, it is severely constrained by the low share (25 per cent) of discretionary/non-mandatory spending. Furthermore, the centre's capex is only 5 per cent of domestic investments in the country.
Eye contact between a defendant under police custody and his girlfriend in a hospital lobby followed by her carefully timed car maneuver led to his escape this month, police allege, and also resulted in a change to Decatur Police Departments transport policy.

Mario Deshaun Kellogg, whose address is listed as being on Fifth Avenue Northwest in Decatur, was not handcuffed at the time of his escape, police spokeswoman Irene Cardenas-Martinez said Friday.

Police on Jan. 5 arrested Kellogg, 43, for allegedly shooting Richard Earl Ross in the right leg near 12th Avenue Northwest and Third Street. Kellogg and Antoine Scruggs were shooting at each other Dec. 29 at about 1:30 p.m., according to a witness statement, but police said Kelloggs bullet instead hit Ross. Police said Kellogg also shot a pit bull, and he ultimately was charged with both first-degree assault and cruelty to animals.

Several minutes after the shooting, after hiding his own pistol in his backyard, Scruggs called police, according to a police affidavit.

Scruggs explained he was talking to his neighbors and having a drink when Kellogg arrived, Detective Sean Mukaddam said in the affidavit. Kellogg brandished a pistol and in self-defense, Scruggs wielded his pistol. Kellogg began to shoot at Scruggs and Scruggs returned fire.

Scruggs said he and Ross began running south on 12th Avenue when Ross was shot in the leg, according to the affidavit. Ross ended up in the hospital where he had surgery.

The ultimate fate of the pit bull was not clear  it was either killed or injured, according to court documents. Kellogg shot the dog while also shooting the owner, according to a complaint filed by Mukaddam, so apparently it was owned by Ross.

After his Jan. 5 arrest, Kellogg was booked and was to be jailed in lieu of $20,000 bond, which was in addition to a $5,000 bond he had already posted through a bondsman from a pending 2016 drug charge.

The Morgan County Jail required that Kellogg be medically cleared for a preexisting condition before he was incarcerated, according to police, so a Decatur police transport unit took him to Decatur Morgan Hospital that day. At 3:45 p.m. Jan. 5, police were escorting him back to the transport vehicle.

Thats when the straightforward arrest unraveled.

On Jan. 6, 2020, Detective Sean Mukaddam obtained the video surveillance from the hospital, which shows Kelloggs girlfriend, Brittany Diane Orr, walk into the lobby of the hospital and make eye contact with Kellogg, according to Mukaddams affidavit.

In an affidavit seeking court-appointed counsel, Kellogg said he was engaged, had no income, and was supporting two people in his household.

Orr then goes to the parking lot and gets into her vehicle, Mukaddam wrote, describing the video. Orr waits until Kellogg is about to get into the transport van and Orr pulls up next to him.

Kellogg gets into Orrs vehicle and they flee the area.

Wrong person

Decatur police initially put out a request on Facebook seeking information about Orr, but they identified the wrong Brittany Orr and therefore used the wrong photograph.

On Jan. 6 at 2:30 p.m., Decatur police sent out a press release: " The Decatur Police Department deeply apologizes for any confusion or inconvenience caused by our recent social media posts and pictures with regards to escaped prisoner Mario Kellogg.

They also secured an arrest warrant on a charge of third-degree escape for the wrong Brittany Orr. Assistant District Attorney Garrick Vickery on Jan. 7 filed a motion to quash the warrant, explaining to the judge that the warrant was issued for the incorrect person.

Mukaddam did not just review hospital video in tracking down the person who police believe actually assisted Kellogg in the escape. He also determined, according to an affidavit, that the same 2007 Toyota Camry involved in the escape was used by Orr and Kellogg when they arrived at the Police Department earlier the same day.

Decatur police and U.S. Marshals were both involved in the effort to recapture Kellogg and arrest Orr.

At 4 p.m. the day after the escape, according to an affidavit, Officer Shawn Hudson spotted Orrs vehicle a block away from her 11th Avenue Northwest residence. The car was towed, but a search of her residence failed to produce either the suspects or other useful information, according to a search warrant affidavit.

The two were captured two days later on Jan. 8 and were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals unit and the Decatur Police Department in Decatur, according to a police press release that day.

Orr posted a $20,000 bond and was released. Kellogg remains in jail, with the additional charges of cruelty to animals and third-degree escape upping his bond to $43,500. Complicating his situation is that court records indicate the bonding company that had fronted the $5,000 bond on the 2016 drug charge not only declined to cover the higher bond but refused to continue backing the original bond after his alleged escape.

Due to the incident, we have reviewed our transport policy and have adjusted accordingly, Cardenas-Martinez said Friday.

Kellogg in 2016 was charged by Decatur police and indicted for selling crack cocaine to a cooperating witness, and released after posting a $5,000 bond. He had previously pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2011 for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover agent. In 2017 an arrest warrant was issued for failure to appear and he was placed in the Morgan County Jail. In a handwritten letter to the court he asked that he be released on bond because he had been in a Tennessee jail at the time he missed the Morgan County court date.

I have a 8-year-old son out there (who) is out of hand now. He need me out there right now. His mommy had a stroke and he cant get his self together, Kellogg wrote in 2017. I need to get out. I done changed my life.

He was released to Tennessee authorities to face unspecified charges there. His court date on the Morgan County drug charge is in June. No court date has been set for the three charges he collected this month.

 eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.

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(c)2021 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)

Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
DEARBORN, MI  Snow, rain and ice make the winter months a risky time for motorists in Michigan.

According to data from the Michigan State Police, two out of three (67%) traffic crashes that occurred during inclement weather were on snowy, slushy, or icy pavement in 2020.

And while snowy, wet weather hasnt been as prevalent so far this winter, theres some on the way this week. As a result, AAA Michigan is reminding motorists to use caution when driving in less-than-ideal conditions.

Here are 10 tips all drivers should keep in mind, courtesy of AAA.

Before starting out, remove ice and snow from the entire car, mirrors and lights so you have clear driving visibility.

Dont use cruise control in precipitation and freezing temperatures.

Remember that four-wheel drive helps you to get going quicker, but it wont help you stop any faster.

Familiarize yourself with your vehicles braking system. Drivers with anti-lock brakes should apply firm, constant pressure while those without may need to pump the pedal to avoid loss of traction while stopping.

Always drive at a speed that matches the prevailing visibility, traffic and road conditions  even if that means driving below the posted speed limit.

Compensate for reduced traction by increasing your following distances (normally three to four seconds) to eight to ten seconds.

Allow sufficient room for maintenance vehicles and plows, stay at least 200 feet back and, if you need to pass, go to the other vehicles left.

Watch for icy surfaces on bridges and intersections, even if the rest of the road seems to be in good condition.

If you get stuck in snow or ice, straighten the wheel and accelerate slowly. Add sand or cat litter under the drive wheels to help avoid spinning the tires.

If your tires lose traction, continue to look and steer in the direction you want to go. If the drive wheels start to spin or slide while going up a hill, ease off the accelerator slightly and then gently resume speed.

Additional winter weather driving tips are available by reviewing AAAs How to Go on Ice and Snow booklet.

READ MORE:

Snow for Ann Arbor, Detroit: When, where, how much

Snow for Jackson, Lansing area: When, where and how much

Snow for Flint, Saginaw and Bay City: When, where and how much
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - Chakana Copper Corp. (TSXV: PERU) (OTCQB: CHKKF) (FSE: 1ZX) (the "Company" or "Chakana"), is pleased to release results for two additional drill holes from the recently-announced discovery at the Huancarama Breccia Complex, within the Soledad Project in Ancash, Peru (Fig. 1). The holes complement the initial eight holes that were published on January 12, 2021. Drilling at Huancarama is ongoing where eighteen HQ diamond core holes have been completed thus far.

Mineralized intervals from two additional holes at Huancarama include:

DDH # From - To (m) Core Length (m) Au

g/t Ag

g/t Cu % Cu-eq

%* Au-eq g/t* SDH20-161 86.00 193.00 107.00 0.28 33.7 0.42 0.89 1.36 including 126.00 162.00 36.00 0.34 59.8 0.93 1.66 2.54 SDH20-162 101.30 221.70 120.40 0.51 34.6 0.83 1.46 2.23 including 101.30 173.50 72.20 0.79 46.9 1.32 2.24 3.42 including 109.00 139.00 30.00 1.44 88.2 2.55 4.26 6.50

* Cu_eq and Au_eq values were calculated using copper, gold, and silver. Metal prices utilized for the calculations are Cu - US$2.90/lb, Au - US$1,300/oz, and Ag - US$17/oz. No adjustments were made for recovery as the project is an early stage exploration project and metallurgical data to allow for estimation of recoveries are not yet available. The formulas utilized to calculate equivalent values are Cu_eq (%) = Cu% + (Au g/t * 0.6556) + (Ag g/t * 0.00857) and Au_eq (g/t) = Au g/t + (Cu% * 1.5296) + (Ag g/t * 0.01307).

Holes SDH20-161 and SDH20-162 were drilled to the northeast from the south side of the breccia complex (Figures 2 and 3). Both holes intersected continuous mineralization across the breccia body previously defined by the first eight holes and an historical tunnel that transects the breccia. Hole SDH20-161 was oriented directly beneath a collapse zone and intersected 107m with 0.28 g/t Au, 0.42% Cu, and 33.7 g/t Ag (1.36 g/t Au-eq) starting at 86m; hole SDH20-162, drilled beneath the west edge of the collapse zone, encountered 120.4m with 0.51 g/t Au, 0.83% Cu, and 34.6 g/t Ag (3.71 g/t Au-eq) from 101.3m depth, including 72.2m with 0.79 g/t Au, 1.32% Cu, and 46.9 g/t Ag (3.42 g/t Au-eq) from 101.3m. A higher-grade zone of 30.0m with 1.44 g/t Au, 2.55% Cu, and 88.2 g/t Ag (6.50 g/t Au-eq) starting at 109.0m depth occurs within this interval. Examples of mineralized drill core from these holes are shown in Figure 4.

David Kelley, President and CEO commented, "These two holes were drilled from a new platform on the south side of the Huancarama Breccia Complex and confirm the breccia geometry previously reported with approximate horizontal dimensions of 100m by 50m, one of the largest breccias we have discovered to date at Soledad. The mineralized breccia crops out at surface and extends to a vertical depth of approximately 225m below surface and is open at depth. The results demonstrate good continuity of mineralization within the breccia with excellent grades. The high-grade zone within hole SDH20-162 shows copper sulfide-cemented breccia and the late copper sulfide replacement process that we have seen in several other high grade breccia pipes at Soledad. Drilling is ongoing at Huancarama and we look forward to reporting additional drill results in the near future."

Huancarama Target Area and the Phase 3b Drill Program

The Huancarama Breccia Complex is located 300m south of and 400m above the deepest breccia intercept at Paloma. Within the complex there are five principal breccia bodies exposed at surface over approximately 200m (Fig. 5). There is a distinctive feature believed to be a collapse zone with dimensions of 50m by 30m. Unverified reports suggest that this may be due to small-scale mining. Two historic adits are in the complex, one trending north-northeast for 170m along the western side of H1 (Fig. 2), and a second shorter adit of 21m at H2. Surface sampling from the breccia bodies and channel sampling of the adits yielded strongly anomalous gold results (see news release dated November 19, 2019). In addition to several targets within the complex, numerous additional targets exist in the Huancarama and Paloma area.

Results reported here are part of the ongoing Phase 3b drill program, which is fully funded from the Company's current treasury and is anticipated to see 15,000 metres completed. Phase 3b is testing a cluster of high-grade, gold-enriched tourmaline breccia pipe targets within the Paloma and Huancarama target areas. Thirty holes have now been reported from the Phase 3b program.

About Chakana Copper

Chakana Copper Corp. is a Canadian-based minerals exploration company that is currently advancing the high-grade gold-copper-silver Soledad Project located in the Ancash region of Peru, a highly favorable mining jurisdiction with supportive communities. The Soledad Project consists of high-grade gold-copper-silver mineralization hosted in tourmaline breccia pipes. A total of 36,185 metres of drilling has been completed to-date, testing ten (10) of twenty-three (23) confirmed breccia pipes. The exploration team has identified 92 targets in total on the project, confirming that Soledad is well endowed and has strong exploration potential. Chakana's investors are uniquely positioned as the Soledad Project provides exposure to several metals including copper, gold, and silver. For more information on the Soledad project, please visit the website at www.chakanacopper.com.

Sampling and Analytical Procedures

Chakana follows rigorous sampling and analytical protocols that meet or exceed industry standards. Core samples are stored in a secured area until transport in batches to the ALS facility in Callao, Lima, Peru. Sample batches include certified reference materials, blank, and duplicate samples that are then processed under the control of ALS. All samples are analyzed using the ME-MS41 (ICP technique that provides a comprehensive multi-element overview of the rock geochemistry), while gold is analyzed by AA24 and GRA22 when values exceed 10 g/t by AA24. Over limit silver, copper, lead and zinc are analyzed using the OG-46 procedure. Soil samples are analyzed by 4-acid (ME-MS61) and for gold by Fire Assay on a 30g sample (Au-ICP21).

Results of previous drilling and additional information concerning the Project, including a technical report prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, are made available on Chakana's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Qualified Person

David Kelley, an officer and a director of Chakana, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

(signed) "David Kelley"

David Kelley

President and CEO

For further information contact:

Joanne Jobin, Investor Relations Officer

Phone: 647 964 0292

Email: jjobin@chakanacopper.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking Statement Advisory: This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Chakana to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements or information relates to, among other things, the interpretation of the nature of the mineralization at the Soledad copper-gold-silver project (the "Project"), the potential to expand the mineralization, and to develop and grow a resource within the Project, the planning for further exploration work, the ability to de-risk the potential exploration targets, and our belief in the potential for mineralization within unexplored parts of the Project. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs but given the uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward- looking statements or information. The Company disclaims any obligation to update, or to publicly announce, any such statements, events or developments except as required by law.





Figure 1 - View looking north showing breccia pipes and occurrences within the northern Soledad cluster. Pipes that have been drilled in previous campaigns are shown in red. Targets shown in green are the focus on this 15,000m drill campaign. Other pipes and occurrences remain to be tested by drilling. Additional breccia pipes occur on the south half of the property and are not shown here.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2172/72739_3e42b06364c54af3_001full.jpg





Figure 2 - Map of the Huancarama Breccia Complex and drill hole lithology in holes completed to date. Red represents tourmaline breccia based on the first ten holes and lithology mapped in the underground tunnel. Black dotted outlines show surface expression of mapped breccias; white dashed line shows collapse zone. Location of section line for Figure 3 indicated.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2172/72739_3e42b06364c54af3_002full.jpg





Figure 3 - Section looking northwest highlighting the drill holes at Huancarama reported in this release. Light red 3D shape shows preliminary shape of breccia based on the first eight holes and lithology mapped in the underground tunnel.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2172/72739_3e42b06364c54af3_003full.jpg





Figure 4 - Core photos from Huancarama: SDH20-161 (74.5m) chalcopyrite-cemented tourmaline breccia; SDH20-162 - examples of high-grade copper sulfide (chalcopyrite) replacement within the interval of 118.4m to 122.07 Core diameter is 6.35cm (HQ) in all instances.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2172/72739_3e42b06364c54af3_004full.jpg





Figure 5 - Drone image looking northeast at the Huancarama Breccia Complex showing the five principal tourmaline breccia bodies exposed at surface (H1-H5), historic adit portal, and drill platforms. Note drill rig in center of image.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2172/72739_3e42b06364c54af3_006full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72739
On President Joe Bidens first day in office Wednesday, he signed an executive order that terminates the national emergency at the southern border and pauses all construction work on the border wall, beginning no later than a week from its signing.

This marks a huge step toward the primary goal of Laredos No Border Wall Coalition, which aimed to hold Biden to his campaign promise that not another foot of the border wall would be built under his administration.

Members of the coalition, from Washington, D.C. down to Zapata, celebrated the news with tequila shots over a Zoom call Wednesday.

They had been working to reach Bidens transition team for weeks to implore that he issue a moratorium on the border wall on Day 1 of his presidency. But they never got any solid response. It wasnt until Tuesday evening that they had any idea of his plans to pause construction, said Tricia Cortez, co-founder of the No Border Wall Coalition.

I think we were stunned. We held our breath to make sure it would happen. It was a really emotional moment because we believe that all the work we did, all the pressure, all the viral content we put out there, that it made a difference, she said.

The executive order, however, does not automatically cancel the projects construction contracts, of which there are four in the Laredo area, encompassing 71 miles of the border.

The secretaries of defense and homeland security will spend 60 days formulating a plan for the future of these contracts, ultimately either terminating or reworking them under the auspices of Congress funding purpose of barrier system.

Laredos Rep. Henry Cuellar believes the $2.75 billion that Congress has appropriated for the barrier system can now go on to fund carrizo cane eradication, technology, cameras, roads and other equipment along the border and at international bridges, rather than a border wall.

This money needs to stay within the Department of Homeland Security, Cuellar said. He said he aims to include local attorneys representing affected landowners and border wall activists in these conversations.

The biggest challenge right now is the newness of the Biden administration, Cuellar said. In calling around to the Department of Justice, Army Corp of Engineers and other agencies, hes learned that they wont stop their work on the wall until they receive a stop order.

Cortez concedes that the executive order isnt perfect and that the groups work isnt over. They still want to see the contracts canceled and an end to the governments taking of land along the border.

We do believe it shifts the terrain in our favor. It didnt give us everything we wanted immediately, but it was a huge shift and positive step forward, Cortez said.

The coalitions goal was to delay construction for as long as possible. They urged local landowners to not sign over the right of entry to their land  a document that allows the government yearlong access for surveys and studies  and petitioned Laredo City Council and other local government entities to do the same. For two years they held rallies, participated in lawsuits and landowners coalitions and generally raised awareness to their cause.

We were told by some elected officials, CBP folks and other people in this community, this is a done deal. We were told this over and over and over. But what we witnessed (Wednesday) is a testament to the power of the people and grassroots mobilization, she said. Yes, we prevailed.

The border wall did not touch Laredo during Donald Trumps presidency. From the southern tip of Falcon Lake to the northwestern corner of Webb County, the only section of border wall is a one-mile stone structure around Laredo College, built in the Bush era.

Laredo City Council on Wednesday evening unanimously voted to sign onto a resolution proffered by the No Border Wall Coalition that demands a moratorium on any work to the border wall.

Although Biden had already issued his executive order by the time they took the vote, several council members noted that the resolution still addresses unsettled issues, such as any further condemnation of property and the construction contracts that remain active.

Like the No Border Wall Coalition, the citys goal was to delay the project for as long as they could, or until Trump was defeated.

However, the city also worked with the government to secure a backup plan, a levy wall for the proposed one-mile stretch of downtown border wall. Activists criticized Mayor Pete Saenz for compromising with the government on what they considered an unrealistic plan, but Saenz said he had to leverage what he could out of the situation while maintaining good relations with federal agencies in Laredo.

It appears to have worked out for us. We delayed it, we have a new president, no wall, and by the way we have all these other federal projects that came to be, he said.

Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com
Megan Thee Stallion showed off her bombshell body as she celebrated the progress she's made during week one of her '#HOTTIEBOOTCAMP' workout challenged on Instagram Monday.

The Savage rapper, 25, first put her peachy posterior and toned tummy on display in a sultry mirror selfie before sharing several side-by-side progress shots of her hourglass figure.

'WEEK 1 complete,' Megan wrote. 'We got a lil results or whateverrrrr. Swipe to see the progress.'

Stripped: Megan Thee Stallion stunned as she showed off her booty and flat tummy in a sexy new mirror selfie celebrating her fitness progress after a week of #HotGirlBootcamp

The WAP hitmaker wowed while turning to the side to offer a look at her backside at the same time as she pulled up her tiny white tee shirt to reveal her emerging abs.

Megan's face was mostly blocked by her phone but you could see her fresh face behind.

The side-by-side shots were impressive, proving how the Texas rapper's week of discipline paid off.

Megan has been sharing her journey on Instagram, also posting videos of herself clearing her fridge of junk food and working out with trainer Tim.

Compare: The side-by-side shots were impressive, proving how the Texas rapper's week of discipline paid off.

Angles: She was gorgeous in both the before and after

Junk away: Megan has been sharing her journey on Instagram, also posting videos of herself clearing her fridge of junk food and working out with trainer Tim

The star has been focusing on fitness and self care as she continues to navigate the trauma from her alleged assault by rapper Tory Lanez last fall.

Megan - full name Megan Jovon Ruth Pete - called out trolls spreading misinformmation about the incident on her Twitter last week, telling readers she is sick of 'seeing people LIE and turn [her] trauma into a joke' while also dubbing Lanez an 'abuser.'

Megan has accused Tory, 28, of shooting her in both feet after an argument following a party last October.

He was subsequently arrested and later charged with two felony gun offenses by Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, but pleaded not guilty during a November court date.

Call out: Megan called Tory Lanez an 'abuser' as she corrected false claims the Canadian rapper's gun charges have been dropped online last week. Megan has accused Tory of shooting her in October

No truth: The WAP songstress, 25, addressed the unfounded gossip on Twitter, telling readers she is sick of 'seeing people LIE and turn [her] trauma into a joke'

At the time law enforcement also confirmed he was facing 'a gun allegation and that he personally inflicted great bodily injury' on 'a female friend in the Hollywood Hills.'

This week's tweets claiming Lanez - real name Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterso - was off the hook cited screenshots of a Los Angeles County-area court website which showed no scheduled court date for the case pending as proof.

But Megan said that the case is still very much underway as she shared her frustration in a series of tweets.

'AT THIS POINT IM GETTING ANNOYED !' she wrote. 'STOP BELIEVING EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE MF INTERNET.

'Imagine how I feel waking every day seeing people LIE and turn my trauma into a joke ?'

The Texas native then accused Lanez and his team of fabricating stories, writing: 'That whole team figures out ways to create doubt with my story every week and the media eats it up.'

Headed to trial: Lanez pleaded not guilty to two gun charges related to his alleged dispute with Megan in November. He's seen in 2019 above

This week's tweets claiming Lanez - real name Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterso - was off the hook cited screenshots of a Los Angeles County-area court website which showed no scheduled court date for the case pending as proof

Rescheduled: Miss Megan Pete explained that the date was rescheduled because of the presidential inauguration. Her claim was asserted by a rep from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

'Y'all can't tell when s**t fake news?' the Don't Stop rapper went on. 'Y'all still don't see an ABUSER picking with me ?'

She explained: 'The first court date got pushed back bc of the inauguration but I can't wait until the MF FACTS come out ! B**** you shot me AND MY STORY NOT CHANGING AND B**** YOU GOING TO JAIL'

Backing up Miss Pete's claims, a rep from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office told Complex the next court date for the case is now set for February 25, following the originally reported hearing date of Jan. 20.

Megan's tweet's then turned the topic to the public, wondering why she was getting villainized even though she was the alleged victim.

Trauma: The WAP rapper admitted she was still dealing with lots of trauma from the incident, as well as the personal loss of her mom, dad and grandmother

'How tf I get shot now I'm the worlds biggest mf villain !? All y'all p***y a** n****s and pick me a** h**s GONE EAT YO MF WORDS.'

She called out the hypocrisy of some, writing: 'Y'all so believe black women and protect black women online BUT WHEN I LITERALLY SAY I GOT SHOT ITS CONFUSING.'

'Trauma is real,' the Savage rapper continued.

'I'm still traumatized from loosing my mom dad and one of my grandmothers and on top of that being shot. I'm not open abt anything on the internet usually bc I like to keep my emotions private but I'm reaching my limit, Im going to keep staying positive.'

Lanez' team affirmed Pete's claims on Thursday via a statement made to New York Times music reporter Joe Coscarelli.

Denied: Lanez' team affirmed Pete's claims on Thursday via a statement made to New York Times music reporter Joe Coscarelli

He tweeted: 'A rep for Tory Lanez says it is NOT TRUE that charges against him in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting were dropped: 'The blog that posted this info is wrong. I assume the docket hasn't been updated ... The next hearing date is in mid-February.''

Lanez' reps were more sharp in a statement to Page Six, saying: 'The false report came from a d-list blogger (I can't even find their contact) that doesn't know how to read a court docket.'

Another source also clarified that Megan has nothing to do with if the case is dropped.

'The LA County District Attorney's office filed the charges against him, not Megan, so only they could drop the charges,' the insider said. 'But the reality is he will have to deal with the consequences of his actions.'

If convicted, Lanez could face up to 22 years and eight months in state prison.

But he struck an optimistic tone on his own Twitter Thursday, posting: 'I will continue my 2021 unproblematically.. just wanna make great content for my fans.'
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

AUSTIN, Texas  The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Texas continues to fall from record highs as the state nears the end of what has been its deadliest month of the pandemic.

State health officials Monday reported fewer than 13,000 people were being treated for the virus in Texas hospitals, marking the seventh consecutive day of declining patient loads.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the area was starting to see some metrics go in the right direction as the average number of daily new cases fell by 800.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

More than 34,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Texas, the second-most in the nation behind California. More than 5,000 new cases were reported statewide Monday.

Nationwide, coronavirus deaths and cases per day in the U.S. dropped markedly over the past couple of weeks but are still running at alarmingly high levels. The U.S. is recording just under 3,100 deaths a day on average, down from more than 3,350 less than two weeks ago.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

 Online error messages and jammed-up hotlines slow vaccine rollout for those over 80 in Germanys North Rhine-Westphalia state

 The European Union is pressuring the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to deliver more vaccines as promised

 Facing questions about its vaccines and its early COVID response, China is hitting back by encouraging fringe theories that may harm

 Mexican President Lopez Obrador says he has mild COVID-19 symptoms as his country registers its highest infections and deaths

 For emergency medical technicians, the coronavirus is constant, riding with them in ambulances from patient to patient

 Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING.

SEATTLE  Seattle has joined other cities in approving extra pay for grocery store workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City Council on Monday approved legislation requiring large grocery stores to pay an extra $4 an hour in hazard pay. The Seattle Times reports the legislation passed 8-0, clearing a requirement that it receive a three-quarter super-majority in order to go into effect immediately.

Mayor Jenny Durkan called the policy a strong step forward in Seattles recovery.

The new requirement applies to grocery companies with more than 500 employees worldwide and to stores larger than 10,000 square feet. It does not apply to convenience stores or farmers markets.

Covered businesses will have to pay their retail employees $4 an hour on top of the pay they currently receive as long as the citys coronavirus civil emergency, first declared in early March of last year, remains in effect.

The California cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Berkeley have within the past month forwarded or approved similar hazard pay boosts for grocery workers.

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BOISE, Idaho  Legislation to end coronavirus restrictions limiting private and public gatherings to 10 people or fewer has passed the Idaho House and is headed to the Senate. But the measure faces legal and constitutional questions.

The House voted 55-15 Monday to approve a concurrent resolution aimed specifically at a Dec. 30 health order by Republican Gov. Brad Little and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. The 10-person limit doesnt apply to religious or political gatherings.

Backers of the resolution say they want to remove a portion of an emergency declaration by Little but leave the declaration in place. However, the resolution targets a health order, not an emergency declaration.

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NEW ORLEANS  Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Louisiana have dropped to the lowest level since late December  prior to a post-holiday season surge that saw the number hit a record high.

Figures posted by the state health department Monday showed the number of people hospitalized with the disease caused by the new coronavirus at 1,638. The number was 2,069 on Jan. 7, higher than the peak of just under 2,000 in the first deadly surge that hit the state in early 2020.

The Louisiana numbers are similar to a national trend. The number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital in the U.S. has fallen to about 110,000 from a high of 132,000 on Jan. 7.

The governments top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the improvement appears to be the result of natural peaking and then plateauing after a holiday surge, rather than an effect of the rollout of vaccines that began in mid-December.

Louisiana, like other states, continues to have more interest in the vaccine than shots available. Some hospitals and clinics have reported having to cancel immunization appointments because they didnt have enough vaccine doses to distribute.

On the other hand, officials at the Ochsner Health system, with facilities throughout the state, have seen a reluctance among some employees to get vaccinated. A little more than half of Ochsner employees have yet to get the vaccine, officials said at a news conference Monday.

Ochsner Chief Medical Officer Robert Hart and system infectious disease specialist Sandra Kemmerly said some employees have been reluctant based on pervasive misinformation about side effects.

We continue to stress to our employees and everybody that will listen to us how safe and effective this vaccine is, Kemmerly said.

___

JUNEAU, Alaska  Eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccines in Alaska is expected to remain the same through much of February, with a continued focus on vaccinating those 65 and older, a vaccine official said Monday.

Tessa Walker Linderman, co-lead of Alaskas COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, told reporters the state expects to learn soon what its vaccine allocation will be for February. She said officials did not expect any new eligibility tiers opening next month.

We are really focused on 65 and older for the rest of February, she said.

Alaskas chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, said the emphasis comes with wanting to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19.

Certain healthcare workers and long-term care residents and staff also are among those currently eligible for vaccinations in Alaska.

Walker Linderman said she would not encourage people to wait outside pharmacies or clinics in hopes of getting a leftover shot that might otherwise be thrown out. She said providers are asked to have wait lists for those who meet eligibility criteria and to vaccinate individuals who fall within those eligibility tiers.

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MINNEAPOLIS  A new Brazilian variant of the coronavirus has made its first known appearance in the United States, in a person who had recently returned to Minnesota after traveling to that country, state health officials announced Monday.

The virus known as the Brazil P.1 variant was found in a specimen from a patient who lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and became ill the first week of January, the Minnesota Department of Health said in a statement. Epidemiologists were re-interviewing the person to obtain more details about the persons illness, travel and contacts.

There was no immediate indication that the variant was spreading in the state.

Viruses are constantly mutating, and new versions  called variants  often emerge. Health officials are also worried about variants that were first reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Researchers believe they may spread more easily than the virus thats been sickening millions in the United States and that has caused nearly 420,000 deaths.

The Brazilian variant was first identified in four travelers who were tested at an airport outside Tokyo, Japan. It contains a set of mutations that may affect its ability to be recognized by antibodies, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some researchers have raised a concern that the Brazilian variant may be able to re-infect people who already were sickened by COVID-19.

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RALEIGH, N.C.  North Carolina officials are shifting the states COVID-19 vaccination distribution strategy toward mass clinics in an effort to turn the corner on a slow rollout. But its leading to frustration for some hospital systems that have had their anticipated vaccine allocations reduced or eliminated, resulting in thousands of residents seeing appointments postponed or canceled.

Over the last week, North Carolina distributed more doses to large sites, such as Charlotte Motor Speedway, where nearly 16,000 people were vaccinated over the weekend. Other mass vaccination sites also are opening.

But UNC Health on Monday said the 10,000 doses it will now receive this week is less than half of what it expected, and far less than the 30,000 doses it has the ability to administer.

And Cone Health, a private healthcare system based in Greensboro, said it learned late last week that it would not get any additional first doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines this week, resulting in 10,400 people having their appointments pushed back. Cone Health CEO Terry Akin said the decision shocked him and noted he is very unhappy that the state appears to keep changing the rules for vaccination allocation.

Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement on Monday that supply shortages are fueling the problem.

As long as we are getting such a small amount of vaccine as a state, there are going to be challenges and shortages as we try to ensure equitable access to vaccine, while getting shots into arms quickly. We understand this is hard for providers who are doing everything right, Cohen said.



MEXICO CITY  The son of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim announced Monday that his father has COVID-19 and is responding to treatment.

Carlos Slim Domit wrote in his Twitter account that his 80-year-old father started having minor symptoms a week ago, and has gone to one of the countrys foremost hospitals for care.

The son said the National Nutrition Institute had given his father tests, monitoring and timely treatment. With Mexico Citys hospitals at 89% capacity, many city residents have had a very difficult time finding a hospital with room for a sick relative.

He is very well and has had a very favorable development, Slim Domit wrote.

The elder Slim was once listed as the worlds richest man, though he has since fallen out of the top 10 on the worlds richest people list.

The announcement came one day after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced he had tested positive for coronavirus. It was unlikely the two cases were related; Slim does not frequently see the president.

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LAS VEGAS  Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Monday wrote a letter to the acting U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran asking why Nevada has received the second-lowest number of vaccine doses per capita among the states.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection data show Nevada has received 9,316 doses per 100,000 people, putting it above only South Carolina, which has received 8,803 per 100,000.

The Democratic governor says Nevada officials were told vaccine doses would be administered to the states based on population. Sisolak in his letter asked what data the government is using to allocate doses and requested the U.S. government find a way to send the state more.

___

DENVER  A Denver-based medical equipment company is expected to pay Colorado $70,000 after the state alleged the business made misleading claims about masks and respirators sold during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Denver Post reports the state attorney generals office says Nationwide Medical Supply Inc. agreed to the payment.

The state alleged the company improperly identified products, made false claims about federal approval and inflated its prices, which is prohibited during public emergencies.

Nationwide Medical Supply denied the allegations but said the company would improve due diligence policies and procedures rather than fight the claims in court.

___

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden said schools should be made safe and secure for students and teachers as states look to ramp up in-person learning.

But Biden speaking to reporters on Monday sidestepped a question about whether school districts should wait until teachers are vaccinated before requiring them to return to the classroom.

That issue is at the heart of a standoff between the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The Chicago Teachers Union has voted to defy an order to return to the classroom to begin in-person learning in one of the nations largest public school districts.

While negotiations are ongoing, school district officials say the teachers absence would amount to an illegal strike.

We need testing for teachers as well as students, and we need the capacity, the capacity to know that the circumstance of the school is safe and secure for everyone, said Biden, when asked about Chicago school district standoff.

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OFALLON, Mo.  Missouri ranks dead last among states for the percentage of residents receiving their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and two neighboring states dont fare much better.

Information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday showed that 242,937 Missourians have received the first shot, or 3,958 people per 100,000 residents. Idaho, Nevada and Alabama had the next worst per capita rates, followed by Missouris neighbors on both sides  Kansas with 4,374 vaccinations per 100,000 residents, and Illinois with 4,392 vaccinations per 100,000 residents.

Across the U.S., the supply of vaccine to the states has failed to keep up with demand. Missouris health director, Dr. Randall Williams, said in a briefing last week that he has already been contacted by the new Biden administration, which sought details about Missouris plan.

___

WASHINGTON  The Federal Emergency Management Agency is releasing some more information about its increasing role in COVID-19 vaccination efforts, though it is not yet saying where it will be setting up federal vaccination centers.

FEMA announced Monday that it would be reimbursing states, territories and tribal governments for the use of National Guard troops to respond to the pandemic and plans to expedite reimbursement for eligible emergency projects such as leasing facilities or equipment to administer or store vaccines.

President Joe Biden last week directed FEMA to assist state and local governments with vaccination efforts that lagged under his predecessor.

Details have not been released but the agency said that it would support established vaccination locations and establish new ones in locations that have not yet been announced.

___

SACRAMENTO, Calif.  California is considering extending eviction protections through the end of June and paying up to 80% of some tenants unpaid rent.

The proposal, which must be approved by the state Legislature, would extend a state law scheduled to expire on Monday that prevents landlords from evicting tenants who could not pay their rent between March and August because of the coronavirus pandemic. To be eligible for that protection, tenants must sign a declaration of hardship that they have been impacted by the pandemic and must pay at least 25% of their rent due between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31.

This new proposal would extend those protections until June 30. But it would also use $2.6 billion Congress recently approved for California to pay off some of that unpaid rent. The state would pay landlords up to 80% of their unpaid rent  but only if landlords agree to forgive the remaining 20% and pledge not to evict tenants.
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Have you found 'bun bun'?

CAN you help reunite seven-year-old Sofia with her beloved 'bun bun'?

Like many children across West Berkshire on Sunday morning, Sofia was keen to make the most of the snow. When her family walked to nearby Greenham Common, she took along her favourite toy - bun bun - which she has had since she was just a few weeks old.

Sofia's mother Moya Hain took pictures of her daughter playing in the snow along with her two brothers and 'our crazy dog' and photo evidence shows that bun bun must have fallen out of Sofia's pocket at about 11am on the main path to the right of the control tower.

Miss Hain said: "Bun bun slipped out of Sofia's coat pocket while she was rolling a very large snowball. We realised a few moments later, retraced our steps, but there was no sign of the bunny.

"We searched, asked in the cafe, checked exit points and shared on Facebook including Greenham Common Tower's page.

The last sighting we heard about was that it had been seen hanging on a bush to the east of the silos, but after a look this morning (Monday) it must have been moved.

"Sofia would love to be reunited with bun bun as she has had her since she was a baby and it goes everywhere with her. She regularly takes pictures of her when we are on family walks at the common - and took pictures of bun bun playing at snow angels on Sunday morning."

If any eagle-eyed walkers around Greenham spot a grey rabbit with floppy ears then please contact Miss Hain on 07771521169 or let Newburytoday know so bun bun can go back home.

Bun bun is just visible sticking out of Sofia's pocket

Sofia took pictures of bun bun creating snow angels (or snow bunnies)
Four girls aged 12 to 14 who have been arrested over the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old girl during a fight inside a Louisiana Walmart posted live videos on social media as the attack unfolded.

Police say a 12-year-old, two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old were arrested after the older girl died at a hospital after being stabbed inside the Walmart at Lake Charles on Saturday night.

The girls allegedly used a knife they had stolen from the store in the fatal attack and were spotted in a kitchen aisle just moments earlier.

Footage of the stabbing, which was posted on Facebook and Instagram live, showed one girl armed with what appeared to be a knife as the victim approached and lunged at her.

Four girls aged 12 to 14 who have been arrested over the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old girl during a fight inside a Louisiana Walmart. Footage of the stabbing showed one girl armed with what appeared to be a knife (left) as the victim (right) approached and lunged at her

Authorities later released a surveillance image of that girl, who is one of the 13-year-olds, as she fled the store in a bid to track her down after the stabbing.

Videos showed the group of girls fleeing the store in a getaway car as one of them screamed: 'Just stabbed somebody at Walmart'.

'We just stabbed that b***h in her heart. We don't give a f**k.'

Authorities have not yet confirmed who was driving the car.

Police initially named the 13-year-old wanted over the stabbing in a Facebook post when they were trying to track her down. The other three girls were not named.

The victim's identity has not been publicly released.

Authorities have also not revealed a motive for the attack but police believe the confrontation may have started at a nearby movie theater.



One of the 13-year-old girls was arrested on a second-degree murder charge and the three others on charges accusing them as principals to second-degree murder. They have all been booked into the juvenile detention center.

The girls allegedly used a knife they had stolen from the store in the fatal attack. Police confirmed that investigators have footage of the stabbing that the alleged attackers posted on Facebook and Instagram live

Authorities later released a surveillance image of that girl, who is one of the 13-year-olds, as she fled the store in a bid to track her down after the stabbing

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso confirmed that investigators have videos of the fatal stabbing that the alleged attackers posted on Facebook and Instagram live.

'They stole knives from the actual store where they were at. It is really heart-breaking when we have to come in and pick up the pieces because so many families are damaged after this,' Mancuso said during a press conference.

'Our whole case unfolded before us through live Facebook and Instagram... we have videos of everything that took place and it's very disturbing.

'The whole murder was played out on (social media) so, again, there appeared to be no remorse. It was very cold to see 12, 13, 14 and 15-year-olds acting this way and we as a society can't tolerate it. We cannot let this plague and take over our community.'

The sheriff issued a plea for parents to 'take control' and said it was problem of 'kids having access to weapons'.

'This is the third homicide in six months that we've had that involved juveniles that range from 11 to 16 years old. They come from all backgrounds, all races. This is just a problem that we are having with kids having access to weapons,' he said.

'This is not something we can police ourselves out o... I just don't feel like this is a police matter. This is a parenting issue.'
More than a dozen people have been filmed fishing at the exact same spot where three men lost their lives just two days earlier.

In the video, frustrated locals can be heard yelling at the fishermen to 'hurry up' and get off the rocks in Port Kembla, NSW, as powerful waves crash around them.

Spectators can be seen watching on in disbelief as half the fishing group scrambles off the rocks to safety in the terrifying video.

'Don't worry about the fish', frustrated locals record reckless group who were seen fishing at the same spot where three men lost their lives just two days earlier

'After a few days of several people losing their lives, more idiots at the exact same spot risking their lives,' the footage was captioned on Facebook.

'If there's big swell, stay off the ledges! Hit the harbour or lakes or rivers or even the fish market.'

On Friday 22 January, three fisherman died after they were dragged from the same rocky platform by a large wave into rough surf late at night.

The popular rock fishing spot 'Hill 60' near Port Kembla erupted into chaos when emergency services were called to the scene just after 10pm.

Despite the efforts of the Marine Area Command, NSW Ambulance, rescue helicopters and local lifeguards, three men were confirmed dead after their bodies were recovered from the water.

The video was uploaded to a local fishing group on Facebook in an attempt to dissuade fishermen from risking their lives at the popular fishing spot 'Hill 60'

Two of the men were later identified by relatives to be aged 45 and 49, from Green Valley and the third man was identified by police to be a 69-year-old from Campsie.

Acting Superintendent Mr Dunlop said it wouldn't be the last time police attended a tragic scene at the fishing spot due to the allure of the dangerous activity.

Mr Dunlop confirmed that warnings of the dangerous area were in place at the time of the fishermen's deaths.

'Obviously with the angel rings being installed on the shoreline, it's been identified as an area that needs increased safety'.

'The local rescue operations and Surf Life Saving are all aware of the dangers of fishing off rocks and recovering people around these areas'.

Surf Lifesavers and emergency services have previously warned rock fishers to wear a life jacket at all times, as the ocean can be unpredictable, with slippery rocks becoming particularly dangerous in the dark.



The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka held a successful lecture earlier this month to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels.

Over 50 people, including students, young workers and supporters, participated in the January 10 online event, which was simultaneously translated into Tamil. The lecture was based on a World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) perspective written by International Committee of the Fourth International Secretary Peter Schwarz and published on November 28.

IYSSE convener Kapila Fernando began the meeting by explaining the contemporary relevance of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels whose political work was based on their development of a historical materialist analysis of the contradictions of the capitalist system. The work of these two great revolutionaries, he said, provides us with the necessary perspective to advance the struggles facing workers today.

Sakuntha Hirimuthugoda, a leading member of the IYSSE, delivered the main lecture. He pointed out that although various academics and intellectuals still attempt to question and refute the validity of Marxism, the accuracy of the analysis of Marx and Engels is confirmed by the profound crisis of capitalism today.

The liquidation of the Soviet Union in 1991 was declared by the numerous academics to be the demise of socialism and the victory of capitalism. It was the end of history, Francis Fukuyama insisted.

Thirty years after these statements, what has been proven? Hirimuthugoda asked.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which the WSWS has described as a trigger event, the speaker continued, clearly exposes the insoluble contradictions confronting world capitalism. This includes unprecedented social inequality with massive wealth in the hands of a handful of capitalists and an intolerable situation facing masses of people across the globe.

The response of the ruling elites everywhere, as shown by the fascist conspiracy of Donald Trump, is for police-military forms of rule, Hirimuthugoda said.

The lecturer referred to the Communist Manifesto written by Marx and Engels in 1848 which describes modern bourgeois society, like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells. This, Hirimuthugoda said, accurately describes contemporary capitalism.

Commenting on the irrational reaction of the bourgeoisie to the pandemic, he then quoted from Engels 1877 classic , Anti-Duhring: The growing perception that existing social institutions are unreasonable and unjust, that reason has become unreason, and right wrong, is only proof that in the modes of production and exchange changes have silently taken place with which the social order, adapted to earlier economic conditions, is no longer in keeping.

Marx and Engels, however, did not just analyse the reasons for the irrationality of the profit system, Hirimuthugoda continued. They explained that capitalism was establishing the conditions for the building of a new social order and the social force that would overthrow it.

As Marx and Engels analysed, not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weaponsthe modern working classthe proletarians.

Hirimuthugoda said that Marx and Engels were unique among philosophers in recognising that the working class had to fight on the basis of its own independent political movement to achieve socialism.

Concluding his lecture, Hirimuthugoda noted the resurgence of the class struggle internationally and the growing interest in socialism among youth.

In the current pre-revolutionary period, he said, it is crucially important to study Engels work in order to arm oneself with the fundamental conceptions of the socialist perspective.

During the question and answer session, a student from northern Jaffna asked for further clarification on the two fundamental contradictions of the capitalist system.

IYSSE convener Fernando pointed to the conflict between global production and the capitalist nation state system and referred to the rising global and regional geopolitical tensions. The US-led military campaign against China in the Indian Ocean region, he said, was an expression of these tensions, reflected in Washingtons continuous pressure on the Rajapakse regime to distance itself from China.

Fernando explained that the private ownership of the means of production and the capitalist nation state system were blocking major advances in medical science needed to rapidly respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Another participant asked for details on the difference between scientific socialism and utopian socialism. Hirimuthugoda explained that utopian socialists believed that socialism could be developed outside the class struggle and via a series of reforms.

The utopian socialists, he said, did not accept the revolutionary role of the working class. While utopian socialists criticised the capitalist system, they failed to scientifically explain how and why it declined and therefore could not present a correct perspective on the realisation of socialism.

Quoting from Engels Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, he said: Socialism was no longer an accidental discovery of this or that ingenious brain, but the necessary outcome of the struggle between two historically developed classesthe proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

Another participant asked the relation between Trotskys theory of permanent revolution and the fight against the politics of the petty bourgeoisie. He referred to the address of the Central Committee to the Communist League, by Marx and Engels in 1850, which insisted on the complete political independence of the working class from the petty bourgeois democrats.

Prageeth Aravinda, another IYSSE member, explained the counter-revolutionary role of the petty bourgeoisie during revolutionary uprisings of the working class in 1848. The political lessons of this strategic experience and other historical developments, he said, provided the foundations for Trotskys elaboration of the Theory of Permanent Revolution.

Trotskys analysis demonstrated that the tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution in countries with belated capitalist development could only be achieved by the working class leading the rural masses in overthrowing the profit system through a socialist revolution as part of the fight for socialism internationally.

After further questions and discussion, the online event concluded with an appeal by IYSSE convener Fernando for all those in attendance to actively participate in the struggle for socialism by joining the SEP and the IYSSE.
Aesthetics Biomedical Inc., a regenerative medicine company committed to the development and distribution of innovative aesthetic devices and skincare products for the global market, proudly announces the issuance of its second US Patent for Biologic Preserving Composition and Methods of Use. The January 5th, 2021 issued patent covers topical compositions for combining biologics with skincare.

This announcement comes only weeks after publication of Aesthetics Biomedicals (ABM) second paper on SoME Skincare, demonstrating clinical efficacy following 120 days of topical treatment. (J Drugs & Dermatology Vol 19, Dec 2020) SoME Skincare is the first in its class, allowing the utilization of personalized autologous platelet rich plasma (PRP) in a topical skincare product for 90 days of home use. An earlier controlled, double blinded, eight-week study demonstrated, tolerability and significant efficacy of the topical product for facial rejuvenation. (J Cosmetic Dermatol Vol 18, Issue 5, 2019). The patented cosmetic base formulation serves as a chassis, platform technology, from which other upscale functional topical products can be developed for various skin conditions.

With ABMs issuance of a second patent that covers biologic use within a topical product along with the recent publication that offers new insights relating to the stability and use of PRP in the clinical setting, clearly demonstrates that ABM is solidifying themselves as a key player in personalized topicals, says Shaun Wootten, Director of Research & Development at Aesthetics Biomedical Inc. Wootten further states that ABM has a pipeline of other personalized skincare products that can incorporate PRP and other autologous factors that will be available to the plastic surgery, dermatology, medical spa, and cosmetic businesses.

Aesthetics Biomedical remains focused on developing the required basic and clinical research to successfully commercialize these innovative products. The issuance of this second patent helps solidify the companys proprietary position, providing for a product pipeline based on natural, autologous growth factors for skin and haircare. We will use our creativity to provide the aesthetic physician community with the most innovative, safe and efficacious products," says MaryAnn Guerra, President and CEO.

The field of aesthetic medicine continues to grow at an exponential rate. Energy devices, physician-dispensed skincare, and injectables will continue to play a critical role as the field continues to look for minimally-invasive safe, precise, products to treat the effects of the intrinsic/ extrinsic aging process. The incorporation of personalized, natural, autologous factors for prejuvenation and rejuvenation for the face and hair growth provides highly efficacious in-office co- treatments to potentiate the desired aesthetic effect. The new decade will no doubt provide both physicians and patients with a plethora of safe and innovative approaches for aesthetic medicine.

ABOUT AESTHETICS BIOMEDICAL

Aesthetics Biomedical Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., is committed to the development and distribution of novel aesthetic devices, products, and services in the global market. Aesthetics Biomedicals innovation center is a leader in breakthrough technologies and combination therapies for its clients, physician network and the aesthetic arena, creating novel patient treatment experiences that benefit from ongoing research, approved clinical indications for use, as well as a personalized approach designed for consumer benefit. Visit AestheticsBiomedical.com or SoMESkincare.com

There was good news in the New Year for the salaried class Indian middle-class as retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) announced that it has started crediting 8.5 per cent rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF) for 2019-20 for more than six crore members. Now account holders can see their updated EPF accounts with credit of 8.5 per cent rate of interest for 2019-20.

According to the EPF website - epfindia.gov.in, in an EPF account, an employee contributes 12 per cent of his or her salary towards the account, and an equal amount is contributed by the employer. EPFO is the nodal body of EPF and allows subscribers to view the EPF passbook online through its website.

EFPO also provides the balance information via missed call facility and SMS service. Here's how you can check EPF account balance ONLINE

1. Log on to epfindia.gov.in

2. Feed in your UAN number, password and captcha code

3. Click on the e-Passbook

4. Once you file all the details, you will land up on a new page

5. Now open member id

6. Now you can see the total EPF balance in your account

How to check EPF balance through UMANG App

1. Open the UMANG App

2. Click on EPFO.

3. Click on Employee Centric Services

4. Click on the View Passbook option

5. Feed in your UAN number and password

6. You will get OTP on your registered mobile number

7. Now you can now check your EPF balance

How to check EPF balance through SMS

1. Apart from the mobile number, the members registered on the UAN portal may get their PF details by sending an SMS from their registered mobile numbers. For this, you are required to SMS EPFOHO UAN to 7738299899.

How to check EPF balance through MISSED Call

1. EPFO subscribers, registered on the UAN portal, may get their PF details available with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation by giving a missed call at 011-22901406 from their mobile number registered with UAN.
An EU law that grants workers the right to digitally disconnect from work without facing negative repercussions has been called for by the European Parliament.

Under the proposed law, MEPs will look to establish minimum requirements for remote working and clarify working conditions, hours and rest periods.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has increased by almost a third, and research by Eurofound shows that people who work regularly from home are more than twice as likely to surpass the maximum of 48 working hours per week.

Almost 30pc of people working from home report working in their free time every day or several times a week, compared to less than 5pc of office workers.

Read More

It will take time for these rights to be sworn into law, but MEP Deirdre Clune has said the conversation must begin now to find solutions for remote workers.

These are very difficult times for employees and businesses but it is important that with more people working from home, that work does not overtake everything at home.

The current situation has clearly demonstrated that remote and flexible employment can work successfully but having policies around the Right to Disconnect can help people enjoy a better work/life balance. This wont happen overnight but it is something we can consider when looking at the future of work, the Ireland South MEP said.

MEP Clune said some companies in Ireland have already adopted Right to Disconnect policies but more need to look at what they can do in this area. MEP Clune said she welcomes the focus being placed on this by the European Parliament.

Many businesses have been fantastic to their employees during this Covid-19 crisis and the Right to Disconnect has come on the radar of many companies over the last year. We can all be guilty of checking emails on our phones or logging on quickly late at night but in order to maintain a good work/life balance we must ensure that this does not impact in a significant way.

Ms Clune said MEPs consider the right to disconnect a fundamental right that allows workers to refrain from engaging in work-related tasks  such as phone calls, emails and other digital communication  outside working hours.
European Union foreign ministers have debated their response to the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The discussion follows a weekend police crackdown that saw thousands of people taken into custody during protests across Russia in support of President Vladimir Putins most well-known critic.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: This wave of detention is something that worries us a lot, as well as the detention of Mr Navalny.

A policeman in plain clothes detains opposition activist Pavel Krysevich (AP)

He spoke as he arrived to chair the ministerial meeting in Brussels after more than 3,500 people were reportedly taken into custody in Russia during the nationwide protests.

German foreign minister Heiko Maas said that under the Russian constitution, everyone in Russia has the right to express their opinion and to demonstrate.

He added: That must be possible. The principles of the rule of law must apply there, too  Russia has always committed itself to that.

Mr Maas and other ministers called for the immediate release of the protesters.

More than 3,500 people were arrested over the weekend (AP)

Mr Navalny was arrested earlier this month when he returned to Moscow after spending months in Germany recovering from an attack in Russia which involved what experts have said was the nerve agent Novichok.

Read More Thousands protest against Brazilian presidents handling of pandemic

In October, the EU imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and a state research institute over Mr Navalnys poisoning, but there is little appetite to take new measures immediately.

Mr Borrell, the EUs top diplomat, is also planning a trip to Moscow, and it is unclear what impact events will have on that visit.

On Sunday, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed concern about what he called Russias authoritarian drift.

Thousands took to the streets in cities across Russia (AP)

He told France-Inter radio that all light must be shed on Mr Navalnys poisoning, saying: This was an assassination attempt.

The protests attracted thousands of people in major Russian cities, including an estimated 15,000 in Moscow.

As events unfolded, the US embassy spokeswoman in the city, Rebecca Ross, said on Twitter that the United States supports the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression. Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights.

The embassy also tweeted a US state department statement calling for Mr Navalnys release.

Mr Putins spokesman said the statements interfered in the countrys domestic affairs and were encouraging Russians to break the law.
A member of the National Guard watches as President Joe Biden's motorcade drives to Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony at Tomb of the Unknowns after the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony at the Capitol, in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 20, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Biden Unleashes War on Political Opposition

Commentary

Weve been hearing a lot about the Biden administrations planned domestic war on terroror perhaps its really a war on domestic terror.

Cynicsthat would be dogs like mesay that what we are really seeing is a war on political opposition.

What does that look like?

Well, we still have thousands of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. Why?

And why were some 26,000 troops from all across the country assembled there in the first place? And why were they subjected to loyalty tests, with several troops known to be critical of the new administration sent packing.

The rationale offered was to protect the inaugural proceeds following the Jan. 6 protests at the Capitol.

If I were writing for the mainstream media, I would have to say deadly, riot, or insurrection at the Capitol, and I would have to say that President Donald Trump incited the storming of the building.

But he didnt. He asked the crowd to march over to the Capitol peacefully and patriotically. Should he have known better? Yes.

Are the media talking out of both sides of their mouths, ignoring the arson and destruction in cities across the country when it is perpetrated by the left, while acting like the party of law and order when mostly peaceful protestors cut up rough in the Capitol? Again, yes.

Show of Force

So turning Washington into an armed camp was mostly a bit of theater. There was no threat that the Washington police couldnt have handled.

It was theater. It was also a show of force.

Were in charge now, rubes, and dont you forget it.

Which is the real reason that some 7,000 of those troops will be staying in D.C. until mid-March.

Some say its in order to keep the peace during the new impeachment proceedings in the Senate against Trump, which are scheduled to commence early next month.

But why is Trump being impeached yet again? Ostensibly for willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.

Really, its for being Trump, i.e., for being a threat to the status quo.

Of course, its odd to impeach someone when he is no longer in office. But it has been pointed out that if Trump is convicted, he can then be forbidden from any future public trust, i.e., political office.

Maybe thats in the back of the minds of those pushing this spectacle. Trump is the greatest threat in history to the credentialed class and the globalist administrative state upon which they feed.

For the media, Trump has been their greatest source of revenue in decades; impeaching him again will assure that he stays in the news.

Demonizing Half the Country

Which brings me back to that war on domestic terror.

There is no domestic terror.

But there is plenty of domestic conservatism.

Thats the real focus of this war.

To get a flavor of the mood in the war camp, ponder the open letter, signed by more than 500 publishing professionals (authors, publishers, designers, and so on), calling on the industry to reject books written by anyone who had anything to do with the Trump administration.

They pledge to do whatever is in our power to stop enriching the monsters among us.

Heres their problem. There are approximately 75 million people who voted for Trump.

How many million more was that than voted for Joe Biden? I dont know. Anyone who does know isnt saying.

But the point is this. The activist leftthat would be the people who were burning cities this past summer, the people who installed Biden and Kamala Harris in office, the people who formulated the Green New Deal, and its attendant crazinessthink they can demonize half the country with no consequences for themselves.

This isnt a correct conclusion, I believe. But it also isnt irrational.

I say that its not irrational because hitherto, everything the left has done has been excused. They burn down various cities, while the media describes the mayhem as mostly peaceful protests, when really they are deadly assaults on the fabric of our civilization.

But the left proceeds with impunity because conservatives are unwilling to behave reciprocally and treat the left with the no-holds-barred contempt that has also been part of the lefts playbook.

Keeping the Bullies in Line

Is that about to change? Probably not.

But maybe. Biden has spoken about unity and tolerance, even as his actions foster divisiveness and intolerance.

Many people have noticed this.

Its all part of a calculated playbook. The Washington Post began talking about impeaching Trump 19 minutes after he was inaugurated in 2017. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) waited a full 24 hours before filing articles of impeachment against Biden.

She has a good case: the Biden familys corrupt dealings with communist China and Ukraine. I dont think she mentioned the $3.5 million that Hunter Biden got from the richest woman in Russia, but that, too, bears looking into.

Will Greenes initiative go anywhere? Probably not. But we may hope that it will start a fertile precedent.

I think Biden should be impeached early and often, for canceling the Keystone pipeline, for example. It put thousands of people out of work and, since it attacks a critical basis for U.S. prosperity, its a threat to national security. It also gives effective aid and comfort to Americas enemies, above all to Iran, China, and Russia.

Furthermore, since the Democrats are proceeding with their impeachment of Trump even though he is out of office, should Republicans not move to impeach Barack Obama for his role in the Russia collusion hoax? For refusing to do anything to help Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security detail during the attack against our consulate in Benghazi in 2012? For refusing to enforce federal immigration laws or illegally intervening in various states to prevent them from enforcing their own immigration laws?

The possibilities are endless, and the Democrats have just demonstrated that being out of office is no protection against impeachment.

I say, have at it. Its a slightly updated version of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as they have done unto you. Its the only way to keep the bullies in line.

Roger Kimball is the editor and publisher of The New Criterion and publisher of Encounter Books. His most recent book is Who Rules? Sovereignty, Nationalism, and the Fate of Freedom in the 21st Century.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Will Waldron

ALBANY  It would cost New York about $900,000 to provide internet access to residents of state-run group homes, but the policy of the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities dictates that a resident who wants the service must pay for it themselves.

Hudson Valley Democratic Sen. James Skoufis aims to change that with proposed legislation that would mandate providing free internet access to all residents in state-run group homes, underscoring the need for the service as families across the country isolate to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has some advice for the countrys defense units following their apology to alumni of the University of the Philippines after including them in a list of alleged recruits of communist rebels.

I can only speak for the President, noh. So I can only suggest that they be more prudent para hindi na po napapa-apologize ang ating [so that an apology need not come from our] Secretary of National Defense, said the official when asked what plan or advice can they provide to prevent any more similar occurrences.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines apologized to alumni of the countrys premier university Sunday after being included in a now-deleted Facebook post listing students who joined the New Peoples Army, noting they were allegedly captured and killed. The post made the rounds in social media apart from Facebook.

The apology came after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana acknowledged the militarys mistake, calling it an unpardonable gaffe.

Atty. Raffy Aquino, who was among those listed in the post, earlier said the AFP should publicly apologize. Aquino, also part of the Free Legal Assistance Group, also announced they will be taking legal actions for the armed forces act of red-tagging.

Meanwhile, Roque likewise admitted there is no overall communication plan on red-tagging.

We leave that to the defense establishment, sila po iyan [thats on them], he said.

The incident comes following Lorenzanas move to unilaterally terminate the UP-DND Accord of 1989, which bars the police and military from entering any UP campus without notifying the schools administration.

The Defense Secretary, however, has since expressed willingness to hold a dialogue with UP on the issue and enjoined them to help the government in its fight against insurgency.
The testimony given in a London courtroom this week by Corinna Larsen - emeritus king Juan Carlos's former lover - isn't new. It was in an expansive interview with the BBC last August, granted just after Juan Carlos fled Spain amid fraud allegations, that the German businesswoman first claimed that her life and the lives of her children had been threatened in 2012 by Felix Roldan, chief of Spain's intelligence services between 2009 and 2019.

The scope of this particular scandal now extends beyond just Larsen and Juan Carlos and hints at the existence of dark forces at work behind the scenes - ones that operate with great power, just out of sight, and that fiercely protect their own.

The allegation itself is another heavy blow for a once-beloved monarch, who Larsen says issued the threat against her. It's one thing to be accused of fraud and to be suspected of holding questionably acquired funds in offshore accounts; but it's quite another to be accused of issuing a death-threat to your former lover, in order to protect your family's public image.

In May 2012, when the menacing hints to Larsen were allegedly made by Roldan, that image had already been dirtied. News had just broken that Larsen had accompanied Juan Carlos on an extravagant hunting trip to Botswana the previous month, as Spain endured a gruelling recession. It was during this holiday that Larsen claims her Monaco flat was raided by Spanish authorities, on the hunt for documents pertaining to the "financial and business dealings" of Carlos and the royal household.

Why, one wonders, were these documents so incriminating? Did they perhaps concern the same kind of topic as an illicitly taped conversation released in 2018, in which Larsen claims to have seen the former king returning from "Arab countries" with suitcases literally bulging with cash?

This revelation was caught on tape by former undercover police officer and spymaster Jose Villarejo, who recorded all of his conversations with rich and powerful figures. Like Juan Carlos, Villarejo's fall from grace over the last few years has been swift and brutal: once a lauded policeman, who won his first medal in the 1970s for helping to combat ETA, he subsequently worked in the shadows for Spain's political and business elite, allegedly building up a personal fortune in the process. Villarejo was arrested in late 2017 on charges of bribery and money laundering and his first criminal trial is scheduled to begin today.

As a Spanish academic told The New York Times back in 2019, the key question is whether Villarejo's antics as an undercover agent show that "there is a 'deep state' that governs in the shadows" in Spain. The alleged threats made on Juan Carlos's behalf against Larsen in 2012 make one wonder the same thing, and prompt speculation about just how powerful this parallel, shadowy state might be.
Meet the new faces who will introduce themselves and their first bills, navigate their first committee hearing and, with any luck, stand next to Gov. Jared Polis has he signs their work into law in 2021.
With a mature operating model based on its overseas warehouses, Ningbo HOOYA Import & Export Group Co., Ltd. based in Ningbo city, east China's Zhejiang province, doubled its business volume in 2020, compared with the previous year. It sells more than 15,000 products under over 20 categories in European and U.S. markets and receives an average of over 30,000 orders per day. Ten years ago, however, HOOYA was a traditional foreign trade enterprise selling daily necessities with low unit prices and low profit margins. Its overseas warehouses, which have integrated functions for such purposes as storage, transportation and sale of products, hold the key to the transformation of the enterprise. The company has built overseas warehouses covering 400,000 square meters and 20 storage and marketing centers around the world. In fact, besides HOOYA, many more Chinese companies have established warehouses overseas. Ruston Express, an international logistics company based in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, built its first overseas warehouse in Russia in 2015. By joining hands with local logistics companies, the warehouse, which covers an area of 11,000 square meters, can reduce the delivery time of parcels to as short as one day. Fujian Zongteng Network Co., Ltd., a third-party service provider for cross-border e-commerce merchants, owns 36 overseas warehouses covering an area of about 700,000 square meters. These warehouses have served as transit stations between Chinese sellers and their overseas consumers. According to reliable statistics, Chinese companies have so far established more than 1,800 overseas warehouses in countries and regions like Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. These overseas warehouses established by Chinese companies are mainly classified into three categories, namely warehouses that provide third-party services for cross-border e-commerce sellers, warehouses that own cross-border e-commerce platforms and mainly provide services for customers on their platforms, and fast-growing warehouses with distinctive characteristics and great potential for development. Behind the increasing number and density of Chinese-owned overseas warehouses is the countrys thriving cross-border e-commerce. As an emerging trade form, cross-border e-commerce has bucked the trend of global foreign trade slowdown because of its advantages including online transaction, contactless delivery, and relatively short transaction chain, and played an active role in helping foreign trade companies respond to the COVID-19 epidemic, said Li Kuiwen, head of the statistics and analysis department of Chinas General Administration of Customs (GAC). The pandemic has intensified global consumers' reliance on online shopping, according to Li, adding that cross-border e-commerce has seen rising import and export volume amid the outbreak, becoming an important force in stabilizing foreign trade. In the first three quarters of 2020, the value of imports and exports checked and released through Chinas customs cross-border e-commerce management platform reached 187.4 billion yuan (about $29 billion), a year-on-year increase of 52.8 percent, official statistics show. The import and export lists checked and released via the management platform registered 2.45 billion in 2020, up 63.3 percent year on year. Overseas warehouses have become an essential link and platform for the development of cross-border e-commerce, according to Zhang Jianping, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. By building overseas warehouses and then shipping goods in bulk to these warehouses to sort, package, and deliver them to customers according to local markets, Chinese companies can effectively improve logistics efficiency and reduce operational cost, Zhang added. During the Singles Day shopping spree last year, a consumer in Spain received the TV set he ordered via AliExpress, Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba's global online retail platform, within only half a day after placing the order, thanks to the warehouse located near his home. Compared with traditional logistics models, overseas warehouses feature an operating model that allows goods to be delivered to foreign consumers from the nearest warehouses, thus greatly reducing the transportation time. In Indonesia, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has established a logistics chain combining the functions of warehouses and express services, extending its delivery services to 483 cities and seven islands in the country and reducing the delivery time of 85 percent of the orders to one day from five to seven days. Regarding overseas warehouses as an important measure for stabilizing foreign trade, the Chinese government has provided strong support for the development of these warehouses in recent years. In July 2020, the GAC piloted a program to boost cross-border e-commerce business to business (B2B) export, adding two export supervision codes 9710 and 9810 for cross-border e-commerce B2B direct export and cross-border e-commerce export overseas warehouses respectively. The move offered a dedicated channel to goods exported via overseas warehouses. So far, 22 customs under the direct administration of the GAC have carried out the pilot program, which enables companies to enjoy a series of favorable measures in customs clearance, such as priority in inspection, customs transit, and convenient return of goods. Since the launch of the pilot program, these customs have witnessed a steady increase in the number of customs declarations and the value of exports. More overseas warehouses are expected to be established by Chinese around the world, and these warehouses will see continuous improvement in operating efficiency in the future, Zhang said. In particular, the construction of new-generation intelligent logistics systems will further give play to overseas warehouses, thus helping cross-border e-commerce make greater contributions to stabilizing foreign trade, Zhang added.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Home health services provider Urgent Home Care has announced that Simply the Best Digital will now be heading the company's digital marketing efforts. It was rumored for quite some time that Urgent Home Care searched for a company to head its digital marking campaigns. While the leading home care services provider already had a pretty good online campaign in place, run by its team in-house, it was looking to take that campaign to the next level.



Simply the Best Digital has continued to be the digital marketing agency of choice for many healthcare industry businesses. Urgent Home Care is yet another addition to the company's portfolio of clients in the industry. However, when asked, an executive for Simply the Best Digital said that "our approach to digital marketing for every company is different. We understand that the goal for all companies in the health care industry aren't the same."



In the past Urgent Health Care has focused extensively on branding and reputation management. However, Simply the Best Digital may continue working on building that brand image and other aspects of digital marketing like social media and online advertising. While the strategy isn't clear yet, Simply the Best Digital is known for taking what's called a "multi-pronged" approach.



Readers can find out more about Urgent Home Care in Florida by visiting the company's official website https://palmbeachnurse.com.

"We are so excited to have Urgent Home Care as our clients. Our team is currently putting together a very exciting campaign for the company, which will be revealed soon. However, suffice to say for now, that things will be taken up several notches," said an executive at Simply the Best Digital.



She added, "Digital marketing has changed a lot in the past five years, but especially so for businesses in the health care industry. That's why now it is more important than ever for companies to have a digital strategy in place."

About Urgent Health Care



Home Health Services of Southeast Florida is a culmination of all the pieces required to support the elderly and their families' ever-changing needs. They provide a client-centered service, which connects those who need it with resources, skills, and expertise.



Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12855298



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Simply The Best Digital
Another judge has ruled that Gov. John Bel Edwards' effort to protect the public during a pandemic trumps a church pastor's claim that the First Amendment gives him and others the right to gather in large groups regardless of the possible danger to the community at large.

Central pastor Tony Spell went to court Monday believing 19th Judicial District Judge Eboni Johnson-Rose would void six criminal complaints against him, and asserted she "ruled against God" after failing to do so. Prosecutors allege Spell violated strict public gathering capacity limits Edwards put in place last spring as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Louisiana.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed 8,500 Louisiana residents. Spell faces $3,000 in fines.

Currently, though daily case numbers are far higher now than they were then, there are also vaccines and new therapies but also new viral mutations that are more contagious. Edwards restrictions for business and places of worship, however, are much looser. Churches can operate at 75% capacity.

As hospitalization and the death toll climbed last March and April, Spell set up several showdowns with authorities by continuing to hold services that drew hundreds of worshippers at his Life Tabernacle Church off Hooper Road. He welcomed media attention of his defiance, criticized Edwards over the restrictions as an infringement on constitutional protections for the free exercise of religion, and ultimately sought relief in state and federal courts.

He's lost on all fronts, so far.

+4 As coronavirus cases soar, some Louisiana bars continue to challenge governor's restrictions Liz Breaux says Red's Levee Bar is "legal as can be" and has been for nearly 70 years, even though the small bar in rural St. Martin Parish ha

Spell, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, faces jail time in addition to a $500 fine on each accusation that, six times last March, he violated orders limiting public gatherings to 50 and then just 10 people. The restrictions were in place when far less was known about the virus.

The pastor did not attend his criminal hearing Monday because, he said, he refused to wear a mask to enter the courthouse, which is following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance promoted as a means to control the pandemic. He instead waited outside and across the street from the courthouse with a few dozen of his supporters and church members who held up signs and a U.S. flag and wore T-shirts protesting the state mask mandate.

Spell and his supporters were unmasked.

Spell asserted outside court that he had broken no laws and considered his case and an open-and-shut one that should have gone the other way. He said he planned to appeal to the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal, but also believed judgment was also pending for those who worked to undermine religious liberties.

"You just ruled against God, so you get ready for the judgment of God," Spell said to the claps and affirmations of some his followers behind him.

+5 Legal challenges to Louisiana's virus restrictions continue despite court rulings When a Baton Rouge judge last month ruled a last-ditch effort by House Republican lawmakers to overturn Gov. John Bel Edwards virus restricti

In a later interview, Spell urged people to stand up for their liberties and called Edwards, a Roman Catholic, a liar, godless and a "tyrant," the latter for ignoring Republicans who asked him to more quickly reopen the state's economy.

The governor hates Christians. If he says anything different, hes a liar. He says all these people behind me are law breakers, and were not. The law-breakers  right over there in the Governors Mansion, Spell said.

Edwards said he was pleased with the judge's ruling and that, with the pandemic continuing, wearing a mask and remaining socially distanced were the responsible approach.

"My Christian Catholic faith teaches me that we should be good neighbors to one another and that includes doing what we can to protect each other from this terrible virus," Edwards said. "The vaccine is not available to everyone at this time but masks are. The best and easiest thing that we can all do is wear one to help get us back to where we all want to be."

Inside the courthouse earlier, Spell's attorney, Jeff Wittenbrink, argued Edwards' orders unfairly and illegally singled out religious organizations for restrictions while allowing businesses like Walmart and Lowe's to operate without social distancing or masking requirements, and no gathering limits.

Wittenbrink pointed to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that had overturned gathering restrictions in New York that the plaintiffs asserted had been aimed at conservative Jewish synagogues and Catholic churches.

Those places of worship had been put in zones that limited their attendance to 10 or 25 people, though many had capacities of more than 1,000, as Life Tabernacle does.

The ruling included concurring opinions that rejected a conclusion from Chief Justice John Roberts in an earlier California case on coronavirus restrictions that a state could make distinctions among businesses that posed different levels of risk of spread  for example, between an hour or more in the church pews singing and praying versus a quick pass through the store.

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I would suggest, your Honor, that Chief Justice Roberts has probably never stood in line at a Walmart on a Saturday, because the fact of the matter is you can stand there in a long line, with a lot of people, for a lot of time, in close contact, Wittenbrink said.

He argued later that the state Constitution also offers greater protections for First Amendment rights than even the federal Constitution and the state law giving Edwards the power to act on emergencies limits him from taking such strong restrictions on religious liberties.

But Darrel Papillion, a special assistant to District Attorney Hillar Moore, argued that Louisiana's restrictions were applied generally, unlike New York's, and neutrally and so were distinct from the stricken New York limits.

He said that, at the time the charges were made against Spell, Edwards was responding to the early days of the outbreak when New Orleans was one of three hotspots in the nation and Louisiana was under a declared emergency.

Despite the comparisons to retailers, he argued, the rules were actually looser on places of worship than other similarly situated businesses at the time, like bars and restaurants, which couldnt have indoor activities then.

Papillion added that the Supreme Court has long recognized that the First Amendment can't be used as a reason to break the law, whether it be having multiple wives or smoking peyote as a religious practice.

If a religion begins to declare that it can do whatever it wants to do, then we are no longer a nation of laws. We are a nation that is under the judgement, the decision, the intent of a man or a woman who decides they will not obey the law, Papillion said.

Supreme Court declines case of Louisiana pastor Tony Spell, who defied coronavirus orders The nations highest court turned away a legal challenge from the Rev. Tony Spell, the Central pastor who sought to shield himself from crimin

Johnson-Rose agreed with Papillion's argument that the New York restrictions were factually distinct from what was before her and that a previous Supreme Court ruling, upon which a Louisiana federal court had upheld Edwards' orders last year, was still a binding decision.

District Attorney Hillar Moore welcomed the ruling and said he believed Edwards' restriction didn't have anything to do with specifically singling out religious activity.

"We think it's what the law was clearly and agree with the judge's decision. It's not personal," Moore said.

Moore's comments came shortly after some of Spell's supporters confronted him and Papillion about the ruling while they all were waiting for the elevators to arrive at the courthouse's ninth floor overlooking the state Capitol and Mississippi River.

John Bel Edwards' scorecard on court challenges of coronavirus rules: Undefeated, so far Gov. John Bel Edwards coronavirus restrictions have elicited plenty of backlash from conservative lawmakers and residents who are sick of the

At the time Spell was charged in early April, coronavirus cases had been surging in Louisiana, and the state saw some of the deadliest weeks of the pandemic outbreak not long after.

At least one church member had died after contracting COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new virus, and Spell's lawyer, too, was hospitalized after catching it. It isn't known where the men contracted the virus.

Spell was also arrested not long after and charged with assault when a man protesting the services said the pastor nearly backed into him with a school bus outside the church.

That case remains pending, but the court had ordered that Spell wear an ankle monitor and stay at home as a condition for his bail.

Rev. Tony Spell loses again in fight against Gov. John Bel Edwards' crowd-size limits A federal judge in Baton Rouge has reaffirmed that Gov. John Bel Edwards has the authority to fashion "reasonable restrictions" on religious a

He continued to return to his pulpit and continued to preach in the weeks following, in some services lifting his pant leg to reveal the location tracking device around his ankle.

Spell was relieved of house arrest in May and also was charged with two counts of being a fugitive from justice for violating his house arrest. The case has been pending in district court with no future date set.

With Johnson-Rose's ruling on Monday, the six counts against Spell remain in place. He is set for another court proceeding in March.
Monday, January 25, 2021

Stephen Jaffe went back to talk with Reverend Raymond Broshears another time. This time, Broshears told Jaffe all about his relationship with Clay Shaw and David Ferrie. The three of them were together several times! Here is the second memo about Broshears:

You can see in the second paragraph on the first page that Jaffe showed Broshears a picture of the three tramps** and Broshears goes on to identify one of the tramps as possibly a gay hustler, or the tramp might have been the man who chauffeured Clay Shaw (third to last paragraph on the last page).

Broshears also says that Ferrie introduced Shaw as "Clara." Would Shaw really call a man who worked in civil rights a "Commie"? Then, he claims Shaw said he likes "little boys" and then slapped Broshears' rear. Shaw also gave Ferrie a large envelope with money. David Ferrie supposedly had some possessions of Lee Harvey Oswald. This was absurd - Garrison had Ferrie's apartment searched thoroughly after his death and Garrison's office even paid the rent for a few extra months to give them more time. Silly me, I am sure Ferrie got rid of those possessions.

Does any of this sound like the truth? Would you believe any of this? Well, Jaffe did and Broshears was then brought to New Orleans. We will cover what Broshears said in New Orleans in subsequent posts.

So, why didn't Garrison use Raymond Broshears as a witness in the Clay Shaw trial? He was a witness who could tie Clay Shaw to David Ferrie. Yet Broshears wasn't even included in the Tom Bethell memo listing trial witnesses. Perhaps Garrison and others realized he had no credibility. The cross-examination would have made Broshears seem like a sane Charles Spiesel.

But, Broshears was interviewed by the HSCA on May 18, 1977, and he was specifically asked this question:

That admission did not stop Garrison from resuscitating Broshears in his book. Check out page 120 from On The Trail of The Assassins:

This is straight out of the Jaffe memo, no? And this passage was enough to convince James DiEugenio to write the following on page 209 in his book, Destiny Betrayed:

Footnote 169 refers to Jim Garrison's book.

Coming up: Raymond Broshears in New Orleans - what he told Garrison; what he thought of Garrison; and Harold Weisberg's opinion of what transpired.

**Researchers like Richard Sprague thought one of the tramps was "Skinny Ralph Schlachter." Here is an excerpt from a letter that Sprague sent to Harold Weisberg, in January 1969) in which he listed witnesses that should be interviewed:

The man's real name was Ralph Schlafter and he was supposedly a member of Interpen, a group of anti-Castro mercenaries, along with Gerry Patrick Hemming.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu recalled Monday in Brussels that Romania has condemned the arrest of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny and noted the repression of the latter's support demonstrations on Russian territory, stressing that freedom of assembly and freedom of expression cannot be annulled.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy spoke before attending the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States.

"I will recall that Romania has condemned the arrest of Navalny, which is unacceptable, I will repeat our viewpoint that the repression of the opposition, just because it is opposition, is unacceptable, is not democratic. In fact, the opposition, even the non-parliamentary or non-systemic one, also has rights and I believe that they must be recognized by the authorities," Aurescu pointed out.

The Romanian minister said the discussions would also address the possibility of sanctions in this case.

"This weekend we witnessed a determined and aggressive attitude against demonstrators in many Russian cities. Freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are very important, fundamental human rights and must be observed, cannot be annulled. We need to discuss today and I think we will discuss the adoption of sanctions and we will see the outcome of these discussions," Bogdan Aurescu added.

The Romanian chief diplomat said that the ministers of the EU member states will also talk about the strategy for distributing vaccines to the partners of the European Union and recalled our country's position in this regard.

"As you know, Romania fully supports the adoption of a mechanism to help the countries of the Western Balkans, but also the Eastern Partnership, so that they benefit from the vaccines provided by the European Union. I think it is an important initiative, because the EU cannot be safe and healthy if the European Union's neighbours are not safe and healthy," Bogdan Aurescu pointed out.

At the same time, the minister reaffirmed his support for the transatlantic link.

"We believe that the EU and the United States of America represent a community of values and security. We will continue to support the strengthening of the transatlantic partnership and the transatlantic strategic resilience," the minister said.

He also said he would present the Romanian initiative to create an Euro-Atlantic centre for resilience.

Aurescu explained that this is "an initiative to create a platform to help EU and NATO member countries, but also our partners to strengthen their resilience in the face of many risks, based on comprehensive approaches from societies and governments".A
The son of a couple killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue attack that killed 11 worshippers is suing the National Rifle Association, arguing the groups inflammatory rhetoric led to the violence.

Marc Simon, the son of Sylvan and Bernice Simon, filed the wrongful death lawsuit Thursday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against the NRA, the gun maker Colts Manufacturing Co., and accused shooter, Robert Bowers, news outlets reported. Colt manufactured the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle allegedly used by Bowers.

A fourth defendant is the unknown business that sold Bowers the gun.

Bowers is charged with killing 11 congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Police said the former truck driver expressed hatred of Jews during and after the October 2018 rampage.

Bowers was not born fearing and hating Jews, the suit claims. The gun lobby taught him to do that.

Bowers has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The plaintiff argues gun lobbyists like the NRA radicalized people with mendacious white supremacist conspiracy theories. The lawsuit also says Colt could have prevented the AR-15 from bump firing, or using a modification that allows the rifle to fire more rapidly.

An NRA spokesperson declined comment on the lawsuit. The group filed for bankruptcy last week, and the claims against them in Simons lawsuit will be stayed as a result of the groups reorganizing.

Colt did not respond to request for comment.

Besides a wrongful death claim, the complaint accuses Colt of product liability and says the gun is more akin to a military-style weapon than a civilian product.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits
Pricey restaurants and beleaguered wait staff want customers to enjoy all the benefits of camping in the cold along with higher prices.

Check the options that aren't nearly as good as cheap and easy drive-thru fare . . . Read more:
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Deputy sarpanch in Chattisgarh killed by naxals

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Raipur, Jan 25: A deputy sarpanch was killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district, over 200 kilometres from state capital Raipur, police said on Monday.

The incident took place late Saturday evening in Permapal village under Bayanar police station limits when the victim, identified as Bajjaram Korram, was in his house with his family, an official said.

As per preliminary information, over a dozen ultras stormed into the house of Korram, deputy sarpanch of Permapal, dragged him out, thrashed him and strangled him, the official said.

"They accused him of working against the interests of the local people. The village is located deep inside a forest along the Kondagaon-Narayanpur inter-district border," he said.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

"Prima facie it seems the Bayanar area committee of the Maoists was involved in the incident. Security forces have launched a combing operation in the area to nab the killers," he added.

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Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 14:45 [IST]
A great-grandmother who caught coronavirus five days after getting vaccinated against the disease has died.

Mary Green, 92, received her first dose at a care home in North Tyneside on New Year's Eve, giving her family hope she would not face an infection.

But less than a week later the dementia sufferer tested positive for the virus.

Doctors said she couldn't be moved to hospital because she was too frail to undergo invasive treatment and would find the change of scene confusing, meaning she had to receive care at the home. She died 12 days later of suspected sepsis, which they said was likely triggered by the virus.

Scientists say it takes around two weeks for the vaccines to spark immunity, suggesting Mary's first dose came too late to protect her from the disease.

It comes as a top scientist today defended the decision to delay the second dose of the vaccine, arguing it could lead to better protection.

Professor Adam Finn, who helped make the priority list for jabs, said data suggests the immune response 'persists nicely' over the 12-week gap.

He added studies on other vaccines show immunity 'doesn't plateau and fall in [12 weeks]' after a first dose, but is likely to persist and 'even increase'.

Britain's regulators stretched the gap between doses to 12 weeks last month, saying it would 'protect the greatest number of people at risk in the shortest possible time'.

But the move has sparked concern as both the vaccines approved so far - by Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech - rely on two doses to be most effective, with them ideally spaced three weeks apart.

Mary Green, 92, from North Tyneside, caught coronavirus five days after receiving her first dose of the vaccine. She later died of Sepsis, which doctors said was likely triggered by the infection. Vaccines take around two weeks to give protection.

Saturday alone saw 491,970 people get their first dose and 1,043 get their second, the highest daily figures recorded so far

The vaccination programme in the UK has scaled up rapidly and is now reaching nearly half a million people each day (Pictured: A pharmacist receives the jab in Dudley, West Midlands)

Professor Adam Finn (left) says the 12-week gap between vaccine doses won't affect immunity. But Sam Monoghan (right), the head of the UK's largest charity care home, says he is worried it is leaving residents half-protected

Mary's heartbroken son Chris, 52, said the family had a visit to see Mary at Charlton Court care home cancelled on January 2 due to lockdown, reports ChronicleLive.

'She was a casualty of what we're going through at the moment with Covid,' he told the newspaper.

DOCTORS UNION SAYS GAP BETWEEN DOSES SHOULD BE 'NO MORE THAN SIX WEEKS' The British Medical Association (BMA) recommended cutting the waiting time to six weeks, warning in a letter that the strategy is 'difficult to justify' and the UK is 'internationally isolated'. Dr Richard Vautrey, Chair of the BMA's GP Committee, told Sky News on Saturday that they are 'in dialogue' with Prof Whitty over the 12-week gap, saying 'we need to understand the data'. Both the vaccines approved so far  one made by Pfizer and the other by Oxford University  rely on two doses to be most effective, with them ideally spaced three weeks apart. But in a scramble to stop the devastating second wave of Covid-19, Britain has abandoned this rule and decided it will extend the gap to 12 weeks so it can give more people a single dose as soon as possible. In a private letter to Professor Chris Whitty, the BMA indicated that second doses may not be guaranteed following a 12-week gap due to the 'unpredictability of supplies', reports the BBC. Although agreeing that the jab should be 'rolled as quickly as possible', the association called for an urgent review of the policy that is 'proving evermore difficult to justify'. A BMA spokesman told MailOnline: 'This letter to the Chief Medical Officer represents part of an ongoing dialogue about the best approach to the rollout of the vaccine and shares with him the growing concern from the medical profession regarding the delay of the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as the UK's strategy has become increasingly isolated from many other countries. Advertisement

'The care she needed in her final days wasn't in a care home setting, it was in a hospital setting, and she couldn't have that.'

A family member - who asked not to be named - said they thought Mary had received the vaccine either just before or just after she was infected.

'You do wonder if they've let their guard down once they've had the vaccine,' they said.

'We haven't been inside the home since March, we've only been able to see her from outside under a gazebo behind a screen.'

Scientists say it can take at least two weeks for the vaccine to trigger immunity, as they urge those who have received their first doses to continue to follow restrictions.

Studies on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine show it protects volunteers after the first 14 days, a week before the company says the second dose should be administered.

And scientists say results suggest it takes a similar amount of time for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to also provide protection.

It comes as a top scientist sought to defend the decision to stretch the gap between doses to 12 weeks, and argued it could offer even better immunity than the three week gap.

Professor Finn, who is a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI), told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'The data that I've seen - which has not yet been published - suggests certainly that [immunity] persists nicely through [the 12 weeks].

'If anything it slightly rises and certainly there is no sign of any significant fall.

'But more importantly, as I say, is that the delayed second dose is going to give us better protection on into the year.'

The Bristol University professor added: 'What we know from other vaccines and from the human immune responses is that they don't plateau and fall in that time period.

'It's likely that there will be persistent and even increasing protection over that time and perhaps most important of all we expect to see much better protection after the second dose even if it's delayed.

'We know that for the Oxford vaccine and we know that for many other vaccines.'

The British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors trade union, called for the gap to be cut to no more than six weeks this weekend, saying the delay between doses could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine.

But when quizzed on BMA'S appeal, Professor Finn accused them of failing to 'understand the issues' with lengthening the gap between doses.

He warned that people could be 'misled' by critics complaining there is a lack of evidence for the Government's approach, insisting there is 'absolutely rock-solid evidence that if you give a dose of the vaccine to more people you give them protection and save lives'.

'The fact is that other countries are looking at what the UK is doing with enormous interest,' he said.

'This may well turn out to be another example of a long traditions in us being innovative, creative in our resources, and producing a much better way of using the vaccines.'

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured visiting a vaccination centre at The Hive, North London, today. The Government is aiming to get 15million of the most vulnerable their first doses by mid-February

Amid mounting concern over the decision to delay the second dose Sam Monaghan, the chief executive of Britain's largest charity care home provider MHA care, said he felt residents were being 'left more vulnerable' because of the time between the first and second doses.

'[Our concern is] whether the lengthening of the gap between the two doses for such a highly vulnerable group of our society, when that seems to be against the guidance from the World Health Organization and the manufacturers own guidance, what the impact of that is.

'I suppose, inevitably, it leaves you feeling that our homes and our older people are left more vulnerable because theres a longer time that theyre unprotected from the first dose.'

He added: 'It's leaving our residents with only 50 per cent or 60 per cent of the protection that they would have, and when we know that it would be around the 90-95 per cent mark if theyd had both doses.'

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, its chair of council, called for the UK to follow 'best practice' and reduce the waiting time to six weeks on Saturday.

'Most nations in the world are facing challenges similar to the UK in having limited vaccine supply and also wanting to protect their population maximally. No other nation has adopted the UKs approach,' Dr Nagpaul told BBC Breakfast on Saturday.

'Obviously the protection will not vanish after six weeks but what we do not know is what level of protection will be offered. We should not be extrapolating data where we dont have it.

'I do understand the trade-off and the rationale but if that was the right thing to do then we would see other nations following suit.

He added: 'The concern we have if the vaccines efficacy is reduced then of course the risk is that we will see those who are exposed maximally to the virus may get infected.

'The other worry is that members of the population, those who are at highest risk, may not be protected.'

Almost half a million Britons have been vaccinated in a single day, official figures reveal, as the rollout continues to gather steam.

Department of Health data shows a record 493,013 jabs were administered on Saturday, marking the fifth day in a row that the operation has picked up the pace.

And three quarters of Britain's over-80s have now received their first dose, according to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, in another promising sign that the country could be on course to hit its ambitious target.

Ministers are aiming to get first vaccine doses to around 15million people by February 15, targeting those who are most at risk of dying if they catch Covid-19.

These include all over-70s, people on the shielding list because of long-term illnesses, all care home residents, and frontline NHS staff and social care workers.

A total of 6.35million people have been vaccinated already, meaning there are another 8.6million to reach, which will require a rate of around 393,000 per day.

Charlton Court care home said in a statement: 'There is nothing more important to us than the health and well-being of our residents. We send our sincere condolences to the family of Mrs Green.

'Our staff started to receive their Covid vaccinations from mid-December and we were delighted when our residents began to receive their Covid vaccinations later in December 2020 as part of the first roll out of the vaccination to homes in North Tyneside.

'Our staff team continue to adhere to strict Covid-19 preventative measures, including the use of PPE and regular testing in line with government guidelines, as they have done since the outbreak of the pandemic. We are grateful to our staff team who continue to care for all of our residents at this time.'
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
A large symbol at the National Convention Centre to mark the 13th National Party Congress (Photo: VNA)

Berlin - Major German research institutes and foundations have spoken highly of Vietnam's efforts in fighting COVID-19 and boosting economic development on the threshold of the 13th National Party Congress, and highlighted priorities of the countrys leaders in the next five years.



In an article published on the website of Hanns Seidel Foundation, which is among the leading political research foundations in Germany, author Magdalena Knodler noted that the 13th National Party Congress, one of the most important political events of the country, will be slated for late January in Hanoi.



During the Congress, a socio-economic development strategy for the 2021-30 period and development policy goals for the upcoming five years will be put forth, along with orientations on the country's policies regarding internal and external affairs.



Streets have been decorated with banners, posters and national flags.



Knodler remarked that 2020 was a difficult year for Vietnam. However, the country well performed the dual roles of the Chair of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, thereby enhancing its influence in the region.



The ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and elevation of the EU-ASEAN relations to a strategic partnership also took place in the year.



According to the article, regional and international integration will continue to define Vietnams external relation policy.



Meanwhile, the Konrad Adenauer foundation, in its recent report, affirmed the results of the Congress will determine the future domestic and foreign policy direction and will be groundbreaking for Vietnam's economy in the next five years.



Vietnam is becoming more attractive in the region and the world as business partners are welcomed, while the country has stable political background and favourable investment conditions, the report underlined, citing the signing of the EVFTA and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
Virginia National Guard soldiers march across the east front of the U.S. Capitol on their way to their guard posts in Washington on Jan. 16, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

More National Guard Troops Get Called Back to Their States

More governors are calling their local National Guard units to return to their respective states following accounts of thousands of them saying they had been banished to the parking garage of the U.S. Capitol.

Montanas Republican governor Greg Gianforte called the expulsion of troops from the Capitol a national disgrace.

Gianforte said in an interview with Fox Business that when he heard about the mistreatment of the troops he immediately called them back home and that he will personally greet them and thank them for their service at the Montana airport when they arrive.

We sent about 200 of our Guardsmen back to DC to make sure we had a peaceful transfer of power. They did their job and it is a national disgrace that they were escorted out of the Capitol into an unheated parking garage, the governor said.

Republican governors Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Greg Abbott of Texas also called their troops back to their states.

Three hundred Idaho National Guard troops returned to their state on Jan. 24, reported KMVT.

Were proud of you, but Im not surprised you did exactly what I knew you would: you answered the call, Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of Idaho, told the troops. You accomplished the mission and you represented Idaho in a professional manner.

About 500 troops from Arkansas also went back home, reported KNWA.

Their discipline and dedication to duty is really just emblematic of their character and the sacrifice that our National Guard soldiers make every time the nation or the state calls, said Col. Jaskolski, commander for the 142nd Artillery Brigade in Arkansas.

Gov. Doug Burgum praised North Dakotas troops after its National Guard reported that 130 of its soldiers had returned after their mission in Washington D.C. Deeply grateful for the efforts and professionalism of our @NDNationalGuard in Washington, D.C. Welcome home! wrote on Twitter.

Deeply grateful for the efforts and professionalism of our @NDNationalGuard in Washington, D.C. Welcome home! https://t.co/Lvm9czlyl2  Gov. Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) January 25, 2021

At least 5,000 National Guard members will remain in Washington through mid-March, a spokesman for the agency confirmed.

As we continue to work to meet the final post-inauguration requirements, the National Guard has been requested to continue supporting federal law enforcement agencies with 7,000 members and will draw down to 5,000 through mid-March, Maj. Matt Murphy told The Epoch Times via email.

We are providing assistance such as security, communications, medical evacuation, logistics, and safety support to state, district, and federal agencies, he added.

The U.S. Army didnt respond to a request for comment.

More than 20,000 National Guard troops were sent to Washington following the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and ahead of President Joe Bidens inauguration.

On Jan. 21, 5,000 troops were reportedly suddenly ordered to vacate the Capitol to take their rest during their shifts in a nearby parking lot with no internet reception, a single electrical outlet, and one bathroom, with the temperature dropping to the low 40s at night.

The move provoked widespread criticism from lawmakers of both parties.

Abbott wrote on Jan. 22 on Twitter that he had instructed his general to order the return of the Texas National Guard to our state.

I have instructed General Norris to order the return of the Texas National Guard to our state. @TexasGuard  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 22, 2021

DeSantis also announced on Twitter that he ordered the Florida National Guard to return from Washington.

Last night, I ordered our Adjutant General to bring Florida National Guard soldiers home from the National Capital Region, he wrote.

Last night, I ordered our Adjutant General to bring Florida National Guard soldiers home from the National Capital Region.  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 22, 2021

Sununu also proceeded to do the same, mentioning that they were treated with substandard conditions.

Ive ordered the immediate return of all New Hampshire National Guard from Washington D.C., Sununu wrote on Twitter. They did an outstanding job serving our nations capital in a time of strife and should be graciously praised, not subject to substandard conditions.

Ive ordered the immediate return of all New Hampshire National Guard from Washington D.C. They did an outstanding job serving our nations capital in a time of strife and should be graciously praised, not subject to substandard conditions. @NHNationalGuard  Chris Sununu (@GovChrisSununu) January 22, 2021

DeSantis said on Fox&Friends that the assignment was a half-cocked mission at this point. He added that the Guard troops werent there as House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) servants, referring to the 600 Texans who were deployed to Washington.

Zachary Steiber contributed to this report.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said that equity in the vaccine distribution process is key to addressing the racial and ethnic disparities exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, but New York state appears to be falling short of his two-month-old vow to have the most equitable distribution process in the nation. If we do not take decisive action now, we will end up with herd immunity only in predominantly white communities, two nonprofit leaders wrote in the Daily News. Residents of communities of color ... will continue to be hospitalized and die from COVID-19, for many months thereafter.

Both New York City and New York state have yet to release data on the demographics of the people who have gotten shots thus far  like 17 other states have done. There are growing signs that people of color are being left behind as worries grow that the vaccine distribution process will fail to tame the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases anytime soon.

Polling continues to show how Black people in particular have concerns about the safety of new vaccines, which were approved for emergency use in record time. There have been reports of New York City suburbanites heading into the five boroughs to get their shots. City data also highlights how COVID-19 caseloads tend to be lower in wealthier, white areas of the city. And then there are the ways that language barriers and digital savvy create relatively high barriers for immigrant seniors.

Public health experts and elected officials have said that community groups and leaders are important to boosting access and overcoming vaccine hesitancy. Transforming state plans for an equitable distribution into action continues to be a work in progress months after such issues were first raised publicly. I am working as hard as I can to get it here for you, Cuomo said Saturday. We will make it available through churches, community groups, public housing. Making that happen at scale though is easier said than done.

The governor has named a task force to advise him on equity issues as the state continues to tweak its approach to vaccine distribution. On Saturday, gubernatorial staffers knocked on doors at the New York City Housing Authoritys William Reid Apartments in Brooklyn to raise awareness about the vaccination site opening up downstairs as part of a new initiative to stage pop-up vaccination sites at churches and NYCHA complexes, according to tenant association President Serina Lezama. There was a big turnout here yesterday, she said in an interview on Sunday. But some of them are skeptical.

Historical inequities and personal experiences with racism make some residents distrustful of the government, Lezama added, but so does peeling paint and a lack of funding for security staff at the William Reid Apartments. When I first moved into this development, it was beautiful, resident Ruby Johnson said in an interview. Bad information can also be challenging at a time when trust in the media is at an historic low. A lot of foolishness, said Johnson, who lost a daughter to COVID-19, of misinformation she has heard about the vaccine from some people in her neighborhood.

Members of the states equity task force are meeting each week to discuss how to improve distribution efforts while trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to task force member Guillermo Chacon, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS and founder of the Hispanic Health Network. The Biden administration could also improve the situation by sending more vaccine supplies to New York at a time when the city and state are reporting shortages. We need to give them at least three weeks to get their act together, Chacon said in an interview. All the vaccines in the world though make little difference if New Yorkers lack trusted sources of information. That is one reason why Black clergy are playing a growing role in boosting confidence in vaccines.

Experts have said that getting people vaccinated in communities of color ultimately comes down to increasing access and leveraging peer pressure to the advantage of public health. It takes hard work to identify trusted community spokespeople and champions to provide them with the information so that they can share with their own constituencies, Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told City & State in September. Four months later, releasing demographic data on vaccinations would provide a big boost to ensuring an equitable distribution process. We desperately need the data to show how were doing, she said in an interview Monday. Its really important to know who is getting vaccinated.
President Joe Biden will reinstate the COVID-19 travel restrictions that his predecessor nixed shortly before he left office. On Monday, Biden will reinstate the ban on nearly all non-U.S. travelers from Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and 26 countries in Europe that allow travel across open borders. Biden will also add South Africa to the list amid concerns over a new variant of the virus. We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa, Anne Schuchat, the CDCs principal deputy director, told Reuters in an interview.

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The decision to reinstate the travel bans and adding South Africa to the list illustrates how the White House is concerned about the mutations of COVID-19. On Thursday, Anthony Fauci warned the new variants could make the vaccines less effective in combating the virus. CDC officials said the South African variant of COVID-19 is 50 percent more infectious and is currently in at least 20 countries. It hasnt been found in the United States yet.

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Bidens team had made it clear before inauguration that they were not happy with Trumps decision to rescind the travel ban on his way out that would have been effective as of Tuesday. With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel, Jen Psaki, who is now White House press secretary, tweeted.

The reinstatement of the travel ban comes days after Biden issued an executive order requiring international travelers to get a negative COVID-19 test before their travels and for all incoming international travelers to quarantine after entering the United States. The CDC made clear Sunday that there wont be generalized exceptions to the testing requirements. Airlines had asked for exceptions for countries with limited testing capacity but the CDC said it will only consider humanitarian exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
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Abdullahi Sule was born on December 26, 1959, in Gudi station, Akwanga-West Development

Area of Nasarawa State. He was brought up in a small, but multi-ethnic and multi-religious village. His father, Alhaji Sule, is the current traditional ruler (Hakimi) while his grandfather, Abdullahi Angulu, was the first traditional ruler of Gudi station.

Abdullahi Sule began his education at the Roman Catholic Mission (RCM) Primary School, Gudi Station, in 1968. Upon completion, he proceeded to the Zang Secondary Commercial School, Bukuru, in 1974.

In 1977, he passed his SSCE in Bukuru, before proceeding to Plateau State Polytechnic, Barki Ladi and later Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA towards the end of 1980.

Through determination, extra classes and hard work, he utilized a four-year scholarship to obtain both a BSc (1983) and an MSc (1984) degrees in Mechanical Technology respectively from the same Indiana State University, USA.

His work experience began in 1980 when he was offered employment by the Plateau Electricity

Corporation, Jos, even before graduation in May 1980. Upon graduation from government Technical College, Bukuru, he worked for about three months with the corporation before proceeding to Plateau State Polytechnic, in September 1980.

Abdullahi Sule did his compulsory national service, NYSC, with the Plateau Utilities Board, Jos, and later joined the Jos Steel Rolling Company Ltd in 1985 as a production engineer.

In 1987, he received accelerated promotion from GL9 to GL 12 in recognition of his performance and hard work. He later left Jos Steel Rolling Company as a principal production engineer in 1989 and returned to the United States.

On returning to the US, Abdullahi Sule went to Texas (San Antonio and later Houston) where he worked for the following companies: Lancer Corporation, San Antonio; OEM Components, Houston; Houston Engineering, Houston; Morgan Performance, Houston; Dril-Quip Incorporated, Houston and Osyka Corporation, Houston.

He worked in various capacities from workshop engineer to computer numerical control (CNC)

programmer, NCN operator, facility engineer, project/ production engineer and finally the director of business development for Africa and the Middle East for Osyka Corporation.

He returned to Nigeria in the year 2000 and along with some friends, started a company called Sadiq Petroleum Nigeria Limited in Lagos and was made the pioneer Managing Director/CEO.

Later that year, Sadiq Petroleum Company participated in the privatization of African Petroleum Plc and won the bid. Upon acquisition of the 30% ownership of AP in November 2000, Abdullahi Sule was appointed AP MD/CEO on April 2, 2001. He resigned in July 2006 to take up another job with an American Multi-national oil service company called Tetra international in July 2006 as a Director of Business Development/ country Manager.

While in AP as the MD/CEO, he also served as a Director in IMB International Bank

Plc, Ulti- Care Pharmaceutical and Chrismatel Holdings. He was also the chairman of AP Oilfield Service Ltd and Partner in star-AP Oilfield Services.

Abdullahi Sule was a director at the Dangote Group between 2010 and 2011. He was also the group managing director of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc between 2011 and 2018 when he stepped down to contest the Nasarawa governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In that March 9, 2019 election, Abdullahi Sule scored 327,229 votes to defeat his opponents. David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 184,281 votes, while Labaran Maku of the All Progressives Grand Alliance got 132,784 votes.

He was sworn-in as Nasarawa governor on May 29, 2019.
But the swiftness signaled a willingness by the new Biden administration to put its own stamp on Defense Department social issues. It follows an announcement from Mr. Austin on Saturday that he was ordering up a review of how the Pentagon has been handling sexual assault issues.

Mr. Biden and the Defense Department leadership will also have to wrestle with a reckoning on race that is facing the Pentagon, where officials have had to confront a stark fact: close to one in five of the protesters who have been arrested for breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6  many of them with links to white supremacist organizations  have ties to the American military.

On the transgender issue, advocacy groups that have been fighting the ban since it was announced three years ago  in a tweet from Mr. Trump  have argued that the Pentagon does not need to spend months studying how to allow transgender people to serve because it had already done so. One such group, the Palm Center, said in a policy memo last summer that the military could reopen to transgender people rapidly if ordered to do so.

A big ship can take time to turn around, so often the Pentagon needs to study policy changes and move cautiously, Aaron Belkin, the director of the Palm Center, said last July in an interview. But this is the rare case where, since the military left inclusive policy for already-serving transgender personnel in place even as it implemented its ban, the switch is just waiting to be flipped.

President Donald Trump discussed plans to oust the acting attorney general and install a substitute who would use the power of the Justice Department to overturn the result of the presidential election, according to two reports by the New York Times over the weekend.

The reports shed light both on the extreme lengths to which Trump was prepared to go to retain power and the role of Republican congressmen in assisting his conspiracies, even before the events of January 6, when fascist thugs invaded the Capitol and temporarily shut down the counting of electoral votes that sealed Trumps defeat at the hands of Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Saturdays edition of the Times revealed that Trump sought to prevail upon Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to pressure the Georgia state legislature to reverse the certification of the November 3 election, won in that state by Biden, and award the states electoral votes to himself.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., speaks as the House debates the objection to confirm the Electoral College vote from Pennsylvania, at the U.S. Capitol early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (House Television via AP)

When Rosen balked, Trump considered replacing him with a subordinate, Jeffrey Clark, head of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, who was reportedly willing to take action in Georgia. Clark informed Rosen of the plan and a conference call among top Justice Department officials followed, at which they all agreed to resign en masse if Rosen was fired and replaced by Clark.

The Times account describes a high-stakes meeting at the White House on the night of Sunday, January 3, at which Rosen, Clark, acting Deputy Attorney General Richard ODonoghue, Steven Engel, head of the Office of Legal Counsel, the Justice Departments in-house lawyer, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and other aides discussed with Trump his options in relation to Georgia.

Only the prospect of mass resignationsa re-enactment of the notorious Saturday Night Massacre of the Nixon administration, when top officials resigned rather than obey Nixons orders to fire the Watergate special prosecutorapparently dissuaded Trump from ousting Rosen there and then. This would have set the stage for an open political eruption in Washington on January 4, the day before the Georgia runoff vote for the US Senate and two days before Congress was to receive and count the electoral votes submitted by the states.

The White House meeting came only hours after the Washington Post published a transcript of Trumps telephone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump demanded that the Republican official find the necessary votes to overturn Bidens victory in the state.

Trump began pressuring Rosen as soon as he had announced on Twitter that Attorney General William Barr was stepping down, even before Rosen officially replaced Barr on December 23. But Rosen was unwilling to take the action demanded by the coup plotter in the White House.

On Sunday, January 23, the Times published a follow-up article detailing the role of Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, an ultra-right Trump supporter, who served as the conduit from Trump to Jeffrey Clark, introducing the Justice Department official to the president as a supporter of his view that the election had been stolen by the Democrats.

After Perrys introduction of Clark, a Philadelphia native, Trump called the lower-ranking Justice Department official several times without informing his boss, Rosen, although the departments rules prescribe that presidential contact should go through the attorney general or deputy attorney general.

The Times revelations triggered demands for information from Senate Democrats, who threatened to investigate Trumps efforts to use the Department of Justice to further Trumps efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election, as Senator Richard Durbin, incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, described it.

Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the new majority leader, called on the departments inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, to investigate this attempted sedition. Horowitz is already investigating the resignation of Byung J. Pak, the US attorney in Atlanta, who quit in late December under White House pressure to intervene in the state election dispute.

Trump reportedly sought other actions from the Department of Justice, including the filing of a lawsuit seeking a Supreme Court challenge of Bidens victory in the Electoral College, according to a report Saturday by the Wall Street Journal.

Representative Perry is an Iraq War veteran and retired general in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, and thus has many connections inside the Pentagon. He is a member of the ultra-right House Freedom Caucus and has defended many fascistic conspiracy theories, including QAnon, as well as claims that the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2017 was the outcome of terrorist infiltration through the southern border.

He also voted to overturn the electoral votes of Arizona and his own state of Pennsylvania, although the latter votes were determined by the same election in which he retained his own seat in Congress. Apparently the congressman believes that ballots should be counted when they are votes for himself but not when the votes are cast for Democrats.

The conflict within the Justice Department only underscores the deeply reactionary, antidemocratic and unconstitutional character of Trumps campaign to overturn the 2020 elections, in which he had the support of a majority of the Republican members of the House of Representatives and many Republican senators.

But Trumps demands were too much for most Justice Department officials, even though many of them were brought into the department by William Barr, the reactionary advocate of presidential authority who defended police state methods during the summer. Barr was at Trumps side on June 1, 2020, when the president mobilized troops in Washington D.C., cleared unarmed protesters from Lafayette Square in front of the White House, and threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to mobilize active-duty troops against protesters across the country.

Barr gave a series of speeches advocating a perspective of presidential authority little short of dictatorship, but Trump evidently deemed him too soft after he gave an interview to the press in mid-November in which he declared there was no evidence of vote fraud sufficient to change the outcome of the election. Trump then pressured Barr into resigning a month before the new administration took office, in the hopes that his replacement would be more amenable.

The role both of Justice Department officials and congressmen should be the subject of public hearings to investigate the events of January 6. It is evident that a large section of the Republican Party in Congress, as well as officials in many federal departments, were involved in the activities that culminated in an armed assault on Congress, whose purpose was evidently to take hostages and force the postponement of Bidens inauguration, if not its outright cancellation.

The Biden administration and the congressional Democrats want to cover up these connections as part of their effort to preserve a strong Republican Party, as Biden put it, and create an effectively bipartisan government, even though the Democrats ultimately won the Senate, the House and the White House, giving them full political control in Washington.

As part of this cover-up, the Justice Department and the FBInow under the direction of the Democratic administrationare discussing not even charging hundreds of those who invaded the Capitol on January 6, according to a report Sunday in the Washington Post. The effect would be to limit prosecution to those most obviously linked to violent acts inside the Capitol, many of them already well known because of live-streaming of the attack on the internet, while the majority of those who participated in the assault would suffer no consequences.

There is widespread popular hostility to the attack on the Capitol, reflected in the more than 200,000 tips that have been received by police from people who recognized participants from the internet and media videos. The Biden administration, however, would prefer to jail a few of the most notorious fascists, while concealing the connections that undoubtedly exist between the rioters and congressional Republicans and the Trump White House.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Schumer has announced that the impeachment trial of President Trump will begin on Tuesday, February 9, with the hope that it will be completed that week. Such a timetable would ensure that the trial was limited to Trumps own personal role in the events of January 6, and the wider connections would not be brought to light or made public.
While the pandemic has slowed in-person events, it's made virtual programming ubiquitous and more engaging than ever. This year, the Sundance Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Society are part of what's called the Satellite Screens initiative, offering world premieres at the Broadside theater Thursday, Jan. 28, to Feb. 2.

The New Orleans selection includes "Ma Belle, My Beauty," a feature-length film directed by New Orleans-based director Marion Hill, who was a fellow in the Film Societys Emerging Voices program in 2018, and produced by New Orleans producers Kelsey Scult and Ben Matheny. Music was composed by New Orleans musician Mahmoud Chouki, and the film is led by local actors Idella Johnson and Hannah Pepper.

Other films premiering at the event include "In The Same Breath," about the coronavirus pandemic's earliest days in China and the United States; "Strawberry Mansion," a fantasy about a "dream auditor," and a documentary on actress Rita Moreno.

The festival will take place digitally across the country on Satellite Screens.

"Online, festival attendees can gather in virtual waiting rooms, participate in live Q&As, and congregate in new environments to interact in a range of ways, both new and familiar," festival officials said in a release.

The films coming to New Orleans will be presented at The Broadside, 600 N. Broad St., screening outdoors with limited capacity in accordance with the New Orleans health and safety guidelines.

We are looking forward to safely sharing a slate of 2021 Sundance Film Festival selections in New Orleans." Film Societys Artistic Director Clint Bowie said. "As much as we miss gathering in Park City (Utah) with the international filmmaking community, we are excited to be bringing the festival to our hometown this year, offering our members and film lovers in New Orleans the opportunity to join the festival at home.

The New Orleans Film Society is also presenting virtual events to accompany in-person screenings. Film Society Programming Manager Zandashe Brown will be hosting virtual panels with "Ma Belle, My Beauty" filmmakers and a panel discussion with Dancing Grounds talking about the new documentary "Ailey," which will be screened as a part of the New Orleans selection of Sundance 2021.

New Orleans-based, Oscar-nominated producer Josh Penn ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") produced two titles premiering at Sundance this year: "Users" and "Philly D.A." Penn will be in attendance to introduce both screenings on Feb. 1-2, respectively. Penn will also join a Q&A after the screening of "Philly D.A." with producer Michael Gottwald.

Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute's labs, granting and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the United States and internationally.

For times, tickets and information, visit neworleansfilmsociety.org/sundance2021.

SCHEDULE

"In The Same Breath," directed by Nanfu Wang

How did the Chinese government turn pandemic coverups in Wuhan into a triumph for the Communist party? A narrative of firsthand accounts of the coronavirus, and a revelatory examination of how propaganda and patriotism shaped the outbreaks course  both in China and in the U.S.

"Strawberry Mansion," directed by Albert Birney, Kentucker Audley

In a world where the government records and taxes dreams, an unassuming dream auditor gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an aging eccentric named Bella. Together, they must find a way back home.

"Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It," directed by Mariem Perez Riera

Rita Moreno defied both her humble upbringing and relentless racism to become one of a select group who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award. Over a 70-year career, she has paved the way for Hispanic American performers by refusing to be pigeonholed into one-dimensional stereotypes.

"I Was A Simple Man," directed by Christopher Makoto Yogi

As a family in Hawaii faces the imminent death of their eldest, the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside.

"Passing," directed by Rebecca Hall

Two Black women who can pass as White choose to live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York in an exploration of racial and gender identity, performance, obsession and repression. Based on the novella by Nella Larsen.

"R#J," directed by Carey Williams

A reimagining of "Romeo And Juliet," taking place through their cellphones, in a mash-up of Shakespearean dialogue with current social media communication.

"Misha And The Wolves," directed by Sam Hobkinson

A womans Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.

"Cusp," directed by Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt

In a Texas military town, three teenage girls confront the dark corners of adolescence at the end of a fever dream summer (documentary).

"Ailey," directed by Jamila Wignot

Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. Told in his own words and through the creation of a dance inspired by his life, this immersive portrait follows a man who, when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him, determined to build one that would.

"Users," directed by Natalia Almada

In this documentary, a mother wonders, "Will my children love their perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother?" New Orleans-based producer Josh Penn will be in attendance for an introduction.

"Ma Belle, My Beauty," directed by Marion Hill

A surprise reunion in southern France reignites passions and jealousies between two women who were formerly polyamorous lovers. Followed by a Q&A with New Orleans-based director Hill, and actors Idella Johnson and Hannah Pepper.

"Philly D.A.," created by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar

A groundbreaking inside look at the longshot election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, Philadelphias unapologetic district attorney, and his experiment to upend the criminal justice system from the inside out. Producers Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald will be in attendance for an introduction.
From China face off to the fight against COVID-19, how the IAF is doing India proud

All about Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore who is set to create history on Republic Day

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore of the Indian Air Force will script history by becoming the first woman to lead the flypast at the Republic Day parade on January 26 at Rajpath in Delhi.

My daughter has let me hold my head high. I am overwhelmed as the dream which she saw has turned into reality, her proud father, Dr. Bhavani Singh Rathore said. Rathore is a Deputy Director in the Agriculture Department in Rajasthan. He appealed to all parents to help their daughters fulfil their dreams.

Born in Rajasthan's Nagaur district, Swati did her schooling from Ajmer. During her school days, she drew a Tricolour in a painting competition. Her parents then pushed her to realise her dream and post-schooling she joined the NCC Air Wing.

Republic Day 2021: University, CBSE toppers to watch parade from Prime Ministers box

She always dreamt of being a pilot and was selected in her first attempt in 2014 at the IAF.

Her brother is posted in the Merchant Navy. Swati's mother, Rajesh Kanwar says she never treated her and son and daughter differently and this is the reason that her daughter will be creating history, she also said.

In 2013,. Swati appeared for the Air Force Common Admission Test, following which she was called for an interview by the Air Force Selection Board, Dehradun in March 2014. There were around 200 female students from all over the country of which 98 were selected for screening. Only five students were remaining after the screening, in which only she was selected for the flying branch.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje Scindia said in a tweet, "it is a matter of pride for all of us that the daughter of Veerbhoomi #Rajasthan and Flight Lieutenant of Air Force #SwatiRathore will lead the 'Fly Past' in the parade on Rajpath on the occasion of Republic Day. I wish her a bright future!"

"My best wishes to Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore, of the Indian Air Force, who will be the first woman to lead the flypast in the Republic Day parade this year. By this achievement, she has not only enhanced the pride of the state but has also set a unique example of women empowerment," former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot said.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 16:47:43|Editor: huaxia

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Members of a Chinese medical team assisting the Myanmar government's efforts in fight against COVID-19 board the plane before departure at the Kunming Changshui International Airport in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 8, 2020. (Photo by Chen Xinbo/Xinhua)

From seashells to a specialized zone dedicated to free trade, China's border province bears witness to an ever-deepening relations between the country and ASEAN.

KUNMING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A handful of seashells are on display in a museum in southwest China's border province of Yunnan, recording the country's past history of international communication.

Archaeologists believe that the seashells, imported from South and Southeast Asia over 2,000 years ago, were used as both currency and an important commodity in Yunnan.

Today, they embody the long-standing economic ties between China and the region.

Bordering Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, Yunnan has been a frontline of interconnection and exchanges between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, said Chen Lijun, vice president of the China (Kunming) Academy of South and Southeast Asian Studies.

In 2020, China and the ASEAN for the first time became each other's largest partners.

INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS

The Kunming Dounan Flower Market is the largest fresh cut flower trading market in Asia, from where flowers are loaded and arrive in Bangkok of Thailand in about 40 hours via the highway between the provincial capital of Kunming and Bangkok, Thailand.

It is estimated that some 8 million or 10 million flowers are sold from the market overseas, among which 20 percent to 30 percent are purchased by buyers from South and Southeast Asian countries.

According to the provincial transport department, Yunnan has been pushing forward infrastructure construction to boost interconnectivity with its neighboring countries.

The Yunnan sections of international expressways leading to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar have been opened to traffic. In late 2020, the Dali-Lincang high-speed railway was put into use.

Passengers board a train to Kunming City at Lincang Railway Station, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Dec. 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

"We used to say we were in outlying border regions, but now we are at the forefront," said Lu Shaoyun, deputy director of the Lincang development and reform commission.

Now more than 10 enterprises, including China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, have settled in Lincang. "After the transportation cost drops sharply, Lincang's foreign trade advantages will be brought into full play," said Lu.

The Kunming-Vientiane railway linking Yunnan with Laos, another key project, is expected to be opened this year, allowing trains to travel between the two cities in one day.

The improved infrastructure has paved the way for Yunnan to build a global logistics center, with flower being the main commodity, according to the provincial authorities.

CLOSE EXCHANGES

Siddhant Subedi was learning how to select and make tea in a Kunming-based training class.

Curious about many aspects of Chinese culture, the 22-year-old Nepali student chose to study business administration after learning Chinese for one year.

"Since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by China," said Subedi. "China has a big market, and I want to be a part of it."

In recent years, Yunnan has accelerated international exchanges and cooperation in education. Many overseas students like Subedi chose Yunnan to further their studies.

Dancers from Sri Lanka perform during the 2019 China International Travel Mart (CITM) held in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Nov. 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

In 2019, universities and higher education institutions in Yunnan enrolled 16,600 overseas students from 115 countries.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Yunnan has sent medical experts to Laos and Myanmar to aid the countries in fighting the disease and donated medical supplies and equipment worth over 46 million yuan (about 7.05 million U.S. dollars) to more than 20 countries, said Zhu Wenzhong, with the provincial foreign affairs office.

The province has also sent 27 batches of medical teams to neighboring countries to perform free cataract surgeries on 5,287 patients.

Moreover, over 40,000 children in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and other countries were screened for congenital heart diseases with the province's help.

OPEN ECONOMY

It is winter, but the atmosphere is fiery in a fruit transaction market in Wanding, a city sitting at the China-Myanmar border.

Following epidemic-control procedures, workers were loading watermelons from Myanmar onto trucks bound for the Chinese inland and coastal cities.

"Every winter, the watermelon yield is low in China, and we import more than 30 tonnes of watermelons daily from Myanmar and sell them to the northern regions," said Hou Xianhua, a businessman from the central province of Henan.

Meanwhile, at a workshop 40 km away, motorcycle production lines are running as normal. Despite the impact of the epidemic, more than 300,000 motorcycles were exported to Myanmar in 2020.

An employee from Myanmar works at a motorbike factory in China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) Dehong Area in Dehong, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Nov. 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

"After years of market development, our products are becoming more popular in neighboring countries," said Fang Wei, a manager of the motorcycle plant.

Hao Yishan, deputy head of the provincial commerce department, said that Yunnan's trade partners have expanded to 206 countries and regions, with ASEAN long remaining the largest one.

Data shows that the foreign trade volume in Yunnan increased from 24.5 billion dollars in 2015 to 33.6 billion dollars in 2019. Its trade with South Asian and Southeast Asian countries soared to 17.4 billion dollars, an annual average growth of 5.4 percent.

The Yunnan pilot free trade zone (FTZ), established in August 2019, has become a new carrier for open economic development.

In 2020, the foreign trade of the Yunnan pilot FTZ reached 71.79 billion yuan, surging 91.4 percent year on year, driving the overall growth of Yunnan's foreign trade by 14.8 percentage points. 
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The Project's Steve Price has launched into an angry rant over the long running debate over whether to change the date of Australia Day, saying he's 'sick and tired' of the never-ending bickering over the issue.

The controversial topic traditionally dominates headlines and sparks division among Australians in the first weeks of every calendar year leading up to the national public holiday, which is on Tuesday.

January 26 marks the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet into Port Jackson in 1788, but is noted by many Indigenous Australians as the start of a campaign of genocide and land grabs.

Almost half of Australians are opposed to changing the date from January 26 while just 28 per cent want to move the day, according to a new Ipsos poll released this week.

The Project aired a segment on Monday night with a vox pop with everyday Australians talking about the controversial topic.

When the segment finished, program co-host Carrie Bickmore weighed into the debate by declaring the day's meaning is changing, regardless of whether the date is changed or not.

Steve Price (pictured on The Project on Monday night) is sick and tired of the long running debate to change the day of Australia Day

'I feel like the movement is there,' she began.

Poll Should the date of Australia Day on January 26 be changed? Yes No Undecided Should the date of Australia Day on January 26 be changed? Yes 61 votes

No 479 votes

Undecided 21 votes Now share your opinion





'Only 29 per cent of people are actually doing anything on Australia Day. If you think of the huge things that used to be organised on Australia Day, I feel like they're getting less and less.'

She was soon interrupted by the opinionated panelist who appeared eager to get his two cents worth in.

'How sad is that, though, that we're not as a nation able to have one day where we all celebrate about what a great country we live in?' Price said.

'I mean, we have to find a date.'

'I'm so sick and tired of this argument every year over the date.

'Let's find a date, settle on it and celebrate that day as being Australians because we love living in this country.'

Almost half of Australians are opposed to changing Australia Day from January 26, according to a new poll. Pictured are women celebrating the pubic holiday in Melbourne in 2020

The Project's co-host Carrie Bickmore (pictured Monday night) also weighed into the debate

Price said all Australians living Down Under should be lucky and thankful to be in such a great country.

'How would you like to be in Europe now, decimated by COVID? Look how great a country we are,' he added.

'We should be patting ourselves on the back.'

Co-host Waleed Aly then asked Price if he had a suggested date.

'No, that's the problem!' Price continued his rant.

'And every person I ask and every debate I hear about this, no-one can come up with a sensible day.'

There are growing calls for an end to the celebration of Australia Day on January 26. Pictured is an Invasion Day rally on Australia Day in Melbourne in 2020

Price suggesting resolving the long running debate by working it out among ourselves with a national poll.

He then confessed he no longer supported the date remaining January 26.

'I always have been but I'm not now because I'm so deflated by this argument every year,' Price said.

'I want to wake up on Australia Day, put on a stupid hat, wave a flag and say it's great to be Australian. That's what I want to do.'

The debate ended on a light-hearted note.

'Isn't that what you do most days?' Aly quipped.

'Most weekends!' Price replied with a laugh.

Price called for the never-ending bickering over the date of Australia Day to end. Pictured is a patriotic woman celebrating Australia Day at the Australian Open

The ABC promoted the article on Twitter later on Sunday, sticking by the 'Australia Day/Invasion Day' decision

It comes just a day after the ABC sparked a nationwide debate after using the term 'Invasion Day' interchangeably with Australia Day in an article.

Australia Day is a day of celebration for many, as the nation enjoys a public holiday to come together and enjoy everything a lifestyle Down Under brings.

But for First Nations people, it marks 'a day of sorrow for the colonisation of an ancient culture,' according to the ABC article.

'For some First Nations people, it is a day to mourn the past and galvanise the community to address ongoing systemic racial injustice. For others, it's a chance to spend time with family and friends at the beach or around barbecues.'

The ABC defended the decision to use the terms interchangeably as it would be 'inappropriate' to demand its' staff to refer to one or the other.

But it has since backtracked on the decision by quietly removing the phrase from the article on Monday.

FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The team at Blomie Publishing is pleased to announce a new illustrated children's book that tells it all about the Vice President, Kamala Harris. The new picture book biography has been hailed as a genius way to educate children under 12 and bring them up to speed about vice president Harris' life and career so far.

Meet Kamala Harris: Biography for Kids Meet Kamala Harris: Biography for Kids

At a time when the United States needs unity more than ever, Blomie Publishing believes that one of the ways to achieve that is to increase knowledge and truth, especially among young children. With the new illustrated Kamala Harris book, parents of children under 12 now have one more brilliant Kamala Harris gift ideas for their kids as the new year roars into action. The book ticks all the boxes for a fun time; it is relaxing and educative. Kids need to know what's going on in their country and who's running the affairs that affect their lives. This book is the perfect gift to help them know that.

To learn more, please visit here.

It is no secret that children are inquisitive and that their minds tend to wander. As the VP to the 46th US president, Joe Biden, kids already know her name and a few other details. With the new illustrated Harris book, children can now learn even more about her life and career. The book is presented in beautiful, fun, and attractive illustrations. Just how kids love them.

The new illustrated Kamala Harris book could also help out teachers and librarians as they seek to teach their pupils about the current state of the country and its leaders. Hence, they are recommended for use in classrooms and reading sessions.

Blomie Publishing is a company that takes pride in educating the young generation and getting them prepared for leadership roles. The new book on Vice President Kamala Harris will surely go a long way to feeding kids with all the relevant information that they should have.

For more information, please visit www.blomiepublishing.com.

About Nia Hence

Nia Hence is a US children's book author residing in Texas. She is a Dyslexia Intervention in the public schools and spends her days teaching kids to read better. Writing for children is her dream.

Media Contact

Blomie Publishing

Shania Hence

[email protected]

817-682-3951

www.blomiepublishing.com

SOURCE Blomie Publishing

Related Links

https://www.blomiepublishing.com


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13,000 National Guard Members Currently Stationed in DC: General

U.S. Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the head of the National Guard Bureau, stated that about 13,000 Guard members remain in Washington as of Jan. 25.

As I speak, there are approximately 13,000 National Guard men and women in the District of Columbia primarily conducting security missions in support of our district and federal partners, he said during a Pentagon briefing, adding that as requested by the federal agencies we are supporting, we are drawing down to 7,000 soldiers and airmen by the end of this week.

Acting Army Secretary John Whitley had stated at a Jan. 25 briefing that FBI warnings about possible unrest in the coming weeks will require Guard troops to remain in Washington until March.

What I can tell you in terms of what theyre briefing us is there are several upcoming eventswe dont know what they areover the next several weeks, and theyre concerned that there could be situations where there are lawful protests, First Amendment-protected protests, that could either be used by malicious actors or other problems that could emerge, he said. We are posturing our forces to be able to respond to those threats if they emerge.

At least 5,000 of the troops deployed in Washington will remain on duty until March, officials said.

Last week, officials in Washington experienced a public relations fracas after Guard members were sent to rest in a parking garage instead of in the Capitol. Several Guard members confirmed the move to media outlets, which prompted conflicting statements sent out by U.S. Capitol Police and the D.C. National Guard.

Several prominent elected officials, including President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, issued apologies and the Guard members were relocated from the garage.

The Guard members were deployed to the nations capital after a group stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 during the Joint Session of Congress. Up to 25,000 National Guard members were deployed in Washington ahead of Bidens inauguration on Jan. 20.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a U.S. Army veteran, said that its unnecessary to keep the Guard around the Capitol building.

Im not aware of threat reporting that suggests we need 7,000 troops and razor wire around the Capitol. What happened on January 6 was, in part, the failure of the senior security leaders on Capitol Hill to anticipate the kind of violence we saw from the mob that broke into the Capitol on the 6th, he told Fox News on Jan. 24.

There was chatter about that on social media, yet they didnt request enough backup from the FBI or the Park Police and the National Guard.
Australians stopped singing God Save the Queen as our national anthem in 1984, but nearly 40 years later our elected leaders are still expected to promise to serve the Queen of the United Kingdom.

We now sing Advance Australia Fair with different words that better reflect our modern nation. Our words should reflect who we serve  just as a new police officer taking an affirmation of service to the people or a doctor taking the oath to serve their patients state when they take on their duties.

The wrong master: MPs are required to swear allegiance to the Queen. Credit:Getty

New Australian citizens are asked to pledge their loyalty to Australia and its people. As their elected representatives, our duty is to the Australian people above all else and our oath of office should reflect that important fact.

Australia is one of the few countries in the world whose people do not require their elected representatives to swear to serve their interests in Parliament. As it stands, when an Australian is elected to the Federal Parliament they are required to swear an oath or take an affirmation to Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs and successors before they can take their seat in Parliament.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For the eighth time in ten years, the last week of January has been officially recognized as Ohio School Choice Week by the state's governor. This year, Gov. Mike DeWine proclaimed the Week, which seeks to celebrate and raise awareness about K-12 school choices.

As National School Choice Week goes virtual, Ohio parents, schools, and other organizers are celebrating with 1,609 online or socially-distanced activities. These events may be as large as a virtual school fair spanning multiple counties or as simple as a family decorating placards about why they are grateful for choice. All the activities aim to spark conversations about how different educational opportunities meet families' needs and help kids succeed.

More than 33,000 safe celebrations have been independently planned for the week nationwide, raising awareness about opportunity in education. Schools of every type  traditional public, public magnet, public charter, private, online, and homeschool  will join in the celebration.

Gov. DeWine is the 23rd governor to issue a proclamation, with more expected to join in the next few days. Hundreds of city and county leaders have issued similar proclamations.

"We are excited that Ohio parents are so enthusiastically celebrating educational opportunity," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "This Week celebrates how school choice creates options for families so that every child can be challenged and inspired by their educational environment."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/ohio.

SOURCE National School Choice Week

Trixie Underground Exposure

Figure 1: Active mine face on the T2 structure, with the bonanza grade xocomecatlite-bearing footwall breccia and significant high-grade quartz stockwork veining developed in the immediate hanging wall of breccia. The T2 structure dips steeply to the east, away from the lower levels of historic mine development.

Figure 1: Active mine face on the T2 structure, with the bonanza grade xocomecatlite-bearing footwall breccia and significant high-grade quartz stockwork veining developed in the immediate hanging wall of breccia. The T2 structure dips steeply to the east, away from the lower levels of historic mine development.

Table of Au Ag Composites

Table 1: Channel face sampling of the T2 structure with composite gold (Au) and silver (Ag) grades listed by their continuous width in oz/t. Locations of channel samples are referenced north and south of the 609 cross-cut, and are graphically shown in Figure 2 below. Bonanza and high-grade mineralization is currently developed over 302 feet of strike length and remains open in all directions.

Table 1: Channel face sampling of the T2 structure with composite gold (Au) and silver (Ag) grades listed by their continuous width in oz/t. Locations of channel samples are referenced north and south of the 609 cross-cut, and are graphically shown in Figure 2 below. Bonanza and high-grade mineralization is currently developed over 302 feet of strike length and remains open in all directions.

T-2 structure Au Ag composites

Figure 2: Plan map of the T2 structure, striking north-south with significant bonanza and high-grade gold and silver mineralization recorded over a strike length of 302 feet to date. Channel face sampling with composite gold (Au) and silver (Ag) grades in oz/t are listed, with mineralization remaining open in all directions. The T2 structure was intercepted only 44 ft east of the historic Trixie mine development on the 625 level.

Figure 2: Plan map of the T2 structure, striking north-south with significant bonanza and high-grade gold and silver mineralization recorded over a strike length of 302 feet to date. Channel face sampling with composite gold (Au) and silver (Ag) grades in oz/t are listed, with mineralization remaining open in all directions. The T2 structure was intercepted only 44 ft east of the historic Trixie mine development on the 625 level.

EAST TINTIC DISTRICT, Utah, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tintic Consolidated Metals LLC (TCM or the Company) is pleased to announce the discovery of ultra-high-grade gold and silver bearing veins within its wholly owned Trixie mine in the East Tintic District, Utah.



Highlights:

The Company recommissioned its Trixie Au-Ag mine in late 2020 and rapidly began exploration development on the existing 625 level. Shortly after drifting began on this level, a previously unidentified ultra-high-grade vein was intercepted, which has been denoted the T2 structure.

Horizontal development along this newly discovered, steeply dipping mineralized structure has demonstrated it to be continuously mineralized for at least 302 feet, with an average width of 6.6 feet and carrying a weighted average grade of 15.5 ounces per ton (oz/t) of gold (uncut) and 21.5 oz/t of silver.

Story continues

The T2 structure is characterized by the presence of abundant bright green xocomecatlite (a rare copper tellurate mineral) within a 2-foot-wide footwall breccia, with adjoining intense quartz stockwork veining developed in the hanging wall of the structure over widths of 3 to 12 feet.

Channel face sampling of these intercepts has revealed gold grades ranging up to 102 oz/t of gold and 192 oz/t of silver over continuous widths of up to 8 feet (see Table 1 for details).

Tom Bowens, President and CEO of the Company said, Since TCM was formed as a joint venture between IG Tintic (75%) and Chief Consolidated (25%) in June 2019 there has been remarkable progress made. In only 20 months, the Company has reclaimed the surface infrastructure, reopened the first of a series of historic precious metal mines, and made a significant new gold discovery. The pace at which the Company has added value to the district is a testament to the skills of the Companys team of exploration, mining, and development professionals. It is the Companys vision to bring this famous district back on-line as a major US gold, silver and copper production center over the coming years. This discovery is a very significant step towards achieving that goal and provides a remarkable platform for the future development of the Company.

Details and Background:

The Trixie mine is the first of a series of legacy mines TCM is targeting to re-open on its extensive property holdings. Importantly, the Trixie mine is fully permitted with necessary environmental permits and bonding in place. The adjacent Eureka Standard high-grade gold mine anticipated is currently being investigated for a potential re-opening in 2023. Furthermore, TCM is planning exploration for a prospective deep copper-gold porphyry deposit, with multiple porphyry targets identified on the property.

The T2 structure strikes north-south, dips steeply to the east, and has been developed thus far over a strike length of 302 feet. Significant high-grade gold and silver mineralization has been recorded over the entire strike length and over widths ranging from 3 to 12 feet, with mineralization remaining open in all directions.

Average gold grades within the xocomecatlite-bearing footwall breccia of the T2 structure typically range from 10 to over 100 oz/t, with the adjacent hanging wall stockwork vein zones averaging 1 to 3 oz/t of gold. Abundant visible gold is present in some ultra-high-grade samples.

Importantly, this newly identified ultra-high-grade structure dips steeply towards the east, away from the historic mine development at depth. Significant depth potential and additional high-grade mineralization on this structure is interpreted both up and down dip. The identification and eventual exploitation of extensions to the newly discovered mineralization will be greatly enhanced by the existing infrastructure. In addition to the currently operational 625 level, refurbishment is presently underway on the 750 level. Future work will refurbish existing infrastructure down to the 1350 level.

Channel face samples from the T2 structure with composite gold and silver grades are listed in Table 1.

A typical underground mining face developed on the bonanza-grade footwall breccia and the adjacent hanging wall stockwork zone is displayed in Figure 1, and the locations of channel face samples are graphically displayed on the plan map in Figure 2.

Figure 1: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ab9f4b05-b06e-4a09-b053-233b9ec6c626

Active mine face on the T2 structure, with the bonanza grade xocomecatlite-bearing footwall breccia and significant high-grade quartz stockwork veining developed in the immediate hanging wall of breccia. The T2 structure dips steeply to the east, away from the lower levels of historic mine development.

Table 1: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c9852c8a-aba3-4207-b999-a3a0b29fd318

Channel face sampling of the T2 structure with composite gold (Au) and silver (Ag) grades listed by their continuous width in oz/t. Locations of channel samples are referenced north and south of the 609 cross-cut, and are graphically shown in Figure 2 below. Bonanza and high-grade mineralization is currently developed over 302 feet of strike length and remains open in all directions.

The Company intends to continue a combination of lateral and raise development, along with short drillhole resource definition drilling along the T2 structure, to obtain better definition of the resource and reserves contained within this high-grade structure.



Access also has been gained to the historic next-lower 750 underground level of the Trixie mine, and lateral development on this level to the T2 structure will commence shortly. The reserves from the T2 structure will then be added to those resources defined prior to its discovery to calculate an overall resource and reserve estimate for the Trixie mine. The Company intends to complete this updated resource and reserve calculation in 2021.

Figure 2: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ce034691-2ebe-494f-8fa3-d75b979458f3

Plan map of the T2 structure, striking north-south with significant bonanza and high-grade gold and silver mineralization recorded over a strike length of 302 feet to date. Channel face sampling with composite gold (Au) and silver (Ag) grades in oz/t are listed, with mineralization remaining open in all directions. The T2 structure was intercepted only 44 ft east of the historic Trixie mine development on the 625 level.



In addition to the Trixie mine, the Company is in the process of developing an exploration program for the Eureka Standard mine, located approximately 2,000 feet north of the Trixie main shaft. The Eureka Standard mine was operated until 1947 and was historically the highest-grade precious metal mine in the East Tintic District. The Eureka Standard workings are connected to the Trixie main shaft by an underground drift at the 1350 level.



Historic production at the Eureka Standard mine was halted at the then groundwater table of the 1450 sublevel, on a high-grade ore shoot averaging 1 to 1.8 oz/t of gold, with mineralization remaining completely open at depth. The Company is targeting the Eureka Standard mine for re-opening within 2 years, initially focusing on the depth extensions of the high-grade T2 mineralized structure.

The Company is also developing a program to explore for a prospective deep porphyry copper-gold system underlying the East Tintic District, similar to the Bingham Canyon deposit located approximately 50 miles north of the project. The Company has engaged Richard Leveille, the former President of Freeport McMoran Exploration Corporation, to lead this porphyry exploration effort.

About Tintic Consolidated Metals LLC

TCM is a private US based mining company whose assets are located in the historic Tintic Mining District of Utah. TCM is a Joint Venture between IG Tintic LLC (IGT), the 75% owner and manager, and Chief Consolidated Mining Company (Chief), which owns 25%. Over the past 100 years, Chief consolidated numerous small mining claims into a single large land package. TCM holds nearly 14,000 acres of patented mineral rights within this package, including 7,000 acres of surface rights and numerous legacy assets, among them 6 existing mines with over 20 miles of underground workings, thousands of pages of historic data and multiple facilities. Two of these existing mines are fully permitted and have approved reclamation plans and accompanying cash bonds. The table below summarizes the Tintic Districts historic production, which would amount to over $16 billion at current metal prices.

TCM has set an aggressive goal of re-opening one of the remaining legacy mines every two years. The Eureka Standard mine is the next legacy mining operation targeted for re-development. In addition, TCM is investigating the potential for a deep copper porphyry deposit in the district.

Qualified Persons and Sampling Protocol

Thomas E Bowens, CPG, President & CEO of Tintic Consolidated Metals, a Qualified Person within the meaning of US SEC Compliance Guidelines, has reviewed, verified, and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release. However, this news release is not represented by the Company to be compliant with SEC S-K 1300 or similar national standards required of public companies.

This media release includes certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as expects, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, potential, possible, and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results will, may, could, would or should occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on several opinions, estimates and assumptions that TCMs management considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date such statements are made, and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included herein are forward-looking statements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

For more information, visit www.tinticmetals.com and igglobalgroup.com.

Contact: info@tinticmetals.com





Elephant Cooperation, a 501(c)3 founded by Orange County based entrepreneur Scott Struthers, along with COMACO (Community Markets for Conservation), a wildlife conservation group founded by Dale Lewis supporting 179,000 small-scale farmers in eastern Zambia, today recognized three Zambian government leaders for efforts to stop deforestation in their provinces: Mr. Ignatius Makumba, the Director of Forestry Department, Mr. Bernard Chomba, the Provincial Secretary of Central Province and Dr. Chuma Simukonda, the Director of National Parks and Wildlife. Each leader received a commemorative watch and a certificate of recognition for their service.

Dale and I wanted to thank these government leaders for their good work in promoting accountability, inclusive partnerships, and innovative solutions to combat deforestation and illegal wildlife trade in Zambia. Elephants need healthy forests to survive and thrive, said Struthers, the co-founder of home technology company, Sonance. Struthers, along with Elephant Cooperation President Shawn Sugarman and COMACOs Lewis, all participated in the virtual ceremony.

Lewis created COMACO to combat deforestation and conserve Zambias wildlife by taking an innovative and sustainable approach to conservation, focused on reshaping community thinking. COMACO teaches sustainable agroforestry farming, converts poachers into farmers, and provides fuel efficient cookstoves. Their programs allow COMACO to purchase the food from small-scale farmers and create organic foods under its brand, Its Wild.

The community heroes we recognized today have a passion for protecting Zambias natural gifts and have dedicated many hours of service to make a difference. They have forged the partnerships and maintained the high standards needed for conservation efforts to succeed, said Lewis. As civil servants, they often do not get credit for their role as conservation leaders. We wanted to make sure they know they are appreciated by all of us in the conservation world.

Elephant Cooperation and COMACO have been partners in conservation since 2017. For more information about Elephant Cooperation, visit https://www.elephantcooperation.com/. For more information on COMACO, visit: https://itswild.org

About Elephant Cooperation:

Founded in 2016 with the mission of saving the African elephant before it is too late, Elephant Cooperation is a unique 501(c)3 focused on finding and funding the most effective ways to help elephants and the communities living near them. Our motto is No Poverty, No Poaching.

About COMACO:

COMACO is a social enterprise that supports wildlife conservation and 225,000 small-scale farmers in Eastern Zambia.
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.
A 16-year-old boy attacked two security guards with a knife after he and a gang of shoplifters was allegedly caught at supermarket in Chile, a newly surfaced video shows.

Footage recorded by a shopper captures one of the security guards attempting to detain the teenager after he had stabbed one while another guard tries to hit him with a baton at the shopping center known as Tottus located in the northern city of Colinas on Sunday.

Other shoppers can be seen trying to stop the shirtless teen, who subsequently pulls out a knife and chases the guard, who takes out a nightstick to defend himself.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

A 16-year-old boy is restrained after he stabbed one of two security guards (pictured) at a supermarket in Colinas, Chile, on Sunday after he and a gang of shoplifters were busted. The teen appeared before a judge Monday but no charges have been filed. The stab wounds suffered by the guards were not considered life-threatening, the supermarket said

Shoppers and workers at a supermarket in Chile on Sunday detain a 16-year-old boy after he lunged with a knife at two security guards and stabbed them after they attempted to stop him from fleeing after he and a group of shoppers were caught stealing

A security guard attempts to sit up after he was attacked and stabbed by a suspected 16-year-old shoplifter at a supermarket in Chile on Sunday. His injuries are not life-threatening

Meanwhile in the background, a security guard drags one of the injured guards behind a trail of blood.

The alleged knife-wielding shoplifter then knocks the security guard to the ground and repeatedly stabs him.

Moments later, two workers and shoppers along with a guard surround the teenager and were able to subdue him and wrestle a large knife away from him.

One of the two security guards lies on his back after he was stabbed by an alleged shoplifter at a supermarket in Chile on Sunday. The guard survived the attack and is currently recuperating at a hospital

A security guard and two other persons lead the knife-wielding suspected teenage shoplifter after he stabbed two security guards at a supermarket in Chile on Sunday

The two security guards were rushed to a medical facility and were treated for their wounds.

The supermarket said the security guards' injuries were not considered life-threatening. Authorities have also been going over surveillance footage in hopes of identifying and arresting the other suspects who were busted for stealing from the supermarket.

Chilean newspaper Cooperativa reported that the teen appeared before a judge Monday. Prosecutors are considering whether to charge him with assault or attempted homicide.
A B.C. man has been brought to Winnipeg after he was arrested for a homicide that happened here this summer.

A B.C. man has been brought to Winnipeg after he was arrested for a homicide that happened here this summer.

Two Canada-wide warrants had been issued for Dyllan Petrin, 19. Surrey RCMP said Petrin was found "hiding out" in Vancouver and was arrested Jan. 19. He was brought to Winnipeg and charged Saturday with first-degree murder in the killing of Cody Alexander Sleigh, 31.

Surrey RCMP said Petrin was found hiding out in Vancouver and was arrested Jan. 19.

Sleigh, who was also from B.C., was shot and killed in the 1000 block of Main Street on July 21. The shooting happened near the Osborne Community Correctional Centre, which houses offenders who have been released under various conditions.

Petrin had been on the run since May, when he removed an electronic ankle monitor he was required to wear and disappeared. He had been arrested in connection with a kidnapping and assault in Surrey, B.C., in July 2019 and released under court-ordered conditions.

Sleigh, who had no arrest record in Manitoba, served time in prison for multiple offences, including a 2011 gang-associated kidnapping in Vancouver. He was on parole at the time he was killed.

When the warrant for Sleighs murder was first announced in October, the Winnipeg Police Service said it had "gang undertones."

Another man, 32-year-old Kleon Cassidy Pop, was arrested Sept. 7 in Williams Lake, B.C., and charged with first-degree murder in Sleigh's killing.

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Israels Cabinet on Sunday gave the green light for normalization with Morocco in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a historic moment.

Together we are advancing direct flights between the countries, Netanyahu said. It will happen soon  economic, trade, technological cooperation and the opening of missions in both countries.

The agreement, which calls for Israel to resume full official contacts between Israeli and Moroccan counterparts and establish full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations, passed unanimously in the Cabinet. It still requires a vote in the parliament and then final approval by the Israeli government.

Morocco is the latest Arab country to establish ties with Israel this year, after Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sudan. As part of the Trump administration-brokered deal in December, the United States recognized Moroccos contested claim over the Western Sahara region.

Both Israel and Morocco are framing the agreement as a resumption of ties. Rabat severed relations after the second Palestinian intifada in 2000, and the two countries shuttered their respective diplomatic missions.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced it will open a liaison office in Rabat in the coming days, and the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry said Morocco and Israel will soon sign a deal outlining trade and economic cooperation.

In another first on Sunday, the UAEs Cabinet approved the opening of an embassy in Tel Aviv, which came the same day Israeli envoy Eitan Naeh opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi. The UAE and Bahrain formally agreed to normalize relations with Israel in a White House signing ceremony in September.

The embassy will work to advance Israels interests and will be at the disposal of its citizens, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has accepted that Northern Ireland is testing for new strains of coronavirus, the First Minister Arlene Foster has said.

It comes after weekend comments by the Fianna Fail leader that it was his "understanding" that the authorities here were not testing for the new variant of Covid-19.

"When I discussed this with the leaders their view was the variant doesn't appear to be as big an issue in the north... I can't understand that," he told RTE on Saturday.

The Department of Health has described such claims as misleading.

Read More

In a tweet this afternoon, Mrs Foster said she had spoken with the Taoiseach on the matter, who "accepted that Northern Ireland is testing for SARS-CoV-2".

Just finished a call with @MichealMartinTD where he accepted that Northern Ireland is testing for SARS-CoV-2. The variant testing here is massively more advanced than RoI.



Also pressed him on sharing travel locator forms. He committed to movement soon on that issue. https://t.co/aIyx2dl80R  Arlene Foster #WeWillMeetAgain (@ArleneFosterUK) January 25, 2021

The DUP leader added: "The variant testing here is massively more advanced than RoI."

Mrs Foster said she had also pressed Mr Martin on sharing travel locator forms and that he had "committed to movement soon on that issue".

Stormont ministers have expressed frustration over a lack of progress on travel locator forms with the Irish government.

Mrs Foster has said quite a large number of travellers may have entered Northern Ireland via the Republic over Christmas and the forms are important to monitor the extent of this.

The Executive has already agreed to introduce pre-departure testing for international arrivals into Northern Ireland.

Read More

The issue of Mr Martin's weekend comments on testing and co-operation with the Irish government on travel was raised at Executive Office question time at Stormont earlier today.

DUP MLA Thomas Buchanan, who branded the Taoiseach's remarks on testing as "disgraceful", asked Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill what discussions have been ongoing around travel and locator forms with the Republic.

In response, Ms ONeill said she had raised some of these issues with Mr Martin earlier today and called for a two island approach to travel.

"The approach to travel here could be much better. I'm hopeful of a resolution to the travel locator forms issue and that data will be shared," she said.

Flooding concerns are affecting plans for the nearby extension of Confey Cemetery in Leixlip and alternative sites will have to be considered, a public meeting has been told.

At the January 22 meeting of Kildare County Councils Celbridge-Leixlip Municipal District, Cllr Bernard Caldwell asked for an update on the extension of Confey cemetery.

The members were told that recent investigations by Kildare County Council, in conjunction with the HSE, found the ground in the lands adjacent to the existing cemetery at Confey to be unsuitable for interments. It will therefore not be possible to extend the cemetery. Alternative sites will have to be considered, they said of the council controlled cemetery.

Cllr Caldwell said this was very very bad news.

Cllr Nuala Killeen said a lot of people in Leixlip are very concerned over the future of Confey cemetery.

Cllr Caldwell said it appeared to him that the land to the left of the cemetery as one went up the Captains Hill was suitable for an extension even if the land to the right, which was full of springs, was not suitable.

He then asked about alternative sites in Confey?

Council official, Eamon Fagan said that adjacent meant both sides of the cemetery. If you have suggestions for an alternative site we would be happy to hear them, he said, referring to the Leixlip area specifically.

In another proposal, Cllr Caldwell asked that the council put in place more French drains in the current cemetery to alleviate flooding.

Members were told that the council recently carried out detailed geotechnical investigations at Confey Graveyard, which found there to be little to no natural soakage in the underlying ground. Therefore, the installation of French drains would not serve any useful purpose in addressing groundwater issues.

Regarding the French drains, Cllr Caldwell said he was not happy because flooding was not being removed.

He said he believed French drains would help and suggested them. Flooding was really bad over Christmas, he said.

If French drains would not work, some other method was needed, he said.
Seven men were fined after telling gardai they travelled to a rented house "for drinks" in Cork.

Gardai in Kinsale fined the group of men for breaching Covid-19 regulations.

Officers observed the men arrive in two taxis before entering a shop where they bought "a large amount of alcohol."

When questioned, the men told them they had travelled to Kinsale to rent out a property and have drinks.

Each of the seven were then fined, and they had to travel back to Cork city.

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"We continue to appeal to all citizens to comply with Public Health Guidelines and Regulations in order to continue to save lives," a garda spokesperson said.

Current Level 5 restrictions do not permit people to leave the house without a reasonable excuse, such as for work or exercise.
WASHINGTON: With a change of administrations, it looks like Harriet Tubman is once again headed to the front of the $20 bill.

Biden press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put the 19th century abolitionist leader on the $20 bill.

Obama administration Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had selected Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson, the nations seventh president, on the $20 bill.

But Tubmans fate had been in doubt since the 2016 presidential campaign based on critical comments by then-candidate Donald Trump, who branded the move pure political correctness.

Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin did not move forward with the decision by the Obama administration. Instead, Mnuchin in 2019 announced a delay in redesigning the $20 bill in order to redesign the $10 and $50 bills first to improve security features to thwart counterfeiters.

The unveiling of the redesigned $20 bill featuring Tubman, famous for her efforts spiriting slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, had been timed by the Obama administration to coincide with the 100th anniversary of passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

Under the schedule Mnuchin announced in May 2019, the redesigned $20 bill would not have come out until 2028 with final designs for the bill not announced until 2026.

But Psaki told reporters during a briefing Monday that she and other officials were surprised to hear of the delays in putting Tubman on the $20 bill. With a change in administrations, she said the Treasury Department was taking steps to resume efforts to put Tubman on the $20 bill.

It is important that our . money reflect the history and diversity of our country and Harriet Tubmans image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that, Psaki said. We are exploring ways to speed up that effort.

Psaki said specifics on a new timeline for introducing a redesigned $20 with Tubman would be announced when finalized by the Treasury Department. Biden has selected Janet Yellen to be his Treasury secretary, the first woman to hold that position in the departments 232 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
Washington: US President Joe Biden plans to ban travel by non-citizens into the United States from South Africa because of concern about a coronavirus variant spreading in that country, a White House official said.

The move comes just days after Dr Anthony Fauci, the governments leading infectious disease specialist, told reporters at the White House that were following very carefully the variant of the virus in South Africa because it appears to be more highly contagious and might be somewhat less responsive to the vaccines in use today.

On his last full day in office, former president Donald Trump tried to end the COVID-19-related ban on travel from Europe and Brazil, saying it was no longer necessary.

People pass a sign at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, indicating a COVID testing station. Credit:AP

Jen Psaki, now the White House press secretary, said at the time that ending the ban was the wrong thing to do and she indicated that Biden would not allow that to happen. A White House official said on Sunday, US time, that Biden would extend the travel ban on those areas in the coming days.
At the event (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  The annual music show Truong Sa Spring, the ninth of its kind, was held in Hanoi on January 23 to honour strong will and aspiration of officials and soldiers who are safeguarding sea and island sovereignty of the nation.



Throughout its eight editions, the electronic newspaper Dang Cong San Viet Nam (Communist Party of Vietnam) raised over 50 billion VND (2.17 million USD) from organisations and businesses, which were used to donate tens of houses, hundreds of saving books and valuable gifts to naval staff and their families.



The organising board hoped that organisations and inpiduals will continue joining hands to safeguard Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.



Participants at the event were treated with songs and dances praising seas, island and the nation.
STAMFORD  Fittingly, Stamford Stands Against Racisms first discussion on racism and faith opened with a prayer.

We come together today in a spirit of listening and learning  to engage with one another around the topic and the plague that is often taboo to discuss in our culture: racism, said the Rev. Shelley Donaldon of First Presbyterian Church.

It is racism that plagues us all regardless of who we are, or where we come from, or what race we identify as, she continued. May these conversations help guide each of us in our lives. May it be so.

Donaldson closed with an amen, before turning back to the group.

The meeting, moderated by diversity consultant and longtime member of St. Marks Church in New Canaan Lise Leist, brought together faith leaders from across lower Fairfield County to talk about how race impacts their lives, faiths and collective work.

A second discussion on the topic is set for Jan. 26.

Justice. Justice you shall pursue, the Torah tells us, said Cantor Jill Abramson of Congregation Shir Ami in Greenwich. And we cannot pursue justice, right now, without addressing racism.

Leist navigated a conversation between Abramson, the Rev. Dr. Michael Christie of Stamfords Union Bapist Church and Maher Hussein, President of the Islamic Center of N.Y., also in Stamford.

While Abramson maintained that the work of faith is synonymous with the work of anti-racism, Christie reminded the audience that religious institutions have oftentimes upheld systemic racism in the United States.

The church is not innocent with this. They're probably the most guilty party, said Christie. The church has to really own... the historical role of the church in structural racism and white supremacy Christianity, which we've kind of seen played out in the evangelical movement.

But faith can also help communities of color move through the racial traumas that they face, Christie said, particularly for Black and brown people.

A good example: A lot of black culture, in terms of our dancing and our music, we ... now are discovering through the sciences its our way, in part, of intuitively ... dealing with trauma, he added. The way we express ourselves in churches, dancing and clapping our hands, (its) another way of the community dealing with the trauma.

Hussein, in contrast, spoke to the value of watching Muslims of all races worship together at the Islamic Cultural Center. In his experience, worship in Islam hasnt been divided by race in the same way other faiths have in America.

I see the difference between an African American and white church. But as a Muslim, we dont have that, said Hussein. We all pray equal.

The webinar was the first of two installments on the intersections of race and religion.

In partnership with Stamford Cradle to Career and Community Health Center, Stamford Stands Against Racism has held other talks that highlight the relationship between race and non-profit work, how adverse experiences impact children of color, and processing trauma.

Cradle to Career and Stamford Stands Against Racism will hold its second discussion on race and religion from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 via Zoom at https://bit.ly/2KNeRzn.
An argument over a financial issued led to the bizarre chain of events earlier this month that left one man dead and a woman kidnapped in east Alabama, police said Monday.

Terry Moore, 31, has now formally been charged with murder and first-degree kidnapping, said Gadsden police Sgt. Marcus Hill. He is being held in the Etowah County Jail on $500,000 cash bond.

The ordeal happened on Jan. 11. Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade said 911 received the call about 10:30 a.m. from the store at U.S. Highway 431 and Alabama highway 204. She ran into the store and told the clerk shed been kidnapped, and he had a gun,' Wade said.

The woman, who has not been identified, told lawmen her boyfriend had been killed in Gadsden and the armed suspect had then abducted her, leaving Gadsden with the womans vehicle.

The suspect  now identified as Moore - then pulled into the Calhoun County convenience store, which is in the Wellington community, to put gas in the vehicle. Thats when the kidnapping victim jumped out of her vehicle and ran into the store for help. Moore then fled eastbound toward Jacksonville.

A short time later, Wade said, Jacksonville police received a report of a Jeep stolen from Edwards Grocery and a lookout bulletin was issued. About 30 to 40 minutes later, Calhoun County deputies spotted the stolen Jeep, and a chase was initiated. The kidnapping victims vehicle was found abandoned at the grocery store.

The multi-agency chase ended at U.S. 431 and Alabama highway 21 when, Wade said, the suspect turned in front of another vehicle and crashed. The suspect then jumped out and tried to carjack a motorist. Thankfully the door was locked and the carjacking attempted failed, Wade said. Lawmen then took the suspect into custody.

Authorities notified Gadsden police. Hill said the slaying happened in the 900 block of East Broad Street, which is at the Empowerment Center. The center helps clients transition from prison, homelessness or other type situations.
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 52F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Community health workers must be better supported in 2021, the Year of the Healthcare Worker
The African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) has released its long-awaited report of the internal audit it conducted after the discovery that the co-founder of the organisation had abused his position to steal large swaths of African Internet resources.

It confirmed an earlier statement from AFRINIC that a total of over 4.1 million Internet Protocol (IP) addresses had been misappropriated and provided a detailed account of the resources that were compromised.

AFRINIC revealed in the report that it only became aware that it may have an internal problem in 2019 after the United States Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) raised red flags.

In or about March 2019, upon receipt of a Court Order from the Supreme Court of Mauritius following an application made by the [FBI], AFRINIC became aware of certain suspicious activities regarding several IPv4 address blocks which it held, the report stated.

The term IPv4 address blocks refers to blocks of Internet Protocol version 4 addresses. Devices on the Internet require IP addresses to communicate with each other.

When you try to visit a website like mybroadband.co.za, the human-readable address is first translated into an IP address for your web browser to connect to.

You also need an IP address so that servers on the Internet can communicate back to your devices.

These IPv4 blocks have grown increasingly valuable as they have become a scarce resource.

The IPv4 standard only has room for less than 4.3 billion addresses. The actual number of addresses usable for Internet routing is much lower than that because large blocks are reserved for special uses.

While a newer standard called IPv6 allows for 340 undecillion addresses (thats 340 with 36 zeroes behind it), it has not yet become widely adopted.

Conservative estimates indicate that a single IPv4 address is selling for around $20 on the reseller market.

At R15 per USD, that brings the total value of the compromised IP address blocks to around R1.25 billion.

Deeds office for the African Internet compromised

These IP address blocks were misappropriated by manipulating their records in the AFRINIC WHOIS database.

WHOIS is the concatenation of the words who and is, and is a standard used on the Internet to keep track of resources like domain names (e.g. mybroadband.co.za) and IP address blocks.

If you think of IP addresses as Internet land  property, or real estate  then the WHOIS record of an IP address block is like its title deed.

The AFRINIC WHOIS database is then like the Internet deeds office for the entire African region. And for the better part of the last decade, it was compromised.

Investigation timeline

In addition to providing an accounting of the Internet resources that were stolen from the people of Africa, AFRINICs report also revealed details about the organisations own investigation.

As mentioned previously, AFRINIC stated that it became aware it had a problem around March 2019 thanks to the FBI approaching the Supreme Court of Mauritius regarding certain suspicious activities.

A preliminary investigation carried out internally also revealed that internal staff may, without any lawful authority, have acted in collusion with other third parties, AFRINIC stated.

What the AFRINIC report did not mention was that Internet investigator and activist Ron Guilmette had tried to call attention to the issue as far back as November 2016.

Guilmettes crusade against spammers on the Internet had brought him to several significant chunks of IP addresses in the AFRINIC region, and he raised the issues he spotted on several public mailing lists.

For years it went ignored. Only after Guilmette set about trying to unravel for himself what was happening in the AFRINIC region, and reached out to journalists in South Africa, did the issue attract any meaningful attention.

Based on AFRINICs timelines, it was conducting its own investigation parallel to the one by MyBroadband and Guilmette.

However, it only took action following the publication of two major reports on MyBroadband.

AFRINIC also acknowledged that MyBroadbands investigation exposed that the registration information for misappropriated IP address blocks had been compromised.

In essence, the title deeds of vast swaths of African Internet resources had been tampered with.

A summary of the timeline of the investigations is as follows:

MyBroadband asked Maikel Uerlings and Elad Cohen to comment on the information published in our 15 November 2020 report.

Cohen denied any wrongdoing and denied that he is in business with Uerlings. He also continued to decline to provide documents to prove that he bought the legacy IP address blocks in question from the previous owners.

Cohen previously told MyBroadband that he would show the legal documents in any court and that they are with the USA lawyer involved.

Uerlings did not respond to requests for comment.

The Heist: Part 1  Theft of IP addresses from the AFRINIC free pool

The following table summarises the IPv4 address blocks that were identified as stolen from AFRINICs free pool to sell on the black market.

In addition to the blocks already identified by MyBroadband in the past, AFRINIC revealed that blocks registered to Fibre Grid Inc. and LogicWeb Inc were also misappropriated.

IP address block(s) Registered entity Estimated value Status 165.52.0.0/14 CGHB R137,625,600 Reclaimed / history purged 137.171.0.0/16 160.184.0.0/16 168.211.0.0/16 196.62.0.0/16 Link Data Group R71,270,400 Reclaimed / history purged 160.181.0.0/16 160.255.0.0/16 196.192.192.0/18 196.207.64.0/18 213.247.0.0/19 196.45.112.0/20 ITC R109,363,200 Reclaimed / history purged 196.194.0.0/15 196.193.0.0/16 196.246.0.0/16 196.63.0.0/16 196.42.128.0/17 196.196.0.0/14 Fiber Grid Inc R314,572,800 Under review 196.56.0.0/14 196.240.0.0/13 196.52.0.0/14 LogicWeb Inc R80,845,209.60 Reclaimed / history purged

The Heist: Part 2  Misappropriation of legacy IP address blocks

So-called legacy IPv4 address blocks are particularly valuable because they do not attract AFRINICs annual fees.

This is because they were assigned to companies, organisations, and government agencies in the early days of the Internet before AFRINIC existed.

The following table summarises the legacy IPv4 address blocks that were identified as misappropriated.

In addition to the blocks MyBroadband previously identified, AFRINIC added an additional block for Trafex, the Syfrets, NBS Bank, Fibre Grid / Afriq*Access, and Netconnect blocks.

Where a block is tagged as status quo, AFRINIC has stated that the status quo is being maintained on that block until its custodian can be determined.

Blocks tagged as disputed indicate that a dispute over custodianship is underway. The status quo will be maintained until the matter is resolved.

Pending means that an investigation into a blocks custodianship is underway.

A block flagged as Status quo has had bogus email addresses removed from its WHOIS record, but otherwise the status quo is being maintained until the rightful custodian of the block can be determined.

IP address block(s) Historical owner Currently registered owner Estimated value Likely or confirmed owner Status 192.96.146.0/24 Cape of Good Hope Bank Limited Nedbank (previously: CGHB) R76,800 Nedbank Reclaimed  Nedbank 163.201.0.0/16 Syfrets Nedbank R1,228,800 Reclaimed  Nedbank 163.199.0.0/16 NBS Bank Nedbank R1,228,800 Reclaimed  Nedbank 198.54.232.0/24 Link Data Solutions Link Data Group R76,800 * Link Data Solutions AFRINIC quarantined 165.231.0.0/16 Afriq*Access Fibre Grid Inc R19,660,800 Unknown Pending Fibre Grid response 196.16.0.0/14 Infoplan Network and Information Technology Limited R79,411,200 SITA Status quo 196.4.36.0/22 196.4.40.0/22 196.4.44.0/23 196.9.0.0/16 Arivia T-Systems R19,660,800 T-Systems Reclaimed  T-Systems 196.10.64.0/19 Nampak Nampak R22,348,800 Nampak AFRINIC quarantined 196.10.61.0/24 196.10.62.0/23 160.121.0.0/16 Mega Plastics Mega Plastics Status quo 155.235.0.0/16 Afrox MIS Afrox / Linde Group R19,660,800 Afrox / Linde Group Reclaimed  African Oxygen Limited 152.108.0.0/16 Transtel Liquid Telecom R19,660,800 Liquid Telecom Reclaimed  Liquid Telecom 155.237.0.0/16 Sasol Sasol R39,321,600 Sasol Reclaimed  Sasol 169.129.0.0/16 165.25.0.0/16 Directorate of Information Services (Cape Town) City of Cape Town R19,660,800 City of Cape Town Reclaimed  City of Cape Town 160.122.0.0/16 Tredcor in South Africa Trentyre R19,660,800 Goodyear/Trentyre Reclaimed  Trentyre and Goodyear 168.80.0.0/15 AECI Information Services in South Africa AECI Information Services in South Africa R39,321,600 DXC Technology Status quo  DXC/HP claims ownership 165.3.0.0/16 Wooltru Woolworths R58,982,400 Woolworths Reclaimed  Woolworths 165.4.0.0/16 165.5.0.0/16 160.115.0.0/16 Columbus Stainless Columbus Stainless R19,660,800 Columbus Stainless Reclaimed  Columbus 168.76.0.0/16 Free State Education Department Free State Education Department R19,660,800 Free State Education Department Pending due diligence 160.116.0.0/16 Affiliated Computing Services (Pty) Ltd Affiliated Computing Services (Pty) Ltd R19,660,800 Affiliated Computing Services (Pty) Ltd Status quo 168.206.0.0/16 The Atomic Energy Board The Atomic Energy Board R19,660,800 NECSA Disputed 155.159.0.0/16 Safren Computer Services Safren Computer Services R19,660,800 Safmarine / Maersk Status quo 164.155.0.0/16 Sentrachem Limited Sentrachem Limited R19,660,800 Sentrachem Limited Status quo 163.197.0.0/16 Anglo American Anglo American R19,660,800 Anglo American Status quo 196.15.64.0/18 Trafex Trafex R4,992,000 AT&T Status quo 192.96.148.0/24 163.198.0.0/16 Agrihold Agrihold R19,660,800 Dow Agrosciences Status quo 164.88.0.0/16 Argus Holdings Argus Holdings R19,660,800 Independent Media / Sekunjalo AFRINIC quarantined 196.3.112.0/22 Netconnect South Africa Netconnect CC R307,200 Netconnect CC Reclaimed  Netconnect

AFRINIC WHOIS database accuracy report  overview

Full AFRINIC WHOIS database accuracy report
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Heartbreaking footage has revealed Covid patient Tony Brown's dying wish to see his wife again just a day before he succumbed to Covid-19.

Mr Brown was a patient at the Barnet Hospital in North London where Sky News revealed the harrowing scenes on Covid wards where seriously ill patients are cared for by exhausted and over-stretched NHS staff.

One nurse described the situation inside the Royal Free Hospital in London as like 'hell' due to the huge number of 'really sick' patients currently being treated on ventilators.

And a morturary manager at the Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, which runs Barnet Hospital along with the Royal Free, said patients are decades younger in the second wave, with the average age now just 59  a decade lower than it was the first time around.

London's hospitals have again been at the centre of England's coronavirus crisis with wards filled with Covid-19 patients over Christmas and into the new year.

There are currently around 7,044 people in hospital with the virus in capital, with 1,217 on ventilators in intensive care.

Daily admissions and the total number of patients have started to decline in recent days but intensive care units are still busy.

Some hospitals in the capital were forced to convert empty wards into space for coronavirus patients while others warned they might have to send people to other parts of the country if they became too full.

The most recent NHS England data, for the week up to January 17, showed that 92 per cent of beds in the Royal Free were full over the course of the week, with an average of just 71 out of 941 beds available to take new patients.

Its critical care wards were almost completely full for that entire week, with 99 per cent occupancy on average and never more than four of 124 beds free.

Tony Brown died a day after he gave this interview - with his wife giving permission for his words to be aired

Heart-rending footage taken by Sky News showed 73-year-old lorry driver Mr Brown clinging to life in Barnet Hospital - the Royal Free's sister hospital.

'We just all hope that we will live, and come out of it,' he said on Thursday afternoon, speaking from a ward loud with the sound of hissing air used to treat people with coronavirus.

Mr Brown died on Friday night, with his widow, Linda, giving permission for his final interview to be broadcast.

Describing what he was going through, Mr Brown said: 'Absolutely terrible. It's very, very frightening. I've had some very bad nights, very worrying nights. Twice I went to ring my wife, to tell her I weren't coming [back]. It is very hard.'

He added. 'If people would have taken a lot more care when this come out and hadn't ignored it, we wouldn't be such a mess we're in.

'We wouldn't have had so many deaths, so many people who are critically ill. And the NHS are fantastic, brilliant.'

Mr Brown - a lorry driver and key worker - believed he had caught the virus at work, and blamed people for ignoring social distancing and not wearing masks.

Struggling to speak but describing how much he missed his wife, Linda, he told Sky: 'Oh I miss her.'

He hadn't seen her for two weeks.

'But I hope to one day,' he added. 'Hopefully, I will. That's all I want now. I don't want anything else in life.'

At Barnet Hospital, the number of Covid patients has doubled from the first wave and their average age is 59  a decade younger than before.

Mortuary manager Laura McMinn, said she had noticed that the people who were dying from the virus were getting younger.

'It's more patients in their 50s and 60s that we're seeing this time rather than patients in their 70s, 80s, 90s, like we were first time,' she said.

KENT CORONAVIRUS VARIATION 'MAY DIVIDE FASTER IN THE LUNGS' TO BECOME MORE DEADLY The Kent coronavirus variant may be deadlier than the original strain because it multiplies faster inside the lungs, SAGE scientists warned today. Britain's Covid fight was dealt another blow on Friday when Boris Johnson revealed the new variant was about 30 per cent more lethal than the virus which first came out of China. It had been known for weeks that the Kent variant was far more infectious than the original strain, thanks to a mutation on its spike protein which makes it easier for the virus to bind to human cells. But Professor Peter Horby, a senior SAGE expert and an epidemiologist at Oxford University, said today the mutations which make it more transmissible could also be behind its increased lethality. He said: 'If youre getting much stronger binding... the virus is able to spread between cells quicker and that may increase rate of disease and rate of inflammation.' But Professor Horby added that there was 'no evidence' the Kent strain is resistant to vaccines or even current Covid treatments. Eight separate analyses comparing death rates between the two dominant Covid strains currently circulating through England concluded the Kent one was more deadly. Professor John Edmunds, a chief scientist behind one of the studies, said although the finding was 'concerning', the proportion of infected people who die from the disease could still be lower this winter than in spring because medics have more approved medicines in their arsenal and doctors have got better at treating the virus. Advertisement

On Wednesday there were 300 patients with Covid at the Royal Free, which had a total of 941 beds to cope with both coronavirus patients and also everyone else with other illnesses.

This figure is lower than during the first wave, but because there are more non-Covid patients the pressure on staff is higher. More than 80 of the patients were on ventilators.

Specialist ITU nurse Nicolas Agudo said: 'This is hell. We cannot continue like this, we need to ask people to please contribute, stay home.

'I do understand people want to get together, you know and see their relatives. This is the result.

'I feel like I want to cry in many moments. I mean, I can't do my job properly.'

Dr Mike Spiro, an intensive care consultant, said that London hospitals were now so full they had been considering sending patients to the Midlands.

'We've seen a huge number of really, really sick patients,' he said.

'So, there is a limit to the critical care capacity in London. Not just physical space, but also nursing staff numbers, and the ability to care for those patients.'

Hospitals in London have again become the centre of the country's outbreak  after avoiding some of the pressure during the early stages of the second wave, when the epidemic was focused in the North West, an explosion in cases over Christmas as the new variant took hold led to thousands being admitted to hospitals.

Demand for oxygen has surged five-fold in some NHS hospitals, a senior medic claimed today as trusts continue to grapple with the winter wave of coronavirus admissions.

Professor Rupert Pearse, an ICU doctor in London and member of the Intensive Care Society, said that on some occasions the pressure has made oxygen  vital for seriously ill Covid-19 patients  'hard to deliver'.

It comes as leaked data showed there were 800 fewer cancer surgeries in the first two weeks of the year than are normally carried out, according to the Health Service Journal.

The bulk of the delayed operations were in London, Essex, Bedfordshire, and Surrey, which have bore the brunt of the second wave and have been battling the highly infectious Kent variant.

There is growing concern that pauses in cancer treatment throughout the pandemic have left many patients with a shortened life expectancy. Charities predict up to 35,000 extra deaths this year may be caused by cancer as a result.

Specialist ITU nurse Nicolas Agudo described the situation inside the Royal Free Hospital as like 'hell'

On Wednesday there were 300 patients with Covid at the Royal Free Hospital in London

A Covid patient waving to a family member on a Zoom call - with a medical patient holding the tablet

Latest Government statistics show there are still about 37,000 Covid-19 patients in Britain's hospitals, a figure which has remained unchanged since peaking at 39,000 on January 18.

There are almost 50 per cent more patients being treated for the disease now than at the peak in April, when inpatients peaked at 21,684. Back then, the NHS was almost entirely was shut down so medics could prioritise the virus.

Hospitals are under even more pressure now as they try to juggle the devastating winter wave of Covid with other treatments and services.

Professor Pearse told Sky News today: 'We're seeing a massive number of patients not just in intensive care, but also in general medical wards, who need oxygen.

'We're seeing five-fold increases in oxygen demand and in a lot of hospitals, and, unsurprisingly, that's hard to deliver on occasions.'

Professor Pearse likened hospital oxygen delivery systems to a hot water system, adding: 'If the pressure in your hot water system gets very low, it's not that the water stops flowing completely.

'It's just that you're not getting the pressure in the shower that you might like and that can cause technical problems around the place.

'You might need to think about how can you avoid wasting water, or you might turn off some taps that you don't need, or turn down when you don't need much water.'

This combination of measures are being highlighted by 'oxygen marshals' who are educating other members of staff about how to be more 'effective' with the oxygen supply, Professor Pearse said.

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Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Sunday that 6.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines would arrive in Turkey from China on Monday.

Koca said in a tweet that the deliveries are part of a second planned shipment of 10 million doses of the vaccines developed by the Chinese company Sinovac.

"The rest will be delivered in a way that the mass inoculation program of Turkey will continue without interruption," the minister added.

After receiving the first batch of 3 million doses of vaccines from China at the end of December, Turkey launched the mass vaccination program on Jan. 14.

More than 1.24 million people have been vaccinated so far, according to the Health Ministry data.




Landon Slaughter had been with his family to watch Fourth of July fireworks the night he was killed by a drunk driver. He would have turned 4 years old in less than two weeks.

My only desire was to make memories with my children by taking them to watch the fireworks, his mother, Sierra Neville, recalled later, in a victim-impact statement that she posted to social media on Monday. I would have never imagined going to do something fun and returning with the loss of my child.

Earlier in the day, Orlando Morris, now 34, was sentenced to 18 years for the wreck that killed Landon and critically injured his sister. The children were two of five people in a Nissan SUV that was struck at the intersection of Avenue E and Franklin Street in Beaumont on July 4, 2018.

The crash that Orlando Morris caused impacted my life in more ways than the imaginable, Nevilles statement said. Due to his irresponsible actions, I lost my son Landon, my daughter Amari fought for her life while in ICU. She needed to wear a neck collar for 6 weeks and was not able to be without 24 (hour) care. Amari had to attend physical, occupational, and speech therapy to ensure that she could get back to her normal self.

Morris vehicle ran a stop sign and struck the SUV, the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office reports.

Blood tests revealed a blood-alcohol level of 0.132, nearly 50% above the legal maximum.

Prior to me finding out the name of the suspect, I prayed for him and I forgave him because I tried to imagine how he felt, Neville says in her victim-impact statement. Later, I found out that it was Orlando Morris. Not only was he someone I went to high school but he was also my Facebook friend.

She said he attempted to reach her through Facebook messenger twice  once to ask about getting a tattoo of the dead childs name on his body.

What kind of person would do that?

Morris pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter, District Attorney Bob Wortham said Monday.

The prosecutors office said that Morris was formally found to have a deadly weapon, which means he must serve nine years before hes eligible for parole consideration.

Morris was sentenced by state District Judge John Stevens.

mbatson@beaumontenterprise.com

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How one man's devotion to a 240-year-old church in the heart of Dhaka saved a unique monument in South Asia.

In April, as the coronavirus pandemic dominated the worlds headlines, Michael Martin, famous for being the last of a centuries-old Armenian community living in Bangladesh, passed away not long before his 90th birthday. His death led many to wonder what would happen to the most prominent reminder of Armenian heritage in Bangladesh -- the historic church he dedicated much of his life to.

Armenians first settled in Dhaka in the early 1700s. Many of the settlers had been subjects of the Persian Empire, so were able to assimilate to life under the Persian-speaking Mughal rulers of the region.

Armenians in Dhaka were known as skilled businesspeople who dealt in jute -- a stringy plant used to make sack cloth and other goods. They often served as mediators between locals and European traders.

In the early 1800s, 126 Armenians lived in Dhaka, in a suburb named Armanitola, but the small population dwindled rapidly as economic conditions deteriorated.

With Armenians nearly gone from Dhaka by the 1980s, the church began to fall into ruin.

But in 1986 Michael Martin, one of just a handful of ethnic Armenians remaining in Dhaka, and his wife, Veronica, became guardians of the church. Veronica died in 2005.

Martin wrote that when they took over the property it was "covered with garbage and needed immediate attention."

The couple and their three daughters also faced intense hostility from some locals, who Martin said threatened "my life along with my family. They used to scare us by hanging voodoo stuff from the trees and burying things in front of the house. God always protected us from the evil."

After decades spent repairing and guarding the church -- on at least one occasion by threatening to use the rifle he kept in his residence -- Michael Martin suffered a stroke in 2014 and relocated to Canada. But not before passing guardianship of the church onto someone he trusted.

In 2010, Los Angeles-based businessman Armen Arslanian was on a work trip to Dhaka and first heard about the Armenian church. After meeting with Martin, the two became close friends. After his 2014 stroke, Arslanian told RFE/RL that Martin took him aside and said, Armen, you know now its you [who has to protect the church]. I have to leave.

Arslanian says he was taken aback at the prospect of preserving a church on the other side of the world: I said Im not that religious so I know nothing about this and I dont live here.

But after Martin told the jet-setting Arslanian that his taking over the guardianship of the church was all part of Gods plan, Arslanian laughs that Martin "was putting it in such a way that Im thinking, 'My God, hes probably right.' I mean, what was I doing in Dhaka right at that time? I was born in Argentina. Im living in [Los Angeles]..."

Under Arslanians wardenship, the Armenian church now has "a very loyal" Hindu family living full-time on the premises. Arslanian has also founded a trust to look after the church "not for the next 50 years, but for the next 200 years."

Arslanian says the church was in "complete disarray" when Martin took over wardenship in the 1980s, and recalls a story about the late caretakers response when a local Muslim gang vowed to kill him. "He said, 'OK, fine. I have eight bullets here [for my rifle] so I know that I will die, but eight of you will come with me.'"

Self-care event to support Womens Center

The Womens Centers annual Hearts of Hope Breakfast will become a virtual Day of Self-Care this year on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Hearts of Hope is the Womens Centers premier event to unite the community in its vision to end violence and raise funds to support critical programs and services needed more than ever during the coronavirus pandemic.

Guest speakers will be team members from the Womens Center staff. Rayna Havelock, manager of counseling and advocacy, and Child Counselor Carly Jacques, will discuss their life-saving work. This years Service Above Self honorees are Joes Salon + Spa in New Milford and Klickers Hair Studio in Newtown for their support.

To purchase tickets, sponsorships and digital ads, visit www.heartsofhope.givesmart.com or contact Linda Cummins, special events manager, at 203-731-5200 x232 or linda.c@wcogd.org.

Danbury

Danbury Library presents Fly Me to the Moon... And Beyond!

A NASA ambassador will discuss the Apollo 11 mission that brought humans to the moon during an upcoming virtual discussion through the Danbury Libray.

The program, Fly Me to the Moon...and Beyond!, will feature Bill Cloutier, a NASA Solar System ambassador, amateur astronomer, and founding member of the John J. McCarthy Observatory in New Milford. He will discuss the exploration and colonization of the moon and beyond.

He has a life-long interest in astronomy, astrophotography, space exploration history, with a special interest in lunar imaging, and sharing those interests with the public.

The event will take place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 9. The event is free, but registration is required. Register at the virtual calendar page on DanburyLibrary.org or by calling the Danbury Library at 203-797-4505. To register by email or for questions about this program or ZOOM, email: bamero@danburylibrary.org

Danbury

WCSU nursing students, faculty join vaccination efforts

Nursing students and faculty from Western Connecticut State University have joined the vaccination campaign this winter to address the spread of COVID-19 by offering their support to the launch of vaccine administration programs organized by the Nuvance Health system and the Danbury Department of Public Health and Human Services.

The WCSU Department of Nursing responded to appeals from Nuvance and Danbury public health administrators for volunteer support as the organizations ramped up their programs to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to health care workers and other first responders, as well as to provide public education and follow-up services.

Nursing Department Chair Dr. Jeanette Lupinacci said WCSU students have volunteered since December at four Nuvance locations including Danbury, Norwalk, New Milford and Sharon hospitals. Department faculty and students in the universitys RN-BN and M.S. in nursing programs also responded to a call from Danbury public health authorities for support in the citys vaccination effort.

New Milford

The Westchester County Association Names Kristen N. Gizzi to their Board of Directors

The Westchester County Association, the regions leading development and business advocacy organization, has elected attorney Kristen N. Gizzi to its Board of Directors.

She is general counsel for ECCO III Enterprises Inc, director of real estate for ECCO Development, LLC Yonkers, NY, and executive director of Litchfield Crossings in New Milford. ECCO III Enterprises, Inc. is a Westchester based heavy highway, environmental, and infrastructure construction company.

In addition, Gizzi serves on the boards of the Corporation for New Milford Economic Development and the New Milford Chamber of Commerce. A Katonah, N.Y. resident, Gizzi is president of the Board of Directors of Hopes Door, a Westchester based non-profit assisting domestic violence victims and is co-facilitator at The Phoenix and The Rose.

Region

Virtual fitness program to be held

A fitness program through the YMCA is designed to improve health and well being will launch virtually next month.

The EnhancedFitness program is an evidence-based program that focuses on enhanced balance, flexibility and strength, leading to a healthier, more confident individual.

Participants will exercise at home with certified instructors, who will help improve their flexibility, strength and balance over a 16-week period. Their progress will be monitored through a fitness test within the first week and then again at the end of program.

Classes will be held over Zoom beginning Monday, Feb. 1. A link will be shared after registration. The program will be held at 11 a.m. Mondays and 9:15 a.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. There is a $50 fee for YMCA members and non-members. Enrollment is limited. Register by visiting https://www.regionalymca.org/enhancedfitness/.

Region

Grant supports blood pressure program

A grant from the Brookfield Education Foundation and The Buck Foundation will allow some residents to attend a blood pressure program for free.

The Regional YMCA of Western Connecticut is hosting the four-month program, where participants will self monitor their blood pressure.

The grant will allow seven qualified Brookfield residents and 15 Danbury residents to participate for free.

This program includes monthly nutrition education seminars, 10-minute consultations with a Healthy Heart Ambassador during virtual office hours and weekly check-ins from an ambassador by phone, email or text. Participants are asked to attend two personalized consultations per month (office hours) and four monthly nutrition education seminars.

Checking and recording ones blood pressure at least twice a month over a period of four months has been shown to lower blood pressure in some individuals with hypertension, according to the YMCA.

Enrollment is open for the next virtual information sessions. The first Zoom meeting is at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 4. The Meeting ID is 859 7488 2614 and the password is HEART.

Another session will be held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10. The Meeting ID: 836 8338 5361 and the password is HEART.

For more details or to sign up, contact Lisa O'Connor at 203-775-4444 x 135 or loconnor@regionalymca.org.

Ridgefield

Schools, Boys & Girls Club partner

In September, as Ridgefield schools prepared to reopen in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and as families prepared to deal with the continuous transitions between in-person, hybrid, and full-distance learning, the Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield immediately began adapting their programs to accommodate the changing needs of club families and the Ridgefield community.

In partnership with the schools, the Boys & Girls Club staff developed a new program, the BGCR Club Hub, which aligned with the schools reopening plan. The Club Hub program provides a safe, positive environment for students to complete their virtual learning during the school day, under the eyes of the clubs youth development professionals and support staff.

In the new year, the Boys & Girls Club continues to be flexible as the RPS learning model fluctuates weekly, and remains ready to implement the Club Hub program, as needed.

The Boys & Girls Club is a vital resource during COVID, Margaret Stamatis, school board chair, said in a statement. Its services are essential for some working parents, and the ability for students to access distance learning while at the Club ensures continuity of learning.

Southbury

Arts programs to kick off

Arts Escape is accepting online registration for its February 2021 programs. All programs will be held via Zoom and will have participant limits in each program.

Photography classes with photographer John Munno are: Get to Know Your Digital Camera II an Adobe Lightroom for four-weeks. Field photography classes, weather permitting, will be scheduled, as well.

Writing Classes will be held with instructors, Nancy McMillian and Bobbi Knezek. Classes are The Practice of Writing, Write@Noon, Writers Lab and Create/Update Your Resume.

A book club with Barbara McKay will discuss This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 17. Books are being held at the Southbury Library under Arts Escape.

John Tuohy, a musician and historian, will host a music lecture, Over the Rainbow; the life and music of Judy Garland at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22.

Barbara Johnston will lead an art history lecture, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not": Love and Desire in the Works of Jan Vermeer, at 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15.

Art Escapes Open Mic First Thursday will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4.

For more information and registration, please go to the website: https://www.artsescape.org/programs/ or call us at: 203-586-1474.

Arts Escape Inc. is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire adults to explore, learn participate and grow through the arts.

Weston

Program to detail CTs role in WWI

As a lead-in to the Weston Historical Societys 1920s exhibit opening later this year, the society is organizing a virtual lecture series that will explore events that influenced and shaped the Roaring 20s.

The first virtual lecture, Connecticuts Role in World War I, will be presented by Christine Pittsley, of the CT State Library at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday via Zoom.

The event is free, but registration is required. Register at www.westonhistoricalsociety.org. The Zoom link will be emailed 24 hours before the event. Help the Weston Historical Society, a non-profit organization, continue its community programming with a suggested donation of $5. Donate at: www.westonhistoricalsociety.org.

Washington

Walk to be held on first full moon of the year

For the first full moon of the year, the Institute for American Indian Studies will host a walk under the stars.

Educators will lead the moon walk at 7 p.m. Friday along the wooded trails on the institutes grounds.

The institute said a highlight of this easy walk will be to learn about the phenomena that people in the Eastern Woodlands have been experiencing for thousands of years.

Space on this walk is limited and pre-registration is required. Please call 860-868-0518 or email events@iaismuseum.org to reserve a spot. The price for participation is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, and $6 for children. The cost for members of the Institute is $5. Participants should dress for the weather, wear sturdy shoes and bring along a flashlight.
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Authorities needed the help of bee keepers to help contain the swarm of bees that escaped from an 18-wheeler that rolled over just northwest of downtown San Antonio on Sunday.

The truck rolled over on the interchange connecting Interstate 10 and Interstate 35 southbound above West Elmira Street at 10:59 a.m. and unleashed thousands of bees it was carrying.
Grindr Fined in Europe Over Sharing of User Data This briefing has ended. Follow our latest coverage of markets, business and the economy.

Grindr is fined $11.7 million under European privacy law. Credit... Hassan Ammar/Associated Press The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said on Monday that it would fine Grindr, the worlds most popular gay dating app, 100 million Norwegian kroner, or about $11.7 million, for illegally disclosing private details about its users to advertising companies. The agency said the app had transmitted users precise locations, user-tracking codes and the apps name to at least five advertising companies, essentially tagging individuals as L.G.B.T.Q. without obtaining their explicit consent, in violation of European data protection law. Grindr shared users private details with, among other companies, MoPub, Twitters mobile advertising platform, which may in turn share data with more than 100 partners, according to the agencys ruling. Tobias Judin, head of the Norwegian Data Protection Authoritys international department, said Grindrs data-mining practices not only violated European privacy rights but also could have put users at serious risk in countries, like Qatar and Pakistan, where consensual same-sex sexual acts are illegal. Image Tobias Judin leads the Norwegian Data Protection Authoritys international department. Credit... Ilja Hendel If someone finds out that they are gay and knows their movements, they may be harmed, Mr. Judin said. Were trying to make these apps and services understand that this approach  not informing users, not gaining a valid consent to share their data  is completely unacceptable. The fine comes one year after European nonprofit groups lodged complaints against Grindr and its advertising partners with data protection regulators. In tests last January, The New York Times found that the Android version of the Grindr app was sharing location information that was so precise, it pinpointed reporters on the side of the building they were sitting on. In April, Grindr revamped its user consent process. In a statement, a spokesperson for Grindr said the company had obtained valid legal consent from all of its users in Europe on multiple occasions and was confident that its approach to user privacy is first in class among social apps. The statement added: We continually enhance our privacy practices in consideration of evolving privacy laws and regulations, and look forward to entering into a productive dialogue with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority. The company has until Feb. 15 to comment on the ruling before it is final. The Norwegian agency said it was investigating whether the ad companies that received users details from Grindr had also violated European data protection law. Privacy experts said the ruling would have wide repercussions beyond dating apps. This not only sets limits for Grindr, said Finn Myrstad, the director of digital policy for the Norwegian Consumer Council, one of the groups that lodged the complaints, but establishes strict legal requirements on a whole industry that profits from collecting and sharing information about our preferences, location, purchases, physical and mental health, sexual orientation and political views. Natasha Singer and

After 37 years, Budweiser will sit out the Super Bowl. Budweisers Covid-19 awareness advertisement includes two health workers who were being vaccinated. Credit... Budweiser, via Associated Press Budweiser, the beer giant whose commercials featuring Clydesdale horses, croaking frogs and winsome puppies made it one of the most beloved Super Bowl advertisers, is opting out of the game-time broadcast this year for the first time in 37 years to focus on raising awareness for the Covid-19 vaccine. Budweiser, an Anheuser-Busch company, said Monday that it would donate portions of its advertising budget this year to the Ad Council, a nonprofit marketing group at the helm of a $50 million ad blitz to fight coronavirus vaccine skepticism. Instead of debuting a splashy big-game commercial, as Super Bowl advertisers often do in the weeks leading up to the Feb. 7 match, the beer company released its 90-second online vaccination ad, titled Bigger Picture. (Anheuser-Busch will still feature prominently during the game, with ads for several of its other beer brands.) Other Super Bowl stalwarts, including Coca-Cola, Hyundai and Pepsi, will also be missing onscreen. As the pandemic disrupted the sports industry, many companies hesitated to pay CBS roughly $5.5 million for a 30-second slot during a game that some worried could be delayed or even canceled. In the Budweiser Covid-19 vaccination ad, the actress Rashida Jones urges viewers to turn our strength into hope while the melody of Lean on Me plays as inspirational images from the pandemic are shown. Ms. Jones, who recorded her narration while isolated from other people in a Hollywood facility, said in an interview that obviously people want to be entertained, they want to watch funny commercials, but whats most important is that we prioritize this next phase. The Super Bowl advertising season, which usually extends beyond the broadcast into weeks of teasers, celebrity reveals, YouTube debuts and celebratory live events, is more subdued as companies struggle to adopt an appropriate tone after a year full of marketing missteps. You cant pretend like everythings OK, Ms. Jones said. People can sense when brands are exploiting a moment.

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Janet Yellen is confirmed as Treasury secretary. Ms. Yellen is the first woman to hold the top job at Treasury in its 232-year history. Credit... Leah Millis/Reuters The Senate confirmed Janet L. Yellen to be Treasury secretary on Monday, putting her at the forefront of navigating the fallout created by the pandemic as she advocates for President Bidens economic agenda. Ms. Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, was confirmed by a vote of 84 to 15 with support from both Republicans and Democrats. She is the first woman to hold the top job at Treasury in its 232-year history. With the confirmation, she will now be thrust into the middle of negotiations over a potential $1.9 trillion economic aid package that is the chief plank of Mr. Bidens effort to revive the economy. The size of the plan already met with doubts from some Democrats and Republicans. Ms. Yellen has been a clear champion of continued government support for workers and businesses, publicly warning that a lack of aid to state and local governments could slow the recovery, much as it did in the aftermath of the Great Recession. At her confirmation hearing and in written responses to lawmakers, Ms. Yellen echoed Mr. Bidens view that Congress must act big to prevent the economy from faltering and defended using borrowed money to finance another aid package, saying not doing so would leave workers and families worse off. The relief bill late last year was just a down payment to get us through the next few months, Ms. Yellen said. We have a long way to go before our economy fully recovers.

Bidens Treasury will seek to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, an effort the Trump administration halted. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:51 - 0:00 transcript Biden Administration Plans to Add Harriet Tubman to $20 Bill On Monday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that the Treasury Department plans to speed up the process of adding Harriet Tubmans portrait to the front of the $20 bill. Reporter: The Obama administration initially had wanted to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, and the Trump administration dragged their feet on that. I wanted to see if the Biden administration has some view of the timeline on whether or not she should be on the paper currency? I was here when we announced that. And it was very exciting and hasnt moved forward yet, which we would have been surprised to learn at the time. The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes. Its important that our notes are money  people dont know what a note is  reflect the history and diversity of our country. And Harriet Tubmans image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that. So were exploring ways to speed up that effort. But any specifics would, of course, come from the Department of Treasury. On Monday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that the Treasury Department plans to speed up the process of adding Harriet Tubmans portrait to the front of the $20 bill. President Bidens Treasury Department is studying ways to speed up the process of adding Harriet Tubmans portrait to the front of the $20 bill after the Trump administration allowed the Obama-era initiative to lapse, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Monday. The decision to have Ms. Tubman replace Andrew Jackson as the face of the $20 note was set in motion in 2016 by the Treasury secretary at the time, Jacob Lew. President Donald J. Trump opposed the idea, and his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, stopped work on that part of the currency redesign, arguing that adding new security features to the money was a more urgent priority. Mr. Mnuchin said that notes with new imagery could not be put into circulation until 2028 and that a future Treasury secretary would make the call whether to replace Jackson. The Treasury Department, which Mr. Biden has nominated Janet L. Yellen to lead, plans to accelerate that timeline. The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes, Ms. Psaki said. Its important that our money reflect the history and diversity of our country. A Treasury spokeswoman said that she had no information to share on when a new design of the $20 bill might be released. Mr. Trump professed to be a fan of Andrew Jackson, a fellow populist, and was a fierce opponent of altering historical images and statues. Mr. Mnuchins decision to slow-walk the change drew backlash from some Democrats in Congress and triggered a probe from the Treasury inspector general about whether the process faced improper political interference. The inquiry found no wrongdoing by Mr. Mnuchin. Under Mr. Lews plan, the new design was supposed to be unveiled in 2020 on the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Preliminary designs of the note that were obtained by The New York Times revealed that  before Mr. Trump took office  conceptual work on a bill bearing Tubmans likeness on the front and a statue of Jackson on the back was already underway.

An explosive rally in GameStop shares highlights the small-trader frenzy in financial markets. Shoppers wait outside of a GameStop on Black Friday. An online community of traders seem to be fueling a spike in the stores share price. Credit... Go Nakamura for The New York Times In an epic contest between Wall Street traders who bet against stocks and legions of small-scale investors, the small guys are winning. On Monday, shares of the struggling video game retailer GameStop surged, adding to a recent rally that has lifted the stock by more than 300 percent in January alone and making it a glaring illustration of the growing power of small investors in certain segments of the financial markets. GameStop rallied again on Tuesday. Shares of companies like GameStop are becoming detached from the kinds of factors that traditionally help benchmark a companys valuation  like growth potential or profits. Analysts expect the company to report a loss from continuing operations of $465 million for 2020, on top of the $795 million it lost in 2019. What seems to be fueling this spike is an online community of traders, who congregate in places like Reddits Wall Street Bets forum and hype up individual trades. Lately, theyve made buying short-dated call options on GameStops shares  an aggressive bet that the shares will rise  a favorite position. Market analysts and academics say a rush of new money in such short-dated call options can create a sort of feedback loop that drives the underlying share prices higher, as brokerage firms that sell the options have to themselves buy shares to hedge the contracts. In GameStops case, these small investors have found themselves going up against a different group of speculators. The companys struggles have also made it a favorite target for short-sellers  who bet on a stocks decline by selling shares they dont actually own. Short sellers profit when a stock has plunged and they can buy those same shares back at a lower price. Of course, with GameStops shares surging, those investors are losing a lot of money. And their rush to get out of the trade by buying shares can cause a surge in prices, too, called a short squeeze. On Monday, the small traders on Wall Street Bets and the messaging site Discord were encouraging each other to hold on to their positions as the short-sellers ran for the exits. Am I too late to get on the GME rocket?, one commenter on Wall Street Bets wrote shortly after 10 a.m. No buy the dip, another responded. On Discord, the message was clear. GME ONLY UP, one commenter wrote.

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Google to lend its facilities for use as vaccine clinics. The company announced a series of measures to help accelerate vaccination efforts. Credit... Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Google said it will make company buildings, parking lots and open spaces available to serve as temporary vaccination clinics in partnership with health care providers and public health officials. In a blog post on Monday, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Googles parent company, Alphabet, said the company will start by opening sites in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, with plans to expand to other sites nationwide. The move is part of a series of measures to help accelerate vaccination efforts. Google also said it plans to contribute $100 million in ad credits to health organizations to educate people about the vaccine and $50 million for groups working on fair access to the vaccine. It will also include more information in search results and maps to help people find vaccination locations with details about who is eligible and whether appointments are necessary. Google said it will provide local distribution information in search results in the coming week so people can determine whether they are eligible to receive a vaccine.

AMC, the worlds largest movie theater chain, has avoided bankruptcy for a fifth time. Adam Aron, left, was the chief executive of the Philadelphia 76ers, among other jobs, before he entered the movie theater business. Credit... Tim Shaffer for The New York Times AMC Entertainment, the worlds largest multiplex operator, avoided yet another brush with death on Monday, revealing in a securities filing that it had found enough money to keep running until July if attendance does not begin to recover, and the full year if it does. AMCs chief executive, Adam Aron, had said in mid-December that AMC needed to raise another $750 million to squeak through. By early this month, it had lined up $204 million. In the filing on Monday, the company said it had secured an additional $713 million, bringing the total to $917 million  and averting bankruptcy for the fifth time in less than a year. AMC had previously raised more than $1 billion in fits and starts. The latest lifeline came, in part, from Odeon, AMCs European chain. The company was able to refinance an existing line of Odeon credit and come up with $411 million. AMC had about $308 million in cash at the end of the year, according to the filing, and had a monthly average cash burn rate in October, November and December of $124 million. About 438 of the companys 593 theaters in the United States are open, albeit with limited seating and operating hours (and no major movies to play); 86 of 360 locations are open overseas. Mr. Aron has had one of the wildest corporate rides of the pandemic, which has severely tested chief executives everywhere. And it is not over yet. Even with the new funding, AMC will need to persuade landlords to extend rent deferrals that were negotiated early in the pandemic. Theater owners also need film studios to begin releasing major movies. Last week, studios announced more postponements, leaving Black Widow (May 7) as the next would-be blockbuster on Hollywoods release schedule. The pandemic has also thrust Mr. Aron, 66, to the front lines of the streaming wars. Over the past six months, his industry has blasted him as a traitor one minute, when he agreed to drastically shorten the exclusive window that AMC receives to play Universal films, and hailed him as a trailblazer the next, with two other chains, Cinemark Holdings and Cineplex, following AMCs lead. Even if he does manage to steer AMC through the pandemic, Mr. Aron faces bone-chilling challenges on the other side. At best, the company will emerge deep in debt. Moviegoing could surge with pent-up demand. Or the masses, now trained to expect instant access to major films on streaming services or online rental platforms, could be reluctant to return. Nobody really knows.

With Trump out of the White House, Chinas Xi again critiques his policies. Xi Jinping, Chinas top official, did not mention former President Donald J. Trump by name, but took aim at his international policies. Credit... Pascal Bitz/EPA, via Shutterstock For four years, Chinas leader has tried to portray himself as the antithesis of former President Donald J. Trump on issues ranging from trade and technology policy to support for the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Xi Jinping, Chinas top official, grabbed one more chance to do so on Monday, while offering few clues about what specific policies he might pursue with the Biden administration. Addressing the World Economic Forums online Davos Agenda gathering, Mr. Xi called for international cooperation on everything from halting the pandemic to restarting global economic growth. He repeatedly assailed unilateral policies without ever mentioning either Mr. Trump or the United States. History and reality have made it clear time and again that the misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of Cold War, hot war, trade war or tech war would eventually hurt all countries interests and undermine everyones well-being, he said. Mr. Xi said that the Group of 20 should be strengthened as the premier forum for global economic governance. China has long favored the Group of 20 as a broad forum that includes it and some of its allies. The group has to a considerable extent supplanted the Group of 7 industrialized democracies as the main venue for economic coordination. The Group of 7 atrophied during Mr. Trumps presidency, as his relations were often frosty with American allies in Europe, Canada and Japan. The Group of 7 heads of state were not even able to gather at Camp David, Md., last March because of the pandemic. One question facing the Biden administration lies in whether to strengthen the Group of 7 once more as a bastion of democracy or whether to accept a more prominent role for the Group of 20.

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Heres what happened in the markets today. U.S. Markets The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite rose slightly ahead of earnings reports this week from a number of big technology companies.

The S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent, inching back into record territory, and the Nasdaq gained 0.7 percent for its third straight record. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.1 percent.

Apple stood out among the big tech stocks, with a gain of nearly 3 percent. Microsoft and Facebook rose more than 1 percent. Europe Most European indexes were lower, with concerns growing about the pace of the vaccination rollout and the latest business surveys recording a big decline in expectations for Germanys economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 and the FTSE 100 in Britain fell 0.8 percent. The CAC 40 in France and the DAX in Germany dropped more than 1.5 percent. U.K. Retail In Britain, there has been a shake-up in the retail industry, with newer online brands sweeping up the old guard: Shares in Boohoo, the fast-fashion online retailer, jumped as much as 5.7 percent after the company said it would buy the brand of Debenhams, a two-century-old chain of department stores that fell into insolvency last year. The stores are likely to be shut down.

Shares in Asos, another online retailer, climbed as much as 6.4 percent after it confirmed that it was in talks to buy some of Arcadias most popular brands, including Topshop, following the collapse of the fixture of Britains high street shopping districts. Asia The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.4 percent, to its highest level in two and a half years. Gains were driven by an 11 percent jump in Tencent shares after a company it backed announced an initial public offering.

Wall Street executives will return to Saudi Arabias Davos in the Desert conference this week. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2018. Credit... Tasneem Alsultan for The New York Times Its been more than two years since bankers kept their name badges obscured behind ties at a high-profile investment conference in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, held weeks after the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. After a wave of cancellations at that 2018 event, the following years Future Investment Initiative, often called Davos in the Desert, saw many business leaders attend as the immediate furor over the killing subsided. The next installment of the two-day conference begins on Wednesday, and even more  and more senior  executives are expected to appear. Some of Wall Streets biggest names are scheduled to attend, mostly virtually, according to the conferences itinerary. Executives on the program include David Rubenstein of Carlyle, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater, Larry Fink of BlackRock, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs and James Gorman of Morgan Stanley. In 2019, Morgan Stanley and Goldman sent lower-ranking execs to the conference, not their C.E.O.s. The event could serve as a morality test for business under a new White House administration. Joseph R. Biden called Saudi Arabia a pariah on the campaign trail, and the atmospherics are going to change, said Gregory Gause of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Last Friday, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, asked for declassification of a U.S. government report on the Khashoggi killing. Companies contacted by DealBook often pointed to the important business relationships they have with cash-rich Saudi Arabia and others in the region. We have long standing clients in the region and continue to serve them, a Goldman Sachs spokesman said.

A representative for BlackRock said that Mr. Fink has been very public about the need for continued reform in Saudi Arabia and believes that engagement and public dialogue by global leaders like himself can help encourage Saudi Arabias path of reform.

Representatives for Carlyle and Bridgewater declined to comment, while a representative for Morgan Stanley did not return a request for a comment. Mr. Gause of Texas A&M questioned the logic of withdrawing corporate ties from Saudi Arabia but keeping them in, say, China, which faces its own criticisms over human rights abuses. But Thor Halvorssen, the founder of the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation, which has funded The Dissident, a documentary about Mr. Khashoggis killing, said that those attending the event gave the crown prince valuable legitimacy. The message is, Look, the worlds money and the powerhouses of finance and industry are my puppets, he said. Lauren Hirsch and

The latest: Godiva will close or sell its 128 stores in North America. The Turkish-owned Godiva chocolatier announced it would close or sell all 128 brick-and-mortar locations in North America by the end of the first quarter in response to the turmoil in retail wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Its retail operations across Europe, the Middle East and Greater China will remain, and U.S. consumers will be able to continue to purchase online and at retail partners stores.

Royal Dutch Shell, Europes largest oil company, will buy Ubitricity, a European provider of on-street charging points for electric vehicles, the companies said Monday. Shell and other oil giants are investing not only in cleaner energy sources like wind and solar but in infrastructure, like charging points for delivering it. Ubitricity, which was founded in Berlin and has a large presence in Britain, installs its plugs at lamp posts and other street features.

Google said Monday it would allocate $150 million to promote education and equitable access to coronavirus vaccines around the world. The effort will include ad grants to nonprofit organizations to spread public health service announcements; expanded information when people search for information on local services; and space in Google buildings, parking lots and other facilities for vaccination clinics.

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Online fashion retailer Boohoo to buy Debenhams brand for $75 million. Debenhams, a longtime chain of department stores in Britain, began holding closing-down sales last month. Credit... Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images The British online fast-fashion retailer Boohoo said Monday that it would buy the Debenhams brand name and website for 55 million pounds, or $75 million, a few weeks after the 242-year-old department store chain began to wind down its operations after going into administration in April. The deal is the latest reflection of the seismic reordering underway in the global retail hierarchy caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Strong businesses with agile supply chains and e-commerce operations are growing stronger, while weaker  often older  rivals with large brick-and-mortar footprints and more traditional models have started to fall away. Asos, another online fast-fashion retailer, confirmed Monday that it was in exclusive talks with administrators for Philip Greens retail group Arcadia to buy its fashion brands portfolio, which includes Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT. Arcadia filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. A closing-down sale at 124 Debenhams stores began in December, as the administrators continued to seek offers for all or parts of the business. Now Boohoo, known for its $5 bikinis and tie-ins with reality TV stars, will buy Debenhams intellectual property rights in a cash deal  though none of its stores or stock will be included. The company took the same approach when acquiring several other British brands teetering on bankruptcy, including Oasis and Karen Millen. It said Debenhams was expected to relaunch on Boohoos web platform in early 2022. Our acquisition of the Debenhams brand is strategically significant as it represents a huge step which accelerates our ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion e-commerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport and home ware, said Boohoos executive chairman, Mahmud Kamani. Our ambition is to create the U.K.s largest marketplace. Neither Asos nor Boohoo is looking to acquire stores, so Debenhams remaining 118 department stores and more than 400 store sites occupied by Arcadia brands are likely to close for good, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk. Boohoo, co-founded by Mr. Kamani in Manchester in 2006, came under public scrutiny last year after investigations into working conditions at garment factories in Leicester found many workers were being paid less than the minimum wage.
ALBANY  At a meeting last September on police reform, officials with the city's department pulled up a PowerPoint slide  with an image of flowers and green grass  that promised 21st century policing, followed by a slide naming one of the tools the department would use to fulfill that promise: Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program.

But there is a sense among some that the almost-5-year-old program is not meeting its goal: to rehabilitate rather than incarcerate. Critics say police are not sharing crucial data with program leaders, fewer people are being accepted into the program  and those who are admitted are disproportionately white.

Albany LEAD  only the third such program in the nation when launched in 2016  aims to reduce low-level arrests and racial disparities within the criminal justice system. The premise of LEAD is simple: The war on drugs, begun in the 1970s and marked by harsh sentences for low-level drug offenses, failed. Through LEAD, supporters said, people engaged by the police on non-violent, low-level offenses  many affected by poverty, homelessness or mental health issues  would instead be diverted to harm reduction-based services.

Officers have discretion to offer LEAD diversion to likely candidates, so long as the complainant also approves and declines prosecution.

LEAD participants would have case managers to help them receive treatment services for addiction or mental health. Help with housing needs was planned. City leaders were excited about the program, including Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who described it at the time as a promise to the community, because for too long, there have been broken and unrealized promises.

LEAD is now close to becoming another unrealized promise for police reform.

The most recent data from LEAD shows that in the third quarter of 2020, from July to September, 290 Black residents were arrested, and 91 of them qualified for LEAD diversion. Of the 91, four were diverted. In the same months, 95 white residents were arrested, 30 were eligible for diversion and five were diverted.

We have to face the data, said Brendan Cox, who retired as Albany's police chief in 2017 to become director of policing strategies for the LEAD National Support Bureau. That data looks like something we need to make improvements on.  I dont think theres any partner involved with LEAD that wouldnt say we need to address that.

PREVIOUSLY: Systemic racism needs to be addressed in policing audit, Center for Law and Justice says

Albany police Chief Eric Hawkins could not be reached for an interview, but he said in a statement that Albany LEAD is a critical part of the police departments efforts to assist individuals in crisis who commit low-level offenses. We continue to work collaboratively with our community partners to further enhance the program and make any adjustments necessary to ensure the programs continued success.

Sheehan also could not be reached for an interview, but her chief of staff, David Galin, said in a statement that "on its face, this data is surprising and, if accurate, very troubling. Mayor Sheehan has requested the LEAD Policy Coordinating Group and Community Leadership Team work to review the data and provide a deeper analysis to fully understand any and all disparities in diversions as we work to reduce recidivism rates," adding Sheehan is "committed to utilizing the LEAD program as one of the tools to ensure more equitable and just community policing.

Gabriel Sayegh, co-founder of the Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice, said he questions the degree to which police and Sheehan are committed to the program. The Katal Center resigned as a LEAD partner in January 2020 for several reasons, including the low number of diversions and evident racial disparities.

Police werent committed. ... The mayors office knew there were no diversions happening; her office is in the meetings," Sayegh said. "The mayor may say that shes committed to (LEAD). Thats all fine. But theres no evidence of that based on the outcomes that we were all there to produce together.

'No-data hell'

To even see the data in the first place and obtain it from police, however, has been a continuing struggle, even for organizations in the LEAD policy coordinating group, which planned the program. Those stakeholders include city police; the mayors office; the Albany County Sheriffs Office; the Albany County District Attorney's Office; the Center for Law and Justice; and the Albany County Department of Mental Health. LEAD operates as a partnership between these organizations, with no single entity in charge.

A group called the Community Leadership Team was created to act as a vehicle for community input, questions and accountability, a LEAD report states. The CLT was also in charge of informing the community about the program.

For the first two years of the program, CLT attended neighborhood association meetings, explaining how the program worked.

Paul Collins-Hackett, a community leader and member of the CLT, said members worked hard to make sure people knew about LEAD. But when data began trickling in from police in 2016 and 2017, racial disparities in diversions were becoming evident, he said. As the CLT members, which then consisted of around 20 people, began to raise concerns with police, police stopped releasing data to them, he added. From January 2018 to August 2019, no data was shared with the CLT or online to the public.

And when it was shared in August 2019, it was only data for that month, and it showed a continuing pattern of racial disparities: of 55 Black people eligible for diversions, one was diverted. Eventually, most CLT members lost confidence in the program and left.

There are three case managers involved with LEAD, and Cox estimated that each can handle 20 to 25 LEAD participants.

After August 2019, no CLT members were getting data, even though all LEAD partners had agreed on a monthly data report that would be pulled by police. The layout and scheduled release of the data were already established, but multiple people involved with LEAD said police were not forthcoming with releasing arrest and diversion numbers.

We were in that no-data hell for a good while, said Kelly Kimbrough, a member of the CLT and Ward 4 council member. If were selling this to the community, we need to know whats going on. And how do we know? By receiving data. And if were not receiving data, we dont know where we are. We cant speak to the program.

Dennis Mosley, a member of the CLT with experience in restorative justice work and sociology, said he couldnt afford to lose his integrity with the community by praising a program that officers may not be using.

I cant sell what Im not sure is working.  So if youre not doing LEAD, but you want me to sell it, am I going to sell what youre not doing? Mosley said.

Mosley said he questions how police and the city can tout LEAD as a great program, all while it continues to fail at upholding one of the core values and missions listed on the founding document: undo racial disparities at the front-end of the criminal justice system.

Retired Albany police officer Brian Hawley was the LEAD project manager for less than five months before resigning from the position this month.

As LEAD project manager, he was responsible for convening LEAD stakeholders and running the program. Hawley could not be reached for comment since his resignation, but he told the Times Union in November that there are several reasons an officer may not offer LEAD to any individual, including people who do not understand what LEAD is and people simply not being good candidates.

Hawley said one of the reasons the diversion numbers are so low could be because the Center for Law and Justice and the CLT need to do a better job of informing residents about the program.

The Katal Center's Sayegh said that it's ridiculous for former and current police officers to say that for LEAD to work, there needs to be more community awareness of it. This is especially so, he said, for a program where the primary discretionary decision is made by police.

The argument is: In order for the police to do more diversions, the community has to do more education about it, Sayegh said. It doesnt make any sense.

A draft report from the Community Safety and Restorative Justice board stated that LEAD needs greater community awareness, that the Center for Law and Justice fell significantly short of outreach and that the CLT needed to do a better job at holding people involved in LEAD "accountable."

All three remaining members of the CLT said they were never contacted by members of the Community Safety and Restorative Justice board and werent given an opportunity to explain their hurdles with outreach and data collection.

Its hard to hold people accountable when we dont have data for a year and a half, Collins-Hackett said, noting that he contacted the mayors office and met personally with Hawkins, but neither meeting yielded data. How are we supposed to hold anyone accountable?

Collins-Hackett has also asked police if he can see what officers' LEAD training looks like. They have not said yes yet, Collins-Hackett said. Police have said every officer in the department receives LEAD training.

The Center for Law and Justice has acknowledged its shortcomings in a report from 2019.

'We just need to divert more'

Hawley told the Times Union last fall that when LEAD was first rolled out, there was skepticism among officers about the program.

If you went in and you told your boss you did a LEAD diversion, stuff like that, you know, youd probably get a lot of ribbing, Hawley said. I remember in the very beginning, you know, sure, you went out there, you made a LEAD diversion, people at work and around the room would be busting your chops.

Hawley said that after the first couple of years, officers believed in the program and were praised for doing diversions. But the diversion numbers, which were partially released in December 2020 after months of questions and demands from some LEAD stakeholders, dont show more diversions.

In 2017, there were 53 diversions, followed by 87 in 2018. In 2019, the year after Hawkins became chief, they fell to 35  then 32 in 2020. Police have still not released comprehensive data showing how many people each month were qualified to be diverted but were not. They have only released the 2020 third-quarter report to the CLT and the policy coordinating group.

People close to the program say Cox displayed strong leadership in trying to bolster LEAD within the police department. But since Hawkins took the reigns in 2018, there have been questions from LEAD partners surrounding his and Sheehans commitment to the program, spurred by the low number of diversions.

Every year the program has been in place, the racial percentages of the diversion rates haven't come close to meeting those of the arrest rates, something LEAD stakeholders say is essential for the program to fulfill its mission. Cox said LEAD diversions in Albany should "be reflective of arrest rates examined according to race. A recent city-commissioned study found that Black residents made up 65.7 percent of all arrests in Albany from 2015 to 2019 while white residents made up 26.5 percent. If the goal was matching those percentages, roughly 65 percent of those diverted through LEAD would be Black. In 2020, the worst year yet for racial disparities regarding LEAD diversions, 31 percent were Black; in the best year, 2016, 40 percent were Black.

Still, everyone involved with the program says they believe in the idea of LEAD. Over 200 people have received some type of help since 2016 because of LEAD. But there is much room for improvement, said Dr. Alice Green, executive director at the Center for Law and Justice.

Were not diverting as many people of color as we would like to under this program, Green said, adding that she would like for another evaluation of the program to be completed. The last one done was in 2017. We value having a LEAD program because I think its really important to keep diverting people. We just need to divert more and make sure were including the population that needs to be included.

As police concluded their PowerPoint slide presentation in September, a resident asked for an update on the LEAD program.

As far as numbers? said an officer at the virtual meeting also being attended by Sheehan and Hawkins.

Yeah.

The officers, who were sharing a computer, could be heard talking among themselves.

We havent changed anything with the LEAD. As far as officers go, they still use their discretion. They still do the LEAD referrals pretty much every day, the officer said.

Then another officer spoke: We are doing LEAD diversions. One of our officers used discretion to do one. I believe weve had several in the month of August. Im not sure about any in September yet. But definitely, we had several in August.

According to LEAD data, there were zero diversions in August.
Homeless men and women sit out on a sidewalk in Los Angeles, on Jan. 8, 2020. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

California Assembly Preps Business Tax Increase to Fund Homeless Programs

California lawmakers are seeking to address the states growing homelessness problem with a proposed tax hike on businesses making more than $5 million annually in the state.

Proponents say Assembly Bill 71 (AB 71), also known as the Bring California Home Act, would restore corporate tax rates to 1980s levels to provide an estimated $2.4 billion annually to fund state homeless programsbut opponents argue the tax hike would cost the state business while not addressing the problem properly.

History has shown us that throwing more money at the problem doesnt work, Scott Kaufman, the legislative director of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told The Epoch Times.

We shouldnt downplay the homelessness crisis; it clearly is a problem in California, and you can see it on your streets and city centers. But this is just California throwing money at the problem without actually seeing it through and thinking about it, and its just more of the same from Sacramento and from the state.

The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) on Jan. 13. It has support from big city mayors, state housing programs, and nonprofit organizations that say the money will be used to build more affordable housing, create emergency services, and provide employment support for the homeless.

I appreciate the Governors proposed budget on homelessness, but it is clear that one-time funding to combat the homeless crisis that is further compounded every year is not working, Rivas said in a press release.

One time allocations do not allow for our local governments to build and plan programs for multiple years; nor does it allow for coordination between our state departments and agencies with homeless programs to create a coordinated and comprehensive approach for tackling homelessness, she said.

The bill would increase the corporate tax rates for businesses with taxable income greater than $5 million per year from 8.84 percent to 9.6 percent, or 10.84 percent to 11.6 percent for financial institutions, unless the minimum franchise tax is greater.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf told reporters that the bill is the first proposal that is comprehensive enough and at scale to actually permanently end homelessness.

But Kaufman said hes worried the bill will drive more businesses out of the state at a time when theyre vulnerable from financial losses due to COVID-19.

The state, known for its booming economy and tech innovation from Silicon Valley, lost several of its large tech empires in recent years. Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk moved his company to Texas citing a better business environment and lower taxes.

Further clouding Californias already stormy business climate by imposing more taxes on thousands of businesses big and small is the last thing we should be doing in the middle of an economic crisis, said Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, in a press statement.

The tax proposed by AB 71 would be applied to any business generating profits in the state, regardless of where they are located.

Businesses leaving out of state cannot escape this tax, Kaufman said. So what youll see is places raising prices, because all businesses pass on costs to us.

He added, The real issue is that California has an affordability problem  and this bill is only going to exacerbate it.

The Homeless Problem

According to Rivas, one in four Americans experiencing homelessness resides in California.

Over the past few years, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the State Legislature have allocated billions of dollars to state homeless programs and local governments to tackle the issue. Even so, the state saw a 16 percent increase in homelessness from 2018 to 2019.

In Venice Beach, homeless encampments have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though there was a concerted effort to direct individuals into the citys supportive housing.

Soledad Ursua, a neighborhood councilmember who lives a block away from the Venice boardwalk in Los Angeles, told The Epoch Times that the citys efforts have just been a real failure.

You cant even walk past the sidewalk nowtheres tents on both sides, she said, noting that tents are located outside of the supportive housing units.

Ursua said her neighborhood has had less security, fewer police patrols, and zero cleanings because of COVID-19, calling the situation our worst nightmare really coming true.

Kaufman and other critics dont think housing alone will solve the crisis unless its paired with full wraparound services to address mental illness and health problems.

In 2016, Los Angeles voters passed Proposition HHH, a bond measure which authorized city officials to allocate up to $1.2 billion to subsidize development of 10,000 housing units for homeless people. Five years later, only 110 housing units have been built.

They make California a difficult place to build houses, they make California unaffordable, and they tell us that the way to get California more affordable is to tax us to fund those things, Kaufman said.

AB 71 has been referred to the Assembly Committees on Revenue and Taxes, along with the Committee on Housing and Community Development. Lawmakers are expected to take up discussion of the bill in March.


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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 20:58:25|Editor: huaxia

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A staff member presents Huawei Mate 20 X (5G) mobile phone at the launching ceremony in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, July 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

SHENZHEN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's telecom giant Huawei said Monday that it has no plan to sell its flagship smartphone brands.

"Huawei has learned there are unsubstantiated rumors circulating regarding the possible sale of Huawei's flagship smartphone brands. There is no merit to these rumors whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan," Huawei said in a statement.

Huawei remains fully committed to its smartphone business, and will continue to deliver world-leading products and experiences for consumers around the world, the company said. 
Dozens of journalists and media workers were arrested and beaten by the police on January 23 while covering protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Russia. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in condemning violence against media workers and urges the authorities to respect freedom of information.

On Saturday, across Russia, tens of thousands of people defied a heavy police presence to join some of the largest rallies against President Vladimir Putin in years. OVD Info, an independent NGO that monitors rallies, said about 3,100 people had been detained, more than 1,200 of them in Moscow alone.

The RUJ has pledged to provide legal support to media professionals who need it after registering dozens of cases of detention and violence against journalists while covering the protests in different Russian cities. Most of them were released after their documentation was reviewed by police officers.

Among the cases the RUJ reported were the detention of Ruslan Valiev (Echo of Moscow) in Ufa, journalists from Tatar-inform agency, Efir TV channel and Kazan Reporter in Kazan, 66.RU photo reporter Alexey Shkola in Yekaterinburg, and Krasnaya Moskva journalist Ilya Matushkin in Saratov, among others.

In Moscow, Novaya Gazeta correspondent Elizaveta Kirpanova and Meduza journalist Kristina Safonova were injured. Dozhd TVs correspondent Alexei Korostelev was detained. The police smashed with a truncheon the camera of Novaya Gazeta correspondent Victoria Odissonova. AvtozakLive journalist Nikita Stupin said he received an electric shock.

The RUJ said they will continue monitoring the situation and offered legal assistance to affected journalists.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: Once again, Russian media workers suffer arbitrary detention, violence and intimidation while covering demonstrations and events of public interest. We stand in solidarity with Russian journalists and urge the authorities to stop harassing and intimidating the media.
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.

-According to a five-year (2016-2020) blueprint that China and Egypt signed during Xi's Egypt tour in 2016, the two sides vowed to "double their efforts" to develop the zone.

-With sales revenues exceeding 2.5 billion dollars, the businesses in the zone have paid taxes of over 176 million dollars and provided about 4,000 direct jobs and 36,000 employment opportunities in related industries.

-Having pulled through the tough year of 2020, most of the companies in the cooperation zone have full confidence that the pandemic will certainly be overcome, and new opportunities will come their way

TIANJIN/CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Economic and trade cooperation between China and Egypt have given a completely fresh look to a former desert by the Red Sea near the Suez Canal and thus, literally changed its fortune.

For the convenience of thousands of new residents in and surrounding the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, some 120 km to the east of Egypt's capital city Cairo, the Egyptian bus system "Go Bus" is scheduled to offer bus services to the zone within this year.

"Go Bus company chose to set stations here because of the urban community that has emerged in the zone," said Ahmed Radwan, executive director of Egypt-TEDA Investment Company.

Photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows a poster of Go Bus company at China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna, Egypt. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)

On Jan. 21, 2016, during his state visit to Egypt, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended an inauguration ceremony of the second phase of the zone with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and the two countries agreed to expand cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Five years on, as a flagship project under the BRI, the zone that has undergone massive changes has also witnessed strengthened cooperation between the two countries.

"TEDA" MODE

In Egypt, the cooperation zone is also called "TEDA," which actually is short for "Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area." In locals' eyes, the four letters represent not only the zone's operator, but also a development mode.

TEDA, situated about 150 km to the east of China's capital city Beijing with the Bohai Sea to its east, used to be a piece of land with saline-alkali soil. However, it became a modern industrial zone after over 36 years of development.

Photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows the office building of China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna, Egypt. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)

In the 1990s, China drew up a plan to help Egypt build an economic zone in Suez. With similar geographical conditions and its own story of successful transformation, TEDA took up the task of assisting in developing the project.

In 2008, the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone project kicked off with the first-phase construction of a 1.34-square-km area. In 2016, heads of the two states unveiled the second-phase project, which covers an area of 6 square km.

According to a five-year (2016-2020) blueprint that China and Egypt signed during Xi's Egypt tour in 2016, the two sides vowed to "double their efforts" to develop the zone.

During his talks with Sisi, Xi suggested that the two countries work together to make Egypt a pivot along the Belt and Road. He also pledged that China will participate in Egypt's key projects, including the development of the Suez Canal Corridor and the construction of a new administrative capital.

Sisi for his part said that Egypt is ready to connect its own development plans with the BRI and called for more Chinese investment in his country.

Li Daixin, executive general manager of China-Africa TEDA Investment Co., Ltd., the developer and operator of the cooperation zone, said that thanks to the efforts of both governments, the cooperation zone has seen a "high-speed development" in the past years.

So far, the second phase of the zone has attracted 15 enterprises, and the infrastructure construction for a 2-square-km part has been finished, with supporting facilities running well.

Based on the "TEDA mode," the cooperation zone has been transformed into an industrial city rather than merely a cluster of industrial enterprises, equipped with several recreational facilities such as hotels and even an amusement park -- the TEDA Fun Valley, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.

STRENGTHENING COOPERATION

By the end of 2020, the cooperation zone has attracted 96 enterprises and investment of over 1.25 billion U.S. dollars. With sales revenues exceeding 2.5 billion dollars, the businesses in the zone have paid taxes of over 176 million dollars and provided about 4,000 direct jobs and 36,000 employment opportunities in related industries.

A worker is seen at a workshop of Egypt Yanjiang New Material Co., Ltd. at China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna, Egypt, Jan. 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)

Yet the significance of the cooperation zone reaches far beyond.

In 2016, Xi said that China is also ready to expand bilateral cooperation with Egypt in trade, finance, space technology, energy, human resources development and security.

"These kinds of deeper cooperation are gradually being implemented, in addition to the cooperation on infrastructure construction, especially during the recent two years," Li said.

Mohamed Khaled Ghanem, executive manager of import and export with Egypt Yanjiang New Material Co., Ltd., now could give full play to his 15 years' expertise in foreign trade, as international trade has been continuously expanding in the zone.

In May 2019, the Egyptian general authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone approved import and export trade and agreed on a bonded logistics project in the cooperation zone, making TEDA the first foreign company to carry out international bonded trade and entrepot trade in Egypt.

In December 2020, the first phase of the Chinese-funded TEDA Royal Bonded Warehouse was put into use after acceptance checks.

In the same month, Egypt's Luban Workshop was also opened, giving the cooperation zone another role -- a training base. Luban Workshop is a project supported by north China's Tianjin Municipality, home to TEDA, and concentrated on international cooperation in vocational training.

"The Egypt Luban Workshop could not only help provide stable employees (resources) for enterprises in the zone, but also cultivate talents for all kinds of projects along the Belt and Road," Li said.

ECONOMIC ENGINE

After cooperation for over a decade, Chinese and Egyptian colleagues in the cooperation zone have established close ties, which have been tested in the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to timely preventive measures, enterprises in the zone have quickly resumed operation.

Workers are seen at a workshop of XD-EGEMAC High Voltage Electric Equipment Co., Ltd. at China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna, Egypt, Jan. 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)

"We applied successful anti-virus measures to ensure zero infections in the company. We also offered extra subsidies for those who continued their work amid COVID-19," said Zhang Xiaoyu, deputy general manager of XD-EGEMAC High Voltage Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd.

Ashraf Moustafa, general director of industry with XD-EGEMAC, said that they had followed all precautionary measures, so production was not significantly affected.

Lin Xiangchun, plant manager of Egypt Yanjiang New Materials Co., Ltd, said his company had established a subsidiary in Egypt to expand business in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

"The year of 2020 was tough, but our company has managed to balance the anti-pandemic work and routine production, gaining a year-on-year increase of 22 percent in revenues," Lin said.

In 2020, as bilateral trade between China and Egypt has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and maintained a momentum of growth, China remains Egypt's largest trading partner.

Having pulled through the tough year of 2020, most of the companies in the cooperation zone have full confidence that the pandemic will certainly be overcome, and new opportunities will come their way, said Li, the TEDA manager.
Ongoing at the Westin Gurgaon's Seasonal Tastes is a Kashmiri Food Festival, Sair-E-Kashmir, which takes one on an epicurean journey to relish the gems of the fabled Kashmiri cuisine, curated by Chef Tariq Ahmed. From a delightful spread of delicacies like Kashmiri Pulao and Rajma Dal, to Mutton Gushtaba, and Zafrani Phirni, the promotion is a culinary journey through some of the region's best known dishes.

IANSlife spoke to Chef Anurudh Khanna to find out details

What are some of the indispensable ingredients in a Kashmiri kitchen?

Khanna: The valley of rich cuisine as it is called, the people of Kashmir have always taken pride in their ability to create royal feasts out of simple ingredients. From the royal Wazwan to routine dishes cooked in local households, the Kashmiris have mastered and maintained the knack of adding a distinct flavour to their food, which cannot be matched by any other cuisine in the world. When we hear of Kashmiri kitchen ingredients or spices, the popular spice saffron flashes in our mind. But there is much more to it than just Saffron. Spices which are simple, yet unheard of blend together in perfect harmony to impart that uniquely Kashmiri flavour which just cannot be put into words!

Rice is the staple food of Kashmiris and has been so since ancient times. Meat, along with rice, is the most popular food item in Kashmir. Mutton, chicken or fish are of prime importance. There is a lot of use of yoghurt and turmeric in most of their dishes. Spices like cloves, cockscomb, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and fennel which are generally considered hot are used widely in different Kashmiri cuisines, while garlic and onion are not used much. The region boasts of being the leading producer as well as the exporter of saffron which is used as a colouring and seasoning agent and also as an ingredient in many of its dishes specially sweets and rice preparation. The exquisite aromatic flavour of variety of dishes, particularly seasoned with saffron, have become an integral part of Kashmiri food. Dry fruit is also used extensively in different Kashmiri dishes, especially in preparing curries. Kashmiris are avid tea lovers. The most popular and famous teas are the Noon Chai, or Sheer Chai and Kahwah. There as almost twenty varieties of Kahwah. Kashmiris also follow the technique of cooking on woods. Mention Kashmiri food and the popular dishes that you could think of are Dum Aloo, Rogan Josh, Yakhni, Gustaba, Rista, Haaq etc.

Delhi and Gurgaon have pockets where one can relish authentic Kashmiri food. What is Westin's approach to this cuisine?

Khanna: Finding authentic Kashmiri food is indeed an uphill task, if one doesn't use traditional Kashmiri spices or employ the traditional cooking techniques, it could result in compromised taste.

Through all our pop-ups and culinary festivals, we try to present various cuisines in modern ways without compromising on the integrity of the cuisine. We do not alter traditional recipes or the way we serve our food. In the Kashmiri food festival, we will serve Kashmiri food the traditional way, it is supposed to be. Guests these days are seeking to indulge in exotic dishes for their palate. We are delighted to keep offering our guests a range of unique experiences based on embracing and showcasing local culture and traditional ethos. We have curated this festival to give our guests an opportunity to relish the taste of one of the most loved cuisines- Kashmiri food which is simple, full of flavours but rich in taste, with ingredients that play beautifully with your taste buds and leave an enhancing experience.

The spices and the ingredients used in Kashmiri cooking are supposed to be native to the valley which ultimately give it a traditional taste - local spices like chilies, cockscomb, turmeric and saffron will be used to achieve the authentic taste in the dishes. I strongly believe that food must evolve but stay rooted to tradition. Over the years, people have started to modernise this tradition by adding new servings such as - cold drinks, sweets, dry fruits, etc. But the real beauty of Wazwan lies in its old traditional techniques which is where our focus will be. Our guest Chef Tariq Ahmed is renowned for creating age-old authentic recipes; he has brought with him all his spices including dried Kashmiri chillies, dried cockscomb flower, cinnamon etc. from Kashmir, as he feels that only those spices brought from his homeland could be used to create the same taste and authentic recipes.

From a chef's point of view how can Kashmiri food and hospitality be popularised?

Khanna: Kashmiri cuisine is more than just food - it's a celebration a life. Not unlike Kashmir's natural beauty and fine products, Kashmir's cuisine too is celebrated as special. Wazwan has now become a byword for refined Kashmiri cuisine to be consumed by the urban elites and luxury hotels and restaurants in Delhi, for instance, serve this Kashmiri feast to their guests as a gourmet experience. The richness of taste, texture, color and fragrance of Kashmiri Wazwan is unmatched and unparalleled. I have always been intrigued and interested in Kashmir cuisine, with a unique food culture - which has always piqued my interest. At the Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi, the festival is our humble way of helping in popularizing the local ethnic cuisine from the snow-capped valleys, were our guests will not only enjoy Kashmiri meals, but experience Kashmiri hospitality.

Kashmiri saffron has recently been given a GI tag, and more spices, honey and Kashmiri variants of rice may follow soon. How important is this identification? How does it help?

Khanna: Kashmiri saffron, or 'Zaafran' as it is called in Urdu, is renowned globally as a spice with many medicinal benefits. It represents the rich cultural heritage of Jammu and Kashmir. Over the years, I have even used saffron from Spain and Iran, but nothing comes close to the high-grade varietal from Kashmir. Two strands are all you need. It is so potent with a deep rich colour. With production declining and apprehensions of adulteration increasing, the GI tag could restore saffron to its former glory. I am sure that its popularity and export will grow much more and this will put the spice on the world map. This will also help infuse a sense of confidence in consumers, regarding the authenticity of the saffron as well assure consumers of provenance.

Tell us about the ongoing Kashmiri food festival.

Khanna: The hotel has welcomed the famed expert Waza, Chef Tariq Ahmed from Srinagar to take its guests on a 10-day culinary symphony with a traditional Kashmiri food festival 'Sair-e-Kashmir" at its all day dining restaurant, Seasonal Tastes from 22nd - 31st January, 2021.

Using the finest organic ingredients from the valley, the master chef will prepare dishes infused with the richness of cinnamon, cardamom, chilli and saffron, the key ingredients of Kashmiri cuisine, making the festival a must-visit. What makes the cuisine special is the preparation- which is considered to be an art with the fragrance of spices, flavours, freshness and long-lasting aromas. The uniqueness of Kashmiri food lies in the basic premise that it is prepared on slow but continuous heat, which makes the food preserve its nutrients and the aroma.

The traditional Kashmiri non-vegetarian signature dishes will include Rista (meatballs in a fiery red gravy), Gushtaba (a velvety textured meatball in white yogurt gravy), Tabak Maaz (ribs of lamb simmered in yogurt till tender, then fried), Lahabi Kabab (flattened mutton kababs cooked in yogurt), Waza Chicken (two halves or two full chicken cooked whole), Rogan josh (tender lamb cooked with Kashmiri spices), Mutton Yakhni (delicately spiced yogurt mutton curry) and much more. For the vegetarian palate, there will be dishes like Tamatar Chhaman (cottage cheese squares with tomato gravy), Chok Wangan (baingan/ eggplant in a tangy yogurt gravy), Dum Kashmiri Aloo (potatoes cooked in yogurt gravy), Nadru Yakhni (lotus root with mild aromatic spices in a yogurt gravy) etc.

Zesty chutneys like Mooli akhrot chutney (a sharp radish and walnut chutney) and traditional Zirish ki chutney (spicy dried black currants and red chilly chutney) will add zing to the palate. Ending the meal on a sweet note, will be the fragrant and flavorful Zafrani Phirni, a dessert made with rice, milk and saffron - certainly a feast for the senses. Guests may complete their Kashmiri journey with Kahwa, an aromatic traditional Kashmiri green tea made with cardamom, cinnamon, saffron and cardamom, that will sooth the senses and transport them to the land where heaven meets Earth - the valleys of Kashmir.

When: Everyday, 22nd January until 31st January 2021

Where: Seasonal tastes at The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi - Available for lunch and dinner

Price for 2 : INR 2000 onwards

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

--IANS

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 10:46:29|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong decided not to appeal the ruling that sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for corruption charges, including bribery, local media reported on Monday citing Lee's lawyer.

The lawyer was quoted as saying that Lee decided to accept the judgment and not to appeal the ruling.

Lee, an heir apparent of South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate Samsung Group, was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for corruption, linked to his management succession, a week earlier.

With a suspended prison sentence, he was released from jail in February 2018 after serving about one year behind bars, but the Supreme Court returned the case to a high court calling for harsh punishment.

An unnamed official with the special prosecutor team was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying that the team had yet to decide on whether to appeal the ruling.

The special prosecutor team had demanded a nine-year prison sentence against Lee.

Lee was charged with offering tens of millions of U.S. dollars in bribes to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye in return for the assistance to his management succession.

The top court upheld a 20-year prison sentence on Park earlier this month for the corruption that led her to become the country's first sitting South Korean president to be impeached. Enditem
According to a press release published on January 25, 2021, Saab and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, (FMV), have signed two agreements concerning the next generation of surface ships and corvettes. A Product Definition Phase for the Mid-Life Upgrades (MLU) of five Visby-class corvettes, as well as a Product Definition Phase for the next generation; Visby Generation 2 corvettes.

According to a press release published on January 25, 2021, Saab and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, (FMV), have signed two agreements concerning the next generation of surface ships and corvettes. A Product Definition Phase for the Mid-Life Upgrades (MLU) of five Visby-class corvettes, as well as a Product Definition Phase for the next generation; Visby Generation 2 corvettes.

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K31 HSwMS Visby, a Visby-class Corvette of the Swedish Navy. (Picture source Wikimedia)

The contracts include requirements analysis and are respectively the start of the modification work of the five corvettes and the acquisition of the Visby Generation 2.

The contract is a major step forward for Swedens surface combat capability, with the upgrade of current corvettes and the creation of the next-generation vessels. The Visby corvettes have been pioneers for 20 years, and after Mid-Life Upgrades, they will be well equipped for future assignments. The experience and knowledge that the Visby class has gathered over the years will feed into the development of Visby Generation 2, said Lars Tossman, Head of Business Area Kockums.

The Visby Generation 2 is a development of Visby-class version 5 and will be equipped with a modern anti-ship missile system, torpedo system, and air defense missile system.

The first Visby-class corvette was launched on June 8, 2000, and today five corvettes are in operational service. The product definition phase regarding Mid-Life Upgrades aims to make the five ships in the class operationally relevant beyond 2040. In addition to modifying the ships' existing systems, an air defense missile system will be added as a new capability. The RBS15 anti-ship missile system will be upgraded to the latest version as well as will the torpedo system with the new Saab Lightweight Torpedo.



The Visby-class is an advanced stealth corvette designed by Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and built by Kockums AB to conduct anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), mine countermeasures, and maritime patrol roles.



The Visby-class is powered by a combined diesel or gas (CODOG) propulsion system that includes two 125SII Kamewa Waterjets, four Vericor TF50A gas turbines, two MTU Friedrichshafen 16 V 2000 N90 diesel engines, and three generators of 270kW each. The ship can reach a top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h) with a maximum cruising range of 2,500 nmi (4,600 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h).



The Visby-class is armed with one 1 Bofors 57 mm Mk3 naval gun, eight RBS15 Mk2 anti-ship missiles, four 400 mm torpedo launchers for Torped 45 torpedoes, and ASW 127mm rocket-powered grenade launchers.
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The spokesperson of the Nigeria Immigration Service in Edo State, Bridget Esene, has reportedly been abducted by gunmen.

An official of the immigration service said Mrs Esene was abducted on Sunday while on her way to church.

The gunmen reportedly trailed her to Iqueniro area, off Agbor Road, in the state capital, dragged her out of her car and took her into their waiting vehicle.

Her whereabouts is yet unknown, as her abductors are yet to speak with her family.

Her car has been recovered where it was dumped at Agbor road by-pass area and we learnt her abductors headed towards Benin  Auchi road axis, off the by-pass, the official, who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak on the incident, said.

The police spokesperson in the state, Chidi Nwabuzor, however, did not confirm or deny the abduction. He said he was not in a position to speak on the matter.

(NAN)

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci testifies at a Senate hearing regarding the coronavirus in Washington on March 3, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Fauci: Americans Should Assume UK CCP Virus Variant Can Cause More Damage

Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the UK COVID-19 variant discovered late last year could cause more damage, than previously thought, citing preliminary data from the British government.

We need to assume now what has been circulating in the UK does have an increase in virulence, meaning the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death, Fauci said during an appearance on CBSs Face the Nation.

The new CCP virus variant, known as B.1.1.7, is believed to be more contagious and has been found in at least 22 U.S. states so far, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. The variant of the virus was first found in the UK in September 2020 before scientists sounded the alarm about it being more infectious.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said during a press briefing on Jan. 22 that with the original COVID-19, 10 out of roughly 1,000 people aged 60 or older would be estimated to die. But with the new B.1.1.7 variant, 13 or 14 people out of 1,000 aged 60 or older would be estimated to die.

Johnson said that the COVID-19 variant could be associated with a higher mortality rate. However, he and UK health officials have stressed there are some uncertainties around those figures.

When the British investigators looked more closely at the death rate of a certain age group, they found that it was one per thousand  and then it went up to 1.3 per thousand in a certain group, Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told host Margaret Brennan.

Thats a significant increase. So the most recent data is in accord with what the Brits are saying. We want to look at the data ourselves, but we have every reason to believe them. Theyre a very competent group.

According to the latest CDC data, California has reported the highest number of cases of the UK B.1.1.7 variant, 72, followed by Florida with 50 cases, and New York with 22 cases.

The variant was first reported by state authorities in a rural area in Colorado, hours away from Denver. Officials said in Decemberwhen it was foundthat the patient hadnt traveled recently.

Federal health officials have previously warned that models show that the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus has the potential to increase the U.S. pandemic trajectory in the coming months and warrants universal and increased compliance with mitigation strategies, including distancing and masking.

As a result, our community is bearing the brunt of the winter surge, experiencing huge numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deathsfive-times what we experienced over the summer, Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County public health director, said on Jan. 16.

The new B.1.1.7 variant is projected by the CDC to become the dominant COVID-19 variant by March.

Fauci added Sunday that the COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States appear to be effective against the UK variant but said there may be a very minor diminution in protection.

The vaccine induced antibodies, namely the vaccines that some of us have gotten and that were rolling out, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, seem to continue to be protective against the mutant strain, he said. It is a very minor diminution but the cushion that you have of efficacy is so large that its not going to negatively impact.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
The death toll from storm Eloise rose to at least 12 on Monday, according to figures from authorities across south-eastern Africa, where heavy winds, rain and flooding have also destroyed buildings and crops.

A tropical cyclone when it made landfall at Mozambique's central province of Sofala on Saturday, Eloise subsequently weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland to dump rain on Zimbabwe, eSwatini - formerly known as Swaziland - South Africa and Botswana.

Six people were killed in Mozambique, the country's National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) reported, while the number of displaced people rose to more than 8,000. Homes, crops and infrastructure were also damaged, flooded or destroyed.

The death toll from flooding in eSwatini now stands at two, according to police, while three people had been reported killed in Zimbabwe and one in Madagascar. Ongoing rains, though lightening, threatened further floods.

"Rainfall is starting to ease off slowly," said Puseletso Mofokeng, senior forecaster at the South African Weather Service.

"But we are still going to continue with the possibility of flooding (in South Africa)... because of the ground already being oversaturated," he said, adding this meant any amount of rainfall could prompt floods but that these would likely be localised rather than widespread.

Zimbabwe's national water authority also warned that dams were spilling over and could cause floods further downstream.

In central Mozambique, Eloise exacerbated existing floods, with villages and vast swathes of farmland submerged in brown water after rivers burst their banks.

Rainfall in Zimbabwe also runs back down into the country via those rivers, which contributed to the devastating floods following Cyclone Idai in March 2019.

Mofokeng said Eloise is expected to move towards south western Botswana tomorrow, where it will cause heavy rain. More downpours are also expected in South Africa in the coming days.

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Mumbai: Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan tied the knot with fashion designer Natasha Dalal on Sunday evening at Alibaug's luxurious resort The Mansion House in an intimate ceremony attended by family and close friends.

Dhawan, 33, shared two photographs from the wedding ceremony on his Instagram account.

Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal

"Life long love just became official," he captioned the pictures.

The couple opted for colour-coordinated heavily embellished Indian attires in beige for their special day. While Dalal wore a lehenga and kept her hair, make-up and jewellery minimal, Dhawan chose a sherwani with a silver-blue stole and matching mojari to complete his look.

Soon after the duo exchanged the wedding vows, media persons present outside the wedding venue were treated with sweets.

Varun Dhawan

Dhawan was planning to tie the knot with Dalal in May 2020 but due to Covid-19 pandemic the wedding was pushed to 2021.

According to reports, around 50 people attended the wedding, including close industry friends Karan Johar, Shashank Khaitan and fashion designer Manish Malhotra.
Jeff Albert is chief operating officer of the Associated Builders & Contractors, Empire State Chapter.

As leaders continue to discuss and debate the future of Interstate 81 and the impact on downtown Syracuse, they must get two things right. The first is getting the design right. The second is ensuring no Project Labor Agreement, or PLA, is placed on the project. A PLA is a pre-hire agreement where most of the workers will come from local union hiring halls. A PLA restricts certain contractors from bidding the work because they cant hire their current employees.

Now, before anyone starts screaming about being against unions, lets set the record straight. We want all contractors to be able to bid the work and we want the best bid to win. Thats whats best for the taxpayers. More competition leads to better bids and better projects. A PLA does just the opposite.

Locally, according to state agencies that oversee bidding, about 80% of all highway construction in Central New York is done by merit shop contractors. Those are companies that are not signatory to the unions. That means 80% of the workforce are local taxpayers who deserve the right to work on this project but will lose that opportunity if a PLA is present.

Weve already seen, right here in Syracuse, the negative bid results a PLA can have on a project. According to the Empire Center, the New York state Department of Transportation last year sought and then scrapped bids for construction work on the Empire State Trail. The original bid, won by a Central New York contractor, did not contain a PLA. However, the department re-bid the project with the condition that firms sign a PLA. DOT received fewer bids, and ultimately awarded the work to a bidder whose price was over $1.5 million more than the lowest first-round bid. By the way, that project was ultimately awarded to a contractor from Rochester.

We need to keep in mind the size and scope of the Empire State Trail project with the reconstruction of I-81. The trailway project was originally bid as a straightforward, fairly routine project with 3.1 miles of sidewalks and trails and expected to cost around $15 million. It was awarded at just under $19 million after the PLA was added. Thats an increase of 10% and again, the jobs have been awarded to an out-of-area contractor.

Lets now juxtapose the trail project with I-81. This project is a complex redesign, replacing 1.4 miles of interstate and rebuilding one of the key highway systems of Onondaga County. Its a big project with a huge impact. Yet if it follows the Empire State Trail project, the price tag will balloon to well over $2 billion of wasteful spending simply to appease some influential donors. I would think our elected leaders could find a better use for that $200 million. Maybe we can replace some sewer and water lines that keep failing year after year?

While some will say were prejudiced to one side of the issue, the experts agree that the lower the number of bidders, the higher the cost of the project. A study by Paul G. Carr, P.E., from Cornell University, illustrates what happens when the number of bidders on a project is reduced. The study looks at 125 public works projects in New York state. The study unequivocally found that by reducing the number of bidders on public projects, the cost of construction will increase. A reduction of two bidders added more than 4% to the bid cost. What will happen when you reduce the pool of potential local bidders, those that have been doing this work for decades, by 80%?

A project this large and this complex will draw bidders from all over the state and the country. That competition is good. But what we dont need to see, and what would be exacerbated by a PLA, are all the out-of-state license plates. Those traveling workers, while temporarily being a boost to the economy, arent taxpayers who have been loyal to their community and their state, paid their taxes, and earned the right to build Syracuses future.

As we continue to deal with the aftermath of a global pandemic, elected officials need to get this right. They need to ensure that everyone that wants to bid this project is afforded the opportunity. Its time for them to do right by the masses and not the donors. Keep the Project Labor Agreement off this project, protect the taxpayers from wasteful spending and let all local workers build our future.

Related

New Yorks Empire Trail, Americas longest multi-use state trail, is now complete

Syracuse mayor says Buttigieg gets how I-81 project could right past wrongs
Do you feel sad, grumpy, moody or anxious? Have you lost interest in your usual activities? Do you eat more and crave carbohydrates, such as bread or pasta? Have you gained weight, or slept more but still feel tired? Do you have trouble concentrating? Do you have negative thoughts, or trouble getting along with others? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you may be experiencing seasonal affective disorder.

Known as winter or seasonal depression, SAD typically affects people from around September or October through April or May, and has been attributed to lack of sunlight and shorter daylight hours brought on by winter. This annual seasonal shift alters the bodys natural circadian rhythms, depletes mood-regulating serotonin levels and disrupts melatonin levels that can impact sleep-wake patterns.

In any given year, SAD impacts about 5% of Americans. People of all ages are susceptible, but the onset of SAD is most frequently during early adulthood in the 20s and 30s. Women are four times more likely to be affected than men. Individuals residing further from the equator are also more greatly impacted, including residents of central New York, one of the cloudiest areas of the country.
Rudy Giuliani, one of former President Donald Trumps attorneys, faces a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which accuses Giuliani of leading a viral disinformation campaign as Trump and his allies relied on debunked election conspiracies in a failed legal battle seeking to overturn President Joe Bidens victory.

According to The New York Times, Dominion argues Giuliani made at least 50 demonstrably false claims about the integrity of the companys voting machines, which are used in 28 states  including states won by Trump in both 2020 and 2016. Dominion says Giuliani earned money from legal fees and on his podcast in part by promulgating baseless claims, including that Dominion machines can flip votes or that the company is linked to the dead Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez.

Dominion was not founded in Venezuela to fix elections for Hugo Chavez, Dominion writes in the lawsuit, according to the Times. It was founded in 2002 in John Pouloss basement in Toronto to help blind people vote on paper ballots.

In a statement on its website updated Monday, Dominion says malicious and misleading false claims about Dominion have resulted in dangerous levels of threats and harassment against the company and its employees, as well as election officials.

Not only have these lies damaged the good name of my company, but they also undermined trust in American democratic institutions, drowning out the remarkable work of elections officials and workers, who ensured a transparent and secure election, Poulos said in a statement to the Times. The thousands of hand recounts and audits that proved machines counted accurately continue to be overshadowed by disinformation.

Bipartisan local, state and federal election officials have found no evidence that widespread fraud or irregularities impacted the presidential race. Dozens of judges of both major parties, including several Trump appointees, have tossed lawsuits from Trumps campaign and Republican allies. Trumps own Department of Homeland Security said no voting systems or software were compromised in what was the most secure election in U.S. history.

Former Attorney General, William Barr, one of Trumps closest allies, found no evidence that fraud or irregularities led to Bidens win.

Biden won 306 Electoral College votes to Trumps 232, flipping key battleground states and picking up at least 7 million more popular votes than Trump.

Dominions suit notes that Giuliani frequently mentioned the company in news interviews, news conferences and on his podcast, but avoided naming the company in court, where he could have been on the hook legally for making false statements.

The Times reported that Dominion also took Giuliani to task for making false claims about the voting systems in the run up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump loyalists. Dominion said some of the attackers were deceived by Giuliani and his allies into thinking that they were not criminals  but patriots Defend[ing] the Republic from Dominion and its co-conspirators  they then bragged about their involvement in the crime on social media.

The attack was not behind the decision to file the suit, but helps demonstrate the impact of Giulianis defamatory claims, a Dominion attorney told the Times.

Dominion previously sued attorney Sidney Powell, who along with Giuliani has consistently failed to deliver on promises to provide hard evidence that fraud or irregularities impacted the race. The pair in a November news conference cited affidavits that had already been described by a judge as meritless.

Trump reportedly considered naming Powell a special counsel to investigate alleged conspiracies and Giuliani wanted the Department of Homeland Security to overstep its authority by seizing voting machines. According to the Times, such discussions led to a shouting match in the White House in December between aides backing the fraud claims and others who wanted actual evidence.

Giuliani has faced calls for his law license to be revoked. He is under investigation by the New York State Bar Association after more than 100 complaints were lodged over months of false election claims and for his alleged incitation of Trump supporters to engage in trial by combat not long before a violent mob breached the Capitol in an attack that left a police officer and four rioters dead.

The attack, which followed otherwise peaceful protests, led to Trumps unprecedented second impeachment by the House of Representatives, with lawmakers accusing the former president of inciting his followers to attack his own Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Bidens win.

Related Content:
The alt-right social media platform, Parler, is back in business after its abrupt shut down following the events that saw the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.

However, the social media platform, mostly favored by Donald Trump supporters, is now supported by American companies.

The application is now running all of its information through Russian servers, according to a We Are Mitu report.

Parler was disciplined by Big Tech after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The social media was one of the key tools when organizing the riot.

Amazon, Apple, and Google all stopped carrying Parler, which ended the social media platform's ability to keep it running.

Parler tried to file a lawsuit against Amazon Web Services to pick up the app again and allow it to continue.

However, the judge ruled against the social media platform.

Parler CEO John Matze posted a statement to the company's website over the weekend, saying that they will resolve any challenge before them and welcome all of its users soon.

"We will not let civil discourse perish!" Matze was quoted on a CNET report.

US District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle said that she was not dismissing Parler's substantiative underlying claims. However, Amazon will not have to provide the web hosting services.

Amazon, meanwhile, denied claims that they pulled out their services for the alt-right social media platform due to political animus, according to an Independent report.

Amazon claimed that Parler had breached its business agreement by allowing contet advocating violence, as well as failing to timely take that content down.

Meanwhile, Parler's website was reachable again but had to rely on the Russian-owned tech form DDoS-Guard for its new internet protocol address.

Reuters says the firm has worked with other racist, rightist, and conspiracy site that have been used by mass murderers to share messages.

Related story: Parler CEO Says Social Media App May Never Return Online





Parler Connections with The Capitol Riot

Parler has earned its popularity with right-wing users with allegations that Facebook, Twitter, as well as other social networks harbor anti-conservative views.

Parler was downloaded 997,000 times across Apple's App Store and Google Play. This was more than 10 times the downloads the app generated from Jan. 1 to 5, according to an app analytics company Sensor Tower.

High profile conservatives urged others to join Parler in November when President Joe Biden won the presidential elections.

Matze said that the whole company was never intended to be a pro-Trump platform. He added that a lot of the audience is pro-Trump.

"I don't care. I'm not judging them either way," Matze was quoted on a report.

However, the network was claimed to voice a lot of conservative forces such as Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Trump's campaign, Loomer, and Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes.

Once you join the app, Parler recommends several conservative users to follow. However, there aren't any liberal ones in the platform, which could be because they have not joined the app or do not have a large following.

Parler's Difference From Other Social Media Platform

Parler has fewer rules than Twitter and Facebook on issues that it allows on the network. Users can report a post for violating Parler's policies, however, the company does not have third-party fact-checkers and does not label misinformation.

Parler's rules prohibit pornography. Meanwhile, Twitter lets users share consensually produced adult content if they mark the media as sensitive.

Facebook does not allow its users to post images of sexual activity.

Parler also has rules against span, which include repetitive comments and posts, which are irrelevant to the conversation.

Related story: Google, Apple Suspend 'Free Speech' Parler App in Wake of Capitol Riot
(2020) ... presented a unique opportunity for Siemplify to support and empower SecOps teams tasked with successfully deploying remote workforces and keeping them protected.

Siemplify, the leading independent provider of security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR), today announced accelerated growth in 2020 as organizations sought greater security operations efficiencies and better ways to collaborate amid the shift to remote environments.

Already pressured by alert overload, resource shortages and a sprawling attack surface, security professionals saw these challenges become more pronounced in the COVID-19 era, which disrupted the traditional in-person SOC model of tight-knit collaboration, introduced more threats, and expanded exposure points because of greater cloud adoption and increasing personal device usage.

2020 brought record adoption of the Siemplify Security Operations Platform, enabling new and existing customers to quickly build and roll out SOAR playbooks that address emerging COVID-19-related attack vectors and threats, as well as enable security teams to effectively collaborate in a single platform while working remotely. The company also launched a dedicated SOAR community featuring expert assistance, and forged several key strategic relationships with security industry stalwarts to make SOAR more available across industries and size classes.

2020 was a year like no other, Amos Stern, Siemplify co-founder and CEO, said. But despite the numerous personal, professional and global challenges, the year also presented a unique opportunity for Siemplify to support and empower SecOps teams tasked with successfully deploying remote workforces and keeping them protected.

Notable 2020 Siemplify developments and milestones included:



Nearly doubling its customer base, winning top-tier Fortune 500 and global MSSP accounts, including a Top 5 global insurance company, a Top 20 global bank, a Fortune 200 engineering firm and several Top 250 MSSPs.

Launching Siemplify Community and the free community edition, bringing together thousands of security professionals and security vendors.

Unveiling the first-ever cloud-native SOAR offering, making the technology accessible and easy to use for companies of all sizes.

Introducing the largest independent SOAR marketplace  providing expert-built and community-contributed integrations, packaged use cases, analytics and "power-ups," pushing SOAR time to value and ease of use to new levels.

Debuting SOCstock, the inaugural event that brought together more than 2,000 security operations professionals for a day of community, insights and good vibes.

Boasting customer retention rates upward of 95%, as well as record satisfaction scores, resulting in the No. 1 rating on Gartner Peer Insights.

Expanding strategic alliances within the security ecosystem, including Check Point and McAfee, to enable strong interoperability and joint use cases.

Automation and orchestration have become cornerstone capabilities in the modern SOC, which seeks to free its human analysts from mundane and repetitive duties so they can concentrate on higher-order tasks requiring critical thinking.

Im proud and humbled to work with such a passionate and hard-working team, Stern said. The way we have been able to push out innovative iterations of our product, host a first-of-its-kind all-remote industry event, mold game-changing alliance partnerships, and  arguably most important of all  help our customers maintain business continuity during unusual times is a testament to a company unfazed by impediments and destined for a hugely successful 2021.

About Siemplify

Siemplify, the leading independent security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) provider, is redefining security operations for enterprises and MSSPs worldwide. The Siemplify platform is an intuitive workbench that enables security teams to manage their operations from end to end, respond to cyber threats with speed and precision and get smarter with every analyst interaction. Founded in 2015 by Israeli Intelligence experts, with extensive experience running and training security operations centers worldwide, Siemplify has raised $58 million in funding to date and is headquartered in New York, with offices in Tel Aviv. Visit us at siemplify.co and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Products, service names and company logos mentioned herein may be registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Contact

Dan Kaplan

Siemplify

dkaplan@siemplify.co
Authorities in China are stepping up charges against two prominent activists with the New Citizens' Movement detained after an informal gathering of dissidents in the southeastern port city of Xiamen in .



Police are now investigating movement founder Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi for "subversion of state power," rather than under the lesser charge of "incitement to subvert state power."



"Subversion of state power" carries a minimum jail term of 10 years, with no upper limits on the severity of the sentence, where a defendant is judged to have played a leading role in the events used as evidence.



Those seen as "participants" can be jailed for three to 10 years.



Both Xu and Ding are being held in the Linshu Detention Center in the eastern province of Shandong, whose state security police are leading a nationwide operation targeting those who attended the Xiamen gathering.



Their lawyers Liang Xiaojun, Zhang Lei, and Peng Jian have yet to be allowed to meet with their clients, and are currently awaiting a response to their most recent application for a meeting, they told RFA.



Xu and Ding's cases have been transferred to the state procuratorate for review and prosecution, paving the way for a trial, but the lawyers have yet to gain access to the case files.



"When we went to the procuratorate and enquired, they said the charges were subversion of state power, which is a very aggravated charge," Liang told RFA. "We were very surprised by this, as the [lesser] charge was the one brought by police, after all."



"We haven't read the files yet, and all we can do is wait now," he said.



Torture and sleep deprivation

Ding's wife Luo Shengchun said Ding has been subjected to torture including sleep deprivation during an earlier period of detention in Shandong's Yantai city in .



"Five people took turns to interrogate him over seven days and nights, and prevented him from sleeping," she said. "They deprived him of sleep for a long time, two weeks or so, during which time he was interrogated intensively."



"He got just one steamed bun per meal: another trick they used was cut his water ration to 600 ml a day," she said.



Luo said Ding and Xu's records had mysteriously reappeared on the detention center's computer system this month, after staff there had claimed not to be able to find them.



"At least the lawyers have been able to request to meet with them, and they didn't claim that these people didn't exist," she said.



Meanwhile, fellow human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng has been shortlisted for this year's Martin Ennals human rights award after calling in an article for amendments to China's constitution in 2018.



Yu was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for "incitement to subvert state power."



Prizes support embattled lawyers

His wife Xu Yan said his nomination would show support for China's embattled human rights lawyers.



"Yu Wensheng proposed amendments to the constitution," Xu Yan said. "He also represented and defended many lawyers involved in the crackdown [on rights lawyers]."



"For that he lost his freedom," Xu Yan said, adding that it could encourage other human rights lawyers in difficult circumstances.



Xu was a recipient of PEN Americas 2020 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write award in , and the organzation called for his immediate release.



"Chinese officials are choosing this moment to double down on repression, using Xu to signify their imperviousness to global pressure to comply with international norms of free expression," the group's CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.



"Chinese leaders fear Xu and other writers and advocates who dare defy the states official narrative on its handling of COVID-19 and call out Beijings deteriorating human rights record," she said.



"Xu should be released immediately, and we call on the newly-inaugurated Biden administration to send a strong signal prioritizing his freedom and that of other imperiled dissidents as they engage with China."



On Dec. 26, 2019, rights lawyers Ding Jiaxi and Huang Zhiqiang and activists Dai Zhenya, Li Yingjun, and Zhang Zhongshun were detained by police in their hometowns, while rights lawyer and university professor Liu Shuqing, 43, was detained by police in Shandong's provincial capital Jinan on Dec. 31 on suspicion of "subversion of state power."



Xu Zhiyong, who attended the Xiamen meeting and later penned an online essay calling on Xi to step down, went on the run, hiding out in a friend's apartment in the southern province of Guangdong. He was eventually tracked down using facial recognition and surveillance footage.



Reported by Gao Feng and Chingman for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Polish journalist files slander lawsuit against Echo of Moscow Radio and Khodorkovsky

 RAPSI

15:28 25/01/2021

MOSCOW, January 25 (RAPSI)  Polish journalist Maciej Wisniowski has turned to the Moscow Presnensky District Court to seek a 2 million rubles ($27,000) compensation for moral harm from Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) Radio and ex-Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who, he alleges, disseminated false information injurious to his honor and dignity.

On November 25, 2020, an article written by Khodorkovky was published on the official website of the Echo of Moscow Radio; the author alleged that Wisniowski worked for Russian security services, the complaint RAPSI has at its disposal reads.

The plaintiff insists that because of the article certain Polish mass media outlets suspended cooperation with him; materials saying that Wisniowski had pro-Russian bias as a journalist were published across Poland; moreover, some of his business partners clearly hinted that he could be a spy. Wisniowski alleges also that a criminal case against him may be launched in Poland and it would be a burden to prove his innocence.

The journalist seeks that the court rules that the information on his alleged work for Russian security services is false; that the defendants are to publish a retraction; and that the said amount is recovered from them for his nonpecuniary damage.

Seth Rogan has launched a scathing attack on Texas Senator Ted Cruz, describing him as a 'fascist' in a wild Twitter spat.

The 38-year-old Knocked Up star has been flinging every F-word at his disposal at the Republican politician on social media in recent days.

Their angry back-and-forth started on Inauguration Day when Rogen angrily replied to one of Cruz's tweets about the Paris Climate Agreement, but the actor was also infuriated by claims that the 50-year-old Republican had ginned up support for the violent Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6 that left five people dead.

Twitter tirade: Seth Rogen, 38, took aim at Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Twitter in recent days, ultimately calling him a fascist and blaming him for the deadly Capitol Hill insurrection; seen in February 2020 in NYC

Cruz's January 20 tweet was in referencing to President Biden recommitting the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement, a pact that attempts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide.

'By rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden indicates hes more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh,' Cruz tweeted. 'This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans.'

'F*** off you fascist,' Rogen replied.

The post was instantly ridiculed by many other users as well, as Cruz appeared to mistakenly believe that the accords were crafted solely by Parisians, when in fact the name refers to the place where nations met to adopt the Agreement.

Factually challenged: Cruz tweeted that the Paris Climate Agreement helped 'citizens of Paris' more than 'citizens of Pittsburgh,' though it has nothing to do with Parisians, which let Rogen to tweet: 'F*** off you fascist'; Cruz seen in October in the Capitol Building

Fighting words: Cruz posted a screenshot and replied that the Democratic Party was for you 'if youre a rich, angry Hollywood celebrity'

Other critics suggested he was aware of that fact and was cynically trying to gin up support from followers who weren't as well educated on the matter.

Some users mocked Cruz's supposed concern for citizens of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after he was one of six Republican senators who voted against certifying Pennsylvania's presidential election results due to baseless claims of election fraud.

Cruz was mostly concerned with Rogen's critiques, though, and he shared a screenshot of the post, adding: 'Charming, civil, educated response. @Sethrogen If youre a rich, angry Hollywood celebrity, todays Dems are the party for you. If youre blue collar, if youre a union member, if you work in energy or manufacturing not so much.'

Rogen replied: 'If youre a white supremacist fascist who doesnt find it offensive when someone calls your wife ugly, Ted Cruz is the exact motherf***er for you,' while adding that he was in 'four unions.'

Harsh: Rogen replied, 'If youre a white supremacist fascist who doesnt find it offensive when someone calls your wife ugly, Ted Cruz is the exact motherf***er for you'; seen in 2019

Getting personal: After Cruz tweeted that Disney's Fantasia was the first film he saw in a theater, Rogen replied: 'Everyone who made that film would hate you'

Pushing back: 'Theyre all dead. So I think were good. And Walt Disney was a Republican,' Cruz wrote in a quote tweet, before comparing Rogen's tweets to someone with Tourette's

With their Twitter feud ignited, neither Rogen nor Cruz seemed willing to give it up and instead they escalated.

In response to a prompt tweet asking about the first film people saw in theaters, Cruz replied that it was Walt Disney's Fantasia.

'It was playing at a film revival. It scared me; I cried  I was 4. My mom had to take me out,' he wrote, adding, 'Good times.'

Rogen responded: 'Everyone who made that film would hate you.'

'Theyre all dead. So I think were good. And Walt Disney was a Republican,' Cruz wrote in a quote tweet. 'Even though you behave online like a Marxist with Tourettes (screaming F U! F U! is really, really clever), your movies are typically pretty funny. Im sure you hate that I enjoy them.'

Clarification: Rogen doubled down and said he had a 'mild case' of Tourette's before calling Cruz a 'f***ing fascist' again

No joke: 'All jokes aside, @Sethrogen is a moron,' Cruz wrote while complaining about the 'fascist Left,' a nonsense term

Rogen replied that he has a 'mild case' of Tourette's and blasted the senator again.

'I once again take great pleasure in telling you to go f*** yourself,' he wrote, before adding a medical clarification: 'Also VERY few cases of Tourettes manifest in uncontrollable swearing. Most cases, like mine, manifest in twitching.'

He added in another tweet: 'All jokes aside, @tedcruz is a fascist piece of s***.'

Cruz stuck to the form, writing, 'All jokes aside, @Sethrogen is a moron. Its your party that believes in govt power: to shut your business, to oppress your faith & to censor your speech. Anyone who disagrees, they try to cancel. BTW, a lot of folks in Hollywood are conservative  & muzzled by the fascist Left.'

Rogen seemed infuriated enough to mention the deadly insurrection on the Capitol Building, in which one police officer was killed by protesters after allegedly being bashed in the head with a fire extinguisher.

He made himself even clearer later in the day.

'Your lies got people killed. You have blood on your hands,' he wrote.

Not holding back: Rogen seemed infuriated enough to mention the deadly insurrection on the Capitol Building, in which one police officer was killed by protesters after allegedly being bashed in the head with a fire extinguisher

Furious: He made himself even clearer later in the day. 'Your lies got people killed. You have blood on your hands,' he wrote

So far, Cruz has yet to respond to Rogen's tweets about the Capitol insurrection.

However, other critics and Democratic members of Congress have also accused Cruz and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley of fomenting the riot, and there have been calls from some members for the senators to be expelled from the Senate over their participation in rallies leading up to the deadly break-in.

The Neighbors star tweeted later: 'This isnt a Twitter "feud." @tedcruz tried to overthrow our government. He inspired a deadly mob to storm the Capitol. And I think that deserves ridicule. So f*** him.'

Radio silence: So far, Cruz has yet to respond to Rogen's tweets about the Capitol insurrection

JERUSALEM, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RenalSense, a leading company in real-time renal diagnostics, today announced a distribution agreement with Medtechnica, Israel's largest distributor of medical equipment and health services. Medtechnica will market RenalSense's Clarity RMS critical care monitoring system to hospitals throughout Israel.

Clarity RMS has been clinically proven to facilitate early detection of changes in renal function and Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) risk, and is installed in a number of intensive care units (ICU) in leading medical centers around the world. The system continuously measures urine flow, automatically transmitting real-time data and notifications of fluctuations to enable rapid intervention, monitoring of treatment efficacy and fluid management.

Clarity RMS is marketed in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa by Fresenius Medical Care. RenalSense is currently in discussions with additional partners regarding distribution agreements for other key markets.

"As our customer base in Israel grows, with installations at institutions such as Assuta Ashdod Medical Center, we are delighted to partner with Medtechnica and benefit from their experienced team," said Avi Kleiman, CEO of RenalSense. "We are proud to be enhancing critical care both in the general ICU and COVID-19 ICU, and together with Medtechnica we intend to make the Clarity RMS a standard of care in Israel."

"With the introduction of RenalSense to its portfolio, Medtechnica will further increase its presence in intensive care units and allow better monitoring of critical care patients," said Meir Kadosh, VP, Director of the Hospitals and Community Division of Medtechnica.

About RenalSense

RenalSense (www.renalsense.com) is a privately owned medical device company dedicated to real-time renal diagnostics. The company's first product, Clarity RMS, provides continuous, automatic monitoring for early detection of AKI. RenalSense's next generation products will provide incremental real-time parameters and expanded diagnostic capabilities to further improve the practice of ICU and critical care management.

About Medtechnica

Medtechnica, founded in 1953, is the largest distributor of medical equipment and health services in Israel. The range of products marketed by the company includes X-ray imaging equipment, ultrasound imaging, cardiologic monitoring systems, equipment for operating rooms, therapeutic and surgical equipment, equipment for medical laboratories and more. Manufacturers represented by Medtechnica include Fresenius Kabi, Philips, Boston Scientific, Getinge, Masimo, Hologic, Elekta, J&J, Hill-Rom among other blue chip companies.

SOURCE RenalSense

Related Links

https://www.renalsense.com




CVS said it has administered first doses of the coronavirus vaccine at nearly 800 New Jersey nursing homes and assisted living facilities it had a contract with, the company said. More than 300 others are scheduled over the next 7 days, the company said.

The company breaks down homes into categories of skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and other long-term facilities.

Since Jan. 4, CVS has administered 44,977 doses at 277 skilled nursing facilities, it said. The number includes first and second doses, but the company said it was unable to break down how many of each have been administered so far.

The doses include those given to both residents and staff, though the company didnt say how many people were unable to be vaccinated at those first visits. The company will hold two more clinics at each location to administer first and second doses as needed, it said.

It said it has also administered nearly 23,000 vaccines at 511 assisted living and other long-term care facilities in the state, and it has another 310 clinics scheduled over the next seven days at facilities in those categories.

Were slated to be complete with the first dose in those facilities in the next week, the company said.

Across the country, CVS said it has administered the first round of doses to nearly 8,000 skilled nursing facilities, noting that the administration of second doses is well underway and expected to be complete within four weeks.

Weve administered nearly two million shots to one of our most vulnerable populations through onsite and, in many cases, room-to-room visits, said Karen Lynch, who will become the companys president and CEO on Feb. 1. Our dedicated health care professionals are reaching long-term care residents and staff as soon as possible based on activation dates selected by the states, while navigating the challenges of a complex rollout.

Walgreens, which has come under fire by Gov. Phil Murphy, didnt immediately respond to requests for its vaccination data for nursing homes and other facilities in New Jersey.

The company said in a press release on Friday that it has administered more than 1 million vaccinations in long-term care facilities and other vulnerable populations identified as part of state and jurisdiction distribution plans.

It said it was on track to complete first dose administrations in skilled nursing facilities by Monday, though it didnt have specific data on New Jersey facilities.

Murphy said several times last week that the state was frustrated on the pace of vaccines distributed by Walgreens.

The governor said two weeks ago, nearly 90 percent of the states nursing homes have been scheduled for a vaccine clinic, three-quarters of residential care facilities and group homes have been scheduled, as were two-thirds of assisted-care facilities.

At least 7,668 of the states COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. That number, which peaked last spring, has been rising again at a steeper rate in recent months, with deaths at the states nursing homes nearly tripling in December.

There are currently active outbreaks at 431 facilities, resulting in 7,054 active cases among residents and 7,619 among staffers.

Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.

NJ Advance Media Statehouse reporter Matt Arco contributed to this report.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
HOUSTON, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- cPanel, a global leader in web hosting automation software, has announced the release of WP Toolkit for cPanel, a feature-rich application with user-friendly installation, configuration, security, and management of WordPress websites.

WP Toolkit for cPanel exists as both a free version (Lite) and as a paid upgrade (Deluxe). All of the functionality one could hope for in a WordPress tool, such as staging and cloning, is included, saving time and simplifying the management of single or multiple WordPress installations.

"We set out to reinforce our alignment with, and investment in, the global WordPress community. We then developed this product as a long-term solution based on conversations with our Partners about the evolving needs of their customers," said J. Nick Koston, Chief Technical Officer of cPanel. "The Toolkit really does check every box we had in mind."

The sheer amount of one-click features is notable. From Smart Updates to automatic hardening which protects against security vulnerabilities, and the auto-installation of plugin and theme sets, WP Toolkit for cPanel sets the new standard for WordPress website management at scale.

The free Lite version can be accessed by upgrading to a supported cPanel version (86 LTS, 90, and 92), and the feature-packed Deluxe version is available through cPanel Partners and the cPanel Store. To get started, check out the full list of features and benefits here: https://cpanel.net/wp-toolkit/.

About cPanel, L.L.C.

Established in 1997 by CTO J. Nick Koston and acquired by WebPros in 2019, cPanel provides one of the Internet industry's most reliable and intuitive web hosting automation software platforms. With its rich feature set and customer-first support, the fully-automated hosting server management platform empowers infrastructure providers and gives customers the ability to administer every aspect of their website using simple point-and-click software. Based in Houston, TX, cPanel employs over 260 team members and has customers in more than 70 countries.

"cPanel" and "cPanel & WHM" are registered trademarks of cPanel, L.L.C.

For further information, please contact:

Lisa Stauber, cPanel L.L.C.

Phone: (832) 873-0574

Email: [email protected]

Related Links

WordPress Toolkit | cPanel

Introduction to WP Toolkit for cPanel

SOURCE cPanel

President Joe Biden has announced a lofty goal in the opening days of his administration: Cut the rate of childhood poverty in half.

His proposed policies would slash whats known as the supplemental poverty rate of all U.S. children from 14% to about 8%, according to analysts at Columbia Universitys Center on Poverty and Social Policy. (Considered more accurate than the official U.S. poverty rate, the supplemental rate takes into account the benefits a family receives, such as food stamps, as well as a familys expenses such as health care.)

In Pennsylvania, the rate would drop from nearly 14% to about 8%; in New Jersey, it would fall from a little more than 14% to almost 10%, according to Columbia figures.

Far-reaching and broadly divergent from Trump administration policies, Bidens proposals would increase benefits for food stamps and school meals programs, and offer cash to strapped families, among other recommendations.

 READ MORE: How Americas approach to poverty could change in a Biden administration, Congress willing

As sweeping as the Biden vision is, its viewed as a stopgap measure meant to help Americans through the economic ravages of the pandemic. But some antipoverty advocates are hopeful that the ideas  along with the money to fund them  will last into the future.

This is the most aggressive proposal by an American president on behalf of families in poverty in decades, said Luke Shaefer, a professor of public policy and poverty expert at the University of Michigan. It could be a turning point.

Kathy Fisher, policy director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, agreed: Its significant and a targeted way to reach those most in need.

On Friday, Biden signed executive orders that would ask the Department of Agriculture to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly called food stamps, by 15% to 20% for a family of four. This would benefit about 12 million families, according to the White House.

The order also would provide extra money to families to pay for the meals children would have gotten free at school had the pandemic not compelled them to learn virtually from home. Some estimates are that a family with three children would receive an extra $100 every two months.

Reacting to the executive orders, Joel Berg, CEO of the nationwide nonprofit Hunger Free America, called them commonsense moves that will address the nations joint crises in hunger and public health. He added that they represent the most significant administrative actions by the federal government to fight domestic hunger in modern times. This action is both smart and compassionate.

These latest recommendations augment what Biden had proposed as a candidate to help those in poverty, specifically children. Those proposals are based on previous legislation proposed by Democrats in Congress in 2017 and 2019.

Taken together, the new policy measures could result in five million children rising out of poverty, Fisher said.

As part of his nearly $2 trillion pandemic-relief plan, Biden has said he would offer an additional round of economic-impact payments through COVID-19 relief funding worth $1,400 per eligible adult and child recipient.

 READ MORE: Biden unveils a $1.9 trillion plan to stem the coronavirus and steady the economy

He would extend current unemployment insurance expansions through the end of September, with an increase in a weekly national supplement from $300 to $400.

Expanded child tax credit

Most significant if that Biden would expand the child tax credit (CTC) that currently offers as much as $2,000 a year for middle-class families, but little for those in poverty.

In essence, the way the plan has traditionally been aligned, people are penalized for being poor, said Shaefer. Households must currently earn at least $2,500 annually to get the credit. This means that people in poverty who dont make that much wouldnt be eligible.

Under Bidens plan, the size of the child credit would increase, and it would become fully available to all those in poverty, regardless of income. The way it would work is that benefits would be $3,000 a year per child ages 6 to 17. They would be $3,600 a year per child from newborn to age 5. And Biden would make the payments monthly, instead of a lump sum as it is now, to aid in family budgeting.

Biden would also expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for the remainder of the year. His plan would raise the maximum credit for adults without children from $530 to nearly $1,500, and raise the income limit for the credit from $16,000 to about $21,000.

That the Biden administration is aiming its sights on reducing childhood poverty is fantastic, said Dan Taylor, a pediatrician at St. Christophers Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia, where the childhood poverty rate can reach 33%.

Its scientifically proven that extending SNAP and increasing EITC works to help families with day-to-day poverty and food insecurity, the lack of enough money to buy food to sustain a healthy life. The scars of childhood food insecurity last into adulthood, Taylor said.

 READ MORE: How low-income people are spending their $600 pandemic stimulus payments

Even one year helps

While some experts lament that Bidens measures may be in effect for only a year, they still are vital steps, according to Joan Maya Mazelis, a sociologist at Rutgers University-Camden.

Even one year can make a difference, she said, explaining that cash received by a family in poverty can be used to pay down debt.

Its also true that if the proposals are passed, theres a chance theyll develop staying power and become harder to undo, Mazelis said.

Beyond that, reducing poverty dramatically among children for a single year would prove to Americans whats possible in a short time, said Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co-executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality.

Mazelis agreed: Even if the president cant get all these proposals through Congress, hes setting a different tone from the other administration. Biden is saying the poor are us, citizens of this country we have to take care of.

During the Trump administration, the prevailing notion was that those in poverty are malingerers taking advantage of the system, said Robert Fullilove, professor of socio-medical sciences and dean of community and minority affairs at Columbias Mailman School of Public Health. The thinking was average Americans were being scammed by welfare cheats in housing projects. Trump made four different efforts to cut or curtail SNAP benefits, even when Republicans supported them.

While people are lauding Biden, its important to note that Americas poverty problems will not simply disappear, said Mariana Chilton, professor at Drexel Universitys Dornsife School of Public Health and director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities.

This doesnt mean the Biden administration is ending poverty, she said. SNAP is still inadequate for paying the true cost of healthy food.

The Biden package is a start. It helps in the short term  it buys some time for families. Lets hope the Biden-Harris administration will generate more transformative solutions for the long term.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the citys push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.
[January 25, 2021] AB INTL GROUP Announces the Prepayment of a Convertible Note Held by Power Up

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AB International Group Corp. (OTCQB: ABQQ), an intellectual property (IP) and movie investment and licensing firm today announced On January 11, 2021, the company issued a total of 20,000 shares of our newly designated Series B Preferred Stock to the companys CEO Chiyuan Deng for $320,000 in cash, at the stated value of $16 per share. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1605331/000166357721000017/abqq8k.htm

On January 22, 2021, we prepaid a convertible promissory note dated July 24, 2020 (the Note) held by accredited investor. The Company made a $190,925.48 prepayment of principal and interest on the Note and, in connection with this prepayment, the Note was terminated. And there released 354,792,914 they reserved shares to the Company treasury. Chiyuan Deng, ABs Chief Executive Officer stated, "We are pleased to announce we will continue to arrange full repayment and termination of all Notes that the company previously issued. The repayments create financial flexibility for the Company as we manage our capital requirements and seek to maximize shareholder vlue."



About AB International Group Corp.

AB International Group Corp. is an intellectual property (IP) and movie investment and licensing firm, focused on acquisitions and development of various intellectual property. We are engaged to acquisition and distribution of movies. The Company has a Patent License to a video synthesis and release system for mobile communications equipment, in which the technology is the subject of a utility model patent in the People's Republic of China. The Company engages highly anticipated video streaming service targeting global multi-billion dollar and growing video streaming industry. The online service will be marketed and distributed in the world under the brand name ABQQ.tv ( www.abqq.tv ). ABQQ.tv is expected to generate a new and profitable revenue stream immediately following its launch derived from its hybrid subscription and advertising business model. For additional information visit www.abqqs.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to changes to the Company's management team and statements relating to the Company's transformation, financial and operational performance including the acceleration of revenue and margins, and the Company's overall strategy. Because forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the possibility of business disruption, competitive uncertainties, and general economic and business conditions in AB International Groups markets as well as the other risks detailed in company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AB International Group undertakes no obligation to update any statements in this press release for changes that happen after the date of this release. Investor Relations Contact:

Jeff Deng

(212) 918-4519

corp@abqqs.com



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After an argument, a Malaga man allegedly threw a slipper at his daughter, hitting her arm and causing a minor injury that healed in one day according to medical reports.

The mother reported the incident to the authorities and now the Malaga Prosecutor's Office is calling for a 12-month prison sentence for the man in relation to the charges of mistreatment and harassment of the girl.

The father's lawyer, Nabila Pozo, from the Civium Abogados law firm, said the girl's mother has now withdrawn the complaint, but the Prosecutor's Office wants to press ahead with the charges.

According to the prosecutor's account of events, the father threw a slipper at the twelve-year-old girl, aiming at her head, although it actually hit her on the arm, a fact that the defendant has always denied. In turn, the public prosecutor also claims the man directed insults towards his daughter and later towards his ex-partner, which the accused said have been taken out of context.

The prosecutor says that for the crime of mistreatment, the father should face a year in prison and is also calling for a restraining order which would not allow the man within 500 metres of his daughter for two years and not be allowed to contact her by any means for the same period. The public official has also called for a restraining and communication order with respect to the mans ex-partner, for a period of four months.

Finally, the public prosecutor has asked the courts to force the defendant to pay thirty euros to his daughter for the minor injuries she received when she was hit by the slipper.
OTTAWA - Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government is "looking seriously" at tougher travel measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandatory hotel quarantines for air travellers returning from non-essential trips abroad.

Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance Mona Fortier holds a press conference as she is joined virtually by Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Lawmakers return to the House of Commons today following the winter break.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government is "looking seriously" at tougher travel measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandatory hotel quarantines for air travellers returning from non-essential trips abroad.

"I would like to stress that we are taking this measure very, very seriously. We are considering the issue very, very seriously," Freeland said in a news conference Monday in response to a question about the potential quarantine rule.

Freeland's remarks, given in French, build on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's publicly expressed openness earlier this month to tighter restrictions, sparking questions about how a stricter isolation regime would work.

Successful pandemic repellers from South Korea to Australia require 14-day hotel quarantines for passengers arriving from abroad.

In New Zealand, which had 64 active COVID-19 cases as of Monday, passengers head straight to a "managed isolation facility"  a hotel  if they have no symptoms or a "quarantine facility" if they do.

In South Korea, most non-residents must self-isolate for two weeks at a government-designated facility at their own expense and download a tracking app to ensure compliance.

The federal government has not consulted with the airline industry about more stringent measures, said Mike McNaney, head of the National Airlines Council of Canada.

"Theres been no reach-out," added Air Transat spokesman Christophe Hennebelle.

If implemented, the quarantine requirement would serve to deter leisure travel, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious-disease physician at St. Joseph's hospital in Hamilton, Ont., and an associate professor at McMaster University.

Rather than rigid adherence to two weeks of isolation, the move should include scheduled testing that might allow guests who come up negative to go home early, he said.

"Whether or not it has to be the entire 14 days or a shorter amount followed by testing is still up in the air," Chagla said.

Most cases are detectable after seven days  including mutated strains of the virus  he added, citing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About two per cent of cases with "known exposure" have been linked to international travel, and an even smaller proportion in recent weeks, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. However, there is still virtually no testing at the border and many recent cases do not have an identified source.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday the government should consider mandatory hotel quarantines as well as outright bans on non-essential overseas travel, which Quebec Premier Francois Legault has also called for.

Its more difficult to travel within your own province or frankly within Canada  than it is to jump on a flight and travel across the world. So some measure to limit non-essential air travel  I think theres a strong case to be made," Singh said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford called on Trudeau to mandate testing of all arrivals, by air and land, saying he had confidence Ottawa would require it.

But we need it now," Ford said. "Every time I look up in the sky Im thinking, How many cases are coming in?'"

More than 150 international flights with confirmed COVID-19 cases have touched down in Canada in the past two weeks, according to figures from the public health agency.

The infected arrivals come despite new rules effective Jan. 7 that require passengers returning from abroad to show proof of negative results on a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure.

Canada has also barred most foreigners from entering the country since March, and requires two weeks of self-isolation at home upon return.

Prolonged confinement in a single room at a hotel could come with mental and emotional consequences.

It has not been easy for the people I know that have gone to Australia. Its fairly hard to deal with it," Chagla said.

A sturdy internet connection, access to a computer or tablet and child-friendly accommodations would be key to easing the psychological strain, he said.

"You may need some ability to have people outdoors in the facility to get fresh air. It is kind of cruel to impose 14 days in a dusty hotel room thats one bed and very limited TV channels."

The airlines council, whose members include Air Canada and WestJet, along with unions representing 325,000 aviation workers, have been pushing for a relief package and a comprehensive testing plan for months.

On Monday, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra reiterated the government's pledge to support the sector financially on the condition that airlines refund passengers whose flights were cancelled during the pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021.
For Bob and Max Jason, family is a volunteer fire department located in a small New Jersey town.

Its just a big extension to your family, Max said. Thats what it is.

Its like a big brotherhood, Bob said. Were all there for each other all the time.

Bob and Max spoke figuratively to highlight the camaraderie between themselves and the 40 or so members of the Amwell Valley Fire Company. But between them, the words can only be applied literally.

Earlier this month, Max Jason, 29, became the youngest chief in the history of Amwell Valley Fire Company. He will lead the fire department with help from his father, Bob, a two-time former chief currently serving as deputy chief for the Ringoes-based station.

Bill Davis, a member of the fire/police division of the department, described the father-and-son leadership duo as a rare moment in time not only for the department, but for first responders everywhere.

A lot of kids would love to have that  we grew up together, Ive raised you as a firefighter, and now look at you, Davis said. Now youre the chief of it, youre the youngest one in the history of the fire department, and your father is now an assistant chief working right underneath.

It should be something thats memorialized in time, Bill said. Its a great thing, and Im glad to be a part of it.

Max knew from an early age that he wanted to follow in his fathers footsteps and join the Amwell Valley Fire Company, stating that he was always around it, some way or another.

Ive been around it my whole life pretty much, whether or not I was with him  my mother was with the Ladies Auxiliary, so wed also bring him food, Max said. It was very interesting and fascinating to me. Everything that went on, how it happened  I always enjoyed being around. So it was kind of second nature to jump into it and go.

Max became a firefighter for the department in 2008, roughly 27 years after his father, Bob, first joined.

I wanted to do something to help out, Bob said.

While expressing pride in his sons decision to also dedicate his life to servicing the East Amwell community, Bob labeled one of the most difficult days in the department the first time he saw Max walk into a burning building.

I was running the pump on the engine, and it kind of made my stomach knot up a little bit, Bob said. You always think about it because you watch the guys going in: theres always a possibility of something going wrong ... But he came out and everything turned out fine.

Both Max and Bob balance full-time jobs with working at the fire department, which they said amounts to roughly a 10-hour commitment each week  pending on the call volume, which averages to around 150 to 200 calls each year.

Bob Jason, left, and Max Jason, right, at the Amwell Valley Fire Company in Ringoes on Jan. 20, 2021.Keith A. Muccilli | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

According to Bob, who served as chief of the department from 1995 to 1997, and again from 2002 to 2004, the fire company has changed a lot in the four decades hes served on it.

Weve gone from being considered a little group of farmers .. to actually being respected as firemen now, Bob said. Some of the older guys had the habit of just showing up in their work clothes and never using the equipment that they needed, and now weve gotten past all that to where everybody puts on their turnout gear and all their protective equipment.

While acknowledging that he hasnt seen as big of a change as my father, Max said hes also seen the department improve in his 13 years on it.

Weve gained a lot of respect from our mutual aid companies, our surrounding companies, just for how were doing things and who is showing up and our knowledge, Max said.

And it all goes back to we do a lot more training that we used to, Bob added.

This past year alone, the department has had to adapt to more changes than usual. The coronavirus pandemic forced volunteers to place limitations on training and response procedures in order to adhere to health and safety guidelines while on call.

However, both Max and Bob pinpointed their greatest challenge moving forward to be increasing the number of volunteers for the department.

We dont have the membership that we truly need. We could always use more, Max said. Were working with the person that handles our social media. He also just developed a whole new website for us that just went live a few days ago ... just doing that kind of stuff will help, and then were going to start discussing more ways to bring in members in the coming weeks.

Noting that 2021 marked his time to hold the position of chief, Max expressed his preparedness to lead the fire department hes known his entire life.

And his words were reiterated by the reason that he has.

Hes grown leaps and bounds over the time that hes been in (the department) ... more than some other members have, Bob said. And his knowledge is, at this point  I think its surpassing some of my knowledge.

Im just trying to do the best I can, and hopefully I can do something just as good or better than what (my father) has, Max said. Thats just what I look to do.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.
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FLORENCE, Ariz.  Authorities were searching Sunday for two inmates who escaped from the state prison in Florence by breaching a fence using tools retrieved from a facility room.

Arizona Department of Corrections officials said John Charpiot and David Harmon escaped Saturday from the medium custody south unit.

They said the two werent accounted for during the 8:30 p.m. inmate count after being there for the 4 p.m. count.

Charpiot and Harmon broke into a tool shed by knocking down an air conditioning unit and breaking through a wall, according to authorities.

The two inmates were able to obtain a bolt cutter, wire snips and other items and used them to cut a fence.

The items were recovered inside and outside the facility room.

At a news conference Sunday at the Florence prison, Corrections officials said department is offering rewards of $25,000 per inmate for information leading to their arrests.

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................................................................

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the US Marshals Service has offered an additional $10,000 per inmate, bringing the total to $70,000.

Corrections officials said they have dispatched chase teams, tracking dog teams and a fugitive apprehension unit to find the escaped inmates along with help from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

DPS Col. Heston Silbert said the search includes roadblocks out of Florence, two different SWAT teams, air units and investigators contacting possible affiliates of the inmates.

Charpiot was sent to prison in 2011 on a 35-year sentence for molestation of a child and sexual abuse out of Maricopa County.

Harmon has been imprisoned since 2012 after being convicted out of Maricopa County and sentenced to 100 years for kidnapping and second-degree burglary charges.
The Kaduna State High Court, on Monday, ordered the prison authorities in the state to evacuate the wife of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Zeenat, to an isolation centre for COVID-19 treatment.

The judge, Gideon Kurada, specifically ordered that she should be moved from the Kaduna prisons to a government-approved isolation and treatment centre.

Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife are being detained at the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Kaduna for their ongoing trial before the Kaduna State High Court on culpable homicide, among other charges.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the authorities of the Nigerian Correctional Centres claim that they were not aware that Zeenat tested positive for COVID-19.

But the News Agency of Nigeria reports that the couples defence lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, confirmed that Zeenat had tested positive for COVID-19.

NAN reports that Mr Falana confirmed her clients positive COVID-19 status in an interview with journalists after Mondays session of the couples trial which is being conducted behind closed doors.

The trial is, by consent of both the prosecution and the defence, being conducted in the absence of the two defendants.

Mr Falana said his team presented the results of the COVID test before the court and applied that Zeenat, the second defendant, who tested positive for the virus more than one week, be taken to a proper medical facility for treatment.

He said the medical facility at the Kaduna Correctional Centre lacked the needed facilities to treat COVID-19 patients.

He said, Today at the resumed trial of the clients case, the prosecution brought four witnesses including a medical doctor who testified before the court.

But we also applied to the court, we drew the attention of the court on behalf of our clients to the fact that the wife of our client, Zeenat, had tested positive for the dangerous COVID-19 and she is being treated in the medical centre of the correctional facility.

Also, Mr Chris Umar, the state Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Justice, said the prosecution did not object to the application.

He said the prosecution presented four witnesses, bringing the number of prosecution witnesses who had so far testified before the court to eight.

Two army officers, a retired director of State Security Service and a medical doctor are among the prosecution witnesses that have testified in the case so far.

The secret trial of the IMN leader and his wife Zeenat began on November 18, 2020 at the High Court.

The Kaduna State Government charged Mr El-Zakzaky and wife with eight counts including culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of the public peace among other charges.

The IMN leader and his wife pleaded not guilty to the alleged offences.

They were accused of committing the offences during a bloody confrontation between IMN members and soldiers in the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, in December 2015.

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The trial was adjourned till January 26. (NAN)
Francesca Paris covers North Adams for The Berkshire Eagle. A California native and Williams College alumna, she has worked at NPR in Washington, D.C. and WBUR in Boston, as a news reporter, producer and editor. Find her on Twitter at @fparises.
Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB), a leading Bank in the Arab Gulf region, has announced Verofax as winner of the 'BisB Innovation Challenge', a Fintech Competition run as part of the Bank's partnership with 'FinHub 973: CBB (Central Bank of Bahrain) Digital Lab', the kingdom's open application programming interface (API) innovation platform.

Verofax, a mature and enterprise-ready service provider, was selected after rigorous screening to ensure a solution with the requisite level of feasibility and security to maintain the confidentiality and security of customers' financial data.

Verofax, founded by Wassim Merheby, and technology partner Turnkey Lender proposed a unique approach in emerging as the Fintech with potential to build the most promising Proof of Concept (PoC) for the sought solution. Verofax offered a PoC for a Credit Scoring solution, incorporating alternative and unstructured datasets, to improve the banks speed and breadth of its financial services to existing and new clients.

The Credit Scoring solution will constitute a platform that uses adaptive machine learning and sophisticated AI (Artificial Intelligence) to empower the bank's financial advisory unit with advanced data insights to enable them to provide a more personalized banking experience for their clients, especially in the wake of a pandemic that is evolving the banking landscape.

14 challengers from around the globe participated in the BisB Innovation Challenge, which was powered as the FinHub 973: CBB Digital Lab by Fintech Galaxy. The appointed judging panel comprised of Osama Nasr, Chief Information Officer of BisB; Wesam Baqer, Chief Corporate & Institutional Banking of BisB; and Yasmeen Al Sharaf, Head of Fintech and Innovation Unit at the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).

Panel judge Wesam Baqer, Chief Corporate & Institutional Banking of BisB reiterated support for Verofax as the winner, stating: "We are confident that the Credit Scoring solution will bring a level of innovation to the banking industry that is both convenient and safe. The sought solution will ultimately simplify money matters for our customers' securely, and it will streamline internal operations while providing them with data-backed intelligence, allowing us to deliver an exceptional level of service, which was ultimately the determining criteria in our selection of the winning participant, Verofax."

Chief Executive Officer of BisB, Hassan Jarrar, said: "The BisB Innovation Challenge and tech-focused Fintech Competitions of this nature are imperative for innovation, especially considering the upcoming challenges facing the financial industry, both in the wake of Covid-19 and in order to effectively bridge the existent gap we have in the market when it comes to innovative Fintech solutions. We want to create better synergies between FinTechs and Banks, and harness the power of technology and AI to solve real issues, and encourage cross-industry collaboration, in order to offer a transformed customer experience."

Wassim Merheby, CEO of Verofax Limited, added: "AI-based credit scoring solutions are innovative services that draw intelligence from non-linear relationships across a plethora of unstructured and alternative datasets. The service powers banks with unmatched visibility and speed while helping reduce the probability of default and increase financial inclusion. We partnered with Turnkey Lender to provide BisB with exclusive solutions to secure its financial services with simplicity."

Dmitry Voronenko, CEO and co-founder of TurnKey Lender congratulated Verofax, saying: "We're extremely excited about helping larger audiences in the Middle East extend fully digital affordable credit to their clients locally and worldwide. We are happy and delighted to be selected by our partner Verofax. We look forward to continued and extended collaboration on new lending automation, credit scoring, and decisioning projects." - TradeArabia News Service

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This year is all about new beginnings for Kareena Kapoor Khan. As her due date for her second pregnancy is around the corner, the diva has moved into her new apartment to welcome her second child.





Kareena shared a nostalgic post recently as she spent her last day at Fortune Heights with her close friends - Malaika Arora Khan, Amrita Arora and her sister Karisma Kapoor. They were all seen having a gala time with a table filled with desserts in front of them. Seeing the pictures one could say there were two sumptuous desserts that were visible - one being a caramel custard and the other one looked like a baked biscoff cheesecake. The diva was seen in a gleeful state as she made some lasting memories with her close gang before moving into her new apartment.
The Thai domestic vehicle market will likely decline by a further 5% this year after a more than 21% drop in 2020, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said.

It is forecasting domestic sales to reach 750,000 units in 2021, down from 792,146 last year, with the recent COVID-19 outbreaks around the world expected to hold back economic activity in the country.

The FTI said it expected vehicle production to rise by just under 6% to 1.5m units from 1.42m last year, lifted by a moderate rise in exports which are forecast to account for around half of total output.

Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesperson for the FTI's automotive industry division, said: "We are still worried about second and third coronavirus waves in some countries, while Thailand now is experiencing a second wave."

Surapong added the local automotive industry was struggling with a shortage of semiconductors which may further hold back exports over the full year after declining by over 30% in 2020.

He added: "There is also a shortage of chips, forcing some carmakers stop production temporarily."

Thailand auto sales and production to stabilise in 2021 - analyst

Thai sales fall 21% in 2020
A 20-year-old woman died after her Honda Accord hit a utility pole Sunday on the Southeast Side, San Antonio police said.

The woman has been identified as Breeana Sandoval. Police said they are unsure how Sandoval died and have opened a sudden death investigation.

According to police, Sandoval was driving eastbound in the 2200 block of Steves Avenue at around 1:30 p.m. when she intentionally drove the Honda across the outside lane, jumped the curb and hit the utility pole. Police said there was no evidence of Sandoval breaking or attempting to avoid the crash.

Sandoval was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation is ongoing.

Editor's note: The story was updated to correct the direction of the crash.

Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for ExpressNews.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway
Iran has asked Indonesia to provide details about the seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel , Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday, a day after Jakarta said it had seized Iran and Panama-flagged tankers in its waters.

Indonesia said on Sunday its coast guard had seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country's waters.

Khatibzadeh said that the seizure was over a "a technical issue and it happens in shipping field".

"Our Ports Organisation and the ship owner company are looking to find the cause of the issue and resolve it," Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.

Coast guard spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the tankers, seized in waters off Kalimantan province, will be escorted to Batam island in Riau Island Province for further investigation.

"The tankers, first detected at 5:30 a.m. local time (2130 GMT on Jan. 23) concealed their identity by not showing their national flags, turning off automatic identification systems and did not respond to a radio call," Wisnu said in a statement on Sunday.

Wisnu told Reuters on Monday that the ships were "caught red-handed" transferring oil from MT Horse to MT Freya and that there was an oil spill around the receiving tanker.

He added that 61 crew members onboard the vessels were Iranian and Chinese nationals and had been detained. Indonesia's foreign and energy ministries did not immediately comment on the matter.

The International Maritime Organization requires vessels to use transponders for safety and transparency. Crews can turn off the devices if there is a danger of piracy or similar hazards. But transponders are often shut down to conceal a ship's location during illicit activities.

Both the supertankers, each capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil, were last spotted earlier this month off Singapore, shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon showed.

Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) MT Horse, owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), was almost fully loaded with oil while VLCC MT Freya, managed by Shanghai Future Ship Management Co, was empty, the data showed.

NITC was not immediately available for comment.

A search by Reuters on Chinese company directory found that the registered office address of Shanghai Future Ship Management Co came under another firm named Shanghai Chengda Ship Management. Several calls made to the office went unanswered.

Iran has been accused of concealing the destination of its oil sales by disabling tracking systems on its tankers, making it difficult to assess how much crude Tehran exports as it seeks to counter U.S. sanctions.

In 2018, former President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers and reimposed sanctions aimed at cutting Tehran's oil exports to zero.

Iran sent the MT Horse vessel to Venezuela last year to deliver 2.1 million barrels of Iranian condensate.

Over the past few months, MT Freya has delivered two crude oil cargoes totalling about 4 million barrels into Qingdao port on the east coast of China and northeast Yingkou port, said Emma Li, a senior crude analyst with Refinitiv.

The Qingdao cargo was declared as Upper Zakum crude produced in the United Arab Emirates, said Li, who tracks China-destined crude oil shipments.

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Despite Pakistans repeated objections over Indias intentions to construct a on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi has decided to go ahead with the construction work of the project, maintaining that it does not violate terms of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

Pakistan has raised its concerns with the World Bank, stating that India's project was not in consistency with the IWT.

Pakistan has maintained that the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers are reserved for the country, while the Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej rivers are reserved for India under the IWT, signed in 1960 between the two nations,

Islamabad has repeatedly stated that it has serious concerns over designs of the Pakal Dul, Ratle and Lower Kalnai projects, insisting that India would be using the reservoirs to create deliberate and artificial water shortage or cause flooding in Pakistan.

"These projects have been designed in violation of the IWT," said a government official.

Official sources have confirmed to IANS that Pakistan has approached the World Bank with a fresh protest.

However, Islamabad's efforts do not seem to hinder India as the Narendra Modi-led government has decided to go ahead with the construction of the 850 megawatt Ratle hydroelectric power project, approval of which came during a recent meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.

In 2019, India had accepted Pakistan's request for inspection of the hydropower project on the Chenab basin.

After the visit of the Pakistani delegation, Islamabad had raised objections over Pakal Dul's design being in violation of the Sindh Taas Agreement of 2012.

"Pakistan had demanded that the freeboard height should be reduced from seven-feet to two-feet and the installation of the seal way gates should be done with an additional 40 metres in order to bring 1,620 metres and align it with sea level," said a government official.

While Pakistan is hopeful that its fresh protests with the World Bank would yield results and help in stopping India from what it calls, blocking the country's water through construction of its reservoirs, Modi inaugurated the projects and is all set to start the construction work also.

Pakistani government officials maintain that this is New Delhi's rivalry with Islamabad and its ambitions to create hurdles for the country by blocking its water and using it for flooding whenever it deems fit.

--IANS

hamza/ksk/
Investigations editor

Larry Parnass, investigations editor, joined The Eagle in 2016 from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, where he was editor in chief. His freelance work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant and CommonWealth Magazine.
Getting the itch to just get away from your home and head out on the next adventure? As American travelers are scouring websites in search of their next travel experience for 2021, there's a unique getaway option right here in Houston that's recently revamped its amenities and design direction.

Only five minutes from Houston's Galleria-Uptown area, newly renovated Grand Tuscany Hotel announced that it's now a part of the WorldHotels Distinctive Collection after quietly launching last year. Early last year, Grand Tuscany Hotel rolled out initial renovations, but operations were soon derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

GET OFF THE GRID: Where Americans want to travel in 2021

"We took a low-profile at that time, because everything was shut down," Grand Tuscany Managing Director Syed Hasan told Chron. "What happened it's a great marriage between us and WorldHotels. It fits the concept of everything WorldHotels believes in. It was a win-win for us."

The upscale hotel currently features 280 guest rooms, which blend modern design and indulgent amenities. The big draw for Texas guests is the hotel's island oasis, which includes a 350-foot lazy river, poolside cabanas and a resort-style pool.

Grand Tuscany Hotel

"The entire structure of the hotel was redone completely," Hasan said. "We've basically added in the courtyarda lazy river, the island oasis, the private cabanas, and a huge greeting space. We've also created some unique designer suites featuring Versace, Gucci and Louis Vuitton furniture."

Hasan said the hotel also designed private home theater suites.

"For staycations, this is an ideal spot. If you want to get away from home and you want a resort atmosphere, this is it," Hasan said.

Grand Tuscany Hotel

If you're a Houston foodie in search of unique ambience, the hotel features four different outlets of fine dining, including the Brasserie Restaurant, the Barista Cafe, Audrey Wine Room and private-dining option Audrey II.

"In fact, Audrey Hepburn is the theme of the fine dining," Hasan said. "It's a facility that really attracts a lot of people, artists."

Hasan added that the hotel is a perfect spot for families.

"It's amazing for families, for leisure. They love to spend time by the pool," Hasan said. "They can spend all of the time by the pool, and then at night, you can have your own private home theater where you can watch movies."
[January 25, 2021] Parsons Team Ready to Protect U.S. Air Force Air Bases

CENTREVILLE, Va., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) announced today that it would lead an industry team of Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), SAIC (NYSE: SAIC), and SRC, Inc., in pursuit of a 10-year, $953 million effort with the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa to design, mature, procure, integrate, operate, and maintain Air Base Air Defense (ABAD) systems across the European and African continent areas of responsibility. "As asymmetric threats from emerging technologies continue to proliferate, we're focused on developing a flexible, responsive, all-domain air base defense system to rapidly detect, alert, deny or defeat threats ranging from low-cost irregular attacks to hypersonic weapons," said Shaun McGrath, ABAD program manager at Parsons. "Our team's open architecture, platform-agnostic approach, coupled with cutting edge technologies and innovation labs, brought together by a team with relevant operational experience in all-domain systems integration, creates a best value and highly capable offering that will deliver scalable air base air defense systems to protects warfighters and their assets today and into the future." The Parsons team will focus on the maturation of an all-domain system comprised of commercial off-the-shelf and government off-the-shelf software and hardware technologies with an integrated design to protect existing and future air bases. Parsons touches every aspect of the all-domain battlespace: from space operations to edge computing and full-spectrum cyber; to ground-based command and control systems. The company's proven operational capabilities will ensure all-domain superiority and information dominance to accelerate decision making in permissive through highly contested environments. Leidos provides a diverse portfolio of systems, solutions, and services covering air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for customers worldwide  including the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), NATO, and the Intelligence Community. Their solutions include enterprise and mission IT, large-scale intelligence systems, command and control, geospatial and data analytics, cybersecurity, logistics, training, intelligence analysis, and operations support. Science Applications International Corp.'s (SAIC's) robust portfolio of offerings includes high-end solutions in systems engineering and integration; enterprise IT, including cloud services, cyber, and software; advanced analytics and simulation; and training that will be used to advance the ABAD mission and protect deployed warfighters. SRC, Inc., a not-for-profit research and development company, solves "impossible" problems in the areas of defense, environment, and intelligence. The company helps defend America and its allies with advanced radars, electronic warfare systems, RF system analysis, simulation, and reprogramming technologies and services. Since 1957, SRC's commitment to the customer and the best solution  not the bottom line  has remained a core value that guides its efforts. To learn more about Parsons all-domain solutions, please visit: www.parsons.com/markets/defense/ About Parsons Parsons (NYSE: PSN) is a leading disruptive technology provider in the global defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets, with capabilities across cybersecurity, missile defense, space, connected infrastructure, and smart cities. Please visit Parsons.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook to learn how we're making an impact. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutons and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 38,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $11.09 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2020. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.



About SAIC SAIC is a premier Fortune 500 technology integrator driving our nation's digital transformation. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets includes secure high-end solutions in engineering, IT modernization, and mission solutions. Using our expertise and understanding of existing and emerging technologies, we integrate the best components from our own portfolio and our partner ecosystem to deliver innovative, effective, and efficient solutions that are critical to achieving our customers' missions.

We are 25,500 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has pro forma annual revenues of approximately $7.1 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom. About SRC, Inc. SRC, Inc. (@SRCDefense), a not-for-profit research and development company, combines information, science, technology and ingenuity to solve "impossible" problems in the areas of defense, environment and intelligence. Across our family of companies, we apply bright minds, fresh thinking and relentless determination to deliver innovative products and services that are redefining possible for the challenges faced by America and its allies. Since 1957, our commitment to the customer and the best solution  not the bottom line  has remained a core value that guides our efforts. This passion for quality carries through to the technologies we invent and manufacture, the laboratories and facilities we build, the people we hire, and communities we support. Today, more than 1,600 engineers, scientists and professionals work together at SRC to protect our people, environment and way of life. For more information, visit www.srcinc.com. Forward-Looking Statements This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, beliefs and assumptions, and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks, changes in circumstances, trends and factors that are difficult to predict, many of which are outside of our control. Accordingly, actual performance, results and events may vary materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, and you should not rely on the forward-looking statements as predictions of future performance, results or events. Numerous factors could cause actual future performance, results and events to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, including, among others: any issue that compromises our relationships with the U.S. federal government or its agencies or other state, local or foreign governments or agencies; any issues that damage our professional reputation; changes in governmental priorities that shift expenditures away from agencies or programs that we support; our dependence on long-term government contracts, which are subject to the government's budgetary approval process; the size of our addressable markets and the amount of government spending on private contractors; failure by us or our employees to obtain and maintain necessary security clearances or certifications; failure to comply with numerous laws and regulations; changes in government procurement, contract or other practices or the adoption by governments of new laws, rules, regulations and programs in a manner adverse to us; the termination or nonrenewal of our government contracts, particularly our contracts with the U.S. federal government; our ability to compete effectively in the competitive bidding process and delays, contract terminations or cancellations caused by competitors' protests of major contract awards received by us; our ability to generate revenue under certain of our contracts; any inability to attract, train or retain employees with the requisite skills, experience and security clearances; the loss of members of senior management or failure to develop new leaders; misconduct or other improper activities from our employees or subcontractors; our ability to realize the full value of our backlog and the timing of our receipt of revenue under contracts included in backlog; changes in the mix of our contracts and our ability to accurately estimate or otherwise recover expenses, time and resources for our contracts; changes in estimates used in recognizing revenue; internal system or service failures and security breaches; and inherent uncertainties and potential adverse developments in legal proceedings, including litigation, audits, reviews and investigations, which may result in materially adverse judgments, settlements or other unfavorable outcomes. These factors are not exhaustive and additional factors could adversely affect our business and financial performance. For a discussion of additional factors that could materially adversely affect our business and financial performance, see the factors included under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and speak only as of the date on which they are made. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement made in this presentation that becomes untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise, except to the extent we are required to do so in connection with our ongoing requirements under federal securities laws. Media Contact:

Bryce McDevitt

+1 703.851.4425

Bryce.McDevitt@parsons.com Investor Relations Contact:

Dave Spille

+ 1 571.655.8264

Dave.Spille@parsons.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parsons-team-ready-to-protect-us-air-force-air-bases-301213673.html SOURCE Parsons Corporation

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Restrictions on foreign business ownership will not automatically be lifted should the proposed amendments to the Constitution be ratified, the chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments said Sunday.

Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin said Charter change will only give the next Congresses the freedom to enact legislation that will be more responsive to economic conditions.

It will not automatically lift the restriction, but if the circumstances so warrant, magkakaroon na ng paraan at kapangyarihan ang ating Kongreso (our Congress will have a way and power to do it). So whether to increase the foreign equity participation in the areas of national patrimony and economy, it will be debated upon by the next Congress, Garbin said in a virtual forum.

Contrary to some critics claim, Garbin said there wouldnt be a wholesale amendment of the Constitution. He reiterated his assurance that lawmakers will not touch the Constitutions political provisions.

When I come out with the committee report, that will solely and exclusively be for economic provisions only. And when it is referred to the plenary, ang debate pa rin ay naka-sentro sa economic provisions. And when itoy pagbotohan on third reading, ang pagbobotohan pa rin ay economic provisions, he said.

[Translation: And when it is referred to the plenary, the debate will still focus on the economic provisions. And even when voting will be done on third reading, what lawmakers will still be voting on is the economic provisions.]

Garbin also noted that whatever will be approved in the committee and in the plenary remains a proposal "until it is ratified by the Filipino people and the plebiscite called for that purpose.

Garbins committee is set to hold another hearing on Tuesday on the proposed Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 authored by Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco. The measure seeks to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution by inserting the phrase, unless otherwise provided by law.

Resource persons invited to the hearing include representatives from the academe, joint foreign chambers, as well as economists.

Meanwhile, the Senate will have its first deliberation on economic Cha-cha on Wednesday, through a joint hearing by the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Laws and the Committee on Economic Affairs.

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Digital Editor
FEMAs plan would need to be approved by the White House budget office. After Mr. Bidens win, members of his transition team said they saw the new funding as a way for the incoming administration to make good on its promise to address climate change.

A spokesman for the White House, Vedant Patel, did not respond to requests for comment.

The proposal marks an effort by the Biden administration to address what experts call climate adaptation  an area of climate policy thats different from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and focuses on better protecting people, homes and communities from the consequences of a warming planet. Those include more frequent and severe storms, flooding and wildfires, as well as rising seas.

The United States has a mixed record on that front.

In many coastal states, home construction is increasing the fastest in the most flood-prone areas, including places that could soon be underwater. And despite strong public support for tougher building codes in high-risk areas, just one-third of local jurisdictions have adopted disaster-resistant provisions in their building codes.

Faced with rapidly escalating disaster costs, the Trump administration took some steps to make communities more resilient to the effects of climate change, even if it refrained from using that term. FEMA and other agencies increased their focus on getting people to move away from vulnerable areas, rather than always paying them to rebuild in place. And the agency urged Congress to create the BRIC program to help cities and states increase their preparedness before a disaster, rather than after.

But federal officials were also hamstrung by Mr. Trumps insistence that climate change was overblown.

In 2018, when FEMA issued its four-year strategic plan for dealing with disasters, the words climate change were nowhere to be found. Faced with year after year of record wildfires in California, Mr. Trump said the problem was too many leaves on the forest floor. Told that rising temperatures were exacerbating the problem, Mr. Trump responded: Itll start getting cooler. You just  you just watch.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 01:09:03|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China will continue supporting developing countries in their fights against COVID-19 and contribute to making vaccines public goods that are accessible and affordable to all.

Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

Though geographically far apart, China and Dominica are good friends enjoying mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits, Xi said.

In the past almost 17 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, they have made substantial progress in bilateral ties, supported each other on issues concerning their core interests and major concerns, and maintained sound cooperation in such fields as infrastructure construction, agriculture, health and education, which have deepened the bond of friendship between the people of the two sides, Xi noted.

China appreciates that Dominica has made developing relations with China a diplomatic priority, and is ready to continue providing help within its capacity for Dominica's social and economic development, Xi said.

The Chinese president expressed belief that with joint efforts, China-Dominica friendly cooperative relations will certainly develop better.

Xi stressed that in the face of the sudden coronavirus outbreak, China and Dominica have joined hands to fight the pandemic, demonstrating a profound friendship of mutual help.

China, he added, will continue strongly supporting Dominica in its fight against COVID-19, providing assistance and support for developing countries, and striving to make vaccines public goods that are accessible and affordable to people in all countries.

The Chinese president also said the two countries should firmly support the World Health Organization in playing its due role, and work together to promote the building of a global community of health for all.

For his part, Skerrit said since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Dominica and China have always respected each other and treated each other as equals, setting a good example of relations between countries of different sizes.

The Chinese government is committed to putting the people first and solving the problem of unbalanced development, which provides valuable help for the economic and social development of Dominica and other developing countries, Skerrit said.

China has provided medical aid for Dominica and other countries in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and has promised to contribute to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, he added.

China has set an example for the world and is a true and trustworthy friend of Dominica, he said.

Dominica adheres to the one-China principle, supports China's peaceful reunification, firmly opposes any interference in China's internal affairs, and firmly stands with China on affairs concerning Hong Kong and Taiwan, he said.

Dominica appreciates China's leading role in the global response to climate change, and will actively participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road to promote the continuous development of Dominica-China relations and the relations between Caribbean countries and China. Enditem
[January 25, 2021] Peninsula Fiber Network Announces Leadership Succession Plan

MARQUETTE, Mich., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Peninsula Fiber Network, LLC (PFN), a provider of fiber optic-based telecommunications services throughout Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota today announced a succession plan for its retiring General Manager, David McCartney. Scott Randall announced as Peninsula Fiber Network general manager. McCartney, a 40-year veteran of the telecommunications industry has been at the helm of PFN since 2010. He has overseen significant growth as PFN expanded its footprint from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through the Lower Peninsula. Now, PFN provides services in 82 Michigan counties including almost all E-911 Emergency Call centers. Additionally, it extends its network into Wisconsin and portions of Minnesota. James Brogan, Vice President and Secretary of the Board of PFN and President of Hiawatha Communications Inc., said, "What started as a small company has grown in reach and complexity under Dave. PFN now operates one of the largest fiber optic networks in the Upper Midwest. Speaking for the Board, we have been very happy with the course Dave charted." Paul Stark, President of the Board of PFN and President and GeneralManager of Baraga Telephone Company stated, "Dave told the Board in 2020 that he wished to retire in March of 2021." The Board then began to draft a succession plan for Dave's role. An extensive search for Dave's successor was conducted with the Board selecting Scott Randall as PFN's next General Manager. McCartney will step aside as General Manager on April 1 but will continue as a special advisor to the PFN Board and Randall.



Randall is a 34-year telecommunications veteran who most recently served as Vice President and General Manager for Atlantic Broadband's Mid-Atlantic Region. His Michigan roots run deep as both his grandfather and father worked in the state's telecommunications industry. Randall stated, "I am energized by the opportunity to join PFN-- a great company with a great future. I look forward to my transition with Dave over the next few months as we both work with the Board."

Media Contact Scott Randall

PFN

906-232-1012

srandall@pfnllc.net www.pfnllc.net David S. McCartney McCartney is a CPA with expertise in telecommunications policy, regulatory, financial management and corporate structure. His experience spans both regulated and non-regulated telecommunications operations and management, including FCC Part 32 accounting rules and structures as well as the Rural Utility Service and US Government single audit and related documentation requirements. McCartney has a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Michigan Technical University and a Master's in Business Administration from Notre Dame du Lac University. Scott Randall Randall is a third-generation telecommunications industry veteran with over 34 years of experience. He began his career with GTE (now Verizon) and included later roles with Comcast, Sparklight, and Atlantic Broadband. In 2018 Maryland Governor Larry Hogan nominated him to serve on the state's Task Force on Rural Internet, Broadband, Wireless & Cellular Service. In 2020 he served as the Vice Chairman of the St. Mary's County Government (Maryland) Compensation Review Commission. Randall has a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/peninsula-fiber-network-announces-leadership-succession-plan-301214224.html SOURCE Peninsula Fiber Network

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In the early hey-days of the Range Rover, following its introduction in the 1970s, it was the vehicle of choice for the British rangers. The...
There were tears, tantrums and catfights during filming of the Married At First Sight Grand Reunion in Lilyfield, Sydney, last month.

And while the warring cast members are rumoured to have hurled shocking insults at each other at the dinner party, there are a few words you won't be hearing when the first episode of the two-part special airs on Channel Nine next Sunday.

According to New Idea magazine, the participants were given a list of 'banned words' which all related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Off limits: The stars of Married At First Sight's Grand Reunion special were reportedly given a list of 'banned words' which all related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Pictured (L-R): Charlene Perera, Ryan Gallagher, Jo McPharlin, Michael Brunelli and Martha Kalifatidis

The producers reportedly didn't want Covid-19 being discussed at the dinner table because they wanted the focus to be on the contestants' relationships instead.

The following words were allegedly banned: 'Covid', 'coronavirus', 'lockdown' and 'pandemic'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.

MAFS bubble: The producers didn't want Covid-19 being discussed at the dinner table because they wanted the focus to be on the contestants' relationships instead. Pictured: Troy Delmege

Meanwhile, Jessika Power and Cyrell Paule are set for a showdown at the upcoming Married At First Sight Grand Reunion special.

Things got so bad between the feuding brides during filming in December that Cyrell hurled a glass of wine into Jess' face and a water pitcher was almost thrown.

Jess, 28, also reportedly provoked Cyrell, 32, by describing her relationship with boyfriend Eden Dally as a 'showmance' - and even accused her of 'baby-trapping' the former Love Island star.

The claws are out: Meanwhile, Jessika Power (left) and Cyrell Paule (right) are set for a showdown at the upcoming Married At First Sight Grand Reunion special

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting there is any truth to Jessika's claims.

Producers were allegedly forced to step in and pull the women aside after the false 'baby-trapping' slur.

One source tells Daily Mail Australia that executive producer Tara McWilliams yelled 'Cyrell, that's enough!' before escorting her outside to cool down.

Earlier this month, Cyrell confirmed she had in fact thrown a glass of wine at Jessika as their war of words reached fever pitch.

Showdown: Jess reportedly provoked Cyrell by describing her relationship with boyfriend Eden Dally as a 'showmance' - and even accused her of 'baby-trapping' the Love Island star

Tears: One source tells Daily Mail Australia that executive producer Tara McWilliams yelled 'Cyrell, that's enough!' before escorting her outside to cool down as the argument escalated. Pictured: Jessika in tears after filming the Married At First Sight reunion last month

'There's been a lot of questions about whether I threw wine at Jess at the reunion. Yes, I did! And at the time it felt f**king good,' she said.

'For those saying I am aggressive, if I wanted to punch someone, I can! And there's a reason why wine was thrown instead of punches!'

Paparazzi pictures taken on the night the reunion was filmed showed Jessika in tears after her tense dinner party clash with Cyrell.

Happy family: Cyrell and Eden (pictured with their son, Boston) are in a committed relationship and Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting there is any truth to Jessika's claims

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia after their row, Jessika said: 'I was made to feel unsafe and I made it clear I didn't want that and that's exactly what happened.'

Meanwhile, a source said last month: 'Cyrell was on fire and attacking everybody, one after the other, until eventually things reached boiling point with Jess.'

The mother of one, known as 'Cyclone Cyrell' because of her fiery temper, had warned her co-stars before the reunion that she wouldn't hesitate to 'knock their a** back to last week' if they disrespected her.

Word of warning: The mother of one, known as 'Cyclone Cyrell' because of her fiery temper, had warned her co-stars before the reunion that she wouldn't hesitate to 'knock their a** back to last week' if they disrespected her

'If you want to come at me and disrespect me, I'll slap some sense back into you,' she wrote on Instagram.

'B**ch, I pushed a baby out of my hoo haa... don't think I'll hesitate in knocking your a** back to last week.'

Married At First Sight Grand Reunion will air over two nights on Sunday, January 31, at 7pm and Sunday, February 7, at 7pm on Nine and 9Now
Long queues of cars formed at the Czech-German frontier on Monday and cross-border workers voiced frustration as tighter restrictions for travel into Germany came into force.

At the Folmava-Furth im Wald border post -- where the Iron Curtain once separated East and West -- tempers flared as people waited around two hours to cross what is now an internal EU border.

"It's cold and it's snowing and there aren't even any toilets," Yveta Haladova, a Czech nurse working in Germany, told AFP.

"It's difficult for everyone, including my employer, because we do not know how long this is going to last," she said.

The car park at the border was full and around 150 cars could be seen in the queue to cross. A centre for carrying out antigen tests had been hastily set up in a customs building.

"I've just had my test and I'm waiting for the result, which should arrive by SMS or email," said Lukas Kottnauer, an auto industry worker.

"It's very annoying, especially since we are going to have to test every 48 hours."

As the Czech Republic is now classed as high risk by Germany because of an elevated coronavirus infection rate, anyone arriving from there must show a negative coronavirus test result.

In the case of people crossing the border into the German state of Bavaria like those at the Folmava border post, the test must have been taken within the past 48 hours -- meaning that commuters will need to take a test every other day.

- 'Complicates my life' -

Tens of thousands of Czech regularly travel to Germany for work, many of them in healthcare.

Medical worker Nikole Dzamova said she had been waiting for about an hour and a half.

"I don't know if I'll get into work on time. It really complicates my life because I go back and forth every day," she said.

Miroslava Jozova, who works in an electronics factory, said she was considering an offer from her company to provide her with lodging in Germany.

Story continues

"But that is just not possible for anyone with young children that has to go back to Czech Republic every day," she said.

At the border control, German police officer Gerhard Bauemler voiced frustration at people not respecting social distancing and smoking in the queue to get tested.

Bavaria plans to open more rapid test centres at various border crossing points, according to local media.

In the neighbouring German state of Saxony, the rule has been relaxed to allow workers to undergo tests twice a week on the German side, before starting work.

ar-dt/mas/gd
A 23-year-old man today appeared in court accused of murdering his grandfather after allegedly suffering from isolation during the third national lockdown.

Ben Oliver of Bexleyheath, south-east London had also previously been upset by the death of his pet ferret, it has been alleged.

The defendant's grandmother called emergency services to the home she shared with her husband, David Oliver, in Eltham on the morning of January 19.

Oliver, 74, who was confined to a hospital-style bed due to heart problems, was found with severe injuries to his chest, neck and eyes.

Ben Oliver, 23, appeared in court accused of murdering his grandfather after allegedly suffering from isolation during lockdown. Pictured, Lady Justice on top of the Old Bailey

He was pronounced dead at the scene, with the cause found to be incised wounds to the neck.

The following day, Oliver was charged with his grandfather's murder.

On Monday, he appeared at the Old Bailey by video-link from Wandsworth Prison. Wearing a mask, he spoke only to confirm his identity.

Judge Rebecca Poulet QC set a plea hearing for April 9, when a provisional trial date is due to be set.

The defendant was remanded into custody.
A suburban Atlanta teenager has been arrested on charges that he defrauded a supermarket where he worked of nearly $1 million over a two-week period.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports 19-year-old Tre Brown was arrested Jan. 14 by Gwinnett County police on charges of felony theft. He was released from jail on $11,200 bail on the same day. Its unclear if Brown has a lawyer representing him.

Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Collin Flynn said Brown stole more than $980,000 over two weeks in December and January by fabricating more than 40 returns for non-existent items.

Cash from the returns, ranging in value from $75 to more than $87,000, was placed on credit cards, investigators said.

Police said Brown used the stolen money to buy two cars, clothes, guns and shoes. Prior to his arrest, the teen reportedly totaled a Chevrolet Camaro that he bought, Flynn said.

The investigation began after employees of Cincinnati-based Kroger noticed the transactions.

Police said Brown stole the money while an employee tasked with flagging fraudulent transactions was on vacation.

A large sum of money was returned to Kroger following the arrest, but it wasnt clear Thursday how much was recovered.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Fraud Georgia
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - Fjordland Exploration Inc. (TSXV: FEX) (the "Company") announces that it has arranged to raise up to $2 million through a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") consisting of up to 20 million units (the "Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit. The Private Placement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval and all securities will be subject to a four month hold period. The Company reserves the right to increase the Private Placement by an additional 5 million Units, at its discretion, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

The Company proposes to use the proceeds of the Private Placement for nickel exploration in Manitoba, Labrador and Quebec, general and administrative costs and working capital. Project details can be found on the Company's website at https://www.fjordlandex.com.

Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (the "Common Shares") and one-half of one share purchase warrant (the "Warrants"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional Common Share at a price of $0.175 per Common Share for 24 months following the closing date of the Private Placement. In certain events, the Company can accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants if the common shares trade above a weighted average of $0.35 for ten consecutive days. A finder's fee may be paid to arm's-length parties on this private placement.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the U.S. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the U.S. or to U.S. persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Fjordland Exploration Inc.

Fjordland Exploration Inc. is a mineral exploration company that is focused on the discovery of large-scale economic deposits located in Canada. Fjordland is actively exploring three high quality nickel projects.

In collaboration with HPX and Commander Resources, Fjordland is exploring the South Voisey's Bay "Pants Lake Intrusive" target which is a Ni-Cu-Co deposit analogous to the nearby Voisey's Bay deposit located approximately 80 km to the north.

Fjordland has been granted an option by CanAlaska Uranium to earn an initial 49% interest in the North Thompson Nickel Belt project, situated 20 km. north of Vale's long-life Thompson mine located in northern Manitoba. The project is considered prospective for Ni-Cu-Co-PGE magmatic sulphide mineralization analogous to the deposits hosting the historic mine.

Fjordland has an agreement to acquire 100% of the Renzy nickel copper project located near Maniwaki Quebec by spending $1.0 million over 5 years. During the production period from 1969 to 1972, 716,000 short tons were mined with average grades of 0.70 % Nickel and 0.72 % Copper. The location of the Renzy Shear zone and the overall quantity of the mafic/ultramafic rocks in the area that carry sulfides with elevated concentration of Ni, Cu, and PGM's bodes well for finding additional deposits.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"James Tuer"

James Tuer, CEO

For further information:

James Tuer

Ph: 604-688-3415

info@fjordlandex.com

www.fjordlandex.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this news release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the private placement, and other future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's plans or expectations include market prices, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

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.



Not for dissemination in the United States or through U.S. newswires

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72660
Rigworld Training Centre (RTC) and SMTC Global Ghana have signed an agreement which will see Rigworld Training acquire 100 percent of the SMTC Ghana Training Facility.



This means, RTC would assume all training services being provided through SMTC Ghana. SMTC has operated in partnership with the Regional Maritime University (RMU) within its campus in Nungua, Accra. This acquisition therefore, will make Rigworld Training Centre accessible to clients with facilities in Takoradi and the recently acquired facility on the Regional Maritime University campus in Accra.



The RTC facility in Takoradi which provides internationally accredited safety and skills development courses within Ghana and beyond, has over the years played a critical role in the capacity building and skills development in the oil & gas, maritime, mining, construction and other safety critical industries. This world-class service will be replicated at the Accra branch.



Speaking on the new partnership and what it means for clients, the Managing Director of Rigworld Training Centre, Steve Taylor, said: We see good growth opportunities in the market where increased safety as well higher demands for localized services are needed for our clients.



With the expansion of our facility into Accra, this unique offering to customers and the companys strong market position forms a great platform for generating growth; and building an even stronger business based on world-class customer service and global operating procedures.



Expressing his thoughts on the latest feat, the CEO, Kofi Abban, added that We are focusing our business strengths and building our leadership in our core business areas. We believe that this acquisition can provide the enhanced growth and financial capacity needed to strengthen our safety services leadership.



Following the effects of Covid-19 and the resulting downturn in the oil and gas sector, the company conducted a thorough and necessary evaluation geared towards accelerating the transformation and development of the business. This acquisition is one example of how company intends to spread its wings, aside introducing online trainings to accommodate the current learning climate.



This achievement is worth celebrating and shows bigger future prospects for Rigworld Training; Ghanas leading safety training services provider.

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
New Delhi:

At least 148 people killed and over hundred were injured after an overturned tanker caught fire and exploded in Pakistans Bahawalpur on Sunday morning.

According to Radio Pakistan, people had gathered around the tanker to collect the oil that had leaked out of the container. The team of fire brigade reached the spot shortly after the blaze started and rescue operations were initiated.

The overturned tanker exploded after fuel leaking from its damaged container caught fire. At least 12 motorcycles and six cars were also burnt in the blaze. All the injured were shifted to two nearby hospitals for treatment.

Meanwhile, Chief of the Pakistan Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa ordered the army to assist in the rescue efforts. Army helicopters were sent to the spot to transport the injured to the hospitals.

"COAS expresses grief on losses in oil tanker incident. Directed provision of full assistance to civil administration n in rescue [and ]relief efforts," Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet.

Army Aviation helicopters sent for evacuation of casualties to hospitals / burn centres. Hospitals placed on high alert. (2 of 2).  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) June 25, 2017

COAS expresses grief on losses in oil tanker incident. Directed provision of full assistance to civil admn in rescue/relief effort (1 of 2).  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) June 25, 2017

Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and asked government officials to file a report.

Trending Now| PM Modi's US visit: President Trump says looking forward to welcoming 'true friend' to WH

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VU Logo The progress weve made since being announced winners of the Santander X Tomorrow challenge has been substantial, said Gaston Gene, Chief Operating Officer. Our goal is to continue seeking out solutions that will help extenuate the economic consequences derived from the COVID-19 pandemic."

As one of 20 winners of the Santander X Tomorrow Challenge, VU Security, a global company focused primarily on fraud prevention and identity protection, is helping organizations mitigate cyber threats facing newly virtual workforces and their means of doing business in the wake of the COVID-19. From more than 2,250 innovative solutions submitted from around the world, VU Securitys proposal was selected by Banco Santander in September as one of the winners of the Challenges Re-Launch category. The award recognizes solutions that help businesses reopen and adapt to the new culture shift of working remotely and connecting virtually.

VU Security received 20,000 to develop its solutions as part of its reward. In addition to the monetary prize, VU Security also received mentoring, roadshow assistance, and global exposure. The company has continued to build on its initial proposal to create remote identity verification and validation tools that help organizations secure transactions via mobile devices and through massively used messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger.

In the award ceremony, Ana Botin, President of Banco Santander, stressed her advocacy and support for entrepreneurship and the need for innovative solutions like VU Securitys. We can come out of this crisis stronger if were able to innovate and come up with new ways of tackling problems Thats why weve set this challenge which highlights the commitment weve shown to education, employment and entrepreneurship over the past 20 years.

With living in this new normal and relying on technology more than ever before, consumers need to understand the importance of identifying what user uncertainty looks like, says Sebastian Stranieri, Founder & CEO of VU Security. It is our job as a leader in finance, fintech, and retail to inform and educate consumers about cyber criminality. With the recognition of Santander X Tomorrow Challenge and their advocacy in entrepreneurship, VU is able to share our solutions to the short-and long-term problems caused by the pandemic.

The progress weve made since being announced winners of the Santander X Tomorrow challenge has been substantial, said Gaston Gene, Chief Operating Officer. Our goal in the coming months is to continue seeking out solutions that will help extenuate the economic consequences derived from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Since July, the benefits and resources obtained by winning the Santander X Tomorrow Challenge were used in adding new members to the VU team, at a rate of three collaboratives each month. At the same time, the company dedicated a portion of the resources in increasing the investment in the Research & Development area.

To learn more about VU Security and the work they do, please visit https://www.vusecurity.com/.

About VU Security LLC

VU is a global company that focuses on fraud prevention and identity protection. It provides robust citizen identity verification through the combination of traditional cybersecurity controls with geolocation, machine learning, ID recognition, and user behavior analysis. The company provides modular solutions for fraud prevention that include voice recognition, facial recognition, and multiple options of authentication. More than 130 clients of 25+ countries in Latin America, the United States, and Europe including governments, banks, and retail companies, integrate VU technology to their existing platforms to protect sensitive information. Among our clients we have Banco Santander (Fortune 500), Banco de la Republica de Uruguay (NYSE), Prisma, Falabella (Forbes 2000) and Globant (NYSE).

About Banco Santander and its support of Higher Education

standing dedication to higher education that sets it apart from the worlds other financial institutionis. With over EUR 1,800 million invested in academic initiatives since 202 via Santander Universities and over 430,000 university scholarships and grants awarded since 2005, it has been recognised as one of the company that invests most in education in the world with 1,000 agreements with universities and institutions in 22 countries.
January 25 : Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal were officially married on Sunday at a private ceremony in Alibaug in the presence of their families and close friends. After keeping fans waiting for a full day, Varun posted a couple of pictures from their wedding ceremony on Sunday. Today, the actor shared two new pictures from the haldi ceremony.

Taking to his Instagram handle, Varun shared two new pictures from his haldi ceremony. In one picture, the Student of the Year actor is seen shirtless, smeared with haldi (turmeric). The actor can be seen sporting a pair of purple reflective sunglasses, and flexing his muscles as he posed for the camera. HALDI done right, he wrote in the caption.

In the second picture, Varun is seen in a white bathrobe as he posed with his groom squad. Everybody in the group is seen wearing white tees with Varun's popular character names printed on them over a splash of yellow colour. From Team Seenu to Team Humpty to Team RaguVaruns gang was clicked posing in themed T-shirts as they screamed and laughed while they were clicked.

Post their wedding on Sunday, Varun and Natasha stepped out to pose for the paparazzi. The newly wedded couple was dressed in colour co-ordinated outfits. Selective people from Bollywood were present at their wedding. The Bollywood invitees included Karan Johar, Shashank Khaitan, Kunal Kohli and Manish Malhotra. According to media buzz, Varun and Natasha are planning to host a grand wedding reception on February 2 in Mumbai for their friends from the industry.
>>> Vietnamese peacekeepers in South Sudan honoured with UN peacekeeping medals

At a medal parade ceremony held in Bentiu, South Sudan on January 22, Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Bentiu Field Office Hiroko Hirahara and Sector Unity Commander for UNMISS Major General Shamim Kamal presented the medals to all 63 members of the L2FH2.

This is a recognition from the UN of the hospitals efforts during their mission in South Sudan, as well as being a testament to Vietnam's contributions as an active and responsible member of the UN, contributing to peace and stability around the world.

Speaking at the event, Hiroko Hirahara expressed her sincere thanks to the Vietnamese government for deploying the hospital to the UN peacekeeping mission.

Head of the UNMISS Bentiu Field Office Hiroko Hirahara attaching a medal to Lieutenant Colonel Vo Van Hien, the hospitals director.



She affirmed that amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnams field hospitals have played an important role in pandemic control and prevention at the Bentiu base, as well as actively contributing to the implementation of response plans and strictly following the regulations of the mission as well as those of the World Health Organisation.

The UN official also hailed the L2FH2 for its active participation in Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) activities, including HIV/AIDS counselling, supporting Bentiu Hospital, sharing medicine and equipment with local authorities, and providing useful devices and learning tools for local students, in addition to their consistent and professional work.

Member of Vietnams second Level-2 Field Hospital in South Sudan.



Thanking the UNMISS and other relevant units for their support at the hospital over the past year, Director of the L2FH2 Lieutenant Colonel Vo Van Hien, expressed how it was both his and his teams honour to make contributions to solidarity and cooperation within the UNs organs.

After more than a year in the UN peacekeeping mission, L2FH2 has received and treated over 1,600 patients, performed 28 surgeries and transported seven patients for emergency treatment by airway to higher level hospitals, while successfully handling complex medical emergencies that require a high level of expertise.

Head of the UNMISS Bentiu Field Office Hiroko Hirahara poses for a group photo with 10 female soldiers at the hospital.



In particular, the hospital examined, screened and treated more than 59 suspected COVID-19 cases while protecting the hospital staff, participated in anti-epidemic support for other units in the mission, as well as providing professional training and advising on disease prevention and control measures in the stationed area.

The hospital earlier received compliments from the UN health division based in New York as the hospital with the best preparation within the UNMISS in response to COVID-19, in addition to other commendations from the heads of the UN health agency, the UN peacekeeping forces medical division, and the UNMIS health department.
Accused paedophile Malka Leifer has boarded a plane for Australia just hours before Israeli airports were set to close due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ms Leifer lost an appeal challenging her extradition to Australia at the Supreme Court of Israel in December, which cleared the way for her to stand trial after a six-year legal saga.

Malka Leifer (right) appears in a Jerusalem court in February 2018. Credit:AP

The Supreme Court justices said that the ruling finalises the decision of the appellant as extraditable to stand trial in Australia.

Ms Leifer, 52, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick in Melbournes inner south-east, is charged with 74 counts of sex abuse against three of her former students. The offences allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2008.
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Digital Editor
Repeatedly, one needs to ask: how is it possible that such a vile and discredited system as communism continues to gain traction among so many people?

Like others before me, I am astonished at the prescience of W. Cleon Skousen, author of The Naked Communist, who, in 1958, explained "how many well-meaning citizens have become involved in pushing forward the Communist program without realizing it. They became converted to Communist objectives because they accepted superficial Communist slogans." Skousen succinctly explained 45 communist goals, and, sadly, Americans have either been bludgeoned into accepting far too many of them or have naively accepted them without realizing their ultimate consequences.

Goal #31: "Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of 'the big picture.' Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over."

Consider the execrable move to incorporate the error-filled "1619 Project" into schools and marvel at the success of communists to ensure that American children will come to despise our foundational ideas. In fact, in his first day as president, Biden ended the 1776 Commission to Create a Patriotic History Curriculum that is in direct contrast to the "1619 Project," which reflects a decidedly anti-American, factually incorrect, and blatantly biased program that is currently being pushed through the U.S. education system.

It follows then that Goal #30 is to "discredit the American founding fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the 'common man.'" Predictably, this has resulted in a disdain and derision regarding those dead white men who prepared some of the finest documents ever created but who are now being defamed and whose statues are being defaced with red paint.

Goal #35: "Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI." The FBI no longer has the trust of most Americans, given the scope of wrongdoing committed by the top echelon of the agency  i.e., Comey. Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity are no longer associated with what was once an agency revered by most Americans. Christopher Wray continues as head of the FBI under the Biden administration.

One could just as well include the CIA. After all, in 1976, John Brennan voted for the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) presidential nominee, Gus Hall. As historian Ron Radosh points out, "[t]he CPUSA at that time was dedicated to gaining support for Soviet foreign policy, with the intent of defeating the United States in the Cold War[.] ... Moscow regularly gave Hall thousands of dollars to enable the Communists in America to carry on their work. Brennan has explained that his motivation for supporting Hall, was that he [Brennan] was unhappy 'with the system' and saw a 'need for change.'" Indeed!

Goal #38: "Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies." With the move toward defunding the police, this goal is being cemented in many Democrat-held cities. Consequently, in Minneapolis, activists maintain that "[f]ar from being a naive concept, police abolition is the only viable option for ending the systematic and unrelenting abuse of our communities." So despite "concern about record crime rates in the city, nearly $8 million will be 'redirected' from the police budget to other programs."

Goal #42: "Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use 'united force' to solve economic, political or social problems." Beginning with Occupy Wall Street and expanding to the lawlessness of Portland, Oregon, this is a communist dream come true. After all, the media have already fallen prey to Goal #21, which is "gain control of key positions in radio, TV and motion pictures," so that Chris Cuomo can tell his viewers that millions of dollars of damage inflicted upon Americans is perfectly fine. Cities burn, people's livelihoods go up in smoke, small businesses are destroyed  and all is well.

Goal #41 is perhaps the most insidious of all communist goals and the most successful in destroying the nuclear family unit. Thus, "emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents."

Enter the transgender movement. The corrosive impact of transgender ideology is ignored  i.e., elimination of sex-protected rights and freedom of association. Transgenderism "has come to be not just accepted but often promoted in key public institutions such as education, health care, social work, the police [emphasis mine] and prison service."

Concerned parents are now being "backed into a room that unsettles [them] prodded by the fear of causing offence as they ponder the notion that 'transwomen are women.'" If they offer any resistance, they are the ones who are shamed, while their children may endure double-mastectomies or puberty-blockers that can cause permanent infertility. Unsuspecting parents are being told to use euphemistic language "so as not to offend those biological women who identify as something else  as 'non-binary' or 'transmen.'" The terms "birthing people" and "menstruators" are used to refer to women so that men who call themselves women don't feel left out.

In November 2019, the ACLU piously proclaimed, 'There's no one way to be a man. Men who get their periods are men. Men who get pregnant and give birth are men.' At the time, the announcement seemed unhinged. But one year later, we chuckle and say: Well, of course they are. And we recite the most sacred creed of our age: 'Transwomen are women.' (Denying this was enough to get Irish writer Graham Linehan kicked off Twitter for good.) That it's a lie doesn't matter to those who press its acceptance. But it is a lie. Transwomen (biological men who identify as women) do not possess female biology; they are not women. One might reasonably ask: If it's a lie, what's the harm of it? We tell our friends they're beautiful or thin, that they make good points or that they sing well when they don't. One might even say that a thousand white lies are a necessary precondition for a social life, even friendship. The public space is different  the lies told there have real, even lethal, consequences. For our democracy to function, for a diverse public to be able to communicate and work together, we must speak in objective terms to which we all have access. We must make points plainly. We must strive toward accuracy so that we may clearly recognize the issues at stake. We must, each of us, give up some of the private beliefs embedded in our ways of thinking and speaking in order to be widely understood.

Moreover, Pelosi has now moved to eradicate language that expresses the reality of familial relationships. The terms father, mother, son, brother, sister and so forth will now be erased from House proceedings.

How many people truly realize that these actions constitute the entire mosaic of the communist line-up for world domination?

It is truly a lurching epiphany when comprehension dawns and people begin to connect the dots. We can no longer view separate events occurring in this country as disconnected from one another. They are inextricably linked. Under the guise of compassion is the fervent implantation of communism.

It is an eerie but absolutely necessary awakening. All these maneuvers by the left-wing social justice crowd are not and have never been to assist people. They have one goal in mind: install communism and ultimate control of people's lives. To dissent is an invitation to be destroyed.

As Skousen wrote, "[t]he war between freedom and slavery can be lost in the legislative halls of free men. The wave of socialism which is sweeping many free western nations towards a kind of suppressive feudalism is gaining ground."

Sixty-three years ago, Skousen succinctly laid out the communist blueprint. Until Americans truly understand the nefarious and never-ending goals of communists, we will continue to lose the country. The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen needs to be read by every American, especially the young and impressionable among us who deserve better.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.

Image: Martin Vorel via Libreshot.
Pandemic blocks journey back so Shanghai students send heartfelt letters

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-01-25 13:13

As the Chinese government is encouraging people to stay where they work for the upcoming Spring Festival so as to avoid potential gatherings, many pupils in Shanghais Jiuting Primary School will not go to their hometowns for family reunion as normally. However, their yearnings for their relatives has been sent through letters.

Nearly 70% of students in Jiuting Primary School are not local Shanghainese so not being able to return to their hometowns is a big blow for them and their relatives. As such, the school especially organized an activity for students to write down their feelings and best wishes for their extended family members.

Although it is the first time many of the students had written a letter, their words are really touching. Some students have even placed their photos and Spring Festival couplets they wrote into the envelopes.

Student representatives will mail the letters in the post office in the near future.
Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist, received the first shot of a Covid vaccine this week, according to a post uploaded to his Twitter account.

One of the benefits of being 65 is that Im eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine," he wrote. He went on to thank scientists, regulators, participants and healthcare workers for their work.

"Thank you to all of the scientists, trial participants, regulators, and frontline healthcare workers who got us to this point," Bill Gates tweeted.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

The US started its immunisation programme on 14 December with shots of precious frozen vials of vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech. A nurse in New York was the first person to receive the vaccine in the US.

Last month, the US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris received their first shots live on television and urged public trust in the process.

The United States on Sunday recorded over 25 million Covid-19 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The number of coronavirus cases in the US has reached 25,003,695, with 417,538 fatalities.

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to kill more than 600,000 people in the United States, President Joe Biden said on Friday.

"A lot of America is hurting. The virus is surging. We are [at] 400,000 dead [and] expected to reach over 600,000," Biden said.

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Accused paedophile Malka Leifer has boarded a plane for Australia just hours before Israeli airports were set to close due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ms Leifer lost an appeal challenging her extradition to Australia at the Supreme Court of Israel in December, which cleared the way for her to stand trial after a six-year legal saga.

Malka Leifer (right) appears in a Jerusalem court in February 2018. Credit:AP

The Supreme Court justices said that the ruling finalises the decision of the appellant as extraditable to stand trial in Australia.

Ms Leifer, 52, a former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick in Melbournes inner south-east, is charged with 74 counts of sex abuse against three of her former students. The offences allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2008.
2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning --

4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS.

We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover.

We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.
The KN 472 vessel of the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance receives four Filipino fishermen stranded at sea, January 23, 2021. Photo by VOV.

Four Filipino fishermen were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel after being separated from their ship at sea.

At around 7 a.m. Saturday, Ednor Villacino, 30, Rolly Baleso, 30, Rommel Evan, 32, and Eraed Dayot, 41, departed Filipino fishing vessel Athan to fish. But they got lost and stranded around 24 nautical miles to the southeast of Sand Cay, part of Vietnam's Spratly Islands, Vietnam News Agency reported.

At around 3:30 p.m. the same day, a Vietnamese fishing vessel found and rescued the four fishermen, while broadcasting a distress signal to request help from authorities.

A vessel of the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance, at the time operating near South Reef, received the signal and came to the rescue. The four Filipinos, taken to Southwest Cay for medical assistance, are now in stable health, Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance said Monday.

This is not the first time Vietnamese fishermen have rescued Filipinos stranded at sea. In 2019, fishermen from the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang made world headlines after rescuing 22 Filipino fishermen whose boat sank after a collision with a Chinese vessel near Reed Bank of the Spratly Archipelago in the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The mass exodus of Big Tech out of the Bay Area continues, with a smaller but similarly-moneyed presence making its way over to Austin, Texas.

Digital Realty, reported ZDNet and CultureMap Austin, is the latest tech firm to announce its headquarters' relocation to the tech capital of Texas. The company, which markets itself as a company that supports businesses with "data center, colocation and interconnection strategies," employs around 1,500 people worldwide.
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The Army's top modernization official said Monday that the Pentagon may have to relax its rules on human control over artificial intelligent combat systems to defeat swarms of enemy drones that often move too fast for soldiers to track.

All branches of the U.S. military have expressed interest in using artificial intelligence, or AI, for faster target recognition; however, the Defense Department until now has stressed that humans, not machines, will always make the decision to fire deadly weapons.

But as small unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, proliferate around the world, Army modernization officials are recognizing that swarms of fast-moving drones will be difficult to defeat without highly advanced technology.

Read Next: Futuristic 'Defiant X' in Running to Become Army's Future Long-Range Assault Helicopter

"It just becomes very hard when you are talking about swarms of small drones -- not impossible, but harder," Gen. John Murray, head of Army Futures Command, told an audience Monday during a webinar at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Murray said that Pentagon leaders may have to have conversations about how much human control of AI is needed to be safe but still effective in countering threats such as drone swarms.

"When you are defending against a drone swarm, a human may be required to make that first decision, but I am just not sure any human can keep up," he said. "How much human involvement do you actually need when you are [making] nonlethal decisions from a human standpoint?"

The Army is experimenting with AI for faster, more accurate target recognition. In the past, the service's mechanized combat units would give potential new tank gunners a test using flashcards with pictures of armored vehicles used around the world.

"New gunners got tests with flashcards -- pictures of various armored vehicles; you went through 15, 20, 25, 30 of these. If a soldier got 80 percent of them right, he was put in the gunner seat of a very lethal vehicle," Murray said.

During an Army exercise called Project Convergence at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, in September, modernization officials tested AI-enhanced systems combined with low-Earth orbiting satellites and other technologies to drastically reduce the time it takes to identify, track and destroy incoming aerial threats.

"The operators we trained out at Project Convergence were routinely getting 99 to 98 percent correct, so in many ways AI has the ability to make us safer," Murray said. "If you think about a future battlefield, the one way I have described it in the past is it will be hyperactive. I think decisions will have to be made at such a pace that it is going to be incredibly difficult for a human decision maker to keep up with it."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

Related: Congress Wants to Beef Up Army Effort to Develop Counter-Drone Weapons
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A mob of ultra-Orthodox men attacked two buses in the central city of Bnei Brak last night. One of the drivers was beaten and chased from his vehicle before the rioters set the bus on fire. By the time firefighters arrived, the bus was destroyed. The flames reached nearby electric cables, causing a partial blackout in the city. Apartments in the vicinity were damaged by the flames and smoke. Police used stun grenades to clear the rioters, who also chased some journalists at the scene.

Four people were reportedly arrested during the night on suspicion of damaging property and attempting to harm emergency workers. Rioters toppled a traffic light and set fire to trash bins. They continued to block roads in the city into the early morning. A police statement said that during the clashes, one of the officers felt threatened as he was surrounded by rioters and fired a warning shot into the air.

Tensions rose in ultra-Orthodox urban centers after the country went into a third nationwide lockdown on Jan. 10 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Ultra-Orthodox leaders objected to government instructions to shut down all education institutions, claiming that religious schools and other institutions should not stop teaching the Torah. Several ultra-Orthodox schools remained open despite government instructions.

The violent clashes started yesterday morning, when police tried to prevent students from entering the Gronda yeshiva in Ashdod. The school for the radical ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem faction had apparently violated lockdown and health restrictions on several occasions.

Later in the day, riots also broke out in the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem when police tried to shut down a school that was operating in violation of the lockdown restrictions. Rioters clashed with the police, hurling objects at officers.

Before the lockdown went into effect, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had contacted associates of leading ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Chaim Kanienvsky about the closure of schools. Kanievsky reportedly ordered ultra-Orthodox schools to close for several days, but later reports revealed that the rabbi had authorized some of them to remain open.

On Saturday night, the leader of the Vizhnitz Hassidic court, Rabbi Israel Hager, announced the communitys schools would reopen on Sunday in defiance of the lockdown. He was quoted as saying, "The government is ignoring the importance of Torah studies for us."

Israel has accelerated its vaccination drive and is set to start vaccinating high school students aged 16 to 18. Still, the number of people infected in Israel continues to grow. Over the past few days, health authorities had detected several cases of British, South African and what is suspected to be California coronavirus mutations. Yesterday, the government decided to seal Israel off, ordering the closure of the countrys main airport Ben Gurion starting Tuesday Jan. 26 through the end of the nationwide lockdown on Jan. 31.
A Supreme Court bench said it would like to have the advantage of the high court's order. The Uttar Pradesh government then withdrew the transfer petition

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to transfer to itself petitions filed in Allahabad High Court challenging the new law of Uttar Pradesh regulating religious conversions for inter-faith marriages.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said that it would like to have the advantage of the high court order. Taking note of the observation of the bench, the Uttar Pradesh government withdrew the transfer petition.

Senior advocate PS Narasimha, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government, said to avoid multiplicity of proceedings before the High Court and the top court, the transfer petition may be allowed.

The bench said, "We have issued notice does not mean that the High Court cannot decide the issue." It said, "Why should we stop the High Court from hearing the matter. Let us have the advantage of the High Court verdict."

The top court had on 6 January, agreed to examine controversial new laws of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regulating religious conversions for the inter-faith marriages. It had, however, refused to stay the controversial provisions of the laws and issued notices to both state governments on two different petitions.

The top court had issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments and sought their response within four weeks.

The pleas, filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others and an NGO 'Citizens for Justice and Peace', have challenged the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions for inter-faith marriages.

The Uttar Pradesh Ordinance was cleared by the state Cabinet in November and ascent was given by Governor Anandiben Patel on 28 November last year.

It relates not only to inter-faith marriages but all religious conversions and lays down elaborate procedures for those who wish to convert to another religion.

The Uttarakhand Act entails a two-year jail term for those found guilty of religious conversion through force or allurement, which can be in cash or in kind  employment or material benefit.
A day after Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu was forced to leave the protest site by the protesting farmers, Bittu has alleged that he pro Khalistani elements are attempting to hijack the farmers' protests. He also stated that the protestors were being paid money to raise the Khalistani flags at the protest sites.

While speaking with ANI, he elaborated on the incident when he was forced to leave the protest site on Sunday.

He said, "We three got down from the car and it was all normal and farmers were taking selfies with us. All of a sudden thousands of people, as they do in Guerilla warfare, came to attack us with whatever weapon they had, be it a sticks or other sharp weapons."

He also stated that the protestors attacked the turban, which is a matter of faith and pride of Sikhs. The Congress MP on Sunday visited the farmers' protest site at the Singhu border to extend his support to the protests, however, the agitating farmers forced him to leave the protest site. Visuals of the incident showed farmers attacking his car asking him to leave the location.

This is not the first instance when Congress leaders have been asked to leave by the agitating farmers. Farmers have maintained that they are not seeking any political party's support even as the opposition parties - Congress, AAP, Shiv Sena, NCP's open support. In December too, Congress' General Secretary Randeep Surjewala was forced out of protests by the farmers in Delhi, when he had visited the protest site to extend his support on behalf of Congress.

READ | 308 Pak Twitter Handles Attempting To Disrupt Farmers' Tractor Rally, Alleges Delhi Police

Farmers gearing up for tractor rally on Republic Day

Meanwhile, the route for the farmers' tractor rally on Republic has been finalised and approved by the Delhi Police on Sunday. None of the routes is said to be entering the capital with most of the routes moving towards Haryana or Uttar Pradesh via Ghaziabad.

However, the Delhi police Special CP announced that the farmers would be allowed to enter Delhi for the tractor rally, with barricades being removed from the Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders. The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) would be deployed for additional security on January 26. As per sources, roughly 5000 tractors and 25,000 farmers are expected to participate in the rally. The permission to enter Delhi has been given only for the Republic Day, with an assurance from the farmers that they will go back to their protest sites the following day.

READ | Delhi Police Gives Nod To 'Kisan Tractor Rally' On R-Day; Farmers Allowed To Enter Delhi

READ | Sharad Pawar Addresses Farmers At Azad Maidan; Asks 'Has PM Enquired About Protesters?'
Controlling COVID-19 is my only focus: Yediyurappa on speculation about attempts to unseat him

Bigg Boss Kannada fame Jayashree Ramaiah dies by suicide

India

oi-Deepika S

Bengaluru, Jan 25: Bigg Boss Kannada 3 contestant and actress Jayashree Ramaiah commited suicide at old age home in Pragathi Layout at Magadi Road in Bengaluru.

Jayashree Ramaiah has been in the news ever since she opened up about battling depression. Earlier, she had shocked everyone by hinting of dying by suicide in an 'I Quit' post on Facebook. On July 22, she shared the post which read, "I quit. Goodbye to this f*****g world and depression."

Surprisingly, she later deleted the post and shared a new update saying, "I'm Alright and safe!! Love you all." Well, this act of Jayashree Ramaiah indeed left everyone relieved yet perplexed. But many didn't know it then that it was Kiccha Sudeep who came to her rescue and saved her from dying by suicide. After learning about Jayashree's video, the actor immediately pressed his staff into action to rescue her.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Jayashree made her Sandalwood debut through Imran Sardhariya's directional movie Uppu Huli Kara in the year 2017.

Alibaba-backed community group buying platform gets fined for uncompetitive practices; U.S. and China trade officials hold their first phone call under the Biden presidency; and the yuan surges to a three-year high against the dollar

May 28, 2021 05:54 PM
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Hauliers have not ruled out a full work stoppage over Brexit trade delays.

Eugene Drennan, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), said drivers could take a weekend off if the government fails to solve the customs chaos he says is still plaguing hauliers one month on from the EU-UK trade deal.

Its absolutely chaos, he told the Irish Independent on Monday.

"If its a thing that it stays really, seriously blocked - you know, that our systems continue to cost us and its blocked - we might take a weekend off.

Read More

Mr Drennan said one IRHA member has had a trailer waiting to clear customs since 17 January because inspectors were too busy to process it.

He said the delays were having an impact across the board on supplies of component parts, agriculture and fisheries as well as retail and parcel delivery.

Hauliers are due to meet with the government later this week to try to overcome the difficulties.

Revenue said on Monday that 79pc of imports are being cleared through customs at Dublin Port without requiring extra checks.

A further 15pc of goods required documentation checks and 6pc were also subject to physical or veterinary checks.

Tom Talbot, Revenues head of customs operations at Dublin Port, said that of the 15 trucks in the port on Monday morning, all but one had been waiting less than five hours.

The government says customs declarations are the new normal after Brexit, and that the problem is UK companies failing to fill in paperwork and obtain health certificates.

But hauliers say the governments IT systems are causing them unnecessary hassle.

We have IT experts telling us it is absolutely not fit for purpose, Mr Drennan said. The Revenue have 27 email addresses and three different systems and then the protocols they use are haywire, he added.

Hazel Sheridan of the Department of Agriculture said on Monday that the systems only work if you submit documentation on time.

Meanwhile, Revenue is advising Irish companies to avoid the UK by using direct ferry sailings to France or sourcing more suppliers in the EU.

There are now increased alternative routes to EU markets, and businesses may need to consider if these present viable options for their business model, said Mr Talbot. Its also worth considering possibly sourcing EU suppliers."

Overall freight movements from the UK are just 50pc of what they were in January 2020, the Department of Transport said on Monday, despite traffic into Dublin Port seeing a slow, steady uptick over the last few weeks.

Loads that dont have the proper paperwork are still backed up in UK warehouses, causing havoc for hauliers who operate on a round-trip basis.

Until we see those volumes have come from [Great Britain] we will remain concerned,said Eddie Burke of the Department of Transports Brexit unit. We would like to see rates increase probably quicker than they are.

Low levels of traffic are also a result of Covid-19 restrictions, Mr Burke said. Traffic through the port this weekend was up 18pc on the same period the previous week.

Ferry sailings from Ireland to Europe have more than doubled since this time last year, from 26 to 62 (in both directions).

Ships now sail to seven EU ports, almost double the four ports that ran Irish routes last year.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency Moodys said Brexit will have a macroeconomic cost for the UK and that the benefits of being free of EU red tape are uncertain.

The UK economy will be smaller under the new agreement than it would have been had the UK remained a member of the EU, Moodys Investor Services said in a report Monday.

Despite the preferential zero-tariff, zero-quota regime on the export of goods between the two trade partners, the agreement still entails significant obstacles to goods trade.
A self-confessed shoe addict has collated an impressive 110 pairs of designer shoes worth $60,000.

Tara, from New York, has dedicated a room in her house to showcase her lavish collection.

She said that she has been obsessed with shoes since she was a little girl and has added big designer brands Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Gucci and Prada to her collection.

Tara, from New York, has collated an impressive 110 pairs of designer shoes worth $60,000 and has dedicated a room in her house to showcase her lavish collection

The attorney used to dress up in her mother's heels which made her feel amazing, but her obsession became more serious after she became a corporate attorney because of more freedom with 'how she could dress'.

Tara said: 'I have always loved fashion and shoes, I remember the moment I got my very first pair of heels when I was in high school, it was so special.

'Shoes are my one true love because they are forever, whereas with clothes your weight can go up and down and affect what clothes you can wear.

'But once you reach a certain age, your shoe size doesn't change and you can keep shoes forever because you know you aren't ever going to outgrow them.'

The attorney has been obsessed with shoes since she was a little girl and has added big designer brands Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Gucci and Prada to her collection

In her previous job, Tara had to go to court daily, meaning she was more restricted in her footwear and fashion choices.

However, since changing jobs and no longer having to attend court every day, Tara said her shoe obsession increased.

Tara said: 'I would say my shoe obsession became more serious after I became a corporate attorney because I had more freedom with how I could dress.

'I also started loving the Sex and The City series, which heightened my love for shoes even more as it was full of beautiful shoes.

Tara's favourite designer is Christian Louboutin and owns 40 pairs of the famous red-soled shoes

'I just completely fell even more in love than I already was.

'So, in 2008 during a work trip to Chicago, I went shopping in Barney's - a luxury department store - while I had some downtime and I bought myself my first ever pair of Manolo Blahnik heels.

'It was so exciting, I couldn't believe I had my very own pair.

'I would say this is when my obsession was really kickstarted. I absolutely adore them and I still have them now.

'I have been working on my collection and adding to it ever since.'

Since her shoe obsession accelerated, Tara has discovered a community of fellow shoe addicts on online forums focused on specific shoe designers.

Tara's most expensive pair of shoes are a military-style pair of boots with a thick heel and fur lining from Christian Louboutin (pictured), who she has met a few times at special events

She said: 'I found lots of people who all love shoes as much as I do, we all shared our collections and news pairs of shoes when we purchased them.

'This also got me really interested. We have met up for shopping events at shops such as Barney's and I have even hosted a few, it is really fun.'

With Christian Louboutin being Tara's favourite shoe designer, she currently has around 40 pairs of the famous red soles.

The shoe fanatic said: 'The whole experience of shopping at the Louboutin boutiques makes is amazing.

'The atmosphere, the service, the way the shoes are beautifully displayed and the amazing red carpets. It makes you feel great when you're shopping there.

Tara bought her first pair of Manolo Blahnik's during a work trip to Chicago in 2008 and still owns them

The attorney said her collection is based on 'timelessness' and is full of pieces which will never go out of fashion

'Louboutin's are my favourite, I have the most pairs of them. I even met Christian Louboutin a few times at special events.

'The red sole is so sexy, there is nothing like it. They make an outfit and add another dimension to whatever you're wearing, that is just the effect the shoes have.

'They are also made incredibly well and I love their unique designs and colours.

'The most expensive pair of shoes that I have bought is a pair of Louboutin boots. They cost around $1,600.

'They are a military-style with a thick heel and fur on the inside. As saw as I saw them I knew I needed them.

Tara owns around 20 pairs of Manolo Blahniks and said the 'amazing' and 'classic' shoes are by her second favourite designer

'I would say my second favourite designer is Manolo Blahnik. I have about 20 pairs of those, they're amazing and such classics.

'My other favourites in my collection are Gucci, Prada and Miu Miu. They're all so well made and stand the test of time, which is very important to me.

'My collection is based on timelessness, so I can get a lot of wear out of them and they will never become outdated.

'I have a few fun and special pairs, but a majority of my collection are timeless pairs that will never go out of fashion.

'I would say that 95 per cent of my collection are heels because I rarely wear flats. Heels make your legs look awesome and give a more sophisticated and polished look.

'To me, they are the most important part of any outfit and are the best accessory. I usually pick my shoes first and then build my outfit around them.'

Tara said that 95 per cent of her collection is heels and she chooses an outfit around which shoes she is going to wear

Tara compared picking a favourite pair of shoes to a parent picking their favourite child, however, she has a couple of pairs of signed Louboutin's which is very special to her.

She is always on the lookout for a new pair of shoes and keeping up to date with when new collections and seasons are being released.

Tara said: 'To help me stay on top of what is being released I have built amazing relationships with sales associates. They send me pictures and let me know what is coming out so that I don't miss out.

'I have been working with some of them for around 15 years, so they have really gotten to know my style. So they send them over to me and ask if I want them to hold my size so that I can secure the pairs that I really want.

She said she has worn almost all of the pairs of shoes she owns, with only a couple yet to be worn (pictured modelling a pair of Louboutins)

'I have sales associates all over the world, in England, Ireland, across Europe and in various places around the US too.

'I usually purchase a new pair every month.

'When I was living in my old house, storage became a real issue as my collection continued to grow. So when I was searching for a new home, having space for all of my shoes was a priority.

'I needed an extra bedroom from my shoes. When I moved into the new house, I designed my closet around my shoe collection.

'However, I am starting to run out of room again for my ever-growing collection. I am going to redesign the closet so that it is bigger.

'Shoes are a fun escape for me, it is one of the ways I can express myself every day.

'I am very fortunate I can buy all of these shoes and I am really proud of my collection which I have been working on for around 15 years.

'My collection is an investment, and I have worn almost all of the pairs of shoes that I own. There are only a couple of pairs that I haven't worn yet.'

Tara shares her shoe collection with her Instagram followers on @esq-fashionista.
Delhi faced an extreme level of the pandemic, but its health system did not collapse due to "reforms" in recent years and better management, Chief Minister said on Monday.

In many developed countries and cities like New York, the health infrastructure collapsed, but measures like home isolation prevented such a situation in Delhi, according to Kejriwal.

Over 3.12 lakh people recovered under home isolation that was started first in Delhi, where the first plasma bank in the world opened. So far, 4,929 people have received plasma therapy, Kejriwal said at a Republic Day function.

The chief minister said despite drying up of tax revenue due to the pandemic, the AAP government managed to pay salaries to its employees and continue its flagship schemes, including free power and electricity supply.

In the last billing cycle, 38 lakh households got zero power bills, while 14 lakh domestic consumers received zero bills for water supply, he said at the function, where he also unfurled the national flag.

By March, Kejriwal said, the would roll out doorstep delivery of ration scheme, which would "revolutionise" the ration distribution system.

The government is also going to issue health cards, under which all health records of a person would be stored.

The government and private hospitals will be connected to the Health Information Management System (HIMS) and people will be able to get online appointment to consult doctors without waiting in queues at the hospitals, he said.

The chief minister said the projects for cleaning of the Yamuna river were also running in time and the government would shift slum dwellers in flats in coming years.

(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 51st World Economic Forum is all set to kickstart today, January 25, at 12:30 PM (IST). The event will continue till January 29, followed by an in-person meeting in Singapore in May as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WEF said there would be 15 special addresses from G20 heads of state and government and international organisations during the summit from January 24-29.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the meeting virtually on January 28. The other high-profile leaders who have signed up for the virtual session at 51st WEF includes, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Railways and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, Oil and Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani.

Among the global leaders, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga, President of France Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also address the Davos agenda week.

Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, which was established in 1971 in Geneva, said the thrust of the meeting this year would be on "rebuilding trust".

Chinese President Jinping and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will speak on Monday. On Monday, Schwab will also release his latest book, titled 'Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet.' It explores how societies can build the future post-COVID.

Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in, Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is among the listed speakers for Wednesday. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will speak on Friday, the last day of the summit.

Businessmen from India who have registered are Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal, Anand Mahindra, G Kiran Kumar, Sanjiv Bajaj, Hari Bhartia Jayadev Galla, Ajit Gulabchand, Shobana Kamineni, Hemant Kanoria, Pawan Munjal, Salil Parekh, Jai Shroff, Sumant Sinha, and Vaishali Sinha, among others. Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan will also be attending one of the sessions.

An entire week of global programming will be dedicated to helping leaders choose innovative and bold solutions to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery over the next year.

The Davos Agenda will also mark the launch of the World Economic Forum's Great Reset Initiative where industry leaders and public figures will discuss how to advance and accelerate public-private collaboration on critical issues, such as Covid-19 vaccination, climate change, among others.

Each day will focus on one of the five domains of the Great Reset Initiative. On January 25, the session will discuss designing cohesive, sustainable, and resilient economic systems. On Day 2, January 26, the meeting will discuss driving responsible industry transformation and growth. On January 27, the panel will discuss enhancing stewardship of our global commons.

The January 28th session will be on harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And, on January 29, leaders will convene a discussion on advancing global and regional cooperation.

This is only the second time the WEF's annual meeting will move out of Davos, the first time it happened in 2002 at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel after the twin towers attack. On that occasion, for a few hours, the trading floor at the New York stock exchange was turned into a dance floor as global leaders vowed they would not be cowed down by terror attacks.

Also read: Lightening Centre's balance sheet can get economy back on track: PwC India's Sanjeev Krishnan

Also read: India bucks global decline in FDI; grows 13% against world's 42% fall in 2020
Adani Green Energy signed a securities purchase agreement for acquisition of 20 MW operating solar project of Hindustan Powerprojects on 22 January 2021. The project is located in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh and was commissioned in October 2017. It has a long term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with UP state discom.

The closing of the transaction is subject to customary approvals and conditions.

The acquisition is being done at an enterprise valuation of Rs 133 crore. With this acquisition, AGEL will have operating renewable capacity of 3,145 MW and total renewable portfolio of 14,815 MW. It is noteworthy that AGEL's current operational capacity in Uttar Pradesh is 375 MW.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna has started work on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Danish waters, the operator of the pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, said on Sunday.

"The Fortuna vessel has started work on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Danish waters ... Work is underway in accordance with the received arrangements," Sputnik cited the statement as saying.

The U.S. Department of Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on the vessel and its owner KVT-Rus for building the Nord Stream 2 gas-exporting route. Sanctions have also been imposed by the Treasury Department on the Russian oil tanker Maksim Gorki, Rustanker and the associated Sierra oil tanker.

Earlier, the new head of Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union, Armin Laschet, said that the execution of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project should not rely on the political situation with Russia.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two gas pipelines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is actively opposed by the US, which is promoting its liquefied natural gas to the EU, as well as Ukraine and a number of European countries. In December 2019, the US imposed sanctions against the gas pipeline, as a result of which the Swiss-based Allseas Group was forced to stop laying pipe, eventually resuming construction last year.
Washington, Jan 26 : The 'first dogs' have entered the White House.

US President Joe Biden's two German shepherds, named Champ and Major, officially joined the first family in their new residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Sunday.

"The first family wanted to get settled before bringing the dogs down to Washington from Delaware. Champ is enjoying his new bed by the fireplace, and Major is loving running around on the South Lawn," First Lady Jill Biden's press secretary Michael LaRosa said in a statement on Monday, according to a US media report.

Biden's dogs moving into White House marks the return of a longstanding tradition of Presidents and their families bringing their pets with them to the White House. Former President Donald Trump and his family did not have any pets for the four years they lived in the White House.

Champ has been with the Biden family for more than 10 years -- since December 2008, weeks after Biden became Barack Obama's Vice President-elect. Major, a shelter dog, joined the Biden family more recently. He was adopted in November 2018, months before Biden announced that he would run for the President's post.

Major became the first shelter dog to live in the White House. Earlier this month, the Delaware Humane Association, from where he was adopted, and the Pumpkin Pet Insurance hosted a virtual celebration - an "Indoguration Party" - for Major.

Jill Biden has also said that she would "love to get a cat", telling Fox 5 in Washington, "I love having animals around the house." White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said that she did not have any update about a cat.

The tradition of keeping pets in the White House dates back to third US President Thomas Jefferson, who kept a mockingbird and a couple of bear cubs during his presidency. Over the years, presidential pets have become celebrities of sorts.
NORFOLK - Farmers that have yet to renew their chemigation permits are encouraged to do so right away as the deadline is Tuesday.
A man who claims he was struck by a police cruiser in Tacoma, Washington -- an incident that sparked a weekend protest -- said he will recover from his injuries 'but emotionally and mentally, I'm forever scarred.'

About 150 people gathered in downtown Tacoma on Sunday to protest the city's police department after an officer drove into a crowd Saturday night, police public information officer Wendy Haddow told CNN.

Two people were taken to the hospital following the incident, according to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team (PCFIT), which is now leading the investigation. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening and at least one person has since been released.

Tavon Williams, of nearby Spanaway, said he was among the injured.

Williams told CNN on Monday the incident left both of his legs bruised and covered in lacerations and he has cuts and bruises on his feet, neck, elbow and head. Williams said he was hospitalized overnight and released Sunday.

'The people that (were) out there, (they weren't) harming anybody and for the police to come to actually harm people and then leave ... (I feel) so violated and I just want my justice,' he said, adding that he was not part of a group that had been striking the officer's car on Saturday before it drove through the crowd.

CNN has reached out to PCFIT and the Tacoma mayor's office for comment on Wlliams' account. The mayor's office directed CNN to PCFIT.

Tacoma police identified Khanh Phan as the patrol officer involved in Saturday's incident. The 58-year-old has been a member of the Tacoma Police Department for nearly 30 years, police said.

He 'was placed on paid administrative leave per department policy on the evening of January 23 immediately following the incident,' police said in a statement.

Officer drove through crowd after he was surrounded, police say

Some of the protesters Sunday night blocked streets with signs and traffic cones near where the incident occurred, police said. Others overturned trash cans and lit the contents on fire, while a few smashed windows of cars and buildings.

Officials are still working to assess the damage, Haddow said in an email to CNN.

According to Haddow, employees of South Sound 911 Records had to be evacuated from their building after the windows were broken out. No arrests were made during the protest, but two people were arrested leading up to it, Haddow said.

Along with other police units, the officer was responding to reports of an incident at the intersection of South 9th and Pacific Avenue around 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, a press release from police said.

Once on scene, the officers found a number of vehicles and approximately 100 people blocking the intersection, which they began to clear 'for the safety of those gathered and people trying to use the street,' the release said.

As the officers worked to clear the street, a crowd formed around the officer's vehicle and began pounding on the windows, police spokesperson Haddow told The News Tribune.

'He was afraid they would break his glass,' she said, prompting him to speed away from the scene, the News Tribune reported.

Lights and sirens were activated as the crowd continued to surround the vehicle, the release said. The officer inside the SUV tried backing up, but according to the release was not able to because of the crowd.

'Fearing for his safety,' the release said, 'the officer drove forward striking one individual and may have impacted others,' while trying to get out of the 'unsafe position.' Once the officer was 'at a point of safety,' he called for medical aid the release said.

The News Tribune reported one person sustained a laceration in the collision and was transported to a local hospital.

Williams said he had gone to the intersection to shoot some video of the gathered crowd and cars. He isn't sure when police showed up to the scene, but insists he wasn't part of the group banging on the police car.

'The cops didn't say anything, I didn't hear no commands over the bullhorn,' Williams told CNN.

'I was filming, and I had my back to the (police) car because I wasn't aware of what was going on. I heard sirens...by the time I looked around I was on the ground under the car with the other guy that was trampled under it.'

Videos show officer drive through crowd

In at least one graphic video of the incident that was circulating on social media, the police vehicle with lights and sirens on can be seen slowly moving closer to the crowd gathered in front of the vehicle.

An engine is heard revving in the background and the vehicle backs up before accelerating forward into the crowd, knocking several people to the ground.

The vehicle then slows down slightly, as it appears to bounce while driving over something, before continuing through the intersection. The back tires of the vehicle can be seen rolling over someone lying in the street.

A second video shot at the scene shows a white car doing donuts in the middle of the intersection and driving off just as officers arrive, moments before the police vehicle is seen driving through the crowd.

In another video, the sound of an engine revving is followed by a series of thuds and an individual exclaiming twice, 'Damn, they're hitting a cop car.'

Moments later, an engine is heard revving again and people scatter and begin to scream, 'Oh my God! Oh my God!' repeatedly. A few seconds later a smaller crowd is seen forming around what appears to be someone laying on the ground.

Mayor wants those involved held accountable

Mayor Victoria Woodards said in a statement she is 'deeply concerned' by the incident.

'As a use of deadly force, this incident is being taken very seriously and the scene has appropriately been turned over to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team for independent investigation,' the mayor said.

'While we await more information, I want the community to know that I am deeply concerned and praying for everyone who was impacted by last night's events,' Woodards said. 'I continue to be proud of Tacoma's long-standing reputation as a place of strong, nonviolent advocacy and activism.'

The mayor has called on the city manager and police chief to hold everyone involved accountable in the incident.

City Manager Elizabeth Pauli told CNN affiliate KING that videos she watched of the incident were 'horrific.'

'I was horrified, those videos are very difficult to watch,' Pauli said. 'I feel concern for the individual that was run over. I feel concern for those that witnessed that event. I feel concern for our officers that are involved.'

Interim Police Chief Mike Ake said in a press release 'I am concerned that our department is experiencing another use of deadly force incident.'

'I send my thoughts to anyone who was injured in tonight's event and am committed to our Department's full cooperation in the independent investigation and to assess the actions of the department's response during the incident,' Ake said.

The Community Police Advisory Board will hold a special meeting Monday night at 6 p.m. PST to discuss the incident, a tweet from police said.

Williams said he wanted to speak with the mayor about what occurred.

'I just want to talk to someone that's an official because this is not right ... at the end of the day, it's not right,' Williams said.
By Liu Xin and Liao Jian

On January 1, 2021, armed policemen track and search the suspects with the help of police dogs near the crime scene. (Photo from Xinhua / by Liao Jian)

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 25 -- Recently, the 3rd Detachment of Guangdong Contingent under Chinas Peoples Armed Police (PAP) cracked a major smuggling case in which drones were deployed to transport illicit goods through a culvert tunnel. In cooperation with competent local departments, a total of 1,145 mobile phones and 305 memory sticks, etc., worth more than 9 million Yuan ($ 9 million), were captured.

With assistance from the coastal defense and anti-smuggling office of south Chinas Shenzhen City, the armed police detachment has recently carried out investigations over key fields and cut off a smuggling tunnel in border areas of Guangdong and Hong Kong. It has confiscated a horde of tools, detected a culvert, and seized13 boxes of smuggled items.

The operation has proven a case of success of an intelligence-sharing mechanism between police and the local anti-smuggling agency, said Xiao Fang, deputy chief-of-staff with the armed police detachment, adding that the PAP will strengthen cooperation with local departments and ensure safety and stability in the border areas.

The case has been transferred to the anti-smuggling office of Shenzhen City for further investigation.
Help AG, the cyber security arm of Etisalat Digital, has appointed Fahad Al-Suhaimi as Country Director to spearhead the companys plans for expansion in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Al-Suhaimi brings with him more than 15 years of experience in successfully driving business expansion in the technology industry across a variety of roles in project management, business development, sales, and marketing strategy.

He joins Help AG from Innovative Solutions SA, where he held the role of Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Prior to that, he served in management positions at Mobily, SAS, HP, the Saudi Telecom Company, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Based in Riyadh, Al-Suhaimi will be responsible for leading business growth and expansion across the nation at a time when organizations are looking to further accelerate their digital transformation ambitions driven, in part, by the global Covid-19 outbreak but also as one of the focal points of Saudi's Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy through increased focus on innovation.

Commenting on the appointment, Stephan Berner, Chief Executive Officer at Help AG, said: We are very excited to have Fahad leading our expansion into Saudi Arabia to meet the significantly increasing demand for Help AG's Managed Security Services and cyber security on-premises and secure cloud infrastructure projects. It is clear that organisations and governmental agencies across the kingdom are most eager and ready to embrace digital transformation - and as one of the region's strongest cyber security companies, we look forward to supporting their bold steps with our tailored information security solutions and services that ensure they grow securely.

He added: Fahad's extensive experience, network of public and private sector relationships, and understanding of the Kingdoms threat landscape makes him the perfect addition to our team and reinforces our commitment to advancing the Crown Princes pioneering Vision 2030 digital transformation agenda.

Commenting on his new role, Al-Suhaimi added: I am honoured to join Help AG and look forward to expanding the reach of our cutting-edge 360 capabilities to empower the infrastructure of organisations in the kingdom and enable secure transformation that will help drive the digital economy. As the Gulf's largest economy, there is huge demand in the market for our services and solutions as organizations rapidly embrace digital technologies not only accelerated by the shift to cloud and multi-cloud environments during Covid-19, but also on account of Saudi's national transformation plan that prioritizes innovation to diversify the economy away from oil and develop public service sectors including infrastructure, health, education, and tourism. Part of Etisalat Digital, Help AG already leads the largest team of cyber security experts in the region with a 160+ strong workforce, making us best positioned to serve the market.

In addition to already having the largest Managed Security Services (MSS) team in the Middle East, Help AG also plans to launch a new state-of-the-art Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2021 to meet the state's growing need to strengthen protection against cyber threats.

According to a recent IDC CIO Survey, 60% of Saudi CIOs see managing security as their biggest ongoing technology challenge and 85% of CIOs think that investments in cyber security and privacy technologies will be critical to their digital transformation initiatives. The report also predicts that the fallout from the pandemic is likely to expose new security loopholes that cybercriminals will exploit.

The CSOC will comprise top-level security analysts and monitors to assess vulnerabilities, and analyse and interpret critical security events or abnormal behaviour occurring within complex IT security infrastructures, with Help AGs Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service, and Incident Response methodology, designed to inform and support organizations on a 24/7 basis. The MDR Service also supports Active Response and Containment actions initiated by the CSOC team with solutions such as Palo Alto Firewall and Carbon Black Response, significantly decreasing time to respond and mitigate a threat, and positioning organizations a step ahead of any incident. -- Tradearabia News Service
Tehran, Jan 25 : Iran does not accept the "political mediation" of a third country regarding a South Korean oil tanker seized the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf earlier this month, since it is a "technical" affair, a government spokesman said here.

"As we said before, the oil tanker was seized due to the pollution of the marine environment in the Gulf, and this is an important issue all countries are sensitive about," Xinhua news agency quoted Foreign Minister spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying to a local media outlet on Sunday.

On January 19, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani reportedly voiced Doha's readiness to facilitate a dialogue between Iran and South Korea.

Khatibzadeh further said that Iranian authorities have informed their South Korean counterparts that Tehran will not accept a political mediation on a technical issue.

The spokesman also rejected claims that the tanker, Hankuk Chemi was seized to put pressure on Seoul in order to have the Iranian assets released, as observers have speculated.

The IRGC announced in a statement on January 4 that United Arab Emirate-bound tanker, carrying 7,200 tonnes of petrochemicals, had been seized "for repeated violations of marine environmental laws".

It also had 20 crewmembers on board -- five South Koreans, 11 Myanmarese, two Indonesians and two Vietnamese.

The tanker is currently docked at a port in Bandar Abbas, a city on Iran's southern coast.
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Indonesia has seized an Iranian tanker which was caught red-handed illegally transferring oil to a vessel from Panama, according to the coast guard.

The Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian Freya were seized on Sunday in waters off Borneo and escorted to Batam Island for further investigation.

The coast guard said the vessels were detected at 5.30am, they were not flying any national flags, had switched off automatic I.D. systems and didn't respond to radio.

Spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the ships were 'caught red-handed' transferring oil from Horse to Freya and that there was an oil spill around the receiving tanker.

Panamanian-flagged MT Freya (right) and Iranian-flagged MT Horse tankers anchored together in the Pontianak waters off the coast of Borneo on Sunday

The vessels were seized after they were 'caught red-handed' transferring oil to the Panamanian boat

The tankers are pictured after they were seized by the Indonesian coastguard on Sunday

He added that 61 crew members onboard the vessels were Iranian and Chinese nationals and had been detained.

The United States has imposed an economic strangle-hold on Iran since 2018 after it breached its nuclear commitments, hamstringing its oil exports to the world.

Experts estimate Tehran ships out less than 300,000 barrels of crude per day, compared to a peak of 2.8 million daily two years ago.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said today that the seizure was over a 'a technical issue and it happens in shipping field'.

'Our Ports Organisation and the ship owner company are looking to find the cause of the issue and resolve it,' Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.

The International Maritime Organization requires vessels to use transponders for safety and transparency.

Crews can turn off the devices if there is a danger of piracy or similar hazards. But transponders are often shut down to conceal a ship's location during illicit activities.

Both the supertankers, each capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil, were last spotted earlier this month off Singapore, shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon showed.

Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) MT Horse, owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), was almost fully loaded with oil while VLCC MT Freya, managed by Shanghai Future Ship Management Co, was empty, the data showed.

NITC was not immediately available for comment.

A search by Reuters on Chinese company directory found that the registered office address of Shanghai Future Ship Management Co came under another firm named Shanghai Chengda Ship Management. Calls to the office went unanswered.

The oil tankers were seized off the tropical island of Borneo in South East Asia on Sunday morning

Iran has been accused of concealing the destination of its oil sales by disabling tracking systems on its tankers, making it difficult to assess how much crude Tehran exports as it seeks to counter U.S. sanctions.

In 2018, former President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers and reimposed sanctions aimed at cutting Tehran's oil exports to zero.

Iran sent the MT Horse vessel to Venezuela last year to deliver 2.1 million barrels of Iranian condensate.

Over the past few months, MT Freya has delivered two crude oil cargoes totalling about 4 million barrels into Qingdao port on the east coast of China and northeast Yingkou port, said Emma Li, a senior crude analyst with Refinitiv.

The Qingdao cargo was declared as Upper Zakum crude produced in the United Arab Emirates, said Li, who tracks China-destined crude oil shipments.
About four years ago, when Mark Lotto was a Penn engineering student, his final-project adviser was Arun Deb, a respected water expert. Lottos task was to accompany the professor on a trip to India and help him assess some of his initiatives there  like clean water and sanitation for rural schools, and lifesaving arsenic filters for village water supplies.

Of course, the duo made sure the technology worked. But, Lotto recalled, Deb wanted to know about more than that.

For instance, were the people who used the systems taking responsibility for looking after them? Did their governing boards reflect the demographics of the systems users  which included not just men but women and students, too? Were the projects financially sustainable? And were the projects goals  clean, safe water and sanitation  being adopted by the people who benefitted from the projects in their daily lives?

Without Dr. Deb, I would have learned only how an arsenic filter works in India, said Lotto, who works internationally as a product cost engineer for General Electric. But once I met Dr. Deb, I learned that if you dont have ownership at the lowest level  if you dont work with the people who are actually going to use it  then your technology could be the best in the world, but its going to fail.

Simply put, the young engineer learned that technology can be the starting point to changing peoples lives. Thats something that Arun Deb has been doing all his career  and something that this gracious, unassuming man, at age 84, has no intention of stopping.

Im grateful God is giving me the opportunity to do this work, said Deb, a native of India and a resident of Downingtown.

Deb retired in 2003 from Weston Solutions, a West Chester-based environmental consulting and management firm, but has really never kicked back and relaxed. Hes an active board member with Global Water Alliance, a Philadelphia-based NGO dedicated to increased access to safe drinking water and sanitation. He still teaches at Penn, and he has also taught at the University of Notre Dame, University College London, and the Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology.

As such, hes always mentoring students like Lotto, bringing them to India to see firsthand how environmental engineering can improve life for the worlds needy.

I can never say Aruns retired, because hes always working, said Stanley L. Laskowski, founder of the Global Water Alliance and a retired Environmental Protection Agency official and Penn professor. Hes just a wonderful person.

Raised in the West Bengal state of India in a family of modest means  his father and brothers were schoolteachers and his mother was a homemaker  much of Debs water and sanitation improvement work has been focused in the regions rural villages.

During a visit to India in the 1990s, he learned that villagers were being poisoned by arsenic from drinking contaminated groundwater. What the villages needed, he knew, were arsenic filters in their water systems.

Over the next few years, with the help of the NGO Water for People, which helps people bring clean water and sanitation solutions to needy communities, he embarked on a campaign to bring a filtration project to the villages. With research support from of a local university and $100,000 from the Hilton Foundation, a humanitarian nonprofit, about 200 villages got municipal arsenic filters that helped provide safe water for about 200,000 people.

Part of what made the program sustainable, said Deb, was that organizers formed associations of citizens  which included women  to oversee them instead of relying on the government to manage the projects. As a result, he noted, citizens got used to the idea of helping to fund clean water, instead of expecting water to be free.

The villagers became so proud of their filtration units, he said, that some residents now call them their temple.

Another project Deb spearheaded, called WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene), brought clean drinking water and sanitation systems such as flush toilets to rural schools in West Bengal. Again, Deb insisted on local oversight, which included students  girls as well as boys.

Yet another project of which Deb is especially proud doesnt involve water at all  but it, too, is about changing lives.

For the past 10, 12 years, Ive been working on womens empowerment, Deb said. In villages, women are generally very neglected. I thought the important thing was education. If women get education, they will get power.

So Deb has been contributing his own money and working with donors to raise funds for scholarships, books, school supplies, and uniforms for female students at all levels of schooling. Currently he partners with Nishtha, a nonprofit education organization in India, on projects that have helped further the education of about 1,000 students in about a dozen villages.

Said Deb, I am so proud of these girls, who are honored in a celebration each year  along with their mothers.

We realize that mothers have made tremendous contributions, to their childrens education, he said.

Deb and his wife, Dhriti, a former financial analyst who is also retired, have one child, a son who is a doctor, and two granddaughters: One is a student at the University of Michigans dental school and the other is a medical student at Georgetown University. Deb and his wife are proud of all of them.

The couple spends about half the year in the United States, where Deb became a citizen in 1978, and the other half in India, where they enjoy visiting family and friends. But uppermost in Debs mind, always, is the development of new, life-enhancing projects. His latest: Hes helping to build a small, rural hospital in West Bengal for poor people.

He has two good reasons to keep his momentum going.

One is my satisfaction  helping other people, he said. The other, he added with a chuckle, is more practical. Being retired, he said, I have to do something.

[January 25, 2021] Twitter Announces Proposed Settlement of Shareholder Derivative Lawsuits

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) today announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to settle the shareholder derivative lawsuits pending in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the "Court") and the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against the Company and certain current and former directors and officers. The proposed settlement resolves all claims asserted against Twitter and the other named defendants in the derivative lawsuits without any liability or wrongdoing attributed to them personally or the Company. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the Twitter Board of Directors will adopt and implement certain corporate governance modifications. In addition, Twitter's insurers will pay the company $38 million to be used for general corporate purposes. The settlement will not require Twitter to make any payment, aside from covering certain administrative costs related to the settlement, such as those associated with publishing and mailing shareholder notice. The settlement agreement is subject to final approval by the Court. The Court has scheduled the final approval hearing for March 19, 2021 at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, at the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, Leonard L. Williams Justice Center, 500 North King Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 (or by telephonic or video means as may be designated by the Court in the interest of public safety), to consider approval of the settlement agreement. Stockholders have the right to object to the settlement agreement. The deadline for the submission by stockholders of an objection to the settlement agreement is February 26, 2021, twenty-one calendar days prior to the hearing. Additional information regarding the proposed settlement can be found in the below Summary Notice of Proposed Settlement of Stockholder Derivative Action and at www.twitter.com/i/en/landing/2021derivativesettlement. About Twitter, Inc. Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is what's happening and what people are talking about right now. To learn more, visit about.twitter.com and follow @Twitter. Let's talk. Contacts Investors:

ir@twitter.com Press:

press@twitter.com

IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE









ATUL VERMA, derivatively on behalf of Nominal

Defendant, TWITTER, INC.,

Plaintiff, v. RICHARD COSTOLO, ANTHONY NOTO, JACK

DORSEY, MARJORIE SCARDINO, DAVID

ROSENBLATT, EVAN WILLIAMS, PETER CURRIE,

PETER FENTON, and PETER CHERNIN,

Defendants, -and- TWITTER, INC.,

Nominal Defendant. C.A. No. 2019-0509-PAF BASSETT FAMILY TRUST, derivatively and on

behalf of TWITTER, INC.,

Plaintiff, v. RICHARD COSTOLO; ANTHONY NOTO; JACK

DORSEY; PETER FENTON; DAVID ROSENBLATT;

MARJORIE SCARDINO; EVAN WILLIAMS; PETER

CHERNIN; PETER CURRIE; OMID KORDESTANI;

PATRICK PICHETTE; DEBRA LEE; MARTHA LANE

FOX; NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA; BRET TAYLOR;

ROBERT ZOELLICK;

Defendants, -and- TWITTER, INC., a Delaware corporation,

Nominal Defendant. C.A. No. 2019-0806-PAF

SUMMARY NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF

STOCKHOLDER DERIVATIVE ACTION The Delaware Court of Chancery authorized this Notice.

This is not a solicitation from an attorney TO: ALL RECORD HOLDERS AND BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF TWITTER, INC. ("TWITTER") COMMON STOCK (TICKER SYMBOL: TWTR) AS OF THE CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON DECEMBER 17, 2020 ("CURRENT TWITTER STOCKHOLDERS"). PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY AND IN ITS ENTIRETY. YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY THIS LITIGATION. THIS NOTICE RELATES TO A PROPOSED SETTLEMENT AND DISMISSAL OF STOCKHOLDER DERIVATIVE LITIGATION AND CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR RIGHTS. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN THIS ACTION. IF THE COURT APPROVES THE SETTLEMENT AND DISMISSAL OF THE ACTION, CURRENT TWITTER STOCKHOLDERS WILL BE FOREVER BARRED FROM CONTESTING THE APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT AND FROM PURSUING THE SETTLED CLAIMS. THE COURT HAS MADE NO FINDINGS OR DETERMINATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE MERITS OF THE ACTION. THE RECITATION OF THE BACKGROUND AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE SETTLEMENT CONTAINED HEREIN DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE FINDINGS OF THE COURT. IT IS BASED ON REPRESENTATIONS MADE TO THE COURT BY COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the above-captioned stockholder derivative actions are being settled, and the parties have entered into an Amended Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement, dated December 17, 2020 (the "Stipulation"). The terms of the proposed Settlement are set forth in the Stipulation, and all capitalized terms herein have the same meaning as defined in the Stipulation. This notice should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the text of the Stipulation, which has been filed with the Court. A further notice describing the Derivative Actions along with the text of the Stipulation is available for review as an exhibit to a Form 8-K filed with the SEC by Twitter on January 25, 2021 and is also available at twitter.com/i/en/landing/2021derivativesettlement. In consideration of the proposed Settlement, the Individual Defendants will cause their insurance carriers to pay $38 million in cash to Twitter. Additionally, Twitter's Board will adopt, implement, and maintain changes to Twitter's corporate governance. IF YOU ARE A CURRENT RECORD BENEFICIAL OWNER OF TWITTER COMMON STOCK AS OF DECEMBER 17, 2020, YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY PROCEEDINGS IN THIS LITIGATION. On March 19, 2021 at 11:00 a.m., a hearing (the "Settlement Hearing") will be held before the Honorable Paul A. Fioravanti, Jr at the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the "Court"), Leonard L. Williams Justice Center, 500 North King Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 (or by telephonic or video means as may be designated by the Court in the interest of public safety) to: (a) determine whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate to Plaintiffs, Twitter, and its stockholders, and should be approved by the Court; (b) determine whether a Final Order and Judgment should be entered dismissing with prejudice the Derivative Actions and extinguishing and releasing the Released Claims; (c) determine whether the application by Plaintiffs' Counsel for an award of attorneys' fees and reimbursement of litigation expenses ("Fee and Expense Application"), and for a service award to each of the five named Plaintiffs ("Service Award Application"), should be approved; (d) hear and consider any objections to the Settlement or the Fee and Expense Application and the Service Award Application to be submitted by Plaintiffs' Counsel; and (e) consider any other matters concerning the Settlement that may properly be brought before the Court. The Court may adjourn the date of the Settlement Hearing without further notice to Current Twitter Stockholders, and the Settlement Hearing may be continued by the Court at the Settlement Hearing, or at any adjourned session thereof, without further notice. Any Current Twitter Stockholder as of December 17, 2020 shall have the right to appear and to be heard at the Settlement Hearing. However, no stockholder shall be heard at the Settlement Hearing unless, at least twenty-one (21) calendar days prior to the date of the Settlement Hearing, such stockholder has filed with the Court and delivered to counsel for the Settling Parties a written notice of objection in accordance with the requirements below. Only stockholders who have filed and delivered validly and timely written notices of objection will be entitled to be heard at the Settlement Hearing unless the Court orders otherwise. Any written notice of objection must contain the following information: (a) a written and signed notice of intention to appear, which states the name, address, telephone number, and email address (if available) of the objector and, if represented, of his, her, or its counsel; (b) proof that the objector owned Twitter common stock as of the date of the execution of the Stipulation and continues to hold such shares; and (c) a written, detailed statement of the Person's objections to any matter before the Court, and the specific grounds therefor or the reasons why such Person desires to appear and to be heard, as well as all documents and writings which such Person desires the Court to consider, including any legal and evidentiary support. If you wish to object to the settlement, you must file a written objection setting forth the grounds for such objection and the information listed above with the Court on or before 21 calendar days before the Settlement Hearing, with service to: (a) counsel to Plaintiff the Bassett Family Trust, Thomas A. Uebler, McCollom D'Emilio Smith Uebler LLC, Little Falls Centre Two, 2751 Centerville Road, Suite 401, Wilmington, Delaware 19808; (b) counsel to Plaintiff Atul Verma, Robert K. Beste, Smith Katzenstein & Jenkins LLP, 1000 N. West St. #501, Wilmington, Delaware 19899; (c) counsel to Plaintiffs Jim Porter, Ernesto Espinoza, and Francis Fleming, Blake A. Bennett, Cooch and Taylor, P.A., The Nemours Building, 1007 N. Orange St., Suite 1120, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (d) counsel to Defendants, Raymond J. DiCamillo, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A., 920 North King Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801. Unless the Court orders otherwise, your objection will not be considered unless it is timely filed with the Court and delivered to the above counsel. Any Person who fails to object in the manner provided shall be deemed to have waived such objection and shall forever be foreclosed from making any objection to the fairness, reasonableness, or adequacy of the proposed settlement as set forth in the Stipulation and the Judgment, or to the award of attorneys' fees and expenses to Plaintiffs' Counsel, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Current Twitter Stockholders who have no objection to the settlement do not need to appear at the Settlement Hearing or take any other action. Inquiries may be made to Plaintiffs' Counsel: (a) counsel to Plaintiff the Bassett Family Trust, Thomas A. Uebler, McCollom D'Emilio Smith Uebler LLC, Little Falls Centre Two, 2751 Centerville Road, Suite 401, Wilmington, Delaware 19808; (b) counsel to Plaintiff Atul Verma, Robert K. Beste, Smith Katzenstein & Jenkins LLP, 1000 N. West St. #501, Wilmington, Delaware 19899; or (c) counsel to Plaintiffs Jim Porter, Ernesto Espinoza, and Francis Fleming, Blake A. Bennett, Cooch and Taylor, P.A., The Nemours Building, 1007 N. Orange St., Suite 1120, Wilmington, Delaware 19801. DO NOT CALL OR WRITE THE COURT OR THE OFFICE OF

THE REGISTER IN CHANCERY REGARDING THIS NOTICE. Dated: December 28, 2020 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/twitter-announces-proposed-settlement-of-shareholder-derivative-lawsuits-301214335.html SOURCE Twitter, Inc.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
New York, Jan 26 : After reports of a confrontation between their troops along the border in the Sikkim region, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hopes that India and China can reduce tensions through dialogue, according to his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

"We hope that through dialogue tension can be dialled down," he said on Monday replying to a question about reports of a clash between Chinese Indian troops in Naku La last week.

The Indian Army described the January 20 incident as a "minor face-off" that commanding officers from the two countries resolved "as per established protocols." (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)
Singapore -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/24/2021 -- STOBOX, an award winning technology and advisory company in the field of digital assets meets Asia Blockchain Community for the first time on 22 January 2021 to share their vision to securitize the future.



The advisory arm helps business clients find the best application of crypto assets with the particular focus on security token offering. While the technology arm uses insights from the advisory arm to build the most disruptive and requested products by the market.



"We have built the Stobox Digital Securities Dashboard and Stobox DLT Network Protocol, which allows any business to easily tokenize their securities, sell them to investors and manage otherwise. We help them to securitize their future." Gene Deyev, CEO told the community.



Asia Blockchain Community is a brand managed under Blockcast.cc, a media group operating from Singapore and South Korea. Blockcast.cc helps to bridge traditional businesses with the new blockchain technology.



"We have come across many platforms and companies that are trying to help the businesses to tokenize. STOBOX has one of the more comprehensive suite of services and products. We look forward partnering them in the near future." Jenny Zheng, cofounder of Blockcast.cc commented.



There are more than 400 community members online for the AMA session at Asia Blockchain Community. Find out more about the AMA session at https://blockcast.cc/interviews/blockcast-cc-interviews-stobox-founders-tokenization-transformation/.



About Asia Blockchain Community

Asia Blockchain Community (ABC) is a community that is based in Asia and run by volunteers. ABC knows the market very well and is backed by a panel of blockchain & crypto experts and influencers. "Slogan: Long Crypto and Short the World"



About STOBOX

Stobox is an award-winning company in the field of security tokens and shapes the industry by advising governments on legislation for digital assets and developing next-generation infrastructure. Their modular platform ensures a maximum of customization possibilities.



Media Contact



Name: Melody Chan

Title: Editor

Email: contact@blockcast.cc

URL: https://www.blockcast.cc/about
Vocalist John Boutte is New Orleans to his core. Raised in the 7th Ward in a family of musicians, his Big Easy blend of gospel, jazz and soul is the sound of the city. No surprise, then, that his Treme Song was chosen as the theme music for the HBO series Treme.

But after Hurricane Katrina, he grew weary of the chaos and crime in his old neighborhood, as well as skyrocketing housing prices. Five years ago, he bought a 23-acre spread in rural Lacombe, a 40-minute drive from New Orleans.

The property teems with cardinals, crows, woodpeckers, bald eagles, hawks, finches, blue jays, bobcats, deer and many other critters; its 800-square-foot house suits him just fine. Boutte gets water from a well and walks the trails in the woods.

I love being out here in nature, he said recently. Im a country boy. Its so quiet.

In November, he broke his rural reverie to tape a concert at the historic Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall in downtown Mandeville. At 7 p.m. Friday, that performance kicks off Mandeville Live! Streamed, a three-week virtual concert series.

The series continues with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra String Quintet on Feb. 5 and clarinetist Doreen Ketchens on Feb. 12.

Performances can be viewed on the Facebook pages of the city of Mandeville, the Mandeville Trailhead and the Dew Drop, which was built in 1895 and is one of the oldest remaining rural jazz halls in the nation.

The nonprofit volunteer organization Friends of the Dew Drop manages the venues programming. Proceeds help underwrite music workshops in St. Tammany Parish schools.

For his show, Boutte was joined by longtime collaborators Oscar Rossignoli on piano and Nobu Ozaki on bass. They intermingled standards and original material.

It was a very positive, uplifting set, he said. I didnt do anything political or negative. We were swinging, at least I hope. I had a really good time.

The crew at the taping wore face masks, and the Dew Drops windows were wide open to allow air flow. Boutte takes no chances when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

Im 62 and I have an underlying condition  asthma. Until I get the (vaccine) shot, Im just sitting here waiting. Nobodys in my bubble. I dont trust anybody.

In the Army, he trained wearing a gas mask in the Texas heat. Hes got no problem wearing masks now and not just because they protect him from COVID-19.

People cant see me mouthing kiss my ass, he said, laughing. All they can see is my smiling eyes. Its very liberating.

Hes laid low for most of the past year, but it wasnt as carefree as hed hoped. I thought Id have all this free time to sit around and imagine things. It hasnt been that way. Maybe this year.

Over the past few months, he taped the occasional webcast performance, including at d.b.a., one for December's Home for the Holidays benefit and another during this month's Danny Barker Banjo & Guitar Festival.

He taught himself Ray Charles arrangement of America the Beautiful on piano. His band members have joined him for porch rehearsals in Lacombe.

He missed out on playing shows to promote his 2019 album A Well Tempered Boutte, hurting sales. But he is finally selling John Boutte-branded T-shirts on his website.

Thirty years in this business and Id never sold one dime of merchandise. It seemed a little too carny, like a carnival. I only wanted to sell music.

I feel weird about it, but the T-shirts are selling. Ive got all kinds of ideas now.

Though he misses singing for a live audience, his vocal cords needed a break.

My voice was ragged. You can only use this instrument for so long without damaging it.

I used to say, If I could just take a year off to rest my voice.  Well, I got my year. You should watch what you wish for.

If people are stupid enough not to wear masks and social distance and listen to science, I may have another year to rest my voice. Ill come back sounding like John Boutte when I was 17 and could sing an octave over Michael Jackson.

Meanwhile, hell continue to live simply, and inexpensively, among the wildlife in Lacombe. I dont need much, he said. Ive got a good life.

To tell the truth.

Its not just the name of a TV game show. Its the responsibility of every teacher, politician, parent, president, and every citizen.

Knowledgeable voting, service, caring for others and truth-telling are a citizens greatest responsibilities to civil society. Three of these four are Christian responsibilities.

I learned that my Republican state senator, Mike Doherty, is a co-sponsor of S-854, a bill that requires New Jersey schools to teach civics.

Wow. Long overdue.

New Jersey is one of 10 states not requiring the teaching of civics. Maybe this explains New Jerseys knucklehead behaviors of Trumppublicans?

Recently I read on social media that a prominent Phillipsburg elected official publicly stated that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is rewarding smokers with the COVID-19 vaccine before giving it to school teachers.

I was alarmed by reading this. This elected official offered no citation to verify this claim.

So as a responsible citizen, I researched the truth. Murphy was simply following CDC guidelines, not rewarding anyone.

Using this flawed thinking, Murphy is also rewarding fat people (with diabetes and/or heart disease), alcoholics (with kidney disease), along with smokers (with respiratory diseases), rather than rewarding school teachers.

Murphy believes science, thus he follows science and CDC guidelines. And Murphy is telling the truth.

Its long overdue for Republicans and Trumppublicans to be responsible citizens by simply acknowledging the whole truth.

Reggie Regrut

Phillipsburg
From his office overlooking Cherbourg docks, general manager Yannick Millet points to trailers destined for Ireland that belong to Amazon and FedEx, new customers and a signal of a potential big shift in post-Brexit trade.

Confronted by red tape and delays after Britain's messy exit from the European Union, Irish traders are shipping goods directly to and from European ports, shunning the once-speedier route through Britain.

"You see the shift in supply chains right here," he said.

All five operators connecting Ireland to mainland Europe have increased ferry services in the past nine months, with some bringing forward planned sailings and others moving larger ships away from quieter British routes to meet new demand.

Millet forecast Cherbourg would handle 9,000 trucks in January, equivalent to almost a quarter of what passed through the French port annually before the COVID-19 crisis.

For decades, the land bridge offered Irish traders the swiftest, most reliable route to continental Europe. It involves a short sea crossing between Dublin and Holyhead in Wales and then a hop between Dover and Calais. Every year 150,000 lorries would use the route.

But post-Brexit paperwork and delays in customs clearance are snarling up the process, adding hours or days to journeys and ratcheting up costs. Many companies are switching routes.

"This is a game-changer," said Chris Smyth, commercial director at Ireland's Perennial Freight. Demand was huge for freight space to ship to Cherbourg, Dunkirk, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge, he added.

Cherbourg's business before Brexit had been evenly split between Ireland and Britain. Now, the port would orient itself towards Ireland, Millet said.

"I thought traffic would double but it has tripled," he said. "The question now is whether the traffic volumes we see today will hold in the months to come."

Expand Close A Brittany Ferries ship is seen at Cherbourg Harbour, France, January 20, 2021. Brexit delays and customs checks have led to a surge in demand to ship goods in and out of Ireland direct to European ports like Cherbourg in France. Picture taken on January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Brittany Ferries ship is seen at Cherbourg Harbour, France, January 20, 2021. Brexit delays and customs checks have led to a surge in demand to ship goods in and out of Ireland direct to European ports like Cherbourg in France. Picture taken on January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

AVOIDING THE MIDDLEMAN

Stena Line, the largest Irish Sea operator, has doubled its services on the booming Rosslare-Cherbourg route, temporarily cancelling some sailings to Britain after freight volumes fell 60% in the first half of January.

Irish Ferries has deployed a larger vessel out of Dublin and planned to add more weekly rotations next month, the Port of Cherbourg said. Brittany Ferries also brought forward a planned sailing linking France and Ireland.

Danish operator DFDS said the freight ferries plying its new 23-hour crossing from Rosslare to Dunkirk six days a week were "pretty much full". Route director Aidan Coffey said capturing 30% of "land bridge" traffic would make the route viable and DFDS might soon add up to two more sailings per week.

"We're blown away by the demand," Coffey said.

No one knows if the shift is permanent.

The Irish Maritime Development Office, a government shipping promotion body, said a return to pre-Brexit logistic chains would depend on the speed of customs formalities along the land bridge and that ferries linking Ireland and mainland Europe could not replicate its volumes.

Eddie Burke, a senior official at Ireland's transport department, said the route through Britain would undoubtedly come back into play again.

Ferry operators were taking decisions on capacity week by week, said Ole Bockmann, Stena's operations chief in Cherbourg. Reverting to land bridge routes was simple, he said. "We just take the ships off and go back to the old system."

Expand Close Harbour staff tie up a Stena Line ship at the Cherbourg Harbour, France, January 20, 2021. Brexit delays and customs checks have led to a surge in demand to ship goods in and out of Ireland direct to European ports like Cherbourg in France. Picture taken January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes / Facebook

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Whatsapp Harbour staff tie up a Stena Line ship at the Cherbourg Harbour, France, January 20, 2021. Brexit delays and customs checks have led to a surge in demand to ship goods in and out of Ireland direct to European ports like Cherbourg in France. Picture taken January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

RENAISSANCE

It gives ports like Cherbourg and Ireland's Rosslare a narrow window to persuade traders that the longer sea crossing between Ireland and mainland Europe is commercially viable for just-in-time logistics.

Eighteen months ago, Rosslare on the southeastern tip of Ireland was struggling. Its traffic volumes were stagnant while rivals were enjoying a 10-year run of growth.

Now its general manager, Glenn Carr, is fending off complaints about the number trucks passing through after freight traffic increased 500% in the first half of January.

Carr said the old perception that direct crossings from Ireland were too long for fresh food and just-in-time supply chains was changing. Many of the companies that had switched from the land bridge would remain, he forecast.

"I was talking to some multinationals only this week and the question they asked me was, 'Glenn, are you putting on more services?'"

An 18-hour ferry ride away, Cherbourg port's Millet said his immediate priority was responding to shipping companies demands for better restaurants and washrooms for truckers and ironing out quayside glitches in the loading of extra vessels.

"Brexit has for us been an opportunity to rethink our port," he said.
Disastrous. Difficult. Disheartening. Thats how dozens of health experts have described the coronavirus epidemiological situation in Spain to EL PAIS. The country is reaching the peak of the third wave of the pandemic, if it is even possible to say the second ever ended.

The number of new infections likely peaked last Thursday, when 44,357 cases were reported  the highest single-day figure since the start of the pandemic. If the curve has not started to flatten since then, it will do so this week, according to experts. But with the 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants at 828, the real question is how quickly will contagions start to fall and if they will instead reach a plateau.

Adding to the uncertainty is the spread of the new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus first detected in the United Kingdom. In some areas, such as Cantabria and the northeast of the Madrid region, more than 20% of new cases are from this strain, according to calculations from leading hospitals based on patient tests, reports Oriol Guell.

Even in the most optimistic scenario, where there is a rapid fall in transmission, hospitals in Spain will still face difficult weeks ahead. Some Spanish regions last week recorded more Covid-19 admissions and higher occupancy rates than in the first wave last spring. And this pressure will only intensify, even if cases fall, as there is typically a delay between a spike in infections and hospitalizations, given it can take several days for a patients condition to worsen.

The enormous effort of spring 2020 has been wasted. Basic lessons were not learned Miguel Hernan, professor of epidemiology at Harvard University

During the second wave of the pandemic, Spain appeared to be reporting a similar number of new coronavirus infections as in the first wave. But experts explained that this was not the case: in the spring, only serious cases were tested for the coronavirus, while in autumn, testing capacity improved so that even asymptomatic cases were being detected. The third wave of the pandemic can, however, be compared to the worst moments of the epidemic in Spain. The most accurate data point to measure the severity of the pandemic is the number of hospitalizations. These figures, however, are difficult to compare, as the Health Ministry has only been reporting hospital occupancy rates  the percentage of beds occupied by Covid-19 patients out of the total  since August. This data point is now worse than it was in the second wave in nearly all of Spains 17 regions. And it will continue to rise between seven and 10 days after new infections reach their peak.

But how does the third wave of the pandemic compare to the second? The best way to compare the situations is by calculating the number of daily hospital admissions for Covid-19  data that has been provided by the Carlos III Health Institute, since it began reviewing hospital cases in December. In other words, the data is retrospective. According to the institutes figures, 27,000 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 during the worst week of the first wave. In autumn, that figure was 7,000. And according to last Fridays data, 14,000 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital last week. These figures are only likely to worsen this week. During the first wave, there was a sharp spike in cases, but the rise has been slower in the third wave, and will likely take longer to fall, given that coronavirus restrictions are less strict now than they were last spring, when the Spanish government ordered a full home lockdown.

The rise in hospitalizations reflects the rise in new cases reported by the Spanish Health Ministry. But this data point has its limitations when it comes to measuring real transmission as there is often underreporting over public holidays and weekends due to staff shortages. In the first wave, the highest number of cases reported was 9,222. Thanks to seroprevalence studies carried out by the Health Ministry, it is estimated that at the time only one in 10 infections was being detected. This means that during the worst days of the first wave there were close to 100,000 new daily cases. In the third wave, more than 44,000 infections were officially reported on Thursday. If around two-thirds of all cases are now being detected, that figure is closer to 70,000.

Impact on regions

The situation varies greatly between the regions. It is unlikely, for instance, that Madrid will record worse coronavirus figures now than it did during the first wave, when its hospitals were pushed to breaking point. But other regions that suffered less during the first wave, such as Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia, are already reporting more hospital admissions than in March or April. We are already seeing a problem of capacity especially with diseases that arent Covid. Operations, non-personalized care and non-essential surgery are already being postponed, says Ana Maria Garcia, a professor of epidemiology at Valencia University.

The enormous effort of spring 2020 has been wasted. Basic lessons were not learned, adds Miguel Hernan, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard University. Spain has the highest incidence rate of large Western countries, the highest occupancy rate in ICUs [intensive care units] and probably the highest excess death per capita. All indicators continue to worsen, but the measures being taken are more relaxed than in countries with a lower incidence rate that are vaccinating at a faster pace [such as the United Kingdom]. It beggars belief. There is still the possibility that we are lucky and the situation is only extremely serious instead of catastrophic, but it would be better to have a plan.

An intensive care patient in a hospital in Barcelona. Albert Garcia / EL PAIS

There are several reasons why Spain is not likely to see the same number of Covid-19-related fatalities as in the first wave, when nearly 1,000 were reported each day at the peak. The pressure on hospitals is more evenly spread across the regions, making it unlikely  but not impossible  that hospitals will again be pushed to the breaking point in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona, as well as those in Castilla y Leon and Castilla-La Mancha. Since the first wave, doctors have also learned a lot about how to treat serious patients and survival rates in ICUs are higher. There is also more personal protective equipment; more ventilators available for ICU patients; the impact on age groups is more homogenous, with more young people infected; senior residences are better protected; and the vaccination drive has begun. These points are cause for optimism, say health experts. There will not likely be rationing of intensive care, as happened last year [when doctors were forced to choose which patients to admit to ICUs], but it will be very complicated, says Fernando Rodriguez Artalejo, a professor of public health at Madrids Autonomous University.

But there is also cause for concern: the spread of the more infectious variant of the coronavirus. Jose Martinez Olmos, professor of the Andalusian Public Health School, recalls that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned in mid-December that the epidemic was out of control due to the mutation. He said that and the following day took distinct measures that should have been adopted four days earlier, says Martinez Olmos. On December 21, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) called for limits on travel and non-essential social gatherings.

We were playing with fire by maintaining the high occupancy rate in ICUs throughout autumn and we have been burned Miguel Hernan, professor of epidemiology at Harvard University

The Spanish government suspended flights arriving from the United Kingdom, apart from those carrying passengers who either have Spanish nationality or are residents in Spain, until February 2. But few other measures were taken to control contagions. Every region, with the exception of Valencia, opened their borders over Christmas to allow people to see relatives and close friends  despite warnings from health experts that it would lead to a third wave of infections. These warnings were made even before the news emerged about the new strain of the virus.

Anna Llupia, a specialist in preventive medicine and public health at Clinic hospital in Barcelona, believes  like other experts consulted by EL PAIS  that the new strain is not being taken seriously enough. Without a doubt, it has a stronger aerosol component [in air transmission]. Internationally, it is talked of as a pandemic within a pandemic and the measures we have now are definitely not enough, she says. In Germany, however, the issue is being taken seriously. Although the country has a much lower incidence rate than Spain  319 compared to 828 cases per 100,000 inhabitants  all public life has been practically locked down for the past two months. In response to the new variant, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that immediate action was needed. In addition to the current measures, it is now mandatory in Germany to wear a so-called medical mask, such as the FFP2, in stores and public transportation, instead of a cloth mask.

Most epidemiologists who spoke to EL PAIS say the main problem is that Spain has taken a reactive  not proactive  approach to the pandemic. Since the beginning of December, health experts have been recommending strict and short lockdowns to cut transmission and prevent the situation that Spain is now facing. I dont understand who has benefited from these months of agony and intermittent restrictions, instead of shorter and stricter periods [of confinement], says Llupia.

What now?

Experts agree that a different approach from the second wave is needed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The triumphalism of a few months ago was surprising, says Hernan. While areas with greater incidence continued to spread the virus across the country, and increase the risk of new mutations due to its wide spread, the incidence rate never dropped low enough to empty out hospitals to safe levels. We were playing with fire by maintaining the high occupancy rate in ICUs throughout autumn and we have been burned. Now the pandemic is terrible for anyone who needs intensive care, be it for Covid-19, a heart attack or a traffic accident.

Indeed a wave of the pandemic was considered over, even when most regions were at high risk, according to the Health Ministrys own coronavirus alert system. Madrid was praised for cutting transmission without closing down bars and restaurants, when the virus was still spreading throughout the region. Experts say these mistakes must not be repeated. We know that the virus responds to the measures that we take: if they are tough, the incidence rate and transmission fall, says epidemiologist Javier del Aguila. We are going to have to do what we know and accept that over Christmas [when restrictions were relaxed to allow family gatherings] we were wrong.

Pere Godoy, the president of the Spanish Epidemiology Society, believes Spain has an opportunity to take better control of the pandemic. We have to prioritize detecting the new variant of the virus. If this is not done, controlling it later is going to be much more complicated, he says. It is an opportunity to establish an effective monitoring system that really controls these new variants. And we must not be satisfied with reducing transmission to levels of the second wave, because if we do, we could enter a fourth wave that is even worse.

Four in 10 coronavirus cases dont know how they were infected One of the great challenges when it comes to introducing restrictions is that there is still a lot of uncertainty about where contagions happen in Spain. According to the latest report by the Carlos III Health Institute, four in 10 people who tested positive for coronavirus do not know how they contracted the virus. While it is true, as some politicians like to repeat, that family gatherings are an important hotspot for infections, this is partly because they are the easiest to detect and trace. It is almost impossible, for instance, to track infections that happen on public transportation, in the supermarket or in a bar with strangers. Spains coronavirus tracking app has also failed. Since its launch in September, 36,735 positive cases have been notified, less than 2% of the official number.

English version by Melissa Kitson.




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The farmers protest at Mumbai's Azad Maidan, who have been mobilised under the joint banner of the 'Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha', is the second of its kind; it comes almost three years after big and small farmers part of the Kisan Long March swept the city in a wave of red and white

Around 15,000 farmers from various districts of Maharashtra have gathered at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai to protest against the Centre's contentious farm laws. This mobilisation of farmers under the joint banner of the 'Samyukta Shetkari Kamgar Morcha' is the second of its kind; it comes almost three years after big and small farmers part of the Kisan Long March swept the city in a wave of red and white.

Santu Devram Tumbde from the Ambas village in Nashik district's Peth taluka had joined the protest rally in 2018, is back at Azad Maidan now  this time, against the Centre's agri laws and in solidarity with farmers from various northern states who are staging a two-month-long protest against the laws at Delhi's borders.

"We had protested against the Devendra Fadnavis-led state government's agriculture policies in 2018. This time we're here because the Narendra Modi government in the Centre is not working in the interests of the farmers. The government should only introduce and implement laws after consulting farmers," he said, shielding his face from the midday sun on Monday.

Farmers from various districts including, Palghar, Nashik, and Nandurbar, are holding a sit-in protest at the iconic Azad Maidan till Republic Day, 26 January. Largely, the protesters comprise farmers who have one or less than an acre of land, and Adivasi farmers who cultivate on forest land.

On Monday, the protest witnessed a crowd actively engaging with speakers like NCP president Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, and activists Medha Patkar and Ulka Mahajan, among others.

In groups fanned out across Azad Maidan, the protesting farmers  men and women, young and old  sat on chatais and chairs and in makeshift tents. They arrived at the venue on Sunday night, carrying provisions like bedsheets, food, and a change of clothes enough to last for the three-day protest.

Since November 2020, farmers across the country are rallying against the new laws, fearing that they will negate the safety net of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) provision and the mandis under the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act. On the other hand, the Centre claims that the laws have been brought in to benefit small farmers by encouraging private trade, contract farming, and removing the stock limit on foodgrains.

Governor has time to meet Kangana Ranaut but not farmers, says Sharad Pawar

The NCP chief, who addressed the farmers on Monday, said that the Centre may pass any law undermining the Constitution on the back of its majority, farmers will "not remain silent" until the new farm acts and the ruling party are "destroyed".

The former Union agriculture minister also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not enquiring about the condition of farmers agitating near Delhi borders in cold weather.

Pawar also hit out at Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for heading to Goa at a time when farmers from the state were to submit a memorandum to him against the farm laws.

Koshyari, said Pawar, who holds the additional charge of Goa, had the time to meet Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut after the BMC demolished parts of her office, "but has no time for farmers". "It has been 60 days since the farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan are protesting near Delhi. Did the countrys PM enquire about (the farmers)? It was mentioned that the farmers are from Punjab. Does Punjab mean Pakistan?" Pawar asked.

The NCP chief alleged that the farm laws were passed without detailed discussion in Parliament despite Opposition parties demanding deliberations on the bills concerned.

'Contract farming detrimental to small and marginal farmers'

"The mandi system is flawed because farmers don't receive the correct rate for their produce, but it is an insurance that we cannot do without. It helps to regulate the prices and provides small and marginal farmers an opportunity to earn a sustainable income," Tumbde said.

Tumbde's remarks were echoed by Sandeep Laxi Gadag from the Dhapchari village in Palghar district's Dahanu. Gadag's main worry, however, is that the strengthening of the contract farming system under the new law will have an adverse effect on small and marginal farmers.

Under one of the new laws, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, contract farming has been included as part of the legal framework of agriculture policy in India.

The law contains provisions through which a farmer can sign a direct contact with companies or businessmen who want to buy farm produce. Until this law was brought in, farmers were restricted from selling their produce directly to consumers or companies and compulsorily had to do so through a licensed trader.

Gadag has barely an acre of land to his name, and feared that businesses might try to manipulate small and marginal farmers like him to give their land on rent.

"By taking many such small patches of land on lease or rent, they will be in control of a large piece of land. This is worrying, because if the crop fails or doesn't do as well as expected, they might pay us less rent for the land or refuse to pay the amount at all. They might even spoil our land by using excessive pesticide"

"Contract farming is also detrimental to labourers since businesses have the resources to use machines for a bulk of the agricultural work," Gadag added.

Additionally, Lata Dashmal Gorkhana, also from the Dhapchari village in Palghar, points out that the mandis and MSP are an integral part of the Public Distribution System (PDS), on which many poor families depend for food grains.

"If the government doesn't buy our grains or buys a smaller amount, then how will the PDS continue? Food grains are bought from us at regulated prices and provided to poor families at subsidised rates. But if the government allows middlemen or businesses into the equation, there is a danger of hoarding and food grains falling short for the PDS. It will also lead to an increase in prices of food grains in the markets.

"We are scared that the PDS will be dismantled because a lot of us depend on the monthly quota of subsidised food grains. Even if they say that instead of grains they will give us money to buy food, how will we manage with rising prices in the market?" she questioned.

The group collectively disagrees with the Centre's claim of bringing in these laws to benefit small farmers. "The problems we have described may seem trivial in isolation but will have a domino effect. The laws negate equity in the agriculture sector, since they will be implemented uniformly across the board. Big farmers will be able to use their resources to gain more benefits," said Tumbde.

Usually small farmers fall back on agriculture labour if their crop fails or the yield used as food is inadequate to last them for the year.

Gadag said he used to receive Rs 450 per day of labour in pre- COVID-19 times, however, that rate has fallen to Rs 350 now. With an average income of Rs 5,000 in a good month, he barely manages to save Rs 1,000 after paying electricity, gas, and water bills and spending on grains and vegetables.

"This protest is a matter of protecting our bread and butter. MSP and the mandis are crucial for us to sustain our families. We want the government to maintain the status quo and do away with the laws completely," he said.

Meerabai Uttam Dhamode, Bhavyatai Balu Jadhav, Achala Damo Kadale, and Gojarabai Shankar Badade from the Kwaraty village in Nashik's Dindori taluka, were of the group of farmers who travelled from Maharashtra to Delhi to join the protest at the National Capital's borders in December 2020.

"We work hard on our land and we are demanding fair prices for the produce. The government and middlemen buy our produce at cheap prices and sell it at expensive rates. Farmers work hard but businesses make the money, and this will be further legitimised by the new laws," Meerabai said.

Sonu Vadhve from the Novkot taluka in Nandurbar district seconds Meerabai, saying, "The Modi government should trust the farmers and bring in laws after consulting with them."
Pharmacies in 62 ShopRite stores from Connecticut to Maryland are closing over the next month and rerouting customers to nearby CVS pharmacies. as the drugstore business continues to consolidate into a few giant chains.

ShopRite owner Wakefern Foods Corp., based in Woodbridge Township, N.J., has sold its customer lists to the Rhode Island-based CVS Pharmacy drugstore chain and reassigned them to CVS locations.

For example, patients who picked up prescriptions from the ShopRite at 52nd and Parkside in West Philadelphia are being sent to the CVS at 49th and Market Streets, nearly two miles away. Customers at an East Falls ShopRite are being sent to a CVS in Manayunk.

The closings include 22 in the Philadelphia area and parts of South Jersey and Delaware, according to a list provided by CVS. An additional 147 ShopRites will still have pharmacies, said spokesman Daniel Emmer.

Among the ShopRites with pharmacies remaining are three in Philadelphia: on Aramingo Avenue, at Bridge and Harbison Streets, and in Morrell Plaza.

For years, food markets aggressively added pharmacies to their stores, seeing them as draws for customers. But the stores have lately been closing them, lacking the market clout to strike deals for drugs or the walk-in clinics that attract many customers to big chain drugstores. CVS also owns Aetna, the third-largest U.S. health insurer, giving it extra market clout.

Neither CVS nor ShopRites owner would disclose how much CVS paid, how many employees work in the drugstores, or how many customers they serve. The deal does not require federal antitrust approval.

The pharmacists were summarily let go, according to customers in Philadelphia and New Jersey. I found out about this today when I went to pick up my prescriptions in the Lyndhurst, N.J., ShopRite, according to Eve Golden, a customer.

My pharmacist was in tears  she told me, We got a conference call last week and we were so excited, we thought we would be getting COVID vaccines here. And they told us we were all fired. Golden, who doesnt have a car, says she doesnt know how shell get to the CVS store in North Arlington, N.J., where she and other Lyndhurst customers have been reassigned.

Clerks and technicians, unlike the pharmacists, are represented by Local 1776 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and will be reassigned elsewhere in the store based on seniority and qualifications, said union president Wendell Young.

ShopRite employees who want to stay in pharmacy will be considered for positions at local CVS Pharmacy locations, said CVS spokesman Matt Blanchette.

But the unions Young doubted too many workers will make that choice: CVS employees do not have a union contract and the pay and benefits at ShopRite are better.

The closings will leave holes in the stores. Philadelphia-based ShopRite operator Jeff Brown says he has plans to fill the space quickly. In my stores, we plan to use the space to add small, local businesses, and to expand sales of wine and beer, said Brown, whose company, Brown SuperStores Inc., operates a dozen ShopRites in and near Philadelphia.

Philadelphia resident Tamekah Bost says she plans to open a restaurant at Browns Island Avenue store in Southwest Philadelphia. Better Box Twisted Eggrolls will combine the Philly culture of cheesesteaks with our love of classic Chinese takeout, Bost said.

NaKwai DeShields What a Crock, already at Reading Terminal Market, is testing its frozen foods at Browns Cheltenham store. Big Deans Hot Chicken is heading to the Roxborough store. Saladworks and UPS stores are also opening at one or more Brown ShopRites.

The move comes as CVS stores are implementing drive-through COVID-19 testing and preparing for mass coronavirus vaccinations, he said.

ShopRite in-store pharmacies had supplied prescription drugs to members of large health insurers under multiyear contracts, including a 2017 deal with Aetna, the third-largest U.S. health insurer with 22 million customers.

CVS Pharmacy owner CVS Health bought Aetna for $69 billion, in a deal finalized in 2019, despite opposition from the American Medical Association, which argued it would reduce competition, leading to higher premiums and lower-quality insurance products.

Soon after, CVS began moving ShopRite pharmacy customers from locations in New York state to its own stores. ShopRite operators in New York said they were getting out of the business due to low reimbursements from insurers and falling sales.

Drugstore operators have felt financial pressure to consolidate. For example, in 2015, CVS arranged to take over more than 1,600 in-store pharmacies at Target, the discount retailer and grocery chain, paying $1.9 billion for the locations and hiring 14,000 former Target workers.

The same year, Rite Aid, the Pennsylvania firm that is the third-largest operator of U.S. standalone drugstores, agreed to sell those operations to the largest operator, Walgreens (CVS is the second-largest). But that deal was scuttled amid fears the federal government wouldnt approve such a large concentration. Instead, Rite Aid sold nearly half its stores to Walgreens but has remained in business as an independent company.

Among the grocers still offering in-store prescription sales in the Philadelphia area are drugstores at Wegmans markets, and some in the Malvern-based Acme chain, operated by Albertsons Inc., a publicly traded grocery and drugstore chain operator. Albertsons runs more than 1,700 U.S. pharmacies, including standalone Sav-On and Osco drugstores, plus hundreds of supermarket locations.

In 2018, Albertsons agreed to buy the remaining Rite Aid stores, which would have further concentrated drugstore ownership, but the deal fell through.
A fruit store owner talks with customers in this file photo. Getty Images Bank



By Lee Min-hyung



The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a surge in household spending on food, with fewer people enjoying outdoor activities and eating out in 2020, according to Bank of Korea (BOK) data.



The bank said household expenditure on groceries and non-alcoholic beverages came to an aggregate 81.78 trillion won for the first three quarters combined last year, up 9.3 percent from the previous year.



This made the nation's Engel's coefficient, the proportion of spending on household food consumption, reach 12.8 percent from January to September. This is the highest figure in two decades since 2000.



Growing fears of the coronavirus pushed the figure to rise last year. With the government tightening social distancing restrictions throughout 2019, more people have opted to stay indoors and increased spending on making meals at home, the data showed.



A rising Engel's coefficient is widely considered as a decrease in household income levels, as people have a tendency to increase the portion of non-food expenditures for enjoying leisure activities or purchasing luxury goods when their income increases, and vice versa.



Economists said the increase in the figure last year is also related to the virus-induced earnings declines particularly in the lower-income groups.



"Those in the low-income bracket  particularly the self-employed  have been hit hard by the pandemic and their income took a nosedive last year, which is a key reason for the increasing Engel's coefficient," Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, said.



With infections expanding at a rapid pace from November, chances are growing that people will continue to prefer home-cooked meals to dining out in 2021 as well.



"Most people are expected to receive vaccines sometime in the latter half of 2021 possibly around October, so overall consumption here should remain in the doldrums until then," the professor said.



Under Level 2.5 social distancing rules, restaurants are not allowed to open after 9 p.m. except for deliveries or takeout. The government has also banned groups of five or more people from gathering under the restrictive measure, which will keep dealing a blow to private consumption here.



Another core reason behind the growth of the Engel's coefficient is the spread of telecommuting here and abroad. Starting in March, when the virus started spreading in earnest here, a growing number of companies embraced remote working, with some major conglomerates executing a mandatory telecommuting policy on a rotational basis.



The virus panic has also brought about a drastic change in households' consumption patterns in food.



According to Statistics Korea, online shopping is on a steep rise. In November last year, consumers here spent more than 15 trillion won for online and mobile shopping, up 17.2 percent from a year ago.



What stood out was the portion of food services _ which refer to online food delivery transactions _ which took up more than 60.6 percent out of the total during the same period. On the other hand, people spent less on culture and leisure services whose transaction volume dropped by 65.8 percent in November from the previous year.



More and more people are also expected to increase their spending on ordering groceries at home, rather than visiting discount stores amid continued fears over a third and fourth wave of the virus.



Data from Market Kurly, one of the fastest-growing grocery delivery companies in Korea, showed that sales from the firm's 240 small- to medium-sized partners doubled in 2020, compared to the previous year, due to the boom in online food shopping amid the virus panic.



"The preference for online transactions will persist throughout 2021, and Korea's overall domestic consumption is expected to remain sluggish at least until the first half of the year," Kim said.



This will keep posing a challenge to the self-employed and those relying on face-to-face transactions, according to him.



"Those in the top 20 percent income bracket have earned more, while those in the lowest 20 percent group suffered more since the outbreak of the pandemic," he said. "This phenomenon will remain in place this year unless the virus shock comes to a complete end."


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Negotiations on purchase of vaccines against COVID-19 reach final stage, vaccination may start in Feb - Stepanov

Negotiations on purchase of vaccines against coronavirus infection for Ukraine are at the final stage, Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov said at a conference call on preventing the spread of coronavirus infection.

"The Ukrainian side assesses the results of the negotiations positively," the press service of the Ukrainian president said.

It is expected that vaccination in Ukraine may begin in February. Stepanov said that at the first stage it will be carried out by mobile brigades.
Amanda Gorman had hardly uttered her final poetic note at Wednesdays inauguration ceremony before people took to social media to celebrate the 22-year-old Harvard graduates strength, poise, and seemingly endless talent.

But then came the onset of disability inspiration porn  as many celebrated how the youngest inaugural poet overcame her speech disability, came out the other side, and now gets to bask in the sunlight of success.

Gorman, a Black woman raised by a single mother, became the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles when she was only 16 years old, an honor rivaled only by her award of National Youth Poet Laureate just a few years later. She has openly discussed her speech disability, quick to frame it as a strength that has made her the performer she is and endeavors to be.

President Biden, during his campaign and throughout his political career, has openly discussed his speech disability, particularly its impact on his early years. The exceptionality narrative is so pervasive that many cannot even recognize it; it is the norm, and that is the problem.

The celebration of disability is certainly welcome, but not for the reasons proffered on Wednesday. Effusive praise for Gorman included her learning to overcome her challenges with her speech disability. Many sought to highlight her success as an example of how and why having a disability or challenge never has to define you. Yet disability is a sociopolitical identity that many openly and proudly claim.

All too often people with disabilities receive praise for engaging in everyday activities, such as traveling independently on public transportation, holding a full-time job, getting married and having children. It is no wonder that when disabled people achieve what nondisabled people do, or exceed the nondisabled norm, that they are seen as exceptional. Expectations are low and perceptions about the value of a disabled life misconceived. Legal scholars have described this as the disability paradox, that is, the difference in perceptions about the quality of disabled lives between those with and without disabilities.

However, in the wake of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the way we frame disability, and our collective public understanding, remains problematic. It will continue to undermine broader antidiscrimination efforts  who gets access to employment, promotions, public services and programs, as well as how courts and juries determine legal rights.

Changing attitudes about disability is no small task, but it is possible. And, yes, public engagement and representation of different experiences with disability are central to this project. I have written extensively about the need to bridge antidiscrimination laws and public perceptions and the dangers of failing to attend to aesthetics and emotions associated with disability discrimination. In a forthcoming paper, for example, I argue that the historical association of disability with private, stigmatizing information perpetuates views that disability is embarrassing and more associated with medical data than sociopolitical identity. As a result, we only see disability as synonymous with more visible (and recognizable) markers such as the white cane or quintessential wheelchair.

The call is to take disability public and value publicity as a way to change these misperceptions by giving people a more realistic sense of the continuum of disability in society. Such disclosure is not without risk, with greater risks for people with intersectional identities (e.g., a disabled person of color).

Yet other social justice movements have successfully embraced publicity as a form of resistance and path to inclusion. The LGBTQ movement, #MeToo and Dreamers have all used public disclosure and publicity to add complexity and nuance to the one-dimensional popular conceptions of what it means to have one of these identities.

The degree of disability representation at Wednesdays inauguration deserves praise, given the sheer number of people with disclosed disabilities. For instance, Jennifer Lopez identifies as a person with anxiety and has openly discussed her experiences in her book, True Love. Similarly, Lady Gaga publicly claims fibromyalgia, a chronic illness, as part of her lived experience.

President Biden, Gorman, Lady Gaga, Lopez, fire Capt. Andrea Hall and Justice Sonia Sotomayor are some of the people with disabilities trending. What is most notable about this group is not their collective success, but their decisions to publicly claim disability despite having less apparent ones that, in theory, can be concealed. The decision they faced, to disclose a less-visible disability, or pass as nondisabled, is one experienced by millions of people with disabilities each day. In fact, of the estimated 56 million people with disabilities in the United States, the majority have less-apparent disabilities, leaving them with the difficult decision of whether to disclose, when and to whom.

Should we celebrate the quality of disability representation on Wednesday? Yes. Should we celebrate President Biden, Gorman, Lady Gaga, Lopez, Hall and Justice Sotomayor for their tremendous success and service? Yes. But the true celebration has to be for visible representations of the strength and beauty of disability, its nuance and complexity. Disability should not be reduced to a weakness or a diagnosis. And, while the achievements of people with disabilities are celebration-worthy, they are not cause for celebration because of the identity of the achiever. Until society grapples with deeply rooted stereotypes about disability, we will continue to climb that steep hill, as Gorman so eloquently said during the inauguration.

President Biden will undoubtedly usher in a new era for civil rights enforcement in our country. However, without attention to pervasive misconceptions of disability, meaningful inclusion will remain out of reach.

Jasmine E. Harris is a professor of law at the UC Davis School of Law. Her research and teaching focus on disability rights and equality law. Email: jeharris@ucdavis.edu Twitter: @Jeharrislaw
President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap



President Moon Jae-in instructed his government Monday to explore "institutional" ways to compensate the self-employed and owners of small businesses in South Korea for their losses that are attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.



The call represented Moon's first public message on whether relevant legislation is necessary, which has emerged as a politically hot issue ahead of the April 7 by-election for the mayoralties of Seoul and Busan.



The president called on the government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) to discuss ways to "institutionalize loss compensation for small business owners and the self-employed within a certain range that (state) finance can afford" in connection with social distancing restrictions. He was speaking in front of pool reporters at the start of a Cheong Wa Dae session to receive briefings from the local health authorities on their 2021 policies.



Attendees included top officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, as well as DP leader Lee Nak-yon.






BlackBerry's stock has been seeing gains in the past couple of weeks because of recent announcements. Image credit: Reuters

BlackBerrys (BB) (BB.TO) stock was up nearly 40 per cent at the start of Mondays trading session, and analysts say it is a reflection of investors seeing potential growth opportunities from recent announcements.

The stock closed at $22.92 in Toronto, a gain of 28 per cent.

Gilbert Enenajor, director of research at Strategic Analysis Corporation, said the surge in BlackBerrys stock can be attributed in part to the strategic shift to cybersecurity and the Internet of Things.

Its been making a shift away from the handheld devices, and so what really is happening, is the market is cheering this new shift of BlackBerry away from its old business model and what its doing now, he said in an interview.

People are now starting to see the potential for the company, however, it might be a little over-exuberant.

Enenajor added that the partnerships with Amazon Web Services in December to use its cloud services, as well as its recent patent settlement with Facebook are acting as a catalyst to awaken the long-dormant stock.

But he noted that because of market dynamics it will be hard to sustain growth like this over a long period of time.

On Jan. 25, BlackBerry announced it was not aware of any material, undisclosed corporate developments and has no material change in its business affairs that has not been publicly disclosed that would account for the recent increase in the market price or trading volume of its common shares.

Benj Gallander, a BlackBerry shareholder and president of Contra The Heard Investment Letter, agreed with Enenajor and added that the recent news is why the stock is doing so well.

That is definitely news, he said. I believe BlackBerry holds more patents than any other company in Canada. That also puts [them] front and centre, they have definite value again.

Gallander added that the surge of traders on trading apps like Robinhood cant be ignored as a factor in what is boosting the value of BlackBerrys stock.

Story continues

A lot of small-fry traders who get really excited about things tend to jump on stocks that have been doing well. They look to ride the momentum for good gains, he said. The internet I think is a definite factor.

Enenajor added the company has also become a darling of the Robinhood crowd.

Robinhood said as of last May, it had nearly three million users year-to-date. In Canada, a survey of retail investors by the website TradingView conducted earlier this month found 62.5 per cent of respondents said theyre trading more because of the pandemic.

Whether or not this price action is based on a real shift in the fundamentals of the business is yet to be determined, but in the past, a frenzy of retail interest has often been a telltale sign of a speculative bubble, he said.

Amid the surge in BlackBerrys stock, Gallander said many shareholders have sold shares in the past couple of weeks, including insiders. BlackBerry Chief Marketing Officer Mark Wilson sold 78,500 shares, and Chief Financial Officer Steve Rai sold 32,954, according to Reuters.

A number of insiders have been selling and theyve been selling a lot of stock, Gallander said. Theyre definitely looking to monetize some or all of their holdings.

With files from Reuters
US President Joe Biden on Monday overturned his predecessor Donald Trump's ban on transgender personnel from serving in the US military, the White House said.

"Transgender servicemembers will no longer be subject to the possibility of discharge or separation on the basis of gender identity," the White House said in a statement.
- Berlin-based cloud communication platform provider for IoT equips TU Dresden research with EMnify SIM cards

- TU Dresden Faculty of Transportation and Traffic Science research focuses on V2X communication in the field of traffic telematics

BERLIN, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading cloud communication platform provider for IoT EMnify is equipping a Technische Universitat Dresden (TU Dresden) research team with four EMnify cellular IoT SIM cards for use in their research project. The research team are members of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transportation and Traffic Science and are investigating vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication in the field of traffic telematics.

The Faculty of Transportation and Traffic Science is the largest academic competence center in the field of traffic sciences in Germany and has a 150-year tradition of research and teaching based in Dresden.

The V2X communication research project is led by Dr. Sven Grunwald and Kevin Krebs, research assistants in the Faculty as of last year. Their objective is to collect and send environmental, vehicle and traffic data to the university research data center from a vehicle fleet using own data gathering devices. The end goal is to post process this data to uncover valuable insights and new applications.

EMnify SIM cards will be inserted into the research team's four chosen vehicles. The vehicles include an electric BMW i3 owned by the university for research purposes and two vehicles made available by the Institute for Traffic Accident Research at TU Dresden (VUFO). The Dresden measurement tram, part of the local public transportation network, will serve as the fourth vehicle. The research team plans to further scale their fleet as the project develops in order to use as many different traffic participants as possible.

Martin Giess, CTO and Co-Founder of EMnify, commented: "Equipping the TU Dresden research team with EMnify SIM cards for their research is in line with the EMnify purpose  to enable everyone to contribute to the connected world. Especially given the nature of the research, we're excited to see what insights it will unearth and how those findings can contribute to further innovation for IoT solutions in the automotive and mobility verticals."

Dr. Sven Grunwald, Researcher, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Science, TU Dresden: "We are delighted to be working with EMnify and that we share a common interest in building a smarter future. With the use of EMnify SIM cards, we can stream live data reliably from our research vehicles to our backend servers and continuously evaluate our research approaches in the field and under realistic conditions with the maximum operator flexibility. In other words, we can build a bridge between academia and real-life application."

The first provider to deliver a cloud-native, virtualized mobile core network that is globally distributed, highly scalable, and operator-independent, EMnify enables businesses with high growth IoT products to scale across networks worldwide with a single API. EMnify is solely dedicated to IoT  unlike traditional CPaaS vendors.

About EMnify

EMnify is the leading cloud communication platform provider for IoT that enables businesses with high growth IoT products to scale across networks worldwide with a single API. EMnify is solely dedicated to IoT  unlike traditional CPaaS vendors. Its disruptive solution and customer-centric approach are made possible by a team of international experts that support thousands of companies in more than 70 countries.

Founded in 2014 by forward-thinking telecommunications experts Frank Stocker, Martin Giess and Alexander Schebler, EMnify revolutionized the industry through its cloud-native service, enabling secure IoT connectivity globally  addressing one of the main issues regarding the IoT sector. To learn more about EMnify, please visit www.emnify.com

About the Faculty of Transport and traffic Sciences "Friedrich List" at the TU Dresden

The faculty is the only one in Germany dedicated to transport and traffic sciences and has an internationally recognized competence for sustainable mobility. The interdisciplinary research covers the entire range of transport on land, water and in the air. The faculty is a pioneer in the development of systemic solutions for the design of safe, efficient and sustainable transport systems according to technical, economic, ecological and social criteria. Research and teaching are carried out in an interdisciplinary network within the TU Dresden and the DRESDEN-concept association as well as together with national and international partners from science and practice. More than 200 scientists research and teach at seven institutes and 20 professorships. The faculty offers 6 own study programs, including the diploma degree in Transport Engineering, the bachelor's degree in Transport Economics and 4 master programs. For practical applications in research and teaching, the researchers and 1,100 students of the faculty have access to around 30 laboratories or experimental and test facilities.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1283164/EMnify_Logo.jpg

SOURCE EMnify
England's deputy chief medical officer on January 24 warned that the vaccinated citizens must adhere to the social distancing protocols as they can still spread the coronavirus. Getting your COVID-19 vaccination does not mean you can liberate yourself from lockdown or other restrictions, medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said in a live address streamed by the UK Department of Health and Social Care. Vaccinated people must stick to the lockdown rules, he asserted, highlighting the importance of continuing to follow the guidance despite getting the jabs. Van-Tam delivered remarks on the first anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern since the COVID-19 hit.

No vaccine has ever been 100% effective so no-one will have 100% protection from the virus, England's deputy chief medical officer said. He added, The way to reduce everyones risk is to break the chains of transmission and really push down the number of cases. Furthermore, van-Tam added that the vaccine is responsible for making antibodies and stimulating T-cells. Your bodys response, the immune response, is only fully trained up around 2 or 3 weeks after you have each of your 2 jabs, he said. The medical officer explained that the lasting protection comes from the second dose, and hence it was integral to follow the health safety norms despite getting vaccinated.

Read: Joe Biden And Boris Johnson Hold First Telephonic Conversation, Discuss US-UK Ties

Read: UK Vaccination Drive Expands As Virus Toll Nears 100,000

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam explains how safety and effectiveness rules have not changed in the development of #COVID19 vaccines.



Watch  pic.twitter.com/shxQ3I2FeR  Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) December 2, 2020

5.8 million vaccinated with 2 doses

We do not yet know the impact of the vaccine on the transmission of the virus. So even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give COVID to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue, Englands chief medical officer warned. He cited the increasing hospitalisations and deaths across the UK due to the new UK mutant of coronavirus, as he reminded youngsters that a quarter of hospital admissions for COVID-19 are in people under the age of 55. On January 23, the UK has administered nearly 478,248 vaccines, thus far, 5.8 million have already been administered with two doses.

Read: UK PM Johnson Urged To Impose Blanket COVID-19 Border Controls Amid New Mutation Threats

Read: Former UK PM Gordon Brown Says Country Could Become 'failed State' Without Reforms
Recognition Reflects Intensive Dedication to Helping All Students Succeed

Nashville, TNToday, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced five school districts- Chester County Schools, Houston County Schools, Lakeland School System, Marion County Schools, and Milan Special School District- have been selected as Tennessee Exemplary ACCESS Districts for their dedication to helping all students succeed. These districts have earned the Exemplary ACCESS designation by ensuring All Children are Challenged and Equipped for Success in School.

This designation recognizes the intensive work and exceptional dedication of these five districts to student success through the second K-12 cohort of the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG 2.0), Access to Instruction and Intervention for All Students initiative.

All students deserve to receive a great education and we thank these five districts for their exceptional work to help all their students succeed, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. Through participation in this initiative, these districts have strengthened their teachers instruction methods and student engagement, and the department is thrilled to be able to support this incredible work.

On Wednesday, January 27, each of these school districts will be recognized at the virtual Partners in Education (PIE) Conference during a special session.

The State Personnel Development Grants (SPDG) program, administered through the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) within the U.S. Department of Education, assists state education agencies and their partners to improve results for children with disabilities through systems of professional development and dissemination of knowledge about best practices to educators and families.

In 2015, the TDOE was awarded the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. This grant, aligned with the State Systemic Improvement Plan, allowed Tennessee to create a model that included training for general education teachers, special education teachers, and administrators on improving classroom climate, reaching all students through a differentiated design for learning, assessing students effectively in order to maximize the instructional impact, and promoting general and special education collaboration.

The selection of these districts was based on training data, improvements in teaching methods, improvements in Individualized Education Program (IEP) quality, and efforts to sustain the work system-wide.

In response to being selected to receive this designation, each of the five districts commented on how participating in the initiative had positive impacts on their districts:

Chester County Schools participation in the SPDG 2.0 Access for All initiative has made a significant impact on teachers instruction and students engagement in learning. This has truly been an impactful, long-lasting, and phenomenal experience for ALL! - Melinda Parker, Special Education Director, Chester County Schools

As a result of SPDG 2.0, HCMS now strives to encourage a positive student mindset by changing the classroom environment to reduce barriers for ALL students. Our school is a happier place! -Robin Fairclough, Director of Programs, Houston County Schools

To create universal designs for learning and safe classroom climates utilizing differentiation, it begins with MINDSET. The SPDG 2.0 grant allowed us to do that. -Becky Bigelow, Director of Exceptional Education, Marion County Schools

Our district's participation in the professional learning made possible through the SPDG program has been overwhelmingly positive. The activities of the SPDG program have caused our teachers and administrators to reflect upon, discuss, and make changes to the ways we approach teaching ALL learners in the classroom. The most exciting part is seeing the number of participants who say that the training made them better teachers and helped their students learn. -Dr. Ted Horrell, Director of Schools, Lakeland School System

We have found the training materials to be of the highest quality and practical to implement. We are committed to providing a supportive learning environment that addresses all students' comprehensive needs. These strategies ensure each student can access instructional content and all teachers are prepared with tools to reach their learners. -Lynn Gonzales, Supervisor of Special Populations and Student Support, Milan Special School District

Each of these districts has had an exceptional impact on their students, educators, and school communities, said Theresa Nicholls, Assistant Commissioner of Special Populations. We appreciate the dedication of these districts to their educators and students and their hard work creating positive, motivating, and empowering learning environments throughout their districts.

For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact Edu.MediaInquiries@tn.gov.

###
Jean Dreze argues that the three farm laws, particularly the APMC Bypass Act, could be better termed as Agri-Business Promotion Acts. He describes the limits of free markets, why regulation is needed to restrict concentration of market power, how markets exclude equity considerations, and why globally their is a demand for collective marketing institutions in agricultre. He argues that the farms laws would result in an oxymoronic dual-regulation of agricultural markets which would be a far worse outcome than the status quo; APMCs and Mandis are a natural way of regulating agricultural markets and if they are not entirely efficient, equitable, or sustainable, then they should be reformed and supplemented instead of jumping from the frying pan to the fire.

The video was a recorded message for the Kisan Sabha at Guru Tegh Bahadur Memorial on 23 January.
The Portland Police Bureaus criminal intelligence unit last year referred six cases to the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force involving a bomb threat, threats to public officials and threats of other targeted violence, according to a new annual report.

At least one arrest was made  a man was taken into custody in Seattle in September, accused of threatening to bomb a Portland police precinct, according to the report and federal court records.

All of the people under investigation in the six cases were white men, the report noted.

The report warned of increased fears of violence in Portland and nationwide, including threats from racially motivated or politically motivated violent extremists, as the U.S. remains divided along partisan lines. The task force reviews hundreds of tips each year and assesses and investigates threats to prevent potential terrorist attacks.

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020, combined with racial justice events and civil unrest that followed the homicide of George Floyd in Minneapolis, led to an increase in extremist rhetoric and violence in the United States, including Portland, the report said.

This trend seems likely to continue into 2021, given the current state of the pandemic and political and social division in the United States.

Police cited as troubling: last years plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, shootings and violence during social justice protest events, including those in Portland, a plot by white supremacists to attack the U.S. power grid and the federal indictment of a Troutdale man accused of producing and disseminating propaganda to encourage attacks on behalf of ISIS and seek recruits.

The PPB, and our law enforcement and community partners, must continue to work to assess and investigate these threats to life, hate crimes, and acts of terrorism, and work to interdict and prevent violence from occurring in our communities, the report said.

In the bomb case, Kyle R. Tornow, 36, of Seattle is accused of using TrackIT, a Portland police online communication system, to send a message July 24 claiming he planted explosives at a Portland police precinct and that the bomb was undetectable to police search dogs, according to court records.

If police caught him, he wrote, others will take my place and immediately detonate the bomb, according to the records. The message claimed it was a felony threat and needed to be taken seriously to avoid death, the governments complaint said.

The yearly accounting from police, required by the City Council, also gave general summaries of four cases that the federal task force referred to the Police Bureau for follow-up attention last year:

-- A man affiliated with an anarchist extremist group was alleged to have targeted a person who was tied to a racially motivated violence extremist group. No credible threat was determined and the case was closed.

-- A man expressed racially motivated violent extremist ideology online and a desire to acquire parts for an assault rifle and tactical gear. The person was interviewed and no arrest was made. The case was closed.

-- A man expressed a desire to make tear gas, burn solutions and smoke bombs. The person was interviewed and the case was closed.

-- An assault occurred during a protest in downtown Portland involving two men. Portland detectives already knew about the alleged crime and had made arrests. Police didnt release further details.

Portland criminal intelligence officers also were asked to help the task force with investigations stemming from last summers civil unrest, in accordance with city policy, the report says.

The Police Bureau on Jan. 2, 2020, adopted a new directive that sets out the parameters for officer involvement in the federal task force.

It says the police chief may, at the request of the FBIs special agent in charge, temporarily assign officers to work with the Portland-based task force to assist in the investigation of any individual suspected cases of terrorism and/or threats to life, including hate crimes, in or having a direct nexus to the City of Portland where there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct.

The directive was a response to a City Council vote a year earlier when commissioners decided 3-2 to withdraw Portland officers from the task force, citing a deep distrust in the programs ability to root out terrorism while upholding residents civil rights.

The vote marked a political victory for Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who had made police withdrawal from the task force one of her first priorities in office. Joining Hardesty were then-Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Chloe Eudaly.

It meant removing two Portland criminal intelligence officers from the task force.

The pull-out was the latest twist in Portlands on-again, off-again relationship with the FBI group, which the city joined in 1997, left in 2005, rejoined partly in 2011 and fully rejoined in 2015.

The Police Bureau now is allowed to partner with the FBI on specific threats, share information and have a Portland officer temporarily assigned to the task force in limited circumstances.

Last year, the officers said they werent involved in any cellphone surveillance tied to protests last year but did conduct some inquiries based on social media posts that indicated someone had committed or planned to commit a crime, according to bureau statements attached to the annual report.

The police statements were issued in response to specific questions posed by a coalition of community and advocacy groups, including Peace and Justice Works, Portland Copwatch, the League of Women Voters of Portland, the Portland Democratic Socialists of America, the ACLU of Oregon, Jewish Voice for Peace, 350PDX and Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer who was wrongly accused of a 2004 deadly terrorist bombing in Madrid based on a faulty fingerprint analysis by the FBI.

The coalition said in a statement that its important to know the extent of Portland police involvement in the task force.

With Oregons powerful anti-spying law in place, it is crucial for the public and City Council to be sure Portland officers are not being used by the FBI to violate state statutes and civil liberties. One of the only ways to do this is to ensure transparency in the activities of the Portland Police when they cooperate with the JTTF, the coalition said.

The report will be presented to Portland City Council at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The threat of domestic terrorism, particularly that of racially motivated violent extremists and politically motivated violent extremists, is a significant and growing concern both within law enforcement and the communities we serve, police said in the report. Additionally, the threat of targeted violence by lone actors, also known as lone wolf attacks, and attacks on critical infrastructure, like rail lines or telecommunications, remain an ongoing concern.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

Subscribe to Facebook page


Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal are surely taking things easy post their wedding. The couple is still said to be in Alibaug after their families went back to Mumbai earlier today. Varun and Natasha are reportedly spending some time together before they get back to the hustle. The duo had all eyes on them as they tied the knot over the weekend in Alibaug. The couple reached there on Friday. While Saturday night was the Sangeet night, Sunday was the wedding. Weve got our hands on a picture posted by their close pal Zoa Morani who attended the wedding.





The couple is seen posing with their group of pals at the sangeet night. Varun is seen wearing a formal classic black suit, while Natasha is seen in a nude pink embellished lehenga. We say, keep the awesome pictures coming!
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Although the modern oil industry is said to have begun with the drilling of the first oil well by Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania, it was the discovery of oil at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas, that pushed the world into the age of crude oil. The exact date when this happened is January 10, 1901.

That day, an enormous geyser of oil exploded from a drilling site at Spindletop Hill coating the landscape with a thick slimy mess for hundreds of feet. Nobody had seen a gusher so powerful and so plentiful before. Soon a booming oil industry grew around Beaumont, and Americas oil production tripled overnight. Petroleum that was previously used only as a lubricant and in place of kerosene in lamps became the main fuel source for trains and ship, and new inventions such as automobiles and airplanes.

The Lucas gusher of Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas, blowing thousand of barrels of oil in the air on January 1901.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Texas had a rural economy revolving around agriculture, cattle ranching and lumber. Oil production was insignificant, representing just one percent of the total national output. However, the fact that there was a substantial reserve of oil somewhere beneath Texas was apparent. People knew about oil in the area for hundreds of years. In the mid-16th century, the Spanish used oil from seeps near Sabine Pass for caulking their ships. Settlers near Nacogdoches used seeping oil as lubricants before 1800. The first attempt at drilling was made just after the Civil War at a place called Sour Lake. In the later years, numerous discoveries were made in east and central Texas, especially at Corsicana in 1896.

In the early 1890s, Patillo Higgins, a one-armed mechanic and lumber merchant became convinced that there was oil to be found under a hill called Spindletop near the town of Beaumont in southeast Texas. Higgins had noticed gas bubbling up from numerous little springs on the hill, which he tried to light and they immediately caught fire. He even bought a book on geology and taught himself everything he needed to know about oil formation and exploration. In 1892, he organized the Gladys City Oil, Gas and Manufacturing Company, and tried unsuccessfully to drill, until he ran out of money. Higgins pleaded for funds, but geologists declared that there was no oil under Spindletop, and that Higgins was a fool and so was anybody who invested in Higgins stupid dream. Higgin's responded by siphoning a couple of gallons of gas from the hill and burning it in a lamp at his home. But people only ridiculed him.

Patillo Higgins (L) and Captain Anthony F. Lucas (R)

In a last act of desperation, Higgins placed an advertisement in a magazine seeking a partner. Only one man repliedhe was Captain Anthony F. Lucas, an experienced geologist who knew a lot about salt domes, which Spindletop was one.

Lucas stuck a deal with Higgins, leasing the track of land from the latter and commenced his own drilling operation. But when Lucas too ran out of money, he approached John Galey and James Guffey, the countrys most successful wildcatters. Galey and Guffey agreed to help finance the drilling, but Lucas would get only one-eight of the share. Higgins, on the other hand, would get nothing, unless Lucas split his own share.

Galey, who had an uncanny ability to find oil, went to inspect the hill one morning accompanied by Lucass wife (Lucas being out of town), drove a stake on the ground next to a bubbling little spring and declared to Mrs. Lucas, Tell that Captain of yours to start that first well right here. And tell him that I know he is going to hit the biggest oil well this side of Baku

John Galey (L) and James Guffey (R)

Drilling began in the autumn of 1900. The drillers fought their way through hundreds of feet of quicksand that had frustrated all previous efforts. At around 870 feet, just as Higgins had predicted and Galey had confirmed, oil began to show, but this oil-sand layer was too soft and fine, and the technology was not refined enough to recover oil from such a slush. The drillers decided to continue drilling, and at approximately 1,100 feet, they struck an enormous pocket of oil. At first, mud began to bubble with great force from the well. In a matter of seconds, the immense pressure within the well shot the 6-ton drill pipe out of the ground and up through the derrick, knocking off the top. Then there was silence. The drillers, who had scattered away for their lives, approached the well gingerly to find the derrick in a terrible mess, with debris and mud six inches deep on the derrick floor. As they started to clean the mud away, the well began to rumble and mud began to erupt again in a deafening roar, followed by gas and finally green, heavy oil. The geyser of oil blew over 150 feet up in the air, twice the height of the derrick itself.

The historic Lucas oil well gusher at Spindletop, Beaumont, Texas, 1901. Photo: University of Texas Arlington Libraries

For the next nine days the well flowed at a unprecedented rate of 100,000 barrels a day, far more than any oil producing well in America. As a matter of fact, the Spindletop gusher was producing more oil than all of the oil wells in the United States combined. Nobody had seen anything like this before, except perhaps in Baku, in Azerbaijan.

When news of the discovery flashed across the nation, there was a mad scramble for leases. Land prices rose exponentially. Land that sold for $10 an acre went for as much as $900,000. By June there were a dozen successful oil wells on Spindletop, and by the end of 1902, there were over 200 wells jammed on the hilltop owned by at least a hundred different companies, many of them drilling on postage-stamp-sized sites. While many of these companies went bust before the year was over, others managed to gain a strong foothold over the oil market and went on to become major corporates with a global presence. These companies include, Texas Company (later Texaco), Gulf Oil Corporation, Sun Oil Company, Magnolia Petroleum Company, and Humble (later Exxon), to name a few.

Spindletop Oil Field in 1902. Photo: Texas Energy Museum

The town of Beaumont itself swelled from 10,000 to more than 50,000 in a matter of months. Nearly one-third of these were living in tents on the hill. Surrounding the hill, many shacks, saloons, gambling houses and whorehouses sprang up to serve the various needs of the rowdy population. According to one estimate, Beaumont drank half of all whiskey consumed in Texas in those early months.

In its first year, Spindletop produced more than 3.5 million barrels of oil; 17.4 million on its second year. Spindletop utterly destroyed the monopoly held by John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, as the center of the oil industry shifted from Pennsylvania and Appalachia to Texas. Spindletops oil also ushered in the new era of fuel oil. However, this was not by design but rather the unintended consequence of the fact that Texas oil was of such poor quality that it could not be made into kerosene. So it primarily went for heat, power and locomotion. Crude oil became so abundant and cheap, that a host of industries converted from coal to oil overnight, including the Santa Fe Railroad and steamship companies.

Spindletop Viewing Her Gusher, a painting by local artist Arion Arion, commissioned by Higginss partner George Washington Carroll. It depicts a lady wearing Grecian drapery reclining on a cloud bank and gazing at a gushing oil well. The painting now hangs in the Tyrell Historical Library, in Beaumont. Photo: Jeff Wilson/Texas Monthly

In the years that followed, Spindletops success was repeated many times over in the southeast, along the Gulf Coast and Louisiana. But Spindletop itself couldnt keep up the momentum for long. Over production caused the underground pressure to give out, and production on Spindletop plummeted to only 10,000 barrels per day. Eventually, the locus of American production moved away from Texas to Oklahoma, where a string of oil discoveries were made, beginning in 1901 and culminating in the discovery of the Glenn Pool Oil Reserve in 1905. By 1906, Oklahoma was producing over half of the regions total production.

In the late 1920s, Spindletop experienced a second boom when another oil reserve was discovered at deeper depths. In 1927, Spindletop produced its all-time annual high of 21 million barrels. Within five years, 60 million barrels had been produced. Spindletop continued to be profitable until about 1936. From the 1950s to about 1975, Spindletop produced sulphur.

A crowd watches the replica Lucas gusher right off Highway 69 in Beaumont, Texas, blowing water hundreds of feet into the sky at the same rate oil blew in on that famous day in January of 1901. Photo: Beaumont CVB

To commemorate the importance of the development of Spindletop oilfield, a pink granite monument was erected in 1941 near the site of the Lucas gusher. But decades of extraction of oil and suplhur caused the ground to subside, and the monument was moved to the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum at the Lamar University campus at Beaumont, about 1.5 miles south. The museum features a replica of the oil derrick Lucas used to drill at Spindletop that gushes out water from time to time, recreating the historic event of January 10, 1901.

The actual site of the gusher is marked by a flagpole flying the Texas flag.

The replica Lucas gusher in Beaumont, Texas. Photo: Mike Towber/Flickr

The gusher in action. Photo: Michael Reed/Flickr

References:

# Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

# Gusher signals start of U.S. oil industry, History.com

# Spindletop History, Lamar University

# Wikipedia
Press Release

January 25, 2021 Pangilinan welcomes AFP apology: Bad eggs should be punished SENATOR Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Monday welcomed the apology of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) over an erroneous list of UP students allegedly turned New People's Army (NPA) published in an AFP-affiliated social media page. "Ang pagkakamaling ito ay nakakabahala dahil senyales ito na kumakalat na ang unprofessionalism at pamumulitika sa AFP. Dapat natin tandaan na ang politicized at unprofessional armed forces noong panahon ni Marcos ang syang naging dahilan ng disunity at coup plots nung dekada 80 at 90. Tinatanggap natin ang apology subalit dapat seryusuhin ng liderato ng AFP na walang puwang ang unprofessionalism at incompetence sa ating AFP," said Pangilinan, former UP University Student Council chairman and first voting Student Regent. "Buti naman at nakita nila na hindi tama ang paglalabas ng ganoong mga pangalan lalo pa at hindi totoo at walang basehan. We welcome the apology. However, we reiterate that the AFP should ensure adherence to the strictest tenets of professionalism. Dapat may managot sa mga kapabayaang tulad nito," he added. On Sunday, the AFP Civil-Military Operations Office apologized for "inconsistencies" in the list of students who allegedly joined the NPA published in the Facebook page Armed Forces of the Philippines Information Exchange. According to a fact-check by Rappler, at least 12 Facebook pages with links to the military shared the list on Thursday, January 21. The list was titled, "Some of the UP students who became NPA (died or captured)." However, contrary to the content of the list, at least eight people whose names were mentioned are alive and have neither been captured nor proven to be members of the NPA. "This is unprofessional behavior, and politicized men in uniform should never be tolerated. Apology is one thing, but taking action is another. If this goes unpunished, kung walang managot dito, posibleng mangyari lang ito uli. Paulit-ulit na lang. Bad eggs should never be left unpunished," Pangilinan said. This is not the first time the AFP published unvetted lists of alleged NPA on social media. Last week, a list of UP alumni allegedly recruited by the NPA was also posted by the same Facebook page. A lawyer whose name was included in the list sought an apology from the AFP, to which Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana concurred Sunday. Pangilinan earlier released a statement saying that lies about UP "communists" undermine military professionalism. "Dapat pahintuin at parusahan na ng military ang mga gumagawa nitong pag-re-red-tag. Dahil sa maling pag-label sa mga tao, nagiging target sila ng panggigipit at pinakamalala pa, pagpatay," he said.
US Rebuffs Chinese Leaders Warning Against Cold War Mentality

The White House signaled that it will continue a tough-on-China approach in response to a speech by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum that called for countries to cast aside ideological prejudice and reject the outdated Cold War mentality in efforts to fight global challenges.

The comments dont change anything, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing on Jan. 25. Our approach on China remains what it has been for the last months, if not longer.

She said that the new administration seeks to tackle Chinas threats with its own methods, adding that it aims to play a better defense, including holding China accountable for unfair practices, protecting U.S. data, and maintaining the United States technological edge.

What weve seen in the last few years is that Chinas growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad, and Beijing is now challenging our security, prosperity, and values in significant ways that require a new U.S. approach, she said.

In an address given at the World Economic Forums virtual event earlier on Jan. 25, Xi, speaking for the first time since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, signaled that Beijing has no intention of changing course in the near future, regardless of outside pressure.

While Xi made the statements in broad terms without mentioning names, his comments appeared to address the tough China policies set during the Trump administration, including the trade war, sanctions imposed to crack down on Chinese technology theft, and officials calls for reducing U.S. reliance on Chinese manufacturing.

Confrontation will lead us to a dead-end, Xi said, stressing that they must not return to the path of the past. He called for multilateral engagement, saying that nations must avoid meddling in other countries internal affairs and give priority to issues such as the pandemic recovery and climate change.

To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten, or intimidate others; to willfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions; and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation.

Chinese state media and officials have consistently labeled the United States and its Western allies as having a cold war mentality over policies unfavorable to the regime.

Xi made no attempt to address growing international criticisms of the regimes human rights abuses and its lack of transparency in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xis condescending remarks marked a sharp change from the Trump era, when the regime often used a more conciliatory tone, according to China analyst Tang Jingyuan, who suggested that this indicates the Chinese regime regards the Biden administration as a weaker competitor.

Through calls for multilateralism and for championing the international rule of law, Xi is seeking to challenge Americas dominance in the international order, he said.

Tang noted that Beijing placed sanctions on 28 Trump officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on Jan. 20, just minutes after Bidens inauguration. The regime also continued its military aggression against self-ruled Taiwan, breaching the islands defense zone by sending dozens of military craft on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24its largest-scale military incursion this year. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has repeatedly threatened military force to bring the island under its fold.

While the new administration has criticized the Chinese hostilities, the wording in the statementadvocating for a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issuesconveyed a more softened message, Tang says.

What did Taiwanese media talk about during the Trump times? Its about when the United States will forge ties with Taiwan. What are they discussing now? About whether the United States will offer protection [to Taiwan]theres a world of difference in peoples sentiments, he said.
HOUSTON - (Jan. 25, 2021) - A new theory that could explain how unconventional superconductivity arises in a diverse set of compounds might never have happened if physicists Qimiao Si and Emilian Nica had chosen a different name for their 2017 model of orbital-selective superconductivity.

In a study published this month in npj Quantum Materials, Si of Rice University and Nica of Arizona State University argue that unconventional superconductivity in some iron-based and heavy-fermion materials arises from a general phenomenon called "multiorbital singlet pairing."

In superconductors, electrons form pairs and flow without resistance. Physicists cannot fully explain how pairs form in unconventional superconductors, where quantum forces give rise to strange behavior. Heavy fermions, another quantum material, feature electrons that appear to be thousands of times more massive than ordinary electrons.

Si and Nica proposed the idea of selective pairing within atomic orbitals in 2017 to explain unconventional superconductivity in alkaline iron selenides. The following year, they applied the orbital-selective model to the heavy fermion material in which unconventional superconductivity was first demonstrated in 1979.

They considered naming the model after a related mathematical expression made famous by quantum pioneer Wolfgang Pauli, but opted to call it d+d. The name refers to mathematical wave functions that describe quantum states.

"It's like you have a pair of electrons that dance with each other," said Si, Rice's Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy. "You can characterize that dance by s- wave, p-wave and d-wave channels, and d+d refers to two different kinds of d-waves that fuse together into one."

In the year after publishing the d+d model, Si gave many lectures about the work and found audience members frequently got the name confused with "d+id," the name of another pairing state that physicists have discussed for more than a quarter century.

"People would approach me after a lecture and say, 'Your theory of d+id is really interesting,' and they meant it as a compliment, but it happened so often it got annoying," said Si, who also directs the Rice Center for Quantum Materials (RCQM).

In mid-2019, Si and Nica met over lunch while visiting Los Alamos National Laboratory, and began sharing stories about the d+d versus d+id confusion.

"That led to a discussion of whether d+d might be connected with d+id in a meaningful way, and we realized it was not a joke," Nica said.

The connection involved d+d pairing states and those made famous by the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of helium-3 superfluidity.

"There are two types of superfluid pairing states of liquid helium-3, one called the B phase and the other the A phase," Nica said. "Empirically, the B phase is similar to our d+d, while the A phase is almost like a d+id."

The analogy got more intriguing when they discussed mathematics. Physicists use matrix calculations to describe quantum pairing states in helium-3, and that is also the case for the d+d model.

"You have a number of different ways of organizing that matrix, and we realized our d+d matrix for the orbital space was like a different form of the d+id matrix that describes helium-3 pairing in spin space," Nica said.

Si said the associations with superfluid helium-3 pairing states have helped he and Nica advance a more complete description of pairing states in both iron-based and heavy-fermion superconductors.

"As Emil and I talked more, we realized the periodic table for superconducting pairing was incomplete," Si said, referring to the chart physicists use to organize superconducting pairing states.

"We use symmetries -- like lattice or spin arrangements, or whether time moving forward versus backward is equivalent, which is time-reversal symmetry -- to organize possible pairing states," he said. "Our revelation was that d+id can be found in the existing list. You can use the periodic table to construct it. But d+d, you cannot. It's beyond the periodic table, because the table doesn't include orbitals."

Si said orbitals are important for describing the behavior of materials like iron-based superconductors and heavy fermions, where "very strong electron-electron correlations play a crucial role."

"Based on our work, the table needs to be expanded to include orbital indices," Si said.

The research was supported by a startup grant from Arizona State University, the Department of Energy (DE-SC0018197), the Welch Foundation (C-1411) and the National Science Foundation (PHY-1607611).

RCQM is a multidisciplinary research effort that leverages the strengths and global partnerships of more than 20 Rice research groups.

###

Links and resources:

The DOI of the npj Quantum Materials paper is: 10.1038/s41535-020-00304-3

A copy of the paper is available at: https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1038/ s41535-020-00304-3

Rice Center for Quantum Materials: https:/ / rcqm. rice. edu/

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

http://bit. ly/ 39mlq3V

CAPTION: "Levitation of a magnet on top of a superconductor 2" by Jubobroff, Fbouquet, LPS is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

http://news. rice. edu/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2014/ 09/ 0929_RCQM-Si1-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Qimiao Si is the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University and director of the Rice Center for Quantum Materials. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 01/ 0111_DD-en-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Emilian Nica is a postdoctoral research scholar in physics at Arizona State University. (Image courtesy of E. Nica)

This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
In urging the Supreme Court to hear Mr. Silvers case, his lawyers said that legal standard gave prosecutors too much power.

The Second Circuit approved jury instructions that allowed a state official to be convicted of federal bribery on a jurys after-the-fact finding that the official had an unexpressed, unilateral understanding (or misunderstanding) that he was being bribed, the lawyers wrote in their petition seeking Supreme Court review. The ruling, they wrote, places every official at the mercy of federal prosecutors, dismantling this courts work at reining in federal prosecutors.

The brief cited the McDonnell case, in which Mr. McDonnell had been accused of accepting luxury products, loans and vacations from a business executive in return for arranging meetings and urging underlings to consider the executives requests.

It also cited last years ruling in the Bridgegate case, in which the court unanimously overturned the convictions of two defendants in a case from New Jersey. The defendants, former associates of Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey at the time, were accused of taking part in a 2013 scheme meant to punish one of the governors political opponents that ended up creating four days of enormous traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge.

That was an abuse of power, the Supreme Court ruled, but not a federal crime.

Prosecutors in Mr. Silvers case responded that earlier Supreme Court decisions confirm that the government must prove that the public official understood that he was accepting the bribe in return for an official act but do not require proof that the bribe giver reached an agreement with the official or shared the officials corrupt purpose.

Mr. Silver, 76, served as speaker for more than two decades and played a leading role in almost every major aspect of state politics. In the final days of his administration, President Donald J. Trump considered granting clemency to Mr. Silver, who was sentenced to a 78-month prison term, but decided not to after criticism from Republicans in New York.

Education Minister Alan Tudge says digital vaccine certificates could provide a pathway for bringing large numbers of international students into Australian universities without a need for quarantine.

The proposal relies on finding a way to link verified COVID-19 vaccine certificates to a new digitised system for incoming passenger cards that the federal government aims to implement later this year.

Education Minister Alan Tudge first raised the proposal in December. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Tudge stressed a number of preconditions would need to be satisfied before any such scheme could be considered, including availability of an effective vaccine.

The federal government has been looking very carefully at the concept of a vaccination passport, given some countries were already rolling out COVID-19 vaccines.
I didnt know what he was going to do, so I just did anything possible just to be on the safe side, he added.

The elder Mr. Reffitt, who was arrested on Jan. 16, faces charges of obstruction of justice and of knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. He could not be reached on Sunday, and it was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer. The F.B.I. was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

Mr. Reffitt said he was unsure if his father knew yet that he had reported him to the federal authorities.

I am afraid for him to know, he said. Not for my life or anything, but for what he might think. But he said he was hopeful that his relationship with his father could be repaired.

Well get better over time, he said. I know we will.

He said his mother and two sisters had no idea what I had done until they saw a CNN interview he did with Chris Cuomo.

After the interview gained traction online, Mr. Reffitt said on Twitter, Yes Im the kid on cnn.

The tweet garnered thousands of likes and retweets, and he said he was flooded with messages asking him to set up a GoFundMe, so he did.

Every penny is another course in college or me saving it for years to come, he wrote on the crowdfunding platform. I might be kicked out of my house due to my involvement in my dads case, so every cent might help me survive.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) today announced it will premiere its first ever Super Bowl commercial during the second quarter of Super Bowl LV. The spot, titled "Can a Burrito Change the World?," features a young boy rhetorically asking that question while highlighting the impact that Chipotle's 'Food with Integrity' standards could have on the world, including reducing carbon emissions, saving water, and supporting local growers.

The ad can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/BkXHqihY4RE

Chipotle will premiere its first ever Super Bowl commercial during the second quarter of Super Bowl LV. The spot, titled Can a Burrito Change the World?, features a young boy rhetorically asking that question while highlighting the impact that Chipotles Food with Integrity standards could have on the world, including reducing carbon emissions, saving water, and supporting local growers. Chipotle is utilizing the big game to address the challenges faced within our food system and has committed $5 million over five years to help remove barriers and enable the next generation of farmers and ranchers to succeed. In addition to this commitment, on Sunday, February 7, Chipotle will be donating $1 from every delivery order to the National Young Farmers Coalition, and for orders placed on the Chipotle app and Chipotle.com only, Chipotle will offer fans $0 delivery fees.

Evidenced in the ad, created by Venables Bell and Partners, Chipotle believes that how we grow our food affects how we grow the future. The company believes the global pandemic has shifted consumer behavior to lean towards a community-focused society, further igniting a passion inside of many for making purchasing decisions that drive difference in the world around them. With this spot as part of a series of brand actions, Chipotle is shedding light on how greater awareness of where food comes from and how it is grown can not only help everyone, but also begin to reverse an agricultural industry crisis, which has lost 40x more farmers than it has gained over the last decade.*

Big Game, Bigger Commitment

Chipotle is utilizing the big game to address the challenges faced within our food system and has committed $5 million over five years to help remove barriers and enable the next generation of farmers and ranchers to succeed. Last year, the brand spent more than $300 million in food premiums to purchase supplies that are responsibly sourced, humanely raised and often locally grown. Even though more than 400 million acres of farmland are expected to need new farmers in coming years*, it is becoming increasingly difficult for young farmers to find affordable land in the United States. Chipotle is helping these young farmers get started and assist the local communities that rely on the opportunities and income these farms provide.

Handing Off to the Fans

In addition to this commitment, on Sunday, February 7, Chipotle will be donating $1 from every delivery order to the National Young Farmers Coalition, and for orders placed on the Chipotle app and Chipotle.com only, Chipotle will offer fans $0 delivery fees. Additionally, fans ordering from the app or online can round up their order total to the next highest dollar using Chipotle's real change feature to support the National Young Farmers Coalition starting today.

"Our big game ad debut is a milestone moment for our brand," said Chris Brandt, Chief Marketing Officer. "We want to use this massive platform to help shift attention toward creating positive change for the challenges our food system faces and educate consumers on how they can make a difference."

In October 2020, Chipotle launched a feature to showcase how simple decisions like what ingredients go into your meal can affect the world. Its "Real Foodprint" tracker allows guests to view the cumulative potential impact of their Chipotle orders, as compared to orders using conventional ingredients, against five key metrics including: Less Carbon in the Atmosphere, Gallons of Water Saved, Improved Soil Health, Organic Land Supported, and Antibiotics Avoided.

Chipotle's Commitment to Farming

Since 2019, Chipotle has pledged to help reinvigorate the fading farming industry for future generations. To date, the brand's programs include:

Tractor Beverage Co. Partnership

All Tractor Beverages sold by Chipotle help support the U.S. agricultural industry, with 5% of Chipotle's profits from its sale of these beverages being donated to causes that benefit farmers. Funds expand Chipotle's existing farmer programs including long-term contracts, increased local sourcing, scholarships and grants to start, run or grow farming operations, among others.

Virtual Farmers Market

Chipotle is supporting farmers in its supply chain by assisting in the development of eCommerce sites within the Chipotle Virtual Farmers Market, an online marketplace where consumers can buy real ingredients online, directly from the brand's suppliers.

Young Farmers

To date, Chipotle and the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation have contributed over $500,000 to support the next generation of farmers. The brand is empowering the industry by offering education, scholarships, grants, and three-year contracts to young farmers.

to support the next generation of farmers. The brand is empowering the industry by offering education, scholarships, grants, and three-year contracts to young farmers. Farmlink Project

This winter, Chipotle's real change partnership with The Farmlink Project raised awareness of food waste across the United States and allowed Farmlink to donate more than 9.5 million meals to those who needed it most. In addition, by engaging their supply chain with the non-profit, Chipotle has set an example for companies looking to make sustainable long-term change in the fight against food insecurity.

and allowed Farmlink to donate more than 9.5 million meals to those who needed it most. In addition, by engaging their supply chain with the non-profit, Chipotle has set an example for companies looking to make sustainable long-term change in the fight against food insecurity. Aluminaries

Chipotle's Aluminaries Project 2.0 accelerator program has helped growth stage ventures across the country advance innovative solutions in farming.

$0 Delivery Fee Terms

Additional service fee applied at checkout. Offer valid 2/7/21 only. Valid only at chipotle.com or on the Chipotle app; not valid on orders placed via third-party delivery platforms. Available within Chipotle's delivery areas from participating U.S. locations, during normal operating hours for such locations. Minimum order $10/maximum order $200, each excluding tax. Deliveries and redemption of offer are subject to availability. Offer is not valid on catering or Burritos by the Box orders. Redemptions of Chipotle Rewards and other promotional offers may be included in a qualifying delivery order but do not count towards satisfaction of minimum purchase requirements. Chipotle reserves the right to modify or terminate this offer at any time without notice. Additional restrictions may apply; void where prohibited.

*SOURCE: National Young Farmers Coalition

ABOUT CHIPOTLE

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle had over 2,700 restaurants as of September 30, 2020, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants. With more than 94,000 employees passionate about providing a great guest experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable business practices. Steve Ells, founder and former executive chairman, first opened Chipotle with a single restaurant in Denver, Colorado in 1993. For more information or to place an order online, visit WWW.CHIPOTLE.COM .

SOURCE Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.chipotle.com


LANSING, MI -- The Michigan National Guard deployed about 300 additional members Sunday to assist with COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts statewide.

The surge of additional troops started on Jan. 24 includes three separate task forces charged with supporting the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, as well as local health departments, per a release from the State Emergency Operations Center.

Soldiers and airmen are assigned to administer vaccinations in clinics or health departments in northern, western and southeast Michigan, as well as mid-Michigan, the release stated.

We are here to help the state where asked, said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. From the city of Detroit to the far reaches of the Upper Peninsula, the Michigan National Guard will continue to assist our communities in this very important mission.

The states National Guard received federal authorization in December, upon Gov. Gretchen Whitmers request, to assist with the states COVID-19 efforts through March 31.

The three task forces, named Task Force North, Bronco and Red Lion, will consist of 50 additional COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Teams (CVTT), according to the release. These teams include one medic and two administrative personnel.

North, Bronco and Red Lion will assist Task Force Spartan with vaccine deliveries at local clinics, the release stated.

Michigan is in the midst of Phase 1B of the vaccination plan, which includes residents over the age of 65, frontline state workers, school and child care staff, corrections staff and some essential workers, according to the states website.

As a state, Michigan has administered more than 652,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data. The states National Guard is responsible for administering about 32,000 of those doses, according to the release.

The availability of a COVID-19 vaccine is exciting as this allows us to go on the offensive against this ruthless disease, Rogers said. This will help reduce the risk and safeguard Michiganders during this pandemic.

For more coronavirus information on the vaccine or disease spread, visit Michigan.gov/Coronavirus or CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine in Michigan, visit Michigan.gov/COVIDVaccine.

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Michigan vaccinations progress as wait lists grow and counties wait for shipments

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U.S. Department of Justice

A Texas man was arrested and charged Wednesday on allegations that he invaded the U.S. Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6 riot and made death threats on social media against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a U.S. Capitol Police Officer.

Garret A. Miller of Dallas County chronicled his participation in the deadly mob via Twitter and Facebook, posting one selfie from inside the Capitol rotunda wearing a Make America Great Again Hat. Other photos show Miller among a crowd of people pushing past police officers to gain entry to the building.
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OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

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Tens of thousands nationwide answered Navalny's call to rally, issued after he was detained at a Moscow airport on arrival from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning with a nerve agent

On 23 January, Russian police arrested more than 3,000 people across the country demanding the release of Opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The protests in scores of cities in temperatures as low as minus-50 C (minus-58 F) highlight how Navalny, the Kremlin's most prominent foe, has built influence far beyond the political and cultural centres of Moscow and St Petersburg.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin called the protests "illegal and dangerous".

Tens of thousands nationwide answered Navalny's call after he was detained at a Moscow airport on arrival from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning with a nerve agent.

In Moscow, an estimated 15,000 demonstrators gathered in and around Pushkin Square in the city center, where clashes with police broke out and demonstrators were roughly dragged off by helmeted riot officers to police buses and detention trucks. Some were beaten with batons. Navalnys wife Yulia was among those arrested.

Who is Alexei Navalny?

Navalny is a lawyer-turned-activist and a strong critic of President Putin. The 44-year-old blogger has millions of Russian followers on social media.

Navalny has been the symbol of Russia's protest movement for a decade after rising to prominence as an anti-corruption blogger and leading anti-government street rallies.

He publishes YouTube investigations into the wealth of Russia's political elites. Some of the videos garner millions of views, making the activist's team a target of lawsuits, police raids and jail stints.

The Kremlin opponent has never held elected office.

He came second in a 2013 vote for mayor of Moscow but was barred from standing against Putin in the 2018 presidential elections.

His allies are also frequently prevented from running for election.

His team has been gearing up to challenge the ruling United Russia party in elections to the lower house State Duma due in September.

He has been jailed repeatedly in connection with protests and twice was convicted of financial misdeeds in cases that he said were politically motivated. He suffered significant eye damage when an assailant threw disinfectant into his face. He was taken from jail to a hospital in 2019 with an illness that authorities said was an allergic reaction but which many suspected was a poisoning.

Arrest that triggered the protests

Earlier this month, the police detained the top Kremlin critic when he flew back to Russia.

Navalny was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport less than an hour after he flew in from Germany, where he had been recovering from the poisoning with a nerve agent he claims was ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

His plane landed at Sheremetyevo after a dramatic last-minute diversion from another Moscow airport, Vnukovo, where several hundred of his supporters and media were waiting.

Several of his associates were taken into custody at the airport while the plane was in the air, including prominent Moscow activist Lyubov Sobol and other top aides.

What do we know of the protests in Russia?

Thousands took to the streets to demand Navalnys release.

According to reports, demonstrations were held on 23 January in about 100 cities and towns from Russia's the Far East and Siberia to Moscow and St Petersburg.

In Moscow, riot police were seen beating and dragging away demonstrators.

As per BBC, the social media app TikTok has a number of videos posted by Russians supporting the planned protests and urging others to come out. However, mobile and internet services suffered outages in the day as protesters gathered.

Chanting shame, protesters in Moscow also threw snowballs at a passing government car, reported The New York Times.

After it came to a stop, people rushed at the car, which belongs to Russias domestic intelligence agency, and started kicking it. The driver suffered an eye injury in the attack, the State news media reported later.

Earlier today, protesters in Moscow attacked a vehicle with a special siren and license plate. The driver is now reportedly hospitalized with a gouged eye, says RIA Novosti. https://t.co/zNyFDDuGYlpic.twitter.com/dYpoV3mUMR  Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) January 23, 2021

In Moscow, an estimated 15,000 demonstrators gathered in and around Pushkin Square in the city centre, where clashes with police broke out and demonstrators were roughly dragged off by helmeted riot officers to police buses and detention trucks. Some were beaten with batons.

Police eventually pushed demonstrators out of the square. Thousands then regrouped along a wide boulevard about a kilometre (half-mile) away, many of them throwing snowballs at the police before dispersing.

Some later went to protest near the jail where Navalny is held. Police made an undetermined number of arrests there too.

So what happens next?

According to The Associated Press, analysts say Navalnys return to Russia was a significant blow to Putins image and left the Kremlin with a dilemma.

Putin has mostly worked from his residence during the coronavirus outbreak, and the widespread perception that he has stayed away from the public doesnt compare well to Navalnys bold comeback to the country where he was poisoned and faced arrest, Chatham Houses Petrov told AP.

It doesnt matter whether people support Navalny or not; they see these two images, and Putin loses, he said.

Commentators say there is no good choice for the Kremlin: Imprisoning Navalny for a long time will make him a martyr and could lead to mass protests, while letting him go threatens the impending parliamentary elections.

So far, the crackdown has only helped Navalny, and now, even thinking loyalists are, if not on his side, certainly not on the side of poisoners and persecutors, Alexander Baunov of the Moscow Carnegie Center wrote in a recent article.

In 2013, Navalny was quickly released from prison following a five-year sentence from embezzlement conviction after a large crowd gathered near the Kremlin.

Putins government has since become much tougher on dissent, so it is unlikely that mass protests will prompt Navalnys immediate release, Petrov said. But the Kremlin still fears that a harsh move may destabilise the situation, and the scale of the rallies could indicate how the public would react to Navalny being imprisoned for a long time.

With inputs from agencies
Turkey and Greece resumed bilateral talks on Monday aimed at addressing long-standing maritime disputes, diplomatic sources said, ending a five-year hiatus after months of tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. The neighbouring countries, both members of NATO, are at odds over the extent of their continental shelves in the Mediterranean, energy rights in the region, air space and the status of some islands in the Aegean Sea. They made little progress in 60 rounds of talks from 2002 to 2016, reports Reuters.

EU weighs response to Navalny arrest

View Full Image EU foreign ministers on Monday debated the 27-nation blocs response to the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny

European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated the 27-nation blocs response to the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a weekend police crackdown that saw thousands taken into custody during protests in support of President Vladimir Putins most well-known critic. More than 3,500 people were reportedly taken into custody during the nationwide protests. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told AFP that under the Russian constitution, everyone in Russia has the right to express their opinion and to demonstrate. That must be possible. The principles of the rule of law must apply there, tooRussia has always committed itself to that."He and other ministers called for the immediate release of the protesters. Navalny was arrested earlier this month when he returned to Moscow after spending months in Germany recovering from an attack in Russia with what experts have said was the nerve agent Novichok.

Agent Orange case in French courts

View Full Image Agent Orange case in French courts

A French court on Monday heard a case against more than a dozen multinationals, accused by a French-Vietnamese woman of causing grievous harm to her and others by selling the Agent Orange defoliant to the US government which used it to devastating effect in the Vietnam War, reports AFP. Tran To Nga, born in 1942 in what was then French Indochina, worked as a journalist and activist in Vietnam in her 20s. She filed the lawsuit in 2014 against 14 firms that made or sold the highly toxic chemical, including Monsanto, now owned by German giant Bayer, and Dow Chemical. Backed by several NGOs, she accuses the companies of being responsible for injuries sustained by her, her children and countless others, as well as for damage done to the environment. The US ended the use of defoliant chemicals in the war in 1971, and withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, defeated by the Viet Cong.

Taiwan expelled thousands of Chinese dredgers

View Full Image Taiwan expelled nearly 4,000 Chinese vessels illegally dredging sand from its waters in 2020

Taiwan expelled nearly 4,000 Chinese vessels illegally dredging sand from its waters in 2020, authorities said Monday, a more than six-fold increase on the year before as Beijing seeks to heap pressure on the democratic island. China has taken an increasingly belligerent tone towards Taiwan under President Xi Jinpingespecially over the last twelve months with Beijing's jets and bombers buzzing the island at a record rate. But the waters surrounding Taiwan have become another hot zone. Taiwan's coastguard on Monday told AFP it recorded a huge spike in Chinese sand dredgers illegally entering its waters. Up to November last year, it expelled 3,969 vessels, compared to 600 in 2019 and 71 in 2018. Chinas leaders view Taiwan as their territory and have vowed one day to seize it, by force if necessary.

Shining spot for Indian drugmakers

View Full Image Indian generic drugmakers have immense potential for growth in Vietnam which currently meets bulk of the domestic demand by importing medicines

Indian generic drugmakers have immense potential for growth in Vietnam which currently meets bulk of the domestic demand by importing medicines, Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research said in a report on Monday, reports the Press Trust of India. Vietnam's domestic pharmaceutical industry is currently able to meet just 53% of the country's demand, representing significant opportunities for Indian drugmakers as the country is among the leading global producers of generic medicines, the report noted. India is Vietnam's third largest supplier of pharmaceutical products, with an export turnover of $198 million in the first nine months of 2020. In addition to finished products, the country also provides raw pharmaceutical materials, and generic medicines for the Vietnamese market. The medicines and raw materials imported from India are reasonably priced and meet the diverse needs of Vietnamese, especially those living in remote areas, Fitch Solutions said.

Record satellites sent to space

View Full Image The 143 payloads, of all shapes and sizes, rode to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon rocket that launched out of Florida

A new world record has been set for the number of satellites sent to space on a single rocket, reports the BBC. The 143 payloads, of all shapes and sizes, rode to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon rocket that launched out of Florida. The number beats the previous record of 104 satellites carried aloft by an Indian vehicle in 2017. It's further evidence of the major structural changes taking place in space activity that are allowing many more actors to get involved. This shift is the result of a revolution in robust, miniaturised, low-cost componentsmany taken direct from consumer electronics such as smartphonesthat mean pretty much anyone can now build a capable satellite in a very small package. And with SpaceX offering to transport those packages to orbit for just $1m, the commercial opportunities will continue to open up. San Francisco's Planet company had the most satellites of all on the flight 48.

Curated by Sohini Sen. Have something to share with us? Write to us at feedback@livemint or tweet to @shohinisen

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Kerrville, TX (78028)

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Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  Following the relaxation of age restrictions in areas under modified general community quarantine, the Trade Department has explained why children are still not allowed to attend physical classes despite being allowed to go to malls.

Its not about 'yung pagpili between sa pag-mall or pag-eskwelahan. Actually ho, 'yung pagpili nito is base ho talaga sa intensity nung interaction ng mga kabataan, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a virtual briefing.

[Translation: Its not about choosing between going to the mall or going to school. Actually, this decision is based on the intensity of the interactions of the children.]

Lopez said students are seated next to each other with constant interactions for an extended number of hours in school, making it more difficult to protect them and ensure the compliance of health protocols.

The Philippines was set to conduct a voluntary pilot implementation of physical classes in January for schools in areas identified as low-risk for COVID-19. But President Rodrigo Duterte recalled the order allowing the trial run in late December following the discovery of the new coronavirus variant in the United Kingdom. The variant is believed to be more contagious.

Pero dito naman sa kabila, kaya ho 'yung easing of age restriction, this is really more for family bonding, said Lopez. So hindi man sa eskwelahan pero ito 'yung family bonding na magkakasama po 'yung magulang at 'yung kabataan.

[Translation: On the other hand, the easing of age restrictions is really more for family bonding. So while theyre not allowed to go to school yet, the children can spend time with their parents as a form of family bonding.]

Children aged 10-14 are now allowed to go out in areas under MGCQ beginning February  a move endorsed by the Trade Department in a bid to further stimulate economic recovery and domestic demand. This, however, is provided kids are accompanied by their parents and minimum public health standards are still observed.

Lopez likewise said its time to gradually open up sectors of the economy, now on the demand side or those allowed to step outside their homes. Families contribute to about 30% to 50% of sales of establishments such as restaurants, he added.

But for her part, Philippine Pediatric Society board member Dr. Anna Ong-Lim said easing up the age restriction is not necessary for now, especially due to the new COVID-19 variant.

When we talk about easing up restrictions, we are not just actually talking about age, we are talking about increasing the number of people who are allowed to go out. Eh parang hindi naman yata naayon yun sa sitwasyon natin ngayon (I think it is not necessary for now given our current situation), she told CNN Philippines News. PH.

Once the situation gets better, Ong-Lim said it would be better to discuss first how students can go back to school.

Hindi ba dapat na mas unahan natin yung usapin ng pagbalik sa eskwela, kaysa allowing them to go around in the community? (Isnt it more important that we discuss first the topic of going back to school than allowing them go around in the community?) Because we consider school as a very essential activity, Ong-Lim said.
Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Rudy Giuliani, the lawyer for Donald Trump and former mayor of New York who played a key role in the former presidents monthslong effort to subvert the 2020 election.

The 107-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, accuses Giuliani of carrying out a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion made up of demonstrably false allegations, in part to enrich himself through legal fees and his podcast.

The suit seeks damages of more than $1.3 billion and is based on more than 50 statements Giuliani made at legislative hearings, on Twitter, on his podcast and in the conservative news media, where he spun a fictitious narrative of a plot by one of the biggest voting machine manufacturers in the country to flip votes to President Joe Biden.

Giuliani, one of Trumps closest advisers and confidants, has faced continuing fallout for his highly visible efforts to reverse the election outcome. This month, the chairman of the New York state Senates judiciary committee formally requested that the state court system strip Giuliani of his law license.

Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taken together with a lawsuit the company filed this month against Sidney Powell, another lawyer who was allied with Trump, the suit represents a point-by-point rebuke of one of the more outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding last years election. The presidents allies had contended that the voting machine company  which was also used in states during Trumps victory in the 2016 election, has been tested by government agencies, and was used in states Trump carried in 2020  was somehow involved in a rigged election, partly as a result of ties to a long-deceased Venezuelan dictator.

Dominion was not founded in Venezuela to fix elections for Hugo Chavez, the suit says. It was founded in 2002 in John Poulos basement in Toronto to help blind people vote on paper ballots. The suit later adds that the headquarters for the companys United States subsidiary is in Denver.

Laying out a timeline of Giulianis comments about Dominion on Twitter, his podcast and Fox News, the company notes that Giuliani avoided mentioning Dominion in court, where he could have faced legal ramifications for falsehoods. Notably, not a single one of the three complaints signed and filed by Giuliani and other attorneys for the Trump Campaign in the Pennsylvania action contained any allegations about Dominion, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also links Giulianis false statements about Dominion to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, noting that he mentioned the company in his speech at a rally for Trump before the attack, as well as numerous times on social media as the Capitol was breached.

Having been deceived by Giuliani and his allies into thinking that they were not criminals  but patriots Defend(ing) the Republic from Dominion and its co-conspirators  they then bragged about their involvement in the crime on social media, the suit states.

Thomas A. Clare, a lawyer representing Dominion, said that the riot had not factored into the decision to sue Giuliani, but that it did show just how seriously Trumps followers had taken the falsehoods told about the election.

From a defamation law perspective, it just demonstrates the depth to which these statements sink in to people, Clare said in an interview. That people dont just read them and tune them out. It goes to the core of their belief system, which puts them in a position to take action in the real world.

Dominion is a major manufacturer of voting machine equipment in the United States, second only to Election Systems & Software. Different models of Dominion machines were used in more than two dozen states  red, blue and battleground  during the 2020 election.

The company had previously warned Giuliani, sending a letter in late December that told him to preserve all records of his claims and stop making false statements, and warned that legal action was imminent. But Giuliani continued with his false claims of fraud, even arguing on Twitter days after receiving the letter that phony Dominion voting machines needed to be investigated.

As recently as last week, Giuliani was on his New York City-based radio show saying that so long as you have Dominion, there is clear and present danger that election results could be rigged. He added that he had boxes of evidence to support his claims.

Dominion has indicated that it plans to file more lawsuits. The suit against Giuliani says he acted with other prominent conservatives and news networks, including Mike Lindell, Lou Dobbs, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax and One America News Network.

There will certainly be others, Clare said. There are other individuals who have spoken the big lie and have put forward these defamatory statements about Dominion, but then there are also players in the media that have amplified it.

Clare left open the possibility of litigation against Trump.

Were not ruling anybody out, he said. Obviously, this lawsuit against the presidents lawyer moves one step closer to the former president and understanding what his role was and wasnt.

The threats from Dominion have prompted some conciliatory responses from conservative news outlets hoping to avoid a legal battle. This month, the American Thinker, a conservative website, posted an apologetic note saying that its reports about Dominion are completely false and have no basis in fact and that it was wrong for us to publish these false statements.

Giuliani was one of the main public faces of the effort to reverse the election results, with Trump rarely appearing in public and preferring to send out broadsides on Twitter against the democratic process.

Dominion argues that Giuliani profited significantly from his false claims, noting that he reportedly demanded $20,000 per day for his legal services to Trump and cashed in by hosting a podcast where he exploited election falsehoods to market gold coins, supplements, cigars and protection from cyberthieves. 

The lawsuit notes just how quickly and widely the lies and false narratives had spread leading up to the riot at the Capitol. Over a three-hour period on Dec. 21, 2020, the terms dominion and fraud were tweeted out together by more than 2,200 users with over 8.75 million total followers, the suit says.

The reach of the disinformation about the company brought countless threats of violence against employees, the suit claims. One employee received text messages stating: We are already watching you. Come clean and you will live. A voice mail message to customer support said, Were bringing back the firing squad.

Because of these threats, Dominion has spent $565,000 on personal security, according to the lawsuit. The company claimed to have incurred $1.17 million in total expenses relating to the disinformation campaign after the election.

Giulianis statements, the suit states, were calculated to  and did in fact  provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 25, 2021 / Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people across the world have faced challenges in both their personal and professional lives. The sudden shift to virtual working environments has caused obvious strains for workers and leaders alike. Specifically leaders of companies, no matter how big or small, have had to learn how to effectively organize and manage teams that are now physically dispersed.

"Times of crisis are trying for everyone in different ways. For CEOs, it is our job to help the business find a path to navigate the challenge. This not only requires expertise and vision from a leader but a team willing to follow and execute on the plan," says Jorge Arevalo, CEO of eCombustible, a cutting-edge, clean energy and fuel technology company.

As leaders continue to adapt to always-changing working conditions, here are three insights from Jorge Arevalo on how to effectively lead a team during trying times.

Tip #1: Set a positive tone

While most news during difficult times tends to be negative, it is important for leaders to establish a positive tone within their teams, whether it is in-person or virtual. Creating an environment where employees receive positive feedback, are regularly checked on, and are given the opportunity to express themselves is crucial in creating a positive work experience for all team members. Whether it's through asking a fun question on team calls or holding office hours for employees to share what's on their minds, leaders should ensure that they are fostering a constructive working environment.

"Positive leadership can make all the difference during difficult times," says Jorge Arevalo. "Showcasing positivity isn't about hiding the realities of the challenge, but supporting employees through the difficulties and outlining a strategy for the way forward. This will help to build and maintain trust between you and your team."

Tip #2: Over-communicate rather than under-communicate

Transparency during difficult times can help put your team at ease when they are likely stressed about other factors. Whether it's matters of performance, company updates, or job security, leaders should determine how best to approach topics that employees are likely concerned about in an honest way. Erring on the side of over-communication is usually the best route to ensure that employees feel connected and supported by their leaders and the company as a whole.

"Rather than try to conceal information from employees, creating and maintaining an open line of communication can work to build trust and keep employees satisfied. It is important that leaders put themselves in their employees' shoes and think of how they would like to be treated in terms of transparency and communication," says Jorge Arevalo.

Tip #3: Be empathetic

During difficult times, your employees are likely dealing with extra stress that is unrelated to their jobs. As you weigh business priorities and decisions, take the needs of your team into consideration. It is also important to be conscious of employees who may be experiencing burnout and come up with solutions to counteract the effects. Being a conscious and intentional leader means being aware of extraneous factors that may be impacting your employees' performances and attitudes and making changes to help support them during trying times.

"Being empathetic is one of the most important factors of being an effective leader during difficult times," says Jorge Arevalo. "If a leader is not aware of challenges that their employees are facing, they cannot adequately support them. This is not a time to move away from kindness and understanding, but rather a time to embrace it."

Being an effective leader means taking all these factors into account when facing difficult circumstances. By embracing the power of positivity, transparency and empathy, leaders can provide an example for employees to follow and ensure the company moves forward even during times of uncertainty.

CONTACT:

Andrew Mitchell

media@cambridgeglobal.com

SOURCE: Jorge Arevalo

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/625873/Jorge-Arevalos-Top-3-Tips-for-Effectively-Leading-a-Team-During-Trying-Times
Vladimir Putin's alleged love child is following Alexei Navalny on Instagram where she faces regular trolling over her father.

Elizaveta, known as Luiza, is the daughter of cleaner-turned-millionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45, who reportedly had an affair with the Kremlin leader in the late 1990s.

The 17-year-old, who boasts 91,000 followers on Instagram, featured in a video shared by jailed opposition leader Navalny last week in which he exposed Putin's 'corruption'.

Vladimir Putin's alleged love child is following Alexei Navalny on Instagram and is even being trolled for having the Russian President as her father

Luiza is following Navalny on the social media platform despite him being the arch critic of her alleged father

The 44-year-old politician was recently poisoned with chemical nerve agent Novichok and has been jailed in Russia

He included a clip of Luiza dancing with a British-educated male friend.

She replied complaining that the clip was too short, saying she was 'only given a minute', before posting another video.

But Luiza is still following Navalny on the social media platform despite the prominent Putin critic being jailed, which sparked mass protests in Russia this weekend.

European Union foreign ministers are debating the 27-nation bloc's response to his arrest on Monday.

The 44-year-old politician was recently poisoned with chemical nerve agent Novichok allegedly by a hit squad from the FSB secret service.

Luiza is the daughter of a cleaner-turned-millionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh (pictured), 45, who reportedly had an affair with the Kremlin leader in the late 1990s

Putin's current alleged partner is the former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva (pictured together)

Navalny has said his aim is to topple Putin, 68, and for years has made disclosures of alleged corruption in ruling circles.

Thousands supporting Navalny were arrested this weekend in what have been described as the biggest demonstrations since Putin came to power more than two decades ago.

St Petersburg-educated student Luiza was quizzed on Instagram: 'Are you not ashamed of your father?'

Another wrote: 'What do you say in school when they ask you who is your father?'

But she has hit back at online 'haters' as she continues to flaunt her lavish lifestyle.

Luiza has faced comments on the 1billion Black Sea palace that Navalny claims is Putin's bolthole from the Kremlin

She has faced comments on the 1billion Black Sea palace that Navalny claims is Putin's bolthole from the Kremlin, with a pole-dancing hookah room, a casino and its own vineyard.

She was asked: 'Do they produce Novichok in the same vineyard?'

Other comments on her page include: 'Your mommy gave birth to you to ensure a comfortable life for herself.

'Don't be delusional and think that you were wanted. You are just a tool with the help of which your mom got what she wanted.'

Another comment read: 'What is it like to be born with Putin's face?'

Riot police officers detain a participant in an unauthorized rally in support of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny by the Moscow Circus

Russian policemen detain men during an unauthorized protest rally against the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny

She did not respond to messages urging her to take part in the massive weekend protests against Putin.

She also ignored a question asking whether she referred to Putin's current alleged partner, Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 37, as 'aunt'.

She was asked: 'How do you call Alina Kabaeva, just 'Aunt Alina'?'

Her social media shows her wearing a Gucci face mask, and with a Bottega Veneta bag, and YSL gloves.

Andrey Zakharov, the journalist to first unmask the alleged secret Putin daughter and her mother, said: 'When I was writing about Putin's third daughter, I thought that she would delete her Instagram.

More than 3,500 people were reportedly taken into custody during the nationwide protests

'She ended up signing up to Navalny.'

Neither the Kremlin or Luiza or her mother has confirmed she is Putin's daughter.

It comes as Russia faces growing condemnation from European leaders over their handling of Navalny.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday: 'This wave of detention is something that worries us a lot, as well as the detention of Mr Navalny.'

More than 3,500 people were reportedly taken into custody during the nationwide protests.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that 'under the Russian constitution, everyone in Russia has the right to express their opinion and to demonstrate. That must be possible. The principles of the rule of law must apply there, too - Russia has always committed itself to that.'

He and other ministers called for the immediate release of the protesters.

In October, the EU imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and a state research institute over Navalny's poisoning, but there is little appetite to take new measures immediately. Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, is also planning a trip to Moscow and it's unclear what impact events will have on that visit.

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed concern about what he called Russia's 'authoritarian drift. He told France-Inter radio that 'all light must be shed' on Navalny's poisoning. 'This was an assassination attempt,' Le Drian said.

The protests attracted thousands of people in major Russian cities, including an estimated 15,000 in Moscow.

As they unfolded, the US embassy spokeswoman in the city, Rebecca Ross, said on Twitter that the United States 'supports the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression. Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights.'

The embassy also tweeted a State Department statement calling for Navalny's release.

Putin's spokesman said the statements interfered in the country's domestic affairs and encouraged Russians to break the law.
Dede in Baltimore was awarded a Michelin star at the 2021 UK and Ireland awards.

Chef Ahmet Dede received a Michelin star for his restaurant Dede in Baltimore, Cork, at the 2021 UK and Irish awards today.

When presented with the award virtually, Mr Dede was emotional, saying: I am taking it all in now, thank you so much. This means the world to me.

Five restaurants in total across the UK and Ireland received a new Michelin star at todays awards.

Four Irish restaurants, bars and bistros also received a Michelin Bib Gourmand while three Irish restaurants were awarded green Michelin stars- which is a new star that appreciates the efforts that chef and staff put in to create a sustainable space.

KAI and Loam in Galway and Inis Meain in the Aran Islands were all awarded green stars.

The four restaurants, bistros and pubs in Ireland that received a new Michelin bib were Goldie in Cork, Table Forty One in Wexford, Spitalfields pub in Dublin and Volpe Nera, Blackrock.

Seafood bistro Goldie was described by the inspector as a lively seafood bistro that offers well-priced gill-to-fin cooking.

Table Forty One in Wexford was also given a bib thanks to its classic cooking and Spitalfields pub in Dublin received its Michelin bib for its cooking from the heart and was described as a characterful Dublin pub with flavourful dishes.

The final new Irish entry on the Michel bib list was Volpe Nera in Blackrock for its carefully cooked dishes and its classic Mediterranean principles that have a modern edge.

Davina McCall presented the virtual ceremony that was streamed on Facebook and Youtube tonight.

Opening up the ceremony, she said: Our thoughts are with those who suffered from the pandemic and all the businesses that were lost.

She added that it has been particularly tough year for the hospitality industry as she said how disappointing it as that all the chefs cant join her as usual.

During the ceremony, a number of special professional awards were given to restaurants across Britain and Ireland in different categories including excellence in service, drinks, young chef of the year and mentor chef of the year.

Ross Lewis of Michelin star restaurant Chapter One in Dublin was awarded the Mentor Chef of the year award. Accepting the award, Mr Lewis said: This means a lot to me.

Noble Hollywood in Northern Ireland was given a service award that was sponsored by Lavazza coffee.

The young chef award was given to 30-year-old Kray Treadwell in 670 Grams in Birmingham.

Appearing from Paris, Gwendal Poullennec, international director of Michelin Guides, said: Even if I am disappointed not to be in London, what a pleasure to be with you tonight.

"2020 has been an unusual year and every one of us has experienced the pandemic and its devastating effects.

Carefully cooked Mediterranean dishes with a modern edge gain a Bib for expertly run neighbourhood restaurant, @VolpeNeraDublin#BibGourmand #MICHELINguideGBI pic.twitter.com/C6fLoHIWlR  The MICHELIN Guide (@MichelinGuideUK) January 25, 2021




Move over Barney's gritty reboot, Seth MacFarlane's Revenge of the Nerds, and, well, all the live-action versions of every Disney animated classic produced between 1980 and 1997, it seems that yet another piece of once-beloved IP may be getting a very unnecessary reboot that absolutely no one asked for -- J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. On Monday, The Hollywood Reporter announced that the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry may soon be to making a comeback to a TV near you in the form of an HBO Max series -- at least according to several anonymous sources.

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A welcome revelation to the millennials that have based their entire personalities around being a Ravenclaw and the handful of fans unphased by Rowling's cringey revisionism and outspoken transphobia, the show is reportedly in the "extremely early" stages of development, meaning no details have emerged about the show's premise, timeline, characters, or location within the wizarding world. That said, "broad ideas have been discussed as part of the early-stage exploratory meetings," while execs look for writers and a pitch for the series. So far it seems "no deals have been made" in solidifying any of the show's producers or talent. In light of these claims, which have since been reported by Variety and Gizmodo, HBO and Warner Bros. continue to deny these stories, telling The Hollywood Reporter that "There are no Harry Potter series in development at the studio or on the streaming platform." Ugh, where's Hogwarts Divination professor, Sybill Trelawney, when you need her to confirm a disputed story?

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Anyways, as one of Warner Media's most coveted pieces of IP, Harry Potter has historically been a high priority for the company, as evident through the company's Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them series. That said, a possible Harry Potter reboot would come following a very controversial few years for the franchise and J.K Rowling, who still partially controls the rights to the property. Last year, Rowling found herself under fire after posting a Twitter rant touting the baseless notion that transgender activism is "erasing the concept of sex," and therefore harms women and lesbians. Amid the backlash to her controversial statement, in which disappointed fans noted Rowling ignored the scientifically-backed differences between gender and sex, the author doubled down on her alarming beliefs, writing a 4,000-word blog post on the topic, which critics dubbed a "transphobic manifesto," according to NBC News. Girl, don't you know when to stop? Ugh.

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So folks, while we wait to find a definitive answer in our tea leaves regarding the future of a potential Harry Potter TV series, there's one thing I know for sure -- can we please have some original IP? As a treat? Please?

For more internet nonsense, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
PORTLAND, Ore.  The U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon says that federal investigators are looking into a spate of letters sent to Portland-area community leaders and activists.

"We are aware that some Portland area community leaders and activists have, in recent months, received racist letters threatening violence against them, their families, or people they know," said Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney. "I want to reassure the community that the U.S. Attorneys Office takes these threats very seriously and, together with our partners at the FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, are engaged in an active investigation to determine who is responsible for creating and sending these letters and to evaluate criminal wrongdoing."

The federal prosecutor urged people to help by sending tips about these letters or other threats of violence to the FBI. Tips can be submitted directly to the FBIs Portland Field Office by calling (503) 224-4181 or by visiting tips.fbi.gov.

"We need the publics help to keep our communities safe and protect all Oregonians," Williams said. "While our investigation is ongoing, we must respectfully decline further comment.

Some of these written threats have been ongoing since at least the summer of 2020, Portland-area station KOIN reported in December. The letters cited in that report, sent to Black business owners and community leaders, were riddled with racial slurs and death threats.
The Vinh Long Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Hospital, where 33-year-old Le Thuc Tri, a Covid-19 patient, would be quarantined for 14 days following his discharge on January 25, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Cuu Long.

A Covid-19 patient who illegally entered Vietnam last month and is under criminal investigation for spreading infectious diseases has recovered.

Le Thuc Tri, 33, has tested negative for the novel coronavirus three times in a row, Van Cong Minh, health department director in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, said Monday.

After 32 days of treatment, Tri will now be moved to a centralized quarantine zone in the Vinh Long Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Hospital for the next 14 days, Minh said.

Tri was part of a nine-person group who crossed into Vietnam into the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on December 24. He returned to his house in Vinh Long, but his mother reported him to authorities so he could be quarantined.

Apart from Tri, three others in the group have been confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus.

Earlier this month, Tri was placed under criminal investigation for "spreading dangerous infectious diseases in humans." He is the second person to be placed under such a probe, the first being a Vietnam Airlines' flight attendant who allegedly breached Covid-19 quarantine protocols and infected three others.

Until their cases, people flouting Covid-19 prevention regulations were let off with fines.

Of the 1,548 Covid-19 cases recorded so far in Vietnam, 99 are still active and 35 have died. No community transmission has been recorded nationally in nearly two months.
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - A gendarme was killed and another wounded in a terrorist attack perpetrated Monday against a check-point at the outing gate of the city of Goundam, region of Timbuktu, northeast Mali, security sources told PANA here
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25)  President Rodrigo Duterte addressed the country on Monday, giving a reminder to the public about the importance of following health and safety protocols, including washing hands and wearing masks properly.

Duterte took note of the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, which is now over 500,000. The President said he hopes it would not reach millions, otherwise the country would be "in serious trouble" and no better than other countries whose rise in cases he called "exponential."

"Ang problema nito [The problem here] is how you maybe obey the protocol is maghugas [wash hands], and the masks," he said.

The President said while he's not a doctor, he believes that masks  while not able to give 100% protection  could still help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"Basta worn properly. Kasi yung iba, nagma-mask tapos nakikita ko yung ilong ninyo, sumasabit doon just on the edge of the mask... So it does not really give a relief at all kung ganon ka-careless ang tao na gumagamit," he said.

[Translation: As long as it is worn properly. Because some people, they wear the mask, but their nose is seen just on the edge of the mask... So, it does not give a relief at all if they use it so carelessly.]

Duterte said people should be more religious in obeying the protocols set by medical practitioners.

"For the sake of humanity, yung kapwa mo tao, bayan mo kindly obey the protocols, washing of the hands sana susundin niyo ito," he said.

[Translation: For the sake of humanity, your fellow men, your country kindly obey the protocols, washing of the hands. I hope you follow this.]
BRISBANE, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Second Genome, a leader in microbiome science, today announced the appointment of Susannah Cantrell, PhD, to the position of chief business officer, and Preeti G. Lal, PhD, to the position of chief scientific officer.

Susannah Cantrell, PhD, joined Second Genome as chief business officer in November 2020. Dr. Cantrell has over 20 years of industry experience across global pipeline strategy, sales, operations, marketing and new product commercialization. Her experience covers multiple therapeutic areas including cell therapy, oncology, inflammation, anti-infectives, cardiology, neurology, nephrology and endocrinology. She most recently served as EVP and chief commercial officer at Tricida and prior to that was vice president and head of global commercial strategy and marketing oncology at Gilead Sciences where she was instrumental in leading and building its oncology and inflammation business from 2011 to 2019. Prior to her time at Gilead, Dr. Cantrell held various senior level positions at Genentech/Roche from 2005 to 2011, including marketing, strategic business planning and sales. She participated in life-cycle management and the pre-launch and commercial launch of several products, including RITUXAN, HERCEPTIN, AVASTIN and TARCEVA. Prior to Genentech, Dr. Cantrell held sales and marketing positions at GlaxoSmithKline, where she managed the anti-infective portfolio. Dr. Cantrell holds a BA in Biology from Westminster College and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Preeti G. Lal, PhD, joined Second Genome in 2021 as chief scientific officer. She also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Alladapt Immunotherapeutics. Dr. Lal has over 25 years of experience leading data science, translational medicine activities in all phases of clinical trials, regulatory interactions with both the drug and device divisions of FDA, and companion diagnostics programs. Prior to Second Genome, she worked at several leading healthcare companies including Alladapt Immunotherapeutics, Roche Diagnostics, Gilead Sciences, Genentech and CareDx. At CareDx, she leveraged data science, bioinformatics and immunology to develop the multigene diagnostic algorithm "AlloMap" which is an FDA approved diagnostic test in clinical use for the management of heart transplant subjects leading to reduction in the number of routine heart biopsies. Following her PhD, she spent seven years at Incyte Genomics where she worked on numerous pharma collaborations as the bioinformatics technical lead. Dr. Lal is a co-inventor on over 150 patents. She obtained her PhD in Immunology from the Medical University of South Carolina and MSc (Hons) in Microbiology from Bombay University, India. She did her fellowship in Tumor Biology at Stanford University where she worked on the role of GFAP in Astrocytoma.

"I am delighted to welcome both Susannah and Preeti to the Second Genome executive team. Their vast experience in life sciences and leadership will be critical in driving Second Genome's strategy and pipeline as we evolve into a product development company," stated Karim Dabbagh, PhD, president and chief executive officer at Second Genome. "The tremendous potential for innovation in drug development to arise from our microbiome science-based platform is a driver of an exciting plan to develop personalized therapies for multiple diseases and to partner our technology broadly across the industry, so we are excited to have Susannah and Preeti join our team at this point in our journey."

About Second Genome

Second Genome is a full-stack precision medicine and drug discovery company which identifies biomarkers, biological pathways, targets and potential therapeutics given its ability to harness the human-microbiome interface and has the capabilities to take products through clinical development to commercialization. The company uses its comprehensive microbiome-based drug discovery engine to discover and develop both microbially-derived protein therapeutics and biological targets resulting from how the microbiome influences a wide variety of diseases including cancer and immune-mediated diseases. Second Genome's pipeline includes preclinical programs in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cancer, with the lead program SG-2-0776 in IBD expected to enter clinical development in 2022. The company's ability to deconvolute complex microbial science coupled with informatics expertise allows it to deliver personalized therapies and clinically relevant biomarkers. Additionally, the company has a strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc. whereby Gilead is utilizing Second Genome's proprietary Microbiome Analytics Platform to identify novel biomarkers associated with clinical response to Gilead's investigational medicines. For more information, please visit www.secondgenome.com.

SOURCE Second Genome
Can't live without Didi: BJP's Sonali Guha wants to rejoin TMC

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Nobody should feel pain while chanting 'Jai Shri Ram': Sanjay Raut on Mamata Banerjee's comment

India

oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P

Mumbai, Jan 25: Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refused to speak at an event where "Jai Shri Ram" slogans were raised, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said that nobody should feel pain while chanting the slogan.

Speaking to reporters, Raut said he is sure Mamata Banerjee also has faith in Lord Ram.

On Saturday, Mamata Banerjee refused to speak at an official programme to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary in Kolkata after "Jai Shri Ram" slogans were raised from the audience in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Asked about the BJP accusing Banerjee of feeling pained when chanting the slogan, Raut said, "Nobody should feel pained to say 'Jai Shri Ram' in the country."

"Nobody's secularism will be under threat by saying Jai Shri Ram. We think Lord Ram is the pride of the country and support," he said.

"Jai Shri Ram is not any political word. It is a matter of our faith, and I am sure that Mamata Didi also has faith in Lord Ram," the Rajya Sabha member said.

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An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' also said Banerjee should not have got upset when "Jai Shri Ram" slogans were raised by some people during the programme.

"Rather, tables would have turned on them (those who raised slogans) had she mixed her voice among theirs. But everyone is catering to their own vote banks," it said.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, January 25, 2021, 13:43 [IST]
Somalia is limping towards national elections in February that not all parts of the country agree with. This is nothing new, but it is a major problem for neighboring nations. Somalis in general have a problem with being answerable to anyone not in their extended family or clan. This is why massive corruption persists and a growing number of foreign aid donors are cutting their aid or halting it entirely. This includes the United States, a major provider of food, as well as the main support for the Somali Army. Military aid is plundered more frequently and extensively than food and medical aid, but the extent of corruption in general throughout the Somali government never seems to appreciably decline. Corruption in the military is obvious because so many Somali Army units, when facing combat, seem to fail miserably. What is really happening is that an infantry company with about 150 troops on the payroll (that foreign aid pays for) might have only a few dozen actual troops because the rest are absent because they never existed in the first place (but the pay goes to a corrupt officer of politician) or deserted because they were not being paid.

Foreign relations are also crippled by corruption. For example, European nations find that they can get Somalia to accept the return of Somalis who illegally entered Europe only if bribes are paid to Somali government officials. This sort of thing is illegal, or simply political trouble, in many European nations but in most cases the details of the diplomatic agreement is declared classified and everyone pretends the corruption doesnt exist.

While most Somalis believe there is a Somali culture all Somalis share, far fewer Somalis believe in the civil society required to create a functioning nation and government. Some civil societies are more effective (less corrupt) than others but Somalia appears incapable of creating and sustaining a government that foreign aid donors can justify supporting. The problem is that, when it comes to foreign aid, the international demand is much larger than the supply and donor nations prefer to send their money to nations that will use more of it as intended. Even the UN is planning to shut down the peacekeeping operation by the end of 2021 because there seems little hope that the Somali Army will ever be effective enough to replace the peacekeepers.

There is the option of cutting all aid, although NGO foreign aid groups will demand that donors still come through with cash and someone provide some armed protection so the food and medical aid can be delivered to the warlords who will steal it and sell it to Somalis who can afford it. That doesnt work (Blackhawk Down anyone?) but allowing Somalia to revert to its normal, for thousands of years, warlord-driven anarchy is very unpopular with the neighbors. Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, which do have civil societies are already dealing with Somali violence spilling across their borders. The neighbors have suffered from Somali raids and general banditry for a long time. The mayhem was diminished during about a century of colonial rule In Somalia.

Once all the colonial powers were gone by 1960, the newly established Somali government began to come apart, a process that was complete by 1991 and no one has been able to get all the clans to submit to a new central government since. To make matters worse most of the educated Somalis fled in the 1990s and few have come back. Meanwhile public education has been absent in most of Somalia for two decades and the literacy rate is under 40 percent (and under 30 percent for women). Public health has been largely missing for two decades and life expectancy is about 52 years. Outside of Somaliland and Puntland its under 50 years.

The beleaguered neighbors will, as they have in past, respond to resumed Somali aggression with massive punitive operations that will leave lots of Somalis, mostly women and children, dead or destitute. The Ethiopians have long handled Somali raiders that way. It works for a generation or two, then another dose of the massacre treatment must be applied. Kenya is a different story as before the colonial period the Kenyan tribes were not as organized and well-armed as they are now as the Kenyan Army supported by a Kenyan state.

The foreign donor groups and foreign diplomats who understand how this works want to prop up the Somali government no matter what the cost because the alternative is so horrific. Meanwhile the most unconcerned and least cooperative group involved are Somali leaders and many of their followers. Somali isnt a hopeless mess, just a lot more difficult than most.

January 24, 2021: In the north (Hiran, a region 200 kilometers north of Mogadishu) Al Shabaab attacked a peacekeeper base, killing one peacekeeper and wounding another. Some equipment was damaged as the attackers were repulsed, taking their dead and wounded with them. The peacekeepers involved were from Djibouti, which has 3,000 troops in the Somalia peacekeeper force and operates in northern and central Somalia.

In the southeast, a cross the border in Kenya (Mandera county) Kenyan troops ambushed a group of al Shabaab gunmen, killing one and capturing another. The rest of the Islamic terrorists fled. Local officials claim that over half of Mandera county is threatened by al Shabaab violence. Kenyan government security experts consider these claims exaggerations but have sent more special operations troops to the area to go after any al Shabaab operating along the border.

January 23, 2021: In the southeast (Lower Shabelle) al Shabaab attacked peacekeepers in an area 90 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu, forcing peacekeepers to withdraw. Reinforced by more peacekeepers and local militia, al Shabaab gunmen were driven from the area. The fighting left at least three peacekeepers and six Islamic terrorists dead.

In Mogadishu a roadside bomb was used against a former member of parliament. The target was wounded and four soldiers were killed.

January 22, 2021: In the southwest (Gedo Region) al Shabaab fired several mortar shells at a base for Ethiopian peacekeepers, killing two of them. Ethiopian troops have served as peacekeepers for years providing security for this part of Jubbaland.

January 21, 2021: In the southeast (Lower Shabelle) the Ugandan contingent of peacekeepers carried out a major attack on al Shabaab members who were gathering for a meeting. With the assistance of armed helicopters the Ugandans claim 198 Islamic terrorists dead with no losses to peacekeepers or local civilians.

January 19, 2021: In Mogadishu an al Shabaab landmine killed four and wounded six. One of the dead was a senior commander in the security forces.

In the southeast, a cross the border in Kenya (Mandera county) al Shabaab blew up a cell phone tower about 200 kilometers from the Somali border. This was probably to persuade a cell phone company to pau al Shabaab for protection from more such attacks.

January 18, 2021: In the south (Jubaland) American UAVs carried out two airstrikes and killed three al Shabaab members. This was the first airstrike since American troops were withdrawn from Somalia.

January 17, 2021: In the southeast (Lower Shabelle) al Shabaab gunmen reoccupied Mashalay, which Ugandan peacekeepers had recently abandoned. The town lies astride the road that serves as a key supply route for peacekeeper forces in the region. Peacekeepers suddenly left several small bases guarding towns and villages. This was not a retreat but the concentration of Ugandan peacekeepers for a major offensive operation. Al Shabaab was apparently unaware of this and assumed they had the peacekeepers on the run and moved forces into several unprotected villages.

January 15, 2021: The United States completed moving most of its 700 troops out of Somalia to other parts of East Africa. The departing troops who will be missed the most are Special Forces operators training and advising their Somali counterparts. The American troops in Somalia also handled intelligence collection and monitoring things in general. This will continue from a major American special operation base in neighboring Djibouti, as will the use of American UAVs, based in Djibouti, to search for Islamic terrorists and carry out airstrikes when the opportunity presents itself.

Since early 2017, when Africom (U.S. Africa Command) increased its use of armed UAVs over Somalia, there have been over 160 UAV airstrikes that have killed nearly a thousand al Shabaab and ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) members. In 2020 there were fifty of these UAV airstrikes and 270 in Somalia in the last decade. For 2021 there have been four UAV airstrikes so far. Attacking Americans in Somalia who support those air operations has long been an al Shabaab goal, but the Islamic terrorists have had little success at that. Most of those attacks were against al Shabaab targets with a few directed at ISIL forces in the north. In 2019 there were 63 UAV attacks in Somalia for the entire year. The 2020 attacks have killed several senior leaders although most of the UAV attack missions are in support of Somali Army operations, especially in southern Somalia where the remaining al Shabaab strongholds are.

The United States told the Somali government and military that if Somalia can continue providing accurate information about al Shabaab and ISIL activities the U.S. can continue providing UAV and surveillance and airstrike support. The Somali Special Forces troops complain that without their American advisors there is no way to call in airstrikes by American UAVs or medical evacuation helicopters. Past experience has shown that too many Somalis are willing to take a large enough bribe to abuse the ability to call in airstrikes or medevac missions. This usually means calling in an airstrike against a political rival rather than Islamic terrorists. Medical evacuation helicopters can be misled and called into an ambush situation. This sort of things is another of the reasons why Somalia has been rated the most corrupt nation on the planet for decades.

January 13, 2021: In central Somalia (Bay region) at least one al Shabaab member was killed by a missile from an American UAV against an al Shabaab compound.

January 7, 2021: In the west (Bay Region), 160 kilometers west of Mogadishu an American UAV missile attack kill five Al Shabaab members including a notorious al Shabaab official in charge of procurement and logistics for the Islamic terror group. He was the primary target.

January 2, 2021: Outside Mogadishu an al Shabaab suicide car bomb was used against civilians involved with building a new 28-kilometer highway from Mogadishu to Afgooye, the third largest city in Somalia. The explosion killed five people, including three Somalis and two Turks and wounded 14. A Turkish construction firm has the contract to build the road, which is financed by Turkish aid. The new road is very popular with most Somalis. Al Shabaab sees it as an opportunity to extort money from the Turks. Al Shabaab demands were ignored so the Islamic terrorists are trying to force the Turks to pay. To make that threat clear, al Shabaab went public to take credit for this attack.

January 1, 2021: In the south west (Kuunyo-Barrow) 330 kilometers from of Mogadishu, an American air strike against an al Shabaab base, used several missiles to destroy six buildings and kill three Al Shabaab men.

December 28, 2020: In the south (Jubbaland) an al Shabaab landmine was triggered by a bus killing seven civilians.

December 27, 2020: In the south (Lamu County, across the border in Kenya) Kenyan forces attacked an al Shabaab camp, killing at least four Islamic terrorists and wounding many others, who were helped to escape as most of the Islamic terrorists in the camp, not expecting an attack, panicked and fled. Weapons, ammunition and personal gear was left behind. Al Shabaab frequently carries out attacks in Lamu country while operating from camps in the nearby Boni Forest, which has long been a refuge for outlaws because of the thinly populated woodlands are on both sides of the border. The Kenyan military is trying to improve its ability to find these camps before they provide a base for many attacks against local civilians and security forces.

December 25, 2020: In the southwest (Gedo Region) Somali troops carried out a surprise attack on a gathering of al Shabaab forces, killing seven of the Islamic terrorists and wounding over twenty.
Immigration New Zealand figures show there are just 38,954 foreign students in the country and education providers have little prospect of raising that figure this year.

Normally there are as many as 86,000 foreign students in New Zealand at any one time and as many as 120,000 will pass through the country over the course of a year.

The figures showed 13,601 of the students had study visas for universities but the director of Universities New Zealand, Chris Whelan, says the true figure is likely to be a lot lower.

"The figure will be higher than the numbers of students we're expecting to actually be studying through this year because it's going to include a number of students who are finishing up or graduating and heading home at some state over the next month or two," he says.

Chris says universities normally started the year with about 22,000 international students and this year they are expecting less than half that number.

"With almost none of the first-year intake, about 7000-8000 students, coming through we are going to see a massive drop in the number of second-year students this year and of course we're not seeing first-year students this year either," he says.

"Realistically it should probably be more like about may eight [thousand], nine or 10,000 students that are actually going to be continuing through this year."

Chris says most students who are part-way through their studies have remained in New Zealand and universities were hoping those who had completed Bachelor's degrees would choose to enrol in postgraduate programmes this year.

He says the fall in numbers would cause difficult financial decisions at universities.

The figures showed 8201 foreign students with study visas for schools.

The chairperson of the Schools International Education Business Association, Patrick Walsh, says his own school was starting the year with about two-thirds of its normal foreign enrolments.

Number of foreign students in-country with valid study visas by education provider

University 13,601

School 8201

Private tertiary 7136

Polytechnic 6662

Not recorded 3354

Total 38,954

Number of foreign students in-country with valid study visas by nationality (top 10)

China 11331

Hong Kong 781

India 8385

Japan 992

Malaysia 793

Philippines 1205

South Africa 812

South Korea 2297

Thailand 908

Vietnam 1593

"At John Paul College we would normally be starting at 55. We retained 30 for this year so that's quite a substation loss and if the borders don't open this year then it's likely we will have no international students by the end of the year and that situation is likely to be replicated up and down the country," he says.

Chris says some schools already had no international students.

"Talking to other principals, they have no international students this year at all, particularly those that were relying on the European market," he says.

"Schools that rely on the Asian market are in a much better position. Having said that, those students are likely to return to their country of origin by the end of the year."

Chris says without extra government funding schools will have to lay off staff.

The chairperson of English New Zealand, Darren Conway, says English language schools were now down to a fraction of their normal enrolments.

"My guess would be maybe 10 to 15 per cent of normal. So we may have around 1000 students across the country studying English, but that would be the high end of it," he says.

Darren says language students did not normally study for more than 12 months and schools' enrolments were steadily running down.

He says emergency government funding will help some schools survive until June, but they needed to know as soon as possible what the government was planning to do for the remainder of the year.

-RNZ/John Gerritsen
Where did she come from and where did she go? The woman departed New Zealand late last year and travelled through Spain and the Netherlands. While she was in the Netherlands she was in contact with family members who later tested positive for the virus. Loading She departed London, travelling via Singapore, and arrived in Auckland on December 30. The woman completed her two-week stint in managed isolation in Auckland and was tested twice  on January 2 and January 10. Both tests returned negative results. She was given the all clear and left the facility on January 13.

There were around 600 guests at the hotel at the same time. Around 13 people tested positive during that time, some with the more virulent strain. Once she was released into the community, the woman went on a trip around the southern parts of the Northland region on New Zealands North Island with her husband. A total of 30 locations, among them cafes, shops and tourist spots, between Auckland and Whangarei have been identified as linked to her movements - due to her diligent use of the NZ COVID Tracer app  between January 14 and January 22. She began developing mild symptoms  muscle aches  on January 15. Her symptoms worsened over time. Within days of returning home, her muscles started to ache, but she did not experience respiratory symptoms such as coughing or sneezing.

She was tested on January 22  around a week after her release from managed isolation  and began self-isolating at home. Her positive test result was returned on Saturday night. The government is issuing COVID Tracer app notifications to others who may have been in those locations. Anyone who was at a shared location is considered to have a low risk of exposure, however, the ministry asked these people to self-isolate, contact Healthline, and seek a test. If you have any symptoms, get a test promptly, a message from the ministry read. Fifteen close contacts have been identified. Two of them, the womans husband and her hairdresser, have since returned negative tests.

The woman did not attend mass gatherings and was taking all precautions. Serology blood testing is taking place to confirm whether the case is new or historical, however, the CT value from the initial test suggests that it is a new infection. Loading Where did she contract the virus? Genome sequencing performed on this case was an exact match with another case detected in the Pullman Hotel isolation facility.

The ministry has been able to confidently say the woman contracted the virus within the facility  after her day-12 test, which was negative, and before she was released. This rules out a possible extended incubation period. The transmission is believed to have occurred between January 9 and January 13, before another guest tested positive on day 3 of their stay. This person has since been classified as recovered and was due for release from quarantine but will stay for a little longer. The extended timeframe for their stay in quarantine hasnt been released. How she contracted the virus This is one of the biggest questions yet to be answered. The genome sequencing match suggests there was direct contact between the two, with no middle person carrying the infection. But exactly where and when that contact occurred is still being investigated.

There are three possibilities: She was in proximity to the case and inhaled infected droplets; she touched a shared, contaminated surface where infected droplets had landed; or infected microdroplets  particles too small to be affected by gravity  travelled through the buildings ventilation system. The ministry was working with the hotel to understand if ventilation transmission was a possibility, and CCTV footage is being reviewed. The South African strain The woman has been infected with the South African variant of the virus.
Despite surging numbers of COVID-19 infections across greater Houston, more than 40,000 students chose to go back to in-person classes this spring, slowly edging some districts closer to pre-pandemic enrollments at the beginning of the second semester of the 2020-21 school year.

Current Texas Education Agency guidelines require districts that offer remote instruction to give parents the choice of whether to send their students to campuses or have them learn at home every grading period.

Of 16 Houston-area districts that responded to a Houston Chronicle request for attendance data for the third grading period, all but Fort Bend and Alief ISDs reported more than half their students are back on campuses. Nine had more than two thirds of students back in their classrooms, including Dickinson ISD, with 93 percent of students back, and Friendswood ISD, with 90 percent.

Ten districts shared placement data for the first three grading periods, all showing that more parents opted to send their students back for in-person instruction each time they were given the choice.

In Houston ISD, 43 percent of students were learning in-person and 56 percent were learning virtually as of December.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 infections in greater Houston soon could surpass the spike seen here last summer. The Texas Medical Centers intensive care unit beds remain filled beyond its Phase I capacity, with 41 percent of all ICU patients being treated for the virus; more than 3,022 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Harris County on Thursday.

In schools, active case counts in January have been higher than at any point in 2020. There were 577 active COVID-19 cases in Houston ISD as of Friday, 89 in Dickinson ISD and 39 in Friendswood ISD. Across the 16 districts that responded to the Chronicles request for data, there were a combined 3,381 active cases logged on the districts COVID-19 dashboards on Friday.

Dr. Carlin Barnes, a Houston-based adolescent psychiatrist who has written about sending students back to school for Psychology Today magazine, said while the surge likely is leading some families to keep their kids away from schools, the distribution of vaccines may have given others more comfort that an end to the pandemic is in sight. At the same time, she said, parents must consider their childrens academic needs, as data has shown virtual learners have struggled academically much more than peers who returned to campuses.

A lot of parents, theyre worried about their own health as well as their kids, but at the same time their kids educational needs are not being met by the virtual learning model, Barnes said.

Parents decision

Scott Olivers decision to send his 11-year-old son, William, back to Glenn York Elementary in Alvin ISD was made easier by the younger Olivers struggles to stay on task at home. He decided to send his third grader, Lauren, back at the same time His eldest, 15-year-old Hailey, did not feel comfortable starting her freshman classes in-person at Shadow Creek High until this month.

All his kids have done better since returning, but his sons class has had to quarantine twice due to infections.

There isnt a right or wrong answer whether to learn virtual or in-person, Oliver said. But for my kids, going back was a good thing for them, even though were still having to deal with cases and things like that.

The shift back to in-person instruction is not as pronounced in districts that serve higher rates of students from lower-income households and students of color. Locally, Aldine, Alief, Sheldon and Spring ISDs tended to have more families opt to keep their students home during the third grading period than districts in more affluent and whiter neighborhoods.

Barnes said that is not surprising, considering lower-income families often live in multi-generational households, and CDC data shows Black and Hispanic people are 2.8 times more likely to die of the virus than white people. Additionally, Barnes said, Black and Hispanic families tend to have less access to healthcare and greater distrust of COVID-19 vaccines.

Others, including schools in Dickinson ISD, are almost as full as they were before the pandemic prompted all Texas schools to close last March.

About 94 percent of students are back at Calder Road Elementary, said Principal Sophia Acevedo, after starting the year last September with about half of the kids learning from home. She attributes the increase of on-campus students to a mix of parental fatigue, kids asking to come back and families feeling safer sending young students back to school.

All students are required to wear masks, wash their hands at regular times, use hand sanitizer between subjects, limit interactions between classes and stand farther apart when in lines. Even with those precautions, Acevedo said, it is hard to maintain social distancing with so many students in the halls. Administrators created extra lunch periods and blocked off tables in the cafeteria, the music room was moved to the science lab so there would be more space and ventilation, and students no longer gather on the carpet for story time.

We focus on what we can do, but we cant really social distance with so many back, Acevedo said. In class, we cant guarantee six feet, but we can make sure theyre wearing masks and handwashing.

Rising cases

Maria Rivera, who is co-leading the Harris County Health Departments school advisory group during the pandemic, said the advisory groups recommendation still is that school buildings remain closed until, among other things, the COVID-19 positivity rate for tests dips below at least 5 percent.

Because the Texas Education Agency has told districts they must offer five days a week of in-person instruction to receive state funding, Rivera said her team has told districts to focus on preventing kids from mingling with other classes, keeping things clean, keeping as much distance as possible and doing as much contact tracing as they can. Still, those measures may not prevent more infections.

As more kids join the classroom, weve seen more cases arise in the classroom setting, Rivera said. All these safety measures to decrease transmission  its just not possible when you have 30 kids in a classroom.

There currently are 14 students in Yadira Seshers third grade bilingual classroom at Calder Road Elementary, and only one student learning online. Twelve came back for in-person classes as soon as they could, including 9-year-old Isideo Lopez.

He said he missed his friends and, even though he is frustrated he has to stay farther away from his classmates, he is glad to see more come back each grading period. He figures they were struggling like he was.

I didnt like it at home, he said. My mom told me I was learning, but I get it a lot more here.

shelby.webb@chron.com
While the analyst noted that local political, geographical and economic contexts have constrained the development of wireline and wireless connections over the last two decades, and that local markets were currently dominated by state-backed entities, it said that times were changing.It observed that as mobile operators in the region are getting more and more data subscribers, they are developing additional services including video-on-demand and OTT pay-TV plans for mobile devices. In Kazakhstan, mobile OTT pay-TV was seen to be leading the growth of the pay-TV segment. Kcells OTT service, branded MobiTV, was launched at end 2016 and reached 850 000 paid subscribers at Q3 2020, more than 10% of its mobile subscriber base. Veon also launched a mobile OTT, BeeTV, in its operative markets in 2019 through a partnership with Russian streaming service leader Ivi . In Kyrgyzstan, mobile operator O! launched a similar offer in 2016, and Megacom launched MePlay last year.In addition, Dataxis noted in its research that the development of fixed wireline broadband connections is enabling operators to develop IPTV services. It pointed out that in Uzbekistan, where the broadband market is highly fragmented between several tens of internet provider services, most operators are offering interactive TV services through broadband connection for 10 to 30% of monthly internet subscription fees. To keep up with this increasing competition, legacy cable operators also started offering broadband and IPTV services for the last four years, like Spectr-IT, Stark-TV, Freelink or Avianet. In Kazakhstan, IPTV already reaches a tenth of TV households.TV networks in the area are dominated by state-owned or state-backed companies whose owners are often related to the administrations officials. However, new opportunities were found to be emerging for broadcasters. In Uzbekistan for example, private networks were virtually non-existent until 2016 but since then several local private channels now broadcast on free TV bouquets. Sevimli TV, Zor TV and Milliy TV for example were launched between 2016 and mid 2017. TV viewing ratings showed that those networks were more popular in 2019 than national state-owned TV channels. Between 2016 and 2019, Uzbek broadcasters TV advertising revenues have more than doubled in local currency.
Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken has accused Boris Johnson of "damaging the Union" amid surging calls for a border poll.

Mr Aiken was speaking after Gordon Brown called on the Prime Minister to take action and save the UK from becoming a "failed state".

TUV leader Jim Allister echoed Mr Aiken's comments, saying the UK Government had made a "huge mistake" with the Northern Ireland Protocol and urged them to reverse it. Former PM Mr Brown was speaking after a Sunday Times poll found that the majority of people in Northern Ireland want a border poll within five years.

However, it also found that a majority of 47% would want to stay in the UK, with 42% in favour of a united Ireland and 11% undecided. He urged Mr Johnson to consider ideas such as replacing the House of Lords with a "senate of the regions" and to review how the UK is governed. Mr Aiken said he agreed with Mr Brown that there was a need to give power to the UK's regions and have them working together on the things that matter.

"If you consider the strands that hold the UK together, the NHS, the culture, the BBC, our armed forces, our education system, our universities, our system of finance and banking, we are much stronger together than split into smaller components part," the South Antrim MLA said. "That's something we should be building on, that should be the way ahead. I think Northern Ireland should be a shared home place for all of us within the context of the UK."

"When you look at Manchester or London, they are shared homeplaces between hundreds of identities. That's something to be proud of and something the UK should be aspiring to. "The one common denominator that is damaging the Union at the moment is Boris Johnson." He added: "I've got a lot of faith in the UK. I think it's a great place to live, but there's quite a few problems that need ironed out and that's what we should be working for."

Mr Allister said the Labour Government Mr Brown served in was responsible for many of the problems being experienced.

"Their big reform in encouraging devolution is the seed of much of the trouble. I think that Tony Blair and his surge towards devolution made a strategic decision in terms of the unity of the UK," the North Antrim MLA said.

Mr Allister also took aim at Mr Johnson's Government. "They needed to demonstrate we were leaving the EU as we joined, as one nation, and they failed," the former MEP said.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Senate president pro tempore, is expected to preside over former President Donald J. Trumps impeachment trial when it formally begins on Tuesday, assuming a role filled last year by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., aides and other officials said on Monday.

The Constitution states that the chief justice of the United States presides over any impeachment trial of the president or vice president. But it does not explicitly give guidance on who should oversee the proceeding for others, including former presidents, and it appeared that Chief Justice Roberts was uninterested in reprising a time consuming role that would insert him and the Supreme Court directly into the fractious political fight over Mr. Trump.

Mr. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, recently reclaimed the mantle of president pro tempore  the position reserved for the longest-serving member of the majority party  when Democrats took control of the Senate. Mr. Leahy, 80, has been in office since 1974.

The role was largely ceremonial in the first impeachment trial of Mr. Trump a year ago. But as the presiding officer, Mr. Leahy could issue rulings on key questions around the admissibility of evidence and whether a trial of a former president is even allowed under the Constitution. (Mr. Leahy is also still expected to have a vote in the trial, like other senators.)
Lehigh Valley-area colleges and universities are starting a new semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like the fall, plans to handle the coronavirus in the Spring 2021 term vary widely from school to school. Some have already begun. Others wont until February. At least a few are starting the semester virtually for a few weeks before reopening campus.

Those holding classes in-person are requiring returning students be tested upon arrival to campus or earlier. One school is even sending tests to students before the semester begins.

All are recommitting to safe practices, not just for students and faculty but for their surrounding communities.

During the past several months and especially during this recent spike in COVID-19 cases, the University has learned a lot about how this virus was being contracted by the campus community; its almost never in the classroom or from on-campus organized events, but instead from less controlled casual activities, East Stroudsburg University interim President Kenneth Long said in a statement last month on the schools website. A successful return to ESU will require all of us to be committed to doing our part in order to maintain the safety of the entire campus community, both on and off-campus.

(Cant see the map? Click here.)

Ahead of the start of DeSales Universitys next semester, college Executive Vice President Gerard Joyce said in a Jan. 15 update that masks and social distancing will be enforced on the Upper Saucon Township campus, where about 100 students were under self-quarantine near the end of last semester.

Unfortunately, not all members of the DeSales University community followed similar guidelines in the fall, Joyce wrote. As a campus community, we must all do our part to keep the other members of our community safe.

Here are the schools plans for the Spring 2021 semester at schools in and around the Lehigh Valley, gleaned from the latest updates on their websites. Most schools also have an online dashboard to track case counts, though they vary in detail  that data is offered here where available, with links to the dashboards themselves.

Dont miss the latest updates on COVID-19 in the Lehigh Valley. Sign up with your email here:



Cedar Crest College

The first two weeks of the spring semester are online-only. When students returned to the Allentown campus over the weekend, they were to be screened for COVID-19 with expectations that they quarantine until results are received. Isolation housing will be provided for any who test positive. Going forward, the college plans to randomly test 10% of its student population each week.

The college was open in the fall with a mix of in-person and virtual instruction. Its latest COVID-19 update says there are six active cases on campus.

Centenary University

In a plan announced mid-semester last fall, the university in Hackettstown again gave students the choice to commit to online or in-person classes, which began Jan. 18 in an online-only format for the first week. There is no spring break.

DeSales University

Students will be tested for COVID-19 in the days leading up to the semesters start Feb. 1. Because of limited space to isolated, students from Pennsylvania or nearby states who test positive will be sent home. DeSales plans to use the same isolation policies in the last two weeks of the semester, as well.

The schools online dashboard shows six positive cases in the last two weeks, all off campus.

East Stroudsburg University

Under a plan announced in December, ESU will have about one-third of its student body returning to campus for the spring semester with online courses for the rest. Returning students will have to quarantine until they test negative for COVID-19 and will be subject to expanded testing and health checks as the semester continues.

This limited on-campus presence in the spring is intended to help the university gauge its current plan for a full return in Fall 2021.

The school has had one confirmed case among students in the last two weeks, according to its online dashboard.

Kutztown University

Classes officially resumed Jan. 19 but in an online-only format for the first two weeks of the semester. Residence and dining halls will reopen Jan. 29 with in-person classes resuming Feb. 1.

Returning students will be required to get a COVID-19 test and must return home if positive. The university has replaced the traditional weeklong spring break with wellness days scheduled throughout the semester.

The schools dashboard shows 15 active cases among students and staff.

Lafayette College

The Easton schools spring plan, released last fall, has students choosing to return to campus or, for a 10% tuition discount, continuing remote classes. Testing and contact tracing will be required for those on campus, and should not expect all the activities and services of a typical semester. Spring classes begin Feb. 8.

The most recent data on Lafayettes COVID-19 dashboard show 59 cumulative cases among students and staff since the start of the fall semester. As of Jan. 20, there were 42 students and employees in quarantine.

Lehigh Carbon Community College

Classes began Jan. 15. Most are being offered virtually.

The North Whitehall Township schools dashboard shows 101 total cases among students and staff since June, with two students testing positive so far this month.

Lehigh University

The semester begins Feb. 1 in Bethlehem, but courses will be fully remote for the first week as arriving students fulfill the states recommended quarantine period. COVID-19 tests are required before and at arrival. Building access will be limited in the first week, and the university will continue restrictions on gatherings, visitors and travel.

Lehighs COVID-19 dashboard, as of Friday, showed 15 active cases among students, both on- and off-campus, of 22 total since Jan. 1. The university reported 658 total cases in the fall semester.

Moravian College

Students returning to the Bethlehem campus over the weekend were required to sign up for on-site COVID-19 tests. The college will randomly test 5% of its student population each week through the semester. It also plans to hold two graduation ceremonies on the same day in May, one each for the Classes of 2020 and 21.

Moravians COVID-19 dashboard as of Friday showed four active cases, two each among residential students and employees. There were 66 total cases in the fall semester, which ended with a campuswide two-week quarantine before Thanksgiving.

Muhlenberg College

The semester begins Feb. 8. Students can decide if they want to return to the Allentown campus or study virtually. For those who plan to return, the college is sending COVID-19 test kits to be used in supervised video calls shortly before move-in -- a negative test is required to access the campus. The college is discouraging student groups from holding in-person meetings.

The college had 24 positive cases in the fall, according to its online dashboard.

Northampton Community College

The Bethlehem Township campus will be open when the new semester begins today. Students, faculty and staff are told to complete an online health-check form before returning. Classes will be offered in a mix of formats, both in-person and virtual. Residence halls will be at a reduced capacity. Spring break has been shortened to two days.

The NCC COVID-19 dashboard shows seven active cases among 18 total positives in the lead-up to the spring semester. There were 77 positives reported in the fall.

Penn State Lehigh Valley

Penn State started its semester Jan. 19 with a three-week, virtual-only format. All campuses are scheduled to reopen Feb. 15. COVID-19 tests are required for returning students.

Warren County Community College

Spring classes begin Feb. 1, but the Washington Township campus itself remains closed except for limited in-person and hybrid classes and essential functions.

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Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 09:19:06|Editor: huaxia

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ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia registered 469 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 133,767, said the country's Ministry of Health on Sunday.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the country has reached 2,066 as of Sunday evening, after three new deaths were reported, the ministry said.

It said 686 more recoveries were logged during the past 24 hours, taking the national count to 119,416.

Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, is one of the countries the hardest hit by COVID-19 in Africa, after South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.

The Ethiopian government has been urging the public to implement COVID-19 precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus. Enditem
Abu Dhabi: Hours after Israel opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi, The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday granted approval to the establishment of an embassy in Tel Aviv in Israel.

A Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took the decision to set up the embassy in the city of Tel Aviv. The UAE government confirmed the decision on Twitter saying, "The government approves the creation of the embassy of the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv, in the state of Israel." The development has come nearly four months after the UAE, along with Bahrain, signed a US-brokered deal to normalise relations with Israel. Some experts suggest the opening of embassies in both the UAE and Israel has come in view of shared fears for Iran.

Israel and the UAE have already signed treaties on direct flights and visa-free travel, along with accords on investment protection, science and technology. They have also signed bilateral agreements in various sectors, including tourism, security, telecommunications and healthcare. The establishment of missions is expected to further expand ties between the two governments, their financial bodies, private sectors, universities, the media and more.

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A mythical, ape-like creature that has captured the imagination of adventurers for decades has now become the target of a state lawmaker in Oklahoma.

A Republican House member has introduced a bill that would create a Bigfoot hunting season. Rep. Justin Humphreys district includes the heavily forested Ouachita Mountains in southeast Oklahoma, where a Bigfoot festival is held each year near the Arkansas border. He says issuing a state hunting license and tag could help boost tourism.

Establishing an actual hunting season and issuing licenses for people who want to hunt Bigfoot will just draw more people to our already beautiful part of the state, Humphrey said in a statement.

Humphrey says his bill would only allow trapping and that he also hopes to secure $25,000 to be offered as a bounty.

Micah Holmes, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, which oversees hunting in Oklahoma, told television station KOCO that the agency uses science-driven research and doesnt recognize Bigfoot.


Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled a discussion paper that proposes tighter regulations for the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). NBFCs are financial intermediaries that borrow money either from banks or market to lend to certain sectors at a higher rate.

The RBI paper, a likely template to final guidelines, lays out a well-defined four-layer structure to govern non-banks. There is a base layer, a middle layer, an upper layer and, finally, a top layer.

To put it simply, these layers bracket NBFCs according to their asset size and systemic interconnectedness. The bigger ones are grouped in the upper layer while stringent regulations will apply to the middle layer as well. The top layer is reserved for companies that are perceived to carry elevated risks akin to the banks under the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework.

If these proposals are accepted as regulations, the top 25-30 NBFCs will have to gradually embrace bank-like regulations. That will minimise the benefit of lighter regulation they have enjoyed so far. NBFCs in the upper layer will have to comply with common equity Tier 1 capital regulations like commercial banks. They need to maintain a 9 percent CET1 ratio. That apart, these NBFCs will have to comply with large exposure framework and listing regulations.

The RBI discussion paper has also proposed to increase the minimum capital norms to Rs 20 crore from Rs 2 crore for NBFCs. Also, the threshold to identify systemically important NBFCs has been raised to Rs 1,000 crore from Rs 500 crore. The discussion paper clearly lays out an option that NBFCs that dont want to be grouped into the upper layers can scale down their operations to avoid tighter regulations.

The key question now is: What does the RBI aim to do with these proposals?

Clearly, the trigger for the new scale-based approach for NBFCs is to disincentivise non-banks from growing too big after the IL&FS and DHFL episodes. The regulator doesnt want a parallel set of financial institutions growing in the financial system at par with the size of banks but enjoying lighter regulation. Also, the RBI wants to bring down the number of NBFCs in the banking system.

There are currently over 9,000 NBFCs operating across different categories. It is important to remember that earlier an RBI working group had suggested allowing larger NBFCs to convert to banks.

At a broader level, the message is clear to NBFCseither stay below a threshold and enjoy less tight regulation or convert to banks and comply with the same set of regulations to grow without an upper boundary.

This isnt the first time the RBI is tightening rules for NBFCs. In the past, a report of the Usha Thorat committee had come up with recommendations for tighter rules for NBFCs that would minimise the arbitrage between banks and NBFCs.

The RBI subsequently continued with a lighter touch on NBFC rules without tightening rules further to push more credit in housing and other productive sectors. But, the developments in 2018 where two large NBFCs collapsed triggering a liquidity shock in the banking system changed the scenario.

What is critical note is that while on the one hand, the RBI is tightening rules for NBFCs, on the other, it is not giving any incentives to them. In terms of recovery and taxation, NBFCs continue to have disadvantages vis-a-vis banks despite the constant tightening of rules.

For instance, under the current rules, a minimum ticket size of Rs 50 lakh for loans is required for an NBFC to become eligible to be recovered by another under the SARFAESI Act. But, the NPA classification cycle is the same for both banks and big NBFCs90 days of nonpayment.

Another core question to ask is: How does the RBI want to position NBFCs in the financial system? With more number of bank permits being issued, perhaps the central bank wants to gradually reduce the number of NBFCs to the minimum to eliminate too small NBFCs with weak capital base, reduce the number of mid-sized and large NBFCs to a few to cut the systemic risks (and encourage them to become banks).

The requirement for existing NBFCs to increase the Net Owned Funds (NOF) to Rs 20 crore from Rs 2 crore within five years itself will eliminate a large number of smaller NBFCs forcing them to surrender their licenses.

In the near future, we may see a far lower number of NBFCs operating in the industry. Some of the bigger ones may convert to banks.

(Banking Central is a weekly column that keeps a close watch and connects the dots about the sector's most important events for readers.)
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President Joe Biden's move into the White House is now officially completed, after his two much-loved dogs made their official arrival at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - and quickly made their presence known by barking outside the Oval Office while he finished signing an executive order.

The 78-year-old and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, shared images of their pooches, Champ and Major, settling in at the White House on Monday morning - while revealing in a statement that the German Shepherds have already made themselves right at home.

According to a White House spokesperson, Champ - who was purchased from a breeder in Pennsylvania in 2008 while Biden was serving as Vice President - has been spending most of his time in his bed in front of the fire, while Major - the first-ever rescue dog to live at the presidential residence - has been doing laps around the South Lawn.

Home sweet home: Joe and Jill Biden's dogs officially took up residence in the White House on Sunday, with the first couple sharing images of their German Shepherds making 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue their own on Monday morning

It's a dog's life! President Biden and his wife purchased Champ (pictured with the First Lady) from a Pennsylvania breeder in 2008, shortly after Barack Obama won the election

Strutting their stuff: Official White House photos showed Jill strolling into the White House with Champ by her side

Super star: Adopted pup Major (pictured right as a puppy) is making history as the first rescue dog to live in the White House, less than three years after the Bidens fostered him from the Delaware Humane Association

The two German Shepherds certainly seemed to feel right at home when they were heard barking outside of Biden's Oval Office window on Monday morning, just as he finished signing an executive order to overturn the military's transgender ban - a sweet moment that was caught on camera as the media was cleared out of the room.

A C-Span clip shared on Twitter featured the less-than-dulcet tones of the two Biden pups barking in the background while the President put down his pen, and an aide escorted the White House press corps outside.

Twitter users were quick to joke about the 'chatty' canines, with one person suggesting that the dogs were trying to tell the media that it was 'time to go'.

Another added: 'A happy, lovely, and normal sound! So glad dogs are back in the peoples house!'

First dogs Champ and Major are reviving a tradition that goes back to George Washington - the first President to have a dog - after four years of a dog-free White House under the leadership of former President Donald Trump, who was the first US leader in decades not to have a canine companion.

Champ, who was named by Biden's granddaughters, has already enjoyed eight years of D.C. life, having lived with Joe and Jill at the vice presidential residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory during Obama's presidency.

However, Major was rescued by the family from the Humane Society in Delaware in 2018, and this will be his first time living in the nation's capital.

The adopted German Shepherd is making history as the first-ever rescue dog to take up residence in the White House, less than three years after the Bidens fostered him from the Delaware Humane Association.

Who let the dogs out? The two dogs could be heard barking outside the Oval Office on Monday morning, just as President Biden finished signing an executive order to overturn Donald Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military

According to the DHA, Major was 'from a litter of German Shepherd pups that were surrendered and not doing well at all', with the organization celebrating the news of Major's adoption in a Facebook post: 'Not only did Major find his forever home, but he got adopted by Vice President Joe Biden & Dr. Jill Biden!

'The Bidens have gotten to know Major while fostering him and are now ready to make the adoption official. Best of luck and thank you for being one of our Friends for life!'

Major's adoption came ten years after the Bidens faced backlash from animal rights organizations for choosing to purchase their first dog from a breeder instead of rescuing an orphaned canine.

During Biden's presidential campaign, Champ and Major skyrocketed to social media stardom, thanks to Joe and Jill's regular posts about their beloved pups.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Joe regularly shared images and videos of his dogs, including a clip of Major licking his face, which was posted in October alongside the caption: 'No ruff days on the trail when I have some Major motivation.'

On Christmas Eve, President Biden shared a sweet festive video featuring Champ and Major celebrating the holiday season, with the former resting quietly under the tree, while the latter ran riot around the house.

'No matter how you celebrate, Merry Christmas,' the caption read.

Promises: Biden brought his dogs into his official campaign when he urged supporters to help him 'bring dogs back to the White House' in a tweet posted days before the election

Family: Champ and Major have been regular features on the social media accounts of Joe (seen right adopting Major from the DHA) and Jill (who is pictured left cuddling the dogs at home)

The dogs also played a small role in his official campaign; during the presidential race, the 78-year-old urged his supporters to help him 'bring dogs back to the White House', while sharing an image of himself posing with Champ.

Recently, the Delaware Humane Association shared a sweet photo of Major as a tiny puppy, sparking an outpouring of excitement from Instagram followers who couldn't help but remark on how 'cute' he was.

Champ and Major Biden have now had their first official photo shoot with White House photographer Adam Schultz, who captured the dogs running around the South Lawn with Jill, 69, who is seen crouching down to cuddle Champ in one image, while another shows Major gleefully running around on the grass.

A third photo shows Jill walking inside with two aides behind her - and faithful Champ close by her side.

The First Lady celebrated her pets' White House arrival on Instagram on Monday morning, when she posted three of the photos from their shoot, and wrote: 'Champ and Major have joined us in the White House,' before adding a two-heart emoji and some pawprints.

Champ and Major's arrival at the White House marks the return of an unofficial presidential pet tradition, and comes four years after the historic building last served as home to a first family pup: Barack and Michelle Obama's pets, Portuguese water dogs Bo and Sunny.

His predecessor George W. Bush had a Scottish terrier, called Barney, and Bill Clinton had a chocolate Labrador retriever named Buddy.

New friend? In late November, the first couple (pictured with Champ) revealed that they are also planning to get a cat

Fluffy friends: Joe and Jill are joining a long line of first families who have had pets in the House, from the Obamas who had two dogs, Sunny and Bo (left), to the Bushes, who had a Scottish terrier, called Barney, and a cat, India 'Willie' Bush (right)

The Bidens are also understood to be planning an expansion of their fluffy brood with the addition of a cat in the near future.

CBS Sunday Morning reported in late November that the first couple were hoping to find a feline pal for their two dogs, although they are not yet thought to have located the perfect pet just yet.

'President-elect @JoeBiden and his wife @DrBiden wont just be bringing their German Shepherds, Major and Champ to the White House. The Bidens tell us exclusively that soon theyll be joined by a cat. #sundaypets,' the news show posted on Twitter.

On Sunday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked by a Twitter follower for 'first feline updates', and she revealed in a Q&A video that she is just as curious about the Bidens' plans to get a cat as their supporters.

'I'm also wondering about the cat because the cat is going to dominate the internet whenever the cat is announced and wherever that cat is found,' she said.

Although cats are not quite as popular a presidential pet as dogs, Joe and Jill will by no means be the only first couple to be joined by a feline in the White House.

Abraham Lincoln's cat Tabby was the first cat to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, while Gerald Ford also had a cat named Shan, although it technically belonged to his daughter.

Then Jimmy Carter had Misty Malarky Ying Yang, Bill Clinton had Socks, and George W. Bush had India 'Willie' Bush.

Getting the itch to just get away from your home and head out on the next adventure? As American travelers are scouring websites in search of their next travel experience for 2021, there's a unique getaway option right here in Houston that's recently revamped its amenities and design direction.

Only five minutes from Houston's Galleria-Uptown area, newly renovated Grand Tuscany Hotel announced that it's now a part of the WorldHotels Distinctive Collection after quietly launching last year. Early last year, Grand Tuscany Hotel rolled out initial renovations, but operations were soon derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

GET OFF THE GRID: Where Americans want to travel in 2021

"We took a low-profile at that time, because everything was shut down," Grand Tuscany Managing Director Syed Hasan told Chron. "What happened it's a great marriage between us and WorldHotels. It fits the concept of everything WorldHotels believes in. It was a win-win for us."

The upscale hotel currently features 280 guest rooms, which blend modern design and indulgent amenities. The big draw for Texas guests is the hotel's island oasis, which includes a 350-foot lazy river, poolside cabanas and a resort-style pool.

Grand Tuscany Hotel

"The entire structure of the hotel was redone completely," Hasan said. "We've basically added in the courtyarda lazy river, the island oasis, the private cabanas, and a huge greeting space. We've also created some unique designer suites featuring Versace, Gucci and Louis Vuitton furniture."

Hasan said the hotel also designed private home theater suites.

"For staycations, this is an ideal spot. If you want to get away from home and you want a resort atmosphere, this is it," Hasan said.

Grand Tuscany Hotel

If you're a Houston foodie in search of unique ambience, the hotel features four different outlets of fine dining, including the Brasserie Restaurant, the Barista Cafe, Audrey Wine Room and private-dining option Audrey II.

"In fact, Audrey Hepburn is the theme of the fine dining," Hasan said. "It's a facility that really attracts a lot of people, artists."

Hasan added that the hotel is a perfect spot for families.

"It's amazing for families, for leisure. They love to spend time by the pool," Hasan said. "They can spend all of the time by the pool, and then at night, you can have your own private home theater where you can watch movies."

A labor union representing state workers has filed a complaint with the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration, arguing that a lack of a mask mandate at the Iowa Capitol threatens the safety of everyone who enters the building.

Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO President Charles Wishman said in a letter sent to Republican leaders of the House and Senate that their refusal to enact or enforce a mandatory mask policy shows a lack of concern about the coronavirus pandemic that is a blatant avoidance of the seriousness of this pandemic and has accelerated the spreading of it.

The union and representatives from six other Iowa labor unions filed a complaint with Iowa OSHA claiming the legislative leaders have a duty to provide a workplace that is free from hazards that could cause death or physical harm.

Iowa operates a federally approved occupational safety program that follows federal OSHA standards so such workplace complaints must begin with the state agency, which was criticized early in the pandemic for slow response to complaints from workers in meatpacking plants.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver have not required masks to be worn and some GOP members do not wear them. Democrats are largely staying out of the building for caucus meetings and wear face coverings when in the building for votes.

The unions also complained that the Iowa House is not allowing public input via electronic remote means, which they said strips immune-compromised Iowans and those reluctant to expose themselves to the virus from public input.

The Senate allows testimony in committee meetings via an online system.

Whitver and Grassley said theyve not had a chance to read the union complaint or letter.

Grassley said he believes House members and others are properly distancing or wearing a mask.

I think we have were taking the precautions that we need to take, he said.

He said a mask mandate isnt enforceable because the only recourse for him might be to have the Iowa State Patrol remove a lawmaker or member of the public if they refused and Im not to the point where I feel comfortable going there.

The Iowa House notified lawmakers on Jan. 15 of a positive coronavirus case.

Gov. Kim Reynolds requires masks for people in public spaces where social distancing isnt possible, but her mandate doesnt apply to the Capitol, which is under the authority of the legislative branch.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Workers' Compensation Iowa
Kourtney Kardashian may not be single these days, after all. The eldest Kar-Jenner sister spent her weekend relaxing by the pool at her mom's Palm Springs home, but she wasn't alone.

Eagle-eyed fans seemed to have noticed that she and former Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker, posted the same snaps on Instagram at the same place and simultaneously.

E! News confirmed that they were indeed together at Kris Jenner's home at the time, but neither of them posted any pictures with each other.

However, a People magazine source confirmed that after being friends for years, Kourtney and her new boyfriend have been "dating for about a month or two" already.

The insider further revealed that "Travis has liked her for a while."

Kourtney Kardashian's Boyfriend?

Not only have they been living in the same area and hanging out, but their relationship has obviously changed as per their recent social media activities.

Barker has been spotted commented on many of the posts of the "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star, with the Rockstar leaving a rose emoji under a picture of the mom-of-three posing for a mirror selfie.

When Kourtney modeled as she walked into a sea for a swim just before sunset, Travis once again commented a mermaid emoji on her Instagram post.

In a separate report by Just Jared, Kourtney's kids and Travis' kids have also been hanging out together.

Kourtney is a mom to Mason, 11, Penelope, 8, and Reign, 6, with her ex Scott Disick. Meanwhile, Travis shares Landon, 17, and Alabama, 15, with her ex-wife Shanna Moakler.

Kourteny Kardashian and Travis Barker Romance Rumors

Though neither one of them commented on these dating rumors, this wasn't the first time Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker have been romantically linked.

In 2019, the "I Miss You" hitmaker trashed romance rumors in the past, telling People magazine that the Poosh Lifestyle creator is "like a dear friend. That's it."

At the time, he revealed that he has a deep affection for Kourtney and the entire Kar-Jenner clan, but their relationship was strictly platonic.

Travis further said, "I mean, I love her to death. I love her family to death. But yeah, just friends."

In 2015, he also spoke to Us Weekly about his friendship with Kourtney's older sister, Kim Kardashian.

He explained that while in Amsterdam, he was seeing Paris Hilton and met the KKW Beauty mogul who "was Paris' assistant" at the time.

Travis told the outlet, "She got all of Paris' belongings together wherever we traveled."

But the dad-of-two also mentioned how he gets instantly attracted to women who are brunette.

He spoke of Kim, "How could you not stare at Kim? Kim was eye candy. I was in no way disrespectful to Paris, but I couldn't keep my eyes off Kim!"

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles

Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti paid tribute to his friend Audrey Hepburn on the 28th anniversary of her death.

Giammetti, 82, the business partner and former lover of Valentino Garavani, with whom he co-founded the Italian fashion house, shared a series of personal snaps on Instagram over the weekend.

The photographs show Giammetti and a typically elegant Hepburn chatting on the sofa during a quiet evening in and the British actress at Valentino's side during the Arts Against AIDS charity gala in 1991.

Behind the scenes: Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti paid tribute to his friend Audrey Hepburn on the 28th anniversary of her death. Giammetti, 82, shared personal snaps including this one of he and a typically chic Hepburn chatting on the sofa during a quiet night in

Tribute: Giancarlo marked the occasion with this note remembering Hepburn's generosity

The images were shared with the caption: 'Dear Audrey already 29 years that you left us .. but you memories are always with us as your art, your smiles and your generosity #audreyhepburn.'

Hepburn, who died of colon cancer in 1993, was a friend of Valentino and Giammetti and wore designs by the Italian house both on and off screen, including in the 1963 film Charade.

However the actress was most closely associated with French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy.

Despite his low profile, Mr Giammetti has managed to surround himself with a dazzling social circle that any celebrity would envy. Close friends include Gwyneth Paltrow, Claudia Schiffer and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece.

Friends: Giammetti shared this photo of Valentino and Hepburn at a 1991 AIDS charity dinner

Inspiration: Valentino dressed Hepburn both on and off the screen, including in 1963 film Charade. However the actress is best known for her association with designer Givenchy

In November last year the businessman shared unseen photographs of Princess Diana on board the Valentino T.M.Blue One yacht in September 1990, two years before her separation from Prince Charles.

The photos, which show the suntanned princess posing with Mr Valentino and Kyril, Prince of Preslav, quickly swept the internet and were met with delight by royal followers desperate for any glimpse into the life of the late princess.

Giammetti and Valentino founded the Valentino label in 1960 and sold the brand in 1998 for $300million. Valentino designed his last collection in 2008.

Throwback: In November the businessman shared unseen photographs of Princess Diana on board the Valentino T.M.Blue One yacht in September 1990, two years before her separation from Prince Charles. Pictured, Diana with Valentino and Kyril, Prince of Preslav

The pair had a 12-year romantic relationship but that transitioned into one of 'fraternal love' several decades ago.

'It's a relationship with nothing sexual in it,' Giammetti said in a 2004 interview. 'Yet a great love remains, ancient, surviving.'

The pair have often said the key to their enduring relationship is having space from each other.

by Mathias Hariyadi

The man, along with his wife, challenged the school's regulation on dress codes for female students. The director general of education department will give an official reprimand to the school for violating the norms, that "religious symbols" should not be imposed in school.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The parent of a non-Muslim pupil has rejected the discriminatory regulation of the Padang school in Indonesia which wants to impose the hijab on all female students.

There are two predominantly Muslim provinces in the country that have rigorously applied Islamic regulations to their local residents. While Aceh Province became the nation's first province to enforce sharia law, West Sumatra province has never mentioned sharia law as a daily "baseline" for residents' everyday lives. But certainly, in dozens of districts of the province a feeling of intolerance has repeatedly emerged for which non-Muslim residents have suffered acts of intolerance in forms of persecution, bullying or even - the most recent incident - have been forced to respect local regulations mostly inspired by the Muslim "way of life".

This is what happened to a non-Muslim local high school student identified as Jeni Cahyani Hia, of Chinese descent, in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province. Days ago her father sent a strong worded message to her daughter's school - the SMKN 2 Padang - stating that as a parent he strongly rejected the school regulations that all female students must wear hijabs. In turn, Ms. Hia steadfastly refused to accept the school's regulations, stating that she and her daughter are not Muslims and therefore her daughter Jenny should not wear hijab as required by the school.

Her mother publicly posted her strong rejection on social media, which brought this issue to national attention to such an extent that both Padang and Jakarta school office branches said they would soon be addressing this issue.

Ms. Hia's recorded video message on social media got responses from at least 3,600 accounts, shares from at least 3,400 accounts, and received 5,500 comments from various people.

The comments have generally expressed great concern that the educational institution should not impose discriminatory acts on a student from a different religious background and from a minority group.

Notice of reprimand

Wikan Sakarinto, director general of vocational education, said Jakarta will give the school an official reprimand for violating the school regulations, that "religious symbols" should not be implemented in school. "The regulation on the student uniform has been officially issued by the Ministry of Education and National Culture," Sakarinto said in a press release released today, referring to Ministerial Regulation no. 45 / Year 2014 which states that a school uniform must not follow certain religious habits. The school is also not authorized to design clothes as a uniform.

Indonesian education minister Nadiem Makarim, a devout Muslim, condemned the Padang incident as an intolerant act on the part of the state school. He said: This is a serious offense (of the spirit) of the Pancasila, an intolerant act that denies our spirit of pluralism. This means that it is not only an offense to the education regulation, but it also violates the spirit of our national philosophy: Pancasila. "He added that such acts of intolerance clearly constitute a serious violation of Law No. 39/1999 on human rights.

A few days earlier, Adib Alfikri, head of Padang's Education Brach, had said that his office would look into such discriminatory regulation very soon, but many accused him of late reaction.

On Friday, Rusmadi, principal of the SMKN2 school, based in Padang, publicly expressed his request for forgiveness for the incident. "We are very sorry - she said - for a hostile situation caused by our staff".

The public condemned this incident as a serious accident caused by the then mayor of Padang, for which the school is supposed to implement the so-called "local genius" - which means Islamic clothing.

Tata Steel Ltds plan to sell its Netherlands operations to Swedish steelmaker SSAB AB has run into a hurdle with two large SSAB shareholders expressing reservations about the deal, two people aware of the discussions said.

SSAB has told Tata Steel that it may not be able to close the deal within the six-month internal deadline agreed to in November, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity, adding the deal is not off the table yet. The development was first reported by Swedish business daily Dagens Industri last week.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

There are several issues that could potentially stall the deal," one of the two people cited above said. This includes concerns around higher carbon footprint for the Swedish steelmaker, which will come with the acquisition, and this is something a section of SSABs shareholders are not comfortable with as things stand."

In November, Tata Steel said it had begun talks with SSAB Sweden to sell its profitable division in the Netherlands where its IJmuiden plant has about 7.5 million tonnes of annual steel-making capacity.

The Dagens Industri report said two of SSABs largest shareholdersmining company LKAB and asset manager Industrivardenwere sceptical about the deal. The two investors together own 20.9% of SSAB, according to Dagens Industri.

Responding to a query, a Tata Steel spokesperson said, Tata Steel confirms that discussions with SSAB are currently ongoing. We will disclose any further update only when it is appropriate to do so."

We have no comments around this at the moment and do not comment on any speculations in the media. When we have further information, we will communicate that promptly," an SSAB spokesperson said in an email response.

Another challenge is securing regulatory clearances from the European Commission, (EC) whose chief concern is to prevent price cartelization.

In Europe, the steel sector concentration is already on the higher side, with just about half the market with ArcelorMittal. So, the EC will be particularly concerned about a single producer gaining significant market share," a steel sector analyst said on condition of anonymity.

In 2019, Tata Steels proposed merger with German steel giant Thyssenkrupp was called off after conditions set by the European Commission made the deal untenable.

A potential merger between SSAB and Thyssenkrupp also did not go ahead for similar reasons.

There were a lot of learnings for Tata Steel from that episode which will probably come in handy in closing the deal this time around despite the hurdles," said the second person cited above.

After a proposed joint venture between Tata Steel Europe and Thyssenkrupp s steel unit was blocked by EC in 2019, Tata Steels management has been seeking alternative solutions to its European operations, which weigh on the parents balance sheet with high operating expenses and over $2 billion in accumulated debt.

If the sale of the profitable Dutch plant goes through, Tata Steel believes it will be able to hammer together a financial rescue deal with the UK on the remaining Port Talbot unit (in southern Wales) to keep it operational.

For investors in Tata Steel, Indias second-largest steel producer, the proposed transaction was seen as a positive development after a weak performance through FY20 and a disastrous first quarter. With the operating metrics for India bouncing back and a solution in sight for recouping losses in the Europe, the company is aiming for a turnaround.

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The 150 meter ISI engineered tunnel was used by terrorists for 8 years

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The Border Security Force on Saturday found a 150-meter long tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir, which was used by Pakistani terrorists to infiltrate into India.

The 30 feet deep tunnel was detected between Border Post number 14 and 15 near the BSF's outpost at Pansar in Kathua district. The tunnel appears to be at least 8 years old a BSF official told OneIndia, while adding that this could have been used for long.

BSF Director General, Rakash Asthana had ordered the force to step up efforts to detect tunnels after the encounter at Nagrota in November.

BSF detects trans-border tunnel along Indo-Pak border

Last month, a senior officer said that a terror tunnel was detected by the BSF in Bobbiyan village of Hiranagar this morning. He said that the tunnel originated from Pakistan to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists. The tunnel is around 150 kilometres long and a lot of engineering has gone into it. This is a deliberate attempt by Pakistan to push terrorists into India, Inspector General, BSF, N S Jamwal told news agency ANI.

On November 22, a similar tunnel in the Samba sector used by four Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists was detected. The terrorists were gunned down at the Ban toll plaza near Nagrota on November 19.

The Pakistan Army and the ISI have been constructing trans-border tunnels to create new infiltration routes. The entry of this tunnel was spotted from the zero line and the 3 feet tunnel was constructed at a depth of 25 to 30 feet.

In November the BSF had detected a tunnel at the International Border in the Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Officials OneIndia spoke with said that the tunnel could not have been made without the help of the Pakistan establishment.

With Pakistan's propaganda machinery falling flat after the abrogation of Article 370, it is making every attempt to send terrorists to the Valley and carry out terror attacks. The Pakistan establishment also wanted to disrupt the upcoming DDC polls, the official cited above also said.

The tunnel, which was 2.5 metre wide and 25 to 30 metre deep was constructed with proper engineering effort to ensure that it is not detected as its opening was found surrounded with sarkanda (elephant grass).

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

This time around the BSF did not stumble upon the tunnel. The officials learnt that the Pakistan Army had started building the tunnel to create a new infiltration route. Officials say that there have been a spurt in the number of ceasefire violations. The Pakistan Army wants to divert the attention of the Indian forces from these tunnels. In 2020 alone there have been 930 ceasefire violations by Pakistan when compared to the 605 in 2019.
Apple launched its hotly-anticipated new fitness service in December, but after the initial shine of a new Apple thing wore off, it has proven to be rather unremarkable.

Fitness+ is justokay. If you want to work out along with fitness videos, and you own an Apple Watch, it will let you do that. Its a quality set of videos, well-produced with excellent instructors. But thats really all it is.

The launch of Apples new Time to Walk feature this week offers hope that Fitness+ will break out of its ho-hum existence in the well-trodden ground of so many other fitness video services. Apples opportunity in fitness is so much greater than streaming prerecorded workout videos.

Well-made workout videos is not enough

At its heart, Fitness+ is a nice set of well-made workout videos. The instructors are likable, energetic, and enthusiastic without acting like drill sergeants or cult leaders. Thats good, but its not enough. There are lots of services offering workout videos, and they dont even require you to own an Apple Watch.

Factor in the limited availability (you can only watch videos on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TVnot on smart TVs, Macs, or in a web browser) and its hard to see what Apple really brings to the table other than nice production values.

Apple As a set of workout videos with limited device support, theres not much to recommend Fitness+.

A little overlay in the corner of your workout shows key data from your Apple WatchApple talks about this feature like its truly revolutionary, but its little more than a curiosity. Its nice to have, and frankly an expected benefit of a service built in Apples tight ecosystem, but it doesnt solve the the biggest problems with working out.

Any fitness guru will tell you that the most important thing is to make vigorous workouts a part of your lifestyle. Working out once a month doesnt benefit you very much, but working up a good sweat several days a week, every week, has enormous health benefits.

Apples dropping the ball here. All that on-device machine learning, and tight ecosystem communication, and my Apple Watch cant even nudge me to work out. It reminds me to stand up a dozen times a day, but it cant say youve only worked out once this week, want me to schedule a Fitness+ workout?

There are dozens of badges and awards for doing fitness stuff with your Apple Watch, and of course you can satisfy those requirements with Fitness+ workouts just like any other workout, but why cant Fitness+ subscribers earn badges and rewards exclusive to the service?

Apples tight ecosystem enables about about a million creative ways to help encourage users to get off the couch and fire up the service, and its doing none of them.

Time to Walk is the way forward

I was all set to write off Fitness+ as a mediocre service that squanders all of Apples many ecosystem advantages, but then the company released Time to Walk.

Its sort of a walking-centric podcast with inspiring stories told by a variety of celebrities who recorded them while walking outdoors. Listen to one with your Apple Watch and Bluetooth headphones, and it automatically starts an appropriate walking workout.

Apple Time to Walk expands Fitness+ in a way that takes advantage of Apples ecosystem.

This is exactly the sort of thing Apple should be doing to make Fitness+ a worthwhile investment. It leverages the Apple Watch and its ability to play audio directly to Bluetooth headphones (like AirPods), and to seamlessly and automatically sync content through the iPhone.

This one feature doesnt make Fitness+ worth subscribing to, since there will only be 18 such vignettes. Youll burn through them in no time. Its more of a curiosity, sort of a bonus feature of the service. But if Fitness+ is going to thrive, Time to Walk is a great example of what Apple needs to do: expand beyond workout videos into an all-encompassing fitness service that leverages the platform as a whole.

A huge step forward for Fitness+ would be nutritional tracking, similar to Lose It! or MyFitnessPal. Apple could adjust calorie targets based on your active calorie count from your Apple Watch, or suggest longer or more frequent Fitness+ workouts if youve been over-indulging, for example.

Apple made a decent (if restrictive) workout video service with Fitness+, but the world doesnt need another workout video service and it doesnt really leverage Apples unique capabilities. With Time to Walk, Apple has demonstrated that it doesnt view Fitness+ merely as a way to stream workout videos. Now is the time to aggressively extend and expand what Fitness+ is all about.
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





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Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan tied the knot with fashion designer Natasha Dalal on Sunday evening at Alibaugs luxurious resort The Mansion House in an intimate ceremony attended by family and close friends. Varun, 33, shared a couple of photographs from the wedding ceremony on social media.

Read: Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's Wedding Photos: Inside Bollywood Star's Intimate Wedding in Alibaug

Life long love just became official, he captioned the pictures. The couple opted for colour-coordinated heavily embellished Indian attires in beige for their special day. While Natasha wore a lehenga and kept her hair, make-up and jewellery minimal, Dhawan chose a sherwani with a silver-blue stole and matching mojari to complete his look. Soon after the duo exchanged the wedding vows, media persons present outside the wedding venue were treated with sweets. The newlyweds also posed for the photographs present at the resort.

Meanwhile, Varun and Natasha also hired the same team as Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma to capture their wedding moments - same photographer (Stories by Joseph Hardik) and same videographer (The Wedding Filmer). They also had the same wedding planner (Shaadi Squad).

Read: Karan Johar 'Filled with Multitude of Memories' at Varun Dhawan's Wedding, Pens Emotional Note

Varun and Natasha's wedding was an intimate affair. Select friends from the film industry including Karan Johar, Zoa Morani, Kunal Kohli, Manish Malhotra and Shashank Khaitan, amongst others, were present at the do.

The newlywed also sent out laddoos for the media waiting to click them outside the venue.

Celebrations had started in the wedding venue, The Mansion Resort, in Alibaug on January 22 with the wedding taking place on Sunday. It is reported that the couple will host a grand reception in Mumbai come February 2.

(With news agency inputs)
[January 25, 2021] SVI Teams with IDEMIA NSS to Offer World's Most Advanced FMCW 4D LiDAR Biometric Recognition Solution

CALABASAS, Calif., Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StereoVision Imaging, Inc. (SVI), the emerging world leader in 2D and 3D/4D LiDAR based facial/object recognition and remote sensing technology, has joined forces with IDEMIA National Security Solutions (NSS) to offer the most capable biometric recognition platform available today.

The solution combines NSSs world-class biometric software with SVIs superior 4D FMCW LiDAR system technology. FMCW LiDAR, which is short for frequency-modulated continuous wave light detection and ranging, represents the state-of-the-art for biometric recognition. Together, SVI and IDEMIA NSS will deliver enterprise and tactical-level identity solutions that reliably address todays most challenging security threats in real-time. The main advantages of SVIs FMCW 4D LiDAR over other types of LiDAR is its ability to instantly determine at exceptionally long ranges all four key dimensions of an object, which are length, width, depth and velocity. Unique to SVIs dual-chirp FMCW laser technology is its ability to acquire velocity or motion information instantaneously at 40x the distance compared to traditional technology while remaining eye-safe. SVIs technology works exceptionally well in real world situations regardless of a subjects movement, pose, expression and surrounding lighting conditions. It can overcome occlusions, such as beards, sunglasses, or a vehicle windshield. Further, it can remotely detect heart and breathing rate, eye movement and speech, which can provide indications of alertness, psychological condition or intent. The development of these advanced capabilities was the result of more than $100 million invested in R&D over the last 10 years. The Mil-Spec, field-proven technology is protected by more than 100 patents and patents pending worldwide. NSS specializes in physical security and augmented identity solutions, including facial recognition systems and other biometric identification services. Its customers include U.S. government agencies, state and local agencies, law enforcement, border control and transportation agencies. We believe the integration of our identity software with SVIs state-of-the-art LiDAR creates an unmatched solution for addressing the most challenging of security entry applications, shared by Shane Powers, vice president of operations fr IDEMIA National Security Solutions. SVIs military funded and field proven technology provides the level of power and sophistication our customers need and demand.



Gregory Steinthal, president of SVI, commented: Powering our technology with best-in-class biometric software is integral to providing a biometric security system that ensures national security and public safety. NSS provides us entry into new markets beyond the military and tremendous opportunities for growth over the coming year. About IDEMIA National Security Solutions (NSS)

NSS is a business unit of IDEMIA, a global leader in augmented identity, that operates under a special security agreement (SSA) with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). NSS delivers identity services and solutions to the DoD, Homeland Security, Justice and State Departments, and Intelligence Communities under some of the nations most sensitive security programs. Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, NSS specializes in enterprise identity, installation of the future, tactical operations, and secure credential solutions. For further information, go to www.nationalsecuritysolutions.com and follow @Idemia-NSS on Twitter.

About StereoVision Imaging

StereoVision Imaging, Inc. (SVI) is an emerging world leader in facial/object recognition and remote sensing technology for several markets and industries, from military reconnaissance and physical security to autonomous driving, robotics, mobile devices and more. For these applications, SVI develops and manufactures proprietary and highly advanced 4D FMCW LiDAR technology (four-dimensional frequency-modulated continuous wave light detection and ranging). The result of more than $100 million invested in R&D over the last 10 years, SVIs Mil-Spec, field-proven and uniquely capable technology is protected by more than 100 patents and patents pending worldwide. For additional information, please visit www.stereovisioninc.com. The SVI Advantage

The main advantages of SVIs dual chirp FMCW 4D LiDAR over other types of LiDAR is its ability to instantly determine at exceptionally long ranges all four key dimensions of an object: length, width, depth and velocity. Unique to SVI technology is its ability to acquire velocity or motion information instantaneously at 40x the distance compared to traditional systems, while still being eye safe. SVI FMCW 4D LiDAR also works in real world situations regardless of a subjects movement, pose, expression, lighting conditions or occlusions, such as beards or sunglasses, or through a vehicle windshield. The technology can measure velocity down to millimeters per second, allowing the remote detection of heart and breathing rate and speech (U.S. patent no. 9,872,639), as well as eye movement (U.S. patent no. 10,791,925), which can provide indications of alertness, psychological condition, or intent. The technology is also ideal for any application requiring highly accurate, sub-millimeter measurement of the size, distance and movement of any object, such as required for industrial metrology. To learn more, visit www.stereovisioninc.com. Company Contact

Tom Hallman, Director of Business Development

Tel (747) 207-9586

Email Contact Investor & Media Relations Contact

Ron Both or Grant Stude

CMA Investor Relations

Tel (949) 432-7566

Email Contact A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d1dbfcf1-06b1-43ff-bbc8-2296110a2b1f



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New Delhi: The Ministry of Defence on Monday (January 25, 2021) said that the India-China 9th round of talks ended on a 'positive' note, where the two countries agreed to maintain a good momentum of negotiation.

"The two sides agreed that this round of meeting was positive, practical and constructive, which further enhanced mutual trust and understanding," read the official statement.

It added, "The two sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops. They also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation."

The two nuclear-powered countries had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of India-China border areas.

They agreed to hold the 10th round of the Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date to jointly advance de-escalation.

India-China also agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the China-India border, and jointly maintain peace and tranquillity.

The 9th round of China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting was held on the Chinese side of the Moldo-Chushul border meeting point on January 24.

The statement comes on a day when there were reports of troops of both the countries clashing with each other at Naku La in Sikkim border area. According to reports, the clash between Indian and the Chinese forces took place last week after the latter tried to intrude. The report further stated that soldiers from both sides received injuries in the brawl, however, the situation has been brought under control now.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 19:26:13|Editor: huaxia

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A staff member checks the body temperature of a teacher at the entrance to a girls school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jan. 25, 2021. Sri Lankan authorities on Monday re-opened schools in the Western Province for senior grades after shutting them down since October last year due to a vast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported here. (Photo by Ajith Perera/Xinhua)

COLOMBO, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan authorities on Monday re-opened schools in the Western Province for senior grades after shutting them down since October last year due to a vast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported here.

The Education Ministry in a statement said schools re-opened for students who would be sitting for the GCE Ordinary Level examinations in March under strict health guidelines imposed by the Health Ministry.

All classrooms were disinfected on Sunday while students were informed to wear masks and maintain social distance.

However schools in areas declared as isolated due to the virus spread would continue to remain closed.

The Education Ministry said that 79,000 students from the Western Province will appear for the GCE Ordinary Level Examination which will be held in March and the decision to re-open schools was taken to expedite their missed studies.

Sri Lanka's Western Province has been declared as a hot bed by the health authorities since a second wave of the pandemic swept through the country in early October.

The country has to date detected 58,430 infected patients, out of which 49,684 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals, bringing down the active patient count to 8,463.

A total of 283 deaths have been reported from the virus. Enditem
People wait in a standby line to receive a COVID-19 vaccination on Friday in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Following Gov. Gavin Newsoms announcement that the state is rescinding its coronavirus stay-at-home order, officials in Los Angeles County said they plan to take advantage of the relaxed restrictions  allowing for the immediate reopening of personal care services and outdoor dining at restaurants later this week.

The news, though positive, came with a repeated caveat: The county is not out of the woods yet, and unless residents and businesses remain vigilant and take steps to protect themselves and those around them, the progress can easily be erased.

"Were anxious, as is everyone, to move forward," county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a briefing Monday.

But, she stressed, "this all depends on all of us" and, if the county's coronavirus situation starts deteriorating again, "we'll be in the horrible position of once again needing to backtrack."

Some restrictions are being relaxed immediately. Personal care services, such as hair and nail salons, can open for indoor operations at 25% capacity; tourism and individual travel is permitted at hotels and motels; and outdoor private gatherings of up to three households and a total of 15 people are now allowed.

Ferrer said other measures  including the prohibition on outdoor dining and rules that halted operations of nonessential businesses between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.  will be lifted in a new health order that's scheduled to be issued Friday.

"This is not the time for people to think we can get back to our normal business and our normal ways of interacting with each other," she said. "If were not careful, our metrics that are headed in the right direction will quickly change. So, please, do your part to allow us to move forward with careful reopenings."

A spokesman for L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti didnt immediately respond to a request for comment about the countys reopening plans.

Garcetti could opt to keep outdoor dining and other services in Los Angeles shut down, as the city is allowed to enact tougher restrictions than the county.

Story continues

The mayor supported the countys original decision to shutter outdoor dining, a move that made him a target of local restaurant owners.

L.A. County health officials suspended outdoor dining in late November, prompting immediate outcry from pandemic-battered restaurateurs and pushback from residents and some politicians. Legal action since then has aimed to overturn the order.

Shortly after the county's ban went into effect, the state handed down the regional stay-at-home order, which widened the outdoor dining prohibition and imposed a host of new restrictions across all of Southern California.

With that order now lifted, L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said Monday the county would "essentially align with the state" on permitted activities.

"Please don't take this news to mean that you can return to life as normal," she said. "Masks, physical distancing and limiting activities are still key to getting out of this pandemic until we can get everyone vaccinated."

The dispute over outdoor dining has been heated. Public health officials have regularly defended the ban, saying that activities involving people spending extended periods of time in close proximity with those outside their homes while not wearing a mask heightens the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Some proprietors and politicians, however, pushed back and lobbied to overturn the rule.

"We should align ourselves with the state as much as possible, which means, among other things, reopening outdoor dining with commonsense health protocols in place as soon as possible," L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement ahead of Monday's briefing. "The restaurant industry was devastated by this lengthy shutdown, and I know this would be welcome news to them."

Supervisor Kathryn Barger also said she supported reopening outdoor dining, personal care services and other industries that were previously closed.

"A data-driven and pragmatic policy approach is essential to protecting public health, while balancing the devastating social, emotional and economic impacts of this virus, she said.

Since the outdoor dining ban was first announced, some have demanded to see the data justifying the move and questioned whether its benefits justified the economic devastation.

"People have lost their jobs, and if restaurants and bars continue to close, they will lose them permanently," the Independent Hospitality Coalition said in a statement Monday.

The coalition, the statement continued, "wants to make sure we dont just throw open the doors again without clear guidelines to help stop the spread of COVID-19. However, we believe that outdoor dining can safely reopen."

Though the county now plans to lift the restriction, Ferrer said the underlying message has not changed: People need to wear face coverings when around others and must avoid crowding together indoors.

The state's decision to lift the regional stay-at-home order means all areas of the Southland can now resume outdoor dining, if they so choose.

For restaurant owners in Orange County, the news of reopened outdoor dining was widely celebrated Monday  even among those who opted not to close.

This is a huge step forward, and its a big relief for everyone in this industry, said JC Clow, the founder and managing partner of the Winery Restaurant Group, which has two locations in Orange County and one in San Diego County.

Orange County has been a regular source of opposition to state coronavirus-related directives throughout the pandemic. Some restaurants have defied the order to shutter outdoor dining entirely, while others continued to serve patrons indoors.

Clow closed outdoor dining at his three locations for about a week when California issued the expanded stay-at-home order in December. It was a huge blow to staffers who depended on the restaurants for a steady paycheck and income from gratuities. He started getting daily phone calls from staff members who were pleading for help, he said, with some on the brink of homelessness.

As those personal stories started coming in, we couldnt just sit on our hands and do nothing, he said. A lot of these people have been with us since Day One, and when you hear those heartfelt cries for help, we just couldnt turn the other cheek. We had to do what we could while still being safe, so we reopened outdoor dining.

Clow spent thousands on personal protective equipment, medical-grade partitions and other safety equipment. Still, he worried daily that a visit from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control would strip him of his liquor license.

We sat on pins and needles, and we just prayed every day we didnt see any of those field officers, he said. To lose our liquor license for two weeks or more would have put any of us in a really precarious position.

Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, a frequent vocal critic of the state's pandemic response and Gov. Gavin Newsom, said rescinding the stay-at-home order was "a step in the right direction, but Ive also learned during the course of COVID that this governor is very erratic. Who knows what will get him to change his mind again?"

Its a long time coming, Wagner added Monday. It was an unnecessary step when he shut us down. Its a necessary step for him to open us up. Lets just not pretend theres a lot of science that hes revealed behind his decision.

Newsom announced the criteria for implementing the regional stay-at-home orders on Dec. 3, saying the additional restrictions were necessary to reduce the strain on hospitals as coronavirus cases skyrocketed.

Although data show that hospital systems in Southern California remain strained, state officials said they projected those areas would exceed 15% available intensive care unit beds four weeks from now  meaning they meet the criteria to exit the order.

Monday's announcement is one of the clearest signs yet of the growing optimism that California has finally begun to beat back the coronavirus surge that's ravaged the state for months.

Its a very good trend, not only for Orange County, but for other counties throughout the state, Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said. It means our positivity rates are finally starting to come down and were through the spikes from Christmas and New Year.

Solis said the decision "reflects the hard work of Angelenos these past months to stay home and save lives."

"However, we cannot let our guard down again," she said. "We've seen what it means when that happens, when we visit with others in their homes, attend large gatherings and run errands like we did pre-pandemic. That cannot happen again. We must continue to meet the moment and defeat this virus as soon as possible."

Even without the stay-at-home order, it's far from business as usual in California. Counties are still subject to restrictions outlined in the state's four-tiered, color-coded reopening road map, which categorizes areas based on their COVID-19 case and positive test rates.

Virtually the entire state  54 out of 58 counties  remains in the most restrictive purple tier. In those areas, indoor operations will remain suspended or severely limited at many businesses and other public facilities.

The state rules serve as a baseline; while local jurisdictions can be stricter, they cannot be more lenient.

Many municipal leaders throughout the Southland have lobbied Sacramento to loosen regulations and give local leaders a greater say in determining how widely to reopen their economies. Some L.A. County cities have even floated the idea of forming their own health departments, which would free them from having to follow the county's lead.

In Pasadena, one of the two L.A. County cities that already has an independent health agency, officials said businesses and organizations would again follow the restrictions and guidelines outlined in the purple tier.

Pasadena grabbed headlines in late November when officials there opted to keep outdoor dining open even after the county issued its health order to suspend such operations.

Because Pasadena has its own health department, it was allowed to make that call, and city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said "we couldnt show data that reflects cases traced back to restaurants." The city was later forced to close outdoor dining when the state enacted its sweeping stay-at-home order.

However, Derderian said any reopenings were couched in a cold reality: The pandemic is still here, and it's continuing to have devastating impacts.

"Our cases are lower, but to announce deaths and to announce were lifting restrictions is kind of that double-edged sword," she said. "We understand economic impacts  but we dont want people to let their guard down now if we lift too many restrictions."

Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(Newser)  A hiker who went missing at Yosemite National Park earlier this month has been found dead. National Park Service officials say the body of "Alice" Yu Xie, 41, was found Jan. 16 at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall, per KCRA. KTLA reports that Xie had traveled to the park from Mariposa County by bus on Jan. 14, with plans "to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls," per a park Facebook post. She was "reported overdue" the next day, and on Jan. 16, the park made a public announcement about her disappearance.

story continues below

Xie was a Chinese national living in the US, per CBS Sacramento, which adds it's not clear why there was a delay in announcing her death. Her family has been notified, though her cause of death hasn't been announced. Park officials are now asking members of the public who may have been on the trail leading to the top of Yosemite Falls on either Jan. 14 or Jan. 15 to contact them, even if they don't recall seeing Xie. (Read more Yosemite National Park stories.)
President Michael D Higgins and Holocaust survivors Suzi Diamond and Tomi Reichental at last years memorial event. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Taoiseach Micheal Martin warned that Ireland and the world must use education and anti-hate laws as strategic tools to fight extremism, racism and anti-semitism.

The warning came as the Taoiseach delivered the keynote address at Ireland's Holocaust Memorial Day.

Organisers stressed that the commemoration was now more important than ever given the rise in far right groups across the world, soaring levels of misinformation and hate speech as well as an alarming surge in anti-semitism. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was staged virtually.

The ceremony annually remembers the six million Jewish people and millions of other victims who were murdered due to their ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliations or religious beliefs during World War II.

Holocaust survivors and Irish residents Tomi Reichental and Suzi Diamond offered personal recollections of the Holocaust.

Tool

"Education is an important tool in deepening our understanding of the Holocaust and fighting against racism and anti-semitism," Mr Martin said.

"We are (also) currently working on a number of measures across all areas of Government to address hatred and intolerance.

"The purpose of this work is to ensure we can identify how Ireland's law in this area can be improved, based on a clear understanding of the experiences of those impacted, while remaining in harmony with the very important right to free expression.

"In June 2020, the Government also appointed an anti-racism committee with a mandate to develop a new National Action Plan against Racism."

He said a core element of this work will be to promote the inclusion of minority groups in Irish society.

"This is a fight that will need to be sustained with energy and application into the future as new technologies and ever-evolving platforms provide new opportunities for old prejudice and hate." He slated anti-semitism and racism as "an ugly scourge".

Mr Reichental survived the notorious Bergen-Belsen camp and later settled in Ireland. "What we saw was hell on earth," he warned.

Jonathan Philips (66) had his father's entire family fall victim to the Holocaust.

"My father was very hesitant to talk about his experience while we were growing up. After his death we found about a hundred-odd pages of his account handwritten which I regret not knowing more about before."
Achieved Global Recognition in Addition to Certifications in Four Regions and 38 Countries

Top Employers Institute Certification Demonstrates Takeda's Commitment to its People

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) ("Takeda") today announced that it is one of only 16 companies to achieve global Top Employer certification for 2021. In addition to receiving the global certification for the fourth consecutive year, Takeda was also certified as a Top Employer in four regions and 38 countries. This underscores the company's commitment to creating an exceptional people experience for its global workforce.

For more than 30 years, Top Employers Institute has given annual award certification to companies with outstanding culture, work environments, benefits and opportunities for their people. The Institute certifies organizations based on the results of its HR Best Practices Survey. The survey covers 20 people-centric topic areas, including Career Development, Culture, Diversity Inclusion, Learning, Sustainability, Values, Well-being and Work Environment.

"We are very proud of the global, regional and country recognition we've received from Top Employer Institute, especially during a year that fundamentally shifted workforce and workplace paradigms," said Padma Thiruvengadam, Takeda's chief human resources officer. "Now more than ever, we are focused on building a learning organization where colleagues from diverse backgrounds, cultures and perspectives are encouraged to use their unique skills to fulfill their career aspirations and help create better health for people and a brighter future for the world."

Top Employers Institute CEO David Plink commented, "Takeda continues to show its dedication to its employees globally and locally, and we congratulate them for the fourth year in a row of global Top Employer certification."

Takeda excelled globally in the areas of Values, Ethics Integrity, Organizational Change, Leadership, Sustainability, Performance Management and Engagement. Each of the 38 Takeda countries that participated in the Top Employer survey received certification, with eight countries receiving certification for the first time. The full list of regions and countries where Takeda was named a Top Employer is below:

Africa : Algeria

: Algeria Asia Pacific : Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand

: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand Europe : Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, and Ukraine

: Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, and Ukraine Latin America : Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru

: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru Middle East : Israel, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates

: Israel, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates North America: United States

To learn more about Top Employers Institute and the Top Employers certification, please visit: https://www.top-employers.com.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502/NYSE: TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to patients, our people and the planet. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Genetic and Hematology, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in healthcare in approximately 80 countries. For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Important Notice

For the purposes of this notice, "press release" means this document, any oral presentation, any question and answer session and any written or oral material discussed or distributed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") regarding this release. This press release (including any oral briefing and any question-and-answer in connection with it) is not intended to, and does not constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of any offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, exchange, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction. No shares or other securities are being offered to the public by means of this press release. No offering of securities shall be made in the United States except pursuant to registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom. This press release is being given (together with any further information which may be provided to the recipient) on the condition that it is for use by the recipient for information purposes only (and not for the evaluation of any investment, acquisition, disposal or any other transaction). Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of applicable securities laws.

The companies in which Takeda directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release, "Takeda" is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Takeda and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210124005050/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts:

Japanese Media

Kazumi Kobayashi

kazumi.kobayashi@takeda.com

+81 (0) 3-3278-2095

Media Outside Japan

Holly Campbell

holly.campbell@takeda.com

+1 617-588-9013
The second wave of COVID-19 in South Africa, which is driven by the new variant 501Y.V2, is far deadlier than the first wave, with nearly 20,000 deaths in two months.

The coronavirus outbreak in South Africa started in March 2020 and the number of infections peaked between 5 July and 11 July at over 13,000 new cases per day.

In September and October, there was a relatively quiet spell with between 1,000 and 2,000 new confirmed daily COVID-19 cases per day.

In November, the number of infections started to surge again and by the beginning of December, the country was recording over 5,000 new cases per day.

This second wave started in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape but has since spread to other provinces.

The second wave seems to have peaked between 8 January and 14 January 2021, with over 18,000 new coronavirus cases per day being recorded.

The second wave has therefore seen a higher number of coronavirus infections than the first wave. This is partly because the new SARS-CoV-2 variant is 50% more transmissible than the older variant.

The 501Y.V2 variant, which was originally reported in South Africa, has mutations in the spike protein. This protein binds to the human cells to facilitate infection.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said these variants are believed to increase binding to the receptor on human cells and increase transmission.

Another reason may be that people can be re-infected with the new variant even if they had COVID-19 before.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said mutations have allowed the virus to become resistant to antibody neutralization.

While the new variant is more infectious, Professor Salim Abdool Karim said there is no clear evidence of the new variant results in more severe symptoms or a higher death rate.

South Africa did, however, experience a much higher number of deaths during the second wave than the first wave.

The number of deaths during the second wave is 158% higher than the first wave. The number of deaths per 1,000 cases is also much higher than the first wave.

There can be many reasons for the higher death rate, including overcrowded hospitals and the way deaths are reported.

First wave versus second wave in South Africa

To compare the first and second COVID-19 waves in South Africa, MyBroadband looked at the number of cases and deaths between a comparable two-month period during each wave.

What this comparison shows is that there are currently 34% more cases during the second wave than the first wave, and 158% more deaths.

It further shows that there were 16 deaths per 1,000 cases during the first wave and 31 deaths per 1,000 cases during the second wave.

The table below provides an overview of the most prominent statistics during the first and second waves of COVID-19 in South Africa.

First versus Second COVID-19 Waves in South Africa Measure First Wave Second Wave Change Dates 2 June 2020 to 2 Aug 2020 23 Nov 2020 to 23 Jan 2021  Confirmed Cases 475,673 635,080 34% Tests 2,275,245 2,642,664 16% Cases per 1,000 tests 209 240 15% Peak daily cases 13,994 21,980 57% Deaths Deaths 7,611 19,606 158% Deaths per 1,000 cases 16 31 94%

First and second waves (courtesy of Media Hack)

Test and positive cases (courtesy of Media Hack)
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

California lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions.

The order had been in place in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, covering the majority of the state's counties.

The change allows restaurants and churches to resume outdoor operations and hair and nail salons to reopen in many areas, though local officials could choose to impose stricter rules. The state is also lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

"Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it's important to recognize our collective actions saved lives and we are turning a critical corner," Dr. Tomas Aragon, the state's public health director, said in a statement.

Gov. Gavin Newsom was expected to address the public later Monday. Public officials in some of California's major cities and counties indicated they could soon lift local restrictions.

"We will be moving forward with some limited re-openings, including outdoor dining and personal services," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a tweet.

Orange County planned to lift some restrictions as well, said Jessica Good, a spokesperson for the county health agency. In Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people, Republican Supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed support for opening outdoor dining, personal care services and other industries and said the state must balance public health with "devastating social, emotional and economic impacts of this virus." Los Angeles County public health officials are expected to hold a briefing later Monday.

The state's decision came amid improving trends in California's rate of infections, hospitalizations and data behind the forecasts.

During the weekend, San Francisco Bay Area ICU capacity surged to 23% while the San Joaquin Valley agricultural region increased to 1.3%, its first time above zero. The huge Southern California region, the most populous, remains at zero ICU capacity.

Republicans said Newsom was relaxing the rules in response to political pressure and the threat of a recall. Republican organizers have until mid-March to gather 1.5 million signatures to force a recall against Newsom, who is halfway through his first term.

"This Governor's decisions have never been based on science. Him re-opening our state is not an attempt to help working Californians, but rather an attempt to counter the Recall Movement. It's sad and pathetic," California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson tweeted.

The criticism wasn't limited to Newsom's partisan political opponents.

Jeff Smith, the Santa Clara County executive, said his county had no plans to impose stricter rules but criticized the state's decision.

"Essentially it's a decision being made politically that puts people's lives at risk, especially in Southern California," he told The Mercury News.

Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Friedman of Glendale said state lawmakers have been out of the loop on changing rules.

"If you think state legislators were blindsided by, and confused about, the shifting & confusing public health directives, you'd be correct," she tweeted. "If you think we have been quiet about it in Sacramento, you'd be wrong."

Early last year, the state developed a system of color-coded tiers that dictated the level of restrictions on businesses and individuals based on virus conditions in each of California's 58 counties.

Most counties will now go back to the most restrictive purple tier, which allows for outdoor dining, hair and nail salons to be open, and outdoor church services. Bars that only serve beverages cannot be open.

The county-by-county tier system uses various metrics to determine the risk of community transmission and apply a color codepurple, red, orange or yellowwhich correspond to widespread, substantial, moderate and minimal, respectively.

As of the weekend, California has had more than 3.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 36,790 deaths, according to the state's public health website.

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Press Release

January 25, 2021 THE INDISPENSABILITY OF THE BIBLE

FOR NATIONAL RECOVERY AMID THE PANDEMIC Privilege Speech

SENATOR JOEL VILLANUEVA



"Man shall not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

(Matthew 4:4) Mr. President and distinguished colleagues: I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege to highlight the celebration of the National Bible Day today, January 25, 2021, by virtue of Republic Act No. 11163 or "An Act Declaring the Last Monday of January Every Year As A Special Working Holiday In Observance of National Bible Day". What started as a "lounge talk"/"small talk" between Senator Manny Pacquiao and I, turned into reality. The "National Bible Day Law" is not only a landmark legislation but also a national celebration that highlights the Philippines as the only predominantly Christian country in Asia. Although this year is only the second time that we are celebrating this special working holiday in observance of the National Bible Day, Mr. President, there were at least four (4) Presidential Proclamations preceding RA 11163 that also highlight the importance of the Bible in shaping the moral fiber of the Filipino people. These Proclamations were signed during the time of President Marcos in 1982, President Cory Aquino in 1986, President Ramos in 1997, and President Duterte in 2017. Binanggit po natin ito para ipakita na kung ang halaga po ng Bibliya sa ating lipunan ang pag-uusapan, klaro po na noon at hanggang ngayon, binibigyang diin na ito sa ating mga batas. Hindi po mapasusubalian ninuman na ang Bibliya ang sentro at buhay ng marami sa ating mga kababayan. Timothy 3: 16-17. "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work". Mr. President, amid the pandemic, the sickness, and loneliness, many of our Kababayans feel impossible to navigate their way out. This is the reason why we should more bring the Bible closer to our kababayans and to encourage them to read the Bible to learn wisdom and find hope and experience the transformative power of the Word of God. Personally, the past year has also been the toughest of times in my life, for losing Mom and Joni but I was comforted by the Word of God through the truth of His power and love. John 16:33. "In this world there will be tribulation but be of good cheer because I have overcome this world." In the November 2020 Nationwide Survey on COVID-19, the Pulse Asia revealed that 94% of our kababayans are "worried" that they or any of their loved ones will contract COVID-19 while 51%said that they "experienced emotional problems like stress, anxiety, or extreme sadness".[1] Proverbs 4:22. "For the Word is life to those who find them and health (medicine) to your flesh." It is important to note that the word of God is life, it is life for those who are looking or it. In a readership survey in 2017[2], the National Book Development Board (NBDB) which is an attached agency of the DepEd revealed that 72.25 percent of Filipino adults polled picked the Bible as their most read book, climbing from 58 percent in 2012. We find the results of National Book Development Board Survey to be very encouraging because it mirrors our confidence that Filipinos are "Bible-reading" and Bible-loving" Filipinos. Bago po ang pandemya, siksik at umaapaw sa tao ang ating mga Simbahan. Nang limitahan po ang mga taong pwedeng pumasok sa Simbahan, nakakatuwa pong na marami sa ating mga kababayan ngayon ay nakikinig na lamang online o nagbabasa na lang ng kanilang bibliya sa loob ng kanilang mga tahanan. Psalm 33:12. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Ang Bibliya po ay instrumento para sa pagkakaisa at kapayapaan. Para po sa ating mga Kristiyano, ang Bibliya ang Salita ng Diyos. Ito ang ating pananampalataya at kaligtasan. Subalit ang mga mensahe nito tulad ng pag-ibig sa kapwa ay walang pinipiling relihiyon o denominasyon. ROMANS 10:17. "The Word of God is the producer of faith, we can never have faith without the Word of God." "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing and hearing by the word of God" It is indeed the truth that the word of God is the producer of faith. Mr. President, why is faith so important? HEBREWS 11:6. "It is impossible to please God without faith." And why do we need to please God? It is the reason that we should all answer because it is the purpose of our existence when we are created. Bec God wants to be pleased and he is expecting human beings, not the plants or animals of this world, but human beings whom he created would please him and would honor him and worship him in spirit and in truth. Mr. President, even George Washington, the first President of the United States of America said that "It is impossible to govern a country without God and the Bible". In the very Preamble of our 1987 Constitution, it is not by accident, that it is written very explicit that we the sovereign Filipino people "imploring the aid of Almighty God..." We submit and acknowledge the sovereignty of our god over us, over our governments Mr. President. PSALM 119:11. "His word prevents sin to come into our hearts." MR. PRESIDENT, AT THIS JUNCTURE ALLOW ME TO HIGHLIGHT A FEW THINGS THAT WILL HELP RAISE THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE TO EVERY FILIPINO IN LINE WITH THE MANDATE OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11163. FIRST, we want to highlight that the 1987 Constitution allows the teaching of religion in our public schools provided that the following conditions are satisfied: one, it should be within regular hours, two, upon written consent of parents and three, at no additional cost on the part of the government. We are glad, Mr. President, that many of our public schools are pro-active in entering into partnerships with faith-based organizations for the teaching of religion or values-formation. This is an opportunity, Mr. President, to acquaint children to the Bible. For example, DepEd-Marikina has been partnering with the Alliance of Ministers for Education and Nation-Building or AMEN since 2013 for the conduct of Values Instruction Classes or VIC. These initiatives started when a group of pastors asked permission from school principals if they could conduct values formation class, although sa Marikina lamang po ito Ginoong Pangulo, maraming na rin pong public schools sa iba't ibang panig ng ating bansa ang pinapayagan ang mga kateista na kalimitan ay mga madre o seminarista na nagtuturo ng katesismo o bible verses sa mga bata sa public elementary schools. Mr. President we would like to enjoin our public schools to hopefully allow more values education classes by proactively partnering with religious groups regardless of domination or sect or teaching of religion which is explicitly provided under Sec 3, Par 3 of Art 14 of our 1987 Constitution. Sa pagkakataon po na ito nais po nating pasalamatan ang ating mga public schools, lalo na sa mga principals, na gumagawa ng paraan para makapagturo ng values formation at religion classes para sa ating mga kababayan. SECOND, after more than 400 years after Spanish missionaries first introduced the Bible in the Philippines, it remains to be the most widely read book in the country. As I've mentioned, in 2017, the National Book Development Board (NBDB) which is an attached agency of the DepEd and formed through Republic Act No. 8047 or "Book Publishing Industry Act" revealed that 72.27 percent of Filipino adults polled picked the Bible as their most read book. That's 7 out of every 10 adult Filipinos, Mr. President! That's why this representation believes that "bible readership" can give us a lot of insights about the reading behavior and even patterns of book purchases of Filipinos. In this regard, we want to reiterate our call to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to put up more internet hubs closer to our communities to ensure that even Filipinos in remote areas can have a choice to read the Bible online. Mr. President, the biblegateway.com alone, a searchable online bible has over 100 versions and 50 languages and has a free service for reading and researching scriptures online, all in the language or translation of your choice THIRD, we are calling on the DepEd leadership to fastrack the issuance of the Implementing Rules and Regulation of Republic Act No. 11476 or the "GMRC and Values Education Law" and to integrate the teaching of ethical and moral values in the curriculum. We believe that the Bible is the authoritative guide in ethics and morality which are the foundational principles of GMRC and Values Education. Hanggang ngayon po kasi Ginoong Pangulo ay wala a din po tayong nakikitang IRR ng RA 11476 which institutionalize Values and GMRC in the K to 12 curriculum and signed by the president on June 25, 2020. Umaasa po tayo na maglalabas ang DepEd ng IRR sa lalong madaling panahon. FOURTH, and lastly, the sheer diversity of literature in the Bible makes it a complete book. However, not many public libraries have a Bible in their collection. In some of the libraries that we asked, Bibles are nowhere to be found either in the general circulation or in the reserve section. Mr. President, if we can put a complete volume of encyclopedia in our public libraries, why can't we add even just one Bible in our collections? Hindi lang po sa mga school kundi sa ating mga barangay at municipal libraries din sana. In closing, Mr. President, allow me to share that while I was watching the inauguration of President Joe Biden last week, I was struck by that scene where he placed his hand on the Bible while being sworn in. Tila paalala itong muli kung saan dapat nakasandig ang ating bayan, ang ating Republika, paalala na ang batas ng Diyos ang dapat pagmulan o kilingan ng batas ng Tao. Hangga't ang Bibliya po ang sandigan ng ating Republika, mapagtatagumpayan natin ang pandemya. At ang Salita ng Diyos ang magsisilbi po nating "bakuna" sa takot at mga pangamba sa mga pagbabago sa daigdig natin sa kasalukuyan. Maligayang Pambansang Araw ng Bibliya po sa inyong lahat. Maraming salamat po at pagpalain tayong lahat ng ating panginoong Diyos. ### [1] http://www.pulseasia.ph/november-2020-nationwide-survey-on-covid-19/ [2] https://booksphilippines.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2017-Readership-Survey-Publication.pdf

A number of opposition politicians, representatives of various businesses and ordinary citizens gathered in front of the administrative building of the government of Georgia yesterday demanding coronavirus restrictions be lifted.

Under the hashtag"social explosion" the organisers of the peaceful demonstration said the restrictions affect the social situation in the country and violate human rights.

Therefore, the demonstrators call on the government to lift restrictions on winter resorts, reopen schools and kindergartens and restore operation of municipal and intercity transport as well as remove the curfew.

Opposition leader of More Freedom-Girchi party Zurab Japaridze, who has been demanding the restrictions to be lifted for several months, said otherwise we will sink into a deeper dump which will be much more difficult to overcome.

Urging that "all of the restrictions need to be lifted", he claimed the government is manipulating the coronavirus statistics. "We are a rather poor country and any restriction for us leads to more poverty," Agenda.ge cited Japaridze as saying.

Claiming that the government fails to manage the crisis, member of Lelo for Georgia party Grigol Gogelia said that the current restrictions should be lifted wisely.

European Georgia member Akaki Bobokhidze has also stated that the total lockdown cannot be the solution to the pandemic as we are heading straight into the economic abyss.

United National Movement supporters have declared that they will not adhere to the curfew and walk on the central Rustaveli Avenue between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. in protest.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Center for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze says the restrictions, together with vaccination, are one of the main weapons against the pandemic.
Incentives on scrapping old vehicles and replacing them with revised emission norms compliant vehicles will catalyse automotive production and sales.

The Indian automobile industry has travelled a long road to emerge as one of the largest contributors to the manufacturing sector. However, the last two fiscal years have been rough, creating a large dent in the otherwise normal double-digit growth seen through the last decade.

According to the Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the sector witnessed de-growth of 14.73 percent from April to March 2020. Hopes of revival were further hit by low demand and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The automobile industrys success is critical for Indias ambition of joining the $5 trillion economies club by 2024-25. The Automotive Mission Plan 2016-26 targets a three-fold growth for the automobile sector and expects it to contribute over 12 percent of Indias GDP. Hence, the governments support for the struggling automobile sector is crucial for its strong comeback.

The industry expects the 2021 Budget to deliver a much-needed policy framework that stimulates new investments in the sector. This becomes more critical given that the sector is on the brink of migrating its core product, i.e., internal combustible engine to an electric motor supported by lithium-ion batteries. This creates more challenges, market uncertainties, and there is a need for substantial investments in R&D and production facilities.

Electric Vehicles, incentives for new investments

As per the Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP) for domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles, Basic Customs Duty (BCD) rates on Semi Knocked Down (SKD) and Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits of electric vehicles were enhanced from April 2020. Further, BCD rates on battery packs, lithium-ion cells, charger, electric motor, power control unit and other critical components of electric vehicles are proposed to be increased from April 2021.

The existing timelines under PMP should be deferred as the EV market in India is still at a nascent stage. The automakers, based on market response, will need time before they decide to set up full-blown EV manufacturing facilities in India. Further, the BCD rate on import of completely built-up units of EVs may also be temporarily reduced from the current rate of 60 percent/100 percent (depending upon CIF value) to help automakers test the Indian market without doubling up their import costs due to duties.

The recently announced Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme promising incentives of over Rs 18,100 crore for indigenous manufacture of advanced chemistry cell batteries (Li-Ion battery) and another Rs 57,000 for automobile and auto components, is encouraging. The government should quickly implement the schemes with sufficient window for investors to assess and submit their applications.

The proposed PLI schemes, existing at a lower bracket of 5 percent GST rate and further alignment of Customs duty rates on import of EV components/sub-assemblies will send out a strong message globally that India is ready to serve as a reliable manufacturing base for EVs.

Concessions under income tax

There is an urgent need to boost consumers automobile purchasing power, which has gone downhill in the last two fiscals. While limited fiscal room can act as an impediment to reducing the Income-Tax rates, special tax deductions for interest on loan for vehicles, similar to the deduction for electric vehicles, may be considered. Further, the existing 15 percent depreciation rate for motor vehicles may be revised to 25 percent or 30 percent.

Huge investments are needed by the automobile sector in RD. A weighted deduction may be allowed for the expenditure on R&D up to 200 percent. Similarly, the liberation of threshold limits and conditions for claiming additional employee cost deduction will also help reduce the overall cost of manufacturing vehicles.

Measures to boost consumer demand

GST rates on internal combustible engine-based vehicles continue to the highest and go up to 50 percent (28 percent base GST and 22 percent cess) for SUVs and luxury segments. The sales in these segments have taken a severe toll, and there is a need for immediate support to prevent further damage. GST rates may be reduced for these segments, if not permanent then temporarily, to help boost demand and support their survival.

The scrappage policy for automobiles is long-awaited by the industry. Incentives on scrapping old vehicles and replacing them with revised emission norms compliant vehicles will catalyse automotive production and sales.

Industry gears up for Budget

The 2021 Budget could be a game-changer and timely for the Indian automobile industry. The overall outlook is very positive. All eyes are set on how the government will deliver the measures to increase fresh investments into the sector and also to support consumers considering buying their own vehicles.

Saurabh Kanchan is Partner with Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP and Sheena Sareen is Senior Manager.
The U.S. government, including the Pentagon, is stepping up surveillance of coronavirus variants to monitor their impact on COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

We are now scaling up both our surveillance of these and our study of these, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Fox News Sunday. The agency is working with others, including the Defense Department and the Food and Drug Administration, to monitor the variants, she said.

Vivek Murthy, President Joe Bidens nominee for surgeon general, said achieving broad immunity against the coronavirus by the start of the school year in September is an ambitious goal, and that new strains of the disease will require continued masking, social distancing and better government tracking.

It is going to take a lot of work, Murthy said on ABCs This Week. Many schools dont have resources to reopen just now, he said. I do think we can get on a path toward opening schools more safely.

In Chicago, teachers ordered to return to the classroom that they instead will work remotely, setting the stage for a possible strike in the third-largest U.S. school district.

Murthy said reopening schools will also require that the numbers of CIVID-19 cases fall, which in turn depends on focusing on the Bidens administrations goal of 100 million vaccines delivered in the first 100 days in the office.

That is a floor, it is not a ceiling, he said. It is also a goal that reflects the realities of what we face.

Murthy said variant strains of the virus that are starting to show up are likely to be more transmissible.

We still need more data on deaths, he said, adding the larger lesson is that the virus is basically telling us it is going to continue to change and we got to be ready for it.

That plan requires better genomic surveillance, he said, and doubling down on masking and social distancing.

Weve got to invest a lot more in testing and in contact tracing, he said. We are in a race against these variants, the virus is going to change, and it is up to us to adapt and make sure that we are staying ahead.

___

Craig Torres and Tony Czuczka of Bloomberg News wrote this story.

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Larry Kings vintage microphone, the RCA Type 77-D that referenced his rise as a radio man, was a prop that worked as a powerful symbol of both past and present in a relentlessly evolving media age. The microphone was a security blanket for everyone involved: for King, for his 60,000 interview subjects, and for the viewers of his nightly CNN talk show, once touted by the network to number a billion or so worldwide.

The microphone indicated that King - who died Saturday at age 87, having lived most of his life as a persona more than a person, and perhaps outliving the era that made him - wanted the whole world to hear what his guests had to say. The microphone didnt stand for posterity or nostalgia so much as a visual representation of the major media moment, the heat of notoriety in its full and often fleeting flash. The microphone acknowledged the need to ask and answer the great mysteries of life - the scandals, the personal struggles, the rises and the falls, the regrets in real time.

Mostly, the microphone stood for an increasingly rare virtue: listening. (Listening, and its nearly extinct counterpart: a genuine, unflagging curiosity about someone other than yourself.)

Larry King speaks to guests at a 2007 CNN party celebrating his 50 years of broadcasting. Credit:AP

The microphone, like the man hunched over it, imparted a corny notion of importance, an attempt to lend authority over the still-nascent cable feed of the 1980s. The microphone made all Larry King Live interviews seem like a great get, a worthy exclusive, a hot insight, something youd better watch if you want to keep up. Kings life could be written as one mans determination to keep up, for an audience that always knew he was pretty much winging it - and loved him for it.
[January 25, 2021] Balfour Beatty Joint Venture Partners with Healthcare Foundation of Wilson and Wilson Family YMCA to Provide Construction After School Program and New YMCA Facility

Balfour Beatty, in joint venture with Holt Brothers, is partnering with Healthcare Foundation of Wilson and the Wilson Family YMCA to create a Construction Academy afterschool program for middle school students, and to deliver a YMCA facility for the new Wilson Middle School After School (MSAS) programs. The new Construction Academy program and dynamic shared-space YMCA facility will provide unique opportunities for youth to build brighter futures in Wilson County. The Construction Academy and new YMCA building are part of a larger community initiative funded by Healthcare Foundation of Wilson to develop MSAS programs with engaging, hands-on afterschool activity choices for middle schoolers ages 11-14. In 2018, Healthcare Foundation of Wilson approved a $22 million grant for the Wilson Family YMCA to design, build, and sustain the MSAS program and new YMCA facility that will serve as a shared space for middle school youth to discover their strengths, explore their passions, and help their young minds grow with a focus on health and wellness. "We are excited about the opportunities that are already evolving for middle school youth to participate in real and unique experiences," said Denise O'Hara, executive director of Healthcare Foundation of Wilson. "We are funding the creation of this program and building specifically to meet the afterschool needs of Wilson's middle school students, and we are grateful to the design and build team for engaging youth at this stage." The MSAS Construction Academy program will consist of an 18-month curriculum for middle school students that will explore the construction industry alongside Balfour Beatty and Holt Brothers team members. Students will have the opportunity to learn about careers in construction and career readiness,resume writing and interview skills, and the importance of teamwork and community engagement. Additionally, youth will have the opportunity to dive into construction operations, innovation and technology through building their own mock construction projects, flying drones, playing engineering games, participating in virtual and in-person job walks and more.



"Our team members are thrilled at the opportunity to teach the future generation of Wilson County with the Construction Academy afterschool program," said Chad Humphrey, Balfour Beatty market lead in North Carolina. "In partnering with Holt Brothers, Healthcare Foundation of Wilson and the Wilson Family YMCA, we look forward to providing an influential and educational program for our community's youth to jumpstart their interest in a career in construction, and delivering a dynamic space for MSAS programming for years to come." The new multi-level, 72,000-square-foot Wilson Family YMCA will serve as a safe place for middle school youth to learn, have fun, connect and grow into their full potential. The building will feature innovative learning spaces including a kitchen, science lab, makerspace and art room, fitness areas for youth and YMCA members, natatorium, and office space. The Wilson MSAS Program is scheduled to officially launch in Fall 2022 with a full menu of afterschool options at the new YMCA facility on the 100 block of Pine Street in Downtown Wilson.

"The Wilson Family YMCA and Healthcare Foundation of Wilson have a shared commitment to build a brighter future for all of Wilson's middle school students," said Kathie Davis, executive director of the Wilson Family YMCA. "The Construction Academy program is an incredible opportunity to begin hands-on programming at our new YMCA facility. Balfour Beatty and Holt Brothers have structured an interactive framework that will be informative, educational and fun, and we are extremely excited and grateful to be part of the team." The MSAS Construction Academy is now taking applicants for its February 2021-August 2022 class. The program is set to start virtually Feb. 1, 2021 and is open to all Wilson County middle school students. To learn more about the program or to sign up visit Balfour Beatty's website. About Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty is an industry-leading provider of general contracting, at-risk construction management and design-build services for public and private sector clients across the United States. Performing heavy civil and vertical construction, the company is part of Balfour Beatty plc (LSE: BBY), a leading international infrastructure group that provides innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. Balfour Beatty is ranked among the top domestic building contractors in the United States by Engineering News-Record. To learn more, visit www.balfourbeattyus.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005651/en/

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UPDATE: See a new article with more information provided by the Butte County Sheriff's Office here.

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UPDATE: Despite the statement from Chico State, Action News now checked with District Attorney Mike Ramsey and he says they have not received the case from the Butte County Sheriffs' Office. The DA also says, Dr. Easton has bailed out, and they are waiting to see if they have enough evidence to charge him.

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CHICO, Calif.  The Butte County Sheriff's Office charged Laird McLeod Easton, a professor in the history department at Chico State, with possession of obscene material containing minors on Jan. 21st. We are still trying to speak with the Butte County Sheriff's Department regarding the charges.

In an official statement from Media Relations Coordinator Sean Murphy the University said:

The University has learned that one of its employees, Laird Easton, has been charged by the Butte County District Attorney in a child pornography investigation. We are cooperating with the DAs investigation and the employee has been suspended from teaching and campus activities until further notice. The University encourages anyone with knowledge about this case or any instance of child exploitation or abuse to contact the Butte County District Attorneys office. Any questions about the charges or ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the DAs office.

This is a developing story and we will post new information as it becomes available.
Victoria has recorded its deadliest period on record for drownings, but many people are still ignoring safety signs at dangerous waterways.

Seven people have died in the water this year, prompting urgent pleas from authorities for swimmers and boating enthusiasts to take greater care.

Warning signs at Cape Woolamai, which is among the most treacherous beaches in Victoria. Credit:Justin McManus

Life Saving Victoria said its studies showed only 45 per cent of people observe safety signs warning of hazardous conditions including rips, submerged rocks and dangerous sea life.

The rescue services principal research associate, Bernadette Matthews, said the studies showed warning signs alone were insufficient to promote water safety.
(@FahadShabbir)

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 25th Jan, 2021) DP World, a leading global provider of smart logistics solutions, has signed a 20-year concession agreement with the Government of Angola to operate the Multipurpose Terminal (MPT) at the Port of Luanda.

The agreement was signed in Luanda today by Antonio Bengue, Chairman of Porto de Luanda and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World.

The signing of the agreement follows an international tender process in which DP World was selected by an evaluation committee set up by the Angolan Ministry of Transport as the preferred bidder to enter into discussions with the Government for the concession. The MPT will be the first seaport terminal located on the western coast of Southern Africa to be operated and managed by DP World, and will further extend the companys footprint in Africa.

Under the agreement, DP World will invest US$190 million over the 20-year period of the concession, with plans to rehabilitate the existing infrastructure and acquire new equipment to bring operations in line with global standards and improve the efficiency of the MPT, as part of the broader aim of increasing the terminals annual throughput to approximately 700,000 TEUs per year. This will be supported by a modern port management system, as well as further training and development of Angolan staff employed at the terminal.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, said, "We are delighted to sign the concession agreement and forge a partnership with the Government of Angola.

Our entry into Angola and planned investment in the terminal, as outlined in the agreement, reflects our belief in the potential for further economic growth in the country.

"We look forward to playing our role in supporting the government to achieve its growth objectives through this key sector by leveraging our expertise, not just as a port operator, but also as a global provider of end-to-end logistics solutions."

Ricardo de Abreu, Minister of Transport of the Government of Angola, said, "We understand that the performance of the Transport Sector in our country must count on key players such as DP World, to help us both modernise our infrastructure, as well as make it more competitive."

"As Government, maintaining the jobs of workers assigned to the Terminal, the implementation of a training and capacity building plan in different areas by the concessionaire, and the inclusion of middle and senior Angolan staff in its decision making structure, are some of the other gains from this relationship that we greatly appreciate."

The largest port in the country, the Port of Luanda is located in a natural bay in the countrys capital Luanda. Its regional location, which makes it a mandatory stop on the sea routes along the west of the African continent, gives it the opportunity to benefit from trade flows into the surrounding region. The terminal will be developed into the largest such facility in Angola. The MPT at the port handles both containers and general cargo, and has a pier of 610 meters, a depth of 12.5 meters and a yard of 23 hectares.
President Joe Biden will escalate appeals for Congress to back his top priority, $1.9 trillion in pandemic relief, seeking to overcome Republican opposition to the plan as he enters his first full week in office.

Biden's top economic adviser, Brian Deese, spent more than an hour on Sunday discussing the proposal with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Some asked the White House to further justify what would be the second-largest emergency spending measure in U.S. history and expressed interest in a much narrower bill focused on accelerating coronavirus vaccine distribution, according to Senator Angus King of Maine and people familiar with the matter.

Deese and other officials provided details and context in response to the senators' questions, according to an administration official. Senior White House aides plan to keep talking with lawmakers in both parties this week to hear their concerns but also press for urgent action, the official said.

As the president's team began its work with key lawmakers, Biden is moving forward with another round of executive actions, following on a series of orders signed soon after he took office. On Monday, he will sign an order directing federal agencies to buy more American-made products and is expected to take other actions on criminal justice, climate, health care and immigration.

The new orders will add to roughly two dozen actions Biden has signed since Inauguration Day in an effort to address the coronavirus pandemic, reverse former President Donald Trump's agenda and point the nation in a new direction.

While girding for what may be prolonged negotiations with Republicans, Biden received welcome news with the Senate's decision to delay the start of Trump's second impeachment trial. The president had urged lawmakers to spend more time filling Cabinet posts and working on his agenda. The Senate this week is expected to take up the nomination of Janet Yellen to lead the Treasury Department, which would fill a key vacancy at a critical moment for the economy.

But agreement has been hard to come by in the 50-50 Senate, where Democratic and Republican leaders have yet to reach a power-sharing deal -- much less come to terms on the White House's stimulus proposal.

Taken together, the developments show the honeymoon period of Biden's presidency could be coming to a close mere days after he took office. The challenges raise questions about whether Biden can keep his pledge to unify the country while pushing forward with an ambitious policy agenda that addresses thorny issues. Biden's aides have expressed optimism.

"By and large, we've seen a lot of progress on this front," White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The coming days will also test Biden's personal relationships with members of Congress, which his team said would help him get big things done in a divided Washington. For now, his lieutenants are taking the lead in trying to build some support for his stimulus and immigration bills.

Deese on Sunday spoke to a bipartisan group of 16 senators, including moderate Republican Senators Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, all of whom have expressed reservations about the price tag for Biden's virus relief proposal.

Before the call, Romney described the $1.9 trillion cost "shocking," considering a $900 billion stimulus Congress passed in late December. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Romney called for targeted relief measures focused on ending the pandemic rather than another major stimulus package.

King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the White House should provide hard figures to show why such a large package is needed on the heels of December's stimulus law.

"Part of what we're asking for is more data -- where did you get the number?" said King, who participated in Deese's call.

A Democrat on the call, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, said that lawmakers need more information on how the last stimulus was used.

"I think that case can be better made when we get more transparency and better numbers about how the last $900 billion - much of which has started to go out - but I think the administration needs to be very transparent about how those dollars have been delivered," Warner said in an interview on NPR.

Facing pressure from liberals for quick action, the White House has brushed aside the idea of cutting off bipartisan talks by using a maneuver called "budget reconciliation," which would conceivably allow much of the legislation to pass through the Senate with only Democratic votes. Under normal rules, major legislation often needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, meaning Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to advance Biden's relief plan.

Yet Biden's team has also resisted making changes favored by Republicans, such as reducing the package's size, breaking it into smaller pieces or removing controversial items like a minimum wage increase.

"We were going to move fast and we're going to move bipartisan," Klain said. "I don't think bipartisanship and speed are enemies of one another. The need is urgent. Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, are dying. Kids' schools that take care of both Democratic and Republican kids are closed. People are on unemployment. People are in food lines. That's not a party issue."

In the meantime, the president plans to spend part of each day next week signing executive actions. Monday's order will start the process of strengthening requirements for federal agencies to buy U.S.-made goods and services, according to administration officials. It will also tighten standards for how much of a product needs to be manufactured in the U.S. in order to be considered American-made.

Another batch of orders are expected to be aimed at racial justice. Among them are directives to create a federal commission on police reform, limit the transfer of military equipment to police and wind down the use of private prisons.

Biden also plans to sign actions that elevate climate change as a national security and regulatory priority and convene a summit of world leaders on April 22 to discuss the issue.

The president is also expected to rescind a controversial rule blocking U.S. funding for foreign groups that provide abortions, known as the Mexico City policy, and sign an order bolstering Medicaid and Obamacare.

On immigration, Biden plans to sign actions that restore the U.S. asylum and refugee systems that largely ground to a halt under Trump. He's expected to direct a review of a Trump-era rule that tightened criteria for refusing entry to potential immigrants on the grounds they would become dependent on government assistance. Biden also plans to form a task force to reunite migrant children with guardians separated from them under Trump's border policies.
Google threatens to shut search engine in Australia over govt move to force it pay for local content

Google has threatened to shut its search engine in Australia over the upcoming legislation of a media code that requires Google, Facebook and other technology platforms to pay local media companies for using their content.

The Australian government plans to pass a media code that mandates big tech platforms to pay local media companies for sharing their content. The legislation would require tech giants like Google and Facebook to negotiate payments with local media firms for content included in search results or news feeds. In case of failure to strike a deal, a government appointed arbitrator would decide the price.

Australias Competition and Consumer Commission drafted the upcoming News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. The drafting of the code follows an inquiry in 2019 that found that these tech giants were enjoying a disproportionately large share of online ad revenue even as their content came from media organistions.

Google on Friday said the proposed legislation would cause irreparable financial loss to the search giant,

Mel Silva, managing director of Google for Australia and New Zealand, has told an Australian senate committee that the arbitration model of the proposed code poses unmanageable financial and operational risk for Google.

The principle of unrestricted linking between websites is fundamental to Search. Coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk if this version of the Code were to become law it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia. That would be a bad outcome not just for us, but for the Australian people, media diversity and small businesses who use Google Search,she told the senate panel.

"If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia," she added.

People who want to work with that in Australia, youre very welcome. But we dont respond to threats, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a sharp rebuke to Google's threat.

The US government has also suggested that Australia withdraw the legislation and instead propose a voluntary code.

The legislation was part of Australias move to curb rising market powers of the tech giants in the media industry that has rendered media companies unprofitable, with digital media subjugating mass media using their financial muscle and technological edge.

Earlier in April 2020, The Australian government had, in April last year, ordered digital platforms like Google and Facebook to share revenues with media companies amid a crash in advertising revenue as consumers shift increasingly to online and digital platforms.

Google, however, failed to negotiate any deal with media companies. Instead it announced a three-year $1.3 billion push to support publishers worldwide.

Google, on the other hand, proposed a licensing programme through which news businesses publish and promote their stories online through Google. Publishers would get paid for their expertise, but the proposed Google News Showcase would only show up in Google News and without the usual links in Google Search.

The Associated Press quoted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison as saying that it is not his government s job to respond to threats. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. Thats done in our Parliament. Its done by our government. And thats how things work here in Australia, the news agency quoted him as saying.


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(Newser)  A Nashville attorney is temporarily no longer practicing law after he offered some legal advice to a woman on Facebook. The problem is that the advice centered on how to kill somebody and get away with it, reports ABC News. The unusual case goes back to 2017, when attorney Winston B. Sitton responded to a woman's online plea for advice on dealing with a potentially abusive ex, per the Tennessean. The advice that got Sitton into hot water: "If you want to kill him, then lure him into your house and claim he broke in with intent to do you bodily harm and that you feared for your life," he wrote. "Even with the new stand your ground law, the castle doctrine is a far safer basis for use of deadly force." When the woman responded, "I wish he would try," Sitton cautioned her to keep quiet about any such plans.

story continues below

"As a lawyer, I advise you to keep mum about this if you are remotely serious," Sitton wrote. "Your defense is that you are afraid for your liferevenge or premeditation of any sort will be used against you at trial." The woman deleted the exchange, but not before her ex saw it and informed the district attorney in Shelby County. The matter eventually made its way to the state Supreme Court, which has ruled that Sitton's license be suspended for four years, including three on probation. In an online post, Sitton insists he was being sarcastic and was actually trying to convince the woman not to resort to violence. However, he admits the language was "intemperate" and regrets using it. The court's view: "Lawyers who choose to post on social media must realize they are handling live ammunition; doing so requires care and judgment." (Read more attorney stories.)
Police found the body of a man shot to death Sunday night in a southeast Houston apartment complex.

Investigators said they believe the man  involved in an earlier fight at the complex  was shot around 9 p.m. at Broadway Casa Apartments in the 8400 block of Broadway Street, near Hobby Airport.

The man left the initial fight and later returned. A man confronted him in the apartment complex and fatally shot him, police said.

The suspected shooter then left the complex and police are looking for him.

Investigators spent the hours that followed talking to possible witnesses and looking for surveillance cameras.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
AMSTERDAM (dpa-AFX) - Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips Electronics NV (PHGFF.PK, PHG) reported Monday that its fourth-quarter net income increased to 607 million euros from last year's 556 million euros. Earnings per share were 0.66 euro, up from 0.60 euro a year ago. Income from continuing operations increased to 608 million euros from 550 million euros last year. Adjusted earnings per share were 0.94 euro, compared to 0.83 euro last year. Adjusted EBITA margin improved 110 basis points to 19.0 percent. The fourth-quarter sales edged up 1 percent to 6 billion euros from 5.96 billion euros last year. Comparable sales growth was 7 percent. Comparable order intake increased 7 percent. Further, the company proposed dividend of 0.85 euro per share, in cash or shares at the option of the shareholder Looking ahead, for 2021, Philips plans to deliver low-single-digit comparable sales growth, driven by solid growth in Diagnosis & Treatment and Personal Health, partly offset by lower Connected Care sales. The company also projects an adjusted EBITA margin improvement of 60-80 basis points. 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 Trinamool Congress



government in will table a resolution during the upcoming two-day assembly session, opposing the Centre's new farm laws and demanding their immediate repeal, a senior minister said on Monday.

The assembly session will begin on January 27 and the resolution will be tabled under Rule 169 during the second half on January 28, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

A two-and-half-hour-long discussion will be held, he said.

An all-party meeting was convened by Speaker Biman Banerjee at his chamber in the assembly during the day.

The state government's effort to bring the Congress and the Left Front on the same page to table a joint resolution failed as the opposition parties wanted to bring it under Rule 185.

"They wanted to bring the same resolution under Rule 185. What is the point of bringing two resolutions on the same issue under two different rules? When the government has submitted a resolution, it is expected that it will be accepted," Chatterjee said.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan said that the TMC government does not have any moral authority to bring a resolution against the Centre's new farm laws as the state administration too had passed similar laws a few years back.

"Unless the TMC government withdraws the similar laws it had passed a few years back, there is no meaning in bringing a resolution against the Centre's new farm laws. The resolution that we had submitted had those points but the state administration was not willing to accept it," he said.

The Left Front and the Congress, however, said that they will take part in the discussion and place their views in the House.

BJP legislative party leader Manoj Tigga said his party will oppose the resolution.

Apart from the resolution, two bills pertaining to the establishment of an agricultural university and GST-related issues will be tabled.

(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.)
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Monday, Jan. 25, and the clock is ticking on Californias pandemic eviction moratorium. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

California will lift regional stay-home orders across the entire state today, a source close to Gov. Gavin Newsoms office told The Chronicle on Sunday. The source confirmed that the state plans to move back into the reopening framework based on colored tiers.

Most counties are expected to move into the purple tier  the most restrictive, but less stringent than the statewide order. In that tier, restaurants can open for outdoor service, and personal care services like hair and nail salons can reopen with modifications.

Meanwhile, several variants of the virus are emerging, including one or more that could make vaccines less effective, and its increasingly unclear what the pandemic finish line will look like. Heres the inside story of how the Bay Area coronavirus variant was discovered and what you need to know about protecting yourself.

 To simplify vaccine rollout, California considers an age-based system.

 How a grassroots Bay Area vaccine clinic managed to get people vaccinated despite the faltering rollout.

 New study ranks the riskiest jobs in California during the pandemic.

 Inside a California COVID ward, exhausted staff care for patients on the edge of life and death.

A rare perspective in the Senate

J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press

Like many California Latinos of his generation, Sen. Alex Padillas political consciousness was forged by Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that would have cut off undocumented immigrants from public education and non-emergency health care. State voters approved it, but the courts threw it out.

But Padillas social awareness began before that, when he was a teenager in a working-class immigrant neighborhood of Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley. Read more from Joe Garofoli about how Californias newest senators upbringing  one very different than many in the Senate  has informed his politics.

More in Politics:

J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press 2007

 Take a look inside Blair House, Vice President Kamala Harris temporary home in D.C.

California eviction moratorium set to expire

With the economy hit badly by the pandemic, more than 1 million California households are behind on rent  and sinking further into debt. In total, 1.1 million renters owe $3.6 billion, or about $3,300 per household, a recent survey shows.

While California tenants are currently protected from eviction by state measure, its set to expire at the end of the month.

Read more from J.K. Dineen on efforts to extend eviction protection.

Rebranding electric cars as accessible to all

Daniel Kim / AP

Gov. Gavin Newsoms plan to spend $1.5 billion to speed up Californias move to electric vehicles would amount to a sharp change in the states strategy on who should receive subsidies for zero-emission cars.

Newsom wants to erase most state funding for a popular rebate program for new-car buyers, money that has overwhelmingly gone to drivers with annual incomes above $100,000. Instead, hes asking lawmakers to spend big in two other areas: building a large network of vehicle charging and refueling stations, and increasing subsidies to help lower-income buyers afford the higher price tag of electric models.

Read more from Dustin Gardiner.

 Environmental turnaround  eight issues that will swing in Californias favor under Biden.

Around the Bay

 Wet weather ahead: Heavy rains to douse parched Bay Area region starting Tuesday. Also: Coming storms prompt evacuation warning for parts of Santa Cruz County.

 Day hike turned fatal: Woman missing in Yosemite National Park found dead at waterfall base, authorities say.

 Walk SF study: More than 200 killed, 20,000 hurt in S.F. traffic incidents since 2014.

 Pandemic pivot: Many Bay Area chefs used to see pop-ups as a pit stop. The pandemic made them a long-term plan.

 Industry fights back: California law banning flavored tobacco on hold as referendum qualifies for ballot.

 I dont know what to do: San Francisco taxi drivers lose dream, face foreclosures as pandemic jolts business.

 From Phil Matier: Tents are back in San Franciscos Tenderloin, and scoring drugs is easy.

 From Carl Nolte: Techies may go, but San Franciscos stalwarts carry on.

Cheers and a call to action

Courtesy Chris Lebar

For the past few weeks, The Chronicles Culture Desk has been asking nightlife regulars what they miss about their favorite cocktail bars, dives and cabarets, rendered off-limits during the coronavirus pandemic.

Weve heard about bartenders who enjoy putting on the apron, about entertaining strangers with chest scars and stories, about families forged over pint glasses and hallowed spaces that make us whole. These stories are more than an homage to the Bay Areas bars. Theyre a call to action.

From Original Joes in North Beach to Blue Light in Cow Hollow, read this salute from the regulars.

 S.F. gay landmark Twin Peaks Tavern was in danger of closing. Its patrons helped keep it open  for now.

 With Holy Mountain cocktail class, regulars bring the bar to their living room.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown, Anna Buchmann and Kellie Hwang and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact the writers at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com, anna.buchmann@sfchronicle.com and kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com.
Australias exports to China increased by $2.3 billion in December despite ongoing tensions between the trading partners, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned he wasnt prepared to make pre-emptive concessions in order to re-engage with Beijing.

The nations trade surplus was $9 billion in December, up by $7.4 billion on the month before, Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Monday shows.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has spoken with former leaders Kevin Rudd and John Howard about the trade impasse with China. Credit:AAP

This was the fourth-highest surplus on record on this measure  largely due to a 20 per cent jump in exports to China. Metalliferous ore exports increased 22 per cent, of which 82 per cent was iron ore  a major export to China. Total exports were valued at $34.9 billion.

Australias annual exports to China rose to $145.19 billion in December, from $145.14 billion the previous month, but remain down 2.1 per cent on a year ago.
An Garda Siochana, the HSE and The Department of Health are advising members of the Limerick public to be aware of potential scams relating to the Covid-19 vaccine.

In recent days, An Garda Siochana is aware of members of the public having received fraudulent text messages and calls regarding Covid vaccination.

The text messages have made requests for people to confirm private and sensitive information such as PPS number, date of birth and address.

Other people have received phone calls requesting they make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine jab at a random hospital. In most cases, the person receiving the call will say they are not in a position to travel to the hospital.

This allows the caller to extract further personal details. Some individuals might confirm that they live alone or reveal their home address. The caller will then offer to come to their residence to administer a vaccine.

The HSE will never text or call individuals requesting personal information and they will never request payment for a Covid test or Vaccine. Your local GP will be the first point of contact about vaccination or Covid testing.

The Covid-19 vaccine is free and it is not available privately.

"We would ask that members of the public make contact with any vulnerable friends or family to make them aware of these calls and text messages" confirmed a Garda spokesperson.

Tips and Advice


Interpol has rejected the demands of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to declare former head of the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) Dmytro Vovk on the wanted list.

"After almost a year and a half of consideration, today we received news from the headquarters of Interpol in Lyon, France  the decision to delete my data from the Interpol bases has come into force," he wrote on his Facebook page, attaching the relevant document of the international organization.

According to Vovk, Interpol called on all national police bureaus to ensure that national databases are updated and confirm that they do not have data on him.

As reported, at the end of April 2016, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine started applying a new procedure for the formation of the forecast of wholesale electricity market price, which affects the establishment of electricity tariffs for industrial consumers (resolution No.289 dated March 3, 2016). The procedure, in particular, determines the price of coal according to the formula "cost at the port of Rotterdam (API2) plus the cost of delivery to Ukraine."
The capacity to attract capital flows depends on supply, and in this respect we will all do our best to speed up the listing of Hidroelectrica and, possibly, of other companies where the state holds majority stakes, Competition Council president Bogdan Chiritoiu said today at a press conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the listing of Fondul Proprietatea (FP).

"Fondul Proprietatea's beginnings were met with skepticism. I remember that my boss at that time was skeptical about this method of compensating the former property owners. What I understood from these years is that the main benefit the Fund has brought to the economy has come from the economic governance. This is where the Fund was very useful for us as an institution and for the Romanian economy in general, because it improved transparency, it slimmed down certain practices in state-owned companies and sometimes helped us not to throw money out the window for expensive restructuring programs. If you put more money into something that fares poorly it won't work better and you will only lose more money," Chiritoiu specified.

According to him, it is important that a transparent regulatory framework is created in Romania to allow companies to make the best decisions.

"Fondul Proprietatea is also present in other state-owned companies that are doing far from well: the Romanian Post Company, the Oltenia Energy Complex. The discussions we had over the years with FP helped us to correctly size the support measures for these companies. There have been some tensions between our and FP's vision of the situation of companies in a monopolistic position, such as the Constanta Port, or the Bucharest Airport. It's the state's job to improve our regulatory mechanisms for monopoly situations," said the president of the Competition Council.
America Talks: Join us and #ListenFirst in a virtual conversation with another American
PHOENIX, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VEREIT, Inc. ("VEREIT" or the "Company") announced the income tax classification of its 2020 dividends for the Company's common stock (NYSE: VER) ("Common Stock") and 6.70% Series F Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (NYSE: VER-PF) ("Series F Preferred Stock"). The tables below summarize the income tax classification of the dividends paid and the corresponding box number on the 2020 Form 1099-DIV. Due to the previously disclosed class action settlement, the Company will recognize a deduction in 2020 for the amounts contributed to the settlement fund for federal income tax purposes. This deduction is the primary driver of the classification of the Company's 2020 dividends as nondividend distributions (Box 3) on the 2020 Form 1099-DIV. Stockholders are encouraged to consult with their tax advisors as to their specific tax treatment of VER and VER PRF dividends.

VER Common Stock | CUSIP: 92339V308

Record

Date Date

Paid Distribution

per Share* Ordinary

Dividends

(Box 1a) Qualified

Dividends

(Box 1b) Capital Gain

Distribution

(Box 2a) Unrecaptured

Section 1250

Gain (Box 2b) Nondividend

Distributions

(Box 3) Section

199A

Dividends

(Box 5) 12/31/2019 1/15/2020 $ 0.6875000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.6875000 $ 0.000000 3/31/2020 4/15/2020 $ 0.6875000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.6875000 $ 0.000000 6/30/2020 7/15/2020 $ 0.3850000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.3850000 $ 0.000000 9/30/2020 10/15/2020 $ 0.3850000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.3850000 $ 0.000000



*Distributions have been adjusted for the one-for-five reverse stock split effective December 17, 2020.

VER PRF Series F Preferred Stock | CUSIP: 92339V209

Record

Date Date Paid Distribution

per Share Ordinary

Dividends

(Box 1a) Qualified

Dividends

(Box 1b) Capital Gain

Distribution

(Box 2a) Unrecaptured

Section 1250

Gain (Box 2b) Nondividend

Distributions

(Box 3) Section

199A

Dividends

(Box 5) 1/1/2020 1/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 2/1/2020 2/18/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 3/1/2020 3/16/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 4/1/2020 4/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 5/1/2020 5/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 6/1/2020 6/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 7/1/2020 7/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 8/1/2020 8/17/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 9/1/2020 9/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 10/1/2020 10/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 11/1/2020 11/16/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 12/1/2020 12/15/2020 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.000000 $ 0.1395833 $ 0.000000

About the Company

VEREIT is a full-service real estate operating company which owns and manages one of the largest portfolios of single-tenant commercial properties in the U.S. VEREIT has total real estate investments of $14.6 billion including approximately 3,800 properties and 88.9 million square feet. VEREIT's business model provides equity capital to creditworthy corporations in return for long-term leases on their properties. VEREIT is a publicly traded Maryland corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. VEREIT uses, and intends to continue to use, its Investor Relations website, which can be found at www.VEREIT.com, as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Additional information about VEREIT can be found through social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth herein contains forward-looking statements, which reflect VEREIT's expectations regarding future results, events and plans, including expectations regarding VEREIT's 2020 tax reporting. Generally, the words "anticipates," "assumes," "believes," "continues," "could," "estimates," "expects," "goals," "intends," "may," "plans," "projects," "seeks," "should," "targets," "will," variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available and involve a number of known and unknown assumptions and risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are difficult to predict and beyond VEREIT's control, that could cause actual events and plans or could cause VEREIT's business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in VEREIT's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. VEREIT disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this press release, whether as a result of changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE VEREIT, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.vereit.com



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Energean, a London-based independent E&P company, said that that Final Investment Decision has been taken on the North El Amriya and North Idku (NEA/NI) concession subsea tieback project in offshore Egypt.



The NEA concession contains two discovered and appraised gas fields (Yazzi and Python)while the NI concession contains four discovered gas fields, one of which is readied for development. NEA/NI is due to deliver first gas in 2H 2022 with 49 million boe of 2P reserves, 87% of which is gas and peak production is expected to be approximately 90 mmscf/d plus 1 kbopd of condensates.



The NEA/NI project is a key one for the Egyptian portfolio which will provide substantial benefits to the long-term production profile in the country, whilst bringing additional cost efficiencies and strategic benefits. When Brent prices are above $40/bbl, gas will be sold at $4.6/mm BTU, which is the highest achieved to date for shallow water gas production, offshore Egypt.



Total capital expenditure is expected to be approximately $235 million, the majority of which is expected to be incurred in 2022andTechnipFMC has been awarded the EPIC contract to deliver the project. The NEA/NI drilling campaign is expected to be integrated with a broader Abu Qir drilling campaign, providing synergies on capital expenditure.  TradeArabia News Service


Police in Northern Ireland have issued another 455 Covid-related sanctions in the past week.

Up to midnight on Sunday and since March, police have issued:

2,101 Cov1 notices,

1,248 Cov2 notices, up 92 on the previous week.

56 Cov3 notices, up one

2,478 Cov4 notices, up 319

58 Cov5, up one, and

1,867 community resolution notices - an increase of 42.

Read More

Police have been given wide-ranging powers to enforce regulations to prevent the spread of the virus.

It has been operating vehicle checkpoints to monitor people's movement around Northern Ireland as a stay-at-home order is in place.

The PSNI has been keen to stress its officers will approach, engage, explain and inform before issuing penalties.

Last week Chief Constable Simon Byrne warned if people continued to flout restrictions they could expect "firm and swift enforcement".

Sanctions are doled out for a range of incidents such as for gatherings outside the permitted numbers, businesses operating outside the rules.

Fines can also be issued to those failing to self-isolate while community resolution notices are warnings.

Penalties can range from 200 to 10,000.

Read More

Last week, the Belfast Telegraph revealed nine PSNI officers had been sanctioned for breaches of the regulations.

One officer has received a Cov2 Prohibition Notice and a Community Resolution Notice and one further officer has received a Community Resolution Notice. Seven officers "received engagement" by local police.

None of the officers has faced a court over the breaches, and none have been fined.

However, the force has not ruled out internal misconduct investigations.

Superintendent Claire McGuigan from the PSNI's Professional Standards Branch said all their officers were expected to behave "ethically and with the utmost integrity at all times both on and off duty."

The Police Federation said there was an onus on officers to adhere to the regulations.
Between 5,000 to 7,000 National Guard troops will remain in Washington DC until March because of alleged threats against Congress ahead of Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Federal law enforcement officials are examining a number of threats aimed at members of Congress as the former president's second trial nears, including chatter about killing legislators or attacking them outside of the US Capitol, sources told the Associated Press.

The threats, and concerns that armed protesters could return to sack the Capitol, have prompted Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement to insist thousands of National Guard troops remain in Washington.

Nearly 26,000 troops from all 50 states poured into DC ahead of Biden's inauguration in response to escalating security threats and fears of more rioting in the wake of the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Between 5,000 to 7,000 National Guard troops will remain in Washington DC until March because of alleged threats against Congress ahead of Donald Trump's impeachment trial. Members of the Guard are pictured above out the Capitol on Monday

Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard slammed the government over the ongoing military presence in DC, asking Biden if he had martial law

After the inauguration went off with only a handful of minor arrests and incidents, 15,400 of those Guardsmen have been told they can now return home.

The Guard is now helping states to coordinate the logistics of sending the 15,400 troops home but warned it might take several days.

Troops from Mississippi arrived back in their home state on Saturday after flying out of DC on a military aircraft.

The troops that are leaving are expected to head home on buses or Air National Guard aircrafts. Some will travel by commercial flights if necessary.

All but about 7,000 of the remaining troops will go home in the coming days.

The Guard Bureau said that the number of troops in DC would then continue to decline in the coming weeks to about 5,000.

The remaining troops will stay on duty until at least March with officials saying threats to lawmakers ahead of Trump's trial have exemplified the continued potential for so-called danger.

Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard slammed the government over the ongoing military presence in DC, asking Biden if he had martial law.

'President Joe Biden, have you declared martial law? Because that is what its starting to look and feel like. Let our troops get back home to their families,' she tweeted on Monday.

In an interview with Fox News, Gabbard said the 'enduring presence' of troops after the inauguration was concerning.

"What is it that they are trying to accomplish now by creating an enduring presence? That sounds a lot like a lot of the stuff that we've seen happen overseas,' she said.

Much of the security apparatus around Washington set up after the riot and ahead of Biden's inauguration is no longer in place. Anti-climb steel fencing (above) erected around the Capitol building, however, remains in place

A Guardsmen stands outside the steel fencing still in place around the US Capitol building on Monday

Federal law enforcement officials are examining a number of threats aimed at members of Congress as the former president's second trial nears, including chatter about killing legislators or attacking them outside of the US Capitol. Guardsmen are pictured above on Monday

Similar to those intercepted by investigators ahead of Biden's inauguration, the threats that law enforcement agents are tracking vary in specificity and credibility, said the official, who had been briefed on the matter.

Mainly posted online and in chat groups, the messages have included plots to attack members of Congress during travel to and from the Capitol complex during the trial, according to the official.

Law enforcement officials are already starting to plan for the possibility of armed protesters returning to the nation's capital when Trump's Senate trial on a charge of inciting a violent insurrection begins the week of February 8.

Much of the security apparatus around Washington set up after the riot and ahead of Biden's inauguration is no longer in place.

It included scores of military checkpoints and hundreds of additional law enforcement personnel.

Anti-climb steel fencing erected around the Capitol building remains in place.

The National Mall and other monuments, which had been shut down in the days before and after the inauguration, have now reopened.

It comes after lawmakers expressed outrage late last week over how their reservists were being treated while deployed in the nation's capital.

Pictures emerged showing members sleeping on the floors of Congress and more recently it was revealed they had been ordered to spend their time resting in the middle of 12 hour shifts in a parking garage.

Capitol Police denied telling the troops to leave the Capitol building and lawmakers have vowed to figure out what happened.

Troops from Mississippi arrived back in their home state on Saturday after flying out of DC on a military aircraft

Mississippi Guard troops line up to get COVID tests are arriving back from DC

Road blocks and some of the steel anti-climb fences were removed from the 'green zone' perimeter in central DC on Friday
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.

Grindr Fined in Europe Over Sharing of User Data This briefing has ended. Follow our latest coverage of markets, business and the economy.

Grindr is fined $11.7 million under European privacy law. Credit... Hassan Ammar/Associated Press The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said on Monday that it would fine Grindr, the worlds most popular gay dating app, 100 million Norwegian kroner, or about $11.7 million, for illegally disclosing private details about its users to advertising companies. The agency said the app had transmitted users precise locations, user-tracking codes and the apps name to at least five advertising companies, essentially tagging individuals as L.G.B.T.Q. without obtaining their explicit consent, in violation of European data protection law. Grindr shared users private details with, among other companies, MoPub, Twitters mobile advertising platform, which may in turn share data with more than 100 partners, according to the agencys ruling. Tobias Judin, head of the Norwegian Data Protection Authoritys international department, said Grindrs data-mining practices not only violated European privacy rights but also could have put users at serious risk in countries, like Qatar and Pakistan, where consensual same-sex sexual acts are illegal. Image Tobias Judin leads the Norwegian Data Protection Authoritys international department. Credit... Ilja Hendel If someone finds out that they are gay and knows their movements, they may be harmed, Mr. Judin said. Were trying to make these apps and services understand that this approach  not informing users, not gaining a valid consent to share their data  is completely unacceptable. The fine comes one year after European nonprofit groups lodged complaints against Grindr and its advertising partners with data protection regulators. In tests last January, The New York Times found that the Android version of the Grindr app was sharing location information that was so precise, it pinpointed reporters on the side of the building they were sitting on. In April, Grindr revamped its user consent process. In a statement, a spokesperson for Grindr said the company had obtained valid legal consent from all of its users in Europe on multiple occasions and was confident that its approach to user privacy is first in class among social apps. The statement added: We continually enhance our privacy practices in consideration of evolving privacy laws and regulations, and look forward to entering into a productive dialogue with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority. The company has until Feb. 15 to comment on the ruling before it is final. The Norwegian agency said it was investigating whether the ad companies that received users details from Grindr had also violated European data protection law. Privacy experts said the ruling would have wide repercussions beyond dating apps. This not only sets limits for Grindr, said Finn Myrstad, the director of digital policy for the Norwegian Consumer Council, one of the groups that lodged the complaints, but establishes strict legal requirements on a whole industry that profits from collecting and sharing information about our preferences, location, purchases, physical and mental health, sexual orientation and political views. Natasha Singer and

After 37 years, Budweiser will sit out the Super Bowl. Budweisers Covid-19 awareness advertisement includes two health workers who were being vaccinated. Credit... Budweiser, via Associated Press Budweiser, the beer giant whose commercials featuring Clydesdale horses, croaking frogs and winsome puppies made it one of the most beloved Super Bowl advertisers, is opting out of the game-time broadcast this year for the first time in 37 years to focus on raising awareness for the Covid-19 vaccine. Budweiser, an Anheuser-Busch company, said Monday that it would donate portions of its advertising budget this year to the Ad Council, a nonprofit marketing group at the helm of a $50 million ad blitz to fight coronavirus vaccine skepticism. Instead of debuting a splashy big-game commercial, as Super Bowl advertisers often do in the weeks leading up to the Feb. 7 match, the beer company released its 90-second online vaccination ad, titled Bigger Picture. (Anheuser-Busch will still feature prominently during the game, with ads for several of its other beer brands.) Other Super Bowl stalwarts, including Coca-Cola, Hyundai and Pepsi, will also be missing onscreen. As the pandemic disrupted the sports industry, many companies hesitated to pay CBS roughly $5.5 million for a 30-second slot during a game that some worried could be delayed or even canceled. In the Budweiser Covid-19 vaccination ad, the actress Rashida Jones urges viewers to turn our strength into hope while the melody of Lean on Me plays as inspirational images from the pandemic are shown. Ms. Jones, who recorded her narration while isolated from other people in a Hollywood facility, said in an interview that obviously people want to be entertained, they want to watch funny commercials, but whats most important is that we prioritize this next phase. The Super Bowl advertising season, which usually extends beyond the broadcast into weeks of teasers, celebrity reveals, YouTube debuts and celebratory live events, is more subdued as companies struggle to adopt an appropriate tone after a year full of marketing missteps. You cant pretend like everythings OK, Ms. Jones said. People can sense when brands are exploiting a moment.

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Janet Yellen is confirmed as Treasury secretary. Ms. Yellen is the first woman to hold the top job at Treasury in its 232-year history. Credit... Leah Millis/Reuters The Senate confirmed Janet L. Yellen to be Treasury secretary on Monday, putting her at the forefront of navigating the fallout created by the pandemic as she advocates for President Bidens economic agenda. Ms. Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, was confirmed by a vote of 84 to 15 with support from both Republicans and Democrats. She is the first woman to hold the top job at Treasury in its 232-year history. With the confirmation, she will now be thrust into the middle of negotiations over a potential $1.9 trillion economic aid package that is the chief plank of Mr. Bidens effort to revive the economy. The size of the plan already met with doubts from some Democrats and Republicans. Ms. Yellen has been a clear champion of continued government support for workers and businesses, publicly warning that a lack of aid to state and local governments could slow the recovery, much as it did in the aftermath of the Great Recession. At her confirmation hearing and in written responses to lawmakers, Ms. Yellen echoed Mr. Bidens view that Congress must act big to prevent the economy from faltering and defended using borrowed money to finance another aid package, saying not doing so would leave workers and families worse off. The relief bill late last year was just a down payment to get us through the next few months, Ms. Yellen said. We have a long way to go before our economy fully recovers.

Bidens Treasury will seek to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, an effort the Trump administration halted. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:51 - 0:00 transcript Biden Administration Plans to Add Harriet Tubman to $20 Bill On Monday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that the Treasury Department plans to speed up the process of adding Harriet Tubmans portrait to the front of the $20 bill. Reporter: The Obama administration initially had wanted to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, and the Trump administration dragged their feet on that. I wanted to see if the Biden administration has some view of the timeline on whether or not she should be on the paper currency? I was here when we announced that. And it was very exciting and hasnt moved forward yet, which we would have been surprised to learn at the time. The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes. Its important that our notes are money  people dont know what a note is  reflect the history and diversity of our country. And Harriet Tubmans image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that. So were exploring ways to speed up that effort. But any specifics would, of course, come from the Department of Treasury. On Monday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that the Treasury Department plans to speed up the process of adding Harriet Tubmans portrait to the front of the $20 bill. President Bidens Treasury Department is studying ways to speed up the process of adding Harriet Tubmans portrait to the front of the $20 bill after the Trump administration allowed the Obama-era initiative to lapse, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Monday. The decision to have Ms. Tubman replace Andrew Jackson as the face of the $20 note was set in motion in 2016 by the Treasury secretary at the time, Jacob Lew. President Donald J. Trump opposed the idea, and his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, stopped work on that part of the currency redesign, arguing that adding new security features to the money was a more urgent priority. Mr. Mnuchin said that notes with new imagery could not be put into circulation until 2028 and that a future Treasury secretary would make the call whether to replace Jackson. The Treasury Department, which Mr. Biden has nominated Janet L. Yellen to lead, plans to accelerate that timeline. The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes, Ms. Psaki said. Its important that our money reflect the history and diversity of our country. A Treasury spokeswoman said that she had no information to share on when a new design of the $20 bill might be released. Mr. Trump professed to be a fan of Andrew Jackson, a fellow populist, and was a fierce opponent of altering historical images and statues. Mr. Mnuchins decision to slow-walk the change drew backlash from some Democrats in Congress and triggered a probe from the Treasury inspector general about whether the process faced improper political interference. The inquiry found no wrongdoing by Mr. Mnuchin. Under Mr. Lews plan, the new design was supposed to be unveiled in 2020 on the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Preliminary designs of the note that were obtained by The New York Times revealed that  before Mr. Trump took office  conceptual work on a bill bearing Tubmans likeness on the front and a statue of Jackson on the back was already underway.

An explosive rally in GameStop shares highlights the small-trader frenzy in financial markets. Shoppers wait outside of a GameStop on Black Friday. An online community of traders seem to be fueling a spike in the stores share price. Credit... Go Nakamura for The New York Times In an epic contest between Wall Street traders who bet against stocks and legions of small-scale investors, the small guys are winning. On Monday, shares of the struggling video game retailer GameStop surged, adding to a recent rally that has lifted the stock by more than 300 percent in January alone and making it a glaring illustration of the growing power of small investors in certain segments of the financial markets. GameStop rallied again on Tuesday. Shares of companies like GameStop are becoming detached from the kinds of factors that traditionally help benchmark a companys valuation  like growth potential or profits. Analysts expect the company to report a loss from continuing operations of $465 million for 2020, on top of the $795 million it lost in 2019. What seems to be fueling this spike is an online community of traders, who congregate in places like Reddits Wall Street Bets forum and hype up individual trades. Lately, theyve made buying short-dated call options on GameStops shares  an aggressive bet that the shares will rise  a favorite position. Market analysts and academics say a rush of new money in such short-dated call options can create a sort of feedback loop that drives the underlying share prices higher, as brokerage firms that sell the options have to themselves buy shares to hedge the contracts. In GameStops case, these small investors have found themselves going up against a different group of speculators. The companys struggles have also made it a favorite target for short-sellers  who bet on a stocks decline by selling shares they dont actually own. Short sellers profit when a stock has plunged and they can buy those same shares back at a lower price. Of course, with GameStops shares surging, those investors are losing a lot of money. And their rush to get out of the trade by buying shares can cause a surge in prices, too, called a short squeeze. On Monday, the small traders on Wall Street Bets and the messaging site Discord were encouraging each other to hold on to their positions as the short-sellers ran for the exits. Am I too late to get on the GME rocket?, one commenter on Wall Street Bets wrote shortly after 10 a.m. No buy the dip, another responded. On Discord, the message was clear. GME ONLY UP, one commenter wrote.

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Google to lend its facilities for use as vaccine clinics. The company announced a series of measures to help accelerate vaccination efforts. Credit... Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Google said it will make company buildings, parking lots and open spaces available to serve as temporary vaccination clinics in partnership with health care providers and public health officials. In a blog post on Monday, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Googles parent company, Alphabet, said the company will start by opening sites in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, with plans to expand to other sites nationwide. The move is part of a series of measures to help accelerate vaccination efforts. Google also said it plans to contribute $100 million in ad credits to health organizations to educate people about the vaccine and $50 million for groups working on fair access to the vaccine. It will also include more information in search results and maps to help people find vaccination locations with details about who is eligible and whether appointments are necessary. Google said it will provide local distribution information in search results in the coming week so people can determine whether they are eligible to receive a vaccine.

AMC, the worlds largest movie theater chain, has avoided bankruptcy for a fifth time. Adam Aron, left, was the chief executive of the Philadelphia 76ers, among other jobs, before he entered the movie theater business. Credit... Tim Shaffer for The New York Times AMC Entertainment, the worlds largest multiplex operator, avoided yet another brush with death on Monday, revealing in a securities filing that it had found enough money to keep running until July if attendance does not begin to recover, and the full year if it does. AMCs chief executive, Adam Aron, had said in mid-December that AMC needed to raise another $750 million to squeak through. By early this month, it had lined up $204 million. In the filing on Monday, the company said it had secured an additional $713 million, bringing the total to $917 million  and averting bankruptcy for the fifth time in less than a year. AMC had previously raised more than $1 billion in fits and starts. The latest lifeline came, in part, from Odeon, AMCs European chain. The company was able to refinance an existing line of Odeon credit and come up with $411 million. AMC had about $308 million in cash at the end of the year, according to the filing, and had a monthly average cash burn rate in October, November and December of $124 million. About 438 of the companys 593 theaters in the United States are open, albeit with limited seating and operating hours (and no major movies to play); 86 of 360 locations are open overseas. Mr. Aron has had one of the wildest corporate rides of the pandemic, which has severely tested chief executives everywhere. And it is not over yet. Even with the new funding, AMC will need to persuade landlords to extend rent deferrals that were negotiated early in the pandemic. Theater owners also need film studios to begin releasing major movies. Last week, studios announced more postponements, leaving Black Widow (May 7) as the next would-be blockbuster on Hollywoods release schedule. The pandemic has also thrust Mr. Aron, 66, to the front lines of the streaming wars. Over the past six months, his industry has blasted him as a traitor one minute, when he agreed to drastically shorten the exclusive window that AMC receives to play Universal films, and hailed him as a trailblazer the next, with two other chains, Cinemark Holdings and Cineplex, following AMCs lead. Even if he does manage to steer AMC through the pandemic, Mr. Aron faces bone-chilling challenges on the other side. At best, the company will emerge deep in debt. Moviegoing could surge with pent-up demand. Or the masses, now trained to expect instant access to major films on streaming services or online rental platforms, could be reluctant to return. Nobody really knows.

With Trump out of the White House, Chinas Xi again critiques his policies. Xi Jinping, Chinas top official, did not mention former President Donald J. Trump by name, but took aim at his international policies. Credit... Pascal Bitz/EPA, via Shutterstock For four years, Chinas leader has tried to portray himself as the antithesis of former President Donald J. Trump on issues ranging from trade and technology policy to support for the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Xi Jinping, Chinas top official, grabbed one more chance to do so on Monday, while offering few clues about what specific policies he might pursue with the Biden administration. Addressing the World Economic Forums online Davos Agenda gathering, Mr. Xi called for international cooperation on everything from halting the pandemic to restarting global economic growth. He repeatedly assailed unilateral policies without ever mentioning either Mr. Trump or the United States. History and reality have made it clear time and again that the misguided approach of antagonism and confrontation, be it in the form of Cold War, hot war, trade war or tech war would eventually hurt all countries interests and undermine everyones well-being, he said. Mr. Xi said that the Group of 20 should be strengthened as the premier forum for global economic governance. China has long favored the Group of 20 as a broad forum that includes it and some of its allies. The group has to a considerable extent supplanted the Group of 7 industrialized democracies as the main venue for economic coordination. The Group of 7 atrophied during Mr. Trumps presidency, as his relations were often frosty with American allies in Europe, Canada and Japan. The Group of 7 heads of state were not even able to gather at Camp David, Md., last March because of the pandemic. One question facing the Biden administration lies in whether to strengthen the Group of 7 once more as a bastion of democracy or whether to accept a more prominent role for the Group of 20.

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Heres what happened in the markets today. U.S. Markets The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite rose slightly ahead of earnings reports this week from a number of big technology companies.

The S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent, inching back into record territory, and the Nasdaq gained 0.7 percent for its third straight record. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.1 percent.

Apple stood out among the big tech stocks, with a gain of nearly 3 percent. Microsoft and Facebook rose more than 1 percent. Europe Most European indexes were lower, with concerns growing about the pace of the vaccination rollout and the latest business surveys recording a big decline in expectations for Germanys economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 and the FTSE 100 in Britain fell 0.8 percent. The CAC 40 in France and the DAX in Germany dropped more than 1.5 percent. U.K. Retail In Britain, there has been a shake-up in the retail industry, with newer online brands sweeping up the old guard: Shares in Boohoo, the fast-fashion online retailer, jumped as much as 5.7 percent after the company said it would buy the brand of Debenhams, a two-century-old chain of department stores that fell into insolvency last year. The stores are likely to be shut down.

Shares in Asos, another online retailer, climbed as much as 6.4 percent after it confirmed that it was in talks to buy some of Arcadias most popular brands, including Topshop, following the collapse of the fixture of Britains high street shopping districts. Asia The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 2.4 percent, to its highest level in two and a half years. Gains were driven by an 11 percent jump in Tencent shares after a company it backed announced an initial public offering.

Wall Street executives will return to Saudi Arabias Davos in the Desert conference this week. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2018. Credit... Tasneem Alsultan for The New York Times Its been more than two years since bankers kept their name badges obscured behind ties at a high-profile investment conference in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, held weeks after the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. After a wave of cancellations at that 2018 event, the following years Future Investment Initiative, often called Davos in the Desert, saw many business leaders attend as the immediate furor over the killing subsided. The next installment of the two-day conference begins on Wednesday, and even more  and more senior  executives are expected to appear. Some of Wall Streets biggest names are scheduled to attend, mostly virtually, according to the conferences itinerary. Executives on the program include David Rubenstein of Carlyle, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater, Larry Fink of BlackRock, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs and James Gorman of Morgan Stanley. In 2019, Morgan Stanley and Goldman sent lower-ranking execs to the conference, not their C.E.O.s. The event could serve as a morality test for business under a new White House administration. Joseph R. Biden called Saudi Arabia a pariah on the campaign trail, and the atmospherics are going to change, said Gregory Gause of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Last Friday, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, asked for declassification of a U.S. government report on the Khashoggi killing. Companies contacted by DealBook often pointed to the important business relationships they have with cash-rich Saudi Arabia and others in the region. We have long standing clients in the region and continue to serve them, a Goldman Sachs spokesman said.

A representative for BlackRock said that Mr. Fink has been very public about the need for continued reform in Saudi Arabia and believes that engagement and public dialogue by global leaders like himself can help encourage Saudi Arabias path of reform.

Representatives for Carlyle and Bridgewater declined to comment, while a representative for Morgan Stanley did not return a request for a comment. Mr. Gause of Texas A&M questioned the logic of withdrawing corporate ties from Saudi Arabia but keeping them in, say, China, which faces its own criticisms over human rights abuses. But Thor Halvorssen, the founder of the nonprofit Human Rights Foundation, which has funded The Dissident, a documentary about Mr. Khashoggis killing, said that those attending the event gave the crown prince valuable legitimacy. The message is, Look, the worlds money and the powerhouses of finance and industry are my puppets, he said. Lauren Hirsch and

The latest: Godiva will close or sell its 128 stores in North America. The Turkish-owned Godiva chocolatier announced it would close or sell all 128 brick-and-mortar locations in North America by the end of the first quarter in response to the turmoil in retail wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Its retail operations across Europe, the Middle East and Greater China will remain, and U.S. consumers will be able to continue to purchase online and at retail partners stores.

Royal Dutch Shell, Europes largest oil company, will buy Ubitricity, a European provider of on-street charging points for electric vehicles, the companies said Monday. Shell and other oil giants are investing not only in cleaner energy sources like wind and solar but in infrastructure, like charging points for delivering it. Ubitricity, which was founded in Berlin and has a large presence in Britain, installs its plugs at lamp posts and other street features.

Google said Monday it would allocate $150 million to promote education and equitable access to coronavirus vaccines around the world. The effort will include ad grants to nonprofit organizations to spread public health service announcements; expanded information when people search for information on local services; and space in Google buildings, parking lots and other facilities for vaccination clinics.

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Online fashion retailer Boohoo to buy Debenhams brand for $75 million. Debenhams, a longtime chain of department stores in Britain, began holding closing-down sales last month. Credit... Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse  Getty Images The British online fast-fashion retailer Boohoo said Monday that it would buy the Debenhams brand name and website for 55 million pounds, or $75 million, a few weeks after the 242-year-old department store chain began to wind down its operations after going into administration in April. The deal is the latest reflection of the seismic reordering underway in the global retail hierarchy caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Strong businesses with agile supply chains and e-commerce operations are growing stronger, while weaker  often older  rivals with large brick-and-mortar footprints and more traditional models have started to fall away. Asos, another online fast-fashion retailer, confirmed Monday that it was in exclusive talks with administrators for Philip Greens retail group Arcadia to buy its fashion brands portfolio, which includes Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT. Arcadia filed for bankruptcy protection late last year. A closing-down sale at 124 Debenhams stores began in December, as the administrators continued to seek offers for all or parts of the business. Now Boohoo, known for its $5 bikinis and tie-ins with reality TV stars, will buy Debenhams intellectual property rights in a cash deal  though none of its stores or stock will be included. The company took the same approach when acquiring several other British brands teetering on bankruptcy, including Oasis and Karen Millen. It said Debenhams was expected to relaunch on Boohoos web platform in early 2022. Our acquisition of the Debenhams brand is strategically significant as it represents a huge step which accelerates our ambition to be a leader, not just in fashion e-commerce, but in new categories including beauty, sport and home ware, said Boohoos executive chairman, Mahmud Kamani. Our ambition is to create the U.K.s largest marketplace. Neither Asos nor Boohoo is looking to acquire stores, so Debenhams remaining 118 department stores and more than 400 store sites occupied by Arcadia brands are likely to close for good, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk. Boohoo, co-founded by Mr. Kamani in Manchester in 2006, came under public scrutiny last year after investigations into working conditions at garment factories in Leicester found many workers were being paid less than the minimum wage.
A woman who left her husband for an Egyptian toy boy half her age was left devastated when he dumped her after pocketing 1,500 of her money saying: 'You're old and fat.'

Joanna Girling, 45, fell for 24-year-old waiter Hassan Kahlied while on holiday with her husband John in Sharm-El-Sheikh in June 2018.

She fell for the handsome toyboy's charm and even snuck away from her husband to get a fake marriage certificate so they could sleep together because of Egypt's strict laws against premarital sex.

But after sending Hassan 400 to pay for food and bills and jetting out to Hurghada to be with him, he asked her to leave then ended their relationship by text writing: 'You very old - me marriage Egyptian woman [sic].'

It hasn't put Joanna off romance though as she's now found love again with another younger man Hysm Feygo in Egypt, and is hoping to have a baby with him.

'I thought Hassan loved me, he'd told me he wanted to marry me but it turned out to be a lie. He just used me for my money, I felt like an idiot. I gave up my marriage for him.

Joanna Girling, 45, left her husband of 20 years after falling for a waiter while the couple were holidaying in Egypt but was left devastated when he dumped her saying she was old and fat

Tesco worker Joanna pictured with Hassan Kahlied before he took her money and dumped her

'I didn't know if I could trust someone else again but Hysm is the love of my life. I know his feelings for me are real, he's never asked for a penny.'

Joanna, a Tesco worker, and her husband had been going on holiday in Sharm El-Sheikh two to three times a year since 2001 when she began to notice the attention she received from local men.

She says: 'I was happy in my marriage at first but as time went on we grew apart and I lost interest in having sex with him.

'Like a lot of married couples we became less and less attracted to each other but we stayed together for convenience.

'We didn't sleep together for nearly 10 years. We didn't have kids but we had a house and dogs together.

'By 2018 he wasn't affectionate at all which made me feel unwanted and unattractive so when local men would compliment me in the shops and call me beautiful, I was flattered.'

During the holiday, Joanna started to take notice of her hotel waiter, Hassan, who flirted with her whenever her husband was away from the table.

'He said I should spend the day with him and that he'd show me around the city. He was so flirty from the start that I knew he fancied me.

Hassan, pictured, told Joanna to give him her money because that was the custom in Egypt

Hassan and Joanna spent a few weeks in an apartment after Joanna left her home in Norfolk

'We were talking and he made me feel sexy for the first time in years. I began sneaking out in the afternoon to meet him while John was lounging by the pool.

'I wanted to sleep with him from the first day I met him but Hassan said that we'd need a fake marriage certificate first.

'Egypt is strict about premarital sex so we couldn't rent a room together without one.'

Under Egypt's strict laws, Joanna and Hassan obtained a fake marriage license online to rent an apartment where they could have sex, something Joanna says is common practice for unmarried Egyptians.

'It was incredible, he was so young and keen. It was the best sex of my life - mind-blowing after 10 years of no physical contact. I knew then that I had to leave my husband.

'We'd gone a decade with no physical contact at all. It was no way to live - it was no longer a marriage.

'It was the end of my trip but Hassan wanted to see me again so even on the way home I was making plans to return.'

Back home in Norfolk, Joanna broke off her 20-year marriage, confessing to her husband that she had fallen in love with the young Egyptian waiter.

Before Joanna moved out to Egypt to be with Hassan, he asked her to send him money

After disappearing for days, Joana found out Hassan was due to be married to someone else. He asked her to go back to England before dumping her via text and called her old and fat

'He was furious but he'd suspected something was going on. We didn't have kids but we had seven dogs together.'

While she waited for her return flight back to Egypt, Hassan spoke to Joanna daily, even ringing her at her job working nights at Tesco.

'He needed money for things like food and bills,' she says. 'So I sent him 400 to help out. I didn't ask for proof, I trusted that he was telling me the truth.'

In August 2018, less than two months after meeting the sexy waiter, Joanna landed in Hurghada where Hassan was waiting.

'I gave him the gifts he'd asked me for,' she explains. 'He also took control of my holiday money, of 1,100 saying that he'd handle it.

'At first I was surprised but he explained that it was the custom in Egypt for men to deal with the money. He said he wanted to look after me so I handed over all my cash.'

Joanna handed over pairs of jeans, shirts, trainers, aftershave and a bottle of Cognac, as well as the 1,100 she'd saved up for the trip.

Renting an apartment, at first Joanna was thrilled with life and her toyboy - spending her days sunbathing and nights having sex.

Joanna with her husband before she ended her marriage because they had fallen out of love

'We were having sex all the time, we just couldn't get enough of each other but after a couple of weeks, Hassan kept disappearing for days at a time, saying he needed to visit his family,' she said.

Leaving Joanna for days with no cash, she had no choice but to find work as a nursery teacher to make ends meet.

'I'd try to ring him but there'd be no answer. After splitting from my husband I had no savings, the cash I'd brought with me was all I had.'

Suspicious, she asked her neighbours and locals who knew Hassan where he might be.

'One said that he thought Hassan had gone home to have an engagement party as he was due to get married.

'I was devastated but over text Hassan insisted it wasn't true and when he returned after 10 days he denied it.'

Finally, at the end of August, her toy boy lover asked Joanna to go home for a few weeks, claiming the apartment was too expensive and that she needed to save more money as he couldn't keep them on his small salary.

'I was devastated to leave,' she admits. 'But he had a point, I had no money left and he only earnt a small salary as a waiter.

'My holiday money had all gone so the plan was for me to come home, stay with family and work to save money to go back.'

Relying on a friend to pay for her flight, it wasn't until Joanna landed in Hamburg Airport on a layover that she discovered the truth about Hassan.

Joanna was undeterred by her time with Hassan and went back to Egypt where she met Hysm (pictured), a younger man who she says has not asked her for a penny in their time together

Sending her a text message mid-flight, he called her fat and old, confessing that he was planning to marry an Egyptian woman.

'I just didn't understand,' she said, 'he'd told me that he'd loved me, why lie?'

Back home, Joanna was heartbroken, but determined to end her marriage and return to Egypt for a life in the sun.

'I didn't have anything keeping me in England, he'd gotten rid of everything, my clothes, all of my things, all I had left was the clothes in my suitcase,' he said.

Joanna saved up for another flight and went back to Hurghada in March 2019 to continue working as a nursery teacher.

'I didn't go out there looking for love,' she explains. 'I just love the country and wanted to be back there.'

Joanna didn't hear from Hassan again, who blocked her on social media, but she'd only been in Hurghada for three months when she met Hysm Feygo, a shopkeeper who invited her and a female friend in to look around his herb and spice shop.

Serving them cups of herbal tea, Joanna hit it off with the 38-year-old.

Pictured: Hysm and Joanna have since moved in together using a fake marriage license

'I can't quite grasp what it is but there's just something about him, he makes me feel comfortable and, from the moment we met, it was like we'd known each other a long time.'

Walking her friend back to her hotel, Joanna returned to the shop to ask Hysm to order her a taxi to her apartment.

'He joined me in the cab and we had sex that night. It was amazing but at first, it was just about sex.

'Hysm wanted a relationship but I'd already been hurt once by Hassan so I was wary but the more I got to know him the more I trusted him. He didn't ask me for a penny.'

Since meeting Hysm, the couple have moved in together under another fake marriage license.

Working as an English teacher at a nursery, when home, Joanna says the pair are loved up, with Hysm cooking romantic meals for her.

A year ago, Hysm came home with a silver band for her wedding finger.

'He didn't even propose,' she said. 'He didn't need to - he already considers me his wife but we're hoping to make it official next year once I've divorced my husband.'

The couple are now trying for a baby. 'We have sex every other day and I'm hoping I'm not too old to get pregnant,' Joanna said.

'I'm very happy with my toyboy who never asks me for money. I know he's with me because he loves me.

'Most of my family has disowned me, they haven't spoken to me since I returned to Egypt.

'They think I'm foolish to be with him but I don't care. This is like a second chance for me.

'My life is unrecognisable to a couple of years ago and I wouldn't take anything back. I love Hysm so much.'

Hassan Kahlied said: 'I'm so sorry about the money. It was because I am poor. I don't want to discuss anything about my relationship.'
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
For the first eight months of the pandemic, Mission District resident Antonia Lopez counted herself lucky. Her husband, a painter, was still employed.

They managed to cover the $2,000 monthly rent on their two-bedroom apartment on York Street, keeping a roof over the heads of their six children. It was crowded and the kids were attempting to learn remotely when not going stir crazy.

Then came Thanksgiving and her husband, along with his entire painting crew, fell ill with COVID-19. He was out of work for a month and, since recovering, jobs have become sporadic  some weeks he has only one or two days of work.

The family now owes $6,000 for three months back rent, with little hope that they will be able to come up with another $2,000 for February.

We have been trying to borrow money from family to pay the debt, but its hard because others are in the same situation or have it worse than we do, she said. We thought we were the kind of people who work hard and never ask for help. But at this point we need it. The community is suffering. We are worried about not having a roof over our head.

The Lopez family is one of more than 1 million California households that are sinking further into debt even as local, state and federal lawmakers scramble to extend protections against evictions for nonpayment of rent during the coronavirus pandemic. In total 1.1 million renters owe $3.6 billion, which works out to $3,300 per household, according to a survey by the affordable housing advocate Housing NOW and Bay Area Equity Atlas, a research group focused on equity issues. About 32% of low-income households are behind on rent, compared with 9% of which are not low-income.

Currently, California tenants are protected by a state law that is set to expire at the end of the month. Under that law, renters who have lost income because of the pandemic are shielded from eviction as long as they continue to pay 25% of their monthly rent. After the law expires, they will be required to pay their full rent.

The law also prevents landlords from evicting tenants for rent missed early in the pandemic, between March and the end of August. That debt is converted into civil debt that property owners can sue to recover in court, but cant cite as a reason to evict.

The laws sponsor, San Francisco Assembly Member David Chiu, has introduced a bill that would extend the protection through the end of the year.

We are going around the clock and hopeful that we will get to a resolution, Chiu said of negotiations. Every legislator in the state is acutely aware of what will happen on Feb. 1 if we fail to extend the eviction moratorium.

Meanwhile, President Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order extending an eviction moratorium through the end of March. That moratorium, however, has been criticized by tenant advocacy groups because it requires that tenants pay all back rent when the moratorium expires or face immediate eviction.

Rob Warnock, a researcher at the rental website Apartment List, said that many tenants have exhausted their resources and would have a hard time paying a lump sum post-moratorium. An Apartment List study found that 49% of tenants borrowed money from friends or family to make their rent. In addition, about 29% took on credit card debt, 41% dipped into savings and 26% had sold assets to raise rent money.

The federal moratorium offers immediate relief but not long-term help, he said.

The criticism of what the federal government is doing is that they are delaying an inevitable outcomes more so than they are preventing them, Warnock said.

Excelsior District resident Yeimy Moreno says she could face eviction if protections are not extended. She lives in an $865-a-month studio apartment in the Excelsior with her husband and two children. Her income as a health outreach worker has dropped significantly. Her husband, who cleans office buildings, has been able to continue collecting a paycheck, although she said its likely he will be laid off in the coming weeks.

The family missed three months rent but was able to pay it back, thanks to help from Give2SF, a fund the city set up to help families during the pandemic. Now, facing the prospect of not having enough money to pay February rent, she is working with the nonprofit Housing Rights Committee to push for extended protections.

Another tenant behind on her rent is Luz Rodriguez, who lives in the Mission. She said her husbands construction job has become inconsistent  some weeks he works a lot and some not at all. Her two bothers, who both cook at neighborhood restaurants, lost their jobs. To save money, everybody has been staying in her cramped, one-bedroom apartment.

She said her family fell behind on the rent earlier in the pandemic but managed to pay off the debt. Now their savings are gone and work is harder to come by.

Im looking for work. My brothers are looking for work, she said. My kids are in school virtually. Its hard in such a small space. Thanks God we have our health.

Landlords are not eager to throw tenants out at a time when so many apartments are vacant, said Janan New, executive director of the San Francisco Apartment Association. A recent association survey of 53 landlords found that about 12.2% of tenants paid either no rent or partial rent in January. More striking, 31% of the groups units have turned over or become unexpectedly vacant since March. The vacancy rate among the 53 respondents is currently 24%.

I dont think our owners want a bunch of vacancies in a down market, New said. I think we want to work things out. That requires communication between the tenants and the owners.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
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Agartala, Jan 25 : With one more teacher breathing his last on Monday, the number of deaths due to numerous reasons rose to 84 as the indefinite sit-in by thousands of Tripura government school teachers, who had lost their jobs following court verdicts, entered its 50th day on Monday, even though the state government is yet to hold any talks with them.

According to the police, Ajit Sutradhar (55), one of the 10,323 retrenched government teachers, died on Monday following a massive cardiac arrest.

Braving the cold weather, men and women teachers continued their indefinite sit-in in Agartala since beginning the protest on December 7 last year, demanding restoration of their jobs.

The agitating teachers from undergraduate to postgraduate level have rejected the BJP-led government's appeal to apply afresh for the vacant posts in different departments for which separate notifications were issued at the end of last year.

Dalia Das, joint convener of the Joint Movement Committee (JMC), which is spearheading the stir since last year, said that of the 10,323 retrenched government teachers, 84 persons died due to various reasons including illness and three persons who committed suicide.

"Many out of the 10,323 teachers after losing their jobs fell sick due to depression and economic paucity and 84 of them died. The family members of all the retrenched teachers are in great distress, especially of those who have dies," she said.

Small kids, children and family elders of the agitating teachers occasionally take part in the round the clock sit-in.

Both Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath have on a number of occasions rquested the agitating teachers to compete for around 9,000 vacant posts in various departments, including the Education Department, for which the state government issued recruitment notifications.

Nath repeatedly accused the previous Left Front government for the teachers' plight and told the media that the government cannot provide jobs to any one without following the stipulated formalities, including conducting interviews.

"The Supreme Court had relaxed the stipulated age limit for government jobs for these teachers - they should avail the scope," he said.

Former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is now the opposition leader, told the media that after the Tripura High Court and the Supreme Court had terminated the jobs of 10,323 government teachers in 2011, 2014 and 2017, the then Left Front government had created 13,000 posts to accommodate these teachers alternatively.

He said the BJP leaders before the 2018 Assembly polls had promised to regularise their jobs if they came to power, but nothing has been done by them for these teachers.

Sarkar, who's also a politburo member of the CPI-M, recently led separate delegations of Left MLAs to Governor Ramesh Bais and the Chief Minister and requested them to take suitable steps for the teachers' reinstatement.

On the government's offer of jobs, Das said the teachers have already completed their government service for seven to 10 years and several of them crossed their stipulated age limit and the state government's offer is "unreasonable" and against the interest of the teachers.

She said the protesters had suspended their agitation earlier after the Chief Minister on October 3 last year assured to take steps to resolve their problems permanently within two months.

"After waiting for more than two months, we resumed our sit-in stir on December 7 but the state government is yet to take any step. We would soon intensify our agitation," Das said.

The state government had earlier given a lump-sum financial aid of Rs 35,000 each to 8,882 government school teachers, who lost their jobs on March 31 last year, as the courts in their verdicts had cited "discrepancies in recruitments".

Of the 10,323 former government teachers, 1,357 people got alternative jobs and availed different income avenues while 84 teachers died with three of them committing suicide.
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25th January 2021

Tirupati Graphite plc ('Tirupati' or the 'Company')

Conversion of Loan Notes &

Total Voting Rights

Tirupati Graphite plc, the fully integrated, revenue generative, specialist graphite producer and graphene developer with operations in Madagascar and India, announces that a holder ("Noteholder") of the convertible loan notes of par value 1.00 each issued by Tirupati on 17 May 2019 ("CLN's), has elected to convert 40,000 CLN's into 88,889 ordinary shares of 2.5 pence each ("Ordinary Shares"), at the Company's IPO price in accordance with the instrument, being a price of 45 pence each in the share capital of Tirupati.

Accordingly, 88,889 new Ordinary Shares (the "Conversion Shares") will be issued to the Noteholder. Application has been made for the admission of the Conversion Shares to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, with such admission expected to become effective at 8.00 a.m. on 28th January 2021 ("Admission").

Following Admission, the total issued share capital of the Company will consist of 74,843,323 ordinary shares of 2.5 pence each. This number may be used by shareholders 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 FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

** ENDS **

For further information, please visit https://www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk/ or contact:

Tirupati Graphite Plc Puruvi Poddar +44 (0) 20 3984 9894 Optiva Securities Limited (Broker) Daniel Ingram +44 (0) 20 3137 1902 St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR) Isabel de Salis / Cosima Akerman +44 (0) 20 236 1177

Notes

Tirupati Graphite Plc is a revenue-generative, multi-asset, multi-jurisdictional, fully integrated producer and developer of high-grade natural flake graphite, speciality graphite and graphene, which captures the entire value chain. With a unique set of properties, graphite has diverse applications with multiple growth streams and graphene forms the new generation of 2D materials. In support of this, the Company places a special emphasis on "green" applications, including renewable energy generation, energy storage and composites, and is committed to ensuring its operations are sustainable as well.

The Company's operations include primary mining and processing in Madagascar, where the Company operates two key projects, Sahamamy and Vatomina; 3,000 tpa of high-quality flake graphite concentrate with up to 96% purity is currently being produced and sold to customers globally, and this is planned to increase to 81,000 tpa by 2024 as per the Company's modular medium-term development plan.

In India, through Tirupati Speciality Graphite Private Limited ('TSG'), with whom the Company has a binding acquisition agreement subject to regulatory approvals, Tirupati processes and produces speciality graphite for use in hi-tech applications like lithium-ion batteries, fire retardants and composites. Its specialty graphite processing operations include the 1,200 tpa Patalganga Project, which was commissioned in July 2019 to manufacture and sell CARBOFLAMEX, a trademarked fire-retardant expandable graphite product. At the next stage of development, Patalganga shall further be expanded to 4,800 tpa capacity with capabilities to also produce high purity and micronised graphite, so increasing market and product reach by 2021. TSG has developed unique green processing technologies for manufacturing these advanced materials.

After establishing itself in the specialty graphite markets through the Patalganga Project, an additional 24,000 tpa specialty graphite processing facility is to be established in two 12,000 tpa phases. The plant will produce expandable, high purity, micronised and spherical graphite. The west coast of India has been chosen as the location and a detailed feasibility study has been completed. Tirupati is also in the process of establishing the Tirupati Graphene and Mintech Research Centre, a state-of-the-art R&D centre focussed on manufacturing graphene, developing its applications, and further providing environmentally friendly technologies consultancy for mineral processing.
A PennDOT worker found the body of a 27-year-old man near a road in Indiana County, prompting an investigation into what police believe was a suspicious death.

According to the Pennsylvania State Police, the Troop A Major Case team has started an investigation.

On Thursday, a PennDOT worker, who was inspecting a drain along Mulligan Hill Road in West Wheatfield Township, found a mans body in a grassy area off of the road.

Troopers and the Indiana County Coroner were called to the scene and started an investigation. The body was identified as that of Dashawn C. Green-Brewster, of Philadelphia, police say. He had been reported missing out of Johnstown on Tuesday.

Investigators believe his death was suspicious.

Anyone with information or who may have witnessed any unusual activity near Mulligan Hill Road should call the Pennsylvania State Police at Indiana, 724-357-1960, or call Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, 1-800-4PA-TIPS or submit a tip online.
Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a face-off last week in a disputed stretch of their shared border in the eastern Himalayas, the Indian army said on Monday.

The two sides have been locked in a tense standoff since April in the western Himalayas and since then have bolstered forces all along the border.

"It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Nakula area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021 and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols," the Indian army said in a statement.

Also Read | Revenge of the lambs at the Gabbatoir

On Sunday, the ninth round of Corps Commander Level talks between India and China ended at 2:30 am today. The meeting lasted for more than 15 hours after starting at 11 am on Sunday at Moldo opposite Chushul in the Eastern Ladakh sector to address the ongoing military standoff.

The two countries have been engaged in a stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since April-May last year. While China began amassing massive military strength along the LAC, India responded with a befitting build-up

In 2017, troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction area which even triggered fears of a war between the two neighbours.

Multiple rounds of talks have failed to yield any significant result in defusing border tensions. The last round of Corps Commander-level talks between both countries were held on November 6, 2020 in Chushul in Eastern Ladakh.

On August 29-30, India occupied heights along the northern and southern bank of the Pangong Lake which includes dominating positions overlooking the Chinese military deployed in that area.

The Chinese have been asking India to withdraw troops and tanks first from the southern bank but India has been asking for disengagement from all the friction points.

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Update: As of Sunday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to lift the stay-at-home order statewide on Monday.

A much welcomed uptick in Bay Area hospitals intensive care availability and slower coronavirus transmission rates paint a hopeful outlook for the weeks ahead, but there was no indication Sunday as to when the region can emerge from the stay-at-home order thats stymied much of normal life.

State health officials said Sunday that projections for four weeks out in the Bay Area do not meet criteria to lift the restrictions, and that an update will be forthcoming on Monday.

Hopes had increased when, after lingering in the single digits for weeks, the Bay Areas ICU availability leaped to 23.4%, in data released Saturday, reflecting Fridays status. That was an unusually significant jump from 6.5% a day earlier, and appeared to signal that the worst of the surge could be in the past. The sentiment was bolstered by a statement Sunday sent to The Chronicle from Ali Bay, a spokesperson for the state Department of Public Health.

We see promising signs that California is slowly emerging from the most intense stage of this pandemic, the statement said.

The rate of positive tests in California over the past 14 days was 9.8%  a decrease of 3.9 percentage points from the prior two weeks, the state data showed on Sunday. California reported 24,111 new coronavirus infections Saturday, which was less than a 1% increase over Fridays totals, the data show.

But in San Francisco, Sunday brought a pause in the good news that had triggered Mayor London Breed to forecast on Friday that the city soon might be able to start reopening under Californias guidelines due to a drop in transmission rates. A day after recording its fewest new coronavirus infections in two months, 111, San Francisco reported an uptick Sunday, 283 new cases. New infections had dropped below 200 each day since Monday, but Sunday was more in line with last weeks higher daily infections.

San Francisco also recorded one of its higher death totals of the month, 15, after a week of single-digit or zero-death days.

City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest statistics, but single-day trends have often proved misleading over the course of the pandemic.

Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said he is tentatively confident that the current surge, which began at the end of November, has crested.

Thats what the data looks like and, frankly, its what the data looks like nationally, except for a couple of other states, he said. Still, he added, theres not an obvious end in sight. What we see with the last two surges here in the United States and in California is we get a surge and a crest, but we never go back to where we were before. Its like going up steps.

More for you News Coronavirus live updates: Bay Area sees plunge in...

Under Californias system, the regional stay-home order is supposed to be lifted when a regions ICU availability is projected to equal or exceed 15% looking four weeks ahead. The projections specifically look at ICU capacity at the end of the four-week period.

For example, the state public health department would analyze Mondays data to make projections for Feb. 22. The projections are based on current regional ICU capacity, community transmission rates and regional case rates. The state analyzes the data twice a week.

State officials reported Sunday that roughly 2.2 million vaccination shots have been administered statewide out of the 4.1 million doses distributed as it rushes to recover from a slower-than-hoped initial rollout.

The vaccination picture nationally caused Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general tapped by President Biden to be the U.S. health secretary, to voice frustration Sunday over the long lines, supply lags and confusion about where and when to get shots.

The plane is in a nosedive and were going to pull it up, he told CNN. Thats not America. ... Thats not the way we treat those we consider vulnerable in need of the vaccine the most.

Becerra said he could not project when all Americans who want a shot will be able to get one. Biden has pledged to distribute 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office.

In Placer County last week, a person died hours after receiving a vaccination, having tested positive for the coronavirus in late December, the Placer County Sheriffs Office said Saturday. The countys public health department did not administer the vaccine, officials said. Sheriffs Office officials said Sunday they had no further information.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Lauren Hernandez and Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez
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Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 23:57:15|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday he believes that the Chinese side, with strong support from various parties, will complete all preparation work as scheduled, so as to ensure the Beijing Winter Olympics a complete success.

Xi made the remarks during his telephone conversation with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. (China-IOC-Olympics)

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THE HAGUE -- Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday condemned the violence and riots in various Dutch cities on Sunday night against the COVID-19 lockdown measures and the introduction of a curfew.

"This is unacceptable," Rutte said. "This is criminal violence. Any normal person can only become aware of this with horror." (The Netherlands-Curfew-Violence)

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GABORONE -- Botswana has announced temporary closure of the president's office for COVID-19 disinfection and staff testing.

The development came on the backdrop of health authorities' enhanced vigilance against the COVID-19 introduction and spread at the residency of President Mokgweetsi Masisi, after some officials serving the presidency closely tested positive for the coronavirus. (Botswana-Closure-COVID-19)

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LAGOS -- At least eight people were killed following a communal conflict in Nigeria's southern state of Ebonyi, local police has said.

The clash, on Friday, was sparked by a dispute over leadership of a local workers' union in the state's Ohaukwu area, said state police chief Aliyu Garba. (Nigeria-Conflict-Death). Enditem
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- To celebrate Black History Month this February, Clevelands Karamu House will put on a series of interactive virtual arts events and a concert available to stream on-demand.

Karamu House -- the oldest African American theatre in the United States -- will partner with the Musical Theater Project to air an original, virtual performance called The Impact of Shuffle Along. The production will honor the Broadway play Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway shows to feature an all-Black cast and writing team, according to a press release.

The Impact of Shuffle Along will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Shuffle Alongs debut, showcasing video clips and images from the shows lengthy history and featuring new performances of the plays songs, according to a press release. The production will feature narration from The Musical Theatre Project founding director Bill Rudman and Karamu president and CEO Tony F. Sias.

The Impact of Shuffle Along will be available to view throughout February, on Karamu Houses website.

Along with the production, Karamu House has some other programming scheduled for February, in the form of its Friday In the Tradition series. Each Friday of February, Karamu House will host workshops featuring dance tutorials, poetry workshops and storytelling.

The workshops are free, but require registration. Check out the series events below, and find more information at karamuhouse.org.

-6:30 p.m., Feb. 5: Poetry workshop with Siaara Freeman: Inspired by Langston

-6:30 p.m., Feb. 12: Family African dance workshop with Djapo Arts Institute

-4:30 p.m., Feb. 19: The story of Anansi the Spider

-6:30 p.m., Feb. 19: Line dancing with Robert the Line Dance King Johnson

-6:30 p.m., Feb. 26: Hip-hop dance workshop with 10K Movement

Get a jumpstart on the weekend and sign up for cleveland.coms weekly In the CLE email newsletter, your essential guide to the top things to in Greater Cleveland. It will arrive in your inbox on Friday mornings - an exclusive to-do list, focusing on the best of the weekend fun. Restaurants, music, movies, performing arts, family fun and more. Just click here to subscribe. All cleveland.com newsletters are free.
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, hes proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New Yorks Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. But theyve done great.A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGMs development of The Hobbit franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, Skyfall, which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studios work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like Survivor and The Apprentice, but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahns stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGMs film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGMs board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barbers contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barbers deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasnt replaced him, instead operating an office of the chief executive officer, comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorages overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorages flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGMs library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorages flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.
CLEVELAND, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of the new Cleveland Innovation District announced today by State of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, JobsOhio and Ohio Development Services Agency, Cleveland Clinic will significantly expand its global commitment to infectious disease research and translational programs to form the Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health.

The new Center will position Ohio as an international leader for research into emerging pathogens and virus-related diseases and will serve as a significant economic catalyst in Northeast Ohio. Funding comes through a $500 million investment from the State of Ohio, JobsOhio and Cleveland Clinic.

"The Cleveland Innovation District creates partnerships across different sectors of the economy and positions Ohio as a competitive place to invest in," said Governor Mike DeWine. "Each of the Cleveland Innovation District partners bring unique skills and areas of expertise. Having these institutions partner together will help Ohio emerge as a leader in healthcare and IT nationally and globally."

The State of Ohio and JobsOhio will invest $200 million to help launch the Center and Cleveland Clinic plans an additional $300 million as a co-investment to fuel discoveries in our new and existing research facilities. Further, the Center will create new start-up technology companies in the Cleveland Innovation District, attract world-leading corporations to Ohio, and generate an estimated 1,000 new jobs at Cleveland Clinic by 2029 and an additional 7,500 jobs in Ohio by 2034.

"We are exceedingly grateful to Governor DeWine, Lieutenant Governor Husted, JobsOhio and Ohio Development Service Agency for their extraordinary vision for economic development and research in Ohio," said Tom Mihaljevic, M.D., President and CEO of Cleveland Clinic. "This is the largest research effort in Cleveland Clinic's 100-year history. The Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health will put Cleveland, Ohio at the forefront of pathogen research and preparing for the next pandemic or health care crisis. The Center will have a significant impact on global health, while creating jobs and educational opportunities in Ohio."

Headquartered in Cleveland and spanning Cleveland Clinic's international footprint in Florida, London and Abu Dhabi, the Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health will bring together a research team focused on broadening understanding of viral pathogens, virus-induced cancers, genomics, immunology and immunotherapies. It will expand upon Cleveland Clinic's existing programs and expertise, with newly recruited world leaders in immunology, cancer biology, immune-oncology and pathogen research as well as technology development and education. Researchers will expand critical work on studying, preparing and protecting against public health threats such as HIV/AIDS, Dengue fever, Zika and COVID-19.

"The Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health will be a command center to help solve deadly threats to our health, economy and communities," said Serpil Erzurum, M.D., Cleveland Clinic's Chief Research and Academic Officer. "The unparalleled investment in the Center will drive workforce development while leveraging Cleveland Clinic's research infrastructure to study pathogens and the immune system in novel ways to develop new diagnostic tests, vaccines and treatments."

Cleveland Clinic, with its world-wide clinical and research operations, top scientists and physicians, medical educational programs and international funding, is uniquely positioned to be a global hub for state-of-the-art pathogen research, clinical care and serving as an incubator for rapid development, testing and deployment of diagnostics, medicines and vaccines. The Center is organized around six highly collaborative programs with multidisciplinary experts in virology and immunology; personalized medicine and genomics; population health; drug discovery; diagnostic development and integration of big data with patient care.

The Center is led by Jae Jung, Ph.D., an internationally renowned expert in virology and virus-induced cancers who has broken ground in the field of inflammation, immune-oncology and emerging pathogens. This team plans the recruitment of more than 300 scientists in the next 5-7 years.

The support of JobsOhio will position the Center to thrive not just as a research center but a commercial force that will drive new products, jobs and economic development in Ohio. Working closely with Cleveland Innovation District partner organizations Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State, The MetroHealth System and University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic will provide workforce development training for job opportunities as the Center expands.

"Through this unprecedented investment, we will establish educational and career opportunities for Ohioans with the goal of attracting and retaining the very best talent," said Dr. Erzurum. "A major focus will be training the next generation of Ohio's workforce for careers that are growing in science, education and health care. We are thrilled to be part of the Cleveland Innovation District which promises to transform Northeast Ohio into an economic engine for biomedicine."

https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2021/01/25/through-a-500-million-partnership-with-the-state-of-ohio-jobsohio-and-ohio-development-services-agency-cleveland-clinic-forms-global-center-for-pathogen-research-human-health/

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs , including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. Among Cleveland Clinic's 67,554 employees worldwide are more than 4,520 salaried physicians and researchers, and 17,000 registered nurses and advanced practice providers, representing 140 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic is a 6,026-bed health system that includes a 165-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 18 hospitals, more than 220 outpatient facilities, and locations in southeast Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2019, there were 9.8 million total outpatient visits, 309,000 hospital admissions and observations, and 255,000 surgical cases throughout Cleveland Clinic's health system. Patients came for treatment from every state and 185 countries. Visit us at clevelandclinic.org . Follow us at twitter.com/ClevelandClinic . News and resources available at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.

SOURCE Cleveland Clinic

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PATTY SAKAL: 1958 - 2021

Patty Sakal, an American Sign Language interpreter who translated updates about the coronavirus for deaf Hawaiians, died on Friday of complications related to COVID-19. She was 62.

Sakal, who lived in Honolulu, died at Alvarado Hospital Medical Centre in San Diego, where she had gone last month to visit one of her daughters, according to Sakals sister, Lorna Mouton Riff.

Sakal, who worked as an ASL interpreter for nearly four decades in a variety of settings, had become a mainstay in coronavirus press briefings in Hawaii, working with both the former mayor of Honolulu, Kirk Caldwell, and Governor David Ige to interpret news for the deaf community.

In a statement, Isle Interpret, an organisation of interpreters to which Ms. Sakal belonged, called Sakal Hawaii interpreter royalty.
Canadas immigration minister provides COVID-19 update Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino provided new insights in a recent TV interview. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canadas Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino recently shared fresh insights on the state of the countrys immigration system on the Canadian television show, The Agenda.

In a 20-minute interview, Mendicino spoke on a broad range of immigration topics as he explained to viewers how the federal government aims to cope with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19.

Topics he discussed included:

Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023

Canadian citizenship

Municipal Nominee Program

Find out if youre eligible for Canadian immigration

Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023

Mendicino stated that the Canadian government had a choice to make following the outbreak of the pandemic. It could pause or reduce immigration. Instead, the country has chosen to welcome immigrants during and after the pandemic to support its prosperity. As such, Canada is aiming to welcome over 400,000 immigrants over the coming years which are the highest targets in its history. Mendicino said this is necessary since immigrants are key to job creation in Canada and also help fill vital labour market needs including in essential services.

When asked if he felt the new targets are realistic given COVID-19 travel restrictions and disruptions, the minister stated he thought they were since Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been innovating during the pandemic. In addition, the pandemic provides an opportunity for Canada to draw into its domestic population of temporary foreign workers and international students and facilitate their transition to permanent residence.

Canadian Citizenship

Discussing a new pilot program that is enabling eligible permanent residents to complete their Canadian citizenship application online, Mendicino said the process is going well and Canada is the only country to his knowledge offering online citizenship ceremonies.

Mendicinos vision for the immigration system is for all processes to be virtual and contactless beyond the pandemic.

One of the priorities listed in Mendicinos December 2019 mandate letter is to waive Canadian citizenship fees. Asked about the status of that pledge, Mendicino acknowledged he had hoped to make progress on this front by now. While he did not state this, the delay in fulfilling this promise is very likely a function of the pandemic. Mendicino said that he is enthusiastic about reducing barriers for newcomers and will have more to say on this issue in the future.

Municipal Nominee Program

Another one of the December 2019 mandate priorities is to launch a Municipal Nominee Program to further help encourage immigrants to settle in Canadas smaller cities. Pointing to initiatives such as the Atlantic Immigration Pilot and Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, the minister said he believes the MNP will be another federal program that will allow newcomers to pursue fulfilling lives in smaller regions of Canada. IRCC is in the process of consulting with provincial, municipal, business, and other stakeholders on the design of the MNP.

Can Canadian Immigration Cope Amid COVID? With international borders restricted and travel discouraged, COVID-19 has disrupted the customary welcoming of upwards of 300,000 newcomers looking to call 

One of the key takeaways of Mendicinos interview is his assuredness that Canadas current immigration targets are realistic. This strongly suggests IRCC has a plan in place to achieve the targets, which will likely be through a combination of tapping into the existing pool of immigration candidates with Canadian experience, continuing to select immigrants from abroad and processing their applications so they can arrive after the pandemic, as well as gradually reducing travel restrictions so that those with approvals will eventually be able to move to Canada.

Find out if youre eligible for Canadian immigration

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Berger said when he read the findings of the first probe, "it was pretty clear to me we needed to do a follow-on...
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-26 01:24:41|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on countries to develop a global economy with universal respect for international law.

"We need one global economy with universal respect for international law; a multipolar world with strong multilateral institutions," the UN chief told the virtual Davos Agenda 2021.

"Humanity has just endured a year of tragedy and crisis that we never want to repeat. But the tests to our societies are continuing. If there is one word that characterizes today's world, it is fragility," said Guterres.

More than 2,000 business, government and civil society leaders and 25 heads of state or government are set to meet virtually for the World Economic Forum Davos Agenda this week to tackle the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and address the urgent need for global cooperation.

The Davos Agenda 2021 will convene from Jan. 25-29 under the theme "A Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust" and discuss current challenges such as COVID-19 vaccination, job creation and climate change.

Speaking of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Guterres said that more than 2 million people have died, and "we are in the worst economic crisis for nearly a century," while noting that "the world sees the fragility in the inequalities among people and countries that have been starkly highlighted by the pandemic."

"We also see fragility in the climate and biodiversity crises. Both are existential threats. Both are getting worse. We are waging war on nature and destroying our life support system. We see fragility in global geopolitical divides," warned the secretary-general.

The UN chief once again expressed his concern about the division "between the two largest economies" and said "we must do everything possible to avert such a division."

The secretary-general also voiced his concerns about the fragilities in cyberspace and disarmament regime.

"In 2021 we must address these fragilities and put the world on track. It is time to change course and take the sustainable path," the UN chief underscored.

Speaking about the recovery, Guterres stressed that "this year, we have a unique opportunity to do so. We can use our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic to move from fragilities to resilience."

"But, all these threats, all these obstacles to progress, demand dialogue and collaboration. Governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society need to work together," the secretary-general stressed.

He said the common direction of the international community has been clearly defined by the Sustainable Development Goals.

"To achieve them, I have also been calling for a New Social Contract and a New Global Deal to create equal opportunities for all and respect the rights and freedoms of all," he said.

On the two immediate priorities in the context of pandemic recovery, the top UN official said that "first, we need an inclusive and equitable global recovery to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Second, we need a green recovery that will tackle climate change and biodiversity loss."

Talking about the inclusive and sustainable recovery, Guterres said that the recovery around the globe will depend on the availability and effectiveness of vaccines for all, immediate fiscal and monetary support in both developed and developing countries, and transformative longer-term stimulus measures.

Referring to the fact that vaccines are "quickly reaching high-income countries," while the world's poorest "have none at all," the UN chief warned that "if developed countries think they will be safe if they vaccinate their own countries while neglecting the developing world, they are wrong."

"There is a real danger of mutations making the virus more transmissible or lethal or resistant to existing vaccines. We must act fast. Vaccine production capacity around the world needs to be massively scaled-up, and affordability must be ensured. Vaccines must be seen as global public goods -- people's vaccines," said the secretary-general.

Guterres once again urged support for the "full funding for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and its COVAX facility."

On the second priority, Guterres said that "we need a sustainable recovery that helps to end our war against nature, avert climate catastrophe and restore our planet."

"Every action, big or small counts, but those with greater capabilities and resources should lead the way," the UN chief noted. Enditem
IKEA is the chain of furniture, accessories and solutions focused on the home , now it announced that its second store in Mexico will be located in Puebla , in the Via San Angel shopping center.

This Friday, IKEA reported through Twitter that "its dream of reaching more homes is coming true", since from the first half of the following year it will reach that state.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 16:15:31|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in Israel reached 600,302 on Monday morning with 3,569 new cases added since Sunday evening, the Ministry of Health said.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 4,419 after 27 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 1,181 to 1,140, out of 1,878 hospitalized patients.

The total recoveries rose to 525,047, with 2,679 newly recovered cases, while the active cases increased to 70,836.

According to the Ministry, the number of people vaccinated against the COVID-19 in Israel has surpassed 2.58 million, or 27.7 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

On Sunday, the total number of patients tested positive for COVID-19 variants in Israel reached 185, after the ministry reported the first five cases of a strain which was recently detected in Los Angeles and multiple other counties throughout the U.S. state of California.

The Ministry also reported five new cases of the new COVID-19 strain which was detected in South Africa and other countries.

To prevent the spread of new COVID-19 strains, the Israeli cabinet has approved a ban on incoming and outgoing passenger flights.

The shutdown will come into effect at midnight (2200 GMT) between Monday and Tuesday and will last until Jan. 31. Enditem
ROME, JAN 25 - Seven out of 10 Italians miss their pre-COVID routines, a survey by the Doxa research agency said Monday. The actual number is a bit higher, in fact, at 75%, or three quarters of Italians who say they would like to go back to their previous lives. More than eight out of 10, or 85%, say they have found it hard to adjust to living with COVID and its attendant restrictions. Before COVID, daily routines were generally viewed as a drag with 35% of Italians saying in 2013 that would immediately change their lives if they could. But now, at a time of lockdowns of varying severity, the old routine is a source of strong nostalgia, Doxa said. The findings emerged in the report "The Routine of Italians In a Time of Pandemic", compiled by Doxa for UN refugee agency UNHCR which on Monday launched its campaign "Fantastic Routine". The report also found that the vast majority of respondents, 90%, said they would appreciate the little things in life a lot more once the pandemic is over. Some 20% also said they would no longer get caught up in the frenzy of working life but would devote more time to their loved ones and the "really important things in life". A further 6% said they would devote more of their time to more vulnerable people. (ANSA).
The independent list measures an organization's commitment and efforts in creating sustainable and meaningful career paths, community outreach, brand enthusiasm, and enduring partnerships for members of the military community. The full employers list and a profile celebrating PenFed will be published in the March 2021 issue of GIJobs Magazine.

"PenFed is honored to once again be recognized by VIQTORY media for our commitment to the military community," said PenFed Credit Union President/CEO and PenFed Foundation CEO James Schenck. "At PenFed, we celebrate the passion and resilience of veterans and military spouses. As our team of 2,700 financial professionals grows in 2021, we will continue our robust recruiting efforts within the military community."

As part of an ongoing commitment to hiring and supporting the military community, PenFed operates a Military Employment Program focused on every phase of the employment lifecycle for all members of the military community  including veterans, military and surviving spouses, wounded warriors and their caregivers, Reservists and National Guardsmen.

In addition to spending 20% of its recruiting budget on hiring and retaining veterans and military spouses, PenFed collaborates with dozens of military employment organizations, as well as dozens of installation Transition Assistance Program offices, to enhance military employment efforts. Members of the military community interested in a career with a military-friendly company are encouraged to visit PenFed's designated Military Webpage. The military webpage allows members of the military community to join our military talent community and search for jobs based on their skillsets.

PenFed has a strong legacy of being a military-friendly company and donates 2% of its annual net income to charitable organizations, with the majority going to military charities. The PenFed Foundation, a national 501(c)3 founded by PenFed Credit Union, was created in 2001 and, since then, has provided more than $38.5 million in financial support to veterans, active-duty service members, families and caregivers.

About PenFed Credit Union

Established in 1935, Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is America's second-largest federal credit union, serving over 2 million members worldwide with over $26 billion in assets. PenFed Credit Union offers market-leading certificates, checking, credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and a wide range of other financial services with members' interests always in mind. PenFed Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA and is an Equal Housing Lender. To learn more about PenFed Credit Union, visit PenFed.org, like us on Facebook and follow us @PenFed on Twitter. Interested in working for PenFed? Check us out on LinkedIn. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

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Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBY: JACK ARNHOLZ, ABC NEWS

(WASHINGTON)  Days after President Joe Biden took office and the Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., would not unequivocally say Sunday that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen and called for an investigation of fraud, without providing evidence.

"The debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur, we never had any presentation in court where we actually looked at the evidence. Most of the cases were thrown out for lack of standing, which is a procedural way of not actually hearing the question," Paul said on ABC's "This Week.

"Sen. Paul, I have to stop you there," ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos interjected.

"No election is perfect," Stephanopoulos continued. "After investigations, counts and recounts, the Department of Justice -- led by (Trump-appointed Attorney General) William Barr -- said there's no widespread evidence of fraud. Can't you just say the words: 'This election was not stolen?'"

The Kentucky senator responded, "What I would suggest is that if we want greater confidence in our elections -- and 75% of Republicans agree with me -- is that we do need to look at election integrity."

Paul also did not acknowledge former President Donald Trump's role in sowing doubts about the election.

The majority of the court cases filed by the Trump campaign were thrown out due to lack of evidence. Across the country, secretaries of state, both Republican and Democrat, and federal officials -- including Barr -- have all said that there was no evidence of widespread fraud or security concerns in November's election.

When challenged by Stephanopoulos on Barr's denial of widespread fraud, Paul retorted, "He said that, yes. That was a pronouncement. There's been no examination -- thorough examination -- of all the states to see what problems we had and see if they could fix them."

"There were lots of problems and there were secretaries of state, who illegally changed the law and that needs to be fixed, and I'm going to work harder to fix it and I will not be cowed by people saying 'oh, you're a liar,'" Paul told Stephanopoulos.

Stephanopoulos responded, "I'm standing by facts. There are not two sides to facts. I did not say this was a perfect election, I said the results were certified, I said it was not stolen. It is a lie.

While Paul was one of the many Republican politicians who repeated Trump's unfounded allegations of voter fraud, the Kentucky senator did not object to the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 7 and has said previously that he thinks Congress should not overturn results.

"Now, let me say to be clear, I voted to certify the state electors because I think it would be wrong for Congress to overturn that," he said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., responded to Paul's remarks in a separate interview on "This Week."

"As I listened to Rand Paul, George, I just kept thinking, 'man, this is why Joe Biden won,'" she told Stephanopoulos.

"American people right now are struggling. They need pandemic relief," Klobuchar continued. "I thoroughly believe that we can handle this impeachment trial and -- just as the American people are doing -- juggle what we need to get done.

With less than a week since Biden's swearing in, the article of impeachment against Trump is set to be delivered to the Senate Monday and the trial is expected to begin the week of Feb. 8. Senate Democrats are trying to balance the upcoming proceedings with getting more of Biden's Cabinet picks approved and pushing forward on the president's legislative agenda.

Despite earlier reports that McConnell was pleased with the House of Representatives' impeachment efforts, a growing number of conservative legal experts and Republicans in the Senate have challenged the constitutionality of holding a trial for Trump since he is no longer in office.

Some Republican senators, including Paul, have also argued that if Chief Justice John Roberts does not preside over the impeachment trial -- which remains unclear -- the hearings could be illegitimate.

When challenged by Stephanopoulos about those process arguments, Klobuchar said, "It is constitutional. We have precedent from way back when a secretary of war was tried after he had left office and, obviously, there's a remedy that would help in the future which would ban former President Trump from running again.

Stephanopoulos also pressed Klobuchar about whether there were enough GOP senators to vote to convict Trump.

"My colleagues have not yet committed about what they're going to do and the news we just got out of The New York Times yesterday that the president was actually actively trying to take out his own attorney general and put in an unknown bureaucrat conspiring with him. I think we're going to get more and more evidence over the next few weeks as if it's not enough that he's sent an angry mob down the Mall to invade the Capitol -- didn't try to stop it -- and a police officer was killed. I don't really know what else you need to know," the Minnesota senator added.

"Would you pursue, instead, either a censure or some kind of a resolution under the 14th Amendment to prevent President Trump from running for office again?" Stephanopoulos asked.

Klobuchar refused to rule anything out.

"We're focused on impeachment, but there are many options. Things can be looked at. But I think the thing that your viewers need to know right now, George, is that we must do many things at once," she said.

While the Senate debates the impending impeachment trial, also critical on the Democrats' agenda is passing a new coronavirus relief bill -- a key component of Biden's legislative priorities. The president is still pushing for a bipartisan arrangement, despite the fact that many in the GOP -- including moderates like Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine -- have said that the overall $1.9 trillion price tag is too expensive.

Klobuchar pushed back against arguments over the size of the bill, saying "the amount that Joe Biden has proposed, that's exactly the numbers we were talking about last summer. And at some point, the (Trump) administration was talking those numbers."

ABC News' Meg Cunningham and Kelly McCoy contributed to this report.

Copyright  2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Russia has opened criminal cases that could put protesters in jail for years after tens of thousands of people took to the streets at the weekend to demand the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The crackdown came as supporters of Mr Navalny, who is facing more than a decade behind bars on charges seen as politically motivated, defied the Kremlin with calls for further rallies.

In the biggest demonstrations the country has seen in years more than 3,000 people were arrested nationwide on Saturday, a record for Russian protests. Investigators said they were opening criminal probes over alleged hooliganism and violence used against the police, which could hand some of those who attended the rallies sentences of up to five years in prison.

Police said 4,000 people turned out in Moscow but observers and media put that figure in the tens of thousands. More than 10,000 took to the streets in St Petersburg and there were demonstrations in dozens of other cities across the country, including in Yakutsk, Siberia where temperatures reached -50C.

The rallies were called by Mr Navalny, Russias most prominent critic of Vladimir Putin, after he was arrested on his return to Moscow following months in Germany recovering from a poisoning he says the Kremlin orchestrated.

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Riot police charged demonstrators on Pushkin Square in central Moscow, using batons on the crowd. Several bloodied demonstrators were dragged off the square, while authorities said some 30 people were taken to hospital.

Investigators said they were looking at a large amount of photo and video material that showed violence against police by protesters. A widely shared clip showed officers being pelted by snowballs, while demonstrators attacked what appeared to be a FSB car in another video. However, in St Petersburg, prosecutors said they would look into police violations after a video showed officers pushing over and kicking a middle-aged woman. The hospital where she was taken reported that she was in a serious condition with a head injury.

The US and UK have condemned the response from Russian police, while Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign policy chief, said the bloc would discuss next steps today. Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, told the Financial Times that he supported further sanctions.

Moscow, meanwhile, said it would summon representatives of the US embassy over allegedly promoting the protests with a safety warning on its website.

The Kremlin, which has consistently sought to play down Mr Navalnys political significance, said few people had protested compared with the many who voted for Mr Putin. If you compare the numbers, you will understand how few these people are, said the presidents spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Leonid Volkov, who runs Mr Navalnys network of offices across Russia, announced further mass protests at the weekend and called for a greater turnout. Anyone who doesnt come out is considered (by Peskov) to be pro Putin! he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Navalny says his poisoning was carried out by the FSB on the orders of Mr Putin, a charge the Kremlin denies.

Multiple laboratory tests in Europe showed he was poisoned with a chemical from the same Novichok group used against former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. Mr Putin has denied the Russian state was behind the attack, despite a sting by the opposition leader last year in which an FSB agent apparently confirmed details of the operation during a recorded phone call.

Some protesters said they had mixed feelings about the opposition leader but were on the streets because of wider anger over Mr Putins 20-year rule.
Annie Lynch, the first person to receive the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Ireland

Growing numbers want the Covid-19 vaccine with three-quarters of people now saying they will get the jab, particularly the over-65s, a new survey reveals today.

Almost one-fifth, or 18pc, are still unsure while 7pc say they will refuse a vaccine.

Eagerness for the vaccine has emerged in a survey carried out by Ipsos MRBI for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) which represents the international research-based biopharmaceutical industry.

It found the age group most likely to take a Covid-19 vaccine were the over-65s with demand among them as high as 86 pc. Eight in ten people aged between 55 and 64 want be to be vaccinated.

The demand among older age groups is good news because of their higher risk of getting sick from the virus.

Of the 7pc of people overall who said they will not take a Covid-19 vaccine, the reluctance was highest among 25- to 34-year-olds.

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An IPHA spokesman said the figures show a 20 point rise in the number of people who will take a Covid-19 vaccine since the last survey in October.

At that stage 12pc said they would not take it but this has now fallen to 7pc. The number of people who said they were unsure is also down 15 points since October.

More than 50 potential Covid-19 vaccines are in trials, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The spokesman said vaccines go through a three-stage clinical trials process before they are sent to regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency for approval.

The last stage, phase III, involves tens of thousands of tested patients.

Oliver OConnor, chief executive of IPHA, said: In less than a year, the approvals of the first Covid-19 vaccines in the EU are a key milestone in the response to Covid-19. The first EU marketing authorisations for Covid-19 vaccines offer hope for controlling the pandemic. With the prospect of more Covid-19 vaccines on the way, this is a time to value science in society.

Our latest survey shows there is a strong public appetite for taking a Covid-19 vaccine. Immunisation on a sufficient scale is all that separates us from an indefinite series of lockdowns.

"It is vital that as many people as possible get vaccinated so that we can all return to normality or, at least, some version of it.

We would ask people to bear with the health authorities as they roll out the vaccination programme nationwide. Our public health experts and officials, as well as frontline healthcare workers and the Government, are working hard to inoculate the population on a phased basis. That will take time so we should try to be patient. Our industry, meanwhile, is continuing to manufacture as many vaccine doses as it can at speed and scale.

"As well as accelerating supply, it is working on developing more vaccines for regulatory approval. Together, we will emerge from this pandemic with renewed hope and a stronger belief in science.

All nursing home residents and staff were due to have received a first dose of vaccine yesterday.

This week mostly second doses will be administered to predominantly health staff. But major uncertainty hangs over the volume of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine which is expected to be given approval on Friday. This could impact roll-out to the over-70s.




Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

Armenia Kotayk Province has new governor

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US ambassador, discusses border situation

NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- During 2021, Savage is celebrating its remarkable 75-year history by focusing on the vision, values and commitment to Team Members, Customers and communities that have driven its success. Established in 1946 as a small family-owned trucking business in American Fork, Utah, the Company has grown to become a global provider of supply chain services in the agriculture, energy and chemical, and environmental services industries.

The Savage brothers  Kenneth, Neal, and Luke  and their father, C.A., set the standard of hard work, integrity and innovation that we all work to live up to today, said Kirk Aubry, Savage President and CEO. Our focus is on having a culture that attracts great Team Members who enable our Customers and Partners to Feed the World, Power Our Lives and Sustain the Planet.

Savage will involve current and former Team Members, Customers, Partners, community leaders and members of the Savage family in various activities throughout the year to commemorate this milestone. Visit our website to learn more about the Company, its history and the Vision and Legacy of the Savage brothers.

With nearly 4,500 Team Members in over 200 locations, the Companys work in transportation, logistics, materials handling and other industrial services enables its Customers and Partners to Feed the World, Power Our Lives, and Sustain the Planet. More information about the Savage family of companies is available at www.savageservices.com/savage-companies.

Attachments
The states rate of positive tests for COVID-19 continues to decline and for the first time in seven weeks, not all of the states counties show a substantial spread of the virus, Gov. Tom Wolfs administration said Monday.

The states positive test rate for the coronavirus fell to 10.5% during the week of Jan. 15-21, down from 12.7% during the previous week. The positive test rate has now dropped for six consecutive weeks after reaching a high of 16.2% in December.

While the rate is dropping, health officials have said a positive test rate of 5% is a troubling sign of community spread.

The Wolf administration said there is now substantial transmission of COVID-19 in 66 of Pennsylvanias 67 counties. The state had seen substantial spread of the coronavirus in every Pennsylvania county for the previous six weeks, so that streak has ended.

One county - Cameron County - is seeing low transmission of the virus. The Wolf administration uses three categories to gauge the spread of COVID-19: low, moderate and substantial.

After six straight weeks of all 67 counties reporting in the substantial level of transmission, we now have one county moving into the low level of transmission category  a great sign of progress, Wolf said in a statement.

But there is still more work for us to do and we must not become complacent, he said. I believe we can keep up these best public health practices to continue to bring the transmission of COVID-19 down in our communities, keep each other safe, and move forward with rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is reporting fewer new infections and hospitalizations in recent weeks. About 3,900 patients with COVID-19 are being treated in hospitals, down from a peak of more than 6,300 in December.

The state has seen a spike in deaths tied to COVID-19 in recent weeks. Last week, the health department reported the number of coronavirus deaths has topped 20,000. It took eight months for the state to see 10,000 fatalities, but less than two months for that number to double.

State officials have asked school officials to consider the extent of community spread of COVID-19 in determining whether students should be in school or educated remotely. Earlier this month, the Wolf administration said it is recommending that school districts focus on returning elementary school students to classrooms, even in counties with a substantial spread of the virus. The state advises high schools and middle schools to continue with remote instruction in counties with substantial spread.

Still, local school leaders continue to make the call on deciding if schools should hold classes in person, remotely or with a mix of face-to-face and virtual instruction. The states guidelines are only recommendations.

Last week, Wolf said he is nominating Alison Beam, his deputy chief of staff, to succeed outgoing Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. President Joe Biden has nominated Levine to be his assistant health secretary.

Beams top priority will be overseeing the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines in Pennsylvania, an effort which has received growing criticism.

The Wolf administration expanded eligibility for the vaccines last week, enabling those over 65 and younger people with high-risk conditions to get the vaccines. But many have had trouble finding the vaccines as the demand has far exceeded the available supply. More health systems, pharmacies and grocery stores are beginning to get limited supplies of vaccines, but state officials are urging Pennsylvanians to have patience.

The governor also has also named Dr. Wendy Braund as Interim Acting Physician General, replacing Levine in that position.She has been serving as the COVID-19 Response Director for the state health department.

More than 807,000 people in Pennsylvania have contracted the coronavirus and more than 20,600 deaths have been tied to COVID-19, according to the state health department.

Most of those who are infected recover after dealing with relatively mild symptoms and many never get sick. But health experts warn the coronavirus poses a risk to everyone, particularly those who are seniors and those with medical issues.

Even as the state works to ramp up vaccine distribution, health officials stress the importance of wearing mask and practicing social distancing.

More from PennLive

New pick for Pa. health secretary draws praise, hopes for fresh perspective in tackling COVID-19
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus at a shrimp market in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thailand on Monday registered a new daily high of over 900 confirmed new cases of the coronavirus at the province near the capital Bangkok, where a major outbreak occurred in December. (AP Photo)

Thailand on Monday confirmed a record 914 new cases of the coronavirus, all in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok where a major outbreak began in December. The new cases shot the national total past 14,000.

The previous high was on Jan. 4, when 745 cases were reported, mostly in Samut Sakhon among migrant workers from Myanmar. The province is a center for fishing and industry. The first case reported in the recent surge was detected there in mid-December at a major seafood market, which has been closed.

Any new cases in other provinces will be announced in Tuesday. National totals are announced the day after test results, but Samut Sakhon health officials released local results on Monday, the same day they began mass proactive testing in the province, targeting up to 10,000 people a day for a week.

They said 844 new cases were detected Monday through pro-active testing and 70 discovered in hospitals. Thai nationals accounted for 119 cases and migrant workers for 795.

Earlier Monday, Health Ministry officials had announced 187 new cases nationwide, bringing the total to 13,687. Two deaths pushed the death toll to 75. The Samut Sakorn figures were announced in the afternoon and not yet officially added to the national total.

Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus at shrimp market in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thailand on Monday registered a new daily high of 914 confirmed new cases of the coronavirus at the province near the capital Bangkok, where a major outbreak occurred in December. (AP Photo)

Workers clean the road outside shrimp market in Samut Sakhon, South of Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Thailand on Monday registered a new daily high of over 900 confirmed new cases of the coronavirus at the province near the capital Bangkok, where a major outbreak occurred in December. (AP Photo)

Cases linked to the Samut Sakhon outbreak have spread to more than 60 of Thailand's 77 provinces. A cluster of cases also occurred among itinerant gamblers who gathered at illegal gambling dens.

Restrictions to control the spread of the disease were reimposed in most provinces, including Bangkok, where schools were closed and restaurant hours limited, among other measures.

Samut Sakhon Gov. Veerasak Vijitsaengsri was hospitalized with the coronavirus before the New Year, and remains in critical condition with severe lung damage, according to the Bangkok hospital where he was admitted.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Mandatory quarantine for people travelling into Ireland without proof of being Covid-free and tighter north-south border Covid checks are to be considered by Government ministers meeting today.

The Government is likely to bow to pressure for new rules on quarantine.

Strategy

The Covid-19 ministers' sub-committee will try to recommend a strategy to boost the trend of lowering virus cases and ease near-breakpoint pressure on hospital services.

But one Government source has conceded "there are still more questions than answers" about the detail of new regulations to be adopted.

The major stumbling block remains how to deal with people travelling in from Northern Ireland, who could seriously undermine a Dublin government plan to oblige people landing here to have a certificate issued within the previous 72 hours showing themselves to be Covid-free.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has spoken with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the weekend about a "two islands" joint approach to the issue of people travelling in from overseas.

"But anything which might come of that remains to be seen," one government source told the Herald.

Mr Martin said mandatory quarantine of up to five days may be considered for people travelling into Ireland without proof of a so-called PCR test delivered within the previous 72 hours.

But others in Government point out medical experts rarely view a five-day quarantine as sufficient and more usually insist on 14 days.

Last night officials said there is clear pressure on the Government to act.

"But three practical obstacles remain in the way. These are questions of accommodation, transport and how to enforce any such quarantine," said one source.

Officials in all three Coalition parties - Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party - insisted their leaders are united on the need for action but are still undecided on the practical implications of whatever extra restrictions they involve.

Suppression

They expect some proposals will emerge later today to be put before Cabinet tomorrow.

Labour Party leader Alan Kelly has said a longer lockdown should be implemented to suppress Covid-19 along with a "national aggressive suppression strategy".

Speaking on RTE radio's This Week, he said the Border should be better policed to stop non-essential travel and that mandatory quarantine should be introduced for all visitors arriving here.

He added that it was inevitable that the Leaving Cert would be cancelled.
CHICAGO, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Dimethyl Carbonate Market by Application (Polycarbonate Synthesis, Battery Electrolyte, Solvents, Reagents), End-Use Industry (Plastics, Paints & Coatings, Pharmaceuticals), Grade (Industry, Pharmaceutical, Battery), Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Dimethyl Carbonate Market is projected to grow USD 797 million in 2020 to USD 1,078 million by 2025, at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2020 to 2025. The increasing demand for polycarbonates and lithium-ion batteries is expected to drive the global dimethyl carbonate market.

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=24544228

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The polycarbonate synthesis segment estimated to account for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2020.

By application, the polycarbonate synthesis segment is estimated to account for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2020. Dimethyl carbonate is used to manufacture polycarbonate by the well-established and rapidly expanding non-phosgene melt process. Polycarbonate is used across industries such as automotive and electrical & electronics due to its superior physical properties such as heat resistance, impact resistance, structural stability, and optical transparency. The growing demand from polycarbonate from the automotive and electrical & electronics industries is driving the market for dimethyl carbonate across the globe.

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The plastics segment estimated to account for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2020.

By end-use industry, the plastics segment accounted for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2020. Dimethyl carbonate is used as an intermediate in polycarbonate synthesis. PC has become an important environment-friendly and recyclable form of commercial polymer with numerous uses in different industries such as automotive, electrical & electronics. The growing demand for plastic products specially the polycarbonate is expected the drive the demand of dimethyl carbonate across the globe.

Asia Pacific estimated to account for the largest share of the global dimethyl carbonate market in 2020

The Asia Pacific region accounted for the largest share of the dimethyl carbonate market in 2020. China, India, Japan, and South Korea are major countries contributing to the increased demand for dimethyl carbonate in this region. In China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, dimethyl carbonate is mainly used in the production of polycarbonates, while in India, it is primarily consumed by the pharmaceutical, paints & coatings, and agrochemical industries to manufacture different products such as medicines, paints, and pesticides.

Ube Industries Ltd. (Japan), Merck KGaA (Germany), Kowa Company Ltd. (Japan), Kishida Chemical Co. Ltd. (Japan), Shandong Shida Shenghua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. (China), Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (China), Haike Chemical Group (China), Arrow Chemical Group Corp. (China), and Panax Etec (Korea) are some of the leading players operating in the dimethyl carbonate market.

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MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

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Former US President Donald Trumps impeachment trial is to begin the week of February 8, giving the chamber more time to focus on President Joe Bidens legislative agenda and Cabinet nominees, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Friday.

The arrangement was praised by the Senates top Republican, Mitch McConnell.

The House of Representatives is due to formally deliver to the Senate on Monday the impeachment charge accusing Trump of inciting an insurrection, a move that ordinarily would have triggered the beginning of the trial within a day.

The charge stems from Trumps incendiary speech to supporters before they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a rampage that delayed the formal congressional certification of Bidens election victory and left five people dead, including a police officer.

Schumer said the new timeline will allow the Senate to move quickly on key Biden appointees and other tasks while giving House lawmakers who will prosecute the case and Trumps team more time to prepare for the trial.

During that period, the Senate will continue to do other business for the American people, such as Cabinet nominations and the COVID relief bill which would provide relief for millions of Americans who are suffering during this pandemic, Schumer said on the Senate floor.

The timeline was a compromise after McConnell had asked the Democratic-led House to delay sending the charge until next Thursday, and called on Schumer to postpone the trial until mid-February to give Trump more time to prepare a defence.

Doug Andres, a spokesman for McConnell, said the senator was pleased Democrats had given Trumps defence more time, and laid out a timeline that could have the trial begin as soon as February 9.

This is a win for due process and fairness, Andres said.

Under the timeline, House impeachment managers will file their pre-trial brief and Trumps defence team will file an answer to the impeachment charge on February 2, and each side will respond to those filings on February 8.

Trump on January 13 became the first U.S. president to have been impeached twice. The Senate acquitted him last year in the previous trial focused on Trumps request that Ukraine investigates Biden and his son. Trumps presidential term ended on Wednesday.

Conviction in the Senate would require a two-thirds vote  meaning 17 of Trumps fellow Republicans would have to vote against him. A conviction would clear the way for a second vote, requiring a simple majority, to bar Trump from holding office again.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday found a slim majority of Americans believe Trump should be convicted and barred from holding public office. The responses were almost entirely along party lines, with nine out of 10 Democrats wanting Trump convicted and less than two in 10 Republicans agreeing.

Trump has said he may seek the presidency again in 2024.

His fate could depend on McConnell, whose position is likely to influence other Republicans. McConnell said this week that the mob that attacked the Capitol was fed lies and provoked by the president and other powerful people.

(Reuters)

RFI is Premium Times syndication partner. We have permission to republish

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MBABANE  Caught-red handed!

Senior police officers had to be hurriedly dispatched to the police canteen in Mbabane, after a livid Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku brought it to the attention of the National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini that alcohol was being illicitly sold at the establishment. Known as the police mess, which consists of a bottle store and a bar, it is operated by the Royal Eswatini Police Service and most of the staff members are police officers. It is situated a stones throw away from the police camp. Masuku received information from a whistleblower that the police mess was a hive of activity.

It was around 8pm on Thursday when the whistleblower called to inform the acting PM that despite alcohol being banned in the country, same was being sold at the police mess. The livid Masuku then conveyed the message to the national commissioner, who immediately ordered two high ranking police officers to go and attend to the matter. The information was indeed confirmed as upon arrival, the senior police officers who hold the rank of deputy national commissioner reportedly found members of the public and off-duty police officers clandestinely buying alcoholic beverages from the establishment. When reached for comment regarding the matter, Masuku confirmed that upon receiving the tip-off from concerned members of the public, he then took it upon himself to inform the national commissioner of police. I was and I am still angry about what the police officers did, said the acting PM.

Frustrated

He highlighted that what frustrated him the most was the fact that he was now minister of police who had to lead by example. Masuku said he opted reporting the incident to the national commissioner since he was in charge of the Operation Bopha. Operation Bopha exists and it works without fear or favour, Masuku said. He said the nation needed to understand that as government, they were trying to save lives by putting in place measures including the banning of alcohol. He noted that alcohol, had been seen as a superspreader of COVID-19 as people gathered in groups to imbibe. Another issue is that there are traumas caused by alcohol, which result in people being rushed to hospital yet the country is still battling with COVID-19 pandemic as cases surge.
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The roboticis team at Trinity College Dublin have developed a robot they call Violet to help tackle Covid-19 at Portlaoise hospital's sister facility in Tullamore.

TCD say Violet has been designed by a team led by Conor McGinn, assistant professor in Trinitys School of Engineering and co-founder of spinout company Akara Robotics.

The college says Violet is portable and compact device that operates in tight, crowded spaces that are otherwise hard to clean. These include such as bathrooms, waiting areas, and the nooks and crannies of public transit.

The university says that with support from the HSE, the Violet team has tested the robot at Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore, where they conducted tests in radiology treatment rooms presently being used to treat COVID-19 patients in need of diagnostic medical imagery.

The robot makes a big difference during a pandemic says TCD because infection control procedures mandate significant waiting periods after COVID patients undergo radiology scans, leading to significant reduction in hospital workflow.

Speaking to Techtalk on Newstalk radio Mr McGinn compared the impact Violet has on the virus and other bugs to what the damage the sun can do to skin in the shape of sunburn.

He praised the HSE for helping develop the device to a point where he believes it can be produced commercially. There is hope that it could be valuable to nursing homes and other care settings.

The device was initially deployed in Offaly 2020.

TCD says Violet doesnt only work on coronavirus. The UV-C irradiation it emits has also shown to be effective on superbugs including MRSA, and C. difficile, among others.

It also has a protective shield around the back of the light, and motion-detecting sensors so that people dont have to vacate the area while its at work.

Trinity say the project has involved close collaboration with Dr Michael Beckett, postdoctoral research fellow in Trinitys Department of Microbiology, who has been responsible for the clinical testing and validation of the technology.
The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy approached the British Embassy in Ukraine to get clarification from the BBC headquarters in London why their Russian bureau of the company included Sevastopol and Simferopol in the list of Russian cities.

"Crimes against Ukraine and its own people have become a common practice for Russian domestic policy. As a result of peaceful protests that erupted throughout the country, 3,521 people were arrested. A terrible anti-record ... International sanctions against the Russian authorities should be established in the near future. But this requires decisive actions not only from the leadership of states, but also the observance of information security, in particular, by international news agencies," Tkachenko wrote on the Telegram channel.

The minister believes that when the Russian bureau of the BBC in its post classifies Sevastopol and Simferopol as Russian cities, although it mentions annexation, this is already double standards.

"For many years, the BBC has been considered an international model for the reliability of information in terms of materials, therefore the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy appeals to the British Embassy in Ukraine to get clarification from the BBC headquarters in London why their Russian branch has included Sevastopol and Simferopol in the list of Russian cities, where protests against the detention of Navalny were held," Tkachenko noted, attaching a BBC infographic confirming the message.


Solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is an attractive approach to convert solar energy into chemical energy. Among many photoelectrode materials, crystalline silicon (c-Si) has drawn considerable attention because of its earth abundance, narrow bandgap, and suitable band edge position for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, c-Si suffers from low photovoltage generated from the solid-liquid junction.

Various strategies, such as the construction of p-n homojunctions, metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) junctions and p-n heterojunctions, have been adopted to obtain high photovoltage. The MIS junctions have been the focus of attention in PEC water splitting due to their simple fabrication and the potential to achieve higher efficiencies than p-n junctions. However, there are very limited Si-based MIS photocathodes reported with efficiency exceeding 5%, much lower than that of p-n junction photocathode (10%).

One of the major challenges of p-Si MIS photocathodes for higher efficiency is the parasitic light absorption from HER catalysts such as Pt, Ni-Mo, etc. Traditional MIS photocathodes are fabricated from p-Si, where the photogenerated minority carriers (electrons) drive the reduction reaction at the front surface. This could be translated into the fact that the catalyst must be placed at the same side of MIS junction. Thus, the parasitic light absorption from catalysts will severely limit the photocurrent density. The metal layers in MIS junction also cause optical loss. Another limiting factor is the lack of low work function metals to form a large band offset with p-Si in MIS junction, resulting in a low photovoltage.

In a research article published in National Science Review, scientists at Tianjin University present a unique illumination-reaction decoupled MIS photocathode fabricated from n-Si, which surmounts the challenges that seriously impede the development of p-Si MIS photocathode.

Different from previous works that employ minority carriers to drive the surface reduction reaction, the majority carriers (electrons) of n-Si MIS photocathode are used in this work. Upon this simple, unconventional yet effective modification, the MIS junction and catalyst can be placed on the opposite sides of n-Si, which avoids the light-shielding problem of catalyst.

Moreover, this MIS photocathode constructed from n-Si addresses the drawback of lacking metallic materials with suitable work function to generate a large band offset for p-Si MIS photocathode. By using indium tin oxide (ITO) with a high transmittance as the high work function metallic material for n-Si MIS photocathode, the trade-off between metal coverage and light absorption confronted by high work function metals is further eliminated.

As a result, this illumination-reaction decoupled n-Si MIS photocathode exhibits a light absorption higher than 90%, a photovoltage up to 570 mV, and a recorded efficiency of 10.3%, exceeding traditional p-Si MIS photocathodes.

This facile strategy exhibits a potential to inspire the rational design of solar powered photoelectrochemical systems that use catalysts with poor light transmittance, a step forward towards future large-scale commercialization of solar water splitting.

###

This research is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City, and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities.
Sweden said Sunday it would bar entry from Norway for three weeks, after a cluster of a faster-spreading coronavirus strain appeared in its neighbour's capital Oslo.

"Since Norwegian shops and alcohol stores are closed, there is a risk that Norwegians come to Sweden and contribute to infections," Interior Minister Mikael Damberg told reporters.

People who live and work in Sweden will be exempt from the entry ban, set to come into force from midnight on Monday.

Meanwhile Stockholm said that it would extend a similar ban on arrivals from Britain, where the faster-spreading variant was first detected, and neighbouring Denmark over the same period, until February 14.

By Wednesday, Sweden had already detected 50 cases of the British variant, while Norway's count was up to 70 by Sunday.

Oslo and the surrounding region are under Norway's toughest lockdown measures since the start of the coronavirus pandemic following the detection of variant cases just outside the capital.

Norway has further tightened its own entry rules, demanding arrivals present a negative PCR test from within the past 24 hours and requiring additional tests for those travelling from areas at risk of the new variants.
COVID-19 testing information for west-central Illinois counties:

Morgan County

Jacksonville

Days and times: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Location: Drive-through testing site located at the intersection of Dunlap Court and Morgan Streets.

Details: No appointment necessary. Photo ID and insurance card requested but not required.



Brown County

Mount Sterling

Days and times: By appointment.

Location: Brown County Health Department, 120 E. Main St. 217-773-2714

Details: Testing eligibility determined by telephone screening.



Cass County

Beardstown

Days and times: Monday-Friday 9-11:20 a.m.

Location: Cass County Health Department, 8590 St. Lukes Drive. 217-323-2182

Virginia

Days and times: Monday-Friday 1-3 p.m.

Location: Cass County Health Department, 331 S. Main St. 217-452-3057

Details: Testing by appointment only and is limited to those who live or work in Cass County. Schedules subject to change.



Greene County

Carrollton

Days and times: By appointment. Open seven days a week.

Location: Boyd Rural Health Clinic, 800 School St. 217-942-3600

Details: Testing performed if medically indicated, pre-op with doctors order, or return to work. Must call and leave message with name and callback number.



Jersey County

Jerseyville

Days and times: By appointment.

Location: Jerseyville Community Hospital Walk-in Clinic, 903 S. State St. 618-498-2273

Details: Testing performed if medically indicated.



Macoupin County

Gillespie

Days and times: By appointment.

Location: Maple Street Clinic, 109 E. Maple St. 217-313-5078

Details: Drive-through free testing. Register by phone or online at mcphd.net.



Pike County

Pittsfield

Days and times: By appointment.

Location: Quincy Medical Group, 320 N. Madison St. 217-277-4001

Details: Testing performed if medically indicated.

.

Days and times: Monday-Saturday 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Location: Illini Express Clinic, 101 E. Washington St. 217-277-3504

Details: Testing performed if medically indicated. Register upon arrival.



Scott County

Winchester:

Days and times: Mondays and Fridays 9-11 a.m.

Location: Scott County Health Department, 335 W. Cherry St.

Details: Schedule subject to change. See Facebook page for updates.
Billie Faiers has been accused of 'ripping off' Olivia Rubin's 250 rainbow cardigan with a 40 Minnie's Boutique version.

The reality star, 31, has run into criticism from the fashion designer, who urged her to 'have some originality' and said it was 'another level' of copying.

Olivia is famed for her rainbow aesthetic, specialising in knits, sequins and satin fabrics, with the celeb-favourite designer charging hundreds of pounds per piece.

'Have some originality': Billie Faiers has been accused of 'ripping off' designer Olivia Rubin's 250 Mika rainbow cardigan with a 40 Minnie's Boutique version (pictured)

The designer took to Instagram Stories over the weekend to compare Billie's MyNelly pastel stripe and pearl button cardigan, which retails for 40 with her own 250 Mika design.

Olivia wrote: 'I don't normally repost copies but I'm seeing it more and more; celebrities and other brands buying our clothes only to rip them off!

'This is just another level. Have some originality.'

She shared a second image of the two cardigans side by side, writing: 'the colours, sequins, even down to the buttons.'

Furious Olivia wrote: 'I don't normally repost copies but I'm seeing it more and more; celebrities and other brands buying our clothes only to rip them off! This is just another level'

Designer: Olivia Rubin pictured in 2015 at Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Launch Party in London

The Minnie's Boutique cardigan is a from a factory supplier.

The factory has confirmed with MailOnline that there needs to be six to seven different elements to a garment in order for it to be far enough away from another product on the market that could be classed as being similar.

Therefore, this cardigan meets all the legal requirements to be on sale and is in no way a form of plagiarism as the two pieces are clearly very different.

Billie's design has a different colourway but has sequins running through the knit, just like Olivia's. And hers has pearl flower buttons, while Olivia's are diamante flowers.

All the colours... Models on the catwalk during the Olivia Rubin presentation at London Fashion Week February 2020 show at The ICA in London

Celebrities love Olivia Rubin designs: Vogue Williams wore this rainbow coloured sequin number back in August 2019

Earning her fashion stripes: Emily Atack wore this striped sequin Rubin skirt back in March 2019

A spokesperson for Billie declined to comment to MailOnline and Olivia Rubin declined to comment further.

Back in September, 2019, Billie brought out an InTheStyle range which featured a one-shoulder swimsuit like the Norma Kamali one she had worn on her hen .

And the sexy number was very similar to the popular 225 Norma Kamali Mio version that Billie wore on her hen.

No doubt the Dancing On Ice contestant wanted to create something inclusive for any fans who might not be able to stretch to the designer price tags, with her version ringing in at just 22.

However, it remains to be seen what Norma Kamali thinks of how similar the two items are.

Dupe: Back in September, 2019, Billie brought out an InTheStyle range, (left) which featured a one-shoulder swimsuit similar to the Norma Kamali one she had worn on her hen (right)
Indian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore is all set to script history by becoming the first woman to lead the flypast at the Republic Day parade on January 26 at Delhi's Rajpath.

Hailing from a small village in Rajasthan's Nagaur district, Swati completed her schooling from Ajmer. Having dreamt of becoming a pilot since a young age, Swati was selected in the IAF in her first attempt in 2014, while her brother was posted in the Merchant Navy.

In 2013, Swati appeared in the Air Force Common Admission Test. After clearing it, she was called for an interview by the Air Force Selection Board, Dehradun, in March 2014.

Among 200 female students from all over the country, only 98 were selected for screening. Only five students were left after the screening, in which only she was selected for the flying branch.

Also read: Republic Day 2021: Rafale to be on Display for the First Time, Here's All You Need to Know About the Jet

Swati's achievement was lauded by everyone including her family and state leaders.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje took to Twitter to praise Swati. Her message read "It is a matter of pride for all of us that the daughter of Veerbhoomi #Rajasthan and Flight Lieutenant of Air Force #SwatiRathore will lead the 'FlyPast' in the parade on Rajpath on the occasion of Republic Day. I wish her a bright future!"

Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot was also full of praises for the young pilot and said that her feat is a step towards women empowerment.

Her father, Dr. Bhavani Singh Rathore said, "My daughter has let me hold my head high. I am overwhelmed as the dream which she saw has turned into reality."

In a report by DNA, Rathore, who is a deputy director in the state's Agriculture Department, also appealed to all parents to help their daughters fulfill their dreams.
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dover Precision Components, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV), today announced the expansion of its TruTech materials brand, delivering the latest advances in polymer science to enhance the performance and reliability of critical components in rotating and reciprocating machinery.

Dover Precision Components has made significant investments in its Materials Technology initiative to fully integrate materials research with engineering expertise and practical experience in machinery applications. As part of this, a world-class team of material scientists has been assembled to develop proprietary TruTech polymeric materials, optimize process parameters and ensure product quality. With a dedicated materials laboratory featuring state-of-the-art mechanical, chemical, optical and thermal analysis equipment, as well as advanced friction and wear testing, the team has the necessary tools to fully evaluate materials and their signature properties. In addition, the recently constructed Dover Precision Components Innovation Lab allows for testing in real-world environments to transform material properties into customer benefits.

The TruTech portfolio includes materials formulated to extend the service life and performance of Cook Compression sealing components, Waukesha Bearings fluid film bearing products, Inpro/Seal Bearing Isolators and Air Mizer shaft seals. As a result of recent investments, the Dover Precision Components Materials Technology initiative has already developed new manufacturing methods to provide greater freedom to product development engineers. The investments have also enabled the expansion of the TruTech portfolio with new materials for use in high-pressure, non-lubricated reciprocating compressor applications.

"The investments made in our TruTech materials have differentiated us in the market and provided us with a significant advantage in meeting customer needs for performance in demanding operating conditions," said Jane Kober, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation for Dover Precision Components. "Our expertise enables us to develop, test and deliver reliable solutions using the most advanced polymer materials, and positions us to serve the next generation of reciprocating and rotating machinery."

TruTech materials are designed for optimum performance characteristics in a variety of operating conditions and have decades of proven success in the field. They are formulated from high performance polymers, such as PTFE, PEEK, UHMWPE, PPS, polyimide and other high-temperature aromatic polymer materials, in combination with state-of-the-art fillers, carefully selected and formulated to satisfy application requirements. All formulation, manufacturing and testing are done in-house to ensure high-quality standards and full traceability.

Broad research and development capabilities allow complete control of the material development process from material composition and processing to manufacturing and product testing. Maintaining these capabilities in-house provides Dover Precision Components the flexibility to customize material solutions for specific applications and operating environments. New materials receive intensive laboratory analysis and undergo comprehensive testing before release into the field.

The Dover Precision Components Materials Technology initiative is also currently developing material solutions to extend the useful life of reciprocating compressor packing rings, wiper rings, piston rings and rider rings, as well as enhance performance in non-lubricated environments and process gases, such as hydrogen.

About Dover Precision Components:

Dover Precision Components delivers performance-critical solutions for rotating and reciprocating machinery across the oil & gas, power generation, marine, industrial, chemical and general processing markets. Comprising the Waukesha Bearings, Bearings Plus, Inpro/Seal and Cook Compression brands, our portfolio includes hydrodynamic bearings, active magnetic bearings, system and bearing protection, and reciprocating compressor valves, sealing technologies, pistons, rods and more. Each solution is custom-engineered to provide optimum efficiency, reliability and productivity, and backed by comprehensive aftermarket services. Dover Precision Components serves its global customer base through facilities in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as technical sales representatives around the world. Additional information is available at doverprecision.com.

About Dover:

Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of approximately $7 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Fueling Solutions, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Refrigeration & Food Equipment. Dover combines global scale, operational agility, world-class engineering capability and customer intimacy to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 60 years, our team of over 23,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com .

Dover Precision Components Contact:

Krista Betts

(262) 506-3084

[email protected]

Dover Media Contact:

Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications

(630) 743-5039

[email protected]

Dover Investor Contact: Andrey Galiuk, VP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations

(630) 743-5131

[email protected]

SOURCE Dover

Related Links

http://www.dovercorporation.com


Scotch Whisky Association unveils ambitious sustainability goals

A new sustainability strategy for the Scotch whisky industry has committed to dramatically reducing the sector's environmental impact, including helping it to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

The industry's revised Sustainability Strategy, unveiled by the Scotch Whisky Assoication (SWA) on Monday, focuses on four main themes: tackling climate change, using water responsibly, moving to a circular economy, and caring for the land.

It builds on progress made by distillers over the past decade and commits the industry to working collaboratively with partners and government to achieve its goals.

Further commitments in the new strategy include making all new product packaging reuseable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, playing an active role in peatland conservation and restoration in Scotland, and ensuring all producers are within a responsible water usage range by 2025.

The SWA has set its sights on this year's COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow as a platform to showcase the industry's environmental work.

This new plan comes 12 years after the Scotch whisky industry's first Environment Strategy, the first of its kind to cover an entire sector. Since then the industry has made significant progress including a 34 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the proportion of primary energy from non-fossil fuel sources from 3 per cent to 28 per cent, and improving water use efficiency by 22 per cent.

Karen Betts, CEO of the SWA, said: "The Scotch whisky industry's new Sustainability Strategy is both ambitious and achievable. A huge amount of work has gone into its development and is now going into its implementation. This is a great example of collaboration within our industry and with other organisations in our supply chain, the energy sector, and in government.

"This is close to distillers' hearts because we know we must protect the natural environment. We depend on natural resources - water, cereals, yeast - to make Scotch whisky. Scotch has been produced for 500 years and we want to ensure that it is being produced for generations to come."

Terry A'Hearn, CEO of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said: "The Scotch whisky industry is an incredibly forward-thinking sector when it comes to sustainability, and is already among the most environmentally compliant sectors that we regulate.

"Amid a climate crisis when industries need to act to protect the natural environment, this new Sustainability Strategy demonstrates the commitment of the Scotch whisky industry to maintain its position as an environmental leader, containing ambitious targets that will help to ensure a green future for Scotch whisky producers large and small."

Roseanna Cunningham, environment and climate change secretary, said: "Whisky production is part of our industrial and cultural landscape, and is a key part of our identity as a nation. It is vital for prosperity and employment, especially in rural and island communities.

"I welcome the Scotch Whisky Assocation's new Sustainability Strategy, which aims to pave the way for the sector to reach net zero by 2040, positioning efforts alongside our national ambition to end Scotland's contribution to climate change."

Energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan added: "We are already helping Scotch whisky to take a lead on low-carbon production with 10 million investment and it's fantastic that this new strategy is taking that even further by helping one of our most cherished industries also become one of our greenest."

25 January 2021 - Bethany Whymark
KYODO NEWS - Jan 25, 2021 - 14:04 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Japan will hold a coronavirus vaccination simulation in Kawasaki near Tokyo on Wednesday, the minister in charge of vaccination efforts said.

Taro Kono, who also serves as administrative reform minister, revealed the plan as Japan prepares to begin novel coronavirus vaccinations by late February, after checking the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

"We will assess how long it will take (to vaccinate) and how big the system needs to be. Then we will inform municipalities of the results," said Kono during a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting.

Calling vaccination a key measure against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at the same meeting he wants to "swiftly bring vaccines to the people," vowing to provide accurate information about the effects.

Japan is set to receive 310 million vaccine doses from two U.S. pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., and Britain's AstraZeneca Plc. The total will be enough for 157 million people.

Medical workers are expected to be eligible for vaccination first, followed by people aged 65 or older, then people with pre-existing conditions and those caring for the elderly.

While the central government is in charge of securing vaccines, inoculation will be left to local governments.

A recent Kyodo News survey showed 80 percent of Japan's 47 prefectural capitals view securing enough medical personnel for vaccination as a challenge.
New Zealand health officials said on Sunday they were investigating what they said was probably the country`s first community coronavirus case, in months in a woman who recently returned from overseas. The 56-year-old, who returned to New Zealand on December 30, tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 days after leaving a two-week mandatory quarantine at the border where she had twice tested negative.

"We are working under the assumptions that this is a positive case and that it is a more transmissible variant, either the one identified first in South Africa or the UK, or potentially Brazil - or another transmissible variant," Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a news conference.

It is not known how the woman was infected or whether the infection is new, Bloomfield said. But since the woman tested positive several days after being released from quarantine and has been at home, the authorities are treating it as a 'probable community case'.

New Zealand, one of the most successful developed nations in controlling the spread of the pandemic, last recorded a community coronavirus transmission on Nov. 18, according to the Health Ministry website. A tough lockdown and geographical isolation helped New Zealand virtually eliminate the novel coronavirus within its borders.

The country of 5 million people has had only 1,927 confirmed cases. But with the pandemic raging globally, more people are returning to New Zealand with infections, including the new variants, raising concerns the virus may spread in the community again. The woman, who lives in Northland on New Zealand`s North Island, quarantined upon arrival in a managed isolation facility in Auckland where several the highly virulent COVID-19 cases have been recorded in recent weeks, Bloomfield said.

"This is a reminder to all of us that the pandemic continues and that this is a tricky virus," he said.

Social media users rushed to express concern and frustration about the new case, with one user describing the reactions on Twitter as a 'collective groan'. On Sunday, there were eight new infections, all returning travellers quarantined at the border, bringing active cases among those quarantined to 79, the ministry said in a statement.

Pressure has been mounting on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's government to vaccinate the population, but New Zealand has said the majority of its population would only be vaccinated in the second half of the year.
The High-Powered Committee's minutes clearly show that the three contentious farm bills were never brought up or discussed in "any meeting" with the Government of Punjab or with any Punjab minister, said Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

"The minutes of the meeting with the Union Government have already been released in the public domain. Anyone who reads the minutes will note that the farm bills were neither brought up nor discussed nor were they on the meeting agenda," said Badal in a press statement here yesterday.

The Finance Minister added that he had already released the eight-page minutes of the meeting in the public domain on 18th September 2020. Further, to clarify any questions, he had addressed the entire issue in detail on 24 September 2020.

"Instead of supporting the rights of farmers, the Aam Aadmi Party is parroting the same line that is being used by the BJP and the Akali Dal to sabotage and discredit the hard-working farmers," the Finance Minister said.

It is evident that the NDA government and AAP are working in cahoots with each other to sow confusion by misleading the people. "However, since the entire minutes are with the public, they know the truth," the Finance Minister added. "It is thus surprising that when the minutes of the meeting of the High Powered Committee for Transformation of Indian Agriculture are already with the public, the issue is being raised again and again to confuse the farmers' agitation," Badal said.

It would have been good that instead of casting aspersions and trying to sabotage the farmer's cause, AAP and Akali Dal had lent support to the farmers, Badal said.

The Finance Minister added that the AAP press conference's timing is intriguing as it comes when the protesting farmers have announced their tractor rally. "It seems that AAP and the Akali Dal are rattled that they have not been able to create division among farmers, and they are acting like spokespersons of the NDA government.

(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 UK variant of Covid-19 cannot be behaving differently in Northern Ireland from the Republic, Stormonts deputy First Minister said.

The highly-infectious mutation first discovered in southern England is becoming the dominant one in the Republic and helped produce an enormous post-Christmas spike in infection, medics believe.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has said Northern Ireland is not testing enough for it.

Michelle ONeill said she wanted to see greater cooperation across these islands.

I cannot see how the new variant is behaving any differently Michelle O'Neill

She added there was no intention to take a swipe at anyone but recognised an anomaly since the variant had been identified as spreading rapidly in the Republic.

She said: That needs to be resolved.

I cannot see how the new variant is behaving any differently.

We need proper identification of the variant.

She said health minister Robin Swann would bring Stormonts Executive up to date on the matter during its meeting this week.

She added better cooperation during the pandemic between the two islands would produce a far better situation and called for a meeting of the British/Irish Council.

I would much prefer we did it across the two islands.

First Minister Arlene Foster said she also spoke with the Taoiseach and he accepted that Northern Ireland was testing for Covid-19.

She added: The variant testing here is massively more advanced than Republic of Ireland.

She said she pressed Mr Martin on sharing travel locator forms.

He committed to movement soon on that issue.

Just finished a call with @MichealMartinTD where he accepted that Northern Ireland is testing for SARS-CoV-2. The variant testing here is massively more advanced than RoI.



Also pressed him on sharing travel locator forms. He committed to movement soon on that issue. https://t.co/aIyx2dl80R  Arlene Foster #WeWillMeetAgain (@ArleneFosterUK) January 25, 2021

Thomas Buchanan of the DUP told the Assembly the Taoiseach made disgraceful comments.

Ms ONeill called for a two-island approach to travel.

I am hopeful that there will be resolution to that mandatory quarantine in terms of people travelling in.

The Department of Health has said there is complex and specialised work going on in Northern Ireland on whole genome sequencing (WGS) which allows scientists to examine the DNA of viruses.

It said: To suggest that Northern Ireland is inactive in this field would be wholly incorrect  and is unfair to the dedicated, expert local staff working intensively in this area.

Work is ongoing in relation to increasing the level of publicly available data on the B.1.1.7 variant in Northern Ireland.

In addition to whole genome sequencing, the prevalence of the B.1.1.7 variant in the UK regions, including Northern Ireland, is being monitored via PCR testing data  and reported on publicly by the Office for National Statistics.

The sharing of travel locator forms for people arriving into the Republic then travelling north has been a long-running problem.

Ms ONeill said she was hopeful of a resolution with the Republics government over the data sharing issue.

She also said student nurses have been on the frontline throughout this pandemic and Sinn Fein was proposing the health minister increased student nurse bursaries and that final year students were offered the opportunity to complete clinical placements as paid staff.

The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated.



422 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, a further 17 deaths have been reported (5 outside the 24 hour period).https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/DHhkFYn2Y4  Department of Health (@healthdpt) January 25, 2021

A further 17 people who had previously tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland have died.

Another 422 individuals have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures from the Department of Health.

There are 828 Covid-positive inpatients in hospitals, of whom 74 are in intensive care units.

It is understood the Stormont leaders and the Taoiseach spoke about their approaches in tackling Covid-19.

A number of issues were raised, including the sharing of passenger data.

Mrs Foster and Ms ONeill have previously criticised the Irish Government for failing to share information on travellers arriving on the island during the pandemic.

It is understood they had a discussion around the issue and are confident it will be resolved shortly.
Tamil Nadu: Sri Lanka returns bodies, four fishermen laid to rest

January 25,2021 | Source: The Times of India

Bodies of the four Tamil Nadu fishermen, who died after their boat was sunk allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy on Monday, were handed over to the Indian Coast Guard near the international maritime boundary line on Saturday morning. A group of fishermen received the body from the authorities. Late in the evening, the four  A Mesiya (30) of Thangachimadam, V Nagaraj (52) of Vattanvalasai, S Senthil Kumar (32) of Thaathanenthal and N Samson Darwin (28) of the Sri Lankan refugee camp at Mandapam,  were laid to rest in their villages in Ramanathapuram district.



Though postmortem of the bodies was done in Sri Lanka, fishermen had demanded a second post-mortem when they met Union fisheries minister Giriraj Singh on Friday night. Following this, Ramanathapuram district administration had arranged for the same by a team of doctors at the district government hospital. However, on Saturday the families urged the officials to hand over the bodies without the re-postmortem. We got an undertaking from the four families individually and handed over the bodies to them, a police officer told TOI. The bodies were brought to the fish landing centre at Kottaipattinam around 3 pm. Health minister C Vijayabaskar along with relatives of the deceased received them and paid homage. Pudukottai district collector P Uma Maheswari and officials were also present. Ramanathapuram collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver paid homage when they were brought to the district in the evening. At Thangachimadam, fishermen staged a road blockade on the Madurai - Rameswaram highway for nearly 90 minutes till 6.30 pm demanding initiation of criminal action against the Lankan Navy.



Fisheries minister D Jayakumar said Sri Lanka has constituted a committee to probe the incident. It should be an unbiased committee. The Sri Lankan navy has committed a mistake. We will gain trust in the committee only when those who are guilty are punished, he said. In the event of the committee not punishing the guilty, the minister said that it will be treated as an eyewash.

 2021 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
Sheree Whitfield is one of the most iconic personalities of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The former Bravo star was one of the OGs of the Atlanta-based franchise along with Nene Leakes and Kim Zolciak-Biermann. Whitfield has been rumored to be returning to the reality series and Andy Cohen hinted that he was ready to send her a contract soon.

Sheree Whitfield | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Is Andy Cohen serious about inviting Sheree Whitfield back?

Whitfield was one of the OG stars of RHOA and held a peach for the first four seasons. The reality TV personality took a break from the show for three seasons and returned as a friend for season 8. It was for season 9 when she once again came back as a full-time housewife. Whitfield once again left the show following season 10.

Watch What Happens Live recently hosted a group of Bravo fans who played a game with Cohen. The late-night show host played with his guests, Bring Back That Wife, where they took turns explaining which former housewife they would want to return.

Sasha Morfaw of The Bravo Breakdown on IGTV suggested Whitfield be given back her peach.

The OG, bone collector Sheree Whitfield, Morfaw said enthusiastically. No one does it like her. Shes not afraid to get her hands dirty, she will shift the wig if she hast to. And lets not forget, Whos gonna check me boo, and I need my joggers Sheree. Bring back She by Sheree.

Cohen loved the passion that Morfaw exhibited while making her plea for a Whitfield comeback and hinted he was down with the idea.

Oh boy! Im ready to send the contract, Cohen added.

RELATED: RHOA: Kenya Moore Flexes Being the Only Peach Trending on Twitter

Is Sheree Whitfield open to returning?

When RHOA started filming season 13 of the show, Whitfield posted a cryptic message that gave fans hope she was returning.

Shes Baaackkkkk..What I miss yall???? she posted on Instagram back in August 2020. Feeling great, healthy, and happy.

Many fans interpreted this message as a sign she was coming back to the show and filming with the ladies. However, weeks prior Whitfield had announced she had COVID-19. The post turned out to be about her return to social media after her absence while her health got better.

In May of 2020, Whitfield made an appearance on WWHL where Cohen asked if she would ever consider returning to the show that made her a star.

I would never say never, Whitfield said. We had a good time over there. When were having a good time its good Im in a different place right now and I would not say no.

RELATED: RHOA: Sherri Shepherd Claps Back at Kenya Moore After Shade on WWHL

Whitfield left the door open for negotiations to take place for her return. However, it also seemed that she was good not being on the show and living her best life off the spotlight.

Im feeling good, she told Hollywood Life in another interview. Im just living simple, focusing on the things that I love which is health and wellness right now and empower and inspire other women. [Bravo and I] would have to have some conversations. Like I said, when Im with the girls, sometimes we have an amazing time and its an amazing platform, no doubt.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
NORTHVILLE AND SHELBY TWP., MI - Forget early spring as originally mentioned from Chick-fil-A, two new restaurants in Metro Detroit will open this week.

Chick-fil-A just announced opening day for its new locations in both Northville an Shelby Township will be on Thursday, January 28. Each restaurant will employ about 150 full and part-time people.

The Northville restaurant is located at 20135 Haggerty Rd. and the Shelby Township one is located at 13811 Hall Rd. Both restaurants will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Currently, due to COVID-19, the restaurants will be open for drive-thru only.

Related: Opening date revealed for Michigans first Portillos Chicago-style Italian beef restaurant

Phil Whitsel is the independent franchised owner/operator of the Northville restaurant and Dennis Sampier is the independent franchise owner/operator of the Shelby Township one. Whitsel has lived in Michigan most of his life and currently lives in Northville with his wife, Amanda, who will be joining him at the new restaurant, and their three children. Sampier is a Michigan native and Central Michigan University alumni.

In place of the traditional Chick-fil-A First 100 Grand Opening celebration, these two new restaurants have each identified 100 local heroes making an impact in the Detroit area and will surprise them with free Chick-fil-A for a year.

Chick-fil-A opened its first stand-alone full service restaurant in Michigan in October 2016 in Lansing with another full service location inside Somerset Mall in Troy opening on the same day. There are now locations in Okemos, Portage, Kalamazoo, Norton Shores, Grand Rapids (two), Wyoming, Holland, Detroit (Detroit Medical Center & Metro Airport express), Allen Park, Ypsilanti (EMU express) and Rochester (Oakland U. express).

MORE FROM MLIVE:

Chicago couple brings authentic Italian beef sandwiches to Metro Detroit food stand

Outdoor dining structures resembling Mexican luminarias being built at Detroit restaurants

Get your COVID vaccine? This Michigan shop will give you free pot
(Newser)  Josh Hawley has been roundly condemned by Democrats in the wake of the Capitol riot because of his prominent role in backing former President Trump's election challenge. On Monday, however, the Missouri senator fought back in two notable ways. He scored the cover of the right-leaning New York Post with an op-ed denouncing the "muzzling of America," and he filed an ethics countercomplaint against Democratic colleagues in the Senate. Coverage:

Ethics panel: Hawley filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee against seven Democratic senators who'd previously filed a complaint of their own against Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz, reports Politico. "The idea that one Senator who disagrees with another Senator can therefore have that Senator punished, sanctioned, censured, or removed is utterly antithetical to our democracy and the very idea of open, lawful debate," wrote Hawley in a letter to the seven. Cruz had joined Hawley in objecting to the Electoral College results.

story continues below

'Frivolous': In a separate letter to the ethics panel, Hawley denounced the complaint against him and Cruz as "frivolous," per Fox News. "The complaint against me does not suggest that my objection to Pennsylvania's electoral votes was legally improper," he writes. "No Senator could make such a suggestion with a straight face. Federal law expressly authorizes Senators to object that a State's electoral votes were not 'regularly given.'" The seven Democrats are Ron Wyden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Tina Smith, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, Tim Kaine, and Sherrod Brown.

In a separate letter to the ethics panel, Hawley denounced the complaint against him and Cruz as "frivolous," per Fox News. "The complaint against me does not suggest that my objection to Pennsylvania's electoral votes was legally improper," he writes. "No Senator could make such a suggestion with a straight face. Federal law expressly authorizes Senators to object that a State's electoral votes were not 'regularly given.'" The seven Democrats are Ron Wyden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Tina Smith, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, Tim Kaine, and Sherrod Brown. The op-ed: In his op-ed at the Post, Hawley accused "tech titans" of stifling the speech of those on the right, cited a publishing company's cancellation of his book, and warned that corporations swayed by the left were bent on punishing conservatives. In regard to his challenge of the election, he writes: "Maybe you agree with me. Maybe you don't. But whatever your view, corporate America's rush to cancel those it dislikes should trouble you."

In his op-ed at the Post, Hawley accused "tech titans" of stifling the speech of those on the right, cited a publishing company's cancellation of his book, and warned that corporations swayed by the left were bent on punishing conservatives. In regard to his challenge of the election, he writes: "Maybe you agree with me. Maybe you don't. But whatever your view, corporate America's rush to cancel those it dislikes should trouble you." Mentors: The Kansas City Star reports that the 41-year-old Hawley's political mentors have largely disavowed him over his recent actions. "I am more than a little bamboozled by it, certainly distressed by it," says David Kennedy of Stanford, who served as Hawleys academic adviser. However, the story digs into Hawley's early political years and finds that even as a teenager, Hawley was writing political columns defending groups he felt were treated unfairly by the media, including anti-government militias and the LAPD's Mark Fuhrman.

The Kansas City Star reports that the 41-year-old Hawley's political mentors have largely disavowed him over his recent actions. "I am more than a little bamboozled by it, certainly distressed by it," says David Kennedy of Stanford, who served as Hawleys academic adviser. However, the story digs into Hawley's early political years and finds that even as a teenager, Hawley was writing political columns defending groups he felt were treated unfairly by the media, including anti-government militias and the LAPD's Mark Fuhrman. Telling signature: The same Star story reports that a young Hawley signed a classmate's eighth-grade yearbook as "Josh Hawley, president 2024."

The same Star story reports that a young Hawley signed a classmate's eighth-grade yearbook as "Josh Hawley, president 2024." Strategy: At the Week, Joel Mathis (not a fan of Hawley's) writes that the senator is still on track toward that 2024 goal. "For all the angry criticism he has taken, Hawley might be in better political shape today than he was at the beginning of the month," he writes. "Other up-and-comers in the GOP will take note: You can't go wrong with dishonest, cynical pandering to the party's base."

(Read more Josh Hawley stories.)
One of Bollywood's most eligible bachelors Varun Dhawan entered marital bliss with his longtime girlfriend Natasha Dalal in the presence of his family members and a few close friends on Sunday (January 24, 2021). In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Varun-Natasha's wedding was an intimate affair at the Mansion House resort in Alibaug. It is not a hidden fact that Varun and Natasha gave in major couple goals, being childhood sweethearts. Now, a throwback picture of the couple has gone viral amidst their happy union which will only make one cry happy tears of joy.

The throwback picture of Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal was shared by one of the fan pages of the Coolie No 1 actor. It shows the couple from their teenage years. A much younger Varun can be seen in a striped white attire while a beaming Natasha can be seen sporting black. The two made way for a delighted couple in the endearing picture. The fan page shared the picture like a collage to the couple's current wedding picture which will make one believe in true love once again. Take a look at the same.

As per a report in Etimes, after the traditional ceremonies, Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal, let their hair down to celebrate with their guests. We hear that toasts were raised for the newlyweds, and the guests binged to some yummy Lebanese, Mexican and Indian fare. Of course, there was also a 'lot of dancing' to celebrate the joyous occasion. Meanwhile, if reports are to be believed, Varun and Natasha will also be hosting a lavish wedding reception for their industry colleagues on February 2, 2021.

Also Read: Varun Dhawan-Natasha Dalal's Wedding: Actor Hits The Dance Floor Post Nuptials; Read On

Also Read: Varun Dhawan-Natasha Dalal's Wedding: The Newlyweds Pose For Pictures With Guests

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(Image: Reuters)

The Delhi Police is making tight security arrangements for the farmers' tractor parade on Republic Day due to inputs about possible attempts to disrupt the rally.

Deependra Pathak, Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence), claimed that over 300 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan to disrupt the tractor parade on January 26.

In a circular, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava directed that all officers and personnel, as well as Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and others, posted for the Republic Day Parade security arrangements, should be prepared for an extended deployment to maintain law and order in the wake of the tractor parade.

Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the farmers' protest

The Delhi Police gave permission to protesting farmer unions to hold their tractor parades in the national capital on Republic Day, farmer leaders claimed on January 23.

Here are 10 key things about the farmers tractor rally on Republic Day:

> The farmers' proposed tractor rally will start after the time period of the Republic Day celebration has ended, the police has said.

> The tractor parade by agitating farmers will feature a number of tableaux from across states depicting village life, the protest against the Centre's contentious farm laws, and hailing their courage, according to organisers.

> Farmer leaders have appealed to those participating in the tractor march to carry enough ration for 24 hours and ensure that the rally remains peaceful. According to a farmer leader, around 3,000 volunteers have been deployed to ensure that the parade remains peaceful and no untoward incident takes place.

> No one should carry any weapon or drink alcohol. Banners carrying inciting messages are not allowed, reported news agency PTI citing a farmer leader.

> Three routes, originating from Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur border points, have been finalized for the march, said a farmer leader. Those starting from the Singhu border will traverse Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Bawana, Qutabgarh, Auchandi border, and Kharkhoda toll plaza. The entire route will be 63 kilometers long. The 62-km long second route, starting from the Tikri border, will pass through Nagloi, Najafgarh, Jharoda border, and Rohtak bypass, and Asoda toll plaza, the farmer leaders said. Tractors starting from Ghazipur will drive through the Apsara border, Hapur road, and Lal Kuan. Covering 68 kilometers, it is the longest route for the march.

> The farmer leaders will be on the frontline in their cars. All vehicles will have to return to the originating place. No one will try and stop midway without a valid reason, the farmer leaders said.

> Each tractor will carry a tricolor and there will be folk music and patriotic songs. Only five people per tractor will be allowed and strict vigil is being maintained to thwart any criminal activity, according to the farmer leaders.

> A war room has been set up at each protest site to ensure effective coordination during the tractor parade. There will be 40 members, including doctors, security personnel, and social media managers, in each of these rooms, said a member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a joint front of the protesting farmer unions. Around 40 ambulances will be stationed along the route to attend to any medical emergency.

> A group of 500 tractors-trolleys left Amritsar and several other batches from Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, and other places of Punjab have moved towards Delhi to take part in the tractor parade, farmer leaders said on January 24. Several 'khaps' of Haryana are set to join the rally with thousands of these vehicles leaving various caste councils' villages for the national capital on January 24. About 1,500 tractors from villages under the Kandela khap set out on the day for the 'tractor parade' in Delhi, Khap head Tekram Kandela said.

> Authorities in Haryana have issued advisories against unnecessary travel towards Delhi over the next couple of days. The Haryana Police said there would be disruptions in vehicular movement on the national highway from Karnal and Rohtak towards Delhi during January 25-27.

Since November 2020, farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the Centre's three new agriculture laws at several Delhi border points, including Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur, demanding that the legislation be repealed.

Enacted in September 2020, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that these laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of minimum support price and do away with the 'mandi' (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

(With inputs from PTI)
90 Day Fiance is single and ready to mingle.

The beloved reality show announced a new spinoff series called 90 Day Fiance: The Single Life during the Sunday episode of the Discovery+ show.

The show will follow six castmembers who are back on the dating scene after heartbreak on one of the other 90 Day series.

Date night! The new 90 Day Fiance spinoff The Single Life was announced on Sunday. Above is Colt Johnson

Molly Hopkins, who appeared on season five of 90 Day Fiance in 2017 with her now ex-husband Luis Mendez, will be one of the initial stars.

'I think you're gonna see a lot of really crazy good times and maybe some not so good,' Molly, 45, said after dishing about her new love of 'role-playing' now that she's single.

Hopkins is ready to see what the single life two years after ending her relationship with Mendez, who she met at a bar on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Heating up: The show will follow six castmembers who are back on the dating scene after heartbreak on one of the other 90 Day series

Short and sweet: Big Ed, who became a meme after appearing on 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days last summer will be back

Brace yourself: Brittany Banks, first seen on: 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way season two, is pictured above

They were wed in July 2017 but six months later Molly filed for divorce.

Things were finalized four months later, and Luis moved on quickly, remarrying the following September.

Molly isn't the only single looking to move past their exes.

Colt Johnson, highly-memed castmember Big Ed Brown, Fernanda Flores, Danielle Mullins and Brittany Banks will also appear.

Dudes: Colt Johnson, first seen on 90 Day Fiance season six, and Big Ed Brown will appear

Back on the scene: Fernanda Flores was first seen on 90 Day Fiance season six

This is just one of 90 Day's many spinoffs.

90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After? premiered in 2016 while 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days and 90 Day Fiance: What Now? both debuted in the summer of 2017 on TLC.

There is also 90 Day Fiance: Pillow Talk, 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, The Family Chantel, 90 Day Fiance: Just Landed and 90 Day Fiance: Self-Quarantined.

90 Day: The Single Life and The Single Life Pillow Talk premiere on Discovery+ Sunday, February 21.

Molly molly: Molly was first seen on 90 Day Fiance season five
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn said nearly four times as many people have died with Covid-19 so far this month compared to all of December.

So far this month, there have been 688 deaths associated with the virus compared to 175 deaths in December and 164 in November.

His comments come as seven additional deaths were confirmed this evening by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).

Today's figure brings the death toll in Ireland to 2,977.

The seven people whose deaths are reported today were aged between 43 and 94 years.

The HPSC has been notified of 1,372 confirmed cases.

In the two-week period to January 24, there have been 36,486 new cases of Covid-19.

Of the 1,372 cases reported today, 502 are located in Dublin, 164 in Cork, 77 in Wexford and 66 in Louth.

The remaining 488 cases are spread across all other counties.

Read More Terminally ill mother tells court she wont get to see her children grow up

Cases are now declining at a rate of nearly 10% a day.

Professor Philip Nolan, who chairs NPHET's modelling group, said this is down to people sticking to the restrictions.

"We can clearly see the efforts they are making to stay apart, to prevent transmission of the virus and that is transmitting into the very large change in the behaviour of the epidemic growing at about 18% per day in the immediate run-up to the New Year period and now the number of cases as you can quite clearly see in the daily counts decreasing at 8-10% per day."

As of this afternoon, there are 1,905 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the country. Of these, 219 are in ICU.

There have been 58 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Prof Nolan said that we are seeing continued rapid improvement in the incidence of the virus and numbers in hospital are plateauing and expected to decline very slowly over the coming weeks.

He said the fundamental message is that we need to maintain the efforts that have got us here for several weeks to come.

One of the positives signs is the number of admissions to hospital per day has been decreasing now for the last two weeks.

"It peaked at around 140 admissions per day. On average it is below 100 over the last seven days and we saw 74 admissions today.

"The number in ICU is plateauing at over 200. Again, the number of admissions per day may be starting to decline there and that may be the beginnings of a slow decrease in the numbers in intensive care."

Prof Nolan said he expects there to be at least 1,000 people in hospital with the virus for several more weeks.

"Despite all the hard work that we are doing it is going to take a long time for numbers in hospital to reduce. We do expect to see numbers in hospital at or above 1,000 even out to the end of February."

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 currently stands at 766.2.

Three counties have a 14-day incidence rate above 1,000 - Monaghan (1,485.7), Mayo (1,213.7) and Louth (1,151.4).

The five-day moving average of new cases is 1,926.

Speaking this evening, Dr Glynn said there have been reports of significant outbreaks linked with funerals in a good number of places around the country in the past number of months.

He said that in the past number of months, there have been repeated reports of large outbreaks associated with significant mobility and in some cases mortality associated with family gatherings, in particular funerals.

"It is a particularly sensitive area and it is a particularly difficult time for people, especially right now.

"We know it's not easy but equally, the last thing that we want is for more people to get sick or die as a result of not adhering to the measures that are there to protect them and their families in the first place."

Read More DUP demands police answers after republican funeral scenes

Wexford meat plant

There have been 42 positive Covid-19 cases identified at a meat processing plant in Co Wexford.

Slaney Foods says the cases were discovered on Friday following routine screening of staff.

The company says its site in Bunclody is now operating at a significantly reduced capacity.

It says it will continue to work with the HSE on the matter.

Read More Over 100 Covid-19 cases confirmed at meat plants in outbreaks

Covid restrictions

The Covid sub-committee are meeting today to discuss measures on foreign travel, cross-border traffic, and the reopening of schools.

It is expected the meeting will run until late this evening.

The committee will also discuss an extension of Level 5 restrictions beyond this month before recommendations are brought to Cabinet tomorrow morning.

The new measures being discussed by the Covid sub-cabinet committee today, which are expected to be signed off by Government tomorrow include:

Garda checkpoints outside airports to stop non-essential travel.

Introduction of much stricter sanctions in terms of the five-kilometre rule to stop people flying. This will include fines for those who try to go abroad for non-essential reasons.

Mandatory quarantining for those arriving into the country who don't have a negative PCR test.

A ban on holiday visas or short-term visas for those coming from certain countries in South America and mandatory quarantining.

Antigen testing at motorway services areas close to Dublin Port and Rosslare for hauliers travelling to France from Thursday.

Strengthening the passenger locator form with more questions asked and more follow-ups after a person arrives in the country.

Vaccination strategy

Dr Fiona Moynihan prepares to inject Dr Louise Jackman, GP with Grand Canal Hanover Medical Practice, with the Moderna vaccine against Covid-19 at a vaccination centre in Dublin as mass vaccination drive for GPs and practice nurses has begun in Ireland.

Vaccination of the third group in the Government's Vaccine Allocation Strategy will begin next month.

Under the strategy, people aged 70 and older will be vaccinated in the following order: 85 and older, 80-84, 75-79, 70-74.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the start of the community vaccination programme in February is subject to the regulatory approval of AstraZeneca.

Mr Donnelly said Ireland will receive a delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine within the expected range for February despite the anticipated disruption to deliveries announced last week.

It is expected the delivery in March will be more impacted and will be considerably lower than was originally stated by the company.

The Health Minister said the most vulnerable in our society will continue to be prioritised against the backdrop of limited supply.

"For the moment, people do not need to take any specific action. The next stage of our vaccine programme will begin with those aged 85 years and older and will be administered initially through GPs in their surgeries," said Mr Donnelly.

"The HSE is preparing a public information campaign that will provide all necessary details in advance and ensure that everyone knows when, where and how to access their vaccine."

Read More 475,360 now on PUP as nearly 1m people need government supports in third lockdown

Up to January 24, the HSE administered 143,000 vaccine doses.

Mr Donnelly said every possible nursing home resident has received one dose while some have received their second dose.

"Healthcare workers are also a priority. Second doses will be administered over the coming weeks to 77,000 healthcare workers.

"We will continue to roll out first and second doses to our remaining frontline healthcare workers during February."

Some nursing home residents and staff who had Covid-19 recently were unable to receive the vaccine. Vaccination teams were also unable to vaccinate in some facilities where there were particularly large outbreaks.

"As we have seen in recent days, in these early stages things can change quickly and we have to build delivery around supply.

Everyone involved understands the importance of this programme to the country. Everything that can be done is being done, and will be done, to deliver it.

Mr Donnelly confirmed his commitment to providing the public with daily figures for vaccine administration but said the HSE has advised that there is a backlog of figures to be inputted and validated.

"It is working hard to achieve full utilisation of the vaccination IT system at which point it will be in a position to provide updates."

AstraZeneca delay

A healthcare worker holds up a vial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19. Picture: AP Photo/Bruna Prado

The EU Commissioner for Health says AstraZeneca's explanation for its slow-down in vaccine delivery is "not satisfactory".

Ursula von der Leyen spoke to the company's chief executive this morning and a second meeting is scheduled for tonight.

It emerged at the weekend the company is to cut its vaccine delivery to the EU by 60% in the first quarter of this year.

Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the vaccines that have been pre-ordered must be provided swiftly.

"The answers from the country have not been satisfactory so far and that is why a second meeting is scheduled for tonight.

"The European Union wants the ordered and pre-financed doses to be delivered as soon as possible and we want our contract to be fully fulfilled.

Meanwhile in Ireland, there have been 143,000 Covid-19 vaccinations administered.

That figure was reached last night and is slightly ahead of the target of 140,000.
SPRINGFIELD  City officials and hospital representatives on Monday praised President Joe Bidens COVID-19 response plan but urged an accelerated, larger local vaccination effort as doses are depleted.

The combination of praise and pleas came just prior to the announcement of three new mass vaccination sites in Massachusetts by Gov. Charlie Baker, including a site at the Eastfield Mall scheduled to open Jan. 29.

At the citys weekly update on the pandemic, officials said Springfield has used up its 1,400 vaccine doses. Those primarily went to first responders and other priority groups, and the city wants to make the vaccine available to other vulnerable groups as soon as possible, said Mayor Domenic Sarno and Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris.

Were ready to roll, Sarno said. I do want to see a more aggressive pace and I think we will start to see that. I think people are a little frustrated. We all are.

Sarno said he expects that under the Biden administration and through Baker the vaccine distribution program will be ramped up in a more efficient and effective way.

Separately, Baystate Health and Mercy Medical Center are providing vaccines to their own employees and looking forward to expanding their programs, officials said.

Top administrators at both health systems joined in praising the plan being promoted by the Biden administration.

Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health, said Bidens detailed COVID-19 plan is well thought-through... and quite welcomed.

The COVID fight is his top priority, Keroack said. We certainly could have used this plan last spring. There is an emphasis on science and transparency when the news is not good.

The plan to administer 100 million doses in 100 days has a nice ring to it, Keroack said  but the country will need to do twice that rate if it is going to quickly reach adults nationwide.

At Baystate Health, more than 75% of 12,000 employees have received the COVID-19 vaccine, and the system is reaching out to employees of private practices.

Baystate has used up its dose allotments for phase 1 employees, and was awaiting Bakers announcement of the large vaccination site in Springfield, while also awaiting updated phase 2 vaccination guidelines that target people in different priority groups.

The second phase of the states vaccination plan will include people over the age of 65 and essential workers in a number of fields.

Just looking at seniors, Keroack said, there are more than one million in Massachusetts over the age of 65.

So we would need to do 10,000 doses a day just to cover those seniors, never mind the essential workers, Keroack said.

Dr. Robert Roose, chief medical officer of Mercy Medical Center, said requests for the vaccines have led to a long list of appointments, quickly exceeding supplies. He joined in urging an accelerated distribution.

Roose and Keroack jointed city officials in urging the public to continue following COVID precautions including wearing face coverings in public, social distancing, and staying away from gatherings.

Caulton-Harris said the city will let people know when vaccines are available, as well as specific locations. Sites are planned at Putnam Vocational Technical Academy and in the Mason Square rea, she said.

Caulton-Harris said truth, transparency and trust are the foundation for moving forward.
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A court, on Monday, discharged four out of the six #EndSARS protesters who were charged with unlawful assembly in November 2020.

The police had arrested them while they were peacefully demonstrating along with many others in front of the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The Chief Magistrates Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, gave the order terminating the case against four of the defendants on the grounds of lack of diligent prosecution of the case by the police.

The four defendants  Olutosin Adeniji, Abdusalam Zubarur, Paul Akinwumi, and Devour Chomo  were present at Mondays proceedings, while the two others  Yasidu Bashiru and Kabiru Garzali  were absent.

The defence lawyer, Henry Akwaji, had earlier on Monday applied for the dismissal of the case, following the absence of the prosecution team from court.

The prosecution was also absent during the hearing of the defendants bail application on November 11.

Mr Akwaji said on Monday that by virtue of section 351 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, the absence of the prosecution from court showed lack of diligent prosecution.

When asked by the magistrate, Musa Eneye, about the absence of the two of the defendants, Mr Akwaji said they fell ill and were receiving traditional treatment in Kaduna.

Responding, the magistrate noted that there was no medical report to support the claim of ill health status of the two defendants.

That the defendants, Olutosin Adeniji, Abdusalam Zubarur, Paul Akinwumi, and Devour Chomo, are discharged and the complaint against them dismissed, Mr Eneye ruled.

He adjourned the case of the remaining two defendants till March 24.

Court decision based on law

Speaking with journalists after Mondays proceedings, Mr Akawaji said the ruling of the court was based on law and not emotion.

The police dumped the first information report on the court. Having abandoned and neglected the case, the magistrate was right to dismiss it. The ruling was based on the law and not on emotion, he said.

Asked about the fate of the two remaining defendants, he said, I know the police will not come to court. But when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the six defendants were arrested by the police on November 8, 2020 while they were demonstrating peacefully at the National Assembly, demanding an end to bad governance and police brutality.

The protest was meant to be a resumption of the #EndSARS protest which was earlier aborted in October after it was hijacked by hoodlums who went on a looting spree, attacking innocent citizens, police posts, stores and homes of prominent persons.
After a tumultuous 2020 that challenged even the most resilient students, how can parents help make the start of the new school year as smooth as possible?

Educational and developmental psychologist Dr Christine Grove believes the first weeks of this term will be harder than usual for some students following a stop-start year riddled with uncertainty.

Ying-Chia Eisenhut has been preparing her three children. Annie, Harry, and William, by getting them to do a little bit of schoolwork and mediation during their holidays. Credit:Chris Hopkins

For some they cant wait to get back  theyre ready and primed and jumping back into school. For others, it may be really hard to transition back into going to school, and back into that routine, she says.

Creating a routine
Woman imprisoned at 19 grateful to God for using Trump to grant her presidential pardon

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A woman who received a pardon from former President Donald Trump before his last day in office last week said she's "thankful to God that He can use any vessel to bless you.

Syrita Steib of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a criminal justice advocate. But before that, she was serving time in prison after she was convicted of stealing cars and burning down a car dealership in Texas in 2000 at age 19. She was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and 20 years in state prison.

Although she was released from prison in 2009, the judge ordered her to pay $1.9 million in restitution.

One of the people who advocated for Steib's pardon was former New Orleans Saints player Benjamin Watson.

On Tuesday night, Trump pardoned Steib along with 142 others, including New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne.

She no longer has to pay back the $1.9 million and said she's in awe that Trump was the person God used to release her from that burden.

I think Im still trying to soak it in, Steib said in a Wednesday interview with CBS News affiliate WWL. [Im] really, really thankful to God that He can use any vessel to bless you.

Steib told WWL that before she committed the crimes she excelled in academics and even had a full scholarship to Xavier.

School was one thing that I really excelled in so when I got arrested, I had a full scholarship to Xavier in physics and engineering and I also was in the military, she said to WWL. When I got out, I just knew I needed to go back to school.

Although she graduated from LSU Health and Science Center in 2014, Steib told WWL that she initially struggled to get into college because of her felony conviction.

Steib lobbied the Louisiana state legislature to pass the ban the box bill that prohibits colleges and universities from asking about an applicant's criminal history. It was passed and signed into law in 2017. She's now working to get similar bills passed in other states across the country.

She also founded Operation Restoration, an organization that helps women get established after they're released from prison. According to the website, Operation Restoration is committed to providing current and formerly incarcerated women with the resources necessary to sustainably transition home through higher education, employment training, job placement, case management, and advocacy.

After receiving the presidential pardon, Steib declared in an interview with The New Orleans Advocate that Its a possibility that you can leave behind your mistakes and be completely transformed.
I am going to ask both of you to tell me why I should accept this plea, and I look forward to hearing from Mr. Higgins family if they choose, Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer told attorneys on both sides of the case involving Dominique Karion Smith, 31, charged in November 2018 with murder in the May 15, 2009, shooting of Jeremiah Higgins, 27, at Canden Apartments in Portage.
Courtesy, Deco Pizzeria

Deco Pizzeria is picking up the pieces from a Sunday morning break in resulting in thousands of dollars in damages.

Owner Jacob Valenzuela told MySA.com the Medical Center location at 2022 Babcock Road was burglarized around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The patio door and office were damaged in the break in. He estimates damages to be nearly $10,000. An undisclosed amount of money was also taken from the restaurant, he said.
Armenia National Security Service Reserve Officers' Union members meet with His Holiness Karekin II

EU is ready to help Armenia and Azerbaijan with border delimitation and demarcation

ARF-D member on Nikol Pashinyan: 103 years ago Armenia's founding fathers would have executed him for treason

Robert Kocharyan on years of his leadership in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia

Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border is still tense, more on COVID-19 in Armenia, May 28 digest

"Armenia" alliance of political parties paying tribute to founder of First Republic Aram Manukyan

Yerevan.today: Armenia acting PM not greeted at ruling party's headquarters, citizens call him 'capitulator'

Russia MOD reports on maintenance of ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia acting MOD meets with Russian counterpart in Moscow

Armenia 2nd President: I see possibility of restoring borders of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast

We can provide our army with some key, modernized weapons, says Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Captives issue is not one that any opposition force can resolve

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs release statement on detention of 6 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan

Armenian acting Deputy PM: Discussion on issues possible only after withdrawal of Azeri troops from Armenia's territory

Armenia acting PM on Syunik roads, Russian military posts: This is only place where there are working nuances

Armenia acting PM: Process of return of POWs will intensify after upcoming elections

Putin congratulates Aliyev on Republic Day

Josep Borrell: A group of EU Ministers will visit Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

Armenia acting PM: We're not going to escalate situation for 30% of Sev Lake

Armenia 3rd President visits Vanadzor, pays tribute to heroes of Battle of Gharakilisa (PHOTOS)

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan lays flowers at Battle of Karakilisa memorial (PHOTOS)

Armenia acting PM: Solution to captives issue is matter of time

Shoygu to Harutyunyan: Russia, Armenia strengthen military cooperation

Armenia acting premier: We are 100% honest toward our country

Artsakh President pays tribute at Stepanakert memorial, Shushi Tank-Monument

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on Meghri corridor plan: Not beneficial to us now to discuss it as "corridor"

Acting PM: "Cement," "fittings" were stolen while constructing Armenia state "building"

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Catholicos of All Armenians visits Sardarapat Memorial, again separate from state officials

MOD dismisses Azerbaijan statement on Armenia army firing toward Nakhchivan

Jerusalem Post: Israel prepares for a new war with Hamas

France, UN World Food Programme partner to support displaced people in Armenia

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Today we are not full-fledged negotiating party

Norwegian prime minister opposes series of NATO reforms

Armenia deputy FM briefs UN, Red Cross leaders on consequences of Azerbaijan aggression against Artsakh

NATO Secretary-General: Afghans must take full responsibility for peace and stability in their country

104 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting premier: Our sovereignty, independence cannot be subject of discussion

Karabakh state-finance minister announces resignation

Artsakh MFA: Sardarapat victory has inspired all Armenians for over a century

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: In contrast to kneeling, disgraceful authorities of the day, we have determination

Armenia President: Today we stand on threshold of Sardarapat of morality, dignity

Catholicos of All Armenians: Our people shall find strength to overcome this ordeal as well

Armenia First Republic Day event is held under very modest conditions

Newspaper: Armenia authorities claiming to be popular close off First Republic Day event to public

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Now or never!

Armenia President, then acting premier arrive at Sardarapat Memorial

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM Pashinyan's new "cleverness?"

France ambassador: I wish Armenia to be able to live its independence in peace, prosperity

Bashar al-Assad wins Syria presidential election

Reporters not allowed entering Sardarapat Memorial of Armenia

US continues to face very serious problems in trade and economic relations with China

Armenia 1st President: There is a risk of civil war

Scenes of apprehension of Azerbaijani who attacked Armenian in Moscow disseminated on the Internet

Germany, France, Netherlands urge tech giants to test start-up purchases

Armenia 1st President: There has never been such rough dialogue between Armenian and Azeri leaders as there is now

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan military fired several shots at border area of Gegharkunik Province village

California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development opening office in Yerevan

US Department of State issues statement on detention of Armenian soldiers by Azerbaijani forces

Armenia 1st President says Aliyev is certain that Pashinyan won't win elections and is trying to get all that he can

UN calls for $ 95 million in aid to Palestinians

Twitter is concerned about safety of its employees in India

Artsakh hero: Impotent and perhaps also treacherous authorities of Armenia need to be removed from power immediately

France MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to show maximum restraint

Azerbaijani attacks Russia citizen of Armenian descent in Moscow

Armenia acting MOD provides President with information about capture of Armenian servicemen

Lithuania MFA urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to go to de-escalation of situation and pull out troops

Russian Deputy FM, EU Special Representative discuss situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Armenia acting FM resigns

Acting Deputy FM: Armenia reserves itself the right to take necessary steps to protect its territorial integrity

China speaks on dark history of US intelligence in connection with Biden's order

Netanyahu slams hypocritical and deceitful moralizing statements of French FM

Turkish authorities issues new arrest warrant for mafia after his scandalous revelations of Erdogan's entourage

EU-Armenia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security holds 11th Meeting

Armenia acting PM deletes statement on Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers "being intertwined" from Facebook post

6 Armenian soldiers captured: situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border is tense, May 27 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief explains difficulties with settlement of border with Azerbaijan

UN: Israeli forces may have committed war crimes during 11-day war with Hamas

Nikol Pashinyan presents plan for resolving border situation

Dollar gains value in Armenia

Opposition party leader: Armenia Security Council to convene session with heads of parliamentary factions this evening

His Holiness Karekin II receives newly appointed UK Ambassador to Armenia

Greece and Turkey FMs to meet in Athens

Armenia acting PM says he will present plan for peaceful solution to border situation very soon

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends letters to counterparts of partnering legislatures

Zarif: Iran welcomes willingness of leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tension

Armenia acting Deputy MOD on news about soldiers being ordered to not open fire

ANCA calls on US Congress to block financing of Azerbaijani Armed Forces

Armenia to allocate lands in Syunik Province to Russian border guards

Armenia Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief: We can destroy all Azerbaijani soldiers who invaded territory

Armenian advocates file lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Army general staff deputy chief: About 1,000 Azerbaijan soldiers are illegally in Armenia

Army general staff: Armed forces can capture Azerbaijani soldiers who marched into Armenia

Armenia legislature approves several amendments to laws

Armenian opposition MP: Villages mentioned by ruling bloc's deputy are Armenia's buffer zone

Armenia Gegharkunik Province villager to acting PM: Over 50% of our pastures are now under Azerbaijan control

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NEWS.AM BREAKING: 6 Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan military in early morning

European Council head says process of implementing sanctions against Belarus is launched
State Department of Labor & Industry Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier announced Saturday that payments for the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program in the new federal CARES Act extension will resume this week, meaning an extra $300 for those filing claims.

Since receiving the information we needed from the federal Department of Labor two weeks ago, L&I has worked as quickly as possible to update our processing system so PEUC claimants can resume filing for benefits, Berrier was quoted in a news release. We know that more than 100,000 Pennsylvanians were actively receiving PEUC when the program ended in December.

As of Saturday, claimants could begin filing for the additional 11 claim weeks during their biweekly cycle. Those with some of their original 13 weeks left over on Dec. 26 will also receive the additional 11 weeks.

Those being paid on the Pennsylvanias Extended Benefits program before Dec. 26 must complete their EB benefits before the additional 11 weeks of PEUC can be added to their claims.

Claimants will automatically receive the extra $300 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation; they do not need to take any action.

PEUC provides additional claim weeks to workers who have exhausted their regular Unemployment Compensation benefits. Claimants are automatically enrolled in PEUC after they have reached their maximum claim weeks for UC.

Friday L&I announced it was issuing extended Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, benefit payments.

PEUC or FPUC questions should be emailed to uchelp@pa.gov. PUA questions should be emailed to ucpua@pa.gov.
Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena had hoped a federal court would strike down California's ban on indoor services, a measure instituted to help prevent spread of the coronavirus. (Google)

A federal appeals court on Monday struck down California coronavirus rules limiting indoor church attendance to specific numbers but allowed the state to continue to ban indoor worship during times of widespread infection.

In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out rules that limited indoor attendance to 100 and to 200 people when a county has been placed in the second and third tiers for coronavirus risk.

Californias blueprint for reopening has prevented indoor worship in counties where the coronavirus was widespread but limited attendance to specific numbers in counties with fewer infections.

The case was brought by Pasadena-based Harvest Rock Church, which asked the appeals court to overturn a district judges ruling in December in favor of the state.

The 9th Circuit was bound by a November U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down rules limiting indoor attendance at places of worship in New York to a specific number, without taking into account the size of the building.

From now on, the 9th Circuit said, restrictions on indoor worship when infections are not widespread should be based on a percentage of the churchs capacity as set by fire codes.

The court left in place a pandemic ban on singing and chanting during indoor worship. Singing is known to spread the virus more easily.

The panel consisted of Judges Diarmuid O'Scannlain, a Reagan appointee; Johnie B. Rawlinson, a Clinton appointee; and Morgan Christen, an Obama appointee.

The Supreme Courts 5-4 decision striking down the coronavirus rules for places of worship marked a departure from the high courts previous willingness to allow governors and health officers to set attendance rules during the pandemic.

The change of stance stemmed from the replacement of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, an appointee of President Trump.

Californias COVID-19 rules place counties in one of four tiers, ranging from Tier 1 for widespread risk to Tier 4 for minimal spread of the virus. Each tier carries some restrictions, with the most severe in Tier 1.

Story continues

Harvest Rock, which has affiliate campuses in Corona, Santa Ana and downtown L.A., has been holding indoor services despite the health orders.

Mondays decision followed another 9th Circuit ruling late Friday afternoon that set the same rules for South Bay United Pentecostal Church, which had also challenged the state virus rules.

In that case, a different panel of judges determined that the state had presented substantial evidence showing that indoor worship was unsafe in counties where the virus was widespread.

The panel also said the ban on indoor singing and chanting did not discriminate against religion because it applied to "all indoor activities, sectors and private gatherings."

Harvest Rock may appeal Monday's decision to a larger 9th Circuit panel or to the Supreme Court.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, has asked Gov. Greg Abbott to rescind the executive order he issued in response to COVID-19, saying that the recent closure of the Heights Hospital shows that local officials need more decision-making power to adequately respond to the pandemic.

In letters sent Friday to Abbott, Jackson Lee said that Abbotts March executive order poses an imminent threat of disaster for all the counties in the state because it limits the ability of local officials to implement rules and closures.

While some can appreciate your singular interest and intent in opening Texas up for business, Executive Order GA-32 is having the precise opposite effect in the part of Houston known as The Heights, the Houston congresswoman wrote.

In her letter, Jackson Lee urged Abbott to rescind all restrictions on local jurisdictions that prohibit them from taking the necessary actions to protect their citizens, or for Abbott to issue another executive order prohibiting the closure of any community medical facility for a non-medical or public health or public health safety reason.

She sent a similar letter to Jeffrey Zients, who is leading President Joe Bidens COVID-19 response team, and asked that he intervene and prevail upon Abbott.

Last week, the doors of the Heights Hospital, a multi-care facility that has many low-income patients and does COVID-19 testing, were locked, forcing doctors to treat patients in the parking lot.

The owners of the hospital said that a third-party management company, hired by a the facilitys creditor, was responsible for the lockout.

Last week, the Chronicle reported that 1917 Heights Hospital, a subsidiary of the Houston real estate company AMD Global, defaulted on a $28 million construction loan for the building. AMD purchased the building in 2017.

AMD Global CEO Dharmesh Patel said that the loan was due at the end of 2020, and they were in the process of negotiating an extension when its lendor sold the loan note to another company, Arbitra.

On Jan. 8, Arbitra filed suit in Harris County demanding that the hospitals owners pay more than $3 million in accrued interest, and alleged that they have not paid for crucial management and maintenance expenses.

Patel said last week that his company did not give Arbitra permission to bar tenants from their offices and clinics.

robert.downen@chron.com
Mayfield Woman Injured in Paris Road Crash

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MAYFIELD - A Mayfield woman went to the hospital Friday after a two-vehicle crash.The Mayfield Police Department said the crash occurred at the intersection of Paris Road and Wyatt Drive. Officers said a vehicle driven by 47-year-old Julie Leidecker of Mayfield proceeded through the intersection and was hit by a vehicle driven by 71-year-old Cheryl Oakley of Wingo.Oakley told officers she didn't see Leidecker enter the intersection before the crash.Both vehicles were severely damaged, and Leidecker was taken to Jackson Purchase Medical Center for treatment of her injuries.
James "Jim" Cline "Jim has been a tremendous value add to the Latham Board. He is a respected industry leader with an incredible track record in growing Trexs business into the industry's undisputed global leader, and we look forward to continuing to benefit from his deep expertise.

The Board of Latham Pool Products, Inc. ("Latham" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that James (Jim) E. Cline has been elected to Chairman of the Board. Mr. Cline succeeded former Chairman Mark Laven, who will continue as a Director and has been elected Vice Chairman.

Mr. Cline has served as a Non-Executive Director of Latham since March 2019. From August 2015 through April 2020, he was President and CEO of Trex Company, Inc. (Trex) and since April 2020 has served as Chairman of the Board. Trex is the world's largest manufacturer and leading brand of high-performance, low maintenance outdoor living products, including composite decking, railing, deck lighting and steel deck framing. Mr. Cline has held a number of senior roles within the manufacturing industry, including with Harsco GasServ, the gas technologies business group of Harsco Corporation.

Since joining our board in 2019, Jim has made instrumental contributions to Latham given his significant commercial expertise, said Scott Rajeski, Chief Executive Officer of Latham. Today we have grown into the worlds largest designer, manufacturer and marketer of residential in-ground swimming pools, and the clear leader in fiberglass. Jims strategic vision, proven leadership and experience helping companies capitalize on material conversion opportunities make him the ideal candidate to work with me to lead Latham into our next chapter of growth.

Mr. Laven commented, "Jim has been a tremendous value add to the Latham Board. He is a respected industry leader with an incredible track record in growing Trexs business into the industry's undisputed global leader, and we look forward to continuing to benefit from his deep expertise.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Cline said, "I am thrilled to continue to serve on the Latham board in this new capacity. With its unique direct-to-homeowner model and leading suite of digital technologies, Latham has an exciting opportunity to further capitalize the material conversion to fiberglass pools.

Mr. Laven, whose family founded Latham nearly 65 years ago, joined the Company in 1975 to help grow the business. He has been integral to building Lathams overall position in the industry, having served in many leadership roles, most recently as President of Latham from 2001 to 2017. He been on the Board since 2001.

About Latham Pool Products, Inc.

Latham is the largest provider of residential in-ground pools and accessories in the world with over six decades of experience. Every day, families in North America, Europe and Australia enjoy the Latham pool experience, and each year, thousands more join them. When it comes to quality, selection, simplicity and support, Latham is The Pool Company.

From fiberglass pools in more than 50 shapes and 12 brilliant colors to vinyl liner pools and automatic safety covers, Latham is only pool brand who has developed a unique direct-to-homeowner model that creates a superior pool buying experience for the consumer and delivers purchase ready leads to their dealer partners. Digital tools like the Latham Liner Visualizer and the Fiberglass AR app give homeowners innovative resources to build the backyard of their dreams.

As of December 2018, Pamplona Capital Management has a controlling interest in Latham Pool Products, Inc., and Wynnchurch Capital is a significant investor in the Company. Pamplona, Wynnchurch, management and the founding family have partnered to position the business for meaningful growth, innovation, and international expansion.

About Pamplona Capital Management

Pamplona Capital Management is a specialist investment manager established in 2005 that provides an alternative investment platform across private equity and other diversified strategies.

Pamplona Capital Management acquired a controlling interest in Latham in December 2018 through its fifth private equity fund, Pamplona Capital Partners V, L.P., a $3.2 billion investment vehicle raised in 2017.

Media Contact:

Jodie Davis

jodiedavis@lathampool.com

518-396-8576
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex had a successful acting career before becoming British royalty in 2018. The now-39-year-old starred in Suits, a popular USA Network legal drama. She even brought an element of herself to the role, wearing all her own jewelry.

Meghan Markle spent 7 years on Suits

Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane on Suits | Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank

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In her pre-royal life, Meghan played Rachel Zane on Suits. Initially a paralegal at a top New York City law firm, Rachel became the central love interest of Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams).

Meghan made her first appearance as Rachel in the 2011 pilot episode of Suits. The program became a success and Meghan went on to play Rachel in more than 100 episodes. Over the course of seven seasons, her character became a lawyer and one of the shows principal characters.

Meghan announced her departure from Suits in 2017. Following the announcement of her engagement to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan told BBC News shed be saying goodbye to the show and hello to a new life with Harry.

I dont see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change, she said. For me, once we hit the 100 episode marker, I thought, you know what, I have ticked this box.

Meghan made her final appearance as Rachel in the Suits Season 7 finale. Titled Good-Bye, the episode mirrored Meghans own life. Her character married Mike while in real life, Meghan had been planning her own nuptials. The episode aired only weeks before Meghan and Harrys royal wedding on May 19, 2018.

RELATED: Heres How Much Meghan Markle Reportedly Earned as a Briefcase Model on Deal or No Deal

Rachel Zanes jewelry actually belonged to Meghan Markle

Meghan may have been playing a character but she still brought parts of herself to the role. Not only did she and her character have the same name  Meghans first name is Rachel  she wore all her own jewelry. Meghan relied on the shows costume department for all of Rachels clothes but supplied the jewelry herself.

During an interview in May 2013, more than three years before shed be set up on a date with Harry, Meghan revealed that all of Rachels jewelry on Suits actually belonged to her.

All the jewelry that I wear on the show is my own personal jewelry and family heirlooms, like my grandmas charm bracelet and my signet ring, she told Marie Claire.

Meghan Markles most famous piece of jewelry is her engagement ring

Meghan Markle attends Anzac Day Services | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Meghans jewelry collection is extensive but her most recognizable piece is her engagement ring. As Harry told BBC News after he and Meghan announced their engagement, he designed the ring himself.

Harry sourced a five-carat cushion cut diamond from Botswana, where he and Meghan camped out with each other under the stars. The main stone is surrounded by two 0.75-carat round diamonds that once belonged to his late mother, Princess Diana, to make sure that shes with us on this crazy journey together.

When Meghan married Harry, she added a gold wedding band. The Duchess of Sussex updated the band later with diamonds.

Estimates put the cost of the engagement ring in the $120,000-range. However, given the fact that it includes diamonds once belonging to Diana, the ring is considered priceless. Watch Suits on Peacock and Amazon Prime Video to get a glimpse of Meghans jewelry.

RELATED: Ina Garten De-Stresses the Same Way Meghan Markle Does
Bayu Wardoyo tends to skip the 6 a.m. breakfast of Indonesian fried rice served to divers on the ship searching for wreckage of the Sriwijaya Air passenger jet that crashed in the Java Sea on Jan. 9. He prefers coffee, light snacks and some fruit to prepare for the long day ahead.

Later in the morning, kitted out in a black wetsuit and weighed down by diving paraphernalia, he boards a speedboat and heads out under heavy monsoon clouds to the days search area. Once there, Wardoyo attaches his scuba regulator and rolls overboard into waters filled with fresh tragedy.

Indonesia has suffered several air disasters over the past decade, and Wardoyo has been involved in more than his fair share of undersea searches. The 49-year-old worked on recovery efforts after an AirAsia jetliner carrying 162 people went down in the Java Sea in December 2014. Less than four years later, he returned to the same waters to hunt for wreckage and bodies in the wake of a Lion Air crash that claimed 189 lives. Now hes back there again, after Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 plunged into the ocean with 62 people on board. Among them were seven children and three infants.

Hes never seen a crash as devastating as this.

This Sriwijaya crash is the worst. The aircraft body is totally destroyed and scattered, Wardoyo said by text message. Weve only found small chunks of human remains. On the Lion Air crash we still found big pieces and the AirAsia crash we found almost a complete human body.

SJ182 plummeted close to 10,000 feet (3,050 meters) in 14 seconds shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on a stormy Saturday afternoon. Indonesias National Transportation Safety Committee confirmed that the Boeing Co. 737-500s engines were running when the plane hit the sea at high speed, indicating the aircraft was in one piece upon impact. What triggered the violent dive remains a mystery.

One possibility investigators are looking into is the pilots losing control because a malfunctioning throttle was producing more thrust in one of the engines, according to a person familiar with the situation. The device had been having problems on previous flights, the person said.

With the search in its second week, hopes are fading that the cockpit voice recorder  a crucial jigsaw piece in finding out what unfolded  will ever be found. Divers retrieved the casing of the so-called black box on Friday, but the memory chip that records communication between pilots and ambient sound in the cockpit had broken loose.

The flight-data recorder was recovered last week and will provide clues as to whether this was a problem with the Boeing plane, pilot error, a freak weather occurrence or something else entirely. But the investigation is hamstrung without the other black box. The locator beacons of both were dislodged when the plane smashed into the water, an impact so hard that according to Queensland-based air-safety specialist Geoffrey Dell, it wouldve been like hitting concrete.

With the AirAsia crash back in 2014, the aircraft body was still intact  only broken into three pieces so we had to pull bodies from inside the aircraft, Wardoyo said.

The Lion Air crash was different, the aircraft body disintegrated but we could still find big pieces of the fuselage. Sriwijaya is the worst, he said.

Indonesian investigators extended the search period, prolonging the divers stay on the command vessel off the coast to Jakartas north, but called off the hunt for victims late Thursday afternoon. Wardoyo is leading a group of 15 civilian professional divers with various qualifications such as deep-sea exploration and cave diving. One is a police officer and diving instructor. The team of volunteers is supporting specialist divers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, or Basarnas. Hes not optimistic about recovering the rest of the voice recorder.

Since the aircraft body is totally disintegrated to very small pieces and the sea floor is very thick mud, it would be very hard to collect anything after more than seven days, Wardoyo said. Its almost impossible to find the memory or other piece of the recorder.

An official from Indonesias NTSC said Tuesday that data from the cockpit voice recorder was needed to support findings from the flight-data analysis. Representatives from Boeing, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and General Electric Co. have traveled to Indonesia to help with the investigation. A preliminary report on the crash should be published in 30 days, local authorities said Tuesday.

Bad weather and high seas in Indonesias monsoon season have hampered recovery efforts. Big swells, high winds and rain wouldnt affect the divers below, but it makes it difficult for the surface team operating dinghies and rubber boats, Wardoyo said. It also makes it harder for divers to transfer to the mother ship if the weather is bad.

The command vessel had to return to shore early Wednesday after it was damaged in a collision with another boat at about 1 a.m. in heavy swell and strong winds, according to Wardoyo. The divers returned to the crash site later that morning on a smaller boat.

While diving carries some risk regardless of the circumstances, its amplified on a search mission, Wardoyo said. Shark attacks arent an issue, but decompression sickness, drowning and even heart attacks from overexertion caused by lifting heavy pieces of wreckage in strong currents are among the dangers, he said.

We dont and wont take credit for doing this, but at least we can help others with our expertise, Wardoyo said. Anyone else would do the same.

The challenging conditions may prompt authorities to use other means to collect aircraft debris instead of relying on divers, according to Jakarta-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman. They may use vacuum pumps or dredging once all the victims have been identified or there a no more human remains at the scene, he said.

Wardoyo, who lives with his wife in Jakarta, has been involved in the search since the day after the crash. At sea, the teams wake early, at around 5 a.m., and a briefing is held on the days plans after breakfast. Wardoyo runs those meetings along with the commander of the Basarnas specialist diving team. Weather permitting, they head to the search area at 8 or 9 a.m. on rubber boats or rigid inflatables.

On good days, visibility underwater is three to five meters, but this week it dropped to one meter or less, Wardoyo said. In the aftermath of the crash, Indonesian officials briefed the media on the number of bags containing body parts and plane wreckage being brought ashore. Members of Wardoyos team, in line with Basarnas protocol, wear surgical gloves underneath diving gloves for handling human remains.

Its not nice for us, but we always think about the families who lost their loved ones, Wardoyo said. Its not easy, we have to move inch by inch.

With assistance from Harry Suhartono, Adrian Leung, Alan Levin and Angus Whitley.

Top Photo: Divers bringing up bags filled with debris and body parts off the coast of Jakarta on Jan. 11. Photographer: Demy Sanjaya/AFP/Getty Images

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.
The legal battle between Jeff Bezos-led and Kishore Biyani-headed Future Group has intensified. com has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, asking for the detention of Future Groups founder and his family members, and seizure of assets for violating a Singapore arbitration courts order to temporarily halt the groups $3.4-billion deal with Mukesh Ambani-owned (RIL), revealed sources.

In the light of above, the necessary consequence of the wilful disobedience by the majority respondents and KMP (key managerial personnel) respondents entails attachment of property of the aforesaid respondents and detention in the civil prison of the respondent Nos. 3-11, as well as the directors of FCLP (Future Coupons), FRL (Future Retail), respondent No. 14, 15 and 16, said the petition, which was seen by Business Standard.

In a late evening statement to stock exchanges, Future Retail, the listed flagship of the group, said it was aware of the petition filed by Amazon and would defend itself.

In Amazons petition, respondent No. 3 has been mentioned as Kishore Biyani, executive chairman and group CEO of FRL; respondent No. 8 is Rakesh Biyani, who is the managing director of FRL.





ALSO READ: After exchanges okay Future-Reliance deal, Amazon asks court to block sale

The detention of Ashni Kishore Biyani, daughter of Kishore Biyani and respondent No. 4, has also been sought, besides some other family members. Other such respondents include Anil Biyani, Gopikishan Biyani, Laxminarayan Biyani, Sunil Biyani, Vijay Biyani, and Vivek Biyani.

The petitioner submits that if the relief as sought for in the present petition are not granted, the majority respondents and KMP respondents will proceed with the impugned transaction, as they have publicly declared and repeatedly sought, said the petition. It said this will vitiate the petitioners entire investment in FCPL, which is not compensable in monetary terms. Thus, if the majority respondent and KMP respondents continue with their contumacious conduct, it will cause irreparable loss and injury to the petitioner.

According to an analysis of the petition by legal experts, Amazon in its present petition filed before the Delhi HC has accused Future Groups founders and other respondents of violating the courts order dated December 21, 2020.

Here the court had essentially upheld the validity of the order passed by the Emergency Arbitrator passed in Singapore under the SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) Rules, as valid under Indian law, said Salman Waris, managing partner at technology law firm TechLegis Advocates and Solicitors.

He said Amazon has also alleged in the petition that Future Groups founders and other respondents have misrepresented and selectively quoted from the order of the HC before various authorities and government bodies to be able to secure necessary approvals for their deal, thus committing contempt. Hence Amazon has now sought the implementation of the October 25, 2020, order of the HC seeking an injunction against the Future Group founders and other respondents and also their detention in civil prison.



ALSO READ: Shares of Reliance Industries plunge 6% on disclosure concerns

Last week, the markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), approved Future Group's scheme of arrangement and sale of assets to Reliance. Based on this, the Bombay Stock Exchange also granted its "no adverse observation" report to the deal. However, Amazon said Sebis approval for Future Retails deal with is subject to court decisions.

Sebi has allowed the deal with some riders. It reportedly said the litigation pending before the Delhi HC and arbitration proceedings by Amazon contesting the deal should be specifically mentioned by Future Group while seeking shareholders' or the National Company Law Tribunals approval. It also reportedly held that Sebi's go-ahead on the draft scheme of arrangement would be subject to the outcome of these proceedings.

Equipped with the notice from the high court, Amazon this month had also sent another letter to Sebi, requesting it not to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to the Future Retail- deal and suspend the review immediately. The e-commerce firm had further urged the markets regulator to direct the Indian stock exchanges not to issue no-objection or approval letter to

This month it also informed Sebi about the formation of an arbitration tribunal at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). The next phase of arbitration proceedings between Amazon and Future Group is expected to begin soon in Singapore, according to the sources.

In August 2020, Future Group struck a $3.4-billion asset sale deal with Reliance Industries (RIL). Amazon then sent a legal notice to Future, alleging the retailers deal breached an agreement with the American e-commerce giant.
The Telegraph

For General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the head of the British Army, there is no better illustration of the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare than to compare his own experience with that of one of his distinguished predecessors. When Field Marshal Lord Guthrie served as Chief of the General Staff in the 1990s, he claimed to be the last Army chief to have had a spear thrown at him, an event he experienced while serving as a young officer. For his own part, Sir Mark claims to be the first Army chief to have been bombed by a drone while conducting operations outside the Iraqi city of Mosul. I was bombed by a commercial unmanned aerial vehicle operated by a terrorist organisation, he recalls. It just shows how quickly the nature of warfare has changed. At the time Sir Mark, a former head of Britains Special Forces, was involved in the US-led effort to destroy Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after it had created its so-called caliphate. The most radical transformation of the Army of modern times And, in his current role as Chief of the General Staff, a position he has held since 2018, Sir Mark believes there are many important lessons that can be learned from Britains successful involvement in the coalition effort to destroy Isil as he seeks to undertake the most radical transformation of the Army of modern times. We fought a very successful campaign that resulted in the destruction of the caliphate in Syria and Northern Iraq, Sir Mark explains in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph. That was done by applying some of the lessons from our experiences in Afghanistan. We came to realise that the main priority was to build up the Afghan security forces so they could independently manage their own insurgency. We have taken the lessons of how to create local indigenous forces and to harness them with 21st century Western technology. We applied it very successfully against the caliphate, and we did so almost without a single combat fatality. This form of remote warfare has almost become our house style. Sir Mark is speaking in his spacious modern office at Army Headquarters in Andover which is filled with mementos of an action-packed career during which he has seen active service in all of Britains major military engagements of the past four decades, including Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future His task now is to undertake the Herculean task of restructuring the Army in such a way that it retains the ability to conduct the type of successful military campaign that was undertaken against Isil while at the same time providing it with the ability to fight hi-tech wars of the future. The template for the future structure of Britains Armed Forces was set out in the Governments recently published Integrated Review, which set out an ambitious vision for the future role of the military as part of Global Britain. And to fund the ambitious reforms being undertaken by all three Services, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has managed to secure an extra 24 billion in funding from the Treasury. But as part of the restructuring, the size of the Army is being cut from its current establishment of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025. Coming after the controversial cuts made in the 2010 Defence Review, which saw the Armys size cut by 20,000 as part of the drastic defence cuts implemented by the Cameron government, the prospect of the Army being reduced further has led critics to question whether it will in future be able to conduct operations on the scale recently seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Concerns have also been raised about its ability to fulfil its Nato commitments and support future US operations.
Marion County Schools is among five school districts the Tennessee Department of Education announced Monday that have been selected as Tennessee Exemplary ACCESS Districts for their dedication to helping all students succeed. These districts - Chester County Schools, Houston County Schools, Lakeland School System, Marion County Schools and Milan Special School District - have earned the Exemplary ACCESS designation by ensuring "All Children are Challenged and Equipped for Success in School."Officials said, "This designation recognizes the intensive work and exceptional dedication of these five districts to student success through the second K-12 cohort of the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG 2.0), Access to Instruction and Intervention for All Students initiative."All students deserve to receive a great education and we thank these five districts for their exceptional work to help all their students succeed, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn.Through participation in this initiative, these districts have strengthened their teachers instruction methods and student engagement, and the department is thrilled to be able to support this incredible work.On Wednesday of this week, each of these school districts will be recognized at the virtual Partners in Education Conference during a special session.The State Personnel Development Grants program, administered through the Office of Special Education Programs within the U.S. Department of Education, assists state education agencies and their partners to improve results for children with disabilities through systems of professional development and dissemination of knowledge about best practices to educators and families.In 2015, the TDOE was awarded the State Personnel Development Grant from the Office of Special Education Programs to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. This grant, aligned with the State Systemic Improvement Plan, allowed Tennessee to create a model that included training for general education teachers, special education teachers, and administrators on improving classroom climate, reaching all students through a differentiated design for learning, assessing students effectively in order to maximize the instructional impact, and promoting general and special education collaboration.The selection of these districts was based on training data, improvements in teaching methods, improvements in Individualized Education Program quality, and efforts to sustain the work system-wide.In response to being selected to receive this designation, each of the five districts commented on how participating in the initiative had positive impacts on their districts:Chester County Schools participation in the SPDG 2.0 Access for All initiative has made a significant impact on teachers instruction and students engagement in learning. This has truly been an impactful, long-lasting, and phenomenal experience for ALL! - Melinda Parker, special education director, Chester County SchoolsAs a result of SPDG 2.0, HCMS now strives to encourage a positive student mindset by changing the classroom environment to reduce barriers for ALL students. Our school is a happier place! -Robin Fairclough, director of programs, Houston County SchoolsTo create universal designs for learning and safe classroom climates utilizing differentiation, it begins with MINDSET. The SPDG 2.0 grant allowed us to do that. - Becky Bigelow, director of exceptional education, Marion County SchoolsOur district's participation in the professional learning made possible through the SPDG program has been overwhelmingly positive. The activities of the SPDG program have caused our teachers and administrators to reflect upon, discuss, and make changes to the ways we approach teaching ALL learners in the classroom. The most exciting part is seeing the number of participants who say that the training made them better teachers and helped their students learn. -Dr. Ted Horrell, director of schools, Lakeland School SystemWe have found the training materials to be of the highest quality and practical to implement. We are committed to providing a supportive learning environment that addresses all students' comprehensive needs. These strategies ensure each student can access instructional content and all teachers are prepared with tools to reach their learners. -Lynn Gonzales, supervisor of special populations and student support, Milan Special School DistrictEach of these districts has had an exceptional impact on their students, educators, and school communities, said Theresa Nicholls, assistant commissioner of special populations. We appreciate the dedication of these districts to their educators and students and their hard work creating positive, motivating, and empowering learning environments throughout their districts.
Duda said the only way to avoid conflict is to make them Russian authorities comply with international law.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has called on the European Union to tighten sanctions against Russia over the detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the law enforcers' actions during the protests on January 23.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said the only way to avoid conflict is to make Russian authorities comply with international law, as reported by DW's Ukrainian service.

Read alsoProtests in Russia: Baltic states call on new EU sanctions over detentionsDuda also believes EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell should reconsider plans to visit Russia next month if the Kremlin fails to release Navalny.

Protests in Russia following Navalny arrest

On January 23, rallies were held in Russia in support of the opposition's Alexei Navalny, who was arrested a few days earlier upon his return from Germany.

Russian law enforcement violently cracked down on mass protests.

Some 3,296 protesters were detained across country.

This is a record high in Russia's modern history.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has condemned violence against participants.

Reporting by UNIAN

Virginia, the U.S. state which has executed more prisoners than any other in the country, is making a historic move to ban the death penalty.

State legislators in Virginia's House and Senate have introduced bills that would abolish the death penalty and convert existing capital sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The bill is on track to pass the Senate if it gets past the House - and if it does, the former capital of the Confederacy will become the first Southern state to eradicate the death penalty.

Virginia, the U.S. state which has executed more prisoners than any other in the country, is making a historic move to ban the death penalty. Pictured: The execution chamber at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has said he supports the bill and abolishing the death penalty is one of his legislative priorities

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has said he supports the bill and abolishing the death penalty is one of his legislative priorities.

'Just as Confederate monuments are being dismantled, this vestige of Confederate law is also facing dismantling,' Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center told The Washington Post.

'That historical context is a central part of the repeal. And repeal offers a real opportunity for racial healing.'

Virginia House of Delegates member Mike Mullin and Senator Scott Surovell introduced the bill abolishing the death penalty in their respective houses.

'I think the prospects are excellent that we're going to end the death penalty in 2021,' Mullin, a staunch advocate for the elimination of capital punishment, said.

State legislators in Virginia's House and Senate have introduced bills that would abolish the death penalty and convert existing capital sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole

What were the Jim Crow laws? The phrase "Jim Crow Law" can be found as early as 1892 in an article about Louisiana requiring segregated railroad cars The origin of the phrase "Jim Crow" has often been attributed to "Jump Jim Crow" a song-and-dance caricature of black people performed by white actor which first surfaced in 1828 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson's policies. When southern legislatures passed laws of racial segregation at the end of the 19th century, these statutes became known as Jim Crow laws The laws, which were enacted between 1876 and 1965 were intended to give African Americans a 'separate but equal' status, although in practice lead to conditions that were inferior to those enjoyed by white people. Public schools, public places and public transportation were all segregated and there were separate restaurants, bathrooms and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The US Military was also subject to segregation. Advertisement

'It is long past time that we eliminate the use of the death penalty here in Virginia, Mullin added in a statement.

'The death penalty is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, whose application is flawed with wrongful convictions, inadequate representation, geographic disparity, and racial bias.

'It is not a crime deterrent, but instead perpetuates a culture of violence that does not belong in the Commonwealth.'

Experts argue that there are racial disparities in the application of the death penalty - and it has roots in the South's history of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.

As of 2019, Black Americans constituted around 13 per cent of the US population, but they accounted for over 40 per cent of death row inmates, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

There have been over 170 exonerations from death row nationwide since 1973. Nationally, at least one person is exonerated for every 11 that are executed.

Mullin said Virginia's continued use of the death penalty has the 'potential to kill innocent Virginians'.

Virginia has executed nearly 1,400 people in more than four centuries, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

But executions have slowed in Virginia in recent years  the last inmate put to death was William Morva in 2017  and no death sentences have been imposed in the state since 2011.

'Right now the death penalty is a bit of a paper tiger in Virginia because juries just are not returning that sentence,' said Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Stone attributes the move away from death sentences in part to the recent number of high-profile news stories about wrongful convictions in Virginia. He thinks those cases have not only dissuaded jurors from issuing such sentences but also built support among lawmakers for abolition.

Virginia has executed nearly 1,400 people in more than four centuries, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Pictured: An ambulance exits the secure area after the execution of Ricky Gray at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia in 2017

Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad

In meetings, Stone said lawmakers often bring up the cases of Keith Allen Harward and Thomas Haynesworth and talk about fears that an innocent person could be sentenced to death.

Harward was wrongfully convicted of the 1982 rape of a woman and murder of her husband based on bite marks but was cleared by DNA in 2016. Haynesworth, who was wrongfully convicted of multiple counts of rape, was exonerated in 2011 after serving 27 years.

Both cases, and veteran Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Frank Green's coverage of them, were recently featured in the Netflix documentary series 'The Innocence Files.'

There have been a series of high-profile cases of inmates who have been executed in the state.

In 2009, t he Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad was executed by lethal injection just a few miles from the city he terrorised for three weeks.

He was executed for masterminding and carrying out with his teenage accomplice the 2002 sniper shootings that killed 10 people and terrified the Washington, D.C., region a year after the 9/11 and the deadly anthrax attacks.

More recently, death row inmate Ricky Gray, 39, who murdered two families during a week-long killing spree, was executed using a lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia.

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This is part of What We Learned, a series of reflections on the meaning and legacy of the Trump years.

One of the last things the Trump administration did, while it still had the power to do it, was reportedly kidnap a 9-year-old boy from his family. Customs and Border Protection officials at San Francisco International Airport denied entry to 19-year-old Christian Laporte and his younger brother, Vladimir Fardin, traveling from Haiti on U.S.-issued student and tourist visas respectively last Sundayand then separated them from each other, declared Vladimir to therefore be an unaccompanied minor, and shipped him off to a detention center.

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This was, by this point in Donald Trumps term, not particularly surprising. Child abuse was at the center of the countrys immigration policy for these past four years, part of an intentional effort to scare people away from trying to come here. Hundreds of children disappeared into custody with no effort to keep track of them or reunite them with their families. A regime that had already been inhumane under President Obama, pushing migrants toward deadly desert crossings, turned fully malignant, with federal agents destroying water supplies and prosecutors targeting humanitarian workers. Asylum laws were cast aside.

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On one level, this was straightforwardly racist, joining the goals of white nationalist policymakers like Stephen Miller to the daily bigotry of many border patrol officers. Rhetorically and conceptually, though, it was an effort to roll back the consensus that the United States is a nation of immigrants. The attack extended to legally documented immigration and residency, and on to citizenship itself, breaking precedent to strip people of what had seemed like a secure membership in the nation.

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As Adam Serwer indelibly wrote, the cruelty of this was the point. The politics of Trumpism were built around white people sharing in rituals of viciousness and exclusion, coming together to follow their leaders rejection of their designated enemies and to revel in how far things would go.

But the longer the administration wore on, the more the cruelty seemed to have another, horrifyingly practical point behind it. Trumpism was not just testing how hateful the country could be. It was exploring the limits of Americas capacity for indifference.

By the end, there were no limits to be found. The people thrown into detention at the border or deported at random may have been the first to be treated as nonpersons, but they soon had more company than anyone could count. Hurricane Maria hit U.S. territory in Puerto Rico, and the administration simply failed to respond, leaving hundreds and then thousands of people to die. It was Katrina all over again, except it wasnt: No real lasting blame attached itself to the governments deadly failure. The death toll rarely made it to the top of any lists of the presidents wrongdoing.

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Again and again, Trump chose to ignore suffering, reacting grudgingly or not at all to disasters that happened on his watch. As one lethal California fire season led to another, Trump focused on blaming imaginary forest-management policies. When Iowa was flattened by windstorms, federal authorities and the Trump-loyal state government wasted a week before declaring a disaster.

And rising up to subsume it all was the coronavirus pandemic. The federal response to COVID-19 was incompetent, and it was unprepared, and it was dishonest, but the true horror was that it was blase. The bodies piled up in nursing homes, and then in refrigerated trucks on the streets of New York City, and all the while it was someone elses problem. There was no protective equipment and no working plan to get it; there was no testing, and once there was, the president wanted to slow it down for his own self-interest. There were sirens in the streets round the clock, and there was not even any hand sanitizer on store shelves.

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Instead of fighting the pandemic, Trump chose to fight against the fight. And his supporters rallied to him. Better that people should go back to work and get sick and die than that the government should restrict commerce or even require masks. The disease was something that was happening to other people, even when it happened to Trump himself.

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Now it is happening everywhere at once, with the country on its way to half a million dead, and somehow it is still someone elses problem. People are staging anti-mask protests in places where emergency rooms are over capacity. Mass suffering has been transformed into one more background fact to argue about politically, even for the millions of us whove considered ourselves horrified by it all along. The sense of moral crisis has subsided, though the actual human crisis is worse each day than it was the day before.

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Life often seemed cheap to Americans when it was in other places, but now its cheap right outside our own windows, or inside them. Trump, in his constant flight from uncomfortable truths, pointed the country toward a real and brutal plausible future. Between crop failures and floods and lethal heatwaves, great expanses of the planet are on their way to becoming uninhabitable. The millions of people who currently live in those places cannot stay there. In the coming decades, disaster will be commonplace, and the world will need an answer for the people displaced by it. The Trump administration, in this light, was proposing what one answer could be: dead bodies, piled up until theyre out of view. The country, it seems, can live with that.
At night, Prasad along with two other locals made fish curry for dinner and consumed alcohol. A dispute arose between Panduranga Rao and Prasad over the fish curry. Panduranga in an inebriated condition hit Prasad's head with a wooden log. (Representational Photo)

Patapatnam (Srikakulam): A fight over sharing of fish curry led to the death of a 60-year-old man in Avalingi village in this district. The incident took place on January 21 and information spread a while later.

Pathapatnam CI Ravi Prasad said Ganta Panduranga Rao from Kakinada came to Avalingi three months ago to work as labourer for erecting a drinking water tank near Buditi in Saravakota mandal. He stayed in a rented house.

He went to his hometown for Sankranti and on return brought his acquaintance, Palamuri Prasad (60) from Kattamuru village in East Godavari district.

At night, Prasad along with two other locals made fish curry for dinner and consumed alcohol. A dispute arose between Panduranga Rao and Prasad over the fish curry. Panduranga in an inebriated condition hit Prasad's head with a wooden log.

Fearing he was dead, the accused took the body in a garbage tricycle with the help of local friends and buried it near a lake. Villagers who got wind of the incident informed the police.

A complaint filed by VRO Appa Rao, after which Prasad's body was exhumed on Saturday in the presence of Tahsildar Rajamohan and it was later taken to the Government Hospital in Pathapatnam for post mortem. A case has been registered against Panduranga Rao and five others from Avalingi village who helped him in the burial.
Mr. Talbott was forced out of the R.O.T.C. program at Kent State University last year and was told to turn in his uniform. On Monday morning, he said he planned to re-enroll next semester, and could not wait to put on his uniform again.

This is a moment Ive been waiting for, for so many years, he said. He said the excitement among scores of other prospective troops he had heard from is recent days was overwhelming. Weve been pushing for this for how many years? And we finally see the light. We are on deck and ready to go.

Though the militarys culture of conformity may seem like an unlikely draw for transgender young people, some who have struggled with gender identity see the armed forces as a haven where people are addressed by rank, not by gendered courtesy titles like Mr. and Ms.; where uniforms barely differentiate between men and women; and where the culture is often far less judgmental than the communities they leave behind.

My family, they wont accept it, said Leigh Maybe, a 19-year-old from a town of 3,000 in South Carolina. He enlisted in the Marines as a mechanic in 2017 as a way to start over, but was cut from the ranks before he could ship out to boot camp.

It just crushed me, I cried for hours, he said. That was my future.

In the years since, he has worked at a series of low-level jobs and waited, putting off starting testosterone treatments because he did not want anything to interfere with enlisting again. Now, with the policy reversed, he said, Ill join in a second.

Proponents of the ban argued that allowing transgender people to enlist would hurt national defense by saddling the military with troops who have costly medical needs and may not be deployable. But the leaders of all four military branches and the Coast Guard have said that the thousands of transgender military members now serving openly, who were grandfathered in under the Obama rules, have not had any adverse impact on operations.
[January 25, 2021] Internet Society Foundation Awards $1M in Grants to Researchers Studying the Future of the Internet

The Internet Society Foundation has awarded over $1 million through its Research grant programme to seven projects that examine the future and sustainability of the Internet. In its pilot year, this programme seeks to support a diverse group of researchers who are generating solutions today to meet the Internet challenges of tomorrow. The selected projects explore important issues around the Internet's relationship to society, such as: the economic cost of the digital gender gap, the impact of digital labour platforms on worker's rights, what climate solutions might help decarbonize the subsea cable network, and more. Environmental Law Institute - USA- $200,000

Theme: Greening the Internet

Project Title: Creating a Research Strategy to Green the Internet

Research Question: How can we identify high-value, high-impact research on the energy and environmental impacts of the digital economy? The Centre for Internet and Society - India - $200,000

Theme: The Internet Economy

Project Title: Labour futures: Intersectional policy making for the platform economy

Research Question: How are digital platforms broadly, and digital labour platforms specifically, occupying and performing their roles as intermediaries and infrastructure in the global south? Chomora Mikeka (Independent Researcher) - Malawi - $57,017

Theme: Greening the Internet

Project Title: Greening Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Cities

Researc Question: Can IoT Sensors used for Smart Garbage Collection in Smart Cities be Green Powered?



World Data Lab - Austria - $193,660

Theme: The Internet Economy

Project Title: International Internet Inequality Index

Research Question: Which economic and demographic factors contribute to global Internet access in the future? World Wide Web Foundation - USA - $199,974

Theme: The Internet Economy

Project Title: The Cost of Excluding Women: The Digital Gender Gap & Economic Prospects

Research Question: What is the economic impact of not having women participate in digital economies due to the digital gender gap?

Digital Rights Watch - Australia - $187,299 - 18 months

Theme: The Internet Economy

Project Title: An International Internet for Local Needs

Research Question: How can we rebalance bargaining power between local actors and international Internet players? SubOptic Foundation - USA - $200,000 - 24 months

Theme: Greening the Internet

Project Title: Decarbonizing the Subsea Cable Network

Research Question: What is the average carbon footprint of a cable station, and what climate solutions might help to mitigate this footprint? "The Internet has reshaped almost every sector of our society," stated Sarah Armstrong, Executive Director of the Internet Society Foundation. "We established this grant programme to enable new and valuable research on the future of the Internet, research that will influence policy and industry decisions and ultimately help shape a more equitable and sustainable future for the Internet." Selected by an Independent Programme Review Committee, the awardees are from Australia, Austria, India, Malawi, and the U.S. The grants are intended for applied research that will be published and made available to the scientific community at no cost. The Research programme is currently accepting statements of interest, to be reviewed on a rolling basis. About the Internet Society Foundation: The Internet Society Foundation was established in 2019 to support the positive difference the Internet can make to people everywhere. Guided by our vision of an Internet for Everyone, the Foundation champions ideas and enables communities to unlock the Internet's potential to tackle the world's evolving challenges. Focusing in five programme areas, the Foundation awards grants to Internet Society Chapters as well as non-profit organizations and individuals dedicated to providing meaningful access to an open, globally-connected, secure and trustworthy Internet for everyone. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210125005422/en/

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Apple's flagship smartphone, the iPhone 12, can interfere with pacemakers and other medical devices, the company has quietly confirmed.

The firm's latest devices feature a technology called MagSafe, which uses in-built magnets to firmly attach accessories like wireless chargers and wallets to the back of the phones.

iPhone 12 devices, released in October last year, also contain components and radios that emit electromagnetic fields.

Apple has admitted that these magnets and electromagnetic fields might interfere with medical devices and should be kept at least six inches away.

The tech giant's all-important update may be in response to a recent research paper that highlights the iPhone 12's ability to 'potentially inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient' with an implanted medical device.

This makes the iPhone 12 particularly dangerous if kept in the breast pocket of someone fitted with a pacemaker.

iPhone 12 with the 40 MagSafe Charger. The firm's brand of magnetic technology - called MagSafe - is built into iPhone 12, allowing it to firmly attach to accessories like wireless chargers, cases and wallets.

Apple confirmed the risk applies to all iPhone 12 models  iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max  and the two MagSafe chargers, the 40 MagSafe Charger and the foldable 130 MagSafe Duo Charger.

'Medical devices such as implanted pacemakers and defibrillators might contain sensors that respond to magnets and radios when in close contact,' Apple says in an update to its support notice, first noticed by MacRumors.

'To avoid any potential interactions with these devices, keep your iPhone and MagSafe accessories a safe distance away from your device.'

Apple defines a 'safe distance' as more than six inches (15 cm) apart or more than 12 inches (30 cm) apart if the phone is in the process of being wirelessly charged.

However, Apple said that although all iPhone 12 models contain more magnets than prior iPhone models, 'they're not expected to pose a greater risk of magnetic interference to medical devices than prior iPhone models'.

MailOnline has contacted Apple regarding whether this means previous iPhone models have just the same ability to interfere with medical devices as the iPhone 12.

iPhone 12 models introduce MagSafe, offering high-powered wireless charging and an all-new ecosystem of accessories that easily attach to iPhone. This charging method uses an array of magnets placed around the wireless charging coil that Apple says 'perfectly connects to iPhone every time'

Medical device manufacturers often provide recommendations on the safe use of their devices around wireless or magnetic products to prevent possible interference, according to Apple.

For this reason, the firm advises users to consult with their physician and device manufacturer for specific guidelines.

Apple says: 'If you suspect iPhone or any MagSafe accessories are interfering with your medical device, stop using your iPhone or MagSafe accessories.'

As also pointed out by by MacRumors, a study published earlier this month in the Heart Rhythm Journal indicated that iPhone 12 models can 'potentially inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient' with implantable medical devices.

The US study authors had held an iPhone 12 near a patient's implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which is used to correct life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.

Once the iPhone was brought close to the ICD over the left chest area, the ICD immediately went into a 'suspended' state.

Apple officially unveiled the new iPhone 12 event during a live event in October. The smartphone is designed with rounded edges that look similar to the iPad Pro and boasts 5G cellular connectivity

'We hereby bring an important public health issue concerning the newer generation iPhone 12 which can potentially inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient particularly while carrying the phone in upper pockets,' the study authors say in their paper.

'Medical device manufacturers and implanting physicians should remain vigilant in making patients aware of this significant interaction of the iPhone 12 and other smart wearables with their cardiac implantable electronic devices.'

MagSafe was initially introduced in 2006 for Mac laptops  a handy little feature that ensured power connectors stayed attached.

MagSafe connectors were discontinued across Apple's product lines between 2016 and 2019 and replaced with USB-C.

However, the brand name was brought back for the iPhone 12 to allow rapid 15W wireless charging.

A first-generation MagSafe connector attached to a MacBook Pro. The MagSafe connectors were discontinued but the brand was brought back last year for iPhone's wireless chargers

Wireless charging as a concept has been around since Nikola Tesla, a Croatian inventor, first suggested in the 19th century that power could be transferred between two objects via an electromagnetic field.

The charging pad contains a loop of coiled wires around a bar magnet, known as an inductor.

When an electric current passes from the mains through the coiled wire, it creates an electromagnetic field around the magnet.

This can then be used to transfer a voltage  or charge  to the smartphone.

Apple's MagSafe charging method uses an array of magnets placed around the wireless charging coil that Apple says 'perfectly connects to iPhone every time'.

MagSafe also attaches a 60 leather wallet to the back of the phone, for keeping credit and debit cards in.
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Shortly after winning the November 2020 US presidential polls , then president-elect Joseph Biden promised to pick a cabinet that will be more representative of the American people than any other cabinet in history". True to his word, Bidens staffing decisionsboth within and beyond the cabinetreveal many firsts, such as the first Native American interior secretary and the first Black secretary of defence.

But it is perhaps the desis in Bidens team whove stirred up the most attention outside the US. Indian Americans are among the wealthiest and most educated of all ethnic groups in the country. A large number of second-generation Indian Americans are starting to mainstream themselves in US politics. No surprise then that a sizeable bunch of Indian Americans ended up in the Barack Obama administration. Many of them have now found their way back into the corridors of power as the Biden administration takes office. Almost all of Bidens Indian American picks are professionalsdoctors, lawyers and economic experts.

Heres a look at the Indian Americans who will be directing US policy over the next four years, in no particular order.

Vinay Reddy

Bidens director of Speechwriting

If Bidens inaugural speech won applause for its message of hope and unity, some credit should go to long-time associate, Vinay Reddy. He is the first Indian American to hold the post. His role will be crucial in the coming days. Raised in Dayton, Ohio, Reddy was Bidens chief speechwriter when he was Vice President. Reddys family has its roots in a remote village in Telangana. Multiple media reports say Reddys father, Narayana Reddy, was a doctor who moved to the US in 1970. Reddy, the second of three sons, attended the Ohio State University College of Law.

Vivek Murthy

Surgeon General

The 43-year-old physician by training is set to return to the role he held in the administration of former President Barack Obama and is expected to play a key role in drawing up the strategy to fight the covid-19 pandemica major priority for the new administration. In 2008, Murthy reportedly founded Doctors for Obama" (later rechristened Doctors for America) to support Obama in his presidential bid against Senator John McCain. In December 2020, Murthy was named co-chair of Bidens newly-formed coronavirus task force. Brought up in Miami where his parents moved when he was three years old, Murthy attended Harvard for his bachelors degree and later completed his MD and MBA degrees from Yale.

Rohit Chopra

Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The agency regulates consumer financial products and services. The 38-year-old is a former close aide of Senator Elizabeth Warren and helped launch the agency in 2011. He has pushed for aggressive remedies against law-breaking companies and advocated for fair, competitive markets that will protect families and honest businesses from abuses. He has been in the news recently for voting to sue Facebook for illegal monopoly behaviour as a Federal Trade Commissioner. He also advocated for a breakup of the company. Definitely, someone to keep an eye out for in the coming days.

Vanita Gupta

Associate Attorney General at the Department of Justice

Gupta, 46, is a civil rights lawyer. She has been president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on civil and human rights and has focused on advancing democracy and civil rights, especially that of immigrants and people of colour. She will also be the first woman of colour to serve as the US Associate Attorney General. Born in Philadelphia, a proud daughter of immigrants from India. Does that sound familiar?" Biden was quoted as saying about her, drawing a line of similarity between her and Vice President Kamala Harris. In the Obama administration, Gupta investigated abuse of power in police departments in communities riven by violence and racial injustice. Given that uniting a polarized US is a key Biden priority, Gupta is expected to play a prominent role in the Department of Justice.

View Full Image Indian Americans who will be directing US policy over the next four years

Uzra Zeya

Under Secretary of State for civilian security, democracy and human rights

Zeya is one of several Indian Americans who trace their roots to Kashmir in the Biden administration. She headed the Alliance for Peacebuilding after quitting the State Department in 2018, said Indiawest.com. An expert on the Near East, South Asian, Europe, human rights and multilateral affairs, she is a Georgetown University School of Foreign Service graduate and has been posted in Paris, New Delhi, Damascus etc. Her familiarity with New Delhi and the interlocutors here could come in handy for both sides, given the emphasis the Biden administration is expected to place on human rights.

Bharat Ramamurti

Deputy National Economic Council Director for financial reform and consumer protection

Ramamurti, a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, is the managing director of the corporate power programme at the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think-tank. As aide for seven years to Senator Elizabeth Warren, he served as an economic adviser during Warrens 2020 presidential election campaign. As Warrens aide, he also led the investigation of Wells Fargo. In April 2020, Ramamurti was appointed member of the Congressional Oversight Commission for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) to oversee spending. In many ways, the American NEC mirrors Indias NITI Aayog.

Sameera Fazili

Deputy Director at the US National Economic Council in the White House

Another Indian-American team member with roots in Kashmir, Fazili was earlier posted at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Originally from Buffalo, New York, Fazili is a graduate of Yale Law School and Harvard College. It is a proud moment for entire Kashmir," PTI quoted her uncle, Rouf Fazili, as saying. She was not born here. Her parents left the Valley in 1970-71, but she has a strong affinity with Kashmir," he said. Along with people like Ramamurti, her task will be to focus on setting the US back on the growth path.

Neera Tanden

Nominated as the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget

Currently, she heads the Centre for American Progress (CAP), a left-leaning think-tank. A brilliant policy mind with critical, practical experience across government, she was raised by a single mom on food stamps, an immigrant from India who struggled, worked hard and did everything she could for her daughter to live out the American dream," was how Biden described her. Tanden, 50, has served in the Clinton administration and has worked with Hillary Clintons 2008 campaign.

Tarun Chhabra

Senior director for technology and national security in Bidens National Security Council

He was a non-resident fellow with the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. His research focused on US grand strategy, US-China relations and US alliances. Previously, Chhabra served on the White House National Security Council staff as director and at the Pentagon as a speechwriter to Secretaries of Defence Chuck Hagel and Ashton Carter. Chhabra has worked with the UN too, with then Secretary-General Kofi Annans office. He has a law degree from Harvard and a degree in international relations from Oxford University.

Sumona Guha

Senior director for South Asia at the National Security Council

A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities, Guha was a vice president at the Albright Stonebridge Group. She has previously worked at the State Department as a foreign service officer and on the Secretary of States policy planning staff. During the Obama-Biden administration, she was a special advisor for national security affairs to the then-Vice-president Biden. Guha will be an important interlocutor for India handling as she looks after South Asia in the NSC.

Shanthi Kalathil

Coordinator for democracy and human rights in the National Security Council

She was the senior director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy. Prior to that, she served as a senior democracy fellow at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Hong Kong-based reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She reportedly traces her roots to Alappuzha in Kerala. Being a member of the NSC, she is expected to be another important interlocutor for New Delhi.

Sonia Aggarwal

Adviser for climate policy and innovation in the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy

She was the co-founder and vice president of Energy Innovation, which led Americas Power Plan, and brought together 200 electricity policy experts. Aggarwal also led a team that developed the Energy Policy Simulator, which analyses the environmental, economic, and public health impacts of climate and energy policies. Born and raised in Ohio, Aggarwal has a Masters degree from Stanford University in civil engineering.

Sabrina Singh

Deputy press secretary to Vice President Kamala Harris

Singh, 32, is reportedly related to Sardar Jag Jit Singh, believed to be behind the establishment of an immigrant quota under former US President Harry Truman. Singh previously headed the press team for two Democratic presidential candidates who were in the fray in the primary campaign, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Mike Bloomberg. She has served as deputy communications director for the Democratic National Committee and as regional communications director on Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. She is key part of the team that will project an active and much-watched vice-presidents views on important matters.

Aisha Shah

Partnerships manager, White House Office of Digital Strategy

Another Kashmiri-origin Indian American in the Biden administration, Shah was raised in Louisiana and has previously been digital partnerships manager in the Biden-Harris Campaign. She was an advancement specialist for the Smithsonian Institution.

Vedant Patel

White House Assistant Press Secretary

Previously, Patel worked as communications director to Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, western regional press secretary at the Democratic National Committee, and communications director to Congressman Mike Honda. One of the team entrusted with the job of setting on track the Biden administrations communications strategy.

Vidur Sharma

Testing adviser on Bidens covid-19 response team

Born in Wisconsin and raised in Minnesota, Sharma is a graduate of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Saint Louis University. In the Obama administration, he was a health policy adviser working on implementing Obamacare. Among his appointments, he has served as deputy research director with Protect Our Care", a coalition of advocacy organisations campaigning against the repeal of Obamacare. Bringing the pandemic under control is among the immediate tasks outlined by Biden and Sharma will play a key role here.

Neha Gupta

Associate Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel

Its a job that could assume importance if any cases surface against Biden for allegedly withholding loan guarantees to pressure Ukraine in order to protect his son back when he was Vice President. Former President Trump did try to sully Bidens campaign with allegations and could revive the charges if his impeachment goes through the Senate in the coming days. A graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School, Gupta has previously served as a deputy city attorney in the San Francisco City Attorneys office.

Reema Shah

Deputy Associate Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel

Prior to this, she was a member of the debate preparation team for the Biden-Harris campaign. She was previously an associate at Latham and Watkins and also worked in the office of the solicitor general at the Department of Justice. She served as a law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Judge Sri Srinivasan on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Along with Gupta, Shahs expertise would come in useful for legal battles on behalf of the White House, should any crisis develop.

Gautam Raghavan

Deputy director in the Office of Presidential Personnel

A first-generation immigrant, Raghavan has been long associated with policy for the Gill Foundation, one of the oldest and largest private foundations dedicated to the cause of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality. Appa, husband, gay, immigrant, proud naturalized citizen" reads his profile on Twitter. Raghavan has worked as chief of staff to Indian American Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Mala Adiga

Policy director to First Lady Jill Biden

Previously, she has served as the director for human rights on the national security staff during the Obama-Biden administration. A lawyer by training, Adiga worked for a Chicago law firm before joining Obamas presidential campaign in 2008.

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Authorities in New York City on Sunday raided an underground nightclub operating out of the basement of an apartment building in Queens and caught dozens of revelers drinking alcohol and smoking hookah inside the crowded speakeasy.

New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito announced that deputies and NYPD officers busted at least 75 patrons inside the illegal bar located at 65-25 Roosevelt Avenue in Queens at around 12.30am on Sunday.

The makeshift nightclub was protected by a 'heavily fortified' door and had blocked exits, posing a potential safety risk in case of a fire, Fucito said.

NYPD officers and deputy sheriffs acting on a tip raided the underground speakeasy on Roosevelt Avenue early Sunday morning

Officers are seen carrying out cases of Corona brand beer from an illegal nightclub, which had been operating out of the basement of a Queens apartment building

Inside, officials found some 75 revelers drinking alcohol and smoking hookah

Officials with the National Grid utility also reported that a dangerous level of carbon monoxide was being vented into the nightclub, which could have resulted in injury or death, reported NBC New York.

As deputies made their way inside the space, they 'were met with immediate violence and resistance to process' at the hands of the owner, Marco Chacon, who allegedly tried to physically restrain them.

Photos taken inside the basement show men and women crowding around small tables laden with what looks like alcoholic beverages.

Video from the raid captures police officers carrying cases of Corona brand beer out of the nightclub.

Chacon, 41, was issued desk appearance tickets for obstructing governmental administration, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and organizing a nonessential mass gathering.

The makeshift bar was protected by a 'heavily fortified' door (pictured) and had blocked exits

Owner Marco Chacon, 41, allegedly tried to restrain deputy sheriffs and was issued desk appearance tickets for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest

The owner had no valid state liquor license to run the nightclub out of the basement

The owner was also found to lack a valid liquor license. He face additional beverage control charges and a $15,000 fine.

Sixty-three patrons are now facing civil penalties of $1,000 for illegally gathering inside of an unlicensed establishment.

Deputy sheriffs said they had been monitoring the illegal bar after receiving tips.

The raid comes as COVID rates are rising throughout New York City, especially in Queens and Brooklyn, with the two boroughs accounting for more than 67 per cent of all city fatalities caused by the virus during the seven-day period between January 15-20.

Several Queens neighborhoods are among the areas of the city with the largest percentage of COVID test-takers who tested positive over the most recent 7-day period.

Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park had the second highest test positivity rate in the city from January 16-22, at 15.78 per cent, while Flushing/Murray Hill/Queensboro Hill was fourth in the entire city at 14.19 per cent. In all, 7 Queens zip codes make up the top 10 worst zip codes for 7-day positivity rates.
ANN ARBOR TWP., MI - A car smashed into an Ann Arbor area stop sign early Sunday morning, killing a female passenger from Westland, officials said.

Firefighters responded around 3:20 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, to the 4200 block of Plymouth Road near Earhart Road in Ann Arbor Township. The incident happened near the entrance to the University of Michigans East Medical campus.

A male driver was headed east on Plymouth Road prior to the sign being hit, officials from the Ann Arbor Township Fire Department said.

The 33-year-old female passenger died at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital after Huron Valley Ambulance transported her from the scene.

The woman did not have on a seatbelt at the time of the crash, officials said. The man driving the car was not injured.

Officers from the University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security took the man into custody after he refused to take a field sobriety test, officials said.

He is being held at Washtenaw County Jail pending arraignment on formal chares, according to a representative from the University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security.

Alcohol is considered to be a contributing factor in the crash, officials said.

The Washtenaw County Sheriff issued an alert at 4:34 a.m. Sunday for drivers to avoid the area by Plymouth and Earhart roads due to a traffic incident.

The incident remains under investigation.

Read more from MLive:

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Murder conviction affirmed, but case returning to trial court to correct double jeopardy issue

Ann Arbor officials inability to work together delays central park group appointments

Elks Lodge in Ann Arbor raising money after fire damages historic building
IFA President Tim Cullinan said the announcement that Ireland will receive over 1bn, or 25%, from the EU Brexit fund in 2021 is clear recognition that we are most exposed to the fallout from Brexit.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney confirmed the funding at the AGM of the North Tipperary County Executive last night.

Tim Cullinan said when it comes to allocating the funding, the impact on the agri-food sector will have to be central to any decisions.

We will be making a strong case for funding to go directly to farmers who will take the brunt of any fallout from currency fluctuations and trade and logistical issues that will arise once the deal reached before Christmas works its way through the system, he said.

We have real concerns about how non-tariff barriers will impact on our ability to keep trade flows moving. Green Lanes have been implemented previously for food exports. These must be prioritised to allow us reach our markets, he said.

Tim Cullinan also said the longer-term implication for our food exports could be the flooding of the UK market by cheap imports. Farmers here on the island of Ireland and in the UK are steadfast in their view of standards, he said.

We know the UK agenda is to offer access to their food market to Australia, New Zealand Canada, the US and the Mercosur countries of South America in exchange for trade deals with those countries. If that happens, then the value of the UK market for Irish food exports will be cut and Irish farmers will suffer huge income losses, with knock-on effects on EU markets. The level playing field provisions built into this deal by the EU must stop any race to the bottom

ICSA president Edmond Phelan has welcomed the announcement made by Minister Simon Coveney that Ireland is set to receive 1.05 billion in 2021 under the EUs Brexit Adjustment Reserve.

News that the EU Commission has proposed that 25% of this important fund should be allocated to Ireland is testament to the fact that Ireland has been, and continues to be, the country most exposed to the economic fallout from Brexit.

ICSA is committed to ensuring that Irish cattle and sheep farmers receive a substantial piece of this fund. Uncertainty around Brexit has severely impacted prices since the referendum was passed in 2016. Those sectors are now in year five of wrangling with the severe economic repercussions of Brexit and must certainly now be a priority when it comes to allocating these supports.

Mr Phelan said the signing of the Brexit trade deal in December has not eliminated the potential for Brexit to continue to impact prices for the foreseeable future. The deal has not signalled the end of the Brexit disruption faced by cattle and sheep farmers. The UK has long since been our biggest market and the threat of that market being displaced by cheaper imports from around the world remains.
A Northern California man died Thursday several hours after receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Placer County Public Health and the Placer County Sheriff's Office.

The man previously tested positive for the coronavirus in late December.

"There are multiple local, state, and federal agencies actively investigating this case; any reports surrounding the cause of death are premature, pending the outcome of the investigation," a statement from the sheriff's office said. "Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased."

Placer County Public Health and Human Services did not administer the vaccine and could not comment on whether the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine was given.

"We do not have any additional information to provide at this time," Dr. Rob Oldham, director of the department, wrote in an email.

Dr. Dean Blumberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Davis Childrens Hospital, told KTXL-TV that people should wait for the completion of the investigation before blaming the vaccine for the death.

My first inclination is that its probably not related to the vaccine, Blumberg told the Sacramento TV station. We know that the severe allergic reactions that occur following immunization, the vast majority of those occur 15-30 minutes following immunization.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly commented on the incident in a Monday press conference.

"We are looking at this very closely and still standing behind overwhelming evidence these vaccines are safe," Ghaly said. "Overwhelmingly, were seeing people receive both the Pfzier and Moderna vaccines without complications. These are safe vaccines. Were watching them successfully administered across the nation, across the globe."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that individuals who have already had COVID and fully recovered still get vaccinated.

"At this time, experts do not know how long someone is protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. The immunity someone gains from having an infection, called natural immunity, varies from person to person," according to the CDC. "Some early evidence suggests natural immunity may not last very long."
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Scott Morrison is prepared to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to mend a tense trade dispute simmering between the countries for months but warned Australia would not make concessions.

The Prime Minister said Canberra and Beijing viewed their links as important for the prosperity and security of both nations, and should work out their differences.

'We will remain absolutely open and available to meet, to discuss, any of the issues that have been identified,' he said.

'But those discussions won't take place on the base of any sort of preemptive concessions on Australia's part on those matters.

China slapped an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley back in June, harming producers

'I don't think that any Australian would want their Prime Minister to be conceding the points that they've set out.'

'It's an important relationship, but it is a relationship that will be pursued on the basis of Australia's national interests, and without, in any way, compromising Australia's sovereignty.'

The PM also rejected arguments the Australia-China dispute was caused by decisions made by his government, saying relations were growing tense over a number of years.

Outwardly, signs of Beijing's frustration with Australia was visible under the previous Turnbull government.

After Australia banned Chinese tech giant Huawei from participating in constructing the country's 5G network amid espionage concerns, senior communist party officials reportedly refused to answer calls from Australian politicians and diplomats.

The Australian coal export industry to china is worth $14billion a year (pictured: Newcastle port)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking on Monday (pictured) said he was open to meeting his Chinese counterpart to repair a tense trade dispute

Foreign interference laws, widely regarded as aimed at China, also introduced that year further infuriated Beijing.

However, Morrison's vocal push for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, eventually backed by 120 countries, caused tensions to reach boiling point.

During the second half of the year China began targeting Australian exports one-by-one in economic retaliation.

Beef, barley, lobster, wine, and coal were hit with measures such sky-high taxes - effectively banning Australian exports of the products.

Towards the end of the year, the Chinese embassy in Canberra released a bizarre dossier of '14 grievances' outlining the issues Beijing has with Australia.

'I know what the 14 points are; so does everyone else. If they are the conditions then it will be a while before we meet. But we are happy to meet and work through these issues and discuss them,' Mr Morrison said this week.

Mr Morrison added that the sovereign position of Australia and China's outlook had become increasingly 'inconsistent'.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne writing in The Australian this week said that as America welcomes a new President, the world would be looking at how Joe Biden began his four years at the White House.

Without referring to any country Ms Payne said Australia would 'support adherence to international rules and norms, promote transparency and stand against malicious behaviour'.

'Australia will benefit in the long-term if there is a network of nations, with the US as a leading participant, that consistently makes clear what constitutes legitimate behaviour under a rules-based system, even one that is evolving to take account of the interests of rising powers,' she wrote.

Barley producers were forced to find other buyers for their crop after China slapped a huge tariff on the Australian commodity

Wild Cattle Creek Estate, near Seville, was bought by Chinese investors for $8.5 million in 2018

Mr Morrison also said on Monday he would be open to bringing in former prime ministers John Howard and Kevin Rudd to help rebuild Australia-China diplomacy.

Both are experts in the field and guided Australia through a particularly prosperous decade between 2000 and 2010 built in part on trade with China.

'This is a matter that the former prime minister Howard and I have discussed on many occasions,' he said.

'It's a topic that some time ago, and even more recently, I was connecting with prime minister Rudd about these matters. I'm always open to those who are experienced in these areas.

'We value the trading and more broader comprehensive relationship, and we will be taking up whatever opportunities we believe is going to best position Australia to be in a position to advance that relationship.'

Australian cargo ships loaded with goods have had to wait up to a month at Chinese ports while the trade dispute wages (pictured: Lianyungang Port in east China's Jiangsu province)

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In an effort to diversity its oil economy along the same pattern as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia has been developing new economic sectors at home instead of investing abroad. Yet to become a regional economic hub, Riyadh would have to strip away some firms from Dubai, as most of the large international firms operating in the Gulf region are already headquartered in the UAEs largest city.

Perceived as the destination of choice even for Saudi businesses headed abroad, Dubai is the most thriving financial and commercial center in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Yet a turning point in Saudi Arabias approach came when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the futuristic city NEOM, which is set to cost an estimated $500 billion.

Being a focal part of the kingdoms Vision 2030 economic program, this megaproject could become the showstopper of the Saudi economic makeover if it can compete as a business hub with Dubai. Consequently, Riyadh is trying to outstrip Dubai, though both cities could have adopted a complementary role.

Recently, a campaign was started by Riyadh as part of an initiative named Programme HQ, under which blue-chip companies and multinationals from Google to Siemens are being offered incentives to relocate their regional headquarters from Dubai to Riyadh. Ostensibly, this is to lure the senior leadership of top foreign companies to Riyadh to make it look like a larger market than Dubai, as well as to speed up foreign investment.

According to executives familiar with the pitch, Saudi authorities have offered tax breaks, protection against future regulations and a waiving of quotas on the employment of Saudi locals. As the annual investor conference affiliated with the Public Investor Fund (PIF) is scheduled for Jan. 27, nearly all foreign multinationals doing business in Saudi Arabia have been contacted.

Apparently, these companies are to be housed in the King Abdullah Financial District, a large business district of 59 skyscrapers toward the north of Riyadh. However most companies are well-settled in Dubai  they might shift some business units or branches to Riyadh, but the relocation of senior management would take longer. Basically, most multinationals still prefer to be based in Dubai but wish to grab the larger Saudi market as well.

Nevertheless, Google Cloud has agreed with Saudi Aramco to deliver cloud computing services infrastructure, and it could open its first workplace in the kingdom soon. Also, Western Union has invested $200 million for a 15% stake in Saudi Telecom, and a $500 million deal was introduced with Alibaba Cloud by STC for similar services.

But with this Saudi outreach to foreign companies, the rivalry between the two GCC states has gathered speed. Interestingly, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have done similar things such as going hi-tech, investing in business startups and relaxing conservative social norms to attract tourism.

These are some of the highlights.

For starters, the UAE became the first Arab nation to send a mission to Mars. Having taken off from an island in Japan with US help in July 2020, the $200 million Hope spacecraft will reach the Red Planet in February 2021 and produce the first global map of the Martian atmosphere.

According to Omran Sharaf, the missions project manager, the Mars mission was designed to cause a big shift in the mindset and encourage research, offer degree programs in basic sciences and engage youth from other Arab states. However, according to Sharaf, the main driver behind it is not space, its economic.

Soon after, on Jan. 10, 2021, Prince Mohammed launched The Line, an ambitious linear city. Powered by renewable energy, utilizing artificial intelligence and producing zero carbon emissions, it is a long belt stretching from the Red Sea coast inland through the NEOM megaproject in northwest Saudi Arabia.

Under planning for nearly three years, the project cost is estimated at $100 to $200 billion, which will be taken from the $500 billion support fund announced for NEOM within the kingdoms sovereign wealth PIF fund. Construction will commence in 2021, and the hi-tech city is expected to contribute $48 billion to the Saudi gross domestic product and create 380,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, even where startups are concerned, there has been vigorous competition between the two GCC allies since last year. Providing new opportunities after the pandemic, the UAE announced a special stimulus package to revive the startup ecosystem recently.

Even Saudi Arabia is a thriving market, though local startups struggled hard to survive just five years ago. Nowadays, German entrepreneur Ronny Froehlich observed, If you want to be big in the Middle East, you need to be in Saudi  full stop.

In addition, the UAE was the first to focus on offering the most liberal lifestyle available in the GCC. Later on, the kingdom also announced significant changes to encourage tourism, including allowing concerts, sporting events and movie showings, and it even granted women some long-restricted freedoms.

In another first, Abu Dhabi went ahead and allowed foreigners to fully own their businesses and no longer require local partners.

According to Khatija Haque, head of MENA research at Emirates NBD, The UAE needs to keep pace or stay ahead if it doesnt want to lose its competitive advantage. When oil was at $100 a barrel for several years, there wasnt that much need to attract foreign investment. Clearly, that has changed.

Then the UAE raised the stakes further for other GCC states by letting expat professionals and investors qualify for 10-year residency visas. Consequently, this compelled Saudi Arabia to announce an e-visa program for 49 countries.

However, Riyadh does have some factors working in its favor, and it could still win the race due to its sheer size and larger growth opportunities.

First, having a population of 34 million  three times larger than the UAEs  the kingdom remains the largest market in the Gulf region. Abu Dhabis main drawback could be its limited size and capacity, even though it is efficient and innovative.

Second, the nature of the competition changed with NEOM, as it covers a total of 27,000 square kilometers, almost the equivalent of a small country. Bringing the competition to the next level, The Line has been added with a completely novel concept. In comparison, the UAE mostly has smaller-scale projects to offer.

Third, since easing restrictions on starting companies, enforcing contracts and getting permits, Saudi Arabia was ranked a most-improved country in the World Banks Doing Business report for 2020. Yet the kingdom still fell a ways behind its GCC partner in raw numbers, ranking 62nd compared to the UAE at 16.

Therefore, if all goes well with NEOM and The Line, multinational companies could eventually head for Saudi Arabia without needing any encouragement.

Over the last year, some companies have started to base themselves in Saudi Arabia. Noting this change, Tom Watson, a partner at Michael Page Middle East, recently said, Over the last 18 months, we have seen many high-profile leaders in the real estate sector moving from across the world looking to be involved in the giga-projects.

The desired exodus is ultimately bound to happen, as the coronavirus pandemic has created fertile soil for companies in the kingdom, as Sam Blatteis, former Gulf head of presidency relations for Google who advises tech multinational firms, says that high-tech firms have seemed eager to increase in Saudi Arabia the previous few weeks.
Research from the University of Kent has demonstrated a decline in 'son preference' by women of childbearing age in Bangladesh. However, the study also shows that fertility decisions are still influenced according to son preference.

The paper, 'Is son preference disappearing from Bangladesh?', surveyed a nationally representative sample of Bangladeshi women of childbearing age, born between 1975 and 1994, to assess how son preference is evolving.

The term 'son preference' refers to any situation where parents value sons over daughters and make resulting choices accordingly, which can have a strong economic and demographic impact.

The study finds that among women of childbearing age in Bangladesh, son preference is giving way to a desire for gender balance, a consequence of increased female education and employment. However, in contrast to these stated fertility preferences, actual fertility decisions are still shaped by son preference.

Among those Bangladeshi women yet to have a child, the proportions indicating a desire for sons and daughters were almost identical. For those with one or two children, the presence of a son has a strong negative effect on the desire for additional sons, and the presence of a daughter has a strong negative effect on the desire for additional daughters.

Son preference can have profound economic and demographic consequences upon female adult and maternal mortality, sex-selective abortions, gender differences in breastfeeding, intra-household gender bias in food allocation, gender differentials in infant and child mortality, imbalanced sex ratios, and shortages of marriageable women in the population.

The study also found evidence that the desire for gender balance in children was stronger among women who have completed secondary school and those who live in areas with more opportunities for female paid work, specifically in the ready-made garments sector. The desire for gender balance in children is also stronger among women co-residing with their mothers-in-law.

However, survival analysis indicates that actual fertility decisions are still shaped by son preference. The study indicates that those without sons among their first two children are significantly more likely to have another child. The absence of a daughter among the first two children, on the other hand, has no corresponding effect on the decision to have another child.

Our research reveals a discrepancy between the child sex preferences of women in Bangladesh and their actual fertility behavior. Whilst son preference has given way to a desire for children of both sexes as far as stated preferences are concerned, we find that actual fertility decisions of women in Bangladesh continue to be shaped by son preference." Dr. Zaki Wahhaj, Principle Investigator and Reader in Economics, University of Kent
11th round of India-China military commander level talks likely to be held on Friday

India stood up Chinas disruptive use of technology and my way or no way attitude: CDS

After 15 hours of talks, India says onus on China to pull back at friction points

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 25: The 9th round of the India China Corps Commander level talks ended at 2.30 am on Monday. The meeting lasted for over 15 hours and began at 11 am on Sunday at Moldo opposite Chushul in the Eastern Ladakh sector.

The talks were held after a gap of over two and half months. Officials familiar with the developments told OneIndia that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and escalation at the friction points.

India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points and no selective approach was acceptable to it.

India-China border standoff: Corps commanders meet for ninth round of talks in Ladakh's Chushul

Close to 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh as both sides have been holding on to their ground and showing readiness for a long-haul, amid continuing diplomatic and military talks to find an amicable solution.

Reflecting India's firm approach in handling the situation, Army chief Gen MM Naravane nearly two weeks back said that Indian troops will hold their ground as long as it takes to achieve the "national goals and objectives" even as he hoped for an amicable resolution of the row through talks.

Sunday's talks took place nearly two weeks after India handed back to China a soldier of the People's Liberation Army after apprehending him at the southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. It is learnt that India's gesture has generated a positive atmosphere.

The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps.

In the military talks, India has all along been demanding restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to April. The face-off had begun on May 5.

The eighth and last round of the talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.

The seventh round of Corps Commander-level talks had taken place on October 12 where China had pressed for the withdrawal of Indian troops from a number of strategic heights around the southern bank of Pangong lake.

However, India insisted that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points.

Last month, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs. However, no concrete outcome emerged from the meeting.

Indian Army: Minor face-off between India and China troops in sikkim | Oneindia News

Following the sixth round of military talks, the two sides had announced a slew of decisions including not to send more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters.

'If China gets aggressive, so will India': IAF chief amid border standoff

This round was held with a specific agenda of exploring ways to implement a five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a meeting in Moscow on September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) conclave.

The pact included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.
The ABC has altered the wording of an online article that detailed Australia Day and Invasion Day events after Communications Minister Paul Fletcher lashed the public broadcaster for suggesting the two names were interchangeable.

The article, titled Australia Day/Invasion Day 2021 events guide for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin, was published on the ABC website on Sunday morning.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has criticised the ABC for an online article that provided details of Invasion Day rallies alongside Australia Day events. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The article immediately drew public criticism, including from NSW Police Minister David Elliott, and on Monday morning Mr Fletcher issued a statement urging the ABC to correct the story.

The article contained details about Australia Day celebratory events being held across the country as well as Invasion Day rallies, which are also held on January 26 to commemorate the experience of colonisation from the perspective of Indigenous Australians.
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More than 200 Antifa protesters reportedly descended on Tacoma, Washington, where they busted the windows of buildings and set fires in the streets on Sunday, just a day after wreaking havoc in Portland.

Video footage and images showed broken glass scattered on the sidewalk outside of businesses and graffiti sprayed on the side of buildings.

Protesters started at least two fires in the area using a barricade for one and an American flag for the other. Dozens of Tacoma police officers were seen lined up on bikes as protesters approached them.

Late Sunday night, Tacoma police declared an 'unlawful assembly' as crowds continued to march through the streets protesting the department after an officer was see running over a man on Saturday.

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More than 200 Antifa protesters reportedly descended on Tacoma, Washington, where they busted the windows of buildings and set fires in the streets on Sunday, just a day after wreaking havoc in Portland

Protesters chase a street preacher, right, who was using a loudspeaker to deliver a sermon during the demonstration against police brutality on Sunday in Tacoma, Washington

People take photos of broken windows and graffiti on a building in downtown Tacoma during an anti-police protest on Sunday

A demonstrator adds fuel to a burning barricade in an intersection in downtown Tacoma during the protest Sunday night

Protesters watch the barricade burn after setting it on fire

Protesters march through downtown Tacoma during the protest on Sunday in Tacoma, Washington

Dozens of police officers are seen standing their ground as protesters approached them

A protester runs after breaking windows on cars parked at the Pierce County Sheriff's Department headquarters on Sunday night

During the incident, a Tacoma Police vehicle is seen plowing through a group of pedestrians swarming it, knocking several people to the pavement, after authorities responded to reports of drag racers in the city's downtown area.

The short video, which was shot by an onlooker just before 7pm local time on Saturday and later posted online, shows cars with squealing tires turning donuts on downtown streets.

Then the Tacoma Police patrol car - surrounded by people - surges forward, knocking roughly five people to the ground before driving off.

One person can be seen lying on the pavement as the police car's wheels rolled over him. The severity of his injuries are unclear. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The officer behind the wheel then 'stopped at a point of safety' and called for help, according to Tacoma Police.

Moments before the incident, the crowd of about 100 people had gathered to watch several drivers perform circular 'burnouts' in which they revved their engines while their cars spun inside the intersection.

A witness told The News Tribune that a fire truck drove through the intersection and briefly interrupted the burnout session.

But the group of vehicles quickly reformed and the crowds once again observed the drivers as they were doing their maneuvers.

Tacoma Police spokeswoman Wendy Haddow said police were alerted to the street racers and the crowd blocking area streets. Two people were arrested for trying to pick a lock on a nearby rooftop, but it was unclear if they were involved in the protest.

City mayor Victoria Woodards told local media that 'everyone involved' in the police car incident is 'held accountable', adding that she supported peaceful demonstrations.

A protester carries a flag that reads 'Antifascist Action' near a banner that reads 'Justice for Manny,' during a protest against police brutality, late Sunday in Tacoma

A barricade, with a banner referencing the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis in police custody, burns in an intersection in downtown Tacoma during an anti-police protest on Sunday

An 'Open' sign pictured) was destroyed during Sunday night's protest in Tacoma, Washington

A protester shines a laser, left, as another person holds a sign that reads 'Convict Killer Cops' at the demonstration Sunday in Tacoma, Washington

Protesters scuffle with a person during the violence

Graffiti is seen on the County-City Building during an anti-police protest on Sunday in Tacoma

Broken glass is seen at a vandalized building in downtown Tacoma during an anti-police protest on Sunday

A person holds a sign reading 'trained cops can panic and act on impulse... but untrained civilians must remain calm with a gun in their face'

An inmate holds their hand to a window from inside the Pierce County Jail during the violent demonstrations

A man raises his fist in support of the demonstrators from his window on Sunday night

When the patrol car responded, the crowd began pounding on the vehicle's windows, she told local media.

'He was afraid they would break his glass,' Haddow told the News Tribune, saying the officer sped away from the scene for his own safety.

Haddow did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tacoma Police Chief Mike Ake said that the incident will be investigated as 'deadly force'.

'I am concerned that our department is experiencing another use of deadly force incident,' he said.

'I send my thoughts to anyone who was injured in tonight's event, and am committed to our Department's full cooperation in the independent investigation and to assess the actions of the department's response during the incident.'

City Manager Elizabeth Pauli told the News-Tribune that the officer involved will be placed on leave.

Pauli said the Pierce County Force Investigation Team will handle the investigation.

The protesters gathered in Tacoma Sunday night after footage showed a police cruiser run over a pedestrian on Saturday night

The pedestrian is seen above after he was caught underneath the tires of the police vehicle

Eyewitness accounts posted to social media indicate that the man did not suffer life-threatening injuries

Protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland turned ugly on Saturday night as federal authorities threatened mass arrests for trespassing

Dozens of protesters were seen resisting officers' orders to leave the area on Saturday night

Sunday night's protest came just a day after a demonstration was held outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland

Dramatic videos posted on Twitter showed the crowd chanting: 'No borders! No nations! Abolish deportations!'

Officers with the Federal Protective Service, a branch within the Department of Homeland Security, declared an unlawful assembly at about 10pm and ordered protesters to disperse.

'If you trespass on federal property with a weapon, you will be arrested,' a recording warned the crowd before officers began deploying tear gas and flash bangs.

It marked the four-straight day of protests in the city since Joe Biden's inauguration as demonstrators make it clear that a new Democratic administration will not stop their campaign for social justice.

Dozens of protesters were seen resisting officers' orders to leave the area. They held up umbrellas to shield from clouds of tear gas filling the air.

It's unclear how many protesters, if any, were arrested over Saturday night's skirmishes.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he isn't planning on reopening indoor dining in New York City any time soon, but offered a message of hope saying he'll lift some coronavirus restrictions later this week because the state's rate of transmission has dropped below one percent.

On Monday the governor was asked if he'll end the ban on indoor dining in the Big Apple, where locals brave the freezing cold for a restaurant meal.

'The indoor dining in New York City is a New York City specific condition and were not at this point contemplating any changes,' he replied.

That decision has been slammed by the NYC Alliance which said it was 'discriminatory' and that Cuomo's never-ending restrictions was destroying small businesses and also the livelihoods of workers.

The NYC Alliance said 'multiple' legal actions are already underway, and warned it was pursuing additional legal options to ensure Cuomo's executive orders are applied fairly across the state.

New York City has some of the lowest numbers of infections and hospitalizations in the state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he isn't planning on allowing indoor dining to open again in New York City any time soon, but offered a message of hope saying he'll lift some coronavirus restrictions later this week because the state's rate of transmission has dropped below one percent

He noted how the state's rate of transmission is finally under one percent. If the rate of transmission is at one or higher, it means COVID-19 will spread quickly

On Monday the governor was asked if he'll end the ban on indoor dining in the Big Apple, where locals brave the freezing cold for a restaurant meal. 'The indoor dining in New York City is a New York City specific condition and were not at this point contemplating any changes,' he replied

Cuomo offered some good news saying the state has finally reached the end of the holiday spike period and the rate of transmission (RT) fell below 1.0 percent Monday for the first time since the latest surge. If the rate of transmission is at one or higher, it means COVID-19 will spread quickly.

'When the positivity is down and the hospitalization rate is down and the infection rate is down and the RT rate is down then you can increase economic activity,' Cuomo said Monday.

'I think we're at a new place now and we can start to adjust that valve and start to open up more economic activity and reduce some of the restrictions, like with the micro-cluster zones,' he added.

On Monday New York reported 167 new virus-related deaths and 8,730 current COVID hospitalizations, with 5.47 percent positivity rate.

Since the start of the pandemic there have been more than 1.3million cases of COVID-19 and more than 34,000 deaths in New York state.

The governor allowed elective surgeries to recommence in Erie County on Monday, the first of what he said would be a series of reopening measures to come in the next few days. He said the State Department of Health is evaluating the data now.

'We now feel comfortable resuming elective surgeries there and will have more adjustments over the next couple of days,' he said Monday.

'This is good news, but don't get cocky with COVIDthis beast has been ahead of us from the beginning and it will require New Yorkers to stay vigilant, wash their hands, wear masks and socially distance to get to the light at the end of the tunnel together,' he added.

However, many New Yorkers want eateries to reopen their doors again as the temperatures dip below freezing and locals have braved the cold to meet with friends to enjoy a meal outdoors.

While outdoor dining offered restaurants a glimmer of home in the summer months amid the pandemic, now it may be the last lifeline for eateries struggling to keep their doors open amid coronavirus restrictions.

In a statement posted to Instagram, the NYC Alliance said: 'Governor Cuomo's never-ending restrictions keeping indoor dining closed at New York City restaurants, while keeping it open around the rest of the state where infection and hospitalization rates are higher than in New York City is discriminatory and is destroying the livelihoods of small business owners and workers.'

The Alliance said multiple legal actions have already been filed to reopen indoor dining in NYC, and warned that it is also exploring additional legal options on behalf of the city's restaurant industry to ensure 'equitable treatment' of Cuomo's executive orders.

The NYC Alliance has slammed Cuomo's decision as 'discriminatory' in a statement posted to Instagram

On Monday New York reported 167 new virus-related deaths and 8,730 current COVID hospitalizations, with 5.47 percent positivity rate

Many New Yorkers want eateries to reopen their doors again as the temperatures dip below freezing and locals have braved the cold to meet with friends to enjoy a meal outdoors

A view of people dining outdoors under a tent at Cafe Luxembourg in New York City on December 31 in Manhattan

Now the New York State Restaurant Association is calling on the state to extend the curfew for restaurants from 10pm to 12am saying: 'Were urging the state to take some small steps in that direction. Any help will go a long way toward the long-term survival of so many of our favorite restaurants.' A view of outdoor dining at The Tap Room on the East Side on December 26 above

'The wind picks up, it gets a little chilly, but you know what, you just kind of deal with it. We all stick through it because this place is really special to us,' Genevieve Feldmann, 35, said on her favorite restaurant St. James Gate to the New York Times.

Now the New York State Restaurant Association is calling on the state to extend the curfew for restaurants from 10pm to 12am and allow NYC restaurants to resume indoor dining.

In a press release the association said: 'Making amendments to state restrictions will give restaurants in New York City the opportunity for more business and allow upstate restaurants to seat an additional service that is not available under current curfew restrictions.'

'We all know about the dire financial crisis facing the restaurant industry. And we all agree that we need to reopen the economy or there will be nothing left to reopen. Were urging the state to take some small steps in that direction. Any help will go a long way toward the long-term survival of so many of our favorite restaurants,' Melissa Fleischut, the president and CEO of NYSRA said.

On Monday Cuomo noted that the percentage of vaccinated NY hospital staff has jumped from 63% to 72% in a week and 52% of those inocualted are people over the age of 65. A view of a nursing home resident at the Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on January 15 above

Registered Nurse Shyun Lin, left, gives Roberto Fisher, 72, the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination site in the William Reid Apartments in the Brooklyn borough of New York on January 23

: A medical worker stands outside of a mobile COVID-19 testing lab in Brooklyn as the city begins to run low on the vaccine doses on January 22

The move comes as neighboring states eliminate curfews and adjust capacity limits on restaurants in Massachusetts and indoor dining was allowed to reopen in Philadelphia last week.

On Monday Cuomo continued to blast the sluggish national vaccine rollout, but said the state has made great strides and has inoculated 72 percent of its hospital workers, up from 63 percent reported last Monday.

'I understand the frustration with limited vaccine supply. Im frustrated, too. This is a national issue  not just a new NY one. Until supply is increased, patience is hard but necessary,' Cuomo said.

So far nearly 630,000 total doses have been administered in New York City thus far. Mayor Bill De Blasio says the city has about 19,000 first doses currently on hand and expects fewer than 110,000 to come in this week.

As for vaccinations, Cuomo has said that New York Citys planned 24/7 vaccine mega-sites at Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Empire Outlets on Staten Island are postponed until the city can get a 200,000 shot-a-week-supply  nearly double whats slated to come in this week  officials said Monday.

More than 7million New Yorkers are now eligible for the vaccine and the state is inoculating about 80,000 people a day on average.

But at the current rate where New York receives a federal weekly allocation of 250,000 doses, itll take half a year to just give the first shots to everyone eligible, as per NBC New York.

To date, New York state has administered more than 1.5million first doses and more than 140,000 second doses to patients.

The federal Week 6 allocaion arrived over the weekend bringing 250,400 first and 428,100 second doses across the states distribution network.

On Monday Cuomo said New York state administered 91 percent of all first doses delivered from Week 1 of the vaccine rollout through now.

Meanwhile De Blasio is pushing for the city to reach its goal of delivering at least one shot to one million New Yorkers by the end of the month.

The farmers' tractor march is likely to begin at 11.30 am on Republic Day and is expected to end after 10 to 12 hours. Some tractors will also pay tribute to all the farmers who died during the course of this agitation

All eyes are on Delhi and its borders as protesting farmers, Delhi Police and the Centre gear up for the 'Kisan Ganatantra Parade' in Delhi today's Republic Day tractor rally.

Thousands of farmers are set to enter the National Capital under heavy security, and the Delhi Police has issued traffic advisories for the routes that the tractors will navigate.

The tractor march is likely to begin at 11.30 am and is expected to end after 10 to 12 hours, a Jai kisan Andolan (Swaraj Abhiyaan) spokesperson was quoted as saying by PTI. Some participants will pay tribute the farmers who died during the course of this agitation.

Farmers also announced a foot march to the Parliament on 1 February, when the annual Union Budget will be presented, to press for their demands including a repeal of the three new agriculture laws.

Farmers, preparing for the anticipated 26 January tractor rally, on Monday said that one of the major highlights of their parade on Tuesday will be the 'jhankis' (tableaux) that will be led by a trolley carrying the sacred text of the Sikhs Guru Granth Sahib.

Taking a cue from the farmer's tractor rally in Delhi, various farmers' associations in Karnataka have also announced a similar rally in Bengaluru on occasion of Republic Day.

"Our struggle will be peaceful. Our objective is limited to conveying our message to the government and the people of the state," Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekar was quoted as saying by PTI. He also said that 500 to 1,000 tractors are likely to participate in the rally.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar addressed a rally of farmers who gathered at Mumbai's Azad Maidan to protest against the Centre's farm laws, and to show solidarity with farmers protesting at Delhi's borders for two months.

"The Centre may pass any law undermining the Constitution on the back of its majority, but once the common man and farmers rise, they will not keep quiet until the new farm acts and the ruling party are destroyed," Pawar said in this speech.

Farmers announce Parliament march on Budget day

The 'Kisan Gantantra Parade' to be held on Tuesday will move into Delhi from three border points: Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh Gate).

The farmer unions protesting for two months against the three new farm laws, said on Monday that their tractor parade will start only after the official Republic Day parade on Rajpath concludes.

They claimed around two lakh tractors are expected to participate in the parade in a show of strength and support.

Addressing a press conference at Sinhu border, senior union leader Darshan Pal announced the farmers will also organise a foot march to Parliament from different locations on the Union Budget day, a move being seen as a pressure tactic.

Pal, who is a member of the Krantikari Kisan Union, said the protesting farmers remain firm in their stand of repealing the three new farm laws and their agitation will continue till their demands are met.

"We will march towards Parliament on foot from different locations on the budget day on 1 February. As far as tomorrow's tractor rally is concerned, it will give the government an idea of our strength and they will know the agitation is not just limited to Haryana or Punjab but it is an agitation of the whole of the country," he said.

Every march or protest will be peaceful as the movement has been so far, he said.

"The farmers who have come for the tractor parade will not go back now and will join the protest. The agitation will continue till our demands met. Our stand remains the same," Pal told reporters, sharing the farmers' plans to intensify the protest.

Delhi Police issues asks commuters to avoid tractor rally's routes

Police, meanwhile, said thousands of security personnel have been already deployed at several border points to maintain law and order during the farmers' tractor parade on Tuesday.

Deependra Pathak, Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence), claimed on Sunday that over 300 Twitter handles have been generated from Pakistan to disrupt the tractor parade.

In a circular, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava directed all officers, jawans and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel, posted for the Republic Day Parade security arrangements to be prepared for an extended deployment to maintain law and order in the wake of the tractor parade.

The Delhi Traffic Police on Monday asked commuters to avoid routes where protesting farmers will conduct their tractor parade on Republic Day.

"The first rally will start from Singhu Border to Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, DTU, Shahabad Dairy, Barwala Village, Pooth Khurd Village, Kanjhawala T-Point, Kanjhawala Chowk, Kutubgarh, Auchandi Border and Kharkhoda Toll Plaza.

"The traffic going towards NH-44 and GT Karnal Road will be diverted from Singhu Shani Mandir, Ashok Farm/Janti Tall, Hamidpur, Sunderpur Majra, Zindopur Mukhmelpur, Kadipur, Kushak Colony, Mukarba Chowk and GTK Depot," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Meenu Chowdhary said.

The second parade will start from Tikri Border and pass through Nangloi, Baprola Village and Najafgarh, excluding Phirni Road, Jharoda Border, Rohtak Bypass (Bahadurgarh) and Asoda Toll Plaza, Chowdhary said.

Police said the traffic will be diverted from different points.

Traffic will not be allowed to enter on the Rohtak road from Kirari mor and will be diverted towards Mangolpuri. It will also be diverted from Ghevra mor towards Khanjawala, they said.

The Ghazipur border parade will reach some parts of NH-24 from where it will take a right turn to Road Number 56, ISBT Anand Vihar, Apsara Border, Hapur Road, Bhopura, IMS College, Lal Kuan and Ghazipur Border, police said.

Farmer leaders appeal for peace ahead of rally

Farmer leaders have appealed to those participating in the tractor parade to carry enough ration for 24 hours and ensure that the rally parade remains peaceful.

"No one should carry any weapon or consume alcohol. Banners carrying inciting messages are not allowed," a farmer leader said.

The farmer leaders will be on the frontline in their cars. According to protesting unions, there is no cutoff time for the parade or limit on the number of vehicles. However, all vehicles will have to return to the originating place without stopping midway except for a valid reason, the farmer leaders said.

Hundreds of women farmers are also expected to drive tractors at 'Kisan Gantantra Parade' on Republic Day.

Social activist Zeba Khan was quoted by PTI as saying that women will be participating in the tractor rally shoulder-to-shoulder with the male farmers. Khan, who is among the women participating in the rally, claimed that at least 500 women will be in attendance on Tuesday.

Maharashtra governor faces flak for 'skipping' appointment with farmers

Around 15,000 farmers from all over Maharashtra participated in the first day of a protest at Mumbai's Azad Maidan on Monday.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari faced flak for allegedly skipping an appointment with a farmers delegation that was going to submit him a memorandum against the agri laws. However, Raj Bhavan denied this allegation.

Pawar, speaking at a rally in the Azad Maidan, also lashed out at the governor, saying Koshyari had time to meet Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut after the BMC last year demolished parts of her office here but has no time for farmers.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale accused Koshyari of running away to Goa and accused him of "insulting" the farmers and workers of Maharashtra.

Koshyari, who is also the Governor of Goa, left for the adjoining tourist state to address its Assembly whose five-day session began on Monday. A Raj Bhavan spokesperson in Mumbai said Koshyari is in Goa as per schedule, which was fixed much before the farmers protest in the metropolis.

The rally was also attended by Maharashtra Congress chief and state minister Balasaheb Thorat, AIKS general secretary Hannan Mollah and other Left leaders.

Immediately after the rally, the farmers were to take out a march to the Raj Bhavan to submit the memorandum to the Governor. The agitators, however, were stopped by the police mid-way.

Ram Nath Kovind says Centre dedicated to farmers' welfare

President Ram Nath Kovind paying tribute to farmers, said every Indian is grateful to them for ensuring food security in our vast and populous country, and gave the assurance that the government is devoted to farmers' welfare.

"Every Indian salutes our farmers, who have made our vast and populous country self-reliant in food-grains and dairy products. Despite adversities of nature, numerous other challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic, our farmers sustained the agricultural production," he said in his address on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day.

"A grateful nation is fully committed to the welfare of our farmers. Just as our hardworking farmers ensure food security for the country, the brave soldiers of the armed forces ensure security of our national boundaries amid severest conditions," Kovind said.

The comments by the president come against the backdrop of the ongoing agitation by farmers against three new farm laws. The president said the path to reforms in the initial stages may cause misapprehensions, but the government is devoted to farmers' welfare.

"Economic reforms have continued apace and have been supplemented by long-pending reforms in the areas of labour and agriculture through legislation. The path to reform at the initial stages may cause misapprehensions. However, it is beyond doubt that the government remains singularly devoted to farmers' welfare," he said.

Kovind said the country's farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and the entire nation is grateful to them.

"From space to the farms, from educational institutions to hospitals, the community of scientists has enriched our life and work. Our scientists have been working day and night for decoding the coronavirus and they have succeeded in developing the vaccine in record time.

With this accomplishment, our scientists have added a glorious chapter of contribution to the well-being of humanity.

"Our scientists, along with doctors, administrators and people from other walks of life, have made major contribution in containing the virus and keeping the fatality rate lower in our country, compared to that in developed countries. Thus, all our farmers, soldiers and scientists deserve special appreciation and a grateful nation greets them on this auspicious occasion of the Republic Day," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 21:05:31|Editor: huaxia

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Staff members spray disinfectant at a residential community to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Yuhua District, Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong)

It rolled out a slew of measures on promoting off-peak travel. Workers are encouraged to stay in the cities where they are working during the holiday if local conditions permit it. They should also space out their return trips to hometowns.

BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has issued a plan to reduce mass gatherings and enhance epidemic prevention and control during the upcoming Spring Festival travel rush, in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.

It rolled out a slew of measures on promoting off-peak travel. Workers are encouraged to stay in the cities where they are working during the holiday if local conditions permit it. They should also space out their return trips to hometowns.

The country will offer a "point-to-point" transportation service to bring migrant workers to their hometowns and later to cities. Chartered buses and enhanced transport connections between urban and rural areas would go into effect, the plan said.

It urged Chinese universities to adjust their winter holiday arrangements and teaching plans per local virus containment orders and avoid starting the spring semester during the Spring Festival travel season.

Tourist attractions will operate under limited capacity and reservation policies. The reception volume of A-level tourist spots must be no more than 75 percent of their maximum capacity, the plan said.

Apart from advocating off-peak travel, it underscored measures including controlling passenger-load factors of public transport services. It also promotes the universal recognition of health codes nationwide and formulating COVID-19 emergency response plans to ensure safe passenger journeys.

It also required local epidemic prevention and control government agencies to do nucleic acid tests weekly for those working on the frontline during the travel rush. These workers must receive priority to get COVID-19 vaccines.

The Spring Festival travel rush, known as the world's largest annual human migration, lasts 40 days from Jan. 28 to March 8 this year.

Official data showed China would likely see around 1.7 billion passenger trips during the 40-day travel rush this year. An average of 40 million passenger trips will occur every day. It is up by more than 10 percent from the 2020 level and down over 40 percent from 2019. 
A majestic new Hindu temple with a distinct Arabian look is expected to open its doors for worshippers in Dubai by October next year during Diwali, according to media reports here.

The new temple is being constructed adjacent to the Guru Nanak Darbar in Jebel Ali, making the locality a multi-religious corridor in the city.

The temple is an extension of the Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple in Souq Baniyas, Bur Dubai, one of the oldest Hindu temples in the United Arab Emirates, open since the 1950s.

According to a report in Khaleej Times in February last year, the 25,000 sq.ft. temple will be built at an estimated cost of Dirham 75 million (Rs 1,48,86,24,396).

Raju Shroff, an Indian businessman and one of the trustees of the Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple, announced on Sunday that the construction of the temple is underway, and the basement of the structure is complete.

Piling, shoring and casting of basements one and two are complete as of now. We are on track to open during Diwali 2022, Khaleej Times quoted Shroff as saying.

The temples foundation-stone-laying ceremony took place in February last year.

Once complete, there will be several churches, the Sikh Guru Nanak Darbar, and a Hindu temple in the same location, Shroff said.

The temple will be home to 11 Hindu deities, he added.

The temple's architecture will have a distinct Arabian look.

We want to give back to the local economy and this our way to repay the gratitude we have for the UAE leadership for celebrating religious tolerance, Shroff said.

He added that worshippers could use the spacious 4,000 sq ft banquet hall for cultural events, religious gatherings and community get-togethers.

The temple intends to display a subtle blend of contemporary Hindu and Arabic elements, Gulf News said.

The temple is an east-facing structure, designed as per norms of Indian Temple Architecture and Hindu Vastu Shastra. The temple structure includes two basements, a ground floor and first floor. The total height of the temple is 24 metres, it said.

The columns on the facade and interior take inspiration from the traditional columns of the Somnath Temple in Gujarat.

The main dome is inspired by the Nagara style of Hindu temple architecture found predominantly in north India.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Why vaccines alone will not end the pandemic Many countries, including the United States, had hoped the vaccinations would put an end to the pandemic.

However, scientists believe inoculation is not a silver bullet and even if millions are inoculated in the US, for instance, many more will still be vulnerable to infection, unless people continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing for many months, according to a new model by scientists at Columbia University. The model also cautions against lifting or relaxing precautions too soon, as it could mean millions more infections and ...
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RTHK: Kenneth Branagh to play UK PM in Covid drama

Britain's Sky television has announced plans to make a drama series about the UK's battle with the coronavirus starring Kenneth Branagh in the role of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The series called "This Sceptred Isle" will show the "Prime Minister, the government and the country in the face of the first wave of the global pandemic," Sky said on Saturday.

Filming of the five-part show will start early this year and it is set to air on Sky Atlantic next year. Sky said it will be based on first-person accounts of events.

The casting of Branagh caught attention, with The Sunday Telegraph featuring a photo of Branagh on its front page, headlined: "Meet our new prime minister."

The 60-year-old has had a wide-ranging career, directing and starring in Shakespearean dramas and Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" and recently playing the Russian villain in Christopher Nolan's "Tenet."

The series will be directed by Michael Winterbottom, acclaimed for films such as "A Cock and Bull Story" and television series including "The Trip," starring British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

The director said he would focus on "the efforts of scientists, doctors, care home workers and policy makers to protect us from the virus."

Johnson's term in office during the pandemic saw him dramatically rushed to hospital and placed in intensive care with the virus. His baby son was born two days after he returned to work.

His policies have been widely criticised, with Britain's numbers of cases and deaths now the highest in Europe.

Critics say he was too slow to roll out measures such as rules on mask-wearing and virus tests for arriving travellers that other countries imposed much earlier.

The topical political drama is not the first to focus on Johnson's policies.

It comes after Britain's Channel 4 in 2019 aired a show called "Brexit: The Uncivil War" with "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch playing Dominic Cummings, the strategist behind the "Vote Leave" campaign.

Cummings came under strong criticism last year after he refused to apologise for taking a lengthy road trip while ill with Covid-19 during the first national lockdown.

This story has been published on: 2021-01-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New Delhi, Jan 25 : Alien birds are spreading across southeast Asia and could reach India -- either due to escaping captivity or after being intentionally released, researchers with the University College London (UCL) warned on Monday.

In a study published in 'Nature Ecology & Evolution', researchers show how the alien species such as the zebra dove are a threat to India, as the Himalayas are particularly prone to the spread of non-native birds.

Native in some of the Southeast Asian countries, the zebra dove (Geopelia Striata) has spread across the region. Now it has alien population in Thailand and Laos, among other countries.

The study says once a bird has established itself as an alien species in a new region, living alongside native birds, it is most likely to continue spreading to other areas where those same native birds are present.

The study improves on the existing methods to predict the spread of alien species.

The researchers found that areas such as the Himalayas and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, which so far have not seen many alien species, could be under threat in the coming decades.

Senior author Alex Pigot of the UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research said: "Alien species -- those that have been introduced to new areas outside their native range -- are one of the leading causes of global biodiversity loss. Driven by human actions, alien species also represent a growing threat to food security, human health and many economies. Predicting where they will spread next, so that we can find ways to mitigate the damage, is an urgent global challenge." The researchers reviewed data of 339 bird species which have already become established as alien species outside of their native range, distributed all across the globe.

To see if they could predict, in hindsight, where these alien species had spread, the researchers first investigated how similar areas across the globe are in terms of their existing native bird species -- what is called biotic similarity.

Lead author Rebecca Lovell, who completed the work as part of her Master's degree in Pigot's lab, explained: "If environmental conditions allow native birds to move freely between two places, then alien species may also be able do the same.

"To test this idea, we were looking at birds that we already know which have been introduced into new regions by human actions, and have successfully established themselves as alien bird populations and spread, sometimes far beyond their initial introduction site." The researchers found that by considering the set of native bird species present in the location that first hosted an alien bird, they could accurately predict where else that alien bird can spread to.

This type of biotic similarity (which they call environmental resistance, where an area with a very different makeup of native birds exhibits high environmental resistance) is a stronger predictor of the spread of already established alien birds than comparing an area's climate to the conditions where an alien species lives in its original native range.

Having verified their approach, the researchers then identified the areas that appear to be at risk of invasions by birds that are already established as aliens elsewhere, despite not yet having many alien species.

In particular, parts of Southeast Asia stretching from Sumatra, through the Malay Peninsula, southern China and along the Himalayas as well as sub-Saharan Africa appear to be at risk.

These areas currently have just a handful of alien bird species that have spread far beyond major urban areas, but are at risk from the spread of up to 10 times as many alien bird species -- without even including the risk from alien species that have yet to be introduced anywhere new.

Pigot added: "While this paper doesn't address where new alien species are likely to be introduced by humans in the future, we expect this will be dictated by economics, societal behaviour and biosecurity measures.

"Trade hubs tend to have a lot of alien species -- here we've identified where those species are likely to go next, under their own steam and without the need for further human influences." The UK and much of Europe are already home to very high numbers of invasive species -- and the methods outlined in this study could predict those species' next new homes.

Co-author Tim Blackburn of the UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research and the Institute of Zoology said: "A high-profile example here is the parakeets that were introduced in London and have spread to nearby areas in the south east of England. In the longer term, our findings suggest their next homes could be other European areas that already have the same sort of birds, which suggests that those environments satisfy a range of different requirements for the species." (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Sunfire has taken over IHT Industrie Haute Technology SA, a Monthey, Switzerland-based alkaline electrolysis company. With this acquisition, the Dresden based leader in green hydrogen continues to expand its portfolio to include high-pressure alkaline water electrolysis. The technology proves particularly suitable for use in environments where water steam is not readily available, such as the energy market or in hydrogen mobility.

The acquisition sees Sunfire take a 100 % stake in IHT. The companys headquarters in Monthey (Switzerland) will continue to play an important role in the production of the stacks, which are the main component of the high-pressure alkaline electrolyzers. In total, 240 MW of electrolyzers were built based on IHT technology  the equivalent of more than 50,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen production. This year, IHT will supply and install Europes largest single-stack alkaline pressurized electrolyzer to help regulate the power grid and produce green hydrogen for a project partner in Tyrol.

"With the alkaline pressure electrolyzer developed by IHT, we have chosen the most mature and reliable technology currently available on the market. This acquisition represents an essential part of our growth strategy to strengthen and further expand our global market position as one of the world's leading electrolysis suppliers. Our customers can now choose between our proven SOEC-based high-temperature electrolysis and high-pressure alkaline electrolysis, or even combine the two. Whether in an industrial environment or in smaller sized projects, we are proud to offer the optimal solution for every application, even for short-term deployment of plants at the scale of 100 MW", says Nils Aldag, CEO of Sunfire.

For IHT, the acquisition represents a new era in the companys long history. Our proven alkaline technology and Sunfires SOEC solution complement each other perfectly. Were extremely excited to contribute to Sunfires mission to grow green hydrogen and look forward to the collaboration between the two teams said Franco Nodari, CEO of IHT.

IHTs technology, based on the Lurgi principle, was first developed in 1950, and has since proven itself in several industrial projects around the globe. The alkaline electrolyzers have a remarkable system runtime of over 90,000 operating hours, function at up to 30 bar working pressure without the need for downstream compression and have a lifespan of more than 20 years. In addition, the system cost of alkaline electrolyzers today compare favorably to competing technologies on the market.

Sunfires innovative SOEC-based high-temperature electrolysis technology was first developed in 2010 and most recently deployed in what is the worlds largest high-temperature electrolyzer at the Salzgitter steel plant. The technology has proven to be particularly suitable for environments with industrial waste heat in the form of water steam. This steam is efficiently broken down into hydrogen and oxygen. SOEC electrolysis thus requires significantly less renewable electricity for the production of green hydrogen compared to other technologies.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. 2 more bodies have been found during the search operations on January 24, the State Emergency Service of Artsakh said, adding that according to the preliminary data one of them is a civilian found in the territory of Tumi village in Hadrut region.

Forensic examination will be carried out to identify the bodies.

So far, a total of 1283 bodies have been found in the battle zones as a result of the search operations. 15 of them are civilians who either have been murdered or killed in shelling.

Today the search operations are carried out in the directions of Varanda (Fizuli), Jrakan (Jabrayil), Hadrut and Mataghis.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate's lavish spending has been revealed in startling credit cards records, including a $9,000 carol service in her office.

Records show that cards held by the CEO and her office were used to buy $200,000 on a chauffeur service and treated her staff to $1,500 worth of ice cream when the pandemic began.

In just three years, she enjoyed high-flying visits to Beijing, London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Tokyo, Washington, Singapore, Geneva, Toronto, Shanghai and Hanoi, receiving five-star accommodation.

Ex-CEO Christine Holgate's (pictured) credit card records have been revealed to show a list of lavish purchases

The former Australian Post boss used her office credit cards to spend $200,000 on a chauffeur service and treated her staff to approximately $1,500 worth of ice cream

According to the Herald Sun, Ms Holgate and her office used cards to buy a $2,095 Montblanc pen for John Stanhope a retiring chairman.

To inject some Christmas spirit, they also spent $9,900 on a Christmas caroller service to perform in the office foyer, as well as a $3,032 meeting room at luxury hotel QT Melbourne.

They also paid for two leadership conferences at The Glasshouse, a venue where Ms Holgate is a club director, which totalled to $42,846.

Australian Post spent a further $208,267 for a car service so that Ms Holgate could travel privately from work to home.

This allowed her to travel 'safely and securely', the company said.

A spokesman for Ms Holgate has since said that her expenses and salary were 'significantly less than her predecessor.'

In a year, Ms Holgate would earn up to $2.5million.

However, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison was 'appalled' by Ms Holgate's $19,950 purchase of Cartier watches for her staff, she stepped down from her role.

Ms Holgate and her team spent $720 worth on Louis Vuitton (pictured), rewarded an overtime worker with a $590 Montblanc gift and spent $1,780 on a lavish gift for leaving executive

As a result of her spending, a government-ordered review has since questioned her purchases.

The review was concerned that her other purchases 'may be inconsistent with public expectations and Australia Post policies'.

Ms Holgate's spokesman has said that purchases made to all credit cards were checked in a yearly audit and expenditures made on the office card were 'signed off by the (chief financial officer).'

The team also spent $1,500 for an executive diner and another meal worth $1,518 at the Japanese restaurant, Kisume (pictured)

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has instructed Australia Post to make sure their protocols 'comply with its (the company's) legislative obligations and reflect public expectations.'

Credit card records also showed that Ms Holgate approved $720 worth of Louis Vuitton, rewarded an overtime worker a $590 Montblanc gift and spent $1,780 on a lavish gift for leaving executive.

Ms Holgate called these 'approved recognition gifts.'

She also said $1,870 worth of AFL Grand Final tickets from Collingwood where bought for government and business customers.

Two managers received $186 tickets.

Ms Holgate (pictured) would purchase 'approved recognition gifts' for her staff to reward them for their efforts

Ms Holgate's spokesman told the Herald Sun that rewarding staff for their efforts and service was a 'standard practice' and a 'staple of commercial management.'

For an 'executive dinner after development day' Ms Holgate had a $1,500 meal at the Japanese restaurant, Kisume.

Another meal was spent at the restaurant amounting to $1,518.

In her position as CEO, Ms Holgate made $88,775 worth of purchases on her card while a card in her office's name spent $963,955.

This included $507,462 on flights.

In response, Australia Post 'has already implemented interim measures and is updating, where required, internal policies and procedures,' according to a spokesman.

Organizers Elated by Turnout at Walk for Life West Coast

Walk for Life West Coast, San Francisco. January 23, 2021. Credit: Walk for Life West Coast

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Walk for Life West Coast

Jan. 24, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Despite concerns about both the Covid pandemic and political unrest, San Francisco pro-lifers held the 17th Annual Walk for Life West Coast on January 23, 2021. Organizers had expected hundreds of attendees; thousands showed up. Walk co-chair Eva Muntean was thrilled "I guess by now I should know better than to sell the commitment of pro-lifers short. I've never been so happy to be wrong."

The day began with the annual Walk for Life West Coast Mass, celebrated at 10:30AM by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and 12 priests at St. Mary's Cathedral. The Cathedral's capacity, under Covid regulations is 480, and worshippers spilled out onto the plaza. Just 2 days previously, Cordileone had issued a stunning rebuke to Speaker Nancy Pelosi "No Catholic in good conscience can favor abortion. 'Right to choose' is a smokescreen for perpetuating an entire industry that profits from one of the most heinous evils imaginable. Our land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and it must stop."

At 12:30PM Walkers gathered at Civic Center Plaza. Because of Covid regulations there was no Rally. Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. and the Rev. Clenard Childress spoke from the bed of Walk co-chair Dolores Meehan's pickup truck. Fr. Fessio gave a moving tribute to Joe Scheidler, the grandfather of the pro-life movement, who passed away last week. His voice breaking, Fessio said "Well done, good and faithful servant."

The Rev. Childress, who has been a stalwart of the Walk since 2005 told the crowd: "You are the remnantthere has never been a more important Walk for Life West Coast!...This is a time of faith. That is why you are here right now. You did not come here because of circumstances. You are here because of justice!"

Meehan told the crowd "You are a beautiful remnant. You're all standing in the breech for women who have been hurt by abortion, for all the kids who have died by abortion and for all those who need our help today!" Summing up the day she said "We are incredibly grateful to Our Lady and the San Francisco Police Department for giving us such a safe event!" For the first time in 17 years there was no opposition.

Muntean reflected "When we started the Walk, George W. Bush was President. We have Walked through four years of the Bush administration, eight years of the Obama Administration, four years of the Trump Administration, and we will Walk through the Biden Administration.and whoever comes after! We have Walked under three Popes and three Archbishops. Whoever is in the White House, whoever is in the Statehouse, whoever is in the doghouse, we will not falter or fail. We will lovingly and peacefully embrace our responsibilities to the littlest among us and to the women hurt by abortion. If this is what pro-lifers can do in this strange year all I can say is wait till next year."

Founded in 2005 by a group of San Francisco Bay Area residents, the Walk for Life West Coast's mission is to change the perceptions of a society that thinks abortion is ever the answer.

SOURCE Walk for Life West Coast

CONTACT: Eva Muntean, 415-658-1793, info@walkforlifewc.com

Related Links

walkforlifewc.com
PHILIPSBURG:--- Winward Islands Civil Servants Union (WICSU) and Private Sector Union (PSU) finally decided to deal with the 25% salary cuts imposed on Winair pilots and other employees while the union and its members were not fully informed.

Management of Winair had promised not to touch its employee's salaries claiming the company made good profits prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The union dispatched a letter to Director Michael Cleaver which was also sent to the Government and Parliament of St. Maarten and the Netherlands.

The letter reads as follows:

This letter is to address our concerns regarding the way Windward Island Airways N.V.s Management has been handling the pilots since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic; and the way it affected all.

Since the beginning of worldwide lockdowns, the Management has been forced to implement certain measures to safeguard the future of the company. These measures were implemented without properly being vetted and agreed upon by the WICSU/PSU Union. WICSU/PSU, nor the employees had any say concerning such actions that were implemented. In most cases, these were reinforced at very short notices if any. Many of the measures were requiring employees to sign certain proposals under duress and creating the notion that there will be consequences if not signed. It is not only a lack of faith from employer to employee, it is also disrespectful towards employees and the CLA that governs the relationship between the respected parties involved.

Therefore, Union and the pilots of WINAIR seek to attain clarification and direct answers on certain aspects of the abovementioned actions in the form of this letter.

 Firstly, as mentioned above we would hereby express our greatest dissatisfaction with the lack of communication from management. Sadly, there has been little communication from the management of WINAIR towards WICSU/PSU and by extension the pilots. Furthermore, there is great discontent with the culture between management and the union with regard to structured negotiations. Letters have been presented to the staff and individual pilots at given times for signatures, practically ambushing them to sign.

Letters as such, include the letter issued by management on April 30, 2020, in which states the terms for work hours and salary reduction by 25%, and the letter issued November 3, 2020, states that all vacation days have been used up by the pilots. Instead, these letters affecting the pilots should have been brought through the union in order to reach mutual agreement and not direct pilots into immediately signing such letters in front of a superior. In the abovementioned letter from management dated April 30, 2020, it was stated that the reason for the reduction in work hours and thus monthly gross salary is due to article 8.7 of all employees contracts. However, article 8.7 states in the event the business activities of the Employer should drop 25% during the period September through October, the employer may reduce the work week and work hours of the Employee to respectively Note, in the statement of article 8.7 it is specifically and boldly mentioned that this reduction is possible during the abovementioned months. Thus, without negotiation between the union and management, how is it possible that this article was invoked outside of the defined months without consultation nor notice? Keeping in mind, the pilots were informed of this salary cut one (1) or two (2) days prior to the payroll of April 2020.

 Secondly, we would like to better understand managements calculation of the vacation allowance employees received on December 30, 2020. Calculations as per the CLA 2019-2022 indicates that multiple pilots are short on the vacation pay out. Based on current understanding, vacation allowance is calculated based on the annual gross salary of each pilot; and this gross salary should have remained unchanged. Being mindful of the fact that a reduction in work hours should not change that of the gross salaries.

 Thirdly, the union seeks to better understand managements plans for those pilots who have been on scheduled duty during public holidays. Namely, it was communicated to us that all overtime pay has been suspended during current times. However, holiday pay was mutually agreed upon by management and WICSU/PSU, based on the current CLA, and is expected to be honored. As per our Honorable Prime Minister stated, businesses wishing to open on public holidays must pay out their employees the applicable holiday pay.

 Fourthly, the pilots were also informed that as of March 2020 the company was implementing a salary freeze until further notice, and therefore all automatic salary increases were on hold. This communication was not brought forward until September of 2020. Bearing this in mind, the union is seeking direct clarification on the companys plan regarding the retroactive pay to pilots whose salaries have been frozen since March 2020. In addition, following the increase as per CLA article 21.2 and Appendix A point 13.a.

 Lastly, we would like to receive a more accurate estimated duration of the salary cut which was implemented in April 2020. It has been duly noted that companies have had their share of losses in St. Maartens legal Judicial Court, pertaining to the illegal reduction in salaries of employees due to Covid-19. Winair is a government-owned company; which may adhere to the 12.5% reduction costs. However, the 25% salary cut is in violation of the conditions/decree signed between the Netherlands and St. Maarten Government. WICSU/PSU would like to know what the plan is for reimbursing employees 12.5% salary. A clear definition on which operational conditions are required for employees to receive their full pay is still lacking even though it is evident that the company is generating revenues. This clarification is of much importance as the CLA that governs the relationship between WINAIRs Management and the pilots have been violated without proper agreements. The outstanding to the Company's creditors as we understood are now being settled since the acquisition of the loan from the Netherlands. This is an indication that WINAIR is in a better financial standing now than it was at the time when the companys revenue was halted due to the pandemic.

To clarify WICSU/PSU fully comprehend the situation in which the world abruptly found itself in, and that certain measures were necessary to ensure survival and smooth operation of the company. However, we disagree with the manner in which these were implemented and the manner in which management seems to disregard the union and pilots CLA for their convenience.

We look forward to positive and progressive communication between all parties involved in order to arrive at mutual solutions for all.

We respectfully request answers to the questions asked within this letter by latest January 31, 2021.

Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper highlighted the predicament WINAIR employees are facing during a meeting of Parliament on Monday.

The copy submitted to Government and Parliament can be viewed here.
Amaravati, Jan 25 : Amid the all-out war between the Andhra Pradesh government and the State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar, government employees are proving to be yet another hostile party to the idea of conducting panchayat elections, as they allege that Kumar did not bother about rural local body polls when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was in power.

"As long as TDP government was in power, you did not think of elections, you did not bother about elections. When all the employees are in coronavirus fear psychosis, you are pressuring for conducting elections," said employees' union leader Venkatrami Reddy in a video message.

Reddy was the same employee Kumar accused of threatening him with physical harm.

The government employees' representative reminded Kumar that he did not conduct the elections when the local bodies' tenure expired in 2018 itself.

"You are such a committed person to conduct local bodies' elections, why you didn't conduct elections in the month of August 2018, soon after the expiry of the five year term of the local bodies?" he said.

According to Reddy, Kumar did not conduct the elections even after the High Court directed that elections should be conducted within three months in October 2018.

"This is not correct sir. You are not doing the welfare of employees. You are not acting to protect the interest of employees," Reddy pointed out.

Though the SEC is talking about elections in other states, the government employees told him that there was no vaccination drive back then.

"But today, coronavirus vaccination is there. Government of India released a schedule for Coronavirus vaccination. We employees are in the middle of vaccine schedule. Some employees have already taken vaccination. Some employees have to take vaccination in the coming 20-30 days," he said.

At this juncture, Reddy said forcing employees to participate in election duty is nothing but harassment.

"You are not considering our request. You are not hearing our plea. You are acting on your own. You are not thinking about employees' health conditions," he pointed out.

He requested the SEC to hold elections for another two months until the vaccination for employees is over and reminded Kumar that he announced providing all safety measures to employees which they are requesting now.

"We are asking for that protection. As you know, vaccine for Coronavirus is out, assured protection from coronavirus is only vaccination, not just wearing a mask or using sanitiser. The Government of India started vaccination, giving first priority to employees in this vaccination process," he said.

Reddy questioned Kumar if his life is more valuable than the employees' lives, referring to the protective measures he took while addressing a press conference on Saturday, which he left without answering any questions.

He said that the SEC fixed a glass shield on his table even though there was 10 ft distance between him and the journalists.

"When you are taking so many precautions to interact with 10 - 15 people, how can you ask employees to attend election duties and interact with thousands of people without safety measures?" he posed and added that it is unfair and unjust.

These elections were originally supposed to have been held in 2018 when the tenure of the local bodies expired back then but Kumar chose not to hold them.

However, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy thought of going to the polls in March 2020 but Kumar did not give the green signal, citing the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a major standoff between the two.

Reddy accused Kumar of acting at the behest of opposition leader Nara Chandrababu Naidu, during whose tenure he was appointed and even tried to replace him, which backfired as the SEC has Constitutional protection equal to a Supreme Court judge.

With just two more months left as the SEC, Kumar is keen on conducting the polls which the state government is opposing, citing the coronavirus pandemic and the mass vaccination drive.

The Supreme Court may take a call on AP government's petition to postpone elections on Monday.


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January 25 : After debuting in 2011 with Pyaar Ka Punchnama, Kartik Aaryan was seen in Akaash Vani and Kaanchi: The Unbreakable. However, it was Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety in 2018, which not only gave him commercial success but the industry also noticed his talent. Aaryan followed it with the romantic comedies like Luka Chuppi and Pati Patni Aur Woh. Despite his last film Love Aaj Kal in 2020 failed to impress the audiences, Kartik is quite in demand.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2

Kartik started filming Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 on October 9, 2019. Directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Bhushan Kumar, the comedy-horror film is a standalone sequel to Priyadarshan's 2007 iconic film Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 also stars Kiara Advani and Tabu in leading roles. The shooting of the film was halted in March 2020 amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Reportedly, the makers of the film set January-end to resume shoot, but since Tabu is unavailable for the dates, and the makers are keen on retaining her in the film, the film is expected to resume shoot in July 2021.

Dostana 2

Dostana 2 is also a standalone sequel to the 2008 film Dostana produced by Dharma Productions. Starring Kartik, the romantic comedy film is helmed by Collin D'Cunha and produced by Karan Johar. The film also stars Janhvi Kapoor and Laksh Lalwani in leading roles. Kartik started filming in Amritsar on November 9, 2019, but had to stop in March 2020 due to coronavirus lockdown. Dostana 2 has still not resumed shoot post lockdown. The team was supposed to start the second schedule in London in January 2021, but since the UK has gone back in lockdown once again, the makers have started looking for new locations. The second schedule is an important one as a large chunk of the film will be shot.

Dhamaka

While both Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Dostana 2 were taking time to resume shoot, Kartik in the meantime took up a new film and wrapped it up as well. Aaryan started shooting for his new film Dhamaka on December 14, 2020 in Mumbai and wrapped up shooting in just 10-11 days. The actor had initially kept a slot of 14 days to shoot the film, but he could wrap it up earlier. In this Ram Madhvani directorial, Kartik plays the role of a journalist, and the film revolves around a terror attack. The film is bankrolled by Ronnie Screwvala. For the first time, the audience will see Kartik in a genre other than romantic and comedy, which he has been seen in so far.

While Kartik awaits for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Dostana 2 shoot to resume, he is reportedly eager to squeeze in a film in between and is reading scripts and meeting directors and producers.



Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 25, 2021) - Revelo Resources Corp. (TSXV: RVL) ("Revelo") reminds shareholders to cast their votes by 11:00 am (Vancouver time) on Wednesday, January 27, 2021 for Revelo's Special Meeting of Shareholders with respect to its proposed merger with Austral Gold Limited. In light of the ongoing public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic and to comply with the measures imposed by the federal and provincial governments, attendance at the Special Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 11:00am (Vancouver time) is not recommended and Revelo strongly urges shareholders to attend by conference call only. Shareholders may attend the Special Meeting by listening and participating (but not voting) by conference call on the following numbers:

North America: 1-800-319-7310 (Toll Free)

International: (+) 1-604-638-5353 (Long distances charges will apply)

Access Code: 95019#

ABOUT REVELO

Revelo is a Canadian company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: RVL). Revelo has interests in an outstanding portfolio of projects prospective for gold and copper located along proven mineral belts in Chile, one of the world's top mining jurisdictions. The Company has agreed to be acquired by Austral Gold Limited (see news release dated November 12, 2020). For more information, please visit Revelo's website here www.reveloresources.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Michael Winn, Chairman

INVESTOR CONTACT

Timothy J Beale | President & CEO

T: +1 604 687-5544 | info@reveloresources.com | www.reveloresources.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/72781
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DISCOVERY BRIEF:

The first new skull of a rare species of the dinosaur Parasaurolophus (recognized by the large hollow tube that grows on its head) discovered in 97 years.

Exquisite preservation of the new skull gives paleontologists their first opportunity to definitively identify how such a bizarre structure grew on this dinosaur.

For the first time, this study found characteristics to link tube-crested dinosaur species found in southern North America (New Mexico, Utah), distinct from the only northern species (Alberta).

The locality, in northwestern New Mexico, is dated to about 75 million years ago, a time when North America was divided by a shallow sea and teemed with duckbilled dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs and early tyrannosaurs.

Fossils from the region are part of the natural heritage of the Dine (Navajo Nation) and Puebloan peoples. The new Parasaurolophus fossil, from Bureau of Land Management Wilderness lands in northwestern New Mexico, underscores the importance of protecting public lands as natural laboratories and repositories for scientific discoveries.

Jan. 25--DENVER--The first new skull discovered in nearly a century from a rare species of the iconic, tube-crested dinosaur Parasaurolophus was announced today in the journal PeerJ. The exquisite preservation of the skull, especially the bizarre tube-shaped nasal passage, finally revealed the structure of the crest after decades of disagreement.

Despite its extreme morphology, details of the specimen show that the crest is formed much like the crests of other, related duckbilled dinosaurs. Joe Sertich, curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the leader of the team who discovered the specimen said, "This specimen is a wonderful example of amazing creatures evolving from a single ancestor."

"Imagine your nose growing up your face, three feet behind your head, then turning around to attach above your eyes. Parasaurolophus breathed through eight feet of pipe before oxygen ever reached its head," said Terry Gates, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University.

"Over the past 100 years, ideas for the purpose of the exaggerated tube crest have ranged from snorkels to super sniffers," noted David Evans, the Temerty Chair in Vertebrate Palaeontology and Vice President of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum. "But after decades of study, we now think these crests functioned primarily as sound resonators and visual displays used to communicate within their own species."

Among the most recognizable dinosaurs, the duckbilled Parasaurolophus sported an elongate, tube-like crest on its head containing an internal network of airways. Three species of Parasaurolophus are currently recognized, ranging from Alberta to New Mexico in rocks dating between 77 and 73.5 million years old. The new skull belongs to Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, previously known from a single specimen collected in the same region of New Mexico in 1923 by legendary fossil hunter Charles H. Sternberg. Both specimens display a shorter, more curved crest than other species, a feature that may be related to their immaturity at death.

The partial skull was discovered in 2017 by Smithsonian Ecology Fellow Erin Spear, Ph.D., while exploring the badlands of northwestern New Mexico as part of a Denver Museum of Nature & Science team. Located deep in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness of New Mexico, only a tiny portion of the skull was visible on a steep sandstone slope. Museum volunteers led by Sertich were surprised to find the intact crest as they carefully chiseled the specimen from the sandstone. Abundant bone fragments at the site indicated that much of the skeleton may have once been preserved on an ancient sand bar, but only the partial skull, part of the lower jaw, and a handful of ribs survived erosion.

Today, the badlands of northwestern New Mexico are dry and sparsely vegetated, a dramatic contrast to the lush lowland floodplains preserved in their rocks. 75 million years ago, when Parasaurolophus lived in the region, North America was divided into two landmasses by a broad seaway. Laramidia, the ribbon of land to the west, extended from today's Alaska to central Mexico, hosting multiple episodes of mountain building in early stages of the construction of today's Rocky Mountains. These mountain-building events helped preserve diverse ecosystems of dinosaurs along their eastern flanks, some of the best-preserved and most continuous anywhere on Earth. Parasaurolophus shared lush, subtropical floodplains with other, crestless duckbilled dinosaurs, a diverse array of horned dinosaurs, and early tyrannosaurs alongside many emerging, modern groups of alligators, turtles and plants.

"The preservation of this new skull is spectacular, finally revealing in detail the bones that make up the crest of this amazing dinosaur known by nearly every dinosaur-obsessed kid," said Sertich. "This just reinforces the importance of protecting our public lands for scientific discoveries."

"My jaw dropped when I first saw the fossil," said Gates. He continued, "I've been waiting for nearly 20 years to see a specimen of this quality."

"This specimen is truly remarkable in its preservation," said Evans, who has also worked on this iconic dinosaur for almost two decades. "It has answered long-standing questions about how the crest is constructed and about the validity of this particular species. For me, this fossil is very exciting."

For decades, the family tree of Parasaurolophus placed the two long, straight-crested species of Parasaurolophus (P. walkeri from Alberta and P. tubicen from younger rocks in New Mexico) as most closely related despite being separated by more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and 2.5 million years. Analysis of additional features of the skull excluding the crest, together with information from other Parasaurolophus discoveries from southern Utah, suggest for the first time that all of the southern species from New Mexico and Utah may be more closely related than they are to their northern cousin. This fits patterns observed in other dinosaur groups of the same age, including horned dinosaurs.

###

The research was funded by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science through generous donations to the Laramidia Project. The paper describing the new skull of Parasaurolophus appears in the January 25, 2021, release of the journal PeerJ.

About the Denver Museum of Nature & Science

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is the Rocky Mountain Region's leading resource for informal science education. Our mission is to be a catalyst and ignite the community's passion for nature and science. The Museum envisions an empowered community that loves, understands and protects our natural world. A variety of engaging exhibits, discussions and activities help Museum visitors celebrate and understand the wonders of Colorado, Earth and the universe. The Museum is located at 2001 Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO, 80205. To learn more about the Museum, visit dmns.org or call 303.370.6000. Many of the Museum's educational programs and exhibits are made possible in part by the citizens of the seven-county metro area through the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). The Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Connect with the Museum on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
US President Joe Biden. Beijing claims self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory, and was angered by increased US support for Taiwan during Donald Trump's administration. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/ Reuters

China ramped up its pressure on Taiwan over the weekend, with an unusually large number of fighter jets approaching the island in a "test" as Joe Biden takes over as US president.

Yesterday, 12 Chinese fighter jets entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone, along with a reconnaissance aircraft and two anti-submarine aircraft, Taiwan's defence ministry said.

A day earlier, China sent eight bomber planes capable of carrying nuclear weapons and four fighter jets to the same area, as well as one reconnaissance aircraft. Taiwan sent up aircraft, issued radio warnings to the Chinese aircraft, and deployed air defence missile systems to monitor their activity.

Beijing claims self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory, and was angered by increased US support for Taiwan during Donald Trump's administration.

In recent months, China has carried out regular incursions aimed at pressuring Tsai Ing-wen's government to accept Beijing's demand it recognise Taiwan as part of China. These incursions have consisted of just one or two reconnaissance planes in recent weeks.

"Beijing's early signalling to the Biden administration is clearly focused on Taiwan," said Michael Mazza, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

Beijing also announced sanctions on former Trump administration officials.

"The Biden administration appears to be correctly viewing these early moves as tests," said Mr Mazza. "Statements in response to both the sanctions and the [People's Liberation Army] flights indicate bipartisan support for a resolute approach to China, continuity of comfort with an at-times confrontational relationship, and strong support for allies and partners. Expect more turbulence ahead."

On Saturday, the new US administration urged China to stop pressuring Taiwan, and said it would deepen "our ties with democratic Taiwan".

"Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," Ned Price, US State Department spokesman, said in a statement.

We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwans democratically elected representatives, the statement added.

Taiwan's foreign ministry yesterday thanked the US for its support "in the face of Beijing's ongoing coercion". ( Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung (Photo: VNA)

 In 2020, Vietnam secured breakthrough success in diplomacy despite adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung affirmed in a recent article reviewing the first year of the countrys non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council ().Trung wrote that 2020 was a successful year for Vietnam with numerous important activities carried out in a proactive, flexible, and creative manner in all channels and pillars, thus bringing about impressive results.In particular, Vietnam performed well and made many active and responsible contributions as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, helping maintain and promote a peaceful and stable environment for socio-economic development and its stature and power enhancement.The official said Vietnam skillfully and properly dealt with many complex issues and those with contradictory viewpoints among countries in the spirit of concurrently affirming its principled stance of independence, upholding common efforts towards consensus, and preventing the politicisation of issues or confrontation and pision among parties.It also actively contributed to or proposed initiatives, strived to act as an intermediary in some complicated issues, and played a leading role via chairing a number of events, thus leaving imprints on the issues, matching the concern and interest of the country, the region, and the international community, according to Trung.The deputy minister elaborated that these imprints could be seen in not only January 2020, the time Vietnam served as the President of the UNSC, when an open debate on upholding theto maintain international peace and security was held with a record of 111 speakers from 106 states and the adoption of the first President statement calling for a full compliance with the Charter. A meeting on the cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organisations also took place in the month, creating the first platform for discussing cooperation between the UNSC and ASEAN.A number of significant activities were held throughout last year, Trung said, highlighting Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh attending and delivering videoed speeches at high-level activities within the framework of the 75th session of the, which affirmed Vietnams strong commitment to multilateral cooperation and the UNs central role in solving common global challenges, including those relating to peace and security.In his article, Trung also pointed out that the country fulfilled the dual roles of a non-permanent UNSC member and the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, thereby helping to promote and uphold ASEANs solidarity and role, connect the bloc with the UN and the UNSC, and realise some of ASEANs global-level commitments to maintaining regional and international peace and stability.Vietnam fulfilled well the duties of a non-permanent UNSC member in the first year of its membership and achieved the set targets, he said.In 2021, the regional and international political - security situation, especially the COVID-19 pandemic and the strategic competition among the powers, is forecast to remain complex and unpredictable with direct effects on the UNSCs activities. This is also the first year for the implementation of the 13th National Party Congresss resolution with major development orientations and targets for the next five and ten years, and vision to 2045.In the spirit of partnership for sustainable peace, Vietnam will persist the foreign policy of independence and self-reliance and making efforts to promote dialogue, ease tensions and confrontation, and look for fair and reasonable solutions to regional and global peace and security issues on the basis of international law and the UN Charter, the official noted.He affirmed that the second month of Vietnams UNSC presidency this April will be a highlight of the countrys participation in the council in 2021 with many more meaningful and substantive contributions.The achievements of the 35 years of Doi moi (Renewal), the countrys growing stature and power, along with the encouraging outcomes in 2020 provide a solid foundation for Vietnam to bolster its proactive and active engagement in the UNSC in its second year of the council membership, thus helping protect and promote national interests and sustain peace and security in the region and the world at large, Deputy Minister Trung added./.

VNA
The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a recession and massive unemployment, but some industries are now thriving and providing new job opportunities.

Neva Read is a Sydney-based digital marketer who saw demand for her services increase despite the pandemic downturn. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Professor Phil Lewis, director of the University of Canberrra's Centre for Labour Market Research, said Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures showed that retail, public administration and mining were among sectors that were booming.

"The economy has been moving more towards the service based economy  less manufacturing, less emphasis on physical work, apart from construction and mining," he said.

The aged and health care sectors were growing, while the cafe, restaurant and hotel sectors have taken a big hit.
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 Why not a clemency push focused on the (more lethal) new death penalty that is COVID in federal prisons? | Main | "Is Mass Incarceration Here to Stay?" 

January 24, 2021

Two more new 3582(c)(1)(A) reductions to remedy stacked 924(c) sentences reformed by FIRST STEP Act

As regular readers know, I have made much of the FIRST STEP Act provision now allowing federal courts to directly reduce sentences under the (so-called compassionate release) statutory provisions of 18 U.S.C.  3582(c)(1)(A) without awaiting a motion by the Bureau of Prisons. The BOP reports here that a total of 2,693 of these motions have now been granted in the 25 months since the FIRST STEP Act became law. The vast majority of the sentencing reduction motions brought by federal prisoners and granted by federal district judges these days are focused on the health threat posed by COVID. But judges are still rightly finding other "extraordinary and compelling reasons" warranting sentencing reductions.

A helpful reader recently flagged for me two great new district court rulings using  3582(c)(1)(A) to undo the now-repealed harshness of severe stacking of mandatory minimum 924(c) counts. Both rulings ought to be read in full as yet another set of examples of the ridiculousness and injustice of (post-trial) sentences that had to be imposed by judges under mandatory sentencing provisions, and to appreciate how the FIRST STEP Act helps to restore at least a little sanity and justice in this ugly part of the federal sentencing world. I will here just note the openning paragraphs and provide a link to the full opinions:

US v. McDonel, No. 07-20189 (ED Mich. Jan. 13, 2021):

Defendant Robert McDonel, then 21 years old, was sentenced to over 100 years in prison in 2008 after engaging in a spree of auto parts store robberies using a handgun. That extraordinarily harsh sentence was the product of a statutory sentencing scheme that required enhancing and stacking sentences for multiple firearm brandishing offenses even when the crimes were committed as part of the same episode and charged in a single indictment. Congress since has corrected that Draconian measure, but the legislation does not help McDonel, as the amendment is not retroactive. He asks the Court for relief under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), as amended by section 603(b)(1) of the First Step Act of 2018, Pub L. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194, 5239, which allows a sentence reduction for extraordinary and compelling reasons. The gross disparity created by the legislative changes, which mitigated the harshness in the sentencing scheme to which McDonel was subjected, coupled with McDonels youth and rehabilitative efforts, qualify as extraordinary and compelling reasons under section 3582(c)(1)(A)(i). Other factors that the Court also must consider favor relief. The motion will be granted. Download McDonel opinion

US v. Nafkha, No. 2:95-CR-00220-001-TC (D Utah Jan. 11, 2021):

Prisoner Mounir Nafkha moves for a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C.  3582(c)(1)(A)(i), asking the court to reduce his nearly 73-year sentence in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to time served. To date, Mr. Nafkha has served approximately 25 years of his sentence. He asserts that the circumstances surrounding his sentence  which consists of four consecutively stacked counts under 18 U.S.C.  924(c)  constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons for his early release. The court finds that Mr. Nafkha has satisfied his burden of showing extraordinary and compelling reasons to release him and that the balance of sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) warrant his release. Accordingly, his motion (ECF No. 214) is GRANTED. Download Nafkha Grant

January 24, 2021 at 10:50 PM | Permalink

Comments

MY SON GOT TWO SIXTY YEAR SENTENCE STACKED,HE DID ONE SENTECE NOW ABOUT 19 YRS IN THE OTHER.OR 15 .HE HAS BEEN IN PRISON 34 YEARS NOW, AND EVERYTINE HIS CHANCE FOR PAROLE COME UP THEY MAKE SURE HE GET A CASE HE NEEDS TO COME HOME HE SAYS HE FEEL HE IS LOOSING HIS MIND,120 YEARS SENTENCE IN AMARRILLO TX, CLEMENTS UNIT, HE IS BEING TREATED VERY CRUEUL. YET I SEE SO MANY INMATES GOING HOME WILL SOMEONE HELP HIM, KERRY YOUNG 526111. AMARILLO TX, POINT OF NO RETURN BRING HIM HOME PLEASE .

Posted by: VALLIE DUBOSE | Jan 27, 2021 10:40:25 PM

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Rahat Hassan Jalil died in 2019 while a student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The brother of a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student who killed himself has sued the fraternity he was pledging claiming he was subject to hazing for weeks leading to his death.

Kam Rokon, whose 18-year-old brother Rahat Hassan Jalil died in 2019, has sued the school's Lambda Phi Epsilon chapter claiming he was forced to stand in the cold all night and urinate on other pledges.

Jalil took his life on January 16, 2019, just two days after he was finally sworn into the fraternity.

His brother said he didn't leave a note and the family was left wondering what happened to the beloved teen.

Rokon told DailyMail.com that he was convinced to come forward with the lawsuit after being told about the alleged hazing by members of the fraternity.

'The first 18 months we were completely broken and the last six months and it's been a completely different set of emotions,' he said.

'We were disgusted and angry by what we were told.'

Rokon claims in the lawsuit, obtained by the DailyMail.com, that the hazing endured by Jalil while a freshman at the university violated state law and school policies.

Kam Rokon, left, the older brother of Jalil, right, has filed a lawsuit against the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity

Rokon, center, alleges that his brother, right, was a victim of hazing while a student, which led to his death

Rokon, the administrator of his brother's estate, filed the lawsuit against the local chapter and the international organization Lambda Phi Epsilon in the Lancaster County District Court -- but did not name the university.

'Student Affairs at UNL has opened investigations in three hazing cases since 2018. This includes the Lambda Phi Epsilon allegations you're writing about,' a school spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

School officials declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation on top of the pending litigation.

According to its website, Lambda Phi Epsilon is the world's largest Asian-interest fraternity and its Nebraska chapter was founded in 2016. DailyMail.com has reached out to the fraternity for additional comments and information.

The fraternity has continued to mourn the former pledge after the death of Jalil, bottom right, in 2019

Members of Lambda Phi Epsilon posted about receiving certification in suicide prevention. There is no indication that any of the members were involved with the hazing incident

Rokon alleges that his brother was forced to stand outside naked and pee on other pledges while looking to join Lambda Phi Epsilon. Pictured is a file photo of Lambda Phi Epsilon. There is no indication that any of the members were involved with the hazing incident

Rokon claims in the lawsuit that the alleged hazing of Jalil, center, violated state law and school policies

Jalil, whose parents emigrated from Bangladesh, moved from his home in North Carolina to be closer to his older brother Rokon and wife who live in Omaha.

His parents followed him to Nebraska, joining Rokon in Omaha, he told DailyMail.com.

'My parents havent left their house in two years. They're very religious people. They sit at home all day praying thinking they have to repent for what happened since in many religious suicide is a very big sin,' he said.

'Even before COVID started, they would just sit at home. Theyre just shell of themselves of what they were.'

The teen enrolled at the university and pledged with the fraternity - which allegedly hazed him for eight weeks, a former member told Rokon.

The pledges were allegedly forced to stand outside naked all night and urinate on other pledges who didn't follow directions, according to the lawsuit.

Jalil, while suffering sleep deprivation and verbal harassment, was also allegedly forced to chug alcohol poured down his throat by other members and engage in prolonged calisthenics including hanging from a rope in a tree without falling.

Jalil, right, told friends in North Carolina that he was concerned about drinking

He was inducted as a member of the fraternity the weekend before second-semester classes began and died two days later, the Journal-Star reported.

Jalill was found by an employee on the ground unconscious near Abel Hall around 8.30am on January 16, 2019.

Rescue workers took him to a local hospital where he died. Rokon said Jalil did not suffer from depression.

'It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of one of our brothers. Rahat Jalil was a kind and joyous individual. He was hard working, determined and persistent,' the local Lambda Phi Epsilon wrote on Facebook at the time.

'He forged bonds with each person in the chapter and became a part of a lifelong family with an unbreakable support system. His positive attitude and hunger to learn pushed others around him to be just as ambitious.'

The Rokons, looking to understand what led to Jalil's death, kept in contact with his fraternity brothers and even invited them to their home several times after his death.

'After my brother passed, we asked the fraternity a ton of questions. We talked to probably 10 of them on a semi-regular basis and some of them more than that," Rokon said.

'We asked them how was the initiation and rush and they told us basically nothing. They said: He had a good time, we had a good time, and thats all they would say.'

Rokon even invited about 14 of them over for a barbecue in his backyard over the summer to remember and talk about his brother.

'We had a great relationship with them, or so we thought,' Rokon said.

The grieving family said they did not learn much, other than that he told some friends in North Carolina that he wasn't comfortable with the drinking, until a former member came forward about the alleged hazing in August.

The university declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation and pending litigation

Kam Rokon, whose 18-year-old brother Rahat Hassan Jalil died in 2019, has sued University of Nebraska-Lincoln (pictured) Lambda Phi Epsilon chapter

'About a year after my brother passed, one of them took himself out of the fraternity. He didnt like how they carried himself and what they stood for,' Rokon said.

He reached out to Rokon and said he wanted to talk him about Jalil.

'My wife went out and visited with him and he told her all of this stuff that had gone on during the rush days that just completely caught us off guard,' Rokon said.

Rokon said his wife, who is a therapist, had grown 'very close' with Jalil after he would visit every summer while their parents visited Bangladesh.

'She would tell him more than she would tell me. Shes a therapist so her job is to talk to people,' he said.

A female student in Jalil's dorm allegedly told Rokon that 'he stopped being his happy go-lucky-self' when he started doing more with the fraternity during rush.

'She said she noticed that he wasnt always happy and bubbly right before Christmas break,' Rokon said.

He said Jalil missed his friends a lot form north Carolina and they would play video games online.

The Rokons returned to Jalil's friends and asked direct questions from fraternity members - confirmed nearly all of what the former member told them while meeting at a local park in August during COVID.

'About 95 percent of them confirmed and they elaborated on it, at first they werent willing to share anything and I got frustrated because they were still standing by the secrecy and brotherhood,' Rokon said.

'I said that brotherhood goes away when someone dies.'

Rokon said the family 'had no intention of filing the lawsuit' until he tried talking the fraternity into addressing hazing and changing their policies, which allegedly 'fell on deaf ears.'

'We asked the guys "in 20 years, if your son wanted to be in your fraternity would you let them" and six of them said no,' Rokon said.

Lambda Phi Epsilon has continued to mourn for Jalil through posts made to social media since his death, and became certified through REACH Suicide Prevention last March.

'Please join us in wishing a very happy birthday for our Gamma Class brother, Rahat 'Dial-Up' Jahlil! Every year we miss you more,' the organization wrote June 14.

'As we can continue to educate, grow, and celebrate as a fraternity, we do it knowing you're there with us. We love you, and we hope you continue to help guide us.'

Rokon said he hopes his brother is remembered for his love of music and his ability to play the guitar.

'He was the creative one in the family. I didn't get those genes.'
Solar winds from our star system's own Sun will be caught by the Earth. Space Experts confirmed that the planet will be hit by a gust of remnants of a recent solar storm at the Sun's surface.

A solar flare released a barrage of particles into space, and some of it will come in contact with the Earth's atmosphere. The solar winds are currently making their way across the 147 million kilometers (more than 91.3 million miles) journey from the Sun and are likely to hit tomorrow.

Experts have forecast the stream of particles will likely cause an aurora in the north pole when it does.

According to the Astronomy site Space Weather on Jan 24, a narrow stream of solar wind is approaching the Earth, and it will have reached the planet by the 25th.

They also said that the gaseous material flows from a small hole in the Sun's atmosphere. The impact could spark a brief episode of Arctic Auroras.

Auroras are caused when the magnetosphere gets bombarded by the solar wind, which deflects the particles, causing stunning green and blue lights.

Related Article: Perihelion: The Day Earth is Closest to the Sun

Solar Storms

A solar storm is a disturbance on the Sun's surface, one that can emanate outwards in the heliosphere's direction. This phenomenon affects the entire solar system, including the Earth, especially the planet's magnetosphere. It's also the cause of space weather in the short-term with long-term patterns comprising space climate.



While this solar storm is not a cause for concern, some astronomers believe a major one could hit, and in a world so reliant on technology, the consequences could be devastating.

Grim Possibilities

Because of the possible dangers a strong solar storm may bring, many scientists are calling for improved methods of monitoring the Sun's solar activities.

A recent study from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia, said: "A major solar storm could shut down electricity, television broadcasts, the internet, and radio communications, leading to significant cascading effects in many areas of life.

"According to some experts, the damage from such an extreme event could cost up to several trillion dollars, and the restoration of infrastructure and the economy could take up to 10 years.

"Thus, understanding and forecasting the most hazardous extreme events is of prime importance for the protection of society and technology against the global hazards of space weather."

The first author of the study, Dr. Jenny Marcela Rodriguez Gomez, said: "Understanding the characteristics of extreme solar eruptions and extreme space weather events can help us better understand the dynamics and variability of the Sun as well as the physical mechanisms behind these events."

Skoltech researcher Tatiana Podladchikova added: "Our modern technological society needs to take this seriously, study extreme space weather events, and also understand all the subtleties of the interactions between the Sun and the Earth.

"And whatever storms may rage, we wish everyone good weather in space."

A powerful solar flare could potentially render technology on our planet redundant, and experts are now warning we should take the threat more seriously. Some may consider it an over-exaggeration; studying solar activities and preparing for an intense solar storm causes anyone no harm.

ALSO READ: Wooden Satellites: Japan Attempts to Lessen Space Junk by Going Green

For more news update about cosmic events follow Nature World News
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Border restrictions were being tightened around the world Monday in the face of an unrelenting coronavirus threat, after a weekend in which anger at social distancing rules bubbled over into fiery clashes in the Netherlands .

The United States was set to join France, Israel and Sweden in pulling up the drawbridge to certain arrivals, with special concern about new strains of the pathogen that originated in Britain and South Africa.

"It's up to us to show that we are civic-minded," Spaniard Claudio Barraza told AFP upon arrival at Paris's main international airport, after new rules on tests for EU arrivals came into force.

The stipulations came as Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador became the latest public figure to test positive for the disease, and New Zealand reported its first community case for more than two months.

In Washington, President Joe Biden will on Monday reimpose a ban on most non-US citizens who have been in Britain, Brazil, Ireland and much of Europe, as well as adding South Africa to the list, a senior White House official said.

Biden last week tightened mask-wearing rules and ordered quarantine for people flying into the country, which on Sunday topped 25 million cases.

Since it emerged in late 2019, Covid-19 has killed more than 2.1 million people, with almost 99 million cases registered, according to an AFP tally from official figures.

On Sunday, France started demanding a negative PCR test for arrivals by sea and air from European Union neighbors.

Sweden said it would prohibit entry from neighbouring Norway for three weeks, after cases of the more infectious British strain were detected in Oslo.

And in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was "closing the skies hermetically, except for rare exceptions" to both arrivals and departures for a week.

- Fury in the Netherlands -

But government action to curtail the virus' spread still faces stiff opposition from some citizens.

Protests against a coronavirus curfew in the Netherlands degenerated into clashes with police and looting in cities across the country Sunday, a day after a Covid-19 testing centre was set on fire in the northern village of Urk.

Police used water cannon and dogs in Amsterdam, public television NOS reported, after hundreds gathered to protest the 9 pm-4:30 am curfew, set to last until February 10.

At least 30 people were arrested in Eindhoven, where mayor John Jorritsma told reporters that if the country continued "down this path, then I think we are heading for civil war".

A reminder of the vigilance required to keep infections down came from New Zealand, where officials confirmed the first case of Covid-19 in the community for more than two months -- in a 56-year-old woman who recently returned from Europe.

And in Thailand, the country's largest seafood market, forced to shut after a coronavirus outbreak late last year, got a deep clean on Monday as authorities mulled when to reopen it.

The December outbreak at the Samut Sakhon Shrimp Centre -- about 40 minutes southwest of Bangkok -- sparked a second wave of almost 10,000 infections across Thailand, and workers who lost their livelihoods said the closure had been tough.

"I have to rely on food donations, whether it's vegetables, rice, instant noodles," Myaw Nha, a 40-year-old migrant worker from Myanmar, told AFP.

- Vaccination challenges -

Scientists say the only way out of the pandemic is large-scale vaccinations, but the roll-out has stuttered in many places.

Egypt began its programme, with a doctor and a nurse getting the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab.

Health Minister Hala Zayed said Cairo had inked deals for vaccine shipments from British, Chinese and Russian firms, for a total of around 100 million doses -- enough for about half of Egypt's population.

Australia's medical regulator formally approved the Pfizer vaccine, with the first doses expected to be administered in late February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday.

On the long-term economic impacts of the pandemic, anti-poverty group Oxfam said the emergency was aggravating inequality.

"The 1,000 richest people on the planet recouped their Covid-19 losses within just nine months, but it could take more than a decade for the world's poorest to recover," the group said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Despite the curtailment of most public gatherings, the citys eighth annual installment of Democracy Day will not be derailed by a pandemic.

This years virtual convening, set for 7 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 28), will be hosted completely online via a Webex link and live-streamed on YouTube.

Back in 2013, Cleveland Heights voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 32 in response to the U.S. Supreme Courts 5-4 decision three years earlier in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, declaring that corporations had the same free-speech rights as individual people and further opening the floodgates on campaign spending.

Issue 32 continues to support a 28th amendment clearly stating that only human beings -- and not corporate entities -- have individual rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution, and since money does not constitute free speech, money spent on elections can be regulated.

The local measure also established annual public hearings to examine the impact on our city, our state and our nation of political influence by corporate entities and big money in elections, a Cleveland Heights press release further noted.

As a result, the general public has the opportunity to speak up on these matters at this years Democracy Day for up to five minutes per person.

City Council will then send letters to our U.S. congressperson and senators summarizing the hearing and calling for their support for the 28th amendment, the press release added.

Members of Cleveland Heights Move to Amend, now part of Cleveland East Move to Amend, work to coordinate speakers and testimony for Cleveland Heights Democracy Day each year.

Cleveland Heights Democracy Day is just one of hundreds of such events held in towns and cities all across the country.

Organizers also pointed to other Ohio cities that held Democracy Days in recent years, including Brecksville, Chagrin Falls, Cleveland, Defiance, Kent, Mentor, Newburgh Heights, Shaker Heights, Toledo and South Euclid.

Why do we work on this national issue at the local level? Because we can, organizer and Heights of Democracy columnist Carla Rautenberg stated. There is no effective way for thoughtful individuals who do not wield great power or big money to make our voices heard at state and national levels.

Rautenberg noted that thousands of women -- and some men -- spent decades building local and eventually national networks to pass the 19th constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, adding that it will take millions of us to get the 28th Amendment passed.

To participate in the Cleveland Heights meeting, visit https://clvhts.webex.com/clvhts/onstage/g.php?MTID=ec09ff18ced9a5aa81921184640fbc21c

All those intending to speak must use the Webex link.

To simply view the meeting live, but not participate, you may watch it at http://www.youtube.com/c/cityofclevelandheights/live

To listen only by phone, dial +1-415-655-0001, Access code: 178 119 6493

Read more from the Sun Press.
A desperate search is underway for a 13-year-old girl who has been missing for three days after failing to meet her mum after dance camp.

Layla De Jesus was last seen on January 22 at 7.30pm leaving a dance studio in Cronulla in Sydney's south.

Police mysteriously said that while the girl's mother 'had spoken to her about being picked up' from the camp, the 'arrangement fell through'.

Layla De Jesus (pictured) was last seen on January 22 about 7.30pm leaving a dance studio in Cronulla in Sydney's south, when she was supposed to get a lift home

Layla's distressed mother alerted police on January 24 as police launched a search for the young girl.

Both police and Layla's family hold grave concerns for her welfare.

She is described as being of Mediterranean appearance, olive skin, thin build, 160cm to 165cm tall, brown eyes.

Layla is known to frequent the Cronulla and Miranda areas.

Anyone who may have seen Layla or has information on her whereabouts is urged to contact Sutherland Shire police on 9542 0899 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 25) - Senator Risa Hontiveros expressed alarm over the law that China recently passed authorizing its coast guard to "take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea."

Hontiveros said this can only harm efforts to solve the South China Sea dispute through political and diplomatic means.

"China should ease tensions in the West Philippine Sea, not escalate them," she said.

"Ibig sabihin ba ng bagong batas ng Tsina, this Coast Guard Law passed on 22nd January... the next time na gusto nilang ilubog ang fishing vessel natin, o iwan ang mangingisda natin sa dagat, hindi lang sila sasagasaan, babarilin pa?" Hontiveros added.

[Translation: Does it mean that China's new law, this Coast Guard Law passed on 22nd January... the next time they want to sink our fishing vessels or leave our fishermen in the middle of the ocean, they will not only bump them but shoot them as well?]

The senator said the Philippines should continue to assert the arbitral tribunal ruling on the West Philippine Sea.

Hontiveros added the Philippine government should also ensure the COVID-19 vaccines it will buy from China will not put our national interest at risk.

"We must not allow China to shake our hand on vaccine procurement, but stab us in the back on the West Philippine Sea," she said.

"Paano natin ngayon masisigurado na ang mga bakunang bibilhin natin o ibibigay ng Tsina ay walang halong kapalit?" she explained.

[Translation: How are we going to make sure that the vaccines we will purchase or China will give us do not have something in return?]

Hontiveros said the Department of National Defense needs to have a strategy should the situation at the West Philippine Sea worsen amid the pandemic.

Meanwhile, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said the new Chinese law is a "sobering reminder to the world that China remains adamant in pressing its illegal claims in the South China Sea, now with force and probably with violence."

He added this reminds Filipinos that despite the so-called friendly approach of the Duterte administration towards China, its plans to take over our waters and put our soldiers' lives at risk will not go away.

"In the face of this new Chinese aggression, we should prioritize what we have been saying before: build a credible defense posture for our country and strengthen our security alliance with freedom-loving nations like the US, the countries comprising the EU, Japan, Australia, and our ASEAN neighbors," Del Rosario said in a statement.
Amid increasing political unrest following his decision to dissolve the lower house of the Parliament, the rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Sunday removed caretaker Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party.

Amid increasing political unrest following his decision to dissolve the lower house of the Parliament, the rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Sunday removed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party. This comes as a major blow as Nepal has been facing a constitutional crisis and in a deadlock. According to the rival factions Oli no longer holds even a simple membership of the Nepal Communist Party.

Former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal had asked Oli for a reply as to why he shouldnt be removed from the party for making unconstitutional decisions. The splinter faction had handed over a letter to the Prime Ministers residence over a decision to seek clarification. However, Oli did not respond to the letter. Amid the increasing internal rift in the party, the now-caretaker Prime Minister Oli had decided to dissolve the Parliament on December 20 last year, calling for fresh elections for April and May this year.

Soon after the announcement, the NCP split into two factions with each claiming its own to be the authentic ones. Now, it depends on the Election Commission who is studying the documents and laws to come to a conclusion on which faction will retain the election emblem of the sun.

Also Read: Disagreement between China and Pakistan: Annual bilateral CPEC summit postponed

Also Read: Bengal poll buggle: Another cabinet minister quits TMC ahead of elections; likely to join BJP
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 18:33:51|Editor: huaxia

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Beijing, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- During the turbulent year of 2020, China took actions to inject momentum into the global economic growth by promoting cooperation and multilateralism.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded the 100-trillion-yuan (15.42 trillion U.S. dollars) threshold in 2020. The country is expected to be the only major economy to post growth in the pandemic-ravaged year.

Experts say China's growth will help drive the global economy.

Shakeel Ramay, Director of China Study Center at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad, says

China's GDP growth in 2020 "will be a good signal for the world economy."

China also vows to establish a new development pattern featuring dual circulation so that domestic and foreign markets can boost each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

Kwon Gi-Sik, President of Korea-China City Friendship Association, says the development pattern under the framework of openness, multilateralism, and international cooperation "will boost domestic demands and strengthen the links between the Chinese economy and the outside world."

In the face of the global economic downturn, the Belt and Road Initiative also brings opportunities for recovery.

Chairman of Pakistan's CPEC Asim Saleem Bajwa says China is very open to make the Belt and Road Initiative a joint venture of prosperity for the world.
The makeup of a cold-water fish has inspired a University of Ottawa scientist to develop a method for freezing stem cells and tissue without the risk of "freezer burn."

Dr. Robert Ben, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at uOttawa, is one half of the brainchild behind the development of ice recrystallization inhibitors, which are small organic molecules that halt ice growth in order to better preserve biological material used in the fields of cell therapy and regenerative medicine.

The idea to thwart this by-product of freezing "crystalized" in Dr. Ben after learning about the teleost fish, a species that can survive in sub-zero environments because their bodies use anti-freeze proteins to inhibit the growth of ice crystals.

Robert Ben, who specializes in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry at uOttawa, developed the technology alongside Dr. Jason Acker of the University of Alberta at PanTHERA CryoSolutions. This private company co-owned by the pair will receive $4 million in private funding over the next two years to develop this technology and others like it, including one to preserve COVID-19 testing materials and RNA-based vaccines.

How did this come about?

"We have been freezing cells and tissues for some time now, in order to develop cell therapies to treat a wide range of diseases and we've been using cryoprotective agents, such as dimethyl sulfoxide or glycerol, since the 1950s to try to prevent the cells from dying in the freezing and thawing process.

"The problem with current cryoprotectants is that cell recovery is kind of hit and miss. We might freeze 100,000 cells, but only 25,000 will survive and be viable for research or clinical applications. That's because up to 80 percent of the cellular damage that happens during freezing is due to the uncontrolled growth of ice. Since current cryoprotectant solutions don't address this problem, our returns, measured in cell recovery and function, are quite dismal."

Shouldn't freezing samples be more efficient?

"Ice growth, or the process of ice recrystallization, is an inevitable side-effect of freezing something and over time, and with temperature fluctuations, ice crystals become larger and larger and cause a lot of disruption in cell membranes, which in turn damages or kills the cells.

"Think of freezer burn; if you've ever tasted ice cream after it's been sitting in your freezer for a while -- I'm sure we all have -- the product looks and tastes different from when it was brand new. That's because those ice crystals are changing the structure of that material, and along with that goes taste and everything else."

Why are large ice crystals damaging to cells?

Small ice crystals are innocuous but large ice crystals damage cell membranes easily. These small crystals are like grains of sand on a Caribbean beach which are so small that they mould to your body and you can lay comfortably on the beach for an entire day. Now, let's say those grains of sand were replaced by gravel or pebbles. That's a lot less comfortable. Our cryopreservation technology prevents ice crystals from growing (and thus remain small) during freezing and thawing ensuring the survival of cells.

What will the impact of this be?

"Cells, tissue, organs -- and potentially vaccines and other biological materials -- can be kept at warmer temperatures, making it easier to store these products and ship them to remote locations. The lower the temperature, the slower the recrystallization process. That's why some therapies such as vaccines need to be stored at very cold temperatures so they can be preserved for longer. For example, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine must be kept at -70 degrees Celsius to keep the ice crystals from growing too large and damaging the product."

With modern cell therapies and regenerative medicine techniques on the rise, it must be important to preserve materials that make such medical advances possible.

"Our molecules are unique because, unlike conventional cryoprotectants, they prevent all that cellular damage caused by ice. In the end, we recover more cells, they're healthier and more functional. There is nothing else like it out there."

###

The core technology was created out of an academic research collaboration between the University of Ottawa and University of Alberta that has received research funding from GlycoNet, one of the National Centres of Excellence (NCE) in Canada; Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada; Canadian Blood Services; the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP); and Mitacs.
Mobile solution allows companies to monitor and prevent spread of Covid-19

JERUSALEM, Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jerusalem-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup VizibleZone today announced a deal with Mekorot, Israel's National Water Company, to use VizibleZone's high accuracy exposure notification technology in Mekorot's factories and plants to allow business continuity in the era of Covid-19.

VizibleZone's Exposure Notification app helps businesses monitor exposure and prevent the spread of Covid-19 among employees, thus avoiding unnecessary quarantines.

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, VizibleZone applied its advanced technology to create a premium exposure notification solution for private businesses and enterprises in the COVID-19 and post COVID-19 era.

Employees install an application that monitors their proximity in real time using BLE technology, without the need of tracing locations, thus maintaining privacy. Once a positive COVID-19 employee is detected, the technology can track all employee interactions with the relevant employee three weeks prior, alerting the relevant employees if they were in a proximity that requires quarantine. Company admin can use an accompanying dashboard tool to generate epidemiological investigations to provide a safe working place.

VizibleZone's software is as accurate indoors as it is outside, thus enabling factories and buildings to maintain business continuity and minimize the number of employees that may be sent to unnecessary quarantine. The technology relies on an application on individuals' mobile phones and maintains full privacy.

VizibleZone's software was tested by government officials and has proven to be incredibly accurate, with minimum false positive alerts. The solution also allows maximum flexibility for the company to configure the degree of sensitivity of the system.

Gabi Ofir, CEO of VizibleZone, said, "We're pleased that our technology, which can play a crucial role in assisting offices and companies in returning workforces in the most efficient and secure manner, is being used by Mekorot. Keeping businesses open and functioning is a critical aspect of emerging from lockdowns and getting economies back on track. With the app, employers and employees can be confident that their workplace is doing its utmost to prevent and halt the spread of Covid-19."

Shimon Rosh, Mekorot's head of Covid-19 safety, said, "We chose VizibleZone's solution to allow our employees to safely maintain routine activity at sites across the country during the Corona pandemic. The technology allows monitoring of exposure and an epidemiological investigation as necessary, while fully preserving our employees' privacy."

About VizibleZone

VizibleZone is an Israel-based startup on a mission to turn mobile phones into life-saving devices. The company promotes a new Phone to Everything (P2X) concept, which offers a proven potential for various life-guarding applications, driven by context-sensitive data collected and processed by roaming mobile phones. One of the company's primary solutions is a highly praised mobile-based Road Traffic Collision Avoidance System, intended to protect vulnerable road users against road accidents. The company's COVID-19 solution takes advantage of its unique technology and addresses the urgent need for public exposure notification and social distancing measures. The result is an accurate and reliable solution for preserving business continuity.

Contact: Neri Ashuach, VP Biz Dev, [email protected]

SOURCE Visible Zone
Athens, GA (30605)

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Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 66F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, two nurses put a ventilator on a patient in a COVID-19 unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. U.S. hospital intensive care units in many parts of the country are straining under record numbers of COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Straining to handle record numbers of COVID-19 patients, hundreds of the nation's intensive care units are running out of space and supplies and competing to hire temporary traveling nurses at soaring rates. Many of the facilities are clustered in the South and West.

An Associated Press analysis of federal hospital data shows that since November, the share of U.S. hospitals nearing the breaking point has doubled. More than 40% of Americans now live in areas running out of ICU space, with only 15% of beds still available.

Intensive care units are the final defense for the sickest of the sick, patients who are nearly suffocating or facing organ failure. Nurses who work in the most stressed ICUs, changing IV bags and monitoring patients on breathing machines, are exhausted.

"You can't push great people forever. Right? I mean, it just isn't possible," said Houston Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom, who is among many hospital leaders hoping that the numbers of critically ill COVID-19 patients have begun to plateau. Worryingly, there's an average of 20,000 new cases a day in Texas, which has the third-highest death count in the country and more than 13,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms.

According to data through Thursday from the COVID Tracking Project, hospitalizations are still high in the West and the South, with over 80,000 current COVID-19 hospital patients in those regions. The number of cases reported in the U.S. since the pandemic's start surpassed 25 million on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, a medical worker walks past a refrigerated trailer parked outside the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. U.S. hospital intensive care units in many parts of the country are straining under record numbers of COVID-19 patients. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ran into shortages of take-home oxygen tanks, which meant some patients who could otherwise go home were kept longer, taking up needed beds. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Encouragingly, hospitalizations appear to have either plateaued or are trending downward across all regions. It's unclear whether the easing will continue with more contagious versions of the virus arising and snags in the rollout of vaccines.

In New Mexico, one surging hospital system brought in 300 temporary nurses from outside the state, at a cost of millions of dollars, to deal with overflowing ICU patients, who were treated in converted procedure rooms and surgery suites.

"It's been horrid," said Dr. Jason Mitchell, chief medical officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque. He's comforted that the hospital never activated its plan for rationing lifesaving care, which would have required a triage team to rank patients with numerical scores based on who was least likely to survive.

"It's a relief that we never had to actually do it," Mitchell said. "It sounds scary because it is scary."

In this Nov. 19, 2020, file photo, Dr. Rafik Abdou checks on a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. U.S. hospital intensive care units in many parts of the country are straining under record numbers of COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

In Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ran into shortages of take-home oxygen tanks, which meant some patients who could otherwise go home were kept longer, taking up needed beds. But the biggest problem is competing with other hospitals for traveling nurses.

"Initially, when the COVID surges were hitting one part of the country at a time, traveling nurses were able to go to areas more severely affected. Now with almost the entire country surging at the same time," hospitals are paying twice and three times what they would normally pay for temporary, traveling nurses, said Dr. Jeff Smith, the hospital's chief operating officer.

Houston Methodist Hospital recently paid $8,000 retention bonuses to keep staff nurses from signing up with agencies that would send them to other hot spots. Pay for traveling nurses can reach $6,000 per week, an enticement that can benefit a nurse but can seem like poaching to the hospital executives who watch nurses leave.

"There's a lot of these agencies that are out there charging absolutely ridiculous sums of money to get ICU nurses in," Boom said. "They go to California, which is in the midst of a surge, but they poach some ICU nurses there, send them to Texas, where they charge inordinate amounts to fill in gaps in Texas, many of which are created because nurses in Texas went to Florida or back to California."

Dr. Cameron Mantor, Chief Medical Officer at OU Medicine, poses for a photo outside the hospital complex Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021, in Oklahoma City. Mantor said while the vaccines hold promise, hope still seems dim as ICU cases keep mounting. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Space is another problem. Augusta University Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, is treating adult ICU patients, under age 30, in the children's hospital. Recovery rooms now have ICU patients, and, if things get worse, other areasoperating rooms and endoscopy centerswill be the next areas converted for critical care.

To prevent rural hospitals from sending more patients to Augusta, the hospital is using telemedicine to help manage those patients for as long as possible in their local hospitals.

"It is a model I believe will not only survive the pandemic but will flourish post pandemic," said Dr. Phillip Coule, the Augusta hospital's chief medical officer.

Hospitals are pleading with their communities to wear masks and limit gatherings.

"There just hasn't been a lot of respect for the illness, which is disappointing," said Dr. William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional Medical Center in Cullman, Alabama. He sees that changing now with more people personally knowing someone who has died.

In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, registered nurses Kyanna Barboza, right, tends to a COVID-19 patient as Kobie Walsh puts on her PPE at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. U.S. hospital intensive care units in many parts of the country are straining under record numbers of COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

"It has taken a lot of people," he said of the virus, adding that the death toll144 people in six months in a county of 84,000"has opened their eyes to the randomness of this."

The Alabama hospital's ICU has been overflowing for six weeks, with 16 virus patients on ventilators in a hospital that a year ago had only 10 of the breathing machines. "You can see the stress in people's faces and in their body language. It's just a lot for people to carry around," Smith said.

"Just the fatigue of our staff can affect quality of care. I've been encouraged we've been able to keep the quality of care high," Smith said. "You feel like you are in a very precarious situation where errors could occur, but thankfully we've managed to stay on top of things."

Hospitals say they are upholding high standards for patient care, but experts say surges compromise many normal medical practices. Overwhelmed hospitals might be forced to mobilize makeshift ICUs and staff them with personnel without any experience in critical care. They might run out of sedatives, antibiotics, IVs or other supplies they rely on to keep patients calm and comfortable while on ventilators.

In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, a caution sign is placed on the floor of a COVID-19 unit at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. U.S. hospital intensive care units in many parts of the country are straining under record numbers of COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

"It's really daunting and mentally taxing. You're doing what you believe to be best practice," said Kiersten Henry, a nurse at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, Maryland, and a board director for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

In Oklahoma City, OU Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. Cameron Mantor said while the vaccines hold promise, hope still seems dim as ICU cases keep mounting. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at OU Medicine has declined from more than 100 daily in recent weeks to 98 on Wednesday, Mantor said.

"What is stressing everybody out," Mantor said, "is looking at week after week after week, the spigot is not being turned off, not knowing there is a break, not seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel."

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. A stable operational situation with no incidents has been maintained along the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact of the Armenian state border overnight January 24-25, the Defense Ministry of Armenia told Armenpress.

According to the information provided by the Armenian National Security Service, no border incidents were registered in Vorotan-Davit Bek section of the Goris-Kapan inter-state road which is under the responsibility of the NSS border troops.

The Armed Forces of Armenia and the NSS border troops confidently control the border situation along the entire length of the border zone and fulfill their tasks.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-25 11:44:15|Editor: huaxia

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KIGALI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan Minister of Health Daniel Ngamije on Sunday said Rwanda has not detected the new strain of COVID-19 that was reported in Britain and other countries.

Ngamije, who made the remarks during a live talk show about the COVID-19 status in Rwanda at the national broadcaster Rwanda Television, also revealed that about 95 percent of the COVID-19 patients in the country are under home-based care.

He called on Rwandan citizens to strictly adhere to COVID-19 preventive guidelines in order to contain further spread of the virus, thus curbing the surge of new cases.

Rwanda on Sunday reported a single-day record of 328 new cases, including 246 in the capital city of Kigali. The rise brought the national tally to 12,975, with 8,429 recoveries and 174 deaths.

The east-central African nation has seen an "unprecedented rise in cases, deaths and transmission rates in the community" recently, while in Kigali a surge in new cases made the government reinstate a lockdown in the city from last Tuesday until a review by the cabinet at least after 15 days.

Police representatives in the same talk show said they had, during the last five days, arrested at least 2,630 people for breaking lockdown rules. Enditem
Leaders of the National Guard disputed the reports of guard members turning their backs on the presidential motorcade. Some claim it was disrespect, but there were relevant explanations for it.

The last election in 2020 left a mark on America, and allegiances are indeterminable when it comes to military service. The same goes for the Guard, who are considered professional civilian soldiers who must follow the rules, like saluting to the commander in chief.

On inauguration day, some alleged claims were troops intentionally faced away from the passing presidential entourage. When it made symbolic rounds in D.C. an abnormal behavior was spotted, reported The Epoch Times.

According to Capt. Tinashe Machona, speaker for Guard of the capital, these guardsmen were doing their jobs to protect the POTUS from possible threats. He added that those facing out were looking for threats, she told the Stars and Stripes outlet.

A video showing guard members facing away was posted online and went viral with 2 million views.

The claim is that the newly inducted president ordered the troops in the capital to stay in a parking garage when off duty, an alleged claim that they disrespected him by facing away. This was corrected by Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott Jr. after the video went viral. He posted a tweet that it is normal for troops to look away to see their surroundings if a threat exists.

After the Capitol Breach last January 6, about 20,000 National Guard members were deployed to the U.S. capital to respond to the incident. Trump condemned it and gave remarks a while later. The claims of turning their backs on the presidential motorcade had to be cleared.

Also read: Marine One to Be Replaced by a Newer Model, Last Duty Is Ferrying President Trump.

Guard members weren't treated with respect

It is not the end of the controversy. Unknown Guard members reported that they were ordered and forced to leave the capital and stay inside a parking garage. For many lawmakers, it is indignation for the disservice brought on the guardsmen serving the country.

Next were governors who recalled their state guards as the word spread of their treatment in D.C.

According to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he was airing his indignation on Fox News last Friday, saying the servicemen are soldiers, not Nancy Pelosi's servants. He called the Washington deployment a meaningless exercise and decided to recall guard troops treated well by the new administration.

Claims of Miscommunication

One alleged cause is miscommunication that spiraled the problems. The Guard said the U.S. Capitol Police ordered troops to transfer their break area to the garage. A counter-statement from the Police's acting chief was issued Friday.

Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said that she did not tell the Guard to move into the garage after vacating the Capitol Building facilities. On other occasions, they did but not on that day.

On the day of the inauguration, the troops were informed and encouraged to stay in areas designated in the capitol and the CVC at around 2 p.m. that day.

She added that Thurgood Marshall Judicial Office Building offered the use of facilities for the guard members exclusively.

News of the way the guards' men were treated drew apologies from the White House. According to the National Guard, as for troops turning the backs on the presidential motorcade, it was a misunderstanding.

Related article: Three National Guard Members Die in Accidental Helicopter Crash in New York Farm

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A 33-year old man awaiting trial for the November 2018 murder of Edward Meenan was granted bail today (Monday).

As he agreed to release Sean Ciaran Joseph Rodgers, Mr Justice O'Hara warned that any breaches of the conditions imposed would result in a return to custody where he will remain until the trial.

Rodgers, of no fixed abode, is one of four people charged with offences arising from the murder of Edward Meenan. The body of the 52-year old was discovered in an alleyway in the Creggan Street of Derry, after he sustained multiple stab wounds.

The defendant appeared via a videolink with Maghaberry at Belfast Crown Court, where a Crown barrister voiced opposition to his release on the ground he has breached bail on several occasions.

Rodgers was released from custody in September 2019 but was returned last December following several incidents with police and breaches of bail.

Crown barrister Catherine Chasemore expressed concerns that Rodgers had "repeatedly shown he is willing to breach bail and that he will commit further offences on bail."

Ms Chasemore said that one of the breaches concerned Rodgers carrying a knife. This, she said, was in the context of Rodgers being charged with a murder where the deceased was stabbed 55 times.

Mr Justice O'Hara asked defence barrister Sean Doherty to address these concerns and said: "There is an inevitable concern about Mr Rodgers repeated failure to comply with conditions of bail.

"Why should I accept he will comply with conditions which are set now, which he clearly hasn't met with conditions of bail which were set before?"

Mr Doherty said that whilst there had been breaches, most of these had been 'technical' - including breaching an 8am curfew by putting his bins out at 7.52am.

The barrister said another breach of curfew was when a "mob" arrived at his address in Ballymena. Mr Doherty said: "They were there to attack him and he made his escape."

Mr Doherty acknowledged that whilst his client's possession of a knife last December was concerning, there was "no suggestion" Rodgers was brandishing the weapon when he came to police attention or that he threatened anyone with it.

Saying Rodgers "paid the price" for that incident as he "spent Christmas and the New Year in prison", Mr Doherty urged Mr Justice O'Hara to release his client with "one final warning."

He pointed out that as the trial involved four co-accused, due to the current restrictions regarding multiple defendants the hearing may not take place until the winter.

Mr Justice O'Hara said that on the basis that the trial will not take place before the summer, he granted the application for bail and said: "As far as I am concerned, this is his final chance and any breach of bail conditions will lead to him staying in custody until the trial for murder takes place."

Rodgers was released on his own bail of 500 with an additional surety of 800. He will live at an address approved by police, will adhere to a 9pm to 8am curfew and he will be tagged.

He was also banned from drinking alcohol, taking non-prescription drugs and will report to police three times a week.

In addition, Rodgers has been ordered to stay out of Co Londonderry apart from attending his GP, solicitors or court, and has been banned from contacting any of his co-accused.


Dutch journalist urges Russias Investigative Committee open case against The Insider Chief Editor

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

17:53 25/01/2021

MOSCOW, January 25 (RAPSI)  Dutch journalist Max van der Werff petitioned Russias Investigative Committee to open a criminal case over defamation against The Insider Editor in Chief Roman Dobrokhotov, who, as the journalist alleges, said that he had worked for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU), lawyer Stalina Gurevich told RAPSI on Monday.

Other potential defendants in the case are yet unidentified GRU officers, according to the lawyer.

The Insider published false information that the journalist secretly cooperates with GRU and is paid by the Directorate to disseminate materials about the crush of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 in 2014. Dobrokhotov also put a link to The Insider article on his Twitter adding that van der Werff commits a crime working for the Russian intelligence service, the petition reads.

The lawyer cited an expert opinion saying that the article published by The Insider and Dobrokhotovs Twit contain negative information about the journalist and that it is planned to turn to courts in order to protect his honor and dignity.
DUSHANBE -- A fire has swept through Tajikistan's largest market of construction materials and household appliances, Sultoni Kabir, in Dushanbe, the capital.

RFE/RL correspondents reported from the site that the fire started at around 7:00 a.m. local time on January 25 and was extinguished in two hours.

The Interior Ministry said the blaze was caused by a short circuit in the market's electricity system, adding that there were no casualties.

Police have cordoned off the market as investigators continue to work at the site.

Several firefighter brigades managed to extinguish the flames that engulfed some 610 square meters, saving vendors' goods estimated to be worth 2 million somonis ($175,500).

The ministry added that the damage was assessed at 800,000 somonis ($71,000).

In June 2018, a fire in the main building of the Sultoni Kabir market destroyed about two dozen shops. The damage in that blaze was estimated at $390,000,

Some 1,700 vendors work at the Sultoni Kabir market, which covers 5 hectares and has been open since 2000.
External Article

25 January 2021

There is no joy in recognizing that business travel has peaked and that our industry will never return to its pre-Covid level. Like it or not, there are significant implications for our industry's future.

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Why Business Travel Has Peaked

Yes, the Covid-19 pandemic will recede and business travelers will feel safe about traveling, as will their hosts. Getting a global green light on the health and safety front will unleash demand for business travel. Unfortunately, that demand will be sharply and permanently diminished for these four reasons:

First, the pandemic has forced most employees to work from home. While not everybody's cup of tea, working from home will remain a popular choice for many workers and their companies in the post-Covid world. If you don't need to go to the office to work, why do you need to travel?

Second, the massive shift to working from home has forced the widespread adoption of virtual meetings. These have proven to be mostly adequate (not great!) substitutes for meeting in person. If you can meet virtually, why do you need to travel?

Third, the sustainability issue is rising on executive and government agendas. Business travelers and their employers will increasingly factor a trip's impact on our climate into their travel decisions. No small number of trips will be eliminated for this reason alone.

Note the synergy of these three forces. They reinforce each other and will endure for a long time. There is no magic wand that will make any of these constraints on business travel disappear. Business travel will clearly shrink. But the biggest force that will sharply reduce demand for business travel is the CFO's logic.

Imagine every pre-trip approval request being met with the CFO's default response of "Why can't you do these meetings virtually? There's no travel cost, no travel time lost and no carbon emissions, right?"
Iran, frustrated by Israeli air strikes and some commando raids, have backed off on their efforts to establish a clearly Iranian presence on the Israeli border. Instead, the Iranians are playing a long game and attempting to gain the support of the largely Sunni and Druze civilian population along the border in (from west to east); Quneitra, Daraa and Suwayda provinces. Total population of these provinces in 2011 was 1.4 million but only about 20 percent of that was on or near the border. After the 2011 Civil War began much of the Sunni population fled. How much remains on the border is unclear but is apparently at least 100,000. Only Queneitra and Daraa border Israel. Israel has occupied most of Queneitra province since the 1967 War and the Israeli controlled area is mostly the Golan Heights. This is the high ground overlooking northern Israel where the Syrians made a major, desperate and ultimately failed effort in the 1973 War to retake Golan. Since then, the Assads have maintained that they will eventually get the Golan back and the Iranians tell Assad that this will happen because of the current Iranian effort. This does not please the Assads because the Iranian plan includes turning the border area into something similar to southern Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah controls the population and the border. There is a token presence of Lebanese troops along that border but it is understood by Israel and the Lebanese government that Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, and Iran controls Hezbollah. The Assads would prefer to control their own southern border but the Iranians have made it clear that there is no choice and if there is any interference by the Assads the Iranians will put a new government in power.

While Israel controls the high ground in Golan, Syria still controls about 30 percent of the Golan heights region. This consists of the low ground on the Syrian side of the heights. The population of the Israeli Golan Heights is about 50 percent Jewish with the rest split between Sunni Arab or Druze. During the 2011 Civil War, which is still unfinished, Israel opened the border to Arab and Druze civilians who were very ill or badly wounded. The Israelis treated 4,000 of these civilians in an army field hospital set up on the border and sent some patients to Israeli hospitals if they needed advanced care. Once the patients were well enough, they had to return to Syria. This program, called Operation Good Neighbor, lasted from 2013 to 2018. The program ended after 2018 when Assad troops and Iranian mercenaries regained control of the border and prohibited further Israeli aid.

Besides treating the injured and sick, Israel also provided economic aid to about 200,000 Syrians, most of them refugees, who had fled to the border area to escape the attacks against Sunni civilians by the Assad forces. The cross-border aid consisted of fuel, electric generators, food and medical supplies. The Good Neighbor program worked as long as the rebels controlled the border. There was no serious threat to the border or Israeli Golan while the program was running. Another benefit for the Israelis was Syrians freely providing useful information on how the war was going in the rest of Syria, including details of the increasing presence of Iranian forces in areas where the rebels had been driven out. By 2018 the Syrian Assad government technically controlled most of Syria but that control was tenuous and possible only with Iranian and Russian help.

Since 2018 the Iranians have unofficially taken control of the border area, usually while wearing Syrian Army uniforms. Most of the Syrian rebels and civilians fled the area leaving a much smaller native population. This helped make the Iranian long-term plan to control the area possible. Iran started their own Operation Good Neighbor program, providing jobs and reconstruction materials and money to improve the lives of the remaining civilians. This means rebuilt clinics, schools, mosques, housing and government buildings.

Theres a downside to this. Anyone suspected of disloyalty is swiftly punished, usually by expulsion from the area or execution for anyone caught aiding the Israelis. Another problem is that the Iranians are trying to convert the largely Sunni Arabs to the Shia form of Islam. The Druze are also eligible but are a special case because most Moslems consider the Druze infidels (non-Moslem) or heretics. The Assads tolerated the Druze because they could be depended on to support the Shia Assads. While the Druze living in Israeli Golan are loyal to Israel, many of those Druze still have family connections with Syrian Druze. For a while the Israeli Druze demonstrated and demanded that Israel allow thousands of Syrian Druze to move to Israel. That did not happen.

As long as Iran provides desperately needed economic aid to Syrian civilians along the border, they gain a measure of cooperation and support from those civilians. But those Syrians know that long-term the Iranians intend to convert most or all of the Sunni Arabs on the border to Shia Islam and use those civilians as human-shields to protect weapons storage sites placed inside residential areas, sometimes in bunkers underneath homes and apartment buildings. This is what Hezbollah has done in south Lebanon and those civilians found that when Hezbollah went too far and provoked another war with Israel in 2006, the weapons storage sites were bombed or shelled anyway. The Israelis have already let the border population know, via radio broadcasts and leaflet drops, that the same rules apply along any portion of the Israeli border controlled by Iran. This threat did not stop the Iranians in Lebanon and it is not stopping them in Syria. Everyone understands that if Iran launches attacks on Israel from these border areas, human shields wont work because otherwise the attacks would kill Israeli civilians.